Ritsuka rubbed Jack's back, doing his best not to sigh. He really didn't know how to deal with Jack's abandonment issues, although it was never this bad at Chaldea. Maybe the other kid Servants kept her mind off of it? Anyways, he had more important things to figure out.
"Emiya, what happened?" He asked as he rocked the small bundle of dead children. Shirou took a deep breath as he calmed himself down.
"W-well, you see Fujimaru, I was getting ready for the day when I realized that Sakura would be here soon," Emiya explained, both of them missing Rin's confused blink. "So I took your… child?" He paused, looking for confirmation, continuing when Ritsuka nodded to him. "Out of the living room and to my room, since, you know, that'd be a lot of questions to answer that I didn't know the answers to. So Sakura came, we ate breakfast, and she went to school,"
"And then you went to check on Jack and she woke up, then proceeded to flip out? Ritsuka guessed, sighing when Shirou nodded back. He moved Jack so she was facing Shirou. "Jack, he wasn't trying to be mean. You almost hurt Mommy's friend, you know," He explained softly, ignoring the looks everyone gave him when he said Mommy.
"... Was scared," Jack muttered.
"I know, I know," He said gently, petting Jack's hair. "I'm not mad, but you should apologize to Emiya," The child looked at the red headed boy before muttering.
"Sorry for trying to dismember you, sword grandpa," She said.
"Anyways!" Ritsuka called out, trying to unsuccessfully draw attention away from the nickname Jack used. "I'm going to get Jack in some… proper clothes. You two should get comfortable and ready to study," He picked up his bag, heading back to the room where he was supposed to sleep, not noticing Rin's gaze following him, full of suspicion.
Ritsuka opened the door, seeing that the purple haired woman was still asleep. Carefully, he put the bag on the ground, working next to pry Jack off his neck, gently patting her head when he finally did. With a quiet sigh, he walked over to the woman, grabbing the arm that Jack had reattached, feeling for a pulse. It was faint, but there was one there. Good, that meant the arm was reattached, even despite the fact Jack was an amateur. He made a mental note to thank Nightingale and Asclepius for giving her some lessons next time he saw them.
He went back to his bag, digging deep into it. He could only pray that they had the foresight to send him what he was looking for, since Jack was here and all. He found himself thanking every deity in Chaldea that he did find everything he needed. He pulled out a cute little white sundress for Jack, turning to the small girl.
"Come on Jack, we need to get you in some clothes," He said, Jack responding by folding her arms and looking away.
"No!" she said defiantly. Ritsuka sighed. Maybe because Jack was children and not a singular girl, the boys inside of her didn't want to wear a dress? It made sense, maybe? He didn't know.
"Jack, you have to wear something," he said. "Don't you want to go out with Mommy, so we can cook one of Emiya's meals?" Jack tried to resist at first, but quickly caved, the idea of going out with Mommy far outweighed her dislike of dresses. The two changed clothes, Ritsuka slipping into his original Chaldea Mystic Code as Jack put on the sundress.
After he finished getting dressed, he walked over to the comatose body of the woman he found, placing his hand over her chest and letting the healing magecraft flow into her. He didn't know how much it was helping, but he knew it was better than nothing. While he worked on the healing, the door behind him opened, the Master of Chaldea turning his head to see Rider walking in.
"Oh hey, Rider," He said as he finished up, standing up and stretching a little. "Hey, question for ya. Wanna come shopping with me and Jackie? We can carry a lot more with the three of us, and it'd be a lotta fun, I think," Medusa was quiet, considering her options before finally saying.
"I do not believe that is a good idea. I… tend to stand out," she explained, motioning to her clothes.
"Eh… I don't think so. We could pass off most of your clothes as new fashion. As for your blindfold…," He tapped his chin as his brain ran through numerous ideas. "Okay, Medusa, close your eyes for a bit. Don't open them until I say so,"
Medusa felt a little amusement at the fact he didn't ask her to trust him, like most people would when asked to do something that could put you in such a vulnerable position. Then again, with her refined senses, it wasn't as if closing her eyes blinded her. It was thanks to those senses she could 'see' Ritsuka taking the glasses off his face, carefully taking off her blindfold, and placing the lenses on her face.
"Alright, open your eyes," Medusa obeyed, revealing her supernaturally beautiful eyes. To his relief, Ritsuka found himself staring straight into them without any adverse effects to himself. "Sweet, Sigurd's glasses worked. I wasn't sure if it would. You needed to get full on Mystic Eyes Killers from Da Vinci back in Chaldea, but I guess glasses made from Primordial Runes can also do the trick,"
"I… Y-yes, that's good," Medusa muttered, feeling a little embarrassed by how intensely Ritsuka was looking at her face.
