Rope's little psychological counseling classroom had been surprisingly effective.
At the very least, from the perspective of the Penguin Logistics crew, who could clearly sense the change in Shirou, the difference was extremely obvious.
The smile on his face felt far more genuine than before, to the point that Exusiai and Croissant both started feeling their scalps tingle as they desperately tried recalling whether they had offended him recently.
Compared to those two, who constantly engaged in battles of wits with Shirou every day, Texas and Sora were much simpler in their thinking.
They simply assumed Shirou had encountered something good.
So the two quietly snuck over to ask him about it.
"Hm? Something good happened? I do not think so. What is it?"
Hearing their question, Shirou froze for a moment.
Nothing particularly special had happened today. He had only chatted with Rope for a while.
"It is nothing. You just seemed to be in a really good mood, so we got curious."
Apparently dissatisfied with Shirou's answer, Sora puffed out her cheeks slightly.
If it were something bad, of course they would not ask.
But if it was something good, then there was no problem.
If something good happened, naturally everyone should share the happiness together.
"Yeah. Sometimes lately, Shirou, you would suddenly close your eyes and start thinking deeply by yourself. You looked kind of troubled, so we were all worried."
Texas was much more direct with her words.
"Sorry about that. Lately I kept getting distracted thinking about things without realizing it. But if I seem to be in a good mood... it is probably because I talked with Rope today."
After hearing them, Shirou pressed his palms together apologetically.
He really had been zoning out and thinking to himself quite often recently. He had not expected the people around him to worry this much.
Realizing that, and thinking back carefully, Shirou noticed that it was not just Rope.
Quite a lot of people had been caring about him in their own ways.
The feeling was somewhat strange.
But he did not dislike it.
"Rope? That purple Cautus girl?"
Sora thought for a moment before finally remembering who she was.
After all, none of them had ever gone to the Fuyuki Shop before. At most, they had only glanced at it while passing by.
"I vaguely remember her."
After hearing Sora mention her, Texas also recalled Rope' appearance.
Shirou did not keep them in suspense and simply gave a brief explanation of what he and Rope had talked about today.
Of course, he left out certain parts.
Experiencing the embarrassment of exposing his black history once was already more than enough.
Texas and Sora, along with Exusiai and Croissant, who had wandered over after sensing an interesting conversation happening nearby, soon understood the general situation.
"Mhm, that was really well said! I have decided! I am going to make a whole bunch of apple pies so those kids can understand just how wonderful apple pie truly is!"
After hearing Shirou's story, Exusiai suddenly jumped up and clenched her fist dramatically.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Shirou felt like the wings behind her were practically glowing like burning flames.
The others also seemed to get swept up in the mood, each enthusiastically declaring that they wanted to bring gifts for the children too.
What exactly was this suddenly passionate atmosphere?
Still, it was a gesture of kindness from everyone, so Shirou did not reject it.
Though he did push back against some of the more outrageous ideas.
For example, Croissant suggested gifting the spicy chili seasoning Nian had recommended, while Texas wanted to give practice swords so the children could learn self-defense from a young age.
The second suggestion was actually fairly reasonable considering the slum environment.
But Croissant's idea was completely absurd.
The shop's bathroom simply could not survive that kind of destruction, so absolutely not.
The other suggestions, however, were quite suitable.
Not even counting the various desserts Exusiai wanted to make, Croissant brought out several toys suitable for children, while Sora produced a sound system and a stack of CDs she had used for quite some time, saying they could play music in the shop.
Texas painfully took out the Pocky she had bought recently, but judging by her expression, everyone immediately worked together to convince her to reconsider.
"I cannot carry all this by myself... unless you all want to come over and take a look too? I do not think any of you have been there before, right?"
As everyone spoke, they continuously piled more and more items onto the living room table.
Looking at the mountain of stuff, the corner of Shirou's mouth twitched slightly.
Trying to transport all of this with just a bicycle would probably require several trips, and it would be dangerous too.
As for using a car, he was still learning and had not gotten his driver's license yet, so that was not an option either.
That meant he could only ask the others for help.
Besides, he remembered that everyone had always been curious about the place anyway. This was a good opportunity to bring them over.
