"Souta, I must have been influenced by you!"
Out of nowhere, Tohsaka Rin shouted.
Then she leaned against the car window, falling into deep self-reflection.
She started questioning when exactly she had begun thinking about problems with violence as the first solution.
And then, Rin recalled a particular phrase—
"If I can't solve the problem, why not just solve you?"
That's it! This was the reason.
Souta was the one who taught her this mindset.
Because of him, she now had the tendency to approach situations by eliminating their root causes.
Thinking about this, Rin suddenly felt complicated emotions welling up inside her.
On the other side, Souta looked at the ever-changing expressions on the twin-tailed girl's face, feeling puzzled. Unable to resist, he reached out and pinched her cheek.
"Stop it, I'm thinking."
Rin batted his hand away.
"Alright, take your time thinking."
Souta quickly stopped dwelling on it.
Glancing at Illyasviel, he reached into his clothes and pulled out a stack of Eleven Bullets item cards. Taking out four, he handed them to Illya.
"Illya, keep these. Once you rescue your past self, use them to travel back to the future. I'll probably return to the real world right away and won't be going with you."
Illya accepted the item cards, curiously examining them.
The last time she traveled back, Souta had directly sent her there.
She had never used the item cards herself before.
"Oh, and take these too."
Souta released his divine power, condensing it into two beads—one black, one white. He handed them to Illya.
"The black one is for modifying Acht's memory. The white one is for suppressing Berserker's madness. Once you return to the Matou residence, you should use it to restore him."
"Berserker..." Illya suddenly looked reluctant. "He'll disappear, won't he?"
"Disappear... more or less. Once the timeline changes, Heracles will likely return to the Throne of Heroes."
Souta reached out, ruffling the little girl's hair. His voice was gentle.
"Parting is inevitable. He's a Heroic Spirit—you can't keep him by your side forever. So, try to accept it. Before you go back to the future, make sure to thank him properly and say goodbye."
"Mm..." Illya lowered her head, feeling down. "I will..."
Souta sighed softly. Illya had developed a strong attachment to Heracles. Hopefully, she wouldn't end up crying when the time came.
Before long, the car arrived at the Matou residence.
It was already past 3 a.m.
Tohsaka Rin stepped out of the car and looked at the familiar house where she had lived for a year. She couldn't help but feel nostalgic.
In less than a single night, the Holy Grail War had ended in a completely absurd and dramatic way.
What was supposed to be a tragic ending had turned into an outright farce.
It made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.
But... this was fine. This was really fine.
Rin turned to look at Souta's side profile and smiled softly, murmuring:
The next day at noon, Souta was woken up by Rin constantly nudging and shaking him.
"Stop being lazy. You're a god, aren't you? This is embarrassing."
Souta opened his eyes, sat up in bed, and stretched.
As he turned slightly, he noticed Rin standing beside him in casual clothes.
His gaze lingered for two seconds on her slender legs wrapped in black tights.
Then, he asked, "What time is it?"
"Almost two in the afternoon. You really can sleep."
Rin placed one foot on the edge of the bed, causing her skirt to lift slightly, highlighting her perfectly shaped legs.
She smirked like a mischievous little devil.
"Souta, your eyes have been wandering since the morning. What? Do you really like these legs that much?"
"...I recall you were going to pick up Sakura today." Souta scratched his head. "What time are you leaving?"
"Right now. I saw you still sleeping and came to wake you up."
Rin glanced at her system phone, checking the time.
"I'm leaving in five minutes."
"Then I should return to the my world too."
Souta got out of bed and, with a mere thought, used his divine power to instantly switch his sleepwear into regular clothes.
As for washing up... an immortal divine body didn't need such things.
Honestly, at this point, even his saliva would probably be considered some kind of divine elixir.
"Oh right, I almost forgot your item cards."
Souta suddenly remembered Rin's set of cards, quickly pulling four out of his pocket and handing them to the now more mature-looking twin-tailed girl.
"You should be... 18 by now, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've lived here for a year, after all."
"That's a shame. Once you return to the future, you'll be back to your younger self."
Souta showed a regretful expression.
"...What do you mean by that?" Rin gave him a sidelong glance.
"Cough, nothing." Souta changed the subject. "Where's Illya and the others?"
"They left at 10 a.m."
"Alright, then I should go too. See you in the future."
Rin walked to the mirror, adjusted her outfit slightly, and then headed toward the door.
Halfway through, she turned back and smiled at Souta.
"Souta, see you in the future."
"Yeah, see you in the future."
Souta nodded and waved goodbye.
This kind of scene felt strangely refreshing.
After Rin left, he didn't delay any longer. With a thought, he activated his return ability and left the Fate universe.
Inside a Rented Apartment
With a flash of white light, Souta reappeared in his room.
Looking around, he noticed a layer of dust had accumulated.
It seemed at least a week had passed here.
But this time, cleaning was much easier. Souta simply waved his hand, expending a bit of divine power, and in an instant, the entire apartment became spotless.
If the gods in Dungeons & Dragons saw him using divine power to clean, they'd probably form a team just to come and beat him up.
Satisfied, Souta nodded at his clean room, then collapsed onto the couch and pulled out his system phone.
Entering the chat group, he sent a message:
Souta: "@Tohsaka Rin @Illya. Let me know when you get back to the future. I'm really curious to see what your world looks like ten years later."
Neither of them responded—they were probably still busy.
But someone else in the group replied.
Tokisaki Kurumi: "@Souta. Mission complete?"
Souta: "Not yet. I've done everything I needed to, but the mission probably won't finish until Illya returns to the future."
Souta: "By the way, didn't you also go back to save someone? How's that going?"
Tokisaki Kurumi: "We just rescued Cornelia. As for Akame's other teammates, they aren't dead yet, so we have to wait a bit. Hopefully, they die faster."
Reading Kurumi's message, Souta couldn't help but laugh.
If he didn't already know what she meant, he'd probably think she had gone completely off the rails.
Souta: "Don't you have Eleven Bullets? Can't you just jump to their time of death?"
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Nope. The manga never specified the exact timing of their deaths, so I have to wait and watch."
Souta: "Alright, I'll come over after you finish rescuing everyone. I need to deal with the religious issues. The Path of Peace's mythology about their god is poorly written—I need to refine it."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Got it. I'll let you know when we're done."
After some more casual chatting, Kurumi left, saying she had things to do.
Souta spent the rest of the day in his apartment, reading up on Fate's lore.
Then, later that night, the system finally notified him that the mission was complete.