Hey there!
Here's a new chapter! I haven't edited it yet, but it's late, so I'll just upload it now and come back when I have time.
Thanks again to everyone who suggested items Ritsuka could use as decoration. They were used in this chapter. I didn't use them all because they didn't fit the theme, but I did use some!
Also, I gotta comment this. We got a Phantom Thief Event, people. Is that how Luck EX feels like? Further, Amakusa was slotted to make an appearence in this fic, but way, way later. I'm giving you this spoiler because he makes a mean Phantom Thief. What role he'll have, that you'll have to figure out by yourselves.
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. It probably won't be very accurate to the story anyway...
Chapter 4: Library duel & old friends
Ritsuka's third morning in Tokyo began in much the same way as his second. He woke up, went for a run, visited the bathhouse, and came back to a cup of coffee and a hot plate of curry, courtesy of a mostly awake Sakura-san. The food was as good as it had been yesterday, but he managed to exercise a bit more restrain this time, since he had had built some resistance the day prior.
Before he left, he looked at the empty cup.
"Say, Sakura-san," he began, "could I bring some coffee to school today?"
The older man raised an eyebrow. "Don't you already have drinks at school? I remember seeing vending machines, and there's always the cafeteria. I'm flattered you like my coffee so much, but I don't think it's worth carrying the extra weight."
Ritsuka gave a smile that hinted just a bit at conspiracy. "It's not for me."
Sakura-san stilled and looked at him, gray eyes searching for something on his face. Then he half-smirked.
"Putting the moves on the ladies already? What, you thinking of using your bad boy reputation to sweep them off their feet? I have to admit, you work fast."
Now, Ritsuka had several strategies for dealing with teasing, usually depending on who was the perpetrator. If the attacker was a 100% ATK 0% HP type (read: Musashi, Jalter, BB), teasing back was his preferred solution, as they crumbled at the first sign of a counteroffensive. Some other select types he indulged, mostly big sister-flavored Servants, as they were happy when they could act like a gentle senior to him, so he let himself flounder and blush to make them smile and hear them laugh.
But normally, he defaulted to the easiest solution: play along.
"You got me." He nodded, face completely serious. "There's this one woman," he stressed the word, -woman, not girl-, "that I've got my eye on. She seemed interested in me, but was a bit scared by my new reputation, so I'm thinking of softening her up first with gifts before going in for the kill."
"Hoo?" Sakura-san's eyebrow shot up once more, his expression one of polite interest, but the amused glint in his eyes gave him away. "And when exactly did you have the time to to meet a woman when you arrived barely two days ago?"
"I have my ways." Answered Ritsuka, trying his best Holmes impassive impression and probably failing. "Also, she's my homeroom teacher, but that has nothing to do with it, honest."
Sakura-san didn't laugh out loud, but it was a close thing. Ritsuka felt a bit disappointed, but it was still the closest to outright amusement he had gotten out of him yet, so he decided to take it as a win.
The older man shook his head at him.
"I thought you didn't do anything, and yet here you are, already bribing your teachers. Maybe I should be concerned that my products are being used for crime." He turned back and started selecting a few pots from the shelves behind the counter. "Give me a couple minutes and I'll whip some up."
When Ritsuka left, he did so with a thermos of recently-brewed coffee on his bag.
It was raining, but today he had remembered to pick up an umbrella, so he wasn't inconvenienced walking to the subway. His first ride was spent awkwardly trying to stay still and not bump into anyone on the packed car. His second ride, from Shibuya to Shujin, was not so uneventful.
While waiting for the train, he overheard a couple of his fellow schoolmates gossiping about a petite girl in front, with brown hair in a ponytail. They said nothing substantial, but it still got his attention for the simple reason that, given the way his reputation had extended yesterday at school, any other student of interest must either be very interesting or done something really bonkers, otherwise people would be talking about him.
As luck would have it, he ended up standing right in front of the new mystery student for the duration of the ride.
Ritsuka should have run the other way the moment he realized what was happening. His luck was Emiya-tier.
Still better than Lancer-tier though.
Anyhow, two minutes into the ride the mystery girl looked up from her phone and noticed the old woman standing in front of her. Immediately, she jumped to her feet.
"Please, take my seat," she gestured. "My station's coming up."
"Are ya sure? Then..."
The moment the girl moved aside, the man directly to Ritsuka's right moved, and took the seat in the blink of an eye.
Ritsuka heard the girl mutter "Oh wow, what speed!" in a sotto-voice, and he felt inclined to agree. The speed itself wasn't that special, but the man in the suit had shown remarkable skill, both in seizing chances and in moving decisively.
"I mean," the girl recomposed herself, and straightened. "Excuse me, that seat was for this lady..."
The man raised his head, looked her in the eye, then immediately lowered it and feigned sleep.
The nerve.
"Oh…," muttered the girl, at a loss for words. She looked around, checking if anyone had witnessed the byplay, and her eyes met his.
Ritsuka looked around too. Most of the closest passengers were studiously showing they were distracted – watching the ads on the screens, checking their phones, bobbing their head to unheard music from headphones. He looked at her again. She was looking at him and biting her lip, her expression conflicted.
Ritsuka weighed his options for half a second, then turned to the man.
"Excuse me." He began, but he received no response.
"It's alright." Said the girl. "I can understand his position as well. I'm sorry I couldn't be any help."
"It's all right, dearie. Don't you worry."
Something about that exchange rubbed Ritsuka the wrong way. The girl had innocently been trying to help, and now was being consoled by the very person she had been trying to assist, and nobody else was doing anything.
It, well. It (reminded him of Patxi) kind of pissed him off.
So he decided to do something about it.
"Excuse me!" He said, more energetically than before. He didn't expect any answer, and he didn't get any. The man was steadfastly making snoring sounds and ignoring everyone around him in a bid to protect his newly conquered territory.
That was why he didn't see Ritsuka forcefully sit down next to him, moving his body and making pressure until he was forced to move, less he fell over onto the lap of the passenger who occupied the next seat. Naturally, that meant that other person also pushed their neighbor, who pushed the next passenger, and so on. The end result was a whole row of seats of passenger grumbling and glaring at the man in the suit.
