"Is that so? Then she just needs to learn from me and Miko — shouldn't be a problem at all."
Lumine wasn't particularly troubled by the news that Kiana's cooking was subpar. At most, Kiana would pick things up by watching her and Miko. It was just cooking, after all — not exactly rocket science.
That said, Lumine hadn't missed the look on Miko's face just now, or the sigh Kaito had let out. Both were telling her, in their own way, that this wasn't as simple as she was making it sound.
"It really isn't that simple," Kaito said, looking vaguely pained. "Her cooking… how do I put this… you can tell just by looking at it that it's not something you'd actually want to eat."
"…Huh?"
Lumine blinked, completely thrown. That was not what she'd been expecting. Back when Kaito had mentioned it before, he'd only said something about having Kiana learn from her — not this.
"So how did you manage, Kaito? Did you just… eat it anyway?" While Lumine was still processing, Miko had already moved on to the more pressing question.
Harsh as Kaito's description was, having seen Kiana's cooking herself, Miko couldn't exactly disagree with him.
There was simply no other word for it. That stir-fried pork with peppers Kiana had made was an absolute catastrophe. Honestly, Mei was the only person on earth who could get through a full serving.
"Sometimes I'd take a bite," Kaito said. He'd already thought through how to answer this one. "But more often than not, Wendy and I would just go eat somewhere outside."
It was a perfectly reasonable story, too — Wendy had already been established as his go-to shield against Kiana's culinary disasters, so of course the two of them would slip out together. Nothing suspicious about that at all.
"What about Mei, then? Surely she wasn't eating it all the time?"
After hearing how Kaito had handled things, Miko's curiosity immediately turned to Mei.
She knew Mei wasn't exactly picky about food, but having to eat that kind of cooking on a regular basis still seemed like a genuine form of suffering.
"Yeah. She was."
Kaito nodded.
"What— really? And nothing went wrong?"
Miko looked genuinely alarmed. She'd known Mei could eat just about anything, but knowing she'd been subjected to Kiana's cooking on a continuous basis still made her wince.
Mei seemed perfectly fine now, but still — having to endure that day after day was just… sad.
"She's fine — you can see that yourself." Kaito waved a hand. "I did ask her to come outside and eat with me and Wendy, but she said she didn't mind either way. And someone had to eat whatever Kiana made, so… she just kept at it."
"Mei is incredible," Miko breathed, eyes suddenly glistening. "No wonder Kiana and Wendy both call her 'big sis.'"
Now she finally understood it.
While Miko and Kaito had been going back and forth, Lumine had been listening from the sidelines with a growing sense of bewilderment.
She genuinely could not picture what kind of cooking could possibly prompt the two of them to talk about it like this.
Wasn't this getting a little dramatic?
"You'll see for yourself when we get back," Kaito told her, catching the utterly lost expression on her face.
He knew that right now, Lumine probably had no frame of reference for how bad Kiana's cooking actually was.
But that was fine. She'd find out soon enough once they were back in Inazuma.
"…Okay."
Since she really couldn't imagine it, Lumine settled for nodding and leaving it at that.
"So when we get back, the plan is to teach Kiana not to cook like that?" Miko asked, steering things back on track.
"Right. When we're back, you can— hmm…" Kaito started, then stopped mid-sentence, glancing over at Miko.
Miko, of course, knew exactly what that look meant. "Are you seriously doubting my cooking right now?"
Not the most flattering comparison to Kiana, but she was confident her cooking was in a completely different league from whatever Kiana produced. A completely different universe, in fact.
Obviously she'd never say that to Kiana's face.
Besides, she could see plain as day that Kiana genuinely wanted to cook for the people around her — she just lacked the skill, and more importantly, the awareness that anything was wrong.
But that could be fixed. Once they were back, Miko was absolutely going to teach that girl how to cook properly.
"I'm more worried you'll end up just like Kiana," Kaito said with a small grin.
"Fine. Then I'll just prove it to you right now."
The grin was the last straw. Miko straightened up, bristling with wounded pride.
