Jobless Reincarnation: Emiya the Great Hero Must Show His True Skills

Page 20

No, no, no, what exactly is all this hard work about...?

In this chaotic state, Shirou's mind became increasingly numb, and he gradually began to drift towards self-abandonment, teetering on the brink of collapse.

At the same time, when Loki saw Shirou appear and heard what Shirou said, she was stunned as if struck by lightning.

But her mind did not seem to be greatly affected, or rather, it was because she suffered such a great shock that she briefly fell into a state of crash and restart.

After a while, Luo Qixi finally returned to normal. She smiled as usual and slowly spoke:

"W-Isn't this Shirou...? You're still up so late? Me? I was just wandering around here, that's right, just wandering around. Well then, goodbye."

Luo Qixi's expression was unexpectedly calm. Although the other party's words had clearly lost their logic, she still appeared as calm as usual on the surface.

"Ah, uh, okay, thank you for your hard work."

Shirou nodded in response to the atmosphere, and then inadvertently uttered the very words that had been on his mind.

"Hard work?"

Veins were clearly bulging on Luo Qixi's forehead. It was obvious that her brain was instinctively resisting the memory of what had just happened, rather than that she had truly forgotten it.

Shirou quickly said, "I'm sorry, I didn't say anything."

"Ah."

Luo Qixi nodded calmly, as if she had entered some kind of sage mode, and continued walking towards the restroom with a cold expression.

At this moment, Shirou only wanted to leave as soon as possible, but his gaze was uncontrollably drawn to Loki's lower body because water droplets were dripping onto the floor.

Although it was just a casual glance, Luo Qixi looked at him like a frightened bird, and said with a threatening expression, "What are you looking at?!"

"Uh, no, I, I..."

"It's so late, aren't you going home to sleep?"

Hearing Luo Qixi's kind reminder, Shirou finally realized what he should be doing and quickly nodded, saying, "Yes, it's so late, I should go to sleep. I'm sorry, I just happened to come up to the second floor, it was just a coincidence, just a coincidence, I didn't come here to spy on you on purpose..."

"..."

"..."

Although Loki's face was calm, Shirou inexplicably sensed a murderous aura emanating from her gentle features.

"I go first."

Without the slightest hesitation, he decisively headed towards the stairs.

As he walked down the stairs, he breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that what had just happened was even more terrifying than fighting Angelica who used Gilgamesh cards.

The overwhelming tension almost made him suffocate...

On another note, Luo Qixi was quite calm just now. Is this what they call the composure of a mature woman?

But in reality, Loki's appearance is not mature at all, and would a mature woman be spying on Paul and Senis's room while standing outside the door at 0721?

Shirou's heart was in turmoil; he could hardly imagine how he would face Rocchi tomorrow.

He himself was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown and was at a loss.

Meanwhile, after a brief moment of calm, Luo Qixi, who had entered the restroom, found her eyes filled with a swirling vortex, completely lost in a state of confusion.

"Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable!!!! A nightmare, this must be a nightmare! It will definitely be over when I wake up tomorrow morning! That's right, otherwise it wouldn't make sense. If it's not a nightmare, how am I supposed to face Shirou afterwards?!"

Luo Qixi squatted on the toilet, looking at her wet panties, her heart completely broken.

Since leaving the demon village to adventure in the human world, she has experienced countless crises, big and small, but none have shaken her as much as this one.

Or rather, she even wanted to die...

Back in her room, after changing into new underwear, she buried her face in the blankets, screaming hysterically while wrapped in the covers, "Ahhhhh, it's not real! None of that was real! It must be a dream! It must just be a dream!!!"

……

Shirou didn't sleep all night.

The scene of him accidentally witnessing Luo Qixi doing that thing last night kept replaying in his mind. Under the influence of his own overly powerful memory, it became clearer and clearer, to the point that every detail became detailed.

This left Shirou unable to sleep; he lay there with his eyes open until the sun rose before finally getting out of bed.

Tired, genuinely tired.

And for some reason, I really want to cry...

I wish Miyu were by my side.

Presumably, that gentle child will try to comfort himself at this moment and tell himself how to face a girl he just bumped into, and how to interact with her normally.

Uh, even Miyu couldn't do something like that...

"Sigh, maybe you should just apologize honestly."

Shirou sighed, his resolve hardening as he realized he had to face reality, even if it meant getting a beating from Loki, he had to take responsibility for the grave mistake he had made.

He then got up early for the first time in a long time and spent a lot of time in the kitchen making breakfast, showcasing his culinary skills as perfectly as possible.

"Huh? Shirou, you're making breakfast so early?"

When Paul and Senis got up, they were quite surprised to see the sumptuous meal laid out on the table.

Rudeus, however, spoke with greater concern: "Shirou-kun, didn't you get enough rest last night? Your dark circles are ridiculously dark..."

"I think so."

Shirou spoke awkwardly, unsure how to explain what had happened the previous night.

Just then, Luo Qixi slowly walked down from upstairs. Although the blue-haired girl appeared completely unresponsive, her equally dark circles under her eyes proved that she hadn't slept well the night before...

Chapter 39 Awkward Atmosphere

Breakfast time.

Breakfast at the Grellatt family was the same as usual, with everyone gathered at the dining table in the living room.

Because Shirou got up early today to prepare a sumptuous breakfast, the Grellard family's dining room was filled with even brighter and more enthusiastic smiles than ever before.

