Once Zvezdnyy left with Goddess Kukulkan, when Ritsuka was sure they were out of earshot, he let out a long sigh that didn't belong to someone as young as him. Collapsing on the chair, the teen shut his eyes and let out more tired sighs.
"Ahhh…Ss! Ah!" Ritsuka hissed out in pain as his feet touched the floor. He physically folded like a mousetrap as he drew the feet up from the floor.
Discretely, during that entire time he was talking to Zvezdnyy, Ritsuka had his feet on a slanted angle, with only the sides touching the floor.
"Ow…ow… ow…"
Running around so much without rest in the French Singularity has caused Ritsuka's feet to start hurting. Whenever he places so much as the slightest pressure on either of his foot they start to hurt really, really badly. Fortunately, there weren't any blisters, just that his feet were covered in rash-like inflammation and irritation from rubbing against the shoes.
Beyond physical exhaustion, he was also mentally exhausted. Once again, the teen leaned back into the chair he was sitting in.
"Do you feel stupid when you reject that girl's offer to carry you?" Archer's barb pricked Ritsuka's ears, breaking the silent calm state he was in previously.
Putting a hand over his forehead, Ritsuka's eyes moved to where Archer stood, crossed-armed as he was.
"I still have my pride as a male. Having her carry me feels too emasculating." Ritsuka said honestly. "Why did you have to incite the Goddess so much?"
"..." Archer paused. There was a faraway look in his eyes as if he was thinking about a memory long ago.
"She's a mirror." He admitted.
"A mirror?"
"I was once an idealist like her. I sought to carry the world on my back. Once I realized my own strength wasn't enough, I accepted the offer of a greater power. I sold my soul to the Devil."
He sold his soul…? Ritsuka knew of only one notable person who sold their soul. What's their name again? Oh right, it was Faust. Was Archer Faust? If he is, why is Faust a Servant of the Archer class? Shouldn't he be a Caster?
"And… why does this make you want to be so antagonistic to the Goddess?"
Ritsuka never expected Archer to answer, being more withdrawn. So the teen tried to get up from his chair. He only stopped when he saw Archer tighten his fists.
"Just looking at her is painful. Have you ever laid down on your bed, just as you were about to sleep, your mind suddenly brings up old memories that should stay buried?"
Ritsuka instantly understood where Archer was coming from. Oh god, the amount of cringeworthy memories his brain conjures up that should've stayed locked is ridiculous.
It took all of the teen's muscles not to cringe as his mind brought up that one time when he was six, he ripped up the art project of his fellow classmate just to show him who was boss.
"But more than that…" There was a haunted look in Archer's eyes, before suddenly disappearing as Ritsuka hissed out in pain from the contact he had with the floor.
"Hmph. And this is the cost of your pride. Was it worth it?"
Ritsuka smirked, "Hell yeah."
Unwilling to stand in the presence of such unwarranted smugness anymore, Archer disappeared, vanishing into spirit form, "Well you can go to your room on your own then."
The smirk instantly disappeared, replaced by worry.
"Wait! Archer come back! I need you to carry me back to my rooooom!"
Silence flooded the cafeteria as Archer didn't bother responding. Realizing that he was indeed gone, the teen let out a sigh once more. Staring up at the skylights above him contemplatively, Ritsuka wondered if he should use a Command Seal to get Archer to carry him to his room.
"Ugh. Alright. Continue on Ritsuka," He said to himself as he carefully dropped his feet to the floor.
"Ah!" Ritsuka hissed at the sudden pain. "Ow. Ow…"
Leaning on the table, the teen slowly got up from a seating position. Surprisingly enough, the pain isn't increasing as he puts more weight on his feet. "Hrmm."
Getting used to the pain, Ritsuka slowly left the empty cafeteria, gritting his teeth and mumbling "Ow… ow… ow…" With every step he takes.
To Ritsuka, the time it took to finally reach his room felt like an eternity. Especially when he wasn't too familiar with the layout of Chaldea, so he took several erroneous turns.
Entering his room, the teen collapsed onto the bed, a loud sigh exiting his mouth. It felt like he was coming into contact with a slice of heaven—or maybe with what clouds must feel like.
"Ahhh…" Ritsuka moaned.
Flipping himself over, the black-haired teen examined the smooth metal roof, opposite of his old home's popcorn ceiling. Everything… so foreign—
"—!"