Alright. If that's how it was, she'd show him exactly what she was capable of.
"Come on, Lumine — let's get started." With that, Miko turned and marched off, fully prepared to demonstrate her culinary prowess.
She made it about three steps before she realized she had absolutely no idea where the kitchen was.
She couldn't stop, though. If she stopped now, Kaito would never let her hear the end of it.
Lumine, hurry up.
I don't know where the kitchen is.
She kept walking, chin held high, silently willing Lumine to overtake her and lead the way.
"Miko, you went the wrong way. The kitchen's not over there."
Lumine's voice drifted over from behind her just before Miko could spiral any further.
Miko: "..."
In her mind's eye, she could already see Kaito behind her, absolutely losing it.
She said nothing. She simply turned around and walked back toward Lumine with as much dignity as she could muster.
I should just make it taste as bad as Kiana's pepper pork and let him choke on it…
The embarrassment had left her seething, and for a brief, petty moment, the thought genuinely appealed to her.
Of course she wasn't actually going to do it.
For one thing, Kaito wouldn't eat it. For another, it would just convince him her cooking was on the same level as Kiana's. Completely pointless.
Still…
How am I even supposed to teach Kiana?
That time she ate my stir-fried pork with peppers, she didn't react at all…
It was like she couldn't even taste the difference…
As she walked toward the kitchen with Lumine, Miko found herself quietly fretting about how the whole teaching endeavor was going to go.
Maybe she's the same as Mei?
But she didn't act like it at all…
Forget it.
Let's just get dinner sorted first.
Miko shook her head and decided to stop overthinking it. It wasn't like they were heading back to Inazuma anytime soon, so there was no point agonizing over it now.
And whatever happened, Kaito would be there too. With his involvement, Kiana's cooking would probably at least reach the level of something edible.
Nobody was expecting her to become a master chef. Normal and not actively alarming — that was the bar, and it was a bar that should be well within reach.
With that settled, the two of them headed into the kitchen, while Kaito retreated to his room.
Ugh…
There's barely any equipment here…
Mobius's mind has plenty of knowledge, sure…
And I can pull some things out of the Void Archive…
But setting up an entire laboratory from scratch — that's a different matter entirely…
Kaito sat on the edge of the bed, turning the problem over in his mind.
He'd already told Childe that Mobius would be conducting various forms of research, which meant Mobius actually needed some kind of research setup. The problem was that this was the world of Genshin Impact, not Honkai — and a lot of the equipment simply didn't translate.
Still, even if he couldn't replicate everything, he'd need at least something convincing. Something impressive enough to make the Fatui — or Childe specifically — feel like a proper collaboration was worth their while.
With the Void Archive's help, he could probably cobble together a reasonable selection. It wouldn't be everything, but it would do.
Right.
That cave should work for now.
After locking things in with Childe, I'll have him help find somewhere more permanent.
At that moment, Mobius was standing outside the entrance to a cave — and so Kaito had already made up his mind.
Mobius stepped inside.
And so it was that, with Mobius claiming the cave as her base of operations, the Hilichurls in the surrounding area began to thin out dramatically — so much so that even the Millelith soldiers tasked with clearing them out started noticing something was off.
Before long, the peculiar phenomenon was reported all the way up to Ningguang.
— Jade Chamber —
The Hilichurls near Guili Plains have suddenly dropped in numbers?
Isn't that a good thing?
Saves manpower in that whole area…
Ningguang read the report her subordinates had placed before her, a quiet thought forming in her mind.
But within moments, she caught herself.
This wasn't normal. Hilichurls had always been a persistent nuisance — clear them out today, and they'd be back tomorrow. Year after year, the same cycle, never truly resolved.
For them to suddenly vanish in such numbers — that was plainly strange.
Has something appeared in that area?
Or is this…
The Fatui's doing?
The Fatui were notorious for meddling in things they had no business touching, so they were the first suspects that came to mind.
And more to the point — one of their Harbingers had recently returned to Liyue. That connection seemed very much worth examining.
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