"Sayu just can't wake up anymore..."
Feeling her body being shaken, Sayu frowned uncomfortably and mumbled in her sleep.
"Don't say such scary things—hurry up and wake up."
Paimon said.
"Ngh..."
Sayu let out a whimper and opened her bleary, sleepy eyes. Seeing it was Lumine and Paimon, she asked in a hazy voice, "Oh, it's you two. Is there something you need?"
"Sayu, why are you sleeping at the entrance of the Yae Publishing House? Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"
Paimon asked, puzzled.
"The Shuumatsuban received a commission from the Kamisato Clan to send someone to the Yae Publishing House to buy a book. In the end, everyone else had things to do, so the task landed on my shoulders."
Sayu spread her hands and said helplessly, "I've no idea who the person handing out the commission even is—needing to trouble the Shuumatsuban over something as trivial as buying a book. Couldn't he just come buy it himself? And besides, we're the Shuumatsuban—how could we possibly get a book-buying commission?"
"Buying a book... Could it be that you're that professional?"
Paimon asked, her eyes going wide.
"What professional?"
Sayu was a little confused.
"Sayu, what book did you come to buy?"
Paimon asked.
"It seems to be written by someone called Fang Qiu... um... something about weather..."
Sayu frowned, trying hard to recall.
"It's Weathering With You, right?"
Paimon said.
"Ah, right, right, right, it's Weathering With You. This Fang Qiu is an annoying guy too, disturbing my sleep."
Sayu nodded and said.
"Looks like you're the professional Thoma mentioned, then?"
Paimon said.
"Thoma? Could that guy be the one who put out the commission?"
Sayu asked, her eyes going wide.
"You know Thoma too, Sayu?"
Paimon asked, puzzled.
"That guy—normally he always likes pestering me to teach him ninjutsu, and now he even wants me to buy a book for him, squeezing my sleep time like this. And on top of that he's grown so tall—what an annoying guy."
Sayu said with a frown.
"Uh..."
Paimon scratched her head and, looking at Lumine a bit awkwardly, said, "What do we do—it seems I've accidentally pinned another false charge on Thoma."
"So Sayu, weren't you here to buy a book? Why are you slacking off and sleeping?"
Lumine asked.
"No! I came to line up very early. Since the book hadn't gone on sale yet, I got a little drowsy from waiting, so I just dozed off for a tiny bit. That doesn't count as slacking—I'm merely making reasonable use of a break in my work to rest."
Sayu argued.
"From the look of you just now, you'd clearly been asleep for a good long while."
Paimon said. "And the book went on sale ages ago, didn't it?"
"Huh? It's already started?"
Sayu was stunned and lifted her eyes toward the Yae Publishing House.
Quite a few novel enthusiasts had already gotten their copies and were happily heading off in pairs toward the teahouse.
And inside the Yae Publishing House, the stock of Weathering With You was already running low.
"Why are there only so few books left? Did I really sleep that long? What do I do? The books won't sell out, will they?"
Sayu panicked.
"No, it's only been on sale a short while. The stock being this low is probably because they rushed to release it and didn't print enough copies."
Lumine said.
"So what do we do?"
Sayu asked.
"How about this, Sayu—why don't you come with us to the Yae Publishing House editorial department to ask for a copy?"
Paimon smiled and said, "The kind where you don't have to line up, you know."
"Uh... actually, I just remembered something."
Sayu said, looking a bit guilty and hesitant.
"What is it?"
Paimon asked.
"Well, before I set out, I also received another commission."
Sayu said.
"What commission?"
Paimon tilted her head and asked.
"It was to make a trip to the Yae Publishing House editorial department and notify the editors there not to give you..."
Sayu hesitated for a moment, then said.
Silence. Utter silence.
The moment Sayu said this, the air suddenly turned a little awkward.
After a moment of silence, Paimon stamped her foot and fumed, "Miko! I've really made a note of this grudge!"
Since asking for the book was hopeless, they had no choice but to line up at the Yae Publishing House to buy it.
Seeing them start to queue, quite a few people present began to whisper among themselves.
"Those two look so familiar. I feel like I've seen them somewhere... hmm... could it be that I swapped bodies with her too? Should I go ask?"
"You've been reading Your Name until your head's gone muddled, haven't you? That's the famous Traveler. Earlier, it was her and that talking pet beside her who accompanied the Shogun Almighty at the teahouse over there to watch The Forest of Fireflies' Light."
"Uh, now that you mention it, I remember... At the time I was completely startled by the Shogun Almighty's sudden arrival... sigh, when will I ever be like Tachibana Taki and find someone of my own?"
The crowd chattered on and on.
"What do you mean, 'talking pet'! Argh! I'm so furious, I'm going to go set them straight!"
Hearing their conversation, Paimon was beside herself with rage and immediately made to go argue with them.
But after flying out a few meters, she realized that Lumine and Sayu hadn't followed, and instantly lost her nerve, flying right back.
After queuing for a while, Sayu began to grow drowsy again.
Liyue.
It was just about midday.
The sky was still drifting with light snow, the weather clear and cold.
"Ngh..."
Fang Qiu was curled up under the covers. After her body squirmed restlessly, she slowly opened her eyes, her lovely, bleary gaze full of daze.
After spacing out for a good while, she finally came to her senses.
When she threw back the covers and made to prop herself up to sit, she discovered that her nightdress had, at some point, slid up to her chest, leaving her practically no different from being completely naked.
Fang Qiu let out a sigh.
It was because a couple of days ago, one of her panda pajamas had been left out on the table, and that little rascal Tingyu had clawed it to ruin, treating it like a cat scratching post.
Originally there had only been two tears, and it could still have been worn, but wouldn't you know it—the spots Tingyu had clawed open were all in very private places, so it could only be used after being mended.
So for now, she had no choice but to wear the nightdress.
Though sleeping naked really was quite comfortable.
Feeling the sensation of her skin in intimate contact with the velvet sheets, Fang Qiu mused to herself.
Just as she was about to prop herself up and then tug the nightdress down, a fuzzy sensation suddenly came from beneath her chest.
"Tingyu, stop squirming around... Ah, that tickles."
Fang Qiu let out a soft cry, her pretty face slightly flushed, and reached her hand into the covers, pulling Tingyu out from underneath them.
This little rascal—now that the days had turned cold, it no longer slept in its own cat bed, and burrowed into her sheets every single day.
She had already gotten used to it.
After she set Tingyu down on the bed, Tingyu lay down right where it was, without the slightest intention of moving elsewhere.
Fang Qiu gave her household's lazy cat a helpless glance.
Beyond saving.
Even if this little rascal turned into a catgirl, it would probably still be the type to sleep all day long, utterly incapable of doing the laundry or cooking meals for her.
"Mm..."
Fang Qiu shook her head, propped herself up, and sat on the bed in a duck-sit, then stretched languidly with all her might, her fair, lovely body unfurling into an enticing arc in the faintly cold air.
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