Type-Moon, Is a Small Opening Also an Opening?

All of a sudden, XX noticed that Yug's gentle smile dimmed slightly upon hearing her say that. Her weak voice, tinged with a sigh, drifted away into the air.

"If he didn't say anything, then there's no need for me to say more either."

For some reason, that answer gave XX the feeling of a pair of star-crossed lovers...

Isn't this way too weird?! Yug, are you a fan secretly in love with my boss, or do you actually know him?!

Then, right before XX, whose mind was in complete turmoil, the blue-haired girl walked past her and skillfully inserted two Cosmic Coins into the rusty coin slot of the old claw machine.

"Actually, when it comes to catching this doll, you shouldn't force it too much."

The blue-haired girl continued, "And compromise—not forcing yourself to accept something—can instead help people improve and reach farther goals."

The moment her words fell, XX saw the doll resembling her boss—the one she had been trying to grab for ages—get picked up in a single try.

Yug blew a breath at the doll, then smiled. With both hands clasped behind her waist, she looked once more at the dumbfounded XX.

"But you can't just eat it casually."

Still wearing that innocent smile, she placed the doll in XX's hands and added another reminder.

"Because of my relationship with Mizuvia... well, we're what you'd call fiancés."

She left with a smile, leaving only Mysterious Heroine XX standing there in a daze.

Thus, only a few minutes later, Mizuvia, who was outside Planet Logian, received a message—

Ninja Artoria Killer Must Die: Boss, you scumbag! Give me back a year of my youth and a year of my maidenly heart!

aaaa Contact Me Anytime: ?

aaaa Contact Me Anytime: Stop losing your mind for no reason. I'm docking two days' worth of your instant noodles.

After sending that reply, the thoroughly confused Mizuvia muttered, "...Did she eat so much instant noodles that she lost her mind? Maybe I should improve her meals a little."

After that, riding Golden Divine Steed II while working part-time as a local courier, he charged into the desolate Planet Logian.

"Is this Ms. X.A. with the order number ending in HG74M? Your order from Eastern Seas Food Company—'Oh My God, Amaterasu's Selection of One Hundred Exquisite Delicacies and Wagashi So Good They'll Make Servants Die and Come Back to Life, Special Price for Two'—has arrived. Please sign for it, and if possible, leave a positive review. Thank you."

"Oh." Walking out of the simple house, the gray-haired girl in a black hood wrote her name one character at a time. Then, pressing hard on the receipt with one hand, she coldly asked, "We've known each other for so long. Why are you still talking to me like you did when we first met?"

Her tone said she would kill him if he didn't explain himself right now.

"Well, you're a customer. No matter what, I'm currently working part-time as a courier to supplement my income, so I still have to say those things. It's like the 'Welcome' you hear when you enter a mall, more or less."

"Sorry, I've never left Logian, and I've never been to a mall." The gray-haired girl answered calmly, though her grip did loosen. "So next time, you can just call me directly."

"Of course."

"...Won't you stay a little longer?"

"I still have another delivery to make..."

"Oh." The gray-haired girl paused. "I didn't buy enough, so I can't keep you here for long. Sorry."

"You can't put it that way. Honestly, it doesn't make a difference how much you buy."

"Mm, I understand."

The gray-haired girl with glasses removed her black hood, opened the package, and handed one of the smaller parcels inside to Mizuvia.

"This wagashi is for you. Ah, I'll eat the remaining one myself, so don't worry."

"So that's why you bought an extra one?"

Mizuvia vaguely remembered that when this girl bought this wagashi, she normally only bought one after a long time. That was understandable, since she was the only person on this planet and couldn't possibly save up a large amount of Cosmic Coins all at once.

"I clicked it by accident."

"Alright, then I'll eat one."

Only after eating it in front of the girl did Mizuvia leave Planet Logian.

And so, watching that tiny starlight vanish into the yellowed sky, the gray-haired girl—Mysterious Heroine X Alter—softly called out, "I hope you'll come again."

Free Extra: Mer... Metatron

"Tomorrow's the Cosmic Grand Examination. I really never thought I'd get a chance to take it a second time..."

It was a sweltering Starfall Night.

Living in a rented house outside the academy, Mysterious Heroine X lay sprawled across her desk, listening to the cicadas chirping nearby.

They never stopped. They chirped endlessly throughout the entire Summer Year. Mysterious Heroine X had once loved listening to them, because it meant Summer Year had arrived.

But now, the moment she heard that sound, she felt like she was about to go crazy.

Compared to Chaldea Cosmic Higher Academy, Central Cosmic Police University was undoubtedly a far more prestigious name, but it was exhausting! In just one year, she had compressed the results of four hundred years of coursework and training into herself.

Aside from being "invited" into this university by Mizuvia with a special application contract covered in the words "Guaranteed employment, high salary, great benefits (just kidding)," Mysterious Heroine X had never imagined that her Servant career would be spent here, tortured... no, trained by Metatron until she was physically broken and mentally dazed.

