6 Starfell Lake

'Splash!'

Sai immediately swam away, though he wasn't very aware of where he was going. It wasn't dark yet, but he didn't have the chance to inspect his surroundings thoroughly. The real life version didn't look exactly the same as the game after all.

Though… it wasn't that different either.

He thought he knew where he was, given the circumstances. Everything pointed towards him being at Starfell Lake, where the first Statue of the Seven was located.

Every player had gone through Starfell Valley in their first gameplay, so it was well known. But it had been a long time since Sai last visited it, as he already had explored it to its fullest.

Now that he was seeing it in real life, his first thought was to get to Mondstadt. He first had to escape his current situation, lest the player sends him to his death once again. So he swam as fast as he could.

Sai quickly got tired, and realized he was only about halfway through the lake.

'What the—?? Did it get bigger or am I just a terrible swimmer?'

The lake in the game wasn't nearly as big as this one, he concluded. Indeed, it seemed to have gotten around five or more times larger than the real one. 'Does that mean it's now many times deeper as well?'

Sai looked down but could not see the sand floor. Fear crept on him again, for he was quite scared of swimming in the open. 'What if there is a new monster in the water that I don't know about? I have to get out!'

Despite his fear, Sai managed to swim through the entirety of the lake, until the part where it became clear enough to see the floor. He caught glimpses of many fishes along the way and in the end there were some as well.

As he tiredly made his way from the water, he noticed something weird. 'Is that Lisa and Aether right there? There's no way, right? I swam all the way through even before them… how did they get here first?'

"Look, fatty! He stopped!"

"Yeah, he's not leaving anymore… Why do I have to follow him? I have other things to do."

"Shut up! You don't understand the situation in your hands! Your Sai doesn't behave like the others! He's a glitch for sure! Now, record it with the 'screen recording'…"

Although Sai tried to pay attention to their words, when he looked towards Lisa, he fell into a trance again. She was just too much.

Weirdly enough though, he noticed she wouldn't move much. Especially her face, who held that alluring smile all throughout the players' interaction.

"It's nearly time for afternoon tea…" Lisa said without changing her smiling face.

Sai flinched.

"That's the same exact line as in the game… Is everyone actually an NPC in this world? In that case… Well, I have to find other people to confirm this first."

He was going to make a run for the tree line when:

"Man, whatever, I'm not playing anymore. I'm tired."

And with that, Aether vanished. And with him, Lisa's smile.