The Penguin Logistics dormitory was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
Fried food tasted especially delicious after hard work, and combined with soda, it felt heavenly.
"Mmm… speaking of which, what were we originally trying to do again?"
While chewing on a fried drumstick and gulping down soda, Exusiai suddenly felt as though she had forgotten something important.
"...Focus on eating while you eat."
Feeling guilty, Shirou's eyes drifted away.
"I think it was about Shirou, right?"
Looking at Shirou's obviously guilty expression, Sora finally remembered why they had acted so mysteriously in the first place.
The whole point had been to overwhelm Shirou with pressure the moment he returned, so that even if he later discovered the dormitory had turned into a garbage dump, he would not immediately chase them around trying to kill them.
Although the plan had suffered a few unexpected complications, Shirou at least had not instantly pulled out a giant sword and started chasing them the moment he discovered the truth.
Still, Sora honestly felt that Shirou chasing them with a giant sword would have been less frightening.
The Shirou from earlier had been genuinely terrifying.
For one brief moment, she had felt as though she were looking at her own mother glaring at her while holding a feather duster.
Overcoming that kind of fear was still rather difficult...
However, their curiosity about what Shirou had been doing over the past few days ultimately overcame their fear, and the topic was brought up anyway.
"Oh! Right! Shirou, what exactly did you do at Rhodes Island these past few days!? Did you stab your way into a Feline nest or something? In just a few days you somehow became so close with four different Felines!"
After Sora reminded her, the halo above Exusiai's head suddenly shone with an unprecedented brilliance.
The glare was so intense that everyone's eyes were momentarily dazzled.
"Rosmontis, Blaze, Doctor Kal'tsit, and Jessica from Blacksteel Worldwide are all acquaintances already, are they not? I do not know many people at Rhodes Island, so naturally I spent time with the people I already knew!"
At this moment, Shirou felt that Exusiai's focus was somewhat strange, though thankfully the situation was not as bad as he had feared.
"When you put it that way, I guess it makes sense. But what is this 'guidance' thing about?"
After hearing Shirou's explanation, Exusiai was somewhat convinced. Those people really were all acquaintances already. Shirou seeking out familiar faces in an unfamiliar place was perfectly reasonable.
But she was not going to be fooled that easily.
Opening the screenshot Texas had sent her on her phone, she pointed at the text and questioned him further.
The Feline issue was only the beginning. There were still many things left to ask about!
"Blacksteel Worldwide was willing to provide transportation for me both ways, so I could not exactly freeload off them for nothing, right? Therefore, Liskarm and the others asked me to provide some shooting guidance for their juniors."
"And Rosmontis simply wanted to show me around Rhodes Island. Blaze tagged along because she claimed to be Rosmontis's guardian. As for Doctor Kal'tsit, I should not even need to explain that one, right?"
Shirou immediately explained all of his relationships with the four Felines in one breath, terrified that another unnecessary misunderstanding would arise halfway through.
The real culprit behind all this was Lappland. Who told her to phrase things in such an easy-to-misunderstand way?
After listening to Shirou's explanation, all four of them revealed thoughtful expressions.
Mainly because they were considering how believable his explanation was.
Still, Sora, Exusiai, and Croissant had already mostly accepted Shirou's words.
As for Texas, when it came to choosing whether to trust Shirou or Lappland, she had her own thoughts.
Considering that both of them had prior records of questionable behavior, Texas decided it was better to hear Shirou's side out properly first.
After all, Shirou had a history of hiding important things from them.
And as for Lappland... the final message she left behind was honestly a headache.
What exactly did she mean by telling Texas to pretend she had seen nothing and that Shirou had spent the past few days perfectly normally?
"Then what about the emergency request? And what was that rescue invitation from that little donkey girl all about?"
Seeing the rest of the team deep in thought, Croissant jumped in and asked the remaining questions.
The remaining topics were otherwise fairly ordinary. Though if there was one thing she truly wanted to ask, it was whether Lappland's sense of taste was broken. How could someone think human blood tasted good?
"That is Amiya. Do not randomly give people strange nicknames. It is very rude."
Shirou first corrected them with a small warning, worried that the four might accidentally blurt it out when visiting Rhodes Island in the future. That would be extremely awkward.
After warning them, Shirou continued:
"The first thing was simply because Rhodes Island ran into a bit of trouble, so I helped out. I traveled there using an aerial vehicle, so do not worry."
