The Fourth Holy Grail War, much like the three before it, came to an end in utter chaos.
Up through the middle, everything had still seemed normal. But by the final stage, it had turned into a complete farce, and in the end it was wrapped up hastily without the Greater Grail ever manifesting.
That was the version of events Risei Kotomine and Tokiomi Tohsaka submitted in their report to the Holy Church and the Mage's Association.
Of course, that was not the truth.
Only a very small number of people knew what had really happened.
Having lost his beloved son, Risei Kotomine stepped down from his important position in the Church not long after the war. Now he was planning to go work at an orphanage somewhere in Europe.
It seemed that his last remaining relative in this world, Kirei Kotomine's daughter, was there. The old man intended to find his granddaughter and quietly spend the rest of his life with her.
Tokiomi Tohsaka also fell into a slump for quite a while.
After learning the truth of the Greater Grail, the Tohsaka Family's great ambition would never be realized.
It took Tokiomi a long time to come to terms with that reality, and after he finally did, he threw himself completely into his research, inventions, and patent business.
If he could not reach the Root, then he would become the richest man in the world instead.
Driven by that ambition, Tokiomi left Japan for London, passing the position of family head on to his daughter Rin Tohsaka before he departed.
That man really only thought about himself right to the very end... Shirou could only sigh helplessly after hearing about it.
Even though everyone had agreed to conceal the truth of the Fourth Holy Grail War, the Mage's Association was not stupid.
In truth, quite a few people had observed the anomaly in the Far East. For example, there was an observatory organization inside the Clock Tower called Chaldeas.
After all, the Greater Grail really had manifested. Hiding that intense a magical reaction was never going to be easy.
Fortunately, Kayneth stepped in after returning to the Clock Tower. Using his authority as a Lord, he forced the matter to die down.
There were no abnormal incidents in the Fourth Holy Grail War. The omnipotent wish-granting machine never came into existence. That was the official story. Anyone who wanted to keep digging ought to think carefully about whether their life was worth it.
"Shirou! Are you alright now?"
"Ah... yeah, I seem to be doing pretty well today."
In the courtyard of Einzbern Castle, Shirou greeted Irisviel.
After the battle at Ryuudou Temple, Shirou had been confined to bed for a full week.
Nothing showed on the outside, but it seemed the functions inside his body had been damaged beyond repair.
It was not until the seventh day that Shirou could finally get out of bed and walk around.
"What are you going to do from here on, Iri?"
"Well, now that the Holy Grail War has become meaningless, you could say I've lost my reason for existing."
"And besides, after betraying the Einzbern family, there's no way I could shamelessly go back home..."
The silver-haired homunculus lowered her eyes and let out a soft sigh.
Shirou watched her in silence, unsure how he was supposed to comfort her, when suddenly, Irisviel threw herself at him and hugged him tightly.
"So I've decided to stay by your side, Shirou! Not as your companion in the Holy Grail War, but as your mother!"
"Please take care of me from now on too, Shirou! I love you the most!!!"
I knew this was where it was headed... Shirou twitched helplessly at the corner of his mouth.
Irisviel decided to remain in Japan.
As for Sella, Leysritt, and the maids who had come to Japan with her, Irisviel said she would respect their wishes.
In the end, every one of the Homunculi chose to remain by their mistress's side.
"Besides, if we go back, Grandfather will just scold us anyway," Leysritt said.
Originally, Irisviel's life functions should have stopped automatically when the Holy Grail War ended, but for some unknown reason, perhaps because of a miracle caused by the sheath embedded inside her body, Irisviel did not cease functioning even after the Greater Grail fell silent.
She was still alive today, healthy and full of energy.
There was one more person who stayed behind as well, Lady Avalon.
"Why didn't you disappear, Teacher? If it was because of the Mana Transfer that night, the effect should have worn off long ago."
"I possess an absurdly overpowered Skill called 'Independent Manifestation,' so even without magical energy from my Master, I can remain in this era as an independent being."
Lady Avalon proudly puffed out her soft, shapely chest.
"Besides, Saber-san entrusted Shirou to me, and asked me to stay by his side from now on too... and a promise is a promise."
"Did Saber really say that?" Shirou asked, looking deeply suspicious.
In the end, he had never managed to say a proper goodbye to Saber, and that still left him with a slight sense of regret.
Saber's wish had been to deny her own life and erase the existence of "King Arthur, Artoria" from human history.
