Fate: Emiya the Host

"Of course," Shirou nodded.

"This is my first time trying it too. If I'm not thorough, I'm worried I'll make a mistake. If the body ends up incompatible, that would be a disaster."

"So that means… that means…"

Olga Marie realized what was coming. Her face instantly flushed red, blood rushing to her head, "Y-you mean I have to take off all my clothes for you?"

"Uh, probably, maybe… not necessary?", Shirou sounded uncertain.

"Why are there so many question marks in that sentence?", Olga Marie nearly died of shame and fury, "Either it's necessary or it's not!"

"I already said this is my first time too. I don't have any experience," Shirou was speechless.

Analyzing the human body. How was he supposed to know what difference clothes would make compared to not wearing them?

It wasn't like with weapons. You could tell just by looking.

And weapons didn't wear clothes.

Speaking of which, if you wrapped a weapon in cloth, you really did need to remove the cloth first to see it and understand it clearly enough to project.

Which meant…

Olga Marie understood too, steam starting to puff from her head.

Shirou thought for a moment and said, "If it's too embarrassing, we can try with clothes first."

"No, no!"

Olga Marie suddenly calmed down, her lashes trembling, "A magus shouldn't fuss over details. If a small compromise leads to a big failure… that would be worse. So… I'll undress."

She spoke with the resolve of someone heading to their death.

Shirou understood, then took off his tattered coat and tied it around his eyes.

"Let's begin. Time waits for no one."

"Incredible," Olga Marie said in shock, "How can you be this calm? You're like a monk! And if you don't look, how will you analyze me?"

"Through skin contact, the information can still be transmitted into my mind."

Clothes really couldn't be worn. If you were going to build a perfect body, clothing would definitely interfere with judgment.

But what Olga Marie focused on wasn't that, "So you're saying, whether I undress or not, you can still…"

Her face turned bright red again. She couldn't bring herself to say the word "see everything."

It even made her look kind of cute.

"Of course," Shirou didn't seem to feel anything special.

"From the outside to the inside cells, the proportions of flesh and blood, organs, excretory organs, and your magic circuits, big and small, I'll be seeing all of it, in complete detail."

Olga Marie was speechless.

'Is that what I am asking?'

Her hand went to her forehead automatically.

'This guy really have no desires!'

'Just like a saint.'

Romani, listening to this, had long since shut down the comms himself to avoid being silenced for overhearing.

So Olga Marie took a deep breath, her voice trembling, "Then… then I'll start?"

"Mm."

With Shirou's answer, her heart pounded wildly.

A rustling sound later…

"I-I'm ready," Olga Marie was so ashamed she wanted to crawl into the ground.

She felt like she'd utterly disgraced the Animusphere family.

'I actually undressed in front of a man…'

"All right. To avoid misunderstanding, I won't actively probe your presence. You'll need to touch me yourself," Shirou's voice was calm.

Truly calm, with only the slightest ripple.

'Leys, thank you for the precious experience you gave me!'

"L-like this?", Olga Marie wrapped her left arm over her chest, and with her right, pulled Shirou's hand.

The burning warmth of his palm touched her cold, soft hand.

Her body trembled.

'So hot!'

'A man's hand was so hot!'

It wasn't even the first time they touched, so why did it feel so different this time?

"No, turn around. Like with weapons, place my hand on your back."

"P-pressed flat against it?", Because of Shirou's steady tone, Olga Marie relaxed quite a bit.

Slowly she turned, placing his hand on her smooth, flawless back.

For a moment it felt like an electric current passed through her.

Her breathing rhythm began to change.

"Stay calm."

Noticing the obvious change, Shirou tried to reassure her.

"Mm… mm!", Olga Marie took deep breaths.

Several times, until she finally settled down.

"I'll begin," Sensing she was fully calm, Shirou reminded her, "It'll feel like being seen through. Don't worry."

"I know. Do it!", Olga Marie returned to her usual cold, tsundere composure.

"Mm?"

Without replying, Shirou started the scan.

Beginning with the surface, he got stuck right away, immediately sensing the difficulty.

The skin, being the largest organ of the body, could perceive touch, temperature, even affect emotions through nerve signals.

Each step required a completely different concept from weapon creation.

Knowledge exploded layer after layer into his mind.

If not for his experience with homunculus alchemy, he would've failed at step one.

Even so, just the surface was enough to make Shirou drenched in sweat.

The thirty-seven trillion cells beyond, the dynamic balance maintained by organ coordination, the 86 billion neurons working in harmony and self-regulation. [T/N: Neurons Activated.]

"Sorry…", Shirou's breath was unsteady.

