Shinji pointed to the notes. Sure enough, another page was dedicated solely to the girl. And by girl, Shirou did indeed see a girl. A child. Likely about his age, maybe younger.
"She's a prodigy, as far as rumors go. Took the normie world by storm when her father announced her immediate inheritance of his company. Still, there was no issue as, following after her nomination, their company rapidly expanded. Both internally and internationally. They're stupidly rich and may even own half the damn country by now. They certainly got a good grip on Miyama Town before they tried expanding into Fuyuki. I'd say it's unreal, but they already bought out Four-Eyes' shrine."
Shirou remembered. But now that he understood what Shinji was implying, Issei's issues seemed to devolve from a David-vs-Goliath standoff to an ant-vs-human-foot kind.
"And, it gets worse. Not only is the gathering point hosted on their property, there is an actual charity event being hosted for the non-magi folk around the same venue. Rich people doing rich people things. I even heard some top government people are going."
"But… but they aren't involved in the Grail War…"
"Exactly. And yet here they are, confidently inviting Masters and Servants as well as non-Masters nor Servants of said War to one spot. All so they could introduce the 'neutral arbiter'… I'll be honest. This doesn't bode well, Shirou."
"But…" Shirou furrowed his brows. "But if they're this confident to bring our competitors close to outsiders, doesn't that mean they are being honest about being neutral in the war? Shouldn't we trust that?"
To that, Shinji scoffed.
"Sakura and I did a bit of research in our gramps' collection in the past. To put it lightly, the reason that the original arbiters had been the Church was because they themselves aren't interested in the Holy Grail. Despite what its name implies, it's more magecraft in nature than holy, get what I mean?"
He did. As much as Kiritsugu didn't elaborate on the details, he did emphasize that the whole ritual was just that. A magi ritual. It wasn't necessarily world ending, malicious, or demonic in nature. It was just that the end result, the fires that razed Fuyuki at the time, had been caused by someone malicious using the power gathered by the whole thing in the wrong way.
And given that here, it wasn't the Church to contact them as the arbiters…
"This Sumeragi Industries group is hiding something." Saber answered for him. Or maybe it was that she decided joining the discussion would be more productive than glaring spiteful daggers at Assassin. "The Church had been quite lenient in the past, sheltering Masters that have been defeated but only lost their Servants."
"Honestly, they didn't have to be." Shinji added to that. "Magi and the Church get along about as well as a house fire having a truck full of gasoline crash into it. According to the rat bastard Gramp's notes, they only tolerated the Grail War because it kept the three major magi families centered here from causing a ruckus. They behave, and the Church turns a blind eye, ever the neutral observers that were just witnesses to the fight until its unresolved end. All was well, then the Church itself was blown up during the last war."
Shirou put two and two together.
"They lost the arbiter at the time…"
"And their role, given they hadn't returned to this area ever since. Now, that position has been usurped by questionable forces with enough power to buy out an entire city." Assassin chimed in. "In all honesty, I would be impressed if their intervention did not pose a threat to my Master and her own."
"Then go and deal with them," scoffed Saber. "Or are you telling me you fear a child and her mortal lackeys, copycat."
"As much as I would love to cut your face too, I at least know restraint, savage. I do not draw my katana unless it is by my lord's will or for her sake. I don't go out of my way bathing myself red like you, pretend-Berserker."
"Rich coming from a wannabe Saber, brat. I may not have gone mad, but I guarantee nothing of you will remain once we clash blades—"
"Moving on—!" Shinji slid in as Assassin bit back a retort. "Even if we do go along and off the CEO girl, there's no guarantee she's the one pulling the strings. As much as she could be the mastermind behind all this, someone else under her employ could be pulling the strings for her. After all—" Shinji pointed to the bottom of the notes laid out before Shirou. "Sumeragi Kaguya and her family are not magi. None of their extended family are either. I checked."
Shirou felt skeptical. He'd just learned about the girl now and from what he could tell, she was a prodigy among prodigies. Kiritsugu's lessons, 'to question everything when plausible', started kicking to life now that he was focused.
"You sure about that, Shinji? I mean… I don't mean to distrust you, but can we be sure to rule her out of it?"
"Yes. I spent hours on end looking through it. Not a single one of her family lineages was anything close to being a magus. The Clock Tower doesn't have anything on them either, as far as dad's connections could tell me. And in terms of notability outside of the moonlit world is concerned, there may be a distant relation to the royal family still living in Kyoto, but it's like several generations removed. She'd hardly even qualify as the current named Emperor's distant niece from his third cousin or whatever…"
A hint of exasperation could be heard in his voice. So much so that when passed a glass of tea, Shinji downed it in one go. He must've put some real investigative effort in the past few hours before coming here. No wonder he didn't even push with his usual flirtatiousness to ease tensions. Shirou could see his friend was pushing himself too hard not just to help Sakura but to keep himself distracted.
