There were too many flags

"Ei, you need to tell Kenshin" Yae firmly said.

"I-I'm Makoto" a nervous voice came from the inside of the closed room.

"I don't care, this affects the both of you" Yae sternly said, but hearing no answer she came inside.

"Y-You didn't knock!" a scared Ei spoke.

"I would normally enjoy that look on your face, but I have already waited enough" Yae sat in front of the nervous Makoto, who Ei pushed 'outside'. "You need to tell Kenshin, it's his right".

"...." Makoto didn't answer, and patted her belly.

"How did this happen anyway?" asked Yae with a tense expression. "I thought you were taking care of it. I know for a fact that Kenshin tried to use condoms, but you refused".

"Well, Ei and I had the puppet...." Makoto spoke putting her index fingers together.

"That can't be all, you have had a perfect copy of your original body for a year and a half" Yae shot down her excuse.

"And it felt good without one...." Makoto tried again.

"Ei, being the dunderhead she is may have missed it, but you are more responsible than that" Yae repeated. "You 2-...3, have been having sex twice a week since Kenshin had 18, that makes a few months now. Didn't you think it wouldn't happen at some point?"

Makoto sighed and gave up.

On explaining Yae, that is.

"Wha-" Ei suddenly found herself looking at a frowning Yae, and tried to switch back, but Makoto had used that 'feint' about giving up to push Ei outside, and she wasn't going to relinquish her place inside anytime soon.

"Ei, this is serious" Yae insisted. "Stop dodging a problem that is not going to go away and talk to me. I'm your friend, and I am here to support you. If you can't talk to me, who are you going to talk to?"

"...." Ei felt silent, but she didn't know how to start. It was a very complex and problematic thing she didn't know how to face.

"What do you say about this. I ask you and you reply, when you feel you want to say something, you say it. It doesn't matter how stupid or unimportant you think it is, you say it and I will listen and advise you" Yae scouted near Ei and softly said.

"Hmm" Ei nodded gratefully, her hand still gently caressing her belly.

"How did this happen?" Yae asked, but seeing Ei's grimace she continued. "I don't think you wanted to get pregnant, was it an accident?"

"Yes" Ei replied, and she saw a chance to get something off her shoulders. "I didn't think much of having unprotected sex, but Makoto told me that it was probably safe as Gods had a very low chance of having a child with a human, so we thought it was probably safe".

"Makoto, come ou-. Just let's go into the Plane of Euthymia" Yae realized that this was a conversation Makoto also needed to be in. 

Ei nodded, and the 3 of them were seated next to each other, the puppet's body on the outside.

"Makoto, why did you think that?" Yae asked with a resigned shake of her head.

"I'm not stupid, I know Kenshin is not a normal human" spoke Makoto with a frown. "But the problem is the God. Our souls are too strong so having a baby is too hard, and I knew a few gods millennia old who weren't able to have one child even after thousands of years. I didn't expect to get pre-pre---have a child in half a year".

"Do you know Guizhong is pregnant too?" asked Yae with an exasperated sigh.

"Yes, she sent a letter" Makoto nodded, but Ei was surprised. She knew Guizhong was living with Morax, didn't that mean that the old dragon was going to be a parent at his age?

'....' wasn't she in the same position?

"And what do you have in common?" asked Yae with a leading gesture.

"We were both- oh" Makoto's eyes were wide open, a gesture Ei quickly mirrored, followed by mortification.

"Yes, your souls were touched by Kenshin" Yae nodded. "I think his soul ade yours more....malleable, especially yours. Kenshin gave me a brief explanation of what happened"

Ei shivered in fear remembering those 'somethings', even after years she couldn't get rid of the instinctual fear those things brought her. Seeing her shivers, Yae couldn't help but gulp, but she continued.

"And from what he told me, your soul was.....well, I can't think of a way to put it lightly. It was a mess, he basically glued you together. Don't you think that may have affected it?"

"Maybe" Makoto sounded a bit unsure now. "But what about Ei's? We shouldn't have gotten pr-preg- have a child as our souls are way stronger than even Guizhong's, and Ei's soul is even more sturdy after all her stupid meditation".

"It's no-"

"Ei, focus" Yae interrupted Ei, and sternly spoke. "I am not an expert on souls, but Kenshin has been using his soul energy all over this Plane almost every day for 2 years, maybe some got absorbed, or Ei's soul also got affected, I don't know".

Ei looked down, feeling conflicted about the whole thing.

"But it doesn't matter how" Yae said with a serious face. "You should have known better Makoto. Ei is too dependent on you, and just like during the Archon War, she lets you decide everything. You had unprotected sex for months, you should have prevented it, or at least spoken to me. I'm not as strong as you 2, but I'm more knowledgeable about these things".

