Ding-a-ling! The bell above the door of Chioriya Boutique chimed crisply.
Chiori, who had been irritably tidying up, looked up. "Who's there?"
"It's me."
Luna glanced around the cluttered interior of Chioriya Boutique in surprise. "Why is this place such a mess?"
Although the furniture remained standing, fabrics and tools lay scattered across the floor, turning the boutique into a makeshift junkyard.
"Didn't you feel that tremor earlier? That damned thing shook everything off my shelves!" Chiori sighed.
"I did," Luna replied.
With swift motions, Luna manipulated her silken threads to gather the scattered items.
"Let me help," Chiori offered.
"Thanks."
Together, they sorted and put everything back in its place. After a while, Chiori's perpetually furrowed brow finally relaxed as the room became tidy.
"So, what was that? I've lived in Fontaine for years and never experienced anything like it. Was it an earthquake?"
Luna shook her head. "Something beneath the Fortress of Meropide is about to erupt."
Chiori paused, deep in thought. "...The Primordial Sea?"
"Wow, my Chiori's so smart!" Luna clapped her hands and laughed.
Chiori rolled her eyes. "Stop treating me like a child."
She scrutinized Luna from head to toe, finding nothing amiss, but still pressed her lips into a thin line. "You weren't caught up in it, were you?"
"I wasn't even at the Fortress of Meropide."
"I was worried some woman might have snatched you up while I wasn't looking."
Charlotte? Luna sat on Chiori's desk, dangling her feet. "Don't worry, she won't catch me."
"More importantly..." Luna leaned closer, her smile fading. "Chiori, shouldn't you return to Inazuma for a while?"
Chiori hadn't expected Luna to suggest this, but Luna's intention was clear: she wanted Chiori to lay low. After all, the prophecy targeted Fontainians—what did it have to do with a citizen of the Raiden Shogun?
Chiori crossed her arms. "Is the situation that serious?"
"Yes. Thanks to the power of a certain person, the Fortress of Meropide's gates have been temporarily sealed. But that won't hold for long. The Day of Prophecy could be in a few days, or even tomorrow..."
Chiori remained unmoved, sinking back into her chair. "Are you leaving?"
"Me? Well..."
Chiori interjected casually, "I doubt it. After all, most of your family members are Fontainians."
And the women you care about deeply are all Fontainians too.
Like that purple-haired police dog, that magical catgirl, and Navia.
"I refuse to do anything I'll regret," Luna said with a faint smile.
"Same here. Even if I can't do much to help this time, I have no reason to run."
"Why?"
"I can swim, and I'm not even from Fontaine."
Luna nodded. "Then you truly are invincible."
"Indeed."
She actually admitted it.
Chiori twirled her pen, propping her cheek with her other hand. "As I said before, if you leave, I wouldn't mind relocating my boutique. But if you stay, continuing to run Chioriya Boutique here would be fine too."
"Does that mean Chiori can't bear to be without me?" Luna teased.
"Tch. Don't flatter yourself."
Luna lightly nudged Chiori's leg with her toe. "Nana told me she has no desire to leave me at all."
"...What she says is her own business."
"See? I'm quite popular, aren't I?" Luna chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're a big star."
Chiori fell silent for a moment. Navia told Luna that? Why does it sound so serious?
Or is this girl exaggerating, adding her own spin to things?
Whatever. Whether it's work or relationships, I'll take everything at my own pace.
"Either way, I'll always be the first person you think of," Chiori said nonchalantly.
Luna smiled faintly. "And am I the first person Chiori thinks of?"
"...Sometimes," Chiori replied casually.
"Wow, that's outrageous."
"There seem to be quite a few people at Palais Mermonia," Chiori remarked. "What's going on?"
Luna recounted the details of her earlier meeting.
"You're telling me everything? Are you sure that's alright?" Chiori asked.
"It's fine," Luna replied. "Unless Chiori has a loose tongue..."
"Unless?" Chiori raised an eyebrow.
Luna hopped off the table and tilted Chiori's chin upward. Even under this intimate touch, Chiori's expression remained unchanged.
"I'd find... special ways to keep Chiori quiet," Luna whispered, leaning closer until her breath brushed against Chiori's lips.
Chiori averted her gaze momentarily before nonchalantly pushing Luna's face away. "Don't worry. I won't blab about anything."
"Too bad," Luna said, disappointed. "There's also this..."
