[Taiga flips through the Emiya's family album. The first picture is Shirou and Taiga when they were younger, posing for the camera. A happy Kiritsugu was in the background.]
"Look at that! Our little and cute Emiya!" Mordred laughed. "Man, what a bummer. Where is that idiot when I want to make fun of him?"
Cú Chulainn laughed as hard as she did. Having the time of his life was a good understanding. Good thing for Archer to not be here or his suffering would be pitiful... for him or Master at least.
"C'mon, if you have a 'start' or 'pause' option, you need to have a 'screenshot' too!" Ritsuka cried. "Capture! Screenshot! GEORGIOS, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU WHEN I NEED IT!?"
"Aha, it's like watching a mother telling embarrassing stories about her son." Tristan noticed some physical similarities between him and Shirou, not only because the hair, but their faces were somehow similar at that age.
"What a cutie. Right, Gray?" Reines asked.
"I don't know what to say. Yes. I think so." Gray didn't like the face that woman as doing right now.
"Miyu..." Sapphire worried about the girl cleaning her eyes.
"Don't be. I'm fine."
[The next picture was Taiga helping Shirou hold a shinai. The poor boy was blushing. The other photo showed Kiritsugu carrying a sleepy Shirou on his back.]
Tears almost come out, but Irisviel hid her face in shame to no cry. Kiritsugu being a father and looking happy was something she hope for, but didn't believe that would see.
"It's okay, Iri." Artoria rubbed her friend's back. "I'm glad to see these photos too."
"Hooow cuuuteee!" Kuro threw herself at Taiga, eyes heart shaped.
Bedivere had a good laugh and said, "Really, Emiya was a cutie as a child."
"He really was, Sir Bedivere. Makes me wonder what your children will look like, Artoria," Irisviel said.
The room died in silence upon hearing that.
"Oh my." Jeanne blushed. "No hesitation."
"What an absurd thing to say!" Artoria nearly had a heart attack, turning into a tomato. "Emiya and I are just comrades!"
"In love?"
"In battle!"
"Milady, I must beg for you to think twice before making such accusations!" Lancelot emerged between them. "My king would never have this kind of relationship with that man!"
"And who are you? Her father?" Irisviel complained pushing him away. "I want grandchildren, Artoria Pendragon!"
Artoria cleared her throat. "We'd do better turning our attention back to the movie, please, or we'll miss the rest of the pictures."
Kuro just shook her head. You're not really our mother, but it seems that the desire to have grandchildren is the same no matter the universe.
Siegfried smiled watching all that commotion. He had no interest in being in any particular group, but this one looked like fun at least. And it would be good to have the King of Knights there, any questions about the war could be clear up with her.
"Although," he whispered, "that Irisviel lady reminds me of Kriemhild."
[The next pictures showed Shirou and Shinji hanging ou when they were younger. They seemed to be quite happy.]
"Looks like my vessel and this brat were close friends." Muramasa sighed. "This is going to end badly, y'know?"
"Why, Muramasa?" Mash asked. "Shinji seems harmless to me."
"I'm old, but ain't stupid. Shinji will play an important role in this fragment, kiddo."
Mash then realized what the old man meant, "A master, right? That's worrying."
"Worrying, indeed. I doubt that Shirou has the balls to get blood on his hands," Artoria Alter mocked. "He's the type of idiot who'd only kill as a last option. And there's no such thing as 'last option' in war, it's kill or be killed."
Artoria Alter heard some stories about the actions that boy had taken with her counterpart.
"Ya really holdin' my vessel as a pacifist?" Muramasa frowned.
"You think I'm wrong, blacksmith? Once you know Emiya, it's easy to figured that a younger version would be a bloody idiot."
"How bizarre that a fox know the wolf better than the lion." Tamamo snorted. "There's no 'pacifist' to a man like that. Don't let Shirou's cute face fool you."
[The last photos are the most recent: Shirou and Sakura playing chefs, that one take by Kuzuki and Shirou admiring Sakura in her archery dojo uniform.]
"Look at his face! Caught in the act!" Astolfo laughed.
Illya and Jack laughed too. Big brother, whoever took this picture it's pure evil!
[In the shed, Shirou is training his magecraft.
"Trace On."]
"Trace On," Ritsuka recited. "Good thing Meltlilith isn't here or she'd be pissed."
["I have to take it apart again!" Shirou cried as he lay down on the ground, tired.]
