116 Engagement

Beta Read By - XxNaRutoUcHiHaxX

—

I couldn't stop myself from wincing at Shirou's honest question, this was cruel to watch.

Maybe I should have told him to pretend..?

No, that's even more cruel, at the very least she knows that this version of Shirou isn't her big brother.

Miyu couldn't help but look at her 'onii-can' with shock, her expression went through various states, disbelief, denial, pain, depression, grief in a single span of a second.

Upon realizing that this person, who shared the exact face with her brother, except for the hair and tanned skin tone didn't recognize her, and maybe dead, the dam holding back her emotions broke and she cried in despair.

"Uunh…! Uwwaaaa!" Her legs gave out as she slammed down on the floor and began crying in sadness, pain and despair thinking that she would never see her brother again.

Shirou got really concerned at her breakdown and looked at me for an explanation.

I let out a sigh

"That was cruel you know…"

"What do you mean..?"

He muttered awkwardly, as he stood frozen in place. His eyes reflected panic, as he stood utterly clueless of what to do. His attention was switching between me and the crying Miyu

'Help me..!'

His eyes clearly reflected that message

And I, like the great friend I am

Turned my eyes away and started whistling

…

Maybe, I should help him out a bit

Clearing my throat, I spoke

"I will explain later, after we fix this mess that is. It's technically also my fault for not telling you in advance but…

Well it is what it is.

Either way we should wait for her to calm down."

After all, it's inappropriate to explain things when said person is in front of them literally having a breakdown.

Unfortunately.

*Thud*

She fainted on the ground,

It looks like her mind couldn't bear the news.

Looking at her troubled face, I let out a sigh as I picked her up and placed her back on the bed

After that my sister, who just witnessed the girl collapsing, stared at me with a hardened look.

"Explain the situation to us right now"

It wasn't like I'm not going to anyway.

"Alright, let me put her to rest first."

—

We went to the living room for better space, after which Lorelei commanded me to explain everything

Not ask,

Commanded.

"Now explain to me what happened little brother, do not miss any detail no matter how insignificant they may be."

I nodded as everyone took their seats, Shirou, Lorelei, Ai and my twins were eagerly waiting for an explanation.

Then I started.

"It begins with…"

(E/N:One thing, I don't know why)

—

So I started explaining, beginning with how I encountered Miyu (who just teleported right in front of me), who she is and how I knew her.

I mostly lied of course, the majority of what I spoke is pure bullshit. I mean there's no way I'd say that I know Miyu because of my previous life.

That's why I used my magic as an excuse and of course, D as well. She's going to be my scapegoat for this, and I would never feel guilty for using her name.

After I explained about Miyu's origin to Shirou and co.

He had this conflicted look on his face. He knew that parallel worlds exist. Archer was proof of that, not to mention Rin is Zelretch's disciple who is the user of the second magic of the Kaleidoscope with its well known domain operations of parallel universes.

Before this incident, he thought of the other parallel universes as a mirror to his own world, having a Shirou Emiya that experienced the same life as he did, albeit with a slight difference.

However, this was entirely different from what he originally thought, a divergence that shouldn't be possible.

Him having a sister..?

A biological one at that?

Shirou doesn't know what to do anymore, he was simply frozen stiff at the revelation.

And it became much worse as he realized that he unconditionally hurt his 'sister'. Accidentally, it may be, he was still responsible, after all it was something that he couldn't take back, he couldn't turn back time and change his prior words to his 'sister'.

Looking at Shirou, I'm pretty sure that he's blaming himself for what he caused toward Miyu.

I frowned and was about to stop that line of thought of his, because it wasn't really his fault.

Even if he knew, the truth would eventually be revealed whether he likes it or not, maybe it's harsh but that's how it is.

There's simply no 'if' because eventually Miyu would realize it herself anyway.

However, my sister beat me to it.

"Emiya, after being with you for years I know what you are thinking about just by looking at your expression.

You are a simple man Emiya. It's not hard to understand you…

'Ouch'

…and let me tell you that this isn't your fault, none of it is, you don't know her and reacted appropriately, and if anyone were to be faulted here it would be my brother."

I saw her giving me a glare as I let out an awkward smile.

I didn't disagree because it's the truth, besides if I try to disagree, I would dig deeper into my grave.

