Chapter 76

Shirou finally defeated Exusiai and won the co-pilot's seat.

However... the physical sensation wasn't very good.

"Ugh! The Knights of the Round Table are so ridiculous! They just took all the windows off our car?"

Exusiai was sitting in the back seat, let out a mournful cry.

The windshield was still there, but the right and rear windows had been removed by the Knights of the Round Table, who said there was evidence on them to collect.

Exusiai strongly suspects this is retaliation from the Knights of the Round Table!

"Just hang in there... Ugh, something got into my mouth!"

Croissant, who was standing to the side, thought that she could just hold on for a while, but she didn't expect that as soon as she opened her mouth, she felt something rushing into her mouth.

"There was nothing we could do, since there were crossbow bolts stuck up there. But the Knights of the Round Table knew we needed the vehicle, so they simply removed all the windows; otherwise, we wouldn't be able to drive it."

Sitting on the left side, there was no problem; the window was still there, but the wind blowing in from the right was a bit strong, so she had to use her coat to block it, afraid of following Croissant's footsteps.

"Go straight back?"

Texas, in the driver's seat, didn't have this problem at all, since her window was still open and the wind was blowing backwards.

However, she remembered that her dinner had already been eaten by a tiger, and she didn't know if she would have anything to eat if she went back now.

I guess I can only pray that there are still instant noodles to eat in the upstairs room.

Since Shirou arrived, the Penguin Logistics team hasn't replenished their instant noodle stock. Plus, Croissant sometimes craves instant noodles in the middle of the night, so they don't know if there are any left.

"Well, let's go straight back. We can just heat the food up a little more and we can eat it. I was thinking that you guys would be heading back to your dorms by the time I finished, but then this happened."

Shirou, who was in the passenger seat, handed a cloth to Croissant in the back seat so she could shield herself from the wind.

"What! So you were lying to us, Shirou? That's so mean!"

Croissant, sitting in the back seat, realized after hearing Shirou's words that she had just been tricked by him, and then thought about her behavior at Shirou Knights of the Round Table...

How awful! She was going to devour all that food to heal her wounded heart!

"Haha..."

Shirou laughed awkwardly a few times.

He originally wanted to continue scaring the group, making them think they had no food left, but he gave up after seeing the state of the car.

The use of explosives was probably due to the urgency of the situation, so there was no other way.

At least from what Hoshiguma just said, it's clear that the people at Penguin Logistics were mindful of the circumstances when using explosives, and only the suspect and half of Lungmen were injured.

"Then let's go straight back. We'll let Isv handle the car later."

Texas felt much happier after learning that there was food in the dorm.

Back in the dormitory, the first thing they did was to wash up, since they had worked all day and had just returned after experiencing a lot of sand and dust.

Shirou, on the other hand, wasn't in such a hurry; the passenger seat shielded him from a lot of sand and dust.

He first went to re-fry the previously prepared Fried Winged Beast Chunk. Since they hadn't been left for too long and were in a good location without getting too damp, a simple frying was enough.

As for the laughter coming from the changing room, Shirou took a deep breath and closed the kitchen door, focusing on dealing with the situation.

The Fried Winged Beast Chunk, after being fried twice, certainly don't taste as good as when they're fresh out of the oven, but they're still much better than when they're cold.

With a simple vegetable platter, when a large plate of Fried Winged Beast Chunk was served on the table, you could see the eyes of the four Penguin Logistics were shining.

Even Sora, who doesn't particularly like fried food, seemed very interested.

"Wow! The aroma! The juiciness! It's amazing!"

The croissant, with a string of Fried Winged Beast Chunk on it, was Croissant to eat.

Her favorite thing, combined with Shirou's cooking skills, has already surpassed 1+1=2. Right now, she doesn't want to think about anything else except for the huge plate of Fried Winged Beast Chunk in front of her.

"Croissant, you're exaggerating a bit..."

Looking at Croissant's appearance, even Shirou felt it was exaggerated.

This isn't some kind of food anime, is it really necessary to create this kind of effect?

"After all, it's Croissant."

After saying that, Sora picked up a piece and started enjoying it. Although it wasn't as exaggerated as Croissant, Shirou could still see that Sora looked very satisfied.

Exusiai and Texas were also busy fighting over the food. If they weren't afraid that Shirou would start cursing, they might have pounced on him and taken the food.

"Never mind, this is fine too."

Seeing that everyone seemed to enjoy it, Shirou didn't bother to think about it anymore. However, he didn't intend to snatch it, since there were still chicken legs marinating in the refrigerator. He could just fry them later if he wasn't full.

After a satisfying meal, the group leaned back contentedly in their chairs by the dining table.

"Ah... Shirou, you really can do everything, even fried food tastes so good."

Exusiai patted her belly, feeling that it had grown quite a bit since the last meal.

If this continues, she'll eventually turn into a fat angel.

"Agree."

Texas nodded in agreement with Exusiai. To her, everything about the meal was perfect, but she felt something was missing... It would be nice to have some bones to gnaw on.

"Croissant, where's the stuff?"

