Fate/Infinity Shuffle: Reshuffled

Hello there! TYPE-WRITER FTK here to present this project: Fate Infinity Shuffle: Reshuffled. And many of you, or, most likely, none, are wondering what the hell is this supposed to be. What the heck is this 'Reshuffle' deal. For those that don't know, I have previously written a fanfic named 'Fate Infinity Shuffle' and this is essentially the remake. And for those that do know, you might be wondering why this is being done to begin with.

Simply put: I want to correct somethings. And it isn't just typos and phrasing issues. It goes as far as do overs, altered designs, extra scenes, etc. A complete make over to a complete extent. And before I go more into detail about that, I might as well answer a couple of possible questions people may have in mind.

1 – Do you need to read the original Infinity Shuffle before reading this? No, of course not. You can if you're curious for the sake of comparison, sure, but that's up to you personally. Otherwise, you can just read this one.

2 – If you've already read Infinity Shuffle, do I 'need' to read this? Is the story different? The plot itself is the same. There won't be any major changes to the plot itself. I'll go more into detail about the changes in a bit, but strictly speaking, the two stories are 'the same'. If you don't feel like rereading the story, feel free not to.

Now, the questions that go more into detail as to why and how this story is different from the original.

1 – As I said before, I want to correct the mistakes from the original fanfiction, and it isn't just correcting grammar and sprucing up the vocabulary. It goes as far as writing completely new scenes and possibly chapters because mistakes go as far as not doing characters justice in some way or another. And hopefully, I'll improve on the original work. People aren't notified when chapters are edited, so those that are curious about the changes wouldn't notice the changes unless told or if rereading the whole story.

2 – I have noticed that I write very short chapters. And while I like the short daily chapter deal, I do think it would be better overall if I compiled a few chapters together, especially the battles, since there's no need to leave people hanging anymore. It'll reduce the total number of chapters whilekeep the story more compact. In addition, I'm planning on releasing the chapters in bulk, split up into arcs. For a comparison, the original Infinity Shuffle is the story being released on the weekly manga magazine, while this one is the release of volumes. It might fill the email boxes of followers quite a bit, but alas…

3 – While the plot is unchanged, scenes can be reformulated, and more importantly: characters will receive changes. There are a good handful of characters that I felt I wasn't giving as much importance or care as I should've. Therefore, be it in design or added scenes, some characters will be 'changed'. It's not too drastic for the most part as far as I can tell, I'm not making anyone their polar opposite, obviously. But I'm adding or changing things up here and there.

4 – On top of the battles being polished and enhanced, a few characters will have their Cards changed compared to the original. Yes, including a couple of the main characters. Why is that? Well, I originally conceived the story all the way back when in Fate Grand Order, the latest story segment was Salem on the Japanese Server. And I shied away from using the ones of Part 1.5 and Part 2 of the game for multiple reasons. And due to the lesser number of Servants available, to avoid overlap, I ended up wasting potential Servant appearances for the most part. Mizuki's Archer was a last minute addition, for example. And of course, as one would expect, battle involving the characters that had their Cards changed will be altered to fit the new Cards properly. I might be making it a bigger deal than it will end up being, but I think it was a warning worth this paragraph.

5 – As I said before, the chapters will be released in bulk, split apart through arcs. However, there is no specific schedule for this. Mainly because rewriting depends on how much I want to change in each chapter, how long it takes to correct the chapters, etc. So, I figured I could release in between each arc a sort of Material Chapter, to answer Questions and give character profiles to whoever likes that sort of thing. I always had a thing for Q&As and profiles and whatnot, so I figured it would be fun to add extra details and answer questions to both old and new readers.

And I believe that's everything I had to explain. So, without further ado…


Chapter 01 – Initial Draw:

The hardest steps one can take in their lives are probably the ones to take on the way to school, on the third day of the new school period, after only sleeping a couple hours simply because one 'couldn't sleep properly'. Probably the consequences of staying up so late every night during the break.

"Zzzz…"

"Mizuki?"

"Zzzzzz…"

"Miiiiizuki."

"…Zzzzzzzz…"

The girl sitting on the farthest row of tables, in the centre column, was bent over the desk, crossed arms acting as a pillow for her resting head. The face was hidden within the shadows. Her long, wavy, brown hair reached halfway down her back. And she peacefully slept in the inappropriate place. If that wasn't enough, the gentle heaving of her back was a dead giveaway to being deep asleep.

A twitch of the eyebrow was followed by a sigh. Then a deep breath and a yell. "MIZUKI!" With the slam of a book, Shidan Mizuki woke up.

