Chapter 15. Fun Fact: The Person on the Help Hotline is Actually...
"It's not limited to catching him; as long as we can gather some intel on the Holy Grail War, anything goes."
It's easy enough to say, but once actual movement begins, the difficulty of that sentence becomes apparent.
The first problem faced is... he simply cannot find anyone.
Holding the map of Snowfield in his hand, Shirou tried various methods, but didn't see so much as a shadow.
The most foolish method was ordinary wandering. However, searching for a single person by wandering through a city hundreds of square kilometers in size is equivalent to fishing for a needle in the ocean. Clues to the Holy Grail War don't come with an exclamation mark over them like the games Flat plays.
In that case, he should try to find someone with a magical aura to ask for the location of the city's primary magus organizations. But without exception, they all avoided him. They are magi, after all.
The method most fitting for Shirou's style was standing atop a skyscraper and using his dynamic vision to capture everyone within sight who looked like Flat. Using this method, Shirou scanned a quarter of Snowfield within a few hours, but this clever approach yielded no results.
If he had to say one thing, there were a fair amount of magical traces on the west side of Snowfield.
However, magical traces only prove that the magus groups are most numerous on the west side; they don't tell him exactly where they are or if they are related to the Holy Grail War.
As things stand, Shirou has to admit... he really can't catch a lead at all.
It's been a long time—where on earth did that guy Flat respawn?
Finding a random spot by the roadside to sit down, Shirou considered the current situation.
Shirou would tell Rin and Sakura the results of his investigation into Snowfield's magical distribution once he returned. But regarding other aspects, Shirou was at his wit's end. At the very least, Shirou truly couldn't find Flat.
Does he really have no choice but to head back like this?
Not necessarily.
Shirou had simply fallen into a mental trap just now.
First of all, since Giva still wanted to seize summoning rights, it means the Holy Grail War's summoning hasn't been completed yet. If he pays closer attention to the news, he can probably find traces of Servant battles later.
Furthermore, as of right now, the Emiya household actually knows of two Masters: "Kuruoka" and "Flat."
Finding the locations of these two identities would mean making contact with the False Holy Grail War.
Yes, if he can't find Flat, can't he just find "Kuruoka"?
Of course, knowing only a name, Shirou has no way to search. However, Shirou knows a friend who is very good at looking up the registries of such magus families.
Shirou's relationship with her is... quite good.
It's just that she and Rin seem to be arch-rivals.
A and B are friends, A and C are friends, but B and C aren't necessarily friends—is this the complexity of modern relationships? It's impressively difficult to understand.
Rin seemed very much against Shirou contacting her proactively. Considering Rin's feelings, Shirou hesitated for a minute over whether or not to make this call.
But after careful thought, there was simply no other way this time; there was nothing to hesitate about. To be of help to Rin, he absolutely had to use this connection.
Shirou picked up his phone, stared at the number on it, paused for a few more seconds, and pressed dial.
Beep—!
Beep—!
The phone rang incessantly. Halfway through the sixth ring, someone picked up.
"Shi... Shirou (She... Sherou)!?"
Why does her voice sound so panicked!?
Shirou himself got caught up in the fluster.
It's that kind of voice—the kind someone makes when they think they've been caught doing something they shouldn't. Since he lived with five women at the Emiya estate, he heard it often and understood it well.
Miss Luvia, what did you do?
No.
"What are you doing?"
"N-nothing at all! I am spending today in my family's villa like an elegant lady, desu wa."
Isn't that extremely suspicious!
That said, Shirou was here to make a request, so he should lower his head and obediently, meekly turn a blind eye.
"Miss Luvia, I've received much care from you before. Thank you very much for your help. I still remember the matter with the apartment clearly."
"No, if it's Shirou, it's perfectly fine, desu wa!"
Magnanimous.
Rather than just magnanimous, it was combined with elegance.
Despite being such a peculiar and powerful person, she was surprisingly easy for Shirou to talk to.
"Miss Luvia."
Whatever the case, in the face of important matters, this wasn't the time for Shirou to worry about his pride. Miss Luvia could easily find information on families in the moonlit world; past events had made Shirou realize this.
"I understand it's very rude of me to say this. In fact, a few years ago, I was technically your butler... so I'm aware. But besides Miss Luvia, I really have no one else I can entrust with this."
Even knowing she couldn't see him on the other end of the line, Shirou bowed his head slightly to show his sincerity:
"Miss Luvia, I would like to request something of you: can you find information regarding the 'Kuruoka' family?"
The woman on the other end didn't show the slightest bit of annoyance at Shirou's words.
However, for some reason, her voice became smaller and smaller.
"While I am very happy to help with Shirou's request, however... perhaps... I might be a little busy lately..."
Right, asking for a free favor is a bit heartless. Since it's a magus family, a request should naturally come with a price.
That's normal. The main problem was that Shirou didn't have a sufficient price to offer.
"I understand, a request must come with a reward. It's just that what I can give might be quite limited. Only long-term cooking, and giving you many gems..."
Money—Miss Luvia doesn't lack it and doesn't want it; in fact, she refused it the last time he tried to give some. Noble Phantasms—if it were for Miss Luvia personally, Shirou would be
happy to give one, but it would be troublesome if other members of her family used them. So that remained a forbidden item.
That only left what he had proposed. If he was still turned down, Shirou planned to say a sincere "I'm sorry" and hang up with an apology for bothering her.
But...
"Long-term cooking? And Shirou wants to give me gems!?"
The volume suddenly exploded, as if the person on the other end had lunged forward until they were at zero distance from the phone.
If this were "face-to-face," wouldn't they be at "nose-to-nose" distance...?
Shirou couldn't say.
"Really!?"
"Really."
Shirou could only give a bitter smile.
After a beat of silence, the sound of a body repeatedly landing with thumps on the floor came through the phone. There was also a lady-like "Ohohoho" style laugh... No, considering the volume was audible through the phone, can she really be called a lady? It sounded more like the joyful cry of a beast.
Wait, jumping? Is she jumping up and down repeatedly!?