Chapter 47: The Culprit, Found?
Is the idea of saving the world, of saving everyone, necessarily correct?
For the most part, yes, but perhaps only children retain such a naive idea. Even among existing Sorcerers, most people choose to exorcise Cursed Spirits and protect non-Sorcerers either for money or for survival.
Eliminate all Cursed Spirits and save humanity?
Setting aside the fact that it's impossible, even if it were possible, Masamichi Yaga would not demand that everyone who wants to become a Sorcerer must have such a lofty ideal, because even he is not that great.
Those who genuinely harbor such thoughts are likely still developing children. For children to truly grow, they must lose something to comprehend those deeper truths.
The 'him' Emiya spoke of before was such a case, but Emiya has clearly achieved complete growth through his past experiences... Even without Emiya detailing it, Masamichi Yaga could probably understand what kind of desperate situation it must have been.
In fact, Masamichi Yaga asks this question to nearly every student entering the Technical College.
He doesn't expect a perfect answer; he can accept reasons like wanting to earn money and survive. Because with such a reason, they are at least fighting for themselves, they won't feel lost, and they won't blame anyone when they die in the endless fighting.
The answer that someone would even destroy the world to protect a single person was one Masamichi Yaga had never heard before.
To many, such a statement would sound excessively evil, but he felt that this was, in fact, uncompromising justice.
If the genuine feeling of 'protection' cannot be counted as justice, then there aren't many correct things left in the world.
The concept of justice is inherently relative. Why must the concept of the collective be correct, and the justice of an individual be degraded as wrong?
All things considered, he was quite satisfied with Emiya's answer.
"Regarding which subjects you can teach the students, I will give you an answer after discussing it with Satoru, Shirou Emiya."
"Yay!" Gojo Satoru had just cheered when he heard Masamichi Yaga add, "But Satoru, you still have to deal with the situation on the back hill... I at least expect it to be perfectly restored by the time the Exchange Event arrives." Having said that, Masamichi Yaga bid farewell and left the room, presumably having other matters to attend to.
"Ah, Principal Yaga is as heartless as ever... But Emiya-kun, you'll definitely help me, right?"
"No." Emiya's answer was quite straightforward and decisive.
He was the one who called others to spar, and he's also the one who expects others to help clean up the battlefield after being punished... Even honest people shouldn't be bullied like this, right?
Furthermore, Emiya felt that Gojo Satoru needed a few more setbacks to slightly temper his overly flamboyant attitude.
"So heartless?!" Gojo Satoru tried to garner Emiya's sympathy through a display of distress, but unfortunately, it had no effect.
Only two people so far have been able to successfully play that card to win Emiya's preferential treatment.
Realizing this approach was useless, Gojo Satoru instantly changed his expression and asked about something else he was curious about—
"But Emiya-kun, you mentioned a sister just now. That's unusual... Is she very cute?"
Emiya recalled Miyu's appearance, and a faint smile unconsciously touched his lips. "Yes, she's very cute."
"Is that so... Then where is she now? Let me see her, let me see her, how about it?"
Gojo Satoru's tone and expression were less expectant and more, well, a little perverse.
Seeing his look, Emiya couldn't help but show a disgusted expression, but still replied following the subject: "She should be living a happy life in another world now."
While he deeply wished to be with Miyu, Emiya was happy as long as she was happy.
"...Huh?" But how could that answer possibly not lead Gojo Satoru's thoughts astray?
"I see, I understand..." The proud Gojo Satoru lowered his head.
"Wait, what's with that expression? She's really not here!"
"I understand, I understand. If you're really lacking a family member, I might not mind playing the part.
How about being your older brother?" Looking at Gojo Satoru's expression, he even seemed somewhat enthusiastic about this role-play.
"Go away!!"
.
.
.
After Gojo Satoru said goodbye, claiming he was leaving to execute a mission, Emiya received a call from Kento Nanami.
Because Emiya had been performing high-intensity exorcisms of Grade 1 Cursed Spirits, the task of finding the initial culprit was assigned by the Technical College to Kento Nanami.
Emiya had later requested the information from him, and upon finally finding a lead, Kento Nanami notified him immediately—
"The recent missing persons and those who died suspiciously have been compiled by the 'Window' into a residue report, which helps us pinpoint the offender's base to a certain extent."
In a certain room, Kento Nanami marked the locations where the victims appeared on a map, and then specifically posted a picture of a young man near one of the markers. "This is the only surviving boy from multiple incidents, Junpei Yoshino. He was a classmate of one of the victims at the same high school."
"Based on surveillance footage and his demeanor, the possibility of him being a Cursed User is very low, but he can't be ruled out due to his relationship with the victim... But don't worry, a student from the Technical College has already gone to investigate him."
Kento Nanami adjusted his glasses and looked carefully at Emiya for a moment, ultimately deciding to tell him the truth.
The time since they met is still very short. Kento Nanami still regards Emiya as a Kouhai and a young man, but judging by his performance in Cursed Spirit Exorcism, he is clearly fully capable as a Sorcerer.
He might even be stronger than Nanami himself, who claims to be his senior.
"Although I said 'to a certain extent,' the location of the culprit can actually be confirmed.
But just like the situation you first encountered, the culprit could leave the scene without a Cursed Residue if they wanted to... The opponent is still luring us in.
So the risk is high, and encountering an ambush is not out of the question. Even so, Emiya, do you still intend to go along?"
Since the mission was assigned to Kento Nanami, it was no longer strictly mandatory for Emiya; he didn't have to risk facing that person deliberately. But posing such a question to Emiya was essentially the same as not asking at all.
"Yes, of course." Emiya nodded firmly.
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