Teyvat: Pretender

Tenshukaku.

Gaze directed at Kujou State as if she could see through walls

Staring at our peace-loving crow.

She's been closely watching this General of hers.

'There it is again,' She thought. 'Her mind... slipping.'

Without warning, she leapt toward Kujou State, her body moving with the grace of a shadow, ignoring the few guards stationed around the perimeter--though there were hardly any to begin with.

As she descended, her voice rang out, commanding and resolute. "Do not let anyone follow me."

The three soldiers exchanged uneasy glances after receiving the Shogun's orders.

"...Is this... really okay?" one of them asked, his voice laced with uncertainty.

"Dude..." The second soldier gave him a look, his tone incredulous. "That's the Shogun. The Electro Archon. What do you mean, 'Is it really okay?'"

The first soldier shifted uncomfortably. "I'm just saying... this feels important. At least give Takayuki-sama a heads-up."

The third soldier, who had been quiet until now, nodded slowly. "Yeah, we should. Better safe than sorry."

The other two exchanged a quick look before they all silently agreed.

Two days is all she needs to find out what's the General hiding from her.

Her subordinate is changing.

Subtle, but she's indeed changing.

The General of the Tenryou Commission is by no means, a fool.

She's a strong figure with a strong mind.

A person of admiration.

The fact that something could make her hide something from her object of worship and influence her behavior is in itself, a feat.

While Sara's loyalty remained steadfast and nothing seemed to directly conflict with her desires, something felt off. What seemed to be the problem? It wasn't Kujou Sara; the problem lay with the one causing these changes.

However, was it really that hard to figure out?

Is this the extent of her abilities in those two days?

No, she's trying to find a way to get to the one behind these changes, she's built for this kind of stuff, after all. She will handle everything, only bringing forth its mothe--No, the one within--if the matter is beyond her capabilities, or at the request of the Electro Archon.

Finally, inside the General's room, she looked down at the sleeping Tengu.

The Shogun ignored the five figurines of herself, placed around the head of the Tengu General.

---

Meanwhile, Inside a certain space. [1]

"Ulterior motives?"

"Mhm" She nodded.

"This is exhausting, nothing seems to get through your skull..." He sighed and thought; 'I guess the Traveler must've Jesus-level charisma... No matter, I just have to stall... Make Sara leave on her own.'

As an Esper from his previous life (delusional), he was gifted with Enhanced Intuition. [2]

His Intuition skill from his previous life never failed him.

Well, it had, but it wasn't because the ability didn't work, It was simply that the ability couldn't convey its message unless it was right in front of his eyes.

He has to see the situation.

He is required to master cause and effect to understand what the ability was trying to tell him.

Not only that, but he needed the full context of everything--even without someone informing him.

Well, even without the ability, he still had to be observant to dodge problems and understand what caused them to keep his peace of mind.

Being in the know can unsurprisingly make paranoid people have some peace, y'know.

Now, that very ability--too weak to be considered a skill--was warning him of something.

And he knew exactly what it was.

"Blue."

"..." She glanced at the blue card on the table, then back to the cards in her hand as she silently drew another. "Then let me ask differently."

"What's your goal." She stared at his face, unable to see his eyes clearly due to the reflection on his glasses.

'He's treating this like a day-to-day conversation... Not taking this seriously at all.' She bit her lips, her brows almost having a meeting. 'He's doing this on purpose, isn't he?'

---

The Shogun touches the peacefully sleeping winged woman's forehead.

Her eyes then glowed, becoming seemingly more alive.

The one within had now fully committed herself.

---

"Still, seems like trust issues to me."

"No, It is not. I started to become emotionally distant when you awakened."

"Why are you blaming me for your period? Do Tengu even experience periods??" Dantalion placed a Draw 10 card, followed by another Plus 10, a red Plus 4, a green Plus 4, a yellow Plus 4, a blue Plus 4, a Reverse, and two Skip cards. "Uno."

"..." Ignoring what he said, Sara stared at the cards speechlessly 'What the fuc--Is that allowed-' Shaking her head, she heard Dantalion's voice again;

"I might know the reason." He paused, waiting for her to look at him.

"..."

"..."

She didn't look. Instead, she continued stacking the Uno cards on the table, building a small pyramid.

Ten seconds passed.

Dantalion sighed, exasperation in his voice. "You're supposed to look at me after I said that, then… ask me about it. Why won't you just follow the script?" His voice, sounding like that of a disappointed grandpa. "Is it too much to ask for, little Sara?" Literally.

'It'll be something stupid, I can feel it.' Is what she's thinking. She could sense his eyes on her, waiting.

With a deep sigh and visible reluctance, she decided to get it over with--Her expression quickly morphed into one of utter disgust.

What she saw at after finally looking at him was indeed stupid. She saw Dantalion with a proud grin, glowing in gold with the Sun's rays behind him, his left hand on his chest while the other reaching out to her who is sitting.

The meaning is recieved;--It was because of this great me, foolish child.

Sara looked up at him with nothing but utter disgust.

'That stare is hurting me...' Dantalion slumped his shoulders. 'I said it as a joke, but to think she would react like this...'

In an instant, he changed into a Shota form and looked at her, eyes wide and cute.

"B-but It's true," He blinked up at her, cute and wide-eyed., "You're less reserved when around here and seem more at ease outside!" He said in a pathetically shaky, stuttering voice while looking at Sara cutely.

Sara spat to the side, her disgust growing. Her disdain was evident in every gesture.

'AAAAAWADAAPAAKKKKAREN'TYOUSMITTENBYTHISSHOTA?! Every no-nonsense onee-san loves a pathetic beta shota, yet you feel nothing?! How are you human!'

