Zhu Yuan and Qingyi brought Arataki Itto and the others to Hare's House.
They had just gotten out of the car.
Zhu Yuan was about to head inside and chat with Sam Li to get a quick update on the current situation when her phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from headquarters.
She answered immediately.
"Yes... Yes, Sir. Qingyi and I will head back right away."
Qingyi let out a helpless sigh.
"What's going on? Another emergency?"
Zhu Yuan replied seriously, "Seems like it's something over at Hollow Zero. It's urgent—the officer didn't give many details. Let's get back quickly."
Qingyi sighed again.
"Alright, let's go..."
They got back in the car.
Before leaving, Qingyi glanced at Arataki Itto, Kuki Shinobu, and the others.
"This is Hare's House. Sam Li should be inside. If anything comes up, you can contact me through the Public Security Bureau or call me directly. My phone number is..."
As he spoke, he read out his number.
After Zhu Yuan and Qingyi drove off...
Kazuha looked thoughtful.
"A strange string of numbers called a cell phone number... what's it used for?"
Arataki Itto laughed loudly.
"Of course it's useful! You can contact someone even if they're far away—talk, video call, whatever. Alright, I've memorized that officer's number. Let's head in. Sam Li and Billy should be home."
With that, he rushed straight into Hare's House.
Seeing this,
Kazuha, Kuki Shinobu, and Sayu exchanged glances, then hurried in after him.
Just earlier, Kazuha had seen the little thing in Itto's hand. That must've been the cell phone he mentioned.
...
Inside Hare's House,
Itto charged into the living room and, finding no one there, shouted loudly:
"Brother Billy! I'm back! You guys home?"
Billy rushed out of his room when he heard the voice.
Seeing Itto again, he lit up.
"Itto! You're finally here!"
Itto laughed heartily.
"I caught a ton of Onikabuto this time—we're gonna battle for real!"
As he spoke, he pulled a small box from his pocket. When he opened it, it was filled with over a dozen Onikabuto of all sizes.
Billy's eyes gleamed.
"Let's go all out!"
Off to the side,
watching the two get ready to throw down with their bugs, arms over each other's shoulders, Kuki Shinobu called out helplessly.
"Boss..."
Reminded by her voice,
Itto quickly came back to his senses and introduced everyone.
"This here's Brother Billy. Shinobu, I told you about him before... This is our Arataki Gang's deputy leader, Shinobu. The little tanuki's Sayu, and that's Kaedehara Kazuha..."
He kept it short and casual.
Sayu yawned.
"I'm not a tanuki..."
Kazuha stepped forward and greeted politely.
"Hello, I'm Kaedehara Kazuha, a samurai from Inazuma. Sorry for the sudden visit."
Billy smiled.
"No worries—Sam Li's friends are my friends. Make yourselves at home. The water cooler's over there, help yourselves."
He was already itching to battle bugs with Itto.
Leaving the others behind, he threw an arm around Itto and the two went over to a table, turning it into their makeshift arena.
...
Meanwhile,
Kazuha and Kuki Shinobu looked around the interior of Hare's House in confusion.
Everything here was completely different from Inazuma.
Just then,
Nekomata, Anby, Sam Li, Nicole, and the others arrived in the living room after hearing Itto and Billy's loud laughter—spotting Shinobu and Kazuha right away.
Sam Li paused for a second, slightly stunned.
He hadn't expected Itto to show up with more people so soon after Keqing and Hu Tao had just visited yesterday.
By now...
Barbatos, Furina, Clorinde, Keqing, the Traveler, Billy, Shinobu—even Azhdaha...
There were already over a dozen people from Teyvat gathered in New Eridu.
In this fragile, crumbling city, a "Teyvat faction" had quietly formed around Sam Li—becoming a force that could no longer be ignored.
If Zhu Yuan or Qingyi noticed them, there'd definitely be another investigation.
Seeing Sam Li,
Shinobu's eyes widened in surprise.
"Guest Zhongli... it's really you..."
Kazuha added seriously,
"Guest Zhongli, we meet again."
Standing nearby,
Nicole heard them calling Sam Li "Zhongli" and immediately understood—they were from his homeland too.
She quickly corrected them.
"He works at Hare's House now. He's not called Zhongli anymore—it's Sam Li."
Kazuha looked puzzled.
"Sam Li?"
Shinobu replied calmly.
"Yeah. Boss said Guest Zhongli changed his name to Sam Li."
Noticing they looked a bit awkward standing there in the middle of the room,
Nicole quickly smiled.
"Don't just stand there, come sit down. Billy, go get our guests some water."
Billy didn't even turn his head.
"Boss Nicole, I'm in the middle of a bug battle!"
Nicole smiled again and called out,
"Billy, get them some water."
Glancing at her smiling face,
Billy quickly ran over to the water cooler and poured water for Shinobu and Kazuha.
...
Near the sofa,
Nekomata had just sat down when she suddenly sensed something odd and sprang back up.
"Meow?! What the—where did this tanuki come from?"
Hearing her cry, everyone turned toward the sofa.
There, on the once-empty seat, was a small figure wrapped up in a blanket, curled into a ball—sound asleep.
Nicole was equally surprised.
"Whose little tanuki is that?"
Anby looked thoughtful.
"Thiren the tanuki?"
Apparently hearing the voices,
Sayu stirred groggily.
"Not a tanuki... I'm a raccoon—"
Nekomata's eyes went wide.
"It talks?! It really is Thiren the tanuki! This is the first time I've seen one!"
Sayu grumbled again.
"Not a tanuki. I'm a raccoon..."
Seeing everyone still confused,
Shinobu helped explain.
"Her name is Sayu. She came here with us."
Nicole nodded.
"I see..."
Nekomata stepped closer and tugged gently at Sayu's ears—only to realize they were fake.
Her ears and tail were just costume accessories?
Nekomata exclaimed,
"You're not Thiren?"
Sayu yawned.
"What's a Thiren? I'm not that. I'm a ninja from the End Commission, sent here on a mission..."
A ninja?
A mission?
Nekomata immediately pictured the movie kind and perked up.
"A mission? What kind of mission?"
"Mission... mission... zzz..."
Before Sayu could say anything else, she was already fast asleep on the sofa again.