Very clearly, their premonition had been correct.
What Shirou explained afterward contained an even greater amount of shocking information.
At least the concept of magecraft could somewhat be imagined through comparison with Originium Arts, but the existence of magi sounded more like obsessive scientists.
"...Wait, if that is the case, then Shirou, are you not a magus too?"
While quietly listening to Shirou speak and calmly eating her food, Exusiai finally asked this question after hearing about magi.
Based on Shirou's explanation, the overwhelming majority of magi were people who focused entirely on their own research in order to achieve their goals, the kind who did not care how many sacrifices were made along the way...
And Shirou also used magecraft, so did that mean Shirou was also...?
Although Exusiai felt the possibility was rather low.
After all, up until now, there were only three things Shirou had ever truly shown the patience to seriously study.
Cooking, books, and work.
Yes, Shirou genuinely researched every job he had ever done to a certain extent. Taking the time he spent taking care of Penguin Logistics as an example:
Every morning, Shirou woke up earlier than all of them and prepared breakfasts and snacks that were convenient for them to eat according to their work schedules. Sometimes he even precisely timed their return and prepared afternoon tea in advance. As for dinner, he handled it comprehensively as well, tailoring each person's meals to suit their individual tastes as much as possible.
Who would not love an Mama Emiya like that?
And precisely because of this, Exusiai found it difficult to connect Shirou with the kind of magi he had described.
Not just her, but the others beside her felt the same way.
"That is merely a title. People like me and my old man, who simply use magecraft as a tool, are more commonly called spellcasters."
The moment Exusiai asked the question, Shirou immediately understood what she was thinking.
After all, he was frequently tormented by her. If he still could not understand what was going through her head, then that would honestly be a failure on his part.
"So that is how it is! I was wondering why you seemed completely unlike a magus, Shirou!"
After hearing Shirou's explanation, the group finally felt things made sense.
Then they quietly continued eating the food on their trays while waiting for Shirou's next explanation.
Specifically, about the Holy Grail War that had caused such an intense reaction from him.
Without disappointing their expectations, Shirou quickly began explaining matters related to the Holy Grail War.
This time, his explanation was much more detailed. Thanks to possessing three plus one sets of memories, he understood many of the details extremely well.
From the function of the Holy Grail itself to the concepts of Servants and Masters.
However, Shirou did not go into detail about his own experiences in the Holy Grail War. Regardless of which memories they belonged to, he said none of it, merely explaining the rules of the Holy Grail War itself.
"A universal wish-granting machine, famous heroes from history, seven magi... no wonder you reacted so strongly back then, Shirou."
After listening to Shirou finish one segment of the explanation, Texas felt slightly dizzy.
The feeling was like Exusiai throwing over a dozen explosives at close range. The information was explosively overwhelming, but the experience of hearing it was not exactly pleasant.
To ensure they understood, Shirou deliberately provided many examples, so overall the group did not have too many doubts.
"But a universal wish-granting machine... honestly sounds pretty amazing? So, Shirou, did you win in the end? Win that Holy Grail War?"
While Texas was still seriously processing everything, Exusiai had already completely shifted her attention toward the so-called universal wish-granting machine, the Holy Grail itself.
By the Laterano above, if she ever had such a chance, she would definitely wish for endless apple pie!
However, Exusiai's ambitions were quickly and mercilessly crushed by Shirou.
"No idea. I do not have memories related to that. Also, the Holy Grail from the war I participated in seemed to be a corrupted one, you know? So if you wished for endless apple pie, Exusiai, the Grail would probably turn all food in the world into apple pie."
Faced with Exusiai's question, Shirou shrugged and answered while also explaining the consequences of making wishes upon the Grail.
Though he phrased it rather gently.
With a wish like Exusiai's, perhaps everyone besides herself might end up becoming apple pie.
A world where only apple pie existed would thus be complete.
"Whoa... then forget it. Apple pie is great, but if there were only apple pie, I would definitely get tired of it eventually."
Exusiai could only stick out her tongue and abandon the idea.
Not that she had a Holy Grail anyway, though that did not stop her from dreaming.
"That sounds terrifying... that Holy Grail."
Sora thought about it for a moment and found it genuinely frightening. At the same time, she finally understood why Shirou had reacted the way he did.
If something like that fell into the hands of someone malicious, it would probably lead to a massive disaster.
"But with your strength, Shirou, getting the Holy Grail should have been easy, right?"
Although Croissant felt somewhat frustrated that Shirou used memory loss as a way to avoid giving details, judging from his overwhelmingly superhuman strength, the Holy Grail War should have been simple for him.
At least, that was what Croissant thought.
"Unfortunately, I was actually one of the weakest participants."
Although being recognized for his strength was pleasant, Shirou had no intention of deliberately hiding the truth.
Just as Doctor Kal'tsit was preparing in advance for unknown dangers, Shirou also felt it was necessary to reveal some information to them appropriately.
After all, their speculation was not unreasonable. With two Servants and one magus arriving one after another, it was difficult to imagine whether even more things might arrive in the future.
"Weakest... Shirou, you have to be joking, right?"
Hearing that answer, Croissant completely lost her composure.
This was Shirou, the man capable of creating mushroom clouds with his bare hands and overwhelming Texas while dual-wielding swords!
And he was saying he had been among the weakest in that so-called Holy Grail War?
She was truly sorry, but her little brain simply could not imagine those scenes.
She glanced to the side and noticed that her teammates all looked just as confused as she did. Even the apple pie in Exusiai's mouth had fallen out. That made Croissant feel much more reassured.
It seemed the problem was not with them, but with Shirou.
"Those are heroes who achieved great feats in history. How could someone like me, who has only practiced magecraft for a few years, compare to them?"
