Wishes in the Bell: Epilogue

Hiyuki is heading to the station on her way back to Honami

Complete the final Purge

Hiyuki: (Gyokuro must be just ahead...)

Hiyuki: (This was Honami's last Rite of Purging.)

Hiyuki: (All is settled. Only one final thing remains.)

Hiyuki: (I have truly... kept you waiting for too long, Gyokuro.)

Gyokuro: Finally came to see me?

Hiyuki: Yes. I have come.

Gyokuro: Made up your mind?

Hiyuki: I have.

Gyokuro: Ready to kill me, then?

Hiyuki: ...Yes.

Gyokuro: Oh? Has my little Hiyuki grown so confident that she can best me without even drawing her blade?

Gyokuro: Now, now... Don't forget who taught the Miko of Eternal Flaming Sakura. Can't show a little respect to your elder?

Hiyuki: You call what you did to me teaching, Gyokuro?

Gyokuro: Tsk, tsk. You have mastered many skills from others, but have yet to master the bladework of your own Flaming Sakura clan.

Hiyuki: The last Miko withheld too much. She refused to teach me a single technique.

Gyokuro: Do you resent her?

Hiyuki: I do.

Gyokuro: Even now?

Hiyuki: Every moment.

Hiyuki: I resent that she did not step down long ago. Instead, she burned every future she had and left nothing behind. Not even ashes.

Hiyuki: I resent that she did not pass her skills to me. That she sent me away each time she trained. Now... there is nothing of her left in me.

Gyokuro: Hiyuki...

Hiyuki: I resent that she always told me to "be myself," yet chose a death that was nothing like herself.

Gyokuro: And you resent that even after dying, she lingered as a spirit, waiting only for you to send her on.

Gyokuro: Ah. I was being cruel, wasn't I?

Gyokuro: It's just... I couldn't let my fear go. No one understood the scale of your gift, Hiyuki. Your potential to tame even a Threnodian.

Gyokuro: If you drew such a future, would everything not become much easier?

Hiyuki: Gyokuro, I...

Gyokuro: As long as it comes from your own heart and will, any future you choose is acceptable.

Gyokuro: But if our little Hiyuki truly became a Threnodian Resonator... Well. I'd have no choice but to follow "family law" and send us both on our way.

Hiyuki: I have already burned that future.

Hiyuki: I accepted the Suzu of my own will. I chose to become the Miko of Flaming Sakura.

Hiyuki: I know why you refused to teach me your swordsmanship. You never wanted there to be another Miko after you.

Hiyuki: I will fulfill that wish, Sister.

Hiyuki: After Hiyuki, there will be no more Mikos of Flaming Sakura.

Gyokuro: The Miko of Eternal Flaming Sakura... That is a heavy title to bear.

Hiyuki: It is.

Gyokuro: The future ahead is long. Very, very long.

Hiyuki: I know.

Gyokuro: Through the Suzu, we draw strength from countless possible futures.

Gyokuro: But each time you do, you see yourself draw closer to Miko's destined end. A future burned to cinders, leaving nothing behind.

Hiyuki: Yes. And before that destined end arrives, I will find a way to drive back the Threnodian.

Hiyuki: So that Gyokuro may simply be Gyokuro. So that Hiyuki may simply be Hiyuki. So that Ashinohara will no longer need a Miko of Flaming Sakura.

Gyokuro: You have grown up, our little Hiyuki.

Hiyuki: ...

Hiyuki: I met someone, Sister. Unlike me, who failed Ashinohara, he always finds a way to save.

Gyokuro: That must be difficult for you to bear, little Hiyuki.

Hiyuki: Yes. At first... it was.

Hiyuki: Hearing tales of his exploits, I felt a deep admiration. No, perhaps it was closer to jealousy.

Hiyuki: I thought, if only I possessed his strength. Then my days would not be filled with regret. Ashinohara would be saved.

Hiyuki: And I... in the peace that followed, could have lived an ordinary life.

Hiyuki: But upon meeting him, I came to understand. Even a great "savior" carries many pains and failures.

Hiyuki: And the path of a savior is walked not alone, but alongside countless others.

Hiyuki: Gyokuro.

Gyokuro: Yes?

Hiyuki: I have always admired you as the Miko of Flaming Sakura. And I have always... held you in the highest honor.

Hiyuki: Even if one day I am burned to ashes...

Hiyuki: Because of you.... because of him... because they all exist... I am never truly alone.

Gyokuro: I take great pride in you, too.

Gyokuro: Go on, Shiratori. Fly to where your heart desires.

Gyokuro: May the day come when you, too... step into spring as freely as anyone in this world.

Fractsidus Grand Architect: Greetings, Miko of Flaming Sakura.

Hiyuki: ...You.

Fractsidus Grand Architect: Oh, relax. I'm not here to recruit you. I just heard a piece of news and thought you might want to know.

Fractsidus Grand Architect: Not long ago, that island floating over the sea, your hometown—

Fractsidus Grand Architect: It vanished. All in a single day.

Fractsidus Grand Architect: Congratulations on your wish coming true, Lady Miko.