Tenshukaku.
When Jiang Yan returned with Ganyu and the others, only Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei were sitting there.
"Hm? Where are Kitsune Saiguu and Chiyo?"
Jiang Yan looked around but couldn't find either of them.
"Oh, Chiyo still hasn't come back since she went out earlier. Saiguu was worried, so she went to look for her."
Raiden Makoto explained.
"I see."
Jiang Yan nodded, then looked toward Raiden Ei.
Ever since he entered, Ei's eyes had been glued to the bag in his hand.
That's right—the bag contained Tri-Color Dango.
A strong look of longing flashed in Raiden Ei's eyes.
She truly had zero resistance to sweets.
"No need to keep staring."
Jiang Yan smiled.
Then he handed the bag toward Ei and continued:
"These are for you. Makoto, you should have some too."
Raiden Ei's eyes instantly lit up.
The brilliance that burst forth at that moment nearly dazzled Jiang Yan.
"Why did you buy so many?"
After hearing Jiang Yan's words, Raiden Makoto also walked over.
But when she saw that the bag contained well over a dozen dango skewers, she frowned slightly and said to Ei:
"Ei, you can't eat too many sweets. If you eat too much sugar, you'll get cavities."
Upon hearing Makoto's warning, Ei's hand holding the dango suddenly trembled.
"It's fine, Makoto."
Raiden Ei looked at her very seriously.
"If I get cavities, I can just replace the teeth."
Clearly, Ei thought all of the dango had been bought specifically for her.
Jiang Yan flicked her forehead lightly and said:
"You're only allowed to eat two."
"Eh?!"
Raiden Ei widened her eyes, her expression practically saying "Why are you just like Makoto?"
The sight made Jiang Yan laugh.
"You silly girl, these are meant to be shared with everyone."
"Besides, two each is just right. If you eat too many at once, how are you supposed to eat dinner later?"
After Jiang Yan's explanation, Raiden Ei finally gave up on the idea of devouring all the dango herself.
Still, the drooling look in her eyes made Jiang Yan feel like maybe he really should've bought more.
Once Kitsune Saiguu and Chiyo returned, dinner—prepared by Jiang Yan and Raiden Makoto—was finally brought out.
The little ones were probably exhausted from all the playing.
After dinner, Ningguang and the others lay sprawled in Jiang Yan's arms, their little heads bobbing sleepily as if they could fall asleep at any moment.
After settling all the little girls down to rest, Jiang Yan glanced at the time and said to Ganyu:
"Ganyu, I'm going to Ayaka's place for a bit. Let Makoto and the others know I'll be back soon."
Ganyu already knew about Jiang Yan's promise with Ayaka, so she didn't say much and simply nodded.
"Come back early."
"Alright."
Jiang Yan responded, then opened a portal and directly arrived inside Ayaka's room.
At the moment, little Ayaka was wearing her pajamas and lying on the bed, feeling both excited and expectant.
Because Jiang Yan-gege had promised to come tell her a bedtime story tonight!
Sure enough, before long, a portal suddenly opened in her room.
It was Jiang Yan-gege!
Ayaka excitedly jumped off the bed.
She had stayed at Jiang Yan's house before, so she was already very familiar with the portals he created.
"Jiang Yan-gege!"
The moment she saw Jiang Yan walk out of the portal, Ayaka happily threw herself into his arms.
"Alright now, you're about to sleep and you're still this energetic?"
Jiang Yan carefully straightened out the pajamas she had wrinkled during her tackle hug.
Afterward, he carried Ayaka over to the bed, gently laid her down, and tucked the blanket around her.
"Jiang Yan-gege, what story are you telling tonight?"
Curled up like a little rice dumpling in her blanket, Ayaka poked out her tiny head and looked at him expectantly.
"Hm... let me think."
Jiang Yan pondered for a moment before smiling.
"How about I tell you a story about a princess?"
"A princess?"
Little Ayaka tilted her head in confusion.
"Mhm. In the distant nation of Snezhnaya, there was a girl named Snow White..."
That's right.
After a bit of "creative adaptation," Jiang Yan had produced a Teyvat version of Snow White.
The story itself was completely unchanged—he had simply relocated the setting to Snezhnaya.
Ayaka listened with complete fascination.
When she heard about the evil old man called The Doctor handing Snow White the poisoned apple, she even gasped aloud.
"This Doctor is so evil!"
That was Ayaka's first impression of the malicious old man named Doctor.
Well, Dottore had plenty of segments anyway. Having one evil old-man segment shouldn't be too unreasonable, right?
Jiang Yan muttered inwardly.
"And so, unaware of the danger, Snow White took another bite of the apple... and collapsed unconscious onto the ground."
After that, Jiang Yan finished recounting the prince's arrival and the help of the seven dwarfs, bringing the story to its conclusion.
"Alright, little one. The story's over. Time to sleep."
Jiang Yan gently rubbed Ayaka's head and spoke softly.
But Ayaka was clearly still unsatisfied.
Still, she knew it was late and she really did need to sleep.
"Jiang Yan-gege... when the festival starts in a few days, can Ayaka come find you?"
Curled beneath her blanket, Ayaka's voice was full of nervous anticipation.
She was afraid Jiang Yan might refuse her.
"Of course you can."
Jiang Yan answered immediately without hesitation.
"Really?!"
Little Ayaka instantly poked her head out from the blanket like a tiny turtle emerging from its shell, her face filled with delight.
"Of course."
Jiang Yan smiled and rubbed her head.
Ahhh, what an adorable little turtle.
