A dazzling flash filled Yuuki Asagami's room.
Then Yuuki stared down at the thing on the floor with numb eyes, silent for a long time.
It wasn't a combat skill.
It wasn't a lifestyle skill.
It was an item.
This was only Yuuki's second time using the gacha—and the first time he'd obtained something physical from the Fate System—so for a moment he didn't even know what to do with it.
It was a massive greatsword, imposing and brutal. About 150 centimeters long, with a blade nearly 30 centimeters wide at its broadest point. The whole thing was an icy blue—clearly not something a normal person could even lift.
Yuuki gripped the hilt with one hand and tried to pull.
It didn't budge.
He used both hands. He pulled, dragged, kicked, and yanked.
Still nothing.
"What the hell…"
[Moonlight Greatsword A-]
[Strength Requirement: 16][Insufficient]
[Dexterity Requirement: 11]
[Intelligence Requirement: 38][Insufficient]
[Equipable if two requirements are met.]
[Mana Release available if all three are met.]
[Noble Phantasm True Name Release: A pearl of moonlit hue—bloom with the full moon.]
[Upon release, converts moonlight into a raging torrent for a large forward thrust. Damage gains a bonus based on ambient moonlight intensity. If requirements are not met, release may fail to achieve full effect.]
The moment he gave up, that data appeared in his mind.
"…"
Forget the fact that new numbers had appeared—numbers he didn't even understand.
This was completely unusable.
He'd lucked into an A- item. A Noble Phantasm, even.
And he couldn't equip it.
He couldn't even pick it up.
And why did something that looked so violently "strength-based" demand such absurd Intelligence?
Even if he forced it, he might not be able to release it. If he confidently tried to use it on Araya and it whiffed…
What then—MISS?
Maybe I should just run. Shimokitazawa…
…
"Hah…"
After calming down, Yuuki stored the Moonlight Greatsword away. Thankfully, even physical items could be stored inside him like skills—summoning it out was the same as activating a skill.
When he thought about it carefully, this wasn't so different from twelve years ago.
It was still a life-or-death crisis. This time it was simply in the "mystery" realm—a realm Yuuki didn't understand yet.
Then he'd do what he did back then against the economic crash: plan carefully, then execute step by step.
Slow to fast. Steady progress. The stronger the enemy, the more he had to advance cautiously—
A spark of inspiration shot through Yuuki's mind like electricity—only to be smashed apart by sudden pain.
"Tch… ngh… no—wait…"
His stomach… hurts…
No. This is way too much—
Yuuki's face went paper-white. His lips darkened. He tried to call for help—
Then his vision went black.
He collapsed.
...
...
...
Five days later, early July. Around dusk.
Forgotten memory was like paper wiped clean.
It looked blank, but if you touched it, you could feel indentations—traces of what had once been there.
In the hospital restroom, watching toilet paper vanish under rushing water, Yuuki found himself thinking that.
It had been five days since the night he collapsed from pain. He'd been in the hospital the whole time. They'd wanted him to stay a full week, but this was different from before.
If he wanted to deal with Araya's threat, time was tighter than ever.
Yuuki planned to be discharged today.
[Parallel Processing C-] allowed him to split his thinking—consider different matters simultaneously, then combine the conclusions to accelerate thought.
Now that he'd chosen a direction, Yuuki used the ability daily for two things:
One: refining his plan.
Two: picking up the remnants of memory, trying to reconstruct his student-day recollections—more specifically, his recollections of the story of Kara no Kyoukai.
At the same time, Yuuki developed a new hypothesis about how Fate Power was gained.
He had only gained Fate Power twice before.
Once: the day Tokyo property prices crashed. Even conservatively, more than half of the company's Tokyo holdings remained at the time. Although Yuuki had prepared by investing heavily into relatively stable public works—schools, roads, bridges—the company still nearly collapsed.
The second time: when he first met Fujino. The instant their eyes met, Yuuki knew he couldn't abandon her. He paid a significant price, entrusting his most trusted person—maid Tama—to her.
Combining those two moments with the timing of the system's awakening, Yuuki suspected:
Fate Power could only be gained when facing a genuine turning-point crisis—one that truly counted as a life-changing predicament.
His current Fate Power balance was 1.
Yes—on the night the system reactivated, he'd faced yet another crisis.
The corpse demon's flesh wasn't something a human could casually swallow and digest. He'd vomited most of it—but some remained.
Worse than the taste, it was poisonous at the root.
Fortunately, Mifune City's hospital was decent. Fujino had heard him collapse, woke up in time, and called for help, preventing the toxin from spreading further and destroying his liver and kidneys.
In the end, it was treated as acute gastroenteritis, plus rabies and tetanus shots.
As for his plan, Yuuki decided to stop thinking about defeating Araya head-on.
Shiki didn't have Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Touko Aozaki hadn't moved to Mifune City yet. Garan no Dou didn't exist yet. Yuuki had only a Noble Phantasm he couldn't use and three skills with no damage.
It was hopeless.
However, if the target wasn't Araya himself, but the pieces he moved…
That might be manageable.
At this point in time, those pieces weren't impossible to negotiate with.
And negotiation—dealing with people—was Yuuki's strong suit.
To push Shiki's transformation, Araya carefully selected three pawns.
Yuuki could neutralize those three pawns ahead of time.
There were three "phase bosses"…
First: the double-bodied drifter clinging to death—Kirie Fujou—currently hospitalized in Fujou Building. She was alone, with the pressure of medical fees she couldn't afford. Money was something Yuuki could solve. More important was reaching her before Araya did.
Second: the one who touched death and found joy in it—the "existence-incompatible" being—Yuuki's sister Fujino Asagami. For now, whether by coincidence or luck, Fujino was harmless and lacked the qualities to be chosen. With Tama still protecting her, Fujino's safety remained intact.
Instead, Yuuki suspected he himself had been noticed first—as a spare pawn candidate…
Either way, he could at least avoid being alone too often. If it came to it, he could still try to run.
The last: Araya's discarded pawn—the serial killer who threaded through the entire story—Lio Shirazumi, a senior at their school.
Yuuki had met him before—same school, after all—and it had been just last month. Lio had confessed to Shiki and been rejected brutally.
Yuuki had heard it from others. And because Yuuki and Shiki were relatively close, Yuuki could sense it: despite Lio's gentle surface, he seemed to resent Yuuki.
"That guy… he seems to hate anyone who gets close to Shiki… Fine. The priority is contact him first, then render him harmless."
For Araya, time wasn't so urgent. If his preparations became unusable, he'd likely rebuild them.
That extended the timeline—buying Yuuki time against the "final boss."
Within that time, Yuuki needed to gain control of the Noble Phantasm and obtain more skills.
"These past few days have been rough. I wonder what Shiki's doing right now."
Muttering, Yuuki changed clothes in his hospital room, finished discharge paperwork, and stepped out the hospital doors.
And there, on a bench in the little park by the entrance, sat Shiki Ryougi herself.
-------
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