Gotham Singularity (17): Tim Smuggles Ritsuka
This time, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Xu Fu moved more carefully behind Bruce Wayne, controlling their gazes so they didn't drift toward him, especially avoiding eye contact.
Soon, a spacious and simply furnished office appeared before them. A composed young man sat in the center, surrounded by piles of documents with black and white text, and his coffee was almost empty.
Hearing footsteps, Tim looked up and was quite surprised to see Bruce walk into the office. "Bruce, what brings you here? I remember you had an interview this morning."
“It’s over.” Bruce looked distressed. “You know, I don’t want to stay at the company any longer.”
“Besides, I feel groggy today, like I’ve forgotten something.” Bruce tapped his head. “I even feel like someone is watching me. I must not have slept well last night. I need to go back and get some more sleep.”
Before he could finish speaking, Tim's expression froze imperceptibly. Then, before attracting Bruce's attention, he quickly regained his composure, indicating that he understood the hint.
Bruce was being targeted by someone he couldn't find, at the company? Tim frowned, sensing something was amiss.
His thoughts raced through his mind, from Arkham to corporate competition, but he hadn't expected... wait, there's another group of people who can find Batman but escape his notice!
Although Bruce didn't notice Tim's unusual behavior, from Fujimaru Ritsuka's perspective, Tim's momentary stiffness was crystal clear. She widened her eyes slightly and turned to ask Xu Fu, "Does he have memories of what happened last time?"
Xu Fu frowned and examined her for a moment. "It's hard to say, but I'm definitely inclined to believe it." She suddenly grabbed Ritsuka warily. "What are you planning now?"
It's common knowledge among all Servants that Fujimaru Ritsuka doesn't play by the rules. Xu Fu went from pulling her to hugging her, pressing his entire body against Ritsuka's left arm, as if afraid she would come up with some shocking plan.
Feeling the weight pressing down on her arm, Ritsuka was both amused and exasperated. She wasn't so impulsive as to rush off to meet him before confirming anything.
However, if Robin, CEO Wayne, could unite with them, then tracking Batman wouldn't be as cautious as it is now, and it would be much easier.
"Where is Leonardo da Vinci?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked.
“I also tend to think that the child has memories, but Mr. Bruce Wayne may only have brief, dreamlike subconscious memories.”
Time-related magic is intricate and profound, and many magicians spend their entire lives without making any progress in this area.
Little Leonardo da Vinci thought with great interest that if circumstances allowed, the way the black-haired boy retained his memories could be the subject of a proper magic thesis.
Bruce was unaware that a group of people were talking in the shadows in the office. When he saw that Tim understood the hint, he smiled at him happily, opened the office door, and walked out.
Ritsuka wanted to go out with him, but out of the corner of her eye she suddenly saw Tim writing on a piece of white paper, "Is it you guys?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka stopped and blinked.
"Hey, has my Taoist magic degenerated to the point where ordinary people can recognize it? That's outrageous, utterly outrageous!" Xu Fu stared wide-eyed in disbelief, his arms around Ritsuka unconsciously loosening their grip.
So what should we do next?
Should he catch up with Bruce Wayne or stay and talk to the boy in front of him?
Before leaving, she promised Jason she would protect Batman and prevent him from dying a second time, so she should have left with him, but—
Seeing the black-haired boy's determined grip on the pen and his focused gaze, Ritsuka made a bold decision that went against her ancestors: to step outside the realm of Xu Fu's magic.
"It's me."
Xu Fu was dumbfounded, muttering to herself that she knew it would turn out this way, as she removed the magical concealment. She couldn't leave her Master to face this alone, could she?
But clearly, Tim was even more shocked than Xu Fu. Although he concealed it well, the momentary panic was undeniable.
It was as if the worst guess had come true.
Although he was 80% certain that the stalker Bruce mentioned was someone he knew, Tim still had a complicated expression when he actually saw Ritsuka and the others.
He could finally confirm that the extra memories he had that morning were not a hallucination, "So it was all real."
Bruce died, and the Arkham riots broke out. Then he returned to the morning of October 16th and saw Bruce being dragged out of bed by Alfred to go to work.
God knows he was so scared at that moment he almost jumped up.
What's even more frightening is that Bruce has no memory of death, nor does their old butler. The whole world is talking about what happened before October 16th, as if he were the only one in the world suffering from hysteria and seeing an imagined future.
This feeling is unpleasant, like being abandoned by time.
“Yes, time has gone backwards. But it’s not the first time,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said honestly.
The black-haired boy stared intently at Fujimaru Ritsuka, his detective-like eyes scrutinizing and hoping at the orange-haired girl.
Can I trust you?
Fujimaru Ritsuka took a deep breath, and she could clearly see her reflection in those beautiful blue eyes.
"sure."
As if making up his mind, Tim tapped the armrest of the chair with his index finger and slowly spoke.
Clang—
A soft sound rang out in the quiet office.
God, a sense of foreboding flashed through Tim's mind.
“Oh, right, Tim…” Bruce pushed the door open and entered.
Bruce looked up at the desk piled high with documents, and Tim, who had been daydreaming with his head propped up on his hand, suddenly stood up. His eyes were full of surprise at Bruce's arrival and embarrassment at being caught slacking off.
Bruce paused, then smiled and shook his head, telling Tim that he could always ask for leave and go home if he felt sleepy. He took a few steps forward, looked around the room which seemed no different from before, and pulled the file Tim had forgotten from the top of his pile of documents.
