Unfortunately, Shirou ultimately failed to escape Blaze's grasp and was dragged outside to keep her company.
As for Rosmontis?
With Blaze's assistance, the little kitten successfully changed positions and latched onto Shirou once again.
It had to be said that her quality of sleep was truly remarkable. Even with such a large amount of movement, she did not wake up.
"Can you not just let her sleep peacefully?"
After being dragged out, Shirou carefully placed Rosmontis onto the sleeping bag that had already been laid out beside them. Only then did he sit down on the cushion Blaze had prepared beforehand.
To prevent their conversation from waking the little kitten, Blaze equipped Rosmontis with the earmuffs and earplugs she had prepared in advance.
Whenever she went out on missions with Rosmontis, she always made sure to bring those items. After all, she did not want to disturb the girl's sleep.
"Hehe. As long as someone she knows is nearby, the little kitten sleeps very soundly. I used to be the one who stayed outside on night watch with her. I never expected that today she would run over to you instead."
Only after everything had been taken care of did Blaze finally begin speaking.
The moment she opened her mouth, an overwhelming wave of jealousy drifted toward Shirou.
He ignored it completely.
He had long since grown accustomed to it. Every time Rosmontis came over to him, Blaze would always speak to him with resentful eyes and an extremely sour tone.
At first, he had felt rather uncomfortable.
Now...
"After all, I do not smell like alcohol, so I am not going to fumigate anyone."
The moment Shirou spoke, it was a devastating blow that instantly defeated Blaze.
"Guh!"
Blaze genuinely had no response to that.
Still...
Alcohol versus cuddling with the little kitten...
Well, the latter was clearly more appealing.
Even so, missions like this were the only opportunities she had to drink to her heart's content. Back on Rhodes Island, having a proper drink was rather troublesome.
Hmph! She was not going to continue arguing with this brat over that topic.
Once they returned to Rhodes Island, the little kitten would still come looking for her.
Although she would still have to stand behind Amiya in line.
Damn it. There was Amiya on one side and Shirou on the other.
Maybe she should change her codename to Blazemiya.
It was only a joke.
Rosmontis was especially attached to the little bunny simply because the two of them were very close.
As for why she sought out Shirou...
It was probably because she was looking for a sense of security.
Compared to Blaze and the other Rhodes Island operators, the feeling of safety beside Shirou was indeed much stronger.
In fact, it even surpassed the sense of security that the Nameless had once provided.
This was not simply referring to the difference in their abilities.
Rather, it was the overall sense of reassurance they gave others.
When it came to interacting with people, Shirou far surpassed the Nameless.
That man rarely spoke beyond what was absolutely necessary.
Only the adorable little kitten, the little bunny, and the other children could occasionally get him to say more than a sentence or two.
"Could you hand me those documents over there, along with my phone?"
Just as Blaze was lost in thought, Shirou suddenly spoke.
At the moment, he had effectively been sealed in place and could not move, so he could only ask Blaze to fetch his things.
There was no helping it.
Blaze had said she wanted to chat with him, yet after only a few exchanges she had suddenly fallen silent.
Since she was not talking anyway, he decided to ask her to help him retrieve a few items.
He had nothing better to do.
After finishing the sections of the documents he had not completed that morning, he could also use his phone to pass the time.
It already contained novels and videos that had been loaded onto it beforehand.
There were also several offline games, enough to help pass the time.
This was not the phone he used every day.
When Exusiai learned that he was going on a long journey, she had handed him the spare phone that she specifically used to entertain herself during downtime.
Shirou had seen the members of Penguin Logistics using it several times before.
It could be said that this phone was practically Penguin Logistics' dedicated device for passing the time.
"Ah? Oh, these? Were these documents organized by Amiya?"
Only after hearing Shirou's voice did Blaze snap back to reality.
As she picked up the documents, she glanced through them.
One look at the formatting was enough to tell that Amiya had organized them.
There were not many people on Rhodes Island who were willing to add tiny explanatory notes in the margins.
Combined with the fact that the documents were obviously prepared specifically for Shirou, Blaze naturally guessed that the little bunny had organized them especially for him.
Thinking about it that way...
The Shirou standing before her suddenly seemed very dangerous.
First the little kitten.
Then the little bunny.
That was highly incriminating.
"These are from Amiya... What is with that look?"
After taking the documents, Shirou noticed the strange expression on Blaze's face.
"It is nothing. By the way, you did not let the little kitten see these documents, did you?"
Blaze shook her head.
