These past few days, Shirou and the members of Penguin Logistics had been living relatively simple lives. Training and attending classes had become the main focus of their days.
Though for Shirou, life was actually more relaxed than it had been in Lungmen.
After all, when sparring with Chen, he had to constantly think about how to pressure her in ways that would help her improve while still making the fights challenging.
But over at Rhodes Island, he only needed to maintain his own condition without thinking about so many extra things.
As for classes, attending them had actually been Shirou's own suggestion.
If he really wanted to, he could find similar courses in Lungmen as well, but the cost was rather painful. If he formally enrolled in school, the schedule would also easily conflict with Penguin Logistics, the Lungmen Guard Department, and his own work.
Now, however, he happened to have free time, and Rhodes Island welcomed anyone interested to sit in on lectures. So whenever he had the chance, Shirou would attend classes that interested him.
The others from Penguin Logistics also had no idea what else to do, so they simply followed Shirou around.
As a result, some of Rhodes Island's basic classes now contained one extremely attentive student, two people dozing off, and two casually auditing the lessons.
Most of the material was very basic. As couriers, the members of Penguin Logistics had naturally encountered it before. But knowing something and being able to apply it in reality were two completely different matters.
For Shirou, however, all of this was completely new knowledge. He had to spend a great deal of time and effort memorizing everything.
If it had been the version of him that had just arrived on Terra, he would also have needed to deal with the fact that all of this fundamentally overturned his previous understanding of the world, forcing him to adapt first.
But after nearly ten months of adjustment, Shirou had already integrated quite well into life on Terra.
Even so, because he had spent almost all his time living only in Lungmen, and because much of his knowledge came from books, he still ended up making plenty of embarrassing mistakes.
For example, the books described Laterano as a holy land filled with devout Sankta people.
Shirou had formed a very vivid mental image from that description. But for some reason, when he mentioned this to Exusiai, she suddenly burst out laughing while clutching her stomach.
The others nearby also started laughing. Only then did Shirou suddenly remember something very important.
Namely, Exusiai herself was usually quite unreliable...
Could it be that all Laterano people were like this?
Originally, Shirou had imagined a group of Laterano people resembling the angels from his impressions. Each of them would hold an ancient-looking book in their hands while sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows of a church, illuminating the faithful as they prayed sincerely.
But once he imagined all Laterano people behaving like Exusiai...
In an instant, the entire atmosphere in his mind changed into a group of Laterano people playing with guns and explosives on the streets before hosting dessert parties inside churches.
After that, Shirou found it difficult to look directly at Laterano people the same way again. Every time he saw one, he would subconsciously pay a little extra attention.
Most of them turned out not to differ too much from what he had imagined. Only one Laterano person with a black halo and a stern expression truly matched his original expectations.
Yet with all the cheerful Laterano people around for comparison, that serious Laterano person instead felt somewhat out of place.
Although he had suffered a small setback, Shirou did not lose heart.
It was only a minor accident! Surely everything else would be fine!
After that, Shirou devoted one hundred and twenty percent of his focus toward studying seriously.
Even though it had been a very long time since he last sat in a classroom, strictly speaking, he should still have been a third-year high school student at this point.
So he could still study! He could still learn!
With that spirit in mind, Shirou gave it his all.
Unfortunately, the results were somewhat disappointing.
"Ah... just let the world end already."
Looking at the notes spread across his desk, Shirou felt an intense headache coming on.
Even though he did not consciously hold too many stereotypes, he still could not help automatically applying the familiar frameworks from his own world, allowing himself to fit naturally into Terra's various nations.
As a result, he ended up making many embarrassing assumptions.
Kazimierz was an especially notable example. At first, when he heard it was a city of knights, he had been rather curious. He originally intended to find an opportunity to ask Nearl about it, but after the Laterano incident, he decided to probe the Penguin Logistics members first.
Only after asking did he discover that the so-called city of knights was merely a glamorous title used for appearances. The knights there were less like traditional knights and more like gladiators from Shirou's understanding.
After hearing that answer, Shirou felt fortunate that he had asked around first. Otherwise, he definitely would have been greeted by Nearl's awkward expression and explanation.