He didn't want any attention, so he ignored everything and hoped they'd leave him alone? Fine.
Chen Gong's strategies, #7: Do the opposite of what the opponent wants. Ritsuka was going to make a spectacle.
(Rule #1 was something about explosions and sacrificing allies, so it couldn't be applied in this situations. And so was #2. And #3, and #4, and #5...)
"Hey!" He began indignantly, glaring at him, but Ritsuka had already grabbed his left arm and brought it around his own neck with inexorable force. He smiled at him, and in the brief moment of confusion that followed he stood up, dragging the man with him.
His luck was seriously E-tier. It had to be. There was no other way to explain why it had taken only two days in Tokyo to be in the exact same situation that had sent him to the city in the first place, keeping an asshole dressed in a suit with an arm around his neck, and smiling at his audience.
At least this time they weren't policemen around, only commuters. Maybe he wouldn't go to court this time.
"Are you okay?" He said, loud enough that everyone near could hear, but not so loud that the whole train would look at him. "You looked like you were in pain. It is very dangerous to sleep seated, sir. It's hell on your back, and specially your neck. You should really bring a cushion next time if you intended to sleep on the train."
He had the attention of everyone, now. He could almost feel them, the hidden and the not so hidden stares. He was probably going to be the talk of a lot of offices this morning, judging by the numbing of suits and ties. Probably of his school too if the number of students with their phones out were any indication, but people were already going to talk about him there, so he didn't let it bother him.
"Listen, kid," growled the man, but Ritsuka moved back a step, forcing the suited man to move with him and cutting him off. They were now against the wall, so and the man was sandwiched between Ritsuka and the seat he had left vacant a moment ago.
Meaning, he couldn't escape.
Perfect.
Ritsuka caught the girl's eyes and winked. Her own eyes widened and she nodded once to show she understood, moving to have the old lady sit down on the now unoccupied seat.
As for Ritsuka, he activated his special skill: Bullshit EX.
"I have an uncle, an older one -you know the type, gray hair, smart suits, butterfly motifs- and he had chronic back problems. He also pushed himself constantly, the fool, and he loved to complain, so he explained to me about how his bad sitting posture had busted his back when he worked – oh, he was a professor, he taught mathematics, cool right? Though come to think of it, he never did tell me at what university did he work…. Wait, could he have been a high school teacher all the time and didn't tell me? The jerk! Oh right, we were talking about your back. That's not good, sleeping like that! You could actually pull a bunch of different muscles – there was another person who taught me, she worked as a nurse, but she didn't tell me at what hospital – you know, I'm beginning to notice a pattern here..."
Ritsuka continued babbling without letting the man go. At first he had been indignant, but as he kept talking he adopted a look of incredulous bafflement, a la the fuck is with this kid kind of feeling.
Midway, he spied the old lady sitting down on the seat, and he gave another tug to the arm he had captured hostage as if he was readjusting the man's position to keep the suited man's attention on him.
"...And that's what she said - wow, that sounded like a bawdy joke! Sorry about that, it was unintentional, I swear, I never make that kind of jokes myself, no siree, I'm usually the one who receives them! Can you believe it? Me! This me! Kono ore da! Ahem, what was I talking about, again? Oh right…"
A couple of minutes later, Ritsuka felt the train begin to slow down. The mystery girl hadn't lied, her stop (well, Shujin's stop) was the next one, so he decided to wrap things up.
"...And that's why I wanted to offer you my help so you could rest while standing, as that would be much more helpful to your back, but also help your blood circulation and help you exercise at the same time!" Beamed Ritsuka. "That's what my uncle said, at least. The first one I mentioned, with the butterfly motifs. But alas," he sighed, "I need to leave now. My stop's the next one. You need to take care of yourself, alright? Have a nice day!"
And with that, he walked leisurely through the gates without looking back. With luck, he had distracted the man enough that he wouldn't remember that he had dragged him out of the stolen seat by force. Without luck he would remember, but that would harm no one but himself, because the old lady had been sitting there for a while and she seemed to have no intention of moving for a while, if one were to judge by the amount of luggage.
He put his hands in his pockets. He had stalled a man with nothing but his stories for a good while. He'd had to mention this to Schere, she'd be so proud!
"Pardon me!" said a voice from behind him, and he turned to see the girl approach him at a run, brown ponytail bobbing behind her in rhythm.
"Thank you so much for earlier." She said when she caught up to him, and bowed.
"Ah, don't worry about it." He said, waving his hand.
"Not at all!" She exclaimed, looking up at him. "If it weren't for your help, that old lady would have had to remain standing for the rest of her trip! She was traveling quite far, so you really helped her. Us! I mean us. Thank you so much!" She bowed once again.
Ritsuka just laughed and repeated that it was nothing.
"You're a second-year at Shujin Academy, correct?" she asked, peering at his uniform. When the teen nodded, she nodded back. "I'm a first-year there, myself. I wanted to thank you in the train, but you were busy, and I didn't want to be rude to my Senpai."
Immediately after that word was said, Ritsuka's phone started ringing.
"I wouldn't want to impose, Senpai. Please, excuse me." Mystery girl, who now that he thought about it still hadn't introduced herself, bowed and left.
Ritsuka took out his phone and unlocked it.
BB pulled on her lower eyelid and stuck out her tongue at him.
"Kawakami-sensei?"
"Hm?"
Ritsuka chuckled. "Déjà vu?"
Kawakami-sensei blinked, then sighed. "Just a bit. What is it you want today, Fujimaru-san?"
"Well," answered the teen, taking his back and recovering the thermos from within, "before anything, here you go."
Kawakami-sensei looked at the thermos suspiciously.
"And what's this?"
"An offer of peace. Or better yet, a bribe," grinned the student. "Everyone believes me a criminal, so I thought I'd give them a motive today, at least."
"You have a strange sense of humor," declared the teacher. Nonetheless, her hands sneaked towards the vacuum flask and the promised nectar within. "So, what do you need from me, that you tried to bribe me beforehand?"
