The thing was, it was all ultimately his own doing — and so Kaito sometimes, if not most of the time, failed to make it obvious that the people around him were separate individuals with their own lives.
Take right now, for instance. He, Lumine, and Miko had been here in Liyue this whole time, but Acheron and the others back in Inazuma seemed completely oblivious to it — not a peep out of them, no reaction whatsoever.
Let me think...
Should I have Wendy come over for a bit?
Or maybe Kiana or Acheron?
Or all of them at once?
After answering Lumine, Kaito found his mind drifting to that very question.
After all, Lumine seemed to have noticed that the others didn't seem to care at all about where he went — which meant he needed her to realize that impression was wrong.
The problem was, he hadn't yet decided which of them to have come to Liyue to check in on him.
Having everyone come at once wouldn't be strange — he hadn't been back to Inazuma in several days — but if they all showed up together, there'd be way too many people, and it would get in the way of whatever Mobius was planning next.
Oh well..
I'll just have Wendy come over for a bit..
After turning it over in his head, Kaito decided he'd have Wendy come to represent the others — Acheron, Kiana, and the rest — and take a look at what he was up to here.
"Ah, I see. It sounds like Acheron and the others have just gotten used to it."
Lumine nodded, looking as though she'd worked it out.
So back when Kaito was in Mondstadt, it was the same kind of thing..
And then Kiana and Acheron both came after him...
At that thought, Lumine's mind drifted back to Mondstadt. At the time, only Wendy had been at Kaito's side — Kiana and Acheron hadn't appeared yet. And then, one after another, they had.
Hmm...
What exactly is Lumine thinking about right now?
Does she think there's something off about what I just said?
Watching Lumine fall into quiet thought after hearing him out, Kaito felt a prick of unease.
Still, he could just ask her directly. It was just idle chat while they waited for Miko to finish cooking — asking a question was perfectly normal.
And more importantly, their relationship now wasn't what it used to be. Asking what was on her mind was fine.
"What's the matter? Lumine — I get the feeling you're thinking about something."
He'd said "I get the feeling," but honestly, it was pretty obvious she was lost in thought.
"Hm? Oh, that." Apparently not expecting to be called out so easily, Lumine continued: "I was just thinking — back when you were in Mondstadt, Kaito, wasn't it like what you just described? Going places on your own to take care of things, that sort of thing."
Ah, so that's it..
Then I'll just say yes!
Now that she'd spelled it out, Kaito finally understood what she'd been mulling over.
"Yeah, more or less." He gave a little laugh and went along with what she'd said, confirming that his time in Mondstadt had been exactly as he'd just described.
As long as it kept Lumine from thinking anything was strange, the details could wait.
"So then, Kaito.."
Just as Kaito was starting to feel like he'd successfully put her curiosity to rest, Lumine suddenly looked like she had something more to say — and his nerves prickled right back up again.
"What is it?" He kept his expression perfectly casual, even as his stomach did a small flip.
"Well — later on... are there going to be other girls coming to find you?"
She held his gaze for a beat, then asked it.
Of all the things she could have asked...
That I genuinely don't know..
He hadn't expected that question, and it left him a little helpless. How was he supposed to answer something even he didn't know — like how many more girls were going to show up in his life?
But there was no getting around it. He didn't know, but he still had to give her something, because Lumine was waiting.
"Probably, yeah." He thought for a moment and decided on a vague answer for now — he'd figure out the rest depending on how she followed up.
"They'll definitely be amazing girls too, won't they."
Lumine had more or less seen that answer coming, and it didn't catch her off guard.
"Amazing, the lot of them — every single one."
Kaito nodded and confirmed it readily. He actually had no idea how strong the characters he'd pull later would be, but saying they were all amazing felt like a safe bet.
After all, if you compared miHoYo's various games, Genshin Impact was on the lower end of the power scale overall.
"What's all this about amazing and not amazing? Get in here and eat." Just then, Miko stepped out of the kitchen and caught the tail end of Kaito's remark.
"Coming, coming."
Kaito turned quickly and called back to her — and felt quietly relieved at her timing.
Dodging the topic like this didn't feel great, but his approach was: put it off as long as humanly possible.
"Alright, let's go eat. Kaito, you've been running around outside all morning — you must be starving."
Lumine also turned toward Miko, who stood in the kitchen doorway, and said as much.
And with that, she'd gotten everything she wanted to ask out. Good timing.
"Yeah, let's go." Seeing that Lumine looked perfectly composed, Kaito nodded.
This isn't the calm before a storm, is it?
Walking toward the kitchen alongside her, he couldn't help but think it. He couldn't put his finger on it, but her completely unreadable expression made him feel like something was off.
Haah...
When Wendy gets here later, I'll see if she can get anything out of Lumine...
They're both girls, so she's probably got a better shot at it...
With that thought settled, Kaito decided to stop overthinking and focus on the meal — he was absolutely famished by this point.
"What were you two just talking about out there? All that 'amazing' business — don't tell me you were talking about how amazing Kaito is?"
The moment they stepped into the kitchen, Miko asked without turning around, still in the middle of scooping out the rice.
Since it had been a conversation between Lumine and Kaito, she was genuinely curious what kind of "amazing" they'd been going on about.
"Well, it was—" "Saying how amazing Kaito is, yeah."
Kaito had barely opened his mouth before Lumine got there first.
"You two weren't talking about that kind of thing in the middle of the afternoon, were you?" Miko asked after hearing Lumine's answer.
Kaito: "?"
That kind of thing?
He stared blankly, utterly lost by Miko's curious choice of words.
"Alright, eat first, talk later." And before Kaito could even ask what she meant, Miko set a bowl of rice squarely in front of him.
The truth was, Miko already knew she'd guessed right — so she wasn't about to give Kaito the chance to ask her to explain. She could hardly say what she was actually thinking out loud. That would just be unbearably awkward, and she wasn't having any of that.
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan ;)🔥👻
🔥 New history: Samsara Game: Starting with Shirogane Kei
Help smash these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter (for everyone)