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"Oh, c'mon, pretty please?" She kept begging despite already knowing his answer.
"No."
"Pretty pretty please??"
"I said no." The man rubbed a hand over his forehead, his long, white hair swaying gently as he let out an exasperated sigh. "I may have accepted you as my master for now, but I am no puppet for your childish whims."
A mischievous smirk tugged at her lips. "Don't tell me," she began, leaning in to search his expression, "that you're still salty about me kicking your ass two years ago."
"God," he frowned, the imprecation all the more amusing considering his current form. "Someone please remind me why the hell I formed a contract with this idiot."
"I can remind you aaaany time."
"Shut up."
"Whatever you say, King of Mages," she provoked, the title being a mere reinforcement to her teasing. "If you're not strong enough to do that, just say the word."
His eyes narrowed into thin, icy slits, so piercing that for a moment, all she could see was the actual Demon King inside him.
"Do you even know how uncomfortable that form is? I can barely endure such a malnourished and sleep-deprived body. Seriously, if that was the state of the head of Chaldea’s medical department, I can't imagine the rest of your severely underprepared staff." He countered. "I only kept his body to carry on his will, but now that the tables have turned, there's no more reason to do that."
Ritsuka exhaled, unable to suppress the chuckle blooming on her lips. A melancholic veil drifted over her bright features, but it was for a mere instant before her sparkling attitude was back again.
"Anyway, what were you saying the other day about not wanting any chocolate for Valentine's Day? Because you know that I'll definitely—"
"If you're finished being a damn pain, I have some unfinished business to attend to.” He interrupted her with a sharp turn of his head, his gaze shifting aside as if her words hadn't even reached him.
"Unfinished business, uh? Pretty sketchy, if you ask me."
"It's none of your business."
"But I'm your Master."
"I'd be grateful if you stopped reminding me."
"Okay, okay." She grinned once again, her hands raising in surrender. He couldn’t help but notice how the smile she was wearing was slightly different from the one he had grown accustomed to. It was sharp and glowing like usual, but there was also a hint of something else he couldn't quite identify, which left a strange aftertaste in his mouth.
"See ya, Solomon." She waved before quickly disappearing behind one of the numerous white corridors of the ship. He stared at that corner for just another second before turning his back and also walking away.
“You’re finally here.” A soft, high voice greeted him when he opened the door. “It took you long enough, didn’t it?”
“That idiot of a Master is the one to blame for it. She keeps tormenting me with that stupid request of hers.”
Da Vinci let out a heartfelt laugh, causing Solomon’s eyes to narrow. While her giggles slowly toned down, she casually wiped a tear escaping her right eye. "You know,” she began as a more serious tone took over the initial joking, “that girl really misses him, but... She hides it pretty well, don't you think?"
"Well, no, since she keeps asking me to turn into him."
"I guess we all do miss him," she murmured, almost to herself. She allowed herself a short moment before returning to business. "We should really be all set in around an hour. Oh, and, since you’re already here anyway, could you go and wake Ritsuka up? I told her to take a quick nap, but I’m sure she’s still asleep."
His arms crossed over his chest, the frown already etched into his usual expression deepening into a look of pure skepticism. "Why would I go? I'm not her baby-sitter."
"Oh, c'mon, you're telling me you're not even a teeny-tiny little bit curious of seeing her sleeping face?"
"No."
"…As expected, you really aren't him,” she sighed. "Still, as her faithful servant, it would be such a nice demonstration of devotion towards your new Master, wouldn’t it?"
"Not you too," he groaned, now knowing that putting up any form of resistance wasn't going to work. Surrendering, he already began to walk away.
"Thank you, Solomon ☆" He could her hear chime before the door closed behind his back with a mechanical hiss.
As he made his way through the ship’s hallways, he couldn’t help but murmur under his breath all his dissatisfaction. Him, the mighty Demon God King, now trapped in a Servant body, reduced to make a contract with she who once beated him, and now forced to act as her personal butler.
He didn’t even bother to knock on her door before opening it anyway.
