Pants and backpacks needed to be thrown away as well; just like the jacket, they were covered in tears and holes of all sizes and were no longer usable.
However, Shirou seemed to have seen people walking down the road in torn pants before.
"Hmm... I probably wouldn't pull it off, right?"
Shirou imagined what he would look like wearing that kind of torn pants, and dismissed the idea in about ten seconds.
He rinsed the jacket a little bit; although it could no longer be worn, he could still pack it away.
After all, this was one of the few things Shirou had left to remember his past.
Knock, knock.
"Is Mr. Shirou in?"
Sora's voice came from outside the door. Shirou left the jacket out in the sun to dry and immediately went to open the door.
"Sora? How come you're back so early?"
Shirou opened the door and let Sora in from the outside.
Usually, when there was nothing much going on, the girls would gather around here, so Shirou was used to it.
To Penguin Logistics and the others, the rooms upstairs felt more like places just to sleep, whereas this place had much more of a homely atmosphere.
The trade-off was that all sorts of strange things had gradually piled up here. Fortunately, thanks to Shirou's strong demands and diligent daily tidying, nothing that would make a young man like him unbearable had appeared yet.
Even so, spending every day with a group of girls—especially fairly pretty ones—still made Shirou feel a little uncomfortable on occasion.
It was just that after seeing the messes they made and their erratic personalities beforehand, any other stray feelings vanished.
Only the urge to beat people up remained.
Whenever this urge welled up, Shirou would remind himself that he had been rescued by them, and that he was hired to take care of them.
"My stuff finished early today, so I came back first to process some paperwork. Texas and the others should be back later."
Sora hurried into the living room, sat down in her usual spot, picked up the files, and prepared to start administrative work.
"Good work. I've left the coffee over here."
Seeing Sora looking busy, Shirou brewed a cup of coffee and set it aside.
The coffee maker was brought down from upstairs by Texas. Shirou had studied it for quite a while before figuring out how to use it, and even specifically looked up how to brew coffee.
Thanks to that, he was now the strongest coffee-brewer in Penguin Logistics.
"Thanks. Say, Shirou, did you just get back?"
Sora picked up the coffee and took a small sip. Shirou had added a bit of milk, so the coffee wasn't all that bitter, nor was it too hot.
After drinking a cup of coffee, Sora noticed that Shirou's attire was somewhat different from this morning's.
"Yeah, went out to buy today's groceries. Today's dinner is going to be very lavish, oh."
Shirou sat across from Sora, drinking ice water he had taken out of the refrigerator.
"Really? Then I'm quite looking forward to it!"
Hearing that dinner would be lavish, Sora's mind, somewhat exhausted by work, instantly revived at full health.
Although she liked her two current jobs, liking them didn't conflict with fatigue; when it was time to be tired, she would still be tired.
The meals Shirou cooked could be said to be a restorative tonic that healed her every day.
"As long as you like it. For lunch, I'll just cook something simple. You haven't eaten yet, have you, Sora?"
Seeing the light suddenly flash in Sora's eyes, Shirou felt happy too.
After all, with the things he made receiving such high affirmation, who wouldn't be happy?
"Not yet, not yet."
Sora vigorously shook her head, her two small ponytails swinging back and forth.
Shirou nodded, then went to the kitchen.
"There should still be some of the dumplings Croissant brought back the other day..."
Shirou checked the refrigerator and decided that lunch would be the remaining frozen dumplings inside.
Only, he didn't plan to boil them, because they had just eaten them that way yesterday; this time, he wanted to try pan-frying them.
Taking out the dumplings, a non-stick pan, and flour, Shirou began to prepare today's lunch.
First, he mixed the flour water, using a 1-to-1.5 ratio of flour to water.
It was fine to use a bit more water, adjusted according to the number of dumplings to be cooked.
He put oil in the non-stick pan and swirled it around to distribute the oil evenly, and once the oil was slightly hot, he could put the dumplings in.
Shirou arranged them neatly so that they would come out more orderly later.
After about two minutes, the flour water was poured in along the outer edge of the dumplings, submerging about a fifth of them.
Afterwards, he put on the lid and waited for the water to dry up, using low heat the entire time.
"Soy sauce, utensils..."
Taking advantage of the gap in time, Shirou took out plates for two and a small bowl for the dipping sauce.
About six minutes later, Shirou checked the condition inside the pan. The whole thing had dried down, and the flour water poured in had turned into a beautiful crust.
"I'll add a little more water and steam it a bit just in case."
Shirou gave the pan a shake to keep the pan-fried dumplings from sticking, while assessing that the dumplings didn't seem thoroughly cooked yet, so he added a tiny bit of water on top and put the lid back on.
After waiting for a brief moment, Shirou opened the lid to make sure they were fully cooked before turning to medium heat to burn off the excess moisture.
Then, holding a spatula, he divided the entire sheet of pan-fried dumplings in half and placed them onto plates, scorched side facing up.
With that, they were done. Shirou picked up the two plates and walked out of the kitchen.
"Just eat simply for noon. These are the dumplings Croissant brought back the other days."
Shirou walked out carrying the plates, while Sora had already cleaned off the table when Shirou first brought out some of the utensils.
After all, it would be terrible if food got on the documents, and moreover, how could one let work ruin a healing meal!
"Dumplings? But what I heard just now sounded like the sound of frying, didn't it?"
