As the person in question, Shirou began recalling a certain angel who made him bake apple pies directly upon his first try and then divided up and took away the majority of the finished product he made.
He had better not expose her.
"Ah, Exusiai really did help."
"Shirou, if you're being held hostage, blink twice, and we'll save you!"
Croissant wore a look of disbelief, after all, Exusiai's dessert skills were entirely maxed out on apple pies.
"...Forget it."
Sora felt she shouldn't think too seriously about this matter and decided to give up on probing deeper.
"That's right, don't think about it so much, let's go inside!"
Seeing the topic concluded, Exusiai jumped out again.
She was an old hand at shooting ranges and the like, so naturally, she took the lead.
Upon seeing Exusiai, the shooting range owner also exchanged pleasantries with her for a bit, then led the group to an area with slightly fewer people.
29 Shooting Range
First, the shooting range was somewhat different from what Shirou had imagined; inside, it wasn't a bunch of people holding firearms for shooting like in his memories, but rather people holding crossbows or bows and arrows.
"Still the same as always, only these old antiques."
Croissant casually picked up a crossbow, gestured with it, and then loaded a bolt and fired it at the target.
Thud—the bolt hit the target, but the position was right at the edge of the target.
"Oho, pretty good luck, it actually hit the target!"
Croissant looked at the bolt stuck in the target about fifty meters away and felt the start was quite smooth.
The bolts used in the shooting range here were of standard specifications, with an effective range of about a hundred meters. Besides simply hitting targets, there were flying targets and moving targets to shoot at, but those were usually for people who brought their own bows and crossbows.
"My turn, my turn!"
Exusiai took the crossbow from Croissant's hand, loaded a bolt, aimed, and fired.
The bolt hit the dead center unmistakably.
"Seems alright."
Exusiai said it was just alright with her mouth, but the expression on her face had already betrayed her.
Croissant, on the other hand, wore an expression of this guy is at it again.
"Aren't there any firearms used here?"
Shirou looked at some of the bows, crossbows, and arrows provided by the shooting range. Although they all looked a bit old, they were well-maintained, and the accuracy was still decent.
But he didn't see a single gun anywhere.
Shirou's understanding of guns was limited to them being staves, and he knew nothing else, so he curiously asked Sora, who was sitting to one side.
"Shirou, you probably don't know this, right? Guns are basically monopolized by Laterano, and the manufacturing technology is also very complex. Coupled with the fact that etched bullets are expensive, ordinary people basically don't consider using firearms, you know?"
Sora meticulously gave Shirou a simple science lesson, and only then did Shirou understand that here, bows and crossbows seemed to be somewhat more popular than firearms.
It was understandable, though. A firearm was, when all was said and done, a kind of staff, and that fact alone filtered out quite a few people. In addition, because of the existence of the so-called Originium Arts, the lethality of bows and crossbows was also very powerful, and training with them wasn't expensive.
"I see, no wonder most people I saw along the way used bows and crossbows."
Before Shirou, having received his answer, could think deeply about it, he was snatched away by Croissant.
"Come, come, come, Shirou, it's your turn."
Croissant seemed to have been dealt a blow by Exusiai; the other two available people here were both better with crossbows than she was, so she directly targeted Shirou.
Penguin Logistics shooting class bottom-dweller is about to change hands! Hahahaha!
"Shirou, do you know how to operate it?"
Exusiai handed the crossbow in her hand to Shirou.
"Let me see."
Shirou took the crossbow, and the moment he got his hands on it, he more or less knew how to operate it.
"It should be like this, and then like this... right?"
Pulling the crossbow open and placing the bolt on it, Shirou showed the crossbow with the loaded bolt in his hand to Exusiai.
"Pretty proficient, huh? Have you used one before?"
Exusiai watched Shirou's fluid movements upon receiving it and suspected that Shirou had already been in contact with crossbows before.
"No way?!"
As soon as Croissant heard this, her face immediately collapsed. Did she still have to continue being the bottom-dweller of Penguin Logistics' shooting targets?
"Just watched other people operate it, actual touch is a first, though."
Shirou said honestly; he had indeed just watched other people practice and seen them operate it like that.
The difficulty wasn't high, it just took a bit of effort.
Raising the crossbow, Shirou imitated the shooting posture of the others, aimed, and fired.
"Ah."
The moment he fired, Shirou knew this shot wouldn't hit, because it was his first time operating one, so the vibration error made the direction of the bolt deviate slightly.
Just as Shirou judged, the bolt brushed past the target and flew away.
"Hmph hmph, want me to teach you hand-in-hand? Just call me Sister Croissant, okay?"
Just when Croissant saw Shirou's somewhat professional posture, she had panicked a bit, but she hadn't expected that upon firing, he was just a bronze.
"The posture just now was good, want to try again?"
Texas kicked Croissant's butt, then asked Shirou.
"Shirou, why don't you try again?"
Sora also helped Texas by covering Croissant's mouth.
Their coming to the shooting range was to let Shirou find a new interest; it would be terrible if he got beaten down by Croissant and gave up!
Besides, letting Shirou learn how to use a crossbow was also pretty good, at least he would have some self-defense ability.
