I... sat quietly above the clouds.
My eyes were faintly red.
I reached out, wanting to grasp something.
But...
All I touched was air...
There was nothing.
I couldn't see anything.
I couldn't get anything...
I raised my humble head and looked at the sun high above, radiating its warm light. I smiled...
Blood ran down my cheeks, yet the smile at the corners of my mouth only grew wider.
Why?
Why was I still smiling when I was injured?
Why did such a blissful smile appear on my face even as I bled without stopping?
Heh...
Because above me,
there was someone even lonelier than I was...
In a tight embrace, they clung to each other with such force that it seemed they wanted to meld into one body. Tears welled in their eyes, and in that moment, one slipped free.
"Artoria..."
The cry came from the depths of my heart. With a satisfied smile, I slowly collapsed to the ground.
The bright sunlight slowly rose in the east, while clusters of white clouds drifted lazily through the sky.
Below those white clouds,
a chilly breeze swept through the streets, making passersby shiver.
A paper door slid quietly open.
A golden-haired girl in a simple robe slowly stepped outside.
A breeze brushed gently against her face and playfully lifted a strand of her golden hair.
"Even the wind is against me?" the girl grumbled, looking a little displeased.
She raised a small hand to smooth the ruffled strand.
But then...
A gentle, large hand had already come to rest on her head, smoothing her tousled hair for her.
Once the strand was in place, that warm hand slid down to her waist and gently drew her into a broad embrace.
"Go ahead and do what you want. I won't object," came the voice from behind her, its tone faintly ingratiating. The girl's angry expression gradually softened.
She turned her petite frame and smiled at the black-haired boy, who wore a helpless look.
He managed a strained smile in return, looking at her.
Back in the warmth of the bedroom, the boy and girl lay peacefully together in each other's arms.
Embracing tightly, wearing happy expressions, the boy and girl exchanged a glance and smiled from the depths of their hearts...
"Thank you, Fate."
I was alone,
sitting above the clouds.
When I raised my head to gaze upon the warm light, I was no longer alone...
And when that warm light fell upon my humble body, the proud light that shone across the heavens would no longer be alone, either...
You ask why?
Heh...
Isn't it obvious? It's because
we have each other.
A soft clatter.
The delicate pastries on the table caught the golden-haired girl's attention.
Her big eyes sparkled like stars as she gazed at the boy with a pitiful expression. And so... the boy surrendered.
Ignoring the roar Taiga would unleash when she arrived, the boy grinned as he pushed plate after plate of exquisite pastries in front of the girl. Then he watched her happily eat the cream-filled treats, one after another.
The boy picked up a clean tissue and smiled as he gently wiped the cream from the girl's lips. In return, he received a look that said, "Don't bother me. I'm enjoying my food."
In a gloomy corner, a dark cloud seemed to form overhead. The boy crouched there looking utterly miserable, drawing circle after circle.
"Curse all the cream pastries in the world... Curse all the cream pastries in the world..."
Shirou opened the living room door and came in with ingredients he'd bought for lunch. He looked at me, crouched nearby, with a speechless expression.
"Uh... what should I say? Xia's gone off the rails?" he teased, drawing an eye roll from me.
Shirou went into the kitchen, set down the groceries, and waved me over to help.
"Um... Xia, why does Master call you Xia?" After swallowing the last pastry, the girl asked me with a satisfied expression.
I smiled and pinched Artoria's cheek, then gently shook my head.
"It's a trivial matter. Please don't worry about it..." My answer made Artoria's brows furrow slightly. She seemed displeased, but still chose not to press me. After all... she no longer wanted to concern herself with so many things.
"As long as we never have to part again... you can decide everything else, Xia." Artoria said this to me.
"Heh... Yes, my lord." My slightly narrowed eyes showed just how happy I was.
Thud, thud, thud!
The hurried footsteps in the hallway made Xia turn his head and look outside.
Whoosh! The door was suddenly yanked open, and a woman in a dark green dress appeared.
"Hey~! I'm here~!" Her loud greeting made Xia and Shirou sigh at the same time...
