"..."
A mirror lake.
Not metaphorically--literally. So clear, so still, so uncannily perfect that even the sky seemed hesitant to disturb it.
No birds overhead. No breeze. No sound but the occasional creak of a wooden dock, aged yet unrotting, the kind of thing that only exists in dreams or pocket dimensions where time plays by different rules.
Dantalion sat at the end of this dock, cross-legged, fishing pole in hand.
He thought, vaguely, that fishing was something people did when they had too much time.
Which, as far as he was concerned, applied to him like skin to bone.
The lake's surface was unnaturally still, mirror-like, with a reflection that didn't reflect him--only sky, endless and cloudless, indifferent to his presence.
Dantalion sat on a warped wooden pier that didn't exist an hour ago. He never built it—it simply formed the moment he committed to the idea of fishing. It creaked like a dying cathedral under his weight, yet refused to break.
His fishing rod was fashioned from nothing. Literally--no wood, no string, no hook. A suggestion of a rod, held together by sheer agreement that this was what a fishing rod should be.
He was, in the most literal and metaphorical way, fishing for absolutely nothing.
And that suited him.
He let the silence pool in his ears like sand, heavy and dry.
The last week had been quiet.
Kujou Sara had not been visiting as often as before. And Ei... Ei wouldn't bother unless she needed something.
After Dantalion made her that book--the one he had desperately negotiated with her for--it was like a one-night stand.
Brief. Intense. Transactional.
Fuck, then forget.
She'd gotten what she came for. And he was left to his own devices.
Just like one of the things he asked for.
"Maybe I should create an ocean next time," he mumbled. "Something with tides. You know, movement."
He continued saying--screaming it to the air, "I want to eat some Katsudon! Taiyaki too! I want the fillings to be some red bean paste or chocolate!! I want none of those shit-stain they put in there!!
From Kaminami!"
---
"--some filling to be some red--pwahk!"
It came from nowhere, sharp and sudden, like a phantom frog leaping out of a pond that didn't exist.
Kujou Sara blinked once.
Then closed her eyes very slowly.
The mouth at the side of her face had returned.
It screamed.
About Katsudon and Taiyaki.
Specifically, the filling. Red bean paste or chocolate. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing else. It had standards.
She ground her teeth just enough to feel it. Not enough to show it.
Across the room, the office door creaked open.
Shikanoin Heizou stepped in, his usual lopsided grin missing.
He looked like he hadn't slept--or maybe like he'd slept too well, the kind of sleep you get when you're trying not to think.
His eyes flicked up to her, gauging something. Maybe her mood. Maybe his courage.
Sara opened her mouth, but the mouth at the side of her face beat her to it.
"I want Katsudon! From Kiminami, not that bootleg stall that puts corn in everything!"
Heizou flinched. He visibly flinched.
Sara sighed, and, without turning to him, seemingly understanding the reason why Heizou had come, said flatly:
"First. I understand. Second. No, I will not stop you, as long as you continue to bring results, that is. Order Katsudon from Kiminami on the way back. Have it delivered here. You may go."
Heizou stopped mid-step, halfway into the office, his legs committing treason by attempting to sit before clearance was given.
"I--huh? Wait. Sorry, what?"
"You may go."
He opened his mouth to protest--or maybe confess--but something in her tone shut him up.
He nodded. "...Yeah. Got it. Of course. Katsudon. From Kiminami."
Once outside, where no one could see his face--down the stone corridor of the Commission headquarters, Heizou paused under a paper lantern.
He looked up at the roof tiles.
Then whispered, almost to himself:
"So that's how it starts, huh? Inactivity by Katsudon."
He pulled out a worn notepad from his coat. On the top, he scribbled:
"Subject: General Kujou Sara - Partial possession or shared cognition.
Trigger: Unknown. Possibly metaphysical. Response: Katsudon."
He tapped the page with his pencil.
"Should've figured--signs from the universe come deep-fried."
---
Heizou stands in line at Kiminami, looking at the food menu without seeing it.
Then he laughs bitterly.
"Yeah. Totally normal career trajectory."
The girl at the counter blinked. "Uh… sir?"
Heizou smiled, that lazy grin sliding back into place like a mask.
"Yeah. Sorry. Katsudon. Extra Teriyaki. And if you have red bean Taiyaki? Add three. Pack it to go, please."
***
Less than 30 minutes later.
And an additional 8 mins to 12 mins for Heizou to bring it back to Kujou Sara.
In Dantalion's space.
