EmperorCeph: Longer chapters actually as this will give me more time. I used [Kapitan] because it sounded cooler than the generic [Captain] for me.

Chapter 49: The Fearless

Shidou sighed in defeat. After a brief meeting with the Ratatoskr, he felt violated from the outcome of it, as he witnessed his sister, the Captain of Fraxinus, giving him a thumbs up and labelled him as a 'big sister' as he was eventually dragged away into the darkness…

*brrrrrr*

He could feel the cold caressing his skin, figuratively and literally, especially when he was currently wearing a short skirt. At that point, he became conscious about his lower garment and he immediately pat the front and the back of his crotch with both of his hands, as if the wind might pull them up and show off his undergarments, which are thankfully just shorts… but undergarments are still undergarments. He thought he have fully understood the girls until now. Why must the girls suffer from this kind of clothing?

Ratatoskr readily trained him to crossdress naturally, at the cost of his dignity being sacrificed, to appeal to Miku, the famous idol, who happened to have a thing with women. He can't exactly approach her in his original form because something happened to Miku that made her extremely hostile toward men. Although, by the looks of it, she really hid well his hate for male populace. Ratatoskr thinks that crossdressing is the only way to infiltrate into Miku's defenses and even after sealing her, Ratatoskr was also prepared for it.

That means he will have to retain dressing as a woman for as as he could just to please and stabilize Miku.

… and it made him a little depressed.

For a meantime, he must test this disguise toward his fellow classmates and teachers, as if humiliation isn't enough, as recommended by the Ratatoskr. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on each other views, Shidou hasn't encountered any individuals inside the school.

Until now.

Ritsuka Fujimaru happened to be turning to the corner and in a hall where Shidou was currently standing and waiting. Shidou was preparing for this if she can deduce his identity out of the disguise.

Ritsuka stopped in front of interestingly, looking up and down upon Shidou's current appearance, Shidou sweatdropped as Ritsuka was really quiet as she was trying to discern who was in front of her.

Was it one of the students? Or is she a newcomer? That must have been what Ritsuka thinking if Shidou was trying to guess what was in her mind.

Gradually, from being suspicious, Ritsuka just became curious later on. Of course, the Master of Chaldea knew it was Shidou in front of her just from the hints on his face alone. Ritsuka wasn't a stranger from crossdressing hobby, as some of her Servants were really into dressing into costumes of their opposite sex (best example was of course, Astolfo…).

She was quite curious on how Shidou was dragged into dressing one like a girl, although, Ritsuka would give him 10 out of 10 for that perfect girly appearance. The way Shidou was fidgeting, being uncomfortable told her that something fishy was going on and that definitely involved Ratatoskr and a certain Spirit.

Should she feign ignorance or not?

"Hey there, you are definitely new here, am I right?" Ritsuka regretted sounding very plastic but she hoped Shidou wouldn't catch some hint of it. Ritsuka wasn't very good at lying either. Then she offered a hand to delightfully greeted him.

"Umm… yeah, I'm definitely new here." Shidou assured her nervously. Fortunately, his voice was filtered, matching those of a woman with the help of a modified band-aid stuck on his throat. Ritsuka thought it was an amazing technology, as she spied it as Shidou moved briefly in her cardigan.

It did not help, (or it did?) that Shidou was nervous all along, which added to charm points according to Ritsuka. If Ritsuka did not know that Shidou was into crossdressing lately, maybe there could have been a chance that Ritsuka might try to 'conquer' Shidou but who knows…

Shidou made a move and reached out for Ritsuka's hand and shook it lightly.

"I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru and you are?"

"Shid— I mean, Shiori, umm, Itsuka, cousin of … you know, Shidou Itsuka." Shidou wasn't very good at talking as a girl and has to create a name on the spot which he managed to. For Ritsuka, that was just poor.

Ritsuka just tilted her head in wonder. Shidou was becoming concerned on her current actions.

"That's great! Shiori Itsuka, cousin of Shidou Itsuka, its nice to meet you." Ritsuka wasn't trying to be sarcastic, promise.

However, Shidou was relieve. Also, he didn't notice that Francesca Drake was now beside Ritsuka, pausing for a moment as she noticed Shidou in a girl's uniform. Drake needed to blink twice just to make sure that her sight wasn't bullshiting her.

"Ho? Isn't that—" An elbow to her side was enough to make Drake quiet. Rider didn't feel hurt about it but it was just really annoying.

"Shiori Itsuka, we're now going." Ritsuka remarked before she grabbed Drake's arm and pull her away from Shidou, err, Shiori. Drake has this habit of slipping her tongue like a blatantly honest drunkard and for some reasons unknown, she doesn't want Drake to call him out yet. Their walking pace was increased considerably in order to let Drake forget what was that all about and it is for the sake of preserving Shidou's fragile sanity.

