51 It's time to duel

"Are you able to identify people based on the 'feel' you have?" she asked me for the first time.

Until now I had been the only one speaking while she listened, so I was surprised when she started the conversation.

"Yes" I nodded. "And as you know, I can detect lies. I 'feel' their elemental power to slightly vibrate, and I recognize it".

She just listened to me and had a pondering expression. I didn't want to waste my chance, so I spoke again.

"I'm also able to visualize their elemental power a bit. And I have been to Liyue and Modstadt, meeting the dragon and the drunk guy, and their elemental power was amazing" I nodded energetically, trying to bait her with her curiosity. How a God's soul or elemental power as I'm making her believe was one of the most interesting things in the world.

Maybe a bit less for her, as she was a God herself, but it's still interesting.

"How were they?" and there it is.

"Extremely powerful. Morax' was immense, the biggest I have seen, and it gave me a feeling of security. Hmmm, maybe I could explain it like this. No matter how dangerous the situation is, no matter how many enemies there are, Morax is a pillar that wouldn't break, no matter the danger. He will stand tall forever. Does that make sense?" I know a lot more, but I told her what she may have felt when she saw him.

"Yes, it does" she was now lost in her thoughts.

"While Barbatos was a lot different. It was all over the place. If Morax' was a rock, he is the wind. Yes, I know it's obvious, they are the Geo and Anemo Archons, but his elemental power was the wind itself" I explained while focusing on the mark I left. We were approaching those dreadful stairs.

I was avoiding to talk about the reunions I knew they all had. Barbatos had 'accidentally' told me that her sister died, so I was avoiding all topics that I thought were red flags.

"I understand that" the Shogun nodded.

"What about it?" I asked her with a mischievous smile that nobody in this country dared to direct to her. "Are you curious about yours?"

I was now addressing her normally, without all that Eternal Excellency crap, and she didn't seem to mind.

She thought for a bit, but she finally nodded.

"God's elemental power is special. Morax's elemental power is stone, Barbatos' elemental power is pure wind, and a friend's elemental power is made of ever-changing Dust. And yours is, obviously, made of pure lightning. It's of a purple hue and does not stay in the same place for more than a second. I almost can't feel it, that's how fast it changes. And yet, I sometimes feel that....." I trailed off. I had been so focused on studying her soul that I almost said something she wouldn't like.

Her soul was changing shapes constantly, but there was a faint silhouette that appeared with a lot of frequency. A woman, with the same features I remember seeing in the Shogun, stood still holding something. I couldn't see it, but it was an umbrella or something like that. Instead of the Shogun's always stern expression, she had a faint smile. I couldn't see colours, but the lighting adopted lighter hues in her clothes, if I could see colours it would probably be light pink.

This woman was probably her sister. And the fact that it still appeared in her soul meant that Yae's dear friend was always thinking about her.

"What do you see?" the Shogun's question took me out of my trance.

"Sorry, I must have imagined it" I apologised while waving my hands. "I feel that your elemental power is maybe 70% of that of Morax' but I feel it's a lot more concentrated than his. I consider him a friend, and I don't want to see you 2 fighting, but I don't know who would win" I admitted. If those bastards of the Kujou clan heard me, they would ask for my execution, they revered the Shogun as an all-powerful God.

"An accurate analysis" the Shogun agreed with me.

I can only see souls, but I have no idea of martial arts. She probably knows even better how their battle would go.

"But is strange" I muttered. "I can see it clearly today, while the rest of the days is almost like it's muted for some reason. I sometimes feel your elemental power surface again, especially when something strange happens in our meeting, but it quickly returns to normal" of course I was talking about how Yae's dear friend controlled the puppet for a brief period.

I can see her nervousness now, and I'm enjoying it, but better calm her down, she is still unpredictable.

"I won't pry, you probably have a lot of secrets as an Archon, and I'm not interested in them. All I care about is about making Inazuma a better place" and I shot her an honest smile.

She only nodded, but I could feel that she was a tiny bit impressed. Maybe impressed is not the word, maybe she just trusted me a little more.

"I know you and Yae are friends, so here, take this" I gave her a fried tofu I bought earlier. "I know she is lonely, as she can't speak to anybody else about some things. You probably have your reason and I'm not qualified to meddle, but if you give her this she will be happy for sure". Fried tofu is Yae's favourite food after all.

The Shogun looked a bit guilty hearing that, but accepted the fried tofu with a grateful nod.

"Yae, we are here" I said loudly and saw Yae approaching the entrance, still feeling anger from yesterday.

"What do you mean 'we'? There is nobody crazy enough to keep you company for the whole time it takes to climb the steps" she was morosely talking when she saw the Shogun by my side.

"Ehem, my apologies, I didn't know the Almighty Shogun was here" she apologized with a smile, but I could see that she didn't care about it.

"Miko" the Shogun nodded in greeting.

"Ei?" asked a shocked Yae.

"I will forget everything I hear now, so please be assured that no one will know" I smiled, knowing that I was not supposed to know what was happening.

The Shogun sent a grateful nod at me but looked towards Yae again.

"Here" it's all she said, handing Yae the fried tofu.

"Thank you" I could feel Yae's happiness. It makes me sad that such a small gesture is making Yae this happy.

And now I'm not sure if my book is a lie.