"Do you find enjoyment in inconveniencing someone? You could've created this yourself."
Dantalion, who still had not moved since he screamed through Kujou Sara's face, didn't bother to gaze at her and just continued staring into the distance as if watching something.
"I want to have the authentic one." He stated, "As it is made by the hands of a human, there will always be a slight error... It's the same food as yesterday, but I can taste the difference from the one I had yesterday."
With just but a thought, he duplicated the food Kujou Sara had brought, every detail, every single information of that piece of creation has been reproduced to absolute precision.
"Try it. I know that through that bootleg Naming Ritual you had gained an enhancement on your already exceptional--even among your species--cognitive ability."
Listening to Dantalion, Kujou Sara understands what sense he's trying to make.
However, somewhat knowing him--
"I hear what you're trying to say, but that's not the actual reason, is it." She said to him, though not refusing his offer to eat, she wouldn't hand him the satisfaction of thinking he tricked her again.
Even so, he is not lying. If anything, he never did.
He withheld information, but he didn't lie. No, he did not even conceal any information.
It was just a matter of understanding.
Noticing a chair suddenly now behind her, Kujou Sara ignored the peculiarity and just sat at the newly manifested chair--one that is usually used for camping, a folding chair.
"Let me watch too, the thing you find entertaining enough that you couldn't help but eat pork cutlets."
Just like that, he didn't say he was doing that but just from his actions of not paying attention to anything around him, his mind couldn't be bothered because more than half of his attention was into something else.
Dantalion, hearing Kujou Sara, finally moved his gaze to her, turning his head to her--
"Don't worry, eating with you, nothing can contend to that." He spoke, "So, you've been busy, If I had not forcefully called you, you wouldn't even bother, made me a bit sad, to be honest."
Ignoring what she heard, Sara asked, "Can you make something a little more comfortable... This chair felt like it would snap if I positioned myself wrong."
Looking at Kujou Sara from his seat, a literal fucking creaking wooden dock.
Dantalion looked at her incredulously, "Do you hear yourself? That would kill the vibe."
"..."
"It seems you don't understand, it's when you're playing with your dog, but then his pink wiener comes out a bit, it just destroys the vibe y'know--"
"I know the 'vibe', you don't have to make such a disgusting example, I'm eating!"
"Calma, señora. Cálmate." Dantalion replied, with an infuriating smile on his face as he donned a Mexican poncho and a giant sombrero.
To Kujou Sara, this is nothing new, for stupid reasons, he always switches to various clothing out of nowhere; Natlanese, Inazuman, Liyueren. But he mostly wears clothes that originate from Mondstadt and Fontaine.
It could also be an indication that he finds something interesting in that part of the world right now.
Her spoon was carved into the rice, separating a spoon-sized portion of it from the rest then she also did the same to the cutlet, placing both the now separated portions into the spoon and lifting it to her mouth.
'It is uncanny how he can seemingly watch Mondstadt all the way from here... Though, for someone who can force his demands on Her Excellency, having that ability is not surprising.'
Kujou Sara thought, that should be the minimum standard, if you were to have the audacity to be that willful to Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho, God of Thunder.
Suddenly,
"Sara, are doing it on purpose?"
Dantalion asked her, from an outsider's perspective--someone who has no context of what's being asked, it would be confusing to know why he would suddenly ask that.
However, Kujou Sara is different, Dantalion sees everything that she sees.
Every action taken, each of the words spoken to her, and possibly more, she has perceived in her day-to-day life will also be experienced by Dantalion.
So, when Dantalion asks her an out-of-context question.
"No, I don't think they deserve any more than that."
Instantly get what he's asking, or perhaps just as Dantalion said, she was doing it on purpose.
"Really... Sara, you should be informed that my arrangements with Ei do not include 'not harming losers'."
It was something that has been happening lately, soldiers are using excessive force, being rough and impersonal against vision holders, despite some Vision bearers peacefully surrendering it.
They would continue to harass, and physically harm Vision bearers even though they had confiscated their vision and have now become practically unarmed.
Kujou Sara wasn't informed of this but, while there are Vision bearers who resisted till they were knocked out, the damages on their bodies were not as severe as the victims of those soldiers that abused the chance.
In most cases, she was the one to personally take action when a strong Vision holder refused to give up their vision and that it would be a threat even for veteran soldiers or even for vision-bearing soldiers--soldiers that are expected to eventually surrender their visions.
As of now, it's still in the initial phase where the focus is on the civilians and non-military vision holders.
