Section 2: Finding Someone in Wonderland

For the time being, we'd better focus on figuring out who we really are. Well, I certainly never expected to have to get so introspective at my tender young age.

The only clue we have to go on is that "M" my brother wrote before he died...

For that matter, what the hell is this place, anyway?

A-and what's that rumbling!?

This is Patchwork London! This is Patchwork London!

It's a patchwork of fairy tales where everyone lives happily ever after!

That's a giant!

She must have something to do with this place. Hey! You there!

What is it, little friend? I'm Bunyan, by the way!

I see. Well, Bunyan, does the letter "M" mean anything to you?

Uh-huh!

？！

Come on, you can ride on my shoulder! Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look!

This is M!

I see... So I guess the "M" stood for "museum"...

There ya are, Bunyan!

Hm? Ya brought company?

Welcome back, Bunyan!

Hey, are you guys the heroes he was talking about?

Fou?

Doesn't matter if we're heroes or not. More importantly, it sounds like you fought him.

Yeah...I can tell you this. We got rid of ALL that pain in the ass fog.

Now it's up to you guys. I'll let you grab the glory... or whatever... Gonna rest. Whew...

...Hey, what are you exactly? A human? Or a mage?

Should we kill you? One, two, three, lots. Lots.

Hey, what's wrong, pal?

Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.

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You have? Maybe it was a different us?

Hey, Jack! I think these guys might be able to find them!

？！

My friend is missing!

Hmm, I see. All right, what can you tell us about this person?

Well, that's the thing. She doesn't have any idea who they are.

？！

I don't know who they are, but I do know someone's missing!

Weirdly enough, I've got the same feeling. I can tell someone who oughta be here, well, isn't.

But I couldn't tell you who they are. It might sound like I'm messin' with ya, but it's true.

It's the same with us. It feels like ripping someone open and not finding any guts inside.

And then there's all the things that keep getting in our way inside the museum. There's just too many for Kintoki and Jack to handle alone.

Since I'm too big to go in there myself, I thought I'd see if I could find help, and then I ran into you guys.

I see, I see. That IS a predicament! In that case, my pupil here and I would be happy to help.

Of course. We still don't know the first thing about this place, so the more help we have, the better, no?

It's a lot simpler than explaining what's really going on with us, right? Besides, I still can't see you as anything else for the time being.

？！

(...And then there's the fact that Mystics tend to connect things of a certain fate. I can't imagine it was a coincidence that we ran into Bunyan when we did.)

So what else can you tell us? What exactly are these things getting in your way inside the museum?

There's all sorts of bad things running around! They never leave you alone when you are in the museum!

...Wait. We just heard something.

There! Those are the things I'm talking about!

Great, as if we needed more of these damn things!

More automata...? No, they're not!

Oh my, there's so many of them! Even with me helping out, I don't think we can handle them all!

？！

You know how to use that briefcase!?

？！

Phew, those things are as far from golden as you can get...

Thanks, guys!

A bunch of powerful familiar shadows, huh? That briefcase is a lot more impressive than it looks.

Were all those familiars contracted to you?

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Hmm, they kind of reminded me of Bunyan, Jack, and Kintoki here. Were you an evocation mage from the Eulyphis department or something?

Anyway, this is where our work really begins, so I'll be counting on you to keep those familiars coming.

Now let's start by clearing those creatures out of the museum!

I'll say this for whoever handled the design: their taste is golden.

Wooow, there's so many paintings and things in here! Some things are all curved, some are all straight... They're just like guts!

？！

This place might not be like the real London, but I'd still bet it covers about half of the British Museum.

I could easily spend a week here and it wouldn't be enough. All right, let's be quick and efficient about canvasing the place and taking out any intruders.

Hmm. So you're Servants, you say?

Rogue Servants, yeah. Somethin' in this land summoned us here.

We don't have any idea what for, though! Maybe it just wanted us to play and have fun!

Now I see. I've heard of you before, though we usually call you Ghost Liners.

？！

In this case, I'd say they're Heroic Spirits that have made their mark on history. Just think of them as great figures and heroes of ages past.

