The Triumvirate Chapter 4:
Old Habits
The sound of footsteps rang throughout the clinic. The sound stopped as a six year-old boy reached the end of the stairs, and put on his worn down shoes.
"Hey Doc, I'm going to check on Sora, and put some food and water out for him." He said.
"Sounds good." Hannah said from behind her desk, working on editing files for her patients. "Just be careful, Ritsuka."
"I'm always careful!" Ritsuka snarked.
This damned dream again. Of course it would appear, just like always. Everytime he slept, he would return here.
The six year old boy made his way to the back of the clinic, and walked out the back door. The warm summer air hit his skin. The pleasant feeling always made him smile. Ritsuka walked towards the back corner of the clinic, near the alleyway. Ritsuka looked around, but didn't see Sora anywhere. The little boy grinned, he knew how to get his attention. Ritsuka got out two small bowls, and poured water into one before reaching into his pocket, and brought out a bag. The little boy shaked it twice, and saw a dog walk out from the corner slowly.
"Hey Sora, I got you some pork tonight." Ritsuka said. "I know it's your favorite."
Sora saw the boy, and trotted quickly towards him. The dog was tall, not too skinny, but not muscular either. He was in the perfect weight range. Sora stopped near the two bowls, simply wagging his tail and panting. Ritsuka smiled as he put the pork into the empty bowl. Sora took the opportunity to lick Ritsuka's face, causing the little boy to laugh and pet the dog's head.
"Okay, your food is ready!" Ritsuka said. "Time to chow down buddy!"
Sora didn't need to be told twice. The dog immediately found a piece of pork and chewed on it. Ritsuka smiled as he watched the dog's tail swing from side to side in happiness.
"Look mate, just tell me what I need to know, and I'll be on my way."
"I told you that I have no idea what you're talking about. And even if I did, I would not tell you."
Ritsuka turned and looked behind him, towards the alleyway. He knew almost everyone in this district, but he never heard those voices before.
Don't do it. He knew it wouldn't change anything, but he felt like saying it anyway.
The sound of something snapping caused the boy to get up and slowly walk towards the noise. The little boy gulped in fear as the sound of cracking continued to echo through the alley.
Turn back! Of course it wasn't going to work, but he couldn't help but try for once.
A chill ran up the little boy's spine. Something bad was about to happen, and he only had two options. Leave, or try to stop it. The little boy took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and walked towards the two men.
Like he suspected. Nothing would change.
The continued snapping sent goosebumps in Ritsuka's body. The child could not help but shake with every step now. The sound of slashing rang in Ritsuka's ears, alongside the grunting of the other man in pain. Ritsuka was so close now, he just needed to turn around the corner. The little boy took a deep breath, and turned to see what was going on.
DON'T LOOK!
"Hello boyo. Did you enjoy the show?"
"Oh my god, he's waking up!"
Ritsuka groaned as he started to open his eyes. The male Master looked around and saw almost everyone looking at him. "What happened?"
"You fainted." Tatsuko answered. "One minute we were walking back to Rome, and then you fell to the ground."
"How long was I out?"
"A couple of hours." Tatsuko answered. "The moment you fell I checked to see if you were hurt before I carried you inside."
Ritsuka stared at her with widened eyes. "You…..carried me?"
Mashu nodded. "She must be incredibly strong to carry you like that."
"Or it could be because he's incredibly light."
Everyone turned to see Sanson standing by the table. The Assassin glared at the male Master as he held a bundle of papers in his hands.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Liz asked.
Sanson slammed the papers down on the table and continued to glare at Ritsuka. The Assassin took a deep breath to calm himself down, and turned his gaze to Tatsuko instead. "Tatsuko, turn on your communicator. Now."
"What's going on?" Tatsuko asked.
"Just do it." Sanson said sternly. Tatsuko nodded in confusion and grabbed her communicator from her belt. The moment she turned it on, Sanson grabbed his papers as Roman and Davinci stared at him in concern.
