Shirou's New Ideal
"Honestly, having no dreams like this is just so like you, Onii-chan. For your happiness, it looks like I'll have to work even harder."
Komachi cheered herself on, then reached out with her chopsticks and beat Shirou to the punch, grabbing the tofu from the bowl and putting it into her mouth, showing a satisfied smile.
"Hey… I have had dreams before, you know." Shirou, whose chopsticks had missed their mark, looked at his sister, slightly annoyed—but seeing her smiling face, he really couldn't stay angry.
"It's so good! It's so good I feel like I could eat Onii-chan's cooking for the rest of my life! As for the Komachi Points just now, that scores really high!" Komachi laughed cheerfully.
"Yeah, the eggplant turned out pretty well." Shirou also tasted his own cooking and spoke. In terms of satisfaction with today's dish, he'd give it an 80 out of 100. But thanks to Komachi's comment just now, his satisfaction instantly shot up to 200 points.
As for his sister's request?
Sure. If it's Komachi, then not just this lifetime—even in the next life, and the one after that, I'd be happy to keep cooking for you.
That's what he thought, but he'd never say it out loud—because she'd just call it gross.
"Onii-chan, even if you don't say it out loud, Komachi can guess it, you know? Gross~!" Komachi rolled her eyes at her brother in mock disgust, but even after that, she couldn't stop giggling the whole time they ate. She looked like she was having a great time.
That night, under Komachi's guidance, Shirou learned the basics of how to play FGO. Basically, it was grind, grind, grind... then boredom. Right?
With Komachi's homework done under supervision, the two of them stayed up all night playing in the living room until it was finally time to head to bed.
.
.
.
The next morning, as the sun rose, there was a boy practicing sword swings with a wooden blade in the Hikigaya family's yard.
He had short, neat black hair and fairly handsome features, but more than that, there was a distinct aura about him that made him stand out from the crowd.
His most striking feature was his deep, sharp eyes—usually silent and reserved, but when he spoke to someone, he looked them straight in the eye without hesitation.
Those honest, sincere eyes carried a hidden weight of melancholy and mystery.
They easily stirred a woman's curiosity, like an unpolished jade stone within rough rock, emitting a faint glimmer.
He was the kind of person who seemed bland and ordinary at first glance—but only after interacting with him a few times would you begin to notice his quiet strengths.
The more you got to know him, the more you'd care about him. And before you realized it, that interest would turn to fascination—until eventually, you couldn't get him out of your mind.
Like a fine wine, the longer it aged, the richer it became.
Although the boy himself wasn't really aware of this charm he carried.
His swordsmanship teacher had been that blonde-haired girl who was once the King of Knights.
Although he eventually walked a path similar to Archer Emiya's, specializing in dual-blade close combat, those sparring sessions with her had taught him a lot.
The essence of martial arts was to treat each strike as a real battle for life and death—every swing had to be full-force, all in.
Now, every time he swung his weapon, it was like a dialogue with his own will.
Since being reincarnated into this peaceful world, Hikigaya Shirou had lived for over ten years. He was now a second-year high school student at International High School.
There was no Fuyuki City here—he lived in Chiba. His family was middle-class, his parents were always busy, and he had a cute little sister by his side.
He had never felt dissatisfied with his current life.
This world was entirely different from his previous one—there was no magecraft, no Holy Grail, no wars. It had truly achieved world peace.
It was like something out of a slice-of-life anime or light novel. It was practically the ideal world he'd always dreamed of.
In this world, Hikigaya Shirou had found salvation.
He experienced the familial warmth he never got in his previous life.
He grew up happily under the care of his family. His little sister, Komachi, also understood and accepted his stubborn personality and flaws.
His family in this world had changed him a lot—his beliefs, his way of thinking.
Deep down, he had developed a sense of confidence.
If, in his past life, he hadn't gone through that fire, he probably would've lived a peaceful, happy life with his family—and with the sister from that world.
