<3rd Person POV>
Fuyuki City, a sprawling city in Japan that divided into two sections by the Mion River forming what could be considered two towns: Shinto the modern area and Miyama City the older more traditional part.
Within the city reside several renowned magus families, despite Japan being seen as a backwater in the world of magecraft.
One such family is the Sajyou family, led by Hiroki Sajyou, with his two daughters Manaka Sajyou and Ayaka Sajyou.
The Sajyou family is considered a prominent magus lineage especially with the birth of Manaka Sajyou who possesses exceptional magecraft talent.
Manaka possessed EX quality Magic Circuits and an Abnormal A Circuit Composition, a never-before-seen precedent that elevated the Sajyou family to even greater status among magi.
With every magecraft she attempted, she succeeded after merely observing it once, her talent unmatched-if only her temperament didn't cast a shadow over it, her face always wearing a bored expression.
Since childhood, nothing sparked her interest. Even when her father Hiroki brought her gifts or introduced her to magecraft, she remained indifferent.
And now Manaka can be seen laying down on her bed looking up at the ceiling with her usual doll-like expression.
She doesn't know what she wants to do for the new day. Since being born she has been connected to the root and having access to akasha she already knows about everything in the world.
From Alaya and Gaia, Phantasmal Species, Avalon, the past, the future, Dead Apostle, Magic, true ancestors and even more.
She having every single information on the world making her bored that she doesn't know what she wants to do.
As usual, Manaka decided to stand up from her bed and used her magecraft to tidy her hair before getting out of her room and going down to the dining table.
Her daily life started like this, with greetings from both her father and her little sister that she didn't really pay attention to.
Both of them did try to talk to her, but she just responded with a hum or a gesture, though sometimes she replied with words when she was in a good mood.
There was one thing she seemed to look forward to, and that was the Holy Grail War happening in a few years.
Even though she knew everything about the Holy Grail War, she was curious about how it would feel, so she planned to join too.
Her father also told her about it and asked her to join, but if she wasn't curious, she wouldn't have cared about his request.
After breakfast, she immediately went back to her room to sleep.
Because she was connected to Akasha and unable to experience change, she decided to sleep and send her consciousness beyond the world to explore different times and places.
There were endless times and places she could visit, so she found many locations to explore.
Unfortunately, her ability was limited to her own universe, so she couldn't bypass the boundary of her dimension to visit different ones.
But at least it was some kind of entertainment for her.
Even though she couldn't interact with anything except that old man who kept spying on her in every timeline she visited.
But that boredom finally disappeared one day when she decided to leave the house to walk around the town before stopping at the park.
She couldn't stand places with lots of people, so she walked deeper into the park where there weren't many people.
In there, there was just the sound of wind flowing softly around her and barely any sound from people. She could look up into the sky with a blank expression.
She did that for so long that multiple butterflies or other insects landed on her head, but she didn't really bother with them.
Until she decided to raise her left hand, and one butterfly landed on her finger.
The moment it landed, she immediately saw the butterfly's past-from being a worm, turning into a cocoon, and then transforming into this blue butterfly, and how it was going to die.
It was just one of her abilities, to see the cycle of life of others, because everything was born from the Root and would return to it when they died, and every single one of them had a destiny she could see.
"Hello," a voice suddenly said to her.
"What are you doing here alone by yourself?"
Manaka was often greeted like this, either by other kids or their parents, because she was so small even though she was already ten years old at this point.
A small little girl wandering alone naturally made people start asking questions.
But she always ignored them or used her magecraft to make them ignore her, so they wouldn't become annoying.
"Can you hear me, hello?" the voice persisted.
Right now, Manaka immediately used her magecraft, waiting for the voice to leave her as usual.
"HELLLOOOOO!" the voice shouted.
A hand waved in front of her face, interrupting her vision of the butterfly, causing it to fly away.
*Just wait, she'll leave soon,* Manaka thought to herself, expecting the inevitable.
Unfortunately for Manaka, the girl ignored her thoughts and started poking at her body, asking if she could hear her.
From her side to her hand, the girl kept poking before finally landing on her cheek.
"Wow, that's so soft and squishy!" the girl said, amazed.
After that, the girl kept poking Manaka's cheeks with wide eyes and an open mouth while Manaka tried really hard to ignore her.
For the first time since she was born, Manaka finally felt what it was like to be annoyed by someone other than that old man.
Manaka felt confused because her magecraft wasn't like that of other magi. Hers was far more potent due to her abilities.
So there was no way this random kid could ignore her spell and keep playing with her body like this.
In the end, she had enough and decided to look at the kid who had been poking her.
"Gyaaa!?" The little girl jumped in surprise as Manaka's eyes suddenly stared at her while she was having fun.
Black short hair, black eyes, wearing casual clothes-the girl was just like any other kid Manaka had seen before, nothing standing out about the one annoying her.