Startled, of course. "AHH!" The girl straightened up with a jolt. Her reddish eyes awoke from the slumber the moment the book hit the table. Her body went as far as to leaning back on the chair, making its front legs raise from the floor. She almost fell back onto the floor of the classroom, but luckily managed to keep her balance, making the chair lean forward again, the legs striking the floor and shaking Mizuki as a result.

"Finally." The classmate on the seat right in front of hers was clearly annoyed. It wasn't just a random classmate though: she was Mizuki's friend.

A similar build to Mizuki, though slightly slimmer. A girl with pale blonde hair tied in a short pony tail and gentle-pink eyes, not too different from the colour of Sakura blossom petals.

"Sayuri, w-what was that for?" Mizuki was shaken by the event, but the drowsiness kreapt up again, her wide eyes slowly shutting "Please don't wake me up like that ever again…" The brunette requested, letting out a yawn as she made no attempt to resist the urge to fall asleep again.

"You're too heavy a sleeper to wake up any other way." Sayuri laughed, as Mizuki lowered her head again and closed her eyes, falling asleep once again. Though in a more awkward position. "Hey! At least try to stay awake!"

"Sorry… I couldn't sleep last night…"

"Hm? Why?"

"Woke up from a weird dream and couldn't fall asleep again…"

Curiosity came. "And that dream was…?"

"Zzzzz…"

"At least finish the conversation!"

Despite her demand, Sayuri admitted defeat. It was impossible to keep Mizuki awake by the looks of it.

She must have been too distracted, because Sayuri didn't hear any footsteps approaching Mizuki's table. And so, the sudden slam of a hand slammed on Mizuki's table almost made Sayuri jump. Granted, this time around, it was less startling compared to the slam of the book for Mizuki, but it was enough to wake her up temporarily with groggy eyes and raise her head to see who had called for her attention.

The boy that called her attention had curly blue hair and grey blue eyes. Just like the two girls, and everybody in the classroom for that matter, he wore the school's uniform: a dark blue jacket and set of trousers, full with details in red, such as the trims, buttons, etc. For the girls, the set of trousers was replaced by a skirt of the same colour. But everyone had their own little bit of personalization in their outfit.

Mizuki, for example, wore a black turtleneck shirt and pantyhose, and Sayuri had a black bow tying up her ponytail.

That boy, Matou Shinji, had a dress shirt underneath his uniform's jacket, completely buttoned save for the top one.

"Yo, Mizuki."

"Hm…?"

She couldn't tell if he had always sounded like that, or if something in him was acting up. "What do you say we go out for karaoke after school? It's not every day you get to go out with me, after all."

Shinji was probably the most popular student in the second class of the second year of high school, Class 2-2. Why exactly he was popular was a bit of a mystery to many, but he was sociable, that is for sure. He had gone out with almost every girl in the class, along with some other girls of other classes. And his newest target was none other than Shidan Mizuki herself.

There was only one problem.

"Hmm…?" Mizuki blinked twice, trying to focus, but ended up hanging her head again. "Zzzzzz…"

Unforeseen. "W-What?!" Shinji grew angry at Mizuki for ignoring his generous offer.

Abnormally so. Many knew of his short temper, but what he was about to do was highly unusual, even for him. "Why you…! Do I have to punch you awake!?" He whispered as he raised a fist.

Sayuri panicked for a moment. She did snicker at the way Mizuki had simply fallen asleep on the invitation to go out, but she didn't know it would lead to such a thing. It alarmed her, but the surprise made her unable to react.

Luckily, before he could swing his closed fist, someone grabbed his arm.

"Hey, Shinji, how are you?" And disguised it as a greeting.

"S-Shirou?"

The one stopping him from doing so was another one of their colleagues, a redheaded boy with amber eyes, and the only 'friend' of Shinji. It was a strange relationship to say the least, at least to the outside looking in.

"Come on, what are you doing? Class is about to start, we have to go." With a constant smile and a slight chuckle, Shirou pulled Shinji away from the girls.

Sayuri let out a sigh of relief. "Whewa... If it hadn't been for Shirou, Shinji would've probably been kicked out of school. Seriously, he can get angry easily, but this is too much." The blonde found out she was speaking to no one once she turned back to her friend. Mizuki was still deep asleep. A dumbfounded look came over her face. "Seriously? You almost get hit and you miss the whole thing by being asleep?" With the shaking of the head, Sayuri did the very least to help her friend a little bit. She placed the subject book on Mizuki's desk standing, in order to hide the sleeping girl. "Last time I do this." She may have sworn to herself, but it most likely wouldn't be the case.


"Shinji did WHAT?!"

