1st Annual Fate/Regalia Write-OFF

1st Annual

FATE/REGALIA WRITE-OFF




A competition for all the players, in-game or still waiting, this is your chance to acquire various buffs and prizes that you can use to help your journey in the RP-proper! To participate is simple: simply write a short story from the topic detailed below, enter it in the competition thread that shall be created later, and try not to pee your pants from excitement as I, Verg Avesta, and my honorable panel of judges, determine which was the best story out of them all!

This Year's Topic:

Slice-of-Life

Write a short-story featuring your PC meeting another PC or an NPC that he or she has not met yet, and how these two characters spend a small slice-of-life moment, for better or for worse. What is judged from the stories is the adhering to the canon, ability to emulate the character(s) you are not controlling, and how interesting situation you can create and execute. And others!


Prizes
1. Your character summons his or her Servant during the time-skip
2. A custom-made Perk by Verg, one that is unique to your character
3. A special Route Link Event with a character chosen by Verg during the time-skip

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The deadline of this competition is 30.9.2013, and all stories must be submitted to this thread by that day. They will then be judged and read by the judge (me), and given points according to the categories presented above. No entries will be accepted after that date, so keep this in mind. Once you have finished your story, post it to this thread like any short-story, and it shall be considered as an entry to the competition.

My name is Chiba Takashi.

Most just call me Zero, though.

Currently, I’m working as a bartender in the Basilisk.

Other than mixing drinks, this job is about talking to customers, listening to their grievances and sorrows, and being a shoulder for them.

The pay sucks, but it’s better than nothing. And I love this. I can simply be here, mix drinks and listen to everyone whining to me.

So yeah, that’s what I do.

Basilisk is a place where a lot of people come to ease their burden, every night.

This is one of those nights…

*Bgm*

A fedora and a cigar might not be standard uniforms in most bars, the basilisk was something different. When a man who needed money, he took whatever job was available, no matter what the requirements were.

I mean, the important thing is getting paid right?

Zero was cleaning off a highball glass with a cloth rag when the creaking of the old oak door announced a customer had entered the bar. The darkened room wasn’t completely empty of course; in the corners of the room lonely patrons drowned their sorrows in the comforts of the enveloping shadows. It was an unspoken bar rule that customers who sat alone, away from the bar were not engaged by the bartender. The drinks would be watered down and take longer to arrive, but they would have their solitude, that was the tradeoff. This new guy though….Zero recognized him. In a time not to long back Zero had thought of him as just another joker. He sat into the bar and tipped the rim of his wide brimmed hat, his sense of style was several cuts above the riff-raff scattered around the off peak night. He wore an expensive matching green suit and hat that in better days he might have tipped with a wink and a dashing grin at pretty girls or the approach of a friend.

“Something strong friend, I need it,” Firo Prochainezo said, a bit morosely to Zero, wiping rain drenched kissed hair out of his dark brown eyes.

“Coming right up,” Zero returned with a smile, adding a final flourish to the glass he was cleaning and placing it in front of the Mad Librarian of Firenze. After taking a moment to send a server off with a glass of shochu, Zero filled Firo’s glass with an expensive blended Canadian whiskey and iced. Zero chose the beverage because someone asking for a strong drink would be annoyed if it wasn’t a beverage that tasted strongly of alcohol, but the blend added a complexity and a smoothness that would be appreciated to a fellow who enjoyed the finer things in life, as Zero judged Firo to be.

“Well, in this job, you do two things,” Zero said to the magus as Firo sipped at his drink, “you serve drinks, and you hear stories. Well, there is your drink, so what’s your story?”

“Heh, friend, you wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” Firo said, a bit evasively.

Zero nodded, not pressing the issue. He knew the look of a man determined to lose the events of his past, at least for a moment in the bottom of a barrel. Firo would talk in his own good time. As the night passed a bit, he served drinks and handled orders, filling Firo’s glass when it emptied. When the empty glasses clinked together in front of Firo as he pushed his next one aside, he suddenly spoke without expression.

“You know…I never accepted my licks, I’ll sit a pretty girl on my knee and then be gone when her husband comes to call, or I’ll get in a fight, kick someone to the curb, then have my last drink and see the road before he can round up his posse. Doesn’t always work, sometimes you gotta take your lumps where you earned ‘em. Hell, I never apologized; cept where faking one might get me out of trouble.” Firo finished, a wry smile lifting alcohol loosened lips. “But recently…? I got busted when I haven’t even done anything! That’s still eating at me. A friend of mine got in trouble with the root of all evil; you know what that is right?”

Firo turned a slightly bloodshot eye on Zero, as if to ensure he was truly paying attention.

Zero considered the matter a moment, but there was really only one thing it could be. Wasn’t money that much was obvious, other things could get a man in trouble, but only one would cause a jealous friend to resort to the oldest form of insults. Zero fixed a grin onto his inscrutable features.

“Nothing else it could be…but a women, right?” Zero said easily, fixing Firo another drink.

“Mmm. A women. After all this time, he gets his head turned around by a pretty face. It’s so funny I could be sick. And me paying the price” Firo added that last part with a sigh. Zero wasn’t sure what he meant by “paying the price” But it seemed this women was someone truly special indeed. At least his friend thought so.

“Maybe you should be more careful? Leave him to make his own mistakes” Zero said, knowing before the words left his mouth that they would be quickly rebuffed, and he was not mistaken. Men like Firo had their own code of honor. It was often warped and incomprehensible, but it made sense to them.

“Not a chance. I’ll dandle any women who will sit on my knee, and I’ll take score that a foolish man lets me get my hands on, I’ll kill a man for money and sleep like a babe…but I’ll never leave a mate in the bush!” Firo finished that sentence with a real spark of bravado, slamming his empty glass in front of him.

“The hell am I doing, if he has his head turned, I’ll just go kick his ass till he gets it on straight, and if I have to, I will turn “Hime-sama” over my knee and spank her!” Firo boasted, pulling some money out of his pocket and leaving it on the counter without bothering to count it.

“Thanks for the drink friend, I needed it” Firo said, tipping his hat and walking towards the door with nary a look back.

Zero watched him go with an expressionless face. He wouldn’t show it outwardly, but he was rather intrigued, he resolved to check the news tomorrow, likely as not firo would be castrated and left somewhere noticeable, perhaps strung up on a telephone poll, but that wasn’t Zero’s business except as a curiosity. However Firo’s quest went, it would be amusing to see.

Yeah. There are plenty of strange nights in the Basilisk.

Some weirder than others.

But one thing’s for sure

They are, always, strange.

When the shift ended, Zero stubbed out his stogie and left his fedora on a hook on the wall by the employee entrance, and headed out into the rain. He was paid in cash and in a small tip share, an insultingly small amount of course, but it was enough to justify the day’s work. Besides, there was something fun about hearing people bare their soul. He was busily counting the take when a scrap of conversation carried through the night’s rain shattered his world.

A pair of pretty girls were walking by, cozily sharing a cute pink umbrella. Zero might have stopped to flirt a bit for shear appearance sake, but he suspected he would not receive a kind welcome no matter how charming he was when the pair was just trying to get through the storm as quickly as possible.

“Have you heard from Sonata-chan?” One brown haired girl asked the other, raising her voice to be heard over the rain.

“Yeah, she said she will be along, but unfortunately she also said Inu-chan had something to take care of, so she can’t make it.” The other replied with a touch of glumness. A touch it must be noted, Zero didn’t catch at all, with his thoughts whipped into a sudden frenzy.

“Inu-chan…” Zero muttered

Inu-chan…

Inu-chan

Inu-chan…!

Damn…! Zero thought.

Now, it had occurred to him that a powerful specimen like Inu-chan might have wound up on Olympus, but he had decided to account for that possibility when it came up, after all, she could be anywhere. He also had to consider the possibility he had somehow misheard. But he didn’t think he had, and anyway that was an extremely foolish and short-sighted reaction. No, it would be best to consider the worst case scenario and plan accordingly.

That meant what was also an altogether likely scenario. Inu-chan was here, and she was hunting him. He had escaped her before, but he was not sanguine about the prospect of a rematch. Not in the least, he had to go, now. His invisa-phone came out of his pocket; he dialed a number after a quick directory search.

“Yes, hello?” Zero said in response to the curt, business like answer on the other end.

“Yes, I need a one way ticket to Japan. Immediately.” After a moment he paused in response to a voice on the other end of the line.

“Next week?! That’s too late, what do you have going out quickly, preferably low cost? ...The North Pole? Fine, I’ll take it, tomorrow morning? Great, I will be there.” Zero hung up.

Honestly he would have preferred a flight today but at least he would have tome to pack and maybe lay a false trail before he could get out of Olympus.

At the Taima dormitories Zero was rushing so much he wasn’t paying as close attention as he should, and when a leggy, skinny woman came around the stairs, he wasn’t able to step around her in time and they collided, resulting in a confused jumble of arms and legs.

“Why haven’t I already killed you?!” A vicious, angry voice complained just as Zero managed to free himself? Zero realized he might not even have time to be killed by Inu-chan, as he looked with trepidation on the women he had annoyed.

Such misfortune…Was the only thought that came to Zero’s mind as he realized his predicament, for he had just collided with none other than T.P.K. herself, the infamous Pop Kim. She reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Oddly, it actually for her wasn’t an overly threatening move. She was just more suited to conversing with someone like this.

“What’s the hurry boy?” she asked, almost conversationally as she raised Zero a little further into the air, so that his toes only barely scuffed the ground.

Zero considered multiple responses but decided discretion was the better part of valor. A conclusion he came to often, incidentally.

“S-Sorry, Kim-san,” Zero said, effecting a minor stutter. “I just learned a…friend of mine is in town and I am trying to get ready for her to…arrive. “Zero finished, a bit breathlessly.

“Yeah? Who’s that?” Kim responded rudely, a mirthless smirk chiseled onto her cruel features.

“Old…old girlfriend, goes by Inu-chan, Zero responded.

“What, symphony? You are dating symphony? Hah, I guess that means you do it doggy style!” Pop Kim laughed, a nasally, brutish laugh at her own wit.

“Zero cocked his head. He had considered the idea Inu-chan could be someone else, but if there was one thing he had learned during his time on Olympus, it’s that he just flat out wasn’t that lucky. But Zero had seen this Symphony girl on the Ares news, and she definitely wasn’t Inu-chan, though he could see why she might be called that. And P.K. seemed to be saying…

“Um…Kim-san, a moment, Inu-chan is a girl named symphony? Is there…anyone else on Olympus who goes by that name?” Zero asked diffidently, eschewing the chance to run while he had the opportunity.

“Hell no, what a stupid question, how many idiots do you think we have here! There is nobody else like that, it would be a stupid nickname if a bunch of people used it!” Kim laughed annoyingly again and then shoved Zero aside, causing him to fall on his rump. “I have wasted enough time on you scarface, if you bug me again, I’ll kill you. You are just lucky you don’t even seem like it would be any fun or I would do it now.” At that P.K. walked down the stairs, smirking evilly all the while. Zero knew he had dodged a bullet. An encounter with Pop Kim was said to be more dangerous then encountering a surly Servant. Maybe worse, after all, the Servant would only kill you, Pop Kim might make you beg to die.

Hmm…two bullets really, it seems he had been over reacting, it was just a coincidence. Zero unlocked the door to his room with a grateful sigh. He would need to call the airline and cancel his flight, hopefully the cancellation fee wasn’t so bad he wiped out the days profits. Zero closed the door behind him, and then had the thought that it was darker in his room then it should have been, he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. After a moment he realized the blinds were closed, he had closed them earlier, but he hadn’t realized that would make it so dark. With a shrug he fumbled for the light switch, he found the box, but while he did so, his fingers brushed something warm just as he reached the slightly upraised edge.

*Flick*

The sound of lights coming on echoed through the room.

…But…Zero hadn’t actually been the one to turn the light on. And it was then he realized what it was his fingers had brushed. It had been the edge of the arm which leaned someone had been leaning against, her darkened fingers held against the switch.

…Inu…” Zero mumbled, a flash of rather delicious, honest panic running through him. Of course he could not fail to recognize the bestial figure, the shock of brittle, almost spiny hair that ran down the fore arms and legs. One of his hands fumbled for the necklace he wore, the other reached behind him for the door handle, but it was too late. Though both knew it, the proof evident in the mouthful of harsh, near fangs she bared in a smile of recognition.

*Flick*

As she turned the lights back off, Zero felt more then he saw her muscles bunching up in the darkness.

…perhaps the light being off was a mercy, that way he couldn’t see what happened next.

DEAD END.

“One hundred thousand yen…two hundred thousand yen…” at each phrase, Pop Kim licked her finger and moved forward another bill in the stack of notes she was counting as she walked down the stairs where she had intentionally collided with that poor idiot she had just left.

“What a sucker…!” T.P.K broke off her count to gleefully mutter. Hell, I would have done it for free!” Letting that dog girl into Zero’s room had been child’s play. Hell the hardest part had been not bursting out laughing at the idiot when he thought he was safe.

“Three hundred thousand…four hundred thousand….” Pop Kim couldn’t suppress a jaunty whistle from emerging from her lips as her mind continued the count, the tuneless song trailing behind her as she left the area.

Kushina Yamato just finished playing some basketball. It was one of those days where you remember that Summer is just around the corner. He was on his way home when he decided to have a popsicle to cool off while he watched the sun set. There was this bench that had a pretty good view on his way home. Currently, it was occupied by a girl swinging her legs, humming to herself. Yamato readjusted his bag over his shoulder and walked up to her, nursing the popsicle. It was lychee flavoured.

