"Why is Officer Chen here?!"
In front of his computer, Yith was roaring internally.
The stance with the weapon and with the horns on the hood there was no way he could fail to recognize who it was.
The problem was, why was Chen here?
His mind raced as he continued guiding Shirou's escape route.
Very quickly, Yith reached a conclusion.
Chen was also here to investigate the recent case of missing Infected! and those two people earlier were very likely her informants!
Shirou's luck really had hit rock bottom.
"This is bad! Can you not just explain the situation and let it go?"
Shirou was fleeing. Even with magecraft enhancing him, the other party was clearly more familiar with the terrain so the distance between them was not increasing.
"With others, maybe. But with you, probably not. You arrived in Lungmen at the same time as the disappearances began. She is likely here for that as well."
Yith said helplessly. If it were someone else, Shirou might have had a chance to explain things and with Penguin Logistics backing him, he could probably leave.
But if Officer Chen caught Shirou…
It would go through official procedures. And once that happened, his identity issues would definitely be exposed, bringing everything back to square one.
"…What a coincidence."
Shirou had no choice now. His identity really was a problem.
Although Penguin Logistics had arranged identification for him in Lungmen, any serious investigation would reveal flaws.
And as Yith said, since Chen was here to investigate the case and his arrival coincided perfectly—
If not him, then who would she suspect?
Who would believe a story about coming from another world?
Thinking of this, Shirou sped up even more.
Now that he knew her identity, he had no intention of fighting her. Getting injured would only make things worse.
He, Emiya Shirou, might be sharp-tongued and a bit scheming but in situations like this,he was absolutely not careless.
If the opponent were a villain, that would be different. But she was investigating a case.
He simply could not bring himself to fight her.
"Just do not get caught. She is not someone easy to deal with."
Hearing the worry in Shirou's tone, Yith could only offer that reminder.
"I got it."
Shirou no longer had the mind to continue chatting.
He was constantly analyzing where to run next. The buildings in this area were relatively low.
That made movement easy but also made it harder to shake someone off.
He did not dare jump down blindly either. If he ended up cornered in a dead end, that would truly be the end.
Even if he had done nothing wrong, avoiding unnecessary trouble was still the best option.
"This guy… he is quite fast!"
The hooded figure Chen, continued the pursuit from the streets watching the red figure dart across rooftops.
If not for someone helping her track his escape route and her own familiarity with the slums, she might have already lost him.
But now… there was no chance.
She was not oblivious either. From his movements and the sword in his hand, just looking at it gave her a sense of pressure and she could tell he was no ordinary person.
Yet instead of fighting, he chose to flee immediately.
Was he trying to meet up with allies? Or luring her into a trap?
Chen did not know his intentions but she was certain that catching him would yield valuable information.
After all, who would wander around in a hood and tail others for no reason?
As she thought this, Chen felt her nose itch slightly.
That barbecued pork-loving cat must be thinking about her again. She would deal with them properly when she got back.
"Yith, do you have a plan?"
Shirou could already see taller buildings in the distance.
He could reach them but doing so would likely damage nearby houses.
Concerned about causing damage, he had refrained from using too much power.
"I am going to interfere with the person guiding her. Shake her off while you can!"
Yith said as he controlled a drone to interfere with another one tracking Shirou.
"Got it."
Following the instruction, Shirou threw the Durandal toward Chen.
It was not meant to attack, it was just a feint to create an opening to escape.
Most of the mana had already been withdrawn; it would dissipate before even hitting the ground.
"Hmph! Is that all you have?"
Seeing the sword flying straight at her, Chen swung her own blade to knock it away.
He must be out of options, resorting to throwing his weapon to stall.
But the moment her sword struck—
Something felt wrong.
The blade dissolved into blue particles of light!
"What?!"
She immediately held her breath, suspecting it might be some kind of Originium technique.
She had fallen for it!
A few seconds passed yet nothing happened.
Her body felt normal. Aside from being slightly out of breath from the chase, there were no abnormalities.
Looking up, the red figure had already disappeared. The voice in her earpiece confirmed that interference had caused them to lose track of the target.
"Damn it! I was played!"
Realizing he had completely escaped, Chen slammed her fist against the ground.
She had been careless. Instead of subduing him immediately, she had tried to break his disguise.
In the end, she had not even touched the edge of his clothing.
He had not even intended to fight…he just ran!
What a waste. This was the first suspicious person she had encountered since starting the investigation.
But even though he escaped… there were still ways to track him.
A red coat, a black mask, black pants and shoes…
Especially that red coat, it looked quite distinctive. At the very least she had never seen that style in any of Lungmen's clothing stores.
And then there was… his gaze. It felt somewhat familiar.
As if she had seen it somewhere before.
Standing up, Chen sheathed her sword.
The person had already escaped so staying here was pointless. The priority now was to check her body and see whether those blue particles had affected her.
Even if she felt nothing now, the effect might kick in later.
"Lungmen profanity Next time I catch you, I will draw my blade on you."
While making that threat, Chen took out her phone and contacted a familiar doctor.
