#japan and china specifically

[belladonnafleur]

welp

[lgbtlunaverse]

The thing is: there's actually absolutely nothing wrong with modern/university/highschool or whatever AUs that take characters originally from japan or china or korea or any other country and plop them in america. There's a huge and varied disapora population in the us, and if the (usually usa) author wants to write about characters in a setting familiar to them that's perfectly normal and fine.

But what gets really jarring is when a fic clearly takes place in the united states but it doesn't know it takes place in the united states. Characters are just going to us-style schools and colleges and eating fluffy pancakes with maple syrup but they're also still using honorifics like -ge or -hyung or -kun and names are said last name – first name so you think ok they live in the usa but speak their native tongue around each other. That makes sense. Except it's never actually mentioned or talked about and no one ever switches to english in public, no one is relieved to have friends from the same ethnicity, no one has family that still lives overseas, no one talks about not being able to get certain ingredients at the grocery store to cook their favorite childhood dishes, and no one in general seems to be even be aware that they're diaspora. As if the fic isn't even meant to be in the us.

It's like the reverse of ace attorney's japanifornia, instead of a los angeles with an incredible amount of japanese cultural influence they live in a japan where everything just happens to be usamerican.

[st5lker]

the recent increase in singled out sinophobia is like so strange… obviously theres the whole like american anti-communist anti-chinese government sentiment which is not always based in reality and thats getting more traction recently but i also just mean like. how come chinese stuff is always turned into like Crazy Cooky Weird Memes. like the way songs in mandarin/other chinese dialects are always becoming tiktok memes and specifically in a “this is funny/odd” way. also the whole “bing chilling” meme which was like yeah i get it thats a white man being way too enthusiastic in a language he doesnt even speak that well but idk something felt off about it. the donghua jinlong memes too. its like is it funny because its in mandarin and mandarin sounds funny to you or am i just reading that in bad faith? im definitely not going to say im completely free of guilt from laughing at those types of things occasionally and i dont think theyre all definitely inherently racist like i think the donghua jinlong memes are kind of funny but when i stop to think about it it just feels so strangely singled out in a way other asian cultures dont get, at least recently.

like i feel like japan used to get a lot of the “weird asian stuff” reputation with like japanese game shows/commercials or songs or whatever. and in fairness many of those were intentionally designed to be strange or humorous like ponponpon and i wouldnt doubt that also apploes some of the meme songs like that wo xing shi song or the stuff the girl that’s jiafei’s face has been doing. i also wouldnt doubt that a good chunk of these memes literally come from chinese netizens themselves and have just kind of transferred over. but its just strange or at the very least interesting to think about how what 15 years ago used to be “weird japan” is now “weird china”.

the cynical part of me wants to assume this is directly tied to anti-ccp fearmongering and covid-19 sinophobia and that probably influenced it but i also i have to recognize that like 1) tiktok is a chinese app and almost all of what im talking about comes from tiktok, and even though douyin is separated its not hard to see how that would shift a lot of western user’s focus to china esp after the congress hearings and 2) anime is more mainstream than ever now and the western/american reputation of it being a “geeky” thing only weirdos like has basically died out so a lot of people have a “respect” for japan they wouldnt have had 15 years ago, same with how kpop is mainstream making people have a “respect” for south korea, and china doesnt really currently have an equivalent like that in the west

[rosasappho]

something is happening in the BL sphere of late

[yisanged]

the japanese-korean stuff is always just this weird elephant in the room.... idk. a lot of the times the stuff like in that one orv arc is just really uncalled for but at the same time it doesn't feel right ignoring all the bad blood there just to say oh this is hashtag problematic or whatever. idk it's not a topic i know as much about as i maybe should what with being a usamerican with parents that have made no great efforts to keep me super tied to korean culture other than just like. the food. but it's hard to get good information on it with all the polarized uninformed biased opinions out there. my parents themselves aren't the most impartial sources either. idk idk. whatever

[aliaoftheknives]

yay tama i always enjoy reading your thoughts about things like this they are always so interesting and well thought out. to briefly add on the politics of stb in particular looking back are like, very revealing from a particular intra-east asian perspective especially considering what they choose to leave out and how specific historical and cultural factions are portrayed (ie. samurai as a whole, the fact that yanxia, the closest analogue the game has to china, isn’t really fleshed out as much as doma.) i am not really versed enough in easian history to talk about this in depth but there are things that as someone who comes from a place with a contentious relationship with japan that you pick up on as a uniquely especially post-second world war cultural perspective

[birdiepaws]

the irge to redesign them because Holy Shit Are They Not Pretty

[princess-starscourge]

I think TGCF gave me a China obsession

[abyssalpriest]

It is so fucking wild knowing Lev spends a lot of time in Asia (purposely vague because he's in various parts) both as himself and in incarnations, and appears to our group as Asian (same vagueness) in his like "this is me in a genuine, familial way". And then like. Watching videos from/about people in the countries he frequents like what the fuck these cultural things are so you

[ifeelfreewithoutmyshoes]

There is so clearly a reason I’m studying history

[soup-mother]

I'm still so mad about that like "asian leftists are all religious, atheism is a western thing" post. famous western leftists: the communist party of china.

genuinely it's so fucking disingenuous to the people in those countries actually struggling against the role religion plays in nationalism, false consciousness and patriarchy. and it's so fucking smug.

especially in the context of japan like that post was, like how are u gonna be an anarchist, see a religion specifically used to prop up the imperial state and go "nah it's chill dw about it"?

*progressively* "only westerners don't like religious control of society and women, we love it!"

[kaurwreck]

fun fact! the contemporary Japanese constitution as amended does not and can't exist in bsd. this isn't conjecture— there are institutions that still exist in bsd that were dissolved by Japan's current constitution, and the events leading to Japan's current constitution have not happened in bsd.

Japan's constitution was rewritten by US General Douglas MacArthur in 1946, in the aftermath of WW2. But WW2 hasn't happened in bsd. (This is also not really conjecture; it's evidenced by there being a Great War and Fukuchi's aims to prevent a second would-be-greater war— irl, the Great War was only called that prior to WW2 because it was, until WW2, the most destructive, widespread war in the modern world. We then had an even greater war and so began numbering them.)

but, it's not even only that WW2 hasn't happened. you might have noticed bsd's Great War parallels but doesn't mirror irl!WW1— in bsd; the international alliances were different (ex: France was allied with Japan and Germany); Japan disengaged from the Great War before its conclusion (after Fukuzawa killed Japan's war hawks); the subsequent peace treaty was between France, Germany, and England (in lieu of the Treaty of Versailles); different nation states arose in the aftermath (the Republic of Nares only exists in bsd, it never existed irl— but WW1 did collapse empires and beget several new nations); the Great War beget the United Nations instead of the League of Nations; etc.

it's not clear precisely where bsd's alternate history breaks from ours— or if there was ever even a break or if it's an entirely parallel timeline—but it is canon that the Port Treaties that forcefully opened irl Japan exist in bsd but were never abolished like they were irl in 1899. it's canon that Suribachi City formed after itty bitty baby Chuuya black hole kaiju'ed a foreign settlement in Yokohama since there wasn't any appetite to rebuild it— which means that as recently as approximately a decade prior to canon, there were still foreign settlements in Japan. this is further confirmed by the Colonel in 55 Minutes.

all of this to illustrate: any claim regarding bsd!Japan's laws based on irl!contemporary Japan is incorrect unless specifically affirmed in canon. Based on the information we've been given thus far, the two Japans are operating on completely different legal frameworks.

in other words, there's no basis for deciding same sex marriage is illegal in bsd!Japan until Kafka Asagiri writes it into canon.*

*For example, I'm fairly certain Yokohama's municipal tax laws and regulations are similar enough to irl!Yokohama because Kunikida mentions a specific tax zone in Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam that seemingly aligns with a tax zone specific to some contemporary Japanese municipalities, including Yokohama.

*Random fanfic of any gay BSD ships getting proposed to/are married/seems like they are married

“it’s cute and all but you’re forgetting that gay marriage is illegal in Japan”

Stfu, they are literally part of the mafia and have killed poeple, you really think they’d care about that💀

[starryalpacasstuff]

The Absence of India in Discussions on Queer Asian Media

So, yesterday @lurkingshan tagged me in an ask she got from @impala124 about the absence of India when we're talking about queer Asian media. I was intially just going to reblog it with my thought, but as it kept growing I figured it'd be best to just make my own post. Please read the ask linked above first so this makes sense.

*cracks knuckles* this is going to be the most fun I've had writing a post in ages. (For a little background, I'm a queer Indian, born and raised)

So, this is a very interesting question on a subject I've been rotating in my head for the past several months. There's a lot of different variables that contribute to the noticeable lack of discussion on Indian and South Asian queer media in general, so I'm just going to talk through the ones I've noticed a little randomly.

Talking about Asian media in general, it's well known that the mass popularity of kpop and anime has contributed massively to the increase in popularity of Asian media. If you've been in the Asian media fandom for any amount of time at all, you'll have noticed that media from Korea, Japan, and China gets by far the most attention from international audiences; all East Asian countries. There may be several reasons for this, but in particular, it's no secret that the fetishization of East Asians is a massive proponent in the popularity of media from these countries, while there's no such interest in South Asians. If we shift our focus to queer media specifically, media from these three countries is still extremely popular, with the addition of Thailand and the Philippines to some extent; both South East Asian countries. From what I've seen, there's very little international interest in media from South Asian countries (although, if we're talking about India specifically, I can't exactly say anything. Bollywood has not been good lately). If we talk about queer South Asian media, the scope of interest falls even further. If you'll notice, MyDramaList, one of the most commonly used websites for finding and tracking Asian shows only allows for East and South-East Asian shows. So, that's one reason—there's just not much international interest in Indian media in general. As Shan said in the initial post, it's partially because of a difference in priorities. Korea is notorious for using media to gain global standing, the role of the 'soft power' of Thai bls in the recent bills for equal marriage in Thailand has been widely discussed, the list goes on. Could racism also play a part in the massive gulf of interest in media from East Asian versus South Asian countries? Probably. But I'm not going to get into that too much.

Moving on, there's obviously a massive lack of queer media in India. I think this is greatly exacerbated by the fact that it's very hard to support the people making queer media beyond buying and/or streaming their work. The majority of people engaging with Indian queer media are queer Indians, and a lot of us have to do so in secret because of the society we live in. This means that creators that have to push through several obstacles to publish their work often receive little incentive to continue doing so because of the lack of engagement. Because of the lack of media, international fans are less likely to become interested in queer Indian media, and the cycle continues.

I will say though, contrary to what Shan said, I think Indian media, particularly anything that came out post 2019 might actually be on the easier end of the spectrum when it comes to access. This may simply be bias, so forgive me if I'm wrong here, but from what I've seen, a lot of queer Indian shows are in fact available on streaming sites, and at most you'd need a vpn to access them. I think the two main things that actually hold back queer Indian media from becoming more popular are a lack of noise and it's relatively lower quality.

The main way we find out about new shows in this space is through either word of mouth (well actually, post) or because we follow production houses known for producing media. Because of the sparse nature of both the media and the consumers, there's very few people who learn enough about the media to want to give it a shot. For example, there's a film on netflix called Badhaai Do (hindi for Congratulate Us) that I've been meaning to watch for a while. It centers around a lavender marriage and I've heard a lot of good things about it, so I was slightly surprised to see that most of the people on tumblr I interact with who have been engaging with queer media for far longer than me had never heard of it. There's also a, Indian BL from 2017 called Romil and Jugal that I've written about before here, and I would've never learned of it's existence if not for a friend hearing about it from another friend of hers.

