Chapter 182.
Yae Miko gracefully abandoned her teasing. She hummed a noncommittal note, rolled her eyes at Futsu Mitama to register her dissatisfaction, and let the matter drop.
What else could she do? She couldn't beat him in a fight, so she had no choice but to silently endure the tyranny of physical threats.
"In all seriousness, I do believe Ganyu is overthinking things."
Jokes aside, Miko was genuinely worried about the half-qilin.
Ganyu was very dear to her; in the past, whenever the secretary encountered a problem she couldn't parse, she would often write to the Guuji for advice. The vast ocean separating Inazuma and Liyue had never hindered their friendship.
They frequently exchanged local delicacies. Knowing Ganyu was a strict vegetarian, Miko had once shipped her a crate of fresh Sea Ganoderma. Knowing Miko adored tofu, Ganyu had retaliated by sending premium Liyue tofu straight to the Grand Narukami Shrine, complete with detailed instructions for the shrine chefs on how to fry it to perfection.
So, when Ningguang had approached her privately with the request, Miko had only hesitated for a fraction of a second before confidently patting her chest and accepting the commission.
Ningguang had visibly exhaled in relief. The Tianquan had been out of options. The adeptus of Jueyun Karst were too disconnected from mortal emotions to comfort her, and the mortal Qixing felt they lacked the necessary lifespan and perspective to offer meaningful advice.
The Qixing's logic had been straightforward:
Ganyu's responsibilities were being gradually reclaimed by mortal administrators. Wasn't it a blessing to finally let her rest? Shedding the mundane bureaucracy would allow her to conserve her energy, ensuring she was at peak condition to respond immediately if Liyue ever faced a true crisis. They had gently explained this exact reasoning to her.
But Ganyu was notoriously stubborn. Instead of resting, her mood had plummeted.
She was a professional; no one could detect a single flaw in her demeanor during office hours. But when she was alone, the cracks in her facade began to show.
"Whether you are mortal or adeptus, the moment you allow yourself to overthink, you invite catastrophe."
Miko said slowly, tracing the rim of her teacup.
"And Ganyu possesses an incredibly delicate heart. No matter how the Qixing tried to frame it, her mind locked onto a single, destructive conclusion."
"She believes work is her only value. If the Qixing are actively taking away her duties, in her mind, it means she is failing them. It means she isn't doing enough. So, as a trauma response, she became even more ruthless and draconian with the work she had left."
"But it backfired. Because she was pushing herself so hard, she started finishing her daily quotas at terrifying speeds. Suddenly, she found herself standing in the middle of the afternoon with absolutely nothing left to do."
"Now, a normal person would be thrilled. They would grab a good meal or enjoy a hobby. But Sister Ganyu~"
Miko trailed off, letting the silence hang.
She looked at Futsu Mitama.
Over the past month, he had undoubtedly seen Ganyu wandering the harbor. Futsu Mitama thought back to those encounters. He had seen her lingering in various districts, staring blankly into the distance. At the time, he thought she was just admiring the city.
Now, the heartbreaking reality clicked into place.
She hadn't been looking at anything. She had been drowning in self-doubt, completely paralyzed by the sudden emptiness of her existence. That was why she had been spacing out so heavily that he had to physically walk up and speak to her just to snap her back to reality.
"This is becoming rather troublesome."
Raiden Ei murmured, setting her dessert down.
Listening to Miko's assessment, a vivid reflection of Ganyu had formed in Ei's mind. She recognized the symptoms perfectly. Ganyu was exactly like the old Ei—trapped in a suffocating rut of her own making, paralyzed by an archaic mindset.
Unless someone shattered the illusion and forcibly made Ganyu realize her anxieties were groundless, she would continue to spiral. But Ei—having survived her own centuries-long psychological prison—knew how fragile that kind of intervention was.
Short-term counseling was easy. But what happened the next time Ganyu faced an existential crisis?
"Yes, it is highly troublesome."
Miko nodded in agreement.
Ganyu's fundamental flaw was that, in over three thousand years, she had never developed a single hobby.
Everyone else had an outlet.
Shenhe and Aila's master, Cloud Retainer, was utterly obsessed with supreme cuisine and supreme mechanics, constantly inventing bizarre gadgets. The adeptus all had their eccentricities to stave off the crushing boredom of immortality.
But Ganyu? Her diet was strict vegetarianism, her only entertainment was accidental napping, and her entire waking life was consumed by work, work, work.
Curse it all.
Miko had thought when she first realized the depth of the problem. She had been racking her brain ever since on how to properly extract the secretary from her shell.
