"This is getting a little complicated..."
After hearing Emiya Kuro's explanation, Shirou felt a headache coming on.
Mix the red one, the black one, and the stuff inside the Holy Grail all together, then stuff everything into Emiya Shirou's body?
Why was he having such a bizarre dream?
At the very least, Shirou more or less understood what the other man was talking about. Amiya, standing behind him, on the other hand, was completely lost.
The other man had said a whole string of things, yet she could not understand any of it.
The only thing she could confirm was that the other man also called himself Emiya Shirou.
Still, something about it felt strange.
The Shirou she knew was gentle to everyone, but this Shirou in front of her felt...
Could it be that he had gone bad?
There was simply too much information to process at once, causing Amiya to fall into a state of confusion.
"Heh, quite fascinating, is it not?"
Watching the two of them sink into confusion, Emiya Kuro merely let out a scornful laugh before turning around and walking back toward where he had originally been standing, seemingly unwilling to continue the conversation.
"Can I trust you?"
Coming back to his senses and noticing that Emiya Kuro was already preparing to leave, Shirou suddenly asked the question.
He did not know why he was asking it.
After all, regardless of whether the other man answered yes or no, he would never place complete trust in him.
Perhaps he simply wanted to hear an answer from the other man so that he could feel a little more at ease inside?
"Is that not obvious? In the end, I am also Emiya Shirou. Is trusting yourself really such a difficult thing?"
Hearing Shirou's question, Emiya Kuro stopped walking and replied.
However, he did not turn around, speaking those words with his back still facing Shirou.
"..."
Shirou did not answer immediately. Instead, he first glanced back at Amiya behind him.
"I cannot use Originium Arts here."
The moment she noticed Shirou looking at her, Amiya immediately understood what he was thinking, but she could only shake her head helplessly.
In this place, she could not merely use emotional perception; she could not use any Originium Arts at all. She could not even cast the simplest spell, naturally making it impossible for her to determine whether the other man was telling the truth.
"Oh my, so you really do not trust me at all? Though I suppose that is fairly normal. Considering that guy is involved. Although it does not seem to have affected you quite as severely here, you already saw the memory from the period when it got particularly bad, did you not?"
Seemingly noticing that Shirou still did not trust him, Emiya Kuro sounded somewhat helpless.
"The main problem is that there are simply too many suspicious things about you. That makes it difficult for me to trust you."
Narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at the other man, Shirou spoke honestly about his thoughts.
Ever since their very first meeting, Shirou had always placed a massive question mark over the other man's position. Yes, he was Emiya Shirou, but their personalities differed far too much.
At the very least, Shirou did not think he himself would constantly speak in such strange tones.
Perhaps it was because of differing experiences.
But the biggest issue was still the connection between the other man and the Holy Grail.
The very first time he saw the other man bathed in black mud, it had already placed enormous psychological pressure on him. Although he constantly tried to convince himself internally that it was simply another version of Emiya Shirou, during that period he repeatedly dreamed that he himself had become like that, standing beneath the black mud while wearing a terrifying expression.
That situation only began to disappear after their first meeting, when the other man had dragged him out of that seemingly bottomless black swamp.
After all, the truth was right before his eyes. Although this Emiya Shirou resembled him in appearance, everything else about him was vastly different.
That allowed Shirou to find a direction in which he could escape.
But... after escaping, he would still eventually have to face the other problems.
When it came to the new resident inside his body, Shirou had to determine exactly where the other man stood.
Was he good... or evil?
"That is true. The Holy Grail really is not a good thing."
Emiya Kuro expressed his understanding.
After all, to Emiya Shirou, the Holy Grail was something filthy.
Whether it was the great fire that Emiya Shirou could never forget, or the Holy Grail War he became involved in after growing up, both were the same.
One could say that Emiya Shirou's entire life had practically been thrown into chaos by the Holy Grail.
And after becoming involved in the Holy Grail War and learning the truth about the Grail, the difficulty of changing Shirou's view of it was probably no less than convincing him to abandon his ideal of becoming a partner of justice.
Fortunately, Emiya Kuro had no intention of changing Shirou's beliefs, so there was no need for him to think too deeply about it.
