"..."
"You're finally awake."
A familiar voice came from beside her ear. Ayaka rubbed her somewhat stiff shoulders and looked at Shiki, who was making tea.
"I feel like… I had a very, very long dream…"
"Then can you tell me what you dreamed about?"
"In my dream, I felt like I turned into a butterfly, and I kept flying and flying, flying to a very, very high place… Then, at some point, a sudden sense of weightlessness came over me, and I woke up."
"How strange. How did I fall asleep so inexplicably?"
Ayaka didn't know that her soul had been taken and wandered around, nor did she notice the word "finally" in Shiki's initial remark.
"That's because your soul was taken away," Shiki said startlingly, then poured Ayaka a cup of sakura bloom tea.
"Butterflies are fragile yet beautiful, symbolizing people's colorful souls. Dreams often reflect reality. Your soul was taken, so you dreamed of turning into a butterfly and flying upwards."
"But don't worry, I've brought you back."
Listening to the girl's words, a strong sense of security welled up in Ayaka's heart, but it was immediately followed by confusion: who took her soul?
Shiki saw the girl's question and directly stated the answer:
"Hitomi Hanatani. Her soul fell from a great height, so it could be said she died as she deserved."
"I saw the souls of the three people who committed suicide. They had lost their consciousness and were controlled by Hitomi Hanatani."
"Fortunately, your body was still here, otherwise you would have ended up like them."
"I didn't expect… it really was her…"
Ayaka truly hadn't expected that the gravely ill Hitomi Hanatani, who had been unconscious, was actually in that state because her soul had left her body.
But thinking about it, it made sense. Ordinary people couldn't see souls, which is why those three girls inexplicably committed suicide.
"So, I was targeted last night?"
"Last night?"
"Yes, last night I went to the Kujou Manor, but seeing her severe illness, I dismissed my suspicions."
"...Let's let this one slide. If similar things happen again, leave it to me."
Was Ayaka's strength weak? Frankly, it wasn't weak, but that was within the realm of ordinary people. When it came to immortals and yokai, it wasn't quite enough.
Thousands of years ago, Inazuma could be said to have been a night of a hundred demons, but Raiden Ei had purged them all with her Musou no Hitotachi.
And things like Hitomi Hanatani, with her soul separated from her body, possessing the ability to bewitch others and manipulate Anemo element, were actually very tricky for ordinary people.
Firstly, most people couldn't see souls, which meant that facing entities like Hitomi Hanatani would make them blind.
Unless it was in a place where the leylines were disturbed, such as Wuwang Hill or Tsurumi Island. As for other places, Shiki didn't know.
Because when she transmigrated, there were only two places in the game where souls could be seen, and both of those places had a certain degree of leyline disturbance, which led to this conclusion.
Coming back to the point, the main organ people use to gather information is their eyes. How do you fight an invisible enemy, especially one that can bewitch you and give you a series of suggestions?
It's like playing a game where the opponent is cheating with invisibility, and your ping is also extremely high. How are you supposed to play, right?
Shiki could see Hitomi Hanatani's soul entirely because of her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
As the highest-grade Rainbow-ranked Mystic Eyes in the Type-Moon world, seeing through illusions and perceiving spiritual bodies were just its simplest functions.
After all, putting aside the lines of death for a moment, you need to see what something is before you can see its lines of death.
But honestly, this was Shiki's first time seeing a soul in Teyvat. It seemed that in areas with normal leylines, souls wouldn't linger for too long and would quickly go to where they belonged.
Since her transmigration, Shiki hadn't used her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception frequently, but certainly not rarely, yet this was truly the first time she had seen a soul.
"I understand, but as the Young Miss of the Yashiro Commission, I cannot just stand by and watch those girls die at an age when they should be in Bloom."
"But what about you? You would lose your life before you even had a chance to Bloom. Have you considered my feelings?" Shiki said, holding Ayaka's small hand.
"Don't talk to me about self-sacrifice. You must prioritize your own life first, because you don't just belong to yourself, you belong to me too!"
Ayaka's heart warmed at her words, and she nodded vigorously: "Mm, I'll listen to you."
"But you also have to promise me to act within your capabilities. Just as you said, the two of us don't just belong to ourselves."
"Haha, of course. I'm not a little silly goose like you," Shiki chuckled.
"Who are you calling a little silly goose?"
"Who else could it be? There's no third person here."
"You, hmph!"
Ayaka gave a delicate huff, then turned her head away.
...
Meanwhile, the Traveler and Xavier arrived at Grand Narukami Shrine. Guided by the shrine maiden Inagi Hotomi, they successfully met Yae Miko in the side hall.
"Oh? A Fontaine engineer, a Traveler from another land, and a little Seelie flying in the sky. What a strange combination."
"Hey! Not a little Seelie, it's Paimon!"
"And what is little Paimon?"
"Uh… Paimon is Paimon, of course!"
As soon as they met, Paimon was already confused by Yae Miko. Yae Miko could be said to be the most cunning person (or perhaps Fox?) in Inazuma City. She displayed different personalities when facing different people, so those who could make Yae Miko stumble were truly few and far between.
But Paimon was clearly the one being teased by Yae Miko. After all, you can't expect Emergency Food (confirmed) to outwit a five-hundred-year-old Fox in a verbal sparring match.
"Hehehe, alright, little Paimon. So, can you tell me why you've come to Grand Narukami Shrine? If you're here to seek fortune, I'm free today and can help you with a reading~"
Yae Miko covered her mouth and chuckled. Joking aside, how could she not know why these people were here? The magic of a divine Fox was beyond ordinary comprehension.
"Then let's get a reading… No, no, we're here to find someone! Ugh, I almost got tricked again!" Paimon said, stomping her foot.
"Oh my, finding someone? Then you've come to the wrong place. Shrines are for seeking connections and dispelling evil. For finding people, you should go to the Yashiro Commission."
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