"Saber class Servant, Ryougi Shiki. I have answered your summons."
An elegant, soothing voice rang out amidst the column of blue-white light. Floating slightly in the air, an unassuming katana in a dark brown sheath held lightly in her left hand, adorned in a simple white kimono with a blue obi.
A goddess, even among the other breathtakingly beautiful Servants he had summoned. It almost seemed like the battlefield did not suit her.
A gentle pat of her bare feet as she touched the smooth marble stone of the summoning circle. Shiki looked at the last Master of Chaldea's awestruck face and chuckled lightly.
"…hehe, I wonder if this is good enough? I know there's a limit to being unique, but I am counting on you, Master."
It was a nostalgic feeling, actually. This wasn't the first time he had met this woman.
Yes, amidst that warm dream they shared. Her hair wasn't as long, and her kimono wasn't as ornate, but the connection that was established was unmistakably in that moment.
. . . . .
It was a beautiful dream. A bright light, filled with fluttering sakura petals.
If he had died and gone to heaven, this is what it would be.
"…It's a really warm dream, Fou," he muttered. It was an understatement. He wanted nothing more than to curl up here forever. Like being under a warm blanket on a cold winter's night.
"Oh my. For a guest to arrive here… Is this some kind of mistake?" a woman's voice gently inquired.
Normally, Ritsuka would've shot up at the voice. But he simply had no energy to do that, and so lazily turned his head to the side.
A woman was sitting in seiza amidst the fluttering petals. Her hair was a rich dark brown and flowed like a waterfall down her back and around her legs. Her eyes were a striking blue and violet, more brilliant than any gem and sparkling with warmth and gentle affection. And her garb… well, a kimono like that would probably put him nearly permanently in debt; white and gold with floral designs, and even he could tell it was of the highest make.
An Oriental goddess sat next to him.
He had seen a number of breathtakingly beautiful women during his time in Chaldea, but this one… this one was in a league of her own.
"If you're dreaming, go back to where you came from," she said, albeit it was not with any malice. A placid smile was on her face, and her eyes were half-lidded in amusement.
Was it childish of him to want to say no? He'd love to spend an eternity here.
"This is a place without boundaries. You have a name, so you shouldn't be here," the goddess elaborated, probably seeing the faint refusal in his eyes.
"Well, I woke up here…" Ritsuka countered. It's not like he wound up here by choice, and this wasn't a shared dream with one of his Servants. No one was here in this white void except the two of them, not Mashu, not even Fou, now that he thought about it.
That seemed to momentarily fluster the goddess. She blushed briefly, before she smiled broadly.
"You didn't want to be here? In that case…" she giggled. "Sorry."
Well, he's not opposed to staying here, now that he's seen heaven.
"Look like our connection was made from this side. Let me apologize while I can, Ritsuka."
What does she have to apologize for? He's never seen her before in his life. He'd know.
"I'm asleep and thus unaware of what's going on outside. But I can take a guess. I'm sure it's just another hack-and-slash type of case without a hint of romance," the woman amusedly said, a gentle smile surfacing at the latter part of her statement.
Yeah, there was certainly a… lack of romance in his life. Admittedly not for lack of effort, he just… was waiting for the right one. Father always said he'd "know" the right girl when he saw her.
And he believed he just saw her. Maybe he was reaching a bit high, but, well, he didn't control who he fell for.
"What a disaster, busy Master," the goddess shook her head in sympathy. "But it's a good thing to have things you can do, things you must do."
He wanted to talk more with her, rather than just have her talk to what was for all intents and purposes a living wall. But unfortunately, circumstances conspired against him. For one thing, her voice was just too lovely to listen to. He was almost afraid of interrupting. And for the other… well, he just simply didn't have the energy. Despite it being a dream, he felt exhausted.
"…yes, rather than talk about myself, I would love to talk more about your future, but…" she paused for a moment while light filled his eyes. The woman's figure became faint amidst the light. "…too bad, the night is almost over. Seems like this dream is about to end."
Inwardly, he felt a tinge of disappointment. He didn't want to wake up. It was rare enough that he dreamed as it is, let alone the last time he had such a dream.
"If we meet again, could you please call me by my name?"
Gladly, but… what was her name?
Before Ritsuka could ask, everything faded to white. And he was faintly aware of his alarm beeping by his bed.
. . . . .
He wouldn't deny he felt fear. After hearing Mephistopheles' declaration as to just what these three "super-ghosts" that could apparently kill any primate species worryingly easily he couldn't just disconnect from the battlefield like he used to. This one in particular, this battle, felt all too real. Maybe it was the setting so familiar to the modern day, but this one was vastly different.
