[X] Plan First Step Into Paradise
You can't help but roll your eyes at Ortensia's comment. "Of course you'd say that," you say, as the silver-haired woman slides a saucer of tea towards you. "In all seriousness, though, this is bloody big. How'd you even get your hands on this information?"
"I'm the school nurse, McRemitz," Caren responds, sipping her own tea with a look that borders uncomfortably on an emotion you'd rather not think about. "And one of our masters recently had surgery to mitigate a congenital heart defect. She has to come see me every day to take her medicine. It's easy to notice things about a person when you see them that often."
"Homura Akemi, right?" You're in Japan now, Bazett; you're not reading an English-language printout. Gotta remember name order if you want to get anywhere. "... Sorry, Akemi Homura. I keep forgetting that Japanese names go backwards. Anyway, was she the one that clued you in to the fact that the Holy Grail War's started up in this city?"
"It would have been rather difficult for her to have done so, given that Tomoe Mami was seen with Command Seals the day before Akemi Homura transferred in."
"Then, who was it?"
"None of them, really. At least, not all at once." Ortensia looks out the window as the end-of-lunch bell rings, and you opt to join her. You see several clusters of students funneling in through the front gate, after having left school grounds to seek lunch elsewhere. Your stomach growls just thinking about lunch. The last time you ate had been over Russian airspace too many hours ago. "I saw them on Tomoe Mami completely by chance, and I didn't think all that much of it at the time. It was an inconspicuous sort of pattern, and I thought she might have just gotten burnt or something. I saw them again on Akemi Homura the next day, but it wasn't until Kure Kirika showed up for class one Monday sporting what were clearly Command Seals that I realized it wasn't just a random thing. The next day, Akemi Homura came into my office feeling lightheaded, and as we were talking she got really jittery when I mentioned that she wasn't the only girl at school to have them, and that's when it really all came together for me."
"That would have been the twenty-second, right? That was still over a week before you got in contact with me. Why the wait?"
"Well, I wasn't sure at first whether a Grail War had actually started, or was only about to start, and I wanted to wait and see what I was looking at before getting in contact. Of course, by the time the first battle had started, I knew exactly what I was dealing with."
"You mean the War has already started? Why didn't you say so sooner?"
"I told you, McRemitz. I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what was going on before I got in contact with the Association. I didn't want to waste their valuable time if, for example, I was only dealing with some low-level mages who had somehow lucked into a set of almost-Command Seals for their pet familiar, or something. I did my due diligence and waited until I was absolutely sure that a Grail War had started. The night I contacted you, I saw two servants going at it over the train bridge that crosses into neighboring Kazamino. I couldn't see much, but from the way they fought I presume it was Archer and Berserker. Berserker disappeared before Archer could finish her off, though."
"Archer and Berserker," you say, pondering on the information you had been given. "That would be... Akemi, probably, and one other. What can you tell me about her?"
"What can I tell you about Akemi? Well, she's a quiet girl, for the most part, and she keeps to just a small group of friends. Exceptionally bright- She took top ranking in all her classes after just a week- Even PE, which came as a surprise to me given her heart condition. I'm fairly certain that she's got it bad for one of her classmates, but to my knowledge she hasn't said anything to them. Or if she has, they've made no move to make it official."
Good student, quiet, and apparently more than a little shy. Somehow, only that last part surprises you. The picture you had been given hardly conveyed "shyness" very well. "Can I speak with her?"
"Of course. That won't be a problem at all." Ortensia ceases her window-gazing, turning towards the phone at her desk. "Hello, main office? This is Nurse Ortensia. Do you think you could have Akemi Homura sent over to me for just a second? No, everything's fine. I just need to talk to her about her medication, that's all. ... Thank you."
That sounded almost professional. You scoff. "The staff must love you."
"Oh, the trick to keeping this job is, I never let the higher-ups know how much I love seeing a child in misery." You have to roll your eyes for a second time.
It takes a few minutes, but eventually Akemi Homura arrives, looking, feeling, and sounding exactly like you had imagined she would. Even that sort of cold undercurrent in her voice as she says "You wanted to see me, Nurse Ortensia?" upon entering and seeing you, is exactly the way you had imagined her to be.
