Black Zetsu, I Was Just Casually Fooling You—Why Did You Reveal Your Entire Past?

Actually...

Black Zetsu should not have had emotions.

Because Black Zetsu was the will Kaguya Otsutsuki gave birth to in order to revive herself. Its very existence was for Kaguya Otsutsuki to descend upon this world once more.

However...

At this very moment...

Black Zetsu's feelings were exceptionally complicated.

Black Zetsu felt a little sad, and a little happy.

Even using the phrase "great sorrow and great joy" to describe Black Zetsu's emotional turmoil would have seemed far too understated.

Although Black Zetsu knew it had always been deceiving Shirou Emiya, it was still moved by him. Shirou Emiya had even apologized to it, his companion, after failing.

Perhaps...

Was this what it felt like to be regarded as a companion?

Although Black Zetsu had always treated Shirou Emiya as a pawn and deceived him, it knew that Shirou Emiya had sincerely regarded it as his companion.

The path to reviving Kaguya Otsutsuki had been far too lonely and long. Black Zetsu had never found anyone to walk it with, and all its deception had brought it was the sincere Shirou Emiya.

Shirou Emiya, an ancient man who had believed in the God Tree and Goddess Kaguya of the Rabbit during the Ancient Era, was all the more precious in this age that had forgotten the God Tree and Kaguya!

So precious...

Like a spark.

Throughout this long, cold night of a thousand years, it was the only spark that had ever made Black Zetsu feel warmth. Even the brief flickering of its flame could stir its heart.

Shirou Emiya was also an extraordinarily great genius!

Yet at this moment, having lost all hope of reviving Kaguya, he had become so despondent!

This despondency...

Really should not have appeared on him.

Shirou Emiya of the Ancient Era had seemed omnipotent. With nothing but a mortal body, he could stand shoulder to shoulder with gods. This genius had once nearly changed the world and, by his own power, destroyed everything left behind by the Sage of Six Paths!

And yet...

This genius who should have been proud...

Was now acting utterly lost.

Even while utterly lost, he still apologized to Black Zetsu, his companion.

Because he believed he could not revive Kaguya, could not change this world, and had failed Black Zetsu's expectations.

If his mother Kaguya knew of Shirou Emiya's experiences, perhaps that sentimental mother would shed tears for this innocent and pure person as well.

Of course.

Black Zetsu was also very pleased.

Because the thing that had driven Shirou Emiya into the deepest despair was, to it, merely a trivial matter. It could easily solve all the problems Shirou Emiya faced!

"You need not despair over such small problems..."

An eerie smile spread uncontrollably across Black Zetsu's face. In a hoarse voice, it began comforting Shirou Emiya, telling him that it could solve those problems.

"The answer you seek..."

"Has always been by your side..."

The moment it said those words...

Black Zetsu's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Something was wrong...

What the hell am I saying?

What exactly am I doing here?!

I came here to make sure the revived Shirou Emiya would keep secrets in this era. Why did I end up revealing even more secrets to him instead?!

Although Shirou Emiya was indeed trustworthy, its identity should always have been its most important secret. How had it blurted it out in a moment of emotional agitation?!

"..."

Shirou Emiya gave Black Zetsu no chance to react. At its words, he suddenly raised his head, staring at Black Zetsu in shock and disbelief as he looked at this companion from over a thousand years ago!

"Black Zetsu, could it be that you..."

"..."

Black Zetsu had no time to think further.

It could not even think of anyone it should pretend to be.

While cursing itself internally for letting the secret slip, Black Zetsu also reassured itself that Shirou Emiya could be trusted. Amid that conflict, it revealed its true identity.

"That's right..."

"I am the will of Goddess Kaguya of the Rabbit."

After revealing its true identity, Black Zetsu felt as utterly dead inside as Shirou Emiya had just moments ago.

It could only choose to trust Shirou Emiya.

Just as Shirou Emiya, in his despair, could only trust Ashura.

Even if it regretted it...

It was already too late.

Black Zetsu could only keep comforting itself. It had already revealed too many secrets to Shirou Emiya, even exposing its desire to revive Kaguya.

Its true identity...

Perhaps Shirou Emiya might have guessed it someday anyway...

Perhaps Shirou Emiya, constrained by human ways of thinking, would never have guessed it.

