Welcome Home (Act IV)

You both soon arrived at the Knights of Favonius headquarters around noon. You head over to the library which was behind the door on the right.

You slowly opened the door and looked around for a moment as you entered before seeing Lisa sitting by her desk, drinking tea and reading a book.

"Aunt Lisa- sorry for taking so long" You approached her with the redhead detective following behind you. The purple librarian paused from reading her book and turned to look at you before smiling softly.

"No worries dear~ You two must've been busy going around Mondstadt" She lightly chuckled and gestured the both of you to sit on the vacant chairs. You both thanked her and sat down.

"Oh right, this is Heizou. He's my friend from Inazuma. Also, he's a well-renowned detective"

"Is that right? So he's the detective you been writing about in your letter~ Pleased to meet you, Heizou. I'm Lisa, technically y/n's guardian. Thank you for taking such good care of my dear niece~ I hope she hasn't been giving you a lot of work"

"Pleased to meet you as well, ma'am. It's also no trouble, y/n's been a great person to have as a companion" He gave a close-eyed smile to your aunt and you slightly blushed at the compliment you received from him.

"Oho~ I like this boy, are you sure you two are just friends, hm~?" You turned red at your aunt's remark and stood up from your seat.

"We are!"

"Goodness, y/n. No need to get so agitated, I'm only teasing~" She slyly giggled as you pouted.

"Hmph! A-Anyways, we're off to see Master Jean now!" You quickly walked out of the library while the detective sweatdropped and followed behind you.

You sighed as you exited the library and headed for Jean's office which is just right across the hall. You knocked on the door and opened it. To your surprise, you ended up meeting with a familiar blonde hair that is in the room aside from Master Jean.

"T-Traveler! You're here!"

"Hey, it's y/n and Heizou!" Paimon turned around and waved as Jean and the traveler's attention were on you and the detective.

"Oh hey y/n, he must be your friend from Inazuma, right?" The acting grandmaster approached the both of you.

"Yes he is, this is Heizou. And uhm... Are we interrupting something important?"

"Oh no worries, we were just about to finish our discussion. The Traveler here is officially chosen as our Windblume star so we informed them on how to execute their role. Also.." Jean turned to Heizou and reached her hand out to him. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Jean, the Acting Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius. I've heard a few things about you from y/n's letter. I'm glad that y/n managed to find a friend to get along with, please do continue to take good care of her in the future"

Heizou accepted and shook her hand as he nodded. "I will ma'am"

She smiled at the detective and nodded before looking at all of you in the room. "Have you all had lunch yet? If not, why don't we head to Good Hunter? My treat"

"Whoa! Master Jean's treating us?! You can count Paimon in!" The traveler quietly sighed and facepalmed as you and the redhead detective chuckled.

"That's settled then"

The five of you went out of the headquarters and headed for Good Hunter to eat lunch. You went and picked out the food in the menu for Heizou since you wanted him to try Mondstadt's cuisine. You all sat down on one table together and started chatting about a few things such as your experiences in Inazuma, the Traveler's discoveries and Heizou's cases. Pretty much everyone, including yourself were having a good time chatting while enjoying the food.

After eating lunch, Jean notified everyone that she still has work to finish so she apologetically bid her farewell and wished the rest of you to enjoy the festival. Traveler stood up as well, saying that they have a couple of things to get done since they're currently assigned as the Windblume star for the year. You nodded and bid them farewell before they left you along with the redhead detective once again.

"So how did you like the food?" You turned to look at him.

"I've got to say, even though the food here is a bit oily and sweeter, the savory flavor really nailed everything just right. It's as remarkably delicious as in Liyue~"

You giggled at his satisfied response. "I'm glad you liked it"

"Liked it? I actually loved it. Oh wait, you got something over here.." He suddenly leaned close to you, lightly wiping a thumb at the corner of your lips then licked it off from his finger. You turned red as your mind was processing what just happened.

You realized that you two have been very close to each other lately, both emotionally and physically. Your heart couldn't stop pounding at the thought that you immediately looked away. You don't know how much longer you could keep your feelings in, making you fear that you might accidentally mess up and everything will fall apart. You're scared to lose what you and Heizou currently have, but you also don't want to lose the chance to take the next step with him. You're too unsure if he ever feels the same for you. What if he would straight-up reject you? What if you end up getting hurt all over again like the last time? Everything scares you so much that you lost the courage to tell him how you feel.

"y/n? Are you alright?"

You snapped out of your thoughts and turned to him. "O-Oh, were you saying something?"

He lightly sighed as he gave you a concerned look. "I'm asking if you're alright. You seem troubled. Perhaps you should take a nap for a bit? You haven't slept for a day after all"

"Oh no, I'm fine, don't worry" You stood up from your seat and stretched your arms. "Where do you want to go next?"

"Let's rest up somewhere first, neither of us got some sleep since we traveled back and forth from that windy cliffside. If you insist on staying awake, let's play some mind games or riddles to keep our brains refreshed. Sounds good?"

"Well then, let's head over to my old house, I wanted to see if the place is still intact actually" You sheepishly chuckled before the detective nodded and followed along with you as you both made your way back to your old home.

As you both were walking, you started to overthink all of the things that may happen, especially that it's just going to be you and Heizou all alone. You're becoming flustered as you cupped both of your cheeks and tried to shake the thought off.

'M-Me and Heizou staying at my place??? W-Well, it's not supposed to be any different from how he used to visit my place in Inazuma so why am I suddenly so nervous??'