To avoid disturbing the others' sleep, Emiya sat right outside the door.
Anyway, the buildings here were not very tall, so this was a great spot to look out over the surroundings.
For over a month, this was the first time Emiya had simply let his mind go blank without thinking about anything.
He was somewhat afraid of this unknown place.
An unknown land, an unknown civilization, unknown people—everything whatsoever was unknown.
That was why he constantly kept numbing himself with other matters.
Fortunately, the atmosphere at Penguin Logistics was very cheerful, which often allowed him to relax along with it.
More than a month had passed, and now he seemed not to be so afraid anymore.
64 Mephisto, Faust
Emiya was already quite accustomed to life in Lungmen.
Whether it was cleaning and cooking for everyone at Penguin Logistics every day, or absorbing the common sense of this land in his room during his spare time, every day was very fulfilling.
Thising... should be right, shouldn't it?
Emiya thought as he looked up at the starry sky.
It was just like back then, only now he was all alone.
When all was said and done, he still felt out of place in this land.
Where did he come from? Why did he come? What could he do?
He still didn't clearly know.
"Is it him?"
The sound of conversation in the distance interrupted Emiya's train of thought.
After all, the village night was very quiet, and even the slightest sound became extremely distinct—especially for Emiya.
Yet it was hard for Emiya to tell from the voice whether the speaker was male or female; the voice was somewhat hoarse, as if the throat had been injured.
Turning his head, Emiya looked toward the source of the sound.
They were two children, except one had black hair and the other had white hair.
Emiya remembered seeing the black-haired one when he had first arrived at the village; back then, the boy was holding a crossbow in his hand.
Looking around, there was no one else. Were they probably looking for him?
The two also seemed to realize they had been spotted, so they walked out.
One could see the white-haired child timidly hiding behind the black-haired child, and the former also seemed to have trouble moving, holding a crutch in his right hand.
"Um... want some?"
Not knowing how to communicate with the two, the atmosphere was a bit awkward. After thinking for a moment, Emiya took out the chocolate from his pocket and handed it to them.
"...Thank you."
The black-haired child looked at the chocolate in Emiya's hand, then looked at Emiya's face, and after thinking for a moment, accepted the chocolate and handed it all to the white-haired child.
"You're welcome. Did you two come here to look for the owner of this house, or...?"
Feeling that the atmosphere was no longer so awkward, Emiya asked.
"We are... patrolling, and happened to see you spacing out over here."
The black-haired child said after a moment of thought, though Emiya could tell the fellow was lying.
Still, he didn't plan to expose them.
"I was just looking at the stars here; the stars around here are quite bright."
Emiya pointed at the sky and said.
The two also looked up for a moment, but neither looked very interested.
After all, scenery that was very fresh to Emiya was just an everyday routine to the two of them.
"Yeah... very pretty."
The black-haired child said.
If Emiya hadn't just watched them glance once and immediately look away, he might have actually believed it.
"Want to sit?"
Emiya shifted his body, sat aside, and asked the two.
"No, we still have to patrol."
Mindful of the persona he had just set up for himself, the black-haired child politely declined Emiya's invitation.
"Um... then wait for me a moment."
After thinking for a bit, Emiya decided to go get some more food for the two.
It was extra he had brought along himself, afraid that everyone at Penguin Logistics would get hungry on the road, but he hadn't expected everyone to bring a bunch of food, so he could only deal with his share himself.
Since they were just some bread bought from a store, aside from shoving a croissant to Croissant in the vehicle, he hadn't touched the rest.
Leaving thirty percent, Emiya packed up all the rest and handed it to the black-haired child.
"Thank you."
This time the other didn't hesitate like before, obediently taking the bread.
It seemed that during the time Emiya had stepped away just now, the two had talked about something, leading to this change.
"You're welcome. Take it back and eat it with your family."
When Emiya mentioned family, he could clearly see the expressions of the two dim, though they quickly recovered.
Even though it was only for an instant, Emiya still caught it.
Based on his understanding of Ursus, it was probably some rather unpleasant memories.
So he changed his tune:
"It's fine if the two of you share it or share it with other friends."
Hearing Emiya put it that way, the two little ones nodded.
"That... my name is E—Mephisto, and he is Faust. Thank you for your chocolate and bread."
The white-haired child, or rather Mephisto as he should be called, was introducing himself.
Emiya guessed that these two must be codenames; many people here seemed to address each other externally by codenames, and Emiya himself used Emiya as a codename.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do, after all.
"My name is Emiya."
After a simple self-introduction, Emiya had no intention of making the two stay. After all, it was getting rather late, and letting children stay out too long in such a cold night was no good.
