By the time morning arrived, Instructor Dobermann finally noticed the tragic scene outside.
Though "tragic" was perhaps not the right word. In short, Shirou was sitting there with a helpless smile on his face, while opposite him the four members of Penguin Logistics were all asleep under the same blanket.
Were there not tents available? Why were they sleeping in such miserable conditions?
"You stayed awake the entire night?"
Suddenly remembering that Shirou had been the one on night watch before everyone went to sleep, and seeing that the one keeping watch after waking up was still Shirou, Dobermann immediately became somewhat concerned about his condition.
"I chatted with them for a while. Exusiai will handle reconnaissance later, so do not worry."
Seeing Dobermann's surprised expression, Shirou assumed she was worried about whether he could still continue reconnaissance duties in his current state.
"Your health comes first. Make sure you get proper rest later."
Hearing Shirou say that, Dobermann roughly understood that he planned to catch up on sleep during the journey later.
This sort of situation was fairly common. As long as he managed his rest properly, it would be fine.
Still, Shirou truly was exceptionally capable in reconnaissance… no wonder Ace always joked that Scout could never successfully recruit him.
Dobermann had a fairly good relationship with Ace, so she had naturally heard him talk about such matters before.
Even without hearing about it beforehand, seeing the enormous infected creature lying dead in the distance allowed Dobermann to roughly gauge Shirou's abilities.
Being able to silently eliminate such a massive infected creature during the night was already enough proof of his skill.
In response to Dobermann's concern, Shirou merely smiled faintly and nodded to show he understood.
For him, missing one night of sleep was honestly manageable. Aside from feeling somewhat tired, there were no major issues.
As Exusiai liked to say, that was the privilege of youth.
After watching Dobermann leave to wash up and organize supplies, Shirou turned his attention toward waking everyone else up.
At the moment, the blanket covering them had been projected by Shirou, and even the blanket beneath them had also been projected by him.
The members of Penguin Logistics had already grown quite accustomed to Shirou's Projection Magecraft. In this regard, they were rather good at ordering him around.
"Mm… is it not just dawn?"
After being woken by Shirou, Exusiai first looked at the still dim sky and immediately judged the current time based on experience.
It was clearly still sleeping time! How could someone wake her up at an hour like this!?
She still wanted to sleep! She definitely could keep sleeping!
Just as Exusiai was about to loudly protest, Shirou directly yanked the blanket away.
The cold wind brushing against her body instantly caused Exusiai to wilt.
The others beside her also struggled to open their eyes.
"Ah… this method really does work well."
Removing the blanket in his hands, Shirou sighed emotionally.
Back in the past, he had used this exact method on Taiga whenever she overslept. It was even more effective during cold weather.
And it was much more efficient too. Earlier, simply trying to shake Exusiai awake had already taken nearly a full minute, and she still looked half asleep afterward.
Yet now, was she not obediently awake already?
"Phew… we actually fell asleep out here?"
After becoming slightly more awake, the group finally remembered that they were currently camping outdoors during a mission.
Mainly because life had been rather peaceful lately, and with food, drinks, and playful chatting earlier, they had temporarily forgotten about the situation.
"You should all go change into proper clothes first. Dressing like that in front of outsiders is not exactly appropriate."
While cleaning up the aftermath from earlier, Shirou spoke casually.
He had not cleaned up before because he was worried about disturbing their sleep. Now that everyone was awake, there was no need to worry about that anymore.
The key principle of camping outdoors was naturally to take all your trash back with you. Everyone had done a good job following that rule, so Shirou's main task now was simply restoring the campsite to its original condition.
Since the soup pot had already been emptied completely, he simply dismissed the projection directly, saving himself the trouble of cleaning and storing it.
As for the traces left behind by the campfire, they could only do their best to conceal them by covering the area with dirt and stones.
Breakfast would probably just be dry rations again. There were no ingredients left for Shirou to cook another meal anyway.
They were expected to reach their destination before nightfall today, and once they arrived at the village they could purchase additional supplies, giving them more options for the return trip.
"Understood."
Without the warmth of the blankets, everyone quickly returned to their respective tents to get ready, and before long they had finished packing up.
