"Master...what is this?" Shirou asked as he looked at the room.
"Well...this seems to be one of Da Vinci's plans..." Ritsuka replied.
"Da Vinci? Are you talking about the woman that claims to be a genius?" Sieg asked.
"Yes."
"Well then, that would explain how all of us are in this room right now...and with that low table over there," Hakuno replied as she looked at the low table in the middle of the room.
Right now, Shirou, Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg were in a special room designed by Da Vinci in which the room looked like a room of a Japanese ryokan. The floor was designed to look like tatami mats, there were tokonoma in some parts of the rooms, there were four chairs behind a shoji, there was a window that allowed everyone to see outside of Chaldea, fusuma, a mini fridge, television, and a bathroom. In the middle of the room was a low table that had a portable stove and a giant hot pot.
And the hot pot has some broth in there.
Ritsuka let out a sigh. "Da Vinci, you sure went overboard with this room. There's even a working hot pot there! And with broth as well! Just what are you up to..."
(A while ago...)
Da Vinci was in her room, checking out some servant files on her laptop. As she, she left out some certain ones for future reference and read them exclusively.
And those certain files were about Shirou, Hakuno, Sieg, and Ritsuka.
"Emiya Shirou. The master of Saber of the Fifth Fuyuki Grail War in his timeline. Sole survivor of The Great Fuyuki Fire. The adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya, who is also known as the "Magus Killer", the adopted brother of Illyasviel Von Einzbern, and the younger self of EMIYA. His Saber servant was Arturia Pendragon, the King of Knights. His magecraft is Gradiation Air, and he can project noble phantasms that are not a divine construct. However, unlike normal Gradiation Air, Shirou's magecraft has been heavily altered because of his fusion with Sengo Muramasa, which he happened to meet during his travels. His noble phantasms is the Tsumugari Muramasa, an anti-reality and anti-divinity noble phantasm that can cut through bonds, fate, causality, and destiny, and slice through the idea of karma itself. It is a recreation of the Kusanagi-no Tsurugi, the sword that came out from the tail of Yamata-no Orochi from the age of gods. His other noble phantasm is a realty marble." Da Vinci thought as she read through Shirou's file.
She then moved onto another file, which was Sieg's file.
"Sieg. A homunculus created by the Yggdmillennia family as one of their many homunculi suited to various purposes. Became the second master of Astolfo, one of the twelve paladins and the Rider of Black in the Greater Grail War in his timeline after his first master was beheaded by Mordred Pendragon. Afterwords, he engaged in multiple battles during the Greater Grail War and won the war itself. He doesn't know any magecraft, but he knows swordsmanship because his body contained the heart of Siegfried, the dragon slayer. It was given to him when Siegfried willingly gave his heart to him. As a result, he can turn into Siegfried himself. His noble phantasm is Akafiloga Argrise, Incandescent Dragon's Breath・Earth Liquefaction, which involves him turning into a dragon, although he himself doesn't know."
She then moved onto the third file, which was Hakuno's file.
"Hakuno Kishinami. An NPC from the Moon Cell, which is a supercomputer on the room from another universe. She was originally human, but because of a disease she was suffering with, she would be cryogenically frozen until treatment became possible. However, due to her world's technological stagnation, no progress was made, and he/she remained in this state for 30 years until she entered the Moon Cell. Became the master of Saber, Caster, and Archer of the Moon Holy Grail War. Her Saber servant was Nero, her Caster Servant was Tamamo No Mae, and her Archer servants were Gilgamesh and Nameless, which according to her words, is apparently an alternate version of EMIYA from her timeline. She won the Moon Holy Grail War and was about to disappear. However, due to and rampant A.I named BB, she was teleported to the far side of the moon before so along with the other masters, restarting the war all over again. Like before, she came out as the last master and won. Her noble phantasm is unknown."
Finally, she moved onto Ritsuka's file.
