Theresa's day started off normally enough; she got out of bed with a strained yawn, showered and dressed for the day, and ate her breakfast in relative silence. 'What's on the agenda for today…' She thought to herself as she checked her messages. The only standout was from Tesla requesting to join the next excursion to investigate the crash site. Aside from that, everything was shaping up to be a (relatively) normal day.

…Until she stepped out to head to her office.

"Ah! Miss Theresa!" One of her students called out in a panic as she ran up to her. "One of the mech units escaped!"

That naturally confused Theresa as that should be impossible… unless?

"Was it a centaur?" The headmistress asked her student to which she frantically nodded. "...Does he just let his people wander around without a care?" Then again, if the ratio of Servants to normal people in Chaldea was like 10:1, they were probably just used to it. But to reassure her students, Theresa decided to investigate. "Where are they now?"

As it turned out, that one student may have been overreacting a tad bit. That wasn't to say her other students were treating the sight of the wandering robot-centaur like something they see every day, but Theresa appreciated them being calm about the whole situation. After dispersing the crowd, she approached the two where— "Oh, it's you, shorty."

…Now that she did not appreciate. Fortunately, the robot was much more polite about it.

"Forgive her, Lady Apocalypse. It takes a while before she commits someone's name to memory," Xiang Yu apologized as his wife rolled her eyes.

"It's fine." Theresa lied through her smile. "Where are the others? I don't see them with you."

"My junior and one of those twins are still in bed snoozing," Yu Mei-ren answered with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I don't know about the girl but Ritsuka could sleep through a hurricane and I wasn't in the mood to wait for him to wake up on his own."

Theresa nodded in understanding. So the three of them were just taking a stroll while passing the time?

"Actually, it's fortunate we ran into you, Lady Apocalypse. There is a certain topic I would like to ask you."

"Sure, I'll answer the best I can," the headmistress nodded at the much taller machine.

"It's about this world's version of Fujimaru Ritsuka. I heard he and Lady Fu Hua were acquainted with each other?"

"That's putting it mildly," she replied with a sigh. "From what I heard, RITSUKA and Fu Hua were one confession away from being an item."

"From what you heard? You didn't know him?" Yu Mei-ren asked with obvious confusion in her voice to which Theresa shook her head.

"He lived tens of thousands of years ago. I wasn't even aware he existed until a few days ago."

"He what?"

"...I take it that they haven't given you the full story?" Then again, who could have done so? Fu Hua was missing those memories; Ritsuka knew nothing either, which leaves Senti as the one who knew everything and she clearly didn't want to look back on those days. "Well, the long and short of it is that RITSUKA and Fu Hua were born a long time ago. Fu Hua is still alive thanks to experiments done on her but RITSUKA was killed in battle. She no longer remembers him but… well, I think you see the picture now."

"Partially," sighed the Assassin. "Wonder why no one mentioned that to us. That's some rather important info."

"I think I know…" muttered Xu Fu. She was already seeing the connections.

"Hmm…" Similarly, Xiang Yu sounded like he was putting the pieces in his head. "And what is Lady Senti's connection to them? She is a Herrscher, correct?"

Theresa gave a short nod in response. "She was born out of Fu Hua when she got shot in the head by my grandfather… a story for another time. All that's important is that she is the only one we know that remembers RITSUKA."

"Everyone really likes pulling that card, don't they?" Yu Mei-ren grumbled before sighing. She couldn't really blame them for constantly saying that. "Whatever then. If that's the game, then I'll play along."

"And how did RITSUKA die? What was he fighting?" Xiang Yu then asked. Theresa could understand where he was going with this: he was trying to figure out if what happened in the Previous Era was playing a part now.

However… "We don't know the exact details, but Mei learned he was killed in an incident called the Tragedy of Binding. That's all we can say." Theresa shared what Mei told them before. "The only one who has all the answers is Senti; you'll have to ask her for details but I don't think she's too keen to divulge her and Fu Hua's past."

"Unfortunately, it is the only way to determine if there is some kind of connection between Master and RITSUKA," Xiang Yu lamented. "If there is anything I've learned since being summoned in Chaldea, it is that true coincidences are rare and far in between— especially with how many had to happen to lead us here."

