Chapter 329: Twin Tails and Flat Chests Are a Perfect Match~
"We are not ex-lovers! We never were!"
At Shinji's firm denial, Shiki's face crumpled as if struck by a giant hammer—she instinctively took a step back.
"Lies… it was always like an old married couple between you two…"
"What on earth are you imagining…?"
If Shiki were a male actor, Shinji would've kicked her squarely in the backside for spouting nonsense like that.
"Rin and I just grew up together. A deeply entangled—yet entirely pure—relationship as childhood friends. That's all there is." Shinji's tone was resolute. "You've got the wrong idea, Shiki."
Of course, normal childhood friends didn't usually play "master and maid."
But Shinji hadn't hired Rin to reenact some lecherous lord-and-servant scenario. All he wanted was to enjoy that proud young lady's flustered expressions.
In his own mind, his relationship with Rin was as spotless as freshly fallen snow.
Once Shiki had recovered from her emotional blow, Shinji continued matter-of-factly:
"Anyway, Shiki, this scene is a turning point. It's one of the most significant moments for your character. From here on, Ryougi Shiki begins to step out of confusion and finally face the power of her Mystic Eyes."
"I understand, Shinji… Director." Shiki pressed her lips together, then nodded. "I'll perform it just like I showed you earlier."
Since Shinji had only refuted her theory about him and Rin, not her acting choice itself, it meant the expression she'd demonstrated was valid. That much was clear.
Back in Mifune City, Shinji had already discussed the character in detail with both Shiki and Touko. Now that Shiki had found her stride, there was no need to press further.
Returning to his director's chair, Shinji couldn't resist glancing at Rin and giving a slight shake of his head.
"???"
Rin blinked, puzzled.
What was that supposed to mean? Did he have some complaint about her, the ultra-super-adorable maid girl?
'Damn you, Shinji! Believe it or not, next time I brew your tea, I'll put salt in it!'
Snorting through her nose, Rin puffed up in irritation.
Meanwhile, Shinji gave Shiki ten minutes to center herself. When time was up, he told the clapperboard assistant:
"Alright, we're ready. Start rolling."
"Scene 52, take 1," the clapper snapped in front of the main camera. "And… action!!"
Ryougi Shiki stepped onto the rooftop. Moonlight spilled across the ground, bathing her kimono-clad figure in silver.
She turned her gaze toward the bridge on the far side of the cityscape, the rooftop wind whipping against her cheeks.
Soon, storm clouds swallowed the moon, cloaking her in shadow.
But her expression showed no trace of hesitation. Instead, her eyes shone brighter than ever, filled with iron resolve.
"…Let's begin."
Her crimson lips parted. Arms spread wide. Her delicate head lifted ever so slightly. And then—
She leapt.
As though casting off the gloom of her past, Ryougi Shiki hurled herself from the rooftop!
And thus, a girl destined to cut down gods was born.
'Not bad. That's the feeling.' Shinji praised inwardly. Without waiting for her to clamber up from the crash mat, he called out, "Well done, Shiki. That was excellent."
Shiki hadn't even smiled yet when Shinji added, "But I believe you can do even better. Take five minutes to rest, then we'll run this scene again!"
"…Okay~~"
Head lowered, Shiki gave a reluctant reply.
Off to the side of the set, Touko stood beside Rin, stroking her chin as she watched Shinji interacting with Shiki.
"Looks like Shinji's being quite strict with Ryougi. He's being harsher than when he's with Arturia, even."
"That's true."
Rin nodded in agreement. Having worked with Shinji across three different versions of Fate/Stay Night, she had plenty of authority to comment here.
"Normally, Shinji isn't too demanding of actors' performances. As long as you clear the passing line, he lets it go. But this film is different. Makes you wonder if he's aiming for awards."
"No way. He'd never pander to those old geezers." Touko sneered.
She knew all too well—the Academy-types in the film world were no different from the aristocrats in the world of magi.
If Shinji ever tried to chase awards, to bow to their so-called 'mainstream standards,' those pompous old relics wouldn't welcome him. They'd find every excuse to make him pay for his "youthful sins."
With Shinji's pride, there was no way he'd accept such humiliation. For him, competing for awards was utterly impossible.
At best, he might do what he did with Seven X—let someone else push for it while he hid safely in the background.
That said, the fact remained: on The Garden of Sinners, Shinji was showing a far stricter attitude toward performances than ever before.
