Genshin Impact, I, a mere mortal, cannot accompany you to the very end.

For the sake of Liyue, she must move forward. And to protect the people of Liyue, she must kill him.

She is now the secretary of the Moonlit Pavilion, the secretary of the Liyue Septim, and the link between immortals and mortals. There are still many things waiting for her to accomplish. She cannot be bound by her past memories; she must forget them and move forward.

For their dreams.

Therefore, the problem isn't with her.

She was never the one who went mad.

It never has been.

Gan Yu gently bit her lip, her nails digging into her flesh. She raised her eyes, and a gloomy and dark karmic burden lingered in the depths of her eyes, turning her golden eyes into a deep, dark crimson. Illusions washed over her like a tidal wave.

She slowly exhaled, lowered her eyes, and softly recited a calming mantra, her eyes gradually clearing.

The rain grew heavier, and the night was long and dark, but Gan Yu could no longer fall asleep. Sitting on the bed, she suddenly felt that Yuehai Pavilion was eerily desolate.

It was as if she had remembered something.

She paused, then suddenly took a tinderbox and lit the candle on the desk, the bright light spreading out; Gan Yu took out a letter made of soft material, opened it, and began to read it again by the light of the fire.

The letter came from a friend who lives far away. It had been sent more than half a month ago, but because Inazuma was blocked by a thunderstorm, the correspondence was slow and it only arrived in my hands yesterday.

The letter was signed: Yae no Kamiko.

Inazuma Yaeko is a shrine maiden at Narukami Shrine and one of Ganyu's few friends, or, in more fashionable terms, her 'best friend'.

For hundreds of years, they have maintained correspondence to share their feelings. Although the frequency is not high, over time, there have been two or three hundred letters.

With the long night ahead and nothing to do, she took out her old letters and read them one by one from beginning to end.

She read the letters, turning the yellowed pages one by one, as if flipping through a series of faded, yellowed memories.

The goddess's handwriting is very elegant.

'Kiyono Raimei', this person named Kiyono Raimei appears most often in Shinko's letters. Every time he is mentioned in a letter, Shinko's handwriting jumps.

'Today I found a dying mortal in front of the shrine, so I gave him the dried fish I didn't want to eat. He said his name was Kiyono Raimei, what a strange name.'

'He said he would never forget it in his lifetime, which is laughable. I, the Palace Master, only thought he was pitiful and bored, and used him for amusement. A mortal's life is but a dream; how can one talk about never forgetting it?'

This is the first time that person's name has appeared.

...

In the following letters, and even dozens of letters, the name 'Kiyono Raimu' appeared more frequently;

'The tofu that person made was barely edible, but only barely.'

..

"...He runs a shop at the foot of the shrine, and business is good. If you come to Inazuma, I, the priest, will take you there to try it."

...

'He went to challenge Wuxiang Yidao... He came back covered in blood, you foolish idiot. Are all mortals this foolish? Saying things like "I'll stay by Ying's side for life"... Fool, why don't you just die!'

...

Gan Yu looked at the letter. As time passed, the letter had turned yellow, but Gan Yu could still feel the feelings of the Divine Child as he wrote this letter, because the handwriting was slightly trembling.

She was just a mortal, yet the divine child cared so much about her. At that time, Gan Yu didn't understand her feelings.

Continue reading.

"The Lantern Festival was unremarkable, and the fireworks were rather boring. Kiyono said he would come to see it again next time, but I have nothing better to do, so I'll leave it to him next year."

The handwriting is somewhat messy.

Gan Yu could imagine that when the fox wrote his name, it must have had a faint smile on its lips and its ears perked up slightly.

As I write, I might stop, or perhaps I'll become shy. Maybe I'm writing a letter as the sun is setting, the smoky shadows of dusk spreading across the letter, and the words will be imbued with the warm and joyful temperature of the sun.

'Kiyono Raimei went to war; he looks so ridiculous in his military uniform...'

It's the Lantern Festival again.

'Kiyono Raimei and Kage are having a fight...'

The next letter, and the next... For hundreds of years, Miss Fox shared with her, with joy and shyness, the man's story and her feelings.

Gan Yu couldn't remember what that feeling was called anymore.

All that remains is a hazy, indistinct image.

Because she too had written such letters, harboring the same feelings, a mixture of unease and joy—but all of this was buried in the grave, buried in that blood-stained abyss.

That was me back then.

When I saw Miss Fox's cheerful handwriting, I felt a slight pain for some reason, as if I had been pricked by a needle. I felt a slight bitterness in my nose and my heart ached gently.

I don't know where it started.

Perhaps it was from that moment that a voice in her heart began to keep telling her;

You did nothing wrong.

