Chapter Text
What is… Love?
What is this human-like concept?
Makoto, I miss you more than ever...
I miss this affection you gave me when I was at my lowest; where are you when I need you more than ever?
I still remember your big smile, and the way you sang with your ethereal voice brought peace to me.
I still see your presence, but it’s not enough. I want to take your hand and go sit under the blooming cherry blossom tree, just like we always did back then.
My beloved sister Makoto, I wish you were here right no– Wait, where are you going? Don’t leave me, please!
Ei's meditation was disturbed once more by thoughts of Makoto. This was the eighth, ninth, or even tenth time she couldn’t properly focus on relaxing her mind. Makoto’s sisterly love is all Ei could think of lately.
“This is way out of your control, Ei.” She mumbles to herself, only to stop meditating and stand still.
Thinking about Makoto was something she stopped doing for centuries, as it brought back the horrible time in her life. But thinking about how affectionate Makoto was to Ei was something out of the ordinary. She was aware of it, yes, but how did she only become aware of it now, many years later?
"Do I... crave love?" she wondered to herself.
She stopped herself from thinking such a thing. “No, absolutely not,” she said out loud. She had already lost close friends of hers, including Makoto, who all loved her but died a brutal death. Becoming an archon was something that kept her going, but meditating was the thing that kept her alive.
It wasn’t helping enough. She needed something else to keep her distracted.
Inazuma …
She hasn’t been to Inazuma for a long time; probably now is the right time to visit it again.
Upon stepping a foot outside the gates of Tenshukaku, she got flashbacks of the days she walked the same path with the Traveler. It made her miss the precious times she got to explore the external world. Without the traveler, the streets looked empty, but walking alone wasn't so bad either.
As she roamed the streets, she noticed that the whole city was completely covered in colorful decorations hanging from the branches of trees she didn’t recognize or even know.
Ei was completely taken aback; she'd never seen so many beautiful colors before, and she never expected to see her city painted in them since it was always so boring and gloomy.
The kids were running around and playing, laughing and teasing each other. It truly looked like a kid's imagination—colorful and exciting. Nothing more could better describe the place.
Once Ei got to the market street, the owner of a shop noticed her. She was surprised to see her after so much time. She called out for her to make a good impression of the place. Ei slowly turned around to see the lady trembling, but she kept a smile on her face.
“Good morning, Raiden Shogun. Have you seen anything eye catching on your way here?” The lady asked Ei excitedly.
“Please, call me Ei, there is no need to be formal.”
Ei looks around once more to catch her eye on something.
“These ornaments hanging from the trees, what are they?” she curiously asked as she pointed her eyes to a nearby ornament.
“Those are Fukinagashi.” the lady replied, adding, “It’s something that makes the Tanabata festival so special by being so colorful and rememberable.”
A festival? Being held by my people?
How amazing.
… Why wasn’t I informed?
Ei takes a step forward to observe the ornaments. She has never seen such a breathtaking and colorful decoration in her life before.
“What is its purpose?” She asked the lady who was already standing beside her.
“You write your wishes on a tanzaku and hang it on a bamboo branch. It will come true, they say, despite how many wishes you write on it.” The lady replied.
Bamboo tree?
How amazing.
She thought it was unnecessary to ask any further questions about the tree or why it was bamboo. But she did thank the lady for the guide to the ornament and went on her way.
Walking into her next stop, she saw two familiar faces of hers — Yae Miko, who was talking to Ayato at the Komore Teahouse entrance, who, unexpectedly, fled the scene and left Yae outside, which made her notice Ei from afar without having seen her in the first place.
“My, Ei, why didn’t you keep me informed about your comeback to Inazuma?” Miko questioned Ei in her mind as she glanced at her from afar.
Ei noticed Miko’s eyes on hers as she started walking towards her. The overwhelming feeling she had grown in a fast pace, she had no clue how to act when she’ll ask questions about not letting her visit her. Although she doesn’t remember what caused her to prohibit visits to the Plane of Euthymia, the reason was definitely not anything against Miko.
Although Ei’s acting skills aren’t great, she needed to come up with a good reason why she barred Miko from entering, even when Miko couldn’t care less about her little world inside the archons head.
Ei took a deep breath and was ready to say what she wanted, but suddenly something in her brain made her stop saying whatever was on her mind. She didn’t notice how Miko’s presence was already behind her back, hands touching her shoulders as she gently whispered in her ear.
"I haven't seen you in a while, Ei." She turned her head to the other ear and asked, “What made you come to this festival’s preparations without knowing anything?”
Ei felt like she was being held captive by Miko. The fox’s long fingers being hardly pressed against Ei’s skin and the sharpness of her nails being pricked like needles to her skin. The feeling of disturbance got her, but the Guuji made her turn around to see her front, her hands still on Ei’s shoulders.
“Don’t be so shy, just tell me what you’ve been doing this whole time locked up in there?” Miko asked Ei as she began to sweep off dust and anything dirty on her kimono.
“I don’t know, just had some intrusive thoughts about a certain someone…” she turned her head around to the other side, not wanting to see Yae’s reaction.
As soon as she said those words to Ei, her hands slowly slid down her arms and grabbed both of her pale hands gently.
“Well, would you like to go on a walk through the city to get your mind off these thoughts?”
A sudden walk?
How adorable…
Ei’s face was red, but not red enough for the fox to see, but the reaction was genuine; she felt the sense of being taken care of. Her hands tightly holding the others and her puppy eyes glancing at Miko’s.
“That would be lovely, Miko.”