Chapter Text
Yoimiya sighs as she slowly finishes off her breakfast. This kind of dark mood really isn’t like her, but…
A festival without fireworks? Absolutely ridiculous already, but Yoimiya could handle it.
All firework-based experimentation being banned in the entirety of Inazuma for the duration of a festival that’s occurring only in Ritou, with no warning prior to the first day of the festival?
It’s like the Yashiro Commission has decided to rip all of the joy out of Yoimiya’s life in one go, given she hasn’t even been able to see Ayaka lately due to how busy her girlfriend has been helping out with preparation for this stupid fake festival. No fireworks, no Ayaka… it’s misery, and entirely pointless misery given there’s no way her experimentation all the way over here in Inazuma City should put their oh-so-important-and-flammable festival in any danger, let alone if she traveled out to Yashiori or Watatsumi… but no, the ban is for the entire nation.
And Yoimiya had worked so hard designing her Pretty Please, Kitsune Guuji?-themed fireworks show the moment she’d learned about the ‘festival,’ too…
As much fun as she’d had with Klee yesterday, the whole thing had also ended up a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Today, Yoimiya is just exhausted. Crawling back into bed and hibernating until the so-called festival ends is more tempting than she really wants to admit.
A knock on the door startles her out of her thoughts, and she does her best to paste a smile on her face as she drags herself over to see who it is.
“Yoimiya!” a cheerful voice greets, and she feels a small body tackle-hug her legs.
“Hey Klee,” Yoimiya murmurs, reaching down to pat the little girl on the head. “What are you doing here?”
“She really wanted to see you again,” Albedo replies, drawing her attention to where he had been standing at the corner of the building. “I hope it’s not too much of a bother… I’ve got work while I’m here, so I can’t really entertain her myself. I’d be happy to pay you for your time if you could look after her…”
“Of course I’ll look after her! No payment necessary,” Yoimiya accepts immediately. “I’m always playing with the kids around here anyway. It’s not really any different, you know?”
“Well, thank you,” Albedo says, smiling softly. “Klee, be good for Yoimiya, okay?”
“Of course!” Klee agrees, nodding rapidly.
Yoimiya beckons Klee inside as Albedo leaves. Spending more time with Klee is definitely not something she’s opposed to, but… part of Yoimiya wishes she’d just ignored the knock. From what she’s heard Klee would love her fireworks, but it’s not like she’s exactly allowed to show them off to her… and the taste of the festival they’d had yesterday suggests there’s not much in the way of attractions that Klee (or Yoimiya, honestly) would enjoy.
“Yoimiya, what’s this book?” Klee asks, snapping Yoimiya out of her musing.
While Yoimiya was lost in her head, Klee has clearly taken the chance to look around the living room. In her hand is…
“Oh, Pretty Please, Kitsune Guuji?” Yoimiya says. “It’s a love story between the Lady Guuji and the Raiden Shogun. I’m not actually sure whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, but I think it’s probably at least based on some real events.”
Everyone in Inazuma agrees that the Shogun and Guuji Yae are clearly a couple, but just how true the story told in Pretty Please, Kitsune Guuji? is is a matter of great debate. Yoimiya thinks that’s probably exactly what the Lady Guuji intended when she published it, and is a part of the faction that thinks that regardless of the book’s literal truth, Guuji Yae is the one behind it having been written at all.
“Miss Guuji Lady and the Raiden Shogun are a couple?” Klee asks, eyes wide and a big smile on her face as she bounces up and down in excitement. “They’d be so pretty together!”
“They’re definitely a couple,” Yoimiya confirms, unable to help a smile of her own at Klee’s enthusiasm. “I had a bunch of fireworks ready to celebrate that during the Irodori Festival, but…”
Yoimiya sighs, her mood dipping again. Another knock sounds on the door, and with even more effort than last time Yoimiya forces herself to answer it.
Her exhaustion is blown away the moment she opens the door.
“Ayaka?” Yoimiya exclaims. “I thought you would still be busy!”
“I finished it,” Ayaka declares proudly, swaying on her feet but thrusting a pile of papers at Yoimiya.
Yoimiya’s girlfriend looks exhausted. She has dark circles under her eyes, her hair is down and messy rather than up in its usual ponytail, and her clothing is much more wrinkled and askew than Yoimiya thinks she’s ever seen… but the pride in her eyes and smile still shines brightly enough that Yoimiya can’t help her own smile as she accepts the papers.
“What are these?” Yoimiya asks.
“The fire safety protocols for an event with so much paper,” Ayaka yawns. “It took me almost a week and a lot of asking around, but I made sure to design them around the final specifications for the venue and the fireworks plan you submitted to us. I can’t wait to see them…”
Ayaka slumps forward, and Yoimiya catches her in her arms. Ayaka immediately snuggles up closer to her, and Yoimiya blinks back tears at the state Ayaka’s worked herself into for her sake, especially since…
“Ayaka,” Yoimiya mumbles. “You’re part of the Yashiro Commission. …Didn’t you know that fireworks are banned in all of Inazuma during the festival?”
