Restrained by Rosmontis, Shirou could only sit obediently beside the hospital bed, drinking the water Lappland had brought him.
He did not find it bothersome at all. Shirou was very patient with other people.
Provided they were good people.
If he was dealing with bad people, Shirou wished he could fire a Broken Phantasm straight at them and show them just how beautiful fireworks could be.
"Oh my, I only went off to fight for a bit, and now you and Rosmontis have already gotten close, Shirou?"
After an unknown amount of time, just as Shirou's eyelids were about to close, a voice suddenly came from nearby and startled him awake.
"Huh? Blaze?"
Seeing Blaze poking her head in from outside, Shirou did not react at first, but once he recognized her appearance, his mind immediately cleared.
"Of course it is me! I came to see the little kitty!"
Blaze said with a grin. It would have looked even better if she were not covered in dirt from battle.
"With how you look right now, should you not hurry up and get treatment? And you still have the energy to come see Rosmontis?"
Large patches of blood stained Blaze's body. Shirou could tell that most of it was not her own, but she definitely had injuries too.
At a time like this, should she not be receiving treatment first? At the very least, she should change clothes first. Why was seeing Rosmontis her priority?
"Just scratches, just scratches! They will heal if I leave them alone for a while!"
As she spoke, Blaze moved closer to check on Rosmontis.
She already knew about Rosmontis's tail-wrapping habit, though she had never personally experienced it. Blaze was usually too careless and would accidentally pull away from it.
Within Rhodes Island, only Amiya had experienced it before. She had not expected Shirou to catch up so quickly.
It seemed Shirou was a major rival as well!
"Go get bandaged and cleaned up first. You are covered in dirt. If you bring that over to Rosmontis, that would not be good."
As Blaze tried to approach Rosmontis, Shirou suddenly manifested a thin suction-cup arrow in his free hand and pressed it against her forehead.
Honestly, that thing was very effective. Blaze herself froze completely the moment it was pressed against her.
After feeling the foreign object on her forehead, Blaze immediately took two steps back.
"Pfft, so you have a moment like this too?"
A nearby medical operator could not help laughing when she saw the scene.
After all, seeing someone with a suction-cup arrow stuck firmly to their head looked extremely ridiculous.
"Aaah!"
Blaze herself could not see it, but she could feel something thin and long stuck on her head. She reached up to pull it off.
However, this thing had been specially reinforced by Shirou. It was originally prepared for dealing with two certain members of Penguin Logistics, but Blaze ended up experiencing it first.
It had very little offensive power, but extremely high humiliation value.
Still, Blaze did not really care about such things. She would laugh it off later.
More importantly, Shirou's intention was good, so she naturally would not get angry.
It would just be better if his methods were a bit gentler.
"There are many patients here. Do not make noise."
Amiya suddenly stepped in, grabbed the suction-cup arrow on Blaze's head, and pulled her away.
"Do not drag me!"
Being pulled along, Blaze had to bend down and follow Amiya out.
She had only come over after getting treated to check on Rosmontis, so how did things end up like this?
And why did her cute little rabbit suddenly turn so strict?
"Are all elite operators like this?"
Lappland, who had witnessed the entire scene, looked somewhat dazed.
She had originally thought this place was a fairly serious facility, since the people she had met so far seemed quite professional.
So why were elite operators so unreliable?
"Do not ask me. I am also confused."
Shirou answered while rubbing his temples.
When they were serious, they were very serious. But when they were not, they were even less reliable than the people from Penguin Logistics.
Last time he passed by a corner of Rhodes Island, he even saw some ridiculous circular-stool speed skating competition records.
Ever since then, he had lost confidence in the people of Rhodes Island.
"…."
An awkward silence settled between them. Lappland was only staying here out of amusement.
Definitely not because she did not know anyone else in Rhodes Island and had nothing else to do.
She had already spent most of her LMD at the shop yesterday, and the convenience store no longer interested her. Watching the situation here was more entertaining.
"Shirou! Why will this thing not come off!"
After quite a while, Blaze returned after being bandaged and washed, rushing in and pointing at the suction-cup arrow on her head with a crying expression.
