Rewind | Genshin Impact

Chapter 23

The group conversation went reasonably well. It was filled with jokes and laughter, making Venti momentarily forget about the horrible events yet to occur. The more Venti talked to Kaeya, the more he wanted to prevent the mans death. Sure, the blue haired boy wasn't perfect, far from it in fact, but he seemed to have his heart in the right place. 

At some point in the conversation, Razor and even Diluc joined. The red haired boy blamed his participation on 'not having anyone else to speak to.' Although Venti could tell due to his small smiles and soft chuckles that deep down he was pleased to have his brother back.

Despite their pleasant exchange, Venti couldn't help but to turn back every so often to check on Xiao. He didn't know exactly why, and knew that Xiao was perfectly capable of looking after himself, but the thought of him talking alone with Scaramouche made him feel uneasy. Venti wouldn't be surprised if Scaramouche had some skeletons in his closest, and honestly, Venti really didn't want to dig far enough into the other boys history to confirm his theory. 

He looked to his left, noticing how every so often Kazuha would also look back at the other two as well.

Therefore, when the group conversation died down and everyone began to form their own conversations in pairs or threes, Venti didn't hesitate to divert his full attention onto Kazuha.

"So, Kazuha..." He began, a picture perfect smile shaping his face as he placed his hands behind his back. "How have you been?" 

"As well as I've been on any other fine day I suppose." Kazuha hummed in reply, the blonde boy pushing some loose strands of hair behind his ear. "And you?"

Venti chuckled nervously, how has he been? Well, he is stuck in a never ending time loop so he hasn't been at his best. Not that he could share that. "I could be better." He decided to settle on, which Kazuha nodded his head at. "Have you been up to anything... Peculiar, recently?" Venti then asked, obviously failing at coming across nonchalant and not suspicious due to the brief confusion that flashed past Kazuha's eyes, however the other boy quickly masked his expression. 

"Excuse me if this comes across rude, but what exactly do you mean by that?" Kazuha questioned, titling his head in a way which caused his bangs to fall into his eyes.

"Oh, uh, nothing much. I was just wondering, are you interested in Gemology?" He questioned, pulling at his green braids.

"Gemology?" Kazuha repeated, confusion present in his voice.

"Yeah, the study of gems, ehe." Venti replied, rocking back and forth on his feet in nerves, hoping that he hasn't already screwed this up.

"Uh, no, not particularly." Kazuha answered, now not trying to hide his evident confusion. "I do not want to press, but may I ask why?"

Venti chuckled nervously, "no particular reason, I just find gems interesting, personally. Say, does Scaramouche know anything about gemology?" 

"Does Scaramouche-" Kazuha repeated, hesitating before he continued speaking. "Not that I know of." He then answered. Venti isn't the best at studying people and their body language, however from what he could see Kazuha seemed to be genuine. "I didn't know gems could be that interesting." Kazuha then added as an afterthought. "Perhaps I should look into them."  

"Yeah, maybe, ehe." Venti chuckled, relieved that Kazuha didn't seem to notice his strange behaviour, or at least didn't comment on it.

"You know," Kazuha began, the blonde boys volume dropping a few octaves and gaining Venti's full attention. "Actually-"

But before he could say anything more, three loud knocks came from the door startling everyone nearby.

Great.

Chongyun quickly made his way to the door, opening it to reveal a man carrying three big bags full of takeout. As if timing couldn't get any worse.

Venti's eyes travelled over to where Kaeya was, the blue haired boy seemingly perking up at the sight of food. Venti internally groaned at this, how was he going to convince a very hungry Kaeya to not eat the extremely appetising food they just brought? He really didn't plan this out.

Venti sighed before turning back to Kazuha, perhaps he still had enough time to find out what the other boy was going to say. But he was too late, because before he knew it Scaramouche was making his way to Kazuha, Xiao following behind.

Scaramouche eyed Venti suspiciously, before his eyes trailed over to Kazuha then back to Venti again. "Is everything okay?" He then asked Kazuha, his voice low but loud enough for Venti to pick up on it.

Kazuha met Venti's eye, some sort of realisation seemed to dawn on the blonde before he met Scaramouche's eye. "Yes, Venti and I were just engaging in conversation about our shared classes to pass time." He answered, underlying caution in his voice. Venti was surprised, but extremely grateful, that Kazuha lied.  

Scaramouche looked back at Venti, then Xiao, then Kazuha again. "Is that so?" He inquired, suspicion lacing his every word. Venti quickly sent Xiao a panicked look, Xiao quickly shaking his head in return before diverting his attention back to Scaramouche.

Kazuha seemed to pick up on the atmosphere, as he quickly slipped his hand into Scaramouche's. "Yes. We should probably go get some food. It was nice talking to you Venti, Xiao." He said, a neutral mask covering his expression and his voice not wavering. Before anyone could say anything else, Kazuha walked away, dragging Scaramouche along with him. Venti released a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

He turned to Xiao, eager to question him about his interaction with Scaramouche. However, the other boy just shook his head and grabbed Venti's arm, pulling him aside. 

"Later." Xiao muttered, the two of them watching the line of people going to grab their food. That's when Xiao's eyes narrowed at him. "Aren't you meant to be watching Kaeya?" He questioned.

Shit