If he had not suddenly needed to bring something back today, Shirou probably would have remained completely in the dark.
Who would have thought it? It would have been one thing if Rope was merely doing her usual information-gathering work, but she had actually infiltrated the group by herself?
That night, after returning with the candy and being greeted enthusiastically by everyone, the more Shirou thought about it, the angrier he became. He went back to his room early, intending to get up tomorrow morning and properly deal with that purple mochi.
The result was that everyone at Penguin Logistics began wondering whether they had somehow messed something up again.
For the sake of their future, they obediently cleaned up the dormitory a little.
If the usual Shirou maintained the dorm at around eighty percent cleanliness, then Penguin Logistics this time had managed to turn that eighty percent into about sixty.
"Those idiots…"
As a result, when Shirou woke up in the morning and saw the living room in disarray, his mood was not particularly pleasant.
Overall, it was still fairly clean. It was just that the people tidying things up had placed everything randomly, making the place look chaotic. It was not a major problem.
Probably.
Forget it. At the very least, it was far better than the ruined wasteland it had looked like before. If they could maintain this standard whenever they cleaned by themselves, Shirou would not need to worry so much whenever he went out in the future.
Cleaning, cooking, preparing lunchboxes, then watching everyone leave.
Afterward, Shirou put on a jacket, slung a backpack over his shoulders, took several lunchboxes, and headed out.
His first stop was the Guard Department. After staying there for an entire morning, the number of lunchboxes in his hands had decreased, replaced by several cleaned empty containers.
Next came the Fuyuki Shop. Normally, Shirou would solve lunch at the Guard Department, but today he was in a hurry to deal with Rope's situation, so he left early.
Pedaling his bicycle, this was the first time Shirou had ever ridden so quickly. Along the way, he had no idea how many cars he overtook. If bicycles needed license plates, he probably would have received a ticket already.
That day, Lungmen's trending online topic became a short video of a red-haired man in black riding a bicycle so fast that he left afterimages behind.
"Rope—!"
After parking the bicycle, Shirou shoved the door open and charged inside.
"I am here! I am here!"
Once Rope realized Shirou had caught her, she knew there was no escape anymore. Ever since finding out last night, she had not slept well at all.
What she feared was exactly this situation.
Looking at Shirou's aggressive demeanor, Rope knew she was finished.
All she could do now was face reality honestly.
Then she felt Shirou's hand land on top of her head.
What awaited her was not a gentle head pat, but the grip of death.
She felt as though Shirou was about to crush her skull!
"So I hear you are very brave, hm? Actually infiltrating an infected organization all by yourself. If I had not pressed Phal for answers, I might still be completely in the dark!"
Holding Rope's head in his right hand, Shirou spoke with a smile.
Aside from teaching her a lesson, he was also using structural analysis magecraft to check whether she had suffered any injuries.
At the moment, it seemed she had not been hurt, which made Shirou let out a sigh of relief as he released her.
If he kept squeezing, her head might genuinely explode.
"Wuwu… I really know I was wrong! Stop lecturing me already, stop already!"
After being released, Rope apologized with complete sincerity, perfectly embodying what a child who had done something wrong looked like when apologizing to a parent.
As for whether she would do it again next time?
That depended on the situation.
Still, this was very much like Shirou. One could only say that all of Rope's little tricks in this area had been learned directly from him.
"So you really know you were wrong?"
Seeing how sincere she looked, combined with the red handprint on her forehead, Shirou still softened somewhat.
After all, gathering information had originally been Rope's profession. Shirou had also heard before that she continued doing intelligence work afterward; he simply had never intentionally interfered.
At the end of the day, he had no reason to restrict her development either. If something ever happened to him, Rope could still rely on those skills to continue living.
It was just that this time had been too dangerous. What if she accidentally got used as someone else's pawn?
That driver who had rammed into him previously was exactly such a person. The man had no idea what was going on. Someone simply told him that if he drove a car into a person, he would receive Lungmen dollars, so he did it.
Although Rope probably would not foolishly accept such suspicious jobs, it was still extremely dangerous.
The more Shirou thought about it, the angrier he became. Better rub her head a little more so she would remember this lesson!
"Ahhhhhh! I really do know I was wrong!"
Rope, who originally thought she had escaped disaster, once again felt pressure descending from above and let out a miserable scream.
