In the summoning circle, strands of light intertwined to form a silhouette. The silhouette gradually solidified, eventually becoming corporeal. When the graceful figure clad in fiery red battle armor appeared before Fu Zhu and Xing, the color drained from both of their faces.
"Himeko?!"
The Servant who had appeared in the circle was, astoundingly, Himeko in her battle armor.
Remembering that Servants were, in essence, the spirits of the dead, Xing's face grew even paler. She looked at Fu Zhu, trembling.
"Bro… if I remember correctly, Servants are… the dead, right? Then Himeko, she…"
Fu Zhu's brow was tightly furrowed, his expression grim. He had thought of that as well. He never imagined he would actually summon Himeko… Could something have happened to the Astral Express after he and the others had parted ways with them?
However, in the next second, when Fu Zhu noticed the marker for this Himeko on his minimap, his expression relaxed slightly.
The designation for this Himeko on the minimap was different from the Himeko they knew.
[Schicksal St. Freya Academy · Murata Himeko]
Wait a minute… Schicksal?
Why did that word sound so familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before?
Fu Zhu's pupils contracted suddenly. He remembered!
He had first heard the word Schicksal from Welt! Back when he had just boarded the Express, Welt, upon learning he was from Earth, had asked him a few questions, including whether there was a famous organization called Schicksal on his version of Earth!
From the looks of it, there was a high probability that this Himeko was related to Welt's homeworld.
While Fu Zhu was lost in thought, Xing, seeing him remain silent for so long, grew anxious and ran directly onto the stage. She placed her hands on the shoulders of the still, eyes-closed Murata Himeko and shook her forcefully.
"Big Sis Himeko! How did you die?! I never thought the day would come when this grey-haired girl would have to send off a red-haired one! Who did it?! Big Sis Himeko, say something!"
Being shaken so violently, the originally still Murata Himeko slowly opened her eyes. When she saw the unfamiliar face of Xing before her, and combined it with the memories of the Holy Grail War granted to her moments before, she almost instinctively drew the Godfall Sword at her side and swung it towards Xing.
In that instant, both Fu Zhu and Saber moved simultaneously, but Fu Zhu was faster.
The moment the Godfall Sword came down, Fu Zhu appeared by Xing's side and caught the descending blade with his bare right hand.
"Himeko, stop. She is not an enemy. She is my little sister."
Murata Himeko merely glanced at Fu Zhu. In her heart, she knew that this man before her was the Master who had summoned her to this world. She nodded and retracted the Godfall Sword.
Xing was still confused by the situation, unable to understand why Himeko would harbor such hostility towards her after death.
"Bro, what exactly is going on right now?"
Fu Zhu patted her on the head, his expression serious as he looked at the equally bewildered Himeko before them.
"She is not the Himeko we know, but a Himeko from another world."
As soon as Fu Zhu said this, both Xing and Murata Himeko started in surprise, staring at him with stunned expressions.
Fu Zhu didn't elaborate further. He glanced around; there were still other people here.
"Let's go. This isn't the place to talk. We'll go somewhere else first."
"Okay." came the two replies in unison.
Xing and Murata Himeko agreed, following Fu Zhu away from the scene. As Xing passed by Saber, she saw that the knight was still regarding Murata Himeko with a look of hostility. She reached out, took her small hand, and gave it a little shake.
"Saber, don't be so tense. It was a misunderstanding just now. Let's go with my bro and hear what he has to say."
"Very well, Master."
Although Saber agreed, her gaze remained fixed on Murata Himeko's back, warily monitoring her every move.
Fu Zhu led the three of them to the Halo-Wing Burgers in Dream-Tide Reef. This area was under the jurisdiction of the Reef, a place where The Family's reach did not extend. They could speak freely and boldly here.
"Let's sit down first."
Fu Zhu had the three of them take a seat, then ordered a large pile of food. While waiting for their order, he turned his gaze to Murata Himeko, who was sitting beside him.
Originally, Xing had wanted to sit next to him, but Saber had stopped her. Furthermore, Murata Himeko also seemed somewhat hostile, sitting down directly beside Fu Zhu and warily staring at Saber across from her.
Fu Zhu could sense the animosity between the two Servants and couldn't help but sigh.
"You two can stop being so wary of each other. Xing is my little sister. It's impossible for me to harm her, and she would never harm me. Besides, the two of you together are no match for me, so why be so tense? We're an alliance."
With Fu Zhu's words, the tension between the two women lessened somewhat.
Having resolved the issue between the two Servants, Fu Zhu finally turned to Murata Himeko to get down to business.
"I know your true name is Murata Himeko, but my sister and I know another Himeko. To avoid confusion, let's call you something else for now…"
"Rider. My class is Rider." Murata Himeko understood Fu Zhu's meaning and directly stated her class.
"Alright, Rider." Fu Zhu nodded and continued, "Rider, are you from Earth? On your Earth, is there an organization called Schicksal? And do you happen to know the sovereign of Anti-Entropy, Welt Yang?"
As Fu Zhu fired off this series of questions, a look of shock appeared on Rider's face.
She had initially felt a sense of regret when the Holy Grail imparted knowledge of this world to her, realizing she was no longer in her original world. She never expected to hear about matters of her own world from her Master's mouth!
"Everything you said is correct, Master. I am indeed from Earth. My homeworld does have Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, and the sovereign of Anti-Entropy is indeed Welt Yang. But Master, how do you know all this?"
Hearing Rider's reply, Fu Zhu let out a long sigh of relief. He finally understood what was going on.
Rider was a parallel world counterpart of the Himeko on their Express, and she also happened to be from Welt's Earth!
"What a coincidence. Let me introduce myself first. I am Fu Zhu, and the one sitting across from me is my sister, Xing. We are both Nameless from the Astral Express. At the same time, there is another Nameless on our Express whose name is Welt Yang. Just as you're thinking, he comes from the same planet as you."
Rider's eyes widened again, stunned by this massive amount of information. Xing, too, finally understood the situation. She let out a sigh of relief while looking at the Rider across from her with curiosity.
After a brief moment of shock, Rider suddenly remembered something. She grabbed Fu Zhu's arm and asked urgently, "Master, can you let me see Welt? I have many things I need to ask him!"
"Of course, you can."
Fu Zhu patted the hand gripping his arm and said reassuringly, "Don't worry, Welt would definitely want to see you too. But for now…"
Fu Zhu glanced at the service staff who was pushing a cart over.
"Things being as they are, let's eat first."