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[divinebrush]

[Hello, citizens, you're now watching a recording of a curtain of silver hair and the sounds of someone poking and tapping at the communicator. There is an huff of breath, and then the camera is flipped over, revealing a woman with silver dog ears and red markings over her skin. She tilts her head curiously before smiling for the camera-- benevolently, radiantly, and somehow tinged with sadness. Then typing starts, slow and careful.]

HOW MANY PEOPLE STILL BELIEVE IN THE GODS? WHAT SORT OF GOD DO YOU BELIEVE IN, IF YOU DO?

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[ihaveanannouncement]

[Saori's hands grow cold at what she reads, heart pounding heavily. It couldn't be...was she really?]

I beg your pardon, but are you actually implying that you are a god?

[divinebrush]

[She dips her head down a little in acknowledgment, her eyes twinkling delightedly as she gives a less-than-regal, lopsided grin.]

I AM NOT IMPLYING, I AM SAYING. I AM AMATERASU.

[ihaveanannouncement]

[...If she were anywhere else, Saori would have assumed it was a prank. Later, she would have had a laugh over it with her classmates. In Hinoto-Ri, a city of Personas and demons, she can't say.

Her hands are shaking, so badly that she can't even bring herself to type more than a few letters. And her heart is pounding so badly, she feels it should be bursting from her chest.

She recounts the years. Shrines, fortune-telling, tarot, weird rituals, praying to every god and lucky star who blessed people with love. All of that time she wasted wishing for a love that was ultimately selfish. A childish love she can look at and laugh bitterly. One she was punished for having, and to this day is still paying for.

And now, she's having an online chat with a goddess, who is smiling casually.

Saori stalls for a couple minutes, taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Quickly she grabs her phone, and listens to her PA recording, trying to steel herself. You don't just talk shit about gods to an actual goddess and then disappear. That would make her a coward. And she'd resolved herself not to be one anymore.

Still shaking, she manages to type a small message.]

I'm so sorry.

[divinebrush]

[Amaterasu waits patiently for her to answer, hoping she hadn't made her too angry with her. She expects that reaction, after all. When Saori finally answers her ears perk forward, alert.]

FOR WHAT?

[ihaveanannouncement]

[For...what? Showing disrespect for the gods over a wish they didn't grant? For being honest with her feelings? Isn't that the opposite of what Minako taught her?]

For what I said. True, they were my honest feelings, but...

[divinebrush]

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESERVE YOURSELF FOR MY SAKE. IF THEY ARE YOUR HONEST FEELINGS, THEN I ACCEPT THEM, GOOD OR BAD.

[Nippon is still healing, after all. She is used to hearing frustrated, angry, resentful words from the humans.

She gives her a small smile.]

I AM A BIG GIRL, AFTER ALL.

[ihaveanannouncement]

[...If even a goddess is asking her to not hold back.]

Thank you. You have, no idea how much that means to me.

[Tears well up in her eyes, and her voice falters as she speaks.]

But, don't worry. My wish was selfish anyway. The heavens were right to not grant it.

[That selfishness took her one beloved person away. She even lost her parents' love. Really, she could have blamed God all she wished, but...in the end, it all came down to her again. Everything that had happened that time, came about because she was blind to her own actions.]

[divinebrush]

[Her expression softens.]

YOU HAVE BORE A HEAVY BURDEN FOR A LONG WHILE, HAVEN'T YOU?