At noon, Lower District of Lungmen, Fuyuki Shop.
"I was wrong! I really was wrong! So Shirou, you Siracusan profanity, stop making that thing in front of me! That is not even pizza anymore!"
Bound by silver ropes, Lappland was currently hanging in the air while watching Shirou work.
A Sarkaz.
In Lappland's eyes, Shirou now looked exactly like a Sarkaz, complete with horns growing from his head and an extremely sinister smile as he carried out acts of pure evil.
What could possibly be more horrifying than putting bizarre toppings on pizza?
Of course it was taking slices of toast, cutting and flattening them out, then spreading pizza sauce on top while shamelessly calling it "toast pizza."
What kind of cursed abomination was this?
Shirou, you Sarkaz, stop right there!
This was even worse than pineapple pizza!
At least with pineapple pizza, you could remove the pineapple and still barely call it pizza afterward.
But the thing Shirou was making?
That was merely a filthy creation wearing pizza's name as a disguise!
"Hmm hmm~ Add a few sausage slices and sprinkle some cheese, then bake it in the oven at one hundred eighty degrees for eight minutes and it is done!"
In complete contrast to the furious Lappland hanging above him like a condemned prisoner, Shirou looked entirely relaxed. He even hummed cheerfully while sliding the tray into the oven.
Originally, he truly had planned to use actual pizza to teach Lappland a lesson.
However, the process was somewhat troublesome, and the cost was slightly too high.
At the very least, the oven here was not large enough to fit a full pizza. The thing he was making now was merely a substitute he had come up with after some thought.
In any case, Shirou himself was not particularly strict about what food was supposed to look like, so long as it did not taste stranger than nutritional meals.
After suffering through nutritional meals, Shirou's standards regarding food had dropped considerably.
As long as the flavor was not excessively bizarre, he could accept it.
Besides, the thing he was making now was not only simple, but the ingredients were also extremely easy to obtain.
Toast, bird eggs, ketchup, sausage, cheese.
That was all.
The size was easy to control, and there was nothing particularly difficult about making it.
It was especially suitable for teaching to children. This way, the kids at the shop would have another food option in the future.
And more importantly, Shirou had successfully accomplished the thing he wanted most—
Hanging Lappland up high while forcing her to watch him create cuisine that would make every Ital... every Siracusan furious.
Look.
The white creature above him was currently spewing profanity while desperately struggling to break free from the ropes.
Unfortunately for her, the ropes were projections created by Shirou. Even if Lappland held a knife, she would not be able to cut them apart.
She could only wait until Shirou personally decided enough was enough.
"Lappland, do you want some?"
While waiting, Shirou held up a freshly baked piece of toast pizza and asked her casually.
The others had already been divided among Rope and the children earlier. What he was making now was meant for Phal and Jaye later.
"You would be doing me a favor by killing me instead!"
Hearing Shirou's question, Lappland struggled even harder, swinging back and forth in the air.
Combined with her white hair, the sight reminded Shirou of a teru teru bōzu doll.
Thinking of that, Shirou glanced outside the window.
Mm. Clear skies.
Thank you for your hard work, Miss Lappland.
"Who told you to send those messages to Texas? I told you to delete them, not stir up trouble, alright?"
Popping the food in his hand into his mouth, Shirou spoke slowly.
"I already admitted I was wrong! Just let me down already! You can make these cursed things if you want, but do not force me to watch it happen!"
Watching Shirou smile while calmly saying those words, Lappland felt nothing but overwhelming regret.
She regretted becoming a chaos-loving troublemaker.
She regretted believing that Shirou would still honor their agreement and cook delicious food for her even after she had clearly caused him problems.
Over the course of their recent interactions, Lappland had fully learned just how skilled Shirou's cooking was.
And in the end, her own greed had led directly to this punishment.
Of course, she could always choose not to look.
Unfortunately, Shirou had gone as far as singing the cooking process aloud.
It was utterly deranged.
