Paimon and Lumine exchanged glances.
This was not something Ei would normally say.
Furuyama continued, "So, even if the current situation is terribly dire, I have already experienced countless beautiful things in my life. I have no regrets."
Ei nodded. "That is also true."
Furuyama went on, "Soon, I will have to bid farewell to Her Excellency the Shogun. What a pity. I will not live to see the Inazuma she rebuilds after this calamity."
"But it does not matter. Everyone says Inazuma has turned black, yet in my eyes, Inazuma has always been black."
[Paimon: This old man is truly optimistic!]
[Ningguang: Rather than optimistic, perhaps it is more accurate to say he has no regrets?]
[Keqing: Yet he has never seen the world with his own eyes.]
[Navia: Even though he has never seen the world with his own eyes, there has always been a light shining in his heart. That is the truth.]
[Paimon: Suddenly, the Hydro element is about to surge.]
"After every calamity, there will be rebirth. Even if I survived until then, I would just be an old blind man who cannot appreciate it. Hahaha. Better not."
Ei sighed softly.
Furuyama continued, "Oh my, how foolish of me. I have been talking so much and have not even served tea yet."
"Her Excellency the Shogun has graced us with her presence, and there is no tea. How improper!"
"Wait a moment. Let me... Hmm? Where are the tea utensils?"
"Could they have been broken when everyone left this place?"
[Ningguang: Five hundred years have passed. The world has changed. Where the tea house once stood, there is only wild grass today.]
[Paimon: So this place is actually the former site of the Narukami estate. He had always stayed close to the Raiden Shogun.]
[Ei: This place is indeed the former site. But when I returned, this place had already been destroyed beyond recognition.]
[Yae Miko: Could Lady Saiguu have also fallen nearby? Will she appear?]
[Ei: I too wish to see Saiguu again.]
Paimon said, "There are no tea utensils nearby."
Furuyama continued, "There are not? They should have been on the left. How embarrassing, in front of Her Excellency and the guests."
Lumine quickly said, "I know where we can find tea utensils."
Furuyama waved his hands. "How could I let a guest fetch them? That would be too improper."
Ei said, "It is alright. You rest for a while. We will be back shortly."
Furuyama tried to stop her. "Her Excellency going herself? No, no. I would be honored yet terrified. Besides, the situation outside..."
Ei smiled. "It is fine. This place is quite different from the tea house in your memories."
"Leave it to us."
Furuyama nodded helplessly. "Very well. I never thought there would come a day when I must rely on Her Excellency to prepare tea utensils for me."
"Should I call this my final regret or my final fortune?"
[Paimon: It is final fortune!]
[Furina: It is final happiness.]
[Lumine: Is your surname Fu? His surname seems to be Gu.]
[Furina: ...]
Lumine and Paimon then went to the Kamisato clan to ask for tea utensils. While waiting for the attendant to retrieve them, Lumine looked at Ei and asked, "Did that tea master truly make tea for you?"
Paimon nodded repeatedly. "Yes, I want to know too. The Shogun he speaks of sounds very different from you."
Ei answered seriously, "I rarely have opportunities to drink tea. Most of my free time is spent practicing martial arts."
"Most of the time, he was making tea for the previous Electro Archon—my older sister, Raiden Makoto."
"He may have been aware that there were two Shoguns, but he always acted as if he knew nothing. Therefore, the ideals he spoke of are the ones Makoto always held about reality."
Paimon spread her hands. "The difference between Makoto and your way of thinking is truly great."
Ei nodded. "Yes. That is where our disagreement lies. In his eyes, the most precious things in this world are dreams—life's beautiful aspirations for the future."
Lumine was shocked. "Are those not wishes?"
[Ningguang: Dreams and wishes are not exactly the same, but they are both forms of aspiration.]
[Paimon: The elder sister believed that the most precious thing is dreams, while the younger sister saw them as unstable factors and chose to take them away.]
[Yae Miko: In the end, Ei was wrong. Ei immersed herself in martial arts and had little contact with humanity. She was rather presumptuous.]
[Ei: Miko, do not make fun of me.]