章 27: Chapter 27 "Who are... you?"
It was hard to calm down now.
Ei frowned.
It was hard to calm down now.
It had been a full three to four hours since Seino Sara came to find her.
But there had been no progress in making the doll.
Ei's heart was restless. She tried her best not to think about those messy things, but her attention kept wandering.
That man had always been like this, never listening to her words. It was like this 400 years ago when he fought the great serpent, and it was like this again today, 400 years later... He really liked using the excuse of "a general in the field has the authority to disobey orders" to defy Ei's commands.
The air pressure in Tenshukaku was low, with rolling thunder echoing between the layers of clouds, reflecting her current mood.
Seino Raimei, where are you now?
She didn't know.
Ei thought again of that resignation letter, the one she had torn to pieces.
Seino had anticipated the coming of his death early on, which is why he wrote that resignation letter. In the letter, he deliberately used those words to provoke her, thereby making Sara take over his responsibilities.
But she couldn't see anything at the time, just thinking it was an ordinary matter. Now, looking back, she was at a loss.
It wasn't until this moment that Ei realized, almost as if in a sudden epiphany, that she knew pitifully little about Seino Raimei. She thought she was familiar with this man, making assumptions based on mere conjectures, thinking she had figured out his heart, but in fact, she knew nothing.
She had stayed in the Plane of Euthymia for a hundred years, not knowing how this man had aged, not knowing what he liked to eat, not knowing his daily appearance, and even... she didn't even know what this man's wishes were.
But that man knew her very well. He knew what she liked to eat, and he also knew her dreams.
Seino Sara's words echoed in her ears again. That little girl was right, she should have gone to see him.
It had been a hundred years since she last saw him.
He was lying on his sickbed, he must have been looking forward to her coming too.
That feeling of heart palpitations was getting worse.
But now he was gone, he was no longer in Inazuma, he couldn't be found anywhere. Where could he have gone?
Was he heartbroken? Was he upset that she didn't come to see him, so he left?
Ei still remembered their last meeting, which ended in an argument.
He opposed the implementation of the "Sakoku Decree", defying the orders of Tenshukaku, and resigned from his military position as a threat, usurping the majesty of the Raiden Shogun. So she told him to never come back.
Would their last meeting end with an "argument"?
She didn't want it to be like this.
"Ei, you're being contradictory again," the Shogun said. "Perhaps, you should go find him, before he dies."
Death.
This word was so empty, so cold. Coming from the Shogun's emotionless mouth, it sounded even more void and cold.
"Death."
Ei unconsciously gripped the doll tightly. She slowly exhaled, trying her best to dispel this inexplicable fear. "I need to stay here to make the doll."
"He will listen to my orders. He won't die."
"Your concept of time is very unclear. Or rather, your eternal self has become almost arrogant."
The Shogun said, her tone still without fluctuation:
"A hundred years ago, you thought he could live another hundred years, and now you still haven't changed. Essentially, you haven't changed at all. A hundred years later, you think he can live until you finish making the doll, but the fact is, for mortals, there's no difference between a hundred years and a moment."
"Missing is missing. For such a short life, a hundred years is missing, and a moment is also missing. You think he can still live for several weeks, but that might just be what you think. In the face of this, maybe you can't do anything. Maybe the only thing you can do is 'leave no regrets'."
"You've always had chances. You had chances in the past hundred years, you had chances in those three days after Seino Raimei returned, but you missed them all."
Missing is missing.
Maybe Seino Raimei couldn't even live for a year, couldn't live for half a year, couldn't live for a week, or even... couldn't live for three days.
Life could slip away at any moment.
Even the orders of a god couldn't prevent it.
Seino Raimei might not even live to see the day the doll was completed.
Everything was just her imagination, the arrogant imagination of a god.
So had she missed it again... Ei's eyes trembled slowly, her fingertips touching her thin lips, gently biting her nails.
She suddenly felt a sense of suffocation, that feeling was so familiar, making Ei breathless.
Click.
Like the sound of water dripping on the floor.
Click,
In the face of the torrent of time, the only thing she could do was to leave no regrets, but she had missed it in the past hundred years, and had she missed it again in these three days?
Would his last memory of her, her last memory of him, end with an "argument"?
No.
She didn't want it to be like this.
He wasn't in Inazuma, he had left, he was looking for a place to die.
He was leaving.
No.
Dusk was approaching.
The sky was at its darkest, with a patch of almost blood-red clouds at the far horizon. Lightning snakes were entangled between the layers of clouds, falling intermittently, striking the leaden sky, scattering into traces like cracks.
Ei walked towards the top of Tenshukaku, her deep purple naginata dragging on the ground, sparking small flashes of light. The thunder explosions became more frenzied with her steps. She finally stood at the highest point of Inazuma.
