During the rest of the afternoon, Youying and Ayaka indeed chatted about some tips and strategies for Genius Invokation TCG. Youying could tell that the young lady genuinely liked playing the game; otherwise, she wouldn't have bumped into her there today.
After having a simple dinner with Ayaka, Youying hurriedly bid her farewell and set off on the road back to the Grand Narukami Shrine.
By the time he returned to the shrine, it was already around nine in the evening. A crescent silver moon hung high in the sky, generously spilling its moonlight all over the Grand Narukami Shrine.
"Oh my, someone has finally decided to come back?" The moment Youying stepped into Narukami, a familiar voice rang in his ear.
Just as the words fell, Youying caught a faint flash of a fox shape before his eyes, which then slowly materialized into human form—it was none other than the familiar Yae Miko.
"I actually thought someone might never come back after this trip..." Miko raised an eyebrow and looked at Youying, though a hint of satisfaction flashed faintly across her expression.
"How could that be? I'm still counting on my royalties from Yae Publishing House. As for moving out of the Grand Narukami Shrine, I haven't considered it anytime soon, so I must ask Lady Guuji to show mercy and not kick the little guy out," Youying grinned and said.
"Smooth-talking." Miko was somewhat amused by Youying's cheeky grin.
"I specially brought something back for you." Youying handed the bag he had been carrying the whole time to Miko.
"Oh, you actually brought something for me? The little one is quite thoughtful, aren't you?" Miko took the bag and opened it to take a look. "My, my, the little one really knows how to play the game, knowing to use my favorite fried tofu to bribe me."
"Just a small token of my appreciation, a small token."
As a self-proclaimed connoisseur of fried tofu, Miko could naturally tell at a glance that this small bowl of fried tofu came from Konan Diner, and it appeared to be the highest quality kind she frequently bought, which was quite expensive.
"The little one is actually quite lovable in some ways~" Miko gently stroked Youying's cheek once more, and gave it a light pinch by the way. Well, the texture really wasn't bad. "Could it be that you deliberately borrowed Mora from Nana just to buy this bowl of fried tofu for me? My, my, using money borrowed from another woman to buy things for another woman just to please her—Nana would surely be very heartbroken if she found out."
"Ahem, no, how do you even know about that?" Youying gently broke free from Miko's clutches. "I mean, going out on a trip definitely requires a bit of money, right? I just happened to have a little left over and bought a bit more. After all, just returning the leftover money right away wouldn't look right, would it? Better to wait until I gather enough money to pay it all back together."
"As long as it happens within the Grand Narukami Shrine, there is basically nothing I cannot see. It just depends on whether I want to or not," Miko smiled maliciously at Youying. "Oh right, seeing that you haven't been up to much these past two months, I almost forgot to tell you this: if you want to secretly do any bad things in your room from now on, remember to definitely give me a heads-up. Oh my, I'll still leave you a little private space, I understand, I understand."
Youying's eyelid twitched unnaturally. "Forget it, let's go inside first."
And so Miko very naturally followed Youying into his room, sat down on Youying's bed, and began nibbling piece by piece on the fried tofu Youying had bought.
"Tell me, how does it feel to stroll around Inazuma City in person today? It's different from how it feels in the so-called game, right?" After swallowing a piece of fried tofu, Youying asked.
"Well, it's indeed quite a bit larger than I imagined," Youying nodded in admission.
"Mm," Miko nodded. "Now explain where that scent of a woman on you came from."
"Oh oh... Huh?" Youying kept nodding, but then realized something was amiss.
"What do you mean 'huh'? A fox's nose is very sensitive, you know." Miko said while putting on a show of sniffing twice. "Judging by the richness of the scent, you actually spent the entire afternoon hanging out with that woman. If I wasn't so familiar with that scent, I'd have suspected you went off to some shady place."
"What kind of place?" Youying always liked to dance on the edge of danger during strange moments.
"Maybe you should go back to looking the way you did a while ago. Just one day passes and you've already gotten this bold." Miko slapped Youying right on the head. "Tell me, how is it that on your very first day out, you got mixed up with the young lady of the Kamisato Clan and spent the entire afternoon with her?"
"About that, let me explain..." At this, Youying straightened his expression and recounted everything that happened this afternoon to Miko from start to finish.
"Genius Invokation TCG... Has it really had such a huge impact on my Yae Publishing House?" Miko had heard a thing or two about Genius Invokation TCG, though she clearly hadn't paid much attention to it recently. She never expected it to deal such a massive blow to Yae Publishing House. "Even though Yae Publishing House hasn't had any particularly good new releases or popular sequels in the past two weeks, I never imagined it would take a hit this severe."
"Barring any accidents, Genius Invokation TCG becoming a hit was inevitable. But after all, it's not in the same lane as your Yae Publishing House. After a little more time passes and the initial promotional wave of Genius Invokation TCG in Inazuma blows over, things should get better," Youying consoled her.
"Let's hope so..."
And so a few more days passed.
On the night of Youying's new novel's release, Youying returned from an after-dinner stroll and once again found Yae Miko occupying his bed.
"You're back?" Miko offered a token greeting while stuffing the very last piece of her own fried tofu into her mouth.
"Yeah," Youying nodded. "Today's release must have been pretty busy."
"Not too bad. After all, I don't need to show my face or anything; it's mostly the employees at Yae Publishing House who are working hard."
"How are things looking?" Youying still couldn't help asking out of curiosity. After all, this was his meal ticket for the foreseeable future, and whether he could live a moderately prosperous life depended entirely on it.
"Well, it's not too bad, I suppose," Miko frowned slightly when this was brought up. "Still, it falls a bit short compared to what I expected."
"Even though the popularity of Yae Publishing House has picked up somewhat these past two days and we quickly gathered another wave of attention and hype after your new book launched, the impact from Genius Invokation TCG is still a bit too heavy. It's not like the old days."
Thinking of this, Miko couldn't help rubbing her temples with a bit of a headache.
Youying fell silent for a moment, beginning to ponder something.
Are you kidding me? If you want to play card games, go ahead, but now you're actually trying to block my path to making money?
Youying realized he had to do something. After deep thought for a moment, he said:
"How about you go down to Yae Publishing House and host a book-signing and photo-op event or something? I guarantee that as long as you sit there, Yae Publishing House will never lack customers."
"Are you out of your mind? As the Guuji, I have a very busy schedule. When would I have the time to sit around there idly?" Miko glared at Youying.
"You're clearly plenty idle, alright..." Youying muttered to himself inwardly, knowing full well this wasn't realistic.
After another brief silence, Youying spoke to Miko once again:
"Miko, any interest in having Yae Publishing House start a side business?"
"Oh? Could it be that you want to..." Miko looked at Youying, seeming to somewhat grasp what he was aiming at.
"Precisely. We'll start a card game too, and completely wipe out their Genius Invokation TCG. We'll expand the business scope of Yae Publishing House and make it the leading enterprise in the entertainment industry of Inazuma—no, of the entire world!"
"Cards aren't everything, but living without cards is totally impossible. In my view, the entertainment industry of Teyvat might as well bear the surname Yae."
"It's Yae Miko."