"What are we supposed to do?"
Kaguya and Yuzuru looked at Shichen at the same time and asked in unison, their eyes full of hope.
"So? You're willing to trust me now?" Shichen teased them with a smile.
"You…" Kaguya glared at him in embarrassed annoyance, then couldn't help turning to look at Yuzuru, eyes reddening.
"What else can we do… The truth is, I… I don't want to die…"
Tears slowly rolled down from Kaguya's eyes, and her voice was thick with sobs.
"I want to live. I want to stay with Yuzuru forever…"
A single tear slid down Yuzuru's cheek as well. She choked out, "Answer: Yuzuru also… doesn't want to disappear… Yuzuru wants to live together with Kaguya."
"You should've just said what you really felt from the start," Shichen sighed, watching the two of them break down in tears.
"Our meeting was never random. The fact that you split into two separate beings wasn't random either. I'm not going to let either of you disappear."
"Then… what do we have to do?"
"Don't rush it. First, I'll let you vent a little," Shichen said, smiling to calm them.
"Vent?" The two of them stared at him in confusion.
"Look over there." Shichen let go of their weapons and pointed into the empty sky.
They wiped their tears, lifted their heads, and followed the direction he pointed—but saw nothing.
"There's nothing there."
"Question. Shichen, is there something there?"
"Don't use your eyes—feel it. You two are wind spirits, aren't you?" Shichen said as he released his control over the wind.
"Feel it…"
The two exchanged a glance, then closed their eyes together.
"There's… something there, blocking the wind…"
"Confirm. Yuzuru senses it as well. That object is not small."
"Then can the two of you shoot it down? It's been sitting up there this whole time, and it's really annoying me," Shichen asked.
These past two days, he'd constantly felt it spying on them—on him and on Tohka and the others.
Its purpose was obviously surveillance on spirits.
Normally Shichen wouldn't have cared about being watched—but once he realized they were spying on the open-air baths, that he couldn't let slide.
If he hadn't put up a barrier, Tohka and the rest, completely defenseless, would've been seen naked from head to toe.
And that wasn't something he would tolerate, even if the ones spying were from this country's own organization. He stood with the spirits, after all.
"Shoot it down… Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Kaguya said, grinning smugly.
"Seconded. With Yuzuru and Kaguya together, there's nothing we can't do!"
"That's right, we're invincible!"
"Then go for it. Show me your strength—show me your charm."
"Is that so… Yuzuru?" Kaguya licked her lips unconsciously.
"Suggestion. Kaguya," Yuzuru replied, looking at her.
The two of them smiled at the same time.
"Shall we? Let Shichen see what we can really do?"
"Definitely. Let's go all out and make him fall for us!"
They stepped toward each other. Kaguya held out her left hand, Yuzuru her right, and their fingers intertwined, gripping tightly.
In that instant, their Astral Dresses and angels burst into dazzling light.
Next, the feathers growing from Kaguya's right shoulder and from Yuzuru's left shoulder merged together, forming a single bow.
Yuzuru's chain transformed into the bowstring, linking the ends of the feathered bow, while Kaguya's spear naturally became the arrow, nocked against the string.
Kaguya extended her right hand, Yuzuru her left. Together, left and right, they drew the bow and aimed into the seemingly empty sky.
But the target had already been locked.
Shichen dropped his barrier at that moment—their position was exposed to the enemy again, but it was already too late.
"Knight of the Gale—El Kanaph!"
They shouted in unison, then released. The spear-turned-arrow shot into the heavens in an instant, unstoppable, piercing sky and earth.
An enormous surge of wind pressure blasted outward. Waves rose and crashed, trees shuddered violently.
Wrapped in wind, the arrow flew onward. Around it, something seemed to enfold it, slowly taking shape—a phantom of Lugia appeared, cloaking the arrow!
Kaguya and Yuzuru's power really did come from Lugia.
With Lugia's strength, there was almost nothing in this world that could withstand a joint full-power attack from the two of them.
High in the sky, the once empty patch of air began to ripple. A vague outline surfaced and finally revealed itself.
A human warship.
The warship didn't even have time to fire. Its only option was to throw up a barrier.
But under the combined strike of the Yamai twins, with all their power behind it, how could that ship hope to endure?
The arrow arrived in a flash. The barrier may as well have not existed—it shattered instantly. At the same time, the Lugia-wreathed arrow, like a divine bird's blow, punched clean through the massive warship.
And it didn't stop. It continued tearing through the vault of the sky, carving a clear, cloudless path across the night.
Boom—!
The explosion followed. The warship, shredded and swept apart by the storm, blew apart into a sky full of fireworks, lighting up the empty night.
Aside from the bright moon, there was only firelight.
The commotion naturally drew the students' attention back at the lodge.
But none of them thought too hard about it. To them, it was simply a firework display arranged for the final night of the trip.
Only one person stared at the glowing sky, stunned into silence.
"Ayame, stop staring. Come back and keep playing cards with us."
"…"
Plenty of people admired the grand fireworks—but the culprits had already left.
"Shichen, where are you taking us? Didn't you say you'd help us?"
"Question. Shichen, how exactly are you going to help us?" Yuzuru asked.
"Relax, I won't lie to you. But are you ready?"
"Ready… for what?"
"To pay a heavy price."
"A price? As long as I can stay with Yuzuru forever, I'm willing to do anything!"
"That's right. Yuzuru is willing to do anything too!"
"In that case… we're going to the bathhouse."
"Eh?"