Chapter Text
After what happened at Brightcrown Canyon, their relationship became better than when they were in Eula's room. Collei didn't get so scared when she was alone with Eula, and Eula didn't act too awkwardly when there was Collei. And compared to the first time, Eula never said she was against dating Amber and Collei again.
Today is the 5th day since Collei comes to Mondstadt, and lucky for them, she comes near the windblume festival and today is the first day of the windblume festival. So right now, after Amber and Eula finish their duty as a member of Favonious Knight, they're strolling around Mondstadt to enjoy the festival.
First, they eat at Good Hunter and then try participating in Floral Pursuit. Because Floral Pursuit can't be experienced with more than two people in the field, they take a turn to play. In the first round, Amber plays with Collei in the area to collect bloom balloons, and Eula becomes an observer and helps them navigate the balloon, goal, and Ersatz Balloons.
Amber the dominant one in the game told Collei where she would go next, and Collei responded to Amber's information by moving to a different area so they didn't meet each other and maximized their time to collect the bloom balloons.
Thanks to Amber and Collei's perfect teamwork and skill as an outrider and a ranger, the game didn't take long to finish with an amazingly high score. Even Eula thought they didn't really need her help navigating the area, seeing how quickly they reacted and avoided Ersatz Balloons.
By the end of their first round, Amber started playing round 2 with Eula thinking Collei needed to rest a little because she was worried about Collei's well-being and the fact that she just recovers from her Eleazar's illness.
Not that different when playing with Collei, Amber and Eula play in perfect sync. The difference is they use weird and short words like a code that they usually use when doing their job as a scout or fighting with an enemy, like 12, 200, to tell Eula there's an Ersatz Balloon at twelve o'clock in 200 meters. And to ensure they do not mix which or where is twelve o'clock, they already decide where the goal or exit is twelve o'clock.
Hearing Amber and Eula's code makes Collei dizzy, and she can't intervene and help them, afraid to disturb their concentration and doesn't know the meaning behind those codes. She imagined that if she lived long enough in Mondstadt, she could use code like that with them. She thinks it will be cool because it's something that just them know and is more efficient. Unfortunately, she can't live forever in Mondstadt because she has a ranger job in Sumeru.
Thinking she will leave Mondstadt and both of them makes Collei bitter. It's not like she dislikes her job, but when she's back to Sumeru, she will return to her empty house, do scouting alone, eat alone, and don't have a friend to talk to. Yes, she has her master Tighnari, but she respects him as a teacher, and the closest he is to her is like a parent, so she can't speak to him freely without respect. Without realizing it, Collei let out a loud sigh, and she heard a voice beside her that made her jump of surprised.
"Are you okay? You seem dejected. Are you homesick?" Amber said while grap Collei's shoulder and see her with concern.
It seems Amber and Eula's game is over for a while when Collei's busy with her negative mind. Right now, both of them look at her in concern, which makes Collei feels bad to makes them worried about her.
"I'm okay, Amber." Collei said with a weak smile that couldn't convince anyone to think she was okay.
Although still worried about Collei, Amber doesn't push Collei to talk and decides she will surely tell them if she wants to talk about it. So she said, "Okay, if you want to talk about it, just tell us." Amber gives her best and most reassuring smile to Collei.
In response, Collei smiles at her to thank her, and Eula is eying her in suspicion like she knows what Collei thinks to make her like that. But she decides not to say anything. Instead, it's her turn to engulf her mind with a frown on her face.
Being observant, Amber saw that and said, "What, right now it's Eula's turn!? Both of you have a bad habit of overthinking about everything!" Amber closed herself to Eula and caressed Eula's brow to straighten it.
Aware of Amber's closeness to her and Collei's seeing them with red faces while covering her eyes with her hands makes Eula frown more to hide her embarrassment "Amber!" Eula said while glaring at Amber, trying to say, 'I will remember this!' with her glare.
"Eula!" Amber said in jest while grinning.
Seeing this makes Eula more embarrassed, so Eula quickly drags Collei to play round 3 with her. "Let's go, Collei. Leave this stupid bunny here grinning like a weirdo."
Can't do anything, Collei lets herself be dragged by Eula. Seeing them like that makes Collei smile a little, feel a little better, and forgets her negative thinking.
On the other hand, Amber's grin never leaves her face when she sees Eula dragging Collei to the arena to start round 3. In her opinion, it's a significant progress between them because the first day they're together, Eula always lets her stand between them or puts some distance with Collei awkwardly.
When the third round start, they do it individually. Not sure if it's okay to order each other, especially Collei. She has an image that someone like Eula didn't take the order from anyone below her. Because of that, they always meet at some point in the arena.
