"She needs a good scolding too," Miko added immediately, echoing Kiana's words right back.
If she could actually beat Wendy in a fight, she'd have gone and done the scolding herself. But she couldn't — and that was the maddening part.
"Don't worry, little Miko-sis. I'll deal with that little troublemaker," Kiana said with a firm nod, and she looked entirely serious about it.
Hmm...
Kiana won't actually do anything to Wendy... right?
Because she still didn't know Kiana particularly well, Miko found herself feeling something quite unprecedented — a faint, genuine worry for Wendy.
Of course, that worry evaporated just as quickly as it had come.
She couldn't help it. Wendy really did have it coming.
A little scolding was entirely deserved.
But wait...
Kiana mentioned Ei just now...
Does she have something to say about Ei?
The thought struck her out of nowhere, and Miko decided she might as well ask.
"By the way, Kiana-sis — why did you suddenly bring that up just now?"
She had a hunch it might have been pure whimsy on Kiana's part, but she wasn't about to let the opening pass her by. Whatever the reason, she'd ask first and figure it out after.
"Hm? Oh — you mean the bit about you being the Raiden Shogun's... pet? No, I mean — familiar. That part?" Kiana said, meeting Miko's gaze.
"Yes, that." Miko held her gaze and gave a nod.
She couldn't quite shake the feeling that Kiana, too, thought of a familiar and a pet as more or less the same thing — she'd only corrected herself because Miko clearly didn't see it that way.
"Well, obviously — because She mistook me for someone else," Kiana said, as though this were the most natural thing in the world.
Mistook her?
So Kiana was already aware of why she'd been called here today...
With that thought in mind, Miko pressed forward: "Then would you be willing to meet Ei in person? I have the feeling She still thinks you're that... Sustainer, or whatever the title is."
Since they'd already arrived at the subject, she might as well lay out the idea she'd been sitting on.
"Sure, no problem." Kiana gave a quick, easy nod.
"Then I'll go fetch her in a bit." Miko thought it over and settled on that.
Her first instinct had been to go get Ei right this moment — but then she'd remembered that it was just the two of them here right now, and that was a rare thing. So she'd changed her mind. Ei could wait a little.
"Sure. I've got nothing but time — whenever you're ready." Kiana didn't ask why the delay. She simply agreed.
After that, the two of them returned to their tea in comfortable quiet.
"Actually — Kiana-sis, there's something I wanted to ask you." Miko set her teacup down and moved on to her inquiry.
"Go ahead."
Kiana could tell that whatever Miko was about to ask was the sort of question she'd only bring up when they were alone — so she gave her the floor without hesitation. She was curious what Miko would actually ask.
"It's just..." Under Kiana's gaze, Miko seemed to hesitate — which only made Kiana more curious.
But after a moment, Miko pushed through it anyway: "When you and Kaito are doing that kind of thing together... do you wear the ball too?"
Kiana: "..."
She's asking this again.
You already asked this question.
Miko...
Kiana found herself momentarily at a loss — not quite exasperated, but close.
Still, there was nothing to be done. She absolutely could not let on that Miko had already asked her this before.
"That kind of thing? What thing? And what ball?" she asked — playing dumb, despite knowing perfectly well what Miko meant.
"You know — the stuff between a man and a woman. Don't tell me Kiana-sis gets embarrassed talking about this kind of thing." Since Mei had shown a trace of shyness when Miko had brought the topic up before, Miko couldn't resist a little teasing this time around.
Not that she herself wasn't just a little flustered, of course.
She and Kiana weren't that close yet, so talking about this sort of thing with her did carry an inevitable awkwardness. Her solution: preemptively suggest that Kiana might be the embarrassed one — and that way, she didn't have to be.
"Oh, that," Kiana said, as though the penny had finally dropped. "If Kaito wants you to wear it, you wear it. He seems to really like it. The only downside is that wearing the mouth one is a bit uncomfortable."
She said it lightly, in the most offhand tone imaginable.
"Is that so... his taste really is something else, isn't it." Even though the idea didn't exactly displease her — if anything, there was a flicker of something closer to excitement — Miko immediately put the emphasis on how particular Kaito's preferences were, having witnessed just how unfazed Kiana was about the whole thing.
Besides, it was Kaito who'd made her wear it. It wasn't like she'd wanted to on her own.
"You were definitely too loud," Kiana said — out of nowhere, just as Miko was trying to figure out what to ask next.
"...Huh?" Miko blinked.
She hadn't expected Kiana to guess that. For a moment, she was mortified.
"Ahem. Well — it was my first time, so... I wasn't quite used to it yet. Yes. That's it. Exactly." By the end of it, she was nodding to herself as if ratifying her own explanation by committee.
"That's fair." Kiana kept her expression perfectly neutral as she gave a nod of agreement.
And truthfully, Miko wasn't wrong — the first time really was different. Kiana knew that from personal experience.
Although, if she was being perfectly honest, her own situation was... not quite the same. Her first time had been with herself, in a sense — which was an entirely different matter altogether.
"Ahem — I think I'll go get Ei now." Deciding she'd had quite enough of this line of questioning, Miko stood up abruptly and announced her departure.
"Want me to come with you?" Kiana tilted her head to look up at Miko, who was already on her feet.
"No need. I'll go by myself — you just wait here for me, Kiana-sis."
With that, Miko made her exit.
Is this what they call a strategic retreat?
Watching Miko's departing figure, Kiana turned the thought over quietly in her mind.
She was beginning to notice that Miko brought out something a little different in her — though she couldn't quite put her finger on what, exactly.
— Tenshukaku.
I wonder how Ei is going to react...
Miko stepped inside Tenshukaku, the thought turning over in her mind on its own.
"What brings you here?" Ei's voice came from in front of her — appearing as if from nowhere, as she so often did.
Miko didn't look the least bit startled. She answered evenly: "I wanted to bring you to meet someone. Would you like to come with me, Ei?"
She said it with a look of expectation — and deliberately left out the name of who, exactly, she was supposed to be meeting.
"No." Ei saw straight through the tactic — Miko was waiting for her to ask who it was — and refused outright.
If Miko wanted her to go somewhere, Miko could say so plainly. Until she did, Ei had no intention of going anywhere.
____
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🔥 New history: Reincarnated as Mahito, Watch Me Manipulate Everyone
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