Shirou slowly opened his eyes.
"...?"
A clear blue sky. A peaceful plain where flowers of every color bloomed.
Endless grassland stretched around him, with only a distant forest visible on the horizon.
There were no human fences or houses, no city walls or castles. Nothing like a nation existed here at all.
As Shirou gazed at the dreamlike scenery before him, the word "Fairyland" rose unbidden in his mind.
He blinked in confusion and sat up.
What was going on?
His thoughts were scattered. Shirou closed his eyes and quietly searched his memory.
Then...
"..."
Shirou remembered everything.
"I died... in Alice's arms."
So this time, it was not a dream created by the Professor. This was true reality.
This was Avalon, the place where the planet stored souls.
At the end of a long, long pilgrimage, Shirou had finally arrived here.
"Hmm~~~~~~"
The boy stretched lazily.
His feelings were complicated.
On one hand, Shirou was happy that he had finally reached this promised land.
On the other, once he calmed down, he began to regret that moment of impulse.
There were still so many promises he had not kept.
His promise to Irisviel and the others: "I'll come back safely, so don't worry about me."
His promise to Sakura that he would teach her Magecraft.
His promise to join the archery club with Shinji after they started junior high.
His promise to help Old Man Raiga fix his motorcycle.
His promise to host "Yaobikuni-san" when she came to visit Fuyuki.
And many more...
In the end, had he really failed to keep every single one?
Shirou could not imagine how worried they would be if he simply never returned.
"..."
Shirou climbed up from the grass.
What should he do now? Shirou looked around aimlessly.
Come to think of it, was there anyone else here besides him?
Right... the Professor!
If Lady Avalon found out he had died, maybe she would come here looking for him. This was her home, after all.
He would just wait here patiently until the Professor returned.
It might take years, decades, or even centuries, but... Shirou had plenty of time now.
He flopped back onto the grass and started rolling around, trying to ease the unease inside him.
"What are you doing?"
A voice rang out from the inner side of the planet, where no humans dwelled.
When Shirou heard that voice, he looked up despite himself, and his body froze.
"Why did you come here so soon?"
The icy voice questioned him.
Shirou's mouth hung half open, his throat trembling nonstop.
A woman in black garments, with a black veil over her head, appeared before him.
Her long silver hair flowed all the way to the ground. Her figure was full yet slender, her skin pale but healthy, and her entire body gave off a cold, aloof air that kept others at a distance.
"Morgan...?"
Shirou felt his throat dry up at once.
He vaguely understood the identity of the woman before him.
She was not any single Morgan that Shirou knew, yet she was every Morgan that Shirou knew.
This place, Avalon, was where the souls of the Stars were stored.
The Morgan before him was the origin of both the "Fairy Consort" and the "Fairy Queen."
The "Fairy Consort" who had been born as the master of Britannia and eventually became Shirou's wife.
After the world collapsed, the two of them had drifted into the Fairy Kingdom.
In that new world, she had been reborn as a Paradise Fairy, and after Shirou's death, she had become the "Fairy Queen."
The one appearing here in Avalon was probably something like the true body, or record, of the "Fairy Queen" who was still alive.
Morgan stared at the boy for a long time before finally letting out a helpless sigh.
Through the black veil, Shirou saw that her peerlessly beautiful face was shaken.
"Why did it turn out like this...? This must all be Merlin's fault."
Morgan bit her lip in frustration, then questioned him again.
"Shirou... why did you come here so soon?"
"..."
Shirou did not know what to say.
Compared to answering that insignificant question, there were far more important things he wanted to tell her.
Just seeing Morgan's face made Shirou's heart pound with excitement.
If he could, Shirou wanted to pull off her veil and look at her face properly... but even this was already more than enough.
"Haa..."
Morgan gave another soft sigh.
"For it to turn out like this... it really is because of me, isn't it?"
"?"
Shirou blinked and asked in confusion, "Why would it be Morgan's fault?"
Morgan was silent for a moment before speaking.
"Even after we parted, Shirou, you kept following my traces all this time... didn't you?"