But of course, in a case involving mages and Mystics, the usual intrepid explorer approach won't cut it.

Magecraft and Mystics might adhere to a set of rules, but when you get right down to it, all bets are off.

The power of flight? Walking through walls? Playing God and making new humans out of nothing? All within the realm of possibility.

And if that weren't bad enough, even basic rules are different depending on which magical lineage you're dealing with, so standard investigative procedures will amount to absolutely nothing in a case like this.

That's why these kinds of cases aren't about the whodunit or the howdunit, since both of those can be fudged to hell and back.

No, what we need to figure out is the whydunit.

It's a subgenre of murder mystery where the culprit's motive plays a crucial role.

Exactly. They're subgenres. As you can probably guess, whodunits focus on the culprit's identity, howdunits on the tricks employed, and whydunits on the motive.

？！

My brother used to say that sort of thing all the time... How bitterly ironic that he'd end up the victim of one such mystery himself.

We might be up against a mage, but they're still human at heart. If anything, their motive is bound to be an even greater fixation for them.

After all, you can't be a mage unless you're willing to give up everything else in your life for magecraft.

So without all that excess holding you back, your motive can't help but become pure as the proverbial driven snow.

It's a lot like being a Servant in a way. No matter how great or powerful they might be, they're still dead spirits engraved on the Throne of Heroes.

As a result, they can't help but be true to themselves. Whatever their naturegood, evil, honest, deceitfulit's still one-hundred-percent pure.

？！

So to tie it all together, it doesn't matter who went missing, or how they went missing.

What matters is WHY they went missing.

We don't really get it...

Don't worry, it's a lot simpler than it might sound. For now, let's just keep looking around the museum.

Hm hm.

Oho.

Hmmm.

Well, well.

Uh-oh. Looks like these monsters caught us off guard!

All right, that's one full circuit around the museum.

？！

By the way, there's something I've been meaning to ask.

What's up?

Exactly when did you realize your friends were missing?

Um... We don't remember that either.

Same here. Sorry, girlie.

I see, I see.

So we have a case of missing persons where nobody knows who went missing or when they went missing. How very intriguing.

Then for our next step, I trust you won't mind if my pupil and I see what we can find in the museum by ourselves?

Gah, not so close! Uh, I figure we cleaned up most of the monsters, so it oughta be okay, but be careful, yeah?

Thanks for your concern. We'll return shortly.

？！

Hmm, I guess you could say that.

How did it go, Trim?

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I examined every wall and floor in my liquid form, and did not find any passages or secret rooms.

Well, that eliminates one possibility.

All right, my little pupil, which room do you think we should visit next?

Oho, the library, hm. I see, I see. Not a bad eye you've got there.

Hm hm.

Oho.

Hmm.

？！

Hm, how odd.

I'm quite sure I could never do that before. Strangely, I felt like I could pull it off here, and I was right.

And now I believe we've found our missing person.

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Exactly. Go on, try pulling out that third book from the right.

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Eek!

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Wh-what's the big idea!?

I knew it! You were turned into a book! No, wait. You actually ARE a book!

You Servants really are fascinating, I must say.

...Nursery...Rhyme...

No, wait. That's not my name, MY name is Alice.

Are you all right? You were spacing out again.

？！

It looks like our new papery friend here is coming to her senses too.

I... I...

Oho, so you can assume a human form as well.

I can move... I can talk...

Just as I suspected. You forgot what you really were.

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Oh come now, it's obvious why she's been hiding all this time.

None of those other three could remember who went missing, or even when they went missing, right?

So what if the same was true for the ones in hiding?

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It seems you've arrived at the answer for yourself. We were in much the same predicament with our own amnesia at first.

And given that we have a giant in the form of Bunyan here, it only stands to reason that these missing persons might have special abilities of their own.

From there, we can deduce that they must have either gone missing somewhere other than the museum, or are otherwise wandering the museum aimlessly, waiting to be found.

Of course, they could have been hidden in a secret room as well, but as Trimmau said, there were no such rooms to be found here.

So I knew then that they were most likely invisible, or transformed into something else.

That's why I decided to try something that was sure to cause a bit of surprise.

