Paimon's face twisted in disgust. "Let's just pretend we didn't see him."
Getting involved with Itto would only bring them a mountain of trouble. That was her honest opinion.
"Right, right! Speaking of food, it's been forever since we had Wanmin Restaurant's boiled fish. Why don't we head over there right now?"
Lumine felt a little helpless. They had just finished eating at Port Ormos, and she was already hungry again?
When they reached Chihu Rock, Shenhe said she wasn't hungry yet and went back to the shop to check on things. Ganyu also mentioned she still had plenty of work to finish—reporting the results of this trip to the Qixing.
"What about you, Mu Yang?" Lumine turned to him.
Mu Yang simply shook his head and walked into the [Three Bowls Won't Cross the Harbor] on the left.
Not everyone was like Paimon, with nothing but food occupying their mind all day.
Lumine had no choice. Who told her to raise such a glutton?
Besides, she really had stayed in Fontaine for quite a while this time. The food there was mostly sweet, and too much of it had started to feel cloying. Switching things up with something spicy and fragrant every now and then wasn't a bad idea.
And so the two of them made their way to Wanmin Restaurant.
This also marked the beginning of the players' Version 4.3 second-half event.
[Arataki's Glorious Great Training]
Just as Lumine and Paimon were about to turn into Wanmin Restaurant, they spotted a familiar figure at the hotpot stall right next to it.
They had just run into the boss of the Arataki Gang, and now here was his right-hand woman. It was only natural.
Besides Shinobu, Yanfei was there too.
"Lumine and Paimon? You two came to eat as well?"
Lumine nodded. "Paimon's been craving Wanmin's spicy boiled fish. What about you two? Why are you eating hotpot over there instead?"
Lumine already knew that Shinobu and Yanfei were acquainted.
Still, she couldn't help thinking that Yanfei inviting someone over shouldn't mean dragging Shinobu to a roadside stall. Wanmin Restaurant was literally right next door—Chef Mao and Xiangling would be heartbroken if they saw this.
"Is Chef Mao's cooking not good enough anymore? Or is Xiangling experimenting with new recipes again?"
[Shady Lumine is firing on all cylinders again. That little expression is hilarious.]
[Why is Kuki Shinobu still wearing her mask while eating?]
[She learned it from Kakashi.]
Yanfei explained that Wanmin Restaurant was temporarily closed for the next couple of days.
"Besides, Su Erniang's hotpot and Wanmin's dishes are two completely different flavors. Switching it up is nice sometimes. Both are local specialties around here."
"Closed? Why is Wanmin suddenly closed?"
Paimon's little face fell.
Her boiled fish… the boiled fish she had been dreaming about.
Wanmin Restaurant rarely took days off. Even when Xiangling went out on her adventures, Chef Mao could manage on his own.
Had something important happened?
Shinobu looked a little embarrassed. "Speaking of which… we're actually partly responsible for it."
It turned out that some classmates from Tongwen Academy had recently held a reunion and invited Shinobu to join. Given her seniority, Yanfei, as the senior member, was naturally in charge of choosing the venue.
Yanfei's plan had been simple and practical: eat their fill at Wanmin Restaurant first, then head next door to Muyu Snow City for drinks. The focus was on generous portions and getting everyone full.
But they hadn't expected so many people to show up.
And then there was also Arataki Itto.
He had visited Liyue once before and had never forgotten Wanmin's food. So the two groups had completely wiped out an entire week's worth of ingredients that the restaurant had in stock.
[???]
[Eating the place straight out of business, huh?]
[Any story involving Itto always makes me smile. This is brutal.]
Yanfei chuckled. "Chef Mao was exhausted, but he was grinning from ear to ear. This was his biggest order in half a year. Restocking the ingredients might keep him busy for more than just a day or two, though."
"It really is that guy Itto…" Paimon gritted her teeth.
Nothing good ever came from running into the Bull Chucker.
He had eaten up an entire week's worth of stored ingredients!
Her boiled fish!
"Did you just see him earlier?"
"Yeah… They should be out at sea by now. But he looked pretty busy, so we didn't say hello."
Lumine added, "Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a class reunion? Itto… shouldn't really count as a classmate, right?"
Forget Liyue's private schools—from everything they had seen before, Itto had never even attended school in Inazuma. At most, Granny Oni might have taught him a thing or two.
Paimon said disdainfully, "Let me guess how it went… It was definitely like this—"
She then launched into an impression of Arataki Itto.
"'Shinobu's classmates are obviously my classmates too! How could this reunion happen without me?' That's exactly what he said, right?"
[Spot on. Way too accurate.]
[Back then, I was still pretty buff.]
[Congratulations to Paimon for taking first place in the Arataki Itto Impression Contest.]
[Two 6.1 little friends.]
Shinobu confirmed that was exactly how it had gone.
"The boss was clearly just craving the food he had last time in Liyue and wanted to satisfy that urge again."
Yanfei picked up the thread. "What about the Hanakado Gyokusho who came with you two? That little brother is pretty clever!"
"You might not have noticed, but while you were chatting with your classmates, he was helping Chef Mao with chores. He's learning how to cook Liyue dishes."
Shinobu thought for a moment. She felt Yanfei still didn't quite understand the Arataki Gang's way of thinking.
From Gyokusho's perspective, he was probably just trying to learn some novel recipes to feed to his Onikabuto and make them stronger.
"Hanakado Gyokusho? That name sounds familiar… I remember a long time ago, the Bull Chucker held a beetle-fighting tournament…"
Lumine said it didn't matter if she didn't remember—the details probably weren't important.
Shinobu helped jog her memory. After that beetle tournament that had nearly caused a huge commotion, Gyokusho had become an ally of the Arataki Gang. He often came over to practice beetle fighting with Itto and discuss strategies for raising Onikabuto.
"Gyokusho can use beetle fighting as an excuse to get the boss to do some proper work he wouldn't usually care about. It's one of the few things that actually puts my mind at ease."
It was also one of the few things that gave Shinobu some comfort.
Apparently, during the days Wanmin Restaurant was closed, they had been helping restock ingredients at the shop. They claimed it was to repay Chef Mao for his incredible cooking.
Of course, that was just a side benefit. Their real goal was to test which ingredients could strengthen their Onikabuto.
"No wonder they said they were going out to sea…"
Lumine looked a little worried. "Shinobu, is it really okay to just let them go out to sea like that?"
Itto would be fine—he was tough as nails. But that little guy might run into danger, right?
"The boss knows his limits. And if there really was any danger, Gyokusho himself would refuse to go along."
[Does he really?]
[Every time I hear that phrase, I think of Mu Yang. He's so measured.]
Yanfei explained that today Xiangling and Guoba had gone to Guyun Stone Forest to catch crabs, and they were supposed to meet up there.
They actually got along pretty well. Guoba had even become friends with Itto's Red One and Gyokusho's whatever-it-was beetle.
Lumine hadn't been particularly interested at first.
But after hearing that, she felt like she had to go take a look.
As for Paimon, she was curious—could the crabs at Guyun Stone Forest really be worse than boiled fish?