A/N: I everyone and thank you for taking time to read this serie. I just wanted to apologize for the ridiculous length of this chapter; I think you'd believe me if I told you things got out of hand.
I had to write this chapter over the span of two months because of exams and holidays. I also got a bit tired near the end. This, I hope none of this will affect the chapter's quality.
This time, it really was her alarm clock that woke her up.
*Beep* *Beep*
Matthew winced in her sleep when she heard the screeching ringing of the cloak on her shelf. She wanted to stay in the warm world of the blanket and keep her eyes sut to sleep some more. But the cringeworthy alarm kept shouting at her to wake up and its metaphorical hands was dragging Matthew out of her peaceful sleep.
Little by little, her mind floated away from the sweet dreams where concerns and responsabilities didn't exist, and her sensitivity to reality came back to her. Matthew's eyes delicately opened and filled with the dim morning light flowing through her window. Once her mind was fully awakened, she saw her bedroom.
Resigning herself to the idea that she couldn't go back to sleep even though the warmth of her blanket was still surrounding her, she had no choice but to get up. When she did however, she felt an unexpected pain in her arms and her back. Come to think of it, her whole body was completely sore and she felt really heavy for some reasons.
"Ouch...aw, aw...Oh, even my butt hurts!"
Matthew groaned and ignored the pain running through her body to get up from her bed while wondering why she was in that state.
Then, she remembered why. She remembered the day yersteday; her being late for the entrance ceremony, her desperate yet determined race through the town, the weird man with ribbons she ran into, her deadly ordeals before she could reach the school, as well as the one who had her go through them.
Now that she was remembering all these events which happened in the span of an hour or so, she noticed that she barely had any memory of the ceremony itself.
"Although it was supposed to be the most importantevent of the day, I fainted as soon as I arrived there..." Matthew cried while she dragged her wreck toward the bathroom to wash her face.
Even her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom showed just how much she had suffered. From what she remembered, she fainted when the entrance ceremony was ending, and she was transported to the infirmary where she woke up several hours later. She then walked home wrapped in bandages because of the injuries she got when she jumped off the train.
Matthew was extremely sturdy for a girl her age (or for a normal human being) so she didn't need to keep them after she returned home, and she didn't even have a cold from her swim in the river.
"Uuugh, I don't want to keep hinking about it. I want to forget all about it!"
One thing that was magic about sleep was how it could erase her memories for a short time even after she woke up. Unfortunately, she was bound to remember what had happened the day before and all Matthew could do was whine pitifully with her painful back bent forward.
What was supposed to be her first day as a true highschool girl, her first step toward her dream life had been a complete disaster.
(I want to start over. Give me a reset button, God!)
It was in this this sullen mood that Matthew went downstair. In term of size and of disposition, her house was pretty average, although it was filled with many strange objects. Right now, she was the only one living in this house meant for at least three people. It had been like that for a while; since her parents worked oversea, they were rarely home and Matthew had to take care of her home all by herself.
She didn't really mind though. It wasn't like she never saw her parents of the entire year. They would also occasionally call her to check up on her, so it wasn't not like she felt lonely. And also, this situation had helped her develop a certain independance; Matthew was confident that she could fill the role of a housewife right now.
"Hmm, but before being a housewife, I must be a highschool girl! Cheer up, Matthew!"
That's right! Just because the first day was a disaster didn't mean she had no way of turning the situation around! If she kept dwelling on the past, she would never be able to move forward.
(Where has your fighting spirit gone, Matthew Kyrielite?! Weren't you supposed to be born anew?! This highschool uniforme is supposed to be your new skin! Wear it with pride!)
"Yoshaaa!"
Matthew roared up to show her determination, though in truth she was just trying to muster courage to face her fate.
"Alright! It'll be A-L-R-I-G-H-T! And it's not like yersteday was the first day. After all, I didn't even get to show up at the entrance ceremony. That's right! Today is the day where I'll meet my classmates for the first time, so today is my real first day!" Matthew herself wasn't sure why she was so serious about her first day, but it's something very important to her so please don't judge her. "Hm! Yersterday, people only had a glimpse of me. They only saw me barging into the gym!...completely wet...and scruffy...uuugh...and then I lost consciousness in front of them..."
Matthew wanted to cry again.
Not only had she been late at the entrance ceremony, but the first impression she gave of herself was pitiful as well.
The sight of the unused toaster in the kitchen didn't help her psych up either. Rather, it was only remembering her the vivid taste of regret coupled with the sensation of waste.
"At any rate there's gonna be some weird rumor about me going around on the first day." Matthew sobbed. "Like: 'Hey, I've heard Kyrielite-san likes running around and swim into the river in a frenzy until she collapses', or worse 'did you know Kyrielite-san is a delinquent?"!"
No, she definitely couldn't allow this, especially the later! They say it's the first impression that matter! Her life as a highschool girl would not recover from such a blow! She had no choice but to correct this image of her today in front of her other classmates.
Matthew prepared a rich breakfast to give her strength for the trials to come, but her food was mixed with the bittersweet taste of tears and tragedy.
"Anyway, crying won't help out of this, will it?" Matthew sighed and rested her head on the table in front of her. "Well, I guess I'm worrying to much about this. I mean, just because I was covered on bruises and soaking wet, people won't think I'm a delinquent, right?"
Now that she was calming down and thinking a bit more rationaly, Matthew was starting to cheer up a bit. She really wanted to stay holed up in her house with her head on the table, but she had to go out and face the consequences of her own actions. She had worked very hard to be able to register into the famed Seihai High, she couldn't give up because of so little.
"And it's not like it really was my fault. It's all Mordred-san's fault if I had to go through this giant parkour!"
Speaking of Mordred, Matthew didn't know what to think of him. Although they fought side by side to reach the school and defeat the formidable opponent that was the gatekeeper, he still had her swim across a river and do some other very dangerous stuff. And also, he used her as a shield against Sasaki-san.
"In hindsight, I know exactly what to think of him. I don't want to see his face again."
Perfect highschool girl wannabe Matthew sighed again. In any case, it was almost time for her to go to school, or else she would have to run like crazy again.
"My body is too sore for that."
But just as she was cleaning up the table before heading out, Matthew heard the doorbell ring all of sudden.
"Eh? Who could it be at this time?" Matthew stopped in her cleaning and headed toward the intercom, filled with curiosity. "I hope it isn't a dubious salesman trying to sell me some shady product again."
By the time she reached the intercome, the doorbell had rang a second time. Whoever was at the door must have been in a hurry.
"Yes, yes, I'm coming, geez."
But when Matthew looked at the screen on the interphone, she immediatly recognized the person standing on her doorstep. Their voice too, although she had only heard it for a short while, she could never forget.
Sweat beads appeared on Matthew's forehead and ran down her face, making a loud sound like an explosion each time one of them touched the floor.
"Mashu-chan! Open uuuuup!" The cheerful voice resounded through the mic.
Yes, it was it. The same smiling, carfree face which had told her without hesitation to jump off the running train.
"Cooome oooon. Mashu-chaaan."
Mordred-san was right in front of Matthew's home, calling her name loudly and ringing the door repeatedly like a kid.
*Ding* *Ding* Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* Ding* *Ding* *Ding*
"Maaaaashuuuuuu-chaaaaaan. I came to pick ya up!"
The endless fanfare resounding loudly in her ears and teasing her nerves, Mashu stood motionless in front of the intercom. Her arm was still raised, her finger ready to push the button to open the door.
But she wasn't moving.
She couldn't move.
(I...want to ignore him...Can I ignore him?...I can, right?)
Yes, that was the best option. Just like dealing with a wild beast, the best way was not to react and not to make a single movement until it went away. Mordred would surely eventually get bored of ringing and calling her in vain, and would go to school without her.
*Ding* *Ding* Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* *Ding* Ding*
(Urgh...Courage, Matthew. This is your first obstacle! You must overcome it splendily!)
Eventually, the noise piercing her ears ceased, and Mordred took the expression of a disappointed kid.
Finally, he would go away.
Or at least that's what Matthew-chan thought.
"Hmm, maybe she's just asleep?" Mordred's face brightened up. "Then I'll surprise her by waking her up! I guess I can break through one of the window..."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Matthew hastily pushed the intercom's button and spoke with a desperate voice. "I'll open the door so please don't break any thing!"
Mordred grabbed a baseball bat which was lying at his feet.
"I said waaaiiiiit!"
Chapter I: Let's Visit Seihai High!
In the end, Matthew had no choice but to go to Seihai High with Mordred. She still prefered this than having a broken window and to have Mordred arrested for vandalism.
It wasn't as hard as she had expected, in the end. After she reacted to Mordred's savageness and had blown up her cover, Mordred didn't force her to do anything crazy like they did yersterday. Instead, they calmly walked up to the train station and were now on board in direction of the school, all the while listening to Mordred's energic statements or jokes.
But Matthew was still very uncomfortable about something. Namely the fact that Mordred had come to pick her up. To be sure, she never gave him her adress; in fact, she was pretty sure Mordred's home was on the opposite side of the town, far away from Matthew's. The first word that came to Matthew's mind was 'stalker'.
It didn't help reassure Matthew, and the highschool girl hesitated before asking about it.
"Er, Mordred-san?"
"Mm? What is it, Mashu-chan?"
Mordred was looking at her with a broad smile that didn't ressemble a stalker's. But Matthew had read enough manga to know that they all acted all sweet at first, but then they wander around with an empty gaze and a knife in their hand!
"How comes you came to pick me up this morning?"
"Oh, that? Well, I thought it would be fun to walk to school together. We're friend after all, isn't it?"
Mordred winced at Matthew with his thumb up, but she didn't feel any better. Rather, what disturbed her this time was the word 'friend'. She especially remembered how Mordred crushed her fragile highschool girl heart yersterday by refusing her friendship, but now he was saying they were friends.
"Hmm...friends, right?"
"Yeah! I thought ya were boring at first, but ya were so manly during our fight with old man Kojiro!"
"...ugh...manly, huh?"
That was it. Matthew would definitely strangle him later. Matthew felt the urge to hit Mordred growing inside her, slowly approaching the boiling point.
But she still had things to ask him so she decided to let it slide for now.
"But Mordred-san, how did you know where I live? I don't remember telling you."
"Right, it was bothering that I didn't know where ya lived if I wanted to pick ya up, so I asked the chairman for yer adress."
"Oh, I se- wait! You asked the chairman!"
"Yeah, I did. Why?"
Mordred tilted his head in confusion. Apparently he didn't understand how casually calling your highschool's chairman for someone's adress was a problem.
"But...I mean...wouldn't that annoy the chairman? And shouldn't he refuse to give you information about another student?! Surely he can't be allowed to do that!"
"Nah, he's cool with it." Mordred's expression when he replied probably intended to tell Matthew it was alright.
But Matthew wasn't feeling alright at all. If anything, this revelation gave her contradicting feelings. On the one hand, she was relieved to learn Mordred didn't follow her in secret to know where she lived. On the other hand, she didn't feel secured in the school where the chairman freely gave away information about his students to anybody.
"Speaking of the chairman, I was too late at the e ntrance ceremony to see him. How is he like?"
"Hmm, well in one word, he's a pervert."
"A pervert?!"
Mordred was laughing as if the idea of it was very funny. Matthew on the other hand was wondering how this man managed to keep his job as the chairman of one of the most prestigious schools of the country.
"Yeah, he always talk about romance even though he's an old man! But he's very funny to talk with, and he gives me pocket money!"
"Eh, you sound like you know him well, Mordred-san."
"Of course! My father and the chairman are old friends, so he comes over from time to time. He's like a fun hentai oji-san!"
"Ah, I see. I guess?"
Actually, Matthew felt like she was still stuck at square one. Mordred seemed like the type of person who can easily be friendly with people, but it also looked like he had the mentality of a four-year-old. As such, she didn't know if she could give any credit to his description.
But anyway, Matthew started to feel better around Mordred. She was even able to laugh at some of his jokes
(I guess I really worried for nothing. Mordred-san doesn't seem like a bad person.)
Because she had been too much in a hurry yertserday, Matthew didn't take a good look at the school.
When she and Mordred arrived at the good station and got off the train, she saw Seihai High in the distance, standing tall and proud. She looked at its white buildings where students will be taking class, the wide courtyard which also served as a gym court, and the alley bordered by cherry blossom and leading toward the main building.
She had a hard time realizing, in her mind, that she would be going there from now one. It wasn't that she was poor, but until now she had only gone to normal schools; nothing that can compare with Seihai High in term of size and reputation. In fact, she still thought she was dreaming and that there was no way it was true.
Yet, with each step she was taking in direction of the school gate, she understood it was really happening, and her feeling of anticipation that she had lost the previous morning returned and fillled her whole body with excitation.
Yes. Right now, she was walking the stairway to the highschool life she had always only dreamed of.
The weather was nice: they were in the middle of spring, so the temperature was neither too cold nor too hot; just perfect. The morning sun was still rising isly in the sky, dying the later with shades of blue and pink. A small breeze was blowing, caressing her skin softly and made her hair flutter aound gently, as though she was flying.
Ah, that was too much.
Matthew's heart was filled with so much happiness that she could have a heart attack any moment now.
"Haha! Why are ya making such a weird face, Mashu?"
Mordred teased her while laughing (or maybe he was seriously asking this question).
All around the two of them, other teenagers wearing the same uniforme as them were also walking in direction of the school, chatting and gossiping between them. Some were gathering between friends from the same middle school while other were saluting people they had met the day before and making new friends. The closer Matthew and Mordred got to the school gate, the more students there were. Matthew was bathing in delight from seeing all these normal teenage boys and girls all discussing happuly like highschool students should. However, she didn't notice some other students glancing at her weirdly.
(Ah, I'm so happy...! I was afraid that maybe everyone here was like Mordred-san, but this place truly is the haven for a highschool girl, right? It is true, isn't it?!)
Yet, when she took her first step into the school of her dreams, Matthew heard a familiar voice calling her.