"Fujimaru Ritsuka. The remaining last master of Chaldea. Joined Chaldea because he just happened to see a recruitment flyer at a station, applied and got accepted into the job as a master of Chaldea. Doesn't know any magecraft. After Lev's bombing of Chaldea, he became the last master of Chaldea and went through all seven singularities and the Grand Temple of time to save humanity."
Da Vinci was finally finished reading Ritsuka's file and had a few thoughts going into her head.
"Hm, out of the four people I looked at, three of them are masters of a holy grail war of some sort. Not to mention the fact that each of them won their wars. Judging by the looks of this, it seems that they have a bunch of experience in being a master to a servant at least, although their experience varies in some cases...Ritsuka could use some experience from the former masters for any crisis that could happen in the future. Although how should I do this?"
Da Vinci stretched her arms upwards and let out a sigh. "Man, this is going to be a little harder than I thought. It's not like I could make a room and drag those four people into it like how Irisviel did to her sons back then..."
At that moment, a thought just came into her head.
"Or could I?"
And thus, Da Vinci started to come up a plan that involved Shirou, Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg...
(Back to the present...)
"Da Vinci. What are you thinking right now? What were you thinking when you dragged me here into this room? And how did Shirou, Hakuno, and Sieg get involved in this?" Ritsuka thought as he looked at the Japanese-style room. "Anyways, since we're all here, we should sit down at least. Especially since there's a working hot pot in the room."
"Sure," Hakuno said as she sat down on one side of the low table.
"Yeah. Give me a moment to get one of the chairs here," Sieg said as he prepared to grab one of the nearby chairs.
"Ah, you don't have to do that Sieg. You can sit down on the ground here," Ritsuka said as he patted down one side of the low table.
Sieg was slightly confused at what Ritsuka said. "Really? You can sit down on the ground here?"
"In this case, yes."
"I see..." Sieg then proceeded to sit down on the area Ritsuka pointed out. "Wow, I never heard of a tradition that allows you to sit down on the ground...this is quite interesting," he said in awe.
Ritsuka let out a smile before turning to Shirou. "Hey Shirou, are you coming to join us?"
"Just give me a second master, it seems that there are some things in the fridge I need to get out from," Shirou said as he was inspecting the mini-fridge.
"Okay." Ritsuka then sat down on his side of the low table. "So, how did all of you get here?"
Hakuno let out a sigh. "Da Vinci dragged me here."
"I see. How about you Sieg?"
"Same."
"I see. And how about you Shirou?"
"Well, I got dragged here as well, although it wasn't Da Vinci that dragged me here. Rather, it was my mom," Shirou replied as he returned from looking at the mini fridge.
"I see. And for me, Da Vinci dragged me here as well. And I don't know why," Ritsuka said.
As he returned, everyone was surprised when he was carrying packets of meat, seafood, and vegetables.
"Um...Shirou, where did you get that?" Hakuno asked.
"All of this? It was in the mini-fridge over there," Shirou replied.
Ritsuka was surprised at what Shriou just said. "Da Vinci, since when did you have the time to do that? Wait, never mind, I should have expected this from her. After all, crazy is the new normal here."
"So, I guess we're having hot pot now huh?" Hakuno asked.
"Hot pot? What is that?" Sieg asked.
"It's a dish that involves a simmering pot of soup stock along with some meat, seafood, and vegetables. What we do is that we add in the meat, seafood, and vegetables into the broth and wait until it's cooked," Ritsuka replied.
"I see. Thanks for the explanation master."
Shirou then added in the meat, seafood, and vegetables into the hot pot and then sat down at the remaining side of the low table. For a moment, there was silence in the air as everyone was trying to figure out how to start a conversation.
Then Ritsuka decided to speak out.
"So...I take it that all of you were masters during your worlds' holy grail wars?" he asked.
Shirou, Sieg, and Hakuno nodded in agreement. "Yes. All of us were masters in our worlds' holy grail war," Shirou said with Sieg and Hakuno nodding in agreement.
"I see. So how did the wars turn out for each of you? I want to hear all of your tales."
Shirou, Sieg, and Hakuno looked at each other for a moment. "So...who wants to start first?" Shirou asked.
