In the world, all balance must be met. That is the single concrete fact that everyone has accepted and has to accept. Whether it be the rule of "survival of the fittest", or how an unhealthy diet may lead to health problems, balance affects every corner of one's life. So what would happen, if a man was born that destroyed that balance?
[An hour before the invitation]
“There’s the handsome boy!” Oliver shot finger guns at himself in the mirror.
He immediately regretted his decision, cringing as he slouched forward slightly.
Sighing, he stood up straight as he began fixing his tie and dusting lint off his coat. His eyes wandered back to the mirror, anxiety taking over him as he saw the swirling image that replaced his face. This was his first time having to dress up for lunch, and not to mention he was still antsy from last night. Not only because Sieg described the man who invited him and his sister for dinner as a freak who wore suits at a brunch meeting, but also due to the situation with Katherine the night before.
Did she think he was weird? Telling a girl you'd go to the moon with her to watch her wither away definitely wasn't something a normal person would say - let alone a sane person. And what did she mean by "I can see the fireworks better"? All these questions made him want to curl up into his sheets and just ditch the invitation. However there was one problem. A certain somebody begged him to come along.
[The night before]
“Please please Oliver! I promise I won't ask you anything ever again! Please come with me!” Olivia begged, balling her eyes out as she held onto his legs.
Oliver tried shaking her off, but her grip was far too strong. Finding his efforts futile, Oliver sighed.
“Why can't you just go by yourself?!” Oliver asked, a bit frustrated.
“Cause I'm not going to dinner with some random guy alone!” Olivia explained.
Oliver sighed, finding her logic hard to refute.
“Then don't go… there simple” Oliver said.
Olivia rubbed the back of her head as she began laughing awkwardly.
“About that…”
She proceeded to tell him about how she basically promised Sieg that she'd go since he was begging for at least her to come.
“I've never seen Mr. Sieg that desperate before! Plus~ he said that the guy who invited us wanted to give me a reward for my effort defeating that Game Fester.” Olivia added.
Oliver narrowed his eyes, reminding her that she was knocked out for half the fight.
“I still did things! Besides, I don't need your approval!” Olivia said, crossing her arms and pouting.
Oliver grimaced before chuckling.
“Yeah yeah whatever… fine I'll come. But only if you give me all your chocopies” Oliver said.
Olivia was dumbfounded by his request, but she was too curious to know what her reward would may be to deny him.
Walking out of his room, he saw his sister laying on the couch with her arms up; holding her phone with an unsightly look on her face. Despite the nice blue dress she was wearing, her etiquette was something to question.
"You look like a creep" Oliver said, sighing at his sister's demeanor.
Jolting up from shock, Olivia gritted her teeth with red all over her face. Pointing at him accusingly, she began trying to come up with a witty comeback.
"W- well you look.... Why do you look good?! And wait a minute, why do you look taller?!" Olivia yelled, completely shocked.
She tried to measure herself next to Oliver, finding that he was a few centimetres taller than her. She looked him dead in the eyes, and asked with a straight face.
“Are you wearing heels?”
Oliver looked at her with a deadpan expression. His face did not move an inch, but she knew he was judging her.
"Stop..." Olivia said, basically deflating right then and there.
As his sister's pride diminished in front of him, Oliver couldn't help but look down on her. He still remembered what she did to him back in the dressing room yesterday, so to him this was his just dessert. The taste of revenge tasted sweet in his mouth. As he smugly looked down on Olivia, he felt a thud on his head.
"Conk" Oliver blurted out.
The culprit looked at Oliver with a bit of confusion, wondering why her nephew made a sound effect. Sighing as she held her face, Susan then crossed her arms with disappointment.
"Why is Olivia on the floor? She looks like a dead fish…" She asked, looking at him with judgement.
Fidgeting with his fingers, Oliver began laughing awkwardly and trying to change the subject.
"You know... Stuff and things... Speaking of fish-" but before he could finish, he noticed the glare in her eyes.
This scared Oliver into explaining what happened. Once she knew the truth, Susan looked at Olivia with confusion and shock.
"You've never said your brother looked nice before... Who are you and what did you do to my niece?" Susan asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I AM your niece damnit!" Olivia yelled, the energy coming back to her.
Getting up, Olivia held her chin as she began looking at Oliver intently. He felt a bit pressured, as if he was being judged silently.
"...I don't know.... Oh! Maybe it's because he doesn't have that stupid hairstyle anymore!" Olivia commented with a rather innocent looking expression.
Oliver looked at her with malice in his eyes, sending shivers down her spin.
