Chapter 124

At the end of 2004, the national unified entrance examination had already come to an end a month ago - even the Tokyo Metropolitan Jutsu High School, which had almost no requirements for deviation values, had already obtained the report cards of junior high school students who were clearly confirmed to have the talent of sorcerers through the unique channels of the sorcery world.

While Ye Mo Zheng Dao was in the principal's office collecting the information of the only student in the next class who was not from a magician family and began to plan to go out to recruit students - at the same time, Roman modified the data of a spirit particle transfer adaptability test report under the attention of everyone in Chaldea and printed out the entire report.

“…Is it necessary to go to this extent?” El-Melloi II sighed helplessly when he saw Fujimaru Ritsuka’s satisfied expression after receiving the report. “Come to think of it, when did you get the blood sample? I remember that there weren’t many cursed spirits recently, so the senior officers didn’t come to ask us to go out. You should have basically stayed here and never gone out.”

"Well, about this, you should ask Olga what he did to complete the list of qualified people for soul transfer." Lansermello, who was standing nearby, cleared his throat guiltily.

"I was tricked into Chaldea by a Chaldean employee disguised as a blood donation vehicle..." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the Chaldean employees standing on the other side and subtly mentioned what happened before she entered Chaldea. "Well, anyway, the blood samples this time were also collected by disguising as a blood donation vehicle."

“…So, is it really necessary to go to this extent?”

"This is just in case." Fujimaru Ritsuka answered El-Melloi II seriously, "What if Yoga Masamichi can't convince Geto Kagome? Although in the foreseeable future, Geto Kagome will definitely enter the high school to become a sorcerer - but considering the commission given to us by the World Consciousness..."

"It was my decision to get involved in the invitation." Lansemello smiled and gently pushed Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was stuck in the middle of his sentence, to sit down on the chair. "But what I want you to change is the process of this invitation, not the final result. The gears of time have already started turning, and of course we have to make good use of every node that can be changed."

——This is why Yega Masamichi brought four extra people with him when he set out for the meeting place he had agreed to meet with Geto Suguru.

"…This store—"

"The meeting place was actually chosen by you guys." Yega Masamichi parked the car, and after the engine was turned off, he picked up the file of Geto Kagome that the principal handed over to him. "On the first day the principal handed me the file, you guys gave me this request - 'If Geto Kagome agrees to the interview, let's set the meeting place in this store.'"

“But I’ve never seen this coffee shop in Tokyo.”

——Of course, after all, this store doesn't even belong to this world.

El-Melloi II complained inwardly.

Fujimaru Ritsuka had already opened the car door and got out. The orange-haired girl, who was obviously one of the instigators, had an innocent look on her face. She looked up at the coffee shop sign and naturally threw the difficult task of dealing with the high school teacher onto El-Melloi II. Fujimaru Ritsuka stopped in front of the store, turned around and looked into the car with a smile, and said this.

"This store is a super rare store discovered by Miss Lenise!"

"...My stepsister always likes to go out and look for shops that suit her taste." El-Melloi II, who was sitting in the passenger seat, covered up for Fujimaru Ritsuka under the suspicious gaze of Masamichi Yaga. After Gray and Shirou Emiya got out of the car in the back seat, he decisively left Masamichi Yaga alone in the car. "This Camelot Café is the shop she found during her exploration."

Camelot Café is a hidden gem far away from the busy streets. Of course, for the members of Chaldea, a more accurate description would be that it is a café that is open for one day every year on White Valentine's Day and is jointly run by the Knight Kings of another world, Osmanthus and Paracelsus.

"Synchronize, start, basic framework, understand——"

Shirou Emiya stood outside the store and briefly inspected the structure of the store. Of course, he knew of the existence of Camelot Café, but he still had to confirm whether this was a one-time "miracle" or a permanent base for Chaldea in the future.

"Miya-senpai." Fujimaru Ritsuka opened the door and called out to Shirou Emiya as the doorbell rang. "The person we want to meet is a sorcerer."

——This is a meeting place specially prepared for sorcerers.

"Mr. Nightmoth...hasn't gotten off the bus yet?"

Gray followed El-Melloi II and walked into Camelot Coffee Shop through the door opened by Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"Because whether it's magic power, spiritual power, or cursed power, they are all the same kind of power." El-Melloi II found a suitable seat and sat down, while explaining to Gray, "So, the sorcerer probably thinks this is a cursed spirit - ordinary people haven't discovered its existence, so it's more like a cursed spirit."

