"Incredible," Rin murmured as she took another bite of food, her eyes wide with wonder and delight. "How on Earth did you make food so good in the Moon Cell, where our senses are pretty much just data and can only translate so far?"
"I'm very good at cooking," Dio told her with a smile.
After his day of rest with Nobu, Dio had begun hacking into Shinji's data to find out more information about him. He wasn't sabotaging Shinji, merely checking out what he was doing. It seemed he'd finally noticed Drake's skill regarding treasure and was starting to prepare for it. He'd also found a faded journal relevant to Drake and was planning to hide it in the Arena in order to hide it from Dio.
However, Shinji was the furthest thing from his mind as he and Rin sat together on the roof of the school and enjoyed lunch together- almost like they were having a picnic.
Dio's cooking was at a level beyond even Gods; he could even break the boundaries and rules of the Moon Cell to allow for the taste of his food to shine through... Even a man with no ability to taste would find himself munching his food in delight; allowing their digital bodies to taste food to its fullest was no problem at all.
"Hmph, fine, keep your secrets," she told him with a playful huff, opening up a thermos and pouring herself some warm tea before she took a sip. "Oh, that's really good..." She murmured. "You weren't kidding about making my favourites, this is all amazing. It has been a long time since I got to enjoy food like this."
"I aim to please," he told her.
Her lips quirked in an amused smile. "Where did you learn to cook like this?"
"When you live the life I have, you learn how to cook so you aren't eating crap every day," he responded. Not a lie, he did indeed know basic cooking before Billionfold Return. "You learn a lot more than you'd think when you have to make anything you can find edible. I've even needed to eat pufferfish a few times- dissecting that thing when the smallest mistake can cause it to get ruined is not fun."
"Fair enough," Rin gave a nod, taking another sip of tea. "Well, if you hack as well as you cook, then I'm going to be in some trouble should we meet each other in the war."
Dio smirked slightly. "Perhaps just a bit..." He took a sip of tea himself. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
She hummed as she put down the cup. "You know who I am, right?"
"Hard not to," he told her. "You're the one who told everyone about the Moon Cell Holy Grail War. I looked into your background; you worked as a Terrorist in opposition to the Harwey family. If I'm not wrong, your wish on the grail is probably something along the lines of removing the Harwey's from power."
"You've done your homework," she nodded. "Yes, I want to use my wish on the grail to put an end to the Harwey's reign... While winning the war would ultimately end up killing both Julius and Leo, thus depriving them of their heirs, removing the entire family from power would be better."
Rin fixed her gaze on him. "What about you? What's your wish?"
"Sovereignty," Dio said confidently.
She frowned in confusion. "What, you want to be King of the world?"
"Not the world," a smirk flickered onto his lips. "The Moon Cell."
Rin stared at him for a moment, as if she didn't understand what he'd just said. She slowly grabbed the cup and brought it to her lips, taking a sip. "King of the Moon Cell...?"
"It is what it says, absolutely ownership over the Moon Cell," Dio explained. "You can command the Moon Cell in ways that make Spiritron Hacking look like trying to break into a house with a toothpick. You can't make any sort of wish like you can by using the Grail, but you can command the Moon Cell itself and even decide if another War will happen."
"That's..." Rin looked considerate. "I never even thought of wishing for such a thing... Sovereignty over the Moon Cell itself..."
Dio merely smiled and grabbed a rice ball before he began to eat it, taking sips of tea between bites.
After a few moments of silence, once she'd started taking bites of food again, did he finally speak, "So, who's your opponent in the first round?"
"A Japanese girl called Ayako Mitsuzuri," she responded. "Nothing special, mediocre hacking skills. I put a listening hack on her terminal, learned her Servant is a Rider Class - Ushiwakamaru."
"Oh? Not a bad servant, a very loyal one too... But, in the hands of a mediocre Master..."
"Mm, a shame," Rin agreed. "All the worse for her that I ended up being her first opponent. Obviously, I won't share details, but I summoned one of the best Servants in this war. And you, how's dealing with Matou going?"
"Like I said, he's just a kid thinking he's a genius," Dio shook his head. "From my little investigations, he's only just realised about how Drake's skill to strengthen herself the more treasure she has works. His plan is to lock me out of the arena tomorrow with a seal while he and Drake gallivant around and gather the Pirate Treasure he's going to have hacked into the arena."
Rin hummed and sipped her drink. "Well, it's not a terrible strategy- though incredibly childish. Clearly, he's unaware that Time in the Arena is strange. Even if you took several hours to break the seal, only a few minutes may have passed in the Arena."
Dio just nodded. "Of course, that's also assuming I'll let him obtain the treasure at all," he smirked in amusement. "I'm not afraid of a hard fight, but why would I let him make the fight harder for me than it needs to be?"
She shared Dio's smirk, chuckling as she finished her drink.
"... What are you hoping to get out of this?" Dio finally tackled the last elephant in the room. "This 'Date.'"
Rin hummed in thought. "Truth be told, not sure. For some reason, you interest me... And, perhaps, I just want to die without regrets should things not work out in the war for me. I've done a lot in my own life, but I've never been on a date or become romantically attached to someone before."