"I'm sorry..." Olivia said quietly.
Inspecting Oliver a bit, Susan nodded in agreement with Olivia. Oliver felt a bit hurt by this, thinking that his old hairstyle was pretty cool.
"I'm not saying it was bad!" Susan said defensively.
He couldn't even use the eye of truth, but he knew it was a lie. He looked at her with narrow eyes and a pout.
"... Okay it was bad..." Susan said, fidgeting with her hair.
Turning away from her, Oliver began tearing up a bit.
"How cruel this world is when your kin can't accept you" Oliver said, rather dramatically.
The two women looked at Oliver with a deadpanned expression. It was then when he realised that he was just being cringe.
"I'm sorry..." Oliver retorted.
The two continued to look at Oliver with a deadpanned expression, before Susan eventually stopped to sigh.
"Well either way your new hair looks good on you. I never really liked how you covered your right eye" Susan commented.
This sparked a thought into Olivia.
"Oh yeah why did you change your hairstyle in the first place?" Olivia asked.
Oliver paused for a second, before a tinge of redness started to fill his cheeks. He began to get antsy as he rubbed the back of his head.
"W- well... I guess so she can see the fireworks better..." Oliver blurted out.
Olivia was confused at the sudden topic of fireworks, however Susan was more intrigued by this "she". Crossing her arms with a smirk, she intruded into Oliver's personal space.
"Oh? And who's this 'she' exactly?" Susan asked.
This question set Oliver into panic mode. What was he going to tell her? A girl brushed his hair while fireworks were being set off? She'd think he was in love with her!
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"Am I... in love with her?"
Shaking off the thought, Oliver quickly grabbed his sister's arm and took out his invitation letter.
"Sorry we're going to be late. Bye love you!" Oliver said before opening the letter.
Susan tried to reach out to them, but they teleported before she had the chance. She sighed before holding her head.
"Geez what's with that boy? Was I too pushy? They do say young love is complicated..." Susan commented.
As she thought that, her eyes wandered to a sword that was hung above the television. She clenched her fist before turning away.
"Don't look at me like that..."
Suddenly appearing in a restaurant, the two noticed that it was almost completely empty, save for the few staff members waiting idly by. The two had suspicions that these weren't exactly staff members, but they had no proof for their claims. Other than the staff, they also noticed the windows had been closed with black curtains, so nobody could peek inside. Though the weirdest part was the lone man sitting in the centre of the restaurant. He was dressed in all black, which contrasted his snow white hair. His glass skin was as pale as a corpse, putting an idea of his identity in Oliver's head. The two then noticed he was holding a fork with a slice of steak stabbed on the prongs. He took a bite of the meat, before slowly turning his head to them. His piercing golden eyes struck their very souls.
"You two are exactly 0.01 seconds late... Congratulations. Most people would be late by a minute" the man said, his voice monotone.
He was obviously making a joke, but his cadence made the two shake with fear a bit. He noticed this with his narrowing eyes, which made them even more scared. As they held each other while they shook with fear, the man shook his head. He looked at one of the staff members, giving them a quick gesture. The staff member nodded, retreating into the kitchen quickly. The man turned to his plate, setting down his fork perfectly next to it. It was then the two realised that there were multiple sets of forks beside his plate, all in descending order. It honestly looked like they were going to be used to torture them, scaring the two even more. The man had noticed this, causing him a bit of concern.
"What activate imaginations you two have" the man said, sipping a glass of wine.
Honestly if you told the twins that it was blood and not wine, they'd believe you. He cleared his dry throat before resting his ankle on his knees.
"Sit"
Just that single word, caused the two to freeze up. As if they had no control over their own bodies, they sat down opposite the man. The two were too scared to speak, believing that if they spoke out of line, he'd execute them on the spot. It didn't help that the man had a cold, emotionless expression on his face. Akin to a tiger waiting for its prey to slip up.
The whole restaurant was silent. As if even sound needed permission from the man. It was truly a terrifying experience.
Finally the silence was broken by the sound of plates hitting the soft cloth and hard wood of the table. The two looked down, seeing a delicious looking slice of chocolate cake in front of them. The waiter who served them bowed to the man, before leaving hurriedly. The man picked up one of the smaller forks, using it to cut the cake. The two immediately noticed how perfect the slice was, deducing he was extremely proficient with a blade. The man looked at the two with a confused look, which made them think he was mad at them.
"What're you-" but before he could finish speaking, Oliver interrupted him.
"Please don't kill us sir!" Oliver begged.
