Moon Cell Irregular
By psychored1911
Disclaimer: I do not aim Fate/EXTRA or Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.
Chapter 8
"Hey, you! Yeah, you! Wait juuuuuuuuuuuust a second~!"
An ethereal voice blurted out.
"I have no friggin' idea who you are and where you came from, but you can't die now! It's far too early for you to descend into Yomi! A handsome soul such as yourself deserves the favor of Gods, and who better to take thy hand than me, myself and I!"
Emerging from the countless ones and zeroes, a figure appeared, sauntering towards him with an alluring swing of her hips.
She was a beautiful young woman, with bright pink hair fashioned into pigtails, accentuated with a royal blue ribbon that matched her revealing kimono. Oddly enough, she also had these fluffy fox ears atop her head and a big, bushy tail to match. However, what drew his attention were her amber, vulpine eyes, ones that revealed a predatory, yet devoted soul.
"Panpakapan~! Your glorious new wife has arrived~!" The fox girl cheerfully announced, striking a dramatic pose as her amber eyes met with his. "Tell me, are you the one who summoned me?"
Hakuno could only nod dumbly as the fox girl giddily jumped for joy, squealing delightfully like a little schoolgirl.
"Mikon~! Wonderful~! 'Till death do we part~!" The fox girl declared, leaping into his arms and giving him a loving, affectionate hug, oblivious to the crushing pain he felt in his ribs ".I look forward to our relationship, my dear husband~!"
…
...Wait…
…
...Did… Did she just call him her 'husband'?
The fox girl then sensually rubbed her body against Hakuno's, pressing her voluptuous against his own, the inhuman softness of her two large, perfect breasts sending wave after wave of euphoria coursing through his veins, causing his heart to beat uncontrollably, blood rushing everywhere-
"Oh~?"
...Particularly in one place right between his legs… which juuuuuuuuuuuuust so happened to press up against one place right between hers.
The fox girl suddenly perked up, grinning mischievously "Well, well, well… Someone's excited, fufufu…" her fox tail wagged excitedly as her left hand seductively slithered down his chest and towards his crotch, her right hand grabbing his collar, pulling him closer and closer, her lips dangerously close to his own, those beautiful, amber eyes of hers never once wavering from his-
*clunk*
Only for her affect to immediately sour when the effigy's approach reached her now-drooping ears. "Riiiiiiight, almost forgot that stupid thing was there. 'Course the Moon Cell had to kill the mood. Friggin' T-rating..." She opted for a brief kiss on his forehead before standing up to face the effigy, a circular, ornate mirror materializing behind her, orbiting around her ominously. "Don't you worry, Goshujin-sama. Leave all the fighting to your newlywed wife~!" she said flirtatiously, turning and giving him a confident wink. "Granted, I'm not the strongest of Servants out there, but I'm more than strong enough to obliterate this stupid piece of driftwood-"
*THWONK!*
Her mirror suddenly stopped in front of her, blocking a surprise attack from the effigy, the dull sound of wood knocking into reinforced glass snapping her attention to the puppet that dared wrong her.
The fox girl's smile turned wicked, glaring daggers at the effigy as she reeled back her fist. "-that is more than rude enough to interrupt me while I'm trying to talk to my husband! HIYAAAA!"
She leapt into the air and roundhouse kicked the effigy away with all her might, sending it flying backward. Not even waiting for it to land, she willed her mirror to assault it, bombarding the effigy with countless blows, the mirror's ornaments ripping chunk after chunk of the effigy's 'body' away with each strike. The effigy collapsed, broken but not beaten, struggling to push itself upright.
The fox girl groaned, throwing her fists in a fit. "Oh come on! Why can't you die when you're killed?" She rolled her eyes in exasperation, glancing at Hakuno with an annoyed shrug. "Ugh. Gimme a sec." The fox girl summoned a paper talisman to her hands before launching it toward the broken effigy. The talisman touched its head and instantaneously exploded in a pillar of flame, engulfing the effigy in a gigantic blaze, burning it to ashes within seconds.
"Ta-da! Victory!" She spun back to him on the tips of her platform sandals, flashing him a peace-sign with a wide, upbeat smile, ignoring the inferno that was once the wooden effigy behind her. "Did you see that, Goshujin-sama? I did it!"
Hakuno couldn't help but smile back at her. He didn't even know her name, yet that infectious personality of hers was truly something-
"Ack!"
Unfortunately, the pain of his impending demise, once forgotten in all the excitement, exploded once more the moment the adrenaline died down, with his vision of the now-worried fox girl running back to him blurring as everything faded to black.
[BACKUP_DATA_UPDATE_COMPLETE]
[100.00%_COMPLETE]
[CASTER_SAINT_GRAPH_RESTORED]
[SUMMONING_SERVANT]
[_]
[CASTER_CLASS_SERVANT_SUMMONED]
[REINITIALIZING_CONTRACT]
[0.00%_COMPLETE]
[_]
[ALL_CLEAR]
[CONTRACT_REINITIALIZED]
[100.00%_COMPLETE]
Hakuno's eyes went wide with shock, his drowsiness all but vanished.
It was impossible. The Moon Cell wouldn't.
The Holy Grail War. The struggle within the Lunar Seas. He remembered it all perfectly.
But that time, that other timeline he remembered… it wasn't the same. Some critical events stayed consistent between the two Grail Wars, but others differed wildly. Most importantly his Servant throughout that ordeal. It wasn't Ruler at all! It was...
"Caster…"
Instantly, Hakuno's eyes met with a pair of divine amber orbs belonging to a pink-haired fox girl lying directly across from him, staring back at him in shock, disbelief, and a plethora of other emotions neither of them couldn't even begin to describe.
"Caster…" he gulped as tears poured through those beautiful amber eyes. "Is that you-"
"GOSHUJIN-SAMA!"
The fox girl threw herself onto her Master, sobbing uncontrollably as she brought them upright, hugging her Master/husband as tightly as she could, as if he would disappear if he left her grasp. "You're alive.. *sniff* We're alive… I can't believe it… *sniff* Waaaaah!"
Hakuno immediately returned the hug, countless emotions swelling up within him as tears began to form in his eyes-
"Ugh… morning already? What's with all the noise...?"
