Reputations-Beiguang

Chapter seven

Months after the fight, the chatter never died down. People still talked about it, but never to her face. The whole situation was still a mess, but many different opinions formed. People kept looking at Beidou weirdly. Some even feared her. She never understood why, but got over it and took it as a compliment. At some point a weird thought crossed her mind. Were they scared of her because they knew what she was like all those years ago?

It was a funny thought really. The fact it might be true made her anxious. Beidou knew throwing away her identity wasn't possible, but she never wanted to hurt people. Complete opposite. Beidou liked helping people. It was strange enough because she did threaten a lot of kids in her past years. That was only for self defense or defending someone else. Other than that, it's just the past stuff she did that she regrets. It isn't hard to figure out why.

"Beidou." a voice calls out, drowning the voice in her head. The brunette looks up to see Ningguang standing in front of her.

Ningguang takes a seat next to her. "So, what do you want to do after school? You promised me one of these days that you'd treat me." she reminded. Beidou and Ningguang had started hanging out more and began to hang out beyond school hours.

Beidou freezes. "You're really gonna bring up the past, huh? Well good because I just got some money yesterday." Beidou struggles while pulling out a couple of dollars.

Ningguang snickers, "you don't have to show me. I believe you." Beidou smirks while feeling proud of herself for remembering.

The two had always hung out after school when Ganyu and Keqing wandered off. Of course they had other friends, but ever since the Childe situation, she liked keeping her options limited. Being nice to people didn't mean that you had to be close with them. That strategy was how she got around.

"Do you just want to head there straight after school or?" Beidou asks. Ningguang nods and crosses her legs.

It felt like she was being formal to spite her, but she didn't necessarily hate it. Things were still a bit akward for the two them. Ningguang still remembering Beidou from way back when was playing a huge role on how she acted around her.

Ningguang then looks confused. "Beidou wait," she pauses, "how did you get that money?"

Beidou starts to sweat and looks away nervously. "Ah- it's not important." she dodges the question. Ningguang raises an eyebrow. The question was simple, so why was she acting so shady?

"Really?" Ningguang squints. Beidou nods aggressively, insisting to change the topic. "A-Anyway! So I know this pretty cool cafe near the arcade. You know, the one I got-" she pauses, "-in a fight at.."

Ningguang laughs, "you got into a fight at a cafe? My god you're hopeless." Beidou felt better to see her friend laughing.

"Yeah, but it wasn't even my fault. He started it and I wasn't gonna let him push me around." she huffs. Beidou tried to keep her tough attitude as if Ningguang hadn't been able to see right through it.

Ningguang crosses her arms, "if you wanted him to leave you alone, why did you just walk away?" Beidou turns to her as if she was the dumbest person to walk the earth. It was slightly humliating.

"It's never that easy. Sometimes people don't take no for an answer." she responds sadly. Ningguang feels insant regret afterwards. The two sit in silence for a minute, taking the conversatiin they just had. That sounded so insensitive, why did I say that? Ningguang thoughts spiraled.

Ningguang not wanting to be a bad person, apologized. "I'm sorry Beidou. I might never know what it's like, but it's unfortunate you have to deal with that." Beidou gave a simple smile. Just enough to let Ningguang's guilt slow wash away.