Bai Qing continued reading on.
The Tenryou Commission received a report.
The Tenryou Commission's people began investigating the matter of the firearm, and by following the trail, they found the young man who had earlier tripped Hodaka Morishima and been frightened by his gun.
From the young man's description, the Tenryou Commission obtained a portrait of Hodaka Morishima, and upon learning that he was still only a boy, they set about investigating his identity.
In the end, they pinned down who Hodaka Morishima was—a boy who had run away from home.
Reading this, Bai Qing frowned slightly.
The earlier text had mentioned that Hodaka Morishima had run away on his own because his family abused him. If he were caught by the Tenryou Commission, he would surely be sent back home.
This was foreshadowing.
Meanwhile, Hodaka Morishima was fretting over what gift to buy for Hina Amano.
As a little brother popular with the girls, Nagi Amano saw through Hodaka Morishima at a single glance—he had fallen for his sister.
He rooted for Hodaka Morishima, and even coached him to give his sister a ring.
Watching Hodaka Morishima blush to the tips of his ears under Nagi Amano's coaching, Bai Qing couldn't help but laugh again.
So green and innocent.
She read on. Hodaka Morishima came to a shop that sold rings.
When she saw the description of the shop clerk selling the rings, her hand gave a slight tremble.
Here it comes.
It was Miyamizu Mitsuha.
When she read Fang Qiu's words about Hodaka Morishima noticing that the ring on Miyamizu Mitsuha's hand seemed exactly the same as the one worn by Tachibana Taki, whom he'd met helping out at the old lady's house, Bai Qing froze.
Huh?
Exactly the same?
Huh—!
Exactly the same!
Which meant... Miyamizu Mitsuha had married Tachibana Taki?
Fang Qiu surely wouldn't be idle enough to call it a coincidence and then write out a whole scene like this.
But... Fang Qiu was actually this kind-hearted?
She'd actually let Miyamizu Mitsuha and Tachibana Taki end up together?
This time... she actually hadn't twisted the knife?
This—!
How was this even possible?
If Fang Qiu were here, she'd definitely have to feel Fang Qiu's forehead and see whether she was coming down with a—
Strange...
Far too strange.
The female editor who'd been idly watching Bai Qing out of boredom saw this and was caught off guard.
"Come look—Ah Qing's expression is so bizarre."
"Whoa, it really is. What happened?"
"Just now I watched her freeze up mid-read, then she looked all puzzled, frowning, deep in thought, and now she's started smiling—there are even faint tears in that smile."
"The stuff Fang Qiu writes just keeps getting weirder..."
They murmured among themselves, while the corners of Bai Qing's mouth curved up higher and higher.
So Tachibana Taki and Miyamizu Mitsuha were lovers who had finally been united.
Fang Qiu had finally come to believe in love...
Though they'd lost their memories, "Your Name" could still count as a truly happy ending in every sense of the word.
No doubt, reading this, every reader who had read "Your Name" would be unable to hold back a smile.
Just as with Tachibana Taki, Fang Qiu's portrayal of Miyamizu Mitsuha was brief and to the point, taking up little space.
Reading this, Bai Qing couldn't help but marvel a little.
Some of the setting was laid out through the plot with Tachibana Taki and the grandmother, and Miyamizu Mitsuha was introduced through the buying of the ring—it all came about entirely naturally, not forced in.
What's more, the length was well controlled, kept at just the degree to delight the reader without stealing the show.
Having bought the ring, Hodaka Morishima decided to give it to Hina Amano after her final Sunshine Girl job.
Only, unexpectedly, that last job turned out to have been posted by Keisuke Suga.
Here, through Natsumi Suga's mouth, Fang Qiu laid out Keisuke Suga's story.
It turned out that in his youth, Keisuke Suga had run away from home and met his beloved in Inazuma City, but his beloved had died in an accident some years back, and to this day Keisuke Suga had never been able to move on from that love.
And his daughter was his everything.
On top of this, Natsumi Suga also told Hina Amano every word she and Keisuke Suga had heard in the shrine.
Then, on the way back, Nagi Amano deliberately created some private space for the two of them.
As they walked along, Hodaka Morishima's heart pounded almost to bursting.
Just as Hodaka Morishima was about to confess, many parts of Hina Amano's body began to turn transparent.
Hina Amano told him everything too.
How she had passed through the torii gate and gained the power to make the weather clear.
Reading this, Bai Qing finally understood—no wonder Fang Qiu had written a separate line noting that Hina Amano wasn't wearing short sleeves that day...
They made their way home, but before long the Tenryou Commission came knocking.
The Tenryou Commission's people held up Hodaka Morishima's portrait and information to question Hina Amano, but she kept it hidden.
Yet the Tenryou Commission's people also told Hina Amano that she and her little brother Nagi Amano were too young, and that they would arrange for someone to take both Hina Amano and Nagi Amano away.