The naginata swept through an arc, standing upright in front of her chest. She crossed her hands, resting them on the hilt of the blade, her eyes low and dim, letting out a light breath.
She thrust the naginata into the ground!
As the naginata fell, endless thunder explosions descended from the sky. Tens of thousands of lightning snakes roared, rotating, entangling, spiraling, spreading out, extending layer by layer on the sea surface. The storm sealed off the entire Inazuma!
Due to the Pillar General's strong opposition, the Sakoku Decree had never been fully implemented.
Only some of Inazuma's sea routes were sealed by thunder, but now, Ei exhausted all her thunder, completely sealing off Inazuma!
No ship could pass through that layer of storms, all living beings were blocked by this wall of death.
Seino Raimei saw those storms.
The sea water was lifted, thousands of tons of sea water were wrapped in the thunder explosions, spreading out.
Panicked voices of sailors came from the deck. The storm had triggered a small tsunami, the ship was tossing up and down, porcelain fell from the cabinets, making crisp sounds.
"Ei..." Seino half-leaned on the bed, saying softly: "What are you doing...?"
He almost mumbled.
"I thought... you were mature enough now."
A voice almost like a sigh.
"How can I be at ease like this..."
[Remaining Lifespan: 4 hours]
Seino was getting closer and closer to death. His condition wasn't good now, lying on the bed, tossing up and down with the waves, hearing some messy hallucinations in his ears, his vision starting to blur.
He was far enough from Inazuma, but he didn't expect to still be blocked. He didn't want to die in this place.
Nor did he want to die like this. He didn't like this kind of death.
The sky was so dark.
Ei walked on the sea surface, her feet stepping on the waves gathered from the sea, as if walking on flat ground. As she walked, she left ripples in her wake.
Thunder accompanied her footsteps, rising and falling.
Seino Sara had just brought her news. That secret ship that left the port last night might be the only hope now.
She abandoned the doll, walking out of Tenshukaku for the first time in a hundred years. She even walked out of Inazuma City, she came to the sea surface, and she had to continue forward.
Ei wanted to see Seino Raimei.
Whether it was the last time or not, in short, she wanted to see Seino Raimei. She might have many things she wanted to say, but even if she saw him, she might still be speechless. Maybe Seino was still resenting her, maybe Seino didn't want to see her anymore, but that didn't matter, because Ei wanted to see Seino Raimei one last time.
This was the most important thing.
This feeling had never been so pure and surging before, washing over Ei's heart that had been desolate for a hundred years like waves.
She wanted to see Seino Raimei one last time, to talk to him, to see what he looked like now.
She wanted to see Seino Raimei one last time, to hear him complain and curse her, or to be silent together, or just to smile gently.
She wanted to see Seino Raimei one last time. This had no meaning, it was meaningless, it couldn't make him live a second longer, it couldn't make him escape death... but Ei wanted to see Seino one last time.
Just like 500 years ago, when she crossed thousands of miles, abandoning Inazuma, to see her sister one last time.
It was the same feeling. Carrying the same hope.
This had nothing to do with meaning, it was just emotion. The heart that had been desolate for a hundred years was slowly flowing, it was the mood that she, who pursued eternity, had once abandoned.
The sea was so big, so vast.
Ei traced along the waves, but the sea was so big, where would that ship be?
Time passed slowly, silently slipping away.
After who knows how long, she finally saw that ship, that ship was blocked at the edge of the thunder, unable to move forward a step.
She smelled the familiar elemental aura, it was indeed him, he was here, in this ship, slowly dying here.
The hope in her heart was expanding infinitely.
Her heart seemed to be trembling.
She stepped onto the ship, and the storm stopped. The rocking of the ship also stopped. The sailors on both sides saw the noble Raiden Shogun, and for a moment they couldn't believe it, they all knelt down, bowing their heads in respect.
This was it.
A reunion after a hundred years, what should she say?
Ei didn't know.
Ei didn't even glance at them, her eyes were only on that room, looking towards it with hope and expectation. Her feet stepped on the deck, her pace somehow a bit hurried. Her heart was trembling lightly. Ei had never walked such a long road, it was a time longer than eternity.
Finally, she walked to the door. Ei pushed open the door.
"Seino—"
Ei wanted to say this, that name was already on her lips, but she couldn't say it anymore. That name slipped away, sliding down her windpipe into her abdomen, and finally echoing from deep inside with a deep and confused voice:
"Eh?"
A strange young man sat on the bed, looking up, seeming confused as he looked at her.
"Who are... you?"
Seino Fugin said this.
[Remaining Lifespan: 2 hours]
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