"Right," said Ritsuka, once more retrieving something from his bag, this time a book. He put in on the table, and Kawakami-sensei saw that it was the student's handbook. "Yesterday, I went to the library after class. I wanted to check the material for today's classes, to see if I'd need to ask for help. Turns out, I distract everyone with my presence." He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Nobody said anything, but… No, wait, that's wrong. I was the only one who didn't say anything. Everyone else talked." He gave a wry smile. "Anyway, I left after a while, figured there was no point studying there, so I decided to leave."
Kawakami-sensei had picked a mug from who knows where and was serving herself a dose of caffeine, but nodded to show she was still following his recount of yesterday's events. She made a gesture at him to continue.
"Turns out, I couldn't check out more than one book." He pointed to the handbook on the table. "I picked that one. I checked it yesterday night, but I wasn't able to find that rule anywhere. Still, I couldn't just dismiss it out of hand, so I thought it would be prudent to ask. Just in case." He shrugged.
Kawakami-sensei's brows had furrowed the more he spoke. When he was done, he looked aside for a moment as she tapped her finger on the table.
"I have never heard of that rule before." She finally said. "As far as I remember, there is an upper limit of 6 books you can borrow at any one time, and another that says that you cannot be granted extensions if someone made a reservation before."
Ritsuka said nothing. Absently, Kawakami-sensei nursed the now full mug and brought it to her lips – then she stopped moving completely.
"Huh," she said, and raised it again for another sip. "This is… really good."
Ritsuka grinned at her.
Kawakami-sensei drank one more time, savoring the taste, before putting down the mug and sighing.
"It is probably just harassment. I'll write you a note. Show it to the librarian today if they say the same thing to you again."
While she spoke, she took a paper from a drawer and rescued a pen from somewhere among the cluttered desk, and began writing. Ritsuka waited in silence, and a minute later his homeroom teacher signed, folded and handed him the paper, which he pocketed.
"Thanks."
"Now, run along. Class is about to start."
Ritsuka nodded and left. When he turned to close the door, he spied Kawakami-sensei reaching for the coffee again.
He smiled. Bribing successful.
Classes were, like the rest of the day was shaping out to be, very similar to how they had been yesterday. Takamaki-san continued to be a bro by lending him her books. Ushimaru-sensei had finally solved the mystery of the "chalk rain", when one of his classmates had spent a bit too long staring at him and whispering, and he had thrown his chalk to her head with pinpoint accuracy.
He wondered how throwing a small piece of chalk was related to being the basketball's club advisor. Baseball he could understand, but basketball?
Chouno-sensei's English class was boring, since he already had a good grasp of the language. He thought he might be asked to demonstrate, but even though her eyes flickered to him a couple times, she didn't ask him anything in all the lesson. He concluded the teachers had discussed among themselves about the "no attention" policy.
More interestingly, it also let him absolve faculty personnel of the suspicion of leaking his record. Ritsuka had reasoned that only a member of the staff would have had access to it. The principal had outright admitted in front of him that he didn't want him here, but had circumstances to consider, so he was probably not the one responsible, as it would be counterproductive to whatever other circumstances he was embroiled in. That left the rest of his teachers. He was assuming teachers of other years wouldn't have any stakes involved on whether he did good or not, so they were more likely to be passive.
Lastly, he had reasoned that whoever who leaked his record would not care how well he did at school, so he or she wouldn't bother to help him. Except if they wanted to throw him off, but that would be an awful lot of effort to go through to fool one mere high school student.
Before being dismissed, they were reminded that there was a volleyball rally tomorrow. Ritsuka was quite curious about how it worked.
And then classes were over for the day, and he was back in front of the door to the library.
Ritsuka didn't bother taking a deep breath or using any meditation technique. He simply opened and entered.
The silence didn't come instantly, but come it did, starting with the students closest to the door and expanding to the farther ones as they caught on.
The teen walked inside and made a beeline to the review books section, where he picked three of the books he had been reading yesterday. The moment of calm was broken as hushed whispers trailed his every move, but Ritsuka ignored them. He planted himself in front of the counter and deposited the books.
"I'd like to check these out, please." He smiled at the girl in the counter, who had been tensely watching him. He waited politely while she hesitated on how to answer, until she mustered enough courage to raise her voice.
"Y-You can only borrow one book at a time. A-And you haven't brought back the one you had before, so…"
She trailed off at the end, averting her eyes.
Ritsuka heard quiet snickers from the crowd. So, there likely was no rule, and she was trying to antagonize him for… For what, exactly? A prank? It was a bit too malicious and a bit too humorless to be a prank. It could even be called bullying depending on how one looked at it, but it was his second day at school, so he didn't think he'd done anything to deserve that.
But well, two could play at this game.
"Of course," nodded Ritsuka, amiably, reaching into his bag and taking the note his homeroom teacher had given him. "I already cleared everything with Kawakami-sensei. Here's my permission slip."
While he handed it over, he allowed himself to enjoy the rush of satisfaction when the snickers abruptly died down. It was petty, he knew, but then again, so was the girl.
He waited patiently as the girl behind the counter read the note and grew a bit pale. The moment an authority figure had became involved in the situation, the rules of the game had changed. It was no longer the new student delinquent against the entire student body, with her being in the position of one of the faceless masses. It was now a situation where she had personally given false information to a fellow student and the corresponding authority had become aware of her fault. If she continued acting dumb, she would be going against Kawakami-sensei's word. But if she didn't, it meant the delinquent would "win".
It was a foolish mistake, of course. You should never assume your opponent is going to play by the rules when you have already bent them. Actually, you should never assume there are rules in place. You have to make them and then enforce them against all the malefactors or indecent people who sought to destroy them!
...Or so the Shadow Prefect (Raikou Summer ver.) had said.
The girl was now biting her lip and looking alternatively both at him and at the note. She gulped, adjusted her glasses, and steeled herself…
"What seems to be the problem?"
...and slumped her shoulders in relief, looking at the girl who had authoritatively spoken in the silence as if she were an angel descended from the heavens to save her.
