Rewind | Genshin Impact

Chapter 4

20th April 2020

The news of Kaeya's death shocked and devastated everyone. Kaeya was one of the last people others expected to die - he was so young and healthy. No one would have been able to guess it.

The few days following his death was spent in mourning, the authorities and paramedics suspected that his death was due to medical issues. Therefore, when everyone at the dinner party was called to the police station, it surprised and scared them deeply. 

Venti entered the station and saw that everyone else was already there, Bennett and Chongyun left earlier than Venti because they were sick of waiting around.

Diluc was standing in the corner of the room, seemingly in a deep conversation with Scaramouche. 

Weird, what really was the deal with Scaramouche?

 Although before he could inquire further, he head Amber call his name and went to sit next to her. Xiao was sitting on the other side of the brunette. 

"Isn't it tragic?" Amber gushed, her eyes were red and puffy, presumably due to a lot of crying. Venti hummed and nodded in response. 

"Who do you think did it?" Venti was glad he wasn't drinking water at the time, or else it would have ended up all over the floor. He widened his eyes at the statement and turned towards Xiao, who was looking at him emotionless. "Well, they wouldn't have just called us over here for nothing." Xiao continued on, matter-of-factly. 

Venti was just about to reply but Amber beat him too it. "You think that one of us could have killed him? We all loved Kaeya!" She expressed, a look of horror in her eyes.

"Well we'll see." Xiao shrugged. Then he stood up and went to sit with Chongyun and Xingqiu, who were huddled in the corner. 

"Do you think he- well do you believe him?" Amber whispered to Venti once Xiao was out of earshot.

Honestly, Venti didn't know what he believed. He hoped that Xiao was just being dramatic and gloomy. However, a turning feeling in his gut convinced him to believe otherwise. As he was just about to reply, he heard the door open as a police officer entered and beckoned them to follow him into another room. 

Once they entered and were seated, the officer paced in front of them for a few minutes, before stopping and facing them.

"We finished an autopsy on Kaeya-" He began, making Venti perk up in his seat. "It's suspicious." The police officer continued on, which brought about anxious muttering. 

"What do you mean - suspicious?" Lumine finally spoke up.

"Kaeya's death wasn't an accident, it was food poisoning." The police officer announced, eyeing them all as gasps and whispers broke out.

"Food poisoning?" Xingqiu said, as he stood up from his seat. "What do you mean food poisoning?"

"Hang on-" Diluc suddenly piped in. "Weren't you the one who cooked the food?" He questioned the dark blue haired boy.

"W-w-what?" Xingqiu stuttered, then he chuckled a bit. "You can't actually believe it's me right?"

Chongyun stood up next to his boyfriend. "There's no way it's Xingqiu, you've got to be insane."

"I'm sorry-" The police officer began, as he harshly reached over and grabbed Xingqiu, yanking him to his side. "But you're coming with me, the rest of you are going into questioning."

"W-wait what?!" Chongyun pressed on. "You can't just- take- him."

Diluc quickly acted and grabbed onto Chongyun so he wouldn't try anything.

"This is ridiculous- there is no way!" The light blue haired boy pressed on. "Xingqiu couldn't have-"

"It's okay." Xingqiu interrupted him, with a sad smile. "It's going to be okay."

Then that was that, Xingqiu was dragged out of the room and everyone else was ordered by authorities to follow them, and were given instructions on how the questioning would go.

***

25th April 2020

The questioning had been intense to say the least. It had gone on for a few days and they definitely didn't hold back - asking Venti everything that came to mind. However, it was obvious by their questions that they strongly suspected Xingqiu.

Despite the evidence, majorly, pointing to Xingqiu. Venti just couldn't see it. Besides, as far as Venti was aware Xingqiu had no reason to actually kill Kaeya. As far as he was concerned - they had a reasonably good relationship and he had never seen a suspicious interaction between them. Unlike the interaction he saw him have with Scaramouche. 

Scaramouche....

Now he, was suspicious. Firstly, obviously, the conversation Venti witnessed at the dinner party. That definitely wasn't just friendly banter. There was a serious, underlying matter with their interaction. The question was just what...? 

Secondly, if people are warning him not to get too close to Scaramouche that has to be a sign, right?  Mona and Lumine's warning must mean something. There was also the whole thing with Xiao, he was certainly acting suspicious when Venti was about to interfere. 

Perhaps he knew something.

He needed to find Xiao.