[The priest received the unexpected group without much surprise. Rider carried her Master to where was ordered and walked away with Archer, leaving Shirou and Rin alone.]
The servants dispersed inside the church, sitting on pews or standing wherever they wanted, as they waited for Sakura's operation to be completed.
["She attacked herself." It was the explanation given by Rin as soon as Shirou regained consciousness. "The spear-like thing was Sakura's magic."
The vision of having hurt Shirou made Sakura hurt herself. The event ended there. Now, both of them were at the church waiting for Kotomine to return with results of how the girl was doing.]
"I don't trust him..." Ritsuka paced back and forth between the two rows of benches. "I know they didn't have much of a choice, but putting Sakura in this guy's hands... I dunno..."
Mash felt the same distrust. The Alien God's disciple was an extremely menacing and mysterious servant, and Kirei Kotomine — the human self — didn't shy from this same characteristics.
["Tohsaka. I want to ask you something."
"... I thought so. Fine, I'll tell you. It's no use hiding it from you, and it's meaningless to do so now. So you want to ask about Sakura?"]
Some servants were still attentive and worried, and other were just bored and trying to not sleep; but hearing the voice of the protagonists again made everyone turn on their attettion again.
["It all started quite some time ago. The Matou blood started to run thin, and their children were born with fewer and fewer Magic Circuits. The family is originally from another country, so I think the land of Japan didn't suit them. Their decline started when they started living here, and the Magic Circuit finally disappeared in this generation when Shinji was born."]
"Pft... hahaha! Shinji killed the family legacy."
Jeanne Alter laughter died with a "chop" on her head, delivered especially by her older sister.
[Rin continued explaining about the history of the Matou.
"So. I expect you wouldn't know because your family is a special case, but a family of magi hands down its secrets to only one child. They don't teach magic to any other children. Zouken said this, right?
If there is a sibling, one is your successor, while the other is raised normally or put up for adoption."]
"Is this really necessary?" Ritsuka asked.
"It is common to happen, yes. A lot of tragedies have come from brothers and sisters. Both inside and outside of the magi world."
"What a bunch of crap..." Ritsuka didn't masked her expression of indignation... not until Rin's words finally hit something in her brain. "Wait a minute! So...?"
["Tohsaka..."
"Yes. I had a sister a year younger than me." Rin had a gloomy face. "The declined Matou family had no hope of someone giving them a child for adoption. It's only natural for them to rely on the Tohsaka family, the ones they held a pact with for a long time."]
"So... Sakura is her sister...?" Ishtar was very surprised; suddenly this girl had even more reasons to be her vessel.
["I don't know which one of us my dad intended to make his successor. But I remained a Tohsaka, and she was taken to the Matou family. That was eleven years ago. I couldn't go see her much after that. It was an agreement made with Matou, and I couldn't readily go see the successor of the Matous."]
Ishtar glanced at Ereshkigal who was having the same thoughts as her.
Ereshkigal's gaze wandered from the duo to Sakura's room... Seems like we are more alike than what I expected, Sakura... And there was nothing good about that resemblance.
["I see. Then you and Sakura are…"
"Real sisters... Well, we never called each other like that."
Shirou pondered about some Rin's attitudes towards Sakura since he got to know her better.]
"As always, you had good eyes, me." Stheno praised her sister.
"We have. It's just me being more attentive to the scene. Nothing else," Euryale answered.
"Am I right in thinking that you were holding back at school, Emiya?" Artoria asked.
"I was, but I don't think it would change much if I wasn't," Emiya replied. "Most of the weapons I have that could knock Rider out of my way immediately and get rid of Sakura had a high chance of hurting Rin too, who was nearby. And in the worst case scenario, Rider could take advantage of it to attack Rin before I completed my move. In that boundary field, she was too agile and I was too slow."
["... That's good. You're on Sakura's side."
"No. I'm not her ally or anything."
"Not her ally…?"
"Right. If Sakura can't be cured, I'll dispose of her, just like I would with any other enemy. I can't sit idly by while a magus indiscriminately attacks people. If Kirei can't treat Sakura, then I'll just have to get rid of her myself."]
"Damn, cold bitch..." Mordred hissed.
Mash was caught off guard by Rin's coldness. "W-what...? How can Rin say that about her sister?"
Ritsuka at her side had the same reaction. The servants, however, didn't seem surprised by Rin.
