Ritsuka and Rika were both in the recreation room playing a go-karting game, both extremely focused on beating the other. After both work and the sortie, the revelations of why they were brought over to Chaldea and their respective consequences..., a somewhat familiar comfort was what they wanted to have after all that. Besides, it was a relatively light day, and there was some time to just unwind before the next mission (which seemed to be postponed, at the Director's vehement protest and behest at letting untrained civilians, barely even adults at that, onto a supernatural time-space battlefield full of legends)
Mash and another member of personnel passed by the room, but Mash, with a look of curiosity and pleasant surprise, peered into the room and greeted the two.
"I see that both of you have found the recreation room already," Mash said. "Is it to your liking?"
"Yeah, this place is actually really cool!" Ritsuka smiled "You wanna play?" He grabbed another controller and proffered it to her. "Rika's been wanting to get close to you."
"I can't, I've got-" Mash started, only for her coworker to step in and wave her off
"It's fine. I'll cover for you, you just have fun for now," he said, a smile on his face. "You work too hard anyways, so it would be best for you to unwind with them. Besides, you're still a kid, no? Kids should be allowed to have fun for once."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to put all the work on your shoulders…."
"If I weren't, I wouldn't have said anything. Come on, you're only young once. Besides, I won't tell if you don't."
"Thank you so much…!"
Mash sat next to the two as they taught her how to play the game, Ritsuka being very intent on showing her how the controls work, gently guiding her vehicle, while neglecting his own.
"And so this is the acceleration button…."
"Hey, don't backseat for her!"
"I'm just helping her out. Besides, you're just trying to beat both of us." Ritsuka chuckled.
"Am not!" she shot back, no actual venom in her voice
"Sure…." Ritsuka abruptly stopped his teaching, looking somewhat concerned. "Ah, do either of you know where Irenaeus-san is?"
"He's been in his room since da Vinci showed us them," Rika stated. "Save for the few times he's out with Keziah-san, he's mostly kept to himself since all this started. Which reminds me of something…"
(FLASHBACK)
"Contractor…" Keziah sighed as she put her book away, voice tinged with surprise to see him as soon as she had.
"Keziah, everything okay?" Irenaeus asked, having come to the library for his own personal studies and research, only to find a certain Alter Ego there.
"I'm fine…" she muttered, her voice tinged with consternation, as if grappling with something deep
"Are you? You seem, uh, a little down…" he asked, against his better judgment
"I'm not. D-Do not worry about me…" she sputtered, trying to maintain some composure.
"Um… what are you reading?" Irenaeus asked, his voice softer than usual
"A nursery rhyme. Little Bo Peep lost her sheep, it's… it's very tragic….!" she muttered, looking away in embarrassment, not wanting to have him see her like that, her face hot. At that moment, Irenaeus's eyes widened upon realizing that his Servant's own seemed a little red, and not just her pupils.
"...You know she gets them back, right?" he sighed, not unkindly, but rather bemused and good-naturedly
"She does, yes… but… those lambs were probably her friends…. And livelihood… it's upsetting that she lost the pets and friends she spent so much time with…"
"That's the thing with most nursery rhymes, they end happily." Irenaeus smiled lightly. "And they're typically aimed at younger kids, so that there's something to be hopeful for. So that they don't cry. So that they can know all things will end up right in the end."
"...Do you think your own story will end well?"
Before Irenaeus could respond, a redheaded menace appeared, or rather, made herself known with a smirk, much to Irenaeus' embarrassment, as he realized: Rika heard everything. She had heard a short and philosophical question... that started over Little Bo Peep of all things.
"...You heard nothing." he started, his voice going from soft-spoken to a harsh whisper
"I heard everything and will tell anyone who'll listen. Just kidding, just kidding!" she clarified, hoping her own attempt at a joke didn't fall flat. "Besides, it's only us here."
"...You just enjoy fucking with people, don't you?" Irenaeus sagged.
"It's what I do best… or so I've been told." Rika shrugged
"Your brother has his hands full then, huh?" Irenaeus raised an eyebrow.
Rika gasped, her voice full of mock offense, a finger outstretched accusingly. "HOW! DARE! YOU! And after I put all that.... effort to try and find you! Meanie!"
Irenaeus scratched his head, politely chuckling, "....Anyways, you don't need to keep trying to speak English, the Mystic Code is doing plenty right now." he sighed, his voice becoming serious. "You could've carried on in Japanese for all the difference it would've made. Don't force yourself too hard."
"Yeah, but won't get better with English if I don't try, no?" Rika smirked, switching back to Japanese to end her statement with a cheeky 'ne'. "And we're gonna get used to forcing ourselves to the limit, so... might as well start mentally," she continued in her native tongue. "See ya soon, you guys!"
(FLASHBACK END)
"Keziah-chan seems to be the one he's the closest to right now…. He seems aloof, but…" Rika mused. "I think he's just really shy."
"Let's just give him some time. I mean, having to cope with the fact that humanity is gone would likely not be good for him or anyone else here." Ritsuka added, with several hints of sympathy in his voice.
"How are you guys holding up then?" Mash asked, seeming to pose her query less out of curiosity and more out of formality.
"We're alright. …As alright as anyone could be in this situation." Rika grimaced, but then turned to Mash with a smile, mussing up her hair. "But I've got Ritsuka here, and we've got our new friend with us! ...…It's you. We consider you our friend, Mash."
"Thank you." Mash replied, voice quiet and polite.
"Speaking of, those Embers you ate while leveling up…" Ritsuka winced slightly. "Were they good?"
"I think you'd describe them as… hard and somewhat crunchy. Like a wafer." Mash replied
"I hope we didn't bother you too much… like in general." Rika sighed. "You have all these things to do, and we're just... wasting time."
"You aren't bothering. I don't feel at all disturbed by your presence." Mash smiled, albeit polite. "And leisure time helps calibrate the mind... or at least, that's what da Vinci said."
The three would spend the rest of the day hanging out, cheerful giggling and banter being exchanged, mainly between the siblings, with Rika making an active effort to try and include Mash in their revelry, only to see that she seemed a bit too… hyperfocused? Like her mind was somewhere else entirely until Ritsuka finally began to work up the courage to speak up to Mash, a sheepish and apprehensive look on his face.
"Mash…. Do you think we messed up? Are we actually, y'know, considered trouble to anyone else?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… we came in, caused an unnecessary fuss, and caused people who were meant to save the world to possibly die, or at least be incapacitated, while leaving us to solve the remaining problems in their wake." Ritsuka looked away from her, not focusing on the game anymore and now just looking away from the screen, fascinated seemingly with Mash's shoes than her face.
"I don't believe it was your fault. You were taken from your homes and brought to a strange place without your knowledge or consent." Mash said, as matter of factly, like reporting the weather.
Rika then gave her 2 cents, "Yeah, but if we didn't go in there, that thing wouldn't have gotten to the others…."
"da Vinci said that you were likely not at fault."
"'Likely' is the only thing separating us from 'definitely' though..."
The three then sat in awkward and despondent silence, before Rika spoke up again, trying to put on her cheerful facade once more.
"I think we've kept you here for way longer than we should have."
"I suppose so…. I'll see you later?" Mash replied.
"Yeah. See you later." The two Masters replied, as they watched the person they deemed their new friend walk off, an awkward pause filling the air.
—----------
Later that night, the two siblings laid in bed, restless for an uncertain mission that lay ahead for them. No words were spoken between the two, as they laid eyes open, but they each had made an unspoken promise to themselves.
To bare all the struggles that come with this adventure, regardless of what happens to them when all is said and done. For the sake of the future and those they believed to have failed.