The girl slowly approaches the table, making sure to not make any noise before she gently taps the man's shoulder. He turns, smiling softly at her the minute their eyes met.
"Ah...Hakuno. You shouldn't be here. I'll be back up soon, so just wait a few more minutes, okay?" The girl pouts, clearly unsatisfied with the answer. "You've been saying the same thing for the past 4 hours! Just how long are you going to be in here? You can't keep using the same excuse over and over again!"
He laughs, the sound of her voice echoing in the room. "I see...sorry about that. But I promise, I'll really be done soon. So just be patient and wait for me. Can you do that?" "O-Of course I can!" Once again, the man laughs at her response.
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The girl awakes, staring at the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing she's seen. Had it been her brain playing tricks on her, or did she dream of something unusual? Funny enough, the events of the dream now seem blur in her mind. Slowly getting up, she takes a moment to settle from her half-asleep state as her eyes wander towards the throne of chairs, where she sees her servant...except only this time, he was awake.
"Good morning Master. Did you manage to sleep well?" he asks, tilting his head to the side casually. "Ah...good morning Archer. And yes, I did sleep rather well actually," came her reply before she gives a yawn and stretches her arms. "That's good then. We have another long day to get through, so we might as well make the most of it."
After getting ready, Hakuno heads out, where she grabs a melon bread to chew on for breakfast before she walks to the library. She didn't get a chance to look up for info there yesterday, but there shouldn't be too many people there at this time of hour. It was then that she felt her terminal vibrate in her pocket. Taking it out, she eyes the message written on it.
"Meet me in the girl's toilet on the first floor. I have something to give you. -X".X? Who was this person? Well...judging from the message itself, she assumed that the person of matter was female. However, what did she wanted to give? And why meet in the girl's toilet to give it to her anyway?
Though her mind swarmed with many questions, Hakuno decides to go and meet this strange person anyway. Standing in front of the door to the girl's toilet, Hakuno's hand reaches out for the doorknob when she takes notice of her servant still present and standing behind her, his tall stature looming over her like some invisible shadow.
Sweatdropping, she turns around and raises and eyebrow. "Uh...Archer? You aren't thinking of following me in...right?" The man looks at her as if the answer was plain obvious. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Right...she had a feeling that he'd say that.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she sighs. "This is the girl's toilet. I believe that guys don't have the right to step in...?" "That doesn't change the fact that you're meeting with a complete stranger in there. It's not smart to go in alone y'know." So he was playing that card, huh? A good tactic, but unfortunately, she knew better.
"I'll be alright Archer. Besides, that person can't hurt me even if they wanted to, so long as SE.RA.PH is controlling the whole school." With her servant not budging and looking unconvinced with her reasoning, she massages the bridge of her nose. "Look, I'll really be fine, ok? And if you're that worried, you can wait outside right here...unless you intend to be branded a pervert."
Archer frowns, but eventually gives in. "Ok...but don't stay too long in there. And just give a shout if anything happens and I'll come in right away." Nodding, Hakuno gives a small smile as well as the thumbs-up just to silently tell him one last time that she was going to be alright, and heads in. After all, what could possibly happen in the girl's toilet of all places, and on school grounds no less?
The room is pitch-black as she enters, the door promptly closing behind her. Squinting, she takes a while to adjust to the darkness before she tries to locate the switch for the lights. Upon touching it, she turns it on. However, the room is still dark, and Hakuno frowns as she tries to turn on and off the switch several times, to no avail. "What the...?"
Suddenly, the girl freezes and swiftly twists her body to the side, noticing a presence standing a few feet away from her. Amidst the darkness, she can make out a blurry figure of a female dressed in the Tsukumihara Academy's uniform. The girl stares blankly at Hakuno, her eyes practically drilling into her as she remained silent.
"A-Are you X? The who sent me that message?" Hakuno asks slowly after a while. The girl doesn't respond, and continues to stare blankly at her as she takes a few steps towards her. Was she a fellow master as well...or an NPC? Hakuno couldn't really tell from her lack of reaction.
The brown-haired master's hand is drifting quickly towards the doorknob, about to twist it and open the door when she hears footsteps behind her. Gasping, she turns but isn't quick enough as another female student who appeared behind her out of nowhere grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her away from the door, preventing her from escaping.
