The group remained silent throughout the journey back.
With Shirou saying nothing, no one else felt comfortable breaking the silence.
Aside from Blaze, none of them had directly witnessed what happened inside. And Blaze had no intention of talking about it.
Before long, they returned to the aircraft, where they found the pilot anxiously fiddling with his communicator.
The moment he saw everyone return safely, he visibly relaxed and lowered the device in his hands.
"You scared me to death. What was that explosion just now?"
After they approached, the pilot immediately directed the question toward Blaze.
A quick glance told him that Shirou had clearly been through intense combat. His clothes were covered in bloodstains.
However, since he was not particularly familiar with Shirou, he refrained from asking further questions.
"I will explain later. Record this location first. Afterward, have someone come here to check the Originium concentration and deal with any remaining issues. For now, take us to Chernobog."
Rather than answering directly, Blaze shoved her terminal into the pilot's hands and began pushing him toward the aircraft.
"Huh? Alright, alright! Stop pushing!"
The pilot had no idea what was happening.
Still, seeing that everyone except himself and Blaze had already boarded, he realized the situation was probably serious.
Perhaps something terrible had happened over there.
That was the only explanation for everyone's urgency.
"Hurry, hurry! The little rabbit is in danger!"
After seeing the pilot finally free himself and quicken his pace toward the aircraft, Blaze immediately followed after him.
Finding her seat, securing her chainsaw, and settling down, she finally had a chance to observe everyone else.
The atmosphere was rather gloomy.
Which was understandable.
After all, there was one walking low-pressure system sitting among them.
"Shirou, are you not going to change out of that outfit?"
After some thought, Blaze decided to start a conversation and distract him.
Although he had appeared calm earlier, anyone would be shaken after witnessing something like that.
Speaking of calmness...
Blaze suddenly realized Shirou might have been too calm.
The only time he had shown any visible emotional disturbance was when he found that young Feline girl's body.
And even then, he had regained control remarkably quickly.
Thinking about it that way, his mental fortitude was actually quite terrifying.
Or perhaps he had witnessed even crueler scenes before.
Either possibility suggested that Shirou was far more complicated than he appeared on the surface.
Still, Blaze did not particularly care.
After all, he was someone both the little rabbit and the little kitten had personally vouched for.
There was no way he could be a bad person.
"No. That would waste magical energy. I already used quite a bit earlier. Right now, every bit I save matters."
Hearing Blaze's question, Shirou snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head.
He still had no idea what they would be facing next.
This was not the time to waste mana unnecessarily.
The worst-case scenario now was the possibility of encountering a Catastrophe.
And from the looks of it, things were not going smoothly on Amiya's side either.
Through the window, he could see thick smoke rising from the direction of Chernobog.
Whatever was happening there, it certainly was not peaceful.
And somehow...
The sky seemed darker than before.
That was definitely not good news.
"I see. Then have some water and food. Recover a little stamina…actually, never mind."
Since Shirou had already made up his mind, Blaze could only switch topics.
But the moment she spoke, she realized the question was pointless.
The members of Penguin Logistics had already prepared everything.
Even Rosmontis had handed Shirou a towel to wipe his face.
Blaze herself did not receive treatment like that.
A feeling of envy filled her heart.
"...Thank you."
Setting aside the fact that Rosmontis had practically plastered the towel directly onto his face, what was with everyone continuously stuffing snacks and water into his hands?
Forced to accept all their goodwill, Shirou stared at the growing collection of food and drinks in his arms with a rather complicated expression.
"What are you thanking us for? Hurry up and eat. Or do you want us to feed you ourselves?"
The moment she heard him say thank you, Exusiai immediately became dissatisfied.
Snatching back the apple-pie-flavored ration pack she had just given him, she tore it open and shoved the contents straight into his mouth.
Honestly, if Shirou had not looked so worn down, she would never have acted this forcefully.
"Mmph?!"
Caught completely off guard by the sudden mouthful of food, Shirou nearly failed to react in time.
"Exusiai, do not be so rough!"
Seeing this unfold, Sora hurried forward and stopped Exusiai's assault, rescuing Shirou before he choked to death.
