Chapter Text
The Wanderer, Beelzebul, and Yae Miko walked in the Byakko Plain on the dirt road leading to Inazuma City. It was no less awkward than when their first meeting; not a single word had been spoken since they left Chinju Forest after dealing with the Fatui there, though Beelzebul looked as if she desperately wanted to fill the silence somehow.
Well, that was her problem. The Wanderer didn’t mind the silence, and the awkwardness of his creator did not bother him.
“So, Miko,” Beelzebul spoke up, “You suggested getting food. Did you have anything specific in mind?”
The Wanderer commented, “Why do you want food anyway? Do any of us even need to eat?”
Yae sighed. “Sure, we could all go far longer without food than any human, but that’s not the point, Wanderer. Food tastes good, and it’s enjoyable to eat, and that’s all that matters. Now, as for what we should get… I was thinking fried tofu.”
“Do you ever suggest anything else?” Beelzebul raised an eyebrow.
“Like you’re the big expert on varied diets,” Yae retorted.
Eventually, Yae Miko got her way, and it was decided that they would have fried tofu for lunch.
When they entered Tenshukaku, instead of moving towards the Imperial Kitchen (quite the pretentious name…), Beelzebul made to call for some kind of servant.
But she paused when she saw the Wanderer’s discontented expression. “Is something wrong?”
“Oh, nothing,” the Wanderer said, slightly sarcastic. “I was just expecting that we would be doing the cooking, but I suppose that was peasantlike thinking…”
He had to admit that it was quite amusing to watch Beelzebul doubt her own actions whenever he expressed dissatisfaction. Looking at Yae Miko, she seemed to think the same. He wondered how long Beelzebul would keep walking on eggshells around him.
Surprisingly, she did not immediately suggest for them to cook. “But it’s easier to have someone bring it to us,” she said, sounding somewhat nervous. Why would she be nervous?
“But convenience is not what it’s about. It’s far more satisfying to eat food that you have worked for, especially when none of us actually need it to survive. Convenience doesn’t matter.”
Yae Miko looked like she was quite close to laughing out loud, but she controlled herself and cut in, “For now, if you want to work for the food, why don’t we visit one of the restaurants on the street and bring some back ourselves?”
It was not the kind of work the Wanderer had meant, but he saw no reason to argue further, so he agreed to go into the city with Yae to buy lunch.
Beelzebul stayed behind, since her presence would attract far too much attention. Of course, Yae Miko, the Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine and chief editor of the Yae Publishing House, was a celebrity of her own in this nation, but she was seen in public far more often, and with many different companions, too, so it was not nearly as interesting as the Archon herself.
At first, people didn’t seem to notice the Wanderer at all. Yae Miko was a common enough sight, it seemed, that no one was surprised by her presence, so it took them some time to realise that she had company. The attention was far from as bad as it could have been, though, so he didn’t mind much.
It had been a long time since the Wanderer had been to Inazuma City, and he had never actually taken the time to get to know the place, but Yae seemed to know exactly where to go to get what they needed. Shortly after crossing a bridge covered in Sakura petals, they reached Shimura’s, a small food store managed by a single elderly man. It was nothing fancy, but it wasn’t trying to be, either.
When the old man saw them coming, he smiled. “Ah, Lady Guuji, what a pleasant surprise! What can I do for you?”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Shimura. Might I ask you to make me three servings of Udon Noodles to go? With fried tofu, of course.”
“Sure thing! Will that be all?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“How about some tea while you wait?”
“Ah, not today, Mr. Shimura. We’ve got other things to take care of, I’m afraid, but we’ll come back to pick up the food as soon as we’re done.”
The Wanderer stayed silent beside her as she ordered, not interested in chatting with the locals. His input was not needed, so he just tuned out their voices when they moved on to meaningless small talk.
It did not last too long, though, and soon they had left Shimura to his cooking and were walking further down the street.
