guard dog | genshin impact

five

"Have you been to a festival before, little one?"

Doctor Naoko's voice was quiet amidst the rain prattling against the windowpane. You glanced at him curiously, sliding the minced lavender melons in a cooking pot with the blunt of a kitchen knife.

"No," you told him, slightly miffed that he's still calling you little one. "But Mother and I used to watch the fireworks from Narukami Island before..."

He nodded solemnly. "The Tatarigami."

"The Tatarigami," you repeated.

A thick silence filled the room as you watched a bright violet sheen bleed into the boiling water. You'd volunteered to make tonight's batch of lavender melon soup, given that Doctor Naoko was preoccupied with something else. That being, a sturdy katana given by the village chief.

The samurai who owned it passed away earlier this week. He could no longer resist the effects of the curse, it seemed. But with no family to leave his katana behind, Doctor Naoko insisted that he keep it for now. While the prospect of a sword in the possession of a traveling doctor might've been odd, the village chief allowed it.

Now, there he was—diligently wiping the blade's edge at the dinner table.

"Would you like to see the fireworks someday?"

You turned to look at him bizarrely, stirring the pot a few times before responding.

"And infect the people of Narukami in the process?" you laughed. "Doctor, you know what the rest of the locals say. If you're born in Higi Village, you die in Higi Village. That's even more true now."

Doctor Naoko sighed, sheathing the sword before laying it atop the wooden table. There's an...indecipherable look on his face as he processed your words.

"You've been taking the supplement, right?"

Your brow furrowed, gaze darting to the medicine cabinet near the entrance to his home. Though you couldn't see it now, you knew there was a vial of that odd, pink liquid that the doctor asked you to test for him. He never told you what it was made from, and you didn't ask.

Normally, one would be opposed to becoming a lab rat. But you've long accepted that one day, you'll wake up with blood dripping from every orifice—the most definite sign that the Tatarigami had claimed yet another soul in its grasp. Your life had already lost its meaning the moment you'd been born here, and you owed it to Doctor Naoko to assist him with his research anyways.

"Yes," you murmured. "The nosebleeds have stopped since you put me on the new medication. So have the migraines."

He hummed. "And the nightmares?"

You bit your lip. He sighed.

"Well, progress is progress." Doctor Naoko laughed. "If the new medicine proves to be effective, then we can stop giving that placebo to the villagers. We can finally give them a real cure. And maybe...we can take everyone out to Amakane Island to watch the fireworks. How's that sound?"

Your eyes roved to the cooking pot, watching as bubbles broke through the rich violet surface. You knew that the worst lavender melon soup could cure was fatigue. Knew that Doctor Naoko had been deliberately lying to the villagers about its medicinal properties. But with how his research has been fairing, you decided to humor him. Just this once.

A kind smile inched past your face, hoping that one day, the doctor's musings would become a reality.

"I'm looking forward to it."

...

A few months after Doctor Naoko made the implicit promise, you'd fled Yashiori and witnessed your very first festival.