The newcomer was not specially tall, but she conducted herself with enough imposing manner that her presence seemed to eclipse everyone else's. She wore the school uniform immaculately, with an extra vest that somehow made her seem more formal than she already appeared, and had short brown hair and piercing red eyes. Yes, red.
She reminded him of Artoria, from the way she carried herself to the braided… Was that a diadem? A tiara? Anyway, it resembled her bun.
...It goes without saying, but he meant the Saber versions. She still had a ways to go until she could begin to compare to the Lancer's… uh.
"I've been informed there was a disturbance in the library. Can you two please explain what is happening, and why are you disturbing of the other students?"
'Disturbing the other students?' Not really. From what he'd seen, they didn't need help with that particular task. They were plenty disturbed on their own.
Anyway, Ritsuka had a signed note, which meant he had the law on his side. Or the teachers. Same thing. It was a very good thing to have on your side, just ask that bald asshole. He didn't have anything to fear.
But first, presentations.
"Nice to meet you." He said, extending a hand. "I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka. I'm in second year, but it's my first year in this school."
She blinked, nonplussed, and shook his hand. Her grip was firm.
"Nice to meet you, too. I'm Niijima Makoto, president of the Student Council. I was informed a while ago that the new delinquent was causing trouble, but you are more polite than I was led to believe." She raised an eyebrow, expectantly. "Could you please explain what happened?"
"I'm afraid whoever informed you misread the situation a bit." Said Ritsuka, shrugging his shoulders. "I was merely trying to borrow some books."
His eyes trailed to the note still in the librarian's hands. The note that she was subtly trying to hide behind the counter while he spoke. His eyes met hers, and hers widened in alarm before moving to the student council president, who was now looking at her and waiting for her side of the story.
Ritsuka could just stay silent and let the mess sort itself out. If his impression of Niijima-san was correct, she was someone who was strict, but fair, and breaking rules was not something their type tolerated.
But the strategical part of his mind supplied that yesterday he had been diplomatic and avoided conflict, and even made the extra effort to arrive earlier specifically to ask his teacher for a favor. And the result? Instead of taking the olive branch, giving up and putting it all behind them as a prank in bad taste the girl had been considering keeping up the ruse. What for? He couldn't say, it was his second interaction with her in as many days. Probably spite.
The point was, playing nice had only encouraged them to continue. Thus, strategy dictated that he should make it clear that messing with him was more trouble than it was worth. A show of force, if you will.
Also.
It was said that, as Servants are influenced by their Master, so is a Master changed in subtle ways to the image of his Servants.
And he was the master of a dozen Avengers.
So he motioned to the partially hidden note and added: "I even brought the note, signed and everything. I don't really know what the problem is."
"Note?" Asked Niijima-san, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Yes, I asked my homeroom teacher this morning for it." Explained Ritsuka, 'candidly'. "As I was in another school, I need to check some of the textbooks to catch up on a couple of subjects that have a different curriculum. I know every student can only borrow one book at a time, but I do really need those, and Kawakami-sensei agreed, so she signed me a permission slip."
"There is no such rule in this school. Who told you that?"
"Ah. Well..." Ritsuka coughed to the side, sheepishly avoiding her eyes. She looked at him intently for a few seconds, then turned to the librarian.
"May I see that note, Muraki-san?"
It was phrased like a request, but voiced like a command, and Muraki (so that was her name) handed it to her with a trembling hand. The president read the note, and all the students held their breath. When she finished, she merely said a neutral "I see", folded it neatly and handed it to him.
"I think I understand the situation. As your homework teacher has politely requested, you will have no problems withdrawing the number of books required."
Her eyes flashed ominously, and Ritsuka had to hand it to her, that level of menace in a glare in someone so young was quite impressive. Muraki-san scurried to obey, and they all waited in silence as she noted what books he was requesting, the current date and the return period.
Ritsuka nodded at the librarian, who avoided his eyes, and put the books in his bag.
"Are those all that you needed?" Ritsuka nodded, and she nodded back. "That is good. You seem like the applied sort, so I hope your studying session is productive."
"Actually," interrupted Ritsuka with a cough. "Ill just take my leave. I wouldn't want to… accidentally… disturb any other student."
"Oh." She said, studying him, and then giving him a sharp nod. "That is very considerate of you. Have a nice day, then. And don't worry." She added, turned to Muraki-san with thunder in her eyes, and if his hearing wasn't failing him he could've sworn he heard a small, terrified "Hiii!" coming from the librarians direction. "From now on, there will be no problems for any other student that wishes to withdraw books from the library."
Sliding his bag over his shoulder, Ritsuka started to walk to the door. In stark contrast to when he arrived, no gazes trailed him as he moved, all too busy trying to avoid the storm that was Niijima Makoto as she ripped into the students that dared break the rules in her school with her eyes alone.
"Come with me to the Student Council Room, Muraki-san." He heard her say as he closed the door. "I will need to write a report about the incident today, and I require your personal testimony, as you were one of the involved parties. After we are done, we will have… words."
Ritsuka resisted his urge to smile. It seemed he had found someone impartial in this school.
"Hey, kid." Greeted Sakura-san when he arrived back at Leblanc. "How was school?"
"Oh wow." Said Ritsuka. "Déjà vu again."
"Hm?" It took a second, but when he got it Sakura-san raised an eyebrow at him. "It's only the second day, you know?"
"And if it's the second day and you're already repeating yourself, your repertoire is sadly limited indeed." Riposted Ritsuka, setting down his bag against the counter. "School was okay. A bit strange, though."
"Strange how?"
"Well." Considered Ritsuka as he sat down. Sakura-san put a cup of coffee in front of him, and he accepted it with a nod. After taking a long sip, he continued. "Yesterday, the librarian tried to make trouble for me. She said you can only take one book at a time, but I had just seen another student take several." He took another sip. "I didn't want to make a spectacle, so I backed off and asked my homeroom teacher for a written note this morning."
"So that's what my coffee was for?"
"Yup, she loved it, by the way. I might have to become her supplier."