The pain of losing his family came back to haunt him again. More than that, the idea of facing such an opponent powerful enough to incinerate humanity… It threatened to come out, gush forth like water from a burst dam. Placing his hands over his face, Ritsuka took several deep breaths to calm himself, imagining the dam being repaired.
He already broke down once. He won't break down a second time. He won't give into despair.
Getting up from his lying position, the teen took off his shoes and socks and let his bare feet hang out in the open, full of rash.
"Uff, smelly as well." Ritsuka remarked as he turned away, "I should take a shower before heading to bed."
There, in the comfort of his own room, the teen began to take off the Chaldea mystic code clothing given to him—
There was a sudden knock on his door.
"Eh?"
Facing it, Ritsuka wondered if it was the Goddess coming to punish him for losing Zvezdnyy before realizing he was half-naked.
"W—Wait! Hold on!" He cried out as the teen hurriedly put on his clothing. "I'm coming!"
Fighting against the urge to hiss with what felt like needles stabbing into the underside of his feet, Ritsuka almost ran up next to the door before pressing on an interface next to the frame, causing it to slide open.
Revealing Mash of all people.
"Mash?"
"Hi, Senpai." Mash bowed, holding something in front of her. "I… I saw how you were in pain simply from moving. So I asked Doctor Romani if there were any cure… and he gave me this."
Mash's hands came up, revealing how she was holding something resembling a toothpaste container.
Taking it, Ritsuka read the label and found it depicting 'Soothing Balm'. "What does this do?"
"You rub it on your rash skin and it'll heal in a few minutes!" Mash excitedly explained, "I've used it before so I know it should work!"
In a few minutes…? Ritsuka thought with skepticism as he looked down at the tube of medicine. Glancing at Mash again, he saw how proud she was of this medicine, and so he chose to nod, "Thank you, Mash, I'll be sure to apply it."
"And sorry— um… Nevermind. Sorry." With that, Mash hurriedly left, and the click of her shoes echoed in this empty hallway.
Seeing her disappearing form, Ritsuka closed the door to his room and stared at the tube of medicine again. Would this really work?
"Well, only one way to see." He said to himself.
Sitting back on the bed, the teen took off his clothing save for his boxers. There, he uncapped the tube of soothing balm and squeezed out a pea-sized portion onto his fingers. Rubbing those soothing balm over the rashes on his feet, Ritsuka let out a groan as the coolness replaced the sensation of the rash.
Before he could apply anymore, the door to his room slid open, revealing Goddess Kukulkan.
"Hey, Ritsuka—..."
The teen immediately turned to face the Goddess and ceased all movement. It was as though he was in a trance. Their eyes connected. Kukulkan's wandered for a few seconds before suddenly facepalming loud enough to snap Ritsuka out of whatever trance he was in before.
"—Shit!"
The Goddess immediately turned around and went out the door, closing it behind her.
"I am very sorry about that." She apologized, "I… forgot human social norms."
A blush formed on Ritsuka's face as he realized he exposed himself to her. A Goddess of all people. "Oh God…" That was embarrassing! He looked down at his body. He wasn't very muscular at all…
Quickly, he put on the white mystic code and capped the tube of medicine. Once everything was buttoned up, he called out to Kukulkan, "Hey, Goddess Kukulkan? You um, you can come in now!"
The door slid open, revealing an apologetic green-sliver-haired Goddess. Ritsuka opened his mouth to apologize—
"Look, I am very sorry about that. I forgot that humans have this thing called 'privacy' and how valued it is…" Kukulkan's gesture started to go wild as she tried to explain herself.
The way Kukulkan behaved was seriously different from what Ritsuka had imagined of a divine being. In his mind, Gods and Goddesses were mighty beings, endgame bosses who defined what is 'good'. Thus, they were always right, and to oppose them is to be in the wrong. Of course, being a teen from Japan, he's played plenty of JRPGs where you'll kill these tyrannical gods and redefine what is considered 'right'.
In short, divine beings were never supposed to be humble. The fact that a Goddess was apologizing to him right now was giving Ritsuka a serious ego boost if he was to be honest.
"Um, Goddess Kukulkan? It's okay, I understand. Many foreigners also find Japanese customs unusual. So it's okay if they violate a few of our social norms, that's to be expected."
"Oh." Kukulkan placed a hand on her chin in a thinking posture, "Hmm. Perhaps you can teach me and Zvezdnyy? Since you seem to be more familiar than these Magi who live mostly secluded from the greater society."