The only two people who didn't laugh were Shirou and Rocchi.

The expressions on their faces were less like they weren't smiling and more like they were about to cry.

"Shirou, what's wrong?" Paul noticed Shirou's unusual behavior and asked in confusion, "Didn't you sleep well last night? Did you just daydream about random things and then couldn't sleep? Oh dear, I did something similar when I first went through puberty."

"No, no, that's not true! And rather than being a figment of one's imagination, it's more like..."

Shirou suddenly stopped, because just a moment ago, Loki had clearly cast a terrifying look at him that seemed capable of killing.

"You've done something like that?" Senis's gaze suddenly fell upon him. "Speaking of which, I heard that you were quite the playboy in the capital when you were young, Paul. You must have had your fair share of encounters with women back then? I'd love to hear about your romantic past, my dear husband..."

"Well!!"

Paul's expression froze, realizing he had inadvertently dug his own grave, and he stammered, unable to answer for a moment.

"Teacher, you look very sleepy today too."

Rudeus noticed Loki's dark circles and couldn't help but ask her about it out of curiosity.

"Uh, I stayed up too late studying magic yesterday..."

Luo Qixi instinctively made up an excuse.

But then she remembered Shirou's words earlier, "Are you still studying water magic so late?" and her face turned bright red.

"what?"

Rudeus noticed Loki's strange behavior, and after glancing at Shirou, who was panicking not far away, he couldn't help but show his suspicion.

After dinner, Rudeus found Shirou and said, "Shirou-nii, you've been going to bed really late lately, especially yesterday."

"Eh? How do you know?"

Shirou's eyes widened. Although he and Rudeus both slept on the first floor, they were not in the same room. Shirou naturally did not expect that Rudeus would know when he went to sleep.

"Because you always go back to your room very late. I've been studying magic every night lately, so I've been going to bed very late too."

"I see."

Once Shirou realized that Rudeus knew he had been sleeping late, he immediately said, "I was just improving my cooking skills, nothing else. Well, nothing happened."

"..."

The more Shirou tried to cover it up, the more suspicious Rudeus became.

Shirou sighed, realizing he had been overreacting.

But there was nothing he could do. Being in the same space as Luo Qixi would bring back memories of what happened to her the night before, and his heart would start pounding.

Under immense pressure, Shirou couldn't help but confide in his only younger brother, Rudeus.

He gathered his thoughts, then hesitated before speaking, "Rudy, what if—I mean, what if—at night, a girl in the hallway was using her hand..."

Before Shirou could finish speaking, he suddenly noticed that Loki had appeared behind Rudeus, looking at him with a big smile.

Suddenly, Shirou was frozen in place, completely speechless.

"A girl in the hallway? And then?"

Rudius, however, did not notice anything amiss and spoke with curiosity.

"N-nothing, I didn't say anything."

"???"

Shirou's attitude increasingly confused Rudeus. Just as the latter was about to ask more questions, Loki suddenly appeared and said in a gentle tone, "It's time for magic class. You'd better come over quickly."

"Ok."

Rudeus nodded, then turned to look and saw that Shirou was showing a resistant expression, as if he really didn't want to continue interacting with Loki.

He showed obvious confusion, wondering what had suddenly gone wrong with his elder brother.

……

In the following weeks, everything seemed to get back on track.

Shirou and Rudeus studied magic with Loki in the morning and swordsmanship with Paul in the afternoon.

Shirou's swordsmanship is not particularly outstanding, but he has become increasingly proficient in the basics of the Sword God Style, and occasionally he can unleash a slash that even Paul has to take seriously.

In contrast, Rudeus's magical talent far exceeded expectations; Lokishi even suspected that he would soon be able to use advanced magic.

Shirou's earth magic is still mediocre, at most good enough for making pottery, but more than enough for making weapons.

This is all thanks to Luo Qixi, a wonderful teacher.

She doesn't stick to the teaching plan, but rather adjusts the content of the lessons according to Shirou's level of understanding, demonstrating a high level of responsiveness to her students.

Thanks to Loki's careful explanation, Shirou felt that once he became proficient, he would even have the opportunity to use intermediate-level earth magic.

But this made Shirou feel even more guilty, and he really wanted to apologize to Loki for what had happened before.

However, he had no idea how to get along with the other person. After that incident, the two could only talk normally in class. Outside of that time, they couldn't even have a casual chat.

"Ha~"

Shirou couldn't help but sigh whenever he thought about this, and even his sword practice became restless.

Rudeus had been observing Shirou for a while, and one day he finally couldn't help but ask, "Shirou-nii, do you like Rocchi-sensei?"

"W-what? You're thinking way too far!"

Shirou quickly refused. He had no romantic feelings for Rocchi; he simply regarded her as someone worthy of respect, except for that one night when he couldn't bring himself to do so...

"Don't you like it? I really like Teacher Luo Qixi."

"What do you, a little kid, know about liking things?"

"Shirou-kun, aren't you a child too?"

Rudyus showed his displeasure.

He felt that Shirou was just pretending to be innocent. As a man in his thirties in his previous life, Rudeus believed that he had a great understanding of men.

There is no man in this world who doesn't like beautiful girls!

No matter how serious Shirou may appear on the surface, he will definitely have that kind of impulse in his heart!

On the other hand, Shirou was completely unaware of Rudeus's thoughts; he was still pondering how to handle his relationship with Loki.

If I apologize, will I be forgiven?