"Cool. Lemme just…," Ritsuka walked over to his bag again, reaching in and pulling out a cookbook, turning the pages until he found what he was looking for. "Right, let's see if Emiya's got the food we need. We'll buy the rest- wait, money, right," He reached into the bag, sighing in relief when he found a wallet. "That was a long shot, but it seems they at least know where I ended up," He muttered as he looked through the bills. Yeah, there was enough here to make a good lunch.
"Cooking time, cooking time~!" Jack sang as she left the room to head to the kitchen. Ritsuka pocketed the wallet, following the small child, with Rider following close behind. Besides the purple haired woman, anyone would think the room was devoid of people. They would be wrong, however, as Archer materialized into the room soon after the group left.
"Rin," Archer called out over the telepathic link he had with her. "I found the room Fujimaru Ritsuka is staying in. There is a woman in here… she is unconscious, and it seems our mystery man has been taking care of her,"
"What? I… well, that seems in character for him, come to think of it," Rin admitted as she hid in the bathroom to have this conversation without Shirou noticing. "Keep looking for more suspicious things. We need as much information as possible," Archer nodded, walking over to the bag the boy was keeping. It seemed he had a lot of unusual Mystic Codes and weapons inside, which worked out for Archer. If he found something similar to a sword, he could trace it and see its history, allowing him to get some insight on its wielder.
After making sure the bag was not magically booby trapped, he reached in, feeling around until he felt the pommel of a blade. Carefully he pulled out a knife that the mere sight of caused his eyes to widen.
It looked like Bakuya remade into a cooking knife.
Now where the hell could Fujimaru Ritsuka get something like this? Quietly, he looked over the weapon…
Judging the concept of creation
Hypothesizing the basic structure
Duplicating the composition material
Imitating the skill of its making
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth
Reproducing the accumulated years
Excelling every manufacturing process
Through these steps, Emiya Shirou was able to add the knife into Unlimited Blade Works, and through these steps he was able to see the history of this blade.
He saw a boy, clinging to it as if it was the only thing that could save him, a broken child with the weight of the entire world on his shoulders.
He saw a boy happily cooking, a host of faces he didn't recognize helping him cook for what looked like an army.
He saw a boy carefully learning how to use it, with a stranger standing by him, teaching him how to cook.
He saw the same stranger making the blade, a smile on his face.
Archer's brow furrowed as he processed what he saw. Somehow this gave him less answers than he wanted and even more questions. The biggest question in his mind was about that mysterious stranger, for the man looked like Archer, but the smile on his face as he made the blade was foreign to the Servant. An Emiya Shirou that had walked down his path and yet still found happiness?
Impossible.
"I can't find anything too suspicious in his room," Archer reported to Rin. "I'm going to keep an eye on him,"
"Right, I understand. I better start teaching Emiya then," Rin confirmed as she stepped out of the bathroom, heading back to the living room. She sat down at the table, taking note that Jack was patting Shirou's head, really apologizing this time for trying to stab him as Ritsuka was going through Shirou's pantries, making a shopping list.
"So, Fujimaru, you said that she's your Servant, right?" Shirou asked as he poked Jack in the stomach, causing the child to laugh. "Is she some great hero like Heracles?"
"I…," Ritsuka tried to find words to describe Jack, but Jack interrupted.
"We're Jack the Ripper!" She said with the subtlety of a hammer. Everyone in the room turned to look at the young child, even the Servants.
"Jack… the Ripper?" Rin asked, her eyebrow twitching. "As in, that serial killer from London?"
"Yup!" Jack continued, unaware of the looks she was getting.
"I... ," Rin was baffled. Not only was that not what she expected Jack the Ripper to look like, but the child just gave her true name so easily! If she didn't look so young, Rin would have guessed she was lying to them to throw them off! Wait, no, that had to be it! Ritsuka must have told her to lie about her name to throw people off! A smart move, to be sure.
There was no way this child was Jack the Ripper.
RIght?
"Look, it's really complicated, but short version. She might be Jack the Ripper. Since they were never caught, there's a few different 'Jack the Rippers' in the Throne of Heroes, and each one represents a different theory. We're not going any deeper than that for reasons," Ritsuka explained as he walked over with his finished grocery list, plucking up Jack from the ground. "Now, you two have a good study session, we're heading out to grab you all lunch!"
With a wave, the odd trio of Rider, Assassin, and Ritsuka walked out the door, headed for the marketplace. It wasn't far from the Emiya home, so Ritsuka felt confident in buying some frozen food. Jack happily held on to Ritsuka's hand as they walked, and Medusa was doing her best to not draw attention to herself… despite how impossible that was. Still, she had to admit it was nice to stretch her legs.