"Fast for a third-rate mage who clearly doing the wrong way..." El Melloi II sighed. "I never found out what kind of magecraft he wielded in Clock Tower. No talent, huh? What a fool you are, Waver."
"There's a lot of things here that are projections," Musashi said. "Look there, and there, and there. All projections, but made a long time ago. I think? Cigar-teacher is the expert here."
El Melloi II stared that woman for a good portion of time before he finally answered, "Life is full of surprises, who'd thought a samurai had such a good eye for magecraft."
"Oi, don't look at this gal like she is an idiot! I know my stuff too!" Musashi pouted.
"Right." El Melloi II focused his attention on the items she indicated scattered across the shed. "I never stopped to think about this, but did Shirou always had the power to copy Noble Phantasms?"
"Funny how this place is just like old man Muramasa room. Dirty and a mess, full of things and stuffs," Ereshkigal said.
"Absolutely. Shirou must have spent half of his time here with tools, dismantling things." Boudica noticed too. "Vessels are always handpicked. It doesn't surprise me."
[Shirou heard Sakura and Taiga talking in the house and smiled.
Unfortunately the pleasant moment was cut short.]
Many things happened at once. A list of surprises.
The first and simplest was the fact that all groups were disbanded. Therefore, all servants were assembled in one place.
Next surprise was the reason why the first didn't had any reaction from them: there's no house or shed anymore, just a world engulfed in flames and destruction.
And the last one was the worst...
"Senpai!" Mash ran towards her friend.
Not only the Shielder but other servants too.
Ritsuka fell to her knees. Never was so hard to not throw up. She was shaking like a terrified child.
"Reines! Reines!" But that woman who Waver held in his arms was worse. "Reines, talk to me!"
Gray's eyes widened when she saw Reines almost screaming in pain.
"Hold the arms, Zhuge Liang's vessel, or she'll rip her eyes off!" Sima Yi took control over the body.
"What is this place!? What's happening!?" Ishtar snapped, floating with care of the falling buildings.
Before their eyes was a city in ruins with burned corpses. Everywhere they could look had death. Adult or children, man or woman, those unlucky still alive filled their ears with terrible screams.
"This heat is enough to melt a human!" Cú stated.
"Oh lord, who let something like this happen..." Jeanne died without regrets. Death was nothing to her. But the fire sometimes haunted the saint.
Astolfo had leapt into Siegfried's arms after appearing above burning wreckage.
"The fire had no effect on you." Siegfriend noted. "Different from the rain."
"Oh, no!"
Raikou's scream drew all their attention to a figure standing alone in that hell.
"S-Shirou...?" Illya said in disbelief.
[An old memory is swept away by the color of flames. I am not allowed to wallow in my memories, it says.]
Gradually, Miyu lips began to tremble. Kuro tongue was swollen and dry. And Illya tried to stop with her hands, but she throw up anyway.
"Illya!" Irisviel crouched beside her daughter. "Girls, don't look!"
Calling that child "Shirou" was preposterous, perhaps something who could only be recognized that fast by a sister or a mother, and then by others.
His body so burned that could be mistaken with the corpses who became part of his past at each step. What's left of the clothes already made part of the boy.
Somehow his face wasn't burned, perhaps the very struggle who held him from death's embrace. Empty eyes looked at something worst than ruins: a black sun in the sky. A dark tower projecting a terrible shadow over that entire burned field.
It was only a fraction, but they could feel what the boy was feeling at that moment. The despair, fear, sadness, grief. Everything all at once. And even just a fraction was enough to terrify most.
Tamamo understood the reason why that doom was affecting even the servants quickly as she could breath.
"Jeanne! Get close to Master! The destruction of this place is not the only problem. What is affecting her and that other girl is the absurd amount of curses spread around here."
Jeanne did as she was asked and knelt beside Ritsuka, hugging her. Martha ran to the girl as well, crouching on the other side.
"Our Father, who art in heaven..." Jeanne started, leaning her head against Ritsuka's and reciting her lord's words.
"Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses..." Martha recited on the other side.
Mash felt her anxiety slowly diminish as Ritsuka regained the color in her face. El Melloi II also started to relax when he saw that it was just an initial shock, all that load thrown into Reines' eyes wasn't that strong, she had been through worse.
"There's no way to contact Chaldea?" Ereshkigal asked. "Enough of this fragment, it's not worth it!"
"Casko, you were the one dealing with messages from the staff! What do you have to say for yourself!?" Nero exclaimed.
