The moon was bright as day, and silver light lay over everything.
Inside Inazuma City.
Row upon row of houses stood as though blanketed in frost and snow, with points of warm lamplight spilling out from between the flower-latticed windows.
Ei and Yae Miko strolled together along the bluestone streets, listening in silence as the people of Inazuma laughed and chattered about the small affairs of their neighborhoods.
Eventually the two of them turned onto a quiet side lane.
"All right, this is far enough."
Yae Miko gave a light flick of her sleeve, dispelling the technique, and said, "An amusing playmate of mine is getting out of prison, and I ought to go treat him to some Fried Tofu ramen. So I won't be walking you back to Tenshukaku."
"As you please."
Ei nodded.
"How cold of you. Never mind. Until next time."
Yae Miko waved a hand, smiled faintly, stretched lazily, then turned and headed off toward the livelier blocks.
Ei watched her go, then turned as well and started back toward Tenshukaku at an unhurried pace.
She felt like walking.
She had already made up her mind to move forward, and yet revisiting old places left a certain ache behind.
Come to think of it.
There seemed to be one more page appended at the back of anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day.
But at the time, Miko had sneaked into Tenshukaku and pulled her attention away.
She had never gotten around to reading that last appended page.
"I'll take a look at it when I get back," Ei murmured.
She was still making her way toward Tenshukaku when she noticed a young man coming up the road toward her.
He had a head of blond hair, and over his black fitted garb he wore a few pieces of red plate armor.
At the moment he was hauling an enormous armful of things, walking in her direction with a look of pure resignation on his face.
The things in his hands were ingredients for the Hot Pot Game later, along with treats he'd bought for Paimon.
Because Miss Fang Qiu had written in her afterword that it was his letter that made her write a book of this type.
Which was why he'd ended up paying three times the market price for this whole pile of goods...
Just as he was racking his brains over how to explain to Miss Fang Qiu that it wasn't a matter of real ghosts or real monsters, that the whole thing was only ghost novels, Thoma noticed someone approaching him as well.
Hm?
Thoma was curious.
This road had been abandoned for ages.
Not a soul came through here on an ordinary day.
That was precisely why he had chosen this deserted little lane: hardly anyone used it.
After all, one careless slip of the tongue last time had made his life thoroughly miserable.
Prices went up the moment he tried to buy groceries, and people pointed and whispered at him in the street.
And this time Fang Qiu had written his name directly into the afterword.
Walking through the busy districts would only invite no small amount of trouble.
Except that the instant he made out the face of the person coming toward him, he froze where he stood.
A cold sweat broke out over his entire body.
And the assortment of strange, exotic vegetables he'd been carrying went clattering and tumbling all over the ground.
"Shogun Almighty."
Thoma had no attention to spare for the mess. He bowed at once, respectfully.
"It's you."
Ei raised an eyebrow.
Under the weight of the Shogun Almighty's gaze, Thoma's nerves stretched taut.
He still remembered it clearly: that cold, murderous stare from back when the Shogun Almighty had assumed Fang Qiu wrote The Forest of Fireflies' Light at his instruction.
He'd genuinely believed he was about to be cut down on the spot...
And tonight.
The Shogun Almighty was not at Tenshukaku. Instead, entirely out of character, she had turned up on this rarely traveled little lane.
Could it be that she'd read the afterword Fang Qiu wrote in anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, and had come out specifically to erase him?
The Raiden Shogun herself... surely it wouldn't come to that?
What kind of god would do such a thing...
But if that wasn't it... why would the Shogun Almighty be out on some remote back lane?
Thoma was extremely tense.
"There is no need for such formality."
Ei glanced at Thoma.
She found herself faintly puzzled.
Why was he so nervous?
Still, she had no interest in asking.
Having said her piece, she walked on toward Tenshukaku under Thoma's anxious gaze.
Only when her figure had vanished completely into the night did Thoma finally let out a long breath.
At the same time, though, a question nagged at him.
Had the Shogun Almighty really just happened to be passing by?
He gathered up the ingredients scattered across the ground and set off toward Komore Teahouse.
As he walked, he came to a decision.
For the time being, he'd stay at the Kamisato Estate. No more trips into Inazuma City.
Meanwhile.
The entrance of the Tenryou Commission was in an uproar.
"Hahahaha, your big bro is out again! Pass the word to that Kujou Tengu: your big bro will be waiting for her at Hanamizaka. If she's got the guts, she can come play some sumo with me!"
Arataki Itto planted his hands on his hips, laughed uproariously at the Tenryou Commission's gate, then turned his head to address the soldiers inside.
The moment the words left his mouth, displeasure flashed across every soldier's face. If they'd stood a chance in a fight, they would gladly have dragged Arataki Itto straight back inside and locked him up for another good long stretch.
"Boss, maybe hold your tongue a little," Shinobu said with a helpless sigh, feeling the weight of all those glares.
"Hahahaha, what's there to be scared of! If that Kujou Tengu hadn't ambushed me last time, I'd have blocked every last hit she threw!" Arataki Itto declared loudly, utterly unimpressed.
Then he looked over at Kuki Shinobu and noticed her eyes were red — she'd clearly been crying. His brow furrowed and he asked at once, "Shinobu? Why are your eyes so red? Don't tell me somebody at the Tenryou Commission gave you a hard time when you came to bail me out?"
"I just cried reading Fang Qiu's new book, that's all."
Kuki Shinobu shook her head, produced a copy of anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day and handed it to Arataki Itto. "Boss, this is Fang Qiu's book. I've marked out the characters you don't know, so go ahead and start reading. I've got other things to take care of, so I'll be off."
"Sure, go do your thing. I'm about to begin my spiritual training," Arataki Itto said, taking the book with a booming laugh and a wave of his hand.
Once Kuki Shinobu had gone, Arataki Itto claimed the nearest stone post, sat down, and began reading by the light of a street lantern.
And as he read, he loudly delivered his commentary.
"So noisy... why is it this loud outside the Tenryou Commission too..."
Behind the shrubs by the Tenryou Commission's gate, a small head pushed the lid off a wooden barrel, and Sayu peeked out to look.
When she discovered that the person who'd woken her from her nap was, once again, Arataki Itto, she clutched her head with both hands.
How was this noisy man everywhere at once?
Had he learned some kind of Clone Technique?
What's more, the guy had parked himself outside the Tenryou Commission and showed no sign of leaving...
Sayu was miserable.
And she really didn't want to relocate.
Just as she was debating whether to go over and pick a fight with Arataki Itto, a pink-haired woman in the shrine maiden robes of the Grand Narukami Shrine appeared in front of him.
"Care to go get some ramen together? My treat!"
At the sight of this, Sayu sucked in a sharp breath and pulled her head back down at once, leaving only a narrow crack to watch them through.
After a round of smooth talk from Yae Miko, Arataki Itto agreed to go eat ramen with her.
Seeing the two of them turn to leave, Sayu let out a relieved breath.
She could go back to sleep.
But just as she was about to duck back inside and doze off again, Yae Miko suddenly glanced back at her — and every trace of Sayu's sleepiness vanished on the spot.
____
________________________________________
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