Looking back at their memories together, Shiro can confidently say that Cardinal is one of his closest and most trusted friends that he made from the start. She is different from Romani and Kouzuki in the way that she's been with Shiro ever since they got out of Aincrad.
They have been together in their daily lives, which also catalyzed their close relationship.
Heck, they even 'communicated' back when she was still the . In a sense, Shiro is the first person that Cardinal conversed with properly and became her "friend". Add to that their special relationship due to their agreement, and it was inevitable that Cardinal would develop feelings for him.
"Cardinal. You might have an idea regarding this, but I will still tell you." Shiro said. "Back then, it was very hard to trust someone. Even Romani and the others, I doubted them at first."
During the early days, Shiro would sometimes wonder if the others are trustworthy or not. Even others whom he empathized with were not spared from this. The emotions that he can see within each person are not constant, showing their complexity.
Only when their relationship developed for quite some time did he begin to open up with others completely.
Fortunately, he already formed a connection with Cardinal after that fiasco in the underground dungeon. Every day, he speaks to her and asks her some interesting things. Through that, he saw how she developed from a cold and emotionless system into someone who resembles a living being.
After everything, he saw through her blank state comparable to his when she materialized. Full of curiosity towards the world, her 'color' became more abundant, but what did not change is the pure feelings that she has towards him—from appreciation, gratitude, and admiration, it turned into something far deeper.
"You helped me with so many things... You even worked hard to grow this company."
Shiro is sharp enough to notice that the main driving force behind Nexus' growth is none other than Cardinal's hard work. Since this was something that he had left, she worked hard to make it better.
All because of him.
"So... if it's you..." Shiro's voice became lower as he hid his slight fluster. "I would accept."
"?!"
Cardinal's eyes widened in surprise before her face turned beet red. Her pupils became erratic the moment she heard his acceptance, but she did not bother hiding it. Aside from those, she is overloaded with one emotion: happiness.
All along, she was nervous about this confession of hers. Cardinal realized way back in the past that affairs regarding love aren't something that should be delayed, lest she will end up in a bitter sea of regrets.
At least that's what she saw when looking for any ACG-related stuff. The childhood friends being rejected is a good example of that. They had been together with the protagonist for years, yet they didn't confess their love until a new girl came. What's the result of it?
They were replaced by the new girl, becoming the friend-zoned one instead!
"Shiro." Cardinal called out.
As usual, she is familiar with Shiro's name. Yet, saying it made her heart beat faster right at this moment. It's as if it held a special charm to her...
"I love you, Shiro."
Hearing this, Shiro only felt a surge of warmth in his heart, something that he felt when he is together with his wives. Grasping her soft and warm hand, he instead replied with an action of his.
Their faces became closer and closer until they felt the touch of each other's lips. Shiro was already used to it, so his reactions were not that drastic, though the same couldn't be said for Cardinal. Not only did her heart rate increase drastically, but her face up to her ears are bright red. Still, her previously erratic eyes regained their focus and showed a very strong emotion—affection.
Here, she found out that most of the things that she saw in ACG are a lie. Her first kiss is not 'just memorable'... It is something that she will remember for eternity. Time did not slow down, her heartbeats are all over the place, and her first kiss felt embarrassing with an addition of jubilation and satisfaction. The stone that weighed down in her heart—her fear of being rejected—disappeared. So many complex details were not included in the materials that she had read.
Truly, she can't trust the source materials that were mostly borne out of the imagination of single creators.
However, they got one thing right. In her perception, Shiro's lips tasted so sweet, far more than any honey or confectionary that she had ever tasted.
Fortunately... or unfortunately, the kiss lasted only for a few seconds due to the table separating them, or else it will be more embarrassing for Cardinal.
The people around them didn't react as they had previously cast layers of obfuscation spells, but the same couldn't be said for Grani.
The female Victorian officer had just finished her meal when she encountered this sight. Right now, she experienced how to get splashed with pink light in her bare eyes.
"Why did I eat in this place..?"
For once, she thought that the food that she ate wasn't delicious at all...
*****
"So they have something like this!"
Strea exclaimed as she saw the cosplay set worn by a mannequin.
"This is the first time that I saw something related to kosu here..."
(A/N: ko—su is an abbreviation for cosplay in Japan. It is a cultural term just like mecha.)
