See you again, people! I couldn't help it. With so many ideas for a story with King of Fakers in my mind, I ended up writing the beginning of this one as well. But don't worry, I won't abandon the other story I started recently. In fact, the second chapter will be updated at the same time as I publish this. This will be more of a long-term project.
For new people who haven't read any of my previous stories, King of Fakers is an 'OC' I created myself. His background is narrated in my first story "King of Fakers: Saving them all". I recommend you read it if you want to understand the character's decisions, thoughts, and powers. If you'd rather just read this story, what you have to bear in mind is that King of Fakers would basically be an alternative version of Emiya Shirou, but they're not exactly the same person.
Also, for this story, this King of Fakers comes from an alternate ending of my second story "Fate/ Stay Night: King of Fakers' route." I won't go into details because that would involve a spoiler like a piano, and you might want to read the story. Anyway, there are references to that story in this chapter, but there aren't spoilers either.
As for how King of Fakers came into the Date to Live universe, that will be revealed later. The point of the original story is that the origin of Shidou is not explained until much later, so I will do the same. But don't worry, although I haven't reached that point in the novels yet, but I decided to tank spoilers and investigate. I already have everything more or less organized, but it won't be very complicated either.
Without more to say, let this new story begin.
Disclaimer: I don't own any right over Type-Moon, Fate Franchise, or Date a Live series.
And here is where I, the Davidox747 from the future, enter. I decided to leave the original AN with some minor changes and just add this segment on top of it. Yes, this chapter has been reworked alongside the next one. Aside from grammar correction to the best of my current capabilities, I changed the narrative style to my current one and added some extra scenes now that the story ended, and I know the direction it will take. I know there's going to be quite a downgrade in quality in the second chapter until it gets its rework but bear with me.
"Stay where you are, Faker! At least until I climb back!" The Golden King engulfed by the black void shouted to the red knight at the other side of the chain using every bit he had left to just pull back.
"You bastard… Of all the things to bind this chain and you chose a dead man! Do you really think I'll let you climb back!" The servant of the bow got those words out of his mouth between ragged breaths. It was a waste of energy he couldn't afford, but that Goldie really got on his nerves.
Besides, even if he didn't want to get turned into fuel by that thing lurking in the Grail… letting that crazy bastard escape was not an option. If he had to pick which of the options was more dangerous, the answer was obvious…
"I guess this is it for me, Shirou, Saber… Rin."
Biding a silent farewell, the nameless hero stopped putting strength on his legs and gave in.
"You-" Red eyes widened when he saw his natural enemy flying towards him. But at that moment, what really pissed off Gilgamesh was the teasing grin on the red knight's face as he rammed him into the hole of the Grail.
"AAAAAARCHEEEEEEEERRR!"
His shout filled with madness was the last thing heard at Ryuudou Temple as the three of them, the demon, the King of Heroes, and the King of Fakers disappeared to never be seen.
A pair of golden eyes opened to stare at a strange, yet familiar ceiling. A conflicting feeling that became more aggravated with that recurrent dream.
He found himself in a room that wasn't very spacious, but it wasn't a tight place either. The walls were light brown, and the floor was made of wood.
The bed in which he was resting was built into a corner, with a window on the side and another window on the back. Due to the current hour, hardly any light came in. And next to it was a simple desk with several drawers and a lamp, several textbooks, and a rather futuristic computer on top of it.
Right next to the desk was a bookcase full of more textbooks, and some sleeves. On the other side of the room was the closet where he kept my clothes.
He rubbed his eyes to finish waking up as he took his cell phone to look at the hour. 5:00 in the morning. It had become a habit so rooted in him starting his day so early that he didn't even need to put an alarm.
Just like in the old days.
After his mind cleared enough, he silently walked out of his room, down the stairs, and went to the backyard where he started his workout routine. Nothing really extreme, just to keep his body in shape in the remote case he needed it. Something he did so many times that he let his body do his thing while his mind went to review what the day had stored for him.
Once finished, he went to the bath to clean up the sweat with cold water before going to the kitchen.
When he passed by the mirror, what greeted him was not the familiar image of a tall man with tanned skin, steel grey eyes, and white hair. On the contrary, who stared back at him was a teenager with light skin, ochre-colored eyes that looked golden, and auburn hair.
Another feeling of disconnection. Even after 16 years, his old mind was still getting used to this teenage body. Never mind that he was the spitting image of the boy he met during the Fifth Holy Grail War. Maybe they were really related in some way as Rin suggested.
Up until some years ago, the name that popped into his mind when he was presented with this view was "Emiya Shirou", Saber's master, but he finally managed to correct it to "Itsuka Shidou". That's the stuff one has to face when they don't even remember their original name. Well, not even history remembered it anyway.
The question of how this came to happen still rang in his mind even to this day, but after failing to find an answer for all these years, it was better to put it aside and save the headache. But there was something he did know.
This body of flesh wasn't his. Unlike Goldie who got a body after being bathed by the mud of the corrupted Grail, he was inhabiting someone else's body.
"Ugh…" Just the thought of it made him want to throw up, so he immediately cut that train of thought and finished putting on the school uniform of Raizen Academy.
The house was in complete silence as he stepped into the kitchen and started to get everything ready to cook. That would be normal at this hour, everyone else is still asleep, but that had another explanation.
His golden eyes went a little up as his hands expertly managed the knife to cut the ingredients. There, he put one of the few pictures he had of the group that he came to call "family", and a small smile made its way to his otherwise stoic face.
Aside from a young Itsuka Shidou that expressed the same emotions as a rock, there were a couple of adults in their twenties. A man of unkept, brown hair wearing glasses, and a woman of shoulder-length, red hair and blue eyes, both smiling at the camera. Tatsuo Itsuka and Haruno Itsuka, the married couple that decided to adopt a little kid with no memories and no social skills on a whim just so their real daughter had an Onii-chan to rely on.
Unfortunately, though, they were nowhere to be seen at the moment. He didn't know when it started, but they began to go on a lot of business trips. He was good with it, even if the fact that even now that he had parents he couldn't interact with them that much stung. They even went on another travel just yesterday.
But compared to how he, a lonely person by definition, felt, he couldn't fathom how was she feeling about. The person that was standing alongside him with a big smile. A little girl with red hair tied in twin tails by white ribbons and matching eyes who was brimming with energy-
"'morning, Onii-chan…"
Was now entering the living room with the same bearings as a zombie. That was Itsuka Kotori, the little sister he never knew he needed until he had one.
She was, in fact, the reason he learned to cook in the first place. Even if he was fine with getting the required nutrients to keep working, he couldn't let his sister survive with such a poor diet. And despite his efforts, she still looked as if she lacked hours of sleep as of lately.
"Good morning, Kotori. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."
"Hi…"
After her response, she dragged herself to the sofa and turned on the television. The program that was being broadcast was talking about a strange phenomenon that took place just outside Tenguu city, the city where they lived, and he immediately put some of his attention into it.