"However... one day you will understand. The time is about up. Do you want to leave on your own, or should I send you out?"
After Emiya Kuro finished speaking, silence lingered between the three of them for a long while. In the end, Emiya Kuro was the one who broke it himself.
He did not need Shirou's trust or faith.
After all, one day Shirou would come looking for him on his own.
And when that time came, it would also be time for him to exit the stage.
After speaking, Emiya Kuro waved his hand and directly sent Shirou and Amiya out.
He was merely asking out of courtesy. The two of them had already stayed there too long, and if things continued, it would affect everyone involved.
The two people who had been forcibly pushed out: "???"
So was that question earlier just meaningless lip service?
After a dizzying sensation of the world spinning around them, the sharp smell of disinfectant made Shirou frown involuntarily.
"You are awake?"
Immediately afterward, Shirou heard the voice of Warfarin, along with a sharp pain coming from his arm.
When he opened his eyes, Shirou saw Warfarin drawing blood from him with a syringe. The way she was forcibly holding herself back looked so... amusing that he almost burst out laughing.
Fortunately, he managed to hold it in.
Thanks to Warfarin's contribution, Shirou temporarily forgot about the tense situation from earlier, and the psychological pressure on him eased considerably.
"Where is Amiya?"
Allowing Warfarin to continue drawing his blood, Shirou looked around before finally spotting Amiya sitting on a hospital bed nearby. She looked the same as usual, except that she was sitting quietly on the bed while Kal'tsit was conducting a simple examination using several medical instruments.
"After Amiya suddenly started acting strangely, you fainted right afterward as well. Kal'tsit and I performed some preliminary examinations, but we still cannot find the reason why the two of you suddenly lost consciousness at the same time... Do you have any ideas?"
After finishing the blood draw and sealing the sample away, Warfarin finally calmed down a little and explained what had happened earlier.
There was not much difference between her explanation and Shirou's own memories. The only additional information was roughly how long he and Amiya had been unconscious, as well as the emergency procedures Kal'tsit and Warfarin had performed.
"I have some idea."
As he spoke, Shirou looked in Kal'tsit's direction.
"Just say it directly. Although Warfarin occasionally drops the ball, she is still very reliable within Rhodes Island."
Noticing that all three people present were looking at her, Kal'tsit finally stopped what she was doing and spoke.
Just as Warfarin had said, she could not identify the primary reason behind Amiya's sudden condition. At present, Amiya's body was extremely healthy, and the Originium concentration in her blood had indeed decreased slightly. They would need to wait for the rest of the test results before learning more.
"What do you mean I drop the ball? That is way too harsh!"
Warfarin quietly protested against Kal'tsit's statement.
As for why she did not dare to say it louder?
Naturally, it was because she was afraid that once the experiment ended, she would immediately be sent to see some nice view.
"I will explain... During the early stages of the experiment, I first felt a warm and comfortable sensation throughout my body. After that, it felt like my consciousness was pulled into another place. There, I saw a heavily injured Shirou and a blonde girl wearing black armor..."
Picking up the conversation, Amiya explained her experience from her own perspective, describing everything as clearly as possible.
"So in simple terms, Amiya, you saw Shirou's memories? Then Shirou, did you see anything as well?"
After listening to Amiya's explanation, Kal'tsit felt that there were many questions she wanted to ask Shirou. However, after seeing the equally confused expression on his face, she abandoned the idea.
It seemed that Shirou himself also lacked those memories, making further questioning pointless.
Still, if this treatment method caused Amiya to see Shirou's memories... then had Shirou seen Amiya's memories as well?
"No. I was dragged away by another me inside my consciousness, so I did not see Amiya's memories."
Shirou answered honestly.
"...Another you?"
Hearing the key phrase, Kal'tsit immediately started feeling another headache coming on. Rubbing between her brows, she repeated Shirou's words.
"I saw him too. That Shirou gave off a very unapproachable aura and seemed difficult to get along with... but it also seemed like he was the one who pulled me out of Shirou's memories, and he was the one who sent us back as well."
After Shirou brought it up, Amiya suddenly realized that she had forgotten to mention this part.
Mainly because Kal'tsit had interrupted her right after she finished one section of her explanation.