"Well...how about you Shirou? Since you were here first before me and Sieg, I think it would be a good idea for you to start first," Hakuno replied.
"That sound like a good idea. I want to hear your story about your time as a master first Shirou," Sieg said.
Shirou let out a small sigh. "Very well. It all started when I witnessed a fight between the Archer and Lancer of my world's holy grail war."
"You mean Cu and EMIYA?" Ritsuka asked.
"Yes. My world's holy grail war was known as the Fuyuki Holy Grail War. However, I wasn't supposed to see that fight as the entirety of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War was supposed to be in secret. So, under his master's orders, Lancer went after me...and nearly killed me."
Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg were a little surprised at what Shirou just said. "Really, Cu nearly killed you?"
"Yeah. In fact, he stabbed me in the heart. If it hadn't been for Tohsaka, who happened to be there at the time, I would have already died then."
Everyone's mouths dropped at Shirou's statement. "You were stabbed in the heart and still lived? That's impossible!" Sieg said.
"Well, that's what happened. Anyways, afterwards, I went back home...only to find that Cu followed me and tried to kill me again. I barely put up a fight against him and it ended up with both of us in the storage room of my home. At that time, I didn't know that there was a summoning circle in the storage room, so what happened next was that I activated the summoning circle and summoned my servant."
"And that servant happened to be Arturia Pendragon, correct?"
Shirou let out a smile. "Exactly. Afterwards, Arturia and Cu engaged in battle that was short-lived because Cu had to retreat under his master's orders. It was then that Tohsaka happened to be nearby and Arturia nearly attacked her, thinking that she was an intruder. Luckily, I managed to calm her down and explain the situation. Afterwards, we headed towards the church where I was registered as the last master of the Fuyuki Grail War."
"That's where you met Kotomine Kirei, correct?" Hakuno said, remembering what Shirou said about Kirei.
"Yup. And he was creepy now that I think about it. Anyways, after we got out of the church, we ended up meeting the master of Berserker, who happened to be waiting outside."
"Really? Who was it?" Sieg asked.
Shirou was silent for a moment before continuing. "Illyasviel Von Einzbern, my adoptive sister."
Everyone beside Shirou was shocked. "Really? Illya was a master in your world?" Ritsuka asked.
"Yes. And if you were wondering, she became a master because of lies from her grandfather. Anyways, me, Arturia, and Tohsaka engaged her and in the process, I took a blow for Arturia and was injured badly. Luckily, I managed to survive."
Everyone was stunned at what Shirou just said. "Wow, you took a hit from berserker and survived...that's impressive," Hakuno said.
"Yeah. And from what I know, Berserkers hurt hard," Sieg said.
"You can say that again. Anyways, afterwards, me and Arturia went up against Rider and her master, who happened to use my school for a bounded field. During that time, we also found out that Caster was hiding at the Ryuudou Temple, and Arturia came after her. However, she had summoned assassin to guard the temple, and it was a tough fight. Because of that, me and Arturia went through a training regime."
"Wow."
"Yeah. Anyways, two days later, me and Arturia encountered Rider and her master again at my school, and things were a bit different as we nearly beat them. However, Rider and her master created an explosion and escaped. We then chased after them and finally, we beat them. However, that was when we faced a problem."
"What problem was that?" Ritsuka asked.
"Arturia used up almost all of her magical power and was in danger of disappearing."
"Oh my, that can't be good," Sieg said.
"Yeah. To make matters even worse, Illya kidnapped me when I was out one day and took me to her castle. Luckily, with Arturia's, Tohsaka's, and Archer's help, I was able to break out over there, but Archer had to stay behind to fight Berserker. Worse, Arturia was about to disappear."
Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg looked at Shirou with wide eyes. "What did you do next Shirou?" Sieg asked.
"Well, in order to replenish Arturia's low magical energy, I had to...well, give her mana..." Shirou replied.
"How though?" Sieg asked.
Shirou let out a blush. "It's something...you don't want to know..."
Ritsuka, Sieg, and Hakuno were confused with what Shirou said, but still listened. "I see. She got better though, did she?" Hakuno asked.