"Mikon! We expected that the fragments would evolve, but not this way!" Tamamo replied. "So far what we've felt doesn't resemble anything like this."
"Maybe starting these movies knowing there's no way of leaving wasn't the best idea..." Bedivere said.
"Unfortunately, Chaldea's method and, frankly, the only one that works is always the same." Amakusa decided to join the discussion. "It's all about taking chances. We've always done this and probably we'll never stop."
"I agree with him," Gawain spoke. "It's not the best, but it's the only way we can find to fight. Especially against such a mysterious enemy."
"How this piece of shit is hidin' inside such a tiny singularity!?" Mordred roared. "When I find him, and I'll, my entire sword gonna be inside his ass!"
"Pretty boy decided that our best course of action is wait for this singularity evolve more, didn't he?" Musashi asked. "Then, perhaps, maybe we should listen."
Muramasa frowned. "This old man is dyin' or the damn samurai gained a brain?"
"To make a world like this requires an absurd amount of mana..." Amakusa reflected on that. Reminds me of a Reality Marble. "What about the rest of the servants in the other rooms?"
"Oi, can't you see that master is recoverin'?" Mordred stepped between the man and the girl. "Wait a damn minute!"
"Don't worry, Mordred. I can answer a simple question..." Ritsuka got up with Mash's help, still a little dizzy. "I'm already better. About the question... I can still feel my connection to them, but it's weak."
"I felt a sudden burst of mana from my connection to Circe," Medea said. "I imagine she's fine. And, consequently, the others with her."
"And why didn't you say anything about it before, woman?" Cú questioned.
"Because the burst was made shortly after we arrived in this hell! She must have noticed how the simulation is affecting us and decided to let me know that she was fine!" Medea emanated enough hostility to make Lancer shut up.
"Think ya can keep going, kiddo?" Muramasa asked. "If ya want to rest a little, no one-"
"I don't need rest. And certainly not here." Ritsuka smiled. "That was nothing, I'm fine. Let's move on. I'm still looking forward to seeing the rest of the movie!"
Musashi also smiled. "That's our gal!"
"Now that Master is fine, how about someone explain what the fuck is that!?" Robin pointed to something hidden between the collapsing buildings.
Just now most of them noticed that black sun and tower.
"Are you okay?" Artoria asked as she approached Archer. Nothing there was new to her, she had already seen it in Shirou's dreams.
Emiya looked strangely calm. He wasn't there just to have fun, he's mission was to take care of Ritsuka, to understand what was happening to her and why that Singularity existed.
The fire wouldn't affect him... but just the fire. He was surprised at seeing that black sun and tower. "Did I see this in my own life?" said his face.
"Oi, Emiya!" Mordred called. "Fuck spoilers, what the hell is this!? A nightmare?"
But Emiya never got a chance to respond as Ritsuka never paused the movie.
[Every time I'm dreaming, I arrive at the usual terminus. In other words, it means I'm going to wake up soon.
"Senpai. Good morning." Sakura woke him.]
Once the ruins were gone, the servants were surprised once again when the singularity split them into groups, but with a different formation.
"Looks like we're back to being a small group," Ritsuka said.
"Master..." Jack hug Ritsuka from behind, worried.
"Are you fine?" Musashi asked just to be sure.
"Of course. That's was nothing!"
"Don't be a fool, Master. Get some rest, we know how you've been affected by that place." Nero scolded the girl with hands on her hips.
Medusa was still processing what happened. Was that just a bad dream or had Archer really been through that?
"How intriguing..." Jekyll whispered to himself.
The idea of dividing them into groups was really practical for comfort reasons, but the fact that they all had been gathered in those ruins to be randomly separated again was curious. I thought that the first lineup would be fixed until the fragment ended, but maybe we'll switch between groups several times.
[A DAY AGO]
["Listen, Sakura, you don't have to come over every day. Sakura, you have your own daily life."
Shirou and Sakura walked down the sidewalk together, in school uniform.]
Scáthach expected a lot of things, but she certainly didn't expect to discover that kind of past. While some wondered if that sequence was just a dream, she was pretty sure it really was a memory. She was not that surprised. Most heroes marked in history had sad origins, it was almost like a requirement.
"Emiya...?" Boudica approached him hesitantly.
"Yes, I'm fine. Do not worry."
"My king..." Bedivere whispered.
