Since Lumine had already said those words before, Kaito wasn't surprised this time.
The surprise was gone — but the confusion had taken its place.
He'd originally assumed it was Miko who had put her up to it, but after everything that had just happened, it was obvious Miko hadn't known Lumine would say something like that either.
So then...
Had Lumine decided to say it on her own?
But why?
Why had Lumine suddenly come out with something like that?
It was so unlike her...
Could it be because of what the three of them had done together today — with Miko?
He turned it over and over, and that was the only explanation he could land on. Because otherwise, he genuinely couldn't figure out what had gotten into Lumine to make her say something like that out of nowhere.
Of course, if it had been Miko saying it, he wouldn't have batted an eye — but Lumine was a different story.
Either way, he wasn't going to ask Lumine why she'd said it.
She'd asked for his opinion, and he'd given her an answer. That was enough. If Lumine wanted to do that, then he'd go along with it.
"Mm, yeah — and let's bring Miko along when we do." Lumine nodded, adding that Miko should join them too.
Whether Miko actually wanted to was Miko's business. Either way, she'd extended the invitation.
Though Lumine was pretty certain Miko would be on board — after all, the whole reason Kaito had mentioned renovating the place was because of Miko in the first place.
"Why don't you go tell her yourself, then?" Hearing that Lumine wanted to bring Miko along, Kaito nudged her to be the one to go say so.
He'd noticed that Lumine seemed perfectly at ease saying certain things when it was just the two of them, but not so much with anyone else around. He wanted to see if she could carry that same energy in front of others.
"Then I'll go tell her now — and bring her clothes over while I'm at it."
Lumine's answer came quickly. Since it was her idea to invite Miko, of course she'd be the one to go say so.
"Alright. And once Miko's done, don't dawdle — wash up early yourself. We've got a dinner to get to later." Kaito nodded, and reminded her about the evening plans.
With that, Lumine took Miko's clothes and headed out.
Splashing. The sound of running water.
Knock knock knock.
Lumine rapped on the bathroom door and called out, "Miko, your clothes."
"Oh — it's Lumine. I have a feeling there's something you want to tell me."
The moment Miko heard Lumine's voice, the sound of running water stopped. She had a hunch — Lumine had probably come with something to say.
Which meant she should quiet down and listen.
"So... how would you feel about all three of us bathing with Kaito together next time? Miko."
Since Miko had already guessed there was something, Lumine got straight to the point.
Hm?
This little...
How did she suddenly become so...
Hmm...
How to put this...
Well... this really is quite a change...
From inside the bathroom, Miko was genuinely baffled by how quickly Lumine had shifted.
So she decided to ask. "That's perfectly fine with me — though this wouldn't happen to be Kaito's idea, passed along through you, would it?"
Even now, Miko still felt like there had to be some Kaito-shaped force behind Lumine acting like this — not that Lumine had simply changed on her own.
She couldn't help it. The shift was just too dramatic, too fast. She didn't buy that Lumine had suddenly become like this all by herself.
"No, it was my idea. I just wanted to come ask you, Miko." Hearing the skepticism she'd fully expected, Lumine confirmed that this was her own doing — not Kaito's.
Could Kaito have coached her into saying this too?
Probably not...
That guy was already so direct at lunch...
There's no way he'd go through Lumine to put his thoughts out there now...
Thinking it over, Miko found herself even more confused, unable to make sense of it.
"Lumine, did something happen to you? This really isn't like you at all." Since she genuinely couldn't work it out, Miko decided to be direct and ask — maybe she'd actually get an answer.
"Well — what do you think of me right now, Miko? Isn't this better than before?"
Rather than answering, Lumine turned the question back on her.
She wanted to hear what Miko made of her.
"Hmm. Honestly? I think it's pretty good. Maybe we'll get along even better going forward." Since Miko had always been the one taking the initiative on her end, she'd genuinely hoped Lumine might come around to doing the same.
Two of them going after one Kaito — that would certainly be entertaining.
"Mm, good! Okay, I'll head back then."
Getting a positive answer from Miko put Lumine in good spirits, and she turned to head back to the room.
"Wait — you still haven't given me my clothes." Hearing Lumine about to leave, Miko quickly called after her.
Since the bathroom wasn't connected to the room yet, she still needed to actually get dressed.
"Right, right — I almost forgot." Lumine looked down at the clothes in her hands and gave a slightly sheepish cough.
She'd gotten a little too caught up in the conversation and nearly walked off with them.
A little while later.
"Actually, should I change into something different? We are going out to meet someone, after all." The three of them were back in the room waiting for Childe to arrive when Miko suddenly said this.
"You're fine. We're just going out for a casual bite — it's not a banquet." Kaito glanced over at Miko and shook his head.
"Speaking of which... I wonder what that Fatui Childe will think when he finds out you're leaving. I have a feeling he's going to be pretty reluctant to let you go."
Miko shifted topics to Childe.
She'd long had the feeling there was some connection between Childe and Mobius, so she figured when Kaito brought up leaving Liyue, Childe would be shocked — and wouldn't want him to go. As for how exactly he'd try to keep Kaito around, that would of course involve offering the Fatui's assistance, and so on and so forth.
"He'll probably say something about how the Fatui can help out." Lumine offered her own guess on what Childe's reaction would be.
Having been around Childe with Kaito so many times by now, Lumine felt she had a decent read on him.
"That's entirely possible. I guess we'll find out soon enough." Kaito couldn't help but smile a little — he hadn't expected both Lumine and Miko to be sitting here speculating about Childe's reaction.
Honestly, he thought both of them had a pretty good shot at being right. Though whether it would actually play out that way remained to be seen.
Knock knock knock —
Just then, a knock came from outside the door.
"Looks like he's here." Miko glanced toward the entrance, said as much, and stood up to go answer it.
"Alright, let's get going."
Since Childe had arrived, there was no reason to keep lingering in the room.
____
👻🔥Read More: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Oshi No Ko: Co-starring with Kana Arima
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