North America, May 13, 2018
War cries rang through the forest, punctuated by hoarse screams of pain. A druid's spell shattered against a magic circle at the end of Medea's hand. Twisted steel arrows punched through a woad-smeared warrior's shield. Trees fell as Erik Bloodaxe swung his namesake through them and the bowmen behind them.
Another week in North America, another battle with the Celts.
This one had started out as a surprise attack just after they'd stopped to make camp, but by now the Chaldean Servants had it mostly in hand. Still, Ritsuka refused to let up his vigilance. It was most of what he brought to the field. He squinted past Medea's lightshow at a group of figures moving behind the ragged line the Servants had established. What the hell are they doing sneaking around back there? Circling the field that way would get them around the line and towards…
He grimaced. Nightingale materialized a medical tent any time they stopped for more than a few minutes, and she was still inside with her patient Rama. "They're going for Nightingale," he said urgently, pointing through the trees. Next to him, Mash's eyes went wide with alarm. "Let's cut them off."
"Right, Master!" Mash hefted her shield and sprinted toward the tent.
Ritsuka struggled to keep up with her and keep an eye on the approaching enemies at the same time. As they closed in, he grimaced when he saw a shadowy figure behind the approaching Celts. It looked like a chunk of night running through the evening light, leaking smoky mist.
"Mash, watch out! Shadow Servant!" Mash didn't look back; she was far enough ahead that he wasn't sure she could hear him. He clenched his teeth and sent a thread of power through his Mystic Code to enhance her. With a sudden burst of speed, Mash crashed shield-first into the flanking enemies, scattering them. Ritsuka skidded to a halt and got ready to fire off a Command Seal if she needed one. They had to do as much damage as they could before the Shadow Servant arrives. The two of them would have to hold until another Servant could -
There was a godawful screeching roar from behind and above, a sound he'd become all too familiar with over the last year. Wyverns.
His blood ran cold as he realized Mash was too far ahead, leaving him completely exposed. He dove to the ground, teeth clenched, bracing for pain that didn't come. Instead, there was a pair of enormous thuds as two wyvern bodies fell from the sky about ten meters away, wings flopping limply. The earth shook with the impact, and red sludge sprayed from their neck stumps. The next moment, their heads tumbled down next to him, thump-roll, each one the size of his torso. From all fours, he stared in shock at the wyverns' heads, amber eyes glaring even in death.
Ushiwakamaru landed lightly beside the heads, her sword and armor streaked with red. She leaned down and offered him a bloody hand up, smiling as if all was right with the world. "Do you need a hand, my lord?"
He sucked in a breath, pushed it out again. C'mon, Ritsuka, back to business. Freak out on your own time. Clasping Ushi's hand, blood and all, he let her pull him to his feet. "Thanks, Ushi," he muttered. He still couldn't take his eyes off of the gaping mouths, full of fangs like steak knives.
Yet another death he'd never seen coming, averted at the last moment.
"A samurai's job is to eliminate her lord's problems, is it not? And a good one does so expeditiously," Ushi said, with great satisfaction. He tore his eyes away to find Ushi giving him what he thought of as her I-did-good-didn't-I-my-lord smile.
"Guess that makes you a great one," he said, and winced internally at how shaky he sounded. "Think you can get rid of that Shadow Servant too?" he asked.
Smirking a little from the praise, Ushi regarded the ominous, smoky-black figure with half-lidded eyes. "Hm. A dangerous task. I'm too low on energy to call on my Noble Phantasm." Her smirk turned into a beaming smile. "Watch me, my lord!" She took off like a shot, darting toward the black figure.
By that time, Emiya and Mash had caught most of the remaining attackers between them. Between Mash's rapidly-growing skill with her shield and Emiya's efficient bladework, the attackers were falling fast. The last of them made a mad dash for the tent flap and tore it aside with a roar, to be greeted with six revolver rounds and what looked like anl IV stand right through his chest. Toppling backwards, he revealed Nightingale standing impassively in the opening. She stripped the gloves off of her hands, dropped them on the bloody corpse, replaced them with new, sterile ones, and disappeared back into the tent.
Well, that was one problem solved.