She had long brown hair and wore an Athena Academy uniform, but he couldn't really tell who she was from this angle. Yamato was never one to be too shy to approach people though, so he called out as he got closer "Yo! Nice view, huh?"

"Kyaa!" a very feminine squeal followed by a decidedly less feminine thud as the girl twitched away from his voice. She tried to turn to face him as she stood, but tangled her legs and landed on her butt looking up at him. "K-Kushina Yamato?" she said with wide-eyes. "W-w-what do you want?" she held an incomplete wreath out as if it were a shield. Seeing the scattered flowers on the ground around her and on the bench, it wasn't hard to figure out that she was probably working on it when he walked up.

As she fell, Yamato leaned forward to help her, but now that he saw her face he pulled back. "Alacia Starward" he said, not a question but a fact. "You know me?" he asked, holding the popsicle loosely by his side.

His stance said very clearly that he wasn't here for trouble, so Lacey picked herself up and dusted herself off. "Yeah. Caster made me memorize the names and faces of everyone on the Duel Chart, as well as the entries of the 10 immediately above us" she said with a pout, clearly not happy with the memory. As quickly as the frown appeared it was gone, giving way to a bright smile as she looked at Yamato "And you know me?" This girl clearly flitted from emotion to emotion fairly easily.

"Ah yeah. I was the new guy, so it's important to know who's coming up behind you, ya know?" Indeed, the day that her name showed up in the Duel Chart, Yamato had spent the better part of a day watching her surreptitiously. At the end of the day, he didn't know what to make of her. She seemed to be fairly care-free. Yet the contradiction was that she summoned a Servant. The only possible conclusion that he could draw is that there must be a lot more to her than is shown on the surface.

That was his conclusion. At least until now. Looking down at her (he didn't understand how short she was from a distance), he couldn't imagine her radiating killing intent at all. Honestly, it is enough to deflate any tension he could have experienced by accidentally walking up to a Master. He sighed, as if immensely disappointed in her existence, but immediately after flashed her a big grin. "You should head home soon. These streets aren't safe for little girls" he said. Without waiting for a response, he walked off in the direction of his dorm, waving goodbye without looking back.

Of course, his cool exit was ruined when Lacey shouted at him "Hey! Meet me tomorrow in the foyer for lunch." It wasn't harsh like an order. In fact, he could almost see her smiling face as he heard her shout it.

"Hah?" Yamato turned around to ask her what she meant, but she was already walking over to a man in robes who was holding bags of groceries. He was probably her Servant - Caster. Yamato wasn't about to confront her about what she meant with her Servant around. Hmph he shrugged to himself. Maybe it was a challenge to a fight. He thought of how she was probably smiling. Maybe she's yandere or something... passed through his mind before he realized it. He shivered in the setting sun. It was not due to the popsicle.

***

And so the next day came. Of course Yamato wouldn't ignore the challenge. Of course he isn't stupid enough to show up alone. Yamato showed up minutes after the bell for lunch rang. Lacey showed up about a minute later with a 10 Mega-watt smile. "Ready for lunch?" she asked, holding up a large three-tiered bento box.

"Eh?" While Yamato's brain was trying to process what just happened, Lacey grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the school into the nearby park where students often picnicked. Before he could really gather himself, Lacey had set out their meal on the grass and was handing him a bowl and chopsticks.Finally catching up to the moment, he finally asked "What's going on?!" Though a small part of him felt like screaming, he managed to contain the outburst.

Lacey in turn simply cocked her head to one side as if she didn't quite understand what he was talking about. "Lunch" she said.

The way she said it was very simple. So simple in fact that Yamato just gave up, and dropped onto the ground and accepted the bowl and chopsticks from her. He stared at her mutely, trying to understand what she was doing. They were both Masters right? They may not be enemies, but certainly they weren't friends.

Lacey on the other hand simply nodded at him and looked at the area to his right and up, asking "Would you like some too?" Obviously she was talking to Squire. Yamato wondered if he could feel his Servant scowling slightly at her.

The air to her left shimmered and Yamato twitched back, but Squire didn't move. Caster materialized himself next to her, sitting comfortably on the grass. "Do sit and eat. It really is rather good. We won't be able to have a nice meal if you just stand there scowling the whole time", he said. His tone was slightly exasperated, as if he too had argued with the girl about how absurd this situation was.

The girl in question calmly handed Caster a bowl as Squire materialized. The surly Servant sat, but evidently did not really appreciate the situation. Both Yamato and Squire were both thinking the same thing: ...was the food poisoned?

Unfettered, Caster began picking at the food and eating. He was so good at just sitting there and eating that if you let your guard down, he almost seemed to blend into the greenery. Lacey didn't stand on ceremony either and began eating. No one said anything for a while as Yamato and Squire watched them eat, eyeing the food. The top layer of the bento box had carried the utensils, bowls and a thermos. The next layer was an assortment of food traditionally found in Japanese bento boxes. Fried egg, meat cutlets, some tempura of varying variety, a small amount of salad. Things like that. The last layer was filled with rice.

They picked from the food randomly. Was it specifically poisoned? They would have to have good memory to pick from the food like that then. Eventually Yamato figured that even if it was poisoned his Half-Blood physiology should do be able to deal with it. So he reached for a cutlet meatball thing and popped it in his mouth.

"That's... good" he said. In the tension, he didn't expect the food to taste good.

"Thanks!" came Lacey's reply. "I invited others too, but everyone seemed busy" she said in that half-pout way when she wasn't really upset with something. "Here Yamato, try this" she said as she picked up something tempura'd and dropped it in his bowl.

Though he should be used to people doing that by now, he was a little startled when she used his name. He bit into the thing cautiously. It was sweet potato and it tasted pretty good. "Mm, thanks Alacia-san" he said in between bites.

"Ah, just call me Lacey. Everyone does."

"Uhm, th-then. Lacey... sa- chan" he chickened out on just using her nickname after all.

"Hehehe, here!" Lacey laughed and offered him more food.

The thermos held some miso soup that Lacey poured out. Conversation started to flow more naturally. Gradually, the atmosphere relaxed slightly until even Squire picked at some of the food by the end. There was plenty of food left over. Lacey had cooked for 5 people initially, but the two Servants barely ate one person's share collectively. Still, they made a decent dent in the amount of food there. Yamato suspected it was mostly him.

He was laughing as they packed up, though he couldn't tell you what the joke was if you asked him later. As he walked back to class, he realized that he definitely did end up eating far too much. He still didn't really know what to make of the Master known as Alacia Starward. He decided he'd hold off on judgement to see if he ended up puking his guts out that night. He couldn't help the slightly goofy smile on his face though.

***

"So, what was that all about?" Caster asked Lacey as he walked her back to class. The night before, he had tried to talk her out of the idea.

"This is a bad idea" he said as she was cooking.
"Why?" was her simple response.
"He's a Master!" Caster all but shouted at this point.
"So?"

And so the conversation had gone the night before. He neglected to ask her why she did it though.

"Hmm" she put a finger to her chin in thought as she walked. "I guess because for a moment yesterday he reminded me of Aliot."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah."

"So that's why you invited a potential enemy to lunch?"

"Yeah."

Caster wasn't sure entirely how to respond to that. She always threw him off when it came to people. "And now?"

"Well, he's a little bit like Aliot. Not a lot like him though. Which is a good thing I guess. Aliot is always so serious." she said as they got to her classroom. There was a hint of wistfulness on her face, but it was gone so quick that Caster wondered if it was even there to begin with. "Seeya later, Rahim!" she waved and closed the door to her classroom.

Caster chuckled to himself and left.

It had been a damp April, and the air in the Persephone Gardens was thick with the heady smells of damp bark and soft earth. The handle of the heavy bucket of peat dug into Roselia McKlennington’s hands, and with an uncharacteristic sigh of discomfort, she shifted her grip so that the metal band bit into her fingers a little bit lower than before. Despite the stinging pain, the young woman had to bite back a small smile at the thought of what some of her underclassmen or Lassy might say if they saw her like this, hair tied back awkwardly while wandering through the gardens barefoot, damp clumps of earth splattered up to her knees whilst carrying a bucket of peat moss and half-rotten fruit. OLYMPUS was a city of rumors, and thankfully her reputation commanded just enough respect to keep Marcus Lux from spreading whatever pictures he inevitably had of her looking like this.

A twisted old tree stood off to the side of a small clearing, just off-center enough to keep the scene from looking too picturesque. Though much of the gardens had been mapped or cared for by the members of her Gardening Club, there were still a few places where nobody but Roselia would go – places permitted to run wild and overgrown in that alien system of order possessed only by nature. This place in particular, reminiscent of a valley in the Urals during springtime, was one such place. Whenever it rained, the canopies surrounding the clearing caused the water to pool here and turn the ground to mud, and the dreary chill that surrounded the area kept the rest of the Gardening Club trying to tend to it.

…which is why Roselia had to tilt her head in mild surprise when she spotted the newest member of her club perched awkwardly on the root of the old oak, delicately wrapping a waterlogged flower around a thin wooden stake jutting out of the mud.

“Fiore? It is not even four in the morning. What are you doing out here?”

The boy went rigid on his perch, and the young woman wondered mirthfully if it was her sudden reversion into English, or if she had managed to take one of the Kishu by surprise, stomping around in the muck.

“I am afraid that I am still not used to keeping a different schedule than usual,” he lilted after a short pause. Roselia smiled faintly when the boy’s eyes darted to her mud-stained legs, and she unceremoniously dropped the bucket of compost into the mud, much to the relief of her sore fingers. “…this place reminds me of the gardens back at the castle – the climate, at least, when it is dark out.”

That was right, the young Kishu before her was sponsored by a Dead Apostle, and he was a new student on top of it. It was little surprise that he was unused to the scheduling of OLYMPUS.

“Still, I’m surprised,” she began, crouching down slightly and taking a handful of the peat into her hand before packing it around one of the roots of the tree. “You always seem to be so concerned about your appearance and cleanliness. To be a gardener, and in a place like this…” she trailed off, nodding slightly to the root he was perched upon. In the faint light of the moon filtering through the screen of treetops, she could see the polished sheen of his dress shoes, and above them the miraculously-dry cuffs of the slacks that went with his uniform. He looked every part the butler he claimed to be, but absolutely absurd in an environment in an environment like this.

“I moved through the trees,” he offered, “…the topography here is like a basin – I was worried that the flowers would be killed by all of the flooding.”

“That is the way of nature, though, isn’t it? You cannot keep the planet from taking back what it will,” she replied automatically before furrowing her brow. That was unusual of her, just as it was unusual for her to be out so late in the night, and it was unbecoming to speak so quickly from a place of bitterness like that.

“No, you cannot…” Fiore conceded, “…but I have never been to South America, so I would not say that it is fair for plants like the ones I would care for at the castle to be killed because this city must emulate its weather.”

Roselia clicked her tongue in amusement before pulling a flower upright through the mud and packing some of the compost around it. Coming from anybody in her dorms, who spoke like normal children of the generation, she would have thought that they were trying to be smart with her, but the young Half-Blood before her was a mess of youthful awkwardness and the antiquated rules of court etiquette natural to the Dead Apostles – it was hardly his nature to be smart with her.

“That is fair enough,” she conceded in turn, “I am here to meddle in the affairs of nature as well, after all.”

The boy tilted his head in attention, and Roselia in turn returned her eyes to her work, thrusting a hand back into the pail of moss and rotten fruit. The sickly-sweet scent of the fruit and earth washed over her as she dug into the muck at her feet, feeling around for another clove of bay laurels that had been crushed under the slippery topsoil.

“Somebody who does not know how to care for plants would think that this place would be fine, left to its own devices. It is a basin so the plants do not want for water, the city gets plenty of sunlight even in the cold seasons, and the soil is as rich as anywhere else in the gardens.” She glanced up to see if the boy was still listening; he was still perched awkwardly on the root, green eyes wide and attentive in the unnatural way of a Kishu, and she continued. “…but the soil was just poured over the platform randomly and the plants allowed to grow around it, so this place became a watershed. All of the water here will slowly drain to the south, and it will shear away the topsoil and many of the nutrients out of the soil, killing many of the plants here, especially the smaller ones whose roots do not extend down very far.”

After a moment, she wiped her hands haphazardly on her forearms and slowly rose to her feet.

“Why are you really here, though?”

Her tone was not confrontational, but she looked at the boy seriously. Hair askew and tied back with decidedly less elegance than usual, arms and legs covered in half as much muck as she had hauled out in the first place, and with sweat beading across her brow, she still managed to retain every ounce the aura of respect and authority she commanded as the head of the Clock Tower on OLYMPUS. She had no always borne the standing of the reserved lady everyone saw her as. Nearly a hundred fights had crushed down upon her shoulders since she had first joined the Duel Chart – how many times had she been thrown down into the dirt, spitting up blood? Nearly all emotions that somebody could experience in this city of magic, she had felt at some point or another.

She snapped out of her thoughts in time to realize that the mud on her knees was beginning to dry, and that the silence between them had stretched on for nearly a minute.

“It is not so much about the plants as it is the similarity to the forest by the castle,” Fiore finally replied. As he spoke, the boy shifted until he was sitting on the root, stretching his legs out in front of him so that his heels rested lightly in the mud.

Roselia tilted her head to the side slightly, smiling. “Homesick?”

Was he suddenly comfortable around her? As erratic as his personality seemed to be, that should not have had anything to do with putting his shoes into the mud. She realized in that moment how very tired she was as she tried to psychoanalyze the androgynous young Half-Blood whom she had already head was causing misunderstandings amongst the student body. It was not homesickness, which she had seen in hundreds of her own charges in the Clock Tower.

