Gulp... gulp...
Her fair throat moved continuously as the milk went down. A mouthful of sweet dango milk spread through Ei's mouth and into her throat before she finally swallowed. She lowered the drink and rested it on her thigh as she sat there, closing her eyes to savor that long-missed, comforting taste.
"...Is it good?"
Sitting beside her, the Shogun smiled faintly at the sight.
"Mm... It's good. You should have some too."
Ei opened her eyes and handed the milk to her.
"I don't want any... I've already had some before."
She shook her head.
"Have a little... Here."
Ei did not give up and still insisted that she drink some. That part of her truly had never changed. Whenever she had something good, she would never keep it all to herself. She would instinctively think of the Shogun as well. Perhaps that was simply how she saw things from the perspective of a mother.
"..."
With no other choice, the Shogun took it. She paid no mind to the fact that Ei had already drunk from the rim and directly pressed her own soft lips against it, taking a sip.
"Haa... Not bad. The rest is yours. Finish it."
After lowering it, she handed it back to Ei. Ei took it and drank another small mouthful, savoring the sweetness as she gazed out over the endless sea ahead, illuminated by the desolate moonlight.
Whoosh...
The roar of the waves filled their ears as well. The sea breeze stirred their clothes and hair, almost as though it were telling the history of Inazuma, carrying a trace of nostalgia within its bleakness.
"..."
The Shogun watched the scene, then glanced at her mother's profile beside her. Mischievously, she raised a hand and placed it on Ei's thigh, stroking it back and forth. Her palm felt the texture of Ei's dark-purple thigh-high stockings. She was only doing it to express how much she depended on the person beside her.
Feeling the touch on her thigh, Ei turned her eyes toward the Shogun with a faint smile. Then she affectionately covered the hand resting on her leg, clasped it firmly, and placed it in her other palm, patting it gently again and again.
Warmth spread through the Shogun's heart. Without a word, she leaned sideways against Ei, resting her head on Ei's shoulder while wrapping her other arm around hers, acting spoiled.
"Hehe... You've been awfully fond of acting spoiled lately."
Ei lovingly stroked her head and spoke in a warm voice.
"...Am I not allowed to?"
The Shogun asked in a muffled voice.
"I never said you weren't... Seeing you this close to me makes me very happy."
After saying that, Ei slowly relaxed the legs she had kept bent while sitting on the steps and stretched them forward, the soles of her shoes lightly scraping against the sand.
"Before I came to find you... I was with Kokomi the whole time."
"Kokomi? That child came too? Where is she?"
Ei asked.
"She left. I took her to the harbor, and she sailed away from Narukami Island."
The Shogun answered.
"Did she come to participate in the Test of Courage?"
Ei reached up and removed a leaf from the top of the Shogun's head as she asked.
"Only incidentally, I think... She came to buy a light novel."
"I see..."
Ei said nothing more.
"She's really so busy... She's gotten thinner from all the work, and sometimes she even coughs. I keep telling her to take care of herself, but she just won't listen."
As she spoke, the Shogun buried her face in Ei's shoulder, sounding as though she were complaining.
"She is the leader of Watatsumi Island, after all. It's understandable that she's busy. Unlike us, she doesn't have a complete administrative system or the Tri-Commission supporting her. She's handling it largely on her own. Try to understand her. Only by understanding each other can a relationship continue."
Ei comforted her.
"Mm... I just feel sorry for her... seeing her like that every day."
The Shogun nodded against her shoulder.
"My Shogun has finally learned to worry about other people."
Ei smiled.
"What do you mean...? The person I worry about most is you. I've worried about you for five hundred years."
The Shogun lifted her head and puffed out her cheeks at Ei.
"I meant other people."
Ei emphasized.
"Other people? I worry about Ayaka too. If I hadn't helped that child with what she went through when she was young, she would've long since... Haa..."
"Exactly... You've been worrying about people since you were so young. Careful, or you'll get forehead wrinkles."
Ei smiled and poked her forehead, then brushed aside the bangs over the right side of her face, revealing the beautiful beauty mark identical to her own.
"...Haa."
