"Let's talk, Shirou Amamiya."
At 10:00 p.m., Shirou returned to his room from the warehouse after finishing his training, only to find a guest already waiting for him.
"Irisviel…"
No, was it "the cold-hearted side" tonight?
On the tatami, a beautiful woman with long silver hair stared at Shirou with cold, blood-red eyes.
Her face and clothing were Irisviel's, but the air around her was entirely different.
If Irisviel was an innocent, sheltered princess untouched by the ways of the world, then this woman was an Automata living in a world sealed in ice.
She looked as though she had stepped straight out of a fairy tale.
This woman was the seventh head of the Einzbern family, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern.
The "Saintess of the Winter" who had possessed the Third Magic and been resurrected as the Greater Grail.
Of course, Shirou knew none of that yet.
As the prototype for Irisviel and Illyasviel, she shared the same soul wavelength as that mother and daughter, though her mental structure differed from theirs.
So although Shirou sensed something unusual, he simply assumed Irisviel had developed a new personality because of her fever.
As far as Shirou knew, this sort of thing happened all the time among girls with Morgan/Arthur-like faces.
Shirou decided to treat Irisviel's "new personality" as an important member of the family too.
"Are we 'chatting' again tonight?"
The red-haired boy placed the tea he had brewed in front of the silver-haired Homunculus.
"Yes. I want to understand you better," Justeaze said frankly.
"How many times has this been now? You really never get tired of listening… Fine. What do you want to hear today?"
Shirou sat down across from Justeaze.
"I don't know… Anything is fine. As long as you speak, I will listen."
Shirou scratched his head. "You're a handful.
Let me think… All right. Today, I'll tell you about what happened before I met you."
"..."
Justeaze's long lashes trembled almost imperceptibly.
Heh… Looks like she's interested.
Shirou had never told Irisviel about the Fairy Kingdom before, because she had never asked.
To be honest, Shirou had once intended to keep that pilgrimage as a treasure that belonged only to him, something he had no intention of telling anyone about.
But now, he had changed his mind.
Because Shirou had realized that even though he had left the Fairy Kingdom, he was still connected to that place by some kind of fate.
The Fairy Kingdom was not a past that had already ended. Perhaps, at some point in the future, Shirou would be drawn into that world again.
In that case, it was not a memory he had to deliberately seal away in his heart, untouchable forever.
"Do you want to hear it?"
Justeaze said, "...If you want to talk about it, I do not mind listening."
She was clearly curious, yet still pretended not to care. Even "Cold-Hearted Irisviel" had a cute side, Shirou thought.
"All right, then I'll tell you."
"Mm."
"But before that, didn't you forget something?"
Shirou reminded her.
"..."
A faint blush spread across Justeaze's cheeks.
She lowered her head and remained silent for a while. Then she leaned forward, crawling toward Shirou on her hands and knees.
The sound of fabric brushing against fabric filled the Japanese-style room.
As Shirou began recounting his experiences in the Fairy Kingdom, Justeaze respectfully knelt before him.
"Then, I shall begin…"
The "Saintess of the Winter" buried her flushed, burning face downward.
That should have been about a week ago.
One night, Justeaze entered Shirou's room and asked Shirou to chat with her.
Although Shirou had long since grown used to this sort of request, something was clearly off about Justeaze that night.
To put it simply, she was giving off a seductive, feminine air.
Shirou had only paid the "toll" at the entrance that evening, yet only a few hours later, she had already become like this again…
Dual personalities really are a pain, Shirou thought.
Shirou immediately realized that although she said she wanted to chat, she actually had another motive.
How did he know? How many times did you think he had been intimate with Irisviel?
And so, Shirou required Justeaze to do this every time she came to chat with him.
When he first gave that order, she flatly refused and harshly scolded Shirou for his rudeness. But after she heard that Irisviel had been doing something similar…
Perhaps out of a competitive feeling toward the other personality, she agreed to Shirou's request on the spot.
Of course, her technique was still quite clumsy at first.
It seemed the "new personality" had not inherited Irisviel's exquisite technique or spirit of service.
But after several nights of guidance from Shirou, the "new personality" gradually became more skilled.
"When I first arrived in the other Britannia, I was only eight. Back then, I didn't know the true nature of fairies, so I asked them for help. In the end, they fooled me completely, and there were several times I nearly got caught up in accidents and died."
As Shirou stroked Justeaze's smooth silver hair, his thoughts drifted back to that distant past.
"Why… fairies… are they not supposed to be kind creatures?"
Justeaze asked haltingly.