Seeing this, Amber step in and give an order for them to follow. "Collei, turn left, Eula on right! And Eula, tell what you see that can help Collei!"
Amber shouted to make sure both of them heard it.
"...." Thinking about how to tell Collei for a while, Eula got lost in her mind and didn't see Ersatz Balloon coming to her.
"Eula in front of you!" Amber said, panicky.
Hearing Amber's panicked voice snaps Eula from her mind, and then she quickly jumps to the side and runs past the Ersatz Balloon. "Sorry, I didn't see that," Eula said while seeing Amber apologetically, and then she continued, "Collei, after you finish there, goes straight to the next room. I will handle the leftover bloom balloons."
"Okay!" Collei said, and then she quickly collected the balloon near her and went to the next room like Eula said.
After that, the game ran less severely than the first minutes they started. They start communicating in between their game to tell where is the Ersatz Balloon although not as efficient as Eula and Amber or Collei and Amber, they still manage it pretty well for their first time being a partner.
When the game ended, Eula said, "I think it's pretty good for our first time." while playing with her hair, trying to hide her embarrassment because she was not used to giving praise.
"I think so too! I'm so proud of both of you." Amber said while group-hugged them.
"I'm glad if you said so..." Collei said bashfully, being hugged like this was her first time experiencing something this warm.
"Girls, I don't want to ruin the mood, but we must go home because it's already this late." Eula said while patting Amber and Collei's head to get their attention.
"Yeah, when you mention it, I just realized it's already this dark. Tomorrow, let's try different games!" Amber says excitedly, can't wait to try every attraction in this year's Windblume festival.
"Just don't forget we still have a job tomorrow morning."
"Now you're ruining the mood~" Amber says in a sing-a-song tone, still high with excitement.
When the fun part is over, Collei can't help her mind to think back about the fact that she doesn't have a long time to stay in Mondstadt. And the situation didn't get any better when she saw her teacher Tighnari with Cyno in Mondstadt.
The first reaction Collei has when she sees both of them, of course, is surprised because the last time Tighnari said that he was still busy and couldn't accompany her to Mondstat, but now here he is with Cyno. "Teacher!? I think you're busy. Why are you here?"
"Ohh, Collei finally we can find you. We just met with the traveler and some of Mondstadt's people at the front gate." Tighnari wants to explain why they're here, but Cyno beats him and says, "He's really worried about you, so after he gives the order to everyone, he comes here as quickly as possible. And because I'm worried about him going alone, I decide to go with him, and of course, I'm worried about you too." Cyno said, as a matter of fact, with a flat tone.
"Says the person that comes because of TCG cards." Tighnari says while crossing his arms while scowling because Cyno says something unnecessary.
Before they start their endless debate, Collei says, "Okay, both of you, it's enough. I know both of you have your reason, and I don't know if it's true or not, but I thank both of you for worrying about me." Collei said while giving them a smile
"Wow, I never see Collei talking like that... It's unlike her. I mean in a good way." Amber whispered to Eula while admiring Collei while she tried to stop her teacher and his friend.
"I will be more surprised if she talks timidly with them like she's with me." Eula says to Amber with the same low voice so Collei doesn't hear them.
After Tighnari and Cyno calm down, Collei starts to speak again to introduce her....what? Thinking about it, she didn't know about their relationship after that night in Eula's room. Doesn't think Collei will introduce them, Tighnari says, "So, who's the persons behind you?"
"Oh!" Collei jumped a little when she heard Tighnari say that, and then she just said, "She's Amber. Maybe you already know her." Collei said while looking at Amber, that gave them a wave of her hand with a big smile. "And the other one is Eula." Collei continued introducing them without further explaining their relationship or job, unsure if they were okay with it.
"I see, It's nice to meet both of you. I'm Tighnari, Collei's teacher, and this is Cyno."
"Nice to meet chu." Cyno said, trying his bad jokes on them with that stoic face.
"Ughh, stop it. I already heard enough for today." Tighnari said while rolling his eye, not impressed.
"Hahaha, don't worry about it." it seems Amber thinks Cyno is really interesting and funny, like how he can talk like that with a flat tone and that face. Meanwhile, Eula just raised her brow, don't understand what's the funny part of it.
"See, this girl seems like she knows a good thing." Cyno said, proud of himself.
Hearing that Tighnari just let out a big sigh, don't want to argue more. "Just to let you know, we will stay in the Goth Grand Hotel until the Windblume festival is over, so you can stay for a while and return later with us."
"Okay then. I will return with them, and we can talk more in the morning." Collei said while glancing at where Amber and Eula were to tell Tighnari she would stay with them.
"Good night, Collei / teacher & Cyno." after Tighnari and Collei say goodbye, they return to their place to rest.