It wasn't just Miko. Even Xiu Yuan and Chiyo hadn't seen it coming.
But Chiyo was only stunned for a moment before she understood.
After spending so much time together, Chiyo had come to understand how Zebu thought.
If they were competing over who was more shameless,
Zebu would win hands down.
She was far worse than the Rascal Fox, and her head was full of outrageous schemes. The strange ideas she suddenly came up with often made Chiyo wonder whether something was wrong with her.
Last time, Zebu had even wanted to disguise herself as an ordinary girl and sleep in the middle of the street, just to see what interesting things might happen.
But Chiyo and Kitsune Saiguu had always stopped her in time.
Xiu Yuan hadn't expected it either...
When Zebu had all her companions beside her, when she wasn't pursuing Eternity, when she hadn't shut herself away...
Her smile could be so radiant.
She was a mischievous girl, too.
But...
When her friends disappeared before her eyes, one after another,
When she witnessed the destruction of Khaenri'ah herself,
She would eventually shoulder the responsibility for all of Inazuma alone.
Zebu would stop trusting her subordinates, too. Instead, she would create a puppet that pursued nothing but Eternity to govern the nation she had always loved in her place.
The puppet would wage war, tear countless families apart, leave countless people dead or wounded, and plunge the people into misery.
But this time, that wouldn't happen again.
This time,
He, the puppet, would shoulder everything.
He would protect that smile and this warm, welcoming place.
"Hey, Sasayuri, how big a fish do you think we could catch with a fox this size?" Zebu asked, patting Xiu Yuan on the shoulder.
"Maybe we could catch a sea monster."