Watching Faust and Mephisto leave, Emiya also stood up, patted the snow off his clothes, and returned inside the house.
To have sat in a vehicle for a whole day and say he wasn't tired would be a lie.
He laid his sleeping bag outside the room where the Penguin Logistics members were sleeping. Although Emiya felt things wouldn't go that far, he still did it just in case.
Since he couldn't change clothes or wash up, Emiya merely took off his outer jacket, folded it, and placed it aside.
Making do for now would be fine. Emiya had often practiced magic in his own storage shed until he was exhausted and just fallen asleep right there; by comparison, he at least had a sleeping bag now.
Inside the sleeping bag, Emiya quickly drifted off to sleep.
After a short while, the bedroom door was pushed open.
A large head sporting a halo and another sporting cow horns poked out from the doorway.
"Asleep?"
Exusiai whispered, looking at the sleeping bag curled up beside the door.
It was her first time seeing what Emiya looked like when he slept, and thinking about it, it was quite thrilling.
"Should be asleep. Should we carry him inside?"
Croissant squinted her eyes to observe Emiya, and after confirming that he was fast asleep, she spoke.
Their purpose in getting up was very simple: drag the Emiya outside the door into the room.
This plan was proposed by the socially-embarrassed Exusiai, while Croissant joined in because she found it fun and feasible.
Sora and Texas seemed to be sleeping rather soundly, so the two didn't disturb them.
Neither of them had any intention of dragging Emiya to sleep between them; they simply wanted to move Emiya from outside the door to inside.
Under the noble guise of getting Emiya used to them faster.
In reality, it was to make Emiya share the pain of social embarrassment.
The two cautiously moved Emiya and his belongings into the room, then swiftly snuggled back into their own sleeping bags, looking forward to the events of the following morning.
Only, the two's movements seemed to wake Texas, who was nearby. Texas slightly lifted her sleep mask, raised her head, and saw Emiya being dragged inside.
Combining the two's actions just now, Texas understood that Exusiai and Croissant were playing with fire again.
She considered whether to wake Emiya and tell him to go back outside, or carry Emiya outside herself, but the heavy drowsiness quickly made Texas give up thinking; she pulled down her sleep mask and returned to dreamland.
Anyway, when the time came, the only ones punished by Emiya would be those two prime culprits, Exusiai and Croissant.
65 Reunion Movement
The next morning, Emiya woke up very early.
It was mainly because a certain light source kept shining on him, making it a bit hard to sleep.
After opening his eyes, Emiya first lay there a little longer to clear his head before sitting up.
Once he sat up, he sensed something was amiss.
The light source shining on him seemed to be the halo on Exusiai's head.
Wait, why am I sleeping inside?
Shaking his head, Emiya thoroughly woke up.
Wasn't he outside the door last night?
How did he suddenly end up inside?!
Shaking his head, Emiya got out of his sleeping bag, grabbed his jacket, and immediately left the room, leaving the four who were still fast asleep.
The sky outside was still somewhat dim. Emiya took out his phone to check—the time was only around five o'clock.
It was about time to wake up anyway, except getting a fright right after waking up had fully shaken off his sleepiness.
Thinking this way and that, Emiya quickly locked his targets onto Exusiai and Croissant; only those two would pull off this kind of stunt.
Once he went back inside, he would immediately arrange for some cured meat pie and croissants.
After calming down a little bit, Emiya remembered that his sleeping bag was still inside and hadn't been retrieved. After hesitating repeatedly, he decided to re-enter the Penguin den to fetch his sleeping bag.
Pushing the door open gently, Emiya first checked whether everyone from Penguin Logistics was awake, then tiptoed inside.
Looking at Exusiai, who was still fast asleep, and the four wearing sleep masks, Emiya couldn't help thinking about turning Exusiai's halo into a fluorescent lamp, then using Croissant's horns as decorations.
Yet that was just a thought; if he actually had to do it, he probably wouldn't be able to bring himself to.
Well, not yet, anyway.
"Hiss... Exusiai, close the window, will you?"
Muttering in her sleep, Croissant curled her body up and leaned against the Exusiai beside her to siphon off some warmth.
Carrying the sleeping bag, Emiya thought for a moment before unfolding it and draping it over the few of them.
If he got caught, he got caught; it was Exusiai and Croissant's fault anyway, and he would deal with those two later. Still, catching a cold wouldn't be good.
After spreading the sleeping bag out properly, Emiya quietly slipped out of the room.
As soon as Emiya left the room, Texas slightly lifted her sleep mask and saw the extra layer of sleeping bag spread over theirs.
Before you continue