Ritsuka turned his attention back to Ushi. She was a blur of motion, whirling like a dancer as Shadow Servant engaged her. Her sword was sheathed again, but her hand never left its hilt, waiting for the moment to strike. The dark figure twirled its spear, striking at her with haft and point like a quarterstaff, but Ushi slipped each strike with impromptu grace, the lacquered armor she'd begun sporting recently made entirely unnecessary by her agility.
The look of steely focus on her face never slipped as she darted around the Shadow Servant, barely seeming to touch the ground. Ritsuka could tell when she found an opening because she changed directions practically in mid-air. One instant she was whirling away from the tip of a black spear, and the next she was crouched low and flashing toward the imitation Lancer. She slid beneath its guard, her sword a silver crescent as she unsheathed it.
Then she was past it and darting toward the lone remaining Celt warrior without looking back. Behind her, the Shadow Servant fell apart into neat diagonal halves, spraying startlingly red blood across the ground. Halfway to her target, she kicked off of the ground and spun the rest of her momentum into a tumbling leap, sleeves trailing like banners. Her arc through the air ended with her sword buried between the warrior's eyes. She rode the corpse to the ground, snapped her sword free, and straightened up to sweep the field with her eyes for her next victim. Finding only allies in sight, she stepped away from the corpses with a dancer's poise and a smile, flicking her blade clean.
Ritsuka swallowed. This was not helping with his crush. Violence probably wasn't supposed to be that attractive, right?
"You all there, Master?" Emiya said quietly, appearing at his side.
Ritsuka blinked and turned to the Archer. "Yeah. Sorry, back now." He was embarrassingly aware that he'd just lost four or five seconds of volitional thought watching a pretty girl wreak graceful havok on their enemies. It was a good thing she'd finished off the last of them, because he'd forgotten to be looking out for danger at all.
Emiya shrugged. "It happens."
Trying to hide his embarrassment, Ritsuka said, "Really? I didn't expect that coming from you, Hawkeye."
The Archer's lips curled into a faint smirk. "You might be surprised. Pretty girls with swords can be awfully distracting. But if it's at the point where you're getting distracted like that, the important thing is to do something about it."
"Yeah, I know. I'll figure out a way to keep my mind on the fightt." Ritsuka sighed. Emiya was right, but it wasn't like he was getting distracted on purpose. What was he supposed to do about - "Wait, that means two things." Ritsuka frowned. When he turned to ask, Emiya was already walking away, not bothering to hide his smirk.
Ritsuka was pretty sure the guy didn't need Clairvoyance to notice the raised middle finger aimed at his back. And he says I'm the smartass.
Light footsteps hit the grass behind him. "Shadow Servant dispatched, my lord!" Ushi said, sounding extremely satisfied with herself. Just the tone of her voice brought a smile to his face.
"I don't know what I'd do without you, Ushi," he said, wIthout turning around. "But no heads this time, right?"
There was a pause, and he heard a pair of leafy thumps, as if a couple of bowling balls had been thrown into the bushes. "Of course not, my lord!"
After the interruption to her treatment, Nightingale had redoubled her efforts to keep Rama stable. Once she'd really gotten into it, the screams of agony coming from the tent became almost unbearable, and the Chaldean team rapidly found reasons to scout, keep watch from the woods, look for supplies, or otherwise absent themselves from the situation until the patient had either improved or passed out.
Ritsuka was no exception. "Hey, Ushi, mind coming with me for a walk? I want to take a look at the river and I'd rather not go alone. First rule for Masters and all that." The first rule, of course, was never to go anywhere without a Servant, a lesson driven home by his close call earlier. Mash was usually his go-to bodyguard, but she was off helping Dr. Roman sweep for leyline terminals. Ritsuka really wasn't sure whether it was legitimate Chaldea business, or just something the doctor had cooked up to get Mash away from the screaming
Ushi blinked at the request. "Um. Of course, my lord! Just a moment!" she said, looking around rapidly. Without another word, she vanished in a blur of motion. leaving Ritsuka wondering where she'd gone. He hoped she got back before Nightingale came looking for him.
Just when he was about to sit down, Ushi trotted back from the other side of camp, calling, "Ready, my lord!" Ritsuka raised his eyebrows at the sight of Benkei looming beside and behind her like a huge, deferent shadow. "I hope it is all right if Benkei joins us. He has not been with us for long, and I believe he would like to get to know you better."
"I would?" Benkei asked. Ushi gave him a stern sidelong look, and he quickly nodded. "Oh! Yes, indeed, I was just saying as much."