Lunchtime.

Mizuki was now fully awake. The two bought lunch at the cafeteria and then brought it with them to the rooftop of the school. Usually, the door that led to the rooftop would be locked, but a few days prior, on the first day of the school period…

"Mizuki, no!"

"Come on, the cafeteria is packed. What's wrong with the roof?"

The two were climbing up the empty stairs to the top floor. Or rather, Mizuki was climbing them and Sayuri chased her after listening to the idea.

"It's locked and off limits! We'll get in toruble if someone finds out!"

"But if it's off limits and no one uses it, they won't ever check it, right?"

"Mizuki, that kind of logic doesn't work!"

The brunette grinned like a kid at her friend. "Don't worry. I'm pretty sure no one comes."

When they arrived, Mizuki tried to turn the doorknob, to no effect.

"I told you it was locked."

"Hmm… The lock looks pretty old. Well, if that's the case…!" Mizuki raised a leg, plant of the foot carefully aimed to an area close to the lock.

"Wha-! Mizuki, this isn't one of your dumb movies, don't-!"

CRASH

The door flung open.

"See? I told you."

In search for a private place for lunch, Mizuki resorted to busting the door open. And while Sayuri was against it, the idea of having a place just for the two of them to hang out and eat lunch at was quite alluring. Peace and quiet were things she enjoyed. And like Mizuki had said before: if the rooftop was forbidden from being used, who would come and find the busted lock to begin with?

Regardless, the topic of conversation for that day's lunch was the event that almost transpired before.

"He almost punched you, yeah. I didn't expect that from him, honestly."

"Wow… Well, if he had hit me, I would just punch him back in the nose!" Mizuki informed, closed fist raised.

The way she said it made the blonde girl laugh. It was to be expected of Mizuki, in a way. The red-eyed girl was simple and straightforward: if the door is locked to a place that no one goes to, kick it down; if a boy punches you, punch him back.

"Did Shirou hold him back?"

"Who else would it have been?"

The two finished eating their Yakisoba Bread and decided to simply talk about whatever came to mind.

"So, you already know what you want to study in college?"

An uncomfortable shiver ran up Mizuki's spine. "I don't even know if I'm going." Mizuki's admission came a bit as a surprise. Sayuri did find it odd that Mizuki never mentioned any particular plan for the future. "Part of me thinks I'll just start working the moment I finish high school."

"Really? I was hoping we could go to the same college."

"Hmmm." Mizuki didn't dislike the proposal, but that meant another question had to be asked. "You already have something in mind?"

The girl with bright pink eyes answered with a soft smile. "I thought maybe studying World History. I began finding it interesting as of late."

Red eyes narrowed. "And with a diploma on that, you're going to work as…?"

"Eh? A-Ah, that, umm…" Sayuri let out an awkward giggle looked away.

"I knew it…" Mizuki let out a sigh.

Admittedly, she was an overall cheerful girl in many respects. But when it came to school and the future, she was oddly pessimistic. "Study what you like, don't pursue something you're not interested in. But then you can't do anything." A contradiction she came to learn the year prior. Even though adults motivate children to pursue their interests, they don't tell that unless said interests were focused on even more studying, they would end up in a deadend job if they weren't particularly talented. Simply being interested in a sport isn't enough to become a sports star, for example.

Maybe it was a bit of an overly pessimistic views in a way. It wasn't a black-and-white matter, after all. But that's what she felt.

Sayuri turned to her friend with some concern. "Are you okay? That sounded a bit harsher than usual."

Mizuki realized the tone she had spoken with. "Oh, sorry. I don't… really like talking about it." The brunette admitted, scratching the side of her head a little. She shook it off and changed the subject. "But anyway! Did you watch last night's episo-"

Before she could finish the sentence, the blare of a slamming door sounded, loud enough to make both girls jump.

"Here you are…" Shinji entered the rooftop, with a smile that simply seemed… off.

"Oh, god damn it…" Sayuri brought a palm to her face. "Shinji, just go away."

"Hmph." He wasn't giving up. "Hey now, I still haven't heard Mizuki's answer about whether or not she wants to go ou-"

"I refuse." Mizuki answered bluntly. All sounds ceased with those words, making it possible to hear the wind run through the three of them.

Shinji was stunned. No one refused to go out with him. No one!

Sayuri already expected the worse, but this time, she was ready. As a member of the Iaido club, she had a good physique, and Mizuki wasn't half bad either. The brunette even raised her fists up like a boxer, which one could call cute in a certain perspective, since her serious face always looked funny to most. They could certainly push Shinji aside if he turned violent.

