Chapter 2: Two sided awakening (2)

Dan always found the news about terrorism incidents interesting. The terrorist group publicly claimed responsibility for the attack, while the government tried to distance themselves from being held responsible as far as possible. It never failed, like clockwork.

When a plane crashed, someone claimed responsible. Begrudged by countless people, he was vilified for generations to come, even after his ashed had long gone cold. When a train crashed, the government announced it was due to thunder struck.

Well... It didn't matter whether the general populace believed it or not. The important thing is Dan did.

Two in the afternoon, even though there were still high value checks in his house, Dan was driving to the bank. Someone once joked that if the standard of living won't change, Dan had enough to enjoy a luxury lifestyle without having to work till the end of his life. Of course, that assumption didn't account for extreme inflation in the next thirty years or Dan somehow managed to live until he was two hundred years old.

Even so, coming to the bank every month for his retired pay was a habit to Dan. He used the chance to calculate the expenses for the next month, as well as saving. Using car with low fuel consumption, only went shopping when there was a discount for home appliances... Dan had maintained this frugal lifestyle of a single man for more than twenty years.

There was already a line of five or six persons at the counter when he arrived. Dan quietly stepped behind the last person despite a nice woman offered for him to take her place as a consideration to his old age, but he refused. Waiting was something as natural as breathing for him. Even in this idle state, he showed no sign of impatient or his focus wavering.

Bang! Bang!

Someone fired two shot aimed at the ceiling, followed by people's terrified screams. Then of course came the text book line: "Get your ass down on the ground and shut up! You there, and you! Show me what's in your hand!"

"Don't try to be a hero and nobody gonna get hurt!"

...

There were three robbers dressed in black jacket and ski mask, judging by the voice and their build, all of them were grown man. This didn't seem like a crime on impulse, but rather an elaborated scheme by hardened criminals. Two man were holding shotguns, while the guy in charge of the money had a hand gun.

On the other hand, the customers and the bank staffs total to no more than twenty, it was not hard for the two in shotgun to had all of them under constant surveillance. Not to mention they were unarmed and in a panic. The two opening shot was superbly done in order to control the atmosphere.

While the robber with the hand gun forced the staff to put the money in a bag, one guy approached a woman and her child. When the sound of gunshot rang, she hugged the child and forced him down the ground, using her body to shield him. But it didn't stop the child crying. It seemed the sound of him crying had irritated one of the robber.

"Please... He's just a child." The woman pleaded with the robber.

"Get him to shut up or I'll made him!"

Dan was not far from the scene, but he didn't raise his head. It was as if he didn't care about the murder about to take place in front of him. If his posture suggested anything, it was that he hoped to had nothing to do with the commotion, and that the robbers get their money and set them free soon.

The sound of crying grew larger. Ran out of patient, the robber screamed: "On the count of three! One!"

Dan eyes dashed over the mother. Her face was dyed with fear and despair. She didn't stop pleading with the robber, while her gaze seemed to be looking for help from the others in the lobby.

"Two!"

Dan charged at the robber. Since he was not far behind from the robber blind spot, the attack was successful. Not only did it surprise the robber, but also his two other accomplices had no time to react.

Dan and the robber was struggling on the ground, the four hands fighting for the shotgun. The two rolled around but neither could hold the other down or escape from the scuffle by themselves. Since their positions were constantly switched, the other two couldn't just shot Dan to free their accomplice.

Their fight continued for ten seconds, then the sound of gunshot rang again. Bang. It was not clear who pulled the trigger, but the gun both Dan and the robber were holding open fired. Be it a case of bad luck or divine retribution, the stray bullet hit the other robber holding shotgun three meters away and blasted away half his head.

The sound of the body hitting the ground was accompanied by the sound of people vomiting at the gruesome scene. But the danger had not passed yet.

The guy with the hand gun shot his accomplice, hoping that the bullet would penetrated both him and Dan. Thanks to the sudden pain in his back, the robber in front of Dan screamed and lighten his grip. The gun was fully in Dan control now.