Spacequakes, a strange phenomenon that occurs throughout the world and completely obliterates whatever had the bad luck to be in their range. They're called that way because it's space itself that is shaken, o so they said. He had yet to see one in person to formulate a theory on his own.
And, it was another proof that this timeline wasn't quite the same as the ones he was used to.
Thirty years ago in central Eurasia, the first spacequake took place. It is still the largest one to date. The victims were countless, and the world was shaken by tragedy.
From there, more smaller-scale spacequakes began to happen all over the world, most often in Japan for some reason. Twenty-five years ago, the area we live in was struck by one of these phenomena. After that, the incidents were kept to a minimum and the city could be rebuilt and repopulated.
Governments and self-defense forces managed to develop systems to predict spacequakes, and victims have been reduced to almost none.
However, in the midst of that, the Magus Association never made its presence. No "gas leaks" occurred around where the spacequakes took place, and no shady people were seen… Not even pulling the old strings he knew to contact them worked…
It was as if they didn't even exist in this timeline.
"Haven't a lot of them taken place lately?" Kotori asked him, putting an abrupt end to his train of thoughts.
"It seems so." He took note of how, for a moment, his sister's sleepy demeanor changed to a serious one.
She was quite into that kind of stuff, but who was to blame her? A phenomenon not even the government could explain, at least officially, was concerning for even a 13-year-old girl like her.
Shidou turned off the glassware as breakfast was ready. But before he moved to set up the table, he eyed Kotori and noticed the other reason she was no longer a zombie.
He silently approached her and positioned himself beside her. She was so engrossed with the TV that she didn't even notice his presence. Her expression had a frown, and it was no wonder. Images of the crater left by the spacequake were displayed on the television screen. The destruction was easily on the level of an anti-fortress noble phantasm.
His eyes settled on the object in her mouth. Her favorite food, a lollipop. A sugar bomb that immediately woke her up. With a quick and precise movement, the golden-eyed boy grabbed the lollipop's stick and pulled it out of her mouth.
"Eh?" Well... maybe he overdid it a little, even if he wasn't using his servant strength. It took her a few moments to realize that her precious lollipop was in my hand. "Give it back, Onii-chan!"
She desperately tried to reach it, but because of the difference in height between us, he just had to raise my arm so she wouldn't make it.
"How many times have I told you not to eat a lollipop before breakfast? It will take away your hunger, and with so much sugar, you'll end up with cavities."
Seeing that she couldn't take it away from him, she changed tactics. "Please... Onii-chan." She used her most powerful weapon. The sad puppy eyes.
He tried to resist it, but it was useless. She was just too cute.
After letting out a heavy sigh, he ended up giving her the lollipop back. "Fine, but you have to eat breakfast without leaving anything."
Her expression instantly passed into one of total happiness. "Yay! I love you, Onii-chan!"
Seeing the smile spreading on her face, he knew it was worth it.
After the table was set, we both began to have breakfast. Not much was said. Even if he genuinely enjoyed her company, but that didn't take away from the fact that long conversations are not their strong point.
But aside from that, the sight of her eyes kept him thinking. Yeah, they were pretty, to an abnormal point, but that was beside the point. He was pretty sure she had her mother's eyes… but at some point… they turned red. A color that was common among supernatural creatures.
Even if he forgot his original name alongside a lot of details from his past memories, that had to do more with his nature as an incomplete servant with a weak legend rather than him having a bad memory.
However, that wasn't the whole reason his worries were starting to build. He could feel a bond between them. No, he wasn't speaking metaphorically. What he meant was a real bond, similar to the bond he had with Rin because of their master-servant contract.
It was very subtle, almost hard to feel, but it was definitely there. The theory of it being the actual cause of him being anchored to the living plane crossed his mind, but after analyzing it, he came to the conclusion that it made no sense.
Kotori hasn't been with him from the very beginning, and she didn't start radiating magical energy until her eyes' color somehow changed. That function was already covered by this body he's possessing.
But getting back to his sister, her reserves were far superior to those of an average magus from the era in which the Holy Grail War took place. He would even dare to say they rivaled a servant's, as crazy as that sounded.
He could tell because it was flowing into his body in a small but steady flow through the bond.
No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't make sense of this situation. And worst of all, he didn't know how to approach it.
In a sense, he felt like a father who couldn't think of a way to have that talk with their son. Kotori seemed to be happily unaware of it, so maybe he should just leave things as they were. He wasn't sure she was even in any danger due to the current state of the world.
"Is something wrong, Onii-chan?" Kotori's voice cut his train of thought abruptly for the second time after he noticed him spacing out.
"No, it's just… it's our first day of the school term, y'know?" He blurted out an excuse while scratching the back of his head, and fortunately, she seemed to but it. However, he couldn't let the conversation die just like that. "Is there anything in particular you want for lunch?"
Kotori jumped out of her chair and raised her arms upwards. "I want the Mc Burger's premium menu for children!"
He could feel one of his eyebrows trembling. Why did she choose a calory bomb whose taste comes from a ton of chemicals over his cuisine…
"We can order that… stuff at any time. Why don't you want to eat one of my dishes?"
"Onii-chan, your food is amazing and I love it, but it's precisely because I get to eat it every day that I want to have something different. C'mon, please! Please! Onii-chan!" She put her hands together and put on her innocent expression as she winked at me.
Shidou gritted his teeth. Even if he wanted to resist, that honest praise of his cooking skills struck a chord.
"Fine, we'll go there after school…"
She completely ignored his defeated sigh to jump from her chair in joy. But she better be ready. That night he was pulling all of the stuff to show her what a real meal tastes like.
After finishing breakfast, the pair of siblings grabbed their school bags and left home to walk to their respective schools. Kotori was humming happily all the way, which only furthered his resolve.
Unfortunately, he failed miserably to notice that the source of her happiness was getting to spend time with her Onii-chan. After all, they haven't done something like that for a while
Coincidentally, the restaurant they chose to eat at today was on their way to school, so they decided to split there.
"I'll see you here after school, Onii-chan. You definitely can't stay late at school doing your 'Fake Janitor' things, do you hear me?"
He had to admit, those words stung a little. Where did she hear that nickname anyway? "Hey, it's not like I'll have a lot of things to do on the first day. Everybody's going to be busy scouting first years for their clubs."
"I mean it! You must keep your promise! Even if a bunch of terrorists takes the restaurant, you must come!"
Now she was exaggerating. The percentage of crime in Japan was abysmal nowadays. The yakuza was pretty much a thing of the past. But he got her message.
"If that happens, I doubt we could enter the restaurant. But I promise you. I'll come here no matter what." He patted her head and stroked her hair as he reassured her. A gesture she enjoyed if her dazzling smile was anything to go by.
As he finished, she turned and ran towards her school. But in the middle of her mad dash, she turned to look at him with a jump for a last goodbye.
"It's a promise! You have to come, even if the spacequake alarm rings!"
"Even if the odds of that happening are slim, you know more than anyone else I don't break promises! Now then…"
After she finally turned the corner, he started his lonely walk to school. He was pretty much the exception now that he was paying attention, as the students wearing the same black and white uniform were walking in small groups towards the academy.
