More than a few months had passed since Koe inherited Shirou's memories and took control over his body. He slowly replaced Shirou's existence within himself.

At first, he struggled to fittingly replace Shirou in his daily life. He found the interactions Shirou had with other people bothersome and tedious to replicate.

Needless to say, people noticed the changes in Shirou’s personality and demeanour, but no one felt it was very odd. No one had suspicions about whether he was really Shirou.

There were various reactions to Shirou’s change in attitude. Some simply assumed his rapid change in attitude was just a teenage event. But some were greatly influenced by the changes, especially the ones very close to Emiya Shirou.

Time passed as he played his part as Emiya Shirou on the outside while acting as Koe on the inside. Without noticing it, he had already reached his second year in high school.

He lived his life in peace while carrying out magecraft training and experiments.

When Koe first took over Shirou’s body and inherited his memories, he discovered his knowledge about magecraft. that really piqued his interest.

Through practice and experiments, he started to dig deep into the marvel known as magecraft. But he hadn’t inherited enough information from Shirou’s memories, he had to do everything from the very beginning.

Studying the truth behind magic circuits, how life force was converted into magical energy and how magical energy was able to influence the outside world. That’s what magecraft is.

Since he wasn’t aware of any magus other than Shirou’s adoptive father, Kiritsugu, who was dead, he didn’t know where his development stood when compared to a real magus who received genuine guidance from an established teacher.

He didn’t even know what the norm was for a magus.

Koe couldn't know if his growth in the field of magecraft was in the right direction. Whenever he encountered a problem, he tried to solve the problem most simply.

In the end, he was able to use magic in his daily life.

Most of the spells he learned were derived from controlling magical energy. Koe called them ‘mana manipulation techniques’. Thanks to his ardent dedication to practising, he was able to achieve some skill in manipulating mana.

. . . . .

Under a beautiful night sky, stars twinkled brightly.

Koe walked along Sakura on an empty street. He was walking her home.

Sakura walked to Koe's right while her gazing ahead, trying to recall the past.

"Senpai," Sakura called out in a gentle voice.

"Yes?"

Hearing Koe, Sakura chuckled.

Koe, who was bewildered by her laugh, turned his head to Sakura and saw her happy face. She seemed to be in her own happy world.

"What is it, Sakura?" He called out.

He was speaking just by reflex. After living every day with Sakura, he couldn’t help but behave how Shirou behaved around Sakura.

Sakura was still chuckling as she strode ahead.

“Nothing, it's just…” She stopped herself for a few seconds while maintaining her view ahead. “Senpai has changed a lot lately.”

Because Koe could only see Sakura’s back, he didn’t know what expression Sakura had on her face while saying those words.

"Is that so?" Koe answered innocently.

Seeing Sakura continue to walk ahead, Koe felt uneasy.

If only he could ask Sakura right there, he would naturally understand what was happening and why his heart was heavy.

Koe was sympathetic towards Sakura. Not because he inherited Shirou’s memories, but because he had been living with her every day those past few months.

Koe could feel the darkness that resided inside Sakura.

Shirou didn’t notice at all, he was too dense.

Or maybe it was just Koe who was overthinking.

But unlike Shirou, who never took any action, who chose to play along with Sakura’s suffering every day, Koe did what he could to help Sakura.

When Koe came to himself, they had already arrived at their destination. Sakura continued on her path and Koe entered his residence.

Koe, who was walking alone, suddenly smiled self-deprecatingly.

He remembered when he mocked Shirou for giving Sakura false hope but never actually doing anything for her.

'I thought saving a girl was an easy task...' Koe's gaze turned serious and then a moment later, helpless. He looked up at the distant night sky and sighed.

'If only Sakura was an ordinary person. I would have saved her from her current situation. But it seems like the world won’t permit it.'

Pity and sympathy welled up in Koe's heart.

Koe had achieved significant results in studying magecraft. He could manipulate mana in various ways for different uses, like sensing the surrounding mana around him.

