046 - Another Chat

Olga Marie Animusphere

'I'm the last person you should be asking anything about romance.' Would've been Olga's first answer.

She's aware that her upbringing hasn't exactly been a typical one and that her social education was somewhat… overspecialized due to the rather pressing demands of her personal circumstances. To be honest, she hasn't really had the time to even consider romantic feelings until very recently. No, that's a lie, she still doesn't have time, it just started happening on its own all the same.

In any case Mashu could do better than her when looking for advice in this particular topic. Rather easily, in fact. Probably the first random staff member she crosses down the hallways could do. Anyone but Roman, really.

And yet… that's not what she says.

"Of course, I'll do my best." She replies with a firm, confident voice that she's grown so experienced at faking. "What worries you?"

Pride, morbid curiosity and maybe a tiny little bit of giddiness at being relied upon like that by an actual friend. These are the feelings that all but forbid her from taking the (honest) easy way out. Besides, she might be inexperienced, but she's hardly… innocent. She knows the theory well enough and Mashu might be the only person in the entirety of Chaldea she can actually advise on the topic from a position of seniority.

(In a dark, cold corner hidden within the most secured depths of the complex, the nose of a certain eyepatch-wearing woman twitches in her cryosleep, as if attempting to sneeze.)

Looking at it like that, it would be an objective waste to squander this opportunity.

"I've been feeling… things lately, especially around… a certain person." Mashu starts explaining, picking her words slowly and carefully as if she had trouble articulating what's going through her mind. "And the dreams…"

The way the girl restlessly shifts in place while trying to find the words only serves to make Olga regret her life choices. Sure, the sight of Mashu's wet and naked body is certainly more suggestive than it has any business being, but at least the actually indecent bits are all hidden underwater.

Meanwhile, their current seating arrangement is making her painfully aware of the other's presence mere inches away every time Mashu's restlessness causes the water to brush against Olga's skin. The reasoning used to talk herself into this is looking flimsier by the minute.

Still she does her best to keep her head on the task.

"Feeling new and strange things, especially around a special someone?" She paraphrases in an effort to force her mind back on track. Well, it all looks pretty obvious from here Olga is looking, but it wouldn't hurt to ask for details. Make sure this isn't a misunderstanding and all that. "Are they bad feelings? I mean, is it unpleasant or…?"

"N-No, nothing like that!" Mashu hurries to deny. "The feelings are actually… quite nice."

Close! W–Way too close! There's no longer inches between their two bodies. There's not even one inch! In fact, they are touching!

(Mashu's arm is very soft. Olga was expecting it to be packed with hard muscle, maybe even feel a bit rough to the touch, since she's a warrior. But then again, Servant. And Homunculus. Life really isn't fair.)

"W-well, your biological age is about right for that, so it might just be your libido acting up? That's a perfectly normal bodily process." She does her best not to freeze up and continue talking, even if she doesn't quite trust her ability to pull away without making a fool of herself. "Wet dreams are natural and there's nothing inherently dangerous about them, but I know a couple of hypnotic tricks to help along with dreamless sleep if they're interfering with your ability to focus."

Learning how to handle such things is only to be expected of any magus family worth anything, so of course she studied them in preparation for what might happen when her body reached the appropriate development milestones. She might've even felt disappointed when such tribulations failed to manifest if she'd had the time for such introspections.

Instead, she ended up abusing these same hypnotic tricks to combat a rather chronic case of anxiety-induced insomnia, but that's neither here nor there.

"Ah… It's not that simple." Mashu continues, shifting around to do something that Olga can't quite make out without looking, but her mind's eye decides to translate as putting the tips of her index fingers together for some reason. "These aren't natural dreams."

(That's adorable.)

Now, Olga might be feeling slightly out of it due to the rather unfortunate chain of events that ended up with her naked body pressed against Mashu's equally naked one -why hasn't she pulled away yet, anyway?- but the implications of these words are far too obvious for her to miss. She's been studying Servants, Masters and the interactions between the two of them for years, after all.

There's only one kind of 'unnatural' dream Mashu could reasonably be talking about: The Dream Cycle, a phenomena through which Master and Servant experience each other's memories in the forms of dreams.

Due to the more significant existences of Heroic Spirits, the dreams a Master has about the past of their Servant tends to be more relevant, but the process works both ways. Mashu isn't exactly a conventional Servant to begin with and, as much as Olga has grown to (like) rely on the Last Master of Chaldea, Haku is anything but normal herself and—

…

…

…

Wait a minute, run that by her again?

Fact one: Mashu has been having wet dreams lately.

Fact two: Mashu has been experiencing the Dream Cycle lately.

Fact three: Mashu's Dream Cycle is, by necessity, about Haku's past.

The only sensible conclusion one can draw, when these facts are put together, is that Haku has enough sexual experience to produce meaningful material for multiple Dream Cycle instances which… is not something Olga knows how to feel about. In fact, she's going to stop thinking about it right now.

