That afternoon, at the Lungmen Guard Department.
In the end, Shirou still failed to persuade the others not to come along.
Trying to stop them was pointless anyway. Even if he succeeded, they could still just wait outside.
After all, the Guard Department building was right there.
Rather than letting them run wild, it was better to lay down a few ground rules beforehand to stop them from causing trouble.
"...Looks like you have it rough too."
Amiya, who had brought along Rosmontis, Blaze, Ace, Scout, as well as everyone from Blacksteel Worldwide, looked at the equally exhausted-looking Shirou standing before her.
She had that nightmare again this morning after a long time, leaving her mental state somewhat poor.
Originally, she planned to help the Rhodes Island branch office investigate the condition of infected people in Lungmen during the morning, then come over for the meeting in the afternoon...
But Blaze insisted on coming along and dragged Ace and Scout with her. Rosmontis had merely happened to pass by and got dragged into it too.
As for the people from Blacksteel Worldwide, they were already supposed to come here anyway, so they simply traveled together.
Looking at Shirou, who looked equally tired and was similarly followed by four people while radiating extremely complicated emotions behind him...
Amiya understood.
Those were his companions.
It seemed both sides had rather unreliable teammates.
"You as well"
At first Shirou did not understand what she meant, but after seeing the excited Blaze standing behind her, he instantly understood.
The two of them were kindred spirits.
"Amiya."
At that moment, a female voice suddenly called out Amiya's name.
The voice was soft and calm.
"Yes?"
Shirou reflexively raised his head and looked around, trying to see who was calling his name.
"Dr. Kal'tsit!"
Meanwhile, the actual Amiya immediately spotted the owner of the voice.
It was a white-haired Feline woman with pale green eyes. She wore an off-shoulder outfit that exposed the Originium crystals on her shoulder.
This person named Kal'tsit clearly had no intention of hiding the fact that she was infected.
"..."
Realizing he had misheard again, Shirou silently took a few steps backward, trying to blend into the four members of Penguin Logistics.
After all, he was also wearing a Penguin Logistics jacket, and like Exusiai, he had red hair too. He was only missing a few distinguishing features.
Unfortunately, being half a head taller than the others did nothing to hide his embarrassment.
"Ahahahahaha—!"
Blaze laughed especially hard at the scene, clutching her stomach to the point tears were coming out.
"This is the Guard Department. Keep your voice down."
Ace tried to get Blaze to stop laughing so excessively, but unfortunately, even though he wore sunglasses, the smile curling at the corners of his mouth completely betrayed the fact that he was laughing too.
Meanwhile, Scout might have been wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a face covering, but his constantly trembling shoulders exposed him as well.
Naturally, the people from Blacksteel Worldwide and Penguin Logistics were not idle either. Probably the only people in the room who were not laughing were Kal'tsit, Amiya, and Shirou.
"Ah... should I just fire off a Caladbolg?"
Listening to the laughter filling the room, Shirou slightly raised his head and muttered to himself.
"No, calm down! If you fire one of those here, we are all going to end up downstairs immediately! This is the Guard Department!"
Hearing Shirou muttering to himself, Exusiai was so frightened that her halo nearly popped upward.
She had personally witnessed a smaller shot at close range before, and later seen a larger one back at the dormitory. Regardless of size, the Guard Department building would definitely end up with a massive hole blown through it.
Normally she would not worry this much about Shirou, but the current Shirou clearly was not in the best mental state. There was a real chance he might actually think about it and immediately do it.
After all, Shirou only needed a few seconds to pull that thing out.
There was no hesitation period at all.
"I was only joking. Of course I would not actually use it."
Pinned down and continuously shaken by the members of Penguin Logistics who had reacted instantly, Shirou replied with a calm expression.
"Caladbolg? What is that? One of your weapons, Shirou? What does it look like? If you stab someone with it, does it do something special?"
The others did not understand why Penguin Logistics was reacting so dramatically, so Blaze curiously asked.
Seeing Shirou fighting in close combat yesterday with his black-and-white twin blades, could Caladbolg also be some kind of melee weapon?
Just hearing the name already sounded incredibly cool.
"..."
After hearing Blaze's question, the members of Penguin Logistics immediately imagined Shirou charging at people while carrying Caladbolg.
Shirou piercing someone's body with Caladbolg, then pulling back and detonating it...
The mental image was far too brutal.