“So, did you just make up these ‘other things to take care of’, or are we actually heading somewhere in particular?” the Wanderer asked once they were far enough away from Shimura’s.
Yae huffed a laugh. “Of course there are other things to do! We haven’t been to Kiminami Restaurant yet!
“…We just ordered, and now we’re going to another restaurant?”
“What, did you think our lunch would consist of one dish only?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it won’t. Not when Ms. Kiminami makes a wonderful Rice Cake Soup, and we have hardly ordered enough fried tofu!”
“…”
After walking down the many stairs from the Tenryou region of the city to Hanamizaka, Yae Miko pointed out the Yae Publishing House and suggested that they stop to find something for the Wanderer to read. The Wanderer pointed out that Shimura’s food would get cold if they took too long, and they walked past without stopping. “Quite rational of you,” Yae commented, only a little disappointed.
Quite close to the Publishing House, they found Kiminami Restaurant, quite similar to Shimura’s, but this time it was managed by a young woman.
“Ms. Kiminami, hello!” Yae greeted.
“Oh, Lady Guuji! Would you like some food to go?”
“That would be lovely…”
And so, Yae was small talking again, and the Wanderer did not care to enter the conversation. Only when Yae accepted Kiminami’s offer to have tea while they waited did he order ‘whatever is strongest’.
While sipping his tea, he finally noticed a certain sound. It was the sound of metal hitting metal, and even before he turned around, he could guess where it came from. Almost directly across the street, a muscular man was in the process of forging a blade.
An elderly man watched him as he worked.
The Wanderer observed them with a strange melancholy; he could still remember how it felt to stand there with the hammer, striking a piece of metal until it had the exact right shape. Just by looking at it, he could tell that the technique was different from the one he knew, but that made sense. As far as he knew, no one practiced his school of bladesmithing anymore. He only had himself to blame for that.
“That’s Hajime working there,” he heard Yae say from beside him, “He’s an apprentice at the smithy. The one watching him is Amenoma Tougo, the owner. He’s quite the skilled bladesmith, but he’s getting old.”
“Amenoma, huh…” The one branch of the Raiden Gokaden that he didn’t ruin. Still, his influence must have left a mark, even so. “He ought to know who I am. What I did.”
“Take it easy, Wanderer. You’re on vacation.”
“That does not erase what I’ve done. I still need to take accountability.”
“And you will have more than enough opportunities to do so, but now is not the right time. Would it not be polite to let me and Ei get to know you, before you attract the rage of every swordsmith in the nation and get yourself killed? Next time you come to Inazuma, do whatever you want, but for now, why don’t we just have some fun?”
…He had to admit that he could see her logic. Though he was still not a very big fan of either her or Beelzebul, it did not feel right to disregard their efforts at establishing a positive relationship with him.
“…Fine, I will put off notifying those related to the Raiden Gokaden of my existence, for now.”
At that moment, Kiminami let them know that she had finished their food. Yae made the Wanderer carry everything (“You know, since you wanted to work for it…”), and they made their way back towards Shimura’s, not without complaints from Yae about having to ascend the many stairs back up to the Tenryou region.
They reached Shimura’s, picked up their food, the Wanderer was made to carry all this, too, and then they were on their way back to Tenshukaku.
Before they were out of the street, though, Yae tapped the Wanderer’s shoulder and pointed towards a stall selling snacks from Liyue.
“I have a fun idea,” was all she said before heading directly for the stall.
Ei sat in the agreed dining room, waiting for the others to return with lunch. She had been sitting there since they left, not really having anything else to do, but she didn’t mind. She understood that her presence would attract more attention than the Wanderer was comfortable with, and besides, she was practically an expert at doing absolutely nothing for extended periods of time.
So, she waited for half an hour or so, until she heard the door open, and Miko and the Wanderer came in. The Wanderer seemed to be carrying everything on his own, so Ei raised an eyebrow at Miko, who only smiled innocently.