When she first met Metatron, Mysterious Heroine X found the person unfathomable. Wearing a mask, they possessed an aura so powerful it seemed capable of distorting space, radiating the air of, "Don't ask who I am. I'm strong."

What Mysterious Heroine X had not expected was that on her very first day, she received Mizuvia's insane demand from Metatron:

Cram four hundred years' worth of courses into one year, and train according to the standards of an Agent and an Archangel Detective! Damn it, this was practically a challenge to the Basic Law of Servants! I'm calling the police... Also, I remember the Third and Fourth Tier Angels at the police academy didn't even have heads... So why was the guy in front of me a normal humanoid? How strange...

The look in Metatron's eyes beneath his mask seemed to see through everything. He calmly glanced at the trembling Mysterious Heroine X, then turned his gaze toward Mizuvia. For several seconds, he stared at the man's departing back with a complex expression X could not understand. That look seemed to contain a thousand unspoken words: relief, concern, indulgence, and even a faint trace of... deeply concealed aggression?!

That gaze seemed to silently declare an intense sense of ownership, making X shudder.

But in the end, it was reduced to a single low remark directed at Mysterious Heroine X:

"You'd better do well. Since I was asked to do this, I won't go easy on you either."

On the very first day's physical assessment, Mysterious Heroine X was utterly stunned.

Because the warm-up was not ordinary long-distance running or push-ups, but "dodging Plasma Fireballs falling from the sky in a training ground with One Thousand Times Planetary Gravity, while completing one hundred thousand high-speed sprints."

Mysterious Heroine X was dumbfounded on the spot. She felt her Servant body let out a cry of overload, and she looked at Metatron, trying to plead for mercy:

"Instructor, th-this difficulty level is a little high, isn't it? I'm just an ordinary, uh, Servant with a particular obsession with Saber!"

The look beneath Metatron's mask seemed faintly cold as he calmly said:

"'Ordinary' does not belong here. Besides, when Via trained in this environment, his workload was a hundred times yours."

Then, before Mysterious Heroine X could react, the training ground's gravity surged instantly. Basketball-sized Plasma Fireballs began dropping from overhead, and X immediately entered full-blown chaos mode. She wailed and shrieked as she dodged the fireballs, while sprinting with every ounce of strength she had. The spectacle was quite magnificent for a time, like a hamster with its butt on fire fleeing in a frenzy...

The strength training that followed the warm-up was not weightlifting either. It was dismantling a small meteorite with her bare hands, then reassembling it into its original state within the allotted time.

Mysterious Heroine X looked at the meteorite, dozens of times taller than herself, and felt that her career as a Servant might be ending early.

Yet Metatron merely took out a scroll covered in complicated formulas and diagrams and said calmly:

"This is the meteorite's structure and composition. Study the theory for ten minutes first, then begin the practical work. The timer starts now."

Ten minutes later, Mysterious Heroine X's mind was a complete mess, but her survival instincts still made her charge in with gritted teeth. Imagining those rocks as Artoria's face, she put all her strength into it. Stones immediately flew everywhere, dust billowed into the air, and the scene grew wildly violent.

Mysterious Heroine X ended up completely coated in dirt like a groundhog, while Metatron timed her expressionlessly from the side, occasionally offering a line of guidance:

"Pay attention to the direction of energy flow in the core area, or it will cause an explosion. This kind of rock structure needs to be stripped away with specialized techniques; brute force will only be counterproductive."

Thus, after the two major training sessions, the utterly exhausted Mysterious Heroine X collapsed onto the ground, unable to move.

Metatron walked over to her. Mysterious Heroine X had thought he was about to shout at her to get up, but instead, Metatron reached out and, unbelievably... like a mother wiping sweat from her child's face, gently wiped her forehead.

In that instant, X's Servant core skipped half a beat.

That tyrant could actually do something like this? The contrast made her feel as though goosebumps were falling all over the ground.

Then Metatron said in that slightly gentle voice, "When Via trained until he collapsed from exhaustion back then, I often took care of him like this too. Physical recovery is important as well."

In X's memories, Metatron often mentioned their boss, Mizuvia, during training.

"Via mastered this hand-to-hand move in three hours back then. You took five. You need more work."

"With this high-difficulty shooting stance, Via hit the core on his first attempt. You missed by 0.01 light-years. Go back and practice it ten thousand times."

Whenever Metatron mentioned Mizuvia, his tone carried a hint of barely perceptible pride and... indulgence. But every time Mysterious Heroine X heard about what "Via did back then," she wanted to rush over, grab Metatron's mask, and shout, "Enough! I have zero interest in the boss's glorious achievements from back then!"

I came here to learn, not to listen to "what Via was like back then"! Whatever the boss was like back then is fine! Stop torturing me already!

