Chapter 3

"Mai! I have to catch my breath hold on!"
"Aren't you a servant? Do you guys even have to breathe?"
"O-Of course! I think…"

Maybe she was right, I maybe just thought I had to catch my breath. After becoming a servant I seem to have gotten a lot stronger. But I'm still just getting used to this, except for Kyudo practice, I don't have anything close to resembling combat experience.

I had just fired an unbelievable amount of arrows at two servants who were fighting. Apparently being summoned as an Archer-class servant allowed me to be able to precisely determine the location of other servants that were nearby, when I told her I thought there was a fight near by she told me I should stay back and fire away like a sniper. It felt kind of underhanded but I'm not exactly cut out for fighting, I saw as much yesterday…

"I am the servant Archer, answering your summons. Um, that makes you my Master?"

I stepped forth out of the summoning circle. After being tempted to get my wish granted, I agreed to this but I was maybe not fully understanding what was going on. I guess I wasn't thinking straight, I just didn't want to the 9 of us to be apart.

"Oh my gosh, you're so cute! Are all servants like you?"
"U-um, I'm not that cute, the others are all much better…"
"The other servants? You know who they are?"
"N-no, I mean my friends…"
"Oh, I wish I could've brought them too. So can you show me what you can do?"

She seemed to be a very straight-forward type. I instinctively agreed, I must be used to dealing with this type of person from my past experiences after all. I walk over to the window nearby and summoned a bow in my hand. It has the feel of a typical bamboo bow I'd normally use, but for some reason it was bright pink. I didn't think much of it.

Upon being summoned, I gained a wealth of information about the Holy Grail War, my new combat abilities and even my Noble Phantasm. It's hopefully something I never have to use… So I already had a basic grasp of my new capabilities, pulling the string back an arrow materialized. I am able to skip through my typical breathing patterns and set-up allowing me to be much more accurate and quicker than usual, so without much effort I let loose an arrow at a nearby tree. I notch another arrow and fire. And another, each arrow splitting the arrow fired previously. I smile and look at my Master.

"Oh that's cool, but that's not what I meant. I wanted to hear you perform!"
"Wh-what!? How did you know about that?"
"Well, for one thing the catalyst I used was a dvd of a live from one of my favorite idols after all. If I think of something that inspires heroism I couldn't think of anything else that fit the bill. Also… the way you're dressed…"

I look down and gasp. Knowing that I was summoned as an Archer, I fully expected to be wearing my Kyudo Gi, however what I was actually wearing was similar to one of my idol outfits. It was a light blue outfit with a pink ribbon across my chest. Feeling my head, I also had a frilly headband that I could only imagine matched my ribbon. And the skirt…

"Why is this so short!? Who made me wear this? Was it you!"
"Uh I didn't pick it, actually if I did I might've made the skirt shorter…."
"..."

Was this really much different than what I dealt with back home?

Thinking about it, I actually had a few abilities that had nothing to do with fighting, but performing. I wonder if that old guy had something to do with it. Wanting to try it out I changed my bow into a microphone.

"Well… I guess..."

Music began playing out of nowhere, actually it was a familiar song. It's a very appropriate song, the song that started my journey with my friends to become School Idols is also going to start my battle to keep us together. Pulling my microphone in, I began singing, "I say…"

After the song was over, she clapped excitedly. It was pretty embarrassing performing by myself but I was happy she liked it.

"You're amazing, you're so good with a bow and you're a great singer too! I summoned really summoned the best servant"

She ran up to me and hugged me tight. Too close…

"But your dance seemed kind of off didn't it?"

She was very observant about this type of thing, I wonder if she has practical experience with Idols as well?

"Yeah, I didn't mean to but I ended up dancing the routine for the song as well. It wouldn't look right by myself after all, since there's supposed to be 8 others with me.
"Oh your friends right? Aw, I wish I could see all of you perform together, you think I could make that my wish? Hah, just kidding."

I chuckled nervously, I'd like more than anything to perform with all of them again actually, it was my wish after all.

"So um, Master, how do you think we should proceed?"
"First, I need you to do something for me."

She got really serious, I got a little nervous as this was the first time she showed such an expression.

"I need to you stop calling me Master, my name is Mai Oshiro."
"Okay, Ms. Osh-"
"Absolutely not! Call me Mai"
"O-okay… Mai."
"Well first things first I need to find a place to put your abilities to use"
"Alright."

It seemed like she was thinking of a strategy to use my Archer-class abilities. She might be a very astute Master after all.

