Sakaewmatsui: I hope so!
Akasha Boolriver: Who are you talking about when you're talking about someone who knows they're a Master? If it's from Matsuo, he knows a lot about the Masters and the Servants... after all they're looking to summon one and they can recognize Command Spell.
If you hate the idea of them talking about Hakuno as a decorative object, this new chapter will give you more reason to complain.
And yes, Hakuno is a Moon Cell Grail War veteran with a devoted (cute) Servant.
Sawtooth44: probably no… (Sawtooth44: awww)
The night of the Fox
The night extended its grip on Tokyo Bay. A night of storm. The night sky was convulsing with clouds, stirred by whirling winds. The rain fell into a dense curtain that would fill the skyscrapers, dampen the neon and deafened the sound of the vehicles.
At the moment, the blighted lightning flashes were drawing zigzags in the sky before hitting the lightning rods that were crowning the office buildings.
The show was an apocalypse, an enchantment of light and power, unleashing the forces of nature and then the thunder drum rolled. It burst out with the force of a small explosion, passing between the blind facades of towers where only a few windows shone.
Towards the sea, the waves hammered the high wall separating the bay from the Pacific Ocean. Formerly, at this location was the Rainbow Bridge. But with the rising sea level, a dike had replaced it. This pre-stressed concrete wall resisted the most ferocious, the most patient of all the elements... water.
In the storm's rage, all who could remain safe did however, a fast and stealthy silhouette jumped from one building to another, running on the roofs...
A woman was running on the rooftops of the megacity.
She was clad in a blue Shrine-maiden outfit with a black obi and cut-off sleeves, and mini-dress short cut. To tell you the truth, the chest portion of the kimono showed a risqué décolletage... Her outfit was completed with black kneehigh socks and... tall sandals, so high that people wondered how she could stand.
No pure and honorable miko can wear this dress... but she was not a miko. The most drawing feature of this strange Shrine-maiden was a pair of fluffy fox ears in her pink tied up hairs, and an equally fluffy fox tail.
She was Tamamo no Mae, monster, Servant... Wise mother and lovely spouse (it is she who says it and I would not dare to contradict her).
Tamamo ran carrying a package summarily wrapped in a sheet... a package shivering in the rain that soaked the fabric, a teen girl with large brown eyes and long hair of the same shade.
After the terror of the techno-ninja attack, Kishinami Hakuno trembled as much with retrospective fear as with cold. The Victor of the Moon looked up at her savior. Tamamo held her adored Master against her ample chest, an ecstatic expression on her face. In fact, as she placed her cheek on the top of her head, Hakuno heard her... purr. Uh... foxes purring now?
Perhaps tired of running, or simply wanting to think a little, Caster came to rest on the top of a small building with a roof covered with technical facilities.
- Goshujin-sama, this Tamamo is very happy to finally be reunited with her super-duper-ultra-cute Master.
- Thank you, Caster... I've missed you... too.
Tamamo adored her ears and tenderly held her beloved Master. The moment of tenderness was interrupted by Hakuno's awkward coughing.
- Caster, can I stand up?
- Yes, of course...
Still wrapped in the sheet torn from her hospital bed, Hakuno approached the edge of the roof, grabbing the fence with one hand to look at the crowded streets of cars and skycars moving at various heights.
- What should we do? I don't know who those men were who tried to kidnap me, or why. I know nothing about this time... what should I do?
Hakuno turned to Tamamo. The Kitsune rubbed her chin.
- The world has changed a lot over the last 60 years. Do you feel this "weird", "unusual" feeling, like everything around us is not as neat as it should be and the colors are strangely dull? Goshujin-sama is the result of the lack of mana in the atmosphere. Men, like all living beings, need mana to feel "normal".
Caster is packing up:
- Goshujin-sama, it is as if the whole world were crying out for despair. The first problem we have to solve is that the energy I get from you is insufficient.
- Are you in danger?
Hakuno's anxious reaction surprised Tamamo, who couldn't resist, jumping around her Master's neck:
- Goshujin-sama! No, don't worry... This Tamamo is a Caster Class Servant, I would find a way to regenerate my energy. I already have some ideas. Ironically, if I could activate my Noble Phantasm, I wouldn't have a problem... except I don't have enough energy to activate my Noble Phantasm.
Tamamo's ears trembled when she felt her Master shaking with all her limbs. Then Hakuno sneezed.
- Goshujin-sama?
- It is cold...