"Not at all! Fairies are all disgusting creatures to the core, especially the ones over there!"
Shirou spoke indignantly. "Later, when the fairies discovered that I wasn't one of them, but a human who had drifted into that world, that was when my nightmare truly began."
Shirou began telling her about his experience as a slave.
In that other world's Faerie Britain, humans were slaves kept by fairies as playthings. Every day, Shirou lived a subhuman life, no better than livestock.
According to the other human slaves, the fairies would release them after they had served for 30 years.
This was by no means mercy on the fairies' part. Rather, in the other Britannia, human lifespans were short, usually only around 30 years.
Fairies loved humans. They loved them so much that they wanted to keep them in captivity.
At the same time, fairies hated seeing humans die in front of them, because it soured their mood. That was why they returned their slaves' freedom after 30 years.
"Isn't that ironic?" Shirou said with a bitter smile. The fairies' love for humans was twisted and sick.
Justeaze did not answer.
The "Saintess of the Winter" simply listened intently, while soft rustling sounds echoed through the room.
Shirou continued, "For me, that was an opportunity.
After all, I'm a human from Proper Human History. Even if I lived another 30 years, I'd still be fairly young.
But… I was only eight at the time, you know?
Thirty years was almost four times as long as my entire life!
How was I supposed to endure that? How was I supposed to see that as hope? I was about to break…
And then, just when I had fallen into despair, she appeared."
"..."
Justeaze noticed the change in Shirou's tone.
Without stopping what she was doing, she raised her eyes and saw that the red-haired boy's expression was gentler than ever, as if he were remembering something precious.
For some reason, a strange emotion welled up inside Justeaze, and she unconsciously quickened her pace.
"The fairy of Paradise, my witch, Morgan… She was the one who saved me from hell."
Shirou spoke quietly.
"Later, I asked her why she did something like that. Wouldn't it make the fairies hate her? Do you know how she answered?
Because she 'couldn't stand it.' A bunch of fairies bullying a human child was something she simply couldn't bear to watch!"
"She is… someone special to you…"
Justeaze said indistinctly.
"Yeah. Of course she is. Morgan is… Mm.
Wait, Iri… could you stop for a second?"
Ignored.
Justeaze paid no attention to Shirou's words.
As if she were sulking, she used every technique she had been taught over the past week. And then…
Shirou suddenly grabbed the "Saintess of the Winter" by the head with both hands.
"!"
Justeaze's eyes widened.
Her beautiful, noble face first showed pain and shock, then softened into gentle Compassion as she accepted everything.
"...…Phew."
Shirou let out a long breath.
A powerful sense of guilt and moral transgression rose in his chest.
Sorry, Morgan…
Even though your face was in my mind, even though I was thinking about you…
"Here, take this."
Shirou took a tissue from beside him and handed it to Justeaze.
But "Irisviel" furrowed her brow, covered her lips with the back of her hand, and shook her head at Shirou.
"…Gulp."
Justeaze still kept her icy poker face.
Shirou watched from the side, dumbfounded. He had not even asked her to do that…
He felt an indescribable sense of conquest envelop his entire body.
"Now, continue telling me about your past."
Justeaze expressionlessly wiped her lips with the tissue and glanced at the red-haired boy.
"That woman named Morgan… Tell me what happened between the two of you afterward."
…
…
"I guess we have no choice but to come clean with Onii-chan."
"Yeah. He may not look it, but that guy's actually really sharp. He'll probably notice right away."
"Let's explain everything to Senpai tonight… then all of us can apologize properly."
Fuyuki's New Three Founding Families, Illya, Rin Tohsaka, and Sakura Matou, were secretly discussing whether a Holy Grail War was feasible.
Now that the "Greater Grail" had manifested, deciding what to do with her had become a major problem.
"Hold another Holy Grail War? No. Absolutely not!"
Since Illya had been the one who first plotted this plan together with the Tohsaka Family and the Matou Family, she attended the secret meeting in place of her mother, who had joined later.
Sakura Matou said, "Yes, I feel the same way… Senpai definitely wouldn't approve of us holding another Holy Grail War either."
If they could not hold a Holy Grail War, then their only option was to dismantle the "Greater Grail" before she brought unnecessary trouble.
The Holy Church had already detected the Greater Grail's existence before anyone else.
After all, searching for the Holy Grail was a duty second only to hunting heretics.
As far as Rin Tohsaka knew, over the past half century, the Holy Church had already secured more than 600 objects suspected of being Holy Grails.
If they could not provide a reasonable explanation, it was only a matter of time before the "Greater Grail" was forcibly demanded from them.