One thing is clear, at least, that'd be cause enough for a rather intense sexual awakening.

…Okay, she's going to stop thinking about it right now, this time for real.

Casting around in her mind for something to distract herself with -preferably something other than the nice feeling of a naked body pressed against her own- Olga remembers how Mashu mentioned feeling specially funny around 'a certain person', which means not all her experiences are from the Dream Cycle.

Curiosity rears her ugly head once again.

What sort of person makes Mashu's heart beat fast, she wonders? Someone reliable and experienced, no doubt, the girl's infatuation with the very concept isn't exactly a secret, but what else? Does she like them tall or short? Bulky or lithe? Quiet or boisterous?

Is Mashu's first crush a boy… or a girl?

And how's Olga supposed to ask? She's vaguely aware gossipping about romance is a somewhat expected activity between friends, but that's as far as her knowledge goes. She doesn't exactly have much -or any- prior experience on the topic.

"Oho?" She arches an eyebrow finally deciding for a teasing probe to test the waters. "I hope you didn't fall in love with some guy from Fujimaru's dreams."

"A– Awawawa!" Mashu frantically shakes in denial, sending water droplets flying everywhere. "I… don't know if I have any right to call it love just yet, really."

"So there was a guy, eh?" Well, that certainly isn't the answer Olga was expecting, but she can probably work with this.

"S'not just him."

Olga's lips slowly stretch into a confident smirk. She didn't quite hear the mumbled words, but she has no doubt that Mashu's composure will come undone all on her own with just a little more pressure. Finally, finally things are starting to play out in her favor!

"Hmm?" Olga hums teasingly, taking advantage of the burst of confidence to turn around and look at Mashu directly. "Did you say something, Mashu?"

"It's not just Nii-sa— I mean, it's not just him I have feelings for." Mashu starts out with a vehement protest, but her words quickly lose impetus as she speaks, her single visible eye swimming with too many emotions to read. "Experiencing these encounters from Senpai's perspective… Feeling everything Senpai felt… I still don't understand my own feelings very well, but… I can at least tell that I… wouldn't mind having… an encounter of my own with… her."

The way Mashu's face grows more and more red as she speaks, the way she gradually slows down and sinks into the water until her lips disappear under the waters after that last word make for an utterly adorable sight. So adorable, in fact, that it takes a moment for the implications to sink.

When they do, it feels like a stab right through Olga's chest. Mashu has a crush on Haku, of course she does, it's so obvious in hindsight. Always going sempai this and senpai that, following everywhere like a lost puppy. Not even the traitor's betrayal made Olga feel this much like an idiot, because this is the most predictable and cliched romantic development in the history of cliched romantic developments!

She should've seen it coming.

She has no right to be upset by it.

Heck, she has no reason to be upset by it!

So why…

Why is it so hard to put a smile on her lips?

Why does it feel so painfully fake?

(Why are her eyes burning?)

"I've been thinking about approaching Senpai about this." Mashu continues, blissfully unaware of Olga's inner turmoil. "I'm not sure what I want to do with these feelings just yet, I'm not sure how she'd react to them either, but… I want her to know, at least."

"Well, it sounds like you've already figured out your next step." Olga somehow manages to reply without her voice breaking. "I say go for it. Fujimaru isn't the sort that would hurt you, at the very least. And heavens have mercy for her soul if she does, because I certainly won't."

"You are right, of course. I suppose I was… Hesitating over nothing. I'm sorry for bothering you with something so silly." Mashu looks down with a sheepish smile on her lips. "Thank you, Olga. "I'm glad you're my friend."

"Yes…" Olga's answer feels detached and formulaic to her own ears, as if she's talking through a daze. "Me too."

As Mashu excuses herself and turns to leave, she fails to notice the way Olga raises a hand over the water surface with a pondering look on her face. She leaves before she has a chance to see that hand slowly clench into a fist either, facial expression morphing into a resolute frown.

A Certain Magical Salmon

To the man most often referred to as 'Doctor Roman' or simply 'Roman', the triumphant return of the Singularity Exploration Team means more work on his plate. The exhaustive test battery mandated for all returning Rayshift personnel doesn't exactly perform itself, you know? As the Head of Medical, he can't trust the responsibility of such a delicate and focus-intensive job to just anyone, which basically means he has to do it himself.

At least it's not the full Team A, he shudders just thinking about having to do all this for six whole Master-Servant pairs.

And at least Fujimaru-kun is a deft hand in the kitchens, the handmade sweets she brings along as peace offerings almost make everything worth it.

Now, if only everything about that girl was as nice as her confectionery skills…

"What's with the long face, Roman?" Vinci-chan calls out from her side, where she's spent the last hour spinning on the visitor chair, playing around with a touchpad while he works. "Something wrong with the results?"

