63 My food is mine!

"Sara, what happened?" asked Takayuki, seeing Sara's red face and the state of Kenshin.

Sara didn't answer, she just let Kenshin drop onto the floor and went to her seat beside the Shogun, looking down with a red face.

Ei looked confusedly at Sara, even if her face only expressed calmness.

"Untie him" she ordered, but Sara quickly spoke, trying to calm her embarrassment.

"I was warned by Guuji-sama to not do that, and I was told that he must be back in the exact same state he is in right now. She seemed to be angry with him" Sara quickly spoke, afraid of the state Yae was in when she entered the room.

"Them raise him up" she ordered, and 2 guards approached to put Kenshin in a sitting position.

"Bleergh!" Kenshin released what had been escalating through his threat for a while, making everyone in the room look at him in horror.

The worst one was the guard who found himself covered in vomit.

"Sorry, I had fish for dinner, so it may stink a little" Kenshin genuinely apologized. "What am I here for? I was having a great time in the Shrine".

"You are here to answer some questions" asked Takayuki with a stern face.

"Sure thing, ask away" said Kenshin with a nod, making them surprised.

"Kenshin, are you okay? You were saying the world was going to end yesterday, and now you feel like a hyperactive kid with a sugar overdose" said Ayato with raised eyebrows.

"I already told Yae, but I guess you should know it. I'm not going to waste the period in my life where I should be having fun and spending time with girls losing my hair because of these greedy old men. So I'm going to have fun" Kenshin nodded to himself. He almost felt stupid for wasting his energy trying to argue with the people here.

"We are in such a predicament and you are talking about spending time with girls?!" roared Takayuki hitting the table with his fist.

"Unlike yours, my stick is still working, so yes" Kenshin replied with a smile.

"I will ask you something, and you will answer honestly" Ei finally spoke. She was also a bit lost about Kenshin's sudden change, but she knew Kenshin was a human child, maybe it had something to do.

"Sure. Ask away" Kenshin said, completely unafraid.

"Did you have something to do with the people escaping from Inazuma?" Ei asked with a pointed look, trying to look for an answer she desperately needed.

"Nope. But still, escape huh?" Kenshin muttered looking at the ceiling.

Ei flinched inwardly hearing him, as she used the word 'escape' after all. What did that say about Inazuma?

"Where were you yesterday?" asked Takayuki, expecting Kenshin's classical 'I don't answer to you' reply.

"In the Shrine. I was writing a book and I was able to complete it yesterday, it's called 'The Radiant Knight and the Poor Village'" said Keshin with a smile.

"Are you mocking us?" asked the leader of the Kanjou Commission.

"Why would you think that? It's your job to prevent us from being poor after all. But no, I was not. I had been writing that book for months, so the name is only a coincidence. You can also buy it from any library, including the Yae Publishing House. It's 20.000 Mora" Kenshin replied with a serious look. His book was important.

"I will buy one" said Ayato, putting a bag full of Mora in front of Kenshin.

"Sure thing. Go to the Publishing House and tell them my name and that you already paid directly to me. When Yae releases me I will even sign it for you" Kenshin said with a grateful smile and bit the bag, he didn't trust the people here to not grab it. But he only bit the air, he couldn't see the bag after all.

"A little to your right" Ayato helped with a calm face.

"Zhank fou" Kenshin said while holding firmly to the bag with his teeth.

"Stop this at once!" Takayuki jumped again. "I know you had something to do!"

"Lie" Kenshin said while using his tied hands behind his back to count the money.

Takayuki looked even angrier.

"Where are your parents then!" he asked, looking intently at him.

"While I find it curious why you know that my parents aren't here" Kenshin said with a calm face. "They left Inazuma".

"Why?" asked Ei with a frown. She knew how much Kenshin loved Inazuma, why would he make his parents leave?

"Because they wanted to see the world" Kenshin said offhandedly.

Ei felt sad at that. Kenshin was not even bothering to answer her now, before he at least tried to make her see his points but now he looked like he had given up. Maybe she ignored him too much.

"Don't be sad, it's just that I thought Inazuma was not a safe place for them anymore" Kenshin saw Ei's feelings and added.

"Why-" Ei tried to ask, but Kenshin shook his head.

"I'm not working here anymore, and honestly I find myself happy with it. I used to worry about a lot of things here, but I never made a single difference. If I'm not doing anything here and it only causes me headaches, why am I still here? I will control the food I will bring, but that's it. I will not give my opinion again, I realize when I'm not wanted" Kenshin said with a refreshing smile that made Ayato ponder.

