Faced with Officer Swire's request, Shirou only tilted his head slightly in confusion.
Just what kind of existence was Penguin Logistics in the eyes of the people at the Knights of the Round Table? Shirou noted the question down, feeling somewhat curious about it.
"We'll contact your boss in a bit and have someone come pick you up. Remember not to play the hero like that next time, understood?"
Seeing Shirou's puzzled head-tilt, Officer Swire didn't say anything more. She had already said and lectured about everything that needed to be said.
"Understood."
Shirou nodded to indicate he understood, though even he didn't believe himself.
"And remember to properly dispose of that strange cloth."
Officer Swire reminded Shirou.
"Right, I know."
"Then you can head out. You guys go out too, and by the way, take him to wait on the first floor."
Officer Swire rubbed her somewhat throbbing head; her conversation with Shirou just now had genuinely made her a bit angry.
Putting one's own safety behind for the sake of others—yet the person in question had no self-awareness whatsoever, simply viewing it as a matter of course. Still, a person like this... she actually didn't dislike him. After all, the Knights of the Round Table's job was originally to protect the safety of others.
Thinking of this, Officer Swire called out to stop Shirou.
"Wait a second!"
"What is it?"
Just as Shirou was following behind the several Knights of the Round Table personnel, ready to leave, he was suddenly called back. Although he was somewhat confused as to why she had told him to leave only to call him back again, Shirou still turned his body around.
"That... well, even though you were reckless, you actually helped that mother and son avoid being caught and used as hostages by the suspect."
Officer Swire gathered her thoughts slightly and voiced out what she wanted to say.
"Hmm?"
Shirou didn't know why Officer Swire suddenly brought this up.
"I just felt it necessary to tell you, so you wouldn't think you were interfering with the Knights of the Round Table's work. I hope you won't forget that helpful heart of yours. I've said all I need to say, you can leave now."
Officer Swire turned her head away, her arms crossed over her chest. She felt that saying such things didn't quite suit her, but she still felt she ought to say it.
Only, saying things like this was just so embarrassing!!!!!!
Officer Swire felt that if she held up a mirror, she would definitely see a completely red face on herself.
As for Shirou, he stunned for a moment, then revealed a somewhat relieved smile and said:
"Don't worry, that's the only thing I won't forget. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving first."
Shirou left the interrogation room, recalling the ideological conflict between his past self and Archer in his memories.
That's right, this was the absolute last thing he would ever forget. After all, this was the most vital element making up the existence known as Shirou Emiya.
"Wh... what! Aren't you embarrassed saying things like that!"
Watching Shirou's departing back, Officer Swire buried her head in the desk. She felt like the absolute clown in this situation was herself.
She had done so much psychological preparation, getting ready to be ignored or looked at with an awkward gaze, yet the other party had simply dropped an even more embarrassing line and just walked right off!
"Officer Swire wanted to look cool, but got counterattacked instead."
"Totally."
The two Knights of the Round Table personnel at the doorway whispered to each other, while Shirou was led downstairs by another.
"You two over there, are you done processing your paperwork?"
Officer Swire raised her head, directed her gaze at the two who had been talking, and said fiercely.
"Working on it, working on it."
"We'll hand it in before off-duty for sure."
The moment they were pinned by Officer Swire's gaze, the two instantly chose to listen to the voice within, grabbing their files and darting off.
"Hmph."
Officer Swire let out a soft huff, picked up her tablet, and continued watching the recorded footage.
She always felt that there had to be something wrapped up behind this criminal; after all, there were far too many strange things during the pursuit.
The screen happened to show that exact moment when Shirou blocked the fireball. Officer Swire glanced at it and intended to drag the progress bar forward, but she noticed something that made her halt her hand.
"This guy... is seriously Longmen Curses out of his mind."
She finally understood why Shirou hadn't dodged, because right behind him, a set of parents with a child were fleeing. Judging by the spell's trajectory, that magic attack would have squarely smashed into those three people.
"Too bad he's a Penguin Logistics guy, and he looks rather tough to poach."
Officer Swire felt a bit tempted. If she had a young man as a subordinate who could assess situations like that and bravely step forward to help others, she could definitely defeat that pink-intestine dragon and revive the glory of the Longmen Knight Bureau.
While Officer Swire was immersed in fantasies of drop-kicking the pink-intestine dragon, downstairs, Shirou indicated that he was currently feeling a bit panicked.
For no other reason than the fact that the people who came to pick him up were the four members of Penguin Logistics.
He had just escaped one smiling tiger, and now he was walking right back into the Penguin pit. Shirou expressed that he was a little panicked.
"Yo yo yo, isn't this our Mr. Shirou, who ought to be resting properly at home? How did you end up looking so pathetic?"
Exusiai stepped forward and threw her arm around Shirou's shoulders.
"Seriously, how can you be this pathetic? You even got yourself all disheveled."
Croissant draped her arm over Shirou's other shoulder.
Although it was described as the two of them throwing their arms around his shoulders, in the eyes of the Knights of the Round Table personnel, it clearly looked like the two women were escorting Shirou away under duress. If this weren't the Knights of the Round Table and they didn't know they were all associates, they might have genuinely thought this was a kidnapping case.
"We agreed this morning that you'd rest properly, didn't we?"
Sora said with a slight smile toward Shirou.
"If I said it was an accident, would you believe me?"
Shirou revealed an awkward yet polite smile.
