Rhodes Island, Medical Department.
The alarm from earlier had caused considerable panic among the people aboard the landship.
After all, the vast majority of people on Rhodes Island were ordinary civilians with no means of defending themselves.
Though calling them ordinary civilians was not entirely accurate either.
They were infected people receiving treatment.
Just moments ago, someone had rushed in carrying a person wearing a Rhodes Island operator jacket, only to end up getting scolded harshly by another person immediately afterward.
Watching this rather amusing scene, the panic within the medical department eased somewhat.
"Got some pretty good shots."
Nearby, Lappland, who had just finished her medical examination, casually snapped several photos with her phone.
The pictures showed Shirou being scolded while Amiya, who was more than a head shorter than him, pointed directly at his face.
It looked rather entertaining.
Still, Lappland knew the true identity of that little rabbit girl currently lecturing Shirou.
The young CEO of Rhodes Island.
That was all she really knew, though.
After all, she had never had an opportunity to interact with Amiya directly.
As for rescuing Shirou from this situation?
Forget it.
There was no danger to his life anyway, and she could still take more photos like this.
Might as well leave him there.
Meanwhile, Shirou felt somewhat miserable right now.
For some reason, Amiya's scolding carried overwhelming pressure, to the point where Shirou was genuinely beginning to wonder whether he had truly done something terribly wrong.
But he quickly realized that Amiya was using her Arts ability to pressure him.
"?"
Was that really necessary?
She was even using Originium Arts now?
Well, whatever made her happy.
Once he became aware of it and mentally prepared himself, the pressure immediately lessened considerably.
Still, being scolded while someone younger than him pointed at his face was not exactly a pleasant experience.
Though Amiya was only younger in age.
In every other aspect, she was far more mature than Shirou.
Probably.
Shirou still had some doubts about that, but children in this world definitely matured far earlier.
At Amiya's age, he himself had still been chasing unrealistic fantasies...
Meanwhile, Amiya and Rosmontis had already experienced countless hardships and had been forced into maturity.
Thinking about this made a trace of bitterness rise within Shirou's heart.
Naturally, Amiya immediately sensed that emotion.
However, she assumed her lecture had finally reached Shirou emotionally, so the pace of her scolding gradually slowed.
Fortunately, treatment on Rosmontis's side had also reached a temporary conclusion, finally allowing Shirou to escape.
"Operator Rosmontis's injuries are not particularly severe. The main reason for her unconsciousness should be excessive use of Originium Arts, which overloaded her body."
A medical operator reported Rosmontis's condition to Amiya while holding the diagnosis results.
Having escaped his miserable situation, Shirou also noticed Lappland nearby pointing her phone directly toward him.
She even waved the phone slightly, as though proudly declaring something to him.
"I need to find time later to delete those photos..."
Ignoring Lappland's mockery, Shirou rubbed his neck, which had grown stiff from lowering his head for so long.
Seeing the calm expressions on Amiya's face and the medical operators' faces, Shirou guessed Rosmontis was probably no longer in danger.
Still uneasy, he walked to her bedside before Amiya did to personally check on her condition.
Much of the bandaging covering her body had been removed, replaced instead with more carefully treated gauze and medical tape.
At least she looked much cleaner and tidier now.
"Mm..."
Suddenly, Rosmontis frowned slightly on the hospital bed and reached out her hand as though searching for something.
After thinking briefly, Shirou guessed she was probably searching for the terminal she always kept close to her.
So he picked up the terminal resting nearby and placed it into her hands.
"Your terminal is here. Be careful not to crush it."
The instant Rosmontis touched the terminal, she immediately calmed down again.
However, both of her hands tightly clutched the device.
And along with it, she also grabbed the hand Shirou was using to hold the terminal.
For a moment, he could not pull free.
If he forcefully pulled away, he was afraid of hurting Rosmontis.
But if he simply stayed like this, he worried people might misunderstand and think he was some kind of pervert.
Shirou suddenly found himself trapped in a difficult situation.
Fortunately, several medical operators nearby had witnessed the entire process from beginning to end, preventing him from earning any strange accusations.
They even thoughtfully brought over a chair for him to sit in.
"The doctors said the Arts consumption was simply too high. She should recover after sleeping for a while... What exactly is happening here?"
After confirming Rosmontis's condition, Amiya walked over and immediately saw the current situation.
