"──."
Huh... Did I fall asleep again? I feel like I’ve been collapsing a lot lately...
"──ter."
It’s not like I have some sickly-girl trait, though. More importantly... where am I...?
It’s too dark to see clearly, but the faint red light looks strangely familiar...
That’s right. I was definitely kicked out of the director’s briefing, then met that doctor who looked kind of frail...
"─Master."
Right. The Doctor told me to run and wait for help from outside, but I was worried about everyone in the Command Room, and Mash...
So I turned back.
And then... right. An explosion. There was a massive explosion. I remember Chaldeas and Sheba turning red, and taking the hand of my junior who was soaked in blood. After that, I remember nothing.
"─Master. It will be a problem if you do not wake up soon."
There’s no way the purple-haired girl standing in front of me, dressed in an outfit so shameless I don’t know where to look, could be my precious junior... right?
"If you do not wake up, I will kill you."
"...Didn’t you just say you’d kill me?"
"...I misspoke. More precisely, I should say that you will die─."
"You’re just letting that one slide, huh."
...Right. At this point, lamenting the situation would just count as running away from reality.
Even after rubbing my eyes and looking again, my small, cute junior with glasses had somehow become an embodiment of astral weirdness, clad in armor and carrying a shield taller than herself.
"...Your outfit is exposing way too much. To think the junior I met for the first time today had tastes like these..."
"...There was nothing I could do about that part, either. As a Demi-Servant, I have virtually no say in the choice of my attire..."
"So it wasn’t what you wanted? What is that, that’s a crime..."
"...Mm. It does not seem as though there was any malice involved."
If she says she is all right with it, then... I suppose there is no need to pry any further. From what I heard, being a Demi-Servant sounded like borrowing the power of someone else inside her, like in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Compared to how she was in the Command Room, she even looked healthier, so perhaps that was a relief.
More importantly, where the heck are we?
The place was burning all over, but the letters on the signs were unmistakably Japanese.
"Ah, come to think of it."
Back in the Command Room with Mash, they were talking about the forty-eighth Master and something called a Quantum Shift, weren’t they?
"Could it be that the Rayshift [First Order] that Team A was supposed to depart on failed because of the explosion, and I was Quantum Shifted here instead because I happened to be in the same place...?"
Whoa. This has turned into something even more outrageous than I thought.
"But, Master? What does it mean that I’m your Master?"
"It means exactly what it says. I am a Demi-Servant who came to exist in this world through nothing but an irregular method."
Mash said in a low voice as she stroked the shield she held.
"For someone like me, who does not even possess the Independent Action skill, the existence of a Master is an indispensable factor—something akin to life itself. When I transformed into a Demi-Servant, it appears that a contract was naturally formed with you, my senior, who was nearby."
"...Whoa. I can’t believe I ended up with such an important role."
I do not really understand how any of this works, but it seems I have become the Master of a magical-girl junior.
Is this really okay? Mash definitely looks underage─no, magical girls are inherently minors according to the laws of the universe, so it is barely safe...
"For now, let’s move forward, Mash!"
"Yes, Master!"
Standing still will not give us any answers. If you want results, you have to keep moving forward. Since we do not know whether everyone else survived, we have to survive and return to Chaldea.
"Ah─now that I think about it, in a game like this, around this point there’s always..."
Grrrrr...
"Of course. It’s practically the rule of the genre."
"The... rule? I do not know what that means, but Master! Hostile lifeforms! Your orders!"
"Oh, leave it to me!"
Just as expected—or perhaps sooner than expected—creatures shaped like skeletons began to appear. No, could those things even be called lifeforms?
"Together, my senior and I... will break through this situation!"
"Let’s go, Mash!"
"Yes!"
They had human skeletons, but also swords, a faintly chilling glint in their eyes, and powerful Magical Energy radiating from them alongside the dense concentration of Mana in the air. Skeletons.
If I had encountered them alone, they would have been threatening enough that I would have had to run for my life.
That’s right. They would have been.
"──Hah!"
Crunch. The Skeletons shattered into pieces. What was this? When I first saw them, they had seemed like knights of death hungering for life.
"─Hah!!"
Thud!
Now, though, they looked like pizzas getting flattened beneath Mash’s shield of overwhelming mass.
