Rewind | Genshin Impact

Chapter 9

After the conversation at dinner, most of the evening was spent with  Xiao and Venti wondering and discussing who the murderer could be. Venti wrote everyone's name down on a nearby napkin and put checkboxes next to the names, to help keep track. Venti, again, attempted to get information out of Xiao about Scaramouche, although every time he attempted Xiao would give him the same response as last time, 'it's not him.' Completely shutting Venti down. Xiao also told Venti that they needed to keep an eye on Xingqiu and his interactions. Even though Venti was almost positive it wasn't him, Xiao said that there must have at least been a good reason why he was accused in the last loop, and the fact that he was the one to organize the dinner and make the food was awfully suspicious. 

By the time nine o clock came around, and Xingqiu went into the kitchen, Venti knew what was coming.

"Where did all the food go?!" Xingqiu's panicked voice was heard as everyone looked towards his direction in concern. Venti looked at Xiao and smiled cheekily, Xiao smirked in response. Now, Venti would feel bad for Xingqiu, but at the end of the day this was for the best. If Xingqiu knew the truth behind the situation he would be thanking Venti. Because at the end of the day, there's Venti to thank considering he is not going to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Xingqiu stormed out of the kitchen, anger evident on his face as he pointed his finger accusingly at Xiao and Venti. Now this definitely got rid of Venti's smile.

"You!" There was betrayal and hurt evident in his voice. "Why would you do that?! You know how hard I worked on it, but you just got rid of it just so you could get your 'take-out?!'"

Everyone turned to face Xiao and Venti's direction, as the sound of gasps and scoffs filled the room. Venti held his hands up in surrender. "Why do you just blame us?" 

"Because who else could it be?! You were talking about delaying eating the food all evening. Why would you do this to me?!"

Venti was planning to respond and make up an excuse, but luckily Xiao decided that this would be the appropriate time to jump in. "It happens sometimes." He said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. 

"What happens sometimes?" Xingqiu questioned, confusion heard in his voice.

"It's a legend from my home town. On rare occasions, after someone's arrival back home from a long journey food disappears. It represents how much we missed them, and we would sacrifice good food just to spend another day with them." Xiao's voice trailed off at the final part, and Venti knew what the other boy was referring to.

"Your hometown seems to have a lot of legends." Scaramouche stated, however it was evident due to his tone that he didn't believe Xiao's story.

"It most certainly does." Xiao shot back rather aggressively, a look of warning in his eyes directed at Scaramouche. 

That's weird...

"In none of the books I've read have I heard of such a thing." Xingqiu said, taken aback. Obviously suspicious of the whole situation. 

"Because these legends don't just get put into books, it's sacred."

Bennett suddenly stood up from where he was sitting. He titled his head to the left slightly, seemingly deep in thought. "But that doesn't make much sense, I know your home town is very serious about your legends but this legend doesn't seem realistic at all, it seems cruel." 

Razor stood up next to his boyfriend and held his hand, looking both at Xiao and Venti in wonder. "Razor agrees."

Before anyone could open their mouth to comment further, it took Venti by great surprise when he saw Diluc get up next. "And you're questioning Xiao's home town traditions?"

Amber then spoke up, there was obvious anger in her eyes and aggression in her voice. "And you're just going to ignore all Xingqiu's hard work for some traditions!?" She yelled out, taking everybody by surprise and shutting everyone up. She quickly backtracked, mumbling, "I mean, I know how painful it is when you work hard on something and it's taken away from you." 

Kazuha then spoke up in a calm voice, "there is nothing much we can do, and we shouldn't blame Xiao and Venti either. I have traditions from my home town as well." 

Xingqiu looked on the brink of tears, which almost made Venti feel bad. Almost. But he knew this was for the best.

"So, takeout?" Venti suggested with a shrug.