Shirou was thoroughly "bullied" for quite a while, mainly his hair and face but fortunately, no one used any real force.
If he had a mirror, he would probably see his hair completely messed up.
"Heh, nice texture."
Exusiai, who had finally gotten her revenge on Shirou, looked pleased. She had endured a whole month under Shirou the "Great Demon King," with apple pie held hostage and now she could finally fight back alongside her teammates!
Though, overall, it was still Shirou's fault. Who told him to say they were not well-liked by the Guard Department?
Even if it was true, you were not supposed to say it out loud!
"Shirou, have you been working out lately?"
Croissant recalled the feeling from earlier when she tried to tickle him and compared it to when she had carried him before.
"Huh…? Working out? Does jogging every morning count?"
Shirou took a moment to recover before answering.
"Hmm… does jogging make you more muscular?"
Croissant began pondering the mysteries of the human body.
"Croissant, what are you talking about?"
Sora did not quite understand, she had behaved herself earlier and had not touched him so she had no idea what Croissant meant.
"It's just that Shirou feels way more solid than a month ago. You can not tell when he's dressed, but when I tried to tickle him just now, the feeling was totally different."
Croissant rubbed her hands together, as if doubting her own senses.
"Now that you mention it, yeah! No wonder his stomach felt kinda firm when I poked it!"
Exusiai chimed in.
"You two… perverts?"
Texas looked at them with disdain. She had not expected them to take advantage of the situation like that.
"Ugh…"
Sora also looked disgusted.
"..."
Shirou did not say anything, but the way he took a few steps back made it clear he was just as uncomfortable.
He had thought it was accidental, but it turns out they did it on purpose.
This world really was dangerous.
"What's with those looks?! Aren't you two curious as well?"
Croissant tried to recruit Texas and Sora.
After all, if enough people were weird, then the normal ones would become the strange ones!
Exusiai was already on her side and if they pulled in Texas and Sora too then Shirou would be completely at their mercy!
Hearing that, Texas and Sora hesitated.
"Wait, wait, do not hesitate!"
Seeing that, Shirou panicked. He really did not want to go through this again.
"Heh, give up! Humans are naturally curious about the unknown!"
Exusiai blocked his escape route with a wicked grin.
"And just now, you lifted me with one hand and Exusiai with the other, right? Confess, Shirou! Have you been secretly training or hiding some special diet?!"
Croissant stepped forward, pointing accusingly at him.
"Tex—"
Shirou was about to call for Texas's help, but when he turned, he saw Texas and Sora had already moved into position just like before the first "attack."
"Sorry, Shirou… I'm actually a bit curious too."
Sora apologized sincerely.
"Same here."
Texas's face remained expressionless, but her wagging tail and twitching ears betrayed her.
Round Two began.
And ended just as quickly.
Without any chance to resist, Shirou had his shirt pulled off by Exusiai and was left kneeling on the ground, upper body exposed, surrounded by all four of them.
"Hmm… yeah, he's definitely more toned than before. This is not something you get from just jogging."
Texas analyzed while chewing on a Pocky stick.
"He had some definition before, but now this clearly comes from long-term training and diet control."
Croissant pointed at Shirou's arms and abs, explaining mainly to Exusiai and Sora.
"Shirou, how do you train? Teach me! My belly's been getting bigger lately!"
Exusiai's concern was completely different from the others, she only cared about getting rid of her growing belly.
Meanwhile, Sora covered her eyes, looking embarrassed.
Though if she closed her fingers a bit tighter, it might have been more convincing.
Shirou silently complained to himself. The longer they spent together, the more it felt like they were starting to treat him less like a person.
"So I'm telling you, I do not do any special training! Just jogging!"
Shirou snatched his shirt back from Croissant and quickly put it on. The moment he was dressed again, he felt a sense of peace return to his life.
"Really just jogging?"
Croissant reluctantly accepted that it might just be his natural physique.
Damn it, people like this were so enviable! Just like those born with naturally ideal bodies!
"Nothing special at all?"
Exusiai made one last attempt.
"No."
As Shirou shook his head, Exusiai's expression shifted from hopeful to despair.
There were only two ways to get rid of a belly: eat less or exercise more.
She decided to start exercising more from tomorrow. As for eating less—impossible. Not eating desserts went against Laterano principles! And not finishing Shirou's cooking would be disrespectful!
So exercise it was!
"Alright, back to the topic!"
Shirou straightened his messy hair and clothes, trying to steer the conversation away.
"Where were we? Something about your main work?"
"Yeah… we were talking about our job."
Texas recalled the earlier discussion.
"Right, Sora mentioned you deal with dangerous deliveries and encounter all kinds of people."
Shirou remembered clearly, because right after that, he got attacked.
"Exactly. Because we face all kinds of battles, more than anything else, what we value is trust. You understand, right?"
Texas spoke seriously.
Gender differences or individual strength were not the main issue, trust was.
An untrustworthy teammate could drag down a mission, or even cause total failure or death.
Compared to that, everything else was secondary.
"I think I understand."
Shirou nodded.
It reminded him of Saber, before being a woman she was a Servant. And the same applied to Penguin Logistics, they were professionals first.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Exusiai, who had been gaming with Croissant, had no idea what they were discussing.
"Nothing. You will understand eventually."
Texas, seeing that Shirou had accepted things, happily munched on her Pocky.
With him, their team now had long-range support. Though shielded enemies might still be troublesome, having an extra capable member was always good.
Also… it might be time to ask the boss for a bigger vehicle.