'Found you. Hm, is he truly a newbie? This density of mana, it doesn't feel like what a newbie should has...

But the fact that he still can't hide his aura showing that he is a newbie. Interesting.'

Their gaze met only in that instant before she withdrew her gaze, leaving a fleeting mysterious smile on her face.

When he saw her mysterious smile, Rafi felt confused as well as curious to her identity. It was because he could feel that Claire wasn't an ordinary girl like what she looked like. Although her aura was repressed, but he still felt a trace of mana from her.

'It looks like this new transfer student is an interesting one.' He quickly withdrew his gaze as well before he switched his attention elsewhere.

Class continued as usual after the initial surprise faded, while Claire found a seat next to him.

With their close proximity, Rafi could easily glance at her occasionally in which he nodded to himself. From what he saw, if that Artoria Pendragon actually wore a highschool uniform, she might be no different from the new transfer student beside him.

True to what he guessed earlier, after seeing Claire, the similar appearance shouldn't be much of a problem for Saki Rukino as well. Another problem that plagued him was how to get another Points again now that there's no indication of new mission from Pandora app. He hoped that he could collect more Points from the new mission after all.

When the day ended, the school was pretty much deserted as many clubs were taking day off in that cold weather with the exception of some more determined ones.

The classroom was empty when Rafi was finally going back home after finishing his assignment. When he stepped out from class though, he saw an unexpected person who waited for him.

"It is you, isn't it?" Claire suddenly appeared as she said with a mysterious smile.

"...I don't know what you mean, Claire." Rafi replied as he looked confusedly at her. Seeing that she still kept that mysterious smile of hers, he decided to ignore her as he tried to go past her side.

"Don't be that hasty to leave. It is not like I mean you harm, fellow Participant."

"..." Rafi stopped in his track as he quickly turned back to her, keeping his guard up. Although he already guessed she wasn't an ordinary girl, but her words still took him by surprise. 'She's actually the same with me?'

"Oh, have I finally piqued your interest? Hmm, but this is enough for the greeting now. Let's talk about this again later, Rafi." After seeing his wariness, she said lightly while chuckling a little teasingly.

Without waiting for his response, Claire disappeared from his vision as if she just blended into surrounding space.

Seeing her ability, he was reminded of a particular ability which each Servant had, their stealth mode by turning into spiritual form. At a glance, her ability was really similar to a Servant's.

"..." The shock of her revelation rendered him speechless as he didn't even think that he would meet another Participant just after he became one yesterday.

'What did she mean by this? If she is an enemy, she shouldn't blatantly expose her status to me. If she isn't an enemy, then what's her purpose...?', was what on his mind as he stared at the place where she disappeared.

Despite Claire's mysterious attitude, however, he couldn't sense any malicious intent from her which slightly assured him.

From their short interaction, for a split moment, he could sense the unimaginable amount of mana that she possessed. Just by sensing the mana she leaked, he felt like he was submerged in a sea of mana.

Comparing his mana to hers would be like comparing a small well to a sea. His mana was so minuscule that he wondered how could a human possess such large amount of mana.

However, that feeling instantly disappeared as quick as it appeared, as though she purposely did it just to give him a shock.

'Hmph. Show off. But still, her power is a real deal.' He mused quietly as he was still seemingly deep in thought.

As he was weaker than her, mulling it over his thought wouldn't solve his curiosity, so he casted it aside for the moment. Since she wasn't really an enemy, he decided to focus on practicing his own ability to strengthen himself.

Although her power was an unimaginable thing to him presently, but it didn't mean that he couldn't catch up to him later. A little smile quietly formed on his face as he felt a surge of confidence rushing strongly inside him. He was sure that he wouldn't only catch up to her, but even surpassing her.

In the end, he went home calmly after he tossed his meeting with Claire to the back of his mind.

Meanwhile, Claire, who was still in her spiritual form, was surprised that Rafi would walk away calmly even after she revealed her identity and a bit of her power to him.

It's true that he seemed pressured at first, but then after a bit of time, he looked like he suddenly got a new surge of confidence.

"Don't you think he is too calm, Artoria? Isn't he supposed to be confused and curious over it?"

'Ahh, that's why I've told you to just explain it directly to him, Claire. No need to use this roundabout way.'

"But, then it will be me who invited him to be in our party, I will be seen in a passive state." Claire insisted as she said firmly to Artoria.

'...if you don't quickly invite him to our party, he may be snatched by other guild instead. Surely you can also feel it that he isn't like a normal beginner Participant, right?'

"...although that may be true, I still need to check on his personality first. Besides, if it is him who finds me first, then I will get the upperhand in our later cooperation, hahaha."

'You are really stubborn at strange things, Claire.'

