oh but there's the fact that "no one could confirm his body", but that could've also been kikujirou just being hopeful idk there's so many possibilities... the best one available to us would only be kou being alive after the war but being displaced very far and lost his memories (maybe also in coma but that's unrealistic) and only regained it after they parted at the end in chapter 11 and made peace with his past. then shirou's job was to find him and live with him with his last moments. it's still sad but it makes the most sense and the happiest ending we could get.
and also someone said this but i wanna reinforce. yes, although kou had good intentions going back to "settle" things, he essentially made the same mistake AGAIN: leaving shirou behind just like how he left kikujirou in the past. this is beyond sad.
though going back is of course the natural thing to do since he isn't from this time and he felt he had to face kikujirou in order to move on and face shirou properly but by that doing that he still hurts shirou in the end. ah, dilemma.
also yes, the ending being open isn't the best option here cause it's too open. though it has a charm to it, im sure we all wanna settle our hearts lol.
can people share their interpretations of the ending? im so sad, i know the ending is open but i wanna know thoughts!
im glad kou wanted to go back to settle his feelings and all and that until the end shirou held that insecurity and thought that he was only loved because of kou's subconscious. it feels too real despite being a supernatural. it's the "replacement/substitute" topic handled well. but that's aalso why i wanted an actual close end to this, what was shirou gonna do? i know the open end is there to leave readers thinking... but i wanna settle my heart...
is shirou's job now finding the old man kou? but he died in the past so that's definitely not it! is he gonna opt for suicide? but kou said "live with me" so that's definitely not it right? or does the "live" mean "live on the other side with me"? or does it just mean that shirou will continue living alone but with the memories of kou with him? that's just.... really sad.