"Well… sure." Ritsuka tried to ignore the niggling sense of disappointment he felt at Ushi bringing someone else along. He hadn't really gotten to know the big Servant, and if she was badgering Benkei into getting to know him, maybe he ought to make time. "Mostly I want to get out of here before Nightingale conscripts me again. She keeps trying to teach me her 'procedures', but I'm not sure she realizes I can't help her hold down a Saber. I think -"
From the medical tent, another, even more grating scream of pain cut through the air, briefly silencing the crickets and frogs.
Into the quiet, Ritsuka said, "...Yeah, I'm leaving now. C'mon if you're coming."
The forest they walked through had a few pines, but was mostly a kind of tree he wasn't familiar with, with broad leaves and straight, silver-white trunks that gleamed in the setting sun. After a few minutes' walk through the woods, the trio reached the river. Ritsuka wasn't sure just which one it was - Japan had a sensible two dozen rivers or so, but North America was impossibly large. The forest grew right up to its edge. When he slid down the bank to touch the water, it was chill despite the warmth of the late spring. It was wider and swifter than he'd expected.
"Lord Romani says it is only a week to the coast," Ushi said, looking across the water with interest. "I hope we can find Lady Sita there. Perhaps it is rude of me to say, and I would never speak ill of Prince Rama, but his screaming is starting to wear on me."
"You and me both." Ritsuka clambered back up the bank and wiped off his hands. "But the real question for me is how we're going to get to the prison at all. Alcatraz is an island, right? I don't think I'm up for that long of a swim." He really hoped it wouldn't come down to being carried by a swimming Servant. He'd only barely managed to convince Roman that he shouldn't try to cross North America via Servant piggyback ride.
"I hadn't considered that. Ugh. Will we need to call upon that pirate?" The distasteful look on Ushi's face showed what she thought of that.
"Sounds like we've got a week to come up with non-Blackbeard options." Ritsuka did not want to get into another argument about Blackbeard. He also didn't want the pirate anywhere near a genuine damsel in distress. If Blackbeard started into his creep routine at Sita, Rama would rise from his deathbed to obliterate him.
Ushi gave the issue a moment's thought. "Hm. Benkei once threw an island together for me when we needed shelter from a storm. He could probably manage a causeway to this Alcatraz."
"My lord Yoshitsune is too kind," Benkei rumbled, diffident but proud. "It was only a small island, hardly worth mentioning."
"Besides, there is already a prison there. Perhaps the enemy has constructed a bridge, or keeps boats nearby. I may not be a pirate," Ushi said with a grin, "but I'm more than capable of commandeering enemy vessels."
Ritsuka nodded in agreement. "That makes sense. I'm just trying to keep ahead of things."
"An admirable quality in a war leader," Benkei offered, "but without more information, we may be getting ahead of ourselves."
"Waiting is the worst part of warfare, or really anything else," Ushi said, nodding as if to emphasize her understanding. "But fretting over things to come without knowing enough to make plans will only make you less ready when the time comes, my lord. That is why it is important to relax when one can."
Ritsuka nodded reluctantly. The two of them made sense, but he just wasn't sure he could turn off his worries just like that.. "What do you two do to relax, anyway? Apart from pirate monkey removal."
"Meditation. Prayer. And sometimes I tell stories," Benkei said. He straightened a little. "If it would please both of you, I could do so now." Before Ritsuka could agree, Ushi made a displeased sound and shook her head, and Benkei settled back again. "Perhaps another time, then."
"Ah!" Ushi perked up. "I'm no storyteller like Benkei here, but perhaps my lord would enjoy some music?"
"Do you play?" He'd never seen Ushi play or sing, except the one time he'd run into her in her cups trying to drunkenly teach Jing Ke some ancient Japanese ditty he suspected wasn't very polite. That had been embarrassing for everyone except Jing Ke, who'd just laughed and offered him a full cup she knew he wouldn't accept.
From nowhere, Ushi twirled a bamboo flute into her hand and held it out for show. He whistled softly. Even knowing next to nothing of such things, its clean elegance and the fineness of its golden decorations were remarkable. "This is Murasame-maru, which was quite famous in its day," she said with pride. Her grin was sharp with amusement. "Also expensive. Mother tricked that swine Kiyomori into giving it to me before he sent me away. Would you like to hear it?"
