By the time Closure was finally calmed down by Sora, half an hour had already passed.
"Um... sorry about that. A certain psychological trauma suddenly got triggered."
The now-composed Closure sat across from the group, her face filled with awkwardness.
"...Was it Nameless?"
After hearing her words, Shirou connected the dots and realize that there must have been some sort of history between her and Nameless.
Judging from Closure's earlier reaction, she had probably been tormented quite badly.
"Wah! Do not mention him! That guy is more Sarkaz than an actual Sarkaz!"
It would have been better not to mention it at all. The moment the name "Nameless" was brought up, Closure's eyes widened and her hands began trembling nonstop.
Shirou: "..."
Did that guy directly massacre people right in front of Closure or something? Otherwise, how could she react so intensely?
"Miss Closure, are you alright?"
After receiving the news, the late-arriving Amiya stepped forward to check on Closure's condition, only to witness that exact scene.
It was... rather awkward.
Still, awkward or not, what needed to be done still had to be done.
With Amiya's help, Closure finally stabilized much faster this time.
"I love engineering! I want to work! I want to go repair things! I want to organize circuits!"
Or rather, maybe she had stabilized, but maybe she had not.
Watching Closure dash away in a blur, the people left behind stared blankly.
"...I suggest arranging a therapist for her."
Looking at Amiya, Texas made the suggestion with a completely serious expression.
If she heard correctly earlier, a large portion of Rhodes Island's operations depended on Closure, but that mental state was honestly worrying.
Although geniuses were often eccentric, this seemed excessive.
"Haha... Miss Closure is fine. She is just especially afraid of Mr. Nameless."
After hearing Texas's words, Amiya gave an awkward laugh and explained.
"Did something happen?"
The moment the topic came up, Shirou became rather curious, so he voiced his doubts.
The others were equally curious.
In their eyes, Rhodes Island's Nameless was probably someone Shirou knew personally, perhaps even someone closely connected to him.
Since he was an acquaintance, naturally they were curious about him. Unfortunately, there were barely any accessible records regarding the man.
Within the information they could access, all they knew was that in the past, he specialized in handling missions that were extremely troublesome even for elite operators.
From the various Rhodes Island operators they had questioned, the most common evaluation they received was:
Nameless was extremely sharp-tongued.
"Hmm... there is quite a lot. I remember Miss Closure believed Mr. Nameless's abilities had enormous financial potential, so she wanted to commission him to manufacture a batch of firearms. Mr. Nameless agreed, but first he took out the gun he used most often and told Miss Closure to try it herself."
When she reached the latter half of the story, Amiya paused slightly.
She first glanced toward the direction Closure had fled in. Only after confirming the woman had completely disappeared did she lower her voice and continue speaking to the group.
"Then Miss Closure took it for testing. The moment she pulled the trigger, the recoil dislocated her arm. Although the doctors fixed it afterward and there were no lasting problems, after that incident Miss Closure never brought up the matter again."
Everyone: "..."
Aside from Amiya, everyone's gaze immediately shifted toward Exusiai.
After all, she was constantly talking about wanting Shirou to project guns for her to play with.
One could only say it was fortunate that Shirou still possessed a bit of conscience. Otherwise, perhaps this useless angel's arm would have been dislocated too.
"There was also another incident. In the past, Miss Closure often sold goods at prices far higher than the local market price. Then one time, she apparently sold snacks and biscuits to children at inflated prices as well."
"And the next day, Mr. Nameless came looking for her. He offered to help inspect the entirety of Rhodes Island for problems using the same analysis ability Shirou uses."
"I am not sure about the exact amount of time, but according to the Engineering Department staff, Nameless spent nearly ten days and nine nights taking Closure across the entirety of Rhodes Island. During that time, they barely slept at all, and the only thing they ate was Hibiscus's specially made super nutritious meals."
"After that incident, the prices of Miss Closure's products finally started becoming more stable. They were still slightly more expensive than local prices, but nowhere near as outrageous as before."
Although she did not understand why everyone was staring at Exusiai, Amiya still thoroughly explained the rest of the story involving Nameless and Closure.
In simple terms, Closure thought Nameless's abilities were incredibly convenient and repeatedly tried to make use of him.
The result was that she suffered terribly every single time.
As for the later incident involving overpriced goods and retaliation...
Honestly, it sounded quite satisfying, and everyone could understand why Closure had developed such an extreme reaction.
If it were them, being forced to work for ten days and nine nights without sleep while eating nothing but nutritional meals...
