#* amakusa

...To be approached in the hall this way was unexpected. He knew Katherine was here, but he'd been doing his best to avoid prolonged conversation with her. Not because he wanted to, but because he thought it was for the best; to begin with, he had thought she wasn't the same Katherine he knew... It was bizarre to think that somehow, that woman would have left her room all on her own..

He'd thought acting as if he had no memory of the time he spent with her would spare her from approaching him; thinking it for the best not to get involved with him again, even if it only made his heart ache. Especially when he was also trying to convince himself that this isn't the same Katherine he knew, just this timeline's version of her.

Unfortunately, it would seem a certain Saber of Red who also retained his memories happened to strike up a conversation with her and slip that Amakusa had remembered everything after all. So now he was in this situation, with her calling out to him from behind and him having to decide whether or not he was going to keep walking or finally converse with her.

He chooses the latter, almost bittersweetly.

The Ruler wears a smile once he turns around to face, but it was somewhat forced even if it's impossible to tell with him. It's not that he wasn't happy to see her; those words... "old friend", maybe this was a Katherine who didn't advance a relationship with him? All the more reason to have avoided her..

And yet, one look at her was all it took for him. Her clothes weren't all too different from her usual style, and she really didn't look like she'd aged a day at all. She was still... the most beautiful woman he'd ever met. Ah...how painful.