2022. october 20th 13:00

after almost 3 years, you were finally back in your childhood house. a few days ago your parents began the process of moving you back to teyvat, and after a lot of papers, you were finally here. back where 15 years of your life were spent.

you didn't tell your 'friends' about it. because, truthfully, during those 3 years you grew apart. one reason was that they officially unveiled as a band therefore their days were busy, and they also had to deal with school on top of it, they simply didn't have the time to be on their phones to text you.

secondly, you were also busy with your new life overseas. honestly speaking, you didn't have a big wish to return to teyvat. sure you had a reason, but after all, you had already settled down overseas, and then your mom bought up the returning thing and you couldn't decline because she had already gone through a lot of trouble because of it.

now you couldn't contact anyone either so it didn't matter.

so here you were, in front of a house that needed a lot of cleaning. one of the good things was that your parents arranged for your school to start a week after you arrive so that you could settle down first.

In the past, your parents arranged for the house to be cleaned once a month and the courtyard to be mowed, so that when you come back you're not met with a jungle. Also, it was because of the laws.

not wasting more time, you dragged your luggage with you into the house. it was pretty much the same as you left it 3 years ago. most of the furniture was hidden by pieces of white cloth so that there isn't a ton of dust on them. the curtains tightly shut with no sunlight coming in. you could see this place needed a lot of cleaning.

that was only the first floor, there was still the second, which wasn't anything better. the house itself was an ancestral inheritance that was passed down from generation to generation. it consisted of two floors, one dressing room on the first floor, a kitchen, and a living room. a small bathroom near the entrance with the dressing room nearby. after the entrance, there was the living room, and after the living room, there was the kitchen.

there was also another bathroom with a shower and a bath attached to the living room. the second floor consisted of a small hallway near the stairs, there were three bedrooms and each had a small bathroom to them, at the furthest point of the 2nd floor There was a storage room that contained a lot of garbage.

the house had undergone a lot of renovations to look like what it does now. the color of the outside walls was white. the courtyard included a small pond, which countless children had accidentally fell into. but fortunately, it wasn't deep enough for someone to drown. now it required a lot of attention because it was overgrown and ugly. far away from its former glory.

there used to be a lot of flowers throughout the whole yard, but now all of it is just grass and weeds. this place really needs a lot of work to be put in. but that wasn't the thing you worried about for now.

first, you went up to the second floor and headed straight for your old room.

it was no exception, most of the furniture was covered by white sheets too. you put your luggage down in a corner and got to work. the rest of the day was cleaning and cleaning.

after a long and tiring day, you went to sleep. by the arrangements made by your mom, the electricity and water will be turned on tomorrow at noon. so then you will be able to do deeper cleaning, you also needed to go buy some products for that tomorrow.

thinking about all the exhausting tasks that are ahead, you drifted off to dream wonderland.

the next day when you woke up you went to check if the water is on, and it was. after washing your face and teeth you changed and went to the store. on your way there you saw an old friend, xiao.

around a year ago, everyone changed their numbers, so you had no way of contacting them. so when you arrived yesterday, even if you had found the time, you couldn't text anyone. which was depressing considering your past friendship.

putting that all aside, you wanted to go greet him. but then someone else walked up to xiao and they both left. this made your heart ache a little bit. after 3 years of not seeing each other, you are about to finally meet each other again, but then he gets dragged away just like that. whatever. you will have more chances to speak to him in the future anyway.

moving on you continue walking to the store. when you finally reached it, you saw a familiar purple head. except you didn't really recognize the purple head, you think you have seen him multiple times yet can't remember where.

not wanting to seem like you're impolitely staring at him, you went on trying to find the cleaning products you needed. until you saw kazuha, so you wanted to go greet him. but the next moment he and the purple-headed boy were walking out of the store.

what's with everyone walking away from me...

to be honest, by now it got a little annoying. it was as if fate didn't want you to meet anyone today. feeling a little sad you could only finish your business and head back to cleaning your house.

what you didn't notice is that the purple-haired boy noticed your intention of talking to kazuha and how your expression got a little gloomy once he walked away. but even so, he didn't say anything.

