At the same time, in another room within Chaldea.
Mash was asking Mordred all sorts of questions.
"Um—! Mo-chan, would you like a drink?!" The pink-haired girl asked.
"...No, thank you." Mordred replied, looking slightly bewildered.
"Then—! How about something to eat?!" Mash asked again, trying to be helpful.
"...No need." Mordred responded, still a bit confused by Mash's eagerness.
"Then—! Maybe read a book or something?!" Mash suggested, holding up a nearby book.
"...I can't concentrate." Mordred admitted, looking away.
"Then what would you like to do? I can help you!" Mash offered enthusiastically.
"I want to sleep! Didn't I say that outside?!" Mordred exclaimed, finally showing a hint of annoyance.
"..." Realizing that the situation seemed to have become a bit awkward, Mash could only force a polite smile.
"O-oh, I see... then I won't disturb you anymore." Mash said apologetically, preparing to leave.
After a simple apology, Mash, dressed in casual clothes, prepared to leave.
Watching her gradually receding figure, Mordred hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke up,
"Mash, wait a minute!" Mordred called out, her voice a little softer now.
"Eh?" Mash turned around, looking at Mordred with a worried expression.
She was a little afraid that her earlier behavior had upset the other girl.
"Mo-chan, what's wrong?" Mash asked cautiously.
"It's nothing." Mordred looked at the pink-haired girl before her. "I just wanted to ask you some questions."
"And... you don't have to be so nervous, it makes it seem like I'm going to hurt you." Mordred added, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm sorry!" Mash patted her cheeks, shaking off her earlier anxiousness.
"Mo-chan, please ask away!" Mash said with a renewed sense of confidence.
"That's the spirit." Mordred muttered softly.
"Were you just now... saying that you were tired too, because you wanted to make me feel less awkward?" Mordred asked, looking directly at Mash.
"Eh?" Realizing that it might sound like she was taking credit, Mash quickly waved her hands in denial. "No, it wasn't like that."
"Don't lie to me." Mordred put her hands on her hips, looking like she had figured everything out.
"Don't think I'm stupid." Mordred declared, her green eyes narrowed slightly.
"I saw you kept asking me this and that after you came in... you didn't look tired enough to want to sleep at all!"
"Tell me the truth, was what you were thinking... the same as what I just said?" Mordred pressed, her gaze unwavering.
Seeing that Mordred had already put it so bluntly, Mash didn't deny it any further.
She nodded.
"Yes... Mo-chan, you're right." Mash admitted softly, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"I knew it." Mordred pouted, looking like a small octopus.
"Listen——"
"Mash, you really don't need to try so hard to please me." Mordred said, her voice a little gentler now.
"No matter how much you try to please me, I won't say any good words for you in front of Father... Master."
"Because who he likes isn't something I can decide!"
"If you really want to develop a relationship with him further, then you have to rely on your own efforts!" Mordred advised, her expression serious.
"..." Mash remained silent for a good while before speaking again,
"Um——"
"Mo-chan, actually, I wasn't trying to please you." Mash said softly, her purple eyes looking at Mordred.
"Eh?" This was the first time Mordred had heard Mash express her own thoughts.
"Then why did you help me so much?" Mordred asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Earlier too... every time I felt awkward, you would always step in to smooth things over, right?"
"That's because..." Mash replied to Mordred's question, her face flushed red.
"I want to be friends with you!" Mash declared, her purple eyes shining with sincerity.
"Friends?"
"Yes!" Mash nodded. "We're both Servants, right... and Master is very close to both of us, so it should be natural for us to become friends, right?"
"And——" The pink-haired girl looked at Mordred before her, her eyes filled with admiration.
"I think your personality is really great! If I could become friends with you, I could definitely gradually become like that too!"
"That way... I'm sure Senpai would like me even more!" Mash said, her voice filled with hope.
"..." Mordred didn't respond to Mash's words but instead pursed her lips, putting on a thoughtful expression.
Suddenly, as if she had figured something out, she exclaimed,
"Eh, wait a minute! What friend wants to be my mom?!" Mordred blurted out, her green eyes wide with confusion.
"Huh?" Mash looked puzzled. "What do you mean by 'friend wants to be a mom'?"
"...Nothing!" Mordred laughed heartily.
"You could have just said so earlier!" Mordred declared, a wide grin on her face.
"I like making friends too... but if you really want to be friends with me, then you can't talk to me with that kind of attitude anymore!"
