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Master was smart.
He also was a liar.
Not that Mori blamed him, he had to get along with a lot of people, most of which were very particular.
There were a lot of bad names you could call Ritsuka. Manipulative, two-faced, duplicitous, he could go on.
But most of all Ritsuka was smart.
And Mori happened to be very lucky.
He was Ritsuka's favourite by far, the master heaped equipment and praise on him, powering him up so he was the strongest servant in Chaldea by a wide margin.
It was mostly timing, the Gudaguda event happened just after Fuyuki singularity closed, Ritsuka didn't have a lot of servants and somehow Mori and him got along like a house on fire.
They were insync in an odd way, Mori made Ritsuka laugh and Ritsuka was an excellent strategist. Mori went in swinging and Ritsuka had restraint. Mori was a ball of cheer and Ritsuka was reserved. They complimented each other.
Even some servants who were kinder and politer to Ritsuka didn't have his favour like Mori did.
That being said their relationship had its ups and downs.
The biggest blow up was when Ritsuka had confided in Mori, he'd dragged a contraband sake bottle into his room and they got wasted together. It was a few singularities later and he'd amassed a fair number of servants, and he shittalked most of them. His voice rising in irritation and annoyance as he listed all their flaws. Eventually he passed out on Mori's futon, and Mori took it on himself.
He killed them all.
All the ones Ritsuka didn't like.
Of course Ritsuka took all the blame. He was the master here, he should "have better control of his servants."
Mori will never forget how he got called into the office, Romani, Leonardo and Mash all stoned face as Ritsuka stood trembling. His face was deep red and his eyes puffy and pink, he'd been in there with the three of them for hours and it seemed like he'd been crying the whole time. His eyes were downcast, one arm hugging himself, tear tracks evident on his face.
Before he could even speak Ritsuka raised his hand.
"I Ritsuka Fujimaru, with this command seal, order you henceforth to not attack, hurt, maim or kill any of my servants or the staff of Chaldea, Nagayoshi Mori."
Like weight just fell on him, he felt the command seal take effect, but that wasn't the worst part, the worst part was when Ritsuka met his eyes they were filled with hurt and fury. If looks could kill he'd be dead because Ritsuka's eyes were filled with venoment hate.
Ritsuka stormed out right after, not even waiting to be dismissed or acknowledge Mori.
Slowly Chaldea began to resummon the servants Mori killed, power them up, and reintroduce them to the group.
Ritsuka refused to even look at him for awhile, he left any room Mori was in, avoided him like the plague, didn't take him on missions, the guilt of betraying his lord began to eat Mori alive.
Then one day, seemingly out of nowhere, there was a knock on his door and Ritsuka stood there holding something behind his back, he looked bashful and nervous.
"Can I come in?"
Ritsuka had gotten him the highest quality tea in Japan, and they shared cup after cup with each other, catching up on what had happened in the time between.
"I missed you." admitted Ritsuka, head laying on Mori's lap.
"I missed you too." He whispered.
"I got to say, I was kinda flattered."
Mori frowned in confusion.
"You killing all those servants for me? That's got to be the nicest thing someone's ever done for me… in a fucked up way." He smiled sweetly, despite the grim topic.
Mori gauwaffed. "Ritsu, you need better friends if your bar is that low."
Ritsuka chuckled and shifted so he was staring up at him. "Probably."
And he was looking at him with hooded eyes, a quiet affection filled him.
That was a down moment in their relationship, certainly, but they had sweet moments too.
"Maaaaaaster."
Ritsuka glanced up from his book. "Yeah?"
"Why am I always on the backline? I'm always your last servant to summon. I haven't fought in months." He pouted at him, knowing Ritsuka has a weakness for it.
"Hmm." Ritsuka rubbed his chin. "Do you know what a 'trump card' is?"
Mori shrugged. "I know what it means but I don't know what it is."
Ritsuka got up and grabbed a deck of cards from his shelf and sat back down on the floor. He began to shuffle quickly.
"You say you're bad at strategy, but really, strategy is just thinking logically." He starts looking through the cards and setting them down, three by three to his left and then to his right six cards in a row, all face down. "I want you to understand, it's important to me, ok? So try to keep up."
Mori nodded dutifully.
He started shuffling again. "Ok, in hearts and euchre and a bunch of other games, trump is randomly assigned to a suit, four suits right?"
Mori nodded again, eyes fixed on the two sections of face down cards.
"Let's just say diamonds are trump, it beats all other suits and beats its own suit based on the higher the card, from lowest to highest, two to ten, then jack, queen, King then ace."
Mori frowned but nodded.
"Ok, now, when we face enemies, who is the first to fight generally?"
"The weakest guys." Mori responded.
"Exactly," Ritsuka flipped the bottom three cards to his left, two, three and five of clubs. "And next?"
"Slightly stronger enemies."
Ritsuka flipped the middle three, a seven and ten of clubs and nine of spades. "You got it. Now who ends it?"
"Two strong guys and then one really strong guy." Mori said confidently.
"Got it in one." He flipped the third row to reveal a jack and king of clubs and an ace of spades. He moved to hover a finger over the row of six cards. "Now… what do I usually start with."
"You? You… start with your strongest servants that have the highest advantage and lowest disadvantages based on scouting reports." He replied simply. "Oh and you make sure to have at least one different class in your starting line, in case the scouts were wrong."
"Strongest except for you." Ritsuka corrected, flipping the first three cards to show a nine and Jack of hearts and a seven of diamonds. "But you're right." He tapped the seven. "See, this one is weaker, but because it's trump it still beats the other cards."
Mori nodded stoically.
"Ok, now, what about the two sub-ins before you?"
"They're weaker servants of the class you already played." He said.
"Yup," Ritsuka flipped a five and six of hearts. "And, who do I always put here, at the very end, a last resort?" He tapped the sixth card.
"Me! That's why I haven't fought in forever."
Ritsuka smiled sympathetically, "true, but there's a strategic reason for this." He picked up the card and twisted his fingers to reveal the ace of diamonds. "This is my trump card, it's the strongest card I own, and effective against all classes. If I'm ever losing really badly, if I'm on my last legs, I know I'm never backed into a corner, because I have an ace up my sleeve that will obliterate anyone it comes in contact with."
Mori gaped in surprise, heat rushing to his cheek.
"So you see? The reason I don't want you up front is because you're wasted on cannon fodder, you're too strong and too important to be the opening act, I need you waiting in the wings, to come in at just the right moment." He grinned "get it?"
"Wow master, you're… really amazing."
Ritsuka shrugged blushing. "I'm sorry I didn't explain earlier, you're really important, but I didn't think how it would probably be frustrating to be held back like that."
Mori shakes his head in wonder.
Master was smart.
He was amazing, he had an eye for strategy and he wasn't afraid to manipulate people to get what he wanted.
And Mori would forever be grateful for having such an intelligent master to look after him.