In Izumo, Make Honkai Great Again

Kiana nodded in response, wearing an expression that said Mei was right about everything.

They returned to the Shrine together.

Mei pushed her into the room she used for meditation and took down a jar of ointment for bruises and sprains from the cabinet beside it.

After taking the jar, she had Kiana sit down while she knelt beside her. Without saying anything else, she reached out and pulled down the clothing over Kiana's shoulder.

The skin beneath was pale, soft, and delicate, her beautifully curved shoulder exposed to the air.

Mei froze for a moment after pulling down her clothes, finally realizing that what she had done seemed somewhat inappropriate.

No... they were both girls. What was inappropriate about it?

Besides, she was not teasing Kiana. She was only applying medicine to her.

The only flaw was the glaring bruise near her chest.

"Mei?"

Kiana called out to her nervously, a hint of shyness in her voice. Raiden Mei had been staring at her shoulder for so long that even someone as thick-skinned as her was starting to feel embarrassed.

Mei pressed her turned head back into place, her voice returning to its usual gentle tone. "Don't move. I'm applying medicine."

"Okay..."

Mei's slender fingers pressed the cool ointment onto the bruise on her shoulder. The icy sensation eased some of the pain.

She was very focused as she applied it.

She spread the solid white ointment evenly. Only after it melted did she place her palm over it and massage the area with just enough skill to keep Kiana from hurting too much while helping the ointment absorb quickly.

"Does it hurt?"

"No." Kiana honestly shook her head. After thinking for a moment, she added with a blush, "It actually feels pretty good."

It was not that she enjoyed pain!

Mei's hands were just really gentle. She could barely feel any pain at all.

"It's good that it doesn't hurt."

Raiden Mei's skill at applying medicine had all been practiced on herself. She had studied swordsmanship and sparred with others since childhood, so injuries were unavoidable. But her father was the way he was, and often was not even home, so she could only tend to her wounds alone.

Over time, she became skilled at it.

After thinking it over, Kiana felt she should tell Mei about those things sooner rather than later. She cautiously asked, "Can I continue telling you what I didn't finish earlier?"

"Go ahead. I'm listening."

"It's like this. Yae Sakura told me that, long ago, the Eight Million Gods descended upon this world and brought calamity to mankind. To save Izumo, they gathered the strength of the entire nation to forge twelve Edict Blades that could seize a god's authority after slaying it."

"A thousand years ago, they paid an unimaginably heavy price to kill Tsumugari no Kami and forge the first Edict Blade, 'Truth.'"

"Under the leadership of Truth's Blade Master, and at the cost of the Pioneers' complete sacrifice, Izumo temporarily exiled Takama-ga-hara's remaining eleven strongest gods."

"For a thousand years, Izumo has fought against Takama-ga-hara's Kishin, slaying them in places ordinary people could not see and preserving Izumo's last remaining order."

"But a thousand years have passed, and those exiled gods are returning."

"Yae Sakura wants to take Narukami away, because the Narukami enshrined at the Shrine is the Singing Blade, one of the twelve Edict Blades corresponding to Takemikazuchi's authority."

Don't Go Back Today, Stay Here

"The thunder we heard on the street was probably caused by the Takemikazuchi you mentioned, right?"

No one had told her any of this. She had reached that conclusion through her own guesses.

The strange thunder from the horizon sounded and felt remarkably similar to the Narukami enshrined at the Shrine.

That was why she had rushed back to the Shrine, hoping to find Narukami and sense it again.

Kiana's words confirmed her initial guess. The Narukami enshrined at the Shrine truly was a blade meant to slay Kishin.

"Yes, it was Takemikazuchi!" Kiana said. "I confirmed it with Yae Sakura. She told me the whole truth."

"As compensation for injuring you?"

Mei had finished applying the medicine and thoughtfully straightened Kiana's clothes. She asked as if casually.

Kiana paused and carefully recalled what had happened after meeting Yae Sakura.

She had not told her after injuring her. She had decided to do so after realizing she could not shake Kiana off.

Kiana shook her head and spoke up for Yae Sakura. "She's actually a pretty good person."

She could have knocked Kiana down from the very beginning, but instead she had chosen to talk things out with her.

But Kiana was not about to listen to anyone trying to reason with her. Yae Sakura had not gotten angry when she failed to convince her, and when Kiana attacked her, she had only dodged rather than strike back.

Thinking about it that way, Yae Sakura had only acted after Kiana had ambushed her and touched the blade. Her temper was actually quite good.

Mei paused as she put the lid back on the medicine jar, preparing to return it to the cabinet.

Kiana was speaking up for the person who had injured her?

"You think she's trustworthy?" Mei turned back and asked. But before Kiana could answer, she answered herself. "Then again, she told you about the Kishin and explained her actions. She does seem like a decent person."

"She also promised me that she would persuade Uncle Ryoma to come back and see you!"

"...Thank you, Kiana."

Raiden Mei silently put the things back, then sat directly across from Kiana. Seeing the happiness on Kiana's face for her sake, she pressed her lips together. "But it's fine. I can understand. Even if he doesn't want to tell me where he is, even if he doesn't want to see me, it's fine."

Kiana froze. Hadn't Mei wanted badly to find out why her father had disappeared and bring him back?

"That's not it at all!" Kiana refused to believe those were Mei's true feelings and told her what she had heard from Yae Sakura. "Yae Sakura told me that anyone who kills a Kishin will be cursed by it. They'll turn from human into oni, and oni-like traits will appear on their body."

