Shirou Emiya Stands Upon Terra Chapter 45

To avoid disturbing the others' sleep, Shirou sat directly in front of the door.

The buildings here weren't tall anyway, so he could observe everything from here.

It had been over a month, and this was the first time Shirou had simply let his mind go blank without thinking about anything.

He was a little afraid of this unknown place.

Unknown land, unknown civilization, unknown people—everything was unknown.

That was why he had been constantly numbing himself with other things.

Fortunately, Penguin Logistics had a very cheerful atmosphere, which often helped him relax.

More than a month had passed, and he seemed less afraid now.

64 Mephisto, Faust

Shirou had become quite accustomed to life in Longmen.

Whether it was cleaning and cooking for everyone at Penguin Logistics every day or absorbing general knowledge about this land in his room during his free time, his days were very fulfilling.

"I'm doing the right thing, aren't I?"

Shirou thought as he looked up at the starry sky.

It was the same as that time, but now he was alone.

In the end, he still felt out of place in this land.

Where did he come from? Why did he come here? What could he do?

He wasn't clear on any of that yet.

"Is it him?"

The sound of conversation in the distance interrupted Shirou's thoughts.

After all, the nights in the village were very quiet, and even the slightest sound became very noticeable, especially to Shirou.

However, it was difficult for Shirou to tell if the speaker was male or female from their voice. Their voice was somewhat hoarse, as if their throat was injured.

Turning his head, Shirou looked in the direction of the sound.

There were two children, but one had black hair and the other had white hair.

Shirou remembered seeing the black-haired child when he first arrived at the village; the child had been holding a crossbow then.

He glanced around and saw no one else. They were probably looking for him.

The two children seemed to realize they had been discovered and walked out.

The white-haired child could be seen timidly hiding behind the black-haired child. Moreover, the child seemed to have difficulty moving, holding a cane in their right hand.

"Um... do you want some?"

Shirou didn't know how to communicate with the two children, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward. After thinking for a moment, he took out the chocolate he had in his pocket and offered it to them.

"...Thank you."

The black-haired child looked at the chocolate in Shirou's hand, then at Shirou's face. After thinking for a moment, they took the chocolate and handed it all to the white-haired child.

"You're welcome. Are you looking for the owner of this house, or...?"

Feeling that the atmosphere was less awkward, Shirou asked.

"We're... on patrol, and we just happened to see you spacing out over here."

The black-haired child said after thinking, but Shirou could tell they were lying.

However, he didn't intend to expose them.

"I'm just looking at the stars. The stars here are quite bright."

Shirou said, pointing to the sky.

The two children also looked up, but they didn't seem very interested.

After all, what was a novel sight for Shirou was just an everyday scene for them.

"Mm... it's very beautiful."

The black-haired child said.

If Shirou hadn't seen them look away after just one glance, he might have actually believed them.

"Want to sit?"

Shirou shifted his body, sat down to the side, and asked the two children.

"No, we still have to patrol."

The black-haired child, remembering the persona they had just created for themselves, declined Shirou's invitation.

"Um... then wait for me here."

After thinking, Shirou decided to get some more food for the two children.

He had brought extra, fearing that everyone at Penguin Logistics might get hungry on the road. However, everyone else had brought a ton of food, so he had to deal with his own leftovers.

After all, it was just some bread bought from the store. Other than giving Croissant a croissant bun in the car, it hadn't been touched.

Shirou packed up the remaining thirty percent and handed it over to the dark-haired child.

"Thank you."

This time, the other party didn't hesitate like before and obediently took the bread.

It seemed that during the time Shirou was away, the two had said something to cause this change.

"You're welcome. Take it back and eat it with your family."

When Shirou mentioned family, the expressions of the two clearly darkened for a moment before they quickly recovered.

Although it was only for an instant, Shirou had still seen it.

Based on his understanding of Ursus, it was likely related to some unpleasant memories.

So, he changed his words:

"You can share it between the two of you, or share it with your other friends."

Hearing Shirou say this, the two children nodded.

"Um... my name is Mephisto. This is Faust. Thank you for the chocolate and bread."

The white-haired child, or rather Mephisto, was introducing himself.

Shirou estimated these were likely codenames. Many people here seemed to use codenames when interacting with outsiders, and Shirou himself used Emiya as his codename.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

"My name is Shirou."

After a simple self-introduction, Shirou didn't intend to keep the two any longer. After all, it was getting late, and it wasn't good for children to be out in the cold night for too long.