"As long as she pays." He affirmed, as he sat down with a cup of his own.
"Right." Agreed the teen with good humor. "Anyway, when I showed it to her her, she considered not giving up the stunt."
"But she did?" Said the older man. "That sounds like a good ending."
"Not exactly. The student council president showed up and set things straight. She's one of those rule-abiding types."
"Rule-abiding?"
"Rule-enforcing." Amended Ritsuka.
"Aha, those types. Very useful if you know how to handle them."
"That they are." Agreed the teen with a distant mutter. "The scolding was quite something. Anyway, what I don't understand is why. The librarian acted like I was going to kill her at any moment or something."
"Well, according to what you told me, you are a known criminal that can snap at any moment. It makes sense."
"Right? But then why would she try to antagonize me? Now, from her point of view, I -a known criminal that can snap at any moment- know her name and that she tried to make my life harder without provocation. She's essentially made herself a target!" The younger man aggressively drank a long sip in order to stop the urge to throw his hands into the air. "If she was that scared of me, then she should do whatever I want and agree with whatever I say, even if only to make it less likely I'll be displeased and snap. But if she's not, then she shouldn't act like I was going to eat her and flinch every time I moved. It makes no sense."
Sakura-san gave him a minute as the younger man drank the rest of his coffee. Ritsuka was not exactly angry. What transpired today amounted to nothing more than a backyard squabble. But he was bewildered and a bit frustrated. He wanted to make friends! This was high school, dammit! Whether they were scared or not, he'd know how to act. Befriending new people was his number one talent, after all. But if all he got were mixed signals like today, even he was at a loss.
"The reason is simple, kid." Said Sakura-san, finishing his own cup. "They're teenagers."
"Teenagers." Repeated Ritsuka, deadpan.
"Teenagers." Affirmed the older man.
"So am I."
Sakura-san held out one finger.
"You carry a phone capable of detecting hidden cameras for security reasons."
A second one.
"In a situation when your privacy was invaded, your response was to reason with me, your guardian and the person with the most power over your future, with calm and sound arguments until I understood the whole situation and my suspicions of you were cleared."
A third finger.
"And right now, you are trying to analyze the problem by laying out the facts and using me, an unbiased third party, as a sounding board."
Sakura-san looked at the three fingers and shook his head.
"Kid, whatever you did abroad, you are acting nothing like a teenager. If anything, you're the opposite."
Ritsuka blinked. Then blinked again. Then took a moment to let the jaw stop hanging from his mouth. (Metaphorically, of course. The bunny king would never forgive him if the poker face she went to so much effort to train cracked so easily.)
"…And where did that come from?"
"Everyone has their secrets." Sakura-san stood and took both cups. "Teenagers are emotional, reckless and fearless, because they can't yet imagine a world where their rules don't apply. You have a reputation, so you are dangerous, and so they are scared of you."
He narrated, as he started to rinse and dry them.
"But they don't believe you will attack them, because you look like a student, act like a student, and obey the same authority as the other students, just like them. You are not enough of an exception to break their sense of reality, and as such, your behavior will be in accordance to their world."
After he was done, he placed the cups back in their places and peered at him from above his glasses.
"And since you aren't going to attack, but you have a bad reputation, that makes you a socially acceptable target. Whether status, bragging rights or simple pride at seeing someone whom the rest of the world fears brought low by their own hands, there are plenty of reasons other kids are going to pick on you."
Ritsuka picked his jaw. Again.
"Okay, you now you have to tell me where that came from."
Sakura-san scratched his head.
"I, uh." He sighed, and turned around. "I might have bought a psychology book about bullying now that Futaba is almost at high school age. Or three."
Were the tips of his ears red?
"Futaba is lucky to have you as a father, Sakura-san."
The older man muttered something under his breath low enough that he couldn't hear, and pointed forcefully to one corner of the café.
"Enough of this for today. You have a package."
"Oh right! I almost forgot, thanks. I'll be in my room then."
Sakura-san gave a lazy wave while Ritsuka eagerly picked up the box with a smile on his face, careful not to jostle it, and went up the stairs. "Teenagers", he snorted.
Upstairs, the once Master placed the box in the middle of the room. He made sure the door was closed and Sakura-san was occupied, then slowly unsealed the box.
"Hey, guys." He greeted. "Had a nice trip?"
Inside the box laid three plushies. One of them was shaped like a tribal dino warrior, with a scaly tail and plenty of red tattoos. Another one was reminiscent of a voodoo doll if it had been born in a royal family, with blond hair covering its eyes and a dress made of leaves. The last one was a fluffy, round sheep.
An outsider looking in might think they were perhaps a hobby of the teen who was affectionately talking to them. Another, more firmly set on gender roles and believeng boys should not play with dolls, might theorize they were presents from a sister or girlfriend, and he was simply indulging her.
That would be the normal assumption, if it weren't for the fact that both three dolls moved got up from their sitting position and nodded at him as a greeting.
Indeed. These three were respectively Mini Cu-chan, a replica of Viy and a doll of Apollo, presents Ritsuka had gotten during Valentine's and White Day. Back in Chaldea, they were in charge of security at night in his room. Surprisingly, they had even pulled a victory once over Serenity, when they caught her off guard, made her fall from the ceiling onto Ritsuka's bed, and caused her to flee in embarrassment.
But the job they were performing today was a bit different they were couriers.
"So, have you got it?"
Mini Cu-chan nodded, and used his spear to tear a gash in Apollo's back. Viy then used its telekinetic powers to deposit a series of objects from inside the sheep to the front of Ritsuka.
The reason for their new job was that, as they were magical constructs, they emitted magical energy, and so it was risky to have them in a room that had not been warded. As such, they couldn't stay with Ritsuka until he had properly set the corresponding bounded fields around, fields that he couldn't set without proper materials.
Materials that they were now delivering, so precious that they dared not bring them in the same space-enhanced bag Ritsuka brought the rest.
"Alright, guys." Said the magus to his three little helpers. "I'm sorry we have to do this so soon after you arrived, but the sooner we're done, the sooner you can relax. Are you ready?" He received three nods in response. "BB?"