The marketplace itself was really nice. It wasn't too big, and there were so many local shops. It was like Ritsuka was back home. He walked down the street, a large smile on his face as he looked around. "So, let's see here…," He looked at his list. "We're going to need a really big fish…," He paused as he felt a shiver going up his spine. It felt like… someone was watching him?
He turned around, looking behind him. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary though. Medusa looked at her temporary Master.
"Is something wrong?" She asked. He shook his head.
"Just… a feeling…," Ritsuka muttered as he turned back around, going back to shopping. "What we need first is some fish…," His attention was suddenly caught by the sound of a pole hitting the ground, and an all too familiar voice calling out to him.
"Red snapper and flounder!" the man called out. "Natural red sea bream! And they're all killer deals!" Ritsuka got to take in the sight, a wry grin on his face. The son of the god of light Lugh, and great grandson of the demon lord of the scorching sun Balor, in a part timer's outfit and apron holding a flag stood before the group. The two men stared at each other for a few moments before Cu grinned. "Oh! It's you, kid!" Cu said with a laugh, before looking over his group. "Ya on a family outin' or something?"
"Ha, ha, something like that," Ritsuka replied, before Cu looked down at Jack.
"Is this the Servant you summoned?" Cu asked, a blood lust filled grin spreading across his face.
"We came to help Mommy!" Jack called out, causing Cu to blink, confused as he looked up to Ritsuka.
"So, did Teacher use Runes on ya for a punishment or somethin'?" Cu asked, causing Ritsuka to blush and shake his head.
"No, no, no, don't get the wrong idea! I'm a guy! Jack just calls me Mommy, and I can't break her out of the habit,"
"That's because Mommy is Mommy," Jack said with a finality that couldn't be argued against. Ritsuka could only laugh, but that shiver went up his spine again, causing him to look down the street to his left. To his surprise, everyone else mimicked his motion. Not only that, but this time he noticed a tuft of red hair going around the corner, out of sight.
"... Looks like you're being watched kid," Cu muttered. Ritsuka nodded. There wasn't much they could do until the person revealed themselves to Ritsuka, however, not while in the middle of the day.
"Yeah…," Ritsuka muttered, his voice low as his eyes narrowed. "Anyways," He swapped back to a happy tone. "I technically didn't summon Jack, she found me. So you still gotta wait for it. Anyways, how many red snappers have you got?" Cu only grinned as he twirled, motioning to the red snappers.
"Looks like we have about ten of them," He said.
"I'll take them all," Ritsuka decided.
"Oh? You having a feast or something like that?" Cu asked.
"Something like that, yeah," Ritsuka admitted as he dug into his wallet. "Making lunch for a lotta people. You wanna join?" Cu chuckled as he took the money Ritsuka owed him, counting it out.
"Ah, that sounds great kid. But this job is gonna keep me here 'til night, ya know? Can't go and play hooky on it," Cu explained as he handed Ritsuka his change.
"Ah, that's too bad. Alright. Well, good luck with the rest of your shift," Ritsuka smiled as he took the change and the bag of fish, taking Jack's hand. The three walked away from Cu, Jack waving at the blue lancer as they headed deeper into the marketplace.
Was the person still following them? Ritsuka didn't know, but chose to ignore it for now. Now he had to buy some extra vegetables. Before he could head to the store, he felt a tug on his shoulder. Looking down, he could see Jack looking at a toy store. Smiling, he patted Jack on the head. "Rider, do you mind taking Jack to the toy store? I'll finish up shopping, and we can go home," Rider looked down at Jack, nodding as she took Jack's hand, the child excited as she dragged Rider to the store.
Ritsuka took this moment of peace to head into the store, humming to himself as he grabbed some more rice and a few varieties of vegetables. He didn't need the vegetables right now, but in the future, he'd need them for different recipes. He had to give them a variety of food after all.
By the time he walked out of the store, he saw Medusa looking at books in a stall, holding one in her hand as Jack peeked over the edge. She put it down and went a little further down the street, Jack following her. Ritsuka quietly and quickly walked over to the stall.
"Hey, that really tall beauty," He said to the owner. "What book was she looking at?" The owner looked down, quickly finding a book and holding it up to him. It was a rather thick book, well, moreso a collection of seven books. It seemed to be a fantasy series about a magical world parallel to the real world. "I'll buy it," He said, handing over the money.
He quickly caught up to the two, smiling at them.
"Mommy!" Jack cheered as she grabbed Ritsuka's hand.
