Texas paused to think before giving her answer.
"Why is that a question? But red, huh..."
Shirou recalled a certain red figure, not that hateful figure, but rather the figure of a certain black-haired girl.
"Why ask about colors? Are you going to give Texas a gift, Shirou?"
Exusiai rested a hand on Texas's shoulder, then poked her head out from the side.
"Shirou is going to give Texas a gift!?"
Sora let out a confused shriek from behind.
"A gift? What is it, what is it?"
Croissant walked up with a curious look on her face.
"It's not a gift, I'm just wrapping the headphone cord with some string, like this."
Shirou flipped through his desk drawer and found that afternoon's prototype.
Disposable chopsticks were wrapped with white string, and there were barely any visible signs of knots.
"You're going to wrap the headphone cord again?"
Texas looked at the string on the chopsticks. It should have been wound using a special technique and then fixed with fire.
Only, she didn't quite understand the point of doing this.
"Besides looking nice, it also prevents pulling and tangling. This cord is pretty sturdy."
Shirou picked up a piece of string, pulled on it, and demonstrated its strength.
"Is it a hassle?"
Although Texas didn't care much about appearances, she wouldn't mind if it looked a bit nicer, provided it wasn't too much trouble for others.
"It'll take about half an hour to finish."
After getting Texas's answer, Shirou took out the red string and began wrapping it around the headphone cord.
"You're very skilled... What exactly did you do before, Shirou?"
Watching Shirou skillfully wrap the string, Exusiai suddenly remembered the premise that Shirou had amnesia.
After losing his memory, he still scored full marks in cleaning and cooking, could repair electrical appliances, and now looked quite proficient with string as well.
"Hmm? A student, I suppose?"
Shirou replied to Exusiai's question while continuing to wind the string.
"A student, huh? Then you're pretty young."
Croissant sat right down on Shirou's bed with a plop.
"It's great to be young."
Sora also found a spot to sit.
"I graduated quite a few years ago myself."
Exusiai sat down on it too.
"Did you even get a graduation certificate, Exusiai?"
Texas struck with a verbal blade.
"As long as I feel like I graduated, then I graduated!"
Exusiai counterattacked! At the same time, she pulled Texas over to sit right next to her.
"No, no, no, what you call that is a dropout..."
Hearing their conversation, Shirou couldn't help but pause his hands, turned his head, and retorted.
Then he saw all four of them sitting on his bed, paused for a moment, and slowly turned back to continue winding the string.
The scene he had just witnessed seemed a little too stimulating for Shirou.
"Oh? You're so innocent, Shirou! Have you never had a girlfriend?"
Seeing Shirou's reaction, Exusiai couldn't help but lean in close to tease him.
"Ahem... Isn't it none of your business?"
Shirou was choked by Exusiai's remark.
"Don't be shy, tell Big Sister here all about it."
Exusiai wore a wicked smile as she continued to tease Shirou.
Shirou concentrated on weaving the string, intending to ignore Exusiai.
At the same time, he mentally scheduled red bean pies for Exusiai over the next few days... No, let's make it salted meat pies!
Apple pie? None! Not even desserts!
14 Innocent
Several days had already passed since Shirou fixed the headphones and returned them to Texas.
During these meals over the past few days, Exusiai had not seen a single apple pie, leading her to realize her mistake and submit to the evil Great Demon King Shirou.
Although she could buy apple pies to eat on her own, Shirou would always find various excuses to pack the apple pies away and distribute them to everyone else.
When no one else ate them, he would eat them himself!
The evil Demon King Shirou had deprived her of her apple pie!
Therefore, she decided to sincerely apologize to Shirou.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have teased you. Please give me back my apple pie!"
Exusiai apologized earnestly to Shirou while he was tidying up.
"Hmm... What should I do?"
Shirou deliberately dragged out his tone, looking as if he were deep in serious thought.
"I'll wash the dinner dishes for a whole week!"
Exusiai raised her right hand high, looking sincere.
"Fine, I accept your apology."
The corners of Shirou's mouth turned up slightly, satisfied with Exusiai's defeated reaction.
Actually, he hadn't been pushing her too hard, just slightly reducing the amount of sweets Exusiai took in.
He just hadn't expected that Sarkaz truly viewed dessert as their lifeline; after having her apple pies confiscated a few times, Exusiai completely broke down.
Having obtained Shirou's forgiveness, Exusiai immediately picked up her backpack and sprinted out the door.
"I'm heading out for deliveries then!"
Watching Exusiai slip out of sight, Shirou sighed and closed the door.
The others had all gone out to work, and Exusiai had stayed behind specifically to apologize and beg Shirou to spare her apple pies.
Basically, barring large orders, Penguin Logistics members took on tasks purely based on how fast they could click, because grabbing more meant earning more money.
