I am the protagonist

"It wasn't to make it easier to see Shirou. Shirou was already awake when we went to the hospital today."

"Tsk!"

Could you raise your voice any louder if you're unhappy?

Medusa glanced in Archer's direction out of the corner of her eye. She knew Archer wanted to kill Shirou, but he should restrain himself in front of Rin and Sakura.

"Shirou is already awake, so you and Sakura don't need to move in, right? Even if Shirou is feeling a bit unwell after being discharged from the hospital, isn't there Saber?"

"If it were just Shirou being discharged from the hospital, Sakura and I would just go and celebrate with him. It's just that Shirou has encountered some problems."

Medusa carefully observed Rin and Sakura's facial expressions. Rin's expression was somewhat complicated, and Sakura's expression was also somewhat complicated. For a moment, Medusa couldn't judge the situation from their expressions, nor did she know what had happened to Shirou at the hospital.

"This is probably not a good thing for Shirou. Because of the severe head injury, Shirou seems to have lost all his memories of the past."

Archer's previously displeased expression vanished, replaced by a broad, radiant smile.

"Oh my, that's interesting. Just a trip to the hospital and he's already lost his memory. Just how fragile has Emiya Shirou become?"

Archer's beaming face clearly showed that he was in a very good mood.

"..."

"Archer, can you please stop looking so gloating?"

Rin, who knew Archer's reasons for targeting Shirou, was particularly annoyed by this behavior. That bastard Shirou, having lost his memory, was actually gloating. Doesn't he know how serious losing his memory is?

[Forget it, this guy probably wants Shirou dead more right now. He's like a dead pig that doesn't care about boiling water.]

Rin was too lazy to waste her breath on this guy. She had said those things to Archer before, but did Archer even listen? If he did, he wouldn't be acting so gloating right now.

Medusa learned about Shirou's amnesia and understood the reasons behind Rin and Sakura's actions. She had previously heard Sakura say that Shirou's hospitalization was apparently caused by Rin, and Rin probably wanted to do something to make amends.

"Rin, is it alright for you and Sakura to go and stay together?"

"It's alright, Saber lives there too, so it doesn't matter."

Rin didn't think there was anything special about this cohabitation. She chose to live with Shirou to help him recover his past memories and for his safety. Moreover, considering another reason, it was best for her to live with Shirou now.

[If Shirou uses magic carelessly and the Mage's Association notices about his soul materialization, it will be a real problem. For that reason alone, we can't let anyone else know about Shirou's situation.]

In short, there are many reasons why I went to live with Shirou this time.

One aspect is helping Shirou regain his memories.

Another reason is to prevent Shirou from being targeted by the Mage's Association.

Both of these points are actually closely related to Shirou's life, so living together would naturally be more convenient.

[Shirou is currently unaware of his past and filled with uncertainty about the future. His past might be exposed later, and to avoid that, Shirou needs to acquire a certain level of magical skill.]

Rin thought about the magic Shirou had just used in front of her, and she felt that she probably couldn't teach Shirou much. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before Shirou completely absorbed all of her magic knowledge.

Chapter Ten: Siblings Who Are Not Blood Relatives

Now, only Shirou, Illya, and Saber remain in the entire Emiya family.

[Magic... I just emerged from a world of deathly aura and now I've entered a world filled with magic. But magic is certainly a simplified thing; it would be interesting if all those abilities could be expressed through magic.]

Shirou's mind was now focused on the concept of magic that had just been mentioned. Magic itself is a power built upon common sense, but magic is a way of expressing common sense in another form.

In other words, the seven attributes of the sky are all concepts based on common sense. So as long as the corresponding common sense is found, the seven attributes of the sky can be expressed.

However, Shirou wasn't thinking about expressing the seven attributes of the sky, but rather the attributes of the earth.

Of course, there was only one thing that Shirou valued—gravity!

If gravity could be transformed into a form of magic that one could control, then even without obtaining the Earth Flame, one could use magic to manifest its characteristics.

[Afterwards, I can study magic properly; magic has far more applications than the Dying Will Flame.]

Shirou's knowledge was far from limited; the effects of Dying Will Flame and the scope of magic were considerably narrower. In fact, magic was far more suitable for application than Dying Will Flame, especially in non-combat situations.

The focus was drawn to the short-looking, but actually eighteen-year-old, silver-haired "little girl".

"Shirou, do you think I'm weird?"

Shirou genuinely found Illya's short stature a little strange, but were there really no girls like that? Even in the ordinary world of the past, there were teenagers who looked like children, but that was probably due to some kind of inability to grow up.

