It seemed like a fairly typical (see: boring with a side of violence under a tree) day at Tsukumihara Academy's old school building. The NPCs were going about their usual business while all the active Masters planned their next move as they progressed through the Sakura Labyrinth.
All, that is, except one. Deep in the shadowy bowels of the storage closet, Jinako [Karigiri] tapped away at her keyboard. If she failed this raid because her team was playing like a bunch of n00bs, she was going to flip. They were down to the wire, almost home free, but the boss still had a kill move that would wipe most of them out. Her companions didn't seem like they were working as a team, so she figured she was going to have to play support despite not having set her character up to perform the role effectively. Really, this was a total mess.
Beside her, LancerLauncher was watching her, stoic and serene as always. She kind of wished he'd emote once in a while though. She found his lack of reactions to anything a little unsettling. Fortunately, it was possible that her little project would be just what she needed to get him to be less of a robot. Unlikely, but not impossible. It wasn't like she was overwriting anything about any other humans and Servants beyond a few bits of their exterior code.
She was so excited. This was going to be totally god-tier epic!
* * * * *
"So, you're saying that we're in a virtual reality… within a different virtual reality?" Tohsaka asked.
"Exactly," answered Jinako.
The former brunette ground her teeth.
"Why? Why, in the name of sanity, would you do this?!" she ranted. "It doesn't even make sense! What the hell's the point of this even?! Beyond some sort of… ridiculously contrived pseudo-existential commentary?! We were in the Moon Cell already! What possible reason could you have had to put us somewhere even deeper in virtual reality?!"
"You've watched Inception a lot, haven't you?" Shinji gazed at Jinako with clear disdain.
"If you're actually interested, I guess I could tell you…" Jinako mused. "I guess… I was just bored of being in that storage closet."
"Uh," Hakuno raised his hand as though he were in class, "If you were tired of it, why didn't you just leave?"
"What?! I can't do that!"
"But you just said—"
"Only you, Jinako," Shinji frowned. "Only you would decide to program an entire virtual world and drag everyone into it with you before thinking of opening the door and coming out of the closet."
Several people snickered, most notably Tamamo and Suzuka.
"Just because I was tired of being there doesn't mean I want to leave, idiot," Jinako protested.
"The fact that the latter is generally the only solution to the former without radical changes taking place notwithstanding," Julius grumbled under his breath.
"That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever," Shinji sighed, unwittingly giving voice to Julius' thoughts.
"Well I for one am furious with this development!"
Everyone turned around to look at the last people remaining outside the group.
B.B. glared at the Moon Cell's gaming NEET. "You've stolen all my powers! I can't access the Moon Cell anymore!"
"That's intentional."
"Okay, that much I can get behind," Tamamo nodded.
"Oh, no, it's like that for everyone. There wouldn't be any point to this if you could just leave."
The group's faces were masks of shock, fear, and disbelief. It was disturbing enough that Jinako had taken them all prisoner. It was worse that she seemed like she hadn't even considered what they would think of her actions. But most absurd was that she had even managed to trap Servants in her dually fabricated world.
Tamamo however was still grinning. "Even if it means I suddenly have no fighting ability, I am now on equal footing with everyone, which puts me far closer to B.B.'s level than before. All I have to do now is gain more experience points than her and the mutt, and then my darling Goshujin-sama and I can sail home with no complications."
Hakuno couldn't help but admire his Servant's resolve and bravery in the face of complete and total weirdness.
Rin however was less enthusiastic.
"Then how the hell do we get out of here?"
Jinako grinned.
"Simple: You just beat the game!"
"I've always wondered what it would be like to fight gracefully with a pair of cutlasses while wearing a bellydancing outfit," Tamamo rubbed her hands together. "but I always felt like there would be little point to that as a Heroic Spirit without the ability to improve myself just by training."
"You can do that here—"
"Yes I know, don't interrupt," sniped the fox-girl, giving Jinako a stinkeye. "What do you think, Goshujin-sama?"
"I'll go along with whatever you choose."
"This is exactly why we say you have no personality," Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Do you ever decide anything for yourself?"
Originally Posted by Draconic
Reply With Quote