A part of him wanted to be a part of those groups, but the more rational part told him it was impossible. Not only because of his mediocre social skills but because he didn't belong to that happy, mundane world. It was better for things to stay that way.
But aside from that, what was really nagging at him was the pair of eyes that were piercing holes on his back. He couldn't feel killing intent, let alone animosity, but it was still concerning.
With a quick spin of his heel, he turned to look in the direction he felt the stare coming, and he made it in time to see some locks of pure white hair hiding behind an old, rusty phone cabin.
"A stalker? No, that can't be right…" Who would stalk a regular guy? Or had they perhaps been looking at his sister before they split up?
He let it be this time so as to not be late on the first day. Even if he wasn't expecting to meet with anyone, he couldn't afford to break his perfect record of assistance.
"Oh look. Isn't that the 'Fake Janitor'?" Just as he entered the new classroom to which he was assigned, he heard a group of students talking in the background.
That nickname again… Was this starting to be a trend? It wasn't likely if the way everyone resumed their separate conversations just a second later was anything to go by. However, his loneliness was immediately interrupted the moment he sat on one of the empty desks beside the windows.
"Good morning, Itsuka."
The auburn-haired boy turned to look in the direction that voice came. Right in front of his desk was one of the few people, if not the only one if he remembered correctly, who actually decided to get close to him.
He wasn't sure if calling him a friend would be correct but given that the boy was a fellow renegade despite his extrovert personality that bothered to spend time with him, Shidou considered him as such.
"Oh. Good morning, Tonomachi."
"I see you're as serious as ever. But being once again in your class… it makes me believe that we're meant to be together."
He smiled wryly at the spiky-haired boy's bizarre comment. "Do you really think so?"
Tonomachi lifted a finger, and it looked like he was going to give him another one of his strange lectures, but the sound of his mobile phone interrupted him.
"Oh, excuse me. It's my girlfriend." He pulled out her phone and started touching it.
"Your girlfriend, huh..." He rolled that alien word in his mouth.
Now, as a teenager full of hormones, he wouldn't deny that the opposite sex attracted him. But if he was already having trouble in the friend department, that was way above his league. After all, who would fall in love with someone like him?
But then he realized an important detail.
"Wait, hold up! Since when did you get a girlfriend?"
"Allow me to enlighten you, my friend. Look here." After saying that, he showed Shidou the screen of his phone, or rather put it inches from his face.
Instead of seeing a picture of a girl their age, what his golden eyes saw was the cover of a video game. In it, a girl who looked very disturbingly like Kotori could be seen, alongside a sign that said 'touch me'.
"Isn't that a dating simulator?"
"A girlfriend is a girlfriend. So don't sweat the details! These games teach you everything you need to interact with a girl! They are practically dating books. This 'Fall in love: My little Shidou' is in real-time and it is especially-"
That title must have been the scariest coincidence in his file, but luckily, his speech was interrupted by a third voice. "Itsuka Shido."
It came from a girl standing a few meters from the duo of friendless boys, next to Shidou's desk to be more specific. She had white hair falling down to her shoulders and blue eyes. If he was being honest, he had to admit she was quite beautiful, even for his distorted standards.
"Me?" Shidou asked pointing at himself. There was still a chance that he'd heard wrong… but she kept staring at him, which actually gave him a feeling of deja vu.
"Yes." Her curt answer just confirmed it and was followed by a really awkward silence.
"Do we know each other?"
"Don't you remember?" She answered his question with another question in a flat tone. No, there was some expectation under that stoic expression if he had to guess.
And that just made things even more confusing. Was she on that 'Fake Janitor' thing too? Perhaps he really was having memory problems...
After a few seconds of silence, she broke eye contact and sat at her desk without saying anything else.
"Do you know her, Tonomachi?" Since she wasn't going to talk anymore, he decided to ask Tonomachi, which answered with a face of pure disbelief.
"You gotta be kidding. Are you telling me you don't know who Tobiichi Origami, the super genius, is?
"Tobiichi Origami?" The name didn't ring a bell. You could say that he had lent a hand to a lot of the people in this school with something, but he was sure he would remember interacting with a girl with such outstanding beauty and peculiar personality.
"She has the highest marks of our year, including PE. And above all, she's really cute. She was in third place in the 'Top Most Wanted Girlfriends – top thirteen' last year. Didn't you see it?"
"I didn't even know that was a thing until a few moments ago. Who had enough free time to do that? And why stop at thirteen?"
"That's because the girl who organized it was the 13th."
"Aaah..." Shidou couldn't help but sweat at the direction the conversation was taking. Even weirder was that the girl in question completely ignored our conversation and continued to read her book.
"By the way, the 'Most desired boyfriend ranking' goes up to 385."
"So many? The bottom is closer to the worst ranking, isn't it? The organizer decided that too?"
"Ahh. He really didn't know when to give up."
He rolled my eyes at his answer. "Tonomachi, what position did you end up?"
"The 385th."
Shidou resisted the urge to bring his hand to his face. How could he say something so depressing with a prideful smile?
"So it was you who organized it…"
"The reasons I got that place were 'his passion seems to be too strong,' 'he seems to be hairy,' and 'I think his toenails seem to smell.'"
"However you look at it, they just roasted you."
"Well, underneath that are the people who didn't get any vote. At least with the negative votes, I managed to win in that category."
Shidou couldn't hold it any longer and caressed his forehead. "There are things you're better not knowing…"
"Don't worry Itsuka. You were registered under your nickname, 'Fake Janitor', and got enough votes to reach 10th place." Although his voice sounded happy, I could see comic tears in his eyes.
"Wat?" He asked completely perplexed finding that really hard to believe. "That must be an exaggeration."
Tonomachi ignored the question and continued with his rambling. "Damn handsome. All the comments I received were something along the lines of 'very handsome and helpful, although he's a bit distant'."
After a few moments, Tonomachi managed to overcome his existential crisis and got back to the main topic.
"Anyway, she is certainly someone very famous. Since when does Tobiichi know you exactly?" He asked his friend with a suspicious face.
"That's what I'd like to know."
The bell rang announcing the beginning of the class and all the students sat at their desks. The conversation ended there, and he gave a last look to the mysterious girl.
It was after that absurd conversation that it finally clicked in his mind. That gorgeous albino hair… was the same one he saw on his way here!
"Hey, Tobiichi-san, you won't happen to be-"
"Good morning, everyone!" A high-pitched voice interrupted Shidou mid-sentence, but he could swear he saw Tobiichi's eyebrows tremble.
Through the door entered a woman of short stature with equally short brown hair, eyes of the same color, and glasses.
"Oh, it's Tama-chan." He heard one of his classmates call her by her nickname. She was, in fact, the same teacher they had last year, and one of the most popular ones in this school.
"I will be your tutor this year. I see a lot of familiar faces, but my name is Okamine Tamae. I hope this year will be as fun and educative as all the others." She introduced herself with a cheerful smile.
