Chapter 35
by 
protress
What's next?
Archery Practice
The walk to school was uneventful. Along the way, Shirou thought about what Sakura said about her not being worthy. There has to be something I can do to show her that's not true. But other than talking to her about it, his mind was coming up blank.
Once they passed the gates of the school, Sakura turned towards Shirou. "I have to go do archery practice," she said. "I will see you at lunch, sempai." As she turned to go, a light bulb went off in Shirou's mind.
"Wait, Sakura," Shirou began and Sakura stopped at turned to look at him. "Would it be alright if I came and watched you practice?"
Sakura seemed a little surprised. Sempai hadn't gone back to the archery since he was injured, she thought. Why would he want to go there now?
"Well," Sakura began nervously. "If you want to, then it's fine with me."
I'm not as good as you were with a bow...
"Great," Shirou replied as he caught up with Sakura.
Maybe I can use this to make Sakura feel more confident in herself.
The two soon arrived outside the archery club building. Opening the sliding door, the two stepped in to the sound of a bow string being released. Up ahead of them, in the shooting range, was Ayako Mitsuzuri. She was wearing the school standard kyudogi for archery, with a muneate on her chest for protection. She lowered the bow she was holding and turned to see who came in.
https://i.redd.it/j466tsbytbj21.jpg
"Good morning, Matou," she began before she noticed who was with her.
"Emiya!" she almost shouted. "What are you doing here?"
Shirou was afraid he would run into Ayako here. She was the co-captain of the archery team at the school and she had been trying to get Shirou back into the club for a while. "I thought I would drop by and watch Sakura pratice," he answered, trying not to sound like he was making up an excuse.
"Is that so?" Ayako said, giving Shirou a quizzical look. "Y-yes," Sakura confirmed, blushing slightly. "Sempai asked if he could watch me practice." She was a little nervious at practicing in front of Shirou, and Ayako was not helping that.
Ayako noticed Sakura blushing. "I see," She said. "Anyway, why don't you get changed Sakura?"
Sakura nodded and excused herself to go change into a kyudogi.
Once Sakura was out of sight, Ayako turned to look at Shirou. "So are you two a..." she asked, already knowing the answer.
Shirou blushed. He wasn't used to telling others that he and Sakura were a couple. "Ye..yeah. It happened a few days ago."
"Well, that explains why Sakura seems to be happier lately." Ayako noted before she gestured for Shirou to step into the room.
"As your friend, I'm happy for you," she began. "But as a captain of the archery team, I need to make sure you aren't going to hurt Sakura."
Shirou was a little surprised by that statement. "Of course I would never harm her!" he said defensively.
Ayako shook her head. "I don't mean physically hurting her. I mean are you serious about her?"
"Yes," Shirou firmly answered.
Ayako looked at Shirou for a moment before looking away. "Good. Sakura has a lot of potential here. By next year, she could be the captain of the team."
"So you're saying she could be better than you?" Shirou asked, a little playfully, glad that the serious moment had passed.
"Well, it's not like I want to be the captain forever," Ayako started before she was stopped by the sound of a door sliding open. Sakura walked out, dressed in a kyudogi, with a muneate protecting her chest.
Not again, Shirou thought as he realized how good Sakura looked in that. He almost had to look away.
How does Sakura's archery practice go?