To avoid creating even more trouble, Shirou deliberately avoided mentioning his high-altitude jump. Instead, he focused on the fact that he had traveled aboard an aircraft and fought entirely from long range.
All of that was technically true. Completely safe.
"As for the second matter, I never personally agreed to Amiya's request. I only told her to submit a formal application to Penguin Logistics through proper channels."
There was even less difficulty explaining that matter.
Shirou had not privately agreed to help Amiya. He had simply helped Penguin Logistics secure a large contract through official means.
There was absolutely nothing suspicious about it at all!
In fact, he had practically brought them a huge job opportunity!
"When you explain it that way... it actually does not sound strange at all. So basically, you spent these past few days undergoing medical examinations, teaching people marksmanship, cooking luxurious meals for Rhodes Island's doctors, and accompanying Rosmontis and Miss Blaze while touring Rhodes Island?"
The more Sora listened, the more completely she believed Shirou's explanation.
After all, although Shirou definitely hid certain things from them, he had never outright lied to them before.
Well... it was also possible they simply had not noticed if he had.
"More or less. I even bought souvenirs for all of you originally."
Seeing that the group finally seemed to believe him, Shirou quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Wait, why was he sighing in relief?
He had not even done anything guilty.
No, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Simply hanging Lappland outside while cutting onions underneath her would not be enough to ease his resentment.
Since Lappland and Texas were so familiar with one another, then Lappland probably hated the same things Texas hated too, right?
For example... pineapple pizza.
In just a few short seconds, Shirou had already imagined all sorts of bizarre pizza flavors. Naturally, all of them were flavors the children at the Fuyuki shop loved.
Children loved sweet things, after all.
"...!"
As though she had suddenly sensed something, Texas abruptly felt a chill in the air around her.
What was with this overwhelming malicious intent?
"What is wrong?"
Only Sora noticed Texas's unusual reaction.
After all, Texas's expressions normally changed so subtly that only people very familiar with her could notice.
Although Sora could not read Texas as clearly as Shirou or Exusiai could, Texas had visibly trembled just now.
"It is nothing... maybe I caught a chill after bathing."
Shaking her head, Texas simply pulled the small blanket from the sofa over herself.
Lungmen's summer had already passed, and the weather was gradually turning colder now, so Sora did not think too deeply about it.
In fact, among everyone at Penguin Logistics, only she and Shirou tended to dress more warmly.
The other three dressed far too lightly, so catching a chill was perfectly normal.
The other two who were far less sensitive probably had not even noticed.
"Souvenirs! We all get some!?"
The two more simple-minded members immediately widened their eyes the moment they heard Shirou had brought back souvenirs.
Rhodes Island sold all kinds of things, though they were somewhat expensive. They had not expected Shirou to actually bring souvenirs back for them!
"Heh."
Faced with their questioning, Shirou merely let out a soft chuckle, causing Exusiai and Croissant to quietly sit back down again.
Seeing their reactions, Shirou continued:
"There were originally souvenirs for all of you... but after the enormous shock you gave me today, I think perhaps I should give them to other people instead."
The group was already quite accustomed to this kind of punishment.
After all, they had lost many forms of happiness before over small mistakes.
As a result, they had become much more careful in how they behaved nowadays.
Recently, even the rumors surrounding Penguin Logistics around Lungmen had improved considerably. The Lungmen Guard Department had supposedly even fallen into financial crisis because the number of fines they issued had suddenly dropped dramatically...
Of course, that was a joke. The Guard Department practically wished the group would continue behaving this way so they would not need to work overtime every day anymore.
In the past, merely hearing the name Penguin Logistics was enough to give the Guard Department a headache, because it meant trouble had happened again and more overtime awaited them.
Now, hearing the name Penguin Logistics sounded like heavenly music to them.
All because a certain someone regularly brought lunchboxes over to add extra dishes to everyone's meals.
Naturally, Shirou himself did not know any of this.
At the moment, he was actually considering bringing the souvenirs originally meant for Penguin Logistics to the Guard Department break room instead.
Still, after seeing that the group genuinely appeared remorseful and had handled the cleanup reasonably well afterward, he ultimately relented. Their line of questioning had been rather bizarre, but in the end it had worked out in Shirou's favor.
Earlier, he had fully prepared himself to face a raging storm of interrogation.
Unexpectedly, the group's attention had focused on rather strange things instead, and they had all been surprisingly easy to convince.
Sure enough, compared to outsiders, his own words still carried some weight with them.
"I will let it go this time. But if there is a next time, you can cook your own meals. I will not even order takeout for you."