And then it all came crashing down not a second later, with Hakuno going stiff (not in that way) the moment her voice registered in his mind.
The two whipped their heads around, finding the third bedmate sitting up behind him, yawning while rubbing her amethyst eyes.
"Afuuu… morning, Master." Ruler sleepily greeted before pulling down her shirt, which had somehow rolled up all the way to her breasts during her slumber. "Pardon the intrusion, but I couldn't help but notice earlier tonight that the Moon Cell was performing another downl-"
[{True_Name_Discernment}_ACTIVATED]
[OBTAINING_SERVANT_INFORMATION_MATRIX]
[_]
[ALLIED_SERVANT_MATRIX_OBTAINED!]
[MATRIX_LEVEL:_E]
[SERVANT:_(Caster)]
[TRUE_NAME:_(Tamamo-no-Mae)]
[NOBLE_PHANTASM:_(Eightfold_Blessing_of_Amaterasu,_Rank_D)]
[MASTER:_(Hakuno_Kishinami)]
[_]
[CONFLICT_IMMINENT]
[ACCURACY:_100%]
[ESTIMATED_TIMESPAN:_WITHIN_THIRTY_SECONDS]
The world went silent.
The tension in the air thickened considerably as the traded stares between the two stunned Servants prolonged longer and longer. There was no doubt in his mind that whatever conclusions the two were coming to, they couldn't be good.
And he was the unfortunate schmuck at the center of it all.
"What the fu-"
"MIKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON?!"
[CONFLICT_INITIATED]
[MASTER _{Hakuno_Kishinami}_AND_SERVANT_{Ruler}]
[VS]
[MASTER _{Hakuno_Kishinami}_AND_SERVANT_{Caster}]
[Live_or_Die_by_the_Sword]
[What_power_do_you_hold_in_your_hands…?]
[Dancing_Flames,_Decaying_Earth,_Withered_Ocean]
Unsurprisingly, Tamamo did not take it well.
*Wham!*
"Homewrecker! Floozy! Get your grubby paws off my husband, you overrated stall unit!"
At all.
Period.
Uh-huh, mistakes have definitely been made, whether he wanted to or not. Well, at least Jeanne was noble enough to take the high-
"Ow! Floozy?! Who are you calling a floozy?! Where did you even come from anyway?!"
...Oooooooooooooooooor she could stoop to Tamamo's level and throw her hat into the ring too.
It took Tamamo all of three milliseconds before she basically flung Hakuno off the bed and pounced on Jeanne, landing one solid punch to the face before she lost the element of surprise. For her part, Jeanne grabbed Tamamo's arm the second Tamamo's punch made contact, using the momentum to reverse herself on top of the Fox-tailed Caster and restrain the latter's arms and legs, straddling her while the latter futilely struggled under her grip.
Not to make little of an otherwise stressful situation, but if it was under better circumstances, this would actually be pretty hot.
"Goshujin-sama, what is the meaning of this?!" Tamamo cried, trying to squirm out from Jeanne's grasp. "Tell this Saber-faced skank that you're mine and mine alone!"
"Master! What did you do?!" Jeanne turned back to him, ignoring the fact that Tamamo somehow wrenched one hand free and started pushing against her face. "I promise I won't get mad, but why do you have a contract with such a vile-hearted Servant?!"
"Bitch, who the hell are you calling vile-hearted?!"
"I'm calling you vile-hearted, you two-faced harlot!"
"Really?! You wanna go there, blondie?! You're the one who crawled into my husband's bed with your cow-tits exposed for the whole world to see! If anyone's the harlot, it's you!"
"*GASP!* How dare you! You'll pay for that, knave!"
"Oh, I'm soooooo scared! What are you gonna do, exorcise me?"
"Don't tempt me, heathen!"
"Tramp!"
"Temptress!"
"Slut!"
"Demon!"
"Demon?! That's Goddess to you, you overused character design!"
"Mons- What?! That- That doesn't even make any sense!"
This was getting ridiculous. If Hakuno didn't step in, then at this rate these two were gonna end up blowing up the house (or maybe even the entire block) if they kept this up. He had to do something. Shaking off his daze and pushing himself off the floor, he cleared his throat and:
"BOTH OF YOU, CUT IT OUT!"
His two Servants froze in place and whipped their heads towards him, startled by their Master's assertive authority overriding his normally docile demeanor.
"When I count to three, you two will drop everything and break away from each other. Tamamo, stay in bed. Jeanne, go to the chair! One, two, three!"
The two Servants suddenly scrambled away from each other, with Tamamo positioning herself in a kneeling position while Jeanne leaped onto his chair, leaning back against the backrest and swiveling back towards him, both of them too stunned by the rare instance of Hakuno raising his voice at them to argue.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The three spent the next few minutes in total silence, taking the time to clear their heads from all the chaos that occurred just moments ago.
"Are you two calm now?" Hakuno asked.
"..."
"..."
The two didn't give him any form of verbal reply. Instead, Tamamo angrily puffed her cheeks and turned away while Jeanne gave him a brief nod in acknowledgment, with the two exchanging short but spiteful looks when they thought the other wasn't looking.
Hakuno sighed. Welp, that was probably the best he was gonna get from them for a while. "Alright then, let's get this figured out."
[CONFLICT_RESOLVED]
[SERVANT_{Caster}_HAS_BEEN_PACIFIED]
[SERVANT_{Ruler}_HAS_BEEN_PACIFIED]
Brief (read: very, very uncomfortable) introductions aside, the next few minutes were spent filling Tamamo in on what they knew, from the initial downloads to the Sovereign's Regalia, all the way up to Caster Prelati's deletion.
Tamamo furrowed her brows, trying to make sense of it all. "So the Moon Cell downloaded backup data? Of us?"
Jeanne sighed, crossing her legs. "That appears to be the case. From what we hypothesized, the Moon Cell gets its backup data from alternate timelines, or world lines as they are officially called, and downloads it into their terrestrial counterparts in this one. Well, that is the case with Masters. For Servants, their backup data is downloaded into a cyber frame," her face turned unreadable as she glanced at her hands for a brief moment "Or in my case, it downloads the backup data into a compatible host."
"And why would the Moon Cell do that in the first place?"