"Wh-what's wrong?", Olga Marie covered herself.

"I may have overestimated myself. Constructing a human body is beyond imagination."

And this wasn't even including a magus's most important organ, the magic circuits.

Even the grand puppeteer, Aozaki Touko, had spent years before her dollcraft surpassed the human body.

Trying to go straight to completion. It really wasn't that simple.

So…

"This, huh?", Olga Marie, surprisingly, didn't look shocked, "Don't worry about it. I've already thought it through."

"Hm?"

"What, you think only a moment passed?"

Her voice was quiet, "It's already been a long time. Probably three or four hours."

"That long?", Shirou said, "Sorry. I've only just gotten started."

"I told you, it's fine."

The two of them sat.

Olga Marie hugged her legs, chin resting on her knees.

"I thought about a lot of things in that time. Like how I'd solve the problem later. Make a puppet? Or hastily cultivate cells, like the demi-servant experiments… None of it sounds very promising."

Her tone dropped, "Especially since, for a magus, the most important thing is the magic circuits. That seems impossible no matter how I think about it."

"Looking at that way, maybe dying isn't so unacceptable."

"Isn't there still Aozaki Touko?"

The grand puppeteer.

There was no way Olga Marie wasn't qualified to have her make a puppet.

Suddenly, Shirou remembered something crucial.

Once this Singularity was resolved, the incineration of humanity would formally begin.

Which meant, by then, aside from Chaldea, no one else in her world would survive.

Just like Rin. Collapsing at the most critical moment.

In that case, even if she returned to Chaldea, it would be meaningless.

Olga Marie didn't know what was coming. She just spoke calmly, "Who knows if I can even last until then. A perfect puppet would demand a price Chaldea can't afford after the explosion."

It was mentioned before: Shirou's Hollow Puppet of the Sakura route cost Sakura selling off the Matou family's entire library.

For a mage family, that was practically their entire fortune.

And Olga Marie was burdened with more than 300 lives, including 47 Masters whose survival was still uncertain.

"So, I'll just do my best. The main focus has to stay on resolving the Singularity," That was what Olga Marie said.

Shirou fell silent and continued his work, "Maybe it's not as hopeless as you think."

"Who knows."

Olga Marie gazed at the sky, where even the stars couldn't be seen.

"I wasn't always so pessimistic. But Trisha died, my beloved father died, even Lev left me. And now Chaldea, which I gave all my effort to, ended up like this. I…"

Olga Marie spoke in sorrow, "I have nothing left. Even my one compulsion, 'I must prove I have talent', is gone. All that's left is my life…"

Shirou said nothing.

How was he supposed to persuade someone with nothing left to keep living?

If… he told her that even if she returned, there would be no hope of survival, wouldn't that bring even greater despair?

"Why is it like this?", Her voice was weak, barely audible, like a murmur, "I put so much care into everything. Tried so desperately to be recognized. But the result is always the same. As if being denied, as if nothing I did mattered."

"Every day is so hard. Every day has no future. How do I end it? How do I find happiness?"

Her prayer was almost humble, "Who can tell me? Who can give me the answer?"

She bit her lip, trembling, "I just want someone to praise me. Anyone at all… and even that wish can't be fulfilled."

"The Animusphere family's mission has already been destroyed by me. And yet…"

Tears slid down her cheeks. Covering her face, she sobbed, "Even so, I want to live."

"I want to do so many things. Even knowing it's impossible, that I can't do anything, that whatever I do will end in failure. Still, I don't want… Just thinking about dying hurts so much, my heart stops, my body convulses, I can't breathe under the weight pressing down."

"It hurts so much! Even if I know death would be release… still, I want to live. I want to live. For no reason at all, just that I don't want to die! Not one bit. Only an idiot wants to die, I want to live!"

The girl's plea was humble and desperate.

In a world stripped of life, the scorched earth lay silent, the sky shrouded in an eerie orange-red.

That cry, born in a world of despair, to meet despair itself.

Even if this wasn't the world's end for her, she seemed to understand, she had no future.

And yet, even so, she wanted to live.

"Sorry," Pulling the mask of strength back over her face, Olga Marie wiped away her tears.

"After saying all that, I feel better. From now on, I can face death as freely as Caster did. Just… it's a bit frustrating, entrusting the salvation of humanity to some ordinary person. If possible, please…"

"That's something to decide once the results are in."

Shirou's voice didn't change, though his grip tightened, "I have no obligation to shoulder work that doesn't belong to me."

"That's true," Olga Marie softly agreed.

Shirou closed his eyes.

'Tokugawa-san, I'll have to trouble you again this time.'

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