“No,” he responded with a faint smile.

The silence dragged on again, broken only when the young woman sat down unceremoniously in the mud and rested her hands in her lap. The boy’s eyes immediately darted to his shoes, and he shifted uncomfortably on the root, bringing his face forward into the moonlight. He really was hard to place, aesthetically-speaking, she had to admit. She could hear again the irritated rumblings that she had heard from Lily at their last meeting.

“I was sent here to experience more of the world and to cultivate a personality not inhibited by my ignorance of so many things.” Fiore’s voice seemed distant, and his face was screwed up in thought. “…yet despite my loyalty to the Young Lady, what does she hope for me to attain from this, if finding something I would wish to hold onto here would in turn make me resent my contract to her?”

That was an awkward question.

Roselia McKlennington was long-used to the phenomenon of parents sending their children to this school to pursue higher education, in turn throwing them into a lion’s den of blood knights and maniacs as representatives of their family’s right to claim superiority in knowledge and arms. Mysteries of the world and of magic were concerns that were commonplace here, but mundane troubles of the self were something…harder to pick apart.

“You do not want an answer,” she supplied, her voice suddenly tired, and she covered her mouth to hide an unfortunately-timed yawn. “Don’t you want to know why I am out here, looking like this at three in the morning?”

“It would have been rude to intrude upon you,” the boy replied automatically, “And this garden is predominantly under your care, so it really is not correct for me to ask what you are doing here.”

“You avoided my question.”

“In…all honesty…” Fiore’s words came out awkwardly as before, and Roselia’s eyes flickered as he leaned forward lightly, eyes now glued on her, “Why did you not use your magic for any of this?”

She smiled.

“I will use magecraft to return to my room and to mop up the mud that I track all over the place and to clean my clothing. For living things, however, I would try to leave as much possible to nature. There will be flowers that the club cultivates and influences through magic in order to meet the order for the upcoming festival, and I will inevitably have to use magic to produce enough cherry blossom trees for the viewing to be suitably grand, but that does not give me license to twist these gardens into some picturesque model to suit my tastes. I would prefer to let this garden grow on its own…and when I decide to meddle, I will do so with table scraps and a bucket, silly as it might sound.”

A collective shudder ran through the garden as a misty rain began to bleed through the uppermost levels of the treeline. No sooner than had the first drops fallen onto her face did a sudden chill twist through the air, snaking through the undergrowth and pooling around the young Half-Blood in front of her as he hopped lightly to his feet.

“I am sorry, Miss McKlennington, but-“ he began, his voice more lilting then before, warbling with the twisting breeze surrounding him and taking on a feminine edge that could have fooled anyone not wise to his circumstances.

“Do you want me to shield you until you get back to your room?” she asked, the prana in her body and the air already humming to life and swirling around one outstretched finger.

A faint laugh escaped Fiore’s voice, airy and quite unlike the one she was used to from her few encounters with the young Half-Blood. The awkward mixture of reservation and familiar ease that he carried himself with seemed to have fallen away, and the glittering eyes that looked back at her revealed something that seemed far more at home in the dark, damp forest than those whose place they had taken.

“Thank you, miss, but wouldn’t your words have been wasted on us then?”

As soon as the words left their speaker’s mouth, the air seemed to warp and contract, the cold sending pinpricks running up the woman’s arms and legs where they touched the sodden ground. There was a flutter of movement as the green-haired figure bowed deeply to her, and then with a final shudder of the air, it vanished, and the chill with it.

As if on cue, the rain finally breached the protective shelter of the canopy and fell in sheets, drenching the young woman from head to toe immediately as she casually flicked away the barrier she had been preparing.

“How many..?” she murmured, letting herself fall backwards into the mud with a splash.

How many times had she found one of her underclassmen wrapped up in their worries and picked them apart, uncertain if she were more the kindly older sister or the numbed veteran of the worst the city could offer? How many times had she laid in the mud, aching and with the taste of copper thick in her mouth as she survived yet another unofficial fight that nobody would ever hear about? How many years had it been since Leila disappeared and the youthful illusion of eternal rivalries and comic book romances had finally left her life?

“How many weeks will you last here, boy?”

She had not survived as long as she had without being able to identify problem students at a glance. The ones to arrive only a week ago were foolish and unrefined, scheming the moment they disembarked and wholly out of their league in every way imaginable…and yet there were more troublesome ones amongst them than she had seen in years. One of those children of the worst generation since her own had ended up in her Gardening Club and then found his way into this untended clearing on the same night she had felt compelled to leave the comfort of her room and try to save a handful of waterlogged marigolds and bay laurels.

“How many troubles will you endure before you finally stand up to the people you respect?”

One of her hands curled into a fist and she held it up before her eyes. It was a thin, elegant hand, but not a weak one. Reinforced by her magic it had caught the blade of a sword wreathed in the fires of angels and the legends of a lost people. Without her magic, it had split the lip of her eternal rival and shut her up for maybe a fraction of a second for once in her life. It had torn open the sky and twisted the seas in the same day that it had stirred honey into her tea and coddled the head of a grieving younger sister. It had signed a vote in the meeting chamber of PANTHEON and was the only one that remained of the hundreds to have signed their lives away on the day that the First Generation arrived on OLYMPUS.

“How many like you have tried to defeat me?”

With a flourish, she stirred the prana around her to life, and a subtle wave of power crashed over the clearing and wrapped itself around her body before depositing her onto the expensive rug in the center of her bedroom. The rain lashed noisily against the window, and Roselia let out a shiver as the warmth of the Clock Tower made her realize just how cold it had been outside. She decided to just lay there for a moment, dripping muddy water onto a rug that had been a gift from some Lord trying to curry favor for their family on OLYMPUS, and draped one frigid arm over her face.

For whatever reason, she found herself smiling.

“How many dreams will you step on in order to come and stop me?”

Troublesome.

The magus known as William Tenevere silently lamented his misfortune as he continued his nighttime jog through Dionysus Park. Perhaps misfortune was too harsh a word to use to describe the surprise visit by his twin sister, Sarah Tenevere (all the more shocking because she was in a coma the last Will saw of her), but that didn’t make it any less shocking. In theory, Will knew that he should be happy at his sister’s recovery, but his heart was full of unease. This feeling only intensified when she refused the offer of one of the guestrooms for visitors, instead insisting that his dorm room will more than suffice. The hungry looks that Sarah proceeded to give him throughout the day then multiplied that feeling many times over.

And so as the day ended and the two of them made their way back to his room, the ‘sister’ instincts Will honed over the years of living with Sarah were screaming danger. However, there was one small piece of good luck, and that was his roommate was still about. His roommate apparently had business to attend to later and would be spending the night in a friend’s room, leaving Will by himself. Or to be more specific, leaving Will by himself with Sarah, but he got the distinct impression that even the presence of his roommate wouldn’t have stop the current Sarah. Be that as it may, he still hadn’t left yet, and Will took the opportunity to introduce the two of them before making a few excuses to go leave in order to take a nice, brisk moonlight jog. At the very least, it’ll buy him some time to think of his next course of action.

That was about half an hour ago and he still had yet to come up with any ideas, but fortunately it wasn’t as if there was a time limit to his run or anything. And due to how late in the day it was, the park was practically deserted, leaving a peaceful silence that was ideal for thinking. Just as he was thinking that, he heard some voices having an animated conversation someways down the path. As he continued jogging and approaching the source, he realized that it was in fact, just one voice talking; most likely having a conversation using the OLYMPUS phone.

“…really is an unpleasant hobby. Or would it be more an ability than hobby? Well, I’m not one to talk, no, actually I’m exactly the one who should be talking about…”

A snippet of an extremely strange conversation reached his ears. Will turned his head to the side to take a look…

…and proceeded to trip and fall on his face. Slightly off the path, there was what appeared to be a girl having a lively conversation with a tree.

“…spectacular, isn’t it, Mr. Tree? It reminds me of a saying an acquaintance of mine was fond of saying…”

She certainly wasn’t talking into a phone, and the tree certainly wasn’t responding. Perhaps she’s insane, thought Will. The next moment he dismissed the possibility as unlikely. After all, this was OLYMPUS, where only the best of the best get invited.

“…mountains. But the snow was nice, you know? It was a fine place for killing time…”

Supposedly, at least.

Will picked himself off the ground and nervously resumed his jog.

Let’s not look for trouble.

As Will ran, the girl suddenly stopped talking to the tree. She then turned around until she faced Will.

“Hello”

Damn it.

Trouble looks for me.

“…hello,” Will spoke nervously. Now that he could get a better look, there were some things that he noticed right away. The first was that this girl was probably a vampire, based on the fangs in her teeth to the golden glow in her eyes. The second was the empty sleeve, waving in the wind. In other words, this vampire was missing an arm due to some reason or another, which somehow made the stranger seem all the more ominous. “Have you finished your, um… conversation?”

“Well, more or less. Since it’s usually pretty empty around here, you more or less tripped my curiosity.” She tilted her head with a thoughtful expression on her face. “So, who are you?”

“…isn’t it courtesy to introduce yourself first?” said Will as he gave a sigh while trying to calm himself. “Well, I am William Tenevere, nice to meet you.”

“Mhmm… oh?! That’s right, one should introduce themselves first!” the vampire girl exclaimed in surprise. “Ah, I believe I am registered within the school database as 4.”

An odd way to phrase a self-introduction, thought Will, but the next moment 4 made her way over to Will with surprising speed, stopping right before him and extending her hand. “It is nice to meet you.”

Will tentatively extended his hand and shook her hand. It seemed like either he wasn’t used to touching people, didn’t like touching people, or both. However, 4 appeared to be completely oblivious to Will’s discomfort, and kept a firm grip while continuing the handshake somewhat longer than was necessary. In fact, she never even left go.


“So what are you doing around here at this time anyway?” asked 4 rather abruptly while holding an uncomfortably direct stare into Will’s eyes and keeping an iron grip on his hand.

“Y-you see, my si-sister is visiting so I’m just t-taking a jog,” Will stammered, stumbling over some words and ending up with a nonsensical sentence. However, 4 either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the rather large leap in Will’s logic. Instead, something lit up in her eyes at the mention of the word ‘sister’, as some memories from the past surfaced in her mind.

“So you have a sister? How wonderful! Sibling love is a truly beautiful thing, wouldn’t you agree?” Will winced at that last sentence, but par for the course, either 4 didn’t notice or didn’t care. “Indeed, I can say with confidence that there is nothing more beautiful in the world than the love between siblings. Or if such things do exist, then they number extremely low, a fraction of the things that aren’t as beautiful, so if we round, if we estimate, then they don’t exist. That’s probably not right, but even so, it’s impossible to say your sister’s love for you is wrong. In fact, I will declare it. Yes, this vampire who currently uses the moniker ‘4’ declares it. There is nothing greater than the bond, the pure love that flows between the two of you. I say this as one coming from both perspectives; both from younger to older and older to younger. Of course, perspective is a subjective thing, but I think there is no problem with stating this as an objective fact. I have no doubt that there is a mathematical proof which exists to prove it, and if it does not yet exist then I will create one- I apologize, is there something the matter?” 4 finally deemed to take notice of Will frantically trying to break his hand free from 4’s grip.

“I w-would like to get back to my run now,” Will was starting to feel more and more panicked, despite sensing no hostility, this frankly insane vampire was well, insane. And was it just him, or does it look like those fangs are growing sharper? Were those bloodstains on her clothes!?

4 thought for several moments before replying.

“That’s fine. But well, how about we play a quick game first?”

“A quick game?”

“A small gamble.”

“A small gamble?” Will asked suspiciously. “Do I have a choice?”

“Why, of course not!” 4 responded with a surprised tone of voice.

“…What are we gambling on?”

“That’s actually a rather good question.”

“You didn’t have anything in mind?”

“Now just let me think for a second. Money is kind of boring, and I don’t have any on me right now. What do we both have on hand right now that would make for a fun bet…?” 4 closed her eyes for a few seconds. “How about we put our lives on the line?”

The stakes were just casually raised to the max.

People should be more considerate of their lives.

“…how about we bet something else?” Will said in a careful tone of voice, barely managing to keep the trembling out of his voice. He forced his body to be as alert as possible, ready to activate his magecraft at a moment’s notice. But none of his options really felt ideal; escape seemed difficult, fighting against a vampire at night could easily turn into a deathmatch that wasn’t much different then betting his life in the first place.

“I guess that’s acceptable,” answered 4 with a brief surprised expression on her face. “Let nobody say I’m unreasonable.”

It may be a bit too late for that.

“Well, the only other thing I can think of is we bet our clothes.”

The stakes are moving in a weird direction.

A sense of shame is important too.

“…” Will had to think about this. This option wasn’t particularly good either, but compared to betting one’s life or getting into a deathfight with a vampire, the best choice was clear. “So what kind of gamble are we talking about here?”

“Hmmm…” 4 looked up at the sky as she thought. “I want to try to keep it simple, so how about this. You put your hand behind your back and pick a number. Then if I’ll guess if the number is odd or even. If I’m right I win, and if I’m wrong I lose.”

“…are you serious about this gamble?”

Is this going off the honor system?

“Completely.”

“If you say so,” Will shrugged, and put his free hand behind his back.

“Odd.”

“…wrong,” said Will after a second, bringing his hand back into view. There were 4 fingers extended.

