CHP 34: Growing Up (Patreon)

Sakura Matou looked at herself in the mirror with a small smile on her face, preparing herself for the rest of the day.

"Today will be amazing." She held up her fists and nodded to herself with conviction, "Hopefully, Nii-san will be at school too."

She'd already changed into the Homurahara Academy uniform that her old brother incessantly complained about, comparing it's dominantly brown colour scheme to human waste, but wore all the same when he joined the school last year.

The last few years of life saw her live happily, without a single worry or need (because her brother was there), in fact, one could even say she'd been spoiled. 

It was to a point where the years she'd spent in the dreadful Matou household seemed like a fleeting memory.

The Matou name, which had been a source of fear and despair for her, had become one she now carried proudly solely because of the current family head, her dear older brother.

He listened when she ranted, he helped whenever she asked and encouraged her whenever she was down, he also did certain questionable things to anyone who so much as looked at her the wrong way.

She'd gone from living in constant fear to a blissful ease in a household full of life.

From Caren's brutal analyses of anything that breathed, to Shinji and Shirou's spats and odd adventures, to Tiamat's sulking about her time with HER brother being reduced as they grew up. Not to mention Miss Cortana's constant theories on why humans as a species were stupid and that her 'father' should stop calling himself one and embrace technology.

Sakura Matou loved it all, no, she couldn't begin to imagine a life without what she had.

Her sister was still somewhat distant but they'd gotten much closer over Shirou's daily magecraft lessons.

Honestly, she wondered if she deserved all she had at times.

Her brother had also changed over the past few years.

Maybe it was his hunts for magi and executors, or his research, but he'd become... different.

Not to say that that was a bad thing, she'd love him always.

He'd grown much taller, saying something about 'fuck Japanese genes', and modifying his own body to match his original heritage... The cute face that he prided himself on was gone though, replaced by a much sharper, if not slightly gaunt, one that had her worry sometimes.

...His eye colour had also changed for some reason she could never understand.

Anyway! Enough reminiscing!

She had her first day of school today!

Resolving herself again, Sakura briskly made her way out of her room and into the living where she was greeted by a sulking Tiamat.

"Did Nii-san tell you to stay home again?"

"Yes~..." The older woman complained with teary crimson eyes, lying on the table, "I could've stayed... in his pocket..."

Tiamat was, perhaps, the only member of their household that hadn't changed during the time.

But Sakura supposed that made sense, she was a Goddess.

"Headed to school?" Caren walked out of the kitchen, a bar of chocolate sticking out of her mouth... wearing only shorts and a tank top with her long white hair hanging loose.

Sakura nodded quietly.

"Be sure not to get attached to the first person that seems nice. People are shallow and you aren't particularly smart." Caren spoke plainly, sauntering over to the table, a laptop in her hands, "Or maybe do, I could do with not having to look out for a puppy."

Flinching, Sakura laughed nervously, "Thank you for caring, Caren."

"Stop projecting, I couldn't care less about competition."

Caren acted stingy but, if she really didn't care, she never would have warned her so Sakura just smiled at her and nodded, "Take care of yourself."

"You too."

"I heard that." Sakura giggled as she stepped outside.

Of course as soon as she stepped outside she found her gaze drawn to the clear blue sky, or more specifically, to a barely noticeable red dot in the sky.

Sakura didn't really know what it was.

Most people seemed to miss it was even there but she did remember that the day it showed up.

Her brother was extremely excited and a mountain had disappeared in Fuyuki's outskirts, courtesy of a mysterious gas leak.

He'd called it his 'masterpiece'.

An armed mobile deployment station that took years to fully assemble.

"I wonder what that means."

She'd tried to do her own research, but nothing really came up... which was expected, since most of what her brother did was 'light years beyond mere monkeys'.

Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts, Sakura made her way outside and found a black sedan waiting for her. Clutching her bag, she opened the door and took a seat in the back.

"Hello, young miss. Boss wanted me to make sure nobody tried nothing today."

Sakura smiled politely at the gruff-looking Scotsman in the driver's seat, "Thank you."

She didn't see him much but he did often visit their home and talk to her brother so Sakura had no reason to not trust Sean.

"No problem." He tipped his fedora, looking at her through the rearview mirror, "I doubt anything'll happen but eh, I guess it don't hurt to be safe... I pity the poor bastard that gets on your brother's bad side."

"What do you mean? Nii-san is too nice for his own sake."

"Yeah, your bloody Nissan's only gotten nicer over the years." Sean snickered and started driving.

"It's not Nissan." Sakura pouted.

-

Homurahara Academy was a walled-off compound, surrounded by trees, with several multi-story buildings scattered across it. 

The main school building was the first thing that stood out when they pulled into the parking lot, followed by a rather large ground for recess and other buildings for what Sakura thought were club buildings.

But, her attention didn't linger on the school for much longer.

Why?

Well obviously because Shinji was waiting near the gate, with Shirou.

They were both second years now, along with her sister.

Sakura noted that most of the students seemed to be steering well clear of Shinji but dismissed it as a coincidence, how could any dislike her kind older brother?

"Shinji, have you thought about exercising?"

"Between us, you're the one that's more physically fit, right?" Shinji quipped back and Shirou nodded, "And you think you can take me in a fight?"

"That's not the problem and you know it."

"There is no problem. You're exaggerating for no reason." Shinji shrugged dismissively.

Sakura made her way to them with the biggest of smiles, holding her bag in front of her with both hands, "Nii-san, you're here."

"Heh...Nissan." Shinji snickered like his 'minion', his red eyes flickering her way.

He'd gone from looking completely innocent to someone... well, he was tall and lean, with red eyes that seemed to have something written into the sclera and sharp features.

You get her meaning!

"Mou! It's not Nissan." Sakura complained with a smile.

"It's what it sounds like, and nothing can change my mind." Shinji just shrugged again, narrowing his eyes at Sean before giving him a small nod, "Anyway, tell me if someone bothers you."

"No one's going to bother me."

"Yeah, you say that but you look like prime bullying material. It's the only reason I'm here." He ruffled her hair with a small smile before turning to Shirou, "Shirou, can I count on you to keep an eye on her?"

Shirou nodded seriously.

"Good. I'm ditching this place."

"Where are you going, Nii-san?"

"London. The Rail Zeppelin's in and I need to harass somebody about the magi I had to put down." He explained briefly, "For all my instigation, there was no fucking war so all I really did was clean up the Clock Tower's mess. No one gets to take advantage of Shinjiberg."

"Well... be safe."

He'd kept her far removed from any matters involving the supernatural side of things so that really was all Sakura could say.

"Don't worry, I'll be safe. I'm going prepped for a war."

Giving her head one final pat, he walked off towards the same car she'd arrived here in.

"...He left." Sakura deflated.

Shirou echoed, "He did... but, you're with him every day. This... isn't healthy." 

"You wouldn't get it!"

Sighing, Shirou took her bag, "Come on, I’ll take you to class."

-

Hope you enjoyed.

Leave a comment.

For explanations,

This is a five year timeskip.

There wasn't really much I could do with him being a kid, and I have an extreme personal distaste for main characters that are THAT young. Shinji is 17 now.

There's a few months to go till the 5th HGW and I have a bit of stuff to write in before that.

As for what Shinji did PERSONALLY during that time, I'll expand on it in bits because the whole next chapter'd look like a diary entry otherwise.

A bit wobbly in my head this particular chapter but I've been feeling off my game the whole day anyway so it's probably just that.

Normal Shinji

Superior Shinji, aka, Shinjiberg