"We're not going to make Emiya talk about something he don't want, Bedivere," Artoria answered before the man could ask. "Let's just stay here if he needs someone to listen."
Bedivere nodded in agreement. The current situation was not the time for it, but he couldn't hide his smile. Bedivere was very happy to see her that way; years and years listening to the people of Camelot make even the noble knight angry, all that people judged her as someone cold who didn't know or understand people's hearts; she had difficulties, yes, but Artoria was always someone in love with her people. In those moments he saw that compared to his king in Camelot or the Lion King, that Artoria seemed to be doing much better.
"Are you okay, little girl?" Raikou asked as she placed a hand on Illya's shoulder who was still shaking.
The girl nodded yes, even though her lips were trembling and her eyes were blurry. Raikou had to resist the urge to cry, squeezing the girl's shoulder in affection and staying by her side if needed.
Emiya looked at Illya, feeling the need to go console her. The two exchange glances, then look away. And he went back to what he was thinking before.
Ignoring the fact that we've been walking for a long time and just thinking about the scenes that we feel a trigger to be attentive, the movie has just started and it's already saying that there's only one day left until the war. And Sakura is still the focus. Emiya already had suspicions about what was going on, but he would keep quiet for now. If he was right, it would at least make things more interesting. The reaction from the others who participated in that war would be funny too.
["It's fine. My only hobbies are cooking and archery." Sakura replied without giving much thought to Shirou's concern. "And my future goal is to cook something tastier than your dishes. And I think I'll be getting in range pretty soon."]
Parvati had a small smile seeing the interaction between Sakura and Shirou. She could feel that the girl's happiness was genuine, almost a treasure that she would carry with her for the rest of her life.
"What the...!" Kama stamped her feet on the ground, disgusted. "Why am I falling in the same group as you again!? Are you doing something behind the scenes?"
"Of course not, you naughty child!" Parvati answered. "Wait, why you are a child again?"
Astolfo laughed at the sight of that two goddesses arguing. He was getting lucky with the groups he had fallen into.
Kuro leapt across the street's rooftops where Shirou and Sakura were walking. She was not only disappointed with that group (more crazy people), but she had her own troubled mind to organize after that previous scene.
"Is everything okay in there?" Sasaki asked looking at Reines.
"She said 'yes'," Medea answered. "Poor girl."
"Was that a nightmare, witch?"
"No, it wasn't." She decided to ignore what he called her.
"Thanks for the support back there, Sima Yi," Reines said. "Don't worry," Sima Yi answered.
"What a bunch of weirdos..." Kuro sighed seeing that.
["Can it be that you've been stealing our secrets every day?"
"Yes! You'd better be prepared for that day! Besides, I can no longer enjoy meals unless I'm ate your place."
Shirou blushed a little and had a good giggled.
"Hey now. If you don't hurry, you won't make it to morning practice!"]
"Will we see the war one day?" Mordred complained, bored. "And besides, I miss sittin' in the chair just watchin' things happen. Walking sucks."
The group followed the pair of protagonists walking towards the school. From their home to the eventual school.
"Don't be this way, Mordred. It's fun because it's immersive." Gareth was loving that region where the movie was set. And even though she knew they couldn't hit her, she was having fun jumping out of the way of passing cars at the last moment. "These modern carriages are something!"
"Every story needs a slow start to get somewhere." Tristan played a few notes. "It's like that with music too."
"Bullshit! Master showed me a bunch of music that starts out loud from beginnin' to end. And my war also started right into the action!" Mordred snapped.
"Calm down, Mordred. It was said 'A day ago', we're getting closer to what you want." Artoria Alter scolded.
Mordred crossed her arms and snorted.
"Those knights of the Round Table always make a scene when together," Martha said with a half smile.
"They're a damn headache." Robin remembered the day Mordred decided to force him to train with her, just because of one innocent little joke from him. Nothing serious.
"I find nostalgic," Chiron said. Any group brought together with a good amount of strong personalities would result in unique interactions, just look at the Argonauts as an example.
[At school, Shirou sits down to fix a device while his friend, Issei, is having tea.
"Emiya, are you dating Matou's little sister?" Upon seeing Shirou's reaction, he added: "Oh, well, I happened to see you two coming to school together like a happy couple."
"She's my friend little sister! Of course not!"]
"Holy damn, straight for the jugular. I like that kid." Cú had one more laugh seeing Shirou getting embarrassed.
