This was probably the warmest scene they had seen in quite some time.
After all, everyone knew that the two of them were actually siblings. Seeing them get along so well was exactly the kind of moment everyone wanted to witness.
Even though the current Shirou only viewed Illya as an ordinary child, perhaps even as a younger sister, it was not entirely his fault.
Illya's appearance was simply too deceptive.
On top of that, she had deliberately called him "big brother" the entire time, only switching to "Shirou" just recently.
After walking together for some distance, Shirou finally stood there and watched as Illya left alongside Berserker.
Strictly speaking, there was no real need for him to escort her at all.
With Berserker around, who would dare bully Illya?
Still, nothing was absolute.
If they happened to run into Lancer or Caster on the way, things could become troublesome.
Those were the two factions Shirou knew frequently operated at night.
Although Illya's side was certainly not weak, it would still be dangerous if someone targeted Illya directly as a Master.
That said, compared to Illya, Shirou himself was arguably in even greater danger.
So after accompanying him for a short distance, Illya summoned Berserker and sent Shirou back.
Sigh... I really wish we were not enemies.
Watching the two figures disappear into the distance, Shirou let out a deep sigh.
No matter how he looked at it, he did not want to become Illya's enemy.
Berserker's strength was unquestionable.
Even Saber and Archer working together considered him a difficult opponent.
More importantly, Shirou felt a strange sense of familiarity from Illya.
It was precisely because of that feeling that he did not want to stand against her.
"Stop standing around daydreaming. If you stay here much longer, that blue dog is going to find you."
Just as Shirou was lost in thought, a voice interrupted him.
It was Archer.
Shirou knew Archer had been following him.
However, he had assumed Archer would remain far away.
He had not expected him to be this close.
"The blue dog... Lancer? Yeah, he is definitely troublesome."
The moment Lancer came to mind, Shirou felt an ache in his chest.
In a certain sense, the two of them had shared a very intimate relationship.
A literally heart-piercing one.
At first, Shirou had not fully understood Lancer's strength.
But after making comparisons, it became clear that Lancer was far more troublesome than most of the other Servants.
Fortunately, Lancer's Master seemed to have given him certain restrictions.
As a result, he rarely fought at full strength.
Saber had mentioned this to him before.
"Hmph. Troublesome? He could skewer you the moment he sees you."
Archer's tone was dripping with disdain.
"You are not wrong."
Still, Archer had a point.
With Shirou's current level of strength, he would be defeated almost instantly.
The only reason he had managed to exchange a few blows previously was because Lancer had intentionally held back.
Then, thanks to a stroke of luck, Shirou had summoned Saber and narrowly avoided being killed by Lancer's spear a second time.
By now, Shirou was more or less accustomed to Archer's attitude.
It still annoyed him, but he kept those feelings to himself.
Especially since Archer had helped him only yesterday.
After that, Shirou turned around and prepared to head home.
However, Archer suddenly stopped him.
"Hey. You still intend to keep participating in this Holy Grail War? Just to become an ally of justice?"
Compared to before, Archer's voice was much lower this time.
It sounded as though he was questioning Shirou.
And questioning himself.
"Of course I do. I cannot let the Holy Grail fall into the hands of bad people, can we? If Rin or Illya obtains it, that is one thing. But at the very least, I cannot allow the disaster from ten years ago to happen again."
Without the slightest hesitation, Shirou answered.
He personally had little interest in the Holy Grail itself.
The only reason he was participating in the war was to prevent the tragedy of ten years ago from repeating itself in Fuyuki City.
With Saber and Rin by his side, the goal did not seem as difficult as he had originally imagined.
At this point, he had already crossed paths with most of the Servants.
Overall, the situation appeared fairly optimistic.
"The disaster from ten years ago..."
Archer quietly murmured the words.
A complicated expression briefly appeared on his face.
Then he vanished once again.
"..."
Seeing this, Shirou had no idea what Archer was thinking.
After a moment, he simply continued walking home.
Watching the strange exchange, everyone instinctively turned their attention toward Illya.
Earlier, because she had appeared in the scene itself, nobody had wanted to interrupt.
