"Ei…"
The moment Kitsune Saiguu heard that name, bitterness crept onto her lips.
The shrine, which had been lively just moments before, fell into silence because of it.
Now, beneath the Sacred Sakura, the friends of those bygone days had gradually gathered once more.
Everyone's thoughts drifted—inevitably—to Ei.
At this moment, Kitsune Saiguu, Chiyo, and Yae Miko subconsciously turned their gaze toward Lin Mo, who was looking out toward Inazuma City. The same thought surfaced in all their hearts.
Back then, when Sasayuri had fallen…
Ei must have been the one who suffered the greatest blow.
If Sasayuri's attitude toward her had always been distant, perhaps it would have been easier.
But the truth was the opposite.
With his warmth and gentleness, Sasayuri had quietly entered Ei's heart.
At the very beginning, aside from Sasayuri, everyone treated the aloof and solitary Ei with a degree of reverence—and distance.
In the eyes of Kitsune Saiguu and Chiyo, Ei was a god.
She was the sharpest blade guarding Narukami Island.
So in those earliest gatherings beneath the Sacred Sakura, the circle of close friends didn't include Ei at all. It was merely the yokai clans of Inazuma—the foxes, the tengu, the oni, and others.
When Sasayuri, a member of the Tengu clan of Mt. Yougou, brought Ei to the Sacred Sakura for the first time, they were all startled.
They still remembered Sasayuri laughing as he explained,
"She's been swamped with work at the Shogunate lately."
"But Ei isn't very good with administrative affairs, so she can't help much anyway."
"I saw her sitting alone in the Shogunate, probably bored out of her mind. So I brought her here to relax and spend some time with everyone."
From that day on, there was one more person at their gatherings.
At first, Kitsune Saiguu and Chiyo were rather nervous around her.
But as they grew familiar, they realized that aside from being a little taciturn, Ei wasn't difficult to get along with.
She simply didn't quite fit in with the three of them.
Rather than a friend…
She felt more like an observer—someone passing the time, quietly watching their lively conversations.
Everything changed after that seemingly ordinary plate of tri-colored dango.
Ei felt embarrassed about constantly eating the sweets Sasayuri made for her.
So she took the initiative and said she wanted to learn how to cook.
That was when Ei truly began to change.
They still remembered it clearly—
The first time Ei covered her mouth and laughed softly at a gathering.
A god, high above all others,
wearing a smile no different from that of an ordinary young girl.
She began joining in their conversations.
She joked with them naturally.
All of it was thanks to Sasayuri.
He had drawn Ei—who once couldn't blend in at all—into their world.
He taught her everyday common sense.
He taught her how to interact with others.
Without anyone noticing,
Ei's place in their hearts changed.
She was no longer just the blade that guarded Narukami.
She became their friend—a girl with divine power, but a human heart.
And the one who made all of this possible—
Sasayuri—
had long since occupied the most special place in Ei's heart.
That was precisely why his death
turned Ei's grief and fury into overwhelming power.
It was that pain that gave birth to the Musou no Hitotachi—the strike that made countless gods tremble with fear and finally ended a war that had dragged on for years.
But…
From that day on,
Ei changed again.
She returned to being the distant, aloof god above all others.
A trace of worry surfaced in the eyes of Kitsune Saiguu and Chiyo.
That war five hundred years ago…
For Ei, whose heart had already been shattered once, it must have driven her even closer to collapse.
In the period after Sasayuri's death,
Ei would still occasionally come to sit beneath the Sacred Sakura with them.
But after the war ended,
they were certain—
Ei had completely sealed herself away.
"Sasayuri."
At that moment, everyone walked up beside Lin Mo.
Kitsune Saiguu and Chiyo also set aside their earlier argument.
Like Lin Mo, they turned their gaze toward the Shogunate in Inazuma City.
Warm sunlight slowly rose.
The first rays of dawn happened to fall upon the four figures standing atop the mountain ridge.
Sasayuri.
Kitsune Saiguu.
Chiyo.
Yae Miko.
The friends of old would soon be reunited once more.
Now, only Ei was missing.
"Mm. Let's go."
Lin Mo nodded.
Before leaving, he turned back toward Hanachirusato and smiled.
"I'll leave Sayu to you. Let her sleep a little longer."
"Please rest assured, my lord," Hanachirusato replied with a gentle bow.
Nearby, Sayu turned over in the sunlight, sleeping soundly beneath the Sacred Sakura.
—
Within the Plane of Euthymia.
Ei lay on the ground, her eyes unfocused.
From her expression alone, it was clear—she was deeply troubled.
"Ah! Why is cooking so complicated?!"
Beside her were at least a hundred skewers of tri-colored dango.
Half of them were charred black.
A small portion crackled faintly with arcs of lightning—obviously inedible.
Another small portion had fractured the ground beneath them, their surface crisscrossed with fine cracks, clearly far too hard and heavy.
Who knew how a god could even make something like this?
If Lin Mo were here, he would absolutely refuse to admit responsibility.
He had taught her cooking—
not how to poison people!
Just then,
a portal tore open within the Plane of Euthymia.
The Raiden Shogun stepped through and bowed respectfully.
"My lord."
"What is it~? Why are you here~?"
Ei, clearly irritated by her culinary failures, sounded impatient.
"Today marks the ceremony for the confiscation of the hundredth Vision. Should you personally preside over the Vision Hunt Ceremony?"
"No~!"
Ei rejected it without hesitation.
"Tell you what—nothing is more important than me learning how to cook right now."
"You may leave. Don't disturb me again!"
"Yes."
The Raiden Shogun bowed once more,
then withdrew from the Plane of Euthymia.
—
Inazuma City. Outside the Shogunate.
Before the Statue of the Thousand-Armed, Hundred-Eyed God.
The rising sun was gradually swallowed by gray clouds.
Dark clouds spread across the skies above Narukami Island, lightning flickering within them.
The heavy atmosphere pressed down on the entire island, making it feel increasingly oppressive.
Before the statue lay a wooden plaza spanning roughly a thousand square meters.
Thoma knelt there, his head lowered before the statue.
Two soldiers of the Tenryou Commission stood guard at his side.
At that moment,
a woman with long, pale-purple hair approached.
She wore an elegant and ornate ceremonial robe.
Step by step, she passed Thoma and walked toward the Statue of the Thousand-Armed, Hundred-Eyed God.
A single alluring tear-shaped mole rested beneath her eye.
Yet the chill in her gaze, her aloof demeanor, and the commanding presence of one who stood above all others made her utterly incompatible with the word "seductive."
She was Ei's most perfect creation.
A puppet who looked almost identical to her.
The supreme ruler who governed Inazuma in Ei's stead—
The Raiden Shogun.
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T/N:
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