Without waiting for her reply, Dantalion continued, "Let me be clear to you, Ei wouldn't bat an eye, if I reduce the number of 'losers' in this land."
Perhaps Kujou Sara was only aware of the brutality happening at the surface level.
She finds what Dantalion said quite discomforting to hear.
With a small frown on her face, she retorted, "You are aware that I had already confronted those beneath me who crossed the line--yet you speak as if I had done nothing."
Dantalion didn't answer right away.
Instead, he took the original Katsudon and Taiyaki that Kujou Sara had brought.
"Mhm, I guess. Check on those people again later."
Seemingly losing interest, Dantalion got off Kujou Sara's dick--like a child bored of a toy they'd only picked up to break.
She noticed this, and thought, 'Did he just say all that for fun...'
"Do you rehearse being infuriating?"
Hearing her retort, Dantalion chuckled but said nothing.
He finds Kujou Sara's reply funny because he knows she picked it up from a book from Yae Publishing House.
Though, he finds nothing wrong with that. After all, that's the purpose of reading.
Dantalion just finds it a bit silly that she tries to actually learn to further the length of their conversations.
Thus, with those thoughts in mind, Dantalion told her directly.
"You are so cute, Sara."
"Yuck--Ew." Her face contorted into something between nausea and offense. Her appetite visibly curled up and died on the spot.
"Disgusting, I'm leaving. Replace that Kiminami bowl tomorrow with a new one."
Dantalion watched her vanish from the space without fanfare.
He glanced over at the bowl she'd left behind--empty, spotless, almost reverent in how it had been set down.
She must've been starving.
He reached for his Taiyaki, splitting it cleanly in half to check the filling inside.
Red bean. Good.
He didn't need to check, of course. He had created a copy of it after analyzing it down to its building blocks.
Even with burgers, he had a tendency where he lifts the top bun--layer by layer--like he was disarming a bomb. Just in case someone tried to sneak in something weird.
But the habit stuck when it shouldn't be, since it is a new body.
The muscle memory for said habit shouldn't exist now, more so in his state right now.
Paranoia? Maybe. But rituals were rituals.
Now, he still remembers that before he got struck by lightning, he was thinking of eating outside instead of cooking at home like he usually would.
He is very conscious of what he eats, so despite his words back then, Dantalion knew that after inwardly complaining a bit he would just go home and cook for himself.
However, he always finds food--not made by himself--taste better.
Not because he lacked the skill--he could follow any recipe meticulously.
But there was always a flavor he couldn't reproduce. Even when he replicated every step, every ingredient exactly.
And no, it wasn't some sappy "ingredient of love" nonsense.
Though… it wasn't far off either.
It was psychological. A kind of taste born from a distance. Unexpectedness? Maybe? It could be.
As Dantalion said earlier, there was always, always a difference in result despite everything else being the same as it was before.
Compared to his cooking back then, where he already knew what it tastes like--even when he put random bullshit on it while still making it edible, he still knew what it would taste like.
"Well..."
Dantalion stared on into the distance. No, he continued what he was watching earlier.
"Ei's threat might just come to fruition through other means... My hubris might actually get me killed, haha..."
His unending curiosity might just be his end one day.
"Man... Sometimes my [Overdramatic - EX] suppresses my [Perfect Memory] forgetting I don't truly give a fuck."
Finishing everything. He made the Kiminami Utensils clean. He just thought of it and it happens.
'I won't be able to do this remotely, It should be okay now.'
Changing the whole space into what it was before, a desert with the moon and stars above, and of course, the couch.
After sitting on it, he closed his eyes for a moment and opened it again.
12 hours had passed.
Instantly, just like that.
He called out to Kujou Sara, to him that it was not like time had moved at all, to Kujou Sara, who was already welcoming a new day.
Ultimately, for all his excuses, he was craving error in this space--
One that only Ei had managed to provide so far,
Now that he'd gained control of a much greater everything than the limits he had before he died.
The creation of the System had many strings of reason attached--perhaps it was merely a byproduct of a failed escape or a tool to passively observe this world without drawing Celestia and other beings that remained, for now, unknown to him.
Maybe it was boredom. Or the desire to cultivate a reliable puppet.
It might've been built to study essence--the metaphysical fingerprint behind thought, will, and origin.
Perhaps it's an experiment: to see if scattered System users across Teyvat could serve as psychic anchors, forming a vast hallucination lattice--
Something not unlike Irminsul, but free from divine curation.
A decentralized myth engine.
A parasite tree that remembers differently.
