Kujou Sara was about to answer when a playful voice rang out.
"It's a book published by my Yae Publishing House. Even the Traveler said it was good after reading it — so, how about it? Care to take a look?"
Ei and Kujou Sara turned around to find a figure stepping out from the darkness.
Wooden sandals clicked against the ground with every step, each strike crisp and unhurried.
The newcomer had a head of flowing pink hair, dressed in a shrine maiden's attire of red and white. Her wide sleeves, matching in color, were separated from the body of the garment and fastened to her upper arms as detached sleeves.
A large black bow was tied at the small of her back. Her long, fair legs were left bare.
Her soft pink hair was tied off at the ends, drifting gently in the breeze. On the fox ears that marked her identity as a divine messenger hung earrings set with violet gemstones — and from the earring on her right ear gleamed her Electro Vision.
Kujou Sara's pupils contracted sharply. She could have sworn Yae Miko had still been on the stage just moments ago — hadn't she?
How had she suddenly...
She instinctively glanced back, and sure enough — Yae Miko was still seated on the stage, in the middle of scoring alongside the Traveler and the others.
A clone?
"Miko."
Ei's eyes held not a ripple of surprise, as though she had sensed Yae Miko's arrival long before she appeared.
"Good evening, my dearest friend. You've finally come out. Getting even a single glimpse of you is no small feat."
Yae Miko smiled and said, "So — would you like to give it a try? Even the Traveler said it was good after reading it."
"Even the Traveler said it was good?"
Ei crossed her arms, one brow arching ever so slightly.
"That's right. The trade restrictions with Liyue have eased up lately, so I brought in some Liyue novels. This one was written by a young woman — I've read it myself, and it truly is a rare gem."
Yae Miko produced two books and tossed them toward Ei.
"The other one is also by her. Also wonderfully written. Who knows — after you finish it, you might find yourself thinking about eternity in a whole new way."
"Oh?"
Ei caught the two books Yae Miko had thrown her way.
One was Your Lie in April. Its cover depicted a young man and woman standing beneath a cherry blossom tree, a breeze stirring the girl's hair and sending petals swirling across the sky.
The other was The Eternal. Its cover showed an enormous iron vessel — a great ship of steel.
"Eternity?"
Ei's brow furrowed ever so slightly.
"This book is quite interesting. You should read it," Yae Miko said with a smile.
"Very well. I will."
Ei gave a small nod.
"Oh, and since you're already here — would you like to join me and listen to the music competition for a while?"
Yae Miko smiled lightly. "Spending more time watching over Inazuma's people is always good for the mind."
"There is no need. I can hear it perfectly well from Tenshukaku."
Ei shook her head.
"I had originally thought to borrow your influence to help build anticipation for Yae Publishing House's upcoming Your Lie in April manga — but since you're unwilling, I won't press the matter."
Yae Miko's smile remained light and unhurried.
"Worth mentioning: Fang Qiu's new book should be arriving in Inazuma in a few days. I'll have someone deliver it to you when it does. Look forward to it."
With that, Yae Miko's figure dissolved into nothingness where she stood.
"Shogun Almighty — it was Kujou Sara's failure to keep proper watch that allowed Lady Guuji to slip past us unchallenged."
Kujou Sara's expression was heavy with self-reproach.
"It is of no matter. With her abilities, there was nothing you could have done to stop her regardless."
Ei waved a hand and turned her gaze down toward the base of Tenshukaku.
The music competition was still ongoing.
Being the final round — and having been postponed for quite some time — the competitors had prepared thoroughly. Each piece they performed was deeply moving, enough to bring more than a few in the audience to tears.
When at last the competition drew to a close, a meteor shot upward in reverse, blazing into the sky.
Fireworks burst open before Tenshukaku, scattering into a boundless cascade of cherry blossoms — drifting and swirling like a shower of crushed snow.
Pink. Sakura-colored.
The color of the moment Miyazono Kaori and Arima Kousei first met.
The color of spring.
Every gaze in the crowd was drawn upward to those fireworks. In that moment, no one gave a thought to who had won.
At the edge of the crowd, Naganohara Yoimiya sat perched on a stone, her eyes rimmed red, smiling up at the flowers blooming and fading across the sky.
"What a shame Fang Qiu couldn't be here to see fireworks this beautiful."
She murmured softly to herself.
On the stage.
Even the winner herself had forgotten that she had won. She sat there in a daze, staring up at the fireworks blooming overhead, tears sliding silently down her cheeks without pause.
The piece she had performed in the final round was one she had composed immediately after finishing Your Lie in April.
"How beautiful — is this the fireworks display Yoimiya has been perfecting all along? It's just like the wind blowing through cherry blossoms, falling like snow across the whole sky."
Paimon marveled.
"Paimon actually knows how to use a simile," Lumine remarked.
"I'll have you know I'm very cultured, thank you very much! Although — if I'm being honest — a lot of what I just said came from the words Fang Qiu used in Your Lie in April."
Paimon huffed, then immediately broke into a slightly embarrassed little smile.
"I knew it."
"How beautiful."
Kamisato Ayaka murmured as well, tears shimmering in her eyes.
Yae Miko, for her part, drew her gaze away from the fireworks and turned it toward the silhouette visible on Tenshukaku's terrace above.
The corner of her mouth curved, unbidden, into a look of quiet amusement.
Watching the fireworks bloom before her and then fade into darkness, Ei turned away and stepped back inside Tenshukaku. She settled at her desk — and then retreated into the stillness of the Euthymia.
Within the Euthymia, Ei deliberated for a moment between the two books, then opened The Eternal.
The story began with an enormous ship — a vessel said to be unsinkable, known as The Eternal.
"An unsinkable ship? Miko said this might give me new thoughts on the nature of eternity... and the answer is a ship?"
Ei's brow furrowed.
No matter how sturdily a ship was built, it would be obsolete within a hundred years.
How could it possibly have anything to say about an eternity that stretches unchanged across ten thousand years?
Carrying that question with her, she continued to read.
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