"..."
It was exactly as Morgan said.
Even after returning to Proper Human History, Shirou still could not forget Morgan.
Whenever he had time to spare, Shirou would occasionally think of that question.
"After this life of mine ends, will I be able to see Morgan again?"
While Shirou was still alive, he had already been thinking about what came after death.
Shirou himself knew that was wrong.
It was disrespectful to his own life, and unfair to the people around him.
Shirou understood perfectly what Morgan was angry about.
Morgan wanted the boy she loved to cherish the life he had gained with such difficulty.
Even if it was a "world without her," it was still "Shirou's own life."
Morgan wanted Shirou to experience the life he was meant to live in full.
One day, they would meet again.
Perhaps in ten years.
Perhaps in a hundred years, a thousand years, or even hundreds of millions of years later.
No matter how long it took, Morgan would gladly wait for him.
But... Shirou had ended his life so carelessly.
The reason was obvious.
His lingering attachment to someone had remained in Shirou's heart all along.
Shirou walked up to Morgan and took her soft hand.
"I'm so happy I get to see you again, Morgan."
"That isn't what I want to hear... Honestly, no acting spoiled, and no trying to dodge the question."
Morgan shook off the boy's hand and pouted with her blue lips.
She was probably trying to hide her joy and embarrassment, because the angry face she forced herself to make was terribly unconvincing.
Morgan glared at Shirou sullenly and asked through gritted teeth, "Do you really understand what you did wrong?"
"I do," Shirou said with a smile.
"You're not reflecting on it at all," Morgan said with a frown.
"No, I am reflecting on it," Shirou said earnestly.
To be honest, he really did regret it.
The moment he thought of the people he had left behind, a powerful sense of guilt surged up in Shirou's chest.
But regretting it now would not change anything.
Everything, absolutely everything, was over.
The life of Shirou Amamiya.
The journey that belonged to him.
All of it was over.
Shirou took a deep breath and said, "Even if the whole world has a complaint to make against me, you're the one person who doesn't get to say that.
"Who do you think I went through so much to reach this place for? At a time like this…"
"At least greet me with a smile, Morgan."
"..."
The fierce, icy pressure around Morgan disappeared.
She nodded meekly and replied in a soft voice.
"...Mm."
Seeing that, Shirou took a step forward, opened his arms, and embraced her.
Morgan's body was soft and warm. Her full curves pressed against the boy's chest and lower abdomen, yet he felt no lust at all.
All that filled his heart was the emotion of their reunion.
"Morgan."
"Welcome back, Shirou."
Nestled against the boy, Morgan murmured, "I missed you so much."
"Me too."
"It feels like a dream... Is this a dream? Are you going to disappear again?"
"Of course it isn't a dream. I'm right here beside you, and I'll never leave you again."
"Shirou..."
Morgan lifted her face.
With a bashful look, she said, "Then prove it to me, my husband."
Shirou nodded and lifted her black veil.
The beautiful face he had dreamed of day and night appeared before him.
Pure, bewitching, and brimming with a tender, fragile smile of happiness.
The two gazed at each other in silence for a while, until their eyes finally settled on each other's lips.
Morgan obediently closed her eyes.
Naturally, Shirou also prepared to close his eyes and savor the witch's lips to his heart's content.
But then...
He suddenly realized his body had begun to glow.
Amid the dazzling golden light, his body gradually turned transparent.
"Huh? Huhhhhh? What's going on?"
Shirou growled in panic.
"Morgan! This is bad! Something's wrong with my body! I'm starting to look like Ultraman Tiga in the final episode!"
"..."
Morgan kept her eyes tightly shut, lips puckered.
Her brows drew together slightly, and she pinched Shirou hard on the waist in displeasure. "Stop messing around and kiss me already."
Guh... How did this happen? Morgan, open your eyes!
Shirou knew exactly what this was.
During the past Holy Grail War, he had personally sent several Servants back to the Throne of Heroes.
Now, just like those defeated Servants, he was being forcibly recalled by some irresistible summons.
