Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 1103: A Girl’s Story

Let me tell you a story about a girl.

There was a beautiful girl, born into a family with an ancient legacy. From the moment she was born, she was surrounded by light and expectations.

The girl did not disappoint these expectations. Her exceptional talent, combined with relentless effort, made her the most outstanding and dazzling child among her peers.

The girl naturally believed this, until a boy appeared.

Their first connection happens because the girl's equally talented younger sister is to be adopted into the boy's family to become the heir.

At first, the girl didn't pay much attention to the boy. After all, a family with a child that needs to adopt another as an heir—how useless must that boy be?

It was fine if he treated her sister well, but if he bully her sister, the girl was determined to teach him a lesson! The girl, only six years old at the time, swore an oath.

In the end, the girl's vow was never fulfilled, because the boy treated her sister very well, and her sister grew to like him so much that it made her real sister jealous.

"Let's remember his name for now," the girl thought, continuing her unchanging life, learning and growing under the care of her strict yet father and her gentle, kind mother.

At that time, she didn't realize how much of a mark that name would leave on her future life.

Time passed day by day. The girl gradually grew up, and she thought her life would continue unchanged until adulthood. However, things began to shift quietly.

Her father, the pillar of the family, attended a ceremony that the girl didn't quite understand, and after that, his health deteriorated. The girl and her mother had to bear more and more pressure. But she didn't mind, for she was the heir to this family. One day, she would support it on her own, and now it was just a matter of time being moved up a little.

But when she began to work hard for the family, imitating her father, she was surprised to discover that the boy she had initially disregarded, the one she thought was only her sister's caretaker, was now standing on an equal footing with her.

This piqued the girl's curiosity.

After a few encounters, this curiosity turned into a fierce sense of competition. Because the boy wasn't useless at all—on the contrary, he was just as excellent as she was.

Whether as an ordinary person or as a magi.

Whether in dealing with people or in combat.

This made the girl feel a strong sense of threat—this guy had such a good relationship with her sister and was so outstanding, didn't that mean her role as the elder sister was being taken away?

It was absurd, laughable even, but this was the girl's truest thought at the time. The driving force behind her desire to become stronger, besides meeting her parents' expectations, was her love for her adorable, somewhat immature younger sister.

And now, there was one more reason—to surpass that boy and show her sister that she was the best.

In the girl's eyes, a sacred battle had begun.

Regrettably, neither the process nor the result was ideal.

After much effort, she finally managed to create an opportunity for a match, but she lost.

Unconvinced, she continued to seek opportunities and provoke him.

But time and again, she failed.

Running, self-defense, handwriting, knowledge competitions... she thought of every challenge possible, but the results were always the same. The best she could manage was a tie.

The stubborn girl refused to give up, persistently continuing this so-called competition. Once, it almost caused a serious problem, and she was severely scolded by her parents. But the boy stepped up and took the blame, sparing the girl from punishment.

However, the girl, who had entered her rebellious phase early, didn't appreciate it.

"Hmph, you think this will make me give up? No way."

Not only had he taken her sister away, but he also acted all nice in front of her parents—she hated people like that the most.

"I will defeat you and tear off your mask!"

The determined girl became even more cautious, continuing her competition with the boy. Although he spent more and more time away from home, she was sure that with patience, she would get her chance. In the meantime, she continued to train and accumulate experience.

Finally, her chance came, and the battle resumed.

After days of hard training and thorough preparation, she finally won.

The girl was overjoyed, believing her efforts had not been in vain, that she had truly won, and had finally proven herself as the best.

But before she could enjoy her victory for long, she realized something was off. Winning once was not strange, nor twice, but when she won three or four times—especially in areas where she wasn't particularly strong—it became suspicious.

Having grown a bit older and wiser, the girl quickly realized the problem—these victories weren't due to her skill, but because the boy had been deliberately letting her win. The proof was that even when she didn't use her full strength, she still won.

This made the girl furious.

"What are you doing? Looking down on me with pity?"

She didn't want this kind of victory. What she wanted was a full-force, serious competition, because only then would it be meaningful.

A win is a win!

A loss is a loss!

This kind of victory by mercy was worse than if he had beaten her outright, showing her where she lacked, so she could work harder and challenge him again.

"I'm not that fragile or vain!"

After expressing her true feelings, the girl returned to her usual life.

Failure! Constant failure.

Not even her father's passing, nor the arrival of the legendary Magician who took her as a disciple, could disrupt this rhythm.

Unknowingly, defeating that boy had become one of the most important goals of her life.

It was no longer about her sister or anyone else—she simply didn't want to lose. She wanted to surpass him, and that was all.

This continued for several years until they both participated in the same ceremony that her father had once attended. They once again stepped onto the stage of their duel, and she finally understood the reason her father's health had declined, leading to his passing.

She said he was the one who killed her father, that he was her enemy, and that for the sake of her family and her father, she had to defeat him.

But deep down, she knew that he had little to do with her father's death. She just needed an excuse, a reason to make him fight with all his strength and to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Yes, it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance. With the help of legendary heroes from history, she saw his true strength. And with the power of the greatest king ever summoned by her father, she had finally prepared herself fully.

"If I lose this time, there won't be another chance to win," the girl told herself.

For this battle, she had even held back her trump cards in her duel with the heir to her rival family.

Yet, she still lost.

Even when she thought she had everything under control at the most critical moment.

The fall from heaven to hell caused the once-strong girl to finally break down. She screamed, shouted, and questioned hysterically.

"Why?"

"Why can you still block me?"

"Why is the gap between us so big?"

"Why, despite all my efforts, can't I reach you?"

She, Rin Tohsaka, was not willing to accept this!