Hey there!
New chapter! Thanks for the reviews, everyone! In my last fic, I answered each comment individually, but this time I'll try something new and just comment on them like this here if there are questions and such. Oh, and ArcherEMIYA and Takedo, for getting the name of the ill girl right, have a cookie!
Disclaimer: I do not own F/GO nor P5 nor any of its characters. Cover image obtained from reddit, will be taken down if original creator asks.
Chapter 1 - Of cute wardens and suspicious old men with long noses
"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for riding with us today. We'll be arriving in Shibuya shortly."
The announcement brought a wave of activity across the train. The passengers who would be getting out at the next station started to pick up their things and move towards the doors, while the ones who had to travel a little further scrambled to fight for the newly vacated seats.
That activity did not extend to one particular passenger, a black-haired boy silently dozing off while reclining against a window. Luckily for him, he was spared the hassle and, more importantly, the embarrassment of missing his stop when his phone started to vibrate from one of his pockets.
The sleepy teen blinked his eyes, saw everyone preparing to step down from the train, and started to move to join them. He had left his bag prepared for this exact situation, so all he had to do was pick his suitcase from the ground and he was set.
Once properly situated in front of the door, he searched his luggage and retrieved a little case, from where he took out a wireless pair of earbuds that also doubled as microphones. Taking one, he secured it to his ear, and packed away the other one when he was done.
"Hey," he said quietly, taking out his phone, "thanks for waking me up."
"You're welcome, Senpai~", answered a purple-haired girl from inside the screen in a sing-song voice. "You'd better be very, veery thankful! Do you have any idea how boring it was to wait for you to wake up?"
Ritsuka gave her an amused stare.
"You had several hours of unsupervised access to the internet. How many people did you troll this time?"
"I lost count after about 500~? I think~?"
He snorted.
"You're a sentient Artificial Intelligence derived from a supercomputer that dwarfs anything we have on earth by several thousands of orders of magnitude, and you "lost count"?"
"Fiiiine", she said with an exaggerated pout. "Maybe there were a bit more than a couple thousand."
"Sure. As long as it was harmless fun." Answered Ritsuka. The train chose that moment to arrive to the station and open its doors, so he started to make his way down, multitasking to both look at his screen and the floor at the same time. "So what were the highlights?"
"Hmm, probably the thread about sky-diving cats~? And the one video about how the Turing test was antiquated and not at all reliable for the newer generation of AI. I gave that one a Thumbs Up!" She said as she demonstrated and flashed her thumb at him. "Oh! And the conspiracy blog about how the arrival at the moon was all a lie and the moon is actually an ancient alien artifact that exists to record everything that humans do!"
Ritsuka blinked. That sounded familiar.
"So what did you do?"
"I commented on all the logical inaccuracies he was providing as evidence and pointed out all the impossibilities that would have to happen for that to be true, and then I threw scientific papers at him faster than he could post his counters!"
"...So you had fun?"
"I think he cried❤."
Ritsuka decided to take that as a yes.
"But never mind that, Senpai! We're finally here! The Big City! Now, you need to find where you'll be staying, and then we can begin planning your high school debut! Senpai finally has obtained the criminal attribute, so we can even go for the bad boy image that'll make all the innocent high school girls hearts flutter! Now onward! First go up those stairs, then go the right and into the subway!"
Ritsuka threw a glance at the phone, before pocketing it. After going up the stairs that led out of the platform, he stopped and looked for an information booth, where he politely asked the lady manning the counter a couple questions. After he was done, he gave his thanks and started walking to the left.
He said nothing. The silence was eloquent enough.
"Mooou, Senpai, you meanie! You're supposed to believe me when I play pranks on you!"
"The last time I asked you if you could help me navigate, I spent three hours on what should have been a half an hour trip."
It had been a couple months back. Ritsuka had just gotten back home, and had wanted to visit one of the libraries he frequented before he left for his summer job turned world-saving journey. That shop had moved to a bigger building a bit farther than where it used to be, so he had decided to ask for her help. After all, her voice was much more pleasant and dynamic than any standard GPS, and he had grown used to never traveling alone. It had been the first and last time he had asked.
