The night was cold, the sky overcast.
Before the Tenshukaku, security was tight.
Soldiers of the Tenryou Commission, armed with keen blades and long spears, patrolled and stood guard around the Tenshukaku.
The defenses were airtight.
"The weather's been so cold lately."
"Yeah. When's spring finally coming? I'd love to sit under the cherry blossoms and watch them bloom."
"If you're going to watch the blossoms, you've got to do it with the one you love, of course—along with a cup of sake and a plate of sakura mochi."
Two Tenryou Commission soldiers chatted as they patrolled.
The Tenryou Commission was strictly disciplined under Kujou Sara's command, but on this long winter night, patrolling without saying a word was simply too wearying.
So the soldiers would trade a few words now and then.
Unlike the soldiers on the outer perimeter, those guarding the entrance to the great hall where the Shogun resided kept stern expressions, their eyes constantly sweeping their surroundings.
They let nothing slip past—not the faintest stir.
Meanwhile, inside the great hall of the Tenshukaku, the candle flames crackled and flickered.
At the head of the hall.
A noble, coldly beautiful woman with purple hair sat upright behind a low table, her eyes lightly shut.
Cold. Solemn.
Still. Silent.
The entire hall was utterly quiet.
Just then, a gust of wind swept into the hall.
After a moment's silence, the purple-haired woman spoke, her tone indifferent.
"Trespassing in the Tenshukaku is a capital crime."
"Eek…"
A startled cry rose from the floor of the hall, followed at once by a teasing voice.
"Forgive me, Shogun Almighty. I have urgent business and must see Ei." Yae Miko spoke playfully as she stepped out of the darkness, Sayu in tow.
On the dais, the Raiden Shogun slowly opened her eyes. She glanced at Yae Miko, then turned her gaze to Sayu, who stood trembling at Yae Miko's side.
Feeling the Raiden Shogun's majesty, Sayu didn't dare move a muscle.
Just as Sayu's fear crested, Yae Miko patted her on the head, and the tension finally began to ease.
The Raiden Shogun closed her eyes once more, and when she opened them again, that razor-sharp pressure—like a peerless, murderous blade—had melted away entirely.
"Speak. What is it?" said Ei.
"Nothing serious. It's just been a long while, so I came to see my dearest friend." Yae Miko chuckled softly as she crossed to sit across the low table from Ei, then took out a bottle of sake and several plates of Fried Tofu and fried skewers and set them down.
"We saw each other not long ago," Ei said mildly.
"Don't be so cold. I went to great lengths to prepare a gift for you," Yae Miko said with a smile.
"This is the gift you prepared?" Ei asked, looking at the bottle of sake and the plates of Fried Tofu and fried skewers.
"Of course not."
Yae Miko smiled and produced a cup of Dango Milk and a plate of Tricolor Dango, along with two books, and set them on the table.
Ei's gaze lingered on the Tricolor Dango and the Dango Milk for a moment before falling on the two books.
On the exquisite cover were printed four large characters and three smaller ones.
Weathering With You, by Fang Qiu.
"Fang Qiu's new book?" Ei raised an eyebrow.
"That's right." Yae Miko smiled. "I brought it especially for you. So—do you like this gift?"
"It's… I only wanted to understand the entertainment tastes of the populace. I'm not that obsessed." Ei shook her head, breaking off halfway.
"That's exactly what I meant—understanding entertainment tastes," Yae Miko said with a mischievous smile.
Ei's expression stiffened. She shot Yae Miko a helpless look, then glanced at Sayu, standing lost and helpless in the center of the hall.
"And this child is…?" Ei asked.
"This little one is a young ninja my shrine maiden looks after. I happened to run into her on the way, and, thinking I'd cure her bad habit of slacking off, I brought her along to pour my sake." Yae Miko said with a faint smile.
As she spoke, Yae Miko beckoned to Sayu, motioning for her to come over.
"Well, little one? Now that you know how much thought I put into this, are you touched?" Yae Miko said with a smile.
Sayu's face crumpled miserably.
Touched?
She didn't dare move…
Just now, after being caught in the Tenshukaku, she'd been offered three choices by Yae Miko.
The first was to be handed over to the Tenryou Commission for hard labor, toiling day and night without rest.
The second was to clean the Grand Narukami Shrine every day.
The third was to pour sake in a little while, after which Kano Nana would give her two days off.
So, without a second thought, she'd chosen the third.
Pouring some sake to escape punishment and even earn two days off—surely this was too good—
But who could ever have guessed that pouring sake meant pouring it in front of the Shogun Almighty!
