1st Floor, Room No.2

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Shiki seems to be in a good mood, Senpai...

Humming all the while, with her hands in her pockets, skipping down the hallway...

N-No. I've fought against numerous walking corpses till now, but not like this... I mean...

It's the first time I fought against someone who looked like he was alive until yesterday...

I can even tell that from across a monitor. She looks reluctant but she's actually the type who enjoys a good fight, isn't she?

？！

However, we can't stay uninformed like this forever.

To us, it's a strange world, but to Shiki...it's a familiar scene. In that case...

...Excuse me, Shiki!

Hm? What? If you need the restroom, you'll have to go outside or go inside a room.

No, that's not it... This is an apartment, right?

This place feels cold regardless of the temperature outside. Police officers and residents still walk around despite being dead.

It's obviously unconventional in modern Japan. In that case, this place must be a magecraft workshop built in secrecy, right?

If it were, it wouldn't be quite so bad... Unfortunately, this apartment was built in public with no secrets.

A permit was submitted to the local office, and a normal construction company worked on it.

It even asked regular folks to move in. However, now it's becoming a place no one wants to go near.

...It's a barrier created using man's natural instinct to avoid taboos...without a single trace of Magecraft.

It's common sense for mages after the 20th century to conceal their workshops in order to avoid detection from the public.

However, we can't detect any traces of magical energy from this place.

If it's a magecraft workshop, then whoever created it must be really cautious and patient.

That mage built a building this size to perform a ritual, yet didn't rely on Magecraft.

They simply built this place from the ground up, brick by brick, all by themselves. Kind of like building a tower.

Which reminds me of buddhist folklore that talks about children stacking rocks in hell, with all effort and no gain.

Just simply continuing a mundane task without complaint, and without companionship.

...The Children's Limbo, huh? Indeed, it fits him.

But you're wrong, it's not a nice place like that. This is simply a building that collects death.

Death by natural causes, illness, accidents, and violence. An exhibit hall decorated with various methods of death.

Those zombies wandering the hallways, they're, you know... The previous residents of this building.

They're designed to live one day, and die the next. Even though they already died many years ago.

...I know this might sound obvious, but humans are born with a certain fate.

No matter how much you fight back, your eventual endthe cause of your deathwill never change.

Those destined to die in an accident, whether they've achieved happily ever after,

or an abrupt demise, their lives will end in a form of "accidental death."

...There used to be a guy who was trying to prove that, and the residents of this apartment were merely "samples" for his theory.

When night falls, they die. When morning comes, they are reborn. No matter what happens, they always die the same way.

It's a loop, no, a retry. Since before you guys came here, people have been coming back to life and dying, endlessly.

？！

...I know how you feel. That system is... How should I put it?

Inhumane, is that what you want to say?

Hmm. You're all mages yourselves, and yet... That kind of thing still troubles you?

Fujimaru is not a mage, so he tends to think differently than those elites at the Mage's Association.

But... I don't understand this building at all. What can they achieve with this kind of experiment?

There are no results. There is no gain. Even if they're creating a model case, there's no goal...

You'll have to ask the creator himself. Although he's no longer in this world.

Anyway, this is now a haunted apartment with zombies walking around.

On top of that, ghosts and Servants are starting to show up. The effects are showing up in the outside world.

...Seriously. It's creepy, but this one-life-one-death world wasn't supposed to cause trouble for anybody.

I mean, what the hell are those Servants?! All of them are in some weird get-ups...

Mash, you were lucky that this was a haunted apartment. You would've been reported if we were in front of the station.

Reported? Is that because I am not from around here?

...Say, do you know why I only carry a knife around with me?

Ah, so that's what you mean... You're right!

Fujimaru, we're lucky that this Singularity isn't a perfect recreation of the downtown area.

If we were in front of a station, just Mash changing into her Servant form would get us in trouble with the police.

I didn't talk about this a lot, but Chaldea is what you would call "a secret organization."