He took a step back. He did have a small pocket knife that amounted to basically nothing and he did reach for that. Of course, the last Master wasn't a fool when it came to combat; he was working on improving that, just in case something came up where his Servants couldn't help him but from how Mephistopheles just gave up without a fight, well…
"You're giving up awfully easily, clown. True, we'll be done here if that's a real Monster of Gaia, but he's just a defective Monster of Alaya. If our opponent is a ghost who's fallen into madness after death, we'll just have to fight with the same amount of madness."
Honestly, he didn't understand a word of that. Just about all of that flew over his head. But he recognized that voice, from a half-remembered warm dream.
He spun to face Shiki, who was oddly quiet after that strange entity made their appearance known, and-
Ritsuka thought he had seen Shiki somewhere before, but now that she was wearing similar, if less ornate clothes than back then, now he remembered.
She had lost her red jacket and her boots, exchanging her tanto for a katana, already drawn, that gleamed in the moonlight. Her kimono had changed color as well, going from a dark blue to a pure silvery-white that reminded him of snow.
"Shiki? Huh? What's going on?" Mash asked in confusion. He was honestly just as lost as she was.
"Nice to meet you, Mash," Shiki nodded to her before offering him a small bow and smile. "Good evening, Ritsuka. I was trying my best not to come out, but given who we were fighting I had no choice. If you'd like, please use me for a little bit."
Shiki stepped forward, bare feet padding against the grass.
"Y-yes, thank you very muc-" Mash automatically began to respond, before her brain finished processing what was happening. "Wait, that's not it!" His Shielder turned to him. "Senpai, Shiki's acting weird!"
Weird, yes, but also oddly familiar. From how comfortable Shiki looked now, she looked like the ghosts were barely a threat to her even as she continued to favor them with a gaze filled with affection.
"The fact she all of a sudden changed clothes is not the problem…"
Really? That was what Mash noticed first? He kind of wanted to laugh at that, but knew it was unfair. Everything about Shiki had changed; the somewhat tomboyish, catlike, still somewhat feminine girl had suddenly shifted to become an elegant, older woman. Honestly, he noticed the voice change first.
"…it's that she's so graceful, flowers bloom in shame. She is the embodiment of pure beauty."
There's his kouhai, always giving word to his formless thoughts. She was like this with Scathach too. Yes, he was frustratingly aware of the Witch of Dun Scaith's beauty and… well-proportioned body. No, he did not need to know her body was close to the golden ratio, although he damned believed that statement. Of course, they were two kinds of beauty, and Shiki was emitting a pure kind of beauty, almost exactly like a flower, while Scathach was more like a dark seductress, unafraid to flaunt her sexual appeal and he really didn't need to think about their attractiveness right now!
Shiki blushed under Mash's flattery.
Blushed?!
"Wow, she's cute…" Ritsuka thought faintly, his reprimand only a few seconds ago disappearing immediately.
"Oh my. That's what surprises you? It's refreshing seeing you act like a girl," Shiki remarked before idly patting her head. It was Mash's turn to blush furiously under the older girl's sudden affection. It was almost maternal, in a way, Ritsuka thought.
She wore a troubled expression. "…really, it's a bit of a shame," Shiki sighed. "You aren't cut out for battle, Mash."
Ordinarily, they'd both take that as an insult. Mash was a Servant, a proud defender of humanity with her Master and senpai. At the same time, it was difficult to refute for a number of reasons, first and foremost being that Shiki wasn't technically incorrect. She was a Shielder; the last line of defense who rarely if ever left Ritsuka's side, leaving direct combat to the other Servants. If she had to take the field personally, a retreat was in short order. The second being that both of them knew that Shiki meant no offense by this statement, it was merely an idle thought.
Privately, Ritsuka still agreed with Shiki. Mash ought to have a normal life. Maybe when this is all over, they'd have a real opportunity to just relax, maybe take a brief vacation from Chaldea.
The ghost screeched, as if angered at being ignored. Truthfully, nearly everyone present had forgotten it was there. The expression on Shiki's face fell and she looked more annoyed than anything. "…hmph. You ruined the mood," she scoffed. "I was starting to feel so sad and warm, too…"
Were those necessarily good things to feel? "It's the fault of the land here that a ghost like this grew so strong," she continued, still looking vaguely annoyed. She was still ignoring the ghosts.
A contemplative expression crossed Shiki's face. "I just remembered. Is this where that mage died?"
Ritsuka was still confused. He had absolutely no idea what Shiki was talking about. But he could still see the ghost rearing back to attack her. "Shiki, behind you!" he called out.
The ghost lashed out with its' claws, only for a white blur to spin away from its grasp. The woman landed lightly beside Ritsuka and favored him with a smile. "I know. Now, let's finish this."
She turned fully to face the three ghosts, her expression becoming serious and her eyes becoming like jewels.
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, he knew they were called now. It still didn't diminish their beauty.
"You said you wanted to create a Hell here," she started to say, presumably to the shadowy entity. He wasn't sure if it was still there or not. "But that's Lord Enma's jurisdiction. Even Hell doesn't welcome an amplifier for hateful screams."