"I think in this case Master is worst then Shirou about magi business," Reines said. "There is no family bond in this kind of world, pupil. A father would kill his sons if he find them useless or an obstacle to his goals. We're all degenerate people who live by the sin called greed. We wish for the impossible and make everything in the path but meaningless steps. That's what people means when they call a mage life a bloodbath."
"But why people need to be so extreme? She couldn't maintain at least something? I don't know, like a fragment of their original relationship... be friends..."
"Piglet." Circe called in a calm tone, almost like she was trying not to touch anything sensitive. "Sorry to say this, but not everyone has the strength to make a bond knowing that it will be destroyed later. By their own hands."
Ritsuka shut her mouth. "... Sorry... I lost control and judged Rin too much..."
Yu Mei-ren crossed her arms, cursing the greek for stealing the words right out of her mouth. How annoying, these days I'm not able to scold her anymore...
"Don't worry about this, Master! Everyone here thought "what a bitch!" when she said that! Even Shirou probably thought that too!" Astolfo exclaimed from the back of the church.
["What are you doing? The operation is complete, but she is still in critical condition. If you want to make a commotion, go do so outside." Kirei Kotomine emerged from the back of the church.
"Kotomine, how's Sakura…!?"
"Kirei, how's Sakura―!?"]
Ritsuka wanted to hide herself, ashamed for showing weakness to the servants; she always tried to show her best, and only the best, since she respected them so much. But this time she let out exactly what dr. Roman had once taught her as being a serious mistake.
Mash also felt a little guilty for judging Rin right away. She do cares, but... how could anyone blame her for not wanting to keep in touch when they might have to kill each other one day? The Shielder herself had the same doubts every time they put their foot in a Lostbelt.
["Hmph. I can't tell if you two are on bad terms or in good harmony."
"Oh..." Shirou gasped.
And Rin frowned. "H-Heh. You're just mistaken."]
"I still don't know how to feel about this fragment..." Artoria sadness was visible. "But I'm happy to see these little moments between Shirou and Rin, it was one of the reasons why I wanted to rewatch our war so much." She finished with a smile.
"There it is. The side that made Ishtar's existence bearable! FUAHAHA."
Enkidu agreed completely. "You right. This girl, Rin Tohsaka, if I ever get to meet her, I'd like to thank her. Sadly, even this girl cannot make miracles, and most of the ugly is still there."
"SHUT YOUR TRAPS, DUMB AND CLAY!"
["I see. Then sit down. I shall explain the state Sakura Matou is in."
And with that Kirei started to explain the details about the hell that Sakura Matou survived.]
Shirou was lucky to be intangible to Chaldea's servants, otherwise his face would be on the floor. As he left the church, lost and confused, slowly and agonizing in his own thoughts, the spectators of that tragedy left in a hurry, and some even in despair, crossing his body.
Mash headed directly to the garden, kneeled and threw up; she didn't stop until her stomach started to hurt and her eyes streamed tears.
The first attack on Chaldea that almost killed her, the battle for survival against Saber Alter's Excalibur, all of the dangerous singularities, defeat by the hands of Goetia, fighting against gods and absurds... everything until now had been scary and traumatizing in their own ways, but nothing, absolutely nothing had been as grotesque as watching the freak show inside the church.
Kirei Kotomine's explanations were enough to send a sharp chill running down their spine, but the fragment chose to show them actual scenes of what Sakura suffered... not just the image, but the sounds, the smell and even a simulation of what she felt (emotionally) too.
The whole group watched Sakura's torture standing around the girl in the worm pit, feeling the creatures rubbing against their legs as they crawled towards her.
A short scene, but it seemed to last forever.
"..." Mash sniffled after she finally stopped vomiting. She felt like an idiot for thinking that she had already experienced every kind of terror in the world just because Chaldea defeated gods and beasts.
Ritsuka rubbed her back, worried.
"To hell all you romans!"
Boudica left in anger. A very unusual sight. Ritsuka turned to Nero, but she was more confused than offended. Tamamo send a look to her master that explained the basics.
It wasn't hard to guess that Nero probably said something that triggered Boudica's anger.
Nero sighed. You're not the only one who can understand some of Sakura's pain...
Hearing about the Tohsaka family reminded the emperor of her mother, and that was never good. No matter how many years passed and how much culture evolved, humans would always sacrifice what they think as necessary for power.
"Don't worry about that, emperor, she's just in a sensitive situation right now..." Tamamo said.
"I know, Casko." Nero put her hands on her hips. "I'll compensate for her later! Umu!"
Forced it was, but Nero still carried her demeanor of always. Tamamo herself only thought of that as one of the reasons why Boudica became so irritated with the Saber.
