As autumn passed and winter arrived, quite some time had already gone by since Shirou had worked overtime hard enough to understand Yith's suffering.
Lungmen, which had once only carried a slight chill, was now cold enough that people had already changed into thick winter coats to keep warm.
Naturally, the members of Penguin Logistics were no exception. Although they constantly claimed that they were healthy and strong enough not to need so many layers, Shirou still brought out every warm piece of clothing he could find.
Since their logistics work required mobility, lighter clothing was naturally preferred. Four lightweight down jackets had currently been fluffed up by Shirou and hung in a well-ventilated area away from direct sunlight.
After taking care of all that, Shirou finally began organizing his backpack, placing the lunch boxes meant for Chen, Swire, and Hoshiguma into a basket before preparing to head out.
After several days had passed, Shirou had already adjusted his state of mind.
No matter what had happened in the past, it could not change who he was now.
Rather, it was precisely because of that past that the current Emiya Shirou existed.
As long as he faced it all with a normal mindset, it would be fine, just as Exusiai had once said: everything would work itself out eventually.
After placing everything into the basket, Shirou directly mounted his bicycle and set off.
One advantage of riding a bicycle was that Shirou had time to enjoy the surrounding scenery. Combined with the slightly icy wind brushing against his face, it left him feeling especially refreshed.
The Remembrance day decorations around the city streets had long since been completely removed. Aside from a few lazy shops that had not bothered changing their displays yet, Lungmen had more or less returned to normal.
Speaking of Remembrance day , it was impossible not to mention the Lungmen Guard Department, whose entire staff had been forced into overtime during those days.
After the ringleader was dealt with, the troublemakers quieted down considerably as well. That indirectly proved that Iron Bull truly had been the person orchestrating everything behind the scenes.
Or perhaps he had merely been a puppet, and the true mastermind had ceased operations after realizing he had been captured.
However, neither the Guard Department, Yith, nor Lungmen itself had discovered any clues regarding that possibility, so no one paid it too much attention.
Only Wei Yenwu knew that the mastermind definitely had ties to Ursus.
Shirou knew this now as well. Once he learned about it, even Yith became aware of it. In response, Elysium merely remarked that Wei Yenwu was overly wary of Ursus and did not need to be so paranoid.
As far as Wei Yenwu was concerned, even heavy rain falling over Lungmen would make him suspect Koschei was behind it. He was not exaggerating either. Back in earlier years, things genuinely had been like that.
However, what interested Shirou more was that a few days ago, Chen had told him she already reported Wei Yenwu's attempt to tie Shirou down as cheap labor by complaining to someone else. Wei Yenwu would probably restrain himself a little afterward.
As for who she complained to… Shirou had a rough guess.
According to his boss, Wei Yenwu apparently was extremely henpecked.
Cough… perhaps it was more accurate to say he deeply respected his wife.
Thinking about how Wei Yenwu had once mocked the Rat King for being reported by his own daughter, Shirou could only sigh at how quickly karma came around.
"Hah…"
Stopping at a traffic light, Shirou exhaled a cloud of white breath.
Although everyone around him was bundled up heavily, Shirou himself did not feel particularly cold.
Perhaps his resistance to cold had simply become very high? After all, even during his trip to Ursus previously, he had not really felt the cold there either.
Still, Shirou leaned more toward the theory that something about his body had changed compared to before, making his physical condition stronger overall.
If not for the need to silence Exusiai and Croissant's nagging, he would not even be wearing Penguin Logistics' winter coat right now.
It was slightly bulky, to the point that Shirou himself found it somewhat distasteful.
However, since even he had set the example by switching to winter clothing, everyone else could only obediently follow suit.
The down jackets were prepared in advance for the even colder days yet to come.
"November, huh… there really are not many major events. December, on the other hand, is going to be busy."
Thinking back over the peaceful stretch of recent days, Shirou began considering what lay ahead.
After all, whenever there was a holiday, the Penguin Logistics crew always wanted to throw a party. Naturally, there was no way they would skip Christmas.
That was the perfect occasion for a full meat feast, and Emperor would also prepare presents for everyone.
Although the image of a penguin handing out Christmas gifts somehow felt extremely strange.
In Shirou's impression, Santa Claus lived at the North Pole, while penguins belonged in the South Pole.
It just felt weird.
Still, November really did not have any especially memorable holidays. The only notable thing was Texas buying a massive amount of discounted Pocky on the eleventh.