Ei was somewhat disappointed to see a complete absence of desserts, but she had been made aware one time by the Traveller that desserts were generally seen as something you eat later in the afternoon or after dinner. It made no sense to her, but she was not going to go against custom just to ask for sweets, so she stayed quiet about it and ate what was on the table.
The silence was awkward, even though it would be impolite to fill it with a mouth full of noodles and tofu. How frustrating…
And the silence continued throughout the entire meal, until everyone was either finished or full.
Miko clapped her hands once and said, “Well! As expected, that was unbearably awkward. Fortunately, we brought something from a snack stall that might just fix that!” From one of the bags they had kept the food in, she pulled out a smaller, red bag with a design resembling flames. “These,” she continued, “are chilli snacks imported from Liyue. I thought it would be fun to try! Naturally, I bought the spiciest ones.”
Ei eyed the bag for a while. She was… apprehensive. She had eaten spicy food before, but now that she thought about it, the last time might have been before she isolated herself several centuries ago.
She was sure that Miko was aware of that, too. She pulled out three strips of this spicy snack and handed one to Ei and the Wanderer each. They seemed to be made or some kind of flour.
Miko held hers up. “On the count of three?”
The Wanderer rolled his eyes, and Ei tried to prepare herself mentally.
They counted to three, and Ei took a bite. It felt chewy and oily, but it did not taste horrible. She noticed that both Miko and the Wanderer were eating the whole thing, instead of just one bite, and quickly shoved the rest of into her mouth.
…Then she felt the spice. She had definitely not missed the sensation of her entire mouth on fire. She was glad that they were only the three of them, with no one else to see the way her eyes were watering and how she was trying to use her hands to waft cool air into her mouth.
She looked up to see Miko chuckling. She was not sure whether she was laughing at her or at the burning feeling in her own mouth. She at least seemed to also feel the heat, although not as badly as Ei.
At the same time, they both got the idea to see how the Wanderer was handling the snacks.
…Did he not eat it, after all?
Ei looked back at Miko, who also looked confused.
The Wanderer was observing the both of them, thoroughly unimpressed. If he had eaten the snack, he was already done, and he showed no sign at all of being affected. Did capsaicin have no effect on his body? No, it definitely did. If it didn’t, it would make no sense for Ei to feel it, since she was possessing the body of the Shogun puppet.
“How…” Ei cleared her throat. “Does your mouth not burn?”
The Wanderer tilted his head slightly. “It does. But this level of pain is nothing to me.”
She forgot to think about her own pain for a moment. He hadn’t spoken much about his past experiences, but Ei had heard enough to immediately understand. Even with her lack of context, she felt bad. Miko was also wearing that concerned frown that Ei
was still getting used to seeing. For someone as laid back and unbothered as Miko, she very often looked concerned around the Wanderer.
The Wanderer seemed displeased with the change in the atmosphere around the table. He looked around, until his eyes landed on the bag of snacks. Suddenly, he was grinning, and he looked back at Ei and said, “So, how about another one?”
They ended up having a great time. At least, Miko had a great time. Unsurprisingly, the Wanderer had quite the mean streak, so the two of them worked together to persuade Ei to keep eating the chilli snacks with them, again and again, until the bag was empty and Ei had to excuse herself to go and get milk.
The Wanderer left not long after to be on his own for a while, but after Miko asked him where he was supposed to be eating dinner, he promised to be back by then.
Miko was satisfied. She had accomplished what she had been meaning to do, namely making the atmosphere around the three of them less tense. It seemed that Ei and the Wanderer were starting to be a little more comfortable with each other's presence. If all it cost was that Ei’s mouth was set on fire, Miko would consider that a win.
Once the day had gone by, and the Wanderer had come back to Tenshukaku, Ei seemed to have an idea. She greeted the Wanderer and asked him if, since he had wanted to cook, if he would like to make dinner.
Miko had a feeling that she knew what was about to happen, and she lamented the lack of pop corn.
The Wanderer raised an eyebrow. “Would I like to make dinner? What, were you just planning to watch? Is cooking beneath you?”