"..."
After listening to Amiya's words, Kal'tsit began organizing the information in her head.
Another Emiya Shirou had appeared, except this one was currently lurking within Shirou's consciousness... or perhaps his body?
Including Shirou himself, that made four already!
Surely there were not going to be even more Emiya Shirous, right?
For now, she pushed that question aside. According to Amiya's description, the Shirou she had seen back then was somewhat different from the current Shirou.
If those were truly Shirou's memories... then what about those injuries? And his right arm?
The deeper she looked into the person known as Shirou, the more unanswered questions she uncovered, along with an increasing fear of the so-called Holy Grail.
When Amiya described the experience earlier, she had deliberately used Originium Arts to share part of the emotions she felt at that moment with Kal'tsit. Because of that, Kal'tsit clearly understood exactly what Amiya had been feeling then.
It had been an extremely thick and overwhelming flood of negative emotions...
And that was only what Amiya had transmitted to her through Originium Arts. That meant Amiya's actual emotions at the time had been even more severe.
Fortunately, things had not developed in the worst possible direction, but the risks associated with this treatment method were still far too high.
Especially for Amiya. Her emotions were simply too easily affected when it came to people she cared about.
"What exactly are you people talking about? Why does everyone suddenly sound like Kal'tsit?"
Warfarin, who had been listening from the side the entire time, declared that she had not understood a single word.
Could they not say something a Sarkaz could actually understand?
Some blonde girl pierced the chest of a dying Shirou with a sword, then threw him into black mud?
But no matter how she looked at it, the Shirou standing before them was perfectly clean and did not even have a scar on him!
The man was literally right here! Was it really respectful for the two of them to keep talking about how Shirou died over and over again?
No, wait! Shirou, why are you joining the conversation too? They are talking about you! If they suddenly decide to operate on you, you are finished!
Watching Shirou participate enthusiastically in the discussion, Warfarin first felt isolated, then quickly realized that the entire topic itself was strange.
And Shirou was even stranger. Not only was he participating, he seemed deeply engaged in the conversation.
It all felt extremely weird.
"I will explain it to you later while I deal with your situation as well."
After hearing several important keywords, Kal'tsit first glared at Warfarin before turning back to continue questioning Shirou:
"So the name of that person was Saber?"
"Yeah... blonde hair, golden eyes, black armor. It could only be her."
Faced with Kal'tsit's question, Shirou was not completely certain either, because he had no memory of the scene Amiya described.
Even the memory Lappland had seen last time had come from the memories of another Emiya Shirou.
The starting point of his Holy Grail War memories always seemed to begin from the warehouse.
A Holy Grail War that began in a warehouse?
"Saber... when Shirou's chest was pierced back then, I think he called out that name. Come to think of it, Shirou, the person you asked me to search for last time was also this person, right? I am very certain that I have never seen her aboard Rhodes Island."
Seeing both Shirou and Kal'tsit focus their attention on her, Amiya tried hard to recall the scene she had witnessed earlier.
Too many things had happened at the time, and she had been completely focused on trying to save Shirou, so she had not remembered many details clearly.
"That time, it was only because I heard her voice that I asked about her! It does not matter if you could not find her! I was only trying my luck!"
Seeing the guilty look on Amiya's face, Shirou hurriedly explained and comforted her.
Amiya's heart was very delicate, but for someone like her, that sensitivity would only leave her covered in wounds.
Although Amiya herself probably did not mind very much.
Still, Shirou wanted to avoid letting that happen as much as possible.
"Her voice?"
Listening to their conversation from the side, Kal'tsit quietly recorded several key points. Perhaps they would prove useful someday.
After all, that Miss Saber also seemed to have been a participant in the Holy Grail War, meaning there was a possibility that she could appear upon this land just as Shirou had.
However, an opponent even Shirou could not defeat...
It was difficult to imagine.
"As for her voice... Miss Saber's voice sounded very similar to Miss Vina's, although slightly colder."
Once the topic shifted to voices, Amiya completely understood why Shirou had mistaken the person.
After all, even she herself had mistaken them at first, so Shirou confusing them was perfectly understandable.
Still...
Why did Shirou want to find that Saber so badly? Were they not enemies?