Should I just come right out and ask what Kaito normally gets up to with Miko and Lumine?
That question was still turning over in Childe's mind as he took his seat.
Going by his read of the situation, Lumine and Miko probably weren't going to come back out — they'd likely retreated to their rooms. Which meant sitting here chatting with Kaito wasn't going to get him much of anything.
"Care for some tea?" Kaito asked, settling into the seat across from him.
"Sure, sure."
Childe nodded, still half-lost in thought, then quickly added: "Actually, don't go to any trouble on my account — I really am just here to sit for a bit."
"It's no bother. I'll have Miko brew some."
With that, Kaito stood and headed outside.
I should probably just ask…
Though I wonder if it'll come across as weird.
Watching Kaito walk out, Childe decided he really ought to just ask — but at the same time, he couldn't shake the worry that doing so would make him look odd.
After all, no matter how he framed it, there was something a little personal about the question. What business did an outsider have asking what a guy got up to with his girlfriends in his own home?
Never mind. Better to go out and have a look.
Turning it over a moment longer, Childe stood up and followed Kaito outside.
Since asking directly felt a bit too on-the-nose, he figured he'd go see for himself — maybe catch a glimpse of whatever Kaito, Miko, and Lumine actually did around the house.
He stepped outside and immediately spotted Kaito not far off, in the middle of saying something to Miko.
As for Lumine — she was nowhere to be seen. She'd probably gone back to her room.
"Why'd you come out? You didn't have to get up, Childe." By then Kaito had finished with Miko and turned around — only to find Childe already standing there.
Miko, meanwhile, seemed to have gone off to brew the tea, disappearing into another room.
"I can never really sit still for long," Childe said with an easy shrug as Kaito walked over to him. It was a convenient excuse — he could hardly admit he'd come out to spy on what they were doing.
"So today's a rare day off, is it?"
Kaito smiled a little and asked the question.
He knew full well Childe had just made that up on the spot — but he had no intention of calling him out on it.
If Childe had offered some other excuse, Kaito might have had to stop and think about whether it was true. This one, though, he didn't need to think about at all. It was obviously a lie.
After all, Childe spent most of his days trailing around after Zhongli. Just how busy could that possibly be?
Well — if sitting around drinking tea and sharing meals with Zhongli counted as work, then perhaps it really was quite the hectic schedule.
"Something like that," Childe said. "So I figured I'd come look you up and grab a meal — only to find you'd already eaten. Bad timing on my part." He finished with a helpless laugh.
"No harm done. There's still this afternoon, so we can eat then."
Kaito kept the idle small talk going.
Their daily routine really didn't amount to much — the occasional trip to the market, that sort of thing. There wasn't exactly a wealth of material to show off to Childe.
That said, Kaito had given some thought himself to what he and Miko and Lumine could actually do together — and he hadn't come up with many good ideas for group activities yet.
Before, it had just been him, so he'd never had to think about it. Things were different now.
"Right." Childe nodded, then continued: "Oh — and when you call everyone for dinner, don't forget Miko and Lumine. We can't leave them out."
"Of course." Kaito nodded without missing a beat, knowing exactly what Childe was after.
Ugh…
I suppose 'we all had dinner together' counts as intelligence? Not sure if Miss Mobius is going to find that particularly satisfying…
Having completely failed to catch Kaito, Miko, or Lumine doing anything of note, Childe found himself quietly despairing.
Oh — wait.
A perfectly natural excuse suddenly came to him, and he took it: "By the way — Miko and Lumine don't have anything on tonight, do they? If they do, we can always pick a different time."
"Not a thing. Those two are completely at loose ends these days."
As always, Kaito had a fair idea of where Childe was going with this, and offered it freely.
"Then surely you've been taking them out to do things, friend Kaito? Too much idle time isn't good for anyone."
And there it was — the question finally came out, as naturally as if he'd been building to it all along.
He had to hand it to himself: that setup with the dinner timing had been inspired. Without that, he'd still be racking his brain trying to find an opening.
"Of course. We go window-shopping together now and then. Sometimes I have things to take care of on my own, and they'll either stay here and wait for me, or head out together for a bit of shopping on their own."
Since Childe wanted intelligence, Kaito was happy to give him some.
From his perspective, it was all just passing something from one hand to the other — with Childe serving as the middleman.
What Childe didn't know, of course, was that the man and woman he imagined to be two distinct people were, in fact, the same person.
____
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