Hina Amano was terrified of being separated from her brother, so she decided to flee with them, and Hodaka Morishima, having been abused and unwilling to go home, decided to run away too.
At the same time, Keisuke Suga also came knocking, saying that he too had been interrogated by the Tenryou Commission.
He was at the most crucial stage of applying for custody of his child and could no longer help Hodaka Morishima.
Hodaka Morishima said he understood.
The rain that night was especially heavy.
"Here it comes..."
Bai Qing's expression darkened slightly.
All the setup and premises had been laid out; the story was beginning to converge.
She read carefully on.
The three of them, having endured hardship, finally found an inn.
Once they had settled in, because it was Hina Amano's birthday, they treated themselves to a rare good meal, took a bath, and had a pillow fight.
After Nagi Amano had fallen asleep, Hodaka Morishima gave Hina Amano the ring he had bought.
But Hina Amano told Hodaka Morishima what Natsumi Suga had told her.
As long as she became a sacrifice, the weather could return to normal.
Hodaka Morishima was unwilling to trade the one he loved for clear skies.
Only, the next day, Hina Amano vanished.
Reading this, Bai Qing's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
She read on.
Before they could even react, the Tenryou Commission's people came to the door.
They were taken away.
As they stepped outside, the sky was unexpectedly clear, and a ring fell from the heavens, landing before Hodaka Morishima.
Only then did Hodaka Morishima realize that Hina Amano had become a living sacrifice, trading herself away for the clear skies.
On the way, when the Tenryou Commission's people asked about Hina Amano's whereabouts, they carelessly let slip her age.
"So I was the oldest one all along."
Hodaka Morishima wept until he could no longer speak.
Seeing Fang Qiu's delicate emotional writing, Bai Qing's nose stung for no reason at all.
Hina Amano's characterization was truly well done.
Though she was younger than Hodaka Morishima, she had kept striving all along for her little brother's sake.
And so, he told the Tenryou Commission's people everything about the Sunshine Girl—only the Tenryou Commission's people wouldn't listen at all, convinced the boy's head simply wasn't right.
Arriving at the Tenryou Commission, and seeing that he was about to be sent back home, Hodaka Morishima decided to simply make a run for it.
He had to save Hina Amano!
Because he was just a child, the Tenryou Commission's people hadn't kept their guard up against Hodaka Morishima.
He managed to escape.
A whole crowd of Tenryou Commission people gave chase.
Just as he was about to be caught, Natsumi Suga appeared on horseback and carried Hodaka Morishima away.
Afterward, the Tenryou Commission's people found Keisuke Suga and told him about Hodaka Morishima's escape.
Hearing that Hodaka Morishima would rather flee—leaving a criminal record with the Tenryou Commission and ruining his own life—just to save Hina Amano, Keisuke Suga thought of himself and his wife, and tears streamed down his face.
Years ago, he had failed to save his own wife.
But this time, he wanted to save Hodaka Morishima.
So he followed the Tenryou Commission's people all the way to Hodaka Morishima's destination.
Because of the heavy rain, Natsumi Suga's horse got mired in the water, and for the rest of the way, Hodaka Morishima ran on alone toward that shrine.
As he ran, he recalled all the little moments they had shared over these past days, and apologized to Hina Amano.
But when he reached that abandoned building, Keisuke Suga stopped him—Keisuke Suga didn't want Hodaka Morishima to ruin his own life.
And in the abandoned building, Hodaka Morishima also picked up the gun he had thrown there earlier.
At the same time, several Tenryou Commission people arrived as well.
Hodaka Morishima raised the gun and aimed it at the Tenryou Commission's people.
"Leave me alone! Why do you keep getting in my way?! You don't know anything—putting on that face like you know nothing!"
"I just want to see her one more time!"
Hodaka Morishima cried.
He didn't choose to fire on the Tenryou Commission's people; instead he threw down the gun and made to go upstairs.
Only he was quickly restrained.
Seeing Hodaka Morishima like this, Keisuke Suga froze, his face full of conflict. He clenched his fist, and the ring he had never once removed in all the years since his wife's death caught and reflected the sunlight.
Though Fang Qiu hadn't written out Keisuke Suga's past, the hints dropped along the way, together with the look in Keisuke Suga's eyes at this moment, had already said it all.
Keisuke Suga too had a story he could never forget—someone he would want to see even at the cost of his own life, even if it meant ruining his future.
The sight of Hodaka Morishima made him think of what he himself had lost.
What he ought to save was not Hodaka Morishima's future, but rather to help Hodaka Morishima see the person he longed to see.
Don't end up like himself...
And so, though he knew full well that this might mean never seeing his daughter again, he cast all caution aside, charged forward, and shoved away the one holding Hodaka Morishima down.
