"Archer currently has no intention of killing Shirou."
As if responding to Rin's words, Archer rested the blade in his hand on his right shoulder.
"Archer? What are you…?"
Illya stopped struggling, looking at him with confusion.
"I'm a Servant. In a state like this, this is the best choice, at least one person can survive."
Archer looked at Illya, who had been trying to stop him, and Rin, who was holding her back, and spoke with a relieved smile.
Although he had not been able to personally bury the ideal of becoming a 'partner of justice,' when he first saw how the relationship between Emiya Shirou and Illya had improved, he abandoned his extreme approach and chose peaceful dialogue instead.
He did not reveal his true name and only spoke as someone who had been through it all, saying many things. The seed had already been planted. That alone was enough.
Through that, he also remembered why he had once made the wish to become a partner of justice.
What he had always wanted to kill was not Emiya Shirou, but to stop the next 'partner of justice' from becoming an executioner.
Yes… he only hoped that Emiya Shirou would not repeat the mistakes of Heroic Spirit EMIYA.
"Emiya Shirou! Since you've taken Illya's hand, then do not ever let go! Live on! And go defeat that guy!"
The moment he finished speaking, Archer brought his blade down in a single strike—and Shirou jolted awake.
Startled awake, Shirou first touched his right hand. Only after confirming it was still there did he let out a sigh of relief.
"What was that just now? A memory from the Gate? No… rather than a memory, it felt more like a dream."
He looked at his right hand. No matter how he saw it, it was still the same hand he had always had.
His rational mind and the intact hand still attached to him both told him it had just been a dream. But his subconscious insisted it was not that simple. Perhaps it was a fragment of a lost memory from the Holy Grail War.
If it was not his memory, how could it have felt so real?
But if it was his memory… then what was going on with his right hand?
Letting out a deep breath, Shirou organized the fragments he still remembered.
First, he had lost his right hand while trying to save Illya. Rin and Illya were helping him stop the bleeding. Then Archer arrived, raised his blade and cut off his own right arm.
There was no beginning or end to it. Where was Saber? What happened afterward? Why did Archer cut off his own arm and was he planning to attach it to him? Could a human even receive the arm of a Heroic Spirit?
"Only giving me fragments like this, this is just pure malice! Is this the Holy Grail's doing? Do you have any idea how awful it was when you only gave me textual knowledge before? And now you are stuffing partial memories into me too?"
By the end of his thoughts, Shirou, frustrated, dumped all the blame onto the Holy Grail.
If anything goes wrong, it's all the Holy Grail's fault!
"Calm down… The first thing to do now is to write everything down."
Forcing himself to settle, the first thing Shirou did was take out a notebook and record everything.
He would write down particularly vivid memories from the Gate, as well as anything related to magecraft.
This was to prevent those memories from suddenly disappearing. Even if they did vanish, he could use his notes to recall them.
He also recorded things from real life, though less frequently. Most of his time was spent grocery shopping, cooking, and doing housework, while Penguin Logistics spent most of their time working.
Though he would be joining them in the future, according to the boss, his daily routine would remain the same, he would only go along on long-distance jobs with Penguin Logistics.
As for the specifics of what he needed to do or prepare, he would have to wait until Exusiai contacted him.
After writing everything down, Shirou put the notebook away and got up to wash up.
Even though his mood had been shaken, he still completed all his usual daily tasks.
Since Penguin Logistics had left early today, Shirou packed all the food into insulated bags and had Sora take them along. He even added extra portions and cleared out the fridge.
According to a certain unnamed red-haired woman, when she saw Shirou chopping vegetables that morning, it looked like he was hacking at his mortal enemy, so she had Sora pick up breakfast instead.
After finishing his chores, Shirou went out for his usual run. The events of the morning had left him feeling frustrated and he needed something to distract himself.
"Yo, isn't that Emiya?"
While running, Shirou was suddenly called out.
Turning around, he saw the owner of the voice, it was Swire, the one who had taken him to the Guard Department a few days ago.
"Officer Shi?"
Seeing Swire, Shirou recalled what Penguin Logistics had told him about the three big figures of the Guard Department:
Swire, Hoshiguma, and Chen.
Exusiai had said he could call them Officer Shi, Officer Hoshi, and Officer Chen.
But in Shirou's view, he had probably been set up by Exusiai. Because the moment he said "Officer Shi," he could clearly see veins popping on Swire's forehead.
"So the people at Penguin Logistics did give you a proper introduction, huh? But my surname is not 'Shi,' you know."
After adjusting her emotions, Swire quickly figured out what had happened, it must've been those Penguin Logistics people talking behind her back again.
"Uh… yes. So, Officer Sh—Swire… , why did you stop me?"
Shirou nearly said "Officer Shi" again but managed to correct himself in time and asked her purpose.
"Nothing much. I just happened to see you while I was out and came to say hello."
Seeing that Shirou stopped using that nickname, Swire let him off the hook, considering it was his first offense.
Today happened to be her day off. She wanted to check out the shop that had been burned down earlier by an infected criminal. Even though the chances of finding evidence were low, she still had to go.
After all, compared to aimless searching, starting from a related location would give her a better chance of finding clues.
The problem was… she seemed to have gotten lost. After wandering around for quite a while, she spotted Shirou jogging and came over to ask for directions.
"I see. Well, if there's nothing else, then I will—"
Seeing that she was not here to arrest him, Shirou immediately thought about slipping away. Even though he had not done anything wrong, facing someone from the Guard Department still made him uneasy.
"What's the rush? Seeing you running at this hour, you must have a day off, right? How about we go on a date?"
Seeing Shirou trying to slip away, Swire grabbed him. She'd only intended to ask for directions, but seeing how scared he seemed, she decided to try a different approach.
No one can refuse a beautiful girl's invitation!
"…Thanks for the invite, I'll pass."
After a brief moment of thought, Shirou chose to imitate Croissant's method—run.
Watching him turn to leave, Swire's expression stiffened. Wasn't rejecting a woman's invitation like that a bit too rude? Was this guy made of wood or something?
"Hey, wait right there!"
The increasingly irritated little tiger stepped forward, blocking Shirou's escape route.