You can't recklessly summon your Servants nor arm Mash in front of people.

It depends on the city, but Mash's Servant form could be considered indecent in some places.

？！

...I wasn't talking about her appearance, but her weapon... Anyway...

We're here. There's no nameplate either, right? I'm sure a Servant is living in this room.

...Yes. I can detect a Servant's Spirit Origin in there.

What will we do, Master?

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Right, that's the spirit. Here is the key. I will give it to you.

...(Gulp) Master, I'll open the door.

...Who on earth is inside this room?

Yes, yes, certainly!

Welcome, unknown Master! You too, Miss Demi-Servant!

The one who moved into this grudge-soaked apartment, of course it is I, Demon Mephistopheles!

...What's the deal with his scissors? Oh, he knows Mash?

This funny guy here is Mash's big brother or what?

I couldn't take having a brother like Mephisto! The breakfast table would be a catastrophe!

The breakfast table? That's all you're worried about? Yes, you're right, breakfast should be enjoyed quietly.

I may look like this, but I've cared for stubborn and stinky old guys, too.

I'm able to make good and tasty breakfasts, unfortunately, I'm incapable of closing this mouth!

Even if you sew it, or zip it, it's useless! Even without a mouth, I can give you bad news using ventriloquism

For example, my neighbor in Room 3. Watanabe, was it? Tormented by his lover, whom he strangled.

He's like a skull, a nervous wreck, malnourished! At 2 o'clock, the time of his crime, the madness begins!

Drugs, hanging, wrist-slashing, gas poisoning. Every night he has to escape from his nightmare.

His excuses for his own actions are quite unsightly, and yet pleasurable.

There is no better spice to make a meal delicious than other people's misfortune!

This manner of speaking...this is the real Mephisto! But why are you here?!

Oh? Oh, oh, oh! Hmm? Hum, hum, hum...

This is the first time I'm meeting you, but how many times have you met me?

I knew it! I've already caused trouble for you!

This is destiny! Conviction, betrayal and satisfaction! Now I understand why I was summoned to Chaldea!

Unfortunately, I am different from that thing, the "I" that was summoned in early stages!

Hahaha! Hehehehe! And! I am the criminal behind this case!

I am the one who invited those ghosts into this apartment!

It was also I who infiltrated Chaldea, and lured promising-looking Servants one by one!

That was all my handiwork! Yahoo! It worked perfectly!

Hmm, but now I have to break the bad news to you. Yes, Mephy is sad!

I've finally met a good Master like you, and now I have to cut you into pieces.

You see, the previous tenant of this room had a bizarre hobby... He would sever the limbs of his loved one every night.

He did it to hide the dead body? But get this! He tripped and accidentally killed himself while cutting up the body in the bathroom!

It was so hilarious so I took over his job for him.

Where is this tenant now you ask?

Well, you see, now he's just in the way, right? I mean, he must be bored to death now that he can't accidentally kill himself anymore?

That's why I intervened to make it funny. By now, he must have escaped the system, and joined his ghost buddies outside!

Now, let's start! Let's just start! It's annoying to explain so let's just start!

I am the demon, the bomber, Mephisto Pheles! The demon who blows up boring daydreams!

Wow, I repeated the word demon so many times! But it doesn't matter!

Master and Lady, please be sure to remember this, now!

Mephisto Pheles is in combat mode! Master, what should we do?!

What should we do? There's only one thing to do! Our opponent is ready!

Don't worry, I'm used to handling bombers. I'll wipe that smirk off his face before the bomb blows up!

Oh... How can this be... To ignore what you're told is a bad move, a lost cause, extreme uselessness!

You killed me, the only one who knows the truth! Now the case is cold, dead people tell no tales. It's too late!

But how should I put it? There are a lot of mystery novels where the perpetrator dies in the beginning, right?

You guys, use your heads, and solve this abnormal situation!

