The second time Mei heard of him, it was while talking to Elysia. The Flamechaser was listening to Mei's tales of the real world and eventually, the topic turned to Fu Hua— or rather, Hua. After making sure that her sim counterpart was not hiding around the corner, Elysia felt it was safe enough to talk about the elephant in the room when it came to the 12th Flamechaser. "Has she ever spoken about him? The Hua in the real world."
"Him?" Mei was initially confused before realizing who Elysia was referring to. "You mean Ritsuka?"
Elysia's eyes lit up at her question, unfortunately mistaking what it meant. "So she has? That's great to hear," she giggled, making it that much harder for Mei to burst her bubble.
"No, the Hua in the real world never mentioned him," Mei corrected her with a shake of her head. "I learned his name from Griseo and Kosma."
"Oh… I see. That's too bad, but Hua still might have moved on after all these years," Elysia deflated, a slight hint of frustration and irritation in her eyes. "Then again, ours hasn't so who really knows," she muttered under her breath.
The silent comment made Mei pause for a second before she decided to speak her mind. "What exactly was their relationship like? From what Kosma told me—"
"Oh Hua was in love with him," Elysia bluntly interjected with her trademarked smile. "That's if you ask me anyway. Hua would try— or used to try —saying otherwise. Though whatever they really were, anyone could see they were fond of and affectionate with each other." Another giggle escaped the pink archer as she seemed to recall a distant memory. "Hua was pretty protective of him, and not just on the battlefield whenever they deployed with each other. There was this one time someone was flirting with Ritsuka and Hua came in to drag him away without a word!"
"...Was it you flirting with him?"
"Perhaps~"
As soon as she heard the news, Mei rushed to check the campus clinic. Her frantic face only turned into relief once she found Welt recovering on one of the beds; with him were Theresa and Tesla, the latter still doing some work. "Are you alright, Mr Yang?" She asked with concern in her voice.
"No need to worry, Miss Raiden. My leg will be fine after a couple of days," he reassured her, grateful that she came by to check on him.
Theresa then interjected, "Mei, I'm sorry to say but it's looking like you will need to take a break from teaching. With how things are starting to look, we'll be needing your help."
Mei simply nodded in response, knowing it was her duty. "Catch me up to speed. What exactly happened while you were out?"
The three (mainly two) recounted the ambush and subsequent Honkai Beast attack targeted at Ritsuka. "Fu Hua and Senti are keeping an eye on him right now," Theresa told her. "I'm thinking of where it'd be safer for him to go. While St. Freya is one of the safest places in the world with all its security, I don't want to put any of the students at risk. Whoever's after him is brave enough to attack a ship with both Welt and Senti."
"Either brave or idiotic," Tesla added with a small scoff.
Mei, meanwhile, could not hide her increasing suspicion towards Ritsuka. "Now an assassin, huh…?" She muttered, mainly to herself. "Are there any clues as to who or what is trying to kill him? And why?"
"No, nothing concrete yet," Welt answered. "The most we can theorize is that whoever it is knew Ritsuka in some way and is aware of his exploits. He and his Ser… cohorts are confident that there is no other reason for anyone to try and kill him."
She wondered just what sort of exploits Ritsuka had in his resume to cause such a reaction. Beyond being from another world and having some connection to Fu Hua through his Previous Era counterpart, Mei knew nothing about him. "So we have to wait for them to make the first move? That's rather dangerous if you ask me."
"We believe much the same, but there's little else we could do right now," Welt agreed with a slightly frustrated sigh.
Tesla, however, interjected with a smug grin. "Actually, there is something we could do. You heard them, didn't you? Ritsuka has a couple of friends currently stuck in the Sea of Quanta. I'll start looking into a way for us to locate them and bring them here."
Mei had little choice but to begrudgingly accept the plan. Admittedly, she was itching to get out onto the field again after spending the last couple of months teaching. It seems she will have to continue warming the bench until— "Fou!"