"It was a three-hours date~! Boo, boo!"
Ignoring the way BB had somehow conjured a banner and a megaphone and was manifesting in his screen in favor of AI dating rights, Ritsuka turned his attention to the map the lady at the information booth had given him. He was making good time, but he still needed to take another subway to move from Shibuya to Yongen-Jaya later. Still, he had time for lunch at least. Walking outside of the station, he paused.
The street he came out to was packed. Several pedestrian crossings situated in a crisscross pattern occupied the majority of the traffic lane, and a constant stream of people was walking every which way, talking among themselves or on the phone.
Ritsuka Fujimaru was, surprisingly, not used to big crowds. After humanity was incinerated, the personnel of Chaldea had been reduced to less than 20 members. The singularities themselves were usually limited to a confined area, and the populations there were already reduced or scattered for one reason or another, whether it be war, oppression or straight slaughter. As for the Lostbelts, they were branches of history that were discarded specifically because humanity didn't prosper, so their population wasn't that great either. The place that came closest was probably Uruk at its peak before Tiamat's attack, but even the first city-state couldn't compare to the sheer amount of inhabitants a capital of a 21st century country had.
"Senpai", sounded BB's voice from his earbud, startling him out of his reverie, "did you download any new app recently?"
He threw her a funny glance.
"You're literally in my phone. You'd know if I had, right?"
"Hmhm, hmhm. Some weird app just popped up here. It wasn't downloaded, it didn't come from any of the data channels I am monitoring. It literally just appeared. It tried to take over some of the systems, but I isolated it the moment it began to act up. How interesting."
"So what does it do?"
"No idea. I'll tinker with it for a bit. The design is truly tasteless though, not cute at all. It looks like a creepy eye. Wanna see, Senpai?"
"I'll take your word for it."
Ritsuka left BB to play with her new toy, only minimally worried. No virtual attack could affect his phone while he could "Summon Bigger Fish" anytime, or in his case, "Summon Eviler Kouhai". That was the reason she had come with Chaldea with him after all, to protect the confidential data ha had access to and make sure communications were secure.
Spotting a Big Bang Burger in the distance, he decided it was as good a place as any other to have lunch and started to walk. No further incident happened that afternoon.
"Yongen-Jaya, this is Yongen-jaya." Announced the same lady from the afternoon train. Maybe they only had one person that could do announcements for all the public rails network?
Shaking the silly thought out of his head, Ritsuka went out of the train and looked around. There were less people than in Shibuya station, but still more than he was used to. Since he had time, he allowed BB to guide him if she promised there would not be too much unneeded wandering, since this way he'd be able to get a feel for the zone.
That proved to be a good decision, as the backstreets were labyrinthine and it would otherwise have been easy to get lost. For a while, he just walked around, noting where the supermarket, shops, cinema, clinic, etc. were. And eventually, he stood outside a two-story house.
The sign read "Sakura", so it was probably the place he was looking for, but nobody came to open when he rang the bell.
'Perhaps he's out?' He mused. 'But my parents said he'd be waiting to receive me...'
Luckily, he got help from a coincidental deliveryman, who when asked informed him that Sakura-san managed a nearby coffee and at this time of the day he'd still be working there. He had seen the shop while he was touring the are before, a lovely shop with a rustic feel to it, so he traced back his steps.
The door's sign read "OPEN", so he entered directly.
The inside was more homely than the exterior would make one think. One side of the room was dominated by the counter, and the had tables where customers could talk in relative privacy.
When he entered, an elderly couple were watching a tabloid show on a TV by the wall, and another gentleman in a pink shirt and an apron was sitting in one of the counter chairs with a crossword.
"Vertical is… The name of a shellfish used for farming pearls..."