“Well, a bet’s a bet,” said 4 with a shrug. She released her grip on Will, who then began stripping with impressive speed for a person with one hand. The next second, something flew at his head, wrapping around and cutting off his vision. Before he could remove her shirt from his head, a second object hit him. From the feel of the fabric, it would seem to be the skirt.

And then two more objects came in with rapid succession. These were smaller and much softer than the previous shirt and skirt. And the most pressing issue at the front of Will’s mind was:

“You threw your underwear at me too!?” Will yelled after finally managing to get the garments off his head, and the first thing he saw was the completely naked 4, before making an instant 180 degree turn.

“Well, underwear counts as clothes, right?” 4 replied without an ounce of shame. “After all, that was the stakes of the bet and therefore your prize. Anyway, you’re free to go.” But before he could even move, a hand was put on his shoulder, rooting him to the spot. His body automatically broke into a cold sweat as he felt somebody push their body against their back and heard 4 whisper in his ear, “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to have another… gamble?”

Will immediately began to sprint towards the exit, back towards his dorm room; not thinking about the consequences of what’ll happen when he shows up back to his room where Sarah was waiting carrying some girl’s clothes and underwear.

As for the shameless vampire, 4 watched Will run out of sight before finally breaking out laughing.

“Fun. That was much more fun, much more amusing than I expected. As should be expected from something so unexpected… An unforeseen progression, a surprising surprise, this is truly a formula that never fails to kill time in an entertaining way,” 4 talked to herself in a rather good mood as she walked over to the bushes near the tree she was talking to earlier.

Hidden were two sets of empty clothes and a short distance away was a suspicious area of freshly disturbed dirt. As 4 chose one at random and began to get dressed, she seemed to resume her conversation with the tree.

“Well, two for three isn’t that bad. In fact, for me I would say it’s surprisingly good. I don’t win nearly as often as I lose, so I suppose that third match was a good return to tradition. Still, changing the stakes was also the first of the three. I wonder if that’s what caused the winds of fortune to shift away from me? Ah, what a shame, such a tragedy. I could cry, I really would have liked to experience winning a bit more. But that is a good point, I should avoid pride, avoid becoming conceited. In other words, this was the best possible outcome for me! I see, I see, perhaps I should give William Tenevere my thanks the next time I should encounter him. What’s that, Mr. Tree?” 4 looked towards the silent tree with a grin and then glanced down at the freshly disturbed ground.

“It’s only proper, isn’t it? Otherwise it would be littering.”

It was a beautiful and calm Sunday. A warm temperature that was not hot enough to bother anyone, a clear weather, allowing for a deep blue sky, and a radiant shinning sun. It was a perfect day for many types of outdoor activities.

The Persephone Gardens were usually a sight to behold, with its many exotic plants, species unique in the whole world. However, today it was at its absolute best. The flowers in full bloom threatened to eclipse the radiance of the sun, and even the many leaves that decorated the plants seemed to shine each with its own light. In the Eden in the Sky, the Gardens seemed like a live recreation of the true Eden.

Many people had been attracted to the beautiful spectacle. It had been a good morning to be in the Dyonisus park, and that fact had not changed with time. It was now a warm afternoon, and while the place had quieted down somewhat, one could still see many couples enjoying a casual stroll around the Gardens, and groups of friends committed to diverse activities. Some were picnicking, and the sound of their conversations mixed with the occasional chirping of birds, creating a pleasant background murmur.

Cradled by that murmur, a boy slept under the shadow of a tree. His green colored hair and effeminate looks were unmistakable, and the suit he wore gave even more clues towards the identity of the young man. Fiore Lacere-Ran had been at first attracted by the splendor of the Gardens, and after a stroll and a lunch, he had been invaded by a sudden sleepiness, having spent a big part of the last night fussing over one of the dresses he had been working on. The afternoon had been perfect for a nap, and he had found a good place near the entrance of the Persephone Gardens, under the shadow of a tree.

Even when resting, he had taken care to not disturb the grass around him. That same grass now cushioned the noise caused by the careless footsteps that moved towards him. Asleep as he was, the Half-blood had no way to notice a person was approaching his position.

Fiore’s dreams of a long and fulfilling afternoon nap were mercilessly crushed when he felt an impact on his legs, followed by a short scream. Then, a weight fell on the bottom half of his body, finally forcing him to open his eyes.

Someone had tripped on him, and hit her head against the ground. The black haired girl clad in a cherry blossom-themed kimono was now reeling in pain from the impact, which made the initial irritation he felt vanish from Fiore’s mind. He got up quickly, checked the status of his suit and straightened it up a bit, then kneeled to the side of the strange girl.

“Are you alright?” his tone carried a slight mixture of worry and annoyance as he looked towards the place where the girl had fallen. A rock, now broken in many pieces, had been hidden in the grass, right where her forehead had met the ground.

“Auu...” the girl seemed to react to Fiore’s voice, and finally managed to sit on the grass. “I am alright, no worries. I am tougher than I look,” she vaguely declared before parting her fingers and revealing a small scratch on her forehead.

Finally, she looked towards the boy, and seemed to realize just what she had done. She got up almost instantly, and bowed, “I am sorry! I did not notice you were sleeping there!”

“No harm done.” Fiore shot a somewhat amused reply as he noted, with the same slight amusement, that the people nearby were looking at them, startled by the sudden noise caused by the pair. When he stared back at the girl, she had suddenly jumped back, and was now glaring at him, somewhat warily, as if she expected a sudden attack at any moment. Despite she being the one who was openly carrying a sword in full view.

For once, the Half-blood found himself on a bit of a loss of words, not very sure on how to react to the sudden change in attitude the black-haired girl had taken. The result of that were some awkward seconds in which the two stared at one each other, one apparently waiting for some kind of attack, and the other too surprised to say anything.

“... Are you going to attack me?” The girl broke the awkward silence, staring straight at the boy’s eyes, as if daring him to answer positively.

“Why would I?” Answered a somewhat exasperated Fiore.

“Ah, well, you see... the last two Half-bloods I met here were quite intent in killing me... ahahaha...” finally relaxing her stance, and blushing slightly when she realized how foolishly she had just acted, the girl laughed to herself and scratched her head a bit.

“That is something I can understand.” For his part, the boy winced slightly when he remembered the barbaric cross between a gorilla and a lion that had smashed apart his desk. If the girl’s experiences had been all like that, then he could understand her wariness, as rude as it had been.

Suddenly, the girl dropped back to the floor, prompting Fiore to hurry to her side once more. She seemed to have been overcome by a sudden spell of dizziness and was clutching her head again. “You shouldn’t jump around so much after getting hit in the head by a rock, you know?” Fiore admonished her, before asking “Should I escort you to the nearest hospital?”

“No... just give me a bit and I’ll recover like nothing happened.” It seemed that no matter how though you were (and the stone seemed to have suffered way more damage than the girl on the crash. Fiore was somewhat sure that any normal human would have at least bled a bit from that.) being hit in the head was still hard on anyone. As he meditated on this somber fact of life, the boy sat slightly apart from the nameless girl, feeling somewhat obligated to make sure she did not faint.

“Ah... is this the entrance to the Persephone Gardens?”

Having asked that suddenly, the girl pointed towards said entrance. Fiore nodded.

“Indeed it is. Were you lost, by any chance?”

“Ah yeah. I was supposed to come here early on, but got confused and ended up in the Hephaestus District, somehow...” the girl interrupted herself, as if noticing something. She turned back towards Fiore, and then nodded her head towards him.

“Where are my manners... my name is Fujou Shizuka. Nice to meet you.”

“I am Fiore Lacere-Ran. A pleasure, Miss Fujou.” He imitated the same nod Shizuka did, considering it the most courteous gesture he could do while sitting down. So she was a member of one of the clans from the Demon Hunter Organization. She clashed a lot with the image he previously had from them. He had expected someone more... traditional on their manners, and in their way of speaking. Not that the personality of the girl in front of him was less weird than what he had imagined.

“So, I assume you wanted to visit the Gardens? They are quite a pleasant sight today.”

“Ah, yeah. Satoko, my roommate, proposed to show me the wards I had not visited yet. We were supposed to start with the Dionysus Park, but she had to go do some stuff for ARES... so I went here first, and we were supposed to meet at the entrance. Then I got lost for an entire hour...”

“Did you know those HECATE phones have a map function?”

“Eh?! They do??” Shizuka took out her own phone, a sleek black surface crossed by red lines that contrasted heavily with the girl holding it. Immediately, she started to grab and ‘pull’ on it, somehow making new parts pop up from it with the mere action. Indeed, soon the phone popped up a screen that seemed to show a rather detailed map of the zone she was in right now.

“Auuugh... If I had known before, this would have saved me so much trouble...” Shizuka clutched her head for the third time today. “How did you find out about it? Is it somewhere in the pamphlets?”

A frown appeared on Fiore’s face at the question. “One of my roommates kindly showed it to me after seeing me struggle with a physical copy of the map.” He just shrugged lazily, as if taking away importance from the fact. And trying to ignore that Shizuka was now looking at him with increasing respect.

“Why don’t you wait for your friend here, Miss Fujou? I doubt I’ll be going back to sleep anytime soon, and I could use some interesting company.” Normally, he would be more irritated at having his nap interrupted, and having his leg stepped on, but he found a bit hard to get worked up about it in the tranquil afternoon. And he had always been interested in talking with one of the younger scions of the demon-hunting families, specially one that did not seem to care much about the tradition.

“Eh? You sure I won’t bother you?”

“It is no problem. Rather, I’d like to have someone to talk with, now that I am awake.”

“Okay then.” Shizuka just shrugged, then produced a pouch and a can of soda out of seemingly nowhere. She placed those items carefully in the grass, then opened the pouch to reveal some cookies. A delicious smell invaded the place, and Fiore soon found himself eyeing the confectionery. It had been already some time since he had eaten lunch, and the brief nap had opened his appetite.

“Ah, you want some cookies? Lacey-chan made some for us yesterday and I got the leftovers. Here, have these...” The girl grabbed some cookies at random, and then offered them to Fiore. As if noting a slight hesitation, she remarked “They aren’t poisoned... I think.”

Fiore accepted the cookies gracefully, and did not lose any time in tasting one of them.

“This Lacey-san...”

“Yes?”

“I need to ask her for her cookie recipes one of these days.”

“Hehe... well, if you want I’ll introduce you to her tomorrow.” Shizuka took a sip out of her can of soda, before staring back at the Half-blood. “If I may ask... Fiore isn’t a Japanese name, right?”

“You are right, Miss Fujou. It is an Italian name.” Fiore finished off another cookie, taking care of not letting the crumbs soil his suit.

“Uhm...” Shizuka looked uncomfortable for a moment “Just call me Shizuka. If you say ‘Miss Fujou’, most people wouldn’t know who you are talking to.”

“Miss Shizuka, then?” There was a hint of amusement in the boy’s voice now.

“That still sounds a bit weird... but it works.” The demon huntress shrugged, and started attacking her portion of the cookies. “So, you aren’t from Japan?”

“No. I am from around the Ural Mountains, in fact.”

“Ah, I see... I thought you looked somewhat different from other Half-bloods.” Shizuka smiled when she saw Fiore frown and look at himself, as if expecting to see an huge stain on his suit. “I did not mean it in a bad way. You just... look different.”

“I guess so,” Fiore replied, while trying to suppress the impulse of checking his wardrobe again. The girl sitting in front of him was more perceptive than he had given her credit for (or all the Half-bloods she had met in her life until now had been completely overtaken by either rage or insanity, but this thought did not cross his mind until much later). As far as he knew, there were other Half-bloods that were as androgynous as him, like Kanon, or their Dorm Head, Mori Kaoru. Fiore himself had already caused quite the confusion in the student body, although if Shizuka was as perceptive as he suspected, she wouldn’t fall prey to something like that.

At the end, the boy just shrugged off those thoughts, unable to reach a conclusion on what looked so different about him. He would still check himself on a mirror afterwards, that much he couldn’t avoid, it was like an itch he would have to scratch sooner or later. But he decided to not pay it much attention, for now.

“You are weird,” he said as if thinking out loud, while he finished the last of his cookies.

“Eh? Who? Me?” Shizuka looked around as if expecting to see another person standing around them, and upon finding nobody, pointed at herself in confusion. One could almost see question marks pop on top of her head. “Why?”

Fiore shrugged once again, and changed the position of his body, laying down on his back. “I thought the members of the Demon Hunter Organization were supposed to act different. More according to their traditions. It is somewhat surprising to see one of your kind talking so casually to a Half-blood.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint.” The demon huntress smiled slightly. “What you say would be true for most adults and those of the older generations, but most of the younger people aren’t like that. I think there are many friendships between Hybrids and members of the families in OLYMPUS, for example.”

“Although I heard that the Ryougi Dorm Head isn’t very friendly towards those of your kind.” She finished eating her cookies, and quickly put away the now empty pouch. “My father likes to say that an obsession with fighting your enemy just gives said enemy power over yourself. It just gets in the way.”

“He sounds like a wise man.” Fiore’s eyes now shone with a certain curiosity as he looked up towards Shizuka. Normally, it was not something he would think much about, given his general apathy and disappointment about the Demon Hunter Organization, but his interest had been piqued. “How was it back there? In the Fujou Clan, I mean.”

“Eh...” Shizuka scratched her head somewhat nervously. “I never had that much contact with other members of the Organization, or my clan in particular. But if you are interested, I can tell you a bit of my experiences there.”

“If you want to.”

Shizuka cleared her throat, and took another sip of her soda. Changing her sitting position for something more comfortable, directly facing Fiore, she seemed to take a moment to think. A small gust of wind flowed through the park, and for an instant, the grass around them seemed to move like a river of the deepest green.