"Hello there, Mashu-san."
When she heard it, Matthew reacted immediatly by instinct, and spined around in direction of the voice, guarding herself and ready to square off.
Yeah, there was no doubt. This composed and mocking voice could only belong to one person! But this time, Matthew wouldn't let herself be taken by surprise! She will fight back...!
"Gate Keeper of Hell!"
"Oh, it's old man Sasaki. Good morning!"
"Ah, Mordred-kun is there too."
Sasaki Kojiro, a.k.a The Gate Keeper of Hell (so Matthew called him), was waving at them from the gate. Matthew could still feel the beating he gave her and Mordred the day before all over her body. Even after Mordred used her as a human shield, they weren't able to go through Sasaki easily. That was why, Matthew was striking a pose and ready to fight again!
"You won't beat me this time!"
The sudden agitation attracted the rest of the students passing by, and Matthew in particular received incredulous and suspicious gazes.
"Aha! Don't worry, I won't attack you if you're not late."
"R-really?"
Matthew hesitated. For a second she thought it was a ruse to make her lower her guard and she kept the pose.
When she understood the staff member would truly not attack her, Matthew finally relaxed and put both legs on the ground. The students who had gathered around them, seeing that nothing would happen, scattered and resumed their chattering, some with looks of disappointment as if they wanted to see them fight.
(What kind of highschool students would sigh when a fight was avoided! Ah, it can't be...! They were disappointed in me! Of course, they thought I was a turbulent little girl who is unworthy of being a highschool girl!)
Matthew's shoulder dropped and she looked at her feet in despair. During this time, Mordred was chattering with Sasaki-san.
"I want to have another fight with ya! This time I'll beat ya for sure!"
"Ahaha, it'd be my pleasure to whip the floor with you again. I'd like to face Mashu-san another time too. Your fighting spirit yesterday was quite something!"
"I don't want to!" Matthew cried."What's with you all!"
"Come on, Mashu! Let's beat him together!"
"No! I'm sure you're thinking of hiding behind me again! Plus, if classes will start soon, we have to go."
"Hmph, ya killjoy." Mordred pouted, not denying it.
(What do you mean, 'killjoy'?) Matthew clenched her fist so hard a vein popped up. (Shouldn't you be thanking me for sparing you a one-sided beatdown? Or did you lose all your meninges from jumping off trains!)
But she was able to contain her anger and took a deep breath. She let out a huge sigh and headed to the main building.
"I guess Mordred-san is like that."
"Ya said something, Mashu?"
"Nothing!" Matthew denied with a smile and sparkles.
They were now both heading to their classroom. Matthew was thanksful that Mordred was in the same class as her since she didn't know where the Saber classroom was.
Ah, but maybe she should explain what was the 'Saber class'.
In normal schools, there were usually five classes in each years, from A to E. However, at Seihai High, there were actually seven: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker. Apparently, new students were divided among the different classes depending on their results in the entrance exams as well as psychology test, or at least that's what Matthew read on the school's publicity campaign.
(Do schools usually have publicity campaigns though?)
There was no more information as to how it worked, so Matthew wasn't even sure it was true. She had been surprised though, when she learnt that the entrance exams included a fitness test, but it went without a problem. She may not look like it, but Matthew's specs were quite high. That she was still alive against all odds was the proof of it.
(Still, the psychology test was strange. The first questions were classic but...)
Before even taking the test, all the contestant had to sign a Geis-whats-its-name contract or something, assuring they would tell the truth, all the truth and only the truth. But what made Matthew's senses tingle were the questions. At first, they were normals, like if they would help an old person cross the road, or if they had any hobbies. And then, there were questions like "Do you like mapo tofu?" or "Do you have a life insurance?".
The one that worried Matthew the most was "Have you ever tried or do you wish to attempt to our chairman's life?".
Now that she thought back about it, Matthew was feeling even more uneasy.
"Hey, Mordred-san. Are you sure the chairman's just a pervert?"
But Mordred wasn't listening to her; instead, he was humming excitedly while walking toward a door with "1-Saber" written above it. He walked into the room without an ounce of hesitation, leaving Matthew alone outside.
"I guess no can do. Mordred-san is too excited." Matthew laughed gently like a mother whose child was too excited to sleep. "I wonder why he was still carrying that baseball bat though."
Anyway, she had no time to wonder about that.
Finally, she was there. Behind this door awaited her classmates: proper highschool boys and highschool girls, only waiting for her to step inside.
(Alright!) Matthew prepared mentally and fired up. (I have to show them what kind of girl I am!)
Carefully, Matthew opened the sliding door, and entered the light. Inside, the students were too busy chatting between them to notice her.
(It might be better that way. I'll change their opinion of me when we'll have to present ourselve.)
Matthew looked around the classroom to find an empty seat. She only found one, probably meaning she was the last one arrived. Thus, she had no choice but to go sit at the back corner next to the window.
"Oiiii, Mashu!"
Mordred was waving at her from the seat right in front of hers. They were both sitting next to each other as if it was by fate. In all honesty, Matthew would have prefered a class neighbor who was less...turbulent. But since it couldn't be helped, Matthew reluctantly sat down.
"So? What do ya think of it?" Mordred asked her curiously while rest his head on his arms with a radiating smile.
"Mmh, I'm not sure."
Of course, Matthew's heart was bursting with excitation at the idea of being in her new classroom. But she had to admitt that, at first glance, this classroom looked pretty ordinary. That was probably normal, after all. It wasn't like Seihai High boasted uniqueness (although what she had seen so far was rather unusual).
As she didn't know what to do while waiting for the teacher to arrive, Matthew tried to spark a conversation with one of her other neighbors, a boy sitting to her right. He was a bit taller than her by a paper thin difference. He seemed like a more serious person than Mordred, with short purple hair and an indifferent look.
"G-good morning...!" Matthew was so nervous she stuttered a bit.
The boy seemed to notice her presence and turned his head.
"...Good morning." He replied in a small voice as expressionless as his face.
It wa strange to have someone look at you with this kind of expression; you couldn't guess what they were thinking of you. Was he in a good mood? A bad mood? There was no way to know.
When she heard his voice though, Matthew felt like she had already heard it before, but she also felt it was accompagned with bitter memories so she tried not to remember. But she couldn't stop her memory, and the event of the day before came back to haunt her, even though she was supposed to be so happy. But at the same time, it allowed her to reconize the person she was talking to.
"Ah, you were the students representative! Galahad-san...is it?"
"...Yes. I'm also the student council president. Nice to meet you."
(The student council president!) Matthew flared. (The student council president is sitting next to me! Whta is this kind of development?!)
"...So?"
"Huh?"
"What is it you wanted to tell me?"
Galahad was pretty straightforward; but that was probably a quality for the student council president.
"Ah, err,... ah! It looks like we're gonna be neighbors for a time, so let's get along, Galahad-san!"
"...Okay."
"..."
It was a bit discouraging. It was a wonder how this person was elected with such oral skills. Matthew decided it was better to leave it at that and refocused her attention on her empty desk.
However, this time it was Galahad-san who touched her shoulder to get her attention.
"Ah, I almost forgot but...you're Mashu-san, right?"
"Y-yes." (How comes they all mispronounce my name!)
But Matthew was used to it, so she let it slide.
"...I hope you won't cause any trouble."
"Eh? W-why would I cause any trouble?"
"...?" Galahad tilted his head. "...Well, because of what I heard."
"He? What you heard?"
Galahad nodded.
"...The rumors about you."
"The rumors?!" Matthew jumped on her sit.
So there were rumors after all! Nooooooooo! Matthew had prayed, she had comforted herself, thinking there wouldn't be such a thing, but there were rumors about her! And these rumors were saying she was a trouble person!
"A-ah...aaaaa..." Matthew collapsed tragically on her desk, trembling from the mighty blow her heart received. "G-Galahad-san...these rumors, what are they?"
"Mh?"
Galahad brought his finger to his chin, trying to remember. After a moment that seemed an eternity to Matthew, he finally, the executionner anounced his sentence.
"...Things like 'Kyrielite-san likes running around and swim into the river in a frenzy until she collapses' or 'Kyrielite-san is a delinquent'."
"Why is it exactly how I had imagned it!"
This time, tears of regret came to Matthew in this vulnerable state.
"...Please, don't swim in the river."
"I won't! I never swim into the river! Who spread such slander against me?!"
"..."
Galahad looked at her an instant, and then raised his finger slowly to point at the culprit. It was pointing at the person in front of Matthew.
"Whyyyy, you traitor!" Matthew's hands flew and grabbed Mordred's collar. "How can you pretend to be my friend and do something so atrocious!?"
"Hahahahaha! What did ya do to have such rumors about ya, Mashu-chan?"
"What did YOU make me do!"
But Mordred-san wasn't looking straight at her, instead turning his eyes away in another direction. His face was laughing, but his hadn was squeezing Galahad's finger tightly. A spark of enmity lit when the two boys' gazes met. Even Galahad's expressionless eyes filled with an undescriptable emotion as the two were having a stare fight.
"You reap what you sow, Mordred-kun."
"Dammit...Galahad, I'll get back at ya for that...!"
"Do the two of you know each other?"
Matthew couldn't help but wonder. Her two classmates looked like they wee used to this kind of fighting.
"...Yes. We live under the same roof." It was Galahad who answered her.
"Under the same roof? You two are sinblings?!"
Matthew scrutinized them thoroughly with her eyes squinted, but no matter how much she looked, they didn't look alike.
""No!"" Mordred and Galahad both turned toward her and shouted in unison.
"Eh..."
But something felt off to Matthew.
(They always argue with each other...and then unexpectedly answer in unison...? Wait, that means...!)
Realization dawned upon Matthew as she saw the two boys wrestling despite the distance separating them, and she snapped her fingers.
"You two are actually good friends!"
"...What?"
"What are ya sayin' with that smile?"
The two boys stopped wrestling an instant to give her a confused look. But before they could inquire further about her comment, everyone in the class stopped chatting at once.
"What's going on?"
"...The teacher is here."
Galahad was right. Matthew could here footsteps coming closer to the door; the homeroom teacher would enter any second now. Galahad and Mordred let go of each other's collar and sat up straight...no, actually, only Galahad was sitting normally. Mordred contented to grin evilly while cracking his knucles.
But before Matthew could inquire about the meaning of this, the classroom's door opened all of sudden and the Saber class stepped in. Before, Matthew used to wonder what her teacher would be like. Would they be a mature adult looking after their student? Or rather the cool type of teacher wearing an Hawaiian shirt on their day off? In any case, the teacher was an important part of a true highschool girl's life.
For this reason, she had been excited to meet her teacher. So when the figure crossed the entrance of the holy place of learning, Matthew held her breath.
And then, she choked.
"Please remain silent." The teacher walked up to the desk at the front of the room. "Nice to meet you all. I will be your homeroom teacher for the year to come." Then, the teacher wrote their name on the board. "My name is Artoria Pendragon. Nice to meet you."
(They have the same face!)
Matthew's heart missed a beat! In fact, she's pretty sure it actually stopped for a moment!
The teacher was man...woman...hell, she wasn't even sure! They were wearing a suit so they had to be a man. Alright, so a man of small stature, wearing a suit and holding some papers under his arm. So far, nothing anormal. The problem was his face: gracious features, short golden hair and an ahoge...exactly the same as Mordred!
It wasn't just that they face looked alike; they were the exact same! They were the exact same size too! It was a Mordred number 2! When Matthew realized this, she felt her consciousness wavering and a bit of foam forming at the corning of her mouth.
(Kami-sama please noooooo! They're multiplying! They're duplicating! I can't take another Mordred-saaaaaaan!)
She had no choice but to support herself with her arms not to fall off the tables, and she breathed heavily. Doing this attracted a few curious gazes from her other classmates. For a second, Matthew was afraid she might reinforce the rumors running around about her even more, and she tried her best to look normal, with little success.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), what happened next grabbed everyone's attention without a fault.
Just when the teacher was putting down the papers he was holding on the table and that Matthew-chan was sitting on her chair as if someone was recording her, a loud cry resounded inside the classroom, like thunder disrupting a peaceful day.
"OooootooouUU-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The cry had come from right in front of Matthew, and the sudden noise made her heart stop a second time. The origin of the noise, Mordred, had abruptly stood up at the exact same moment he had started to shout. In the split of a second, he had started to run in direction of the teacher, holding his baseball bat firmly with both hands. However, there was a certain distance to close betwen the two of them. Mordred put his weight one one leg and jumped on a random classmate's desk, before jumping a second time across the classroom. The strength of the jumped flipped the desk which fell heavily on the floor witha loud noise, but everyone was too mesmerized by the unrealistic event to care. Mordred took support ona second desk, this time to gain momentum. The owner of the table had a second to lean their head out of the way.
Finally, with a great jump worthy of the olympics, Mordred-san pounded on Arotoria-sensei with his baseball bat ready to strike. But when the dangerous instrument was less than a meter away from the teacher's head, the latter graciously evaded the strike as though they had expected it.
Artoria-sensei held out his hand tomard the desk with a piercing gaze, and grabbed a strangely long ruler laying there. It wasn't a ruler made of plastic, but of hard wood! On his part, Mordred landed skillfully on the ground, but his balance was swaying because he had used to much momentum, and he couldn't react immediatly. Artoria-sensei took this opportunity to send a powerful strike on Mordred's leg, consequently sweeping him off the ground!
Yet, Mordred was completely unfazed by being thrown off. At the moment his body entered in contact with the floor again, he kicked off the ground to spin on himself while also standing back up. Doing so not only allowed him to retaliate immediatly, but it also gave enough speed to his bat to make a powerful attack!
However, this too was useless.
Artoria-sensei saw he attack coming and, with a superb movement like a professional swordman, he blocked Mordred's arm that was holding the bat with the wooden ruler. The sudden impact on his wrist combined with his own arm's speed made Mordred let go of his weapon, successfully disarming him.
