Chapter Text
“By the way Gorou, I have good news! Yae Publishing House has gotten an offer from the Steambird itself to have a spot in their newspaper!”
Gorou looked up at the editor with his ears forward now. He had only come here to pick up his new stack of letters for his advice column. Normally he would have them mailed to Watatsumi Island, but he had found himself coming to Narukami Island more often if only to gain more experiences and see old friends.
He tilted his head in confusion. “That’s great but… what does that have to do with me?”
The editor grinned and continued. “They asked specifically about That’s Life magazine and about your advice column. If Chief Editor Yae’s negotiations go well, you could expect letters from all over Teyvat soon!”
“Ah- all over Teyvat…?” Gorou replied shakily. “I don’t know if I’m quite ready for that. I’ve lived in Inazuma my whole life and know very little about other nations. I’m not sure if I’m qualified to give advice to international people.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much. Miss Hi- aha…” The editor laughed oddly in the middle of his sentence. Gorou’s ears twitched at the odd sound. “Uhm. Your advice column usually gets questions about social issues, and those are the same wherever you go!”
“I suppose…” He looked down at his stack of letters and sighed. “Well whatever the case, thank you for the letters. I’ll have them back to you as soon as possible.”
The editor waved. “Thanks for all your hard work!”
As he walked, Gorou started flipping through his letters, many of which were asking about romance. He sighed. If he could hardly answer a question about romance, how was he to intelligently comment on the problems of those abroad?
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Gorou’s answer would come to him about a week later when he went to gather his letters.
“This is…” Gorou began. “Much more than I usually get. Any reason?”
“Ah yes! A very good reason!” The editor ducked behind his desk, pulled up a newspaper, and pointed at an advert. “Didn’t you see? The Steambird picked up your column and letters started coming in a few days ago!”
Gorou looked at where the editor was pointing.
Hit advice columnist from Inazuma now going global! Write us your problems and hear from the wise Miss Hina herself!
“You’ll be getting letters from all over now!” The editor continued. “And don’t worry, we’ll compensate you accordingly for the added work.”
Gorou glanced down at his stack of letters. “So… these are from all over Teyvat?”
“Just from Liyue this time due to travel times. But you’ll get one from every nation soon enough!”
“Right,” Gorou nodded. Just from Liyue. He had begun to meet merchants from Liyue and they seemed fairly normal, if a bit conniving. How different could it be?
“Oh, one question though.” Gorou continued as he pointed at the paper. “Who’s Miss Hina?”
The editor froze, then quickly snatched the newspaper back into his hands. “Ah! Nothing to worry about, maybe just a misprint, I wouldn’t think too much on it!” The editor shoved Gorou away from the stand. “In any case good luck with the letters!”
As Gorou stumbled away, he began flipping through the many envelopes in his hands. He felt his tail sway in anticipation.
He was nervous before, but now he was just curious. Were the troubles of those abroad really so different from those on their isolated islands?
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I have sought out the Adepti for many years, and have still yet to meet even one. What do you suggest I do to accomplish my goal?
… What in Teyvat was an Adepti?
Gorou was way out of his comfort zone. Why did everyone in Liyue seem to think he knew about the ins and outs of commerce? Sure he dealt with the shipment and inventory of supplies in the resistance sometimes, but nothing on the scale of the famed Liyue Harbor.
And in the case of this letter, he simply didn’t know the culture of Liyue. He had heard of the Adepti once or twice before, but only to the extent that he knew they existed.
He sighed and began writing his response.
I know very little of the Adepti, so I cannot say for certain how to reach them. However, if they are similar to the Yokai of Inazuma, they are a group who don’t like to be found. Consider halting your search, and perhaps they will come to you instead.
Gorou folded up his response with the original letter. Gorou would have to speak to the publishing house about screening these letters. There were too many questions that he simply couldn’t answer.
He begrudgingly opened the next letter, preparing himself for another confusing question.
Greetings from Liyue, I hope this letter finds you well.
I’m writing to ask about a friend of mine. I’ve known him for very long and care very much for him. However, no matter what I do he won’t stop teasing me or pulling pranks on me, such as putting jueyun chilis in my food without my knowing. He’s usually very chivalrous, but I cannot deny this mean streak of his. What do you suggest I do?
Gorou smiled. Now this was the kind of letter he was used to. It wasn’t even about romance! He had never tried a jueyun chili before, but he assumed it was spicy by the name.
I can definitely sympathize with being the subject of endless teasing. It’s certainly not a pleasant experience.
Gorou shuddered as he was writing. He hoped She-who-shall-not-be-named wasn’t at the publishing house when he went back.
