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Given Yae Miko's usual knack for calculated schemes, Kamisato Ayaka could not help but wonder. Had the fox lady planned this all along, using her as a bargaining chip to secure her own exit? With Yae gone, the unease gnawing at Ayaka only intensified. The Raiden Shogun's broken body lay scattered within the chambers, and here she was, serving a god.
Although the initial, paralyzing terror had dulled as she kneaded Su Ran's shoulders, a new, sharper anxiety took its place.
"Are you worried about Inazuma, Lady Ayaka?"
Su Ran's back was turned to her, obscuring his face. Without the pressure of a direct gaze, the panic receded enough for her to think rationally, though his question only deepened her headache. The Fatui were the root cause of the chaos consuming her nation, and the man currently lounging before her was one of their Harbingers. She struggled to find an answer that wouldn't invite disaster.
"Yes..."
After weighing her options, she decided honesty was her only path. She knew better than to attempt to deceive a god, regardless of the circumstances.
"And you have put in quite a lot of effort to fix it?"
"Yes."
"To the point of betraying the Raiden Shogun to contact the resistance in secret?"
Ayaka fell silent. She did not know how to answer that. While her ultimate goal was the salvation of Inazuma, contacting the resistance was treason by any definition. Standing here in Tenshukaku, in the shadow of the Shogun's ruined remains, she lacked the courage to admit it aloud.
"Do not worry. Your Shogun cannot hear us. She does not even have a life left to lose."
Su Ran offered a lighthearted smile, but it brought no comfort.
"Do not be so afraid. Just treat me like an ordinary person. We are only chatting, are we not?"
Her continued silence seemed to bore him. His power might be immense, but his temperament remained, in his own mind, that of a man. He had no desire to lord his status over anyone he considered a normal person.
"Then... why did you come to Inazuma, sir?"
Aside from the fall of the Electro Archon, nothing else he had done truly provoked her.
"I told you already. The girls in Snezhnaya dress far too modestly. I found it quite dull."
Su Ran sighed, leaving Ayaka at a loss. It was such a shockingly human answer, entirely unlike anything she imagined a god would say.
"So, you came to Inazuma just to look at girls?"
If that were the only reason, would he really have reduced the Raiden Shogun to this?
"Well, even though the Tsaritsa is beautiful, my aesthetic preferences lean toward Inazuma and Liyue. And I must say, the god of Inazuma appeals to me more than the one in Liyue."
So, you arrived in Inazuma and simply destroyed the Shogun because of that?
"What do you think of the strategist for the resistance?"
He shifted the topic to yet another woman. Ayaka tilted her head.
"Lady Kokomi is a brilliant strategist. I never imagined she could lead Watatsumi Island against the Shogunate for so long. It is only a pity that I have never been able to meet her in person."
"Heh, perhaps she is just socially anxious?"
Su Ran found the Watatsumi strategist, who leaked energy the moment her diary was glimpsed, quite charming. She hadn't seemed particularly impressive at first, though her character eventually found its footing. Still, he had a soft spot for the ornamental fish.
"If that is truly the case, then Lady Kokomi is quite adorable."
Ayaka did not fully believe him. She attributed their lack of contact to the heavy burdens Kokomi carried, fearing that any link between them, if exposed, would drag the Kamisato Clan into the abyss. Letters were safer.
***
Yae Miko stepped out of Tenshukaku. Kujou Sara's eyes lit up with joy at the sight.
"Guuji Yae, you have returned!"
Yae walking out unharmed meant all was well. The smile on her face gave Sara a surge of renewed confidence.
"There, there, do not be so nervous. Everything is fine. As for the Shogun... she is fine as well."
The Raiden Shogun's fate was grim, but Yae was no fool. She could not let such a truth surface, so she offered a lie to pacify those waiting outside.
"Thank goodness... thank goodness. As long as the Shogun is safe."
With Yae's assurance, Kujou Sara wept with relief. She had been so overcome by grief earlier that she had forgotten how to cry, but now, the tears flowed freely.
"By the way, where is Lady Ayaka?"
Sara realized that Yae had not brought Ayaka back with her.
"Tenshukaku is empty now. Only the Shogun and another god remain inside. Surely someone must stay behind to serve them?"
Leaving Ayaka behind weighed on Yae, but she had no choice in the matter.
"But... Guuji Yae, could I not take Lady Ayaka's place and serve the two gods?"
Sara, too, was terrified of the Shogun, but even with Yae's assurances, she needed to see her with her own eyes to find peace. Yae, however, had no intention of allowing that. She had fought hard to secure this small shred of hope; if Sara were to see the Shogun's broken remains, she would fall into absolute despair.
"Hah! How laughable. Even a fox spirit as beautiful and wise as myself lacked the grace to remain and serve the gods. Do you truly believe, little tengu, that you are more beautiful than I, or that your ability to serve is superior to Lady Ayaka's?"
Yae's voice dripped with disdain, as if the very idea was beneath her contempt.