The Shogun narrowed her eyes slightly at her, then abruptly dropped down and buried her head across Ei's thighs. Her hip-length violet hair, despite being tied near the ends, still tickled Ei slightly. Yet Ei showed no discomfort. She merely continued stroking her daughter's hair indulgently, instinctively laying her long legs flatter so the Shogun could rest more comfortably.
"Oh, right..."
The Shogun suddenly remembered something. She shifted slightly and looked up at Ei's face.
"Mm?"
Ei lowered her gaze and met her eyes.
"How are things between you and Miko?"
She asked.
"Miko? What happened to her?"
Ei still looked completely confused.
"I mean, how is she...? Haven't you gone to see her these past few days?"
By now, the Shogun already had a suspicion, but she still asked.
"No... Why would I need to go find her?"
Ei asked in confusion. Her tone remained baffled, even slightly blank.
"..."
I knew it!!
She had known it. Something like this was completely hopeless when it came to her wooden-headed mother!
Sorry, Miko. She had tried her best.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I haven't done anything..."
Exactly. The problem is that you haven't done anything... She had thought the two of them might already be together. Even if not together, at least they could have made some progress. And yet—
"Right. That night when you stayed together, what did you do?"
She asked again.
"...?"
Ei thought back.
"Nothing... We just slept."
That was her answer.
"..."
"At the time, I was lying on my side reading a light novel, and she was lying beside me. She really did seem afraid of having nightmares, so she came over and hugged me. She was so frightened that she pressed herself very tightly against me."
Ei rested a hand beneath her chin as she recalled it.
"And then?"
The Shogun asked intently.
"Then I said, 'Miko, don't be afraid... you won't have a nightmare.' And then..."
"And then...?"
"...Then I went back to reading my light novel."
Ei lowered her hand and answered decisively.
"..."
Sorry, Miko. There truly was nothing she could do.
The Shogun nearly coughed up blood on the spot!
"Hehe... Thinking about it now, Miko hasn't changed at all. She's grown quite a bit, but she's still that clingy little fox."
Not only did Ei fail to realize there was anything wrong with what she had done, she even chuckled nostalgically and sighed with gentle fondness.
"..."
The Shogun stared at Ei speechlessly.
"...Did I do something wrong?"
Ei looked confused.
"Why did you go back to reading the novel then?"
The Shogun sat up and asked with painstaking patience.
"Mm? Why did I read it? Because I had just reached a part that interested me, so... I kept reading."
Ei answered as though it were perfectly reasonable, leaving the Shogun unable to argue.
"No. At that moment, you should've put the light novel down and hugged her directly..."
The Shogun said.
"...Why?"
Ei froze and tilted her head in confusion.
"What do you mean, 'why'...? Because Miko likes—"
The Shogun stopped halfway through. The words had reached her lips, but for some reason, she could not bring herself to say them.
Should she really tell her?
"...?"
Ei looked at her in confusion.
"Haa... You were asking why you should've hugged her, right?"
The Shogun exhaled and switched to a more indirect approach.
"Mm... Why?"
Ei still shook her head.
"Then... why do you always take the initiative to hug me when we sleep?"
She asked in return. Every time they went to sleep, Ei would always be the one to pull her into an embrace.
"...Is that strange? That's because the person I'm holding is you. If I don't hold you, you'll have nightmares. You'll sweat, sleep restlessly, and even cry in your dreams... Seeing you like that hurts me deeply. I can't bear to watch you suffer like that, so I hold you while you sleep. Only then can you sleep peacefully."
As Ei's gentle words entered her ears one by one, the Shogun fell silent. She stared blankly at the woman before her, her eyes faintly shimmering.
"Sorry... I... I didn't know... you would..."
Her heart ached. Why had she asked Ei something like that?
Those words had already sunk deeply into her heart, making her nose sting. Thinking about it now, every morning when she opened her eyes, Ei's face would be the first thing she saw. Ei's arm would always remain wrapped around her in the exact same position, never once having moved away.
"It's all right... This is something a mother should do. Don't blame yourself."
Ei gently reassured her, that smile beneath the moonlight appearing even more beautiful and making the Shogun feel completely at ease.