"I'm… not sure exactly…" Jeanne hesitantly admitted, "It's not in the Moon Cell's nature to do anything like this, and I know for sure Hakuno himself couldn't have done so since it deleted him shortly after he made his wish."
Tamamo rolled her eyes, clearly displeased with Jeanne's exposition. "Wow. That's all you got? I was expecting more from the Moon Cell's lapdog."
Jeanne frowned, clicking her tongue distastefully. "My loyalty is to Hakuno, Tamamo-no-Mae, not to the Moon Cell-"
"So if you would simply betray the Moon Cell on a whim, what's stopping you from betraying our darling Master?" Tamamo accused, leaping to her feet and getting right up in Jeanne's face.
Jeanne was taken aback, insulted by the accusation. "How dare you! I would never betray Hakuno, not after everything we've been through together. Our paths may have their differences, Tamamo-no-Mae. but there is no denying that at their core they were the same; there is always him, there is always a Servant, and there is always a Holy Grail War within the Lunar Seas. And if my path was anything like yours, then it should be clear that the love and respect you share with him is one hundred percent the same as the love and respect he shares with me. That's not something that can be bought, it's earned through seven weeks of blood, sweat, and tears that we've endured together in the Moon Cell's God-forsaken Holy Grail War! So take your damned doubts and shove it-"
Jeanne stopped herself cold, taking a moment to realize the gravity of her words. In the course of literally minutes, Tamamo had gotten under the Saint's skin far deeper than Prelati ever could. Taking a moment to regain her composure, Jeanne took a deep breath and exhaled before returning to form, refusing to look their way.
Tamamo just sat back on Hakuno's bed, her expression unreadable as she folded her arms. "Tough talk for a Holy Woman. So, what do you propose then? You want us to kiss and make up?"
"I wouldn't use those words, but since we share the same Master, it may be in our best interests to cooperate for the time being, especially since he cares for us too much to see either of us hurt." Jeanne's eyes wandered towards Hakuno, reading him like an open book.
Tamamo uneasily glanced at her Master/Husband, who was guiltily avoiding direct eye contact, before turning back to the taciturn Ruler with a groan. It was clear she liked this even less than Jeanne did, but there was no other consensus they could come up with, "We don't have much of a choice in this, do we?"
"We don't." Jeanne reluctantly declared, "I'm stuck with you, you're stuck with me." She held her hand out. "Truce?"
Tamamo stared hesitantly at the Saint's hand, only begrudgingly shaking it due to having no other options. "...Truce."
"Good." she turned to Hakuno. "Master, do you have anything to say about our… unique situation?"
Hakuno scratched his head. This wasn't over by a longshot, but any interlude of peace was better than none at all. "Well, none of us are dead or horribly mutilated, nor have my parents stormed in after we made all that noise, so I think we're-"
"PARENTS?!"
The next thing he realized, Tamamo leaped off the bed again and pushed herself against her husband, her tail eagerly wagging in anticipation "P-Parents?! You have parents?! I have in-laws?!"
Hakuno uncomfortably backed away, a bit unperturbed by Tamamo's sudden shift in mood. "Yeah, my mom and dad should be sleeping across the hall. I'm actually pretty surprised we haven't managed to wak-"
"Introduce me to them."
"What?"
"Introduce me to your parents, of course!" Tamamo immediately latched onto his arm and headed for the door. "Why wouldn't they want to meet their new daughter-in-law? They'd love me!"
"Please do," Jeanne challenged almost smugly, staring at her counterpart without a shred of mercy in her tongue. "I'm sure the first thing Mr. and Mrs. Kishinami would want to do at eight in the morning is to meet a scandalously dressed woman- one with pink hair, fox ears, and a tail, I might add- claiming that she has taken their only child's hand in marriage without neither a real, tangible identity nor a warning or clue that their son has been in such a relationship at all."
Tamamo stopped in her tracks and shot her a glare, silently admitting the latter was right. "...I think I hate you."
"Oh heavens me, so soon? And here I thought we were going to be the bestest of friends." Jeanne spat sardonically as she folded her arms, visibly at wit's end with Tamamo's antics.
Hakuno wisely(?) moved between Tamamo and Jeanne, standing right between them before resting his hands upon the fox girl's shoulders "Tamamo, I promise I'll introduce you to them soon, as soon as we get everything all settled. But for now, let's not do anything rash. You're smarter than this, and you know it."
Tamamo pouted, puffing her cheeks while her ears drooped. "...Okay…" her ears perked up as a sinister grin grew on her face. "But first…"
"What are you- mmph?!"
Before Hakuno knew it, Caster's arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him into a loving, intimate kiss. Her lips were soft, and the faint taste of cherry blossoms assailed his senses, just as much as her tongue assailed his own, dancing playfully in his mouth, sending pulse after pulse of pleasure jolting through his nerves. It startled him at first, but he managed to return some of the passion with some of his own, leaning into the kiss while wrapping his own arms around her-
"..."
Of course, as much as he enjoyed the kiss he shared with Tamamo, the daggers Jeanne was glaring into the back of his head were not exactly bringing him any sense of comfort. He never thought her to be the jealous type, or maybe this was Laeticia's feelings being brought out into the open again. He definitely had to make it up to her later-
*Knock, knock*
Jeanne peeked out the window. "Master, it's the Shiba siblings."
"Huh?" Hakuno reluctantly peeled himself off Tamamo, much to the latter's dismay, and checked the window. Sure enough, the Shiba siblings were standing outside, dressed rather formally than they normally were.
"Oh, friends of yours, Goshujin-sama?" Tamamo leaned against the windowsill, eyeing the two curiously while staying out of sight herself.
"Yeah, they're our next-door neighbors," Hakuno replied, checking his phone for any emails. There was one from the Ministry of Education about class being suspended indefinitely pending the police investigation, and another one from his dad telling him that he and his mom had to go to work really quick, but nothing else of note. "I guess they haven't been caught in the crossfire yesterday."
Tamamo pursed her lips. "So, they are these so-called 'magicians'... meh, doubt they're worthy of the title."
"Well, they're among the top students in the grade," Hakuno said.
"I think we define 'magician' differently, darling," Tamamo smirked, playfully tracing his chest with her finger.
