Prologue part one
"I'm still alive?" My voice coming out as a soft murmur as I was having difficulty breathing, my eyes slowly opening and adjusting to the sunlight that shone from the open window right next to the table. It appeared I was in a hospital private room as I could vaguely hear people coming and going, but the defining feature would be the multitudes of machinery and medicine being hooked up to my body.
I attempted to get up but my body refused to budge, I tried once more this time I managed to lift parts of my body a couple of centimetres within the air before my strength failed me. But I wasn't going to give up, I started to sweat and my breathing became more laboured as I endeavoured to lift my upper body once more, slowly but surely it was working as I managed to sit upright on the bed. Breathing heavily I stared blankly at the television which was currently not in use, while my mind was trying to figure out the answer to my numerous questions.
How was I still alive? I had sacrificed my entire being to forcibly create and power up Erebus just to. "Argh" I felt a sharp pain run through my soul the moment I thought of Erebus. I could feel the long sword nesting within my reality marble and yet I had a suspicion that the moment I tried to project the sword or my reality marble in this state I would instantly be killed by the strain. Not only that I felt that even attempting to use my magical circuits let alone converting my Od into prana would also kill me or leave me in a coma. This situation reminded my of the time that Kiritsugu first taught me magecraft "Remember Shirou to be a magus means to walks with death."
My thoughts was interrupted when the door suddenly flung open. A group of people entered the room with the tall man wearing glasses leading the front, closely followed by three beautiful girls and an effeminate looking male dressed in a business suit. However only one of them took my attention as the moment she walked in I felt a connection with her, a bond between us it wasn't like the contract with Miyu but rather on a more spiritual level.
My eyes sharpened as I stared at the woman, she wore a tight black leather top, a miniskirt and stockings, over the shoulders wearing a grey haori with a weird crest printed on it, a bird with an angel wing and underneath it was the yin and yang symbol with large commas beside the symbol. She has long light gray hair tied in a ponytail and gray narrow eyes. She looked exhausted as she had bags underneath her eyes but the moment our eyes contacted she gave me a warm soft smile, but that wasn't going to fool me I could sense the hidden blood lust coming from her. Out of reflex I automatically attempted to release my own version before coughing loudly as I doubled over in pain from exertion.
Meanwhile the tall man with glasses just watched our little exchange with a smile on his face before dramatically taking a pose.
"Congratulations! You were magnificently chosen to be the partner of a 'sekirei" said the eccentric tall man wearing glasses with spiky white hair, whom was completely dressed in white clothing from head to toe.
"..." Turning my attention onto the man I gave him a dubious look before redirecting my attention onto the woman that had a connection to me.
"Ah Wait. Don't ignore me this is extremely important for you Mr nobody."
"..." Once more I turned my attention to the eccentric man. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he would yield important information?
"I see that got you attention didn't it Mr mute."
"..." Clearly this man was toying with me and wasn't worth my time, I was just about to face the woman again but the man interrupted at the last moment.
"No wait I will get to the point don't ignore me!" He said desperately before continuing on as if he was scared of me ignoring him for real. " Ahem Sekirei plan, that's the name of the game you are participating in."
"The rules are simple there are 108 freed sekireis and these sekireis fight and fight and FIGHT! until there is only one sekirei remaining and the ashikabi of that remaining sekirei is given permission to ascend to the final trial." He paused for dramatic effects before spreading his arm wide as he made the important proclamation.
"The ashikabi who overcomes the final trial will hold the fate of the world in their hands!" He gave me an excited look as if he expected me to respond with the same level of enthusiasm at such a prize but to me it didn't matter that much. I had already won such a prize before, I was the victor of the Ainsworth holy grail war giving me the right to a miracle, nevertheless I couldn't resist this opportunity maybe It was my ticket to find Miyu.
Without realising it, a wry grin was plasted onto my face before I once again started to double over in pain as I was still heavily injured, I wasn't quite ready yet to leave the confines of my bed on my own.
"I see that you liked the plan, but I have a proposition for you. How would you like to join MBI?"
"MBI?" My voice coming out softly in confusion, I didn't recognise that word was it some kind of organisation?
"... It seems like your more interesting then I thought Mr nobody." The man's tone changed slightly from his previous excited dramatic eccentric voice to one with a slight edge as he realised that I had no clue of what he was referring to. He pushed up his glasses and was about to continue but I interrupted him.
"... Shirou Emiya, my name is Shirou Emiya." I decided to give him my name as it was getting annoying to be referred to Mr nobody but that wasn't the main reason. It was more of a test, a way to get information based on how he would react.
"... I see, It would be rude of me not to respond in kind Shirou Emiya." He spread out his arms like before clearly he was building the tension for his reveal.
"My name is Minaka Hiroto, and I am the current CEO and founder of Mid Bio Informatics or MBI for short. But more importantly I am the game creator and master of the Sekirei Plan."
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"..." I see that was quite informative, from what I could understand this MBI must be a powerful organisation judging from the way he expected me to know it's name. So it must be an public organisation with at least a country level presence or on a global scale and judging from the name it's main field of expertise is within the medical sector. That would make sense as by all rights I should have been dead killed by my own magecraft, but here I am alive and on deaths door. Nevertheless as long as I don't overexert myself and stay within reasonable limits I should recover eventually and regain my lost strength.
I looked at my thin body and saw the numerous machinery and medicine being pumped into me, this was probably why I survived but the real question was why would they save and want me to join them. After all I was an enigma a person who shouldn't exist in this world as they said it themselves "Mr nobody", with their power a simple background check wouldn't be hard to achieve and add in the fact that I didn't recognise their name means I must be in another world.