Other than that, there was nothing much. December, meanwhile, not only had Christmas but also matters involving Rhodes Island.
Although no exact schedule had been decided yet, Shirou only remembered that they were supposed to head to an Ursus mobile city, namely Chernobog, to rescue people there.
The difficulty of this operation was extremely high, but Rhodes Island was already coordinating with the relevant individuals and simply waiting for the right opportunity.
When the time came, both he and everyone from Penguin Logistics would participate together, though they would not go too deep inside and would instead remain outside as support.
Only if the situation became truly dire would Shirou personally intervene.
Still, Shirou somehow felt that things definitely would not be so simple when the time came. It was better to make thorough preparations in advance.
After all, every time he went somewhere, strange incidents always seemed to happen.
Anyone who knew about the things he had experienced would look at him with puzzled expressions, almost as if asking whether he was cursed by misfortune itself. Otherwise, why would trouble follow him everywhere he went?
Forget everyone else. Even Shirou himself had begun wondering whether his luck was simply abnormally terrible.
Regarding that, Shirou only hoped he was overthinking things.
After arriving at the Guard Department, things proceeded mostly as usual. The only difference now was that when sparring with Chen, Shirou had started incorporating Projection into his fighting style.
In other words, Shirou's offensive methods had become much more varied, to the point that Chen genuinely wanted to draw Chi Xiao and fight him seriously.
In the end, however, she restrained herself. After all, she was training to learn how to deal with a variety of combat styles. If she fought with her full strength, that purpose would instead be lost.
In actual combat, nobody was going to care whether she could fully utilize her strength or not. For the current Chen, Chi Xiao's unpredictability was a bit too high.
She could not reliably draw it every single time, so preparing for battle without depending on Chi Xiao was the best approach.
Most importantly, whenever she faced Shirou, no matter how she tried, Chi Xiao felt as though it had been glued firmly inside its sheath and simply would not come out.
Which was extremely infuriating.
Still, through the constant sparring sessions, Chen gradually became more and more proficient at responding to different kinds of attacks.
If one wanted to improve quickly, the accumulation of practical combat experience was indispensable.
For now, however, it was limited to close-range sword combat. Shirou had not yet added training involving other weapons or long-range combat.
The former was because Shirou himself was not particularly skilled with many other weapon types, making it somewhat troublesome.
As for the latter, the training grounds at the Guard Department were too small, and there were too many people around during this time period. It would easily disturb others.
Apparently, after hearing about this issue, Wei Yenwu had already begun arranging an appropriate training area.
Regarding this, Shirou reasonably suspected that Wei Yenwu was secretly retaliating against Chen for tattling on him.
Or perhaps Wei Yenwu truly held extremely high expectations for Chen and was therefore willing to invest considerable effort into training her.
Unfortunately, that made things difficult for Shirou. Every day, he had to rack his brains trying to figure out how to better squeeze out Chen's potential.
"Hah… hah… your ability really is… difficult to deal with…"
Panting heavily, Chen complained about Shirou's combat style.
"It is manageable, it is manageable."
The deep resentment in her voice was obvious, but Shirou did not pay it much mind.
After all, Shirou had already restricted himself to using only Kanshou and Bakuya. If he removed that limitation, Chen's resentment would probably become far worse.
Elysium had said it well: as long as there was enough information, even the weaker side had a chance to turn things around.
"Tch… how irritating."
Seeing that Shirou was not taking the matter seriously at all, Chen clicked her tongue.
After numerous sparring sessions, Chen had already become extremely familiar with the pair of black-and-white swords. She could practically picture their size, dimensions, and movement trajectories through the air with her eyes closed.
Of course, that only applied when there was one pair.
Once Shirou threw one pair and immediately projected another pair afterward, the trajectories in the air became unbelievably bizarre.
Chen had once been caught in exactly that kind of pincer attack. If Shirou had not stopped in time, she probably would have ended up hospitalized.
Still, after experiencing it once, she had become much more cautious regarding that tactic.
Although it was not particularly useful.
Shirou had simply performed it naturally on instinct. Without Kanshou and Bakuya, ordinary people simply could not replicate such an offensive style.
And that still was not even complete.
It was only two pairs of twin blades.
"You will get used to it. Later on, you can unlock even more weapons for an even better experience!"
Looking at Chen, Shirou thought for a moment before giving her a thumbs-up.