I'm glad I didn't have to twist my head around more than once. It's not exactly the most becoming trick.

Now, can I ask your name?

Me? I'm...Nursery Rhyme. A book of collected stories.

Um... Do you think Bunyan and Kintoki will remember me?

I saw Jack and Kintoki looking for me, but I still couldn't remember them...

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...Great!

Go on then, your friends should be waiting for you at the entrance. I'm sure you won't have any trouble making your way there.

Okay! Thanks, nice lady!

Well, that might have been a bit unusual as far as these things go, but at least it was a relatively easy first case to solve.

Still, this sort of work isn't going to... Hm?

？！

There, on the shelf where that book Servant was...

What...is this...

"Mnemosyne"...? Is this what "M" stands for? But, how is this

Ghh!

Something's coming back to me...!

That's right... I'm a Servant, too! I'm made up of a Heroic Spirit and the human it is using as a vessel!

What about you? Did you just remember anything?

？！

Base sequence: human genome confirmed Alignment: Lawful-Neutral

Welcome to the data center for the future of humankind. This is the Security Organization for the Preservation of Humanity, Chaldea.

Fingerprint, voiceprint, and DNA authentication cleared. Magical Circuit assessment complete.

Username matched. You are recognized as a member of the primates.

Nice to meet you. You're our final visitor today.

We hope you enjoy your time here.

We are very sorry. Another 180 seconds is needed to complete the admission process.

Enjoy a simulated battle while you wait.

Fou! Fooou!

...Fou made it back too. Are we sure he's not a lucky animal of some sort?

Hm... Ooohhh!

We did it! Fifteenth-century France is restored completely! Still six to go, but

Part of human history is in its rightful place now! We did it, Fujimaru!

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...Senpai! Senpai, can you hear me!?

That's it! We have a connection!

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Senpai! We finally got through... I'm so glad you're all right!

I've been monitoring your vitals, but I still don't know what happened there. Could you please fill me in?

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El-Melloi is dead, and you lost your memory? That's awful!

I'm so sorry. In that case, I guess I had better explain what's going on.

You Rayshifted to London at the turn of the nineteenth century to repair a Singularity that had broken out there.

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Not exactly, but its coordinates were very close to the Fourth Singularity, yes. And it's not unusual for a repaired Singularity to create small ripples like this.

So now that Novum Chaldea is Rayshift-worthy, we decided to have you come here to take care of it...

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Yes. Lord El-Melloi II was chosen to accompany you because of his expansive knowledge of London.

But during the Rayshift, we suddenly lost our connection and ended up losing track of your signals.

I...I had no idea you were going through something like that.

I'm sorry. I should keep going.

Things are still extremely unstable right now, but thankfully, we're getting just enough data to verify your existence.

Though we had to rewire the system to focus on only me just to reestablish comms.

So I'm the only one who can talk to you right now, and I don't think it'll last much longer.

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Hmm, I can hear what you're saying as well. Chaldea, was it?

I'm Reines El-Melloi Archisorte. Are you guys related to the Animuspheres?

Nice to meet you, Lady Reines. I've seen your name in our database before.

Unfortunately, our current situation is kind of...complicated...

Yes, I can imagine, thanks to the memories I've regained. If this has to do with parallel worlds, I don't need to know about it.

I might be a recently summoned Pseudo-Servant myself, but information like that can be as tricky to handle as a bomb. I'd just as soon not bother with it if I don't have to.

I'll have you fill me in if truly necessary, of course, but at this point, I'd say the risks outweigh the potential benefits.

To put it in Clock Tower terms, let's just stick to areas where we can both help each other out.

Thank you for understanding. I think that's a very wise decision.

Thanks to our reestablished comms, I've finally been able to get accurate data.

Though unfortunately, Senpai, I'm afraid you'll need to find what's causing that Singularity before you can escape...

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Thank you, Senpai. I promise I'll do everything I can to provide you with support from here!

Getting right into it, there was a change in that Singularity's topography not too long ago. Can you check it out on your end?

Well, well. I wonder what's happening now?

Now that we have a capable new ally helping us, my little pupil, what do you say we look into this!?