"That person seems quite angry."
On the other side, Shirou who had successfully escaped Chen's sight using the Durandal as a decoy was now hiding on a nearby tall building, watching the person who had just been chasing him.
It was understandable. Being toyed with like that would leave anyone annoyed.
Beside him, the grappling hook hooked onto the wall dissolved into blue magical particles.
When Chen's attention had been focused on the thrown sword, Shirou had leapt off the building, sprinted to the next corner, then projected a grappling hook and used it to vault up to a high building.
Thanks to Rope constantly playing around with grappling hooks, Shirou had learned enough to use one himself.
Although, pulling off that kind of maneuver to reach such a height was probably beyond even Rope.
That was where reinforcement magecraft came in.
"She is very angry. I suggest you change your outfit again later. Her combat skills are extremely strong and there are very few people in Lungmen who can fight her head-on."
Now that the danger had passed, Yith finally relaxed and began teasing him.
At the same time, he manipulated the surveillance feeds to erase traces related to Shirou and also destroyed the box he had given him earlier.
The box had Penguin Logistics' logo and Shirou's fingerprints on it and those absolutely had to be eliminated.
"It feels like the boss said something similar to me before. If there is a 'surface,' then there is a 'hidden side.' What exactly is on that hidden side? Is it related to these disappearances?"
While watching Chen leave, Shirou asked.
If he remembered correctly, the boss had said something like that during a previous gathering, specifically emphasizing that he was strong even on the "surface" of Lungmen.
That word alone implied a lot.
Where there is light, there is shadow. And both the boss and Yith often emphasized the "surface."
So what exactly was the "hidden side"? Shirou was curious.
"The hidden side… refers to certain forces that operate in secrecy of Lungman. It is not something I can explain in detail but one thing is certain, they will not act against Lungmen."
Yith revealed a little, mainly to reassure Shirou and keep him from focusing too much on it.
Even though Shirou's combat ability was likely sufficient to handle such forces, there was no need to provoke them.
"Lungmen really is complicated. The way you all talk is complicated too."
Shirou complained. All that talk about surface and hidden sides had made him overthink things.
And in the end, it just meant hidden forces?
That, he was familiar with. The Holy Grail War also operated in the shadows.
When something went wrong, they would just blame it on a gas explosion.
"There is no helping it. If we speak too plainly, it is easy to get into trouble, especially for people like us who know a lot."
Facing Shirou's complaint Yith shrugged helplessly.
People who know a lot do not just say everything openly.
Doing so might unintentionally leak critical information.
Especially for those working in intelligence.
"So that is why you speak in riddles?"
After glancing around, Shirou changed his red coat into a black one and then jumped down from a four-story building.
He landed steadily this time without dropping into a crouch.
At the same time, he criticized Yith for always speaking cryptically. It was fine when outsiders did it but now they were on the same side. Would it not be better to speak more clearly?
"How can you call it riddles? It is called the art of speaking. A sign of culture."
Yith teased him while continuing to monitor the surroundings for danger.
After the earlier commotion, he did not think there would be any useful clues nearby.
Going deeper would take more time and the boss had specifically told him to keep an eye on the time to prevent Shirou from sacrificing his sleep.
He was certain that if no one watched him, Shirou would push himself too far.
That was his conclusion after observing him these past few days.
Even though the boss thought Shirou was foolish, Yith himself did not dislike that trait.
It was idealistic, after all. Much better than a certain croissant obsessed with getting rich.
"Yeah, yeah. You are cultured, you are amazing."
Ignoring the teasing, Shirou looked deeper into the slums.
Today's gains were basically zero and he had even attracted trouble. It could be said his luck was terrible.
So he wanted to go deeper and investigate further.
"Time to head back. Do not ruin your health and make Texas and the others take care of you instead."
Watching Shirou, Yith could not help but admire the boss's judgment.
"There is still time…"
Shirou checked the time. It was only one in the morning. There was still a while before dawn.
He wanted to use that time to gather more information.
Even if he went without sleep for several days, he could endure it.
If he solved this sooner, fewer people would be harmed.
And the cost was only his sleep, it was worth it.
"You are going back at one-thirty, no matter what. Damaging your health is not worth it. What if those people do not even show up these days? This is not how intelligence work is done!"
Feeling that was not enough, Yith added:
"And think about it, if you collapse from lack of sleep and something happens at your shelter, you will not make it in time."
"Besides, no one at Penguin Logistics can take care of you. Sora is busy lately. Out of the remaining three, only Texas might manage and you do not want them worrying about you, do you?"
Although Yith's wording was a bit odd, Shirou could tell he was concerned about his health.
"I understand. Whether I find anything or not, I will head back at one-thirty."
If he were alone, he might act recklessly.
But not anymore.
He was not alone now. He could not keep pushing himself endlessly.
And he could not quite imagine the others taking care of him.
Pocky being used as a thermometer, random "healing gadgets" recommended by Croissant on the table and Exusiai turning visiting apples into apple pie for him…
It might not actually happen exactly like that.
But it was not impossible either.
And just thinking about it was a little terrifying.