Nighttime, Tenshukaku.
"Shogun, I have a very strange feeling."
At this moment, Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun was still sorting through government affairs, and there was no second person present in Tenshukaku.
"Since you find it strange, why not tell me what exactly feels strange?"
"I can't quite put it into words. If I have to say, it's probably that your changes seem quite significant."
Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun's expression remained as calm as ever.
"This body once promised its subjects a dream—an eternity that remains unchanging and unshifting for a thousand generations.
No matter how the exterior or methods change, the inner essence cannot possibly change. I am still myself, the god firmly pursuing impartial and absolute eternity.
However, Ei, could it be that your convictions have begun to waver? Earlier, I sensed that you shared the sensation of drinking milk dango with me."
The voice from the Plane of Euthymia fell silent for a moment.
"I merely happened to check the outside world while you were drinking milk dango."
Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun asked rationally.
"But most of the time you take control of the body is precisely when I am drinking milk dango."
"That's because when the Shura Anyakonsen-shou comes, I need to understand the content I have to explain to him, and at those times you are always drinking milk dango."
"Sugar benefits brain function, and cheerful emotions improve learning efficiency. It seems this principle applies to both of us."
"Mm... You're right. It looks like I was overthinking it."
Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun placed the reviewed documents to the side.
At this moment, Ei in the Plane of Euthymia also resumed her closed-door seclusion there.
Ei actually could still observe the outside world, but she generally did not come out.
After all, if she came out once and happened to run into her good friend Yae Miko...
Then her inner eternity would surely waver.
This time she had come out only because she sensed some slight changes in her proxy, the Raiden Shogun.
But upon hearing the Shogun's tone firmly insisting on eternity, Ei knew that the Shogun was still that Shogun—the version of herself from five hundred years ago with the most resolute belief in eternity.
The Shogun hadn't changed, yet it seemed she herself had undergone some changes...
To actually crave that dessert...
But she had only forcibly eaten that one "Dish of Judgment," and yet she had somehow become somewhat fond of sweets...
And then looking at the Shogun's appearance... and now seeing Inazuma slowly recovering...
It felt almost as if the era when that older sister was still around had returned...
No, I really have become somewhat weak. This erosion...
I cannot check the outside world anymore recently. This is inconsistent with my pursuit. I should properly seclude this variable of eternity for a while.
I need to properly reflect on that nation from five hundred years ago—that nation which ran with all its might only to be destroyed by Celestia...
Because of which my sister departed...
Ei turned her blade upon herself, to prove the firmness of her resolve.
Now, with the Raiden Shogun watching over it, Inazuma's eternity would surely have no issues.
Ei's expression gradually calmed. The Plane of Euthymia remained dark as ever, yet ultimately, there was still a faint, imperceptible change.
The Shogun also sensed Ei's self-isolation, but she maintained her own rhythm in handling government affairs.
The Shogun's eternity was naturally the same as it had been five hundred years ago.
"This body symbolizes supreme authority, granted the right to rule over a nation, embodying all that is the Raiden Shogun."
"It naturally inherits the pain that was continuously lost during Ei's journey forward, as well as the determination to reach eternity."
"All of it is to oppose erosion."
"Determination, courage, affection, hatred... all will become distorted and degraded in the long river of time."
"Only law is eternally unchanging."
But now, the Shogun had begun to explore the source of this law of eternity herself.
Was the so-called eternity that Ei, in her self-perceived clarity amid suffering, chose in a do-or-die manner truly impartial and absolute?
Was this so-called law merely wishful thinking, or did it truly exist?
These questions would be slowly answered by the now-thinking Shogun in the future.