But Black Zetsu had already exposed its desire to revive Kaguya before Shirou Emiya. There was not much difference between that and revealing its true identity.

It did not matter if it said it...

Shirou Emiya could be trusted!

Shirou Emiya was definitely worthy of trust!

While regretting its own impulsiveness, Black Zetsu continued consoling itself. Shirou Emiya was simply too sincere; there was truly no need for it to hide its identity any longer...

"No, this..."

Shirou Emiya stared in disbelief at Black Zetsu, who had directly exposed its own identity. His expression was as if he had witnessed something absolutely impossible in this world!

No...

What are you doing?!

I just wanted to casually trick you into trusting me...

Why did you reveal your entire past?!

Black Zetsu had lived in this world for over a thousand years, and apparently it had all gone to the dogs. Why did it feel like it had made no progress at all compared to over a thousand years ago?

Was it really this easy to fool?

Shirou Emiya recalled that during the Ancient Era, he had merely shouted about wanting to destroy the Ninja Sect. Yet Black Zetsu had later started clamoring that the Ninja Sect had to be destroyed too, and in the end, the Ninja Sect had truly been destroyed by him once...

He had merely wanted to exploit Black Zetsu's desire to take revenge on the Sage of Six Paths. He had shouted a few slogans to earn Black Zetsu's trust, yet Black Zetsu had truly been led astray and believed him...

He had falsely claimed to believe in the God Tree and used the Rabbit Goddess to lure Black Zetsu in. As a result, Black Zetsu had even revealed its desire to revive Kaguya, saying that Chakra should have belonged to Kaguya...

And now...

He had made up a few heartfelt words...

And Black Zetsu had revealed its true identity again.

It had been over a thousand years!

Why was Black Zetsu still so easy to deceive?!

While silently criticizing Black Zetsu, Shirou Emiya also wondered whether he had once tricked too many secrets out of it, to the point that he had now tricked out Black Zetsu's final secret...

Black Zetsu was far too sincere...

He was almost embarrassed.

Shirou Emiya did not even dare imagine what Black Zetsu would be like once it learned of his true nature in the future...

In the future...

It would probably be in a rather bad mood.

Right now...

Black Zetsu was still apologizing on its own initiative.

"I'm truly sorry..."

Black Zetsu knew nothing of Shirou Emiya's thoughts. It even began explaining why it had concealed its identity. "All this time, I have hidden my true identity..."

Yes.

Black Zetsu had to explain itself clearly.

Black Zetsu even needed to fabricate a story.

After all, it could not directly reveal the full truth about Kaguya Otsutsuki and the Sage of Six Paths turning against each other as mother and son. It could only find a way to make up stories favorable to Kaguya Otsutsuki, because Shirou Emiya was an utterly kind man...

"No, wait..."

Shirou Emiya found it a little hard to accept Black Zetsu's apology.

Shirou Emiya worried that accepting Black Zetsu's apology at this moment might be going a bit too far and could lead to some excessively strange changes in Black Zetsu's mindset in the future.

However...

Shirou Emiya then realized a rather troublesome problem.

The Shirou Emiya of the Ancient Era, who had always treated others sincerely, surely could not immediately forgive Black Zetsu for hiding its true identity from him, even if Black Zetsu was the will of the Rabbit Goddess he worshipped...

Forgiving Black Zetsu right away...

Accepting Black Zetsu's identity right away...

That seemed likely to arouse Black Zetsu's suspicions.

He probably ought to be confused and struggle for a while.

At the very least, he needed to put on the appearance of someone unable to bear the shock of Black Zetsu's true identity and wait for Black Zetsu to earnestly beg for his forgiveness...

Only then...

Would Black Zetsu trust him even more.

Because people believed in what they worked hard to obtain, rather than what others simply handed to them.

Interacting with people was truly difficult.

Sometimes, handling interpersonal relationships well was not easy at all.

"Wait..."

Shirou Emiya weakly waved a hand at Black Zetsu, as though his soul had suffered a tremendous shock.

"Black Zetsu..."

A wounded despondency appeared on Shirou Emiya's face, as if he could not accept that his former companion had deceived him and hidden such a shocking identity from him.

"I'm a little... unable to take this in..."

"In any case... let me think alone for a while..."