'Maybe I should do the same. Of course, I can't stop coming here, but maybe I can bring a book. I think the last time I spoke here to say something relatively important was 3 months ago' Ayato thought to himself. It sounded like a good plan.

"I see" said Ei.

"I don't" said Kenshin, making Ei look at him in surprise. "Sorry, verbal tick. Now, you wanted to ask me things, and you already know that I was in the Shrine all day as I could see the guards hidden. I never thought I would say this, but I prefer facing Yae's punishments to stay here".

"What did you do?" asked Ayato curiously. He couldn't care less about the meeting.

"I ate her fried tofu and called her furball" Kenshin said the most harmless half.

"Stop this circus at once!" Takayuki shouted, again. "Half of our population is gone and we are going to starve, why are you 2 laughing?!"

"Because I have food" said Kenshin with a deadpan look.

"Because he has food" added Ayato pointing at Kenshin.

"What about the rest of the people?!" he roared.

"When did you start caring about them?" Ayato asked in wonder. Maybe acting like this will make the meeting tolerable. "Also, I thought our dear Fatui friends would help us, surely they will save us".

They looked unsure of that, after all the Fatui had their objective and it wasn't making friends. If the money they needed to spend for their operation grew, they would stop sending food.

"Anyway, I know for sure I will not starve, and so will my friends. So I am not worried" explained Kenshin with a yawn. He woke up late, but he walked around 20 kilometers yesterday, and his legs were hurting.

"When will you start bringing food?" Sara asked Kenshin with a worried look. Even if she didn't know about the economy that much, even a child could see that they were in a dangerous situation.

"I don't know" replied Kenshin, who was starting to feel drowsy. "I only told them to send food, so I don't know the date or the amount they will bring, nor the price".

"How can you be so irresponsible?" asked the Kanjou leader pointing at him. "We need every gram of food we can get!".

"You do, I don't. I have enough to swim on it, while in a few months, you will have to eat your own shit" Kenshin said disinterestedly.

"Why are you talking like you can manage that food?" asked a curious Ayato. "That food is Kenshin's, you have no right over it. Kenshin could literally burn it in front of you and you will only be able to look at it with a rumbling stomach".

"What will you do with the food?" asked Ei to Kenshin. She knew from the battlefield how important food was, and a lack of could make people start behaving erratically, it was not only hunger that lack of food caused. She knew that Kenshin's food was going to be crucial now that they couldn't produce even half of what they did yesterday.

"I don't know yet. But what I know is that the Shogunate won't get anything of it. I will give it to the people, but I won't feed them for you. It's your job to supply food to everyone." Kenshin said while absent-mindedly counting the people he could see around. "Ah, of course, if you or Sara want some, you can eat with us in the Shrine, eating with company is always better. Even if company is now hard to find in Inazuma, hehe".

"You...." the Kanjou and Tenryou Commission lords were angered beyond belief. Now they were the one between the wall and the sword, as the Fatuis wouldn't supply them that much food.

Ei looked at them with a calm gaze, that sent shivers to their souls. She was the God of Eternity after all, and now she was demanding that they do what they promised they would do.

"We will find a way to bring enough food" the Kanjou head said while sweating from the tension.

"If your food is required, you will be told" The Shogun said to Kenshin, who didn't answer. The Shogun took that as an agreement, and the meeting continued.

"Shogun-sama, I think we should make sure Kenshin is informed of this" said Ayato holding back a laugh.

Ei was confused but looked at Kenshin making her face darken.

Kenshin was soundly sleeping.

"Kenshin..." Sara could only watch appalled at the scene.

Ei felt her eye twitch but quickly calmed down. She needed to be calm at all times, that's what she meditated for.

"Wake him up" she said, and everyone could feel that her patience was reaching the boiling point.

"Allow me, he used to sleep in my house for a while, so I know how to wake him up" said Ayato standing up. He walked towards Kenshin under the watchful gaze of everyone present and kicked him in the stomach.

Then he returned to his seat, ignoring the gazes he was receiving.

"Dammit Ayato, I will make a character like you in one of those books, and it will have a hilichurl as a lover" Kenshin muttered darkly.

"Do whatever you want" said Ayato, sipping his tea calmly.

"Kenshin, if we need your food you will be informed" Ei repeated her previous sentence, and made sure Kenshin heard her.

"My stomach is hurting just for that? Yeah sure, inform me all you want, my food is still mine" he said, making Ei have a dangerous look. "But I will give it to you for sure. The moment you use it is the moment your plan has proved to be a failure after all".

