Chapter 3.
Narrator: Koyomi Araragi
Servant: Archer
Day: 1
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That was also the day we entered the Library. My servant Archer told me that in previous Moon Cell Grail Wars, the library was an available source of information on heroes of legends past so Masters can learn about their opposition, provided they knew their servant's true names.
Along with the anomaly known as Haruhi Suzumiya, we entered the library expecting nothing but piles of textbooks to tediously sift through if we weren't lucky.
Well, it turns out we were half right—but it turns out we also delightfully half-wrong. As if two different doll houses with drastically different themes were split in half and half-hazardly put back together, essentially mix matching the two divided right down the middle—that is to say one side was indeed the textbook drool that if my eyes laid on it, it would instantaneously cause a chain reaction consisting of every neurological pathway in my brain shutting down in an instant, essentially putting me into a state of pseudo sleep—was counterbalanced by an over-stimulation of many different cancerous colors of the otaku world.
Light novels, manga, anime, visual novels, novels and other types of fiction were there for us to reap for our enjoyment.
"This is awesome!" Haruhi exclaimed as she ran through the isles.
Archer reappeared and walked behind me as I skimmed the bookshelves.
"Are you sure we should have accepted a temporary alliance with her, Master? At any moment, she could turn against us and tear us to shreds. Not here in the library, of course, but once she does so, I will not be able to withstand such a fight on my own."
He makes a valid point, however, I don't think something like that would happen. I've dealt with many types of anomalies before—people I've had to decipher and find their true essence. However, this girl is probably the simplest anomaly I've ever encountered.
On and off, like a switch, but only capable of turning those two directions. Either incredibly passionate or incredibly bored, with little in-between. Or perhaps a different set of circumstances would cause the in-between to manifest itself in different ways.
At any rate, she isn't the type of person who would attack someone for no reason—and the alliance we share isn't she would break that easily. She's a tyrant, but she's a tyrant because she's passionate about the people under her control—namely me and her servant.
After asking her name in that bath—she naturally asked mine.
Everything would have just ended there if she hadn't kept pursuing more questions—and I wound up revealing to her that I was half vampire.
Her eyes then lit up with curiosity, then, as if she teleported from one side of the room to the other she asked me to be part of her "brigade". It seems at that point, Archer didn't bother to intercept her or attempt to protect his master because she was able to get past even my defenses.
An ironic contrast to now, I suppose.
"At any rate, there's something off about the Moon Cell having all of this fiction here is certainly odd."
"What do you mean?"
It was then that I heard a book drop on the other side of the shelves. Curious, I walk over to see Haruhi bending down and picking it up.
The librarian—who not only looked like she can be some kind of model, but also seemed to be my age at least, walked up to us.
"Is there any problem, ma'am?"
Haruhi looks over at the librarian with a face that's frozen with shock, pointing to the book in her hand.
I couldn't believe it—but no matter what, my eyes couldn't have deceived me. It was the kind of reveal that forces one to recontextualize their entire existence.
"Why does this book have me on the cover?" She asked.
The book cover's illustration is of her in a sailor uniform, the title, "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya".
"Why do the other books have my friends on the cover?!" She exclaimed, walking back as if she were terrified for her life, "What is this place?!"
There had to at least be 10 other books on that shelf behind her—
"Does that mean she's from a light novel series?!"
But before I can draw any further conclusions—I was promptly corrected.
"That is incorrect, sir. As this Holy Grail war is extremely different from the last, plenty of masters and servants are from different timelines entirely with their own governing rules and weaknesses. Since everyone is from completely different dimensions entirely, there is no way to gather information about your opponents through normal means. The Moon Cell decided to take the stories from as many alternate dimensions as possible and compile the stories of potential participants in many different types of formats. Essentially, they are nothing but archives that are stocked here and available to read for any master."
That makes sense—I suppose. That said, I wonder where my "archives" are?
"That doesn't quite sound right." Archer chimed in.
I guess not?
"What doesn't make sense is the fact that there are people coming from different timelines in the first place." The Librarian tilted her head as Archer continued. "The Moon Cell is not the Throne of Heroes—it does not exist outside of time and space—so while it can record the deeds of Heroic Spirits, it shouldn't be able to pull from completely parallel universes... rather, it shouldn't be able to on purpose. Glitches can certainly happen and activate something similar to the second magic by accident, but a collection of this magnitude shouldn't be possible, even for the Moon Cell."
The very premise of our being here is utter nonsense.
"Nonsense—indeed." The librarian commented.
Huh?
"No, please disregard what I just said. Unfortunately I cannot answer your question—I would suggest asking the supervisor of the Holy Grail War."
"Who would that be?" Haruhi finally chimed in, invading her space and grabbing the librarian by her shoulders—dramatically shaking her back and forth. The librarian's black hair flew back and forth until she finally headbutted Haruhi to get her to stop.
She sighed, "Her name is Maria Angelica Naki. Perhaps you could find her at the chapel sometime at night."
Her head tilted 80 degrees before she left us off with,
"Good luck."
And a chill ran down my spine.
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... Master ... Servant
... ? ... Saber: ...?
Araragi Koyomi... Archer: Nameless
... ? ... Lancer: Cú Chulainn
... ? ... Caster: ?
... ? ... Rider: ?
Haruhi Suzumiya... Berserker: ?
... ? ... Assassin: ?
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Supervisor: Maria Angelica Naki