I lost.
I could see the barrier slowly shattering.
Once this barrier breaks, the barrier that constitutes the Singularity itself will soon break as well.
I have already handed over the Holy Grail.
It's all over.
Perhaps I had intended to lose from the very beginning.
"...."
"Mizukume?"
What meaning did any of this have?
A sense of skepticism washed over me.
The girl named Mash had a righteous heart, but she was weak.
The girl named Ritsuka was still mentally weak. For a Master entrusted with the grave duty of restoring humanity to be so weak.
"We did it, Master!"
"Mash, you're the best! As expected of my first Servant!"
"Though we would have lost if Ms. Tamamo hadn't cast her spells in the middle of it."
"Tamamo is... ah. There she is."
Could she maintain her sanity after watching her family be brutally murdered before her eyes, as I had?
I instinctively shook my head.
'If that were possible, she'd be the Servant and the hero.'
I was just defeated by an ordinary girl. I was taken down by a very simple logic.
Just as she said, I cannot hold my head high.
I claimed my family was so precious, yet I was the one who erased the memories of my family.
Mizukume, Tamamo-no-Mae.
It seems my first family wasn't all that precious to me after all.
After all, I had poured out a curse the likes of which I'd never experience again in my life and treated her so coldly.
I suppose my second family was that precious to me.
What a fool.
"...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."
"No. I'm the one who foolishly brought out the memories you worked so hard to seal. It was all my fault…."
I didn't live this long just to see my daughter berate herself, unable to even meet my eyes.
In the first place, didn't I die content when I died before Mizukume?
To now accuse her of it all being a lie, of deceiving me, was a foolish act.
"Just as you did for me long ago. Perhaps I've become a fool who can't do anything on his own."
"Fath—... No. Um…."
"You can call me that comfortably. Though it won't take back the words I said…."
I rubbed my face. A weary sigh escaped.
But seeing Mizukume flinch at even my small gesture, I realized I needed to control that as well.
"I'm sorry. Truly."
It's empty.
I don't know anything anymore.
"If... if only I had tried a little harder to recognize you, Father, none of this would have happened."
"I didn't even try to recognize you."
"But you were in so much pain, Father."
"It must be painful for a daughter to see a father who doesn't recognize her, too."
Saying it was nothing compared to that, Mizukume pitied me.
"I... I saw everything. Your memories with the fairies."
"They are wicked creatures. Good fairies are rare, if not nonexistent."
"Father…."
I had cursed my own daughter, saying she was worse than the fairies.
What a foolish bastard.
A man who spews words he can't take back.
"Will you forgive me?"
I bowed my head and apologized. Mizukume, not knowing what to do, helped me up.
The hands that gripped my shoulders were warm.
Yes. This warmth. This warmth is what drives me mad.
"I'm sorry. Really."
"Father. I'm sorry too…."
We embraced each other and shed tears.
-[The Singularity is collapsing. It won't hold for even another hour. Preparations on Chaldea's side are complete, so you can return whenever you're ready.]
"It's really over, Senpai."
"Yeah."
Amidst the crumbling world, Ritsuka watched the father and daughter holding each other.
There was no Beast or yokai. Only a father and daughter who loved each other.
A sense of guilt crept up on her.
"Maybe I was too harsh with my words?"
"I think... it couldn't be helped, Senpai."
"Just letting it go like that feels cowardly. I'm going to go apologize."
At the very least, Ritsuka had never seen her grandfather's head explode before her eyes.
Ritsuka had never experienced it.
She could not fully understand his heart.
Because of this and that, it became this way. That was all.
She could not know what was in his heart.
So, for her to speak as if she knew everything, was that not, perhaps, just as arrogant as he had been?
In other words, she had crossed a line. That's what she began to think.
"Um... do you have a moment?"
"The Master of Chaldea."
"About what I said earlier. I wanted to apologize."
"...It's not necessary. Because you were right."
No. I think he's lying.
"In any case, you are an enemy of humanity and the source of this Singularity, but... still, what's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong. I think I was in the wrong."
Ritsuka bowed a full 90 degrees.
"I am sorry."
"This is a first for me. I'm not sure how to react."
"You just have to accept it, Father."
Tamamo's assistance was there.
The Beast forgave Ritsuka.
"Now I feel relieved. Alright! Let's go back. Tamamo! Did you say everything you wanted to say?"
"Yes. Thanks to you, Master."
Before going to Ritsuka, Tamamo looked at her father's face one last time.
It was a haggard face, but it was undoubtedly the same as the father she loved.
"A misunderstanding has caused such problems again. It's truly a strange fate. As if someone is playing a prank."
"...It really is."
Are they a pair who always misunderstand and hurt each other?
If so, it couldn't be a more terrible father-daughter relationship, Tamamo thought.
"Something like this will never happen again."
"Again... can we meet again next time?"
"I'll be reborn somewhere again. If our bond still exists, we will surely be able to meet."
He stroked Tamamo's head. It was a familiar touch.
But, there was a slight feeling of déjà vu.
Tamamo's keen senses did not miss it.
"Before the Singularity collapses, what will you do, Father?"
"I must go and break a predetermined fate."
Somehow, he was changing the subject.
"Pardon?"
"...I have to go save my wife. While I was dealing with you all inside this barrier, I was barely able to intervene in the Singularity itself. Something must have happened."
Tamamo's eyes narrowed.
Come to think of it, the first time she saw Father in this Singularity was in Johanna's room.
From her room wafted the traces of lovemaking and a thick, heavy scent.
"...Huh?"
Tamamo's mouth fell open. This obvious fact, why had she not realized it?
Father was the real Father.
In that case, the one who made love was also the real Father?
"Contraception...?!"
"It's not like such devices exist in this era, is it?"
He laughed nonchalantly, seemingly not yet grasping the gravity of the situation.
Tamamo's eyes flashed. She radiated a killing intent colder than ever before.
"I will accompany you. I shall assist you with my spells, Father…."
"What are you talking about? Mash? Can you hold Tamamo for a bit?"
"Yes, Senpai."
Strength D was defeated in vain before a C.
"Father's purity is mine, you know?! It doesn't belong to some woman who rolled in from who knows where!!!"
"It seems Ms. Tamamo has received quite a shock."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."
Slowly, their forms began to blur.
The Holy Grail had been recovered, and the Singularity would soon vanish.
"Farewell."
"Father! Next time... at the very least, the second time will be me...!"
In an instant, they were gone.
"Well then, I should go do what I need to do."
In a world full of fakes, he goes to protect the only one who is real.
One regret in this life is enough.
There will not be a second.
"Your Holiness? Your complexion is quite poor. Perhaps you should halt the procession...?"
"N-No. We will proceed as planned."
Johanna's complexion could not be called good, not even with empty words.
The baby was already past its due date. There was a limit to how long she could hide it in her belly.
But she absolutely could not cancel this event. If she cancelled any more events, the eyes of suspicion would surely grow sharper.
"Let us depart."
The weather was uncannily bright and sunny.
In fact, Johanna had never seen a rainy day.
Rome was always sunny, and that's why it was strange.