However, doing this didn't stop the baseball bat which soared through the classroom like a black lightning bolt. Then, it effectively collided with Galahad's head with all its speed and power, sending him flying off his chair.
Assisting to this tragic collateral damage finally allowed Matthew to come out of her torpor.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Galahad-san, are you okay?!"
"...I'm fine." Galahad's expression remained unchanged.
"You're clearly not fine! There's blood coming out of your forehead!"
But the fight between Mordred-san and Artoria-sensei wasn't done yet. Mordred was now empty-handed and facing the redoutable wooden ruler alone. The outcome was unavoidable: with a single precise and powerful movement, Artoria-sensei landed a superb blow on Mordred's forehead. The delinquent student flew back, bouncing and rolling over several table before stopping, half-slumped over Matthew's desk...with his eyes rolled backward.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Seriously." Artoria-sensei put aside the wooden ruler and rubbed his forehead with a frustrated sigh. "Have some restrain! You're already making trouble on the first day."
"S-sensei, I don't think he can hear you."
"Hm?"
Artoria-sensei looked at Matthew as if he just now noticed her presence, even though it was her desk Mordred was sprawled over. Then, he seemed to reconize her and opened his mouth.
"That's right, Kyrielite-san. I heard you weren't there for the visit of the school yersterday."
(I-is it common knowledge by now...?)
"Hmm, that could be a problem." The teacher held his chin in his hand. "I wouldn't want you to get lost and die by accident."
(Wait, why is death the first thing that come to your mind?)
"You!" Artoria-sensei pointed at Mordred who was still lying unconscious. "I should put you in the hallway for troubling classes, but since you are here, why not make Kyrielite-san visit our school?"
"Understood, otousama!"
"Don't call me otousama; call me sensei!"
As though these words had filled him with energy, Mordred's eyes came back to normal and he immediatly stood up to salute.
"Come on Mashu! Let's visit~!"
"Wait, don't grab me like that!"
Mordred cheerfuly grabbed Matthew's wrist and dragged her toward the door. Artoria-sensei also allowed Galahad to go to the infirmary. Thus, the three of them were now standing outside the classroom: one with his forehead bleeding, one with a big red mark on his head, and one who already had two heart attacks in the span of one minute.
Now, that they were alone in the corridor, Matthew could finally ask:
"What the hell, Mordred-san!?"
"Mm? What are ya talking about?"
"Why did you suddenly attack the teacher! Do you crave battle that much?! You'll seriously get fired if you do that again."
"Oh, that. Don't worry, it happens all the time!"
"What do you mean, all the time?!"
"...At least keep this out of the classroom, Mordred-kun."
"Mind yer business!" Mordred stuck out his tongue at Galahad and pushed Matthew in the opposite direction.
"Ah, Galahad-san, you should hurry to the infirmary and have your wound checked as fast as possible!"
"...No, I'm fine."
"You're not fine! Your head is still bleeding!"
"...I know but I'd rather not have the nurse check it; she might make it worse."
"Wa, what kind of nurse makes injuries worse...?"
"So instead I'll just try to sneak up and still some bandages...Have fun you two."
And with that, Galahad put a safety helmet on and walked in another direction with a serious expression. This only made Matthew worry more as she followed Mordred in the hallways of the highschool.
"Say, Mordred-san, is this nurse really bad?"
"Nyu? Well, I heard she's good."
"Then why-"
"In fact, she's the one who took care of ya after yersterday. I heard it took several person to prevent her from amputating yer leg."
"..." Matthew spinned around dramatically. "GALAHAD-SAN!"
"So Artoria-sensei is your father? Not your clone?!"
"Yeah! Everyone keep saying we look a lot alike." Mordred laughed heartily, but Matthew wasn't really amused.
"No, this can't be...! Forget looking alike, they have the same face! I'm sure he's his clone -no worse, Mordred-san is the clone! An homonculus or something created from Artoria-sensei's DNA, there's no other explanation!"
"Mh? What are you muttering, Mashu-chan?"
Leaving the matter of Galahad aside, Mordred was now showing Matthew the way around school. Given the size of their school ground, it would probably take a while to see everything. Thus, Matthew had expected Mordred to limit their visit to the main building. Yet, her classmate seemed determined to show her the entirety of the school right now. By now, they had left the main building (where there were apparently only the Saber class classrooms and some clubrooms) and were walking down the schoolyard.
"Over there, there is the cafeteria! And over there, it's the shooting range!"
Mordred was full of energy as usual. Mh? Strangely, Matthew could already use the expression 'as usual' to talk about Mordred.
(Ugh, I guess I've been around him for too long...)
But it was true that Mordred was the only person in school that she knew.
(Ah, but there is Galahad-san too.)
Matthew remembered her short encounter with the student council president this morning. There was at least one nice person here! Matthew elt like whaling again.
"And here is the Berserker class building! Hey, Mashu, yer listening?"
"Ah! Erm, yes yes!"
Mordred-san was now leading her toward another building quite similar to the one they had left. The only difference was that it was more...clean? Normally, even the most well-maintained schools would have some mold in the corners, or at least some grafitis on the walls somewhere. Yet, all Matthew could think when she looked at what was apparently the Berserker class building was that it was reflecting the sunlight way too well.
"Mordred-san, why are the different classes split in different buildings? Wouldn't it make more sense to put them all in the same building to save space?"
"I dunno. I only know the Saber class is located near the chairman's office for trust issues, but I'm not too sure about the others."
(Again with that mysterious chairman! I wonder what he looks like...)
"By the way, Mordred-san-"
"Ya can just call me Mordred, ya know Mashu-chan. After all, you're my buddy!" Mordred declared cheerfully while passing his arm around Matthew's shoulders.
"Ugh, I would feel a part of me dying if I did this...Anyway, Mordred-san, how comes you know the school so well?"
"Uh? What do ya mean? Isn't it normal to know your own school?"
"But you were too late for the tour yersterday as well, right? Yet you seem to know the place all too well. Artoria-sensei seemed to know about it too!"
"Well, you know how I alway dreamed of join Seihai High, right?"
"No, this is the first time I hear about i-"
"So I used to come here often to see for myself, so I know my way around here like nowhere else!"
"Oh, I see. Hihi, you were so excited and impatient you came here to visit many times, right?"
Matthew chuckled gently while in her mind she could see a young Mordred-san jumping off a train and coming to Seihai High under the excuse of visiting his father. Mordred may have the behavior of some manga character (in a bad way), but she found touching how some people kept a childmind and a certain innocence in spite of life's harshn-
"Nah, I snuck inside."
"...I beg your pardon?"
"It is forbidden for non-students to enter the school, and the old man just wouldn't give me a map." The boy complained. "I tried to enter at night, but the security is just too damn tight. But there's a guy here who can smuggle you in if you bribe him with mapo tofu!"
"..."
Why? Why was it that Matthew wasn't even surprised anymore? For some reason, rather than tsukkomi like she always did, Matthew decided to rub her temples in a vain attempt to forget about what she just heard. Anyway, this explained that, end of the story. Whatever this smuggling story was, it was probably illegal so she should just forget about it.
At any rate, Matthew followed Mordred inside the Berserker class building.
Berserker class
"...Clean like a baby bottom."
The interior gave exactly the same feeling than the exterior; everything was so clean the hallway was litterally sparkling. All the windows were opened, letting a cool breeze bath the hallway in a fresh scent. In fact, the fresh scent was due to some oranges and lemons being disposed near the windows. It was as if Matthew and Mordred were dirtying this place just by walkng in it.
"I can even see my reflection on the floor. That's crazy!"
As they progressed through the building, Matthew could see that it was the same for all the rooms: perectly cleaned and aerated. The equipment as well had been thoroughly washed and disposed in order.
"Is it the Berserker class who did this marvel?!"
"Mmh, no; that would be the janitor."
"The janitor? What kind of superhuman are they?!"
"He, I see you know what yer talking about." Mordred's gaze sharpened. "He truly is a superhuman! He is one of the strongest person in Seihai High! Some say he is even capable of cleaning a whole classroom under a minute! And that his cooking is on par with the gods'!"
"Whoaaa! He truly is the strongest!"
Actually, those sounded more like a housewife's qualities than a janitor's, but it was still completely awesome nonetheless. As someone who takes care of her house by herself, Matthew couldn't help but respect and admire this unknown janitor. She stood straight and saluted toward the lemon half sitting by the window!
"Whoever you are, thank you! You truly are this school's hero!"
"Haiiiiii!" Mordred saluted with Matthew.
But they shouldn't let this timely view make them forget about the visit, and Matthew quickly resumed walking down the hallway. In fact, she felt so light and alive to breath all this freshness time she was skipping like a bunny, even though it's forbidden to run in the hallways.
"Quick, Mordred-san! Let's continue the vis-Omphf!"
But upon cheerfully turn around the corner, Matthew's face met with something hard like a wall and her butt landed painfully on the impeccable floor with a soft sound.
"O-ow...What is-..."
Matthew looked up while rubbing her nose to see what she had rammed into. At first sight, it was a wall. A big black wall blocking the way. Matthew had had the impression she had ran into a wall, so it had to be a wall. But then, the wall bent over to look at her. It was at this point in time that Matthew's alarm rang like never when she realized the wall was actually a 250 cm tall monster with vaguely humanoid form, ripped body, lead-colored skin and long completely wild hair. One of its eye was red whereas the other was yellow, and when he opened his mouth, Matthew could see he had sharp, pointy teeth like a shark.
The black giant was towering Matthew, his head litterally reaching the ceiling, and he said:
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (My bad, are you hurt anywhere?)"
"...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Matthew's reason completely abandoned her, leaving place to her survival instinct. This unwordly roar was the signal that she had to run away as fast as possible. Thus, she spinned around and flew. When he saw this, the black giant started to pursue her.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Young girl, I must insist! Did you hit your head?)"
"Noooooo! Don't come near meeeeee!"
Despite his gigantic size, the black giant was faster than Matthew and was visibly closing the gap between them. He reached out for her shoulder with his absurdly big black hand that looked like it would crush her like paper. But she wouldn't go down like this!
After taking a firm step, Matthew jumped to gain momentum and made a beautiful roll. Within this sparkling haven, it felt as though she was a gymnast performing in front of the projectors. Yet, something went wrong when she tried to get back up: there was actually a spot in the hallway that was still not completely dry, and Matthew made the mistake to step on it while trying to regain her balance. As a result, the gymnast became a puck and started a formidable slide along the hallway.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (A-are you alright?!)"
This mistake actually played in Matthew's favor since it allowed her to widen the distance between her and the rampaging monster in an instant. The little problem however...
"Hey, Mashu-chan. Ya could have waite-"
...Was that she was charging at full speed in direction of Mordred!
Unfortunately, there was no stopping destiny. Matthew had become an unstoppable train choo-choo-ing toward her and Mordred's doom. And Mordred, who still hadn't realized what was about to happen, could only give her a confused smile before the imminent impact.
And then, it happened: CRASH!
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (A-are you alright, you two?!)"
The shock was mighty, and Matthew and Mordred ended up lying together on the shiny ground on top of each other. Matthew was still conscious, but Mordred looked like he had been knocked out by the unexpected impact. She knew she had to run away from the black giant, but Matthew was stuck under Mordred!
"Hnng...why is he so heavy...?!"
Mordred was, against all expectations, much heavier than he looked, and Matthew didn't manage to get his off her in time. A second later, the black giant was standing right next to them, litterally looking down on them from his two-and-a-half meters. At this point, Matthew had already given up on all hope and was just praying that her death may be quick and painless, and that someone sent the superjanitor to take her of her house once she's in heaven.
However, just as the monster was about to grab her and Mordred, the latter woke up and stood up with a *pop* and spoke to the giant in his usual friendly and energic voice.
"Oh, Herakles-sensei! Ohayou!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (My, if it isn't Mordred-kun! Fancy meeting you here. Shouldn't you be in your classroom?)"
"Ah, allow me to present ya Matthew!" Mordred was lifting the poor Matthew who was still shaking in her boots and holding her in front of him. "I'm showing her the school!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Oh my, I guess Mordred-kun is at this age now. Quite the pretty girlfriend you have here!)"
"It's not like that! She's my bro! My bro!"
Matthew couldn't understand anything, whether it was the black giant's roars or the reason why Mordred was ranting while patting her shoulder. Yet, for some reason, she felt deeply insulted.
After her shaking and her quaking was gone, Matthew finally dared to open her mouth:
"Uhm...he is a...teacher?"
Itw as true that, after taking a better look, Matthew could see the man called Herakles-sensei was wearing a teacher uniform over his already black body; but although it was a bigger version, it still looked several sized too small for him, and his rippling muscle were perfectly visible from underneath the clothed.
She decided to stand up poperly, ashamed to have ran away from a teacher, and decided to present her herself.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Matthew Kyrielite. And as you can see I've been entangled with this animal." She bowed.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Hahaha! Nice to meet you, Kyrielite-san. Watashi wa Herkles, Berserker class' homeroom teacher. Well, I'm sure a fair and energic young girl like will have no problem dealing with Mordred-kun, even though he is somewhat unruly.)"
"Erm...what did he say?" Matthew turned to Mordred, unsure of how she should translate Herakles-sensei's reply.
Mordred raised his thumb proudly and answered confidently:
"He's saying you're manly!"
(Not...not him too...) She felt devastated.
Then, as if he was suddenly remembering something, Herakles-sensei looked at his anormaly large watch in a hurry.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Now, I am afraid I have to hurry. I am late because of an incident with the P.E teacher earlier. Enkidu-san will probably be late too...)"
Herakles-sensei signed them to make some room in order for him to pass between them, and walked up to a door above which a sign was saying "1-Berserker". The giant of a man bow apologetically to them a last time, and bent forward to finally step into the classroom. His 'voice' could the be heard from beyond the sliding door even though the latter was now shut.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (I am deply sorry for my lateness, everyone! Allow me to present myself, my name is-)"
"Hey, wanna take a look?"