He saw him then. The expression that his face took was a bit difficult to describe. It was anything but happy, but not exactly a frown, either. If Ritsuka had to say something, it was somewhere between resignation and displeasure, like someone who thought his day was over discovered a chore left to finish.
"Oh, right. They did say it was today…"
The elderly couple chose that moment to pay and leave, with all the celerity of people who had nothing to do and enjoyed the slowness of their twilight years.
"Four hours for a single cup of joe…" Grumbled the barista beneath his breath, before looking at him again. "So it's you, huh. Fujimaru, right?"
"And you must be Sakura-san." Answered Ritsuka, bowing slightly. "My parents wanted me to express again how grateful they are to you for taking care of me. They send their regards."
"Well, aren't you polite." He said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know if you have been told, but I don't know your parents. A customer of mine put us in contact. Anyway, I wondered who'd come, and I must confess, after reading your court record I was expecting someone more…" He paused, searching for the correct word, "menacing."
"If it helps, I am standing here," answered Ritsuka with a chuckle, "menacingly."
"Heh," and in anyone else, that would have been an amused snort, but Sakura-san made it sound so dry that one had to wonder if he was laughing at the situation or at him. "Follow me." He said without preamble, and started to walk up the stairs. Ritsuka dutifully followed.
The room upstairs was so dusty that every step he took raised little white clouds. It was kind of amusing, but also worrying.
"This will be your room." Informed Sakura-san. "I'll give you sheets for your bed, at least."
"It's very… spacious." Answered Ritsuka diplomatically.
"It's your job to clean the rest." Answered the older man. To his credit, he appeared mildly embarrassed when Ritsuka took a moment to gaze at the furniture decorated with cobwebs and the trash bags that littered the floor. He coughed into his fist. "Anyway, I'll close every day when I leave. You'll be alone at night."
"Understood." Nodded the younger boy.
"Right. I'll bring the sheets later. Now then, I told you I read the court record. You don't seem like the type to snap without reason, but appearances can be deceiving. Will I have to worry about that while you're here?"
The glint in his eyes told him this was the serious part of the conversation. Ritsuka snapped to attention.
"No, sir!"
"I'm warning you," he continued, voice unsympathetic, "any sign of trouble you're out. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. I'll leave you to it then."
As the older man descended the stairs, Ritsuka looked at the room again, assessing it.
"Well then," he muttered, "time to make Alter proud."
He went down again, where he asked Sakura-san for a couple of rags, some disinfectant, bleach, a mop and a cube, and a duster, then rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He passed the time wondering how the summer king maid would react to the task.
"Hmph. A maid has no weak points. Not in fighting, and not in cleaning! Prepare to receive the wrath of my Holy Mop, unworthy germs!" said the swimsuit-wearing king, crossing her arms in an awe-inspiring pose and pointing dramatically with her mop.
The thought made him smile. His Servants could be such dorks sometimes.
He was humming when Sakura-san came back, carrying a bundle of sheets on his arms.
"Whoa!" He exclaimed, leaving his cargo on the now free of junk table and admiring the much less clustered and mostly dust-free space. "This place doesn't look too bad."
"I haven't thrown anything out yet," informed Ritsuka, engaged against a particularly stubborn patch of dust on the mattress, "but I'll probably need to ask you for what needs to stay and what can go to make more space one of these days."
"Hmm." Sakura-san made a non-committal noise. "That's fine. Anyway, I'll leave your bed-sheets here. Tomorrow we'll go to introduce ourselves to Shujin Academy, your school for the rest of the year. I'll drive you there, but that will be a one-time thing, so you'll need to use the subway to get to class. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at 8:39, so try to wake up on time."
And with that remark, he left again. Ritsuka kept cleaning for a while more, until Sakura-san announced from downstairs that he was leaving and closing down, at which point he decided it was enough for the day. Reaching for the sheets, he quickly put them on the mattress. He wished he could take a shower, but there wasn't one on the shop, so he settled for changing into clean and more comfortable clothes from his suitcase.
