Heroic Spirit: I, Shinji, have tried my best.

夜晚

In a dark alley, a man with a young face but gray hair was leaning against the wall. His face hidden under the hood was twisted into a ball, looking extremely hideous.

"Pfft, cough cough... cough cough cough..."

A large mouthful of blood was spat out, mixed with a few twisting insects.

"It seems that I don't have much time left. Don't worry, Sakura, I will definitely take you away!"

The dim light from the street lamp shone on the back of the man's hand, and a tattoo-like black pattern suddenly glowed red.

"In the name of the Command Seal, come back, Berserker!"

An armored man with a black aura and dressed like a medieval knight suddenly appeared in the alley. The man frowned as he looked at the large and small damages on the knight's armor...

……

"There have been quite a few cases of missing children recently. You two should remember not to run around after school and go home quickly."

Hearing Matou Tsuruno's rare concern, Shinji looked at his father's back with some complicated feelings.

Was it because of...guilt? Or was it because he felt guilty as a father?

On the way to school, Shinji thought about meeting Waver during the day off tomorrow, but he didn't seem to have anything to show for himself. He only had a magic book with some basic explanations, which was not attractive at all...

But the Holy Grail War won't last long. After the King of Conquerors is defeated, Waver will probably just go into hiding. Then don't expect a little brat to find the hiding magician.

"Oh, it's so hard for me."

It's obviously a battle that has nothing to do with me, but I still have to spend so much effort to plan it. Damn it, the time is too tight. Even if I could live a few more years, it would be fine. I'm not even ten years old, asshole!

He walked to the teaching building with an unhappy look on his face. On the way, he met Harukawa Yumiko walking with some little boys and girls. Yumiko also saw him, and turned her head to the side with a "snort", looking arrogant.

Shinji ignored her. First, he couldn't get angry with a child. Second, she was Sakura's only friend, so he even had to thank her for that. As for the last point, he wasn't bragging. He could walk around in this elementary school just by force. He was self-disciplined from the age of zero. Are you kidding me? A first-grade girl would cry for a long time after being punched, and she couldn't be comforted! But just because Shinji didn't care didn't mean that others didn't care either...

"Hey! Yumiko, do you know that Matou Shinji?"

"I never said I knew him... What's wrong with him? Is he famous?"

"Well, it should be quite famous..."

"His grades have always been very good!"

"He just acts like a cocky ass all day long and never talks to anyone."

"That's right, and his beatings hurt so much!"

"..."

“…What’s wrong?”

"You've been beaten by him before!" You Youzi was really shocked. This guy didn't really beat anyone.

"Well, that day when Sota and I were playing in the bathroom, we accidentally bumped into him, and he was using the bathroom at the time, and then the two of us...were beaten up by him."

...I have nothing to say about this. You deserve to be beaten. I really don’t understand what’s going on in the minds of you boys.

……

Shinji was really bored in class, so he took out his research manuscript and started reading it. He had already made some progress in using magic to release ninjutsu. For the simplest shadow clone technique, he only needed to study one seal, and then with the infusion of a large amount of magic power, he could finally create something. But it was just a "thing", and no matter how he looked at it, that piece of shit didn't look like it had any combat power. As for the other five types of ninjutsu, he hadn't even figured out the seals yet.

He is in urgent need of a reference. After all, he has never seen any real magic tricks. He is just trying blindly. You can imagine how inefficient he is.

I spent another day studying out of boredom.

"Goodbye, teacher!"

As soon as Shinji walked out the door, he saw Sakura standing in the corridor. When she saw him, she immediately ran over.

"Brother, Yumiko asked me to go shopping with her this afternoon!"

"I may have to go back a little late today. Please tell your father and ask him not to worry."

Don't worry, he won't care what happens to you.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll leave."

"Oh ok, bye brother!"

"..."

There was no reply. Sakura felt a little disappointed, but she quickly returned to normal. After spending these days with Yumiko, she was able to take the initiative to talk to others. Sooner or later, she would make her brother accept her!

Shinji slowly returned home and began to pack his things, planning to meet "Alexander's Princess" Weber tomorrow.

