At a room in the shrine.
Qiqi lit a crystal-clear piece of Incense, setting it on the stand.
A unique fragrance drifted out.
Hanachirusato, standing nearby, inhaled gently. Her mind cleared in an instant.
Yes. That was it.
It was almost the same scent she'd smelled in the Massage room earlier—though with less Essential Oil and flowers mixed in.
She closed her eyes, letting her memories stir. Flashes of half-familiar scenes flickered through her mind.
Qiqi didn't interrupt. She simply sat on her bed in silence, focusing on her daily training.
Until her phone buzzed.
It was a message from Fischl.
[Fischl]: Just finished a family call! Qiqi, let's go out! Time to play!
[Qiqi]: Okay.
Qiqi tucked her phone away and waved toward the window. A round little finch fluttered in and perched on her shoulder.
She climbed down, glanced once at Hanachirusato still standing by the Incense with closed eyes, then slipped out without a sound.
Some time later, Hanachirusato surfaced from that strange state. She opened her eyes, ready to speak—only to find Qiqi gone.
She was alone in the room.
Blinking at the empty bed, she muttered, "Qiqi went off to be a Magical Girl again, huh…"
She sat on her own bed, rubbing her face with both hands.
Rii's appearance earlier had triggered memories she'd thought long forgotten.
They were tied to a bake-danuki named Ioroi.
Once, Kitsune Saiguu had tricked it, making it a retainer under the Shogun herself: "Ioroi, Protector of Chinju Forest." Its duty was to safeguard the land and its ley lines.
Five hundred years ago, when the black calamity struck, Saiguu had known Ioroi's stubborn nature. If left unchecked, it would surely fight to the death to fulfill its duty.
So she'd challenged it to hide-and-seek, telling it things like, "Never come out. If anything happens, it's because I'm using spells to fool you."
And gullible Ioroi had hidden away, waiting for her to find it.
While it hid, Saiguu had gone to face the calamity—and perished.
After that, Hanachirusato's memories of Ioroi had vanished.
Now she propped her chin on her hands, gazing at the drifting cherry blossoms outside.
"…Could that guy still be hiding somewhere, waiting for her to come find him? After all this time? No… surely not. But with how straightforward he is, who knows. I guess I'll have to check Chinju Forest myself… but right now I don't have any power at all. My body's no different from a human's. It wouldn't be safe alone…"
Her eyes narrowed, sultry and sharp.
"…But there is another way. I could go to Mr. Xia… and become a Magical Girl."
––
Ei hadn't gone back to her room like Makoto told her.
Instead, she went to the Grand Narukami Shrine and knocked on Yae Miko's door.
"Ei? What brings you here? Shouldn't you be with Makoto?"
At a glance, Miko saw it was Ei herself, not the Raiden Shogun.
"Big Sister's working at Tenshukaku," Ei said. "I'd just distract her."
"So what did you come here for, then?" Miko tilted her head curiously.
"No particular reason. Just waiting here at the shrine."
"Waiting for what?"
"For dawn. So I can go see… our cousin."
"…Cousin?"
Miko's expression turned strange.
"You mean Mr. Xia?"
"Mm. Sister said his cooking's really good."
"It is. His fried tofu is the best I've ever had."
Remembering the taste, Miko licked her lips unconsciously. "So you're looking for him because…?"
"I want him to teach me to cook," Ei said seriously.
"…???"
"I need to learn Liyue cuisine," Ei explained. "Sister likes it now. So I'll study under Cousin."
"…Wait. You made sukiyaki for Makoto tonight, didn't you?"
"I did."
"You added Slime condensate?"
"Yes."
"And what did she say?"
"She said it tasted just like the ones I used to make."
"…I see."
Miko's face twisted into something hard to describe.
"I understand now."
Ei glanced into the room. The desk was scattered with open reports.
"You were busy too?"
"Mm. Urakusai just sent over intel. I'm analyzing it."