"Well, whatever you call it, it's clear they want something." Jeanne commented, swatting Caster's hand away from Hakuno. "Master, how about you check up on them? I have something I need to show Caster here."
"Alright." Hakuno nodded and left his room, heading right down the stairwell.
"Heh. What, you jeal-"
*Wham!*
"Ow! What the fuck's your problem?!"
Ignoring that asinine conversation (and shaking off the blush that resulted from Tamamo's kiss), Hakuno went over to the door and swung it right open, startling the two Shiba siblings.
"Oh, Kishinami!" Miyuki exclaimed in surprise. "You're okay. We were worried about you."
Hakuno gave them a funny look. "Of course, I'd be okay. Why wouldn't I be?"
Tatsuya narrowed his eyes, clearly taking his reaction under observation. "I take it you're unaware of the events that transpired yesterday?"
Hakuno shook his head. "No, I know what happened on campus. I'm just lucky enough to get hurt, like you guys."
Tatsuya did not seem entirely convinced, and instead looked upwards. "I thought I heard some arguing before we got here. Was…that Laeticia?"
"If it was, it's probably none of our business." Hakuno shrugged, feigning ignorance. He had enough troubles as is; no need to bring the Shiba siblings into it. "So, what about you guys? Going on a date?"
"We were actually planning to visit everyone at the hospital; Onii-sama tracked them down thirty minutes ago." Miyuki told him, suspiciously not denying the 'date' part. "Would you like to join us? You could bring Laeticia with you if you want; I'm sure it would be a welcome distraction from..." she gazed uneasily upwards. "whatever she was angry about."
"Sure, wait here. I'll ask her real quick." Hakuno said as he went back up to his room, finding his two Servants standing right next to one another, looking over… Prelati's tome? Weird, he always assumed Jeanne destroyed it for some reason. Guess she just hung onto the creepy thing.
"-ou think there's anything useful in it?"
"Duh. If this dude took the time to make a Mystic Code, he would've had to put something important in it to make it worthwhile."
"What do you mean by-" Jeanne looked up . "Yes, Master? What did the Shiba siblings want?"
"They actually wanted to invite me over to the hospital to check up on our friends." Hakuno told her. "They actually wanted to invite you if you wanted to come."
Jeanne glanced at the clock with a slight frown. "As tempting as that sounds, I still have my own class to prepare for. Send them my regards, though."
Tamamo seemed much more enthusiastic at the invitation and leaped back to her feet, "Sure. I'd love to see what this timeline has to offer!"
She vanished into spirit form, dissolving into a cascade of codes as Jeanne stood up, scratched her head, and headed back to her room. "Oh, and Master?"
"What is it?"
"I speak for the both of us when I say neither of us are mad at you." Jeanne reassured him as she gently put her hands on his shoulders, which clashed with that terrifying angry-housewife-that-caught-her-husband-cheating smile that graced her lips "You had me as your Servant in one timeline and you had her in another. We get that. And your feelings for her and your feelings for me are one and the same, and there's nothing that can be done about that."
Tamamo rematerialized, this time directly behind Hakuno, and plucked a pencil from his desk before wrapping her arms around her beloved husband's waist. "Besides, if either of us even thought you would willingly toy with our feelings like that for even a second..."
Tamamo's hands slowly gravitated to just above his crotch before-
*snap*
-snapping -no, crushing- the pencil right over his crotch.
"You. Would. Know."
Hakuno gulped, unconsciously clenching his legs together as the splinters of wood and graphite that was once his pencil crumbled unceremoniously from Tamamo's hand, their message made painfully clear "G-Got it…"
"Great~!"
"Good. Just wanted to make sure you knew."
Tamamo dematerialized again while Jeanne returned to her own room, leaving the poor magician standing there dumbly, visibly trembling in fear.
Damn, those two were terrifying when they were upset.
"C'mon! What's taking so long?!"
"I've been here since last night! What's going on?!"
"Ma'am, please wait in line-"
"I want to see my doctor!"
"We're doing the best we-"
"We have to wait in line while those magicians get their healthcare first?! That's bullshit!"
The general hospital wasn't exactly the best place to be right now. None of Tokyo's hospitals were. The waiting room alone was crowded with increasingly agitated patients and/or their families, with the patients not under immediate life-or-death circumstances having been shoved aside to make room for the sudden rush of patients from First High. To say that the news wasn't well received by those in line would be an understatement. Toss in an already growing resentment for magicians and a healthcare system struggling to keep up, and now every municipal hospital had become a powder keg just waiting to explode. One would think that the city's healthcare system would have emergency protocols in place for this kind of thing, but apparently not. Hopefully, things will settle down soon. They probably won't, but there's no harm in having a little faith in humanity.
Hakuno spent the rather long and uncomfortable wait in line sparing occasional glances at the waiting room television while Tatsuya did all the talking with the receptionist. The news reports were talking about yesterday's incident in length, including something about an audit from both the police and the Ministry of Education… or was it something about a frozen budget…? Maybe something about every hospital in the city getting overwhelmed? He couldn't really make out much of the details; the noise in the waiting room was too loud to hear and the captions were way out of sync with the reporters.
Seriously, one would think there would be a fix to a problem like that by 2095.
"Kishinami," Tatsuya shook his shoulder, getting his attention. "Come on, they're letting us in."
"Right, coming," Hakuno said, following at the Shiba siblings' heels as they were let on the elevator up to the post-op floor. "So, who do you wanna visit first?" Hakuno asked as he and the Shiba siblings ducked behind a relatively empty space by the floor's nurse's station.
Miyuki cupped her chin, moving out of the way of a clearly beleaguered nurse. "How about we split up: Onii-sama and I will head over to Erika and Mizuki's room while you can head over to Leonhart's. Then we can set up a webchat so all of us can hang out together."
Hakuno nodded. "Sounds like a good plan, I'll head there now."
Splitting off from the Shiba siblings, Hakuno slowly made his way toward Leonhart's room while the two siblings walked in the direction of Erika and Mizuki's room.
"Jeez. Are you sure this was the only thing you could've done? They all look so miserable." Tamamo muttered in disgust, still hidden in spirit form.
