Grand Fate: El Muerto
A Man And His Pen

"It's very rare that you solve a problem over twenty minutes" Shin said as he ate the takoyaki he bought, "I told you before, I want to try the sobriety technique I've been practicing while in the hospital," Gaki sighed slowly, "after this Economy, huh?, this will be a little more difficult than before," Shin smiled faintly, he looked doubtful with the Economic Examination, "you don't deserve to be hesitant, your grades are always perfect in every subject," Gaki looked cynical, Shin only replied with a small laugh, "you're too serious."

Gaki's rest time was spent eating snacks that he bought from the canteen, he also re-arranged his breathing to be more stable. The clock shows at half-nine in the morning, the Great Bell is again sounded, the next exam will begin again. Many people look more stressed than in the first hour, in addition to the economy has a higher difficulty, because it also amounts to fifty essays. "Essay?," Eden was shocked because he himself did not understand the economy, "calm down, Master Shushima will not give a very difficult problem," Gaki tries to read the matter that Master Fuu just shared.

"this...," Gaki was astonished by the matter he saw, it was very different from his expectations, "i told you it was difficult," Eden sighed, "it's not really that difficult, actually, but I'm concerned about the type of essay, you know for yourself that economics sometimes counts with logic alone," "after the chat, continue to do the exam," said Master Hoshi who became the supervisor in the class.

As Gaki and Eden focus on their respective test papers, Gaki tries to use his calm technique again, but the question of economics is not something that can only be answered by theory, but by complex means, Gaki also canceled his technique and worked on it like a normal person. This problem is actually fairly easy, and Gaki memorized exactly how to do it, only a few problems are High-Level Thinking Problems, which use several ways in one problem, the only problem is the time to work on fifty counting essays.

Time continued to run, Gaki worked on the problem quickly, the writing was a little messy, in the fifty minutes, Gaki had only reached number twenty, even Shin also looked dizzy with the problem he was facing, not a few people who hold his head because they do not know how to do the problem. Gaki tried to catch his breath, he was panting heavily because his hands were moving so fast that he paused, when he had half an hour left, Master Shushima entered the class.

"I'm sorry, because I made a mistake in your exam, enough to do until number twenty-five, because I accidentally copied all the questions, and made it fifty questions," Master Shushima performed ojigi in front of his students, suddenly everyone checked his test papers, and they were astonished, the matter of number twenty-six was the same as number one, and so on, "I didn't expect you guys to notice, alright, thank you," Master Shushima walked out of the classroom.

Shin and Gaki looked limp, they had already reached number thirty more, and it turned out that enough until twenty-five, they both directly collected it on Master Hoshi. "I can't believe it's only done in half," Shin looks limp as he walks out of class with Gaki, "I didn't even notice, did you realize that the matter was re-copied?," Gaki also looks tired, "I realized before, but I think it's still work."

Gaki and Shin go to the cafeteria and return to buy snacks, the test after this is Social, Gaki prepares himself to use his calm technique again. "Actually I haven't fully grasped in Social Subjects, after all the profession I want to take doesn't require Social lesson grades," Shin pursed his lips, "hush, I don't care your babble, your grade will still be 100," gaki's face looked disgusted, Shin only returned with a laugh.

"Who's the supervisor?" asked Shin to one of the students in his class, "you're the class leader, why don't you know?," the boy replied, "just answer," reply Shin while chewing the gum that was in his mouth, "Master Retora," the boy walked into the classroom, Shin and Gaki nodded small, they also stepped into their respective chairs. "I've never seen him before," Gaki glanced at the child earlier, "what?, there's no way, he's not....," Shin turned his head towards the child earlier, "what was it, but there was no one other than the disciple who had already sat down, "he..," Shin tried to recall his face, "you don't remember his face huh," Gaki looked at Shin, "yes."

They both try to forget about it, Shin and Gaki think it is because they are tired of learning too much. The supervising teacher who came was Master Retora, just like the child had said, but Gaki and Shin paid him no heed anymore, they took the exam quietly.