Although Miyu had never met the girl, she remembered hearing her brother talking about someone named Sakura once. The similarities between them really seemed like they would never end. And Issei... didn't Suzuka like him or something like that? I don't know, that kind of thing is up to Illya.
["In fact, if you saw me, why didn't you call out to me?"
"I'm still a monk in training, so I don't have such nerves."]
"HAHAHA! A good companion this boy is. Those who respect their friends' love lives deserve my respect!" Iskandar said.
["Jeez. Here! I finished one!" Shirou warned and placed the device beside him.]
"Not bad. Looks like ya have a good amount of them waiting for ya, vessel." Muramasa noted that just like the shed, that room at school was supposed to be where Shirou fixed things. "Like a forge, huh?"
[Shirou and Issei meet Shinji on the stairs on their way to class.
"Morning, Shinji."
"Hey, Emiya. Are you helping others again from the early hours? You really are whimsical, aren't you?"
"Well, I have plenty of time, you know. If you need anything, you can tell me, Shinji. You were never very good at re-stringing and mending bows."
"You know, Emiya, you have nothing to do with the archery club anymore, right? It'd be better for you if you kept your nose out of others' affairs.]
He was just trying to help... Gray didn't like that Matou, the boy exuded an unbearable arrogance. Although she never interacted much with Shirou as he seemed to avoid her in Clock Tower, every now and then she would see him helping people on the streets of London. And Rin had always said that he did it with no ulterior motives.
[In the classroom, Shirou looks at Shinji, worried about the boy.]
"This kid smells like those typical brave, good-hearted heroes that kept showing up on our island, me. But without the hero part, just the fool." Stheno focused more on Shirou than Shinji. "I don't like him at all."
"It's true, me." Euryale said. "The seaweed boy is right. He should worry about himself instead of others."
Jeanne could barely pay attention to those scenes, still worried about Ritsuka. At least from the connection she felt with the girl she seemed to be back to her normal strength. And that ruins... I hope Emiya is fine.
[Shirou leaves the room to go to lunch and finds Sakura picking up some papers on the floor.
"Hey, Sakura-" Shirou stop himself when Rin appeared to help Sakura get the papers.]
"FINALLY!" Ishtar spins in the air. "Look how beautiful she is! Someone that beautiful could only be my vessel!"
Mash would never say that out loud, but it was pretty strange to see "Ishtar" with cloathes. Usually she was always showing her body, without an ounce of embarrassment.
Tamamo didn't want to, but ended up smiling when she saw that girl. Although Rin was her rival, it was undeniable that without her, Tamamo and Hakuno would not have reached the end of that war.
"I wonder how the personality of this Rin will be," Tamamo said. "I hope she is more like my Rin and less Ishtar."
"Damn..." El-Melloi II couldn't care less about what was going on. His mind still occupied with the state Reines was when they were separated by the singularity. He wished he'd fallen into the same group as her.
[Shirou watched the two, hidden.]
Jeanne Alter burst out laughing when she saw the faces of the students passing by, commenting among themselves how creepy Shirou was being right now.
[After Rin leaves, Shirou finally approaches.
"That was Tohsaka, right? Rin Tohsaka."
"You know of her...?"
"Yeah. Well, she's famous. And she always kind of stands out, so..."]
Kuro sighed. It didn't matter which Shirou was shown, apparently all them would be a door when the topic was romance. The fact that he couldn't see how disappointing it was for Sakura to hear that...
["You're right. Miss Tohsaka is so pretty and cool..."]
Lancelot knew ladies well enough to know that Shirou had just dug his own grave.
[At the end of school hours, the duo of protagonists went towards the Matou house.]
"Looks like we're reunited again," Amakusa said.
All groups met at the school exit.
As they followed these two through the streets of Fuyuki, the servants had their own thoughts. Some were bored, others were checking up on Ritsuka.
["Senpai, you're not planning on returning to the archery club anymore?"
"Well, see..." Shirou searched for the right words. "Wouldn't Shinji hate it if I did?"
Sakura shook her head. "I'm sure Big Brother just finds it difficult to deal with you. But he likes you a lot more than the others. He's not honest with his feelings, so sometimes he's mean with the people he likes."
"That's a troublesome..."]
"... personality." Muramasa finished at the same time. "Heh."
[Arriving at the Matou residence, the girl said goodbye to Shirou and entered the house. He, however, had his attention caught hearing the sound of insects.
"Insects are chirring? In winter?"