"Hai..." the little girl murmured, waving her hand slowly.
But then Manaka immediately realized something when the girl touched her: she couldn't see her destiny at all.
Every creature that touched her, Manaka could instantly see their destiny, but this little girl had no destiny, which was impossible for any living being.
With a closer look, Manaka noticed how this girl's soul was different from others, even different from her own soul.
'Foreigner?' she thought first when she saw that.
But that was impossible. This world wasn't like the other timelines she visited, where humanity was nearly perished with only a few left, so there was no Alaya or Counter Guardian to deal with problems there.
This little girl didn't even try to hide her soul, so someone of Manaka's caliber could notice it immediately. That meant Alaya or Gaia would definitely notice this foreigner soul breaching into this world.
Yet no Counter Guardian had sent a Servant to deal with this foreigner.
'Interesting.'
"Name?" Manaka asked the girl, making her jump in surprise.
The girl even made an expression like she was asking, 'You can talk?'
"Name? What's your name?" Manaka asked again, but this time the girl seemed more composed, coughing to herself.
Then, with a smile, she raised her right hand for a handshake. "My name is Rikka~ What's your name?"
Seeing that, Manaka did the same, shaking her hand. "Manaka Sajyou. Just call me Manaka."
Interested, that's the reason why Manaka since that day went to the same place every day waiting for the girl to appear.
She was curious about the little foreigner soul and by pretending to play with her she could watch her soul and try to study it.
The little girl came to her every day because she said she lived in an orphanage, and every late afternoon at 4 p.m., she always appeared to play.
Manaka didn't really care about the games they played and just followed along until one day the girl got bored of playing and decided to sit around in the park.
Maybe because she felt uncomfortable that Manaka never started a conversation, the girl decided to ask her if she wanted to hear a story or not.
Manaka already knew every single story in the world, but she still said yes so they could stay there longer, giving her more time to analyze the soul.
At first, Manaka didn't listen to the stories at all, until she noticed that the story the little girl told her was something she had never heard before.
It was a story foreign even to her, who possessed every piece of information in the world, meaning the girl was telling her a story from another world.
It seemed the girl came from a place similar to this world, as she had these kinds of stories too.
The more the little girl talked, the more Manaka unconsciously listened to her.
Before she realized, it was already almost 6 p.m. when the little girl told her it was time to stop, as it was evening.
The girl didn't want to stop because she could see Manaka seemed to be listening to her story curiously.
It was also the first time she saw Manaka acting like that since they had been friends for a few weeks.
So before going back home, she promised that tomorrow she would continue the story and then left Manaka alone after saying goodbye.
Hearing that, Manaka immediately went home and went to bed, even when both her father and little sister asked her questions.
The next day, they met again, and the girl continued her story with Manaka anticipating it.
"The prince really acted like that?" Manaka commented for the first time on the stories.
"Why does she keep coming back to him?" she asked another time.
As more days passed, they barely played anymore, and it was just Rikka telling her stories that Manaka seemed really interested in.
The more she told her stories, the more deeply interested Manaka became, to the point she didn't even bother looking at Rikka's soul anymore.
Months passed, and with more days, Manaka started expressing herself more to Rikka, though her outward expression remained blank because she didn't know how to show her feelings.
But she was more talkative now than when they first met, until suddenly Rikka stopped appearing at their usual place.
Months since they met each other, this was the first time Rikka still hadn't arrived, even though it was already really late at their usual place.
"Where is she?" Manaka murmured to herself, looking around the park.
Usually, when Rikka was late, she would appear five or ten minutes later, apologizing and explaining why, like how she was trying to run away from the other kids at the orphanage or because her tasks took longer than usual.
"She's really late..."
Manaka stood alone in the park, her doll-like face blank as she stared at the empty bench where Rikka usually sat. The wind rustled softly, carrying the faint hum of cicadas, but the park felt quieter than usual. Emptier. Without noticing, Manaka felt a strange hollowness in her chest, like something was missing.
She didn't know what to call it-loneliness, maybe? Every day, Rikka's stories filled the air with excitement, her voice bouncing as she talked about princes and other worlds. Those moments were... fun. Different. Not boring like everything else.
Now, standing here alone, Manaka felt an uncomfortable twist inside her. 'Where is she?' she thought again, her blue eyes scanning the park.
The Root told her everything-past, future, destinies-but it didn't tell her why Rikka wasn't here. That made her feel... uneasy. Was Rikka okay? Did something happen at the orphanage? Manaka didn't know why she cared, but the thought of Rikka not showing up made the park feel colder, the sky duller.
She sat on the slide, her hands folded neatly in her lap like always. She'll come. She always does, Manaka told herself, but the minutes dragged on, and the uncomfortable feeling grew.
She didn't understand it. She was connected to Akasha, knew every story, every fate. But Rikka's absence was a blank spot, like a page the Root forgot to write. For the first time, Manaka felt something new-not curiosity, not boredom, but a quiet worry she couldn't name.