"Huh?" Mei glanced down to see a strange small creature at her feet. It looked to be a mix of a rabbit and a cat with silky white fur that was both floofy and fluffy. It also had a small cape tied on with a pink bow around its neck. "What are you?" Mei tilted her head at it, trying to figure out what it was and how it got into the clinic. It was… cute… But Mei couldn't help but feel … something off about it.
The small creature cutely mimicked her head tilt, making it look like it was trying to figure out what she was in return. To Mei's surprise, Theresa was the one to answer her question. "Oh, that's Fou. He's Fujimaru's pet. How did he get here though? He was with him earlier…"
"Hmm… Mei, do you sense it too?" Welt asked, noticing how they were both staring at each other.
"I do but…" Mei trailed off before crouching down and trying to pet him. Fou, however, moved back and ran to hide behind Theresa's leg. It hurt to see such an adorable creature be scared of her, but a part of Mei also felt relieved he ran away. "What is he?"
"Ritsuka does not know either. He said Fou had been a part of the organization he worked for even before he was recruited," Welt answered with a curious hum. He seemed to realize there was something off about Fou too. "He was staring at me and Fu Hua like that as well."
"Not only that, he attacked Senti earlier too. Well, more like slap her cheek as best he could," added Tesla, also curious about Fou. "It sounds unbelievable but it looks like Fou could detect who is a Herrscher. In turn, he has something about him you Herrschers— and one semi-Herrscher —find strange."
But he was just a small animal, Mei thought in surprise. However, she knew better than to underestimate someone by looks alone, but that didn't change how odd Fou was. She watched as he hopped onto Theresa's shoulder to nuzzle against her cheek. Mei felt a slight tinge of jealousy as Theresa petted him in return but also smiled at how the Headmistress is acting how she looks instead of her age.
"In any case, there is something I need you to do," Tesla stated as she turned to look at Mei. "I believe there is someone who would want to join us in this mission. Miss Raiden, could you give our budding game developer a call?"
The request made Mei smile and nod. "Leave it to me. It's been a while since we last saw each other face-to-face." She wished it would be under better circumstances but she did miss having Bronya around. She couldn't wait to see her again.
"So you came face-to-face with the bastard that burned your world? Solomon?" Senti recognized the name somewhat. She was pretty sure some king also had that name sometime in the past. Either way, she continued listening to Ritsuka's story of how Solomon beat all their Servants and came close to killing him and Mash only to let them go and essentially challenge them to overcome the Singularities— to prove to him that they were worth killing.
It was a dumb move in hindsight knowing that Ritsuka eventually overcame him to be standing here now, but hey, that was on him for underestimating Ritsuka.
"It was then that we learned of Solomon's identity as the mastermind behind the Incineration of Human History as well as him being a Grand Caster… or so he claimed," Ritsuka hummed before noticing the blank look on their face. "Ah right, I didn't mention them before."
He had only mentioned the several Classes of Servants and some minor explanation about what they were and could do, but nothing about a "Grand" Servant. "The simplest way to describe the Grand Servants is that they are the best of the best; the Servant that best represents their Classes. There are seven of them and Solomon is someone who could fill in the seat of Grand Caster."
"Only seven? But aren't there more Classes than that?" Fu Hua asked with an inquisitive tone.
"Yes, there are, but only the seven seats exist: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker," Ritsuka listed off. "There's a reason the Grand Servants exist but I'll get into that later. All you need to know now is that they are only summoned under specific situations and that Solomon claimed to be Grand Caster. And yes, there can be multiple candidates for most of them."
While Ritsuka was trying to move on and finish telling his time in London, Senti couldn't hold back her curiosity. "But could the other Classes have a Grand Servant?"
And just like that, it was like time stood still. Not only Ritsuka but his two Servants who were doing something else froze at the question. "…Please don't ask that question again," was Ritsuka's small request before they moved on.
