Chapter 4: That Guy, He Has Killed People.
McD, one of the world's largest multinational fast-food chains.
It has nearly thirty thousand branches across the country, primarily selling burgers, as well as fast-food items like fried chicken, fries, and soda.
Because of its convenient and fast nature, which doesn't require the long waiting time of a regular meal—food is practically in hand immediately after ordering—it's highly favored by office workers in an era of increasing work pressure, even when its health implications are criticized.
They say long-term consumption leads to nutritional imbalance and health damage—are they kidding?
Don't office workers know that working overtime and staying up late is even more damaging to the body? Do they dare refuse overtime?
Similarly, fast food may not be nutritious enough, but the lost wages from being late for work are even more depressing.
The McD industry entered the Japanese market in 1971, after which its development became unstoppable, successfully becoming the most successful restaurant business here.
So, Emiya couldn't help but marvel when he saw such a familiar store, even though he knew there must be at least a decade's difference between his time and this one.
Perhaps the money many magus practitioners worked hard for their entire lives didn't come as quickly as the returns from investing in a restaurant chain?
"I really didn't expect, Emiya-kun... I thought people who cook for themselves wouldn't like fast food much..."
Yotsuya Miko looked at Emiya, who hadn't stopped eating even while deep in thought, her face full of worry.
Because Emiya had felt embarrassed to spend her money, they chose a relatively cheaper and quicker fast-food restaurant; a single burger only cost a few hundred yen.
But...
Yotsuya Miko glanced at the hamburger she still had a little left of, then at the more than ten neatly stacked paper wrappers in front of Emiya, fighting back tears.
It's okay, ten-plus burgers are only a little over six thousand yen, it's okay, really, it's okay.
'Ah, my pocket money...'
Even though a crystal tear seemed to form at the corner of her eye, Yotsuya Miko firmly believed she was absolutely not crying.
"I believe that any food that can provide nutrition is of equal worth. I only cook for myself because I often had to take care of my family."
Emiya stated his view very seriously, but then he noticed he seemed to have eaten a considerable amount of food and sheepishly lowered his hands.
"Sorry, I accidentally spent quite a bit of your money."
Emiya himself hadn't felt it at all, but only now recalled that, even excluding the time he was unconscious, he hadn't had a proper meal for probably two days and two nights.
In an environment where the Greater Grail gradually died out, Magi could only squeeze magical power from the Magic Circuits within their bodies if they wanted to use magic.
Essentially, the Magic Circuit is an organ that converts life force into magical power, which is why there's a saying that overuse of the Magic Circuits can be life-threatening.
With no better method, eating is naturally the best way to restore both magical power and life force.
It was strange—why did his memory suddenly bring up a golden-haired person with a large appetite, yet he couldn't recall who it was at all?
"It's okay, it's okay, I was just making a comment."
Yotsuya Miko hurriedly waved her hand, starting to talk about truly unscrupulous merchants: "You know, a string of so-called exorcism beads online cost 3,500 yen, and it turned out to be completely useless after buying it."
This was a tragic experience she had firsthand; because of those few strings of beads, she and her best friend were nearly targeted by a powerful evil spirit.
Compared to that, a dual-wielding exorcist who can easily eliminate evil spirits just for a few meals is simply wonderful.
But honestly, having such a person who can easily kill evil spirits standing by her side, Yotsuya Miko's sense of security and happiness was indeed increasing exponentially. At least when she saw ordinary ghosts and evil spirits, she barely felt scared anymore.
"But speaking of that... Yotsuya-san, have you looked into how they are born?"
Emiya finished the food in his hand, folded the wrapper neatly, placed it aside, and wiped his mouth with a napkin before asking this serious question.
"Born?"
Hearing the question, Yotsuya Miko was stunned and replied matter-of-factly, "Isn't it because a person dies with lingering regrets, and then they... Huh?"
Halfway through her sentence, Yotsuya Miko herself was surprised.
To be honest, she hadn't really considered this question seriously before, simply following the inherent assumption that evil spirits must be the product of humans who died with malicious intent.
But if that were the case, the massive monsters pieced together from human limbs could be barely explained, but what about the rest of the bizarre creatures that have absolutely no normal shape?
Were they all transformed from human souls too?
That clearly doesn't make sense!
"It seems, it really seems like it's more than that... I've also seen creatures that look almost exactly like urban legends. What are they about..."
Yotsuya Miko couldn't figure it out for a moment. After all, the condition for those creatures to kill is for someone to be able to see them, but if everyone who sees them is killed, how would such urban legends even come to exist?
"For now, there are two possibilities." Emiya analyzed seriously.
"One: some people once saw the ghosts in these urban legends, which then led to the creation of the legends.
Two: the urban legends were created first, and then the ghosts similar to the urban legends were conceived and born.
Actually, I lean more towards the second possibility."
For Emiya, this was not a difficult concept to grasp. Just as the collective praise of Heroic Spirits' epics can create great miracles, why can't human fear of monsters give birth to monsters?
If this is the case, it wouldn't be hard to deduce why, despite man-eating monsters living all around everyone, human society remains stable.