Because there's so little queer indian media, it's natural that the quality leaves much to be desired. The main issue is, because the queer asian media market has become so saturated lately people are becoming a lot more selective with what they watch, and for good reason. This means that queer media from india is simply unable to grow and improve over time, leaving it stagnant. Back in 2016-2018, the overall dearth of queer media from Asia meant that a lot of people were willing to watch shows that were average or even worse. Thailand particularly seems to have benefitted from this, being able to grow and evolve its queer media due to the successes of shows like SOTUS, 2gehter, TharnType and more even recently, KinnPorsche. Queer Indian media will have a much, much harder time with this because of all of the factors I've talked about and more, meaning that it is much harder for queer media to evolve. Honestly, though I haven't been able to watch/read much queer media from India, the stuff I have seen is really quite decent, it's just that it tends to fail in comparison to some of the brilliant stuff we're seeing from other countries. A while a ago, I bought four queer books by Indian authors, and of the three I've read so far, I'd genuinely recommend two, albeit one with quite a few reservations (I'll be writing about them sometime in the future, just haven't found the time yet). While talking about this with @neuroticbookworm, she brought up the excellent point of how Indian media in general has just been of fairly poor quality lately. It seems to me that a lot of it is catered to more conservative audiences, which results in people like me becoming disillusioned with Indian media and simply moving onto things from other countries. It has been a long time since I've watched anything worthwhile come out of Bollywood. So, it becomes even harder for queer Indian shows to be found at all; a majority of their target audience has already forsaken Indian media as a lost cause.

So, those are a bunch of reasons because of which there's not a lot of discussion about queer Indian media in fandom spaces like Tumblr. Something else I'd like to point out is, it's very hard for queer shows in India to gain much traction whatsoever. Live television slots are ruled by the infamous Indian serials, the majority of the audience being people in their late thirties and older, particularly women. And while homophobia is just as prevalent amongst the youth of India as it is amongst older generations, younger people are far more likely to be engaging with queer media, in India at least. This means that it would be near impossible for queer shows to air on live television the way they do in countries like Thailand and Japan. The majority of Indian youth use global streaming services to watch shows, hence the greater concentration of queer shows on service platforms. (Romil and Jugal is something of a dark horse here—I don't believe it was ever aired, but it was produced by a producer who has a few decently popular serials under her belt and is available on an Indian steaming service—another reason I'm determined to research how tf this show ever came into existence) If we talk of movies, the industry is limited by the iron fist of Bollywood, another reason it's very hard for queer movies to be produced and why they're generally found on streaming sites.

There's just not a lot of people who have the balls it would take to make a queer Indian show/movie and push it to the Indian public beyond a streaming service. I mean, we're all seeing what's happening with the Love in The Big City drama right now, and believe me, public backlash in India would be the same, if not much worse. And if no one in India is watching these shows, why would anyone in any other part of the world? There's barely any public figures that would be willing to participate in such a project, so queer media stays underground. Currently, Karan Johar is the most popular—and one of the only—out celebrities in Bollywood, and, well, he's treated as something of a laughing stock by the public. He has one or two queer adjacent shows under his belt as a producer, but once again, they're barely known and available only on Netflix. There was a movie called Dostana in which he played a straight guy pretending to be gay but, well, that speaks for itself. And well, I can't exactly blame him for it, knowing how the Indian entertainment industry is.

To talk a little more about the specific comparison between India and Korea, I think you're fairly accurate in saying that the two countries seem to be roughly on par in terms of homophobia, although that's an extremely vague statement that's rather hard to either prove or disprove. While the difference in international attention towards Korean and Indian media is certainly a major component of the difference in discussion about the queer media from these countries, there's obviously other things that go into it as well. There's this video I watched some time ago on the progression of queer representation in K-dramas that's quite well researched. It's an hour and a half long, so in case you don't have the time to watch it (though I do recommend it), it basically talks about some of the dramas with queer rep that have aired on Korean television and their impact. While it's hard to gauge the level of impact of these shows on the availability of bls and gls in Korea, they certainly had an effect, if only telling the queer population of Korea that they are seen and heard. To my knowledge (although I may be mistaken), no such queer rep has ever aired on Indian television, meaning that there's nothing to push creators to put queer media out there. There have been old movies and shows that depict queerness, but none of them ever reached the sort of the scale where they may have some sort of impact on the industry. As I mentioned earlier, the widespread popularity of K-dramas (and k-pop) does make it easier for creators to make queer media since there's a much higher chance of the shows being successful thanks to the international audience. Bringing back Love In The Big City, the success of the book abroad and the high probability of the show being well received internationally is probably one of the reasons it was able to be produced amongst domestic backlash.

Now, I've been talking a lot about how it's difficult for queer Indian media to gain any sort of international recognition with domestic attention. However, it's not necessarily the case. Here's where I start rambling (I say, as if this post isn't verging on 2k words). It's been proven that the presence of the international market allows for greater creative freedom in spaces beyond television. The best example comes from Korea's very own 'soft power'; K-pop. There's a K-pop group called Dreamcatcher that debuted in 2017 with a rock sound and horror concept that was extremely rare in kpop at the time. They succeeded mainly by focusing most of their promotions to the foreign market, knowing that their concept would not be well liked in Korea. And they succeeded. Today, Dreamcatcher has a sizeable fandom and has even been growing in popularity in Korea, with the Korean public warming up to their genre and having influenced other girl groups to try out similar sounds. We've already talked about the lack of international attention for Indian media, but there's also the issue that the producers of queer Indian media aren't marketing to foreign audiences, which remain ignorant.

That's all I have, this is so long good lord. All in all, there's a bunch of factors that feed into each other creating a cycle which means that, unless there's a break somewhere, queer Indian media will remain unrecognized. I'm excited to see what other people have to say, because this is a topic close to my heart and I'd definitely enjoy seeing more discussions around it.

[antisisyphus]

as a non american i have to ask what american cultural food is there.. i cant think of anything

there is creole cuisine of the usamerican south that is a blend of indigenous, west african, french, and spanish food (side note creole cuisine is not a monolith, there is creole food basically everywhere that was colonized & had a large population of enslaved people)

there is also cajun, which is specifically from the southern state louisiana, it has a lot of similarities to creole cuisine as it is influenced by the acadian french, west african people, and the spanish (ppl often use creole and cajun terms interchangeably but they are distinct)

the food of hawai'i which started as indigenous food of the islands and the goods that was traded within the polynisian triangle, but because of colonization has influences from the US military (spam being a notable case of this), portugal, japan, and china

there is south western cuisine (and the many subtypes) that blends indigenous (pueblo, O'odham, and more) colonial spanish, and mormon foods! this food was shaped by the jobs the people of this area held - lots of influence from cowboys/vaqueros and ranch workers. each southern state has a specific twist!

soul food is based on what enslaved people cooked for themselves, actually a lot of cultural knowledge was passed down & preserved in soul food! lots of southern dishes are based on, inspired by, or straight up stolen from soul cuisine. during the 60s soul food restaurants were important places for organizing! there are also several different styles of bbq

midwestern cuisine is based on various european foods (mainly eastern europen but not solely) and also the agriculture of the area (lots of wheat & pork).

since ~1850 there has been chinese american cuisine! fortune cookies, crab rangoon, general tsos chicken and beef & broccoli are all chinese american.

italian american food uses more cheese & milk than italian food. there are also differences in how we serve pizza

the hot dog is a classic american food! in germany frankfurters weren't served on buns. again most major cities of the us have their own style of hot dog.

other american foods are cheese stake, clam chowder, many fruit pies, milkshakes and rootbeer are all usamerican

potatoes, corn, squash, tomatoes, maple syrup, cashew, pecan, peanut, sweet potato, avacado, chocolate, allspice, chili peppers, lima beans, and vanilla are all foods that are from the americas and are NOT native to europe.

no vodka, no goulash, no christmas turkey roast, no cassoulet, no gazpacho, no cashew korma, no shakshouka, no bruschetta, no gnocchi, no aloo gobi, no colcannon, no latkes, no polenta...

[hedgewitchgarden]

By: Lauren Diaz

The Appalachian mountains share their story with us in many forms, beginning from their wise and weathered peaks, through their towering forests, and down to the rushing roar of their rocky streams and rivers. Many of these clear, mountain rivers are inhabited by the cryptic and awe-inspiring Eastern Hellbender. Truly a living fossil, the hellbender has existed for millennia and yet sadly it has been quickly disappearing over the last century. The Hellbender is a lonely species; it is the only giant salamander in the western hemisphere, as its cousins live in China and Japan. An ancient creature that is hardy enough to withstand thousands of years of flooding and drought, Hellbenders were once abundant even in the mainstem of the Ohio river. Unfortunately, they are now being lost at an unprecedented rate, and for many reasons we don’t understand.

Although many factors implicated in the Eastern Hellbender’s rapid decline are large scale — urbanization, removal of riparian tree cover, siltation, and pollution — there is one simple issue that every one of us that recreates in the Appalachians has control over: the moving of rocks in these streams to create dams, chutes, and rock statues (also known as cairns). The rivers where we still have healthy hellbender populations, such as those within the Pisgah National Forest and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, are the same rivers that are receiving an extraordinary rise in human use. While the hellbenders are holding on for now, the very real possibility of loving these rivers to death is just around the corner.

The Hellbender relies on the spaces under river rocks for their homes and to find their favorite food: crayfish. They share these spaces with the stoneflies and caddisflies that feed the iconic rainbow trout, as well as a variety of other small fish, mussels, and salamanders. Most importantly, they require cavities under large boulders to breed. Hellbenders lay their eggs under these large boulders in early fall, and then the male Hellbender will stay in that cavity protecting the eggs and larvae until they emerge in late spring. Moving rocks around in streams disturbs the delicate homes and breeding grounds of these enigmatic mountain species.

Cairns are a recent phenomenon, and their ubiquitous presence in national park and forest rivers is undoubtedly tied with the rise of social media. You have surely seen a picture of one, probably accompanied with a quote about balance. You may think, “there’s no harm in making small ones if they only use boulders!”, but in fact small rocks are important habitat for larval and juvenile Hellbenders. Plus, just seeing one cairn in a river (even with tiny rocks) encourages others to make them too, despite nearby signs asking visitors not to move the rocks. Dams and tube chutes not only make large boulders unavailable to Hellbenders, but they also slow down water flow and essentially make pools of dead habitat. This slow, silty water can no longer support the needs of the unique species that require swift, cool, well-oxygenated water. Silt accumulates in the pools above and below rock dams, and that silt fills in the spaces that hellbenders need to live and reproduce. Moving boulders for any of these uses has the potential to crush any animals living underneath them, including hellbenders.

The motivations behind moving rocks are innocent. But the consequences for the rare species that rely on a very specific kind of stream substrate are damaging and permanent. Some hellbenders will spend their entire lives (up to 30 years!) living under one rock. We ask that when recreating in hellbender habitat, please keep in mind that you are a guest in their home. Respect the forces of nature that put each stone in its perfect place and the millions of years of evolution shaping these stream systems so that every insect, fish, and salamander can live in perfect harmony.

For more information on hellbenders, check out these resources on the article page.

[whispereons]

Oracle!Reader Part 3

Masterlist - Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

The Kamisato Estate was truly more beautiful in person. That little courtyard in the game was a joke compared to the real thing.