Now that Shirou was alone on his way home, they needed to take the opportunity to ask all the questions they had been holding back.
"Archer is hesitating."
In a good mood, Illya did not bother keeping secrets.
She directly revealed what was on Archer's mind.
"Right now, he is trying to choose between his personal grudge and the truth he has uncovered about the Fifth Holy Grail War."
"A personal grudge and the truth behind the Holy Grail War?"
Exusiai tilted her head in confusion.
The first part she already understood.
But what was this supposed "truth" behind the Holy Grail War?
The Holy Grail War was already terrifying enough as it was.
Was there really an even deeper secret hidden beneath it all?
What kind of insane thing had Shirou gotten himself involved in?
Wait...
Now that they thought about it, this Shirou had mentioned something like this before...
"The Holy Grail has been corrupted?"
Texas was the first to connect the dots.
"Mmm... that problem is actually within the realm of being solvable. What Archer discovered goes even deeper than that."
Illya pressed a finger against the corner of her mouth and spoke with a thoughtful expression.
"..."
Watching Illya use the cutest possible pose while discussing increasingly horrifying topics sent a chill down everyone's spine.
A corrupted Holy Grail already sounded terrifying enough.
The fact that there was something even worse lurking beneath that was difficult to imagine.
"Hmm. The amount of information coming up might be a little overwhelming. I should probably explain some things now, otherwise you might not be able to keep up later."
Seeing their expressions, Illya decided to provide some context.
After a brief explanation, everyone finally gained a clearer understanding of the enemies Shirou and the others would likely face.
The first was a Servant who had survived since the Fourth Holy Grail War.
The golden Archer, Gilgamesh.
Purely in terms of strength, he could be considered the strongest Servant participating in the current Holy Grail War.
At present, he was still hiding in the shadows and had yet to make a move.
He would only enter the stage once the war had progressed far enough.
The second threat was the corrupted Holy Grail itself.
Angra Mainyu, the embodiment of All the World's Evil.
During the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family had violated the rules by summoning the Avenger class, resulting in the Holy Grail's corruption.
The members of Penguin Logistics understood this point better than anyone.
After all, Shirou had once used the example of wishing for an apple pie from the Grail to explain just how terrifying the thing truly was.
The final threat was...
The Matou family.
Or more specifically, Sakura Matou.
On this subject, Illya did not go into detail.
She only revealed a small amount of information.
After all, she herself was not particularly eager to revisit those memories.
"Sakura Matou... Will Shirou end up fighting her?"
After learning that Sakura was one of the hidden dangers lurking within the Holy Grail War, Amiya could not help feeling worried.
They had witnessed firsthand how Shirou and Sakura had built a strong connection over the years.
For more than a year, she had been a constant presence in his life.
If the two of them really ended up facing each other...
That would be far too cruel for Shirou.
"No. In the end, the ones who confronted Sakura were Rin and me."
Illya shook her head.
"Though that situation was not much better. After all, the two of them are sisters."
"Sisters?"
Everyone was stunned by the revelation.
The two did not look alike.
Especially in certain respects.
Ahem.
The biggest differences were their hair colors and personalities, which could hardly have been more different.
"If you are interested in that story, ask Shirou later. I do not know all the details myself."
Seeing how curious everyone had become, Illya quickly pushed the responsibility elsewhere.
She genuinely did not know much about what had happened between the two sisters.
Besides, there was a significant difference between how magus viewed things and how ordinary people did.
The one thing she could say with certainty was that Rin cared deeply about Sakura.
So deeply, in fact, that she had fumbled at the most critical moment.
"I really hate it when people stop halfway through an explanation."
Blaze could not help complaining.
After her brief grumbling, she pulled Rosmontis over and joined the discussion.
The primary topic, naturally, was All the World's Evil, the force responsible for corrupting the Holy Grail.
Among those present, the members of Penguin Logistics knew the most about it.
Amiya and Alina only possessed a rough understanding.
"About that Gil... I mean, that golden guy. Do any of you know anything about him?"