That wish was absolutely wrong. Shirou could never accept it.
He had no idea whether she had managed to think it through properly afterward either.
"I'm serious! Saber really did ask me to look after Shirou! Master, do you really dislike having me around that much?"
"No, it's just..."
Even if it had been for the sake of facing Saber in their final battle, the fact remained that Shirou and Lady Avalon had shared physical intimacy.
The thought that such a peerless beauty, someone he had already had that kind of relationship with, would now be staying by his side from then on left Shirou deeply uneasy. He had no idea what kind of face he was supposed to make around her.
"...Your face is so red, Master. Are you not feeling well again today?"
Lady Avalon leaned her face in close, and Shirou yelped and stumbled backward again and again.
Seeing that reaction, Lady Avalon gave him a sly, alluring smile.
"So that's how it is... hehe, how cute♡"
That was absolutely the face of a woman planning to devour him whole, like a female beast stalking its prey.
Shirou felt that yet another shadow had fallen over his already gloomy future.
...
...
Three days later, on a clear morning.
As usual, Shirou was doing his rehabilitation exercises in the courtyard when Sella came over and spoke to him.
"Shirou, you're going back to your own house today, right?"
"Yeah... sorry. I can't keep staying at Einzbern Castle forever. It's just way too inconvenient to commute to school from here."
"No... it's not like I wanted you to keep staying. If anything, the sooner you leave, the better."
"What are you mad about, Sella?"
"I'm not mad!"
Irisviel had originally planned to move straight into the Amamiya residence, but after the Homunculi talked her out of it, she gave up on the idea.
Having betrayed the Einzbern family, she might end up facing retaliation from the main house.
She could not drag Shirou into that, so she decided to remain in the forest with the Homunculi for a while longer.
Although Irisviel would not be moving into the city just yet, she was going to drive Shirou home today.
At noon, Shirou got into Irisviel's Mercedes-Benz and headed across Fuyuki Bridge toward Miyama Town.
He watched the scenery outside the car window race by, and then,
At the very top of the bridge's steel framework, Shirou spotted two familiar figures.
It was big sister Hundred Faces and Little Hassan, waving goodbye to him.
"Stop the car!" Shirou shouted.
"Huh? But we're on the bridge. I can't stop here!" Irisviel cried from the driver's seat, looking completely bewildered.
"What's wrong, Shirou?" Lady Avalon asked in confusion.
The red-haired boy shook his head. Without saying a word, he shoved the car door open and jumped out of the speeding vehicle.
"Shirou!" "What are you doing?!"
The two women's screams rang out from inside the car.
Shirou tucked in his head, rolled across the ground a few times, then quickly scrambled back to his feet and ran toward the place where he had just seen Assassin.
But by the time he got there and looked up again, there was no one there anymore.
Did I just imagine it...? Shirou wondered.
That had to be it.
It had already been ten days since the final night of the Holy Grail War.
Assassin should have returned to the Throne of Heroes on the very night of the battle at Ryuudou Temple. There was no way she could still be lingering in this world just to say goodbye to him.
Hassan of the Hundred Faces had been Shirou's very first ally. Without her help, there was no way all of Shirou's plans could have gone so smoothly.
And the Holy Grail War never would have ended without a single casualty on their side.
"I never got to say goodbye to big sister Assassin... just how much did I miss while I was asleep?"
Shirou let out a sigh and lowered his head, only to spot something eye-catching near his feet.
It was a white skeletal mask.
Shirou had first received it from Assassin, and had used it during the battle with Caster and while infiltrating the Hyatt Hotel.
Later, it had somehow gone missing. Shirou had thought he had simply lost it, but now it had turned up here.
"......"
Startled, Shirou picked up the mask.
On the inside, written in tiny letters, was a single line.
"Thank you"
Only after seeing those words did Shirou finally understand Assassin's true wish.
It had never been some grand heroic ambition.
All she had wanted was to be acknowledged by her Master as a Servant.
Shirou had undoubtedly fulfilled that wish, which was why she had left those words of thanks behind.
"Honestly... you stayed cool right up until the very end, big sister Assassin."
Shirou rubbed at the corners of his sore eyes and slipped the mask into his coat pocket.
Then he got back into the car.
After getting harshly scolded by Irisviel and Lady Avalon for half an hour, he finally returned to the front gate of the long-unseen Amamiya residence.
