Those Willing to Drown | Beiguang x GN! Reader

ARC III-ACT II

Pulling open the door of Beidou's small office, Kazuha was sweet enough to lead you in - patting your back in a comforting manner. She sat on the desk with her head down, obviously focused on the yellow tinted letter she continued to write in as you both walked up to her.

Kazuha cleared his throat. "Beidou? Can we talk for a second?"

"Yeah? What's up?" She finally placed the quill pen down into the small cup of blank ink.

"The other day you said Y/n would be joining the crew again because they quit their job, is that true?"

The woman sat back on her chair and folded her arms, tilting her head at you. "Well I wanted to keep it more humble, it would sound bad if I said they fired you after all."

"Beidou they didn't fire me." You frowned, taking a step towards her desk. "I'm going to work tomorrow, these were just my days off."

"If you say so." She sighed, shrugging. "Just don't act surprised when they don't let you enter."

"What's making you say this?" Kazuha questioned the woman.

Almost immediately, as if expecting this, she reached out to a paper right beside her and lifted it towards you. "I got this delivered to me the other day, make of it what you will but to me it looks like the better option right now is to just return to the ship. You know you're always welcome he-"

You looked up from the letter, furrowing your brows at the woman. "Who sent you this?"

"Your boss." She shrugged. "That little old lady that owns the restaurant."

"When did she send it to you?"

"Yesterday."

"When we were stocking up on food together?"

As if having caught on to her bump in her... truth... she stopped, chuckling. "No, before leaving the ship actually. The true reason I approached you at Baizhu's pharmacy was because I wanted to speak to you about it, actually, but when I saw that fatui guy with you I got distracted and forgot about it."

"Wait." Kazuha shook his head. "Then if you got this letter yesterday, why did you mention they would be returning to the ship all those days ago?"

"When I visited them at the restaurant, I brought up the idea of them returning if I paid them a little extra so they could pay off their debt." Her eyes snapped to you, cold and hollow. "I got excited because I thought the right answer would be obvious to them and they would accept the decision, I guess I celebrated too soon though."

The boy beside you opened his mouth to say something, but slowly shut it, giving up on all argument. "I see."

"But ma' said I'd be returning for my shift tomorrow. It just doesn't make sense to me why she would fire me like this." You frowned.

There had to be something more to this, right? It was too quick of a change in ma' for it to have been natural, for this to have been real.

You peeked at Beidou before darting your eyes back to the page. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

"To who?" Kazuha pouted.

"To ma'. I want to at least know why I'm being let off like this, to talk to her personally." You had hoped this would trigger Beidou to react. To stand up and laugh saying this was all a prank to play with your little anxieties.

However, she just sat there on her desk, arms crossed. "Very well, we'll be waiting here for when you return."

You left without another word.