Yoshiki-909: That's a good question. I sure would hope not. Gramps would take off her head!
Ordinary Magician and Spectrum Operator
It was to Marisa's amazement that Rinnosuke had a customer. Well, one that wasn't interested in Saint Quartzes.
"No news yet?" Nasupil asked him.
Rinnsouke shook his head sadly and replied, "We've gotten nothing on him yet. Sorry."
As Nasupil and Rinnosuke talked about... whoever he was, Leonidas stood next to Nasupil, unmoving like a sentry. Looking at him, Marisa noticed that the Servant was taller and bulkier than Rinnosuke. Considering the fact that Rinnosuke was taller than her when sitting...
Marisa didn't have a height complex, but that was just annoying.
With a few other words spoken, Nasupil said his farewells to Rinnosuke and turned to leave. Upon exiting, he noticed Marisa standing there and visibly leaned away from her as he walked past.
"Oi, not gonna say hi?" she said.
Nasupil froze and slowly turned around. "Hi," he managed.
Marisa snorted and shrugged before saying, "You need to get out more, ze."
"H-How did you know I d-don't get out much?" he stammered, his voice shaky. "Are y-you watching m-me?"
"No, I-"
Leonidas bounded to Nasupil's side and put himself between his Master and Marisa, pointing his spear at the latter as he shouted, "Do not worry, Master! I'll protect you should this scum try and harm you!"
Marisa mockingly put her hands up in the air as she muttered, "Yeesh, I was only making a jab. No need to get so sensitive, daze."
The Servant's hold on his spear wavered for a moment in thought. After a second, he relaxed and put the spear down. Though he was cowering behind Leonidas a moment ago, Nasupil put up an attempt to act cool and relaxed, but there was a small sheen of sweat on his forehead.
The witch had to wonder if any of them ever did anything fun. That considered, she let out a long sigh as she considered if what she was about to offer was right.
"Hey, wanna check out the Hakurei Shrine with me?" she asked.
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Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.
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For some reason, Nasupil had resisted coming to the Hakurei Shrine, but Leonidas wasn't hearing it. The large Servant hauled his Master over his shoulder like a ragdoll and hardly struggled from Nasupil's wild thrashing and protests. In order to let them see where she was going, Marisa walked ahead of Leonidas and took to holding his Master so he wouldn't escape. If she could, she would fly on her broomstick but she doubted that, as large as he was, Leonidas would not be able to catch up to her.
Looking to make some conversation, Marisa asked Leonidas: "What's your story, anyway?"
The big man made a sound that could only be described as a whinny before he responded: "I am Leonidas, King of Sparta!"
"Cool."
"I had trained ever since I was a child to become a great warrior, and, with the throne to Sparta being open to me, I took it and became a leader! A king who rules with both his brains and his muscle. My calculations told me that a ruler with both was the best, and so I mastered both!"
"Cool."
"Due to me, Sparta became the strongest city of Greece... besides Athens!"
"Cool."
"Those Persians threatened to destroy my home, and made the calculations to stop them with only three-hundred Spartans, along with six-seven thousand something others, against innumerable enemies! But somehow they managed to come behind us and we were left helpless as the Persians destroyed my forces! My calculations were wrong, and the Persians insulted me for it by beheading me."
Marisa didn't respond to that. It sounded interesting, but, with the size of Leonidas's muscles, she didn't want to insult him on accident.
The story didn't seem to bother him, however, because he asked: "Do you know much about calculus? It is one of my favorite subjects!"
She tuned him out as they continued to the shrine.
Upon arrival, Marisa realized that she hadn't been away from the shrine for long. The roof was still caved in, the leaves were still raked (something she intended to fix later on), and the donation box was still empty.
"Hm! What is this? A training academy?" Leonidas asked, his eagerness clear in his voice as he dropped his Master.
Marisa shook her head and responded, "Nah, just my best friend's place."
Nasupil let out a whimper and tried to leave, but Leonidas grabbed his shoulder.
"Oi, throw him in there!" Marisa told Leonidas, pointing at a pile of leaves.
Leonidas's eyes had an evil glint as he tossed Nasupil into it, and the boy screamed as he flew into the air and flopped down, the dead leaves making a harmony of crunch sounds. With a loud "Whoop whoop!", Marisa leaped in as well, enjoying the sound of crunching leaves.
"Why me..." Nasupil murmured, sounding a bit whiny.
"Grow up, ze," Marisa told him, not allowing his mood to ruin hers.
She then heard a bellow, and looked up just in time to see Leonidas jumping into the pile of leaves.
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Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.
.
Leonidas's head was downcast as he shouted, "I am very sorry, Master! Please forgive my mistake!"
With a small sigh, Nasupil said, "It's fine. Just please remember that we aren't as powerful as you."