The reason was simple.
The acting was what the audience would notice most.
The action in The Garden of Sinners wasn't nearly as dense or flashy as in Shinji's past works.
If the actors turned in lackluster performances in the dialogue scenes—especially those crucial to building character—their flaws would be magnified, dragging down the entire film in the viewers' eyes.
If Ryougi Shiki had been written like Illya Alter—just strutting around to look cool during battles without a single proper dramatic scene—Shinji would never have pushed her this hard.
But this pre-duel "pose shot" with Fujino?
It was important. So they ended up shooting it five or six times before Shinji finally called, "Pass."
After braving the rooftop winds and repeated jumps off the set, Shiki was left utterly drained, both body and soul.
Knowing she'd reached her limit, Shinji magnanimously granted her an hour-long break to recover before resuming.
"…What a shame."
In the break room, Shiki lay slumped across a desk, stealing a glance at Hinako Akuta, who was quietly reading, and Rin, who stood by Shinji's side. She let out a soft sigh.
"What the hell are you regretting now?"
Shinji rubbed his temples, his eye twitching.
His sixth sense as a man was screaming—whatever Shiki was thinking, it couldn't be good.
'Don't tell me she's planning payback for making her shoot in the wind so many times…'
He wasn't entirely wrong. That thought had indeed crossed Shiki's mind.
"Well, how should I put it…"
Resting her finger on her chin, her expression all but read 'I didn't get my gossip fix.'
"I'd originally thought little Shinji here must have some deep-seated grudge against twin-tails. You know—after breaking up with Tohsaka-san, the hatred from lost love and all that."
"…What kind of logic is that supposed to be?"
"Because…" Shiki pointed toward Hinako, still reading his book.
"Doesn't Akuta-san wear glasses and twin-tails? Isn't that the perfect 'proper lady' look? But you deliberately made her appear with loose hair in the film."
"That's not 'loose hair,' that's long, straight black hair!" Shinji snapped back. "That's the standard ojou-sama hairstyle. Glasses and twin-tails at best make her a bookish literature girl."
Of course, that had never been Shinji's real reason.
His character design choices almost always boiled down to one thing: Nasu Kinoko had already written them that way, and Shinji, being used to it, couldn't be bothered to change anything.
"Probably because that guy thinks yandere-darkened girls and long straight hair are a perfect match."
Having spent so much time by Shinji's side, Rin had long since picked up on his odd vocabulary.
"Every time he designs a character like that, he always picks long straight hair. Medea in Unlimited Blade Works, Sakura in Heaven's Feel, and now Fujino—they all have the same hairstyle."
As she said this, Rin lightly kicked the leg of Shinji's chair with her foot.
Shinji muttered under his breath, disgruntled, "That wasn't me—it's Nasu's fetish, okay…"
"What was that?"
Rin's eyes narrowed dangerously. She hadn't heard his words clearly, but she was certain it wasn't anything good.
Especially since Shinji had glanced at her earlier for no reason. Obviously, he had some kind of complaint about her!
Facing the full aura of the maid-sama, Shinji's lips twitched.
He couldn't help but think—this so-called "maid" didn't seem to know her place at all, daring to question her "master" in such a tone.
'Believe it or not, I'll order every single paid service tonight and keep you busy till you drop.'
Driven by spite, Shinji deliberately said aloud:
"I was just saying, compared to long straight hair, twin tails suit people with… less-developed figures."
He hadn't named names, but among everyone here, the one with the flattest chest and twin tails was, of course, Rin herself. And she instantly took it personally.
SLAM!
Rin smacked the table with her palm and barked,
"Shinji~ care to explain exactly why you'd say something like that?"
Whether it was her voice echoing too loudly, or simply that the others were interested in the subject, everyone else in the break room suddenly looked up, curious to hear Shinji's answer.
Instead, Shinji ducked his head and started scrolling on his phone, studiously ignoring them all.
"Hey, Shinji~ why aren't you talking?"
Rin leaned forward into his space, pressing him harder.
Shinji gave a cold chuckle.
"This isn't the kind of topic to discuss in public. Someday, when the two of us are on a hotel date, I'll tell you privately why flat chests and twin tails are the perfect pair."
"Shinji, you pervert! You disgusting lech!"
She wasn't a child anymore—she knew exactly what "hotel date" implied.