Once the discussion about All the World's Evil reached a stopping point, Frostnova shifted the topic toward Gilgamesh.
His actual name was too difficult to pronounce, so she simply adopted Illya's nickname for him.
Goldie.
She directed the question at the members of Penguin Logistics.
Among everyone present, they were the ones who knew the most about the current Holy Grail War.
After all, Shirou had occasionally mentioned things to them.
Unfortunately, their knowledge of Gilgamesh was limited as well.
Whenever Shirou talked about Servants in the past, he generally glossed over the details.
As for Illya, she seemed to harbor some resentment toward Gilgamesh and clearly had no desire to discuss him further.
The conversation soon came to an end.
Everyone shifted their attention back to the scene unfolding before them.
The dinner invitation to Illya had happened yesterday.
Today appeared to be a holiday.
Neither Shirou nor Rin was wearing a school uniform.
Instead, both had changed into casual clothes and were preparing to head out.
Rin was still bothered by something Archer had said the previous day.
She wanted to investigate and gather information.
Bringing Shirou along was merely a convenient bonus.
After all, he had nothing better to do.
He might as well come along and serve as an assistant.
Shirou did not refuse the suggestion.
He simply put on his familiar black-and-white jacket and headed out with Rin.
Saber, dressed in casual clothes as well, accompanied them.
"That outfit looks really familiar..."
Looking at the jacket Shirou was wearing, Croissant suddenly felt as though she had seen it somewhere before.
"Is that the outfit he was wearing when we first met him?"
Sora still remembered it quite clearly.
Back then, she had even asked Shirou what had happened to him.
If she remembered correctly, the jacket with the burn hole was still hanging in his closet.
"Let us set the clothes aside for now. Where are they going? If I remember correctly, this is the same road Shirou took when he escorted Illya home yesterday, is it not?"
Seeing the conversation drifting toward Shirou's fashion choices, Talulah quickly redirected everyone's attention.
After all, Illya had already warned them that many important things were about to happen.
Important enough that they might have trouble accepting them.
This was not the time to get distracted.
Within the scene, Shirou asked the same question Talulah had.
As they walked, Rin explained:
"Archer said that something else seems to have become involved in this Holy Grail War. Something that ordinary Servants and magus would have a hard time dealing with.
"If even Archer considers it troublesome, then the obvious solution is to recruit more allies.
"Among all the Masters we have met so far, only Illya has a reasonably good relationship with us or rather, with you.
"The chances may be slim, but we still have to try. Besides, she might know something useful. I will do my best to get some information out of her as well."
In just a few sentences, Rin laid out her entire plan.
After Archer had told her about the Holy Grail and the abnormalities he had noticed the previous night, she had already decided that recruiting Illya and Berserker would be her next objective.
They were not familiar with the Lancer faction.
They fundamentally disagreed with the Caster faction.
The Rider faction...
That one was complicated and could be left alone for now.
As for Assassin, he had been summoned irregularly and was essentially part of the Caster faction anyway.
That left Berserker's group as the only realistic option.
Combined with Illya's behavior during dinner the previous evening, Rin had decided this visit was worth making.
After all, if there truly was something wrong with the Holy Grail War itself, then winning it would be meaningless.
"Something else is involved?"
Shirou looked puzzled after hearing Rin's explanation.
Since she clearly had no intention of elaborating further, he could only file the matter away for later and continue following her toward the Einzbern castle.
"..."
Unlike Shirou, Saber frowned slightly after hearing Rin's words.
However, seeing that neither of them intended to discuss the subject in greater depth, she chose not to ask any questions.
"The idea of recruiting allies is a good one. I have to admit, Rin is very clever."
Having received the answer she wanted, Talulah nodded in satisfaction.
Based on only a small amount of information, Rin had already concluded that gathering allies against an unknown threat was the best course of action.
That level of judgment deserved praise.
"She is clever, that is true. It is just that when it comes to critical moments..."
Hearing Talulah compliment Rin, Illya put on a thoughtful expression.
However, she only spoke half of her thought aloud.
She never finished the sentence.
Naturally, this only made everyone even more curious about what she had been about to say.