Finally, Shizuka to speak.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour had passed.

At some moment, while he was listening to Shizuka’s words, the boy had fallen asleep. Noticing this with some amusement, the demon huntress had become silent. The peaceful afternoon had continued, time advancing at a turtle’s pace while the girl enjoyed the sights around her. The Dyonisus Park might not have been as awe-inspiring as the Gardens it housed within, but it was still a sight to behold.

She finally noticed Satoko at a distance, walking towards her. She looked at the slumbering Half-blood, still amused by the whole situation. To think that someone would fall asleep and leave themselves defenseless in front of their supposed natural predator like this... OLYMPUS could truly be called a city of miracles.

“Fiore Lacere-Ran,” she recited the name, as if making sure she wouldn’t forget it. “An interesting girl.”

She finished her can of soda, and stood up, dusting her clothes in the process. She took a last look to her surroundings, and headed towards her friend. Behind was left the Hybrid boy, resting under a deep blue sky and cradled by the pleasant noise of the wind.

Shizuka took a long while to notice she had forgotten to get his contact information.

Green Day


He made his way through the undergrowth, pushing aside leaves and limbs of more plants than he could name. Everywhere he looked, green. The color green in countless shades, such that even the air itself seemed to have a faint emerald haze. Hiding amid the foliage, the darker shades of bark, of branches and trunks thick and thin hid. The whole of it was punctuated by vivid bursts of color. Fragrant flowers abounded, mixing with the sweet and tangy scents of fruit. Plants that had no right to mingle did so, as if in defiance of natural law and the demands of soil, sky, and season. All of it sheltered, or perhaps caged, by clear sheets of glass.

It was a chaos of life, a madhouse of a greenhouse.

Persephone Gardens.

Its eerie similarity to the nature of OLYMPUS as a whole, of vastly differing elements bound and trapped together in ways nature had never intended, wasn’t lost on him.

He heaved a sigh soaked in pollen and thanked his makers he lacked anything resembling a conventional allergy.

There’s still the matter of that girl’s salts, though. That’s because of you. I’m sure of it. Oho? I wasn’t the one having to deal with Invoker’s influence either. That was you. That one has no right to interfere with my mind. I’m no servant of her kind. Either way… Bah!

He ignored the grumbling sounds echoing in his head. Now wasn’t the time to focus on blame. What he needed now were options. That, after all, was why he’d come to this artificial wilderness. According to Lady Froste, there were certain alchemical philters that could be produced which might shelter the mind from outside interference, improving clarity and mental purity. A sort of protective measure. However, he needed to find ingredients for them, and while he’d tried to buy most of what was called for in the recipe, he’d been unable to find certain herbal components of the proper age and purity in stock. Lady Illumin had advised him to go looking for the things he needed in the Gardens.

During daylight hours, of course.

She’d suggested he meet with either a woman named Roselia, who seemed to run the facility and a Dorm Head, or one Lily Floralis. However, he didn’t really have a description of either of them, and besides the point, he hadn’t seen a single person in the place, so it seemed kind of irrelevant.

Instead, he’d braved his own way through the confusion of flora. Which left him where he was now, walking down a trail that might have been a footpath, or an animal path, or who knew what, lugging a pack with some storage spaces, the tools he’d need for harvesting, a water bottle, a thermos of tea, and a ridiculously oversized lunch Matt had made. Seriously, who needed a dozen sandwiches for a single meal?

Why does he always make so much? Not that he could really complain. The food was almost universally good. It’s just that he seemed to make extra.

At least you have the luxury of eating. When’s the last time you actually allowed me to eat something? If you didn’t try to eat people it wouldn’t be an issue. Hmph. Some people have no taste. Please. Stop making those jokes. I preferred it when you didn’t have that sense of humor. Oh come now, wunderkind. Surely you don’t want me to just be a dry, mechanical voice inside your head, devoid of life and emotion? That might be nice. Oh really? Just wait. Wait for what?
Yet the voice didn’t answer.

He wondered if he should worry about that.

He looked up, as if asking the heavens for an answer.

Until his legs slammed into something with a dull thud, something hidden by the brush, that sent him head over heels into the sparse turf beneath the shade.

“GUFHA!?”
“Ow! Where d’ya think you’re walkin!?” He landed with a muted crash into the loam and leaves.
“Gah!” He lurched to the side as a foot flew at his head. A sharp yelp, and something pale crashed through the underbrush. The air surged out of his lungs as it crashed into him.
“Ooof!”

Well, this is a change. You have a grunting woman on top of you. Uuuuuuuu… His world was spinning as the pallid girl flailed around, kicking and punching. Her blows lacked much force or accuracy, but…
“Think it’s funny to mess with a blind girl!? Stop dodging! I’ll show you something funny!” He wasn’t so much dodging as just trying to sit up. And failing miserably. “I-I’m… Not!” He twisted, trying to avoid a fist.
“I-I-I’m sorry! I d-didn’t see you!”
“No excuse!” A foot clipped his jaw, making him shake the stars from his vision.
“P-please! Wai-!?” An elbow in the mouth. The pack on his back kept him from laying flat, made it hard to twist or turn. Instead, he found himself trying to cover his face with his arms, but it didn’t stop the swinging limbs.
“I-I’m sorry! I-I wasn’t… I d-didn’t see you in the bushes!” Did she just growl at him? “I was j-just looking for Roselia or Lily!”
“Well, ya found her!” Huh!? A hand almost slipped through his defenses.
“W-wait! L-lady Illumin said I should see you!”
“Tch! Fine. Help me up, then.” Ugh.Remind you of home? Shut up. It didn’t seem like there was any permanent damage done. He pushed the girl up a bit, trying to lever himself up in the process.
Somehow he wound up being used as a balance before being able to stand up himself.

Hmmm. That girl’s name is surprisingly powerful.

“So whaddya want, anyway?”
“Ummm… Ah, right! I-I was s-supposed to find some plants that could be u-used for Alchemy. Ummm… Something related to mental clarity and protection. T-there was a list of a f-few things that would work, b-but they n-needed to be from an e-especially old and pure s-source.”
“Hmph. So that’s what it was, huh? You couldn’t even see a girl right in front of ya. Are you sure there’s something to protect in there?” He blinked. Then sighed. The reprimand was even stranger coming from a girl that wasn’t looking directly at him, her milky eyes staring at a point just over his shoulder. What she’d said earlier hit him like one of her fists. This girl was blind. Considering she didn’t have the feeling of being connected to a Servant, the Od flowing into something distant. In other words, he wasn’t dealing with Roselia, a Master, but Lily.
“I-I guess I had that coming. L-look, I’m sorry a-about that. I-I was a l-little distracted at the time, and you w-were kind of hidden, so…” The girl shook her head.
“Okay, whatever. I get requests like this all tha time, so I’ll see what we I can do.”
“A-ah! Thank you!” Glancing around, though, something struck him as odd. He found himself voicing the though even as it came to him.
“Ummm, i-if you don’t mind me a-asking… J-just what were you d-doing in the bushes, anyway?”
“You aren’t the only one that gets sent to me looking for plants and herbs. Earlier this week some boy with a girl in his head made me lose my regular shoes. I’ve been trying to figure out where they wound up ever since.”
“D-did he steal them?” Boy… With a girl in his head? The mental image was beyond strange. Hmph. Probably a male Homunculus with a female Original, or some such. I suppose. But isn’t that unusual, outside of… Who knows? It can’t be said that the family knows everything about everyone, after all. I guess.
“N-not exactly. But that doesn’t matter! I’ve had to make do with these *** shoes ever since!” The girl pointed at a pair of dress shoes that looked about as comfortable as his teacher’s gaze.
“Ummm… I-I could help you l-look for them. I-if you don’t mind.”
“I-I-I-I’m doing fine on my own! I don’t need your help!”
“I-I could say it w-was paying you back for r-running into you?”
“… Fine. You owe me for that, anyway!”

And so he found himself scouring the brush for a pair of missing shoes. Or rather, one, since she’d found the other already. It seemed like she’d been searching in the bushes near where she’d lost them, and had already been at it for a day. It seemed like she was too proud to ask for help finding them, despite her lack of sight. At the same time, though, he wondered how she’d found the first shoe. Did she have some kind of sense besides her conventional ones?

Since he’d run over her, he didn’t think she was particularly aware of her surroundings. Or that her remaining senses were particularly acute. It made him wonder if she was only recently blind. Her actions seemed more methodical, rehearsed, rather than being those of someone who’d truly adapted to the condition or lived with it all their life.

They spent about an hour combing the bushes and trees, pulling aside clusters of limbs, fronds, buds and blooms, and the remains of fallen leaves and other debris.

It wasn’t until he looked up that they actually found the thing. Whether it had landed there, or something had moved it, the shoe was stuck in one of the irrigation units, built to resemble a natural spring.

“Okay, fine. Thanks, I guess. So what’d you want again?”
“Ummm… Let’s see… Acorns from a century old oak… Agrimony, Bergamot, and Dragon’s Blood. Ah, b-but not literal Dragon’s blood the-“
“I know what Dragon’s blood is. Most of that you could get from the shops at the mall, you know.”
“I-I tried. I-it seems like there were a lot of people i-interested in this kind of t-thing lately. T-they were out.” The girl sighed.
“Great. That means there’ll be more than just one or two looking here.”
“S-sorry…” Lily rolled her eyes.
“Unless it’s your fault, there’s no point in apologizing. You seem really weak when you do that.” Seem? Interesting~
“R-right.”
“Let’s just get going.” He nodded, only to realize she couldn’t see it.
“O-okay.”

With that she lead him through meandering tracks, past strange plants that made him feel as if he travelled through an alien world. There were plants he’d never seen, never heard of. Plants he was sure didn’t exist naturally together, or even naturally at all. It reminded him of the gardens beneath his family’s castle, the ‘labs’ of many of his peers, overseen by Albrecht. Only that Groβmeister’s macabre sense of décor seemed absent. There were no bones. No remains. The Gardens served his family as their cemetery as well, so that even in death the family was served, their corpses becoming food for countless projects and resources.

He didn’t miss the catacomb-like walls of skulls, pillars of bones, and eerie memorials.

Collecting the needed leaves and resins was easy, but it was the acorns that proved troublesome.
“You’re going to have to climb it.”
He looked up at the massive oak, a ridiculously huge tree that towered higher than all of its neighbors.
“You’re just lucky the people that run this place felt like transplanting something this big. It’s a lot older than a century, so it should be fine for what you need. The acorns aren’t quite ready to fall yet. You’re definitely not going to find any on the ground.” She said it with a smirk. It was mitigated somewhat by the fact that she wasn’t actually looking at him. Or facing the right direction.
He sighed, causing the girl to whirl around facing his general direction.
“Don’t do that!” She still wasn’t looking at him, though, as he headed towards the tree.
“S-sorry.”
“Don’t do that, either!”
“Sorry.” He could hear her grumbling, but it was a kind of reflex. Now… How to get up there? Claws. Works well enough. Right. A shift of power, and he found a pair of small bony hooks instead of his normal nails. Hope she doesn’t mind if I scratch it a bit. He dropped his pack and started up the tree.

Hand over hand, squeezing with his legs and pushing and pulling in concert, he made his way upwards quickly. A dozen feet, two, and soon he was in the lowest branches, collecting the still-green nuts. It wasn’t long before he’d collected enough, or so he thought. It was too far to jump easily, but not so far to fall. He simply dropped.

“Aaah! Don’t do that!” He’d landed right next to her, the girl taking a wide swipe at him. With his feet under him, though, it didn’t take much for him to dodge the swing, leaning back.
“S-sorry.” She just glared at him, instead of bothering to berate him. And for once, it seemed like she was on target.

Whether that was ability or luck, he couldn’t guess.

He put his claws away and started stuffing the nuts into his pack. It made him notice the stuffed lunch box, a thing he’d forgotten since meeting the girl.
“Ummm… I-I wound up w-with t-too many s-sandwiches. D-do you want some?” Lily quirked an eyebrow at him.
“What kind?”
“N-no clue.”
“You didn’t make them.” It wasn’t a question.
“I-I have a friend who l-likes to cook. A lot.”
She gave him an odd look, though one a bit out of line with where he actually stood.
“Fine. Any peanut butter and jelly in there?”
“Ummm… P-peanut butter and b-banana okay?”
“I’ll take some. Got anything to drink?”
“Water and tea.”
“Gimme the water.”
“O-okay. H-here.” He handed her the bottle, taking the thermos for himself. The sandwiches themselves were a variety. They ate in quiet beneath the massive tree, the girl settling herself carefully in the grass, as if trying not to crush it. It was an odd thing to watch, with the air of practice that spoke of ritual-like repetition.

There was a sense of tranquility in the place, something that seeped in slowly and took root, not unlike a tree itself. Sheltered by an ancient canopy, he found a moment of peace growing in the chaos of the city.

He didn’t know how much time passed, how long they ate in the quiet, but nothing lasts forever. The food gone, he knew he had to get back.

“T-thanks for helping today.” He nodded to the girl in reflex, not even thinking about her lack of sight.
“I-I-it’s fine. Just be more careful next time!”
“R-right. I-I’ll try.” Taking the empty bottle, he packed up the trash and prepared to head back.
“Just follow that trail over there.” Despite her lack of sight, her vague wave showed him where the path was clearly.

Leaving the clearing that surrounded the huge tree, he turned to wave goodbye to her, then stopped, realizing it was futile.
“And learn to walk and talk at the same time.”
“Huh?” Oho?