The few servants still awake at this time pass by as Thoma leads you into the estate. Almost all of them give Thoma some sort of greeting as they pass by. A smile, a wave or even a 'hey Thoma!'. They give you curious looks but no one comments on your presence.

At least you don't realize how they raise their eyebrows at Thoma holding your hand. It's not completely unusual for Thoma to be extra friendly in this way but bringing someone to the estate was a whole new thing.

"If you don't mind, you can wait here for my lord and my lady." Thoma opens the door to the room as he speaks. Its a drawing room with a window to the outside. The moonlight seeps in as the curtain blows.

You take a seat on the cushion as best as you remember the formal way. Inazuma style was inspired by Japan and you didn't know a lot of Japan customs.

The door closes softly and you're left to your thoughts. It's not long before the soft pitter patter of footsteps are heard coming from the hallway.

The door opens and Ayaka in comfortable clothes steps in with a smile. Her hair is loose and it's a good look on her. You stand up and bow politely.

"Its an honor to meet the Shirasagi Himegimi. My name is Y/N."

Ayaka smiles gracefully and gives a polite bow back. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Y/N. Thoma has explained a few things about you, most specifically your position as the creator's oracle."

It's clear by the gleam in her eyes that she doesn't believe you at all. You keep a peaceful expression on your face as Ayaka continues.

"My brother was in a meeting for most of the day and would like to address your situation tomorrow at a more convenient time. We'll have arrangements made for you to sleep here tonight."

That's fair, the moon is high in the sky. You don't need a clock to know that. But she could have easily asked Thoma to rely this to you. Meaning she wants to talk to you about something privately.

You purposely wring your hands in fake nerves to test her alertness to your actions. Her eyes immediately notice it. Either the game downplayed her attentiveness or she's just super relaxed around the traveler.

"No need to be nervous. I just wanted to speak with you for a while before tomorrow. After all, maybe my brother doesn't need to speak to you for us to know the truth about you."

It's a threat your mind supplies. A threat that if Ayaka herself could see past your lies and deceit, that she'll kick you out immediately. In fact you bet the Shuumatsuban are already looking into you as Ayaka takes the seat across from you.

There's a soft knock on the door before Ayaka says a quiet "Come in." A young servant comes in with a tea set and placed it on the table between Ayaka and you.

There's only the clinking of China and the pouring of tea as the servant brews tea. After pouring a cup for both of you the servant bows and leaves.

"Then I'll bite your bait. What do you want to know? How do you want me to prove myself?"

You know that's not what she's actually after at this moment. She's probably well aware that Ayato is better suited to figuring out any lies or schemes you might have to sell your oracle position.

"No, that's not what I came to talk about at all. I'm more interested in hearing your opinion on the creator and other topics."

She wants to know if you're truly a fake believer using the creator's name for nefarious acts. Or a crazy fanatic worshipper who convinced themselves that they are a oracle.

You feel a little happy seeing Ayaka stay up this late to help Ayato with his work. Even if it means being cross-examined by her.

You bring the teacup to your lips and take your time to savor the taste. At least you would be able to taste it if you weren't nervous to hell and back.

"Well due to my memory loss I don't know much about the creators past. So I'll need you to be more specific on what you want my opinion on."

"The Electro Archon started the vision hunt decree as a way to get closer to the creator and achieve eternity. The creator helped the traveler get the decree repealed. But many citizens that suffered due to the decree can't help but feel hurt that the creator wasn't more open on their opposition."

This was a hard subject but it's exactly what you need.

"It's understandable that they feel that way. I can't speak on my personal experience since I don't remember anything at that time but the effects have permanently altered Inazuma."

You take a breath as you prepare your words that may or may not damn you.

"The creator shouldn't be blamed for not being more open as they are stuck in a different world with who knows what kind of restrictions. At the same time, the people of Inazuma shouldn't be so reliant on the gods, both the Shogun and the creator."

Ayaka's stare is cold and unnerving. She stays as silent as snowfall as you speak. Was it just you or did the room get colder?

"The creator has lived in a different world all this time. I believe they want everyone and every being to flourish on their own with their own power. That's what visions help with. This blind reliance and trust in the Shogun is what led to so many Inazuma residents to suffer. Not necessarily because they caused it but they enabled it because the majority didn't question the decree and simply accepted the reasoning without a fight. While vision holders are a minority, they still exist. And their decisions and actions have ripple effects that do effect the majority of Inazuma."

A visible steam breath leaves your mouth as ice begins to crawl from the floor where Ayaka sits. Her bangs cast a shadow that leaves her expression unreadable. Goosebumps cover your exposed skin as you continue.

"Would the creator really be happy with overly dependent subjects? Is a parent happy when they see their child refuse to use their gifts and hard work to achieve their dreams? The creator loves Teyvat and everything in it. The good and bad has shaped the world they created. And I believe they love it all. Not that they wish harm but nothing can live without harming something. That's a hard truth people try to deny."

Frostbite strikes your fingers as they start turning a pale blue. The ice is about to touch the cushion you're sitting on.

Then it all stops. The temperature goes back to normal and the ice shatters leaving the shards broken on the floor. Your heart rate goes back to normal.

Ayaka stands and holds out her hand to you. You don't move and merely stare at the smile that's basically frozen on her face.

"I can't say that I agree with you but I find your viewpoint fascinating. It's fresh and bold. I'll leave brother to make the final decision about how trustworthy you are."

It seems your gamble payed off as you place your hand in hers. Her skin is chilly as she pulls you up before releasing you. She seems lost in her head as she leads you out the room.

You follow her down the empty halls as her hair gracefully flows behind her. Truly the title Shirasagi Himegimi suits her.

She stops at a door and opens it. The room is small but cozy. It has a neat bed, small bedside drawer, coffee table and a window showing the courtyard.

"You can sleep here for tonight. Breakfast will be delivered to you here as well. Brother's schedule is a bit unpredictable so he'll visit sometime before the afternoon."

"Thank you for your hospitality." Is your reply as you step into the room. Ayaka hasn't dropped that polite smile even as she closes the door.

You stand in your spot in the middle of the room as you hear Ayaka's soft footsteps gradually get quieter. It's only when nothing can be heard that your body loosens the tension and slumps.

Your back softly hits the door and you let your body slide down into a fetal position. The cold that ate away at your body earlier was still lingering.

Was your body still cold or was it just a phantom feeling after that display of power?

You still didn't consider Ayaka a threat. At least not mentally as she doesn't even need her vision to murder you. The Kamisato Clan is known for their sword techniques after all.

It's was Ayato. You could have pulled the same act you did to Sara. Acting meek and shy while gushing about the creator. And you know full well that Ayaka would have fallen for it before handing you off to Ayato.

But that plan only worked under the premise that you would be meeting them both in the same day. By Ayaka meeting you today and Ayato tomorrow, Ayato gets information about you from Ayaka and can look into you through the Shuumatsuban.

That would let Ayato think up a counter or even use your act against you. You can already imagine him using your oracle act as a way to bring you to Ei. She would recogize you by your voice and that would mean the end for you. No fried egg would save you from that fate.

The only way to avoid that was by playing a whole new viewpoint that would leave Ayaka feeling confused. Ayaka would report to Ayato and Ayato would feel a stronger need to meet you himself. The more unpredictable you were, the less cards Ayato had.

Your hand reach up to your mask and you're about to take it off. You slam your hand into your lap, away from the mask as you remember the Shuumatsuban.

There's no way that the Ayato, would let a suspicious person in the estate and let them stay the night without supervision.

Your suspicions made everything around you look shady. Like Sayu was hiding in plain sight at this very moment. But acting so skeptical would only make them in turn more suspicious.

Your stomach growling was what snapped you out of your thoughts. The last thing you ate was those roasted lavender melon with the Arataki gang. You missed them dearly.

You hold your stomach as the familiar hunger pains started. Getting off the floor and lazily draping your bag on the bedside drawer, you flop onto the bed.

God did it feel great.

After walking, running, lying, stealing and bullshitting your way through the whole day, you were utterly exhausted. Plus this mattress was wonderful. Nothing like the beat up and dirty mattresses you were used to sleeping on in Earth.

As you shimmied onto your back to stare up at the ceiling, another pang of hunger hit you.

Didn't they have etiquette for this? Maybe something like late night guests would be offered a snack and a place to rest?

Your bitter chuckle rings throughout the room. You may be in the guest room but you highly doubt they see you as a guest. There was no way you were waking someone up for food. You've spent nights starving before, you could do it again.

Your eyelids drift shut every so often as nerves pricked at you. Knowing that a Shuumatsuban is watching over you has kept you awake despite your exhaustion. Your mask is still on your face adding to the uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

But everyone has a limit and you've reached yours. The mental stress, lack of food, and injuries took their toll on you. It's impossible to remember when you fell asleep.

Hands. The feeling of hands on you makes your heart drop. It's just a dream you try to tell yourself as the hands continue touching.

It's taking something. Money? Food? Clothes? Those were the only things you had left after leaving.

It's only when the hands are touching your face and reaching for something hard and cold on your face that you sit up in a flash.

You weren't on the streets, you haven't been on the run for a while. Not yet at least. You were in Genshin Impact you remind yourself.

A shadowy blur moves away from you as you keep your hand over your mask that was almost pulled off.

The little mujina ears on the assailant gives away their identity.

Sayu uses her Yoohoo to disappear before you could react. But you still feel on edge, as if at any moment more Shuumatsuban will come out and hold you down. Ripping off your mask, exposing-

You let out a breath. Deep breaths are the only thing you focus on to calm the rising panic. To keep away the hands reaching out for you from the shadows.

You don't sleep after that.

The sun rises and the estate slowly gets louder as servants bustle about. Your eyes tirelessly read a book in the archive on the screen. The eyebags that you usually have are darker than normal.

You decided to read through the Genshin archive in the Paimon menu to stay awake. It was a good refresher on the events of the game and the characters. You needed to use all the resources you had.

You also noticed a difference. All the books were either slightly changed or had a overhaul to fit someone in. The creator. All the books from each of the nations have some sort of mention, indication or even a chapter dedicated to you.

Did the books change once you entered Teyvat? Did everyone and everything change to acknowledge a creator when you entered Teyvat? Or was it always there and only by entering Teyvat were you able to view that specific information?

Two knocks on the door snap you out of your head and you open the door. The servant bows and hands you a tray of food. You thank them and are sure to be extra gentle as you hold it.

The moment the door is closed, you shove a piece of bread into your mouth. You close your eyes in relief and savor the taste of freshly baked bread.

With the tray on the table you eat in a hurry. You don't recognize half the dishes or the ingredients but you don't care. It's tasty, filling and hot.

With the tray picked clean, you lean against the window and try to sense if the Shuumatsuban were still watching you. After a beat of no sense of danger or unease, you guess that they have more important things to do with the sun up.

You get comfortable on the window sill as you look out the window. Many people pass by as you watch. People watching was fun in times like these where there was nothing else to do.

A flash of blue and red enter your vision making you more alert. It's Ayaka and Thoma.

You unlock the window and raise it halfway. At the same time you reach for the book you were pretending to read during the night.

With the book comfortably on your lap and your eyes on it, you focus on the faint sound of their voices.

Damn, they're too far away. If you lean out any farther you'll draw eyes. Just as you're about to give up, the wind starts to blow in your direction.

You're suddenly able to hear their voices clearly while the voices closer to you are drowned out. Strange but you aren't going to take it for granted.

"You spoke with Y/N last night right? How was it my lady?"

"Different." You can basically taste the resentment and confusion.

"I'm sorry it didn't go so well. I thought you would feel a instant connection like I had."