The Shogun Almighty's majesty was truly terrifying—it had just frightened every trace of drowsiness right out of her.
Had she known, she'd have picked the second option.
After all, she could slack off while cleaning, and the shrine maiden would surely help her out.
"There's no need to be afraid. Just come on up." Ei said gently, watching Sayu tremble.
"Oh…" Sayu stammered as she made her way to Yae Miko's side, swallowing hard.
Her eyes kept stealing glances at Ei across the table, her heart pounding without cease.
If she made a poor showing before the Shogun Almighty, she'd absolutely be sent off to hard labor.
And the kind where you got only a little sleep each day, a single meal, and not one day of rest in a whole week.
Just thinking about it was dreadful.
It would be sheer hell.
"Pour the sake," Yae Miko said with a faint smile.
"O-okay."
Sayu swallowed, picked up the expensive bottle of sake from the table, uncorked it, and—treading as though on thin ice—poured a bowl for Yae Miko before waiting off to one side.
"All right, let's read." Yae Miko picked up a skewer of Fried Tofu, popped it into her mouth, took a sip of sake, then picked up one of the copies of Weathering With You and began to read.
Ei had meant to pick up the Dango Milk for a sip, but after glancing at Sayu waiting beside Yae Miko, she left it untouched and reached straight for Weathering With You instead.
Drinking Dango Milk was not the same as reading.
To drink Dango Milk in the Tenshukaku would truly undermine the Shogun's dignity.
"Sit wherever you like," Ei said after a glance at Sayu.
With that, she opened the cover of Weathering With You and began to read in earnest.
The story, once again, began aboard a ship.
"Once again," because the first book she'd read, The Eternal, had also opened aboard a ship.
Come to think of it—surely this wouldn't be another tragedy…
Meanwhile, Yae Miko secretly curved her lips into a smile.
She'd read Ei's little inner struggle just now perfectly clearly.
Ei's reaction was simply too amusing.
She'd known Ei wouldn't feel comfortable drinking Dango Milk in front of Sayu.
That was one of the reasons she'd brought Sayu along to the Tenshukaku after spotting her.
She smiled and settled in to read closely.
Only Sayu was left standing forlornly off to the side, unsure whether to sit or stand.
Though the Shogun Almighty had told her to sit wherever she liked, she feared that the moment she sat down, drowsiness would set in.
If she fell asleep in the Tenshukaku, that would be catastrophic…
With no other choice, she looked at the book in Yae Miko's hands and secretly began to read along.
She had nothing better to do anyway.
Come to think of it, a good share of the blame for being dragged to the Tenshukaku by Yae Miko lay with Fang Qiu…
If it weren't for Fang Qiu, she wouldn't have been sent to the Yae Publishing House to buy books; if she hadn't been sent to buy books, she wouldn't have run into that noisy Arataki Itto; if she hadn't been fleeing from him, she wouldn't have escaped to the Tenshukaku and met Lady Guuji, and she wouldn't have been dragged here at all…
What's more, without Fang Qiu's books, Lady Guuji wouldn't have come to see the Shogun Almighty either…
The root of all this evil was Fang…
Outside the Tenshukaku, the Tenryou Commission soldiers had no idea what was happening within, patrolling with single-minded focus.
The Kujou Clan.
Kujou Sara sat upright in the sitting room, reading intently through Fang Qiu's Weathering With You by candlelight.
On the bookshelf beside the table, a neat pile of Fang Qiu's books had already stacked up.
Your Lie in April, Sword and Fairy, The Eternal…
She had every bound edition.
And beside the bookshelf stood five statues of Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho, enshrined in a specially crafted altar.
Alongside them, a piece of calligraphy hung on the wall, its eight characters brushed in bold, sweeping strokes: "Grand and Eternal is the Way; Everlasting is Narukami."
Inside the Kamisato Estate.
The Traveler and Paimon, Thoma and Kamisato Ayaka were quietly reading.
At the entrance of Naganohara Fireworks.
Having spent the whole afternoon making fireworks while holding back her anticipation, Naganohara Yoimiya picked up the copy of Weathering With You resting on the bench with a beaming smile and opened it, brimming with joy.
Beneath a cherry blossom tree not far off.
This time, Arataki Itto had splurged a small fortune to buy every member of the Arataki Gang a copy of Weathering With You.
Kuki Shinobu got one too.
She sat on a clean rock, watching the boss and Genta and the others, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly, and then opened the book in her hands.
And so time slipped slowly by, in step with the turning of pages in their hands.
