Cleaning the air

Yae and Makoto, the people affected by this, gulped.

"Why are you so nervous?" wondered Kenshin. "It's not like I'm going to insult you. Ei, support me on this".

"Ah, ehh, hmm. Exactly" Ei was caught off guard, but nodded, She had no idea of what was going to happen, but she would stay by her sister's side, as she had always done.

"So speak, woman, what do you want to do?" asked confidently Kenshin.

He asked because he had no idea himself.

"If you don't know either, why did you come here?" Yae knew him, maybe for a bit too long, so she realized quickly.

"To avoid making a problem out of this situation" replied Kenshin. "I may not know what to do, but I know what to not do. Ei, support me on this".

"Exactly" Ei nodded again.

"So, now that the former Archon of Lightning, and strongest person here is on my side, I propose a plan" Kenshin nodded while touching his non-existent beard. "We wait for Sara to come".

Yae and Makoto sighed. They hadn't solved their problem, and Kenshin was going to make it even more difficult.

.

.

.

Ten minutes later, Sara appeared inside the Plane of Euthymia, well, more like Room of Euthymia, as they were a bit cramped now. What once was an extensive floor now only 7-8 people could sit.

"Ei, wake up" said Kenshin with a disdainful look. "We need this place for our meeting place, and we can't see it's too small. Start training".

"Why would you make this place your meeting room?" Ei tiredly sighed.

"Because this is the only place where I can see" said Kenshin with a voice that showed how obvious the answer was. "Anyway, we are here to resolve this situation before it turns into a problem. And we are going to talk honestly".

"Why don't you start?" asked Yae with a nervous look.

"Well, for starters I'm feeling awkward as hell" Kenshin spoke with a straight face. "I already knew of your feelings, except for Makoto's, her soul is already purple, so I couldn't see the purple spots I consider to be love or appreciation in her soul. But I never thought about romance at all, so imagine my surprise when I learned about this whole Contract. Sara, your turn".

"Why me?" Sara complained, not wanting to be the first one.

"Because the situation of those 2 is more complex than yours" Kenshin said pointing at Yae and Makoto, who were still looking at the floor.

Sara had to admit Kenshin was right. One of them was the founder of Inazuma, and the other was the 'teacher' figure for him.

"I feel mostly....." Sara looked for a word that could describe how she felt about this mess. "Resigned, I guess? As you know, I liked you from a few years back, and during our Saturday Talks, it slowly grew into love. I already sensed that the Head Miko had some weird reactions near you, so I expected this point to arrive at some point, but I considered that Radiant Knight my main opponent, to somehow define it".

Yae winced at that, maybe she hadn't been able to hide as good as she expected to.

"I was, let's say ready, to battle that girl from Mondstadt. I would have made a move earlier, but I knew you weren't looking for romance, so I decided to wait for you to be ready. Then the Decrees came" Sara continued looking at the nonexistent ceiling.

It was Ei who winced now. But remembering that without Decrees, her sister wouldn't be here, she quickly got over it.

"And I definitely knew it was not the time. You were all day working, and trying to salvage the situation. That Fatui girl appeared, but I didn't know if you were joking as usual, or if she had something only you could see that charmed you, so I decided to wait until the situation with the Decrees got better. And this lasted for months until you suddenly challenged the Shogun to a duel. I thought that I would never see you again" Sara clenched her fist, trying to express her anguish without involving tears. 

She would cry later, but for now she needed to say everything she felt. It was important to be honest, and even more now.

But it was Makoto who glared at Ei. She knew how Ei thought about duels, but it was a way of thinking that belonged to the past, nowadays people don't stake their lives in a single duel.

"But you miraculously survived, and you were the Shogun. I thought it was my chance, but suddenly you came up with that festival, and I waited to see the Radiant Knight with my own eyes. Maybe I should have confessed, but I wanted to know the woman I would be 'fighting' with. When suddenly, it was that girl's mother who came to tell me that she would resolve this problem in a meeting. And there were a lot of people there" said Sara, remembering her confusion and dismay.

"I was prepared to fight with that girl from Mondstadt, maybe the Head Priestess, and I knew there was a minuscule probability that the Fatui girl appeared. But another girl from Liyue appeared, one I had no idea about. But what put the final nail in the coffin was the Shogun, who suddenly sat with the other 4. That was the moment I realized I couldn't win" Sara sadly said.

"Why would you think you couldn't win against Ei?" inquired Makoto curiously. "If it's about a physical fight, I don't think anyone can beat her, but we are not talking about that right?".