Laying on the bed, he took out his phone and sent the obligatory message to his sister that he was well and the trip had gone without incident. She answered immediately and he indulged her, explaining that he was going to be living on the top floor of a coffee shop (to which she immediately dubbed him Atticboi), how the owner was kind of gruff and no-nonsense, and that tomorrow he'd visit his new school.
After wishing her goodnight, he put the phone to charge and turned off the lights.
"Night, BB." He called.
"Sleep well, Senpai!" She answered.
"You sound chipper." Noted the boy. "Did you do the scan?"
"Of course!" She said, puffing her chest in an attempt to fluster him. Unfortunately, years of living with supernatural beauties, who were amorous more often than not to boot, had completely immunized to such a level of teasing. After Raikou, he sincerely believed there was nothing that could surprise him anymore when it came to that particular area.
BB's job was not only to secure a channel for him to speak safely with Chaldea. She also made sure to disable any nearby electronic devices in the event an emergency came up and he was forced to use a mystic code, and to regularly sweep any area he visited to avoid accidents like hidden cameras or stray phone pics. So far, nothing had really happened since he came back, but he made sure to always keep his guard up. He sincerely believed that if he ever became a Heroic Spirit, his luck would be EX, since it'd be difficult to rank properly his E- level luck when it came to encounters and generally being in the wrong place all the time and A++ luck when it came to actually surviving said scenarios.
"So, did you find anything?"
"Fufufu, that's a se~cret!" She crooned. "There was a camera downstairs, but I took care of it. Nothing malicious as far as I can tell. I'm going to spend the night playing with this new toy, so don't wait for me awake, Senpai❤."
Ritsuka let the innuendo fly over his head with the ease of someone who has practiced the same type of exchange every time he had a conversation with a mischevious AI.
"Right. I'll see you tomorrow, then." He said, turned around and closing his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
And awakened right after.
It was imprtant to note that Ritsuka Fujimaru was very, very knowledgeable on the topics of dreams. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him an erudite or an expert. Having established contracts with hundred of Heroic Spirits meant that he had also experienced the correspondent hundreds of Dream Cycles. He had relived the Arthurian legends several times, with different variations and from several of the most important players points of view. He had experienced the Ulster Cycle from both sides of the conflict, accompanied the Paladins of the Charlemagne on their (mis)adventures, spectated the rise and the glory of the Roman Empire, studied alongside some of humanity's greatest scientists, attended court sessions with kings and princesses of legend and historical emperors, seen valiant warriors march to battle and win and die, witnessed epic struggles and fortuitous journeys, stood besides vile murderers and torturers as they went about their bloody work, and shared the warmth of home with parents and sons and daughters.
Merlin himself, the ultimate authority on the field short of a god of dreams like Morpheus, had shared with him some of his wisdom, sometimes going as far as using dreams themselves as lecture spaces. And as if that wasn't enough, he himself had a natural disposition for being easy to pull onto others dreams, an unfortunate circumstance that the enemies of Chaldea had on occasion exploited, such as Caster of Limbo on Shimousa or whatever eldritch entity lurked behind the facade of sanity of Hokusai's Toto-sama.
All that experience had taught Ritsuka to differentiate between the different types of dream that he had experienced. Dream Cycles felt hazy, as he was but a passenger along for the ride that was the life of whatever Heroic Spirit he was experiencing. Merlin's dreams and its equivalents were disorienting but strangely intuitive, as they were akin to lucid dreams were the consciousness was not quite asleep but the subconscious was still restrained. And finally, the dreams where he was "summoned", for lack of a better word, were corporeal and real. These were also the most dangerous, as whatever happened to him there could affect him back in reality.
It was also, coincidentally, the kind of dream he had just awoken to.
His mind instantly jumped to high alert. The rational part told him that he was unlikely to be able to subdue whoever had summoned him, but the reflexes that his instructors had beaten into him made him jump to his feet as quickly as he could and take stock of the situation.
