"Nope."
Following Shirou's head shake, Exusiai's smiling expression turned to despair.
There were only two ways to say goodbye to her little tummy: eat less, or exercise more.
Exusiai decided to increase her exercise volume starting tomorrow; as for eating less, she'd better forget it, because for a Laterano to skip desserts defied the laws of nature! Not finishing the meals Shirou cooked would also do him a disservice! So she had no choice but to start with exercise!
"Alright, back to the main topic!"
Shirou straightened his messed-up hair and clothes, attempting to change the subject.
"Where were we just now? It seemed like we were talking about our main line of work?"
Texas recalled slightly that the topic just now seemed to be about their primary scope of work.
"Right, Sora mentioned that the deliveries you handle are rather dangerous and involve running into all sorts of people."
Shirou remembered very clearly because he had been ambushed right after that.
"That's right. Since we run into all sorts of combat, what we care about most—more than anything else—is trust. I suppose you can understand that?"
Texas said to Shirou earnestly. Things like romance between men and women or strong combat power weren't the major points; what mattered was being trustworthy.
An untrustworthy teammate would only drag down the team's mission progress, or even lead to total mission failure and death. Compared to the risk of death, other matters really weren't that important.
"I think I understand."
Listening to Texas, Shirou also understood what she meant.
It was much like Saber in his memories: before her identity as a woman, she was first and foremost a Servant, and the members of Penguin Logistics were the same.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Exusiai off to the side was completely clueless about the two people's conversation, seeing as she and Croissant had just been playing video games nearby.
"Nothing, you'll find out later."
Seeing that Shirou seemed to accept reality, Texas contentedly bit down on a Pocky stick. After all, the team would have a ranged support from now on. Even though shield-wielding guys might still be troublesome to deal with, having an extra pair of hands was a net positive overall.
As for the vehicle, it was also about time to apply to the boss for a larger one.
35 Dream
After chasing the four of them back to their own rooms, Shirou went about his mandatory daily tasks.
The shape of the pseudo-Spiral Sword in Shirou's hand reshaped itself, transforming into a slender form.
This was one of the extension abilities of Projection: he could alter the shape of projected Noble Phantasms to a certain degree. Emiya used this ability to mold most swords into slender shapes, then fired them off as arrows.
Is the speed still a bit too slow...
Shirou picked up the slendered pseudo-Spiral Sword in his hand and observed it closely. Ever since the last runaway of his magic circuits, he had been able to completely project Noble Phantasms—not just hollow shells with an appearance, but bone-fide Noble Phantasms.
It was just that the overall speed was a bit slow, or rather, his proficiency was nowhere near as high as Emiya's.
Merely projecting a pseudo-Spiral Sword required a certain amount of time, and adding the shape transformation probably took at least a dozen seconds.
Still, it was plenty fast enough as a finishing blow since Emiya originally used it in tandem with Imaginary Break for ultra-long-range bombardment.
If he had to name a problem... the magical energy consumption was quite heavy, and Shirou found it somewhat taxing.
Yet for some reason, his rate of magical energy recovery was actually quite fast, feeling as though something was constantly supplying him with power.
After pondering for a bit, Shirou couldn't come up with any rhyme or reason, so he simply dropped it.
He withdrew the magical energy from the pseudo-Spiral Sword in his hand, and it dissolved into blue spots of light and vanished.
Ultimately, the Spiral Sword could only be used as an arrow in his hands; using it to slash like a sword was inferior to projecting Gan Jiang Mo Ye, which consumed less and handled much more smoothly.
As for Unlimited Blade Works, though...
Shirou muttered to himself. For reasons unknown, he couldn't deploy Unlimited Blade Works, though it was also possible that it was because this was an alternate world?
Shirou racked his brain to no avail and could only put this problem and the abnormal magical energy recovery on the back burner for now.
His current priority was to improve the speed and precision of his projections. Previously, to keep his energy up and look after everyone in Penguin Logistics, he hadn't overworked himself with training like he used to; now, his training intensity needed to return to that previous level.
He refused to let down Texas's trust.
Aside from expressing that they didn't mind, what Texas had said also showed that they actually trusted Shirou immensely.
He didn't want to live down that trust.
Therefore, he had to work twice as hard now.
Only when he began to feel dizzy did Shirou halt his training. After wiping away his sweat, he climbed into bed and drifted off to dreamland in an instant.
Perhaps due to exhaustion, Shirou felt as though he was sleeping exceptionally deeply.
"..."
"...Shirou, Shirou! Are you alright!"
Dizzily, Shirou felt someone calling out to him. Judging from the voice, it should be a female, and a very familiar one at that—someone he knew, perhaps?
Opening his eyes slightly, Shirou saw two hazy figures: one was a black-haired girl in red clothes, and the other was a white-haired girl in purple clothes.
"He opened his eyes! Shirou... Shirou, can you hear me? Don't close your eyes, try to stay awake!"
The hazy white figure kept gripping his left hand and conversing with him without stopping.
Shirou only felt that it was somewhat noisy. He was so sleepy, so tired, and just wanted to have a good sleep, but after hearing the other party's words, he still forced himself to snap to attention.
Though he didn't know why, if it was the other party's request, he would comply.
"We need to stop the bleeding first. Archer has already gone to stall that golden bastard, we have to hurry up and stop Shirou's bleeding, then get him to a safe place."
The hazy red figure seemed to tear something open, then appeared to do something to his right hand.
His consciousness was somewhat hazy, and a slight pain brought Shirou back to a bit of sobriety.
What had just happened?
Berserker had fought the golden Archer and lost, and the golden Archer seemed intent on making a move on Illya, but at the last split second, he had shoved Illya away.
