"Activate the Magic Circuits behind my eyes."
I try to turn on my Mystic Eyes manually without saying that name, but nothing happens. I don't even feel that itchy sensation behind my eyes, so they're definitely still normal.
After a few minutes, I give up. "Hahh, why is it so hard to activate them manually..." I exhale, slumping back against the tree.
In my hand, I hold a leaf I picked up, wanting to test my eyes on it, but they just won't work properly without saying that name.
"Whatever... SHARINGAN!" I blurt out, and the usual itchiness hits behind my eyes. My vision shifts instantly.
Everything becomes sharper the colors everything is so much different, especially the lines that start appearing-on the leaf, the ground, the trees, the branches, even a random stone. Every single thing in my field of vision that can be "killed" is covered in those creepy death lines.
I still can't control this, so every time I use it, my vision gets overwhelmed with lines everywhere.
"Gahhh, my head!" I groan, clutching my temples.
I can't keep it active for long because my head starts throbbing after just ten seconds. Probably my brain can't handle all the information my eyes are sending it.
"Ow, ow... It really hurts. Useless eyes! What am I supposed to do with ten seconds? And why do I have to say Sharingan to activate them..." I mutter, frustrated.
It's Lady Ava's stupid solution. Since I couldn't activate my Magic Circuits properly, she suggested using a trigger word to help my body focus. Because I watched Naruto and my eyes kinda work like a Sharingan, I jokingly said it, and... it actually worked.
It's so embarrassing to yell Sharingan just to turn on my eyes.
"Rikka, found you!" I feel a tug on my right arm, and it's Yua, grinning at me.
I'm playing hide and seek with everyone at the park, and it looks like she manage to tracked me down.
Standing up, I look at her. "Haha, you managed to find me, Yua."
"Hmm, of course, because you keep talking to yourself, so I could hear you," Yua says, nodding proudly to herself.
I pat Yua's head. "That's a good girl, Yua," I say with a smile.
"Stop doing that! I'm older than you!" she says, pouting, but she doesn't push my hand away from her head.
And it's true-I'm still five years old, while she's already seven. I'm basically the youngest kid in the orphanage.
But, unfortunately for them, I've got way more life experience from my old world.
"Hehe," I giggle.
"What's funny? Let's go, we need to find Haruto and Nea!" Yua grabs my hand and starts dragging me around, searching for the other kids.
Since reincarnating here, every day has been so much fun. Playing with everyone at the orphanage, going to the park to hang out with Manaka, and then learning magecraft with Lady Ava at night-there's so much to do.
It's really fun learning something new every day, so I'm always looking forward to what comes next.
I haven't forgotten my goal to rescue Sakura, of course. That's why I'm trying so hard to learn magecraft.
I can't just march up to the Tohsaka mansion. I'm just a stranger-an orphan. Plus, Lady Ava warned me that if other magi found out about my Mystic Eyes, they'd try to steal them or turn me into a guinea pig for experiments.
And I really don't want to spend my life as someone's experiment. I just want to make a ton of money and avoid working all day until I'm 30 again.
So, I need to figure out a way to get to Sakura and convince her to trust me, to believe I want to save her. But it's gonna be hard since she still loves her family at this point.
"Killing those bugs is gonna be annoying..."
"Huh? What did you say, Rikka?" Yua asks suddenly, still pulling me along.
"What? I didn't say anything," I reply, blinking.
"No, I clearly heard you murmuring something to yourself," she insists.
"I didn't say anything, though? I was just thinking about something," I say, trying to brush it off.
Yua gives me a suspicious look, but I don't think I said anything. I was too busy monologuing in my head.
After we finished playing, we all headed back to the orphanage. While the others chattered about how good their hiding spots were and how I managed to find them so easily, I slipped into the kitchen to do my usual thing.
I wanted to ask if there was something I could do to help, just like every day.
After helping around and eating dinner together, I immediately went to my bed to continue learning about magecraft from what I'd written in my diary.
No one can open the diary because I already put a spell on it to make normal people ignore it when they see it. It's the first spell I asked Lady Ava for, so no one can read it.
After that, I went to sleep and then met with Lady Ava again to continue her training.
The next day, I met with Manaka again and played with her. I spent my days just like that for two years, and now I'm seven years old. The story's gonna start in a year.
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"No, no, no, no!"
After seven years of reincarnating in this Fate/Zero world, today is one of the most disastrous days I've ever felt.
"How can this be? Why did I get this?"
After waking up from Lady Ava's dream training, I wanted to wake Yua as usual. But when I reached toward her, I noticed something on my right hand.
It's a weird red symbol I know all too well. "Are these... Command Spells? Why did they suddenly appear?"
I remember that the Holy Grail chooses which magi can join the Holy Grail War randomly, and being chosen is like a dream for most magi who know about it.