Taken by surprise, Ritsuka nodded. "Uh… Sure, why not?" He sat down against a tree, and Benkei settled down smoothly into a kneeling position nearby.
Ushi smiled, raised the flute to her lips, and began to play. The first note rose up from beneath the evening sounds, clear and sweet, with the faint hollowness that bamboo brought. The song drifted softly through the trees, harmonizing with the rustling of leaves and the rushing of the river.
It was an old sound that hearkened back to times long past; to Ritsuka, it called up impressions of paper lanterns and festival-goers in flowing, traditional outfits, and behind that a hint of something deeper and more ancient, a link back through the ages to a time of mystery and wonder. Ritsuka closed his eyes to listen better. There was a heritage there, a shared history that he could feel a connection to, even if he'd never understand it like Ushi did.
The sound shifted upwards, and Ritsuka opened his eyes again. Now Ushiwaka was balanced above them on one foot atop a branch he'd swear was too thin to bear her weight. With one knee up and elbows out, what would have been an awkward, stylized pose for anyone else looked strangely natural for Ushi dr. Her fingers flew skillfully across the flute's holes, faster now, and the wind rose with the music as if called. It lifted her hair into a long stream and blew her sleeves out to the side, competing with the flute to stay level.
He couldn't look away. She was in motion standing still. if it weren't for the ground he could feel beneath his legs, he could almost believe they'd all taken flight.
This was definitely not helping with his crush.
After what seemed like a very long time, the last note died away. Ushi gave the flute a reminiscent smile. Benkei still had his eyes closed, looking as if he were recalling memories both happy and sad.
Ritsuka waited until he felt like he wouldn't be intruding, which purely by coincidence was about when he'd gotten reins back on his emotions. "Um. Wow, that was amazing."
Ushi dropped back down to earth and bowed. "I am glad you enjoyed it, my lord."
"That flute - is that the one you played for Kiichi Hōgen's daughter?"
With a flicker of Ushi's fingers, the flute vanished back to where it came. "I see you weren't joking when you said you knew my history. It's a strange thing to have one's life laid out for others to see so plainly.
"I'm sorry if it bothers you.
She gave a small smile. "I don't mind, my lord."
"So…" He had to ask. "You really seduced Kiichi Hōgen's kid to get at his combat manuals? I thought that story was made up."
Ushi laughed and straightened up proudly. "No, it's true. Did you think that just because I'm a warrior that I have no other talents? She was her father's daughter and a dai-tengu herself, but in just a day, I swept her off her feet! By the next morning, I had his secrets in my hands. Hah, then it was a matter of surviving his anger when he found out, which was much more difficult."
"My lord Yoshitsune was only twelve years old at the time," Benkei said.
"I was precocious," Ushi said, nodding firmly.
"Precocious indeed." Benkei tilted his head toward Ritsuka, raised his hand near his mouth in a way that did nothing whatsoever to hide his words, and stage-whispered, "I heard that the young lady agreed the theft would be an amusing trick, after Lord Yoshitsune brought her a handful of wildflowers and a hastily-written tanka." Ritsuka couldn't help but grin.
"You scoundrel!" Ushi's eyes narrowed, and her hand dropped to the hilt of her sword, though her outrage couldn't hide the way her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I sweated over that poem! Benkei, shut your mouth and present your neck!"
Benkei let out a mournful sigh. "Alas! To associate with the great is to tread a narrow path in high places, and I have misstepped. Now, I must pay for my many sins." He bowed deeply at the waist, extended his neck as far as he could, and closed his eyes, hands positioned in some sort of mudra. "Namu Amida butsu, namu Amida butsu…"
Eyes cutting to Ritsuka and back, Ushi pursed her lips and sighed. "Oh, sit up, you wretched, overgrown monkey." Benkei smoothly straightened up, still quietly murmuring his sutra, though Ritsuka could see a few drops of sweat on the big man's forehead. Ushi glared at him again before turning to Ritsuka. "My lord, does this man's grotesque head offend you in any way? I can't bring myself to get rid of him for my own sake, but if it would ease your burdens at all, I would be eager to assist you."
Ritsuka hadn't stopped grinning at the performance. "And miss out on the chance to hear about your infamous seduction technique? No way. I'm glad to have you at Chaldea, Benkei." Benkei gave a short bow in response.
