I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 438: Ritsuka — Who Would've Thought Donating Blood Could Land Me in an Asylum?
Generally speaking, commercial movies like to start with a bang.
Maybe it's an intense action scene. Maybe it's flashy special effects.
The point isn't necessarily the story itself, but rather to grab the audience by the collar right away—like a storyteller slamming a wooden block on the table to wake everyone up.
Up until now, Shinji had always followed that principle.
For example, in the various FSN films, he opened with Archer fighting Cu Chulainn. In FZ, Shinji deliberately made the summoning scenes for Kiritsugu, Tokiomi, Waver, and Kariya as explosive and dramatic as possible.
But FGO: Prologue was different.
Because of the structure of the script, the movie's first real explosion didn't happen until fifteen minutes in.
That was also one of the reasons Shinji believed this film wasn't suited for theaters. The opening pace was simply too slow to hook audiences, and the dark atmosphere of a cinema would only make viewers restless.
By comparison, watching at home on a computer or TV would probably feel much more comfortable.
Even so, impatient viewers like Aoko were already running out of patience.
Thankfully, the first explosion had finally arrived, and the "Shinji Matou-style" plot escalation she'd been waiting for had officially begun.
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"Doctor, what was that just now—?!"
On-screen, Ritsuka clutched his head after being knocked over by the blast and asked anxiously.
"No idea…"
Roman himself looked completely stunned. In all his time at Chaldea, this was the first time he'd ever heard of an earthquake happening there.
Still, Chaldea wasn't like the Tohsaka household where communication depended on yelling at the top of your lungs. Modern equipment was everywhere, and Roman quickly pulled up the control room surveillance feed.
Then both he and Ritsuka froze.
Black smoke. Fire. Ruins.
Those were the only things left in the control room.
At a glance, Ritsuka couldn't even spot a single person.
"Emergency situation! Emergency situation! A fire has broken out in the central power plant and central control room!"
Like police who always arrive late in movies, Chaldea's alarms only started blaring after the explosion had already happened.
"The central sector will be sealed off in ninety seconds! All personnel, evacuate immediately to the Second Gate!"
"Repeat! The central sector—"
Ritsuka had barely explored Chaldea yet, so he had no idea how large the "central sector" actually was.
But from the rapid-fire urgency in the announcement, he could instinctively tell things were very, very bad.
"Doctor! This is seriously bad!"
Ritsuka was just an ordinary Japanese high school student. Naturally, he turned toward the only adult in the room for help.
Roman didn't answer.
His eyes were glued to the screen, his entire body trembling.
"Doctor…"
From their earlier interactions, Ritsuka had already concluded that Roman was the type who would literally die if he couldn't slack off at work.
So if this guy was suddenly acting dead serious, then the situation was probably a hundred times worse than Ritsuka had imagined.
"Fujimaru-kun, evacuate immediately."
Finally snapping out of his shock, Roman issued the order with a grim expression.
"I'll handle things at the control room!"
He shoved Ritsuka out the door before sprinting off in the opposite direction.
"This place will be sealed off soon! Even if it's just you, get outside before then!"
"Doctor—!!"
But the only response was Roman's rapidly disappearing back.
"Go evacuate… but where am I even supposed to go?!"
Ritsuka hesitated in the empty hallway.
"Fou!"
The little white creature at his side immediately dashed after the direction Roman had gone, then turned back and cried at the still-frozen Ritsuka.
"Ah, right! That girl's still in the control room—!"
Only then did Ritsuka remember the bespectacled girl who owned—or at least, who he thought owned—the white creature. The girl who had been unusually kind to him.
Without hesitation, he chased after Roman.
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"Huh. When this guy gets serious, he's actually kinda cool~"
Aoko commented while watching Roman run across the TV screen.
"When he first showed up, I honestly thought he was just some useless deadbeat."
"True," Alice agreed while stroking her chin thoughtfully. "There's never really been a character like him in Shinji Matou's movies before."
"He's way too laid-back."
All of Shinji's films were commercial productions with fast pacing, and his characters were always proactive participants in the plot.
Characters like Roman—who openly slacked off whenever possible—weren't just rare, they practically didn't exist at all.
Alice lightly shook her head.
"This might honestly be the least noticeable major character Sir Matou has ever written. Curling up under a kotatsu like that… he might as well have filmed the guy lying beside a fireplace instead."
Aoko immediately deadpanned.
"That's just changing Japanese-style slacking into British-style slacking, isn't it? That solves nothing."
What neither Aoko nor Alice knew was that Shinji had actually filmed two different introduction scenes for Doctor Roman.
One was the version used in the final movie—Roman lazily hiding under the kotatsu.
The other version?
Roman standing there half-dressed, in the middle of putting on his pants, with Ritsuka opening the door behind him.
Both introductions were references to different FGO manga adaptations.
And honestly, in terms of embarrassment value and unforgettable first impressions, the pants version was the clear winner.
Unfortunately, Roman's agent had begged Shinji to preserve at least a shred of dignity for their client, which was why the kotatsu version ultimately made the cut.
