Annoyed. Very annoyed.
That was how Yae Miko felt right now.
It wasn't even because she cared one way or the other about how Youying felt toward her.
What a joke—would a grand and venerable Youkai who had lived as long as Yae Miko care about such trivial human emotional matters?
What really annoyed her was the distance and sense of estrangement in Youying's tone.
There was always this keep-your-distance aloofness, as if he were pushing people a thousand miles away.
It had been two whole months. Even if you were raising a pet, it should have warmed up to you by now!
Every single sentence sounded respectful on the surface—constantly calling her Lady Guuji this and Lady Guuji that—but between the lines, it was all about guards up, defenses raised.
Just thinking about it made Yae Miko's teeth itch with annoyance, and her tails—usually tucked away—felt like they wanted to bristle.
"Lady Guuji..." Youying knew full well that the pink-haired fox in front of him was furious, far more than she had been even two months ago when he had literally dropped out of the sky into Grand Narukami Shrine.
"Call me Miko."
"...Miko."
"Countless people would be over the moon if I gave them permission to address me by my given name, yet you look so reluctant?"
"Of course I'm over the moon to have Miko's permission."
"Your tone makes me rather dislike you." Miko pressed her hand slightly harder against Youying's cheek. "In the novels from your world, am I some sort of ruthless, vicious villainess?"
"Not at all. No matter the setting, Miko is always portrayed as a woman blessed with both beauty and wisdom."
*Except for being a bit of a tease,* Youying added secretly in his mind.
"Then what are you afraid of? Did you think I might strike you down on a whim?"
"Uh... well, you can't say that nobody would."
For a split second, both of them thought of a certain purple-haired village hermit.
"..." As a deity's familiar, the pink-haired fox felt an overwhelming urge to roast her own Archon for a brief moment.
Always going on about how failing to do her proper work as a familiar would damage the shrine's image.
Well, look at that—what goes around comes around.
"Actually... truth be told, you guys didn't exist in novels in my original world. You appeared in a video game, which is why I recognized you the moment I crossed over."
"A video game, you say?" Miko blinked. Over the past couple of weeks, she had listened to Youying tell plenty of stories about his world and had gained some understanding of electronic games.
"Mm-hmm. In the game, the protagonist is a pair of siblings traveling through different worlds. During their journey in Teyvat, they encounter the Heavenly Principles, and after both are struck down and lose consciousness, they wake up five years—uh, five hundred years later, with their sibling missing. We choose to play as one of the siblings, traveling across the Seven Nations while searching for our kin, and go through all sorts of stories."
"It even involves the Heavenly Principles..." Miko murmured. "So what did you run into in Inazuma during the game that makes you act like this toward me now?"
"Uh, if I really have to say, the truly terrifying part of Inazuma was the Raiden Shogun. She issued the Sakoku Decree and the Vision Hunt Decree."
"The Sakoku Decree? The Vision Hunt Decree?"
"The Sakoku Decree is just closing off the country, exactly as it sounds. As for the Vision Hunt Decree, simply put, it's confiscating Visions from the people of Inazuma and specifically building a Statue of the Omnipresent God to embed them into it. Back in the game, when the protagonist found out you could resonate with a Statue of the Seven to gain elemental power, she almost tried to embed us into the statue too."
"..." Miko felt a slight urge to press her palm to her forehead. She hadn't expected her own Archon to stubborn-headedly dig into such a dead end.
"Wait, does Inazuma not have the Vision Hunt Decree right now?" Youying suddenly realized something.
Ever since he had crossed over, he hadn't really paid much attention to the timeline.
"Of course it doesn't... well, I mean, not yet."
"Then about what time period is this? The timeline in the game is roughly five hundred years after the Khaenri'ah war."
"Hmm, that lines up pretty closely with the current time, then."
"Have you heard any news from the other nations? Like Mondstadt's dragon crisis, the Geo Archon's passing, Fontaine's looming prophecy, or the Fatui running around everywhere?"
"The first few, no. None of those are small matters, so even though Inazuma is some distance away, I should have heard of them. As for the Fatui..." Miko thought for a moment before saying, "Haven't they always been active in various nations?"
"Well, okay. It looks like this must be some time before the timeline I'm familiar with."
"Putting that aside for a moment, what happened with the Vision Hunt Decree later?"
"After I got dragged into the Plane of Euthymia the first time, I got beaten up real bad. It was only thanks to your anti-Raiden Shogun special training that I barely managed to convince Ei to change her mind and repeal both the Sakoku Decree and the Vision Hunt Decree."
"You know all about that?" When she heard terms like "Plane of Euthymia" and "Ei," Miko's initial reaction was one of surprise. She hadn't expected Youying to know even these things.
"If you put it that way, shouldn't I count as someone quite important to you in Inazuma? So why have you been treating me these past two months with... nothing but fear and estrangement?"
"I..." Youying finally seemed to understand why Miko was so angry, never having imagined it was because of a reason like this.
After gathering his thoughts, Youying continued:
"How should I put it? In the game, the protagonist I played could wield multiple elements and possessed formidable martial prowess, so naturally I had the strength and confidence to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you all."
"But now it's just myself crossing over, with no special abilities whatsoever, not even a Vision. I doubt I could even beat a Hilichurl."
"Here in Teyvat, someone who crossed over physically like me doesn't even have a convenient relative to rely on. The only people I know are you guys from the video game."
"Yet someone like me, even if I meet you, what can I actually do?"
"Even after crossing over, the me right now is no different from an ordinary person. Living cautiously is clearly the best choice for someone like me who gets transmigrated into another world as an ordinary mortal."
With a hint of self-mockery, Youying managed a bitter, tired smile.
Miko saw it.
Beneath that extreme caution and distant aloofness lay a core of deep insecurity and loneliness.
How could anyone *not* be thrilled to see the video game characters they loved suddenly standing right in front of them in the flesh?
But please—this wasn't some fantasy novel, and he wasn't the chosen protagonist. People wouldn't just blindly be friendly with him. What gave him the right to forge a friendship with them, let alone anything deeper?
"..." For a moment, Miko couldn't think of what to say either. Instead, she gently pulled Youying into a light hug and patted his shoulder in comfort.
Prompted by a sudden impulse, Youying boldly reached out and wrapped his arms around Miko's waist.
*He really is a little scoundrel.*
Miko thought to herself when Youying reached out, but feeling that he didn't follow up with any further untoward actions, she let him be.
For now, she would allow him this tiny bit of self-indulgence.
One of Miko's hands gently stroked the youth's head as she watched him close his eyes, his breathing gradually growing even and deep.