Gaki is now in the middle of the ocean, he is doing the Social test of 40 multiple choices calmly. Several times the focus was shaken because there was a sound that passed through his ears, in Gaki's mind it was described by the arrival of the waves, but Gaki again focused on the test. "Hey, answer is C," a voice slurping in Gaki's ears, he instantly lost his focus and gasped, "why, Gaki?, is there a problem?," Master Retora approached Gaki, "no, sorry," gaki replied, his face flushed red, embarrassed and panicked mixed in his mind. Gaki returned to work on his exams, but he couldn't focus as much as before, he kept thinking about it, and went back to his question about the boy.

An hour had passed, Gaki had already reached number 38. Three-fourths of the students in the class had already collected their exam sheets, Gaki who did not want to run out of time any longer immediately read the questions quickly and chose the answers. When all the questions are answered, Gaki intends to go to the teacher's desk to collect his exam sheet, when Gaki will already be standing, his hands feel very heavy, he can not stand, he said, as if there was a heavy burden on his feet and hands, his face could not express itself.

"Your time is less than 30 minutes away" said Master Retora as he walked around the unfinished disciples. Gaki was very panicked in his mind, he tried to move, his hand slowly moved and made it look like he was still working on the exam. Master Retora just stepped past Gaki like nothing had happened. Gaki tried to focus himself again, returning to the calm middle of the ocean. At a glance, Gaki's body seemed free, He again jerked, but no one else noticed.

Gaki got up and walked towards Master Retora, but his vision grew blurry, and Gaki fell unconscious. The Master Retora immediately took out her snake-shaped Grim and propped Gaki up before touching the floor. Gaki was immediately taken to the health room to be checked.

Gaki's eyes opened slowly, he turned to his right and left, then tried to sit down. "You're sober" said Master Yuko as she drank her tea slowly, she sat down on a chair beside Gaki's bed. "Master?, I have to continue my exam," Gaki immediately stood up and looked for his shoes, but Master Yuko held back her hand, "come home, it's already night," Master Yuko pointed towards the wall clock on one side of the infirmary, it showed at eight o'clock in the evening, "you were unconscious for a very long time, your sister was waiting at the door," Master Yuko took off her grasp.

Gaki said goodbye to Master Yuko and walked out of the room, where there was Eiji leaning against the wall, standing with a sleepy face, "Eiji," Gaki patted Eiji on the shoulder, "brother," Eiji gasped, he looked exhausted, "let's go home," Gaki smiled broadly, Eiji sighed.

Arriving at home, Gaki laid himself on the bed, he stared at the ceiling of his room. "What happened to me earlier?," asked Gaki to Eiji who was tidying up his school bag, "I don't know, but when I asked him about the Health Room Supervisory Teacher, he said that brother fell unconscious, "Gaki tried to recall the incident, "it seems like I did fall unconscious, but I don't know when."

"Here you go, it's because you think too much and get stressed, rest up, I'll make ramen for you" Eiji walked into the kitchen. Gaki looked back at the ceiling of his room, he recalled all his goals during this time, being the strongest.

'Being the strongest?, once it's reached, what am I going to do,' the question pops up in his mind, tears slowly streaming down his face, his eyes glazed over. Gaki changed his position, he wiped his tears that had flowed quite a lot. "What's the matter?" Eiji approached the limp-sitting Gaki, "i don't know, my head hurts," Gaki replied, "sleep," Eiji patted Gaki on the shoulder.

That night felt very tiring for Gaki, especially he missed two exam subjects last afternoon, which made him have to do the next exam in the future. Gaki slept without cleaning himself before, he fell asleep in his rest before going back to tomorrow.

In the middle of the night, Eiji suddenly woke up from his sleep, he glanced right and left, but did not find anything strange. Eiji only thought that if he just did not sleep in a comfortable position, before going back to sleep, he went to the bathroom to urinate. 

Eiji walked slowly to the bathroom so as not to make a noise so that he woke up Gaki who was sleeping very soundly. Inside the bathroom after urinating, Eiji looked at himself in the mirror of the sink, 'why am I here?, ' he thought. Just like Gaki, he remembered important things that had previously been forgotten.

Suddenly someone patted Eiji on the shoulder and shut his mouth, "hush, we're being attacked," that person is Gaki, he spoke while whispering to Eiji. Gaki let out a bit of fire and put into Eiji's pocket, it was a communication device like the one Gaki used before.

The fire can send a voice directly to Gaki, including a voice that is released in the heart, Gaki can also reply to it and can be heard only by the person he is referring to.

