You held Futaba, waiting for her answer. He heard her say something, but her voice was too low and too fast—he couldn’t make it out.
You couldn’t help but ask,
“What?”
Futaba didn’t answer him. She just smiled.
The other girls also gathered around. Chihaya and Hitomi placed their hands on Futaba’s shoulder and arm respectively. Mai stood nearby, stretching her hand out and then pulling it back, not sure where to put it.
Chihaya’s fingers pressed on Futaba’s wrist, as if taking her pulse. Her brow furrowed for a moment, then relaxed.
“She bore the divine descent. The strain on her body is too great.”
“Is it serious?” You asked.
“Not too bad.”
Chihaya’s voice returned to calm.
“Divine descent does damage the body, but Lady Kaguya was very measured. She didn’t forcefully pour in too much power.”
Her palm began to emit a faint glow. A pale silver, very soft, similar to the color of moonlight. The light seeped out from her palm and slowly sank into Futaba’s shoulder.
Hitomi also placed her hand on Futaba’s arm, and her palm also lit up with a faint glow. Her glow was fainter than Chihaya’s, but equally warm.
Mai also squeezed in and placed her hand on the back of Futaba’s hand. Her glow was the weakest, but she was still sending it out as best she could.
The spiritual power of the three simultaneously surged into Futaba’s body, and her complexion improved at a visible rate.
You watched this scene, and a question popped into his head.
“Why? Hitomi also bore a divine descent a few days ago, didn’t she? Why did she seem fine then?”
Hitomi answered while continuing her technique. Her voice still had that gentle tone, but it held a hint of seriousness.
“Because a divine descent is actually a very dangerous ritual.”
She paused.
“Miko who serve the deities must first practice techniques to transform their own souls in order to be able to withstand the descent of a deity. I had practiced such techniques, so I was fine.”
She glanced at Futaba.
“It seems Futaba hasn’t practiced this kind of curse art.”
You suddenly remembered something. Before Hitomi’s divine descent, she formed a strange mudra with both hands. But this time, Futaba did nothing. Lady Kaguya just descended directly.
“How long will the treatment take?” he asked.
Mai finally found her place. She placed her hand on Futaba’s forehead, her palm emitting a faint white light. Her voice was a little shaky, but her tone was serious.
“It’s not a big deal.”
She thought for a moment.
“With me, my sister, and Sister Hitomi treating her together, it’ll be fine in about ten minutes or so.”
Chihaya nodded, confirming it.
You finally relaxed.
He looked down at Futaba in his arms.
Her face was still a little pale, but much better than before. The blood on her lips had already been cleaned away by Chihaya’s purification technique, leaving no trace. But what caught your attention wasn’t her complexion—it was her eyes.
They were very bright.
Like a child who had received a long-awaited birthday present, unable to hide her joy.
Even the mysterious smile on her face couldn’t conceal her excitement.
She opened her mouth, about to say something.
“Whatever it is, tell me after the treatment is done.”
You cut her off. Futaba obediently closed her mouth.
But the excitement on her face only grew stronger.
***
A few minutes earlier.
When Futaba’s consciousness was enveloped by that cool, clear power, it felt completely different from what she had imagined.
She thought a divine descent would hurt. Although no techniques for divine descent had been passed down in the texts, they all said that without prior technique training, the strain on a miko’s body was immense. Logically, it should have been very painful.
But now that it was happening to her, the pain was almost nonexistent.
It was a feeling of fullness.
Like too much had been poured into her body, every cell stretched to capacity. So full she felt like she might burst at any moment, yet she didn’t.
She could also hear another voice—resonating directly in the depths of her consciousness, as if someone was speaking inside her soul.
Her consciousness became strange—both chaotic and clear.
Chaotic because many things that weren’t hers suddenly flooded into her mind. Not words, not images, but more like emotions, a temperature, something indescribable. Like someone had opened a window in her mind, revealing a landscape she had never seen before.
Clear because she could simultaneously perceive the boundary between herself and Lady Kaguya.
She could hear the rustling of bamboo in the courtyard, smell the wood of the corridor. Those were her own.
But she could also sense Lady Kaguya.
She could feel Lady Kaguya’s power pressed against her soul. Not oppressive, not invasive, more like two sheets of water overlapping. She could still see, hear, and think, but at the same time, she had another strange sensation—she felt like she could perceive what Lady Kaguya was thinking.
Not mind-reading. It was a vaguer, more indirect perception. Like looking at a lamp through thin paper—the light came through, but the shape of the lamp was still blurred.
Lady Kaguya stood up using her body, walked to You, bowed, and spoke. Futaba’s consciousness sat inside her body like a spectator, watching Lady Kaguya perform on stage.
Then she heard those words.
“I have never harbored any thoughts of overstepping toward Lord Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto.”
When Lady Kaguya said that, Futaba could clearly feel it—it was sincere. No deception, no reluctance, no trace of “saying no while the body says yes.” Lady Kaguya meant it.
A huge confusion welled up in Futaba’s heart.
Why?
Why had Lady Kaguya encroached on Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto’s domain of the moon, yet claimed she had no intention of overstepping? Wasn’t that contradictory?
She couldn’t help but think back to that day in front of Hakone Shrine. Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto—no, Lord Tsukuyomi—had said,
“These daughters-in-law, I am very pleased with them.”
At the time, she thought it was just a casual remark. But now, it seemed like those words had another meaning.
A terrifying guess began to take shape in her heart.
Could it be that Lady Kaguya, as a piece used by Amaterasu Omikami to counterbalance the faith in Tsukuyomi, was well aware of her own position and accepted that fate? Was she content to be that balancing piece, with no desire to go further?
Futaba turned this thought over and over in her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed. If that were really the case, Lady Kaguya would be way too… too…
She didn’t dare say it, didn’t even dare think it. Because it was too blasphemous.
But her consciousness was now intertwined with Lady Kaguya’s power, and this state of soul entanglement made it hard to hide her thoughts.
Lady Kaguya’s leisurely voice echoed in her soul.
“‘Salted fish,’ is it?”
Her tone was calm, even carrying a hint of playful laughter.
“You little girl, you sure have guts. Seems like I need to give you a small punishment.”