"Shirou, you're in such great shape! Do you work out regularly?"
Shirou nodded honestly. "Mm... yes. I exercise every morning and evening."
Aoi Tohsaka smiled. "As expected. Actually, Rin works out in the basement every night. She must have been influenced by you, Shirou."
I think I've found the honor student's weakness.
Shirou desperately suppressed the corners of his mouth, maintaining a solemn expression. Then he suddenly remembered what she had just said. Wait... does she know I was coming today?
"Aunt Tohsaka, do you often hear about me from Rin?"
Aoi Tohsaka countered, "Do you think that child would talk about things like that?"
Shirou shook his head. "No."
"Exactly. When your child is too outstanding and independent, being a parent isn't easy either."
Mrs. Tohsaka sighed. "I do wish she would rely on her mother a little more."
"That's true. Then... could Sakura have told you about me?"
"Sakura..."
At the mention of that "forbidden name," Aoi Tohsaka's expression stiffened at once.
Oh no, I stepped on a land mine!
Shirou had noticed that Sakura and her sister had been getting along quite well with him at school and at his house recently, so he had assumed that Sakura and her mother had reconciled as well... But apparently that wasn't the case at all!
"If you'd like, I could pass a message to Sakura for you next time," Shirou said, working up his courage.
Aoi Tohsaka froze.
"Really...? Could I trouble you?"
Shirou nodded firmly. "Of course. Consider it an apology for offending you earlier, Aunt Tohsaka."
The green-haired beauty furrowed her slender brows and murmured to herself:
If it's Shirou, Sakura's favorite senpai...
"No, actually, forget it."
"I see."
Their mother-daughter relationship really isn't something an outsider like me can interfere with, Shirou thought.
*Wait a second.