But he simply raised a hand and put on a smile. "Alright then."

Mizuki shook her head, making sure she was hearing right. "Huh?"

"Wait… you're not mad?"

"Why would I be? After all…" Shinji reached for his pocket and pulled out a strange-looking card. Mizuki tilted her head to the side, while Sayuri froze in place. "No one says no to me."

The blonde gasped. "You… have a Class Card?"

"Oh? So you know what this is, Sayuri? Hah-hahahaha!" Shinji laughed, passing a hand through his hair and slicking it back. "So you know Mizuki shouldn't refuse."

The girl in question was out of the loop. "What? Why? I'm confused."

Sayuri's eyes narrowed and she stepped forward. "She has nothing to do with the Game or the Cards. Leave her out of this."

"I'm not letting go of what's mine." Shinji grinned with menace. Sayuri turned to the confused Mizuki with a somewhat guilty look, but that didn't stop her.

"…I'll explain later, alright?" Sayuri pulled out a similar looking Card from her pocket as well.

The dull blue and the light pink clashed as Shinji spoke up. "Include."

That made things worse. "Tch. Include."

Sayuri's Card turned into a katana, while Shinji's became a gauntlet around his forearm with a claw protruding from it, curling over his middle finger.

Mizuki stepped back in shock upon seeing the Cards turn into weapons. Before she could recover, Shinji and Sayuri had already crossed weapons, clashing together.

For a single moment, the world made no sense.

"What is going on…?" Mizuki asked herself as she saw her friend fight against Shinji, both with weapons that transformed from cards. "They could get hurt! I…" She wanted to help her friend. It was a natural impulse. Sayuri shouldn't get hurt for something so stupid as refusing the invite to a date! But it doesn't matter how straightforward someone is, fear towards getting hurt, especially with those kinds of weapons, would always stop them from moving to the middle of the conflict. A katana and a clawed gauntlet? Who wouldn't be afraid of getting struck?

The want to help someone but the fear of getting hurt. That was what Mizuki felt at that moment.

And just as that thought occurred, it was like a silent voice had whispered into her ears. She couldn't tell what kind of voice spoke, but she was certain it wasn't just something in her head.

It sounded like something was calling her. Mizuki turned her head to one of the corners of the rooftop and moved.

With a fast jog, as her friend fought off Shinji, she reached said corner where a Class Card rested, waiting to be picked up.

She took it into her hands, slowly and with some fear, but somehow with all naturality. The image on the card revealed its Class, which she subconsciously spoke, as if someone had whispered its name into her ears.

"…Assassin?"

The word was drowned by the sound of clashing metal, which kept echoing through the rooftop, unable to reach the ears of any of the students in the building or the schoolgrounds below.

Sayuri was talented with the sword, but the biggest problem for her was the fact that she didn't want to truly hurt Shinji. If she could simply punch him, that would be great. But using a sword meant she could slash him in a way that would put his life in danger. And him not pulling back his punches didn't help at all, placing even more pressure on her.

One thing is to fight with the intent to injure. Another is to protect yourself with a dangerous weapon, while trying to not hurt the attacker.

Shinji simply had a twisted grin on every time he swung his clawed fist. Unlike Sayuri's attempt to make the fight as safe as possible, Shinji's intentions were clear.

"Sayuri!" Mizuki turned away from the Card, noticing how difficult the battle had become. "I have to do something! I can't just let her-" And then turned her head back to the object in her hands and recalled what the two did just a moment ago.

With a sprint, she held out the Card and yelled the word. "Include!" The card shifted into a knife, a seemingly ordinary one, with a sharp enough edge to stab and cut without problems. Barging in the fight, she struck Shinji's gauntlet down with the weapon, somewhat clumsily since she had never fought with a knife before, or any weapon for that matter. She couldn't even remember the last time she had been in a brawl. Probably back in kindergarten over crayons or something.

The strike was enough to push down Shinji's claw, swatting his hand away, and allow Sayuri to tackle Shinji with her shoulder when his guard went down.

"Gah-!" Shinji could've been unhinged during that moment, but he wasn't a complete idiot. One opponent would be an easy win, but two might prove difficult. "Tch." Unaware that Mizuki wasn't the most experienced of fighters, he Excluded the weapon back into its Card form, saved it, and quickly left the rooftop without speaking another word.

"How did he know we were here?" Sayuri wondered, as she returned the weapon back into a Card as well. After all, this was a place that was supposed to be off limits, and it didn't look like he had followed them. Maybe she looked around everywhere else and this was a desperation move, but to go that far because of a date invite? It didn't sound right.