24th october 15.35

after a few days of non-stop cleaning the house and courtyard, did it barely return to its former glory. during these past few days, you didn't really meet your old friends personally, but you heard a lot of rumors.

apparently, after a month or so when you left, they officially unveiled and went with the name 4nemo. a year later they met heizou, more specifically venti met him. after a few months of being good friends, heizou joined 4nemo and they became 5wirl. from then on they quickly rose in popularity. another thing to add is that every year they release one song that's a collaboration between them and 'the wanderer'.

these collaborations are only in music videos, they don't go on live performances, unlike many other songs that 5wirl releases. the most popular member seems to be xiao, then heizou and kazuha following. then the rest of the rumors were ones that didn't matter. but one another thing that you heard is that apparently there are plans for a long-term collaboration project between the wanderer and 5wirl.

but since both of those artist groups are still in high school, there are doubts about that. not like it really mattered to you, looking at how popular your old group has become, you're doubting if they even remember you.

moving on, you currently still have 3 days left until high school resumes, and there is one person you have to visit. hu tao.

she is your online friend that you met a few months after you moved overseas. Fortunately or unfortunately, she happened to live in your old neighborhood. but unfortunately you just never met.

these past few days you had texted a bit, but not a lot since you were busy. you had told hu tao your address but she never came since she knew you were really busy. you also knew her address, so now that you have free time you decided it's a good time to finally meet her in person. but you couldn't just go empty-handed. and what can be better than a meat pie to bring along?

after over an hour when you were done baking the pie, you packed it up and left for hu tao. saying that you weren't feeling nervous would be a lie. cause after all, you were finally meeting your online best friend.

after a ten-minute walk, you reached her house. after taking a few deep breaths you knocked on the door. a short moment later a dark brown-haired girl opened the door.

"y/n..is that you? after all this time you finally decide to come!" after hu tao made sure it really is you, she tightly hugged you, and you tried hugging her back whilst also trying not to burn her back with the pie in your bag.

"hu tao, we finally meet"

"my dear friend, you made me wait for whole 4 days so you better have come prepared" hu tao and you joked around for a bit before you both went inside.

when you were inside you presented the meat pie.

"aha! so you did come prepared my good friend, is that a meat one?" hu tao asked while changing her line of sight between the pie and you.

"of course hu tao, we all know that meat pies are the best"

and so on you rambled on with hu tao for a good 5 hours at least before you headed back home. on your way there you saw xiao once again. this time you decided to seize the chance and strike up a conversation with him, depending on how it goes, you would decide whether you keep your distance or try to re-establish your bond.

"xiao!" you exclaimed while trying to catch up with him. xiao stopped in his tracks to look back. when he saw you, his eyes lit up for a moment.

"y/n, slow down, don't fall on flat ground" xiao quickly composed himself of his earlier surprise.

"xiao it's been so long since we last talked! i'm so glad to have run into you" you kept your voice somewhat calm, faking a smile along the way. it couldn't be helped after all the changes.

"mhm yeah, it has been over a year since we last talked" it sounded indifferent which gave off the impression that he didn't care. but from your past understanding of xiao, that wasn't the case. most of the time xiao sounded indifferent when he wasn't. you didn't want to believe that it changed.

"are you free right now? i would like to take you somewhere" in the past, xiao taking the initiative to invite someone was not a sight you would see every day, and it probably wasn't one now too. but one thing that surprised you are that xiao asked it without hesitation after his previous sentence.

"oho? xiao inviting someone, now that's a rare sight! who am i to decline it"

"yeah yeah, let's go already"

and so you began walking. at first, you wanted to ask a few questions but xiao refused to answer with the excuse being 'wait, we're gonna talk a little later'. you guessed he meant that you will talk at the place he's currently leading you to.

while you were slowly strolling to your destination you realized that it was actually quite dark outside. at 3 pm you decided to bake a pie, at around 5 pm you arrived at hu tao's door, 5 hours later you left. so now it must be 10 pm already .and you were on the streets.

well, you were with a childhood friend who you could trust with your life. sometime later you reached a two-staged building. it looked like some sort of cafe. "we're here. let's go inside, it's still open"

xiao basically confirmed your suspicions as you both went inside and sat down in a secluded spot.

now it was a little awkward. none of you spoke first. until a waiter came over. "is there anything you would like to order?" "no thank you" "me neither" the waiter wasn't disappointed nor surprised at your response.

"then i hope you enjoy your stay here. if you ever change your mind, ring the bell that's on the window" the waiter left. and with that you finally spoke up, "so xiao, how have you been doing?"

"i'm sorry" he suddenly apologized. your small guess was that the apology is for what happened a year ago "it's alright, i understand that you were busy and didn't have the time" you truly didn't blame him at any moment or held any resentful feelings.

then xiao explained the reason of why he had to change his number and never contacted you after that. turns out that around that time, 5wirl was steadily rising in popularity, and because of that there were some crazy fans who were able to leak everyone's private information. later on, it turned out it was their ex-manager who contacted those fans, and later on, they did get fired. but because their private information got leaked they had to change it in order for some crazy fans not to attack them.

at that time there were also important tests coming up, so under the pressure of finding a new manager, dealing with fans with no basic human decency, and studying, xiao and everyone else forgot about you. which they are ashamed to admit since you were The reason they even formed the band.

after xiao expressed his regrets you chatted away your time. after a few hours, you realized that it's almost 3am, and it being so late you two had to part and go home.

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