Because Ayaka was facing her, she did not notice anything behind her, but from the Shogun's angle, she could clearly see Ei standing idly at the edge of the cliff, gazing out at the distant night scenery.
When did she get here?
"Ei...?"
She could not help murmuring aloud.
"...?"
Hearing her, Ayaka followed her gaze and saw that it really was Ei.
"It's Lady Ei..."
Ayaka sighed softly. Then, after glancing at the Shogun again and thinking for a moment, she said,
"Shogun-sama, I'll take another walk around the area. I have a feeling there are still many interesting things in Chinju Forest that I haven't explored yet."
She intended to leave some space for the mother and daughter, so she came up with a reasonably convincing excuse.
"But... weren't you—"
Coming back to herself, the Shogun looked at her with some concern...
"It's all right. Now that I've experienced it once, I probably won't be frightened so easily again."
Ayaka shook her head reassuringly.
"If you truly want to look around some more, I'll accompany you... But if you're only doing this because you want to leave some space for us, I don't think you need to inconvenience yourself like that."
She sighed. She understood the girl's intentions, but she still disliked seeing Ayaka deliberately put herself aside for the sake of the mother and daughter.
"Hehe, I'm not inconveniencing myself. Lady Ei doesn't come out very often, does she? Now that she's finally here, even if she doesn't participate in the event, having her beloved daughter keep her company or simply talk with her would mean the trip wasn't wasted. Don't you think so, Shogun-sama?"
Ayaka understood her concerns as well. Matters like this really were difficult to balance, but if balance was difficult, then taking the initiative to step back made things much easier. At this moment, that was the role she had chosen for herself.
"..."
She fell silent.
"Then let's leave it at that for now. See you later~ Shogun-sama."
After saying that, Ayaka turned and prepared to leave.
"Ayaka..."
"Mm?"
Hearing the Shogun call out to her again, the girl stopped and looked back.
"Do you... think I make you worry about me too much?"
She asked.
"...Shogun-sama, worrying about the person you love is actually something that can make you feel very happy... even fulfilled."
Ayaka said those words gently, then left with that same affectionate smile.
"...That girl///"
She pressed the back of her hand against her gradually warming cheek. She had never imagined that the little girl from back then would grow into someone so mature. Despite being only seventeen or eighteen years old, Ayaka managed to leave her speechless almost every time, and even make her embarrassed. Of course, it was not only Ayaka. The one on Watatsumi Island was the same.
"Haa... Enough thinking about it."
She shook her head and cast away those wandering thoughts, then looked toward Ei in the distance. After exhaling softly, she walked over. Her light footsteps made almost no sound at all as she carefully approached from behind. Just as she was about to call out, an idea suddenly came to her. This was the perfect opportunity to play along with the atmosphere of the Test of Courage...
"..."
At that moment, Ei was silently gazing out across the Inazuman islands bathed in moonlight. She had not paid much attention to the person approaching from behind until—
"Rai~den~ Ei~"
A deliberately childish voice sounded beside her ear. Not only that, it carried a suitably eerie tremor, the tone resentful and ghostly, like a vengeful spirit haunting this place.
"...?"
Ei came back to herself but did not immediately turn around. Instead, she listened to the voice beside her with a somewhat blank expression, seemingly not yet understanding what was happening.
"Rai~den~ Ei~ We've wanted to drag you down with us for a long time. Hehe~ So even you have a day like this~"
As that somewhat ethereal voice faded, Ei felt someone slowly wrap their arms around her waist from behind. Even then, she did not react in the slightest. She merely lowered her folded arms and touched the hands around her waist, carefully feeling even each individual finger.
Hum~
The space in front of her also began to distort, an invisible vortex appearing to further enhance the atmosphere.
"Raiden Ei~ We—"
"Shogun."
Yet before she could even finish the line, much less move on to the next stage, Ei completely ruined the mood by calmly saying her name as though none of this mattered.
"..."
The person behind her fell silent.
"...?"
Seeing that she had stopped moving, Ei turned her upper body in confusion and looked back, only to find the Shogun staring at her speechlessly.
"As expected. It really is you."
Seeing her face, Ei revealed that familiar gentle smile.
"..."
She remained silent.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing that she still said nothing, Ei looked puzzled.
"Couldn't you at least give me some kind of reaction?"
