Shirou: Me? Thanks a Lot, Shinji

"Cough, cough!"

Rin pulled herself together and glared furiously at Shinji.

"Oh, come on, Big Sister Rin. You don't have to look at me like that. You're making me blush."

Master Shinji was still grinning cheekily.

"Drop that fake smile!" Tohsaka Rin snapped. "I can't stand the sight of you."

Shinji said with exaggerated sorrow, "Rin, that's so hurtful. We grew up together, childhood friends and all."

"Sure, I went overseas for a few years, but our friendship is still here. Look, Shirou and I are still close, aren't we?"

Rin glared at him. "Please don't make up memories that never happened! What friendship? All I remember is you picking on me."

"Did I?"

"Do you want me to list it in chronological order or by how bad it was?"

Shinji pursed his lips. He hadn't expected the girl to hold such a grudge.

Probably because there was no Holy Grail War, the Three Families were much closer than they were in other parallel worlds. Shinji, Shirou, Rin, and Sakura had all grown up together.

The four of them had mostly fallen into the same routine: Shinji and Rin argued, Shirou tried to smooth things over, and Sakura quietly followed behind them.

"But those were just childhood squabbles. Do you really have to remember them right up until you're in your coffin?" Shinji said, making a tactless joke.

"..."

Rin's brow twitched. It was a sign she was about to blow up.

"Anyway, the past is the past." Not wanting to get beaten up, Master Shinji quickly changed the subject. "Let's get along from now on."

Shinji's goodwill only made Tohsaka Rin more suspicious. She asked warily, "What are you up to now?"

"That's a pretty hurtful thing to say." Shinji waved a hand. "Look, I even invited you to play the second female lead in my first movie. Isn't that proof of my sincerity?"

Rin turned her head away, looking a little red in the face. "Hmph. I only came because Father asked me to. I don't want to deal with this kind of hassle."

If you really didn't want to come, you could've turned down the paycheck.

Shinji shrugged. He'd been dealing with Tsundere Rin's saying one thing and meaning another since they were kids.

"If you're worried about school, Rin, don't be. I've already hired private tutors for you students. They'll be here tomorrow, and then—"

"What?! Private tutors?!"

Illya, who had been eavesdropping nearby, blurted out.

"That's right." Shinji nodded. "There'll be teachers for high school and elementary school."

Filming at the Emiya Residence had been easy enough. Shirou and the others could still go to school during the day. They just had to ask for leave for club activities under the pretext of social studies, which let them get out a few hours early without interfering with filming.

But Eizenbern Castle was deep in the mountains outside Fuyuki City. It took ages to drive up and down, so they could only take leave from school.

So, to keep the students in the cast from falling too far behind in their studies because of filming, Shinji had to hire private tutors for them.

His was a proper film production, after all. He had to make sure the minors on set kept up with their education.

Illya, however, clearly didn't understand Shinji's good intentions. Her little face was full of displeasure.

Illya had thought that filming in the mountains meant she could skip school and play to her heart's content. Now she felt as though the sky had fallen.

"Can't you just not hire private tutors?"

At ten years old, Illya was at the age when she loved to play. Studying, of course, was the absolute enemy and villain!

"No, Illya."

Rin smiled sweetly and gently patted the little girl on the head. When Shinji wasn't involved, Rin was still very patient.

"You're still young, so you need to study hard. Otherwise, you'll end up like a certain irresponsible big brother, who still hasn't finished junior high."

As she spoke, Rin glanced at Shinji. There was no question who the "certain big brother" she meant was.

Master Shinji didn't seem bothered. He wagged a finger smugly. "Rin, don't forget that I have a doctorate from Oxford University now~"

"Wow, Big Brother Shinji is amazing!"

Illya's eyes lit up, and she gazed at Shinji in admiration.

Rin's mouth twitched. "What's there to brag about with a fake degree like that?"

Rin knew perfectly well how Shinji had gotten his doctorate.

The Clock Tower awarded its graduates doctorates in linguistics from Oxford University to make it easier for them to live in the ordinary world.

Strictly speaking, the Clock Tower's mages were qualified to earn doctorates in linguistics. A great deal of magecraft research involved Greek, Old English, Ancient Indian languages, and all sorts of other lesser-known tongues.

Anyone who graduated from the Clock Tower had to be talented and accomplished in linguistics.

There were exceptions to every rule, though, and Shinji was a classic case of being weak on theory but strong in practice. He'd mastered the practical side of magecraft, but his theoretical knowledge was lacking.

Still, that couldn't be helped. Shinji had spent only a limited time studying at the Clock Tower, and he'd graduated thanks to his prodigious talent for magecraft.

That was exactly why Rin mocked his worthless degree.

"Don't worry. At least I speak Chinese really well," Master Shinji said with a snort.

"You've spoken Chinese since you were a kid. What's there to brag about?"

Rin rubbed her temples. She didn't want to keep arguing with Shinji. It was giving her a headache.

"Forget it. I'll take my luggage to my room first, then study the script. Since I promised Father, I should at least play the role well."

Rin tossed her hair and headed toward the castle.

"Oh, right, Rin."

Hearing Shinji call her, Rin stopped and turned to look at him.

"If you can, I hope you'll smile more often," Shinji suggested.

"What?" Rin gave an arrogant huff. "Do you expect me to be nice to you?"

"Not at all. There's an old saying in China: 'A happy heart makes a healthy body.' Smiling often is good for your figure."

After saying that, Shinji gave Rin a playful wink.

Rin froze for two seconds. Then a blush spread from her cheeks all the way down her snowy-white neck.

"Matou Shinji! Go to hell!"

