Looking at the somewhat old and ordinary little shop in front of her, Lappland was certain that the person she was looking for was inside.
It was not hard to find. With a rough idea of the location and her sense of smell, tracking someone down was an easy task.
Besides, he was not hiding indoors and he was right there in a shop.
Through the glass window, Lappland quickly spotted him.
"His name was… Shirou, right?"
Watching Shirou place a basin of ice water near the fan while fanning someone with a handheld fan, Lappland momentarily felt like he looked like a kind, caring mother worrying that her child might be too hot.
"Is this scene not way too strange?"
Shaking her head, she felt she must have seen something wrong.
"Let me take another look."
She peeked again. Shirou was now pouring ice water for that purple "mochi-like" figure.
"…Still weird."
Squatting down, Lappland began to wonder if her Oripathy had worsened, causing her to hallucinate something this strange.
In her impression, Shirou was excellent in combat and he was someone who should be fighting alongside Texas in Penguin Logistics.
Only later, when she heard that he had gone to the Guard Department, did she realize that Shirou did not always act together with Texas.
So she had not bothered to look for him, assuming they were just ordinary coworkers.
The reason she came looking for him today was simply a whim, mainly to ask whether it had been him who stopped her earlier.
And maybe ask a bit about Texas as well.
Yes, that was all!
"Then I will take one more look!"
Thinking that, Lappland stuck her head out again.
And this time, she saw two people at the window looking directly at her.
"…Uh, Miss Lappland? Do you need something?"
The moment he saw the pair of white Lupo ears on her head, Shirou had already suspected it was her. Still, he had not expected her to actually track him down here.
He had even deliberately taken a detour earlier. How did she find this place?
Could it really be by scent?
Thinking back to how she had picked up his arrow before, Shirou felt that guess might be correct.
Still, out of courtesy, he put on a friendly smile and asked about her purpose.
After all, he was running a shop. What if she was just here to buy a bowl?
"Yes, I do have something to discuss. May I come in?"
Now that she had been spotted, Lappland showed no sign of panic. She calmly stood up, dusted herself off, and spoke.
"Of course."
Shirou did not think too much about it. Since she had already found him, even if he avoided her now, she would just come back later.
Better to settle things early and avoid future trouble.
"Then I will head to the kitchen. Call me if there are customers."
Seeing that the two seemed to know each other, Rope thoughtfully stepped away to give them space.
Also, the counter area was cooler.
"Alright."
Shirou did not think much of it, assuming Rope was simply intimidated by Lappland.
Considering Texas's attitude toward Lappland and how she fought last time, Shirou naturally categorized her as someone difficult to get along with.
That said, that impression only applied at first glance. From his limited interactions so far, she did not seem particularly problematic—
At least when just talking.
When fighting, however, she practically entered a berserker state. If possible, Shirou would prefer she fought less and talked more.
"Phew… you are quite familiar with the shop owner here?"
After following Shirou to the counter, Lappland casually sat in his previous seat, leaving the main spot for him.
"Something like that. Would you like some cold water?"
While answering her question, Shirou poured her a glass of ice water.
That had originally been for himself, but he gave it to her instead.
As for why he answered vaguely, it was because he did not want to reveal his true relationship with the place.
"Oh? 'Something like that'? But from what I saw just now, you seemed very attentive. The way you took care of her looked quite practiced."
Hearing his response, Lappland accepted the water and narrowed her eyes at him.
From what she had just observed, it was easy to tell that Shirou was lying.
If his relationship with that purple Cautus girl was merely "so-so," there would be no reason for him to take such good care of her.
Unless…
"Is this guy into that sort of thing?"
After suddenly realizing the gender of the Shirou in front of her, Lappland felt like she had figured something out.
No, no. If he were trying to build a good relationship, he would not have just replied with "it is fine." At the very least, he would have shown a bit of shyness or embarrassment when answering, right?
Or could it be that he was actually very experienced? Even Texas was already within his grasp?
But that was Texas… that should be impossible, right?
As she kept overturning her own thoughts again and again, Lappland's ideas became more and more outrageous.
Yet her expression did not change at all. She continued staring at Shirou with a questioning gaze.
"Hm? Did I?"
Faced with Lappland's questioning, Shirou looked puzzled for a moment.
Had he really been that attentive to Rope just now? All he did was prepare some ice, cold water, and fan her a bit.
That should not count as being especially attentive, right?
"…I did not expect you to be this kind of person. Forget it, I am not that interested in your relationships."
Seeing Shirou's reaction, Lappland immediately threw away all the thoughts that had just been running through her mind.
All those ideas about him being a player or a scumbag were discarded.
This guy simply had a habit of taking care of people.
After all, he had taken good care of her last time as well. She had just been overthinking.
After saying that, Lappland stood up and looked at Shirou.
"That arrow just now… you made it, did you not?"
She had not forgotten why she came here in the first place. Although she had been sidetracked by a small interruption earlier, she now pulled the conversation back on track.
"…What arrow?"
Hearing Lappland's question, Shirou decided to pretend he knew nothing.
He had a feeling that if he admitted it, it would bring a lot of trouble afterward.
The other party did not have any decisive evidence anyway. Playing dumb was the best option.
"Hm? Playing dumb? You should know that my sense of smell is quite good."
Looking at Shirou, Lappland herself was not entirely sure whether he was pretending or not.
After all, she did not have any solid evidence either. She had only tracked him down by following the faint scent on the arrow.
"No, I am not familiar with arrows, I do not know anything about that."
Facing her questioning, Shirou remained calm.
"Honestly, you are really difficult to talk to. Your mouth is truly tight."
