Chapter 1 - The "Youth" and the "Young Girl"

"Senpai... Senpai..."

He vaguely felt as if someone was calling him.

"Senpai... wake up..."

The voice became more distinct with time, allowing him to form an impression of the other person. It was a cute and bright voice as such the other person must be a young girl. He also felt his body being shaken. Clearly, the girl wanted him to wake up.

However, that only...

(I'm feeling even more sleepy and cozy...)

A voice sweeter than a lullaby along with the gentle periodical swaying of his body made him feel a sense of happiness that babies were familiar with. Instead of becoming soberer, he sank even further into dreamland.

(A bit more... Let me sleep a bit more...)

Convincing himself with such an excuse, he let his consciousness sink. Right when he was about to fall asleep, the swaying and the voice ceased.

(Why did it stop?)

Discontent started welling up from the depths of his very instincts. It was fine even if it only continued for just one more second, it would be enough for him to comfortably fall asleep.

"Kyuu!"

Yes, just like that.

Hold on...

Kyuu?

"Fou!"

Fou?

"Fou...Fou!"

Not even a few seconds after he had heard the sound, his face was met with a resounding impact, pa, and the shock woke him up from his deep sleep.

"Ouch...!?"

His sleepiness was completely gone along with a cry of pain. The youth finally got up from the bed he had been sleeping on and opened his eyes to gaze upon the one who woke him up.

"Fou! Fou!"

The creature that uttered such a wonderful cry was a pristine snow-white fox or puppy like an animal whose species was unknown. It was a very peculiar creature. It stared at the youth with a pair of round eyes for a while and then leaped into the bosom of a beautiful girl standing behind it.

She appeared to be about the same age as him and had shoulder-length pink hair, her bangs completely covering one of her eyes. She wore a pair of glasses and all-in-all looked quite cute. Her face seemed as if it had been carved by a sculptor, warming the hearts of anyone who gazed upon her.

She reached out with her hands and caught the creature.

"Thank you for the trouble, Fou."

The young girl thanked her friend for his meritorious deed. It seems Fou had used its entire body to tackle his face to wake him up. The one who made it do something like that was, "Mash...". The youth was covering his face as he called out to the young girl with a resentful look. Mash completely ignored his annoyance and gave an earnest reply instead, "Good morning, Rozen-senpai."

[Rozen], that was not the actual name of the youth. For some reason, people who were more familiar with him used the abbreviation, [Rozen], to refer to him. Obviously, Mash knew him well enough.

While holding Fou, she gave Rozen an admonishing look.

"Were you playing games all night, Senpai?"

Upon closer look, a laptop was lying on the bed with its screen showing the interface of a game. Also, Rozen hadn't changed his formal clothes from yesterday, implying under what conditions he went to sleep.

"Eh..."

Being caught red-handed, his resentment instantly vanished and his expression became apprehensive. This caused Mash's lovely face to become sterner.

"Didn't you say that you won't play games at night anymore, Senpai?"

Her eyes behind the glasses strongly reflected her disapproval.

"Working without proper rest can cause harm to the body. What will you do if you end up sick due to lack of rest?"

This was something she had said quite a few times in the past.

"Fou! Fou!"

Fou broke free from Mash's bosom and jumped onto her shoulder, and started reprimanding Rozen like her. Although its cry was pretty cute, it only made Rozen feel even worse. He could only mumble in retort.

"I could just sleep during the day anyway, so what's wrong with playing games in the nighttime?" He was clearly quibbling.

"Senpai." Mash's beautiful face instantly became stony.

Rozen immediately shouted, "Ok ok! I get it!" He raised his hands and yielded quite quickly.

"Seriously...", sighed Mash.

Anyone familiar with the two would certainly know that such scenes were nothing new. The youth was sloppy but amicable, while the girl was earnest and well-behaved. Both of them had similar conversations almost everyday in this facility i.e. [Chaldea].

Rozen could even guess what his kind and caring kouhai might say next. After all, she was one of the two people who were close to him.

"I will complain to the Doctor if I get time later," Mash said so with an earnest expression.

Right after that, her expression became slightly anxious as she mentioned the other person close to Rozen, "Will Director get mad if she came to about know about Senpai playing games all night?" Mash was anxious while imagining that possibility. Since she mentioned that person, Rozen figured it out. "Did Director tell you to wake me up?", he said while feeling annoyed.

Mash gave a bitter smile as she was used to his tone of referring to Director.

"Yes, we need to carry out today's simulated combat. Director has been trying to contact you but was unable to get a response, so she asked me to call you directly."

As Mash had said, Rozen checked his bracelet-like communication device on his wrist and found it to be giving off light, indicating that someone had tried to contact him.

"I really don't want to go...", said Rozen from depths of his heart.

Mash had expected this, so she persuaded him with kind words, "Senpai should participate, or else, Director will definitely punish you to clean the whole Control Room just like last time."

Hearing that, even if he didn't want to, Rozen had no choice but to obey.

"Then let's wrap it up quickly, I'm still sleepy..." He barely managed to lift his spirits as he replied with a resentful voice. Still reluctant, Rozen, and Mash, who felt helpless, walked out of the room.