Tamamo pushed away her master at arm's length and looked critically at her. The teenager was completely wet. The damp cloth stuck to her, and her hair looked like seaweed washed away by the tide.
The Kitsune looked like a balloon that deflated, her ears lay on her head and her tail bent to the ground:
- I'm Tamamortified! I abducted my cute Master with nothing for her to wear. Bad Tamamo... bad!
Holding her sheet with one hand, Hakuno stretched out the other to caress Caster's head between the two ears.
- That's all right, Caster.
The Mall was a classical shopping center.
It looked like a kind of big arena covered by a translucent dome. The central space was invaded by a forest of elevators and escalators surrounding a green space used for the relaxation of stressed consumers.
The successive, increasingly high rings were home to fashion shops, restaurants, a gaming center, a sauna, bakeries, cyber accessories stores and a barber.
The shopping mall was open from 08:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.
For several hours now, the last workers had left the premises. Only the keeper remained on the scene, monitoring the screens that covered an entire wall of his small premises. Patrols were made of security robots resembling some kind of bipedal crab. Each was armed with a Taser capable of neutralizing a possible thief.
Like every night, the security guard looked at the screens in front of him, seeking to recognize the signs of an intrusion. Apart from him and the monitors, the security room housed a metal cabinet that was, in fact, a computer. A datajack monitor allowed the gatekeeper to access the programs running the robotic vigils and modify their orders.
Yawning to unhook his jaw, the man of forty years rubbed his eyes before swallowing a sip of tea at his steaming cup.
His eyes passed on the screens which showed all the different doors allowing people to enter and leave the Mall. The iron curtains and grilles were closed. Underground parking continued to be used even at night, but the doors connecting to the shopping center were closed.
The guard finished his inspection by the various service or delivery doors. All were... the man stopped without believing his eyes a door was carelessly open. On the screen he could see the broken lock. Yet he turned to a schematic chart covering one of the walls. It represented the Mall, every exit, every security system was represented by a diode, all pulsating with a reassuring green. In fact, if someone had tried to break the lock, the alarm sounded immediately in the security room.
Hacking!
Someone must have neutralized the security system, sending it false data to "convince" the computer that the open door was still closed.
All these thoughts had gone through him in an instant. He was already standing up, reaching for a red button... except that he stopped and collapsed in all its length... immersed in a dreamless sleep.
Caser began to laugh, one hand in front of her mouth, it was a throat sound, warm and mocking.
- It's done, Goshujin-sama, the guard is asleep.
Wearing only her sick robe, Hakuno walked barefoot on the cold ground of the Mall. She left behind her wet footprints and drops of water fell from her hair. Sneezing, she rubbed her bare arms of her hands. It was summer, but the rain was cold.
Snapping her teeth, the Master approached the small control panel that commanded the iron curtain of a clothing store.
- Code Cast: Hack !
On her arms Magic Circuits pulsating with green light were drawn.
In the virtual world of Seraph, "hack" was a Code Cast to paralyze an opponent. Of course, most Cast Code didn't work in the real world, because it was a cyberspace magic. "Hack" was one of the few exceptions. In the real world, the Code Cast allowed Hakuno to interface with any computer
The control panel was a rudimentary computer, its functions? Open, close... recognize a store employee, give the alarm in case of no recognition.
Compared to the vast ocean of the Moon Cell, the computer was only a protozoan. It only took one thought for Hakuno to "persuade" the control panel that she had just presented a perfectly valid employee key. Immediately, the Iron curtain slipped on its tracks.
Hakuno had no reason to fear that the security robots would disturb them; the Spiritron Hacker had neutralized the computer that controlled them, placing it under her control.
Tamamo grabbed her Master by the hand and dragged her inside. The Kitsune had chosen a shop for young people and there were clothes for teenagers arranged by age. She then turned to the Victor of the Moon, her ears quivered without interruption and her smile was gaping:
- Goshujin-sama, you are still trembling with cold, but have no fear. This devoted Tamamo will come with you to the dressing room to help you change.
Kishinami blushes to the eyes:
- Ca... caster? I can handle myself...
- No, no, Goshujin-sama, let your loving wife take care of all this. Your fingers are numb and we have no time to waste, especially since we also need shoes, underwear and food.
The police officers Minamoto Sezuku and Asano Mihei stood in the great lobby of the Mall. The first one showed his card to a colleague from the crime lab:
- I am in charge of the Kishinami case.
Still half asleep, Minamoto Sezuku reviewed the events of the last hours.