"Yeah. Afterwards, me, Arturia, and Tohsaka went up against Illya and Berserker. During the battle, I managed to project Caliburn."
"Caliburn? The Sword of Selection? You projected that long-lost noble phantasm?" Ritsuka asked in amazement.
"Yes. And that was my first projection too. With that, me and Arturia were able to defeat Berserker," Shirou said with a smile on his face. "Anyways, what came after Berserker's defeat was that we went up against Caster and Assassin again. However, it was then that we received a nasty surprise in the form of the King of Heroes butting in."
Hakuno let out a sigh. "Really? He barged in? Well then again, that's just like him."
"Yeah, and it gets even worse. The thing is, Arturia and the King of Heroes already met before in the previous Fuyuki Holy Grail War before the recent one and wanted to claim her as his own."
Ritsuka, Sieg, and even Hakuno felt a little disgusted upon hearing Shirou's words. "What the...that's creepy," Sieg said.
"I agree," Hakuno said.
"Me too," Ritsuka said.
Shirou let out a small sigh. "Anyways, that wasn't the only time we would meet. The next day, he tried to kill me because me and Arturia were on a date."
At that moment, Ritsuka, Sieg, and even Hakuno were outraged at Gilgamesh's actions. "What?! He tried to kill you because you were on a date with Arturia?!" Ritsuka yelled.
"Yes."
"Okay. For someone who has the title, 'King of Heroes,' that was an unheroic thing to do," Sieg said.
"Exactly. Now I'm considering putting him on a restraining order," Hakuno said.
Shirou and Ritsuka nearly shuddered at Hakuno's words. "A-Anyways, back to the story here. During the King of Heroes' attempt of killing me, it was then that I discovered that Avalon was in my body that entire time."
Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg were surprised. "Avalon? The sheath of Excalibur?" Ritsuka said.
"Yeah."
"It was implanted in you?" Hakuno asked.
"Yes."
"Since when?" Sieg asked.
"Well...that's another story to say for another time. Anyways, me and Arturia would eventually go up against Gilgamesh and Kirei in which Kirei was the master of Gilgamesh. Afterwards, we would destroy the holy grail itself."
Ritsuka, Sieg, and Hakuno had their eyes pop out. "What?! You and Arturia had to destroy the holy grail?!" Ritsuka yelled.
"Yeah."
"But why? Didn't you want a wish from the grail itself?" Hakuno asked.
"Well, here's the thing. Apparently, the grail was tainted because during the third Fuyuki Grail War, the Einzberns summoned an evil god that tainted the grail upon defeat. Not only that, but the grail couldn't even grant a wish."
Sieg was surprised. "Really? The grail was tainted in your world?"
"Yeah. Why? Is it not tainted in your world?"
"No."
"I see. Anyways, that's the story of my time as a master."
After listening to Shirou's story, Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg were amazed with what Shirou went through during his time as a master.
"Wow. To think that Shirou went through all of that...that's amazing..."
"Ah. Looks like the beef and vegetables are done cooking now. Would anyone want some?" Shirou asked, snapping everyone else out of their thoughts.
"Ah. Y-Yeah."
"Me too."
"Same."
Soon, everyone started to grab their bowls and placed the beef, seafood, and vegetables in them. As they did, they started to eat their portions of the hot pot that was in front of them. Upon eating their portions, they realized that the hot pot is good.
"Wow. This hot pot is tasty," Sieg said. "And to think that it cooks the food in front of you...that's amazing."
"You never had hot pot before Sieg?" Ritsuka asked.
"No. This is my first time trying it out."
"I see. Well, next time when you visit the cafeteria, I'll let you try out every dish we have over there. Would you like that?"
"Sure. I don't mind."
"Great. Now, that Shirou's done with their story, who's up next?" Ritsuka asked as he continued eating.
"Well, guess I can go up next. Do you mind Hakuno?" Sieg asked.
"No. I don't mind," Hakuno replied.
"Very well then. My story started out when I was escaping from the Yggdmillennia family, because in case if some of you didn't know, I'm a homunculus."