It was a good thing he was in a relatively confined space, as he could raise a hand on time to the wall when the quick motion almost made him fall on his face. Glancing down, he confirmed that his feet had become entangled with a chain. He was dressed in prisoner garb, with a simple shirt and pants with black and white stripes, and both wrists bound with a thick metal chain. The stereotypical iron ball attached to his ankle completed his attire. A look around revealed he had been lying on a small bank in a cramped cell, that only contained the bank and a toilet just in front (ew).
The message was clear. Whoever had kidnapped him, subtle, they weren't.
Ritsuka was brought out of his reflections by the tapping of feet approaching the front of the cell. He concentrated on the door at the front, across which he could see a brightly illuminated circular room, and from the side appeared… Two little girls.
Now, Ritsuka was no stranger to young forms concealing unimaginable power. He had contracted Servants such as Jack the Ripper, Shuten-Doji and Abigail, each of which were monsters in the guise of young girls in their on rights. But that did nothing to stop the first thought to come to his mind from being "How adorable!".
They were twins, but not like Castor and Pollux (who, even though they had the constellation of Gemini dedicated to them were in fact not twins, ironically enough), but rather identical twins. They wore clothes that reminded him of Kiara's summer swimsuit if it was less, well, Kiara-ed (Hans was the proud inventor of that verb), which he guessed were some sort of warden uniform to continue the prison theme they had going. They were virtually identical, with gold-colored eyes and light silver hair, except for four key details: their hairstyles (buns and braid respectively), the letters on their caps (OYOO and XMRN, reading OXYMORON when combined, which was clever), the objects they were carrying (a clipboard tablet and a baton), and finally, they eye over which they wore their eyepatches. Eyepatches that had engraved a stylized V over a golden laurel crown, a pattern he could see repeated on the floor of the room when he got closer. Laurel crowns were the symbol of emperors, so perhaps the place had something to do with ROMA?
Idle musings aside, the twins moved aside to allow him a direct view over the central room. Smack dab in the middle, sitting over a desk in a position that would have made that one guy from Evangelion proud, was a gangly, balding man wearing a suit, with thin limbs, round bloodshot eyes, long elfin ears like Medea's and Circe's, longer eyebrows, an even longer unsettling grin stretching almost literally from ear to ear, and an impossibly long nose that gave him the air of a mosquito.
He opened a palm to him and spoke with grave voice that echoed across the empty chamber: "Trickster, welcome to my Velvet Room."
Ritsuka's immediate thought was "Fuck, not another suspicious old man." He hoped he wasn't amnesiac.
His second thought was that he didn't know the Trickster class.
He didn't have time for a third thought, as one of the twins started to talk.
"So you've come too, inmate!" Said the twin to his right.
"The you in reality is currently fast sleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream." Informed the one on his left.
"I see." Answered Ritsuka. He was not going to volunteer any information on his own, or at least not just yet. It would stand to reason that if someone went through the trouble of kidnapping him, they'd know who he was and what he had done, but the fact they had thought to inform him of something so obvious made him doubt that reasoning. If they had summoned him without the knowledge of who he was, what could they want from him?
"You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!" Berated again the one on his right.
"Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a "contract" may enter."
By a contract? Like a Master-Servant contract? Was he perhaps summoned here as this Trickster-class Servant to enter into a contract with this guy? That made no sense. This was a dream, there was no point in binding him with restraints that would disappear as soon as he woke up.
"I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well. I summoned you to speak of important matters."
Ritsuka straightened and directed a focused gaze at him. Nothing was making sense, and this was his chance to start figuring things out. The man chuckled.
"Ah, I see you are aware of the seriousness of the situation. But first, allow me to express my surprise." He said, making a show of moving his head to peer around. "The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think it would appear as a prison. You truly are a prisoner of fate."
Lie. That was not how things worked. It was true that the dreamscapes usually formed according to the subconscious mind of the dreamer, but that was precisely the point: this was not his dream. He had been summoned from his own sleep to this space controlled by this unknown entity, so he was not the one shaping this room, the same way he had not been shaping the entirety of Shimousa despite being summoned there.
