All I do is Win

It wasn’t like her to be thinking much about the past. When there was so little to do in a city such as this one could assume it would be inevitable, but for Esdeath the past was in the past. The dead were dead, mostly because they were weak in the first place. It was unfortunate, but that was the way life worked. Perhaps there was a small part of her that missed her father, but not enough to say that he should have lived. He had died because he was weaker, and for that she had vowed to get stronger.

The city was stifling despite all that it offered. The blue haired woman walked down the sidewalk, her heels clicking as she moved in her white General uniform. Nothing to hunt, no purpose…just what could she do in this city?

"Getting out of here would seem like the likely idea." Almost anyone would want to go home, but Esdeath didn’t exactly have a home. She had a purpose, she hunted, but home was where it needed to be for the time. A base was what she needed, nothing more.

Turning a corner, she spotted a woman on her knees shouting at a man who had run away with her bag. Thieves? Well they lived in every city. Esdeath barely gave it a moment’s thought for continuing to walk on, not bothering to go after to the thief.

those times when he did leave the house, he never found a dull moment, everything from superheros to police forces, to bees everywhere.  even the scientists had shown their face at one point.

but this place was shady.  why did he end up here? he wasn't entirely sure of that to be honest, he'd just been walking around and managed to get lost

and if that wasn't enough a rather large man was coming barreling towards him, with a very unmanly purse in hand.  based on the design of the purse, and the speed at which he was running, the man had likely stolen it.

moving his leg just slightly to the right would allow him to trip the man, providing him ample time to take the bag from the man's now flailing arms.  tch... it hurt his leg though

"huh." he muttered, limping off in the direction the man had come from, he'd probably find the woman there

"bingo" he grinned as he tossed the woman her bag, noticing the blue haired woman walking away muttering something about weakness

“『Those are fighting words, hikikomori-chan! If you want to talk trash, then you’d better get ready to back it up!』”

Suddenly the stage was clear. A television, a Wii U and two controllers. Where did they come from? Who knows? WHO CARES? This was to be Hive City’s fiercest battle! THERE WAS NO TIME FOR LOGIC!

but the challenge in front of him was a racing game, and more specifically a party style racing game, one of his specialties since it involved predicting what his opponent would do next

"but of course I can, 『　　』 never loses after all" he grinned as he picked up the controller, "I've already played this game before, so I already know how to play."

…you promise…?

…N…nii?!

This is it.

He was to command her during this War, and she would be his pawn, his ship and most of all, his weapon. She would have to protect this man… boy? Just as how she would protect her Admiral. There was no self-destructing no more. No training, but real fighting.

His words were alien to his tongue, but he needed to do so. It was the only way for them to seal their relationship.

As though she knew of the script, no, rather, almost robotic was her voice, but she would be warm to touch, as she reached forward to embrace her soon to be, in fact, in a second or so, he would be her Master.

“     Are you my Master?”

Pain would engulf him, but she was there to hold him. She would be there to always shield him from the pain she could protect him from, and that was what their Contract entailed, no? She would do as he pleased, and he would seem to find no disdain in her embracing him as a Servant.

as he spoke the words, he felt an indescribable pain across his right hand, as the cross was gradually replaced by a more complex seal, signifying the bond between them.  the pain became nearly unbearable before a funny thing happened.

as her warmth engulfed him, where he should have felt pain, he only felt peace.  for however long it took, he would entrust his own life to her, and she would entrust her life to him.  the two of them were bound, master and servant for the duration of this war, a war he planned to win.

but of equal importance, as she pressed up against him , he could feel her chest against his own; this was truly living.  but unfortunately he couldn't enjoy it to the fullest, as he had to force himself to finish the contract.  he made sure not to get lost as he spoke, and by the time he finished, he was too at peace to even care anymore

"Are you taking me on a date to someplace nice!? Huwaa, I am grateful and excited!"

If one were to listen closely to her speech, she was almost always about to stumble when it came to how she would refer to herself. Of course, it would be natural for her to call herself Mutsu, at least back then. And she has adapted to that, that she almost forgot how it felt to simply refer to herself with a pronoun.