He fired without hesitation. At close range, there was no need to even check. The power of the shotgun certainly killed the robber without fail. Dan ducked, still used the dead body as shield. The remaining robber emptied his magazine, turned around intended to ran away. Dan put the barrel on the dead guy shoulder and pulled the trigger. The right kneecap of the robber turned into minced meat. He screamed one last time and lost consciousness.

The whole bank was silent save for Dan's heavy breathing. Even though he was trained, this kind of close range struggle was not what he specialized. Furthermore, the years had taken a lot from the man vigor. He turned to the stunned guards.

"Call the police and ambulance."

The whole incident ended just as sudden as it began. The time from the robbers fired the first shot until Dan charged at the first guy was roughly four minutes. It took less than a minute from then on till the last of the robbers felt down. Forty nine seconds to be exact.

He was dreaming. A dream of the distant past. It was not his, but his Master's. There were decorations everywhere on the street. Snow. Everything was disconnected and blurry. He couldn't even make out of the passerby expression. They either hurried to returned home to their family, or meeting their loved ones for a romantic Christmas date. He had expected his Master to be the type to draw in others from all directions with just her appearance alone, but it seemed he was mistaken. None of the passerby even as much as bat a glance at her.

The sound of a coin falling caught his attention. Surrounded by the blurry street, only that single one yen coin came into his focus. It hit the ground, bounced a few times, then started rolling down the street. Until its momentum was cut short by a pair of shoes.

An uncouth youth approached. Amidst the sea of people whose face he couldn't make out, the youth features was as clear as a real person. At the moment, he eyes was darting all over the ground, it seemed like he was the owner of the coin.

Seeing the coin was not lost, he cried out happily: "My last bit of fortune."

He bent down to pick up the coin. Seeing that the person stopped his coin hadn't move, the youth looked up to face his Master. He didn't know how long in the past was this, but his Master gorgeous appearance was exactly the same as she was today.

The youth seemed to be under her charm also. He smiled: "Looks like this day isn't the worst after all."

"You are unlucky?" His Master asked in perfect Japanese, there was no trace of accent in her voice.

"Your Japanese is very fluent."

The youth question was logical, judging by his Master strawberry blonde hair and emerald eyes. Even the way she carried herself gave off the air of a foreigner. She nodded, the thin layer of snow on the ring of her hat scattered in the air. Now that he noticed it, his Master must had been standing in this weather for a long time.

She said again: "You still haven't tell me, are you considered yourself unlucky?"

"You tell me." The youth shrugged, rubbing his hands together to staved off the cold. "I just lost every yen in cash and credit I had save for this one yen coin. To be honest I don't even know how did it come to my possession."

His Master said coldly: "Losing a gamble mean you are unlucky? Then the world must be full of unlucky people."

"The element of 'Luck' doesn't exist in this world. Even if it does, a gamble never depends on it. Same goes for anything in life."

His Master's gaze moved from the youth's face to his hand. She lightly raised her eyebrow. Slender fingers, but underneath them he could see considerable nimbleness.

"You are confident in your gambling skill."

The youth smile: "I could buy it for you with the money I won using this one yen coin tonight."

He pointed at a large mansion in the distance.

...

He expected to find his Master in the library. She had gone through a great deal to secure a mansion that could accommodated her collections even just for the duration of the Holy Grail War. Since this was the only place she frequented, even more than her bedroom, it was the only room with any semblance of warmth in this whole mansion.

However, today she wasn't there. She was sitting alone in the darkness of her bedroom. Looking at a painting with a loving expression, she didn't even seem to notice him when he knocked on the door. He vaguely remembered seeing it before. It was always covered in the corner of the room, so he didn't know what the painting was until now.

It was a painting of a woman sitting beside the window, a small white cat resting in her laps. The stroke was crude, but he could tell the painter poured all of their love into it. It was a painting of his Master.

