A strange... mother?
If the woman in the mirror really was her mother...
Then what about the one she had seen in her dreams?
Illya clenched her teeth and said nothing, merely continuing to stare at the mirror.
The scene in the mirror shifted once more.
A beach at night, a bustling convention, a secluded castle... Through Anno's eyes, Illya and Shirou Emiya watched Irisviel and Emiya Kiritsugu.
Anno's eyes saw an empty corridor in the castle, but through Anno's ears, Shirou and Illya could both hear it.
"Kiritsugu?"
It was Irisviel's call, her voice carrying a trace of hesitation.
"Iri."
Emiya Kiritsugu's voice trembled.
Anno seemed to lower his head. Rather than looking at the corridor before him, he looked down at the floor.
"If we ran away now... would you come with me?"
Emiya Kiritsugu spoke to his wife, his voice suppressing a breakdown and grief.
"What about Illya? What will happen to Illya?"
Irisviel was the one who asked that—yet there was no surprise in her voice, as though Emiya Kiritsugu saying such a thing was entirely within her expectations.
"We'll go back and take Illya away—anyone who dares stop us, we'll kill them all!"
Emiya Kiritsugu's tone gradually grew more intense. The two children could clearly hear the fear and hysteria in his voice.
It was the utterly broken voice one would make only after finally gaining something in an otherwise empty life, only to seemingly be on the verge of losing it all because of one's own decisions.
"From now on, I'll live only for you and Illya, I—"
There was even a sob in the man's voice.
Both Shirou Emiya and Illya stared wide-eyed.
—This was Emiya Kiritsugu?
Was this something that man, Emiya Kiritsugu, could say!?
Unbelievable.
The Emiya Kiritsugu Illya knew from