"I met Kiritsugu about ten years ago, in Germany. It was his wife's hometown, while I was traveling there. For various reasons, Kiritsugu and I became friends."
After giving it careful thought, Anno decided to spout nonsense with a solemn expression.
"At the time, his wife was still alive, but because of her illness, he decided to come to Japan with her in search of treatment."
"Besides me, there was another female friend traveling with us, named Maiya Hisau."
"After the four of us arrived here, Kiritsugu bought this property to care for his gravely ill wife. Since we were friends, and I was older and had experience caring for people, I looked after his wife, Irisviel, together with Miss Maiya Hisau."
"But in the end, his wife didn't make it. I also left because of other matters I couldn't get away from. As for Miss Maiya Hisau, she passed away from an acute illness. Like Kiritsugu, she is now buried in the cemetery at Fuyuki Church."
"When I finally had the chance to return here and look for traces of my old friends, I discovered that he had passed away as well. Perhaps all I could do was find the child he had adopted, then find a way to pass some of my skills on to him."
"The injuries on his body were actually... caused when I was training him."
He truly was spouting nonsense with a perfectly straight face.
Anno's complexion had turned somewhat livid and stiff, but he had no choice but to say it.
Still, perhaps because Anno's face had always been stiff to an almost abstract degree, Taiga Fujimura simply failed to notice.
"...So that's how it was. No wonder Kiritsugu never wanted to say anything whenever I asked him before."
Taiga Fujimura sighed and