Seeing their puzzled expressions, Shirou smiled helplessly.
He felt that all the explanations he had given earlier had gone to waste. Perhaps using himself as a reference point would help them better understand what Servants and Heroic Spirits were.
Besides, he was not lying. Even now, during that Holy Grail War, he would only have been considered below average. Not to mention his earlier self, who knew nothing and kept repeatedly using nerves in place of his magic circuits.
If a normal magus were compared to a computer, then the operating system would be the magic circuits. Once installed, it would only need to be turned on and off to function.
But he was different. Almost every time he "booted up," he had to reinstall the system, then uninstall it when shutting down, repeating this process for ten whole years.
"..."
After confirming that Shirou was not joking, the group tried to imagine such a scenario.
It was a rather terrifying image… just thinking about it made them imagine how devastated a place called Fuyuki City must have been.
Wait, Shirou did mention that the Holy Grail War was conducted in secret. That made things a bit more reasonable.
Even so, the amount of information Shirou had thrown at them was overwhelming. It took them more than an hour to digest it all, refilling their drinks from the cafeteria several times before they finally recovered.
As for Shirou? He got to experience the strange satisfaction of bombarding others with an overwhelming amount of information.
However, he did not just say all this to satisfy their curiosity. It was also to let them know about the existence of the Holy Grail and Servants.
Because in the worst-case scenario, he might need to deal with it.
Or even… he might no longer be around.
Archer had disappeared more than two years ago, and Nameless had appeared around the same time. Then Nameless left at the end of last December, and afterward Shirou was picked up by Penguin Logistics at the beginning of the year…
The timelines all matched.
But it was not certain. According to Archer, Servants do not have physical bodies and need to form contracts with humans to obtain magical energy and maintain their existence.
But he did not have that problem. As long as he was careful, he should be able to live for a long time.
The premise was that he had to be careful.
After all, as Officer Chen and the others had said, he himself seemed to be the kind of person who cared the least about his own life.
But sometimes it could not be helped. There were moments when his body would move before his brain had even finished thinking.
He could only hope that what he had said today would never be needed by the people of Penguin Logistics.
His thoughts were similar to Doctor Kal'tsit's. There was already enough suffering in this land; there was no need to add another disaster.
After Shirou finished his story, which lasted over an hour, everyone had also cleaned their trays completely. Exusiai even grabbed some desserts she liked, planning to eat them later.
After that, the group headed straight toward the convenience store. Along the way, none of them pressed Shirou further about what he had said.
Although he used "I do not remember" as an excuse, the observant ones knew that if they continued pressing, they would definitely uncover more.
But it would be troublesome, and it might bring back unpleasant memories for him.
After all, Shirou seemed to harbor a certain level of distaste for the so-called Holy Grail War.
They or more specifically Exusiai and Croissant might often tease him, but they would not recklessly step on known sensitive topics.
Teasing Shirou was part of life's fun, not a way to ruin their friendship.
After arriving at the convenience store, Exusiai, Texas, and Croissant immediately split off to look for what they wanted, leaving only Sora and Shirou standing face to face at the entrance.
"Sora, are you not going with them?"
Seeing that she was still standing there, Shirou pointed inside and asked.
"The clothes I want to look at are over there. It is not too late to go together after everyone finishes here."
After hearing his question, Sora pointed toward what looked like a clothing shop not far away.
The convenience store was quite comprehensive. Clothes, pants, shoes, even combat equipment could all be found here, provided one had enough money.
Custom equipment also seemed to be available, but the price… it would probably take several missions to pay it off.
This information came courtesy of Scout and Ace.
"I see… Then how about I let Texas hold the money, and we head over first? Texas—!"
After thinking for a moment, Shirou figured it would be faster if Texas held the money while he and Sora went ahead to look at clothes.
Without waiting for Sora's response, he called out to Texas.
"Just the two of us? That does not seem very appropriate, does it?"
However, Sora had clearly misunderstood him, her voice becoming hesitant.
"Hm? But it would be faster this way, right?"
Yes, that was right. Shirou simply thought it would be more efficient, especially since he still had to go to the kitchen Amiya had arranged for him later.
"…?"
After hearing that, Sora's expression suddenly went blank. She punched Shirou's arm twice before walking toward the clothing store.
"Did you make Sora angry?"
Texas, who had been called over, naturally witnessed the scene. It was quite a rare sight.
It was not often that Sora got angry. She wondered what exactly Shirou had said to her.
"I do not think so…? I just told her I would hand the money to you first, and then the two of us would go check out the clothing store. That way it would be faster."
Facing Texas's confusion, Shirou began recalling what he had just said.
There should not have been any problem, right?
"Heh… just go already. We will probably be here for a while. Exusiai says she has a few extra gun bags now and cannot decide which one to pick."
Putting everything else aside, just hearing Shirou's explanation made Texas feel her blood pressure rising. No wonder Sora got angry.
The first two sentences sounded like an invitation, but the third made it clear he only wanted to finish things quickly. Anyone would be upset in that situation.
Then again, considering it was Shirou, it was oddly reasonable.
"Oh… then I will head over first. Be careful, you guys! Ace and the others told me yesterday that the shop owner here is a real profiteer."
Seeing the slightly disdainful look on Texas's face, Shirou felt a bit wronged, but he still reminded her to watch out for the shop owner.
In the end, all he got was a silent nod from Texas as she turned away.
"Sigh… honestly."
After weighing things, Shirou decided to leave everything here to Texas.
After all, among Penguin Logistics, only Texas and Sora were relatively serious.
As for him, he needed to hurry and catch up with Sora and head to the clothing section.
Still, he could not figure out why Sora had suddenly punched him twice.
What exactly had he done wrong?