Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 876 - : The Archery Club and Ayako Mitsuzuri

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In Japan, from elementary school onward, there are diverse and vibrant club activities. Joining a club isn't seen as a distraction, but rather as an integral part of school life. To ensure the quality of these clubs, schools allocate a budget each year to support their development.

For students, participating in club activities is the norm; those who don't are considered outliers. Take Shiki Tohno as an example—if it weren't for the anemia symptoms caused by his life force deficiency, he wouldn't be rushing home right after class.

Club activities typically take place after school, but sports clubs with a competitive aspect often add a morning practice before school. Japanese schools start late and finish early, so extra time is set aside for these activities.

Sakura and Shinji leave home early because of these club activities.

As a ghost student at school, Shinji not only dislikes attending classes but is also unlikely to join any clubs. However, while Shinji doesn't participate, Sakura does—she's a member of one of the most famous clubs in Fuyuki and its surrounding areas: the Homurahara Academy Archery Club.

Archery is a popular sport in Japan, with many competitions, and the Homurahara Academy Archery Club has an excellent track record, receiving significant attention from the school. Each year, many students apply to join the club, but only those with exceptional talent or a solid foundation in archery from a young age pass the tests and are admitted.

For Sakura, who has been trained in martial arts since childhood and possesses far superior physical abilities, passing the entrance test was child's play. Even without a background in archery, she quickly rose to the position of vice-captain and is hailed as the club's rising star, earning the admiration and expectations of her fellow members.

The morning practice for the archery club starts at seven, giving an hour before classes officially begin at eight. At this time, most students haven't arrived at school yet, so the campus is quite empty.

The siblings don't mind this quietness. Sakura is used to such a campus, and Shinji, who seldom comes to school, doesn't care much either—whether it's crowded or empty makes no difference to him. Moreover, having decided to accompany his sister, he has no intention of going anywhere else. While Sakura practices with the archery club, he simply follows her to the archery range to observe.

As one of the school's flagship facilities, the archery range is professionally built with all the necessary archery equipment. From a middle school perspective, it might even seem excessive. It's said that the school principal is extremely fond of archery, which is why a significant amount of money was invested to build this professional venue. The club's excellent performance is also closely tied to its well-equipped training facilities.

As soon as she enters the archery range, Sakura seems to change, transforming from the little sister who relies on her brother into the star of the club. She greets her seniors and peers, then starts arranging the equipment, organizing the venue, and assigning roles with the authority of a manager.

Under her leadership, it takes less than ten minutes for the archery club's morning practice to begin. Dressed in a traditional archery uniform, Sakura holds her bow in one hand and a white-feathered arrow in the other, aiming at the target before shooting her first arrow of the day.

There's no need to see the result—just from Sakura's taut posture and focused gaze, Shinji knows that this arrow is bound to hit the bullseye.

And as expected, it did—without any suspense.

This shot set a positive tone for today's practice, with the members taking turns at the shooting positions, arrow after arrow. Whenever someone achieved a good score, their companions would applaud. Naturally, Sakura, the vice-captain and second-in-command, received the most applause and had the best performance.

Seeing his sister surrounded by peers, smiling so purely, Shinji casually sipped his tea, feeling content. Keeping her out of the Clock Tower and letting her attend a regular school in Fuyuki was the right decision. It might slightly delay her magical training, but that loss is insignificant compared to her healthy development.

This is for the best. Such a cute sister—if she had grown up twisted, turning into one of those detestable mainstream magi, Shinji would never forgive himself.

As the next round of practice began, Sakura hit the bullseye again—her fifth bullseye of the day, setting a new personal record.

After putting down her bow, the girl flipped her purple hair, which she had tied into a ponytail to avoid interfering with her aim, and waved at Shinji, making a strange hand gesture by connecting her thumb and forefinger.

This gesture was something only the siblings understood, a memory unique to their childhood. Back then, when Shinji had just started learning Runes and chose to use a slingshot to maximize the power of rune stones, Sakura, who always followed her brother, also wanted to learn. So Shinji made her a slingshot as well—not a professional-grade composite slingshot, but a simple toy. Even so, Sakura enjoyed it immensely, practicing with her brother every day. Whenever she hit the target, she would wave at Shinji in this way.

"This girl..."

Shinji chuckled softly, his gaze filled with warmth.

"Well, well, isn't this the rumored genius student?"

A female voice came from behind him. Shinji turned to face the girl who had spoken, someone both unfamiliar and familiar.

Unfamiliar because they had little interaction, only speaking a few times and knowing each other's names.

Familiar because she reminded him of an old friend. Her short, ear-length hair, a face that combined both softness and strength and that carefree, unrestrained personality all made her seem like a version of Shiki Ryougi, except for her physique—while Shiki didn't have a figure much better than Rin Tohsaka's, the girl before him could easily compete with Sakura in that regard.

"Oh, I don't deserve such praise. Speaking of rumors and fame, it seems like you have much more of both than I do, Ayako Mitsuzuri."

Ayako Mitsuzuri was the girl's name. Before Shinji's reincarnation, she was famous as a little version of Shiki, and was even given the nickname One of Fuyuki's Four Guardians, with the title Nuclear Arrow. Though this nickname was more of a joke or meme, one thing was undeniable—excluding any magical qualities, Ayako Mitsuzuri was not inferior to Shiki Ryougi at all.

Her appearance and figure needed no further comment, and like Shiki, Ayako was born into a warrior family, training in martial arts from a young age. She was skilled in all eighteen forms of martial arts and had a saying, "A beauty who doesn't learn martial arts is useless." Her skills were exceptional for an ordinary person—she could break ten bricks with a single punch and was a modern-day heroine.

Due to her outstanding appearance and straightforward personality, she was very popular at school. Her formidable strength also led many students to privately regard her as one of the most intimidating people at school.

"Just call me Mitsuzuri."

The girl casually sat down next to Shinji.

"I'm here every day, but you're rarely here. If you were, you'd be more famous than me. So, what kind of wind blew you, who rarely comes to school, into our archery club today?"