She turned to Mizuki, who was looking at the knife with the fascination of a little kid. "S-So…" She didn't even know how or where to start.

"This knife is…" She held it carefully. "Ah! Yes! Sayuri, what the hell was all this about?!" The brunette focused on the important again.

"Wow, you know how to define your priorities, don't you?" The blonde mocked, much to her friend's discontent.

"I'm sorry, but this knife feels… weird. It's not like I'm holding a random knife, it feels like…" She didn't know how to finish the sentence. But she probably looked for 'it felt like it was meant to be held'.

"Well, please save that."

"Eh? Umm… How do I…?"

Sayuri remembered Mizuki had found literally a minute or so ago. "Oh. Almost forgot. Just think of the Card with some focus. It should make it go back to normal."

The red-eyed girl nodded and followed the instructions. It wasn't hard for it to turn back into its Card Form, making Mizuki release a 'Awwww!' of joyous fascination.

Sayuri blinked twice before and attempted to contain her laughter. "You look like a kid."

"Sorry, but this feels so magical…!" It was hard to disagree. "It's like I'm a little kid, all over again, seeing magic tricks in a show!"

"I guess." Sayuri shook her head with a feeling of amusement. "Regardless, you probably have a ton of questions, right?" Mizuki shook her head up and down rather fast. "Thing is, class is about to start. And I'm far from the best person to answer your questions. I'll tell the teacher you went to the infirmary while you go talk to the person fit for the job."

Mizuki tilted her head a bit. "Who?"


Mizuki followed the given instructions.

Sayuri's words echoed in her head. "In the Gym's Storage Room, move the basketballs' basket off to the side and open the trapdoor on the floor. The rest is a one-way path."

The girl with pink eyes left shortly after, leaving Mizuki alone for a moment, where she could stare with fascination at the Card of her possession and amuse herself by constantly turning it back and forth between Card and knife forms. But once the bell rang, there was no time to lose.

"Right… here…!" Mizuki moved the oversized basket full of basketballs, with some difficulty due to its weight, and found the supposed trapdoor. The brunette confirmed the door to the storage room was closed before opening the newly found trapdoor, to make sure no one would come in.

Opening it revealed a staircase-like passage. Once again, determination and curiosity took over, and she descended to the underground floor.

It wasn't all that deep, nor dark for that matter, with multiple lights attached to the walls, illuminating the hallway. And said hallway wasn't long either. It simply led to a door.

"This is…" While it was weird to find an underground passage, it was rather anticlimactic how simple it was when compared to movies and tv series. "...underwhelming."

She knocked on the door, and someone on the other side replied.

"Come in."

It was weird that the male voice on the other side did not ask who it was, but she decided not to question it before entering, preferring to speak face to face. Even if... "I-If you don't mind…" Mizuki was more than casual around people she knew or was familiar with, but when meeting new people, she always felt rather shy. The girl in the black school uniform opened the door without any problem despite the hesitation and entered the room.

It appeared to be made of the same material as the school. As in, the walls were the same, the floor was the same, so on and so forth. It had a couple of lockers off to the corner, a set of stacked chairs next to them, and a bean bag off to the side. On the left was a desk with a laptop and some other devices, such as a phone, a tablet and so on, multiple electrical plugs, multiple screens connected to said laptop, and, of course, the person that gave her permission to come in.

He wore the school uniform neatly, and his eyes were the same colour as his simple, brown hair. He held a white bowl with instant noodles that had just finished cooking, and with the use of chopsticks, he quickly slurped some of them.

"Ahh…" He let out a breath of satisfaction before turning to Mizuki. "I'm very sorry for eating in front of you, but only now did I get a chance to eat at all today."

"I-It's okay, I understand." She bowed slightly out of politeness.

Somewhat surprised, the boy immediately retorted. "Please, don't be so formal. If you're in the second year, you're probably my age."

"R-Really? I'd take you for someone of the third year."

"Thank you for the compliment." He swallowed some noodles again, filling his empty stomach. "Please, take a seat. Whichever you prefer."

Mizuki looked over the options: bean bag or a chair from the stack. While she thought a chair would be the better choice, since she would be more or less at the same eye level as the stranger, she really wanted to sit down on the bean bag.

Noticing her indecision, he let out a chuckle and helped her out. "No need to be shy. The bean bag is supposed to be used."

"A-Alright then!" With the incentive, she sat down on the bag, sinking into it as a result.

"Well, if you're here, that means someone sent you. But before we touch upon that, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Kishinami Hakuno. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Shidan Mizuki. Nice to meet you too…" She was still nervous.

"With that said… you got a Card, didn't you?"

