Fate: Emiya the Host

The blazing dusk descended.

In the evening haze, the people of Chaldea Academy stood on the edge of the track, unable to utter a single word, watching the boy who, even after fainting, was still standing upright.

His red hair swayed in the evening breeze.

No one knew how much time had passed before someone finally let out a sigh filled with indescribable admiration, "Burned out."

"Only white ash remains."

With that, the death match came to an end.

Chaldea's toughest man, Emiya Shirou.

———

Hoo~

The white curtain in the infirmary was lifted by the wind.

Shirou slowly woke up.

"Where is this?"

"Cough! Cough! Cough…!"

The moment he spoke, a violent cough erupted.

It felt as if his lungs had been thrown into a volcano, scraped through magma four or five hundred times. So painful that Shirou wanted to give up breathing entirely.

"Shirou!", Illya's voice came, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Illya… cough…"

Not good. Once his consciousness was fully awake, it wasn't just his lungs crying out. It was his entire body.

Illya seemed to notice Shirou's discomfort. She held back the urge to throw herself into his arms and called out, "Professor Roman?"

"Coming," Roman came in carrying some glucose.

"So you're finally awake," He originally wanted to show off in front of the patient by twisting open the sharp bottle cap of the glucose with his bare hands.

But after trying twice, he didn't succeed.

So he switched to another method, flicked a finger, intending to use a special trick.

Never did he expect that after several "clang! clang! clang!" sounds, the bottle cap was completely unchanged.

Just when Shirou thought he was about to give up, Roman instead pulled a packet of powdered glucose from his pocket.

The packaging looked more or less like cold medicine granules.

He tore it open easily, only to realize he hadn't prepared hot water or a cup.

The atmosphere instantly fell into silence.

"Need some help, Dr. Roman?", Illya's innocent gaze fell on him.

"Ahem…", Roman coughed to cover his embarrassment, "No, no, this packet is actually for making tea for myself."

In the end, Roman brought out his tools and opened two bottles for Shirou.

One of them was about twenty milliliters.

"After drinking this, you should feel a little better."

Roman smiled, "Rest here for today. If you feel unwell tomorrow, then go to the hospital."

"Are you sure we shouldn't just take him to the hospital now, Professor Roman?", Illya's crimson eyes showed unease.

When Shirou fainted, Fujimura Taiga had wanted to take him to the hospital immediately.

But Roman said he'd handle it, so they carried Shirou to the infirmary instead.

It was now ten o'clock at night.

All the other students had been sent home by Taiga, leaving only her and Miyu to take turns watching over him.

"Don't worry," Roman reassured her, "Your brother's in good shape, he ran like that and only slept a little over three hours."

From this, Shirou could tell that he had fainted around six to almost seven o'clock.

Most of the non-athletic club activities for the day had ended by then.

Athletic clubs usually ended around seven-thirty or eight.

Which meant Shirou had once again delayed a lot of people's training.

"Oh, right, Illya, can you step outside for a moment? I'm going to give Emiya a physical exam," Roman smiled.

Illya blinked, "If it's just a physical exam, I don't think I need to leave, right?"

"It's fine, you can rest outside for a bit, Illya," Shirou smiled.

"But—"

"Don't worry. Professor Roman's a good person."

"Y-Yes, that's right, I'm a good person," A bead of sweat appeared on Roman's forehead as he gave a sheepish smile, "Besides, the exam I'm giving Emiya is a full-body check. He'll have to take off his clothes, it's not suitable for a girl to be here."

"…Fine," Although she felt a little suspicious, since Shirou said so, Illya could only reluctantly leave.

"Remember to have Fujimura-sensei take you and Miyu home," Shirou reminded her.

"Shirou," Illya puffed her cheeks.

She had thought that by "rest" he meant for her to just step outside for a moment.

She didn't expect him to be directly sending her home.

Suddenly, her beautiful red eyes turned toward Roman.

She couldn't help but feel they were hiding some kind of secret from her.

"….", It took some time, but after letting Taiga and Miyu see for themselves that he was fine, they finally left with worried expressions.

It wasn't that they were irresponsible, it was because Shirou had strongly insisted.

Even if he had to use lungs that felt like they could cough up blood.

As for the reason, after watching the Einzbern car leave, Roman closed the curtains, locked the windows and door, though he didn't shut it completely.

Then he pulled the white curtain around the bed and stood outside, hands in the pockets of his lab coat.

"I'll leave the next part to you. I'll just keep watch."

"You're not going to rest?"

Roman sighed, "It's just that I think you might have a way to treat yourself. But it's only a guess. So, as an unqualified doctor, I'll just spend the night with coffee and snacks."

"Alright then, thank you, Professor Roman."

"Mm, maybe 'Dr. Roman' suits me better."

"Is this what people mean when they say you always feel nostalgic for your past?"

"Something like that."

The conversation ended there.

In the stillness, Shirou's calm expression twisted in pain, his face contorting.

'Pain!'

'Too painful!'

'Even being pierced through by black mud didn't hurt this much.'

"System-san, please, use healing magic on me!"

Shirou himself didn't know it, nor did he have the talent, but the system did.

In 0.1 seconds, he switched control.

System Shirou's expression turned cold, eyes closing.

["Structural Analysis."]

Blue light swept across his whole body like a scan.

It confirmed the more serious injuries, like to his legs and lungs.

The system began to work.

Shirou truly had no talent for magic except Projection.

Even with the system's A-rank ability using healing magic, the results were pitiful.

Not to mention Shirou's pitiful E-rank mana, which made it impossible to go all out.

First, the lung pain was reduced to a tolerable level.

Then, System Shirou poured all remaining mana into his legs.

Starting with repairing the torn fibers, then the slowly dividing damaged cells.

Little by little, Shirou felt capable again.

Running another ten laps wouldn't be a problem.

Instinctively, he glanced at his status panel, 'Huh?'

'Endurance is now B?'

'Not bad, not in vain that I have nearly burned himself out.'

Suddenly, once he could move again, System Shirou stood up from the bed.

He pulled back the curtain.

"Wait, you can move already?", Roman, halfway through eating his strawberry shortcake, stared in shock at Shirou.

System Shirou said nothing, stepping right up to Roman.

Shirou sensed something was wrong, 'System-san, what are you trying to do?'

["Eat. Restore mana."]

'Fair enough, that isn't wrong.'

'But you can't just steal someone's cake, especially one that's already half-eaten!'

In the end, Shirou had to cancel the system control.

At this hour, the school cafeteria was definitely closed.

Shirou also knew his current condition wasn't something a little food could fix.

So…

"This late at night, where would there even be a buffet?"

Roman frowned, scrolling on his phone, checking for nearby buffet restaurants.

"There really are?"

'And plenty of them!'

Roman's eyes were dazzled by the list.

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