Just thinking about riding the Raiden Shogun through the thunderstorm, at this moment, the scene on the sea changed again—lightning flashed around, a thunderstorm, just like the day the incident happened.
Quick! Hurry to Inazuma's Tenshukaku and invite the Raiden Shogun!
The readers finally understood: this sea domain was Miitoboru's 'dream realm'; the changes happening here—could it be Miitoboru's 'life experiences'?
Alright then—besides those four protagonists, there's a hidden protagonist here too; it has its own 'dream realm' as well.
Without a doubt, under the circumstances where all the illusion devices had been shut down, the only one who could achieve this was one person: shuttlecock Nahida!
She truly is a kind god; although she never appeared from start to finish, she had always been watching over the Traveler, silently lending a hand.
As of now, besides those in the know, only Dunyarzad immediately realized this.
Lesser Lord Kusanali, you are still the same as back then.
"Eh? Why are you crying!?" Dehya panicked, reaching out to wipe Dunyarzad's tears.
Why did she cry? Where did she see this? Does this story have tearjerkers? I haven't finished reading yet.
"It's nothing, not because of sadness." Dunyarzad smiled through her tears.
This only made Dehya even more curious: exactly which part did she see that moved the young lady so much?
Given the young lady's personality and experiences... it seems like it could be any part!
Envy toward Kaedehara Kazuha's freedom, admiration for Xinyan's passion, longing for Fischl breaking conventions, insights into Mona's grasp of life.
Oh no, oh no—is this time a 'landmine' purchase?
When reading Venti's story before, Dunyarzad had cried then too; back then, Dehya hadn't wanted to buy anymore, but unfortunately, she couldn't dissuade Dunyarzad.
If she didn't buy it for her, she would go buy it herself; Dehya could only go along.
Dehya couldn't guess the reason, so she decided to continue reading, to see if there were even more explosive tear points later.
In the illustration, Miitoboru was directly facing the thunderstorm; under Paimon's encouragement, it rediscovered its own pride.
["Seirai wood as my sinews and bones, Asase's shrine maiden bestowed my name upon me!"]
Sail forward! Traverse the thunderstorm! Safely deliver the companions! This is the pride belonging to the ship!
This time, Miitoboru succeeded—it traversed the thunderstorm and arrived before the 'great treasure,' this time safely sending its companions ashore.
The dream was to realize the 'dream'; Nahida revealed a smiling face.
The location of the 'great treasure' was actually the position of the first 'fragment' they had searched before.
Last time the Traveler came, she hadn't discovered any treasure, only finding Miitoboru's broken ship wreckage.
Miitoboru urged the Traveler to go ashore and search; this time there must be treasure.
It wanted to tell the Traveler two things, but now it had only said one about its name.
As for the other thing, wait until the Traveler returned to say it.
The Traveler followed Miitoboru's request and went ashore to explore, arriving at the wreckage—sure enough, there was 'treasure' here.
An unknown power gathered, transforming into a ship—it was a model of a majestic great ship.
Its fresh paint gleamed, as if sailing on the sea, majestic and awe-inspiring.
[Paimon: "Wow, this time there's really treasure! Why didn't we discover it last time we came? Hurry back and show it to Miitoboru!"]
The Traveler picked it up, yet didn't notice that on the side of the ship's hull, there was actually a line of small characters engraved.
[Returning to the shore joyfully, Paimon called out to 'Miitoboru': "Koshimaru, Koshimaru, we found the treasure!"]
["Look, it's a model of a pirate ship! This time your intuition was finally accurate!"]
Paimon's expression in the illustration was very happy, but the happier she was, the sadder the readers felt.
Because the readers had already guessed what was going to happen.
[Paimon continued: "Oh right, you said before, the second thing you wanted to tell us—what exactly is it!"]
Miitoboru didn't respond.
[Traveler: "Paimon, Koshimaru can't speak anymore..."]
[Paimon, forcing composure, said discontentedly: "...Hmph, you said you'd tell us when we got back."]
As she spoke, Paimon also couldn't hold back her emotions anymore.
["Koshimaru... what a big liar!"]
Paimon in the illustration cried; the moment she cried, the readers couldn't hold back either, their emotions surging.
Originally, everyone could have held it in, but seeing Paimon cry—for some reason, this sadness just couldn't be contained.
Paimon was right—Miitoboru was a big liar, 'deceiving' the Traveler from start to finish.
The promised treasure was never found; the final exchange was a farewell.
But Miitoboru had actually said it early on: 'Just consider it as being fooled by me one more time—come with me!'
As for the second thing Miitoboru wanted to say, it had already told the Traveler—it was on the side of the model ship, with a line of small characters engraved:
['Second thing: People of the sea never say farewells aloud.']
It's over! Seeing this line, the readers' hearts went cold; originally, it was because of Paimon's crying that they couldn't hold back their emotions, but now it really hurt!
Why did it have to say farewell in such a cool way?
Turning the page, Lucian inserted another illustration segment—it was actually Ako Domeki.
He returned to his hometown and saw the ruined Seirai, the vanished shrine maiden—these everyone knew.
With a grave expression, he searched all of Seirai but couldn't find Asase Yuu; before the shrine, he silently gazed at everything here.
In the end, he actually broke into a smile, looking at the Asase Shrine without words of farewell, just waving his hand and leaving.
["Shrine maiden auntie! Didn't you originally say you wanted to see the world?"]
["What the end of the world looks like, let me go experience it!"]
["I am now the freest person in the world!"]
People of the sea never say farewells aloud, because:
["At the endpoint of all sea routes, we will surely meet again!"]
The illustration's content ended.
The readers gritted their teeth to hold back the sadness, trying hard to force a smile.
Hadn't Miitoboru said it? People of the sea part with smiles during farewells, without tears.
But why was this smile so hard to make right now?
A brief story of meeting, getting to know, understanding, and finally parting—why does it make me so sad?
The story of Chizuru before was the same; the second time it's still effective...
No, not just the second time—even earlier, Tsurumi Island, Hanachirusato were all such stories.
And coincidentally, these stories were almost all concentrated in Inazuma.
One can only say Inazuma's stories are always like this, always tied to 'time,' 'farewells,' 'meetings.'
But deconstructing the story has no meaning; a fulfilling story is one that can touch hearts.
Even if it's always the same process, a fulfilling story—with different emotions, different people—can still move everyone.
One can only hope that at the end of the story, they really can reunite at the 'endpoint.'
Farewells are for reuniting again!
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice Lines · Fischl: About Miitoboru
Fischl: "I didn't cry! I didn't!"
Oz: "Mi..."
Fischl: "Shut up! Don't say it!"