"Welcome back, Taiga," Xia said with a smile to the woman standing outside, whom everyone called Taiga. But the smile she'd put on after hearing his greeting instantly faded at his final words.
Whoosh!
A large hand shot out and grabbed Xia before he could react.
Taiga clenched one hand into a fist and ground it against Xia's temple, speaking furiously as she did.
"How many times have I told you? Don't call me a tiger, you jerk!"
"Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts! I know I was wrong! Please forgive me, Lady Taiga!"
"You still dare say it?! You awful Xia!"
The golden-haired girl sat quietly nearby, smiling as she watched the two of them bicker. Though it sounded like an argument, their noisy squabbling somehow brought a sense of ease and comfort. The two of them, however, kept right on fighting, completely unaware.
In the end, Shirou had to step in and smooth things over, rescuing me just before I was "honorably" killed.
"This isn't over!" Taiga shook her fist. Even after they'd been separated, the tiger still refused to give up, threatening me with a ferocious display.
A plate of exquisite pastries was offered to her. The beast who'd been raging a moment earlier instantly turned into a sweet little kitten. She happily ate the treats, making contented little sounds as she went.
...Seeing this, the boy and girl gave a thumbs-up to the clever person who'd offered the food.
"Brilliant!" they praised him without holding back.
"Heh... heh..." Shirou laughed foolishly, trying to hide his embarrassment at being complimented.
After that, we began enjoying our meal in a harmonious atmosphere.
Just as we were halfway through, a girl with beautiful long purple hair hurried in from outside. When she saw that the delicious pastries on the table were already being shared, she gave Shirou a somewhat helpless look.
"Haha, sorry, Sakura. Taiga and Xia started eating first. I did try to stop them!" Shirou chuckled, earning the unanimous scorn of Taiga and me.
Sakura knew what her senior was like, so she could only shake her head with a smile, showing that she didn't really mind.
We took our seats.
Five people(?), including two couples
and one tiger,
finally began the breakfast that had been delayed for a while.
The warm sun was already high in the sky.
White clouds drifted slowly overhead.
Light streaming through the gaps in the windows fell gently upon the five young people.
The boy and girl laughed as they happily chatted with the three people across from them.
They talked about what had happened in the Fairy Forest, and about leaving the Fairy Forest.
They talked about how they'd once relied on and depended on each other, and then later met again as strangers, facing one another with blades drawn.
Both the boy and the girl had suffered, cried, and even felt furious.
But...
They had never once felt lost...
"My name is Drake D. Xia! I'll always be the man standing behind you!"
The vow that once echoed through the Fairy Forest was still being upheld by the boy.
And it was precisely because he had always held to that vow that the decisions he made were so decisive and ruthless.
Because whenever the boy made a decision, he considered only one thing.
"For my Goddess! I will become the 'source of evil'!"
As she listened to Xia and Artoria's story, a romantic love like something from a dream or fairy tale,
the purple-haired girl gazed at Shirou with her beautiful eyes. A passion that could melt a person alive blazed within them!
Shirou was shocked and couldn't quite believe what he'd heard. But when the girl beside him looked at him with eyes as warm as the sun, he felt... that every word he'd wanted to say suddenly seemed so feeble and muddled.
He had a feeling that for a long time to come, he would be "tormented" by that gaze...
The only one who seemed remotely normal was the loveless tiger.
She chewed on a clam shell and looked askance at Xia as she said,
"Since that's the case, let me ask you something." The tiger's words caught everyone's attention.
"Have you two... ever been on a date?"
"..."
"Have you ever kissed?"
"..."
"Have you ever done that thing?"
"..."
"Fine. I give up. Your relationship is so pure it's practically absurd!" The tiger shrugged indifferently, then claimed all the food on the table with an obnoxious look.
"...A date? With Artoria?" Xia turned his head in confusion to look at the girl, who seemed just as bewildered.
"A date...?" Xia asked.
"Um... I suppose it is a date?" Artoria replied uncertainly.
Their pointless exchange showed just how little they knew about the thing couples did most often.