As for the issue they had always worried about before—
Previously, everyone had been concerned about Penguin Logistics' enemies within the slums. If someone discovered their connection to the shop, it could become troublesome.
Since Shirou rarely appeared among Lungmen's delivery personnel, and because he himself was extremely cautious, he would always change clothes and wear a mask whenever he went there. So there had never been too much of a problem.
At least the surface-level precautions were enough to discourage most people.
And if someone truly intended to target the Fuyuki Shop, they would probably uncover Shirou's relationship with the LGD anyway, which naturally made most people unwilling to act recklessly.
Although working for the LGD was exhausting, it undeniably gave people a strong sense of security in situations like this.
Not only Shirou, but everyone else understood this as well.
As for how many people were secretly backing the Fuyuki Shop behind the scenes, probably only Emperor, Yith, and a handful of directly involved individuals knew the full picture.
At least Shirou himself had no idea.
In his eyes, the reason the Fuyuki Shop remained so peaceful was entirely thanks to Phal and Jaye acting as its guardian deities. Though now Lin Yuhsia and the Rat King probably counted too.
Considering how the shop had already formed cooperative relationships with many people, Shirou felt bringing the Penguin Logistics crew over was actually a good idea.
It was not only the Penguin Logistics members who were curious about the children in the shop.
The children were also extremely curious about Shirou's coworkers.
After all, children naturally paid attention to anyone with a particularly unique style, and Penguin Logistics just happened to be one of the most distinctive groups in all of Lungmen.
This was killing three birds with one stone.
It solved the issue of Shirou being unable to transport everything himself, while also satisfying the curiosity of both Penguin Logistics and the children of the Fuyuki Shop by letting them finally meet each other.
Feeling rather satisfied with his own suggestion, Shirou nodded to himself.
His idea really was pretty good.
"Then it is settled. We will head over tomorrow evening."
The four of them quickly gathered together and discussed the details and exact timing.
After all, they had always wanted to visit the place anyway, so there was no reason to reject the proposal.
And besides, they all knew exactly what Shirou was trying to do.
However, it did not really matter. This was Penguin Logistics after all. Delivering cargo to the designated location was their job.
Besides, Shirou had already paid the transportation fee, and that meal earlier had truly tasted amazing.
"Then let us leave it at that for now. Next comes the work-related part."
After seeing everyone finish one round of discussion, Texas finally brought up the next topic.
Happy moments would always pass. The things that needed to be faced still had to be faced eventually.
And this was work that Shirou had personally taken on.
"The boss has already reached an agreement with Rhodes Island. However, because the target location for this operation is a mobile city of Ursus, we will not be acting under the name of Penguin Logistics during the operation. Our main responsibility is to assist the Rhodes Island operators entering Chernobog."
Texas took out the printed documents that Yith had organized and spread them across the table. For a large-scale operation like this, paper documents were more convenient. They could easily be sealed away or burned afterward.
At the same time, she also explained Penguin Logistics' primary responsibilities in this operation, along with the necessary precautions.
"So we are not using our name, huh? Is the boss worried about us getting hunted down by Ursus?"
Now that they had entered work mode, even Croissant had a rare serious expression, though her words were still not exactly serious.
"No. The main issue is that dealing with the aftermath would be troublesome, and we might lose future Ursus contracts."
Texas shook her head and repeated Yith's words exactly as she had heard them.
"…That really does sound like Yith."
Sitting to the side and listening seriously, Shirou's mouth twitched slightly.
Still, it was understandable. Ursus had once been extremely powerful. Unless necessary, it was better not to make an enemy of them.
At the end of the day, Ursus was an entire nation, while they were only a handful of individuals. There was simply no comparison.
If it were the boss, he probably would not care about such things, but Yith was different. He was practically worrying herself sick over Penguin Logistics.
Shirou sincerely hoped that Yith could someday get a proper night's sleep without having to work overtime anymore.
"Ahem… what about the mission details?"
After coughing twice, Sora forcefully moved the conversation past that topic.
They had finally managed to establish a somewhat serious atmosphere for work, but the moment Croissant opened her mouth, the entire tone started drifting off course. Even the usually serious Shirou had been dragged along with it.