Yoimiya had only been told at the last minute, but surely Ayaka would have known in advance? It had honestly hurt that Ayaka hadn’t been the one to deliver the bad news, but Yoimiya had consoled herself that Ayaka was busy and had probably assumed that the news had been distributed in a timely manner — handling that wasn’t her job, after all.
But if nobody told Ayaka…
“…They’re what?” Ayaka asks, the surprise and horror in her voice terribly real. “But… a festival without your fireworks… They’re always the highlight…! And you worked so hard…!”
Yoimiya has to reach out a hand to keep Ayaka steady as her girlfriend abruptly pulls away and tries to stand on her own again.
“If you’ll excuse me, my brother and I need to have some words,” Ayaka hisses venomously. “Fireworks? Banned in all of Inazuma? That’s completely insane. What is he thinking?”
“I don’t know,” Yoimiya admits. “I only found out yesterday… before that, I thought the show was still on.”
“Yesterday?” Ayaka shrieks, her face a mask of rage.
She makes strangling motions in the air and attempts to spin around and march off, but the spin causes her to tip over. Yoimiya catches her again and carries her inside, thankful that Klee has been content to watch silently (albeit with obvious interest).
“Who’s this, Yoimiya?” Klee asks. A look of realization washes over her face. “Ooo! Is she your girlfriend?! You look really cute together!”
“Yes, Klee, this is my girlfriend,” Yoimiya agrees, laughing softly. “Her name is Ayaka. Ayaka, this is Klee — she’s the younger sister of one of the Lady Guuji’s guests, and I was asked to look after her while he’s busy.”
“…It’s nice to meet you, Klee,” Ayaka mumbles, resting her head on Yoimiya’s shoulder. “Yoimiya, I’m sorry, I’m… so tired… Can I take a nap before I go shove my brother’s head up his ass…?”
“Of course you can,” Yoimiya promises gently. She sits down carefully on a comfortable chair, gently stroking Ayaka’s hair. “Would you like me to put you in my bed?”
Ayaka looks like she’s going to say no for a moment, but her eyes dart to Klee and she nods.
“You’ve got a guest to look after,” Ayaka mumbles. “Don’t worry about me, I just need some rest. Sorry for interrupting, Klee.”
“It’s okay, Ayaka!” Klee reassures her immediately. “I’m a big girl, I can wait.”
Yoimiya smiles thankfully at Klee and carries Ayaka to her room. She tucks her girlfriend into bed, and as she gives her a gentle kiss goodnight finds herself wishing that she could just go to sleep with her… but Klee is waiting, and if the stories about the little girl that Lumine had related to her were true…
Well, leaving Klee unattended in a house so full of explosive materials, even with a promise that she’ll be a good girl, is probably not a very good idea… As cute as Klee is, Yoimiya would rather not take any chances. If she were to hurt herself....
Yoimiya is not terribly surprised when she returns to the kitchen and finds Klee standing on the counter on her tiptoes, peering into the cabinet where Yoimiya keeps most of her snacks.
“Careful there,” Yoimiya says, sneaking up and wrapping her arms around Klee’s waist. “If you wanted something to eat, all you had to do was tell me — you shouldn’t do something like this, okay? You could get hurt if you fell.”
“Sorry, Yoimiya,” Klee mumbles, shoulders hunching in on herself. “I just…”
“It’s okay,” Yoimiya reassures her, briefly tightening her hold to let Klee know she’s not upset with her. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all! Take whatever you want and then I’ll get you down.”
Klee brightens up immediately and, to Yoimiya’s lack of surprise, grabs the entire cookie jar that Yoimiya had just finished refilling two days ago.
“Good choice,” Yoimiya says as she gently lifts Klee and sets her carefully back on the ground. “I made those myself! They’re really cute, don’t you think?”
“Yeah!” Klee agrees, gazing wide-eyed at the inside of the jar. “Can I really eat them?”
The cookies are shaped like goldfish, snowflakes, and flowers, and lovingly decorated with bright colors. Yoimiya is always experimenting with new ways to make the food she creates cuter and cuter, and this batch is her favorite yet.
“Of course you can!” Yoimiya laughs, ruffling Klee’s hair. “Cookies exist to be eaten! They’d be really sad if you didn’t… Wait, I can prove it!”
She snatches up one of the goldfish and holds it in front of her, then throws her voice so that it will seem like it’s coming from the cookie and in the highest pitch she can manage says:
“Please eat me, Klee! I’m delicious, and if you don’t, I’ll get stale and need to be thrown away…!”
Klee’s eyes go wide, and she quickly snatches the cookie away and shoves it into her mouth.
