Olga Marie would never forget the oppressive aura she felt when they first met, an aura that made her knees go weak.
Leviathan, the demon king representing Envy.
Olga Marie's mind had already automatically generated a complete character setting: aloof, obsessive, with cold eyes, speaking with daggers, and capable of devouring you soul and all at any moment if she didn't like the look in your eyes.
On the third day after moving in, she realized she had made a mistake.
That's completely wrong.
Mayuri sleeps sixteen hours a day.
Of the remaining eight hours, four were spent eating, two were spent staring blankly at the hole in the ceiling, one was spent talking to Leviathan, and the last hour was spent cleaning up the ever-growing mountain of empty cans.
That mountain of cans is now taller than Olga Marie's waist.
From an archaeological perspective, that thing already has a stratigraphic structure.
"Can't you just throw some away?"
Where to throw it?
"... Outside."
"It's here outside too."
Mayuri spoke with righteous indignation, then placed a newly opened empty can on the mountaintop.
The canned food mountain emitted an ominous click.
Olga Marie took a half step back.
This Singularity has no internet, no games, and even the books have been completely read by Mayuri. She's been flipping through three basic Magecraft textbooks and a cookbook she dug out of the ruins of the Tohsaka Residence. The cookbook is the worst read because "looking at it makes me hungry."
Because he was so idle, this demon king became extremely easy to talk to.
Her eyes light up when someone chats with her.
The two of them slept huddled together on the same single mattress with a scorched corner.
This whole thing is already surreal, but what's even more surreal is Mayuri's sleeping posture.
One night, Olga Marie woke up and found herself unable to move.
It wasn't that I was bound by Magecraft.
It was covered by wings.
Her four pairs of jet-black wings automatically folded in her sleep, enveloping her entirely in a tightly sealed feather cocoon, leaving only her silver head sticking out, like a confiscated trophy.
"Hey... hey! Mayuri! Let me out!"
"Ugh... um..."
I said, "Let me go—"
The wings folded in.
Olga Marie spent that night wrapped up like a dumpling, and had to admit that the thing was ridiculously warm.
When she questioned her the next morning, Mayuri looked completely bewildered.
What did I do?
"You've wrapped me up!"
"Oh."
Mayuri thought for three seconds.
" Leviathan used to gather things like this too."
"That's a hunting motion! That's clearly a hunting motion!!"
When they had nothing to do, the two of them would sit outside the shed and chat.
Olga Marie talks about the awful things at the Mage's Association, about the outrageously priced props in Da Vinci's shop, and about how Dr. Roman got caught three times for hiding idol posters outside the restricted area.
Mayuri listened very attentively and even offered her comments.
" Dr. Roman's concealment skills are very poor."
How did you know?
"... Feel."
On the day he had stayed for a full month, Da Vinci sent him a letter.
The letter was delivered along with the supply crate, tucked under two packets of curry rice. It was addressed to "Dear Director," and the handwriting was so beautiful it made your teeth itch.
The content is very simple.
The artificial body is ready. After a short period of adjustments, it will be delivered, and once the fusion is complete, Olga Marie will be able to return to Chaldea.
Olga Marie finished reading and looked up.
Mayuri is munching on an energy bar.
The action of eating halfway through stopped abruptly.
It paused for about a second.
Then she continued eating, saying in a very ordinary voice, "It's good to be able to live a good life."
"... Um."
Mayuri stuffed the last bite of the energy bar into her mouth, mumbling, "I can't remember."
Olga Marie snatched the wrapper from her hand and threw it into the mountain of cans, then suddenly couldn't hold it in any longer.
There's something I've been wanting to ask you.
"Um."
Are you really Envy?
Mayuri blinked.
"The demon king of legend, representing Envy, is supposed to be a possessive being, filled with obsessions, and determined to snatch anything that others have."
Olga Marie pointed at her.
But you only sleep sixteen hours a day.
"Um."
"I don't fight for anything."
"Um."
"If you ask me, you're more like Belial. The Sloth one."
Mayuri was silent for two seconds.
Then he laughed.
She laughed so hard her shoulders were shaking, her four pairs of wings twitched, and finally she fell backward onto the mattress, covering her eyes with the back of her hand.
Don't tell anyone about this.
"Why?"
"This is all the face I, the Demon King, have left."
Two weeks later, the body was delivered.