If Shirou ever found out what she had just been thinking, nothing good would come of it.
She was not foolish.
So she decisively changed the subject.
"No. However, she was nearby while Amiya and I were discussing them. Once Amiya realized it, she immediately took her away."
Shirou answered truthfully.
When it came to the amount of time spent with Rosmontis and how well she understood her, Blaze unquestionably surpassed him.
Because of that, explaining the situation to her so she understood what had happened was the best course of action.
"Of course, I am only letting you know about these things. I am not trying to pry into anything."
"Hmm? Even the little bunny can be careless sometimes. But Shirou, are you really not curious? About the little kitten... and what happened in Columbia?"
Although Shirou had no intention of asking, Blaze felt that some things were better discussed openly.
Especially now that he had already pieced together part of the truth.
She did not believe Shirou was the type to be oblivious. With so many clues laid out before him, there was no way he could not put together at least part of the answer.
More importantly, she considered Shirou a trustworthy companion. Otherwise, she would never discuss these matters with him.
Even Kal'tsit had begun showing him goodwill.
Besides, if it was Shirou, learning about Rosmontis' past would never change the way he saw her.
That was simply the kind of person she believed him to be.
That was why she was willing to speak openly.
"There is not much to be curious about. Knowing too much is not always a good thing."
Shirou was somewhat surprised that Blaze had brought up the subject.
Only somewhat.
Given her straightforward personality, it was perfectly normal for her to bring it up. In fact, it was more or less what he had expected.
If anything, things were developing a little better than he had imagined.
At least she was not dragging him into another drinking session.
"Come on. That way of thinking is so boring."
Blaze immediately looked exasperated after hearing his response.
"What is wrong with you? The conversation and the mood have already reached this point, and you still refuse to continue the topic?"
"If you want to tell me, I cannot exactly stop you, can I?" Shirou replied.
He was not so stubborn that he would refuse answers when someone voluntarily offered to clear up his doubts.
From the moment Blaze had raised the topic, Shirou had already flipped through the documents in his hands to the pages describing the various experiments.
Now he simply waited for Blaze to explain.
"Tch. I was hoping to see you looking all curious."
Seeing that Shirou had not taken the bait, Blaze clicked her tongue.
Although she was disappointed that she had not gotten the reaction she wanted, she still focused on the important points and explained Rosmontis' past in Columbia.
"..."
Overall, it was much the same as Shirou had guessed.
Only...
It was even crueler than he had imagined.
Military experiments.
Human weapons.
Those two facts alone explained a great deal.
Although Shirou's previous life had never brought him into contact with such things, television dramas and anime often featured similar subjects.
The members of Penguin Logistics enjoyed watching those kinds of shows, and before he knew it, he had absorbed quite a bit of that strange knowledge himself.
Moreover, he had also seen similar scenes in his dreams.
That man...
Nameless had spent more than half of his life dealing with things like this.
Whether Shirou wanted to see them or not, fragments of those memories inevitably appeared.
They were incomplete and scattered, but they still revealed bits and pieces.
Even so, those were fundamentally different.
One existed only in fictional stories.
The other had truly happened, but he had only witnessed fragmented scenes through someone else's memories.
Neither carried the same impact as Rosmontis' past.
Because this had happened to someone standing right in front of him.
It was difficult to imagine that the little kitten who usually tugged on his sleeve and expressed her emotions and affection through her tail had once endured such things.
That did not mean the memories he had inherited lacked emotional weight.
After all, people he knew had appeared in them as well.
However, just like the memories of the other Emiya Shirous, they felt more like watching a film.
His sense of immersion was stronger than that of an ordinary viewer, but they still felt distant.
On top of that, the memories were fragmented and disconnected.
As a result, Shirou only understood the general picture.
"You are remarkably calm. When I first learned about all this, I wanted to beat every one of those people to death. Even if they were already dead, I wanted to revive them with a defibrillator just so I could kill them again."
After saying so much, Blaze felt mentally exhausted.
No matter how much time had passed, simply recalling those events was enough to make her clench her fists and want to hit something.
So when all Shirou did was frown, looking visibly upset but otherwise showing no dramatic reaction, Blaze found herself genuinely surprised.
Based on what she knew about him, she had expected him to be just as furious as she had been.
Even if he did not intend to seek revenge personally, he should at least have condemned those evil scientists.
This was not like Shirou at all.
It felt completely out of character.
"The main reason is that... that person... Nameless was the one who dealt with all of this, was he not? If he was the one who handled it, then I am certain he left nothing behind. Even if I wanted to do something now, there is nothing left for me to do."