He did not take the book, but brought his research manuscripts and his ninja tool bag - a leather bag containing dozens of fruit knives and utility knives of different sizes and shapes. Most of them were sharpened after being used in the training ground after being bought. Their sharpness was not weaker than that of ordinary weapons, but they could also be used as consumables.

"Boom boom boom!"

There was a sudden and urgent knock on the door, and Shinji's body suddenly tensed up.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

There was another round of more violent knocks on the door. Shinji opened the door carefully, and in front of him was Sakura, who was supposed to be going out to play with Yumiko.

Looking at Sakura, who was leaning against the door frame, breathing heavily, with tears on her face, Shinji's heart suddenly tightened. It seemed that there was trouble!

……

After listening to Sakura's explanation, Shinji pressed his temple with one hand, trying to ease his inner anxiety.

"So you were originally with Yumiko, but after you went to the bathroom, Yumiko disappeared, and when you were looking for her, you found her shoes in the alley..."

Sakura nodded suddenly and said in a tearful voice: "Brother, Yumiko wouldn't...wouldn't she have been kidnapped by bad guys!"

"Not necessarily. Maybe he had to go home in a hurry. The shoes might just look similar..."

Shinji himself felt a little lacking in confidence when he said this. Sakura was a little dazed, but she was not stupid. A first-grade kid didn't even have a cell phone, and normally she wouldn't suddenly abandon others and leave, not to mention that there had been a lot of children going missing recently, and when they were finally found, they had turned into horrible corpses.

"Brother..." Sakura threw herself into Shinji's arms, her body shaking uncontrollably. "What should I do now?"

According to convention, Shinji should have pushed her away at this time, but he couldn't do it... He gently carried Sakura back to her room and put her on the bed.

"It's okay, it's just a dream, just have a good sleep..."

"Brother," Sakura pulled Shinji's clothes, "Will I be able to see Yumiko again in the future?"

Looking at the only glimmer of hope left in my sister's empty eyes.

"I've already told you that Yumiko must have remembered something and left first. Remember to find her and give her a good scolding tomorrow!"

After saying that, he took Sakura's hand and tucked her into the quilt, bent down and kissed her forehead, then closed the door and left.

Glancing at the packages he was packing, Shinji left the Matou residence.

Walking aimlessly on the street, the setting sun stretched the shadows of the surrounding objects into long and thin lines.

Shinji suddenly felt confused. He suddenly didn't understand why he had been working so hard all this time. After all, no one had ever told him that his mission was to protect Sakura. Why did he have to fight wits and courage with people who had nothing to do with him every day? Why did he have to go against those who he could hardly defeat?

Love? Impossible. Apart from the less than one year we spent together, I had only seen her stories on TV. There was no way I could have any love for her.

Lusting after her body? It was even more impossible. Even if he did nothing, according to Matou Zouken's idea, Sakura would be his wife in the future, giving birth to excellent offspring to help him win the Holy Grail sixty years later. Even if he didn't do it according to his idea, she would not resist anything he did to Sakura in the future, including...

So... why is that?

I unknowingly walked to the place where Sakura said Yumiko disappeared. I looked around and didn't see any surveillance equipment. In such a big city like Fuyuki, the police have been looking for the murderer for years but couldn't find him. How could I find him?

"boom!"

A faint explosion was heard and Shinji turned to look at the source of the sound, but his view was blocked by layers of buildings.

This direction... seems to be the seaside...

Wait, the beach!

……

"Hmm..."

In the basement of a private sun room, a cheerful boy sat on a chair with an unsealed bottle of red wine in his hand. This was a nice picture, if we ignored the large amount of blood around him, the bodies of children on the cross, and the occasional wailing...

"Master, you are so slow. Aren't you ready yet?"

His eyes swept across some new faces on the cross on the right, several faces full of fear, and one of them was the missing Harukawa Yumiko!

"Well, let me play with you guys first before I admire the master's greatest masterpiece."

"Uh huh..."

With her mouth blocked and her face covered with tears, Yumiko closed her eyes in despair.

"Who will... who will save me?"