"Why have you come again?"
In the teacher's office of Sobu High School, Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at Yukinoshita Haruno sitting across from her and revealed a somewhat speechless expression.
"Don't tell me you're coming to find Shin again? Do you really want to be an older woman eating young grass?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka didn't know that there was anything special about Shin. In her view, Shin was just a very ordinary good student.
Although recently, Shin seemed to attract girls' favor especially because of certain reasons, even attracting girls from other schools.
But Shin's usual performance was very good, so Hiratsuka Shizuka could tolerate this little "trouble" that Shin brought.
And now, Yukinoshita Haruno was coming to school for the second time because of Shin. This also made Hiratsuka Shizuka become somewhat vigilant.
Could it be that Yukinoshita Haruno had taken a fancy to Shin? So she kept running to Sobu High School for Shin's sake.
"Do I look like the kind of person who would make moves on a male high school student?"
Hearing Hiratsuka Shizuka's suspicion, Yukinoshita Haruno laughed helplessly—although she knew Hiratsuka Shizuka was probably just teasing her, she still couldn't help but retort.
"What kind of image do I have in your heart, Shizu-chan?"
"Who told you to always wear a mask. How would I know what your true thoughts are?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka glanced at Yukinoshita Haruno—as Yukinoshita Haruno's former teacher and friend, she was quite familiar with Yukinoshita Haruno's personality.
This person always wore a false mask and wouldn't easily reveal her inner true thoughts. Even Hiratsuka Shizuka found her somewhat inscrutable.
Saying that Yukinoshita Haruno wanted to be an older woman eating young grass actually had a bit of probing Yukinoshita Haruno's intentions, to see what kind of scheme she was plotting.
However, Yukinoshita Haruno was still the same as usual. Hiratsuka Shizuka still couldn't see what Yukinoshita Haruno was thinking, nor did she know what was special about Shin.
"In any case, finding Shin this time isn't anything dangerous, so you can rest assured."
Seeing that Hiratsuka Shizuka still had a vigilant appearance, Yukinoshita Haruno also put her hands together, smiled lightly at her, and made a relaxed request.
Of course, although she seemed very relaxed, she was actually still somewhat nervous and serious inside.
Originally, after being directly told by Shin last time that she "didn't have Stand aptitude," Yukinoshita Haruno had basically given up the idea of continuing to pester Shin.
However, last time when she was on the phone with Yukinoshita Yukino, Yukinoshita Yukino seemed to have noticed Shin's special qualities.
She had said she wanted Yukinoshita Yukino to attend the Yukinoshita family's dinner party, but Yukinoshita Yukino had specifically asked whether Shin would go.
Although afterward, Yukinoshita Haruno wanted to pursue the matter and ask what was going on, Yukinoshita Yukino didn't answer and directly hung up the phone.
This made Yukinoshita Haruno unable to stay calm—she didn't know for what reason or how Yukinoshita Yukino knew about Shin's special qualities.
But if it was because of the Yukinoshita family... then Yukinoshita Haruno had to do something.
Although she usually acted very cold toward her younger sister, in reality, she cared about Yukinoshita Yukino immensely in her heart.
It didn't matter if she herself became a sacrifice of the Yukinoshita family, but her younger sister—Yukinoshita Yukino absolutely couldn't walk down this path.
This somewhat rough thinking was Yukinoshita Haruno's somewhat "twisted" concern for her sister.
Shin temporarily didn't know yet that because of Yukinoshita Haruno's conversation with her own sister, Yukinoshita Haruno, who had originally given up pestering Shin, had returned to school again.
Right now, he was looking with somewhat subtle eyes at an empty space beside his seat.
Currently in the classroom, normal classes were being conducted. A middle-aged balding teacher on the podium was writing on the blackboard.
And at this same moment, beside Shin's seat was another presence.
However, this presence couldn't be perceived by anyone in the classroom except Shin—because this presence had come in spirit form.
That's right, the visitor was Mordred—as a Heroic Spirit, she possessed the ability to become spirit form.
Heroic Spirits in spirit form could greatly reduce mana consumption. In the Holy Grail War, most Heroic Spirits were in spirit form when on standby.
And Heroic Spirits in this state were like pure "spirits," existing in the form of energy, invisible and intangible.
Of course, Shin could see Mordred and could also touch Mordred.
On one hand, it was because much of Mordred's mana was supplied by Shin. On the other hand, it was also because Shin originally had the ability to touch "spirits."
"Is this modern society's way of learning? Don't you find it boring?"
Mordred stood beside Shin's seat just like that, evaluating and commenting on modern schools without reservation.
"Ah, but it seems you're not studying seriously either."
That's right. When Mordred came just now, she clearly saw Shin playing on his phone.
With "Blackbird Requiem" fixing results, teachers basically couldn't possibly discover Shin blatantly "slacking off."
To put it bluntly, Shin came to school mainly just to increase his time together with girls, enjoying so-called "youth." Learning and such was no longer important.
"So you came over just to show that you don't like studying?"
Shin looked at spirit-form Mordred with a half-smile.
Of course Mordred wasn't a personality that loved studying, so it was normal for her to feel that school was boring.
However, Mordred specifically came running to school, presumably not just to express her feelings, right?
"Of course not. I heard from my Master that in school classrooms, students can't move around freely, right?"
Hearing this, Mordred revealed a wicked smile, and the way she looked at Shin also began to become wrong.
"So... in your current state, you shouldn't be able to resist any of my actions, right?"
The Master that Mordred mentioned was of course Rin Tohsaka.
As a standard good student, it made sense for Rin Tohsaka to tell Mordred common knowledge like "students can't move around freely during class."
"I see. So you want to defeat me while I'm in class?"
Shin glanced at Mordred, his tone somewhat playful.
"Of course I didn't think about directly defeating you here, but... I should at least be able to get back a bit of interest, right?"
Mordred rubbed her fists together, seemingly not realizing the meaning in Shin's tone.
She had been toyed with by Shin in various positions before, so this time she also planned to get some payback from Shin.
At the very least, getting a little revenge on him should be doable, right?
However, she obviously underestimated Shin's abilities.
"Is that so? Then take a look around?"
Shin suddenly showed a smile toward Mordred, then reminded her.
Hearing Shin's reminder, Mordred was stunned, then turned to look around.
Immediately after, Mordred discovered with surprise that the classroom that had been having class normally just now had suddenly quieted down.
The students sitting at their desks suddenly stopped moving, and the teacher on the podium also froze in the motion of writing on the board, not moving.
"Blackbird: The World... I've temporarily stopped time."
Under Mordred's panicked gaze, Shin slowly stood up from his chair, looking at Mordred with a wicked smile on his face.
"As for you being able to move, that's because I granted you a small portion of 'The World's' ability, allowing you to maintain the ability to act in the time-stopped world.
Of course, normally, 'Blackbird: The World' can only stop time for 7 seconds."
But this 7-second time stop was only the beginning.
To be continued…