"Not you too, my lord?" Ushi's face fell, and she looked away, muttering, "I'll have you know my technique has improved since then."
Benkei eyed Ushi sidelong, as if to be sure she'd given up on beheadings for now, and changed the subject. "Ahh, what about you, Master? Would you favor us with a tale?"
"I would've thought you'd know all the legends I do and more from the Throne of Heroes," Ritsuka said. "I mean… I could tell you about mecha shows or something, I guess? I don't know if you get TV Asahi at the Throne, and I doubt Amuro Rey qualifies as a Heroic Spirit." Even if he totally should.
Benkei shook his head, warming to the subject. "No, Master, I meant a story about you. For better or worse, Lord Yoshitsune knows all my stories, but surely you must have some tale of your own worth sharing? I would be interested to know the sort of person my Master is, what you have seen and done that makes you… you." Ushi nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
Ritsuka was a little taken aback. "I… I guess? I feel like I'm pretty much a what you see is what you get kind of guy. I can talk about myself if you want, but you Heroic Spirits are hard acts to follow, you know? You've probably heard better from other Servants, so whatever I tell you is likely to be pretty dull by comparison."
"You are an important person to us," Ushi ventured, dropping gracefully and all at once into a sitting position. "Also, while I am as fond of legends and war stories as anyone…" The smile stayed, but her eyes glazed over a little. "…I have heard so many of them in the last year." Benkei nodded agreement.
There didn't seem to be much help for it. Ritsuka shrugged his acceptance. "Okay, but I have no idea what to tell you. Why don't you just ask what you want to know?"
"How did you come to join Chaldea, Master? Was there some kind of worldwide contest, or a manhunt for the best candidates, or some such?" Benkei asked.
"Uh, nope." Ritsuka shook his head. "I called the number on a flyer someone was handing out in a subway station."
There was a pause, as the Servants parsed their way through newly-acquired modern knowledge of flyers and subways , and then a longer pause, as they considered the implications.
"I would not have expected that," Ushi said after a moment.
Ritsuka nodded his complete agreement. "I know, right?! You'd think they would have taken recruitment more seriously!"
"If it was so odd, Lord Fujimaru," Benkei ventured, "why would you respond?"
"That's… hard to explain?" And maybe embarrassing, but if Benkei was going to bring Ushi a little more down to earth, the least he could do is offer up something awkward too. "I don't know how relatable this will be to a couple of warrior heroes, but, uh… Have you ever felt like your life was just… happening to you, instead of something you were doing?"
"No," Benkei said, just as Ushi nodded and said, "Yes." Somehow, that didn't surprise Ritsuka, though Benkei gave her a startled look.
"I had…" Ritsuka stopped, took a quick breath, let it out. " Had a good, secure, happy life, and I knew where it was going. I'd seen it dozens of times, on TV, in books, in real life. Acceptable grades, an after-school club, some uncontroversial hijinks with friends. After a couple of years I'd cram, go to university, graduate in the middle of my class, get a salaried office job, a little apartment, a weird but not too-weird hobby, maybe eventually a family. It was the sort of life trajectory that you'd get from making all the sensible, agreed-on decisions." He smiled. "A less than one standard deviation kind of life."
Ritsuka stopped, shrugged, and went on. "And then one day someone, I don't even remember them, hands me this flyer as I'm getting onto the subway. I looked it over in the subway car. It was for some kind of internship at a foreign security agency, super uninformative, and it was just so weird that I kept re-reading it, trying to figure out if it was a joke, or an advertisement, or just stupid. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Who hands out job flyers for secret security organizations on public transit?"
"Even in my time we knew sorcerers didn't do things like sensible folk," Benkei said knowingly.
"Well, that night I called up the number on it and did a phone screening with some really weird questions. On a scale of one to ten," he recited, "how attached are you to the future of the human race? If you had the opportunity to meet a historical figure, which would it be, and why? Yes or no: would your friends describe you as judgemental about their past?" Ritsuka's brow furrowed as he went over that in his head. "Come to think of it, they might have been more relevant questions than they seemed at the time."
He rallied his thoughts and carried on. "Anyway, uh… A few days later they sent me a contract for a summer internship which was even less informative. I thought about how ridiculous it would be to sign it - I still didn't even know what Chaldea did, not that I would've believed it."