"Kosu..?"
Seeing Kumo's puzzled expression, she quickly explained:
"It's a short version of cosplay. You mimic a character by wearing the same outfit as them." Strea then recalled Japan and added, "You might see it once we fix our [Interdimensional Pathway]."
"Wait a moment... You started that project just for it?"
Kumo recalled the SPACEBREAKER project that was started all of a sudden. It has something to do with the manipulation of space, and its highest goal as of the moment is to break the spacial boundaries to travel between worlds.
"Nope! Japan's culture is only a part of it. We started it to find 'someone'."
"Someone..? You mean, the owner of the company?"
"Right!" Strea replied. "If you see him, y-"
Suddenly, her words were cut short as she was frozen in place whilst looking in a single direction. Curiously, Kumo followed her line of sight.
"That's the boss with..."
"Wait..! He came back, but the first thing that he did is to bring Cardinal into a date?!" Strea exclaimed, shock evident in her eyes.
As if sensing their gaze, Shiro glanced in their direction before he smiled.
"You have to make this up later!" Strea said.
Then, Shiro nodded before he focused back on their date.
Seeing the two of them going farther, Strea finally calmed down and restrained her immature side. After that, she thought of something and brightly smiled.
"Looks like we can now add more budget to the other departments~"
*****
"..."
Kuroneko froze for a moment as her intuition kicked in.
"Something bad happened?" She mumbled with seriousness, briefly forgetting that she was drawing a new chapter in her manga.
Thanks to the vast knowledge that she got through the chat group, she finally formed her manga with a very distinct plot compared to others. She is just a rising mangaka, but her previous doujinshis and their qualities stood out enough for her to be contracted by a big company.
Moreover, she did this with relatively looser restraints due to her showing some of the manuscripts that she has.
"What is it?"
For the first time in a while, she felt strangely uneasy, as if someone had done something to what she held dear.
"Shiro." She immediately thought of the person who could make her this uneasy. "Did something bad happen to him... or did a girl get ahead of me and confessed to him first..?"
At this time, she didn't know that she guessed everything with a bullseye.
*****
Crash-!
BOOM-!
Suddenly, a feeling of annoyance came to Kal'tsit's mind.
"Huh..?"
She didn't pay heed to the broken rubbles of the cultists' church as she let Monst3r settle down everything.
"What is it..?"
For some unknown reason, she became annoyed... or angry at something. This is a rare event since she adapted her cold thinking, so it came off as a surprise to her.
If the ever-observant doctor, the similarly "annoying" vampire, or Theresa was here, they would be surprised to see a lost look appear on Kal'tsit's face momentarily.
Shaking it off, she then remembered the arrival of Cardinal in Kazimierz and the mission that she assigned to Babel.
"He should have arrived by now."
In the end, she kept that annoyance in her heart, determined to find out the cause of it.
*****
A/N: Poor Kal'tsit. Her life's purpose is to protect the world, hence she doesn't understand emotions very well. Well, it might be different from before. Since she simply reincarnates every time she dies, it wears off her spirit which led to her being more cold and calculative. Now that the spark was left, it signifies a turning point for her. Kuroneko already experienced love once (with that bastard Kyousuke) so it is completely reasonable for her to be sharp when it comes to this thing.
This also signifies the beginning of the harem tag that I placed on the front page. More than 200 chapters, just for this development to begin. Even I felt that it is long due as I intended to give his wives the time to develop first before the new ones. But, Musashi is still traveling around so... Euryale will have her time soon (too).
As to why Cardinal is the first, she's an AI-turned-human, possessing the former's decisiveness and the latter's feelings. Coupled with the fact that she was there in the early days (yes, the girls from the beginning have that advantage), their relationship was good enough for this to succeed. Remember, he is "Shiro", not just "Fenrir" or "Magus", so his life now matters. I'll be going deeper into his development in the next few arcs, so do look forward to it :)
(In this chapter, shots were fired.)
PS: This should be the longest author's note up to date. Anyways, the fun facts... IT. IS. NOW. BACK. There are no more obstacles to hinder me..!
Fact # 86: Did you know that we left up on Fact #85? It has been a total of 89 days since the last one. It is almost the equivalent of six 5th Holy Grail Wars (90 days)!