The other one was knocked aside as well by Nagi Amano, who had arrived after escaping in girl's clothing.
Hodaka Morishima rushed all the way to the rooftop, nearly missing a step and plunging to his death along the way.
Once on the rooftop, carrying the cry and the prayer in his heart, he passed through the torii gate.
"O gods! I beg you, I beg you, I beg you!"
Bai Qing had no attention to spare for anything else; her whole heart was pulled along with it.
The next moment, he appeared in the endless sky, gravity dragging him downward.
Endless vapor and air currents churned, like countless great dragons and colossal beasts.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared across the whole sky.
Beyond the endless layers of cloud, he finally found Hina Amano, and carried Hina Amano away from the sky.
"Hina, let's go back together."
"But if I go back, the weather will..."
"Forget it! Hina isn't any Sunshine Girl anymore. It doesn't matter if there's never another sunny day—more than blue skies, I want you, Hina. Who cares about the weather? If it's messed up, then let it stay messed up!"
And so, Hodaka Morishima seized Hina Amano's hand once again.
"Pray for yourself."
"Mm."
Because the stairs had broken, the Tenryou Commission's people had to find another way, so they decided to arrest Keisuke Suga first.
The next moment, a gentle breeze stirred.
Keisuke Suga and the Tenryou Commission's people all looked up. The sky, which had cleared, suddenly filled with dark clouds; a sound like a dragon's cry rose up, and rain came pouring down in torrents.
In the downpour, Keisuke Suga's expression was complicated—perhaps his tears had mingled with the rain.
And beneath the shrine, Hina Amano and Hodaka Morishima curled up facing each other, hand in hand.
Reading this, Bai Qing was slightly stunned.
They were saved?
No one had died?
Fang Qiu was actually this kind-hearted?
This was practically a miracle!
No—she mustn't let her guard down.
Bai Qing stayed stunned for a good while before finally reading on.
Afterward, Hodaka Morishima grew up and returned home. By the time he came back to Inazuma City again, Inazuma City had switched to boats for travel, and he went to see some old acquaintances.
The old acquaintances told him that although Inazuma City had been flooded, no one had been hurt by it.
Although Keisuke Suga hadn't won custody of his daughter, he still saw her often.
Then, on the riverbank where he had once meant to confess, Hodaka Morishima saw Hina Amano.
They embraced.
Between Inazuma City and Hina Amano, he chose Hina Amano.
The book came to its end.
A world in which no one was hurt—save for the city of Inazuma City itself—was complete.
Everyone had found their own place to belong.
Bai Qing looked at the manuscript and pondered for a long, long while.
Fang Qiu...
Had she turned over a new leaf?
Just then, the female editor who had been idly watching Bai Qing waved a hand and whispered, "Come look, Ah Qing's finished reading."
At her call, the several female editors who had been busy all set down their work, looked toward Bai Qing, and began murmuring among themselves.
"What's going on? Why isn't she crying?"
"Why do you look so eager for Ah Qing to cry? Something's off with you."
"It's just from seeing it so many times—you naturally come to assume it'll turn out that way."
"Look—Ah Qing not only isn't crying, she's actually smiling?"
"Ssss... you think maybe Fang Qiu wrote something so devastatingly tragic that it broke Ah Qing?"
"Uh... now that you put it that way, it does seem possible..."
"So what do we do?"
"I'll go ask."
Editor Li Ling glanced at these chattering, twittering female editors, sighed, walked over to Bai Qing's side, gently patted her shoulder, and asked:
"Ah Qing, are you all right?"
"Huh? I'm fine—what's the matter?"
Bai Qing couldn't help being taken aback as she asked.
After all, she'd been overjoyed that Fang Qiu had reformed, hadn't she?
"Ah?"
Li Ling was taken aback and asked about Fang Qiu's new book. When they learned that Fang Qiu's new book actually had a happy ending, the several female editors all froze on the spot, somewhat shocked.
Fang Qiu... had actually changed her ways?
"Sister Li Ling, then what do we do about the drinking party tonight?"
Someone asked.
"What drinking party?"
Bai Qing chimed in with a question.
Seeing Bai Qing ask, Li Ling told her about what they'd been discussing earlier.
"I see. Thank you, everyone."
Bai Qing said gratefully.
So the drinking party they'd mentioned had been meant to comfort her.
Just then, someone said, "Oh, right—let's all go listen to Master Yun's opera tonight! I hear it's the second play Fang Qiu and Master Yun have collaborated on!"
"Sure."
Everyone agreed.
The Yun-Han Opera Troupe had recorded that performance of "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother" and sent it to the picture studio for simultaneous screening, so they had seen "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother" too.
From the endings of "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother" and "Weathering With You," one could tell that Fang Qiu had indeed turned over a new leaf!
Worth celebrating!
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