"Is Ritsuka okay?" Roman asked.
"Take a look and see for yourself." Sanson said as he showed the acting director and Caster the papers. The two of them read the papers silently for a few moments before widening their eyes as they reached the end. Roman and Davinci turned to Ritsuka with stone cold glares.
"Young man, explain yourself. Now." Davinci said coldly.
"Umu, can someone PLEASE tell us what is going on?!" Nero asked impatiently.
"Ritsuka's severely underweight, that's what!" Roman shouted.
"What?!" Jeanne shouted. "That cannot be right! If he needed to, he'd have…"
Jeanne's eyes widened in concern. She and the others turned to Ritsuka slowly, causing the male Master to feel a chill up his spine.
"How many times do you eat per day?" Tatsuko asked.
Ritsuka did not answer. He simply looked down to his hands with a reluctant gaze. Siegfried walked up to him, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Ritsuka, please answer the question." He said gently.
Ritsuka looked at the Saber for a few moments, before gazing at each and everyone in the room. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. There was no getting around this now…
"Once a day. Twice if I'm lucky."
"Why did you never say anything before?!" Vlad shouted.
"You could have gotten more to eat if you just asked!" Liz said.
"It was normal for me back home to eat that much." Ritsuka said. "Besides, I didn't want to bother anyone for more food."
"Didn't want to bother…? Ritsuka Fujimaru, you're a complete idiot!" Davinci shouted. "What in the hell made you think you could do this to yourself?!"
Ritsuka looked away in shame from Davinci's outburst. Tatsuko saw this, and clenched her fists in anger. The orange haired teen walked towards Ritsuka's side, and grabbed him by the arm.
"What are you-"
"You're coming with us. Now." Tatsuko growled. The female Master pulled the black haired teen from the bed and dragged him out the room, the other Chaldeans following soon after. Nero walked outside the room and found a wandering servant in the corridors. The emperor tapped her on the shoulder, her expression now returning to a sense of calm.
"Inform the cooks to have a large lunch prepared as soon as possible." Nero said.
The servant nodded and rushed towards the kitchens. Nero did not bother to look back to her, and opted to catch up with the others.
For the past hour, Ritsuka avoided eye contact with everyone present as they waited for the food to arrive. He could not meet their stares out of fear, and of guilt for hiding this from them. The arrival of the cooks made them turn away from him, allowing Ritsuka to look up. He soon felt the stares return back to him as the cooks gently placed a tray of meat and some side dishes in front of him.
"Eat." Sanson said sternly. Ritsuka could only stare at the food for a few moments before grabbing one of the forks, and slowly started to eat.
"I can't believe that you would only eat once a day and not say a word." Davinci said harshly.
Ritsuka shrunk from her gaze. "I just-"
"Don't try to make excuses!" Roman shouted. "How could you do this to yourself?!"
"Doctor Roman, let us try to-"
"Don't defend him Mashu!" Tatsuko replied.
"I am not defending him!" Mashu shouted. "I am just as angry as you are! I just think that-"
"Mashu, this is for his own good." Artoria said from behind Roman.
"How is yelling at him going to solve it?!" Mashu shouted back.
"He kept this from us for months now." Medusa said from the comms. "If we don't take drastic measures, it will only get worse."
Ritsuka could only stare at his food with even more guilt. "I'm sorry….."
"Young man. Not. Another. Word." Davinci said harshly.
"No, let him speak." Nobunaga said calmly. "He needs to explain everything to us, after all."
Siegfried took this opportunity to sit down next to Ritsuka and stared at him gently. "Ritsuka, please tell us why you are doing this to yourself."
Ritsuka closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. If this was how it was going to go, he might as well just tell them.
"Back home, Doc and I would have to ration our food supply for a couple of weeks. In fact, in our little part of town, that was what almost everyone would do to survive."
