Extra Chapter: Gudaguda Honnoji – Avengers.
A group of six people, including Ritsuka, finally reached a small village.
The settlement consisted of rows of typical Japanese houses. Due to its small size, it seemed not to have attracted the attention of the Chitauri and looked relatively peaceful.
"What a relief. I see the war hasn't touched these places, so we can rest here," Mao Archer said, sitting on the engawa in front of a building resembling a shop and stretching her aching feet. Everyone was quite tired from the long journey and decided to take a break.
"Oh, it smells so delicious!"
At that moment, an appetizing aroma tickled Ritsuka's nostrils, coming from the direction of the establishment. Mash, Deadpool, and Mao Archer, led by the smell, immediately went inside.
"Welcome! What would you like?"
The guests were greeted by a waitress with long purple hair, whose appearance did not fit the image of a native of these parts. Ritsuka and Mash saw her for the first time, but at first glance, they understood: this was no ordinary person.
"This is... a Heroic Spirit," Mash whispered, looking at the purple-haired girl who was calmly going about her business. Deadpool, unable to contain his curiosity, stealthily approached her.
"Tell me... do you happen to have a white horse with wings among your favorite pets?"
"Excuse me? A winged horse? Do such things exist? What a funny joke," she replied. Whether she truly didn't understand or was skillfully pretending, her evasive reaction made Deadpool squint suspiciously.
"No. It's definitely her..."
Rubbing his chin, Deadpool suddenly beamed as if struck by inspiration and, pointing into the void, shouted:
"Oh no! Sakura is in danger!"
"Sakura! My Master! Where is she? I'm coming to help!!"
The kind waitress transformed in an instant. Swinging her purple hair, she drew huge nails on chains. However, there was no Master named Sakura in her field of vision.
"Oh."
Realizing the situation, Rider – for it was indeed her – quickly regained her former demeanor and, smiling radiantly, addressed Ritsuka's companions again.
"W-welcome! What will you be ordering?"
"We've already figured you out!!"
It seemed that after the incident with "Emiya" Moto Musashi and due to the antics of a certain Loki, space-time had completely tangled. Heroic Spirits, who shouldn't be here, were being summoned into ridiculous roles, aliens hovered in the sky, and Little Pools and Nobbu ran around the ground. A true world of chaos.
"Okay, six sets of 'Sakura-ban,' oolong, and twenty portions of dango," Mao Archer ordered imperturbably, having already sat down at the table and beckoning the purple-haired waitress.
"Excuse me, but I don't think now is the time for feasting?" Sakura Saber tried to appeal to reason, barely suppressing her anger, but the other didn't even bat an eye.
"Because of whom are we in this mess, and you're acting as if nothing happened!"
"It's not my fault! What do you think I'm guilty of? Is turning the Holy Grail into a bomb really such a crime?!"
"Believe it or not, yes!"
Suddenly, both of them remembered that the true culprit of the incident was sitting right next to them and simultaneously stared at him.
"I-I didn't do it on purpose... I was just a pawn in Loki's hands, I swear!"
"Exactly. Did a child understand what he was doing? He said he just really wanted to meet me. Besides, if it were only his fault, only Little Pools would have appeared. But where did these little bastards who look so much like you come from?"
"Ah, well... that..." Mao Archer, unable to withstand Deadpool's perceptive remark, averted her gaze, breaking out in a cold sweat. Whatever the intentions of each person, in the end, the accumulation effect worked, and the situation exploded. So they were all to blame.
"Here is your order: 'Sakura-ban,' oolong, and dango. Enjoy your meal!" The waitress, having fulfilled her role, fluttered away with a smile, and everyone began to eat to restore their strength.
"By the way, who's paying? Does anyone have money?"
After Deadpool's question, everyone's hands, which had already reached for the buns and dango, froze. If payment had been in advance, they would have simply left, but the establishment worked on credit, and the group found themselves in a deadlock.
"Do they accept yen?" Ritsuka rummaged through his pockets and pulled out some cash, saved from before humanity was burned.
"Senpai, I'm afraid that era is too ancient. Possibly even before the Edo period. Modern currency isn't in circulation here," Mash remarked. Ritsuka drooped and put his meager savings back.
"Hey, Okita… I mean, Sakura Saber. Do you have any coins?"
"In life, I was as poor as a church mouse, and my daily ration consisted of one daikon radish. And you expect offerings from me?"
"So what do we do now?! I don't have a cent either!"
"Then why did you order so much?!"
"Because I was hungry!"
They started bickering again. While these two were arguing, Ritsuka and Mash looked hopefully at Deadpool, praying he'd have the right currency. Though the chances were slim…
"I don't carry a wallet on missions. It ruins the silhouette of my pants."
Ritsuka sighed heavily, looking like someone who regretted ever hoping for anything. Only "Spider-Man," Spidey, remained, and nothing good was expected from him either. Sensing this skepticism, Spider-Man flared up and proudly pulled something out of his suit.
"You all think that just because I'm young, I don't have money! But I foresaw this and took a black card that Mr. Stark gave me!"
At the sight of the luxurious black plastic in the triumphant Spider's hands, everyone was speechless.
"But… do they even accept cards here?"
"Ah."
Spider-Man froze, looking as if Mjolnir had just hit him on the back of the head. His face slowly contorted, and he cowered in a corner.
