"Assassin, before talking about myself, I have a question I want to ask you."
Kotomine Kirei also imitated Zuomura and crossed his legs, raising the corners of his mouth slightly unconsciously.
"oh?"
Samura was already tipsy, but he seemed to have no intention of continuing to drink. He looked at Kotomine Kirei with interest and rubbed his hands.
"Question? Ask me?"
"So - what do you want to ask?"
"Ask about your life."
"I saw your life in my dream, Assassin Zuocun."
"But after watching your life, there's a huge question that has been lingering in my mind."
"Your life is miserable, right?"
He looked into Zuocun's eyes, and although he was asking, his tone was firm.
Zuocun fell silent.
He had no intention of continuing to drink, and poured himself another bowl of sake.
"Although I don't care what others think of me, you're right."
"The fictitious names of "Eagle of Restoration" and "Feathered Ghost Slayer" simply don't matter."
"Hidden under the reputation is just that kind of life, haha."
Zuo Cun smiled nonchalantly and took a sip of sake.
He doesn't hate getting drunk, but he won't get drunk if he wants to.
"So, what's wrong? What thoughts has my miserable life given you?"
He glanced at Kotomine Kirei
If his life can give his master some thoughts, it can be considered a good result.
"The end of the problem is not with me, Zuocun."
"It's up to you."
Kotomine Kirei has always had a smile on his face since this conversation.
"I?"
Zuo Cun pointed at himself.
"Why can you still live in this world with a smile like you do now after experiencing such a life?"
"You yourself chose to end your life on the cliff, but you were still able to be summoned. After you were summoned, it was completely different from before you were alive. What does this Holy Grail War mean to you?"
"Can you—can you answer me?"
After asking several questions in a row, Kotomine Kirei licked his lips.
"Isn't this question very simple?"
"What do you think I picked up the sword for?"
"Why do you think I am the king and fall?"
"The meaning of the sword, the meaning of power, is not who you will kill with such power, but what the person holding the sword wants to do."
"I am for——this era."
"era?"
"This is the current era."
After nodding, Zuo Cun continued.
"I, Ryoma, Takasugi, Katsura, including those wolf cubs, and even Abe Masahiro and others, we all chose to embark on various paths for a new era that will no longer be decadent. I want to see Yes, what I want to pursue through the Holy Grail is to see such a new era, but you also know that this has been realized after I was summoned."
"I don't want to use the Holy Grail to realize the 'new era' in my mind. A person's vision is narrow after all, even me. An era shaped by a single person will disappear after that person leaves the world. It collapsed because there was too much subjectivity and self-righteousness mixed in.”
"Then, the meaning of this Holy Grail War to me. Kirei, the meaning of my war is only you."
Samura had a smile on his face and looked at Kotomine Kirei with narrowed eyes.
".Is it because of the real me?"
Kotomine Kirei pondered for a moment and asked with some uncertainty.
"Looking at you, you are indeed vaguely aware of it, Kirei."
Zuo Cun chuckled lightly and leaned back on the back of the sofa.
"Who am I? What am I pursuing? What is happiness for me? I don't understand."
"I never figured it out."
"But I can't figure it out in any way, can you? Can you?"
There was actually a hint of uneasiness in this man's eyes.
Zuocun didn't answer immediately.
He just glanced at Kotomine Kirei, who had a hopeful look in his eyes, and then silently poured another glass of sake - one pot of sake had already been drunk by Samura, and he now opened the second pot.
"This question is actually the same as what I said before."
Taking a sip of sake, Zuo Cun's eyes were bright, but there seemed to be something else hidden under the brightness.
"You asked me what this Holy Grail War means to me, and I have already answered."
"And what this Holy Grail War means to you is your battle to pursue your own 'happiness'."
"my happiness?"
"That's the pleasure."
"Pleasure?"
Kotomine Kirei frowned.
"I've made it clear, Kirei, you are a villain."
Samura stood up, walked behind Kotomine Kirei, sat on the back of the sofa, and looked down at Kotomine Kirei.
"Happiness for you is cruel, cruel, and vicious."
"The pain of others is your best spiritual food."
"Think about it, what were you thinking when you watched your wife die in front of you?"
"I"
Kotomine Kirei's eyes trembled.
The memory that he had been deliberately avoiding and hiding reappeared in your mind.
"What were you thinking about when your close teacher died?"
Without giving Kotomine Kirei time to digest his words, Samura continued.
"I"
Kotomine Kirei seemed to want to say something.
"Then - think about it again."
"How would you feel if other people around you, or even those close to you, suffered suffering, even suffering caused by your own hands?"
"Samura, Assassin, I-"
There was already a huge amount of sweat on Kotomine Kirei's head, and his expression was painful, as if he was suppressing something.
"You have to think about it, Kirei."
"You have to realize who you really are."
Samura jumped in front of Kotomine Kirei and sat on the coffee table.
He grabbed Kotomine Kirei's shoulder, grabbed it very hard, and forced Kotomine Kirei to look at him, expressionless and speaking in a cold tone.
"You must liberate your true self. This is the necessary way for you to truly become a person."
"Dig him out from where you have been hiding him for twenty-eight years, dig him out!"
"You have to know what kind of person you are, and you have to understand your own essence."
"Because, there is only this - only this -"
thump--!
Kotomine Kirei violently pushed Ano Samura away.
He tried to stand up, but his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.
"Ugh—"
He vomited.
He didn't know what he thought of, but after he knelt on the ground, he suddenly started vomiting violently.
But in his eyes, there was——
