"Is he…talking to himself?" Gilgamesh couldn't help but blurt out as he looked at the scene transmitted before his eyes.
There was no sound but he could see him talking to himself as he stared at the air.
It was unusual counting Gilgamesh's understanding of the kid's personality so far.
To the point he found it somewhat suspicious. The kid might lack emotions but he certainly still possessed curiosity, but what could he possibly find so curious to end up talking to the air when alone?
So he tried using the box to probe the zone but he was now sure that no one else was there.
"...I don't like it. It feels like I am missing something." Gilgamesh clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Well, I guess it should be fine, I just need to go and verify myself. I wanted to spend some more time having fun around but I guess I'll have to postpone it until the next opportunity."
After saying so Gilgamesh disappeared from his spot in an instant, scaring a child who screamed to his mother about a man who disappeared in thin hair.
However his mother just nodded along and continued pulling him by his hands.
***
The boy sat on the bench somewhat confused by how the young man he called Senpai just vanished out of nowhere, he didn't even hear the sounds of his steps and he was already gone.
One moment he was there, the next… he just wasn't anymore.
'I have never met someone like him before…well the same goes for Gilgamesh as well.' Pondering a bit on it the boy realized that he actually met a lot of strange people since he tried to kill himself two days ago.
In just about little under three days he met as many as two of them.
'Well, now I have nothing else to do…I guess, I will just wait here then.'
However the boy wouldn't have to wait for long.
"Had fun, brat?" Gilgamesh asked as he appeared out of nowhere.
"Mh? No, not really." The boy answered him honestly.
"I see. Were you talking with someone?" Cutting to the chase Gukgamesh asked him a question about the thing he was most curious about.
"Yes, I talked to a boy a few years older than me. Oh, and he was also a magus, he taught me a trick to help me reinforce the knife you gave me. He also told me to be careful around the city after seeing my command spells and I think that's all." After that the boy went on to recount more details seeing as Gilgamesh gestured him to go on.
"..." Gilgamesh's expression fell by the second as he recounted everything. 'Does he seriously think I would believe this shit?'
"So you are telling me… that after I sent you to this park u somehow met a dude kind enough to teach you on the one magecraft I taught you, he pretty much instructed you on every error he could think of and taught you a trick to succeed. And on top of all this, despite being a magus, he even advised you to be careful because some people might hurt you because of those command spells and then he just went home?"
"Yes." The boy nodded matter of factly without blinking.
'Did he fall from the crib when he was younger?' When he arrived he once again checked for the entire area of the park but he was sure that no person or servant, much less a magus, had even just passed from there.
The boy was certainly alone, he even saw him talking to himself before as well.
'Wait, however he did succeed at using reinforcement… is this kid actually such a genius that he hallucinated a solution to his problem…that might be nearly as convenient as my clairvoyance if it was true.' Gilgamesh was starting to get increasingly more exasperated the more he thought about it.
'...as if that were possible. This kid is stressing me so much I feel like I'm getting dumber every time he opens his mouth. But then how did he succeed?' Scratching the back of his head somewhat in frustration Gilgamesh continued pondering on this strange event.
"Wait…why am I even thinking so hard about it? It's not even my problem anyway. Here kid, just drink this." Deciding to drop the matter for now as no harm was done on the boy he took out a glass from his treasury. "If you are so confident in this trick that was taught to you then we should put it to test right away now that the fire is still hot, right?"
This way he could check that he wasn't doing anything dumb at least. And now he also had to think about what else to make him do…
He wanted him to waste more time on that, he is already burdensome enough to take care of but what else can he do now?
He didn't think he would succeed so soon and hoped to buy another two days on reinforcement before switching to something else as continuously failing would hardly be of help. And in the meanwhile he would have messed around to have some fun.
"Yes, I'll try again then." The boy finished drinking the entire content of the cup and felt his energy coming back to him.
SHIII VTZZZ
He activated his magic circuits and connected one of them to the knife.