Back when he just managed to learn the technique, he naturally had used it happily while accustoming himself to it.

The next day, he encountered something that he could never have dreamt about even in his wildest dreams.

At first, he thought there was just something wrong with the technique he was using, but after a while, he accepted the truth that was before his eyes.

Sakura's body was emitting fluctuations of mana. It was as if she was using magecraft just by simply breathing.

Koe, who was still inexperienced then, chose to keep an eye on Sakura.

After a week of observing Sakura, and persistently studying to improve his ability to sense mana, he was finally convinced.

Sakura wasn’t a magus consciously, there was another reason that caused her to generate fluctuations in mana from her body.

Koe investigated that. His reason was simply his obsession with magecraft. Seeing that rare phenomenon made him curious. She was a very precious specimen.

He daydreamed about the kind of experiments he wanted to do with Sakura’s body just to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, to find something new in his study of magecraft.

Fortunately, he didn't go overboard.

He thought to himself. Why Sakura of all the people? Was there something special about her?

Was there no magus in that town? If there was one, they must have been interested in Sakura's body just like him.

Then he changes his perspective of seeing that problem just like when he encountered a bottleneck when studying magecraft. Was it possible that Sakura was from the magus family? Or was she a specimen of another magus?

Just thinking about it, Koe was almost scared to the point he didn’t want to meet Sakura anymore. He knew nothing about the magus world and how it worked.

But looking back into Shirou’s memories, he found something strange.

Following that, he chose to investigate Sakura’s family first, namely the Matou family.

He found rumours and other information regarding the Matou family. His investigation wasn’t anything serious to another person, it didn’t attract any attention.

He discovered a connection between the Matou family and the Tohsaka family.

These two families had a unique history that attracted Koe’s interest.

After weighing all the possibilities and the pros and cons of the situation, Koe decided to not interfere with Sakura's life any longer.

He sighed and said out loud, “If only she was an ordinary person, I would have saved her long ago.”

. . . . .

The next day at school, in the student council room.

Koe was talking with Issei, who was the student council president and also a very close friend of Shirou.

"Emiya..." Issei looked at Koe eating his lunch.

Feeling Issei's gaze on him, Koe turned to face Issei. He continued to munch on the food in his mouth.

Gesturing with his head, he asked Issei. ‘What?’

"Do you have to look at me like that?" Issei frowned slightly.

Koe was like a stranger to him. He didn't seem interested at all in what Issei wanted to talk about. He just looked at him indifferently.

"You changed a lot from last year." Issei was agitated.

It wasn’t the first time that a similar situation occurred.

The Shirou he knew of was a very kind and helpful person. The Shirou in front of him was a different person.

"Humans are always growing and developing, both physically and mentally. It's natural for me to change too.” Koe said indifferently.

Whenever Issei or anyone else brought up the topic of Shirou's change in attitude, Koe always gave the same answer. "Humans will continue to grow and develop. Why are you so sensitive to my change of attitude, it’s not like I become a delinquent or something, is it?"

"Alright, alright."

Issei gave up after hearing the same answer for the umpteenth time. At Least Shirou in front of him wasn’t an utter fool who had no sense of self-preservation. The Shirou from last year always put everyone else first before him.

"Can you come to my house today?" Issei continued.

"Hm? The shrine? Why all of the sudden?”

"If I explain it from start to finish you'll probably leave this room first." Issei glared at Shirou sharply.

He was already getting accustomed to the new ‘Shirou’. He didn't pay any attention to anything, only did whatever he liked. The opposite of Shirou from before.

It was Shirou's new habit to not care about things that bothered him, Issei anticipated that and chose to shorten his explanation.

“Everyone is celebrating an occasion at the shrine so my brother invited you to come.”

Seeing Shirou's expression changing from blank to complete disinterest, Issei became furious.

“Are you possessed by some kind of lazy spirit? Before you would always accept an invitation, now you are acting as if I am only bothering you. Why did you become like this?” Issei vented.

He continued his protest against Shirou's attitude and pestered him. In the end, Koe had no choice but to accept the invitation.