A deathly silence filled the room. The air went cold as everyone stared at Ritsuka in absolute shock. If he and Doctor Williams…no, if everyone had to resort to such methods…..
"I suspected that was the case when you told us how much you ate." Nobunaga said.
Liz's eyes widened. "You kept doing this because you thought it would give the rest of us enough to eat, didn't you?"
Ritsuka looked at the Lancer, and nodded slowly before taking another bite of food.
"You still should have said something." Nero countered.
Mashu closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before looking at the others calmly. "Can we go somewhere else to discuss this? I would rather he be able to eat in peace."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Roman turned to look at Ritsuka with a much calmer expression. "Ritsuka, I can't ignore the fact that you were neglecting your health. So as acting director, I am giving you an order; From now on, you will eat three times a day, unless circumstances prevent you from doing so. For the foreseeable future, Mashu and someone elset will be escorting you to the palace's dining hall so you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner."
Ritsuka slowly nodded as he swallowed his food. "I'm sorry for-"
"Senpai, please just eat…" Mashu said sternly.
The male Master said nothing to counter, and watched as everyone but Siegfried and Nobunaga left the room. The Saber and black haired Servant looked at the boy with calm gazes.
"I can understand why you would do this." Nobunaga said. "But it was stupid to continue when you had the opportunity to finally stop this habit."
Siegfried nodded in agreement. "I really can't be upset with you over this. I would have done the same thing in your shoes. I do still feel hurt that you kept this from us, but I cannot judge you too harshly."
Ritsuka said nothing, and opted to return to his meal. The two Servants were relieved at this, and Nobu walked up to him. "Can I borrow your communicator for a moment?"
"Sure." Ritsuka said. The male Master handed the device over to the black haired Servant and returned to his meal. Nobunaga turned on the device and looked at everyone in the command room.
"Can one of you step outside for a bit to keep an eye on him?" She asked in a whisper. "And try not to be too harsh on him right now. He's already been through the riot act."
"I'll do it." Henry said. "Roman, give me one of the portable comms here and I'll step outside."
Roman found one of the devices, and handed it to the chief of security as he walked out the door. The moment that was done, the channel switched to Henry, who gave the two Servants a thumbs up. "I'll take it from here. You guys go find the others."
"Will do." Nobunaga said. The two Servants gave one last nod to Ritsuka before leaving the room entirely.
(Meanwhile)
"Okay, Henry is going to make sure Ritsuka's eating." Roman said. "Now, what did you want to discuss in private Mashu?"
"Was yelling at him really necessary?" Mashu asked.
"It was absolutely necessary, Mashu." Davinci countered.
"I disagree." Mashu said.
"Hang on, first you were mad at him like the rest of us, and NOW you're taking his side?!" Liz asked in disbelief.
"Well she has a point." Tatsuko said.
"Not you too!" Liz shouted.
"I'm not, I'm just agreeing with Mashu that we should have-"
"Oh, so now you change your tune." Vlad said harshly. "Need I remind you that it was YOU who gave him that unflattering nickname in the first place!"
Tatsuko stared at the Berserker with shock and denial. "I didn't mean it like that…If he just told me the truth I would have…."
"Would have what?" Vlad asked. "Stopped calling him by that nickname? Maybe if you and Mashu paid more attention to his appearance, we could have avoided this!"
"Vlad, that's going too far!" Jeanne shouted. Vlad looked at the Ruler for a moment before returning his gaze back to the female Master and Shielder, and saw their guilt ridden faces. The Berserker took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"I'm sorry. I should not be taking this out on either of you." He said.
Tatsuko nodded in acknowledgement of his apology, but her body shook. Everyone stared at her in slight concern.
"Tatsuko, are you okay?" Sanson asked.
The orange haired teen nodded, but her face showed nothing but anguish. "I'll be fine. I just need to be alone for a bit…."
