*? POV*

"Sir, the Traveler is missing."

What? I quickly get up from my seat, the wine I was about to drink falling on to the ground, "Tell me what happened." I growl while standing in front of my kneeling guard.

The guard looks up then nods, "We were doing our weekly routine check on the Traveler, but we didn't see her in her usual spot. We immediately conducted a sweep of the area, yet found nothing."

…Has her curse been cured? After the final battle with the Lord of Abyss, she collapsed onto her knees with no signs of life in her. Venti tried to get her attention by being stupid, Morax using his geo to move her, The Shogun instilling lightning into her as a last resort, yet all of them amounted to uselessness.

Even Nahida's power had no effect on the Traveler, which led us to believe that the Lord had casted a curse before disappearing into the void.

Unfortunately, all of us were forced to leave her behind in the Abyss, for our mind would be corrupted if we stayed any longer, though we left behind what amounted to be an army behind to protect her.

It is the least we could do for all the help she has given us, of course.

…Yet now, she is missing. Either her curse has indeed been cured… Or somebody was able to snatch her without being seen at all. Both paths have their own merits and demerits, but I would rather for the former to be the case instead of the latter.

We do not need another Lord of the Abyss after all.

Ah yes, if I'm right, the rest of the Archons should be calling for an emergency mee -

A bright flickering red light cuts me off from my thoughts, making me grimly smile, "You are dismissed." I shoo away the guard, not bothering to look at him, as I turn my attention to the light while preparing myself to deal with the others… Especially the hysterical Archons.

*X*

Third Person POV

"Good morning, Nii-chan!"

"...Morning." Hachiman yawns as he comes down from the stairs then he looks around with slightly drowsy eyes, "Lumine-chan hasn't woken up yet?"

Komachi nods as she places down a plate onto the dining table, "Yeah, she hasn't come out of her room yet." She turns around to walk away but stops, glancing back at him with an awkward look.

"Ummm… Nii-chan, you know I was joking with the whole isekai stuff, right? Since you kept on reading those trashy isekai novels and she reminds us of an anime character we used to watch, so that's why you said everything, right, and I was just indulging in your fantasies like a good little sister of a certain dead fish eye brother and that you shouldn't become convinced that she's an isekai character because of me indulging in your fantasies?"

He rapidly blinks then rubs his eyes, "... Breathe Komachi, breathe. No need to say all of that in one breath, and yeah, I wanted to trick you into thinking that she an isekai but you... Said all of that. Also you get a thousand Hachiman points for that but you get a deduction at the end, and well more like she's just a foreigner who got kidnapped and drugged or something, and I'm waiting for something to happen, like a missing person ad or something." He stops rubbing his eyes then looks away.

"...Though, I was kinda, just kinda, hoping that she was actually an isekai character, visitor or something…"

"...Nii-chan, I think you need to cut back on your reading… Also, if her kidnappers appear, you will lose all of Komachi points for jinxing it."

"...Fair. And don't judge me, alright? I've already read too much forbidden knowledge and…"

He glances at her then sighs, "Anyway, it's almost time for school for us, but Lumine-chan will have to stay here." Then he glances at the top of the stairs, "I'll go wake her up since I'm here."

He walks back up the stairs then hears her shouting, "Nii-chan, don't do lewd stuff to her, alright?!"

Hachiman scowls then leans his head over the stairs' railing to look at her, "Oi, I maybe a healthy young man but I am not that perverted alright?!"

"Coulda fooled me with your eyes!"

He shakes his head at her antics then continues on with his journey to Komachi's room, "Hey, Lumine-chan! Breakfast is ready! It's seven A.M!" He noisily knocks on the door, though his expression slowly shifts into annoyance as there is no answer.

"If you don't open the door or make a noise in five seconds, I'm coming in!"

He waits for 5 seconds, lets out a sigh, then opens the door, "Excuse me." He quickly enters the room then spots Lumine laying down on the bed.

He shakes his head, closes the door back, then slowly creeps over to the bed, careful to not make any noise. He stops then peers at her, only to see that her face is stiff and her eyes shut tight with the occasional twitching.

"Lumine-chan?" Hachiman softly says, "Oi, wake up." Seeing no reaction, he sighs then moves his finger closer to her to poke her awake. The moment their skin makes contact, her eyes snap open and she quickly lifts her right arm up, in a blade-like stance, to stab him in the eyes.

