The gentle breeze felt like a lover's wet kiss.
Water droplets splashed everywhere, steam slowly rose, and the rose-colored sunlight, like ocean waves, washed over the Chaldea school building. After the spring rain, the white stone bricks shone like an angel's smiling face.
Ei Mochizuki stood before the school's crowded auditorium, surrounded by Heroic Spirits wearing the same school uniform as him.
He looked down at the small puddle by his feet. Reflected in it were the school's romantic spring day with cherry blossoms fluttering about, the hurried footsteps of the students, the fleeting glimpse of absolute territory when a girl's skirt fluttered, and his own plain, unremarkable high school student's face, which looked uncannily like that infamous protagonist from the Moon.
He had transmigrated.
And it was a soul transmigration into the 21st century, a world teeming with Heroic Spirits, into the body of a high school transfer student named 'Ei Mochizuki'.
It seemed to have happened because he clicked open a suspicious Fate fan game, which then pulled him into this world.
Ei was sure he must be dreaming, so he quickly pinched his own cheek.
"Bastard! Why did you suddenly pinch my face? Are you looking for a fight?!"
His classmate, Jeanne Alter, who was walking to school with him, had her cheek pinched and turned to glare fiercely at Ei.
...Yeah, that felt very real. And soft.
He definitely wasn't dreaming.
Jeanne Alter huffed and ran off, while he took a moment to sort through the somewhat jumbled memories of the original owner of this body.
First, his parents were alive and well, but had gone abroad for work, forcing him to transfer to this school.
Even though he had transmigrated, Ei didn't feel it was anything special. It was just a return to his student days, nothing more.
And here, there was no bloody Holy Grail War, no tragic story of fighting through seven Lostbelts. The Heroic Spirits were just ordinary, lively students attending school. No matter how you looked at it, this was the set of a campus romance story, overflowing with rose-colored youth.
However, he then saw his own wrist as he held his school bag. A code was carved onto it, reflecting a line of text.
[...This is a crevice in time, a Heroic Spirit utopia that should not exist, a world about to be pruned.]
Ei Mochizuki rubbed his eyes and looked again two or three times, confirming that he was not hallucinating.
A line of glowing text just floated there in front of him, yet the people passing by were completely oblivious, paying it no attention at all.
"Jeanne Alter, did you see anything?"
He hurried forward, pointing at the text on his wrist as he asked.
Jeanne Alter, walking ahead, turned her head, her eyes narrowing as she stared at his face. "I saw it. Just a stupid face!"
"..."
Could it be that only he could see this line of text?
Although this development was a bit hard to believe, he had already transmigrated, so he wasn't a stranger to this kind of thing anymore.
Ei Mochizuki quickly made his way to the men's restroom in the school building. No one would bother him here, and he could carefully study the code on his wrist.
It was still the same line of text.
[...This is a crevice in time, a Heroic Spirit utopia that should not exist, a world about to be pruned.]
[To this world, you are an outsider from a higher dimension, a player participating in the game.]
[In this school filled with Heroic Spirits, you are the only human.]
"!"
Could it be that even after transmigrating into the game, he still had the status and abilities of a player?
[You will play the role of a mysterious high school student named "Ei Mochizuki." In this school, you will encounter Heroic Spirits of various personalities and unique abilities. Together with them, you will search for the truth of the "Destruction" and find the lost Holy Grail—while also gradually uncovering the truth of what "Heroic Spirits" are.]
"Why does this description seem so familiar?"
Holy crap, so... so that's what this is.
[Do not reveal information about this text to anyone.]
[Do not go out at night unprepared.]
[Complete your studies well and be proactive in socializing. Academic ability and influence are the units of combat power in this Heroic Spirit school.]
[Absolutely do not fail a class. You will be expelled from school. GAME OVER!!]
It was a lot of information, but Ei understood one thing... this world still seemed to follow the operational logic of a game and a romantic comedy.
The next line of text was:
[Deduce the future? YES/NO]
Was this his special ability as a player?
He hesitated for a moment, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he tapped "YES."
A new list of text appeared:
[Select your deduction skills. You can only choose two.]
[1. Thrice-Welcoming Failure EX: You have three chances to fail an exam without being expelled.]
[2. Clairvoyance C: You have good eyesight, making it easier to remember what's on the blackboard and to peek at other students' answers.]
[3. Eternal Arms Mastery B: You are more proficient in physical education exams.]