The body of a girl who looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, with silver hair spread out on the teleportation platform, had a face that looked somewhat familiar— Olga Marie stared for three seconds before realizing that the face resembled Da Vinci in a way.
That unscrupulous merchant used himself as a template.
I want to file a complaint.
Who should I complain to?
"... Shut up."
The fusion process is a delicate Magecraft, Mayuri can't help with it at all.
She squatted down beside them, hugging her knees, and watched for three whole days.
Three days later, the body opened its eyes.
Golden pupils, long silver hair, and she swayed slightly as she sat up, seemingly unaccustomed to the movement.
"... Success."
Olga Marie squeezed her new fingers.
How are you feeling?
"Too short."
"Oh."
I said I've gotten shorter!
"Oh."
Saying goodbye is simple.
Olga Marie stood at the coordinates of the Spiritron Transfer, looked back at the crooked shed, and the canned food mountain next to it that already had a geological structure.
I'm leaving.
"Um."
"... The curry rice was at the bottom of the box; I didn't take it with me."
"Um."
Blue light rose up.
The silver-haired girl's figure gradually faded in the light.
Mayuri stood still and waved her hand, making a small gesture, and then put it down halfway through.
Then she was left alone in the Great Hollow.
There is no calendar in this Singularity.
Mayuri drew one stroke a day on the stone wall next to the shed using a sharp pebble.
Correct characters.
One upright character represents five days.
Shirou Emiya comes by occasionally.
The guy walked outside the shed and asked, "Is there something wrong?" Mayuri said, "Nothing," so he nodded, stood there for ten minutes, and then left.
On average, he speaks no more than four words in ten minutes.
Instead of using him to relieve boredom, you might as well use canned food.
When the twelfth tally mark was drawn on the stone wall, Mayuri carried empty cans down from the mountain and lined them up in front of the mattress.
From left to right.
"This is Dr. Roman."
She pointed to the first can with a dent in one corner.
"This is Da Vinci."
The second one, the brightest one.
"This is Mash."
Thirdly, it's quite sturdy.
"This is Illya... no, Illya is smaller than this."
She replaced the fourth one with a smaller can of fruit.
"This is Olga Marie."
She picked up the can of peaches.
Mayuri placed it in the very center.
Then she sat cross-legged on the mattress and had a meeting with the row of cans.
The meeting covered topics including today's weather, tomorrow's weather, the weather the day after tomorrow, and the topic of "whether or not to simply destroy this Singularity," which has now entered its seventh round of deliberation.
The canned goods remained silent.
"Your silence means you agree."
The canned peaches rolled over.
"... Okay, then I disagree."
By the time she finished drawing the eighteenth tally mark, Mayuri didn't really want to get out of the blanket anymore.
Wrapped in the thin blanket sent by Chaldea, with only its head showing and its wings drooping behind it, it looked like an over-soaked cushion.
Three months.
The total amount of words she spoke in those three months probably didn't even equal what a normal person would say in a day.
Loneliness starts as boredom, then it becomes dullness, and eventually it turns into a constant, low-frequency hum in your head, like an old refrigerator.
When the buzzing sound came over.
A blue light shone above the Great Hollow.
A pillar of light Spiritron Transfer.
Mayuri lifted her head from under the blanket.
My first thought was: Chaldea is at it again? But something's off. There's only one person there, and they're walking at a slightly hurried pace.
The sound of footsteps came down the pit wall.
The gravel slid underfoot.
The man walked to the front of the shed.
She has long silver hair, looks like a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, and has golden eyes.
Olga Marie.
She stood outside the shed and looked around the small space.
The stone wall was covered with countless tally marks, stretching all the way to the corner, and then another layer was added on top of that.
In front of the mattress was a row of empty cans, each with its name marked on it with pebbles. The middle can of peaches was crooked, and the words " Olga Marie " were drawn crookedly.
And that head peeking out from under the blanket.
Mayuri sat up from the blanket.
The clothes were wrapped too tightly, and when I sat up, I lurched forward and then shrank back.
"... Why did you come here?"
Olga Marie crouched down.
Squat down to eye level with her.
The new body was shorter than the original, so when it squatted down, it came right up to Mayuri's eyes.
"I'm not here to conquer this Singularity."
She said.
"I've come back this time to take you away."
Mayuri didn't react in time.
Where are we going?
" Chaldea, I'm letting you come home with me."