Theresa won't disagree with him; she also thought the same. But the question would be what sort of connection would there be? RITSUKA was (presumably) a MANTIS while Ritsuka was a normal human. Even if they had the same background, that background of being a regular person who joined a peacekeeping organization was not that unique. "Hmm… Perhaps you can see Mei about it. Try getting her to remember what else she learned about RITSUKA."

The third time she heard his name was from Mobius. It was in between her runs while trying to prove Aponia wrong in her prediction; the scientist was again being all cryptic and mysterious—her words sounded encouraging, but her tone destroyed any goodwill that could be had and frankly, Mei was reaching her boiling point. "Enough already," the Herrscher growled at her, surpassing the urge to pull out her sword. "If all you're going to do is say things like that, I don't need your help."

"Oh, don't be like that~" Mobius was unfettered by the glare Mei was giving her; the same snakely grin remained on her face as she continued, "You want some encouragement, then just say so. Aponia herself once admitted that there was an instance where her prediction was wrong."

"...You couldn't have said that earlier?"

"Oh, I could have, but that might have affected the results," Mobius scoffed at her. "I wanted to see how far you'd go on your own beliefs alone; if you knew it was possible, then that wouldn't be as interesting."

Mei would ask if this was all some experiment for Mobius… but that could very well be the case. Instead, she just asked for more details.

"Seeing as you were doing so well… alright. There was only one time events played out differently to how Aponia saw it…for the most part."

"What do you mean?"

"There was this boy in Fire Moth once— just your average soldier who didn't have anything going for him. When the Tragedy of Binding happened, he became one of the countless many who lost their lives. We don't even know how he died." Mobius related with little fanfare.

"Except?" There had to be more to the story.

"Except Aponia told me afterwards that she foresaw something different."

"...What?"

Mobius's grin only grew at the question. "She didn't tell me the specifics but it's easy to infer what she saw. That boy was to die at the hands of Herrscher of Binding, but the timing was off; it was supposed to be before the tragedy. In the end, Aponia was only half wrong with her prediction. Still something considering her perfect track record."

"And how is knowing that supposed to be encouraging?" Mei sighed in a mix of frustration and exasperation. Someone averted the fate Aponia saw only for it to still happen later? What was she supposed to take from that? "What was this boy's name then? Did you know him?"

"Barely. He was on my operating table once and I occasionally saw him around the base. As for his name, it was RITSUKA. I believe Elysia mentioned him to you before?"

Mei let out a small sneeze, earning a gesundheit from Bronya as they ate breakfast together. "Thank you," she muttered as she wiped her nose with a tissue. "Where were we?"

"As I was saying, Welt sent me a request to join Tesla in investigating the crash site," Bronya resumed talking. "Since he's still confined for the day, he wanted some peace of mind." Mei was glad Bronya had plans for the day; she would be teaching a few classes that morning before helping Theresa with the preparations.

…Well, Theresa didn't know Mei was planning to help and the latter would not take no for an answer.

That led to the next question: what did Fu Hua have planned for today? "No… it's more accurate to ask what Ritsuka will be doing," Mei corrected herself. She knew he was not the type to sit around and wait, but…

Hearing her friend mention the name of their new acquaintance, Bronya thought to ask her opinion on something. They knew how Fu Hua felt about him (even if she denied it), but Mei hadn't shared her thoughts on him.

"I want to trust him, that's all I can really say," Mei answered her; she already thought long and hard about his standing with her. "And you?"

"Hmm… All I've heard about him are half-praises from Lady Yu, but he seems like a nice person." Their brief interaction gave Bronya the impression he was a genuinely kind soul who was exasperated by the antics of everyone else… Suddenly she understood why Fu Hua would connect to Ritsuka so quickly. Although that was just a first impression, it was too early for her to form an opinion of the stranger. And as much as she personally thought he was a good person, there was still the elephant in the room: the Ordeal Call.

