the living [comprehensive]

Although there seems to be something wrong, but this brat should be himself who just came to the Middle East.

Heroic Spirit looked down at the boy in his arms and made a reasonable guess.

I don't know if it was because he was too tired or he was just in shock, the boy closed his eyes tightly for a while.But when being ridiculed, the boy opened his eyes with force, and looked at the heroic spirit unwillingly.

The moment he met the boy's eyes, Yingling's mood became more complicated than ever.

The boy's warm-colored pupils are pure and untainted, and the courage and longing in his heart are reflected in the pure eyes.Those eyes without the slightest gloomy pierced into his dead heart like an invisible sharp weapon, causing long-lost pain.

Although the scene of that year has been blurred with the long years, but when I first entered the Middle East, I probably looked like this full of vitality.

The young man who has experienced the Holy Grail War and magic practice has stumbled all the way, and has always adhered to his ideals.No matter how intimidating it is, it will not make him timid, no matter how dangerous it is, it will not deter him.Even if there is pitch darkness in front of his eyes, most likely the boy will walk into the hopeless darkness with a faint glimmer of hope.

However, the road that the young man struggles to lead to is the one that leads to despair—this is a fact that Heroic Spirit knows all too well.

Unable to ignore innocent lives, Shirou Emiya took up the role of guardian.But in front of the unknown, there is nothing but thorns and blood.Even, compared with the doomed self-destruction as a "guardian", the ending of being betrayed and killed by his companions can be regarded as a blessing in misfortune.

My life has ended here, but my former self has once again embarked on this old path that ends in despair.

Do you really want to do it again?Such a hopeless reincarnation, do you have to step into it twice?

For a moment, Heroic Spirit was almost murderous.However, looking at the bright eyes of the boy who had no sense of killing intent in him, only trusting eyes, Heroic Spirit hesitated.

In the end, he just said cold words and made a gesture to leave. The two contradictory feelings of "killing one's own unfortunate destiny" and "protecting the original ideal" are both hidden by the heroic spirit under the expressionless face.

Let this brat fend for himself—this was the hasty decision Heroic Spirit made.

However, the heroic spirit, who was walking forward, took a step away from the boy but did not land for a long time.

The boy who was frightened by his ruthlessness stretched out his hand to him when he turned around, and firmly grasped his wrist.

"I'm sorry, but I have a merciless request." The young man firmly grasping Heroic Spirit's wrist with both hands said solemnly, with a hint of persistence in his gentle voice, "Please allow me to follow you."

"Do not make jokes."

"I'm serious. You are familiar with this place, right? As a newcomer, I may be in danger again because I am unfamiliar with this land. So, please allow me to follow."

"Since you know you don't belong here, get out," Heroic Spirit said in a more emphatic tone, "This is not a place where brats are allowed to be brave."

"I know. But I will appear here purely to experience and save other people."

"Save?" Heroic Ling repeated it lightly, with killing intent mixed into his cold voice, "Do you know what you're talking about?"

"Of course. I also know that it is impossible to save all the people here, but this desire itself is not wrong." The young man's crisp voice echoed in the cold and dead air of the desert, "Just go as far as possible place, I will do my best to free innocent people from suffering, and I will be satisfied."

Even if the ideal of justice cannot be realized, should we try our best to go far on the road of saving others?Really stubborn.After experiencing the cruel Holy Grail War, he was still able to speak in such a firm tone. Even if he beat him up, it would be impossible to persuade the other party to change his mind.

—What an annoying brat.

The heroic spirit who complained silently like this, did not know when he let go of his strong killing intent, and his stern face softened slightly because of the helpless smile.

"The black shadow that attacked you just now is a monster unique to the Middle East. Of course, there are probably similar things in lands full of despair, but there are especially many of them here." Yingling paused, "Your fighting methods are too childish , However, it is still effective. You don’t need to follow me like this. If you practice alone, maybe you will grow faster.”

"In other words, I'm the reassuring type?"

"Hmm." That's strange.

"But you are not. You are powerful but extremely sad, which makes me feel uneasy."

Heroic Spirit was taken aback when he heard the words, and the calmness on his face was instantly replaced by shock.

"As for me, I didn't explore your inner intentions. However, you are indeed wandering about in sorrow for something, right? Moreover, such a desperate mood can no longer be completely shaken off."

Stubbornly turning his back to the boy, Heroic Spirit tensed his body, his face twisted slightly with irritability and murderous desire.

—Stop talking.

——These seemingly caring words are simply laughing at each other——

The keen young man seemed to have sensed the danger, and was silent for a while.When he spoke again, the other party's clear voice actually incorporated some teasing: "Then, let me guard you by your side. Anyway, I am not troubled by emotions similar to despair or pessimism."

"Guard me?" Heroic Spirit laughed twice after hearing the unexpected words, and counterattacked mercilessly, "You should protect yourself first."

"Didn't you just say that my fighting style is very effective and I don't need the protection of others? So, in times of crisis, I will never be your burden."

The subtle feeling of falling into the trap of words emerged spontaneously, and Heroic Spirit took a deep breath to calm down.However, the boy's words did not stop there.

"It's settled like this. I will guard you by your side until I pay off your kindness for saving me."

