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To Mr. Kaedehara Kazuha:
Your reputation precedes you, and mine certainly does not. Yesterday, I found myself watching you, and I’m not sure why. And I understand that your servants may have immediately torched this letter upon reading that.
I am not a man of much fame, or fortune. I live in the city at the moment, but I have wandered the many islands of Inazuma. I focus so much on the world’s problems, and in racing from place to place, from experience to experience, I never take the time to pause and experience nature at its core. I noticed you sitting on a rock outside the city, and you seemed so at peace in the sun. I wondered why that was. That is really the question behind my letter to you.
Despite my letter sounding like that of a stalker, I truly would like to know more about your free spirit.
Best,
Tomo
———
Tomo,
You misunderstand my reputation. I am but the last remaining man of the Kaedehara clan. My father has recently left this world, and I must decide what to do with the remaining pieces of our clan. Though I have servants, I am made more uncomfortable by their presence. And my servants do not screen my personal letters.
And if you wish to know why I am at peace when sitting on a rock in the sun, I advise you to try it sometime. Stopping to breathe and experience nature is precisely why I wish to become a wanderer. As a wanderer yourself, I’d have a lot to learn from you. In fact, I’m free Friday afternoon, if you’d like to join me.
Best,
Kazuha
———
Kaedehara Kazuha,
It’s a date, then. I’ll see you Friday.
Tomo
———
Tomo,
If you insist on writing these letters instead of just coming to seeing me when you clearly know my address, please, just call me Kazuha. There is no need for such formalities when I sense we will be good friends.
———
Dear Tomo,
The Kaedehara clan has been disbanded. Your words two weeks ago Friday made me ponder what good it is keeping a clan around when all that’s left are the servants who have lived to serve me. Do not worry — I’ve left them in the good care of the Yashiro Commission, and the wealth I do not need, and besides, the estate will take good care of them. I plan to be a wanderer, just as you are. I have much to learn for you, and I hope we are able to cross paths sometime soon.
Speaking of the Tri-Commision, I have heard rumors from the Commissioner about a so-called Vision Hunt Decree. The Shogunate plans to confiscate all Visions in the name of Eternity. It is supposed to take effect on the first sunrise in autumn. There is still some time before it takes effect in earnest, but the Sakoku Decree gives us little ability to flee at this time. I didn’t notice your Vision — though I sensed you wielded one. I’ll tell you more about my senses the next time we meet. If you need refuge, please let me know.
Kazuha
———
Dear Kazuha,
I may, in fact, need refuge, and I appreciate the offer. My family has all but forsaken me due to this silly glowing orb. As for my Vision, I don’t like keeping it visible — it’s never struck me as something I want others to know about without first getting to know me. I keep it underneath my scarf, affixed to my chest. My life is much more than the fact that I am a Vision holder.
Isn’t it unjust that an archon can rip someone’s wishes and dreams away from them, though? I’m not sure what the Commissioner thinks, but I think he should do something to stop this decree before it takes effect. It’s one thing to pursue Eternity through closing the borders — another to stop it by stripping her people of her power.
Tomo
———
Dear Tomo,
Please, be cautious of the words you write. I worry for you sometimes. If you would like to continue this conversation, I’ll meet you at our spot.
Kazuha
———
Dearest Kazuha,
I have decided to retreat to Watatsumi Island before the Decree goes into effect at sunrise on Monday. There is already a growing movement against the Decree. I wish for you to join me — you will be much safer there than on Narukami Island. Remember when you wrote asking if I needed refuge? Do you need it now? Maybe selfishly, I wish to still have your presence.
I leave from Amakame Island at dawn on Sunday.
Tomo
———
Dearest Tomo,
The nature of our god’s Eternity is that it stares in the face of what could be changed, yet forces it to stay the same anyways.
I wish I could join you, but I have agreed to help some friends with arrangements prior to the Decree going into effect. I will be safe with the Yashiro Commission, at least for the time being.
I will meet with you again someday soon, that is on my honor.
Kazuha
———
Dearest Tomo,
How have you been? The stories coming out of the first Visions taken have made my heart grow weary. It feels as though a blindfold has been put over Vision bearers who lose that object; it makes me grow more worried for your safety and the safety of others. I hope that you have made it to Watatsumi in one piece. I have refuge in the Yashiro Commission, but I grow worried the longer this goes on and I am not sure how long my refuge will last.
I have heard wind of the resistance's fight. I think your nature does well to be a soldier. I fear a war is brewing, though, and I urge you to be cautious and put your safety over your honor, for once in your life.
Take care,
Kazuha
———
Dearest Tomo—
I am sure you know my penmanship. I must not divulge any more information as to not endanger my safety, but I thought you must know that I will be joining you.
———
Dearest Kazuha,
I look forward to seeing you. I don’t believe this letter will make it to you if I mail it, nor do I want to risk your safety, so it will be on your cot waiting for you once you arrive. That means that just as you tell me not to, I can tell you everything in the words I have such trouble getting out of my head, unlike you.
I have missed you so dearly. I have thought of you every day, every hour, every minute, thinking about the way you move, the times we sparred and your bladework held so much elegance, and I wondered, was this the swordsmanship the Raiden Gokaden held up in its prime? I have thought about the way you dress, and the way you hold yourself upright and speak your mind clearly and frankly. I have thought about your hair, and the crimson eyes that contrast it, and the way your brows furrow when you hear something that only dogs could hear besides you.