Mordred passed his arm around Matthew's shoulders in a 'best friend' fashion (much to her discomfort) and pointed toward the classroom door with a smile.
Matthew hesitated. It was bad to peek at other people, she knew it. But could it be considering peeking if it is a classroom? And for some reason, she wanted to see what the Berserker class was like. Thus, after a vain debate with herself, Mordred and Matthew were taking a look at 1-Berserker, barely poking out their head and stacked unrealistically one above the other.
What then offered itself to Matthew was a strange sight: the room itself was completely normal for a classroom, but Herakles-sensei's gigantic stature sitting in a desk which clearly wasn't meant for him was comically disturbing. Matthew then took a look at the students. There was something teribly wrong with the latters, as if some of them were unexplicable angry. But more unusual was their appearance which ranged from a fairly normal girl with light blue hair waving a fan, to a boy even taller than Herakles-sensei (if that was possible) and who had two large black horn coming out of a forest of white hair.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Now that the presentation are made; class representative, if you may.)"
At his call(roar), one of the girl sitting at the second row stood up. She was a bit taller than Matthew, with her dark bangs hiding her eyes and some sort of large audio headset. The most striking was the strange kind of unicorn horn on her forehead; yet, nobody seemed surprised in the least by this display of bizzare -nobody except Matthew of course.
The pink-haired girl -the class representative opened her mouth to talk:
"Uuuuuaaaaaa...Uoooooooh! (All rise! Bow!)"
And the students all rised at the same time – but suddenly the aformentioned boy with horn stood up too fast and his horns got stuck in the ceiling
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Asterios-kun, be more careful...!)"
"Aaah...So...aa..rry (Gomen!)"
The unfortunate student tried his best to take his large horns out of the ceiling, but in doing so he only managed to get even more stuck, and he started to panick.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (Lu Bu-san, try to help him!)"
"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (Y-yes!)"
"Uuooooooo...ooooooooooh! (Wait, if you keep shaking that way the light is gonna-Wah!)
Crash! The light located right next to Asterios' horns fell heavily to the floor with the noise of glass breaking.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Aaah...aaah!"
"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh! Uuu..."
"Hahaha! That Asterios guy is such a klutz-Wait, Mashu, where are you going?"
"..."
Matthew turned her attention away from the classroom, walked a little, and eventually put her head against the wall:
(...Why can't they all just talk normally?!)
Archer class
"Ugh...My ears are ringing now."
It was thus with a splitting headache that Matthew left the Berserker class building. Aside from the classrooms used for teaching, the rest was essentially meant for club activities so there was not much too visit. There was also some kind of large metal door in the basement (because yes, there was a basement), that was too heavy for a human being to open.
At any rate, it was surely nothing important.
The whole visit had been accompagned by the roars coming from the Berserker classes, hence Matthew's headache.
"Can you rally understand what they say, Mordred-san?" She asked her classmate as they left through the entrance.
"Why, ya can't?"
"...You're kidding, right? How am I supposed to understand anything if all they do is shouting?!"
"What are ya talking about? These guys are so well-spoken it gives me goosebumbs."
"Well...well-spoken..."
What? Wasn't there something wrong with that situation? What did he meant, 'well-spoken'? Was Matthew the only one who heard them that way? Was there something wrong with her head?!
(No-no-no that's not possible! I'm sure it's actually a language only idiots can understand! That must be it!)
"Here we are!"
"Huh? Where are we?"
Leaving the matter aside, Mordred had brought Matthew in front of another building, this one longer in length compared to the precedent. Just like for the Berserker class building, the place seemed unbelievably clean, showing the mark of the super janitor.
"This is the Archer class building! This is also where the archery club rooms are located since pretty much all of its members are from this class."
"Oh, I see. The archery club's members are from the...Archer...class. Wait a minute..."
It was a truly suspicious coincidence -scratch that, is was obvious someone had fun naming the classes.
"Does that mean all classes have a favorite club? Let's see, for the Saber class...that would be kendo, right?"
"Hm? Ah, now that ya mention it, it's true the kendo club's members are usually from our class. Otousama is even the supervision teacher for the Kendo dojo."
"Does that mean I'll have to join the kendo club too?" Matthew groaned. "But I'm not that good with sport. And it'll bring me nightmares after yersterday's events..."
"Na, don't worry! Yer not even forced to join a club to start with so it's alright. Anyway, let's go in!"
Mordred hummed cheerfully and entered the Archer class building at once; yet, Matthew didn't enter immediatly after him.
She hesitated.
There was a little voice in her head that was telling her not to take a single step inside. Said little voice was of course her recent experience as well as the voice of her tired feet. Not only that, she was worried at the idea of visiting the building.
(Hn, do they also talk like the Berserkers did? Ah, I don't want to think about it. Do I really have to go in? I have a bad feeling about this...)
Such thoughts crossed her mind repetedly. But she decided to cheer up -she slapped her own face as forcefully as she could, and readided herself to face this new challenge head on. She had to admit that the face of Mordred peeking from inside with a creepy expression saying "Won't you come iiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnn..." was a huge motivator.
(Alright, Atthew, it's no time to be discouraged! You decided -no, it was always decided, taht you would become a highschool girl today! A true highschool girl don't whine because her feet or her ears hurt!"
"Onwaaaaard!"
Matthew triumphically stepped through the door as if the spirit of some hero of the past had taken possession of her, and she advanced toward her target.
"Ah, Mashu-chan, ya finally- Mashu-chan?"
But Matthew's mind was too focused to hear Mordred's insistant calls. Or maybe she just wanted to get this over with. At any rate, she walked up to Mordred, and bypassed him to head ineluctably toward the nearest door of the building. She didn't even bother to knock or to check the sign above the door before opening the latter with a thundering sound.
"Alright, what's in theeeeeeeeeeeeereeeee-...eh?"
The room was empty.
There was no desk, no chair and nobody as far as she could see. And it didn't look like anything had been moved recently. In other words, this room was supposed to be empty. A bit of shame struck Matthew at the result of her determination, and she decided to leave the room to meet with Mordred who hadn't entered the empty room.
There was still a lot to visit and she didn't have the time to fool around.
"Ugh, this so embarrassing. Though, what is the purpose of having a room li-"
'What si the purpose of having a room like this empty?' was what Matthew was about to say, but she trailed off before she could finish her sentence.
It was when she turned her head around to look at the sign above the door in order to know what this room was for. She had expected to see something like 'reserve' or 'spare room'; that would have explained why there was nothing inside.
But no.
What Matthew saw when she looked up was an unexplicable:
"1-Archer"
"What? What si that supposed to mean?"
"What's wrong, Mashu-chan?"
"Mordred-san, did they forget to remove the old sign for thsi door?"
That would be an explanation...
"Na, all the equipment in the school is brand-spanking-new."
...which was crushed immediatly by Mordred.
"But why is it called '1-Archer' if there's nothing inside?"
"Nothing? What are ya saying? There's-"
"No!" Matthew blocked Mordred's mouth with her two hands be fore the latter could finish his sentence. "I don't want to know. I don't want to know if there's something else that only I can't see." Finally, she removed her hand and walked away from the empty room with ehr back bent. "Let's just finish the visit, shall we?"
"Hahaha, why are ya acting strange, Mashu-chan? Oh, is it that ya can't wait to have a rematch with old man Sasaki?!"
"It has nothing to do with that. And what do you mean, 'reamtch'? Don't tell me you went and organized something like without my consent!"
"Teehee~."
"I'll beat to a pulp before he does..."
"Oi, Robin-kun."
"What is it, Arash-kun?"
Robin Hood was sitting on his chair and squinting his eyes as hard as he could when his class neighboor Arash, a tall guy with black hair and tanned skin, asked him a question.
"Didn't someone just enter the classroom?"
"How would I know?! I'm too focused on trying to see what the teacher is doing to notice something like that!"
"Arash-kun! Robin! Stop disturbing the class!" The teacher's deep voice rose from his desk.
"Tsk! How can he even hear us from where he is!" Robin had to mutter not to be heard.
Now, to explain why Robin-kun is in such a bad mood, we'll have to explain how the Archer clas works: at the front, right before the blackboard, there was the teacher's desk. Neatly arranged by rows of nine desks were the students, all facing toward Tesla-sensei.
The two were separated by a distance of roughly 500m from the back of the room to the front. Somewhere on the middle, there was the door. It was made so because the Archer class was supposed to have the best eyes out of all the other classes.
"Hmm, but I'm pretty someone just now opened the door. Some cute girl with silver hair."
"Damn you and your Clairvoyance skill! I can't even see the door from this distance, and yet you can look at pretty girl without being seen!"
"Lightning!"
BZAAAAP
Tesla-sensei raised his right hand toward the unfortunate Robin-kun and a bolt of lightning shot toward the latter.
"Wha!"
Poor Robin-kun only had the time to press his head on his desk to dodge the lightning which passed over him (not without burning a handful of his hair) and struck the person behind him.
"D-David-kun is out cold!"
"Someone bring him to the infirmary!"
"Are you crazy? It will only finish him!"
"Huh?" Arash's brow furrowed. "That's bad."
"What is?! If you can see then tell me what Tesla-sensei is doing!"
"Erm, he is installing some kind of machine..."
"What?"
"Now, everyone listen for the first lesson!" Tesla-sensei reached out for a lever beside him. "Can anyone tell me what that is?"
"T-Tesla-sensei, David-kun needs some urgent treatment!"
"I can't hear his breathing!"
Yet, although he had no problem hearing Arash and Robin chatting a minute ago, Tesla-sensei acted as if he couldn't hear them. Instead, he sighed as though they were helpless and pulled the lever.
"It's called a 'magnifying transmitter'."
BZAAAAP BZAAP BZAAAAP
As soon as he pulled down the lever, arcs of lightning came out of the 'magnifying transmitter' and shot in every direction. Apparently, there was another one of these big coil behind the students desk. As a result, the electric arc also passed in between the rows of desk.
BZAAAAAAAAP
"What the-Ha!"
Robin had no choice but to jump off his desk to avoid being reduced to ashes. All the other students thought the same and helplessly pressed their body against the floor because they didn't want to have to go to the infirmary.
"Gh...! This is too dangerous to be called a class!" Arash claimed with a determined look and stood up from the ground. "I have to stop hi-" BZAAAAAAP
"Arash-kun!"
Robin rushed toward Arash just in time to catch his falling body.
But it was no use.
"Arash-kun! Oi, Arash-kun! Hang in there!"
"Gh...ah, is that you, Robin-kun? Haha, I'm not very presentable right now."
"You only have fried hair! Just hang in there, I'll take you to the hospital!"
"Heh...Who would have thought...it would feel so good...to die in the arms of a friend..."
"What are you saying! We barely know each other, you can't die yet!"
"Robin-kun..."
Despite his critical condition, Arash put what little energy he had left to raise his hand weakly, and put it on Robin's shoulder.
"I leave the rest to you. You must...ugh!...stop...himmm..."
"Arash-kuuuuuuuuunnnnnn!"
"Hm?"
Matthew turned her head around.
"Wasn't there like a great cry of despair right now?"
"Whatever are ya talking about?"
Rider class
Next, Mordred led Matthew out of the Archer building and then in direction of the buildings closer to the schoolgate.
"That's the Rider class building!"
Looking in the direction his finger was pointing at, Matthew saw a building that was different from those she had seen so far. The latters had looked like regular school buildings, yet this one was smaller and similar in form to some kind of apartment complexe: the classsrooms were accessible from outside like on a balcony. There was only a ground floor and one upper floor, the latter of course bordered by a handrail.
Anyway, just like the rest it looked like a normal building; there was one difference though: the place wasn't as clean as the Berserker and Archer building. It probably had to do with the fact the Rider building was so close to the entrance -at any rate, the super janitor hadn't passed by there yet.
"Why is this building smaller than the rest?"
"There isn't any clubroom here, that's why! There are only classrooms and some storage rooms for P.E equipment and stuff like that."
"I see."
It didn't explain why it was so different from the other buildings, but there was probably another screwed up reason behind it so Matthew didn't ask.
"Then I guess it's time."
Anyway, without losing a minute, Matthew took a step toward the Rider class building.
"Hey, Mashu-chan, what do ya look so serious all of sudden?"
Matthew took another step.
And then another.
One step after another, she solmnely walked toward the stairway leading to the first floor. Once she was at the bottom of the stairs, she stood in front of them for a second, as if beholding them.
She took a deep breath.
"Alright, I'm sure everything's going to be okay."
And with that, she resumed her slow and careful walk up the staircase. Eventually, she reached the first floor -immediatly, she crouched on the floor!
Her head swiftly spinned right and left, checking in all directions to spot anything out of the ordinary. Matthew held her breath, ready to jump like a panther if she sensed danger...!
But there was nothing in view.
"..."
Still on her guard, Matthew carefully stood up. Then, once she had made definitely sure everything was normal. She finally relaxed and sighed with relief.
(No! I can't lower my guard now. Thinking back on it, everything was fine on the outside for the previous buldings!)
"M-Machu-chan? Are you alright?" Mordred was looking at her with a worried look from the bottom of the stairs.
But Matthew spinned around to face him and urgently put a finger on her lips, telling him not to make any noise! Mordred still didn't seem to understand what was going on, but he obeyed nonetheless, putting both his hands on his mouth to keep it shut.
Matthew turned into infiltration mode and approached one of the windows stealthily. This window was giving on the interior of a classroom. The sign above the door was saying:
"1-Rider"
Matthew hesitated a bit before looking inside. Would she really be ready to accept whatever was waiting inside for her?
"..."
No.
It wasn't a question of whether she was ready or not. She had to be ready. She had come such a long way: her efforts to join the famous Seihai Highschool! Her ordeal during the day of the entrance ceremony! All the weirdness she beholded within the last hour! Mordred-san!
After all the tests she had gone through to come this far, there was no way she couldn't be ready...!
"Alright. Here I go!"