"The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it anyway. Partly because I still wanted to know what the hell was going on, but mostly because… There's a lot of pressure these days to… conform, I guess? To do the expected thing. Even if you're weird, you're supposed to be weird in the usual ways. And suddenly it felt like I was… training myself to stay in a box, instead of deciding to stay in the box. I didn't want to be crazy all the time, but just once, I wanted to color way outside the lines just to prove to myself I could, to prove being normal was my choice." He sighed. "If I waited until I was an adult, it would have been too late, you know? The training would've been complete."
"So a month and a couple of really confused and exasperated parents later, I was on a plane with a suitcase. Then things got weird fast. And a lot harder." Ushi gave him a sympathetic look; she knew what he was talking about, but for once he didn't feel like brooding when it came up. He just chuckled, a little surprised it didn't come out forced. "I don't know why Chaldea accepted me. Maybe I'm just the only one who responded to that flyer at all, you know? An applicant pool of one. But… I'm glad I did it. I'm glad to be here with you. And I'm really grateful to whoever picked me." Ritsuka sat back, happy to have said it, but a little unsettled from talking about himself so much.
Everyone was quiet for a moment or two.
Benkei broke the silence by standing up. He bowed deeply to Ritsuka, and said, "We are grateful to them as well, for their help bringing you here. And I am grateful to you, Lord Fujimaru, for being here with us, and for sharing with us something so close to your heart. To be so open with one's companions… is often difficult." His weathered face creased into an earnest smile. "I understand that the tales of Benkei are well-known to you, but perhaps I will find something to share that is less legend and more me."
Ritsuka smiled, pleased and a little embarrassed. "Uh, thanks. I'd like that."
Benkei gave Ushi a sidelong glance and let his smile grow broad and relaxed. "Good! I feel quite invigorated by this chat, so I shall take my leave and consider stories that might interest you while I keep watch." Ignoring the apprehensive look Ushi shot him, he raised his hand in a reassuring benediction, eyes twinkling. "Abhaya. Lord Yoshitsune, Master, take your ease! Musashibou Benkei shall allow nothing to come near this night." He bowed very low before striding off. Ushi's glare followed him off into the woods.
Watching him go, Ritsuka said, "You know, I still don't quite know what to think of him."
"I believe I mentioned 'wretched overgrown monkey' a little while ago," she said, her voice clipped.
"Wow." Ritsuka leaned back. He had no idea what was going on between the two Servants, but he wasn't sure how much of his business it was. "Seems a little harsh after he volunteered for watch duty."
"I specifically told him I didn't want to be left… I mean, that I wanted him to be part of this conversation when we sought you out." Ushi sighed in irritation. "And he is impertinent. I would rather not talk about him."
Apparently how much of his business it was was none . "Sure, consider the subject dropped."
"Um." After a moment, Ushi shifted cautiously to face him, a complicated look on her face. "He did speak for us both when he thanked you, though. That was not the sort of story I'd expected to hear."
"What kind of story did you expect?"
"Something about your friends, or a humorous escapade, my lord," Ushi said. "The sort of story told over drinks, or as a boast."
Ritsuka ran a hand through his hair and leaned back, thinking about his response. "I guess… I wanted to tell you something that mattered? We're not class buddies, we're fighting a war together. I've stopped counting the number of times you've saved my life. And I think you're pretty amazing - uh, both of you, I mean." He coughed. That had come out not quite like he intended.
She tilted her head, smiling as if not quite sure what he meant. Fair enough, he wasn't completely sure either. He went on quickly. "You know, I used to pretend to be you when I was a little kid," he said. "I'd climb up onto the railing of the little pond bridge at the park, and I'd wave a stick around and pretend it was Gojo Bridge and I was you, beating the crap out of Benkei."
Ushi gave him a delighted look and a quick crow of laughter that seemed a little too loud for the quiet of the woods. Both of them glanced around surreptitiously, and she scooted a little closer and leaned in. "Truly, my lord?" she asked, more quietly.
"Oh, yeah." He leaned in in return and gave her a conspiratorial grin. "I always decided I'd won, too."
A dose of smugness was added to her delight. "That's fitting."
He chuckled. "I bet you never missed your landing and ended up face to face with a bunch of koi."
She laughed again, more quietly this time. "So it was Ushiwakamaru who was your hero, not Yoshitsune?"