They didn't know the circumstances nor the true extent, but what they did know did not paint a good picture. "Being punished for…" Bronya muttered what Yu Mei-ren said the previous night. Punishment should only be done to those who had sinned, and if the world itself was the punisher… "We're just overthinking things," she shook her head after a moment. Letting her imagination run wild during work was fine, but doing so when an actual person is involved was a whole 'nother ball game.

The tension in the room was palpable—the silence deafening. The question asked by Fu Hua was not something Ritsuka had expected. "...Where did you hear that from?" He broke the silence in a small voice.

"Bronya, who heard it from Lady Yu," Fu Hua answered. She showed no emotion in her face but Ritsuka could see the need for answers in her eyes. She asked her question again. "What is the Ordeal Call?"

Ritsuka glanced around the room, hoping to find a way out. However, Kama only gave him a look that said, "Stop hiding and tell them." By contrast, Senti only looked curious. Fu Hua was usually serious but this was different than usual and Senti didn't know what was going on. She silently looked to Ritsuka for answers too, making Ritsuka shift in his seat.

"...What did Bronya tell you about it?"

"That Chaldea is on trial by your world; that's all I know."

The simple statement made Ritsuka sigh both of exasperation and frustration. If that was all Paisen said on the matter, it was obvious there would be a miscommunication. "That's right, but not a trial like a jury. The Ordeal Call is a more literal trial— something that we have to undertake to be accepted by the world for our… transgression."

"Transgressions? What is that supposed to mean?" Senti asked with bloated intrigue to hide the worry in her voice.

"I told you before how there are Extra class servants on top of the standard Seven. The gist of it is that only those from the Seven should have been summoned, as the Extras have their own roles and purposes in the world." Ritsuka began to explain. "Our transgression was that we made use of the Extra Classes in our journey to save humanity when it's not what they're supposed to do."

"That's it?" Fu Hua asked. Ritsuka couldn't tell if it was a genuine question or if she…

"Yes, that's it," he answered with the most sincere smile he could muster considering the topic. "In essence, Servants are like tools of the world that we're making use of, but we're hammering a nail with a chisel. The Ordeal Call is Chaldea's attempt to prove that the Alter Egos, Avengers, and Rulers do have a place beside us in protecting humanity. And until we can do so, we're being repelled by Proper Human History."

And so far, they've only completed the Alter Ego Ordeal Call. Two more to go…

However, he ended up revealing a little too much. "What's Proper Human History?"

"...Another time," Ritsuka winced as his smile faltered. "But to make things clear, our world saw us using the Extra Class Servants as a sin. Everything else…" His voice trailed into a whisper by the end. Summoning Dantes, Jeanne Alter, Xu Fu and the others was Chaldea's only sin in the eyes of the World. Everything else… Everything else was fine— what they did was completely fine as far as the World was concerned…

'No, there shouldn't be anything to regret about.' What's done was done and now he had to see it through to the end— make sure the sacrifices were not in vain. "If there are no more questions, can we get ready for the day? I'm starving." Ritsuka smiled once again, hoping they wouldn't actually ask any more. After all, there shouldn't be anything else to be said about the Ordeal Call…

Fu Hua knew he was being completely honest, but could also tell he was hiding some details. Of course, her first action was to ask Kama when they left his room so he could shower. "He gave the gist of it, yes, but there's something more that he didn't say," the Assassin confirmed her suspicions. "Nothing was a lie, of course, but he left out a rather important detail."

"It's about Proper Human History, I assume." That was the only thing Ritsuka actively avoided talking about.

Kama nodded with an annoyed scoff. "Let's just say there was another operation on the scale of the Grand Order between him beating Solomon and undertaking the Ordeal Call… and another minor thing that happened between those two. Honestly, if he decides to take up writing, Master could fill up a whole bookshelf with his story."

"That's putting it lightly." It took them this long to get around to the fourth leg of his journey. Granted, they were also being pulled from all sides that Ritsuka hadn't the opportunity to continue. Fu Hua was also guilty of not sharing much of her story yet beyond what she told him on the trip here—especially now that Elysia was kicking around in his head.

While Fu Hua looked somber at what they learned, Senti was still thoroughly behind on everything. "Can someone please tell me what's going on? It doesn't feel good to be left in the dark!"