"Hmmhmm." She nodded and pulled out the object out of her pocket, handing it to Hakuno. He took it and observed it with clear eyes.

"Oh, an Assassin Card!"

"Is that good?"

"Depends." He turned to the desk and placed the card on a little scanner-like device, connected to his laptop, and ran a program. "Meanwhile…" He focused on Mizuki again. "So, I guess you have a ton of questions. But first, I'd like to know, who told you about this place?"

"My friend Sayuri."

"Oh! I remember her. How is she?"

"Besides what happened just now with Shinji, she's fine."

An eyebrow raised. "What happened?"

"He attacked us. Sayuri defended me, and none of us got hurt, but... I don't think he was pulling back any punches."

"Again?" Hakuno let out a sigh. "He is abusing the Card far too much. I should've known." He shook his head, side to side, clearly disappointed in himself. "How far did they go?"

While the question was somewhat odd, she deduced what he meant and decided to tell the events that took place on the rooftop. "They turned the Cards into weapons and had a brawl until I found that Card and did the same to stop them."

"Only Include? That's dangerous… I'm honestly surprised neither of them was hurt."

"Yeah, they didn't hit each other directly. Only crossed weapons."

"At least that…" He was thankful no harm was done. "Alright, so, on to explaining… First step is: what the Cards are." Mizuki nodded in agreement. It was the most logical place to start on. "Believe it or not, they're still a bit of a mystery to us. From what we've figured out so far, these Cards possess the Spirits of Past Heroes. Heroic Spirits."

"Heroes?" That was an odd word to be used in nowadays perspective.

"Yes. I think the easiest example to give is King Arthur, the wielder of Excalibur."

"I see…"

"Not to mention that the legends were apparently real as well. King Arthur really did possess a magical sword named Excalibur. The Greek Demi Gods such as Achilles and Herakles did exist. Monsters like Asterios the Minotaur, mages like Medea and Merlin. So on and so forth."

Scepticism came through. While a curious girl, there was only so much she could believe in. "That's a bit hard to believe."

"And cards turning into weapons isn't?"

Mizuki narrowed her eyes at the smirking Hakuno, as if to say 'Touché'. He took another sip of the noodle soup before proceeding.

"Alright… So, famous figures from the past and mythological too are inside these cards."

"That is the most basic way to put it, but that's about it. Of course, then you have other things, like Classes, Stats, Skills, and Noble Phantasms."

Too much information at once. "E-Eh…?"

"I know, sounds confusing. And I'll explain it to you in due time. But before I do, I need to ask you one question."

Mizuki nodded, anticipating for the question. Hakuno's lips curled.

"Might be a bit early to ask, but still. Would you like to turn into a Player?"

"A Player?" It was an odd question, to say the least. Mainly because Mizuki didn't understand what Hakuno meant with 'Player'.

The look on her face made him smirk. He decided to follow up with a question that made most people curious. "How long do you think Cards like these have been around?" Hakuno asked, taking more sips from his meal, about halfway done.

"I don't know. A month or two?"

"A little bit over two years."

"What?!" Mizuki would've jumped back if she weren't sitting down. In fact, despite being sunk into the bean bag, she jolted forward, sitting up. "B-But how?! I've never heard about this before, but how can something like this stay a secret for so long?!"

"Because we made a Game out of it." Hakuno's words confused Mizuki even further. "It's called the Class Card Game, but we abbreviate it to just 'Game'. We essentially made a system of matches and battles between Players to prevent the Cards to be misused. A sort of huge tournament if you will. You know, so someone doesn't just go around robbing banks, or even murdering people. It's more or less made to 'distract' everyone from reality."

"Oh." It made some sense in the red-eyed girl's mind.

"I know, it sounds weird and a weak solution, but it really does help. Not to mention that I'm not the only one with a position like this in the Game."

"Position? So… you're not a Player?"

"Nope. I'm an Admin. And I'm not the only one. This would be hell if I were. My job is to be a Ranker. As the name suggests, I rank the people in the Game according to the results of their matches."

"Wow… How many Players are there?"

"As of now? Little over two thousand."

"WHAT?!" Her eyes widened. "And you Rank all of them?!"

"It may sound like a big number, but it really isn't. Especially once the Players are grouped together in Teams of seven. Not to mention, I'm the Ranker of the southern and western parts of the country. There's a Ranker focused on the northern and eastern parts of it, so our workload is split between the two of us."

So he wasn't the only one responsible. "But that's still an awful lot for just two people, isn't it?"

"It can be sometimes. But I still have free time for myself. And the Players help me out too. There are rules to the matches, after all." Hakuno smiled, eating some more strings of noodles. "Besides, I don't go to school, so it's not like I have studies to get in the way."