The other places were not much better either. Mainly because communication across Terra was not very advanced, and the technology of each region differed greatly, leading to many cultural differences that Shirou struggled to understand.
For the first time, he truly felt like he had arrived in another world. The difference between Lungmen and the place he used to live was simply too small, causing him to mistakenly believe most of Terra was probably similar.
Reality proved that he had been overthinking things.
"Come on, do not feel down! I already told you that you cannot trust everything written in books! You can only understand a place's true atmosphere by actually going there yourself!"
Seeing Shirou looking completely defeated, Exusiai leaned over and spoke.
Normally, Shirou was either reading books or taking notes. He was seriously hardworking.
But now, after hearing the truth from others, he had completely entered an existential crisis mode.
"So that is the reason you never graduated from high school?"
Leaning back in his chair, Shirou kept staring at the pile of notes in front of him while replying to Exusiai without even shifting his gaze.
"But at least I know more things than you do!"
A very aggressive counterattack, but Exusiai remained completely unfazed.
She had long since made peace with her academic record. She had already been teased about it countless times within Penguin Logistics. Besides, Shirou was eighteen years old this year, which technically meant he had not graduated high school either.
She, Exusiai, was not alone!
"...Sigh."
Hearing Exusiai say that, Shirou let out a helpless sigh and silently postponed her apple pie in his mind all the way to the year after next.
Whenever Exusiai said the wrong thing or did something stupid, Shirou would push her apple pie schedule further back.
But after delaying it over and over again, it was almost reaching an entire year. If this kept going, she probably would never get to eat apple pie for the rest of her life.
Of course, Shirou could simply ignore all those self-imposed delays and make one for her whenever he wanted. But considering that those postponements were added whenever she annoyed him, his motivation to make one was naturally not very strong.
Everything depended on fate. Only when the timing felt right and his mood was good would he finally make apple pie.
"Come on, Exusiai, save it. Were you not only able to become like this because the Boss and Yith stuffed a bunch of books and instructional videos into your hands?"
Croissant joined the conversation, immediately exposing Exusiai's act the moment she entered.
"Hehe."
In response, Exusiai only gave an awkward laugh before silently retreating.
Most of her studying had happened because she was forced into it. Compared to Shirou, she really was not that impressive.
The only reason she knew more than him was because she had lived longer, and because Shirou was not even from Terra in the first place.
In less than a year, Shirou had already absorbed a massive amount of knowledge, including some things that even Exusiai herself did not fully understand.
The reason she had been teasing him was because Shirou had spent these past few days doing nothing but studying. He had absolutely no intention of exploring Rhodes Island with them.
And with the operation beginning in just a few days, not taking time to relax a little would not be good.
Nobody knew why Shirou was studying this seriously. Normally, casually reading during free time would have been understandable, but after finding the right environment, he had practically thrown himself completely into it.
He even deliberately chose practical classes, and had built connections with the medical department because he wanted to learn emergency treatment techniques.
He was busy like a spinning top.
"What Exusiai really means is that she wants you to go have fun with her!"
Since Sora was not personally involved, she felt absolutely no embarrassment exposing Exusiai's true intentions.
After getting called out, Exusiai could not even keep smiling anymore. She could only stare helplessly at the two people who had exposed her before turning toward Texas for emotional support.
"It is not impossible. Amiya did tell me to pay attention to my mental state."
Actually, around the third day after Shirou began studying seriously, the others had already started trying to persuade him to go out and have fun with them. But Shirou had completely lost himself in learning and politely declined every invitation.
Now, however, there were not many classes left that interested him. Most operators were busy preparing for Rhodes Island's upcoming large-scale operation and no longer had time to arrange lectures.
In addition, during a chance encounter with Amiya, she had specifically reminded him to take care of himself and not push himself too hard.
All he could say was that Originium Arts truly left him with no privacy whatsoever.
"See! Even the little rabbit could not stand watching anymore! This round is our victory!"
Exusiai, who had tried seeking comfort from Texas only to be pushed away in disgust, immediately turned back toward Shirou again.
"Yes, yes, yes. Since it is only just past noon, where are you all planning to go? The convenience store again?"
