78. It's Been a While

Two people, a young man and a little girl arrived at the beach to the northeast of Liyue Harbor facing directly to the Guyun Stone Forest. Those two were none other than Ryūhei and Jiu.

Their attire was somewhat simple and casual. Thanks to Xingqiu's new clothing store selling a variety of clothes following the trends of his manga, Ryūhei was able to get his hands on modern clothes aside from his suggestion of the clothes to Xingqiu.

It's kinda weird to wear modern clothes while carrying a katana on his hip. But, who cares?

He missed the modern clothes of his previous world so much. So, he asked Xingqiu to make some for him. Currently, he's wearing a sky blue hoodie with the zipper open, and inside is a white T-shirt that says One-Punch Man across the chest, shorts, and a pair of sandals. Next to him, Jiu is wearing a white one-piece dress with short sleeves, and a round floppy hat on her head.

Ryūhei looked at the distance. Thanks to his eyes, he can see Narukami island in Inazuma from where he is, especially the Narukami Shrine which is the highest point on Narukami island. However, he didn't plan to teleport to that place, lest those shrine maidens would be frightened by his sudden appearance. And his coordinate to teleport was the sub-area of that island, Araumi, the area around the feet of the Narukami Shrine.

— — — — —

The Narukami Shrine is located in the north of Narukami island. On the east side below it, there is a residence of the Kamisato clan, the Kamisato estate. The estate is surrounded by solid fences approximately 3 meters high and a gate entry. From the gate, one can be greeted with a walkway made of split stone, a dry garden, a flower garden, and several small cherry trees. If one walked straight from the gate, one could see a fairly large open hall, which was usually used for meetings with other clans. On the left side of the hall is the main building and veranda, while the right side is the building for caretakers and guards, as well as a guest building.

In a certain room inside the main building, that room is decorated with some painting scrolls, calligraphy scrolls, a calligraphy fan, swords in the rack, a bonsai, lanterns, and some more.

In that room, a beautiful young lady with blue-white hair tied in a ponytail and straight bangs, sat in seiza in front of the table, sipping her tea. She has silver-blue eyes and sky-blue pupils as well as a mole under her left eye, giving her a unique charm.

She wears a white kimono-like garment on top, and a hakama on the bottom.

Just like how Ryūhei does a morning routine, she also does that as well. It can be seen from the sweat on her body and a Bokken beside her.

This lady is none other than Kamisato Ayaka.

"Ever since we parted, I still think of you from time to time. I wonder what you are doing right now. Living by yourself in a foreign nation must be hard. I'm pretty sure about that. But I know you will try your hardest. You're probably tending to something important at this moment, right? Every day we move forward toward our goals, and each step must be more steadfast than the previous. Only then we will be able to reach them. There must be something in this world that only you can achieve. The same goes for me, so I must stand my ground and do my duty to the best of my ability. Please don't push yourself too hard. And do take care of yourself. Unfortunately, you missed my birthday too."

Ayaka muttered to herself right now. Since she was in the room by herself. So, no one would hear her muttering.

However, she felt a chill all of a sudden.

'Someone behind me without a sound!'

Swiftly, she picked up the Bokken beside her and swung it backward as fast as she could while imbuing it with her Cryo Vision.

*Tack*

The one behind her parried the strike, but she didn't stay still. She instantly moved to make a distance.

However, the moment she turned around, that person said,

"You grew stronger, Ayaka."

It was a voice that caused her to widen her eyes.

"Ryūhei? No, you're not him!"

Ayaka could see Ryūhei sitting cross-legged in unusual clothes.

That's right. That person was none other than Ryūhei who silently met her without being seen by the others.

However, she wasn't sure since it wasn't like him at all. Moreover, Ryūhei should be in Liyue or perhaps Mondstadt.

'Kamisato Art: Senho!'

In that instant, Ayaka cloaked herself in a frozen cloud before she launched a sword strike on his neck.

