Rooftop
As the morning bell rang, Shinji, with his hands in his pockets, let out a soft sigh and looked with a bit of helplessness at Rin, who was standing with her hands on her hips, silently glaring at him with gritted teeth.
"Hey, the morning tutoring session has already started. How long are you going to keep glaring at me?"
"Tch!" Rin clicked her tongue, folded her arms, and turned her face away.
"Since we're already late, let's skip a class for once. After all, it's not my fault we got delayed."
Shinji sat down on the steps with a smug expression, which reignited the fire in Rin's eyes.
"How can a guy with an attendance rate below 70% say that so casually?"
Watching Rin clench her fists, her eye twitching, Shinji crossed his legs elegantly and chuckled, "I heard the Tohsaka family values maintaining elegance at all times, but I don't see that in you at all."
"Anyone would lose their elegance when dealing with someone as infuriating as you!"
"Pfft!" Shinji couldn't help but laugh again, "Haha, Tohsaka, you have a surprisingly cute side."
"C-Cute?" Rin blushed, raising her hands defensively. "You're trying to mock me again, aren't you? Bring it on, Matou Shinji!"
Seeing Rin in this state, Shinji lost interest in teasing her further. He lowered his head and sighed, "Can we get to the point? You didn't bring me here just to be ridiculed, right?"
"Ridiculed? So you were mocking me!" Rin's expression turned serious as she pursed her lips and remained silent for a while before quietly speaking again, "Are you really an idiot?"
"The person calling others an idiot is the real idiot! You fool!"
"Are you a child?" Shinji looked exasperated, then waved his hand tiredly, "Anyway, hurry up and say what you wanted to talk about, head of the Tohsaka family."
Rin sighed, putting one hand on her hip and looking into the distance, "There's nothing important to discuss, you disgrace of the Matou family."
Shinji seemed surprised by her response.
Seeing Shinji's unexpected reaction, Rin turned her face away and scoffed, "Why are you so shocked? Didn't get the answer you expected?"
"Yeah," Shinji shrugged, "I didn't get the typical response from a magus, but as an older sister, your answer is acceptable."
Rin understood what Shinji meant. Simply put, as the head of the Tohsaka family, she had the right to reclaim Sakura, who had been adopted into the Matou family but still possessed the qualities of a magus.
If her father were still alive, he might have done so, especially since the Matou family broke the contract first.
He might have even taken all the Matou family's magical knowledge and made Sakura a branch of the Tohsaka family.
"As a magus, that might be the most logical course," Rin continued. "But it seems that child doesn't want to continue the fate of a magus. Otherwise, even if Sakura had the slightest objection, you wouldn't have been able to end the Matou family's history as magi so smoothly."
This was true. The Matou family wasn't just Shinji and Sakura; there were scattered spiritual grounds and many collaborators and stakeholders across the country.
As long as they existed, Shinji couldn't easily end the Matou family's involvement in the world of magecraft alone.
With Zouken gone, those people would definitely try to put Sakura in charge and suppress Shinji.
Unless Sakura herself willingly gave up the position of head of the family.
However, Shinji wasn't worried about that. Most of them were third-rate magi, easily handled by the magi secretly hired by his company.
It's common for large corporations to hire magi secretly; it's almost an unwritten rule in this world.
For understandable reasons.
In recent years, as the company grew larger, more and more third-rate magi were hired by competitors to steal confidential documents.
Helpless, Shinji secretly hired a group of magi for the company.
On the surface, the Matou family has cut ties with magecraft, but behind the scenes, they are still entangled—a necessary compromise.
"By the way, what do you plan to do with the Matou family's spiritual grounds?" Rin asked.
"I don't know. If necessary, I'll give them away. With no magi in the Matou family, managing them is impossible."
"You're quite generous."
"Want me to give them to you?"
"What scheme are you up to now?" Rin assumed a defensive stance again.
"None at all." Shinji sighed. "Although those things have some value to magi, to ordinary people like us, they're just useless. It's better to give them to a familiar magus than to someone I don't know."
"You really are a disgrace to your family, throwing away centuries of the Matou family's heritage without a second thought."
"Maybe," Shinji shrugged indifferently, "But for me, ending the Matou family's history of magecraft is my true responsibility. Unlike you, who must inherit and continue the Tohsaka family, my duty is to end it."
"Surprising, coming from you," Rin smiled.
Shinji glanced at Rin, then casually continued, "It's simple—being an ordinary person is much happier than being a magus."
Rin laughed, "I guess I don't need to worry about Sakura with a reliable brother like you."
Shinji frowned, "Are you mocking me?"
"No, not at all. It's more like a compliment."
"Tch!" Shinji made a face of disdain.
"Anyway, I'll leave Sakura's matters to you, Matou Shinji."
"You're quite cold. Sakura just decided to get closer to you, and you're already pushing her away."
"The secrecy of magi's mysteries, you know? You've decided to live as ordinary people..."
Shinji interrupted her, "But before that, you are sisters, right? Can't you just interact as sisters, ignoring the magus and ordinary person identities?"
Rin was taken aback, "You..."
"Your brain works worse than I thought," Shinji sighed and slowly stood up.
"That's all I wanted to say. And when Sakura tries to get close to you, don't push her away. She's very sensitive, especially when it comes to you..."