The class began to applaud her for some reason, and Shidou himself was drawn to it. Perhaps that was because she was in her happy mode instead of the "twenty-something single with a lot of trouble finding a boyfriend" mode.
With introductions over, Tama-chan started with a debrief on the subjects they were going to take this year, the timetable, the events such as excursions or festivals, etc... The same as every year.
While his hand on autopilot took note of everything, a handy skill he managed to develop after all these years, his mind drifted to another question that crossed his mind every time he was in this building.
Why was he attending school instead of continuing to pursue his dream?
Well, aside from his knowledge of the world being quite outdated and his lack of a proper education during his first life, the main reason was a little girl called Kotori.
Even if he passed on her his "house-wife" skills just in case, she was still a 13-year-old girl. There was no way he could just ditch his little sister, even if it meant being stuck here for the foreseeable future. At least until she got a job, and maybe found a boyfriend.
That was a can of worms he was hesitating to open. He never had a girlfriend, nor a sibling, so how was he supposed to react to Kotori one day bringing a boy to the house to do that kind of stuff? Just the thought of it gave him a headache, and his heart hurt as well.
"Well, that's it for today. I want to see you full of energy next week!"
All the students began to pack their things and leave the classroom after Tama-chan dismissed them. Tonomachi rose from her desk and turned to look at me.
"Itsuka, let's go home together!"
He could only offer him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I already have plans today."
"Oh? Don't tell me… You're going out with a girl?"
"You could say yes, even though it's with Kotori."
"Figures. From my research, I have concluded that no girl would actually build up the courage to approach you." That was quite harsh on his part, but he was right nonetheless. Although, his nervous laugh betrayed the confidence in his tone.
Weirdly enough, Tobiichi's shoulders slumped for a moment. It was very subtle. Any normal person would have overlooked it.
"UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Before Shidou could say goodbye to his only friend, a shrill alarm sounded throughout the entire city.
"A spacequake has been detected. This is not a drill, please go to the nearest shelter. I repeat; a space earthquake has been detected in the area."
Everyone, including the auburn-haired boy, had to take a moment to process that information. And when they did, the classroom turned into pandemonium as all the students tried to make a run for it.
Shidou was surprised Tonomachi wasn't panicking as well, but the way he was grabbing his arm as if his life depended on it could have something to do with it.
"I-I never thought I'd get to witness something like this! I can't die before getting a girlfriend."
Shidou resisted the urge to give him a blank stare. Didn't he already give up on that and delved into the 2D world?
"Calm down, man. Unlike the spacequake that took place in this city all those years ago, we can hide in time."
Those reassuring words helped the spiky-haired boy to let go of his arms so they could go in the same direction as all students. Okame-sensei, standing beside the shelter's door, was desperately trying to keep the situation in check. The key word was 'trying' as she was trembling like a flan.
"Please, calm down, everyone! Don't forget the ruler! Form a spice, and protest calamity!"
"Sensei, you're the one who needs to calm down!"
"Tama-chan is starting to talk nonsense!"
Shidou ignored all the ruckus as he took out his cell to see where exactly was going to take place the spacequake out of curiosity. It was a pity it didn't happen at a moment he was alone so he could go and take a look without raising a lot of eyebrows. Who knew when was going to be the next opportunity?
"That's… the Mc Burger we chose to have lunch… Wow… that's quite the coincidence…"
"You have to come, even if the spacequake alarm rings!"
At that moment, those innocent words crossed the golden-eyed boy's mind, and he could feel how cold sweat was starting to roll over the stoic face he was trying to keep.
She couldn't possibly… There was no way, right?
Perhaps it was the instinct of a big brother that moved his hands to enter the app of the insurance contracted for their cells to check the GPS location of Kotori's phone.
"…!" His eyebrows shot behind his bangs, and his heart stopped for a second.
The point indicating her location was right in front of the restaurant, and it wasn't moving at all. The possibility of Kotori having dropped her cell there when they split up still existed, but his pessimistic mind immediately assumed the worst-case scenario.
Even in this situation, with the air he was breathing starting to get stuck in his throat, he calmly analyzed his options in his mind's eye.
Calling Kotori was the first option, but given the little time left for the spacequake to smash that place into oblivion, he couldn't take the risk. Even if she took the phone, meaning that she was actually there, it would be too late for her small body to run past the radius of the explosion.
Calling her school wasn't an option either for the same reasons. In the remote case, someone took the call amidst the panic, it would be too late for him to react if they told him she already left the place.
Then the last option. He eyed his classmates. Shidou had been left behind as he watched his phone, and everyone was busy entering the shelter or preventing Tama-chan from having a heart attack. In short, no one was paying attention to him.
All unnecessary thoughts were blown away from his mind after making his decision without a single doubt. Without saying a word, his body moved on its own. Magical energy was pumped into his legs with practiced ease to reinforce his muscles and bones to the limit, and he made a mad dash for the windows at the end of the hallway.
Luckily, one of them was opened, so he didn't have to smash through it and alert everyone. Both of his feet landed on the window friend, and the magical energy he had been accumulating in them was released at once, propelling him like a jet stream.
A black and blue blur flew above several buildings until gravity caught up to him, causing him to land on the rooftop of a house. Shidou rolled to distribute the force of the impact, and without losing the pace, he fired another mana burst the moment his feet hit the ground once again.
The whole maneuver took less than a second, and it effectively propelled him like an arrow toward his destination. After repeating it a couple of times more, he finally reached the restaurant.
The streets of Tenguu City were now completely empty and with no sign of people living there. All the electronic signs in the city showed warning signs and danger.
After scanning the entire place with his enhanced eyes and not spotting a pair of familiar red twin tails, he opened his mouth to shout at the top of his lungs.
"KOTORI! ARE YOU HERE!? ANSWER ME, PLEASE!"
No response. Even if the city had been plunged into a dead silence after the alarms stopped, he couldn't hear anything. That would mean good news… but just in case.
"Sorry, Kotori, but this is an emergency!"
He closed his eyes and focused on feeling the bond between them, and his thoughts stopped when he finally got a good grasp on it as confusion filled his mind. It wasn't pointing in the direction her elementary school was, or any place in the city for that matter.
"What the!"
His head shot upward to look at the sky. The bond was pointing there for some reason, but the sky was completely clear, but he couldn't see anything even forcing his hawk-like eyes. No, there was a small, blue point there, but there was no way she was there. That must be on the outer layers of the atmosphere.
"…!"
He had no time to dwell on it. First, he sensed an abnormality in front of him. When he looked down, he saw how space itself cracked, a hole in its fabric quickly expanding to the size of a person and sending ripples throughout the entire place. And it didn't take a genius to know what was going to happen next.
"Crap!" He put everything he had into his legs to jump away before the world literally exploded. The buildings, the road, everything was obliterated in a matter of seconds.
"Guh!" Shidou grunted as his back slid through the concrete, some of the flying debris hitting him. Even with his body having been reinforced, part of the shockwave still hit him.
