The gap between worlds.
Shinji, who was originally a little worried about being harassed by Rin, suddenly became expressionless after arriving in this special space and seeing Rin's current state.
Because of the scene in front of him, Shinji's original uneasiness was replaced by speechlessness as he didn't know how to complain.
——The table in front of the sofa was filled with empty drink bottles, snack bags, and empty cups of cup noodles. The other party still had a bag of potato chips in his hand, and there were still unchewed potato chips in his mouth.
Looking at Rin who was sitting on the sofa and stopped because of his appearance, biting potato chips and looking at him blankly, Shinji looked at the light screen with snowflakes that was gradually becoming illusory.
... It looks quite der.
"Between..."
Rin, who finally came to his senses, suddenly became excited. He stood up and was about to speak when he realized that there were potato chips in his mouth. He quickly swallowed the potato chips in two mouthfuls.
But maybe he ate too quickly and choked a lot, so under the extremely speechless gaze of Shinji, he quickly picked up the unfinished juice on the table and took two sips, and washed down the potato chips that were choking on his throat.
"Phew—I'm saved~"
Rin took a long breath and said happily, then her expression changed slightly, and she stared hatefully at Shinji Matou who had just remembered herself.
"Shinji Matou, you bastard! You actually left me alone in this stupid world!"
Looking at Rin who was walking forward step by step with small fists in his hands, Shinji finally did not complain about the scene he just saw, because even if he did, he would be ignored by the other party.
"Hey, it's all my fault."
Shinji also simply raised his hand to admit his mistake, but his attitude seemed a bit perfunctory in Rin's eyes.
"It's too perfunctory!"
Ignoring Rin's reluctance, Shinji reached out and grabbed Rin's sleeves and corners. "Anyway, everything in that world is over, so it's time to go back, let's go."
"Wait a minute!"
At this time, Rin changed her previous arrogant attitude and looked directly at Shinji's face with a serious expression.
"Shinji Matou, let me ask you, did Pandora really open that box a long time ago without her knowledge?"
"Huh?"
Shinji was a little surprised by the question that the other party asked first, but he didn't answer it directly. Instead, he raised the corner of his mouth and smiled softly.
"It doesn't matter what happens to that kind of thing, right? Didn't Pandora already have a happy ending? Her wish was to fulfill her duty and die, and didn't she think that she had completed the mission assigned by God at the last moment?"
"You guy...!"
Rin gritted his teeth and looked at Shinji, unable to do anything about this person's strange personality and behavior. Even if he wanted to correct it, he couldn't correct it at all!
"And in the end, I felt that my six thousand years of life was not meaningless at all. I passed away with the ease and satisfaction of completing my mission. This is the most perfect ending!"
Rin was also so angry that her teeth itched, and she said bitterly, "Ah! Although it is like this on the surface, the premise is that this ending is not deliberately caused by a person with a bad taste..."
"Wait a minute." Shinji interrupted Rin, and then looked straight at Rin with expressionless eyes, and said calmly, "Tohsaka, you seem to have made a mistake. That is that the tragedy of this world is that everything is framed within a certain range from the beginning, otherwise there would be no such thing as Root."
"Cut!"
Rin folded his hands, turned sideways and made a cut, but did not refute. After all, what Shinji said was not wrong.
Root of all things, all causes really exist, then all results are already destined.
Seeing that Rin was silent, Shinji was not in a hurry, but slowly came to the sofa and sat down, and asked with interest.
"But then again, why would you notice something like this and have doubts about it? Obviously Emiya, they and even Pandora themselves didn't doubt me."
"Of course because..."
Rin subconsciously wanted to answer, but was suddenly startled on the way, his eyes blinked unconsciously, and then his voice gradually weakened.
"... Because I am a bystander."
Snap!
Shinji snapped his fingers and nodded, "Well, that's right. It seems that you have realized it too. Only by being in the position of a bystander can we understand some things and find some strange and unreasonable things in this world."
"You mean that you have always been a bystander to this world?"
Rin frowned, because he was slightly interested in this topic and came to sit down on the sofa, and was no longer in a hurry to go back.
"What are you talking about? I've been living in this world all my life. I just want to say that if you could change your perspective and look at the problem from the perspective of a bystander, for example, Archer... no, guys like Emiya might not be driven to despair at the end of that road."