"Tsk. All you need to know is that the Ordeal Call isn't some big punishment for Ritsuka; he's trying to prove that Chaldea was not in the wrong… for having the Extra Classes with us."

Fu Hua had to narrow her eyes at Kama's addendum; no matter how you word it, that did not have any good implications. 'But if that's all they're guilty of in the eyes of whatever arbiter…' However, Kama did not give them the chance to inquire further before driving them away, telling them to follow Ritsuka's example and get ready for the day. Sharing a brief glance with Senti, Fu Hua retreated to her room. There was not much else to do right now other than just prepare for whatever fate might have planned that day…

After eating breakfast, it was easy to find Paisen and the others; all they needed to do was ask the students if they'd seen a giant robot centaur walking around. It was, however, a surprise to see them discussing something with Theresa. They weren't able to catch what they were talking about as Xiang Yu noticed them. "Ah, Master, Lady Fu Hua. I hope you two had a restful sleep."

"Knowing his luck, I wouldn't be surprised if he wakes up with another grail from some otherworldly adventure.," snorted Paisen. "We were just talking about you. Well, this world's you actually."

"Why would you be talking about him?" Senti was quick to ask with a frown.

"Both out of curiosity and precaution. I wish to know anything that might relate to our current situation. If it ends up being unneeded information, so be it. Better that than being caught unprepared due to not knowing."

"In other words, better safe than sorry, though even I think it's a stretch," Paisen translated for her husband. "So any reason you hid the fact the other you and her lived like, what was it, fifteen thousand years ago?"

"Fifty thousand, actually," Fu Hua corrected with a small frown. She wasn't sure how to feel about the way the Assassin referred to her. "But I have nothing to say about the Previous Era's RITSUKA. I've lost my memories of him long ago." She turned her head towards Senti who crossed her arms at the unspoken question.

"He was no one special, if you really want to know; RITSUKA was a fellow soldier and died in the line of duty. There's nothing more to the story than that." The frustration in Senti's voice as she spoke was impossible to miss. "He wasn't even a Flamechaser so why he'd have anything to do with what's going on now is beyond me."

"And what is a Flamechaser?"

"The Flamechasers were the survivors of the Tragedy of Binding," Theresa swiftly and concisely answered Xiang Yu's question, glancing at Senti and Fu Hua from the corner of her eyes. Ritsuka assumed she wanted to move on from this topic quickly for their sake. "If Senti says there's nothing special about him—"

"There isn't," Senti insisted.

"...Then there's nothing special about him," the principal finished, giving Senti an unreadable glance before casting one towards Xiang Yu. Ritsuka could only guess what that meant.

'Well, since we're all here,' he mentally shrugged. The topic of his Previous Era self reminded him of that. "Actually, Theresa, there's something I've been meaning to ask about." Theresa had a confused but curious look before nodding for him to continue. "When I was talking to her the other day, Mei mentioned there was also a MEI from the Previous Era who had some strong similarities to her."

He heard a frustrated grumble come from Senti, mutterings of why he was talking about "that woman," followed by a cry of pain as Fu Hua firmly squeezed her shoulder. "Alright, I'll stop complaining!"

Yet another question for another time, Ritsuaka concluded before continuing. "I was wondering if there might be another me running around. I mean another another me. I'm worried there's a possibility he might get caught up in all this." He might be fretting over nothing, but as Paisen said, better safe than sorry.

"Another… Ritsuka?" He heard Fu Hua muttering.

"Please no. I don't want to deal with another you running around," Paisen loudly scoffed. "Well, if there is a second walking headache around, at least these two won't need to fight over you."

"Pfft—!" "We-we're not fighting over him!" Fu Hua immediately denied it while Theresa struggled not to burst out laughing at how both her and Senti's faces can be passed off as tomatoes right now.

Unfortunately, Paisen cares not for their embarrassments. "Hmm… Right, you guys seem pretty content sharing him."

"Paisen, stop saying weird things," Ritsuka groaned at her bullying of their new friends.

