Seeing Lu Chen staring straight at her and refusing to let her leave, Miko pressed a hand to her forehead and put on a pained expression.
"You have so many things to deal with, and yet you're blocking me here... Why are you saying all this nonsense?"
"Honestly..."
"You're insufferable."
Lu Chen's smile only grew brighter. "I've always been insufferable. It's not like this is your first day meeting me."
With that, he leaned against the doorway, deliberately blocking her way back, smiling at her with stubborn determination.
Miko could only sigh helplessly.
She sat down on a chair on the balcony, deliberately avoiding his burning gaze—it made her heart race. If she looked at him for too long, she might end up blurting out something ridiculous.
Lu Chen looked at her with a helpless smile, as though watching a little fox curl itself up tightly, unwilling to show her fragility. He sat down beside her.
The cool sea breeze swept across the balcony, rustling the withered plants in the garden below.
Downstairs, the others were still rowdy, their voices loud and playful—probably fighting over control of the computer. Miko even heard Venti's triumphant laughter drifting up.
This night by the sea was anything but quiet or romantic. It was loud, chaotic.
And yet, Miko found herself smiling. The noise reminded her of the old days, beneath the cherry blossom tree in Inazuma.
Back then, the courtyard had been just as lively, just as full of joy and laughter.
To outsiders, "Lady Yae" might have seemed cold, untouchable, and unwilling to show her emotions. But only she knew how much she loved the bustle.
Every festival at the Grand Narukami Shrine, she would sneak out just to lose herself in the crowd, to soak in the crush of humanity and the clamor of voices.
But no matter how lively the shrine became, she could never recapture that feeling. The days beneath the cherry blossom tree were gone forever.
There were no more tournaments where warriors vied for honor, no more impromptu jokes that had everyone laughing, no more dazzling spreads of sweets...
Because he was gone.
And so, she numbed herself—handling the endless duties she didn't care for, burying those memories deep inside. Because only Ei remained... and all she wished was for Ei to live out her dream of "eternity" without worries, free of burdens.
Her thoughts wandered back to the day of the convention, when that annoying man appeared before her once again...
What had she felt then?
Was it the joy of reunion? The thrill of something once lost, suddenly returned?
She no longer knew. She only remembered that her smile had been impossibly bright that day—so bright it was hard to describe.
He was alive. And the happiness of the past had returned with him.
...
"My wish..."
Miko finally met his burning gaze.
"Was simply that you would always stay by my side."
"That's it?" Lu Chen asked.
"Hey!" Miko pouted. "Do you even know what that means? Do you know how long 'always' is?"
"How long?"
"'Always' means forever. A very long time. Until the seas run dry, until the very day the world itself ceases to exist..."
As she spoke, crimson bloomed across her cheeks again. Her heart thudded wildly, and she quickly averted her eyes.
What am I saying... This is so embarrassingly corny...
Ahhh! I'm going to die!
He's definitely going to laugh at me! I'm supposed to be the great Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine!
She was grateful for the cover of night—at least he couldn't see her expression clearly.
But what she didn't realize was that Lu Chen's expression wasn't much steadier than hers.
Her words stirred something indescribable inside him, a warmth spreading through his chest.
His heart raced like it hadn't since his youth, when nervousness came easy. He'd been waiting for her answer, and when she said "forever," visions of time passing like tides flashed before his eyes.
Suppressing the excitement bubbling in his chest, he looked at her again.
"I promise."
"R-really?"
Miko finally turned back to him, her fair face red as a ripe tomato.
"Really." Lu Chen nodded solemnly, then let a teasing smile creep across his lips.
"So... does that mean you're confessing to me, Miko?"
"Hey! Lu Chen!" His eyes widened, and as a flash of violet light burst forth, Miko vanished on the spot.
In the air, aside from the cool sea breeze, only her embarrassed voice lingered.
"No way!"
"Hmph! I'm going to play games with the others. You stay here and enjoy your sea breeze! Freeze for all I care!"
Lu Chen could only shake his head with a laugh.
"Hah... what a tsundere..."
...
Life soon returned to its hectic rhythm of preparations. Lu Chen kept a close eye on the players' reactions to Genshin Impact's release.
The praise was expected. What he cared about most were the players' impressions of the climactic "Abyss War."
On the forums, many hardcore players and strategy groups had already played through to the newest storyline, pulling all-nighters. Since Lu Chen's goal was to gather "wish power," the game generously released the entire main story at once—no drip-fed updates, no agonizing waits between patches.
Unlike the original story, as players guided the Traveler across Teyvat, the dark future of the Abyss invasion was gradually revealed. Every effort the player made served to prepare for that final battle.
Everything was tuned to serve the narrative. Lu Chen had even had Cai Haoyu overhaul the grind-heavy systems—adjusting wish rates, artifact stats, and collectible drop rates. The result was a game so fair it was almost unbelievable.
"Holy crap, is this really a free game I can play?"
"This game's massive... and it's nothing like the gacha grind I expected. Don't tell me Cai Haoyu's got a terminal illness and is trying to rack up karma by doing charity?"
"Your imagination's wild..."
"Anyway, has anyone hit the latest storyline yet? I've been up three days straight."
"Yeah, check the pinned thread—some guy named Awei already made it to the Abyss War!"
"No way! Does he not eat or sleep?"
"Abyss War? End of the world? Why'd the story just stop there... When's the next update?"
"Wait, did you notice? Chen's other novels in the 'Teyvat Universe' also stop at this point..."
"In Liyue, the Geo Archon is preparing for battle. In Inazuma, the protagonists are preparing too... Even Teyvat: A Youth Romance Story is heading into a decisive fight against evil..."
"No one's going to die, right? I've already suffered Chen's knives once. I don't want another!!"
"Relax, it's the standard setup. Of course justice will win in the end. It's a 12+ game."
"Hope you're right..."
"+1."
"+1."
Reading the heated discussions, Lu Chen smiled and left a reply of his own.
"+1."