"Why are you here?" asked Yae, guiding us to a meeting room.

"We have a problem that requires our joint action" said a stern-voiced Shogun.

"Is there a powerful curse around or something like that? Kenshin should be able to deal with any curses by himself" replied an honest Yae, forgetting her anger now that her friend was near.

The Shogun looked surprised at me, she knew how nasty some curses could be, and Yae was saying that I could deal with every single one of them. I shot the Shogun a smile and made a victory gesture with my hand.

"No, it's not that. It's about this" the Shogun said while taking out the book.

Yae's face instantly darkened upon seeing it.

"How did you find out about that book?" she asked with anger in her voice.

"Kenshin told me about it" the Shogun gratefully said, and Yae looked at me in shock.

Well, I was the one who distributed it everywhere, even to the Resistance and Liyue.

And Yae didn't know that I even wrote it.

But I knew that she wouldn't tell the Shogun I gave it to our dear friends in Liyue as I would be in big trouble. It was ironic how I was safe because of my dangerous situation.

She didn't want me to die after all.

"What do want to do about it?" asked Yae clenching her teeth. She was royally pissed now, at the writer and at me. If she knew the 2 people she hated the most right now were the same person, even the Shogun's puppet would look like a stable being.

"We need to make a joint statement to say to the people this book is false" the Shogun readily explained what I suggested.

"Who told you that?" Yae looked at me with anger, but now she was frowning. She knew how people thought, and whoever recommended this was stupid or an asshole.

Hey, asshole here.

"I did, and the General of the Army agreed with me" I confessed, and pulled Sara into my side.

"Ei, we should let this slide" sighed Yae, ready to explain the reason to her friend.

"I disagree" I promptly said. This 'Ei' trusted Yae more than me, obviously, so I needed to hinder Yae's arguments. Not letting Yae speak was everything.

Honestly, I don't even know why I'm doing this. I planned to tease the Shogun about the book, and that's it.

Then the Shogun decided to come to the Shrine, and in an impulse, I offered to accompany her and I don't regret it. I had a lot of fun talking with Ei.

Even when we reached the Shrine, I was ready to listen to them, apologize for my suggestion and acknowledge how my plan would harm their image.

So I was the first one surprised when I raised my voice to protest to Yae's plan.

What am I even doing?

"If we don't do anything, people will believe what is written. We should speak about it now before more people know about it" I argued with confidence.

"Kenshin, what are you doing?" asked angrily Yae.

"Doing my best to contain the damage this unscrupulous person is trying to inflict in our wonderful country" I said with pride.

"I also think we need to say something" suddenly spoke Ei. "If we leave it as is, people will think it's the truth".

"Ei, it will be worse if we pay attention to it. We will give it more importance than what it has" Yae sensibly said.

The Shogun only looked at me, waiting for my input.

"I honestly think that waiting is an error. Once an idea has been put into someone's head, it will be harder to remove" I said with confidence. "Also, there are a few ways to say it without making it a huge deal. We can reach a middle ground" I looked at Yae in defiance.

"There is no middle ground in this. We give it importance, or we don't" Yae promised me a swift death with her eyes. 

"What do you propose?" Ei asked ME, not her friend. Looks like her way of thinking aligns with me more.

Yae shot a betrayed look at Ei, and a wrathful one at me.

"I will follow your will, but if you ask me, maybe we should tell the people that a covert agent from the Resistance is trying to disrupt our peace. That way we don't directly say that the book is a lie, but also we gave them the reason the writer could have for writing this". It was a good plan, and it was the best one. If only I wasn't the mastermind.

"I see" replied the Shogun with a pensive expression.

"I don't" I said in reflex. I could only apologize when the Shogun looked at me with a surprised gaze. "Sorry, it's just the habit".

She looked a bit shocked at my sense of humour but nodded.

"Ei, please trust me on this. If we ignore it, it will go away, but this way people may think that we are pursuing the author for revealing the truth" Yae looked at me with a vicious smile. 

How dirty, she pulled the emotional card.

Now the Shogun wasn't sure of what she should do. She agreed with me but didn't want to dismiss Yae's advice.

"Shogun-sama, may I ask a question to Guuji-sama?. If she answers it in a way that satisfies you, I won't speak again" I proposed. "A duel, a friendly one of course".

I knew from some books in the library that every house that had some power in Inazuma was chosen by their bravery in a duel with the Shogun, and it meant that she trusted duels as a way of judging a person's personality. Obviously, this isn't what we are talking about here, but the Shogun will probably agree and will do whatever the winner thinks.

"I approve". Look, she nodded instantly.

Yae looked at me with a frown. She probably doesn't think she will lose but is also unsure of what I have prepared.

As for my ace in the hole, it's obvious. I know what the writer will do.

"Guuji-sam-"

"Kid, call me Yae like you always do. Hearing you use that fake voice of yours is sending shivers down my spine" she immediately stopped me and stood up to reposition herself.

We were now seated one in front of each other in the 'seiza' position, basically with our knees on the ground and our asses in our legs. I don't know why we need to stay like this, but the Shogun insisted.

I am now in a face-off with Yae, and the Shogun is on one side, acting as the judge. I was feeling a bit intimidated now, I only wanted to have fun, but it looks like my head will fly off if I lose this.

How did things escalate this much?

Oh, it was me.