She had tried to pull it off with force, but it remained firmly stuck to her head without any intention of coming off.
Instead, it felt like her head was about to be torn off from her body.
"Magic is amazing, is it not?"
Shirou said with a light smile, while simultaneously deactivating the magic within it.
"It is not amazing at all!"
After the object on her head vanished, Blaze finally felt somewhat better.
However, the round red mark left on her head nearly made Lappland burst out laughing. Fortunately, she managed to hold it in.
"Rosmontis is fine. The doctor said she is only unconscious due to excessive Arts energy consumption… but how exactly was she injured?"
Seeing Blaze leaning in to check on Rosmontis, Shirou briefly explained the situation.
After hearing him, Blaze's expression relaxed slightly.
However, when Shirou asked how Rosmontis was injured, his tone became noticeably colder.
Even Lappland nearby could not help but frown.
She had known him for a while, but she had never seen him angry before.
"Um… at that time Rosmontis was covering the other operators while they boarded the vehicle, fighting several large infected creatures. She was the only one whose attacks could affect them…"
As she spoke, Blaze clenched her fists.
She was an elite operator, but there were still things she could not do.
However, sadness did not linger on her for long; it was almost like dust that was brushed away with a light pat.
When Blaze raised her head again, she was already grinning.
"Luckily those big guys were too fat to catch up! Otherwise the operation might not have gone so smoothly!"
Watching Blaze like this, Shirou could not tell what she was truly feeling at that moment.
Perhaps, just like how she appeared on the surface with a carefree, joking attitude, there might also be many things hidden deep inside her heart. She simply chose to keep all of that to herself, leaving only her cheerfulness on display.
It was said that many people drink alcohol to ease their worries. Was Blaze the same?
Shirou did not know. He could not read minds, and there was not much he could do.
He could wipe out those infected creatures completely, or beat down those who harbored malicious intent toward the infected, but in the end, he was still just one person.
This land was vast, and he was only one person.
He would act when it was within his ability, but bringing peace to this land… that was too difficult.
"…If it really comes to that, it would not matter. It would just be solved with a single sword strike, would it not?"
After thinking for a while, Shirou eventually set those thoughts aside.
It was simply sentiment stirred by the scene before him. Seeing Blaze just now made him think of himself.
As much as he disliked it, he had to admit that she was the one who was correct. Human thoughts were too complicated, far beyond what one person could fully understand.
All he needed to do was do what he believed to be right.
"That really would be a single-sword kind of problem."
Upon hearing Shirou say that, Blaze immediately formed an image in her mind.
A massive sword descending from the sky and piercing a gigantic infected creature. That would be incredibly cool, would it not?
It would be just like an ultimate move in a game.
Thinking of that, Blaze suddenly became excited and grabbed Shirou's free hand.
"By the way, Shirou, how many times can you throw that huge sword of yours? Ten? Or twenty? If you could drop a dozen of them from the sky at once, you would basically be a superhero!"
If he could throw it ten or twenty times, she would definitely convince Amiya to recruit Shirou into Rhodes Island.
At that point it would no longer even be about swords. What Shirou was throwing would be closer to buildings.
Somewhere far away, the Penguin Logistics team delivering goods all sneezed at the same time.
"Snap out of it. One or two is already enough."
Shirou said expressionlessly as he slapped her hand away.
Ten? One already made his magic circuits heat up and feel like they were burning. Ten would probably leave him completely unable to move.
"One or two… that is already pretty strong. Have you considered reporting to Rhodes Island? My squad is short on members. I have only ever seen you be able to jump off a flying vehicle without equipment in Rhodes Island."
Even after being slapped away, Blaze immediately grabbed his hand again.
This was a treasure. She needed to secure him first.
If it worked, then they could start doing dual-person high-altitude jumps directly into enemy bases. Just thinking about it was exciting.
"Is Rhodes Island really the kind of place that steals people from its collaborators?"
Lappland, seeing Blaze trying to poach Shirou, finally spoke up. She had just remembered she was supposed to be keeping an eye on Shirou for Texas.
"Cough… I was just asking! Just asking!"