In a good mood now, Shirou decided to let the matter rest.
However, to prevent them from developing a sense of complacency, he deliberately increased the severity of the punishment for any future offense.
"Hiss... we promise we will behave."
Hearing Shirou's words, Exusiai could already imagine that horrifying future.
No, absolutely not!
Losing Shirou's cooking was bad enough, but if they could not even order takeout anymore, she would actually die!
Everyone at Penguin Logistics knew perfectly well how terrible their own cooking skills were. Aside from apple pie, nearly everything they made only barely qualified as edible. And after months of being constantly fed by Shirou, their cooking skills had deteriorated to inhuman levels.
Just looking at the state of the kitchen earlier was proof enough.
After opening the kitchen door, even Shirou himself had immediately shut it again with a grim expression, locked it tightly, and stuffed cloth into the cracks around the doorframe.
Exusiai was not the only one thinking about that scene.
The other three remembered it clearly as well.
After all, while cleaning the kitchen earlier, they had nearly vomited.
"That would naturally be for the best."
Looking at the group's sincere expressions, Shirou nodded before heading back into his room and dragging out the large suitcase again.
All of his personal belongings had already been removed earlier.
Everything remaining inside consisted entirely of souvenirs.
"Ooooh!"
The moment she saw the suitcase overflowing with snacks and biscuits, Exusiai immediately lunged toward it, with Croissant quickly following behind.
"Are there any Pocky sticks? Or other chocolate snacks would be fine too."
Compared to the two already practically hugging the entire suitcase, Texas and Sora reacted far more calmly.
After all, one of them only liked a limited selection of foods, while the other, as an idol, needed to maintain her figure.
Naturally, Shirou already knew this and had prepared accordingly.
"The things you mentioned are definitely in there, though you will need to search a little. As for Sora, I prepared something separate for you. I think I placed it around here somewhere..."
After gently pushing the other two aside, Shirou reached into one of the suitcase compartments and pulled out a large bag.
"The weather is turning colder, and Rhodes Island recently started selling winter goods, so I bought you a scarf and a hat."
Handing the bag over to Sora, Shirou briefly explained what he had purchased.
After receiving the bag, Sora pulled out a snow-white scarf and matching hat.
Soft, fluffy, and comfortable just from touching them.
"Thank you. I really like them."
Rubbing the fluffy scarf repeatedly between her hands, Sora's mood became exceptionally good.
She genuinely loved both items.
Not only did she like how they looked, but the materials and texture felt excellent as well.
And most importantly...
She was the only one who had received something like this.
Holding her personal gift, Sora happily ran over to the sofa and immediately started taking pictures.
Meanwhile, after seeing the scarf in Sora's hands, the candy and snacks inside the suitcase suddenly no longer seemed appealing to the other three.
"What is wrong with you all?"
Seeing Exusiai and Croissant slowly put down the snacks they had selected before joining Texas in staring at him with strange expressions, Shirou asked in confusion.
"We do not have anything like that?"
After staring at Shirou for quite some time and realizing he genuinely did not understand the issue, they finally spoke up.
"Do you mean these?"
Still completely confused, Shirou pointed toward the snacks and candy inside the suitcase.
These things were expensive!
He had spent quite a large amount of Lungmen dollars on them!
In fact, the total value of the entire snacks far exceeded the value of the scarf and hat Sora received!
He could have bought ten sets of those with this amount!
Sora's souvenir had purely been meant as compensation.
After all, she rarely ate snacks like these, so in the end all of the candy and biscuits would simply end up in the mouths of the other three anyway.
Especially Exusiai.
She was a Sankta from Laterano, a place where even the air practically tasted sweet.
That was Shirou's logic, at least.
The other three, however, clearly did not see it that way.
Candy and snacks disappeared once you ate them!
And they were things everyone received!
Meanwhile, the items Sora received could be used forever.
And only Sora had them.
Did the difference in treatment not become obvious immediately?
At this moment, Exusiai and Croissant in particular felt utterly unloved.
Normally, the two who spent the most time fooling around with Shirou were them!
As for Texas, she simply felt that she also wanted a scarf.
That fluffy material looked just like a Lupo tail.
It probably felt incredibly comfortable to touch.
Under the oppressive pressure of the three staring at him, Shirou could only desperately rack his brain trying to figure out what exactly he had done wrong.
Meanwhile, Sora was the only genuinely happy person in the dormitory.
By now, she had already uploaded the photos she took to share with her fans.