Hakuno shook his head. If he and Ruler had more time, then maybe they could've come up with something else, anything else. But they were pressed for time and Prelati had them all under his thumb. They needed his hostages out of the way, and fast.
"Hmph, I swear this Prelati dude sounds like a total tool!" Tamamo snarled. "What's his deal, making us Casters look bad! If I were there, I would've loved to give him and his cheap-ass magecraft a piece of my mind!"
He was sure she would. And now Hakuno had the glorious image of Tamamo dive-kicking Prelati in the crotch that would be forever emblazoned into his mind. She knew him so well.
Truth be told, he kinda missed having these spirit-form conversations; they always gave him a one-on-one talk with his Servant without the need to hide somewhere private. He couldn't do it with Ruler anymore for obvious reasons, so talking with Caster felt like a refreshing return to form. It also helped with filling her in on some of the finer details of the timeline when they were alone or had a moment of silence, like right now (barring the chaos by the nurse's station and the chorus of agonized groans, and this middle-aged jackass arguing with a doctor on clearing an entire floor for his daughter alone; seriously, what the hell is wrong with people?). Of course, that was only for when privacy or discretion was required; Tamamo would probably love it if she could stay in physical form with him as long as she could. He quietly promised to get her some casual clothes later, and maybe the Regalia can forge an identity for her once he figured out how to make one.
He entered Leonhart's room, finding the stout teenager groaning in pain despite his IVs being hooked to analgesics. The tympanic rhythm of the heart monitors echoed throughout the room, clashing with the scent of fresh flowers gifted by concerned family members, who were oddly absent from the room. Hopefully, they weren't gone for too long.
As for his injuries, it bears mentioning that when Ruler beat them all down with {extella()}, she made sure they wouldn't come back up again for a long time. His arms and legs were covered completely in casts, while his torso and face were partially wrapped in bandages.
He also had a roommate, who seemed to be asleep at the moment.
Leonhart's eyes darted toward him the moment he entered. "Aw, what? How come you're not hurt too?"
Hakuno snorted in faux offense. "What, no hello?"
"What, no flowers?" Leonhart countered.
The two exchanged stares for a moment before bursting into laughter as Hakuno pulled up a chair and plopped next to his bed. "How are you doing, Leonhart? You seem to have taken quite a beating."
"I think like 90% of the school took a beating," Leonhart commented, groaning in pain. "Anyone else get out okay?"
"Tatsuya and Miyuki seem fine. In fact, they were the ones who tracked everyone down." Hakuno said, "I dunno who else got out in one piece, though, but I guess we'll find out soon enough-"
*ring*
"Speak of the devil," He pulled over the nearby table and propped his phone against a pitcher of water one of the nurses left out for Leonhart (not like he could even use it at the moment) and answered the call. Sure enough, there was a three-way FaceTime call between him, Tatsuya, and Miyuki, with Mizuki and Erika sharing their respective screens.
"Morning, dude!"
"Ah, it's good to see you, Kishinami."
His friends looked absolutely miserable, their faces biting back their pained grimaces with brave smiles, which did little to hide the quivering in their eyes. He really wished he had more time back then, if only so that he didn't have to subject his friends to such suffering.
"Hey guys, sorry you all got beaten up to a pulp." Hakuno apologized sincerely, albeit with an admittedly humorous tone.
"Kishinami!"
"Really, Kishinami?"
The Shiba siblings gave him disapproving glares, but Erika let out a little laugh, taking the joke in stride. "Well, look on the bright side." Erika said cheerfully. "With all of us hospitalized like this, there's no way they'll make us take the midterms!"
Tatsuya rolled his eyes. "Either that or they just, y'know, move the midterms up-"
"Don't ruin this for me, dude; I know what I said!" Erika barked.
"I actually have to agree with Erika on this, Tatsuya." Mizuki added, "If the teachers are anything like us, then the campus will be closed for a while."
Leonhart snorted. "Yeah, I saw it on TV. Apparently, the Education Ministry is working with the police to find out how things got as bad as they did."
"And by 'as bad as they did', you mean how two nutjobs from the Volunteer Alliance snapped and teamed up with some deserter to beat us all up and kidnapped and tortured those blooms…" Erika grumbled before noticing the incredulous stares her friends were giving her. "What? We're all thinking it; I just happened to say it out loud."
Tatsuya shook his head, folding his arms defensively while he paced around the room. "Still, I highly doubt that they did this all alone. Even if they did, that still doesn't explain how most of the student body ended up in the basement, beaten within an inch of their lives. Obviously mental interference magic had to be in play since nobody remembers anything about the incident, but a spell of that nature is notoriously difficult to obtain in this country without the proper connections. There's also the matter of everyone's injuries." He gestured his hand over Mizuki's broken body for reference. "Look at yourselves; you're all injured in the exact same way, bruises and all. What kind of magic sequence can do that? Then there's..."
Tatsuya was going off on his long-winded monologues again, but there was something different about it this time. He seemed… startled, shaken even. Given his perpetually stoic expression, it was hard to detect, but the clues were there: the pacing, the faster-than-usual speech, the eyes darting everywhere at once, all signs of someone rendered vulnerable for the first time in his life. It seemed so out of character for Tatsuya that it was almost unnatural. He must really be bothered by the incident. Hakuno couldn't blame him. It was normal to feel this way, for those victimized by disaster to ask questions which seemingly had no answer. Hell, the elder sibling was asking the same questions he would've asked had their positions been reversed. Oh well. While he can't really tell them the whole truth, the least he could do was try and help Tatuya regain some ease of mind.
Hakuno cleared his throat. "Tatsuya, are you-"
"Hold that thought." Tatsuya interrupted before grabbing the remote from Mizuki's table. "Mind if I turn the news up?"
"Eh?"
"Onii-sama, what are you-"
Tatsuya didn't even wait for Mizuki's response, instead turning up the volume on Mizuki's TV. What was so important that he changed gears just like that?