It was not something they should be imagining.
"I guess it counts, but I do not use it often."
After answering Blaze's question, Shirou finally noticed that Dr. Kal'tsit...
Seemed to have been staring at him the entire time.
Was there something strange about him?
Shirou had heard the name Kal'tsit before.
Whether from Amiya, Blaze, Rosmontis, or even Minmin, he had heard that name mentioned before.
If he remembered correctly, she seemed to be the founder of the medical department of Rhodes Island, this pharmaceutical company.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Shirou could vaguely sense a dangerous aura from her.
She even felt far more dangerous than Blaze and the others.
But she was a doctor, right?
Surely she could not fight better than elite operators like Blaze, Ace, and Scout...?
...Probably not, right?
After thinking about how Rhodes Island was supposedly a pharmaceutical company yet possessed a group of extremely powerful mercenaries, Shirou suddenly felt that having doctors who were absurdly strong did not seem that unreasonable anymore...
No, wait, the problem was huge.
"Um... is something the matter?"
After being stared at for quite a while, Shirou finally asked.
Mainly because her gaze made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
And rather than staring at him...
It felt more like she was examining him.
"No, it is nothing. Your name is Emiya, correct? It is quite an interesting name. In Higashi's language, does it mean someone who guards a palace?"
Seeing the confused look on his face, Kal'tsit finally withdrew her gaze and spoke.
"Some people have said that before... but it is not quite that exaggerated."
Hearing her suddenly shift the topic to his surname and codename, Shirou scratched his head awkwardly as he replied.
"Is that so? Do not be too modest. You are worthy of it."
Seeing his embarrassed reaction, Kal'tsit did not continue the subject. Instead, she turned around and took a terminal from Amiya before checking the information on it.
This time, her main purpose for coming was to oversee the cooperation between Lungmen and Rhodes Island.
Because of a certain leader's recklessness, Rhodes Island had made contact with Lungmen earlier than planned, meaning they currently did not have many bargaining chips.
Still, the situation was not completely hopeless.
At the very least, the Lungmen authorities were still having severe headaches dealing with the infected issue.
If they approached negotiations from that angle, there was still a chance to secure cooperation.
"Compared to that boring topic, let us return to the Emiya and Amiya topic instead!"
Seeing that the conversation between Dr. Kal'tsit and Shirou had ended, and already having laughed enough, Blaze dragged the subject back again.
"I do not think that is a good idea. Blaze, stop causing trouble. This is the Guard Department!"
Hearing Blaze's suggestion, Amiya immediately rejected the somewhat ridiculous proposal.
This was the Guard Department!
They were about to hold a meeting here!
Do not start weird nonsense in a place like this!
And the target was Shirou, the very person they were about to negotiate with!
What if he became unhappy from being teased and directly refused further communication afterward?
Do not make this operation even harder than it already was!
"Hmm... how about just calling me by the Lungmen pronunciation directly? That would make it easier to distinguish."
Compared to Amiya, who was worrying about all sorts of things, Shirou himself was far more relaxed about it.
After spending so much time with Penguin Logistics, his nerves had gradually become much tougher.
Though not to the point where he could race vehicles and engage in street shootouts in downtown Lungmen yet.
"Ohhh? The Lungmen pronunciation... Wei Gong?"
Seeing Shirou so cooperatively following along with her topic, Blaze enthusiastically dug deeper into it.
The reason she had insisted on coming along today was precisely so she could build a better relationship with Shirou!
She had heard from the branch office staff that Shirou was an incredible cook.
She absolutely had to find a way to make him prepare an entire table of drinking snacks for her!
"Yeah."
Hearing Blaze's words, Shirou nodded.
Then he suddenly heard Hoshiguma speak up:
"Wei Gong? Is Chief Wei Yanwu already waiting inside?"
"?????"
Question marks immediately appeared over everyone's heads.
Especially Shirou's.
"Huh? Was that not it? I thought I heard someone calling for Chief Wei Yanwu just now..."
Seeing the confused expressions on everyone's faces, Hoshiguma blinked and asked.
She had definitely heard someone say "Wei" just now.
Quite a few people addressed Chief Wei Yenwu that way.
"We were saying Wei Gong as in... the Lungmen pronunciation of Shirou's name."
Sora quickly spoke up from the side, breaking the awkward silence.
