"So will you do it?"
"...what?"
Setting new sets of cups on the counter, Isaac looked aback at Yae Miko, who was eating her tiramisu.
The pink kitsune lady scoffed before placing down her fork on her plate. "Don't take for a dense person now, Isaac. I would have been blind to not notice."
"..." Isaac remained silent for a few monts before shrugging slightly, as if the question was just as ordinary as any other. "I will."
When she received her answer, Yae Miko also didn't seem to react to it that much either. Instead, it seed more like a faint worry appeared on her face for a split second before being blotted out by a curious hum.
"Is that so?" She said slowly. "And you think you alone are enough for that little plan of yours?"
"Surely I don't need to remind you that the Iudex of Fontaine is..."
She didn't continue.
And Isaac rely listened along, occasionally nodding.
"Don't worry, I'm not that tired of life." He glared at her from the side of his eye, his warm amber eyes softening as he smirked faintly. "Worst case scenario is that... Well, I won't lose too much, just myself."
- Tak.
A sudden thud echoed, originating from the kitsune who had just been mundanely eating her food not too long ago.
Her eyes then narrowed down to him, her silence more overbearing than any words she could have possibly spewed by now after hearing his baffling words.
As for Isaac, he rely continued prepping the cups, as if his very own words mattered little to him, trying to not make eye contact.
After a few monts of heavy atmosphere, the silence was broken by Yae Miko.
"...let help."
"No chance."
He shook his head, a coarse laugh escaping his lips.
"This is my own battle, Miko. Please, understand."
He paused, then continued. "And don't tell the kids. They... I'll tell them when the ti is right."
"You know that this is all completely avoidable, yes?" She retorted. "Just stop and don't do anything. Stay here... at your café."
"Or is it that your love for her is stronger than your own self-preservation?"
He didn't reply back.
Her words pierced through him like a sharp arrow, shattering his façade for a brief mont, and letting his vulnerable thoughts slip his mind.
Thoughts like, 'What if she's right?'
But he retained them. He could never let those thoughts run free in his mind, potentially obstructing his goals.
But, deep down, what she said was true. And he couldn't just brush that off like that.
Everything he was doing was to prevent Furina and Focalors' tragedies, and the entirety of the catastrophe that would befall Fontaine.
Was it selfish of him? Of course it was.
At the start, he feared straying off the future events he knew. But as ti went on, as he grew closer to these people, he could no longer let the inevitable co to pass.
This was his whole, foolish, grand plan.
Simple, crude, and utterly selfish to the very end.
But it was necessary. He had grown to love this new life of his, and he didn't want anything bad to happen to those around him.
Even if it ant going against destined events.
"...I'm sorry."
He whispered under his breath, turning to her once more, his languid expression teetering between sadness and atonent.
Silence once more descended between them, letting their unspoken thoughts wander and intertwine, only to inevitably diverge.
Yae Miko, still maintaining her image of herself, suddenly bit her lower lip.
"You're being quite selfish right now, you know?"
"I'm sorry."
"What about us? The café? What if your plan fails? Then what would happen? I..."
For a mont, the dignified image of the Head Priestess of the Narukami Shrine shattered, no longer showing that haughty attitude of hers, but was instead replaced by a sowhat supercilious tone, as if reprimanding him.
Indeed, she had grown too attached to this safe haven. One where continuous entertainnt and interesting events always occur, and where she would brush off her boredom back at her shrine.
And the thought of it suddenly disappearing overnight, because the person she cared about loved another person enough to gamble his life for, shook her.
And Isaac, perceptive of distress, also knew. He already knew that this would happen, and he couldn't avoid it.
"Don't worry, Miko." He softly spoke, as if comforting her. "I will never go. This café... This community I've built with you all... It's as important to as it is to you all. I would never endanger it."
He then winked in his left eye.
"Promise."
Looking at him, and that sa expression he always wore almost all of the ti, she didn't say anything else.
And so, without uttering another word, she returned to eating her tiramisu in silence.
Isaac didn't know what she was possibly thinking right now, but he was certain that it wasn't anything nice or accepting for him.
After so ti passed, she stood up.
"I'll respect your choices." She said as she walked towards the door. Stopping before the threshold, she continued speaking without looking back. "But do know that I won't be the only one opposing this."
Isaac humd.
"I'm grateful."
Without saying anything else, Yae Miko stepped through the door, her form vanishing, before completely disappearing and returning to Inazuma.
And left alone in his café, in the middle of the day with little to no custors, Isaac continued to wear his façade.
His smile no longer warm, he humd a soft tune under his breath followed by a song that ca out as faint mumbles.
"It's alright,"
"Mou man tai..."
"It is ti,"
"Such is life..."
His tone was somber, as if the song he was singing was an apology in and of itself, heard by none, and accepted by none.
"Lalulula lalulula hun..."
While he was in the middle of his quiet hums and occasional mumbles, the system's window interface suddenly appeared in front of him.
[A new quest has been issued.]
"...?"
Caught off guard by the sudden new quest, Isaac halted his humming and interacted with the interface.
The system window unfurled before his eyes, its pale glow demanding his attention.
[Quest: No Hero Should Ever Wander Alone]
[Description: Will you sacrifice your serenity for the sake of others? Or steal theirs to preserve your own? This dilemma gnaws at your mind, spilling into those around you. Your resolve is firm, but your heart is fragile. Sooner or later, it will collapse inward, dragging you and everyone else with it.]
[Objective: Discover the nature of true resolve. Seek soone whose heart is unshaken in purpose.]
[Gift: Nod-Krai Travel Ticket (Temporary)]
[Reward: None]
"…What?"
Isaac blinked at the prompt, sowhat baffled. He didn't expect the system to suddenly issue such an odd quest right now, when he was at the precipice of his determination.
...no. Perhaps the system also knew that this was what he needed.
One of his system's functions were, after all, to also preserve his own peace.
Leaning back at the counter, his hands holding on to the edge, his mind swirled with many thoughts.
"Is this also what I want...?"
He could never be sure.
And the fact that the system never promised any rewards for this only made that speculation stronger.
Having thought of this, his gaze dozed off into the ceiling.
"But who exactly am I supposed to et that would teach what true resolve is like?"
"And in Nod-Krai, at that...?"
---
In the moon-blessed land located in the northwestern regions of Teyvat, in the southernmost part of Snezhnaya, Nod-Krai stood as an autonomous region teeming with diverse culture and history tied deeply with ancient forces.
And in a particular area where many people were wearing fur coated uniforms to protect them from the cold, one man stood clad in black.
With a trained swift precision, the man plunged his sharp dark gauntlet into the depths of a monster's body, dismbering it from within, as if it was just another day of work for him, his black hair swaying in the frigid frosty wind.
Indeed, he was different from the others here.
Here, his re presence demanded respect, awe, and reverence from those around him.
"Clear out the area."
His face obscured behind his helt, his voice leaked out, strong and commanding.
Like a Captain.
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