"Of course. It's always like this with me. I'm a loser. Unlucky Man Spider, pam-pam-pam…"
"Mash, you're just a cruel woman. How could you trample on the hope of an innocent youth? Your treachery is comparable to All the World's Evil," Deadpool, who in any other situation would be the first to mock a whiner, now defended Spider-Man and reprimanded Mash.
"But it's a fact! In an era much older than Edo, there couldn't be any cards…"
Mash, considering her arguments logical and historically sound, followed the direction of Deadpool's finger and faltered.
[WE ACCEPT CARDS]
"Ah…"
As if to ensure she wouldn't make a mistake, these two words were written in bold fifty-point font. This time, Mjolnir landed on Mash's head.
After the incredible events, Mao Archer, patting his full stomach with satisfaction and picking at his teeth, devoured the takoyaki they had bought additionally.
"We didn't really do anything, so where did all this mana leak come from?" Sakura Saber asked. "And why are you eating so much?"
"Because it's delicious! If something is appetizing, I must taste it, even if my belly is already full! Otherwise, I'll be consumed by mortal anguish."
Saber watched with undisguised disdain as Mao Archer defiantly devoured one ball after another.
"Thank you for your purchase! Please come again!"
Having paid and filled their stomachs, the group resumed their journey to Loki's sanctuary. At that moment, Spider-Man's phone beeped – a message arrived.
"Where are you?"
Stark was writing. The guy was profoundly surprised that in a world so far from his own, cellular service was available. However, remembering that space and time were intertwined here, he decided that nothing was impossible and quickly typed a reply.
"In Japan."
"In Japan? What are you even doing there if you've spent mere pennies?"
Oh. Spider-Man completely forgot who the true owner of the card was, and that every transaction notification instantly arrived to its owner.
"Sakura-pan, oolong tea, dango, and takoyaki? Are you mocking me?"
"Well, yeah, I ordered too much. I repent. It's very urgent right now, I'll explain everything when I get back to New York!"
As soon as Spider-Man sent this jumbled excuse, a new reply came after a long pause.
"Too much? Who do you take me for? I didn't give you the card for this cheap stuff! When the first charge came, I thought you were buying a store. You spent a measly thousand dollars and call it 'too much'?"
The kid froze, not quite understanding Stark's message.
"M-mm… So I should have bought twice as much?"
There was no reply. He could practically feel Stark rubbing his temples on the other side of the screen and sighing tiredly, looking at the screen with sleep-deprived red eyes.
"We'll talk when you get back to New York. And I'm confiscating the card."
"What a bummer," Spider-Man exhaled.
He didn't dare continue the correspondence: if Stark was already speaking in that tone, any excuses would fly into the void.
"Spidey looks pretty down. Did something happen?" Mash inquired.
"Forget his look, does the signal work here?" Ritsuka wondered, surprised.
Both looked at Spider-Man with curiosity, then turned their gaze to Deadpool – the recognized "Spider-Man expert."
"Yeah, if you sent this guy to get ice cream, he'd agonize over buying an extra cone. And they shoved a black card into his hands… Ah, poor guy," Deadpool, who knew the nature of Spidey and Stark's relationship perfectly, just shrugged.
"So, where are we heading after all?" Mash asked when the commotion subsided and they continued their journey.
Mao Archer proudly pointed to a castle with a golden tower rising in the distance.
"Didn't I tell you? This is my castle, Honnō-ji! Except it's been taken over by that… what's his name… Loki the Provocateur? Anyway, he's holed up there with the Littlepools and Nobbu."
"And now he calls this place 'Sacred Asgard,' imagining himself king," Sakura Saber added, explaining the situation in this world.
"This guy combined some Tesseract-thingy with the Holy Grail. After that, holes started appearing in the sky, monsters crawled out, and the Littlepools and Nobbu started multiplying like rabbits until they were all sucked into one of the vortexes."
"So, that hole was a wormhole leading to Chaldea," Mash finally understood why the quantum displacement system had failed and they were swamped with a horde of henchmen. It turned out the goal of the expedition was clear – to find Loki, who had the Grail and that strange contraption.
"Oh-oh, Tesseract-thingy… This smells like trouble," Deadpool's face took on a puzzled expression.
At that very moment…
"Op."
Deadpool's body swayed, and he collapsed to the ground. An sharp arrow was sticking right in his head, like a bullseye.
"Sniper!" Ritsuka shouted.
In an open field, where the only cover was bare grass, everyone instantly lined up behind Mash's shield, using it as the only barrier.
"Kh… Did he send an assassin? Coward! He should have brought an army!" Mao Archer exclaimed indignantly.
"I don't feel any presence," Saber replied, trying to pinpoint the shooter. "He's either very far away or incredibly skilled…"
While they were guessing, Deadpool, left lying on the ground, groaned and began to rise with an arrow in his skull.
"Oh, my goodness, the world is spinning… Oh, look, Pinkie Pie! No, no, gotta pull myself together. Oh, I see Death. Who is that? I don't know her… Oh!"
Two more arrows whistled, pinning Deadpool's thighs firmly to the ground.
"Aaaaaah!"
"Ooooh!"
Deadpool wailed, pointing at his pierced legs alternately.
"Mister Pool! Quickly, hide here!" Mash waved her hand desperately.
"I'd love to, but it feels like the arrows are only flying at me… Ow!"
Another projectile found its mark – and this time it was the mercenary's long-suffering rear end.
"I have… a confession. I've been pierced with all sorts of things in my life… but an arrow in the butt – this is the first time…"
With these words, Deadpool finally buried his nose in the grass.