The entire structure of the knife appeared in his mind like it was being seen through an X-ray visor.
After a bit of a delay he succeeded at connecting the second circuit to the knife.
Now on top of its structure a hazy mist appeared on top of the image in his mind.
However this time he didn't concentrate too much on them. He could feel that his magical energy would flow inside by itself at this stage, unless he willed it to stop, and the knife would slowly start being reinforced. Just like it happened before when he was only concentrating on the mist.
He guided his magical energy inside and the sensation of a thin tread like link connecting him to the knife appeared again.
"You could actually do it again…" Gilgamesh mumbled somewhat in surprise. 'What the fuck do I make him do now? Any other spell would require me to actually put in too much effort as this kid has no previous knowledge about magecraft…'
"Still… I guess compliments are in order as you completed the homework I gave you." Resigning to his fate Gilgamesh brought out a hand from his pocket and patted the kid's head. "Good job, now you just need to continue exercising until you can do it on your body."
'Just please take longer this time, I want to go around and have fun too.'
***
"Ah, I finally found you." On the rooftop of a deserted building a hunched old man wearing a blue yukata who used a stick to help him walk, walked out of a shadow cast by a pole under the sun, as if he appeared from that same shadow.
"You sure made my old bones walk quite the distance to fetch you up." The old man, Matou Zouken, gave a weak chuckle as he addressed the other person standing on the rooftop.
"What walking? Did you forget how to spell the word crawling?" The other person sneered at his words, his voice quite young.
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think? It's also quite unbecoming to bully an old man like me." Zouken gave him a weak reprimand, like that of a gentle grandpa to his grandson.
"Tch." The young man clicked his tongue in disgust at his words.
"Anyway, what were you doing here? Your future partner is finally about to wake up today by the late evening. It's no time to loiter around."
"I was just taking a stroll, don't worry about it, old worm."
"Oh, the patience that I need, always resorting to such language against me. I hope you had fun at least, have you seen anything interesting?"
The young man didn't answer immediately and just looked in the direction of a park in the distance.
After mulling for a while he finally looked away and said flatly: "No, nothing really."
"I see."
"...Anyway, are you sure this will be enough?" Not wanting to remain on the same subject, the young man inquired Zouken about the war. "The other Servants we saw all looked quite strong and the same went for their Masters."
"It will, it will. It's not enough to overpower them but it's more than enough to secure victory with certainty if we act wisely." Zouken nodded his head before his eyes glinted somewhat amusedly at the young man. "Unlike how you have been doing all day today."
"Yeah yeah, whatever makes you sleep the night old worm. If you can even sleep, of course."
"I sleep plenty fine already, don't worry about it. Hehehehe." Zouken gave a hearty laugh at the boy's words. "Well, I'm afraid that the both of us should head back now. We don't want our friend to wake up all alone with only the servant we prepared for them to make a pact with."
Turning around Zouken started walking back to the shadows but before he could he was interrupted by the young man's words.
"You sure like to act as if you are in control when you are just working for someone else after barely saving your pathetic life." The boy mumbled with a low voice but high enough to be heard by Zouken.
"..."
Stopping in his tracks for a second Zouken turned around to look him in the eyes.
"And so what? Isn't that the same for you?"
Leaving those words behind Zouken disappeared in the same shadow he came from.
"...I really hate that guy." The young muttered under his breath. The wind blew his short red hair as he made his way to the rooftop's exit.
***
Meanwhile back at the park
SIIIIIIIIIK
The knife in the boy's hand was successfully reinforced once again. After the lesson he received his rate of success was at about on an eight out of ten trials on average.
However, he still couldn't connect his third circuit. He was close, maybe, but not quite there yet.
It was like he was missing something but he wasn't sure of what it could be. 'I should have asked more questions to that Senpai, maybe.'
But alas it was too late now so he just continued trying to connect the third circuit to the knife.
DRIP DRIP
Without much success as he continued having nosebleeds from time to time as he continued his attempts.
Today his nose was really bleeding a lot.
