The Biggest Lie Is Truth

"Ritsuka, Mash, Fou..." Watching the two girls and one beast approach, Mo Li let out a wistful sigh.

Mash: "Huh?"

Ritsuka Fujimaru looked confused. "You know us?"

Fou tilted his head slightly. "Fou?"

"...Let's talk as we walk." Mo Li stepped aside, inviting the two girls and Fou to walk with him.

"Senpai, what should we do? Are we really going with him?"

"Um... maybe we should give it a try?"

"What do you mean, give it a try?!" Mash nearly lost it. She took a deep breath, then walked toward Mo Li. "All right. Then, may I ask how you know us?"

Seeing Mash head over, Ritsuka Fujimaru and Fou followed as well.

Once he saw them catch up, Mo Li turned and began walking slowly. "Mash, how far have you gotten in resolving the Singularities? The sixth? The seventh? Or have you only just undergone your first Spiritron Transfer?"

"Uh?" Mash froze. "Are you from Chaldea too?"

"That's not what matters right now, Mash!" Ritsuka Fujimaru bristled. "What do you mean, how far we've resolved the Singularities? Do you know what kind of Singularities we're supposed to resolve?!"

"Fou!" Fou was equally astonished by Ritsuka Fujimaru's words, then leaped onto his shoulder.

"Mm... I do know. After all, we... never mind. Even if I told you now, it might not change anything. It could even make things worse. There's no point. In the end, I can only witness your existence once again."

Ritsuka Fujimaru bristled even more. "Don't talk like some cryptic riddle-speaker!"

"Ritsuka, don't be so hasty. So, you've only just undergone Spiritron Transfer, right? And you were transferred to my world by mistake."

Mash's face changed dramatically. "We really were transferred to the wrong location?! What year is it now?"

Mo Li said, "1994. The burning Fuyuki City of Singularity F was in 2004, during the Fifth Holy Grail War. Right now, it's only the Fourth Holy Grail War. And since you've already observed Singularity F, that means a world with a burning Fuyuki City in 2004 already exists. That doesn't match my world. You came to the wrong world from the very beginning."

"1994! We really did come to the wrong place!" Mash became anxious.

"Mash, don't panic. We just need to send you back, then send you to the correct world." Mo Li turned around and patted Mash on the shoulder.

Mash's pupils constricted. Mo Li had not put any force into the pat, but he had moved incredibly fast—and despite being a Pseudo-Servant, she had not instinctively guarded against his action. That was a very bad sign.

Did she trust him completely? Or did he possess some unusual effect, something like affinity or reduced hostility?

Mo Li opened the door of the car he had driven over. "All right, ladies, get in... Well, I wanted to say we could talk at my home, but on second thought, that place isn't suitable for taking you. I'm afraid it might give you the wrong idea. We'll go directly to Ryudoji Temple. The Ley Line you're looking for is there. But you can't use that place yet. The Grail has been corrupted, and until we solve that problem, you shouldn't try using it for too much—such as returning to Chaldea."

Ritsuka Fujimaru said, "Ryudoji Temple? The doctor did say the Ley Line was there."

"I've cleared the place out. The ordinary people have left Ryudoji Temple to live elsewhere, and I've set up a powerful protective barrier there. You can stay there for a while until we deal with the Holy Grail. So, do you want to take my car, or walk there slowly with me?"

Ritsuka Fujimaru looked at Mash, his eyes conveying a message: Mash, I'm scared. Should we take the car? I don't know him, but he seems like a good person.

Mash: I'm scared too, Senpai. He seems even stronger than I am. Maybe we should walk instead?

Ritsuka Fujimaru smiled. "Ahem. We'll walk there slowly. That way, we'll have more time to get to know each other."

"That works too." Mo Li shut and locked the car door, then walked alongside the two of them toward Ryudoji Temple.

Mash gave him a charming smile. "Um, may I ask how you know us?"

Mo Li said, "We once fought side by side."

He had used double-Mash teams in the game before, and Ritsuka Fujimaru was even more straightforwardly the protagonist representing himself.

"Ah!" Mash was astonished. She had never expected such an answer.

"We once fought side by side..." Ritsuka Fujimaru pondered it, then suddenly shuddered. "You... you've met us more than once already?"

"Yeah." Mo Li shrugged. Back then, he had made his own account. There had been no starter accounts then—he had started with nothing but grinding, and everything afterward had been grinding too.

"Fou?"

Mo Li looked at Fou, then smiled. "You don't speak, so I can't understand what you're saying~ But I can help you contact Merli. Maybe Merli can get in touch with Merlin?"

"Fou!" Fou's eyes lit up, and his expression became energized as he extended his right forepaw and waved it several times.

Mash looked utterly shocked. "Merli? Merlin? What connection do they have? And Merlin should be someone from the King of Knights' era, shouldn't he?! How could he possibly still be alive now?"

Mo Li laughed. "Ha. How could a Grand Caster be that weak? You think a few passing years could kill them? Do you take them for ordinary people?"

