Fate/Zero:Epilogue

Epilogue

Epilogue

The Next Day

Every news channel on TV was reporting on the large fire that had taken place in Shinto last night.

But even apart from that, there was still a gloom cast over today's breakfast at the MacKenzies’.

The table seemed rather empty with one less person. The male guest who had been boarding in the house for some time had left for his home country the previous day due to some urgent issue. He had asked Waver to thank the MacKenzies for their hospitality and care in recent days, and apologized very much for not bidding them farewell in the face of his sudden departure.

“Alex-san must have safely returned to the UK, right?”

Martha MacKenzie murmured with a worried look. Waver nodded calm her down.

“He called me back from the airport this morning. That guy, doesn’t he know anything about local time differences?”

Waver told this massive lie with a poker face. He himself, however, was quite astonished that he could lie as easily and simply as that.

“He called you back? I really didn’t notice. Ah, but that kind of style really suits him.”

With a nod and a smile on her face, Martha turned her gaze back to the TV screen and then she looked gloomy again.

“… That’s still quite unfortunate, but then again, there have indeed been a lot of disturbances lately. But maybe that’s not a bad thing either. At least those insincere visitors might change their itinerary now.”

“…”

Looking at the screen and the totally burned and barren field it showed, Waver could not help but feel deeply ashamed.

The fire that had occurred close to the Municipal Hall was undoubtedly caused by the War of the Holy Grail. Although he did not know which one out of the three remaining Masters and Servants had created this tragic scene, he and Rider might have prevented this incident had they been present. That was why he found it difficult to suppress his deep regret.

This tragedy would not occur in the future. Though ended in the worst way possible, the alien events that threatened Fuyuki would not occur again. The fourth War of the Holy Grail, which had sacrificed countless innocent lives, had been put to a complete end last night.

Remembering all of the tragedy that had happened back there – he felt that it could already be considered a miracle that he was still alive.

“Umm, Grandpa, Grandma, may I discuss something with you?”

Hearing Waver’s voice, which sounded different from usual, the old couple placed their coffee cups down.

“What is it?”

“Ah, actually… I want to take a break from school for a while. This is a decision I made after discussing it with father back in Toronto. Rather than going to school, at this time I’d like to do something else first.”

“Oh.”

“Ahhh.”

Hearing this surprising declaration from their grandson, the old couple couldn’t help but stare at each other and at him.

“But why all of a sudden… You don’t hate going to school, right?”

“No, not at all… It is just that so far, I haven’t had any interest in anything at all besides studying, which makes me kind of regretful. So… Ah, I want to travel. I want to visit the outside world, so I can understand more things before I decide on what to do with my life.”

“Really?”

Martha seemed to be very glad, and smiled while clapping her hands together.

“Did you hear that, Glen? Waver-chan actually said something that sounds like what Alex-san would say.”

Hearing this evaluation, with some relief and a bit of a lonely pang, Waver smiled bitterly.

“Anyway, there’s a lot of things you should prepare beforehand. It’s vital to do your homework first. Do you want to start by finding a job? … Ah, but here’s a problem. You can’t get a job in Fuyuki if you can’t speak Japanese, right?”

Hmm... Glen crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked deep in thought.

“There are also a lot of foreigners in this town. If I beg some of my acquaintances, maybe they can find you a solution.”

“So Waver, will you stay in Japan for a while?”

Looking at Martha, who was wearing such a happy expression, Waver nodded.

“Ah, if it’s all right… If it’s not too much trouble for you?”

“Of course not.”

Martha was so happy that she almost jumped with joy, and could not resist clapping as she replied. Her husband, Glen, just sat in silence next to her, but gave Waver a look of trust and expectation. The boy also sat up with his back straight and returned a solemn look.

※※※※※

Waver returned to his room alone, and reviewed this room which was bathed in the light of the dawn.

Eleven days— it was such a short time, but this room was already dyed with the color of the person who had lived there.

There were old magazines, paper dinner bags that he had thrown everywhere, and an empty whiskey bottle that had rolled into the corner.

They were all traces of the other person who had eaten and drunk and rested in this room. This was a color that did not belong to Waver.

Was he a ghost? Or a familiar? Thinking of all that nonsense, Waver wondered. This was not a joke. If it was just a ‘soul’, how was it possible that such a vivid ‘color’ still lingered in the room?

However, this room would be no longer be dyed by this ‘color’.