But, if you truly wish to remain friends, make it very clear to him how much you dislike these actions of his. Do not hide your thoughts for the sake of keeping the peace! Communication is important in any relationship and is the key to having a lasting friendship.
Gorou sighed as he put the letter away. If only that kind of advice worked against Yae Miko. He hoped that for his writer's case, it did.
He opened the next letter.
I have this friend who simply won’t notice me no matter what I do! He’s always far too caught up in his work and always interprets my invites to hang out as extensions of his work. We’re not even coworkers!
I’ve tried other ways of gaining his attention but none seem to work. Please help me out!
(Note from the editor: Not sure if I’ve transcribed all of this correctly. The handwriting was difficult to understand.)
Gorou thought that was an odd note to leave. Usually, the people who transcribed these letters had a knack for reading all sorts of handwriting.
But handwriting aside, this one was easy! He had dealt with this issue dozens of times in the army, as it was a common one among his subordinates.
When you were in a war, it truly was difficult to separate your work life from your personal.
Your friend must truly be passionate about his job to interpret your invites like that. Though I suppose in your case, this may be working against you. I’d suggest inviting him someplace completely unrelated to his job, something that could never possibly be interpreted as work-related.
If I had to suggest something specific, maybe try out a new hobby together.
Back when the Vision Hunt Decree was in full swing, Gorou had noticed his soldiers training themselves to the bone. There wasn’t a moment in their day that wasn’t filled with combat.
At that time, he recalled a point in one of Her Exelencies directives that stated: In both war and life, mental health is just as important, if not more, important than physical health. That directive was part of the reason he took up rock climbing as a hobby.
With this directive in mind, he suggested something to his soldiers.
That they go fishing together.
Fishing requires you to sit still and be patient. It also allows you to simply think for a while. It allowed them to form new bonds and truly relax for a while. It quickly became a tradition in his squad.
While this wasn’t the exact problem his writer was facing, it was similar enough that he was confident that his advice would work. He wished the best for him.
As he opened his last letter in the stack, Gorou began to feel much better about the prospect of giving advice to those in other nations. Sure there were specific problems he had no say in, but if writers like these kept coming to him…
He was sure he’d be fine.
He began to read his final letter.
I normally wouldn’t write to a place like this but was convinced to by a friend. I am told I should write my troubles to you, so I shall.
I am not considered to be integrated into society, but it is something I wish to be. However, the people in said society never seem to see me as one of them, no matter what actions I take. They either see me as so far above them they could never reach me, or a menace waiting to destroy them all. I would like to nix these assumptions.
My Master tells me it is good to hear opinions from others, so I would like to hear yours on the matter. Thank you.
“Not… integrated?”
Gorou leaned back and scratched his head. This letter was confusing in a different way. He wasn’t quite sure what this person meant by “not considered to be integrated into society.” What circumstances could even cause something like that? Was this another bit of Liyue culture that he just didn’t understand?
He supposed there were cases like Kirara’s, where she lived in the forest for most of her life before joining Komaniya Express. Perhaps it was something like that?
All that aside, he could understand not wanting to be othered by the people around you. He didn’t have much experience with that feeling himself, but he recalled how relieved Kazuha had looked when he said he trusted him, and how greatly Miss Ayaka seemed to hold onto her and the Traveller's friendship.
He began to write.
As hard as it may be, you must accept that some people will never truly see you for who you are. This is not necessarily bad. It is not your fault they have closed off their minds.
What you must do is find the people who will accept and see you for who you truly are, and hold onto them will everything you have.
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Gorou approached one of his soldiers, who seemed to be engrossed in this week's edition of The Steambird. Seeing as this was the new distributor for his column, he was curious.
“Hey! Anything good in there today?”
The soldier looked up and grinned when he saw Gorou. “Hey! To be honest not really. Their main article was about some unrest in the Sumeru Akademiya, so nothing new. They also picked up some advice column from Yae Publishing House, but that’s not really my thing.”
Gorou laughed nervously as his ears pinned back. He looked down at the newspaper and saw a smaller article accompanied by a picture of a flaming building.
“Woah, what happened there?” Gorou asked.
“Oh yeah,” the soldier began. “Apparently there was a small accident at a popular Liyue restaurant. Some group of kids were trying to cook and I guess it went wrong.”
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“I told you two to be careful when you were frying things!” Xiangling yelled at the two blue-haired boys, now sitting on a curb outside a slightly burnt restaurant.
“We’re sorry Xiangling…” Chongyun replied, not looking up from the floor.
“You better be sorry! I don’t even know how I’m gonna explain this to my dad! I mean you literally have cryo and hydro visions!”
As Xiangling went on, Xingqiu sighed and grumbled to himself. “I knew I should’ve just suggested knitting.”