A few seconds later, Manaka decided to look for Rikka herself, using the same ability she usually used to visit different timelines.
In just a short time, Manaka managed to find her in the Fuyuki hospital, so she immediately went there without wasting time.
Because illusion or depth perception magecraft didn't work on Rikka, she didn't go to her room but instead stayed in front of the door where Rikka was.
From outside, she could see inside by enchanting her eyes, and she seemed surprised by what she saw.
Rikka was still the same, but her eyes and her Magic Circuits were already activated.
Not just that, Manaka could also see inside Rikka that something appeared, like another personality being born.
No, that was wrong-it was more like another one had awakened while the other remained dormant.
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Two years had passed since Manaka discovered Rikka's awakened Magic Circuits.
Since that day, Manaka decided to keep an eye on Rikka to see if anything was wrong with her.
She didn't want something to happen to her, because if it did, her only entertainment would be gone, and she'd be back to her boring daily life.
Well, that was just the excuse she came up with, but so far, nothing had happened. They went back to their daily routine, except sometimes Manaka could secretly see Rikka trying to use magecraft, though it never really worked.
She also knew that Rikka had been training in her dreams with someone, and for some reason, Rikka still thought she was just a normal kid.
Even though there were many incidents where Manaka appeared out of nowhere, or Rikka never noticed how, when they were together, no one walked by because of the boundary Manaka created.
"Hmm~" And right now, Manaka was unconsciously humming to herself, with Rikka on her lap, unconscious after Manaka forcefully woke up the other personality.
There was something she wanted to find out, and instead of waiting for the water to build up and explode, she decided to do it herself.
'Just a few seconds left,' Manaka thought, watching the Magic Circuits inside Rikka start activating, a sign they were being used.
In the blink of an eye, RIKKA's right hand materialized a knife, which she immediately aimed at Manaka's neck.
Manaka managed to catch her wrist just before the blade touched her neck, grazing her lines. "That's rude," she said.
Seeing her attack stopped, RIKKA moved away, stepping back to gain distance from Manaka.
"Denial or RIKKA, which one do you want me to call you?" Manaka said, standing up, completely unbothered by the attack.
But RIKKA didn't say anything. She just stared blankly at Manaka, her face mirroring the same doll-like expression Manaka had two years ago.
"You... dangerous..." RIKKA muttered suddenly and with a blink her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception activated.
"Projection..." A short knife materialized again in her right hand, just like when she used it to attack Manaka.
The spell RIKKA used was basic projection magecraft, shaping magical energy into the material composition and design of an imagined object.
But projection was considered incomplete and mostly useless magecraft because everything created by it was rejected by the world because it's categorized as a Phantasm.
So it only lasted a short time if the magus couldn't maintain it properly, except for Shirou Emiya because of his Origin.
But that didn't matter to her, because all she needed was something sharp to cut the lines of someone, so a basic knife was enough.
With all the information from Akasha, RIKKA already knew the structure of a knife and its blueprint, so she had no difficulty recreating it.
And maintaining the knife with her magical energy, or what magi called Od was simple for her.
"Me? Dangerous?" Manaka said, pointing to herself, acting confused.
"How can you look at me and say I'm dangerous?"
She made a cheerful expression she had never shown before, using the full force of her cute, doll-like face.
If Rikka were here, she'd probably gonna scream from the cuteness on Manaka face.
Unfortunately, the current RIKKA didn't care about any of that. She just stared at Manaka with her Mystic Eyes, full of wariness, never lowering her guard.
Seeing her act didn't work, Manaka switched back to her usual blank expression. "We're the same, you and me. Both of us are people who weren't supposed to be born with these abilities."
"Well, you're probably more dangerous than me, though," she added, looking at the other personality still dormant inside RIKKA's body.
RIKKA stayed silent, raising her right arm in front, her knife tilted backward, eyes locked on Manaka.
"My body, light and strong," she murmured softly, her chant sparking her Magic Circuits. They glowed bright, so vivid even Manaka noticed.
"Reinforcement?" Manaka said, tilting her head, recognizing the spell RIKKA used. It was a magecraft to boost physical abilities, letting the caster achieve feats of strength and agility far beyond normal limits.
RIKKA crouched low, her feet digging into the ground. She pushed off with her reinforced strength, the earth cracking beneath her as she launched forward toward Manaka.
In an instant, RIKKA appeared right in front of Manaka, her right arm swinging the knife toward Manaka's neck.
Her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception glowed bright, blue and violet hues shimmering as they locked onto the thin line she aimed to cut.
In RIKKA's vision, Manaka had only one line, so faint that if she wasn't focused, she'd miss it. She seized the chance to slash at it while Manaka stood still unmoving.
As the knife closed in on the line she suddenly saw a smirk from Manaka's face.