From now on, there would be only one person living here, and that was Waver. It would only be stained with Waver’s personality and his presence. The previous color would eventually be erased. It was inevitable.

Although it felt regrettable and lonely, one certainty was that the color repainting the room must be extraordinarily vivid. Only so could it cover the color of ‘that person’, which was brighter than anyone else’s.

Waver sat down on the bed and pulled out the collector’s edition of The Iliad from his backpack.

It had only been eleven short days, but the pages were already getting dark with repeated readings. The face of that eternally smiling man seemed to emerge before him again when he looked at this book, which he felt difficult to understand no matter how many times he read it. That man who had pushed himself forward with the adventures of the hero Achilles, who had challenged his own limits and finally made his own life into a legend.

And such a man had once been at Waver’s side, and had lived and fought with him.

Those dream-like scenes that he had described to Waver felt almost like lies. However, in the end, Waver was still attracted to his happiness—

He could not deny that he envied him. He had even thought of going together with him.

But he had left Waver behind after all. He made that decision the moment he invited Waver to become his subordinate and received Waver’s reply. Did that man make a wrong decision because of Waver’s wrong reply back then?

“Why are you talking about nonsense like ‘subordinate’! Are we not friends? If you’re going to battle, of course I’ll accompany you!”

If only back then Waver had been able to say those words in the wind, say those words as if they were equals…

Then that man would definitely have smiled knowingly, and perhaps would have allowed Waver to mount his war horse in the end.

“But… The important thing is that in the end, I never showed him my ‘unwillingness’…”

Waver couldn’t help but sigh. He was still far from standing on equal terms with that man. His own weaknesses were still all exposed at the end. He regretted, and he thought it a pity. Perhaps he was just too proud.

But he wasn’t anxious. After all, Waver hadn’t yet reached the age at which that man had begun his journey, and the marks of that man’s blood-boiling and amazing adventures could still be seen in every corner of this world. Waver would go and find all of that. Perhaps, one day, he would find the footprints of that man in some place beyond that far-distant sea.

Suddenly, Waver’s eyes landed on the paper bag beside the television.

Come to think of it, that guy had bought this stuff with joy, but had left without even taking it out of its packaging.

Waver opened the bag and removed the gaming console and the disk within. He had even bought a joystick. Feeling his eyes suddenly become hot with tears, Waver forced them down.

“… I will not play this silly stuff.”

But he had just decided to try new things, and one was right in front of him. Although it was silly, the idea was worth a try.

Yet, was this kind of stuff really that interesting?

Waver frowned as he looked at the bag. He then began following the instructions to connect the video game with the TV.

Half a Year Later

“– I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand up on the earth.”

A funeral procession progressed alone in the icy-cold rain.

A young girl was the person who managed the funeral.

No expressions of sorrow or anxiety were written on her, but she only numbly went on according to the procedure of the funeral. While this expression made those who came to mourn feel her strength, none of them held any feelings of pity towards her.

It was a funeral for a high-born clan. For elders, children who grew up under such a strict education should be able to bear anything. The mourners sitting here all held the same belief.

“And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me… Amen.”

Then the coffin was buried into the earth. With some words of prayer from the others, the mourners left one by one. In the rain that once again regained its silence, only the young girl who took charge of the funeral and the priest who led the ceremonies were left behind.

“Good work. It was already very splendid as the debut of the next Head of the family. I believe your father would feel proud too.”

Rin just nodded in silence hearing those words of praise for her. Her left wrist had already been carved with the Magic Crest of the Tōsaka family. Her body was still not used to the Crest that had only recently been grafted and kept on inflicting pain on her. But there was no sign of agony shown on the young girl’s face, and she endured the funeral until the very last minute. Indeed, this willpower of hers didn’t match her age.

The letter that Tokiomi wrote, which entrusted everything to the Association after his death, was almost perfect; it was truly a real portrait of the man himself. The transfer of the body and the extraction of the Crest were all entrusted to the Association’s headquarters in London by Kotomine Kirei, Rin’s guardian. The Crest was handed to Tokiomi’s friends to be guarded securely to ensure that it would be impeccably transplanted onto Rin’s body in the future.

Transplanting a Crest into someone will cause a great burden to the body, therefore it was best to transplant it to the family successor before his or her secondary sexual characteristics have developed completely. However, when the previous Head suddenly passes away, many unthought-of difficulties often would occur. But Tokiomi had overcome this and made impeccable preparations. He had passed the essence of magecraft that the Tōsaka house had complied over the generations all unto Rin without omitting a single thing.