After watching that horrible sight in the church, the servants separated into groups or decided to walk alone through the city.
"Fuck!" Mordred kicked a dumpster, but the object didn't move. "Fucking Sakura!"
Jekyll and Gareth looked at each other, confused.
"Are you mad with her?" Gareth asked.
"What? Of course not!" Mordred immediately denied. "... I haven't liked Sakura since the fragment started. I never liked the maidens of Camelot for their passivity either. They were weak, all of 'em. And Sakura was the perfect mirror image of those girls... or at least that's what I thought..." She sat on the sidewalk, stretching her legs out into the street, leaning in her arms and watching the gray sky. "After hearin' all that shit... dammit... how the hell that girl can get up every day and act like an innocent idiot? There's no way you can consider someone like her weak." She closed her hands in fists. "And it makes me wonder if the maidens that I hated in the past didn't have to deal with a similar pain while I judged them as weak."
Gareth smiled a bit.
"..." Mordred frowned. "AAAAAH! Shit! Ever since my journey as a Heroic Spirit began, I've had my convictions challenged over and over again. Even watchin' a damn war that has little to do with me! It pisses me off!" She got up and looked at her two friends. "Let's go to where the fragment is pointing. I want to see what the hell young mother is goin' to do now."
Boudica regretted her outburst as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Part of her experience in Chaldea, the so-called second chance at life, had the objective of swallowing all the anger and resentment of the past against the romans to live together in favor of peace. On the bad days, though, that was very hard to do. These bad days always happened after nightmares about her daughter and her own mistakes.
Of course that day became one of the "bad ones" very easily. The empty look on Sakura face before the worms... Boudica had already seen that, in her own daughters, the tragedy that changed her life. And just as she couldn't do anything that day, she couldn't do anything now.
It was just a fragment, a simulated history that could or could not had happened. One could call it fake, but it didn't matter to Boudica, she saw a young girl suffering a destiny worst than death — in details — accompanying her heart breaking little by little, even if was already broken.
"Boudica..." Jeanne wanted to hurried to her friend's side, but she knew the woman need some time alone now.
Jeanne had a lot to think about Sakura Matou. The train scene gained much more meaning after she discovered the story behind Sakura and the Tohsaka family. She understood the feeling of losing a family too, but she also knew that Sakura was much worse. It had been Jeanne's own choice of leaving her village and go to war on behalf of her lord. But Sakura...
... didn't have much of a option, huh? Jeanne Alter sighed. She was in the same group as her "sister". She was abandoned, raped and modified to suit the needs of a disgusting old man.
"How I wish I could burn him to ash. And then burn the ashes until there was nothing left of him. Old fart fuck!" Jeanne Alter didn't feel that much of hatred for a long time.
The same words came out from several other servants.
"How I wish I had been summoned by that disgusting old man! I would kill him, disembowel him, and—"
"Calm down, boss, please..."
Kintoki did his best to console Raikou, but she roared and cried, walking only because she was very worried about Shirou too.
"Sorry, Scáthach, but when I meet Cú Chulainn again, he'll have to run very fast or I'm going to transform him into a real dog!" Circe declared with all the sincerity in the world.
"I have to agree with you, since this damn fragment started, all the fun went to hell..." Jason complained.
Scáthach didn't have much to say. To be honest while she sympathized with the girl, after seen and live so much she wasn't as shocked as the others. Naturally, her mind was more focused on Shirou Emiya and what he would do next. Knowing the Red Archer, she already had an ideia of the decision he would make. One of the reasons she didn't interact with the man that much was simply the overwhelming resemblance the two shared, not necessarily in personality, but their cursed fate.
"I'm afraid about what decision my vessel will make..." Muramasa drew the attention of the entire group. It seemed that the blacksmith not only echoed Lancer's thoughts, but also spoke his owns without noticing. Sighing and irritated, he continued, "Knowing what could happen to this boy in the future and my own vessel feelings... maybe he wouldn't have the optimism to side with Sakura..."
"But there are multiple versions of a person across the universe or something like that, right?" Astolfo questioned. Even he didn't smile or joke anymore. "I mean, at the end of the day, Emiya and Shirou are different people."
"Yes. But the odds are against her," Muramasa answered. "Emiya would kill her. And my vessel... I'm sure "this Shirou Emiya" would do the same."
Astolfo swallowed hard as he understood that possibility of Shirou Emiya choosing Sakura existed, but most of Shirous probably would choose not to stay by her side.