“I’ll ead you!” Klee promises through her urgent chewing. “I won’d led you go sdale!”
Yoimiya covers her mouth to hide her giggling as Klee proceeds to demolish the contents of the cookie jar. When it’s empty, the little girl looks up at her with a guilty expression.
“Um, Yoimiya, was it okay for me to eat them all?” Klee asks nervously.
“Of course it was,” Yoimiya promises. “I made them to be eaten, and you really enjoyed them, didn’t you?
“I did!” Klee replies quickly. “They were really good! Even Lisa’s aren’t that good, and Lisa’s are really good!”
“Awww, thanks!” Yoimiya laughs.
She takes the jar and sets it on the counter. She tilts her head in thought as an idea strikes her for how they can kill time until Ayaka wakes up.
“Hey, Klee?” Yoimiya asks. “How would you like to make Dodocookies?”
“Dodocookies?” Klee gasps, eyes wide.
“That’s right,” Yoimiya agrees, grinning. “Cookies shaped like Dodoco! We can bake a whole bunch, and you can take some back for your brother, too!”
“Could we make enough for Miss Honorary Knight as well?” Klee asks shyly.
“Of course we can,” Yoimiya promises. “Let’s see… You, Ayaka, your brother, Lumine, me… Is there anyone else you want there to be enough for? If we package them carefully, they’d probably last long enough for your trip back to Mondstadt…”
Yoimiya thinks, anyway. Thanks to all of her experimentation she’s managed to devise a recipe that can last about a month without going stale, and while she’s heard a boat trip to Mondstadt is itself two weeks long…
Well, the Irodori Festival only lasts four days, and this is already the second day. If the winds are favorable, or the cookies are eaten shortly after Klee gets home, they should still be just fine.
“Really?” Klee gasps, bouncing on her heels. “Then, then… Could we make enough for Master Jean and Lisa and Kaeya and Amber and Bennett and Diona and Mona and Sucrose and—”
“Whoa, whoa, hold on a moment!” Yoimiya says, raising her hands. “Of course we can! I don’t have enough ingredients for that many cookies right now, and it would take us a long time… but after your brother picks you up tonight I’ll go buy lots and lots, and we can make more Dodocookies tomorrow and the day after, okay? We should definitely have enough by the time you leave!”
“Yay!” Klee cries, leaping forward to hug Yoimiya’s legs. “You’re the best, Yoimiya!”
“Hehehe, well, just you wait… soon you’ll be a cookie-baking whizz too, Klee!” Yoimiya laughs. “Come on, I’ll show you how.”
Klee proves to be a fast learner, just as Yoimiya had expected from the stories she’s heard of how good the girl is at making bombs. She wishes that the stupid fireworks ban wasn’t in place so she could show Klee a thing or two about fireworks, which would be a much less destructive way to channel her love of explosions… but it is what it is, and Yoimiya doesn’t want to bring her mood down again by focusing on that when she’s having so much fun teaching Klee to bake.
The most time-consuming part of the process is definitely shaping the cookies, and while Klee’s doing a good job for her age Yoimiya does fix some of them when the girl’s attention is elsewhere so that the baking process won’t make them turn into distinctly un-Dodoco-like shapes. She makes a mental note to make some Dodoco-shaped cookie cutters tonight after Klee goes back with her brother to wherever they’re staying, because that will greatly speed up the process.
“Do I smell cookies?” a sleepy voice calls, and Yoimiya spins around to greet her girlfriend with a smile.
“Dodocookies!” Yoimiya declares brightly. “The first batch will be done soon. Want one?”
“Dodocookies…?” Ayaka asks blankly.
“They’re cookies shaped like Dodoco!” Klee explains eagerly.
The little girl runs over to where she’d set her backpack on the ground so that she can hold Dodoco up for Ayaka.
“This is Dodoco! She’s my best friend!” Klee introduces.
“Oh! It’s nice to meet you, Dodoco,” Ayaka says, smiling softly.
“Dodoco says it’s nice to meet you too!” Klee replies. She sets Dodoco back down and runs over to Yoimiya. “Yoimiya, how much longer do the Dodocookies have?”
“Hmm,” Yoimiya hums, peering into the oven. “I think these ones are just about ready! Let me get them out and put in the next batch, then we’ll let them cool.”
As Yoimiya busies herself getting everything in place, she feels Ayaka’s arms wrap around her waist and her girlfriend’s chin come to rest on her shoulder.
“Dodocookies?” Ayaka whisper, laughter obvious in her voice despite its sleepiness. “You’re such a good mother.”
Yoimiya freezes in place, barely preventing herself from dropping the cookie tray.