Just imagining it made their scalps go numb.
Unlike the others, however, Shirou's first thought was that Yith finally had a fellow overtime worker.
After Amiya's explanation, everyone finally understood the full sequence of events.
What Amiya did not mention was that Closure's condition had originally not been this severe. It was likely because she thought Nameless had returned from the dead that her reaction became so intense.
Still, there was no need to explain that part in such detail.
However, another problem quickly appeared.
Closure had run away, but her shop remained open, and nobody was left watching over it.
Thus, under Amiya's request, Shirou and the others briefly helped tidy up the shop and hung up a "Closed" sign.
As for anything else, there was nothing they could do.
Surely nobody on Rhodes Island would dare steal from this place anyway.
Unless they wanted their air conditioner to alternate unpredictably between freezing cold and burning hot while they slept, or for their shower to offer only magma and liquid nitrogen temperatures.
"Amiya, do you have any other plans later?"
After finishing cleaning up, Shirou checked the time. They should barely still be able to make it in time for dinner.
Out of courtesy, Shirou asked whether Amiya had any other work or arrangements afterward.
"Nope!"
Hearing Shirou's question, Amiya immediately understood the meaning behind it and directly nodded in response.
As for her work, she could simply push it back a little. None of it was particularly urgent.
Because of the operation preparations recently, she had already completed a large amount of work ahead of schedule. Right now, she was comparatively free, though most of her energy was being devoted to training.
"Then let us go together! I will invite Blaze and Rosmontis as well. We have mostly just been communicating through terminals these past few days, so we have not really met in person much."
After receiving her reply, Shirou thought that having only Amiya eating together with him and Penguin Logistics would definitely become awkward, so he decided to invite a few more people over.
Naturally, the people he was most familiar with were Blaze and Rosmontis.
Next would be Ace and Scout, but those two seemed fairly busy lately. They had apparently been doing combat simulations every day recently, so Shirou did not specifically contact them.
After sending a message, Blaze replied very quickly, saying she would arrive later.
Once they confirmed their next destination, the group soon headed toward the cafeteria.
For Shirou and Penguin Logistics, whose pockets contained a pitifully small amount of Lungmen dollars, Rhodes Island's cafeteria was practically their salvation.
After all, payment here used meal cards. Since Shirou had expected to stay here for quite a long time, he had stored quite a bit of money into his card beforehand.
From that perspective, he really had been rather farsighted.
The dinner was very enjoyable.
Especially for Blaze.
She was clearly having the time of her life, sitting with Amiya on one side and Rosmontis on the other while continuously placing food into both of their bowls throughout the entire meal.
Just watching it alone was enough to make Shirou feel full.
"Speaking of which, Shirou, you guys went to the shop earlier, right? You did not get ripped off, did you?"
After she finished feeding the others, Blaze finally noticed the paper bags beside Shirou's feet.
Those bags carried the special logo unique to Rhodes Island's shop.
"Uh... probably not? I doubt we will get ripped off in the future either."
Hearing Blaze's question, the first image that flashed through Shirou's mind was Closure trembling beneath the counter.
At the rate things were going, she probably would not even want to do business with him anymore.
Though honestly, there was not really anything to regret about that.
At the moment, Shirou's desire to buy things was fairly low.
The only unfortunate thing was that he never managed to ask where she bought that set of repair tools.
"That impressive, huh?"
Although Blaze could not understand Shirou's meaning at all, that did not stop her from feeling that it sounded incredibly impressive.
"Let us not talk about that for now. Blaze, you prepared everything already, right? This operation is really important, so make sure you do not forget anything, alright?"
Amiya, who understood the full story, hurriedly jumped in and interrupted the topic.
If Blaze learned about Closure's weakness, she would definitely find every possible way to exploit it and buy supplies from her.
After all, Closure was one of the few people on Rhodes Island who could personally order goods from outside. Most products passed through her hands at some stage.
Amiya absolutely did not want to someday witness a certain black feline drunkenly causing chaos around Rhodes Island.
"I brought everything! I even had someone check it all for me! There is definitely no problem, so do not worry!"
Faced with Shirou saying things she could not understand, Blaze's attention was immediately redirected by Amiya.
Thus, Blaze proudly patted her chest and confidently answered Amiya's question.
"I hope so. Last time your weapon malfunctioned and ended up increasing everyone else's workload quite a lot, you know?"