"Is that you, Assassin?"

"It's nighttime."

His Master nodded, still didn't move her eyes away. Him having a dream about her past and her sudden change of mood probably wasn't a coincidence. It seemed like these dreams were a two way street.

When he told her the content of his dream, she laughed and turned towards him for the first time.

"Surprisingly you and him might have better chemistry than with me."

"I beg to differ." Assassin said coldly.

Yes. Similar to him, the youth in her dream didn't believe in the element of luck. However, there was a fundamental difference between their beliefs. The youth was obviously confident in his skill, while Assassin believed that things like 'luck' and 'intuition' were merely the whispers of the Lord interpreted differently by the listeners. Now that he thought about it, it explained the distaste he had been feeling ever since he woke up from that dream.

His Master laughed again, stood up and stretched herself. Looked like she had been sitting in that same posture for a long time. He took the chance to ask about the content of her dream.

"It something remind me of the painter." Was her answer.

"The same one in my dream?"

"No. There was another one before him. A victim of his own circumstances." She said with a mischievous tone. "Similar to your better half."

Assassin felt like he dug his own grave there. Just as he dreamt about the subject of her affection, she dreamt about his. Thankfully, she didn't want to dwell to much on this matter. Glanced at the painting one last time, she beckoned him outside while pulling a card holder out from her pocket. It was not the first time Assassin had seen it, but he was taken in by its preciousness all the same. The cover seemed to be made out of solid gold, with a circle of mysterious diamond symbols engraved in. Strange thing was his Master never showed any kind of discomfort despite carrying it on her all the time. Either it weight was altered by magic or his Master was unnaturally strong for a person of her build, Assassin was more willing to believe in the first possibility.

"Now then, my Assassin. What kind of soul do you want tonight?"

"...A young man."

Dan sat in his home, watching the boring news on TV. The last few days he had been laying low, rejecting any and all request to curious visitors and interviewers alike. As a result, his presence on the media had started to fade. Gave them one more week, and they will had a new story. Perhaps they also sensed that he was a difficult person, the number of calls and gawkers had been reduced significantly these days.

Suddenly, the expression on Dan's face changed. He stood up and moved toward the door without a sound, his posture as if a large predator ready to pounce.

Two knock. Short and powerful. Dan didn't expect the other side to just knock, but his intuition told him that it was not someone from the media. He tried to keep his voice as calm as possible.

"I won't be accepting any interview."

"How about meeting an old friend?"

Dan's pupil widened. It was the voice of someone he knew. Just as he expected, Jack Charlton was standing at his doorstep. The middle aged man greeted Dan with a weary smile, his hand clutching a suitcase tightly. Judging from the dark circles under his eyes, he must had spent at least the last twenty four hours without a wink of sleep. Dan hurried invited him inside.

Dan poured them a cup of tea. On the table was an unremarkable black book. It was the only thing in the suitcase previously in Jack's hand. Dan looked at the other man questioningly.

"Long time no see."

"How are you?"

"The last few days were quite unpleasant."

"I'm afraid I have some more bad news for you." Jack gulped down the cup of hot tea in one go before continued. "The line of the Harwey have not died out yet."

The news came for Dan like a thunder struck. He remembered the last mission he carried out in the name of the Queen before he was allowed to retire. The extermination of the Harwey family. A purge carried out by the military in secret, an ugly power struggle all in the name of the good of the country.

"Who was it? The elder brother that got shot in the snowfield, or the younger brother that got threw from the eleventh floor?"

Jack cracked a smile, but to Dan, it looked more like he tried not to cry: "He lost most of his bodily function due to brain and spine damaged. Even so, Leonardo Bistario Harwey is quite determined to have his revenge against you."

Dan understood. With his body in that condition, to Leonardo there was not any chance to continue the so called noble line of the Harwey. Therefore he channeled his will to live and the family wealth into the rage against Dan.