"Ready, Senpai! I prepared a map according to the specifications."
"Thanks, you're a great help. Let's begin then."
Rituska took out his phone and made a couple of last minute checks. Having such a great security system in the AI made his handheld device the obvious place to store any important information he had, and with time it had become his personal grimoire. Grimoire was of course an exaggeration, a title too fancy for what amounted to study notes and pointers from his time in Chaldea. Nobody who read that was going to get hexed, and there were no hidden requirements or tests to check if the reader was worthy of the knowledge within.
But of course, depending on who you asked, a collection of notes from such illustrious mages of all ages was more than worthy to be called as such.
Ritsuka had abysmally low reserves of mana as a magus. He was capable of activating mystic codes and his control was "passable", but the quality of his circuits was a fault that no amount of training could improve. It was very lucky that one of his first teachers was a magus who suffered from the exact same problem, and had taught him ways to compensate. Among them was a certain magic theory of Chinese origin, that he had not known for long but had found suddenly and expert of thanks to the new inhabitant of his body.
Ritsuka's main method of setting bounded fields was Feng Shui.
"Feng Shui," had explained Lord El-Melloi II as he puffed on his cigar, "is one of the most widely used magical theories by non-practicants. As such, it's mystery has been diluted so much that it is hardly capable of produce any magical phenomenon. During the time this guy lived," he gestured to his head, "only the strategists and the diviners were well-versed in it, and so it was decently potent, but nowadays no magus worth its salt would use it. However, that does not mean it doesn't have its own upsides."
He pointed, and Ritsuka dutifully started to take notes.
"First, as it relies exclusively on formations, colors, external landmarks and symbols, it requires little to none power from the user himself. When it is used to create barriers, it sustains itself on the magical energy of the planet, so its upkeep is effectively zero.
Second, so long as one has information of both one's position on the globe and the surrounding landscape, it is relatively easy to implement. Both tasks that are vastly more easy to accomplish nowadays thanks to modern appliances. That is part of the reason why it is so used.
Third, as it is based on a system of symbols where power and meaning are derived from both absolute and relative position, it is astoundingly versatile. This is an advantage that all formation-derived magecraft has. Of course, the corresponding downside is that it requires an equivalent amount of study to become familiar with all the possible variables.
Fourth, as it is well-known in the non-magical world, if you were to set a field you would not need to worry about it being discovered and endangering the secrecy of the moonlit world.
Fifth, as its power scales depending on the idols used, using different materials can help you achieve different effects with the same formation, giving you another layer of versatility with minimum studying involved.
Now, Mr. Fujimaru." He drew another deep breath from the cigar, then pointed at him with it. "Why do you believe I am recommending Feng Shui to you?"
Ritsuka placed down the pen and crossed his arms.
"First would have to be versatility and adaptability." He said with conviction. "As we don't know where I'll be going next, having something on hand that can work anywhere on the globe sounds like a good idea to have. Then, obviously, is the low cost. I couldn't use it otherwise. Then…" He thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with anything and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm coming up with a blank."
"Those are the main reasons." Approved the teacher. "But I believe you have overlooked a couple of key parts.
The first one is availability. It is very hard to find a competent educator who also has enough time to study formations to the extent they require to be mastered. But thanks to the special circumstances that we find ourselves in, we have that opportunity. It would be foolish to waste it. It is also important to note that, while I am at the moment the only one here with this knowledge, it is reasonable to assume that in the future peers of the Spirit I am housing may find their way to Chaldea. Zhou You, Chen Gong or even Sima Yi might sign a contract the same way I have, and they are all as well-versed as I am. In fact, the discrepancies in our know-how might be to our advantage, as having different visions will allow us to more thoroughly study the subject.
The second one is the catalyst dependency. I just said that it will be difficult to produce a powerful effect with this method, didn't I? Let us say, for the sake of argument, that if 1 million people are aware that this method exist, any user will be able to obtain a millionth part of the power of the mystery. What would happen, then, if we were to use an object ten million times stronger than required."
"Oh." Ritsuka's eyes lit up. "We'd get a result with ten times the potency of the mystery?"
"Exactly, Mr. Ritsuka. I see you have caught on. The other big advantage we possess is our wealth of potent materials. Dragon's are extinct in our world, but you have already fought them by the dozens in Orleans. That means we possess an inexhaustible supply of one of the most valuable materials a magus could think of. There is a point where luxury becomes a problem, and having a novice handling that kind of materials is that point, as too much of a good result is as bad as too little. As such, picking a mystery so badly diluted will compensate for the beyond-stellar quality of the catalysts we shall use.
Last but not least is the fact that it is easy to blend in in a non-magical society. Mr. Fujimaru, I know it sounds far away from you now, but you have to remember that at some point we your journey will finish, and you will return to your family. At that point, this advantage will prove to be tremendous if you intend to keep in contact with this side of the world."
"...It does sound very far away."
But he'd done it. He'd finished the journey, and the one after that, and now he could appreciate just how far his teacher's vision had gone.
"Well then." He said, took one last look at the map BB was displaying, and took the first catalyst.
North. The element is Water. The color is Black. The concept is Legend.
-To represent Water, a chunk of ice from Scandinavia, enchanted by Scáthach-Skaði, the Goddess of Ice and Snow, to never melt.
-To represent Black, a conductor's baton gifted by Salieri, said to have been formed by darkness itself.
-To represent Legend, a first edition copy of the Iliad, gifted by the young future King of Conquerors.
-Additionally, to represent Tortoise, a mirror from Himiko, Queen of the Ancient Yamatai-koku, who received it as a gift from his younger brother, who would give up his name and become a turtle.
South. The element is Fire. The color is Red. The concept is Fame.
-To represent Fire, Red, and Fame, the Earrings of Sunset, crafted and gifted by Karna, first of the Pandava, son of the Sun God Surya, created from his armor of the sun.
-Additionally, to represent Bird, a feather from Beni-Enma, the Sparrow adopted by the King of Hell.
