After bringing Rope back to the store, Shirou finally relented under her repeated pleas and decided not to bury her under a mountain of homework.
After all, the New Year was almost here. That could wait until after the holiday. For now, she could have a proper break.
In simple terms, Shirou had decided to let her off this time.
However, if he caught her doing the same thing again, she could expect at least double the amount of homework.
"That should be everything. It is already very late. Also, I probably will not have time to come by over the next few days."
After giving Rope a few reminders, Shirou continued.
"Is Penguin Logistics really that busy? Whenever I see everyone else, they just drive around recklessly, deliver their cargo, and call it a day. Why do you always have so much to do?"
Hearing that, Rope could not help complaining.
She was not wrong. Everyone knew that Penguin Logistics operated exactly like that. Compared to them, Shirou, who insisted on making deliveries by bicycle, looked completely out of place.
"It is because this is the busiest time of year before the New Year. If there were not so many orders, I would not be helping with deliveries."
As he spoke, Shirou adjusted several parts on his bicycle.
The poor bicycle had endured far more abuse than any ordinary bicycle was ever meant to withstand today, so he was giving it a thorough repair.
There was no need to worry about replacement parts, either. Some of the children at the store worked in bicycle repair, so they kept a supply of spare components on hand. If something could not be found, he could always project a temporary replacement.
"I suppose that makes sense."
Wrapped in a thick winter coat, Rope stood outside the store, quietly watching Shirou work. Every so often, she handed him another tool.
"Still, besides Penguin Logistics, I will also be busy with something else over the next few days. I promised someone that I would help with the special effects for her movie."
While repairing the bicycle, Shirou continued chatting with Rope. Leaving her standing there in silence would have felt awkward.
"Movie special effects? You know how to do that too?"
Rope looked genuinely surprised.
"Not the kind of special effects you are thinking of. She only asked me to project a bunch of swords to fill out some scenes. I have no idea how long it will actually take."
Realizing Rope had misunderstood, Shirou quickly clarified.
He never claimed to know things he did not.
If it was something he could learn through hard work, that was one thing. But this was clearly not a skill he could simply pick up with effort alone.
"...That sounds less like special effects and more like set dressing."
Rope looked rather speechless.
"Really? She called them special effects, so I just remembered it that way."
Shirou did not know much about filmmaking. He had simply accepted her explanation at face value.
"I guess that is not technically wrong. It is just that your special effects happen to be a little too realistic."
Rope decided to tease him from a different angle before asking another question.
"By the way, who is this director? I never expected your circle of friends to extend into the film industry."
Rope had actually done some research into Shirou's acquaintances.
On the surface, there was Penguin Logistics, a delivery company.
Behind the scenes, it was an armed transport organization.
Then there were the three major figures of the Guard Department, along with people even higher up.
There were the gangs operating in the slums, as well as Miss Lin, who clearly was no ordinary person.
And then there was Rhodes Island, which claimed to be a pharmaceutical company despite employing people who seemed more capable of fighting than anyone else. Even so, they genuinely were experts at treating Oripathy.
Those were only the connections she knew about without making any serious effort to investigate.
Who knew just how extensive Shirou's social circle really was?
It was one thing for it to be broad.
It was another for every field and profession it touched to become more unbelievable than the last.
Could it be that Shirou actually knew a famous film director?
Anyone capable of directing movies had to be famous, right?
Did that mean she might finally fulfill her childhood dream of appearing on the big screen?
Under Rope's expectant gaze, Shirou answered.
"Her name is Nian."
The instant she heard that name, the hopeful expression on Rope's face froze.
Then it turned into confusion.
A moment later, it was as though she had remembered something utterly horrifying, and her expression twisted into one of complete despair.
Shirou: "..."
Excellent.
That was exactly the kind of reaction Director Nian's reputation in Lungmen deserved.
Even doubling Rope's homework had not been enough to make her look like that.
That alone demonstrated just how terrifying Director Nian's reputation truly was.
Fortunately, Shirou's only job was projecting swords. He would not actually appear on camera.
Otherwise, he would already be considering whether he should leave Lungmen on a business trip for several weeks, or perhaps even several months.
Perhaps because Nian's reputation was simply too frightening, Rope did not say another word after that.
She merely continued looking at Shirou with an ever-changing expression.
Unfortunately, almost none of those expressions were positive.
As a result, Shirou found himself speeding up the bicycle repairs so he could leave as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, he was afraid he might wake up the next day tempted to break his appointment with Nian and spend the New Year at Rhodes Island instead.
Why Rhodes Island?
Because Nian had already visited the Penguin Logistics dormitory before.
If he stayed there, she would simply come knocking again.
