"Miko!"
Since Lumine could see that Kaito appeared to be preparing to take a bath, she figured she'd seize the opportunity to ask Miko about it first.
However, before she could even fully get the question out, Miko had already turned around and brought a finger up to her lips, signaling for her not to ask any further.
At the same time, Miko, with a smile across her face, said, "Let's talk about it tonight."
Lumine: "..."
Fine, then…
Thinking this quietly to herself, Lumine ultimately decided to leave it until tonight.
After all, there wasn't going to be all that long left before evening anyway — so she might as well wait a little more.
"If you'd like to, you can join in as well, you know." At this point Miko added with another smile.
Because Lumine had been captured along with her, Lumine had not actually done that sort of thing — it was Mobius who had done it.
Of course, from Kaito's perspective, that wasn't the case, and this would have to be explained.
But for Miko this was no difficult matter — she would simply say that she wanted Lumine to join in, and Kaito would surely not refuse.
"I'll pass for now."
Recalling how stiff and reserved she'd been the last time, Lumine did not accept Miko's invitation.
No matter what, for this sort of thing she would rather just be alone with Kaito — having someone else along, she wasn't really used to.
She actually didn't agree…
Looking at Lumine, who had shaken her head, Miko mulled it over and over, and then said, "Then how about you don't say a thing either, and let's see whether Kaito's attitude toward you has changed at all? This is bound to be interesting. What do you say?"
"What are you two talking about? You aren't again plotting to come up with some weird little scheme, the way you did this afternoon, are you?"
Before Lumine could give any reply, Kaito had already walked over to where they were.
"Or are you saying you'd rather we sat here the entire time like a pair of wooden posts? Honestly!" Since what she had just been saying to Lumine obviously couldn't be repeated, Miko put on a show of being a touch annoyed.
Whatever Lumine ended up doing tonight, for the moment it would have to go unsaid.
"Of course not. It's just that you two suddenly pulled that prank on me at noon today, so I thought I'd ask." Coming to a stop in front of the two of them, Kaito shook his head.
"Miko was just asking me what weird things you and I got up to during the day — she might want to take notes herself, you know."
At this point Lumine suddenly came out with this remark.
For reasons unknown even to her, Lumine just felt the urge to set Miko up a little.
But she also knew that doing this wouldn't necessarily land Miko in any kind of trouble — for all she knew, Miko might be quite enjoying it.
Miko: "..."
This little brat…
Has actually started setting me up now…
Without much of any change appearing on her face, Miko hadn't expected Lumine to actually pull something like this.
Of course, it wasn't that she found it excessive or anything — she was just surprised that the usually well-behaved Lumine would suddenly set her up like that.
Still, it didn't matter either way — she'd been wanting to do some weird things anyway, so this worked out perfectly.
"You little brat, you actually went and let on what I was planning — you're asking for it!" Since she had already decided to play along with the trick, Miko once again put on a show of being a touch annoyed, while at the same time reaching out a hand as if to give Lumine's ear a pinch.
"You were going to do it anyway, so what does it matter if I let it out?" Lumine said this even as she ducked behind Kaito.
Just as I figured — Miko's like this…
Once she had ducked behind Kaito, Lumine knew she had guessed correctly — Miko had, sure enough, admitted to it outright.
Still, she would have to be careful. After all, Kaito was right there beside them at the moment, so it was perfectly possible that Miko was admitting to it now, only to settle the score once Kaito had left.
Wherever Kaito goes next, I'll just go too…
Hiding behind Kaito's back, Lumine silently thought this to herself as well.
Whatever else, she had best not be left alone with Miko for now — otherwise getting smacked around wouldn't be very pleasant at all.
"All right, all right — let's go and eat first." Kaito stepped in to smooth things over.
"It's not as if I'd actually do anything to Lumine — don't worry."
Miko hadn't actually been planning on doing anything to Lumine — what she had said just now was nothing more than talk.
"You said I was asking for it — doesn't that just mean you want to hit me?" Even though she was now following along behind Kaito toward the kitchen, Lumine was still going on talking with Miko.
"Just talking, that's all, you little brat." Looking at Lumine — who looked as though she wished she could glue herself to Kaito's side the whole way — Miko put on the picture of someone who had merely been joking.
After that, she hurried to catch up to them as well — eating took precedence.
The kitchen.
"How come today's food tastes a little off?" Holding a bowl in her hand, Miko was frowning, as though she had run into something strange.
"Wasn't today's food cooked by you yourself? Though there really is a bit of a difference compared to before."
Looking at Miko with a touch of bewilderment, Kaito remarked that the dishes Miko had made today were different from what she had cooked previously.
This was far more than just a difference…
It was practically as if a completely different person had cooked it…
Finding it a bit hard to actually bring herself to use her chopsticks, Lumine silently thought this too — she had already guessed what the situation was.
Of course, Miko too would catch on very quickly.
"Ah, this — it would seem that the me back then had her cooking skills take a hit after being turned down." Miko caught on quickly and offered this as her line.
Obviously, this was a dish Mobius had made back when she had been wearing Miko's appearance — which was why Kaito had said what he did.
Still, that didn't really matter either — she could always come up with an explanation no matter what.
"Is it really so serious…?"
"Of course it's serious — isn't it perfectly normal for food cooked while in a bad mood to come out tasting awful?" Before Kaito could even finish, Miko had already cut him off with this line.
This Miko really could just spin things up on the spot…
Silently listening to Miko's explanation for the food tasting bad, Lumine couldn't help but be somewhat impressed by her.
After all, a strange situation like this had just been so easily defused — and in a way that wasn't likely to arouse anyone's suspicions at all.
If she herself hadn't known the actual situation, she really would have been talked clean past it by Miko.
And on top of that, if it had been her in Miko's place, she wouldn't even have known how best to explain it — and in all likelihood Kaito would have ended up finding her behavior extremely strange.
If only I could pull off this kind of quick on-the-spot response too…
As she thought about it, Lumine very much wished she too could react as swiftly to all sorts of things the way Miko did.
She felt that Miko was probably more favored by Kaito — after all, she was so clever, and so very good with her words. A person like that was bound to be welcomed wherever she went.
Oh, and on top of all that, she was also extremely pretty.
Lumine felt she was about to get emo — she really did seem to be the most hopeless one of the bunch, no matter what aspect you looked at.
"Let's go out to eat then — tomorrow Miko's cooking skills will have had time to recover a bit." Just as Lumine was lost in her wandering thoughts, Kaito spoke up.
"Sounds good." When it came to the food Mobius had cooked, Miko had no desire to eat any of it.
There was no helping it — it was simply too unpalatable.
"It's not going to be Childe treating us again, is it?"
Because she had gone too long without saying anything, Lumine immediately threw in this remark.
The moment talk turned to a meal, Lumine would all but instinctively think of that Childe who was forever footing the bill.
"It won't be him this time — assuming we don't run into him, that is." Since he wasn't actually certain whether or not they'd run into Childe, Kaito didn't sound all that sure that it wouldn't be Childe treating them.
There was no helping it — Childe had a way of just popping up out of nowhere, so it was hard to say for sure.
No telling where that Childe might pop out from this time around.
____
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