He took some seconds to pull himself together. There were no significant injuries, bruised at most, and the pain was nothing he couldn't handle.
His senses were going highwire though. The whole place was filled with residual energy, but above that, he felt a really powerful presence in the direction of the explosion. Something he really didn't expect to run into in this world.
"A superior dead apostle… No, seems even more powerful."
He walked towards the center of the explosion as silently as possible. As closer as he got, he stopped seeing debris from the destroyed buildings. There was simply a large crater. Everything in that radius seemed to have been literally vaporized.
Shidou slowly poked his head to observe what was inside the crater, and his eyes widened in surprise.
There was some sort of throne there, with what looked like the hilt of a sword sticking out of it. At its feet was a girl with purple hair tied in a long ponytail and indigo eyes. She was wearing black and purple medieval-style armor, and underneath was a sort of membrane made of pure energy.
Her aura gave off majesty, and above all, power. An immense raw power. It seemed like he was in front of a really powerful servant, compared even to Saber at her prime. That, along with her supernatural beauty, screamed "inhuman".
However, what was actually shocking was her expression. Her eyes were scanning the area around her carefully as if she were expecting an attack, but she wore a melancholic expression as she did.
Before engaging with her, he decided to take a look at her weapon to get more information about what he was about to face.
His structural grasp went into action, revealing its name and nature. Sandalphon, The Massacre Ruler. Its existence was very similar to that of a noble phantasm, but at the same time different.
Despite what its name suggested, it had no legend behind it, but it still had great conceptual weight. It was a greatsword. Its blade was wide and white, with a crystalline edge and blue lines that throbbed with power, and could channel the enormous magical energy of its wielder and fire it in the form of cutting waves, similar to noble phantasms like Excalibur or Merodach.
When it came to the forging methods, what he got was blurred at best. That was such a crucial part of the weapon the Unlimited Blade Works needed to reproduce the sword, but it pulled it off without problem for some reason.
However, the strangest thing was its owner. The sword had some combat experience, but there was barely any information about the girl wielding it. She seemed to be a nameless entity…
No, that couldn't be everything. Shidou wasn't sure why, but something told him there was more to that sword than the eye met, in a literal sense.
He gritted his teeth and forced his eyes, so his reality marble reproduced the sword again, this time with more details and depth.
"Kuh!" A headache struck him like a backlash, but he managed to get more information.
Sandalphon wasn't actually its true name. It was a powerful name that was bestowed upon that conceptual weapon to set it apart as an independent entity from what once was a single entity. In fact, it only took the shape of a sword because it suited its user, but its true form was a mass of energy coming from a core.
Static filled his head as he kept reading further. It wasn't that he didn't understand the weapon as in the case of divine constructs like Excalibur or Ea. It seemed as if something was actively interfering with his reality marble.
He managed to see that the core from which Sandalphon came was some kind of crystal located in the nameless girl's chest that acted pretty much like a magical core. And that core had come from-
"Oops, I can't have you see that yet." The moment he tried to go further, a sweet voice talked directly into his head with a teasing tone. "Don't worry. I promise we'll meet again soon. Just wait a little more ****"
"Gah!" The moment the voice stopped talking, his reading on the sword was forcibly stopped with an even worse migraine.
A stream of questions flooded his mind, but he was forced to put them aside as a chill ran down his spine.
Golden eyes met indigo ones. That yelp of pain that escaped his lips seemed to have alerted the nameless girl. Her stoic expression turned into a deadly serious one, and her eyes squinted at him. Her hand landed on the hilt that stuck out of the throne and drew Sandalphon in all its glory before readying it.
"Wait, I don't-"
His words fell on deaf ears as the mysterious girl swung her sword horizontally in his direction. His instincts, polished in countless battles, caused him to hide his head quickly.
A rainbow light beam passed at high speed through where his neck had been less than a second ago. Shirou heard a sound of impact behind, and he saw sideways how the top of a building collapsed to one side.
The attack had cut it clean, and that would have definitely happened to his head too had he not dodged it.
There was a moment of surprise on her part, but the girl clad in purple armor quickly pulled herself together and crossed the distance between them. Without giving him the time to say another word, she threw a diagonal swing intending to cut him in half from his right shoulder to his left hip.
It was definitely an instant kill attack, but that was due to her weapon. She barely gave off any killing intent. It seemed as if she didn't even want to fight in the first place.
Shidou dodged to the side and lifted his hands in the air. "Hey, hey, hey, hold your horses! I didn't come here to fight!"
"Hnn!" The only answer he received was an unladylike grunt and another swing of her majestic sword.
Even if her attacks were really straightforward and amateurish, her sheer speed was starting to overwhelm him.
"Trace on!" His circuits flared to life, and he quickly projected Kanshou into his left hand to deflect her next attack.
The black, twin blade clashed against the white greatsword. Sparks flew in all directions as the immense strength behind her attack was skillfully redirected.
Still, Shidou could feel how the muscles in his arm went numb. Definitely, an A-rank strength if he had to judge.
The instant in which her eyes widened at his use of magecraft helped him recover, but she immediately continued her ruthless assault.
Bakuya was traced shortly after to help its twin fend off the attacks. The apocalyptic scenery was quickly filled with massive cuts and small craters, debris flying all around. Even distributing the impacts between both arms, he could tell he wasn't going to last long with just his human strength.
She left him with no choice. For the first time in all these years, he tapped into the power of his saint graph and regained his parameters. Never mind that his class container somehow changed from Archer to Saber, he needed it to break through her unorthodox style.
She still had the upper hand in terms of strength, but the fact that his arms weren't blown away with each strike made a massive difference. Her instincts and reflexes were equally fearsome, but her combat experience didn't come quite close. And for some reason, the attacks she was used to receiving were as straightforward as hers.
His mind's eye finally showed him a path to victory. In just a few movements, her sword would be in the position he wanted…
"Huh?" A surprised voice left her lips when her sword pierced the ground after being deflected by the twin swords.
It was a fatal opening. She knew as much. In a last attempt at resisting, she released her left hand from the handle of her sword and threw a punch covered in purple energy at the boy, but it was no use. Her attack was also deflected, blowing away a chunk of debris near them as Shidou stepped behind her and placed both black and white blades over her neck.
The fight was over as she realized she couldn't move without risking having her neck cut apart.
"Are we finally calming down?" He asked with a tired voice, and the nameless girl turned slightly her head to look at him in the eye.
"Hmph. Have you also come to kill me like the mecha-mecha squad?" She spoke for the first time. Her voice would have been mesmerizing if she didn't just try to kill him on sight.
"I remember clearly you were the one who attacked me out of nowhere. I wouldn't have resorted to this if you listened to what I had to say. Besides, do I look like a robot to you?" Shidou answered her in a slightly frustrated tone.
Then, he was able to see how her cheeks took a slightly pink tone. "Ye-yeah, you aren't wearing a mecha thingy, but you're way stronger than them. I could feel it before we even started to fight… somehow…"
Shidou couldn't help but let out a sigh. Just as her expressions hinted, she wasn't a murderous otherworldly being, but just a lost girl that didn't know where she was.