And besides, to call him a prisoner some years ago would not be wrong in a certain sense, even though he would prefer "unfortunate circumstances" over words like "fate" of "destiny". It was not fate that led him to Chaldea that summer and set him on his journey, but rather chance. Even Lev Lainur had admitted as much. But he himself did not think of his circumstances as a prison forced upon him. It was because of those same circumstances that he had the chance to meet everyone. If his had to choose something to represent the state of his heart, something related to a journey with companions would be more fitting. Perhaps a bus so they could see the scenery pass by?
"In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you." He gave another low chuckle. "I speak of the end of everything."
And here Ritsuka's voice didn't run cold, it froze. 'Not again', he thought. After the singularities and the Lostbelts, there was still more?
"However, there is a means to oppose such a fate."
As if to assuage his worries, the man kept speaking, this time in a more soothing tone. Ritsuka recognized it as an orating technique that Caesar had explained to him once. You present a problem, then let the other party think about it, then you present the solution. It made it easier for the audience to trust the speaker and go along with theirs plans.
'Perhaps that's the point', thought Ritsuka. The prison, the lie and now this obvious problem-answer. Maybe they wanted to manipulate him into doing something.
"You must be "rehabilitated". Rehabilitated toward freedom… That is your only means to avoid ruin…"
"…"
For the life of him, Ritsuka couldn't figure out what exactly they were trying to manipulate him into doing.
"Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?"
'Been there, done that.' was the answer that came to mind, but he couldn't say something so obvious.
"Er… Sure?" He offered hesitantly. They were still the ones controlling this space, after all. Best not to offend them if he could help it.
"Marvelous." Rasped Igor with that throaty chuckle he liked to do. "Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here."
See? Another easy-to-spot lie. If it was a surprise that the room manifested as a prison, then how did they "serve" as wardens here? They couldn't have known unless they prepared beforehand. This was obviously a set-up.
"Try and struggle as hard as you like!" Intoned Justine. She kinda reminded him of Ibaraki, down to the way they tried to sound intimidating and failed quite miserably.
"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators. ...If you remain obedient." Aww.
"Justine, the inmate is making a strange face."
"Indeed. He appears to have relaxed considerably. ...How surprising. It is kind of annoying. Do you feel the same, Caroline?"
"Heads up, inmate! Wipe that dumb smile off your face!"
Besides Ibaraki, they were also a bit like Wu, when it came the haughtiness with which they adressed him despite having to crane their necks up to look at his face. He was seriously considering try to pet them when Igor's voice echoed again.
"My, my. How delightful to see you are getting along. Regardless, the night is almost waning. It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually..."
Well, that wasn't ominous or anything. A gesture from Igor and an alarm started ringing.
"Time is up. Hurry up and go back to sleep!"
Ritsuka nodded and turned around. He was technically their prisoner, if they were going to let him go, he wasn't going to complain. As he walked the short distance to the bank, he summarized the contents in his head.
This people were capable of summoning him in a dream. They didn't seem to know who he was, even though some of their comments seemed to directly reference his past adventure. Finally, they also wanted something from him, or rather him to do something for them, but besides the cryptic "rehabilitation" they didn't want to tell him what it was.
Ritsuka left the first meeting with a potential enemy capable of interfering in dreams and who claimed to have a measure of clairvoyance not feeling afraid, or determined, but very, very confused.
While Ritsuka dreamed of cute wardens and suspicious old men with long noses, someone else was having a strange night.
Futaba Sakura was a hacker. Scratch that, she was a great hacker. She was also a teenage shut-in with an insatiable curiosity, a bad combination of traits if there ever was one. Normally the Internet provided her with all the entertainment she needed, but today was special. After all, it was not every day that a new mystery just walked up to her begging to be investigated.
