Author's Note: Friendly reminder, there will be no romance between Hakuno and Joker. Though Joker fails at obtaining a harem if he tried anyway, Hakuno gets it without even trying to get one! Hakuno has EX Rank! And yes, Hakuno is aware of Morgana being able to speak, but she's too unknowledgeable of the Metaverse to see its significance, combined with her monotone expressive makes it very difficult for the Phantom Thieves to notice she understands him.
Kovaras: No Greymon around this time, haha!
Engineer4Ever: I'm sure Hakuno will figure out how to get her Servants in the Real World… Eventually.
Kerrowe: Yes, she understands Morgana. But, Hakuno doesn't understand how the metaverse works, as she lacks someone like Morgana to explain. Also, she's rather monotone and plain, it's not exactly easy to the Phantom Thieves to notice.
A crashclown: Silent type interactions everywhere!
Daemon of Crawling Tentacles: The power of smiles and head tilts from Hakuno-chan! The cuteness compels us!
ReavesTheReader: Oh, I'm sure she'd be the center of comedic attention at some point.
PieKnight: See Author's Note.
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 14: Nightly Thoughts
Hakuno Kishinanami found the movie to be quite enjoyable and placed aside a mental note to check out the modern cultural media in her free time. She had restrained herself too much in attempts to understand the circumstances of the Metaverse and its surrounding implications that it had blinded her from enjoying the freedoms of experiencing the real world. So, spending time just enjoying a movie had released quite a bit of stress in her mind. In fact, Hakuno had found herself to enjoy the movie so much that she was nearly entirely engrossed in it.
This must have been what Saber had been talking about, the Servant wasn't complaining so much about her own wants, but rather was referring to her Master's over seriousness. Saber had wanted Hakuno Kishinami to take a step back and enjoy the modern entertainment of civilization.
What a subtle move, Hakuno should've known better to underestimated that optimistic Roman Heroic Spirit.
"I enjoyed it," Hakuno spoke to Ren Amamiya as they exited the theatre.
"Seems so, you were intensely focused on the screen," Ren pointed out. "Hardly touched the popcorn."
"You ate the rest of it though," Hakuno countered. "I'm not too familiar with movies, so this was a first."
"You've never watched a movie before?" Ren questioned.
Hakuno shook her head, "I was… Distracted by other problems," She answered to the best of her ability, it wouldn't do any good to speak of the Moon Cell to just a normal person.
"Well… If you want, I can invite you to the movies a few more times," Ren answered.
She blinked, considering the idea and thinking back to her earlier assumption of what Saber meant, then tilted her head and said, "Won't you be busy?"
Ren fidgeted for a second, then recovered "Sure," He admitted casually. "But if we're both free, why not? I enjoyed taking a break."
The magus thought to why Ren would be busy, then recalled he was under criminal record, it must be difficult to live with that in mind. Still, Ren Amamiya did not seem to be a bad personality, and Hakuno had plenty of experience in dealing with different types of people.
"Alright, message me if you are then," Hakuno said and presented her Portable Terminal.
Morgana's head popped out of the bag, "Whoa, that device. Talk about advanced."
"Here's my chat ID," Ren said, revealing his own smartphone.
They exchanged communication methods, allowing them to contact one another...
Hakuno Kishinami's 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 UNCLASSED Class, I have obtained the pool of mana that shall douse the flames of deletion to reveal new mysteries
Her vision returned to normalcy.
Unclassed…?
That… What… Could a Servant even be an Unclassed Servant? Don't Heroic Spirits require a Class Vessel?
Still, regardless of that confusion, Hakuno had created another Confidant, which should help towards the progression of the Velvet Room's twin teachers' trails. Though, like those before it, the Confidant was created without Hakuno's own input. She couldn't really figure out how it worked.
"I'll head home then," Hakuno said. "Thanks for the movie."
She wanted to return to the Private Room.
Ren nodded in silent acceptance and waved her goodbye with a hand.
Ren Amamiya had nearly marked Hakuno Kishinami as not a suspect for being the 'Inheritor'. The plain-looking schoolgirl didn't display a personality that would fit as his supposed rival in Igor's game and had not shown any hostility towards him or awareness of Morgana's ability to speak. Although his cat friend had spoken about her in her similarities to him, Hakuno just seems too… Normal.