"Whoa... Mash, you’re ridiculously good at fighting! It’s like watching a tokusatsu show! Did you train somewhere?"
"...Yes. There is the power of the Demi-Servant, but I also learned a little from Diego, one of Chaldea’s Masters...!"
Bam!
With a battle cry, Mash swung her shield in a graceful arc. Before long, every last Skeleton that had seemed so numerous had vanished without a trace.
All my earlier worries seemed laughable. My junior appeared to be the strongest. Seeing Skeletons fly away like autumn leaves whenever Mash swung her shield, I decided I had better not mess with Mash from now on.
"Haa... haa... ─Phew. I was worried, but we somehow resolved it. That is thanks to you as well, Master. Thank you, Master."
"No, all I did was tell you where they were. Mash, you’re amazing!"
"I-Is that so?"
I do not know who this Diego person is, but judging from how he turned Mash—who did not seem connected to combat at all—into a flawless high-school-girl tank... he must not be an ordinary person.
In any case, she was clearly helping resolve this incident, so that was surely a good thing. It meant Mash’s combat ability was sufficient to serve as the basis for deciding where to go and what to do next.
After confirming each other’s capabilities, we began making our way swiftly through the burning city center.
"A city completely engulfed in flames. And enemies that did not exist in either this era or ours..."
"Singularities usually arise from major alterations to history. Does that mean these things are the cause of this Singularity?"
"...I cannot say for certain, but yes. It would not be inaccurate to say so."
"Well, skeletons wandering through a burning city certainly aren’t normal in the modern age. I wonder whether there are any other survivors..."
After things had settled down and Mash and I had talked for a while, I learned a great deal.
Mash was powerful in battle, but that strength belonged to the Servant who had passed his power on to her before disappearing from within her. He had vanished without giving Mash his True Name or Noble Phantasm─
"Still, I am sure that he is alive."
"That Diego person?"
She was talking about the one person in Chaldea whom Mash trusted the most on a human level.
"Yes. His full name is Diego Joestar. He is the only Reserve Master in all of Chaldea."
"A Reserve Master... Does that mean he’s also a Master contracted with a Servant?"
"No, it is a little different. He has almost no aptitude as a Master. But yes. Of all the people I have seen, aside from you, Master, he is the most human person I know."
"Heh..."
There seemed to be immense pride on Mash’s face as she said that. Could he be her boyfriend or something?
"Could he be your boyfriend or something?"
"Th-That is not the case! No! Th-That would be disrespectful to Diego!"
"Heh..."
What a sinful man, Diego. Not that I have ever met him.
If Mash could say it with that much certainty, there had to be something special about him. Though I suppose there is not a single Master gathered at Chaldea who is not special.
Ah. Except me.
After we had walked for quite some time, chatting about nothing in particular, a communication tone began to sound from my terminal.
Beep──
『Ah─can you hear me? We’re finally connected! This is the Chaldea Command Room! Can you hear us!? Somebody, please respond!』
"Huh, that frail voice is...?"
That voice sounds really familiar. This is...
"Doctor! You’re alive!"
『Mash! And Ritsuka too!』
Doctor Romani. The medical staff member I met after being kicked out of the director’s briefing. I had been worried when he said he was heading for the power room alone, but he was alive.
And judging from the way he spoke, he seemed to know Mash quite well, which was a relief. It would make explaining the situation easier.
『Wha! Mash! Since when did you start wearing clothes like that!? I don’t remember raising you to be that kind of girl!』
This chicken Doctor. Is that really what matters right now? Though, to be fair, I had the exact same reaction.
"Do I seriously have to explain this twice?"
"...Doctor. I will brief you on everything that has happened so far."
『Y-Yeah. Please do. Things are a mess here too─』
Mash concisely conveyed only the important points to the Doctor.
How she had remained conscious all this time. How she had received power from the Servant within her and awakened as a Demi-Servant.
And how she had formed a contract with me during the Rayshift process and become my Servant.
『...I see. I have a rough grasp of the situation now. ─I’m glad. That both of you are safe. Communications here are unstable, so honestly, we had no way of knowing whether we would even manage to reach any survivors. Were you attacked by hostile lifeforms?』
"......"
Perhaps many things had happened to him as he traveled between the power room and the Command Room. His voice was oddly subdued, so faintly that I might not have noticed if I were not listening closely.