Sojiro had adopted a delinquent. Well, not exactly adopted, but he would be living at Leblanc for a year, which was sort of the same. When she had heard about it a month or so ago, she had wasted no time accessing the files the police and the court had on him, and boy, did they paint a pretty picture. But Futaba was not so easily satisfied, and she started searching more, which lead to a great discovery.
There was something missing. His infancy and teenege years were there, on the net, if one knew how to look. Social networks, pics, etc.
His last couple of months were there too, of course, the court record did a good enough job by itself.
But between the two, starting at 2018, there was a period that was completely blank. No pics, no social network use, not even messages to his family. It was like a void that was all but begging for someone to come and fill it in.
This would not stand.
She had not answered the door when he rang the bell in her own home. Her level was not high enough yet for a task that hard. But she knew it was a matter of time then until he arrived at Leblanc, and by the time the boy found the café and entered, she'd been practically bouncing on her seat with anticipation. She had heard all of his interactions with Sojiro clear as day thanks to her previously installed mics, court as those had been. She did snort at the obvious cartoon reference that flew right over Sojiro's head, though. It was the polite thing to do, since it was impossible that he would get something so modern!
Sojiro was playing at being a hardass again, maybe to make sure he didn't bother her, so the two guys didn't speak much. She normally appreciated it, but in this case it just made it difficult to get information out of her new research subject! Luckily, she had hidden cameras prepared all around Leblanc just in case, and Sojiro was too old to know how those worked. It helped that she had accidentally forgotten to tell him when she put them there, one afternoon years ago in of her bouts of courage, before the voices got… before things got worse.
But that didn't matter right now! What mattered was the new mystery tenant!
...Which was proving to be preetty boring to watch. Futaba hadn't signed up for any cleaning shows, thank you very much. She distracted herself with a videogame until Sojiro came back up with bed sheets.
Ritsuka Fujimaru, that was his name, cleaned a little more before deciding to wrap up his day. Futaba's eyes widened when she realized she was about to watch a boy a bit older than her change right in front of her eyes. She was no stranger to porn or lewdness, no true connoisseur of the world wide web could call themselves that and ignore the great, great number of R+18 stuff floating around, but this was somehow more real. Heart pounding, she put her hands in front of her face, but continued peeking through her fingers. Fujimaru picked the hem of his shirt, made the motion to take it off…
…And the screen went black.
"...Huh?"
That should not have been possible. She routinely maintained her systems, and the camera should also have been in good condition, as it had been working well until the moment. He fingers dancer over her keyboard and she discovered, to her growing horror, that nothing she did seemed to have any effect on anything. She had been locked out of her own system. The final nail on the coffin was the blinking LED that suddenly switched on from under her own webcam.
Someone was watching her.
The realization had her frantically scrambling backwards, still perched on her chair. No, no, no, please no, the voices were bad enough, not again, no…
The previously black screen suddenly lit up. The surprise was enough to snap her of her growing funk before it got too bad, which was good, she supposed, but did nothing to change the fact someone had invaded her sanctuary using the methods she was most familiar with. There was nothing she could do. Nothing, except wait until the loading circle on the screen of her monitor in the form of Sakura Petals finished a full revolution. Despite her fear, she forced herself to watch the screen. It was alight with soft purples, white and black, and a touch of red. In the middle were the letters in white "NOW LOADING". The petals were arranged around the words, and they appeared and disappeared to simulate a moving circle. Her eyes tracked the progress bar below.
78%… 86%… 91%… 99%… 100%.
"Heeeellooooooo! Welcome to B.B. CHANNEL!"
MetaNav: TOKI WO TOMARE! B.B.: *Puts on sunglasses* Not today.
As you can see, canon will be taking a "slight" detour. Igor's conversation was almost exactly the same cuz he had it scripted XD. It will probably change next time.
For today's question, Ritsuka will need to decorate his room, so what presents that he brought back from Chaldea do you think would look good?
Please keep the reviews coming! They mean the world to me. Mainly in terms of motivation. Even if it's a single word, it's appreciated!
Next time, to school!
See ya!