Author's Note: There's no set schedule for this story's updates. Like Supreme One, I'll update it occasionally.I believe Digital Extra is next to update. Anyway! I'll like to remind everyone that in the Digital Human Series, I never, NEVER, give Hakuno the same powers or abilities as the world she goes into. Just like in Digital Extra that Hakuno doesn't get a Digivice, or Lunar Hearth where she can't seem to get her Falna to work, it's a similar case here.
TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere: A good guess with the doors, but incorrect.
VGBlackwing: Only play P5, but I just got the PSP P3 recently, going to play it soon.
Xirons20: Haha, man I do want to make that a light joke.
Simple405: It'll be quite interesting to see how they behave in the Metaverse, but Hakuno is unlikely to head into there without good reason, well, save for interacting with her Servants.
Battlesny: Another good guess, but incorrect.
Achen5041: We shall see what Hakuno does. Don't worry about the tarot cards for Hakuno, it's a different case for her.
Daemon of Crawling Tentacles: See Author's Note.
Student: Correct! Susuga, Student-san!
Kitburner: It's the very same guides, Hakuno briefly notes in Chapter 1 how their attention is strangely 'like divided between two places'.
What lies in the body, the heart, and the soul? Are they but physical and metaphysical? The flame caused by her actions now seeks to devour her, but the road to her deletion is yet to be paved. Can this Digital Human change her path?
Digital/Culmination
Chapter 3: What Lies In Normality
A beeping sound indicated the acceptance of her pass, allowing Hakuno Kishinami to leave the subway tram station unhindered. Her mind was focused on the directions granted by her Private Terminal which were based on the route she had taken yesterday with Miss Yuyi heading to and returning from her current destination, Shujin Academy.
It was a bit of a cultural shock, but perhaps it had been the prior day's series of events that made this seem more mundane at the onlook. After leaving the station, she needn't rely on her guided system and instead follow the groups of students all wearing the same regulated uniform.
All in all, it felt rather relaxing to just walk to a normal school, ideally wondering what the day's lessons hold. Though she might have an unfair advantage in some subjects, other topics could use some solid work.
Still, although this serves as a buffer in the day, it wouldn't help in trying to solve the questions and mystery surrounding her presence in this world and its 'metaverse' counterpart that apparently runs alongside it. That will likely be within the deeper levels of that place accessed through the Metanav. But what could Hakuno Kishinami do?
According to the residents in the Velvet Room, her Servants can be called from within the Metaverse. Or, from what she knew, they can be brought into the real world through a Command Spell, if only briefly.
It was a strange phrase to say it plural, Servants, as Igor's assistants insisted she would be able to call forth additional Heroic Spirits in the future.
As far as Hakuno was aware, it was supposed to be one Master to one Servant?
Hakuno noted that she had now passed right through the school gate, briefly glancing at her Private Terminal to check the map, she headed inside and to the newly elected shoe locker assigned to her.
"Um… twenty six, then…" Hakuno mumbled as she located the assigned box. Inside, she found her school-provided textbooks and grabbed hold of them, placing them in a carry-on bag that Miss Yuyi had gifted her. Afterward, she switched her outdoor shoes with the required indoor variant. "Now, second floor…"
It took a few minutes, a few curious glances were made at her but all in all, everyone seemed accepting of her presence. Hakuno did hear a bit of chatter, some related to her, most not, but eventually halted just before entering her classroom.
"You're the new transfer student, right?" A dignified feminine voice called to her.
Hakuno Kishinami turned to face its source, it was an older-year student, her senior at the educational level. The woman was a bit taller and wore a sleeveless black uniform overall over a long-sleeve white undershirt, and had the same brown hair hues as Hakuno had, though the woman had a deeper chocolate shade for her eyes.
"Yes, I'm Hakuno Kishinami," She introduced herself.
"Oh, polite," She seemed slightly stunned, then cleared her throat. "Makoto Niijima, Student Council President."
"Pleased to meet you, senpai," Hakuno said.