Well, discarding the Confidant, that was the only oddity.
Aeon.
It was an Arcana that Ren, as Joker, had no Personas that represented it. The fact that Hakuno Kishinami had given him this Confidant, though unknowingly, meant that he should work towards improving his relationship with her. Not that he minded, Ren had to admit that conversing with Hakuno felt rather relaxing. Her calm and silent demeanor, combined with her near obliviousness of modern culture, felt a far cry from the other Confidants he had so far.
Also, that head-tilt was absolutely adorable on her.
He wasn't afraid to admit that.
"That was an enjoyable experience," Morgana said. "I'm surprised you didn't flinch during those raptor scenes, you got some guts."
"Yes," Ren replied in agreement.
"Neither did she, he was into that film," Morgana commented. "It's nice to sit back and watch a movie with someone, let's do it again sometime."
"Are you going to follow her?" He questioned.
"Not today, besides I'm making plans," Morgana stated.
If Morgana already had plans then that's all there is to it, he was their teacher after all.
"Alright," Ren replied in acknowledgment.
"By the way, you could've escorted her back, she is a lady," Morgana pointed out. "She lives in the same area as well."
Ren paused, then audible groaned at his lack of mannerism.
"Baby steps, fearless leader, baby steps," Morgana joked.
A click with the door knob's turn and Hakuno Kishinami entered her homely Private Room, feeling refreshed and relaxed from spending the day just exploring the Real World and having some fun. She closed the door behind her and walked to her desk, taking a seat in front of it, the tablet representing her connection to the Moon Cell's method of Formal Wear and Mystic Codes lay on its wooden top.
Hakuno ignored it, pulling forth her Portable Terminal. There still wasn't a reply from the morning's message to Rani. But it did state it as 'read', which meant that Rani had seen it but had chosen not to respond.
Well, it wasn't unexpected, Rani wouldn't have all the free time in the world.
In the meantime, what about methods to transfer her Servants into the Real World? The Private Room was her best shot at this, as it had a linked connection through its function originating from the Moon Cell. Of course, Hakuno Kishinami was also hesitating.
The fact remained that in her world, the Moon Cell's discovery had it trigger an event where the observational supercomputer overwrote and interconnected all of Earth's network in an instant, bypassing the security of even the most advanced measures with little effort.
Hakuno did not want this to occur again, it would completely overturn the modern world.
Still… She didn't want to disappoint Saber.
She sighed.
Hakuno Kishinami had hit a wall in her progression.
Mementos were becoming too vast for her to travel by foot, which limited her ability to search for the girl's shadow for information. The only online leads were a dead-end unless Hakuno would risk a Code Cast, but even that might not lead to results. Rani wasn't talkative and they'd not developed a relationship where she would casually give her knowledge on the matter.
And that was only related to her mother. There were other subjects hitting the wall, such as the recent issue with getting her Servants in the Real World, the Phantom Thieves, and the individual with the Black Mask.
In short, she was stuck.
This wasn't the first time this had happened, obtaining information on her opponents towards the later weeks of the Holy Grail War had grown significantly more difficult, with the exception of Leo and Gawain, but that was more to the case of circumventing their advantages.
Hakuno stared at the Portable Terminal, the metaverse application taunting her with its presence on the device.
She was missing keywords for it, the representation of what Sialim Eltnam Re-Atlasia viewed herself as, and what she viewed her base of operation as.
How was Hakuno supposed to figure it out? Simply guesswork?
Well… It couldn't hurt to try.
Sometimes, simplicity answers.
"Keywords…" She said aloud while opening the metaverse app. One way to start is by listing what terms were applicable to the Rani in her world, her friend in the Moon Cell. Of course, she had to recall back to what her friend explained, but that wasn't too difficult with how few memories Hakuno had.
"Institute," Hakuno spoke but reprimanded herself. That term wasn't a location, but rather an organization, she should correct it, "Laboratory."
"No matching results," The Portable Terminal chimed back.
Of course, a laboratory was specific, but the Altas Institute should have a broader meaning as to her world's old places. "Research Center."
