Arthur slowly buried his face in his hands.
"...Oh my God, bruh."
Click.
The office door opened at that exact moment.
"Hey there, dear~"
An extremely cheerful voice echoed throughout the room.
Arthur immediately recognized that voice.
"...Speaking of the problem girl."
Ritsuka walked into the office carrying an Eevee in her arms as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
The small Pokémon was sleeping peacefully curled up against her chest.
In fact, there was another one sleeping on top of her head and a third clinging to her skirt.
"..."
The silence in the office lasted for a full two seconds.
Then Chloe slowly pointed.
"...Why are there three of them on top of you?"
Ritsuka looked down as though she had only just noticed.
"Hm?" She blinked. "Oh. They just kind of ended up there."
"That doesn't answer her question, Ritsuka," Arthur immediately replied.
Ritsuka completely ignored his protest.
She simply walked over to Arthur, placed one of the Eevee in his lap, and sat beside him. Then she leaned her head against his shoulder.
She seemed to like that position quite a bit.
The little Pokémon immediately curled up there and relaxed.
Arthur observed this expressionlessly before beginning to stroke the Pokémon's fur.
The Eevee let out a small satisfied sound while sleeping.
"I noticed she likes you a lot," Ritsuka replied with a smile as she watched how relaxed the Pokémon became after snuggling into his arms.
"This furball likes following me around whenever you're not nearby. Honestly, I'm surprised she hasn't evolved into a Sylveon yet," Arthur replied with a small laugh.
Luminous watched the entire scene in silence while lightly rubbing her chin.
The sound of an explosion suddenly echoed somewhere in the distance, followed by the laughter of a certain Dragon Slayer and the laughter of a certain Destroyer, but everyone in the room collectively decided to ignore it for the time being.
"Now that I think about it..." she began slowly. "How exactly did you two meet?"
Arthur froze when he heard the question.
Ritsuka immediately looked up from the Eevee in her arms.
"Hm?"
Luminous rested her cheek against her hand while smiling slightly.
"You've talked about Ritsuka so much..." she commented. "That it ended up making me curious."
Arthur immediately pointed at her with a frown.
"Lumi, I literally just said I wasn't planning to tell any more stories today."
"And that's exactly why I'm curious," Luminous replied calmly.
She tilted her head slightly.
"Besides... from what I understand... you met her in the same world where you met Artoria, didn't you?"
Arthur remained silent for a few seconds.
He already knew there was no escaping this conversation again.
Meanwhile, Ritsuka was already completely excited.
Her eyes were practically sparkling with anticipation.
Arthur could almost see imaginary ears and a tail wagging behind her.
"...You clearly just want to hear my version of the story."
"Because your version is way cooler than mine, Art," Ritsuka replied without the slightest bit of shame.
Arthur remained silent for a few seconds.
"Why do you always look at me like that whenever you want something? You weren't like that back then."
When they had first met, Ritsuka wasn't his "problem girl."
Quite the opposite.
She had been a much more serious and composed girl.
Sometimes Arthur sincerely wondered when exactly that had changed.
Or whether he himself had been partially responsible for that change.
"...Fine."
Ritsuka immediately celebrated.
"YES!"
"But this is the last story of the day," he said.
After making sure he had their full attention, he began narrating.
"You remember that I stayed in Fuyuki for some time after the Holy Grail War where I met Artie?"
The three of them nodded.
"I didn't remain in Fuyuki just because I wanted to relax. Sure, that was one of the reasons, but it wasn't the only one."
Arthur paused briefly before continuing.
"There were several important events approaching. I couldn't simply ignore them."
"Among them was the Fifth Holy Grail War."
Everyone's attention immediately focused on him.
"I wasn't trying to control the entire future, despite what certain people seem to enjoy implying." Arthur shot Chloe a look. "But there were certain things that needed to happen in order to prevent much bigger problems later."
Chloe raised an eyebrow.
"That's an extremely convenient way of describing interference."
"I prefer to call it preventative catastrophe management," Arthur immediately corrected.
No one seemed convinced by his words.
Arthur decided to continue before the argument could begin.
"Anyway, Rin and Sakura participated in that war."
"Sakura ended up summoning the beautiful Medusa as her Servant."
"As for Rin, she basically forced me into a contract with her, so I became her Archer and... I have to admit, Rin was terrifying back then."
"Especially because YOU taught Rin unnecessary things," Shion pointed out.
"I taught her how to protect herself," Arthur corrected immediately once again.
"You taught her how to make magical explosives."
"She learned so quickly." A nostalgic smile appeared on his face.
Arthur decided to continue his story.
"In the end, Marisbury Animusphere, who had summoned Solomon as Caster, won."
"...It's still strange thinking that all of that happened before the CHALDEA I know even existed," Ritsuka commented.
"I agree," Arthur nodded.
"Anyway, Marisbury didn't use the Grail to reach the Root. Instead, he used that power to obtain the resources necessary to create CHALDEA."
"After that, I ended up working alongside him for some time and helped with CHALDEA's initial development."
"Mainly in areas related to magical systems, temporal observation, and Rayshift stability."
"In other words..." Ritsuka commented. "Arthur helped build a large part of that organization."
"Only part of it," Arthur corrected. "CHALDEA was the result of a lot of people's work."
Even so, he couldn't help making a face.
"Dealing with Clock Tower magi was already a pain."
"Now imagine having to deal with magi funded by governments, sponsored by traditional mage families, and completely convinced they were the smartest people on the planet."
Luminous let out a small laugh.
"And was that when you met Ritsuka?"
Arthur glanced at the sleeping Eevee in his lap.
"Not exactly. I only met Ritsuka when I returned to CHALDEA in 2015, shortly after a certain incident that nearly destroyed the entire organization and also forced me to sacrifice my powers for a while."
As he spoke, a distant memory surfaced in his mind.
The Ritsuka he met back then was very different from the woman she would later become.
There was still insecurity, inexperience, and countless doubts hidden behind the young girl's determination.
She wasn't an extraordinary magus, she didn't possess a prestigious magical lineage, and she certainly didn't look like someone destined to carry the fate of Humanity upon her shoulders.
And yet, even back then, there had been something about her that drew attention.
A small smile appeared on his lips.
Curiously enough, when he thought about Ritsuka, the memories that came to mind were often much simpler ones.
Like the expression she always made whenever she started arguing with Tamamo.
The funniest part was that Ritsuka seemed to be the only one who never realized just how transparent she was.
She always tried to act as though she was above the situation.
But all it took was for Tamamo to receive a little more attention than she did, and the situation would change very quickly.
Ritsuka herself had once admitted it.
According to her, the worst part wasn't arguing with Tamamo.
It was realizing far too late that Arthur had already found a way to escape.
Ritsuka used to complain about it while smiling like someone recalling a cherished memory.
She said it was impossible to maintain a serious argument when the person responsible for the problem simply fled the scene after causing even more chaos.
Arthur let out a brief laugh at the memory.
If he were honest, he had probably abused that method far more times than he should have.
But it also worked practically every single time.
His gaze returned to the sleeping Eevee.
"Want to know something? When I met Marisbury, I thought I had found the person who would change humanity's future."
The humor gradually disappeared from his voice.
For a very long time, he truly believed that.
Marisbury possessed the vision, intelligence, resources, and ambition necessary to accomplish things that seemed impossible.
CHALDEA existed because of the efforts of countless people, but it was impossible to deny how important he had been to the creation of that project.
Arthur remained silent for several seconds before continuing.
"It turns out I was looking at the wrong person."
In the end, it was an ordinary girl who refused to give up that saved humanity.
(End of Chapter)