Gasping, the girl gags her before she has the chance to yell. Eyes wide in horror, she watches as the female student standing in front of her gives a hard kick towards her abdomen. The painful sensation that spreads as soon as her foot connects with her abdomen causes Hakuno to wince, tears lacing the edge of her eyelids. It hurt so much that all she wants to do is scream in pain if she could.
With her body going limp and her legs weak from the blow, her captor takes advantage of this moment and drags her body towards one of the toilet stalls, throwing the door open. Hakuno doesn't even have time to register what was going on before the girl roughly grabs her by the neck and pushes her head into the toilet bowl. Her head connects with the edge and a throbbing sensation is felt as her face is pushed straight into the water.
Hakuno struggles with all her might, panic rising in her from the lack from oxygen. She tries not to breathe in the water from her nose as her foot shot out and connects with what felt to be the culprit's arm judging from the pained grunt she hears behind her. However, that only seemed to anger the girl even more as the hand around her neck tightens, practically choking her at this point.
She didn't know how long she had been struggling, but with no air to take in, Hakuno's strength was fading away fast. Her lungs were crying out in anguish as if they were on fire, begging for even just a hint of air to take in at this point.
In the corner of her mind, she remembers Archer's warning. How foolish was she to not take heed of his advice Her vision begins blurring, with her body getting slack and still. Was she going to to die here? That question scared her more than anything at that moment. No, she couldn't die here. She didn't want to die here. Her mind flashes back towards her servant.
Suddenly, the hands holding her down releases her, and she feels large, strong hands grab her waist before her body is pulled back and the gag is removed from her mouth. The girl coughs violently, taking in fast, deep breaths as the air begins entering her tortured lungs.
Through her peripheral vision, she sees white hair and a figure dressed in red, holding onto her securely. She can make out that the figure's mouth was moving as if they were talking to her, but she their voice seems very distant to her ears. Her mind is fuzzy and she can no longer stay conscious. Closing her eyes, she manages to croak out the name of her servant before she passes out.
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The girl quietly reads, her legs tucked together as she turns the page. Wincing, she stares at the papercut, a thin line of red trailing down her thumb. Frowning, she licks the wound and continues reading, careful not to stain the pages with her blood.
"So this was where you were, Hakuno." Looking up, her eyes meet the familiar face of a man, obscured by the sudden distortion which masks her vision. "This won't do. You shouldn't be like that. If you don't interact more with others, it'll be difficult to communicate with people in the future," he says with a gentle smile.
Looking down at her book, Hakuno's eyebrows knit together. "...It's fine. I can manage on my own." The man chuckles at her response, tenderly patting her head.
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Hakuno groans and begins stirring, her body somewhat feeling numb and heavy all over. Opening her eyes, she looks confused as she tries to locate the reason as to how and why she had ended up in the infirmary.
"It seems that you're awake. How are you feeling?" She twists her head just as her servant appears by the side of her bed. "Archer...what...how did I end up here?" Archer seems just as surprised and confused by her reaction as he crosses his arms over his chest.
"I brought you here after you passed out...though it was mostly Sakura who took care of you and helped to clean you up." Hakuno raises her eyebrows at his statement. What did he mean by that?
Archer too also frowns at her upon seeing her expression. "...You have no recollection on this morning's incident? Or could it be that you're just half-asleep?" he questions. Hakuno begins racking her mind for possibly reasons. Why did he seem concerned for her? Had something happened this morning?
"...Do you know remember entering the toilet and getting ambushed in there then?" Hakuno's eyes go wide at his question. Going to the toilet? Getting ambushed? What could he-
All of a sudden, something clicks into place. Hakuno grasps her forehead, recalling what had occurred before she had awoken in this place like a broken dam. She opens her mouth, no words coming out from the shock. She had been ambushed by two girls, and practically died...but someone had came in and prevented that from happening.
"Judging from the look on your face, it seems like you've remembered," Archer says slowly. The girl doesn't respond, and merely stares at her hands. She seems to be at a loss for words, unable to comprehend the incident herself. The question of "why?" never left her mind as Archer went on.
"You were about to suffocate in there, but thankfully I noticed that something was wrong the minute I felt your prana signature flare up. Also, it seemed odd that you were taking a long time in there just chatting to a random person so I decided to check up on you," Archer explains. "Then...then you were the one who..."
