"You still kept all these things."
Sakumura had changed into a modern, even somewhat fashionable outfit. After entering the apartment building where Kirei Kotomine had lived for over a decade, he took a photograph from Kirei's bookshelf—a picture they had taken together at Kyoto University ten years ago. His eyelashes fluttered slightly.
"Since they were left behind by a rare friend, naturally I should preserve them carefully, shouldn't I?"
Kirei Kotomine sat down on the sofa, watching Sakumura with a smile.
"Should I say I'm honored? Or should I say this really is the sort of thing you'd do?"
Sakumura gave a soft laugh, put the photograph back, then looked around the room.
Every trace he had left behind ten years ago had been preserved by Kirei Kotomine. For Sakumura, it might have been no more than the blink of an eye, but for Kirei Kotomine, ten whole years had passed.
"A [Saint] of the Holy Church, huh."
For decades, he had carried out the duties expected of a priest day after day. Whenever the Church assigned him work, he completed it with the utmost seriousness and speed. He assisted local mage families in managing the region's magecraft, diligently fulfilled his responsibility as a neutral third-party overseer during the Holy Grail War, and discovered and eliminated dangers.
And—
No emotions, no desires—only faith.
Even his daughter had been born bearing stigmata, an existence almost like a "Holy Son."
Kirei Kotomine's standing within the Holy Church could only be called exalted.
And beyond the Holy Church, he was equally renowned within the Mage's Association and throughout Fuyuki.
A born villain, a born devil, now looking like this.
Sakumura folded his arms and smiled as he looked at Kirei Kotomine, seeming to imply something deeper.
"I've seen that expression on your face