07 Reasons to Play FGO
After Shirou took out his key and opened the door, he changed into his archery uniform.
After practicing alone for a while, he just couldn't get into it, so he sat cross-legged inside the archery club room. Bored, he turned on his phone screen and wondered what was so great about this game anyway—even if you could draw Saber.
On the left side of the screen appeared a light pink-haired girl in a tight purple outfit holding a large shield. She felt mysteriously familiar, even though the girl in the game was just a 2D character and wasn't wearing glasses.
Still, she gave him a strong sense of familiarity—as if they had just met yesterday. How could she resemble that certain junior girl around him so much? Especially that aura… and...
Seeing the cute, talking, moving little character on the screen, his finger couldn't help but want to touch the girl's face. But it slipped—and instead landed on that puff of marshmallow. Of course, all he touched was the smooth phone screen.
"You're the worst, Senpai!" At some point, Mash had appeared behind Shirou and witnessed the whole scene. Her face was flushed, a mix of shame and anger.
"Mash, that was a misunderstanding, okay? Besides, it's totally normal for a healthy high school boy to have these kinds of impulses," Shirou casually turned off the screen and explained.
"As expected, Senpai, you're the worst!" Mash said, turning her head away in embarrassment and frustration.
"Say that again, please." Shirou held up a finger in request. Somehow, being scolded by the girl's cute voice felt kind of addictive.
"Senpai..." Mash looked at the boy with embarrassed frustration. This senior, while usually acting like a good and upright person, could be a little mischievous around those he was familiar with. Though she couldn't say she hated that part of him.
Mash shook her head and said seriously, "Enough! That's as far as the jokes go! Otherwise, I'll really get angry! I have something important to talk about now."
"Important?" Shirou looked puzzled as the junior girl suddenly became serious.
Mash took a deep breath, looked earnestly at the boy, and said, "Since Senpai has already accepted this game, I should tell you the truth. Senpai, do you remember how I've mentioned several times before about inviting you to become a Hero of Justice?"
"Yeah." Shirou nodded, recalling how the pink-haired girl had approached him directly during the interschool sports meet.
Then three months ago, she suddenly transferred to this school and joined the archery club. The girl clearly wasn't good at lying, yet she was unusually persistent about this matter.
"What I said is all true." Mash said seriously, and then tapped her phone to play a video.
"What is this all about?" Shirou's expression changed as he watched the video.
The footage clearly showed monsters that could only exist in a game, yet the settings were extremely realistic—some in city blocks, others in abandoned buildings.
A pink-haired girl smashed a monster with a shield larger than herself, or blocked the monster's charge—footage of the girl fighting various monsters, until the monsters were defeated and turned into black smoke, disappearing.
Mash began explaining the situation to Senpai: actually, these monsters, like her, came from another world.
After saving humanity in Chaldea, Mash and Gudako stood atop a snowy mountain gazing at the clear blue sky. Then, on the night when Da Vinci made contact with the outside magic associations, the world underwent an unknown abnormal change again.
Contact with the outside world was once again severed.
The Spirit Origins of the Heroic Spirits residing in Chaldea became unstable—some lost part of their combat ability, and others even ceased to exist.
Strangely, Fou seemed to have regained advanced intelligence and stabilized.
Various magical facilities in Chaldea began experiencing all sorts of problems.
Through the near-future observational lens, SHEBA, and the simulated Earth environment model, CHALDEAS, it was observed that the world was undergoing drastic changes. Magic-related phenomena in the outside world were gradually disappearing, Earth's magical energy was nearing exhaustion, and magic would soon face extinction—becoming nothing more than dust in history.
The Spiritron Calculation Device, Trismegistus, became unstable, making Spiritron transfer increasingly difficult.
The Heroic Spirit summoning system, Fate, was also weakening in its connection to the Throne of Heroes. Without establishing a new summoning system, it became difficult to enhance fighting strength.
At that moment, Chaldea was suddenly invaded by monsters. As if driven mad by hatred, they attacked Chaldea without regard for consequence—their red eyes filled with madness. Behind them lurked signs of blackened Heroic Spirits and even Beasts of Humanity (Beast-class threats).
Chaldea was once again facing a massive crisis. The remaining Servants barely managed to resist the multi-pronged assault.
As the acting commander of Chaldea, Leonardo Da Vinci gathered all the Holy Grails and developed a device to maintain the existence of the Heroic Spirits—a mobile game called FGO.
It was during this grave crisis that Mash was teleported out of Chaldea by Da Vinci to this special world.
Da Vinci's instructions to her were threefold: investigate the source of this anomaly, spread the FGO layout, and find allies capable of fighting the monsters.
"Spread the game FGO, and find Shirou Emiya!"—that was Da Vinci's final directive to them.
Three worlds were observed to be related to the incident.
Given the increasingly unstable condition of the Spiritron transfer system, there was no longer time to resolve each world's issue one-by-one and return.
So Mash, Gudako, and the restored Fou were each sent to a different world.
Thus, Mash came alone to this world, carrying the mobile game made from the Holy Grails. She promoted the game while also searching for Shirou Emiya.
As of now, Shirou might be the only one in this world capable of fighting the monsters. Mash had no choice but to transform into a Demi-Servant and fight them. At first, she only had to deal with ordinary werewolves and skeleton soldiers.
But later, demon boars, eyeball monsters, and flying dragons started appearing. It's likely that even more terrifying magical beasts will show up in the future.
Relying on her alone, as a Shielder, the battles were becoming increasingly difficult.
For both public duty and personal reasons, Mash hoped she could persuade Senpai to join the team as soon as possible.
"The level of the monsters appearing now keeps rising. I'm already struggling to beat them alone, so I really need your help, Shirou Senpai!" Mash said.
"What should we do?" Shirou asked without hesitation.
"Eh? Senpai, you're willing to help?" Mash asked in surprise.
"Of course! I can't just let these monsters wreak havoc on the world! And there's no way I'm letting you face all this danger alone!" Shirou answered naturally.
After months of spending time together, he knew the girl in front of him—though sometimes scatterbrained—was actually a pure and kind-hearted person. Whether as a senior or a friend, he hoped she could find happiness.
"Senpai..." Hearing Shirou's words, the girl's cheeks turned red as she looked at the boy, deeply moved.
Her heart felt warm—it confirmed he was someone she could trust unconditionally.
"Thank you so much, Shirou-Senpai!"
If there is anything purer than saying "I love you," It must be—"Even if the road ahead leads to hell, I will go with you."