As he had suspected, Sezuku had arrived too late at the Tokyo Teishin Hospital. Kishinami had been kidnapped. However, the bodies of two corporate Ninjas were lying in her room. They had been slaughtered by a being endowed with extraordinary strength and sharp claws.
What happened, conflict with other kidnappers?
In any case, when he had returned home, his pager had pulled him out of a sleep too short. While the policeman more or less expected to never hear from the teenage girl again or worse, to find her floating in the bay, she had left traces of her presence in the Mall.
The police scientist, a young woman, stood up:
- Inspector Minamoto, I am Sono Mikasa.
- Nice to meet you, Mikasa-san.
The policewoman handed out a small computer and made some manipulations, while commenting:
- When the intrusion was revealed, we immediately identified the barefoot marks on the ground.
By hand, the young woman showed a fluorescent sign indicating the position of a clue:
- We took a sample which we analyzed and transmitted to the police mainframe.
Two spirals of DNA were superimposed on the screen that Sono Mikasa held in his hand. Two words in red began to flash: [Match Found], replaced quickly by a simple name: [Kishinami Hakuno].
- As you can see, this is the DNA of Kishinami-san.
Sezuku massaged his face, mentally imploring after a great swig of coffee:
- I don't understand anything. Kishinami is abducted at the beginning of the night and reappears here to...
He turned to one of the stores at the raised iron curtain; a team took photos in flash:
- Stealing clothes to fit?
None of this made any sense. Those who had kidnapped Kishinami had to have a solid organization, able to locate her and send a killer powerful enough to eliminate two corporate ninjas in seconds.
Unless he's on the wrong track and whoever killed the ninjas didn't have to find Kishinami-san... A person as lost in time as the girl was.
Sezuku shook his head and apologized to his colleagues before moving away. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. The person he was calling was waiting for his message and answered almost immediately:
- Tomoko, what does it take to summon a Servant?
There was a brief silence, and then his ex-wife had a low laugh:
- Do you think Kishinami-san managed to summon a Servant?
- That's the only thing that would make sense...
- So we have a teenager torn out of her time in this city. She is pursued by assassins and a Heroic Spirit protects her. She must be found as soon as possible, otherwise the dead will accumulate. Come and get me at home.
Matsuo was one of the most important directors of the Kimata. Standing behind his desk, he looked at the city of Tokyo, which lay at his feet without seeing it. The night storm had dissipated at the first light of day, but the rain continued to fall without stopping. His thoughts were as dark as time. He risked his future in the megacorporation and his life itself.
He only turned around when he heard the interphone ringing, which connected him to his secretary:
- Mr Director, Suzuki-san is here to see you.
- Let him in.
The man who entered looked like any high-ranking employee, wearing the uniform of the Kimata megacorporation. However, he managed the security of his branch... and from there, the Ninjas were at his command.
He bowed down deeply:
- Mr Director.
- Cut to the chase, Suzuki-san.
- Yes, sir. Our "friends" within the police have provided us with copies of the investigation reports at the Mall and Tokyo Teishin Hospital. My men are following police officers Minamoto Sezuku and Asano Mihei.
Matsuo lifted up his eyes:
-Your best men, I hope! We cannot afford another failure.
Suzuki bowed down:
- Yes, Matsuo-san, my best men.
- All right, then I expect a positive final report from you. Those who know how to tell me good news will be rewarded. In addition, those who displease President/CEO Kimata Ryuchi can hardly expect mercy from him.
- Yes, sir.
- Don't forget that. If we fall, we will fall together.
- Yes, sir.
As Matsuo gave him the leave of a hand movement, Suzuki-san bowed once more and turned around.
Left alone, the branch manager stood up and once again stood behind the bay window that dominated the megalopolis. A smile appeared on his reflection... the best men of Suzuki were monsters... in the strictest sense! Cybernetization, drugs, Magecraft all methods had been used to turn them into war machines entirely devoted to their superiors.
- On the right!
Its rotating beacon on the roof and its sounding siren, the unmarked hovercar turn, rushing through a street.
- Straight ahead!
Sitting in the back seat, Tomoko concentrated, holding a picture of Kisinami Hakuno in her hands. The task was difficult but the Origin of the Magus was: vision. From her early childhood, she had had flashes of the future or other places. All she had to do was touch an object belonging to a person or a photo that represented him, and the visions would attack her. It was a powerful gift... and a real curse. It was difficult for her to control and it could be triggered at any time.