I have started to realize that we may have been more than friends. Even if we had not been, I would like to be more than that now that you have returned to my side. I have tossed and turned over my feelings about our relationship before the Decree. Talking about such wonderful things as the joys of taking a nap under the sunlight and dancing under the moonlight with sake in our hands — it seems like a lifetime ago. I wish one day we could be like that again.
However, my thoughts are this: Someone must stand up to the injustice this Decree has wrought. There must be someone who can withstand the Musou no Hitotachi. Perhaps it is me. And if it must be me to fall and spark this revolution… so be it.
With love, and a heart that has longed for your touch,
Tomo
———
My dearest Tomo,
Since you don’t seem to want to speak in words at the moment, and instead insist on watching me read a love letter, I shall write you one back as you sit staring at me.
Please, for the love of the gods, stop tempting fate. Once this Decree has ended, we can return to Narukami Island to that stupid rock outside the city, get drunk on sake and each other — that is all I want, and for that to happen, you need to be alive.
Now, shall we continue what we started many moons ago in Narukami?
All my love,
Kazuha
———
My love,
You know what I had to do.
If I make it, I’ll be back here with or without my Vision in hand.
If I don’t, well… I’ll be on the steps of Tenshukaku, I suppose.
———
My dearest Tomo,
I write this letter sitting in front of your blade and grasping onto the light that was left in this Vision. I have dug your blade a spot in the shade of the Sacred Sakura Tree, as I thought you might want. You always thought the Sacred Sakura was breathtaking. I know you must have fought valiantly, but I only made it in time to hear your death sentence.
Unfortunately, the Raiden Shogun has no desire for ceremony, and you are nothing more than ash on the wind now. Nor would they want me to have any part of you — I have ‘stolen’ your Vision, which once burned so brightly. In fact, your dying Vision has burned the skin clean off of the palm of my hand. The pain it has wrought is nothing compared to the pain of losing you.
How could they have taken this brilliantly burning ambition from you? I couldn’t let them. Thus, I am now a wanted criminal, due to your Vision that I have taken for my own. I do not have much time to escape before I go down just as you did.
I remember how you said once that you wanted your life to house more value than simply being a Vision holder. I suppose it makes sense, then, that you decided you of all people needed to challenge the Raiden Shogun, in order to fight the war that is raging on our shores, despite wanting your life to be more than that. So much bloodshed — so many people dead, people lost with their Visions gone. I’m lucky I made it out of Tenshukaku with my own Vision. I have started to wear it under my scarf for now, just like you did — it’s safer that way.
I am getting out of this country. I have always loved Inazuma, but it has made me sick in recent months — so much pain and suffering. I hope to make it to Liyue Harbor, and from there, I shall see where the wind takes me. I will truly become a wanderer then, just as I had hoped to one day long ago, sitting on a rock contemplating my clan’s future.
I wanted to write you one last letter, the way we once did. How silly, that you once saw me as an object in the distance to be pursued? And now, here we are. You have moved on from this world, and I have not.
I love you, Tomo, and I always will love you.
Goodbye for now.
———
My dearest Tomo,
I write to you with wonderful news — the Vision Hunt Decree you fought so valiantly has ended, in thanks to your sacrifice. I have also returned to Inazuma, for many reasons — one such being because I wanted to write to you again, and for some reason, each letter I write on the ship feels disingenuous. This spot, in the shade of the Sacred Sakura, feels as if it is the one spot I can truly write to you, and sense as though you can hear it on the other side.
Your Vision, which once held your own ambitions so brightly to burn my skin, managed to light up again alongside my own. It turns out I was the one who could face the Musou no Hitotatchi. I always wonder, if you had been alive, what you would have said, but then I realize that in order for me to parry that strike, your ambition had to be faded. Two Visions at once — people are already starting to spread rumors about me once again. At this point, I’ve grown accustomed to them, and because I will not be staying in Inazuma for much longer, I don’t mind.
This Masterless Vision… it housed so many of your memories. Yet, it lit up again, when I least expected it. You will enjoy having access to it, I’m sure, and maybe it’s a way for you to see the world around you. I am giving you back your Vision, at this spiritual resting place with your blade. I will bury this letter, next to the letter I left here when I fled Inazuma. There is a white cat here, too, similar to the cat that always followed you around when we were on Narukami. I think she has grown fond of you.
In my initial escape of Inazuma, I was rescued by a pirate crew called the Crux Fleet, based out of Liyue Harbor. I think you would have been rather fond of Captain Beidou. She has been the mother I never had — you never had much family, either. She would have taken you in with open arms, should you have been around. I’ve told her all about you. She loves you, too.
I will be leaving Inazuma permanently, although the worse of the two Decrees has fallen, and with it, the warrant for my arrest. I will continue to visit Narukami and you, if I am allowed to return without crossing through a perilous storm first. Though it is difficult for me to leave you, becoming a wanderer and seeing the several nations of Teyvat has been the best decision I have made in life.
I love you, Tomo. Goodbye.
Yours, always,
Kaedehara Kazuha