Chapter 3 - Life In Chaldea

It had been a week since Casimir joined Chaldea in its battle against whit- eradication of humanity, of course. Team A was odd, to say the least, but their abilities were the real deal... which begs the question of why a limping guy joined it.

"They stole our console, man..." A crying worker sobbed.

"Bro..." Another worker patted his back.

"Team A Lounge" was something their leader proudly said a bit ago, earning silence from everyone. The fact that it somehow got approved did not mean they didn't just raid the room. 

Kirschtaria and Daybit were men of few words with great achievements. However, only the leader would talk if you started a conversation. Pepe and Kadoc did not have a reputation for him to know, but the former always sneaked up on him while the latter always filled him in. Ophelia Phamrsolone was the one member he did not meet, but he thinks he has heard of her?

And lastly...

"Hey." Casimir stacked another block on the tower.

"What?"A focused Hinako was on the opposite end of the table, carefully removing another block.

"Isn't the end of mankind kinda shit?" He spoke bluntly.

"...Are you stupid?" He put a hand on his chin. "Don't actually think about it!"

"No, I mean... Humans learn from mistakes, right?"

"The stupid ones don't." Was this guy high?

"Yeah, so we wouldn't learn anything even after saving the world."

"Huh?" The tower got destroyed after the block in Hinako's fell on top of it.

"Well, if it's just Chaldea surviving to solve this threat then everyone else won't experience it." He paused, picking up the blocks to play Jenga again. "What is there to learn if you're just told a bunch of nonsense like summoning Servants to get rid of Singularities?"

"...I feel like we skipped some steps in this conversation." She held her forehead, already getting a migraine. "I will entertain you and just let you move on with your idea. What's next?"

"I don't think we can bring back the others? Technically the Director of Chaldea would become like a world leader, but considering who we got against her for that place..." He gave her a sheepish smile. "Who knows, Team A might rule?"

"Is this nonsense scenario just a way to imagine yourself as a leader?" She spoke blankly, earning a deadpan from Casimir.

"No way. I am just thinking..." He put his forehead on the table and folded his arms around his head. "If humanity goes to shit and we get an even more shit leader?"

At this point, even Hinako who couldn't care less about the humans' lives got an idea of what was going on. This was just an excuse for him to show his worry.

"Are you thinking of why Beryl was on this team?" He hesitantly nodded. "Don't be. His abilities were just not mediocre enough for Marisbury to ignore. Hardly anyone from here would listen to him in a life-and-death situation. Even a dying infant might run away from his dumb smirk."

"..."

They didn't continue the subject and instead remade the tower to play. The "human" in the room did not care enough to say anything more to please his mind while Casimir got stuck in his own thoughts.

Jenga was the one game no one in Team A was particularly good at for some reason. They saw it as a waste of concentration or time, annoying, or just... not virtual.

Alas, there was not much else to do. Hinako broke the console out of frustration once Kadoc introduced her to rhythm games. The man has cried like never before.

"O-oi, seriously! Pepe, cut it out!" They turned their head to the door, seeing 2 newcomers.

"I am afraid not today! You promised, Kadoc!" Pepe laughed with an ominous dress on his right.

"H-hold on! I wasn't liste-"

Casimir sighed and picked up his cane. He didn't want to stay for longer anyway nor did he want to join that "fun" now.

"Hey! I was winning for once!" Although someone definitely did not care.

"It's your win." He waved her off and got out of the room.

There was a crash right after.

-

Water poured on his dead. For a while, it has always seemed to be like that.

Honestly speaking, Casimir does not think he belongs here. As a random Master, maybe, but Team A seems a tall order for a guy who just went to classes after his grandad died.

Not even to mention...

"Casimir, you should go back home." Under his wide eyes, Roman continued. "You should live until the Singuralities appear, but you're dying. You seem to have one or two years to live."

There was no such thing as an injury or his leg affecting him.

It was just that.

Casimir was born defective.

It never went in the way of studying to be a magus, but it was clear he would perish randomly at some point. He had visited everyone he could find only to be denied or told there was nothing to do.

Isn't Magecraft supposed to do something like this? Fix people? It wasn't until that man he got treatment, but it didn't do anything. 

He almost stopped the shower right there until spitting blood again. It seemed to get more common these days. Hinako sent a weird look towards him after such an occurrence a few days ago, but it got too bad to stay there and ask her about it.

