In the end, thanks to Texas's already-exhausted efforts, the evil Bread person and the Fluorescent Lamp person's scheme was crushed, and Emiya Mama safely got through another day.
After that, the group headed out with breakfast and lunch bento in hand, leaving only Shirou alone in the dorm.
"Hmm… one hundred thousand, huh?"
Sitting at the table, Shirou stared at the six-digit number displayed on his phone screen, deep in thought.
This money truly belonged to him and he could spend it however he wanted, without worrying about anything else.
On top of that, he did not need to worry about living expenses. After all, meals were covered by the boss, daily necessities would last for a while, and there was not anything he particularly wanted to buy recently.
"Considering the future, I should save some money…"
Shirou carefully planned how to use the money. Thanks to Fujimura-sensei consciously managing his finances before, he had developed a proper sense of money.
So he decided to save most of it for emergencies. Aside from being a safety fund, it would also serve as his savings—if he wanted to buy something later, he could just draw from it.
As for the remaining portion, Shirou already had plans for it.
Ever since he learned about the difficult situation of infected children in the slums, he had been thinking about whether there was a way to help them.
From the information he got from Jaye, he understood that most infected children struggled to survive in the slums, much like Rope.
But unlike Rope who at least had intelligence-gathering skills and her grappling techniques, most infected children found it extremely hard to survive in such an environment.
After all, very few people were willing to hire an infected child.
So what he needed to do was simple: use this money to help them.
However, he could only help children. At that age, there were many jobs they simply could not do, not even basic manual labor.
"Hmm… this feels a bit too crude."
Shirou felt his plan was overly simplistic and was hardly even a plan, it was just a collection of naïve ideas thrown together.
Rent a relatively safe place in the slums, then take in some children.
That was his most basic concept, but there were many problems to solve.
The biggest issue right now was… he had no connections.
He was not familiar with the slums. He only knew it was a chaotic place that was full of gangs but that was not the main problem.
As long as something could be solved with force, it was not really a problem. The slums were a gray area of Lungmen; as long as one acted within certain limits, it would not cause trouble.
"Hmm… I should ask Jaye. He probably knows the slums well."
After thinking for a long time without reaching a conclusion, Shirou decided to ask someone.
Among the people he knew, Jaye was probably the only one familiar with the slums. Everything Shirou currently knew about the place came from him.
After sending a message, he got a quick reply, 'no problem, just come over to the fish stall'.
With his next step decided, Shirou prepared briefly and set off.
When visiting someone for advice, it was only natural to bring a small gift, so Shirou brought along a bento filled with rice balls.
Warm rice wrapped around pan-fried minced scale-beast meat, its taste was similar to the salmon rice balls Shirou had made before, making it a popular breakfast and lunch option among Penguin Logistics.
Incidentally, Penguin Logistics was also having rice balls for breakfast and lunch today. Unless someone had special requests, Shirou usually prepared meals in bulk for everyone to take along, doing that was simpler and more convenient.
Soon, Shirou arrived at the market. Jaye had even placed a table and chair in a relatively clean spot at his stall, since Shirou was one of the few people he got along with.
Even without Hoshiguma asking him to keep an eye on Shirou, Jaye would still treat him well, after all, in Lungmen it was rare to meet someone who could calmly talk to him from their very first meeting.
"Sorry to bother you at this time."
Looking at Jaye standing at the stall, Shirou felt a bit apologetic. But there was no helping it, Jaye had his fish ball stall at night so if they wanted to talk properly, it would have to be late at night which would not be good for him either.
"It is fine. The peak hours have already passed and there are not many customers at this time anyway."
Jaye did not mind. When there were no customers, he had nothing to do anyway. Still, he was curious that Shirou actually had questions to ask him, after all he was not exactly well-educated.
"So, what is it you wanted to ask?"
After washing his hands, Jaye sat down across from Shirou and went straight to the point, remembering that Shirou had mentioned having questions.
"Mm… it is nothing much,I just wanted to ask about the slums…"
Seeing Jaye get straight to business, Shirou took out his phone and notebook and explained his ideas.
After listening, Jaye roughly understood what Shirou wanted to do.
As expected of someone noticed by Officer Hoshiguma and Officer Swire, he was actually willing to do something so thankless.
There were actually quite a few people like Shirou, but most of them ended up being targeted and harassed by gangs. Eventually, they could not take the pressure and gave up.
If Shirou wanted to do this too…
"This is the kind of thing that will definitely lose money and get you targeted. Are you sure you want to do it?"
Jaye bluntly laid out the potential consequences.
To be honest, while he thought Shirou's idea was admirable, he did not think someone like him was suited for the slums, the waters there ran too deep.
It might be better for Shirou to hone himself and join the Guard Department or some other place instead.
"Yeah."
Without hesitation, Shirou nodded.
From the start, he never intended to gain anything from others, he simply felt that this was something he ought to do.
Even his interest in learning about Oripathy was just preparation for helping the infected someday.
But that was for the future. For now, his focus remained on Penguin Logistics. As for helping in the slums… it was, in the end, just self-satisfaction.
"I see. I Understood."
Seeing Shirou's firm resolve, Jaye did not try to persuade him further. At most, he would inform Hoshiguma later and ask her to keep an eye on him.
After all, he was someone she had told him to watch.
"The housing part is easy to solve. But do you have anyone to help you?"