"Teach you and Zvezdnyy?" What does she mean by that? Ritsuka wondered.
Kukulkan nodded, "Yes. I feel myself getting more and more distant from those whom I am protecting. And in the case of Zvezdnyy, having a normalizing influence in her life could only do her good."
Ritsuka slowly nodded.
"Alright. I can do that."
"Oh, and can you please tell Archer to stay away from Zvezdnyy?"
Ritsuka felt like he was suddenly thrown onto the surface of a frozen lake. His back felt extremely cold as he was repeatedly reminded of just how he lost Zvezdnyy to Archer's words.
Given how this superpowerful being wasn't taking his head, the teen felt comfortable with the assumption that he wasn't going to die.
"Sure." He squeaked out.
Seeing how nervous Ritsuka now looked compared to before, Kukulkan let out a sigh.
"Listen," Kukulkan huffed, "I'm not going to kill you willy-nilly. I may be powerful, but I'm not… going to kill you for failing a task just as how I'm not going to kill anyone for insulting me. A human once said how half the joy in life is being able to laugh at yourself."
So humble!
Ritsuka was having a serious out-of-body experience. Was this being truly a 'Goddess'? The teen personally knew several people who were way more arrogant than this 'Goddess'.
"Right. Um. I see." Ritsuka scratched his neck.
"Anyway, enough about me, what were you doing? Why are you applying those creams?"
"My feet were actually hurting from running so much. So Mash brought me this medicine cream for me to apply it on my feet."
Kukulkan's eyebrows rose, "Huh. That's sweet of her. Do you want me to fix the irritation?"
"You can do that?" Ritsuka said.
"Of course. A divine being such as myself possesses absolute power over several domains, one of which is water. Since all life on Earth originated from water, I can control it just like I controlled Olga's soul to solidify."
Ritsuka licked his wet lips in contemplation, seriously considering what Kukulkan was saying. "Hmm," though the Director did say to refuse any and all healing from the Goddess since, as she puts it quietly, 'we can't trust her yet'.
"I'm fine, thank you for the offer though, Goddess Kukulkan."
His refusal was clearly not something Kukulkan expected. Blinking several times, it looked just as if Kukulkan was about to protest Ritsuka's decision before relenting.
"Alright. So what were you about to do after applying the medicine?"
"Well, I was thinking of showering before taking a nap. Today was seriously exhausting."
Confusion showed on Kukulkan's face. "Huh…"
Why the confusion? Ritsuka wondered. Was showering really so foreign to a Goddess? Or was it resting? Don't gods need to sleep as well? The teen was pretty sure Gods like Odin had their Odin Sleep or something, resting for a while before getting up.
"I see. I'll leave you to it. Though… Won't showering remove the medicine cream on your feet?"
"That…" Ritsuka trailed off, realizing mid-sentence the wisdom inside Kukulkan's words.
The water really would wash the medicine away, forcing him to reapply it again.
"...Guess I was too eager huh?"
"Heh, I'll leave you to your shower. Anyway, goodbye for now."
"Goodbye."
Kukulkan left his room, leaving the teen alone again. This time, Ritsuka didn't release a breath since he wasn't as nervous as before. "What a strange Goddess."
___
With that done, and the embarrassing encounter over, I decided to return to Zvezdnyy, to check up on how the essay creation process was going. Hovering a centimeter above the floor, I was about to fly there before stopping.
Looking down at myself, I paused because this wasn't what humans would do, was it? A human would walk there, or if they have the stamina, run there. They wouldn't fly there.
But then I imagined the long walk and found myself frowning. Ugh, being able to fly quickly to my destination has seriously soured any 'scenic routes' I could take.
My hovering continued. I floated in the air as I deliberated whether to walk to the record room or fly to it before I suddenly felt the urge to laugh at how such small things were causing me trouble.
In hindsight, such issues were… so small.
"Haaa…" I sighed. What a peaceful time. These are the troubles of a peaceful time, one can imagine it as my own version of 'first world problems'. Such trivial questions would've never even come up had I remained in the SCPverse.
In the end, my feet touched the floor, and I decided to walk there. As I did, I admired the relative silence, with the only sound being the humming of electronics and the blizzard outside. As I walked, I placed my hands behind me. As I walked, I looked around at the sterile hallway around me.
I wonder if this is what a retired veteran feels like when they take a stroll in a park on a warm summer's night. With the crickets chirping, the warm breeze washing across them as they're reminded of what they're protecting?
