"Eh? McDonald's?"
Hina Amano froze for a moment, speaking with slight hesitation.
"I suppose we could, but it's raining quite heavily outside... If it gets worse later..."
Just as Hina Amano was murmuring quietly, her younger brother suddenly popped his head out from behind her, first greeting Ye Xing, who stood at the doorway with a smile.
"You must be Brother Ye Xing? I've heard so much about you. I'm Hina's brother, Nagi Amano."
"Mm, hello."
Just as Hina Amano felt somewhat puzzled, thinking that given Ye Xing's personality, he shouldn't be greeting someone so normally, she heard him immediately follow up with:
"Little brother-in-law, want to go get McDonald's together?"
Hina Amano's pretty face flushed red, and she couldn't help but reach out to gently punch Ye Xing's shoulder, muttering quietly.
"What do you mean, little brother-in-law... Don't say such nonsense, he might actually believe it..."
Nagi Amano wore an expression of complete understanding - although he was just an elementary school student, he considered himself quite experienced in matters of love.
"I think it's you, sis, who wants to believe it, isn't it?"
"You little..."
Before Hina Amano could say anything, Nagi Amano quickly picked up the umbrella by the door and handed it to her, yawning as he spoke.
"Sis, I'm tired and going to bed. With such heavy rain outside, it'll be inconvenient for you to come back. Why don't you stay at Brother Ye Xing's place tonight? See you tomorrow, bye!"
As he spoke, Nagi Amano urged Hina Amano to put on her shoes and half-pushed her out the door.
"Eh, wait..."
Hina Amano originally wanted to say she hadn't brought her keys.
But then it occurred to her...
This kid must be doing it on purpose!
He never intended for her to come home tonight.
But...
Hina Amano stole a glance at Ye Xing, standing in front of her, holding a black umbrella.
Maybe not going home... wouldn't be so bad.
After all... it wasn't like they hadn't slept together before.
"So, now then..."
After such a long time since their trip to Itomori Town, finally having another chance to be alone with Ye Xing, Hina Amano suddenly felt somewhat nervous, speaking in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"Shall we... go to McDonald's?"
"McDonald's? Let's just order delivery."
Ye Xing's response was completely different from before as he directly took Hina Amano's hand, chuckling lightly.
"Let's hurry and get a room. I want to pull those twin tails."
Hina Amano's face flushed crimson upon hearing this.
Pull twin tails?
What did he mean?
Pull her twin tails?
Did Ye Xing actually enjoy such childish, immature behaviour?
What was so interesting about pulling her short twin tails?
And... getting a room!?
"W-wait a moment..."
"Wait for what? Let's go."
Ye Xing gave Hina Amano no chance to refuse, directly pulling her hand as he walked forward.
...
Twenty minutes later, in a hotel room.
Hina Amano sat on the edge of the bed, feeling the soft mattress beneath her, her face so red it seemed steam might pour out.
Listening to the sound of running water from Ye Xing's shower in the bathroom, her thoughts began to wander uncontrollably.
Hina Amano was so nervous she could barely breathe.
In this room...
There was only one bed.
Were they going to sleep together again? Was that really appropriate?
As soon as this thought surfaced in Hina Amano's mind, she recalled how she hadn't objected when hearing they'd only book one room at the front desk.
Or even earlier, when Ye Xing had pulled her along, she hadn't resisted either.
To act reserved now...
Wouldn't that be too late?
But...
Hina Amano lifted her sleeve, gazing at her wrist that displayed rainbow colours, translucent like lake water...
Perhaps such a final day wasn't so bad after all.
"Hina."
Ye Xing emerged from the bathroom, droplets of water still clinging to his hair.
Seeing this, Hina Amano frowned slightly, stood up and fetched a towel from the bathroom.
"Sit down."
After Ye Xing sat on the edge of the bed, Hina Amano used the towel to dry his damp hair, sighing helplessly.
"You really are something. You need to dry your hair properly after bathing, or you'll easily catch a cold."
"You must take care of your health, you and everyone else. What if you encounter evil spirits while sick?"
"And remember to keep a low profile during operations. School starts in half a month, and we won't have the freedom to act as we do now."
At this point, Hina Amano suddenly fell silent, her hands pausing mid-motion as she dried Ye Xing's hair.
After more than ten seconds, Ye Xing finally spoke in his characteristically calm tone.
"You're disappearing?"
"Yes..."
Hina Amano nodded, her eyes revealing complex emotions, though she struggled to maintain a smile.
"As expected, I can't hide it from you."
A week ago, while closing that white Gate, Hina Amano had tapped into the power of the weather deity.
But it hadn't come without cost.
The price for obtaining spiritual power was accelerating her own disappearance.
She was almost there.
If there were a progress bar, Hina Amano would now be at the final one percent before completely vanishing.
This was why she hadn't accepted any Sunny Girl requests recently.
Hina Amano knew that using her ability just once more...
Would make her disappear completely.
Yet even doing nothing, her body was gradually changing.
