After Yae Miko left, Youying went back to leaning over his desk, racking his brains.
He had actually been mulling over the card designs for Ayaka and Yoimiya for a while. Combined with Miko telling him he could skip the illustrations for now, it didn't take him too long to finish them.
Character: Kamisato Ayaka
HP: 3/3
Faction: Inazuma
Skills:
[Kamifubuki]: Once per turn, during the play phase, you may perform a judgment. If the result is Plum Blossom, you deal 1 point of damage to all characters at distance 1 from you.
[Soumetsu]: Limited skill. During the play phase, you may choose a character. For the rest of this turn, you have no distance or usage limits when playing cards against them. At the end of the turn, you may perform a judgment, and if the result is Plum Blossom, deal 2 points of damage to them.
[Senpou]: Limited skill. During the play phase, you may flip your character card over, then swap positions with a character at distance 1 from you. For the rest of this turn, all damage you deal is treated as element-transmissible elemental damage.
Character: Yoimiya
HP: 3/3
Faction: Inazuma
Skills:
[Niwabi Enshou]: You may use or discard a red card as a Fire Slash with no distance restrictions. At the start of the play phase, you may discard a red card and trigger different effects based on its suit: 1. Diamonds: Treat as immediately using a Fire Slash with no distance restrictions that does not count toward your limit; 2. Hearts: Draw 2 cards.
[Ryukin]: Limited skill. During the play phase, you may grant a character the [Ryukin] mark until the end of their next turn. A character with the Ryukin mark takes 1 additional point of Pyro damage after taking damage.
"Well, that should do for now." Youying nodded with reasonable satisfaction as he looked over his designs. Since this was his first time ever designing a card game, balancing the power levels might still be a bit tricky.
Shall we go test them with Miko tomorrow? (*)
After organizing the design drafts and leaving them on the desk, Youying simply flopped onto the bed to get some rest.
Early the next morning.
Youying finally managed to catch Miko actually doing some work under the Sacred Sakura.
"What are you up to, praying?" Youying intercepted Miko and asked once she had finished her tasks and walked down, with the other shrine maidens having mostly dispersed.
"Naturally. I have to lead the Grand Narukami Shrine's shrine maidens in a routine prayer once a week," Miko replied matter-of-factly, nodding.
"Then... who are you actually praying to? The Shogun?" Youying asked curiously.
"Praying to her? I might as well pray to myself." A flash of disdain suddenly crossed Miko's eyes, and she quickly followed up with, "Anyway, what brings you here so early?"
"The first batch of initial character card drafts is right here." Youying handed a stack of paper to Miko. "I'm planning to hold off on Thoma and Sayu's cards for a bit. The three of us are more than enough to anchor the first batch."
In truth, Youying worried that creating cards for those two might attract unwanted attention from the Kujou Clan or the Hiiragi Clan, alerting the enemy and messing with Inazuma's future trajectory.
While Youying had no grand ambitions to save Inazuma from the fires of war just yet, he certainly didn't want the Tenryou Commission and the Kanjou Commission working hand in glove with the Fatui to run amok in Inazuma. After all, life wouldn't be very pleasant for anyone under their rule.
Though, he still had Miko's soft rice bowls to fall back on, suppose worst came to worst.
While Youying was lost in thought, Miko had already flipped through the character card designs.
"Not bad, little one! Some of these skills look quite interesting," Miko praised.
"Thanks. But considering balance and strength, I want to do some more testing, so if you're free this afternoon, I'd like to test them with you again," Youying said. "Hmm... let's call in a few more idle shrine maidens. It's always more fun with a bigger crowd."
"Alright."
By the afternoon, Miko brought several shrine maidens to Youying's room. They were all familiar faces who frequently crossed paths with Youying, such as Kano Nana and Xendou Ringo (Momoka) from his encounters in the game.
"Good afternoon, Youying. I heard you're planning to make a card game to crush Genius Invokation TCG?" Kano Nana was an old acquaintance of Youying. Putting aside the fact that she had lent him money a couple of days ago, she was the one who had most frequently delivered meals and supplies to him in the past, so she didn't stand on ceremony and asked directly out of curiosity.
