Before sleeping, Shirou hesitated whether or not to train.
The two boxes of milk today earned him a stare from Sella, that gaze definitely wasn't wrong. She doubted whether he was a real man.
Could he endure that?
'System, let's go train.'
It was currently 11:30 PM. If he trained for an hour and a half, he'd sleep at 1 AM. Then get up at 5. He'd definitely be sleep-deprived.
But Shirou had his own plan, he wanted to see if it would work.
["Please choose training option: Strength…"]
'What else? Obviously strength.'
Shirou couldn't wait another second. A real man should be able to snap a utility pole with one punch.
The body began to move.
Arriving at the Tiger Dojo, Shirou ran for ten minutes to warm up.
Then took off his jacket, squats, push-ups, planks, lunges, full intensity. It was as if the last two days were trial runs; today was the real deal.
By the end, Shirou's legs were shaking.
He staggered out of the Tiger Dojo.
["Completed one "Strength" training session. Strength increased. Endurance increased slightly. Agility has increased to C."]
Shirou: "?"
'Do you even see what you just said?'
'I trained strength, and you turned around and raised my agility. You trying to make me the Flash?'
The system didn't respond, and Shirou had no choice but to sigh and go take a bath.
After bathing, it was nearly 1:20 AM.
———
Shirou lay in bed.
'System, help me sleep.'
This was what Shirou wanted to test.
Under training mode, whatever he did was in a perfect state.
'So sleeping should be possible too.'
["Confirm initiating "Sleep" training mode?"]
'Yes.'
The moment he chose "yes," Shirou lost consciousness, collapsing straight onto the bed.
To prevent catching a cold, System Shirou even thoughtfully tucked him in. Caring like a mom.
———
4 AM, Shirou woke up.
Not the time to train yet, but he couldn't fall back asleep, he was full of energy and spirit.
He opened the status panel.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Name: Emiya Shirou]
[Age: Of age]
[Strength: D]
[Endurance: D]
[Agility: C]
[Charm: EX]
[Skills: Housekeeping: EX, Writing: D, High Jump: ?, Sleep: D]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
A new skill had appeared, Sleep.
'Looking at it like this, I actually have some talent for sleeping?"
But, he'd run so many laps at school but still hadn't acquired a running skill. That showed, he really was just good at sleeping.
Maybe one day he could sleep in one second, like the system. Which would be an A-rank.
Forget about EX, that wasn't something a human could touch. According to the system, the only one with EX-rank sleep was a conceptual god from Doraemon: Nobi Nobita.
'Train!'
No extra words, Shirou just wanted to turn this damn D-rank strength into C.
———
[Two Hours Passed]
At 6 AM, his endurance had risen to C, but strength still hadn't moved.
'System, is there something wrong with your panel?', Shirou began to doubt.
He didn't believe he was this weak.
'Also, whose data is this panel mapped to?'
'I am not Red Archer.'
Shirou got even more annoyed and decided to ignore the system for a day.
He took off his shirt and looked in the mirror.
"Huh? Abs?", Shirou stared in the mirror, up and down, left and right, carefully examining for five minutes.
Finally confirmed, he had abs.
Even if it was just the outline, there were six, real abs. From now on, he was someone with meat under the shirt too.
"Oni-Onii-chan! What are you doing?", Miyu, who had come out to use the bathroom, was shocked.
'Why is my brother grinning like a creep in front of the mirror?'
"Miyu, perfect timing," Shirou couldn't wait and pulled her into the bathroom, locking the door.
"O-Onii-chan!", Miyu's cheeks turned red.
'My brother, who has been living with me for so long, is finally going to lay hands on me?' [T/N: 😑]
"Miyu, look! I've got abs!", Just as Miyu anticipated the next step, Shirou placed her hand on his stomach.
'Huh?', Miyu's brain froze. Like a snake biting its own tail.
'Why?'
'Why is it like this?', Miyu was filled with grief and indignation. They had clearly become more intimate, but… she couldn't feel happy.
"How is it, Miyu?"
"Yeah~", Under Shirou's repeated prompts, Miyu looked completely uninterested. Like a wilted vegetable, she rubbed his stomach.
"Eh?", Her expression gradually turned amazed.
"Onii-chan really does have abs," Miyu's small palm slid across Shirou's stomach, fingertips softly brushing his skin. As if to confirm she wasn't imagining it, she placed both hands on it.
Her delicate face read: focused.
"Right?", Shirou was also happy.
His hard training hadn't been in vain, though strength was still D, abs don't lie.
That said…
"Um… Miyu," Shirou's expression grew awkward, "Isn't this a bit long for just touching abs?"
"No!", Miyu said seriously, "To prevent it being an illusion, let Miyu touch them for ten more minutes."
Shirou went silent. Afraid the plot would leap straight into the forbidden zone, he forcefully tossed Miyu out (actually coaxed her out), closed the door and took a shower.
While washing, he sighed, 'Miyu's growing up, she's interested in men's abs now.'
———
After bathing, Shirou got dressed.
With more people at home now, he could no longer walk out with just a towel like before. Soon, he would be glad for his foresight.
At 6:30, Sella and Liz arrived.
Seeing Shirou's damp hair, Sella was surprised, "Shirou-sama…"
"Leysritt!", Shirou cut her off and looked at her seriously.
Sella went silent.
Behind her, Leysritt tilted her head, "Shi… Shirou, what is it?"
"Could I trouble you to put Illya and Miyu's clothes into the washing machine?", Shirou's tone was very natural, as if he really had meant to call Liz.
Sella's face was blank as she picked up a broom.
"Don't block me, Shirou. I'm sweeping trash," That's what she said, but she kept jabbing the broom at his leg.
'So I am the trash?'
Shirou thought for a moment and said, "Actually, me mistaking you is a compliment to Sella."
"Compliment?", Sella repeated.
Shirou nodded seriously, "That's right, it means I don't judge people by appearances."
As he said it, his gaze seemed to pause somewhere.
Sella's face darkened, she couldn't take it anymore.
"That's it! I'll never entrust Milady to someone like you! EMIya ShiROU!"
———
Between people, between individuals, there are differences, those differences are what make humans distinguishable.
Shirou had always thought his memory was decent, that he wouldn't mix people up.
But reality proves, if you walk by the river often, your shoes are bound to get wet.
Kicked out of the kitchen, Shirou sat in front of the living room TV with Taiga, watching the news and thinking.
'How can I make Sella forgive me?'
Illya had said Sella was her family, then, as Illya's family, he had to get along with her. At the very least, not be disliked. At the same time, he had to be careful not to be liked.
'Why consider that?'
'It all stemmed from the high jump.'
Shirou suspected they had all seen his high jump. The basis: all three had good impressions of him.
["To all residents of Fuyuki City, please note that last night a gas leak occurred on Fuyuki Bridge. Experts are currently investigating…"]
"Gas leak?", Taiga leaned her cheek on her hand, eyes full of thought.
"That's weird. Do they even store gas tanks on Fuyuki Bridge?"
BANG!
The table shook violently.
"What are you doing, Shirou?", Taiga was so startled her hair stood up.
If not for his low strength, the table would have been smashed.
But the culprit had no time to care about others' stares, he was staring dead at the news of the gas explosion.
'System, I'm confirming with you again, this world has no magi, no Holy Grail War?'
Shirou's tone wasn't a question, it was interrogation.
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