Looking at Blaze's expression, Amiya could only choose to believe that she had truly prepared everything properly. Still, she could not help giving her one final reminder.
That incident had happened quite a long time ago.
Back then, Blaze's chainsaw had been damaged by gunfire. After repairing it, she had gone on a mission without properly checking it first, which led to problems.
Normally, she always thoroughly checked her equipment before operations.
It was just that she occasionally forgot smaller items, such as medicine, bandages, emergency rations, and similar things.
"She normally looks so cute, so why does she suddenly become kind of terrifying at times like this?"
Watching the interaction between Amiya and Blaze, Penguin Logistics also began quietly... discussing things among themselves.
Naturally, Shirou was excluded.
Not because they were isolating him, but because after Blaze got dragged away by Amiya, Rosmontis immediately summoned Shirou over to her side.
That little white kitten was absolutely the strongest enemy Penguin Logistics had ever encountered.
They could not hit her.
They could not scold her.
They could only watch helplessly as she pulled Shirou away.
Although, even if they did fight, they probably would not win anyway.
Apparently, if Rosmontis became serious with her Arts, she could directly crush an entire vehicle into scrap metal.
If they really fought her, Penguin Logistics would probably end up transformed into a mixture of Lupo, Forte, and syrup-flavored Penguin sauce.
And even if they somehow won, they would still have to face Mama Shirou's wrath afterward.
This battle was completely unwinnable.
How infuriating!
Turning grief and anger into appetite, the group ate an extra half bowl of rice each.
Meanwhile, Shirou, who had been dragged away by Rosmontis, completely failed to notice what was happening with Penguin Logistics.
Instead, he patiently listened as Rosmontis talked about everything that had happened today.
From visiting the Medical Department for her daily examinations, to testing the results of her Originium Arts, accompanying Blaze to the Equipment Department for equipment inspections, and even what delicious foods she ate today.
All of it had been recorded on the terminal Rosmontis constantly carried around, and she read each entry aloud word for word while sharing them with Shirou.
"Sounds like you had a very happy day today."
After patiently listening to Rosmontis finish speaking, Shirou refilled her cup with water and handed it back to her.
Actually, he could have simply read everything directly from the terminal himself.
But if he did that, it would start feeling too much like he was checking up on what Rosmontis had done today, almost like supervising her.
The current arrangement felt much better.
Just like a child returning home and reporting everything that happened during the day to their parents...
Hmm? Somehow, this felt a little strange.
Thinking up to that point, Shirou frowned slightly as he sensed something was off.
It was an illusion. It had to be an illusion.
Still, although the feeling was subtle, he did not dislike it.
Of course, that was specifically in Rosmontis's case.
The reason she did this was because of her own condition. Since she easily forgot things, she could only rely on the terminal in her hands to remember them.
Repeating everything now was not only her way of confirming whether she had forgotten anything today, but also a way to help herself remember what had happened throughout the day.
Happy things, sad things, angry things...
Rosmontis's countless memories and emotions were all compressed into this tiny terminal, recorded through emotionless text.
Although no emotions could truly be felt from the words themselves, it became completely different once Rosmontis spoke them aloud.
At the very least, Shirou could clearly feel her happiness right now.
There was a little bit of it.
Not much, but definitely some.
"Mm, I am very happy."
After hearing Shirou's question, Rosmontis set down her terminal and nodded before adding another sentence after thinking for a moment.
"Everyone at Rhodes Island is my friend. Blaze, Ace, Scout, the other elite operators, and my squad members are all my family. That is why every day makes me very happy."
"That is good."
Watching Rosmontis say those words with such a serious expression, Shirou felt a faint urge to laugh.
"Then what about you, Shirou? Are you happy in Lungmen and at Rhodes Island too?"
Rosmontis stared directly at Shirou as she asked the question.
"...Yeah, I am happy too."
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Shirou froze briefly before turning his head toward Penguin Logistics, who were gathered together nearby discussing something unknown among themselves.
Then he glanced at Blaze, who was currently receiving verbal education from Amiya, before finally turning back toward Rosmontis, the one who had asked him that question.
"Although there are times when I feel irritated and end up thinking about many things, after coming here, what I feel more than anything else is happiness. Every person I have met, although each of them has their own troubles, still remains positive and works hard to happily live through every day, just like you, Rosmontis."
As he spoke, Shirou reached out and gently patted Rosmontis's small head.
Whether it was happiness or joy, if he truly had to give all those emotions a single name...
Shirou felt that perhaps the correct word would be:
Contentment.