"Did you get everything we need?" Medusa asked, to which Ritsuka nodded.
"Ah, but I bought a little too much, do you mind helping me out, Rider?" Ritsuka asked as he handed her the thick book. Medusa looked at the book, recognizing it as the one she was looking at. Instead of saying anything, she looked at him inquisitively. "It's to say thanks for helping me out," Ritsuka admitted. "So really, thank you,"
The small smile on her face was beautiful beyond what a mortal could conceive. "Thank you for the book," She said softly. He only grinned back and nodded.
"Alright, we got everything we need," Ritsuka stated. "Let's head back home!"
"Yeah!" Jack cheered as she thrusted a fist into the air. The three headed back home, Jack running ahead a little as Ritsuka and Medusa walked side by side. The whole way home, Ritsuka didn't feel any more shivers, which he counted as a win. It didn't take long to get back, the three walking inside to see Tohsaka sighing as she stood over Shirou, the boy reading something. Archer walked out from the other rooms, leaning against the wall, looking bored.
"We're back!" Ritsuka announced, Shirou turning around when he heard that.
"Welcome back!" He greeted with a sweet smile. Medusa walked over to the table, sitting down and opening her book as Ritsuka and Jack headed for the kitchen, placing the food on the counter.
"Ah, wait, right, my gear's in my room," Ritsuka muttered as he headed to his room quickly. He opened the door to see the mystery woman was still out, but she had shifted in her sleep. That was a good sign, it was possible she would wake up soon. Quietly, he walked over, digging into his bag and finding the entire cooking set Emiya had packed for him.
With the grace of a careful cat, he left the room, balancing all the cooking utensils in his arms as he went back to the kitchen, setting those things down as well. Shirou was quick to notice the foreign cooking utensils invading his kitchen.
"Wow, those are pretty fancy, Fujimaru," Shirou said as he stood up despite Rin's protests, walking over and looking over them. Each utensil was red with black streaks, except for the knife fashioned after Bakuya. "Where'd you get these at?"
"Oh… well, my senpai made these for me," Ritsuka admitted. "He's really good with his hands, and he told me if I wanted to get any girls, I should at least learn how to cook," Shirou nodded as he looked over them. "Anyways, go study. I'm going to get this meal started,"
"Us too! Us too!" Jack cheered as she held up her knives.
"Only if you wash those knives and your hands," Ritsuka told her. Jack nodded, using a stool to climb up to the sink, turning on the water and washing her hands and weapons. Ritsuka rubbed her head as she did before washing his own hands quickly but thoroughly. As he dried his hands, he quickly figured out what he needed to do.
Rice would take the longest to make, about five minutes longer than the rest of the food, so he was quick to prepare that first. He grabbed a strainer and placed a large amount of rice inside, placing it in the sink and running water into it, the water washing away the excess starch like a shower washed away dirt. Ritsuka then took a scoop and placed five cups worth of the white grains into the rice cooker, with an equal amount of water being poured in soon after. With a quick snap, the lid was shut and the cooking began.
After the rice was taken care of, the first thing he did was preheat the oven, making sure it was set to 220 degrees Celsius. Ritsuka then went to the sink, rolling up his sleeves and washing his hands from the filth of the rice, carefully reading over the instructions again to make sure he understood what he was doing. After washing his hands, he reached down into the cabinets, finding several baking trays and placing them on the table.
With a quick crack of his knuckles, Ritsuka took some aluminum foil, the silvery metal easily bending to the slight force he applied to it, the Master scrunching them gently before placing them on the baking trays. Doing some mental math, Ritsuka decided he'd need eight of those snappers he bought.
The first thing he did was take the cooking knife Bakuya, and with the help of Jack, poked holes on both sides of the fish randomly. Doing this made sure the skin wouldn't break while it cooked, helping with both the taste and presentation of the dish. After all eight fish had been poked, he took each fish and bent their heads and tails upwards, skewering them with metal skewers. After that, he got as much salt as he could, sprinkling all of them with salt.
"Ask if you can hear the sound. Of my voice through the cold hard ground~," He sang to himself as he made sure to spread extra salt on all the fins of fish. "I lost it while searching for you, I screamed into the dark~," When he finished each fish, he placed them on the baking trays before moving on, working on the garnishing of the meal. He washed his fishy knife, moving over to the lemons, quickly cutting them into neat little slices.
"If the world we're living in, has a single soul that you love, if it holds a shred of meaning, well then it's worth every fight~," He sang a little louder as he went to find plates, losing himself in the world of cooking, forgetting that there were people trying to study in the next room over. He placed the plates down, placing the lemons on plates neatly.
