Ritsuka gulped down the entirety of the gourd's contents, not leaving a single drop of water go to waste. After guzzling everything, he let out a satisfied sigh and corked the container. "Thanks again." He glanced next to him at the tanuki-like daruma which the small girl following had hidden herself in. It was futile to hide now, of course, but Ritsuka found the disguise and effort adorable. "What's your name? Did the Commissioner send you to follow me?"

The daruma only silently stared at him.

"I'm sort of used to one-sided conversations but could you at least make a noise?"

"…"

"…You're not asleep, are you?"

Still no response.

"Well, since this isn't going anywhere…" Ritsuka muttered before standing up and dusting off his pants. Better to resume his job as a postman and not procrastinate. "See you around, tanuki-girl."

"I'm not a tanuki."

"Huh?" Ritsuka glanced back to see the daruma now shaking. In a puff of smoke, the daruma was replaced by the pint-sized girl. She still looked sleepy and was rubbing one eye.

"I'm Sayu," the ninja introduced herself. "And you are not Kaedehara, are you?"

Seeing no reason to keep up an act for her, Ritsuka decided to just be out of it. "You caught me. I'm not actually Kazuha. This is his body though, just my mind got switched with his if you can believe that."

"Sounds like one of Guuji Yae's light novels. The Commissioner has several lying around the household as gifts from the Guuji," Sayu bluntly gave her thoughts. "Are you also from another world?" Ritsuka could not tell whether she was genuinely asking from how tired she sounded. Either way, best be honest.

"As a matter of fact, I am… at least I think so." He was still not sure whether this place was simply a large Singularity, some sort of weird Lostbelt, or just another dimension like Shimousa. Also, they had light novels here too? That was odd but for some reason, oddly fitting considering his situation.

Back to the topic at hand, Sayu seemingly believed him. "Huh, the usual novel is getting reincarnated as a Hilichurl or the Raiden Shogun." Ritsuka had no idea who that was but it was a cool title. "Why did you reincarnate as Kaedehara?"

"I didn't reincarnate as him. As far as I'm aware, I didn't die." 'To wake up here.' "Our minds just sort of switch places. This is the second time this happened. I believe he's currently in my body." Ritsuka wondered what Kazuha was up to in Chaldea. While Kazuha got through the day with not many issues the previous time, Ritsuka was not completely confident he'd get lucky a second time.

"I see…" hummed Sayu. "Why are you pretending to be Kaedehara then? And how did you know I was following you?"

"Second question first, I guess you could say the ability to detect when I'm being watched has been ingrained into me. As for the first… because I don't really have a choice?" It wasn't like he could just tell everyone he was not Kazuha. They'd look at him like he was insane (which he may or may not be). "And Captain Beidou asked me to deliver that package to the Commissioner. She said to pretend to be Kazuha to give it to him directly." And it turns out that package was just a bunch of cards— some of which were with him right now —and a list of people the Traveler might be seeing. Needless to say, Ritsuka was a bit miffed at how mediocre (and creepy) the package turned out to be. "Side question, is the Commissioner always like that? What's that about arranging a marriage with the Traveler?"

"I've learned not to question my superiors, especially when it came to the Traveler," Sayu shuddered, recalling a repressed memory. "If you think the Commissioner is bad, you are not prepared to meet Lady Ayaka."

Ah, the frequently mentioned sister of the Commissioner— or so Ritsuka assumed. The one Beidou said he could sell the letter from the Traveler to for some quick cash. He wasn't planning on it, since it was Kazuha's letter at the end of the day. Speaking of letters, however— "I better get to delivering the Commissioner's letter. See you around, Sayu." Ritsuka waved her goodbye and resumed his climb up the mountain. He could tell Sayu followed after him and paid her no mind. From what he could extract from their conversation, Sayu was not going to backstab him… at least he hoped not.

Soon enough, Ritsuka finally reached the peak; the Grand Narukami Shrine in all its splendour was before him and it fit the descriptor well. Even from the entrance, the scenery was beautiful as the shrine maidens clearly kept everything neat and tidy, especially the greenery around the peak. Nostalgia filled Ritsuka as a distant memory of visiting a similar shrine in his childhood flashed in his head, the sakura trees gave off an enchanted feeling as petals danced in the air. Wasn't there an animated film named after the speed the sakura petals fell? Ritsuka had a vague memory of that…

In any case, one of the shrine maidens was coming to greet him. "Welcome to the Grand Narukami Shrine," the young lady bowed respectfully to him. She, along with the other maidens Ritsuka could see, wore a simple white kimono and red hakama. "How may we help you in your pilgrimage?"

"Uh… I was asked to deliver a letter to Guuji Yae?" From the title, Ritsuka assumed that Yae was the head priestess here. He wondered if they'd allow him to see her, especially since it was already nighttime.

"Lady Yae is unfortunately busy tending to the Sacred Sakura tree at this moment. You can leave the letter with me and I will pass it to her when she's available," the maiden bowed her head again in apology this time. Ritsuka had no argument with that and was going to hand over the letter when, from out of nowhere, Sayu reappeared.

"The letter is from the Yashiro Commissioner," she explained simplistically. At the mention of the Commissioner, the shrine maiden had a look of understanding and nodded.