"Yeah, I was the one who got you out of there. The two girls were a little persistent however, so it took me a while before I could get to you." So he was the figure she saw before she passed out. Somehow, Hakuno was relieved that Archer had been waiting outside. God knows what would've happened if she had went to the girl's toilet alone.
Even if she couldn't really remember it at first, it was now fresh and vivid in her mind. The horror of being gagged, the punch that was dealt to her abdomen and the excruciating pain that came with it, and the fear that never left her as she struggled to break free from the two girls.
She could still remember the feeling of the girl's hands around her neck, her nails digging into her skin and flesh as she was being drowned. It was a horrible feeling, like a tight chain was clamped around her skin, rubbing raw against it the more she moved about.
"...Master? Are you alright?" Looking up at him, she tries to muster a smile. "I'm fine, really. Thanks for rescuing me...again. It almost feels like you're always running around to my aid." "...Master, you're trembling. Are you sure you're ok?" Was she trembling? Looking back at herself, she can indeed see that her shoulders and fingers were shaking. Dammit.
"I-I'm fine...really! I'm just...surprised that's all!" Her voice sounds unnaturally high pitched as she tries to calm herself down. "Really...I'm ok...so don't worry." Her voice gradually begins cracking with each syllable she utters, and she can already feel her eyelids getting wet. Looking away, she rubs her eyes, trying hard not to cry.
Archer stares at her with an unreadable expression, his hand unexpectedly reaching out and once again patting her on the head. She could tell that the man felt awkward doing so, but he doesn't stop. "You're safe now. So...there's no need to be afraid of anything," he quietly says.
Hakuno wants to reply to his words, telling him once again that she was just fine. However, the minute she opens her mouth, her quivering voice turns into a sob, and she soon finds herself unable to hold back her tears as she quietly weeps, with Archer looming over her like a supportive pillar for her to lean on.
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Hakuno gently rubs the remaining tears off her eyes. By then, she had mostly settled down and was in the process of calming herself. Archer on the other hand, was very considerate and mostly kept quiet while she did so, choosing only to speak when he saw that it was really alright if him to do so.
"...Sorry, I kinda overreacted there," she apologizes after a moment, looking a little embarassed that she had cried in front of someone who happened to be a grown man who was also her servant of all people. "It's fine. I can understand your fear after that sort if experience," he simply says, taking a step back so he could face her better.
"Anyway, going back to the topic at hand, those NPCs who ambushed you appeared to be controlled. Their behaviour was quite unusual, and I believe that they're NPCs who are under Shinji's control." Upon hearing Archer's opinion, she couldn't help but think the same. She could think of only one person would possibly use such an underhanded trick against her, not to mention that he already tried killing her yesterday.
"But...if that were the case, why didn't the SE.RA.PH intervene?" "Probably because the culprits were NPCs, and no magecraft or hacking were involved so it wasn't acknowledged since it doesn't exactly count as prohibited combat. Which was probably also the reason why he sent you that message as bait." No wonder she found it weird that nothing was occuring the whole time she was attacked by them.
Then again, wouldn't that just mean that Shinji may try something similar in the future to get rid of her since there wouldn't be any intervention by the system? There was no guarantee that he would give up after one or two failed attempts. Just the thought of approaching near death like earlier was enough for her to break out in a cold sweat. "You don't think...that he'll try something like this again, will he?"
The man shakes his head. "I doubt that. Even if it isn't acknowledged, the system will still keep track of any activities conducted within the school. So long as the overseers deem it as unfair conduct, Shinji will have to be penalized for it one way or another." That statement seems to have put Hakuno at ease, because she starts relaxing her tense body.
"...Wait, how long was I out for anyway?" Archer did mention her passing out before he carried her to the infirmary. She had hoped that she wasn't unconscious for half a day. "Ah...well...not for too long, around two to three hours. Sorry to say that you missed the morning lessons though." Well, at least it was just for a few hours and not an entire day. She wouldn't know how to react if she had wasted an entire day staying unconscious anyway.
Shinji Matou...it seems like he would do anything to win at this point, even if it meant indirectly killing a master within school grounds. That would mean that apart from their private room, Hakuno could have to stay alert at all times. Though she also had the option of avoiding him at all costs, that wouldn't be wise as she still needed to find out info on him on and his servant to strategize for the Elimination battle by the end of the week.
...And as much as she disliked the rules of the Holy Grail War, she wasn't intending to lose either, especially to someone like him.