"Shoo, shoo. If you do not get back inside, you all are next."
Several gazes were peeking over from the kitchen doorway, but Phal who was watching the show while eating popcorn quickly chased them all away, even dragging over a chair to block the entrance.
Shirou was not some Sarkaz after all. After roughly a minute, he finally let Rope go.
After all, he still had to hear her excuses. If her answer failed to satisfy him, then what awaited Rope next would be the punishment of double-fist brain compression.
"Talk. Why did you do something this dangerous?"
Pulling over a chair, Shirou sat down with his arms crossed as he looked at Rope, who was still clutching her head.
"Well… I heard before that you were investigating these matters, so I paid a little attention to them. It just so happened that they were recruiting people, so I slipped in among them. Yesterday was my first time going inside."
As Rope spoke, her voice gradually grew weaker and weaker.
She had always known what Shirou was investigating. Wanting to help share his burden and worries, she had agreed and infiltrated the group.
In the end, yesterday she had only gone there to look around a little and had not discovered much before Shirou caught her.
And yesterday had only been her first time scouting the place out too. One could only say her luck was truly terrible.
"It is dangerous in there. You should know very well what the situation inside the slums is like, especially for an infected organization."
After hearing Rope's explanation, Shirou only felt that she had been far too reckless.
"Do not you usually do reckless things too?"
Rope muttered quietly in complaint, unfortunately for her, Shirou's hearing was good enough to catch every word clearly.
"That is because I know what I am doing, alright? In the worst-case scenario, I can just tear up the ground and set off a huge fireworks display. What about you?"
Seeing Rope throw the issue back at him, Shirou narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
He could vaguely understand now why everyone was always trying to lecture him.
But his situation was different from Rope's.
…Probably different, right?
Forget it. They actually seemed equally reckless.
Thinking of that, Shirou suddenly felt a little guilty, but after remembering that Rope was younger than him, he still stiffened his face and stared at her seriously.
"I can run away! I run really fast!"
Not noticing Shirou's slightly awkward expression at that moment, Rope hurriedly defended herself.
"You do not run faster than me. I was the one who caught you back then, remember?"
"Ah, that… I had not eaten that time! It does not count!"
"Now that you eat so much, you probably cannot run anymore either, right?"
"Ah? Shirou, you are going too far! How can you call a girl fat!"
"Do not change the subject. Sit down."
"Yes, I am very sorry. But nothing happened to me, right? Mr. Shirou, please be magnanimous and forgive me?"
Originally, after being indirectly called fat, Rope had tried to use an indignant act to escape the scolding.
Unfortunately, the Shirou before her was completely unaffected by that tactic.
Now it seemed he was genuinely angry. This was the first time Rope had ever seen Shirou like this.
Since changing the subject was useless… then she could only offer her sincerest apology.
Unfortunately for her, what awaited next was Shirou's nonstop lecturing for half an hour.
"You cannot run faster than me, jump higher than me, or even beat me in a fight, yet you still thought about infiltrating them?"
"Did Lin Yuhsia not give you enough homework, so you got bored? Otherwise how would you have so many unnecessary thoughts? I will help inform her. Your homework load is going to be multiplied."
"..."
"Honestly… anyway, behave yourself for a while. Yesterday you yourself said it was dangerous."
After lecturing her for a full thirty minutes, Shirou looked at Rope, who had completely collapsed onto the chair, and finally let her off.
He often saw this exact pose in manga. If she spat out a little white spirit from her mouth, it would look even more accurate.
Besides, he had already run out of things to lecture her about. His limited vocabulary could only support thirty minutes of scolding.
"I understand! I absolutely will not do it again next time!"
Seeing that Shirou had finally finished, Rope gradually regained her senses.
She was not afraid of simply being lectured. After all, back in the past, she had attended Officer Chen's safety briefings just to mooch food and lodging from the Guard Department.
But the Shirou before her was different.
Leaving aside the fact that her current life existed because of him, just the way he narrowed his eyes with that seemingly gentle expression, combined with the strange pressure he gave off, was already unbearable enough for her.
Compared to Shirou, Officer Chen's lectures were practically heaven, alright? At least back there she could zone out and endure until it was over.
"Next time?"
As a friendly senior, Shirou naturally knew the meaning behind the phrase "next time."
"There will not be a next time! Definitely not!"