And with that, the female Master ran out of the room. The rest of the Chaldeans present could do nothing but feel the frustration taking hold of them. Mashu decided to break this silence, and remind them of why she called them here.
"I was trying to say that we should have been looking at this from Senpai's perspective." She said. "He and Doctor Williams had to ration any food they could get. It only makes logical sense that he would continue to do so, because that is all he knew growing up."
"That is still no excuse Mashu." Roman said. "He still kept this from us in an attempt to not be a burden. We have to get him to break this habit."
"To be perfectly honest, you're all correct."
Everyone turned to see Nobunaga and Siegfried standing by the doorway. The black haired Servant pointed at Mashu with a smile. "You're right in that we SHOULD have been looking at this from his perspective."
Nobunaga then proceeded to point at the others. "You guys are also right. We should be feeling hurt that he didn't open up to us."
Siegfried walked up next to Nobunaga and took a deep breath. "We should all talk to him after he is finished eating. We need to let him know that we are there to help him, not berate him."
Roman took a deep breath before nodding in agreement. "Siegfried's right. We have to let Ritsuka know we should have considered everything first."
The doctor then turned his attention to Mashu. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. You really stepped up to the plate and told us what we needed to hear."
"I'll say." Davinci replied. "You showed real maturity Mashu, we're proud of you."
A beaming smile formed upon Mashu's face as she heard those words. Fou jumped around her shoulder in joy for the Shielder, causing Nobunaga to laugh.
"What are you two, her parents?"
Mashu blushed at the question as Roman cleared his throat. "I fail to see how that's relevant."
Nobunaga ignored the comment and looked around the room. She raised an eyebrow as she realized someone was missing. "Say, where's Tatsuko? Wasn't she here earlier with you guys?"
"She had to leave." Nero answered.
"Really? Why?" Siegfried asked.
"It was my fault." Vlad answered. "I said some things I should not have, and she just ran out of the room."
"Damn, it must have been serious if she had to run out of the room." Nobunaga said.
"Should we go talk to her?" Nero asked.
Jeanne shook her head. "She said she wanted to be alone for a bit, we should probably leave her be."
Sanson flashed a look of concern. "She really looked shaken up…"
Roman rubbed his chin in deep thought. "Let's just hope Ritsuka is able to find her first and talk to her…"
"Umu, maybe we should move this conversation to my quarters." Nero said. "We'll have more privacy that way."
Everyone nodded and started to leave the room in order to discuss what they would say to the male Master. As they walked the halls, Vlad looked back to where they came from, and a chill ran up his spine. Something was wrong, but he just couldn't be sure what.
Ritsuka sighed as he walked closer to the throne room. Two hours passed since he last saw the others in the dining hall, and he was hoping not to run into any of them at the moment. He didn't want to make things awkward after all that transpired, and hoped to just get some air and clear his head.
That was, until he heard the faint sound of sniffling from the throne room. The male Master immediately recognized those faint sobs as Tatsuko's, and quickly walked towards her to see what was wrong. He found her at the side of the throne, hugging her knees to her chest as Linus and Mr. Mittens gently rubbed their faces on her, trying to comfort the orange haired teen. The female Master heard footsteps approaching, and looked up to see Ritsuka staring at her in concern.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I-I'm fine." Tatsuko said.
"Tatsuko, I know you're lying…." Ritsuka muttered. The male Master walked closer to the orange haired girl until he sat down next to her and rubbed Mr. Mittens' head. "You want to help me get better right? Well I want to help you too."
Tatsuko stared at him with guilt in her eyes, but she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "We were all talking about…..what happened in the dining hall. Vlad and I got into an argument, and he told me a very bitter truth…."
"I'll talk to him and get him to apologize." Ritsuka said.
"No, no, He already did." Tatsuko countered. "Besides, he was right…"
"What did he say?" Ritsuka asked.
