Chapter Text
“This is all gold?!”
Kazuha watched curiously as the man who claimed his quirk could determine whether something was genuine or not sifted his way through a bag of mora. Said bag only contained about 100 coins but it was better than nothing.
The people browsing about also seemed to pick up on the odd man's screech, turning towards Kazuha and Scaramouche in disbelief. Muffled confusion and disbelief rising like the tide.
“I’ll give ya two million yen right here if you let me take the bag!” Their original consultant turned towards them and slowly drew his eyes away from his currently coated in mora hands.
A scandalized gasp and a woman came forward. “Don’t sell them short!” She grabbed Kazuha’s uninjured hand with vigor. “Hand me the bag and four million yen will be all yours.”
“WHAT?!”
“No, I have a better offer!”
“What in the world? Is it even real gold?!”
Kazuha wasn’t entirely sure if that was a lot in this world's currency but taking in the steadily increasing amounts from the people around them, he would assume so.
Chiemi-san had suggested that the two visit a pawn shop and exchange the mora they carried on them when she heard of their lacking funds. Both wanderers had jumped on board, figuring that it was the best decision given their current predicament.
They had then found the richly furnished store with Chiemi-san’s directions and as per decided had handed over a smaller amount of mora to gauge the price they could expect.
It didn’t take long for the highest bidder, an older man dressed head to toe in a simple suit, to usher the two to the back of the store where he proceeded to hand over a fully stocked briefcase in exchange for the 100 or so mora. Kazuha had found nothing strange about it given that all currency in Teyvat was physical coins, yet when an informed Chiemi-san lectured both boys on shady people and the invention of credit cards later, Kazuha realized their fault. Shocking, truly.
So now with rather new deep pockets and far too many unfinished cups of tea surrounding them, Kazuha sat side by side with Scaramouche on the kitchen table testing out the snacks they had acquired from a quaint shop on the corner just yesterday. The teenager who worked there had asked for a picture with them and apparently took it with a slim black box they held up. Kazuha found himself rather curious how it worked.
Chiemi had gone to purchase her groceries earlier leaving Kazuha and Scaramouche to do as they pleased. She had been hosting them for a little time now, overjoyed to have others within her home. She seemed completely fine with welcoming the two strangers into her home, even openly asking them to stay longer. Scaramouche had asked her at one point if she had any other visitors out of curiosity, Chiemi hadn’t answered, only looking off distantly and tensing, they didn’t ask again.
Either way, Kazuha could not deny that he had gotten fairly attached to the older woman, seeing her as a grandparent he never had the chance to fully connect with. He was fully aware that the sentiment was shared in Scaramouche, given that the wanderer had spent more than a few hours dissecting the different tea samples he could find with her.
“Kazuha, catch.”
Before whatever it was that Scaramouche had thrown could barrel straight into his face, Kazuha reached out and plucked it from the air. Despite the now thoroughly scrunched up packaging it remained mostly intact. The beaming face of a purple haired woman smiled back at him, a crinkle in the plastic separating half her face. Vivid pink lettering took up most of the free space on the rather small packet. "Wonder bolt Boom!"
Curiously and with little hesitation Kazuha peeled the bag open and peered inside. Multiple tiny balls stared back at him all the colors of the rainbow. Offering some to Scaramouche, of which he declined, Kazuha popped the contents into his mouth and immediately tasted regret. He almost wanted to gag at the violently foul sweetness that attacked his senses.
“Too sweet?”
“Like eating spoonfuls.” It almost hurt to reply, a grimace sneaking onto his face.
Obviously, Scaramouche hadn’t shared his terrible experience and only hummed in response before stuffing the half empty packet back into a bag across from him.
Without a second glance, Scaramouche rifled through the bag in search of his new victim, in the process knocking down several little trinkets and a black stick. To be honest, Kazuha hadn’t even noticed what had happened, too busy wishing the thick layer of sugar on his tongue would dissolve until a mundane beep and the sudden cheers of people echoed down the halls.
Both wanderers were immediately on guard, flickering over everything in search of where all the numerous people had apparently come from.
The two made a shocking discovery when investigating further, within the living room the black box they hadn’t asked about and simply ignored, held countless little people all either screaming or cheering.
“The assassin from class B!” A much louder voice dominated the others, cheers disastrously increasing as a girl with what appeared to be vines for hair stepped onto a stage like block of concrete. He couldn’t help but compare her to the man he had encountered at the beginning of their misshapen adventure, his fishing rope for hair and larger than most build. “Pretty things have thorns, you know!”
“She’s like the dragon tattoo man,” Scaramouche’s catalyst had appeared in response to his agitation, hovering within the air like an omen. “Rope hair.” Kazuha wouldn’t have caught the sneer if he wasn’t so attuned to his surroundings, even if they were unfamiliar.
“From the hero course, it’s Ibara Shiozaki! Versus–”
Both wanderers stayed on guard, focusing completely as another tiny box person walked onto the rock stage.
“Sparkling Killing Boy! From the hero course, it’s Denki Kaminari!”
Sparkling Killing Boy???
Red eloped the black box, obscuring the people and presenting ‘Battle on, Challengers!’
“How curious.” The cheering increased 10-fold, tapping repetitively against Kazuha’s skull. The black box kept flickering to different angles of the box people, so much so it became awfully disorientating to keep up with.
The loud voice from before seemed to scream something again but Kazuha couldn’t bring himself to care, watching tiredly transfixed as the vine girl fussed over something about an assassin before light from who knows where shined down on her in an Archon like manner.
“Whoa, I didn’t actually think they’d go at it.” His partner almost sounded morbidly amused, attention purely on the box as the fight ended in seconds.
Kazuha had to admit, quirks greatly interested him for their potential and the pure insanity in which they altered the world the two wanderers had found themselves in. Chiemi-san had given them a thorough run down of where they found themselves, a world of black and white, heroes and villains. He questioned why Chiemi-san had taken them in at all given how conspicuous the two were.
Beside him Scaramouche almost looked childish, staring straight into the box with pure unfiltered curiosity and Kazuha allowed himself to drift back from the mind-ridden state he’d found himself in more often than not since they arrived here, maybe it'd be alright.