"Is it... because you're bored? Because you're with me?"
Looking at the girl's expression, the Shogun made this guess.
"Huh? How could that be?"
Yoimiya immediately shook her head.
"Is that so... You don't need to mind me. If you're bored, just say so. I know my personality isn't very interesting. I'm not lively like ordinary people, and when I'm with you, I don't really know how to match your energy."
She feared that the girl might be forcing herself to endure it out of concern for her status, so she gently admonished her.
"No, really. Ahh... I honestly wasn't thinking that at all. Really~! I'm very happy to watch the fireworks with you. Really, really happy. I should say... this is the happiest I've been these past few days!"
The girl emphasized her words.
"...You're not forcing yourself?"
She asked with concern.
"No~ way~! What would I even be forcing myself to endure? Don't worry."
Yoimiya shook her head.
"...That's good."
She nodded.
"Besides, who says a lively person has to have another lively person by their side?"
Yoimiya thought for a moment before asking.
"...Isn't that how it works?"
She looked puzzled.
"Of course not. Have you ever read those light novels where the heroine goes on adventures?"
Yoimiya asked.
"A heroine going on adventures? No, I haven't."
She shook her head.
The only one she had ever read was that book where she herself was the protagonist and built a crystal palace full of lovers. She had never read anything else, and even that one had only been something she casually flipped through when she was bored.
"You haven't, right? Hehe. In those kinds of stories, the lively heroine is always accompanied by a calm, collected, cold-faced girl with long, straight black hair~"
Yoimiya explained animatedly.
"Long... straight black hair?"
She did not understand the term.
"Ah... You don't know what that means?"
Yoimiya froze for a moment.
"Haa... I know what it means, but this body... does not have 'long, straight black hair.'"
She touched her purple hair, which reached her waist—no, more accurately, down to her hips. Over the past few days, her hair had grown back again, returning to its former length. That was also why she had deliberately tied a knot near the ends of her long hair.
"Uh... that's true too, but..."
"And... do I really look cold?"
She asked in confusion.
"...Well..."
Yoimiya was left speechless... then gently nodded.
"I see. Actually, I'm... not particularly cold. Unless I'm facing an enemy or in a bad mood, I usually... won't act that way."
That was one reason. Another might simply be habit.
"I-I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Besides, you smiled at me earlier, didn't you?"
Yoimiya comforted her.
"Mm... As long as you don't mind."
She nodded.
Sizzle...
The sparklers in their hands had already burned halfway down...
She glanced at the sparkler in Yoimiya's hand, then took the initiative to lightly flick the tip of her own against it. Seeing this, Yoimiya immediately smiled.
"Hehe~ You want to play this with me~? No offense, but even Shogun-sama can't beat me at this, you know~?"
Yoimiya's interest was piqued, and she began tapping sparklers with her. From time to time, the two points of golden light intertwined, tracing a succession of golden arcs through the air.
In the end, the sparklers became tangled together and extinguished at the same time...
"Is it over?"
She asked.
"Mm..."
Yoimiya nodded, picked up the two sparkler sticks that had stuck together, and tossed them into a nearby bag. Then she let out a comfortable sigh and looked up at the pitch-black sky where the stars could be seen.
"Shogun-sama, have you heard about what happened in Liyue?"
She suddenly asked.
"...? What happened in Liyue?"
She turned toward the girl.
"I heard about it from Beidou before. Something major happened over there, right? Their god supposedly 'left.'"
Yoimiya's expression became sorrowful, and her tone quieted.
"That matter... I have indeed heard of it. Their Rex Lapis is already 'gone.' The Liyue of today belongs to 'humans.'"
She also looked ahead as she answered.
"A nation of humans, huh... Haa... They're really strong. Even with their god gone, so many people still stepped forward. That's amazing."
Yoimiya sighed with admiration.
"Haa... Perhaps this body could try the same thing someday?"
She made a small joke.
"Huh? N-No—! Inazuma without Shogun-sama wouldn't even be Inazuma anymore. And if that happened, we'd definitely panic and have no idea what to do."
Yoimiya's face immediately went somewhat pale as she grabbed her hand and pleaded.