"She looked like she was searching for her terminal, so I handed it to her. Then she ended up grabbing my hand along with it."
Seeing the slightly suspicious look in Amiya's eyes, Shirou hurriedly explained himself.
The medical operators who had witnessed everything also nodded in agreement, confirming that Shirou was telling the truth.
"I see. That means Rosmontis really trusts you, Shirou."
After hearing Shirou's explanation and the testimony from the nearby operators, Amiya finally relaxed.
After all, the positioning looked rather...
Easy to misunderstand.
Still, it was obvious that the terminal was underneath while Shirou's hand rested above it, both being held tightly by Rosmontis's hands.
It was honestly quite a rare sight.
Normally, Rosmontis disliked being touched when unconscious or half-conscious.
Such contact could easily cause her Originium Arts to spiral out of control.
Likewise, when Rosmontis was not fully conscious, it was best not to approach her while wearing a white coat.
Otherwise, without Nameless or Logos nearby...
The person approaching her might end up being cleanly eliminated on the spot.
Everyone in the medical department understood this from personal experience.
"So this is... actually, never mind. She really is a cat."
Originally, Shirou wanted to complain about this "cat-type girl" behavior, but after thinking about it, Rosmontis really was a feline.
A little kitten, even.
Like a cat, she remained wary of strangers, paid slight attention to familiar people, and became somewhat clingy toward those she trusted.
The only problem was that one could never truly know whether a cat liked the person themselves...
Or merely the canned food in their hands.
Still, Shirou believed Rosmontis trusted him as a person...
Probably?
Surely she did not trust him this much simply because he could cook for her, right?
Having nothing else to do, Shirou began letting his thoughts wander aimlessly.
Only when several people wearing Rhodes Island insignias on their sleeves carried injured operators in combat uniforms into the medical department did Shirou suddenly remember that the fighting outside was still ongoing.
Unfortunately, he had already been driven in here, and earlier he could not even free his hand to go help.
After resting slightly, Shirou's magical energy had recovered somewhat.
In a normal state, fighting for another ten minutes would not be a problem.
Provided he did not project another gigantic weapon.
"Amiya, do you not need to go outside and command the operation?"
Unlike Shirou, Amiya should have been responsible for directing this mission. Was it really alright for her to remain here?
"I currently only have authority over operator deployment. Besides, Doctor Kal'tsit has recently strictly forbidden me from entering combat personally. This operation has also been taken over by Doctor Kal'tsit."
Hearing Shirou's question, Amiya smiled helplessly and explained her situation.
Ordinarily, she should indeed have been directing things on-site.
However, Doctor Kal'tsit had personally taken over command this time and was currently outside overseeing the battle.
Combined with the fact that Kal'tsit had directly contacted Shirou earlier, Amiya guessed it was probably because Shirou had participated in the mission that Kal'tsit personally stepped in.
If Shirou had caused destruction beyond expectations earlier, Kal'tsit likely would have ordered Rhodes Island to retreat immediately after all operators returned aboard.
Fortunately, Shirou had not literally overturned the landscape in one strike, sparing Kal'tsit considerable trouble.
"Maybe it is better this way... At your age, you should not carry so much pressure. Yesterday I made some snacks that received pretty good reviews. I am planning to make more today. How about I give some to you and Rosmontis later?"
After receiving the explanation, Shirou felt this arrangement was probably for the best.
Even if he could not stop the two girls from becoming involved in such things, reducing their exposure even slightly was still worthwhile.
Shirou was not arrogant enough to believe that once he became stronger, he could shoulder every burden alone.
After all, this land was chaotic.
On this land, even the surface level was already filled with chaos.
The infected.
Catastrophes.
Originium.
And Kal'tsit also seemed to constantly guard against something else.
Shirou reasonably suspected that beyond the dangers he had just listed, there were still other hidden threats lurking in the shadows that endangered the world's survival.
Which was honestly exhausting to think about.
"That is a very tempting offer, but I need to control my diet... If it is something nourishing like the soup from last time, then it should be fine. But snacks are probably out of the question."
The moment she heard there would be snacks, especially homemade ones from Shirou, Amiya was visibly tempted for a brief second.
In the end, however, she relied on sheer willpower to refuse the offer.
She only allowed herself sweets on special occasions, such as gatherings and celebrations.
"I see? Then I will experiment with something else later."
Looking at Amiya's reaction, Shirou found it somewhat unfortunate.