"A body that is basically a Magic Circuit..." El-Melloi II finished his tenth cigar. "Christ."
Iskandar had a grim expression. "If I had known about what this girl was going through, I would have canceled my plans and gone after that accursed old man. This is unforgivable."
"This is nothing unexpected from a magus, but I have to admit it stands out among the cruelties I've seen in my lifetime..."
Reines followed them in silence; she always loved a good tragedy and a bit of suffering, but just in a superficial level, what Sakura endured (and still is) wasn't nothing laughable.
Gray clenched her fists, genuinely angry, angry at that old man, Shinji and Sakura's parents, they were all guilty in her eyes.
Kama was having a bad week. And, now, a terrible day.
If it wasn't enough her vessel screwing with her mind, she now had the Red Archer worried about her. Or whatever he was, she honestly didn't understand him.
The worm pit scene left her worse than before — as expected — but there he was helping her again, preventing others from seeing her weakness. He just hold her during the scene so she wouldn't fall and she held on to him hard enough to leave her fingerprints on his skin. It was a simple gesture, but enough to make her even more frustrated.
Now, she was watching him having a problem not too far away. Emiya, Medusa and Parvati. I bet that Parvati is suffering a lot too...
The three servants were on the roof of one of the houses near the park where Shirou Emiya had just arrived.
"So... what do you want?" Emiya asked, his eyes still on Shirou.
"Do you not care about Sakura at all?" Medusa asked in a gruff voice.
When it was Saber, Emiya appeared faster than anyone else. When it was Rin Tohsaka, he always talked about her with a smile. But when it was Sakura...
"Are you not Shirou Emiya too. One who once considered her family?"
Emiya sighed. He was already expecting this would happen at some point. "I don't remember anything about the Sakura I once lived with. Honestly, even the few memories that I gained about her since I was summoned in Chaldea are probably not mine." He wouldn't forget about the weird glimpses of a stranger when Tamamo talked about her beloved old Master, memories of someone who wasn't him. "Maybe they're memories that I gained from fighting with Shirou Emiya. Or maybe they really are my memories. I don't know. I could easily never have met a Sakura Matou in my life."
Medusa heard his answer and ask herself why she questioned him about it in the first place. Medusa didn't even know what she expected to hear as an answer; she was frustrated with Shirou Emiya since their war and this anger jumped to Emiya when he didn't seem to care either, but who was she to judge him when she couldn't help Sakura herself.
"You know how my Sakura ended up?" Medusa finally asked the question she'd always wanted, but never had the courage.
Emiya stared at the woman pondering how to speak in a way that wouldn't made her more upset. "Probably fine. Her involment was so miniscule that her role probably was only to summon you and nothing more. As you noticed by our surprise too, there was no Assassin or Zouken after you died."
"... And Shinji?"
"Gilgamesh used Shinji as vessel for the Grail and Rin saved him. But if he survived, I doubt he'll gonna have enough strength to harm Sakura in any way."
"..." Medusa turned to walk away, but stopped. "It seems that Shirou Emiya will never care about Sakura the way she needs. You don't like to be compared to him, but you two act more alike than anyone in Chaldea who have a younger version walking around..." And with that, she jumped towards the park, looking for a distant spot so she could watch alone.
Parvati's eyes followed Rider walking away, relieved that everything resolved itself more peaceful than she expected. She understood perfectly what Medusa was feeling, not because the goddess felt the same, but because it was obvious that the most important person to Sakura Matou was Shirou, maybe the only one who she had hope that could help her.
Back to Emiya, Parvati found the Archer still staring at where the Rider was before with empty eyes.
"She didn't mean that."
"Don't bother trying to change her words. She hadn't anger in those words... actually, she was surprisingly friendly. I guess she's more mature than I thought." He smirked and shrugged. "Shirou Emiya is troubled now because her words are right. It's the same words that Kirei Kotomine said before he left the church."
["The girl tried to hide that fact from you, but always sought salvation. I don't know how long the abuse torture called inheritance of magic lasted. But what do you honestly think you can do now, when you stood by her side, completely oblivious, for all that time? That's what I mean by you not having the right to pray here. But if you still care for Sakura Matou, leave. That's all you can do for now."]
"Neither him or me have the right to cry for Sakura Matou whom we choose to ignore. Don't think that Shirou Emiya is blind. We noticed something wrong about her, not the truth nor concrete clues, but something... and then, we choose to not follow despited everything." Emiya let out a chuckle devoid of emotions. No, saying there was no emotion was wrong, the right way to describe was a gesture, one the likes of which only a person very tired could achieve. "Truly, a hero of justice."
