In the sky, mirror after mirror shimmering with blue light floated overhead. Upon their surfaces, the scenes from everyone's earlier discussions were replayed.
Asano Kiyoshi merely looked at the crowd with a smile, saying nothing. Then he walked up to the mirror showing the civilian who had wondered whether he was nervous and slightly extended his hand before saying:
"Uncle, thank you very much for your concern, but I wasn't nervous. I was simply looking forward to everyone's opinions on my performance after taking office. So, your guess was wrong. Still, it's the participation that counts, so here—this is a small gift. Please accept it, Uncle."
As he spoke, amid everyone's expressions as though they had seen a Demon, Asano Kiyoshi slowly extended his arm. In his hand was a one-thousand-Kan banknote. Even the Uncle who had spoken with Asano Kiyoshi in the mirror stared at his own reflection in shock.
With a soft "pop," Asano Kiyoshi's arm seemed to pass through the limits of time and space in that instant, stuffing the one-thousand-Kan banknote directly into Uncle's chest. The Uncle in the mirror seemed startled by the suddenly emerging arm, but in the next moment, as if guided by some unseen force, he took the one-thousand-Kan banknote.
As Uncle accepted the one thousand Kan from Asano Kiyoshi, the entire mirror dissolved like foam. Blue Reishi scattered through the air, casting Asano Kiyoshi's face in an exceptionally mysterious light.
As the mirror vanished, nearly everyone turned their gaze toward Uncle, who had just appeared within it. He first narrowed his eyes slightly, then raised a hand to his head. After what seemed like a brief moment of disorientation, he suddenly pulled out a one-thousand-Kan banknote from his chest. The number printed on it was exactly the same as the one