Memories should be like mottled old photos, yellow, moldy, incomplete, and with blurry black and white figures that cannot be clearly seen.
However, there are always some photos that can resist the invasion of time due to strong emotions, and will not change even after ten or twenty years.
Now, these photos were turned out. The pictures were too clear, the colors were too strong and dense, and made people's hearts involuntarily tighten and beat uncontrollably, without much strength to remind him of his current state.
Memories from twenty years ago shouldn't be like this.
Now he feels more like he is in one of the 3D cinemas that is gradually becoming popular nowadays. It is so natural and immersive. The male protagonist in the movie is himself, and the female protagonists are the two women who slowly sit up from the ground.
The film is divided into two stages. The first half takes place in his teenage years. At that time, he had just moved to a closed tropical island with his father. He always wore dark blue jeans and an orange vest, exposing large areas of tanned skin, running around the island, chasing after a girl.
The girl is an ordinary girl on the island. Her name is Xia Lei. Because of her intelligence, she becomes her father's assistant.
To be honest, he was quite dissatisfied at first, because his most respected father actually had an assistant besides himself. But before long, his heart was attracted by the liveliness and gentleness of the girl, and he began to revolve around her.
When she drove to the town to buy things, he would always sit in the passenger seat with her. The backward and xenophobic residents also began to accept him because of the girl's presence.
"Because Kelly is my brother."
The girl always said this to him, which of course moved the boy very much. He lost his mother when he was young and had no memory of her. Because he always moved with his father, there was no room for any women in his life for more than ten years, until Xia Lei appeared.
Xia Lei respected his father as her own father and loved him like a younger brother. However, as time passed, a strange impulse sprouted in the boy's heart - is she really his sister
After spending some time together, he understood her, knew that she was kind, bright and intelligent, and knew that she loved him. But not only that, the girl's unintentional actions, such as the side profile of her head walking on the beach with her head down, or an inadvertent glance back while humming a tune, all made his cheeks feel hot.
Time passed slowly as the boy and girl interacted with each other. The boy had become no different from the local kids. The only thing that had not changed was his pursuit of the girl.
That white dress that never faded was like a big white butterfly, floating in front of him, sometimes close, sometimes far away, along with the girl's clear voice.
"Now, Kelly, do you know how this island got its name?"
...
"Father Simon often lectured me, saying that if I worked in your house, I would be targeted by the devil."
...
"Kelly, your father is a very remarkable man. I respect him very much. His knowledge and discoveries are all very remarkable. Any one of them is enough to subvert the world. Of course, it would be scary, so it must be hidden... But to be honest, I always think how great it would be if this power could be used to contribute to the world."
...
"Although he has given up, Kelly, I think if it were you, you would definitely be able to do it."
...
"I'm not an apprentice, at most I'm just an assistant. I do odd jobs and help out, but the most important thing is that your father didn't teach me anything. But Kelly, you must be the evil person who inherited everything from your father. Because all the research your father is doing now is to prepare for you to inherit it one day. So now is just not the right time."
Looking back, this might have been the beginning of the tragedy. If he had been more careful and considerate, and could have seen through the reluctance and loneliness in the girl's eyes, perhaps he could have saved everything.
Unfortunately, there is no "if" in reality. At that time, he was flustered by the girl's playful smile and sudden attack, and missed the last chance.
Then, everything changed, and the bright girl disappeared from his sight forever.
She—is dead.
Pale skin.
The blue-black veins that emerged from under the skin covered the entire cheek like cracks.
The expression of pain and convulsions is like that of a dying person.
You can tell at a glance... this thing is dead.
Although dead, it is still active.
He knew very clearly in his mind that although "this thing" looked like a human, it had already completely turned into something inhuman.
It was pitch black outside. Of course there were no street lights on this island, but even so bright moonlight quietly shone in through the window, clearly illuminating the scene of the tragedy.
This is a chicken coop outside the village. For some reason, the girl did not appear during the day. The boy ran all over the village to find her, and even after dark, he still refused to give up and came here.
The ground was littered with bloody corpses of broiler chickens that had been eaten to pieces. The boy walked to the back of the chicken coop, next to the dead chickens that were shaking and sobbing.
Kill me—
The creature's face looked exactly like the girl the boy loved the most, and it begged with sobs.
The silver dagger was gently thrown at the boy's feet, shining an ominous light under the moonlight - it was the thing that Father Simon in the village gave to the girl for self-defense, but now he was going to use this self-defense item to end the girl's life.
I'm so scared—
I can't do it myself -
So please, just you... kill me—
It's not too late now—
"How could it be possible..."
The boy shook his head and stepped back.
How could she have done that
No matter what she becomes, she is who she is. The most beloved family member - no, she is more important than her family.
Please,
The girl gasped in agony, revealing a row of jagged, sharp teeth from her mouth. She sobbed like crazy and breathed like a wild animal.
I can't hold it anymore - hurry up - before I can't hold it anymore
The girl was shaking and struggling as if she had a fever, biting her arm with her bare teeth.
Zi...
The sound of slurping blood irritated his eardrums.
Please—
The boy's own screams drowned out his begging and he ran out of the chicken coop.
Deep down in his heart he already knew what had happened, but at that time he refused to accept the sad reality.
He didn't want to believe that the person he loved most had turned into a zombie.
He naively and wishfully believed that she could still be saved after becoming a zombie.
Because of his escape, the tranquility of the southern island was broken.
He told Father Simon in the village about Xia Lei's abnormality and asked for his help. Father Simon then reported the abnormality to the dark side organization of the Vatican - the Holy Church.
Not long after, the church's executioner and agent arrived on the island.
At the same time, pursuers from another large organization, the Magic Association's enforcers, who had been chasing him and his father and forcing them to move constantly, also arrived.
Together, they turned this corpse-infested island into a sea of fire, and they wiped out all life on the island. The many warm smiles that had been seen there were gone forever.
Only he survived by chance because of the appearance of another heroine.
At that moment, the movie entered its second half.
It was at that moment that he truly took back his own name.
The boy's name is not Kelly at all. He was born in the far east country, and his name is not easy to pronounce for the people of this land. At first, the girl called him by the abbreviation of Kelly, and then this name became a fixed name among the islanders. The boy has also half-give up on this name. Rather than being called by the strange pronunciation of "Kelly Dugu", the abbreviation sounds better.
The correct name should be Kiritsugu (Kiritsugu) - the designated magician of the seal, the son of Emiya Norika.
PS: If I remember correctly, the title seems to be the name of a three-star costume in FGO.
PS2: After thinking about it, in order to prevent Kiritsugu's emotional expression from being too abrupt, I decided to write about Kiritsugu's boyhood and youth, and finish the story within three chapters. I will try to explain it more clearly in my own way, just like Medea, why Kiritsugu became a doomed star who drowned for his ideals, and why he could kill his family with his own hands.
PS3: If you already know the answer well, you can skip this step.