Origins

The new Shirou was aware of everything that happened, from the start of his life as a salaryman to the current moment.

He hadn't actually died in his past life. He had been working OT when a weird rainbow-coloured and glowing crack had opened up in front of his monitor.

Before he could get a proper look at it, he had already been sucked into it.

What followed after that was horrendous pain. It was as if his body was being torn to pieces while he was fully awake.

After an indefinite amount of time, the pain finally stopped. However, he could no longer move his body. No, it was more like he didn't have a body anymore.

He had been reduced to a simple soul. And it seemed like he no longer had control over it either. He was sent hurtling across 'nothingness' until a blue light appeared at the horizon.

The blue light was intensely bright. Even from the distance he was at, it was blinding to his eyes. The closer he got, the clearer he could see into it. At the centre was an almost white ball of light, surrounded by a dark blue orb.

Surrounding that was a blue radiance that no doubt was brighter than the sun. As soon as he saw that, he realized where he was.

He was right in front of the Root. The Swirl of the Root. The Vortex of Radix. The place where all souls originate from and go after death.

Yet that was true only in the Nasuverse. The salaryman wasn't a part of the Nasuverse.

Would the same rules apply to him? But in the first place, how did he get here? Questions plagued his mind one after another, until the most important one was voiced.

'How do I get out of here?!'

He knew that anyone who touched the Root would 'disappear'. Even if he was from a different 'universe' and might not be affected by it, he still didn't want to test it out.

Just before he 'merged' with the Root, another crack opened in front of him. This was the second time he had been sucked into a portal.

But this time, there was no pain. And when he woke up, he felt… something 'else' inside his soul. He was unsure of what it was or how he could even sense his soul to such a degree, but the fact was that something was there.

He tried to push it out, but to no avail. After failing a few times, he turned his attention to his surroundings. Right after falling out of the portal, he had already scanned it. Everywhere was darkness.

It wasn't 'emptiness', but there was no light either. All he could do was wait. He had no idea how he got here, or even where this place was. As such, there was no way to leave or escape, try as he might.

And even if he did escape, he was sure that he was stuck in the Nasuverse with no body.

And so he waited. He waited and waited, until finally, he saw a speck of light. It seemed ever so far, but nevertheless, he tried to reach it.

Forcing himself to move, he tried to speed towards the light. However, no matter how much he pushed himself, it didn't seem like he was any closer. Despite that, he continued.

All of a sudden, the light expanded. It expanded to the point where it covered everything. The darkness that was once omnipresent had been replaced with light.

When his vision recovered, he had found himself in a desert.

---

Shirou had already explained his 'origins' to Kiritsugu, Rin and Sakura. Of course, it was all a lie.

While he felt bad about it, it was necessary to keep his secret. He didn't know why he was here, or what he was meant to do here, but the fact that something similar to Zelretch's Kaleidoscope had dragged him here meant that there was something big at play.

Either that, or Zelretch was simply playing around while he was bored.

He had simply told him that he came from the future. That he had experienced a bad ending despite obtaining the Grail, and he wished to be sent back in time.

That was all the explanation that they required.

They didn't even begin to question it as they did a full retrospect of Shirou's actions till now.

From the way he took to Magecraft, or to combat, to even the way he acted against the Matous, they all matched up with 'being sent back from the future'.

However, Rin managed to raise a suspicion.

"Wait, but if you're from the future, why did you have to learn Magecraft from me?"

"Ah? Huh? Ahahaha… that was to get in contact with you. There was no other way I could think of."

Rin, who was now slightly more open with her feelings, blushed and squirmed around a bit when she heard Shirou.

"W-Why did you need to get in contact with me? W-W-What exactly happened to me in the future?"

"I don't really think I should explain, but I'll just say that you were important to me. Of course, Sakura was important to me as well."

That wasn't exactly a lie. After all, to the salaryman, she had been best girl #2, with Sakura being best girl.

Rin blushed even harder, and Sakura was looking at Shirou with dead-fish eyes; but not without a slight blush on her face.

Kiritsugu was feeling uncomfortable from the blatant flirting. Clearing his throat, Kiritsugu continued to ask.

"What happened to your hair?"

"Huh? My hair? I really don't know. It'll probably revert back to normal sooner or later."

"Alright, let's just leave that aside for now then. What are you going to do from now on? More accurately, how are you going to prevent the tragedies that you described?"

"Well, saving you and Sakura were the main objectives for now. As for the other objective, it's pretty much just to win the Holy Grail War."

"But won't that just repeat the events in the future? And what are you going to do with the Grail after you win?"

"No, it won't. This time, I'll fully destroy it so that we can live in peace. Speaking of which, I just remembered. Old man, let's go visit the Einzberns. Let's go visit… my sister."