Worse, it would make me a self-righteous prick that won't accept that they're at fault, most magus are like that, arrogant prick with an holier than thou attitude.

Anyway, I'd like to believe myself better than them, poor comparison aside since magus aren't exactly the best people in the world to compare myself with.

I'm not evil. If a person stranded in the desert asked me for water, I would gladly help them.

But I'm no saint either. If that water bottle was the last bottle I had, I wouldn't hesitate for even a second before disregarding them and continuing on my journey while they die

I'm no saint, nor am I evil.

I'm a human, a creature with flaws, a decent person who knows what's right and morally wrong.

How does this make me different from a magus?

Well if they asked a magus for help, they would sign an unfair contract and then later get experimented on while they were still alive, to the point where even death would be mercy.

This is why I could never become a fully- fledged magus because I have compassion.

"I apologize for that."

This made Lorelei's face twitch, which was understandable, after all she taught me Barthomeloi don't apologize, which was a bullshit teaching if you ask me.

Despite the clear disapproval on her face, she didn't vocalize it, making me smirk in my mind.

If this was years ago, I would have been scolded for apologies, but right now it's different.

It was clear to see that she changed, even if only a little.

While it may not be obvious to the outsiders perspective it was different for me as her family.

This was a good thing, proving that my brother-in-law is a good influence on my super strict elder sister.

Shirou, despite being told that it wasn't his fault, didn't feel any less guilty at all.

"But I made her feel that way."

Lorelei frowned and replied with a sigh. "You are a very stubborn man Emiya…"

Then I heard her whisper the words 'And exactly one of the reasons why I love you..'

Isn't that sweet?

Either way this was going to take a while.

—-

It's been hours since Miyu fainted from the revelation that she probably wouldn't be able to see her 'real' brother

As for me, I'm entertaining my regular customers, why you ask?

(E/N - It's your job)

(A/N - Technically it is, but he's the boss, he gotta leave it to the staffs y'know?)

It's because Archer isn't here, it seemed that he listened to my advice.

Good for him, however…

Does he really have to leave immediately?!

Because he did it without notifying me at all!

I'm technically his boss and it is within my right for my employee to inform me if they want to leave!

Not to mention it's quite rude, but either way I'm not really angry, more like a bit annoyed but I understand why he was like this.

After all, knowing that you could come back to your own world was probably something that the former Counter Guardian never imagined was possible.

He even brought his protégé with him.

Anyway, I'm currently talking with some recent shop regulars.

Frieren and Himmel.

Now hear me out, I know the flow of time is different for each world, but Frieren's world takes the cake for the fastest timeline.

It hasn't even been a day since I met them, and apparently it's somehow been almost a decade for them

Though honestly, the most surprising thing in this was that apparently both of them are now engaged.

Weren't they like…friends yesterday?

Whatever I'm not going to think deeply about it, timelines are a confusing thing, period.

"Congratulations on your engagement."

"Thanks." Frieren replied in a stoic way, which would have made her look uncaring if it weren't for the small almost unnoticeable smile on her face.

While Himmel was bashful and also very proud of this achievement, originally he thought that this was an impossible feat but thanks to Flamme's push somehow he made her feel his love for her.

"T-thank you, to this day it is my proudest achievement, even defeating the Demon King didn't make me feel this way." Himmel let out a smile filled with pride.

"Good for you, now you just have to wait for a bit since I already called Flamme here."

The real reason why they're here wasn't to let me know about their engagement, they're here for Frieren's master and tell her the news about her disciple future/parallel counterpart.

And they needed my help to contact her soo, yeah they spilled the beans.

They even paid for me to call Flamme, who refuses free profit?

Certainly not me.

Then the door opened as we turned around to greet her thinking that it was Flamme

But it wasn't

Instead of a woman with orange hair, it was a woman with long white hair, wearing an inappropriate outfit. It certainly looks like sexy lingerie but it didn't feel like it because of the futuristic vibes

Her appearance was beautiful, too beautiful, in fact it's almost like her face was handmade by god himself.

However, she appeared to be wary of our presence and pointed her spear at our direction with a hostile glare. "Who are you people…?! What is this place?"

Well this was certainly unexpected.

—

A/N: A2 is here! NieR: Automata won the poll so here is it.