Hakuno and Leonhart exchanged confused looks before the former shrugged and changed it to the local news, which they guessed was what Tatsuya was watching:
"-led that Kinoe Tsukasa, one of the perpetrators of the First High Incident, has confessed to the murder of his brother, anti-magician activist and leader of Blanche's Japanese division, Hajime Tsukasa, in addition to his previous crimes." The newscast briefly focused on the reporter before showing two photos of the two bespectacled brothers on the screen: a mugshot of Kinoe Tsukasa (Kinoe Kamono as he was known to most of First High's student body) taken shortly after his arrest, and a candid photo of Hajime Tsukasa taken from one of Blanche's public events, before returning to the reporter. "Kinoe has claimed that he had murdered his stepbrother nearly four months ago with the help of a fourth accomplice, known only as Atrum Galliasta, and has fooled others of his brother's demise through strategic usage of various forms of magic, many of which were allegedly supplied by Galliasta himself. Blanche has already made a statement on the matter, claiming that the death of their leader and the deception brought upon by these twisted magicians shall not go on without punishment. In addition..."
Hakuno grimaced, shaking his head as the newscast continued onwards, the Sovereign's Regalia downloading more information into his head in real-time, updating what he already learned from yesterday.
Prelati's schemes involving Mibu, Kinoe, and Shishio had been far more extensive than he had anticipated.
It all started four months ago, with Kinoe Kamono and his stepbrother Hajime Tsukasa. Long story short, Hajime was the worst stepbrother a guy like Kinoe could ask for. He regularly abused the latter in any way he possibly could, if not physically, then emotionally or even financially. His mother was of no help and was apathetic toward her son's plight. Between his brother's abuse and his parents' apathy, as well as the stress of being a persecuted Weed in First High, Kinoe eventually snapped, killing Hajime in a fit of rage, tearing the smug bastard limb from limb with a Sonic Blade-buffed shinai.
This is where Prelati stepped in.
Prelati, who had taken over his Master's identity as Atrum Galliasta, had been colluding with Hajime in order to 'reclaim power from the Hundred Family Elites'. Obviously, Prelati didn't give a damn about their motives, and only wanted to sow discord within the country for shits and giggles. Kinoe killing Hajime threw a wrench in those plans.
For about a minute, at least.
Once he saw the resentment and rage that accumulated within Kinoe, Prelati shifted gears, whispering into the latter's ears, manipulating the troubled young man's emotions to his own twisted whims. He didn't even need any mental interference magecraft: to Kinoe, Prelati, or rather Atrum Galliasta, was the answer to all his prayers. Not only was he going to help him hide Hajime's death, but he was also going to help him run Hajime's legacy, Blanche's Japanese branch, into the ground. And all he had to do was follow this man's every wish to the letter.
Faking Hajime's survival was easy for Prelati: a little application of his illusionism magecraft, and voila! 'Hajime Tsukasa' was alive and kicking! Every single last one of Hajime's public appearances from that moment onwards was literally just Prelati using one of his many illusions to fool everyone, especially the members of Blanche. Slowly but surely, Prelati had pushed Blanche further and further into extremism, escalating protests to outright riots, exacerbating their anger at the alleged self-serving inequality fabricated by the Hundred Families' claims to power into righteous fury against anything related to magic. Hell, with a clever application of mental interference magecraft, he was able to orchestrate that shooting from the other day, just to sow distrust in not only the magician community, but also the military itself.
As for Kinoe? Prelati encouraged him to find other like-minded individuals in First High, people sick of being pushed around, beaten, treated as second-class citizens, and bring them to him, and he would grant them their darkest desires, revenge against their tormentors, the Blooms.
This was how Mibu met with Prelati. She wanted revenge against all the Blooms she thought wronged her, namely Takeaki Kirihara and Mari Watanabe. And Prelati obliged and requested that she make a list of all the Blooms that had committed wrongs against Weeds, which happened to include Mitsui and Morisaki, so that they could inflict their vengeance against them, leading to yesterday's incident.
And the worst part is: Hakuno had absolutely no idea how to undo all the damage.
Say what he will about Prelati, but the Caster-class Servant caused a lot of chaos before his demise, and the divisions he's sown between magicians and non-magicians, and even between magicians themselves, will not mend so easily. Where the hell was he even supposed to start? He was going to need a plan first before-
"Mmrph?!"
And there's the splitting headache. The Moon Cell's other method may knock him out of commission for a few hours, but at least it spared him from the bounding drum solo that now assaulted his brain.
"Son of a bitch…"
Once Hakuno's headache died down, his attention returned to the conversation, with Tatsuya, with a rare look of disbelief on his face, at the center of attention.
"I… just remembered. Miyuki and I had a reservation for this restaurant and we're going to be late."
Miyuki blinked in confusion. "Huh? But Onii-sama, that's not for another-"
"We need to go. Now."
"Eh? O-Onii-sama, wait for me!"
"Huh?!"
"Wait, guys-"
The Shiba siblings almost immediately ceased their ends of the Facetime chat, leaving an unfortunate Mizuki and Erika in silence.
"...The hell was that all about?" Tamamo asked.
Hakuno shrugged. "Guess that reservation he made must've been really hard to get." He replied out loud, with Leonhart barely bobbing his head in agreement.
Before he knew it, it was already into the afternoon by the time he left the hospital. He didn't expect to be there so long, but trying to hang out with everyone involved jumping between their rooms every other few minutes to humor them. He had to leave and continue his own investigation, but-
"Where did she go?"
Unfortunately, he somehow lost track of Tamamo during his stay. She must've gotten bored waiting in spirit form for him and wandered off. He could still sense she was nearby, that was for sure, but where exactly was-
*bump*
"Oh!"
Hakuno turned around, finding Mitsui behind him, holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms. However, she was shivering, and her eyes were darting all over the place, not directly at him. It didn't take too long for him to guess about her change in demeanor.
"K-Kishinami, w-what a surprise… I-I almost didn't see you there." she stammered, hesitantly backing away when he approached. "I-I thought that you… you were…"
"Sorry to disappoint." Hakuno snarked.
"A-Ah, I didn't mean it like that!" Mitsui backtracked weakly. "I-I mean, I'm glad you're safe."
Hakuno took it in stride, choosing not to bring up her… circumstances from yesterday. "Glad you're safe too, if that means anything." he eyed the bouquet. "Visiting a friend?"
"Y-Yes… my friend Shizuku. She got hurt yesterday, along with everyone else." Mitsui replied uneasily. "I think you've seen her before. She was sitting next to me at the cafe the other day."
