After the lunchtime rush, the number of customers in the shop dropped significantly, and Shirou finally found some time to chat with everyone.
He also had lunch there and told some of the children who admired the Guard Department about what it was like.
"Hmm… life in the Guard Department sounds really exciting."
Listening to Shirou talk about his newbie work over the past few days, Rope understood for the first time just how demanding the work there was.
Before this, she had only heard bits and pieces, but now that Shirou described it, she realized it was far from the easy job she had imagined.
Thinking back, her old dream had been to live in a Guard Department jail cell. Looking at it now, she seemed to have been one of the people who caused them trouble.
Penguin Logistics too…
Even though Shirou had already managed to stop two of the biggest troublemakers for the Guard Department, their workload was still overwhelming.
Why was that?
"Well, I am working with Officer Chen and Hoshiguma. Both of them take their duties very seriously."
Shirou did not directly say that all this was due to certain infected groups causing chaos. Even though those people had been captured, it was not something to casually talk about.
It could cause panic, and it also violated the Guard Department's rules.
Even if most people did not strictly follow those rules, Shirou tended to take things more seriously.
Besides, he did not want to shatter the children's idealized view, so he simply attributed the workload to Chen and Hoshiguma's dedication.
Framing it as their strong sense of responsibility, and how, as a newbie following them, he had experienced many things.
"I can agree with that."
Rope nodded beside him.
Among everyone here, aside from Shirou, she was probably the most familiar with the Guard Department. Every time she ended up there, she either saw Officer Chen busy working or heard her giving lectures.
"Yeah, yeah."
Phal also nodded. For him, praising Hoshiguma was always the right answer.
He was just that simple.
For everyone, stories about the Guard Department were quite fresh. And since the person telling them was someone they knew, it did not feel boring at all.
In their eyes, Shirou was a kind, gentle, and very good person.
Yet in his own telling, he was someone who caught bad guys at the Guard Department.
It was an interesting contrast.
After finishing their meal and listening to the stories, no one bothered Shirou further. They headed out to work.
As the shop gradually got on track, some of the older children had started taking jobs. Aside from those Shirou had taught electrical repair, others tried to find work they were interested in.
Most of these opportunities were introduced by Phal—his connections were quite useful in that regard.
As for the money the children earned, Shirou never intended to take any of it.
It was better for them to save for their own future.
But just because Shirou thought that way did not mean everyone else did.
The children took the initiative—keeping half for themselves and using the other half for the shop.
Furniture, food, daily necessities… everything had improved significantly. Along with supplies donated by unknown benefactors, the shop could now sustain itself even without Shirou using his salary.
As for taking in more people… there were no plans for now.
The main issues were a lack of beds and the fact that most people surviving in the slums were not exactly trustworthy.
After all, most people here knew each other to some extent. They generally had a sense of what kind of person someone was.
No one wanted to ruin the hard-earned life they had now.
Rope had been especially careful about this. In the past aside from pickpocketing she also often did investigative work, it was one of her more profitable skills.
But no matter how much she earned, most of it went toward treating Oripathy.
Even now, despite being busy running the shop every day, she still made time to gather information about the slums, so she would not grow rusty from a life of comfort.
Pickpocketing out of habit was not right, so she was trying to change.
But investigation and information gathering had nothing inherently wrong with them, it was simply a way to survive better in the slums.
As for Shirou, after taking care of a few things and confirming that everything was in order, he left.
From the very beginning, his goal had simply been to create a place where children who could not support themselves could live. Other matters were not his main concern.
Since Rope had always been in charge of taking people in, he had no intention of interfering in that area.
He knew not everyone was kind, but if he saw someone in need, he would probably still reach out to help.
He knew it was foolish but he could not help himself.
By the time he returned to the dormitory, it was already past three in the afternoon, about the same as usual.
In his hands were ingredients he had bought from the market. It had been a while since he last shopped there, and the vendors had enthusiastically piled things onto him.
"I bought too much…"
Looking at the ingredients, then at the size of the fridge, Shirou figured there was no way everything would fit.
This was already after excluding the vegetables. After some internal struggle, he decided to cook more meat today.
It was the kind of decision that would make Croissant absolutely thrilled.
Considering it was still early, anything fried, grilled, or pan-seared would end up getting cold, so Shirou's only real option was to make something simmered, preferably a dish that needed time to stew, so it would be ready just as everyone returned.
Looking at the large chunks of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions, and other vegetables, several dishes had already come to mind.
"Feels like it has been a while since I made meat with potatoes. Let's go with that."
Taking out the meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions, Shirou put the rest of the ingredients into the fridge. It was a tight fit, but everything managed to go in.
Meat with potatoes was a very homestyle dish. Slice the onions into wedges, peel and cut the carrots and potatoes into chunks, and for the meat, either slices or cubes would work.
Since two of them liked eating big pieces of meat while the others did not mind, Shirou cut it into cubes about four centimeters on each side. The meat would shrink after cooking, so that size was just right.
For seasoning, he used soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and broth.
This was the method Shirou preferred, and it made the dish slightly sweeter, something Exusiai would probably enjoy.
The rest was simple. Sear the meat until the surface turned golden, then set it aside. Add the onions and carrots into the pot, and once the onions turned translucent, add the potatoes.
After everything had absorbed some oil, add water, the seasonings (except soy sauce), and the meat.
Then it was just a matter of letting it simmer slowly. Once the potatoes were fully cooked, add the soy sauce and turn up the heat slightly to reduce the sauce.
Including prep time, it took about an hour. However, Shirou wanted the potatoes and carrots to absorb more flavor, so after reducing the sauce, he turned off the heat and let the dish cool so it could soak up the broth.