"I see. In that case, you may go see her. Follow me," she instructed Ritsuka before turning around and walking off. Before going after her, he tried to thank Sayu but when he turned his head, she was already gone.

'She is a ninja, after all…' He thought before following the maiden. They went up the short stairs and around the frontmost shrine to the central courtyard. Just beyond it was another small flight of stairs that led up to a large sakura tree (no doubt the tree mentioned earlier) with a trunk that was somehow in the shape of a fox. Standing before the Sacred Sakura with her back to them was a woman with long pink reaching her legs. Even from behind and at some distance, Ritsuka could tell there was something different about her and he was not talking about her dress.

Once they reached the base of the stairs, the shrine maiden called out to get the pink-haired woman's attention. "Lady Yae, you have a visitor?"

"Hmm?" The head priestess turned around, letting Ritsuka fully take in her appearance. As he thought, her outfit was similar (mainly in colour) to the other shrine maidens but more ornate and extravagant. Her sleeves were detached, exposing her shoulders and pits, and the sides of her kimono flowed longer down to her ankles. While she covered up what she needed to, the priestess still showed off some skin for whatever reason. Probably just for appeal if Ritsuka had to guess. In any case, she had a strange air around her that slightly unsettled him.

Upon seeing "him" standing there, a look of recognition lit up on the head priestess's face. The small smirk she had further rang bells in Ritsuka's head, yelling at him to get out if he knew what was good for him. "Oh, Kaedehara. It has been some time since you last graced the shrine with your presence," the priestess greeted him. "What brings you here at this time of day? Must be quite important to interrupt me in the middle of my work."

"Uh, is a letter from the Commissioner important enough?" Something told Ritsuka that anything less than "important" would lead to a bad end for him. Fortunately for him, it seemed to be satisfactory for Yae but she still had a smarmy comment ready.

"Reducing the person who managed to parry the Raiden Shogun's Musou no Hinotachi into an errand boy? Ayato has a lot of nerve to do so," sighed Yae but she didn't sound disappointed at all. If anything, she sounded impressed. "It was going to be one of us who'd try getting you under our thumb; he's the one who gets to brag about it first." Ritsuka had no idea how to react to that. While he was somewhat used to being treated as a trophy (it has happened more times than he could count), he didn't expect Kazuha to be treated that way either nor did he expect the priestess to admit something like that aloud. "Oh well, it was still thanks to my teachings in any case. Everything he knows and is capable of is all a result of my taking him under my wing."

"Uh…"

"Ah, sorry. Got carried away there," the head priestess apologised if only out of politeness. "Now, what is this letter? I assume it's the Genius Invocation cards I asked Ayato to find for me." Ritsuka answered by simply handing over the envelope to her. She took it and opened it, carefully checking the contents and making sure they were correct. Once done and satisfied, Yae hid away the envelope inside her sleeve. "It does pay to have such a man under your thumb," she mused to herself, laughing under her breath. "He always delivers in more ways than one."

"I… don't need to hear about that, Lady Yae." Ritsuka politely told her which only served to further amuse the priestess. "If that's all, can I just go…?" He slowly backed away, Yes or no, he was more than ready to take off at a moment's notice. Things would not go that easily for him, however; when has things ever? He only blinked and she was somehow behind him.

"Oh, let's not be hasty, Kaedehara," she spoke in such a sweet tone that Ritsuka knew he was in trouble. "It just so happen I have need for an Anemo Vision wielder such as yourself and Sayu." A small thud came from nearby— no doubt it was a hiding Sayu taken off guard by Yae mentioning her. "Come, there's things needed to be done. I promise you won't get hurt too badly."

Sometimes, he hated how good his instincts were. As he was dragged away by the head priestess, Ritsuka wondered how things are going on the other side and if Kazuha was having an easier time than him…

"I blame you for this, Oberon!" The rabid Caster shouted as she was locked in a cage in the corner of the infirmary. The Servant being blamed, meanwhile, was busy groaning in pain as he was now stuck in several casts as a result of causing a ruckus. Kazuha already made a mental note not to annoy the two medical staff in charge; seeing Nightingale basically break several of Oberon's bones simply further engraved it into his mind not to do anything stupid in their midst.

Merlin, meanwhile, had taken his leave a short time ago, having been satisfied in seeing his rival get beat up by the head nurse. "Do keep an eye on him, Miss Kyrielight. I doubt the day's event is all over," he advised before going wherever it is he planned to go.

"So… What else am I needed for?" Kazuha asked, glancing at the locked up girl in the corner. "What does Fujimaru usually do?"

"Well, most of what was planned for today has already been covered by some of the Servants. The only task that could have only been done by Senpai is…" Mash trailed off, clearly hesitant in telling him.

"Whatever it is, I'll try to do it to the best of my abilities."

"…How good are you at mediating conflict?"

"I'd like to say I have a way with words." And he was not just talking about poetry.

"And what do you know of AC and DC?"

"...Pardon me?"

"That's good enough." And Kazuha was already starting to regret offering…

A/N: I meant to upload last week… then I got sick. Like, a couple days after Fontaine dropped, I came down with something bad that basically took me out for an entire week and half. Whatever energy I had left had to go to school stuff so I didn't even open any of my works the entire time. This chapter actually was like 80% done, up to the part with Yae Miko, for a while; I just did the last few parts today.

Anyway, I'm gonna leave it at this and see you all next time!