Matthew closed her eyes, and then she abruptly stood up to face the window. Then, y, she opened her eyelid and light filled her eyes.
And then, she saw...
"Ah..."
Inside the classroom, all the desks were arranged neatly like they normally should. All the furniture was there without exception. The students as well were all here, looking normal and chatting between them. It seemed the teacher hadn't arrived yet.
After thoroughly observing the classroom two or three times, Matthew was positive that there was no such thing as students or furniture that only idiots could see. The next step was to listen closely to what the students were saying.
The closest to Matthew's position was a girly-looking student with braided pink hair wearing a boy uniform who was speaking to a cool-looking student with green hair.
"Man, I wonder why the homeroom teacher isn't here yet."
"Who knows. Maybe we should send soemone to check if he is alright. Ah, but we haven't even decided on a class representative yet."
(Yosh!)
Matthew clenched her fist in sign of success. From the short exchange she just heard, the students of this class were speaking like proper humans, and not yelling unintelligibly.
They were even worrying about their teacher being late, like true highschool students!
"Yes, it has to be it..."
Matthew understood what this meant: this classroom was...normal.
"Mordred-san! There really is a normal-...ah...aaaaaaaah..."
But when she spinned around with her heart swollen with happiness and was about to walk away from the window, Matthew noticed something that hadn't been here before.
Right in front of her, beyond the stairway she had taken to go up here, a massive brown and white creature with the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a horse was smoothing its feathers with its beck like a normal eagle.
It was a hypogriff.
"Ah...ah..." Matthew was speechless.
The creature was just standing there quietly and ignoring her. Matthew was just standing there quietly and couldn't possibly ignore wa she was seeing.
She was frozen in place.
(Wh...what is this? That can't be true, right? Of course it can't!)
"Ahahahaha!"
Matthew laughed heartily as she realized it was her tired brain that was making her see things that didn't exist. Yet, for some reason, there was something extremely sadin her laugh.
The hypogriff noticed her laughing and stopped its activity to look at her.
Neigh!
(Ahahaha! Of course eagles don't neigh! And how could it have suddenly appeared here without making any noise? Of course it can't)
"This is just the result of my tired mind! Ahahahaha!"
Matthew decided this was the explanation, and she started to walk toward the stairs that were between her and the mirage. But she could barely take a few steps that the hypogriff began to move in her direction direction as well. When it did, Matthew could feel the ground shaking a little.
Matthew stopped.
The hypogriff stopped at the same time.
"..."
"..."
Both of them didn't say make a noise. They were just facing each other like two cowboys before a gun duel. Matthew's eyes met with the hypogriff's. The latter looked deep inside her with a piercing gaze. The message was clear: it wouldn't let her get away.
But Matthew didn't falter; she stared back into the creature's eyes without an ounce of hesitation. She wasn't even trying to deny its existence anymore. She completely focused on not losing any ground in this battle of intimidation which would decide who was the boss between the poor highschool girl and the wild monster.
It was hard; it felt like she was staring into the abyss, and the abyss were staring back. Matthew felt beads of sweet forming on her forehead and rolling slowly down her face. The tickling sensation was very uncomfortable, but Matthew beared with it. She couldn't possibly show her opponents she was having trouble. The hypogriff too was sweating a lot.
The beads of sweats produced by the two of them were falling heavily on the ground. Why was it that they were making such a loud noise each time one of them touched the floor?
Matthew didn't know how long it had been since they started this deadly staring contest that was taking such a toll on them; the only reason she could feel time passing was because of the sound of their sweet falling down -and even this sound was starting to disappear from their mind.
They couldn't keep this on eternaly -they knew it all too well. But neither of the two courageous contestant was ready to step back.
Both of them were only a few meters away from the stairs. There was no way one of them would retreat now, not after going so far. Matthew didn't know what the hypogriff wanted -did it want to go down the stairs as well? Or was it that it wanted to eat her while she had her back turned? Either way, Matthew couldn't allow it.
But if this fight extended any longer, she would probably be the one to lose.
(I can't possibly allow myself to lose here! I have no choice...I'll have to end this now!)
Matthew took a deep breath without taking her eyes off her opponent's. Then, when she felt her body was ready-
"Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
She suddenly raised her two arms in a menacing way, as well as her right knee! She was standing on one leg, taking what almost looked like a kung-fu stance. Her gaze wa still locked on the hypogriff, unwavering. The aim of such a move was obvious: she had to show the creature that she was the most dangerous of the two.
At first, the hypogriff was stunned by her sudden attack, but soon enough it brought itself back together and took up the challenge. With a mighty neigh, it stood up on its horse leg, its gigantic shadow hiding the sun and covering Matthew like the shadow of a moutain.
This way, their timeless fight resumed. Except that now, the condition were even worse: Matthew only had one leg to support herself, and horse legs weren't the best to support this massive body. Nonetheless, neither of them moved an inch and they kept their intimidating pose.
Their sweat was running down their body even more than before.
The shadow from the hypogriff immense body was giving Matthew the impression she was staring down a wall. But she couldn't give up. She couldn't give up!
(He is...such a strong opponent...!)
Her body was trembling like crazing, but even so she braced herself to keep the stance. Her strength was fading away little by little, but Matthew wasn't desperate: that's because she knew her opponent was in the same position.
Seconds flew by. Minutes flew by. Or was it hours?
Matthew didn't know.
Eventually, when their respective body were at their limit and that they were both gritting their teeth (or their beck), the situation was becoming utterly unbearable.
"Huff...huff..."
"Neigh...neigh..."
They were breathing heavily...
But Matthew couldn't take it anymore...! All of sudden, her muscles refused to give her any strength and she wasn't able to support her weight anymore. She lost her balance and her body which ahd courageously endured the ordeal until now fell to its demise toward the ground covered in her sweat.
But she wasn't the only on: at the exact same time, the hypogriff's feet failed it and it fell in a similar fashion. The two opponents, who were proudly standing in front of each other a second ago, were now lying in a pool of their own sweat.
Matthew raised her head to loo at the hypogriff.
The hypogriff raised its head to look at Matthew.
Was it their ultimate attempt at proving their superiority, even as they were lying pathetically on the floor? No, Matthew knew it wasn't that. She forced her weak mucles to work, and slowly but surely, Matthew stood up. The hypogriff, seeing her effort, did the same, and soon the two of them were once again back up, though their legs were shaking.
They walked in each other's direction; without fear; without apprehension. Eventually, they were right in front of each other. Then, Matthew raised her hadn while the hypogriff raised its claw-
CLAP!
-and they exchanged a firm handshake, an undisputable proof that they had recognized their opponent's valor.
Matthew didn't remember why they even started to fight in the first place, but something filled her chest -it was pride, the pride of a fight well fought against a strong opponent.
(Wait...a strong opponent? Oh no, am I becoming like Mordred-san?! Noooo, I don't want to fight anyone...)
It was as she was thinking this that Matthew heard a noise beside her, along the lines of:
"Shaa~!"
Speak of the devil, when she turned around to see the source of the noise, she saw none other than Mordred...standing in a position similar to Matthew's improvised stance. He looked like he was having a lot of fun.
"Shaa~! Mashu-chan, yer fighting spirit was so incredible! Yer really manly!"
"Stop calling me manly! No, in the first place, how long have you been here?!"
"From the beggining!"
"Then you could have helped me! I was almost eaten here, you know?!"
"Eaten? What are ya saying, it's harmless."
Mordred put back his left foot on the ground and approached the hypogriff without any hesitation. Matthew had expected the creature to attack instantly and tear Mordred in pieces; but nothing of the sort happened. Mordred reached his hand and petted the hypogriff's neckline. The latter let out a satisfied cry and rubbed its gigantic feathere head against Mordred.
"Haha! Stop, it tickles!"
After being caressed for a moment, the hypogriff freed itself from Mordred's embrass and spread its big eagle wings. The moment after, it was taking flight and disppeared from Matthew's field of vision as fast as it had appeared. Instantly.
"It...it could fly from the beggining?"
Suddenly, Matthew's intense fight felt quite pointless. But whatever, she had a more pressing question.
"Mordred-san, what the fuck?"
"Wha?"
"Where did this unreal creature come from?! How can it be walking the campus so freely?!"
"It must have escaped from the stables."
"The-the stables? Youre talking about a stable filled with hrse, right? For the horseriding club, right?"
But Mordred ignored her completely legitimate question, and started to walk down the stairs. Matthew followed after him; in hindsight, maybe she didn't want to have an answer to her question.
"I'm starting to understand what Artoria-sensei meant when he mentioned dying." Matthew complained with her arms hanging. How many life threatening situations had she faced, even excluding the day before today? "Ah, by the way Mordred-san, it seems that the Rider class' homeroom teacher is late. That's a lot of teachers who are late."
"The Rider class'...Ah, ya mean 1-Rider. Hmm, 1-Rider's homeroom teacher should be...right, it has to be him!"
"Him?"
"Him!"
When he pronounced this last word, Mordred raised his hand and pointed toward a particular direction. By now they had reacher the ground floor and were walking not far from the school gate. And it was exactly toward the latter that Mordred was pointing. Even so, Matthew couldn't see anyone at the gate. Even Sasaki Kojiro, the Gatekeeper of Hell, wasn't there.
"Mordred-san, where exactly do you see a teacher?"
"Huh? I told ya: he's over there!"
"But there's nobo...wait."
Suddenly, realization came to Matthew. Mordred wasn't indicating the school gate; he was pointing at beyond the school gate. Matthew concentrated her gaze to see if there was anyone outside coming in their direction; and she quickly sptted them: there was a car rushing in their direction!
It was a large black car like those you'd see in a gangster movies, with tainted glassed and big anough to contain several people. Its engine was roaring loudly like there was actually lighting coming out of it; and the speed at which it was approaching was enough to cruch anything on its way.
Itw as such a display of mankind's power that was approaching Seihai High dangerously.
"M-Mordred-san! We need to get away quickly or we'll get hit!"
"Yeah, she's right."
"Huh?!"
A third voice rose behind the pair. It was a male voice that was already engraved in Matthew's brain.
"Sasaki-san!"
"Oh, old man Sasaki!"
Indeed, it was Sasaki Kojiro, Seihai High's gate keeper who was standing behind them and put his hands on their shoulders.
"Leave this to me. You children need to step back."
"W-what are you gonna do?"
"Me?" Sasaki looked back at them as he was heading to his rightful place. He smiled in a cool fashion. "My job."
Now that this had been said, Sasaki returned to his position and blocked the way to the school. On its side, the car was still dashing in their direction and showed no sign of slowing down even though there's clearly someone standing in the way.
Sasaki didn't show any hesitation either; he grabbed the handle of his wooden katana and held it with both hand as Matthew had seen him do previously. He was staring at the thundering vehicle as though it was a long-awaited enemy he was looking at.
The car was getting closer.
Sasaki was ready.
"Each year, its the same."
The car was now so close there would be impact any second...! Sasaki calculated the distance and speed of the metallic bull, and swung his sword in response.
"I'll show you what it means to always be late-BLEEURGH!"
The car percuted Sasaki; the gate keeper was swept away mercilessly and made several ungraceful rolls in the air, before landing heavily on the ground with a grunt pain. There was the sound of several bones breaking and the samyrau's body was covered on bruises and other injuries.
He was showing no sign of life.
"S-Sasaki-saaaaaaaan!"
Suddenly, a deep man voice rose from inside the car.
"Hey, wasn't there like a sound just now? Did we hit something?"
"I wouldn't know, oyabun. It's hard to see anything with those sunglasses."
"Well, whatever. I'm sure whatever we hit is doing just fine!"
"No, they're not." Matthew muttered in disbelief.
The next instant, the door of the car opened and a large man, probably the one with a deep voicce, came out. He was very tall, at least two meters, though he wasn't as tall as Herakles-sensei. He was quite muscular as well, and had red short hair along with an equally red beard. He was wearing a black suit and sunglasses like the special agents from that one movie called M.I. something.
When he saw the large man, Mordred ran toward him.
"Iskandar-sensei!"
"Oho, it's you Mordred-kun!"
The man reffered to as Iskandar-sensei reacted in a similar way when he noticed Mordred coming in his direction; He removed his sunglasses to put thel in his breast pocket and patted Mordred's blond head with his large hand.
"Long time no see! I see that you've finally joined the school. Let me guess, you're in your father's class, am I right?"
"Hai!"
"Hahaha! Expected no less. Hmm?" Iskandar-sensei then noticed Matthew who hadn't moved and was still recovering from the shock. "Who is that over here?"
"It's Mashu-chan! She's my bro!"
"Oh, I see. That's good, that's good!"
The large sillhouette approached Matthew witha seemingly friednly smile. Yet, for some reason, Matthew couldn't help but be afraid. The hypogriff she had faced earlier was nothing in comparison to this man. Iskandar-sensei came to her and put his hands on both of her shoulder.
"I'm glad to see Mordred-kun has found a brother in arm. Brother in arms must always support each other, understood?"
There was a frightening pression in his words and on Matthew's shoulder. All she could do was to babble an answer.
"Y-yes..."
"Oh, that's right." Iskandar-sensei removed his hands from Matthew and turned around to speak to the men in black who had come out of the car after him. "You guys can go now. And make sure to make these Athanaton bastard spill the bean!"
"""Hai, oyabun!"""
(O-oyabun!) Matthew jumped in fear when she heard the "o" word.
"Mor-Mordred-san." She approached Mordred and spoke in his ear. "This man is a yakuza?!"
"Yeah! He's the boss of this part of the city. He's also a history teacher, Iskandar-sensei!"
"Ya..yakuza...history teacher..."
The men all dressed in black got back inside the car, and the latter started to roar again. When they backpedalled to exit the school, the men in black drove over Sasaki's lifeless body a second time, exorting another grunt of pain from teh poor gate keeper.
"Anyway, I should probably head to class now. Hm? My, Sasaki-san, you shouldn't sleep on the ground like that; it's bad for your health! Well, see you two later!"