"Nope. Shove him in the car."
Texas completely ignored Shirou's defense, giving a grand wave of her hand to have the others bundle Shirou into the vehicle.
"Take care, don't come back."
A Knights of the Round Table officer said to the Penguin Logistics group.
Though it was probably useless—they would still frequently see the people from Penguin Logistics.
Entering and leaving the Knights of the Round Table seven times in and out, treating the Knight Bureau like their own backyard to come and go as they pleased—that was precisely what these Penguin Logistics members were all about.
He only hoped Shirou wouldn't get assimilated so quickly. Such a good, high-spirited young man, too.
"Uhm... I just went to Dagu Mall to buy something."
Sandwiched in the back seat of the car, Shirou felt it necessary to defend that his original purpose had simply been to buy items.
"You could've bought things after shopping, couldn't you?"
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Sora strongly reprimanded Shirou. After all, they had only just agreed that morning that he would stay home, yet by the afternoon they received word that Shirou had accidentally gotten involved in an incident and ended up at the bureau.
Broken promises upset people no matter who was on the receiving end, even someone with a traditionally good temper like Sora.
"Staying in the dorms was a bit boring..."
Faced with Penguin Logistics, Shirou's tongue proved stubbornly unyielding, mostly because they were somewhat more familiar, and Shirou primarily played the role of taking care of everyone.
"There's a game console, right? No... you don't really play games, but you can scroll through your phone, can't you?"
Exusiai had originally meant to say there was the game console they had moved over for him to play, but second-thought hit her—Shirou barely seemed to touch it, spending every day either reading books or doing housework.
Yet she still felt puzzled as to why Shirou never used a phone.
"I... forgot."
Shirou only then remembered the utility of a phone. Ever since he acquired the device, aside from making and receiving calls, using it for navigation, and occasionally flipping through recipes, it was basically left sitting idly.
"Forgot, what kind of excuse is that? Shirou, are you just completely incapable of relaxing yourself?"
Hearing Shirou's reply, the members of Penguin Logistics all fell silent, and Croissant bravely stepped up to roast Shirou.
"I agree with that. Ordinarily you're either working or reading, you never give yourself any time to unwind."
Texas voiced her opinion from the driver's seat.
Everyone at Penguin Logistics cared about Shirou's physical and mental well-being; after all, if Shirou collapsed, they wouldn't have anyone to cook for them.
"Even though reading can indeed be a bit bothersome, cooking and housekeeping are actually relaxing to me, you know?"
Shirou slightly declared where his interests lay.
To him, doing household chores was actually quite a happy task, especially seeing the smiles on people's faces when they ate his cooking, which gave him a trace of a sense of accomplishment.
"Understood, to each their own."
Croissant nodded in agreement with Shirou's statement.
The others each had their own differing hobbies as well, so they didn't have any major objections to what Shirou said.
"I still think you should cultivate some other hobbies and interests, though. Like Exusiai really loves making apple pies and playing games, but she goes to the shooting range for practice whether she has business or not."
Sora felt Shirou should cultivate more hobbies, otherwise doing just one thing for a long time would inevitably get boring.
No matter how much you loved a food, eating too much of it would eventually become irritating.
"Shooting practice, huh... Why don't we all go to the shooting range today!"
Hearing Sora bring up shooting, Exusiai suddenly remembered that she hadn't been to the range in quite a while, having immersed herself completely in Shirou's extra meals.
Right now, she could just pat her belly slightly and watch her stomach fat jiggle.
"I don't mind. What about Sora and Croissant?"
Texas stated she had no objections. She was dragged along by Exusiai frequently anyway and was long since used to it, though Sora and Croissant in the vehicle both had a distinct lack of enthusiasm for shooting.
"We're going, absolutely going. I used to get utterly styled on and tortured by Sister Exu every time, which killed my interest, but now that we finally have a newbie here, I definitely have to go!"
Croissant firmly clenched her right hand as she spoke.
Regarding Croissant's attitude, Shirou desperately wanted to ask: Do you have any manners?
"I can go too, I don't have many plans lately."
Sora always kept up with her training, but work pressure had been somewhat heavy recently, so her schedule wasn't very packed.
As for Shirou?
Pardon him, he had no say in the matter.
The Penguin Logistics vehicle drove straight toward the shooting range.
"Whoa, it's been so long since I last came here."
Exusiai was the first to step out of the car, looking at the storefront ahead and feeling a sense of nostalgia.
Clearly, she used to come here two or three times a month, but in order to camp out at Shirou's place for his occasional practice-run desserts, she had basically holed up in the dorms aside from work, even having the game console moved down there for that exact reason.
She had already cleared several games on it.
"Exusiai, you're way too excited."
Watching Exusiai's hyped-up appearance, Sora couldn't help but roast her.
"I remember you used to come over whenever you had free time, didn't you? Why are you acting like it's been several years?"
Croissant chimed in next, figuring Exusiai was probably just thrilled at the prospect of being able to flex on everyone else at the shooting range again.
"She has indeed been away for a long time, considering she's been camping out at Shirou's place every single day."
Texas ruthlessly sold out her own good friend, seeing as a starving angel fought her for food daily—if Shirou hadn't cooked extra portions, she might have just turned this angel into a meal herself.
"Ahem, was I camping out? I was providing guidance to Shirou on making desserts!"
Exusiai used a cough to cover up her embarrassment.
Before you continue