"And when all that we know comes to push and shove, then we will pierce the heavens~! The colors we see are new to you and me when we see the sky!" He was singing at full volume now as he grabbed his oven mitts, picking up two trays as he slid to the oven, Jack opening it for him as he placed each baking tray into the oven, soon closing it and setting a timer.
"As we begin to run! So we can finally feel the sun! Finally you and I feel so alive! I feel your beating heart!" By now, Ritsuka had a wooden spoon, singing into it as if it was a microphone, channeling his inner Nero and Liz. "If you believe in me, we'll find what we were meant to be! Now who cares about tomorrow if today we are free? My answer is always yes, that I will always be with yoooooou~!" He fell to a knee, bowing to Jack, who was smiling brightly and clapping excitedly. With a smile, he reached out and grabbed his daughter, pulling her close into a hug.
"Oooh? You didn't tell us that you were a singer on top of being a Master, Fujimaru," Ritsuka's face turned red when he heard Archer's voice from the other room.
"I… oh… I forgot… you all were there," Ritsuka admitted as he scooted back to hide behind the counter. Man, and here he was trying to keep a cool senpai image up for everyone, and he just went and blew it! So behind the counter he remained as a wonderful smell began to fill the house, catching everyone under its fishy spell.
Twenty minutes passed when the timer finally went off, Ritsuka springing off the floor and slipping on his oven mitts. He opened the door, the smell being released from its prison and invading the entire house, causing the two studying magi to look up. Ritsuka put the fish on the counter, admiring his handiwork. The extra salt in the fins caused the fins to spread wide open like a paper fan, and turned them white.
"Alright everyone, lunchtime!" Ritsuka called out as he carried two plates to the table, waiting for Rin and Shirou to clear it before he placed the fish in front of them.
"Snapper?" Rin asked as she looked at the cooked fish, its dead eye staring into the void. "What's the occasion?"
"Hey, we're celebrating an alliance between all of us," Ritsuka stated as he walked back to the kitchen. "Can't hurt to cook the good stuff for it," He grabbed more dishes, soon placing six of the eight plates on the table.
"Oh, it looks like we have a lot of extra food. It's not good to be wasteful," Archer fired a jab at Ritsuka.
"Hey, if you don't eat your portion, then you're the one being wasteful," Ritsuka fired back. "And yes, I know, 'Servants don't need to eat', but you all can. It's enjoyable and it's part of the celebration. No backtalk, eat food," before another word could be uttered, Ritsuka went back to the kitchen, opening the rice cooker, the smell of fresh rice fighting against the invading fish smell. He soon returned, carefully balancing six bowls of rice and placing them in front of everyone.
By this point, Medusa had put away her book and Jack sat next to her. Rin was sitting by Shirou, so all that was left for Archer and Ritsuka was the heads of the table.
"Itadakimasu!" They group said as they used their chopsticks to rip off some of the flesh of the fish, bringing it to their mouths. The reaction was instant. Jack went for her next bite right away, eating like a ravenous wolverine. Shirou's face brightened up as he went for another bite, and Rin froze for a second as she ate the fish. The only ones Ritsuka couldn't get a read on were Medusa and Archer. Medusa was to be expected, as she was pretty stone faced all the time, but Archer had a strange look on his face.
"... It's good," Archer admitted as he went for another bite. "Did you come up with this yourself?"
"No, no, that was also my senpai. He's really good at this sort of thing," Ritsuka admitted. "Honestly, I just followed instructions in a book,"
"... Is that so?" Archer took another bite as Rin spoke up.
"No, I don't need a second person being this down on themselves!" She said as she used her chopsticks to point at Ritsuka. "You might have only followed instructions, but you still pulled it off, and considering how good this food is, you did it well! Be proud of yourself, dammit! It's hard enough to deal with this attitude from Emiya,"
"Yeah, it's super good Mommy!" Jack added, half her fish already gone, and half of what she ate was stuck on her cheeks.
"Jack, you need to slow down," Ritsuka said with a laugh as he took a napkin and wiped her face.
"But we want more food in our mouth as fast as possible!" Jack pouted. Ritsuka could only let out another laugh as he began to eat again, the warm food warming him up to his core. This was really nice. It reminded him of the early days of the Grand Order, where it was only him, Mash, and a few Servants all eating in the cafeteria. He missed those days sometimes…
But now was not the time for worrying. The group continued to eat and talk, forming bonds over the cooked food. These were the times Ritsuka cherished the most. He only wished that it could last forever. Alas, nothing did last forever, but that didn't mean he needed to be sad about it. No, instead he let this steel his resolve. He would find out what was going on to protect the peace of this timeline.
Living life like this was truly worth fighting for.