"You said it was 'a bit' troublesome. Which means you already have a solution."
Futsu Mitama noted. He knew the kitsune's vocabulary. When Yae Miko called something 'a bit troublesome', it meant she already held the winning hand.
"But of course." Miko boasted, puffing out her chest. "Who do you think I am? I am the endlessly wise and peerlessly beautiful Lady Yae Miko~"
"This trivial matter is child's play. Over the next few days, I will slowly coax her out. I'm going to drag her across Liyue to experience all the frivolous, wonderful things she has ignored for millennia. I will make her truly witness what the Liyue Harbor she has bled to protect has actually become."
Miko smiled, a predatory but affectionate glint in her eyes. Keeping Ganyu too busy with fun to overthink sounded like a solid Phase One.
"Proper, grounded communication is likely the only cure."
Raiden Makoto agreed softly.
The half-qilin simply lacked genuine, unstructured interaction. When you are alone, the mind breeds monsters. When you are with someone you trust, those monsters lose their teeth. It was about venting the accumulated, toxic pressure. Once the doubt was verbalized and released, the path forward would become clear. Makoto had absolute faith in Miko's silver tongue; if anyone could talk Ganyu off the ledge of overthinking, it was Miko.
"Exactly~"
Miko purred, turning her gaze back to Futsu Mitama.
"And if words fail, I have a contingency plan. I am fully prepared to deploy a honey trap. After all, Ganyu harbors a very favorable impression of you. Oh my~ she brought your name up more than once while she was escorting me."
For once, Miko wasn't entirely lying. Ganyu had indeed mentioned Futsu Mitama multiple times during their walk. Of course, her tone had been purely professional gratitude, praising him for all the assistance he had provided to Liyue.
"?"
A massive, invisible question mark materialized above Futsu Mitama's head. He refused to ask what Miko defined as a 'honey trap'.
"Be serious for one minute."
Futsu Mitama sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Miko giggled, finally dropping the act.
"The plan is quite simple. If I cannot persuade Ganyu to relax, I am going to make her go on a diplomatic trip with you. You are planning to travel to the other nations soon, aren't you? Since her workload has evaporated, giving her an extended leave of absence to travel abroad would be the perfect reset."
"Ganyu's combat prowess is exceptional. She is a veteran of the Archon War; her raw strength rivals the oldest adeptus. Her only flaw is that her personality is too gentle to assert herself."
Miko explained, her tone turning analytical.
"So, what do you say? Once the Rite of Descension concludes, will you take Ganyu away for a change of scenery?"
Miko's expressive eyes locked onto him, waiting for his verdict.
Futsu Mitama fell silent, processing the logistics. Finally, he gave a slight nod.
"I have no objections. Assuming Ganyu herself is willing, of course."
From a purely tactical standpoint, it was a brilliant idea.
If the timeline held, his next destination would be Fontaine. He had no idea what kind of political or environmental nightmare awaited him in the Nation of Justice, but having Ganyu watch his back would be a massive advantage. Fontaine was the domain of Hydro; Ganyu possessed a Cryo Vision. If he combined her sheer elemental output with Shenhe's Cryo mastery, flash-freezing an entire ocean wouldn't be out of the question.
Plus, Futsu Mitama was deeply curious to meet the Hydro Dragon Sovereign and the Hydro Archon, Focalors.
"Perfect! That was exactly the answer I was waiting for!"
Hearing his consent, Miko didn't even bother sitting back down. She immediately sprang to her feet.
"I will relay the message to Ningguang right away. Makoto, Ei, I will take my leave for now. Let's meet at Futsu Mitama's estate after dinner. Bye-bye~~~"
With a deafening crack of thunder, Yae Miko dissolved into a bolt of purple lightning and vanished from the pavilion.
"???"
Futsu Mitama stared at the empty space where the kitsune had been standing, the invisible question marks above his head multiplying rapidly.
He couldn't shake the distinct, terrifying sensation that he had just been sold to the highest bidder.
"Ah. I see."
Raiden Makoto murmured, a sudden look of realization dawning on her face.
Miko had known exactly how to solve Ganyu's psychological crisis from the very beginning. She had only come here to secure Futsu Mitama's consent to act as Ganyu's chaperone.
Which meant... Ganyu had likely already been subconsciously entertaining the idea of leaving Liyue for a vacation. Miko had sniffed out the desire, locked in Futsu Mitama as the escort, and immediately bolted to finalize the paperwork.
Why stick around? To risk Ei's wrath over a stolen pastry?
"I've been played."
Futsu Mitama sighed heavily, rubbing his temples.