"I do" Sara nodded. "But I realize how much Kenshin loves Inazuma, and how important he is. I am a General, I know how to fight, but I get lost easily in economics and administrative things. Only someone who excels in those areas can work side-by-side with Kenshin".

"It's not like I know those things" countered Ei, but Sara shook her head.

"For the moment your Excellency sat, I knew it was about Makoto. I saw them converse, and Makoto shared something with him I never could. She loved Inazuma as much as him, and she knew how to manage the country. It was only a matter of time. Makoto knows a side of Inazuma Kenshin does not, and that probably attracts him a lot. Not to say his weird fixation with souls, and I am aware that despite my tengu bloodline, my soul probably doesn't compare with that of a God, and even more with an Archon's. Combining those things, I knew I would sooner or later lose, so my only option was to accept that Contract" Sara sadly shook her head.

"Something else?" asked Kenshin with a straight face.

"I feel angry with myself" Sara confessed. "I knew I was the closest one to you, but I don't think I ever stood a chance. I loved you when you were not thinking about love, and when you did, circumstances prevented me from moving forward. When I ask myself, 'What could I have done?', I can't answer. The only small window I had was this last month when I was the only one resolute enough to confess. The Head Miko and Makoto were not going to do it, but I didn't think you would accept. You looked a bit lost now that you had some free time, so I decided to wait. And now, I find myself in this situation" Sara sighed, having said everything that needed to be said.

"How do you feel about the Contract?" asked Kenshin. Sara's thoughts were extremely logical.

"I don't know" muttered Sara looking at the floor. "I never imagined myself in this kind of situation, and I am a bit lost. If it were other people, I would try to be the only one, or move aside, but the Head Miko is half a millennium-old youkai who had been protecting Inazuma. Doesn't she deserve some happiness? And the other is a recently revived God who died defending Inazuma, even if the battle was somewhere else, and found herself in a strange land with all her friends dead and her nation on the verge of collapse. I don't think it's my place to deny her of that" Sara explained with a quiet voice.

"I would have moved aside if it were one of the 2, I think they deserve it more than me, but then the other girls come into play. The situation is so complex that I am going to ignore them for now. Except for Arlecchino, I think Jean is a great woman I could grow to consider a friend, and it's obvious the white-haired girl has some problems" Sara didn't want to think about them for now. The contract was signed, and her problem was with Inazuma.

"As I said, I would have moved aside, but with these girls appearing and the Contract being signed, they were going to 'share' anyways, so I thought, 'Why can't I get into this?' Jean, Arlecchino and that white-haired girl were already in this, why can't I? So I agreed, and here we are" she looked at Kenshin with her golden eyes.

Kenshin sighed, trying to understand all this.

"Well, you haven't answered about how you feel about the Contract" said Kenshin, making Sara nod. "I think this situation is too sudden so you have not formed an opinion yet. But I propose we keep doing what we have been doing until now. We have our Saturday talks, maybe we can wander in the city sometimes, or you can teach me some things about war. Just look at this with other eyes, like a date. I'm also not fully on board with this, and I will not be making any rash movements".

"So wait and see how it goes" Sara said, and Kenshin nodded. "I think is a good plan. If either of us is uncomfortable, we can decide what to do".

Everyone noticed how she avoided saying the obvious consequence of feeling uncomfortable, which would be 'break up', or stop 'dating'.

"I don't understand" said Ei, making everyone look at her. "Why can't everybody be happy with the same person?".

"Well, we can" nodded Kenshin. "But it's a matter of.....dignity? Anyway, everyone deserves a person for herself, 'sharing' as we are calling it means that you are degrading yourself in some way, you are accepting less than you deserve".

"I still don't understand" said Ei. "If you are happy, why are you complicating it so much? I don't think I would care about it, and I don't think my sister does either".

"The only thing you can understand is that if a sword is coming to your face, there is an enemy in front of you" mocked Kenshin, making Ei look at him with a frown.

"I agree with my sister" Makoto interrupted what seemed to be the start of a discussion. "Ei and I come from another era, one where things were a lot different. I don't think this is so big of a deal. You will have some days with Sara, others with me and others with Yae. We are all pretty busy people, there are a lot of days you won't be able to see us and vice-versa, so it's not like we have the time to feel lonely".

"The only question is how would you feel knowing that he is with another woman" said Yae, who hadn't spoken in a while.

"I don't care, mainly because I know both of you" replied Makoto. "And even if I did, I would still care more about how sad would you feel being 'out'. So I don't feel bad".

"I don't think you should be the one to answer that question" smirked Kenshin. "You would probably be excited thinking about it".

Makoto kept her straight face.

But no one was fooled.