People often were nervous about the first day of the school term since it was the beginning of something new, but this was taking things to an absurd level.
"Look, no one has to get hurt here. If you promise you won't attack me, I'll let you go. Maybe then you can explain me what's your deal? For instance, why did you come from a tear in the fabric of space?"
"Even if I had an answer to that question, it's too late. They are already here." This time, she spoke as if she were short of breath, and she seemed like she was about to cry.
"Who?"
The conversation was abruptly interrupted when he finally saw what she meant. No, before he saw it with his eyes, his sixth sense to detect anomalies was triggered, which gave him the impression that they were being attacked with magecraft.
So, imagine his surprise when he saw a barrage of missiles flying their way.
"Huh!?"
His body reacted before his mind processed the surprise. He let go of the nameless girl and jumped to the side, not before pushing her to the other side. He didn't have to worry about her as he saw her maneuvering without problem before the projectiles hit the place they were a moment ago.
Shidou quickly rolled behind some rubble from the prior fight and slowly poked his head.
"Well, I'll be damned. There really is a squad of people wearing mechanical suits…"
There, floating in the air with the help of jetpacks, he saw a group of people dressed in strange robotic suits and pointing futuristic-looking weapons at the armored girl who didn't bother to take cover.
"Fire!" One of them, a woman that looked to be in her thirties with black hair tied in a ponytail signaled, and every member of the group fired all their weapons at once at the girl.
He could already tell those weren't regular weapons. All the projectiles were reinforced with magical energy, most likely by the weird machine strapped on their backpacks. In fact, he could sense a faint bounded field around them.
Since when did those geezers back in London stop rejecting any form of human progress and mixed magecraft with technology?
"This kind of attacks is useless. Why don't they ever learn?" Leaving aside the technicalities, the nameless girl wasn't even fazed, as if she had seen this countless times. He could even see irritation pouring into her beautiful face.
And her confidence had a solid base. There was a reason he didn't even bother to strike her directly to incapacitate her. That was no regular armor. It seemed to increase her magic resistance to the same level as Saber's, blowing away the magic reinforcing the projectiles, and without that, the physical armor shrugged off the bullets and missules like nothing.
The people in the air had a brief moment of surprise once the dust dissipated to reveal the girl completely intact, and no wonder. That pretty much seemed to be all that their firepower amounted to.
"HHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
But then, a girl among them suddenly flew straight at the nameless girl with what looked like a laser blade to have a swordfight with her.
No, that wasn't a random girl he didn't know. That albino hair…
"Tobiichi-san? What in the world is she doing here?"
He had to admit it, he was really confused now. Never mind that the nameless girl was making quick work of his fellow classmate. He could tell the albino's attacks were actually the ones the armored girl had experienced the most, but not only the difference in power was huge, but she was also imitating some of Shidou's movements.
He had been dwelling on how he should interfere because he honestly didn't know which side needed his help due to the lack of context, but now that there was someone that would recognize him, things got really complicated.
This wasn't like in the First Century when he could stick his nose and walk away like nothing. Judging from the uniforms and their demeanor, those seemed to be part military, and getting in their sights was the last thing he wanted.
As much as he hated it, retreating seemed to be the best option for now. He turned off the Demi-servant mode, let Kanshou and Bakuya fade, and started to sneak away…
But then, something happened that, frankly, he couldn't understand. At one point he was in the middle of the destroyed street, and at the other, he was in a room he hadn't seen in his life.
It was a futuristic-looking place, like the ones in the same movies from which lightsabers originated.
"Where the hell am I?" What a day. One thing after another.
"I see you're all fine despite running into a spirit." A drowsy voice behind him caught his attention.
Shidou turned slowly in the direction it came and met a woman in her 20s. Her hair was gray and messy, and her eyes sported thick dark circles. But even in that sorry condition, he couldn't help but think that she was really gorgeous.
He pushed that thought aside immediately though. Even if he felt no hostility on her part, he was in a completely unknown place, and the odds that he was surrounded were still present.
"And you are?" He decided to just raise an eyebrow and let his confusion show. Playing the clueless civil card might get him out of this.
"I am the Analysis Officer of this place, Murasame Reine. There's no need to be with your guard up. You're safe here."
"Is that so? And where is 'here' exactly if I may ask?"
"You're in the hangar of Fraxinus. We brought you here because your life was in danger down there."
"Fraxinus...?" That was a name I'd never heard before, but it sounded like some kind of mystic.
Great. His cover was blown before it even existed. How did he end up in their sights if he never showed his skills to anyone? Were they somehow watching his fight against the nameless girl? And what did she mean by a spirit?
Too many questions and so few answers.
She turned around silently and began to walk slowly towards the hallway she had used to enter the room.
"Hey, wait! You still-" He was interrupted before he could say further by her sleepy voice.
"Follow me. There's someone I want to introduce you to... kind of. I know you have a lot of questions, but I'm bad at explaining. If you want any details, you should ask that person."
Well, that sounded good. But the pessimistic part of his mind didn't allow him to lower his guard even after deciding to take her for her word. Kanshou and Bakuya's plans were ready and loaded into his magical circuits just in case.
The odds of a surprise were decreasing with each passing second though. Murasame was wobbling all the way. Her lack of proper sleep was more than evident. In the end, she stumbled and hit her head against the wall.
"Are you alright?" He closed in and helped her to keep her balance before falling to the ground while she grabbed her head moaning. The tension and seriousness of the moment vanished completely.
"Ah, I'm sorry… I haven't been getting enough sleep recently."
"You don't say. When was the last time you got a proper rest?"
She lifted three fingers. "Maybe about thirty years ago?"
He could only give a blank stare at her attempt at joking. That was too much of an exaggeration, and that came from someone who tested the limits of a human body deprived of sleep.
"Well, I'm not lying when I say that I don't remember the last time I slept comfortably. I have something like extreme insomnia."
"Is that so...?"
"Oh. Ahh, sorry, it's medicine time."
Murasame took out a box of pills, opened it, and proceeded to pour the contents into her mouth before his astonished face. It looked like she was literally drinking the pills.
She finished swallowing the medication and put the box back in the pocket as if nothing ridiculous had happened.
"Are you aware that dose can easily be fatal?"
"They're just sleeping pills, and they're not very effective either."
He gave in to the urge to massage his temple. Were all the people in this organization like this?
"Here we are..."
After going through several narrow corridors, they arrived at the place in question. She slid a card through a reader next to it, and the next moment, a beep was heard, and the door opened.
"Here, please enter..."
He put back the serious front before stepping in. What met him found was a room that looked like a ship's bridge. In front of the door, the floor stretched out in the middle in an oval shape, and placed in its center, there was a chair that looked like the captain's seat.
In addition, after some gently sloping stairs leading to a lower floor, he could see the crew members operating consoles with a futuristic design. The place was quite dark in general, highlighting the light emitted by the monitors of said consoles.