"It's not that it's strange, but I'm a little surprised that someone like this would appear next to me."

"Shirou, what kind of person are you referring to?"

"Yeah, it's the kind of person whose body just can't grow properly from a very young age. I feel like I've seen it on TV before, a woman in her thirties who looks like a primary school student. I feel like she'd be called to the police and taken to the station for questioning if she stood next to her partner."

"Wow, are there really people like that?"

Listening to Shirou's description, Illya didn't feel that she was anything special, but the example Shirou gave her really made her feel a little strange.

"If Shirou and I walk down the street, will Shirou be taken to jail as a suspected criminal?"

"...I don't look that old. The situation I'm describing is a cute elementary school student walking with a middle-aged person in their thirties or forties. Usually, if the cute elementary school student shows affection towards the middle-aged person, many passersby would call the police."

"But what I want to ask about now is the relationship between us."

Illya's eyes suddenly lit up with a smile, and she skipped over to Shirou, sitting right on his lap.

"Hehe~ Our relationship is actually quite complicated. Shirou is like my younger brother in a way."

"younger brother?"

This relationship caused Shirou's expression to become strange, and even the awkwardness of interacting with girls was temporarily overshadowed by his current emotions, giving rise to curiosity about the sibling relationship.

Are we siblings?

Ilya found a comfortable spot.

"Yes, Shirou is my younger brother by blood, but that relationship isn't based on blood ties. It's just that Kiritsugu adopted you, and that's how we became siblings."

"My adoptive father?"

Shirou gradually understood his identity, but it was far more complex than he had imagined. In other words, he wasn't originally born with the surname "Emiya"; he had simply changed his surname to Emiya after being adopted.

The girl named Illyasviel is her adoptive father's real daughter.

If that's the case, then in terms of their relationship, Ilya really is his brother.

"And what about the adoptive father?"

"He died a long time ago. I know exactly how he died, after all, Kiritsugu was an idiot."

Ilya felt uneasy when she recalled seeing the corpse of a middle-aged man near Einzbern's castle. The castle was surrounded by a powerful barrier, and the man had frozen to death in the snow.

Upon seeing the corpse, Ilya realized that the man hadn't actually intended to abandon her, as he lingered outside Einzbern's castle until the very end, unable to find his way in. It was precisely because of this that Ilya's hatred for Einzbern surged at that moment.

That's why she participated in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

That's why she was able to break away from Einzbern so easily.

It wasn't that Einzbern didn't want to find her, but rather that Einzbern no longer had anyone left.

"Could you tell me what kind of person your adoptive father was?"

"Hmm~ I don't know much either."

Illya knew Kiritsugu very well; simply put, he was a very stupid person. Although he hoped to live a peaceful life, he ultimately walked into a dead end in pursuit of his ideals.

Illya turned her attention to Saber. If anyone knew Kiritsugu the most, besides her deceased mother, it would be Saber, who had also participated in the Holy Grail War and was even a Heroic Spirit summoned by Kiritsugu.

"But Saber definitely knows quite a lot."

"Hey?"

Shirou also turned his attention to Saber; in fact, he had many questions about this girl.

"Speaking of which, isn't her name Artoria Pendragon? Why do you call her Saber?"

"Because she is Saber herself. Shirou, you may not know that Saber is not actually from this era, but was specially summoned to this era because of the Holy Grail War."

"Holy Grail War..."

Shirou saw many things about the Holy Grail War before his eyes; the entire story flashed by.

"The war between seven magicians and seven heroic spirits... Heroic spirits are summoned from Valhalla by magicians using relics... I see, no wonder you are called Saber instead of by your name."

Illya turned her head to look at Shirou, who was leaning against her back, in a strange way. She hadn't said anything yet, so why did Shirou know immediately?

"Shirou, didn't you have amnesia?"

"Yes, I do have amnesia."

"Then how do you know about the Holy Grail War?"

"Well... actually, I just [saw] it."

Chapter Eleven was actually a fortune telling session... Yeah, right!

When Shirou said he "saw" the Holy Grail War, Illya's first reaction was that Shirou was joking. However, when Illya stared into Shirou's eyes, she didn't see any hint of joking.

[Shirou isn't talking about ordinary seeing; could it be clairvoyance? It's said that the highest level of clairvoyance allows one to observe the future… but can clairvoyance also see the past?]