"You came to warn me of this?"

"Actually, someone entrusted me this to give to you." Jack gestured to the book on the table. His tone was clear that once the delivery was done, he will be out of these muddy waters.

The word 'someone' certainly interested Dan. Was it the Queen who wanted extent her help once more in reward for his services? But what good a book will do for him?

"I... don't know."

"You don't know who ask you to bring this to me?"

"Does the name Johann ring any bell?"

Dan shook his head. A single name was too vague to recall. He needed more information before he could made an educated guess. Jack thought the same, as he continued.

"He ran a book store."

Once again, Dan was drawing a blank. In hope that Dan thought of something useful, Jack began to recount his meeting with the man known as Johann.

...

Roughly a week after Dan encountered the bank robber, Jack stood at the door of a certain bookstore at Chicago. Just as he was about to opened the door, it was burst open from the inside. Four guys in black suit walked out, in their hand was some kind of package.

"What are you looking at?" One guy with a large build shouted.

Jack just backed away, both his hand in the air. He didn't know the reason for the other party's irritation, and it was not worth it to have a confrontation. He walked into the messy bookstore.

The owner was sitting behind a desk at the center of the room. The closed door behind his back seemed to be his living quarter. On his left hand was an expensive looking coffee machine, probably the thing that worth the most in this entire room.

"Mister Johann?" Jack asked with uncertain voice.

Johann was about to opened the book in his hand, but after hearing his voice, he just sighed and sip his coffee while gesturing for Jack to sit down. Of course, there was no other place for him to sit other than the piles of book. He picked a relatively flat looking pile.

Johann opened his drawer, looking at Jack with the eyes of a dead fish: "Pizza?"

"No thanks."

Johann gazed back at the content of his drawer: "How about some local delicacy?"

"I'm sorry?"

"These things have amazing amount of protein, and probably tasted like chicken." Johann sound like he was making a sale pitch to some unsuspecting housewives. "I can even microwave it for you if you want."

Even though he couldn't make out the thought behind the other man expression, Jack sixth sense from the time he served in military sniffed something was up. It was screaming some kind of warning he couldn't understand just yet to his mind. Therefore, he declined again, this time more firmly.

Johann muttered something and slammed his drawer shut. Jack took the chance to look around while throwing a random pitch.

"Who was those guy just now?"

"Them? Just the Opium club."

"With the way they dressed, people would think they are with the mafia. Is that the popular fashion for doing drugs these days?"

Johann said with indifference: "They are the mafia."

Jack swallowed what he was about to say back down his throat. Johann threw a newspaper down the table.

"Don't worry, they are not your business. It's this."

Jack studied the newspaper. The entirety of front page had been used to report about a failed bank robbery and the hero who singlehandedly dealt with the assailants. Jack could felt his breathing quicken. He knew this man. From many years ago. Dan Blackmore, close confidant of the Queen.

"What about him?"

"Soon, his enemies from the past would come for him. But this time the young master of the Harwey will bring a force he could never hope to match on his own." He picked up the book he was reading when Jack came in. "This book is title 'Leonardo Bistario Harwey'. Bring it to Dan Blackmore to even the playing field. You could read it on the way if you want. It'll have some use for you in the future."

Jack received the book with a questioning expression. Finishing his coffee, Johann added.

"By the way, you should not try to come back to this place when you're done with Dan. You must have heard of Gambling Snake, yes. He will learn of this place soon. Knowing his personality, anyone who come into contact with this bookstore after that might be in danger."

Another name that Jack known of and wanted nothing to do with. Johann yawned and walked to a nearby shelf. He seemed to be looking for something. The man muttered: "Nineteen century... Electric appliances... Here it is."

The man pulled out a videotape player and started to tinker with it. Seeing that he no longer registered in Johann's mind, Jack decided that it was his time to leave.

...

Dan creased his eyebrows further. The more he heard about this Johann, the more the man seemed to be an enigma. He decided to focus on the more tangible thing at hands.