"No matching results."
She crossed her arms, brow furrowed in thought. This was a bit tricky, Hakuno hadn't delved too much into Rani's personal history concerning her professor, which now made this rather difficult.
Not to mention, it may not be accurate. It's unlikely that this world's Sialim had anything to do with magecraft, but the scientific principles should be similar enough in terminology. Though, alchemy would be different… Hakuno wasn't knowledgeable enough to know about magecraft and its history outside of Code Casts.
What about the name's origins?
Atlas originally referred to Greek Mythology Titan who held up the world on his shoulders as punishment by Zeus. The Greeks worshipped the gods in a religious context, so perhaps…
"A Temple?" Hakuno inquired.
"Result found."
The location lit up on the Metaverse App, of course, Hakuno Kishinami wasn't at the place to traverse into the cognitive realm and also was still potentially locked outside its boundaries until she filled out the last keyword.
But, surprisingly, it seemed to be disconnected from Mementos. Not in the manner in which they were both cognitive areas, but rather that wouldn't be possible for her to walk to the revealed 'temple' from Mementos itself.
This meant that Hakuno had to head towards the Atlas Corporation headquarters in the real world before traversing into its cognitive version… Whatever lay on the other side, she would have a Servant available the instant-on arrival.
Now, what would Rani's mother view herself as?
A mother would be one-word to cast-off, Rani didn't view her parent as a mother, but rather just her legal guardian. So, it likely had to do with her work, but what did Sialim do?
"Sialim keyword… Alchemist?" It was a far shot.
"No matching result," The Portable Terminal chimed its negative feedback.
Typical that it wouldn't be that simple.
A knocking sound echoed, Hakuno turned her attention towards her room's doorway as Miss Yuyi opened it enough for her to greet her supposed granddaughter.
"Hakuno, dinner is ready, are you hungry?" The elderly woman said kindly.
Hakuno smiled, "Yes, thank you."
The magus placed aside the Portable Terminal and instead stood up and followed Miss Yuyi down the staircase. A delicious-smelling aroma had spread through the base floor, which caused the Digital Human to feel the gnawing hunger creep to the forefront of her mind.
Not a minute later, Hakuno Kishinami was seated in front of a table, eating foreign cuisines that Miss Yuyi had cooked.
"This is good," Hakuno commented.
"Thank you," Miss Yuyi replied, sitting across from the girl. "Your mother would often want to switch up what foods to eat She had a gourmet's desire to experiment."
"Really?" The Digital Human grew curious, she herself had a desire to try different foods.
"Yes. She'd always want to try new dishes, even as a child," Miss Yuyi's face had a fond look to it.
Also, there was a lot of history, the fact that Miss Yuyi seemed to recall such memories implied that her daughter did exist at one point. In that case, what did that make Hakuno Kishinami? While Hakuno was aware that her body was still the same as it was in the Moon Cell if another Hakuno had existed in this world, what happened to her?
Did she replace the real Hakuno Kishinami?
Or, rather, did the fire that claimed her supposed parents also took the life of this world's Hakuno? And the Moon Cell had simply done something to blur that event?
She resolved to put that question on the back-burner, there was already too much in her schedule to add another mystery.
"Still, I'm making too many comparisons," The elderly woman shook her head. "My granddaughter is a different person, I'm sure that thick-headed father also had some habits that carried over to you."
"Thick-headed? Why is that?" Hakuno questioned.
"He was very persistent!" Miss Yuyi suddenly shouted, making Hakuno blink at the increase in volume. "When that man had a goal in mind, he was driven to complete it, even ignoring others telling him otherwise!"
"Oh… Haha…" Hakuno trailed off but felt personally called out with that.
"It really didn't match up with your mother either," She continued. "A determined woman and a persistent man… I'm thankful you didn't become a combination of those two traits."
"Right…" Hakuno Kishinami responded.
The magus girl felt like all her Servants from the Moon Cell would have deeply agreed with those facts. What an intense attack that would have been more damaging than any Noble Phantasm. But, at the end of the day, Hakuno would not have denied it.
Rin and Rani would have yelled at her otherwise.