Grumble—
Kaito was walking along when he suddenly heard his own stomach growl.
It couldn't be helped. After a whole morning of running around Guili Plains, he was inevitably starting to get hungry.
I wonder if Miko and Lumine are back...
They didn't go out shopping and just... not come back yet, did they...
Glancing in the direction of the small courtyard, Kaito found himself thinking exactly that.
If they'd gone out and weren't home yet, he'd have no choice but to head out on his own and find something to eat.
Normally he would have waited for them, but right now he was simply too hungry for that.
And so, stomach rumbling in protest, Kaito made his way back to the small courtyard.
Hm?
Something smells amazing...
The moment he stepped up to the courtyard gate, a delicious aroma hit him, and his mouth began watering immediately.
Must be Miko and Lumine cooking, right?
Since there were other households nearby, Kaito couldn't be entirely sure whether that wonderful smell was coming from their courtyard specifically.
But regardless, the moment he caught that scent, he wasted no time heading inside.
"You finally decided to grace us with your return, did you?" The moment he stepped through the gate, Miko's pointed question met him head-on, catching him off guard for a second. "Gone for that long — were you starting to forget the way home?"
He looked up and saw that Miko was currently washing vegetables.
"Ah, well, it couldn't be helped," Kaito said, with the look of a man who'd had no say in the matter. "I spent the whole morning at Guili Plains, seeing if there were any leads to be found."
In response to Miko's interrogation, he spread his hands helplessly.
It was mostly his own suggestion that had sent him there, true — but he figured Ningguang probably would have asked him to do it anyway, so in the end, he really had no say.
"Guili Plains? What kind of place is that?"
Miko wasn't very familiar with Liyue, so she wanted to know what that place actually was.
"Just a stretch of wilderness outside the city — no one lives there, it's just open country."
Seeing Miko ask about Guili Plains, Kaito made a point of emphasizing that it was wild, uninhabited land — not some other kind of place.
He couldn't help it. He was worried Miko might get the wrong idea about where he'd been — especially since he'd been with Yelan.
"Oh, right — it's the same place I went to yesterday with Zhongli and Childe," he added quickly, the memory surfacing.
"Is that so." Hearing that, Miko's expression softened just slightly. "And did you find anything?"
"No. Nothing besides some signs of a battle — that's all."
Kaito walked over to where Miko was and crouched down, intending to help with the washing. He shook his head as he said it.
"Alright, you've been out all morning — there's no way you've washed your hands. Don't come in here making a mess of things."
The moment he crouched to help wash the vegetables, Miko waved him off.
However you looked at it, she had absolutely no desire to wash them all over again.
"Is that Kaito back?" Lumine's voice called out from the kitchen as she poked her head through the doorway to check.
But before Kaito could even answer, she pulled her head back inside — something was probably close to burning.
Seeing that, Kaito headed toward the kitchen to take a look for himself.
"I'll go check on Lumine."
"Don't go getting in Lumine's way," Miko said after him.
In her estimation, Kaito definitely didn't cook — if he went in there to "help," he'd only cause trouble.
"I won't," Kaito replied, and made his way to the kitchen.
"I'm back," he announced as he stepped inside.
"Kaito, what took you so long? Did you find something?" Lumine, who had been plating a dish, turned at the sound of his voice and looked at him with the question.
She'd expected him back fairly quickly — but it had been all the way until noon before he showed up, which made her curious what he'd been up to.
"Nothing." Kaito sat down in a chair and shook his head first, then went on: "I had to help check whether there were any other abnormalities around Guili Plains, so Yelan and I spent some time searching the area — but we still didn't find anything."
Since Lumine had already been to Guili Plains with him before, he didn't need to explain what the place was like he had for Miko.
"It looks like this whole affair isn't going to wrap up anytime soon," Lumine said, setting the finished dish aside.
She hadn't met Mobius yet, but the more she heard, the more she felt that Mobius was anything but simple.
And strangely, the more she felt that way, the more she actually wanted to meet her.
Of course, it was just a passing thought — it wasn't like she was going to let herself get captured or anything.
"Don't worry, I'll get this sorted out as quickly as I can," Kaito said, assuming Lumine was worried about something.
"Mm." Lumine nodded, then set the freshly cooked dish she'd just plated down on the table in front of Kaito. "Want to try some? I went out to check on something just now and it ended up cooking a little longer than I meant it to — I'm not sure if that's going to affect the taste."
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