Oh? This immediate liking to you seems to be a pattern rather than a coincidence at this point.

"I didn't feel anything. Not a instant dislike, although I admit I am biased hearing them be referred to as the creator's oracle. I just felt blank. The conversation was strange, their answers were like no other."

Was there no connection because you haven't pulled for her?

"I'm going to need a bit more than that to tell you any advice my lady."

"I asked for their opinion on the creator regarding the Vision Hunt Decree. Their answers were so contradictory that I was becoming frustrated."

Ayaka's voice grew a little louder as she started to rant about you.

"On one hand they downplay the creators existence and power. On the other they're sympathetic to the creators feelings and any restrictions the creator might have wherever they may be. If anything they seem to blame the residents and the Shogun more than anything else. Which would be good if they didn't discredit the creator in the same breath!"

Thoma nervously laughs at Ayaka getting so worked up over you. It seems you have a natural knack for bringing out some of her hidden sides.

"I can't say that I'm not ashamed of how I lost control of my vision and temper for a bit. It's so unlike me and I'm quite embarrassed. I have an image to uphold as the Shirasagi Himegimi after all."

Her words are so sad and disappointed that you almost feel bad for messing with her like that. Almost.

"Honestly my lady, I'm not totally surprised that Y/N said something like that. In fact they implied something similar in my last conversation with them as we walked here. You see-"

Thoma's voice fades away as the wind stops blowing. You frown and are about to look up from the book you've had your eyes on when things start to shake.

Every moment or so you feel yourself vibrate as if an earthquake is happening. You look around and see everyone acting normally. Perhaps this shaking is connected to the wind that help you eavesdrop.

The shaking stops and the wind blows from under the door of your room. What would have been silent footsteps become deafening sounds as you realize that someone is heading for your room.

It's probably Ayato you think as you put away the book.

Most likely Ayato you think as you fix your clothes and reposition your mask.

It's Ayato you confirm as the man himself opens the door to see you sitting at the coffee table with a smile. His suit is crisp and clean, not a single speck of dirt can be seen.

Rude, it's rude to open the door without at least knocking. You bow politely in your seat and speak without letting your thoughts and feeling slip out at all.

"It's an honor to meet you Lord Kamisato."

Rude, it's rude to not stand up as you greet someone new. Ayato speaks in a smooth voice. You almost hate how good it sounds in person.

"It's lovely to meet you too Y/N."

His words make your eyes fall to the mole below his lip. You try to ignore his absolutely horrendous amount of layers he's wearing as he sits down. The long sleeves fold perfectly without creasing. There's no doubt that he's familiar with information digging.

"I apologize for not being able to see you yesterday. You arrived quite late at night and I saw no reason to rush to meet a scammer."

Ah, that familiar title. You never accepted it with pride but you couldn't deny it. Even now the title 'scammer' suited you.

"The Kamisato Clan much like many others are heavily involved with the creator. We have access to both government records and oversea records of the creator. Yet not a single one of them ever talks about a oracle or the possibility of one."

"Did any of the text deny the ability for a oracle to exist?"

A shot in the dark but it seemed to work as Ayato diverted to a different topic.

"That little loophole won't work forever. What I'm more curious about is how you managed to get Thoma to bring you here."

"I just wanted a boat to Liyue to continue my work. Itto, your 'bro', brought me to Thoma and I divulged some private information to Thoma. I'm sure he already told you so I don't see the point in asking me. I will admit that I wasn't expecting to be brought here."

Ayato is good, he didn't even react when you mentioned Itto's 'bro' thing with him. A conversation with him is just as nerve wracking as you thought it would be.

"Yes, that little piece of information you told him was something. You could be the creators oracle but that's the least likely option. Wouldn't be more logical to assume that you got it from one of the Kamisato's many enemies?"

A threat drenched in the sweetest honey is all you hear. Anyone else would either get mad and fall for Ayato's little bait. Or get nervous and give him more reason to suspect that possibility.

You do neither and double down on your stance.

"Least likely doesn't mean impossible. It's not like you can drag me to all your enemies and ask them if I belong to them. I'm a oracle and able to prove it."

"Or I could just have the Shuumatsuban get the information from you. Whether you're an enemy spy or not, you don't have anyone looking for you. And if anyone does come asking for you then that's just another lead for me."

He pulled no punches with that one. He flat out said he could just torture you and anyone that comes asking for you. If you really were from this world and was faking the oracle stuff then Ayato would definitely go through on this threat.

"I don't understand what you think I'm trying to do with a oracle job that I don't flaunt. If I really was a fake, wouldn't I be spreading it like fire?"

"As true as that might be, that doesn't remove you from suspicions. I mean, even though you're trying to stay low, here you are trying to convince me that you're the real deal. Doesn't seem very low profile to me."

Twisting words and intentions was a tricky but useful tool. Something you both were skilled in using it seems. It seems being a scammer and a politician aren't that different.

You could try to explain from the beginning but it would only be seen as a excuse. Ayato would probably find it amusing, his voice lines spoke about him finding enjoyment in people squirming come to mind.

Instead you shrug and stay silent letting him win this round. He sighs seeming disappointed before placing some papers from who knows where onto the table.

"So I was right to assume you took your sweet time to investigate me. Judging from how there's only a few pages, you didn't find much."

Ayato lets you read through the papers. That's probably a sign that if you can't prove yourself then he'll kill you. You try not to think too hard about it as you put the papers back down.

"You claimed to have woken up at a shrine somewhere near Ritou and strangely enough, anyone that should have been there at that time can't seem to remember."

"Remember me or remember in general?"

"In general." He leans closer with a calm facade keeping his curiosity at bay. "I wonder why that is."

"Don't expect me to remember anyone there at that time. I was too busy reorienting myself to notice much."

"I don't expect much from you anyway." Ouch. "But I'd say I've given you more than enough time to come clean. Are you ready to prove yourself Y/N?"

"I-"

"Oh and I won't be asking for the same proof the others accepted. I require something more concrete than a switched weapon and old information."

Well it wasn't like you could tell the future, well maybe you could if you played your cards right but you had something else planned for Ayato.

"No need to worry Lord Kamisato, I have something you'll be forced to believe."

"No disappearing acts either."

"Even if I show proof of where I disappeared to?"

"That all depends on what sort of proof you provide. I have strict requirements."

"Tell me about it."

"Pardon?"

"What?"

You don't give Ayato a moment to process your sass as you stand up and walk over to his side of the table. You hold out your hand to him with a purposefully cunning smile. There's no need to hide that sort of thing from him.

"I hope you won't die of heatstroke in those clothes since we'll have to go outside for this. Get ready to get your clothes dirty, rich boy."

A huff of amusement leaves him as he gets up on his own ignoring your hand. You drop it with a uncaring shrug and begin walking out the door.

It's only when you stop at the doorway that you turn to face him. He's smirking at you knowing exactly what you're going to say next.

"So where's the exit?"

You stand in front of the blue teleport waypoint outside the Kamisato estate. You glance behind you to make sure Thoma, Ayaka, and Ayato were all still there.

You clap your hands to grab their attention. Which was unnecessary for Ayato as he hasn't stopped staring at you. Seems he was taking the 'no disappearing' thing seriously.

"Just to make sure, only those being controlled by the creator can use the teleport waypoint. Meaning normal people, vision holders, acolytes and even awakened acolytes cannot use it correct?"

They all nod and Ayato seems to catch on to what you're about to do. Jokes on him because he's wrong.

"Then watch and try not to burn your eyes."

With that as your only warning, you touch the teleport waypoint. It glows brightly as gold starts to takeover the blue color. Turning back around with a smile you look to see their reactions.

With different degrees of shock, Thoma seems the most impressed. Ayaka composes herself quickly as expected of her considering her title. Ayato does seem surprised but his smile seems more excited rather than trusting.

"Was that enough proof?" Your question has no clear reciprocate but it's clearly directed to Ayato.

He shakes his head no and explains more for Ayaka and Thoma who gave him questioning glances.

"As good as this seems, I still have my suspicions. And something tells me you have more up your sleeve."

"Yeah, cause something told me this wouldn't be enough to convince you. Which is also why I asked that Thoma and Lady Kamisato accompany us."

You walk the few steps back to them and look towards the Grand Narukami Shrine. You point up there with a smile as you think about what you're about to put Ayato through.

"You know how there's a teleport waypoint all the way at the Grand Narukami Shrine? Well I have to get up there to make that one gold too. And since Lord Kamisato doesn't want me disappearing, it seems he'll have to come with me."

The color in Ayaka's face drains with every word you say. She's quickly realizing just how long it'll take and how much Ayato will have to work overtime to catch up.

"Can't you go down to the teleport waypoint in Chinju Forest instead? It's around the same distance but will be faster since it's not up a mountain." Thoma asks trying to lessen Ayato's workload.

You smile with a little too much joy but you could afford to slip up a little every now and then.

"That would be far too dangerous! I mean Lord Kamisato with an untrustworthy individual like me, alone in a forest like that? The Grand Narukami Shrine has many visitors and shrine maidens so he'll be safe on the journey there."

"Brother is strong and has a vision. Surely there's no need for you both to travel to the shrine. No offense but my brother could deal with you just fine."

"Oh I wholeheartedly agree with you there but! It seems Lord Kamisato thinks differently seeing as he had the Shuumatsuban watch over me while I was sleeping last night."

Ayaka and Thoma freeze at the information and give a Ayato a questioning look. Ayato who was content with watching this debate gives them both a serene smile.

He doesn't apologize but you never expected him too. This was your way of revenge for leaving you hungry rather than the spying.

"It seems Y/N is right about the shrine being the best option. The hike to there is at least 30 minutes. Please let any visitors know that I'll be back in around an hour or so."

You don't feel as satisfied seeing Ayato take the punishment with such grace but you don't let that show.

"Thoma, Lady Kamisato please make sure to be at the teleport waypoint at least 10 minutes before the first 30 minutes. It's necessary for me to prove myself."

Thoma and Ayaka give a confused nod but avoid questioning it. They go back inside and you see Ayato walking towards the stairs to Chinju Forest instead of the stairs up that lead to the electrograna.

"Lord Kamisato, the electrograna is at the other staircase, why are you going down this way?"

He stops and smiles at you knowing something you apparently didn't.

"The electrograna only work for those being controlled by the creator and electro vision holders. Since we are neither, we'll have to take the extra long civilian route."

Unexpected but not impossible to work with.

"Then let me at least try to activate it. I'm not the traveler or a acolyte but I was able to get the teleport waypoint to respond to me. The electrograna may be similar."

"Respond doesn't always equal work. I know you want to teleport using the structure, which won't work, but alright lets try the electrograna."

His arrogance and confidence in his words are both understandable and annoying. You'll show him. You seem to begin doing this not for your oracle identity but to take him down a peg.

You walk side by side as you guys climb the stairs and walk under the red gate. The Thunder Sakura Boughs come into view before you both stop in front of it.

Before you could even give yourself a mental pat on the back for remembering the name of the Sakura Bough, Ayato speaks with an annoyed tone.

"Well? While you may have all day to admire it, I do not."

"Aren't opportunities like this hard to come by? Shouldn't you at least try to enjoy such a sunny day to bask in?" You say with a sigh making it your mission to kill as much time as possible.

"Even so, I would hate to cut your little show short for things that actually matter."

You know he doesn't mean it completely since the whole 'blue turns to gold' definitely showed something. But you still feel annoyed. With a roll of your eyes, you reach into the Sakura Bough and grab the electrograna.

