"She is a master of escape and concealment, and she has some history with the Tenryou Commission. The person I want to borrow is that child, Sayu."
Seeing the smile on Yae Miko's face, Bai Luo knew the deal was practically done. Just as Miko knew he would play along with her to tease Miyuki and Shinobu, he knew that if this pink fox found out about the "history" between him and Sayu, she would definitely want a piece of the action. If she didn't stir up trouble, she wouldn't be Yae Miko.
"Hmm... that child? It's not impossible. But currently, I am not her guardian. That responsibility falls to Kano Nana, who serves both the Shuumatsuban and the shrine. Whether you can secure her consent... well, that's up to you."
In truth, Yae Miko could have easily ordered Sayu to help with a single command from the Guuji. But she lived for the "entertainment." Why pass up a chance for a good show? Moreover, knowing Sayu, she would definitely go into hiding.
Perhaps Bai Luo would be forced to use his "Authority" to find her—and that would give Miko a perfect excuse to observe exactly how he used his powers to track her.
"Oh? Then I'll go speak with her personally." Bai Luo's eyes lit up. What were his greatest talents? First, befriending people through music; second, getting to know them through fruit.
Either way, he had a knack for making "fast friends" who felt like they'd known him for a lifetime. If one method failed, he'd use both. Surely, no one could resist their charm.
"By the way." Bai Luo, who had already stood up to leave, seemed to remember something. He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a Sunsettia as usual. "A Sunsettia. It's sweet. Want one?"
"..."
From the very beginning, when Bai Luo first tried to get her to eat a Sunsettia, she had sensed something was wrong. After hearing Sayu's reports, she was extra-cautious. When the child was found, her first words were: "Sunsettias are terrifying."
Miko had even tried to use her divination to see what would happen if she ate one. To her bafflement, while even the most hidden secrets could usually be glimpsed through her "Insight into Heaven and Earth," both Bai Luo himself and his Sunsettias were impossible to predict. Even the fruit Sayu had brought back was affected; even far away from Bai Luo, it remained a blind spot for her powers.
The only other time she had encountered such a total void in her divination was when she tried to divine the fate of Ei. This only made her even more wary of touching his fruit.
The Sunsettia... truly a terrifying thing.
Seeing her resistance, Bai Luo let out a soft sigh and put the fruit away. As he did, a small bamboo slip fell out of his pocket and clattered onto the floor. It was pale green and looked like an ordinary bookmark, save for some calligraphy and sketches on both sides.
"Hmm... a bookmark I made myself. Want it?" Noting Miko's eyes drifting toward the slip, Bai Luo picked it up and offered it to her.
"Oh my, what a coincidence. I happen to have a beautiful 'paperweight,' so I suppose I don't really have a use for it." Miko was cautious about anything Bai Luo gave her.
Specifically, there was a pattern on the slip that resembled a "lozenge knot" (fang sheng), which made her even more alert. That pattern was one of the symbols of the Liyue deity—did this bookmark carry some sort of contractual nature? If she accepted it and accidentally signed some bizarre contract with Bai Luo, it would be a disaster. She liked finding fun, but she didn't want to be the fun.
"If you don't want it, I'll take it back." Bai Luo didn't look disappointed; he simply shrugged and prepared to tuck it away.
Zap!
A flash of pale purple lightning flickered. A fox phantom lunged from behind Yae Miko, snatched the bookmark from Bai Luo's hand with its teeth, and returned to her side. The slip landed neatly in front of her.
Judging by the ink and the drawing, it looked like a recent work. One side depicted a traditional Liyue oil-paper umbrella. A faint scent of plum blossoms seemed to emanate from the red umbrella—somehow, Bai Luo had managed to infuse the fragrance into the bamboo so that it wouldn't dissipate.
The other side featured the Sketch of Dihua Marsh she had seen in his study, along with a poem written in Inazuman script:
Resting on rocks, laughing at lake carp,
The lake's mind captures the spiritual light.
Ask not of the reeds in the deep end,
Pottery clay dries atop the coal.
On the surface, it seemed to describe a scene of Liyue commoners gathering clay from reed marshes to fire pottery. However... Miko felt something was "off" about the verses.
Perhaps Bai Luo just wanted the poem to sound sophisticated and used words that felt deep but were hollow upon closer inspection?
"For someone of your level, this poem is rather... subpar. But for the sake of your kind intentions, I suppose I'll accept it." She read it several times to ensure it wasn't an acrostic or a hidden code.
Seeing no obvious traps, she picked it up. She was bored with the "paperweight" (Gnosis) Ei had given her anyway; this would serve as a nice replacement. Besides, she knew she'd give that other thing away eventually.
She had always thought Bai Luo was quite the unrefined fellow, but here he was giving her a gift. He's finally catching on, she thought.
"Then I'm off to find Kano Nana. Goodbye."
After Miko took the bookmark, Bai Luo's expression became very subtle. As she finished reading it, he displayed a mix of nervousness, excitement, and pure joy.
"Don't go hurting my shrine maiden now~" Miko waved him off, playing with her new gift. She focused on the plum-scented umbrella and the artistic sketch, never noticing that the poem "Laughing at Lake Carp" was a phonetic prank.
Compared to the art and the scent, the poem's calligraphy and meaning seemed worthless—almost as if it ruined the artwork.
It wouldn't be until a much later festival, when Master Zhenyu (Xingqiu) visited Inazuma from Liyue for a book signing, that the truth would come out. He would spot the bookmark on her waist, be struck by its "genius," and read the lines out loud in the Liyue tongue.
The True Meaning (The Pun):
I am a little fox,
A fox's brain isn't bright.
Don't ask me why,
I'll bite you without mercy.
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