After the four people from Chaldea entered the Camelot Café, Ye Mo Zhengmichi hesitated for a long time before getting out of the car and following them in - after all, since Chaldea treated this place as an ordinary store... even if an accident occurred, it should be within their ability to handle.

"This is the meal you ordered. Please enjoy it."

Although the staff and the store itself had temporarily extended their business hours for an extra day on Christmas due to mission needs, it was clear that the servants had no real intention of opening on Christmas - the only three staff members took turns serving the only table in the store. Pharaoh had been in charge of taking orders before, but now the person who came to deliver the food became the alchemist.

The only member who had not yet shown up was not only the store manager, but he had apparently received orders from the boss and was staying quietly in the kitchen behind the bar.

While Paracelsus was delivering everyone's drinks to the table, the doorbell at the Camelot Café rang again.

"Welcome. What brings you here today?"

"Excuse me, I have an appointment to meet someone here. May I ask——"

"It's just the right time." As he watched Paracelsus put the last cup of coffee on the tray, he reminded the only two adults in the team, "The people are here."

Actually, Geto Xiayou arrived early - not to make others wait for him, especially when meeting with people of higher status than himself, arriving early is a rule that "good students" must follow.

For this reason, Geto Xia Yu even started looking for this store in Tokyo during his spare time a few days ago. However, after failing to find anything in the past few days, this store suddenly appeared here today.

Camelot Coffee Shop - in Geto Summer's perspective, this shop is almost entirely made up of cursed energy.

——It’s just like a huge cursed spirit.

Time passed quickly as Geto Suguru hesitated over whether to resolve the curse of the coffee shop before the meeting or after the meeting - so much so that Geto Suguru finally pushed open the door of Camelot Coffee Shop on time.

But until Geto Suguru was led by the waiter to the only round table in the store with people sitting there, he was still unable to react to the strange situation in this coffee shop where even the waiters seemed to be human-shaped cursed spirits.

When Geto Summer entered the coffee shop, he had already attracted the attention of the five people who arrived first - but when Geto Summer was brought to their table by the store manager Arthur Pendragon, the members of Chaldea chose to remain silent and gave the opportunity for the first conversation to Masamichi Yaga.

"Nice to meet you, Geto-kun." Yaga Masamichi watched Geto-kun take a seat at the only empty seat at the table. "I'm the teacher at the Tokyo Metropolitan Jutsu High School who was in charge of your contact. The people next to you are teachers and students at the high school. Since you're considering admission, it would be better to take a look at the current students as a reference."

——Yoga Masamichi unexpectedly prepared an excuse for them to appear here.

Fujimaru Ritsuka glanced at Kagome Geto, then quietly used his power* to connect to the subconscious of the Chaldea members at the scene—

"Well, after meeting in person...what impressions do Mr. Nisei, Gray, and Mr. Emiya have of each other?"

"So far, to me, he is just like any other Japanese person - someone I hate." El-Melloi II took a sip of the black coffee in his hand and watched the students ignore the two people who were talking and start cutting the Christmas cake provided by the branch store. "Back to the topic, Ritsuka, haven't you already made a judgment?"

"But now, Kagome Kagome still has an endless future." Fujimaru Ritsuka reached out and touched the file bag behind him, "My previous judgment was just like when I was still a human being, and I only inferred what kind of future Mr. Emiya could have based on the life story provided by Mr. Emiya personally."

"Because the known content is a future that has already been determined to be "established", no matter how you judge it, you cannot escape the influence of that future."

"I don't want you to use me as an example in a place like this..." Shirou Emiya protested to Ritsuka Fujimaru in his mind, "But I remember that you judged this guy to be a person who is evil enough to become a human being - now he unexpectedly looks like just an ordinary honor student."

"He doesn't look like an honor student." El-Melloi II glanced at where Kaguru Kei was. "Before he entered the technical high school, or before he defected from the technical high school, Kaguru Kei had the behavior and attitude of an honor student or a good kid.

"It's just like what happened to Sakura Matou in the parallel world that Alaya provided us with where Chaldea didn't exist." Fujimaru Ritsuka shook his finger, "--But I remember that according to the records of Director Marisbury, in the Holy Grail War that he participated in, Tosaka-senpai's sister also transformed in this direction, right?"

"...In this matter, we have to admit that our world is lucky enough." Shirou Emiya waved his hand helplessly at Ritsuka Fujimaru, "Although Fuyuki City exploded again like ten years ago, there were surprisingly few casualties...Even the list of participating warlords only had two people who completely disappeared."

"So, what do you think, Gray?"

"...I feel the power of the spirit inside his body." Gray frowned and thought for a moment, "To put it in an analogy, it's like Harumi-sama."