With a smug smile you pull it out and show it to Ayato. "Seems my deduction was correct. We get to take the shortcuUUTT"

You scream as the electrograna connects to a thundersphere above the next boulder and yanks you towards it. You release the electrograna and your back hits the boulder with a thud.

You groan as you lie on your back and try to deal with the growing pain in your back. Your eyes snap open as you hear laughter coming from the boulder below.

You crawl to the edge and look down to see Ayato trying and failing to contain his laughter. Your face burns in embarrassment as you yell.

"I get thrown into a boulder and you're here laughing at me?! Not even asking if I'm okay? Is this how you react to everyone that gets yanked by an electrograna?!"

He only laughs harder at your words.

"I swear the moment I get down there I'm gonna smother you with those stupid long sleeves." You bite out as you climb down.

Ayato still has a smile as you look at the Sakura Bough with caution.

"So since only I'm able to touch it, you'll have to be touching me for you to be taken with me. There's no way I can carry you so it seems you'll be stuck carrying me. Maybe the world is fair after all." You finish as you direct a smile at him so sure that he'll hate the idea of carrying you.

But Ayato doesn't look mad at all, he looks more amused than anything else. With a disappointed pout you look back at the Sakura Bough as you finish speaking.

"It's better that way too since you have a glider so we wont crash land. I'll grab the electrograna but as you clearly saw, I can't control it very well."

"It's not that hard, you just have to angle your body correctly." Ayato speaks with infuriating smile that looks kind. You wanna punch that smile off his face.

"Then since you'll be doing the carrying, you'll also be controlling which way we go. Do you know the way by heart?"

"Admittedly I don't, do you?"

"In fact, I do. Before I take each electrograna, I'll point out which way you'll need to go with each thundersphere. Sound good?"

"That works with me, now up you go." You turn to him confused as you hold the electrograna.

You yelp as Ayato bends and swiftly grabs your knees and throws you over his shoulder. Thankfully he didn't put you on the shoulder that had the armor but it still hurt.

"What the fuck?! A little warning would be nIC-"

Your words are cut off as the electrograna pulls you both up to the first thundersphere. Your stomach lurches and you feel nauseous as it pulls you guys to the second thundersphere.

Ayato lands on the ground as the next set of electro transportation is on the other side of the broken bridge. There's a twisting root that serves as the middle part of the bridge.

As much as you would like for Ayato to put you down and jump across the gaps on your own. You know full well that you don't have the power nor energy to do that.

Ayato is aware of it too as he keeps you on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walks towards the bridge. But before he can start parkouring, you wrap your legs around his torso and beat his back.

"Wait, wait, wait. You absolutely cannot carry me like this the rest of the way."

"That position isn't all that bad. It'll take some getting-"

Your breath is hot on the shell of his ear, your voice low and soft. Your mouth so close to his ear makes him shiver.

"Ayato Kamisato I will throw up all over your expansive ass clothes if you do not carry me differently."

Hearing his name fall from his lips makes him freeze but you honestly couldn't be bothered to upkeep etiquette when you feel like your breakfast is about to escape you.

Almost gently Ayato moves you off his shoulder and carries you bridal style. He smiles down at you with fondness?

"Is this position better for you?"

"Yeah, way better. Congratulations your clothes are saved."

He chuckles at your dry wit and starts parkouring across the broken bridge. To steady yourself, you wrap your arms around his neck. It's a little embarrassing to do especially with how his hair brushes against your hands every so often.

He makes it across without stumbling or falling. There's a cliff with the next Sakura Bough. You take a moment to point and give directions.

"You see the floating island right across us? That should be the next one."

"Hmm, isn't it strange how someone who should have almost no memory knows the way to the shrine by heart?"

"Isn't is also strange someone who lives right near it, not know the way by heart? Plus you have probably have used the electrograna way at least once due to the creator."

"Is that knowledge from the creator or your own guess?"

"Does that really matter when I'm right?"

He laughs a little and you grab the electrograna hoping to catch him off guard. Not enough to drop you but just to wipe that smile off his face.

As you expected he easily adapted with no problem and arrived at the floating platform.

"Alright it's about to get really messy since the path becomes super scattered in the middle of Mt. Yougou."

After explaining the next set of directions you grab the electrograna and Ayato seems to be smiling a little wider. Suspicious.

You are proven correct when halfway through the thunderspheres he starts fumbling with your weight. You cling onto him tighter in fear of being dropped.

"Holy shit, Kamisato why are you repositioning me when we're thousands of feet in the air?!"

"Aw no Ayato this time? Seems like my hands are starting to slip." Ayato continues, this fucker is enjoying your panic.

"Ayato, you drop me and I'll rip those pretty blue locks with me!" You scream as he starts fucking dangling you. You make good on your threat by holding his neck with a fistful of his hair.

Yes, he will kill you the moment you guys aren't in the middle of the air. But it's always safer to fear the closest threat than the one in the future.

Ayato goes back to holding you properly as he chuckles. But you keep holding his hair in case he gets any funny ideas. Finally you get to the landing where the next Sakura Bough is and you release his hair.

You get out of his arms to kneel on the ground and take deep breaths. You were used to high speed chases on foot and car. You even had to run atop rooftops in come cities. But flying through the air was definitely a new one.

"Surely you can't be tired already? I'm the one who's been carrying you this whole time."

"You call that carrying??? I saw my life flash before my eyes at least 3 times!"

You stand up and glare at him. He seems to find all your reactions incredibly amusing. Honestly if you truly felt your life was in danger, you would lie and just go to the Chinju forest teleport waypoint.

But you could tell he was having too much fun to actually drop you. Yes you were still terrified but letting your emotions show was making him put his guard down.

With every series of thunderspheres Ayato and you bickered and fought. At least until you had gotten to what should be the last electrograna needed.

"This should be the last one. Soon enough I'll no longer need to ride the Ayato Express." You say with a teasing tone.

"Until we have to go back you mean."

"Crap, I completely forgot. I was just thinking of teleporting back but I'm not even sure if I can teleport people with me."

"You mean if you can teleport at all."

"You'll see I'm not lying about this."

"So you lied about the other stuff instead?"

This makes you laugh in shock as you turn to face him with a annoyed smile. Except unlike his other jabs that were told with a cold smile, this one was different.

His smile was small but true and his naturally downturned eyes didn't look as muddled as usual. For a second it seemed like he was as clear and readable as water.

It's gone just as quickly as it was there but you turn your head away to hide your own smile.

"You know what I mean. Now don't drop me or pretend to drop me!" You grab the electrograna as you speak.

His maneuvering is just as graceful as he was the first time. "What an absurd thing to accuse me of. I mean it's not my fault you keep squirming and looking down. It's like you want to jump off and escape me."

"Ha! Nice try Ayato but if you're aren't strong enough to carry me the whole way then just say so."

You aren't exactly sure when you started calling him by his first name but Ayato hasn't corrected you so far.

"I am but the humble Yashiro Commission leader. Maybe I should let you down and watch the electrograna make you smack into another boulder."

That gets a laugh out of you. The pain in your back from that incident has already disappeared but you doubt Ayato will let you live it down.

As you laugh Ayato listens to the sweet sound quietly. The way your lips stretch into a smile and cheeks get a little flushed is distracting to say the least.

Distracting enough that he stumbles on the landing on the stairs to the shrine. Trying to correct his mistake he holds you tighter against him and turns so that his back hits the mountain instead of you.

You look up at him in worry as he grunts from the pain. He's still gentle as he sets you down onto your feet.

"Shit, that looked rough. You okay Ayato?" Distracted by his pain you don't think about any sort of etiquette rules as your hands trail up his arms and lightly rub his shoulders.

His breath shudders and he lifts your hands off him, softly he pushes them back to you.

"I'm okay Y/N, it looked worse than it felt." Ayato could feel your concerned stare through the mask. Usually he wouldn't mind it since the enemy underestimating him would only make his job easier. But he feels more embarrassed than anything else since you saw him like that despite your shady identity.

"If you say so. The journey is almost over so don't die on me yet."

Saving him anymore embarrassment you turn and begin walking up the stairs case to the shrine. You hear the clacking from his way too expensive shoes following you.

You can't stand the awkwardness and clear your throat. You've always wondered about some things.

"So you know how visions affect their holders? Like pyro visions make them naturally hotter and cryo visions make them colder?"

Ayato catches up to you to walk by your side. "Yes, it happens without activating it. Why do you ask?"

"Well what happens to hydro vision holders like you? Do you sweat more or have more fluid in your body?"

Ayato stares at you with the most incredulous look on his face. "I truly wonder what goes on in your head to make you have such questions."

"That's not an answer."

"I don't have a answer for such a absurd question."

"Well water makes skin clearer right? And your skin is pretty clear but that may be due to a skin care routine since Lady Ayaka also has clear skin."

"I know Ayaka has a skin care routine but I only wash my face in the morning."

"Oh that is so unfair. But I guess I was right in assuming that the hydro vision affects your inner body more. But still super unfair."

"Between the answer you gave Ayaka last night and the questions you ask me now, I almost feel like you're from another world."

You know he's just joking but for a second your heart dropped. He didn't seem to notice as you arrive at the Grand Narukami Shrine. God you hoped Yae would be at the publishing house.

The Narukami Shrine is empty. No people, no noise, not even visitors. You look around a little confused as you both approach the blue teleport waypoint.

Seemingly picking up on your confusion Ayato answers your unspoken question.

"It's noon meaning everyone is inside for the prayer, it'll last for another 30 minute."

Internally you're relieved beyond measure that you won't have to deal with Yae and Ayato at the same time. Then again Yae and Ayato naturally repel each other.

You touch the teleport waypoint and watch it turn gold. Ayato still looks a little awed but you've grown used to it at this point.

"Well it's finally time for you to teleport. I have very little expectations."

Your mouth sets into a firm line. "You'll be blown away even more then."

Despite everything you've gone through with him, Ayato still seems skeptical of you. The plan you have will make you seem crazy but it's your only shot.

You planned on touching the teleport and then using your other hand to bring up the screen. Yet you only got to touching it and remembering where the Kamisato Estate teleport waypoint is on the map when your vision goes white.

The feeling of being teleported is still unfamiliar but you manage to fix yourself as you open your eyes to see the Kamisato Estate. You lock eyes with surprised green and blue eyes.

To think you can teleport to gold waypoints by simply remembering where it is on the map. It couldn't have come at a more convenient time. You smile charmingly and step closer to the duo.

Ayaka becomes embarrassed as she remembers how she acted around you. She leans back with a red face. She uses her fan to hide most of her face.

You're unperturbed and simply lean closer till your face is nearly touching the mask. "Ayato requires strong evidence that my teleportation wasn't staged or shady. So I'll be taking your fan as proof."

You can tell she's about to back away. To stop her you place one hand on her back and she leans back making the position look like you're dipping her.

You easily slide the fan out of her loose grip and lean back to help her stand straight. After removing your hand from her back you turn around to walk to the teleport waypoint.

Ayaka keeps her head down as the lingering feeling of your breath on her face stays. The spot where you held her is still warm. Her mind can only remember that confident grin on your face as you slid her fan from her shaky hands.

Thoma watched the scene with a tight grip on his spear. He took it out in surprise when you appeared but he's using it more as a stress tool at the moment. He can't help but feel a flash of envy when you got so close to Ayaka and held her.

Even as you walk back to the teleport waypoint both of them want to call out. They want to ask you to stop, to come back. But neither of them let out a sound as you touch the structure and leave in a flash of white.