They weren't their usual selves, both of them… but unlike Shirou, Shinji didn't look to be taking it well.
"Hmhm… Milady's brother was indeed very thorough. Despite his lankiness, he was very diligent working from dusk till dawn vetting through all possibilities until he collapsed." Assassin added with a wide smile. "Truly, a devotion not at all wasted for my Master."
"Says you when you hardly put much help in the investigation." The corner of Shinji's face curled and twitched. "And here I thought Assassins were specialized infiltrators for espionage."
"Apologies. I had been acclimating to the time period in the past few hours since being summoned."
It was as legit an excuse as any. And to that, Shinji had no rebuttal. Not that Shirou blamed the guy. He put his all in anything that involved Sakura. That she was the Master and he wasn't must've cemented his need for action to support her in any way he could. Shirou could sympathize with that.
Which was why he'd rather not let it go to waste.
"I think we should trust them."
The room fell quiet as three sets of eyes locked onto him. The two Servants were studying him, Artoria more so than Assassin, but Shinji's was one of incredulity.
"You best not be pulling my leg, bud. This isn't a time for jokes."
"But I'm not." Shirou inhaled deeply. Being too vague and emotional was gonna end with them arguing. He wanted to avoid that. So, following Saber's lead, he decided to be blunt but serious. "I believe, for now, that they are being serious about their neutrality. While it's true we should be wary of what they can do, we also don't have much of a lead on all the other Masters or Servants. If we act too warily around them, we might cause more of a problem for ourselves down the line."
"You want to wholly cooperate."
"I want to trust that they are what they say they are, Shinji." Shirou shook his head. "But right now, we need to go in and play along. I know how you feel. Something about all this is suspicious. Don't get me wrong. From how they singled us out as Masters, to likely investigating who we are and where we live, and to how they plan to sit it out despite having all the influence and resources to try and win the war themselves, magus or not. However…"
He fell silent for a bit before finding his words.
"If… And this is only a guess… if they really are neutral, or even against this…. Then we still have a chance to make it out of the war without hurting others…"
"Hmph… You put too much faith in others, Master." The redhead heard her loud and clear despite the low tone. Saber might've mumbled, but it wasn't out of privacy. It was a warning. "Lower your expectations, especially when it comes to trust, lest you get betrayed."
Assassin nodded.
"She speaks from experience, Lord of Saber. The blood that stains her sword is one of betrayers for a reason, though, setting aside the flimsy loyalty that led to her words ringing true, we can't expect too much from them, underdogs or not."
"But of course, you always love to see the best in people, don't you, bud…" Shinji groaned as though he expected it all along. Though, given he knew Shirou for so many years, that was one prevailing fact about him that the boy already knew at heart. The boy offered his fist across the table. "I am so gonna kill you if we die for your idealism."
"Oh come on, Shinji." Shirou met the fist-bump. "How can you kill me if we'd already be dead?"
"Don't tempt me. If heroes of the past can come back through this ritual, what's to say I can't drag your wannabe-hero soul out from the grave to give you a piece of my mind?"
The boys ended their banter with hearty laughs. And though neither Servant dared to comment on it, both were well aware that neither brat were taking things lightly. Upon reviewing the rest of the plan, Shinji and Assassin were about to take their leave.
"Remember, Shirou." The Matou boy reiterated. "Stay quiet and let me do the talking. Pretend like you already know everything and are just there to observe. Other magi will know something's up if you start asking questions like you just learned about how the War goes today."
"But don't our masks already hide our identities? We even tested that there's some sort of voice distortion rune and presence concealment spell hidden on them—?"
"Even so…" Shinji takes a deep breath. Then, leaning forward, he gives a soft punch against Shirou's chest. "This is as much for your safety as it is Sakura's. Remember the plan. We aren't there to fight, yes, but prioritize getting out of it if we come to blows. And as far as other invitee know…?" Shinji egged him to respond.
"'We are not allies. We just happen to arrive around the same time.' I know the plan."
"Good. Make sure you do…" Shinji turned to leave, Assassin having already dispersed into the air after him. "I'll see you at Ryuudou Temple."
"Will do, Shinji… And thanks, man…"
"Oh… and one more thing…" The boy made sure to smirk over his shoulder. "Make sure you wear a suit. If I catch you dead wearing nothing but jeans and a blue-and-white t-shirt, I'll seriously ask Sakura to get you a new wardrobe."
That threat had a chill running down Shirou's spine. For one, he actually believed that if Shinji didn't throttle him, Sakura would.
"Shit… I hope something of dad's can fit me."
"You best pray they don't." Saber mumbled to herself as she disappeared into the house to cool her head.