Illya knew that the highest level of Clairvoyance could observe the future, but the Holy Grail War was all in the past, and Clairvoyance should only be able to see the [front] and not the [back]. However, Shirou, who had lost his memory, accurately named the participants in the Holy Grail War, and even the summoning of Heroic Spirits, which meant that Shirou must have actually [seen] something.

"Shirou, how did you see that?"

"It's the Holy Grail War you just mentioned, and then I saw it."

Shirou did indeed see a great deal about the Holy Grail War in that instant, almost the entirety of the Fifth Holy Grail War. It was truly astonishing that such a seemingly inhumane Holy Grail War would end in such a way.

"I was just a little surprised that such a war, which almost trampled humanity underfoot, ended with none of the participating magicians or heroic spirits dying. And not only did the war end, but that thing also completely disappeared."

Shirou can see at a glance what the Holy Grail really is: a dark substance derived from human nature—the source of human desire, [human evil]—hidden within it.

That kind of thing must have originated from the seven deadly sins of humanity, right? It's a special substance produced by the accumulation of various desires over time. I think I was in that state when I first understood pride; the ugly side of human nature is truly disgusting.

Shirou could feel the same sensations he experienced when he approached the "positive" and "negative" sides of himself in that black mud. The malice that arose from within was something that ordinary people could not bear. Anyone would unconsciously be influenced by their own "positive" and "negative" sides within it.

Shirou saw what kind of wish was made at the end of the Holy Grail War, but he was somewhat unclear about who made that wish.

Is something obscuring my prediction, or is that person's identity something that's difficult for others to see?

Shirou wasn't sure if his guess was correct, but there was no need to delve into it now. Shirou now knew that this era was one where Heroic Spirits and Mages could coexist, meaning that apart from groups of fellow Mages posing a slight problem, Fuyuki City didn't actually pose much of a threat.

Illya stared wide-eyed at Shirou, she really hadn't expected that Shirou had actually witnessed the Holy Grail War.

Even Saber's eyes widened at that moment.

"Shirou, have you not lost your memory?"

At that moment, Saber began to doubt whether Shirou had lost his memory. However, she immediately realized that Shirou remembered nothing about them at all, which was indeed a sign of amnesia. But if Shirou had clearly lost his memory, how could he still know about the Holy Grail War?

Shirou truly has no memories of his past, not because he doesn't want them, but because the process of plundering completely deprives him of them. Only his identity, abilities, and qualifications are plundered; other things cannot be taken. Otherwise, he wouldn't have found himself in a hospital the moment he opened his eyes.

"I really have no memory."

"Then how did you know?"

"Yes, I can see it. Maybe it's hard for you to understand, but there are some things that I can definitely see as long as I think about them."

Does this kind of ability even exist in this world?

Illya and Saber both saw their own deep misunderstanding.

Illya is a member of the Einzbern family and has known a great deal about the theories of magic since childhood. She also knows that magicians may possess abilities that allow them to foresee the future. However, the problem is that Illya doesn't know of any ability that allows one to see things simply by thinking about them.

As a legendary swordswoman in history, Saber has encountered many incredible things, and having been summoned to the modern era, she has also gained some knowledge about modern life. However, she never knew that there was such a thing as the ability to see things simply by thinking about them.

"Shirou, what kind of ability is that?"

Saber immediately demonstrated her inquisitive nature, wanting to understand this obviously abnormal ability.

"It's like the kind of divination ability in magic; as long as certain conditions are met, you can predict the past and the future."

"To predict the past and the future?"

Illya could hardly comprehend how Shirou could utter such absurd and illogical statement. No magician would say something so utterly baseless and illogical. Even if there was a type of magic called divination, Illya was certain that divination didn't possess the kind of power Shirou described.

"Shirou, I am a magician myself, so I can tell you with absolute certainty that divination does not have the kind of ability you describe. Divination is merely a prediction of crises; most divination can only predict a part of the uncertain future, and it is impossible to make accurate predictions at all."

"It's like how you sometimes see fortune telling services for love on the street. Actually, those fortune telling services don't predict whether the other person will be your partner in the future. Instead, they predict the fate of the person involved, examine their marriage line, and then give some advice."

"Although it is a type of prediction, it is the most basic kind of prediction, and whether it is truly accurate depends on the ability of the fortune teller or magician."

Ultimately, the outcome of divination magic depends on the diviner's ability; the more skilled the diviner, the more accurate the predictions will be. However, if you encounter a mediocre diviner, you'll need to assess their language skills. If they are truly skilled, they might even surpass the former in ability.

After all, the concept of cause and effect is not fixed.

Cause and effect are just like the future; they will change over time.