The girl, although shaken to the core at this disaster, attempts to calmly explain her situation to Sakura, who only responds with a mildly surprised expression followed by an apologetic smile.
"Your memory restoration failed? I cannot help you, for I, Sakura Matou, am just a custodial A.I." Again, the way she speaks sounds very off, but there were more pressing matters to worry about. Hakuno's eyebrows knit together in a frown upon her complaints being completely ignored. It seems that Sakura can't act beyond her programming.
"Oh, I should give this to you before I forget." Rummaging through her pockets, she takes out what appears to be a portable terminal and hands it to me. The girl stares at the foreign device; she assumes that it's for receiving messages and whatnot.
"As a participant, you should pay attention to any messages that appear on your terminal." With that, Sakura proceeds to explain each function of the terminal. "You can also the terminal to monitor on your servant's condition through the 'Status' menu option and review any information you've gathered on your opponent by choosing the 'Matrix' menu option. Press on the 'Select' menu option to change equipment and to see what equipment you are currently using on yourself. Finallt, the 'Item' menu option allows you to check the items you have on hand as well as formal wear in your possession." She says all this in a monotonous tone, as if she's reciting out of a manual. The girl slowly nods her head, keeping in mind to try and use her terminal to familiarize herself with the various functions it has.
With that, Sakura says no more and begins walking towards the table where she had placed her medical supplies, now sorting through them. Seeing that she didn't want to disturb her and that there was nothing much she could do from lingering in the nurse's office, Hakuno bows her head slightly in mute thanks and quietly walks out of the room, sliding the door behind her.
The minute she steps out, she comes in contact with small crowds of students, one thing of which she should be familiar about. However, the constant unease she's been feeling ever since earlier makes her sick, and she doesn't feel the need to converse with any of these people in her current state.
So she's lost her memories. That statement alone was enough to make her feel dejected. How could such a thing have happen? Why did such a thing happen...to her of all people? Even now all Hakuno wants to do is deny the truth, but finds it difficult to do when the truth is slapping her hard across the face.
She shakes her head, slapping her cheeks lightly. Not good, she was starting to feel even more depressed just hanging around there, and all the noise around her isn't helping matters. She needed a change if pace to try and sort out her thoughts before anything else. After all, she was now a participant of the Holy Grail War.
Stroding down the long hallway, she finds her feet automatically carrying her upstairs, and soon enough she finds herself staring at what appears to be the door to the rooftop. Surely the rooftop would be quiet enough for her to properly think things out. With a hand on the doorknob, she twists it and pushes the door open, feeling a light breeze against her face.
She looks around, expecting fenced walls around her but is instead greeted by plain white balcony railings around the sides. She frowns upon noticing that she wasn't the only one there. Squinting her eyes, she sees someone standing a few feet away, with long wavy hair and a familiar blood-red turtleneck sweater...
The girl blinks, registering that she was staring at none other than Rin Tohsaka herself. Actually, forget that; she wasn't all that surprised to see Rin of all people here in this tournament. After all, even before the preliminaries began, Rin had demonstrated her abilities in being an independent woman of powerful influence, with a nice face and figure, gets good grades and is insanely popular in Tsukumihara Academy. From what she heard, Rin even makes Shinji jealous, which...isn't exactly a good achievement considering that the guy gets jealous of almost anything that's alive and breathing...but otherwise a noteworthy accomplishment considering the rumours floating about her outright rejecting him in the most savage way possible one morning.
However, she became popular while the school was at peace. Things are different now. That defiant smile on her wonderful facial features is nothing like the vacant smile of a popular student.
The Holy Grail War...before Hakuno knew it, the school had been turned into a battlefield. She can tell that Rin knows it too. She hadn't fully registered it earlier, but everyone is predators in this school, where it's kill or be killed, otherwise known as survival of the fittest. She had to acknowledge that as the truth, even if she doesn't want to.
Walking over towards her, Hakuno stops just a metre away when she notices Rin staring intently at the sky, almost studying it in great detail rather than just observing it. "I've investigated this school from top to bottom, but there's nothing unique about it," says Rin as she pats the walls and the floors, murmuring to herself. Hakuno raises an eyebrow. She couldn't be talking to herself, could she?
It was then that she noticed Rin's eyes narrowing. Turning her head, she eyes Hakuno with a frown, acknowledging her presence. "...Huh? Hey, you over there." The girl's shoulders immediately tense; she had been too preoccupied in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed that she had been standing there staring at Rin like some creep! "W-Who, me? Sorry...I was just...uh...!"
However, instead of glaring at her, Rin's expression softens. "Yeah, you. I haven't checked the NPCs out much." She taps her chin in thought, before she blinks as if a lightbulb had flashed in her mind. "Aha, I know a simple way. Don't you move." With that, she flips her hair over her shoulder and brisk walks towards the girl.
Unexpectedly, hand reaches out and touches her cheek. The girl, upon feeling the contact of Rin's cold fingers brushing against her cheekbone, had to note that her fingers were rather thin...and delicate too. She realizes how remarkable that so strong a gaze can come from so innocent a frame.
