Well, forget it...
Let's just leave it at that...
No point in giving anyone reason to think something's wrong with me.
With that thought, Miko decided not to keep bickering with Wendy.
Besides, she genuinely was a little hungry by now. Food first.
And so, after picking up breakfast, the group made their way back to the small courtyard.
"How are Acheron and Kiana doing? It's been a while since I've seen them." Back in the courtyard kitchen, Lumine — the last to sit down — turned to Wendy and asked after Acheron and Kiana.
"They're doing fine. Actually, they're the ones who sent me here this time — because I run fast... no wait, I mean I fly fast." Hearing Lumine bring up Acheron and Kiana, Wendy shifted the reason for her visit onto them.
Whatever the case, Kaito had been away from Inazuma for a while now. Those two would have to have some kind of reaction, naturally.
Otherwise, no reaction at all would just seem suspicious.
"So do you need to hurry back and update them on the situation?" Lumine asked.
Though the moment the words left her mouth, she realized she'd asked the wrong question.
After all, from Wendy's perspective, Kaito had already returned to Inazuma — so there was obviously no need for Wendy to rush back and report on his whereabouts.
"Isn't Kaito already back there? So I don't need to say anything, obviously." Wendy answered as though it were the most self-evident thing in the world.
"Right, right, right — I totally forgot." Lumine nodded several times in quick succession.
Lucky that Wendy hadn't picked up on the real issue. Otherwise that would have been very hard to explain.
"Oh, by the way — have you two been sleeping with Kaito every night these past few days? I had a look at the room just now, and there's no way he was sleeping alone in there." Wendy suddenly blurted this out, drawing both of the others' eyes straight to her.
"Huh?" Not having expected Wendy to ask something like that out of nowhere, Lumine found herself at a complete loss for words — mainly because she was worried Wendy might be upset about it.
"Well, well. Seems like the very first thing this little girl did after arriving in Liyue was go straight to Kaito's room." Rather than answering Wendy's question, Miko chose first to tease her about it.
After all, there was no reason to actually go into the room just to check whether Kaito was there — yet Wendy had gone in anyway, knowing full well he wasn't. That said something.
And judging by the question Wendy had just asked, this little girl's motives were clearly anything but innocent.
"Kaito's room is my room too. What's wrong with me going in to take a look?" Wendy fired back immediately, not missing a beat, as though stating an obvious fact.
It was simply the truth, so she said it with complete confidence.
Of course, from Miko's and Lumine's perspective, it landed in a rather different way entirely.
But regardless, she wasn't wrong.
"My, what a shameless little thing you are." Miko, unable to actually refute that, could only shake her head and say so.
She had to admit — she hadn't thought to frame it quite like that herself.
Perfectly ordinary words on the surface, yet she genuinely hadn't thought to say them.
"But I'm not wrong, am I." Wendy continued to insist that she had said nothing incorrect.
Not that Miko had actually claimed she said anything wrong.
"Yes, yes, fine — you're absolutely right, nothing wrong at all." Seeing Wendy keep hammering the point, Miko just went along with it.
She was just a little girl, and this was hardly the kind of argument worth pushing back on.
"But you two still haven't answered my question." Since neither of them had given her a straight answer, Wendy pressed them again.
She already knew perfectly well what the answer was — but she still had to play the part and pretend she didn't.
"That's right — we've been sleeping with Kaito every single night these past few days." Since Wendy seemed particularly invested in getting an answer, Miko went ahead and said it plainly.
She was curious to see how this little girl would react.
"What about Lumine? Her too?"
Wendy's expression didn't give much away. She glanced over at Lumine and asked.
"Well..."
"Obviously — I said 'we,' didn't I? That includes Lumine. It's not like we'd make her just sit on the sidelines and watch." Before Lumine could even finish speaking, Miko had already cut in and answered for her.
"So then..." Under both Miko's and Lumine's watchful gazes, Wendy dragged the words out slowly — leaving the two of them genuinely curious about where she was going with this — "...what exactly did you all get up to during those nights?"
What did they get up to?
Lumine thought about it for a moment, then replied: "Nothing that special, really. We'd go shopping sometimes, or head out for a meal..."
"No — I mean, what did the three of you do together in the same room?" Without waiting for Lumine to finish, Wendy cut her off and asked again.
Lumine: "???"
She had to admit, hearing Wendy ask that, Lumine had the distinct feeling she'd misheard — because wasn't that question just a little... odd?
"What do you mean, what did we do in the same room?"
Same as Lumine, Miko was completely thrown off. She hadn't expected Wendy to ask something like that.
What was this little girl playing at?
Surely she wasn't asking about that kind of thing, was she?
While waiting for Wendy to answer, Miko couldn't help but let her mind go there.
She really hadn't thought Wendy would come out with a question like this — before today, she hadn't seemed the type to be so upfront about it.
"The obvious kind, of course — the kind where there aren't any clothes involved."
Under their combined stares, Wendy said it like she was commenting on the weather.
She'd initially considered playing the role of a sweet, innocent girl — but on reflection, Miko and Lumine had almost certainly already assumed she'd done that sort of thing with Kaito, so there was no point keeping up the act.
Lumine: [internally] ...Wendy is way too blunt...
After hearing what Wendy had just said, Lumine couldn't help but think exactly that.
Though honestly, maybe it was for the best. All the girls around Kaito were refreshingly direct — if she started being more direct too, she'd fit right in instead of standing out.
"You little girl — that's grown-up business. Stay out of it." Miko naturally understood that Wendy was already very familiar with these things, but in her eyes, Wendy was still just a little girl — and she had no intention of discussing her own private business with a little girl.
If it were Acheron or Kiana, she'd have no problem talking about it. But not Wendy.
"Little fox, who exactly are you calling small?"
"You, obviously — you little thing. A little girl who's small in every single way." As she said it, Miko gave Wendy a slow, deliberate once-over, the corner of her mouth curling upward the whole time.
Wendy: "..."
She had to admit — she genuinely had no comeback for that one.
[smug face emoji]
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