After being reminded about several things to pay attention to before the medical examination, such as fasting, avoiding intense exercise, and remembering to sleep early... along with matters regarding Amiya, Kal'tsit no longer had much to say to Shirou.
After all, Kal'tsit was very busy, so once Shirou briefly explained his situation, he was promptly sent out.
"The doctors at Rhodes Island really are busy..."
Shirou, who had been ushered out, did not think she had done anything wrong. The doctors he had seen in the medical department earlier had all been extremely occupied.
Even Ptilopsis, who was sitting outside on standby for emergency cases, had been constantly handling paperwork... though every now and then she would suddenly narrow her eyes, nod off for a second, and then immediately wake back up.
She looked exactly like a student who suddenly falls asleep during class.
Originally, Shirou had thought he might run into some acquaintances... but apparently he had been overthinking it. He heard that operators such as Rosmontis and Blaze had gone out on missions and would probably only return in the next couple of days.
By then, his physical examination should also be finished, making it the perfect opportunity to properly greet them.
As for Amiya... he had just seen her jogging down the hallway while holding her terminal. She was probably busy working, so Shirou did not disturb her.
"Hm hm~ So what should we do next? The people from Blacksteel will probably come looking for you tonight. Before that, we still have some time for a date, you know?"
Only after seeing that Shirou seemed to have finished dealing with everything did Lappland finally speak.
Calling it a date... really just meant having Shirou explain what had happened earlier. She was extremely curious about it.
Although that warm sensation had already disappeared, Lappland felt unusually light now. If she could find somewhere to move around a bit, that would be even better.
"...In any case, let us head to the cafeteria first. If we go before mealtime, there should not be too many people."
Ignoring the strange part of Lappland's wording, Shirou decided that their next destination would be the cafeteria.
There were many people aboard Rhodes Island, so once mealtime arrived, it became abnormally crowded. You might not even get a seat, and more importantly... if you arrived too late, there would not be many dishes left to choose from. At that point, you would have to choose between staying hungry or eating one of Hibiscus's nutritional meals.
Of course, you could also buy food from the convenience shop downstairs, but the prices there were enough to cover several days of cafeteria meals.
It could only be said that Rhodes Island's cafeteria truly offered excellent food for very little money.
Another reason was that Shirou wanted to see whether he could borrow a kitchen. Just as Lappland had said, there was a high probability that he would be guiding Jessica tonight.
From Franka's nonstop chatter along the way, as well as a few bits of information provided by Liskarm, Shirou learned that Jessica was extremely wealthy.
He had noticed that himself as well. After all, she was the kind of person who used expensive etched ammunition just to finish off Originium Slugs.
The materials collected from those Originium Slugs... probably only recovered twenty to thirty percent of the cost.
And that was only counting the ammunition expenses.
Since she was not lacking in money, material rewards would probably not be enough to motivate her.
Although Jessica was already working very hard to become stronger, Shirou felt that giving her something tangible would motivate her even more.
He could also make some for everyone else while he was at it. As for what exactly to make, Shirou already had a rough idea.
The prerequisite was being able to borrow a kitchen, ingredients, and an oven.
Now that they had a clear destination, the two headed there directly.
The cafeteria was already open, with a huge variety of dishes available to choose from, and a number of people had already arrived to eat.
Fortunately, there were not many people yet, so Shirou and Lappland quickly selected their meals and found seats.
Shirou had also managed to apply for the use of an empty cooking area, though the price he had to pay for it... was somewhat steep.
"I truly did not expect you to like this sort of thing... You really cannot tell from looking at you."
Staring at the nutritional meal on Shirou's tray, Lappland genuinely felt that Shirou was incredibly powerful.
Visually, it just looked like an ordinary salad, but based on her sense of smell, all kinds of strange ingredients had been added into it.
She had also heard rumors about nutritional meals before. She had no idea what kind of mindset Shirou must have had to willingly pick one.
"Miss Hibiscus agreed to help me gather the ingredients I need and also lend me the oven... I could not exactly refuse her."
