In the living room, Exusiai, Texas, and Sora sat side by side.
Shirou had changed into a fresh set of clothes and sat across from them.
"Are you really okay?"
Texas looked at him and asked.
She was not overreacting, just from small details she could tell Shirou was in terrible condition.
When he fetched water earlier, his right hand had been trembling constantly, even nearly dropping the cup.
Even now, he was clearly favoring his left hand, very unlike his usual self.
"I'm fine. It will get better in a few days."
Shirou waved it off.
"Really? You do not need to see a doctor?"
Sora looked worried. She had seen what happened in the room earlier, the strange patterns on Shirou's arm unsettled her.
"If you're worried about your infected status being exposed, we can just go to a doctor the boss knows."
Exusiai thought it through and concluded Shirou might be hiding that he was an Infected, and what they saw earlier was a flare-up of Oripathy.
After all, when Oripathy flared up, it caused pain and the more severe the infection, the worse the pain.
"Infected? Ah, do not worry about that."
Shirou paused for a moment before realizing what they were concerned about. In this world, being infected was indeed a sensitive matter.
But he could say with certainty that he was not infected.
If there were abnormalities inside his body, he would have noticed immediately.
Magecraft was not useless, checking one's own body was well within his ability.
"We do not discriminate against the Infected. But if you refuse treatment, you will die."
When Texas said the last sentence, she bit down hard and snapped the Pocky stick in her mouth.
It was common for infected people to hide their condition for work and many delayed treatment until it was too late.
Given their line of work, they encountered Infected often, so they were not particularly afraid. As long as proper precautions were taken, coexistence was possible.
And Shirou was someone they had brought back and someone who had taken care of them for quite a while. Texas felt she had to remind him.
She had already asked Croissant to retrieve an Oripathy testing device from another base. If it turned out Shirou was infected, she would definitely make him get treatment.
Of course, through the boss's connections and someone discreet.
As long as there were no visible Originium crystals on the body, hiding it was not that difficult.
"I'm really not. How do I put this… it's just a side effect of an ability."
Shirou tried to reassure them, but since he did not know how to explain magecraft, he described it as the side effect of some mysterious technique.
Which was not exactly a lie.
As for why his magic circuits had gone into shock earlier, it was related to what he saw in those memories. Even he had not expected such a strong resonance.
The version of him in those memories had gradually been influenced, while he himself had jumped straight to the end in one night.
Even with some foundation, Archer was still him at the end of that path, far beyond his current level.
"..."
Texas and Exusiai only looked more uneasy after hearing his explanation. Still, once Croissant returned with the device, everything would be settled.
"A side effect? What kind of technique?"
Seeing the atmosphere stiffen, Sora stepped in to break the tension.
"…Alright."
After a moment, Shirou decided to demonstrate reinforcement magecraft.
His circuits had just experienced shock so using projection again would be too taxing. Reinforcement, on the other hand required much less energy if done properly.
"Trace on."
He picked up a tissue and rolled it into a thin strip.
The three watched as the strange patterns reappeared on his hand—and this time, the same patterns appeared on the tissue as well.
"Basic structure, understood.
Material composition, understood.
Reinforcement complete."
When the chant ended, Shirou held the rolled tissue up in front of them.
"What does that mean?"
Exusiai tilted her head.
"The tissue… got harder?"
Texas noticed something off and reached out to touch it.
"It really did!"
Seeing Texas react, Sora also touched it.
The texture was no longer soft like tissue and it felt noticeably firmer.
Though visually, it still looked like ordinary paper.
Exusiai poked it as well, confirming the others were not joking.
"Originium Arts?"
After thinking for a moment, Exusiai gave her guess. When in doubt it is Originium Arts.
"Maybe. But that does not prove you're not infected. If anything, it makes you more suspicious."
Texas withdrew her hand.
"…That's rough."
Shirou felt a headache coming on.
"I'm back!"
At that moment, Croissant pushed the door open, holding a machine.
"Finally! Took you long enough!"
Exusiai helped her place it on the table and plugged it in.
"What's this?"
Shirou looked at the device, he did not know what it did, but it was clearly meant for him.
"A portable Oripathy detector. It just needs a little blood and if you are infected, it lights up red. If you are not infected it lights up green."
Sora gave a brief explanation.
"Give me a bit of blood."
Texas took out a small needle.
Shirou extended his left hand. With a machine like this, there was no need for further explanation.
After all, nothing beats a professional result.
Texas drew a small amount of blood and handed it to Croissant.
"Alright, here we go, time for the reveal!"
Croissant dropped the blood into a test tube and placed it into the machine.
Then she got smacked on the head three times.
"Ow!"
She cried out.
"Hurry up and run it, you breadhead."
Exusiai grabbed one of her horns and shook her, while Texas grabbed the other and shook as well.
"Okay, okay, let go first!"
Croissant's head was spinning.
Once they released her, she continued operating the device.
All four of them stared at the indicator light.
About two minutes passed.
Ding!
The green light turned on.
"…Phew."
Texas let out a sigh of relief. Now she did not have to figure out how to force Shirou into treatment.
This was a device the boss had specially brought back, meant for checking themselves after transporting Originium or after combat.
Its reliability was unquestionable.