"I was only joking... Besides, Liyue itself is already a mature and stable nation. Inazuma, however, is still young. Without a leader, it would inevitably fall into chaos. I can't simply let go yet."
"Shogun-sama..."
Yoimiya looked at her, her eyes trembling slightly.
"Perhaps once everything has matured, I'll give it a try. But by then, perhaps several hundred years will have passed... or even several thousand."
She sighed softly.
"Even then... I wouldn't want you to leave."
Yoimiya rested her cheek against the Shogun's shoulder and spoke in a spoiled tone.
"...All right... I won't leave."
Seeing this, she raised a hand and stroked the girl's head, gently reassuring her.
As expected, she still could not bring herself to let go. What nonsense about becoming some sheltered young lady who simply hid away in Tenshukaku? She had already lived like this for nearly five hundred years.
Whoosh! ×N
Boom! ×N
In the next instant, several sharp sounds tearing through the sky filled their ears. Accompanied by those noises, countless multicolored fireworks shot upward and burst across the heavens, forming a dreamlike painted scroll of color.
They rose from vast areas around Inazuma City like a forest of blossoms, staining the once-dim sky with hues like a river of stars, as though celestial maidens had descended from the heavens.
Whoosh!
Boom!
Another enormous golden sphere exploded overhead. Green petals with yellow centers continued glowing brightly in the darkness, lingering for quite some time. It was breathtakingly beautiful and incomparably magnificent.
The people of Inazuma watching the fireworks all wore happy smiles at that moment... families of three, brothers and sisters... everyone enjoying themselves together.
The two of them silently watched the shower of fireworks over Inazuma City. Yoimiya still maintained the intimate posture of leaning against her shoulder, looking with satisfaction at those magnificent, colorful fireworks that she and her father had made with their own hands.
"...They are truly beautiful, yet that 'splendor and wonder' can only bloom for a single instant before vanishing in the blink of an eye..."
"...?"
Hearing the quiet murmur from beside her, Yoimiya silently raised her eyes toward the purple-haired beauty whose shoulder she was leaning against. Those eyes were filled with complicated emotions and regret.
"..."
She lowered her own golden eyes, framed by red eye shadow, and looked at the hand resting on the Shogun's lap before reaching out to take it.
"..."
The person whose hand had been taken showed no reaction, but Yoimiya knew she had noticed.
"Shogun-sama, don't you think that even though fireworks vanish in an instant, they can leave people with memories and something to hold onto for a very long time? Isn't that also a kind of Eternity?"
She asked softly.
"—!"
The Shogun snapped back to herself and lowered her gaze toward the girl resting against her shoulder. This time, however, Yoimiya did not look at her, merely continuing to watch the fireworks ahead.
"At a summer festival, touching stories are born every moment. People who meet and come to understand one another beneath the fireworks slowly grow, mature... and eventually grow old."
The girl's voice no longer carried its usual liveliness. Instead, there was a trace of serenity and composure within it.
"When they set off the same fireworks they once did, what appears reflected in the sky is still the way they were back then... Fireworks themselves are not eternal, but the beautiful feelings hidden behind them, I think, should walk toward Eternity together with Inazuma... and together with you."
At last, the girl raised her head and met her gaze. Beneath the brilliant multicolored light, she gave the Shogun a sweet, moving, and beautiful smile.
"Eternal feelings, unchanged from the beginning... Perhaps it truly is as you say."
Her soft lips curved into a smile as well.
"Mm... Ah... Look~!"
When Yoimiya saw a purple firework rising in the distance, she immediately tugged at the Shogun's sleeve and raised a hand to point toward it.
"...?"
She looked over as well.
At the instant the purple firework exploded, an enormous Electro Mitsudomoe emblem spread across the sky and remained there for several seconds.
"I made this especially for you~! I made it myself///~!"
With her little face flushed red, Yoimiya shouted adorably to her over the booming explosions of the fireworks.
"...Pfft, it's beautiful—!"
Seeing it, she raised her voice as well and shouted back over the explosions.
"Hehe, of course it is—!"
Yoimiya told her proudly.
Perhaps this is what it means after all... right, Ei?