"I don't like friends like that!" Mordred said, crossing her arms.
"Mmm~" Mash nodded seriously. "I'll be careful in the future!"
"..."
"..." Seemingly realizing that this friend oath was somewhat strange, both of them fell into a very tacit silence.
And just at this moment.
The room door burst open with a bang.
Mordred and Mash subconsciously turned their heads towards the direction of the sound at the same time.
Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was running and panting for breath, was standing at the doorway.
"Mash, I finally found you!" The red-haired girl said as she ran over and grabbed the pink-haired girl's hand.
"Mo-chan... can I borrow Mash for a bit? I have something I need to talk to her about!" Ritsuka asked, her voice breathless.
"Eh... oh." Mordred scratched her cheek. "But she's already your Servant, isn't she?"
"This doesn't really count as borrowing." Mordred pointed out, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Oh, you're right." Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly realized.
"Then——"
"I'll talk to you later!" Before Mordred could even reply, Fujimaru Ritsuka grabbed Mash's hand and quickly left the room.
Bang——! The door closed.
Leaving Mordred, who felt inexplicably confused, sitting on the bed.
"What was that all about..." Mordred muttered to herself.
After saying this, she let out a big yawn.
"Oh well... whatever, this is actually a good time to sleep." The knight of the Round Table lay down on the bed and began to snore soundly.
At the same time, on the other side.
Fujimaru Ritsuka pulled Mash to a deserted corner.
She turned around, speaking breathlessly.
"Mash... I... I have to tell you something..." Ritsuka gasped, trying to catch her breath.
"Um——" Mash patted Fujimaru Ritsuka's back with a worried expression, reminding her softly.
"Ritsuka, you should catch your breath first."
"I can't understand what you mean when you talk so brokenly like this." Mash said gently, her purple eyes filled with concern.
"Y-yeah... you're right." After catching her breath for a while, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Mash before her, a hint of panic in her eyes.
"Mash——!"
"I have to tell you!"
"Ian... he... he kissed the Director in the hallway!" Fujimaru Ritsuka blurted out, her voice filled with shock.
"..." After her brain completely froze for a full ten seconds, Mash finally processed the information Fujimaru Ritsuka had conveyed.
"What——!" Mash exclaimed, her purple eyes wide with disbelief.
"Senpai... kissed the Director?!"
"Yes!!!" Fujimaru Ritsuka stomped her foot anxiously. "I saw it with my own eyes!"
"This..." Mash's thinking ability reached its peak in an instant.
"When?! Where?! What kind of kiss was it?!" Mash asked three questions in a row, enough to show how agitated she was.
"It was just now, when everyone dispersed..." Fujimaru Ritsuka's mind replayed the scene just now, and her cheeks couldn't help but flush red.
"Didn't the Director say she had something to discuss with him?"
"Then... the two of them just walked to a deserted spot in the hallway and immediately started kissing!"
"And it was a really passionate French kiss!" Fujimaru Ritsuka added, her voice filled with shock.
"What?!" Hearing Fujimaru Ritsuka's description, Mash felt her head buzzing, as if it would split open from this revelation in the next moment.
"How could this happen?!" Mash exclaimed, her voice filled with disbelief and a hint of panic.
"I don't know either..." Fujimaru Ritsuka's hands were trembling. "They didn't show any signs of it before, did they?"
"Signs?" Hearing this word, Mash frowned.
The pink-haired girl suddenly realized something, and her overheated brain cooled down a lot.
She pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and then asked a question.
"By the way... did the Director kiss Senpai first, or did Senpai kiss the Director first?" Mash asked, her purple eyes looking intently at Ritsuka.
"Eh?!" Although she hadn't expected Mash to ask such a question at this time, Fujimaru Ritsuka still recalled the scene according to her words.
Soon, she had the answer.
"It should be... Ian kissed the Director first." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied, her voice a little uncertain.
"Really?" Mash's expression became more astonished—this was probably not the answer she wanted.
"There's no mistake." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied in a very affirmative tone. "I watched very carefully at the time... so I definitely wouldn't be wrong."
"Then this is complicated..." Mash looked troubled.
"Complicated?"
"Yes!" The pink-haired girl looked at her Master.
"Being able to proactively kiss the Director means that Senpai has already accepted her, right?" Mash said, her voice filled with concern.
"..." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Mash, her eyes somewhat speechless.
"Isn't that obvious?" Ritsuka asked, tilting her head.