Roman's actor was a rookie Waver had scouted from England. Before this, he had only performed in stage plays, and Prologue was his very first movie.
If his silver-screen debut had really been "guy caught putting on pants," and in a famous Shinji Matou production no less, that gag probably would've followed him for the rest of his acting career.
"But personally, I still think the pants version was better," Shinji said to Charlemagne beside him.
"Your facial expression in that scene was absolutely priceless—"
"—Priceless my ass!"
After spending enough time around Shinji, Charlemagne had fully learned how to swear fluently.
"You never explained what was happening before filming! When I opened the door, I thought the guy wasn't putting on pants—he was taking them off! I was seriously wondering why the hell you didn't just cast Astolfo instead!"
Shinji answered regretfully, "If Astolfo could act even a little smarter, I honestly wouldn't have needed to hire a rookie actor."
"Damn it, so you actually did think about that option?!"
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As the scene changed, the audience followed Roman's perspective into the control room, now reduced to ruins.
Looking at the devastation before him, Roman didn't even know where to begin.
"Doctor!"
Only after Ritsuka called out to him did Roman notice the two little stragglers following behind.
"Fujimaru-kun, didn't I tell you to evacuate?"
Ritsuka ignored the question entirely and immediately asked: "What happened to everyone who was here?"
Before leaving earlier, there should've been at least forty-seven Masters in the control room, one eggplant, and the director herself.
But now, aside from blazing flames, Ritsuka couldn't even spot a single human hair.
"No idea. The only thing we can confirm is still intact… is Chaldeas floating above us."
Roman narrowed his eyes.
"I'm afraid this wasn't an accident. This was deliberate sabotage."
"Sabotage…? But how…"
Ritsuka's eyes widened.
He had assumed an organization operating under the United Nations would be incredibly secure.
So how had it ended up getting attacked by terrorists like the Pearl Harbor?
Beep beep beep—
The communicator on Roman's wrist suddenly sounded an alarm.
"The facility's power output is dropping."
Roman let out a tired sigh.
"I need to head to the underground power plant. You go back the way you came. Immediately."
Probably worried Ritsuka would ignore him, Roman emphasized it one more time before leaving.
"Go straight back to your room. And whatever you do, don't take any detours!"
Unfortunately, Roman—being a character inside the story—didn't know that Ritsuka was the protagonist of this movie.
And in cinema history, there had never once been a main character who obediently listened after being told not to wander off.
Still, compared to those protagonists driven purely by reckless curiosity, Ritsuka at least had a far more legitimate reason for disobeying.
He spotted a leg trapped beneath a slab of rubble.
"Are you okay?! I'll get you out right now!"
Without hesitation, Ritsuka rushed over and shoved the slab aside with all his strength.
Fortunately, the person pinned beneath it was the eggplant he'd been worrying about this whole time—Mash.
Unfortunately…
A jagged piece of metal had pierced straight through her abdomen.
Even though Ritsuka had never studied medicine, he knew injuries on this level weren't something a doctor could simply patch up.
Saving her would practically be asking the attending physician to perform a miracle.
Yet standing before a wounded girl while being completely powerless to help—
The helplessness and guilt crashed into Ritsuka all at once.
His entire body trembled as he stood there, not knowing what to do.
[Right! Roman's a doctor! If it's him, he should be able to do something! But should I go find him first… or try emergency treatment here?! What am I supposed to do?!]
Compared to the utterly panicked Ritsuka, Mash—the one actually injured—was far calmer.
"Senpai… the fact that you understood the situation so quickly… really helps…"
Mash struggled to breathe. Having lost too much blood, she no longer even had the strength to press down on her wound.
"So… Senpai… please hurry and escape…"
[If you leave now… maybe you can still return to your normal life…]
Knowing Ritsuka had only gotten dragged into this mess by coincidence, Mash didn't want to involve him any further.
At the very end of her life, all she wished for was for this "Senpai" to make it home safely.
Unfortunately, Chaldea's broadcast shattered that hope completely.
"Warning! Warning! Chaldeas' status has changed!"
"Sheba's near-future observation records have now been rewritten!"
"Latest conclusion: Within the next century on Earth, traces of humanity—undetectable. Humanity's survival—unconfirmed. Humanity's future—cannot be guaranteed."
"Survival? Future? What is that even supposed to mean?"
The flood of technical jargon instantly overloaded Ritsuka's brain.
At that moment, he looked exactly like Haruki Natsukawa getting dragged into Z's dark room for the first time.
He understood every individual word, but once those words were put together, his brain simply refused to process the meaning.
Or rather, his worldview rejected it outright.
The extinction of human civilization? Come on, this wasn't some science-fiction movie.
Mash, who had spent her entire life inside Chaldea, naturally understood what was happening.
But in her current state, she had no way to slowly explain everything to Ritsuka.
"Chaldeas has already turned red… no, more importantly… the doors have sealed shut…"
Knowing she had dragged Ritsuka into all this, Mash softly apologized.