Though the ones mainly grabbing orders were Texas, Exusiai, and Croissant; Sora seemed to have other business ventures, so she took things a bit more as they came.
And while Croissant also had a stall business to run, Shirou had once passed by her booth and seen Croissant's merchandise.
Well... how should he put it? It was somewhat hard to describe.
Could solar-powered flashlights that couldn't store electricity actually sell?
"But I'm in a state of debt myself right now... The boss hasn't contacted me to this day."
Looking at everyone working hard to make money, Shirou couldn't help but worry about his own debt.
He hadn't worried before because he had bigger problems to solve, but now that most of those were resolved, it made him start feeling the pressure of indebtedness.
Another reason was that he had been in charge of meals for the Penguin Logistics crew for quite a while, and his funds had dwindled by a large portion. Although it wasn't quite at the point of exhaustion, Shirou was still somewhat worried about insufficient food money.
Shirou had already troubled Texas yesterday to contact Emperor, hoping that the boss would be willing to provide a budget for everyone's meals, otherwise he would have to consider some cheaper ingredients.
"Come to think of it, the living room here has turned into an employee cafeteria..."
While cleaning up the aftermath of today's breakfast, Shirou sighed to himself.
He didn't exactly hate this feeling, though; back in the past, Sister Fujie and Sakura frequently ate at his house, so he was quite used to it.
"If Croissant and Exusiai could just be as unflippant as Texas or Sora, that would be great."
Thinking of Sister Fujie brought to mind Sister Fujie's flighty personality, which in turn brought to mind that the Penguin Logistics members were top-tier flirts and pranksters, headed primarily by Croissant and Exusiai.
Ring, ring, ring... Ring, ring, ring...
The cell phone Shirou kept in his pocket rang. Wiping his hands, Shirou answered the call.
"Hello? Hi, this is Shirou."
Shirou tentatively tested the waters. This was his first time receiving a call here, and the screen didn't even display who was calling.
"Kid, I didn't expect you to start working so early? Got something to say? Ran out of money?"
Emperor's voice came through the phone, and Shirou could faintly hear heavy bass music playing in the background.
"Uh... I still have most of the money left. This time I just wanted to ask if there's a budget allocated for everyone's food expenses?"
After collecting his thoughts, Shirou spoke up directly. After all, it was a conversation between an employee and a boss, and his reason for applying for a budget was entirely justified, so he had no reason to feel guilty.
As for his salary, he hadn't brought it up; in fact, it didn't really matter if there wasn't any—being fed and housed in a strange place already made him immensely grateful.
"Just that?"
A puzzled voice came from the other end of the line. He had assumed Shirou was calling to ask him for money, not expecting him to merely ask about applying for a budget.
Was this guy's material desires way too low?
Following Texas's notification, Emperor had briefly investigated Shirou's shopping history and his actions over the past few days, discovering that most of Shirou's money was basically spent on groceries. Moreover, he bought mostly supermarket discounted items and had even gotten chummy with some housewives, managing to secure quite a few ingredients.
Where did this housewife come from? How did Penguin Logistics end up with such a normal, ordinary person?
This was not very Penguin Logistics at all!
No, wait, to take care of those silly girls, finding someone normal was probably for the best.
Thinking this, Emperor calmed down.
"That's the only issue for now. If there are other problems, I'll contact you again, Boss. Is it alright to call this number?"
Shirou responded politely.
"Don't be so polite, that's not the Penguin Logistics way. Besides, I had people look into your recent behavior. For now, you certainly pass as a qualified homemaker."
Emperor had had enough of Shirou's polite demeanor and seized control of the conversation.
"Uh... Thanks?"
Praised as a qualified homemaker, Shirou didn't know what to say, so he simply offered a thank you.
"Anyway, don't worry about the budget, you'll get it. Also, that money from before won't be charged to you; just consider it my welcome gift for you. Congratulations on officially joining Penguin Logistics."
Emperor had already ruled out the possibility of Shirou being a spy sent by some faction; after all, sending someone this naive to act as a spy was simply too stupid.
Naturally, he didn't completely trust Shirou yet, and necessary precautions remained, but he would slowly let Shirou delve into other aspects of Penguin Logistics' work.
Even if he wasn't good at fighting, serving as logistics support wasn't bad either.
Emperor picked up a glass of red wine and took a sip.
"Huh? Didn't I join a long time ago?"
Hearing Emperor's welcome, Shirou first thought of how he had just woken up a few days ago only to be roped into Penguin Logistics by a penguin, complete with a welcome banquet. Weren't those real?
"Ahem, ahem... Kid, you... Never mind, I'll have Isv bring the card over to you later. The budget will be wired into it every month, don't let the others starve. I'm busy."
Hanging up the phone, Emperor patted his chest to ease the discomfort of being choked.
He had to take back his previous statement; Shirou wasn't a simple person at all—he was pure boneheaded.
Before you continue