Encounter

A road made of asphalt... High-rises like big walls...

This is... This is...

I'm sure of it! This is the 21st-century Japan, Senpai!

Look! See? A vending machine that isn't destroyed!

Even a public phone, and a bus stop, too! Ah, and that thing like a house is a toilet!

The city seems so quiet and the streets are so clean! The example of a perfectly safe city!

Unfortunately, I don't see any of those so-called convenience stores The places that never sleep!

It really is just like what I've read... One of my dreams has come true!

Ah... Yes. I'm sorry, I got carried away. It's not that I dreamed of visiting a city in Japan.

Not only Tokyo, but Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Rome, Madrid...

Any one of them would have been fine. I just wanted to visit a major city from the era I live in.

Ugh. It's almost like you're saying, "What's so special about a city like this?"

Senpai, did you live in a city like this one? No, I am sure you did.

Please tell me more about it, in detail! Everything from your life in elementary school to high school! Please!

？！

Hello, test, test. Communication, video feed, both working fine.

Ah, as I thought... Judging from these coordinates and time, I predicted your destination to be a city in Japan.

But... I didn't expect it to be such an urban area. This seems pretty fishy to me...

...You're right. A normal city in a time like this is the most abnormal thing.

The only two normal life-form responses are from Senpai and myself... But I'm also getting some higher-class life-form responses from that building.

A big city like this, with this many houses, and still no one in sight.

Building? Oh, that cylindrical one? It sure looks weird... Fujimaru, can you tell us anything about it?

...I agree. I'm getting chills just looking at it.

Just an apartment? But its design is so different than the other buildings surrounding it...

？！

Anyway, that building is undeniably suspicious. I'm picking up readings of multiple Servants inside as well.

No obstacles detected from here to the building entrance. Let's go there and... Wait! Senpai!

There's someone around the entrance! It's

I'm picking up multiple strange signals! Residual wills... They're ghosts!

Looks like a Servant is fighting with them!

？！

Yes, Master!

Wait! I'm not picking up any more ghost readings! They didn't disperse, they disappeared

As if they were erased with an eraser! That's a little scary, isn't it!? What is it!?

Servant response, entering our line of sight! Is thata woman?

...Phew, cheap dream. Its quality is too low to be a nightmare.

Ghosts with skulls as faces? Man, they gotta get with the times.

It's a girl...in a kimono...holding a knife! Senpai, who is she?

？！

...Just as I thought Let's try to talk to her first...

No need. I don't want to talk to you. It'll take too long.

Doesn't matter if you're good or bad. With this knife in your head, you can say goodbye to this reality.

You're the one who stuck your nose in other people's business, yeah? I am gonna send that nose, along with your head, to where they belong!

...Here she comes! I don't get it, but it's a battle, Master!

Battle was interrupted, but...we still don't know that Servant's real name, nor its attack pattern!

Doctor, please give us your analysis!

How can a simple knife cut not only a Servant's body, but easily cut its armor too?!

...It's Mystic Eyes. I can't believe Mystic Eyes of this level still exist in the modern era.

Doctor?

In the world of Magecraft, magical eyes that can perceive all things mystical are called Mystic Eyes.

These eyes can project phenomena without casting any sorts of chants or rituals. They just need to look.

The most popular types are "Binding," "Compulsion," "Contract," "Flame," "Illusion," and "Jinx."

Even among them, her eyes are special. The type that can "Stop" everything, it's even more powerful than "Petrification."

Her rainbow eyes materialize the concept of death and capture it. If I had to give them a name, I'd call them the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

How incredible! That's an ability fit for a Divine Spirit! To kill an enemy just by looking at them... Talk about overpowered!

...What's up with him? He sounded so fake and unimportant...

I'm not a Heroic Spirit. I can't kill anyone just by looking at them.

All I can do is see death... Lines that trace death. Ummm, like the eventual end of all things.

Would you understand if I say I simply trace the cause, the result of eventual death?

Oh, um, I see... The, uh, lines that trace death... The, the eventual end of all things... Y-Yes...

...Me neither. It seems to be a highly advanced magical theory, but...

Senpai, you understand?!

Huh, that was easy. Hey, you must be a big otaku, right? Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

(Nice, Fujimaru! She looks happy! Really happy!)

？！

Whatever. Hey, you there! The slippery-looking one!

M-Me?!

Of course! Who else could it be? Physically, you're not a complete Servant, right?

R-Right. I'm a Demi-Servant, so you could say that my base body is human...

I see. I thought you were that shadowy bastard's friend.

That man's eyes are glittering. I guess that rules out the possibility of being possessed by some weird illusions.

My bad for attacking you. All right, see ya.

？！

I am going to tear down this apartment. I can't just leave it like that.

It's crawling with disgusting things inside. If I let it be, it's gonna cause trouble for the neighbors.

Say, do you guys watch horror movies? You do? Good.

You know the deal... Things like walking corpses, ghosts you aren't supposed to see...

Things like that are running rampant in there... All because of Servants.

All because of...Servants?

Yeah. Servants live in that apartment like it's their own. Thanks to them, it's all becoming one big block party.

I mean, Servants are kinda like ghosts, right? If they gain physical bodies, others will get carried away too.

...Well, as for myself, I am also showing up as a Servant.

If you're a Demi-Servant, I guess that makes me a Pseudo-Servant.

Most likely I had a connection with this building, so I ended up being summoned. It's really annoying.

？！

Who cares? If I vanish, it actually saves me some trouble. At least I don't have to go through this ordeal.

I don't know if you're being frank, or you just don't care about yourself...

Still, though... There must be a reason why we met here!

If you don't have a Master, could you work with Chaldea?

...A reason, you say. This, too, must be my fate... I don't hate it.

That one over there is a Master, right? If I help you, that would really make me look like a Servant.

I'm merely an outsider who was summoned here. I don't intend on concerning myself with others.

However, I want to pay back that despicable shadowy bastard...

Fou, foou!

!

Fou!? Were you hiding in my shield again?

...Are you kidding me? What is this furball?

？！

...Ryougi Shiki.

？！

That is my name. What's your name?

Right, this is Master Fujimaru. My name is Mash Kyrielight.

If we're exchanging our names like this... Does that mean you'll help us, Shiki?

...Well, if you think about it, the fact that you're a Master probably means you're related to the Servants living here somehow, right?

In that case, you're supposed to be the ones to get rid of them. Good luck. I'll be giving you a hand too, so don't worry.

You can just call me Ryougi. Aren't you embarrassed, using "chan?"

No, I don't. Also, I wouldn't call that thing a cat.

It has good fur and feels really nice, that's all. It doesn't even look like one. That's insulting to cats.

？！

Oh... I was keeping my mouth shut because she didn't look like she could take a joke... But I'm glad it all worked out!

Erm... Should I call you Miss Ryougi? You seem to know all about that apartment?

What was it like inside? Did it turn into a different dimension? It won't kill them upon entering, right?

As you can see, Fujimaru is just a human. If the air composition is abnormal then...

Ah, you don't have to worry. Rest assured, it's the same Ogawa as ever.

But there are lots of enemies, and there are some funny traps.

Funny traps? What kind of traps?

That will be a surprise. It was a questionable property from the start anyway.

Here used to be the grave marker of an old mage who attempted to collect death. A hollow shrine that fused the yin-yang and hell together.

People say "investigations start from the bottom," right? Enjoy the case, Fujimaru.

So once again, rookie Master... Welcome to this 64-story shrine, Ogawa Heim.