Tatsuko took a deep breath. "Mashu and I should have been paying more attention to your appearance. He even reminded me that I should have been the one to see this coming considering I call you Twig Boy. God, I'm such a fucking bitch….."
Ritsuka brought an arm around Tatsuko's shoulder, and pulled her close to him. The male Master simply let her sniffle on his shoulder as he rocked them back and forth.
"You know, I wasn't offended whenever you called me that." He said.
Tatsuko stared at him in shock. "You weren't?"
Ritsuka shook his head. "Not once. I knew you weren't being malicious about it."
"It still doesn't excuse the fact that I've been an awful friend to you…." Tatsuko muttered.
Ritsuka took a deep breath before smiling at her. "Remember what I said about growing up in that district, and how the people treated Doc and I?"
Tatsuko nodded. "Yeah, they were pretty racist towards her, and you were a victim for being associated with her."
Ritsuka nodded. "And the only people that were kind to us were most of the prostitutes and some other small bands. Do you know what that means?"
Tatsuko shook her head. "No."
"It means that until I met Mashu and you that fateful day, I didn't really have any friends."
Tatsuko's eyes widened. "You didn't?"
"Wait, hang on. Scratch that." Ritsuka said. "I DID have this big gray dog that I considered a friend."
Tatsuko raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you had a pet?"
"No, he wasn't exactly a pet. He was a stray dog that made his territory where the clinic is." Ritsuka answered. "But you could say he was also our little guardian."
'Was he ever a danger to you and Doctor Williams?"
Ritsuka shook his head. "He was never a threat to us. In fact, he was pretty protective of us."
"How did you meet him?" Tatsuko asked.
"I'll tell you that some other time." Ritsuka answered. "It's a long story."
"Ahem!"
The two Masters turned to face their front, and saw Nero and the rest of the Chaldeans staring at them.
"How long have you been standing there?" Ritsuka asked.
"Umu, since around the part where you mentioned a dog was your only real friend." Nero answered.
"And why is everyone here?" Tatsuko asked.
"We're here to tell Ritsuka something." Roman said.
"There's no need to apologize, Roman." Ritsuka said.
"How did you know that was our intention?" Sanson asked.
"Henry suspected that was what Mashu wanted to tell you guys in private." Ritsuka answered.
"Wow, he's really good at reading the room." Davinci said.
"I'm a former police officer, you know." Henry said off to the left. "Being able to read the room was part of the job!"
Roman cleared his throat and stared at the male Master with an almost fatherly gaze. "Ritsuka, I need you to remember this; Don't think for a moment that asking for help makes you a burden. We're always willing to help. You're not alone anymore so please, lean on us a bit."
Ritsuka took a deep breath and nodded at the acting director. "Thanks Roman, that means a lot."
"No need to thank us." Roman said.
"I will try to get better. But unfortunately, there are some things you guys just can't help me with."
Everyone stared at the boy in confusion. That was not the response they were expecting.
"What do you mean by that?" Liz asked.
"There are some things that are just too ingrained within me." Ritsuka answered. "It's pretty much a pointless exercise to try and get rid of them…."
"If that is how you feel, then we won't overstep." Davinci said. "However, we mean it when we say that we will be there for you if you ever need help. And that goes for you too Tatsuko, Mashu."
The two girls smiled and nodded. A loud grumbling could be heard throughout the throne room, loud enough to surprise Mr. Mittens and Linus. Everyone looked at Ritsuka, who showed a small blush on his face.
"I guess I'm still a little hungry…." He muttered.
Nero smiled. "It is almost dinner time anyway, so now is a good time to have an appetite."
"Honestly I'm getting hungry too." Tatsuko said.
"Umu, then we should prepare a mighty feast!" Nero said.
"We should probably discuss more of this along the way." Jeanne said. "And while we are doing that, we should have the palace servants sit down and have some food as well. They work hard and deserve some well earned rest."
"Umu, a splendid idea!" Nero exclaimed. "Come, let us go now!"