"So this Johann asked you to bring me a book."

Jack pushed the book towards Dan, his voice like he was telling a bone chilling ghost story.

"Read it yourself. Carefully!"

Holidays were a bastion of human's depravity, since once every year it gave human the excuse to do something 'meaningful' in a 'special' day, while in truth those thing could be done whenever. Despite the lies about how it was to commemorate a special events or the sacrificed of some big shot, in truth they were created through the combination of 'deception' and 'tragedy'. The adults told their children: "There is a fat man in red clothes going around the world giving present"; while the men told the women: "You are the only love of my life" and the women answered: "I will be by your side both in riches and poverty." In the end, the only good came of it was that Thanksgiving allowed you the chance to be thankful even though you haven't said 'thank you' a whole year, and New year was another excuse to leave work early to return home.

The way he saw it, holidays acted as a special kind of transaction. Roses, gifts, playing nice... their purpose boiled down to new year money, return gifts or thirty seven degree hug pillow. Of course, no matter how perfect the plan was, you still could received the answer of: 'Sorry, I only consider us friend', police tickets or domestic abuse if you messed up the execution.

February 14th, Yuzuru was fixing his tie obstinately in a restroom of a high class restaurant at Shinjuku while thinking about the pros and cons of holidays in details. That was the only thing he could do to kept his mind off the fact that he was doing the exact same thing the old bastard was. Dressing up to impress someone. Even though officially Gambling Snake was considered a wanted criminal, he made no effort to disguise himself. Now that he thought about it, that was a strange phenomenon. The harder a criminal tried to avoid suspicion, the more they appeared suspicious. On the other hand, people like him could easily blended into the crowd without someone giving as much as a second glance. After all, the comment logic just couldn't accept the fact that a notorious criminal could brazenly be walking around in public.

The other party was already there when arrived at the table. His sister, Yatogami Tohka, was eating two portion of Italian desert with an annoyed expression.

"Long time no see."

Tohka sighed: "Since you were late, I ate your portion, Nii-san."

"I only got here five minutes late and you already finished deserts. This restaurant serves the food in courses you know..."

"Spare me the chatter. What do you want?"

"Can't I celebrate the reunion with my little sister over a nice meal..."

Tohka cut him off mercilessly: "As far as I'm concerned, I don't think of you as my family anymore. The same could be said for mom, seeing as she disowned you shortly after father passed away."

Yuzuru was holding onto his hope. No, he held onto his hope before she uttered that sentence. But now, he couldn't even mustered the courage to face his own sister eye to eye. He looked down as if studying the embroidery on the table cloth, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.

"Does the second house still vacant? I need a place to stay."

"It is."

"Don't worry. I'll pay the rent properly. Haven't I been sending you money? I'm not a good for nothing anymore."

Tohka glared at him, the temperature in her voice dropped a dozen degree: "Have you been gambling?"

He waved his hand hurriedly and explained himself before her misunderstanding worsen: "No, no. I quitted gambling for good. I have a job now."

"What are you doing?"

"...Business consultant."

Technically speaking, it was not a lie. The customers and the activities themselves might be of the unsavory sort, but she didn't need to know that. He breathed a sigh of relief when her voice soften. It was still distant, but it was much better than just now.

Tohka sighed: "I'll have the documents ready tomorrow. Is there anything else?"

Yuzuru could only managed to shook his head and quickly muttered a 'thank you' before his sister immediately stood up and asked the waiter for the bill. She was even going as far as requesting to split the bill.

"There are no need for that. I'll treat you."

"No thank you. I can't accept being treated by your money, Nii-san."

She walked away, leaving him defeated. Even if he wanted to take it out on someone, he had no one to blame but himself. Not even Karen. Her contract only worked on the basis that both side gave the others something they agreed to be of equal value. She couldn't force anyone to made the contract, and they couldn't terminated the contract on their own.