"I'm sorry… Senpai… this is all my fault…"
"That's not true at all."
After realizing he was completely trapped inside the burning facility anyway, Ritsuka unexpectedly relaxed.
He crouched beside the injured Mash and gently comforted her.
"Don't worry, Mash. We'll figure something out."
Tears quietly rolled down Mash's cheeks.
Her instincts had been right.
This person before her was the only one who treated her as a human being rather than some kind of abnormality.
Even though Mash understood that his kindness probably came from not truly knowing her circumstances…
At death's door, the little eggplant greedily clung to that warmth all the same.
[I want a little more… I want to spend more time with this person… I want to know this gentle Senpai better…]
"Vital signs of Masters within the containment coffins have failed to meet required parameters."
"Spiritron transfer subjects have not reached designated quota."
"Searching for compatible Master candidate… Candidate found."
"Commencing reassignment of Compatibility Number 48: Fujimaru Ritsuka as Master."
The announcement from Chaldea's central system made Mash finally reach a decision.
She would save the person in front of her.
"Hey… Senpai…"
"Hm?"
"Could you… hold my hand…?"
"Counter-Summoning System activated."
"Commencing spiritron conversion—"
The broadcast continued, but Ritsuka had already given up trying to understand any of it.
If he couldn't make sense of it anyway, he might as well stop worrying.
Compared to those annoying announcements, the small and adorable Mash was obviously way more important.
"Of course, Mash."
Ritsuka moved beside her, gently pulling the injured girl into his arms as he softly held her hand.
He had no idea why Mash wanted him to do this.
He simply wanted to ease her suffering as much as possible, even if it was only emotional comfort.
"All processes complete. Commencing First Order verification—"
A dazzling white light swallowed both Ritsuka and Mash whole.
The spiritron transfer had begun.
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"Fuyuki City's finally here! Fuyuki City is finally here!"
Fujita clenched his fists excitedly.
At this point in the story, if he still couldn't guess where things were heading, then all those years of watching movies had clearly been wasted.
Aoko, meanwhile, had lost her earlier excitement and instead clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"The Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City and the extinction of humanity? Shinji actually mashed those two completely unrelated things together? Isn't he being way too biased toward his hometown?"
"So Fuyuki really is the center of the universe, huh?"
"Maybe something went wrong with All the World's Evil," Alice offered, trying to defend Shinji's logic.
"Didn't both FSN and FZ already establish how dangerous that thing is?"
"Man, if only the Matou family had settled down in Misaki Town instead back then, our hometown could've become just as famous as Fuyuki City." Aoko half-lidded her eyes as she complained.
"If that happened, our old mansion probably could've sold for a fortune too… Unlike now, where maintenance costs are absurdly high, but selling it doesn't feel worth it either. It's basically a giant white elephant."
"So that's what you were upset about~"
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By the time Ritsuka came back to his senses, he realized he had arrived somewhere completely unfamiliar.
Everywhere he looked, there were "Construction Site — Keep Out" signs, collapsed buildings, leaning utility poles, and the shattered remains of a school.
"Where the hell am I…?"
Even though his location had changed, two things remained exactly the same:
Fire and ruins.
Needless to say, Ritsuka was not happy about this.
If they were going to teleport him somewhere, couldn't they at least pick a place with decent scenery?!
Why was it always disaster zones?!
If there was anything comforting about the situation, it was the katakana on the broken signboards.
At the very least, it confirmed he was back in Japan.
"But seriously… why—?"
At that moment, a voice suddenly came through the communicator.
Roman's voice.
"Hello? Hello?! This is Chaldea Control Room, can you hear me?!"
"Hello?! Doctor, is that you?!"
Ritsuka's face instantly lit up.
At a moment like this, hearing the voice of someone familiar felt like rain after a long drought.
"That voice… Fujimaru-kun?"
"Yeah, Doctor. It's me."
Ritsuka wanted to explain everything that had happened to him, but the doctor on the other side clearly understood his situation even better than he did.
"Fujimaru-kun, if you can hear my voice, then immediately—"
"RUN!!"
Honestly, Roman didn't even need to warn him.
Ritsuka already knew he was in danger.
Because not far above him crouched a muscular figure dressed entirely in black, wearing a white skull mask over his face.
"Hehehe~ A human, huh~"
Ritsuka had no clue who this guy was.
But from the creepy laughter alone, he immediately knew one thing:
This dude was absolutely not friendly.
"Ritsuka, run!!"
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME TWICE!!"
Before Roman could even finish warning him again, Ritsuka had already turned tail and sprinted for his life.
"What the hell is even going on anymore?!"
No matter how hard he thought about it, Ritsuka simply couldn't understand.
All he had done was donate blood as a good deed, so how in the world had that somehow escalated into playing hide-and-seek with a psycho in a skintight bodysuit?!
In the end, all the chaos in Ritsuka's heart condensed into a single sentence.
"I seriously ended up in a goddamn insane asylum, didn't I?!!!"
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 476: Shirou: I'll Take Both[1]!
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