"Yeah. I guess I like adventure stories better than war stories." It was a shame Chaldea's story was caught between the two, but given the company he was keeping, maybe that was appropriate.
Ushi looked down. "I am glad that I was summoned as I am now, though I fear Yoshitsune would be a better Servant. A Saber, probably, and a strong one too. Yet…" She hesitated. "I know who I… who she was then. A stone-hearted killer who took little joy in her victories. She could never have taken the advice I gave you earlier about relaxing. By the end, she'd nearly forgotten how to smile at all." She shook her head. "I do not wish to forget again."
"Well, that makes two of us," he said, trying to be casual about it. Dangerous Ushi didn't sound like a problem to him, but Deeply Unhappy Ushi wasn't something he wanted to experience. "I'd rather have you here than some joyless super-powerful Saber, and she probably wouldn't get along with me anyway."
"...Thank you." She ducked her head for a moment, then glanced at him. "After hearing your story, my lord, I would rather have you here than another so-called 'ordinary person.' I think you were meant to be here, with us."
"Nah, I think anyone else would do about as well in my shoes. I'm no Chosen One, I'm just... the Last Paperclip of Humanity."
Ushi blinked at him. "The last what?"
Ritsuka sat back and folded his hands behind his head. "Paperclip. Mass-produced, functionally identical to all the other paperclips, only there to hold together all the actually interesting stuff. Any paperclip could do it." He gave a self-deprecating smirk. "It's just that someone swiped all the paperclips and burned down the paperclip factory, and I was the one they found in Dr. Roman's pocket with the spare change."
She gave him a stern look. "To talk about yourself like that is ill-befitting my lord. You are not just anyone. You are the Master of Chaldea, conqueror of four Singularities, and the sworn lord of the last of the Genji. Have some pride!"
Ritsuka waved his hands as if to deflect the words. "Hey, I'm proud of what we've done! It's hard and scary and amazing stuff, and I'm even proud I'm the one who's here doing it, really! I just don't think it's about me being special or talented or… some sort of Chosen One, you know? I'm not a Newtype, I just fell into the cockpit anyway."
She gave him a look he'd gotten before, mostly from his sister. "I think I understand what you mean, my lord," Ushi said dryly, "but I have no idea what you're saying."
"That's cool, most people wouldn't." He pursed his lips in thought. "I'm not very experienced at this whole lording business, so If it bothers you when I don't behave appropriately, you're going to have to help me figure out how to do it."
Ushi looked mildly scandalized. "It would be improper to instruct my lord on the manner in which to be my lord."
Ritsuka smiled. "C'mon, everything I know about that sort of thing is from chanbara movies or old legends! I just want to know what you think a lord should do." He shrugged in mock helplessness. "Who else should I ask? Benkei?"
From her look of dismay, that seemed to strike a nerve. She seemed on the verge of objecting strenuously, then pursed her lips in sudden thought. "Hm. If I accept, do you promise not to ask him?"
"Sure, I promise."
"Then I accept. My first advice on being a proper lord is that you should consider accepting the heads of your fallen enemies as tribute."
Alarm bells started going off in Ritsuka's head. "Nope!" he said -of-factly, she asked, "Now, my lord, I understand it's not what you're used to, but if you don't expose yourself to something, how do you expect to become comfortable with it?" She gave him a smug look, as if to indicate she'd clearly won the argument then and there.
He frowned at her. "Denied."
"That's a shame. You can't take even the first advice I give you? In that case, I must resign as your advisor on lordly behavior," she said cheerfully.
Ritsuka opened his mouth to retort, then stopped. "Wait, are you teasing me?"
She let out a hint of the smile she'd been trying to suppress, eyes crinkling with humor. "Perhaps a little, my lord."
He relaxed and chuckled in return. It was gratifying to see her loosening up a little around him. "I guess that's a thing friends do," he said.
When her smile came out full force, she seemed as surprised as he was by its genuine warmth. "I suppose it is," she said.
Author's Note:
Sorry about the wait. This was supposed to be two chapters, but they both fought me, and it ended up not making a lot of sense to split them up. The next few chapters should be much quicker (and probably shorter than this double-sized one.)
The theme for this chapter is 'Circular Road', by Heathers.
And I know
That your worries can consume your mind, ruin your life
So we run far afield
And we can see that there is more than life than what you've got