Blaze became a little embarrassed after being questioned.
"Then why not ask me instead? I am quite good with swords too."
Lappland said with narrowed eyes.
She was not blind to what was going on. Even though she had not fully understood the earlier conversation about the "huge sword," if it was a sword, then it was meant to be used by someone. It should not be something too complicated.
Still, Shirou seemed surprisingly weak-willed? One or two times and he could not handle it?
Shirou: "?"
Sensing sparks forming between the two of them, Shirou originally intended to stop them, but when he turned and saw Lappland's slightly pitying gaze, he suddenly felt uncomfortable.
The words he had been about to say were swallowed back down, and he simply slapped Blaze's hand away again before retreating to the side to watch the situation unfold.
Since he had nothing to do anyway, watching the commotion was not bad.
"I have not even seen you fight before. Shirou is versatile, he can fight at long range, close range, clear mobs, and handle giant creatures. He is basically a universal unit in combat!"
Provoked by Lappland, Blaze also got a little heated and began listing Shirou's usefulness. Then she came to a final conclusion, partially obscured by garbled wording:
"In short, as long as we have Shirou, team tactics become much smoother! And he does not even waste weapons!"
"While I appreciate the compliment, I have to ask, do you have any sense of politeness?"
Hearing Blaze praise him like that, Shirou felt a bit embarrassed. But the moment she concluded that he was useful because he did not waste weapons, all his earlier appreciation vanished instantly.
"Hehe, I am just telling the truth."
Blaze scratched her head awkwardly under his unkind gaze.
Talking about someone's usefulness right in front of them was indeed a bit awkward.
"Hmph… quite popular, are you? How about you just agree? I can go explain things to Texas for you."
Seeing Blaze's momentum disappear, Lappland did not intend to push further. Instead, she leaned back in her chair and spoke casually.
Of course, it was a joke. If Shirou actually agreed and she had to explain it to Texas, she would probably only receive a barrage of Originium swords in return.
Or maybe shotguns and hammers. Perhaps even a microphone.
In any case, she had no interest in experiencing that, so if Shirou agreed, she would have to bite him a couple of times first.
"Stop joking around… if the Penguin Logistics people find out, they will start causing trouble again."
Hearing Lappland say that, Shirou felt a headache coming on.
"Then I would ask that Mr. Shirou conduct himself properly. I do have quite a lot of evidence, you know?"
Seeing Shirou's current headache-ridden expression, Lappland revealed a triumphant smile as she spoke.
That smile was so bright that Shirou felt as if it was there to take his life.
"Can I take a look?"
After hearing Lappland's words, Blaze also lost interest in trying to recruit Shirou. Judging from how much he cared about the Penguin Logistics people, it was probably not going to succeed anyway.
However, she was extremely interested in the so-called "evidence" Lappland mentioned.
She loved gossip the most.
"Of course."
Lappland was completely generous when it came to Blaze's request. After all, the people in the photos were not her.
So she casually handed her phone to Blaze right in front of Shirou.
"…"
Watching this scene, Shirou considered the possibility of snatching it back, but after noticing that his left hand was still wrapped by Rosmontis's tail, he decided against it.
He would let that phone go for now. It was not as if there were any truly indecent photos anyway.
"Haha! It is Amiya scolding Shirou! This is… wait, why does this feel more and more familiar? I think I have been scolded like this before…"
After receiving the phone, Blaze was the first to look at the photos Lappland had just taken.
At first she was laughing, but as she continued looking, she began to feel a strange sense of déjà vu.
It felt like she had also once been pointed at and scolded by Amiya in exactly this way.
She was so miserable.
"Do you have nothing to say to me? Hero who descends from the sky while wielding a greatsword?"
Lappland had originally thought Shirou was only there to provide simple support, but from what Blaze said, it seemed he had done something rather dangerous.
"…I can explain."
At this moment, Shirou felt as if there was no space left for him in this room.
On one side, Blaze was laughing at his photos. On the other, Lappland was watching him with a smile that looked almost kind.
Only the tip of Rosmontis's tail kept lightly brushing his left hand, giving him the slightest bit of comfort.