Do not form ties with ordinary people.

Because their lives are short, and it is precisely because of this brevity that they are prone to betrayal.

Winter is coming... Sister Ganyu, do you know how to knit a scarf?

'Don't get me wrong, I'm just worried that guy might freeze to death.'

The correspondence with Yae no Miko is nearing its end.

'It wasn't delivered... Oh well, there'll be next time.'

...

'There'll be another time, that guy won't freeze to death, he's been like this for hundreds of years, and this time won't be an exception,'

This was the penultimate letter. When Gan Yu read it, she couldn't help but feel a little helpless. The silly fox had finally managed to knit a scarf, but she just couldn't give it away. She kept thinking about next time and next time, but how could there always be a next time?

She definitely wanted to tell Kiyono Raimei, and she definitely had many, many things she wanted to share with that person, but she firmly believed there would be a next time, and that life would remain unchanged, so she dragged it out from early winter to deep winter, from living to dying.

But as Gan Yu read the letter, she felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

The unspoken feelings, the promises made together, the emotions buried in the grave—they are all so similar.

But Gan Yu knew.

She and Miss Fox, that person and Kiyono Raimei, are completely different.

Completely different.

Kiyono Raimei waited and trusted Miss Fox; perhaps there was an emotion between them called 'love' or 'kinship'.

But that person never trusted him; whether it was manipulation or lies—it was all a lie.

The voice inside her, the self within her, kept telling her: it's all an illusion.

Gan Yu felt a little dazed, and her brain felt a stinging pain again.

The next letter was the last one written to her by Miss Shenzi. After drifting and wandering in the ocean and storms for more than ten days, it had finally arrived in front of Ganyu.

[Kiyono Raimei is dead]

No matter how many times Gan Yu read this line, she felt an inexplicable sadness.

Kiyono Raimei is dead—Ganyu, as Tsukikage's secretary, knew about this a long time ago.

Because that man was named Kiyono Raimei, the Grand Pillar of Inazuma. After Raimei's voice resounded throughout his life, not only could Inazumai hear it, but even in distant Liyue, one could faintly hear the clear and resonant echo of Raimei's death.

I couldn't deliver it, Sister Gan Yu, I couldn't deliver it.

I was unable to give the scarf away.

I tied the scarf around his frozen neck, but he didn't smile when he received the gift, because he was dying.

I missed it. I only saw the flash of lightning, but I didn't hear its mournful roar. I believed what I believed, and because of my arrogance and pride, I missed it.

Am I really that useless?

Perhaps there is no one more ridiculous than me in this world.

[I've made a fool of myself in front of Sister Gan Yu.]

I believed what I believed, and that's why I missed him.

Upon seeing this sentence, Gan Yu paused, and for some reason, her eyes flickered slightly.

She missed the thunder's mournful cry because she only saw the light on its surface. For some reason, when she read this line of sentences, she felt a tremor in her heart. She didn't know why such an inexplicable emotion flashed through her mind.

The handwriting on the letter was blurred in one corner, the ink stains spreading across the paper. It was a tear that had dripped onto the letter. After it dried, it was impossible to tell whether it was a tear stain or an ink stain.

Continue reading the letter:

[...Really, I accidentally spilled water on my face. I'm writing this letter just to...just to, just to share my feelings. I'm sitting in this empty room now, looking out the window at the withered leaves and the vast expanse of white snow. It's so quiet around me. I just need to write something, just something, and that's how this letter came about.]

[Sister Gan Yu, please never believe what you want to believe... This sounds contradictory and strange, doesn't it? You can take it as the ramblings of a madman if you want.]

But this is the lesson I've learned: never believe what you want to believe.

[Yours sincerely, the Eightfold Divine Son]

[Appendix: 'Seino Tofu Shop' I've reopened that guy's tofu shop. If you happen to come to Inatsume, please come and take a look. I want more people to taste his cooking. He often said that taste is also a memory, and I want to share this taste with more people, and I want more people... to remember him.]

This is the last one.

Never believe what you want to believe.

Gan Yu read the sentence softly. After a while, she shook her head, put down the letter, and stopped thinking about it.

...This is indeed a strange and illogical statement.

But for some reason, she felt a vague unease.

Outside the window, it was already broad daylight. Brilliant sunlight enveloped the crystal-clear blue sky. After the heavy rain, everything was washed away, and a thin rosy glow slowly rose with the warm spring sun. Liyue City was slowly awakening.

The cries of vendors echoed through the streets and alleys, fishing boats hoisted their sails, and smoke rose from the harbor.

It's a new day again.

Looking out over the city that Gan Yu loved, she knew she had to do something.

We must bury the past and move forward completely.