𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙵𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚝 | ✦ Hu Tao x Male!Reader

29. 𝙼𝚊𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚜

Aether walked to the spot near Ayaka and Itto, who waved at him with bright smiles as he sat next to the two.

"Hey, you're back! You okay now?" Itto asked with a brash grin, as he slapped Aether's back, as the blonde seemed to be slightly uncomfortable at the sudden gesture.

"Yes, I am. Kokomi's healing is extremely powerful. What happened while I was out?" The traveler asked, and Itto's gaze went to Ayaka, who seemed slightly tired.

"Well, I dueled against Kazuha. He won, almost unscathed..." She said, as she hid her frustration with a blank stare, which Aether was quick to notice.

"...I see. Then the next battle is Murasaki against him, right?"

He asked, deciding to not pry into the girl's problems before the three noticed Kokomi and Gorou walking towards them.

"Aether! You're up! That was an awesome fight!" Gorou said, his ears perking up as he noticed the Traveler, who turned to face the two.

"Thanks." He nodded, as his gaze shifted towards Kokomi, who politely smiled at the blonde.

"So, are we all gonna be watching it together?" Itto asked the group, as none seemed to have any complaints about it.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Yoimiya's loud voice could be heard from a distance, as she hurried to join the group.

"Yoimiya! Where were you?" Aether asked as the blonde sat next to the group. "I was chatting with Murasaki! She kind of disappeared like always, but she's probably going to show up in a minute for the finals." The girl said, soon lifting a small sign which had a photo of Murasaki.

"Oh, you got one of those too?" Itto asked as he lifted an identical sign, while Aether lifted one with Kazuha's photo on it. Yoimiya nodded, "Yeah! Paimon's been distributing them since the break started!" She said, as Ayaka shyly decided to perhaps just choose the same sign Aether did.

Shinobu silently approached the group and only gave a few waves to each other before sitting down without grabbing any signs.

Looking around, Aether could see that many people had taken mostly Kazuha signs, although there were still many people who were cheering for Murasaki.

- Why is Kokomi holding a Kazuha sign while... so intense? -

He thought as he watched the girl cheer on against Murasaki after sitting next to Gorou.

Also, he was very surprised by how hard Paimon had been working without him, she barely even asked for his help. It was probably because he was participating in the tournament, so she didn't want to trouble him, which was still surprising.

Aether glanced at the silver-haired guide, who floated around holding many signs, and letting people choose which sign they wanted to hold, that is, for who they want to cheer for.

He had chosen to take a Kazuha sign as he was still slightly frustrated at his loss, but it wasn't anything he should worry about, after all, Murasaki was definitely on their side.

"Hey, that's her!"

A voice came from the crowd, bringing Aether back to reality, as they all turned to face Murasaki, who silently walked to the arena. She had new clothes, as she had destroyed her clothes in her battle against him.

She seemed to look around, as she tied the ropes holding her hair up tighter.

"Murasaki!!! You can do it!!!"

A loud cheer came from Yoimiya and Itto, who began to balance their signs in absolute synchrony. The girl looked at the two, letting out a laugh before waving at the two in the distance.