Chapter 53
Friday, February 1st
6:00 AM
At the Matou residence, Sakura was busy in the kitchen, wearing an apron and humming a cheerful tune. Although it was strange that her brother hadn't gotten up for his morning exercise yet, she didn't think much of it.
After all, making a nutritious and delicious breakfast for her brother was the most important thing. The thought of her brother waking up, wearing the clothes she washed, eating the breakfast she made, drinking the coffee she brewed, and reading the newspaper she fetched from the mailbox...
Today's breakfast is delicious.
Today's coffee is great too.
Hearing her brother praise her like that made Sakura extremely happy!
However, just as she was fantasizing about some forbidden scenarios, Shinji's weak voice came from behind her.
"Sakura, I think I have a cold. I'll skip breakfast and sleep a bit more."
Upon hearing this, Sakura's body stiffened for a moment. She then mechanically turned her head to see Shinji wrapped in a blanket, looking pale and sniffing, with no energy at all.
8:00 AM
After taking another nap and with Sakura's attentive care, Shinji finally felt a bit better. He sat in front of the burning fireplace, wrapped in a blanket and holding a cup of hot tea.
"Sakura, Sakura."
Shinji, lying on the kotatsu table, looked up at Sakura, who was busying herself around the house, and called out, "I'm fine now. You can go to school. I'll be completely better after a bit more rest."
"You have such a high fever. Don't push yourself, brother," Sakura said while tearing open a heat patch.
"I searched the house but couldn't find any medicine. I'll go out and buy some. Just stay home and rest."
"No, I said I'm fine—"
Before Shinji could finish his sentence, Sakura had already placed the only heat patch they had on his forehead and stood up.
"I'm heading out, brother."
"No, I just said—"
Before Shinji could finish his words again, Sakura had already put on her coat and was walking out of the living room without looking back.
"Uh, safe travels."
Watching Sakura's energetic back as she closed the living room door, Shinji felt something was off.
Why does my sister seem a bit too happy?
Shinji's symptoms were actually the aftereffects of tempering his tenth chakra wheel. Each of the seven chakras had to be tempered a thousand times to reach saturation before moving on to the next.
Cold, extreme cold—not physical but mental cold.
According to the system, this coldness or discomfort would only appear at the beginning of the chakra tempering and would gradually decrease and disappear afterward.
Of course, there were also benefits.
Both physical and mental enhancements were significant. To put it simply, if he could play games for a day or two without sleep in his previous life, now he could play for a week!
His physical abilities had increased by at least half.
Roughly speaking, it was like the human limit times two or three, like Batman. However, he still couldn't compare to a Servant, as his strength didn't even match the lowest E-rank.
Moreover, with each chakra wheel tempered, the improvement would gradually shrink, like squeezing out potential bit by bit until everything was extracted.
It was like forging steel to perfection.
Hence the name, "chakra tempering."
10:00 AM
"I'm back. Do you feel any better, brother?"
Sakura opened the living room door, carrying a bag of medicine.
"Welcome back, Sakura. Thanks for your hard work." Shinji, who was fiddling with a laptop, stopped and looked at Sakura with gratitude. "I feel much better already."
Just as he finished speaking, Shinji noticed an unexpected red figure—it was Rin Tohsaka, who was standing behind Sakura with a slightly awkward expression.
"Sorry for intruding."
Despite the surprise and slight annoyance on Shinji's face, Rin maintained her manners.
The story began about half an hour earlier—
Almost forty minutes ago—
Rin, who was planning to take Archer out to familiarize him with the city, had just arrived at the bus stop to head to Shinto when she saw Sakura getting off a returning bus with a bag of medicine.
Caught off guard, the thought of finding a hiding spot flashed through Rin's mind, but it was too late; their eyes met.
Noticing Rin's changing expression, Archer, in his spirit form, asked through their contract channel, "Rin, is it someone you know?"
'Ah, sort of. I wasn't planning to meet her since I skipped school today, but I didn't expect to run into her now.'
Sakura, seemingly making a decision, took a deep breath and walked over nervously.
"Tohsaka-senpai, good morning."
"Oh, Sakura," Rin smiled with one hand on her hip. "What a coincidence. Why aren't you at school today?"
"Um," Sakura responded softly, looking a bit uneasy, "My brother caught a cold, so I took the day off."
"Your brother? Matou Shinji?"
Rin was surprised. After almost two years in high school, she had never heard of Shinji being sick.
"Yes, he has a fever and can't stop sneezing. Maybe he caught a cold last night."
"I see," Rin nodded slightly, then looked at the bag in Sakura's hand. "Did you just buy some medicine?"
"Yes," Sakura answered. "But, Tohsaka-senpai, why didn't you go to school?"
Despite her efforts, Sakura couldn't bring herself to call Rin "sister."
Rin, noticing Sakura's hesitation to call her sister, felt a bit panicked.
"I had something to do today, so I took the day off," Rin said, trying to sound calm.
"I see. Then I won't bother you, Tohsaka-senpai."
Sakura bowed slightly, her voice gentle but with a hint of unhidden disappointment.
Seeing the lingering disappointment in Sakura's eyes, Rin remembered what Shinji had once said—
"If Sakura approaches you, don't always push her away and reject her feelings. She's a very sensitive girl… especially when it comes to you."
"Well, actually, my business doesn't start until the afternoon, so I'm pretty free in the morning. If you want, we could, um, chat for a bit…"
"Really?!" Sakura instinctively asked in surprise. Realizing her excitement, she quickly bowed again, apologizing, "I'm sorry, Tohsaka-senpai, I just…"
Seeing Sakura's reaction, Rin's gaze softened, thinking:
This isn't a bad start...