"Yeah!"
"Y...yes."
Assassin class
Because they had been going and running left and right for a moment now, and because of her intense meeting with the hypogriff, Matthew requested that they took a break. Maybe Mordred was a bit tired as well because he didn't voice any objection.
After walking back toward the inside of the school, Mordred led Matthew across a completely empty field the size of a small vacant lot. On the other side, they spotted a couple benches bathing in the sunlight. Of course, since most people were noramlly in class at such a time, these were empty. Thus, it was with a sigh of relief for her aching feet that Matthew rested on the bench. She didn't forget to do it with a certain grace, however tired she was; she couldn't forget her statut.
As previously mentioned, the bench they were sitting on was blessed with the morning sunlight, not too hot nor too fresh. It was just at the right angle too, in a way so the sun wasn't blinding them but caressing them gently. Just like when they arrived this morning, the wind was blowing softly from in front of them.
This way, Matthew was able to relax despite the hostile environment.
She took a deep breath and leaned her head backward as she reflected on her day so far. But doing so only made her body more sensible to the fatigue.
"I can't believe this is going to be my everyday life."
"It's awesome, ain't it?"
"I wouldn't exactly say 'awesome' though..."
Matthew had a hard time understanding what part of it was 'awesome'. If anything, she had felt more stress today than in her whole life. And yet, for Mordred who was sitting next to her and swinging his feet excitedly like a kid, this kind of life was probably exciting. Maybe it was psychology, but despite all the trouble it had caused for her, Mordred's childish enthusiasm was kind of refreshing for Matthew.
"...I guess that's how elderly people feel when they see their grandchildren fool around."
"I don't know what yer talking about but somehow I feel insulted."
"You deserve it for all the times you called me 'manly'."
Now that she was finally having some rest, Matthew was starting to ask herself question about Mordred. She didn't know if she could ask them though; not because it would be indiscreet, but because interrogating this simple soul felt like interrogating a child: it made her feel dirty.
But the longer she thought, the more she was curious, and eventually her curiosity gained the upper hand on her moral.
"Say, Mordred-san, can I ask you a question?
"Hm? Why do ya look unsure like that? Of course ya can!"
"Thank you. Erm, I wanted to know about your relation with Galahad-san."
"Eh, this guy?"
At the same moment Mordred said the words 'this guy', his cheerful expression was tainted with utter annoyance. It seemed like Galahad was the conversation subject to avoid wth Mordred; even if she knew that, Matthew didn't feel like stepping back.
"You two live together right? I was wondering what was th reason for it. Is he a distant relative of yours?"
"Hmph."
But Mordred decided to cross his arms and to pout rather than answering. It was cute in its own way, but it was also annoying because he was the one who said it was okay for Matthew to ask.
"Mordred-san?"
"Hmph."
"Mordred-san."
"Hmph."
"Mordred-san!"
"Hmph!"
No could do, Mordred stubbornly refused to stop pouting and kept looking away even as Matthew was shaking his shoulder relentlessly.
"Why are you being so stubborn!"
"Hmmmppppppphhh!"
Eventually, Matthew completely gave up. Obviously, Mordred wouldn't open her mouth as long as she asked this question. Yet, this absolute refusal was making Matthew ask herself even more questions.
(What's with him? Does he dislike Galahad-san that much? But why? Why doesn't he want to explain me why Galahad-san and him are living together?...Hm? Why are Galahad-san and Mordred living together? W h y...?)
And then, realization dawned on Matthew.
"Ah...I-I'm truly sorry, Mordred-san!"
"Hmph!-...Huh?"
"I-I shouldn't have asked about that!"
"Mashu-chan, what are you..."
"It-it's perfectly alright, you don't need to explain yourself!"
"Mashu-chan, what-"
"I understand perfectly!"
Matthew could her blood concentrating in her cheek; no, actually it was her whole face that was blushing. She was also fidgeting, having no idea what to say and simply blurting out whatever was coming to her.
"I-I didn't know that you and Galahad-san were like that...! It's alright if you want to keep it a secret, I won't tell anyone!"
"...Huh?"
"I-I think it's perfectly fine for t-two boys to love each other, really!"
"...Huh?!"
Mordred sudenly understood what she was on about, and his face turned red as well. Yet, along with the embarassment, there was also disbelief and horror mixed in his expression.
"What are ya saying...! There's no way this guy and I...! Yer wrong, Mashu-chan!"
"No, you don't have to refute it! I-I understand why you like to call me m-manly now!"
"No, I said yer wrong! He's just the son of Otousama's friend who had a fight with his father and-"
"It's alright-it's alright-it's alright-it's alright-it's alright-it's alright-it's alright!"
"Yer not even listening! Yer wrong! Yer wrong ya hear me!"
" It's alright-it's alright-it's alright-it's alright-it's alright-!"
"Fou! Fou!"
"Fou-fou-fou-fou-fou-fou...huh?"
"Fou! Fou!"
Matthew realized a strange noise ressembling an animal's cry was coming from in front of her; more precisely, it was at her feet.
"Fou! Fou!"
When she looked down, she first saw that it was something white and fluffy, like a sheep plush. Then, she understood it was really a small animal standing at her feet. She couldn't tell exactly what it was supposed to be: from the look of it, it was some kind of dog yet it had long fluffy ears like a rabbit's, and it had the face of a cat. To complete this satanic patchwork, the small creature was wearing a piece of clothe like a scarf or a napkin wrapped around its neck. It was actually quite cute.
"Fou~!"
Before Matthew could ponder more on this subject, the unknown creature jumped on her knees with a cute cry and curled up like a cat. It was at this moment, when she felt the softness of its fur and saw the small animal rub its head against her belly, that realization dawned on Matthew: the creature was quite cute as well. There was a theory saying that the closer a human being was to a cat, the more stupid they became.
Matthew experienced this first-hand.
"Awww. Who's a cute cat-dog-squirrel thing? Who's a cute cat-dog-squirrel thing? Yes you are!"
Matthew's hand immediatly reached for the creature's ears and paws, as though attracted by a curse, and she undertook to pet it like never she had pet before. The small animal rolled around with a small caterwaul to get on its back, thus showing its white fluffy belly to her, just waiting to be stroked.
Matthew's sanity snapped, and after joining her hand with a 'Itadakimasu', she plunged her hands in the white jungle of fur and resumed her intense petting.
Eventually, Mordred stopped sulking and noticed the fluffy creature on Matthew's thights.
"Oh, it's Fou-kun!"
"You know what this thing is? (D'awwwwww!)"
"Aye! It's the chairman's pet! The chairman let him run around the school freely, so ya'll see him often. He even come in class sometimes!"
"I see. So his name is Fou-kun, huh?"
" I dunno. It probably has an actual name, but everyone call him Fou-kun because of the funny noise he makes. Ya can just call him that."
Mordred reached for Fou-kun and stroke his head gently.
"Fou! Fou~!"
"Ah, it's true it makes a funny sound!" Matthew affirmed with an amused tone as she kept petting his belly. "Whar animal is he supposed to be though?"
"The chairman said he is a cat!"
"A cat..."
Anyway, Matthew decided he was a cat of the Fou-kun specie and didn't think more about it. At any rate, they had been on this bench for a long time even though they were supposed to go back in class once the visit is done. Playing with Fou-kun actually helped Matthew forget the aching of her feet and filled her with energy.
"Alright! Mordred-san, what is our next destination?!"
She jumped out of the bench while holding Fou-kun with her hands. The latter didn't seem to want to leave her and stayed dutifully in her arms. When Mordred realized Matthew was roaring and ready to go, he stood up as well and pointed his finger passionately in direction of a building in front of them.
"Next stop is the Assassin class building!"
"Eh? But, Mordred-san, isn't that the Berserker building we visited first?"
Indeed, the cleaner than clean building Mordred was pointing at was the place whereMatthew had to run and dodge the mountain of muscle Herakles-sensei to survive.
"What are ya saying; I'm not talking about the Berserker building, I'm talking about this building!"
But Mordred's finger didn't budge, still indicating the same direction. Then, it occured to Matthew wasn't pointing at the Berserker building specifically: he was pointing in front of them.
Between the bench they had been sitting on and the faraway Berserker building, there was the empty lot Matthew and Mordred had crossed to come here. Matthew didn't knew why, but her instinct was telling her Mordred was actually talking about this empty field.
"...Mordred-san, this is a vancant lot."
"No, this is where the Assassin building is, but ya can't see it!"
"...Must feel good to be an idiot."
"Huh, wha- Wait, Mashu-chan come back, don't walk away! It's an invisible building!"
"An invisible building?"
Nothing could surprise Matthew anymore. Though, an invisible building had a nice ring to it, like a ghost story or one of the omnipresent seven mysteries. Matthew's curiosity was stimulated.
"Aye, ya can't see it because the Assassin building has the Presence Concealment skill; no one can see it!"
"But if we can't see it, how do we enter, Mordred-san?"
"That's a good question, Mashu-chan!" Mordred vigorously raised his fist. "We can't see it, but we can feel it!"
"Eh?" Matthew tilted her head and then looked at the empty square. "No matter how much I look, I don't feel anything."
"No, no, you must do it in a manlier way!"
"M-manlier..."
"Aye, like..."
Mordred, who had kept his fist risen high, closed his eyes as though he was focusing his mind. Then, he started to spin around like a lost child choosing a direction to take randomely. At some point, he started spinning like crazy, so much that Matthew's head started to spin as well. Then, Mordred stopped spinning abruptly and swung his arm down, his finger pointing at the vacant lot.
"It has to be theeeeeeerrrreeeeeeee!"
Suddenly , without any warning, Mordred ran recklessly in the direction he had pointed at. He almost looked like a madman chasing after a mirage; Matthew expected him to trip into nothing and fall miserably on the ground. Yet, what happened next was-BONK!
"Mordred-san!"
Against all expectations and laws of physics, as soon as Mordred reached a certain distance, there was a loud and painful noise as it seemed his head had hit something that wasn't there; he then bounced back several times because of his own momentum and ended up at Matthew's feet. For the second time today, Mordred's eyes were rolled back and there was a large red mark on his forehead.
Matthew's first thought was that maybe that was the reason why he was stupid. Her second thought was that she had to help him somehow.
"M-Mordred-san, daijobou?"
"Ghawaghawaghhh..."
"Though, that's incedible. I can't believe there's something here..."
No matter how much Matthew waved her hand in the air where Mordred had bounced off, there was nothing.
"What should I do? Right, in this situation, a highschool girl would take him to the infirmary!...But for some reason I feel this isn't the thing to do here."
Matthew looked around in panick while still holding the fluffy Fou-kun in her arms. Just when she was about to finally take Mordred to the infirmary, she heard a voice from behind her.
"My, what happened here?"
When she turned around, Matthew saw an ambiguously gendered person with long, green hair wearing the male teacher uniform standing there. He was looking at the scene with a worried expression.
"My, if it isn't Mordred-kun. What happened?"
"Ah, sensei! Mordred-san hit his head against...well I don't know what actually!"
But when the teacher's voice reached Mordred's ears, the latter instantly recovered from the shock and he sprung up.
"Enkidu-sensei, ohayo!"
Although one of his eyes was still rolled backward.
"Mordred-san, are you sure you're okay?!"
On his side, the one refered to as Enkidu-sensei simply chuckled as if it was a light matter. Even Mordred acted as though nothing particular happened. This confirmed Matthew's guess that it happened often, which only made her worry more.
"Enkidu-sensei, we need yer help!"
"Oh? If it's within my abilities, I'd happy to come to your help." Then, Enkidu-sensei noticed Matthew from the corner of his eye. "My, sorry I didn't notice you were here. Are you Mordred-kun's friend by any chance?"
"That's not it, Enkidu-sensei!"
Just like with their previous encounters with the teachers, Mordred was about to make an outrageous statement. But this time, Matthew wouldn't let him do that.
"Mashu-chan is my br-"
"I am his acquaintance." Matthew interrupted.
She especially insisted on the last word and intentionally tries to sound cold. The blow seemed fatal to Mordred who swayed and looked at her in shock as if he was going to cry.
"M-Mashu-chan, that's mean."
"Think a little about how I feel, dammit!"
But Matthew suddenly remembered that they were in front of a teacher, and she turned toward the latter with the intention of apologizing for this pathetic bickering between students. But when she did; she saw that Enkidu-sensei was chuckling again, visibly amused by their quarrel.
"You two seem to get along well. I am relieved to see Mordred-kun has managed to make some friend on his own. Mashu-san, please look after him for us adults." Enkidu sensei said with a benevolent expression. "Ah, I say this but I haven't presented myself either; sorry." The androgynous man bowed respectfully to Matthew. "I am the homeroom teacher for the class 1-Lancer, Enkidu."
Matthew returned him the favour and bowed back. Now that they were done with the formalities, Enkidu-sensei straightened back and walked up to Mordred.
"Speaking of which, I am late for my class because of some...accident with the P. E teacher. But you said you needed my help, didn't you Mordred-kun?"
"Aye! I'm making Mashu-chan isit the school, but we can't get in the Assassin building!"
"Oh, I see. Indeed that's a problem."
After hearing what their problem was, Enkidu-sensei turned around and walked toward the mysterious vacant lot. On her side, Matthew didn't knew how seeking help from a teacher would change the situation. She tried to ask Mordred with her eyes, but the latter only tilted his head in confusion; she thus resolved to ask him directly, but not loud enough for Enkidu-sensei to hear.
"Ah, Enkidu-sensei is the only person in the school who can find the Assassin building easily. He has the Presence Detection skill!"
Matthew still had no idea what a 'skill' was, but she understood that Enkidu-sensei was their only hope. Speaking of the latter, he was done looking at the empty space, and he reached for something invisible with his hand.
"Right. The entrance is here."
At the exact same moment his hand seemed to grab something, a three stories-tall building suddenly appeared where the vacant lot was just second ago, blocking the sunlight and casting a shadow on Matthew and co.
Matthew almost had a heart attack.