"...What is that?" they asked in unison.
It just means going shopping with the person you love, boy!
My Goddess—No. 6: Berserker
Daytime.
The warm, generous sunlight shone upon the earth, bringing a little warmth to the city battered by the cold wind.
Perhaps the warmth seeded by the sun had drawn people outside, or perhaps the cold had made them all want to get out and move around.
Whatever the reason, this city, which had endured several disasters, was bustling once more, filled with lively crowds and busy streets.
Couples strolled arm in arm through the streets, weaving in and out of the newly opened shops.
Some couples went into clothing stores, some into beauty salons, and some into love hotels.
And, of course, there were some particularly adventurous couples... Ahem!
But no matter where these couples went or what kind of shop they entered, when they came out, their expressions always seemed exactly alike. The men looked as though they'd been shoved down by some hulking, intimidating man and had enjoyed it, while the women looked like hulking, intimidating men who'd shoved the men down and enjoyed it...
Standing on the bustling street, Xia and Artoria watched the couples coming and going with great interest.
They watched the couples act all lovey-dovey before entering the shops, then emerge looking like sworn enemies...
Or they watched couples who'd been chatting and laughing before entering some strange hotel. After spending a while inside, they came out acting like complete strangers.
It was truly strange.
Whenever Artoria saw this, she would turn to Xia with a questioning look.
Xia kept pretending not to notice, ignoring Artoria's curious gaze.
They walked slowly down the bustling street.
Hand in hand, the boy and girl admired the lively sights and fashionable shops on either side of them.
The boy smiled as he took in the familiar sights he'd once known so well. How familiar they were, and how he'd missed them...
Lowering his eyelids slightly, the boy glanced at the golden-haired girl beside him.
Heh...
A smile of heartfelt contentment made his face brighten even more.
"Xia? What are you smiling about?" Her clear voice rang in the boy's ear.
He lowered his head and saw the golden-haired girl looking at him with a puzzled expression, as though she couldn't understand why he was so happy.
The boy stopped quietly and slowly reached out his right hand. Under the girl's bewildered gaze, he gently ruffled her golden hair.
Then he started walking again, still smiling, his broad hand tightly holding the girl's small one.
The breeze slowly rose,
lifting the girl's beautiful golden hair and revealing her blushing face, which the golden strands had hidden.
"L-let go, Xia. This is embarrassing." Her weak little voice came from her rosy lips.
"The wind's too strong! I can't hear you~!" The boy's infuriating excuse left the girl utterly at a loss.
Her emerald eyes swept over the grass by the roadside. Seeing that the breeze wasn't even strong enough to bend a single blade, she sighed helplessly. She let the stubborn boy in front of her keep a tight hold on her hand as they slowly walked on.
They walked and walked.
The two of them had been wandering aimlessly, and somehow they'd ended up in a park for couples.
Here, you could see lovers holding hands everywhere. Some sat together on wooden benches, leaning against each other.
Others sat in the grass, the man resting comfortably with his head in the woman's lap as they teased each other without a care.
They smiled, they were happy, and they relied on each other.
They were all people willing to give their lives for one another.
And that was "love"...
The breeze continued to blow gently.
But the heat gradually faded from the girl's flushed cheeks.
She raised her adorable face and gazed uncertainly at the back of the person in front of her.
Ever since they'd first met...
He'd always been like this...
A gentle smile slowly spread across the boy's face.
It carried a hint of spring's vitality, warming the boy's fiery heart.
His sudden stop made the girl pause in surprise.
He turned around abruptly, and she saw him staring at her with an unusually serious expression.
It was the first time she'd ever seen him look so solemn and grave...
"W-what's wrong, Xia?" Since becoming the undefeated king, the girl had never once felt so nervous.
"Being able to descend into this world is what I'm most grateful to the gods for in my life."
Bathed in sunlight, Xia spoke to Artoria with a grave expression.
"I'm truly, truly grateful!"
His burning gaze fixed on Artoria's eyes. The deliberate, word-by-word way he spoke made him seem almost aggressive.