The Mage's Association would notice soon enough as well.
Japan was not part of the Association's traditional sphere of influence, but that did not mean the Association knew nothing about what happened there.
It was also possible that the Holy Church would cooperate with the Association to achieve its goal.
When that time came, the matter would no longer be something they could handle.
In other words, they had to prevent the problem before it happened by dismantling the Greater Grail, which meant killing the "Saintess of the Winter," Justeaze.
"No! How could we kill Justeaze-sama!" Illya cried in agitation.
Although they had only known each other for a short time, Illya had already come to think of Justeaze as her own grandmother.
Rin Tohsaka took a segment of orange from Sakura and said, "No Holy Grail War, and no dismantling the Greater Grail…
Then what exactly do you think we should do? Ah, thank you, Matou-san."
"No means no! No means no! I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care~~~~"
Illya threw a tantrum, rolling back and forth across the tatami.
Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou exchanged helpless looks.
For Rin Tohsaka, the owner of the land where the Leylines were located, a Fifth Holy Grail War was not an unacceptable outcome.
This Greater Holy Grail was pure and untainted.
Although it was far smaller in scale than the original Greater Holy Grail, it was still enough to hold a seven-participant Subcategory Holy Grail War.
After the ritual ended, the "Saintess of the Winter" would be able to function as an "omnipotent wish-granting machine." As for opening a path to The Root… that would depend on luck.
Rin Tohsaka believed it was worth trying.
Sakura Matou, however, opposed the idea.
With Shirou at the center of her world, she placed "not causing trouble for Senpai" above everything else.
The "Greater Grail" was like a demonic vessel that tempted the hearts of men. The best course of action was to dismantle and destroy it as soon as possible.
As for the final member of the New Three Founding Families, Illya, she neither wanted to hold a Holy Grail War nor dismantle the Greater Grail.
The three of them each held a different opinion, and they remained unable to reach a consensus.
"Why don't we hold a Subcategory Holy Grail War?"
"No, the Holy Grail should be dismantled as soon as possible."
"No! You're not allowed to hold a Holy Grail War, and you're not allowed to hurt Justeaze-sama!"
"Since you cannot agree, leave the decision to Shirou Amamiya."
A voice spoke.
"Huh? Justeaze-sama? When did you get here!?"
Illya turned around in surprise and saw her mother standing there with the "Saintess of the Winter."
Justeaze said calmly, "Since I was revived by all of you to bring back Shirou Amamiya, then the decision of what to do with me should also be left to him."
"Wait a second…"
Rin Tohsaka felt that this was extremely unfavorable for her.
If it was Shirou, he definitely would not agree to holding another Holy Grail War.
"Is that really all right…?"
Sakura Matou thought so too. Shirou would never agree to dismantling the Greater Grail, which meant killing Justeaze.
"Yeah! Let Shirou decide!"
In the end, only Illya looked delighted.
...
The next evening, after Fuji-nee finished mooching dinner and went home.
"...That is what happened."
Irisviel explained to Shirou the series of events that had taken place while he was gone.
In order to find Shirou after he disappeared, the Einzbern, Matou, and Tohsaka families had used a Magical Energy Reactor and fragments of the Greater Grail to "create" a new "Greater Grail."
The resurrected "Winter Holy Grail," Justeaze.
With a guilty look, Irisviel said, "I'm sorry for hiding it from you until now.
I was afraid you would blame yourself if you knew, so I didn't dare explain…"
"W-wait a second! Iri! Let me process this properly!"
Shirou looked completely stunned. "You're not joking with me, are you?"
"…No."
He looked at the others around him. Rin Tohsaka's expression was solemn, Sakura Matou looked pained, and even Illya was more serious than usual.
And the most important witness proving that Irisviel was not lying.
Justeaze herself was sitting directly across from Shirou at that very moment.
A beautiful, doll-like face almost devoid of emotion, a voluptuous figure identical to Irisviel's, and gorgeous silver hair as radiant as a winter lake.
Every one of those features matched the descriptions in the legends.
Shirou finally understood where that sense of déjà vu had come from.
He had visited the Einzbern main estate in Germany several times for work, and a massive portrait hung in the very center of its chapel.
The "Saintess of the Winter" in that oil painting had the same presence as the Homunculus who had come into his room every night to chat with him.
"You're Justeaze…"
Shirou's mouth fell open. So she wasn't Irisviel's new personality after all…
In other words, was that what this meant?
For the past week, every night, I've been toying with the Einzbern ancestor!?