However, due to the numerous procedures involved with the transport of the body and the removal of the Crest, over six months passed before Tokiomi’s body was returned home. As a result, people who attended the funeral procession today were only the few who knew the truth of his death, completely unrelated to the prestige and achievements the family had achieved in its homeland. A lonely funeral like this is probably a sin one must bear as a magus.

Kirei looked around the cemetery, which suddenly became desolate, and turned around to meet the taxi that had waited at the back.

“It’s about time to let Mother come out, right?”

“– Mm, it’s about time.”

Tōsaka Aoi, who was supposed to organize the funeral as the widow, was unable to appear in front of the guests due to her health condition that required her to stay in bed. Although reluctant to let her come into contact with outsiders, Rin still wanted her mother to meet her father one last time before the coffin was to be buried beneath the earth.

Rin had been waiting for her mother’s arrival since before the other mourners arrived. She walked towards the car, helped her mother onto the wheelchair, and pushed it towards Tokiomi’s grave. In the wheelchair, although the widow still looked very young and beautiful, there wasn’t any expression engraved on her face; only a hazy, dreamy stare that looked into the void.

“Mom, here, say a final goodbye to father.”

Hearing Rin’s urging sound, Aoi’s dreamy eyes finally slowly gathered on one spot on the ground.

Her eyes slowly swept around the gravestones surrounding her, and opened her eyes wide as if having finally realized something.

“Ah – What, Rin? Is it someone’s funeral today?”

“Yes. Because father passed away.”

“Oh my goodness! I’ll have to hurry and take out Tokiomi’s funeral clothes – Rin, go help Sakura get dressed. Ahhh what to do what to do. I haven’t prepared anything…”

Aoi, who was sitting on a wheelchair, sank into a brief panic. Then, she suddenly bent down like a marionette with its strings broken. Moreover, when she finally lifted her head up again, she showed a gentle smile towards the empty air before her, and stretched out her fingers in front of her.

“See, my dear, your tie is skewed again. And there’s a string sticking to your shoulder. Haha, try to cheer up a bit. After all, you’re the father that Rin and Sakura are proud of…”

Aoi prattled on and on to the husband that only she could see. Meanwhile, Rin simply stayed by her mother’s side and guarded her in silence.

Tōsaka Aoi, who had received brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation, was unable to communicate properly with Kirei and Rin anymore. Undoubtedly for Rin, Aoi had been an innocent victim swept up into the Fourth Heaven’s Feel just like her father.

However, for Aoi who was no longer able to correctly comprehend reality, perhaps this was happier for her. Her heart had remained at that time when Sakura was still in the house and Tokiomi was still alive. She wandered in the spacious Tōsaka mansion, conversed and laughed with the husband and younger daughter in her memories, and lived on forever in the beautiful dream of a happy family.

Only Rin was left behind in the real world by herself. She took care of such a mother, but could only look at her silently and was unable to move a single step into that happy picture. She hid the sadness that no one else could feel, bore the heavy burden of being the head of a magecraft clan upon her young body, and endured the pain of the Crest. It was truly a far-too-cruel fate for a young girl who was only a primary school student.

Kotomine Kirei, however, thought that it was an incomparably good strike of luck that he was made the guardian of such a tragic girl.

He could only feel joy through the other’s pain and suffering. To Kirei, who had known his twisted true colors a long time ago, Rin’s current predicaments were undoubtedly the best environment to make her grow into a sentimental girl. Since Kirei would be able to appraise everything from the closest distance, it was undoubtedly an enjoyment comparable to tasting the most outstanding wine.

However – what angered him was the fact that he had never received such rewards.

Though she was burdened with this tragic fate, the young girl didn’t shed a single tear. Not even a weak word was ever said by her.

Even now, before her pitiful mother who could not comprehend her father’s passing, Rin still kept a calm look. She forcibly suppressed her sorrow and grief inside her heart, and waited for her mother to calm down. This would have been a situation where other children of her age, who were spoiled to death by their parents, would never have been able to endure.

Rin had already acknowledged and accepted her fate, and was courageous enough to boldly face it. Such rare pride and self-control were the greatest virtues possessed by the young girl named Tōsaka Rin, but it was the thing that angered Kirei the most.

