After properly experiencing a Penguin Logistics party…
Shirou realized that the only thing he was truly interested in was the Lungmen cuisine on the table. As for the music, alcohol, and everything else, he really had no interest at all.
That said, the lively atmosphere itself was quite nice. He figured the others probably enjoyed it too.
Probably.
Thinking back to how they had all been completely drunk and unconscious the night before, Shirou had been genuinely worried that they would wake up with splitting headaches and be unable to work the next day.
But his worries turned out to be unnecessary. The very next morning, they were all fully recovered and headed straight to work.
After seeing them off, Shirou finally had some free time.
However, he had no intention of going out today. There were things bothering him that required some careful investigation.
Over the past few days, he had been stuck in the hospital with nothing on hand to study. And yesterday, he had fallen asleep the moment he got back.
Now that he finally had time and space, he planned to thoroughly examine the projected Chi Xiao sword and the changes within himself.
Taking the sword wrapped in cloth from his room and bringing along his old journal, Shirou headed to Penguin Logistics' training grounds.
He could have done this in the dormitory, but it would have felt too restrictive.
Besides, he had not properly stretched his body for two days. This was a good opportunity to do both.
"First… Chi Xiao."
Unwrapping the cloth and taking out the sword, Shirou began by examining its appearance.
The scabbard had been lent by Chen, a red one. If not for the faint magical aura he could sense, he might genuinely have mistaken it for Chen's original sword just by sight.
He still did not understand why she had casually paired it with a red scabbard. If she had chosen black, she would not have mixed them up herself.
But that was not important.
Clearing his mind, Shirou stretched lightly before drawing the blade.
Channeling magical energy into it, he began to swing.
This was the first Originium-based weapon he had ever projected, so he treated it with extra caution.
First observation: he could use Originium Arts through the sword by activating the Originium within it using his own magical energy.
However, during earlier tests, no matter how he adjusted or infused his magic, nothing had happened. He suspected that only because this sword was his own projection could he use it this way.
In other words, it was currently impossible to reproduce.
Using Originium Arts felt rather unique, but Shirou had no intention of making it a standard combat method.
There was also a peculiar interaction between magic and Originium, something like a chemical reaction where one plus one became greater than two.
The downside, however, was obvious: the sword consumed a tremendous amount of magical energy.
For Shirou, unless in special circumstances, he would not use this as a primary weapon. With the same amount of magic, projecting Noble Phantasms would be more efficient and far easier to handle.
Moreover, the Originium within this Chi Xiao was finite. Once depleted, it would become nothing more than an empty shell.
It was a consumable item through and through.
That did not bother him much. After all, his combat style already treated weapons as expendable.
Projecting a Noble Phantasm only to detonate it with Broken Phantasm was essentially the same concept.
"I will bring it along when I go to the Guard Department later. It should be more useful than a standard sword."
Considering he still had two weeks left in his newbie work, he decided to make use of it.
He was not particularly sentimental about keeping weapons anyway. The projections scattered across his dorm were mostly just results of training experiments.
Recreating another Chi Xiao would be extremely difficult, and its high energy consumption made it impractical to use.
If dismissing it outright were not potentially dangerous, he would have already done so especially since he personally knew the sword's original owner.
Using something that belonged to an acquaintance felt… strange.
After finishing his research on the sword, Shirou moved on to testing his physical condition.
The results matched what he had suspected over the past two days, there had been a significant improvement in his body.
This meant he could now utilize Archer's combat style more effectively.
If before he had merely resembled a mage in action, now he had become one in the truest sense.
Strictly speaking… perhaps even closer to a Servant?
After briefly considering that thought, he immediately dismissed it.
Getting carried away over a slight increase in strength was not a good mindset.
Still, the improvement in overall ability was undeniably beneficial.
If his current self had faced those enemies from before, he could have resolved the situation far more cleanly.
However…
Power gained without reason and suddenly pushing his body to a higher level never came without a price.
Take what happened in the car yesterday, for example.
In Shirou's own memory, there had never been anything related to apple pie.
Yet the others insisted that he had always found ways to refuse Exusiai's requests to make it.
And he had no recollection of that at all.
Which meant…a small portion of his memories was missing.
When the loss was only a fragment, it was difficult to notice.
But the thing Shirou had always feared…had finally happened.
Will his body gradually grow weaker until he dies?
Or will he turn into magical energy and disappear like a Servant?
Or… will he lose his past memories and eventually become a complete resident of this place or was the memory loss only temporary?
None of these were good outcomes for him.
Fortunately, he had already been preparing for this possibility for quite some time.
Wiping away the sweat from his intense exercise, Shirou took out a water bottle and the diary he had been keeping all along from his backpack.
"Let me see…"
After drinking more than half the bottle to rehydrate, he began flipping through it.
He could recall most of what was written, but there were still some small things he had forgotten.
It was unclear whether he had simply forgotten them by chance, or for some other reason.
After all they were trivial matters, like the teasing from the Penguin Logistics members, teaching the children at the Fuyuki shop, or everyday interactions at the Guard Department…
Looking at the words on the pages, Shirou could roughly feel the emotions he had back then.
He made a mental note to treat Exusiai and Croissant to a savory meat pie and croissants later.
As for the four memories, he had recorded them in another notebook, though there was no urgency regarding those.
After reading for a long time, Shirou closed the diary and rubbed the space between his eyebrows.
