"Do we take turns caring for him?" Sora rubbed her cheeks and asked. This trip had indeed been a bit tiring, and she had other work to attend to tomorrow.
"Let's skip Sora, the three of us will handle the care..." Croissant knew that Sora would be quite busy these days, so she directly excluded the other from the care rotation.
"Eh~ then tonight is on me, Croissant, pick up two apple pies and apple juice for me, you know which shop I want, thanks!" Exusiai claimed today's caretaking duties. Although she was already a bit tired, she still knew that Croissant and Texas, who were responsible for frontline combat, were even busier, not to mention that Texas also had the driving job.
She had already slept a bit in the car, so lasting a little longer was not a problem.
Texas and Croissant did not refuse Exusiai's kind offer either, as they were veteran teammates after all.
However, Croissant still reached out her hand toward Exusiai and said, "Where's the money?"
"I'll give it to you when I get back, I don't have any on me right now~!"
"What do you mean, give it back later! I bet as soon as you buy the stuff and grab it, you'll run off!"
"Am I that kind of person!?"
"Not like! You totally are!"
The car drove into a building amidst the two's cheerful confrontation. Texas first parked the car near the entrance, letting Exusiai and Croissant take the person in the backseat upstairs, by the way letting Sora go up to rest first, while she went to park the car and unload the cargo.
Exusiai and Croissant carried the man together, one supporting him by the shoulders while the other grabbed his feet, and an uncomfortable expression appeared on the man's face.
The two only sped up their pace to carry him to the cleared room after seeing that the man's expression seemed wrong.
After the man was carried to the bed and settled, the two looked around the interior of the room.
"Well, basically everywhere except the bed is covered in dust, looks like the boss has really been busy." Exusiai grumbled, then grabbed a broom to clean the area around the bed a bit so she would have a place to sit later.
"Then I'll leave this to you, Exu, I'll go up for a shower and then head out to buy you apple pies. Make Texas relieve you later so you can wash up too."
As Croissant closed the door, only Exusiai and the unconscious man lying on the bed were left in the room.
Clang— clang— clang— clang— clang—
The sound of steel clashing never stopped.
"Shirou... time to get up"—a familiar voice echoed in his mind.
Who was it, again...
The figure of a blonde girl wearing knight's attire surfaced. Seeming to see that he had woken up, she smiled slightly at him and then stood up to leave.
"Sa..." Seeing the figure of the other person leaving, he reached out his hand and called out the other's name, yet could not cry out her name.
The moment the other person was about to leave the room, he finally remembered her name.
"Saber!" Shirou sat up and reached out his right hand.
However, what he saw when he opened his eyes was not Saber's figure, but a red-haired angel with a halo over her head and a black-haired female with beast ears.
And the two seemed to have been startled by his shouting and sudden awakening. After freezing for a moment, Exusiai swallowed the apple pie in her mouth, lucky that she hadn't choked, otherwise she would have spewed a mouthful onto the other's face.
"Texas, he seems to be awake?"
"I can tell." The ears on top of Texas's head twitched, and her tail wasn't wagging very naturally either.
Shirou was also stunned for a moment. Seeming to realize that he had startled the two, he apologized first:
"Sorry, I scared you... cough cough..."
Shirou felt the soreness in his body, the stabbing pain coming from his head, and the dryness in his throat, so he had no energy left to care about the somewhat special attire of the two females in front of him.
"No rush, no rush, have some water first. You've been unconscious for at least almost a day."
Exusiai handed a bottle of water to Shirou. After drinking it, Shirou felt his body relax a lot. Seeing that Shirou's complexion looked better, Exusiai began to introduce:
"You can call me Exusiai, and the one beside me is Texas. And you?"
"My name is Shirou Emiya, just call me Emiya."
"Shirou Emiya? A Higashi person?" Texas took the empty bottle from Shirou's hand and placed it on the table nearby.
"Higashi? Where is that?" Shirou wore a puzzled expression.
Exusiai and Texas looked at each other, feeling that something might be amiss, and then Exusiai pursued:
"Then do you know Lungmen?"
Shirou was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.
"Yan? Ursus? Columbia? Siracusa? Laterano?"
Exusiai rattled off terms that Shirou didn't understand as if she were reciting a menu.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Shirou tilted his head with a question mark, feeling strange about the two's behavior.
"...Last question, do you know Originium?"
Texas stared at Shirou's face and asked seriously.
"Uh... some kind of stone?"
Looking at the other's serious expression, Shirou found it really difficult to answer with "I don't know," so he could only try to guess what it was from the words.
"Oh ho? Finding an amnesiac, looks like the things we're curious about won't get answers in a short time." Exusiai spread her hands and leaned back, resting against the back of the chair.
"...Don't worry, get some good rest first. You can use anything on this floor casually, just don't leave this floor." An intersecting vein popped up on Texas's forehead as she dragged Exusiai away.
"???" Shirou, left behind in the room, was full of confusion.
Recalling the conversation just now, Shirou guessed that he was regarded as having amnesia. Lungmen, Yan, Ursus... and that so-called Originium, all seemed to be quite important things.
All sorts of uncoordinated things made Shirou feel somewhat uneasy. He stood up by leaning on the bed, walked to the window, and opened it. Sunlight spilled into the room, and Shirou raised a hand to block the light. Once his eyes adjusted slightly, he saw the scenery outside the window clearly.
It was a scene like the one he could often see in bustling districts—if you discounted the fact that those people had various kinds of ears and tails on them.
"Is today some special holiday?" Shirou pressed his head, feeling somewhat troubled, as he felt that everything was heading in a strange direction.
Shirou lay back down on the bed and began to recall the memories before he lost consciousness.
"Inappropriate, it feels like something is missing."