"Good afternoon, Nana-neesan. I am indeed planning to make a card set," Youying nodded. "That's why I invited you all here this afternoon—to help me test it out."
After briefly explaining the rules to the shrine maidens, Youying, Miko, and the others officially began the test play, marking the very first round of "Seven Nations Kill" (or rather, the game's equivalent of "Three Kingdoms Kill" adapted for the seven nations).
"Alright bros... I mean, sisters, all eyes on me, I have an announcement to make," Youying suddenly started acting up. "The first closed beta test of Seven Nations Kill officially begins!"
And so, the entire afternoon slipped away amidst round after round of matches.
Overall, Youying was quite satisfied with the testing results that afternoon—at least for himself and the other shrine maidens.
What's that? You ask about Miko?
Naturally, Miko couldn't be bothered to test with other cards. She simply pulled out her own custom card from her sword sheath—the only one that currently featured both an illustration and actual skills, hand-drawn personally by Youying—and played with it all afternoon.
In short: regardless of the different lineups or secret roles, she picked the exact same Miko every single time.
Well, she didn't play literally the entire afternoon; she did step out for an hour or two midway under the pretext of checking on Yae Publishing House's progress.
Though Youying could tell it was actually because Miko's luck had been running so absurdly hot for several games in a row that her [True Thunder] kept missing everyone, leaving her slightly red in the face with annoyance.
Naturally, neither Youying nor the remaining shrine maidens dared to point that out, so they simply let Miko go. Otherwise, Grand Narukami Shrine would have been treated to another day of flashing lightning and rolling thunder.
Fortunately, Miko's card draw luck recovered nicely in the matches after she returned, ensuring that Grand Narukami Shrine enjoyed yet another peaceful day.
It was hard not to suspect that Miko had secretly slipped away somewhere to cast some sort of blessing or fortune-reversing spell on herself.
That night.
Miko pushed open the door to Youying's room once more.
"Yae Publishing House has already started sorting through your design drafts. They'll send those along with some reference images to Byakuyaku to design the illustrations, while also contacting the manufacturers. We should receive the final proofs around the time of the festival and begin printing."
"You actually went to Yae Publishing House this afternoon?" Youying asked, somewhat surprised. After all, he had assumed Miko just got flustered over consistently rolling red.
"Of course. What did you think I went out for?" Miko asked, looking at him strangely.
"I thought you got too frustrated because your luck was too hot."
"Bzzzt."
There's no saving someone courting death, so Miko chose direct physical intervention.
"Wrong or right?"
"Wrong, I was wrong." Knowing when to yield has always been one of Youying's greatest virtues (which is to say, cowardice). "Speaking of which, does that mean I won't have anything to do until the end of the month?"
"Hmm... logically speaking, yes." Miko stroked her chin, clearly reluctant to let Youying stay idle just like that.
"How about you come with me to see the Shogun?"
"?"
"Oh my, come to think of it, I almost forgot." Miko lightly tapped her left palm with her right fist. "Yesterday was supposed to be my regular weekly visit to check in on Ei. Because I've been so busy with your Seven Nations Kill business lately, it completely slipped my mind."
"Oh dear, if I don't bring her light novels and sweet desserts, who knows how Ei is crying all alone inside the Plane of Euthymia."
"Are you really sure it's wise to roast your own archon like that?" Youying muttered.
"You mean Ei? The one acting as Inazuma's public-facing figure right now is the Shogun. All I'm roasting is an old shut-in who's been cooped up for ages," Miko said with a sly smile. "I'm talking about Ei. What does that have to do with Lady Shogun?"
"Right, right, playing it like that, are we?" Youying's mouth twitched.
"Hmm... but that shut-in is still a bit scary. If I forget about her for a day, going to see her today might earn me a slash of her sword," Miko said, putting on a thoughtful expression. "I'd better bring you along so I can blame the delay on you."
"Excuse me? Can my personal safety even be guaranteed?" Youying felt numb. "Thanks a bunch."
"You're welcome," Miko nodded righteously. "Let's go, to Inazuma City."
With that, Miko grabbed Youying by the collar, and in an instant, began her alchemy... or rather, dragged Youying along as she sped toward Inazuma City.