"Sorry" Makoto apologized with a lowered head, her hands nervously gripping the hem of her pink kimono.

"I'm not scolding you....well, maybe a bit" Yae admitted. "But we should focus on the problem. How do you feel about being a mother?"

"A m-mother?" Makoto asked with anxiousness etched on her face.

"Well, what do you want to do?" asked Yae calmly, knowing that the sisters were trying to avoid thinking about it. "Kenshin can prob-"

"No!" Makoto spoke with a frown. "I don't want anybody to do anything".

"As if Kenshin would do something" scoffed Yae. "But isn't that your answer? And you Ei, what are you thinking about? You have been quiet the whole time".

"I don't think I'm ready" admitted Ei, still looking down. "I recovered Makoto a few years ago, and I enjoy battling and training. I don't think I could be a good mother to a baby".

"I am not going to enter there, Kenshin will spank those ideas out of you" said Yae, taking Ei's hand in hers. "But you are not alone Ei, and Makoto isn't going to leave anytime soon".

"W-What should I do?" asked Ei with a teary gaze, looking directly at Yae's eyes.

"For now, tell Kenshin" Yae firmly said, making Makoto and Ei grimace. "I read the book he wrote, the same that is going to cause us a lot of trouble in the future, and I saw Kenshin's Plane"

"He has a Plane?" asked a shocked Makoto. "Why didn't he tell us about it?"

"He wanted it to be a surprise, but now is not the moment. He wanted to have a picnic date with you there and a fight with Ei. I've seen it, and it's wonderful" admitted Yae, making Makoto and Ei look down, touched about the 'surprise'. "But what I can tell you is that there were some orbs representing our souls. Yours, mine, Sara's and even the Fatui girl".

"....." Makoto's alarmed face told Yae that she understood where she was going with this. "The baby's soul..."

"Oh" it was Ei's turn to be alarmed.

"Yes, probably a new orb will appear" Yae nodded, confirming their theory. "I don't know when, but it's going to appear. Don't you think it is going to be better if you are the one to tell him? He will be hurt if he has to find out by accident".

"I-" Makoto didn't know what to think.

"I will do it" Ei said with a firm expression.

"Hmm" Yae nodded proudly of her friend's courage. "I know this is a difficult situation for you 2, but we are all together in this. We can even go and meet with Guizhong, she probably knows more about these kinds of things".

"Yes" Ei nodded and stood up surprising the other 2.

"Where are you going?" asked Makoto, confused about her twin's sudden actions.

"To Liyue" Ei said, and suddenly Yae found herself outside the Plane, while Makoto found herself alone in the Plane. "The first one to move in a war has the advantage. And this is something we should tell Kenshin in person and not through a letter".

"What about Inazuma?" asked Yae, but it was only a formality, she cared more about her family at this point than about Inazuma.

"Inazuma doesn't matter now" Ei's cold words made Yae and Makoto's eyebrows raise in surprise. "My child is more important".

And this sentence was what made Makoto realize that she was, indeed, waiting for a child.

"Okay, I will send a member of the Shuumatsuban to tell the Kamisato kid to keep things in order" Yae said, and a shadow left to carry out her orders.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They boarded a ship, that under the God of Eternity's commands quickly left the port towards Liyue's Harbor.

"Still, to think my stubborn friend is going to be a mother..." Yae muttered with a teasing smile. "Was the sex that good?"

"Yes" Ei, being the direct person she was, unashamedly answered. "It was great".

"Really?" now Yae was curious. She knew they were going to do it relatively soon as Kenshin was going to stay in Mondstadt for a while, but she was interested in Ei's experience nonetheless.

"E-Ei, don't say anything about it" Makoto embarrassedly said within the Plane, but right now Ei felt Yae had a better head on her shoulders than Makoto. It was thanks to Yae that she took the step forward she needed.

"Yes, he never fails to satisfy both of us" Ei nodded with a serious face.

"B-Both?" Yae asked with raised eyebrows. "You mean, at the same time?"

"What are you talking about?" said Ei with a frown and a disgusted face. "Makoto is my sister".

"Cough, yes, of course" Yae had to admit that she had read too many novels. "Of course you woul-...wait a minute. Doesn't that mean tha-"

"Please Yae" Makoto came up and stopped Yae's words. "Ei and I are trying very hard to ignore the obvious...complications our relationship has. If you lay them out like that we are going to have an awkward time next time".

"Next time?" Yae asked with a teasing smile, making Makoto cover her mouth. "You are thinking about the next time already?"

"L-Look, we are getting closer to the Harbor" Makoto nervously said pointing in Liyue's direction.

"No we aren't" Yae deadpanned. "We still have an hour of travel ahead".

"...." Makoto whimpered.