"I'm back."
As Shinji opened the door, he announced his arrival. He then closed the door and sat down in the entrance to change his shoes. After a full minute, he finally heard the approaching footsteps of Sakura behind him.
"W-Welcome back, brother!"
Shinji stood up and saw Sakura, wearing an apron and looking a bit out of breath. He was about to say something when she, looking somewhat embarrassed, continued.
"I'm s-sorry, brother. I came home a bit late today, so I've only just started making dinner..."
Shinji immediately thought of the request he made to Mitsuzuri earlier and realized that Sakura must have been out shopping with Mitsuzuri after school.
"It's okay. I'm not that hungry yet, and..." Shinji said, lifting the basket of fish he had caught, "I've got some fresh fish here. Let's use these for dinner."
"Huh?" Sakura was taken aback, thinking, How did my brother know I didn't have time to buy ingredients and was planning to use the leftovers from yesterday?
...
At the Dinner Table
Watching Sakura, whose face now had a trace of cheerfulness that was previously almost never seen, Shinji maintained a neutral expression. However, he felt genuinely pleased by her subtle transformation. If this continues, Sakura might gradually change from her seemingly weak, secretly yandere nature to a more outwardly cheerful, cunning type.
It may not sound much different, but it is. At least the latter can derive genuine pleasure from being cunning, much like Shinji himself. As for the former, the inner torment never gets released, accumulating and worsening until falling into an inescapable abyss of pain.
This was the limit of what Shinji could do, given that Sakura's psychological issues were centered around him. If it were anyone else, with his "medical skills" and some tricks, he might be able to completely cure her.
"Brother..."
Sakura's voice pulled Shinji out of his thoughts. Seeing her frowning with a serious expression, Shinji asked curiously.
"Yes? What's wrong?"
"Brother..." Sakura shook her head seriously and said, "The Matou family is now just ordinary people, so you absolutely can't break the law!"
Huh? Shinji was puzzled but then noticed something — Sakura was sniffing near him.
No way...
Shinji was utterly bewildered.
Can she tell just by scent that I met with Illya today? And what does she mean by not breaking the law? I'm not that kind of person!
After dinner, unlike his usual routine, Shinji stayed home, washed up, and went to bed early, as he had already succeeded in provoking Caster's enmity.
...
Scene Change to the Einzbern Castle in the Countryside
Illya, wearing a bright yellow silk nightgown, was sitting on her princess bed, hugging a teddy bear and lost in thought.
"...Even though he's so weak, he doesn't want to involve others. Such an unusually naive 'brother'..."
Illya sighed softly, then looked at Berserker, who was squatting quietly by her bed, watching her.
At this moment, Illya made up her mind about her approach... cough, I mean, strategy.
Simply put, if he thinks I'm someone who needs protection and can't be involved, he must see me as very weak.
So the plan is straightforward: first, show my willingness to team up; then prove that I'm not weak; finally, insist on joining their duo to make it a trio.
After that, it gets even simpler — use some tricks to drive Rin away or annoy her enough to leave, leaving just Illya and Shirou in their own world.
"Yes! That's it!"
Illya nodded firmly, affirming her plan and deciding to act on it the next day.
Thus, Illya successfully figured out how to trigger the hidden route — Illya's route. Congratulations!
Of course, the biggest victim of this so-called Illya route — Caster — was still unaware of the gravity of the situation and did not realize that she was about to become the public enemy in this Holy Grail War, with enmity stably directed at her.
At this moment, Caster was happily leading Rin and Shirou on a wild goose chase. In simple terms, she was draining energy from people here and there, dragging them along but always staying one step ahead, taunting them with every move. (Chanting: Haha, you can't catch me, no matter what...)
...
February 5th, Tuesday
It was another rare sunny day.
Shinji, who had gotten up early, was about to greet his sister and head out for his morning exercise when he noticed the dark circles under her eyes.
"Sakura?" Shinji called out cautiously. "Are you okay? Did you stay up late last night?"
"Uh..." Sakura turned and smiled, brushing her hair aside. "Well, the finals are coming up, so I studied a bit more..."
"Uh..."
Shinji didn't know what to say. He was all too familiar with the faint scent of various drugs clinging to his sister. He couldn't let her continue down this path, making futile efforts with those concoctions that had no effect on him.
After some thought, Shinji decided to distract her and shift her focus from those pointless activities. After all, he couldn't directly point it out without embarrassing Sakura.
"So it was for your studies..." Shinji nodded thoughtfully. "Do you want me to help you study? I'm quite good at my schoolwork..."
"Really?!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise but then hesitated as she remembered something: Her drug development had just reached a critical point. Although the idea of spending evenings studying with her brother was very appealing, based on her observations, even studying together for a year wouldn't lead to any substantial progress with this dense brother of hers.
But drugs were different. Once successfully developed, they would yield immediate and "substantial" results! Should she focus on drug-making or choose to study with him? Should she endure the hardship or opt for a tempting but minor benefit?
Sakura was conflicted and didn't know what to choose.
"Sakura?"
Hearing Shinji call her again, Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and made up her mind.
"Yes! I'll need your help."
Sakura smiled sweetly. Making drugs... could wait for late nights and weekends!
She decided to do it all!
After all, as the saying goes —
During school days, as long as you attend classes properly, there's no such thing as insufficient sleep!