"Everyone, after a reunion that comes only once in a thousand years…
How can you start arguing before even catching up?" Lin Mo tried to coax them patiently.
"Shouldn't you ask your precious little Chiyo about that?"
Fox Saiguu's tone was so acidic it could make your teeth ache.
Lin Mo looked at Chiyo's innocent face turned up toward him and could only give a helpless smile.
"Chiyo, be good. We've got all the time in the world for you to fool around with me later."
"Bleh~"
Chiyo stuck out her tongue, then reluctantly slipped out of his arms.
Lin Mo turned toward Ei, whose eyes held a faint, wounded gloom, and said with a soft smile,
"Ei, since everyone's back… Inazuma should return to how it once was."
"How it once was…"
Ei repeated the words under her breath.
Her joy, bright as it was, flickered with a trace of sorrow.
Of course she understood what Lin Mo meant.
In her heart, "how things once were" belonged to the days when her sister—Raiden Makoto—was still alive.
The days when they sat beneath the Sacred Sakura, all of them together.
The peaceful era created only because Makoto bore the burden of ruling Inazuma flawlessly.
Only an Inazuma with Makoto was the Inazuma she truly called "home."
Lin Mo's voice pulled her back.
"Ei… I think you may be worrying too much."
All eyes immediately snapped toward him.
"Makoto has already completed her thousand-year trial," Lin Mo said with a gentle smile.
"According to what the Moon Goddess whispered to me, she'll return to the world and reclaim her authority within a month."
He then glanced at Ei with a teasing glint.
"If she finds out you dumped all your work onto the Shogun puppet and continued preaching 'eternity,' she might scold you again."
"My sister… is returning…?"
Ei's amethyst eyes brimmed with pure astonishment.
There had been too many surprises today—so many she wondered if she was still dreaming.
Only when she pinched her arm and winced did she finally believe it.
The next moment, her gaze shifted behind the group.
"Shogun. Come out."
"Yes, my lord."
A respectful voice sounded.
A woman identical in appearance to Ei stepped onto the soil of the Plane of Euthymia.
Ei walked over, deftly loosening the garments on the puppet's back and adjusting something.
Soon, she turned and smiled at Lin Mo.
"All done. The Shogun has been reset."
"Reset…?"
Lin Mo blinked.
Ei smiled sweetly and said to the puppet,
"Shogun, tell him the directives you'll now follow."
"Yes."
The Raiden Shogun stepped forward, her voice solemn:
"From this day forward—
All my decisions will prioritize the peace, prosperity, and wellbeing of the Inazuman people.
The Vision Hunt Decree is abolished.
The Sakoku Decree is lifted.
I pledge absolute loyalty to Lady Ei.
And to Lady Sasayuri."
"Why am I suddenly included in this…?"
Lin Mo let out a dry laugh.
"That's not fair at all!"
Chiyo burst out immediately.
"There should also be 'Absolute loyalty to Lady Chiyo'!"
"Hmph."
Ei merely snorted, making it clear that was impossible.
She then turned back toward Lin Mo, took both his hands in hers, and said with a soft spark of anticipation,
"Lin Mo, I haven't gone outside in so long… I want to sit under the Sacred Sakura with everyone again."
"Of course. I'd love that too."
Lin Mo nodded readily.
"But the Sacred Sakura isn't going anywhere. Why not go tomorrow?"
Yae Miko stepped forward with a playful smile.
"Precisely because it's rare for Ei to willingly go out, I thought—why don't we show her around Inazuma City first? You know… the Inazuma City of five hundred years later."
"Oh! Yes yes yes!"
Chiyo's eyes sparkled.
"I saw it earlier—Inazuma City looks so lively now! And the streets are completely different!"
Fox Saiguu nodded in agreement.
She looked at Ei and gently asked,
"I remember… Inazuma City was destroyed in that war long ago.
Its current prosperity—does it really come from Ei's efforts?"
Ei's cheeks flushed pink.
The truth was she hadn't stepped outside the Plane of Euthymia for centuries, aside from the one time she descended to face the Serpent God's creation.
The Inazuma today was built not by her, but by the families who worked tirelessly and the people who rebuilt their home with their own hands.
"My dear friend is going to be embarrassed to death at this rate," Miko laughed softly.
"Anyway, no more staying cooped up. Let's go."
"Mm… Let's go look around Inazuma City."
Lin Mo agreed and then glanced toward Ei.
Ei nodded lightly.
With a small wave of her hand, the dark clouds shrouding the Plane of Euthymia dissipated.
The barren realm blurred away, and in the blink of an eye—
They stood once more beneath the massive Thousand-Armed, Hundred-Eyed Statue.
"It's the Shogun!"
"And those traitors!"
"Traitors? Can't you see Lady Yae Miko is with them!?"
"Wait—there are two Shoguns!?"
"And who's that gorgeous fox? And the t… wait, is that a tengu? Since when did the Kujou Clan have such a handsome guy!?"
The crowd's muttering filled the air.
The Raiden Shogun stepped forward.
"I hereby announce—
Effective immediately:
The Vision Hunt Decree is abolished.
The Sakoku Decree is lifted.
Those whose Visions were seized may retrieve them at the statue!"
The square erupted.
"What!? The Vision Hunt is gone!?"
"The lockdown is over!?"
People scattered at once, rushing to spread the news.
Lin Mo and the others had already left the plaza, walking along the stone paths of Inazuma City as it bustled with life.
Meanwhile, Lumine stood alone farther back, watching the five figures disappear down the street.
Paimon fluttered up beside her.
"Traveler, what in the world happened back there?"
Lumine, followed by Thoma and Kamisato Ayaka, relayed everything she had witnessed in the Plane of Euthymia—from the reunions to Lin Mo's revealed identity.
Ayaka listened quietly.
The more she heard, the more certain she became.
The legendary tengu general, Sasayuri…
Was none other than the man she longed for—Lin Mo.
She gazed toward the street where he vanished, her eyes shimmering.
"Lin Mo…
Are we really fated only to meet, but never to intertwine…?"
…
Elsewhere in the city—
Lin Mo and the others had been wandering for quite a while now.
Shopping with women was exhausting.
Worse—none of them brought any money.
Watching Ei, Chiyo, and Fox Saiguu stop in front of every other storefront, Lin Mo finally couldn't help asking:
"Miko… I get why they have no money.
But you're the Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine. Don't you have funds?"
"It's not that I don't~"
Miko gave a sweet smile.
"I just rushed out and forgot to grab anything from the shrine's donation box."
"…The donation box."
Lin Mo's expression twisted slightly.
So that's where shrine maidens get their income…
"What's wrong? Running low on mora?"
Miko asked with amused curiosity.
Lin Mo sighed.
"Yeah. I've still got about a hundred thousand, but I'm worried it won't be enough and the girls will lose interest."
"No problem at all. The Yae Publishing House is just ahead.
I can always ask the manager for a few hundred thousand mora."
"The Yae Publishing House?
You mean the place where you sell light novels?"
"You sell what now?"
Ei blinked, confused.
"Miko runs a business in the city?"
At the mention of Yae Miko's shop, Chiyo and Fox Saiguu also perked up with interest, all turning to Miko at once.
And so the group followed her toward the store…
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T/N:
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