Satisfied, Issei puffed out his chest and left the room as their break was over.

Koe followed Issei out of the room to go to his classroom, but when he looked out of the room saw someone walking alone in the hallway.

Tohsaka Rin.

She wore the school uniform with braids on her hair on the left and right of her head.

Ever since Koe learnt about Sakura, he had become wary of that girl. Just as he didn't dare do anything to Sakura, Koe also felt a threat from Rin.

Two months prior, when Koe accidentally bumped against Rin, he felt a slight fluctuation of mana from her.

Since he wanted to learn the basic theory and basic applications of magecraft, Koe was very conscious of mana.

Starting from existing, feeling, using, converting, and eliminating, he became more sensitive to mana. Especially when he created a rather advanced spell that acted as an alarm for when he was near something that had traces of mana.

Instead of approaching Rin, Koe chose to stay away from her as much as possible.

He prefered to be vigilant than to be hit by surprise. After all, he knew nothing about the magus world.

Rin noticed his presence and glanced at him. She gave him a rough look and continued on her way.

Koe breathed a sigh of relief as she went past him.

After school was done, Koe and Issei went together to the Ryudo shrine, where Issei lived.

As Koe had expected, what he has to do there was nothing more than stand like some statue while the crowd was busy with their business.

After everything was done, Koe wished Issei goodbye and exited the shrine to go back home. On his way, Koe enjoyed the natural scenery near the Ryudo shrine.

As he walked down the stairs, it began to rain suddenly.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Koe did not have an umbrella on him. But that only applied to ordinary people. Koe was a magus who learnt and explored the basics of controlling mana. Why did he need an umbrella?

After checking his surroundings, Koe started to use one of the spells he had discovered.

All the spells he devised by himself were just basic derivations of mana manipulation in their true form. Koe didn’t really find them worthy enough to name.

Koe was using a spell where he coated his body with very thin mana. that ‘raincoat’ didn’t produce any kind of fluctuations on the outside. It was also practically transparent so the average person wouldn’t be able to spot it.

'I’ve made this as stealthy as possible, so there is a very small chance for another person to find me.' Koe thought as he descended the stairs of Ryudo shrine quietly.

Koe decided to choose a road that had few people walking by since he was using the raincoat spell. Even though people wouldn’t be able to spot it, he didn’t want to take a chance.

Despite it being a rather simple technique, Koe enthusiastically studied the pros and cons of applying mana as a raincoat.

That technique was just simple thin and stable mana working as a cover on his body, but when he used it as a raincoat he learnt things he had never thought of before.

The rain had been only a small drizzle so he didn’t notice it, but as the rain grew heavier and heavier the raindrops started to splatter and make sounds as if they were striking a very hard surface.

After several attempts, he managed to soften the surface of his raincoat to be soft. The droplets started to drip down soundlessly as if they were falling down the surface of a leaf.

Then he noticed how the interconnectedness of each strand of mana greatly affected his mana consumption.

He learnt a lot from such a trivial method.

He applied another spell onto himself. The enhancement of all of his basic senses. Hearing and instinct were the primary targets of the enhancement.

He could use echolocation or something similar, but that could mean a magus could potentially glean his presence.

It was also a burden on Koe. He didn’t have enough information on how to conduct that nor did he have a sufficient amount of mana.

Thus he simply chose to enhance his senses.

Enhancement magic was one of the first things Shirou had mastered, Koe was also naturally good at it.

Koe suddenly felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

There was no mistake, he was sensing something through his enhanced senses.

He sensed an existence that might as well be called an anomaly.

A magus.

Only a magus could do such a thing.

Like they were aware of Koe, they seemed to give a weak response.

A small trace of mana.

But, Koe was very surprised when he caught it. He had never encountered any mana like that.

If the mana used by Koe could be described as an ordinary thread, thin and weak. The traces of mana he had felt earlier were like ancient chains that his knowledge of magecraft couldn't imagine what kind of existence could have such powerful mana.

