Six months have passed since I summoned Caster.
That means it's been six months since I've used the nuclear bunker-level workshop.
“Is it really okay for it to be this quiet? What on earth is the Holy Grail War?”
What about the bloody battles to the death? The fierce strategic duels between magi?
There are none.
The peaceful daily life continues. So much so that it feels awkward.
Of course, there have been some small changes in my life as well.
“Hey. I’m here. Is the nurse in?"
“Grandma, you're here again today. Have you come for your physical therapy?”
“That’s right. That water massage thing, was it? I can't live a single day without it. I just can't!”
“I'll get it ready for you right away.”
The hospital is thriving thanks to a beautiful nurse, or,
“Is the young bachelor slacking off again? Your wife is working so hard, you should be ashamed of yourself!”
“Ma'am, I'm in charge of surgery. Stitching up wounds, cutting open bellies, that sort of thing. Physical therapy is not my... ”
“All you do is wear a gown and read books. What do you mean you're in charge of... Tsk, tsk!”
“And my nurse is not my wife, she's my relative.”
Getting mercilessly criticized while reading a book, and so on....
It's a simple but interesting daily life.
“Grandma. The director is quite busy in his own way. He works hard late into the night for the hospital, so he needs to rest in the morning, you see?”
“Oh my. His wife is an angel, an angel.”
“Alright. It's all ready, so please follow me.”
Caster took the fussy old woman's hand and got on the elevator.
I was grateful she took her away so quickly.
Old ladies are tough and hard to deal with.
Before the elevator doors closed, she smiled at me.
She also waved her free hand amiably.
I didn't react at all. To be precise, I couldn't.
Caster.
Her True Name might be Tonelico.
Sundays, when we only have morning consultations, are our unspoken outing days.
We would read books together at the library or take a walk in Fuyuki's city center.
Caster especially liked to make me fall into the swamp of knowledge.
She would force me to sit in the library and bring a mountain of books, stacking them into a tower.
And then she would drill it into me.
Current events, humanities, social studies, philosophy, science, art, history, culture....
Caster's teaching was so professional that you could say I learned everything except religion.
I couldn't understand why she liked teaching so much.
But I could feel that she was genuinely happy, at least when she was teaching me.
Therefore, I poured all my strength into forcibly awakening my brain, which had been dormant for hundreds of years,
and successfully failed to understand her teachings.
It wasn't that Caster was lacking.
In order to teach someone, you need to know ten times the amount you want to teach.
Caster knew not ten, but twenty times as much, and the amount of her knowledge would not be inferior even when compared to professors considered the top in their respective fields.
However, Caster was too smart.
How could a commoner keep up with the brain of a genius?
-Why can't you understand this?
-If I understood the reason why I can't understand, I would have understood your teaching.
Understanding for the sake of understanding understanding. The understanding of that understanding....
In the agony of a Gestalt collapse, half of Caster's teachings became meaningless.
It was a regrettable matter.
Caster focused on teaching me for several months, but soon realized it was a futile endeavor and changed her course.
Instead of academic discussions, a game full of wit and fun.
The True Name guessing game.
Caster, who was disappointed that I didn't recognize her from our first meeting, is eagerly awaiting for me to figure out her True Name.
We spent almost all our time together.
It was under the pretext of protecting the Master, the most important personnel in the Holy Grail War.
We cooked together, worked at the hospital, walked in the park....
Naturally, we sleep in separate rooms. Don't get any strange ideas.
You could say we spend all our time together except for when we're sleeping, and Caster would occasionally drop hints.
-I used to wear glasses in the past.
When she dropped a hint like that, I would write it down in my notebook.
The game of guessing her True Name by collecting the hints she gave was a fairly easy game to enjoy for a long time.
Of the hints I've collected so far, even just laying out the key ones, it was this much.
Lived in the land of present-day England.
Is a fairy.
Acted while hiding her identity.
Specializes in water magecraft.
Dreamed of a country where everyone could live in harmony, but did not see it to the end.
Lived with an older brother, an older sister, and a mother.
Was a princess.
Including the miscellaneous ones, it was more than enough to fill half a notebook.
Things like she likes bread, or she used to wear glasses.
...At this point, there was no way I couldn't know.
Servants who are summoned are usually Heroic Spirits who have a good compatibility with me.
For me, who has connections from a past life like Tamamo-no-Mae or Gilgamesh, I have an overwhelming advantage in terms of overall aspects.
Because I myself can become the catalyst needed for a catalyst summoning.
Of course, that's only when the other Servant responds, but theoretically, that's how it is.
There's a possibility that Caster also has a connection with me... no, she is a Heroic Spirit with a connection.
She knew me from the moment she was summoned.
Even though I've gone through countless reincarnations, my face, at least, has not changed.
Black hair + East Asian appearance.
Even when Gilgamesh changed me to have blonde hair and red eyes, my face remained the same.
It's not strange that Caster recognized me at a glance, if we have a connection.
A Heroic Spirit with a connection from a past life.
And if I combine all the hints mentioned above, only one person comes to mind.
Tonelico.
The fairy of paradise who was my younger sister.
But in the end, I broke my promise to her.
I didn't get on the boat that carried everyone's hopes; I pushed it away.
“...Why did she respond to my summons?”
I washed my face in my hands and pondered, but no answer came.
Time passed, and Caster and the grandmother, having finished their physical therapy, came down to the first floor.
They looked at me and whispered conspiratorially, then parted as if nothing had happened.
“Take care! Hold on to the railing when you go down the hill!”
“Thank you.”
The patient left, and once again, it was just the two of us in the hospital.
Because of my thoughts from a moment ago, I couldn't look at her properly.
I buried my head in a book, pretending to be as normal as ever, but it seemed Caster had noticed.
“Are you worried about something?”
“...There is.”
I wanted to beat around the bush, but I held back.
Tonelico sees through lies.
No matter what I say, she will eventually find out the truth. There's no point in hiding it.
It was for the same reason that I had spouted nothing but lies to her right before I met my end on Orkney.
It was a scene too cruel to describe with my own mouth. A terrible record.
“What are you worried about? As your Servant, I want to help my Master.”
I drummed my fingers on the arm of the chair.
It's less a worry and more something I'm curious about.
Tonelico did not see the tragedy of that day.
She was unconscious on the departing boat, and by the time she woke up, I had sent the boat away from the island.
So, did Tonelico ever find out in the end?
Did she, who left the island weeping mournfully, ever know that a grief even greater had burned the island to the ground?
I felt a constricting pain in my chest.
“...Can you answer me seriously?”
“I am your Servant. You don't need to hesitate.”
It's a bridge that must be crossed.
Not as Servant and Master, but as beings who were connected in a past life.
“Do you know how your family in your past life died?”
Tonelico made an expression I had never seen before.
It wasn't that her face was distorted with anger,
or that she wore a look of sorrow.
“...Why are you asking that now? Isn't the order wrong?”
There was nothing.
Emotionless. Expressionless. The very definition of numb.
What lies at the end of that?
That was the most important question.
What kind of second life she lived after leaving the island and landing on the mainland is a question for later.
“No. This is right.”
I still wasn't sure if crossing this bridge was the right decision.
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