"Fine, fine. But are you really not eating? I have heard your stomach growling several times already."
After calculating the time, Shirou figured Lappland had already been hanging there for nearly an hour.
At this point, the punishment should have been more than sufficient.
Possibly even excessive.
Still, Shirou hoped she would at least fill her stomach before leaving. Since she had already come all the way here, sending her away hungry felt somewhat inappropriate.
Besides, he had originally promised to make her lunch.
"As long as it is not those cursed things, anything is fine!"
As Shirou withdrew his magical energy, Lappland's feet finally touched solid ground again.
Initially, she had planned to flee immediately.
However, Shirou's words caused her to stop.
What if he planned to cook something else separately afterward?
In any case, her spirit had already suffered enough damage. As long as her body remained unharmed, she could endure it.
"So both you and Texas really hate this kind of thing, huh... I made another dish separately. By now it should probably be finished, right?"
Seeing Lappland refuse so firmly, Shirou could not help finding it amusing.
When it came to reactions like this, Texas and Lappland were almost exactly identical.
The idea itself had not even originated from Shirou.
Previously, he had watched Croissant follow an online recipe to make something similar. The moment Texas saw it, she immediately grabbed Croissant by the horns and tried to drag her outside.
Shirou could honestly say he had never seen Texas look that angry before.
However, Shirou was not a devil. Even knowing that the other party hated it, he would not force her to swallow something like that. Besides, that thing was not exactly healthy, so there was even less reason to insist on it.
He had already bought other ingredients to make proper food. It was just that the oven was not large enough, and the heating method was a bit troublesome, so he had prepared it in an open area at the back instead.
By his estimate, it should be about done by now.
"What the heck?"
Lappland froze for a moment, looking confused.
Then she recalled that about half an hour earlier, Shirou had indeed gone out briefly to prepare something. Could he have been baking pizza outside?
Over a campfire?
If that was the case, he might as well not have brought it out at all!
Keeping a straight face, Lappland followed Shirou to the back open area, where she saw something completely out of place in that space… a kiln?
Watching Shirou open it, and smelling the aroma coming from inside, all of the frustration from being suspended earlier instantly disappeared.
Shirou really was too kind.
Even after she had dug such a big pit for him to fall into, he still responded with goodwill.
At this rate, she would only want to dig more traps next time. What should she do about that?
Eating the specially baked "normal pizza," Lappland had already started thinking about her next scheme.
"Speaking of which, you said you had some information to give me? Where is it?"
Seeing Lappland eating with satisfaction, Shirou asked.
If he knew what she was thinking right now, he would probably have grabbed a pineapple and thrown it on top of her pizza.
"It is about some incidents in the slums during the few days we were away from Lungmen."
Lappland put down her pizza and briefly explained the information she had gathered yesterday, tossing over a terminal device.
It could not even really be called "gathered information," just something sent by a gang she had some prior connection with.
A kind of connection formed through fists and violence.
After briefly explaining what had happened over the past few days, Lappland happily returned to her pizza, leaving all the trouble to Shirou.
Shirou had been regularly monitoring the situation in the slums. Otherwise, he would not have earned the title "Red Devil", a name that made people want to strangle whoever came up with it.
Unlike Chen, Shirou almost never hesitated once he acted.
He did not kill people. At most, he would trap them inside a mass of swords. For more troublesome cases, he would try to disable their mobility.
As for those he did kill, they were usually the ones endangering the lives of others.
Some people committed crimes because circumstances forced them into it. They might still have their own lives and struggles.
Others committed crimes simply because they wanted more.
The information Lappland brought this time indicated that an infected group in the Lungmen slums was organizing a portion of other infected individuals.
The last time something like this happened… it was that infected serial kidnapping case.
However, this time there did not seem to be any intention of kidnapping. It appeared to be simple faction-building. If that was all, the Lungmen Guard Department would find it very difficult to intervene.
"Is that all?"
Shirou flipped through the terminal data and felt that many parts were vague.