"Wh...ah..."
"Aye! Arigatou Enkidu-sensei!"
"You're welcome, Mordred-kun. Mm, if you haven't passed by my class yet, I guess we'll see each other again."
And with that, Enkidu-sensei walked away and disappeared. Matthew was beholding the now perfectly visible Assassin building, still incredulous at the fact something of this size could have been invisible to the point sunlight coult come through. But this honestly wasn't the most surprising thing she had seen today. Moreover, aside from it's lack of presence, the building looked perfectly normal, at least from outside.
"Mashu-chan, ya coming?" Mordred called her as he entered the building, quickly followed by Matthew.
"This place is kind of creepy."
At first sight, the Assassin building was just like any other. It didn't have mythological beasts roaming around, nor people shouting at the top of their lungs constantly. In fact, it was pretty silent. Too silent.
Completely silent.
Even in a class filled with the most diligent students in the world, you would at least hear the teacher speaking; even from outside the classroom. Yet, ever since they had stepped inside the building, Matthew didn't hear a single noise aside from their own footsteps. At first, she thought it was a nice change of atmosphere from the Berserker building; yet, after a couple minute passed inside hallways of the Assassin building, she honestly missed the noisiness of the former.
The problem wasn't only the lack of noise. After all, Matthew was used to be alone at home for long periods of time. However, since they had entered this eerie building, Matthew felt as thought she was being watched; which was strange considering they were utterly alone in those quiet hallways. Fou-kun, who was still comfortably settled in Matthew's arms, was looking left and right almost frenetically, as though he was afraid of something.
"Mordred-san, do you know why it's so silent? It feels really uncomfortable."
"Aye. Ya can't hear anyone in the Assassin building because their words have the Presence Concealment skill!"
"Huh? I don't get it, what is the point of speaking if nobody can hear you?"
"That' because they're from the Assassin class! They gotta speak low and stuff."
"Really? I thought the class names were pretty randoms..."
But the idea of it sent a chiver down Matthew's spine. Did the class names really have a meaning? Then, was the fact that Matthew felt as though someone was watching her not just a gut feeling? The more Matthew thought about it, the more her stomach was feeling tense. She started to act like Fou-kun, looking behind her or at the ceiling to see if no one was following them.
Her concerns were pointless though. It was obvious there was one beside her and Mordred. She couldn't see anyone and she couldn't hear anyone, so it felt like she was being paranoid.
Then, just when Matthew was starting to relax somewhat, suddenly someone spoke softly right next to her ear with a creepy voice:
"I heard that most Assassin class students who graduate from Seihai High becomes hitmen."
This time, Matthew's heart definitely stopped for a second and her whole body was covered in cold sweet. An instant later, her body finally realized the situation and Matthew jumped back while making the sound of a frightened mouse.
"Kyaa!"
"Pfffhahahahaha! Mashu-chan is so easy to scare!"
"T-That's not funny, Mordred-san!"
Standing right behind her, Mordred was rolling on the floor while holding his belly, laughing so hard he had a hard time breathing. Matthew on the other hand wasn't laughing at all. Her heart was beatting extremely fast and she was still shivering. She could feel that Fou-kun's heart was beating fast as well.
"G-hahaha!-Gomen, Mashu-chan! Ya were -hahaha!- so tense I couldn't resist!"
"Geez, I said it's not funny! Don't do something like that ever again."
Mordred stood up -not without laughing- and apologized properly to a sulking Matthew. Matthew sighed heavily before accepting Mordred's excuses. She had been scarred to death; however, Mordred's prank had been effective in reducing Matthew's stress. Now she was laughing heartily with Mordred.
"What he said is true, though."
"...Huh?"
All of Matthew's hair stood up on their end.
She was certain she just heard a deep, mysterious voice behind her just now. r, Mordred was in front of her.
"M-Mordred-san, I told you to stop doing that!"
"Ha? What are ya talking about, Mashu-chan? I didn't say anything."
"B-But just now, didn't you hear..."
Mordred tilted his head.
"Nah, I didn't hear anything." Mordred didn't seem in the least concerned and proceeded in the visit without listening to Matthew. "Come on, Mashu-chan! I'll show ya one of the classroom!"
"W-Wait, Mordred-san! I have a really bad feeling about this!"
Mordred guided Matthew to one of the room on the first floor. As could be expected, the panel above the door was saying:
1-Assassin
Without an ounce of hesitation, Mordred opened the door to the classroom and walked in. Matthew had an impeding feeling of doom in her guts, as if something bad would happen if she took a single step inside this room. Fou-kun probably felt the same because he started to struggle in Matthew's arms. Nonetheless, Matthew quickly followed after Mordred since she'd rather that than staying alone a single second in this building.
Thus, the two of them (plus Fou-kun) entered the room 1-Assassin. Matthew closed her eyes a little in apprehension before stepping in. To distract her mind from her bad feeling, she mused that this place would make an excellent haunted mansion for the school festival.
"Aye! This is what an Assassin classroom looks like!"
Matthew heard Mordred's voice near her. Realizing she was acting ridiculous by being so afraid, she reluctantly opened her eyes. And then, she saw...
She saw...
She saw...
"..."
Absolutely nothing.
"...What?"
That's right. Just like the 1-Archer room which was devoid of students or even furnitures, there was litterally nothing inside this classroom. Unlike in the previous case, Matthew was inside the room this time, and all she could do was behold the lack of everything. She looked at Mordred and saw the latter was looking back at her, fidgetting excitedly as though he was waiting for a reaction. Maybe that was because she had tsukkomi in the previous buildings as well.
"...Mordred-san, is that supposed to be a joke as well?"
"Aye?"
"What do you mean, 'aye?"?! There's clearly nothing in there!"
"Aye!"
A vein popped on Matthew's head.
She grabbed Mordred's brightly smiling face and proceed to wrestle him on the ground like she had seen so many manga characters do. It worked surprisingly well, and soon enough Mordred was frantically tapping the ground with his hand as a sign of surrender; Matthew kept wrestling him.
"W-wait...ugh...Mashu-chan..."
"What is it, Mordred-san? If you want to speak please articulate." Matthew's tone was cold.
"...I...gha...I can explain...!"
"Oh, but youve explained plenty already. Kono baka."
Foam started to form around Mordred's mouth, and the tapping was getting weaker. At the same time, a feeling of satisfaction was filling Matthew's chest because of how many times she had wanted to hit Mordred before. However, when he couldn't even tap anymore, Matthew realized what she was doing.
(No! This isn't what a highschool girl would do!)
That's right. Matthew was above all this violence. She knew it deep in her heart. With grace and elegance, she freed the poor Mordred and took Fou-kun back in her amrs; then she gave her best smile.
"Come on, Mordred-san! We have no time to lose if we want to visit the whole school!"
"...gh...a...Wait, Mashu-chan...!" Just like he did after bumping into the invisible building, Mordred recovered at surprising speed. "I'm not joking! Ya can't nobody here because they're invisible!"
"Invisible?"
"Aye! All the Assassin class students have Presence Concealment! The teachers also have Presence Concealment! The furniture too has Presence Concealment!"
In hindsight, it was true that the building itself was completely invisible before Enkidu-sensei found it for them; she should have considered the possibility in the first place. Yet she didn't because she really wanted to hit Mordred after all. Matthew felt shameful for her behavior. Mordred on the other hand didn't seem to mind at all and was looking around the classroom cheerfully.
"Though, that's the first time I actually came here."
"Eh? I thought Mordred-san knew the school by heart -Ah! Fou-kun, what's wrong!"
Yet, the longer they were staying inside the room, the stronger Fou-kun was struggling inside Matthew's arms. By now, it was to the point where Matthew could barely hold him, like a cat who had enough of being hugged. Except that in Fou-kun's case, the little dog-cat-thing seemed completely frightened as if a bear was rushing in their direction. Eventually, Fou-kun finally succeeded in escaping Matthew's grip and forcefully sprung out of her arms in direction of the exit. However in doing so he didn't aim well and hit the light switch of the room.
The moment the little creature left the room in a hurry, Matthew and Mordred were plunged in the dark.
"Wait, why was the light turned on in the middle of the day?!"
It was at this moment that Matthew noticed the complete absence of windows in the classroom or unknown reason. Because of that, the room was invaded by darkness barring the light coming from the hallway. But Matthew wasn't as concerned by the lack of light than by Fou-kun's strange behavior. When she turned toward Mordred to ask him, she realized he wasn't looking at the door by which Fou-kun left, but at the unfathomable darkness covering the classroom; she also noticed he was sweating a lot. When she looked in the same direction as him, she understood why.
One by one, they appeared as though floating in the shadows.
White masks in the shape of skulls.
They were appearing one by one. At first, there were only four or five, but eventually there were enough masks floating to disguise a whole class with; which made Matthew realize that they were the students of the Assassin class. By now the masks were staring at them, and they were staring back. Unlike her epic fight with the hypogriff, this time Matthew didn't where she was supposed to look. This made her feel more and more as though she was staring into the abyss.
Then, at last, a voice rose from somewhere in the classroom. It was a soulless voice, filled with hatred and yet a bit of tiredness.
"That was the chairman's pet..."
"Yeah..."
"Who are these people...?"
"They had the chairman's pet with them..."
More and more voices reached Matthew's ears. However, for some reason they all sounded the same. They were speaking slowly and creepily like members of a cult during a ceremony.
"If they had the chairman's pet, then they must be on the chairman's side..."
"The chairman's dogs..."
"Then that means they're the enemy..."
"If that's the case, then it is obvious what we must do..."
"""Yeah."""
The first reflexe of Matthew and Mordred was to walk back slowly toward the exit. Even while doing so, the masks were staring at them, sending chills down Matthew's spine and she felt her stomach was in a mess. When they were only a step away from the door, Matthew heard Mordred gulp and he said:
"All those who want the chairman dead are put in the Assassin class."
"We have to execute."
""Execute.""
"""Execute."""
""""Execute.""""
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Execute!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
All the masks started to sing in unison and Matthew and Mordred frantically ran outside with all the speed of a hunted animal. At the same time, a mass of black shadows flowed frominside the classroom to chase after them while throwing knifes at them.
"Why didn't you say that earlier?! And don't use me as a shield!" Matthew screamed from the bottom of her lungs.
Matthew dodged the flying black dart as they escaped from the building. She hoped they would be safe once they left the Assassin building, but a quick glace behind her told her the shadows were still pursuing them like a pack of hungry wolves through a forest. She was doing her best to analyse the situation clamly but her heart was pounding like a hammer in her chest and all she could think of was running forward as fast as possible.
Behind her, the Assassin students were repeating the same word over and over like a broken record:
""""Execute. Execute. Execute. Execute. Exe-""""
They were able to keep a certain distance between them and their pursuers, but they wouldn't be able to do that ad vitam eternam. Moreover, the shadows were moving in a strange way that didn't let Matthew and Mordred predict their movements. They were moving like...well, shadows. At this rate, they would catch up with them within a minute.
(That's not good; I need to stay calm in a situation like this! Okay, let's see how I can-)
SHACK!
One of the black daggers the Assassins were throwing at them passed right in front of Matthew's face before hitting the wall next to her, leaving a large hole like bullet.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Her calm lasted one second.
"Mashu-chan, are ya okay?!"
"Mordred-san!"
Matthew felt hope fill her chest again when she heard Mordred calling her. If they worked together, surely they would find a way to-
"Wait a minute- Mordred-san they're already onto you!"
"Aye?"
Alas, when she turned her head to see how Mordred was faring, she noticed that several Assassin had already caught up with Mordred and were holding him to stop him; but Mordred didn't seem to have noticed and was still running as if they weren't here. The Assassin students were doing their best to slow him down but they were being dragged around by Mordred's surprising strength. However, once Matthew told him, it seems Mordred finally understood there were several hands holding his clothes and legs. At the same moment, his magical strength left him and he fell heavily on the ground. Quickly, several other shadows pounded on him like predators.
"Mordred-san!-"
"You are about to join hi-ARGH!?" One of the Assassin had managed to catch up with Matthew and whispered in her ear, but Matthew immediatly punched his solar plexus by instinct.
"Wha, I'm sorry! No wait, I'm not sorry at all! Leave me alone!"
But it was no use. Soon, the same thing that heppened to Mordred happened to her and three shadows were able to grab her legs and ankle. Matthew did her best to shake them off, but in vain. Her speed was greatly reduced from the weight; their was no way she could escape them now.
Turning around, she saw all the shadows were now making a great black wave rushing in her direction, ready to sweep her away (she also saw Mordred's foot sticking out of the pitch black mass). She shouldn't have looked behind however, as this action broke her focus and caused her to fall down.
"Kya!"
The second after, the mass of black hoods swallowed her. Matthew shut her eyes in fear of what was to come next.
"Execute."
""Execute.""
"""Execute."""
""""Execute.""""
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Execute!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
She was surrounded by darkness. All around her, white skull masks were staring at her and laughing creepily (and Mordred's foot was still sticking out).
(There's no hope left...! This is the end...)
Matthew abandoned all hope.
Yet, just as she felt her strength leaving her and stopped struggling...
I am the bone of my sword.
"...Ah?"
But the next moment, salvation arrived in the form of kitchen implements: kitchen knifes, wooden spoons, metal dippers and at least four different brands of detergent rained down like metors on the Assassin students massed around Matthew and Mordred.
"Nani...?!"
"Who is...?!"
"This attack... It's him...!"
""""IMPOSSIBRUH!""""
The darkness surrounding Matthew immediatly dissipated and the Shadows retreated a few steps back to keep whoever launched this attack in check.
Finally free from this threat, Matthew raised her head to see who it was that saved them from certain death. But another part of her, the housewife sleeping in Matthew already knew. Their savior was a man in his late twenties with a dark skin and standing-up white hair; in one hand he was holding a used floorcloth and in the other was a rare brand of detergent that Matthew could only dream of, along with a pink apron wearing the name of the school.
That apron...
