"Ei, are you still trying to hide it from me?"
Raiden Ei's reaction was exactly what Raiden Makoto had expected.
Makoto had exercised restraint—after all, before this she'd been nothing but a remnant, unable to sense or interfere with the outside world.
It was only because Inazuma's people had been pulled into the dream that Makoto got this rare chance to contact Ei. She wanted to give her sister one last teaching.
"Hide what?" Ei asked.
Was Makoto about to discover some old scandal? If that secret came out, Ei would be mortified. She'd go pale for days.
"That child who looks just like you — that child is yours and Su Ran's, isn't it?" Makoto asked bluntly.
"???"
Ei, Su Ran, and Kamisato Ayaka all stared at one another. Such an explosive claim — why did none of them have any memory of it?
"Lady Makoto… you must be mistaken?" Ayaka said. She didn't believe there was anything romantic between Su Ran and Ei.
If anything, she'd expect a father–daughter relationship — because ever since Ei woke, she'd mostly been a mascot-type, until today Ayaka had only just seen Ei towering and grown.
"Am I mistaken?" Makoto's heart ached. So the three of them were in on some secret together? Had she become an outsider?
She was Ei's sister after all — and not some dream-created illusion. Su Ran knew that better than anyone.
Were your own family members not meant to be family?
"So, that child you mentioned?" Makoto pressed, more insistently.
Ei lowered her head and didn't know how to explain.
Tell the truth — that she had woken into a tiny body and had been treated like a cute mascot for days?
And ordinary people called her "little Ei"? Ei still had pride, and with Makoto here she cared even more about appearances.
"That child…" Ei stammered, wanting to explain but afraid.
Her hesitancy sent a chill through Su Ran.
Had Ei actually fabricated this to help herself?
Had she made up a rumor about having a child with him to get Makoto on her side?
Was that necessary?
"You already admitted something earlier, and the shrine maiden even told me about it — so is that not the case?"
Makoto looked wounded.
Even now, standing here asking Was Ei hiding something?
If it was a misunderstanding, why not explain?
If you have nothing to hide, why not speak up?
At that moment a laugh broke the tension. Yae Miko — who'd reverted back to her usual form — was leaning on a wall, quietly amused.
She'd been entertaining herself watching the sisters' standoff for some time. Yae Miko's laughter drew everyone's attention; she winked cheekily at Su Ran and Ei.
Su Ran and Ei both shook their heads: they didn't get the hint.
"All right," Yae Miko continued, "Lady Makoto, actually… the child is mine and Su Ran's."
She smirked, and then, seeing the blank looks, decided to stir rather than help.
If Makoto had assumed the kid was Ei's, she hadn't thought about the possibility that Ei had simply been shrunk.
"Don't add fuel to the fire, Yae Miko." Ayaka shot back.
There was no way Yae Miko and Su Ran's child looked like Ei. That was absurd.
"Or — Lady Makoto — might there be a chance that the child you're talking about is actually Ei herself?"
Ei shot a glance at Su Ran, then pulled her hand back. She'd almost blurted it out, but then thought better of it. Makoto noticed that movement.
Makoto sighed and looked between them. "Su Ran, did you call me 'big sister' just now? I heard you say 'sis'."
Yes — Su Ran had once called her that.
Makoto felt hurt.
Why would they all team up to hide something from her?
She looked genuinely forlorn: "Why would you all collude to deceive me?"
Su Ran chuckled, trying to defuse it. "I mean, I did call you 'sis' — but that doesn't mean what you think."
He waved a hand.
"Even if I thought about Ei, that doesn't mean I suddenly have a child.
We've only known each other less than a week — how could that be possible?"
That question stunned Makoto.
Known each other less than a week? So the "child"… Makoto's small mind raced.
Gods are far stronger than humans; perhaps she'd assumed offspring could form faster or differently.
Suddenly she felt foolish.
"For the record," Su Ran added with mock seriousness, "if you don't believe me, Ei and I can demonstrate — see whether we could conceivably give you a nephew or niece within a week." He grinned.
Ei nodded instinctively, but immediately realized how that sounded and cocked her head at him in alarm.
A week? A nephew or niece? Whose? In a flurry of panic Ei reached out and clamped a hand onto the soft flesh of Su Ran's waist — a hilarious, reflexive move.
Su Ran took it with the calm of a man used to absurdity.
Makoto's expression flickered between wounded and embarrassed.
She remembered Su Ran's earlier compliment that she and Ei resembled each other — that had left her unmoved.
But now, with the "child" talk, she felt awkward and a little self-conscious. She kept her head down and stared at the board, trying to focus.
Su Ran, meanwhile, saw an opening and played deftly. "Check!" he called — the decisive move.
Makoto, mortified and thwarted, thought: he gives me no face at all. I'll remember this slight.
Only Ayaka was still thinking about the game itself. "Wasn't it Makoto's turn?" she muttered. "Su Ran, cheating?"
Makoto, flustered and distracted, really didn't know whose turn it was anymore — the whole scene had thrown her off.
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