"I've got a mountain of questions... but first, I need to confirm something."
Karin and Voyager leaned in to earnestly listen to the words that finally spilled out. What will be said may cut to the very core of the matter.
"Yes?"
"Erice, on what grounds do you believe that a past Holy Grail War is still happening? Did Karen Fujimura leave some convincing evidence behind? I... don't think the answer you seek is in Fuyuki."
"..."
For me, no reason was more important than Karen's final wish. However, if I'm going to involve Koharu, dragging her into danger, I can't give anything but an honest answer, especially not a reason that glosses over so much.
"... I... me too... I don't. I'm not sure either."
"Is this a 'gamble?' Like what they do in the arena for amusement, a prayer for a reversal of fortune?"
"No. No way."
First looking at Karin then Voyager, I reveal a secret I've never told anyone before.
"Fuyuki has a real Grail."
Koharu sits under the eaves of the terrace, her back to the sparkling sea. She narrows her eyes, darkened by the shadows her body casts.
"I think this Holy Grail still exists, Koharu."
"...Like... you don't mean the actual holy cup but what we refer to as a Holy Grail? The original significance of a Holy Grail War is laying down a magic circle, a Holy Grail. That is, a "ritual" that calls forth miracles. Like bombs strategically place on the major leyline foci around the globe and then detonated. The Mystery, the Holy Grail might be organic or inorganic before it descends, but either or, its true form is a magic circle. It has been confirmed that during the war, there were over thirty Holy Grail Wars of various sizes co-currently primed and ready to begin. Initially, the Holy Grail Wars were held in secret but before long the increasingly tense conflicts between countries and terrorism flung the gates opens and the Grail Wars ran rampant in the open."
Koharu eloquently repeats what she most likely learned from the Riedenflaus family.
"Yeah. People from around the world were deceived. When they learned that the World War III began to nurture an innumerable amount of Holy Grail Wars, they were already past the point of no return."
"Fuyuki was one of those battlegrounds. I know it was one of the fiercest battlegrounds, but the scale of the ritual must have been inferior to other battlefronts. Due to the fierce battle, the final winner was unknown, the ritual was not completed, and the accumulated magical energy from the Holy Grail dispersed... And you're choosing to go there?"
"That's right. I have to see it for myself."
With determination, I nod for the second time. I feel Voyager's single-minded gaze on my cheek.
"Huh? There isn't much difference though," Karin interjects. "What about the Holy Grail in our hearts? Why go through all the trouble when there's already one there?"
Saying that, she places her right hand to her chest, a Command Spell that resembles a blooming rosebud appears.
(...She said 'our' but more accurately, Karin and Koharu's hearts. We still aren't certain about me yet.)
Koharu politely answers without annoyance. She even looks a bit haughty.
"The Holy Grail in our hearts is a terminal device of the Stigmata... the supreme Holy Grail Manazuru Chitose and St. Longinus obtained. The final victor Manazuru Chitose asked to the wish granting Holy Grail to persist and distribute itself...
"Yeah, yeah we know. That's why Mosaic City exists. But, it's a terminal? Then, aren't we more like capillaries than hearts?"
"Capillaries... certainly. That's exactly the word. Mosaic City's 'Holy Grail' is wholly connected via magecraft and is essentially identical. A individual's provision of magical energy can be summarized as the difference between a thick or thin flow."
As she talked, Koharu's voice grew more subdued.
"The victors of the Holy Grail Wars in various places repeatedly moved to different battlefronts, aiming for greater heights, more fighting. They fought in muddy battles to possess the Holy Grails that others had won. The Stigmata put an end to that. Strangely enough, they settled it similar to a tournament."
"If that's the case, they shouldn't have started a war in the first place. It's a stupid, just stupid, story. All that's left are an enormous amount of victims and a depleted, devastated world. For whatever wish came true using the Holy Grail, so much more has been lost forever."
"You have a different point of view, Erice. Stigmata is a hero who saved the people." Koharu asserted.