Seeing the look of disgust on Lappland's face, Shirou offered a brief explanation.
It was not because he wanted to eat it, all right?
Fortunately, this was not Shirou's first time eating a nutritional meal, so it was not as painful as the previous time.
How did the saying go again... if something hurts enough times, you eventually get used to it?
After they had eaten their fill, Hibiscus kept her word and helped Shirou prepare everything he needed.
It was not particularly complicated either: unsalted butter, bird eggs, flour, white sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and lemons with the peels thoroughly cleaned.
At a glance, it was obvious that he was planning to make dessert.
"What are you making? You are adding both sugar and salt. Would the taste not become strange like that?"
After examining the ingredients, Lappland only felt that something about it was odd.
Normally, when making desserts, did people not just add sugar?
"An appropriate amount of salt can enhance the flavor of other ingredients, provided it is used in moderation. Also, what I am making is cat tongue cookies, a simple dessert that is easy to learn."
After giving a brief explanation, Shirou put on an apron and began working.
Since Hibiscus beside him seemed extremely curious, Shirou explained each step slightly as he worked.
Just as he had said, this dessert was not difficult. After watching it once, someone could probably make it themselves.
First, he lightly mixed the room-temperature butter, then poured in half of the white sugar and stirred until the grainy texture disappeared before adding the remaining sugar and mixing again.
Next, he added the prepared egg whites, again starting with only half and slowly stirring until the mixture became somewhat sticky. At that point, he added a little salt, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
After mixing thoroughly, he gradually added the sifted flour and the remaining egg whites, stirring evenly before finally transferring the mixture into a piping bag.
Squeeze out strips about seven centimeters long onto the baking tray, leaving some space between each one.
At this point, Shirou handed things over to Lappland and Hibiscus, who had been watching for quite a while.
Then place the tray into the oven and bake at 170 degrees for about ten minutes.
The finished product is roughly a flat oval-shaped cookie. It does resemble a cat's tongue, though neither of them quite understood why it was called that.
But that was not important. After all, the names of dishes are often quite strange.
The texture is very crisp, and it is not overly rich either… If Shirou had not stopped her, Lappland felt she could have eaten several more.
Both of them were clever enough to realize that by replacing the vanilla extract with other ingredients, they could create different flavors of cat tongue cookies.
Lappland, on the other hand, was thinking about mixing in some chocolate and having Shirou take them back later.
At that time, Texas would definitely think they were desserts made by Shirou. Just imagining it felt satisfying.
As for Hibiscus… when Shirou saw her take out a blender and prepare to pour her nutritional meal into it, he immediately understood what she was planning.
"Stop! At least add something sweet! If you just blend vegetables into a paste, it will not hold its shape!"
Having already foreseen that disastrous possibility, Shirou rushed forward to stop her, successfully preventing the creation of a dark dish.
It could only be said that Hibiscus's obsession with health ran a bit too deep, it was so deep that she no longer cared about how things tasted and only pursued nutrition.
From every perspective, her meals were indeed very healthy for the body, but if one had to eat them for several consecutive days, their mental health would certainly suffer.
Enjoying the sensations brought by food is one of humanity's primary sources of happiness. Otherwise, how could the members of Penguin Logistics be so firmly wrapped around Shirou's finger?
It was because he could cook so many kinds of dishes, all of them delicious. Eating something different every day never got boring.
After all, they had already tried nearly everything edible in Lungmen and were close to running out of ideas. Fortunately, with Shirou around, they were finally freed from the daily struggle of deciding what takeout to order.
After lecturing Hibiscus for a while and confirming that she had abandoned the terrifying idea, Shirou finally felt at ease packing up the cookies they had just made.
If Jessica showed interest in them, he would make a larger batch tomorrow.
After all, it would be troublesome to prepare a huge amount in advance only to find that the intended recipient was not particularly interested.
That being said… even the batch they just made was already quite large, despite using only a small amount of ingredients.