Luna remembered the stone tablet she and Arlecchino had seen in the ruins. Grabbing Chiori's pen, she meticulously copied the tablet's crude drawings onto a blank sheet of paper.
"What's this?" Chiori asked.
"A pictorial prophecy. Take a look and tell me what you think."
Chiori grumbled inwardly. She wasn't a detective or an archaeologist; what use would her opinion be?
"...Hmm?"
"What is it?" Luna leaned in, curious.
Chiori pondered aloud, "The third tablet... the one where the Hydro Archon falls into the water. The humanoid figure submerged beside her... This is just ordinary water, right?"
"Ordinary water..."
That was indeed the case; otherwise, the figure would have dissolved.
A flash of insight struck Luna.
Could this be a foreshadowing? People surrounding the Hydro Archon, subjecting her to some kind of ritual?
The Hydro Archon's "fall into the water" might not be a literal immersion, but rather a descent into a precarious situation.
And it didn't resemble prayer so much as... judgment?
Would Archon Furina face public judgment?
There was no definitive proof, but as the saying goes, "Deduction requires bold hypotheses and cautious verification." Listing possibilities couldn't hurt.
"You've been a tremendous help, Chiori."
Chiori paused, then smiled faintly. "I'm not sure what you've figured out, but it seems I was indeed useful."
"So, what's your next move?" she asked.
What next?
Neuvillette was the Hydro Dragon Sovereign, not a true Hydro Archon.
Furina possessed neither a Gnosis nor the aura of a true Archon.
The secret of the Fortress of Meropide lay in the Primordial Sea beneath it, not a Gnosis. That left only one most likely location for the Gnosis:
The Oratrice!
-
Late that night.
A masked figure emerged from the shadows, gazing at the core before her.
She hadn't forgotten the faint, elusive voice she'd heard when she first infiltrated this place.
"The Gnosis should be inside here."
But she had no intention of taking it.
"You've been secretly manipulating everything all along. Your judgment of Childe exposed your hand. You knew he was innocent in that case, yet you still banished him to the Fortress of Meropide."
"That was undoubtedly a huge risk for you. The Oratrice's Indemnitium energy stems from Judgment itself. When 'justice' falters and doubt arises, the energy you can gather must diminish."
"Unless the benefits of banishing Childe to the Fortress of Meropide far outweighed everything else, I can't imagine any other reason."
"We still haven't heard from Childe, but with his skills, breaking out of the Fortress shouldn't be difficult. The reason he hasn't is likely because he's become embroiled in an even worse predicament."
"And you knew exactly what awaited him there."
"What are you? A construct housing the Gnosis, or something else entirely..."
At that moment, a voice echoed from within the core.
"Come closer."
It spoke.
Luna didn't hesitate. She approached the core.
"Listen. Feel. Think—and all answers shall be yours."
Luna raised her hand and pressed her palm against the core.
In an instant, a force pulled her consciousness downward. Glug... glug... She found herself in a vast ocean, bubbles rising from a clamshell.
Luna realized she was inside someone's mind.
"Prophecy is the future's history."
"History is a predetermined conclusion."
"Everything is destined to happen, but like a grand magic trick, how can you be certain the magician who enters the box will still be inside when it opens?"
"Reverse your perspective."
"Don't look up from the earthly realm; cast your gaze down from Celestia."
Cast my gaze down from Celestia?
If Celestia, enraged by the actions of the former Hydro Archon Egeria, had unleashed a prophecy to dissolve all Fontainians, how could it ensure its fulfillment?
...That's it!
Luna understood everything.
Like a play, Celestia was the audience. As long as everything unfolding on stage aligned with the prophecy it had decreed—as long as everything appeared to come to pass as foretold—it didn't matter what lay beyond the curtain.
The audience would never see behind the scenes; their eyes would remain fixed on the stage.
Fate was predetermined, but countless paths could lead to its inevitable conclusion.
Her consciousness resurfaced, and her vision returned to normal.
Luna withdrew her hand, whispering, "Is it really alright for you to tell me all this?"
"You're 'special'," the voice replied. "It's fine."
If that was the case, then so much the better. Luna didn't want her own desires to jeopardize the plan, where the truth was the least important thing.
If her hunch was correct, the core of this scheme to conceal Celestia's will hinged on the existence of a God.
A play without a leading actor would raise suspicions.
Furina was the absolute star of this show.
Luna turned to leave.
"You know what to do, Miss Accomplice," the voice from the Oratrice reminded her.
Accomplice... well, that fits.
But ultimately, the final decision remained hers.
-
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