Yet even Metatron's gaze through the mask carried something like... an eagerness for a child to succeed? Or perhaps it was more of an "abusive mentality." It was as though Mizuvia were a "child" he had painstakingly raised, and X, the "newcomer," had to meet the same—or even higher—standards before she was worthy of his "child" and his approval.

That mentality manifested in a "terrifying" way during one training session.

That session was a battle conducted in a simulated space. The imaginary-number space was extremely unstable and easily caused hallucinations. While X was fighting inside it, she suddenly saw—and heard—Metatron's voice before her.

"Via, it's cold outside. Wear more clothes."

"Via, exams are coming up. Make sure you get good grades."

"Via, be careful when making friends. Don't let strange females deceive you. My data doesn't lie."

Mysterious Heroine X was so frightened that she nearly rolled straight out of the imaginary-number space.

What kind of hallucination was this?! How did it turn into this?! What kind of old mother was this?

When she finally finished the training and staggered back into real space, Metatron was still standing there in his mask, radiating that powerful presence.

So X asked in a trembling voice, "Instructor... y-you... just now, were you..."

Metatron calmly cut her off:

"Hallucinations in the simulated space? Perfectly normal. It means your mind is not stable enough. Back then, Via could fight, write a thesis, socialize, and do laundry at the same time in that kind of environment. You still have a way to go."

"..."

Mysterious Heroine X felt like "Via back then" was about to drive her insane.

Instructor Metatron, could you please use a different phrase?! The universe is so vast—did you really only know Mizuvia, from the past until now?

Boss, my boss... ah, sigh...

Of course, Mysterious Heroine X would not simply let Metatron "manipulate" her like this. Occasionally, she would bring out her instincts as an "Artoria Killer" and try to resist in various ways.

For example, during one physical training session, she deliberately imitated Metatron's stance in her hand-to-hand movements, hoping to draw his attention.

Metatron merely looked at her without expression and said, "Imitation is meaningless. Via studied all kinds of fighting styles back then and ultimately found what suited him best. You need to find your own path, X." Mysterious Heroine X felt as if she had punched cotton.

Another time, X deliberately raised some tricky questions about Artoria during a theory lesson, trying to change the subject. For example:

"Instructor, from a biological perspective, why does Artoria have an organ like an Ahoge?"

Metatron fell silent for a moment, then said in the tone of someone studying an alien lifeform, "That is a very interesting question. Based on current observational data, the 'Ahoge' possessed by individuals of the Artoria species appears to be an organ highly correlated with their 'King Arthur' attribute and capable of producing unknown energy reactions. Its exact function is still under study. I can have one too. Look."

X was utterly shocked. She had never imagined that Metatron actually had an Ahoge... Right, she had nearly forgotten that her instructor was blonde too. Could she be an Artoria as well?

Impossible, impossible. She could not beat her at all, so she definitely was not an Artoria...

After all, there was only what Metatron's training regimen that Heroine X could not imagine—nothing she could not do.

Hide-and-seek in Higher Dimensional Space (one-minute time limit; failure to find her would mean getting lost in spatial turbulence), philosophical debates with simulated cosmic-scale disaster entities (losing the debate meant being literally erased), jump-rope contests near gravitational singularities (the rope was made of light), and unclogging blocked Cosmic Wormholes barehanded (all sorts of bizarre giant space creatures lived inside)...

Every training session made X feel as though her worldview as a Servant had been shattered and rebuilt again and again.

So, after hastily extinguishing that terrifying thought, X began courses even more hardcore than Metatron's practical training: cosmic law, interstellar politics, multidimensional spatial theory, anomalous object identification, communication with alien races, and much more. The material was vast and profound, flooding in like a tide and threatening to completely wash away X's already shaky academic foundation as a slacker.

To make matters worse, Mizuvia had taken on Heroine X's nighttime tutoring.

It was called tutoring, but in X's eyes, it was really just her inhuman boss giving her mental "encouragement" after Metatron had already pushed her physical strength to its limit.

In the dormitory, X slumped in her chair like a puddle of mud, her eyelids so heavy they seemed to have two meteors hanging from them.

This morning, Mizuvia had come to visit her and found her in the middle of high-difficulty spatial distortion traversal training, her entire body twisted like a pretzel.

Honestly, Heroine X did not want Mizuvia to visit her, because every time Mizuvia appeared, Metatron would increase the intensity of her training and make her display her strongest state.

"Save me, Boss!"

Mizuvia merely smiled helplessly and said to Metatron, "Instructor Metatron, isn't the training intensity a little too high? She's only just started."

Metatron gave Mizuvia a deep look, as though that gaze contained endless emotions, but they vanished in an instant. She continued calmly:

"Viya, in order for her to adapt to the work of the Cosmic Police as soon as possible, a necessary level of intensity is essential. She needs to grow quickly so she can better assist you at your side."

Metatron put particular emphasis on the words "assist me." To X's battered ears, they somehow carried a faint sense of staking a claim.

Heroine X desperately wanted to complain, but the moment she saw Metatron's unfathomable gaze, she chickened out.