Yae Miko had been somewhat distracted until that moment. The instant Makoto spoke those words, she came alive.
Her eyes lit up with an anticipation that was almost overflowing.
She had not caught the distinction Makoto made between soul fragments and the Kitsune Saiguu herself.
Whatever form she was in, as long as it was her, there was a chance at revival.
For Yae Miko, in all of vast Inazuma, the only people who truly mattered to her, the only ones she kept close to her heart, were Makoto and Ei, and beyond them, the Kitsune Saiguu.
Teacher and friend both. From a certain angle, the Kitsune Saiguu could even be called her mother.
For Yae Miko, she was irreplaceable.
Inazuma was at peace now. Makoto and Ei had been reunited. She herself had found the man she loved.
If anything remained as the last regret of her life, it was the Kitsune Saiguu.
Her two remaining wishes: to give Ryen a little fox cub.
And to find the Kitsune Saiguu.
To tell her: I have grown up. I have become a proper head priest, someone worth relying on.
To tell her: I have found the man I love. I have something to lean on. I have a home.
To tell her that across all these years...
She had missed her every single day.
And that in whatever days remained ahead, she hoped the Kitsune Saiguu would never be absent again.
Yae Miko's eyes shimmered with everything she hadn't said, and she looked at Makoto and Ei with quiet, burning anticipation.
"Let Ei tell it."
Makoto understood the depth of what the Kitsune Saiguu meant to Yae Miko. She didn't draw things out.
Ei gave a small nod.
"While I was searching across Narukami Island, I encountered a shrine maiden. She gave me a strange feeling."
"We had never met, yet I felt a closeness to her that I couldn't explain."
"At the time, she was working to address the corruption affecting Inazuma's ley lines. When I found her, I confirmed her presence."
"She is the Kitsune Saiguu."
Yae Miko's joy surged.
"The Kitsune Saiguu is still alive?!"
"No... she..."
Ei shook her head. What the Kitsune Saiguu had done, the way she had done it, left absolutely no possibility of survival.
A shadow crossed Yae Miko's eyes. But she recovered almost immediately.
"That's all right. Even as a remnant soul, she can still be revived."
"But she isn't a remnant soul."
Ei exhaled quietly.
"It is complicated to explain. She goes by Hanachirusato now. I considered at first whether she might be a reincarnation of the Kitsune Saiguu, but I dismissed that idea."
"Miko, you understand: the Kitsune Saiguu was consumed by the Dark Mud. There was no possibility of survival. The greatest hope was that a thread of remnant soul had persisted by chance."
Yae Miko's brow furrowed.
"Then what exactly are you saying?"
Ei pressed her lips together.
"She describes herself as a collection of the Kitsune Saiguu's memories. She was born for the purpose of healing Inazuma's ley lines."
"So, whether you call her the Kitsune Saiguu is appropriate, or call her a distinct individual is also appropriate."
"She carries every memory the Kitsune Saiguu ever had. I have already brought her to the Grand Narukami Shrine."
"But the situation is delicate. I am not certain what she truly is."
"Whether she can be revived, and if revived, who exactly she would be..."
Yae Miko fell quiet.
The Kitsune Saiguu's situation was entirely unlike anyone else's.
Guizhong and the others had ultimately been restored from remnant souls.
But the Kitsune Saiguu, or rather Hanachirusato: what was she?
Hanachirusato was indeed a collection of the Kitsune Saiguu's memories. But since she already existed as she was, what exactly was the nature of her existence?
If Hanachirusato was already a complete, living individual, how would the Resurrection Totem even calculate what to do?
No one present had ever encountered a situation like this.
The closest parallels was Nahida.
But Nahida's existence didn't complicate the Resurrection Totem's function at all.
What about the Kitsune Saiguu and Hanachirusato?
The Kitsune Saiguu's soul fragments might not even be findable anymore. But whether Hanachirusato counted as a separate individual was entirely unclear.
For a moment, everyone was at a loss.
Then Ryen pressed his lips together in a small smile.
"Why not ask the all-capable Ryen?"
Yae Miko turned to him immediately with an expression full of hope.
He let Imaginary energy gather in his palm, deep and strange in its quality.
"Whether it is the Kitsune Saiguu or Hanachirusato, if they are connected lives, their fundamental essence will be similar."
"And then: do not forget that Imaginary energy can do anything."
The Imaginary energy in Ryen's hand shifted and moved. Yae Miko and the others felt their excitement reignite.
"What are you going to do?"
Makoto watched him with curiosity.
Ryen snapped his fingers.
"This is difficult to say whether it is hard or easy."
"But with Imaginary energy, none of it is a problem."
"Plant a seed of Imaginary energy within Hanachirusato, to guarantee her individual integrity."
"And then..."
He smiled with a hint of mystery.
"Don't underestimate the Resurrection Totem. It has no subjective will of its own. It only follows the rules it was built on."
"Once she is in my world, leave the rest to me."
He reached over and pinched Yae Miko's cheek lightly.
"It is rare to see my Miko looking at me with this much longing. I am of course going to do this properly for her."
Yae Miko looked at him with eyes that were bright with gratitude, and pressed herself against him.
"Ryen... you are so good to me."
Then she leaned close to his ear and said quietly:
"Tonight I am going to thank you very thoroughly."
Ryen smiled and looked at Makoto and Ei.
"Then consider this matter settled. Is there anything else?"
Truthfully, Ryen had no fully worked-out plan for how to do this.
But Imaginary energy could do anything.