"Huh? But… you're wearing the uniform."

"It's just out of habbit, really. And it makes me look more formal, no? I'm still listed as a student, but I already finished my studies, in a sense. I chose to live here."

Mizuki could swear she heard that wrong. "You live at school?!"

"It's easier than it sounds, believe it or not. I have internet, a good amount of electricity, the gym shower rooms, and there's a laundry place a block away from the school. As for food, I do have an allowance of sorts, and I'm happy with packs of noodles and snacks, so, not much is lost."

To what was daily life for Hakuno, it made no sense to Mizuki. She was about to ask about his parents and family, but he changed the subject back to the original matter.

"So! There are 5 Ranks, from E to A, E being the lowest and A the highest. There's one rank below E, but it's mostly reserved to those that are demoted from E Rank for pretty strong reasons or aren't part of the game. They're No Ranks, and there is a Rank above A, but it's pretty exclusive. It's possible to obtain it, but in two years no one has been able to."

Mizuki was curious. "How come? What's the Rank?"

"Rank EX. There are only three teams in that Rank. The Original 21."

"Eh?" Mizuki found the name odd, but it was self-explanatory. "The first 21 people to get Cards?"

"Yup. They also helped organize the Game in general. Also, don't think they are EX Rankers 'just because'. They are legitimately powerful."

"And the newcomers start are E Rank?"

"Precisely. It's advised for you to have a full team by the time you get to C Rank, by the way. Not that Solo Players don't exist. The Game is essentially battles between people. But it's far more secure than the battle you witnessed. See, the cards have two Commands. Include just materializes the weapon or Noble Phantasm of the Hero in the card. But the matches take place using the Install command, which is essentially fusing you with the Heroic Spirit. You gain their weapons, skills, fighting techniques, knowledge, but you're the one in the driver's seat, so it's not something like possession or anything. The reason why it is safer like this is because the Install command has a safety feature: if you suffer a mortal hit, if something happened that would kill you, you're immediately Uninstalled and you have no injury whatsoever. If your head gets chopped off while Installed, you return to normal with your head still attached. It also seems to reduce pain and trauma, so you're safe psychologically too."

"Ohh! That does sound better." Mizuki admitted. "But then why does the Include command exist?"

"To be honest? We have no idea." Hakuno placed the bowl aside after finishing the soup. "We didn't make the cards, just the Game to use them. And the Include command isn't really useful, since you can't Include a Card while you're already Installed. So it's mostly to show dominance. A proof of power, as it were."

"I guess that makes sense." Mizuki admitted, somewhat unsure. "By the way, what's a Noble Phantasm?"

"It's a symbol of the Legend of the Hero. There are Noble Phantasms 'the weapon' and 'the attack'. To go back to a previous example, you know King Arthur right? You can't really think about him without thinking about Excalibur either. Therefore, the weapon Excalibur is King Arthur's Noble Phantasm." Mizuki nodded, understanding everything so far. "But there's also the attack itself that is also named Excalibur. Something that can only be performed by the sword and its rightful wielder. Keep in mind, Noble Phantasms don't always have to be weapons, and a Heroic Spirit can have more than just one Noble Phantasm." Yet another nod. "You're accepting all this pretty easily now compared to the start."

Mizuki giggled. "I don't think I have a reason to doubt you, to be honest. Once you see a Card turn into a katana, you believe anything given the context, right?" Simple-mindedness at its best.

Hakuno tried not to, but laughed at the remark. "That's true, that's true. I suppose this is all the essentials to know if you want to be a Player or not. It's nothing all that serious, and you'll climb the ranks naturally, and it's not exactly time consuming. It's like any other hobby. So, do you have an answer?"

Mizuki was faced with the question again. And she had enough information this time around to make a proper decision. It took a moment to give an answer, mainly because… she was searching for a downside.

It's not like she wanted to refuse, but the situation just seemed too good to be true. No danger to her or anyone's life, and while fighting sounded somewhat menacing, it was infinitely more interesting than anything daily life could offer her. And perhaps something she could focus at least a little bit of her future on.

The monotony would definitely be broken.

Her lips curled up a little. "Yes. I'll become a Player."

Hakuno smiled. "With that settled, lastly, I'll explain Classes. Every Card has a Heroic Spirit, correct? But it seems each one has a Class, where the Heroic Spirit fits best in seven basic categories:

- Saber: Knight of the Sword and Heroic Spirit of the Sword;

- Archer: Knight of the Bow and Heroic Spirit of the Bow;

- Lancer: Knight of the Lance and Heroic Spirit of the Lance;

- Rider: Mounted Knight and Heroic Spirit of the Mount;

- Caster: Magus and Heroic Spirit of Spells and Sorcery;

- Assassin: Silent Killer and Heroic Spirit of Assassinations;

- Berserker: Mad Warrior and Heroic Spirit of Berserk Rage."

