Yuji Itadori POV
The car ride back to the house was both awkward and heavy with enough tension to make me fidget in nervousness.
So, I did the only thing I could to break it and flicked on the radio.
"Trumpet, a little bit of Monica in my life, a little bit of Erica by my side. A little bit of Rita is all I need, a little bit of Tina is what I see. A little bit of Sandra in the sun, a little bit of Mary all night long. A little bit of Jessica here I am. A little bit of you makes me your man," was the song that filled the car.
I didn't even need to look toward my left to know that Nanami had slowly turned his head to give me a very hard side-eye glare.
Sigh...this didn't make things better at all I mentally thought to myself.
.
.
.
Nanami waited until we were inside the house.
Shoes were off, the door locked, and lights on. The house was exactly as clean and quiet as we'd left it which felt slightly ironic given the state of both of us. Nanami set his cleavers on the hallway table before he turned around.
"Sit down," he said.
I obediently sat at the kitchen table.
He remained standing, arms crossed quite angrily.
His blue dress shirt had a tear at the left side below the ribs from where one of the creatures had caught him and there was dried blood on his collar from a cut I hadn't seen him get.
"You left this house," he began, "against direct instruction, with no backup, no plan beyond finding them, and no realistic assessment of what you were walking into."
"I had a partial plan," I murmured with my head down.
His expression didn't change, "you had direction and a motive but that isn't an actual plan."
"Yeah, but I got the kids out of the café and-"
"Yes and then you engaged a Servant's master, who has been physically enhanced by a Heroic Spirit, alone at night, with one day of training," he let that sit for a moment,"If I had arrived ten minutes later Itadori-" he stopped suddenly his jaw clenched tightly,"the outcome would have been different."
I opened my mouth in protest "I have fast regeneration-"
"Regeneration has limits. Yours specifically has limits we haven't even fully mapped yet," Nanami retorted.
"I am not discussing this to lecture you about rule-following. I don't particularly care about rule-following for its own sake," he stared at me directly, "I am discussing this because you could have died on a road in the Shinto district and I would have found out from a crime scene."
The kitchen was dead silent now.
I looked at the table.
"I know," I said.
"Do you though?" Nanami questioned.
"Yeah," I glanced up, "but I also know that the other four kids were in that café and if I hadn't gone, they wouldn't be alive."
Nanami was quiet for a moment, "your right," he said, "they wouldn't be."
"So, what was I supposed to do?"
"You were supposed to call me," he said, "that is what the number on the back of the note was for."
I opened my mouth.
Closed it.
"...I actually forgot about that haha" I admitted with a laugh.
"This isn't a joke Itadori," Nanami spoke, "take this seriously. You made a decision based on urgency and didn't examine the full range of options available," he unfolded his arms, "that's what I need you to learn to do differently. Not don't act but rather act with the complete picture. Those are different instructions."
I nodded slowly, "I am sorry Nanamin."
Nanami's face relaxed a bit "good at least you get it now," he said, pulling out the chair across from me and sitting down, "now I need to explain something to you about what Gilles de Rais actually is."
"Huh what do you mean?" I asked in confusion.
'I mean he's basically just a freak with magic right?' I inwardly thought to myself.
"As you remember Caster was also a name that was referred to him" Nanami folded his hands on the table, "however that is merely a title to the type of existence he is. In total there are seven types or rather I should say classes. Caster is only but one of them," he paused, organizing his thoughts, "what I'm about to explain is something called the Holy Grail War. It is currently happening in this city and has been for some time."
I leaned forward giving him all of my attention.
"The Holy Grail, not to be mistaken for the biblical one," Nanami began, "is an omnipotent wish-granting device or at least that's what they say. Every sixty years it selects seven magi in a chosen location and designates them, Masters. Each Master forms a contract with a Servant otherwise known as a Heroic Spirit summoned from a plane of existence known as the Throne of Heroes and is given a physical vessel for the duration of the war," he watched my face, "are you following me so far Itadori."
"Throne of Heroes," I repeated with a hand to my chin, "is it like a place for heroes? Fictional? Or historical ones?"
"Historical, mythological, legendary, and even fictional ones are possible. Anyone whose deeds were significant enough in our world's history is recorded. They exist outside the flow of time on the Throne and can be summoned as familiars," a small pause, "however just because it holds heroes doesn't mean it only has them. Anti-Heros and Villains like Gilles de Rais can also be in the throne. The historical Gilles de Rais in case you did not know was a French marshal turned mad man from the fifteenth century and has been summoned for this generations war."
"So basically he's a ghost," I summed up.
"In a way, yes."
"And so, what? Are you trying to say he's stronger than a magician? Magus? Or whichever it is"
"It's magus," Nanami corrected, "and a Servant is not stronger than a regular person the way that I am stronger than a regular person or the way you are. A Servant operates on a fundamentally different scale entirely," e seemed to be choosing the next words with particular care, "the weakest Servant in any given Holy Grail War would, in direct combat defeat me. Not because my magecraft or strength is insufficient but because the gap between a human practitioner and a Heroic Spirit isn't a gap that can be bridged through skill or any modern magecraft."