The price seemed to be... his right hand.
Only... was he going to die?
Fortunately, that golden Archer fellow had been kicked flying away by Berserker at the end; without those strange golden chains, he might have been crushed to pieces by a single axe-stroke instead.
However, the damage inflicted by the Noble Phantasm had directly pulverized his right hand, leaving zero possibility of reattaching it.
He didn't regret it. If he hadn't pushed Illya away, Illya would likely have been pierced straight through by the Noble Phantasm.
"Archer? What about that Golden Flash fellow?"
Seeing Archer suddenly appear, Illya asked with a furrowed brow. Since both of them were Archers, Illya used Rin's nickname for that guy to tell the two apart.
However, Archer's attitude toward Shirou had always been terrible, so Illya wasn't giving the other party a pleasant expression right now, while secretly remaining on guard against him.
"As you can see, the black mud repelled that guy, though I got stained with a bit of it myself."
Archer pointed to a small hole in his abdomen, where blood-red patterns could faintly be seen spreading across it. Yet Archer paid it no mind and looked down at Shirou collapsed on the ground.
"Such a terrible complexion. How does it feel to give up your life to help others?"
"Archer!"
Rin glared fiercely at Archer. She had long known that the relationship between the two of them was terrible, but she hadn't expected Archer to still have the heart to joke around at a time like this.
Even Illya revealed a displeased expression, her hands beginning to ready some magic.
"Was his right hand completely pulverized? There's no way to reattach it. If Saber hadn't been corrupted and broken our contract, at least we could have relied on Avalon to heal the wound..."
Archer squatted down and carefully inspected Shirou's injuries, though his words still caused the brows of the two people beside him to wrinkle slightly.
"Archer, you..."
Rin originally wanted to let Archer go aside to stand by and nurse his injuries, but she hadn't expected Archer to suddenly project a black blade and grip it in his left hand.
"What are you trying to do?"
Illya blocked the path between Archer and Shirou, forgoing magic entirely—no matter what spell it was, surely nothing could be faster than the blade of the Archer before her.
"Archer, you... why do you want to kill Shirou?"
Rin knew that under the current circumstances, there was definitely no negotiating; even using a Command Spell to stop the other party would be useless. Thus, all she could do was ask clearly why Archer wanted to kill Shirou.
"...Isn't this a matter of course, Tohsaka?"
Watching their actions, Archer fell silent for a moment, then spoke with the tone and address Rin was quite familiar with.
"Archer, you..."
Flashing through her mind were all the scenes of Archer and Shirou meeting in the past, as well as Archer's past within the dream, Rin finally understood the relationship between the two.
Archer didn't answer, instead raising the blade in his left hand.
Illya originally wanted to stop him, but Rin held her back.
"Rin! What are you doing? Let me go!"
Embraced by Rin, Illya struggled continuously.
36 Everything Is the Holy Grail's Fault!
"Archer has no intention of killing Shirou right now."
Seeming to respond to Rin's words, Archer rested the blade in his hand against his right shoulder.
"Archer? What are you...?"
Illya stopped struggling, looking at the other party's actions with a face full of confusion.
"I am a Servant. Under the condition of being corrupted, this choice is the best one. At least one person can survive."
Archer looked at Illya, who kept trying to stop him, and Rin, who was holding her back, and spoke with a relieved smile.
Although he hadn't managed to personally bury the ideal of Justice's Companion, the moment he first saw Shirou Emiya and Illya's relationship soften considerably, he had abandoned his extreme methods and chosen peaceful conversation.
He hadn't spoken his true name, only spoken a great deal from the perspective of someone who had been down this road; that seed had already been planted, and that was enough.
Through the conversation, he had also remembered why he had wished to become a Justice's Companion in the first place.
What he had always wanted to kill wasn't Shirou Emiya; rather, he wanted to stop the next Justice's Companion who became an executioner.
That was right, he only hoped Shirou Emiya would not repeat Emiya's mistakes.
"Shirou Emiya! Since you've taken Illya's hand, don't let go! Survive! And then go defeat that guy!"
The moment he finished speaking, Archer brought the blade in his hand down in a single slash, and Shirou jolted awake.
Startled awake, Shirou first felt for his right hand, letting out a sigh of relief only after confirming that his right hand was still there.
"What was that just now? Memories from the gateway? No, rather than memories, it's more like a pure dream."
Shirou looked at his right hand; no matter how he looked at it, it was his ordinary right hand.
Both his rationality and his still-existing right hand were telling him that what had just happened was merely a dream, yet his subconscious felt that it wasn't just a dream—perhaps it was a fragment of memory from the Holy Grail War that he had lost.
If it weren't his memory, how could it be so realistic?
And if it were his memory... what was going on with his right hand?
Taking a deep breath, Shirou organized the fragments he still remembered.
First was that he lost his right hand to save Illya, Rin and Illya were helping him stop the bleeding, and finally Archer came over, raised a blade, and chopped off his own right hand.
There was zero cause and effect. What about Saber? What about the events afterward? What was Archer doing by cutting off his own hand, grafting it onto him directly? Could humans graft a Heroic Spirit's arm?
"Dumping just a portion like this is simply full of malice! Was it the Holy Grail's doing? Don't you know how agonizing it was when you only gave textual knowledge back then? And now you're stuffing only a fragment of memory into me again?"
Thinking up to the end, Shirou flew into a rage and pinned all the blame on the Holy Grail.
Everything is the Holy Grail's fault!
"Calm down... What needs to be done right now is to write things down first."
Forcing himself to calm down, the first thing Shirou did was take out a notebook to record these matters.
He would record some of the more particularly profound memories from the gateway, along with memories related to magic, all into the notebook.
Before you continue