"What's the matter?," asked Eiji to Gaki, he looked at the glass carefully to look behind him, "I feel like something is awkward here, stay with me," Gaki turned to his right and left. At that time the house was in a state of complete darkness, but Gaki had anticipated something like this, he installed CCTV from his Grim to look at all sides of the house. 

"Sir, you're not installing CCTV here right?," Eiji sounded nervous, "of course I installed, why?," Gaki replied calmly, "ah, well, forget it," Eiji looked increasingly panicked, Gaki did not take it seriously. Gaki slowly walked back, he took his hand off from Eiji, but told him to keep quiet.

"We have to get out of this house," Gaki said, Eiji did not respond to anything, he walked behind Gaki slowly. The two of them walked around a little without making a sound, until being at the door, Gaki used his Grim to cushion the door so as not to squeak.

After being outside the house, Gaki and Eiji immediately felt tired, they seemed to run away. "Go back," Gaki told Eiji, he looked very breathless. Gaki pointed his hands at his house, "burn," and a burst of flames burst out of his hands and burned his house.

Gaki immediately fell limp, "Eiji, turn back time," he ended up unconscious, Eiji looked panicked, black flames burning very large in front of him. With the rest of his courage, Eiji tried to rewind time that he had never done before, which was obviously very risky for him, because he only knew he could control the time of his grandfather's words.

Only a few of the techniques Eiji had just mastered, such as looking at the future in the short term, the short-term past, slowing down vision, and slowing down time. "Skill : Reverse Time," Eiji said in a small voice, he pointed to his house that was engulfed in intense flames.

Exhausted Eiji fainted beside Gaki, lying on the ground.

"Hey, get up," Gaki said as he patted Eiji on the shoulder. Eiji slowly opened his eyes slowly, "this..," he looked around, "you can already rewind time," Gaki smiled slightly, Eiji slightly blushed in embarrassment, "i've already cooked soup, "I've been cooking soup, let's eat."

Eiji got up and went to the living room while looking around, the state of the house looks like normal, no defects in the slightest. The wall clock shows at five o'clock in the morning, and on the same date as before. Eiji and Gaki continued the breakfast, "you seem to be in disbelief at what you just did," Gaki said, Eiji gasped, he was indeed completely confused by what happened.

"This doesn't mean you're perfect enough to use it, you have to perfect this ability" Gaki continued, "yes," Eiji only answered briefly, "well, we seem to have to get ready for school today," Gaki got up while carrying the dirty cutlery that had been used before, while Eiji got up and went to the bathroom.

At six o'clock in the morning, Gaki and Eiji are ready to go to school. "All right, see you later," Gaki waved his hand at Eiji who was cleaning the house before it was abandoned.

Over the next two days, the academy will hold Grim Training Exams, including Physical Training, and Potential Use Personal Training. All the disciples gathered in the main hall, including Gaki, Shin, Ray, and the others.

"Gaki," Shin walked over to Gaki who was silent in the middle of the hall, "what happened to you yesterday," asked Shin as he fixed his shoelace, "I don't know, but it seems like it was just from exhaustion, like a lot of things, as soon as Master Yuko answered," Gaki sighed.

All the disciples were panicked, Master Bo had never paid any attention to his words, even so he was a former hero who had reached the third rank with the ability of his eagle eyes. "Yes, as said earlier, please complete the exam with the best grades you can, spirit," said Master Ao, "please go back to each other's classes for more info as gathering here is just a formality," Master Ao tries to follow Master Bo's style of speech.

All the students walk to their respective classes, as all the students are free to determine their seats this time, Gaki takes a seat belonging to one of his friends who is next to the window, at once to refresh his eyes while looking at the trees in the academy garden. "Hi," said Shin who took a seat beside him, "do you can, not disturb me who is calm," Gaki gave a cynical smile to Shin, "have a rest I don't care."

Master Wang entered the classroom with several people from the Grim Research Institute. "All children, as I have said, today and tomorrow you will have exams that I do not need to mention by name. Now there are eight people from JGRM (Japanese Grim Research Institute) who will help me to take value from all of you, please introduce yourself."

The eight people lined up beside Master Wang, and they stood firmly. "Let me introduce my group, my name is Shiro, and from beside me consecutively, Chika, Delvius, Sho, Xin, Ryoma, Ame, and Naoko," said the person standing beside Master Wang.

