Seeing that Kaito hadn't given him an immediate answer, Childe could only leave it at that.
Whatever the case, at least the man hadn't outright refused. There was still hope.
That said, what Childe wanted to know even more right now was where Mobius was. If he could just figure that out, he was certain he'd be able to land a collaboration with her.
After all, whether it was the task Mobius had assigned him or the information she'd wanted — he'd delivered on both counts. He'd done an excellent job.
The only deeply awkward problem was that he had absolutely no idea where to find her.
If he'd known things would turn out like this, he would've asked Mobius for her contact information back when he had the chance.
"Sure, sure, no problem," Kaito said.
He still wasn't sure whether he'd need to call on Childe's Fatui subordinates down the line, so for now he had no intention of giving a definitive answer. He'd just play it by ear when the time came.
After that, the group continued eating, and before long the meal wound down and the moment came to say their goodbyes.
"Well, it's about time. I should head back early and get ready for tomorrow. I'll leave you two here," Kaito said once they were outside.
"Mm. That sort of thing really does call for early preparation," Zhongli said with a nod.
"Zhongli's absolutely right. I look forward to hearing about your success, friend."
"Here's hoping. I'll be off, then." With a slight smile, Kaito said his piece, then turned and walked away with Miko and Lumine.
"Come to think of it..." Walking alongside Kaito toward the small courtyard, Miko suddenly thought of something. "Are you just going to leave straight away tomorrow? Will Mobius even know you're leaving? What if you're already gone and she hasn't figured it out yet?"
She figured that if they wanted to guarantee Mobius would know Kaito was leaving, they'd need to make a bit of a scene tomorrow.
If he just slipped away the way he normally would, Mobius probably wouldn't find out all that quickly.
"Oh, she'll definitely know," Kaito said with a small laugh, unbothered by Miko's concern.
"Why?" Lumine asked.
"Hey, you stole my line," Miko said. She'd been about to ask the exact same thing, and now that Lumine had beaten her to it, she could only protest after the fact.
"But you can still ask Kaito yourself, Miko," Lumine replied, a little exasperated that Miko was making an issue of it.
"So why, then? Kaito." Taking Lumine's words to heart, Miko went ahead and asked anyway.
Somehow it feels like Miko just wanted me to say that so she could ask...
Lumine had the same inexplicable feeling about it.
Not that it really mattered. Small stuff.
Hm...
What are these two even doing?
Kaito listened to the pair of them in silence, thoroughly baffled.
Still, this wasn't the moment to dwell on that. He should just go ahead and answer their question.
"Well, it's because she often... hmm... keeps an eye on me from the shadows." He turned it over in his mind for a moment, then settled on those words.
The moment he said it, though, he knew he'd have to explain why he wasn't worried about Mobius having overheard what he'd said to Zhongli and Childe earlier.
Watching from a distance, you mean?
That sounds a little odd, somehow...
I wonder if they'll actually buy that...
Because it was all him in the end, Kaito hadn't thought too hard about what he said when Mobius came up in conversation. There was no need to. Since they were one and the same, no matter how anyone tried to verify it, nothing would ever add up to a contradiction.
Whatever he said on this side, that's simply what Mobius's side would reflect. It would never be wrong.
"Keeping an eye on you from the shadows?" Miko and Lumine immediately glanced around in every direction, clearly scanning for any sign of Mobius.
Of course, they found nothing.
But at noon earlier...
Was Mobius watching then too?
The moment Miko realized that what she and Kaito had been up to at noon might have been observed, she wanted to hit someone. Because this guy had the nerve to not say a word about it until now.
"What if she overheard what we were talking about just now?" Lumine asked directly, apparently not having thought to worry about the noon incident at all.
Lumine, you...
Now is really not the time for that.
Miko couldn't believe Lumine's mind hadn't gone to the same place hers had. She couldn't help but mentally groan at her.
"She won't have. Don't worry," Kaito said reassuringly, seeing that Lumine had indeed asked exactly what he'd expected.
"Why? You're that sure she wouldn't eavesdrop?" Miko's curiosity was piqued by his confidence.
"Because at most, she's just watching from a distance to see what I'm up to." Under the gaze of both Lumine and Miko, Kaito answered in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.
He had a feeling they might be skeptical of that explanation — but he said it anyway.
The reason was the same as always: since it was all him, he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Whatever he said here, it would never contradict anything on Mobius's end.
Whatever he said, that's what Mobius's side would be. Simple as that.
"Just watching from a distance to see what you're up to?" Miko repeated the words aloud, her expression skeptical.
Because to her mind, if someone was already going out of their way to secretly watch, they certainly wouldn't stop at just looking from afar — otherwise, what was the point of watching at all?
Though Kaito did look remarkably confident about it. Maybe the two of them really did share some strange unspoken understanding.
Either way, it was starting to make Miko think that perhaps Mobius wasn't simply obsessing over Kaito one-sidedly.
This rotten Kaito...
He's definitely hiding more things from me and Lumine, isn't he?
Miko shot him a sideways glance, fuming internally.
"If she keeps it up like that, then there really isn't anything to worry about," Lumine said. She had her doubts too, but since it was Kaito saying it, she didn't let herself overthink it.
"It'll be fine. Don't worry, either of you," Kaito said again, doing another round of reassurance.
Just saying it still wouldn't fully dissolve their suspicions — but Kaito knew it was what he had to do.
"In that case, she'll probably just sneak off after you when you leave tomorrow, rather than causing any kind of scene here in Liyue," Miko concluded.
Since Mobius had been watching all along, it stood to reason she'd simply follow along when the time came, rather than making a spectacle of it.
"Here's hoping," Kaito said, sounding genuinely uncertain.
"Well, if she doesn't — she'll have me and Lumine to roast her," Miko said, letting out a short laugh. She was actually a little eager for that scenario to play out.
Having already met Mobius once back in Inazuma, Miko was dying to see her actually lose her composure. That would be genuinely entertaining.
Dangerous, too, of course.
But that was fine — Kaito would be there. Miko could just roast away alongside Lumine and leave the rest to him when things got dicey.
You really just want to mock Mobius that badly, huh?
It's not like she did anything to you back in Inazuma.
Kaito genuinely hadn't expected Miko to be this enthusiastic about roasting Mobius. He couldn't help but react internally.
Well, whatever. If she wanted to roast Mobius that badly, he'd just let her go all out tomorrow.
"Lumine, you'd better bring your A-game too — don't just stand there like a statue," Miko said, suddenly turning to Lumine.
"Huh?" Lumine clearly hadn't seen that coming.
"I mean go full blast. Got it? If you're not sure how to roast her, I'll give you a lesson tonight."
"Uh... okay."
Kaito: "..." He listened from the side in speechless silence.
"Oh, and Lumine — don't go making fun of how small she looks and calling her a little kid or anything," Miko added suddenly. "That won't work on her. She might even turn around and call you 'big sis.'"
"That can't be right — she's tens of thousands of years old, she could practically be my ancestor. There's no way she'd..."
"She looks like a little girl at first glance, just like that annoying Wendy," Miko said, and somehow the train of thought had brought Wendy into it.
She's not even here and you're still managing to get annoyed at her?
Miko...
Kaito watched Miko — who was busy passing on her wisdom to Lumine — out of the corner of his eye, and couldn't help but think exactly that.
____
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