Boom! Boom! BOOM!
"Yay! A Jumpy Dumpty that can explode three times—successful development!"
Standing at the door, Kaeya paused mid-motion, his hand hovering just before knocking. He looked up at the house, from which black smoke was billowing, then turned around and left immediately. This was a mess he had no intention of getting involved in. In his head, he began a silent countdown.
Three, two, one.
"YAE MIKO! KLEE! YOU TWO BLEW UP THE HOUSE AGAIN???!!!"
Su Bai stared at the pair in front of him—one big, one small, both covered head to toe in soot, still high-fiving each other in celebration. His head throbbed with a dull pain.
'What sin did I commit in my past life to deserve these two getting together? If anyone ever tells me again that one plus one necessarily equals two, I'm shoving this example right in their face. One plus one with these two? Their destructive power isn't addition—it's exponentiation!'
Ever since Klee moved in with Su Bai, Yae Miko had been overjoyed. She'd even moved Klee's bedding into her own room.
At first, the games Yae Miko and Klee played together were perfectly normal. Drawing, clay sculpting, origami. But somehow, without warning, this pair had started manufacturing all sorts of bizarre bombs.
Stuffing Slime condensate into Jumpy Dumpties. Adding pepper. Adding flour. But the most unforgettable for Su Bai was a few days ago, when Yae Miko created an itching powder, stuffed it into a Jumpy Dumpty, and promptly blew up the house because her bomb hadn't been stable enough.
If Su Bai hadn't swiftly used adeptal arts to encapsulate the powder and toss it outside, both he and Klee would have been in serious trouble. What Su Bai hadn't noticed at the time, however, was that Kaeya had been standing just outside the door.
Since Klee had been staying at Su Bai's place, Jean still worried about her. She sent someone to check on Klee daily. Over the past few days, Su Bai had gotten to know quite a few of the Knights' core members.
That particular day, it had been Kaeya's turn. The moment he knocked, an unidentified cloud of 'bubbles' slammed directly into his face. And then—well, Su Bai learned that day that Kaeya wasn't just dark-skinned on his face. His entire body was the same shade.
"You... you two... what do you even want me to say? Sister Miko, you're a grown woman! How are you more mischievous than Klee?!"
Su Bai pressed his hand to his forehead. He'd lost count of how many times the kitchen had been blown up. Every time he spent Mora to fix it, this pair blew it up again.
"We're sorry." x2
"We were wrong." x2
"We'll do it again." x2
Su Bai nearly choked. The Mora he'd earned from the nuns a few days ago? Completely gone. Twenty thousand Mora, vanished in just a few days. These two always gave him the same three lines, and in the end, every single Mora went straight to funding their destructive hobbies.
When Klee had first moved in, she at least knew to say things like "I won't do it again" to help Su Bai cool down. Now? After a few days with Yae Miko, she didn't even bother humoring him anymore.
Su Bai swept his gaze across the wrecked room. Spotting a relatively intact spatula, he grabbed it, ready to teach this troublesome duo a lesson. Klee and Yae Miko exchanged glances, reading each other's thoughts instantly: 'Time to bolt.'
"Both of you, stop right there! Running, are we?!"
"Witness our successful escape!"
Watching the two fleeing figures, Su Bai used Anemo energy to lift the flour scattered on the floor and the water from the overturned tank. Mixing them mid-air, he gathered the resulting sticky batter onto his spatula.
"In ancient times, the Raiden Shogun split the evil serpent with a single slash! Today, I, Su Bai, shall capture two naughty children with one spatula! Take this—MUSOU NO HETAKE!"
With a wet splat, the batter flew from the spatula and splattered across the path Klee and Yae Miko needed to cross. The slippery, gooey mess effectively blocked their escape route.
"Sister Miko... what do we do now?"
"Xiao-Bai~ Please forgive me~ Won't you forgive your dearest sister~?"
Seeing escape was impossible, Yae Miko immediately switched tactics. She hugged Su Bai's arm and began shaking it, her voice sickly sweet. Su Bai's skin crawled with goosebumps.
Klee blinked. Remembering the backup plan Yae Miko had taught her, she ran over and imitated her mentor's pleading, clinging to Su Bai's other arm.
Having raised Su Bai since he was small, Yae Miko knew his weakness perfectly: he folded against soft tactics but hardened against force. From the very first time she and Klee blew up the kitchen, she'd prepared two plans—one for escape, one for begging forgiveness. She'd even personally coached Klee on the art of the puppy-dog eyes.
As an eager learner, Klee had picked it up quickly. Though she rarely used it, when she later deployed this technique against a certain Traveler, the poor girl nearly forgot which way was north.
"Alright, alright. I'll let it slide this time. But next time, you two need to be more careful. The Mora we have left for this month probably all has to go toward fixing the house. Tomorrow, we might not even have enough to eat."
Su Bai laughed bitterly. Here he was, an adeptus, and he couldn't even afford his next meal. If word of this got out, he'd never live it down.
"Um... Brother Su Bai? Klee... Klee has some pocket money! Klee can give Brother Su Bai her allowance!"
Klee knew she'd done wrong. Hearing that Su Bai might not have food tomorrow because of her, she was so distressed she looked ready to cry. She didn't want this kind brother who was so good to her to go hungry.
"Brother Su Bai, let's go fishing! Klee can roast the fish for you! Klee doesn't want you to be hungry!"
"There, there. Your Brother Su Bai is an adeptus. Do you really think he'd let himself starve?"
Su Bai retrieved various fabrics, threads, and dyes from the room that he'd bought a few days ago. Yae Miko eyed the materials in his hands, a question forming.
"Xiao Bai, you want to make clothes to sell? How did you know my garment-making skills are renowned throughout Inazuma?"
Su Bai shot her a flat look. The last time his clothes had accidentally torn, Yae Miko had offered to mend them. When he'd gone to pick them up the next day, his outfit had been transformed into a cutting-edge beggar-chic style.
"...Let's forget the clothes. How about something simpler? I recall your omamori charms are quite well made. Can we use these materials for those?"
"Omamori? That should be fine. But can those little things really earn Mora? I remember they're given away for free at Inazuman shrines. Besides, ordinary omamori don't actually do anything."
Su Bai shook his head. He knew selling plain omamori wouldn't fetch a high price. But if he inscribed a basic defensive talisman on each one, they'd become genuine adepti artifacts.
He explained his plan to Yae Miko. She nodded slowly. In that case, they really could sell at a decent price.
Su Bai handed some watercolor pens to Klee, tasking her with drawing on the omamori that Yae Miko produced. The moment Klee heard she could paint on them and bring good luck to others, she eagerly grabbed the pens and began sketching her best friend, Dodoco.