Once Leonidas had jumped to the pile of leaves, Marisa had grabbed Nasupil by the wrist, threw him out of the way, and rolled out, just in time for Leonidas to slam into the leaf pile. Nobody was harmed, but Leonidas's reckless move could've broken their ribs.
Now the three were sitting on the shrine's porch in front of the empty donations box. Marisa had nabbed some cider from Reimu's cooler and got one for herself, Nasupil, and Leonidas. It was rather hot outside, and though she wasn't sweating too hard, Marisa did have to wipe her forehead every now and then,
"Hey, mind telling me how you and Reimu met?" Nasupil asked out of the blue.
That was a question Marisa had answered too many times, and always loved answering. Puffing her chest out, she gave him a confident grin.
"Well, young man, let me tell you a story. Long ago, I was just a newbie witch, and I was making bad choices."
"Since when has that been new?" Nasupil shot at her.
"Hey!"
"Sorry..."
Marisa blew her breath out of her nose before clearing her throat and continuing, "Anyways, I made bad choices and was a bad guy back then. I had to defend something bad and something bad happened to me."
"You like saying 'bad' often, don't you?" Nasupil interrupted.
Marisa shot him a look. He backed down. "Anyways," she continued, "I was defending something... evil. Then a certain shrine maiden showed up and beat the crap outta me."
"That's a weird way of making friends."
"Well, we weren't friends yet, ze. After that, I went to some old ruins and found Reimu there, and we... had to fight in order to get a prize. She beat me."
"Oh."
"I visited her after that to check out what she won. Then after that we just... kind of started hanging out. And now..." Marisa thumped a hand to her chest. "...we're best friends!"
Nasupil looked a bit worn down as he muttered, "Geez, is that how people make friends?"
"Actually, yes. I became friends with Alice, Patchouli, Nitori, yadda yadda kind of like that."
The boy stared at his shoes. Marisa nudged him with her elbow.
"Now spill!" she said. "Tell me your story!"
Nasupil looked at Leonidas. The Servant merely said, "Say it!"
Looking glum, the boy said, "Uh... my parents died from sickness when I was a kid. My brother took care of me and we just stayed out of people's hair. Then he just disappeared one day."
A normal person would've tried to ask for details. A normal person would've asked if he was okay. A normal person would be optimistic, maybe try to reassure Nasupil his brother would come back.
"That was boring," Not-So-Normal Marisa said bluntly.
With a chuckle, Nasupil responded, "Yeah, it is. Your story was more interesting. Even if it was short."
The two snorted and took a swig of cider. Marisa noticed that Leonidas bristled, but didn't think much of it. She should have, because a few seconds later Leonidas's head snapped up.
"Master!" the Servant shouted. "There is a Servant coming!"
"Is it hostile?" Nasupil asked, looking on edge.
"No, I do not think so."
Marisa followed Leonidas's gaze, and she found two figures walking through the gate to the shrine. One was an armored figure with a pair of horns sticking out of their helmet. The other was a familiar, blue haired girl with her arms crossed while she stood on a rock that floated over to them.
"Oy, Tenshi!" Marisa called in greeting.
Tenshi Hinanawi gave her a casual look as she replied a bit stiffly, "Marisa."
Her Servant put a hand up in greeting. "Yo."
The Celestial turned away from Marisa and asked Nasupil, "Hey, can we talk for a moment?"
Nasupil's head bobbed nervously as he stood up, Leonidas following the movement. Gritting her teeth, Marisa got up, too.
With a growl, she declared, "If you have something to say to him, then tell it to me, too!"
Tenshi was unusually stoic as she responded, "Sorry, but this is between him and I."
"Oh, shove it up your-"
"It's fine, Marisa," Nasupil mumbled.
Marisa didn't like where this was going. The moment that Tenshi had spoken, Marisa had recognized the hostility that the Celestial had towards her. She usually was a friendly, albeit selfish and arrogant, person, but something in this change of personality...
It just wasn't right.
"If you hurt that kid..." Marisa snarled at Tenshi, even though Nasupil wasn't much younger than herself.
"I won't," Tenshi promised.
She, Nasupil, and their Servants walked out of earshot of Marisa. The witch tried to tune in to the conversation, but all she could hear was Nasupil's rising fear in his voice.
Eventually, Tenshi patted Nasupil on the shoulder and flew away, her Servant following closely. Once they were gone, Marisa walked over to Nasupil.
"What was that all about?" Marisa asked him.
He turned to her, and she didn't like the look in his eyes. Usually, the fear in them was something pathetic, like a child being threatened with a small punishment.
They were filled with a terror, like someone handed a death sentence.
His voice quavering, Nasupil responded, "Sh-she asked me... to j-join a youkai rebellion."