As the Shogunate Army general who led its troops across Inazuma's islands to subdue Kairagi and other bandits and clear out rampant monsters, Kujou Sara had seen how difficult life was for Inazuma's people outside Inazuma City. She had also witnessed human tragedies before.
But seeing her beloved Shogun looking so forlorn and dejected struck her in an entirely different way.
[Kujou Sara: Your Excellency...]
[Yae Miko: So you went flower viewing alone afterward? And then got drenched in the rain?]
[Kujou Sara: Guuji Yae, please mind your words!]
[Yae Miko: Oh, you're simply too rigid. If you don't give Ei something else to react to at a time like this, she'll just get stuck in her own head and retreat into isolation again.]
[Kujou Sara: Huh? I-is that so?]
Yae Miko was, after all, the current Electro Archon's only familiar, as well as a friend who had accompanied the Raiden Shogun for many long years. Kujou Sara, who revered the Shogun immensely, felt that someone like her should know what she was talking about-
[Ei: Don't listen to Miko's nonsense. There's no such scene in my memories!]
[Yae Miko: Oh, I nearly forgot. This video came from your dream.]
[Yae Miko: Tsk, tsk. I told you, shutting yourself away in the Plane of Euthymia all alone would give you psychological problems sooner or later.]
[Lumine: The Plane of Euthymia (key detail detected)? Big Sister Miko (sweetly), could you elaborate?]
[Yae Miko: You certainly know how to pick out the important points, little one. But here, you must address me as Lady Yae Miko, blessed with both wisdom and beauty~!]
[Ei: Miko (glaring), if you keep this up, I'll make you leave Tenshukaku.]
[Yae Miko: Oh dear, oh dear, what a shame. My goddess has spoken, so there's nothing I can do, little one.]
Although Yae Miko appeared to be joking around, teasing people in her usual inscrutable fashion, even someone as stubborn as Kujou Sara could clearly feel that the heavy, oppressive atmosphere that had seemed to hang over all of Inazuma City since the video began had now eased considerably.
No, this was no illusion.
One only had to look at how the thunderclouds above Tenshukaku, which had steadily thickened since the video began, had now cleared considerably to know that this familiar of the Electro Archon really had some skill. Just a few words had greatly improved the Raiden Shogun's mood.
Was this only to be expected of the head of the shrine maidens at Inazuma's Grand Narukami Shrine?
In Inazuman tradition, the shrine maidens' duties and authority included appeasing the gods' wrath.
And from the look of things now, Guuji Yae had done an excellent job. No one else could possibly have accomplished as much as she had.
But inside Tenshukaku, Yae Miko was not nearly as relaxed as the people outside imagined.
At that moment, she was outwardly all charming smiles as she dealt with Raiden Ei, whose attention had shifted considerably away from the video and who was having a little sulk. Inwardly, however, she was more serious than ever before, and even her tail had unwittingly emerged.
Because she had a feeling that the video was about to pull something big and bring out that person.
That person could be considered the ultimate trump card against Raiden Ei. This was also why she had insisted on joking around after the previous three familiars of the "Electro Archon" had all departed.
Because even the departures of those first three combined could not come close to the blow this final person would deal Ei.
Sure enough, just as Yae Miko had expected, Raiden Ei, who stood silently in the rain beneath the heavy clouds with her head lowered and her eyes closed in the video, suddenly seemed to sense something.
She raised her head.
Opened her eyes.
Looked ahead.
When she clearly saw the long-haired, purple-haired woman ahead, holding an umbrella and wearing a white-and-purple kimono in pale shades, even Raiden Ei, exalted as the Electro Archon, parted her lips in surprise, her eyes widening in disbelief.
At this sight, Yae Miko closed her eyes and let out an almost imperceptible sigh.
[Yae Miko: Ah, no matter how well I do, I still can't stop this knife~.]
[Kujou Sara: I-is that... the Shogun?]
[Sangonomiya Kokomi: I noticed a little of this earlier. When Her Excellency's name switches between "Raiden Ei" and "Raiden Shogun" in the discussion area, even her personality itself seems to change.]
[Lumine: So it really is that, a so-called split personality... Wait, that doesn't seem quite right either.]
[Lumine: It's like a preset program. Hmm, that seems a little off too.]
[Lumine: By the way, does Teyvat have the technology to create autonomous AI?]
[The Marionette: ...]
[Lumine: Uh, if that name isn't a nickname, then I guess it does.]
[Yae Miko: Sorry, little one. If this video reveals it, I can tell you about it, but for now, this really isn't something suitable for discussing in public.]
Yae Miko's words instead immediately caught the attention of viewers from other nations, and even those from Inazuma itself.
After all, even the Shogunate's higher-ups actually wanted to know more about their own god.
Even Ayaka, the young woman known as the White Heron Princess, had noticed that the Raiden Shogun showed very little humanity and seemed like a mechanical puppet. The other Shogunate higher-ups, who had more contact with the Raiden Shogun, were even more aware of this.
This differed considerably from how the Raiden Shogun-no, Raiden Ei-had behaved in the discussion area over the past two days. As those directly responsible for carrying out their god's work, they instinctively wanted to know more about her current state.
Not just for themselves, but also so their families could continue safely through the generations.
This was a secret on the level of the gods, and an absolutely crucial one at that. How could anyone not care?
Some nations even lavishly employed dozens of Kameras that had only recently made their way over from Fontaine, taking turns shooting in sequence to capture the images on the screen without interruption, all so they would not miss a single frame of the video.
On the screen, the astonished Raiden Ei forgot her dejection over her dear friend's passing and hurriedly rose from the ground, running in a fluster toward the figure ahead, who kept her back to her beneath a purple floral umbrella amid the rain filling the sky.
But in the end, the departed could not be touched. The moment Raiden Ei's hand brushed Raiden Makoto's braid, her entire body rapidly dissolved, starting from the fingers that had touched her, into a sky full of golden motes that could not be grasped.
Watching her sister's figure disappear before her very eyes until nothing remained, Raiden Ei seemed to have suffered the heaviest blow, the final straw that broke the camel's back. She staggered back two steps, and the pitiful expression on her face, like that of a child abandoned by her parents, slowly turned gloomy.