Sora was slightly puzzled. She had clearly just heard the unique sound of oil coming into contact with water, and the aroma coming from the plates in Shirou's hands didn't seem like the scent of boiled dumplings either.
"We just ate them yesterday, after all, so I changed up the cooking method a little bit today."
Shirou placed Sora's portion in front of her, and only then did she see the appearance of today's lunch.
"Pan-fried dumplings?"
In Sora's memory, dumplings were only ever boiled in water.
"Mhm, pan-fried. The only seasoning is soy sauce. If you want it spicy, Croissant seems to have a jar of special chili sauce chilling in the fridge."
Shirou used his chopsticks to press down on the golden-brown crust between the pan-fried dumplings, separating them from one another.
Seeing this, Sora learned from Shirou, separated the dumplings, and dipped the top half into the soy sauce.
With every bite came a crunch, and a overwhelming sense of happiness welled up from within.
19 Titles
The dumplings Croissant brought back already tasted exceptionally good on their own; paired with the golden, crispy crust and the aroma of the oil, the whole experience ascended to a higher level!
It made Sora even wonder whether she should use some of Croissant's special spicy sauce.
It was bound to be very fragrant.
"What's wrong? Not to your taste?"
Seeing Sora wearing an expression of someone contemplating the meaning of life, Shirou thought she didn't like today's lunch.
"No, no, it's just so delicious that I was thinking about whether to add spice... ow."
Before Sora could finish speaking, she put down her chopsticks and covered her mouth. She had been speaking too hastily and bit her tongue.
"You okay? If it's chili sauce, I'll go get it for you."
Seeing Sora bite her tongue, Shirou handed her a cup of water, then went into the kitchen to fetch the jar of chili sauce Croissant particularly liked.
"Mhm... I remember it being really spicy, I should just get a tiny bit, right?"
Shirou thought of the dumpling party yesterday when he had been fed a dumpling by Croissant that was drenched in this sauce. Back then, he almost thought his tongue was going to cease existing.
Shirou poured a small amount of chili sauce into Sora's sauce dish and mixed it evenly.
He didn't use any himself; getting hit with that stunt yesterday still left him somewhat afraid.
It wasn't that he was afraid of spice, but rather that he was afraid of this specific jar of chili sauce.
"Hiss..."
Recalling the consequences of accidentally consuming it yesterday, Shirou drew in a sharp breath and hurried outside to hand the sauce dish to Sora.
"Huh?"
Sora looked at the sauce dish Shirou shoved over, not knowing why the other person had become so flustered.
"Ahem... Be careful, that stuff is very spicy."
Seeming to realize that Sora had noticed his abnormal behavior, Shirou fake-coughed twice and said awkwardly.
"Pfft—hahahahaha."
After hearing Shirou's words, Sora remembered yesterday, when Shirou had been stealthily fed a dumpling coated in this chili sauce and had sprinted into the kitchen because of the heat.
This was the first time Sora had seen Shirou make that kind of expression, and of course, this awkward look today was also a first.
Though they hadn't known each other long, Shirou had at least taken care of them for nearly a month. What Sora usually saw was a house-husband who would look after them, prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, tidy up the environment, and wash their clothes.
Yes, prior to this, all Sora had ever seen was Shirou getting along with them in the capacity of a house-husband; she rarely got to see Shirou acting like this.
Though it also had to do with her social habits; she couldn't break the ice as quickly as the others, especially since Shirou sometimes gave off an aura of keeping strangers at a distance.
"I'm not afraid of spice! It's just that Croissant's jar of chili sauce is exceptionally spicy!"
Seeing Sora laughing hysterically, Shirou cracked.
But he forgot to append the words "but" or "just" after his negative sentence, making it sound even more like he was deliberately covering something up.
"It's not about that... Pfft, give me a moment."
Seeing Shirou's desperate refutation, Sora felt that the current Shirou was actually much easier to approach.
Sora always felt that Shirou was very much like Texas—always wearing a cold expression, only revealing their true selves at specific times or with specific people.
"Damn it... Croissant is eating croissant bread for dinner! I'm going to the supermarket to buy some right now!"
Watching Sora laugh endlessly, Shirou made a heartbroken decision to let Croissant suffer cannibalism.
A lavish meal? Nonexistent.
"Phew... I'm just quite surprised that you have this kind of personality, Shirou."
Hearing that Croissant's dinner was apparently going to turn into croissant bread because of her, Sora felt she should salvage the situation slightly.
"Me? Personality? What about it?"
Shirou hadn't noticed, seeing as he had always interacted with people this way.
"How should I put it? It feels like your personality is cold on the outside and warm on the inside, right? Even though you still show a gentle side to people you're unfamiliar with, you still give off a bit of distance. Being like this is actually much easier to get along with, though."
Sora thought for a moment and summarized her view of Shirou.
"I always feel like someone's said something similar to me before...?"
Shirou pondered briefly; it seemed someone had indeed said something similar to him once.
It seemed to be... Issei?
One of the few people he was close with at school, who was also the student council president.
"Ah! But I don't mean to make you change, Shirou. Just go at your own pace; after all, you're still in your recovery period, no need to rush."
Hearing Shirou's self-motto, Sora remembered Shirou's current situation and hurriedly added.
To Penguin Logistics and the others, Shirou currently carried a pile of titles on his back: mysterious man fallen from the sky, amnesiac, blade maniac, natural-born dark personality... and so on, all of which they had discussed out of boredom while making deliveries. Among them, one title was unanimously agreed upon by everyone.
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