Shirou's tone was filled with perfunctory resignation, but at least he had agreed to their suggestion of going out.
As he packed up the notes he had taken over the past few days, he casually asked the question.
Rhodes Island looked enormous, but most of the space was living quarters, while some areas were restricted entirely. After eliminating those, there were really only a handful of places worth visiting.
Shirou personally guessed that the convenience store was the most likely destination. After all, new items appeared there every day. Blaze had mentioned that if someone became close enough to Closure, the owner of the shop, it was even possible to buy certain hidden items there.
However, Shirou had no habit of buying cigarettes, alcohol, or other strange products. The normal merchandise in the store was already more than enough for him.
"Ugh, this month's salary is still back in Lungmen... Shirou, do you have any Lungmen dollars on you?"
After hearing Shirou's question, the group suddenly realized that their salaries were all still back in Lungmen.
It was not that they had forgotten. Their departure date had simply coincided with payday, so they had not brought much money with them.
Now the entire village's hopes rested upon Shirou's wallet!
"I have some, but definitely not enough."
Sighing, Shirou pulled out his wallet.
Even though he had intentionally brought extra money, it still was not enough to support the spending habits of four people.
At this point, Shirou had already excluded himself from the calculations entirely, yet the amount was still insufficient.
"It is enough, it is enough! We brought some money too. It is just that if we had our full salaries with us, we could really spend freely. Besides, Rhodes Island covers all daily living expenses this month anyway."
Looking at Shirou's thick wallet, both Exusiai's and Croissant's eyes practically turned into Lungmen dollar symbols.
When traveling outside, they really could rely only on Shirou!
After deciding on a destination, the four of them immediately dragged Shirou out the door, seemingly afraid he might suddenly change his mind.
"Sora and Texas, you two as well..."
Looking at Sora and Texas joining in, Shirou felt somewhat helpless.
Still, it was understandable. They had spent most of their time accompanying him to classes these past few days. Feeling pent-up was only natural.
"I heard there are newly arrived clothes in stock. There are even men's clothes too!"
Compared to Shirou's helplessness, Sora looked especially lively, practically skipping as she walked.
After all, clothes were extremely important! Rhodes Island gathered people from all across Terra, so the clothing designs available there came in every possible style. Because of that, Sora loved checking Rhodes Island's terminal whenever she had free time.
But looking through a terminal was completely different from seeing things with her own eyes.
Clothing was the sort of thing that needed to be tried on personally to know whether it truly suited someone.
Normally, Shirou rarely bought clothes for himself. That was why Sora had started plotting, joining forces with the others to help Shirou find suitable outfits.
Unfortunately, aside from Texas, the fashion sense of the other two was honestly... difficult to put into words.
In the end, only she and Texas were allowed to help choose clothes, while the other two were directly banned from participating.
"...Actually, I already have enough clothes to wear."
After hearing Sora's words, Shirou fell silent for a moment. After thinking about the few outfits in his closet, he finally spoke.
Because he was still growing taller. Buying clothes now felt somewhat wasteful.
But clearly, Sora did not care much about that.
"Hehe~? If I remember correctly, some of those clothes were bought by you yourself right after arriving in Lungmen, right? Those loose-fitting outfits have already turned into skin-tight clothes, and you still do not plan on replacing them?"
Seeing that Shirou seemed ready to refuse buying new clothes, Sora stopped walking and narrowed her eyes at him as she spoke.
"...Fine, we will buy them. I will wear them."
Compared to the other three, cheerful Sora becoming serious was somehow the scariest.
It was not the kind of pressure that made him nervous exactly, but more like... a feeling of guilt?
After all, she was acting like this because she wanted to help buy things for him. That made it very difficult to refuse her.
"Then let us go!"
Seeing that Shirou was no longer resisting, Sora finally turned around and continued walking forward.
"Good luck."
Meanwhile, Shirou received verbal encouragement from Texas, along with a pat on the shoulder and a gaze full of concern.
As far as she knew, Sora had already picked out quite a few outfits.
She wondered just how many times Shirou would end up changing clothes today. Though an entire afternoon should probably be enough.
Touching the box of Pocky in her pocket, Texas quietly thought to herself.