Since Exusiai and Texas figured Shirou was just getting his bearings, the two of them slowed their pace as well.
The two of them had originally planned to go shopping today, but now they had someone tagging along; though it was a somewhat unexpected job, it was still within an acceptable range.
"What kind of clothes do you like, Shirou?"
After arriving at the shopping district, Exusiai asked Shirou.
"Plain is fine, for now I just need something to wear."
Shirou did not have too many demands; he had not reached the point where he needed to buy high-priced clothing.
First of all, he had no money, and secondly, he was still growing, so buying expensive things would not last him long.
"I understand, then that men's clothing store over there it is."
Exusiai pointed to a rather luxurious-looking men's boutique ahead.
"Idiot, we're going to that one."
Texas delivered a chop to Exusiai's head, making the other girl wince in pain repeatedly.
"Why?"
Exusiai clutched her head with both hands, asking Texas why she was resorting to violence against her own teammate.
"There are a lot of things to buy, and his requirement is just to have something."
Texas explained briefly, then pulled Exusiai along and led Shirou to that shop.
Shirou followed behind. The store Texas recommended was a rather ordinary one that sold both men's and women's clothing.
After entering, Shirou confirmed his size, grabbed a few black and white tops, plain trousers, and boxer shorts, and walked right back out. The entire process was smooth and took less than 10 minutes.
"I'm done buying."
Shirou said, holding a small bag as he addressed the two waiting for him at the entrance.
Both of them were amazed by Shirou's shopping speed, but considering he was a guy after all, it was not that surprising.
06 Shopping
Shirou held the clothes he had just bought, following Exusiai and Texas as they strolled through the shopping district.
As a side note, Shirou had just noticed that the name of this shopping district seemed to be called the Dagu Shopping District.
The name reminded Shirou of a certain well-known tokusatsu.
"Didn't you say your earphones broke a while back, Texas? Aren't you considering getting a new pair?"
Exusiai walked around looking at things, biting into a newly bought apple pie. Seeing a shop that specialized in electronic products, she remembered that Texas's earphones had broken recently.
"No rush, I want to research earphones a bit more. I really liked that model, but unfortunately they don't sell it anymore, and sending it in for repairs is too expensive."
Texas glanced at the shop Exusiai mentioned, then shook her head in refusal.
After listening to the two chat for a moment, Shirou interjected and asked:
"Um, is there a bookstore around here?"
"A bookstore? What kind are you looking for? I saw a few books the boss gave you on the bookshelf earlier, shouldn't those be enough for you to read for a while?"
Exusiai turned around to look at Shirou. She remembered seeing a few books on the bookshelf this morning, so why was Shirou looking for books again so soon?
"I want to find some related to ingredients and cooking. After all, the boss said it would be even better if I could cook."
Shirou's primary interest had always been home cooking, and earlier on the road he had seen some foods he used to recognize, so he estimated that most of the cooking methods he mastered could probably be applied here as well.
Even if they could not be applied, he would find a way to learn, because this was where his passion lay.
Besides, his future job was to take care of everyone's daily lives, so mastering culinary techniques was entirely logical.
"Well... why don't you use a phone?"
Exusiai thought about why Shirou did not use something convenient like a mobile phone.
Suddenly, Texas delivered another head chop to Exusiai, and then said to Shirou:
"Your needs might be met faster with a phone, but if you still want to find a book, we can take you there."
"A phone then."
Shirou nodded. Since the other party was recommending something even more convenient, he naturally would not refuse.
Only, wasn't a phone something like a flip phone or a slider?
Shirou, hailing from Earth in 2004, was puzzled.
Exusiai and Texas changed their route, giving priority to taking Shirou to a mobile phone specialty store.
Shirou looked at the phones lined up on display, then pointed and asked:
"This is a phone?"
"Yup, a phone."
Exusiai shook her red-colored phone, and Texas beside her also took out her gray phone.
"...Never mind, just help me pick out one that works."
Shirou decided not to dwell on this matter, and would slowly study the technology tree here after he got the phone.
Seeing Shirou's reaction, Exusiai had Texas grab an especially durable phone to pay at the counter, while she held a display unit and demonstrated how to use it to Shirou.
It felt rather like a pair of children taking their elderly parent out to buy a phone, picking out a cheap and durable senior phone and slowly teaching them how to use it.
Well... Exusiai certainly thought so.
After Shirou roughly memorized how to use it, Texas handed the phone over to him.
"I've set everything up, you can use it directly. My number and Exusiai's are saved in it too."
"Sorry to trouble you, how much is this?"
Shirou took the phone, followed the few steps Exusiai just mentioned, and after confirming some basic operations, put it away.
"Pay me later, let's go buy the other things first."
Texas took out a Pocky stick and bit down on it. Shirou's phone was considered quite a cheap model and didn't cost much, but to Shirou, who was penniless, it was still a large sum of money, so she figured she would just lend it to him for now. After all, having a phone made things much more convenient, and he could save some expenses on books.