If gemstones weren't so expensive, Rin would absolutely have bombarded Shinji with them.

Master Shinji had already gone into the castle before Rin could react, leaving her behind.

Of course, Shinji hadn't gone into the castle to rest in his room. He was directing the Heroic Spirits and the rest of the crew as they arranged the sets.

The current setup of Eizenbern Castle was already close to what Shinji had imagined, but a few things still needed to be changed.

For example, to suit the lighting during filming, they needed to change the colors of the wallpaper, carpets, and other furnishings. Otherwise, the footage would have problems with saturation and fail to bring out the characters.

Fortunately, the castle's owner, Irisviel, was very cooperative about filming. She agreed to all of Shinji's requests to modify the castle. Irisviel even said that if Shinji needed to, he could tear the whole castle down.

Irisviel wasn't so enthusiastic because of Shinji's contract with the Einzbern family. She was simply very interested in making a movie.

As Shirou had said in private, his adoptive mother was something of an excitable people person. If she was interested in something, she was always very easygoing.

Seeing how cooperative Irisviel was, even Shinji, who always liked to take advantage of people, felt a little embarrassed. To repay her for supporting his film, he made a few small changes to the script. He added a few shots to the castle scenes and gave Illya's maid a cameo role for Irisviel, so she could have her fun too.

Honestly, though, Irisviel wasn't very good at acting.

After all, she was too lively to seem like Illya's maid at all.

"The way she's smiling, she looks more like Illya's big sister."

Shinji watched the footage on the monitor and commented.

"Mm-hmm, kid. You've got a point. Iris is the best," Kiritsugu said enthusiastically, nodding along.

Master Shinji: "..."

Old Man Kiritsugu, you really do spoil them.

"Illya!"

On the temporary set inside Eizenbern Castle, Shinji called Illya over.

They had just finished a test shoot of Illya kidnapping Shirou. The overall effect was good, but Shinji thought Illya could do even better.

"What is it, Big Brother Shinji?"

Illya hopped over to Shinji and looked up at him with her adorable big eyes.

Shinji bent down to meet Illya at eye level. "You did very well just now. It'll be perfect if you make your innocent expression a little more natural."

Of the main actors, Illya's personality differed the most from her FSN character, and her role was also the most difficult to portray.

Though none of them were trained actors, most of the characters they played weren't too different from their own personalities. So, as long as they acted naturally in front of the camera, they'd be successful.

Illya was the only exception. Without the dark experiences from the original story, Illya really was an innocent young lady.

Of course, the Illya in the original story wasn't a purely evil villain in the traditional sense, either.

Shinji thought that "morally ambiguous" was a better way to describe Illya's character, which made the role quite demanding.

Illya herself was working hard, though. Her performance was far from perfect in both rehearsals and filming, but it was clear she was improving rapidly.

But perhaps because the script made Illya older than Shirou and cast her as his big sister, Illya always tried to act mature. That made her performance seem a little unnatural.

"You did great, Illya."

Shinji put a hand on Illya's shoulder and continued, "But I know you can do even better. Didn't you tell me you were a genius actress? Then show me all your potential."

Illya wrinkled her nose and pouted. "I will."

Illya had said that earlier because she wanted Shinji to give her more scenes, which would give her a legitimate excuse to skip school.

Who would've thought Shinji would hire private tutors for her—and one-on-one tutors at that? She was the only elementary school student in the whole production. That was even more painful than going to school.

Shinji, you mean big brother!

Illya's face turned a little red as she struck a pose that said, [I'm super fierce!]

Unfortunately, Master Shinji wasn't interested in ten-year-old girls. He simply waved her off. "Go get ready."

The makeup artist hurried after Illya to touch up her makeup and Shirou Emiya's before they went in front of the camera together.

For the rest of the day, the crew continued with test shoots rather than starting the actual filming.

Shinji, the director, and the crew's cinematographer were still searching for the best camera positions and filming techniques.

They'd planned many of the shots in advance, but for a novice like Shinji, there could be a real difference between planning a shot and filming it on location.

On top of that, the cinematographer had been hired from a film company rather than trained by Shinji himself. Though the cinematographer was skilled, they couldn't immediately grasp what Shinji wanted, so the two still needed time to work together.

"Now I see why famous directors have regular crews. Then they don't have to spend time adjusting to new people every time they make a movie."

Sitting in the director's chair, Shinji sighed helplessly and added building his own crew to his list of priorities.

"Lighting, ready!" Shinji picked up the microphone and called to everyone. "Actors, ready—Action!"

After several test shoots, the crew and the lead actors, Shirou Emiya and Illya, quickly got into position.

According to the script, Illya slowly walked to the center of the room and appeared in Shinji's camera frame.

When Illya reached her mark, Shirou, tied to a chair, panted and said in a slightly weary voice, "Let me go, Illya. No matter what you say, I..."

Illya pressed a finger to Shirou's lips and smiled with the pure innocence unique to a young girl. "You're so immature, Shirou. Listen carefully. Right now, you're like a little bird in a cage. Whether you live or die is up to me, so don't say anything that'll make me angry, okay?"

As she spoke, Illya deliberately leaned close to Shirou's face.

Her eyes glimmered faintly, drawing Shirou's gaze to them. Like red gems, they seemed to pull him in until he felt he was about to be swallowed by them.

"I've waited ten years, you know. It'd be no fun to kill Shirou just like that."

"Wha—"

The little girl's voice sounded as though she were asking for a toy, but its cruelty sent a chill down Shirou's spine. He couldn't help holding his breath.

He looked at Illya again and instinctively struggled.

And then—