'The other Masters are basically just Team A replacements, right?'

He didn't exactly get told the details because of people running around doing tasks to prepare for Rayshifting or find Masters. Still, there was a clear difference in the teams, and with experience changes to the format might come...

'Huh, could I get kicked out of Team A?'

Casimir somewhat doubted that and in the end, if it did come to that, it might be the best for both himself and Chaldea. Either way, there is something he must do.

He looked outside the shower at his broken cane. Snapped by him.

Snap.

That's a familiar sound.

Did it bring him some self of belonging? He didn't know. He was quite sick of it.

It rang in his ears for over 500 times back then. That's why.

'If any sick bastard like Beryl is a Master, I will get rid of them.'

There was no planning to that statement. 

It was a simple wish.

A promise to humanity that things will go and get better.

A lie.

-

Kadoc did not have a great morning. The reasons?

For starters, there is now a photo of him in a pink dress in Pepe's gallery. The only fortunate part in that statement is the man's promise of keeping it to himself. Not that Hinako hasn't already seen it live...

And secondly...

An eye-patched girl and another pink-haired one with glasses were at his sides while walking through the halls. It was quite irritating to be in the middle of the glances, the Demi-Servant not even noticing them.

Ophelia has tried numerous times to be friends with Mash but failed every single attempt. She was the only one to try that hard, most giving up due to her blank stares or leaving her to her own tasks.

...Come to think of it, did anyone tell Casimir about Mash?

"Kadoc." Speaking of the devil, the limping guy emerged from a door. "Good morning..."

Sensing the question in the air, both girls turned to him.

"Ophelia Phamrsolone."

"Um. Mash K-Kyrielight."

He blinked in surprise at the difference in tone. The girl in the hoodie was so meek with her response, unlike the other's hard voice.

"Casimir. Mash is also a member of Team A. Her status is a bit more different than a Master's." Kadoc noticed his frown and quickly explained. "She is a homunculus and her existence is necessary to us summoning Servants."

"Ah. So it's not as simple as just using FATE." Casimir scratched his head, was it dumb to think it was that easy?

"FATE has restrictions around it because Chaldea requires permission to use it. The idea of using Mash's shield is simply to summon in combat areas and also not be monitored." Ophelia explained and glanced at his leg. "If the head of the medical department cannot fix your broken leg, you can ask Leonardo Da Vinci. Her movement is limited, but she does have her own workshop."

"I understan- Wait, what the hell do you mean by Leonardo Da Vinci? Sh-"

"Let's just go to the lounge, alright?" Kadoc sighed, already remembering why he didn't mention some stuff to Casimir.

-

Casimir glanced at Kadoc through the corner of his eye. And so did Kadoc.

There was a deafening silence in the room. Mash was going through some files which didn't even seem like her own task and Ophelia looked blankly at a wall.

A quick conversation passed through the men's glances and Kadoc went to the new console, hesitantly grabbing Ophelia which Casimir also did with Mash.

"Yes?" She looked with wide eyes in surprise at the newest member.

"Let's play a few games."

""Huh?"" Both girls cried in unison.

"Tekken 8." Kadoc said seriously.

"Tekken 8." The other man nodded.

They started the console and inserted the game Kadoc definitely did not beg for. Surely even girls would like to just punch people?

Although, Casimir started shivering the moment Ophelia picked King.

.

.

.

"This shit is so ass, Kadoc..." He silently sobbed while giving the controller.

No matter what he did, he kept getting grabbed by her character and dealing no damage. All it took was half a minute for her to read the moves and she destroyed whatever pride he had in this game.

Kadoc glanced at Ophelia actually talking to Mash, explaining the buttons to her. He smiled until it soured, remembering he should play as well against King.

.

.

.

The guys stared blankly at the TV screen. What were the other members of Team A being fed to be this good at video games? Ophelia telling them she just read was believable with that serious look, but Mash trying to do the same while saying shit like "I just smashed the buttons hard" was unfair.

Still, the emo edge lord and mafia boss wannabe were happy the girls actually talked to each other now. The latter would cry if he was told how long it actually took for it to happen.

On the other hand: another day, another loss for them.

Note: that will never change.

-

Sorry, still just chapter 3.

I am giving myself 1 edit per chap to try to be happier with it. After that, I will leave them as their final version and try to fix stuff in the future instead.

Your criticism is appreciated since it's my first attempt at writing. Hope you have a good weekend.