"Heh, pot saying kettle black, Artoria. Who doesn't know about your obsession to Holy Grail before-"

'Ah, stop saying it! T-that is because..!!'

Knowing that she couldn't reel him in at that moment, Claire easily switched her attention to tease her partner, Artoria.

She was in no rush to approach him again as she felt confident that he would approach her himself after he realized what it meant by becoming a Participant.

Besides, she also still needed to investigate something in the city. Although it's true that she moved to Tokyo because she wanted to hide from some annoying people, but her mother actually told her to look for details about a deceased Participant in that city.

...

Three days then passed peacefully as there wasn't anything strange or unexpected happening to him again. Beside the first time Claire first approached him, she didn't show any sign of unusual activity as she even acted just like another common classmate at school.

Although, what gave him a headache was that she still teased him occasionally by flashing her power to him. Even more so when she also smirked slightly after each attempt to tease him.

As a self-proclaimed kind man as he was, he tried to ignore her pranks as he also knew that she was such a show off. However, when she was ignored, she actually pranked him even more...

Even so, there were times that she seemed strangely agitated and glared at him which prompted him to keep some distance away from her. It might be a 'wise' decision on his part...

He groaned in his heart as he thought that this woman unexpectedly had such a prankster side behind her graceful and elegant facade.

Women are truly a confusing creature ah...

It was fortunate that no other students could sense the existence of mana, thus they weren't bothered by any of her usual prank on him.

While at home, sometimes he practiced alone, while at times he would practice with Saki Rukino. They couldn't raise their level at the moment, but they could raise their proficiency of using their acquired abilities.

Although it was awkward when she first started living together with him, as there were many many 'lucky accidents' happening between them, Saki Rukino had settled down after few days passed.

Considering that they would be a partner for most of their time from that point onward, the atmosphere between them was still ambiguous as both seemed to hold themselves back while also waiting for the other to say something about it...

In the end, both of them seemed to reach a silent agreement to set aside that notion, and focused more on training their ability to be their priority at that moment.

The fact that there was another Participant near them with a much stronger power gave them a wake up call. Although Claire didn't seem to have any ill intention to Rafi and Saki Rukino, her power still made them wary.

It's fine if it is a kindhearted Participant, but what if there's another Participant who approaches them with ill intention?

It was better for them to have at least the ability to protect themselves in case such a thing happened in the future.

After a series of self-training and training together with Rafi in these few days, Saki Rukino could now understand what her ability [Diva] did. It could, unexpectedly, become a great support skill with various utilities in accordance to her will.

It might boost her and her allies stats, reduce her opponents' stats, create a domain with various buff and debuff effects, a kind of detection skill, and many other variations depending on the songs she sang at the ability's activation.

As for her ice and his lightning manipulation, due to that they were indoor, they couldn't really practice using large-scale attacks.

After they paid a sum of Points to Pandora app, they could use the Training Hall from Rafi's sub-system in practicing their abilities as much as they wanted.

There was something they found after using the Training Hall, which was that they could separate those seven days of time to be part of several training sessions, with the time spent in the real world was still one hour in each sessions, even if they had only spent one day in Training Hall.

It meant that, as long as the total time was seven days, then they could exit the Training Hall even if they only spent one or two days inside. The remaining time could be kept for next training sessions.

Currently, though, when he was calmly reading one of his light novel in the classroom on a break time, there was a dilemma on his part as he was faced with one of the most annoying girl in his student life in Tennouzu High,

"W-what do you want to do now, Shinomiya-san? I think I don't break any school regulations in these days..." Rafi said as he looked fearfully at her. Although, rather than a true fear, it was more like an annoyed expression as he was also rather fed up from getting another incessant scolding from her.

"Hmm, that's why I come to check on you. Isn't it strange??" Miyu Shinomiya said in a matter-of-factly, as if it was how it should be.

Miyu Shinomiya, a daughter of the elite Shinomiya family. It was one of elite families which was also one of political leaders in Japan since the past and even until the current era. Meanwhile, Miyu Shinomiya was the only daughter in the current generation of family, as she also had two big brothers with a highly overprotective feeling for her, or someone might call it, a 'Sis-con' syndrome...

Within Tennouzu High, Miyu Shinomiya was known for her iron fist and her fierce scolding after she became the head of school disciplinary committee. She kept the school regulations strictly, no matter whether it was to teachers or her fellow students.

Her long black raven hair that was like the darkest night, the radiance of her eyes which sometimes shone with cold glare, and her slender yet supple physique which exuded an image of athletic highschool girl, in addition of her beautiful outlook and fair complexion which as if carved from the cuteness of the world; made her feared and awed as one of seven wonders of the current Tennouzu High.