"Ohhh, so that is what it was? But why suddenly switch to calling him by the Lungmen pronunciation of Emiya? Is there something wrong with Shirou or Emiya?"
After finally understanding the situation, Hoshiguma curiously asked.
She had only come up ahead of Chen to handle some preparations beforehand, yet somehow she had stumbled into such an entertaining scene.
It seemed hardworking oni really did have good luck.
"Please stop... it is basically the same problem."
At this moment, Shirou felt utterly helpless.
He did not want to stay in this place for even one second longer.
Looking at Exusiai beside him, she was already laughing so hard that she needed him to hold her up to keep her from collapsing.
The others were more or less the same.
The people from Penguin Logistics were one thing. They all lived in Lungmen, so of course they knew exactly who Wei Yenwu was.
But why were the people from Rhodes Island and Blacksteel laughing so happily too?
Was seeing him run into the same problem twice in such a short time really that funny?
...It actually was pretty funny.
Sigh. Mental exhaustion.
If people wanted to quickly build good relationships with one another, topics like this really were the best way.
Was it not obvious?
Right now, the members of Penguin Logistics and Hoshiguma had already become much friendlier with the Rhodes Island group.
The only one who suffered was him.
In the end, the idea of using the Lungmen pronunciation for Emiya lasted less than three minutes before being abandoned.
Compared to "Amiya," it only sounded somewhat similar.
But compared to "Wei Gong," as in Wei Yenwu's title...
If the characters were not specifically clarified, nobody could tell who was being called.
To avoid even stranger misunderstandings, Shirou decided the original pronunciation or just calling him 'Shirou' was better after all.
Under Hoshiguma's guidance, everyone finally entered the meeting room.
Shirou had been here several times before, usually for small tactical discussion meetings, so he was fairly familiar with the place. He casually found a seat near the side and sat down.
The Penguin Logistics members obediently waited outside, since that had been part of the original agreement.
On Rhodes Island's side, only Amiya, Kal'tsit, Liskarm, and Franka entered.
The first two represented Rhodes Island.
The latter two represented Blacksteel Worldwide.
At the end of the day, the two organizations were only partners, so there were many matters Blacksteel needed to personally confirm themselves.
At the very least, appearances had to be maintained.
Amiya sat beside Shirou, while Kal'tsit sat beside Amiya.
At the moment, all of Kal'tsit's attention was focused on the terminal in her hands. The densely packed text on the screen was enough to make Shirou's scalp tingle.
Still, he could tell at a glance that all the documents were related to infected individuals in Lungmen's slums.
After only a brief look, Shirou withdrew his gaze.
Although it was not exactly classified information, casually staring at someone else's documents was still rude.
"Come to think of it... in what capacity is Rhodes Island participating in this meeting?"
Looking at Amiya, whose rabbit ears were swaying slightly beside him, Shirou suddenly thought of the question.
This did not really seem like Officer Chen's style.
Based on Chief Chen's personality, he thought she would have neatly sorted out the Rhodes Island group first, then spent several hours harshly lecturing them before warning them never to do something like that again.
So why were the Rhodes Island people suddenly allowed to participate directly?
"Hmm? We are participating as consultants regarding infected-related matters. After all, this incident was a major infected-related case, and Rhodes Island's Lungmen branch office was also the first to report it, so this arrangement was made."
Hearing Shirou's question, Amiya did not hide anything and straightforwardly explained everything.
After hearing Amiya's answer, Kal'tsit finally stopped looking at her terminal.
She first glanced at Amiya, then at Shirou, before returning her attention to the terminal again.
"I see... that makes sense. Rhodes Island really are professionals in this field."
After understanding what role they were participating under, Shirou found it perfectly reasonable.
After all, Rhodes Island's ideals and business were deeply connected to infected people, so naturally they understood the infected extremely well.
Still, they were participating as consultants...?
Shirou originally thought they would be participating as members involved in yesterday's operation instead.
After all, Ace and Blaze had managed to catch one of the suspects.
One knocked the target unconscious while the other dragged them away.
Their teamwork had been remarkably smooth.
"Hehe... we are not really that amazing. Everyone is just doing what they should do."
Hearing Shirou call them professionals, Amiya replied somewhat embarrassedly.
Everyone at Rhodes Island was simply doing what they believed they should do.
They were striving for a better future for the infected.
That was all.
They continued struggling forward for the sake of that seemingly simple ideal, one that in practice was incredibly difficult to achieve.