"Shinji was investigating the Greater Grail. As expected, we still needed to talk to Illya ourselves."
"We knew exactly what happened to her. At this point, it was no longer realistic to avoid the issue. We had to tell Illya everything."
"No matter what, I had to do this."
Shirou Emiya clenched his fist with determination.
"Even if she weren't Kiritsugu's daughter, even if she were just an ordinary person with no connection to me at all, I would still make the same decision."
Anno was somewhat dazed.
It felt as though, after hearing about Kiritsugu's past experiences and everything he had gone through, Shirou had matured considerably in just a few hours.
And it probably wasn't just his imagination.
"Let's eat first."
Anno remembered that the soup he had been simmering was ready.
They had been drinking rather a lot of soup lately—but there was no helping it. Shirou was injured now, and Anno had already had to steel himself not to put him on a liquid diet in order to ensure his wounds healed properly.
"Oh! I'm back! Shirou, did you miss me?"
Taiga Fujimura had come over to mooch another meal as usual. Who knew why an older single woman like her didn't go look for a boyfriend or spend time at her own home, instead coming to Shirou's place every day.
She did not have any romantic feelings for Shirou. One reason she stayed here was that she was Shirou's guardian and had grown accustomed to this place. The other reason was... Shirou was what Kiritsugu had left behind.
Shirou was not the only one who admired Kiritsugu—though the two of them admired him in completely different ways.
"Taiga, sit down first."
Shirou smiled and hurried over to help Anno.
"Oh! Today's soup smells so fresh.