Meanwhile, the A1 Reserve Operation Team had only just woken up. The entire group was currently struggling to wake Kroos, until Dobermann finally stepped in personally and woke her with a loud roar.
In the end, the group still departed on schedule. Since Shirou needed rest, he sat in the back seat, while Exusiai returned to the passenger seat with binoculars in hand, engaging in very friendly communication with Kroos.
Honestly speaking, Exusiai and Kroos seemed surprisingly compatible in certain ways. During moments of free time, the two chatted quite happily together.
But that had nothing to do with Shirou. Sitting in the back with his seatbelt fastened, he leaned against the window with his eyes half-closed as he rested.
Naturally, Shirou was currently wearing earplugs that he had projected himself. Otherwise, under Exusiai's nonstop verbal assault, there was no way he could properly sleep.
After quite some time, Shirou finally drifted reluctantly into sleep.
An overwhelming wave of oppressive emotions crashed over him, making it difficult to breathe.
This condition had persisted for quite a while already. Originally, he would only occasionally see himself bathed in black mud, but ever since coming into contact with that magical crystal, it was as though some necessary condition had been fulfilled. Now, nearly every time he slept, he could feel this intensely suffocating emotion.
It felt as though something was pressing heavily against his heart… unbearably painful.
Within the dream, he swung his blades again and again, drew his bow repeatedly, and eventually, in pursuit of greater efficiency, even changed weapons and picked up a handgun.
Unlike the weapons, which changed constantly, the targets he attacked remained the same from beginning to end: humans.
Some were mages or scientists who had descended into madness. Some were evil people.
These were people who deserved to die.
But those defenseless test subjects and children… as well as those ordinary civilians who knew nothing…
These were not people he should have harmed.
Yet in order to save even more people, he… had to do it.
Sacrificing a minority to save the majority… was that not what it meant to be a hero of justice?
Had he not learned that from that man long ago?
Since he had accepted this reality and still chosen to move toward that goal, then arriving at this outcome was only natural, was it not?
There had never been a path of return from the very beginning. By the time he realized it, his hands were already stained with blood.
Whether it was for the people who had died, or for that ridiculous ideal, he had no choice but to continue moving forward.
Even if the road ahead was an endless abyss, he willingly accepted it.
"So it is still like this…?"
Watching himself walk step by step toward the bottomless abyss, even Shirou's heart had become numb.
This dream was different from the previous ones. Although he still possessed his own thoughts and emotions, his actions were completely beyond his control.
Step by step, he continued forward, and Shirou could feel that something inside him was gradually being stripped away.
It was extremely subtle, but he could feel it.
That was also the reason he had been resisting sleep for so long.
He had never told anyone about this, but Amiya's ability was simply too overpowered to hide it from her completely, so in the end she had shown him special concern.
Being worried about by a child younger than himself… left Shirou with rather complicated feelings.
"…!?"
Suddenly, Shirou felt someone gently grasping his hand, stopping him from moving forward.
Then the pitch-black space shattered apart, and his entire body rapidly fell downward.
Until finally, his consciousness disappeared completely.
"What kind of nightmare did he have…? His reaction was so severe."
Outside, inside the Rhodes Island vehicle, Croissant carefully soaked a towel with water before handing it to Sora.
At the same time, she continued carefully observing Shirou's condition.
For some unknown reason, Shirou's breathing had suddenly become extremely heavy, and his entire body had tensed up. Fine veins could even be seen bulging faintly on his forehead.
It was obvious that he was having a nightmare.
But no matter how much they called out to him, Shirou showed no signs of waking up. Even after removing his earplugs and shaking him repeatedly, there was still no response.
And his body temperature had clearly become abnormally high.
In the end, having no other choice, Sora directly pulled his body toward her side, allowing Shirou to half-lie against her.
If his condition continued worsening, the group had already begun considering turning around immediately and returning to Rhodes Island so Shirou could receive treatment.
Only after Sora and Croissant worked continuously for quite a while did Shirou's condition finally stabilize.
At least now he looked like an ordinary sleeping person, and his expression was no longer as twisted and painful as before.
Croissant kept replacing the wet towels repeatedly, which gradually lowered Shirou's body temperature somewhat as well.