The intentions had been good.
The execution, however, was a bit too violent.
After Sora intervened, Croissant and Texas dragged Exusiai away from the scene.
Only then did Shirou finally have enough breathing room to swallow the ration that had been stuffed into his mouth.
He immediately followed it with several large gulps of water.
How should he put it?
...This was certainly one way to receive care and concern.
The taste of the ration was honestly a little... strange.
Shirou could not understand why Exusiai liked this particular flavor.
"Tastes good, right?"
After personally watching Shirou swallow it, Exusiai confidently asked the question despite still being restrained by her two teammates.
"...It is good."
After a moment of hesitation, Shirou decided to lie through his teeth.
Then he watched as Exusiai blinked once before proudly declaring:
"Of course it is! I picked it out myself!"
The moment she finished speaking, laughter erupted from beside her.
Croissant was the one laughing.
"Pffahaha! Is this not the ration you bought because it was labeled apple pie flavor, only to discover it does not actually taste like apples at all?"
Shirou: "..."
For some reason, he suddenly felt a strong urge to decorate this aircraft with a pair of bull horns and add a glowing halo for good measure.
A misunderstanding.
It had to be a misunderstanding.
The corner of his mouth twitched twice.
In the end, however, he simply sighed and finished the rest of the ration.
At a time like this, whether the food tasted good or not was not particularly important.
The important thing was replenishing calories and nutrients.
If the only thing available right now were nutritional meal packs, he would probably eat those too.
"Enough fooling around. There are other people here."
Seeing that Exusiai was just about ready to challenge Croissant on the spot, Texas glanced at Shirou before finally speaking up.
The meaning was simple.
Both of them needed to stop.
Unfortunately, Exusiai seemed not to hear a word of it.
Texas frowned slightly and let go of her.
The effect was immediate.
Exusiai suddenly became well-behaved.
In fact, she even turned around and looked at her teammate with a puzzled expression.
"...I said stop fooling around."
Texas had no intention of indulging her.
She immediately delivered a chop to Exusiai's head.
A technique she had learned from Shirou.
Not particularly damaging.
But highly effective.
"Oh."
After receiving the chop, Exusiai finally settled down.
Their objective had already been achieved.
There was no need to keep up the act.
The whole performance had simply been an awkward way of distracting Shirou and taking his mind off what had happened.
They could more or less guess what he had seen behind that giant sword.
As couriers, they had witnessed their share of hardships and tragedies.
Of course, seeing a mushroom cloud from close range was a newly unlocked experience.
And aside from Exusiai, the other three unanimously agreed that they never wanted to experience it again.
"Blaze, what is the current situation?"
After finishing the ration in a few quick bites, Shirou felt somewhat more refreshed.
What had happened earlier still weighed heavily on him.
But he was not the type to remain trapped by it forever.
There were more important matters demanding his attention.
So he turned to Blaze for an update.
However, the one who answered was not Blaze.
It was the Rhodes Island pilot seated in the cockpit.
"We just established contact with people inside Chernobog... but the situation is not looking good. Reunion has started a large-scale uprising inside the city. It appears they are attempting to seize control of the mobile city."
This information had only recently arrived.
The operators sent in as reinforcements had realized something was wrong and hurriedly escaped from Chernobog, delivering the intelligence to the Rhodes Island personnel stationed outside.
With communications being disrupted, transmitting information had become extremely difficult.
Had that operator failed to bring the report out, they might have missed the best opportunity to provide support.
And Blaze's intuition or perhaps Shirou's intuition had turned out to be correct.
Fortunately, they had chosen to head directly toward Chernobog, cutting out part of the journey and allowing them to respond immediately.
"Reunion... the organization made up of infected people?"
After hearing the report, Blaze frowned.
She knew about the group.
Before this operation, she had spent time studying Ursus and its situation.
Naturally, that included learning about Reunion.
Rhodes Island paid close attention to issues affecting the infected.
And Reunion had emerged in Ursus, one of the most hostile nations toward the infected.
It was difficult not to remember them.
What she had not expected was that they would ultimately choose such an extreme course of action.
"Yes. Those people were probably Reunion members as well."
