"Well, that gives us something to do," Miko said the moment Lumine finished speaking.
"Hm? Like what?"
Lumine genuinely hadn't thought of anything.
"Prepare lunch, obviously." Miko answered as if it were the most self-evident thing in the world, looking at Lumine's puzzled expression. Then, with a slight note of worry, she added, "Though I'm not sure whether that guy will end up eating out with Ningguang."
It was still early, but Miko had a feeling there was a good chance Kaito would end up staying out for the meal.
Still, she quickly reasoned that if he did eat out, then she and Lumine could just eat on their own.
Either way, the two of them might as well get lunch started. Even if Kaito didn't come back to eat, they still had to eat themselves.
"He'll probably be back in time — it's still so early," Lumine said, offering her own take on Miko's concern.
"Never mind that for now. Let's go out and see what looks good — think of it as a little shopping trip."
With that, Miko took Lumine by the arm and headed for the door.
"We haven't even had breakfast yet."
"We'll grab something on the way."
And so the two of them set off toward the market.
Meanwhile, Kaito was making his way toward the Jade Chamber alongside Yelan.
Should I bring up Mobius now? Or wait until we're up there?
Walking beside him, Yelan turned the question over in her mind.
It was obvious that Kaito still had no idea she already knew about Mobius.
...Forget it.
She'd just ask him herself.
Curiosity had gotten the better of her, and Yelan decided she couldn't wait.
"I have a question, Kaito." Mid-stride, Yelan turned her head to look at him.
"What is it?"
Kaito turned to look back at her.
"It's about someone called Mobius." Holding his gaze, Yelan said it slowly and deliberately.
Kaito: "...!"
He hadn't expected that. For a moment he was genuinely caught off guard — he hadn't anticipated that Yelan already knew Mobius existed.
But it didn't take long for him to figure it out. It must have been Miko or Lumine who'd told her.
Keeping his expression neutral, he replied, "Sounds like Miko filled you in."
"That's right."
Yelan gave a small nod.
Since his face had given nothing away throughout the exchange, she still couldn't quite gauge just how serious the matter of Mobius actually was.
"Well, as it happens — even if Ningguang hadn't sent you to find me today, I was planning to go see her myself," Kaito said first, then continued, "Something seems to have happened over at Guili Plains last night. I wasn't sure if you'd heard."
"I have, and Ningguang does as well — though neither of us found much information there."
Yelan wasn't particularly surprised that Kaito knew about the Guili Plains incident. When the Millelith had mobilized the night before, it wasn't exactly a secret — all of Liyue had known about it.
"What happened there... I believe it may be connected to Mobius. Though I can't say for certain," Kaito went on.
"Then who is she? And what does she want?" Yelan asked, a note of urgency creeping into her voice.
"How about we wait until we're with Ningguang to go over it? Otherwise I'll just end up repeating myself."
After a moment's thought, Kaito decided to save the full explanation for the Jade Chamber.
He'd already gone through the Mobius situation twice. If he had to tell Yelan and Ningguang separately on top of that, it would be four times. That, he genuinely did not want to do.
"Fair enough." Yelan nodded, though she had a vague sense something was a little off.
After that, the two walked on in silence.
— The Jade Chamber.
"It's been a while, Kaito. I trust you've been well?"
The moment Kaito and Yelan stepped onto the Jade Chamber, Ningguang — who had clearly been waiting for them — came forward to greet them.
"Not bad. Though I should have come to you with this sooner, Ningguang — I'll be the first to admit that."
He got straight to the point the moment he saw her.
He was, frankly, a little helpless about the whole thing. He'd asked Zhongli to pass word to the Qixing and the Adepti about Mobius — and Zhongli appeared to have simply... forgotten. There wasn't much he could do about that.
But he wasn't about to throw Zhongli under the carriage. He'd just take responsibility himself.
"Oh? It sounds as though you already know what I was going to bring up."
The moment she heard that, Ningguang's interest was visibly piqued.
She'd already been wondering whether Kaito knew what had transpired at Guili Plains the previous night — and it was clear she'd guessed correctly.
"It should be related to a... friend of mine, actually."
With Ningguang and Yelan both watching him, Kaito went through the whole story about Mobius once more.
By the time he finished, both women wore noticeably grave expressions.
They had no choice — the person Kaito had described, this Mobius, was something that lay entirely outside the bounds of what they'd thought possible.
As far as they were concerned, this was a being on the level of a god.
After a long silence, Ningguang spoke. "To think that someone like this could actually exist in this world."
She understood immediately: against an existence like this, it would take Rex Lapis himself to intervene.
Though Rex Lapis had, on the surface, already departed from this world, an existence like this would certainly move him to act.
Beyond Rex Lapis, however, Kaito also seemed like a very capable ally.
After all, his girlfriend happened to be the Anemo Archon — and she was hardly the type to stand by and do nothing.
What Ningguang didn't know was why the Anemo Archon hadn't accompanied him to Liyue this time. She quietly wondered if that might become a problem.
"Quite a few of them, actually," Kaito said mildly in response to what Ningguang had said. Then he added, "But don't worry, Ningguang. She came to Liyue because of me, so I'll find a way to handle it."
Quite a few of them?
Hearing Kaito say it so casually, both Ningguang and Yelan were taken aback.
Those were not simple words to say so lightly.
"Then I will report this matter to Rex Lapis as well..."
"He already knows, actually."
Kaito cut in to let Ningguang know that Rex Lapis was already aware — and was privately tempted to add that Rex Lapis had basically already washed his hands of the whole affair, but thought better of it.
After all, he still needed to leave the man some dignity in front of Ningguang and Yelan.
More importantly, even if he said it, neither of them would likely believe him.
So — better to leave it unsaid.
____
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