...Enemy Servant eliminated. Was that really the right move?

Right... Although Mephisto's words are not really trustworthy, if he really was the cause of this abnormality...

...Then we just destroyed the only lead we had... We're bad detectives.

Oh, you recovered from that pretty fast. Right, that's not a bad thing.

Don't feel bad, Mash. Eliminating one or two perpetrators won't be an issue.

Didn't I say "investigations start from the bottom"? The next crime scene is waiting for us, detective.

？！

Hum... Detective story... So this was a detective story? No, never mind that...

Even if it was self-proclaimed, killing the perpetrator is pretty damaging...

At least if we'd arrested him, we could've interrogated him about this place, and why it attracts ghosts...

That's right! I'm really sorry! I wanted to be useful and use my scissors as much as possible...

...but this time, I had nothing to do, there was no room for me to act! I ended up moving around in vain!

Yes, until now, I can't remember you being useful at any time... Basically, you're totally useless...

Wh-What?!

Sc-Scissors guy!?

？！

There was another one!? Good, I'll kill you as many times as it takes!

Wait, no need for that. The one you defeated is the evil Mephisto.

The one here is me, the good Mephisto. Ah, in other words...

One of me laments this situation, and the other one enjoys it. But now is not the time to question my conscience.

So, if I split my good heart and evil heart apart like this...

I can basically clone myself! Oooohhh, UNBELIEVABLE!

？！

Of course. Hmm... Fujimaru, was it?

From now, I am a loyal Servant of Fujimaru! SO. LOYAL. (LMAO)

To prove it, I shall part ways with my evil self and lend a hand to everyone here!

Ah... It seems too good to be true, but... What do you think, Master?

？！

Good decision. You really are good.

Only two lines? That's impossible! But I will try. I am an innocent clown. I merely play the pipe like Hamelin did!

It's two lines!

You can do it if you try.

Hmm. If you call yourself innocent, then you have nothing to do with this fake Singularity, right?

Not in the least! To tell you the truth... I'm truly sorry but if you could allow me to get involved, and tone down the rate of ghost-gathering,

I could make a horror show, incredibly realistic, about half dead, half living, killing and being killed...

In two lines!

I was summoned by someone else, not via Chaldea's summoning system, to this tower of resentment.

By that guy, his name is... That guy... Grand something. That guy is one class above mine.

!!!

He said to me, "Shouldn't you be on this side?" And he does have a point, so...

After that, I split dramatically.

My evil self disguised itself as a Servant of Justice and infiltrated Chaldea.

I'm sure that's possible because I'm over there.

Because only Servants who were summoned by a Master can find Chaldea.

My evil self used this clever loophole, and started recruiting.

He said: "There's a new place to live. There are rooms for Servants. You don't need a deposit. The first month is free. Move in as fast as possible!"

Ah, I am such a good salesman! I am jealous of myself!

But it can't be helped. Chaldea's rooms for Servants are too small!

No posters on the wall. No pets in the rooms, except for those that came with horses.

That's why everyone came to this side. Then, when I got the chance...

I escaped from the Grand-something's contract, and happily waited for all you to arrive!

Ah, I knew!

That Fujimaru would admonish my evil self and believe in my good heart...hehe, to think that you'd believe in me!

You heard him. People really trust you.

Of course I am! Don't think about kicking me out!

Of course I laughed! I laugh when good things happens, I'm human after all!

？！

Fou, foou!

Fou...

...Master. Fou is also encouraging you, let's just bring Mephisto with us.

If we can make him tell us what he knows on the way, that would be great. Just don't expect too much.

Hehe, did you reach a conclusion?

？！

Don't worry. I'll absolutely obey the winner.

In the first place, speaking of danger, I'm the same as Miss Assassin right there.

Please, could you add me to this investigation team? Be careful of your back and neck!

...You heard him. Are you the same as him, Shiki?

Don't compare me with him! My knife cuts way better than his scissors!

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