Some people simply disliked sweets, but Amiya clearly was not refusing because she hated them.
Her self-control honestly impressed him.
"That would be wonderful!"
Hearing Shirou say that, Amiya nodded enthusiastically, seemingly afraid he might change his mind.
The featherd beast soup she had eaten last time still remained unforgettable even now.
Though admittedly, this probably was not the best time to discuss food.
Shirou was trapped here only because a patient had forcibly "kidnapped" him by holding onto his hand, but Amiya still could not fully relax.
After speaking with Shirou a little longer, Amiya finally left.
As for whether Doctor Kal'tsit would scold her afterward, she no longer cared.
At worst, she could simply drag Shirou along to be scolded together.
This time she had a companion beside her.
She feared nothing.
"Hiss—"
A while after watching Amiya jog away, Shirou suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, causing his body to shiver slightly.
"Is the air conditioning too strong?"
After glancing around and confirming nobody else was nearby, Shirou concluded that the medical department's air conditioning was simply set too low.
That seemed to be a common problem in hospitals somehow.
For some reason, they always loved excessively cold temperatures.
As Shirou moved just now, Rosmontis seemed to sense it as well, loosening her grip slightly and finally freeing his hand.
The very first thing Shirou did after regaining freedom was help tuck Rosmontis's blanket properly around her to prevent her from catching cold.
"You seem to get along with her pretty well. Do you prefer children?"
While Shirou was taking care of Rosmontis, Lappland casually slipped into the room.
At this moment, Shirou was being especially patient. Even when Rosmontis kicked the blanket off, he still helped pull it back over her.
Lappland figured that if it had been her instead, Shirou would probably have just projected some heavy objects to pin the blanket down around the edges.
Still, she had never expected Shirou to carefully look after her in the first place. What she had already gotten from him was more than enough.
Although she was greedy, she also knew exactly how much she should take. If she became too greedy and ruined their relationship completely, the loss would outweigh the gain.
"Could you stop saying things that make people misunderstand?"
The moment he heard Lappland's words, black lines practically appeared across Shirou's face.
Mainly because what she said sounded extremely misleading.
What did she mean by saying he liked children?
Rosmontis and Amiya were simply well-behaved, all right?
If Exusiai and Croissant were here instead, Shirou suspected he would already have started beating them up.
Children themselves were not scary. What was scary were ill-behaved children. Even scarier were parents who refused to discipline those children.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Are people fighting outside? The smell of blood is really strong. They have already sent in three or four people."
Seeing that she had successfully irritated Shirou, Lappland pulled over a chair and asked casually.
Her earlier comment had only been made in passing. What she actually cared about was whether there was a fight going on outside. If there was, she wanted to borrow a weapon from Shirou and go have some fun.
"Forget borrowing weapons. Rhodes Island will handle it, so stop trying to join the chaos."
The moment Lappland said that, Shirou immediately understood what she wanted to do and decisively refused her.
"How boring. Then I will send those photos from earlier to Texas so everyone can see a child pointing at you and scolding you."
After being rejected so bluntly, Lappland became a little unhappy.
Whenever she was unhappy, she would find some way to amuse herself, and her newest source of entertainment was naturally the photos she had taken earlier.
"…Do whatever you want. Just do not cause trouble."
Although Shirou was not particularly pleased either, at worst he would simply become a joke among a few people, so he did not care that much.
When it came to threatening others, Lappland was clearly nowhere near as precise as Doctor Kal'tsit.
"Hmph!"
After being rejected again, Lappland turned around and stopped talking to Shirou.
"Honestly… when I have time in a couple of days, I will project some firearms for you to use, all right? But you will have to wait until Jessica finishes her training first."
Looking at Lappland's reaction, Shirou felt a headache coming on and finally took a small step back.
Not that he really needed to care, but she still knew some of his little secrets. If she got upset enough to expose all of them…
Just imagining that scene already felt terrifying.
"Fine. Then it is settled."
She had been waiting for exactly those words from him, so the moment she heard them, she immediately agreed.
Even if it was borrowed power, the destructive force still fascinated her. Being able to experience it for a little while was good enough.
"Then stop sulking and help me get a bottle of water."
Having successfully calmed Lappland down, Shirou sighed in relief and asked her for a favor.
The reason was simple. While he had been negotiating with Lappland, Rosmontis had silently wrapped her tail around his hand, leaving him unable to leave casually now.