Shirou glanced at the prisoners still unconscious in the back.
His eyes swept over the orange armbands on their arms.
Eventually, his gaze stopped on the individual who had originally worn a red armband.
His feelings toward Reunion had become increasingly complicated.
Part of him wanted to trust Alina.
Wanted to believe in the Elafia woman who once spoke of a better future.
But their actions had repeatedly chipped away at his opinion of the organization called Reunion.
"Sigh... how did things end up like this?"
After hearing Shirou's conclusion, Blaze let out a deep sigh.
Anyone capable of committing atrocities like those must have strayed from their path long ago.
They claimed to fight for the sake of the infected.
Yet they committed acts like that.
Just thinking about it made Blaze want to personally kick every one of them into the sky.
"Anyway, start getting ready. We are almost at Chernobog... Texas, you and the others will be heading back to the outer encampment aboard the Bad Guy, right?"
Shirou had no intention of continuing the discussion about Reunion.
Lifting his head, he looked toward the members of Penguin Logistics and asked for their opinion.
After all, there was no reason for them to take such an enormous risk.
The city was already in chaos.
Now there was also the possibility of a Catastrophe.
Any normal person would avoid charging into a place like that.
Unfortunately, Shirou was not exactly a normal person.
A Catastrophe did not pose as much danger to him as it would to others.
As Warfarin once put it, with his current body, he could probably swallow Originium whole and still might not become infected.
Because of that, he could afford to recklessly rush in.
The members of Penguin Logistics could not.
"...If we go in, would we actually be able to help you?"
After a brief silence, Texas bit down on a Pocky stick and asked the question.
"It would be difficult. Besides dealing with Reunion's forces, you might also have to face Chernobog's defenders. And there is a chance we will have to deal with a Catastrophe as well."
After thinking it over, Shirou honestly shook his head.
He was not looking down on them.
This was simply a conclusion that had been stated outright by Yith before, and everyone present had heard it.
If they were only facing a small squad, Penguin Logistics would have enough room to operate.
But if they were facing the defenses of an entire city...
Running away would be the smarter choice.
And that was not even considering the possibility of a Catastrophe.
If one truly appeared, then the correct response would be to flee as far away as possible.
Not just ordinary people.
Even the strongest individuals were little more than dust before an Originium Catastrophe.
"Then we will stay out of the city. We will support you from outside."
After seeing Shirou shake his head, Texas bit off the end of her Pocky stick and calmly made her decision.
She was the leader of Penguin Logistics' Texas Team.
The safety of her people came first.
A person should know their limits.
Those who failed to understand their own capabilities would eventually die from overconfidence.
The others looked somewhat dissatisfied, but ultimately accepted Texas's judgment.
If there were no possibility of a Catastrophe, they would have at least tried to argue their case.
Unfortunately, the chances of one appearing ahead of schedule were now very high.
And unlike Shirou, they had no means of confronting such a disaster.
"Alright. Thank you."
Although he felt somewhat guilty about it, Shirou nodded and accepted their decision.
After all, this was a responsibility he had chosen to take upon himself.
There was no way he would allow them to shoulder such risks on his behalf.
"Make sure to bring plenty of supplies with you. Amiya and the others might really need them."
With the matter settled, Sora took the lead.
The others immediately began digging through their belongings and gathering anything useful.
Everything was packed into a small bag and handed over to Shirou.
Most of it consisted of emergency first-aid supplies, along with rations and items for rapid hydration.
The quantity was not large.
But it represented almost everything they had on hand.
"That is really nice, you know? Relationships like that. What do you think, little kitty?"
Watching the scene unfold, Blaze felt that the atmosphere within Penguin Logistics was actually quite admirable.
Though Shirou himself could be rather awkward about accepting such kindness.
Holding Rosmontis firmly in her arms as the younger girl repeatedly tried to move closer to Shirou, Blaze sighed in appreciation.
"I think you are hugging me too tightly."
Rosmontis, completely trapped in Blaze's embrace, held a slightly dirty towel in her hands and swung her legs helplessly above the floor.
Then she gave her honest assessment.
"I cannot even touch the ground."