"They... they kissed, didn't they? That definitely means they've accepted each other, right?!"
"No!" Mash shook her head, denying Fujimaru Ritsuka's statement just now.
"Ritsuka... think about it!" Mash urged, her voice serious.
"If Senpai wasn't the one who initiated it, then it's very likely that the Director used some unknown tricks to set up a 'trap' related to kissing."
"Not to mention——"
"We could also suddenly forcefully kiss Senpai in the hallway, couldn't we?"
"Anyway... someone as kind as him would definitely not blame us for such a thing, right?" Mash reasoned, her purple eyes looking at Ritsuka.
"But now, the situation is the other way around—Senpai kissed the Director first, not the other way around."
"This means that he wanted to do such a thing!"
"These two situations are completely different... Ritsuka, can you understand what I mean?" Mash asked, her voice filled with urgency.
"..." The logic in Mash's words could be said to be quite clear.
Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately realized the difference between the two situations.
Already somewhat flustered, she now felt an even greater sense of crisis.
But her heart still held an unerasable question.
"Although they kissed... isn't this too fast?" Ritsuka asked, her voice filled with confusion.
"Before... there were clearly no signs at all! Why did he suddenly accept her?!"
"..." Listening to Fujimaru Ritsuka's words, Mash once again fell into deep thought.
Her personality was still quite different from her Master's, so she could naturally notice some things that the other girl hadn't.
After a long while, having figured out the answer, she spoke again,
"Ritsuka... I don't think there were no signs at all, right?" Mash said softly, her purple eyes looking thoughtful.
"No."
"To be precise... there should have been signs a long time ago."
"What?!" Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly realized that the thoughtful Mash seemed to have noticed some things that she had overlooked.
She quickly asked,
"Mash, what do you mean by that?"
"Think about it." Mash's mind flashed back to various past events.
"Back in Singularity F, didn't Senpai save the Director's life?" Mash pointed out, her purple eyes looking at Ritsuka.
"This... could totally be considered the beginning of feelings developing, right?"
"No, this will really..." Fujimaru Ritsuka was about to deny Mash's statement but stopped.
Because she realized that she was actually in a similar situation.
When she first came to Chaldea and encountered the helicopter crisis, only this man was willing to provide her with safety and protection.
He even sent his own Servant, Mordred, over.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't moved.
Having barely accepted this explanation, Fujimaru Ritsuka continued to ask.
"Then... could it be that it's been like this since that time?"
"This is too strange!"
"Didn't Ian save her? How could it be that he took the initiative now?"
"So that was just the beginning." Mash recalled past events, continuing to analyze the situation for Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"Ritsuka... do you remember when Senpai became the Director?" Mash asked, her voice thoughtful.
"It seems like it was not long after we returned from Singularity F!"
"Eh?!" Being reminded by Mash, Fujimaru Ritsuka's mind also clicked.
"Could it be... that the Director was willing to become Ian's secretary not because of his good performance in Singularity F, but because she fell in love with him?" Ritsuka asked, her eyes wide with realization.
"Mmm." Mash nodded.
"I think that's very likely."
"And Ritsuka, do you remember... during that time, the Director and Senpai were very close, almost able to spend time alone every day." Mash added, her voice filled with insight.
"..." The beginning was there;
The process was also there;
And the result was directly in front of them.
Everything, at this moment, had formed a complete chain of logic in front of the newly formed Master-Servant duo.
This wasn't a kiss that happened for no reason.
But——
An emotional outburst that had naturally come to fruition.
Mash and Fujimaru Ritsuka, both realizing this at the same time, looked at each other.
They both knew that Olga Marie might be the real big "BOSS" who had been hiding in the background all along.
However——
This wasn't the time to give up directly.
After all, the other party hadn't made this kind of thing public!
"Ritsuka... what do you think we should do?" Mash asked softly, her purple eyes looking at her Master.
Hearing the question from her Servant, a hint of sharpness appeared in Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes.
"Is that even a question?!" Ritsuka exclaimed, her voice filled with determination.
"Mash, do you want Ian to be monopolized by the Director alone?!"
"No, I don't want that!" Mash replied immediately, shaking her head vehemently.
"But in this situation, what should we do?" Mash asked, her voice filled with anxiety.
"Isn't it simple?" Fujimaru Ritsuka licked her lips.
"She launched a surprise attack——"
"Then we'll launch a surprise attack too!" Ritsuka declared, a mischievous glint in her eyes.