"Texas, Texas? Texas!"
It took Sora calling her three times while massaging her hands before Texas finally snapped out of it.
"Hm? What is it?"
Texas looked at Sora, who was waving her hand in front of her face.
She had spaced out for a moment, sparring with Shirou had reminded her of some things from the past.
"Wipe your sweat."
Seeing Texas like this, Sora thought she might need to tone down their sparring sessions next time. Texas looked like she had been completely knocked silly today.
She handed over a damp towel. Normally she would have wiped Texas down herself, but with Shirou…a man present, both of them tried to avoid causing any awkwardness.
"Thanks."
Texas took the towel and pressed it against her face first.
The muggy weather, combined with the heat from exercising was quickly drawn away by the damp towel, bringing a refreshing coolness.
But it only lasted for a moment.
Once the towel lost its chill, Texas used it to wipe her face and her neck and shoulders.
Because of the weather, everyone in Penguin Logistics was dressed in athletic tank tops and shorts. Since Texas had to spar, she had tied her long hair into a ponytail.
While sparring with Shirou, Texas had noticed his gaze occasionally drifting but when it mattered, he was completely focused.
She did not plan to change anything anyway. It was not like she would lose a piece of flesh and dressing like this was simply more convenient.
Besides, his character spoke for itself, was he not practically facing away from them now while drinking water and resting?
"Phew…"
After chasing Exusiai around for quite a while, Shirou finally just tapped her on the head with his hand and let her off.
Then he went to sit somewhere a bit farther from the Penguin Logistics group, took a sip of water and checked his phone for messages.
His social circle was small, and most of the people he knew were busy.
As for Penguin Logistics, they saw each other every day so there was rarely any need to communicate via messages.
The ones he mainly checked were from Rope, Phal, and Jaye.
"Lunch handled, shop is fine… ran into trouble repairing an appliance?"
Looking at the routine updates in their four-person group chat, Shirou frowned slightly at the latest message.
Ever since he had taught them some repair skills, Phal had intentionally found small appliance repair jobs for the kids, both to let them practice and to help them earn some money.
Most of the work came from the slums and involved simple appliances.
Looking at the photo of a fan, Shirou could not immediately tell what was wrong, but the customer seemed to urgently need it fixed today.
Considering how hot Lungmen had been lately, he could understand their urgency.
Checking the time, Shirou decided to head over, it was on the way anyway.
"I am heading out. I might be back late today."
Shirou stood up, packed his bag, and spoke to everyone.
"Alright, stay safe on the way!"
Exusiai waved.
"Hey… do you not think Shirou has been a bit strange lately?"
Watching his hurried figure leave, Exusiai turned to her teammates and asked.
She felt like he was hiding something from them.
Recently, Shirou had been acting a little off.
"Is that not just your imagination? Has he not always been like this?"
Croissant dismissed her concern. From her perspective, Shirou seemed perfectly normal.
"Hmm… I guess you are right."
After thinking it over, Exusiai felt she might be overthinking.
"Maybe he has made some friends?"
Sora offered her guess. She had noticed that Shirou seemed busier lately. Sometimes even when he finished work early, he would not be around.
They only really saw him in the mornings before heading out or in the afternoon when he came back with ingredients.
"Eh… friends?"
The Penguin Logistics team exchanged looks.
Because of their busy work, they rarely interacted with people outside their group and Shirou.
At most, people like Croissant and Sora who had side jobs might meet more people.
They did have acquaintances but they were not particularly close.
Their social circle was quite small.
"It should not be a bad thing. Shirou has plenty of free time."
Texas said.
In her view, it was good for Shirou to interact with others more.
Wolves need a pack and humans need one too.
Moreover, Shirou's past was fragmented, so interacting more with other people would also be helpful for him.
"…Hmm, I hope so."
Since her teammates all said so, Exusiai did not dwell on it any further.
Still, she kept it in mind, planning to pay more attention to Shirou's situation later.
While Penguin Logistics chatted and tidied up, preparing to head back to the dorms, Shirou was already riding his bicycle toward the Fuyuki Shop.
He had originally planned to go shopping after training, so he had brought his bike along.
Before long, he arrived at the shop. After parking his bike, he walked inside.
"Welcome—oh, big brother, is it you?"
As he pushed the door open, Shirou saw several kids busy cleaning the shop with brooms.
The kids themselves had decided on the title "big brother." Calling him "uncle" did not feel right after all Shirou looked… too young.
Shirou did not mind the title. After all, he was not that much older than Rope, who was called "big sister," and even Hoshiguma who dropped by occasionally was called "big sister" too.
The only ones suffering were Phal and Jaye, who ended up being called "uncle."
"Where is Rope?"
Looking around, Shirou did not see her.
"She is upstairs helping out."
The kids pointed upstairs.
"Alright, I will head up first. Once you are done cleaning, take a break."
Shirou nodded and headed toward the second floor.
As soon as he went upstairs, he saw several kids gathered around a fan, busy working on it.
"You are here?"
Phal, chewing on a lollipop, glanced over when she heard footsteps and saw Shirou.
"Yeah, let me take a look."
Shirou nodded and walked straight over to the fan.
He had already told them he was coming so neither Rope nor Phal were surprised.
After inspecting the fan with magecraft, Shirou quickly figured out the problem.
"I will handle it. You guys go do your thing."
Grabbing some tools, Shirou got to work.
"I will go get some water."
Knowing she could not help much with this, Rope pulled the curious kids downstairs with her.
That left only Shirou busy repairing the fan and a few kids responsible for appliance repairs on the second floor.
Now that he knew the issue, Shirou skillfully disassembled the fan, replaced the faulty part, and slowly reassembled it.
