The three soon found a spacious lounge in a side hall and went inside to sit down. Yae Miko took the initiative, picking up the tea set on the table.
She poured some pure spring water from the kettle nearby, then added the tea leaves and began expertly brewing the tea.
Sitting across from her, Sangonomiya Kokomi watched as Yae Miko sat poised and dignified, every movement in her tea preparation—every gesture, every motion—exuding grace.
Seeing Yae Miko so knowledgeable in so many things, Kokomi felt a twinge of unwillingness, yet she couldn't help but feel a degree of admiration as well.
Both were shrine maidens, and like herself, the other woman could handle state affairs and perform prayers and rituals. Beyond that, however, she also knew many things that Kokomi did not.
For example, she had founded Yae Publishing House and ventured into light novel publishing, and now here she was, displaying an elegant mastery of the tea ceremony right before her eyes.
And most importantly of all—her assets were far more ample than her own. That was the gap, the difference she simply did not possess.
At the thought of this, Kokomi felt like beating her chest and stomping her feet, frustrated at why she lacked the same physical qualities as the other woman.
But it's fine. I'm still young—I can learn! With this thought, a measure of confidence was restored in Kokomi's heart.
Yet that thought was merely fleeting. Soon after, she found the whole prospect terribly troublesome. Learning so many things would surely require a massive amount of time and energy—it would drain far too much of her reserves.
Besides, so much of it required physical exertion. To an energy-conserving homebody like her, who would rather lie down than stand if possible, this was nothing short of a nightmare.
So she decisively chose to give up! Her grand plan for self-improvement had perished before it even began, all in less than a minute.
Perhaps Yuki-kun won't care about these things. They're probably just trivial advantages that don't matter at all! Kokomi silently comforted herself, finding perfectly reasonable excuses.
Right—my chest. Maybe that's a bit easier. I've heard others say that just drinking more milk-based things will do the trick! That's doable. After all, it's just eating and drinking—no brainpower or physical effort required! Hooray!
Once Kokomi had set this goal, her little face instantly bloomed with a joyful smile. She seemed to see herself in the near future, her assets surpassing Yae Miko's, being held in Yuki's arms as he looked upon her with boundless delight.
A scene of the two of them deeply in love, while Yae Miko could only kneel on the ground weeping bitterly, a portrait of utter defeat.
As Yae Miko was pouring tea for everyone and delivered a teacup before Sangonomiya Kokomi, she noticed the silly, gleeful expression on the girl's face and couldn't help but reveal a look of suspicion.
She wondered if this child had actually been driven silly with glee just from visiting Narukami Island.
After thinking it over, Yae Miko decided not to disturb the silly girl's self-amusement and instead turned her gaze to Yuki.
"Yuki-kun, try the tea I've brewed."
"Alright."
Hearing this, Yuki nodded, picked up the teacup, blew on it gently, and took a small sip. "Not bad. Compared to Ei, your tea-brewing skills are considerably better."
Yuki's eyes brightened slightly as he nodded and praised Yae Miko.
A light smile immediately surfaced on Yae Miko's face upon hearing this. "Of course. Ei—well, don't be fooled by the fact that she's a deity. The truth is, there are many things she's not very good at! Her tea-brewing technique is only something she picked up from watching me brew it so often—she just copied what she saw! But then again, she's only learned the surface-level stuff!"
As soon as Yuki brought up Ei, Yae Miko couldn't help but expose the truth about her, freely venting without holding anything back.
Sitting to the side, Kokomi had by now come back to her senses. She picked up her teacup and took a sip.
A look of surprise immediately appeared on her face. She had to admit, Yae Miko's tea-brewing skills were excellent. Even though she didn't know how to brew tea herself, she was more or less capable of appreciating it.
But Kokomi didn't dwell on it; her expression quickly returned to normal, and she began chatting idly with the two of them.
The topics of conversation were mostly inconsequential. Kokomi steered many of the topics toward Yuki, asking about his interests and hobbies and such.
But most of all, she was curious about the ability Yuki had used to slay that Fatui Harbinger the day before.
"Yuki-kun, what was that ability you used yesterday to eliminate that Fatui Harbinger? And, from what I can see, you seem to have no Vision at all—just like an ordinary person. It's simply incredible! Throughout all of Teyvat, I've never heard of such an ability." Her pretty face brimming with curiosity, Kokomi gently asked Yuki.
"You mean that? It was merely a minor dimensional reduction technique."
"Dimensional reduction? What a novel term!"
Hearing Yuki use such an unfamiliar word, Kokomi became even more deeply intrigued, clearly eager to learn more. The same went for Yae Miko beside her.
Though she hadn't asked Yuki about that ability of his from the day before, it didn't mean she wasn't curious. In truth, she was very curious, but since Yuki hadn't brought it up, she hadn't quite dared to ask.
But now that Kokomi had asked, she naturally wanted to learn more as well.
"Dimensional reduction, well... that actually has to start with the theory of dimensions..."
Seeing that both women were so curious, Yuki began to explain the concepts of dimensions and the knowledge of the cosmos.
When the two women learned from Yuki about such a profound and difficult-to-grasp theory of dimensions, they seemed a bit dazed and confused.
"In other words, the first dimension is a point, the second is lines, and the third is the reality we inhabit?!"
Kokomi rested her chin on her delicate hand, pondered for a moment, and then slowly spoke.
"And yesterday, that Fatui Harbinger—Yuki-kun reduced him to two dimensions. A two-dimensional world consists of lines, akin to planar drawings. So that's why, in our eyes, he appeared like a paper cutout."
One had to admit, Sangonomiya Kokomi was quite clever—she grasped things right away and quickly understood Yuki's explanation.
"Hehe, indeed." Yuki chuckled and casually picked up an empty teacup.
Then, before the two women even realized what was happening, the teacup transformed into a flat, paper-thin cup.
Witnessing this with her own eyes, Kokomi's eyes sparkled as she continuously examined the paper cup with wonder. Seeing her so curious, Yuki handed it over to her.
Kokomi took it and found that it was completely weightless, no different from a drawing of a cup on a sheet of paper. And the sensation to her touch was just the smooth feel of paper.
Had she not seen it with her own eyes, it would have been very hard to believe that this had been a real teacup transformed.
"How incredible!" Kokomi gently touched the paper cup, marveling in amazement.
"There's something even more incredible, you know!"
The corners of Yuki's lips curled upward as he picked up the teapot from the side and slowly poured tea onto the paper cup.
By all common sense, the paper should have been soaked through by the water, and the drawing on it should have blurred. Yet the scene that followed was an eye-opener for both women.
The moment the tea touched the surface of the paper, it seemed to vanish, without dampening the paper in the slightest. Meanwhile, through one visible corner of the flat illustration, they could see that pale green color had appeared inside the cup's interior in the drawing.
Only when Yuki kept pouring and the pale green pigment overflowed the cup like water did they realize that the tea Yuki had poured had actually gone inside the paper cup.
Evidently, even the poured tea, upon touching the dimensionally reduced cup, underwent the same dimensional reduction. Such a miraculous sight drew a continuous stream of praise from both women.