"I brought him..."Murasame spoke to a man next to the captain's seat.
He was tall, with long wavy blond hair, brown eyes, and wore the same military uniform as all present.
"Good job." The man gave in a small bow, almost like a butler, and turned to look at me. "Hello, Itsuka-kun. I am the Vice Commander here. My name is Kannazuky Kyohei. I am pleased to meet you."
"Uh... same here." He couldn't think of something better to say at the man's courteous presentation.
With that said, Kannazuky turned and spoke to the person sitting in the chair, which I could not see.
"Commander, Analysis Officer Murasame has returned."
A grunt of a very familiar voice was heard, and the chair turned to look in Shidou's direction dramatically.
"I welcome you to Ratatoskr, Shidou."
The so-called 'commander' greeted him with a lovely voice. She was a young figure wearing a crimson uniform on her shoulders. Her red hair was tied in a pair of twin tails by two black ribbons, and there was a lollipop on her mouth as she spoke.
There wasn't a mirror in the place, but he could tell how his face gradually morphed into absolute surprise and bewilderment.
"Kotori!?" No matter what you look at it, this person was his little sister.
That explained why their bound was pointing vertically, but that opened another full set of questions.
Had she been kidnapped and forced to work for this organization? Judging by the sudden change of personality, had she been brainwashed? Were these the remnants of the Magus Association trying to get back at him after all these centuries for killing off so many of their members?
He needed answers, and fast!
"Kotori, what's the deal with this…" He asked slowly, trying as best as he could to not let out his feelings
"Can't you tell by our conversation? I knew you were slow to uptake, but this on a level I didn't expect."
"Kotori, I'm not joking around. I know more than half of those times you told me you were sleeping at a friend's house must have been related to this, and I assume papa and mama are aware of this, but why are these people referring to you as 'Commander'."
"Well, that's because I am their commander, duh. You should feel honored I'm letting you talk to me like that. In fact, you should be licking my boots-"
Shidou narrowed his eyes at his sister and silently moved his arm to flick her in the forehead.
"Hey!" Judging by her reaction, she seemed to have thought that she could respond to it in time but failed miserably. "What's that for!?"
"Who taught you to talk like that? If it was this organization or whatever, I'm gonna have a serious talk with them."
He couldn't deny he was letting out some of his frustration, and the way she spoke reminded him of a certain Golden bastard. But above it all, he felt ripped off. So many years trying to keep Kotori out of the 'Moon-lit world', when in fact, she was already involved.
"Now, Itsuka-kun, there's no need to-"
The Vice-commander tried to mediate, but a glare and some killing intent kept him rooted to his place. This was a conversation between siblings… wait, was he actually moaning instead of being afraid.
"Okay, fine, I'll stop with the haughty act. Jeez, why can't you let a girl have her fun, Shidou?" That was more like the Kotori he knew, but she was still acting more mature than usual.
"Can we get to the point? If you aren't going to tell me how you ended up here, then at least tell me what is it that you guys do and why did you… warp me away?"
"Hmm… For someone who has just seen a bunch of supernatural things, you seem oddly calm. But I guess I should have expected it. At any rate. To answer your questions, first, I work here of my own volition. The salary is very good, and I had barely any obligations up until now."
The looks she received from the members of her crew were quite telling that wasn't so nice.
"As for what this organization does, to explain that I'll have to start by explaining what I expected to be your first question."
"You mean the girl in the armor and the people in robotic suits?"
She nodded, and with a snap of her fingers, one of the large monitors in the room showed a picture of the fight he witnessed a few moments ago.
"That girl, she's a Spirit."
"Spirit..." Perhaps she thought that explained everything, but that was far from it.
The word "spirit" could be applied to a wide variety of beings, but if it was used alone, it usually referred to an extension of the planet itself. He guessed that girl could qualify as a spirit, but the possibility of Kotori referring to something else entirely was there, too.
"Do you mean… she's a spirit from the earth?"
"No. Unlike all the definitions in popular culture, what we mean by "spirit" is that she's a being that didn't originally exist in this world. Just by appearing in this world, the surrounding area is torn apart. But we can confirm they don't do it of their own will."
That went along with what he witnessed, and the first thing that came to his mind was 'Kaleidoscope'. He never heard the Old Man of the Jewels tent to cause that amount of damage just by opening a path to another world, but he could see it happening if he didn't handle things smoothly.
"So, these spirits are the cause of the spacequakes."
"Right. You were lucky, Shidou. If the scale of the explosion had been a little larger, you would have been blown up instantly. Anyway, why did you come out when the alarm was going off? Are you an idiot? Did you want to die so badly?"
"I'll let you know, I went there to check if you decided to ignore the alarm and go to the restaurant anyway."
She blinked a couple of times. To make her understand his point, he showed her his cell, which still had the GPS app open.
"Ahh, that's why. Shidou… do you really think I'd be that stupid!?" She seemed really pissed off about it, but what could he have done?
"Hey, aside from the coincidences, why would you even be in an aircraft so high in the air anyway?"
She blinked a couple of times upon hearing that. "How do you know that?"
Crap, that was quite the slip on his part. "That's the only possibility I can think of to explain what I saw on the GPS. Unless you tell me we're underground."
"No, you got it right." If the way she gritted her teeth was anything to go by, he just ruined her big reveal.
"Now, could you finally get to what you guys do?"
"Yeah, going back to the main topic, those people you see flying are the AST. A unit specializing in dealing Spirits."
"And by dealing you mean trying to kill them."
"Uhum." The way she just nodded was quite… disturbing. I girl of her age shouldn't be talking so casually about people dying… "I see you're finally showing your sharp side. Well from a pragmatic point of view, disposing of them is the easiest solution."
"Putting aside that they aren't doing that well in that department, why did they choose that option? Have they ever tried to talk to them?"
"Why do you ask? They are monsters. Just their presence in this world is catastrophic. They are the deadliest and most evil poison!"
"I don't think that's the case here. That girl didn't seem like she wanted to fight at all."
"That may be true. But the thing is, you can't leave an existence of the same level of danger as a nuclear bomb out there just because you felt sorry for it. Today ended only with a small explosion, but we're not sure that the next time it will be a disaster of the level of Eurasia."
He ended up sighing at her insistence. "Still, you shouldn't think about killing someone without a very good reason, Kotori."
"Hoh?" At that moment, the mischievous smile he saw on his sister's face gave him goosebumps. "If you're so insistent… could it be… you fell in love with that girl?"
"…!?" That caught him by surprise, his cheeks flustering before he could reign his emotions. "I-I don't know why you would say that, but I don't need any reason to help someone who needs it."
The whole room was silent. Even the crew stopped what they were doing and looked at him with surprised faces. The only one who wasn't surprised was Kotori, who now showed a prideful smile as if she were already waiting for this.
"Okay then. What other solution do you propose?" And then she just threw him under the bus. Wasn't she supposed to be the one to offer the solution in this situation?