Well, not really randomly, because the Einzbern, Tohsaka, and Makiri or Matou is what they called now families rigged the Grail to prioritize someone from their families before it picks a random magus.
And me, as a magus with Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, I definitely fit the criteria for someone who could join the Holy Grail War.
But for me, like hell I want to join this Grail War stuff! Even if I don't summon a Servant, other Masters might try to kill me to steal my Command Spells or eliminate a wild card like me.
"This is bad!"
Instead of waking Yua, I bolt out of the room. As I run past the others, I hear them asking where I'm going, so I shout that I'm just gonna run around the house for a bit.
I sprint out of the orphanage and head to the back, hiding behind a tree.
"Lady Ava? Can you hear me? Come here, please, this is an emergency!"
Over the years, I learned Lady Ava can appear in the real world, not just in my dreams, by using an illusion of herself.
She can't interact with the real world or even touch me, so we never really used it since it feels too limited.
But this is an emergency, so it doesn't matter.
Not long after, a silhouette of a beautiful woman appears in front of me. It's Lady Ava, finally here.
"Hmm? Command Spells? I didn't expect you to get these, Rikka," Lady Ava says, crouching down to look at my right hand.
Well, me neither! I thought the story would stay the same, but instead of that random psychopath being chosen, it's me!
"Can you remove them? I really don't want to be a Master..." I plead, staring at the red marks.
Hearing that, Lady Ava suddenly smiles. "Why? Becoming a Master is like a dream for most magi! Don't you want to be one?" she teases, her voice all playful.
"No! Who'd want to join this war? I don't want to get involved, so can you please remove them from my hand?" I snap, waving my hand at her.
Especially with Kiritsugu around. That guy doesn't care about killing a few people if he thinks it'll save more. I mean, he blew up an entire hotel just to get to one Master! He's nuts about his stupid world peace dream.
"I see. I can help remove your Command Spells," Lady Ava says, and my hope shoots up.
But then she adds, "But I'd need to cut off your right arm and move them to another one. Do you want that?" And just like that, my hope flushes straight down the toilet.
"What!? Hell no! I still love my right hand. I don't want to cut it off!" I yell, hiding my arm behind my back.
"Fufufu," she giggles. "Then, besides that, I can't do anything about it. Command Spells are connected to your Magic Circuits and basically your soul. The only way to remove them is to separate them from your body."
That's bad... So I'm being forced to join this goddamn war? No way, it's impossible! I don't want to die yet. There has to be another way to get rid of them.
I rack my brain.
There's the Sword of Negation and Betrayal that can nullify any magecraft in the world, but I can't get it. It belongs to the Witch of Betrayal, and she won't be summoned until ten years from now.
My magecraft knowledge is still so new, I can't think of anything else to do about this.
"Wait!" I raise my right arm and stare at the Command Spells, deciding to just try it.
"Sharingan!" I shout, activating my Mystic Eyes. The usual lines of death appear on everything in my sight-trees, grass, even a random rock.
"Damnit!" But, of course, there's nothing on the Command Spells.
I already checked before in front of a mirror. For some reason, I can't see my own lines of death, and since the Command Spells are technically part of my body, I can't see any lines on them either.
"Did you try to see if you can kill it?" Lady Ava asks, watching me use my eyes.
"Yeah, but it's useless. I can't see any lines on it..." I say, turning off my Mystic Eyes with a sigh.
Hearing that, Lady Ava raises her eyebrows, like she didn't expect me to say that. "why are you doing that?"
"No, it's just... you can't see it? I see now. It makes sense why you can't see your own lines of death," she says, but her voice trails off into a murmur at the end.
Then her face suddenly changes, and she flashes a big smile. "Alright, Rikka, it's time for your next training! This time, I want you to kill your own Command Spells~"
"Hah? Didn't you hear what I said? I can't see any lines!" I yell, throwing my hands up.
"And that's your job to figure out~ If you can't do that, then just give up and summon a Servant for yourself. Maybe I'll accept your contract and become your Servant. Tata~" she says, waving her hand before disappearing, leaving me alone behind the tree.
"...Someday, I'm gonna kick her leg," I mutter, glaring at the spot where she vanished.
There's nothing left for me to do here, so I head back inside the house to wake up Yua.
After that, when no one's around, I try using my Mystic Eyes to look at my Command Spells again. But every time, I can't see any lines at all.
I even try using the magecraft Lady Ava taught me. It's mostly illusion stuff, but there's some offensive magecraft too. Still, all it does is make my right arm hurt, and nothing works. I keep asking Lady Ava for clues, but she just dodges my questions.
I spend so much time trying to figure out how to get rid of these Command Spells.
"Do I really need to cut it off?" I mutter, then immediately shake my head. That's a terrible idea.
I don't want to lose my right hand when I'm only seven years old.
"Maybe I can run away out of town for two weeks or something, since that's how long the Holy Grail War lasts..." I mumble to myself.