He widens his eyes as he sees the fingers then quickly tries to duck to avoid the stab, though it only changes the target to his forehead. Luckily, the fingers stop, just as the middle finger's nail very, very, slightly penetrates the skin.

"...Aether…?" Lumine blankly gazes at him then slowly shakes her head, "...No, Aether is…" Her eyes start to glisten, yet her face shows no reaction to the tears streaming down.

"O-oi!, why-why are you crying all of a sudden?!" His face morphs into panic then he flinches as he feels something wet at his forehead. He slowly takes a step back from her, warily keeping an eye on her in case she tries anything else, then slowly brings his hand to touch the liquid.

"...The fuck, blood?" He flabbergastingly says as he sees the red liquid coating his finger. He keeps alternating his gaze at his finger and her, with fear slowly dominating his eyes, "How… How the fuck can, no just what-"

"Nii-chan! Is Lumine-chan awake yet?!"

He harshly flinches at the loud voice of Komachi then shouts, "Y-yeah! We'll-we'll be down in a minute!" He quickly glances at the door then turns back, only to see that she hasn't moved at all except for the black tears streami -

Hachiman's jaw slightly drops as he sees the once clear liquid just a moment ago become a sinister black liquid. He idly sees a drop of the liquid falling off from her face and splash onto the bed sheet, leaving behind a stain that would most likely never be cleaned off.

"...Ha chi man…?"

He flinches as he hears his name uttered by the creature called Lumine, who merely gazes at him in silence while paying no heed to the tears coming out from her eyes.

"Y-yea-yeah? What it?" He cringes as he hears the tremors in his voice and the weird sentence at the end.

She doesn't say anything, though she slowly gets up from the bed, prompting him to flinch then slowly back away. She doesn't pay any heed to the action, merely looking at him with unblinking eyes and slowly walking towards him.

For every step she takes, he takes a step back, "Erm, hey you can just stay there no need to come closer here alright?" He raises his hands at her, "Like really."

She tilts her head at him but doesn't stop, prompting him to panic even more, "Ok, ok, how about just stay there? We can talk just fine like this!"

Hachiman feels something colliding with his back, prompting him to quickly look back to see that the door is behind him. He looks back to see Lumine's face right in front of him.

His legs give out, sending him down to the floor, then opens his mouth to scream, yet a hand muffles his scream, so he closes his eyes in resignation to his fate, "...Hug…" He hears the quiet mutter then feels a hand snaking its way to his back to pull him closer.

He opens his eyes to see that the tears have stopped flowing out from her eyes, leaving behind clear golden-honey eyes that sleepily look at him. She takes her hand off of his mouth then wraps around his shoulder while her head slowly nestles itself next to his neck.

Not even a minute later, he hears light snoring coming out from her, prompting him to narrow his eyes, "...What the fuck just happened?" He tries to push her off, yet it only causes her to tighten her hold on him, almost to the point of choking him.

"...Guess I have to hope she wakes up on her own and Komachi can't help since we're blocking the door…" Hachiman lets out a long sigh.

"You know, I take back my hope about you being from another world. Please just be a damned kidnapped mafia or something…"

*X*

A/N

Welp, been like what 9 months-ish since I last updated this fic (big oof) and, erm, yeah. I really got nothing to say, well other than I was busy, maturing just a bit, and my brain didn't want to write for this fic. Moving on, the new lore that got added to Genshin really threw a wrench (more like a damn nuclear bomb) to my plan, so I have to improvise (fml) but I guess this is what happens when you take too long. Anyway, on to the comments!

DrackNath - yep. *REDACTED*

Guest - *REDACTED*

Majin Othinus - ah, time skip *REDACTED*. True, and I'll just say it's by the power of anime! Here you go a new chapter that's way overdue

IsekaiFanBoi - thank you

eightmanantartica2428 - *REDACTED*

Suizei - we're at the start of the first year in Sobu High, so no club just yet

G0dz1llex - yep, very fucking true. Oof, and thank you. Of course, Lumine *REDACTED*

Masterx01 - yep, one of my rougher fics really. Also, 8man does teach her the letters but at the same time, he's speaking it out for her to listen and familiarize, in the previous chapter at the desk and book part. Yep, the explanation already stated in this chapter, though I can see why you thought so since I kinda forgot to add in those little details last chapter, whoops. No problem

artem-abramov-2004 -same here, also we're at the start of first year, so no club just yet unfortunately. *REDACTED*. Welp, I made this fic before the whole lore added and, erm, we'll see

zero77a - here you go