It's because some people know that fear only fuels the growth of these monsters, so they are deliberately concealing their existence, guiding public opinion, and killing the ghosts that could easily cause chaos.
The people Emiya needs to find are those people.
"Then, if that's the case, doesn't that mean they will never disappear?!"
Yotsuya Miko had been speaking very softly, but now she couldn't suppress her voice anymore.
Just as humans need to eat to survive, she also knew that humanity could never overcome the fear of death and ghosts.
And if these things can never be completely eliminated, doesn't that mean she will always have to live in an environment full of ghosts?!
No, absolutely no! She wasn't some young person who liked seeking thrills; a peaceful and stable life was definitely more suitable for her!
"Well, in the end, it's just my speculation. We still need to find more professional people to know the exact situation..."
Ding-dong—
Just as Emiya was stating facts and contemplating how to run into those people, the store's automatic door sensed a person and opened. A straight-backed office worker wearing strange glasses walked in.
Even through his neat suit, Emiya could keenly sense the muscular physique underneath. But if that was all, it wouldn't be noteworthy; plenty of office workers sacrifice their leisure time to build up their bodies.
But this person was different.
Before settling in Fuyuki City, Emiya had followed Kiritsugu on a journey as a magus practitioner.
As his adopted son and disciple, he traveled the world with Kiritsugu to find a way to save the world, and also learned many skills belonging to a magus practitioner from him.
Magus practitioners' work is mostly related to Magi; sometimes it's a simple delivery request, but sometimes it involves tasks like eliminating rivals or exterminating Apostles.
And at the first sight of this office worker, Emiya could confirm one thing with absolute certainty—he has killed people.
The concept of killing intent may sound ethereal, but it is undoubtedly real.
The reason people fear killing, besides the ideological education they receive from childhood, is the instinct of a creature facing its own kind, which is a very important factor.
No matter how timid or awkward a person once was, once they taste the feeling of killing, they can potentially turn into an unstoppable murderer. Emiya had met such people alongside Kiritsugu.
Because after feeling the life of a fellow human drain away in their hands, they might not only feel fear but also think: Ah, so this is killing. It's no different from eating a sandwich.
Just a simple swing of a blunt object, or a quick stab with a sharp one, and a life that might be considered heavy by others is easily lost. How could they not feel a sense of lightness?
'If you take a life, you can never go back.'
That's what Kiritsugu had told the young Emiya back then.
Therefore, throughout those years, Kiritsugu had never actually let Emiya do such a thing. It seemed he never truly intended to train Emiya to be his successor.
Emiya wasn't entirely averse to the act of killing, because some extremely evil people simply must be killed to account for their wickedness and to protect more people. However, the current Emiya didn't know the reason why the office worker in front of him had killed.
Was he just a simple killer hiding in the city, or...
"Miko, watch that guy over there. Don't turn your head; it'll be easy for him to notice you."
"Eh?"
Yotsuya Miko's head, which she subconsciously wanted to turn, was forcibly stopped. She only glanced over with her peripheral vision.
She saw the office worker quickly approach the McD counter with the same hurried steps as his peers, placing his order in an extremely fast voice.
"One teriyaki burger and chicken nuggets, one cola, no ice, takeout, thank you."
"Understood, please wait a moment!"
After receiving the order, the employee only took a few dozen seconds to successfully bag the food from the warming cabinet and hand it over, along with the drink.
"Your food is packed. Please enjoy."
"Thank you."
The office worker nodded, then waved his hand towards the employee and gave a rather nonsensical instruction: "Even for work, you must take care of your body. Also, it's best not to take any shortcuts anymore just to save time."
"Huh? What are you talking about, hey?"
The employee wanted to call him back and ask for clarification, but the man, who seemed to be rushing to work, was already out the door a few steps after picking up his food.
"What a weirdo," the employee merely mumbled and quickly dismissed the incident.
He had dealt with plenty of unreasonably demanding customers; compared to them, that decisive office worker was super friendly.
"Emiya-kun, he just looks like a normal office drone squeezed by his boss... Eh?!"
Mid-sentence, Yotsuya Miko suddenly widened her eyes.
"That employee had an evil spirit on his back, but that office worker just waved his hand and it... disappeared?!"
What in the world? She had watched quite a few exorcism shows on TV and considered herself knowledgeable, but where had anyone gotten rid of an evil spirit so easily in that manner?
"Assuming no major surprises, he might be the real exorcist... Yotsuya-san, you stay here. I'm going to follow him."
Emiya admitted that he was indeed very lucky this time, successfully running into such a person just by looking for them.
But that guy had genuinely killed people. It was best not to involve Yotsuya Miko until he was certain the man was friendly.
"Eh, am I being left here alone, eh?!"
At first, Yotsuya Miko had considered staying put and waiting obediently for Emiya to return.
However, after losing Emiya's protection, several evil spirits began to wander around her again, and one even sat down quite naturally next to her. This immediately terrified her, causing her to straighten her back and not dare to blink.
"Emiya-kun, wait for me!!"