After all, Yicheng had said that most people like this were quite shy, not daring to ask directly, or perhaps simply not wanting others to know their true appetites, though he had still warned him not to blindly believe what others said in case he was ever tricked into having nothing left of himself.
"S... sorry about tricking you."
Exusiai pressed her palms together and apologized to Shirou, knowing full well that such behavior was improper, yet as a young girl, asking outright for multiple servings still made her a bit embarrassed.
"It's fine, eat as much as you want. After all, taking care of you is my job."
Shirou pushed the omelet rice in his hands straight toward Exusiai.
Texas sat to the side and watched this scene, sighing inwardly that Shirou was a really good person, not getting angry at all even after being tricked like that by Exusiai.
It didn't look like an act, either.
As for the person in question, Exusiai, watching Shirou gently let the matter slide and still hand over the food regardless, such actions made her blurt out:
"Mama Emiya!"
"???"
09 Projection Magic
"Ahem... Please forget about that, thank you."
Exusiai's face as she sat at the dining table was as red as her hair, and she didn't dare touch the spoon in her hand for the longest time.
"Are you talking about the part where you called someone you've only known for a few days 'Mama'?"
Texas drove a merciless blade straight into Exusiai's heart.
As a side note, Shirou off to the side was also rather awkward.
Although he occasionally got called things along those lines, this was the first time someone had actually shouted it right to his face.
Texas seemed to notice Shirou's awkwardness as well, so she didn't press the matter further.
Seeing that Texas dropped the subject, both Exusiai and Shirou breathed sighs of relief, and then Shirou sat down to enjoy his own portion.
He had originally thought he would need to make a simple dinner using whatever ingredients were left, but now that wouldn't be necessary.
"Did you make this by reading a recipe?"
Exusiai tried to use words to ease the awkwardness; as long as she spoke enough, it would dilute what she had said earlier!
"I decided to make it after seeing the discounted ingredients, though I didn't expect it to turn out this successful either."
Shirou had originally gone into it with the possibility of a total failure in mind, never expecting it to go so smoothly on the very first try. After all, he was somewhat unfamiliar with a portion of the ingredients, but upon actually working with them, Shirou found that the differences weren't all that great.
At least the feather beast parts looked similar enough for now, while the other meats remained to be seen. Furthermore, the cooking methods here were rather special, and Shirou still had a lot to learn.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Before you lost your memory, were you some kind of master chef or something?"
Exusiai's eyes lit up with excitement; she could already see a future where she could bid farewell to take-out!
"Probably not? Maybe I just simply like cooking?"
Shirou suddenly remembered he had the amnesia setting, yet didn't want to deceive others, so he could only brush past it with a vague answer.
"Is that so? Still, it's pretty amazing, far exceeding the skill of a lot of restaurants. Don't you think so, Texas?"
Exusiai said between bites, not forgetting to cue her good partner.
"Mm, much better than Exusiai."
Texas was a bit too lazy to join the conversation, but since she'd been cued, she might as well plunge a knife into her own teammate's heart.
"Ugh... I just poured all my skill points into desserts!"
Exusiai protested; her cooking wasn't bad, she had just dumped everything into desserts!
Laterano people were all dessert masters!
"I remember you can only make apple pie, though?"
Texas dealt a ruthless follow-up strike.
"Urgh... What's wrong with only knowing how to make apple pie? Apple pie is king!"
Exusiai gave up struggling.
She had originally just wanted to maintain a cool senior image in front of the newcomer, but she hadn't expected Texas to mercilessly pierce through her mask time and time and time again.
As for Texas, who kept exposing Exusiai over and over, she was completely unintentional—it was simply that Exusiai bounced around too much, which naturally led to the aftermath.
"Desserts? I don't really know much about that area."
Shirou only knew a few relatively simple desserts. After all, given his previous kitchen and limited budget, he usually didn't bother with sweets and just bought them ready-made.
As for now, he could consider it; after all, the new kitchen had everything it needed, and as for the budget, it would depend on what his future salary looked like.
"Ah? What a shame, but I can teach you how to make apple pie, you know?"
Hearing that Shirou didn't know how to make desserts, Exusiai deflated again.
Laterano people treated sweets as their very lives! A life without desserts was no different from hell!
If she could teach Shirou how to make desserts, her future days would definitely be exceptionally joyful!
"I'll ask for pointers if I need to later."
Shirou didn't turn down Exusiai's good intentions.
Texas, on the other hand, had already seen right through Exusiai's scheme, but on the grounds that she would also get to enjoy the benefits, she had no intention of exposing it.
Besides, the person in question seemed quite happy to have found a dessert teacher anyway.
The meal ended amidst this kind of interaction between the three of them, and in the end, Exusiai and Texas washed the dishes.
"We'll come over to freeload on meals next time, too! Remember to let us know!"
Before leaving, Exusiai poked her head in through the doorway and said this, before Shirou watched Texas's arm drape over Exusiai's shoulder and drag her away.
Shirou stepped forward and closed the apartment door. Exusiai and Texas had cleaned up reasonably well, and Shirou only needed to wipe things down slightly for it to be completely spotless.
After tidying up, Shirou washed up, sent the clothes he bought today along with the ones he'd just changed out of to be laundered, and then rolled out a rug in his room.
Shirou sat down on the rug, carefully recalling the key points regarding Projection Magic.
Original projection should be magic that materializes imitations, but when used by ordinary people, it could only be maintained for a very short time, making its efficiency abysmal.
It was just that he seemed to possess extraordinary talent in the realm of Projection Magic; the products of his projections could exist for long periods, and he could even achieve extremely low costs when projecting swords.
