Five hundred years ago.

The Raiden Shogun gazed down at the young man before her courtyard, and spoke with indifference:

"Heh, a mortal... To 'eternity,' yours is but a fleeting life... Oh well, I suppose I'll keep you company for a while."

Five hundred years later.

A deathbed.

"Wahhh, you stubborn fool, hang in there! Don't you dare die!!"

A small tree planted many years ago, watered day and night — yet I'll never see it flourish in full bloom.

Dying the night before a beloved returns from her studies abroad.

A mortal and a god, both hearts brimming with hope, yet drifting ever further apart — he could not wait for the day she would step out from her Pure Land and open her heart at last.

Feeding fried tofu for so many years, the little fox grew into a big fox, while I slowly grew old, too frail to hold a kitchen utensil.

The Sacred Sakura, waka poems, plum wine and sweets, sardines and salt, a shrine blanketed in fallen petals, a promise made one summer — and once again, I cannot keep it.

Osmanthus wine tastes the same as I remember...
In the end, it's not like the youth's journey.

A human lifespan has its limits.

"They say companionship is the most enduring confession of love — but I'm sorry. As a mortal, I cannot keep saying 'I love you' forever."

Original work: https://www.ciweimao.com/book/100348111
Discord server: https://discord.gg/pWRPkevZvq
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Dec 13, 2024: Got permission from the original author.
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Sorry