Seeing his reaction, Lappland gave up pressing him further. She sat back down and took another sip of water.
It was the same as last time. She could not get anything out of him. His lips were sealed tight, and not a single word could be pried loose.
However, he was not very good at lying. That triple denial just now was far too suspicious, making Lappland certain that he was definitely related to those arrows.
"You are welcome?"
Faced with her sarcasm, Shirou simply treated it as praise.
"You… never mind. Let us drop that. You, a newly appointed instructor of the Guard Department and a current employee of Penguin Logistics, how do you have time to come here at this hour? You should know this is the slums, a place your Guard Department people hate the most."
She could not tell whether Shirou was mocking her or genuinely thought she was praising him.
In the end, she chose to change the topic to avoid getting so annoyed that she might actually try to cut him.
Although she might not even win. He was quite skilled with short blades.
"This is just the outer area, right? I was nearby for a checkup and stopped by on the way."
Hearing her question, Shirou thought for a moment before answering.
Since she could already find out about his position in the Guard Department, she could probably also investigate his visit to the office. As for his connection to this place, it would be enough to say that he knew Rope.
"A checkup? You look so young. I did not expect you to be failing already."
Looking at Shirou, he did not seem injured anywhere, so there were only two possibilities.
Either his body already had problems at a young age, or he was an infected.
She thought the latter was more likely. After all, from publicly available information, the Guard Department's work was quite dangerous.
There were many cases of severe injury, disability, infection, or even death because of it.
But saying it directly would not be interesting, so Lappland deliberately used a teasing tone.
"Hm? It was just for a blood test."
Not catching the underlying meaning in her words, Shirou looked confused again.
He was not sure if it was just his imagination, but whenever he talked with Lappland, although she spoke clearly, he always felt like there was another layer of meaning behind her words.
He just could not understand it.
"Oh? That is good then."
Staring at his expression, Lappland confirmed one thing.
When talking to Shirou, it was better not to be too roundabout. The more convoluted she got, the more she would confuse herself, while Shirou would simply cut straight through.
Every verbal jab felt like hitting cotton, completely soft and without force.
"..."
After Lappland stopped continuing the conversation, silence fell between the two of them.
Mainly because Shirou did not really have anything he wanted to ask her about. He understood the principle that the more one says, the more mistakes one makes.
On top of that, Texas had told him to have less contact with Lappland, and he had kept that in mind.
But letting things stay this silent did not seem very good either…
Feeling the thick awkwardness in the air, Shirou decided it would be better to start a topic.
"Well… have you been receiving proper treatment lately?"
After thinking for quite a while, Shirou decided to start by asking about her Oripathy treatment.
After all, the large amount of Originium crystals on her leg looked quite serious. If she did not receive regular treatment, she would have to endure a lot of pain.
Although treatment could not cure it, at least it could slow down the spread and lengthen the intervals between the pain.
At the very least, it was better than doing nothing.
"Treatment? No. Treating Oripathy is very expensive, you know? That inhibitor you gave me last time was enough to feed an ordinary person for a month."
After hearing his question, Lappland answered directly.
Aside from that one injection last time, she had barely received any treatment at all.
As for the pain caused by Oripathy, it did not even compare to the pain she experienced in battle. It was completely tolerable.
As long as someone like Shirou was not carefully observing her every move, it was hard to notice anything wrong with her.
"I see…"
After hearing her answer, Shirou began to think.
If Lappland behaved a bit more normally, he might have contacted the Rhodes Island office and arranged for her treatment.
As for the cost, he was not worried. Even the children could work odd jobs to cover their treatment expenses, and Lappland could easily help Rhodes Island with her excellent combat ability.
Though why a pharmaceutical company would need such strong combat ability was still something Shirou found puzzling.
Unfortunately, Lappland's behavior made him hesitant to introduce her to Rhodes Island.
He liked helping others, but he could not just hand over someone potentially dangerous to others and walk away.
That would be irresponsible.
So what he was thinking about was whether to send Lappland to Aak…
But that felt even more dangerous.
Either Aak would get cut down by her, or Lappland would end up being experimented on.
Besides, Aak did not seem particularly interested in long-term treatment, so that option had to be discarded.
"What is it? Do you feel sorry for me?"
Seeing Shirou deep in thought, Lappland assumed he was pitying her.
Pitying her for not receiving treatment.
Pitying her for having Oripathy.
Pitying her for being an infected.
She did not like being pitied, even if the other person knew Texas or had helped her before.
"Not really. I was just thinking about introducing you to a doctor I know, but I think the two of you would be more likely to fight each other, so I decided against it."
Noticing the faint hostility coming from her, Shirou gave a brief explanation.
This was his mistake. Some people were quite sensitive.
Especially the infected, whose social status was lower, making them even more sensitive to such emotions.
So when he sensed her hostility, he did not get angry. Instead, he realized he had probably touched on a sore spot.
"Hmph! Forget it. I do not trust doctors anyway."
Hearing his explanation, Lappland took the opportunity to calm herself down.
After all, he was trying to help her. Getting angry over that would be too rude.
Her earlier hostility had just been an impulsive reaction.
"That will not do. I will ask them again. But before that…"
Seeing her act like a child who refused to see a doctor, Shirou thought for a moment, then took out a spare inhibitor from a nearby cabinet and opened it.
Just like last time, he intended to force her to take the injection this way.
However, what he did not expect was…
"Ha! And you said you are not familiar with the shop owner here! You clearly know exactly where everything is!"
Lappland pointed at him with a triumphant expression, as if she had caught him red-handed.
"???"
Holding the inhibitor in his hand, Shirou was completely confused by the sudden shift in her train of thought, a series of question marks practically appearing over his head.