Ei sighed upon hearing this. She knew that it was true after all.

"What are you here for?" asked Sara, not liking how Kenshin was talking to the Shogun.

"You brought me here, you tell me. I also don't want to be here, but I can't go by my-...Goodbye" Kenshin started crawling on the floor, using his feet to impulse himself towards the door. He looked like a worm.

"Sara, take him back to the Shrine" Ei said exasperated, even if her face didn't show anything.

"Please Sara, be more gentle. I prefer having my face in your boobs than puking" Kenshin tried to escape. making his worm-like movements faster, but Sara teleported to his location with a red face. "Cheater!! Hey, I'm still collecting Visions. Give me your Vision!!"

Even Ayato felt embarrassed hearing that.

"Shut up!" shouted Sara who picked him over her shoulder with his face towards her back.

"Please not this way. That guy robbed me of my half-digested fish, I will starve if I puke more" Kenshin pleaded with a child-like voice.

"I will be back soon" Sara said and with a bow-

"Ouch!" she forgot that she had Kenshin over her shoulder. "Woman, what do you think you are doing? No food for you!"

Sara felt her blush gradually creep up her face when she saw the deadpan looks everyone was giving her.

She grabbed Kenshin again and started running.

"Stop! I won't surrender the other half of my fish!"

Everyone in the room could hear Kenshin's screams gradually disappearing in the distance.

"Am I needed here?" asked Ayato with his hand raised. "The Yashiro Commission is only in charge of festivals, and I think we don't have the motivation, the people nor the money for one".

"Yes, you are" sighed tiredly Takayuki. Even if could have what he had always dreamed of, being the only one with the voice to communicate with the Shogun, now he needed to have Ayato here. If something goes wrong he won't be the only one at fault.

"Then what do I need to do? The only thing I can do is to give my opinion" said Ayato, sipping his tea again.

"Then do that" said the Hiiragi clan leader while sitting. He was in charge of the economy in Inazuma, and his head was in danger if he couldn't find a solution to this conundrum.

"Then you should start washing your neck, we are waist-deep in the mud" Ayato replied with a disinterested face, showing how little he cared about this walking dead man's life. "But if you ask me for a way to solve this problem, the obvious one is to make the Fatui pay for our food, but as we all know, that won't happen so we can only rely on Kenshin".

The rest of the room minus Ei gritted their teeth at that, relying on Kenshin meant admitting defeat.

"And I know how you think, so I will say it now, don't try any tricks" said Ayato with a warning gaze. "I know Kenshin like a brother, and if you piss him off, he will cut the supply for good no matter what happens. He will give some to his friends, but the rest, like the army, will starve".

"Do you think he will abandon Inazuma?" asked Ei, inwardly sighing.

"If you mean leaving like half the people did, no, he won't" Ayato shook his head. "But abandon in the meaning of stopping caring about some people, yes. No matter how big his company is, a single business can't feed a whole nation. Now that half of our former people are gone, he may be able to feed us for some extra time, but the problem still remains, we have no food, and soon we will have no money".

Ayato saw that the Shogun's face didn't change hearing that, and felt that she didn't understand the problem. The Shogun wasn't stupid, but with her recent decisions, Ayato didn't know what to think.

"We give money to the Fatui, we give money to Liyue, but we don't get any money. All exportations are stopped because of the Sakoku Decree, so in a few months we won't see a single Mora around".

Ei didn't answer, as she also realized the problem. A nation could isolate itself when it could sustain itself, and as Inazuma was now, they couldn't.

Maybe with all the population, they could manage for some time, but now it was difficult, if not impossible.

'Why did everyone leave? I protected them for centuries, do they have so little faith in me?' Ei asked herself sadly.

"We will wait for the Fatui to answer" she spoke with conviction in her voice. "If they can't give us enough food and supplies, I will take down the Sakoku Decree".

The Kujou and Hiiragi Clans paled at that. 

The moment the Sakoku Decree was not active, they would lose all the power they amassed with the current situation, and they would face the wrath of all the people who may come back, and even from all the merchants they abandoned.

Even if the Shogun could protect them, they would only be a liability and all the smaller clans would start looking at them with dangerous gazes.

Such is the social ladder of Inazuma.

"I will make sure we have enough food" said the leader of Kanjou Commission.

Before long, the meeting ended, and no one was left satisfied, except for Ayato who was thinking about how many drinks should he buy.

He won't lack food after all.