"We need to find a stage for you to perform for everyone!"

Or not.

"W-wait what!? Don't you mean we have to prepare for the Holy Grail War!"
"Oh yeah we could do that too, but that doesn't sound as fun" She smiled.

She dragged me out the door of what appeared to be her home and we ran down aways towards an empty park. She didn't seem like she was breaking a sweat at all, without my capability as a Servant I might've collapsed halfway through despite all the training I put in, needless to say I was quite impressed with her fortitude.

"Here, you should perform here tomorrow to try to gather a crowd! And maybe if you stick out enough we can attract other servants!"
"Well… I guess it's a plan."

We set to work cleaning up the area a bit, there's a nice little elevated platform nearby that should do nicely as a makeshift stage. Mai stood up and began imitating my movements for Start:Dash! Her movements were pretty good, she might make a good Idol if she put her mind to it.

I thought that until she began to try to sing however. Chalkboards are mostly gone from schools these days but I imagine her voice was what scratching one sounded like. I immediately fumbled the rubbish I was clearing away and shivered.

"Tee-hee, sorry I'm not a very good singer. I wanted to be an Idol when I was young but as you can see it's not going to work out."

She was smiling, but it wasn't her usual smile. For the first time since I met her she showed me a fake smile. A smile that said she was trying to be strong. I wouldn't be surprised if her wish had something to do with this. If I could, I'd like to be able to help her somehow.

My thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of a servant fast approaching This must be sheer coincidence because there's now way any other servants should be able to track me as I am now, Archer-class servants are supposed to be the best at tracking and top tier in the realm of stealth. So while not actively using any of my abilities I should be completely invisible to other Servant's senses.

"Mai! Get back and hide!" I ordered her, I wasn't sure if I could protect her if she was nearby after all. She complied and ran a ways taking protection behind a tree.

I turn around, it was a young man, maybe even a teenager, riding a light blue bicycle towards us. He seemed to be carrying a convenience store bag and he wore what looked like the uniform for a generic fast food restaurant.

Normally I'd think nothing of this, seeing someone getting off work and grabbing something to eat from the convenience store on the way home was a natural occurrence.

What was unnatural about this was this wasn't a normal person, this was a Servant!

Before getting too close to me he stopped pedaling, pulled out the kickstand, and hung his bag on the handlebars. He looked at me for a moment before revealing a slightly mischievous grin.

"Ah, you must be another Servant."

Even with my ability to hide my presence from other Servants, if they were to physically lay eyes on me they'd be able to immediately tell what I was.

"Yes. Good evening sir, I am the Servant Archer. May I ask your name?"
"Yeah, I'm Rider, pleased to meetcha."
"Um, I don't mean to be rude but… you're the Rider-class servant? So you…" I couldn't finish my sentence.
"Yeah, I'm Rider, and my steed is the only one befitting the Demon Lord Satan! Dullahan!"

No matter what he called it, all I saw was a bicycle. A single-speed bicycle no less. I decided not to push the matter further, I didn't want to make him angry since he seemed quite proud of it.

He began to lightly stretch his body, he seemed to have a regular calisthenics routine.

"Gotta make sure I don't pull a muscle…" He seemed to be a very forthright person, despite being… the Demon Lord Satan?

"W-Wait, you're Satan! The evil overlord of hell? I can't do this…" I began to back away chuckling nervously.

"Oh, no, I'm just named after that guy. Well I was a Demon Lord but not the one you're thinking of. I'm no longer qualified to be called a Demon Lord though, I wouldn't be here as a Servant looking like this if I were after all."
"That makes sense…" I felt slightly relieved. I wasn't sure how I'd fare against the fated enemy of all of heaven.

"Alright! Let's go, Archer! Behold and cower in fear as I draw my blade! The sight of which is powerful enough to steal away souls!" In his hand a weapon appeared covered in dark light. The light gave way and began to form in his hands. What type of weapon befit a former Demon Lord I wonder?

"What the hell, why do I have a push-broom? What kind of weapon is this!" He threw it to the floor and it bounced back up striking him in the face. Rubbing his face he picked it back up and sighed.

"A-are you okay Rider?" I asked a bit worried. It looked like it hurt.
"Well whatever, let's go Archer."

I nodded and summoned my bow. Regardless of his looks he was still a Servant, even someone like me with no redeeming qualities other than being a little bit decent with a bow is infinitely more powerful as a Servant, I couldn't underestimate him.

