Chapter 0: Ever-present Feeling
PRELUDE
The war had ended.
Forty years had passed since the final Holy Grail War, the one that was never recorded, never spoken of in the annals of history. It was as if the battle had been erased from existence, leaving only those who survived to carry the burden of memory.
Sakura Matou stood beneath the branches of a fully bloomed cherry blossom tree. The petals drifted silently in the wind, falling onto the well-tended garden of the Emiya residence. This place had once been filled with warmth, with the scent of home-cooked meals and the presence of someone she cherished beyond words. Now, it was merely a remnant of what once was.
Rider stood a short distance away, watching over her Master as she always had. Time had changed little between them, yet there was a quiet grief in the way they existed now—an unspoken understanding of what they had lost.
Rin Tohsaka had made her decision not long after the war ended. With the Holy Grail destroyed and its purpose erased, she had set her sights on a different path. She left for London, fully embracing the role of a magus, determined to uphold her family's legacy under the guidance of Lord El-Melloi II. It was not an easy choice, but she had made peace with it.
But for Sakura, there was no peace.
Even now, after four decades, the presence of his sacrifice lingered. The cherry blossoms she cared for, the home she maintained—it was all in remembrance of him. The one who had fought for her, bled for her, and in the end, given up everything to save her.
Shirou Emiya.
The flames consumed everything.
Shirou stood amidst the ruins of Fuyuki City's final battlefield, his body battered, his mind shattered beyond repair. The corrupted Grail lay before him, its dark ooze writhing as Angra Mainyu sought release upon the world. The curse of all evil—the end of everything—was moments from breaking free.
But he would not let it happen.
His body no longer functioned as it should. His vision blurred, his thoughts fragmented into incomprehensible noise. And yet, his will remained. He had one purpose, one final act to accomplish. He did not think of himself. He did not think of victory. He thought only of one thing.
Sakura must live.
With the last of his strength, he reached out—not for a sword, not for power, but for the one thing he had always believed in.
A miracle.
And then, silence.
The world did not break that day. The Grail did not spill its curse upon humanity. Shirou Emiya had succeeded where all others had failed.
He had saved them all.
But he did not die.
In that moment, beyond the veil of reality, something else took hold of him. He did not know what it was, could not comprehend it in his fractured mind. But he felt it—an unseen force wrapping around his fading existence, whispering to him in a voice he could not recognize.
A contract.
The world had acknowledged him.
He had become a hero.
But not in the way he had imagined, not as a savior who would rest in peace. No, his soul had been marked, bound to a greater system beyond time and reason. His shattered mind did not understand what had happened, nor did he have the clarity to refuse. In his last moments of awareness, he had spoken only one thing.
"I will save... Sakura..."
And so, the world accepted.
He would never truly die.
He would never truly rest.