Finally, Bruce Wayne told Tim to rest more and not to rely on coffee as a life-saving device. He took one last look at the office where only the black-haired boy was, then closed the door and left.
After a long, oppressive silence, Tim finally let out a sigh of relief and reclined in his soft swivel chair. "That's enough, Bruce's gone."
"Finally! Whew, that man's aura was terrifying!" Xu Fu wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. She would never say that she seemed to see the shadow of the absolute Qin Shi Huang.
"That was close! If we had been a second slower, we would have been exposed." Fujimaru Ritsuka slowly exhaled. "It felt like we were doing a spy rendezvous, all sneaky and furtive."
Tim couldn't help but laugh when he heard such a vivid analogy. He rubbed his cheeks and rearranged the documents on the table that he had deliberately messed up when he stood up in a panic, revealing the text underneath that contained his communication with Ritsuka.
Bruce must have seen him put pen to paper... but he probably wasn't sure what he wrote or who he wrote it to, otherwise he wouldn't have been so mild-mannered just now.
Since becoming Robin, Batman has maintained strict control over the dangers he encounters, and he is well aware of the reason—the tragedy of the previous Robin—so he generally complies with it.
But now, Bruce's life is on one side of the scale, and he has no chance to save him but turns a blind eye.
"Sorry," Tim thought to himself. He looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka again. "You guys came to follow Bruce. He's gone home now. I'll take leave later and take you to Wayne Manor."
“Before that, I think we should continue the conversation that we didn’t finish last night.”
In less than fifteen minutes, Tim's expression went from serious and calm to blank. After Ritsuka stopped speaking, he summarized with his last shred of reason:
"So, Professor Moriarty gave the Holy Grail to a woman to create a singularity, and then passed on clues to you through his students."
He swallowed hard, his pupils trembling. "And Red Hood's advisor is Sherlock Holmes?"
“Yes, that’s right.” Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled and nodded in agreement with Tim’s conclusion, seeing the longing look deep in his eyes. “Maybe you can even get his autograph?”
Seeing the usually calm and composed black-haired boy suddenly fall into a kind of frenzy, Ritsuka couldn't help but laugh. Now that's more like a young man.
Mr. Holmes is truly charismatic; he has loyal fans in every world.
However, their time is really tight right now, so this isn't a good time to be a fan.
“Come back to reality, sir,” Ritsuka reminded him, “I think Mr. Wayne still needs our help.”
“Oh right, Bruce,” Tim said, having heard the whole story, he knew very well the danger Bruce might be in.
He grabbed the important documents on the table and quickly said, "I need to ask Lucius for leave and deliver the rest of the documents to him!"
Leaving aside how Lucius stared at the dark circles under the boy's eyes and secretly complained that Bruce didn't know how to raise children at all, and even corrupted a good kid when he received the documents and leave application from Tim, let alone mentioning that when he received the documents and leave application from Tim, Lucius was secretly thinking that Bruce didn't know how to raise children at all, and even corrupted a good kid.
Tim managed to get Fujimaru Ritsuka and Xu Fu to the underground parking garage without any problems. Since Ritsuka didn't have a driver's license and Xu Fu was from ancient times, there was only one person left to drive.
Do you have a driver's license?
“…Haha.” Tim drove towards Wayne Manor. “These details aren’t important.”
The more important thing now is how to find an excuse that will not make Bruce suspect his purpose for returning, while still allowing Bruce to continue following him.
Good heavens, deceiving Batman, who knows himself so well and has an extremely high desire for control, is simply the most difficult task imaginable.
Suddenly, the car phone rang, and a familiar name appeared on the screen—it was Dick calling. Tim immediately gestured to the two people sitting in the back seat.
Ritsuka quickly covered her mouth with her hand, indicating that they knew exactly what to do next.
“Hey Tim, I’m back in Gotham!” Dick’s familiar and lively voice rang out in the car, but Tim still keenly caught the probing tone in it. “Did you sleep well last night?”
“Of course not,” Tim said. “Wait for me at home for a while; I have some clues to share with you.”
"Great, the excuse has come to me on its own. What better excuse could there be than Dick suddenly returning home without a word?" Tim raised an eyebrow, looking at Wayne Manor before him, and couldn't help but chuckle.
Back home, Tim, under Bruce's surprised gaze, pulled Dick, who had returned earlier and hadn't had a chance to say anything, straight upstairs to their room.
Dick looked at Tim, puzzled, as he stood motionless in the doorway, seemingly lost in thought. He raised his hand and waved it vigorously in front of Tim's eyes a few times. "Hey, why are you standing there like an idiot?"
Tim glanced at Dick with a strange expression, without explaining his dazed behavior, and led him into the room and closed the door.
After waiting another minute, Tim said seriously, "Do you remember I said I was going to share a clue with you?"
"Of course I remember. I'm not so forgetful that I could forget what I said half an hour ago."
Tim laughed. "You said it yourself." He patted the air to Dick's left, amidst Dick's horrified and confused gaze. "This is the clue I wanted to share."
Two familiar figures suddenly appeared to Tim's left.
“...FUCK”.
Dick's pupils contracted, and he instinctively made a wary movement, almost throwing all the gadgets he was carrying at once. He never expected Tim to be so bold as to smuggle people into the manor right under Batman's nose.
Oh my god, is he really awake, or is he still dreaming?
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