The next morning, Roland pushed open his front door, rubbed his eyes, and yawned.
After a good night's sleep, he had actually woken up earlier than usual.
"Still two hours to go. Should I do something?"
At this hour, the streets were still silent. The sky resembled a mirror that had been wiped clean only to mist over again, with just a faint glimmer of dawn shining through, vast yet peaceful and warm.
Without giving it much thought, Roland, who had become remarkably disciplined under the contract spirit's influence, arrived at an answer.
"A morning run it is. After indulging yourself, you have to return to a regular routine to find happiness. Delightful, delightful..."
Fighting in anger was tiring. Although he knew that was only natural, Roland still decided to improve his stamina for the long term. He stretched and gave himself a pep talk.
Although he deliberately lowered his voice to avoid attracting attention, someone with sharp hearing apparently still caught it.
A greeting came from behind Roland.
"Good morning."
Roland stiffened. Even if he hadn't said anything strange, being overheard talking to himself was still embarrassing. If he were thirty, he might have laughed it off, but he wasn't even twenty yet.
He instinctively turned to look, rapidly searching his memory. It sounded like nothing more than a polite greeting meant to start a conversation between strangers, yet for some reason, the voice seemed familiar.
Then the owner of that voice began walking toward him.
He was a tall, solidly built young man with neatly cropped hair. Though reasonably handsome, his impassive expression made him look excessively stern, inspiring unease.
He wore a loose, uniform-like robe that did not hamper his movements. A gold cross hung around his neck, but perhaps because his face was so cold, he gave the impression of an unpopular, old-fashioned priest.
"Good morning..." Roland regarded the newcomer with a strange expression, alarm bells already ringing in his mind as he prepared to summon Killer Queen at any moment. "Are you a priest?"
"Yes. Forgive my rudeness." The priest stopped at a distance that would not arouse suspicion and met Roland's gaze with utterly still eyes.
"I am Kirei Kotomine, a priest of Fuyuki Church."
Have I been found out?
No, wait, I haven't done anything, have I? Doesn't it only count as a crime if you get caught?
There shouldn't even be any ashes left at yesterday's scene. Even in that death-bringing kid detective's world, they couldn't possibly track me down, could they?
Besides, do Tokiomi Tohsaka and the Church even bother with this stuff? As long as there's no trace of mystery or magecraft, they don't even care about serial killers. Why would they come after me?
Despite the shock, Roland let none of it show on his face. He asked hesitantly, "My name is Roland. What can I do for you, Father Kotomine?"
Killer Queen was already poised to act. At the slightest move from Kirei Kotomine, Roland would let him experience a Stand's power. The man was male anyway, so there was no need to hold back.
At that thought, Roland's gaze shifted slightly downward. Kirei Kotomine stood with impeccable posture, but his sleeves completely covered the backs of his hands.
Kirei Kotomine noticed neither Roland's thoughts nor his little movements. He simply looked at him earnestly and offered an unexpected invitation.
"I just overheard what you said. Would you like to go for a morning run together?"
Silence settled over the scene.
"Huh?"
At Roland's bewildered response, Kirei Kotomine seemed to realize how awkward he had been and began explaining.
Something about having just returned to Fuyuki, enjoying morning exercise, and having no one to join him-all of it filled the street with an air of merriment.
Roland finally recovered and remembered what he had said earlier.
Did I trigger some keyword in this guy? Was that what instinctively drew him over?
Roland took a deep breath. He needed to calm down, then firmly refuse him to avoid trouble. Yes, he had to stand his ground!
"...All right. But I'm no professional, so I won't be very fast."
After running for a while, Roland stopped, his body warm and lightly slick with sweat.
"That's it for me today. I have work later. What about you, Kotomine?"
"I still need to practice my martial arts," Kirei Kotomine replied calmly, making no attempt to hide anything. "My father inherited a lineage of Bajiquan from China and received instruction from renowned masters. It is part of my regular morning routine."
After agreeing to run together again tomorrow, Kirei Kotomine set off toward the church without hesitation to continue his morning exercise.
Only after his back disappeared from view did Roland give a slight shrug.
"So he really just wanted to exercise together... I thought he had his eye on me."
The current Kirei Kotomine was not difficult to read. Knowing that his personality was still a stagnant pool made it clear that he could not conceal much.
During their run, neither Kirei Kotomine nor Roland had spoken unnecessarily. They had simply run in silence. Roland had even deliberately left a few openings under the pretense of exhaustion, but Kirei Kotomine had shown no reaction.
If he had been acting on orders, even merely to keep watch, he could not have behaved that way. Still, from another perspective, Roland really had caught his attention.
It would be impossible to claim he didn't know which of his traits had attracted Kirei Kotomine. He simply hadn't expected them to meet like this.
Could there really be some force of attraction?
Frowning, Roland rested on a bench for a while. Only once his breathing had settled did he stand and look toward the row of vending machines beside him.
"I'll buy some tea, then head home for a shower. It's almost time for work."
Roland walked up to a vending machine, chose the drink he wanted, and reached into his pocket, only to unexpectedly come up empty.
Huh?
Roland patted his other pocket. When that, too, proved empty, he stiffened, then looked up at the sky in silence.
That was a mistake. My first morning run, and I changed into loose clothes without remembering to bring anything I'd need.
Forget it. I'll put up with it for ten minutes and get something at home.
Just as Roland was about to leave, another set of footsteps approached. The newcomer wore a somewhat flashy purple jacket with leopard patterns at the collar. His hair was orange, and he looked like a playboy.
The orange-haired young man seemed to have come to this quiet spot merely for a stroll, dressed as though he had just left a nightclub.
He stepped just past Roland, inserted a few coins, and pressed the button for the hundred-yen barley tea twice. Then he took one of the bottles and offered it to Roland.
"These things happen when you're out and about. If you feel bad about it, you can pay me back later... Ah, I've got something to do, so I'll be going."
Seeing that Roland seemed stunned, the young man pressed the barley tea into his hands, waved casually, and hurried away.
He asked for nothing in return and made no unnecessary conversation. With a bright smile and an optimistic attitude, the orange-haired young man had simply done his good deed for the day.
Witnessing such a scene, even someone with a poor first impression of him would probably warm to him.
But Roland couldn't, because he knew the young man's name.
-Ryunosuke Uryu.
So it wasn't just Stand Users. Evil people were drawn to one another, too.