Besides, he hadn't had the time to think about it. The method he used to make the nameless girl start hearing him was less than conventional. Going around to fight those "spirits" whenever they showed up to beat reason into them seemed as if he were yet in another Holy Grail War.
"Anyway... the first thing should be trying to talk to them. From there, we'll see if they're really hostile or not."
"I see... Then, let us help you."
"Eh?" That took way less than he expected. Where is all the negativity she was showing just a moment ago?
Kotori spread her arms as if to refer to the whole place. "I said, we will help you. All of Ratatoskr's power will be at your disposal, Shidou."
Now, that was something he never expected to hear. An entire organization supporting his dream where everyone else deemed it unrealistic and childish?
"Let me answer your previous question. Who we are. The ways of dealing with a Spirit are basically divided into two main methods." She paused briefly and lifted a finger. "The first is the approach that the AST is taking. The method of exterminating them through a power confrontation."
After that, she raised a second finger. "The other method is to talk to the spirits. We are Ratatoskr, an organization created for the purpose of solving spacequakes without killing spirits, through conversation."
Well, that was a relief. Even if there was no way to check if the higher-ups didn't have any ulterior motives, at least his sister and her crew seemed genuine about that.
"Couldn't you have started with that? If you wanted me to work with you, I would have accepted anyway."
"You've got the premise completely wrong. We don't want to recruit you. To begin with, the organization called Ratatoskr was created for the sake of Itsuka Shidou."
Seeing her Onii-chan's raised eyebrow, she decided to elaborate. "Well, it might be more acquarate to say that this is an organization to lay the groundwork for your role in negotiations with the spirits to solve the problem of spacequakes. Anyway, this organization wouldn't exist if Shidou didn't exist."
"Then, let me ask you. Why me, of all people?"
"Well, Shidou is special"
That… answers nothing. That could mean anything, from his distorted mentality to his identity as a magus ajd demi-servant.
Had they been watching him for some time? It was possible. They were in the upper atmosphere and had really advanced technology that would definitely go under his radar.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, well, you'll understand the reason eventually. But shouldn't you be jumping with joy? I'm saying that we, all the members of Ratatoskr and all our technology, will be by your side from now on. Or... are you thinking I would let you walk between the spirits and the AST bare-assed?"
Her assumption wasn't entirely wrong. And it hinted that she wasn't at least completely aware of his capabilities.
"So, aside from asking the obvious, what should I negotiate with?"
"Isn't it obvious? You have to make the Spirit fall in love." She answered in a proud tone.
"…" Shidou decided to remain silent, thinking that she was just pulling his leg. But after minutes passed, he decided to confirm it. "I'm sorry, I think I heard wrong. Could you repeat it?"
"As I said, you have to bond with her. Talk to her, flirt with her, go on a date with her, and make her fall head over heels for you."
So she wasn't joking… He wasn't having a weird dream, was he? Neither did he consume anything weird during breakfast…
"And how is that supposed to solve the problem of spacequakes?"
"If we want a solution for spacequakes without using force, then we have to persuade the spirits, right?"
"That seems right."
"For that, wouldn't it be quicker to make the Spirit like this world? "Oh, this world is so wonderful", if they start to think that, then not even a spirit would suddenly start breaking havoc."
"I see..."
"As they say, if you're in love, you see the world in a new light... So go out with her, and make the spirit fall in love with you!"
"I still fail to see the logic in that. Besides, who would fall in love with someone like me?"
Upon hearing, Kotori for some reason seemed mad. "What nonsense are you saying? Why wouldn't they fall in love with you!? Such a handsome, kind, and cool boy who is always helping others!?"
"Huh?" What was just that?
After a few seconds, Kotori seemed to process what she had just said, and her face turned as red as her hair.
"L-look what you make me say, stupid Shidou with low self-esteem! Forget that you've heard any of that! What I mean is that you have no other choice if you want to save them. Where did your earlier determination go!?"
Well, she wasn't wrong, but... why choose someone whose social skills are so poor for this task? It was true that he had the most chances of survival but still...
At the very least, he should at least try it. Now that he was finally aware of the situation, he couldn't just turn a blind eye. If the flirting didn't work, perhaps befriending them could do the trick?
"Fine, I'll do it."
"Very well. Looking at the data, the next she will appear is within a week. We will start training immediately tomorrow."
"Training?" He couldn't help but swallow noisily. It didn't help that Kotori's wicked smile looked like Rin's when she made fun of him or Shirou.
Now as I did at the beginning of the chapter, I'll leave the original AN there and just add this segment. Ignore the talk about power scales since it's kind of outdated though. For those who are reading this story for the first time, this is basically an AU. Even if the world of "Date a Live" is the same on the surface, you'll see later on that I adapted the concepts to fit the Nasuverse for plot reasons and also the compatibility between the series. You'll get more details in later chapters, but in essence, this is just another timeline in the same branch as Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Grand Order.
Also, before someone points it out, I know Kotori's eyes were always red in the original story. The reason I changed it is basically because red eyes in the Nasuverse are reserved for divine spirits, dead apostles, homunculi, etc… The same will apply to Kurumi. Also, I'll be correcting the misconception of Zelretch being a dead apostle in the Fate timelines since that's just in the Tsukihime ones.
And that's all so far. What did you think? I decided to write this because crossovers between Fate/Stay Nigth and Date a Live that are not abandoned can be counted on one hand, not to say a finger. So I decided to do it myself, referencing Thanos a little.
I've never written about romance, so it's time for King of Fakers to get into those things.
Now as for the chapter, as you may have noticed, what happened to King of Fakers, or now Itsuka Shidou, was the same thing that happened to Emiya Shirou of the Miyuverse. Having a little sister filled the void in his heart. However, the ideals of King of Fakers are so deeply rooted in his being that he did not abandon them. As he said himself, his goal will always be to save everyone.
As for the power scale, this King of Fakers will be a bit of a nerfed because his body is no longer that of a servant. But that will not prevent him from being on the level of the spirits. Besides, the protagonist here will not be so submissive. King of Fakers will get serious if he has to. On the other hand, I will keep the laws of both universes intact, but since this will mostly be written from the perspective of 'Shidou', the terms of Fateverse will be used mostly. From the perspective of the other characters, King of Fakers is an irregularity, like the Spirits.
And as for the description given by King of Fakers of Sandalphon, I know it's not entirely correct. Note that it is a description made after a quick look with structural grasp before Tohka tried to cut him. I'm still not sure if Sandalphon can be replicated at Unlimited Blade Works. I'm inclined to think so. In Fate's terms, an Angel would be considered a conceptual weapon, and Rho Aias, which is also a conceptual weapon, could be replicated in the reality marble.
Still, prepare for the comic situations that will generate the EX-rank density. Those who have read my previous stories will know what I mean. If you think Shidou and Shirou were dense, let me tell you that they're experts at dealing with women compared to King of Fakers.
Finally, I would like to know your opinion. Any constructive review is welcome, as well as the follows. That motivates me to continue writing.
With this, I bid you farewell for now. Until next time!