Looking back at their memories together, Shiro can confidently say that Cardinal is one of his closest and most trusted friends that he made from the start. She is different from Romani and Kouzuki in the way that she's been with Shiro ever since they got out of Aincrad.
They have been together in their daily lives, which also catalyzed their close relationship.
Heck, they even 'communicated' back when she was still the . In a sense, Shiro is the first person that Cardinal conversed with properly and became her "friend". Add to that their special relationship due to their agreement, and it was inevitable that Cardinal would develop feelings for him.
"Cardinal. You might have an idea regarding this, but I will still tell you." Shiro said. "Back then, it was very hard to trust someone. Even Romani and the others, I doubted them at first."
During the early days, Shiro would sometimes wonder if the others are trustworthy or not. Even others whom he empathized with were not spared from this. The emotions that he can see within each person are not constant, showing their complexity.
Only when their relationship developed for quite some time did he begin to open up with others completely.
Fortunately, he already formed a connection with Cardinal after that fiasco in the underground dungeon. Every day, he speaks to her and asks her some interesting things. Through that, he saw how she developed from a cold and emotionless system into someone who resembles a living being.
After everything, he saw through her blank state comparable to his when she materialized. Full of curiosity towards the world, her 'color' became more abundant, but what did not change is the pure feelings that she has towards him—from appreciation, gratitude, and admiration, it turned into something far deeper.
"You helped me with so many things... You even worked hard to grow this company."
Shiro is sharp enough to notice that the main driving force behind Nexus' growth is none other than Cardinal's hard work. Since this was something that he had left, she worked hard to make it better.
All because of him.
"So... if it's you..." Shiro's voice became lower as he hid his slight fluster. "I would accept."
"?!"
Cardinal's eyes widened in surprise before her face turned beet red. Her pupils became erratic the moment she heard his acceptance, but she did not bother hiding it. Aside from those, she is overloaded with one emotion: happiness.
All along, she was nervous about this confession of hers. Cardinal realized way back in the past that affairs regarding love aren't something that should be delayed, lest she will end up in a bitter sea of regrets.
At least that's what she saw when looking for any ACG-related stuff. The childhood friends being rejected is a good example of that. They had been together with the protagonist for years, yet they didn't confess their love until a new girl came. What's the result of it?
They were replaced by the new girl, becoming the friend-zoned one instead!
"Shiro." Cardinal called out.
As usual, she is familiar with Shiro's name. Yet, saying it made her heart beat faster right at this moment. It's as if it held a special charm to her...
"I love you, Shiro."
Hearing this, Shiro only felt a surge of warmth in his heart, something that he felt when he is together with his wives. Grasping her soft and warm hand, he instead replied with an action of his.
Their faces became closer and closer until they felt the touch of each other's lips. Shiro was already used to it, so his reactions were not that drastic, though the same couldn't be said for Cardinal. Not only did her heart rate increase drastically, but her face up to her ears are bright red. Still, her previously erratic eyes regained their focus and showed a very strong emotion—affection.
Here, she found out that most of the things that she saw in ACG are a lie. Her first kiss is not 'just memorable'... It is something that she will remember for eternity. Time did not slow down, her heartbeats are all over the place, and her first kiss felt embarrassing with an addition of jubilation and satisfaction. The stone that weighed down in her heart—her fear of being rejected—disappeared. So many complex details were not included in the materials that she had read.
Truly, she can't trust the source materials that were mostly borne out of the imagination of single creators.
However, they got one thing right. In her perception, Shiro's lips tasted so sweet, far more than any honey or confectionary that she had ever tasted.
Fortunately... or unfortunately, the kiss lasted only for a few seconds due to the table separating them, or else it will be more embarrassing for Cardinal.
The people around them didn't react as they had previously cast layers of obfuscation spells, but the same couldn't be said for Grani.
The female Victorian officer had just finished her meal when she encountered this sight. Right now, she experienced how to get splashed with pink light in her bare eyes.
"Why did I eat in this place..?"
For once, she thought that the food that she ate wasn't delicious at all...
*****
"So they have something like this!"
Strea exclaimed as she saw the cosplay set worn by a mannequin.
"This is the first time that I saw something related to kosu here..."
(A/N: ko—su is an abbreviation for cosplay in Japan. It is a cultural term just like mecha.)
