Dragging his exhausted body along, this was the first time Shirou felt that the road back to the dorm was this long.
With Yith constantly nagging in his ear it only made things feel even more tiring.
At one point, the guy even threatened to tell the others if Shirou did not behave.
What kind of childish threat was that?
It was immature but it was effective. Shirou really was a little intimidated.
Of course, agreeing verbally and actually following through were two separate matters. That was a principle he had learned from everyone at Penguin Logistics.
A journey that normally took less than half an hour ended up taking him nearly a full hour this time.
"Finally… I made it…"
Looking at the familiar door in front of him, Shirou felt genuinely moved.
"Congratulations. That one-hour journey must have been truly grueling. I cannot believe I spent an entire hour talking to myself."
Hearing that Shirou had finally reached the dorm entrance, Yith clapped slowly while speaking in a completely emotionless tone.
Only he knew what he had gone through in that hour. If it were not for the fact that someone refused to take a ride and he was worried about seeing a certain Penguin Logistics member collapsed on the roadside in tomorrow's news he would not have stayed on the call the entire time.
If Shirou had at least talked back, it would have been fine.
But the guy barely responded at all.
It was incredibly boring.
In hindsight, he should have just called a car and forced Shirou into it.
"Yeah… I guess."
Standing at the door, Shirou gathered a bit of energy to respond.
"Hurry up and get inside, then rest properly tomorrow. Otherwise, you know what will happen. Got it?"
At this point, Yith almost wanted to personally go over, tuck Shirou into bed and make sure he slept.
That way, he could finally clock out.
Ah, that cursed sense of responsibility.
"I still have to go check on the shop tomorrow."
Shirou said while searching for his keys.
"…The fact that you have not died from overwork is a miracle. Fine, then at least get proper rest tonight. Even if you want to keep working, I am not going along with it. Tomorrow night, I am taking a day off. No exceptions."
After lamenting Shirou's self-destructive work ethic, Yith compromised.
But the nighttime investigation? He was absolutely taking a break. If this day-and-night schedule continued, he would be in the ground sooner rather than later.
"Got it, got it. Even if I wanted to investigate, I would not be able to anyway."
Hearing Yith's slightly teeth-gritting tone somehow made Shirou feel a bit better.
There was no particular reason, it was just that seeing someone who had been teasing him get frustrated was oddly satisfying.
As he spoke, Shirou pushed open the door.
What greeted him was not a dark, empty living room.
Instead, the lights were on and the sound of a television playing filled the space.
Seeing the lights on, Shirou did not panic.
Hearing voices from the living room, he still did not panic.
But when he saw the halo, the horns and those Lupo ears—
he knew he was finished.
Shirou silently took a step back and tried to close the door.
"Well, well, well. If it is not Mr. Shirou, who is supposed to be resting in his room?"
A hand suddenly reached out and pressed against the door.
Then a horn peeked out.
Finally, Croissant's eyes full of "concern" came into view.
"Oh my, you are up quite early today, are you not?"
Next, a hand grabbed Shirou's arm.
Then a halo lit up his vision.
And finally, Exusiai looked at him with a "kind" smile.
Behind them stood Texas, holding a phone. On the screen was Sora, apparently in the middle of a video call.
"I—"
Faced with this situation, Shirou tried to call for outside help.
"You are home already, right? Then I am going to sleep. Good night, goodbye!"
Seeing such a dramatic scene unfold, Yith instantly perked up.
He immediately hung up, not giving Shirou any chance to ask for help and then promptly hacked into Sora's video feed, grabbed some popcorn and settled in to watch what came next.
"…"
Hearing the beeping from the disconnected earpiece, Shirou knew there was no escape.
He, Emiya Shirou…. Was a magus or at least a magecraft user…the housekeeper of Penguin Logistics, the founder of the Fuyuki Shop that helped homeless Infected children and someone who had just faced his inner fears and rushed into a burning building to save lives—
There were only four people.
Was he really afraid of that!?
"We need to have a proper talk." Texas said expressionlessly.
Alright… maybe he was a little afraid.
"Got it."
At this point, Shirou gave up resisting.