After having had her full of bitterness and pain, this jewel named Rin began to take on shape from the unshaped raw ore. He had originally thought that seeing the shameful behavior of her beloved mother would wound her soul, but he did not expect her to accept her mother’s weakness of becoming enthralled in dreams with a merciful and accommodating heart.

This young girl was advancing step by step towards the heretic road named magecraft. Perhaps one day she would become just like her father, and discard all the twisted evil of a magus and form a most righteous and balanced personality. Of course, that would be the most boring development for Kirei. He had originally expected very much to see just what kind of a twisted flower would bloom out of Tokiomi’s daughter.

Keeping all of the secrets in his heart, Kirei placed his hand on Rin’s shoulders as if encouraging her.

“I will stay in Japan for some time… Is there anything else you’re worried about for the future?”

“… Nothing much. I’ve been too much of a trouble for you, but now it’s fine.”

The young girl answered with a tough tone, not even looking at Kirei.

Rin obeyed her father’s last words, and did not object to having Kotomine Kirei become her guardian. However, she found it difficult to cover up her spite toward him. He was Tokiomi’s assistant and headed toward the same battlefield, but in the end still failed to protect Tokiomi. Rin’s heart was still full of anger and suspicion toward the a man named Kirei till this day.

Kirei only felt Rin’s inexperienced hatred to be laughable. What would the expression on this girl’s face be when she one day came to know the truth? He would be quite looking forward to see it.

“We will meet again after six months. Then the second Crest transplantation process can be performed. Please take care of yourself.”

“…You don’t have to say a thing. I already know about.”

“I think that I will be mainly working overseas in the future. I’m terribly sorry to say this, but I think I cannot live in Japan. I am truly unsuitable to be a guardian…”

“If you’re busy then it cannot be helped. I will obviously take good care of mother and the Tōsaka family while you’re gone. You can go crusade against heretics or do whatever you like as long as you don’t bring us trouble.”

Hah, even Rin can bluff like this? Her tone today was sharper than usual. Perhaps today really was more painful than ever for this girl.

A rather sickening idea suddenly flashed through Kirei’s mind.

“– Rin, you will be the true Head of the Tōsaka house from today onwards. In order to celebrate this special occasion, I am giving you a gift.”

As he said that, Kirei pulled out a dagger from within his coat together with its sheath.

This was the same Azoth Sword that was given to him by Tokiomi as a symbol of friendship. Today’s funeral also made Kirei remember the man who had passed away, so he brought this dagger along. It was also a little compensation for the man who had died by his hand.

“This is what I received from Tokiomi-sensei in the past when he recognized the achievements of my magecraft studies – I think it’s better that you take care of it from now on.”

Rin took the dagger, pulled the dagger from its sheath, and studied it carefully. She caressed the leather of the hilt and the magecraft runes on the blade almost reverently, as if she could feel the warmth of her father’s fingers within.

“… Father …”

A small ripple suddenly appeared on the dagger that the girl held in her hands – a single drop of tear suddenly tumbled down the immaculate blade.

This was the first time that Rin had shed tears in front of Kirei.

As if having tasted the wine he had been waiting for too long, Kirei’s heart shook with joy.

Rin didn’t know anything. The dagger that she held in her hand and received her tears was once fully stained with the fresh blood that poured out of Tokiomi’s heart. Perhaps she would even consider this dagger as a memento of her memorable father and deferentially treasure it in the future. Of course, the pre-requisite was that she did not know this was the murder weapon that killed her father.

This extreme irony and the pleasure of violating a pure heart made Kotomine Kirei receive an insurmountable satisfaction.

Rin, who was crying with her head lowered, was completely ignorant to the priest beside her who was blossoming with a silent smile. She only held on tightly to the dagger of fate in her hands.

Five Years Later

It was a night with a beautiful moon. Emiya Kiritsugu gazed out at the moon as he silently stood by the window.

Although it was already winter, the temperature wasn’t very low; it was just cold enough to let the skin feel the slight prickle of a chill. It was the ideal weather to view the moon.

A boy sat beside him. He was also quietly gazing out at the moon with Kiritsugu.

His name was Shirō.

He was the only existence that Kiritsugu managed to save from the fire that made him lose everything.

It had been five years since then. Shirō, who was a kid, was also gradually growing up.

Kiritsugu adopted Shirō, who had no one left to rely on due to the fire, and managed to barely live on after tidying up the ruined house with the storage room that Irisviel had bought.