"Alright, alright, enough teasing them. That's my job," Theresa snickered before turning towards Ritsuka. "Back to your question, Fujimaru, I can get a few people to look into it. If there is another Fujimaru Ritsuka, we'll find him," she nodded before checking the time. "And speaking of looking into things, I better get to my office. Work awaits."

After saying goodbye to the hardworking principal, Fu Hua turned towards Ritsuka. "So… another you?"

"Maybe. It could be nothing but on the off chance it isn't…" Ritsuka trailed off with an unfocused stare up to the sky. He just hoped it would be the former rather than the latter, but he could worry about that later. Right now, someone was in need of a little scolding. "...Also, I expected something like that from you, Paisen, but I'm disappointed in you," he crossed his arms as he stared at Xiang Yu with narrowed eyes.

"What?! I haven't done anything yet! Neither has he!"

Paisen immediately went on the defensive as Xiang Yu calmly inquired, "Was I not supposed to talk about the other you?"

"No, not that. If you're going to bring up the Ordeal Call, don't give the Cliff Notes version of it," Ritsuka grumbled as he pointed to Fu Hua. "I nearly got a heart attack when she said Chaldea was on trial."

"So-sorry about that," she apologized only for Ritsuka to tell her not to worry as it wasn't her fault.

"Ah, that. Perhaps we were too brief in our explanation. We apologize for the misunderstanding," Xiang Yu said with regret. "I believe we should search for Miss Zaychik as well to correct our mistake."

"And Mei too. Bronya told both of us about the Ordeal Call," Fu Hua continued further. Ritsuka resisted the urge to slap his face; he just had a talk with Mei about her difficulties in trusting him and then she goes and learns about the Ordeal Call without any context? He just hoped their relationship hadn't fully gone down the drain.

Fu Hua then added that Mei was likely teaching at this time so they should find Bronya first. "Do you know where she could be?" Better nip this in the bud before any further misunderstandings happen...

After having breakfast with Welt, Tesla met up with Bronya and the investigation team to check on the crash site. As soon as they got there, she immediately got to work. Setting up all the equipment took a bit of time but by midday, Tesla was checking the third results and comparing them to the previous day's report and another set she took a couple of hours earlier.

"Herrscher energy levels are higher…" she muttered as she scrutinized the results. "How…"

"Anything else you need me to do, Doctor?"

"...Oh, right." Tesla facepalmed as she forgot to account for Bronya, who had just returned from patrolling the perimeter of the crash site. That was the second time now she had overlooked that rather obvious detail after Mei all that time ago… "No, I don't need anything right now," she sighed and continued reading the results. After a moment though, the AE researcher changed her mind and spun around to face her. "Actually, Bronya, what are your thoughts on all this? Maybe an outsider's perspective would help me figure something out."

It could be anything, so long as it was something.

Unfortunately, Bronya could only share what everyone else had figured out: Ritsuka was at the centre of this mystery and was the key to uncovering what was going on behind the scenes. Tesla let out another groan; she felt as though she was staring at the answer right in the face yet still missing it. Was there something they were missing? A detail they overlooked? What would that even be?

"Maybe we're asking the wrong questions?" Bronya suggested but Tesla already thought about that. "Even if it's impossible, perhaps there is someone who could be behind all this."

'Well… couldn't hurt to narrow things down again.'

When it comes down to it, there was only one real criteria: the culprit— assuming they were someone from this world —could peer into the Imaginary Tree to know who Ritsuka was. More specifically, they had to know he would be a threat to their plans, whatever it may be. That single criteria alone was already enough to purge the entire list; the only people who might be scheming in the shadows would be the remnants of World Serpent, but even then, what would they hope to accomplish? Their goal had always been to purge the Honkai so it's not like attacking Ritsuka would make sense either.

…Then again, considering how he was completely fine with being around Senti— 'Actually… Does that even matter?'

From the very beginning, the fact that Fu Hua and Senti by extension knew the Previous Era's RITSUKA was something they all believed was important. Why wouldn't they? It was the biggest contrivance so far; Ritsuka got stranded here and the first person he met was someone who had a deep attachment to his alternate self. By all rights, it was something that should play a part… But Ritsuka would have likely still been attacked regardless of him running into Fu Hua.

