Please Kick Me, Big Sister Rin!

Just thinking about having to accept a salary that was 30 million yen higher than he had expected made Second Master feel terrible.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you."

Johnny Kitagawa also smiled and raised his glass, but his hand trembled as he did so.

It wasn't that the old man had a Parkinson's attack; it was caused by anger.

He made such a huge concession on his salary, which was practically a fire sale for any Johnny & Associates's artist, yet this kid is still so dissatisfied!

This is outrageous!

Ding~

Despite the many twists and turns in the negotiations, Shinji and the old man finally clinked glasses, signifying that an agreement had been reached.

However, neither party involved in the cooperation had the intention to properly fulfill their respective obligations under the agreement.

[Just consider it a dog bite.]

Shinji consoled himself with the thought that once Super 8 was finished, he would do everything in his power to sabotage the collaboration.

[Just consider it a dog bite.]

Johnny Kitagawa comforted himself with the idea that once the group achieved great success worldwide, he would find a way to poach them from Johnny & Associates and then kick Shinji Matou out of the picture.

[Just be patient until then; he won't be smug for long anyway.] *2

Shinji and Johnny Kitagawa silently recited this sentence in their hearts almost simultaneously.

Hiroshi Nagano was unaware that the two cunning individuals beside him, one old and one young, were each harboring their own secrets.

He nodded contentedly upon hearing that he could finally participate in the theatrical production.

"Finally, I can become light again."

Chapter 119 Please kick me, Rin-neechan!

"Master, you're so mean! You actually went to Tokyo for a fancy meal all by yourself."

Artoria complained indignantly to Shinji.

"You can only go if you can leave Fuyuki City! Didn't I bring you back so much food from Tokyo? What else could you possibly be unhappy about?"

Shinji's lips twitched, his face full of helplessness.

"Heh." Artoria chuckled coldly, waving a snack bag in front of Shinji. "Is this spicy rice cracker, a specialty of Fuyuki City, also a snack from Tokyo?"

Even so, you still ate a lot.

Shinji raised his eyes and blew the stray hairs on his forehead one by one to express his inner helplessness.

When he returned from Tokyo, he had anticipated that Artoria would be angry because he ate alone, so he specially bought a lot of snacks as compensation.

However, by the time Shinji remembered this, he had already returned to Fuyuki City, so he could only buy snacks at a convenience store in the city center to pretend they were Tokyo souvenirs.

Unfortunately, Artoria still saw through it.

Shinji didn't really care that Artoria noticed the problem with the snacks, since he hadn't intended to hide it anyway.

But Artoria thought he was feasting in Tokyo, which greatly annoyed him.

The one who really ate and drank to his heart's content was Shirou, okay? He, Shinji Matou, didn't get to eat a single thing and ended up feeling very angry.

The thought of the exorbitant salary offered by Johnny & Associates's Entertainment made Second Master feel extremely uncomfortable.

Shirou, on the other hand, had an absolutely fantastic night.

Shinji felt so good that he smacked him on the head like Li Yunlong slapped a monk, saying, "You fucking leave me some!"

"Thank you all for your hard work in guarding the house this time."

Shinji smiled kindly at Artoria and said with a hint of ingratiation, "I'll treat you to two big meals later."

Three meals!

Artoria said, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Shinji's lips twitched slightly. "Three meals it is, but what's with that four fingers you're gesturing with? Take one finger back."

"Cut."

Artoria thought she could get away with being cute and get Shinji to have a flirtatious moment with her.

"Sakura, the method you gave me isn't working."

Artoria turned around and complained to Matou Sakura the other side of the sofa.

"Idiot, you're being way too obvious."

Sakura sighed, rubbing her forehead.

She never expected that the usually shrewd King of Knights would be so clueless when it came to food.

If I traveled back to ancient Britain, could I trade a meal of king crab for the entire Britain Isles?

Sakura thought about it more and more and felt that this was very likely.

"Just how inhumane were the foods eaten in ancient Britain?!"

"Miss Sakura, the food we ate wasn't as exaggerated as you think."

Lancelot felt it was necessary to vindicate the food served to the Knights of the Round Table.

"Is that so?" Sakura asked curiously.

Lancelot nodded. "It certainly can't compare to modern food, but apart from Gawain's mashed potatoes, the other food is at least edible."

Sakura's eyes narrowed slightly as she asked softly, "Then why is your king the same as a reincarnated starving ghost?"

Well~

Lancelot gave a wry smile and explained, "Because the king always orders the entire army to drill together during every march. This keeps the army cooks busy with all the training, leaving them with no energy to cook properly."

"So every time they cook, all these chefs, who've been trained like dead dogs, can do is chop up the ingredients and throw them all into the pot."

"For them, simply cooking the food is enough to complete their task."

"Puff--"

Shinji, who was secretly eavesdropping, spat out a mouthful of water.

"Elder brother!"

"Sorry..." Shinji replied while coughing, "Now I know why Artoria always says with a gloomy face, 'It's awful!!' whenever she asks about the food in Britain."

"Then why didn't you tell her?" Sakura pressed.

Lancelot gave a second wry smile, "Merlin said that only by letting the King discover this for herself can she understand what the human heart is. Moreover, Merlin also said that the King's distress over food is very... adorable."

Previously, Lancelot didn't understand what Merlin meant by those words because, in his understanding at that time, Artoria was still male.

Once he found out... Lancelot could only mimic Zhang Sanye's words—"Merlin is right!"