Hearing Shirou's words, Rope frantically shook her head in denial.
"I hope so."
Looking at Rope's appearance, Shirou honestly could not tell whether she had truly listened.
However, Rope was not the only one who needed dealing with. After all, she had accomplices.
Turning his head, Shirou looked toward Phal, who still had popcorn in his hand despite already falling deeply asleep.
This guy was the one who deserved the scolding most. He had actually let Rope go do something so dangerous alone.
Standing up, Shirou walked over.
A few minutes later, Rope happily gained a companion who had suffered through the exact same hardship.
The difference was that Shirou had already used up all his patience on Rope, so when facing Phal, he immediately resorted to physical punishment instead.
Seeing this scene only strengthened Rope's determination not to cause trouble again.
"Alright, I hope both of you have learned your lesson."
After loosening up his muscles a little, Shirou felt his mood improve significantly.
Although Rope was indeed somewhat similar to him, she definitely was not as tough as he was.
This incident taught Shirou that as long as your fists were big enough, you could do whatever you wanted.
Alright, maybe not whatever you wanted, but at least it was enough to make some people behave.
"We understand."
The two nodded frantically, afraid that Shirou might suddenly start a whole new round of battle.
"Hoo… Rope, tell me about it. What was your impression of the place yesterday?"
After dealing with this matter, Shirou finally relaxed. He handed each of them a lunchbox before beginning his questioning.
"Uh… I do not really have any impressions? After entering, they were just normally handing out water, food, and inhibitors. Aside from the inhibitors needing to be used on the spot, there was nothing particularly special."
Seeing Shirou take out the lunchboxes, Rope knew she had survived this ordeal.
Still, Shirou's question genuinely stumped her. She truly had not seen anything noteworthy there. If she really had to describe it, then maybe… it was like an adult version of the Fuyuki Shop?
That description sounded a little strange, but in terms of taking in infected people and freely providing food, medicine, and lodging, the two were similar.
"Mm… then it should be the group Lin Yuhsia mentioned. The other group still has not been found."
After hearing Rope's explanation, Shirou felt a headache coming on.
The information overlapped with what they already knew, meaning there were not many new gains.
Most importantly, they still had not found any trace of the other group, the one that manipulated infected people into doing things for them.
"Eh… Teacher Lin Yuhsia already found that place? Then did I not do all that work for nothing and still get scolded for free?"
Unlike Shirou's headache, Rope currently felt that she had suffered a huge loss.
She had worked so hard and then been lectured by Shirou for so long, only for him to now tell her that everything she had done turned out to be pointless? And she had even been beaten and scolded over it?
What a loss!
"Whose fault was it for acting on your own without discussing it with me first?"
Seeing Rope still daring to bring this matter up, Shirou shot her a warning glance.
"Yes, yes, that was my fault."
After being warned by that look, Rope immediately shrank back and continued eating the food in her lunchbox.
Meals after being taught a lesson always tasted especially good. It made her nostalgic for the days when she practically treated the Guard Department as her home.
Once Shirou had eaten and drunk his fill, and after giving the two of them another warning not to do such dangerous things again, he finally left.
Scolding people had taken up far too much time.
As he pushed his bicycle along, Shirou wondered whether he had been too harsh earlier.
He could understand Rope's actions, but he did not approve of them.
After all, he had hired Rope so she could better take care of the children, not so she could do something this dangerous.
If something had happened to her, he would not have been able to face everyone else.
Rope knew a lot of people. Whether it was Jaye or the people at the Guard Department, she had acquaintances everywhere. During the last trip to Rhodes Island, she had also met the people from Penguin Logistics.
She was practically like the classmate who had excellent relationships with everyone in school.
He could not claim that he was definitely right, but at the very least, Shirou hoped that while she was with him, she would not have to worry so much.
It was not that he opposed her earning money. She simply needed to learn how to evaluate the level of danger involved.
Sigh… the more he lectured her, the more it felt like he was lecturing himself. The feeling was truly strange.
Still, aside from a few accidents, he did carefully assess things before acting. It was just that sometimes the situations looked a bit more severe than they actually were.
Right, he seemed to have forgotten to ask Rope whether she had seen someone wearing a hood… or perhaps people with orange or red cloth bands tied around their arms?
He would send her a message later and ask. While he was at it, he could also check whether she was really not running around recklessly again.