Shirou Emiya Stands Upon Terra Chapter 4

"Should we take turns looking after him?" Sora asked, rubbing her cheeks. She was indeed a bit tired from this trip, and she had other work to attend to tomorrow.

"Let's skip Sora, the three of us can handle it…" Croissant knew Sora would be busy these few days, so she immediately excluded her from the caregiving duties.

"Eh~ Then I'll take care of him tonight. Croissant, help me bring two apple pies and apple juice. You know which place I like, thanks!" Exusiai took on the responsibility for today's care. Although she was already tired, she knew that Croissant, who was responsible for front-line combat, and Texas were even more tired. Moreover, Texas also handled the driving.

She had managed to get some sleep in the car earlier, so enduring a little longer wouldn't be a problem.

Texas and Croissant didn't refuse Exusiai's offer; after all, they were old teammates.

However, Croissant still reached out her hand to Exusiai and said, "The money?"

"I'll give it to you when we get back, I don't have any on me right now~!"

"What do you mean 'when we get back'! I bet you'll take the stuff when it's bought and run!"

"Do I look like that kind of person!?"

"You don't! You are that kind of person!"

The car drove into a building amidst their cheerful bickering. Texas parked the car near the entrance, allowing Exusiai and Croissant to carry the person in the back seat up, and also letting Sora go up to rest first. She would then park the car and unload the goods.

Exusiai and Croissant lifted the man, one supporting his shoulders, the other holding his legs. The man's face showed an expression of discomfort.

Upon seeing the man's expression change for the worse, they quickened their pace and carried him to a cleared-out room.

After the man was settled on the bed, they both looked around the room.

"Hmm, basically, besides the bed, everything else is covered in dust. It seems the boss is really busy," Exusiai quipped. She then grabbed a broom and swept the area around the bed a bit, so she would have a place to sit later.

"Then I'll leave this to you, Big Sis Exusiai. I'm going up to take a shower and then head out to buy the apple pies for you. Texas will cover for you so you can go freshen up."

As Croissant closed the door, only Exusiai and the unconscious man on the bed remained in the room.

02 The Housekeeper

Clang—clang—clang—clang—clang—

The sound of steel colliding never stopped.

"Shirou… it's time to wake up." A familiar voice echoed in his mind.

Who was it…

A golden-haired girl in knight's attire appeared. Seeing that he was awake, she smiled slightly and stood up to leave.

"Sa…" Seeing her figure about to leave, he reached out and called her name, but the name wouldn't come out.

Just as she was about to leave the room, he finally remembered her name.

"Saber!" Shirou sat up and extended his right hand.

However, when he opened his eyes, he saw not Saber's figure, but a red-haired angel with a halo and a black-haired woman with beast ears.

Both of them seemed startled by his shout and sudden movement. After a moment of stunned silence, Exusiai swallowed the apple pie in her mouth, fortunate that she hadn't choked from the shock, otherwise, she would have sprayed it on his face.

"Texas, he seems to be awake?"

"I can see that." Texas's ears twitched, and her tail swayed unnaturally.

Shirou was also taken aback. Seemingly realizing he had startled them, he apologized first:

"Sorry, I scared you… cough cough…"

Shirou felt the soreness in his body, the throbbing pain in his head, and the dryness in his throat. He didn't have the mental capacity to pay attention to the rather unusual attire of the two women in front of him.

"No rush, no rush. Have some water first. You've been unconscious for almost a day."

Exusiai handed Shirou a bottle of water. After drinking it, Shirou felt much better. Seeing his complexion improve, Exusiai began to introduce herself:

"You can call me Exusiai. The one next to me is Texas. And you?"

"My name is Shirou Emiya. You can just call me Emiya."

"Shirou Emiya? Are you from the East?" Texas, standing nearby, took the empty bottle from Shirou's hand and placed it on a nearby table.

"The East? Where is that?" Shirou asked, looking confused.

Exusiai and Texas exchanged a glance, sensing something was wrong. Exusiai then pressed further:

"Then do you know Longmen?"

Shirou blinked and then shook his head.

"Yan Nation? Ursus? Columbia? Siracusa? Laterano?"

Exusiai rattled off names Shirou didn't understand, like listing dishes.

"What are you talking about?"

Shirou tilted his head, his face full of question marks, finding their behavior strange.

"…One last question, do you know Originium?"

Texas stared intently at Shirou's face and asked seriously.

"Uh… a type of stone?"

Seeing her serious expression, Shirou found it difficult to simply say he didn't know, so he could only guess what it might be based on the word itself.

"Oh? Found a person with amnesia. Looks like our questions won't be answered anytime soon," Exusiai said, leaning back in her chair with her hands behind her head.

"...Don't worry, you rest up. You can use anything on this floor, just don't leave it," Texas said, a 'well' appearing on her forehead as she pulled Exusiai away.

"???" Shirou, left alone in the room, was utterly confused.

Recalling the recent conversation, Shirou guessed they thought he had amnesia. Lungmen, Yan, Ursus... and this so-called Originium, they all seemed to be quite important.

The various inconsistencies made Shirou feel uneasy. He stood up, leaning against the bed, and walked to the window, opening it. Sunlight streamed into the room. Shirou raised his hand to block the glare, and as his eyes adjusted, he took in the scenery outside.

It was a scene much like what he often saw in busy city districts—if you disregarded the various ears and tails on the people.

"Is today some kind of special holiday?" Shirou pressed his head, feeling a headache coming on. Everything seemed to be heading in a strange direction.

Shirou lay back down on the bed and began to recall his memories before he passed out.

