"Then what do you need her for? Feels like whenever you two are together, you just end up saying something about each other anyway." Looking mildly puzzled, Acheron posed the question to Miko.
"Obviously to have her taste the stir-fried pork with chili peppers I made, of course."
She hadn't expected Ei to not even be able to guess that much, so Miko just said it outright.
But almost immediately, she suddenly realized something.
"Though... the stir-fried pork with chili peppers Kiana made earlier has already been finished by you..."
As she said it, Miko glanced around the room, as though checking whether any of Kiana's stir-fry was left.
Kiana had said Ei had already finished it, but somehow Miko found that hard to believe.
Sure enough, looking around now, there really wasn't a scrap of Kiana's stir-fry left anywhere.
"Want me to go ask her to make another plate? I imagine she'd be happy to." Acheron offered this in her usual flat tone.
"That's... probably fine, no need." Miko laughed a little awkwardly and shook her head.
Her original plan had been to have Wendy taste both her version and Kiana's side by side for comparison — but since Kiana's was already gone, there was no point in asking her to make more. If she did, Miko would almost certainly end up having to sample Kiana's cooking again, and that was something she absolutely could not survive.
More importantly, Wendy had definitely already been subjected to Kiana's cooking before, so there was no need to put her through it again.
Haah...
Why does it feel like Ei just never gets what I'm trying to do...
Or maybe she just doesn't care?
Miko had thought her intentions were pretty obvious by now, but Ei seemed completely oblivious — which left her feeling rather helpless.
Then again, thinking about the way Ei normally was, combined with the fact that everything more or less tasted the same to her, Miko let it go.
"How come Kiana's back again?"
Just then, Acheron said it out of nowhere.
"Hm?"
Miko instinctively looked toward the doorway. She genuinely hadn't expected Kiana to come back so soon, and the sudden realization made her feel a little guilty — terrified that Kiana might somehow pick up on what she'd been thinking.
But after staring at the entrance for a moment, she didn't see any sign of Kiana appearing.
"Kiana—"
"Are you two talking about me?" Miko had barely started turning her head back when Kiana's voice rang out from directly behind her, making her jump.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Miko, I've got this feeling you two were saying something awful about me just now." Kiana stood behind Acheron, wearing the expression of someone who had just uncovered a great secret.
"Ahem — I was just startled by you popping up like that. Ei warned me you were back, so I assumed you'd come through the door — but then you just appeared out of nowhere behind me, so of course you gave me a fright."
Miko, already feeling a twinge of guilt, delivered this explanation with practiced conviction as she looked at Kiana standing behind Ei.
To be fair, the jump had nothing to do with guilty conscience — she genuinely just hadn't expected Kiana to materialize like that.
In all her time around Kiana, she had barely ever seen her do anything that hinted at any kind of special ability. So this sudden, completely unannounced appearance had caught her entirely off guard.
"I see." Kiana nodded, seeming to accept the explanation.
"So why did you come back so suddenly? Did you leave something here?"
Once she saw that Kiana had bought it, Miko found herself genuinely curious about the reason.
Whatever the case, Kiana clearly had some reason for returning.
"Just wanted to ask — have you seen Mobius anywhere?"
Mobius?
The name caught Miko off guard for a moment.
If Kiana hadn't brought it up, she'd nearly forgotten all about her. But that was understandable — between everything that had happened with Ei and Makoto, and then Kiana's little culinary catastrophe on top of it, it was no wonder that girl had slipped her mind.
"Haven't seen her. What happened — did she leave?" Acheron answered.
"Seems like it. I went back and she was just... gone." Kiana replied, not entirely sure.
She left?
Miko hadn't expected that.
She'd been meaning to look into that woman — and now, before she'd even gotten around to it, she was already gone.
"Maybe she just stepped out somewhere." Acheron offered, with her usual equanimity.
"Actually, while we're on the subject — who exactly is that girl? Is she Kaito's girlfriend too?"
Since both of them were talking about Mobius, Miko figured this was as good a time as any to ask.
"No." Kiana shook her head first, then continued: "But she does come looking for Kaito every now and then. Who knows... maybe she does have that kind of intention."
Maybe she does have that kind of intention?
Miko hadn't expected that answer.
She'd assumed the girl was either Kaito's girlfriend or she wasn't — a clean binary. The idea that the answer was somewhere in between had never even occurred to her.
"So... what does Kaito himself say about it?" After asking that, Miko suddenly had a much more alarming thought.
Wait a minute.
Does that guy not even draw the line at little girls?
"No idea. Probably not interested." Right as that thought crossed Miko's mind, Kiana shook her head.
You don't even know that much...
Miko was at a loss for words.
Still, speechless as she was, she had a more pressing question to get to, so she pressed on: "But isn't that Mobius just a little girl? Isn't this a bit..."
"She's considerably older than you, Miko."
Acheron cut her off before she could finish, stating it simply.
"Oh... is that so..." Miko was caught off guard.
She'd already suspected the woman might be more than she appeared — but she'd still instinctively thought of her as just a girl, even after someone (Kiana, maybe?) had already hinted otherwise.
"She's probably tens of thousands of years old, give or take." Kiana added, almost as an afterthought.
Miko: "...???"
She had opened her mouth to say something — and now she was frozen all over again.
She'd been thinking maybe Mobius was a few hundred years old, give or take — like herself. Turns out she'd massively undershot. The woman was tens of thousands of years old. Even Ei would have to address her as a senior.
Right, on that note...
Just how old is Kaito, anyway?
____
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