Inside of the Fraxinus ship, things get interesting. They have already ordered Shidou to test his disguise to see if it was proven effective or not and doing it inside the campus seemed to be a great idea. So far, only Ritsuka and Drake has seen 'Shiori' and somehow, their reaction was somewhat mixed up.

Speaking of which, Kotori wondered why was Drake in the campus. Maybe she's here to accompany Ritsuka to her work as she has seen Ritsuka sometimes accompanied by different dormmates whenever she felt it or not. Honestly, there's nothing wrong about it.

She has this gut feeling that maybe, Ritsuka was a lesbian too or not. Kotori is still uncertain.

Hmmm… speaking of which, Kotori's attention was drawn on Francesca Drake, the admittedly drunkard dormmate of Ritsuka as she already knew her. Something is not right as if she has seen her not just by her dorm alone.

Kotori then reviewed the video file that the ship has recorded during the first encounter of Shidou with Miku; a video that was focused on the blindspot of the stadium, where two unknown individuals observed Shidou and the Spirit [Diva]. Kotori doesn't know if they were aware that they were being observed or not.

More importantly, the Ratatoskr is still investigating this phenomenon and as much as they can learn from this piece of evidence, they needed to withhold this info to Shidou as they were still clueless until now. They are still gathering enough information to know what they are looking at. Kotori was referring to the newly-emerged Spirit [Kapitan]. They already deduced that one of them on the file was a certainly a Spirit since she's the most recognizable of them two. The other one was vague as it was and whether it was a Spirit or not was still up for discussion, hell, they can't even deduce whether it's a male or female.

However, Kotori couldn't help but compare [Kapitan] to Francesca Drake as the two of them were awfully similar if one compared them to the other due to how their hair was colored. So far, the only individual that has an obvious pink hair was Drake and the new Spirit also has a pink hair too. Coincidence? Still don't know.

If this is proven true however then Ritsuka, may perhaps, is not what she seemed but these previous weeks, it seemed to be too good to be coincidental.

Ms. Scarlet, Shidou's former history teacher, who turned out to be the Spirit [Lancer] was a dormmate of Ritsuka.

On that island that day, when [Berzerk] was also there, the [Goddess] contented with them terrifyingly. Not helping that they confessed that they are also Spirit in their mansion. They were, in fact, Ritsuka's friend too.

It's just to surreal to ignore. Does this mean that Ritsuka was involved for real? Kotori will have to encounter Ritsuka sooner or later.

…

Of course, this is not connected to her hypothesis regarding Ritsuka's true nature. She has no guts to talk about it till proven otherwise. Instead, Kotori will have to discuss something else more interesting.

Passing on Ritsuka and Drake seemed to be a breeze but the other student seemed to be challenging, especially if it's the girl trio themselves, who were currently confronting him.

Ai, Mai, and Mii were giving him judging stares that could easily undress Shidou and were currently surrounding him, thus cutting away his escape route. Unlike Ritsuka, Shidou felt uneasy for him to convince them that he was another relative of Shidou as he just repeated what he has said to Ritsuka earlier. They also knew that 'Shiori' is new here in the academy.

"Shidou?" Tohka's head popped near his body, eliciting surprise as he hurriedly covered her mouth and grabbed her warily. Thankfully, the trio didn't seem to hear what she has said. Tohka's gifted sense of smell accurately identified and it scared him that this would risk his dignity as well.

"T-Tohka-chan, I'm currently hiding my identity so please don't blurt out my name like that!" He whispered toward Tohka. Even though Tohka didn't fully understood why Shidou was currently crossdressing, she readily agreed nonetheless to act as if this is not Shidou in front of her by nodding at his warning.

Shidou sighed as he carefully remove his hand away from her mouth.

"H-hello there, girl-that-is-not-definitely-Shidou, its nice to see you." Tohka sucked at lying and pretending and Shidou has this desire to facepalm himself in failure. Still, the girl trio, miraculously believed Tohka and fell into murmur and whisper once again. At least, his identity wasn't given out, right?

*SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP*

Shidou was alarmed when he heard some snapping and flashes behind him.

"That's it, Shiori-chan, look at me and pose in that way." Origami said. Even though the context was somewhat suggestive, Origami's monotone voice just ruined it added by her passive facial expression. Nevertheless, Origami's labored breathing and flushed face indicates that she was madly enjoying this scene.

Origami kept on shooting using her camera at every angle as much as possible, with her index finger pushing the button repeatedly at a rapid succession that it seemed to blur out of existence. Origami, for a world record, pushed the capture button a thousand times per second. Does the camera have the power to cater Origami's maddening button pushing? Who knows…?

Finally, with efficient acting, she slid underneath Shidou's skirt and started capturing the Shidou's hidden treasure with a perversion.