Not to mention whether his nearly falling-apart body could even manage to run away, if he still wanted to keep sleeping in this dorm in the future, then this time he could only go along with them.
Held up on both sides by Croissant and Exusiai like guardian deities, Shirou was carried all the way to the sofa.
Or rather, dragged to the sofa.
He was already slightly taller than the others to begin with and after a few months he had grown a bit more so just now he was basically being dragged along the floor.
Shirou sat alone on the small sofa, while on the opposite larger sofa sat Texas, Exusiai and Croissant. The three of them all had extremely "kind" looks in their eyes.
The phone on the table was still in a video call and Sora's expression was just as "gentle."
It was almost like some kind of strange tacit understanding between them. Even though they could not see each other, they somehow ended up with almost identical expressions and postures.
"What are you spacing out for? Say something!"
After a moment of stalemate, Croissant could not help but speak first.
"…?"
Shirou looked confused.
Since he came in, there had basically been no real conversation.
What exactly was he supposed to say?
"I am very sorry, I will double the meals, desserts and drinks for the next few days?"
At this point, Shirou's brain was basically mush. He did not have the extra capacity to think through the situation.
"…Sigh. I will go make some coffee. Do you guys want any?"
Seeing Shirou like this, Texas understood that he was already completely exhausted, the kind where even his brain had shut down.
To be honest, this was not that serious of an issue. It was just that Shirou had been going out at night.
Feeling restless and wanting to go out for a walk at night was understandable.
The problem was that they had been woken up earlier by a sudden explosion. When they checked the news, they saw a somewhat familiar figure jumping down from a tall building.
The coat that had wrapped around two hostages had also turned into blue particles and dissipated shortly after.
And at that exact time, Shirou was not in the dorm.
All the evidence pointed to one thing, Shirou had gone out at night and done something extremely dangerous.
"Yes. Sora, what about you?"
Realizing that Texas was giving Shirou some time to recover, Exusiai tapped the phone on the table and asked.
"Send it over first!"
Sora replied in a resentful tone.
"Hehe, I will bring it over in a couple of days. There just happens to be a holiday."
Exusiai said with a grin.
"Count me in. I want to check out places where I can set up a stall."
Croissant tried to join the conversation. She wanted to scout suitable locations in advance.
And also plan an escape route.
"I am not going to help you talk to the Guard Department this time."
Sora reminded her.
"It is fine, it is fine. You just have to believe I can run fast enough!"
Croissant patted her chest confidently.
"Coffee."
While Shirou quietly listened to their conversation, Texas returned carrying a tray with several cups of coffee.
They were coffee balls, each containing concentrated coffee. Add hot water for black coffee or milk for café au lait.
Shirou had brought them before.
He paused for a moment and looked at the cup in front of him.
Steam was rising from it, it had clearly been made with hot water.
Meanwhile, Texas's cup had no steam and was a lighter color, obviously mixed with cold milk.
If he remembered correctly… this was very bitter.
Was this revenge?
Thinking that, Shirou picked up the cup and took a big sip.
The bitterness hit instantly, jolting him awake.
"Now that you have had your coffee, Mr. Shirou, please confess honestly."
Seeing Shirou make a pained expression after drinking it, Croissant immediately pressed him without giving him a chance to breathe.
It was not that Shirou hiding things from them made them uncomfortable.
Rather, they needed to confirm whether his "abnormal" behavior over the past month was all because of this.
Even though Shirou always said he was fine, they could still tell that he occasionally showed signs of fatigue.
"It is not as serious as what just happened, though."
"Mm… actually, it is not anything too serious…"
Shirou gave a simple explanation of why he had been going out at night.
From learning about the missing Infected cases, to deciding to investigate, to being discovered by the boss and teaming up with Yith—
He skipped over many details and explained it in the simplest way possible so they could understand why he had been going out at night.
"A missing persons case in the slums again… I did not notice that."
After hearing Shirou's explanation, Exusiai thought for a moment and realized she had not heard any news about it at all.
Even though she frequently delivered goods to the slums.
"That is normal. Unless you specifically look into this kind of information, you usually would not come across it."