He found her there, on the bed, curled like an infant under the white sheets. As he walked closer, his arm already extended to shake her from her slumber, he spotted something lying next to her face. It was an authorization pass. The plastic protecting it was beginning to yellow at the corners, betraying the passage of time. Squinting his eyes, he could still read the fading letters printed on the pink card:
Chaldea Security Organisation
Chief Medical Officer
Romani Archaman
"That girl really misses him."
A long sigh left his lips before he knew. The sight was... pathetic, was the word he wished had come to his mind first. The girl who had once dared to defeat him was laying right in front of him, harmless and vulnerable, clinging to a past that could never be recovered.
He'd die before confessing it, but the sight stirred something inside him. It wasn't pity, nor disgust as he hoped, but rather something closer to guilt. Instead of a weak mage, he was now looking at a scarred child still waiting for someone who was never going to come back.
For the first time in his life, he could say he understood compassion. Knowing that she was part of that selfish humanity he had tried to wipe away made humans look a little less worth killing. He wanted to discard those feelings, make sure no one ever knew they'd been his and forget about them completely. But truth was hard to deny at that point.
That girl, ripped apart by loss and regret, kept walking forward despite the pain in her chest. Unable to forget the faces of her loved ones, she carried the burden of their deaths upon her shoulders and kept walking down the dangerous path fate had carved for her.
"You really did well in raising her..." He found himself murmuring as his gaze fell upon his own hands, those who once belonged to the real Solomon.
Suddenly, the request he'd been denying her for the past few days didn't feel like a burden at all. He was almost inclined to indulge her. He sighed, his pride still refusing to fully back down, and then finally changed into his body.
His hair tinted of that soft, sunset-like pink he had grown accustomed to, and the old Chaldean uniform took the place of his long prophet gown. From rich bronze, his skin turned a pale white, while his tattoo slowly faded away, leaving the room for two deep eyebags under his now green eyes.
He exhaled, finally reaching out and shaking her shoulder. It took a moment before a small groan muffled against her pillow as she stirred. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, squinting against the light, her movements heavy and reluctant as she forced herself back to consciousness.
The instant she realized who was standing in front of her, a small flicker of surprised crossed her gaze.
“You… changed your mind, uh?” She murmured, her voice still a little hoarse.
“Really? That’s your reaction?” He couldn’t believe it. All this trouble just to get a lame, unbothered mumble. She was barely awake and yet could still tell the difference. "You really didn't think I was him, not even for a second?"
"Of course not. You guys are way too different. Besides," she began, her eyes staring into the void behind him, "I'm not so foolish to hope he's coming back anymore."
“Listen,” he started, an uncharacteristic hesitation filtering his voice, "I guess that some people, under certain circumstances, could believe that you… did a great job."
She blinked a couple of times, as if making sure she hadn't imagined it. Then, seeing his gaze shift aside when she searched for it, her surprise melted into a genuine chuckle. "You really don't sound like the doctor at all."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Still...” The look on her face softened as she tried to find the right words. She couldn’t deny that despite knowing it was but a simply replica, despite knowing it was but a fake, she had felt her heart soothed by a warmth she hadn’t experience in a long time. “Thank you for letting me see him one last time."
He paused for a heartbeat, his eyes focusing on the tender expression that had unconsciously spread across her face. Then, a small sigh escaped him, and in that breath, he realized his pride had already surrendered to something much deeper.
"…I suppose I can keep this body, after all," he conceded, his own words sounding almost foreign to his ears. "But I’ll turn like this only once in a while."
"Once in a while is perfect," she replied instantly.
"Now stop looking at me like that, Mash is probably already waiting for us."
He turned his back on her, a part of him still denying he wasn’t sure how to handle her gaze. And, unfortunately for him, she noticed that. She jumped out of her bed, leaving behind the doctor’s ID for the first time in forever, and barred his way before he could leave.
"You can just say she's your favorite, you know? I'm not getting mad," she teased, her usual, mischievous grin finally back.
"You're insufferable."