After the incident outside the hotpot restaurant, Shirou had absolutely no intention of confronting her head-on.
Otherwise, he and everyone else would probably have to find somewhere new to live.
Still, it was only a passing thought.
His personality simply would not allow him to do such a thing.
A promise was a promise, and once he made one, he intended to keep it.
Unless...
It involved breaking the law.
Filming a movie obviously did not qualify as illegal.
Therefore, Shirou intended to honor his promise.
When he returned home, everyone else was already gathered on the living room sofa.
The table in front of them was piled high with fried food and pizza.
It was obvious that everyone was having a great time.
Especially the red-haired "human light bulb" and the orange-haired "bread person."
The two of them looked completely at ease. One was sprawled half-reclining across the sofa, while the other had practically buried herself inside it.
"You are back. I saved you some. Do you want any?"
Unlike the other two, Texas sat upright on the sofa, holding her signature slice of pizza as she looked at Shirou.
As for how Shirou knew it was her favorite pizza...
Texas usually did not care much about food, but when it came to pizza, she definitely had her preferences. Whenever they ordered from this restaurant, she always chose the same signature pizza.
That was why it had left such a strong impression on him.
The toppings were simple: tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.
Perhaps because it was so simple, Exusiai and Croissant always got tired of it quickly and went off to try all sorts of other flavors.
It was not that the other pizzas were bad.
It was just...
Those two always managed to find the strangest, most bizarre combinations imaginable, leaving Texas sitting nearby with an indescribably complicated expression.
Considering that the furniture in the living room had survived until now, it was honestly quite an achievement.
"You all go ahead. I already ate before I came back."
Shirou politely declined.
On the way back after dropping Rope off, the two of them had stopped at a roadside food stall and eaten there.
Because everyone had been busy these past few days, they had simply been ordering takeout for lunch and dinner. There was no telling when another unexpected situation like today's would occur.
Besides, apart from spicy food, Shirou still could not taste anything.
As long as he felt full and his nutritional needs were met, that was enough.
Tch.
He really had become just like them.
Or rather, he had inherited a little from each of them.
Shirou clicked his tongue inwardly as he poked fun at himself.
Still, he quickly adjusted his mood, pulled out a chair at the dining table, and sat down.
Just as he took out his phone to relax for a while, Exusiai suddenly sprang up from the sofa.
She quickly finished the remaining pizza in her hand before running over to Shirou and tearfully recounting the hardships of her day.
The long version was that they had used a tremendous amount of rubber ammunition dealing with the bad guys, the apple pie she had bought on the way had been ruined because of them, and after everything was over, she returned only to discover that the bakery had already closed.
The short version was...
She had not gotten to eat any apple pie today.
Therefore, she wanted Shirou to bake one for her.
If it had been anyone else, Shirou might genuinely have softened.
But when it came to the "human light bulb" and the "horned cow..."
His body was as strong as steel.
His heart was as hard as steel as well.
"Curses! Operation 'Act Pitiful' has failed!"
After being rejected once again, Exusiai immediately dropped her sorrowful expression.
She went back to the sofa, grabbed another slice of pizza along with a soda, then returned and sat down in front of Shirou.
"What is it? Is there something else? I still am not making you an apple pie."
Seeing how quickly her expression had changed, Shirou remained completely unfazed.
He had long since grown accustomed to it.
That was one of the main reasons he could reject her with such a straight face.
After all, he had already been thoroughly conditioned.
Of course, the part he had grown used to was only her fake attempts at acting pitiful.
If something had genuinely happened, he certainly would not ignore it.
As for how he could tell the difference...
Neither Exusiai nor Croissant was particularly talented at acting.
It was very easy to tell.
Just now, Exusiai had not managed to squeeze out even a single tear while pretending to cry.
It was obviously unconvincing.
"Hehe. You have plans with Miss Nian tomorrow, right? Could you take us along?"
Exusiai had long since become accustomed to Shirou's straightforward refusals regarding apple pie.
Her little performance had merely been an attempt to see if she got lucky.
If Shirou happened to be in a particularly good mood and agreed, then she would have come out ahead.
Unfortunately, it had not worked.
But that did not matter.
This had been her real objective all along.
She had to find a way to convince Shirou to bring them with him tomorrow.
"A few days ago, every single one of you wanted nothing to do with it. Why are all of you suddenly so eager to go?"
The request genuinely surprised Shirou.
When he had first told everyone about meeting Nian several days ago, every one of them had looked as though they wanted to stay as far away from it as possible.
So why had they suddenly changed their minds?
Something was definitely suspicious.
Shirou could practically imagine a bolt of lightning flashing above his head.
