Chapter 729

[Editor's note: This chapter has been edited to remove content that breaks our content rules.]

“Shirou, Ayako. It’s time. Wake up.”

When Shirou opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Rider’s finely sculpted face.

“You’re too close!”

Shirou pulled a hand out of his sleeping bag and pushed Rider back.

They were in the lounge of the Homurahara Academy archery club.

An hour and a half earlier, Shirou and the others had taken the opportunity to nap here before the afternoon’s activities.

“Mmm...”

Beside him, Ayako Mitsuzuri sat up in her sleeping bag, stretched widely, and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“You both seem to have slept well,” Rider observed.

Shirou shook his head. “No... I feel like I was dreaming the whole time. I don’t feel rested. If anything, I’m a little tired. How about you, Ayako?”

Ayako rubbed her neck, her brows drawing together in a complicated expression.

“Me too... I think I had a strange dream, but I can’t remember what it was about.”

“We really shouldn’t use sleeping bags next time... Rider, is it just me, or do you look especially refreshed?”

“You’re imagining things, Shirou.”

With her customary poker face, Rider urged them along. “Our guests should be arriving soon. It’s about time we got ready.”

“You’re right.”

Shirou and Ayako left the lounge.

“Shirou, want to have a match with me later?”

“No way. Once we start, we’ll never stop.”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting rusty?”

“I should be asking you that, Ayako. Have you been practicing properly lately?”

As they walked side by side toward the dojo, neither had yet noticed the subtle change in how they addressed each other.

Behind them, Rider watched in silence.

Volume Nine: 444 — An Evening at the Hotel