Fate DxD

Chapter 23

"I can't believe this guy would meet me in a place like this..."

After a ten-minute ride, I arrived. One of Fuyuki's port hangars, plunged into total darkness. I check the GPS on my phone one last time, confirming the location.

"Why a hangar? This place isn't open to the public..." Approaching the gate, I turn on the light on my phone and I see a piece of paper taped to the bar.

'Don't be afraid, come in!' He wrote... she wrote? A heart is drawn with a cat's head sticking out its tongue.

"She leaves me no choice huh..."

I climb the gate with ease and jump out the other side, lighting up my surroundings.

"I have a very bad feeling..."

Shipwrecks here, small buildings there, barrels of I don't know what... This place in the dark is really chilling.

"Where is this person? I'm not going to search the whole place, am I?"

Deciding to go to the most obvious place, I head for the large hangar. Unsurprisingly, the door is open with another piece of paper saying: 'This way!' with an arrow pointing inside, again that cat and a musical note.

"Uh-oh! Can you hear me?! Please come out!" Remaining wary, I prefer to call out to her first.

No answer. A few seconds pass and then a message on my phone.

"Come in, if you want me to help you. If not, there's nothing to stop you from leaving!"

A person whose gender I don't even know is literally asking me to trust him and walk right in.

For the time being, there are no battle announcements on my personal page. Last time, there was a countdown before the duel began.

"I'm coming in! I don't intend to fight! Don't attack me, okay?!" Anyway, I don't see what she would gain by attacking me outside the game.

The further I go inside, the bigger the hangar becomes. I reach the center when I hear something and then,

"You can stop right there!" I hear a girl's voice.

(With the echo, I can't work out where her voice is coming from... But it does confirm that it's a woman).

"Here I am, so it's your turn to show off!"

At my words, strange creaks echo through the hangar. Then I see a silouhette descending and landing on a storey.

She has red eyes and long blonde hair that she has tied into two long braids. She's wearing a dark red dress.

(Where did she come from? A power, I suppose, but I didn't expect that, she looks rather young...) I inspect her, somewhat disconcerted by the person above me.

"You're pulling one of these faces! What's the matter?" She asks.

"Nothing at all, it doesn't matter." (Now that I look at it, she's kind of cute... What am I thinking?) "So, who are you? Are you really going to teach me how this game works?"

"My name is Shuka! And of course! That is, if I can see that you're trustworthy. But since you've taken the trouble to come here, I'm offering you free info! What do you want to know?"

(A free question, eh?)

"For starters, tell me how we get out of this damn game! I signed up for it unintentionally and I have no desire to play it!"