"I see."

Sakura looked at Artoria, who was still struggling with food, imagined the expression on her face when she was troubled by food, and then instantly understood.

"Oh, I see, you big dummy." Shinji tapped his sister on the head. "Didn't you say you didn't want to watch UBW? Why are you watching TV with us today?"

Sakura covered her mouth and chuckled softly, "Today is the episode where Emiya- senpai shines on screen, so of course I, as his junior, have to cheer him on."

"Really? I always have a feeling you're up to no good."

It's true that Shirou was showing off in today's UBW episode, but it was also the episode where Shinji suffered a major setback in the UBW route.

The Second Master had reason to suspect that his younger sister had come to make fun of him.

"Brother, how could you say that to your lovely little sister?"

Sakura wiped away non-existent tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingers and said in a resentful tone, "I was clearly supporting your drama so much."

"If you really want to support this, please turn on a second TV in the bedroom. That would at least increase the viewership a little," Shinji retorted.

This is obviously a joke; Japan viewership ratings are calculated in a much more complex way.

The reason Sakura chose to watch it with Shinji was simply because her scenes with Medusa were almost over, and she could enjoy UBW with a more relaxed attitude.

However, since her older brother reminded her, the clever, witty, and adorable Matou Sakura will not hold back.

"Come on, let's watch the TV series!" Sakura said excitedly, fiddling with her legs. "I can't wait!"

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Sakura wasn't the only viewer eagerly anticipating the latest episode; everyone who watched the previous episode was also looking forward to today's.

Based on the clips shown in the next episode's preview, today's episode will feature Shirou Emiya's duel with Archer.

I hit myself.

The audience, who had never seen much of the world, were witnessing such a scene for the first time, and they were all incredibly envious.

The viewership ratings might be slightly lower than the previous episode due to it being a weekday, but the discussion and attention it receives will definitely not be inferior to the eighth episode, and may even be greater.

"Azu, who do you think will win?" Aoko guessed. "I think Archer will win; he seems stronger."

Azu's guess was clearly different from Aoko's. "It should be Shirou Emiya. Shinji Matou said that the protagonist in a business story has a special status."

"But can humans defeat Heroic Spirit?" Aoko clearly didn't believe it. "If they could, Kuzuki wouldn't have died."

"Mr. Matou must have his own reasons... probably."

Azu herself wasn't entirely sure about the outcome of the battle.

After all, the battle between Shirou and Red A is the biggest suspense of this episode, and currently, apart from the main creators of the TV series, no one else knows the answer.

Viewers are eager to know who will win this battle between Shirou Emiya and himself, but Shinji isn't about to reveal the outcome so easily on film.

The opening scene of episode nine picks up where episode eight left off, Red A releasing his Unlimited Blade Works.

Despite releasing his Reality Marble, Red A had no intention of using it to kill Saber. After intimidating his greatest obstacle King of Knights, and teaching Shirou a lesson, Red A kidnapped Tohsaka Rin.

Then Red A made his request—after school, no, I mean, to find a place where no one would bother us and have a fight.

Shirou then proposed using the now-deserted Einzbern castle as the location for the duel.

"This place, where Kiritsugu Emiya and Kenseth once fought, has now become the battlefield for the infighting among Kiritsugu Emiya sons. I wonder what Kiritsugu Emiya will think when he finds out?"

Looking at Archer (Red A) resting with his Azu closed in the ruined castle, Aoko recalled the extended DVD bonus that Kiritsugu Emiya and his wife Irisviel after his death.

In that conversation Kiritsugu Emiya apologized to Irisviel, expressing his regrets about his life.

But at the end of the conversation, Kiritsugu confidently expressed his expectations for Shirou Emiya.

Kiritsugu believed that if it were Shirou Emiya, he would definitely be able to fulfill his dream instead of becoming a failure like himself, and he would not regret the past like himself.

However, from Red A, Aoko discovered that Shirou had only fulfilled the first half of Kiritsugu's expectations.

Shirou Emiya did indeed become a hero, but he deeply regretted his choice, so much so that he wished he could kill his past self who had made that choice.

"Sigh, Kiritsugu would probably cry if he knew Shirou would end up like this," Aoko sighed. "Seriously, why don't you just start fighting already! This dawdling is so annoying!"

On the television screen, the scene playing is Shinji and Gilgamesh confronting Red A.

This is a transitional chapter before the great battle, but unfortunately, the audience isn't interested at this point.

Well, I can't say I'm completely uninterested; at least Tohsaka Rin's black-stockinged thighs are quite eye-catching.

So when Shinji Matou teases Rin on screen and gets kicked in the face with his toe, many male viewers' first reaction is that it felt so good, and they wish Rin could kick them too.

In contrast, Sakura, who had personally experienced the filming process and knew how Shinji got the red mark on his face, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Tohsaka- senpai really hit hard that time... but this mark really suits you, brother... now you know that being a womanizer is no good, right?"

Shinji's face darkened as he watched his younger sister laughing and talking, looking like she was having a very hard time.

What a dark history!

If I had known Rin would get this worked up, I wouldn't have been so sarcastic.

However, Shinji has no way to undo his mistakes, nor can he use the Magecraft of turning back time.

[By the way, was the scene where I got beaten up included in the behind-the-scenes footage?]

Shinji is usually not personally responsible for editing behind-the-scenes footage; at most, he tells the editor which clips to include.

[I'll check tomorrow; if it's there, I'll definitely delete it!!]