He did not dwell on whether he had forgotten anything important. After all, the only record he had was the diary in his hands. Even if he had truly forgotten something, there was no other way to recover it.
Rather than agonizing over it, he decided to let things take their natural course.
In that regard, he was fairly open-minded.
After all, if he had forgotten, then he had forgotten.
As long as it did not affect his daily life for now, it was fine.
What mattered most at the moment was finding the cause of his memory loss.
Shirou already had two possible theories, since everything had happened around the same time, making it hard not to connect them.
The first was naturally the influence of the Holy shroud which brought him closer to Archer while also causing him to lose some memories.
The other possibility was related to Originium.
At that moment, he had distinctly felt countless voices in his mind including old and young, male and female.
After that, he saw several fragments of memories.
Even now, Shirou could clearly recall the final moments of the infected individuals who had been slaughtered.
How should he put it… it felt somewhat similar to the visions seen after coming into contact with the black mud of the Holy Grail.
Except what he saw through Originium was mostly related to the infected.
As for the black mud of the Holy Grail… better not to think about it.
"What a hassle…"
Recalling those unpleasant memories made Shirou feel unwell.
If he had to choose, he would prefer that all of this was caused by Originium. At least that was something he could try to avoid.
The Holy shroud on the other hand, could not be dealt with. Even if he did not carry it, it would sometimes appear on him without warning.
For now, all he could do was avoid what he could and investigate further once he identified the real cause.
With that in mind, Shirou began packing his things, preparing to leave.
He had spent about three to four hours here already. It was nearing noon, and he planned to head to the shop during the afternoon to check on things.
Ever since he started his newbie work at the Guard Department, he had rarely gone there and mostly kept in touch with Rope and Phal through his phone.
The only time he went, everyone had been out on a trip.
It was also during that time that he used one of the inhibitor doses kept at the shop.
He had not forgotten about that. Before leaving yesterday, he specifically brought two doses with him so he could replace them today.
They were mainly for emergencies, similar to a first aid kit.
Shirou paid particular attention to such matters.
Only by preparing everything in advance could he respond quickly when something happened and avoid the worst possible outcome.
Carrying his belongings, Shirou walked once again along the road leading to the slums.
The neighborhood was still the same, and the surrounding shops had not changed much.
If there was any difference… it was that the shop seemed to be doing better business.
Seeing so many people inside, Shirou felt a bit surprised.
After all, the shop had never been very profitable. Its main purpose was to give the children something to do; making money was secondary.
At most, it helped them afford a little more food.
Pushing open the shop door, Shirou turned left and headed straight into the kitchen.
Rope and some of the children were busy working, so he did not interrupt them.
"Ah! Shirou"
As he stepped into the kitchen, Phal greeted him.
The other person was holding tools in his hands, probably busy working just moments ago.
"Long time no see. Has business has been pretty good lately?"
Putting down what he was holding, Shirou asked.
After all, no one had mentioned this before. If he had not come by himself, he might never have known.
"It has just been busy these past couple of days. A few days ago, an infected person went on a rampage in the streets and broke a lot of things."
Turning back to continue working, Phal explained as he kept himself occupied.
He had already asked around about Shirou's life at the Guard Department. Hoshiguma's evaluation of him had been extremely high.
Phal was a simple person, if Hoshiguma said something was right, then it had to be right.
Anyone who dared to say otherwise would have to answer to his fists first.
If he could not win, then it would be left to Hoshiguma.
After all, his role was just a subordinate.
"I see? I thought business had finally picked up."
Hearing Phal's explanation, Shirou felt a bit disappointed.
He had thought things were improving, but it turned out to be only temporary.
After all, once things were broken, people naturally needed to replace them. Since the shop sold pots, pans, and various household items, more customers had been coming in recently.
"The profits these past two days have been quite good, but it has been tough on the people running the shop. Little Rope has been so busy her rabbit ears practically tied themselves in knots."
Thinking about how hectic things had been, Phal commented.
The sudden surge in business had caught everyone off guard. Many had no experience, so things quickly became chaotic once it got busy. Fortunately, Rope managed to guide everyone properly, allowing them to get through it smoothly.
"That really does sound busy. There were quite a few customers when I came in just now. I will head out and help."
Seeing that Phal was occupied, and recalling how crowded it had been outside, Shirou decided to go lend a hand.
He might not be great at handling so many customers, but he could at least help carry heavy items and restock shelves.
"Ah? Shirou?"
When Rope saw him, she was a little surprised.
After all, what she had heard from the children was that Shirou was lying in a hospital bed recovering.
Yet now he looked completely fine, so her reaction was only natural.
However, the large number of customers gave her no time to dwell on it, and she quickly returned to work.
Shirou briefly coordinated with the person in charge of restocking and immediately got to work replenishing supplies.
He used to handle restocking before, so he was quite familiar with the task.
As time reached around one o'clock and most people returned to work, the shop finally became a bit quieter.
"Were you not supposed to be receiving treatment? Is it really okay for you to be out like this?"
Only then did Rope have the chance to come over and help Shirou, while also checking on his condition.
"Hm? I was never seriously injured. Some people were just overly worried, so I ended up staying there a couple more days."
Seeing how concerned she looked, Shirou did not hide anything and directly explained why he had stayed at the office for two extra days.
"I see… that is a relief."
Hearing that Shirou was fine, Rope finally relaxed.
The shop had suddenly become busy over the past couple of days, so she had not been able to find time to visit him.
Most of what she knew about his condition had come from others.