You open your eyes and see Ayato standing in front of you with a rare troubled expression. He sighs in relief seeing you in front of him again.

Your smile is victorious as you stand in front of him before pulling Ayaka's out from behind your back.

"Care to believe me now?" You ask as you hold the fan over your lower face. Ayato takes a few steps towards you with a smiling facade. Your heart stutters as you recall how he threatened to torture and kill you.

You blink in surprise as Ayato plucks Ayaka's fan out of your hands.

"I believe you Y/N. You've truly proven my suspicions wrong. While you may still have secrets you'll not divulge, I'll place my trust in you as the creator's oracle."

Holy shit, you actually managed to make the Ayato Kamisato believe your scam. You can't stop the beaming smile that overtakes your face.

Ayato watches you with clear blue eyes. That smile on your face makes him want to see it even closer but he refrains himself from doing anything inappropriate. Yes, even the sight of your happy smile makes him as excited as your mischievous one does.

Ayato places something in your hands and cups your hands around it. The item is a fan, specifically Ayato's fan judging by the pattern. Both sides of it has his signature theme but one side also has the Kamisato crest clear as day.

You look up at him and tilt your head in confusion. He taps your nose and gives a simple answer.

"I believe my fan suits you better."

Your jaw drops at his blatant flirting. Never ever has someone tried to use flirtatious tactics to make you lose your composure.

But instead of questioning you he smiles wider at your shock and turns around. He starts walking down the stairs and calls out to you.

"Are you going to stand there catching crystalflies all day or are you coming?"

You snap your mouth shut with a blush and follow after him. Was he really flirting? Was it just a compliment? You decide to shake it off for now.

"With you fully proven as a oracle, I must apologize Y/N. I lacked certain courtesy while you were staying in the estate. I do hope you understand why I gave you such a strict test."

The Sakura petals gently sway in the wind as you walk down together. He takes your silence as permission to continue.

"Once we get back I'll arrange for the best ship to take you to Liyue. The ship I have in mind will be in Ritou tomorrow so I would like you to stay at the estate tonight as well. Of course you'll get lunch as soon as we get back and you'll be served dinner tonight. Feel free to ask any of the servants for whatever you need."

Your mind begins to be flooded with the types of food you can eat. The breakfast you ate was delicious and the bed was like sleeping on a cloud-

Oh. You are not going through that again.

"I'm not so sure I would like to sleep at the estate again. I don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night again by Sayu spying on me. The last thing I want to be is sleep deprived on a boat."

"You're completely right about that Y/N, I'm sorry. That was more than not performing certain platitudes, I crossed a boundary that you did not deserved to be breeched. I understand if you would rather have me pay a hotel for you in Ritou but I would be grateful if you could give the Kamisato estate another chance."

Ayato isn't smiling as he says this. He's serious and looks a little ashamed of himself too. A small part of you wants to keep jabbing the opening Ayato revealed and accept the offer to sleep in Ritou. But the sight of him looking down at you with unsure eyes makes your heart ache.

A familiar desire rises in you. The same one that has always ate away your heart for all the lying, cheating, and deceit you pulled on innocent people.

Besides, you were really expecting him to hit back with something like 'If you didn't hide your face then I would never have felt the need to send Sayu.' Yet what you got was a sincere apology instead.

Your silence unnerves him and he turns his face away with the faintest hint of pink on his ears. That's all it takes for you to give in.

You stop at the Sakura Bough and stop Ayato by tugging his long sleeve.

Perhaps you were dumb or foolish for giving in like this. Maybe this was all a trick of his to get more information on you tonight. Or even another chance for Sayu to remove your mask.

Even so, you didn't want to relive your old life again. Your old life where all you had was your wit, quick thinking, and a cold corpse of the only one dear to you. You wanted to trust again and that could only be done by taking a leap of faith.

If this really is a trap then you'll deal with the fall out one way or another, you've always had.

"Thank you for the apology Ayato. To a certain extent I can understand why you had the Shuumatsuban watch over me. But waking up to being touched without my consent is still troubling."

You clench his fan closed as you stare directly at him. Deep blue eyes that seem as vast as the ocean pull you in.

"But just as you're taking a risk in trusting me despite my obvious secrecy, I want to extend that same trust to you. I'll sleep in the estate again tonight."

If you hadn't been paying attention to his body language, you would have missed how tension left him in a very subtle way.

"Now, enough with the mind games we should go to the estate quickly. I'm sure your workload is almost as heavy as me at this point."

Ayato chuckles at how you dismiss the heavy conversation with ease. Swiftly he carries you again and with your hair so close to him, he can smell the sakura petals that linger on you.

The journey back to the estate is filled with more banter after you asked him the age old question on whether water is wet. Spoiler alert he threatened to let the electrograna drag you into the air if you didn't stop asking stupid questions.

Finally landing on the boulder that you hit the first time. Ayato puts you down and tells you. "Careful there Y/N, I don't want you falling again."

"Ayato, I swear to Celestia. If you don't stop bugging me about that I will steal your boba."

"I'd like to see you try."

You're tempted to flip him off but decide against it as the estate comes into view. Thoma is standing outside waiting for you both. Surprisingly enough Ayaka is there too.

You know Ayato is still capable of torturing and killing you but you still feel sad that the journey is over. Realistically you know that even if you trusted Ayato fully, adventures like this would probably never happen again. He's the head of the Yashiro Commission after all.

Thoma smiles when he spots you both, Ayaka and him meet you halfway. Ayato gives Ayaka her fan back and gives a simple summary of how it went.

"The journey to the shrine went smoothly and I'm sure you saw them teleport. I will be arranging a boat for them to leave tomorrow. They've graciously agreed to stay here another night despite our previous hostility."

"I understand. Y/N, thank you for giving the Kamisato Clan another chance. Especially considering how I treated you last night. I am truly sorry for my behavior."

Ayaka hides part of her face with her fan as she speaks. You aren't sure if you should apologize for purposefully riling Ayaka up or not but you nod anyway.

Thoma claps his hands with a smile to disperse the oncoming awkwardness. "With everything cleared up, why don't we all head inside now? Y/N hasn't ate anything since breakfast and my lady has a meeting with other parties. My lord as you're no doubt aware, many things require your attention."

Ayaka and Ayato sigh in unison. You feel a little bad that while you'll be enjoy lunch they'll be working. Giving them both a pat on the back, you speak encouragingly.

"Don't look so glum Lady Kamisato. The faster you finish work, the sooner you can enjoy things you like. And Ayato while your workload isn't something I envy, I do hope you enjoyed our little adventure as a break from your usual work."

They both seem to perk up at your words. You aren't completely sure why since you said pretty normal words of encouragement. Maybe since it felt like the creator was speaking through you?

You weren't completely wrong but you weren't right either. Ayaka was looking forward to finishing her work to speak more to you. She wanted to make sure you and the creator didn't have a bad view of her. Ayato on the other hand was more happy that you seemed to have enjoyed the journey as much as he did.

Thoma is quick to grab your hand and pull you towards the estate. He smiles and begins chatting with you as people swarm Ayaka and Ayato.

"You must be hungry after that hike. I made some lunch, my signature miso soup."

"That sounds delicious Thoma, thank you so much!" Your excitement is clear in your voice as you follow him inside.

Inside the room he led you to is two bowls of his signature dish. You begin eating making sure to imprint the taste into your brain. You didn't know when you would be eating like this in Liyue.

Probably never but you would rather do that then have Ei a constant threat.

Thoma eats across from you as he talks with you. The conversation is light and entertaining as you ask him strange questions like:

"So what's the deal with Taroumaru? Like he's a badass Shiba Inu who worked for the Shuumatsuban before retiring as the owner of the Komore Teahouse. How did he become a member of the Shuumatsuban? Who sold him the Teahouse? Who even wrote up the contracts that he used for his employees?"

Thoma stops eating as he thinks. "I can't really tell you much about that. I guess the only 'safe' information I can tell you is that my lord was the one who helped Taroumaru with all that."

"What makes that information 'safe'?"

"If I tell you anymore information there is a very large chance that you may get assassinated."

You nod in understanding, and decide to drop that particular subject. Lunch is soon over and Thoma leaves to fulfill his duties, leaving you alone in your room. But that's fine, you have your own things to test.

Taking the book you were pretending to read that morning, you open it up as you sit on the bed. The cover is in a language you can't understand.

Genshin has it's own language and you've always headcanoned that Paimon was the one who translated it for the traveler. A lot of the stuff in Genshin was in ineligible scribbles if they weren't important.

Now that you were here in the flesh, you can see the letters clearer. But it was useless since you didn't recognize the language at all. You never got to finish your schooling in your world either.

Thankfully Genshin was set in a time where most transactions are done by talking. But that doesn't mean reading wouldn't be useful either.

It is strange how when using the screen it automatically translates it while you in real life cannot. You stare at the cover of the book harder hoping that a new screen will open and automatically translate the cover. That of course doesn't happen.

Could you even learn a whole new language while traveling? How would you even learn if nobody knew what language you read in? Plus you can't ask anyone in the Kamisato estate since you were fake reading this book for a good portion of the morning while eavesdropping.

As you continue brainstorming you let your fingers trace the words on the cover. You feel it start to move and watch in fascination as the characters twist and move to spell the book cover in your language.

"Treasured Tales of the Chouken Shinkageuchi" is the name of the book. You remember reading it in the archive. To think that you were using a book about the Electro Archon to help you get away from said Electro Archon.

You open the book and touch the letters on the first page. Just like the cover, all the letters changed into your native language. What a useful feature, even if you have to touch every sign and book from now on, it was well worth it.

In fact this reminded you of how the wind blew Thoma and Ayaka's conversation to you while blocking out the other sounds. And how the ground seemed to shake only you when Ayato was coming closer to your room. Perhaps this was powers you got from being the creator? Or could it be Teyvat itself helping you?

You don't get much more time to stew the possibilities as someone knocks on your door. You open it expecting it to be a worker tasked with giving you dinner. Instead it's Ayaka with a small smile.

"I hope I didn't come at a bad time Y/N. I wanted to ask if you would like to have dinner with me. Brother and Thoma unfortunately can't join due to work. If my offer is uncomfortable for you then you can reject it with no problem."

You're starting understand why Ayaka seemed to have changed her tune. Not that you blame or think less of her due to it. This 'worship the creator' thing is deeply imbedded in Teyvat as a whole.

"That sounds great Lady Kamisato, I would love to eat with you." Ayaka relaxes at your answer, you can already tell what she'll be asking you at dinner.

"Please call me Ayaka." She says with a smile as she leads you down the hallway. You enter a clean dining room that already has food set down on the table. You let Ayaka take a seat first before choosing the spot across from her.

It's quiet at first with workers putting portions of the food on each of the plates. It's a weird feeling to be served outside of a restaurant. Many of the dishes that you saw in the game were on the table looking just as delicious as before.

They also tasted amazing as you and Ayaka ate in silence. Soba, unagi meat, sushi, and other soups left you eager for more. Ayaka sets down her chopsticks and speaks quietly.

"I understand that this may be presumptuous of me to ask but I have to. Why am I the only one in the Kamisato clan to not be awakened?"

You finish chewing the food in your mouth before responding in a neutral voice. "What kind of answer are you looking for? A emotional answer with me telling you the creators thoughts and reasons on why they haven't awakened you? Or a factual reason that is out of everyone's control, including the creator's?"

You continue eating as Ayaka looks down while thinking about what you said. As her silence stretches on you audibly sigh and speak.