"Well, I'm going to divide you into groups, of all the 30 people in the class, divided into four groups, each group of seven or eight people," Master Wang mentioned the division of his group carefully. "Please go to the training room now, thanks for the cooperation."

All the disciples stood up from his chair, approaching his friends who became one group, "we are together," Shin patted Gaki on the shoulder, "yes," Gaki did not give a good response to Shin.

The Training Room was located underground of the academy building, its size was even three times that of the academy itself, equipped with full security and resilience. The Training Room has facilities such as a bathroom, a bedroom, and can be hidden into the ground, making it possible to use it as a backup evacuation site. The room can absorb Grim so as not to destroy the walls and foundations, so it is very fitting to be a place to use Grim freely.

Gaki gets the group along with Shin, Nao, Toshite, Nakazuma, Ruka, Ai, and Miu. "Why should we be with four women," Gaki felt uneasy about the four women who had continued to be with each other since the group's announcement, "they are your fans, you know," Shin chuckled, "you're quite well known among the women of our generation, even our level siblings are much like you, your mysterious nature is what makes them interested."

"Well, Delvius and I will be your guides and testers for today's session. Before you introduce yourself, let me and Delvius introduce themselves. My name is Shirito Keizaki, you can call me Xin, my ability is Mirroring," said the Xin, "introduce, my name is Arclaus Delvius, you can call me Delvius, my Grim is Delusi, please introduce yourself to each of you, along with the abilities you have."

"My name is Toshite Fushiguro, my ability is Solving Non-Organic Objects," "introduce, I'm Nakazuma Nobarashi, my ability is Bubble," "i am Ruka Sewashi!, my ability is Size Manipulation," "i am Nao Kezauchi, I am, my ability Sound Waves," "my name is Ai Nakano, my ability is Strengthening Things," "my name is Miu Tori, my ability is Wing," "Maki, my ability is Creation," "my name is Shin Tokoharu, my ability is Life Energy."

Xin and Delvius recorded the identities of the eight members of their group, "Gaki, your marga?," Delvius asked, Gaki did not answer him, he simply looked Delvius in the eye directly and sharply, "well I understand," Delvius only wrote Gaki on his identity paper.

"Well let's start the training, starting with the interviews and demonstrations of ability per person, the women who are with me, and the men who will be with Xin" Delvius said, inserting his notebook into a bag.

Gaki, Shin, Toshite, and Nakazuma went to one side of the room with Xin. "Alright, I'll interview you one by one, starting with Toshite," Xin walked slightly away from the other three people, because the room was really an empty room that had no chairs or tables, either, only stairs on some sides.

"Toshite Fushiguro, your ability, Destroy, A-ranked ability, and last year's B successively gained mastery of potential, please describe your power in detail," Xin held the pen in a ready-to-write position, "my ability to slowly destroy any Non-Organic object according to the type of object on a small scale, provided I had to touch the object, even though it was just saliva," Toshite explained to Xin.

"Try to destroy this pen," Xin thrust her pen at Toshite. Shortly before Toshite managed to touch it, the pen immediately shot forward causing Toshite's index finger to hurt. "What's going on?," Toshite was puzzled as she wiped the blood dripping from her index finger, "all you see is a demonstration of my ability, I thought you could instantly destroy it by touching it as you said," Xin smiled cynically.

"The main thing to use my ability, I have to focus it first, I can't suddenly use it," Toshite said, "alright, it looks like you'll learn how to activate your ability quickly, like you're going to learn how to activate your ability, please come back and call me Nakazuma Nobarashi," Xin wrote down the points he needed to train Toshite in the future.

Nakazuma walked up to Xin who was waiting for him, "well, Nakazuma Nobarashi, the Grim that you have is Bubbles, your ability is B rank and you always get an A in every potential mastery test, you have a, please explain to me the power you have, concisely and clearly."

"Alright, my ability is Bubble, and my bubble can either accept someone else's Grim and neutralize it, or it can store it. I created a bubble of mine from the sweat water I produced, it could also be broken by command or when it was no longer strong enough to withstand the physical attack it was given," Nakazuma explained his strength to Xin, "so your strength is produced from sweat, and is immune to Grim's attacks?," Xin tried to clarify, "yes, but the resistance is very low when subjected to physical attacks."