There were too many reasons, too many paths, and frankly, he couldn't be bothered to name them all.
Maybe that was the reason.
Or maybe it just sounded like one.
He didn't bother to check.
[Extra Skill: Solitude]
***
"As you can see, it's obvious enough..."
The words oozed out, not from Kujou Sara's lips--those remained firmly sealed--but from the strange, flickering illusion of a mouth.
"Though I had to resolve five days' worth of problems for her, she only gave me two--started just an hour ago. I'll be back before you know it! You won't have to miss me too much!"
"..."
Silence. That was all he got in return. No acknowledgment, no interest--just silence in the face of his energetic, almost theatrical exit.
The purple-haired woman--or puppet?--stared at Dantalion or, to be specific, to the eye beneath Kujou Sara's where the mouth he first manifested should be.
At one point, the mouth that Dantalion had manifested there had been replaced with an eye, deciding it looked more aesthetically pleasing that way.
He then used his [Illusionary Manipulation] to make it appear like there is a mouth beneath that eye. Throughout the exchange, Kujou Sara's real mouth and eyes remained shut.
She's only here because she has to be--hard not to be when you're both stuck in the same body.
"Who are you."
Not a question. Not a demand. There was no inflection in her voice. Flat, like an executioner's breath.
"Haha… You don't know? I'm yo dadd--"
Before he could finish, the Shogun's eyes lit up.
"Just go."
It wasn't the puppet speaking.
It was Ei--responding coldly, after briefly possessing her creation.
"Yeah, Yeah, if the consumption ever reaches a degree where it even affects you, it would be a good idea to just go and check it out for yourself."
With that, Dantalion--no, not quite. He generated a shockwave, forcefully propelling Kujou Sara's body out of the chamber. *They* vanished in a blink, their sudden departure punctuated by a thunderous boom that reverberated through the depths of Tenshukaku.
Not even giving Kujou Sara time to provide a proper formality to the Shogun, in his mind--
This was the only time his 'totally legit skill [Intuition], also known as [D Tingly]' forgot to blare at him, "You could proceed, but there's a high chance you'll get entangled with someone you unquestionably don't want to," the moment he considered personally handling things outside.
So naturally, he took that as a green light.
With only two days granted for his temporary freedom, there was much that needed to be done. The rest, thankfully, could be handled remotely.
---
"I will kill you someday! For sure!"
Why? The moment she realized Dantalion had already finished talking to the Raiden Shogun, she felt an abrupt, violent propulsion--so intense that even without opening her wings, they were now breaking through multiple sound barriers.
It took an immense degree of effort just to reposition herself into something resembling a stable flight posture. Her two pairs of raven-dark wings trembled under the pressure, unable to fully unfurl against the relentless G-forces.
They--no, Kujou Sara was still accelerating. Faster and farther, hurtling through the skies in the opposite direction of the continent of Teyvat.
She didn't know where Dantalion was taking her. She didn't know where he wanted to go, or what he even wanted from wherever that place was.
All she'd agreed to was a temporary departure from Inazuma. And only because he'd shown her something deeply unsettling: the power to predict outcomes.
Consequences.
Coincidences.
The natural unfolding of events around her, exposed and preordained--as if the world itself was reading from a script only he could see.
But why had that frightened her?
After all, his power was tied to illusion, wasn't it? A domain of the mind. What if he'd simply implanted false thoughts into others, nudging them toward the outcomes he wanted? That wouldn't be terrifying--it would just be an application of his Illusionary Manipulation. A trick of suggestion.
She could do that too.
No, not many could--but she wasn't most people. Even before Dantalion entered her life, she had already stood beyond the limits of ordinary humans.
Kujou Sara, without realizing it, had always retained a core of clarity--along with her almost inhuman rationality that remained untouched, even after spending nearly half her life among humans. Beneath her discipline and loyalty, the quiet, intrinsic sense of being other--of standing above humanity--never fully disappeared.
It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but it was there.
Not arrogance. Just fact.
A quiet certainty that in more ways than one, she was superior.
Even the weakest race of Yokai, or a being with even a sliver drop of Yokai in them, has it, so can she not?
Thus, as someone beyond human--a being born of Tengu--she had always straddled that invisible line between the mortal and the divine.
And the moment Dantalion showed her that, she understood: it wasn't an illusion. It wasn't manipulation. It wasn't implanted thought or psychological sleight of hand.
It was pure.
Cold.
Unfiltered, analytical ability.
-Chapter End-
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[0] : His paranoia would not leave him even in this world.