ā Ā people come and go in such haste, like dreams that stay in the night and leave in the morning. Ā ā
this simple and ordinary life...
yes, i think i've lived it to the full.
i was once the hakushin kitsune.
with my agile and loveable comrades, i dashed across the mountains and plains of narukami.
hopefully, when everything is over, they can run happily once more...
i once met an oni maiden with a face as lovely as the moon.
together, we performed and played divine music before the throne, and i could not help but applaud her sword-dance.
i hope her beauty, bravery, and bearing shall be praised by people for thousands of years to come.
at the thought of her unrivaled beauty,
i cannot help wanting to hide my current appearance with a mask...
i once got into a race with the chieftain of the yougou tengu, and we sprinted through all the courses and paths of the spirit mountains, both within it and around it.
in this great contest of speed and strength, i, born of the hakushin clan, was the eventual victor.
now that i think about it, she must have let me off easy.
the very thought of it makes me feel a little unsatisfied...
i once schemed against a bake-danuki who persistently challenged me, and i made him surrender to the shogun completely.
i also shamelessly schemed against the shogun, and i made her put the great bake-danuki under her command.
that night, the moonlight swept the imperial garden, through branch and petal, showering the courtyard with pearls from heaven.
that scene still glows brightly in my shallow heart...
i hope she can remember the wordy motto i dared to put to her ere we parted.
"do not be blinded. do not waver. keep walking on the path you believe in."
i hope that my words will ward off at least some of the lies and evil she will face.
i also hope that that mischievous yet innocent tanuki will not hate me for my final deception...
now, in this darkest of places,
i will hold tightly to these scenes, and like the moon shining through the clouds, they will light up my tiny, fragile heart.
in this life, i once took the form of a human and i walked with these short-lived yet beautiful little creatures and became friends with many people from all walks of life.
whether it was the shrine maiden who came to train in narukami for the sake of her hometown shrine, or the kid who got separated from the adults by the divine palanquin's entourage during the summer festival, or the easygoing young man who finally went to liyue to practice the adepti arts...whether it's the kanjou who worked hard to make the city prosperous, or the craftsman who was obsessed with making extremely sharp swords, or the clan who used ingenious techniques to make man-made meteors bloom in the skies...
all of them are friends whom i did not expect to make.
i hope the barrier that guards them will not be eroded by any darkness...
everything, all of this ā they are all things that i yearn for.
"so then, the dark will that gnaws at me..."
"now that i've lost all my strength,"
"my hakushin blood is yours to do with as you will."
"however, despite being greatly humbled as i am,"
"i still pray that you will listen to my pleas..."
"if you can see everything that i treasure,"
"then I beg pardon on behalf of those beings."
"if you would permit me to make but one wish,"
"please return my ever-bright memory,"
"to this land that I love deeply."
"that way, that even after your rampage,"
"i may still hold out hope for beautiful things to endure..."
Kazari: Simply put, it is a collection of filth that has accumulated throughout the land.
Traveler: Like the Abyss Order?
Kazari: The Abyss... I don't know much about the thing you just said, but it does indeed sound like something dark and foul.
the kitsune saiguu was one of hakushinās descendants. her early years were spent in the grand narukami shrine, playing pranks on the shrine maidens until she became old enough, though maybe not mature enough, to become one herself. the shrine maidens taught her many thing, but she was not content with just learning about the world through their eyes. at some point, she traveled the land for a time, getting to know many people throughout her journey and her love for inazuma only grew with each new friend she made.
she dwelt at the grand narukami shrine and she was worshiped as a kitsune goddess. but more importantly to her, she was a friend and ally of the raiden shogun.Ā
After her final parting with the Raiden Shogun, the Kitsune Saiguu disappeared into the "deep darknessā during the cataclysm five hundred years ago, never to be seen again.Ā in her dying moments, the kitsune saiguu asked the "dark will" that gnawed at her to spare her memories.Ā as she was consumed by this ādark willā and both her body and memoires were broken down, she clung to hope that beautiful things would endure. her body turned to filth, however, her soul remained. this.. was not necessarily a good thing as it had become corrupted and tainted and filthied. though her body and mind were consumed, her memories were powerful enough that some of it remained unsullied as it settled into the earth as filth, thus creating kazari. the rest of her memories were released into the land itself, into places and people she held most dear to her.
upon kazariās dematerialization and the completion of t he cleansing, the kitsune saiguuās body slowly starts to reform and her now cleansed soul returns to her new body. her memories, on the other hand, are still lost to her. as her greatest last wish was for them to return to the land she loved most deeply. kazariĀ released a portion of the kitsune saiguuās memories when she disappeared in the form of a mask which allows the traveler to craft the hakushin ring.Ā this catalyst holds memories of the kitsune saiguu and, without the catalyst in her possession, she is unable to regain these memories.
still, her other memories remain in inazuma. after wandering out of the cleansing site, the kitsune saiguu is taken in by an elderly couple. she does not remember who she is, what she is, or anything about herself. she doesnāt even know how to access her powers. or that she even has any. figuring she is a kitsune, the couple calls her toshimi ( ęŗē¾Ā ;Ā clever/smart beauty ). they choose this name as they would never want to insult a kitsune.. just in case sheās being mischievous.