"Imagine that. You're warm, even though you shouldn't be," she comments, tilting her head to the side. By then, Hakuno was already beginning to feel her cheeks flare up from her intense stare. "...Huh? That's weird, seeing a red cheek flush like that." Her hand that was previously placed on the girl's cheek begins sliding down towards her neck, touching her collarbone and shoulders, feeling her arms and soon enough, brushing against the fabric of her clothes near her stomach, causing Hakuno to flinch.
With Rin's face being literally three centimetres from her face, Hakuno didn't know whether to feel embarassed or uncomfortable. She had feel the hammering of her heart against her chest resounding in her ears, the organ racing at the sheer closeness. Rin's breath exhales warmly on her cheek and her wavy long hair tickles Hakuno's bare neck.
Her pat down of her shoulders and stomach seem playful compared to the harsh gaze she gave earlier. Transfixed, she is unable to move as Rin's pale fingers slide all over her. "Interesting. You're more well-built than I had expected. You look and feel real. Maybe more real than most people," she concludes, her eyes giving off mild curiosity.
However, Rin's smile quickly vanishes, replaced with a scowl as she turns her head, withdrawing her hand back to her side. "...Huh? What are you laughing at? It's our advantage to look into everything, even the NPCs." Once again, Rin appears to be talking to the air, to which Hakuno realized that her servant was probably there, witnessing this entire thing.
There was a brief pause before Rin starts blinking profusely, turning her head back to eye Hakuno with narrowed eyes. "...Huh? She's a master too? No...a master should be more..." Her eyes soon begin to widen, and she backs away from Hakuno in shock, her cheeks turning almost the same colour as her sweater. She must've caught on by now.
"W-Wait...that means when I felt up...!" she gasps. Yes, which basically means that Rin Tohsaka practically molested a bypasser for mistakening her as an NPC. Hakuno couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if someone apart from them and their servants saw the whole ordeal; rumours would be flying about in seconds.
She must be thinking about it now, because she's blushing. Hakuno remains silent, biting down on her lower lip. Rin takes a moment to settle down from the initial shock, before she facepalms. "Ugh...how embarassing..." Yes, she had to agree.
Rin bashfully whips around, her back facing the girl. "Shut up! I can make mistakes too y'know! Don't call me a pervert!" The embarassed girl was pretty sure that she was addressing an off-colour comment coming from her servant there. In fact, Hakuno could practically picture her servant clutching their sides in laughter.
"It could've been my imagination. Or a hacker-such a detailed NPC would rarely exist otherwise," she mutters under her breath, before her sharp eyes met the girl's large brown ones once again, jabbing her index finger accusingly against her chest.
"Anyway, you're to blame for being confusing! You're too bland to be anything but an NPC." Hakuno blinks, her facial expression neutral. What could she possibly reply back in return to counter that statement? The girl hated to admit it, but she wasn't the best when it came to expressing herself and her emotions.
"Nothing but a blank look on your face, even now. Were the prelims too boring to jog your memories?" This question causes Hakuno to visibly stiffen as she looked away; Rin touched on a subject that she'd rather not think about, even in jest; it kind of grinds her to a halt.
Staring at the floor, Hakuno tries to look calm. "Well...sorry to say but...I have no memories...so I can't exactly remember anything," she mutters, her fingers curling to form clenched fists. Rin's eyes go wide in bewilderment, and that expression soon morphs into a confused frown.
"No way. Your memories still haven't returned? That's...really not good." As if stating the obvious, Rin places a hand on her hip and continues. "Once you enter the Holy Grail War, the only way out is to kill. Leaving prematurely isn't allowed. Even without memories or previous battle experience, you still have to fight." She pauses for a moment before she says any more, and lets out a sigh.
"...What am I saying? Oh well, it doesn't matter. You'll be defeated in the Holy Grail War soon enough." With that, her eyes direct back to the sky, the concern leaving her voice. This is the real Rin Tohsaka, her opponent in the Holy Grail War, though the girl could tell that Rin's hostility towards her isn't personal. After all, she considers everyone in the Holy Grail War to be her enemy.
"Now, what's the matter, master who was met a newly-acquainted magus? No reply?" She herself turns upon hearing that familiar deep voice only to meet her servant. She says nothing in return, merely staring at him for a few seconds before she shakes her head. Unlike her servant, she has no witty response to her future rival.
She has to win. Now that she knows what's at stake, she has to win, no matter what.
"...Well, I guess I pity you. We're not cracking into the system and destroying it, we're hacking. I don't know what's on the other side of SE.RA.PH's wall once it goes down," Rin adds, catching Hakuno off guard by continuing the conversation. "Did your soul get jarred after you made it into the main event? If it's lost or unreadable, how about you investigate later?" She says all this in a light-hearted manner as if Hakuno's problem was nothing to be overly concerned about.
"Well, in any case, you don't look like you're cut out for fighting. Thanks to excitement, or nerves, everything feels unreal. No matter if you have memories or not." She glances back towards her for a brief moment, before she sighs once again. "...Don't you get it? You can't help feeling like you're in a dream. It'll be hard to win feeling so disoriented." With that, Rin goes silent, signalling the end of the one-sided conversation. Bowing slightly, Hakuno quickly excuses herself as she leaves the rooftop, stopping by the steps to think.
So she's lost her memories. Who is she? What's her story? What was she even doing here in this Holy Grail War in the first place? Those questions still remained unanswered, and all she knows it that she is now a master, with a servant at her command.