After letting out a long yawn, Terumi Mei opened her eyes and saw that in front of her there was an extra can of iced green tea.
Ryosuke was standing opposite her, smiling as he said, "It's already so late, and you still haven't gone to sleep."
"I can't fall asleep, ha..."
Halfway through her words, another long yawn came out.
She took the green tea that Ryosuke handed over, mumbled a thank you, gulped down nearly half a can, and only then, like an old man savoring wine, let out a satisfied sigh. Her sleepy gaze finally recovered some clarity.
The night breeze blew gently, and Terumi Mei slightly tightened the blanket around her.
"Sorry," Ryosuke said.
"What are you apologizing for?"
"The day we arrived in Kyoto, I promised you we would watch the fireworks at the Water Garden Festival together."
"Yes, you promised, but…"
Terumi Mei pinched the cold aluminum can with her thumb and middle finger, lifted it to her lips, and took a shallow sip, "No one expected so many things would happen tonight. As for the fireworks festival."
She pouted her lips toward Oda Ieyasu not far away.
"Thanks to this one, didn't we already see one up close?"
Ryosuke reacted, realizing she meant the cluster bomb under the Daimyo mansion.
Speaking of brilliance… under high heat and high pressure, the explosion's flames turned snow white. It really was a grand "fireworks."
And it was precisely because of that explosion that the official fireworks festival of the Water Garden was canceled.
The concern was that someone might use the booming sounds of the fireworks as cover, sneaking in to kill and fight, triggering new chaos.
Too many things had already happened tonight; no one wanted the just-stabilized situation to change again.
Terumi Mei said, "I just feel a little unwilling."
"Unwilling?"
She loosened the blanket slightly. Inside, it was no longer the blue tight-fitting battle dress she usually wore, but a yukata with a white base and scattered pink cherry blossoms.
Only then did Ryosuke notice, Terumi Mei had put on makeup. Her brows and eyes carried a bit more softness than usual, her lips were red and full, her long hair tied up with a golden hairpin, and dangling from the hairpin was the strawberry bear she usually liked.
He thought back. Before setting out for Kyoto, Terumi Mei had mysteriously hidden something in the cabinet.
It must have been this outfit. As Mizukage, in order to keep her dignity, she normally had no way to wear a yukata outside.
Terumi Mei once again tightened the blanket, resting her chin on her knees, "I carried clothes and jewelry all the way here, but so many things happened. After everything was finally resolved, stupid me thought, 'Ah, now I can wait for the fireworks festival to start.'"
"I changed clothes, put on makeup, came out, and then heard others say that tonight's fireworks festival was canceled."
"Thinking about it, who knows when the next time I'll come to Kyoto will be. Maybe by then, I'll already be over thirty, becoming an old auntie…"
She raised her head, glanced at Ryosuke, and slightly puffed out her cheeks.
"This kind of unwillingness, can you understand?"
Ryosuke nodded.
It's like spending half a day kneading dough, chopping filling, wrapping dumplings, cooking them, putting them on the table, and then realizing the vinegar at home is gone.
"That's why, I can't sleep."
Terumi Mei pointed at her eyes.
"If I lie in bed like this, I'll probably just stare at the ceiling wide awake."
"Especially in another hour or two, when I hear the birds outside the window, and realize the Water Garden Festival's night has ended, I'll finally turn into an unwilling wraith."
Ryosuke thought for a moment.
"Wait for me a moment."
As soon as his voice fell, he disappeared from Terumi Mei's sight. About ten seconds later, Ryosuke reappeared, one hand carrying a bucket of water, the other gripping a handful of sparklers.
"Make do with this?"
"I thought you'd bring back a big firework. This… well, I'll make do."
Though her mouth sounded disdainful, the corners of her lips couldn't help rising. She tossed the blanket aside, picked up a sparkler, and lit it using the golden flame in Ryosuke's palm.
Crackling golden sparks flickered, reflected in her smiling, squinting eyes, more brilliant than the stars across the sky.
Just then, the melodious sound of the shakuhachi once again echoed within the Daimyo mansion.
The tune was still "Wind," and in it Ryosuke felt Oda Ieyasu's "sorrowful breathing."