It seems this place is full of interesting people~

Any similarities to PCs are completely unin... pffft, sorry, its all "intentional", I'm afraid. But it is all in good humour, so its all good, amirite?

Having said that, enjoy this grand failure of mine.




A Festive Tale

„This... this has to be one of the worst jobs I have eve... well done in a while.“

These were the precise thoughts of Firo Prochainezo as he fingered the hem of his stupidly overflamboyant red cloak in irritation.

I hope you burn... wherever evil nuns such as yourself burn!

Firo sent a scathing look at the vulpine woman dressed in the garb of a Catholic nun (...though it was way lower cut then what he remembered of the robes in question to be). He had been slightly surprised when the strange woman had appeared in the office and suddenly offered him a relatively quick job... for a substantial sum of money. Now normally, such an upstanding and careful citizen such as Firo would be extremely suspicious if someone just showed up like that from the blue with a large amount of cash, but she did go through the typical process and was adamant about the fact that there would be no combat involved.

He should have known better.

As she caught Firo's glare from behind his mask, the infuriating woman's grin only widened.

How does a nun get this sort of twisted sense of humor!? Oh wait... there was that white-haired sadomasochistic one... I'm not sure anymore. Maybe its a common thing among nuns? All that repression can't be healthy.

In any case, the faster this starts, the faster it will end.

Firo's voice suddenly boomed over the buzzing crowds that were mingling around in the large hall.

„Khm.... Gather around, my young friends! Let me tell you a tale of such splendor and wonder the likes of which has not been heard since the days of yore!“

„Oi, dipshit. Pipe down a bit, will you? You have barely started speaking and for some reason you are already irritating me.“

Firo nearly did a double take at hearing the relatively familiar voice.

Te...Tessa? What the hell is she doing here?!

If there was ever a time where Firo was grateful for his... unique costume, that moment was now. He had no idea what his Dorm Head would try to do if she found out his identity. Err... try to kill him perhaps? She did seem to have that quick fire temper. And why was she even here? This was a kids birthday party, damn it! And she... well, she would most likely classify under a child but still!

„Eheh..“ Firo let out a rather sheepish chuckle that was somewhat silenced by the mask that he was wearing. “My apologies for being so overbearing, Miss, but I still need everyone to gather up. Work waits for no man, after all.“

The wave of relatively young children suddenly surged in front of the makeshift stage and sat down on the pillow covered floor. Not only children, it seemed. A few older individuals were there as well already watching him with relatively wide grins on their faces. Horrible, horrible individuals that truly did not understand the suffering that he was going through. The crowd of young children looked on him with expectant eyes.

Truly, an unfortunate turn of events.

„Well then, are you ready? For this tale, I can only tell once. So pay attention and listen well, my compatriots.“

With a wave of a hand, the white cloth screen rippled behind him as vibrant colors suddenly surged on it, forming an image of a beautiful and prosperous castle town, eliciting gasps of surprise from the children in front of him. Once more, the image moved in a blaze of moving colors, leaving behind rolling emerald hills and moving closer to the cobbled streets and spiking olden towers under the gleam of an orange sun. It was truly breathtaking.

It was Tuscany during the middle ages, depicted by a rather talented artist some time ago.

Hopefully none of them had actually been there... or knew enough to recognize it.

„There once was this city under the rolling sky, to which there was no equal. Its name was Elysium and it was a home for many. Its prosperous streets filled with goods and people alike. Peace had been long and prosperous and the people themselves had forgotten the meaning of war. Truly a paradise in the mortal realm.“

However, suddenly the image warped, as a shade fell over the city, shadowing the streets that had just been bright an happy a moment ago.

„However, this was not to last, as a shadow fell upon the glorious city. Two villains of unparalleled cunning, wits and generally awful disposition appeared in the town, desiring to further their own nefarious plans at the expense of the innocent townfolk.“

„The first they called Brilliant Brooder! During his many escapades, he had left the local law enforcement gobsmacked with his clever plan involving a runaway tractor, sixteen pieces of shattered glass and a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle! Using his unparalleled wits, the Brillant Brooder planned to take the the entire city to the brink of depression, upon which he would demand them to yield their gold reserves or to force them to release his insane bride. One or the other, he wasn't quite sure about that himself.“

An image of a young man with a moustache and a top hat was canvassed over the gigantic screen.

Attachment 9112

„Hnng... and then I shall demand all of their gold. Hnng... but what about In....khm.. Neko-chan?! NEKO-CHAAAAAAN!“

After the illusory „speech“ of the Brilliant Brooder had drawn itself onto the screen, both the speech bubble and image were washed away by another image, this one of a rather young woman.


„The second was discovered after several of the local confectionery magnates were found dead in their beds... their faces stuffed with poisoned cookies! It was not long before the ever sinister Cookie Mistress showed herself before the bewildered policemen (and women), boasting about her plan to achive a monopoly over the sweets industry and through that, win the affections of everyone in Elysium. Truly a dastardly and peerless plan! And with her unmatchable Combat Cookie Arts that took down sixteen constables that tried to arrest her, her fighting abilities were second to none!

Attachment 9113


„Kyahahaha! My cookies are undefeatable! Soon you will all love me, whether you want it or not!“

The images started flicking through images of citizens in despair and chased by flying cookies. One after another they flicked, until one image of a young boy was transfixed onto the screen, his form overshadowed by the figures of the two prior figures.

„But alas! Where villains lurk, a heroes are never far off! And as it was, it was Elysiums pair of superbly adept and utterly exceptional superheroe student pair that rose to the occasion, challenging the rampant destruction and... brooding of their opponents!“

An image of a gust of wind with two caped figures appeared as they descended on the looming figures.


POW!


Attachment 9114


KAZAM!


Attachment 9115


„Indeed! It was Suicide Woman and Mute Girl!“

„During her childhood, Suicide Woman had gained the unique power of surviving suicidal actions no matter how impossible it seemed! She also happened to have the ability to temporarily increase her strength the more suicidal actions she took! To take full advantage of this, she carried with her a pair of swords that were exclusively used to stab herself randomly!“

************************************************** *********************

A relatively hesitant looking young hand rose from the crowd of children in front of Firo.

„...errr, yes?“

The girl was young, like most of the children in front of him. No older then 12-13 from the looks of it. Relatively long brown hair along with hazel eyes that shone with curiosity. A cute kid from the looks of it. No doubt that she had a number of older women that loved to dote on her.

„H..How does she survive stabbing herself? Can she heal herself?“

Firo smiled under his mask.

„No. You see, when a single action is perfected to a certain point, it can transcend the ken of men, m'dear. Suicide Girl had perfected the single action of killing herself to the point where no matter what happened, it was impossible for her to kill herself, as long as the action resulted from herself of course.“

If there was something Firo did not expect with this answer, it was the utterly serious look on the girls face as she nodded along with his answer.

Oh god. She is the innocent type. The one that can't ever conceive anyone lying to them.

„...Khm. Now where were we?

************************************************** *********************


„Mute Girl on the other hand had weaponized the power of... muteness. She had the uncanny ability to break reality through the sheer ability of her lack of sound!“


************************************************** *********************

A girlish voice piped up once more.

„How?“

„Well. By reducing her sound to such a dramatic degree, she was capable of reducing the friction resulting from the common reality field projected by the planet! As long as she made not a sound, she could ignore aspects such as gravity, time and space!“

There! That should give her something to ponder about.

Furious nodding from the girl was his only answer.

Firo's eyes narrowed suspiciously underneath his mask.

He had a bad feeling about this.

************************************************** *********************

„In any case, Mute Girl and Suicide Woman had just arrived on the scene in a blaze of action, saving the life of the young boy. Having thrown both Brilliant Brooder and Cookie Mistress away from the target of their nefarious plans, the two Defenders of Justice confronted the evil naydoers!“

The cloth background rippled and the image of a tense stare-off was projected on its surface.

With her extended finger Suicide Woman pointed at the two villains at the scene.

„Yield, Cookie Mistress and Brilliant Brooder! Your evil deeds can never truly succeed! We will take you in and you will face the justice of the LAW!“

„Hnng... you think that, but do you truly think that I have not planned for this occasion? Hnng?“

Suddenly a crackle was heard, as a gigantic bulldozer fell from the roof of the building from underneath which our two heroes were standing. With his nefarious planning, Brilliant Brooder had constructed a moving mechanism of a fridge, a pair of headphones and some gum, that had now propelled the hapless road roller to its doom. In a blaze of movement, Suicide Woman struck, to save both them and their innocent friend!

With a quick flash, the elaborate katana was sunk into the gut of Suicide Woman.

„ORYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!“

A gigantic blast of burgundy energy burst out of her eyes, vaporizing the gigantic construction machine.

The image flickered, revealing a scene where both Brilliant Brooder and Cookie Mistress were fleeing from the scene using their premediated distraction.

„...“

Using her miraculous powers over the lack of sound, Mute Girl ripped a hole in space and time and headed of in the pursuit of the two figures. However, as she emerged in front of the pair in the next dark alleyway, she was set upon by the two nefarious individuals who had already prepared for her obvious action!

“Have a taste of my patented Cookie Exploooosioooon~!”

“...!”

Suddenly, the entire street was vaporized in an instant as it was struck by the supernatural explosion of cookie dough. Barely having the time to react, all Mute Girl could think about was protecting herself. By creating a temporal dislocation of “muteness”, she was able to offset most of the damage dealt to her. However, not even her extensive abilities could shield her from the sheer destructive power of the cookie dough bomb. Ind...

************************************************** *********************

“Why did it do so much damage? The cookie dough bomb I mean, Mister?”

Sigh.

“It was due to the inherent conceptual strength that cookie dough has during the festivities. Due to the close connection between cookies and festivals, the “mystery” of cookies increases during those periods. This is especially potent with gingerbread dough during Christmas.”

As those bright eyes consumed yet another piece of worthless and false information, Firo could find no solace in them. Only despair.


************************************************** *********************

The screen flickered, the scene depicted washing away, giving away to a new image.

“Two weeks later, the two villains had disappeared nowhere. If anything, their acts had even increased. Both Mute Girl and Suicide Woman were always a moment short, a step too late, to stop the actions of the sinister duo. It was beginning to become clearer and clearer, that they needed to confront their enemies soon, or they would be too late to stop them.”

“Their breakthrough came as they were looking in to yet another case of cookie poisoning.”

A well furbished and expensive bedroom flowed on the screen in a wave of color and lines. A soft glow from the expensive marble fireplace revealed the dead body in the middle of the image, his face stuffed full with poisoned cookies, his eyes rolled back. A number of people, including Suicide Woman and Mute Girl were buzzing about in the scene. A flicker of motion zoomed the image in, showing Suicide Woman speaking to one of the inspectors.

“Another Cookie Poisoning, Inspector China?”

Attachment 9116

“Mpf... chomp, gulp. Yeah. It seems clear cut again! This time it is the Donut Magnate, Max von Nutdon! He was responsible for most of the donuts production in the city! Chomp.”

Tears started to glisten in the Inspectors eyes as she bit down on her donut.

“Youph, mupfth stopfh her, Swuicide Wfoman!”

Suicide Woman placed a calming hand on the inspectors shoulders.

“Never fear, Inspector China. That is why we are here.”

************************************************** *********************

“Does she really like doughnuts that much?”

A slight cough came out from Firo.

“My dear. It is a sacred tradition of the law enforcement everywhere. Donuts embody everything the law enforcement stands for and they will do anything to protect it. Its a matter of honor, after all! It is not a stretch to say that if you do not like doughnuts, you are not a police officer to begin with!"

“I see. Thanks, Mister!”

“You are... welcome, m'dear.”


************************************************** *********************

“Now! Mute Girl, we must investigate for every possible clue, so that we could trace down the lair of these villains!”

“...!”

The two superheroes started to go through the various pieces of evidence on the scene. The cookie dough was of the traditional sort, with no remarkable identifiers of any sort, besides the poison used in it. Not even Mute Girls patented “... Cookie Identifier” could track down the maker of the cookie dough. For it to be so untraceable, was truly a sign of the makers superb skill in the field. Truly a pity that Cookie Mistress chose to serve the path of evil instead of the path of the hero! She could have truly been a great cookie maker!


As for the villains path of entry, it was relatively straight forward. A banana chucking machine that chucked a banana through the chimney, the additional weight of which caused the maid to inadvertently to open the window without even noticing about it. Truly the idea of a brilliant man.
Now if the...

“Over there, Mute Girl! What is that!”

“...”

“I see, I see. A conveniently placed crumpled calling card in the fist of the victim! It must of been left there by the villains!”

"Blimey! We completely missed that, Suicide Woman!"

“After this crucial piece of evidence, everything is clear! They are hiding out in the old Richmond Kookies factory! Away into the Suicide Mobile!”

************************************************** *********************

A large abandoned factory was suddenly in sight, as clear lightning flashes occasionally revealed the shadowy outline of the large building. In a screech of tires and rather dangerous looking (to the drivers) flashes of energy, the Suicide Mobile stopped in front of the evil looking building. Our pair of superheroes took immediately off to the depths of the complex to stop the, no doubt blackhearted, plans in the minds of Cookie Mistress and Brilliant Brooder. Reaching the courtyard middle courtyard however, they already found the individuals they were looking for!

“Hnng... predictable.”

“Kyahahahaha! It took you long enough, Stupid Woman and Idiot Girl!”

They stood on a gigantic machine which seemed to consist of a gigantic satellite disk, 785 hamster wheels, a mountain of cords and a gigantic transparent cookie dough creation furnace. In a mesmerizing sight, the cookie dough rolled around in alluring patterns as it was cooked by the flame present in the middle of the furnace. The two villains spread their hands in a presentive manner, as if they were trying to sell something in a TV infomercial.

