09 – Playing FGO Is Justice
"Anyway, let's deal with this problem first," Shirou said to the pink-haired girl.
"Okay, please look at this," Mash nodded obediently and pulled out her phone, displaying a map on the screen.
It showed a panoramic view of the Tokyo metropolitan area, marked with several red circles of varying sizes.
One of them was moving, and a few had black crosses drawn through them.
"You should recognize the places marked on this map, right?" Mash asked.
Shirou looked at the locations and nodded. "Yeah, these are all places where incidents happened..." He remembered clearly because he'd always been concerned about those accidents.
"Senpai is correct. These are all locations where disasters have occurred. They were marked using the magical detection devices of my organization, Chaldea, which sensed the magical signatures of monsters. The bigger the red dot, the more dangerous the area.
The places marked with black crosses are those I've already cleared of spatial distortions. And this newly appeared large red dot is currently on the move.
Three days ago, it was in Minato Ward of Tokyo, two days ago it was in Chūō Ward, and yesterday it was in Shinjuku.
If I'm right, today the monster will appear here in Chiba! Judging by the magical readings, this one's probably a big guy," Mash said as she traced a line across the map with her finger.
The red points she marked were connected by that line, and the movement route of the large red dot formed a diagonal line—visibly easy to follow.
"Isn't that near our school? Isn't that dangerous?" Shirou asked in surprise.
"These phantasmal species appearing here might have some purpose. This large red-dot monster seems to possess a high level of intelligence. It's probably coming for me. But there are still many parts I don't understand," Mash said.
"Can you predict exactly where the monster will appear? We have to stop it quickly. This is near a school—what if the students are attacked?" Shirou said with a furrowed brow.
No matter what, he had to prevent such a thing from happening.
"Don't worry, Senpai. Everyone is safe. These monsters from another world are confined inside distorted spaces created by the world's defensive barriers. This world has strong resistance mechanisms against foreign invaders.
Moreover, the world guides living beings to avoid dangerous places in subtle ways. Creatures around these areas will subconsciously sense danger. They might suddenly feel their
heartbeat accelerate, get chills, or feel stomach pain—things like that—and naturally stay away," Mash reassured him.
"I see..." Shirou nodded, then recalled today's odd events and asked, "Based on what you're saying, the school letting students go home early, and the fact that none of the other archery club members showed up for morning practice today… Does that mean the monster will likely appear right at the school?"
"That's very likely! Senpai, are you good at deduction?" Mash asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up.
"If we fight in the distorted space, will it be safe?" Shirou asked.
Mash shook her head and continued explaining: "No, even that kind of destruction is dangerous. If the damage a monster causes to the walls of a distorted space exceeds a certain threshold, it will indirectly affect this world. The accidents in the news before were caused by this.
If something happens inside this space and a human dies, they really die. Dead lives won't come back. You can't pretend it didn't happen. It'll just be made to look logical.
The world will twist the cause of death into something else—like a car accident or a sudden heart attack. But once someone dies, it's irreversible," Mash said sadly, as though remembering something.
Seeing Mash's expression, Shirou could sense that she had experienced sadness like he had. He had felt before that Mash was somehow different from the average schoolgirl. Beneath her gentle appearance was a resilient heart. But that kind of strength—something only forged through hardship—was the kind that made a person feel most protective.
So that's how it is...
"I get it! I absolutely won't let that happen!" Shirou clenched his fists, making a vow deep in his heart—to stay by the girl's side and fight to the end. He would protect the happiness of everyone at school.
"Don't worry, Senpai! It's okay—even if someone accidentally gets caught up in the distorted space and meets a monster, as long as they're playing FGO, Chaldea will definitely find a way to protect them! A Heroic Spirit will protect the Master they acknowledge," Mash said with a smile, seeing her Senpai fired up.
"Even though this world suppresses all mystical forces, the FGO system specially crafted by Da Vinci, using over ten Holy Grails from various parallel worlds, is an exception!
The Masters playing the game develop faith and emotional bonds with their favorite Servants, supplying the energy needed for them to exist in this world. In turn, the Heroic Spirits respond to summons from Masters they acknowledge or resonate with.
That's why playing FGO is justice! Every Master is a Hero of Justice! Shirou-senpai, let's go save the world together!" Mash shouted with passion.
"...Haah. Is that so?" Shirou stared at the FGO game icon on his phone and wondered—could this be some sort of cult recruitment scheme?
Just then, the school bell for class rang.
"The monster is expected to appear again when no one is at school. Let's meet after school! Don't worry, this world's barrier is very tough—normal monsters could pound on it for two or three years and still not get through," Mash said cheerfully, then dashed off to class.
Shirou didn't know what to say. He just watched the girl's retreating figure as she sprinted away.
'What kind of experiences did this underclassman go through to be so nonchalant during such a serious moment, acting like it's just a game? And... give me back my emotional moment from earlier!'
That afternoon after school, as expected, all the teachers and students left the campus on their own, and Shirou met up with Mash outside the archery club.
"To fight those monsters, all we need is this mobile game FGO! Playing FGO is justice, and playing FGO is saving the world!
After all, Shirou-senpai, you had the qualities from the start!
In my world, you're one of the top fighters! Not to mention, your cooking is ranked among the best in Chaldea!"
"Even though the Heroic Spirit summoning system and the connection to the Throne of Heroes in Chaldea is unstable now, and the Emiya Servant has vanished and hasn't appeared since... If it's you, Senpai, I'm sure you could summon him again from the Throne.
He's your most compatible Servant—you'll definitely unlock great power together."
"Senpai, become a Heroic Spirit! Nicknamed the 'Nuclear Sword Saint', open Unlimited Blade Works! You'll have weapons to counter every attribute! Cut down gods! Slay Buddhas! Saber-class Emiya is so cool! Must get max Noble Phantasm! And when five-star Saber Muramasa Shirou appears—Cursed Blade in hand—who can rival him?! Gotta whale for him!"
"Wait! Hold on, Mash! I don't have the ability to become a Heroic Spirit! And who the heck is Muramasa Shirou? Never even heard of him!" Shirou cut her off, confused by Mash's over-the-top hype.
"Eh? How could that be? Didn't you summon Heroic Spirit Emiya? Shouldn't you have automatically completed a possession summon and become a pseudo-Servant?" Mash asked in confusion.
"I'm standing here alive and breathing—how could I be a Servant? Besides, I drew this one!" Shirou said, annoyed, pulling out his phone and showing Mash the character: Merlin.
"No way!" Mash stared at the screen in disbelief. "Senpai, you actually drew a gold card! Five stars! FIVE STARS! And it's Merlin?!"
"Hey! Is this really the time to be amazed by that?" Shirou retorted.
"Did something go wrong? I have to contact Da Vinci!" Mash said, clearly puzzled.
She'd been grinding her account for so long with just a three-star team, used up all her Saint Quartz, hadn't even seen a single four-star, and thought the account was just cursed—so she gave it away.
How did Senpai pull a top-tier SSR the very next day?
"This is so weird! What's going on?!" Mash was totally unable to accept reality.
"No! The weird one here is you!" Shirou snapped.
Thanks to past life memories, he wasn't unfamiliar with Heroic Spirits or Chaldea, and he understood some things about phantasmal species. But he and the ditzy girl were clearly not on the same page.
Shouldn't this be a tense, crisis-level moment where they're dealing with a monster?
Why did it feel like this girl wasn't taking the battle seriously at all?
Just then, the ground began to shake. The sky suddenly went dark, and a deafening rumble of thunder echoed above, like the roar of a giant beast.