Mizuki absorbed the information once again. While there were a good number of Classes and description, she knew she would memorize them in due time.

"And my card is of the Assassin Class, right?"

"Right you are. They are usually frail but being specialized in certain killing moves can grant them some advantage over others, depending on how the battle is set."

"I suppose that makes sense. And… what's my card's Heroic Spirit?"

"I placed it here to be analysed." Hakuno turned to the computer in order to see the results of the analysis. "Huh. It's not in the database. That means it's the first card of this Heroic Spirit that I've come across." He sounded impressed. "You must be really lucky. This one also appears to be abnormal."

"Abnormal? Why? Is something wrong with it?"

"There are some Heroic Spirits that are odd to the point of being impossible to determine their identity. Like as if they are contemporary, or even from the future. The latter one I can understand, but not the first…" Hakuno trailed off. "I can still give you info on the card though. Identity and Noble Phantasm might be out of my reach, but Stats and Skills should show up."

With the pressing of a few keys on the keyboard, a window popped up on one of the screens, with the Assassin Card image and information next to it.

CLASS: Assassin

IDENTITY: -UNKNOWN-

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good

STATS:

- Strength: E

- Endurance: D

- Agility: A+

- Mana: C

- Luck: A+

- Noble Phantasm: EX

CLASS SKILLS:

- Independent Action: C

- Presence Concealment: A

PERSONAL SKILLS:

-UNKNOWN-

-UNKNOWN-

- Eye of the Mind (False): A

NOBLE PHANTASM: -UNKNOWN-: Anti-Unit EX

"Whoa…" Hakuno stared at the screen with some amazement. "It has Independent Action despite not being an Archer? That's unusual. Oh! There aren't that many EX Rank Noble Phantasms. That's certainly is impressive."

"Wow…" Mizuki was somewhat proud for finding such an amazing Card, by the looks of it. "Some skills are unknown too?"

"Probably Skills I haven't come across before. It's not uncommon for Heroic Spirits to have Skills unique to them. I'll send the file to some of my contacts to see if we can figure this out."

"Thank you." Mizuki bowed, as Hakuno reached for the Card in order to give it back to her.

As he handed her back the card, he made a revelation. "Or you could meet the spirit and ask directly."

"Huh? But I thought they were inside the Card."

"They are. But that doesn't stop you from having a conversation with them. All you have to do is place the card underneath your pillow, close your eyes for three minutes, and you'll wake up in 'Their Room'."

"…" The silence gave away what she thought of the process.

"You'll understand once you see it, I swear I'm not crazy." Hakuno promised with an honest smile, as Mizuki saved the Card in her pocket.

"Alright… If you say so."

"Here." He then handed a card with a phone number and email address. "Any doubts, just ask me. I'm available any time, at least most of the time."

She carefully accepted it. "Thank you."

"Your friend Sayuri can explain about how the battles take place and whatnot. I would explain it myself, but I have some work to go back to, and I'm done with lunch. Break is over." He chuckled a little. "Just to finish this conversation, I'd like to ask you one question. And I would like if you answered honestly."

The last remark made her flinch a little, but nevertheless, she agreed.

"What do you want to do with the Cards and the whole Game? Why are you in it, that is. You decided to be a Player, sure, but you could've just as easily refused."

"Eh?"

Mizuki scratched her head and tilted, with some confusion because she didn't know what to say. After all, she only accepted to be a Player a few minutes ago. But the answer that made the most sense to herself popped in her mind, and that was what she chose to say.

"I guess… I just want to have fun. Maybe try to reach Rank EX. And maybe meet new people and have new experiences. Or is that a bit too much to ask for?" It sounded embarrassing when said out loud. She even gave off a light laugh, in a way, mocking herself.

But Hakuno gave a smirk and raised a thumbs-up. "Don't forget that. Alright?"

"Eh?" She was taken aback by how seriously he took the answer, but she didn't reject the brown-eyed boy's response. "Alright! I'm off then. I'll be sure to speak with you!" She ran out the room, with a newfound enthusiasm, witnessed only by Hakuno.

"I'll never get tired of meeting people like her." He admitted to himself before shutting the door. He moved back to the computer and, before returning to work, opened a file, a template.

Name: Shidan Mizuki

Rank: E (newcomer)

Main Class: Assassin