She listened to his answer to her inquiry, and responded enthusiastically. “That’s really fabulous! Then you’ll never lose, and I’ll always cheer for you!” a chuckle adorned her voice at these words, surprisingly, for she stopped moving at his following words, her weight, seemingly inhuman, yet unfitting of her role, pulled the two down.

Her expression blank at his whisper, yet nowhere near a negative reaction. She was simply surprised, that she stopped functioning, as though she was going to relive the explosion. For a moment she thought, indeed, she needed a Master as soon as possible. And if this man… if this man was so nice to accommodate for her…

"Y… You want Mutsu as your Servant? I-If so, Mutsu will seal it with Mutsu kiss beam… A-and the contract thing… You need… To do…”

he nearly melted when she told him that she would always cheer for him, when he finally asked the question, he was barely able to contain himself.

but her response floored him, both literally and figuratively.  the second the girl, Mutsu, finished talking he felt himself jump back in surprise and land on his butt, it wasn't even a concious reaction but he'd simply never been in a position like this before.

"k-k-k-kiss beam!" he shouted, "you know I've never been kissed before right, even as a healthy 18 year old by I've never been kissed, but that can wait till a little later, right now I've got a contract to form."

looking up from her, and not even getting up from his now sitting position he spoke the words:

She chuckles. “Well I suppose you hold ground to act so confident. But-” She cants her head, an innocent smile gracing her features, though the effect somehow dispelled by the deadly serious tone she held. “-even Gods lose.”

She clicks her tongue and stares at him for a few seconds, before an indifferent smile was shown. “Very well then, let’s settle for making the second and third rounds a game where we will not have to rely on our abilities as Magus, but on our own talents.”

he chuckled slightly at the girl's remark about gods losing.  that would have worked, if not for one problem

"well then I guess it's a good thing I'm not a god then, just a regular human like you." he grinned.

She crossed her arms across her chest and closed her eyes to contemplate in silence. If she were to turn on her heel right now, he might just follow her and drive her crazy with his nonsense again. It would seem that accepting his challenge would be the best thing to do right now.

"I’m not fond of displaying my magic in public, much less to a stranger like you. But very well if you insist I’ll play along with your game." Nanami uncrossed her arms and faced him with a challenging smile. "I have three conditions however."

She put up three fingers in front of his face, and listed off the following conditions. “First, I’ll only play with you if you manage to solve an equation I shall hand out to you. Second, I wish for this game to have three rounds, the first round will consist of your silly RPS game, the second round will be a game I shall choose, and the third would be a tiebreaker round if neither of us manage to defeat the other on the second round. My final condition would be for you to give me a reward of sorts for my win. It gives me more of an incentive you see.”

"I would like to add one condition of my own." he explained, "specifically pertaining to the second and third games.  I'd perfer it if the games can be completed by human means.  while I don't mind using my magic in a game, it would be unfair to, say, have a competition based on who can make the bigger flame if one of us did not have fire magic."

the small favor would have been trouble, if there was even a small chance at his defeat

How many weirdos are in this contest again? She seriously couldn’t believe this is the fourth male magus she has encountered who had been acting as queer as those three men in that black and white comedy show her father used to watch.

His next statement made her run up to him with an enraged face. Not because of his stab at her pride, but because he had belittled himself, and that annoyed her (She’s a complicated woman. Don’t even ask). She took ahold of his collar, and shouted right at his face. (Not that she looked very menacing. She was being all red from anger after all)

"What are you talking about?! Just because you’re self taught means you’re scum?! There’s no way that can be true! Why are you looking down on yourself? What kind of man are you? If you’re a man then stand up straight and be proud of the fact that you managed to train by yourself! Viva youth! Viva being self taught! Argh seriously. Men without confidence just irritates me!"

thus he wasn't terribly confident in his odds in this war without a competent servant, but this lack of confidence could be used here.  this girl made it too easy to exploit.

"well then" he grinned, "why don't you prove me wrong then."

he held out his hand again, this time with a much more sinister grin on his face.