"I-is that so?! Then I'm grateful too! I'm grateful to the gods Xia is grateful to..." Artoria answered nervously. Under Xia's fervent gaze, she was almost unable to make sense of what she herself was saying.
"Artoria, I've only just realized something! There's something we've been ignoring all this time, even though we're together now!" Ignoring Artoria's answer, Xia approached her step by step, his face flushed.
"W-what is it?" As Xia drew closer, his handsome face nearing hers, Artoria shifted backward uneasily and asked.
His large hand reached out and wrapped around Artoria's waist. Then, under her astonished gaze, Xia pulled her into his arms.
He stared straight into Artoria's eyes, their bodies pressed so closely together that there was no gap between them.
"Y-you idiot! What are you trying to do?!" Artoria's face was red, and she was genuinely starting to panic as she shouted.
But Xia didn't immediately answer her urgent question. He only gave Artoria a playful smile from within his embrace.
Then he finally said...
"We're being watched by a slightly stronger ant."
Xia's words startled Artoria. She immediately turned and followed his gaze.
The couples who'd been laughing together in the park had all disappeared without a trace.
The sun that had been hanging high in the sky had also vanished behind thick clouds.
Footsteps crunched!
A huge shadow slowly emerged from a wooded area. A small silver-haired figure walked in front of it, and together they approached Xia and Artoria.
"Hehe..."
A silvery laugh rang from the silver-haired girl's lips.
It should have sounded pure and innocent, yet Artoria's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
"Berserker..." Xia murmured, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the huge figure behind the silver-haired girl.
"Hmph!"
My Goddess—No. 7—Heroes Gather Together.
The gloomy sky, the damp air,
The oppressive weight in the atmosphere made it hard to breathe.
People walking along the streets hurried toward their homes, hoping to get back to the warmth and shelter inside before the rain began.
Drip...
A clear splash sounded.
The first raindrop quietly fell from the gloomy sky...
On a deserted, silent street, Shirou hurried home from the shopping district.
As he ran, Shirou suddenly felt a cool drop of water splash against his face. It felt cold and a little slippery against his skin.
He lifted a hand and gently wiped his cheek.
"...Rain?"
He looked up at the gloomy sky, where a mass of dark clouds hung overhead. Muffled thunder rumbled within them, accompanied by flashes of blue lightning.
The suffocating pressure and ominous feeling deep inside him coiled around Shirou's heart like a viper flicking its tongue.
Uneasy, Shirou stared at the clouds for several minutes. "What awful weather... I hope Xia and the others get home soon."
With that, he quickened his pace and ran toward the Emiya Residence.
Crack!!
A web of lightning suddenly flashed through the black clouds! A moment later, thunder roared, shaking the very heavens!
Drip... drip, drip... patter, patter, patter.
One raindrop hit the ground, then two. In an instant, the rain poured down in sheets from the dark sky.
Shirou ran through the downpour. His clothes and shoes were completely soaked by the time he reached the Emiya Residence, panting for breath.
"Ha... ha... I should've brought an umbrella!" Shirou grumbled, regretting that he hadn't, as he set a pile of groceries down in the hallway outside the living room.
After putting the groceries away, Shirou muttered about his bad luck and hurried toward the bathroom. If he didn't change out of his soaking clothes soon, he'd be visiting the clinic tomorrow~ And Avalon, which had always kept Shirou alive by a thread, had been taken out of his body by Xia the instant he regained his memories.
The hallway was pitch-black and silent. The lightbulb had burned out three days ago. Shirou had meant to fix it, but one thing after another had kept getting in the way.
After bathing, Shirou quietly closed the door behind him, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and headed for the kitchen in the living room.
"All right! Time to get busy again!" Shirou walked along, stretching his limbs. He picked up a duster and a cleaning cloth and started on his usual chores.
Originally, Shirou and Xia had shared the housework. Xia handled lunch and cleaning, while Shirou made breakfast and dinner. But... everything changed after Artoria showed up.