East. The element is Wood. The color is Green. The concept is Health.
-To represent Wood and Green, a poor plant that had managed to survive for years amidst mountains of rubbish in the attic of a lost café in Tojyo, hoping to see the sun once more.
-To represent Health, the Aesculapius, the staff belonging to Asclepius, God of Medicine.
-Additionally, to represent Dragon, a scale from Vritra, the Dragon of Confined Boundaries and an Evil God possessing the nature of an Asura.
West. The element is Metal. The color is White. The concept is Creativity.
-To represent Metal, a piece of cursed gold from Das Rheinghold, the treasure Siegfried attained after raiding a dragons horde.
-To represent White, a white mask worn by the Phantom of the Opera, with the meaning of purity.
-To represent Creativity, a parchment containing sonnets penned by William Shakespeare, one of the most prolifics writers in history.
-Additionally, to represent Tiger, the paw of Jaguar Warrior. It is unclear what it is doing here or why does it fit when she's not a Tiger but a Jaguar, but there's a horrible suspicion it was the closest Chaldea had and the author was tired of looking through CE lists. Don't question it. It just works.
Those were the cardinal directions, the basis of the bounded field he was going to implement. They also coincided with the Four Auspicious Beasts (Black Tortoise, Vermillion Bird, Azure Dragon and White Tiger) that protected the cardinal gates, which is why he had chosen items related to them, in order to invoke their nature as Guardians to grant the field an attribute of protection.
Then, from east to west, clockwise, following the sun cycle.
North-East. The element is Earth. The color is Brown. The concept is Knowledge.
-To represent Earth, shavings from the Rock upon which the Sword rested, that fell when the One and Future King drew it, collected and gifted by Merlin, Grand Caster candidate.
-To represent Brown, the remains of the Gordian Knot, cut in twain with one swing of Iskandar's sword as a show of overturning great odds with the simplest of means.
-To represent Knowledge, physics textbooks gifted by Babbage, that contain the secrets with which the basis of reality are calculated.
North-West. The element is Metal. The color is Silver. The concept is Travel.
-To represent Metal and Silver, a Silver Bullet, gifted by Billy the Kid, said to have the power to defeat monsters.
-To represent Travel, pictures taken by St. George, who traveled across Seven Singularities of the Grand Order and captured the beauty of the worlds that were lost.
South-West. The element is Earth. The color is Pink. The concept is Love.
-To represent Earth, a map of the Labyrinth, designed by the genius inventor Daedalus to imprison the fearsome Minotaur, gifted by Asterios himself.
-To represent Pink, a Receiver in the form of a helmet, containing the switch of death of the guardian of Castle Čachtice, Mecha Eli-chan.
-To represent Love, a small urn with a handful of the Ashes of Kama, the Indian God who spread Love across the Universe at the cost of its life.
South-East. The element is Wood. The color is Blue. The concept is Wealth.
-To represent Wood, a staff crafted by Setanta, druid of the Celts, son of Lugh, king of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
-To represent Blue, an ancient lamp where St. Elmo's fire burns in perpetuity, prepared by Castor, fallen god.
-To represent Wealth, the Key of the King's Law, that opens the door to King Gilgamesh's treasury, containing all the treasures of mankind.
Carefully, with care, and consulting BB's maps every so often, Ritsuka kept placing every catalyst in its proper direction. There was a small amount of room for error, and he used it to make it look like he was merely decorating the room, so he didn't need to be so careful, but he was anyway. These were not mere materials. Theses were mementos, gifts and memories of all the cherished encounters he had hod over the years. Mere materials he carried in his bag, but for these, he had asked for the same type of expansion to be placed inside of Apollo, so that they would have a sentient guardian at all times.
They all worked as a team for about an hour. Ritsuka made room, indicated the places where things had to go and placed them. Mini Cu-chan helped moving trash and cleaning, Viy was in charge of giving Ritsuka the catalysts he requested, Apollo was a moving storage, and BB chimed in from time to time to point to helpful parts of the teory that Ritsuka might have forgotten. At the end of it, the room was barely recognizable anymore. The rest of the trash had been moved to the center of the room and placed in plastic bags, and the walls were all decorated with all sorts of artifacts. Ritsuka had to take down the Dreamcatcher as well, as another magical contraption might interfere with the balance he had painstakingly achieved, but it didn't matter. The protection the barrier would provide would be sufficient to fill in and protect him from intrusion in his dreams.
Hopefully.
Ritsuka made a quick trip outside to throw out the trash, explained to Sakura-san that the sound he was making was him redecorating the room with the things he had been sent from home, and came back up.
Finally.
Center. The element is Earth. The color is Yellow. The concept is None.
Reaching into his bag, he took out a yellow phone case and quickly swapped it with his usual one. Then, he placed the phone on the ground.
Now to wait.
"Miss Mash, are you feeling okay?"
"Hyah?!"
Mash Kyrielight, veteran of the Grand Order, wielder of the Black Barrel and Feller of Gods, screamed in a panic and jumped from her chair when a hand touched her shoulder.
"M-M-Mr. Holmes! Please don't scare me like that!"
Holmes dedicated to her his famous raised eyebrow.
"Seeing how we are in the common room, I do not believe my actions would have caused you such a reaction under normal circumstances. It is obvious you are troubled by something. With this timing, is it perhaps our upcoming call with Mr. Fujimaru?"
"Yes." Nodded the girl. "Recently, Senpai has taken to try and fluster me as soon as we connect."
Like sixth months ago.
"Hey Mash, my sister said that if we can set up the FATE system again she wouldn't mind giving the polyamory thing a try!"
Or three months ago.
"Hey Mash, I assaulted someone on the street last week and was convicted in court today, so now I'm a criminal."
Or two months ago.
"Hey Mash, my sister asked me that if you are going to be the first wife, does that give you veto rights or what."
But not anymore. Not today! Today's Mash was not the same as two month's ago Mash!
"I am concentrating. This time, I will be the one teasing him! To receive and to give is the ideal nature of and equal and healthy relationship. That is equivalent exchange! Mr. Paracelsus said so!"