Showing a cutely horrified expression on his shota face, "S-stop looking at me like I'm s-some irredeemable T-trash!" Then switched to a face that looks like on the verge of crying cutely while holding up a UNO card to his face in an attempt to block Sara's gaze.

His left eye can still be seen by Sara cutely peeking.

Yes, we can't have cutely left unsaid.

Sara's disgusted expression didn't leave as her eyes darkened, fantasies of pure violence are playing on her mind.

---

She couldn't exactly pinpoint where her consciousness lay and cutting through space without a clear place in mind and only backed with nothing but a feeling is just plain stupidity. [3]

Doing it this way would be much more efficient and safer, there is no need to locate Kujou Sara.

All she has to do is pull her consciousness back to her body. Tracing back where Kujou Sara's consciousness came after that is just a matter of time.

And patience is something she doesn't lack.

---

Kujou Sara.

Through twenty-five years of her life, 'I've never met someone as this... Insufferable.'

They had been going through circles.

Yes, Dantalion answered her questions but the raven-haired woman just for some reason couldn't trust what he was saying. To her, the words of some random shady manipulative informant or some random gossip lady on the street are more trustworthy than the words that will ever come out of this guy's mouth.

She wasn't sure where this feeling came from, maybe from their first encounter or perhaps some uncanny valley, the latter seems more probable since this guy isn't human and just assumes the appearance of one, but the former could also be the reason. She doesn't know, she doesn't care, and she doesn't want to know, this kind of information is not of help to what she wants to know.

So what if she knows those useless shits? She still wouldn't gain anything to help her get the information she really wanted to know.

She's been investigating this guy for a month on her own, but since he can see what she sees, she opted to keep the information and intention inside her head.

Now just seems more convenient to just actually ask him directly. [4]

A convenience provided by her supposed trust issues.

The talk of manipulation was secondary; her priority was understanding his intentions.

However, based on the character that she observed from him these past weeks, she can conclude that this 'whatever the fuck this bullshit supposed to be' is fucked up in the head.

'Maybe I'm the prob-' She stopped, she clasped her head, disbelief plastered on her face. 'He's doing it again! What a despicable guy! How can he manipulate a defenseless girl like me?!'

"Defenseless? You? A defenseless girl like you?" He looked at her like he saw something so ridiculous; "This is so... Bizarre."

Sara's face shifted instantly, her expression changing so quickly one would think she had multiple personalities.

She gave up questioning how he knew what she was thinking. By now, it was just a given, and it must've shown on her face.

"Are you implying that this delicate me--"

"DELICATE?!" He cut her off as soon as he heard such absurdity, his expression screamingWHAT THE FUCK??-while looking around as if trying to find if anyone else heard this bullshit.

In an instant, sparks crackled along Dantalion's neck, metal grinding against something equally as hard.

She executed an Iaijutsu maneuver to his neck—a lightning-fast draw technique.

She silently looked at Dantalion, she could see his point. She seemed more relaxed than before, even managing to joke around like this with someone.

"Bitch, you call that move a joke?" His face contorted to a frown. "I felt your intent to kill me!"

"But you wouldn't die."

"... Isn't it supposed to be 'But you didn't die'?"

"I know what I said."

"Lies! I can feel the love in your eyes!" He shouted dramatically, flinging his arms wide. "Look at me! You're smitten! I can sense it! Come on, admit it! Embrace your feelings and come to me!"

"..."

"..."

Awkwardly sitting down like nothing happened, he continued.

I mean, you know, with his thick face, this is nothing.

"Sara... you're not the fun and lovable Raiden simp anymore..." He looked at her, his lips pursing together, red cheeks, his eyes filling up with water, trying hard not to blink.

It's important to note that he's still in Shota form.

'What is this crazy bastard up to now...' Sara thought.

"I-I felt jealous whenever I think of the Traveler gaining your trust so easily, even though w-we've only been together for a month w-we have a bond stronger than anything imaginable-e, we're in a single body! You're changing! It wasn't by choice we were in this situation but how come I have to bear the blame for your trust issues?! I hate you nee-san! I hope you die in a ditch somewhere! WAAAAAAAA" His words, disjointed and nonsensical, words that don't even have a connection to one another, the Shota cried like some kid whose ice cream got stolen by a seagull as he watched the bird devour, ravenously take advantage of his defenseless favorite flavored ice cream in 4k ULTRA.

His expression was so pitiful, that Kujou Sara almost believed him.

Yes, almost.

And so, with the same amount of pained and sobbing expression he has, the raven-haired woman approached the Shota Dantalion, in a slow movement, her motion as if she's about to pick him up and pamper him, her face adorning a smile full of warm and unconditional love.

Her left hand moved behind his head.

Dantalion felt the touch as he looked at her face. What he witnessed was a face of understanding, a gaze that says--It's alright, leave everything to me--And the insecurity of not being worthy enough to be looked at that way cling to him, questions along the lines of "Do I deserve this much kindness?" flooding his mind. He felt extreme guilt.

Or it's how it should've been.

The moment her hand made contact with the back of his head, she slammed his face onto the table and then swiftly left the space, her movements calculated and swift. The sound of splintering wood echoed through the room as the table shattered upon impact.

---

Sara opened her eyes as a victorious smile adorned her face, a smile full of delight and satisfaction.

"Heh, get that dum--AH? YOUR EXCELLENCY?!" The grin quickly vanished, her eyes wide with shock as she saw the Shogun in her room.

-Chapter END-

[1]: I should really give this 'certain space' a name... Nah.

[2]: As I said, He is similar to Yuki

[3]: A certain hypocrite would disagree though, after all, he has that OP(It's weak) asfuck intuition skill pulled from his previous life)

[4] : Yep, since she couldn't really gather anything useful, asking just seems more convenient now, no?

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