The core of projection was his imagination; the moment he harbored any doubt toward his own imagination, it would lead to the disappearance of the projected object.
And what he needed to do was make his projected products as close to the genuine article as possible.
Swords had the lowest cost, and anything else could seemingly be projected as long as it could be analyzed, except that the consumed magical energy would increase along with the object being projected.
These were all things Shirou interpreted after seeing them in his memories. He himself possessed no related knowledge in this field, only remembering that the very first magic he ever mastered was Projection Magic.
His subconscious always felt there were other factors influencing his Projection Magic, though he had no idea what they might be.
Shirou intended to start by projecting the ordinary short blade he had seen in the commercial district today.
If he tried a blade right off the bat like the golden sword or Avalon from his memories, even twin swords like Gan Jiang Mo Ye might just cost him his life.
At most, he should probably stick to projecting the bow he used in his memories and some daily necessities for now.
"Trace on."
Magic circuits surfaced on his hands like electrical wiring, and a small ball of light subsequently manifested in his palm.
"Determine the concept of creation,
Hypothesize the basic skeleton,
Duplicate the constituent materials,
Imitate the manufacturing techniques,
Sympathize with the experience of growth,
Recreate the accumulated years,
Surpass, complete numerous projects—"
With the chant, the sphere of light gradually transformed into the shape of a short blade, and finally, a dagger appeared in Shirou's hand. In exchange, he clearly felt a wave of fatigue.
"Good thing it was just an ordinary short blade. It would have been a disaster if it were anything else."
Shirou distinctly felt the sense of discord transmitted through his magic circuits; it wasn't very severe, roughly equivalent to feeling slightly tired after a workout.
Compared to the days of lingering muscle soreness caused by pushing himself too hard during the early training days of Reinforcement Magic, this was practically nothing.
Shirou set the short blade aside and carefully recalled the process he had just gone through. He wanted to try omitting a portion of the chant.
Drawing on the image in his memories, Shirou projected once more.
"Trace on!"
Magic circuits surfaced on Shirou's hands, and a short blade subsequently materialized in his grasp.
"Sure enough, the difference is still quite significant."
Shirou compared the two identical-looking daggers. The short blade made by omitting the chant was noticeably lower in precision and more fragile—he would simply have to train more in that regard.
Placing both short blades aside, Shirou threw himself into the embrace of his bed.
He hadn't forgotten his identity; after all, this wasn't like the past where he could recklessly overdraw his physical body.
10 I Don't Want That Kind of Thing!
Over the next few days, Shirou basically spent his time learning some basic common sense around here, researching cooking, and practicing Projection Magic.
His focus remained mostly on the first two, seeing as this place seemed rather chaotic and common sense was crucial, while as for cooking... he seemed to have transformed into Penguin Logistics' resident chef, frantically researching new recipes.
Shirou even bought a special notebook to write down the recipes he still remembered, lest he forgot them.
His daily schedule was currently fixed:
Wake up > Exercise > Breakfast > Study > Lunch > Study > Grocery shopping > Dinner > Shower > Magic practice > Sleep
Every single day was fulfilling.
"The soreness in my body has pretty much all healed up. I should be able to slowly increase the training intensity from here on out."
After finishing his routine morning exercise upon waking, Shirou felt that his body no longer ached the way it had over the past few days. However, after staying here for these past few days, Shirou discovered that everyone's physical strength at Penguin Logistics seemed to be much greater than his own.
No, or rather, the physical strength of humans around here was generally very high.
Shirou estimated that without using magic, his physical strength definitely couldn't compare to the people here.
Shirou took a quick shower, slipped an apron over himself, and got to work in the kitchen.
"Looks like everyone's here today, so I'll need to make five portions. I bought toast yesterday so I can make sandwiches, and I can make a few extra so they can take them along and eat when they get hungry while working."
Shirou processed the meat of a Lactate Beast. This meat was similar to beef; it tasted wonderful simply by searing and seasoning it slightly, and paired with some lettuce, tomatoes, and a fried egg, it was complete.
Considering these were meant to be eaten right away, Shirou toasted the bread to enhance the texture, then layered the ingredients in order: lettuce, tomatoes, sauce, meat, and egg.
"Shirou, what are we having for breakfast today?"
Croissant poked her head into the kitchen and asked Shirou.
Croissant belonged to the group that returned the latest. She had basically spent the past few days running her stall outside, handling her meals and lodging out there. Upon returning and seeing Texas, Exusiai, and Sora enjoying the baked gratin stew prepared by Shirou, she had been filled with immense regret.
Regretting why she had wasted money outside eating mediocre-tasting food instead of giving up her own free home-cooked meals.
As for Sora, she had returned looking thoroughly exhausted after finishing a stretch of work, right when Shirou happened to run into her. Shirou had specially used sweet potatoes gifted by someone else to make candied sweet potatoes for Sora, though a portion of it was later raided by Exusiai, who had followed the sweet scent.
"Lactate meat sandwiches. They're already made, let me just cut them."
Shirou picked up the sandwich knife and skillfully cut all the sandwiches in half, letting Croissant—who had poked her head into the kitchen—carry them out, while conveniently grabbing a bottle of lactate milk and some cups for the table.
"Ooh, sandwiches today!"
Exusiai pressed her palms together with an earnest expression. Sleeping well and eating well over the past few days had made her feel thoroughly blessed.
Texas, meanwhile, was drinking coffee with a splash of the lactate milk Shirou had specially warmed up.
Croissant and Sora each placed the sandwiches at their respective spots.
Shirou returned to the kitchen, continuing to busy himself with preparing the portions the others would take along as lunch.
Before you continue