"She said your father began showing signs of Oniification two years ago. It wasn't that he didn't want to see you—he just didn't want you to see him looking neither human nor oni. He actually came back to the Shrine, but he didn't dare approach you. Yae Sakura told me all of this!"

This happened to align perfectly with Raiden Mei's own suspicions. When she had investigated oni and Kishin, she had guessed that her father's so-called journey to train was likely not training at all.

It had been... oni slaying.

"Yae Sakura said that subjugating Takemikazuchi is extremely dangerous. Every campaign against it is a war that exhausts all of mankind's strength. I don't want you to remain completely unaware of all this!"

Yes, even Kiana understood that much.

Yet her father had kept it from her all along. When he realized he could no longer hide it, he had even disappeared outright, never appearing before her again.

If this was all supposedly for her own good, then she would rather not have such "good intentions."

"Thank you for everything you've done for me. If Miss Yae Sakura can truly persuade my father to come back and meet me, then I'll sit down and have a proper talk with him as well."

But that was impossible.

Raiden Mei knew that very clearly.

Kiana felt that something was off about her reaction. Thinking Mei might still be sulking, she said, "He just didn't want you to learn these truths too early. He wanted you to live an ordinary life..."

"...I understand."

Raiden Mei closed her eyes.

She recalled something from long ago.

Before her father taught her Hokushin Itto-ryu, he had taken her, still a young child at the time, into the main hall that enshrined "Narukami."

Pointing at the "Narukami" that the Shrine had worshipped for generations within the altar, he had told her, "When your swordsmanship reaches the point where there is nowhere further to advance, and you understand what you should wield your sword for, then you will have earned the right to wield it."

Back then, she had been too young to understand. "...But Father, Narukami is the deity worshipped by the Shrine."

"No. There are no true deities in this world. It is merely a blade—a blade that will serve you in the future. When you are able to take it up, you must also possess the conviction and courage to cut down a deity. Only then will you be worthy of being a daughter of the Raiden Family."

The memory ended there.

An ordinary life?

No, he would never think that way.

She was a sharp blade that had yet to leave its sheath. To her father, there was only one reason she could not know the truth.

She was not qualified yet.

Not qualified to wield that blade.

The hand resting on her lap clenched, then slowly loosened.

Raiden Mei did not share these thoughts with Kiana. She even took the initiative to bury both the memories and her thoughts deep within her heart.

"Every battle requires exhausting all of humanity's strength... If we do nothing, this world is destined to vanish into the unrecorded river of history." Seeing that Mei had been lost in thought, Kiana had remained silent. Now, however, she thought of this world's fate.

She thought of herself.

"But if we do something... maybe it'll make this world even worse. Maybe it'll cause many people who shouldn't have died yet to die. Even their sacrifices might be meaningless, because even after doing all that, we still might not be able to save this world. We might even become the force that pushes it toward destruction..."

Mei frowned slightly at her words.

She still did not know Kiana well enough. She did not even know why Kiana had suddenly voiced such sentiments.

Mei did not connect it to Izumo, because from what she knew on the surface, Izumo's situation did not seem that dire.

"I don't know why you feel that way, but for me... no matter what the outcome is, doing something is always better than doing nothing."

A perfect ending without sacrifice, where everyone lived happily ever after, only existed in fairy tales.

"Doing something is better than doing nothing?" Kiana fell silent for a moment, then quickly smiled again. "Mei's right! The ending was already set in stone anyway. If we act, there's still a sliver of hope. If we do nothing, all we can do is wait to die."

"Mm... It seems a little late. I should head back now, Mei."

Raiden Mei glanced at the time. Just as Kiana had said, it was already nearly five in the afternoon.

Kiana had usually left the Shrine around this time before, so it was not strange for her to bring it up now.

But Mei looked at Kiana's injured hand and thought that it would be inconvenient for her to care for herself alone, so she took the initiative to invite her. "Don't go back today. Why not stay at the Shrine and rest?"

It's Fine, You Can Wear My Clothes

Stay the night?!

Kiana, who had been preparing to leave, was startled. Looking past the words to their underlying meaning, Mei's invitation represented a qualitative improvement in their relationship.

If this were a dating game, Mei's affection for her would definitely have gone up by one star, and she would receive a prompt.

Raiden Mei's affection for you has reached four stars. A new map is now unlocked—Raiden Mei's bedroom!

Ahem, that was all just wishful thinking.

If she stayed, she could have dinner with Mei and cuddle up with her. Maybe she could even raise Mei's affection a little higher.

Too tempting—far too tempting!

"...Maybe next time."

Kiana painfully turned down Mei's invitation. It wasn't that she didn't want to accept—she really, truly wanted to.

Opportunities like this were rare, and there were so many more possibilities to unlock. If she was shameless enough, she could even end up sharing a bed with Mei tonight.

But...

Better not.

"Are you worried because you don't have a change of clothes? It's okay, you can wear mine."

Ah! Was this Heaven?

She could even wear Mei's clothes?!

Kiana let out a silent groundhog scream in her heart. She was going to cry—she really was.

If Mei kept talking, her heart would start bleeding. She really wanted to wear Mei's clothes and sleep with Mei!

Feeling her resolve wavering, Kiana decisively used her less painful hand to prop herself up and stand.

"I really want to stay and keep you company too, but not today. I have plans with someone else."

"...Someone else?"

She had plans with someone else this late at night?

So Kiana had friends other than herself?

Well, Kiana was pretty and had a good personality. Unlike herself, who spent most of her time only at the Shrine.

It was only natural that she had other friends.