"Then keep working. I'll sit under the Sacred Sakura for a while."
Ei turned to leave, then paused and came back.
"…Are you hungry?"
"Not at all!" Miko blurted instantly.
"…Alright."
Ei looked faintly disappointed as she walked away.
Miko shut the door in a hurry and let out a huge sigh of relief.
---
At night, the Sacred Sakura swayed quietly in the wind, scattering its petals.
Compared to its former withered state, the tree now bloomed with astonishing vitality. Countless new branches had sprouted, their pink blossoms falling and blooming in an endless cycle.
This strange phenomenon had begun near the end of last year, and it had never once stopped since.
Both Yae Miko and Ei were completely baffled.
At first, they worried the Sacred Sakura was only burning up the last of its life. But when its blooming went on and on, their concern was proven groundless.
And now, after reuniting with Makoto, they learned that her "return" happened at the exact same time the Sacred Sakura's anomaly began. The timing was far too precise to ignore.
Naturally, they began to suspect there was some mysterious connection between the two.
After leaving Yae Miko's room, Ei went alone to stand before the Sacred Sakura behind the shrine.
Looking up at its branches, memories drifted through her mind like falling petals.
For five hundred years, she had often come from Tenshukaku to the Grand Narukami Shrine, quietly watching this tree all by herself.
To every person in Inazuma, the Sacred Sakura had existed since ancient times.
That was an unshakable "fact."
Even Yae Miko, her own familiar, believed this without question, unable to understand why Ei found it strange.
But this "fact" didn't match Ei's memories at all.
She remembered perfectly clearly: five hundred years ago, Inazuma had no Sacred Sakura.
It was only after the cataclysm, when Makoto—perhaps compelled by her duty as an Archon—secretly left Ei to join the other five in Khaenri'ah to fight back the calamity.
By the time Ei rushed there, it was already too late. She could only see her sister in her final, dying moments.
Makoto had already fallen unconscious. Ei entered her Realm of Consciousness, where they exchanged their last farewell.
It was there that a despairing Ei made her vow—to pursue Eternity.
To witness that resolve, she preserved Makoto's collapsing Realm of Consciousness and brought it back to Inazuma.
When she returned, she was shocked to discover that atop Mt. Yougou stood a massive sakura tree—the Sacred Sakura known to all of Inazuma.
Everyone told her, matter-of-factly, that the tree had always been there.
No one doubted it.
Only Ei seemed to sense it had appeared out of thin air.
With its power, she managed to quell the disaster of monsters ravaging Inazuma.
After that, she stopped digging deeper.
She realized that continuing her search was meaningless.
She vaguely sensed that only beings of her level could even notice such a "revision" of reality.
But at the time, both Makoto and Kitsune Saiguu were gone. There was no one left she could confide in.
Now, at last, Makoto had returned. And even Kitsune Saiguu had returned, though only incompletely, as Hanachirusato.
Ei reached out, lightly brushing her hand against the Sacred Sakura's trunk, and those old questions rose again.
How had the Sacred Sakura suddenly appeared in Inazuma? Who planted it? Why did it possess the power to absorb Abyssal Aura?
Her gaze sharpened.
She wasn't good at handling political affairs, but her mind was still sharp.
When her sister left Inazuma for Khaenri'ah, the Sacred Sakura didn't exist. And her sister died on that battlefield.
In other words, Makoto's memories should not contain the Sacred Sakura at all.
So why, after returning, did she show no surprise at its presence?
And Greater Lord Rukkhadevata—she had visited Inazuma before as well. At that time, the Sacred Sakura didn't exist either.
Why, then, did she also seem to accept it as if it had always been there?
Could Ei's earlier suspicion have been wrong?
Even Archons couldn't perceive such revisions of reality?
Or… was everyone else right, and it was her memory that was flawed?
Ei stood beneath the Sacred Sakura, lost in thought for a long time.
Then, her figure vanished.
----
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