Well, ordinary books anyway; professional knowledge books still had to be bought properly.
"Alright, thanks, Texas."
Shirou did not say much else, figuring he would just pay her back once he had extra money after shopping today.
"Must be nice, Texas actually lent you money."
Exusiai looked at Texas beside her, then looked at Shirou, pouting with a displeased expression.
"If you didn't mess up your missions, wouldn't you avoid getting your pay docked?"
Texas did not soften her stance because of that, instead mocking Exusiai for how her usual work recklessness often led to extra expenses and docked pay.
"Wuwu... Texas, you..."
Exusiai clutched her chest with a look of disbelief.
Shirou smiled slightly as he watched the two banter.
"Alright, cut it out. Take Shirou to look at furniture."
Texas pushed away Exusiai's head with a look of disdain as Exusiai tried to lean against her.
Hearing Texas's words, Exusiai finally stopped, straightened up, and patted imaginary dust off her clothes.
"Shirou, let's go. We'll take you to look at furniture and see what you need."
"Furniture... Let me think about what I need."
Shirou considered the setup of his room: quite basically a bed, a wardrobe, and a small desk.
He might need a rug and a large table; the former could be spread on the floor when practicing magic, while the latter was because a small desk, though sufficient for reading, would not do if he wanted to practice projection. He needed a large table to place items for projection.
After all, if he left things on the floor and kicked them, that wouldn't be good.
The bedroom just needed to be simple. As for the living room, he probably didn't need anything for now and could look into it if a need arose.
After determining their goals, the group entered the store and immediately picked out the items. As for Exusiai, looking at the rows of circular fluorescent lamps overhead sent a chill down her spine.
Remember, every time a circular lamp tube is bought, a Laterano person suffers.
"That should be it for the shopping district. No new styles came out recently."
Exusiai complained while holding a bag of snacks and a bag of clothes. As for Texas beside her, she carried a bag completely filled with Pocky.
"You really like Pocky, Texas."
Seeing that Texas always seemed inseparable from Pocky, Shirou finally could not help but ask.
"Just a substitute for quitting smoking. It relieves anxiety and helps me focus a bit."
Texas casually touched a box inside her coat pocket.
Yet Shirou remembered that canines shouldn't eat... No, you couldn't directly compare them to normal animals. Although people here had animal characteristics and habits, they were still human after all.
Texas looked at the hesitant Shirou, feeling like he was thinking about something rather bad, though she had no proof.
"Let's head back to the dorms. You must be tired after walking around all morning, right?"
Returning to the entrance of the shopping district, neither Exusiai nor Texas intended to go anywhere else. Seeing Shirou's exhausted expression, they directly proposed heading back to the dorms.
Shirou did not refuse. Already suffering from sore muscles, he felt even more achy after walking around all morning, and he needed some time to rest.
07 Omelette Rice
Upon returning to his room, Shirou first operated his mobile phone.
Fortunately, the phone supported voice-to-text input, which saved quite a bit of trouble.
Through searching for various data on the phone, Shirou roughly learned the names of some ingredients and their cooking methods.
Lungmen's overall culinary style leaned towards Hong Kong-style and Chinese cuisine, and he remembered this was... whose forte again?
Shirou spent some time rummaging through his memories before recalling the person's name from another set of memories.
Rin Tohsaka, Archer's Master.
Shirou began to wonder if he had been dragged into that Holy Grail War, which led to the loss of his own memories. If not for another set of memories patching things over, he probably would only remember that such a person existed, but would not be able to recall her name or face.
Shaking his head, Shirou stopped thinking about these things.
Anyway, it was already a settled fact, and thinking more was useless. It was better to think about how to face the future.
He left the phone to charge, then pulled out some money and his ID, placed them into the wallet he had just bought on a whim, and put it into a crossbody bag. The remaining excess money was placed inside the cabinet and weighed down with a book.
The crossbody bag was recommended by Exusiai, and its style was similar to the one Shirou used to use, so he bought it.
"It looks like I still have some money left. Should I go buy some ingredients and try cooking?"
Shirou thought that the remaining money seemed quite abundant. Even after a morning's worth of shopping, there was still plenty left; it seemed the boss had stuffed quite a bit in.
However, it was all an advance on future salary, and Shirou felt it would be better to spend a bit more sparingly.
Carrying the crossbody bag, Shirou first pinned a location on his phone so that if he got lost later, he could navigate right back.
"How convenient."
Following the method Exusiai taught him, Shirou headed out with his phone.
Walking out of the dormitory building entrance, Shirou followed the navigation on his phone to the supermarket. Entering, he looked around and saw that the items were indeed similar to what he had just checked online, though this time he would stick to simpler things.
The prices were not expensive either; the money he brought was more than enough.
Still, years of habit led him to check out the discounted goods before deciding what to cook.
"Eggs, shiitake mushrooms, and... feather-beast leg meat?"
After thinking for a moment, Shirou decided to make omelette rice. After all, the eggs had a huge discount, so he could buy a few more.
Before you continue