After some thought, Jaye figured housing was not an issue. He had heard of places before. But based on Shirou's idea, it sounded like he planned to do everything alone.
And if he remembered correctly, Shirou also worked as a housekeeper. Even if the workload was not heavy, Jaye was worried he might overwork himself to death.
That would be bad, he needed to help him figure something out.
"Help? I did not really think about that and it might cost more money"
Shirou had not considered that. Hiring someone meant extra expenses and he would rather spend the money on food or inhibitor drugs.
"I thought so… I can recommend someone. You do not need to worry about money, just provide three meals a day and a place to sleep."
Hearing his answer, Jaye was not surprised, it was a good thing that he asked.
Finding people in the slums was not hard, offering food and shelter alone would attract many. But factoring in character and trustworthiness narrowed the pool considerably.
"Hm? Really?"
Naturally, Shirou welcomed the idea of help.
Having someone assist him would be great, sometimes he might have to go on long missions and would not always be around.
"You know her too. I will call her over."
With that, Jaye made a call.
"Little Rope? Are you free right now?"
"Hmm? You are not free? What a pity. I actually have a pretty good job here, it has food and lodging included. If you are not interested, then forget it, I will find someone else."
"Hm? you are coming right away? That is a great hurry up then."
Since the call was not on speaker, Shirou could only hear Jaye's lazy voice. But from the conversation, it sounded like the person he contacted was Rope, the girl whose grappling hook he had broken a couple of days ago.
That was actually quite fitting. After all, it was because of Rope that he had started thinking about doing something in the slums. And Rope herself was one of the people he wanted to help. He remembered Jaye mentioning that her illness was quite serious.
"Alright, she will be here soon."
Putting down his phone, Jaye said to Shirou.
"Yeah, good thing I came to you. If I had to figure everything out myself, who knows how long it would have taken."
Shirou could not help but sigh. Without Jaye, he would have had to slowly explore the slums on his own, and only after struggling for a while would he realize he needed help.
Now, with Jaye's assistance, things were completely different, he had already solved many problems for him. What a kind person.
"It is nothing. I am free anyway."
Although it was a bit troublesome, Jaye would not refuse helping with something like this. After all, it was not a bad thing.
"Thanks. Oh right, I brought some food, it is rice balls made with seafood from your stall."
Since they had been chatting for quite a while and it was close to noon, Shirou took out the lunchbox and opened it.
"Oh? You even brought food, you are truly worthy of being a housekeeper."
Looking at the neatly arranged rice balls, Jaye could tell at a glance that Shirou's cooking skills were excellent.
He himself often experimented with cooking so he could roughly judge just by appearance.
Rice balls were the kind of thing that would end up misshapen if not done properly, but Shirou's were uniform and tidy. Of course, the real test was the taste.
"That does not really have anything to do with being a housekeeper does it? Go ahead and take one while there are no customers."
Shirou did not expect something he casually mentioned long ago to be remembered and teased about, but he did not mind. He urged Jaye to eat before things got busy again.
After all, even while they were talking earlier, quite a few customers had come by. With noon approaching, another wave was coming.
"Then I will not hold back."
Jaye wiped his hands and picked up a rice ball. Though it had cooled a bit, the fragrance of the rice remained, along with a faint aroma of pan-fried scale-beast meat.
Shirou also took one and started eating, he had not had breakfast, and this portion was just right for his brunch.
"Mmm… not bad. If you opened a shop, you might even make it onto Lungmen's Top 100 local food rankings."
Jaye said after taking a big bite. The rice ball was simple, it was just rice, salt, and fried minced meat but for some reason, it was very satisfying.
He was exaggerating a bit, but making something this good with such simple ingredients was not easy.
"What is that?"
Since Shirou did not really use the internet, he had no idea what that was.
"It is a pretty popular food ranking online in Lungmen."
Jaye did not think much of Shirou's confusion and he assumed Shirou just did not eat out much.
Just as the two chatted while eating, they heard hurried footsteps approaching.
Turning their heads, they saw a purple-haired Cautus girl running toward them, Rope.
"I am here!"
Rope stopped in front of the stall, looking at Jaye and then at Shirou.
When she saw Shirou, she froze for a moment, feeling that he looked familiar.
"Hi."
Shirou greeted her.
"Ah…it is the guy who broke my grappling hook!"
Rope had sharp ears, she immediately recognized his voice as the one who had broken her hook a couple of days ago.
He had originally planned to compensate her, but she had been wary of his intentions and refused. Later, after getting money from Jaye and hearing his explanation, she realized she had misunderstood him.
"Haha… yeah, that is me."
Shirou did not expect that to be the first thing she said, which made things a bit awkward.
"About last time, I am really sorry."
Rope sincerely apologized. Although the broken grappling hook had been troublesome, the money Shirou gave afterward was more than enough. After fixing it, she still had plenty left for food so she had been living quite happily these past couple of days.
"Have a seat. You remember what I told you, right?"
Jaye finished his rice ball contentedly, grabbed another one, and gave up his seat, gesturing for Rope to sit and talk with Shirou.
"Of course, food and lodging included, right? A job you recommend cannot be bad, right?"
Rope naturally remembered why she came. For her, finding a job was not easy, she did not even know how many days she would be able to "mooch" this time.
She did not doubt Jaye at all. After all, she had nothing left to be scammed off. If she could not even trust acquaintances, life would truly be impossible.