"Is that so? So that's how it is!" Handing the filled water glass to Ikki, Shirou, who had just finished listening to Ikki's story, suddenly remembered Kiritsugu. They're really alike, these two men! Both Shirou's father, Emiya Kiritsugu, and Ikki's father, Kurone Gen. They were both men who held firm to their own convictions. And for their convictions, they could treat any emotion with indifference. Recalling the man who made it his mission to save the world, Shirou couldn't help but smile. If he knew that I would become the cause of the world's destruction, would Kiritsugu kill me? He probably would!
After all, that man was so tenacious! Remembering the ending of Fate/Zero that he had watched in his previous life, Shirou had no hesitation about this outcome. If he truly hindered him, he would definitely kill him with his own hands! Even if his heart was filled with agony! So, what was the difference between himself and Ikki?
The only difference was that Kiritsugu died too early and didn't see him now. After all, the Kiritsugu in his world wasn't the Emiya Kiritsugu who had thoroughly understood everything in the Holy Grail after participating in the Fourth Holy Grail War. He was the man who, until his death, was still searching for a way to use the "Divine Child" to save the world.
"This is quite a coincidence!" Looking at the dejected Ikki before him, Shirou said calmly, "Ikki, are you in pain? Because of the conflict between your convictions and your father's, to the point that he never truly cared about you?"
"Ah! It hurts a lot!" Clasping his chest, Ikki said painfully.
"Indeed, this situation is very hard to accept, but that's all there is to it!"
"?" Staring blankly at Shirou, Ikki didn't know why he would say that.
"If my father, who once saved my life and adopted me, knew about my current convictions, he would probably kill me with his own hands!"
"?" Hearing Shirou's narration, Ikki's eyes widened. He couldn't imagine there being such a father in the world.
"Why?" Ikki's voice gradually grew louder.
"Why would he do that?"
"Why?" Repeating Ikki's question, Shirou gradually fell into memories.
"Because he wanted to become a Hero of Justice! His dream was world peace!"
"But isn't that a beautiful and grand ideal?" Ikki was very puzzled. Becoming a Hero of Justice, or wishing for world peace and so on. Everyone had such wishes in their childhood, right? In Ikki's eyes, this was a beautiful and noble wish.
"Indeed, everyone has had this dream, but no one has been able to persist in it and put it into practice like him!"
Sitting on the sofa, Shirou crossed his arms, resting his chin on his hands. "For this wish, he constantly traveled the world, saving all kinds of people caught in disasters, and I was saved by him because of this. Therefore, I greatly admired him!"
"But in the process of saving, one always faces various choices. For example, two groups of hostages held by terrorists, and he can only save one group."
"If he saves this group, the other group will have no chance of being saved, and only death awaits them. So how would you save them, Ikki?"
"Me?" Hearing Shirou's example, Ikki instantly fell into a dilemma. Two groups of people, but only one could be saved. How could he choose?
Without pressing Ikki further, Shirou continued, "Kiritsugu would save the group with more people and abandon the group with fewer. That was his way of saving!"
"Save the many, kill the few!"
"To save more people, he would actively kill fewer people.
Even if those fewer people included his own family!"
"What?"
"He doesn't even care about his own family?" Ikki was shocked, shocked by the way of life of the man named Emiya Kiritsugu.
"That's right!" Shirou calmly glanced at the shocked Ikki and continued, "Once, there was a dangerous Blazer who used his abnormal ability to develop a virus that could infect people around him and turn them into ghouls."
"Kiritsugu and his adoptive mother, who was also his master, had been hunting him down after learning of his existence, and finally caught his tail."
"Kiritsugu's adoptive mother killed this Blazer on a plane, but the virus spread, and all the passengers on the plane, except for Kiritsugu's adoptive mother, became ghouls."
"Finally, in order to prevent the virus on the plane from spreading to the ground and causing greater casualties, Kiritsugu directly used a missile to blow up the plane, ending his adoptive mother's life." Looking at the shocked Ikki, Shirou calmly said, "He was that kind of person. He was a dreamer who wished for world peace, but in practice, he was a cold and ruthless realist."
"If he hadn't died early, he would probably have ended my life with his own hands!" After sighing once more, Shirou said to Ikki, "Ikki, I'm not saying this with any other meaning; I just want you to face reality."
"Face reality?"
"That's right! Our parents are our future selves. Their convictions are unshakeable. Just like your and my current convictions, will they waver with the passage of time?"
"They won't, right?"
"Perhaps there are many parents in the world who, after their children are born, will abandon their former ideals for them. Such parents are indeed very great!"
"But this can only be their own choice, not a choice we force upon them. Nor do we have the right to do so!"
"Children are the continuation of their parents' lives, not the continuation of their beliefs. We are different individuals, and naturally have different beliefs."
"Perhaps our respective beliefs are in conflict, but that's no big deal."
"Respect their beliefs, confirm your own beliefs, and then deny their beliefs!"
"These are precisely the things we need to do!" Standing up from the sofa, Shirou patted Ikki's shoulder and said seriously, "Or are you saying your conviction is too weak in the face of your father's?"
"How could that be!" Recalling his conviction, recalling the setbacks and hardships he had endured to reach this point, Ikki said through clenched teeth, "How could my conviction be so weak!"
"Then what are you hesitating for?" Shirou's voice also grew louder, "I think you've come this far not just to prove something to your father, right! Since he ignores you because of his own conviction, then crush his ignorance!"
"Haven't you been doing that all along?"
"Besides, do you really think you're alone without your father's support?" As Shirou's words fell, the doorbell rang. Opening the door, Ikki asked in surprise, "You all are!" He saw that outside the door, besides Shizuku, Stella, and Arisu Nagi, there were many other people.
Among them were Teacher Oregi, classmates, and Kusakabe Kagami, who often interviewed him. There was his disciple, Ayase, and Usamaru Renren, who he had previously defeated. And some other people. Now, all these people appeared before Ikki.
"Everyone!" Before Ikki could say more, voices from across the door already came.
"Kurone-kun, although I don't know what kind of setback you've encountered, you will always be Sensei's pride!"
"That's right, Kurone-kun is the pride of our first-year Class 1."
"Master's kindness. Ayase will not forget."
"Since you've won against us, then carry our expectations forward! Don't get lost and lose halfway!"
Hearing everyone's support, Ikki's heart warmed. Just then, Shizuku walked up to him and said seriously,
"Brother, you are not alone now; you have us!"
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--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter