After saying those words, Miko's composure from a mont ago had completely evaporated.
Not that it really mattered, she supposed. The two of them were definitely chewing on the sa thing — neither had any standing to throw stones at the other.
Wait...
What if Kiana has never actually done that?
The thought hit her out of nowhere, and Miko imdiately felt her sense of moral high ground crumble beneath her feet.
Because if Kiana genuinely had no experience with that sort of thing, then her whole 'we're all the sa here' argunt fell completely apart. She couldn't exactly claim solidarity with soone who had nothing to be in solidarity about.
Not that any of this was really worth comparing in the first place — but she had been the one to throw the first jab, so.
"Well, obviously — I'm talking about eating that thing~"
Still holding Miko's gaze, Kiana drew out the words that thing into a long, deliberate, almost sing-song stretch.
"Alright, alright — Kiana, I was wrong, okay?"
Feeling the conversation sliding sowhere she didn't want it to go, Miko cut her losses and surrendered outright.
Besides, they were outside. If one of the shrine maidens happened to overhear any of this, that would be a disaster.
"Call big sister!" Kiana said imdiately, catching that Miko had dropped the honorific.
"Kiana-sis~"
With every appearance of perfect obedience, Miko imdiately complied.
"You know, Miko, your head is absolutely stuffed with naughty thoughts."
Stepping past Miko and walking on ahead, Kiana tossed the remark back at her without looking.
My head is stuffed with what, exactly?
Watching Kiana's retreating back, Miko found that a little hard to swallow.
Sure, she had taken one little dig at Kiana just now — but only one. How did that translate into her being so kind of hopeless degenerate?
i...
After a mont's thought, the image of i surfaced in her mind. It wasn't hard to see why — not long ago, the two of them had spent quite a bit of ti discussing those kinds of things together.
That little...
She actually told Kiana what I said...
Simring quietly with indignation, Miko made a ntal note that she was absolutely going to have a word with i about this next ti.
Still — even so, she wanted to ask Kiana directly why she'd said it. Whatever happened, she didn't want to go around misblaming i for sothing she might not have done.
"You had the nerve to take a jab at like that — right in front of those two gods, no less. If that's not a head full of naughty thoughts, what is?"
Kiana stopped walking, turned around, and looked back at Miko with an expression of perfect, unhurried calm as she said it.
She could guess what was going through Miko's head — that Acheron must have tipped her off about the kinds of things the two of them usually talked about. So she figured she'd better explain where her comnt had actually co from.
Oh... so that's it.
Miko smiled and replied: "Ah, co on, Kiana-sis — only the two of us could have possibly caught what I was implying. Those two definitely didn't pick up on it. Don't worry."
Those two definitely didn't pick up on it?
Hm... that was actually a fair point.
Kiana turned the reasoning over in her mind and found herself unexpectedly persuaded.
"I suppose you're right."
With a small nod, Kiana turned back around and continued walking.
As for where, exactly, she had no idea — she was just wandering. She'd seen Miko slip out and decided to follow, not wanting to intrude on the two sisters' conversation.
And as she walked ahead, the thought turning quietly in Miko's mind behind her was this:
I wonder if Kiana has ever done that kind of thing...
Should I just ask her?
With that thought firmly in mind, Miko gradually quickened her pace until she was walking shoulder to shoulder with Kiana.
"Where are you headed, Kiana-sis?"
She didn't lead with the question she actually wanted to ask — she eased in with this one first.
"Just wandering. Giving those two sisters a little space." Even with Acheron effectively still present nearby, Kiana felt it was different — a private mont was still a private mont.
Right...
What's going to happen with Makoto going forward?
The ntion of Ei and Makoto brought the question rushing back. Because right now, Makoto was still depending on i's body as a vessel. If i eventually left Inazuma, what then? Would Makoto have to go with her?
"Kiana.."
"Call big sister." Miko had barely gotten the na out before Kiana cut her off.
"Okay, okay — Kiana-sis — I hadn't even finished saying it before you interrupted ," Miko said with a trace of exasperation, then continued: "I just wanted to ask about Makoto."
"You're asking what's going to happen to her going forward?"
Kiana glanced over at Miko, already having a good idea where the question was going.
"Yeah. Right now Makoto can only exist through i's body. If i eventually leaves..."
"Don't worry about that. The whole reason that scene just happened was specifically to address this problem." Since the revelation had been made precisely in order to lay the groundwork for resolving Makoto's situation, Kiana reassured her.
"Ah, I see. In that case, I'll leave it to you and i-sis, then."
Miko let out a quiet breath of relief. If they'd already thought it through, she didn't need to lose any sleep over it.
After that, the two of them made their way down the mountain path, and Miko — drifting along at Kiana's side — kept glancing furtively left and right, as though casing the place for sothing.
"Why are you looking around like that? You look like you're about to steal sothing," Kiana remarked, watching Miko's shifty behavior with barely contained amusent.
"This is my territory — who exactly would I be stealing from?"
Miko hadn't expected to be compared to a petty thief. She imdiately pushed back.
"Your territory? Shouldn't this belong to the Raiden Shogun?" Kiana was clearly unconvinced. As far as she was concerned, this was the Raiden Shogun's domain — and Miko was, at best, a little fox standing guard at the gate.
"Her territory is Tenshukaku," Miko replied without missing a beat, then added: "Anyway. There's sothing I want to ask."
"What is it?" Kiana turned her head, curious.
Miko had been glancing around so deliberately — it was obvious she was working up to saying sothing important.
Wait...
Is it going to be that kind of question?
"Have you ever eaten it, Kiana-sis?" Miko finished with a bright, expectant smile — watching Kiana's face like she was waiting to see a firework go off.
Called it.
Kiana had guessed correctly.
"And what — you're going to tell it's the sa one?"
She still rembered, with perfect clarity, that absolutely unhinged thing Miko had said earlier.
Miko: "..."
She went still for a mont. She hadn't expected Kiana to already know about that. The embarrassnt hit her almost imdiately.
"How did you—"
"How could I possibly say sothing like that?" Kiana watched the mortification play out on Miko's face and answered before she could finish. "Because it's exactly the kind of thing I'd say."
[Reaction image: Kiana looking unbothered.]
____
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