"Well, not I, specifically." You'll take the confused look on Akemi's face as she turns her gaze on you to be your cue.
"My name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz." You introduce yourself in the best Japanese you can muster. "Nurse Ortensia requested that I come to Mitakihara and investigate a few things that have the potential to cause some very important people a lot of worry." You can see Akemi tensing up the more you speak. "I'll cut right to the chase. What do you know about the Holy Grail War?"
"Only that the Grail was destroyed seven years ago, and that further Grail Wars should have been rendered impossible."
"Then perhaps you can explain to me where you got your Command Seals from?" You clearly see Akemi's eyes dart down to her hand. Your own eyes follow suit, tracing the lines of an ornate diamond pattern broken up into three distinct segments. And there on her other hand, right where the report said it would be, is that strange silver ring that all three masters have in common. "Relax. I'm only here to gather information. I won't get involved in whatever you and the other masters are up to unless I think I absolutely have to. I just want to know if a Grail War has actually started up in this city, or if there's something else going on entirely."
Akemi raises her hand, staring deeper at the sigils. "McRemitz-san, to be perfectly honest I don't know how I obtained these Command Seals. As for your second point, while I have been informed that what is going on is some shade of War, it is not particularly a Grail War, if you understand me."
"In other words, it's got all the trappings of a Grail War, but no actual Grail to be had at the end?" Akemi nods, and you mutter under your breath "So, it's like it was six years ago..." ... "And, who was it that gave you this information?"
"That would be my servant."
"Archer, correct?"
Again, you can see Akemi tensing up. "How did you know?"
"You're registered as living by yourself, so talk of a live-in guardian who goes by the name of "Archer" is easy enough to pick up on. And if, say, the right person were to put two and two together, it'd be easy for them to figure out who "Archer" really was. Now, I'm aware that there are two other girls at this school who are masters, Tomoe Mami and Kure Kirika. Is that correct?" Again, Akemi nods. "Good. can you tell me which servants are theirs?"
"I'm afraid that's not my information to reveal to you."
"I figured as much. Can you at least tell me this- Have all seven servants been summoned, and have you encountered any servants belonging to an irregular class?"
"Six of the seven have been summoned, though I am unsure what you mean by an "irregular class"."
"If you don't know, don't worry about it. I'm just trying to get a feel for things, see if everything's going like normal or if there's anything that's off."
"I'm afraid I wouldn't know enough about what's normal to tell you if anything were off."
"I see. And you're absolutely sure that there is, without a doubt, no Holy Grail involved in any of this?" Akemi shakes her head. "What about the person who gave the three of you those rings you're all wearing. I'm assuming they've got something to do with all of this. Have you ever heard them mention anything about a Greater or Lesser Grail?"
Again, Akemi shakes her head. "The one who gave us these rings knows as little as we do, McRemitz-san. In fact, I might go so far as to say that we know more than they do."
Well, that's certainly unexpected. Gotta compose yourself, Bazett. No time to be thrown off. "Maybe you can tell me a little bit more about those rings, or the person who gave them to you. Are they used to denote membership in some kind of mage order? Or were they cursed and forced on you by this person?"
"All of the above, in a manner of speaking." Akemi twists the ring back and forth on her finger as you speak, clearly ill at ease to talk about it. In a tone colder than before, she responds "McRemitz-san, I should be returning to class now if Nurse Ortensia doesn't actually need to speak with me."
You'd like to see if you can get more out of Akemi, but with the sudden shift in tone it's clear that you've hit a brick wall. "Alright then. You can get back to class." Akemi stares at you for a brief moment, before finally leaving.
"So, that was Akemi Homura," you say, quickly jotting down her responses on the back of the page that details her. "She seems nice enough. Intelligent, well-spoken-"
"-And she definitely knows more than she's letting on." Ortensia interjects. You nod your head in agreement.
"Exactly. When I have the time, I'll do some investigating into the residences of her, Tomoe, and Kure. In the mean time," your stomach rumbles, louder than before. "Do you happen to know where I can get some good grub in this city?"
[ ] Wat do?