Olivia turned to him with panic as she began shaking him.
"You talked over him! You've doomed us both!" Olivia whined.
The two began crying loudly, believing that they were going to die. However, instead, they heard laughter. Slowly turning to the prominent man, they noticed that he was the one who was laughing. Though from their perspective, he looked more like a villain mocking the protagonists after they had lost to him.
"Sister we're in trouble aren't we?" Oliver said to her.
"Yes dear brother, it seems today is our final day" Olivia responded.
The man quickly turned serious, sitting up straight as he pointed his fork at them. The two flinched, waiting for what he'd do next.
"You don't want to eat?" The man asked, offering the bit of cake on his fork.
Olivia's eyes lit up before quickly chomping it down. Seeing the scene go down, Oliver began to panic.
"Why'd you do that?!" Oliver asked, now being the one who's shaking her.
"Because. It's. Cake." She said, in-between each shake.
"You idiot! It's obviously poisoned!" Oliver said, stopping his shaking.
Olivia paused for a moment before panicking as well.
"No I don't wanna die!" Olivia said, shaking Oliver now.
"Me neither!" Oliver said, shaking her back as well.
This continued for a while, before the man cleared his throat. Such a loud and imposing sound immediately made them stop. The two sat up straight and looked him in the eyes, trying not to break eye contact.
"Are you two done now?" The man asked, raising his eyebrows.
The two nodded in unison, creeping the man out a bit.
"You really are siblings… you don’t look like twins though.” The man remarked looking slightly confused. “... Well that's not an important matter right now. What's important is that I want to set some ground rules..." the man said, cutting some cake again.
The two gulped their spit in anticipation, awaiting his rulings.
"One... Please speak freely... Two... Please enjoy your food... three... Please keep your tomfoolery to a minimum, there's so much I can handle" the man said, offering a bit of cake to Oliver this time.
Oliver ate the cake absent mindedly as he nodded while holding his chin. The man seemed to relax a bit, leaning back into his chair as he cut a piece of cake for himself now.
"Please... Order whatever you want. My treat" the man said, his tone robotic.
The two placed their orders with the waiter, and just like before he almost ran back into the kitchen.
"Geez just who is this guy, Oliver?" Olivia whispered into her brother's ear.
"How am I supposed to know?!" He replied back, trying to be as quiet as possible.
"But ain't he an Operator too? I thought you knew everything about operators!" Oliver retorted.
"Yeah, but it's not like I know everyone who's ever been in F.A.T.E .... But I do have an idea…" Oliver brought up.
Olivia raised her eyes, awaiting for him to share.
"He's probably-" but before he could finish, the man interrupted him.
"No, I'm not Senior Investigator Hector.... Nor am I Desmond of the seven stars of Starbright." the man retorted, taking a bite of cake.
Oliver was stunned by how the man knew what he was going to say... As if he read his mind.
"No... It was as if he saw the future... Then that means..." Oliver thought.
He steadied his resolve as he began to sit up straight again. He took a deep breath, before meekly asking a question.
"Are you... "The Executioner", Mitsuzane Shirou?" Oliver asked.
The man dropped his fork, an uncharacteristic flaw in the tin man's engineering. However, it wasn't that he was mad. In fact, he was a bit happy. Though his face couldn't convey it, his heart felt a bit warmer. He picked up his fork from the ground, answering Oliver's question with a softer tone.
"I am... Very good work Oliver Liam Rand. No wonder Sieg spoke highly of you" the man said, handing the dirty fork to the waiter he had called when the fork dropped.
Oliver felt a bit embarrassed being praised by someone as great as Shirou, however Olivia wasn't too happy the spotlight was shifted to her brother.
"I'm pretty great too..." Olivia mumbled.
The man turned to her, giving her a quick scare. Though the words he told her brought some comfort to her.
"I know you are. Sieg has told me about both of you" Shirou said.
Olivia paused for a moment, a strange feeling in her chest. It was nice and warm. As if it was something she'd been told before by someone she looked up to; which was strange since she had only heard about him today. However it was like she knew him for a very long time.
"T- thank you sir" Olivia said, sitting up with her hands on her lap.
Shirou only nodded before noticing the waiter arriving with a tray of food.
"It seems our food has arrived. Please dig in. Oh, and you two don't mind that this is my second serving of food do you?" Shirou asked.
The two vehemently shook their heads, causing him to chuckle.
"Great. Cause this is actually my fourth serving" Shirou said, again with his monotone voice and deadpan expression.