In the blink of an eye, everything below Shirou's waist had already turned completely transparent.
Doing anything lewd with Morgan was out of the question now, but at least... at least let me kiss her lips!
Between a "final resistance" and a "final moment of tenderness," Shirou chose the latter.
The boy gritted his teeth, closed his eyes as well, and slowly leaned toward Morgan.
And so...
After a long wait and a long separation, their lips finally met once more.
Something soft twined around him.
As expected of Morgan, she really was bold... All right, I'm not losing either!
Shirou did his best to respond.
"Ngh... mm... ah..."
"?"
Shirou suddenly felt that something was off, but he could not say what.
After several minutes of intense entanglement, he cautiously opened his eyes.
"...Huh?"
What entered his sight was not Morgan, but the face of another witch, Alice Kuonji.
Her delicate cheeks were flushed with a charming blush, and her lovely lips still carried Shirou's breath.
She was not the shy, introverted, book-loving quiet girl Shirou knew, but a witch whose eyes brimmed with desire and a dangerous air.
"Amamiya-kun...♡"
Shirou stared blankly back at her.
He did not understand what had happened, but he did understand one thing clearly.
Apparently, he had failed to die.
And for some reason, Alice had been clinging to his corpse and kissing it nonstop... and had brought him back to life that way?
"...G-Good evening, Alice?"
Shirou spoke with fear and trembling.
Alice did not answer. She simply collapsed into his arms.
"Alice!"
Shirou nervously shook her shoulders, only to find that the girl had merely fallen asleep.
It seemed she had exhausted the Magical Energy inside her and passed out. Alice had returned to the familiar self Shirou knew, her delicate sleeping face so pitiful and lovely that it stirred the heart.
Shirou finally let out a sigh of relief.
There was nothing seriously wrong with Alice's body, and the dense fog barrier covering the mountain had already lifted.
A happy ending for everyone. This incident had come to a safe close as well.
The only regret was that he had not managed to say goodbye to Morgan.
Although he had not been able to speak properly with Morgan, at the very least, Shirou now knew how she felt.
Morgan did not want him to waste his precious life. She was willing to keep waiting for him.
"All right."
Shirou also made up his mind. He would not treat his own life so lightly again... as much as possible.
"Right... Aoko and Touko! I almost forgot about them!"
Remembering that the Aozaki sisters' duel was still happening right now, Shirou hurriedly carried Alice on his back and sprinted all the way down the mountain.
On the road, he ran into Beowulf again, then mounted the boy after he transformed into the golden beast.
Just before Aozaki Aoko was about to kill Touko, Shirou finally arrived in time.
Not only did he stop the sisters from killing each other, he also told Aoko how he felt.
Morgan had also said that she hoped he would not worry about her, and that in this life, he should pursue his own happiness as much as he wanted.
He felt a little bad for Alice, but... oh well, there was nothing he could do about it! If he had not done that, Aoko would have killed Touko!
When the time came to hold someone responsible, he would just pin it all on Aoko! She seduced him first!
"Ugh..."
Aoko, who had been kissed by Shirou, flushed scarlet and turned her face away with a snap.
Then, as if to hide her embarrassment, she turned to look at Touko, who lay collapsed nearby.
"I get it, Touko... I'll let you go this time, for Shirou's sake.
But don't think I'm going to let you walk away that easily, all right?"
"If you're going to send me to Grandfather, I'd rather you send me off right here."
"As if. I don't want to see that person either. You can walk out of here just like this.
I won't stop you, and I won't notify the Association.
Ritsuka will listen to me, so this incident will stay a secret between us."
Touko's brows slowly furrowed. There was no way anything this convenient could be true.
"Aoko, what are you scheming?"
"Nothing much. I'm just going to give you a curse in exchange.
Well, my curse will be a little on the strong side.
From now on, if you ever set foot on this land again, you'll turn into a Madagascar frog."
With a casual smile, Aozaki Aoko cracked her knuckles and walked toward her older sister.
"W-Wait, hold on a second, Aoko...!"
"Shirou, come help me hold down my sister's legs!"