That made him feel both scared and fascinated at the same time, in the new world that he lived in, that was the first time he felt that way.

There wasn't one thing that interested him other than magecraft, it was the only thing that could keep him from having a completely boring life.

For Koe, there was no monotony or boredom in learning anything related to magecraft.

When he came back to his senses, the traces of the strange mana earlier had disappeared.

Koe hesitated for a moment.

Normally Koe would have fled without giving it a thought, but he did not. Instead, he moved towards the source of the strange mana to satisfy his curiosity.

Walking the abandoned streets, he headed to a place that was hidden from the rest of the city.

Despite not acting on his rational thoughts, he didn't lower his guard.

Due to his low magic capacity and low-quality magic circuits, he couldn't use as many magic applications as he wanted.

He needed to choose only a few according to his current needs.

The protective magic he applied was nothing more than coating his body with mana. Due to having a low quantity of mana, Koe was forced to master a trick where he could quickly concentrate the mana scattered all over his body to focus on a single point.

The second magic spell was for escaping. More precisely, it strengthened Koe’s lower body so that he could throw himself as far as possible at a moment’s notice and then continue to run away.

Feeling that the preparation was still not enough, Koe used an offensive spell.

In the palm of his hand, he concentrated mana into a dense needle ready to launch at any moment.

Approaching the magus, Koe's steps became slower, his breath became heavy and his heartbeat became quick. He took each step forward with much caution and trepidation.

They were sitting and leaning against the bark of a shady tree, protected from the heavy rain.

Koe uses a spell to increase his sight.

Realizing that Koe was investigating, the person leaning under the tree glanced at him. But there was no actual movement to be observed from that person's body. Koe only felt a gaze fix onto him.

With the help of the enhancement he applied to his eyes, Koe was able to see the figure more clearly.

It was a woman. She wore strange clothes, a robe and a hood that covered most of her upper face.

She was a witch.

What caught Koe's attention the most was the woman's lips, her lips were an alluring purple.

At first glance, the woman looked like an ordinary person, but with every step Koe took towards her, an inexplicable aura around her became more and more clear.

Subconsciously, Koe used a technique to observe the woman’s mana.

Mana poured out of his body and formed a transparent formation and flew towards the woman.

Just as the mana that Koe started to approach the witch, it was easily dispersed and Koe lost control of the mana.

Koe was startled, he took a few steps back warily.

The woman finally turned her head towards Koe.

Even though her eyes were covered by her hood, Koe could feel the woman's gaze on his body.

As if mocking Koe, she emitted mana from her body and made it proceed towards Koe. The mana was a strong and sturdy wave. Seeing the mana approach, Koe felt terror.

The wave completely engulfed Koe’s body. It felt like millions of eyes were observing every part of his body.

Koe tried to dispel the mana using his own mana, but it was in vain. It was like a drop of water against the ocean, the mana that Koe emitted didn’t stand a chance the mana covering his body.

Due to the mana of that woman, Koe's raincoat was destroyed instantly.

After a while, the mana surrounding Koe's body dissipated and released him.

He felt that his body had just been dissected and every inch of his body had been observed by the foreign mana from earlier.

The raindrops started falling on him. He decided against reforming the raincoat, it would be useless since he had already gotten wet anyway.

Koe looked at the woman, he was afraid of her. He had never met a proper magus, let alone one this strong.

Even though Sakura produces mana fluctuations, she wasn’t a true magus according to Koe.

Knowing that the woman was someone who shouldn’t be bothered at all, Koe chose to flee.

Just as he made a motion to jump out of the way, a magic circle with an unfamiliar pattern shone with purple light under his feet and chains began to shackle him.

Within a few fractions of a second, he was imprisoned and couldn’t move.

Koe tried his best to free his body from these chains, but everything he did was in vain.

He tried to use an enhancement spell to strengthen his body but it did not affect the chains that bound his body.

After using all the means he could use, he stopped rebelling and started thinking about the situation from a different perspective.