She asked wearily.
"What kind of reaction?"
Ei asked blankly.
"A reaction to being scared."
She answered.
"But I wasn't scared. How am I supposed to react as though I was?"
Ei asked with such impeccable logic that there was no way to argue against her.
"..."
Silence.
"Besides... what you just did wasn't frightening at all. If I forced myself to react, wouldn't that be asking too much of me?"
Ei added another perfectly reasonable question, only making matters worse.
"...Even so, you should still react a little. Otherwise it's boring."
She puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, almost as though she were acting spoiled.
"So I only need to give you a reaction? Mm—let me think..."
Ei furrowed her delicate brows as though contemplating some tremendously difficult problem. Her breathtakingly beautiful face even took on a genuinely thoughtful expression.
"..."
The Shogun watched her with anticipation, hoping to see what Ei would look like when frightened, even if it was only an act. However—she had still underestimated just how hopeless this woman Raiden Ei could be.
The very next second, Ei relaxed her brows, raised her violet eyes identical to the Shogun's, and met her gaze before speaking with a perfectly normal expression.
"...I was frightened."
Perhaps to make the statement more convincing, she even placed a hand against her chest as though speaking from the heart.
"..."
The corner of the Shogun's mouth twitched.
Fine. She had overestimated her.
"You wanted a reaction. This should be enough, right?"
Ei even seemed to believe her answer was flawless, without the slightest trace of doubt in her voice.
"Haa, you know what, Ei? I was an idiot for expecting anything from you in the first place!"
She finally gave up.
"That's unfair. You told me to react, so I listened to you and reacted, yet now you're criticizing me for it."
Ei became slightly dissatisfied as well. Her delicate brows drew together as she complained in return.
"Your idea of a 'reaction' was that 'I was frightened' from just now?"
She even imitated Ei's tone, reproducing it almost perfectly.
"Because I've never been frightened before, I don't know what kind of reaction I'm supposed to have. That was the closest response I could give."
Now Ei had a point.
"Besides... I don't wish for the day when something truly frightens me to ever come. Nothing in this mortal world can frighten me. Only something that strikes at the heart can. Do you understand, Shogun?"
The last time her Shogun had been eroded by the laws of Eternity, that had been something capable of truly frightening her. She never wanted to encounter anything like it again.
"..."
Hearing that, the Shogun stopped arguing. She had not expected Ei to suddenly become so serious.
"Sorry... Am I being too serious? Even though this is supposed to be a Test of Courage."
Ei came back to herself and realized that she seemed to have ended up lecturing her. She immediately softened her tone and returned to the way she had been speaking before, but she knew it was already too late. This was merely trying to mend the fence after the sheep had escaped. Perhaps the Shogun had been right. This was all about atmosphere.
"It's fine..."
Although the Shogun shook her head, her voice was clearly somewhat dejected, like a child whose excitement had been dampened by an adult.
"Right, apparently there's a stall somewhere in Chinju Forest that can move around out of thin air. It's rather interesting. Have you encountered it?"
Seeing this, Ei immediately tried to change the subject and rekindle her interest. She knew she was the one who had spoiled the Shogun's mood.
"I haven't... Did you participate in the Test of Courage too?"
She asked.
"I was only passing through Chinju Forest. At first, I thought the mechanism there was controlled manually. I didn't expect there to actually be youkai power involved."
Ei rested her chin on one hand as she recalled what she had seen earlier.
Youkai power...
The Shogun remembered the slightly incongruous presence she had sensed when passing through the forest on her way to the Kamisato Estate earlier... Was it related to that?
But...
"Did you... finish your work?"
Coming back to herself, she asked with concern.
"Yes. I originally wasn't planning to come because I was worried I might disturb you, but... being alone in Tenshukaku really was rather dull. When I saw the Naganohara fireworks rising into the sky, I thought it must be lively outside, so I decided it would be better to come out and clear my head."
Ei explained.
"...I see. So you really did watch the fireworks."
Just as she had guessed back then. In the end, the person who understood Ei best really was herself. Ah... and Makoto.
"Mm... They were truly beautiful."
Ei raised her head and looked toward the night sky...
"Fireworks fade quickly, but human bonds endure. I suppose that was exactly the kind of scene those words describe."
As Ei spoke, a certain melancholy tinged her voice.