"I'm not worried about the results, but her mental state."

"Fujimaru?" Vinci-chan asks, letting out an overly dramatic sigh when he nods in confirmation. "Of course it's Fujimaru, what's he done now?"

"It's her reaction to losing her Servants at the end of the France Singularity. Or rather, her lack of reaction." Roman explains with a sigh. "She grew rather close to some of them, but she seems to have moved on with nary a shrug. This is the second time it has happened, Singularity F was the same."

"Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?" Vinci-chan finally drops the touchpad on her lap to pay proper attention to the conversation. "Master-Servant contracts are ephemeral by nature, there's no point in dwelling on it and causing unnecessary drama."

"Yes, it's a good thing, but it's also supposed to be a difficult thing." Roman shakes his head. "For someone to let go so casually… It makes me wonder if there was any bond to break in the first place."

"Ah, I see your point." As expected of a polymath genius, she immediately catches on. "You're worried our dear Haku-chan is a high-functioning psychopath?"

"The signs are there, at least." He sighs. "Should we bring this up to the Lady Director?"

It doesn't need to be a problem, but it could be. Unconventional mental dispositions are practically the bread and butter of the Moonlit World, after all. But having an undiagnosed psychopath running around the organization is the sort of thing that can go very wrong, very easily. At the same time, trying to 'unmask' one that's trying to keep her condition hidden might provoke her into taking drastic measures if she feels cornered.

That's not the sort of call he can make on his own.

"You tell me, Roman." Vinci-chan huffs with some amusement. "How do you think the Lady Director would react to such worries about the person she's come to rely on the most while she's recovering from having her world crash down on her head?"

"Ah… Nevermind." Roman answers with a wince. "That's… fairly insightful of you."

"Please, who do you think you're talking to?" Vinci-chan huffs again, puffing up her chest and putting a hand over her heart. "If having trouble connecting with others is the hallmark of a genius, rising over such plebeian challenges is the mark of the one and only, the inimitable Renaissance Woman!"

"And modest too, I see."

"Modesty is a social construct devised by the poo people to make geniuses like me feel bad about being better. So? What are you going to do about this?"

"I guess we'll… Wait and see?" Roman answers hesitantly, not commenting on the way Vinci-chan casually included herself, but feeling a bit reassuring his worries weren't dismissed outhand. "It would be reckless to run off half-cocked with the potential consequences of a bad call. Particularly when we don't even know if it will be a problem in the first place."

"I'll keep an ear on the ground too, but let's be careful about how we do things, okay? We aren't so flush with resources that we can afford to antagonize a key piece of Chaldea over gut feelings."

"I know, I know… I guess I'm just a bit paranoid about that girl." Roman nods tiredly, sighing again. "Try as I might, I can't quite get her measure, you know?"

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean." Vinci-chan nods excitedly. "Isn't it great? I love challenges!"

Well, that's an admission he wasn't expecting to hear today. If a polymath super-genius talented in every field can't get a good read on the girl, what chance did he have? Talk about worrisome.

As he's about to make a comment about it, the office intercom comes to life.

"Roman."

Talk about the devil. "Yes, Lady Director?"

"I've been examining our performance during the recent expedition and comparing them with the results we have from Fuyuki. Having Central Command fully detached from the Exploration Team has robbed us of precious reaction time, leaving the Exploration Team to flounder on their own and improvise in the face of unexpected developments. With that in mind, I've decided to personally join the next expedition in person."

"Ah… Are you sure about that, Lady Director?" He asks nervously. "Even if you can theoretically Rayshift now, we haven't had the time to test for long-term side effects."

"The theoreticals will have to do this time, these tests would take too long." She shoots down his worries in a voice that brokers no argument. "Someone needs to keep an eye on Fujimaru before she commits some idiocy she can't bullshit her way out of."

Oh, that sounds like an excuse if he's ever heard one. Maybe she's also noticed there's something weird going on with Fujimaru and wants to keep a closer eye? It would make sense for the Lady Director to feel a bit reluctant to trust blindly after that whole debacle with Lev.

"And who will take up your role here while you're away?" He asks instead of voicing thoughts he knows would land him some sort of disciplinary action. "We're not exactly flush with command staff either."

"You did a good enough job covering for me back in Fuyuki, Roman. Consider yourself promoted."

Before Roman can conjure up the appropriate words to formulate a protest, the line goes dead, leaving him gaping like a fish as existential dread closes its cold dark grip around his soul. He thought he had dodged that particular bullet! He really, truly, though he had managed to dodge that bullet!

Fortunately, a loud cackle right by his side startles him out of his mounting panic attack before it can get any worse. He turns around to find Vinci-chan looking at him with a huge grin on her face.

"I believe congratulations are in order?"

"Why me?" Roman cries in utter despair at the unfairness of life, fate and everything.

But the Servant simply laughs harder.

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