Good Hunter — Late Night
Mona removed her witch's hat.
She only wore it outside—part of the "mysterious astrologer" image. Iconic. Dramatic. A little ridiculous.
With it gone, the neat black ribbons tying her twin tails finally showed.
…Unfairly cute.
She briskly helped clear the dining table like she'd done it a hundred times, then went upstairs and sat properly on the second floor. Hands on her knees, posture straight, sea-green eyes fixed on the stove—
like a starving kitten watching someone cook fish.
"What do you want to eat?" Kaito called from the kitchen.
"S-salad is fine," Mona said, swallowing.
Good Hunter's salad wasn't the sad fruit-and-vegetable scraps she usually threw together. It was actually good.
And more importantly—if she ate it for dinner, she wouldn't wake up half-starved in the middle of the night.
Kaito already knew her "salad to save Mora" lifestyle.
He glanced her over and silently confirmed something he'd suspected for a while.
Mondstadt's noble ladies ate salads as a trend—elegant, light, with meat mixed in. Chicken, ham, whatever they felt like.
Mona's "salad" was strictly fruit and vegetables. Cheap. Filling.
Meat?
A myth.
And with a body like hers, she really shouldn't be living on the edge of "barely adequate."
"Only salad?" Kaito asked again.
Mona nodded like she was reciting a sacred oath. "Mm! Salad is the best food in the world!"
At this point it wasn't taste.
It was self-hypnosis.
Kaito raised a brow. "What about that grilled steak you liked last time?"
"…" Mona swallowed again.
In her mind, salad was the number one necessity of life.
But Good Hunter's other dishes were a very close second—at the level of I could die happy after eating this.
"…Wouldn't that be… too wasteful?" she asked carefully.
Kaito made extra food for her every time she showed up. That was exactly why she always felt guilty.
"Fine." Kaito shook his head.
Mona's shoulders loosened. A flicker of disappointment crossed her eyes… but relief won out.
Then Kaito continued, calm as ever:
"I'll make you Three-Bird Matsutake Soup."
Mona blinked. "Huh?"
"Chicken, pigeon, and whatever else is on hand," Kaito said, eyeing the pantry. "With matsutake, salt, a splash of wine, and the right heat."
Mona had never heard of it. To be honest, almost nobody in Mondstadt had.
But the name alone sounded expensive enough to make her panic.
"N-no, salad is enough!"
Kaito smiled faintly. "If you refuse, you don't get salad either."
Grrrrrrr.
Her stomach surrendered faster than her pride ever could.
Mona clutched her belly, cheeks and ears turning bright red. "…Then—thank you. I'll accept your kindness."
"See?" Kaito said dryly. "Your stomach is honest."
He started with Satisfying Salad—a dish known across Teyvat: cabbage, apples, eggs, and potatoes.
The difference was always freshness and balance.
And in Mondstadt, Good Hunter's reputation didn't come from nothing.
"Come take it," Kaito called.
Mona moved fast.
Because one thing she believed with her whole soul was true: salad was easy to make.
Kaito washed his hands and began the second dish.
The ingredients weren't the hard part.
The timing was.
The heat. The stirring. The patience.
Mona sat at the table, eating with a blissful expression.
"This is… too luxurious," she muttered, unable to stop herself.
Mondstadt — Outside the Last Inn
Meanwhile, Lumine and Paimon took another loss.
A locked door.
No answer.
And this was the last inn they could find.
After the storm, everyone seemed to assume no travelers would be arriving tonight—
so they'd closed early.
Paimon knocked anyway.
Nothing.
Lumine sat on the long bench outside, chin in her hand, staring into the cold lamplight.
Paimon—finally digested and no longer capable of sprint-eating—floated down beside her, exhausted.
"We're not that unlucky, right?" Paimon whispered. "We finally make it into the city and we're still sleeping outside?!"
Then she paused and spoke with rare seriousness.
"Lumine… maybe we're actually talented travelers!"
"…Go apologize to every traveler in Teyvat," Lumine said instantly.
In the wild, sure. Everyone suffered equally.
But inside a city—sleeping on the street?
That was humiliating.
"But why did you lie to Kaito earlier?" Paimon asked, genuinely baffled. "I didn't even get a chance to correct you. We didn't book anything!"
Even sleeping in Good Hunter's dining hall would've been fine.
Warm. Safe.
And it smelled like food.
"Kaito brought that girl—Mona—back with him," Lumine said quietly. "If they wanted to… you know… have privacy… it would be awkward if we were there."
"Privacy?" Paimon blinked.
Then she puffed up, hands on hips, righteous as ever. "That's adult stuff! What does it have to do with us?!"
Lumine hesitated.
Annoyingly… Paimon had a point.
"…But going back now is still embarrassing," Lumine muttered. "I already told him we booked a room."
And so they sat there, trapped by pride, defeated by closed doors.
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