Every single day, Xia stationed himself outside Artoria's bedroom. Aside from buying the household's daily necessities, he didn't lift a finger around the house. Even when a cockroach crawled out of the fridge, Xia ignored it and stayed focused on baking delicate cakes and treats for his Goddess...
"Ah... The power of love really is terrifying." Shirou sighed and gave a wry smile.
Crackle!!!
Just as his chuckle faded, thunder boomed across the sky again! The rain pouring down from above showed no sign of letting up; if anything, it was growing heavier. It was as if it wouldn't stop until it had flooded the entire little town.
Frowning, Shirou turned toward the window. Outside, the rain was coming down in torrents, and flashes of lightning flickered now and then.
His good mood vanished in an instant...
The Holy Grail War was a small-scale battle involving seven Masters and seven Servants. Once the seven pairs had formed their contracts, they would begin fighting and killing one another, and the war would end only when a single Master and their Servant remained.
Servants were also known as Heroic Spirits.
They were humans who had accomplished great deeds in the past. Before their deaths, they had earned the favor of humanity's highest consciousness or the Earth's highest consciousness—Alaya and Gaia—and formed contracts with them.
They possessed tremendous power and endless lifespans, and could be considered truly immortal.
These great heroes would answer the call of their respective Masters and come to this world, all for the sake of competing for a single thing.
"The Holy Grail...?"
The legendary divine cup that could grant any wish.
"But unfortunately... the true Holy Grail was corrupted during the Second Holy Grail War. The only thing left now is the Black Holy Grail, tainted by filthy black mud. It's a source of evil, filled with destruction and ruin. The great fire ten years ago was caused by the appearance of that Black Holy Grail." That was what Xia had told Shirou when he'd asked him about it.
"...But, Xia, how do you know so much? You're just an ordinary human like me, aren't you?!" Shirou had asked without thinking, his mind in a muddle.
At his question, Xia's face seemed to twist slightly.
"...Because I fought in the Fourth Holy Grail War, and so did Artoria." Xia's explanation had left everyone present stunned. Taiga, Sakura, Shirou, and... Rin Tohsaka.
"Anyway, the details are too complicated, so I won't explain everything. There's only one thing you need to know: the Grail is no longer the same one that descended during the First Holy War. The cup that exists now is nothing more than a stinking sewer full of sludge!" Xia's answer had left some people dissatisfied.
Like... a certain proud young lady, who had grabbed Xia by the collar.
"Hey! You! If you fought in the previous Holy Grail War, why are you still in this world? And what exactly happened in the Fourth Holy Grail War?! Why didn't even a single Master survive in the end?! My father... my father was part of it too!"
Overcome with emotion, Rin grabbed Xia by the collar and shouted. She shook him hard again and again, her expression frantic as she demanded answers, and the already strange atmosphere in the room grew tense once more.
In the end, a red-clad Servant forcibly pulled Rin away from Xia's collar. He held a white blade in one hand and stared intently at the golden-haired girl beside him, who had already raised her Holy Sword, her face icy.
"I will not allow anyone to do that to Xia again! Otherwise, I, the king of Britannia, will be your opponent!" Her icy words rang through the small house, laced with suppressed fury.
Facing the Knight King's cold warning, the red-clad knight could only hold back his near-hysterical Master. Still gripping his blade in one hand, he remained on guard.
The atmosphere grew tense for a moment.
In the end, Xia's explanation defused the crisis. Though after he finished speaking, the atmosphere became even more strained...
"...I'm different from ordinary Heroic Spirits. If Heroic Spirits are generally people who accomplish great deeds, die, and then form a contract with Alaya, then I'm somewhat unusual." Xia cleared his throat.
"Although I did form a contract with Alaya after I died, at the time I was just a kid who had finished taking revenge. I hadn't achieved any great deeds that would affect future generations, nor did I possess any extraordinary talent. To be honest, even I find it baffling that I managed to form a contract with Alaya in the 'Sea of Goodwill.'
"Besides, I'm not a Heroic Spirit in the ordinary sense. If you absolutely have to call me something... then call me a 'Returner.'"