Circling back to the initial criteria, why would someone be looking into Ritsuka anyway? No one in the entire world except for Senti and maybe Kevin knew about him… or rather, his Previous Era counterpart who wasn't even a Flamechaser. Tesla could easily see someone looking into alternate versions of Fu Hua, Mei, Bronya, and the others as they would be a threat, but Ritsuka? He didn't even know variants of the former in his world so it wasn't like someone would stumble upon this specific one in their observations.

That led Tesla to ask what really should be the central mystery: how could someone even observe the world Ritsuka was from?

The only answer Tesla could think of was the 2nd Divine Key but that has long been kept under lock and key by Schicksal. And before Theresa took over, the only one who had access would be... 'No, that'd just be preposterous.' That man was long dead— beyond dead —and while he would know about RITSUKA from his archives, he'd still have little reason to consider Ritsuka a threat. Still… maybe she should ask Theresa to check, just in case.

In the end, Tesla was back to square one, which was absolutely nowhere. Maybe she should just focus on getting more information than analyzing what they… had… already… "Huh?!"

"Is there something wrong?" Bronya peeked over her shoulder to see what confused Tesla. She didn't understand what got the good doctor so worked up, but that was only because she lacked context. Tesla swiped the screen to show her the previous results from an hour ago as well as the previous day's. It took a moment, but Bronya saw what was so strange.

The readings from the day before showed a heightened level of Imaginary energy. That made sense considering Kama and Xu Fu appeared here. However brief it was, a rift into the Sea of Quanta would cause that sort of reading to spike before going down. That was what was reflected in the second report, but the third— "It's high again? Wouldn't that mean—?"

"Doctor Tesla! Zaychik! We've got hostiles!" The cry of the Schicksal soldier was followed by gunfire as black silhouettes emerged from the treeline. It didn't take a moment for Bronya to be ready for battle. As using her full powers would be overkill and might even mess with any continued research on the crash site, the Valkyrie settled on using her polearm to deal with the threat.

Frankly, the Quantum Shadows stood no chance against her and were dispatched with little effort. "Bronya! Hurry!" She heard Tesla bark out. Without questioning the order, Bronya flew at top speed in the direction the Quantum Shadows came from and vanished into the forest. They could only have come out of a rift and maybe— just maybe —the one who opened it was still here…

A/N: You think it couldn't be done (and you're mostly right), but it was surprisingly easy to explain the Ordeal Call without mentioning the Lostbelts because while it was definitely a result of them, the reasoning given went back further than Part 2. The OCs are also, as stated in the trailer, something Chaldea themselves are doing rather than being trials flung in their direction by the World. Also stemming from that is something I hoped to dive into more: Ritsuka's guilt over destroying the Lostbelts— or to be more specific, the fact he didn't get any sort of punishment for them. They were being repelled by PHH because they were abusing the Extra Classes, not because of his actions in the Lostbelts. He was basically told "Nah, killing all those people is a-okay. But nope, using an Avenger to do it deserves death." Aside from that, I also brought in a little clue that was first mentioned in one of the sidestories 'cause I don't want them to be essential readings.

Also, this and the next chapter got a bit of a rework. Originally, this chapter didn't have the part with Ritsuka and co. talking about RITSUKA; it was supposed to be the opening of the next chapter. However, after completing that, I realised it'd fit better as part of this chapter prior to the Bronya and Tesla stuff.

…Then I continued on with the chapter and ended the section in a way that would work incredibly well as a cliffhanger to this chapter but that would mean taking the entirety of the Bronya part out and moving it to the next chapter. But then the problem became that I didn't want to keep pushing back important information about what the hell was going on so I ended up splitting that part and moving the second half way further back while keeping the Tesla theorizing part here.

All of that to say this and the next chapter may or may not have pacing problems…

Anyway, enough rambling. Enjoy the chapter and see you all next time!

BTW: BECAUSE OF CHARACTER LIMIT, THE CHAPTER TITLE GOT CUT OFF. The chapter's full title is "Brevity is the Soul of Wit… with Sufficient Context"