"Who's running away?" a voice says suddenly beside me.
"Gyaaah!" I jolt in surprise, nearly falling off the bench I'm sitting on at the park.
Luckily, someone catches me before I completely tumble over. I look at the hand that grabbed me and recognize it instantly.
"Manaka? When did you get here?" I ask, my heart still racing.
I'm at the park again now. This place is perfect for testing my Mystic Eyes because there's so much to use them on-trees, the ground, even some small bugs.
"I've been here for some time, but you seemed deep in thought and didn't realize I was here," Manaka says while tilting her cute doll-like face.
"Wait, really? I've been thinking about some stuff, so I didn't realize you've been beside me this whole time," I say, patting her head.
"What are you thinking?" she asks, her blue eyes staring at me.
What am I thinking, huh? I can't just tell her I'm trying to get rid of a weird symbol that can control spirits of heroes from the past, summoned for a war over a cup.
Lady Ava said normal people can't see Command Spells, so I don't need to worry about Manaka noticing mine.
But as I'm about to come up with a random excuse, an idea hits me. If Lady Ava's being useless, I can ask someone else. Two brains are better than one, right?
But how am I gonna ask her about this without revealing I'm a magus?
Oh, maybe this could work! I can pretend it's just a story I came up with and ask for her opinion.
"Hey, Manaka, can I ask you a question? It's about a story I made up, but I can't decide on the protagonist's power," I say, trying to sound casual.
Manaka's eyes light up, and she turns her full attention to me, looking interested.
"It's like this: the protagonist has a power in his eyes. His eyes have a special ability to see lines that if he cuts them he can kill anything," I explain.
I notice a flicker of something on Manaka's face. I think she's pretty interested now, so I keep going.
"One day, he decided to try using his eyes to see himself in front of a mirror, but for some reason, he couldn't see any lines on himself. So he thought maybe it doesn't work on him," I continue.
"But then, during a fight against a demon, the demon, before dying, suddenly attaches something to him that starts absorbing his life force. He didn't panic at first because he thought he could just kill the thing attached to him. But he found out he can't see the lines on it either, even though it's not part of his body and just attached itself to him."
"And the problem I have is, I still can't think of a reason why he can't see the lines on it," I finish with a sigh.
"Is that character in your story afraid of dying?" Manaka asks instantly.
I didn't expect her to fire off a question like that so fast. I thought she'd think about it for a bit first.
"Isn't that normal? Most people are afraid of dying," I reply, a bit thrown off.
Manaka stands up and walks in front of me while I'm still sitting on the bench. She saved me from falling earlier, and since I've grown a bit taller than her over the past two years, we're now face-to-face.
"In your story, he has eyes that can see lines, and if he cuts them, it instantly kills anything. But he can't see any lines on himself or on the thing attached to him, because it's become part of him," she says.
Then, out of nowhere, she grabs my right arm and holds it up gently with her left hand.
That's weird. Why's she doing that?
"He's afraid of death, so afraid that unconsciously he doesn't want to accidentally kill himself with the lines he can see. So, his mind is blocking his own eyes' ability to see the lines on himself and the thing attached to him," Manaka says.
"Afraid of accidentally killing himself, afraid that killing the parasite will kill him too."
Wait, that makes sense! Is that why I can't see the lines on myself? Because I'm scared of dying, just like in my previous life when I didn't get to achieve anything?
I need to talk to Lady Ava later to confirm this, but first, I should thank Manaka for her idea.
"Just like this..." Manaka continues, but now she's stroking my right hand... No, she's stroking the Command Spells on my right hand.
She's moving her finger, tracing the symbols like she can actually see them.
"Manaka!?" I jolt in surprise, but suddenly I can't move my body-like my whole body's cramping up.
"Command Spells... I know this thing was gonna appear on you after it tried to attach to me," Manaka says, her voice dripping with disgust as she looks at the Command Spells.
"Yo...u c-an see?" I struggle to speak, barely able to move my mouth.
"I thought you, like me, could just remove this, but it seems like this personality of yours is holding you back," she says.
This personality? What does that even mean? My personality's always been like this, thank you very much!
"「」" she says something again, but I can't hear anything coming out of her mouth. Then she stares at me, like she's waiting for something to happen.
A few seconds pass, but nothing happens. I still can't move, and I have no idea what the hell is going on right now.
"Nothing? Then probably the other one will respond," Manaka says, pouting with a cute face that doesn't match her creepy behavior.
"「Denial/Negativity」," she says.
The moment I hear those words, a massive headache slams into me, and my eyes burn like my Mystic Eyes are activating on their own.
"Oh, you've already awakened," Manaka's voice cuts through the pain, sounding happy, like she's seeing someone she's been waiting for forever.
The pain is so intense I struggle to open my eyes. My vision blurs, and everything goes dark. The last thing I see is Manaka's pure, happy face.