Shirou recalled carefully and found that his memory points only went up to someone asking him to help tidy something up, and whatever happened after that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember.
Shirou pressed both hands against his head, forcing himself to recall.
—No, he remembered what he had done and what words he had spoken, but he couldn't remember who those people were.
"Remember, will you..." Shirou slapped his head. Discovering that the tactile sensation felt wrong, he raised his head and looked at his right hand.
"Holy Shroud?" Shirou was stunned after saying it.
How did he know what this was? Shirou felt somewhat annoyed.
Shirou tore off the Holy Shroud and threw it to the bedside, feeling that he might need to take a cold shower to calm down.
Pushing open the room door, he saw the living room, the kitchen, and a few doors.
Well... basically everything was covered in dust, looking at first glance as if no one had lived there for a long time.
Shirou felt even more annoyed. After looking around and finding cleaning tools and rags, he got to work.
Walls, tables, chairs, the floor, and the kitchen, he even tidied his own room and the other rooms a round. Because there were not many furniture and items, it took less than two hours to finish.
It was just that having dust all over his body felt a bit uncomfortable.
Fortunately, he had found a set of clothes by the bed earlier, with a note saying this set was for a change.
Taking the change of clothes inside to take a cool shower and coming out, Shirou looked at the clean living room and kitchen, feeling a full sense of accomplishment.
Shirou looked at the clock on the wall; it was close to evening, and he hadn't eaten anything all day today.
"No idea how long I've been unconscious..." Realizing that he hadn't eaten for a long time, Shirou finally felt a sense of hunger. The refrigerator was empty when he was cleaning earlier, and it wasn't plugged in either; the cabinets inside only held bowls, plates, and some cookware, so there shouldn't be food here.
"Can I only wait for them to come find me..." Shirou didn't feel impatient either, pulled up a chair, and sat down in the living room.
He had already calmed down a bit and sorted out his own situation.
First was the memory problem. He couldn't remember the names and faces of many people, but he remembered the names and faces of Exusiai and Texas, whom he had just met, very clearly, so something must have happened before or after he lost consciousness.
And then... what place was this.
Having experienced the scene outside the window just now, he was very certain that the people in his memories definitely did not have ears and tails. To avoid the possibility of misremembering, he had looked at himself in the mirror in the bathroom for a long time just now.
The current doubts were just these two points; everything else about the issue of supposedly having many different races would be put aside for now. He didn't need that many doubts, and could think about them later when he had extra energy.
Just as Shirou was thinking, he heard voices coming from outside the door.
"You guys just picked someone up, left him alone, and only gave him water? Did you pick up a person or a fish?" A male voice forcefully passed through the door.
"Just accidentally forgot, but looking at him earlier he was fine, shouldn't be a problem?" Shirou had an impression of this voice; it should be Exusiai's, but what she said made Shirou extremely... want to beat someone up?
With a bang, the door was pushed open.
What Shirou saw was a penguin kicking the door open... and Exusiai behind her.
And the penguin—namely Emperor, the boss of Penguin Logistics, also froze after kicking the door open.
Exusiai behind her also wore a puzzled expression, and even turned her head to check if she had gone to the wrong floor.
"Exusiai, did we go to the wrong place?" Emperor lowered her foot, turned her head, and asked.
Exusiai confirmed that the floor was correct, then looked inside again, confirming that the person sitting in front of the table was indeed the one they had fished back yesterday.
"Didn't go to the wrong place, it's this room, that person is the one we picked up, just woke up this afternoon."
"Woke up this afternoon? It's just past six o'clock now! The whole room got tidied into this state?" Emperor pointed at the clean living room and kitchen and questioned. This room had been left vacant for at least a year, and the dust had accumulated to the point where looking at it made one too lazy to tidy up; if it hadn't been for the sudden need for a room yesterday, this place could have sat for at least another year!
"Boss, do you think it's possible... that he's a professional in this area?" Exusiai thought for a moment and gave a reasonable explanation.
"Longmen Curses, you mean you guys picked up a housekeeper who fell from the sky?"
"Uh... I suppose so?"
"..."
Shirou watched the person and the penguin bicker at the door, and he was quite certain that he shouldn't be in his original world.
At least there wouldn't exist a penguin wearing sunglasses and a gold chain who could curse in his memories.
Emperor finally sighed, waved a hand, and said:
"Forget it, forget it, go let Croissant and the others send the food over here. This place is even cleaner than your place."
Exusiai made a face, then turned and left.
Emperor clacked over to the table, pulled out a chair, jumped up, and stared at Shirou.
"Hmm... doesn't look like much, but... if you add a halo and wings, it seems quite similar to Exusiai? Could you be a relative of Exusiai?"
The corners of Shirou's eyes twitched slightly, and he shook his head.
"Probably not? At least I don't have a halo, and I don't know other angels."
"Hmm... looks like the possibility of amnesia is really high, even the Sarkaz don't know?" Emperor leaned back, resting against the back of the chair.
She had indeed been very interested in what the few of them initially said—about a person who fell from high altitude, suffered a huge impact, and was still completely unscathed—but after seeing the real thing... she could only say she was very disappointed!
No matter how you looked at it, he was just an ordinary person! And an amnesiac at that! Boring! She had thought there would be some new fun.
However, this extraordinary cleaning technique was worth praising, at least.
"Let me introduce myself: Emperor, the boss of Penguin Logistics. And you, kid?"
"Uh... Shirou Emiya, am a... student?"
"Student? College student? Remember where you studied?"
Shirou thought for a moment, figuring that even if he said the school's name, it probably wouldn't be recognized, so he might as well pretend to have forgotten.
"I don't know."
"Then you aren't a student. You're a vagrant without an identity right now."
Emperor tried to make Shirou realize his situation first.
"Ah? Oh, okay."
Before you continue