Croissant, who besides setting up stalls also sold bits of information had naturally heard about it. But after reporting it to the boss, she stopped paying attention.
Mainly because she could not gather any further information afterward.
"So that is why you have been going out at night? Just to help people?"
Seeing Shirou like this, Texas guessed that there were still things he had not fully explained.
But since they already understood why he had been going out at night, there was no need to dig further.
It was just that this motive…
"Yeah."
Seeing that everyone seemed to have accepted his explanation, Shirou nodded.
"…Shirou, you always seem to be doing very dangerous things, do you not? Like rushing into a fire to save people before."
On the screen, Sora recalled that Shirou had done something similar before and he had even sacrificed his own coat, burning a hole straight through it.
Wanting to help others was a good thing.
But getting himself hurt in the process was not.
And… Sora felt that if this kept up, one day he would…
Hmm? What would happen?
After thinking for a bit, she realized she could not quite put her finger on it.
Maybe it was just because it was late at night and her brain was not working properly.
"…Now I kind of get why Chief Swire wanted to recruit you. Shirou, do not let the other two find out! Otherwise we will not be able to protect you!"
Hearing that Shirou had this kind of track record, Exusiai suddenly understood why Swire wanted to bring him in.
It was not to mess with them.
Nor for the food.
It was because Shirou perfectly matched the image people had of the Guard Department.
"The other two?"
Shirou looked confused.
"She means Chen and Officer Hoshiguma."
Croissant added.
"Oh, them!"
After hearing that, Shirou thought for a moment.
Out of the three, he was just not that familiar with Chen, right?
Wait… she had even come to his shop recently.
Which meant he actually knew all three of them?
…Better not mention that.
Shirou had a feeling that if he said it out loud, going out in the future might become very difficult.
Meanwhile, Yith who knew everything was already looking forward to that scenario.
He was not worried about Shirou being recruited away anyway. Shirou was pretty stubborn.
At most, he would just help the Guard Department with odd jobs.
"Do not overthink it. Just report before you go out at night next time. Post it in the group chat."
Texas did not care that much about it. If Shirou ever found a better path, she would sincerely wish him well.
But if possible, it would be better if he did not leave.
She had grown quite used to this life of waking up to meals in the morning and coming back from work to food in the afternoon.
It felt different from being taken care of back in her family.
The key difference was that there were other people here too.
At the very least, if she slacked off, there were others at the same level.
"Alright."
That was not a problem. Shirou had no reason to refuse.
He knew he was in the wrong so as long as the requests were reasonable, he was willing to agree.
After all, everyone was just concerned about his health.
More importantly… he was really sleepy right now.
Even if Exusiai asked him to go make an apple pie at this moment, he would probably agree.
"So… that is it?"
Seeing how cooperative Shirou was, Croissant asked.
She had thought she might get the chance to squeeze something out of him.
Like tickling him or stuffing chili sauce into his mouth.
"We have asked everything we needed. It is about time, right?"
Exusiai checked the time; it was almost 3 AM.
If they did not sleep soon they would be driving while fatigued tomorrow, which would be bad for their health and skin.
"I am almost done too. I have two more hours to catch up on sleep, but we have to get up around 5 AM for rehearsal."
Sora's already short sleep time became even shorter, she could only pray she could handle the heavy rehearsal workload tomorrow.
"..."
While the four were discussing whether they should pack up and go to sleep, Shirou's eyelids had completely closed.
"Shh."
Noticing the movement from Shirou, Texas quickly gestured for the others to be quiet.
"Sleeping so suddenly?"
Looking at Shirou lying on his side, leaning against the sofa asleep, Croissant asked softly.
"He is probably really exhausted."
Thinking about the news reports about Shirou's achievements, Exusiai said.
"What do we do now? Do we let him continue sleeping here?"
"...Let's move him to this sofa first. Sora, I am hanging up the video call. Goodnight."
Texas thought for a moment and felt it was not appropriate to just leave Shirou here, so she, Exusiai and Croissant moved him to the sofa.
They did not move him into the room, mainly because it was still a distance and she was afraid of waking him.
The Penguin Logistics sofa was large, they often slept on it before so it was not a problem.