"'Returner'?" The unfamiliar term made a question mark appear over Rin's head. She looked at Xia in confusion, and even the red-clad knight beside her lowered his head in thought, as if searching his memories for any information about the title.
"..." Artoria silently met Xia's gaze, clearly waiting for an answer too.
His eyes closed briefly, then slowly opened a second later.
"A 'Returner' is actually an empty position beyond the Eighth Heroic Spirit, 'Avenger.' It's commonly called the 'Ninth' Knight, and according to Alaya's explanation, I'm the only one who can occupy the 'Ninth' Knight class. That's because the 'Ninth' Knight class is itself an existence that transcends both Alaya's and Gaia's consciousness. You could call it another form of individual consciousness.
"That's why I can ignore the rules that no other Heroic Spirit can escape. That's why I can precisely leap through space and time three times in a row to appear here. That's why I can experience countless cycles of reincarnation without losing a single second of my memories. Even the emotions and stories accumulated across those countless cycles can't break me.
"That's because I could be called a third, smaller restraining force, existing beyond the two great forces of human consciousness and Earth's consciousness.
"In terms of power, I can't compare with Alaya or Gaia. But the restrictions that apply to Heroic Spirits don't apply to me.
"And as for the one who inherited this powerful class, Rin..." Xia paused.
Then, after calling Rin by name, he continued, "Rin, what do you think the outcome of the Fourth Holy Grail War was...?"
I don't remember what happened after that.
Because just as Rin was about to speak, a flash of red light suddenly crossed my vision, and then I knew nothing...
Shirou pulled his thoughts back to the present.
He shook his head slightly, gathered up his cleaning supplies, and put them away in a storage cabinet.
Click.
Shirou opened the fridge, took out a bottle of milk, and gulped it down.
"Ah..." With a satisfied sigh, Shirou set down the empty bottle and headed for the dojo.
The sky, which had been filled with thunder, had cleared without him noticing. The downpour, which had raged as if letting loose a burst of fury, had gradually stopped, and the rain was slowly easing.
High above, a warm ray of sunlight slowly broke through a gap in the clouds. The sunlight, shining warmly down on the earth once more, brought an end to the gloomy, oppressive afternoon.
The lush grass and vibrant flowers gradually shed their wet sheen beneath the sun's rays. Their clean surfaces, washed by the rain, glimmered with tiny points of light.
Shirou walked along the quiet hallway, tightening his training clothes as he smiled at his home.
After being washed by the rain, the dusty old residence seemed almost like a Buddhist retreat: clean, peaceful, and serene...
Breathing in the fresh air after the rain, Shirou stretched his arms with satisfaction.
"Mm~~~ Ha!!"
"Though that storm and the gloomy air were pretty oppressive, maybe you can only welcome beautiful weather like this after going through something like that?" Shirou said with a smile, talking to himself.
He reached the edge of the dojo and smiled as he went to slide open the wooden door.
"Seventy-six-degree Spinning Tornado Kick!! Hiyah!!!"
Crash!!!
Before his hand could even touch the door handle, a shout full of energy startled Shirou. Then the wooden door in front of him suddenly exploded!
A blue-haired man wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt flew out of the dojo, zipping past the tip of Shirou's nose!
"Roar!!!"
"Just as expected of Xia!"
"Damn... He really is a terrifying man. If this keeps up, my contract will be in danger..."
"Hahahaha!! Eternal trash! It's been a while, and you've gotten even stronger!"
"Hmph. What a pity you're not a swordsman... A shame."
"Sakura? Should we go help patch him up?"
"Tch! Archer! Get in there! We absolutely have to put a stop to this guy's arrogance!"
"Hey, hey... You want me to go in there and get beaten up?!"
The moment the dojo door shattered, a noisy chorus suddenly came from inside.
Shirou was dumbfounded for a moment. Once he'd recovered, his reason finally took control of his mind again.
Looking into the dojo, he saw everyone gathered around a banquet table so lavish it seemed completely out of place.
Shirou smacked his lips a few times.
"...Had the Heroic Spirits of this generation taken over my house?"
Before you continue