"...Something's wrong. It feels like something's missing."

Shirou thought carefully and realized his memory only went as far as being asked to organize something. After that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything else.

Shirou pressed his hands to his head, forcing himself to remember.

—It's no use. He remembered what he did and what he said, but he couldn't remember who those people were.

"Come on, remember..." Shirou smacked his own head, and upon noticing the strange sensation, he looked down at his right hand.

"Holy Shroud?" Shirou said, then paused.

How did he know what this was? Shirou felt a surge of irritation.

Shirou pulled off the Holy Shroud and tossed it onto the bedside. He felt he needed a cold shower to calm down.

Pushing open the room door, he saw the living room and kitchen, along with a few other doors.

Well... basically, everything was covered in dust. It was clear no one had lived here for a long time.

Shirou felt even more agitated. He looked around, found cleaning tools and rags, and got to work.

The walls, tables, chairs, floor, and kitchen—even his own room and the other rooms—he tidied them all up. Since there weren't many furniture or items, it only took him less than two hours to finish.

It was just a bit uncomfortable with all the dust clinging to his body.

Fortunately, he found a set of clothes by the bed, which were labeled as spares.

After taking his spare clothes and taking a shower, Shirou looked at the clean living room and kitchen with a sense of accomplishment.

Shirou glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost evening, and he hadn't eaten anything all day.

"I wonder how long I was unconscious..." Realizing he hadn't eaten, Shirou finally felt hunger. The refrigerator by the bed had been empty, and it wasn't even plugged in. The cabinets only contained bowls, plates, and some kitchenware, so there was likely no food here.

"I'll just have to wait for them to find me..." Shirou didn't feel rushed. He pulled up a chair and sat down in the living room.

He had calmed down a bit and had a clearer picture of his situation.

First, there was the memory issue. He couldn't recall many names and faces, but he remembered the names and faces of Exusiai and Texas, whom he had just met, very clearly. Something must have happened before or during his unconsciousness.

Then there was... what kind of place this was.

After seeing what was outside the window earlier, he was certain that the people in his memories definitely didn't have ears and tails. To rule out the possibility that he was misremembering, he had looked at himself in the mirror in the bathroom for a long time earlier.

These were the two main points of doubt. He would put aside other issues, like the suspected presence of many different races, for later. He didn't need so many questions right now; he could think about them when he had the energy.

Just as Shirou was pondering, he heard a voice from outside the door.

"You guys just picked someone up and then left them alone with just water? What kind of people did you pick up, fish?" a male voice boomed through the door.

"We just forgot. But they seemed fine just now, so there shouldn't be any problem?" Shirou recognized this voice; it sounded like Exusiai's. But what she said made Shirou want to... hit someone?

With a bang, the door was kicked open.

Shirou saw a penguin kicking the door—it was Emperor, and behind her was Exusiai.

Emperor, who was the boss of Penguin Logistics and the others, froze after kicking the door open.

Exusiai behind her also looked confused, even turning her head to see if they had gone to the wrong floor.

"Exusiai, did we come to the wrong place?" Emperor asked, lowering her foot and turning around.

After confirming the floor was correct, Exusiai looked inside again, certain that the person sitting at the table was the one they had picked up yesterday.

"We're not in the wrong place, it's this room. That person is the one we picked up; they just woke up this afternoon."

"Woke up this afternoon? It's barely past six o'clock now! And the whole room has been tidied up like this?" Emperor pointed at the clean living room and kitchen, demanding an explanation. This room had been left untouched for at least a year. The amount of dust made anyone reluctant to clean it. If they hadn't suddenly needed the room yesterday, it could have sat like this for another year!

"Boss, is it possible... he's a professional in this area?" Exusiai suggested a reasonable explanation after a moment's thought.

"Are you saying you picked up a housekeeper who fell from the sky?"

"Uh... I guess so?"

"..."

Shirou watched the man and the penguin bickering at the doorway. He was certain he was no longer in his original world.

At the very least, in his memories, there were no penguins wearing sunglasses, gold chains, and swearing.

Emperor finally sighed and waved her hand.

"Forget it, forget it. Go tell Croissant and the others to bring the food here. This place is cleaner than yours."

Exusiai stuck out her tongue in a playful gesture before turning to leave.

The Emperor strode over to the table, pulled out a chair, and hopped onto it. He then stared at Shirou.

"Hmm... doesn't look like much, but... with a halo and wings, you seem quite similar to Exusiai? Could you possibly be related to her?"

Shirou's eye twitched slightly, and he shook his head.

"Probably not? At least I don't have a halo, and I don't know any other angels."

"Hmm... it seems the possibility of amnesia is quite high, you don't even know the Sarkaz?" The Emperor leaned back in his chair, resting against the backrest.

He was indeed very interested in the person they mentioned earlier, the one who fell from a great height with a massive impact but remained unharmed. However, upon actually seeing him... he could only say he was very disappointed.

No matter how you looked at it, he was just an ordinary person! And an amnesiac at that! How boring! He thought there might be some new amusement.

Still, his extraordinary organizational skills were commendable.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm the boss of Penguin Logistics. And you, kid?"

"Uh... Shirou Emiya, I'm a... student?"

"A student? University student? Do you remember where you studied?"

Shirou thought for a moment. He figured that even if he said the name of his school, it probably wouldn't be recognized, so he decided to just forget it.

"I don't know."

"Then you're not a student. You're a vagrant with no identity right now."

The Emperor tried to make Shirou realize his situation first.

"Huh? Oh, okay."