"Just Makoto is fine," She said. "I wanted to let you know that if you need anything that Student Council members can help you."
There was an underlying tone there that Hakuno barely caught, but it heavily reminder her of her own desire to prove herself back in the Holy Grail War.
She nodded, "I appreciate it," Hakuno replied. "I'll come to you, Makoto."
"Yes, wait, me?" Makoto replied with a brief break in composure. "Yes, I'll help you out, Hakuno. Just let me know, I'm usually near the library on the third floor."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Can that include help in my studies?"
"Sure, just leave it to me," Makoto replied with a smile.
Makoto seems much happier now that Hakuno did that, was there some sort of trouble there that Makoto felt she didn't have the capability to do?
Regardless, Hakuno felt making a friend would help her. Perhaps visiting her after school will bring some solace to her question-plagued mind.
The chime of the bell indicated the near start of the first class.
"I'll see you soon, Makoto."
Hakuno Kishinami entered her classroom, her eyes looking over the vast student group that reminded her of the Moon Cell's preliminary rounds. She pushed aside the memories, focusing on her present and walking to the teacher's side, a somewhat pale woman dressed in a bright orange attire and have rather unkempt hair more so than anyone she met so far… Except for Shinji.
Again, Hakuno let the memory fade in the background.
"Class, your homeroom teacher unavailable today so I'm covering him. Furthermore, this is our new transfer student, please introduce yourself," She asked.
Hakuno gave a slight bow, "I'm Hakuno Kishinami, please take care of me."
"Now, everyone," the teacher said sternly. "Be kind and don't shout at her," Her gaze went specifically towards a boy with bright yellow hair.
Oh, that was the same one from yesterday… She tried to recall the name… Ryuji?
Probably Ryuji.
"I'm Kawakami. Please take a seat at the third row, Hakuno," The teacher stated, pointing to an empty seat, it was right beside the boy as well.
She walked towards the seat and put down her supplies, hanging the bag on the chair, there was good space between each student's seating spot. Hakuno Kishinami sat down and Ms. Kawakami started the lecture.
"Hey," Ryuji's voice was in a slight whisper and directed towards her. "That bastard didn't do anything to you, right?"
Hakuno blinked at him, he was referring to that coach. She shook her head in answer.
He sighed in relief, "Just keep your distance, he should leave you alone for the most part."
The magus nodded.
Accepting her acknowledgment, he then pulled out his phone in the middle of the class period when Ms. Kawakami was distracted on the chalkboard. He tapped away, mumbling nearly incoherent words under his breath, but Hakuno caught on to some strange terms.
Something about 'palace', 'Kamoshida', and 'treasure'.
Was he playing some game on his phone, perhaps? That what normal kids do right? Though, why mention the volleyball coach then? It didn't match up.
Perhaps she should ask Makoto, the Student Council President would know a wealth of information about the school and its clubs. Though Hakuno reminded herself that questions wouldn't be answered so freely, Makoto was her own free-thinking person, not an NPC required to satisfy her curiosity.
Well, until then, best pay attention to class.
Even if she already knew all the material for this lesson…
What could she do about it? The Moon Cell's fault for cramming 203X education into her head as false high school student memories.
Though, perhaps she should just skim through her textbooks instead. Yeah, that sounded a bit more useful management of her time, to get a grip of where her education level was with this world's own standards.
"Alright, who can answer this?" Kawakami's voice exclaimed. "How about you, Hakuno?"
It has drawn the class's attention towards her.
Hakuno tilted her head as she glanced to the chalkboard to see what was on it.
"Oh my god!" A random voice cried out.
"That's cute!" A few other students shouted.
The magus blinked in confusion.
"C-Can, wow, ahem!" Kawakami glanced away for a second to recover before saying. "What's does this phrase presented here mean?"
"To seek the truth," Hakuno answered quickly. "The meaning behind the phrase is to seek the truth," She explained.
"That was quick…" The teacher seemed surprised. "Well, you aren't our honor student transfer for nothing. Correct!"