"That's right..."
Rin sighed softly and felt a little emotional when he mentioned Red A. Because of the master-slave relationship, the past of the other party that he had dreamed about was really disturbing.
However, at this moment, Rin suddenly heard a tsk sound coming from the mouth of Shinji on the side, and instantly thought of something and blushed.
"Anyway... anyway!"
Feeling that his face was slightly hot, Rin also stumbled and changed the topic. "Of course, it's not just because I am a bystander, but also because I think it is impossible for you to see the past. No matter how perverted you are, you can't understand what happened in the past, right?"
"Well, indeed." Shinji was stunned for a moment, then nodded with his chin propped up, and said thoughtfully, "It seems that if we encounter the same thing again next time, we should pay more attention to fix this obvious loophole."
Hearing this, the corners of Rin's eyes couldn't stop twitching, and several black lines couldn't stop falling on his forehead.
"Are you still thinking about a next time?"
Shinji nodded generously and admitted. "Well, next time I edit... ahem, I will try to get rid of this little bug when writing the end of the story."
"You guys are really..."
Rin racked her brains and couldn't think of any words to use to describe the man in front of her, so she finally gave up with a sigh and turned to her chin to ask the next question.
"Speaking of which, Shinji, did you have the ending of Pandora in mind from the very beginning? The trick... no, uh... is it just to make her realize that she has actually opened the box and died contentedly?"
"No, I only thought of it the moment I saw her in person."
"What?!"
Rin was naturally surprised. After all, she thought that the other party had planned it for a long time, but she didn't expect that the ending was planned only when she saw Pandora in person!
In such a short time?
This person is too scary in every sense of the word!
Sensing Rin's eyes that were like looking at a monster, Shinji also shrugged his shoulders and explained helplessly, "Please don't look at me like you are looking at a monster? Although the process was only thought of after I saw the other person, the ending with Pandora's death was an idea I had before."
"Huh?"
Rin, who heard something amiss, was also extremely smart and thought of something in an instant, frowning and showing some suspicion.
"In other words, did you originally plan for other endings of Pandora?"
"You can say that, after all, there are many accidents, and we need to think of various accidents and set up corresponding solutions for them."
"How perverted are you?"
"Although it didn't reach the best ending, it was already a good happy ending."
"The best ending?" Rin suddenly became interested and tugged on Shinji's clothes and asked, "What is it? What is the best ending for Pandora in your imagination?"
"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it. There is no point in thinking about other possibilities after things have come to a successful conclusion... except for reflection."
Rin shook his head, then crossed his legs to pick up the unfinished juice from the table, took a gentle sip and then put it down, looking at Shinji very seriously.
"I want to... reflect on it."
Shinji was shocked by Rin's answer, and the corners of his eyes twitched for no reason.
Looking at the extremely serious expression on the other party's face, Shinji finally did not say anything more, "Reflection is of little use, because humans are a race that makes repeated mistakes over and over again." Instead, he shrugged his shoulders and explained casually.
"Actually, personally, the ending I originally wanted to see was one where Pandora could refuse the tasks or missions forced upon her by gods or other beings."
"Let Pandora refuse the mission of opening the box?"
Shinji crossed his legs, folded his hands and nodded. "Well, I don't really like fatalism or anything like that, especially this kind of relationship with God. Anyway, if it were me, no matter what others say, I would reject this kind of mission that is imposed without my own will."
"But Pandora was created by God specifically for the box..."
Before Rin finished speaking, he suddenly reacted, holding his chin and analyzing in a low voice to himself.
"No, the box was created by God after Pandora was born. The primary and secondary relationship is not because Pandora came first because the box came first. From this point of view, this development is also possible. If Pandora really refuses this mission, it is possible for her to be freed from this miserable life!"
"Yes, this is the most likely path for Pandora to free itself! If she refuses to resist this mission, there is a high probability that God will find someone else to serve as the holder of the box. Of course, the premise is that she will not question this idea."
"Sounds good, so why did you give up this ending and choose another one?"
Looking at the confused Rin, Shinji shrugged, then leaned back and spread his arms on the back of the sofa.
"Because... she can't do it."