"Or are you saying there was ever a time when I spoiled you before this?"
"I suppose there was. You were always strict with me. You never went easy on me. When you trained me, you never slacked off—you were always serious. It was the same with everything else... You never hesitated to give everything you had."
As he spoke, Kiritsugu opened the massive suitcase.
Inside lay a matte-black launcher, accompanied by a single missile.
It was an FIM-92 Stinger—the American man-portable surface-to-air missile. The launcher was equipped with its optical sight, and beside it rested the missile that would decide everything.
While Kiritsugu assembled the sight and loaded the launcher, Natalia continued speaking.
"Normally, teaching a boy how to survive is supposed to be his father's job."
She paused, searching for the right words.
"But in your case... I guess I ended up stealing your father's place."
"I won't pretend I never felt guilty about that. But... these are the only things I know how to teach."
"So..."
"Do you think you're my father?" Kiritsugu asked.
"Watch your manners. I'm a woman, you rude brat."
Natalia clicked her tongue.
"The least you could do is call me Mama Natalia, or Big Sis Natalia. I'd even settle for Teacher Natalia."
"...That's exactly the role you've played in my life."
Kiritsugu's voice remained calm as he finished readying the Stinger.
"You've always been the one guiding me forward."
"You taught me everything I know."
"And more than once, you've dragged the foolish me back from Death's doorstep."
The launcher was ready.
Looking through the calibrated crosshairs into the endless sea of fog, Kiritsugu waited.
Then—
The first ray of dawn pierced the darkness.
"For so many years..."
"I've lived alone, surrounded by blood."
"So long that I almost forgot... I was still alive."
"Heh."
Natalia smiled.
There was bitterness in it.
There was happiness as well.
"So... living with someone who's practically family wasn't so bad, was it?"
"I..."
Kiritsugu lowered the launcher.
His voice finally began to tremble.
"I've always considered you... my most important family."
"You were the strict father."
"The gentle mother."
"The dependable older sister."
"And even the spoiled little sister who'd occasionally act cute in front of me."
"I'm happy..."
"Because I was never truly alone."
"Because you were there."
"Oh, come on, Kiritsugu."
Natalia laughed awkwardly.
"Don't say things that embarrassing."
"You're making it sound like you're proposing to me."
"If we actually meet again after this, it's going to be unbearably awkward."
She chuckled.
"...Honestly, you've got my heart all messed up."
"I was this close to begging you to save me."
"..."
Kiritsugu said nothing.
He no longer had the strength to answer.
"Haha..."
"We're only about twenty minutes from landing."
"If you keep talking like this and I end up laughing—or crying—at the critical moment, I'll be the one who's doomed."
"I'm sorry."
Kiritsugu lowered his head.
His eyes disappeared beneath the shadows cast by his bangs.
He bit down hard on his thin lips.
His fists clenched until they trembled.
The dawn grew brighter.
White seagulls began gliding overhead.
The salty sea breeze slowly dispersed the thick fog.
As the horizon cleared...
An icy chill spread through Kiritsugu's body.
And an even colder despair seeped into his heart.
"...Sigh."
Natalia let out a quiet breath.
"Maybe I've gotten old."
"My body may still be young..."
"But my heart isn't."
"No matter how careful you are, habits eventually dull your senses."
"Everyone slips up someday."
"Maybe I made this mistake because..."
"I got too attached to playing house."
"I wanted to hurry home and see you again."
"I let my guard down."
"If that's really the reason..."
"...then maybe it's time."
She looked down at her own trembling hands.
"Still..."
"How pathetic."
"I never thought I'd end up like this..."
She wasn't afraid of death.
There was something far more terrifying than death itself.
I could have endured the darkness... had I never seen the light.
"...Maybe it's finally time for me to retire."
Kiritsugu lifted the Stinger onto his shoulder.
"If you quit..."
"What will you do afterward?"
"Hmm..."
Natalia thought for a moment.
Then she laughed.
"I guess..."
"I'll just keep playing house."
"Pretending to be a homemaker."
"Pretending to be someone's mother."
Her voice became quiet.
Lonely.
Empty.
As though she might fall from the sky at any second.
"Though..."
"I still don't know who'd play the father..."
"Or the child."
"Those roles are part of the game too, aren't they?"
After a long silence, she whispered,
"If possible..."
"I'd like..."
"...to become your real family."
"..."
Kiritsugu answered with silence.
Natalia accepted that silence with one of her own.
Countless seagulls circled low around him.
Free.
Unbound.
Keeping company with the man whose fate had become irrevocably sealed in this very moment.
In the distance—
A white bird finally emerged from the morning sky.
The airplane.
"Natalia..."
"Can you hear them?"
"The cries of the seagulls?"
Bang!
Still wearing what looked like a smile—
Kiritsugu pulled the trigger.
The Stinger missile streaked across the sky, trailing a long white plume.
It flew past the white bird.
Past the blue heavens.
Past the last shred of hope remaining in Kiritsugu's heart.
Then—
The flower of despair blossomed.
Within the blazing fireball...
Natalia's final expression was one of peaceful satisfaction.
As his father.
As his mother.
As his older sister.
As his younger sister.
As simply herself.
She silently confessed to him—
I love you.
"...I love you too."
"With all my heart."
At that instant—
Every memory Kiritsugu had shared with Natalia flooded into his mind.
Like an avalanche crashing down from a snow-covered mountain.
Like a raging tsunami swallowing everything in its path.
His consciousness was completely consumed.
He had died once before.
Today...
He died again.
The black eyes that had long since lost their light now held nothing—
Nothing but an emptiness that could never be filled.
Clang!
The empty Stinger launcher slipped from Kiritsugu's hand and struck the ground.
His knees gave way beneath him.
He stared blankly ahead.
His voice quivered.
"Did you see that, Shirley?"
"I kept my promise."
"This time..."
"I didn't run away."
"Just like when I killed my father..."
"I didn't run away."
"I didn't repeat the mistake I made in front of you."
"I saved so many people..."
"As an ally of justice..."
"I saved... so many..."
His voice became increasingly fractured.
His expression slowly crumbled.
"If Natalia had landed..."
"So many people..."
"So many people would've died..."
"B-But..."
"By sacrificing her..."
"I could stop that tragedy..."
"So..."
"So..."
"Shirley, I..."
No matter how desperately he tried to justify it—
No matter how many righteous reasons he gave himself—
The grief and agony within him refused to fade.
Instead, they only grew stronger.
Until—
The final thread holding his heart together snapped.
"What kind of joke is this?!"
"What kind of joke is this?!"
"WHAT KIND OF JOKE IS THIS?!"
"BASTARD!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789