The more self-disciplined Sora didn't overeat like the others, while still thinking about the gifts they wanted to give to Shirou.

She was really looking forward to Croissant what headphones Croissant had chosen.

"Here it is! Here it is!"

Croissant snapped out of her dejected state upon receiving the empty notification and pulled a gift box from under her chair.

"Hmm? Whose birthday is it?"

When Shirou saw the gift-wrapped item, his first thought was that it was someone's birthday.

"Nobody has a birthday, this is something we pooled our money to buy for you, Shirou."

Croissant placed the gift box in her hand in front of Shirou and said.

She's really looking forward to seeing Shirou wearing headphones!

"For me?"

Shirou looked at the gift placed in front of him and was puzzled.

I've done the math, and it's indeed very close to his birthday, but he doesn't seem to have mentioned it here before.

"You've seemed preoccupied these past few days, and since we wanted to thank you for taking such good care of us, we pooled our money to buy this! But Croissant sneaked off to buy it herself first."

Seeing Shirou's bewildered expression, Exusiai offered an explanation, but she emphasized that Croissant had run away first, so that if there was a problem Croissant the croissant later, she could blame it on Croissant.

She hadn't forgotten how much she'd worked, only to have it all mercilessly Croissant by a croissant.

"I see... Thank you so much."

After hearing Exusiai's explanation, Shirou roughly understood what was going on.

"Take it apart and see if it fits."

Texas handed the scissors to Shirou, though Shirou probably didn't really need them.

But it's about the sense of ritual!

A sense of ritual is very important!

"Um."

After taking the scissors, Shirou carefully unpacked the package and took out the scissors.

The dark red outer packaging clearly shows the dark red headphones inside.

The Croissant was chosen to match Shirou's hair color, so it would suit him better.

What puzzled Shirou was...

"Lupo headphones?"

"Croissant!!!"

Exusiai cried out in despair upon seeing the actual object.

Sora looked at the gift in front of her and found it somewhat amusing.

Croissant, the Croissant, was caught by Texas and couldn't escape.

95 When Shirou puts on the Lupo headphones

Croissant knelt on the ground, while the three Penguin Logistics stood in front of her, looking at her with predatory expressions.

Meanwhile, Shirou sat at the dining table, holding the Lupo headphones in his hand, deep in thought.

Why make it look like Lupo's ears?

The majority of Lungmen's inhabitants are Feline, followed by Ursus and other races.

Although Lupo seems to be a popular race in Lungmen, Shirou wondered if wearing them like this would cause the upper ears to block the view.

As for the issue of some races having both animal and human ears, Shirou didn't pay much attention to it. After all, he wasn't familiar with orcs, and at most, he just thought that four-channel audio was a bit impressive.

"If Shirou doesn't like it, just say so! We'll take good care of the Croissant."

Seeing Exusiai Shirou, thought that Shirou might not be able to accept such an avant-garde style.

Feline, Lupo, and Vulpo are quite popular, which is why some people deliberately create similar appearances to attract attention.

This design seems more suitable for races without ears; in Penguin Logistics, it's probably only Croissant and Shirou who can wear it.

Exusiai herself... she feels uncomfortable whenever there's something between her head and her halo, so she'll pass on her for now.

"Really? This is quite interesting, isn't it?"

Shirou only came to his senses after hearing Exusiai's words.

It wasn't that he disliked the headphones, but he thought the design was quite interesting. Anyway, everyone here had animal ears, so it didn't seem out of place for him to wear them.

Even if we take a step back, this was a gift that everyone at Penguin Logistics pooled together to send, so he couldn't say he didn't like it in front of them; that would be quite hurtful.

I'll only be using headphones in the dorm anyway, so it's fine.

"If you think it's okay, then it's fine."

Since the parties involved felt there was no problem, there was no need for them to argue anymore. Texas simply sat down on the sofa and took a good spot, lying down comfortably.

"Then I..."

Croissant, still kneeling on the ground, tried to get up, but her legs felt a little numb.

"It's one thing for Shirou to accept it, but it's another for Croissant to cause trouble, so keep kneeling."

Kong thoughtfully placed her hand on Croissant's shoulder and pressed down to prevent him from getting up.

After all, Croissant paid for the headphones herself; she made grand promises at first to get Croissant to pay for them first.

It turned out to be just the other party's twisted sense of humor!

This is already considered deception!

Although Sora is also very curious about what Shirou will look like with the Lupo Headphones on.

"Then... Shirou, why don't you try it on? See if the size is right."

Seeing that Shirou showed no sign of resistance, Exusiai had a very healthy idea.

I checked the lighting in the living room and it's okay. Shirou's current position is also good, and the angle is excellent.

The phone is ready, and the camera mode is set.

All that's left is for Shirou to put on the headphones! And she's about to receive a new photo!

Just thinking about it makes me happy. There aren't many photos of Shirou in her Penguin Logistics album on her computer. She needs to quickly increase the number to balance things out.

"Um?"

Looking at Exusiai's appearance, Shirou felt that something seemed wrong.

It felt like Sister Fujie had switched his soy sauce, and she was waiting to see him embarrass himself...