"Look Ayaka, if you want me to give you a real answer you'll need to tell me why you want to know. Are you feeling insecure as the only Kamisato left out? Are you envious of everyone else who was awakened? I mean even the Electro Archon and the head of the Narukami Shrine haven't been awakened yet. What are you hoping to see happen or feel, when or if you are awakened?"

You give Ayaka a moment to think before going back to eating. It was a shame really, you had hoped to bond in some way with the Shirasagi Himegimi while you were still here. But it seemed that no matter what kind of setting you were in with her, you two seemed to be on opposite sides of each other.

The sound of twinkling ice falling onto the table startle you. You stop eating and look up to see what ice was falling. For a second you even though that Ayaka was going to use her cryo to threaten you again.

Yet instead of seeing a raging snowstorm, you saw small tears leave Ayaka's eyes and freeze before hitting the table. She was crying, shit you made her cry. You were crap, complete and utter crap.

Leaving your spot in a hurry you move to her side and sit next to her. You don't touch her in case that's too personal as she tries to wipe away the tears. The tears only fall faster and faster while you are helplessly watching.

"I'm *hick* sorry. You sh-shouldn't have to s-see me like this."

Ayaka's whole problem was struggling with speaking her mind and having to keep up a perfect appearance in front of everyone. You feel like a fool for not realizing how your words only aggravated her insecurities.

"Don't apologize for something like that. I'm sorry for pushing you so hard with all my questions. Not my best words, I'll be the first to admit that."

It's true. In trying to fight back against Ayato and defend yourself, you've used Ayaka without care. You wouldn't change your decisions since your life was on the line but you can't help but feel the need to make her feel better too.

Slowly you place your hands on hers that are covering her eyes. You keep them there for a moment giving Ayaka more than enough time to reject you. With no movement from her, you slowly pull her hands off her face to see her clearly.

Her eyes are red-rimmed and tears are slowly sliding down her face before becoming ice once they fall off. She's looking away from you before glancing at you quickly.

"Ayaka, I never meant to make you feel bad or ashamed for any feelings you might have. Envy, jealousy, isolation, or any other emotion are completely normal to feel in your situation."

Your sincere words and apologetic smile seem to comfort Ayaka as the tears slow to a stop. She doesn't move her hands out of your grasp as she replies with a hoarse voice.

"You are right though. I do feel insecure and envious of my brother and Thoma. I had hope after Ayato was awakened that I would soon be too. Yet it never came and I watched more and more acolytes awaken too. People spoke more and rumors spread."

She bites back a sniffle as her feelings and words flow out with a frosty tone.

"Things like 'She isn't a good enough worshipper' or 'poor Ayaka is the only exception'. It was only when brother stepped in and stopped the rumors from festering or growing that it stopped but that doesn't make them stop thinking about it. The pitying looks, side eyes, and even mocking stares were destroying my life's work in keeping a good image of the Kamisato Clan. The image of perfection that I worked towards was crumbling beneath my feet."

She breaths heavily as she speaks with despair filled love and adoration.

"I could never blame the creator for that. I never needed to know why they couldn't or even refused to awaken me. They are perfect and if I wasn't the problem then people would think the creator is. I would never allow that sort of perception of them. That's why I have never fought against the rumors, this is the only way I can show my love for them without being awakened outside of normal worship."

Her words blow you away. You never considered how being awakened could have this much effect. Nor did you understand how high Ayaka herself placed you as the creator. To think that she would rather her image of perfection and title of Shirasagi Himegimi be tarnished than let your own perfection be questioned. You aren't perfect nor will you ever call yourself perfect but the devotion she shows touches your heart.

"Ayaka, know that I speak as both myself and the creator right now. That image of perfection you feel the need to upkeep is due to your upbringing from wanting to help Ayato right? Just as your brother was recognized, not for his title or deeds but for the love and care he showed for you. You too will be recognized, perhaps in a way that neither you nor anyone else will realize. But know that you are loved and appreciated for the sacrifices you have made."

You smile and hug her tightly. Ayaka hugs back as she grips the back of your clothes. She's crying harder than before and it leaves cold wet spots on you but it goes ignored.

You never had the income to pull and whale for all the characters. Ayaka wasn't very high on your list of desired characters and her banners came at the moments where you had little to no primogems. But you wanted to now, you probably would never build her but if simply awakening her would stop her problems then you'll happily do so.

Ayaka seems to calm down in your arms and after a while she pulls away with a flushed face. The embarrassment of how she acted around you seems to finally dawn on her. All she could fully remember was the sweet words that left your mouth and the warmth of your arms around her.

On the other hand, you were too busy despairing over the now cold food to truly notice the dazed look on her face. She stands up in a hurry making your head snap up to watch as she hurriedly leaves the room.

You sit there confused by her sudden exit before moving back to your spot. Determinedly you begin eating your cold food. Cold or not, delicious food was delicious food. If you could eat expired, dumpster and even raw food then some cold food would be fine.

The moment you finished eating, Ayaka came back holding a small tray with a single plate on it. She's completely composed again but she still avoids your curious eyes as she sits down.

"My performance just then wasn't what I should have showed you considering that you are a guest. I apologize for that. Please have some Sakura Mochi I made as a apology."

She sets the plate down and uses her fan to hide her face. You chuckle and bring the plate closer to you. It's her signature dish and you had never tried mochi before.

"Thank you Ayaka and like I said, don't apologize for expressing normal emotions."

She smiles quietly and watches you cut a big piece of it. She gives you a worried look as you put the whole piece in your mouth. It's sweet and tasty but it's also very sticky. She tries to suppress her giggles as she watches you struggle to chew and swallow it.

"Have you ever eaten mochi before?"

You can't even open your mouth to answer and simply shake your head no. You were choking on a delicious piece of mochi while Ayaka laughs at you. A death like this wouldn't be all that bad.

Thankfully you manage to swallow it and sigh in relief.

"Even though I nearly died choking on this mochi, I absolutely love it. If you were expecting to have a piece of your own creation then I have bad news for you."

You say with a teasing tone before cutting a smaller piece and eating it. This time with no choking in between. She only smiles wider behind her fan.

You finish the mochi and the servants come in and take the dishes back to the kitchen. You get up and Ayaka beckons you to follow her to lead you back to your room.

"I know that you don't really need to know, but I think closure is important." Ayaka gives you a questioning glance and you take that as a sign to continue.

"While in the other world, the creator has limited power to awaken acolytes. Some acolytes are able to be awakened at any time, while others only have a certain time frame. In fact even luck has a huge factor in this too. The creator hasn't awakened you, not because they dislike you or something. But rather because your constellation for awakening happens to come at the worst moments."

You give her a soft smile. "You're just really unlucky but I have a feeling your luck will turn around soon."

Ayaka doesn't answer and you don't expect her to. When you get to your room, you open the door and are about to step inside. She places her hand on your shoulder making you look back at her.

"You're right, that does make me feel better." Her answer is quiet and soft just like her smile. Yet it's beautiful all the same.

She releases you and walks away. You go back inside your room and hope that the next one-on-one conversation you have with her won't have dramatic emotional moments. But you have a feeling that those moments were needed for both of you.

The sunset makes your room bathe in a soft glow as you read some books from the shelf that weren't in the game archive. It's been a few hours since dinner and you were trying to enjoy the last hours you have until tomorrow where you'll stuck on a boat for who knows how long.

A knock the door surprises you and it's Thoma who stands outside smiling at you. Most of his armor and accessories he usually wears are gone which makes him look good, just a bit unfamiliar.

"Y/N! Glad to see you're still awake. My lord and I have finished up work and he wanted to invite you to hotpot with us. My lady will also be there. Are you up for it?"

Your social battery was completely drained at this point but the way Thoma was staring at you with such excitement made you nod. He beams and grabs your hand.

"Have you ever played hotpot before? It's really fun and we have the dishes already you just need to choose which one you want to put in."

"I know the premise of it but I've never done it myself. If I put something disgusting in it, can you help me make sure Ayato is the one who eats it? I wanna see his reaction to it."

Thoma laughs at your mischievous smile. He pulls you down another hallway past one of the few rooms that has lights on.

"Sounds great to me, I'll think of it as payback for all the strange stuff he's made me eat in the past."

"Didn't he try to make you eat some strange flavored Boba before?"

"Ah, don't remind me. I drank it all trying not to waste food. I was sick for the rest of the day."

"Or maybe you're just competitive. I mean you did eat all the weird stuff in the hotpot you played with Ayaka and the traveler."

Thoma's hand tightens around yours for a moment before his grip goes back to normal. You take note at how you passed that same lit up room again.

"Did the creator show you that? You aren't completely wrong but I'm not that competitive."

"Oh, so you just like eating strange stuff? Never guessed you were the type Thoma."

Your teasing words made him shush you playfully. You've been walking for at least 10 minutes, more than enough time to arrive at the room. You stop walking making Thoma stop and look back at you. Just as you're opening your mouth to speak, the door to that room you had your eye on opens.

"How many times were you going to walk past the room Thoma. Did you get lost or something?" Ayato says with a smile. He's wearing a dark blue yukata or was it a kimono? That had a white obi and gold engraved patterns.

A really good look on him and you can see Ayaka peaking out behind him. She has her hair loose again and she's wearing a white kimono and a steel blue obi. The winding gold sakuras that decorate her kimono suits her.

"Sorry my lord, I was so caught up in the conversation that I kept walking." Thoma speaks with a sheepish smile. Ayato slides the door open wider letting you and Thoma in.

Ayato and Ayaka go back to their seats across each other. Thoma is busy bringing the ingredients to the wide table to sit yet leaving you with the decision.

Do you sit next to Ayaka or Ayato?

To kill time you close the door and walk slowly to the table. The decision is made for you as Ayato pats the spot next to him and tells you.

"Sit here Y/N, you probably haven't played hotpot before, right? We'll be playing a hotpot game too so I'll explain it."

Just as you are about to sit down, Ayaka pipes up.

"Then shouldn't Y/N sit next to me instead? Me and Thoma are the only ones who played it before with the traveler. So it would better for me to explain."

"That may be true but I was hoping to add something new to the game that would require Y/N to be in the spot next to me."

You sit down before they can go on any longer. Ayato smiles at you while Ayaka looks away with what you think is a pout. Thoma comes back with a box of ingredients. He sets it down before siting down across from you and next to Ayaka.

Ayato begins explaining as the broth is finishes heating up.

"The game goes like this. We all put some ingredients into it and we all take turns tasting it and guessing who put it in. The ingredients in the box are up for everyone to pick but if one of us already have a ingredient then they can use that instead. Every time someone is right they get a point. I was hoping we could play in teams since Ayaka and Thoma have already played before."

"Wouldn't it be better for Y/N to pair up with me and you with my lady so that it's more fair?" Thoma says which makes Ayaka speak up.

"Then Y/N can also choose to pair up with me instead of either of you."

"Then Y/N, who do you choose to be your partner?" Ayato asks you with a smile that makes you feel a bit nervous. You look at all their expectant faces as you contemplate your choice.

Yeah, you'll just leave it up to chance.

Pointing at Thoma you start rhyming as you point at them all with each word.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe."

They look at you confused by your strange words and actions.

"Catch a tiger by the toe."

Ayato seems to understand and sits back with a smile. This prompts Thoma and Ayaka to relax as they continue watching you.

"If he yells, let him go."

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!"

Your fingers stops and it's pointing at Thoma.

"Luck and probably math has chosen. Thoma is my partner, I hope ya'll are ready to lose."

Ayato and Ayaka take the decision with no hard feelings just like you hoped. Instead they send each other a firm glance before turning back to you and Thoma.