Everyone nodded and followed the emperor out of the room towards the dining hall. No one noticed this, but Ritsuka couldn't help but smile. For so long he didn't know what it was like to have a full stomach, but now he might be able to finally learn what it was like.
It would seem that old habits can die out after all.
OC: Okay, wow, that was much darker than I thought.
CV: True, but it was a long time coming.
OC: You have a point. Although that dream Ritsuka had is making the hairs on the back of my neck stick up. And that is never a good feeling.
CV: Suffering builds character.
OC: Fair enough. However, I still can't believe he was able to hide the fact he was underweight for so long.
CV: The clothes probably helped.
OC: True. Now I know some people will be asking about it, and I just have to come out and say it. The reason why we made him that thin was because it would make less sense for him to have a proper muscle mass if he grew up in such a poor area of town. It also GIVES him more of a determination to live and survive. Not only that, but it gives insight into just how messed up he is in that even after leaving such an environment, it had to take the rest of Chaldea to get him to stop such a dangerous habit. And it also adds to his selfless nature in having him say that it was also so that the others could eat too.
CV: Makes a lot of sense, and it fits him really well.
OC: And it also makes it perfectly clear that Ritsuka is really fucked up in the head. He's got a lot of baggage, and he's got a ways to go before he will finally let it go.
CV: Can we summon a therapist to Chaldea?
OC: Johan would like a word with you.
CV: Oh right… Another 'cause he needs more than one.
OC: Well I'm pretty sure he'd be feeling better if that dog Sora was around. To be perfectly honest to our readers we never thought of writing him in until this chapter. He just sorta popped up in our heads, and we decided "hey, let's give him and hannah a dog that they look after" and boom, Sora was born. And I'm actually glad we did. It really proves what Ritsuka said about having SOME good memories of his childhood home.
CV: I think our readers with dogs as pets will agree that dogs can truly make some of our best memories, especially as children. I know that it's my own experience with mine.
OC: I can definitely relate to that as well. And it also makes it funnier that he gets along with dangerous animals like stray dogs to fucking LIONS. That boy is either the most fearless man on the planet, or just plain foolish.
CV: Those two are not mutually exclusive.
OC: That is true. But we also delve more into his childhood aside from Sora, and it is certainly not pretty…
CV: Yeah, I'd rather not know what he went through.
OC: We'll have to find out eventually. But enough about Ritsuka's past. What do you think of everyone's reaction and how they seemed to change?
CV: I'd say it was pretty reasonable to Ritsuka's truth.
OC: Well the anger part sure, but them immediately just switching gears and feeling bad for getting angry?
CV: Yes. Getting angry is reasonable because of the lie, but continuing to be angry at someone that's already suffering from a lot will just make it worse.
OC: I guess. Though I think that while Nobu's and Siegfried's approach was the best, Mashu's was the wisest in that while she showed she was angry at him, she wasn't going to give him the riot act, and was truly thinking it through his perspective. That's quite the maturity from the kouhai.
CV: She took it rather well.
OC: I'd say Nobunaga took it the best. She did live through a time of war and bloodshed so to her she'd be seeing his situation and think "Yeah, this makes a lot more sense now." And so out of everyone there aside from Vlad and Jeanne, she'd probably get the idea of why he'd do this, but unlike the former two, she'd also know that this would be a touchy subject, and decided to play the good cop. She knows how people operate, and has the best grasp on how to get through to them.
CV: Also true.
OC: And then there was how Roman and Davinci reacted. It was like they were being parents lol.
CV: Their voice actors are married in real life.
OC: That is true, and they DO have a kid now if memory serves me correctly. So I guess it makes total sense in context lol.
CV: Oh wow, looks like Romani's been busy.
OC: Lol. Oh look at the time! Thank you all for reading this far. Please come back next week for more Chaldean Chronicles. Owen Chaser and Cosmic Vlad, signing off!