After applying some oil to a few points, he reattached the cleaned fan blades.
"Turn on."
It had not even been half an hour since Shirou arrived before the fan was successfully repaired.
Looking at the slightly worn fan in front of him, Shirou confirmed it was running properly before switching it off.
"As expected of you, Shirou, we spent the whole afternoon and still could not find the problem!"
Seeing he was done, Rope handed him a bottle of water.
"It was just a small component failure. It is normal to not find it."
Shirou carefully accepted the water, his hands were still a bit dirty from the repair.
Even if Rope did not mind, that did not mean he did not.
It would not be good to get others dirty.
"That is great, now the old lady will have a fan to use tonight."
Phal said from the side.
"Is it someone you know?"
Now that he was done, Shirou casually asked, mostly just making conversation.
"Yeah, an old neighbor. Every summer, her fan would make this loud noise, and these past couple of days it just stopped working altogether."
At that point, Phal genuinely admired Shirou, not only had he made a dead fan run again, he had also fixed the loud noise issue.
"This fan has probably been used for a long time, making loud noises is normal. Honestly, repairing it costs about as much as buying a new one."
Shirou pointed at the worn-out parts he had replaced on the floor.
"Yeah, I told her to get a new one back when we were neighbors, but she stuck with it till now. Probably does not have the extra money."
Phal sighed helplessly. This kind of situation was very common in the slums.
Unless something was completely broken, people were reluctant to replace appliances and even if they had issues they would just endure and keep using them.
"Alright then, since it is someone you know, I will not charge for it. As payment, just help me throw this away."
Shirou tossed the empty water bottle to Phal.
After all, he had done the repair himself, and even paid for the parts, this much, at least, he could decide.
"I will pay on her behalf."
Phal did not want to freeload, he did not want to add any burden to Shirou.
If Hoshiguma found out, he would probably get a "taste" of the good old days again.
He had no desire to get punched.
"Then just put it on the shop's account. By the way, are you taking the fan over now?"
Shirou did not refuse. He knew this amount of money was nothing to Phal.
"Yeah, it is better to take it over early. In this kind of weather, it is unbearable without a fan."
Phal took out the money and handed it to Rope.
"Wow, you are quite generous. You could have just bought a brand-new one with this, right?"
Looking at the Lungmen currency Phal handed her, Rope could not help but comment.
"Think of the rest as payment for all the meals I have mooched. I will take it over now."
With that, Phal carried the fan downstairs.
"Is he always this free?"
Rope asked. In her memory, Phal was basically always here and she had never really seen him working.
Though with him around, petty troublemakers did not dare cause problems at the shop, so overall it was not a bad thing.
The only downside was that he looked a bit intimidating and it was easy to scare off customers.
"I would not know. You head downstairs first, I will clean up here."
Seeing Rope teasing Phal again, Shirou told her to go help downstairs.
"Okay. Oh, right Shirou, do not leave just yet. Wait until Phal comes back before you go."
Rope obediently agreed, but then suddenly remembered something at the stairs and turned back to say.
"What is wrong?"
Shirou was a bit puzzled.
"I got a message from someone I know, it seems like someone has been eyeing this place. They have not made a move because Phal is here, but I am worried they might act while he is gone."
Rope explained.
Though part of it was her own wish, she wanted Shirou to stay a bit longer.
But she was not lying.
"I see. I will head down in a moment."
After hearing that, Shirou thought, so the day has finally come.
He was quite familiar with this kind of "protection fee" situation, it showed up all the time in TV dramas and movies.
The materials Jaye gave him had also mentioned this kind of thing.
After Rope's warning, Shirou felt a bit concerned. He quickly tidied up, washed his hands and went downstairs.
When he got down, he saw several kids busy in the kitchen. After greeting them, he headed toward the shop area.
"Hm? Shirou, you are down already?"
Rope was surprised to see him so soon.
"Well, I was worried about you guys."
Shirou pulled over a chair and sat down. He was still a bit tired.
He had just finished training, sparred with Texas, rode his bike here, fixed the fan and still had to go buy ingredients later to cook dinner.
"Hehe, it is not that serious. I just wanted you to stay as a precaution. Phal is usually around, so no one really dares to make trouble here."
Rope realized she might have exaggerated things and hurriedly added that.
"I see… that is good to hear."
Shirou let out a sigh of relief. Fewer problems was always better.
But now he grew curious about Phal's past, what kind of background did he have that made others not dare approach?
Could he be some legendary underworld figure in Lungmen?
"Sorry, I did not explain it clearly."
Rope clasped her hands together and apologized sincerely.
"It is fine. But next time something like this happens, let me, Phal or Jaye know. Otherwise, it could turn into trouble."
Shirou waved it off. He did not understand the slums as well as Rope did, so he did not question her judgment.
"Got it."
Rope nodded obediently, having just caused a bit of worry.
During the lull, Shirou looked around the shop.
Every time he came, if he had time, he would check the goods and inventory. When he had more time, he would even go upstairs to take a look.
After all, this place existed because of his dream, he cared deeply about it.
Seeing that the shop mostly stocked ordinary goods, Shirou felt satisfied.
Meanwhile, Rope took out a small notebook and began recording accounts.
After a month of experience and guidance from Jaye, she had started handling bookkeeping. Other tasks could be delegated, but bookkeeping could not.
Both Jaye and Phal had emphasized this to her repeatedly.
Just as Rope and Shirou were busy with their own tasks, several men in black suits appeared outside the Fuyuki Shop.
"So this is the place?"
The leader swung a metal bat over his shoulder, cracking his neck as he spoke. The others beside him also held clubs, they were clearly up to no good.