As for why he did that – even he himself did not know. He had nowhere else to go. Did he also have no more reasons left to keep living?

All the goals and beliefs the man named Emiya Kiritsugu had once possessed were burnt to ashes with that fire. The thing that returned from that barren field was simply a corpse that had retained a beating heart.

In fact, had he not saved Shirō, then Kiritsugu would perhaps have truly died a long time ago.

However, he met Shirō. He met this child who had fortunately escaped from the raging fire that had claimed innumerable lives.

That was the miracle which resurrected him from the shell that was once named Emiya Kiritsugu.

Even if he were to look back on it now, this had been a very wondrous life.

The man who had lost his wife and daughter again became a father –

The child who had lost his parents again became a son –

Now that he thought about it, he had repeated this unchanging life day after day.

Shirō was now calling Kiritsugu ‘old man’ while the latter hadn’t even hit 40 years old. Maybe the kid felt it was more natural that way.

But the truth was that the stamina still lingering within Kiritsugu’s body was nothing more than a spluttering candle in the wind. In truth, he was not much different from an old man after all.

After that, he peacefully and calmly passed his days as if he was living within the dream of another man.

On that day five years ago, a line had been drawn across his life, which had already lost everything. No one else had disappeared before Kiritsugu after that.

Be it Shirō, Taiga, Raiga-san or the youngsters in the Fujimura Group; none of them had left him since they met, and they were still together even now.

The meetings he used to have with other people were simply the beginning of separation.

However, such a happiness was not without a reason.

Because the things that he had lost in the past would never come back.

Kiritsugu had repeatedly used the excuse of ‘traveling overseas’ to get Shirō to stay home while he traveled to the Einsberns. He wanted to save his daughter, who had been left all alone within the City of Winter.

However, no matter how obstinately Kiritsugu repeated his visits, Jubstacheit was still unwilling to open the forest’s bounded field. That was understandable. All the efforts the Einsberns put into the fourth Heaven’s Feel came to nothing because of Kiritsugu’s last-minute betrayal. A man such as Kiritsugu would have to remain silent even if he was punished, but Acht did not do that. Did he want to put the traitor to exile like a stray dog and let it struggle on its last legs, and carry that shameful title for the rest of its life? Or did he plan to let Kiritsugu never see his daughter again and use that as the most severe punishment that can be inflicted? No matter what, it was already a fact.

Had he been the Kiritsugu of the past, the infamous “Magus Killer”, then he might have been able to forcibly break through this icy bounded field and rush to his daughter’s side. However, the current Kiritsugu had been touched by “Angra Mainyu” and had already been corroded by this curse. His flesh was getting weaker and weaker. His limbs atrophied, his sight began to fade, and he had completely lost the ability to use magecraft. He was not much different from a terminally ill patient. He couldn’t even find the starting point of the bounded field, and could only wander in the blizzard, waiting till death.

He understood all his attempts had been in vain – recently Kiritsugu had already faintly felt that his time was probably up. In other words, he probably hadn’t had much time left since the moment he became cursed by the black mud.

Therefore he had recently been staying home all the time, drowning in memories as he passed the time in a daze.

What had his life been about –

As he thought of this, he silently gazed up at the moon with Shirō.

“… When I was a kid, I used to want to be a hero of justice very much.”

Suddenly, he muttered this unconsciously.

Like a shipwreck that had sunken beneath the surface a long long time ago, those untouched and forgotten words suddenly escaped from his lips – that was right. He seemed to have said something like that to someone else some time ago, although he didn’t manage to fulfill it at the end. But just when did that happen?

However, when he heard Kiritsugu, Shirō suddenly showed an expression of displeasure.

“What? You’re saying you used to want to, then have you given up now?”

Since the boy harbored a deep admiration for Kiritsugu, Shirō seemed to hate having Kiritsugu say such self-deprecating words. Kiritsugu had often felt extremely ashamed toward this sentiment.

The boy thought his foster father was an incomparably great man. He did not understand Emiya Kiritsugu’s past – including that disaster which made the man lose everything. He simply and merely made Kiritsugu a goal to be admired.

The spirit of self-sacrifice and sense of justice that Shirō held in his heart were so great that it almost seemed twisted, and all this were displayed through the extreme respect and admiration that he showed to Kiritsugu. That was also the only regret in the days that the father and the son passed together. Shirō wished to become Kiritsugu. He wanted to follow the road that Kiritsugu had walked. Although Kiritsugu wanted to tell him how foolish such an idea was, he didn’t manage to say it even till the end.