Holmes watched with fascination as Mash burned with righteous determination and even seemed to go into her first ascension at times. But time waited for nobody.
"As interesting as that is, we should make our way to the communications room."
"Oh, right." Said Mash, settling down.
As they walked down a corridor, Holmes peered at her.
"Incidentally, Ms. Kyrielight, is that tea you have there?"
"Huh? Ah, yes!" She said, showing it to him. "Lord Yagyū gifted me the leaves when I mentioned I was trying to relax."
"How generous of him. I presume the cup is also his?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Hmmm." They arrived at the door. Before Mash could open it, Holmes stopped her with one arm.
"Ms. Kyrielight. Before we enter, would you be so kind as to entertain a little request of mine?"
"What is it, Mr. Holmes?" Asked Mash, big eyes peering from behind the glasses.
"I have a mug here with me." Said the detective, taking it out from within his coat like some sort of street illusionist. "As you can see it is quite big, and it even has a handle, so I am told it is most comfortable to hold. Before we enter, would you mind exchanging your tea from one mug to the other?"
"Well, I don't particularly mind..."
Clearly bewildered, Mash picked up the cup Holmes was offering and carefully passed the liquid form her own to the new one. When she was done, she was left with two cups in her hands, one full and one empty. She looked up at the British detective with question marks above her head.
"If I remember correctly, Mr. Fujimaru was beginning to attend high school this week, correct? As a second-year student."
"Yes, he was quite excited last time." Confirmed Mash. "Is that related to the cup?"
"Quite. If you'd allow me." Reaching out, he took Munenori's cup and proceeded inside the room, with a still confused Mash following behind.
Inside, Da Vinci was dancing around keyboards.
"Hello, hello~ You are just in time, Mash! I just confirmed a magic circle activated at the coordinates of Tokyo, Japan. Looks like dear Fujimaru is doing well!"
"The package was scheduled to arrive today, so if there were no delays or other complications it should be around now."
"Look at you, remembering his schedule~ Aw, you're so sweet! Well then, I should- What's that there?"
Mash looked down, visibly confused, at her new cup.
"Mr. Holmes gave it to me."
"Oh." Da Vinci made a sound of comprehension. "Well, no matter! All preparations are complete. Let us begin!"
With a satisfying final (and totally unnecessary) clack of keys, Da Vinci started the procedure. In the middle of the room, a space had been cleared with a silver circle on the floor.
While the device powered up, the Renaissance genius moved and mouthed to the detective.
"The cup?"
"I had Mr. Emiya make one for me before I came." Answered the man, equally silently.
"Ooh~" "She" cooed, her eyes glinting with mischief.
"It connected!"
Both adults attention was brought back to the circle by Mash, who had been watching intently since the beginning.
A hologram of Ritsuka appeared in the middle of the room. The image seemed to fluctuate for a few seconds, but when it did it remained stable.
"Er, testing, can you hear me? Is the audio coming through?"
"Hello! We hear you loud and clear, Fujimaru."
"Oh thank goodness." Sighed Ritsuka. "I didn't know how much it'd cost you to calibrate it again from my hometown to Tokyo. I'm glad it didn't take that long."
"Well, I AM a genius! It would have taken anyone else a couple more months, you know? But before that! Isn't there someone you have to say hello to?"
"Right." Ritsuka's image moved it's head around, until it saw Holmes and Mash side by side. "Hello, Sherlock! Hey, Mash!"
Even through the image, Mash could recognize the moment the smile he gave her, full of fond affection that made her heart flutter, became the Smile. Curse those damned orator Servants for even teaching her sweet Senpai such a vile art!
No, don't get distracted, Mash Kyrielight! This is it. This is the moment you have trained for! Remember how you meditated with Xuanzang Sanzang, and the zen that Lord Yagyū taught you! She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the tea. Now, she was ready. Senpai was not going to win today! It was not time for her to-
"I got a new Kouhai today!"
CRACK!
Hours later, the hologram disappeared and Ritsuka fell back on his bed. Sakura-san had long since gone home by that point. He come up once to ask who he was talking to, and he had answered he was with talking with friends on the phone. He had muttered something about teenagers and phone addictions and left him in peace.
"Aah, that was fun! I'm glad everyone is doing well. It's a shame we have to wait so much time until each call." He started snickering. "Hey, BB, did you record Mash's face today! It was hilarious! Oh god, I thought she was really going to strangle me this time, and I was not even there!"
He continued laughing for a while, but stopped when he realized there was no answer coming.
"BB?"
"Master."
Ritsuka straightened at once. BB never called him Master. Not when they were in a mad race against Kiara before she was about to become a complete Beast. Not when she revealed that she had acquired the power of and Evil with capital E from beyond the cosmos. Not while they played around with Melt and Lip. Not when she was called to battle to destroy some or other Avenger.
"What happened."
"I have finished running the analysis of that eye program you received two days ago. It should not exist."
"What?"
"What I said. It is something that has no business existing. I don't know who created something like this, but they messed up. Big time."
"What does it do."
BB frowned, and it was not a frown-pout. It was a I'm-seriously-worried-pout, which was another indicator of how bad things were going to get.
"The best way I can describe it would be… saying that it's a program that allows a person to access another's Secret Garden."
And that's done! I hope I didn't go too OOC with writing Mash or Makoto, it's my first time.
Regarding the Feng Shui bit, I basically butchered it with a dull knife and extreme prejudice. I went to a website, copied some of the base, then modified it a bit so it sounded cool. For example, "It represents career luck", I figured, your career is like your job, which is basically what you do with your life. Servants are in the Throne because they led an amazing life. BAM, "The concept is Legend". Instant cool. I hope. Anyhow, if anyone has a better interpretation that can be integrated into the story, let me know!
Next chapter, into the Metaverse we go! Finally!
See ya!
I hope my voice is reaching you.
Our time is almost gone.
The Guide is trapped in the Castle of Lust,
and his doom certain, should you not intervene.
Please, Trickster, you must make haste,
before the last of Hope's light is snuffed...