The two were once again confused as to whether he was joking or speaking the truth, but this time brushed it off.
As the three began to dig in, Olivia brought up the fact that she didn't really know who Shirogane was.
"Right... You don't have to feel ashamed. My existence is heavily guarded. It's actually quite a shocker that your brother knew my existence, let alone could deduce who I was" Shirou commented.
Oliver rubbed the back of his head, a bit embarrassed by how much praise he was getting.
"It was nothing... Honestly if you hadn't shut down my previous ideas, I wouldn't have known who you were" Oliver said, laughing awkwardly.
Shirou shook his head, adamant in Oliver's deduction capabilities. The two went back and forth; Shirou trying to compliment him, while Oliver was trying to downplay his achievement. Olivia felt a bit left out of the conversation, as her question was almost being ignored. She looked at her plate, moving around the peas with a fork to pass the time. She sighed, feeling worthless.
Shirou noticed this, so he stopped his banter with Oliver and turned to the staff members. Shirogane gave a knowing look; all of the staff responded with a nod of acknowledgement. They all entered a soundproof room, which was automatically locked from the outside. Once they were all inside the room, Shirou snapped his fingers, erecting a barrier around the table. Both Olivia and Oliver could tell how complex the barrier was, just by the colour.
"Red barriers are incredibly fragile but take up low descent energy, green barriers are stronger but take up a lot of descent energy. Blue through purple are the most descent energy efficient, as well as getting stronger the higher it gets.... But gold barriers not only take low descent energy, but also are practically impenetrable..." Olivia said, trying to sound impressive.
Oliver looked at her with a judging glare.
"You just stole that from General Sieg" Oliver said.
Olivia perked up from embarrassment, before trying to defend herself.
"Oh yeah? How do you know? Got any proof?!" Even her argument was flawed.
Oliver sighed before pulling out his phone. He clicked on his messaging app before playing an Audio from Sieg.
"Well basically Red barriers are incredibly fragile like paper fragile. But these useful little guys take up low descent energy so it's pretty useful for quick escapes. Green barriers then are a lot stronger but take up a lot of descent energy. It's usually used for like protecting large areas. Blue through purple are the most descent energy efficient, as well as get stronger and deeper in colour the higher your descent energy refinement is, so they're like most combat focused barriers. Here's the most fun one: gold barriers not only take low descent energy, but also are practically impenetrable... There's of course one caveat. One's descent energy must be as refined as a king and as potent as venom…. Well that's all for Sieg teacher explainy time!"
Olivia looked deadpanned, her gaze avoiding the two men. Not only was she caught plagiarizing, but she took all the charm out of it.
"Next time try and do things yourself" Oliver snickered.
Olivia clenched her fist before telling him to shut up. He was startled by her seriousness, as he was just trying to joke with her.
Taking a good look at her face was hard, especially since she was actively trying to stop him from doing so, but from what he could see, she was quite hurt. He felt extremely guilty, however he didn't have the chance to apologise as Shirou began to speak.
"Well since you want to know about me, Ms Olivia.... How bout you learn the basics from Oliver first?" Shirou said.
Oliver was shocked by Shirou's request, since even he didn't know much about Shirou. However, he felt like this would give him the chance to apologize for earlier, so he took the risk.
"Um... I don't know much other than your achievements and heritage, sir. However, I'll try my best!" Oliver said, feeling anxious.
Olivia rolled her eyes before turning her head to Oliver. She crossed her arms and spoke in a brash tone.
"Go on, tell it..." Olivia retorted.
Oliver was startled by her cold tone, which worsened his already anxious demeanor.
"W- well um... Oh right, Mr. Mitsuzane is from... Well, the Mitsuzane family. They're a part of the three honoured families of Eile" Oliver explained.
Olivia's mood relaxed a bit as she claimed that she had heard of them before.
"They're basically royalty in Eile right? I remember we learn about it back in 8th grade" Olivia said.
Oliver nodded, looking back to Shirou for confirmation.
"Indeed. Though calling us royalty is massively down playing my clan influence. The Mitsuzane family's reputation has stretched all the way to the five sovereign nations that aren't Eile. We have multiple trade deals with every major city in Starbright, Kaleidoscope, and Exalt - as well as various companies that we own. We would've made more, but the other two families made a deal with our head years ago for the leftovers we didn't want to take." Shirou explained.
"This was of course before I became the head of the family. If I had been born earlier, I wouldn't have let them take anything" Shirou joked.
This time they could actually tell it was a joke, but Shirou still had that deadpanned expression they knew too well.