Before he could do anything about it a napkin was violently rubbed against his nose wiping the blood away.
"You mongrel! Be more careful or you will ruin your clothes. They still belong to me."
As the napkin wiped away his blood the heat in his nose reduced considerably, maybe the napkin even healed the bleeding completely as no more blood came out after Gilgamesh removed it.
"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful and succeed." The boy bowed his head slightly in apology. But that only made Gilgamesh chop his head with his hand.
"Hey kid, listen carefully." Gilgamesh said, changing his tone drastically.
"Mh?"
"Do not, and when I say this I mean absolutely understand any circumstance, ever apologize for something you did and failed after giving it your best, it's very irritating." Gilgamesh stated with incredible seriousness in his voice as he maintained eye contact with the child.
"Apologizing is fine only when you know you could have done better. But are you not continuously improving exactly because you are giving it your all now? If so then do not be sorry, it's just so annoying to hear that.
And to top it off you are still just a child. Falling around to learn is your job in the first place. Let the adults apologize and save your own for when you will actually be one yourself or for when you truly mess up in the future."
"...I'm not really sure how I should answer that…but ok."
"...Just go back to training." Gilgamesh just clicked his tongue in distaste at his bland response. 'I'm wasting my wisdom on him…at his age I was much wiser.'
Nodding the child went back to reinforcing the knife.
Looking at him concentrating on his training Gilgamesh started pondering on his plans.
'I really need to find something else for him to do…and for me as well, I'm getting so bored.'
Originally he just wanted to punish the mongrel who dared to interfere with his sight and when he confirmed that there was indeed a holy grail war happening in this city he concluded that the one behind his blindness must also be the one or one of the people organizing this farce.
However, probably because no one died yet, the people behind this annoying mess are nowhere near in sight.
'Should I just go and kill a few servants to lure them out? Or should I risk the mystery of magecraft being revealed to scare them to act? Which one to do indeed, hmmmmm.' Tapping his chin in deep thoughts Gilgamesh weighed his options. On one hand killing servants would be very entertaining but going on national television might be even more so.
DRIP DROP
However in the midst of his thoughts Gilgamesh was broken out of it as he saw a drop of blood fall on the kid's shirt.
"I told you to be careful! Damn little mongrel stop being so clumsy!!!" Gilgamesh scolded him as he roughly rubbed a new napkin on his nose.
"..." The boy just kept his usual blank expression as he was getting his nose wiped.
"At least say something for yourself." Gilgamesh grumbled at his expression a bit.
"...no." However the boy quipped back.
"HUH? What do you mean by 'no'?" Gilgamesh asked back in astonishment at his answer.
"You told me not to apologize so I won't."
"..." Gilgamesh's brows twitched at that as a vein popped on his forehead. 'That's not what I meant you little fucker.'
"...Maybe I should really whoop you a bit…but I fear you wouldn't learn anything from it either way." Gilgamesh pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance and sighed heavily, deciding to let the matter go.
"Anyway, I was thinking of what to do in the next few days. What did you usually do during the day before I came? Apart from loitering listlessly of course."
"What I used to do?" The boy pondered for a second as he thought about his previous routine. "I guess I went to school."
"Just that?"
"I think everything else I did, like doing my homework or waiting for my meals, would count as loitering listless so I think so."
"Well, I guess I should have seen that one coming." He said rhetorically at the boy. "Well, we should think of some more activities, productive activities that will not be a waste of time like sending you to school."
"So what should we do then?" The boy asked him dubiously
"That's what I'm trying to figure out now." Gilgamesh snorted back in retort.
"So you also don't know?" Said the boy as he tilted his head.
"More like it's hard to find anything funny to do when you are always acting like that." Answered Gilgamesh rhetorically.
"Acting like what?" At that the boy tilted his head.
"...you know what?" Gilagmesh gave a deep sigh and waved his hand in front of his face. "Nevermind all that I just said, you are DEFINITELY going to school tomorrow."
***
I hope everybody enjoyed.