Normally people talk about what a good older sister she is. Ayaka herself has done that many times, and if she were more awake she probably would have now, too. But…
A good mother? Yoimiya swallows. The idea of being a mother for real, of having a child with Ayaka…
“Y-You’d be a very good mother yourself,” Yoimiya stammers softly, hardly believing the words coming out of her mouth.
She feels Ayaka become tense against her back and opens her mouth to apologize, but before she can—
“I’d like that,” Ayaka whispers, pressing a kiss to Yoimiya’s jaw. “I’d like that a lot. Not now, but… maybe in a few years, once we’re married…”
Yoimiya sets the Dodocookies down as carefully as she can and balls her hands into fists to try to still their shaking.
The certainty in Ayaka’s voice has her melting. They’ve been together for most of their lives so far in one way or another ever since they’d met as children, and deep in her heart Yoimiya has always secretly hoped it would continue forever but has never dared voice it.
But Ayaka has, and she’s done so so easily.
As shy as Ayaka is, as reserved as she is around strangers… her courage and her confidence in their relationship are nothing short of incredible.
“I love you,” Yoimiya whispers helplessly.
“I love you too,” Ayaka replies. She turns Yoimiya’s head enough to brush a kiss against her lips. “Now let’s get that second batch of cookies in, okay? Klee is waiting.”
Yoimiya shakes herself back to her senses at the reminder that they have company. She hurriedly puts the second batch of Dodocookies in the oven and turns to Klee, who’s smiling up at them as innocently as ever.
“Once this second batch is done, do you want to go take a look at what they’ve got going on at the festival today?” Yoimiya asks.
It hurts to call the fireworkless abomination currently ongoing a ‘festival,’ but it’s got it in the name, so…
“Can we?” Klee asks excitedly.
“Of course,” Yoimiya agrees, smile slightly strained. She distractedly picks up a Dodocookie. “I think they’re safe to eat, if you want to try some…”
Ayaka and Klee are on the Dodocookies almost faster than Yoimiya can blink. Between the three of them, the first batch vanishes almost immediately.
Yoimiya will probably have to apologize to Klee’s brother for the sugar rush that the girl is likely to be on unless she crashes early… but it’s worth it to see Klee’s smile.
“I’ve got some business while we’re at the festival,” Ayaka says darkly, nibbling on the final Dodocookie.
“Please don’t disembowel your brother in front of Klee,” Yoimiya says carefully. “At least let me get her out of the area first.”
“Oh, I won’t be the one disemboweling him…” Ayaka laughs, the look in her eyes sending a shiver down Yoimiya’s spine. “But he’ll regret his stupid ban, I promise you that.”
Yoimiya doesn’t doubt it one bit. She’d feel sorry for Ayato, but, well…
He deserves it, really. The ban’s expansive nature is just pointlessly cruel.
After checking on the status of the second batch of Dodocookies, Yoimiya joins Ayaka on the couch and snuggles into her side. Ayaka immediately wraps a strong arm around her, and Yoimiya lets out a sigh of contentment.
“How are you liking Inazuma, Klee?” Ayaka asks.
“I like it a lot!” Klee says brightly. “The food is delicious, and you and Yoimiya are really pretty, and Yoimiya is the best, and I’m sure you’re the best too, and did you know Yoimiya and I made a book together yesterday?!”
“A book?” Ayaka asks, glancing at Yoimiya. “No, I didn’t. Can I see it?”
“Not yet,” Klee sighs. “But Aunty Aratani is having it printed! It’s supposed to be ready today!”
“Oh, that’s right,” Yoimiya murmurs. “We should make sure to stop by the Yae Publishing House stall first when we go to the festival, I’m sure they’ve got it printed by now.”
Klee’s eyes widen and she leaps to her feet.
“Can we go? Can we go?” she asks, bouncing up and down.
“We have to wait for the Dodocookies to finish baking,” Yoimiya reminds her. “Don’t you think that Lady Guuji might like some? They could be a thanks for her help yesterday!”
“Oh!” Klee gasps, promptly sitting back down on her chair. “You’re right! We definitely need to take Miss Guuji Lady some Dodocookies! Enough for her to share with the Raiden Shogun! Can we give her the whole batch?”
It will definitely increase the number of cookies they’ll need to make in the next two days, but…
“Of course!” Yoimiya agrees. “That’s a great idea!”
“The Yae Publishing House stall, huh…” Ayaka murmurs, smile sinister enough that if Yoimiya might have pulled away if she didn’t feel so safe wrapped in her girlfriend’s embrace. “That works for me. I needed to talk to Guuji Yae anyway.”
“It’s settled, then!” Yoimiya declares. “Once the Dodocookies are done, we’ll wrap them up nicely and head on out!”
Ayaka and Klee each raise a fist into the air and let out a cheer, and Yoimiya loses herself in casual conversation and the feeling of being held by the one she loves most in the world as she waits for the time to come.
The festival may be a bust, but even so…
Yoimiya is having the time of her life.