"That can't really be her true personality, can it? She's supposedly tens of thousands of years old — how does she act like that?"
Lumine couldn't help but blurt it out in response to what Miko had said. From where she stood, someone who had lived for tens of thousands of years simply couldn't have a personality anything like Wendy's.
Of course, Wendy had also been around for a long time — but nowhere near tens of thousands of years.
Yeah...
She's absolutely putting it on...
Listening to the exchange between Miko and Lumine, Kaito quietly thought exactly that to himself.
Not that he was ever going to say it out loud.
"That I couldn't tell you — you'd have to ask this guy." As she said it, Miko's gaze shifted toward Kaito.
He had to admit, the way Miko was looking at him right now made it seem as though she already knew the full nature of his connection to Mobius.
But Kaito knew that was impossible. Miko simply suspected there was something unusual between him and Mobius — nothing more.
"She's always been like that, as far as I can tell. At least, that's how she was when I first met her."
As if recalling something, Kaito answered Miko's implied question in a slow, measured tone.
"So how exactly did you and Mobius meet?" Lumine asked.
Why does she have to ask something like that...
Honestly, questions like this were the ones Kaito dreaded most. But there was nothing for it — he still had to answer normally. He couldn't afford to act strange.
"Oh yes, do tell — how did you two meet? And how did she end up latching onto you like this?" Miko seized on Lumine's question to add her own, and Kaito felt his head start to throb.
"Well... we just sort of ran into each other by chance. She probably decided I was interesting enough to keep coming back to," Kaito said after a quick mental scramble, spinning the story as he went. Then he continued: "But after a while... hmm, how do I put this — she wanted me to go off somewhere with her, just the two of us. I didn't go, so I never did find out where."
"Then why not just go with her and find out?" Miko said offhandedly.
"The thing is... I had a feeling that if I went, I wouldn't be coming back. She probably figured that wherever this place was, it could just be the two of us, forever." Even as he felt the story getting more and more absurd, Kaito kept his expression perfectly level.
No choice. No matter how ridiculous it got, he had to keep building on it.
Besides, since Mobius was him, no one could ever fact-check him and come away with anything but a watertight story.
There was just one small issue: he was starting to paint Mobius as a full-blown yandere.
Oh well. Every version of himself could have his or her own distinct personality — being too similar to each other would be boring anyway.
"Hmph. That's what you get for collecting hearts left and right and falling for everyone you meet," Miko said. To her mild surprise, she found she actually understood Mobius's reasoning — and was inclined to agree.
"So... did Mobius ever actually come into conflict with Acheron and the others? Like, did they ever fight?"
Lumine asked, because she was pretty sure Acheron, Kiana, and the rest would never have let Mobius just waltz off somewhere alone with Kaito — which meant they'd almost certainly come to blows at some point.
"They did, yeah. But after she saw how upset I got, she stopped going after them."
Never mind that Mobius couldn't win a fight against any of them — Kaito said it anyway. Mobius was plenty powerful by Teyvat's standards, so there was no need to get into the finer details.
"In that case, she probably won't come looking for me or Miko either, right?"
After hearing Kaito's account, Lumine ventured the guess.
"Should be, yeah. Though I haven't seen her in a while, so I honestly don't know what she's thinking at this point."
Kaito looked just as uncertain as Lumine. After all, as far as anyone here was concerned, he wasn't Mobius — there was no reason he'd have any insight into what was going on in her head.
"She's definitely still plotting to whisk you away to her little world for two," Miko said, having noticed Kaito ignored her earlier remark.
"The 'world for two' Mobius has in mind isn't quite the kind you're imagining."
Kaito fired back at Miko's comment. He wasn't entirely sure himself what that world would actually look like, but the important thing was making sure Miko and Lumine understood it was nothing good — no need to overthink the rest for now.
"What, you mean it's not two people with no clothes on, being shameless all day long?" Miko said, completely out of nowhere.
Kaito: "..."
Do you want Mobius to drain me completely dry?
He hadn't expected Miko to come out with something like that, and he was left momentarily speechless. Not that he couldn't relate — inhabiting two bodies of two different sexes gave him a rather unique perspective on the matter.
If he kept going at this rate with himself, his own side would be too exhausted to move, and he'd just have to let Acheron and the others do all the work over there.
Obviously, when it came to Miko or Lumine, things were different — he couldn't be that passive.
But when it was just himself with himself? That was a free-for-all. Whatever strange arrangement came up, whatever position — none of it mattered. It was all just him in the end.
Alright...
Stop thinking about weird things.
Kaito yanked himself back from that line of thought and said aloud: "Of course not. Stop letting your imagination run wild."
"Why not? It's not like you've ever been spirited away by Mobius, right?" As she said it, Miko looked over at Lumine, clearly hoping for backup on her theory.
"Uh... well... I don't know — I've never even met Mobius," Lumine said, shaking her head slowly under Miko's expectant gaze.
She hadn't even seen what Mobius looked like yet, let alone formed any opinion on what she might or might not do.
"I've only met her once myself, which is practically the same as never — and I can still draw that conclusion just fine," Miko declared, entirely unapologetic.
This Miko...
What if I had Mobius actually do it right in front of her...
I wonder what she'd think then?
And later, once Mobius officially joins the family and I have her make advances on my end all the time — what kind of reaction would that get?
Watching Miko's current air of absolute self-righteousness, Kaito found himself drifting toward those amusing possibilities.
Miko was usually plenty forward on her own — but he could always arrange for Mobius to be even more so.
Still, Kaito knew this wasn't the time to get too deep into any of that. Better to focus on smoothly bringing Mobius into the fold first, and think about the rest afterward.
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone