Fate World/Domino

Chapter 3: My Little Anxiety Disorder

I head downstairs from Jay’s room and ask his parents and older sister, “Hey, can I talk to you?”

“Yeah Adachi. What is it?” Jay’s mom asks.

“You might wanna sit down for this.” I say. We all sit down and I tell them how we were just playing games when suddenly a blue magic circle appears and then suddenly flashes brightly and then Jay is gone.

“Should we call the police?: Jay’s father asked

“No. I don’t think so because they won’t believe my statement.” I say.

“Right, Alright, You head home. This is a family matter.” She looks at me, as if she could see through the sheer amount of grief I'm hiding.

“Alright, I guess. I’ll see you later.” I say sincerely.

After I put my shoes on and I’m about to open the door and leave, when Jay’s older sister, Cadence Lilia comes to the door and says, “Hey, you do know that Mom doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want you to come by anymore. She means that right now this is a time for us to grieve.”

“I figured that. Your mom probably would have said that, so why are you really here?” I say, figuring she has some ulterior motive.

“Well, I also wanted to ask if you just wanted to sleep here so you are not trying to get back to your house in the dark” She says, trying to keep from blushing. She’s been into me ever since we met. She's only two years older than Jay and I.

“Number one, I’d love to but now is not the time. Number two, I’m living with Saya now.” I say, trying to be as polite as possible.

“Oh so you’re living with Ramis-san. Goodbye then, I hope I’ll see you soon.” Lilia says.

“See ya, Lilia.” I say and walk out the door, shut it and head home. I make it back to the house and go to bed.

I woke up this morning and headed to the kitchen for breakfast, not dressed yet, but I will have to, as today is a Monday, thus school. When I came down Saya was fully dressed and ready to go teach. She eats fairly quickly as she has to be at school at least an hour before I do.

“Hey sweetie, could you do the dishes before you leave since I have to get to the school?” Saya asked with a big smile on her face.

“Yeah. I was planning on it anyway.” I say, smiling as truly as I can but I can’t help but think about what happened last night and worry about how Jay is. I could barely sleep last night anyway.

“Thanks Adachi.” She says, kissing me on the cheek. That takes my mind off of what happened for a short bit but not long enough to put my day in a better mood. My mind is fixated on getting my friend back and to know exactly what happened.

I finished the food and did the dishes but I almost spilled water all over the place as I was lost in thought wondering what subjects I would research to find out what that circle was. I decided to head to the local library, which is at the school.

I went to aisle D4 and looked through books of various subjects: occult, physics, scientific journals, even alchemy but nothing turned up. At this point, I was buried underneath books with nothing to help. I’m pretty sure I saw Saya and pretty sure she saw me. At this point I was out of books to read in any subject. I put all the books back and headed out seeing if I could think of any possible answers. I knew there wasn’t a pile of dust left from where Jay and the circle were so he wasn’t disintegrated but there is no possible way that he was teleported. Is it? I decided to head back to the house.

I open the front door and walk over to the couch and plop down on it. Man, I am so frustrated that I can’t find an answer to what that circle was, no, I’m more frustrated I can’t find an answer on if Jay is alright. Wait, I’ve felt this before. I’m worried but more importantly I’m sad, pissed and upset—I can’t think about that unless I start to cry but then again no one’s home. I just don’t want anyone, least of all Saya, to see me like this. I break down into tears as rain starts to fall hitting the roof in a very calming sound, but I can’t help but continue to cry. Just then I hear the door open. It’s Saya, standing in the house after shutting the door quickly so the rain doesn’t get in the house. She glances over to see I’m sitting on the couch.

“Where were you today? You have barely any absent days in which you’ve just skipped school, which makes me think something is wrong but I’m sure I saw you at the library buried under books.” Saya says, sounding kind of anxious and mildly worried.

"I was looking... for answers but…... I didn’t find any.” I say, trying to breathe and talk while tears still stream down my face.

Saya looks at me and sees I’m crying, sits down next to me and sets my head on her lap and says, “What’s wrong? Tell me.”

I have enough composure to speak without having to pause to breathe and says, “I was over at Jay’s last night and we were just having fun gaming, when a blue magic circle appeared and took him. I’ve been trying to find out what took him and if he is at least alive. I could barely sleep last night and I couldn’t stop thinking about it today.”

“A magic circle?!” Saya said, surprised and concerned.

“Yes. It was blue, about the size of a 3 foot round floor mat, and shined with a bright blue light that flashed very brightly and when the flash happened, Jay was gone.” I said recounting the traumatic experience.

“Were there markings on it?” Saya asked. She seemed to be very interested in the magic circle.

“Now that I think about it, there were some markings that looked very familiar before, but where have I seen it?” I said, trying to remember exactly what they were.

“It will probably come to you eventually. Well anyway, if you ever need a shoulder or thighs to cry on, just know I’m here.” Saya says, smiling at me. I could tell her that her words are genuine so I sat up and hugged her, letting the tears flow and letting myself be vulnerable in front of someone else who truly cares for once.

After crying it out, I thought about it for a minute, and in a moment of realization, I googled Fate Summon Circle. I show Saya the picture and say, “It looked like this. The markings were flipped like you were looking at it in a mirror.”

“That’s interesting and weird.” Saya said deep in thought, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. I went and opened the door and there was a body. Jay's body. Saya and I look at the ground and there is the circle and it disappears leaving Jay’s mutilated corpse there in the doorway, cut in half at the waist, his body somehow singed and burned at the body decapitation. He already died from the blood loss before arrival. On top of his body was a letter with a wax seal on it, protecting its contents; as I pulled it from its corpse. One hand trembling in rage, the other holding the letter; calmly without a trace of emotion.

Saya grasped my trembling hand, and pecked my cheek, calming me down.

Dear Tomohiro Adachi,

It’s come to my attention that you didn’t accept our offer when you had the chance, so I decided to make an example out of your best friend. Who will be next, your mother, father, or your wife?

I’ll be waiting.

Sincerely, Medb