"Yes, that's it, perfect…" Origami recommended as she kept on capturing some photos. Tohka desperately tried to stop Origami by pulling her legs away from Shidou but to no avail as Origami singled handedly used her other hand to clamped upon Shidou's precious leg and shot at an expert speed.

Shidou screamed like a real lady on that day, but nevertheless, even with Tohka and Origami figuring out his identity, the mission was overall successful… somehow.

It was now afternoon and finally Shidou can finally finally get out from his get-up because acting like a female for tne entire day can really get tiring. He has a thumbp-ups from his sister Kotori too, which means it was confirmed that he succeeds from being a girl. This means that the operation could proceed tomorrow.

He was tired indeed but its not bad giving a spare time over something, especially when Kotori invited him in a diner for a treat. Well, he's not in a hurry for a moment so why not?

He knew where the diner was located and as he entered it premises, he immediately saw Kotori as well as Ritsuka in front of her. He went straight to their table and sat beside Kotori. Kotori was wearing her white ribbons so he should be fine, right?

Kotori noticed Shidou and motioned him to sit beside her. Shidou happily obliged.

"Hey there bro, how's your day?" Kotori was surprisingly pleasing this time and Shidou welcome it. He felt himself comfortable whenever Kotori was acting her 'little sister' persona, not that he needed to remind her or himself.

"It's ok, Kotori-chan." He said as he eventually sat beside her. Ritsuka just waved at him as she drinks her coffee. A waiter has filled his cup with cold water. Since Shidou was thirsty, he drinks it quietly.

"Ritsuka-san, has a lovey-dovey relationship with the dormmates, am I right?" Kotori started to tease Ritsuka.

BLLLEUURGGH*

Upon hearing it, Shidou widened his eyes and blew his coffee, throwing splatters of water on himself. Ritsuka and Kotori just glanced at his misfortune and then continued their conversation as if nothing happened.

"Oh, you know its not that exaggerated as you claimed, Kotori-chan, although yes, I do have relationship with them." Ritsuka proudly proclaimed. Why whould she lies though? She technically has a relationship with them because of their connection as a Servant and Ritsuka as a Master. Ritsuka really loved messing up their knowledge about her and taking advantage of the misinformation.

Shidou glaced at Ritsuka and then at her sister interchangeably in disbelief. Water was leaking out of his nose, although in miniscule amount but no one cared.

"Ne, what's your secret to your relationships?" Kotori was much more interested as she leaned forward. Her upper body currently at the top of the table as her face was closer to Ritsuka, which the Master of Chaldea was fine with it as long as she acted cute.

"Hmm, there's nothing special, I think?" Ritsuka said. Yes, she thoroughly believed that there's nothing sort of special she needed to do in order to spice up their relationship. She thinks that it just works.

"C'mon, I want to know." Kotori was being pushy this time. Shidou was still confused at that moment until he somehow guessed what Kotori was trying to do. Is Kotori trying to get some tips from Ritsuka on how to deal with her own relationship since Kotori realized that Ritsuka's partner's are also girls?

Why Shidou didn't know about this? Could Kotori possibly be trying to help him get some ideas for his next mission tommorrow?

Unfortunately, it seemed that Ritsuka has no idea either too or she was just to lax to list anything useful.

Nevertheless, Ritsuka was doing her best as much as she can just cater them. "Umm, respect? Yeah, that's right respect them, hehe." Ritsuka was laughing nervously because she was aware that she was just making stupid remarks. "And also treat them fairly and equally…yeah."

Kotori was just unsatisfied. It seemed that she just overestimated Ritsuka in terms of explaining. What Ritsuka just said were basics. Did she just waste their time here in the diner? At least Ritsuka ordered three meals, even though Kotori said that they are here for a brief meeting together with her big brother. It seemed that Ritsuka's choice was right after all.

"I think I've got to leave." Shidou said in concern as he looked at the clock once again and realized how much time has passed. "Tohka and Yoshino might have been hungy already so I've got to go." He explained to both Ritsuka and Kotori, which they understood.

"It's ok bro, you go first, Ritsuka-san will accompany me back home."

Shidou just smiled warmly as there is no reason to stop her. "Well, why not?" Then he glanced toward Ritsuka. "Thanks for the meal by the way."

Ritsuka acknowledged him and he promptly left. He really was in a hurry because he was walking faster back to their home, which coincidentally just a few blocks away.

The two of them were already finished eating too and Kotori immediately took away her white ribbons and changed them with black while sighing. Ritsuka knew that this time Kotori was getting serious. This perhaps Kotori's true intention why she was invited here in the diner.

"Shidou's out of the picture for now… talk, Ritsuka Fujimaru, who are you?" Kotori's voice was very serious and demanding. Did she figure something out now? Kotori then proceed to get some files that came from her own bag.

"Ah, things are getting interesting I see." Ritsuka remarked. She too will be serious now if Kotori managed to get her cornered.

Ritsuka is really interested right now.