"Ah, her. I remember her now." Hakuno mentioned, remembering Mitsui's messy-haired companion. "Well, you shouldn't keep her waiting. I guess I'll see you later."
He turned to leave and continue his search, but-
...No, he couldn't just leave her like this. She was a wreck, and everything from her speech to her quivering body language reflected the psychological trauma she endured just the day before. He knew she wouldn't immediately open up to him- they were neither on friendly nor hostile terms with one another nor should he use {thesis_of_the still heart()}- using what amounted to rewriting the soul recklessly was a bad idea- that but at the very least, he could offer her some comfort if she was willing to open up.
"Actually," he spun on his heels, just as Mitsui was about to leave herself. "Are you alright? You seem kind of nervous."
"O-Oh," Mitsui shirked back a bit, seemingly shyer than normal. "Yeah… something happened last night… I'm sure you heard of those… those…" she trembled, tears began welling up in her eyes. "I… I-I'm sorry, Kishinami! I really don't think I can talk about it right now!"
Hakuno understood her completely, easing his own guard and offering a calming smile. "It's alright, Mitsui. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Just remember that if you need someone to talk to, I'm available."
"...H-Honoka…"
"Hmm?"
"Y-You can call me Honoka, Kishinami." Honoka told him with a weak smile. "C-Can I call you by your first name?"
Hakuno shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind. Whatever makes you comfortable, I guess."
Honoka brightened up, ever so slightly/ "I- thank you, Ki-Hakuno! I-" she coughed into her hand, composing herself a bit before continuing. "Erm, thank you Hakuno. It's nice having someone else looking out for me."
She left a moment afterward, leaving Hakuno back to his original objective:
Namely finding out where the hell Tamamo went!
It took Hakuno another couple minutes of searching before he realized that he could simply use the Regalia to track her down. Once he did, he found Tamamo waiting for him outside the hospital, sitting on a nearby bench while casually reading Prelati's tome like a cheap novel, with what looked like a bag clearly labeled 'Patient Belongings' slung over her shoulder, and wearing an outfit she did not have on earlier. Her outfit- a pink-striped hoodie, a pair of pink-trim shorts with matching stockings and a pair of black heels to complete the set- suited her very well, and, while still flaunting her figure, was far more discreet than her skimpy kimono. Speaking of discreet, Tamamo's… vulpine features, some of her greatest features in his own opinion, had all but vanished, no doubt due to her own magecraft. Not like she could really hide them any other way, but they were so synonymous with her looks that it was almost alien to see her without them. She did keep her pink hair, however. Perhaps she thought having black hair would make her too unrecognizable.
At least now he didn't have to buy her new clothes. For now.
...Ah, who was he kidding? He would've done that anyway.
Tamamo stood up, grinning cheekily at her Master/Husband, who was staring back at her in a bizarre combination of shock, disbelief, and surprise. "Fufufu… don't you just love my new look?" she teased.
He did, her outfit was really cute. And he wanted to compliment her new look. Unfortunately, all that came out of his mouth was: "...You can fix the thing with your ears right? And your tail?"
Tamamo pouted, deflating in an instant. "Really? That's the part you care about?" She rolled her eyes. "Of course, I can't blame you for loving my signature look after all."
...Her… 'signature look'? Hakuno shook his head. "That- That's not what I meant at all! I- Uh... you look great-"
Tamamo giggled, playfully nudging his shoulder as a blush formed on her cheeks. "I'm just kidding, Goshujin-sama! While I am proud of my ravishing good looks, it won't do if my more divine features bring any unwanted attention. Worry not, for I am still yours in heart and body, and I am more than willing to bare everything for you if it's your heart's desire."
The two began walking off towards the 'train' station, with Tamamo affectionately clinging to her husband's arm. Hakuno enjoyed it, ignoring the envious stares of some passersby as he returned the affectionate gesture. It wasn't until they boarded the train that they continued their conversation in private.
"So… the other Caster's tome," Hakuno started, not even wanting to know where she got her new outfit. "Did you find anything useful on it?"
"Just some forbidden pages and an in-depth manual on the various intricacies of illusion magecraft. It didn't take me too long to read up on this, maybe an hour or two more and I could teach you everything here without it." Tamamo snorted, casually offering the tome over. "But, a Mystic Code's a Mystic Code, not like that Ruler could appreciate something like this."
Hakuno rolled his eyes. They were probably never going to get along anytime soon. They'll get along sooner or later…
...Probably.
...Okay, probably not, but he could hope.
Instead, he changed subjects. "The Moon Cell showed me Prelati's plans."
Tamamo raised a brow, flipping the tome back into her hands with a flick of the wrist. "Oh? And what did it show you?"
"It showed me he was a total psycho, that's for sure." Hakuno began telling her all that he saw through the Regalia, and he could tell her mood gradually deteriorated the more he revealed.
"...Man, what a dick." Tamamo concluded unceremoniously. "And? What's your game plan?"
"I… I really don't know." Hakuno admitted, slumping back into his seat "I can send a couple of anonymous tips to the authorities, but that's the best I can do."
Tamamo gave him a comforting smile. "Hey, one man can't exactly fix all the world's problems. Just be proud you nipped it in the bud when you did."
Hakuno cracked a smile before planting a brief kiss on Tamamo's cheek "Thanks, Tamamo. I needed that."
"Besides, we have something more important to do." She dug her hands into the patient's belongings bag (he was very worried to ask if she actually stole stuff from other patients or just took the bag out of convenience) and pulled out a notebook labeled:
"The Youkai's Book of Love~! The Definitive Survival Guide to having a Happily Married Life! 7th Edition. Written By Tama-chan and Kiyohi. Illustrations by Okki. Special Thanks to Beni-sensei and Kinoko Nasu. Results may vary." Hakuno read out loud, dumbfounded, staring at his Servant incredulously. "What the fu-"
"Don't worry, Goshujin-sama! While you were hanging out with your weird-and-not-really-magicians-but-I'm-totally-not-judging friends, I was planning our future together!" She proudly declared, eagerly waiting for him to take it and read it for himself. "Of course, it's not complete yet, but you can have a super-sneak preview of the manuscript! Go to chapter twenty-seven, that's the part we need to focus on right now!"