If the fundamental source power of the Imaginary Tree couldn't manage something this small, what good was it?
The old Ryen might have agonized over this for a long time.
Makoto shook her head.
"The situation in Inazuma is essentially stable now. With Hanachirusato found, the only remaining matter is the Shogun."
Ei lowered her head with a guilty expression.
"So you have all come to resolve the Shogun situation?"
Ningguang nodded slowly.
"Lumine mentioned it once. Ei sealed the Shogun within a consciousness space."
"Yes..."
Makoto looked at Ei with an expression layered with many things, and exhaled.
"It is still my original consciousness space..."
Ei looked increasingly small.
"That is easy enough to address. We go now and resolve it here, and first thing tomorrow we head back."
Ryen rose and stretched, looking at Yae Miko.
"Will you come?"
Yae Miko shook her head.
"With you there, nothing will go wrong. I would like to... speak with Hanachirusato."
Ryen's expression softened. He gave her head a gentle ruffle.
"Don't worry. I have everything."
Yae Miko's eyes were luminous. She rose on her toes and pressed a brief kiss to his cheek.
"I will wait for you to come back."
Ryen smiled, turned without further delay, and led everyone down from Mt. Yougou toward Makoto's original consciousness space beneath the mountain.
It was located inside a cave. The cave held almost nothing, only a weathered torii gate standing in the dim.
The moment she stepped inside, Makoto felt a profound, unprecedented sense of familiarity wash over her.
This had been her consciousness space.
She said nothing about it, only frowned slightly and glanced back at the Bathysmal Vishap packs gathered at the foot of Mt. Yougou.
"It seems the ley line disturbances have caused these monsters to..."
She didn't dwell on it. It wasn't something that required urgent thought. She would mention it to Gorou when she returned and have him bring the Abyss Order people over to clean it up.
Bathysmal Vishaps were dangerous, certainly. But that depended on the comparison.
Compared to the Abyss Lectors and Abyss Mages of the Abyss Order, they were big puppies.
Even now that the Five-Nation Alliance could suppress the Abyss Order at will, one shouldn't underestimate them. At their core, they were all extraordinary beings deeply connected to the ley lines. Numerous, and strong.
Which was precisely why they had been able to trouble Teyvat for so long.
Makoto summoned a bolt of lightning and dispatched the Vishaps, then looked at Ei with concern.
"How are you?"
Ei shook her head with some difficulty.
"I'm... fine. It's just that the closer we get, the stronger the resistance from my body becomes."
Makoto exhaled, unhappy.
Though she had much she wanted to say, seeing Ei like this left room only for concern.
"Stop doing reckless things to your own body from now on."
Something warmed inside Ei. She gave a small nod.
"I know. I'm sorry, sister."
Makoto said quietly:
"I'll open the consciousness space. Everyone be careful. This space has entirely lost my guiding presence."
"Inside it will be fragile and unstable."
"Ryen, please try not to use force. If you do, this space could collapse instantly."
Ryen waved a hand and nodded.
"Don't worry. Even without using strength, there is still Imaginary energy."
Makoto gave a wry shake of her head.
"What I mean is: if possible, try not to use even Imaginary energy. This is a mess Ei created."
"It would be better if Ei resolves it herself."
Ryen understood.
"I know what you mean. Unless there is genuine danger, I will not act."
Makoto relaxed slightly. The torii gate before them had already opened into a radiant, shifting portal.
She looked back at the group without needing to say anything. Ei was the first to step through.
Everyone followed without hesitation.
Ryen reflected to himself that it was rather extraordinary that one could enter a consciousness space in physical form. Even by this world's standards, that was remarkable.
With nothing better to do, he took Guizhong's hand and stepped through the torii.
As he crossed the threshold, something subtle washed over him: a thin, barely perceptible current of time flowing around him.
Time?!
Ryen's eyes sharpened.
The next moment, Imaginary energy erupted from him, surging upward through the entire consciousness space, stilling the Shogun where she stood deep within it.
Behind him, a vast deep-blue tree materialized, impossible to describe fully in words. Every leaf, every branch, was itself a world or the collection of countless worlds.
The distant sound of oceanic waves reached everyone's ears.
From somewhere indefinable, a resonance like the praise of worlds drifted through.
"Ryen?"
Makoto looked at him with concern and was about to ask something when Ryen raised a hand.
His eyes narrowed. His voice came out quiet and certain.
"Istaroth. I can feel your gaze."
"Istaroth? The Lord of Time?!"
Everyone startled and pressed closer to him, looking around with alarm.
The consciousness space held its silence. Only the projection of the Imaginary Tree continued to emit its faint light.
"You won't come out? You should recognize what this is."
Ryen pointed at the Imaginary Tree behind him.
"Time may be mysterious, but it is only a shadow of the Tree. Would you like me to bring you out myself?"
A beat of silence after those words, and then the profound power of time descended at last.
"Lord of the Outer Domain, I bear you no ill will."
"I am not concerned about that."
Ryen smiled slightly, looking at the figure ahead of him: a form composed entirely of pure temporal force, features indistinct, resolving only as a woman of gentle appearance.
"I only wanted to speak with you. I had already given up on the idea, so finding you here is an unexpected gift."
Istaroth was silent for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was measured and unhurried.
"Lord of the Outer Domain. What is it you wish to know?"
"Many things."
Ryen's eyes moved with thought. After a moment, his voice came softly:
"But the most important: what is your relationship with the Imaginary Tree?"