"Kosu..?"
Seeing Kumo's puzzled expression, she quickly explained:
"It's a short version of cosplay. You mimic a character by wearing the same outfit as them." Strea then recalled Japan and added, "You might see it once we fix our [Interdimensional Pathway]."
"Wait a moment... You started that project just for it?"
Kumo recalled the SPACEBREAKER project that was started all of a sudden. It has something to do with the manipulation of space, and its highest goal as of the moment is to break the spacial boundaries to travel between worlds.
"Nope! Japan's culture is only a part of it. We started it to find 'someone'."
"Someone..? You mean, the owner of the company?"
"Right!" Strea replied. "If you see him, y-"
Suddenly, her words were cut short as she was frozen in place whilst looking in a single direction. Curiously, Kumo followed her line of sight.
"That's the boss with..."
"Wait..! He came back, but the first thing that he did is to bring Cardinal into a date?!" Strea exclaimed, shock evident in her eyes.
As if sensing their gaze, Shiro glanced in their direction before he smiled.
"You have to make this up later!" Strea said.
Then, Shiro nodded before he focused back on their date.
Seeing the two of them going farther, Strea finally calmed down and restrained her immature side. After that, she thought of something and brightly smiled.
"Looks like we can now add more budget to the other departments~"
*****
"..."
Kuroneko froze for a moment as her intuition kicked in.
"Something bad happened?" She mumbled with seriousness, briefly forgetting that she was drawing a new chapter in her manga.
Thanks to the vast knowledge that she got through the chat group, she finally formed her manga with a very distinct plot compared to others. She is just a rising mangaka, but her previous doujinshis and their qualities stood out enough for her to be contracted by a big company.
Moreover, she did this with relatively looser restraints due to her showing some of the manuscripts that she has.
"What is it?"
For the first time in a while, she felt strangely uneasy, as if someone had done something to what she held dear.
"Shiro." She immediately thought of the person who could make her this uneasy. "Did something bad happen to him... or did a girl get ahead of me and confessed to him first..?"
At this time, she didn't know that she guessed everything with a bullseye.
*****
Crash-!
BOOM-!
Suddenly, a feeling of annoyance came to Kal'tsit's mind.
"Huh..?"
She didn't pay heed to the broken rubbles of the cultists' church as she let Monst3r settle down everything.
"What is it..?"
For some unknown reason, she became annoyed... or angry at something. This is a rare event since she adapted her cold thinking, so it came off as a surprise to her.
If the ever-observant doctor, the similarly "annoying" vampire, or Theresa was here, they would be surprised to see a lost look appear on Kal'tsit's face momentarily.
Shaking it off, she then remembered the arrival of Cardinal in Kazimierz and the mission that she assigned to Babel.
"He should have arrived by now."
In the end, she kept that annoyance in her heart, determined to find out the cause of it.
*****
A/N: Poor Kal'tsit. Her life's purpose is to protect the world, hence she doesn't understand emotions very well. Well, it might be different from before. Since she simply reincarnates every time she dies, it wears off her spirit which led to her being more cold and calculative. Now that the spark was left, it signifies a turning point for her. Kuroneko already experienced love once (with that bastard Kyousuke) so it is completely reasonable for her to be sharp when it comes to this thing.
This also signifies the beginning of the harem tag that I placed on the front page. More than 200 chapters, just for this development to begin. Even I felt that it is long due as I intended to give his wives the time to develop first before the new ones. But, Musashi is still traveling around so... Euryale will have her time soon (too).
As to why Cardinal is the first, she's an AI-turned-human, possessing the former's decisiveness and the latter's feelings. Coupled with the fact that she was there in the early days (yes, the girls from the beginning have that advantage), their relationship was good enough for this to succeed. Remember, he is "Shiro", not just "Fenrir" or "Magus", so his life now matters. I'll be going deeper into his development in the next few arcs, so do look forward to it :)
(In this chapter, shots were fired.)
PS: This should be the longest author's note up to date. Anyways, the fun facts... IT. IS. NOW. BACK. There are no more obstacles to hinder me..!
Fact # 86: Did you know that we left up on Fact #85? It has been a total of 89 days since the last one. It is almost the equivalent of six 5th Holy Grail Wars (90 days)!