"We'll just have to see Y/N. Thoma may be up for eating strange things but you may not be able to." Ayaka says as she smiles at you.

"I'll be fine, I mean how bad can it be?" It wouldn't be a good decision to let them know just what kind of food you used to eat to not starve.

"You'd be surprised how things can change taste in hotpot. Just make sure not to almost choke this time." She finishes with a giggle. Ayato smiles at you in amusement as Thoma laughs.

"I don't know if I'm just a fun target or if you and Ayato are that similar. I made one mistake using the electrograna and he never let me live it down the whole journey."

You pick your ingredients; sea ganoderma, matsutake, eel meat, and fluorescent fungus. Hopefully you won't make anyone sick with this and you hide them in your box under the table.

"I believe it's your inability to behave normally that makes us pick on you so much. Who even asks if a vision can make you sweat more?"

Thoma and Ayaka laugh while you stick your tongue out at Ayato. You all turn around for one of the late night servants to put all the chosen ingredients in. With no body able to witness him, he sticks his tongue out at you back.

You give a mock shocked gasp and pay very close attention to the boba the servant hands to Ayato before they leave. You all turn back to the table and take turns cooking the pot full of strange choices.

"I'm starting to think this hotpot is a danger hazard."

"It probably taste better than it looks Y/N." Thoma says comfortingly.

"Are you lying to make me feel better?"

"Yes." You laugh at his honest reply before Ayaka uses her chopsticks to check the hotpot.

"Y/N, tell me how does your back feel?" Ayato asks innocently. You smile at him before responding.

"It's perfectly fine, never been better. Why do you ask Ayato?" You know exactly why but you're just waiting for him to say it. Your hand twitches in anticipation.

"I just wanted to check since you hit the boulder so harshly when that electrograna dragged you."

Ayaka and Thoma give you concerned looks and you're quick to reassure them.

"I'm fine, really, no bruises or cuts. But Ayato is about to be one boba short!" You say before reaching over quickly to snatch the boba out of his hand.

Ayato is a step ahead of you and keeps his boba in his other hand farther from you. At this point you're leaning on him trying to reach the damn boba as he smirks at you.

"What's wrong Y/N? Can't reach?"

"You are so lucky you changed your clothes or else I would have used those long ass sleeves to drag your hand down."

You give up and sit properly in your seat as you glare at his boba. Ayato simply sips it loudly to further annoy you.

"The hotpot is done, so who'll go first?" Thoma asks as he looks up from the pot. You immediately raise your hand, you did not want to get stuck eating something bad.

"I'll taste the pot of doom first." Ayaka hands the chopsticks to you with a amused smile. You hold the chopsticks with a sense of resignation.

You don't know how to use them. All this time, they had given you a choice between chopsticks and other utensils.

"Sorry but I can't use these. I can barely handle a fork and knife." One of the guys snorts as you hand it back to Ayaka. Giving a glare at both of them who look away innocently, you use a different utensil and scoop out a piece that doesn't look poisonous.

The whitish soft food is put into your mouth. It taste sweet and only a little soggy. You chew it a bit before realizing what it could be.

"This kind of taste like tofu. I'm gonna guess Thoma put this in because we ate miso soup for lunch."

"Looks like my partner knows me well. That's right Y/N, I put it there." Thoma high-fives you as you swallow the tofu.

"That's one point for you two but now it's my turn." Ayaka grabs a piece of food and eats it. Her face scrunches up in surprise. You laugh at her expression and the game goes on.

Points were gained and Thoma almost always guessed each weird ingredient as Ayato's. He was at least 80% right. It's on one of Ayato's turn that he ate something green.

As Ayato continued trying to swallow it as Thoma laughed at him, you slipped your arm behind his back. You blindly groped the floor next to him for the boba before the plastic bottle was in your hand.

You pulled it back victorious and drank from it. It tasted like strawberry milk boba, refreshing and sweet. You kept the straw in your mouth as Ayato spoke.

"Who put sea ganoderma into the hotpot? It didn't taste bad but the texture is awful."

You only smile as you keep slowly sipping the Boba. For some reason Thoma and Ayaka are giving you a look. Ayato finally looks you and covers his mouth with his sleeve.

"You do know I already drank from that, right?"

No, no you didn't but damn it you weren't losing.

"And you do know I threatened your boba right? It's pretty good so I think I'm keeping this now."

He only laughs at your childishness and looks away. You can't see how his face becomes a soft pink at your actions.

"I'm gonna guess Ayaka put it in. It's too tame to be Thoma's and Y/N can only choose from the box." Ayaka shakes her head no and you raise your hand.

"It was actually me this time. I found it all the way at the bottom of the box. The look on your face was funny but I'm glad it wasn't poisonous."

"C'mon Y/N I wouldn't give you a box with potential poisonous ingredients. But I am glad you found all the hidden gems I snuck in." Thoma cheerfully adds. Something about the way he's speaking is off, the same could be said for Ayaka with how she's refusing to look at Ayato.

You shrug it off and the game continues on. That weird tension slowly goes away leaving the atmosphere pleasant and fun. At the end of it, you and Thoma won the game. You felt bad that he was the one who ate some of the strangest ones.

Thoma was sprawled out on your lap as you rubbed his back. Ayaka was dozing off on your shoulder while Ayato cleaned up the remaining mess. You weren't sure how you got into this position but it was nice.

Ayato smiled softly as he saw you trying to keep Thoma awake. He shakes Thoma and brings him to sit up.

"Thoma, Ayaka fell asleep, please bring her to bed while I lead Y/N back to their room."

Thoma is about to say something but the look Ayato gives him backs him hold his tongue and nod his head. You aren't able to understand but it seems Ayato wants to talk to you in private.

Thoma stands up and pats your head as a 'thank you'. He carefully carries Ayaka and leaves the room. Ayato offers you his hand and you accept the help.

He doesn't let go of your hand as he leads you out of the room and down the halls. It's quiet with the moon as your only light source. Ayato keeps glancing at you while smiling a little sadly.

You get to your room and before either of you can say a goodbye you fumble with something in your pocket before taking it out. It's Ayato's fan, you hold it out to him.

"I almost forgot to give this back to you. I don't want to forget and accidentally take it with me. It's very pretty so it must be just as expansive."

Ayato shakes his head and pushes it back to you.

"Keep it. This isn't just a gift, this is a symbol of my trust in you as a oracle. The Kamisato crest will serve as proof that the Kamisato clan backs you up."

You accept it with mixed emotions. Out of everything that you've lied about, your status as a oracle was definitely the most profound one. Yes, you kept up and made it more believable to save your life but what would happen if they found out? Believing and trusting were different and accepting this fan would mean accepting whatever punishment they would subject you to for breaking their trust.

"Thank you Ayato. It's a beautiful fan, I'll be sure to utilize it to solidify my oracle position. You accept the intricate beautiful fan with a graceful smile.

He turns to leave before stopping and turning back to you. "And Sayu will be paying you a visit soon. So please don't sleep just yet."

A little confused you nod and wave goodbye to Ayato who returns it with a soft smile. When you close the door, his eyes dull a bit as he remembers how far away you'll be tomorrow. Not for the first time he curses the vast ocean that will separate you both.

You flop on the bed and sigh. The bed seems to envelope you as the smell of sakura seeps in through the window. For a few seconds you doze off before the sound of something on the window sill startles you awake.

Mujina ears are the first thing you notice as Sayu sits on the window sill with a bag next to her. You sit up and watch as she moves to kneel in front of you.

"I hope I'm not interrupting you Y/N. Wait should I address you formally?" Sayu's signature sleepy voice is quiet as the wind blows gently.

"Nah just call me Y/N and speak to ne normally. I'm not a noble or someone important."

"The creator is important and by extension you are too Y/N. Please forgive my rudeness and suspicion I treated you last night. Even though I was under Lord Kamisato's orders, I was still wrong."

You can basically see how the mujina ears and tail drop as she speaks. You feel very tempted to reach out and pet her, but you really don't want to be bitten.

"I also wanted to thank you for not mentioning how I tried to take off your mask. My lord never requested it and if he found out I would be stuck with even more work as punishment."

So Ayato never ordered Sayu to take off your mask. Then that leaves the question.

"Then why did you try to remove it?"

Sayu gets up from her kneeling position to look up at you. Her eyes though tired are firm as she speaks.

"The creator is one of the few people that I have left in my life. When you came in and Thoma claimed you were a oracle, I was pretty mad. Someone claiming to be the creator's oracle is really arrogant. You were even more dubious with that mask. When I was sent to get information on you and couldn't find anything I just felt worse. That's why I decided to use the opportunity I had to see your true identity."

That's right, it's implied that her master left her in some way and since people worshipped you so much, she ended up relying on you to fill the hole her master left. It's hard to lose the only parental figure in someone's life, you've gone through it too. But it wasn't healthy to fixate on you or growing taller.

"Thank you for apologizing Sayu, I don't hold it against you. But even if I was someone suspicious please don't do that again, to anyone really. I'm keeping this mask on for a reason and for anyone not preapproved to see my face would mean drastic events would occur."

Sayu's eyes widen when you mention drastic events. It wasn't the best move to imply that but you needed to scare her. You didn't have the time to try and ease her off the devoted worshipper train.

Instead you change the topic to something else. Pointing at the bag on the window sill you ask what it is. Sayu grabs it and carries it to you. It's a cute sight seeing the small ninja carry a bag that's as big as her.

"This is a gift from my lord and myself. I hope you like them. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm actually gonna sleep tonight instead of wasting time watching you." Her words come out as a sleepy mumble before she uses her Yoohoo art to leave.

You open the bag to find a ton of clothes inside. Formal, pajamas, casual, and even some tougher clothes that seem to be built with resistance. All high quality and expansive.

You change into the pajamas to find it fitting you perfectly. You remember how Sayu was touching you, she must have been measuring you. Maybe the original reason she was doing that was to get a body bag for you since they were so sure you were a fake.

As you put the other clothes inside your bag, you continue thinking on the topic. They wouldn't need a body bag for you since Thoma is more than capable of burning dead bodies. But maybe they were worried that Thoma would refuse to since he was the one who brought you.

You lay down on the bed and wonder how in the world did you get so comfortable imagining your death. Thinking yourself as the creator with acolytes willing to die for you, still feels unreal. But the way the bed cradles your tired body is too tempting to continue debating the morality or logistics of your situation. Your eyes close and you fall into a deep slumber.

Finally done with this monster of a chapter. Was it too long? If you thought it was then just let me know and next time I'll cut it in half. It was really fun to write. In my outline I wrote that Ayaka and reader would get along well. But by the time I got to the scene, everything changed. None of those dramatic emotional burst were supposed to happen. And Thoma? His yandereness showing every so often was completely unplanned. I really enjoy this kinda characterization for Ayato. I hated him as I wrote him in the beginning and loved him by the end of the chapter. I hope you all liked how the teleport waypoints were used! Taglist: @vvyeislazzy, @nikqi, @the-dumber-scaramouche, @etherisy, @yourlocalstranger123, @ra404, @iruiji, @goldenglow149, @haru-tofuu, @lsleepysimpl, @bebobeboben, @yuyuzi-ling, @amidst-the-tempest, @resident-cryptid, @mxd1zzy, @mochicurls21, @nervouseaglelover, @thedevioussmirk, @yumuramma, @kwqsla, @undecidingfate, @ehjane, @game-savvy, @akiramirae, @sielt If you are in italics that means I couldn't tag you! Usually you'll need to check your settings to fix that.