But Shinji shot back with righteous indignation,
"What's wrong with a man being lecherous? It's not like this is your first day knowing me!"
Even Shiki had to cut in, her voice tinged with disgust.
"Shinji, I can't believe you still claim to be a gentleman toward women."
"I am a gentleman in public," Shinji replied smoothly. "But in private, it's only natural to be a little perverted. We're all adults here. Playing a bit more… stimulatingly isn't a crime."
The exaggerated drawl in his tone made every girl in the room want to slug him.
But Rin, being the very target of Shinji's jab, couldn't resist leaping straight into the pit he'd dug.
"So what if it's just about men and women?! It's not like I don't understand! Shinji, if you don't explain yourself today, you're not leaving this room!"
Her words came out brash and domineering, but her face was so red she looked ready to faint at any moment.
Having sparred with Rin in arguments for years, Shinji instantly recognized the signs—this was Rin in her completely lost her cool, consequences be damned mode.
"I think you should calm down, Rin."
"Calm down my ass! After what you said, how am I supposed to calm down?!"
Watching Rin shout, Shinji suddenly hallucinated her face morphing into that classic Type-Moon shark-mouth expression.
At that moment, the other twin-tailed "girl" in the room also spoke up.
"I think Tohsaka-san has a point."
Hinako Akuta finally put down her book, her tone cool and serious.
"Shinji Matou, give us the theoretical basis for your claim. Let us decide whether you're just being a lecher—or if this is some warped sense of aesthetics."
"…"
With everyone in the room staring at him, the pressure became unbearable. Shinji raised both hands in surrender.
"Fine, fine, I'll tell you. The reason flat chests go best with twin tails… is because that hairstyle works perfectly as reins when you're riding a horse."
"…Huh?"
Whether it was the sheer audacity of the topic, or Shinji's deliberate euphemism, the entire room let out a chorus of shocked cries.
Scratching his cheek awkwardly, Shinji tried to explain,
"Think about it—when the horse is bouncing around, wouldn't it be really awkward if both hands were just… rubbing a flat board the whole time?"
Pfft!
Whether from imagining the scene or just pure embarrassment, Rin's flushed face went from boiling red to steam-whistling.
She froze in place, her brain clearly short-circuited.
"…"
'Shinji, you idiot! Saying something like that only makes it awkward for everyone! Ugh, why did I even start this conversation?!'
Shiki slammed her script upright on the desk to hide her face—only to accidentally hold it upside down.
"…Pervert."
Even Hinako, with her own twin tails, hadn't expected Shinji to actually say something like that out loud. She'd seen plenty of "eccentric" types in her long life, but someone willing to brazenly announce this in front of so many people? That was a first.
The only one who remained calm was the ever-mature onee-san, Aozaki Touko.
Having accepted commissions to design dolls in every imaginable style, she might not have had "real" experience, but she was at least well-versed in theory.
So she was still relaxed enough to toy with the ends of her own single ponytail, even tossing a playful remark at Shinji.
"Then by your theory, Shinji-kun… for someone like me with a single ponytail, wouldn't a man have to hold the reins with one hand and put his other hand on his hip? I think I'd laugh out loud if that ever happened."
Her teasing was so out-of-pocket that Shiki accidentally knocked her script to the floor.
'Eh?! Touko-neesan, why are you egging him on?! Are all puppet makers this shameless?!'
Even Shinji hadn't expected Touko to throw down the gauntlet. His jaw dropped, then he snapped back with a childish retort.
"What's wrong with that? Leonardo the Water-Gun Hero took his date to a private theater and spent the whole time waving a lightsaber around the room, didn't he?!"
"…"
Touko had no idea who "the Water-Gun Hero" was, nor what a lightsaber was supposed to be. But she understood the gist well enough.
"So if I went on a date with you, you wouldn't seriously book out an Ultraman screening, would you? Should I prepare a kaiju suit in advance?"
Shinji waved his hands frantically.
"No need for a suit! Just use a slime costume!"
"…"
And in that moment, Shinji finally learned the true meaning of social death.
. . . .
A few minutes later—
Shirou watched curiously as Shinji returned from the break room, looking even more drained than before.
"…What happened in there?"
Expression hollow, Shinji muttered, "Nothing. Just… let's say, I've lost the privilege of ever watching movies alone with those girls again."
"…Nani??" Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||)
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