Thunder sakura petals danced in the breeze outside Narukami Shrine as Kamisato Ayaka turned back and looked at Ji Bai.
"This shrine isn't a place for you to remain," she said gently, though her voice held unmistakable firmness. "If you don't mind, I would like to invite you to the Kamisato Estate."
Ji Bai met her clear eyes. After a brief pause, he nodded.
The Kamisato Estate lay on the northeastern edge of Inazuma City. Tranquil and refined, its gardens were lined with ancient pine, gentle streams, and crimson maple trees that whispered in the wind.
As Ji Bai followed Ayaka along stone paths and through arched corridors, he felt as if he were walking into a painting rather than a house.
"This place," he murmured, "was made for painting."
Ayaka smiled. "Then it suits you."
She personally guided him to a quiet side courtyard. An old well stood beneath a maple tree, its leaves tinged with the earliest hues of autumn. A stone table waited beneath the eaves, already prepared with fresh ink, rice paper, and brushes.
"You may paint here as long as you like," she said. "If you need anything, I'll arrange it."
Ji Bai bowed his head slightly in thanks and sat down. As he spread the paper and began to mix ink, Ayaka didn't leave. Instead, she stood beside him quietly—not observing, but waiting, as if watching a ritual unfold.
He dipped his brush, and the first stroke fell.
This time, he painted the courtyard before him: the crimson leaves, the well, the path—and the young woman standing in silence nearby.
From the moment the lines appeared, the image carried movement: falling leaves, shifting breeze. Even the air around the table seemed to cool, touched faintly by something like frost.
Ayaka's eyes flickered. "Even this painting… feels alive."
Ji Bai didn't respond. His hand didn't stop. The figure in the painting slowly took shape—a girl in a flowing kimono, her gaze focused, her sleeves dancing in the imagined wind.
Ayaka recognized the subject.
"You're painting me?"
"You happened to be there," Ji Bai replied. "I just paint what I see."
She was quiet for a moment, then smiled.
Wind stirred the pool in the courtyard. The painting was not yet finished, but its presence was already stirring the world around it.
After a long silence, Ayaka spoke again—this time, more solemnly.
"Ji Bai… I want to ask something of you."
He looked up. "Yes?"
"I want you to paint her."
"…Her?"
"Raiden Shogun," Ayaka said softly. "Not the statue. Not the stories. I want to see your vision of her. Through your brush."
Ji Bai didn't answer right away. But in his mind, the rain returned. Thunder echoed. And the shadow of the woman in violet lightning rose once more in memory.
He said nothing. Slowly, he set down the brush, his eyes lingering on the scattered sakura petals outside the courtyard.
They fell quietly, like a signal from the sky—As if something had begun.Or was about to.