"So Merlin really is still alive, right? Could we ask him..." Ritsuka Fujimaru stopped halfway through, his expression turning somewhat dejected.

The Earth had been bleached white. No matter how powerful Merlin was, how could he possibly have survived such a disaster...

"Fou?" Fou looked at Ritsuka Fujimaru curiously, not knowing what he had thought of.

"Um... I'll call you Senpai too, then. By the way, Senpai, what's your name? We still don't know it."

"Mo Li. That's my real name. Right now, I'm using Matou Zouken's identity and name, and I'm also the new head of the Matou Family. And, sexy eggplant Mash, do you have anyone strange over there? Someone who acts all mystical and always seems absurdly confident that everything is under control?"

"Sexy eggplant? Senior Mo! Isn't that nickname far too much?!" Mash protested indignantly.

"Mm..." Mo Li seriously examined Mash in her combat outfit, then shook his head helplessly. "Mash, until you fix the problem with that outfit, I'll keep calling you that. After all, that outfit is just too lewd."

"It won't look like this once I change back! My normal clothes are completely normal!" Mash protested furiously.

Seeing Mash like this, Ritsuka Fujimaru smiled faintly as well. "Being around Senpai really does make me feel at ease."

Mash's expression froze on her face before turning into deep helplessness. "I really can't win against you... Senior Mo, what kind of relationship did we have with you back then?"

Looking at this Shield Girl with only a 7-star Bond, Mo Li smiled helplessly. "More than friends, less than lovers—but comrades you could trust with your life. As for Ritsuka..."

"L-less than lovers?!" Mash Kyrielight's cheeks flushed crimson. As if startled, she raised her shield and said, "Don't try to take advantage of me, Senior Mo! My shield hurts a lot when it hits people!"

Mo Li rested both hands behind his head and looked up at the bright moon. "Yeah, Mash. I did think about just taking you home by force... Alright, that would be too much. But sometimes, maybe I should be a little more unreasonable, Mash."

The Lion King in FGO's story—tsk, tsk, Mushroom really did have something wrong with his head. Just like certain situations involving Shiki and his father, or Shirou and Shinji, he always loved planting piles of crap in places he thought were interesting for the players, then occasionally digging them up and putting them in front of players who liked to thoroughly explore the story so they could admire and appraise them.

"T-take me h-home... What the hell are you thinking about?!" Mash was so embarrassed that she wanted nothing more than to slam her great shield into Mo Li's head. If he had not shown no hostility toward her all this time, she would have already done so.

"Mash, I think he really cares about you~" Ritsuka Fujimaru softly pointed out the obvious from the side.

"D-don't say that... And Ritsuka—right, Ritsuka! What's your relationship with her?" Realizing things were going badly, Mash decisively redirected the fire toward Ritsuka Fujimaru.

"Ritsuka... Watching her body get worse by the day, watching her constantly drain away her own life to save humanity, all I wanted back then was to take good care of her. But only female Ritsuka, alright? Male Ritsuka can forget it!" Mo Li abruptly emphasized the last two sentences halfway through.

Ritsuka Fujimaru was stunned. "Huh? There's a male me?"

Mash was somewhat surprised as well. "Uh? There's a male Senior?"

"If there can be Merli and Merlin, why can't there be a male Ritsuka Fujimaru and a female Ritsuka Fujimaru? To me, it's the difference between Gudao and Gudako. Female Gudao is Gudako."

Still, Gudao's identity setting felt like the author's perverse little joke.

"...Who goes riding around Fuyuki in an ox cart in the middle of the night?" Mo Li suddenly looked off into the distance, and the two girls and beast also turned to look toward that stretch of sky.

Iskandar was carrying Waver Velvet through the sky, racing about as casually as if he were taking a stroll or surveying the terrain. Upon noticing someone watching them, the ox cart immediately changed course and headed over.

"Be careful, Senior Ritsuka! That's a Servant! A very powerful Servant!" Mash raised her shield in front of Ritsuka. The warm atmosphere from moments ago instantly vanished, replaced by heavy vigilance.

Seeing Mo Li standing outside with his arms folded, Mash kindly said, "Senior Mo? Come behind my shield!"

"Just protect Ritsuka. You don't need to worry about me."

Only when the ox cart drew close did Mo Li unhappily shout at Iskandar in the sky, "Making this much noise in the middle of the night is disturbing the neighbors!"

Iskandar descended from the sky. "Hahaha! Mr. Mo, we haven't seen each other for long, yet the two female companions by your side have already changed? Taking a leisurely nighttime stroll like this—you really have plenty of free time!"

"Huh? They really are two different female companions?" Waver Velvet poked his head up beside Iskandar and spotted the three of them.

Mash Kyrielight and Ritsuka Fujimaru: "Female companions?!"

Mo Li said, "I'm out taking a nighttime walk with my girlfriends. What are you doing here?"

Mash and Ritsuka Fujimaru both stared at Mo Li with looks of disbelief. Senior was going to confirm the misunderstanding on the other side?

Iskandar scratched his head. "Ah, I was thinking about how to arrange my challenge, so I was using the terrain for reference!"