If Shirō lived like Kiritsugu and walked toward destruction just like him, then these five peaceful years of life would become a curse at the end as well.

Is your aspiration still there? Shirō questioned back. This made Kiritsugu’s heart ache – that’s right, how wonderful would it be if it could gradually disappear with the passage of time.

Kiritsugu pretended to gaze out towards the distant moon, and hid the sorrowful memories with a bitter smile.

“Hmm, it is rather regrettable. Heroes have a time limit too, and it’s hard to fulfill once you become an adult. It would have been better if I realized that earlier.”

Had he realized it earlier – then he wouldn’t have been tricked by the sweet lie of miracles that flew the banner called dreams.

Kiritsugu had once released a demon powerful enough to destroy the world because of his aspirations. It was too late when he finally realized his mistake. Countless people had died because of it, including Shirō’s own father and mother.

And that harbinger of Hell was still lurking beneath Mount Enzō even now. After that battle, Kiritsugu had repeatedly visited that place with dynamite, and spent years to map out the situation of a few leylines. He had meticulously created a ‘bump’ at a location leading towards Mount Enzō. That might be the last time for him to use magecraft in his life.

The prana produced from the junction of numerous leylines will collect upon that ‘bump’ with time. When its limit is reached, a localized earthquake will be triggered deep within Mount Enzō. It would take a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of about 40 years for the ‘bump’ to break. If all his calculations were correct, then the cavern within Mount Enzō would collapse and seal away the “Greater Grail” forever. Though he would not be able to live to see that day, Kiritsugu had done the best he could to prevent the fifth Heaven’s Feel 60 years later.

Shirō seemed to have been guided into a deep contemplation from Kiritsugu’s casual words. However, he seemed to have accepted Kiritsugu’s viewpoint, and answered with a nod.

“Really? Then there’s really nothing you can do.”

“True. I’m really powerless.”

Kiritsugu also answered with a slight hint of heartfelt pain.

Nothing you can do –

There wasn’t much lament or sorrow in that phrase. Kiritsugu gazed up at the night sky.

“ – Ahh, what a beautiful moon – ”

It was as if this was the only night in his life that had such a beautiful moon, and Kiritsugu was overjoyed with sharing such a beautiful memory with Shirō.

“Hmm. If you can’t fulfill it anymore, then let me fulfill it for you.”

The youth promised casually in the elegant night. He said that he’ll achieve something, which Kiritsugu had longed for but could not fulfill, in Kiritsugu’s place.

In that moment, Kiritsugu remembered.

He had also made a promise like this. He had also said something like this before a person that was more important to him than anyone else.

Back then, he had firmly believed that the things within his heart will never be lost. But that confidence – had now been forgotten, forgotten until just a moment ago.

“Dad is an adult already, so maybe you can’t do anything anymore. But I’m alright. So entrust it to me, entrust Dad’s dream –”

Shirō kept saying those words that sounded like a promise. His words, together with tonight’s view, became an unforgettable memory that was carved into Kiritsugu’s heart.

That’s right. If it was under such a beautiful moon – then he would never forget.

Emiya Shirō’s very first thought and this precious and innocent prayer will definitely become the most beautiful memory, and be forever retained in his heart.

However, had the boy really inherited the dream of his foolish father, he would probably begin an endless lament and experience a bottomless despair.

But he would definitely be able to recall the self that existed at this moment as long as he remembered this night. He would remember this heart his young self had; this heart which was fearless, unknown to sorrow, and full of aspirations.

That would also be – the salvation that Kiritsugu, who had lost himself without knowing and had been ground down by time little by little, had hoped for.

“Yes. Ahh – then I’ll be at peace now.”

Even if Shirō walks the same path as him, he would never become the same man.

All the scars in his heart seemed to have healed when he understood this. Emiya Kiritsugu closed his eyes.

Then –

This man who accomplished nothing in his life and did not win a single victory stopped breathing. His last moments were full of relief, and he passed away as if he had merely fallen asleep.

– Kerry, what kind of a man would you like to become?

She asked under the dazzling sunlight.

He would never forget her smile and her gentleness.

This world is so beautiful. How he wished that time would forever be stopped in this beautiful moment.

As he thought this, he spoke his promise without knowing.

I’ll never forget what I felt today.

– I, want to be a hero of justice!

FIN

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