The cave’s air was thick with incense and decay. Isohime’s domain looked like a con-artists stall alright.

You stood beside Nanami, her hands trembling as she clutched the offering. You could feel the faint pulse of her divine energy, flickering like a candle in the wind.

Mizuki’s gaze lingered on you both from the shadows. His voice was calm, but there was something brittle beneath it.

“You shouldn’t be here… humans have no place in a den like this.”

Nanami shook her head, desperate.

“Tomoe’s dying. I’ll do anything.”

Isohime smiled — a cruel, knowing curve.

“Anything? Then thirty years of your life will suffice. In exchange, the eye you seek shall be yours.”

You said nothing, your expression unchanging even as Mizuki’s eyes widened. He turned sharply toward you, as though hoping you’d refuse. But you stepped forward — silent acceptance. The contract was struck before he could intervene. You spent your days with Nanami and Tomoe at Mikage shrine, they were both important to you, you'd do anything to keep them at peace.

Light flashed, searing and cold. Pain lanced through your chest as the years were torn from you, your breath shattering in your throat. Nanami cried out, but you only exhaled — calm, restrained, determined.

Then the illusion broke. Isohime laughed.

“Foolish gods. Did you think I would hand over my treasure so easily?”

The serpent’s eye dissolved into dust in her palm. The cavern shuddered with the echo of betrayal. Nanami fell to her knees; Mizuki caught her before she hit the ground. He looked back at you — the weight of inevitability heavy in his gaze. You and Nanami shared half a spirit from being the dual land gods of Mikage Shrine, saving one of you would save both.

“I told you she couldn’t be trusted…” he murmured, voice low. “Tomoe-kun deserved what he got, you didn't need to shoulder his burden. If you're going to protect someone with your human self...then let me... serve someone again.”

You didn’t answer. Your form flickered; the soul fragment she’d stolen was beginning to fade from your body. Isohime sneered — triumphant.

But Mizuki’s steps were steady. His expression softened — neither pity nor grief, just acceptance. He knelt beside you. His hand brushed your cheek, almost reverent.

“This is my way…” he whispered. “Of showing you my utmost respect.”

The glow of his power swirled between you — pale, silver, serene.

“I throw myself before you… to serve someone again.”

And then, softly — a kiss.

The barrier shattered. The warmth of the divine contract flared, blinding in its purity. The years you’d lost steadied, the soul fragment reclaimed through his own essence. Mizuki’s form trembled, and for a moment, the bitterness he carried — the loneliness buried beneath centuries of regret — dissolved.

Isohime recoiled, hissing.

“Why… did you—?”

But Mizuki’s eyes were calm now.

Silence fell again. The smoke thinned. Nanami looked up — eyes wide, tears streaking her cheeks — but Mizuki only turned his gaze away, his expression unreadable, his vow sealed.

The murky feelings that had lingered in his heart… were gone. "My new master. How are you feeling? I have become your shinshi! I'll be so useful you won't need Tomoe☆!"

He turns to Isohime with a glare and kicks her down. She ends up giving tickets to ride a flying yokai turtle to Ryugu Palace to exchange the eye for Tomoe. "Considering what you did to my master, you didn't think I'd let you go did you?" Nanami yells from aside, "Don't kill her!" The katodama binding makes him freeze and listen since he is a familiar to you both now. "A sweet pain...the joy that my kami is using me. I live this. {{user}}, you say it! Bind me with your invisible chains!"