Ei had spent centuries in the Plane of Euthymia and had little awareness of the changes outside.
She knew even less about recent inventions like the Kamera.
So she was astonished as she looked at the photograph in her hands.
She could not understand why this piece of paper contained another version of her and another Inazuma.
And both she and Inazuma looked exactly the same on the paper as they did in reality.
"Oh, this is just a little invention from Fontaine."
"If you really can't understand it, just think of it as a picture."
"A Kamera can turn a moment's scenery into a detailed picture and print it onto a photograph."
"I see. So it's only a picture?"
Ei suddenly fell silent.
"What's wrong, Ei?"
Seeing that she had gone quiet, Ellin stepped forward and asked with concern.
"Nothing. It's just given me something to think about."
Ei shook her head, walked over to lean against the railing, and gazed into the distance.
"During this outing, I encountered Milk Dango, light novels-things I had never seen before."
"Under my orders, the Shogun has steadfastly enforced what I considered eternity."
"In theory, under such governance, Inazuma should be no different from how it was five hundred years ago."
"And yet, even under eternity, so many variables have emerged."
"Mm. Perhaps an eternity of complete stillness cannot hold back people's wishes."
Ellin came over to Ei's side and leaned against the railing.
"Yes. Perhaps people neither need an eternity of complete stillness nor find any meaning in it."
"After all..."
Ei lowered her head, looked at the photograph in her hands, and sighed.
"After all, how is a completely motionless world, an unchanging eternity, any different from this frozen picture?"
"The eternity I pursued was wrong from the very beginning."