Their voices rang out in unison.

“This is our greatest invention, the Mass Depression Cookie Raaaaay!”

“Hnng... invention... depression cookie ray!”

However, our two heroes were not daunted by the giant machinery in front of them.

“We shall never allow you to go through with your malefic plans!”

“...!”

“Onwards, Mute Girl!”

“It makes no difference! In a matter of minutes, the Mass Ray will fire, turning all individuals in Elysium into cookie-addled manic depressive individuals! And you shall be no different, kyahahahah!

"-----"

Mute Girls only answer was the... well the "not sound" of her Mute Guns. In a flurry of hands, feet and cookies, Cookie Mistress deflected the incoming waves of silence, causing nearby walls to waver and turn into dust. Flicking her delicate arms, hundreds of poison cookies suddenly appeared aimed at Mute Girl. Truly an impressive sight of combat ability and cookie making fused together in perfect harmony.

“COOOOKIE SHUUUURIKEEEN~!”

************************************************** *********************

As Mute Girl warped through space and time to avoid the onslaught of razor sharp cookies, a different battle was unfolding between Suicide Woman and Brilliant Brooder. Taking to the depths of the abandoned factory, Suicide Woman was in hot pursuit of Brilliant Brooder. That was before a random speck of dust fell into her eyes, forcing her to take a step to the left into a discarded mouse trap that in turn triggered the activation of a large boulder that was now rolling behind her, threatening to fully flatten her, unless she found a way to deal with it.

“Hnng... simpleton. I have already trapped this entire area. No random... hnng... masochist will stop me from getting my gold and saving Neko-chan!”


Only Suicide Girls quick reflexes saved her, as she stabbed herself in the spleen, eradicating the incoming boulder with a sonic scream.

However, that was merely a temporarily salvation, as her sonic attack released the pre-prepared tiger cages with sonic triggers. Suddenly beset by the attack of the furious felines, our superheroine was once again forced to flee from her pursuers, only to activate a combined acid pit and falling ceiling trap. In a flash, Suicide Girl was sliding down towards her acidy doom while a spiked ceiling was falling on her in an attempt to finish her of.

SLAM

The trap fully closed, apparently ending the life of our heroine.

“You never had a change... hnng. My superior planning wins once again..”

However, not even the most brilliant can plan for everything.

“Have you forgotten who I am? There is no way I can die if I am running into your traps of my own free will.”

The trap that was supposed to spell the end of Suicide Girl suddenly exploded in a wave of intense destructive energy.

Surrounded by what seemed to be an unmatchable glow of power, Suicide Girl emerged from the dank pit, completely covered in acid, yet completely unharmed. For after all, she could not die through her own actions and decisions. The moment when the opponent employed a tactic that depended on her causing her own downfall, her victory was assured. For once, the Brilliant Brooder, could not see all the possible outcomes... no, perhaps his planning was clouded by his own perception from the start.

“Su...Such self sacrifice, hnng!”


“HOWAAAAAAA!”

The entire building they were in was suddenly wiped of the map by the wave of destructive energy emitting from golden eyed heroine.

************************************************** *********************

“Kyahaha! Don't you know that my art is sublime!?”

“COOKIE BLAAAAST”

No matter what she did, Mute Girl always seemingly found herself on the defensive. When she had tried to close in to finish the Cookie Mistress off, she almost took a fateful faceful of cookies for her troubles. And at range, she was outclassed by her opponents superior rate of fire and firepower. It was all she could do to avoid the incoming attacks the best she could. It was doubtful that she could wrest victory from her opponents hands if this battle continued as it had.

“Coookie Daaaaance!”

The next wave of cookies had a wavelike pattern, completely unlike something Mute Girl had seen before, causing her to take a hit at her shoulder.

“Kyahahahahahah!”

At this point, Mute Girl had only one option. As much as she avoided using this, she had no way to cointinue at this point without it.

Spaces between Silence

“....”

“Wha...wha!”

The bleeding girl in front of Cookie Mistress suddenly disappeared.

In a waver, Mute Girl appeared behind Cookie Mistress.

“There!”

“COOOKIE DOOOMSDAAAY!”

But it was already too late.

Silent Apocalypse

“...”

Everything stopped.

The cookies. The Cookie Mistress. The Mass Depression Cookie Ray that stood behind the previously undefeated villain. Nothing that produced a single sound was allowed to exist in a world that prided itself on absolute lack of sound.

In a gust of wind, the gigantic weapon was blown into a cloud of dust.

Cookie Mistress's eyes rolled backwards and she collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

And the girl that prided herself on absolute silence?

“Gasp... gasp.... gasp.”

Suddenly let out a sound.


************************************************** *********************

As Inspector China locked both Cookie Mistress and Brilliant Brooder into the police lockup van, she turned towards Mute Girl and Suicide Woman.

“Chomp. I hapf... gulp, I have no idea how we can thank you enough, Suicide Woman and Mute Girl! Just to think that a moment longer and we might have all been forced to eat cookies instead of donuts!”

The inspector shook for a second as shivers wrecked her frame.

“No worries, China! After all, the villains are now locked up! And we can now return to the peaceful days of yore!”

“...gasp!... gasp.”

“Do not hesitate to call us any new troubles of villainous sorts appears!”

The chinese police officer gave a thumbs up to the pair.

“Will do, Suicide Woman, Mute Girl!”

And with that, the two villains were dragged towards the Elysium Prisons.

************************************************** ********************

A couple of days later.


The fabric warped, revealing a shadowed trio.

“You fools! You could not even fulfil your role as a distraction properly!”

The first figure, undoubtedly the figure of the Brilliant Brooder was kneeling in front of the third individual.

“Hnng... my apologies Master... I could not foresee this outcome.”

The figure of the Cookie Mistress's was in a similar position.

“My... my cookie arts were not enough, Master. But we shall not make the same mistake twice."

The third figure took a deep breath, obviously calming himself, before responding.

“No difference. My plan will come to fruition.”

Attachment 9117

“I! Masked Master L, will steal all the panties in Elysium!”


************************************************** *********************

“But that is a tale for another time and another place. For the time being, my tales are done, young ones.”

No applause.

No nothing.

If anything, most of the crowd was entirely too bored with his tale.

What is this! I knew it. The young are far to jaded. This modern age is ruining everyone if children cannot even enjoy a random silly superhero tale!

I knew I should have strongarmed Felix into doing this...

Most of the crowd seemingly dispersed back into the party, acting as if his tale was more of an annoyance rather then anything worthwhile, as Firo collapsed into his storytellers seat. Some of the more adult individuals in the birthday party threw him a couple of pitying looks. Pitying! At him! Firo Prochainezo was not a man to be pitied! Well... not that often, at least. But not now! This was embarassing as it was. He did not need pity!

It was in this moment of self pity when he felt a slight tug on his sleeve.

It was the brown haired inquisitive girl. The one with the bright eyes and incessant questions.

“I...I liked it a lot, Mister! It was fun and there were so many new and interesting things I haven't heard about before! So... so don't feel down, okay?”

Firo let out a chuckle as he looked at the girl through the eye holes of his mask.

“You are really a really kindhearted girl, aren't you? You know what? I know you have more questions, so why don't I answer one more of them?”

I might even answer this one seriously, you know?

The innocent girl was obviously somewhat puzzled on which one of her many question to ask. It took her a couple of minutes before her eyes lit up brightly and she looked upwards at Firo.

“Would... would you tell me the next part of the story?”

“Well, that depends. You are the birthday child, right?”

A slightly hesitant nod came out of the brown haired girl.

“Then it wouldn't be quite polite of me to steal you away from all your friends. However, if you speak to that... nun over there,” Firo pointed at the evil, evil nun that had dragged him into this mess. “You can probably ask her to find me later, okay?”

Firo briefly tussled the hazel-eyed girls hair a bit as she gave a bright smile, nodded and suddenly ran away from Firo towards the nun he had pointed at.

“Advisor Wivina, Advisor Wivina! I have learned so much today and..”

Firo's eyes narrowed once more as they crossed with the nun's, whose foxlike smile widened yet again.

…I think I know precisely why she has such a warped sense of humor.


************************************************** *********************


The End. For now.

"Liu Long Mei! Is Liu Long Mei here?!"


It seemed that Class 1-B of Athena Academy was fated to never have a moment of peace and quiet. The door to the room burst open to reveal a small, brown-haired girl wearing a headband and a shortened version of the school's uniform. Despite the sudden fanfare, almost nobody paid attention, as if nothing happened at all. By that point, such boisterous entrances had become an everyday routine for the infamous Class of Delinquents. However, the headband-wearing girl would not go unanswered. A dark-haired Chinese girl spoke up.

"Huh? Um, I am Mei. Can I help you?"

By the time she stood up, she suddenly found herself facing the visitor of 1-B.

One particular student who sat behind Mei suddenly broke into a cold sweat when he realized who had just invaded their classroom. The boy's audacious sunglasses started to shake as he raised a hand and pointed at the threat he recognized.

"I knew I remembered you! You're K-"

"Twelve Heavenly Pillars: Kisaragi Tatsumi, hereby challenges Liu Long Mei to a one-on-one match! Prepare yourself!"

"Whoa wai-!"


*KA-BOOM*


The room trembled under the might of two nearly simultaneous explosions. Dust and debris instantly flooded the entire premises in the wake of a seemingly cataclysmic impact. A few moments of silence passed as the dust began to peter out. Some students poked their heads out from under their desks to check the full extent of the damage. They were met with the sight of two silhouettes illumated against a glimmer of rainbowy light.

"Is everybody alright? Lacey? Do we have any injured?"

Dust cleared away to reveal a scene that wouldn't be out of place in a shounen manga. Somehow, Mei had miraculously managed to intercept Tatsumi's sudden strike and redirect it away from anyone in the class. The hybrid found herself staring at a fist wreathed in multi-colored prana, stopping just a centimeter short of her face. Her attacking hand was held up and to the side by another arm covered in similarly covered light.

"We're all good! But, uh, Sunoko-sensei won't be happy about the ceiling." replied a brown-haired girl who poked her head out from under another desk.

A single glance upwards gave a good clue to the possible destruction that could have been wrought. Tatsumi's fist pointed up towards a fresh, gaping hole in the ceiling where bits and pieces of debris still trickled.

"Roger that!" Mei yelled over her shoulder before turning her attention to the front again. "And you! This is neither the time nor the place to have a fight!"

"Impressive! A splendidly synchronized deflection and counterattack in one motion! This must be your Wing Chun that Riko told me about! Ooooh I knew I had to meet you the moment she said your name!"

"Wait, how do you know Rik-?"

*WHAM* *SLAM*

Tatsumi swiftly knocked her opponent's hands aside, spun, and brought down a devastating axe kick that split the ground asunder in a frightening display of strength. However, Mei was in motion the moment she felt a disturbance in her hands. Like a mirage of technicolored light, Mei faded away from the attack and repositioned herself right next to her foe.

"Please, I don't want any trouble!"

"Damnit, you stupid China girl! Do your job and restrain that psycho before she destroys the whole school!" yelled the boy in the sunglasses.

"Just get everyone out of here! Now!" Mei shouted back while struggling to keep up with her super-powered foe.

In a move of desperation, Mei lunged forward at a low angle, assisted by a stream of prana that exploded from her shoulders. The Chinese magus caught Tatsumi by surprise with the sudden burst of speed, and tackled her to the ground in a rocket-propelled takedown. Within seconds, the two were tangled up as Mei tried to lock Tatsumi's arms down. Meanwhile, the nearby students finally took the hint and began to evacuate the classroom-turned-battlefield.

"Taking this fight to the ground?! So Wing Chun isn't the only thing you have! Now this is getting interesting!" Tatsumi yelled before she bucked her hips up.

Under ordinary circumstances, this maneuver would have been enough to knock someone off. However, when backed by the strength of a Half-Blood, the resulting blow was enough to send Mei flying straight up into the air. She would have collided with the ceiling if it weren't for the hole from earlier. Landing with a resounding thud, Mei gasped in pain as she struggled to get back on her feet. On the other side, Tatsumi quickly sprung back into her battle stance.

By that point, the two were alone in a deserted, devastated classroom. The two combatants locked eyes with each other, both finally able to commit to the battle in earnest. Both held their arms up in their respective fighting stances, Tatsumi with clenched fists, and Mei with open, relaxed palms. They slowly inched towards one another, ready to exchange blows, until...


"That's quite enough." a new, calm voice spoke out from behind Tatsumi. "Kisaragi-kun, haven't we been through this before?"

"!"

All it took for the Half-Blooded girl to stop was a mere hand on her shoulder. She turned to see a pair of shimmering glasses. Sunoko Kain had finally returned to his classroom after a late binge of seafood.

"I'm surprised you have so much energy left in you, considering that you haven't had a single bite to eat today. Actually, I'm more surprised that you're not in the cafeteria. I hear they're having a gyudon special today." Kain calmly said, maintaining a casual hold on Tatsumi.

"Gyu-...don...?"

*gruuuuuuuuumble*

A low, resounding growl not unlike that of a lion's suddenly reverberated from Tatsumi's stomach. She looked down and placed a hand on her rumbling belly before staring over at the door.

"GYUDOOOON!"

And just like that, the Half-Blood girl charged straight out of Class 1-B, smashing through what little remained of the door frame.


"Who, er, what was that?" asked Mei, as if dumbstruck by the suddent turn of events.

