"So, you want me to talk Shirou Emiya through things a little?"
"Why would you think that?"
Kirei Kotomine looked at Anno standing before him and asked in confusion.
"...Perhaps because you're better suited to lecturing people than I am."
Anno shook his head lightly.
"Though I possess modern knowledge and ideas in my mind, I truly do not belong to this era. No matter what I say, it will inevitably lack conviction."
Besides—
Perhaps I truly have no right to say such things, having never drawn my sword.
"By the way, you know Assassin, don't you?"
Kirei Kotomine suddenly said.
"...You mean Sakumura?"
Anno paused for a moment before realizing that Kirei Kotomine was probably referring to Sakumura, rather than the Assassin at Ryudou Temple.
"Though I don't know what kind of relationship you two have exactly, nor can I imagine why people from two vastly different eras would be connected at all, in any case, you know Sakumura, and the two of you seem quite close."
"If so, then Sakumura must have told you about my true nature."
Kirei Kotomine looked at Anno and spoke expressionlessly.
"You seriously want someone like me to lecture an ally of justice?"
Anno naturally knew about that.
So—
He reached out and tapped Kirei Kotomine's chest.
Behind that cross lay a promise.
"I trust Sakumura's judgment and choice."
Anno merely smiled.
The first thing I should consider is what I ought to do now that I hold power in my hands, isn't it?
Standing on the shoulders of giants allowed one to see more.
Shirou Emiya lowered his head, clenching his fists as he thought.
"Tohsaka, Sakura, about what happened before... I'm sorry. Now that I've calmed down and thought about it seriously, what I did was indeed rather inappropriate."
"But the