"You… did you learn bad habits from Wei Yenwu or something? I seriously feel like the way you talk lately has become incredibly aggravating!"
Faced with Shirou's thumbs-up attack, Chen's eyes twitched slightly as she spoke.
Ever since Shirou followed that white-haired women to meet Wei Yenwu that day, the destructive power of his verbal attacks had risen dramatically.
It was not that he said anything especially harsh.
It just made people really want to punch him.
This absolutely had to be Wei Yenwu's fault. Later, she needed to gather more embarrassing material about him and hand it over to Auntie Fumizuki.
No… perhaps Penguin Logistics was also part of the problem.
Shirou really had gone bad after staying with them!
No wonder Penguin Logistics had been unusually quiet lately. So they had already begun operating in secret!?
"Really? I normally talk like this though. Or would it be better if I acted a bit more restrained?"
Shirou himself did not seem aware of it at all. This really was how he normally spoke.
Perhaps because he had behaved more cautiously around others before, people had developed misconceptions?
If that was the case, he could try restraining himself a little.
"No… this is fine. Besides, with Char Siu Cat around, you are honestly not that bad."
Hearing Shirou's response, Chen rejected the suggestion immediately.
She had only brought it up out of concern, wondering whether something had happened to make Shirou's words become more aggressive lately. She had not expected him to say this was simply his normal personality.
If that was the case, then there was nothing to be done.
Compared to a restrained relationship, Chen preferred Shirou being slightly more relaxed around them. Their current way of interacting was actually quite good.
Just as she said, no matter how aggravating Shirou could be, he still could not compare to Char Siu Cat. When that young lady became sharp-tongued, she genuinely was incredibly irritating.
"If Swire hears you saying that behind her back, she is definitely going to make a scene."
Watching Chen badmouth Swire where she could not hear it, Shirou could only smile helplessly and remind her.
In that regard, the two of them were actually quite similar.
"Hmph! Let her make a scene if she wants. I am not afraid."
Chen snorted lightly, looking completely fearless.
Then she glanced around, straightened herself, and sheathed her standard-issued sword before saying:
"Still, there are too many people here. If others misunderstand and think I am the type who only talks badly about people behind their backs, that would not be good. So let us stop here for today, alright?"
If she had not added that final sentence, Shirou might actually have believed her earlier words.
"Then let us call it here for today. Remember to drink some hot water first, and do not catch a cold either. Lungmen has been getting pretty chilly lately… also, I made rice noodle rolls for lunch today. If I remember correctly, you really like those."
After checking the time, although there was still a bit left before their usual training session would end, Shirou felt that finishing early today was perfectly fine.
In weather like this, wanting to slack off a little was something he could understand.
As gusts of cold wind blew past, Shirou vaguely noticed Chen shiver slightly while holding her sword. As a result, he immediately launched into a long stream of concerned reminders.
"Alright, alright! Stop talking already! I get it!"
After hearing Shirou's words, Chen felt that something about the situation was strangely off, but no matter how long she thought about it, she could not identify the exact reason. In the end, she could only directly interrupt him before he continued any further.
The feeling was far too strange. It made her want to curl her toes into the floor awkwardly.
Especially when the surrounding people all turned to look in their direction after hearing Shirou speak.
Feeling the rather piercing gazes from around her, Chen immediately quickened her pace and fled the scene.
Still, there really was nothing wrong with what Shirou said. After training in this kind of weather, keeping warm truly was important. Drinking hot water also helped warm the body, and the rice noodle rolls Shirou made sounded genuinely appealing.
It was just…
The whole feeling really was strangely subtle.
"Ah… she ran off so fast. I did not even get to tell her I prepared hot tea too. Some people at the Guard Department said drinking goji berry tea during winter feels really nice."
Before Shirou could even react, Chen had already disappeared rapidly into the distance.
There was no way he was going to chase after her. He had absolutely no intention of following someone into the women's changing room.
He simply did not understand why she had run away so quickly. Whenever he reminded the Penguin Logistics girls to stay warm, they also looked as though they wanted to escape immediately.
Could there be something wrong with the way he phrased things?
While cleaning up the training grounds, Shirou pondered this rather profound question seriously.
If he had listened more carefully outside the training grounds, he probably would have heard the evaluation others were giving him:
"Were those just now some kind of mom-style lectures?"
Unfortunately, Shirou remained completely unaware of this.