Shirou naturally understood what Blaze was implying.
So he answered her honestly with exactly what he was thinking.
"Haha, you are right about that. He really did clean everything up completely. He even managed to remove Rhodes Island from the whole affair. Even now, the Columbian authorities still have no idea who wiped out the remaining personnel."
Hearing Shirou say that, Blaze could not help laughing.
His answer had caught her by surprise.
Whenever he mentioned that man before, Shirou would always wear an expression that was difficult to describe. She had not expected him to trust Nameless so completely or to believe without hesitation that he had resolved everything.
Back then, after learning about those events, Nameless had shown very little reaction as well. He simply had a friendly discussion with Kal'tsit before leaving on his own. It was not until several days later that he returned to Rhodes Island.
At the time, Blaze had no idea what had happened.
She only learned about the incident later, after people from Rhine Lab came to Rhodes Island. It was from them that she gathered the details.
Only after comparing what she had learned with the Nameless's earlier actions did she finally understand what he had gone off to do.
He was the very definition of a man of action.
Even she had to admit she could not match him.
"So instead of thinking about how to vent your anger on those people, it is better to take good care of Rosmontis herself."
As he spoke, Shirou used the fingers of the one hand that was not imprisoned by Rosmontis' arms and tail to gently scratch beneath the little cat's chin.
"Purr..."
Not only did Rosmontis show no sign of waking up after being scratched a few times, she actually seemed to fall into an even deeper sleep.
She even shifted her body slightly, finding a more comfortable position that made it easier for him to continue scratching beneath her chin.
"Damn it! The little kitten has never been this defenseless around me! Shirou, what did you possibly do to deserve this...?"
Watching the interaction between Shirou and Rosmontis, Blaze had to admit she was genuinely jealous.
If it had been her, the little kitten would have immediately abandoned her lap and moved somewhere else.
She certainly would not cling even tighter like she was doing now, nor would she deliberately adjust herself to make it easier for someone to scratch beneath her chin.
That was the kind of behavior a Feline only showed toward someone they completely trusted.
Other than Shirou, the only person Blaze had ever seen Rosmontis behave like this around was Amiya.
Could it be that anyone with "miya" in their name had a special advantage against the little kitten?
The moment she returned to Rhodes Island, she was changing her codename to Blazemiya.
No one was going to stop her.
She was absolutely going to pet that little cat.
"Anyway, Shirou, you seem to understand Nameless personality very well. Otherwise, how could you be so certain he would handle everything?"
She only knew the rough details about Shirou and Nameless.
Still, in her eyes, their personalities were very different.
The fact that Shirou could accurately predict Nameless's actions despite that was honestly impressive.
"Hmm... That is difficult to explain."
After hearing Blaze's question, Shirou thought for a moment before responding with a subtle smile.
"It is fine, it is fine. It is only you and me here. Absolutely no third person will ever find out."
Seeing that expression, Blaze knew Shirou had definitely thought of something.
He simply did not want to say it because of certain reasons.
Which meant her job now was to persuade him.
"The last time you made that exact promise was to Scout. Then you got drunk that very night and spilled everything, did you not?"
Shirou did not believe Blaze's guarantee in the slightest.
Perhaps she could keep genuinely important information and mission details confidential.
But when it came to everyday gossip?
There was no way she could keep a secret.
If he believed her, he would become the next Scout.
What had been promised as a secret would become common knowledge across Rhodes Island by the next day.
"Ehehe?"
Faced with Shirou's complete lack of trust, Blaze tried to play dumb.
"Heh."
Shirou merely let out a dry laugh, ending the conversation there.
These were things he did not want anyone else to know.
After all, from everyone else's perspective, his opinion of Archer and Nameless seemed rather poor.
Privately, however...
He trusted both of them quite a bit.
That conviction had never changed.
Because whether it was Archer or Nameless, setting aside everything else, they were both Emiya Shirou.
Both were men who had been influenced by Kiritsugu, who had stepped onto the one-way path known as becoming an ally of justice, and who had devoted an immeasurable amount of effort to walking that road.
Perhaps they had once held hope.
Perhaps they had been lost.
Perhaps they had questioned themselves.
Perhaps they had come to hate it.
Perhaps they had even forgotten it.
But one thing could never be denied.
The ideal of becoming an ally of justice was engraved into the very soul of Emiya Shirou.
And those two, along with Shirou himself...
...were all Emiya Shirou.
That was why he could place such unwavering trust in them.