"Something I want to do…?"
Lying on his bed, Shirou kept turning over Nian's words in his mind.
"This body is made of swords… I am the bone of my sword…"
Murmuring the chant softly, Shirou thought back to his past ideals.
To fight the Evil and help those who need it—to become a hero of justice.
At first, it was just admiration. In that great fire, the expression on Kiritsugu's face when he found him had been so full of happiness.
But the moment he truly decided to become a hero of justice was that night , when he promised Kiritsugu that he would fulfill his dream.
"Oripathy, the Infected, this land… Penguin Logistics."
Shirou thought about many things, what he had learned from books and the internet and what Alina had told him a few days ago about the Infected.
But when his thoughts turned to Penguin Logistics, he hesitated.
For now, he had no intention of leaving them.
After a period of inner conflict, Shirou unknowingly fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw two doors…one purple, one black.
"Again…This is fast?"
Looking at the two doors that seemed ready to open, Shirou felt this was happening unusually quickly.
The first time had taken nearly a month. This time, it had only been a few days.
But he had no intention of viewing those memories right now. His mind was already in chaos and watching them would probably tie it into a complete knot.
To him, these memories were like movies.
Except he was the protagonist, which made them far more immersive—and made him understand those "versions" of himself even more deeply.
Although that's how he saw it.
Right now, he was just too tired. He wanted to rest.
So Shirou tried to leave.
…And realized he could not.
Then, the two doors suddenly rushed toward him.
"???"
This felt strangely familiar, like he had been hit by something like this before.
Before he could react, both the doors and his consciousness vanished.
As they disappeared, the surrounding mist remained.
A man dressed in red appeared amid blue particles of magical energy. Looking at a small black stone on the ground, he sighed.
"So it still turns out like this… The ideal of a 'hero of justice' really does keep haunting Emiya, doesn't it?"
Then he let out a soft chuckle.
"But is this not better? It's no longer an empty ideal, there is a clear goal for him now. At the very least, he will not become a butcher like me, right?"
The man—Archer seemed quite satisfied with Shirou's current state.
That was his wish.
As long as Shirou Emiya did not continue sinking deeper into a vague "hero of justice" ideal and end up like him, that was enough.
Having someone to protect or a clear goal, that was sufficient.
After all, this land did not lack people who pursued justice.
And besides, he was nothing more than a remnant of magical energy residing within Shirou, left behind when he once gave him his right arm.
As the mist gradually engulfed everything, Archer's figure also disappeared.
—
As for Shirou himself, he was now immersed in memories.
He was still within the Fifth Holy Grail War but this time it seemed centered around Sakura.
Shirou began to notice a pattern. Each set of memories seemed to feature one main heroine, first Saber, then Rin, and now Sakura.
"…Is this like some kind of galgame setup? One route, one heroine?"
Thanks to Penguin Logistics recommending games to him, Shirou had learned a bit about such formats and could not help but comment on it.
At first, things were similar: being stabbed, being saved, summoning Saber.
But this memory diverged drastically.
The Matou family's involvement, the black mud of the Grail, Sakura's connection to it, and the loss of his left arm which was replaced by Archer's.
But every time he used Archer's arm he stepped closer to death.
In the end, Illya used an incomplete Third Magic to preserve him.
Later, Rin and Sakura found a puppeteer to create a body for him, allowing him to live like a normal person again.
—
The other memory was completely different.
As a child, he had been taken in by Kiritsugu and trained as his assistant, learning many things.
In Fuyuki, he encountered a strange disaster and adopted a peculiar younger sister—Miyu.
After repeated struggles, he abandoned Kiritsugu's long-held plan to use Miyu and instead chose to treat her as his real sister.
But the peace did not last. Miyu was taken away.
Despite spending a long time trying, he could not save her until the Holy Grail War began.
Unlike before, this war used cards as a medium to grant the power of Servants.
Using himself as a catalyst, he connected with a card that had no spirit, forming a bond with Heroic Spirit EMIYA, Archer.
With that power, he won the Grail War and made a wish to let Miyu escape.
Afterward, without cards, he continued fighting by overtaxing his own body and buying time for Miyu to leave.
—
"… "
After both sets of memories ended, Shirou could not form a judgment.
Though they were all "him," there were huge differences in mindset.
One abandoned his ideal for Sakura.
The other did so for his sister.
They were different paths but both made Shirou feel a sense of envy.
Because those versions of him had clear goals and took the step to fulfill them.
So what about him?
Lying on his bed, Shirou kept thinking.
Just as he expected, revisiting the memories only made his mind more tangled.
What was once a single thread had now become three, twisted together.
Scratching his head, he still could not find an answer.
He even forgot to record the magical techniques and knowledge from the memories into his notebook, he just kept lying there, thinking.
"Shirou? Are you still asleep?"
Exusiai's voice came from outside the door, pulling him back to reality.
Opening the door, he saw everyone from Penguin Logistics eating the breakfast they had bought.
"Huh…I did not expect you to wake up this late," Croissant said, taking a big bite of her meat bun.
Seeing how carefree everyone looked, Shirou felt his mood lighten.
He walked over to the table and picked up the portion they had prepared for him.