Oda Ieyasu sat on the tatami, gently playing.
The little Hideyoshi, originally trapped in a nightmare with a terrified expression, upon hearing the sound representing his mother, gradually smoothed his brows, a tear sliding down his cheek.
After the tune ended, the sparklers also burned out completely, one by one tossed into the bucket of water.
"But, since earlier I've had one question."
Terumi Mei pointed at the bucket, "You can hold fire barehanded, I'm Mizukage, and we're playing with sparklers, do we really need a bucket of water?"
Ryosuke shrugged, "Isn't this about atmosphere? If it were only about lights and sound, I could take Hidan's ashes and make an explosion, maybe even better than a fireworks festival."
"Then…"
Terumi Mei propped her chin with one hand, tilted her head slightly, squinting at Ryosuke, "Is it pretty?"
"Pretty."
"Hmph hmph."
Terumi Mei revealed a mischievous smile of success, "I meant the fireworks."
Ryosuke calmly met her gaze.
"I meant you."
Boom!
Terumi Mei heard the sound of fireworks blooming.
Ryosuke reached out, pointing at her hairpin, makeup, and yukata, and said seriously, "It matches you perfectly."
She suddenly stood up, her face flushing red, hands on her waist, laughing loudly, "So you do have some taste. My efforts weren't wasted. Engrave my beauty well into your heart!"
Ryosuke thought for a moment, then pulled out a Polaroid camera from the ghost room and shook it.
Terumi Mei's eyes lit up, and she nodded hard.
Along with a faint click.
They took a photo.
Ryosuke picked up a marker and wrote today's date on the blank space below. He handed the photo to Terumi Mei.
"Next time, let's come again."
"Sure, next time I'll change to another style."
"What style?"
Terumi Mei lifted her chin, brimming with spirit.
"A woman's secret."
———
[Akatsuki Base]
Nagato looked exhausted, coughing constantly.
He had just finished sealing the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki.
The sealing of tailed beasts into the Demonic Statue must be carefully and tediously done in the order of One through Nine Tails.
But that didn't mean they had to capture in order.
Now that the Three-Tails and Six-Tails had been slain by Ryosuke, becoming wild tailed beasts, Nagato's plan was to capture them first, seal them into human bodies, and create Jinchūriki.
Like "batteries."
Once the Three-Tails and Six-Tails were captured, then they could formally move against Sunagakure.
One, Six, and Three Tails gathered, and then thrown into the Demonic Statue at once, achieving maximum efficiency.
Otherwise, striking at the One-Tail first would attract the early attention of all the great ninja villages, which was unfavorable to the plan's execution.
As for where the Jinchūriki for sealing the tailed beasts would come from?
Naturally, from descendants of the Uzumaki clan.
Back then, when the Uzumaki clan was wiped out, much sealing jutsu and bloodline was divided up by the great nations.
Now, the increasingly perfected techniques for tailed beast suppression and perfect Jinchūriki cultivation all traced back to the Uzumaki clan's legacy.
The great nations' conglomerates could provide Nagato with funding, and also provide manpower.
Nagato and the unlucky soul chosen to be the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki, who might be killed after some time when the tailed beast is extracted, could even be distant relatives if traced back a few generations.
But, it didn't matter.
For the sake of the plan, not to mention distant relatives, Nagato didn't even care about his own life.
"Cough cough…"
Nagato coughed painfully, his body trembling nonstop, until after a long while he finally stopped.
Konan handed him a glass of water.
"Thanks."
Nagato took the water, gulped it down.
Konan looked at his thin profile, softly saying, "Kakuzu and Hidan are both dead."
Nagato's drinking paused for half a second. He drained the glass in one go, gently put it down, and said,
"I know. With two fewer people in the organization… I'll find a way to recruit more."
Konan walked around to face him.
"Now it's not about manpower, Nagato. What do you really think?"
"Do you really intend to confront Ryosuke head-on?"
Nagato's pair of Rinnegan eyes were like a pool of dead water. He glanced at the bag on Konan's waist, inside it was a notebook she never left behind.
"If it is, Konan, who will you help?"
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