"Then I'll try one more time."
Faced with the requests of Sora and Texas, Shirou placed the bolt back on and aimed once more.
"Got it."
The moment he fired, Shirou knew this shot would definitely hit, and right in the bullseye.
Thud—the bolt stably sank into the very center of the target.
"Oho, Shirou, you have a lot of talent."
Exusiai praised. You had to know that the rest of the people at Penguin Logistics could barely even hit the target on their very first visit. She hadn't expected Shirou to pick it up so quickly, and even hit the bullseye accurately.
"Hiss... Shirou, you... I... Forget it."
Croissant pointed at Shirou, stammering for a good while, and finally chose to give up the struggle, choosing to continue being the bottom-dweller of the Penguin Logistics shooting group.
Even though she was the bottom-dweller, Croissant's shooting proficiency was still acceptable; with a slightly shorter distance or a slightly better crossbow, she should be able to be more stable, but she mainly used a giant hammer and shield, and things like crossbows were mostly just for play.
Texas was second only to Exusiai, at least able to steadily hit the target and get close to the center.
As for Sora, she piled it up with training volume, making her a bit more stable than Croissant.
"How about taking advantage of the heated momentum to try a few more times?"
Sora held a bunch of bolts, handed them to Shirou, and urged him to continue.
"Ah? Don't you and Texas need them?"
Shirou looked at the two of them. After all, coming here was mainly to experience shooting, and letting him use everything by himself seemed a bit unfair to the others.
"It's fine, it was originally meant for you to experience it. Sora and I are actually pretty indifferent to this aspect."
Texas sat in a chair and said with a leisurely expression; coming here was mostly just accompanying Exusiai for them.
"Mhm mhm, Texas is right."
Sora echoed Texas's words.
"Fine then."
Seeing that the two of them had already found spots and sat down without the slightest intention of taking the crossbow from his hand, Shirou had no choice but to continue.
Next, the Penguin Logistics members watched as Shirou hit the bullseye several times in a row.
Croissant had completely given up on trying, cheering Shirou on from the side to see if she could put him in a good mood so he would cook her something delicious.
Exusiai, on the other hand, had her competitive spirit ignited and started a series of matches with Shirou.
The ending was naturally Shirou's victory. Speaking of using guns, Exusiai might win, but when it came to using bows or crossbows, which involved highly repetitive actions, Shirou didn't flinch at all.
After all, no matter what, he used to be the ace of the Kyudo club.
30 Lousy Angel
"Shirou, you're really great at using a crossbow. Are you planning to specialize and learn it?"
Watching Shirou use a crossbow to defeat Exusiai and take first place in the Penguin Logistics shooting group, Sora seized the opportunity to suggest that Shirou continue learning in this area.
"Mhm, although what Exusiai uses isn't a gun, being able to win against Exusiai in shooting means you can try to develop in this direction, Shirou."
Texas agreed with Sora's words, trying to make Shirou continue learning how to use a crossbow.
"Well... I can consider it."
Shirou thought for a moment and felt he could try to get familiar with it, though it would be great if he could switch to a regular bow; the crossbow felt a little unfamiliar to him.
"Why does this scene feel like children taking aged parents around to experience life, and then discovering that the other party seems particularly interested in a certain aspect, so they plan to let the other party continue studying?"
Croissant looked at Texas and Sora trying to persuade Shirou and silently muttered to herself.
"I refuse to accept this! Let's go next door and shoot moving targets!"
Exusiai couldn't accept the fact that she had lost in shooting and decided to take Shirou to the moving targets on the side to fight for supremacy.
The difficulty difference between stationary targets and moving targets was worlds apart; the former allowed one to slowly aim before shooting, while the latter required calculating the subsequent position through the movement trajectory within a short time before shooting.
And she, Exusiai, had exceptionally outstanding talent in this aspect.
"Whoa, it's such a lousy angel to find someone who just touched a crossbow to compete with on moving targets, Sister Exu."
Croissant looked at Exusiai with utter disgust, completely forgetting who it was that had just dragged Shirou to shoot stationary targets in an attempt to wash herself off the bottom of the list.
"Interested?"
Texas evaluated the results Shirou had just displayed; progressing to moving targets should be fine as well.
The difficulty of stationary targets was probably a bit too low for Shirou.
Though Exusiai putting forward this request was indeed a bit lousy.
"Shirou, you don't have to agree, or you could dock Exusiai's apple pie."
Sora also couldn't bear to watch the lousy angel's antics and offered strategies to Shirou from the side.
"Aren't I your good sniper?! Now that Shirou is showing a tiny bit of sniping talent, you guys are planning to replace me?!"
Watching her teammates' antics, Exusiai clutched her heart with a heartbroken expression.
If one disregarded the exaggerated, over-the-top facial expressions on the other's face, Shirou might have actually believed it.
"If it's shooting moving targets, then it's fine..."
Before Shirou could finish speaking, he was dragged away by Exusiai.
"Since you agreed, that makes things easy. Today, I'm going to revive my status as Penguin Logistics' number one sniper!"
Before you continue