Still, the Fatui's reputation wasn't exactly stellar.
That alone might be enough to make people suspicious...
Turning it over in his mind as he walked back into the city, Childe was still puzzling over the best way to handle things tomorrow.
His assignment was simple enough, but the problem was this: once Kaito and the others found out he'd already met with Miss Mobius, would they suspect him of something?
Ugh...
What a miserable assignment this is turning out to be...
Lost in thought, Childe let out a quiet, resigned sigh.
But there was nothing for it. Miss Mobius's task had to be carried out properly this time.
If he botched this one too, any hope of a real collaboration with her would be finished.
After that, he stopped thinking about it. He had made up his mind — whatever tomorrow brought, he would see it through.
The next day.
Kaito's lodgings.
Hm?
Miko didn't elbow me last night?
Kaito woke up and stared at the ceiling. Now that he thought about it, he'd pretty much passed out the moment his head hit the pillow — he hadn't felt anyone jostling him at all.
Did I just sleep that deeply?
He glanced over at the two still-sleeping figures beside him and couldn't help wondering.
Though, that was strange — he'd always been a light sleeper. The kind where you don't need to shake him twice.
So then...
Had Miko really not elbowed him last night?
He sat up in bed and looked at Miko, still sound asleep. The urge to reach out and pinch her cheek was genuinely there.
But Lumine was right there beside her, so he thought better of it.
If he was going to do it to one of them, he'd have to do it to both. And if he was busy pinching one and the other woke up in the middle of it — well, that would just be awkward.
He decided to just climb over Miko and get out of bed.
But at that exact moment, Miko's eyes opened, and she said, "Why do you always wake up so fast?"
The truth was, she had woken up the moment Kaito did — she'd been waiting to see if he would try anything with her or Lumine. So she'd kept pretending to be asleep.
But as it turned out, Kaito had no such intentions. He'd just lain there looking at her and done absolutely nothing.
"Force of habit. But when did you wake up?" Kaito, who had been mid-maneuver climbing over her, was genuinely caught off guard. He hadn't expected Miko to be awake.
If he'd actually gone ahead and pinched her just now, she probably would have bitten him.
"Why does it look like something's on your mind?"
Rather than answer his question, Miko shifted from lying down to sitting up, fixing him with a suspicious look.
Right after he'd asked when she woke up, she'd clearly caught him drifting off into his own thoughts.
"I was thinking about whether you would've bitten me just now if I'd pinched your cheek." Since Miko had obviously noticed, Kaito just told her outright.
"Of course I would have."
Not expecting at all that Kaito had actually been considering doing something, Miko answered without missing a beat.
Though honestly, whether she actually would have in the moment — that she couldn't say for certain.
"I'd actually prefer you bite me somewhere else," Kaito said, and got out of bed.
Bite him somewhere else?
Miko blinked, watching him walk out. For a moment, she genuinely didn't understand what he meant.
And more to the point — when had she ever bitten him?
Did I... forget?
She sat there on the bed, utterly puzzled, turning it over in her head and trying to recall when exactly she'd ever bitten Kaito.
No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't come up with anything.
"I think..." Just then, Lumine, who had been lying beside her, suddenly opened her eyes and spoke.
"So Lumine was pretending to sleep too."
Miko turned to look at her.
"Not really — I just heard you two talking and woke up."
With that, Lumine sat up as well.
Honestly, more than the question Miko was currently wrestling with, Lumine was curious about something else entirely: if Kaito had actually pinched Miko's cheek just now, would she have gotten pinched too? Or not?
Since none of it had actually happened, she had no way of knowing.
"You were still pretending — you only 'woke up' once Kaito left." Miko gave a small smile and said as much.
Still, she was curious — what had Lumine been about to say? So she asked, "What were you going to say just now, Lumine? You said 'I think' and then just... stopped."
"That, hm..." Lumine considered how best to answer.
Honestly, she hadn't expected Miko to miss what Kaito had meant by that. Though, to be fair, she was only guessing.
"You look a little embarrassed," Miko observed, watching Lumine hesitate. Now she was even more curious.
Bite?
Hm?!
That guy!!!
If you want something, just say so...
Always saying these cryptic things...
Prompted by Lumine's odd reaction, Miko turned it over again — and this time it clicked.
"It's like what we did before, back when we—"
"I got it. That guy — next time I'll just go ahead and bite him." Before Lumine could finish the sentence, Miko cut in with an irritated mutter.
Not that she was actually angry, of course.
She just wanted Kaito to say what he wanted directly — to her and Lumine both — instead of always talking in riddles.
Sure, sometimes Kaito did come right out and say things. But more often than not, she was the one taking the initiative. And even then, she still had to guess what he actually liked.
Take this so-called biting, for instance — hadn't she always been the one to initiate? Last time she'd even gotten Lumine to try it, and Kaito had just stood there looking stunned. Honestly, it made her want to smack him.
Lumine: "…"
She looked at Miko with mild awkwardness, not quite sure what to say to that. In the end, she said nothing.
"Lumine."
"Hm? What is it?"
Lumine had a pretty good idea that Miko was about to rope her into something, and she was curious.
After all, they hadn't exactly been talking about ordinary things just now — this was the kind of topic that was hard to say aloud.
"I just want you to do something with me," Miko said.
Under Lumine's attentive gaze, Miko confirmed exactly what she'd expected: she did want her to join in on something.
"So... what is it?" Lumine was even more curious now.
Tap, tap, tap —
Just then, footsteps sounded from outside the door. Kaito was probably coming back to the room.
"I'll tell you later."
Since Kaito was back, Miko decided she'd find another opportunity to fill Lumine in on her idea.
"Okay."
Lumine nodded, glancing toward the door where Miko's gaze had already drifted.
Not that she could deny it — she was genuinely dying to know what Miko had in mind.
Is she going to tell me not to do that next time?
That's probably it...
____
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