After exhaling, he turned around and faced the woman earlier.

"I did not mean to offend you, madam. I will not bother you anymore and hope you will let me go."

The woman didn’t speak. She suddenly released the spell she used to confine Koe.

Koe was genuinely surprised. He had not expected to be released so easily. Many questions popped up in his head, but in the end, he decided to approach the woman.

"Can I ask something? Are you a magus?”

There was no reply from the woman.

But from the position of her face, she could see Koe under the hood of her head.

After a few pauses, the woman asked. "Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t bother me anymore?"

Koe tensed up, instantly regretting not running away the chance he got to.

Just as he was about to try and jump, he heard her speak again.

“Are you a magus yourself?”

Koe felt a little less apprehension, he decided to engage in a conversation with her.

At first glance, the question seems simple, but Koe could feel there was a hidden meaning behind the question.

After thinking it over carefully, Koe answered. “I can't be called a magus, I'm just someone who learns magecraft, nothing more.”

Koe didn’t think he deserved to be called a genuine magus, he didn’t have much knowledge about the magus world. Especially in front of that woman who could render him powerless with just a single magic spell she carried out effortlessly.

"Not a magus?" The woman paused for a moment and then continued to speak. “I can see why, the way you use your mana is very crude or should I say, primitive.”

“But even so, the fact that you can use mana is enough to make you called a magus, although not a very good one.”

“You must be a first-generation magus and who doesn't have a teacher.”

“It is indeed like you said, no one is teaching me. I can only learn and improve my skills by myself.”

“Then,” The woman was smiling but her smile gives Koe a bad premonition.

“What goal do you want to achieve by walking this path? Why are you learning magecraft?”

The woman seemed both indifferent and eager. She seemed to look for that answer to that question herself.

Hearing that question, Koe couldn't help but laugh. He was mocking himself.

"I don't have a goal,” Koe said. He continued with a rather stupid face, “I don't know the end of this path, but does it matter?"

“I learn magecraft because it’s fun!” Koe said spiritedly.

“There was not a single thing that bored me. Even when I stop at problems that I can’t solve or understand at all, I try another problem. I can’t see an end to this path from where I stand it only serves to excite me even more.

"Normal life doesn't provide the stimulation I want, it's only by studying and exploring the depths of magecraft that I can make myself feel alive.

“Every failure, every success, every discovery I make while I was learning magecraft makes me feel alive and forget about my boring school life.

"I don't need a goal and I don't know what will wait for me at the end, but one thing is for sure, Magecraft has no end! No matter how many times I try and try, I just can’t stop having more ideas and inspiration to explore more about magecraft!

“Od, magic circuits, mana, and spells. Those are just the gears needed to run a device called magecraft.”

Koe spoke without hiding anything. He spoke from the bottom of his heart. It was the first time he had met a magus. He wanted to see what a normal magus thinks about magecraft.

He too wanted to talk about the beauty and depth of magecraft with a fellow magus, but he never got the chance.

When the female magus asked about magecraft, Koe revealed all his passion.

“Then why are you learning magecraft if you don't have a goal? What will you do with everything that you have achieved?”

Koe felt himself moving towards her, to lessen the distance between them.

With a cold stare, Koe asked “What about you, miss? Have you already reached the end of your path and lost your passion? Or do you think that the path forward is already gone? Have you lost your reason to hold onto all the results you achieved? Or do you feel that all of that is useless?”

The woman was surprised.

Moved by Koe’s words, she give a faint smile.

"Do you have a dream?" She asked with a clear voice, but it also had a deep meaning.

The woman asked attentively as if expecting something. Sensing no hostility from her, Koe decided to sit down.

It might have been raining heavily, but none of them paid any attention to the downpour.

"Dream?" Koe stopped to think for a moment, but in the end, he couldn't find the dream he wanted to achieve.

"I do not have it."

She didn’t seem disappointed by his answer, she continued, "Is that so? Then what if I could give you a way to unravel all the mysteries of magecraft?"

