"Shogun?" Yoimiya had also seen the Raiden Shogun up close before. For a moment, he actually had the illusion that the Raiden Shogun was right before his eyes, but he felt that the Raiden Shogun wouldn't be dressed like the Lady in front of him.
The Lady before him looked more like a Demoiselle from a prestigious family, and his temperament was also completely different from the Raiden Shogun's.
"Sister Zhen, are you really not the Raiden Shogun?" Paimon circled around Raiden Makoto with a curious face, his eyes wide as he sized her up. The more he looked at Raiden Makoto, the more he felt that Raiden Makoto looked exactly like the Statue of the Seven on the ley lines of Inazuma.
One could say there was almost no difference.
"Hmm?"
"Why are you all asking me those questions as soon as you get back?"
Lumine's gaze also fell on Raiden Makoto. He shared the same view as Paimon and had the same experiences. He wasn't stupid!
The same trick would definitely not fool him again!
"How could Makoto possibly be the Shogun? The Shogun has always been in Tenshukaku. Although Makoto looks very similar to the Shogun, Makoto is Makoto, and the Shogun is the Shogun. Makoto is a gentle person and also my close friend." Kamisato Ayaka didn't know why Lumine and Paimon would mistake Raiden Makoto for the Raiden Shogun; hadn't they never seen the Raiden Shogun before?
But at this moment, everyone's eyes were on Raiden Makoto, including Kamisato Ayaka, who was also looking at Raiden Makoto seriously.
"I am indeed not the Raiden Shogun..."
Isn't the Raiden Shogun a puppet created by Ei? He felt that it should be considered Ei's daughter, right?
He remembered that the people of Inazuma at that time called him Divine Lord Ryūjin.
"See, I told you Makoto wasn't the Raiden Shogun. How could Makoto possibly be that cold and heartless Raiden Shogun?"
But Thoma and Lumine both seemed to realize something. Lumine and Thoma suddenly remembered what Raiden Makoto and Kujou Sara had said under the statue of the thousand-armed and hundred-eyed god.
"Makoto, back then under the statue of the thousand-armed and hundred-eyed god, you said the current Raiden Shogun is just a puppet... Is that true? You weren't just deceiving Kujou Sara?" At that time, his heart was in a bit of a panic, and he hadn't noticed the conversation between Raiden Makoto and Kujou Sara.
"Yes."
"Of course it's true. Yae Miko told me that the current Raiden Shogun is nothing more than a puppet running automatically according to its programmed settings."
"I knew it... How could the Shogun issue such heartless orders..." Kamisato Ayaka's eyes lit up. When she was a child, her grandmother had told her stories about the Raiden Shogun from hundreds of years ago. How could that God of Thunder, who deeply loved her people and was loved by them in return, be so heartless?
"Her Excellency must love us deeply... But why is the current Raiden Shogun a puppet?"
She looked at Kamisato Ayaka, who had found her faith again, and didn't know whether to reveal the cruel truth.
Based on her understanding of her sister, he definitely didn't deeply love the people of Inazuma. But that was also her fault for not teaching her sister properly during that time.
"Five hundred years ago, a disaster occurred. Since then, he completely shut himself away, sealing himself within the Plane of Euthymia and creating a puppet to manage affairs in his stead."
"And the Raiden Shogun you see now has always been that puppet, not the God of Thunder."
"Miko told me everything."
Except for Paimon and Lumine, who did not belong to Inazuma, everyone else, including Kamisato Ayaka and Yoimiya, as well as Thoma, showed shocked expressions.
Kamisato Ayaka and Thoma absolutely believed Raiden Makoto. As for Yoimiya, he had to believe what Raiden Makoto said.
"Her Excellency... is actually just a puppet?"
"The disaster five hundred years ago... it should be related to Khaenri'ah, right?" Lumine knew what the disaster five hundred years ago Raiden Makoto mentioned was; it was also something he had mentioned to Raiden Makoto before.
"It's related, I suppose..." Raiden Makoto actually didn't know how Raiden Makoto had passed away; there was still only a blurry image in her mind.
"Was it because of The Abyss? Or perhaps because of... The Abyss."
"Sister Zhen, you look so much like the God of Thunder, you wouldn't also be a puppet created by the God of Thunder, would you?" Paimon suddenly thought of something. If the God of Thunder wanted to create a puppet, he probably couldn't make it perfectly on the first try, right?
"After all, the technology for creating puppets... it probably wasn't mature at all five hundred years ago."
"..." Raiden Makoto was a bit speechless. "Paimon, what's going on in that head of yours? How could I be a puppet created by the God of Thunder?"
But Raiden Makoto then slowly looked at Kamisato Ayaka, looking at the dignified Lady with white hair before her.
He was the first person she had seen after waking up, and also her first close friend after waking up.
Actually, she could have revealed her identity to Kamisato Ayaka long ago, but she had always worried that doing so would cause her and Kamisato Ayaka to become distant and estranged.
"Ayaka."
"If I said I have a connection to the God of Thunder, would you..."
A look of determination appeared in Kamisato Ayaka's ice-blue eyes. She probably knew what Raiden Makoto wanted to say to her; she knew that Raiden Makoto had likely recovered part of her memory.
Raiden Makoto already knew her identity, so how could she not see through it? She had noticed the change in Raiden Makoto.
Kamisato Ayaka interrupted Raiden Makoto, and she also pulled back the smile on her face, becoming very serious.
"Makoto, no matter what your identity is, I won't care... You and I will always be best friends... won't we? We share common hobbies and interests."
"Yes."
Kamisato Ayaka's words completely dispelled the worry in Raiden Makoto's heart, and a smile appeared on her face as well.
Meanwhile, the others were looking at Raiden Makoto and Kamisato Ayaka with great focus, especially Paimon, who was looking at Raiden Makoto and Kamisato Ayaka with an expression as if he were watching gossip.
He felt there was something going on!
Lumine had a thoughtful look on his face, as if he were pondering something.
"My true name is Raiden Makoto. I am the Twin Archons with Raiden Ei. We were born together; in the past, I handled civil affairs while Ei handled military affairs."
"During the disaster five hundred years ago, I passed away due to an accident, and Ei has since sealed himself within the Plane of Euthymia."
Because of what Raiden Makoto said, the originally lively Kamisato Estate fell into complete silence.
As Raiden Makoto spoke those words, a large number of blurry images began to surface in her mind, and all those images became clear.
Everything about Raiden Makoto's past flooded into her mind—the experiences with her former close friends and the experiences with her sister since birth seemed to be right before her eyes.
She was Raiden Makoto.
The God name is Raiden.
From now on, she was Raiden Makoto, she was Raiden.
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