And if that had happened... maybe all those things afterward wouldn't have happened either...
In his past life, as Emiya Shirou, he was once called a "fake" by the King of Heroes.
It was true that Emiya Shirou had many personality issues—some might even say he was twisted.
Maybe it was because he had been the sole survivor of the fire as a child. He always felt like it was unfair that only he survived.
That if he didn't do something to make up for it, he would never be able to face those who had died in his place.
Emiya Shirou wanted everyone he saw to be happy.
Even strangers—he would prioritize others over himself. No matter who asked for help, if he could do it, he would.
He spent his entire life chasing after the ideal he had borrowed from his late adoptive father, Kiritsugu—the dream of becoming a "hero of justice."
Looking back now, Kiritsugu had never really talked about himself. Even now, Shirou still didn't know what Kiritsugu had been feeling back then.
When he saw Kiritsugu on his deathbed, full of regret and pain, Shirou had casually said he would take on his ideal of becoming a hero of justice.
After hearing that, Kiritsugu seemed to relax and quietly passed away.
Was it because he knew his adopted son wouldn't follow in his footsteps, and that gave him peace?
Or was it because he saw in his son a reflection of his own long-lost ideals, and finally felt redeemed?
Or maybe it was because the things he had done in his life were now being acknowledged by his son—and that gave him closure.
Shirou didn't know.
He only knew that he later chose to follow in Kiritsugu's footsteps—to become a hero who saved the world.
But in truth, that path had been Shirou's own choice.
Although the ideal had started out as something he borrowed from Kiritsugu, it eventually became something more. Something beyond Kiritsugu's original dream.
Just like how Kiritsugu never taught him the proper way to train in magecraft, and yet Shirou still became a capable magus through sheer effort.
Unlike Kiritsugu, who was willing to sacrifice the few to save the many—
Emiya Shirou simply couldn't turn a blind eye to the suffering of those in front of him.
Because of that, he had once left behind a fiancée he had been promised to at the Clock Tower, and turned down the heartfelt pleas of a gentle, devoted kouhai waiting for him back in Fuyuki.
He traveled the world, resolving all kinds of crises—saving one group of people after another.
His final mission was during a catastrophic nuclear power plant accident.
The core was melting down. Even without an explosion, the radiation alone would have killed everyone nearby within two days.
Everyone else chose to flee, but Shirou went forward.
His protective gear was burned away by the radiactions, and he could only rely on reinforcement magecraft to barely keep moving.
He reached the control lever, but that was his limit. The problem of the radiation leak still remained unsolved.
During that time, Shirou prayed in his heart to all kinds of mysterious forces—whether it was the Counter Force, divine intervention, gods, Buddhas—but nothing changed.
The Counter Force had once appeared before him... but for some reason, vanished again.
It didn't accept the contract he was prepared to make—offering his life in exchange for hundreds of others.
In the end, Emiya Shirou used nothing but his willpower, and at the cost of his entire life force, activated his magecraft, and halted the core meltdown—preventing the release of radioactive material.
Then, he quietly passed away.
That was how the boy's previous life ended—and he had no regrets.
Heaven granted him another chance—reincarnated into this new world, giving him the opportunity to choose a different path.
This world was so peaceful that even violent incidents were rare.
The police mostly just caught gropers and petty thieves. Naturally, there was no need for him to go out and enforce justice.
As Hikigaya Shirou, both his body and spirit had been reborn—he was already very different from who he had been as Emiya Shirou.
Now, he had his parents' warmth, Komachi's understanding, and the bonds of friendship.
He still wanted the people around him to find happiness—but he also decided that he wanted to seek his own "genuine self."
"Morning, Onii-chan!" Komachi's bright voice called from above.
Shirou looked up. The window on the upper floor was open, and a cute girl had stuck her head out, waving down at him with a cheerful smile.
"Ah! Morning!" The boy shouldered his wooden sword and smiled back at his sister upstairs.