At night, Paimon lay on her favorite large bed, sweetly drifting into dreamland.
She drooled in her sleep, muttering the names of various delicacies, clearly eating in her dreams.
While she slept, Lumine wasn't asleep. Instead, she stealthily crept out of her room, clutching a pillow, and quietly approached Durandal's room.
She had just checked; the room Durandal chose was this one, the one with the balcony. She must be inside right now.
Lumine gently placed her hand on the doorknob, turning it with the softest possible force to make the opening sound as faint as possible, hoping not to be heard.
But Lumine held no hope in her heart. If it were an ordinary person, it would be fine; whether they were asleep or awake, such a faint sound would most likely go unheard.
But Durandal was no ordinary person. As a God, she wouldn't miss such a faint sound, so Lumine opened the door almost with a sense of resignation.
Opening the door, Lumine didn't see Durandal on the bed. She looked around, but couldn't find her.
Huh? Where did she go? Didn't she just go back to her room? Did she sneak out to cause trouble for the Fatui during this free time?
The balcony window was indeed open. Lumine placed her pillow on Durandal's bed and trotted out onto the balcony, wanting to find traces of Durandal.
"It's so late, why aren't you sleeping? What are you doing here?"
As soon as she arrived on the balcony, she saw Durandal sitting at a small table, holding a cup of hot tea and looking at her.
"Ah… well, I came to check on you. To see if you're adapting to this unfamiliar environment, and if you can sleep well, ahaha~"
Durandal put down her cup and stared intently at Lumine, as if saying, "Please begin your performance," which left Lumine utterly speechless.
"Alright! I admit I came to sleep with you. I… I can't help it. We used to rest together, and suddenly being in this unfamiliar environment without you by my side, I just can't sleep."
"But before you and I met, didn't you live in the wilderness with Paimon for quite some time? When I joined your team, you and Paimon had no problem living together, so why can't you adapt this time?"
"...I just can't adapt! Don't ask so many questions at a time like this. Durandal, you're annoying."
Lumine, unable to win the argument, resorted to being unreasonable. She huffily sat next to Durandal, snatched the cup from her hand, and drank all the tea inside.
"...That's my teacup."
"So what?"
"If it weren't the part I drank from, it wouldn't be an issue, but if you touched the part I drank from, then countless deadly Viruses would invade your body through your mouth, starting their destruction from your throat, then your stomach, and then spreading throughout your body at a terrifying speed."
At this point, Durandal paused deliberately, seeing Lumine's stiffened body, and nodded in satisfaction.
Seeing Durandal nod, Lumine knew that Durandal was intentionally saying such things to scare her, to make her understand that it was not okay to casually drink from a cup she had touched.
Hmph! This person underestimated her too much. Did she really think she was the kind of girl who would easily yield?
Under Durandal's shocked gaze, Lumine kissed the rim of the cup, rotating it three hundred and sixty degrees, touching every possible spot where Durandal might have drunk.
Oh, this… does this idiot know what she's doing? She'd already scared her, so why was she still doing something so irrational?
Durandal tilted her head, looking at the smug Lumine, and mused, "Your current behavior perfectly matches a term I read in a book."
"What term?"
"Pervert."
Although Lumine was completely different from the criminals described in the book, her behavior was quite similar to what was written.
Lumine, however, didn't agree with this assessment. She angrily slapped the table: "How could it match that word? That's not true."
"Indeed, you are still different from the descriptions in the book."
"Exactly, how could I be a pervert?"
"The word 'pervert' is slightly inaccurate; it should be 'female pervert.'"
Lumine, who had thought she convinced Durandal, almost choked to death when she heard Durandal's final words.
Seeing Lumine's distressed look, Durandal couldn't help but burst out laughing. This was the first time Lumine had seen Durandal show such a radiant smile. Before, she would at most curl the corners of her mouth; other times, she always had an expressionless face.
No, when she was by herself, Durandal's expressions were still quite rich.
It wasn't just her; for people she cared about even a little, like Klee, Durandal wouldn't act too cold.
Thinking that she enjoyed such a privilege, the slight dissatisfaction in her heart completely vanished.
"By the way, why are you drinking tea here, Durandal? Why aren't you resting in your room?"
"I wanted to come out and look at the moon, and see the night scenery of Liyue Harbor."
It had to be said, the night in Liyue Harbor was truly beautiful. Although they could only see a small corner from where they were, the scene presented by just that corner was enough to make Durandal sigh in wonder.