She raised the katana, blade down, almost caressing it with her left hand. "Your possible dream… let it disappear into the rift of this world."
Nine meters spanned them and the ghosts. In a flash, the katana gracefully rose and was held parallel to the ground by her side as she dashed straight at them. The goddess was simply too fast for the ghosts to react.
Nine meters of space are instantly covered by a flash of white light. In that light, Ritsuka can faintly see a single swing of the katana, a black stroke. It's only there for the barest fraction of a second.
And then Shiki is standing behind them, her arm raised, the blade above her left shoulder. A diagonal slice from the right hip to the left shoulder, as it would be on a human. The arm swings down, and the ghosts, all three of them vanish, each cut into four pieces that quickly disappear.
White petals rise to cover their eyes, and when Mash and Ritsuka can see again, the clearing is completely empty.
Her Noble Phantasm, Ritsuka assumed.
One certainly worthy of her beauty.
"Enemy ghost eliminated! Thank you very much Shi-ki…?" Mash reported, before trailing off in confusion.
Shiki was… back to normal. The red jacket was back, the boots on her feet. She was rolling her ankle, like she had tripped.
"Oww…" she grumbled. "I tripped on a tree root. That was lame of me…"
Tripped? Ritsuka would believe that when the sky turned pink. The girl, despite being by all accounts a modern human seemed to have reactions and grace worthy of a Servant, an "Eye of the Mind", if he wasn't mistaken.
It made him wonder if he had or could develop such a thing himself.
"Huh? Oh, you took care of it while I was screwing around. Thanks, Ritsuka, Mash," she strolled up to them casually.
"No, umm… that was you, actually," Mash began.
Ritsuka raised a hand. "It's okay. Let's not say anything, Mash."
"…you're right," Mash agreed after a moment. "She seems to have her reasons."
Actually, it seemed more like Shiki straight up was unaware of what happened. The look of confusion looked genuine enough at least.
"…but that kimono was so beautiful. I wish I could've asked her more questions," Mash continued in a whisper, sounding disappointed.
He agreed. He had wanted to speak more to the woman Shiki as well.
. . . . .
Yeah, during that odd singularity in the Ogawa Apartment Complex…
Still, Ritsuka was relieved. He let out a light laugh, joy on his face. "Thank god, I finally get to call you by your name."
Shiki stepped down the marble steps, smiling slightly. They both remembered that request of hers in that dream.
"Call me by my name."
"Let's get along, Ryougi Shiki," the human offered a hand to the goddess.
"Of course, Master," and the goddess took the human's hand in her own.
A/N: Originally this was planned to be an adaption of a fancomic, but the timeline there is a little bit messed up and has implementation of gameplay mechanics that doesn't translate well to a story. I do like certain elements of it however so I might adapt those a bit later. For now, however, this is a one-shot; I'm fairly happy with how it ended up, even if it was mostly just adapting event dialogue.
Nearly everything I used to describe Void Shiki is in fact what her profile says about her, so it's not just me showing excessive favoritism for my favorite SSR.
Something I wanted to try was a somewhat more romantically savvy protagonist; of course, the general "dense as a brick" protagonist or loves Mashu is a tried and safe route. But I wanted to write someone who knows very well who he wants to love, and Mashu never quite clicked with me romantically. Dear friends certainly, but not in a romantic sense.
I probably won't ever get around to writing this specific part, but the epilogue of the full story has, after the events of Lostbelt, Ritsuka taking a break from Chaldea and visiting Japan. He would later incidentally, purely by coincidence, meet Mana and Shiki after the events of the novels. Neither of them remember each other (because of Void's intervention; see her Profile 6 part) except very vaguely on Ritsuka's part, but Shiki acts unusually friendly towards him, something Mana comments on to Shiki's confusion.
This is hinted to be because of Void responding to Ritsuka's presence and "stirring"; because of her circumstances as something of a literal goddess she retains all of her memories of Grand Order. Ritsuka has permanently marred Void's personality as a "bystander" (as per Bond 4) and has given her something to yearn for.
The main reason I'd never get around to writing this is because I am not particularly confident in writing Shiki and also because I'm not entirely sure how such a segment would be received; from what I understand Shiki and Mikiya are fairly well-received and I don't want to suddenly insert a newcomer in with such a beloved character as Shiki. But, if someone wants to give it a go, feel free to.
This ship is not something that would end pleasantly for a variety of reasons and is very much full of bittersweet love. Void is fully aware of the ending while Ritsuka is ignorant of what exactly would happen. Actually, the reason Ritsuka takes a break in the epilogue in the first place is because he suddenly feels extremely hollow and empty, which is something I expect would happen after two years worth of memories of love and companionship suddenly disappear. Ritsuka is also in love with someone who cannot reciprocate his feelings because Void cannot and should not take the original Shiki's place. I'm very fond of tragic love, as it happens.