The boy's slightly immature voice was pleasant to hear, but it caused the anger in Ying Ling's chest to accumulate layer upon layer.At this moment, the chord of reason of the heroic spirit finally broke.

I really want to strangle this annoying kid talking to himself.

The desperate Heroic Spirit turned around abruptly, glaring fiercely at the young man behind him.

However, seeing the boy's serious and expectant expression, the heroic spirit's anger subsided in an instant.

It's just... abhorrent.

This guy is clearly his former self, and the cunning look of pretending to be innocent is obviously very worthy of beating.

However, once he was stared at by those innocent and clear eyes, he couldn't say no at all.

The Heroic Spirit, who was helpless right now, held his forehead in frustration.

The two stalemate quietly in the cold wind of the night.Suddenly, the boy sneezed loudly.

"You can catch a cold like this, it's so stupid. You'd better stop talking big to me for a stupid brat like you." Heroic Ling continued to speak venomously, but changed his decision.He took the boy's hand: "Come with me."

Familiar with everything about the locals, Heroic found a clean robe from an abandoned house and threw it to the young man: "It's very windy and sandy here, and it's cold at night. If you're unprepared, you won't be able to survive."

"Thank you." The young man put on his robe and thanked him, "Speaking of which, this robe fits me well."

"That's good." Ying Ling said lightly.

—But that's for women.

The heroic spirit who silently slandered faced the young man and grabbed him by the waist: "Hold on tight, brat. I'm not responsible for the fall."

"Eh?...Eh!" Frightened by the heroic spirit's jumping up without warning, the boy exclaimed and hugged the heroic spirit's shoulders tightly.

However, the panic was only for a moment.The young man who calmed down quickly stopped moving, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the heroic spirit.

This brat is really... obviously annoying, but he can't let it go.

Holding the boy in his arms even tighter, Heroic Spirit leaped onto the abandoned tower and flew away into the distance.

Just pretend you don't know each other.Heroic Spirit thought as he looked at the young man who was moving his face into his arms and couldn't see his expression clearly.

From an angle that the Heroic Spirit couldn't see, Shirou's cheeks flushed slightly, and his heart was still pounding because of the turbulent conversation before.

Did you get away with it?Next, can I walk with Archer?

Judging by Archer's appearance, he probably revisited his old place and mistakenly thought that he was "Shirou Emiya" who first entered the Middle East many years ago.

At a certain moment just now, Archer wanted to kill himself.However, perhaps because they could not completely abandon their ideals, the other party did not really make a move.

So, in order to prevent the situation from getting more complicated, let's just pretend not to know Archer for the time being.

Shirou silently made the same decision as the other party in his heart.

Putting an end to his troubles for the time being, the sense of existence of the firm chest that was tightly attached to him became stronger and stronger.Shirou warned himself not to let go of his feelings, but his body shrank involuntarily into the arms of the hero.

how to say?Whether it's the superficial ruthlessness or this safe and reliable embrace, they are all the Archer in his memory.

Heroic Spirit stopped in the inhabited area, but led Shirou to the abandoned house on the outer edge.

"People here are always in fear, and it's hard to sleep well. Let's not go in and wake them up." Heroic Ling sat down against the wall.

Shirou took Archer's words seriously.He walked up to Yingling and sat down, hesitated for a moment, then moved a little further away from him.

"Hmph." Heroic Ling let out a cold snort of unknown meaning.

"That..." Shirou tried to break the awkward atmosphere, "Why did you appear here? You don't seem to be human, do you?"

"Oh, you can actually see it? It seems that you are not stupid enough, what a surprise." Heroic Ling continued the poisonous tongue mode, and then turned slightly serious, "It's just that I want to go back to the place where it all started."

"Where did it all begin?"

"Well. Here, I also sacrificed for my ideal." Heroic Spirit said lightly, "It's just that after the ideal is realized, everything becomes ugly. In that scene, it seems that all the suffering and filth are pouring out."

"So, do you regret it?" Shirou's heart tightened, but his face was only slightly curious, "Have you abandoned your original ideal?"

"It was abandoned long ago; no, to be precise, I wanted to kill it completely. However, a little incident happened before, which made me change my view." At this point, Heroic Spirit suddenly turned to Shirou, and took a deep look at it. He glanced at it, "Maybe it's a fantasy, but I seem to...see the 'hope' and 'miracle' born in the darkness. That tiny hope shakes my decision to abandon my ideal."

Shirou breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "Isn't it great to see hope? It's so pleasing."

"Don't show me that stupid look. If you have time to giggle, why don't you give me a rest."

Not caring about Heroic Spirit's cold tone, Shirou smiled and closed his eyes.

However, the improved mood could not make up for the cold night.The wide burqa blocked the wind and sand, but the cold air penetrated through the gap, making Shirou shiver.

"Is it cold?" Heroic Spirit's cold voice came over.

"No..." Shirou still wanted to show his strength.

"Get out of here if it's cold."

Shirou couldn't believe it at first, but he soon came back to his senses and walked over to Heroic Spirit.The other party gave a "tsk" impatiently, but still reached out to wrap his arms around the boy's shoulders.

Leaning on Heroic Spirit's shoulder, Shirou blinked his amber eyes.

This, is the gentleness that belongs to Archer, right?

The author has something to say: Two awkward guys are the most loving pair!