Shirou and Hakuno were surprised a bit. "You're a homunculus?" they asked.
"Yes. Anyways, I ran away from the test tube I was in after hearing that Caster of Black was planning to use me for his golems. I didn't want to die, so I broke out of my test tube and ran away. Afterwards, I wandered aimlessly in the Yggdmillennia castle, trying to find help. It was then that I met Astolfo, the Rider of Black. Afterwards, he, along with Chiron, who was the Archer of Black, hid me from the Yggdmillennia and helped me to live. However, it turned out that I didn't had that much long to live."
"Why?" Hakuno and Ritsuka asked.
"It's because you had a short lifespan, right?" Shirou said as he remembered his adoptive sister's was the same as Sieg's.
"Correct Shirou. A homunculus doesn't have a long lifespan to begin with. Anyways, I asked Astolfo to save me, so what he did was that he took me and ran away into the forest. However, we were followed by Saber of Black and his master. I had to fight against Saber of Black's master and got knocked out in the process. However, what happened next completely shocked me."
Shirou and Hakuno looked at him. "What?"
Sieg let out a small breath before continuing. "Saber of Black gave me his heart."
Shirou and Hakuno were baffled. "What?! Are you serious?!" they exclaimed.
"Yeah. Saber of Black gave me his heart, which allowed to me have a regular lifespan. Are both of you surprised?"
"Yes. I never heard of a heroic spirit transferring a heart to another person," Shirou said.
"Me neither. That is something unheard of, even in the Moon Cell," Hakuno said.
"Yeah. Anyways, after Saber of Black transplanted his heart into my body, I woke up and saw Jeanne D'Arc in front of me...along the entirety of the Yggdmillenia family. Luckly, things didn't end up in a fight as Jeanne was able to convince them to go away. Afterwards, I stayed at an old man's house shortly before returning to the war. After I entered the war, I immediately had a fight with Mordred, who was the Saber of Red. However, it was interrupted because Berserker of Red interfered. Furthermore, we had news about Amakusa Shirou's theft of the greater grail and the fight had to be put off. Shortly after, I became Astolfo's second master after his first master was...well, beheaded by Mordred."
Shirou nearly shuddered at Mordred's actions. "Jeez Mordred..."
"Is that how you became a master?" Ritsuka asked.
"Yes."
"Jeez. That was a bit gruesome, I might say," Hakuno said.
Sieg let out a sigh. "Yeah. Shortly after, Caster of Red unleashed his noble phantasm, which was a giant golem on all of us. It took me, Jeanne, Mordred, Astolfo, Chiron, and more of my kind to take him out along with the golem."
Everyone was interested in Sieg's story. "So, what happened next?" Shirou asked.
"What came afterwards the decisive battle against Amakusa Shirou. While he and his allies were on his servant's noble phantasm, me, Jeanne, Mordred, Astolfo, and Chiron led a strike against him and his allies. It wasn't easy though. There were many servants that we had to go up against, and Amakusa Shirou was no pushover either. But in the end, we won."
"I see. What did you do with the grail? Did you make a wish?" Ritsuka asked.
"Yeah. It was to seal the grail to the other side of the reverse world."
At that moment, everyone was interested in Sieg's wish. "Why did you seal the grail?" Ritsuka asked.
"In order to not let anyone with bad intentions get their hands on it. Is there something wrong with that?"
"Well, not actually. I'm just wondering. That is all."
"I see. Anyways, Hakuno, do you mind telling your story?"
"Okay. My story started when I lost my memories in the Moon Cell. At the time, I did not know who I was and just assumed the life of a normal high school student. However, one day I noticed that two of my classmates were heading towards a secret doorway."
"And what happened next?" Sieg asked.
"Well, me and my two classmates had to fight each other to the death. During the match, I was close to death and at that moment, I managed to summon my servants."
Shirou, Ritsuka, and Sieg were surprised at Hakuno's words. "Servants?" they said.
"Yes. I summoned Nero, Tamamo no Mae, and Nameless."