[4. Instinct C: Your intuition is sharp. You have a high probability of dodging chalk thrown by the teacher, and your accuracy when guessing answers will be higher.]
[5. High-Speed Divine Words A: You can finish exams and homework in one go.]
"Hmm..."
As a newcomer transfer student and player, Ei didn't yet know which skills were actually useful.
He could only go by his gut feeling.
After hesitating for a good while, he chose [Instinct] and [High-Speed Divine Words].
The previous text had already told him that he needed to complete his studies and that academic ability was the combat unit of this school. In that case, using High-Speed Divine Words for studying couldn't be wrong.
And Instinct could be used to predict trouble, like a spider-sense!
I'm set! I can graduate right now!
[Life Simulation, loading...]
[Age 1, you were born into a middle-class family.]
[Age 4, you enrolled in Chaldea's Heroic Spirit Kindergarten.]
[Age 5, you learned Hero Creation E.]
[You instigated little Artoria, making her chase the other Heroic Spirits in the kindergarten with a poop-stained mop she called "Excalibur."]
[You have comprehended the new skill "Knight of Owner C."]
[Age 9, you began your elementary school studies.]
[First grade, you nearly ended the Uruk Age of Gods with a single punch.]
[You educated the upperclassman Gilgamesh with your iron fists, teaching him how a mortal body can rival a god.]
[You have comprehended the new skill "God Slayer B."]
Damn, Gilgamesh dropped his loot this early, huh?
[By age 11, you nearly soloed Beast III.]
[One day, you met a strange older sister on the street named Sessyoin Kiara. She invited you to her house, spoke to you in a suspiciously intimate tone, and said she wanted to see your "Tower of Babylon," and that she could even teach you how to be a 'grown-up'.]
"???"
Why did such a dangerous woman suddenly appear? Even the content is getting risky.
[You decisively refused the temptation, called the police directly, and had the school authorities arrest this older sister of questionable morals!]
"Don't refuse! You'll regret it when you're older! Do you not care if you become Old Man Ei full of regrets?! Quick, use your 'Tower of Babylon' to seal her 'Heaven's Hole'! The chance to save the world is right in front of you!"
"I don't acknowledge this child as me! There's no way I'd let 'Little Ei' lose a chance to fight!"
[Report successful. Your reputation has greatly increased!]
[However, as you were about to enter high school, you belatedly shed tears of regret.]
[Amidst this regret, you experienced true growth and awakened new skills, "Human Anatomy Research A" and "Mana Burst A."]
My god, why does this sound like a hot-blooded protagonist awakening his ultimate move after undergoing a trial!
This is clearly an "awakening" on a whole other level.
"I can kind of get 'Human Anatomy Research,' boys this age love to study the female form, but what the hell is 'Mana Burst'? This 'mana'... is this freaking normal mana?"
Wait a minute...
Ei suddenly remembered what kind of work Fate originally was...
Holy sh*t!
This is bad. It hasn't even been one chapter, and this simulation has already run through all the scatological and dirty jokes. As far as the eye can see, it's nothing but terrible memes!
"What the hell have you simulated for me? If your Gold Finger mother, who's working hard to make money on other websites, saw this, she'd probably burst into tears. She didn't give birth to you just so you could be a trash-meme Gold Finger on some fanfic site!"
[?]
The deep blue life simulation cube projected a piece of information.
[At age 18, you were admitted to Chaldea's Integrated Heroic Spirit Academy with relatively outstanding grades.]
[Please verify your enrollment information.]
Ei Mochizuki
Class: Archer
Strength: B+ | Mana: E Endurance: B | Luck: A Agility: B+ | Noble Phantasm: ??
Inherent Skills: 「God Slayer B」, 「Human Anatomy Research A」, 「Mana Burst A」, 「Knight of Owner C」, 「High-Speed Divine Words A」, 「Instinct C」
Noble Phantasm: None
This stat sheet seemed a bit hard to judge.
Although he had two more inherent skills than a regular Heroic Spirit, he didn't receive a Noble Phantasm.
Was it because he wasn't considered a true Heroic Spirit?
What can I say? It is what it is.
He couldn't exactly take a trip to the Throne of Heroes to get his qualifications gilded, could he? How would he even get there, by helicopter?
"I have no objections."
[Identity information confirmed. Beginning import of formal simulation...]
[Scenario loading...]