Koe was a little surprised, “A way to unravel all the mysteries?”

“What I want isn't all the knowledge of magecraft nor the power that rules over everything. I studied magecraft because it was fun. Every time I came up with an idea I would test the idea and end up with various results that I never thought possible.

“I spend countless hours testing and inventing ideas, again and again, getting lost in my own little magic world.”

Koe seemed to remember all his journeys in learning magecraft. His face was filled with fond memories and his eyes were full of bright light.

"What I enjoy is the process and the end can only be enjoyed if the process is lived wholeheartedly."

The woman was impressed by Koe's answer, and she then smiled.

“Even the chance to reach the root can't move your heart, you're not a true magus." The woman then also added, “I doubt you even know about the root.”

Koe was not offended by the woman's words, because he himself did not see himself as a true magus. But, he felt that there was another meaning to the woman's words that he could not understand.

Koe wanted to ask if she wanted to see the end of magecraft, but he decided not to.

Silence accompanied the two of them along with the sound of the rain falling heavily.

"If it's a dream or a wish, I don't have one. But there is one thing that is bothering me.”

Hearing those words, the woman’s eyes shone behind her hood.

“I lost my memory. I can't remember who I was before, but the sense of my former self is still etched in my essence. I want to know who I really am.”

The woman smiled and said, "If you could get your memories back, would you do me a favour?"

Koe contemplated the offer. If such a strong magus was asking him something, it must be something that was out of his capabilities.

“I must decline. I'm already quite happy with my current life and maybe by not digging into my past, I can avoid problems from my past. So if what it takes to regain my memories is too much of a hassle, I refuse.”

Koe was a simple person, he doesn't like troublesome things.

“I see.” The woman said with a plain tone.

“Then, as for accompanying me on this lonely night, I will give you the gift you don’t care about.”

Koe thought that that woman would use a very profound spell. But all the woman did was extend her hand towards his forehead. A magic circle appeared on the tip of her index finger.

Koe felt strange energy creeping up inside his head, heading into his soul.

He was expecting that his memories would return. But instead, he felt a strange connection that transcended space and time, one that was intertwined with the energy that propagated through his body, and from that connection, foreign energy began to ooze out.

"What happened?!"

The magic circle in front of the woman's finger distorted. Then black flames suddenly burst alive, burning and eating up the magic circle.

Both Koe and the woman were shocked to see that.

The woman immediately used another spell to isolate the black flame.

After the damaged magic circle was swallowed up by the black flames, an explosion occurred. Fortunately, the woman’s magic spell contained the explosion.

Koe was shocked and fell on his bottom, while the woman’s breathing became irregular.

Even though her body wasn’t affected by the explosion earlier, the woman saw a mysterious strand of energy escape and disappear into the air, like a fish returning to the sea.

She sensed a terrifying aura from the strand just now.

She asked, "Who are you?"

Koe was still in confusion. Everything happened too fast and he didn't understand a single thing.

Koe turned to ask, "What did you do to me?"

They both didn't know what's going on. They wanted answers to their questions but they couldn’t receive them.

The woman had only wanted to restore Koe's memories. She was a very skilled magus and to her, restoring one's memories was an easy task.

How could she have expected black flames to suddenly devour her magic circle?

She was a magus who was close to true magic. She knew that the small strand of energy that just escaped was not inferior to true magic.

"Who are you?" She asked again, she couldn't contain her curiosity.

Koe was panicking. He didn’t know what had just happened and wanted to flee.

As he got up to run away, the woman called out to Koe.

“Wait!”

Koe had already stood up, but he stopped moving. He remembered that that woman was someone he couldn't fight, a single mistake could cost him his life.

Therefore Koe decided to stop. But he was impatient and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

It was clear from his face that Koe didn't want to stay with that woman anymore.

"You want to learn magecraft, don't you?"

Koe just kept quiet.

"What if I teach you and become your teacher?"

"What do you want?" Koe asked cautiously.

The woman was silent for a moment, then she opened her lips.

"Will you be my master?"