"What is strange about it?" Rafi asked cautiously as he put on a confused look.

"That you are so well-behaved recently."

"Absurd. Who do you think I am?"

"A pitiful loner with suspiciously good grades."

"Even I can be angry you know, Shinomiya... Who says I am a loner? Now, I have a new friend, hahaha!" Rafi said with a smug smile as he taunted her. Just from seeing his current smug face, one might be really tempted to give him a beating.

"Hm, this smells suspicious... You are hiding something aren't you? Spill it out, d-did you have a girlfriend already?!"

"N-no! There is no way that I... could have... a... " Rafi denied vehemently at first, though his voice became weaker as a faint streak of blush could be seen on his face.

"Wha-wha-... you! You, traitor!!" Shinomiya said aloud as she gave him soft punches while crying loudly.

Rafi's bestfriend, Hinata, said gleefully as he looked at the usual comedic scene of his bestfriend,

"Ah, such a passionate youth. You two should find a room first. Then you can be as loud as you want in your own world there." Although he did realize that she might have feeling for his bestfriend, but Hinata usually kept silent about it as he liked taking a joy when seeing such moments from those two.

"Ah. Why are you angry, Shinomiya? It is not like I am your boyfriend or anything of the sort. Why are you always picking on me like this?" Rafi said desperately as he tried to calm her cries.

Even if her soft hits didn't register any damage to his body, but it dealt damage to his psyche as he felt the condemnation stares from his classmates. He felt like they judged him as an ungrateful bastard who caused a cute girl to cry.

Meanwhile, Claire looked interestedly when she saw Rafi seemed helpless facing that cute girl. Although she didn't know the exact relationship between those two, but as a fellow girl, she could smell the scent of a maiden in love from that cute girl. It was unfortunate that her crush was such a blockhead though. After she felt enough enjoyment from seeing their love comedy, Claire contacted Artoria through her mind,

'Artoria, how's the investigation?'

'Ugh, you lazy bum. Again, this actually should be our work and not just my work...' Artoria's exasperated voice could be heard in Claire's mind as she replied to her.

'Aiya, I'm sorry, Artoria. You know that I still have a school to attend to. Teehee~ '

'You're still so shameless, Claire.'

'Hehe, I am truly sorry. How about we go to that restaurant again? You can eat as much as you want, Artoria. The tab will be on me.'

'Okay. It's a deal then. Well, it's confirmed that the thing your mother talked about was correct.

There should have a Participant from Shinomiya family, unfortunately she disappeared since around a year ago.'

'Disappeared, and not died? Didn't Mom say that Participant...'

'It's true that, publicly, she was announced to be dead. It's just that I feel there's something wrong about her death... I have just visited her grave you know.'

'What do you mean?'

'For existence like us, even after death, there should be residue of mana lingers around our body. Even if it's in a small quantity, there should still have a trace of it. However, I didn't found any trace of mana around her 'grave'.'

'Maybe the passing time erased the trace? It has been a year after all.'

'Even so, there should trace of mana in surrounding area if there were actually any traces, and I didn't find any. My feeling tells me that her 'death' isn't so simple. That's why I termed it as a disappearance.'

'Hm, there maybe a reason for Mom to actually tell me to be careful. Well, things may get to be interesting though.'

'*sigh*...you shouldn't be excited at the prospect of trouble, Claire. Ok, I am going back now.'

'Umu. Let's have a delicious feast later, Artoria.' Claire said with a hint of smile in her thought.

However, it was also at that moment in which a familiar ringing of notification sounded directly inside the mind of each nearby Participants and Followers.

"Ah, it's that time already?" Claire muttered to herself as she felt the world stopped for a moment. As she glanced at another Participant in the class, she felt amused that her chance to see his ability might be happening sooner than she thought.

*Ding*

As the familiar sound rang inside his mind, the world seemed came to a standstill as he and Claire were seemingly the only one who could move.

[Participant no. 966001, you have new missions. Please beware that failure to finish the basic mission will result in extinguishment of your soul.

Next Dungeon world, Fate.

Countdown start.

1!

2!

3!

May you find what you seek inside Pandora.]

As he felt like he was about to be sucked into that black-hole thing, he didn't realize that the crying girl in front of him seemed twitched slightly while the world around them was still silent like a paused scene.

*Bzzt -- Bzzt -- Bzzt*

*Ding*

[Participant no. 966002, due to an abnormal occurrence, your Basic Mission will be held inside a normal Dungeon World.

Your Beginner's Gift has been sent into your Inventory. Please use it wisely.]

[May you find what you seek inside Pandora.]

Within that instance, three people suddenly disappeared from that classroom while everything was still stopped in a strange suspended state...