I wake up. As I open my eyes, I see the ceiling of the dark room.
I… I did it in my dream.
Worried I might have had a wet dream, I immediately check my lower body, but thankfully, everything seems fine.
I slowly sit up. On either side of me, Olga Marie and Mash are sleeping soundly. Thank goodness they're properly dressed. But why is Olga Marie here?
I decide to stop thinking too deeply about it. The more I think, the more the jumbled memories from the dream come back.
My face flushing, I quietly get out of bed and head to the washroom. I quickly get ready for the day, then come out and check the clock.
7 AM. A normal time to wake up, rather than an early one. I leave the two of them sleeping and exit the room.
With Ryuuji gone, it should be fine to leave them in the room.
I don't see Ritsuka, so I go looking for her.
After looking around, I enter the lounge and find Ritsuka there, eating a piece of cake.
"Ah, good morning?"
"When did you wake up?"
"Ahaha, in the middle of the night? I couldn't sleep, so I was just talking with BB for a bit."
She was with BB in the middle of the night. Right, so it really was a dream. To think I'd have a dream like that about Ritsuka. What a disgusting person I am. No matter how pent-up I was, how could I have that kind of dream about Ritsuka?
I can only imagine how hurt Ritsuka must have been back then. And I, knowing that, still do this. I'm a terrible person.
I sit down in front of Ritsuka, deciding to spend some time talking with her.
"Today's the day we summon a Servant. Are you excited?"
"I don't know."
If it's a woman, I'm worried whether she'll be normal like Parvati or not. Even if it's a man, I'm worried we might get someone like Douman. It's more worry than excitement. In a world like this, I can't let my guard down. I just want something I can believe in and feel safe with.
"I'm more worried than excited. To be honest, I'm a little worried about living so peacefully like this."
"Why?"
"…Ryuuji. If that guy is in the France Singularity, then I'm of the opinion that we should go there as soon as possible."
"Because you want to teach him a lesson?"
"There's that, too. But fundamentally, it's to prevent the casualties he'll cause."
There are many female Servants in the France Singularity. There must be women of that era, too. They'll become Ryuuji's prey. To prevent that, we have to go quickly.
"Casualties… Shou, is there really a need for you to worry about that?"
Ritsuka looked at me as if she didn't understand what I was saying.
"Well, according to what you said, the Servants there are all the ones who betrayed me, right? Do we really need to care about them?"
"You're right. All the female Servants there have a history of betraying you."
"Then."
"But that hasn't happened yet. In this world, it's something that hasn't occurred."
They certainly betrayed Ritsuka and hurt both of us. But in this world, that hasn't happened yet. They aren't fundamentally bad people. I have no intention of making them our allies, but even so, we can prevent them from becoming victims, can't we?
"I have no intention of just standing by and watching the same thing happen again. In a way, they are also victims of this world's twisted rules. Of course, I'm not defending them. It's just… I don't want to see them broken."
"They're strangers who have nothing to do with us. Is there any need for you to be so thoughtful, Shou? Weren't you on bad terms with them?"
"We were on bad terms. Never good ones. But Ritsuka, if there's someone I can save, someone within my reach… I want to save them."
I have power now. I'm different from that helpless version of me back then. To stand by and watch when I have the power to save them… I don't want to do that anymore.
"I don't have some grand ambition to create a world where no one gets hurt. I just want to save the people within my reach. Yeah, maybe it's a lingering regret. Perhaps… a regret for not being able to save you?"
It might be regret. In the past, despite having memories of my previous life, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save Ritsuka; all I could offer were empty words of comfort.
It broke my heart to see the heroes I loved and admired become corrupted and broken. While I resented them, I couldn't bring myself to hate them unconditionally. I just resented this world.
But. Now that I have the power to defy this world and save people… Now, I can stop so many from ending up like that.
"I'm going to kill him. With my own hands. I had thoughts of making him suffer a slow death, but… if his very existence is what breaks so many people, then I'll set aside my personal grudge and just kill him for peace of mind."
"Do you really have to be the one to get blood on your hands, Shou?"
"I'm the one who went through that time. So, I'll do it for your sake as well. I can't let someone else do it for me. I have to do it with my own hands."
Ryuuji. I will kill him with my own hands in France. I'm the only one who experienced that time.
Therefore, I will kill him on behalf of everyone from back then. I don't care if my hands get dirty. It's better than letting Ritsuka dirty hers, right? I won't let anyone else do it. With my own hands, I will do it.
===============================
After Shou left, Ritsuka remained alone, leaning her back against the wall.
"You seem troubled."
BB appeared before Ritsuka. She could manifest anywhere within Chaldea. Ritsuka slowly turned her head and gazed at BB.
