After hearing Miko's question, Makoto laughed awkwardly.
"Ah… well… um… finish your fried tofu first. I'll tell you once you're done."
Miko looked at her with a bewildered expression, then glanced toward Ei and Lora before asking suspiciously,
"Is there something I'm not supposed to know yet? Does this have something to do with me?"
"It does involve you," Ei nodded.
Still confused, Miko finished the fried tofu Makoto had placed in her bowl and said,
"I'm done eating now. Can you tell me what exactly you've been planning?"
"Actually… it's nothing too special. It's just… you know… when we went to Liyue, we didn't bring much money with us." Makoto said hesitantly.
"Didn't you say you were going to Liyue to freeload on food and drinks? Why would you need money then?" Miko asked.
"Well, we still had to buy some snacks and things, right? And you know what Ei is like—she absolutely loves sweets. So we spent a little more than expected, and in the end we didn't quite have enough left for the trip back…" Makoto continued. "So we had Lora send us back."
"Are you joking? You're gods, not ordinary people… and you still need travel expenses?" Miko looked even more confused.
"Mainly because we're lazy…" Makoto admitted, but quickly added,
"But that's not the important part! The important thing is that Lora helped us out so much. We can't just let that pass without showing some appreciation, right? So we made a very careful decision."
Seeing Makoto's unusually serious expression, Miko leaned back slightly.
"What decision?"
Ei set down her dessert, looked at her, and said solemnly,
"From now on, you are Lora's fox."
"Oh…" Miko nodded reflexively.
Then she suddenly froze.
"Wait… what did you just say?!"
"Oh, don't worry—we're not giving you away to Fontaine," Makoto said as she gently smoothed Miko's hair. "It just means that for the time being you'll temporarily belong to Lora. Even the Hydro Archon wouldn't monopolize you forever. During the Irodori Festival, you'll stay with her. As for your remaining duties, now that we're back, we'll handle them."
Miko tilted her head, her brows tightly knit.
"What exactly is going on with you two? Why do I know nothing about this? I just got back and suddenly I've become someone else's fox? What kind of agreement did you make behind my back?"
Lora smiled.
"I paid for it, you know."
Miko: "..."
Run?
Could she even escape?
Lora had already opened her arms wide.
"Little fox, come here!"
Miko looked at her, then glanced at Makoto and Ei.
"I'll remember this."
With that, she stood up as if resigned to her fate, transformed into her fox form, and jumped into Lora's arms.
The reason she accepted it so readily was twofold.
First, the identities of the people involved left her little room to object.
Second, Lora's embrace was genuinely comfortable. It carried the same warm, reassuring feeling as resting in her mother's arms—surprisingly pleasant.
Lora gently stroked Miko's fur, then picked up a piece of fried tofu with her chopsticks and held it to her mouth.
"Here, have some fried tofu."
Miko ate the tofu in a single bite.
"Too bad I didn't bring my Kamera," Lora continued. "Otherwise I could've captured this moment—the true form of the legendary Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine. If I sold that photo to The Steambird, I'd probably make quite a bit of money."
As she spoke, Lora casually rubbed Miko's head.
"That's actually a great way to make money!" Venti laughed. Then he shook his head. "But it's not really for me. I'd rather keep wandering around telling stories and listening to them."
"Then you could write down the stories you've seen and heard and compile them into a book," Lora said. "I've even thought of a title for you—Records of a Thousand Winds. What do you think?"
Venti considered it for a moment and nodded.
"That's not a bad idea…"
Then he tipped back his head, drained the wine in his cup, and declared,
"Alright! Let's do it!"
...
With the efforts of Lumine and Albedo, the thief who had stolen A Legend of Sword was finally captured. It turned out to be Onodera, an editor from Yae Publishing House. However, the matter also involved the author of the book—Master Zhenyu, who was actually Xingqiu.
With such an interesting commotion happening, how could Lora possibly stay away?
Miko crouched on Lora's shoulder as the two of them arrived at the Tenryou Commission headquarters to learn about the situation.
"Wow! Lumine, look!" Paimon exclaimed. "There's another pink fox on Lora's shoulder! It looks like… like Miko?"
Lumine followed her gaze.
Miko noticed them staring, but by now she had already grown used to it.
After all, she really was a fox.
What was the problem with that?
There was no problem.
"So it's because Master Zhenyu's handwriting is too ugly…" Lora burst out laughing.
She looked at Xingqiu, suppressed her smile, and cleared her throat.
"Ahem—sorry, I couldn't help it. I'm just a little too amused."
"Miss Lora, I know my handwriting isn't very good, so please don't laugh…" Xingqiu said helplessly. "Yae Publishing House has already decided to hire a calligraphy teacher for me. It seems I'll be quite busy for a while."
"That's good. Very good." Lora nodded approvingly.
"As an author, if your handwriting isn't even presentable, that would be rather embarrassing. Keep it up—I believe you'll develop beautiful handwriting."
"I'll take your encouragement to heart, Miss Lora," Xingqiu said with a smile.
Lora then turned to Lumine and Paimon.
"Makoto has prepared a feast at Tenshukaku. Would you care to join us slackers for a simple meal?"
"Uh…" Paimon whispered to Lumine.
"Is she serious?"
By "slackers," she meant the former Electro Archon, the current Electro Archon, the Raiden Shogun, the Anemo Archon… and Lora herself.
Lumine sighed.
"Sure. It's almost evening anyway, and we're hungry."
Lora then looked at Albedo.
"Would you like to join us as well, Chalk Prince?"
Upon hearing that several Archons would be present, Albedo immediately shook his head.
"I'll pass. Klee still needs someone to look after her. My apologies for declining your kind invitation."