Disappearance was an inevitable outcome.
At most, she only had two or three days left.
Hina Amano set down the towel, took a bank card from her pocket, and handed it to Ye Xing with a gentle smile.
"This is the money I've saved from exorcism and Sunny Girl requests. It should be more than enough for my brother's tuition and living expenses. After I disappear, please take care of him."
Ye Xing didn't accept the bank card, merely replying flatly.
"Didn't we agree to kill that weather deity?"
"Ah, that..."
Though Hina Amano's smile remained sweet, it carried a trace of bitter resignation.
"Maybe... let's forget it this time. Having Miko, Rio, and Mai-senpai confront a deity head-on is too dangerous. I don't want others to bear such risks for me."
On the way to Itomori Town, Hina Amano's previously resolute determination began to waver once more.
This wasn't surprising.
After all, the incident that had affected the entire Kyoto City just a week ago had been truly astonishing.
Power outages, severed mobile communications, numerous innocent casualties - these were bad enough.
But there was also that mysterious Gate capable of causing city-wide earthquakes.
Hina Amano could sense that this world was already teetering on the brink of chaos.
And what maintained Kyoto City, preventing it from becoming a ghost-ridden wasteland, were only a handful of people within the Supernatural Society who knew the truth, along with psychics like Ye Xing, Rio Futaba, Miko Yotsuya, and others.
In other words.
The members of the Supernatural Society were Kyoto's only hope for salvation.
Hina Amano had consulted ancient texts and sought advice from Oda Noto about the legend of the Sunny Girl.
According to the legends, aside from demanding living sacrifices, the weather deity typically didn't interfere with the real world.
Which meant...
If not for Hina Amano's involvement, the Supernatural Quantum Mechanics Research Society - dedicated to combating the supernatural and protecting Kyoto - actually had no compelling reason to fight the weather deity to the death.
The Supernatural Society members were powerful enough to handle even such emergencies and thousands of evil spirits successfully.
But still...
That weather deity was a formidable being capable of influencing Japan's entire weather system.
Seeing Ye Xing remain silent, Hina Amano thought he was displeased with her change of heart and quickly explained.
"I'm not saying it shouldn't be eliminated, just that we should wait until we have more members, until Futaba and the others... and you, become stronger and have absolute certainty before dealing with it. That would be the safest approach."
"And the cost?"
Hearing Ye Xing's question, Hina Amano forced a faint smile, lowering her gaze as she whispered.
"The cost is... well, there's not really any cost. Losing just me... in exchange for more time, that seems quite worthwhile, don't you think?"
Without waiting for Ye Xing's response, as if afraid of what he might say, Hina Amano stood up, turned off the room light, and took his hand.
"Tonight... let's sleep together."
"Alright."
After lying down on the bed, they didn't do anything in particular; they just stayed close to each other. Whether either of them actually slept remained unclear as they quietly passed the night.
...
Early the next morning.
"Ye Xing..."
Hearing the voice beside him, Ye Xing opened his eyes.
He saw Hina Amano standing by the hotel room's floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at the overcast, rainy sky with a distant expression. She spoke softly, as if talking to herself or perhaps to him.
"During this time, because of the Sunny Girl's mission, I've seen so many people's smiles when the rain stops, and the sky clears up again."
"After I disappear... the weather will return to normal, and everyone... will regain their smiles, right?"
"But..."
As she said this, Hina Amano turned around, looking at Ye Xing, who had sat up in bed, her eyes revealing tender affection as she spoke, a smile on her face.
"This Sunny Girl's prayer is for you alone."
Hina Amano slowly clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and began praying for sunny weather once more - for the final time.
The rain clouds in the sky gradually dissipated, and through the gaps in the clouds came the warm yet dazzling bright light of the early morning.
Kyoto, which had been in darkness, was once again under clear skies.
The bright, warm sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window into the room, shining upon Hina Amano's body, making her originally pale neck with its collar shimmer with a rainbow-like translucent colour.
Hina Amano appeared as if bathed in holy light, so dazzling that one couldn't look directly at her.
As the light faded, Hina Amano's form grew increasingly faint, gradually merging with the air.
Before completely disappearing, she left only a soft, barely audible phrase that dissipated like a rainbow after rain.
"I love you, Ye Xing."
Looking at the returned silence of the empty room that seemed as if nothing had happened, where he had been alone all along, Ye Xing stood up from the bed and gazed at the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
The sudden, clear weather had formed a rare, brilliant rainbow at the horizon.
The view was beautiful.
Looking at the scenery outside the window, Ye Xing shook his head and murmured to himself.
"Really, confessing and then disappearing - are you trying to cultivate a villain boss here?"
After quietly complaining about this, Ye Xing looked toward the empty space beside him and said calmly.
"Are we connected?"
The red threads representing Itomori Town's deity appeared once more, with one spiritual power red thread tied to Ye Xing's wrist, while the other end extended all the way beyond the floor-to-ceiling window to a distant place beyond sight.
"Connected, but it won't last long. You need to hurry."
"Alright, I understand."
...
Ten minutes later, on the rooftop of an abandoned building in Kyoto, within a small shrine that appeared long deserted, with only a vermilion Gate remaining.
"This is the place."
Ye Xing looked up at the red thread of Itomori Town's deity on his wrist, extending upward into the sky, and murmured to himself.
"This moment has finally come."
Burning black flames once again covered his body, forming that familiar Mask attire.
"Lord Ye Xing."
Itomori Town's guardian deity used the red threads to form a brief yet weighty phrase.
"Kill that god."
...
Meanwhile, in an area that seemed to be above the sky's clouds yet completely separate from the real world, Hina Amano slowly opened her eyes.
She struggled to sit up, looking around, discovering she was lying on a small patch of land within a lake.
"This place..."
Hina Amano's mind was still somewhat dazed as she searched her memories, finally recalling her current situation.
"That's right..."
Hina Amano gazed at the pure white clouds surrounding her and the lake reflecting a rainbow of colours, murmuring to herself.
"I... have disappeared. How long has it been... I can't quite remember..."
"Futaba... Miko... Mai-senpai... Yui... they... and Ye Xing..."
As she spoke these names, Hina Amano suddenly felt a warm sensation on her face.
"Eh..."
She raised her hand to wipe her cheek and discovered, to her surprise, that two streams of tears had already fallen.
Hina Amano struggled to maintain her smile, but the tears in her eyes were completely unstoppable.
"Strange..."
While wiping her tears, she desperately tried to keep smiling, though her voice trembled slightly.
"Haven't I already made my resolve... Why am I still crying... I mustn't cry..."
"But... I still want to be with everyone... with Ye Xing, just a little longer..."
As Hina Amano desperately wiped her tears, she suddenly noticed a thin red string tied around her left wrist.
"This is..."
Before she could process this, she heard that all-too-familiar voice coming from behind her.
"In that case, come back with me."
When Hina Amano turned her head and saw that familiar black mask, along with Ye Xing's smiling eyes, she froze completely.
"You... how did you..."
"Hina."
Ye Xing knelt on one knee, extending his right hand toward Hina Amano, his tone as casual as ever.
"If you don't want to stay here, come back with me."
"But... if I go back..."
Hina Amano wanted to reach out her hand. She desperately wanted to return with Ye Xing, yet she hesitated.
"If I go back, the weather will..."
"That's true."
Before Hina Amano could finish, Ye Xing nodded in deep agreement, stood up, scanned their surroundings, and spoke slowly.
"Shouldn't you show yourself now?"
As Ye Xing's words fell, the previously calm lake suddenly began to tremble.
Under Hina Amano's horrified gaze, the water droplets gathered together, forming a massive whale the size of a mountain - so enormous that she had to tilt her head back to see it in its entirety.
"You... are seeking death."
The true form of the Weather God had finally revealed itself at this moment.
This was His Divine Territory.
Within this Divine Territory, He could exert His full power, no longer limited to indirectly affecting the real world through weather manipulation and His divine messengers as if through a thin veil.
The Weather God was very confident.
Here, mere humans, no matter how powerful their abilities, could never be a match for Him, one who bore the title of god.
He truly hadn't expected that Ye Xing could follow His chosen living sacrifice, Hina Amano, into this Divine Territory through some means.
But this was perfect.
The Weather God hadn't forgotten the miserable scene of His divine messengers, which had taken Him hundreds of years to create, being completely devoured by this opponent.
Now, the time for revenge had finally come!
"Ye... Ye Xing..."
Gazing at the weather god's true form, swimming through the cloud layers - that enormous whale radiating rainbow-coloured light - even Hina Amano, who wasn't a psychic, felt tremendous pressure.
"Futa...Futaba...Miko and the others..."
"Oh, they can't come here."
"Eh?"
Hearing these words, Hina Amano was stunned.
Ye Xing explained casually.
"This area is somewhat special. I was only able to enter through cheating methods. Although Futaba and the others are psychics, their physical bodies remain human and can't accomplish what I can do."
"Then...this..."
Hina Amano was dumbfounded, staring anxiously at the enormous rainbow-coloured whale in the clouds as she said, "Do you plan to face this god one-on-one?"
"One-on-one? That's impossible. Why bother with honour when dealing with this bloody evil demon?"
"But...you said Futaba and the others..."
"Indeed, I'm the only human here."
At this point, Ye Xing looked towards the enormous whale in the clouds and changed his tone.
"However, I have other helpers."
"Come out."
As Ye Xing spoke these two words, an ear-piercing roar shattered the silence of this Divine Territory above the clouds.
The massive Goat-Headed Deity, Tamamo-no-Mae, dressed in an elegant and charming kimono, and the tall Hachishaku-sama wearing a white dress and sun hat appeared behind him.
"Now..."
Ye Xing gazed directly at the enormous rainbow whale charging towards him and spoke softly.
"Let's begin."