Thinking of all the fan-made memes from his previous life, Jiang Yan almost wanted to laugh.
Princess Turtle!
"Alright, alright. Time to sleep now."
"If you stay up any later, some little girl might wake up tomorrow with huge dark circles under her eyes."
Jiang Yan deliberately scared her into sleeping.
Staying up late wasn't good for children.
Sure enough, Ayaka immediately shrank back into her blanket and tightly shut her eyes.
"Ayaka is sleeping now!"
Jiang Yan chuckled softly.
See? Little kids really were the cutest.
He carefully tucked the blanket securely around her to stop her from kicking it off in her sleep and catching cold.
Then he lay beside her, gently patting the blanket while softly humming a lullaby.
This trick of Jiang Yan's never failed.
No adorable child could resist someone humming lullabies beside them before bed.
Sure enough, under Jiang Yan's gentle humming, Ayaka gradually relaxed and drifted off into dreamland.
Once he confirmed she had fallen asleep, Jiang Yan quietly stood up.
After making sure the little girl was sleeping soundly, he raised his right hand.
The Space Stone on the back of his hand glowed.
A portal appeared behind him.
Then Jiang Yan stepped through it.
As the portal closed, the little bundle on the bed wriggled slightly before becoming still again.
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the morning a few days later.
Today was the beginning of the Irodori Festival.
Jiang Yan had already promised Raiden Makoto and the others that they would all go out together to enjoy this important Inazuman festival.
The Ningguang Four Little Ones had woken up especially early, already dressed in brand-new beautiful outfits.
It was their first time participating in another nation's festival, so they were both excited and full of anticipation.
"Master, Master! Do we look good?"
Wearing Inazuma-style clothing, Ningguang spun around excitedly for Jiang Yan.
"You all look adorable."
Jiang Yan smiled at the four little girls before him.
Honestly, Inazuman clothing suited these little cuties surprisingly well.
Afterward, Jiang Yan brought the children outside Tenshukaku to wait.
Ganyu and the others still needed time to get ready.
After all, women usually needed time to do their makeup before going out.
Especially beautiful women.
For a festival like this, they naturally wanted to prepare properly.
After waiting for a short while, Ganyu and the other women finally appeared before Jiang Yan.
Since the festival activities wouldn't officially begin until afternoon, they weren't in a hurry to change into Inazuman attire yet.
After all, when in Inazuma, one should follow Inazuman customs.
If they were celebrating an Inazuman festival, naturally they should wear Inazuman clothing.
"Did we keep you waiting long?"
Ganyu asked apologetically.
"Not at all. We only just came down ourselves."
Jiang Yan looked at the four women before him with a grin, but for a moment, he couldn't help staring blankly.
These women were already breathtakingly beautiful even without makeup.
Now that they were all dressed up?
The destructive power wasn't as simple as one plus one equals two.
"Hehe, what's wrong? Stunned speechless?"
At that moment, Kitsune Saiguu's ears twitched slightly as she leaned her face close to Jiang Yan with a teasing smile.
"Ahem!"
Jiang Yan snapped back to reality and coughed awkwardly.
"N-No such thing. I was just thinking about something."
"Come on. The streets of Inazuma are probably going to be lively today."
He quickly turned around and muttered to himself.
But the way his pointed ears twitched exposed the truth of Kitsune Saiguu's words.
The women exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
That only made Jiang Yan even more embarrassed.
After fooling around at the entrance of Tenshukaku for a while, Jiang Yan and the others finally headed out together.
At this time, the enormous Statue of the Omnipresent God had not yet been constructed outside Tenshukaku.
The area where it would eventually stand was currently just a huge public plaza.
The plaza was crowded with merchants and festivalgoers.
When Jiang Yan and the others appeared, some of the citizens immediately recognized Raiden Makoto—
their beloved Electro Archon.
Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei could not appear together before the public.
So this time, Ei wore a mask, and with her hairstyle differing from Makoto's, nobody paid her much attention.
Most people focused entirely on the openly visible Makoto.
The appearance of the Electro Archon herself at the festival was an enormous sensation.
For a moment, the surrounding citizens immediately began kneeling in worship.
"There is no need for such formalities."
At that moment, accompanied by a gentle voice, a soft wave of power lightly supported everyone and prevented them from kneeling.
Raiden Makoto smiled warmly and said:
"Today, we are merely participating in the festival as ordinary citizens."
As her words fell, the people exchanged stunned looks.
The Electro Archon herself was personally attending the festival?
That was unbelievable!!
...
Walking through the streets of Inazuma, Jiang Yan felt somewhat conflicted.
This festival was completely different from what he had imagined.
No—not merely "a little different."
It was practically nothing alike at all.
Because the moment Raiden Makoto and the others appeared on the streets, the relaxed smiles on the faces of the citizens instantly vanished, replaced by nervous tension.
Jiang Yan could only sigh helplessly.
At this rate, there would be no way to properly enjoy the festival.
Makoto, Ei, and the others clearly felt the same way.
After all, their original intention had been to accompany Jiang Yan and properly enjoy the celebration together.
But now, the atmosphere had become too stiff for anyone to really have fun.
"Looks like we'll need to disguise ourselves properly..."
Jiang Yan muttered.
Then he looked toward Raiden Ei and the others.
"Come with me."
"Eh?"
Before Makoto and Ei could react, Jiang Yan suddenly grabbed them and dashed into a nearby alley.
"What are you doing?!"
"Don't move!"
"What exactly are you trying to do??"
"Giving you all a makeover, hehe..."
"Stop messing around, that tickles..."
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