The night gradually deepened.
Though Inazuma didn't have the sky-filling snows of Liyue, its nights were bitterly cold all the same.
The line of people at the entrance of the Yae Publishing House finally began to thin.
At the entrance of Naganohara Fireworks.
Naganohara Yoimiya turned Weathering With You to its final page.
On the last page, Hodaka Morishima and Hina Amano held each other tightly.
When she saw the closing line—"Between the world and you, I choose you"—tears streamed down Naganohara Yoimiya's face of their own accord.
She was crying.
Yet her smile was radiant.
They were tears of joy.
How wonderful.
It was a perfect ending.
Mitsuha Miyamizu and Taki Tachibana were together, and Hodaka Morishima and Hina Amano had ended up together too.
It was the happiest she'd ever felt finishing one of Miss Fang Qiu's books.
It really hadn't been easy.
Just as she was basking in her happiness, cheers rose from beneath the cherry blossom tree not far away.
Kuki Shinobu, seated on a rock off to one side, glanced at the excited boss and smiled faintly.
This person called Fang Qiu really did write well.
Even her own emotions had been stirred.
Having finished, she felt genuinely glad that Hodaka Morishima and Hina had ended up together.
At the same time, she found herself a little curious.
What on earth had Fang Qiu written in her last book to make the boss cry like that?
Granted, the boss truly was a deeply empathetic person—and quite childish; once, after losing to a kid more than fifty times in a row at Onikabuto fights, he'd nearly burst into tears…
Across from the Yae Publishing House, the tavern buzzed with even livelier chatter.
"Who'd have thought—Old Thief Fang Qiu actually wrote a happy ending. My youth is over."
"Old Thief Fang Qiu finally believes in love… tsss… wait a second!"
"Wait for what?"
"That Old Thief Fang Qiu wouldn't even spare a perfect ending in Your Name—so why the sudden change of heart in Weathering With You? Not only did Hodaka Morishima and Hina Amano end up together, even Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu got a definite ending…"
"What are you getting at?"
"You think… could that Old Thief Fang Qiu have found herself a lover? Otherwise, why would her writing style change so suddenly?"
"Tsss… now that you put it that way, it actually makes sense. Damn it—there goes my good mood."
"Say, is it possible Thoma wrote a letter asking Fang Qiu for a happy ending?"
"Impossible! Absolutely not! Thoma could never be that kind."
"True. Look—the guy doesn't even dare come buy the books anymore. If he knew Weathering With You had a happy ending, he'd definitely come to the Yae Publishing House's main store to buy it like last time, so more people could see where he stands."
"Now that you analyze it that way—right. If he went to another branch, it wouldn't clear his name as well. Looks like the tragic endings of Fang Qiu's earlier books really were custom-ordered by Thoma."
"Setting that aside—doesn't our Inazuma have it a bit too rough in Fang Qiu's books? First struck by a meteor, and now even half of Inazuma City has sunk."
"Seems so, ha. But in real life we've got the Shogun Almighty—she'd never let our Inazuma City be swallowed by the ocean."
"I'm in a good mood today, brothers. How about we hit the tavern for a drink?"
For a moment, the teahouse rang with laughter and cheer.
Inside the tearoom.
"I've finished. How about you?" Kamisato Ayaka set down the book in her hands with a slight smile and nodded in satisfaction.
"Me too." Thoma set his book down as well, his eyes full of surprise and delight.
The surprise was that Fang Qiu had actually written a book with a happy ending.
The delight was that his current predicament—paying double for his groceries—should now ease up somewhat.
Only then a doubt struck him.
He and Kamisato Ayaka had been talking for quite a while now—why hadn't the Traveler or Paimon chimed in even once?
Were they too absorbed in their reading?
So the two of them turned together to look at the Traveler and Paimon.
Only to find the Traveler looking unwell, her eyes dim, while Paimon had burst into tears—tears pouring out unstoppably, no matter how she wiped at them.
Seeing them like this, Kamisato Ayaka and Thoma were puzzled.
What was going on?
Didn't Weathering With You have a good ending?
Why would they be so upset?
"Traveler, Paimon, are you two all right?" Kamisato Ayaka asked, a little worried.
"Isn't this a happy ending? Why do you both look so heartbroken?" Thoma asked.
Lumine let out a long breath and, her expression a touch downcast, took out a strange purple feather, her eyes full of remembrance.
"It's nothing. It's just that when I read the part where Hina sacrifices herself to bring back the clear skies, I thought of a friend I met on Tsurumi Island."
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