"And if we end up facing one another in the war?"
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."
They both shared a smile and tapped their cups together- a solemn promise.
.
.
.
Dio and Nobu stepped onto the Second Floor of the Labyrinth to grab the Second Cypher Key. Of course, on the way, he'd dropped off the Kendo Sword with Taiga- who'd asked for them to search for a Tangerine within the arena. Seeing no reason to refuse, Dio agreed- so he mentally added that to the list of things to grab during their trip.
"Hmm..." Nobu hummed as she looked around, twirling her musket. "So, this is the second floor?"
"Yep," Dio nodded, holding out a hand as a 3D Model of the map manifested over it. "Like I saw, Shinji also stored something about Drake's history within the arena. We'll pick it up while we're here- Shinji will definitely come attack us to get it back, it will delay his plans to hack the Arena with Treasure for Drake."
"You're enjoying messing with the Matou boy's plans, aren't you?" Nobu smirked in amusement as they began to make their way through the Arena.
"Completely," his lips curled in a smirk.
Nobu looked at him. "Speaking of, why don't you just kill him while I'm fighting Drake? It would be easy for your talents."
He fell silent for a moment, thinking about Nobu's words.
"Do you go out of your way to step on an ant?"
It may have been cruel; it may have been heartless of him... But it was genuinely how Dio viewed Shinji Matou in every universe- a mere ant who thought himself a Dragon. Shinji in CCC was at least able to redeem himself by sacrificing himself to Meltryllis, but this Shinji Matou?
He had no redeeming qualities. A snot nosed brat who would become as vile as his teenage self in any other universe, arrogant and cruel.
There was silence between the two of them...
And then Nobu threw her head back and roared with laughter. It wasn't her ordinary laughter; it was the laughter of a demon cackling with twisted delight.
She finally came down from her joyful high and grinned at him, "I'm really falling for you even more, Dio! You really are the kind of person completely compatible with me! A Buddha? Ha! You're just like me- a Demon. A Vengeful Buddha."
"Order and Chaos are merely two sides of the same coin," Dio responded.
"Hahaha! Yes, you get it! You get it!" She leaned up and pecked his cheek. "If only a man like you had existed back then, I might have left behind a lineage."
"And deal with that yandere, Mitsuhide? No thanks."
She cackled as the two made their way through the Labyrinth, blasting through enemies with ease, before they finally arrived at a hidden pathway that led them to an orange cube containing the Journal that Shinji had hidden.
Dio opened up the cube, grabbing the journal and flicking through it, "Oh, I see, this is Drake's personal journal she wrote in life. It's barely legible, but it's definitely got some key points that would give away her identity. No wonder Shinji wanted to hide it."
"Makes sense," Nobu nodded before she looked back. "Oi, I sense a Servant- he's entered the arena and is coming towards us with Rider right now."
The Survivor hummed in thought... Truthfully, he saw no reason to fight Shinji- he already knew plenty about Drake. And fighting would just be more likely to show Nobu's capabilities.
Instead, a grin slowly rose to his lips, "Say, Nobu... It means leaving behind the Cypher Key for now, but what do you say about leaving a little... Trap?"
In seconds, Nobu was sharing his grin.
.
.
.
Shinji frowned as he arrived at the place the two should have been... The hidden path just outside of where he'd hidden Drake's Journal, and yet he couldn't find them at all.
"Rider, do you sense them?" Shinji asked.
"I sense something, but it ain't a servant," Francis Drake responded, shaking her head with a frown.
"Tch, maybe he used a return crystal..." Shinji just smirked and laughed. "Of course, he ran away! He knew he would be no match for me, so he ran like the coward he truly is! As expected, I suppose that means we have free reign of the arena now, I can finish mapping it out..."
Drake frowned... This was too simple. Too easy. The Master aside, Oda Nobunaga running from a fight...? That didn't sound right, something was off about this.
As Shinji took a step forward to lead the way, suddenly there was a sound like something snapping. Shinji quickly lifted his foot to see he had stepped on something... It almost look like a tripwire...?
Drake suddenly tensed and looked up as dozens... No, at least a hundred muskets manifested around them- all of them aimed straight at her and Shinji... Nobunaga's muskets.
"Shinji!" Drake roared as she leapt over to him with blinding speed, pulling him into her chest as the muskets pulled their triggers. "Golden Hind!"
The ship answered its master's call, surrounding both her and Shinji as it emerged from the deep- taking those vicious blasts from the muskets and damaging the hull, the cannons- everything about the ship was ravaged by the firing muskets.
And the attacking weapons vanished after their work was done.
Shinji gulped. "I- th- th- that... H- he set a trap! Th- that cowardly...!"
Drake just grimaced... The damage to the Golden Hint wasn't light... It would need repairing for the battle on the final day. It was possible to repair it, but it was going to take a full day in order to do so- they'd have to leave as soon as they finished out mapping the arena.
It looked like Shinji was going to have to pull an all-nighter...
***
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