"So this is the legendary Japanese-style house~" Irisviel looked around curiously.
Shirou led the two of them through the gate and garden to the front door of the main house.
"..."
Shirou swallowed hard and rang the doorbell.
The silver-haired Homunculus and the Magus of Flowers both looked puzzled. Why was he ringing the bell at his own house?
In fact, Shirou had tried calling home the day before, and Taiga Fujimura had been the one to answer.
After learning that Shirou would be back that afternoon, Fuji-nee said she would skip club activities and wait for him at home.
Not long after the bell rang, the sound of hurried footsteps came from inside the house.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming! Shirou, welcome ba..."
A girl in a Homurahara uniform pulled open the door.
"I'm back, Fuji-nee... sorry for making you worry these past few days."
Shirou delivered the lines he had prepared in advance.
He had assumed Fuji-nee would start complaining right away, but instead she just stood there blankly.
Her eyes widened as her gaze darted back and forth between the two women standing beside Shirou.
"Shi, shi, shi, shi... Shirou came home with strange foreign women I've never seen before!"
Taiga Fujimura completely froze, like she had just been struck by lightning.
Shirou had spent so much time around Lady Avalon and Irisviel that he had completely stopped noticing it.
Fuyuki did have plenty of foreigners living in it, like the elderly couple housing Waver, but these two really stood out too much.
Exotic beauties strolling openly through town. On the way home, Shirou and the others had been stared at by passersby the entire time.
"Shirou!"
Taiga Fujimura grabbed the boy by the arm and asked nervously, "Who are they? Don't tell me they're from some suspicious religious group?"
"Alright, let me introduce them. This is Lady Avalon. Starting today, she'll be staying at my house."
"Hello~" Lady Avalon gave her trademark professional smile.
That smile was so suspicious that alarm bells instantly started blaring in Taiga Fujimura's head.
Shirou continued, "As you can see, Lady Avalon is a foreigner, so she might not be used to life in Japan yet.
"Fuji-nee, please try to get along with her..."
"That is not the issue! What exactly is your relationship with her, Shirou? Why is she suddenly moving in?"
Covering his ringing right ear, Shirou answered, "Lady Avalon is my teacher."
Taiga Fujimura glared at Lady Avalon in dissatisfaction.
"Teacher... what, an English teacher? If it's English, I can tutor you too!"
"That's not it."
"If it's not that, then what is it? Have you been fooling around with some mysterious foreign woman this whole time, Shirou? Sakura and I were seriously worried about you!"
"Don't say it like that..."
Shirou let out a helpless sigh.
He had expected this to become troublesome, but not this troublesome. How was he even supposed to explain all this to her?
When he looked at Lady Avalon, she was just standing there smiling happily.
This woman had absolutely no intention of helping him explain anything.
"So you're Shirou's big sister in Japan?"
"I'm his... huh?"
Taiga Fujimura turned her head and found Irisviel standing right in front of her.
Sh, she's so pretty... she thought to herself.
The silver-haired Homunculus took Taiga Fujimura's hand and said warmly, "I'm Irisviel. Starting today, I'll be staying here too..."
"Wait, Iri! That's not what you said on the way here!"
Shirou let out a cry. "Didn't you say you'd stay at the castle? Why are you moving in too?"
"It's fine, don't worry, Shirou. I'll just have Sella bring my luggage over later~"
"That's not what I'm worried about!"
Then Irisviel calmly told an absolutely enormous lie.
"Actually, I'm Shirou's mother."
Taiga Fujimura stared. "How is that even possible?!"
Exactly. The lie was way too obvious.
Shirou could not help snapping back. "Do I look even one centimeter like you?!"
"Even if we look completely different, we really are mother and son, you know?"
Irisviel proudly placed a hand on her chest.
"Hehe. Shirou even drank my breast milk before..."
Shirou let out a strangled "Aaaaahhh!" and cut her off before she could keep going.
"I came to Japan this time to see Shirou…"
"Until now, my family kept us from acknowledging each other, but that's no longer a problem."
"To live together with my beloved child, I bravely ran away from home."
"Alright, let me in... where's the bath? I've always wanted to try a Japanese-style bathtub!"
Talking entirely at her own pace, Irisviel passed through the entryway and cheerfully walked into the house.
Speechless, Shirou pressed a hand to his forehead.
And just like that, the Amamiya household gained two new residents that day.