"Shinji."
Shirou wanted to say more, but Shinji didn't give him the chance. He turned and walked toward the shop door, waving goodbye to the others behind him.
"See you at school. Goodbye."
"Wait! Matou!" Issei stood up, bracing himself against the table, raising his hand to stop him. "Your absentee rate for next term shouldn't exceed 5%! And don't bring contraband to school again! Do you hear me? Hey! Matou!"
As Issei continued to shout at Shinji, Mizuji turned to Shirou with a slight frown and asked, "Emiya, isn't Matou's personality a bit strange? Did you already know this would happen?"
"More or less." Shirou sighed and then muttered, "It's not just strange, it's more like bizarre. Shinji often gets whims to try all sorts of odd things, but his passion fades just as quickly. For example—"
Issei cut in, "For example, he suddenly wanted to experience a monk's life and spent three months undergoing rigorous training at Ryuudou Temple with my father. Or he suddenly decided to write a novel and locked himself in his room for two months, coming out with an award-winning book. Or when he wanted to see if discounted bento boxes had the same number of rice grains as regularly priced ones, he bought both and meticulously counted them all night, finding a difference of fifteen grains. There are countless such examples."
Hearing this, Mizuji's eye twitched. "Just calling him strange doesn't seem enough to describe Matou, does it?"
"Perhaps to ordinary people, it might seem so, but Matou is different." Issei shook his head and continued, "His focus and dedication during his training made me think countless times that he wanted to become a monk. But once the training was over, he quickly reverted to his usual self as if he had lost interest in monastic life. It's not just that; any whim he has, once completed, is swiftly abandoned. He even refused to accept an award for his novel, claiming it was plagiarized. Without a doubt, Matou's ability to perfect any whimsical project makes him a prodigy. It's just a shame he loses interest afterward."
"Indeed, it is." Mizuji nodded.
"To be honest, I sometimes can't tell if he ever had genuine interest in those things. It's hard to say for sure."
"Shinji said it himself; he just acts on whims," Shirou said. "I think that's all there is to it."
"That's such a waste!" Issei and Mizuji both exclaimed.
"Why are you directing that at me?" Shirou was startled by their simultaneous outburst but then sighed. "It would be great if Shinji could take an interest in archery. I just thought it might be possible..."
"Actually, I just got a sudden whim to try archery. When's the competition?"
Mizuji stared in surprise at Shinji, who had returned unnoticed and made this announcement. Issei sighed and rubbed his forehead, while Shirou looked a bit grateful.
Shinji continued, "Oh, by the way, just until this competition is over."
Mizuji couldn't help but comment, "You really are a strange guy."
"Am I?" Shinji chuckled and then leaned forward with interest. "Actually, I just got a little bit of a whim about you too, Ryougi-san."
Mizuji smiled sweetly and reminded him, "Matou-kun, my name is Mizuji Ayako. Please remember it."
As Shinji and the others left the café, a twin-tailed girl sitting in a corner booth lowered her newspaper.
"So that confession back then was just a whim too..." Rin's face was dark with anger, barely managing to control her expression.
"Matou Shinji, you just wait!!"
Unbeknownst to Shinji, he had successfully "attracted" the ire of a certain twin-tailed girl.
As for agreeing to temporarily join the archery club, it was because as soon as Shinji stepped out of the café, the damn system suddenly issued a regular task.
[Random Task Issued]
[Task: Join the archery club and win the upcoming novice tournament.]
[Reward: 1000 points. Additional penalty for failure: 90% chance of becoming a vegetable.]
Upon seeing the task, Shinji cursed internally.
Damn it!
Over the years, Shinji had been played countless times by suddenly issued tasks with failure penalties. The tasks were varied, from writing an award-winning novel to undergoing rigorous training at a temple or counting rice grains in bento boxes.
The system just kept finding new ways to trouble him, making him want to uninstall it!
[Dear grandson, as a descendant of mine, archery is a family tradition.]
Family tradition my ass! Isn't a man's family tradition supposed to be [beep—]?!
In the end, Shinji still succumbed.
In the Emiya residence, living room.
"Come to think of it, won't I be unable to eat your cooking for a long time, Emiya?"
Sitting at the low table, Shinji's expression gradually grew serious as he realized something.
"It'll probably take over three months to recover." Sitting across from him, Shirou replied.
"Damn it! I just realized this cold reality!"
"Why are you only thinking about that now?"
"Because I've been sitting in the living room for ten minutes and you haven't served me tea, so I thought of this possibility." Shinji answered honestly.
"You were waiting for me to serve you tea?" Shirou was speechless. "Look at my situation. If you want tea, make it yourself."
"Never mind then, I'm not thirsty."
Shirou: ...
Rustle, rustle...
Hearing the sound outside, Shirou turned towards the entrance and murmured, "Is it raining?"
Knock, knock.
"Is it Fujimura-sensei?" Shirou stood up and walked slowly towards the entrance.
Shinji, however, refuted in his heart: No, it's my sister sent by the old man to watch you. But this time, her visit has nothing to do with me. I'm curious what excuse the old man will use to let Sakura take care of you.
At the entrance, Shirou was surprised to see Sakura drenched by the rain.
"Sakura..."