Ritsuka and Sieg were confused at the mentioning of Nameless. "Nameless? Who's that?" they asked.
"Nameless is...well, EMIYA from an alternate universe. Anyways, after I summoned my servants, that marked the beginning of the Moon Cell Grail War, where 128 masters would fight each other."
Shirou, Ritsuka, and Sieg were shocked at the number of masters Hakuno mentioned. "128 masters?! That many?!" they exclaimed in unison.
"Yes. However, I did not have to fight all of them. Anyways, near the end of the Moon Cell Grail War, I ended up reaching the core of the Moon Cell and met Twice H. Pieceman, who wanted to use the Moon Cell to wish for the advancement of the human race through war. I refused and fought against his servant, saver."
Shirou, Ritsuka, and Sieg were confused at that moment. "Saver? Is there a servant class like that?" Ritsuka asked.
"Apparently so. Anyways, after defeating Twice H. Pieceman and his servant, I used the moon cell to find out what I am before passing it on to my friends before disappearing. However, that wasn't the end though."
"What do you mean by that?" Shirou asked.
"Well, before I disappeared, I suddenly got teleported to the far side of the moon in a place called the Sakura Labyrinth, created by BB. What happened was that she brought over various Masters and Servants from the Moon Cell Holy Grail War on the Near Side. And then BB decided to restart the entire war again."
"So, you had to join the war again?" Sieg asked.
"Yes. And met all of my previous servants...along with Gilgamesh."
Shirou let out a small groan upon hearing Gilgamesh's name. "Jeez, I hope he wasn't such an asshole over there."
Hakuno let out a sigh. "Well, sadly, he was back then. Anyways, as usual, the number of masters dwindled until I was the last one. When that happened, we went up against BB and defeated her. Normally, that would have been the end, but that was not the case."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Turns out that Kiara, my homeroom teacher, happened to be the real villain as she absorbed BB and took control of the Moon Cell. She wanted to use the Moon Cell to spread her twisted view of pleasure."
"I see. What happened next?"
"Isn't it obvious. We beat Kiara and with the help of BB and her sisters, I managed to put myself in an artificial body, although a part of me stayed back at the moon cell. And that is my story of me being a master."
Shirou, Sieg, and Ritsuka were amazed with Hakuno's story.
Especially Ritsuka since all three of them were masters in their worlds' holy grail wars and they fought off against servants themselves with their own hands.
"Wow. So, all three of you actually fought against servants with your hands?"
Shirou, Sieg, and Hakuno nodded in reply.
"That's amazing!" Ritsuka said excitedly. "Just how did all you do that?"
Shirou, Sieg, and Hakuno looked at each other for a moment before saying their answers.
"For me, it was hours of training with my servant," Shirou said.
"For me, I had a heart implant with a heroic spirit," Sieg said.
"And for me, I just fought and that's it," Hakuno said.
Ritsuka was amazed with all their answers. "Wow. You three must be experienced then. In fact, you three make me feel inexperienced compared to the events all of you went through."
Shirou let out a chuckle. "That's not true. You also have experience that we don't have."
"Really?"
"Yes. For example, you went through many singularities and managed to prevent humanity's destruction. That's something you should be proud of," Hakuno said.
"Exactly. Don't feel down after hearing our experiences. Everyone has an experience that is different from everyone. All of us have gone through different experiences that make us who we are now. And that's natural. Not only that, but you also possess your own strengths, and that's something no one can replicate," Sieg said.
"And plus, you still have a lot of time to grow, so be patient, trust in your skills, and improve on them," Shirou said.
Ritsuka felt his confidence growing from the former masters' words, and it brought him relief. "Thank you. Now I feel a lot better."
"No problem. Now, shall we continue with the meal?" Shirou said.
"Yeah!" Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg replied.
And Shirou, Ritsuka, Hakuno, and Sieg continued their meal. However, they didn't realize a certain detail.
Da Vinci was looking at the entire conversation by a hidden camera in a room, with a smile on her face.
"Well, looks like my goal is complete," she thought with a smile on her face.