Even though it was late, Liyue Harbor was still bustling. It seemed the night in Liyue Harbor had another kind of charm, and she could go explore it later.
As for the moon, she looked at it every night, but the moon she saw now no longer felt the same as before.
"Since that's the case, I'll keep you company. You wouldn't mind, would you?"
"Didn't you say you were tired and wanted to sleep?"
Durandal glanced at her and said, "If you're tired, then go back and rest. Or are you like Klee, needing someone to tell you a bedtime story before you'll sleep?"
"Are you treating me like a Children? I'm not a Children. I just… I just want to keep you company, is that not allowed? Two people are always livelier than one, aren't they?"
"But if you don't rest, you won't have the energy for adventuring tomorrow. Although the Rite of Descension hasn't started yet, you still have Adventurers' Guild commissions to do, right?"
She was full of energy now, but if she went out the next day with thick dark circles under her eyes, everything she did would be affected.
"Hehe~ So I need Durandal's help!"
Lumine smiled at Durandal, gesturing with her right hand.
"...You want me to help you extract your fatigue?"
Lumine nodded. To stay up late without affecting her energy the next day, Durandal's ability was essential. As long as Durandal extracted her fatigue, she could be the champion of all-nighters.
"Didn't you say that sleeping is the best way to recover stamina and spirit?"
Besides resting, sleep also brought that feeling of physical and mental relaxation, being enveloped by soft blankets.
Although Durandal's ability could eliminate fatigue, Lumine preferred to relieve her spirit through sleep… those were Lumine's original words.
Yet, not long after saying that, she actively made this request. Wasn't that a contradiction?
"If it were normally, I certainly wouldn't do this. But this time, it's to keep you company, so I'm willing to do it."
"For me… well, you always say such sweet things."
Shaking her head, Durandal said no more. Since she wanted to stay and keep her company, then she could. After all, it was just one fatigue extraction.
She reached out to touch Lumine's body, intending to extract all the fatigue from her.
Before she could touch Lumine, she suddenly thought of something and dodged Durandal's movement, making Durandal not quite understand why she dodged.
"What are you doing?"
"Wait a moment, I want to confirm something. Can you just touch me, no matter how you touch me?"
"That's right."
Actually, even without physical contact, there wouldn't be too much of an issue; it's just that doing so might turn into a large-scale fatigue extraction, so touching the body was a more reliable method.
"Since that's the case, can you make the same gesture as me to extract it?"
Lumine extended her index finger and thumb, bending them slightly into a strange shape, the meaning of which Durandal didn't understand.
Durandal didn't think much of it. Whatever pose Lumine wanted to make wouldn't be a big problem; it didn't hinder her actions.
Thinking this, Durandal extended her hand, making the same pose as Lumine, and they touched.
The moment the touch came, Lumine flashed a brilliant smile. Durandal's lack of certain common sense was, in a way, truly a good thing.
It felt a bit wrong to take advantage of her in this way, but isn't it normal for girls to play a joke?
Observing carefully from a third-person perspective, one could see that Durandal and Lumine's touching hands formed a shape that looked very much like… a heart?
Durandal didn't notice this at all throughout, and she quickly absorbed Lumine's fatigue.
"Is that enough?"
"Yes! It's enough. Hmm~ This feeling is so light, I feel like I can do so many more things."
Lumine stretched widely. She thought Durandal's ability to eliminate fatigue was truly too overpowered. She supposedly controlled [Poison], so did fatigue also count as a type of [Poison] in her eyes?
Durandal carefully observed the energy extracted from Lumine's body, raised an eyebrow, and silently absorbed it into her own body, showing no unusual reactions.
"Hey, Durandal. Since we're staying up late, why don't we go out and have a good stroll? We're just drinking tea at home anyway. Why not go out and see what Liyue Harbor is like at night? What do you say?"
Although she didn't mind staying here with Durandal all night, there was simply too little to do. It would be better to go out and explore together.
Just like late-night TV shows, she was also quite curious about what Liyue Harbor would be like at night.
"...Where's Paimon?"
"She fell asleep long ago. She's probably dreaming about eating delicious food right now. Don't mind her, let's just the two of us go."
Saying this, Lumine extended her right hand to Durandal, inviting her.
"Will you come with me to enjoy the night in Liyue Harbor?"
"...I can't do anything with you. I'll keep you company for a little while."
With that, Durandal placed her hand in Lumine's, and they exchanged a smile.