Chapter 7: Picnic

Emmy walked outside with Fischl, whose blush had only slightly retreated from their earlier engagement. Emmy thought that it was fading rather quickly when compared to previous times.

"Maybe she's gaining resistance to my teasing? That's kind of bad" Emmy said mumbling to herself.

"Speak of thou troubles and one would receive enlightenment, yes?" Fischl noticed her mumbling and questioned tilting her head.

"Ah, no I'm just thinking about where we were going to be eating and resting for the picnic you know? haha..."

"Hmm, so it would seem, our destination lies where one could capture the starlight upon the billowing waves and subdue the monsters of the deep in one swing, such is our Ort des Essens."

"So it's by the docks located at the eastern gate, I got it."

"Ugh! Once again thou have transcribed the sacred tongue of the immernachtreich, thou truly art the most loyal of servants."

Emmy didn't miss the hidden meaning of Fischl's words, in typical Fischl tongue servant meant just that but when with friends it meant "close person". Fischl saying that she was the most loyal was a play on words, meaning Emmy was her closest friend and the only one so far that bothered to play along with her.

"It is this one honor to be close to the Prinzessin, this one is amazed by the wisdom of our nation's princess." Emmy complimented her use of language and reassured her in one sentence.

"Hmpf! It is to be expected of I Fischl, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung, Uwahahah."

Emmy and Fischl continued to walk in silence after that as they slowly arrived at their destination, taking in the cool morning air of the small field located at the eastern gate. They both went to find a spot at the side under one of the many trees located there.

It was then that Emmy noticed the amount of load that Fischl was carrying. Immediately she grew disgruntled and confronted Fischl.

"Fischl~ why didn't you ask me for help, it looks so heavy but you didn't even think of asking me for help, so stubborn all the time I swear," Emmy lectured as she took away everything from Fischl's hands with seemingly no effort.

Fischl calmly accepted the lecture, she was used to Emmy doing this as she would, most of the time do the heavy lifting herself so most of her "friends" would think she was capable and she also liked to do things herself due to her upbringing. Still seeing her friend care so much about her filled her heart with warmth but she wouldn't say that out loud.

"Hmph! what does one need for assistance in such a trivial task, does one doubt the strength of the Prinzessin."

"Hmph! I don't but I do know that our Prinzessin doesn't seem to like help, so let's do it like this. Each time you don't ask for help I'll just 'kindly' take away that work from you okay, since your so stubborn."

"Ah! Y-you outrageous to deprive oneself is of work is a great crime in the immernachtreich."

"Then ask for help, this 'loyal' servant encourages her highness to request anything of me, there may be nothing I can't do... probably," Emmy said, ignoring Fischl's protest as she began to set up the picnic spot for the both of them, alone.

"Ah! So sneaky," Fischl, realizing such a fact immediately rushed to help, both of them holding the opposite side of a large cloth and placing it on the ground.

The pair then started to open the picnic basket, taking out drinks, cups, and other things inside the basket. Then they began to place them orderly on the cloth and sat down facing each other. There were sandwiches, a small pie, some pasta salad, and some sunsettia juice.

Emmy's eyes were sparkling, and drool pooled in her mouth as she ferociously looked at the sunsettia juice. She didn't want to wait but had to and that fact almost drove her crazy.

"Heh, so she had something like this, interesting," Emmy heard Fischl saying, a faint amount of mirth hidden in the depths of her voice.

Emmy's back instantly went cold and she could feel the heated gaze pointed at her. Emmy didn't want to look up, Fischl had found one of her weaknesses, her sunsettia addiction. It was a weakness that could allow Fischl to tease and counter-tease Emmy. Emmy could feel her days of teasing Fischl without consequence disappearing before her eyes and looked up to meet her gaze.

Her teasing expression filled Emmy with fear, it was too adorable. Emmy chuckled at herself for feeling fear from such a thing, she did indeed feel quite stupid. Fischl held her hand to her mouth, her mouth and eyes resembling that of a cat's, throwing Emmy for a loop.

How is that possible? Is Fischl some kind of cat?

"Ah, you saw that huh, merely a little blunder of mine no need to read into it too much," No matter what Emmy had to play it off, so she feigned indifference to not trigger a reaction from Fischl.

Emmy underestimated Fischl however as how could she, her best and only friend not see what she was trying to achieve? Fischl however was not Emmy, so she didn't take her teasing any further but that alone was enough to send Emmy into a blushing mess.

Fischl quickly cut down the sudden urge to tease the blushing girl, it wasn't often that Emmy blushed and gestured for them to eat.

"Ah! It appears to be time to dine unless servant Emmy needs some time to... cool off" In the end, Fischl couldn't fully resist the urge and succumbed to her desires taking a mild jab at Emmy.

She didn't know why but after spending time with Emmy, such a thing came so naturally. Emmy on the other hand saw a way out and quickly went to grab a plate and pile food onto it before digging in, hiding her still heated face from view.

Fischl giggled.

Emmy borrowed her head further down and questioned herself as to where Fischl gained such a skill. Then she realized that it most likely came from her teasing Fischl too much, it was her fault. Emmy groaned.