I blankly stared at him.
"So, what your telling is that you can't beat him," I said slowly.
Nanami shook his head "not in sustained direct combat, no. What I could do tonight was apply a targeted technique to the creatures he'd deployed, which are not Servants themselves but rather familiars. Gilles only retreated because of his injured master not because I posed an existential threat to him directly," he explained.
I leaned back in my chair.
The full weight of it landed with a completeness that was almost physical.
Seven Masters.
Seven super ghosts, servants, or whatever the heck they were.
All of them in Fuyuki City right now over supposed cup that could grant any wish.
"How many people know about this?" I asked.
"In the city? The seven master's and their immediate associates. The Church's overseer, Risei Kotomine who I spoke with yesterday. Myself and now you. In general though most magi in the world are aware of its existence."
"Right and normal people are just living unaware of the whole thing. Going to work and school and-" I suddenly stopped, "those random news bits about gas leaks are they actually related to the war?!" I exclaimed.
Nanami somberly nodded "yes any property damage and casualties attributed to supernatural are covered through standard Church and Clocktower protocol," his expression shifted into a somber one, "it has been this way for every iteration of the war. The city absorbs the damage. The population is told it was infrastructure failure or criminal activity. The war concludes. Then the city recovers."
I thought about the news anchor.
The kids who were like me taken, the adults killed, and later some of those same kids brutally killed by having Giles's monsters stuffed inside of them.
I thought about all the other things being reported as gas leaks and criminal incidents all while seven mages and seven dead heroes fought over a damn cup in the streets.
My hands were flat on the table, and I suddenly became aware that they had pressed hard enough to leave faint impressions in the wood grain.
"This isn't okay at all," I angrily said.
"No," Nanami said quietly, "it isn't."
"Normal people are getting hurt and killed because Magi decided to have a war in a civilian city and nobody gets to know about it or choose whether they want to be involved-"
"No," he said again, "they don't."
"And your telling this has happened before?"
"Multiple times."
"And nobody-" I stopped before I lost my cool.
The anger I was feeling right now was almost enough for my mana to start leaking out, the core churning in response to the rage, and I quickly pulled it back before something happened "nobody stopped it."
"Few people have tried," Nanami tiredly said, "the moonlit world isn't short of people who understand that it causes harm and disagree with how it operates," he looked at me steadily, "it's also not short of institutional structures that have existed for centuries and they don't change easily."
I remained quiet for a long time, long enough that even Nanami was starting to get concerned, "Itadori?" he inquired.
I turned to look at him in the eyes, "if nothings been changed like you said then I guess...I'll become someone that can force them to listen. Nanamin I've decided," I spoke balling my hands into tight fists, "I am going to become The Strongest, so strong that they'll have no choice but to listen to me," he passionately declared.
Nanami's eyes subtly widened at these words.
The image of a tall man with messy brown hair that had streaks of gray-white stood behind the boy. The individual wore a shabby coat, a pair of shades, and had a shit eating grin on his face.
"The strongest," he murmured as the image eventually faded away.
"Yeah," I said, with all the conviction I could muster.
Nanami was silent for a moment.
He thought about the moonlit world and its institutional structures and its centuries of accumulated inertia. He thought about the shit that he experienced in his entire lifetime. Finally, Nanami thought about what was sealed inside that seven-year-old and what it would mean if Yuji realized his full potential.
"That's an extraordinarily large goal," Nanami finally spoke.
"Yeah," I agreed entirely unbothered.
"You understand that becoming strong enough to force changes in the moonlit world would require-"
"I know it'll probably take forever," I said, "and I'm not in a hurry. I just know that's where I'm going."
Nanami looked at him for a long moment then he stood up from the table.
"Go wash up," he replied, "you stink."
I blinked at the subject change, "wait that's it? No argument?"
"Would arguing change your mind?" Nanami asked with a raised brow.
A pause, "...nah not really."
"Then I'll save the energy," Nanami moved toward the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves. "I'll bring dinner to your room in twenty minutes. You will eat all of it."
"What are you making?"
"Something."
I opened my mouth.
"That isn't a request for input," Nanami interrupted before I could even say anything.
'Aww damn I was going to ask if he could let me cook along with him' I closed my mouth and pouted as I pushed the chair back and left to the bathroom.
-end of chapter nineteen-
Your thoughts and opinions about this so far?
Also yes, the man Nanami sees is a reference to the protagonist of [Fate/World by Bleap] and yes this is a timeline variant. He'll play a very small later, practically a cameo really but that's it. His story is a bit different from the one in World but personality wise still the same.
Next chapter if I get to it and have motivation (WHERE IS YOUR MOTIVATION AUTHOR!" VERGIL SHOUTS FROM HIS PLASTIC WHITE CHAIR) will cover him going to school, the very same school where Rin just happens to be enrolled in to.