"Ahem... We have been working ourselves to death these past few days. We just need something different to take our minds off things."
Apparently embarrassed by his question, Exusiai coughed twice before giving a serious-sounding explanation.
Listening to her words, Shirou could vaguely summarize them into four simple words:
I do not want to work.
Suddenly, everything made perfect sense.
Considering how packed their work schedule had been recently, it was perfectly understandable that Exusiai wanted to skip work for a day.
Not only that, she wanted to drag the other two along with her as well.
That at least deserved some recognition.
"As long as you tell the Boss first. Do not dump the blame on me afterward."
Taking everyone along was not difficult.
The difficult part would be convincing the Boss.
To be honest, Shirou was not particularly worried about them trying to pin the blame on him.
When it came to credibility, he was practically on the same level as Texas and Sora.
As for the other two...
Those who knew, knew.
Still, knowing that he probably would not be blamed was one thing.
Having someone try to dump responsibility on him anyway was another.
That was why he made a point of emphasizing it, just in case Exusiai failed to get her leave approved and tried to make it his problem.
"Do not worry! I will pin the blame on Director Nian instead! Miss Nian actually has quite a bit of influence. Even the Boss has to give her some face!"
Hearing Shirou's words, Exusiai patted her chest confidently to show that there would be no problem, then openly explained her plan.
"...It should be fine. I will talk to Nian about it later."
Hearing such a straightforward plan, Shirou was briefly stunned.
After thinking it over, however, it actually sounded fairly reasonable.
Back then, Wei Yenwu had seemed somewhat flustered when he met Nian. Judging from that...
Perhaps Nian really did carry quite a bit of influence.
Then again, whether she had influence or not had nothing to do with him.
At the moment, the two of them had a stable "hotpot buddy" relationship. Anything beyond that was none of his concern.
As for whether Nian would be angry about being used as an excuse...
Given her personality, probably not.
Besides, it was not as though they were doing anything bad. She would most likely not care in the slightest.
At worst, he could have the three of them help out around the film set tomorrow.
Compared to merely standing around watching, they would probably enjoy participating more.
"I promise! We just want to see how a movie set operates, and also see exactly what kind of special effects you are going to... make?"
Upon hearing Shirou's agreement, Exusiai immediately sat up straight and raised her right hand to make a solemn promise.
Unfortunately, Shirou never really listened to it.
The reason was simple.
She was still holding a slice of pizza in that raised hand.
Because she had lifted it too quickly, some of the toppings flew off the slice and shot directly toward Shirou.
Exusiai only realized the disastrous thing she had done as she reached the end of her sentence.
The last two words came out trembling.
"..."
Shirou said nothing.
He calmly picked up a tissue and wiped the pizza toppings off his face.
Then he projected a pair of fingerless training gloves and slowly put them on.
These were the type of gloves used by some of Rhodes Island's hand-to-hand combat operators.
Besides protecting the wearer's hands, the combat version also increased the force of punches to a certain extent.
The training version, however, retained only the protective function while reducing the impact, preventing serious internal injuries during sparring.
The pair Shirou had projected was the latter.
Although he was nowhere near as skilled with his fists as he was with swords, he had still learned a thing or two from Rin.
"Um... Is it still not too late for me to apologize?"
Watching Shirou silently pull on the gloves before lightly tapping his right fist into his left palm, Exusiai knew she was in serious trouble this time.
"I can give you one minute to run. Think of it as some exercise after dinner."
Shirou simply smiled.
It was the kind of smile that sent chills down Exusiai's spine.
"Texas, save me!"
Exusiai immediately turned to ask her teammate for help.
Instead, she found Texas quietly enjoying the spectacle while Croissant had already taken out her phone and was preparing to record everything.
Seeing that neither of them had any intention of helping, Exusiai felt completely hopeless.
Then Shirou spoke again.
"Fifty seconds left."
"Ah! That does not count! Start over! Restart the timer!"
Hearing the countdown from what felt like the depths of hell, Exusiai grabbed the car keys and coat that Texas had quietly placed beside the sofa earlier and bolted out the door.
Fortunately, she had only taken off her coat before collapsing onto the sofa for dinner.
Otherwise, she would have had to waste precious time looking for the rest of her clothes.
And although Texas looked as though she was just sitting back to watch the entertainment, she had secretly left the car keys where Exusiai could grab them.
She really was a good teammate.
Exusiai had absolutely no confidence that she could outrun Shirou on foot.
Especially not now that he looked as though he had entered his second phase.
A car.
As long as I can get into the car and drive away, I can definitely escape Shirou's clutches.
That was the only thought racing through Exusiai's mind as she fled for her life.