Naruko stopped in front of a low wooden shack that was almost crouching on the ground.
It couldn't even be called a "house"; it was more like a shelter haphazardly cobbled together from discarded boat planks, tattered canvas, and mud.
The door was a crooked wooden plank with gaps wide enough to stick a hand through.
Naruko seemed a bit uneasy, twisting the hem of her clothes as she whispered, "Grandma... is inside. She's been sleeping all the time lately, and it's hard to wake her..."
She struggled to push open the broken wooden door and squeezed inside.
A wave of mustiness, the smell of medicine, and a certain indescribable, turbid atmosphere hit them.
The interior was dim, with only a few slivers of daylight leaking through the cracks.
The floor was covered in straw so filthy its original color was indistinguishable, and broken bowls and jars were piled in the corner.
An old person, thin as a skeleton, was curled up on the pile of straw, covered by a few pieces of tattered burlap.
"Grandma, a guest is here..." Naruko knelt beside the old woman and called softly, "It's the Lady Shrine Maiden from the Grand Narukami Shrine. She said she can help us..."
The old woman did not respond.
The room was deathly silent.
Naruko froze for a moment, then reached out her small hand and gently nudged her grandmother's shoulder.
"Grandma?"
There was still no movement.
Naruko's small face turned white bit by bit. Trembling, she pressed her ear to her grandmother's chest.
A few seconds later.
"Ugh..."
A sob escaped from Naruko's throat.
She threw herself onto the old woman, her small hands gripping tightly as her shoulders shook violently.
"Grandma, wake up..."
"You said you'd watch me grow up..."
"Please... don't leave me all alone..."
The suppressed crying echoed within the dim, narrow "kennel."
Raiden Ei stood at the door, motionless.
The morning light shone in from behind her, stretching her shadow long... Inside the Tenshukaku, it was vast and lonely.
The newly repaired hall still held a faint lingering scent of paint.
Raiden Ei sat kneeling in the center of the hall, her long hair falling down and her hands resting quietly on her knees.
She sat very straight, like an exquisite doll.
Her eyes stared blankly ahead, devoid of focus.
She was in a daze.
She had been like this ever since returning from Ritou.
"Ei, would you like some hot tea?"
Lumine carried a cup of steaming tea and carefully placed it by Raiden Ei's hand, her eyes full of worry.
She and Paimon sat on either side of Ei like two fretting old mothers.
"Yeah, yeah,"
Paimon also nodded vigorously, his small face written with the anxiety of 'not quite understanding but really wanting to comfort you': "That... the dead can't be brought back to life—er, I mean, what's happened has happened, we have to look forward!"
As Paimon spoke, he fished a Macaron out of his personal interdimensional pocket and tentatively held it up to Ei's mouth.
"Have something sweet? I brought this from Fontaine; it's delicious!"
Ei's eyes moved slowly, his gaze falling on the golden Macaron in Paimon's hand before slowly drifting away.
He shook his head gently, his voice dry: "...Thank you, but I don't feel like eating."
"Huh? You're joking, right? Aren't you..." Paimon wanted to try persuading him further.
"Let him have some peace, Paimon," Lumine said softly, pulling on Paimon's small foot.
On the other side of the hall, King leaned back in a large chair, holding a report that Kamisato Ayato had compiled overnight.
The report was thick, listing a preliminary tally of assets seized from the Three Commissions and a briefing on the current state of people's livelihoods across Inazuma.
The rustling of flipping pages was exceptionally clear in the silent hall.
King read slowly, his face expressionless, but the low pressure surrounding him made the knees of the Okuzumeshuu guards who occasionally brought in tea and snacks tremble; they would put things down and retreat as if fleeing.
Time trickled by.
The sunlight outside the window gradually tilted westward, casting long shadows across the hall.
Paimon had already started counting his fingers out of boredom.
Lumine couldn't help but steal a yawn.
Raiden Ei remained like a stone statue, motionless.
Finally—
*Snap*.
The sound of the report being closed.
King looked up, his gaze passing over the documents in his hand and landing straight on the despondent purple figure in the center of the hall.
"Beelzebul, how much longer are you going to play dead?"
Raiden Ei's body trembled slightly, and her empty eyes slowly focused, turning toward King.
King tossed the report onto the side table, leaned forward with his hands crossed and elbows on his knees, looking at her in a highly oppressive posture.
"Will just sitting there, putting on a look of 'I'm so guilty, I'm in so much pain'..."
"...make Inazuma any better?"
His words were like knives, showing no mercy.
Lumine was startled and quickly waved her hands: "King! Ei just needs a little time."
"Time?"
"How much longer is he going to make the people of Inazuma wait?"
"Five hundred years?"
"I..."
Raiden Ei opened her mouth, her voice hoarse, only to find herself powerless to argue.
King stood up and walked over to her, his tall figure completely enveloping her in shadow.
"Listen, be realistic."
"The biggest problem right now is the lack of supplies."
"To put it plainly, there's no money."
"It's not enough to just seize the homes of those parasites; that money is ill-gotten gains and must be used to compensate the victims and provide for the families of the deceased."
"But Inazuma cannot survive on that money alone."
Raiden Ei looked up, her amethyst-like eyes filled with confusion and helplessness.
She looked at King and asked in a very soft, slightly trembling voice:
"Then... what should I do?"
King: "..."
You're asking me?
I'm here to hold you accountable.
How did this turn into me giving you advice?
King felt a wave of mental exhaustion. Looking at the village girl in front of him with 'I'm an idiot, please teach me' written all over her face, a clearly speechless expression appeared on his fierce face.
"I..."
Seeing that King didn't speak and was only looking at him with that 'look at this idiot' gaze, the taut string in Ei's heart finally snapped under the pressure.
Grievance, self-reproach, powerlessness, confusion... various emotions surged into his heart like a flood breaking through a dam.
She was the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma, the Seven who wielded the lightning.
But now, she could do nothing.
She didn't even know what she should do.
[Ding! Detected extreme breakdown from Raiden Ei, Emotion Points +150,000!]
"Ugh..."
A very faint sob escaped from her tightly pressed lips.
Immediately following, large teardrops rolled down from her purple eyes without warning.
She didn't wail; she just sat there quietly, her shoulders trembling slightly as tears flowed silently.
That appearance of suppressing a sob yet being completely unable to control it seemed even more fragile and heartbreaking than loud wailing.
"Don't cry!"
Paimon was so startled he was in a fluster, spinning in circles in the air, his small paws waving about frantically as he tried to find something to wipe the tears, but to no avail.
Finally, he had no choice but to use a corner of his small cape to dab at Ei's tears.
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