Behind the wheel, Asano Mihei followed the medium's instructions without protesting. Once again, he didn't understand anything... Of a silent nature, he rarely voiced his protests or his lack of understanding but the situation was beginning to be unbearable. He knew that Tomoko was psychic, although she doesn't really advertise her gift but... what could a "Servant" be?
At his side, in the passenger seat, Minamoto Sezuku looked like a bad day. He turned to his ex-wife:
- Do you still feel that presence?
- The Servant? Yes, no doubt... a very powerful creature is near Kishinami-san. It disturbs my gift.
Tomoko shivered, so touching the spirit of Kishinami conveyed to her an uncomfortable feeling. She not only felt the presence of the adolescent girl... she also felt her emotions and echoes of her memories. In his mind there were foreign concepts: Moon Cell... Seraph... Seven Chimeric Lunar Seas... Attack-Type programs... Apostasy... Agitator... Moondust... Esher... Prophecy... all kinds of strange digital creatures... and violence... The spirit of Kishinami Hakuno contained only regret, remorse, loneliness and suffering... the memory of a merciless war that haunted the adolescent girl.
Inspector Asano clears his throat:
- I think I know where Kishinami is, and that's not good news.
From his chin, he pointed to the park in front of them. All of them make sour faces.
Once, Ueno Park was Tokyo's main tourist attraction. Located in the Taito district, the park covered more than 60 hectares. Unfortunately, the economic recession and successive disasters devastated it. The zoo animals were starved to death.
Clashes between rival bands ended in devastation, while the Uneo-no-mori Art Museum was looted. The other buildings, although better able to cope with the riots and sporadic clashes that regularly bloodied the park, were abandoned or even occupied by gangs.
Dominated by a five-storey pagoda, the temple of Toshogu dates from the seventeenth century. It was an impressive religious building built by Ieyasu Tokugawa, founder of the Shogun Tokugawa dynasty. The huge, stacked driveway leading to the gates of the sanctuary was once decorated with about fifty bronze lanterns offered by warlords... alas, none had escaped the plunder.
Sitting on the entrance steps of the sanctuary, Tamamo looked with sadness at the ruins of traditional Japan. While a few hundred meters from there stood proud towers competing with mountains, centuries-old temples had been allowed to wither.
The Cherry Tree Alley was full of dead trees and the Shinobazu Pond was reduced to a foul puddle.
Frowning, the kitsune looked at a car that had just appeared. The wheelless vehicle, floating on an air cushion, came to rest at the beginning of the driveway lined with small stone lanterns. Three people, two men dressed in casual clothing and a woman in a leather jacket descended. Tamamo being in spiritual form, they could not see her. However, they were moving towards the temple.
Caster focused on the bond between her and her Master:
- Goshujin-sama, people are coming towards us.
Hakuno who slept in the hall stood up rubbing her eyes, sweeping the walls covered with tags. Seals of protection had also been drawn by Tamamo on the ground, magical sentinels protecting her from any attack.
Hakuno was dressed in a rather simple way in pink jeans and a green sweater. She wrapped herself in a red hooded poncho adorned with real flat screens that diffused decorative images, a kind of GIF that began again and again.
Even as they climbed the steps, Hakuno faced the newcomers.
It was a strange shock for Minamoto Sezuku. Somewhere, he had not stopped chasing Kishinami Hakuno during the last four days. But it was the first time he'd seen her alive.
The teenage girl looked... ordinary. A 16-year-old girl with long brown hair cut into fringes and a face without expression. She looked at them without saying anything. Strangely, Sezuku felt uncomfortable. He had somewhat expected anything... that she would run away from their approach or that she would hide, not stand there in front of them without saying a word.
Almost mechanically, he pulled out his police badge:
- Kishinami Hakuno-san? I am Inspector Minamoto of the Tokyo Police Department. If you'd like to come with me to the station, I have a few questions.
The teenager stared at a point in the void, then turned around, leaning her head to the side:
- Why?
The policeman started coughing, surprised by the head movement. When she did that, Kishinami was just too cute. In fact, he heard Tomoko hold his breath behind his shoulder. They didn't know it, but they were just the last victims of what Tamamo called the "Goshujin-sama super head tilt Noble Phantasm (Ex Rank)".
Minamoto shook, aware of having remained long seconds without reaction looking at the strangely adorable expressionless girl:
- Well... you were attacked by corporate ninjas yesterday and...
- Corporate Ninja?
- Yes, the masked people who appeared in your hospital room. We'd like to take you back to the police station so you can be safe there, Kishinami-san.
