Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 116 Shadow and Mei

Kiana hasn't seen Mei in a long time since the Eye Hunt ended.

The reason, as soon as General Raiden revoked the Eye Hunt Order, was that he invited Mei to the castle tower. Even though he knew Mei wasn't real, Kage stubbornly tried to find that familiar feeling in her. This not only displeased General Raiden, but also Kiana, who hadn't eaten Mei's food for seven days, three hours, thirty minutes, and five seconds.

On the contrary, Shadow gets to enjoy the desserts made by Mei every day. Of course, Shadow knows that clinging to Mei all the time is really decadent. She has even thought about starting to think about the way to eternity the next day, but...

Ying stared at the tricolor dumpling in her hand, lost in thought. After repeatedly assuring General Leidian, Ying picked up the dessert on the table and began to enjoy it.

In contrast to Ying's enjoyment, Kiana was sitting in the wooden tea room with a low mood. In the past few days, apart from not being able to eat Mei's cooking, Kiana had not been idle. She was constantly connecting with the Imaginary Tree, hoping to find her other long-lost companions.

No matter how hard Kiana tried, she could only find information about Teyvat on the Imaginary Tree. Even the world she had visited, the Star Railway, couldn't connect to their original world. Kiana searched through all the information about Teyvat on the Imaginary Tree, but still couldn't find the captain's information, nor could she find information about the Herrscher of Knowledge.

Bronya, standing to the side, sighed as she looked at Kiana, who was filled with resentment. She knew how much pressure Kiana was under right now, but to be honest, half of that pressure was the result of her own internal struggles.

"Kiana, I know you're anxious because you can't find the captain, and you haven't had Mei's meal yet. But you know Mei has a soft heart. If you're willing to go to the castle tower and tell Mei in person that you want her cooking, Mei will definitely make it for you!"

"But Mei is at a critical time right now. We still need Mei to persuade Raiden General to lift the lockdown order. It would be too much of a problem for me to go and disturb them!"

"But that has nothing to do with you wanting to eat Mei's food, right? You just want to eat a meal cooked by Mei. What does it matter where you eat it or who you eat it with?"

"Yes!"

Kiana finally realized what was happening and revealed an innocent expression untainted by knowledge, happily bidding farewell to Bronya.

"Thank you for reminding me. I'll continue looking for my captain, uh... no, I mean the captain and the others, once I get back!"

Bronya watched Kiana gradually return to the way she knew her, and for a moment she didn't know whether to feel relieved or exhausted. Right now, all she wanted was for the captain to come back quickly. If things continued like this, she felt that Kiana would really become more and more neurotic.

Upon arriving at the castle tower, Kiana learned that no one was allowed to enter without the Thunder General's permission, and left dejectedly. Then she thought, since the guards at the gate wouldn't let her in, she didn't need to follow the rules; she could just sneak in!

After finding a secluded corner, Kiana closed her eyes to pinpoint Mei's exact location, and then used a portal to enter the castle tower.

"Mei, Mei, I've come to see you! And, and I haven't had your cooking in so long, could you...?"

Kiana was stunned by what she saw. Mei was in a courtyard, sunlight filtering through the trees and falling on the ground. Mei was sitting on the veranda facing the courtyard, while Kage was lying on Mei's lap, enjoying a lap pillow. Not only that, Mei was also gently cleaning Kage's ears with an ear pick.

Realizing it was Kiana's voice, Mei looked up at Kiana, who was standing there stunned. The dappled sunlight shone on Mei, as if she were dressed in a garment of light.

"Sorry, I think I've arrived at the wrong time."

Coming to her senses, Kiana turned to look at the pond in the courtyard, her tone revealing a hint of embarrassment.

"Hehe, there's no such thing as bad timing. I've just finished cleaning Ying's ears. How about you come too?"

Mei smiled and invited Kiana to join her. Kiana naturally accepted Mei's invitation and lay down on Mei's other side without hesitation.

Mei looked at the energetic Kiana in front of her and smiled indulgently, then picked up the ear pick in her hand again and began to clean Kiana's ears.

On the other side, Kage looked at Kiana with some resentment, but considering that if he lashed out, Mei might hate him, he had no choice but to sullenly eat the tricolor dumplings placed to the side.

After a long while, Mei, who had finished cleaning Kiana's ears, patted the floor to indicate that Kiana could get up.

Perhaps because of the immense pressure she had been under these past few days, or perhaps because Mei's ear-cleaning was truly soothing, Kiana fell asleep with her head on Mei's lap.

Seeing that Kiana was already asleep, Mei simply gave up on the idea of ​​waking Kiana up and let Kiana sleep with her head on her lap.

Then Mei turned to look at Kage beside her, and for some reason, she sensed a hint of resentment on Kage's expressionless face. But business was more important, so Mei shook her head to clear her mind and began her countless attempts at persuasion.

"Speaking of which, Shadow, aren't you really going to start thinking about a way out for [Eternity]? The General must be quite dissatisfied with you by now, right?"

“Indeed.” Ying swallowed the dumpling in her mouth, stuck out her tongue and licked her fingers. “These past few days, the general’s resistance has been exceptionally strong, even affecting my ability to use this body normally. However, after thinking about it for the past few days, I have some ideas, but I don’t have a specific plan yet.”

"Is your body... alright?" Mei asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, there's no problem at all," Ying reassured her. "In the end, the general is just expressing her dissatisfaction with my using her body every day. It's still a long way off, and I'll return the body to the general in a while. Besides, I've been handling things properly these past few days. After I disabled some of the general's functions, she made some mistakes in handling daily official duties. I'll have to fix her in the meantime."

"I see..." Mei was relieved after hearing Ying's explanation, but then asked, "What was it back then?"

"It's nothing," Ying Yao said, shaking her head. "More than that, I'm curious about your story with Kiana and the others. Could you tell me about it?"

"That's not impossible, if you'd like to hear it..."

Mei then slowly began to recount her encounter with Kiana and their subsequent experiences.

Whenever Mei mentions the Captain, Kage always senses a strange emotion in her voice, an emotion she'd heard Fox Spirit Summoner describe—love, that's the name of that emotion. But shouldn't the Captain be Kiana's lover? Why is Mei also…?

With these questions in mind, Ying spoke up, but was met with Mei's complicated expression and bitter words.

"Shadow, you would never understand the feelings between me, Kiana, and the Captain."

Even if Ying was slow to realize it, she knew she had said the wrong thing, and an awkward atmosphere spread between the two of them.

The silence was broken by Kiana's soft moan as she awoke.