This definitely had to be the result of Croissant and Exusiai being bad influences.
"We are expected to arrive at Rhodes Island on December 10 to finalize the operational strategy, then depart on December 20. The rescue operation is expected to begin around December 23."
Seeing Sora pull the topic back on track, Texas revealed an expression of relief, nodded toward her, and continued speaking.
"Eh… then I will not make it back in time for my birthday!"
After hearing the exact schedule, Exusiai immediately lost composure.
She had been looking forward to it for so long. Shirou had promised to make a Christmas feast along with a birthday feast for her.
With two celebrations together, asking Shirou to make an apple pie was not excessive, right?
Originally, she had planned to start begging Shirou for a slice of apple pie every day over the next few days. But now the entire thing was gone before it even started.
At this rate, there was no guarantee they would even make it back to Lungmen before the New Year.
"It does not matter where you celebrate it. Rhodes Island mainly invited Shirou as the core combat force this time. The rest of us are only assisting from the sidelines."
Texas glanced at Exusiai, forcing back whatever she had been about to say next before continuing.
"Um… can the schedule not be moved earlier?"
Still unwilling to give up, Exusiai weakly raised her hand and asked.
The difference in momentum between now and a moment ago was so dramatic that even Shirou could not help admiring the killing power of Texas's glare.
"Stop thinking about it. We will celebrate it for you aboard Rhodes Island when the time comes. There are plenty of things there. We might even be able to find you a cake made by a Sankta."
Texas's gaze became even sharper as she practically gritted out those words.
"Mm-hm, understood."
Sensing the dangerous aura radiating from her teammate, Exusiai immediately sat upright and made a zipping motion across her mouth.
"…Is the timing fixed at that point?"
Watching Exusiai's reaction, Shirou thought for a moment before speaking up. If the schedule could be moved earlier, naturally that would be better.
Still, even if it could not, it did not really matter. Since Rhodes Island had arranged the timing this way, they likely had their own plans. They could not disrupt those arrangements just because of their own selfish wishes.
After all, this was an operation where lives were at stake. Any mistake in the details could cost someone their life.
"It would be difficult. Disaster Messengers detected signs of a Catastrophe forming a long time ago. That period is when the city's defenses will be at their weakest."
Hearing Shirou ask the question, Texas understood that he was speaking on Exusiai's behalf. However, since the one asking was Shirou, she forced herself to suppress the urge to hit someone and patiently explained.
She could deal with Exusiai afterward. After all, the conversation had only started going off track because of her.
"A Catastrophe… I understand now. We are taking advantage of that time window to infiltrate the city?"
After hearing Texas's explanation, Shirou immediately understood why they had chosen that timing.
If the Disaster Messengers had already issued warnings and confirmed the timing of the Catastrophe, then before the mobile city began moving to evade it, the city's defenses would indeed become weaker during that period.
However, the problem was also obvious: what if the Catastrophe arrived earlier than expected…
No, surely his luck was not that terrible, right? He was not the kind of person who would kick a table while walking around and smash his toe against the table leg.
"A Catastrophe? Is that not extremely dangerous?"
The issue Shirou thought of naturally occurred to the others as well. Croissant raised her hand and asked.
It was not as though they had never dealt with Catastrophes before. The one Shirou had shattered previously counted as an example.
Although she knew that Rhodes Island must have already done their research, she still felt somewhat worried.
After all, Catastrophes meant Oripathy. They meant there was a chance they could become infected. They meant spending huge amounts of money on treatment.
And it also meant her little savings fund would disappear.
"Assuming nothing unexpected happens, the Catastrophe should fully form around December 30. Rhodes Island's Catastrophe Messengers have already investigated this."
Texas was naturally well aware of this point. It had already been thoroughly investigated.
"I see. So basically this time we are just assisting Shirou, right?"
After understanding the general outline of the operation, the group did not have many more questions.
After all, they would only learn the detailed information once they arrived at Rhodes Island and coordinated with the operators there.
More than ten days was already more than enough time for them to understand the situation and prepare the appropriate weapons, equipment, and plans.