Chapter 182: Shirou Emiya

Shirou Emiya, a person whom are living on borrowed ideals. His desire to help others originally came from Kiritsugu's nurturing, but his trauma only worsened it.

In the Fuyuki Fire ten years ago, he's the only one who survived in their vicinity. He heard dozens of screams getting weaker in every moment... until they're all dead. He couldn't even remember his parents, which ended up with him feeling lost at that moment.

Maybe it was due to his instincts kicking in, but he took in every single teaching of Kiritsugu to his heart. All of these are for him to have a reason for living.

However, his beliefs are challenged once he strangely recalled some memories on top of his experiences in parallel worlds. In these, he saw how his ideals failed.

The "Shirou Emiya" from one world decided to forsake the world just to save his loved one. He didn't even care if his actions would result in the death of billions; he only cared as to whether she could escape or not. He threw away his own belief that wouldn't help him in doing so.

Meanwhile, the Counter Guardian EMIYA lived a life full of betrayals—either from other people, his dictated actions, or his beliefs. The moment he became a Counter Guardian, he was forced to kill the few to save the many.

Ironically, he ended up walking the same path as his adoptive father, with both of them ending up with broken ideals.

Due to these, even Shirou's will was challenged.

'I don't fear the future, but seeing this path going to an inevitable failure...'

He is scared.

Though, these thoughts are halted once he heard Sayaka's words.

'I'm... an idiot?'

"You're the one who said that you won't regret any of your actions. Yet, you'll definitely fail if you think like this." She said.

Just like Shirou, Sayaka had once regretted her decisions. She wondered if they are really the right one to take—that her impulsive decision to become a Magical Girl is a bad one.

It became stronger when she snapped out of her dream-like life with Kyousuke. Dark thoughts plagued her mind while she was sleeping, in which she ended up as a Witch. In that state, she is continuously immersed into dark thoughts.

What really is justice?

Is it as simple as judging the evil?

How can you tell that one is evil? Based on your judgement?

If so, what is the worth of justice when it's something built on your selfishness in the first place?

If it's like that, isn't it just using justice to fulfill her own desires?

...

Her own justice is challenged all those time, making her doubt as to whether her justice is even right in the first place. Just as she almost lost herself, she saw a blazing fire.

It is one filled with valiance and courage and gave off the feeling of extreme determination. At that time, Sayaka simply felt the unfathomable will behind it.

It also helped her realize one thing.

'I know it the most myself..! I'm not enacting justice due to my own selfishness, nor judging evil is extremely complicated. If someone had done evil... I will correct them using my own judgement!'

Of course, she's aware that a person is extremely complex. Just because someone had done evil, it doesn't mean that they're purely evil. Still, they will be subjected to her own judgement.

Only the purely evil ones will be subjected to her correction known as "death".

"Why bother doubting yourself? You, Shirou Emiya, knows what you are the best. Are you helping them out of guilt? Repentance? Selfishness?"

"It's not like that!" Shirou responded with a strong tone.

Hearing this, Sayaka stood up from the roof. Strangely enough, she didn't slip as it is built with bamboo tiles and cement. Though, it's due to her manipulating her body in a delicate way, allowing her to keep her balance in any terrains.

"So... What is it?" She asked.

"The others... I'm helping them out because it is the right thing to do Furthermore..." Shirou said. "I saw myself fail already. My belief is something that is hard to hold on, but I will still walk that path... even if I know that it is nigh impossible to succeed."

"..."

For once, Sayaka saw how stubborn Shirou is. She didn't knew much about him at first, only thinking of him as someone pitiful since he resorted to killing his past self just to lessen the burden that he's feeling.

Though, she was surprised on how resolute Shirou can be. While they have similar circumstances, he exceeded her in terms of Willpower. With her words alone, Shirou woke up from the dilemma that he faced!

"You've said it yourself. I will watch over you if you ever waver, Emiya-kun."

"Miki-san..."

To be honest, Shirou felt that their roles are reversed. He is much older than Sayaka, yet he's the one being guided by her. Moreover, she's acted like an older sister while Shirou is the younger brother.

Truly, parallel worlds is a very strange concept...

Suddenly, the space besides her rippled before Shiro appeared.

"Emiya-kun? Nevermind, this is good too."

"Sensei?"

Right now, Shiro is using his [Blindfold (SSR)] to keep his [Six Eyes] in check once again. However, everyone felt that he could still see them clearly—a contrasting feeling, so as to say.

"Well, it looks like we won't have sleep..." He murmured before continuing, "The fake priest is about to make his move. So... we'll deal with everything tonight."

"Kirei..? Illya..."

In one of Shirou's memories, he learned that Illyasviel von Einzbern is none other than Kiritsugu's biological daughter. This made her his older sister, so her safety is important to him.

"Don't worry, I will go there myself, so her safety is guaranteed. As for you guys... can you deal with the ones in the Ryuudou Temple?" Shiro asked.

"I can."

"I can defeat them, sensei."

Shirou and Sayaka both gave out affirmative responses. The former wanted to settle everything with Archer while the latter aims to finish the fight between her and Caster. She knows that Medea is a pitiful being. She's evil, yet her act of saving the innocent children from her former Master showed that she still has her own good in her.

"Alright, I'll trust you guys on that one. Right, Rin will also come with you two."

"Tohsaka?"

"What, can't I come with you?"

The sliding door opened, revealing Tohsaka in her red sweatshirt and above-knee skirt. The holy cross necklace swung slightly as she exhaled due to her "dissatisfaction".

Seeing her usual attitude, Shirou has been long used to it. Partly because they became closer in the past few days, but the main thing is that Shiro talked with him regarding romance. Since Shirou isn't a dense protagonist that can bend the light around them, it's easier to teach him those kind of things.

Well... Shiro had done it since Rin became his 11th student. He knows full well that Shirou is the man that every woman could dream of, so why not help her out?

It's not like she's unattractive; rather, she is. Though, there's a number of reasons as to why he doesn't see every beautiful woman as his love interest. For once, he's not someone who collects women easily. He values his interaction with the others very much, which led to them taking years to develop to the last step.

Shiro is someone who has different beliefs regarding this, so he doesn't think much when it comes to romance. Simply put, he lets nature takes its course.

Thus, it doesn't matter if a woman has no romantic interest with him whatsoever.

As for Sakura... He's her big brother in a parallel world, so he naturally supported her, too. Everything else is all up for Shirou to handle. this included the potential chaos that he would need to handle in the future...

*****

A/N: LB7 teaser is OUTTT!!!! I can already feel the eldritch horrors that Nasu would write~! At the same time, things aren't looking good for Captain Nemo...

Anyways, I wrote MC to be different from those Chat Group protags where (most of the time) every breathing girl/woman tends to be a harem member. It's quite unique at first but became more tiring to read as it went. That, and the fact that I'm planning to create more realistic romantic developments...

Anyways, have a nice day~!