"BB. Am I wrong?"
"No."
BB answered Ritsuka's question immediately. It didn't matter what she had done wrong. BB defended Ritsuka, saying she was never wrong.
Ritsuka looked up at the ceiling, her head resting against the wall.
"You know, I thought it didn't matter what happened to them. Because I hate them. I hate them, I resent them so, so much."
Ritsuka slowly bent forward, lowering her head. Her face was cast in shadow.
"If they had simply betrayed us, that might have been one thing. But it didn't end there, did it? Shou doesn't know, does he? He doesn't know what those hideous people are really like, does he?"
Ritsuka covered her face with her right hand, which trembled uncontrollably. The three red Command Spells on the back of her hand flickered with static and noise.
BB watched this with a dark expression.
"Shou is so consistent. He always gives people a chance, thinks they'll be different, always worries about others like that. I hate it."
"Senpai."
"It was like that back then, too. Yes, he must have forgotten that you can't trust the women of this world. It must be that, there's no other reason. Ugh, Shou is too kind for his own good. No, that's why he accepted and saved a broken person like me. That's the problem. He's so kind he gets taken advantage of. It was the same back then. He said Servants were different. He believed that because they were divided spirits, newly summoned ones would be different."
"Senpai."
"And that's what led to that. He forgot that this world is fundamentally flawed. It's because he forgot that in this world, you can't trust the creatures known as women!"
"Senpai!"
At BB's shout, Ritsuka stopped her incoherent muttering. She lowered her hand and slowly straightened up.
"I hate it. BB, I… I'm afraid Shou will end up broken like me. I'm afraid it will be just like that time."
Ritsuka shed tears as she recalled the memories of that day.
In the past, they had failed to restore the Human Order, and a man named Shou had died.
The reason for his death was simple.
It wasn't because he was defeated.
It was because he was betrayed.
He was betrayed by the Servants he had trusted, and met his end.
He wasn't killed by an enemy, but by those who should have been his allies.
That was the reason Ritsuka hated the female Servants of this world.
Not just once, but twice, the women of this world who had experienced certain events were always like that. It was a system where only the righteous suffered and were victimized.
"I hate this world! I hate that Shou cares about women like them, worries about them! They all end up betraying him! In the end, Shou is the only one who gets hurt! Why, why does it have to be this way! Wasn't it enough that they broke me, now they have to do it to Shou, too! I hate it, I hate this world and I hate the women in it!"
Even without a man like Ryuuji, nothing would change. This world was structured that way; the disappearance of one man who seemed like the root of all evil wouldn't change a thing.
In the end, was it their fate to be betrayed, abandoned, and broken? Ritsuka had already suffered far more than Shou knew and was broken beyond repair.
Her only sanctuary was not anyone else, but Shou.
And the world had taken him away from her.
"Calm down, Senpai. It's different now. Back then, you weren't the Master. It's different now."
"I know. I know, but I'm still scared. I'm scared they'll take my Shou away again. I'm scared Shou will suffer, that he'll become like me. I hate that he shows any interest in women like them."
She was already mentally traumatized again. BB embraced her, and from BB's lips came Shou's voice.
"I'm okay, Ritsuka. So, please don't be scared. When you're like this, I get so worried about you I can't sleep."
Hearing Shou's voice, Ritsuka hugged BB tightly.
The person known as Fujimaru Ritsuka had been mentally broken for a long time. She had only regained her stability because a person named Kuriyama Shou was by her side. Without him, she would break all over again.
"It's okay, Senpai. It's different now. I understand why you were so desperate that you resorted to using drugs. You just wanted to feel safe and secure as quickly as possible, right?"
Drugging Mash and Olga Marie to gaslight them, and making Shou have a sexual encounter in reality that he thought was a dream… it was all because she was afraid.
She was afraid that if she didn't grasp a stable happiness quickly, it would be stolen from her and she would be broken before she could. Her methods were wrong and could be condemned as overly hasty, but she had already been pushed to the edge.
BB understood all of that about her.
Remembering what happened to Ritsuka after Shou died, how she went mad in her final moments, BB wore a sad expression as she recalled the Ritsuka of that time, who had shed tears of blood as she rampaged, killing everyone.
"It's different now. You can be happy now. Please, calm down, Senpai."
The previous timeline.
The world had been destroyed.
It wasn't something like the Incineration of Humanity.
Everything had been destroyed and wiped out by the Seventh Beast.
By a Beast that hated and despised this world so much.
That Beast was now, in front of one man, playing the part of a helpless, ordinary, and pure girl. To remain the girl he knew, the girl he loved.