Morning sunlight slipped through the window's seams and spilled across the loft's bedroom.
Noelle woke early out of habit.
Last night's embarrassment came back in a wave, and she covered her face for a second.
"…I can't believe I hugged him like that."
She tidied the room briskly to reset her mind.
"And the bathroom too," she told herself.
She washed up, dressed, and came down from the loft in her maid outfit—
only to find Kaito eating breakfast with Senior Lisa.
They were almost finished.
Noelle's face flushed.
Rarely had she ever woken up late like this.
She hurried over and stood behind Kaito.
"Oh?" Lisa's gaze flicked to Noelle.
Lisa's gaze flicked to Noelle, then away—polite, unreadable.
"Morning, Noelle."
"Noelle," Lisa asked with a sweet smile, "are you feeling better now?"
"I'm better," Noelle said shyly—then added sincerely, "Thank you, Senior Lisa."
She'd learned a lot from the books Lisa picked…
though last night she'd been too dizzy to take the initiative.
Next time, she'd do better.
"Hehe."
Lisa laughed softly.
Under the table, Kaito took a kick to the leg.
He couldn't kick back, so he simply said, "Noelle, clean the table. Lisa and I are heading out."
"Yes—Mas—"
Noelle almost slipped.
Her heart went bright with happiness, and the word nearly came out.
But that name… was only for those moments.
She hesitated.
Then—because Barbara was her close friend—she forced herself to switch.
"…Big Brother Kaito."
Kaito patted her head and left with Lisa.
…
Outside, Kaito finally couldn't hold it in anymore.
"What are you and Jean planning?"
"Jean?" Lisa sounded surprised—then laughed. "I'm just helping a cute junior Knight ease her worries."
She yawned, sounding reluctant.
"And now it's that annoying thing again… work."
Kaito realized he wasn't going to get a straight answer.
"Fine. Then start tracking."
"Mhm."
Lisa's lazy air faded.
A faint crackle of lightning lit her pale green eyes.
All books lent from the library carried her elemental mark.
As a "once-in-two-hundred-years" genius witch, Lisa's marks were nearly impossible for ordinary people to detect—let alone erase—without serious magical knowledge.
And as the stolen book was carried around, the mark left a thin trail.
Lisa stared at the elemental flow near the city bridge—
and from Mondstadt's ambient chaos, she plucked out a single thread that belonged to her.
"It's already very faint," Lisa said quietly. "Today is the last day."
"And you were still taking it easy," Kaito muttered.
"I assumed it would lead somewhere like Dawn Winery," Lisa replied, focus sharpening. "The closer we got, the clearer it would become."
"But I didn't expect it to head in that direction."
They crossed the bridge, left the city, and took the fork toward Starsnatch Cliff.
"What a nuisance," Lisa complained.
Most of Mondstadt's people clustered in the city, Springvale, and around Dawn Winery.
Other regions didn't have land suitable for farming—so no one settled there.
A thief running toward Starsnatch Cliff meant climbing rough terrain.
"We're going," Lisa said, naturally looping her arm through his.
Kaito glanced down.
His arm brushed against soft, snow-white fabric—light as silk.
Lisa chuckled, urging him on. "If we don't hurry, the trace will fade."
Kaito already had a guess where this would end.
If it was the Abyss Order, they almost always hid in underground ruins.
"Kaito," Lisa asked curiously, "you already have an idea?"
He was walking without hesitation.
Not the behavior of someone who needed to stop every few minutes and wonder if they'd gone the wrong way.
"A thief heading to Starsnatch Cliff… probably isn't a Mondstadter," Kaito said.
"And at this time, even lovers in Mondstadt wouldn't go that far out."
"You mean… Treasure Hoarders?" Lisa's eyes sharpened. "Or…"
"The Abyss Order," she finished.
"Yes," Kaito replied.
Lisa understood immediately. "So you're looking for ruins?"
Khaenri'ah had been an underground nation.
After its fall, it left countless subterranean ruins across Teyvat.
Some were famous—like Cecilia Garden, and the Midsummer Courtyard near Mondstadt.
Both were remnants of Khaenri'ah and contained lingering power.
And there were many more ruins no one knew about.
Near Mondstadt, only a place like Starsnatch Cliff could hide an entrance well.
Farther out were Wolvendom, Cape Oath—farther still, Stormbearer Mountains.
The Abyss Order lurking in places like that was entirely plausible.
Lisa was called the Witch of Purple Rose—and she was also respected as Mondstadt's scholar.
Her knowledge was immense.
"So we follow the trace," Kaito said, "then search along the cliff face."
Lisa snorted softly. "If it were as simple as a doorway in a cliff, wouldn't it have been discovered already? The Adventurers' Guild isn't useless."
Kaito smiled.
"What if it's an old ruin that was explored… deemed worthless… and then abandoned?"
Lisa's eyes flickered, and she laughed.
"If that's true, then I'll admit defeat—big sister style."
She brushed her side ponytail, the purple rose ribbon at her left shoulder catching the light.
They made a small bet.
…
By dusk, they stood before a cliff wall where stones had been stacked into a rough seal.
Lisa clicked her tongue, eyes narrowing.
"What a little mouse… hiding so well."
Up close, the stonework didn't match the cliff.
The color and grain were subtly different—too deliberate.
Too "crafted."
And someone with a Vision could sense a thin elemental seal on the surface.
Strike it carelessly, and the seal would rebound.
"I told you," Kaito said smugly.
"Alright, alright." Lisa lifted her chin, conceding. "This time, big sister loses."
She rose onto her toes and kissed his forehead lightly.
"How about that as payment?"
Kaito frowned. "That's too cheap."
He was about to ask for somethng better—
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