"Let's try, put this pen in your bubble," as before, Xin thrust the questioner at the person he was training, and the pen back he taped. Moments before injuring Nakazuma's finger, he immediately made a bubble shield in his hand, although it broke instantly, but his hand was not injured in the slightest by the pen. 

"Your complex is pretty good, and your decision is good to protect your hand rather than dismiss my penchant, you just need additional potential training, please come back, and call me Shin Tokoharu."

Nakazuma turned around and headed towards Shin who was chatting with Gaki, while Toshite was still trying to practice her reflexes. "Shin, now it's your turn," Nakazuma patted Shin's shoulder, "alright," Shin headed to Xin who was waiting for him.

"Shin Tokoharu, with the ability of Nature, Chairman of the Student Executive Organization, has a Grim of B rank, but the value in the mastery of potential has reached A+, quite interesting, please explain to me about your abilities."

"Natural Energy Ability, my strength comes from living beings around, and is shaped in the form of energy that can be stored in my body, he said, that energy can also be channeled to others and have effects such as speeding up healing and growth, then the activation or deactivation of adrenaline. My ability besides being an aid can also be an eye tool if it is formed into a solid object, for example Sunflower, I can hear, speak, and see through the intermediary of the object."

"Energy yes, comes from the power of living beings, so if you are in the middle of the forest then your strength will be maximal?," Xin began to ask questions. "Yes," Shin answered him briefly, "well, then do the sunflowers you produce have the maximum distance?," Xin again gave his question, "no, but all are limited in the stamina I have, no, because the Sunflower is quite tired of me."

"Any use of the Energy you can store and how much, "for use, I can turn it into an additional stamina for myself, or give it to someone else. I can also condense that Energy so that it can become a tool of self-defense. The quantity of energy I can store is not yet clearly known."

"Alright, good explanation, I want to try to see that great ability of yours," Xin used her pen to injure her thumb and bleed, "heal," Xin said as she thrust her hand. Shin was clearly confused, and pointing both hands towards Xin's, a dim light shone from Shin's hand and moved to Xin's injured finger.

Slowly the wound closed, the blood instantly dried up and evaporated, "there is no strange taste, this works straight away," Xin drew the conclusion from Shin's ability, "i used my ability to heal, I used my ability to heal, relieves pain, and accelerates, therefore there is no pain when cured, and it does not take longer."

"Alright, I'm quite satisfied with you, now call Gaki, we'll start training sooner when this interview is over," Xin said, Shin turned around and told Gaki to approach Xin.

"Is it now my turn?," Gaki calmly walked over to Xin, he really did not feel awkward and restless, "yes, now it's your turn. Gaki, possessing the ability of Craft, who can make anything, and eat anything, is shaped as Black Flame, rank ability A, and mastery potential reaches A+, your value is quite good in previous years. Please re-explain the ability you have in a concise and clear."

"My ability, created to kill," Gaki calmly said, "well, I see, explain what you can do," Xin seemed to have difficulty with Gaki's behavior. "What can be done?, everything," "explain all that."

"Alright," Gaki sighed, "i can turn my Apiku into anything I want, a sword, an axe, a hammer, a flower, a tree, a fly, or even a duplicate of myself. My fire is also besides burning, he will take the energy that is in the burning thing to be mine, I call it manifesteal, My fire is not always a particle, either, but it can turn into a solid."

"Good explanation, how about we try it," Xin prepared her horses, "against me, cut this pen in half," Xin smiled slightly at Gaki, she humbled him. Gaki created a katana with his Grim, he had also installed the right horses.

Gaki immediately jumped first, the target he currently only needs to slash the pen, when the katana he had swung, immediately his body bounced backward before he even realized it.

"Feet, your abilities are indeed very great, but your nature is very indicative of your weakness, you are too underestimating your opponent who only uses a pen," Xin chuckled, but in an instant Gaki turned to his back, turning to his back, he had prepared her for something like this. "You think who's underestimating the opponent," Gaki shook off his katana, and cut Xin's pen from behind, without slashing the Xin the katana had passed.

"What happened," Xin fell limp, she was a little shocked by what had happened just now, "you are my coach, why you can be weaker than me," Gaki humbled Xin who had already lost her spirit. "Alright forgive me, your abilities are so great, I admit that, but still, your vices must be justified."

Gaki did not give any response, he just walked back to Shin and the others.