One thing to note: keep the lid on while simmering, remove it when reducing the sauce, and during the cooling stage, the ingredients would gradually absorb the liquid, making the flavor richer.
It was a pity he did not have konjac or green peas, or he would have added those too.
Leaving the Meat to rest, Shirou moved on to prepare other dishes. He would just reheat it slightly before serving.
"This is… the smell of meat!?"
Croissant, the first to return to the dorm, immediately dropped everything and rushed into the kitchen upon catching the rich aroma.
Then she saw Shirou stir-frying vegetables, and half the smile on her face disappeared instantly.
Even though Shirou's cooking was delicious, if it was only vegetables, then…
There was no meat in sight. If not for the strong aroma lingering in the air, Croissant might have thought she had somehow annoyed Shirou enough for him to cook a fully vegetarian meal.
If that were the case, Texas would probably tear her apart.
Fortunately, Croissant noticed the large pot on the table nearby, and her smile returned.
"Do not sneak a bite! Get out!"
Catching Croissant trying to lift the lid of the pot, Shirou stopped her.
"Hehe…"
Caught red-handed, Croissant pulled back her hand and let out an awkward sound.
Then she was promptly kicked out.
She was already used to this. Whenever she got back early, she would try to peek under the lid or sneak a taste.
Most of the time, Shirou would catch her and stop her.
Sometimes he would point her toward snacks in the fridge or nearby cabinets, but this time, it seemed there were none.
As the sounds of cooking continued, the rest of Penguin Logistics gradually returned.
"Hah...I can smell it! It is the scent of sugar!"
The moment Exusiai stepped in, she took a deep breath.
Unlike the others who noticed the aroma of meat, she picked up on the scent of sugar first.
That meant dinner would likely be on the sweeter side.
Shirou's cooking combined with her favorite flavor, how could she lose?
This was a complete victory for Exusiai.
"Go change your clothes. You stink."
Following behind her, Texas mercilessly shoved Exusiai toward the changing room, her face full of disgust.
While evading enemies earlier, Exusiai had accidentally fallen into a garbage bin. Texas had been tolerating her the entire way back, and even called someone to clean the vehicle.
She had no intention of enduring that smell during dinner.
"Stop pushing! Let me put my guns away first!"
Much weaker than Texas, Exusiai was pushed along without resistance, not even having time to put her things down before being shoved into the changing room.
"Looks like things did not go too smoothly for them today."
Watching their miserable state, Croissant commented.
"They handle most of the deliveries, after all."
Sora nodded in agreement.
The disgust written all over Texas's face said everything. For her to look like that, she must have been holding it in for quite a while.
Exusiai's smell earlier really had been… quite pungent. It was impressive Texas could tolerate it.
After all, Lupo have a very keen sense of smell.
"Croissant, are you there? Help bring the dishes out."
Hearing the commotion outside, Shirou knew everyone had returned, which meant it was time to prepare dinner.
He reheated the Meat with potatoes and called Croissant in to help carry the other dishes to the table.
This time, instead of individual portions, Shirou served everything in large shared plates.
Mainly because there was not much to specialy adjust with Meat and potatoes. At most, he could add extra sugar to Exusiai's portion, but considering she already consumed plenty of sugar daily, Shirou decided not to make a separate batch just for her.
As for the other two meat lovers, they could just serve themselves.
Sora was the easiest to deal with, her tastes and eating habits were quite similar to his. She had just been eating less recently due to work, but now that it was over, she could finally enjoy proper meals again.
And most importantly, Sora would take the initiative to help carry the dishes.
That alone was a huge plus.
"Eh… why is it all vegetables? Where is the meat?"
Walking into the kitchen and seeing that everything Shirou asked her to carry was vegetables, Croissant's face was full of dissatisfaction.
"I am reheating it. I need to keep an eye on it here."
Carefully stirring the pot to prevent the Meat from burning, Shirou replied.
Seeing him busy, Croissant obediently carried the dishes out with Sora. Sora even laid out heat pads on the table and placed clean bowls and chopsticks.
"This is… Meat with potatoes?"
Only after Shirou brought the pot to the table did everyone finally see the main dish.
Croissant, who had been eagerly waiting, was practically drooling. After the food was put on the table she was the first to grab a spoon and serve herself a large bowl.
Unlike the versions sold outside, Shirou's had noticeably more meat, and the potatoes, carrots, and meat pieces were all larger.
The taste was also different, it was slightly more sweet but not overwhelmingly so. It had a balanced sweet-and-savory flavor that paired perfectly with rice, and even the potatoes were thoroughly infused with flavor.
The entire pot was quickly emptied. Even the remaining sauce was poured over rice by Exusiai and eaten, along with all the other dishes.
"Phew… that hit the spot."
After eating her fill, Exusiai felt that after a long day full of mishaps, a meal like this made all her troubles disappear.
Texas, sitting beside her, had a similar expression. Compared to Exusiai who looked like she had practically melted into a contented lump, Texas was simply more relaxed.
Who knew how they had managed to get through the past two days? This was what their normal life was supposed to be.
Especially for Sora, after so long she was finally eating a meal cooked by Shirou again. She ate nearly as much as Croissant.
Thinking about the bland diet meals she had before and comparing them to this feast, it was like night and day.
"Looks like you all enjoyed it."
Seeing the empty dishes on the table and the rice cooker completely cleared out, Shirou wondered if his cooking had improved.
Or maybe they were just that hungry.
He did not know, but looking at how satisfied everyone was, he felt that this kind of life was just right.
Compared to what he had gone through the past few days, he much preferred things being like this.