Nursery Rhyme

A Bunch of Books, a Crowd of Us

Mash: It's dark... isn't it?

Fou: Foooouu...

Mash: It's very similar to a place we've seen before. The Soho area of London.


Fujimaru 1: The old bookstore, right?


Fujimaru 2: Where Andersen was, right?


Mash: Yes, Senpai. It's very similar to the 2nd floor of that bookstore.

Dr. Roman: I'm sure it is. That's because your current location–

Dr. Roman: Is inside Nursery Rhyme's Reality Marble.

Dr. Roman: Although slightly different if we were to be technical. It's a subtype of the dream shared by Master and the contracted Servants.

Dr. Roman: Anyway, it's a special place. A special place involving the Servant Nursery Rhyme.

Mash: Understood, Doctor. I came up with a similar theory.

Mash: ...Because she's here.

Nursery Rhyme:


Fujimaru 1: Why this form, I wonder?


Fujimaru 2: She's back to being a book.


Mash: Yes. When you performed the second Ascension, she gained the form of a young girl.

Mash: So why has she regressed to her original form?

Nursery Rhyme:

Mash: She doesn't speak, either. This is–

Fou: Fooou!

Dr. Roman: Uh-oh! I'm detecting magical energy in your vicinity! It looks like her, but it's not!

Dr. Roman: They're trying to surround you, which means they're probably enemies!


Fujimaru 1: Prepare for combat!


Mash: Roger, Master! Give me your orders!

--BATTLE--:

Mash: Enemies defeated. ...She helped us.

Dr. Roman: Which means that, yup, Nursery Rhyme accepts Fujimaru as her Master.

Nursery Rhyme:

Dr. Roman: She's a book, so she doesn't talk, though. What is happening, exactly?

Mash: Keep looking into it, Doctor. It appears we've got more enemies approaching.

Mash: Senpai, give me your orders. The battle continues!

--BATTLE--:

Fou: Fooou!

Mash: Battle is over. We've defeated them. Good work, Senpai.

Dr. Roman: I'm not getting anywhere with my analysis, but I have news. There's something very similar to Nursery Rhyme nearby.

Dr. Roman: That army of books was similar to her, but this is more like an exact copy.

Dr. Roman: This might be what pulled you into that space. Can you try talking to it?


Fujimaru 1: Roger!


Fujimaru 2: Nothing else to do anyway


Mash: Okay, Senpai. Let's move–You too, Nursery Rhyme.

Nursery Rhyme:

Mash: Oh, when you move, she follows you, huh?

Dr. Roman: That book's really attached. That's really...rather nice...

Mash: Yeah. It feels like watching a cute little animal.

Dr. Roman: Is that...

Mash: Seems like it's up ahead. I can feel the response.

Fou: Fou...

Dr. Roman: Here it comes. Looks like it's approaching. It might be an enemy, so be careful!

Nursery Rhyme?: –Hello, the other me.

Nursery Rhyme?: I missed you, book me! Emotions folded in-between the pages.

Nursery Rhyme?: I missed you, real me! The me who can do nothing without fingers to flip the pages.

Nursery Rhyme?: I am me, Alice. You are me, a story.

Nursery Rhyme?: No, no. I am me. I'm not Alice. You stay in that form, okay?

Mash: Alice?

Nursery Rhyme:


Fujimaru 1: Two Nursery Rhymes?


Fujimaru 2: What's going on?


Mash: I don't know, exactly...

Mash: But the one that's connected to you by contract is the one that's a book.

Mash: But at the same time... That girl over there...

Mash: She doesn't seem to be a fake Nursery Rhyme. Her magical energy feels too similar.

Dr. Roman: I got a detailed analysis now that you're closer– Yup, Mash is right. Their magical energy response is identical.

Dr. Roman: It's too identical. Like another copy of the same being?

Dr. Roman: I want to say that's impossible, but where you are, in a way, is inside Nursery Rhyme.

Dr. Roman: It's possible that her core is split into two beings!


Fujimaru 1: In other words?


Fujimaru 2: Dumb it down for me!


Mash: They're both her. It's a possibility.

Nursery Rhyme: —Correct.

Mash: (It talked!)

Fou: (Fou!)

Nursery Rhyme: —That's me. The other me.

Nursery Rhyme: —The me in Alice's form.

Nursery Rhyme: —The Alice that shouldn't exist —Because I imitated that form.

Nursery Rhyme: —I thought to myself. —That form is Alice's, but...

Nursery Rhyme: —Is it okay for me to take it? —Can I be Alice when there is no Alice here?

Nursery Rhyme?: No, no, no. It's wrong! I am just a story, right?

Nursery Rhyme?: Alice isn't here! Only I'm here!

Nursery Rhyme?: I must stay a story. I can't stay as Alice.

Nursery Rhyme?: Right–?

Mash: ??

Dr. Roman: ...I see! So that's it! Nursery Rhyme isn't supposed to have a human form!

Dr. Roman: But the Ascension gave her the form of a little girl. That self-contradiction grew within her.

Dr. Roman: So she called Fujimaru, her Master, deep inside her.

Mash: She's trying to get an answer, isn't she? About which form she should choose.

Mash: The book Nursery Rhyme is uncertain. The girl Nursery Rhyme wants to reject it.


Fujimaru 1: ...Let's ask her.


Fujimaru 2: It's her choice.


Mash: That's right, Senpai. ...Nursery Rhyme, the answer is within you.

Mash: We can't answer for you. We don't know what that girl's form means to you.

Mash: We don't know why you're hesitating. Or who or what you're thinking of.

Mash: So...

Nursery Rhyme: —I am me. I know that.

Nursery Rhyme: —But I want to be Alice. —I want that form, if I can have it.

Nursery Rhyme: —I want to drink sweet, sweet tea as Alice. —I want to eat sweet, sweet candy as Alice.

Nursery Rhyme: —I want to play, as Alice.

Nursery Rhyme: ...That was what Alice longed to do, ...when she held me in her arms until the very end.

Mash: ...Senpai.


Fujimaru 1: There's your answer.


Mash: Right, Master!

Nursery Rhyme?: I see. So that was my decision. But I won't allow it!

Nursery Rhyme?: I am me. Alice isn't here! I won't let you pretend this is a happy ending!

Dr. Roman: Magical energy response expanding! Here she comes!

--BATTLE--:

Mash: ...Enemy unit defeated.

Nursery Rhyme?: Hmph. Actually, I knew how this was going to end. If Alice isn't here–

Nursery Rhyme?: I can just become Alice. That's the kind of dumb idea I'd get now.

Nursery Rhyme?: Listen, me. If you're going to choose Alice's form...

Nursery Rhyme?: Never...let your... story have...

Nursery Rhyme?: an unhappy ending...

Nursery Rhyme: —Yeah.

Nursery Rhyme: I'll make it a happy ending. I'll do my best for Alice.

Fou: Fooou!

Dr. Roman: Okay, I guess we're done! That weird space is closing, I think, so yeah!

Dr. Roman: I'll use the Rayshift technology to get you back to Chaldea. Ready–go!