"Kisaragi Tatsumi, leader of the 'Oniwabanshu,' a rather famous group of Half-Bloods." Kain explained. "Of course, you are already aquainted with one of them, Mei-kun. Your partner, Ryoku Riko-kun is a member of that group after all."

"Eh?!"

"Ahh, but enough of that. It looks like a certain little princess will be paying for Tatsumi-kun's antics again." Kain sighed as he assessed the severely damaged state of the room. "I appreciate your efforts to protect your classmates, but do try to minimize collateral damage next time. You may be a rookie, but I expect more from an officer of ARES." the teacher added in a stern tone.

"Yes, sensei."

"Also, I trust that both you and Tatsumi-kun will have damage reports ready for me by the end of the week."

"What?! But it wasn't even my faul-!" Mei began to protest until she caught a threatening shimmer from Kain's glasses. "I mean, yes, sensei..."


The rest of the schoolday was spent in a quiet study hall in another part of the Academy while repairs were being made on Room 1-B.


--------------------------Afternoon----------------------------------------

"Nice going, China. You almost got us killed." sneered the boy in the sunglasses.

"Oh, Sau seng-ah (Shut up). And my name is Mei! You probably would have blown up the rest of the room, Letcher." retorted Mei.

"It's Luthor, you dumb, double-D bitch!"

"Sik si-la, ngong gau!" (Eat shit, dumbass!)

"Ufufufufu, what is this? A lover's quarrel?" quipped a short, pink-haired girl who followed Mei & Luthor out of the Academy.

"S-Shut up!" Luthor stuttered before trudging off towards the bus stop.

"...I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that, Satoko-san. Hey, wait! You're the Lieutenant Commander! Why didn't you help me back there?!" Mei said.

*CHI CHI* *CHI CHI*

Before anything else could be said, the rabbit-shaped phone strapped to Mei's wrist began to ring with its custom tone. Upon activating the screen, Mei found a message sent to her by Ryoku Riko, her partner in ARES.

"Sorry! Tatsumi-chan took off the moment I started talking about your martial arts!
I'll make it up to you tomorrow with a special training session.
Meet me at Dionysius Park after school.

PS: Please don't be too hard on Tatsumi.
This was just her way of saying that she wants to be friends!"

- Riko



--------------------------The Next Day-------------------------------------


"Go, Mei! You can do this! Fight on!"

"Hah! Look at her! She's shaking so much she can barely stand!"

"Oh, have some faith in your fellow Alliance member. You were all gloomy and lonely until we brought you along."

"N-No I wasn't!"

Today was a very special day in Dionysius Park. The once quiet and peaceful grounds were bustling with activity as a crowd of students from Athena Academy started to gather. The focus of attention was on a wide, flat clearing where two individuals stood facing each other. Despite the border of cones marked, "ARES," forming a 50 meter circular perimeter in the clearing, the students pressed right up against the boundary to get a good look at what was about to come. After all, it wasn't everyday that they get to see a sparring match between the Oniwabanshu boss, Kisaragi Tatsumi, and the Rainbow Rookie of ARES, Liu Long Mei. All eyes were on the hybrid and the mage who stood within the makeshift arena. The demon Half-Blood was the very image of joy. She wore a playful grin on her face as she stretched in preparation for the fight. The mage of the China Order was anything but joyful.

"R-Riko-san! I thought you said this was an official training session!"

"It is! Why did you think I went to the trouble of getting authorization for this place?"

"THEN WHY IS IT JUST ME AND HER IN HERE?!"


Clearly, one of the two prospective fighters was not as enthusiastic about the match as the other. Glancing around frantically, the Chinese magus tried to find a possible avenue of escape from the clearing. However, it was too late. The crowd of students effectively had her encircled. They weren't going to leave without a show. There was only one way out, and it was past the girl in front of her.

"Osu! Warm-up done!" Kisaragi Tatsumi shouted, tightening up her headband and bowing towards her opponent.

The Half-Blood girl beamed a smile so bright and cheerful that she seemed luminescent. It was the kind of grin that children would make when they knew for certain that they were going to get exactly what they wanted. After all, Tatsumi finally got to have a one-on-one match with the person she wanted to fight the most. She was so excited, she was practically bobbing around in her fighting stance.

"Ah, ngoh hui se-lah...." (I'm going to die...) Mei bemoaned before turning to face her hyperactive foe. She bared her gritted teeth as she met Tatsumi's smile with grim determination.

The Chinese girl raised her raised her arms and a saluted Tatsumi with her left hand covering a clenched right fist.

A chilling silence fell upon the park as both combatants assumed their fighting stances. Within seconds, Mei was engulfed in a mass of wavy, brightly-colored prana, much like yesterday. On the other end of the clearing, the air around Tatsumi became heavy with her spiritual presence as her Demonic Aura coated her entire body. The stage was set the sparring match.

*RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMBLE*

"Uh oh." Mei said, feeling a familiar sense of dread coming over her.

"Huh?" Tatsumi tilted her head, feeling a strong 'presence' rapidly approaching.

*CRASH*

To the spectators, it appeared as though a small canonball came hurdling in from sky and exploded in the very center of the clearing. When the smoke cleared, a short, bun-haired Chinese girl emerged, as if to challenge the two other combatants.

"Dao?!"

"No fair, Mei-Mei! You promised me-me that we would fight-fight first!" yelled Dao-Ming, Mei's roommate at the China Dorm.

"I had no choice in this!"

"Enough talk-talk! I, Wang Dao-Ming, master-master of the Shi Er Lian Zhu Pao, Twelve Continuous Cannon Strikes style, shall spar with thee-thee now, Liu Long Mei-Mei!"

"Interesting! I've never had fight like this before! Very well! I, Kisaragi Tatsumi of Kimonryuu, shall accept this three way free-for-all!" interjected Tatsumi, now even giddier than ever before. Her eyes shined brighter than a house full of children on Christmas Morning.

"You're on, Tatsumi-mi!" Dao concluded with a salute to Mei and Tatsumi before assuming her own battle stance.

By all accounts, the crowd should have scattered from the impact of Dao-Ming's entrance. But on the contrary, even more people began flocking to Dionysius park as word spread of an imminent battle between three talented martial artists of the East.


"Ready...!"

"Go-Go!"

"AIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Fate Regalia Short Story
Meetings and Misunderstandings

Riding in the vehicle called a “Bus” Ichirou couldn’t help but feel uneasy, at first the trip had been fine just him and a few of his fellow dorm mates but soon the bus had begun to pick up more and more people he didn’t know and to top it all off a great deal of them were now staring at him. Ugh just a little while longer and then I’ll be off this vehicle, well at least it’s not as horrible as that plane from earlier, ot many people, to many new things, far to unpleasant.

No, free yourself of those useless worries that you cannot do anything about, simply focus on what you can, always be calm never let yourself lose awareness of your surroundings and always maintain yourself.

One
Two
Three
Gathering his breath he instantly suppressed his worries and anxiety’s, once more slipping into a relaxed mode awaiting any surprises that might come up on the trip.

“Athena Academy final stop” a voice filled the bus declaring that they had reached their destination.

Finally, quickly exiting the vehicle he retreated to a corner of the school yard before leaning against a wall simply watching the world pass by, ugh to many people though besides a few stares there didn’t seem to be anyone acting suspicious. Now let’s see what class was I supposed to in again retrieving his student information he quickly went through it again confirming all the info he would need for the coming day. Class 1-A, right then time to stop sitting around and get moving, quickly moving through the school he soon arrived at his destination, hm not let’s see it was proper etiquette to knock wasn’t it, gently knocking he waited for a response from within the room.

“Come in” came a strong gentle voice from within the room. Following it’s instructions he entered, taking a brief moment to survey the room. A crowd of people and an adult, I guess he would be the teacher and all the others students. It seems that outside of the forest there’s going to masses of people no matter where I go how unpleasant, I guess I’ll have to start working on adjusting and compensating for it.

“So now that you’ve looked around I think an introduction would be appropriate, so who might you be?” asked the man. “Ah sorry I’m Ichirou Tama a new student, nice to meet you and you would be the teacher?”

“Yes I am your teacher Klaus Anderson nice to meet you, feel free to take any seat that is free”

“I see, thank you” he replied as he dropped into a formal bow. Let’s see most of the desks are taken or surrounded with people, oh the one next to that blond girl is both against the wall and free, let’s go with that one.

Walking over to the desk he puts down his stuff, hmm it would be proper to great greet her wouldn’t it, “Nice to meet you and I hope we can get along in the future”.

“Eh?” a look of surprise appearing on the girls face after she realized he was talking to her. “What the hell do you want loser”

“Hm, I was merely greeting you”

“Nobody cares who are loser, remember this you might have been some hot shot whatever stupid place you came from but here your just random unimportant weakling, ugh I hate people like you”

… Silence enveloped the class only broken by sighs of students who had seen this scene play out far to much.

Amazing…

Huh?

“To think there would be someone who cares so deeply about the new students how wonderful.”

W-what the hell are you talking about? Caught off guard by his statement her voice was full of confusion.

“You care for the students and have great standards for those around you, evaluating and criticizing your care about the state of those around you is truly admirable and outstanding “he replied with a great, shining smile.

“N-no, Listen to me you slow, stupid, screwy, weakling.”

“I am listening” he said as he took out his notebook and started recording what she had said “though I may not have finished training I will take your words to heart and not disappoint you and your great expectations, so I thank you for your comments”.

“Graaaaaaaah you’re not listening to me you baaastard” the girls cries echoed through the entire room as everyone else looked on in various states of amazement or disbelief at the pair’s display.

“My, my, it seems we’ve gotten some funny new students this year” said a tall handsome student surrounded by a group of students from his spot on the other side of the room.

“Oh dear it seems that the coming year is going to be full of trouble once again” said Klaus as he looked over the spectacle in front of him.

FATE/REGALIA WRITER OFF
RESULTS


These are the results of the 1st annual Regalia write-off. Congratulations to the winners, and thanks for everyone who took part in it!

Now, points were given for adhering to canon (Regalia one), characterization (In PCs case, this was estimated by me; if you got complaints, I'll listen), and the scenes themselves (how interesting/creative/etc. they were). The points were from 0/10. Canonity was the most consistently flawed, but I cannot blame you guys for it since you don't know all the stuff. The spoilerish stuff is not mentioned, but it still knocked off a point or two.

Oh, and one more thing:

The three winners get an additional prize: the scene they wrote is now canon, and happens during the time-skip.

SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

THE WINNERS




#1: DB-L (25 points)
#2: Blue & Tangerang (22 points)
#3: Egophobia (21 points)
#4: Tobias (20 points)
#5: Twelveseal & RacingeR (19 points)
#6: Vritra (14 points)
#7: Mellon (9 points)

DB-L
Mei & Tatsumi
Canon: 8
Chara: 9
Scene: 8

Pros: This was a fun, entertaining little story that didn't aspire too much, but also didn't end up dragging or pointlessly wandering around. It had a point, and it told it in an entertaining manner. Writer actually asked about me stuff to adhere to canon.

Cons: The switches between scenes and the overall flow was somewhat fast.

---

Blue
Lacey & Yamato
Canon: 9
Chara: 9
Scene: 4

Pros: A cute little scene that offers a nice interaction between the two characters. It feels very believable, and I could definitely see something like this happening in the RP.

Cons: Somewhat without a point, and unfortunately, the story glossed over much of what happened. The potential was there, but was not used fully.

---

Tangerang
Four & Will
Canon: 7
Chara: 9
Scene: 6

Pros: The scene itself was weird, I admit that, but it did manage to keep the reader interested during the whole course of it. The characterization was well done, and there was a clear point to the story... if an odd one.

Cons: While there was a point to the story, the direction it went was nonsensical, and leaps of logic were rather jarring.

---

Egophobia
Fiore & Roselia
Canon: 9
Chara: 7
Scene: 5

Pros: A very well written foray in the life of a Dorm Head, shown through an interaction with the PC. The mood was created perfectly, and scene flowed very well.

Cons: ... However, there was one major problem with this story that did not allow it to rise to the top three: this story was clearly not about Fiore, but about Roselia. It was a character study of her, where Fiore appeared as a minor character.

---

Tobias
Zero, Firo and Pop Kim
Canon: 7
Chara: 6
Scene: 7

Pros: The premise of this story was interesting, and the scenes themselves flowed well enough. I am also, of course, always a fan of randoms nods over the fourth wall... which toby clearly used as his advantage.

Cons: Few typos here and there, awkward shift between the scenes themselves gave the story a bit unfinished feel. In addition, the story seemed to wander around a bit, lost.

---

Twelveseal
Siegfried & Lily
Canon: 7
Chara: 6
Scene: 6

Pros: A simple yet effective scene that shows the interactions between the two characters, and has some good bits of humor in it.

Cons: However, the scene itself seems to be a bit out of focus, wandering around here and there. Additionally, Lily is a bit flanderized for the sake of comedy.

---

RacingeR
Canon: 7
Chara: 7
Scene: 5

Pros: A nice bit of contrast between the two characters featured, showing just how much can be gained by pitting two opposites in a same room.

Cons: The scene seems to lack a bit in focus and aim, and Fiore seems somewhat off.

---

Vritra
Canon: 6
Chara: 4
Scene: 4

Pros: This has a potential for a nice scene...

Cons: ... Which is not utilized here properly. The typos and bad grammar add to the confused feel of the story, and the shortness does not help it.

---

Mellon
Firo & Comp.
Canon: 2
Chara: 2
Scene: 5

Pros: It reminds me of Imogirisou.

Cons: It reminds me of Imogirisou.

---