"Emiya... why do you always have to be so hard on yourself?"
Of course, he didn't answer. Instead, Emiya looked at the house not far away from theirs.
"Are you okay now?" He asked Kama.
And Kama — who was watching them from a balcony — hid quickly as if her life depended on it.
"Looks like I'm pissing off a lot of people today," Emiya said. "It's better that we stop talking before I do the same with you." He smirked again.
Then, a voice came from the street, calling the Archer. "Big Brother, I want to talk with you!"
Emiya grimaced, sighed again and jumped towards Sitonai.
Parvati was left alone on the roof. She had a lot to think too, about Sakura Matou specially... what she suspected when they had seen the basement was exactly what happened with the poor girl; the goddess knew that everyone must have discovered the truth in that scene, some accepted it and others denied it, but in the end everything was confirmed by Kirei Kotomine.
"You truly are impressive, Sakura Matou..." Parvati looked at herself, admiring that body and the person itself who gave it to her in the first place. "If someone have the courage to say anything bad about you in front of me, he will suffer the consequences!"
Then she focused on Kama who was still hiding on the balcony. Emiya got the wrong impression; Parvati knew better than anyone what an angry Kama was like... and it definitely wasn't like that.
["She has suffered sexual abuse. It is easy to imagine what kind of training Zouken Matou imposed on her. To be blunt, Sakura Matou is not the pure maiden you wish her to be, but a witch contaminated by worms."]
A few hours had passed since Shirou had left the church, and whatever if it was good or bad to the servants they lived the same amount of time. The fragment had not jumped forward in time, instead it left them reflecting on what they had just seen and discovered while Shirou's thoughts and agony settled in the back of their minds.
Some servants were in the park with the boy, others were waiting on some roof around there and few were in the town not far from the park — so they could quickly return in case something changed.
[If Matou Zouken is evil... a hero of justice has to fight against him. If Sakura is going to be Zouken's puppet and use Rider to indiscriminately attack people, it's clear what he must to do. That's why he learned magic. To save people from unreasonable disasters.
Then just one option is possible.]
"Shirou..." Artoria hadn't seen the Matou's basement along with the others, so her impression when they were thrown back there to witness one of the hundreds of times Sakura had been destroyed was her first and more painful than most.
She shared Iskandar's frustration. Knowing that she had fought two wars so ignorant of Sakura's suffering made her frustrated, but it wasn't something neither she nor the King of Conquerors could really change. A hundred fragments about the two wars of Fuyuki could appear with different outcomes and she'd still doubted that any of them would change Sakura's situation, it was simply too isolated from them.
[Another terrible sight dominated their eyes. A quick flash that showed Sakura's dead body on the ground and a white haired Shirou Emiya standing beside her.]
None of them were happy to see the ruins of Fuyuki again, even less with the addition of those two.
Artoria jumped from the bench she was sitting, startled by Shirou's appearance. She knew exactly what the movie was trying to say and she hated it. When she turned to Emiya, he hadn't emotions on his face, but Artoria could tell that it had hit him hard.
And the King of Knights was absolutely right. Emiya wasn't happy to be there, nor was he interested about that movie anymore; some things had intrigued him, but now he knew where it was going. In his mind, Emiya had the strong conviction that he would be forced to watch a war where Shirou Emiya would have to win again, but this time with Sakura's blood on his hands. And the angry Archer could already see very well the broken heart, the face covered with invisible tears, the boy repeating over and over in his mind the ideal he loved so much, trying to create a foundation to not break his own sanity.
["Let's play, Shirou!" Illya hugged him from behind, laughing cheerfully. "Heehee, were you surprised? I had to greet you because I saw you."]
Sitonai cringed upon seeing this interaction. Illya was ignorant of Shirou's stress, or she could even be ignoring it on purpose. The goddess had no idea which was worse. The problem was that depending on how it developed, it could harm the relationship between the two.
["Oh. What's going on, Shirou? Why are you ignoring me? It's rude to keep looking down when a girl's talking to you." Illya pouted. "Humph. Hey, Shirou! You have to listen when people talk to you!"
"... Illya. I'm sorry, but I can't afford to do so right now. If you want to play, you'll have to do it by yourself."
"What? I got to see you, so that's boring. You didn't show up today. If I let you go, I bet you won't come again."]
Stupid other me, he's hurt! Are you blind!? Illya gritted her teeth.