Despite everything in his mind screaming at him not to do so, Hakuno hesitantly plucked the notebook out of her hands and skimmed through the pages. Damn, she had enough information planned to fill in a textbook; there were even units dividing the chapters. As for the chapter she wanted him to read, well… "Unit six, chapter twenty-seven: how to pavlovian doggystyle your man out of his premature ejacul-" he whipped his head up, offended. "I do not-"
"Whoops, wrong chapter! That totally doesn't refer to you at all! Go to Unit four, chapter nineteen!" Tamamo hastily corrected, flipping the page back to the intended(?) chapter "Here: How to deal with your in-laws!"
Hakuno gave her a skeptical look before continuing "When marrying your spouse, you're also joining your spouse's family whether you want to or not, so it's important you make a good first impression…" he kept reading on the chapter, and for what it's worth, it actually had some legitimately good advice. Maybe once he forges an identity for her, they could actually pull this off.
"You like it, don't you?" Tamamo teased.
"Well, if you practice what you preach, then maybe my parents will love you just as much as I do." Hakuno snorted before handing it back over. "As for your book… well, I wouldn't be surprised if you somehow managed to get published within a year."
He was obviously joking, but that wicked gleam in Tamamo's eyes told him she was taking him seriously.
Maybe he should refrain from giving her weird ideas.
[LUNAR_SOVEREIGN_IS_NOW_CONNECTING_TO_THE_CORE]
After Hakuno and Tamamo headed home, Hakuno went to his room and connected to SERAPH. He knew the Moon Cell was capable of doing some incredible feats, and it was about time he learned how to use it. Starting with making that new identity for Tamamo. He was making some progress, but he… hit a few snags.
Namely, what the hell he was supposed to do about Tamamo's age.
He had other issues, like a pseudonym and a paper trail, but the age thing was probably going to give him the most grief if he screwed up. She probably didn't want to be constrained by the inconveniences of being a minor, but if he picked an age too high, she would get mad at him. Then there was the legal drinking age he had to worry about… maybe he should just exit the Moon Cell and come back to this after asking her.
While he was in the midst of forging an identity for his Servant, he reviewed the feed the Moon Cell recorded of the incident's aftermath, just to give it one more look before hopefully putting it behind him.
::Adding Irrelevant Events to timeline...
"Hmm? What's this?"
However, something caught his eye. The Moon Cell was adding events to the timeline, stuff that was relatively considered irrelevant to his investigation. His curiosity was piqued, and he brought the screen closer for him to see. What kind of details did he miss?
::Irrelevant Event added to timeline.
::5:21 PM: Person of Interest Tatsuya Shiba Recovers.
"G-Gaah?!"
An agonized scream echoed throughout First High's basement as a sole student, Tatsuya, awoken among his peers. He twitched his limbs, almost analyzing the extent of his injuries from the prior battle.
And barely even a single second later, with an encrypted magic sequence aimed solely at himself, his injuries began to reform themselves, until they were gone, as if he wasn't injured at all.
The newly replenished Tatsuya stood up shortly afterwards, regaining his bearings before surveying his surroundings. He shouldn't have been able to see much in the poorly-lit basement, but, after another encrypted magic sequence, he seemed to be fully aware of his surroundings.
"What the hell happened here?" Tatsuya cupped his chin, his eyes wide as plates, before suddenly whipping his head to his right "Miyuki?!"
The Elder Shiba sibling bolted to his younger sister, ignoring everyone else, and knelt to her side, before pulling out a CAD from his waistband and aiming it at her. The magic sequence he used was the same one he initially cast upon himself, only this time targeted at her. Again, just like the first time, all of her injuries just rapidly healed within seconds, and her broken body repaired itself.
"Ngh…" Miyuki groaned, rubbing her eyes before realizing Tatsuya was cradling her in his arms. "O-Onii-sama?! W-What happened?! Where are we?!"
"...I think we're in the campus basement." Tatsuya reluctantly answered her. "I… I don't know what happened, but it had to be something big. Try to take a look around you."
Miyuki, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness, could only gasp in horror once she was able to see. "Oh God, Onii-sama, what happened here?!"
Tatsuya cupped his chin, looking towards the exit. "I don't know, but let's get out of here first before we make our next move."
::Irrelevant Event added to timeline.
::5:23 PM: Persons of Interest Tatsuya Shiba and Miyuki Shiba leave First High School.
Hakuno just sat there, dumbfounded as the Moon Cell added the events to the timeline.
"...What the hell did I just see?"
A/N: Holy shit, I did not mean for this update to take this long. I am so sorry about that. Yeah, I had a lot of problems IRL, and I had to cut out some stuff I planned (I actually had a draft where Tamamo unwittingly curses out Hakuno's mom; shame I couldn't make it work). Yeah, despite that, I had a lot of fun with making Tamamo come to life. I also had a blast writing her interactions with Jeanne; unlike her interactions with Nero, which showed them being capable of being friends, I had the feeling that Tamamo and Jeanne wouldn't get along at all unless they really had a reason to. I know for sure I'm going to have some fun writing their interactions in later chapters. Anyways, I kind of wanted to expand on and/or modify several Mahouka aspects that kind of got overlooked or ignored. Take Kinoe and Mibu for example; after the first arc, they seemed to have gotten off scot-free; they were essentially brainwashed, sure, but they did work with an anti-magic group/terrorist organization, yet after the arc was over, they were still in First High, no trouble. You'd think there would be some people in the administration or student body who'd hold a grudge, but no, they're rarely addressed again. Then there's Blanche. What if instead of them being a one-dimensional anti-magic group (that's also hypocritical in regards to its membership policies regarding ACTUAL MAGICIANS) secretly funded by the Great Asian Alliance, they were a rigid, militant, but independent anti-magic group. Instead of having them allowing magicians into their ranks, they were outright hostile towards anyone and anything related to magic. We can also expand on their motives: irrational hatred, envy towards their power, legitimate gripes against the power (both physical and political) held by the Hundred Families and individual magicians, the possibilities are endless.
I'm getting ahead of myself. All in all, I'll try to upload another chapter sooner. Thank you for reading, and as always, Please review!