Of course it was. If Chaldea had suffered an unprecedented accident and massive loss of life, that would inevitably weigh heavily on Doctor Romani as a member of the medical staff.
...But I absolutely hate gloomy atmospheres!
"Hey─as long as we have Mash, the strongest Servant in the city, defeat doesn’t exist for us, Doctor Roman!"
"M-Master? Strongest in the city...? I do not know what to do when you praise me so suddenly..."
"Aww, you’re getting embarrassed~"
People should laugh whenever they can. Even in the most extreme circumstances.
As long as they do not stop seeking small happiness amid suffering, people can surely keep moving forward.
That is my personal philosophy. Pretty cool, right? ─Or rather, who am I even saying that to?
『...I’m glad you two seem to have gotten close.』
Doctor Romani gave a small smile as he said so.
『"Even amid such extreme circumstances, just having the courage to act so cheerfully like that..."』
That girl Ritsuka undoubtedly possessed a special quality different from that golden boy’s, Doctor Romani quietly thought.
"Doctor. The connection is becoming unstable. At this rate, communications will be cut in ten seconds. Nine seconds."
『...There’s a Leyline two kilometers from where you are. Let’s communicate again there. I’ll send the location to your terminal.』
"Okay. Thanks, Doctor. Let’s both make it out alive and meet again!"
『Haha... It isn’t that far, but yes, Miss Ritsuka. Let’s meet up there first and sort out the situation. It should not be very dangerous. Because he is heading in your directi──』
Beep──
The Doctor’s words were cut off before he could finish.
"...He? Tell us who you’re talking about before cutting out..."
"The Doctor is always unreliable when it matters most."
The map the Doctor sent indicated somewhere quite close. At this distance, we could probably manage even if enemies attacked while we were walking there.
If the person responsible for one of Chaldea’s foremost medical divisions could hold the Command Room and confidently say so, then it was probably safe to assume there were hardly any dangerous elements.
"Still─Master."
"Yeah?"
Mash’s face began to shine with a peculiar light, and in her inability to hide her excited voice, a powerful, unfathomable sense of trust seemed to gleam.
Ah, I am getting a little jealous.
"─If the person the Doctor meant really is the person I am thinking of..."
Still, ─yes. I am this girl’s Master now. I have not even known Mash for a full day yet.
There is nothing else I can do but believe her words and keep moving forward. There is no path but that one.
"Ahead of us, we may─"
So, we are going to meet him now.
"─encounter an invincible ally."
That faceless thief, Diego.
───────────────────────────────
Could the explosion in Chaldea’s Command Room have been prevented beforehand?
No, that would have been impossible. This was not an accident born from a chain of coincidences, but a planned incident that began with someone’s nauseating malice.
He must have waited for nothing but the moment to put it into action. The culprit surely prepared everything while waiting for that one instant when the Rayshift would occur.
Grrrrr──!!!!!
Even if the man possessed an invincible ability, it was enough to make preventing the loss of life impossible.
"─Hah! Hah! Somebody!"
True nauseating evil is using even ignorant, helpless weaklings for one’s own gain.
And that immense evil always reveals itself in the instant people let down their guard the most, stealing away what they hold dear in the blink of an eye.
His parents. His childhood friend. And this time, even the companions he had lived alongside.
Then─after concealing itself, it would surely appear once more and take away something precious again.
That was why──
"Aahhh──!! Somebody help me!! Ah─honestly!! Why do I have to go through this!!"
Grrrr─!!!!
Thoom──!
"Someone! Help me! Lev! You always helped me, didn’t you!? Please, someone!!"
Baaam──!!
Grrrrr!!!!!
"Aahh──!!!! It’s all over! I’m going to die──!!"
"─Good grief."
────────!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This time, he would protect them. On the line of his unwavering justice.
"H-Huh...? When did I get here...?"
"It has been a long time since I saw you run around in such a panic, Director Olga Marie."
"Y-You!!"
Within a colorless world where everything had stopped, faster than anyone─
"[Golden Spirit] Star Planita."
『ORA!』
Baaam───!!!!!!!
"Diego Joestar!!"
"I am here. No need to be so impatient. ─Good grief, something unbelievable has happened."
He would hold on, so that he would never lose anything precious again.
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