Of course this was all speculation on my part but it made sense with the information I have, but that still begs the question why? I have nothing to do with them except ... I see so that was it. I turned to look at the beautiful gray haired woman who I felt a connection to, she returned my look with her usual smile.
"Well what do you say Shirou? Would you like to join MBI?" Minaka extended his right hand towards me in a gesture of friendship.
"..." It may have been appeared as an innocuous offer but I knew better than that. I didn't have a choice in this matter and even if I did I would still take it anyway, for there was no better alternative for me if I wanted answers and the chance for a new life.
"Yes I would like to join your organisation, but first is that woman over there my so called Sekirei" I accepted his offer by shaking his hand, a mere formality as we both knew I didn't have a choice in this matter, but it was still one that was necessary.
After shaking his hand I nodded to the left, pointing in the direction of the woman I have been eyeing from the very start. I needed to make sure my speculations for the most part was right if so I could plan ahead for the future.
Minaka laughed loudly before answering my question. "Yes she is, she is sekirei number 04 Karasuba also known as the black sekirei."
So her name was Karasuba but what was a sekirei to begin with? and what did the number 04 stand for? was that a code but what does it represent strength, or was it the order they were labelled as? I was about to open my mouth to ask him but he beat me to the punch.
"Oh if your wondering about the number then you shouldn't worry, its just the order of which they were born and found in, wait whats with that look fine. You would find out anyway so might as well tell you now, the numbers from 01 to 09 are what we refer to as single numbers and" A loud ringing noise interrupted Minaka as he was in the middle of his explanation.
"Damn who interrupted me in " His expression suddenly changed as he realised who was calling him. "I'm sorry Shirou but I have to go but never fear Natsuo over here would take over for me." He pointed to the effeminate male who was wearing a business suit before leaving in a hurry, almost bumping into the wall on his way out.
"..." That was interesting to say the least, I thought to myself as I watched him go, but it didn't really solve my questions at all aside from knowing my colleagues names.
"I'm sorry about the director, he's just a bit eccentric but he means well." Said Natsuo as he attempted to cover for his boss sudden departure.
'Oh I forget to introduce myself my name is Natsuo Ichinomi its nice to meet you Shirou." He offered his hand in a gesture of friendship which I took with my right hand. He must be pretty important for him and the CEO to enter together.
"Oh I'm not that important I'm just a normal clerk working for the pharmaceutical department." Was my face really that easy to read? Or was it just a coincidence.
"But you could say I got a bit of a promotion as the ashikabi of two sekirei so I guess I'm not just a normal clerk anymore." He smiled at me but I couldn't feel anything from the smile. I knew that smile I had worn it many times throughout my life, it was a smile that belonged to a hollow man that had lost everything he cared about.
"..." Seeing that smile reminded me of what I lost, my father's ideals that perpetuated my reason for existence, my best friend that shared my false dreams and my junior who has always loved and supported me from the shadows. I started to feel nauseous as I relived the painful memories but it would take far more than that to break me, after all I had experienced far worse than this.
"Shirou, before I explain anything I need you to sign theses forms first, you could read them if you want but it's nothing more than a formality." Natsuo turned to one of the women standing beside him, she handed him a suitcase which contained a small pile of documents which he poured onto the bed as well as throwing me a pen.
"Seeing how you have no registered identification documentation in any country, the director decided to give you one, all you have to do is sign the form with your signature and name for it to be legalised." He took out a couple of forms from the pile and gave it to me.
I scanned the documentation for any traps and loopholes but to the best of my knowledge it was safe, it appeared to be a normal registration form with all the requirements already been completed for me. Like he said earlier all I needed to do was fill in the basic information such as my name, date of birth etc. Despite that I went over the documentations once more, slowly checking it for any problems but it appeared to be fine. I filled in the form with my basic details before handing it over to Natsuo.
He gave it a quick look to make sure everything was filled out and in order before placing it within the suitcase. He took out one of the forms I signed and handed it back to me. "This is your temporary identification document, this will act as a proper ID before the official one is issued to you within a couple of days to a week.
'Now this is your official employment contract with MBI, I would need you to sign the contract just like before, all the prerequisites have already been filled out for you." He handed me another stack of forms from the pile.
"..." It was best to get rid of the formalities first I guess, getting a slight migraine from the paperwork, I repeated the same actions as before. Scanning the documents for any traps or loopholes, before doing a thorough search of the paperwork, asking questions if I'm unsure of something, signing the documentations when it seemed it was safe and handing it off to Natsuo. This process repeated itself for a good couple of hours until I finished signing the pile of documentations.
After handing over the last of the paperwork, I looked up and noticed that the women were still here, I expected them to leave since it took me a while for me to complete the necessary formalities despite it being streamlined. I guess they stayed behind for a reason, anyway more importantly I now had a foothold in this new world. I had proper identification documents to signify I was a Japanese citizen, a bank account set up with MBI with VIP treatment and no upper limit for the duration of the sekirei plan and a separate account for my salary. I still had a couple of issues left but with the money those could be solved easily now I just need to understand what I got myself into.
"These seem to be in order, okay within a couple of days to a week you will be issued with a MBI credit, debit card, and your work ID. Until then you are free to do what you wish, but if you wish to access our records early you would have to rely on Karasuba or me to let you through." Natsuo said as he packed up the pile of signed forms into the suitcase before handing it over to the pink haired woman beside him.
"Now I could start explaining what you need to know but first do you have any questions?"