Friends Arrive
Sonoko's expression turned baffled as she listened to Xia Yu. "Xia Yu, you're telling me one of your friends is really old?"
"Mm... well, to be precise, he's more senior in the family hierarchy..." Xia Yu explained, looking somewhat conflicted.
It wasn't as if she could honestly tell people he was ancient—after all, by appearance alone, he certainly looked quite young.
An elder of higher standing, huh...
Sonoko mulled this over, feeling a flicker of discomfort, but it didn't last long. At the end of the day, the man was still a gorgeous guy, and what did his generational seniority have to do with her?
She bounced back in no time at all, already daydreaming about what it would be like to meet those two handsome men.
Ran could only shake her head helplessly at the sight of her.
Once it was clear Sonoko had no more questions, Xia Yu waved Noelle over.
Noelle hurried to their side at the sound of her name, and Xia Yu asked her to add a few more dishes to the order.
Then she added, "Oh, and Noelle—remember to remind Xiangling that we're going to have a very discerning diner joining us shortly!"
As she said this, the corners of Xia Yu's mouth curved upward ever so slightly, as if carrying a hint of a smile.
"It seems your friends take their food quite seriously, Xia Yu," Amuro Subaru remarked with curiosity.
"Oh, absolutely. He's done his own in-depth research on every kind of cuisine imaginable, and he has very distinctive opinions about all of it," Xia Yu confirmed with a nod. "He's also quite the connoisseur of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, rare flowers, exotic stones—that whole world!"
Amuro adjusted his glasses, his eyes narrowing just a fraction as he opened them, and said with meaningful deliberation, "He sounds like a fascinating man. Your friends are quite the colorful bunch, aren't they, Xia Yu?"
Xia Yu simply smiled and nodded, as though utterly oblivious to the pointed undercurrent in his words.
Then she pivoted to her other friend. "And it's not just him—my other friend is every bit as remarkable. He's an architect, with a really solid grounding in the engineering sciences. Mr. Amuro, you mentioned you're a graduate student in engineering, so I'm sure the two of you will have plenty to talk about!"
At those words, Amuro's movements stalled for just an instant before he smoothly recovered, answering with a smile, "Is that so? Wonderful. We should have a great deal in common, then."
Xia Yu beamed at him. "That's right! They're both wonderfully easy to get along with, so I have complete faith that you'll all have a delightful conversation."
Watching Amuro agree so readily, Xia Yu thought to herself: Though I have to wonder—what happens when you can't answer the questions he asks you later?
The conversation drifted along pleasantly for a while after that.
Most of it centered on Lisa's junior from school, in fact. Sonoko teased Ran about her romantic luck, speculating that she might just strike an entirely different kind of spark with the handsome newcomer, while Ran flusteredly protested. For his part, Amuro probed with carefully casual questions about how Lisa's junior connected to this "Teyvat" Xia Yu kept mentioning.
Before long, two strikingly handsome, tall men with long hair walked through the restaurant door.
One of them had golden hair pinned at the back of his head with red hair clips, and a pair of gold earrings set with rubies dangled from his ears. He wore black trousers and a thin white V-neck blouse gathered at the waist by a deep blue belt adorned with bead-shaped ornaments, a red shawl fastened behind him by a black leather collar. The whole ensemble gave off an air of romance and artistic refinement.
The other man wore his long hair tied back as well, the ends shifting from black into a golden brown. His upper half was clad in a long coat styled after a formal suit robe, paired with black trousers below. Deep blue dominated his attire from head to toe, lending him an air of quiet, composed gravity.
The moment the two men stepped into the restaurant, every eye in the room turned toward them.
"Over here!" Xia Yu spotted them instantly, rising from her seat and waving cheerfully to beckon them over.
The two men noticed her gesture at the same time, smiled faintly, and made their way toward her.
When they reached the table, Xia Yu greeted them warmly. "You're finally here! Come, have a seat." She gestured toward the seats across from them.
Then she turned to the others and began the introductions. "These are the friends I told you all about," she said, her voice brimming with unmistakable delight.
She indicated the blond man first, smiling. "This is Kaveh—Lisa's junior, and a renowned architect, no less."
Seeing that the junior Lisa had mentioned was such a stunning handsome man, a sly grin crept across Sonoko's face. She nudged Ran lightly with her elbow, then leaned in close to Ran's ear and whispered, "Well? Isn't this junior of hers absolutely gorgeous, Ran?"
Sonoko's voice carried an unmistakable note of teasing and mischief, and Ran couldn't help blushing in embarrassment. She shot Sonoko a glare and muttered, "Sonoko, knock it off!"
Ran genuinely didn't harbor any of the notions Sonoko was suggesting—and besides, how could anyone say such things right in front of people they were meeting for the very first time?
Next, Xia Yu gestured toward the other man with long black hair. "And this gentleman," she continued, "is Zhongli."