That attack...
This man could only be...
"The super-janitor!"
"Aye! It's EMIYA-san!"
On their side, tha Assassins were hesitating, some of them were already walking back. Obviously they were fearing the man called EMIYA.
"Shit! It's that guy!"
"He's too strong for us!"
"What should we do?!"
"Isn't that obvious? We need to retreat!"
""Retreat!""
"""Retreat!"""
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Retreat!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
And with that, all the shady students ran away like mousese as fast as they had ran after them. As the last Assassin passed the door to the Assassin building, the latter became invisible again.
"Mattaku." EMIYA sighed. "It's the first day and those Assassin kids are already causing trouble. I don't understand why the chairman even let them inside the school." But as he was speaking to himself, he remembered Matthew's and Mordred's presence. "Ah, are you guys alright-"
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Ha?!"
With watery eyes, Matthew had jumped on EMIYA's leg and was holding it tightly like she was about to fall from a cliff.
"Thank you so much! I really thought I was gonna die here! You're a hero of justice!"
"C-calm down! Hm, in the first place, it's not right to call me a hero of justice. Such a title isn't even worth-"
"Aye! EMIYA-san is our hero!"
"Not you too...!"
In turn, Mordred jumped on EMIYA's other leg, except he seemed to be doing it for fun. As for Matthew, her nerves were in a state where she couldn't hold back her tears nor listen to what EMIYA was saying.
"A heroooooooooooooooooooooooo! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"A hero! A hero! A hero!"
"Both of you, stop!"
Eventually though, he managed to get the two of them off his legs, and he sighed even more deeply than before. He then cleared his throat and looked at the two of them.
"Anyway, it's good that you two are safe. You were really lucky that I was passing by."
"Huh? You mean you're not here because of the commotion created by thirty people running at the same time? Why are you here then?" Matthew asked, but as a reply EMIYA put his finger on his lips to tell her to be silent.
He then looked at the side, toward a small space where the trash was accumulated before being burned in the incinerator. Matthew and Mordred also looked at the trash pile with curious gazes, but no matter how much they looked, it was definitely a normal pile of trash. Then, suddenly and only for a second, one of the trash bag moved slightly; it was so slight that Matthew wondered if it wasn't her imagination.
"(Mashu-chan, it moved!)"
"(Eh, so it really wasn't just my imagination.)"
EMIYA must have seen it as well because as soon as it happened, he started walking in direction of the trash pile slowly quietly. Then, when he was just in front of it, he suddenly plunged into the mountain of trash.
"Ah, EMIYA-san?!"
Immediatly after, there were noise of two persons fighting as well as muffled shouts. Because of the agitation inside it, the pile of trash collapsed and turned into a sea of trash. Sea of trash from which EMIYA eventually emerged.
But he wasn't alone: with only one hand he was lifting a boy around Matthew's age with red hair (and who looked a lot like EMIYA) who was struggling to get away from the super-janitor's grip. Without success.
"Grr, let go of me, kono baka!"
"Shirou, who did you sneak inside the school again?! No, forget about this; I already told you I won't let you join Seihai High, baka!"
"It's unfair! You went to Seihai High too, so why can't go?! I want to become a hero of justice, kono baka!"
"No, I won't let you become a hero, baka! Anyway, you're a trespasser so I'll bring you to the gate!"
All while fighting with each other, EMIYA walked away in direction of the school gate, holding Shirou with one hand and forcing detergent down his throat with the other. With this, Matthew and Mordred were left alone like they originaly were.
(Who was that guy supposed to be anyway...)
While Matthew was pondering about the scene they just assisted, she noticed Mordred was trembling while facing the ground.
"Mordred-san, is something the matter?" She tried to reach his shoulder with her hand, only to realize soon that he was actually trembling because he was holding back his laughter.
"Pfrr...That Shirou guy... pfrr...hahaha! He's such an idiot for trying to sneak up! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
(I can't believe you're the one saying that, Mordred-san.) Matthew facepalmed.
"Hahaha... Anyway, Mahsu-chan. There's only two classes left to visit!"
"Ah, that's right. Enkidu-sensei mentioned the Lancer class or something."
"Ah, ya want to start with the Lancer class? Aye! Let's go!"
Lancer class
Time had passed by really quickly for Matthew, but when she checked her watch she saw it was already past 10 p.m. At this rate, they might completely miss morning classes. However, Mordred said there were only two classes left so they decided not to lose time and to immediatly head to the next building.
At this point, Matthew had expected Mordred to take her to one of the buldings that could still be seen. Yet, instead of that Mordred led her very far from their original position; they passed in front the Berserker Building and the Saber building a second time to go behind the furthest building Matthew could see. Eventually, they arrived in a place Matthew hadn't expected to see in on school ground: the area around them started to fill with trees and eventually they were walking inside a genuine forest!
"Wow, that's incredible. I had no idea the school grounds extended up to the mountain!"
"I heard that when they built the school, there were still trees everywhere!"
"I see..."
That would explain it. After doing a bit of research on Seihai High, Matthew learned that the school was built before this area of the city was even inhabited; in fact, there used to be dormitories but Matthew didn't see any during the visit. They were probably renovated or demolished once people started to live nearby and that a train line was built.
Because of this, Matthew had expected to see a lot of old buildings when she arrived earlier this morning and she had been surprised to see they were all brand news. She didn't put too much though into it though; they were probably all renovated. Or was another power of the super-janitor?
Yet, she discovered one of those ancient buildings in the middle of the forest Mordred was guiding her into.
"Tada! This is the oldest building in the school!"
Mordred didn't need to tell Matthew for her to understand: when you think "old school building", you generally think of a big house made of red bricks or something with the same feeling. But the building in front of her was nothing like that. Instead, it looked like a house from the feudal era, or a shrine. With the chirping of the birds and the relaxing atmosphere of the forest, the shrine-like building had a serene feel to it.
"Ah, how beautiful! It must be awesome to study in a place like this!"
"Aye! The Lancer class has the best luck!"
Normally, Matthew would be utterly shocked to hear students would have to study in an old bulding lost in the forest. But in all honesty, compared to what she had seen so far it was anything but bad.
(The atmosphere here is so relaxing...)
Matthew decided to get closer to the old building and approached her hand of one of the beams supporting the porch.
"Wha- careful Mashu-chan! Ya can't damage an old building!"
"Haha, sorry, it's just that it was so pretty that I wanted to tou-"-CRAAAAAAAAAAC!
...
"..."
"..."
A chill ran down Matthew's spine. Worse, she felt like something horrible was crawling on her back. She heard a loud noise behind her. More precisely, she heard the noise of something breaking at the exact spot Matthew was touching the wooden beam.
"...Ah...aaaah..." She wanted to say 'There's no way', but the only thing that came out of her mouth was the cry of a rightened animal.
She didn't dare to turn her head around. Mordred was looking at her, his face just as frozen as hers, and he was sweating a lot. She didn't dare to turn her head around.
But she had to.
So she turned her head around shakily to look at the wooden beam she had touched with her hand. And she saw.
She didn't put that much strength in her hand. In fact, she didn't put any strength into her movement; she had just touched it lightly to feel the surface of the wood. Yet, when she turned her head around, Matthew saw the beam bent in two as though someone had punched in vigorously; it was completely unsteady and ready to break at the slightest shock. Matthew didn't understand why. Why did it break when she touched it?
She then looked at her hand, as if looking for an answer. And she found one: pieces of molded and rotten wood had stayed stuck on her hand, along with a lot of mold and mould. To complete the view, some small white worms emerged from the mire and started to go up Matthew's arm.
As soon as she understood what was in her hand, Matthew felt her arm become rigid and beads of sweat poured from her forehead.
But that wasn't the end of it: the ceiling of the porch had lost part of its support, and dust was now falling accompagnied by a disturbing grinding noise. Eventually though, it wasn't dust that fell on Matthew's head but a centipede.
At thsi moment, her body finally reacted.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" She jumped back while shaking her hand vigorously to take all of the mold and worms off. "I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry-I'msorry!"
She was now kneeling and bowing at the old building as if she was trying to calm an enraged deity. A cold sweet covered her entire body when she heard steps coming from inside toward the door of the shrine-like building. Unsurprisingly, it was Enkidu-sensei's figure which appeared from behind the old sliding door. Unexpectedly, his expression wasn't that of anger but of surprise.
"Ara, ara, I thought I had heard Mashu-san's voice outside the classroom. What is the matter?"
"Ah...aaah..." Matthew could only point at the wooden beam pitifully, waiting for her judgement.
For some reson, Enkidu-sensei wasn't surprised when he saw the broken beam; he only reacted with a "Oh" of understanding.
"Ah, you don't have to worry for this. Ahahaha, this building is old and needs some renovations, but aside from that it is quite a nice-"
CRAAAC! THUMP!
He was interrupted by the beam finally breaking and falling on the ground, causing the ground to shake. But it didn't fall alone: a large part of the porch's ceiling collapsed due to having lost its support and a chunck of wood hit Mordred's head; the sliding door by which Enkidu-sensei had left teh room suddenly fell on the floor as though there wasn't anything supporting it from the start, and even the whole wall of the wooden structure collapsed at once with a loud thundering noise. The falling rubbles caused a cloud of dust to rise, and when it eventually disappeared, Matthew could see the inside of the classroom as well as the students. The latters were looking at them in shock, but that wasn't what struck Matthew first: they were all sitting on the ground like monks, without tables or even cushions, with their books open in front of them. The room they were sitting in was in just as bad astate as the outside, with deteriorated tatamis, falling signs and one of the students was trembling because she was surrounded by an army of insects.
Everyone was frozen.
Matthew's shaking worsened as she looked at the smiling Enkidu-sensei. He was smiling, yes, but this static smile was more scary than anything.
"Ahh...sorry..." Tears were starting to run down her cheeks.
But Enkidu-sensei remained calm, and turned around to walk back into the room.
"Don't worry, that's not a problem. This way, we'll be able to profit of thsi beautiful scenery while studying!"
Matthew admired his positivity. She felt extremely sad too.
"Anyway, I didn't have the time to present myself." He grabbed one of the chalk laying one his desk, and approached the blackboard; "My name's Enkidu. Nice to meet you all!"
Enkidu-sensei started to write his name on the blackboard; he tried, but the spot where the chalk was supposed to leave a white mark were crubling down like dry pain instead.
Enkidu-sensei froze again.
He was smiling.
But his arm which was holding the chalk was trembling, and the piece of chalk was crushed between his fingers. Finally, his smile faded away and his bit his lower lip while bending his body forward as though he was about to cry too.
"We always lose at the lottery...and we get this classroom...every...year...we have the worst luck...but it's alright...it's...not...that...bad..."
Nobody knew what to do. Everyone was still frozen or trembling with fear.
Mordred and Matthew looked at each other before nodding in a tacit agreement, and they did what they though to be the best in this situation: they walked back slowly, while being careful of not making any noise.
Caster class
The room looked very much like a laboratory; for it was one. This classroom didn't have any normal chair or desk with students diligently bent over their notebooks. Here instead, the students were lined up along long plastic tables provided to use scientific material. Therefore it wasn't strange to see the boys and girls focused on handling beakers, test tubes and so on filled with colored liquids.
"And they're always making shady stuff with funny colors!" Mordred concluded his presentation. "What d'ya think, Mashu-chan?"
Matthew looked at the classroom from the other side of the security window, but no matter how much she observed the Caster students and classroom, the only thing that came to her mind was:
"That's...kind of underwhelming compared to everything so far..."
"...A-aye..." Mordred looked as though he wanted to object, but even he realized it was pointless.
In all honesty, the class and its ocuppant were as normal as can be. The only thing that could look out of place was the teacher who had big googly eyes; but at least he wasn't three meters tall nor invisible.
Matthew kept staring as though she was waiting or something weird to happen.
But nothing happened.
Matthew sighed, wondering why she was disappointed deep inside, and she and Mordred started to walk back in direction of the Saber building. As they did, she started to reflect on her day so far. Her conclusion was that she was doomed.
(Well, at least the Saber class is normal.)
"Aye! I can't wait to fight Otousama when we're back!" Mordred said as he was waving his metal bat around (this time it was covered on nails) cheerfully.
(Ah, right. We have him.)
Matthew sighed again. They said each time you sigh your luck is being sucked out as well, but it probably didn't matter anymore in Matthew's case.
"Well, I guess it's not that bad."
"Mh? What is, Mashu-chan?"
"Thanks to you, I understood something important today, Mordred-san." Matthew stretched her arms and looked at the sky with a serene smile. "You're not my biggest problem in this school."
"Aye?"
Saber class
Fortunately, they managed to come back before lunch time. After greeting Artoria-sensei when they entered the classroom, Matthew headed to her seat and sat down with an expression of relief. Saying she was tiring was the understatement of the century: she felt as though she had fought for her life; because she did, somehow.
"...So, how was your visit?" Matthew heard Galahad's voice, and she realized she had forgotten about him.
"Ah, well it was a little -GALAHAD-SAN, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?"
"...I failed."
The Chairman's Notes
Mordred-kun
Stats:
Litterature: B+
Math: A
P. E: B
Sciences: B
Economics: D
Skills:
Instinct: Has a knack for finding trouble.
Mana Burst: Bursting with energy that is.
Battle Continuation: And stubborn with that. The worst combination.
Charisma: Who is the most foolish: Mordred-kun or those ready to follow him?
Overall:
A surprisingly good student in most fields. However, I can't help but be worried for his future.
P.S: I expected him to have Presence Concealment considering how many time he slipped in my school.
Thank you for reading!
Hi everyone, here is the first official chapter for Fate/Seihai High! I hope you apreciated Seihai High, its secrets(?) and its classrooms and that you had a good time. The first word that comes to my mind is 'Finally', you probably understand why.
I also hope you like the Chairman's Notes; I plan on doing a different character with each chapter.
I wonder, did you expect all the characters in this chapter to be portrayed this way?
~Legends Storyteller