Again, the adolescent's gaze turned to a point in the void. She seemed to listen to something or someone and nodded:
- I was "protected" by a policeman, yet they entered without difficulty.
Embarrassed, Minamoto did not know what to answer, Tomoko suddenly spoke:
- Could we meet your Servant?
Hakuno quivered, showing for the first time real emotions, a mixture of surprise, worry and mistrust. However, she acted astonished:
- Servant? What are you talking about?
Tomoko showed the hand of the teenage girl and the Command Spell reduced to two marks since using the first to call Tamamo:
- You are a Master and you invoked a Servant yesterday to defend yourself from the attack of the ninjas. I would like to meet him.
- That is a very imprudent wish, but you will be granted.
The voice that had just resounded, warm and sensual, was very different from the light soprano of Kishinami. All turned to... a vacillation of blue and silver particles that quickly condensed into a feminine silhouette. While Tomoko and Minamoto were content to hock and retreat, the calm Asano leapt back and gleaned words without follow.
Is it a woman?
She walked with provocative grace, moving sensually from the hips... her widely cut kimono left little doubt on her feminine nature... but not human given the tail swinging in its wake and its quivering triangular ears.
She coughed with affected elegance and Inspector Minamoto could not help noticing the short claws replacing her nails. There's no doubt that it was the weapon that killed one of the techno-ninja...
- Ufu-ufu... Who are you to dare to pursue my beloved husband?
Husband? Unintentionally, Minamoto swept the temple esplanade in search of the kitsune husband... and stopped on Kishinami. There was then a brief silent exchange. "Husband?" questioned the police inspector's gaze. The Victor of the Moon shrugged her shoulders with an embarrassed smile: "That's what she decided".
Sezuku stopped laughing... and banging his head against the nearest wall. This investigation reached the ultimate absurdity. What was expected of a policeman under these circumstances? Was there an article in the penal code that allowed him to arrest a Kitsune who had been dead centuries ago for stealing from a store?
He massaged his forehead:
- I'm just trying to protect your... husband.
- Well, we don't need you!
- Oh yes, and what do you propose to do, Kitsune-san? Hide her in a temple? Steal clothes and food? Do you think this is a life? Kishinami-san has a legal existence. It is a citizen of this country and has the right to an education and a home.
The police officer's reproaches struck Tamamo like lightning. Her ears lay on the top of his head:
- Argh...
She took a wet look at her Master:
- Horror, Goshujin-sama... your wife cannot guarantee a roof over your head and must rob to feed you.
Hakuno held out her hand to caress her Servant between her ears. She said nothing but the Kitsune turned to the policeman and sighed:
- Okay, we'll go with you. I'll go back to my spiritual form and...
Tamamo stopped suddenly standing in front of her Master, fangs and claws discovered. Her yellow eyes seemed to want to spit flames staring... Minamoto turned around to see a horde of ninjas advancing in the alley.
The policeman shuddered.
He had never seen such a band of horrors. Some had an arm or a part of the head replaced by complex mechanisms. Others looked like patchworks of animal and human parts, or had additional mechanical arms. But they all wore a tight black outfit and various pieces of armor, sometimes decorated with spikes. They used a variety of weapons from traditional ninja weapons to assault rifles.
They surrounded a man in power armor, it was the one who spoke:
- Hakuno Kishinami-san, I serve a powerful head of enterprise. You happen to be his belongings and he does not appreciate that one touches his property. If you come with us without resistance, I want to assure you that you will be properly treated... and your Servant as well.
Tamamo gnashed her teeth, offended that she was treated like a thing... and even more that her beloved Master was called "property" and "belongings" as if she were just a precious trophy.
Hakuno touched her hand in a reassuring way before speaking:
- What about them?
The Victor of the Moon named the policemen and the young woman who accompanied them. The man in power-armor giggled:
- Them? They embarrassed my superior too much. It's time they disappeared.
Hakuno looked up at her Servant:
- Caster, gets ready.
- Of course, Goshujin-sama.
- Skill!
Tamamo threw an ofuda yielling: "Curse: Fiery Heaven!"
This is how the confrontation began...
Beta Note
Sawtooth44: hello fellow readers as of the 2nd chapter and this chapter i have become the beta of our good friend here and while sometimes the chapter may be delyad (stupid hotmail believing the chapters are junk emails) i shall strive to give as good quality as i can so the curse of translastion errors shall be a thing of the past, See ya all in the "reviews"
