Chapter 76 - Gudako and Shirou
In a deep blue-black space, a vortex spun rapidly.
Bathed in white light, a girl materialized inside Chaldea's Rayshift apparatus.
Shortly after, Shirou was also transported to Chaldea, accompanied by Da Vinci.
Having returned to Chaldea just moments earlier, Gudako's eyes lit up in delight when she saw the boy suddenly appear in the transport chamber.
"Ah! Shirou-mama! You came here too?"
'Wait a second! I don't recall ever having a daughter like you!' Shirou stared at the orange-red-haired girl in red clothing that looked oddly familiar and asked with a confused expression, "Have we met before?"
"Hm? Ah, I see… So for you right now, Shirou-senpai, this is actually our first meeting, huh?" Gudako said, resting her chin in her hand.
"What's going on?" Shirou asked, puzzled.
"Well, you'll find out sooner or later! Nice to meet you—I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka, Shirou-senpai! Just call me Gudako! I'll respect you like a parent!"
Gudako clung to Shirou's arm affectionately as she spoke.
'Parent?' Shirou blinked in surprise.
It wasn't even 8 PM yet and suddenly he had a daughter?
At that moment, the pink-haired girl walked over.
"Gudako-senpai! You're back?!" Mash asked excitedly.
"Ah! Mash, I'm back too!" Gudako happily ran over and hugged the pink-haired girl.
"Gudako-senpai! I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Mash!"
The two girls embraced each other tightly.
"Let me check how much you've grown!" Gudako said playfully, reaching out her hand like she'd done many times before.
"Senpai…" Mash blushed deeply.
Meanwhile, Shirou was speaking with Da Vinci, asking about the details of the current situation.
"Mash can't participate in this battle?" Shirou asked.
With her strong defensive capabilities, she would've been a great asset.
Da Vinci shook her head. "Mash isn't in any condition to go to that world right now. Even though in your world she was able to fight using the FGO system created by the Holy Grail…"
"In reality, she's lost contact with the Heroic Spirit inside her body.
She can't transform into a Demi-Servant, and her magic circuits have gone 'rusty,' so to speak. We don't know why, but they won't activate. In her current state, she's not fit to fight in a singularity."
"The summoning of Heroic Spirits through the smartphone-based FGO system is essentially a weakened version of divine possession.
It borrows someone's body to summon a weakened version of a Heroic Spirit, at the cost of their full power. The process is limited by mana output, time, and more.
Besides, many Heroic Spirits' abilities and combat styles come with serious side effects—mental instability, negative emotions, physical suffering—that normal humans can't endure.
To make it easier for the host to understand and use their Heroic Spirit's power, I simplified their skills down to three basic abilities, just like in the game.
Even so, to fully draw out even a limited Heroic Spirit's power, the host must have 100% compatibility and be able to communicate heart-to-heart.
In your previous world, the invading monsters were also limited, so battles were relatively fair. But now, we're dealing with an unstable singularity—it's simply too dangerous," Da Vinci explained.
"Mash never told me any of that," Shirou frowned, then added, "Isn't there any treatment for her condition? She doesn't seem to be in pain or anything. I could make her a special health soup every day—like pork-rib and papaya broth to promote growth and nourishment…"
Da Vinci retorted, "That soup is for beauty and bust enhancement, isn't it? Anyway, don't worry. Mash's condition just needs some time to naturally recover. I was planning to have her interact with others more after things settled down—maybe even send her to school."
"That's already happening. Mash is really enjoying her school life. She's very enthusiastic, both in academics and PE," Shirou said.
"Yeah, even a genius like me didn't expect it to happen this way. Just one thing after another," Da Vinci sighed.
"But hasn't Mash been in my world for over a year already? Why hasn't she recovered?" Shirou asked, confused.
"Shirou, the flow of time in parallel worlds doesn't match Chaldea's. There are cases where someone spends hundreds of years adrift in another world, but when they return, only a day has passed here. How long do you think it's been in Chaldea since Mash left?"
Without waiting for his reply, Da Vinci answered, "Not even two months. In fact, ever since the incident, time and space here have been acting strangely. We've completely lost contact with the outside world, and Sheba can't detect anything. If the clocks weren't still ticking, I'd honestly suspect time had stopped altogether."
"I see…" Shirou nodded.
Now that he thought about it, it really hadn't felt like much time had passed since his last visit to Chaldea.
"This sudden singularity—I'm certain it's connected to the changes happening in our world. That's why I want to ask you to accompany Gudako and help resolve the issue.
If things go smoothly, by the time you return, only a few hours will have passed in your world. It won't interfere with your other life," Da Vinci said.
Shirou nodded. "That would be ideal. I already agreed to help from the start—after all, this is for the sake of saving the world. There's no reason to refuse."
Gudako looked at Shirou with admiration. "You really are amazing, Shirou-senpai! I'm so touched! Once we get there, let's call Rin-senpai on the phone, okay? As long as it's not a critical moment, she's actually very reliable!"
"Eh? Rin? You mean Tohsaka Rin?" The image of that familiar black-haired girl popped into Shirou's mind.
He had once chosen to part ways with her to save the world—she even kicked him into the Thames River.
After that, she stayed in Britain for her studies, and before his death, he'd heard she had returned to Fuyuki.
But from how Gudako called her "senpai," it seemed like the Rin she knew was still quite young—likely one without those memories.
"I bet if Rin-senpai hears you're here, she'll come rushing over just to kick you again!" Gudako said, looking excited as she pulled out her phone.