After watching Faust and Mephisto leave, Shirou stood up, brushed the snow off himself, and returned to the house.

After sitting in the car all day, it was impossible to say he wasn't tired.

He spread his sleeping bag out just outside the room where the Penguin Logistics members were sleeping. Although Shirou didn't think anything would happen, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Since he couldn't change clothes or wash up, Shirou only took off his jacket, folded it, and placed it aside.

He'd just make do. Shirou had often practiced magecraft in his own warehouse and fallen asleep there when he was tired. Now, at least he had a sleeping bag.

Inside the sleeping bag, Shirou quickly drifted off to sleep.

After a while, the room door was pushed open.

A large head with a halo and horns poked through the doorway.

"Asleep?"

Exusiai looked at the sleeping bag by the door and asked softly.

It was her first time seeing Shirou asleep. She thought it was quite thrilling.

"He should be asleep. Should we carry him in?"

Croissant narrowed her eyes to observe Shirou, confirming he was asleep before speaking.

The reason the two of them were up was simple: to drag Shirou from outside the door into the room.

This plan was proposed by Exusiai, who was prone to embarrassing herself, and Croissant joined because she found it amusing and feasible.

Sora and Texas seemed to be sleeping very soundly, so they didn't disturb them.

The two of them had no intention of dragging Shirou to sleep between them. They just wanted to move Shirou from outside the door to inside.

The pretext was to help Shirou adapt to them faster.

In reality, it was to make Shirou experience the pain of public embarrassment together with them.

The two of them carefully moved Shirou and his belongings into the room, then quickly snuggled back into their own sleeping bags, anticipating the events of the next morning.

However, their movements seemed to have woken Texas beside them. Texas slightly moved her eye mask, lifted her head, and saw Shirou being dragged in.

Combining their recent actions, Texas understood that Exusiai and Croissant were up to their usual embarrassing antics again.

She considered whether to wake Shirou and have him go out, or to carry Shirou out herself, but her heavy sleepiness quickly made her give up thinking. She pulled her eye mask back down and returned to her dreams.

After all, whoever was punished by Shirou later would only be the culprits, Exusiai and Croissant.

65 Integrated Movement

The next morning, Shirou woke up very early.

Mainly because a certain light source was shining on him, making it difficult to sleep.

After opening his eyes, Shirou lay there for a moment longer to clear his head before sitting up.

As he got up, he sensed something was wrong.

The light source shining on him seemed to be Exusiai's halo.

"No, how did I end up sleeping inside?"

Shaking his head, Shirou became completely awake.

Wasn't he outside the door last night?

How did he suddenly end up inside!?

Shaking his head, Shirou Emiya got out of his sleeping bag, grabbed his jacket, and immediately left the room, leaving the four sleeping figures behind.

The sky outside was still dim. Shirou Emiya took out his phone and checked it. It was only around five o'clock.

It was about time to wake up. He was just startled after waking up, and it completely woke him up.

Shirou Emiya thought about it left and right and quickly set his sights on Exusiai and Croissant. Only those two would pull off something like this.

He'd make sure to prepare the salt pork pie and croissant bread as soon as he got back.

After calming down a bit, Shirou Emiya finally remembered that the sleeping bag was still inside and he hadn't taken it out. After much hesitation, he decided to get back into the Penguin Logistics pit to retrieve the sleeping bag.

He gently pushed the door open. Shirou Emiya first checked if everyone from Penguin Logistics was awake before quietly walking in.

Looking at the still-sleeping Exusiai and the four people wearing eye masks, Shirou Emiya thought about turning Exusiai's halo into a fluorescent light and using Croissant's horns as decorations.

But it was just a thought. If he were to actually do it, he probably wouldn't be able to.

Yeah, not yet.

"Hiss... Sis Neng, could you close the window?"

Croissant mumbled in her sleep, curling up and snuggling closer to Exusiai to absorb her body heat.

Shirou Emiya, holding the sleeping bag, thought for a moment, then opened it and covered the sleeping figures with it.

If he was discovered, he was discovered. It was Exusiai and Croissant's fault anyway, he'd deal with them later. But it wouldn't be good if they caught a cold.

After arranging the sleeping bag, Shirou Emiya quietly left the room.

After Shirou Emiya left the room, Texas slightly lifted her eye mask and saw the extra sleeping bag laid over theirs.