In the end, it was just exactly like those cautionary tales he used to read for Tohka when she was young. Only after he sold away something he thought to be useless did he realized how precious to him it was. No matter how much effort he spent trying to made amends using human means, he will never be able to recovered what was lost by magic. That's why he had no choice but to cling to the ultimate wish granting vessel.

Looking at the empty plates and the chair that Tohka had been seating until just a moment ago, Yuzuru reaffirmed his conclusion. Because he had no family to spent them with, holidays were truly a bastion of human's depravity.

At first glance, Dan thought it was an elaborated prank. He felt suspicion reading the first few pages, but it quickly turned to horror the further he went. Aside from the shocking content, there was another point of interest. The thickness of the book and the number of the pages didn't match. Unless he had been hallucinating or his eyes was playing tricks on him somehow, from the look of it, this book couldn't have been more than two to three hundreds pages. But when he counted the number by flipping through the pages in rapid succession, it quickly surpassed three thousands. Strangely enough, the number of pages he turned didn't affect the thickness of the book at all, either visually or physically. It was similar to the concept of 'the next second'. You knew it was coming but you could never grasp it.

Even though he knew of the wonders humanity achieved during the information era, such as a single file on the computer could store as much as half a library, the paper book he was holding in his hand couldn't be explained with modern science. The content weren't restricted by the thickness was outside of the realm of physics, and the fact that it was depicting the thoughts of another person was outside of his imagination.

Holding the book, Dan didn't stop Jack when the latter wanted to leave. Dan understood the meaning his old friend was hiding in his eyes. Maybe to Jack, the only thing that could give him some semblance of relief was the death of Dan and Harwey reported on the news. Perhaps the man known as Johann also.

The more he read the book, the less the suspicion in his heart remained. The book was trustworthy after all. From childhood to the teenage years to adulthood, the life of a person over twenty years filled with innocence, thrill, lust, anger and hatred was written on the pages. Naturally, there were also moments of conscience, regret, empathy, mercy and even true and honest love. The thoughts and actions of a person was a unpredictable and contradicting variable.

This kind of thing couldn't be fabricated even by Harwey himself, much less by anyone else. The only possible explanation Dan could find was that this thing belonged to the occult. On the other hand, he also had the problem of Johann identity to considered. What role did he play and what purpose did he hold. Those are the questions that visited Dan's mind.

Nevertheless, it was not the most important thing. There was only one thing he needed to do now that it had came to this. Kill. Finished his duty from years ago. Before the opposition had the chance to kill him themselves.

According to the book, gathering his fighting force wasn't the only thing the young master of the Harwey had been doing. He had also been sharpening his sophistication. For a person who was denied most of the basics of his bodily function, his intellect and will was the thing keeping him alive at the top until now.

When Harwey woke up, the purged had ended two days ago. The state of his mind in that period was extremely unstable, as if he had gone insane. The wounds he suffered on his body was too much to bear for any other person, much less a young and healthy noble. It would be more merciful if his will broke down there and then.

But as a cruel trick of God, he regained his reasons. He turned his grief into drive, carved the face of Dan to his mind, hid the fact that he was still alive, left the country and avoided direct contact with all others. All of this was just to find Dan and made him experienced the same pain.

Dan sat at the same spot reading the book of Harwey's inner mind the whole day. He didn't skip any page, even the parts which seemed random and unimportant in the thoughts of a person. He had now obtained the necessary information to made his move. Harwey's goal. The Holy Grail War. Even his Servant identity.

Dan closed the book and stood up. It seemed like these old bones had to accompanied him to one last war. This time, not between organisations or nations, but seven individuals.

Yuzuru was sitting alone in his hotel room, a small piece of wood in his hand. In front of him was the scene of a makeshift summoning circle. The only thing left to do was using the catalyst Johann gave him to summon his Servant. But he had not make even the slightest of movement ever since he finished preparing the circle.