He explained how the next Singularity they were supposed to face was in Jerusalem during the times of the Crusades but something had intervened and changed it to something else. "But I'll save that for next time, it's about time for bed." Ritsuka let out a yawn, feeling the day's event catching up to him again. "What about you guys? I'll be fine on my own with these two here."
"Mainly me," Kama proudly gloated, having gotten over her brief moment of trauma. Meanwhile, Xu Fu just shrugged, content if Kama was going to do the brunt of the work, and resumed experimenting with her vials and tubes at the table.
Senti's gaze went towards the smug Servant lounging around on Ritsuka's bed. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the suspiciously confident smirk on her face. "They'll be staying here?"
"Yes, Kama's taking the bed while I sleep on the couch," Ritsuka answered with a short nod, prompting Kama to interject.
"Come now, Master. You know you're always welcomed to join me under the blanket~"
Surprisingly, it wasn't Senti who said anything but Fu Hua. "Something like that is not allowed on school grounds," she simply stated with a professional tone, taking on the personality of a hall monitor, though Senti caught a hint of annoyance in there.
"And how are you going to make sure nothing happens?" Kama mockingly challenged her.
"Simple, I'll be staying here for the night. Both for his protection and to make sure nothing inappropriate occurs," Fu Hua said with full confidence, leaving no room for any argument.
"Huh? Really?" Ritsuka was naturally surprised by the sudden declaration. "In that case, you can take the couch. I'll take the floor."
Firstly, he was way too used to this; secondly, they were excluding her in all this. "Hang on, I am NOTgoing to be the only one left out here!" Senti near-shouted, sounding offended at being excluded.
"A slumber party… yay…" The small grumble came from Xu Fu before she sighed. "Some things never change…"
"Oh, come on, Xu Fu. It'll be fun!" Ritsuka chuckled before letting out another yawn. Now to figure out sleeping arrangements…
When Ritsuka came to, he was walking alongside Fu Hua through the school's courtyard. 'Oh right… lunch…' Once again, he found himself wondering how "real" this dream was. Everything felt right but with Fu Hua's presence, everything was also wrong. 'This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.' He mentally sighed.
"Is something wrong, Fujimaru?" Fu Hua asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"No, it's nothing," he answered with the most reassuring smile he could muster. "I just have a little something on my mind."
She stared at him with a skeptical look but did not press him further. Instead, she asked him something else. "...Fujimaru, can I ask a rather strange question?"
"Of course, I'll try to answer as best I can."
"It might just be my imagination… but does this place fee—" "Ah! It's you two!" A perky female voice interrupted Fu Hua, drawing their attention to someone running up to them. "What a surprise to see you both here together! I never thought I'd see something like this again."
From the corner of his eye, Ritsuka noticed Fu Hua freezing at her appearance, but he had no idea who this person was. The new girl had long, bright pink hair tied into a low ponytail that matched her equally pink pupils within her light blue eyes. It was a strong contrast to the black uniform of "their" school which had a couple accessories pinned here and there but it somehow suited her just fine in Ritsuka's eyes. One of the most striking parts about her, however, was her elf-like ears— but what was strangest, even with appearance, was the air she was giving off. Ritsuka could already tell she was not a normal person by any means, but the vibe she had reminded him of a certain someone.
Without thinking, Ritsuka blurted out that someone's name. "Merlin?"
"Huh? Who? Don't tell me you forgot my name already, Ritsuka!" The pink-haired girl pouted at his misnaming of her before breaking out in a giggle. "It's me, Elysia~ How could you forget little ol' me?"
A/N: Well, wasn't expecting that, huh~ Things are taking a quick turn for the interesting with that little plot twist? How and why is Elysia now here in Ritsuka's dream? That'll be explained in due time. Other than that, we get a hint of Bronya appearing soon, Ritsuka and everyone else being traumatized by a certain invader, and Fou finally not beating someone up. That might change soon tho~
Oh and for the Merlin and Elysia thing, it's been a joke in my group of friends that Merlin Prototype is just Fate!Elysia and vice versa.