Carrying the finished cookies, Shirou said goodbye to Hibiscus and left with Lappland. Before leaving, he seemed to see her taking out the blender again…
Well, perhaps people only realize their mistakes after experiencing failure.
Hopefully, whoever ends up eating those will not develop a psychological aversion to this dessert.
Next, the two of them wandered around Rhodes Island's convenience store for a bit. After mealtime had passed, Shirou received a message from Liskarm.
The meeting point was the sniper training room.
"Oh? It finally came?"
Lappland, who had already bought quite a lot of things, immediately stopped shopping when she heard Shirou's terminal chime.
Most of what she bought were snacks. Rhodes Island had quite a variety of unusual ones.
There were also some tactical gear items that looked pretty good. She had noticed some last time, so this time she brought her savings specifically to buy them.
She had not gone so far as to borrow Lungmen dollars from Shirou. She knew well enough to spend only what she had.
Still, she had bought so much… that Shirou seemed a bit alarmed?
Clearly, he had not seen much of the world.
"Mm."
Shirou nodded as he put away his terminal.
At last, this shopping trip could end… Who knew how much more tactical gear Lappland would buy if they stayed any longer?
Just from what he had seen, there were several knives, along with protective gear, gloves, tactical belts…
If they stayed any longer, she would probably arm herself to the teeth.
On second thought, her teeth were already sharp enough. Last time on the aircraft, when she bit into the Pocky he used for reinforcement practice, it even made a metallic sound.
Her teeth were terrifying. Thankfully, Liskarm had sent that message and they could finally leave.
Lappland, however, did not seem to intend to leave. She simply carried her large bag and followed behind Shirou.
Partly out of curiosity about how Shirou would teach, and partly because this was something Texas had specifically instructed her to pay attention to.
Also, she did not know many people here, so it was better to stick with Shirou.
"You are here, I will leave things to you."
Liskarm had already asked Jessica to practice shooting with training ammunition. When she saw Shirou and Lappland arrive, she greeted them and let Jessica continue shooting while she stepped forward.
Of course, she was not about to slack off. She intended to observe how Shirou would teach.
Although Shirou had a high reputation in the Lungman Guard Department, Jessica was trained by her, so she naturally paid close attention.
If it were Franka, she would probably already be sitting off to the side resting.
"No problem. Miss Jessica's shooting is very stable, though it is somewhat different from real combat."
Watching Jessica shoot, Shirou compared it to how she performed in battle earlier that day.
It was clear that her hands were steadier now, and she did not look nearly as tense.
If she could maintain this state normally, then there would actually be little for Shirou to criticize.
---
As for firing speed, there was really nothing Shirou could help with. That involved Originium Arts, and Shirou's own Originium Arts… best not to mention them.
How could Originium Arts compare to projection magecraft anyway?
"The issue with her mindset has already improved a lot compared to the beginning… At least in this regard, she genuinely wants to change. However, she seems to have gotten used to having me guide her from the side, which is why I specifically asked you to come help, Shirou."
Liskarm was naturally aware of this, and Jessica herself was putting in effort as well. That was why Liskarm was willing to invest so much time and energy into her.
If she were as lazy as Franka… Liskarm would have long since let her fend for herself. Time had to be spent in the right places.
Of course, that was just talk. In reality, Franka was quite diligent too. She was probably next door at the guard training field, instructing Vanilla in close combat.
"I more or less understand… but let me say this first: I am not familiar with Originium Arts, so I can only try approaching this from other angles. Still, from what I can see right now, Jessica is already performing quite steadily, so there is not actually much I can help with."
After hearing Liskarm, Shirou nodded as he spoke.
"That is understandable. You use bows and crossbows more often, right? That is also what I heard from the Lungman Guard Department. Firearms are indeed relatively niche…"
Liskarm expressed her understanding. Firearms were already somewhat uncommon, and the compact ones issued by Blacksteel were even more so.
"It is good that you understand."
Having given this disclaimer in advance, Shirou finally felt at ease.
After saying all that, the main point was simply to leave himself a bit of leeway so that if his teaching did not go very well later, he would still have some room to fall back on.