When they first met, Kiyomi said that Emiya looked very much like her older brother who had sadly passed away.
From then on, faced with Kiyomi's enthusiastic closeness, Emiya always thought it was the kind of feeling a younger sister has for her brother, and he worked hard to play the role of a good brother.
However, after today's events, no matter how dense Emiya was, he finally noticed that Kiyomi had fallen for him.
But the two of them simply didn't belong to the same world. This was a feeling destined never to be answered.
To be honest, Emiya really liked this job. Whether it was the work itself, or the warm and kindhearted boss and colleagues, everything made him very happy. But all of this had to end, he couldn't let Kiyomi sink deeper into the mud.
"Kiyomi, wait here a moment, I'll go change clothes inside." Emiya tightened the paper and pen in his pocket, and walked toward the locker room.
Eh? How do you even write a resignation letter again?
After changing clothes, he crouched by the desk. Only then did Emiya realize that he'd been too busy earlier and never actually asked how to write a resignation letter.
He thought of checking on his phone, only to remember his phone bill was overdue, now it could only make and receive calls.
His already frustrated mood only grew worse. Emiya's expression twisted with rage, and he nearly smashed his phone in anger.
[Trash Immortal calling, Trash Immortal calling, Trash Immortal calling...] Acheron's special ringtone rang out. Emiya looked at the screen, turns out it was already six-thirty.
"Hello..."
"What on earth are you doing? Fine, I don't expect you to come back early, but at least be on time! Vera and I are standing out here in the heavy snow waiting for you, and you, " Before Emiya could speak, the phone burst with a barrage of deafening scolding.
Emiya had never seen Acheron so flustered and angry. For a moment he was stunned, but once he came to his senses, he couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Haha, so this girl actually has such a cute side to her!"
Behind the door, hearing everything, Kiyomi's heart sank straight to the bottom.
On the phone, it was obviously a woman's voice. And who was Vera? In all the time she had known Emiya, she had never once heard him laugh so freely.
No matter what happened, Emiya always wore a calm, detached expression, as if everything was within his grasp.
Even that time he faced dozens of knife-wielding thugs alone to protect her, the faint smile at the corner of his lips hadn't changed at all.
Kiyomi once thought this Heroic Spirit Emiya had lost all emotional fluctuation. But in truth, it was simply that no one had ever stirred ripples in his heart.
Last night, she had stayed up the entire night just to prepare the bento. Today, she had stood out in the snow too long. In that moment, the strength holding her body up suddenly gave out, and she fell straight backward.
Luckily, Acheron arrived in time and caught her at the last moment.
"Are you okay?"
It was the voice of the woman from the phone.
Startled, Kiyomi quickly straightened and looked her up and down.
The woman wore a plain white yukata, embroidered only with simple cloud-and-thunder patterns.
That extremely simple attire, matched with her waterfall-like smooth purple hair and a face so beautiful it could be called the miracle of the Creator, instantly brightened the entire space.
"Hello." Vera stretched out her little hand and poked dazed Kiyomi. "We are Lord Emiya's family. May I ask if Lord Emiya is still busy working right now?"
"Fa-family?!" Kiyomi's sharp cry shook the very glass until it rattled. Only when passersby began to cast shocked glances did she barely regain composure.
"Are you Emiya's sister?" Kiyomi asked, clutching the hem of her clothes tightly, turning toward Acheron.
"Of course not!"
Acheron instinctively shouted in denial, but when it came to stating her identity, she froze. Just what exactly was she to Emiya now?
Wife was only the role given by the system. They hadn't even established a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
But for Acheron to tell Kiyomi that she was just Emiya's ordinary friend, that she absolutely could not accept.
"Kiyomi, this is my wife, Acheron." After hesitating behind the door for a long time, Emiya finally walked out.
Although this wasn't in his plans, indecision only leads to more chaos. The sooner he made things clear to Kiyomi, the less it would hurt her.
"Then this little girl is your daughter?" Kiyomi looked at Vera, who stood quietly to the side.
Though still young, her peerless beauty was already emerging, it wasn't hard to imagine that when she grew up, she might be even more stunning than her mother.
'A wife like this, a daughter like this… that's against the rules!'
"Yes, this is my daughter, her name is Vera." Emiya held Vera tightly, hoping her warm hug could soften some of the guilt in his heart. "Kiyomi, I'm sorry. I should have told you earlier."
"It's fine. Whether or not you have a wife and child has nothing to do with me!" Kiyomi bit her lip hard, fighting to hold back her tears.
"I still have things to do. You all can go."
"Mm. You must take good care of yourself, and be careful when you're out. And in winter, don't wear those skin-colored tights anymore. You're so beautiful, wrapping up warm won't lessen your charm in the slightest."
As she fixed her gaze on Emiya's back walking out the supermarket door, Kiyomi could hold on no longer. She collapsed onto the ground, her heart aching as if pierced by a thousand needles, tears silently flowing onto the floor.
"Wu wu… wu wu… Emiya… Emiya… why, why not me…"
"Ah, silly child. It's not that you're not good enough. It's just that you came too late." Hans held his precious daughter tightly. "Let go cleanly. Emiya is a rare good brother. Don't let him disappear from your life."
"Mm… I'll try… I'll try…"
On the way to the hot springs, the atmosphere was heavy. The three of them tacitly said nothing. After arriving, they quietly went to their own rooms.
They had booked the most high-class hot spring rooms. Each one had its own private courtyard, with a pool of naturally steaming spring water.
After a full day, body and mind were exhausted to the extreme. Emiya couldn't care about anything else anymore.
He casually rinsed off in a cold shower, then carried a tray of braised beef and sake, and lay straight down in the hot spring.
Quietly staring up at the cold moon and the star-filled sky, feeling the icy touch of snowflakes landing on his face, Emiya couldn't help but sigh again at the fickleness of the world.
In just one day, a job he loved and friends he had rarely made had all turned into sad memories.
"Ah, women's hearts really are complicated!" Breathing out a mouthful of mist, Emiya grabbed the sake bottle to drink it all in one go.
"Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough!" Suddenly appearing, Acheron and Vera startled him so much that the strong liquor stuck in his throat.
He coughed so hard it felt like his lungs would split, nearly dying on the spot.
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