Ryūhei didn't do anything except give her a flirtatious smile. And then, he closed his eyes, waiting for Ayaka to slash him.

Her sword strike came to a halt an inch away from his neck. Ryūhei could feel the coldness on the blade that was imbued by her Cryo Vision.

"I knew you wouldn't do it. After all, I've known you for 5 years already." Ryūhei chuckled while opening his eyes.

"Are you really Ryūhei?"

She felt conflicted. After all, her feelings told her that he is Ryūhei, but different. Yet, her eyes told her that the young man in front of her isn't Ryūhei.

"What do you think? I specifically came back just to give you birthday gifts, you know. Well, I feel bad for scaring you earlier."

That's right, Ryūhei knew that September 28th 2 days ago was Ayaka's birthday. That's why he decided to return to Inazuma to meet her.

Yet, she still didn't let her guard down as if seeing Ryūhei as someone else entirely.

Looking at Ryūhei up and down, she opened her mouth.

"I feel that there is something different about you. And your eyes are also different!"

Ryūhei's eyes used to be a pair of silver eyes. However, they became vibrant blue after he got the Rikugan.

Ryūhei couldn't say something like he got those eyes from the system, or he had a past life, right?

Well, he prepared an excuse already.

"But apart from Thoma and Big Bro Ayato, only I know that you would rather be treated as an ordinary, carefree maiden than a little princess from the Kamisato clan. After all, there's no way outsiders know that you like games, hanging out, shopping, reading novels, etc, including how you sneaked past into the kitchen in the middle of the night for snacks. Am I right?"

Ayaka stiffened. True. Apart from Ayato, Ryūhei, and Thoma, no one else knew Ayaka's personality and her hard work in order to maintain her dignified externalized persona.

Ayaka retracted her sword and sheathed it back. Perhaps, he is really Ryūhei. But something made him change his personality a little bit.

And she finally put an embarrassed smile on her face. She finally believed him after he said that.

"Welcome back!"

"I'm home!"

"Since when you came back?"

"When you said, "Ever since we parted, I still think of you from time to time." How surprising. Turns out you missed me a lot." Ryūhei chuckled after he said that. He just kinda didn't expect that Ayaka would say something like that. Thus, he just listened from the start.

'From the start? How embarrassing!!' Meanwhile, Ayaka couldn't hide her reddened cheek. But then, she cleared her throat while avoiding his gaze directly.

"Ahem. Ryūhei, how come no one noticed a commotion from us? Where are the guards?"

Ryūhei snapped his finger. In that instant, Ayaka could feel the difference after Ryūhei snapped his finger. However, she didn't know what was that feeling.

"What did you do just now?"

"I'm just snapping my finger, to call someone to be exact."

They heard light footsteps, and a little girl came into view.

"Are you two done?" Jiu looked at them with a straight face.

And Ayaka knitted her brow seeing her. She turned to Ryūhei.

"Ryūhei, she–"

"Her name is Jiu. Due to a specific circumstance, I adopted her. Jiu, she's Ayaka, my fiancée."

After Ryūhei said that, he got close to her while whispering. And after that, Ayaka nodded.

"Little Jiu, come here!"

"Humph, no need! Just finish your business! Then we'll go!" Jiu ignored both of them after saying that.

Then, Ryūhei said in a low voice.

"Sorry, that girl was a shut-in and never interacted with people. So, she is bad at conversation. But, don't worry, she's a good girl."

Ayaka listened to what Ryūhei said while looking at Jiu who was pouting after she heard what he said.

"She's cute!" Ayaka said that with a giggle. And Ryūhei also nodded.

"And you are!" Ryūhei said that to Ayaka.

They stared at each other for some time. Then, she covered half of her face with the fan she took from the table.

Seeing that, Ryūhei gave a low and hearty laugh.

"Anyway, the guards need more training in this regard. How come no one found something unusual in their surroundings? Right, Big Bro?"

Then Ryūhei glanced in a certain direction.