Ei offered him a rare, amused smile.
"That is simply how Miko operates. If you are truly displeased, you are more than welcome to track her down and slash her. Given her evasion skills, even if you strike with killing intent, she will dodge the first blow. I advise against a second slash, however. She only has the stamina to dodge one."
Ei added, her tone utterly serious. She knew exactly where the Guuji's physical limits lay.
Futsu Mitama smiled and shook his head.
"Ei, I'm not that petty. If taking Ganyu abroad will genuinely help heal her mind, I am more than happy to do it. I am just surprised her crisis has already reached such a critical threshold. I didn't anticipate that."
In the original timeline, Ganyu had promised the Traveler she would join them on their journey after she finished her work.
Naturally, the work never ended, and the promise remained unfulfilled. It was a tragic testament to how consumed she was by her duties. But because Futsu Mitama's interference had drastically accelerated Liyue's independence, her workload had evaporated, leaving her adrift and desperate for a new purpose.
However, promising Miko he would take Ganyu on a trip was one thing. Executing it was another.
Once the impending chaos of the Rite of Descension concluded, the Qixing would likely be buried in crisis management. Whether Ganyu would actually permit herself to abandon Liyue during the fallout was highly debatable.
"Anything is possible."
Makoto noted softly, her eyes ancient and knowing.
She had once foreseen her own demise in Khaenri'ah, knowing the mantle of the Electro Archon would fall to Ei.
She had known Inazuma would suffer during the transition. But she had never anticipated it would deteriorate that badly. In five hundred years, the only thing Ei had progressed in was her martial arts! And Makoto's own miraculous resurrection? That had been entirely outside her calculations.
Having lived through so many impossibilities, Makoto viewed Ganyu's existential crisis as perfectly natural.
Anyone would suffer an identity crisis when facing such a brutal, systemic reform.
Ganyu had served as the Qixing's secretary since the very foundation of Liyue. To suddenly have that stripped away?
It was no different from the legendary swordsmiths of Inazuma. A man spends his entire life forging blades at the furnace. When his hands finally tremble and he is told to lay down his hammer; even if he logically knows his body is failing, the profound, instantaneous death of his life's purpose is a tragedy that observers can feel in their bones.
Perhaps that was why Ningguang had bypassed protocol and entrusted the matter to Miko. The Tianquan knew that neither mortal logic nor adeptal detachment could reach Ganyu. Only an 'outsider'—a peer of equal mythical standing like Yae Miko—could cut through the noise.
"Sometimes, I truly envy Liyue." Makoto sighed, genuine admiration in her voice. "For Tianquan Ningguang to flawlessly manage so many overlapping crises under such crushing pressure—she is a remarkable leader."
Through the Chat Group, Makoto was well aware of the mountain of administrative nightmares currently sitting on Ningguang's desk. Yet, despite being buried alive in logistics, Ningguang was brilliantly leveraging foreign assets to solve domestic problems. She was using the Mondstadt Delegation to shadow the Fatui, and she had just weaponized the Guuji of Inazuma to act as a therapist for her own secretary.
When the Sumeru Delegation inevitably arrives, Makoto mused, it would be fascinating to see what kind of political chess Ningguang would play with them.
"Hmm~"
Ei looked down at her tea, a sharp pang of guilt twisting her stomach.
Hearing her sister lavish such high praise on Liyue's mortal leadership made Ei feel incredibly ashamed.
Over the past five hundred years under her rule, Inazuma's pool of brilliant mortal talent hadn't expanded—it had actively suffocated. She could count the number of truly exceptional Inazuman leaders on one hand, and she knew her own tyrannical negligence was entirely to blame.
"Alright, eat your food."
Makoto smiled gently, easily reading the guilt radiating from her sister.
"Inazuma is slowly healing now, isn't it? We are here on a vacation to learn and observe. Do not drown yourself in the past, Ei. Eat, drink, and enjoy the present."
Futsu Mitama nodded emphatically in agreement.
Vacations were a precious commodity. If you didn't indulge in the food and the freedom while you had the chance, you would end up returning to the grind exhausted—just look at poor Nahida.
Comforted by their words, Ei picked her dessert back up. Liyue's culinary was truly refreshing her palate.
Morax was absolutely right, she thought happily. When paired with proper tea, these pastries are good.
While Ei focused entirely on her sweets, Makoto and Mitama sipped their tea, listening contentedly as the distant storyteller spun ancient, exaggerated tales of Morax and Azhdaha.
They had ordered enough food to keep the table for hours. As long as they kept eating, they could sit back, relax, and let the storm clouds of Liyue's politics brew without them.