["…I didn't promise to meet you here every day. And it's night already. Don't Masters kill each other at night?"
My unkind words bring a renewed wave of nausea. I hate myself so much that I want to punch myself. I'm driving Illya away so that I can be at ease.
"Why? You're not a Master anymore, right? So I'm going to let you go for tonight."
"...'I'm not a Master anymore'… Illya?"
"Hah. There's nothing I don't know about. You lost Saber, and Rin was almost defeated by Rider. But Rider's Master collapsed, so there are only two more left. It's obvious now who's going to win. Rider's Master will self-destruct, and Archer isn't a big deal. No one can beat my Berserker now that Saber's gone."]
"She can be really scary when she wants..." Tristan spoke as he released a tense note of music.
"Stop playing your harp!" Artoria Alter ordered.
["See, so let's play! You're not a Master anymore, so I'll specially invite you to my castle!" Illya hugged Shirou without worry.
"Shut up…! I said I don't have such time! Go play by yourself if you want to play around!" Shirou pushed Illya away in a fit of anger.]
And here's the result... Sitonai sighed.
[It's too late to regret what I've done. Illya is standing there in shock. I can tell without looking how shocking that must've been for her... I have pushed aside an honest, pure show of affection. It's like a parent rejecting a child. I have just ruined everything Illya felt for me.]
Irisviel bit her lip, nervous. The children were just as nervous as the woman.
[She stared at him in silence.
Unable to hold her gaze, Shirou looked down.]
"She's going to kill him now..." Robin commented as he scratched the back of his head, fearing they would see another unpleasant scene.
["I'm sorry, Shirou." Her small hand patted his head.
"... What?" Shirou raised his head. Illya was looking at him with a worried expression.]
To say that they were surprised would be the same as saying that Romulus loved Rome. They expected Heracles appearing out of nowhere to kill Shirou, and the boy being saved by someone, but not Illya reaction in that way.
Emiya and Sitonai were the most surprised. But a few seconds later they noticed how stupid they were to have forgotten that Shirou had already win the girl's affection; and that meant that from this point on, the two were allies until death.
["... Illya. Aren't you going to get mad?"
"No. You're about to cry, Shirou. I don't know what happened, but it'd be too bad for you if I hate you. So I'll be your ally no matter what you do."
"My... ally...?"
"Yeah. It's natural to protect the ones you love, right? Even I know that."]
Irisviel felt her eyes watering again. Perhaps it was the influence of the unexpected relief that Shirou felt in that moment, perhaps the serenity in Illya's heart when choosing to stay by her brother's side... or perhaps Irisviel was just a crybaby and she was just finding out now.
Either way, she was glad Illya was there and the boy wasn't alone.
Chiron hoped that Shirou had heard Illyasviel's words attentively. Deciding to turn against Sakura Matou because of the possibility of her becoming an enemy was too impulsive as a decision. And impulsive decisions usually only result in regrets. That was a lesson he taught many of his students and few of them really took to heart... until it was too late.
[Someone's ally. Illya easily told Shirou the motive to be on someone's side.
I know what's right and what's wrong. What I've protected until now, and what I want to protect right now. I know which choice is correct, and which is wrong. With that in mind...]
Emiya was ready to leave the park and just follow the scenes closely to check up on Ritsuka. The rest of the movie would be a waste of time.
["Yeah. It's a matter of course to protect the girl you like. Even I knew that."
"Right? I'm your ally because you're that kind of person." Illya smiled delightedly.]
A wave of relief washed over the group at Shirou's response.
Ritsuka took a few steps back with her hands on her head. "Another one..."
Mash looked confused. "Is everything all right, Master?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine..."
[Her innocence encourages me. I don't know if this is the right choice or not. But I do know I won't regret it.
"I'm sorry, Illya. I have to get going."
"Yeah. I'll forgive you since you have that expression. Let's meet again, Shirou."
"Yeah. See ya, Illya. And thank you."]
"Shit, I really like Illya! Girl's awesome!" Mordred exclaimed as she started running after Shirou.
The whole group felt invigorated at the same time as Shirou and followed him more willingly than before.
Emiya just shook his head. Shirou Emiya still hadn't found out about the real problem that was Sakura Matou, so that decision was nothing more than an impulse.
A/N: Hi. I'm here just to say thank you to all of you who are reading. This fic is reaching more people than what I'd expected and you guys are being very cool about it.
And an additional thanks to those who have been commenting on every chapter since the beginning, I already know who you are at this point, and it means a lot for me.
Well, until next time.