His mind was not there. He was imagining another him from above, in another dimension, watching the events surrounding the character called 'Yatogami Yuzuru', similar to one would looking for hidden plot points in a movie. Then he imagined another from an even more vantage point of view, watching the first observer. His palace of reasoning was constructed by these three layers. It was Gambling Snake's favorite decision making method.

'What would he do when Johann betray him?'

To answer this question, he need to know the moment Johann will made his move. The state of both side of the board.

'When would be the most advantageous moment for Johann to betray him?'

It was not a question of 'if', but 'when'. Even with all the information at hand, could he really predicted the movement of the man with access to unlimited sources of intel at any moment, all of which could not lie to him. Yuzuru recalled his first and only meeting with Johann so far. Whether due to the latter carelessness or over confidence, he had already been given a hint.

"Cooperation, mister Gambling Snake, is each side using the other until there are no more benefits to be have."

When will Yuzuru be of no use to Johann. What was the latter end game. The Holy Grail. Then was the moment Yuzuru won the Grail that moment Johann would revealed his hand. No.

"My initial plan were to hire a bunch of random thugs and play the boss directly for you, but you are a hard man to chase. In the end, I have to sacrifice the Opium club for this chance."

The Opium club was only his backup plan that he had no choice but to went with. Johann was neither omnipotent nor omniscient. He boasted to achieve perfect crime through 'detailed planning, perfect execution and suitable dealing of the aftermath'. Even with all the information in his hand, he could never plan something that could disregard two other factors. That was why he sacrificed the Opium club. Because he didn't believe he could pull off the perfect execution in the face of Gambling Snake.

Then what was the execution he needed of Gambling Snake this time. The war. No. Not the war itself. Johann was not above doing the dirty works with his own two hands. Once again, the same reason applied. But in this case, someone in his position would be much more potent in the Holy Grail War. The key was neither information nor fighting prowess. Why would he needed to involve Gambling Snake, who didn't even heard of the Holy Grail War before. Why would he readily provided the promise of a strong Servant. The Servant.

"...Was he unable to summon a Servant for some reason?"

Going along with this theory, Johann would either forced him to forfeit the Servant he just summoned, or killed him outright and stole the Command Seals. It would be simple for Yuzuru to just walked away, but he also strongly coveted the Holy Grail now that he had learned of it existence. And the Servant Johann went through so much troubles to obtained would be no doubt strong. Which outweigh the other, the risks or the interests. A gamble.

In the end, he made his decision based on the flow of their first meeting. He couldn't win this gamble as long as the other side held all the cards while having the knowledge of his hand also. He needed to play a card Johann from outside of Johann's expectation.

Yuzuru put the wooden piece back into the bag and put it to the other side of the room. He could just destroy it, but it was not yet the time to destroy their thinly veiled 'corporation' completely. The ritual Johann taught him should be safe to use, but at this point he better not took any chances just for safe measure.

He pulled out his phone, looking for a prc file called 'Book of Demon Subjugating'. Just as he expected, knowledge about rituals he couldn't read before starting to made sense before his eyes. Rearranged the ritual according to the instruction in the book, he began summoning his Servant. Since he didn't have any other catalyst, this summoning was also another gamble. But he was rather made the bet on his own than playing Johann's game.

He certainly felt it. A sting when the Command Seals appeared in the back of his right hand. His Servant had arrived.

"Lewis Caroll had decided to grace yourself with her presence." The teenage girl said haughtily. Her golden hair flowed straight to the middle of her back. "You may called me Caster or 'your majesty'. The later happens to be my personal recommendation."

There was a slight miscalculation in his plan. You could exchange the bad cards in hope of a better hand, but the same couldn't be said for summoning a Servant.

Authors Note: Did I say two perspective in the first chapter? I totally lied. We have two new perspective, but we are still at the setup phase. I'm sorry if the story is progressing slowly with these low action chapters, but it was important for the character arc and their development so I just couldn't gloss over it.

See you next chapter.