I reached Chaldea's record room soon enough.
"—so that's why the villagers were so hostile to me!" Zvezdnyy exclaimed as I quietly entered through the front door.
I didn't say anything, I merely watched as Zvezdnyy worked on the essay while Cerejeira wrote stuff on a whiteboard.
"Yep." Cerejeira nodded, "People in the past were very ignorant of the world, so religions served as a way to explain the unexplainable. Snakes in Christianity are a bad symbol, thus when you combine a bad symbol with the cross— the symbol of their religion— you can understand you're dishonoring it."
Zvezdnyy nodded and wrote something down on some scattered paper.
"And, Zvezdnyy? Are you sure you won't include whatever Jeanne d'Arc said to you in your paper?"
"Indeed, the Holy Maiden bestowed upon me a sacred vow, binding me in secrecy."
Oh right, Zvezdnyy met with Jeanne d'Arc of all people. I don't think it's important, is it? Ruler Jeanne d'Arc in the game was an underwhelming Servant, especially in the meta where the best defense is a good offense. If Zvezndyy is insistent on keeping it a secret, I guess I won't push her too hard on it.
Boundaries must be established after all.
It took less than a week for the second Singularity to be found. When it was, I was reading a book titled Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant when I received a notice of the fact.
The next morning, I was the first to arrive in the CHALDEAS chamber. Soon, Zvezdnyy joined me, followed by Ritsuka, Mash, and Archer. In front of us stood Da Vinci.
"Alright, so the next Singularity is Rome in the first century?" I started.
The blue-eyed woman nodded, "Indeed."
Her metal hand holding a staff swayed as her other, human hand, reached out towards a table and grabbed a tiny box you might find housing Airpods or other similarly small electronics.
Da Vinci handed it to me. Her thumb pressed against the sides and opened it. Revealing what resembled an earbud.
"A communicator, made specifically for you, Goddess Kukulkan. I would've liked to give you this before our last Singularity but it wasn't finished."
I took it. The shell was smooth while the side meant to go into my ears was sticky. "Are you sure this won't be destroyed when I go into a fight?"
Da Vinci gave me a smug smile. "Mmhmm! Indeed, I made it very durable, and the portion that goes inside your ear is pneumatically sealed, so as long as you don't go out into space, the communicator should always stay on."
I grabbed it and examined the earbud very closely. It really does look like an Airpod without the stem that comes down on the bottom. Placing it into my left ear, I found the earbud fits perfectly. A sudden 'pop' later and I found out that I couldn't hear anything out of my left ear at all.
The silence was so absolute that I was momentarily stunned as I tried to hear something through my blocked left ear before—
"Testing, testing, Goddess, can you hear us?"
The sound volume was such that it felt like Olga was right next to me instead of being up there in the rebuilt command room. I had half of a mind to mess with them and pretend that I didn't hear them, but I decided to be truthful.
"Yes, I hear you guys."
"Alright, perfect. We'll contact you through this channel if we need anything, or if you need anything."
Then, as though knowing Olga was finished, Da Vinci spoke, "Alright. So, the current status of the Singularity is such: this one is set in the first century AD, in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero."
____
When Da Vinci said 'Nero', Ritsuka's mind blanked as he vaguely recalled hearing about such a name when he watched a documentary a few years ago.
"Emperor Nero was a…" Da Vinci paused as Kukulkan snapped her fingers before subtly tilting her head at Zvezdnyy, who was standing right beside the Goddess, "He was a cruel Emperor. A tyrant by all measure who killed plenty of people who disagreed with him."
Zvezdnyy looked crestfallen. Her shoulders slumped a bit as the girl realized this man probably wasn't like Jeanne d'Arc. Then, out of the corner of her eyes, the girl stopped a tiny white fluffy animal hiding away in the corner.
Blinking her eyes again, Zvezdnyy found the creature gone, nowhere to be found, as though it had been a dream.
"From what LAPLACE can gather, it appears the Roman Empire, about 50 years from when it reaches its territorial zenith, has split apart into West and East. 200 years too soon. More than that, though the city of Constantinople was destined to rise to prominence, it wasn't supposed to during Emperor Nero's reign."
Da Vinci struck a dramatic pose by raising both of her arms, "Capture the Grail and fix the Singularity, save human history. Save the seven billion lives lost to the Incineration."
"You copied me," Zvezdnyy accused.
"I did not!"