"Come now." A voice emerges from the darkness of the Matou residence.]
This feeling... Raikou needed to hold herself to not to draw her sword. All instincts screamed that she should attack that being.
["I hear you're taking good care of my granddaughter."
Zouken Matou finally appears.]
"He's not human." Musashi spoke suddenly, taking a more serious posture. "His scent..."
"...it's like death himself." Ereshkigal took a few steps back. "What an evil presence."
Ritsuka looked at the reaction of her servants, noting that they all seemed to act the same way: disgusted. Must have been another kind of presence unlike those ruins that made her feel bad, because right now she didn't seem affected by anything, at least not compared to that inferno.
Medusa clenched her fists seeing that old trash appearing. She then wondered what happened to him in their war, she also wondered what had happened to Sakura. She needed to ask Emiya or Artoria sometime. She never had the courage before.
["Oh, excuse me, sir. My name is Shirou Emiya. I'm a classmate of Shinji's."
"Emiya... Is the Einzbern girl doing well?"]
"Makiri...!" Irisviel was worried, she knew that if that man participated in the war, things would be extremely complicated. "Artoria. Are you sure you've never seen this man?"
"No, Iri. I never saw him. At least not while fighting alongside Shirou." Artoria replied, staring the old man frowning upon not receiving any response from Shirou. What's going on in this movie? Why are you showing these things?
Shirou Amakusa was utterly dumbfounded seeing that man still alive. The name "Einzbern" obviously caught his attention, bathing him in a sad nostalgia. The beginning of the journey towards a goal he ended up failing in the end.
[Zouken walked away, leaving a confused Shirou behind.
With nothing else to say to that old man or do in that house, Shirou left to go home.]
"When I saw myself in the flames, I felt the heat, but I didn't get burned. Right? So we can't walk through walls and we can't touch 'characters', and apparently we can't feel pain either. Right? Right?" Astolfo suddenly started talking as the group followed Shirou. Since everyone was silent, the paladin became the center of attention. "When everyone was releasing they Noble Phantams in my war, sometimes destruction reached us. But there, apart from the jumpscare, we didn't feel pain too. Right?"
"Of course not. Otherwise my version of that fragment would have killed us a dozen times," Mordred replied.
Smoke began to leak from Astolfo's ears, he was calculating probabilities.
"Astolfo?" Siegfried called.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Robin said.
[Shirou stopped walking, leaning against the ledge that gave a good view of the whole city.]
Astolfo turned to where Shirou was. After the parapet there nothing but a hill.
"What if I do...this!?" He exclaimed jumping over the railing.
"Astolfo!"
Half the servants ran to see Astolfo disappearing into the trees below.
"W-Would this fall kill a servant?" Ritsuka asked.
"Maybe it wouldn't kill him, but at least it would hurt..." Siegfried replied.
Atalanta's ears caught something coming from above and looked up.
"Look!" She could barely warn them.
Astolfo came out of the "sky" screaming in excitement and... falling flat on his face.
"What... what the fuck!?" Robin exclaimed. "He jumped down there and appeared from the sky!?
"Are you alright, Astolfo?" Jeanne asked, kneeling beside him. "Are you hurt?"
Astolfo turned around, lying on his back, laughing. "That-was-awesome!"
"What the hell happened?" Mordred kicked Rider in the ribs.
Coughing from the kick, Astolfo sat down on the ground.
"I disappeared before hitting the ground and reappeared above you. Even hitting the ground didn't hurt!"
"Honestly..." Jeanne sighed.
While everyone was undecided whether to continue following Shirou or kick Astolfo off the road again, two of the children in the group decided to give it a try. Everyone's attention turned to Atalanta when she shouted "No!"
Jack and Nursery jumped like Astolfo. The others looked up to see if Astolfo's theory was right. And he really was. The girls reappeared in mid-air and fell to the ground laughing.
"Are you hurt!?" Atalanta nervously asked.
"We are not!" They replied amidst laughter. "It really doesn't hurt!"
Ritsuka's eyes widened.
"Senpai..." Mash begged. "Please..."
Unfortunately, Ritsuka Fujimaru could resist the temptations of many things but not fun and adrenaline.
"COWABUNGA!" It was the last thing they heard before Ritsuka jumped. "Cowa...bunga...?" Or at least the last thing before she was stopped.
"Don't even think about it, miss." Raikou threw the girl back onto the road. "Am I understood?"
"Y-y-y-yes ma'am!"