"I do not know either. Shirou has never talked about these things before… and he seems to have nightmares quite often. Almost every time I see him sleeping, he looks like this."
Taking the damp towel, Sora carefully wiped away the sweat on Shirou's face caused by his high fever-like temperature. Her expression looked somewhat complicated.
Seeing someone she knew struggling like this naturally did not feel pleasant.
If they at least knew the cause, it would be one thing. But the problem was that Shirou had never actively talked about himself.
Even the things they learned a few days ago had only been revealed after they repeatedly questioned him.
"Everyone has things they do not want to talk about. Right now, the only thing we can do is take proper care of Shirou. There is no need to overthink anything else."
Texas, who was driving in front, spoke while looking at Shirou and the two girls carefully caring for him through the rearview mirror.
"…Texas is right. Right now, the most important thing is taking care of Shirou first."
After hearing Texas's words, Sora lightly patted her cheeks and pushed all those thoughts out of her mind.
There would be plenty of time later to slowly understand him better.
"I already informed them. We are skipping the midday rest stop and trying to reach the village earlier instead. The vehicles will speed up from here on, so Texas, make sure to keep up."
Exusiai, sitting in the passenger seat, covered the communicator while explaining the situation to everyone.
The A1 Reserve Operation Team and Dobermann in the lead vehicle were very understanding about the situation and readily agreed to Exusiai's request. They had even suggested slowing down first so Hibiscus could perform an examination.
However, after hearing that Shirou's condition had stabilized somewhat, that proposal was temporarily set aside.
After all, they currently lacked proper medical equipment. It would be better to hurry to the destination and meet up with the medical operators there. Even if the equipment there could not compare to Rhodes Island's main ship, it would still be far better than trying to treat him with bare hands.
"When I am driving, you can relax."
Facing Exusiai's reminder, Texas gave a faint snort and replied confidently.
She felt like her driving skills had been underestimated!
After confirming that Shirou's condition had stabilized, Texas finally took out a fresh pack of her emergency food and held it in her mouth.
As for the previous pack?
It had been opened for too long and had already gone soft, so she decided not to eat it anymore.
Texas still felt somewhat heartbroken about that, because all of those had been bought from Rhodes Island's convenience store.
The Pocky sold there came in flavors she had never seen before. They were truly expensive, but they were also genuinely delicious.
"…Mm…"
Hearing faint sounds and sensing that his body was currently twisted into a rather awkward position, Shirou slowly opened his eyes.
Then he saw Texas in the driver's seat and Exusiai in the passenger seat, while realizing that he seemed to be lying on top of something.
That strange sensation instantly jolted Shirou fully awake, and he immediately sat upright in one swift motion.
"You are awake? How was your sleep?"
Sora, whose attention had been focused almost entirely on Shirou, naturally was not startled. She even managed to dodge properly to avoid getting hit by him.
"…It was fine. Thank you."
Having already realized exactly what he had been lying on moments earlier, Shirou naturally could not bring himself to say that he had slept poorly.
Aside from the nightmare, there was also the soreness caused by his awkward sleeping posture. Stretching a bit would probably make him feel better soon enough.
Still, mentally he did feel somewhat better. Although he could not remember much clearly, Shirou vaguely recalled that near the end of the dream, someone had grabbed hold of him.
It was probably thanks to everyone's efforts.
Looking at the damp towel that fell from his head, still slightly cool to the touch, Shirou thought to himself.
The large "Carnivore" lettering on it made it obvious who it belonged to without needing to think about it.
"Once we get back, we are definitely going to explain all of this properly to Doctor Kal'tsit, so you should prepare yourself, Shirou."
Exusiai turned around from the passenger seat and spoke to Shirou with a bright smile on her face.
Unfortunately, combined with her clearly mischievous expression, Shirou only felt a chill run down his spine.
At this point, Exusiai looked less like a Sankta and more like a Sarkaz.
Still, Shirou could only complain internally for a moment. Judging from everyone's expressions, his condition earlier had apparently been quite serious.
He had already mentally prepared himself for something like this long ago, so there was no need to panic…
Yeah, right.
That was Doctor Kal'tsit they were talking about. Just imagining being called in for another private talk with her already made Shirou feel a headache coming on.
Even though he had literally just finished sleeping.