“I… um.” Ei looked away. “I cannot cook.”
The Wanderer blinked. “…You can’t cook,” he repeated. “You, a millennia old god, who has cut mountains in half, pale before the simple task of cooking a meal.”
“I’m… sorry?”
The Wanderer took a deep breath. “Where’s the kitchen?”
Ei, looking very relieved that he seemed to have dropped the issue, quickly showed him to the Imperial Kitchen.
And to her horror, and to Miko’s great amusement, the Wanderer had not dropped the issue. As soon as they were inside, he asked for all the specific ingredients he needed and turned to Ei. “You will make Onigiri.”
“I can’t—”
“We will only need three. I will make the first one, you will watch closely, and then you will make the other two. No buts.”
Ei obviously wanted to refuse, but saying no to the Wanderer seemed to be proving hard, and she ended up not saying anything.
The Wanderer looked at Miko, but she waved him off and said, “Don’t worry, my cooking is fine. I don’t need any practice, so you two just go right ahead! I’ll just… keep an eye on things.” She could not afford to waste her time cooking, when she could instead be watching Ei’s attempt at making something edible.
The Wanderer rolled his eyes and started making his Onigiri. To his credit, he was working very slowly in order to make sure that Ei was following, but she still looked stressed trying to understand all the steps of this… incredibly complicated… little rice ball.
The Wanderer finished his perfectly shaped Onigiri and motioned for Ei to start making her own. Once she had started, he prepared to make another dish in the mean time.
Miko honestly did not pay much attention to the way he worked. She could see that he was good, but she did not look for long enough to see much more than that. How could she, when there was something much more fun to watch?
Ei was working very slowly, and not at all in the controlled manner in which the Wanderer had slowed his movements (and Miko could see that as he worked on his own dish, he was anything but slow). Whenever she tried to shape her rice, she would either apply too much pressure or too little, and the amount of filling was never quite right. It was wonderfully entertaining.
After a while of Ei clumsily trying to make her food and the Wanderer performing every action perfectly with his own, as well as periodically correcting and commenting on Ei’s movements, they both finished around the same time.
On the Wanderer’s side were three identical, beautiful bowls of Chazuke, each topped with umeboshi and furikake. It smelled wonderful.
And on Ei’s side were the Onigiri.
Or, there was one Onigiri and… two deformed lumps of rice, mixed with some unidentifiable filling. Miko was glad that the bowls of Chazuke had a strong fragrance to overpower whatever these things might have smelled like.
The Wanderer beheld Ei’s attempt at Onigiri with an impressively neutral expression. Even more impressively, he dared to actually pick one of them up and take a bite. His face did not change as he finished the bite, and to Miko’s great surprise, he kept eating. He ate both of Ei’s Onigiri.
Meanwhile, Ei was watching him with an almost hopeful expression, and once he had finished, she asked, “So… did you like it?”
The Wanderer turned to her with the most judgemental expression Miko had ever seen. “I did not eat that because I liked it, Beelzebul. I ate it because, if it were to simply be thrown out, some poor man or animal might come across it and mistake it for something edible. At least I can’t die from food poisoning.” He picked up a bowl of Chazuke and left for the dining room.
As soon as he was out, Miko couldn’t hold on her laughter, even though Ei glared at her. How refreshing it was to no longer be the only one who dared to criticise her so blatantly to her face. Even the Traveller would never!
Still chuckling, Miko quickly swiped the only Onigiri left, picked up a bowl of Chazuke, and followed the Wanderer into the dining room.
Once Ei had joined them, they ate, and with how good the Wanderer’s cooking tasted, all potential conflict was forgotten.
They quickly finished eating, and Miko felt very satisfied with how the day had gone. The Wanderer was comfortable enough for banter and they had good food.
Miko looked up from her bowl to see the Wanderer looking at her and Ei with a raised brow.
“Well?” he said. “Those dishes won’t wash themselves. Go on.”