Such as reasons for recruitment, objectives, and most importantly, there was no name for the organization.
"I have only been back for less than a day! Do not push me so hard! Why not ask that little purple bunny? She might have more information. She might even have been recruited!"
Lappland complained after being pressed for more information.
She had only just returned, and this was what she managed to obtain immediately. And now she was being criticized for it?
Anyone would be annoyed!
"...Sorry. Can I pass this on to others?"
Shirou realized she had a point and apologized.
"Do as you like. Anyway, I heard the Guard Department people barely intervene in slum affairs unless it is a major incident. Thinking about it that way, I almost wish they would intervene."
Lappland did not object to him sharing the information. It did not concern her much anyway. As long as Shirou remembered the favor and did not use those Sarkaz-related tricks in front of her again, that was enough.
"That line of thinking is getting dangerous. Eat quickly! It will not taste as good when it gets cold!"
Shirou lightly tapped her head in complaint, then took photos of the terminal data with his phone and sent them to several people.
Yith, Ch'en, and Lin Yuhsia.
After thinking for a moment, he also sent them to Swire and Hoshiguma.
The former had intentions of reforming the slums, while the latter, as a former senior figure, would definitely understand the situation better.
As for Yith and Ch'en, that went without saying, they were long-term collaborators.
Lin Yuhsia was slightly special. She seemed particularly concerned about the slums.
After their previous joint operation to destroy a factory producing inferior suppressant drugs, and the series of fires and explosions that occurred in the slums afterward, Shirou had also added her to this small list.
She was also one of the "food nickname" group, and she was acquainted with both Ch'en and Swire, so there was no issue there.
He did not have much information on hand, so he did not overthink it.
The purpose of sending it to them was simply to see whether anyone else had relevant intelligence.
Of course, what Shirou said referred mainly to Yith.
Back when he had taken leave, Yith's tone had been rather sour.
And now that he was back, he was already sending more work their way. Yith probably wanted to kill him by now.
After the newest batch of toast pizza came out of the oven, Shirou headed outside to find Rope.
After briefly asking around, it seemed that she had not encountered those people.
That was probably for the best.
"Help me send this to Phal across the street, and then take some to Jaye as well! After eating, it is good to get some exercise!"
After confirming, Shirou directly handed the packed toast pizza to Rope.
It could also count as giving her something to do. Every time she came over, she was just slumped over the counter, which was not good for her health.
After Rope left with a dead-fish expression on her face, Shirou sat in the shop and began to consider whether he should take action tonight.
Although nothing particularly malicious had happened yet, the events from a while ago still left him somewhat uneasy.
Even though it did not directly concern him, he could not fully let it go.
It was the kind of situation that would even make the shop owner wonder whether he had some kind of workaholic tendency.
That realization made him a little depressed, but he only thought about it for now and had no intention of acting on it yet.
After all, the information he had was pitifully scarce. Most of it was fragmented and incomplete, only indicating that a group was active.
Even if he wanted to investigate, he could not.
And his previous method would not work either. The other side only used verbal persuasion, like some kind of sales pitch, without any obvious behavioral patterns. It would be extremely difficult to identify them through observation alone.
If only there was someone more obvious…
"…"
Wait. There actually was.
The group he had encountered with Lin Yuhsia recently did seem quite suspicious.
However, the Reunion movement… his impression of them was not very good.
Although that was where Archer had once been, that was already three years ago.
That amount of time was enough to change a person beyond recognition, let alone an entire infected organization.
Thinking of this, Shirou felt a headache coming on.
"Orange… and red, huh?"
Recalling what the hooded figure emerging from the smoke had said, Shirou felt that… it might be worth believing.
At the very least, when he had met Alina back then, the expression she had while speaking about Reunion did not look like something a cruel and violent person would have.
Based on Archer's past and Alina's expression, Shirou was willing to believe what that hooded figure had said.
After all, the infected people of this land truly needed something like the hope and future Alina had spoken of.