The class began to murmur about, "Super fast response!"
"I wish I was that great with math!"
"She's an honor student transfer?"
"Nothing like that other transfer student!"
"Shh, you don't want a criminal record holder to hear do you?"
"He's in another classroom, it'll be fine."
Another transfer student? Was that the reason behind the variety of suspicious yet curious glances earlier in the day directed towards her? Oh, it must concern that other boy that occupied Ryuji yesterday, that coach did mention a criminal record.
"Hey!" Ryuji shouted. "Keep your mouth shut about my dude!"
"Calm down, class," Kawakami ordered. "There's still more to go and I expect you all to have these processes down by the exams."
The class collectively groaned.
Hakuno thought it funny.
All the following class periods went rather quickly, it was certainly an interesting experience if a bit lonely during lunch break. A few fellow students had gathered the courage to speak with her, but their conversation topics all revolved around looks and gossip that disinterested Hakuno Kishinami. It seemed to be an unfortunate side effect of her past, her social ability was terribly low with normal people.
Well, she was willing to learn. Hakuno tried her best to keep up the chat, but today seemed it has met a dead end. With effort, Hakuno was sure she could improve enough to maybe get some friends, at least she hopefully had Makoto now?
Speaking of which, with the school day's end, Hakuno Kishinami packed up her school supplies and walked up the stairway to the third floor.
In front of the library, Makoto had mentioned.
"Hello, Makoto," Hakuno greeted.
"Hakuno, you… You really meant soon, huh?" Makoto reply had a bit of surprise but calmed down into a collected, dignified manner right after.
"Of course, I did say so?" Hakuno stated. "You're the President, a lot of people must come to you for advice."
"Oh… Yeah, sure…" Makoto glanced away, her left hand stroking through the side of her hair.
"They don't?" Hakuno Kishinami asked.
"It's a bit different here than your previous school," Makoto answered, standing straight. "But that doesn't mean I retract what I said this morning!"
"Sure," Hakuno replied short.
Makoto blinked, but a small smile adorned her face. "Did you need with any help?" She questioned.
The magus nodded, "I had a few questions I thought you could answer."
"Ask away," She said.
"I heard there was a transfer student that came here shortly before me?" Hakuno inquired.
"About two weeks ago," Makoto answered. "He and Sakamoto seemed to have kicked it off from the start, you should probably steer clear of them… Though Takamaki seems to have joined them as well, she's fine."
Hakuno didn't know those people, but they sounded like family names. But, knowing Makoto referred to that black-haired boy, then Sakamoto was like Ryuji's last name? Wait, Kamoshida did mention Ryuji's last name as that now that she recalls.
"Are they bad people?" Hakuno asked, knowing she would receive a biased opinion.
"They're not bad, just troublemakers, however, they've gotten on the coach's bad side and it makes a big fuss," Makoto seemed a little agitated at something.
"I'll keep my distance from Kamoshida," Hakuno caught on, there was clearly something going on and even the Student Council couldn't deal with it. "What about palaces and treasure?"
"Huh? Where you hear that?" Makoto was confused.
"Ryuji sits next to me and he was mumbling about it," Hakuno answered.
"Probably some game, I never heard of it," She said.
So, she didn't know anything.
"The last question for now," Hakuno said and brought up a small book. "Can you help explain some Student Handbook stuff? I didn't have time to go through it all yesterday."
Makoto chuckled lightly, "Sure thing, we can talk it over tea in the room?"
"It's a deal," Hakuno smiled.
Her vision was engulfed in a sea of flames, a strange sensation tugged at her heart.
I am thou, thou art I
Thou hast acquired a new vow
It shall become the circuit of hope that empowers thy will to survive
With the birth of the RIDER Class, I have obtained the pool of mana that
shall douse the flames of deletion to reveal new mysteries
The flames dimmed as the unknown feminine voice faded away, returning her vision to normality.
Hakuno blinked, what had that just been?!