After that little episode, Fischl also got herself something to eat before they descended into silence with only the sound of their eating and nature accompanying them. Emmy slowed down her eating and began tasting the food instead of just swallowing it. It tasted extremely delicious and was well made.

'Fischl made this? She's amazing,' Emmy thought as she continued to stuff her face with food in a controlled manner while glancing at Fischl from time to time.

If you asked her, Emmy wouldn't know why anyone would reject being Fischl's friend. She is cute, funny, and a great conversation partner not to mention a fabulous cook. Emmy could go on about her good points and couldn't see the effect her bad points had on those. The negatives couldn't even touch the positives shoes and yet so many rejected her because of them.

They were probably too dumb to realize what a great person she was. A pity, they were seriously missing out. It was probably not only her weird tendencies that drove them toward avoiding her but maybe because she was too smart and her words confused them.

Fischl's intelligence was unusual for a child her age and Emmy was right up there with her, so it wouldn't surprise her if some felt inferior and isolated her because of it. Children were cruel both in fiction and reality, and Emmy was acutely aware of such a fact.

'Heh, their loss and my opportunity,' Emmy was thankful to the many idiots that rejected Fischl somewhat, as they were able to befriend each other rather easily because of them, suffering had its perks at times.

"Um, Emmy you're... staring," Fischl said shifting in place, Emmy was staring at her too intensely and so she spoke up.

"Ah, sorry I was thinking about how good of a friend you are," Emmy said, revealing her true thoughts out loud.

"..." Fischl immediately grew a bit bashful but she was also happy to hear that she was a good friend, a tender smile surfaced on her face.

Emmy realizing what she said also felt heat rise to her cheeks and wanted to take back the statement to save herself from embarrassment, but seeing the smile on Fischl's face made her feel like all the embarrassment in the world wouldn't stop her from putting a smile on that face.

Anyway, who cares what other people think? To her, Fischl was more than a friend but more like one of the pillars of her world who, just her parents, allowed her to face the world bravely. Emmy was sure Fischl felt the same way.

"Hah~," Fischl yawned, placing her plate down on the clothe while rubbing her eyes.

Emmy also was feeling a bit sleepy, yawning after Fischl. They both began to clean up after themselves and placed the remainder of the food into the basket leaving only the blanket on the grass.

"So, we both agreed that we are sleeping on this thing?" Emmy asked, turning to look a Fischl who nodded at her.

"Okay!" Emmy lay down on the blanket as she slowly drifted off to sleep, barely registering the sensation of Fischl laying next to her. She leaned into the touch and went to sleep.

***

Chirp! Chirp!

Emmy awoke and took in her surroundings, confused as to where she was before realizing that she slept at the picnic spot with Fischl. She tried to get up but felt an extra weight on her chest, she looked to see what was on her chest and discovered that it was Fischl, drooling.

"Hehe... Friend Emmy," Fischl said, shuffling on Emmy's chest and coming closer to her neck.

Emmy felt the hot breath of her friend on her neck while looking at her adorable sleeping face and her heart felt like it went from being a block of ice into a puddle of water. Emmy gushed, looking intently at Fischl's drooling face trying to burn the image into her mind.

Ah, what to do, my chinubyou friend is too cute.

'I can use this to tease her, the time of my vengeance is nigh,' Emmy was dancing in her heart, for such a good thing to land in her lap at a time like this.

The 'pie from the sky' she used to read in those Liyue novels was indeed not lying to her, random opportunities were real. She once believed they were fake plots only to be found in fiction but experiencing it now made her rejoice.

Unfortunately, good things don't last long, it was evening and there was only so much Emmy could do to delay it, meaning nothing at all. Reluctantly, Emmy moved to wake Fischl up as gently as possible, trying to prolong the moment.

"Ugh, hmm," Fischl gradually woke up and the first thing she saw was Emmy's teasing grin.

She got up immediately and wiped her face of any drool. Emmy also got up, content with the sight of Fischl's adorable display earlier, she chose to show her some mercy and not tease her. Emmy didn't speak of anything that happened while Fischl was asleep and Fischl didn't ask, they both chose to silently watch the sunset together.

Emmy watched the lake quietly before an idea struck her in the head. She got up walking toward the water as Fischl watched her, arriving at a small section of the lake she took off her shoes and started twirling in the water, holding up her dress.

"Hey, Fischl! wanna dance with me," Emmy asked, reaching her hand out with a smile on her face, which was enhanced by the glowing sun behind her back which framed her cute features perfectly.

Fischl giggled, getting up to run off to Emmy, taking off her shoes and grasping her hand. Thus the two girls started twirling in the water with Emmy showing Fischl some dance moves, and the other accepting them happily. They danced for a while before coming back to land and putting back their shoes.

"Hey, Amy won't you stay with me forever," Emmy said, giggling as she held her friend's hand, her grin looked like it would reach her ears.

"Mhmm!" Fischl nodded as she grasped Emmy's hand, softly smiling.

Thus the two girls made a promise, not understanding how it would affect their future together at all.