We stared at each other for the briefest of moments. I notched an arrow and fired. He immediately hit it away with his broom. I notched another, and another, and another. No matter how many I shot he proceeded to knock them away one by one. This was bad, he seemed pretty strong after all.

He charged at me with his broom and thrust it towards my head. I blocked it with my bow and kicked off the ground leaping high into the air. I halted my descent and created a platform to place my feet on.
"Hey that's a cool trick, but um, why is it a big rotating heart? And speaking of which your outfit doesn't seem much suited to fighting, are you one of those Idols?"
"I don't think you have any right to comment on my outfit you part-timer!"
"Hey! This outfit is the pride of the MgRonald Corporation and its employees! I demand you take that back!"

He threw his broom towards me so fast I was unable to react. My platform shattered and I tumbled towards the ground. He began running towards me before I launched a volley of arrows. I notched a single arrow, but dozens shot out however spinning his broom he blocked every single one. It halted his advance momentarily but he was slowly inching closer.I had to think of something else, some way to break through.

I took a deep breath and concentrated, my analytical ability for the path of arrows increased exponentially since becoming a servant, so I should be able to handle this.

Amidst the various trees that stood up in the park, I began to fire arrows in seemingly random directions. After firing a dozen or so in total, Rider looked puzzled, and began to charge me thinking I left an opening. I waited for him to reach me before I leaped up in the air. I flipped over Rider as he thrust towards me with his broom, just afterwards the arrows I fired finished their journey through the trees bouncing around and all converged on the spot where Rider now stood. Realizing this, he spun around in a circle knocking as many of them down as possible but one pierced his shoulder and another his thigh.

"Gah!" He screamed in pain.
"I'm sorry! I hope it didn't hurt that much" I was genuinely worried, regardless of what lay ahead for me, I never actually fired an arrow at another person in my life, or dealt any physical pain towards another so this was difficult.
"What are you an idiot! Of course it hurt!" His words sounded more angry than he actually seemed. He grimaced as he pulled the arrows out

"Oh, Archer that was amazing! You just came out and shot the arrows like whiz and bam!"

Mai had revealed herself, a mild headache began forming and I began to rub my head.

"H-hey Mai you need to stay hidden, what if he tries to attack you! This is a genuine former Demon Lord!"
"Oh I wouldn't do something so underhanded, don't worry about it. You're my opponent Archer."

Holding one of my arrows he gripped it tight until it broke and proceeded again. For a former Demon Lord he seemed to be pretty honorable.

Maybe… maybe I could do this after all. I took a deep breath as he was charging me again, I attempted to do the same thing, but this time before I could leap out of the way he pulled me down and slammed me down on the ground and dropped to avoid the incoming arrows. Hitting the ground hurt, but I immediately forgot about the pain after the position he was in. He was laying on top of me with our faces almost touching.

"Kyah!" I screamed as I slapped him. I wasn't all that comfortable around the opposite sex, it's a given since I don't have many interactions with them so having a male so close was quite startling.

"Ow, what the hell!"
"Y-you were on top of me!"
"Because you tried to shoot a bunch of arrows at me!"

At this point our fight was turning into a battle of words more than anything. After a brief pause, he looked back at his bike and bag from the convenience store and began to panic.

"Crap, the ice cream is melting, we'll finish this later Archer! I have a no-fail mission from my Master so I'll let you off easy this time!"

He ran over to his bike, grabbed his bag and took off at a speed that would make most race car drivers jealous. I stared blankly at his direction, wondering what just happened to me.

Yep, that was me. We didn't finish our fight, but if I were to score it I'd probably give it to him. Thus I lost to a part-timer with a broom and bicycle. I mean he did say he was a former Demon Lord but not a single thing about him confirmed that.

We arrived at the area I sensed the two servants at, examining the area I determined that both servants got away. Even with a surprise attack while they were both fighting each other I couldn't beat anyone. I'm really not cut out for this am I?

"Sorry, Mai, I couldn't do anything…"
"What're you talking about? That was amazing! How'd you shoot so many arrows at once? Can you teach me to do that?"
"S-sorry it's something I can do only because I'm a Servant, but I could teach you the basics of Kyudo if you'd like"
"Hm, that doesn't sound as fun, let's think of another place you can perform next instead!"

She dragged me along with her to find another venue. Mai seems quite whimsical but our short live did seem to attract a servant, I wonder if she's much more cunning than she appears to be. It's a shame she didn't summon someone more useful, hopefully I can find the opportunity to do something for her as well.