𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙵𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚝 | ✦ Hu Tao x Male!Reader

17. 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎

"Look. Can you let your high pride and ego dissapear just for a second? It's okay for you to rely on others. Dunce." Y/N said, as he began walking out of the tunnel, while carrying the bird in his hands. He seemed to take some type of cloth from nowhere, and began patching up the bird's injuries, which was way easier to do in a bird form than a human form.

"Hmph. N-never speak of this ever. You heard me...?" She said, looking away. "Yeah yeah, Jinhua." He said, while glad she was acting normally about it.

"God. I got so used to flying on your back that now that I have to actually walk home from here...." Y/N said, as he left the ancient ruin.

Externally, he was able to maintain the facade. However, internally he was shaking.

- Diamond... If we had fought right there... I'd die. I'm... still too weak! -

He thought. While the addition of Time Freeze actually made him able to react to Diamond's attacks, it seemed that for some reason, now he had lost the ability to control Dragon's Frostbite.

- The blade's source of strength is will power, said Xiao when we met. Yet I don't get why it doesn't work now! -

"You seem worried. Is it about your sword not doing the absorption thing you could do before?" Jinhua, with her highly capable observational skills, was able to predict what was troubling Y/N.

"I hate when you do that. Yes, it is." He answered, as he glanced at the small finch on his hands.

Jinhua stood silent for a moment, glancing over at the injuries in her body and then at Y/N, who watched her whiile he walked.

"I'm... not strong enough to defeat that Fatui, am I?" She asked, as she avoided his gaze. Y/N answered by simply looking at the distance, staying silent. "...And with that response, I assume you think the same for yourself?" Jinhua asks, receiving the same response once again.

After a few moments of a silent walk, Y/N looked at Jinhua once again. "I, uh, think we might need to train, or at least think of some better way to defeat Diamond." He said, the bird shyly nodding.

"And, well... I have an idea of who to ask for some clues..." Y/N said, thinking of an certain Anemo user.

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"Ouch! Ouch!" Jinhua grimaced, as Baizhu placed new bandages on her chest. "Ouch, you sssay? For one who keeps high all day, you're a courageouss one to come here and ask for help in sssuch a manner." Changsheng spoke while Baizhu seemed concentrated in healing the bird.

This caused Jinhua to angrily stop complaining, still muttering threats at the snake to herself.

"Do these two not like each other that much?" Y/N asked Baizhu, as he stopped reading his book to watch the conversation between the three.

"It's more that they keep irritating the other, it's a complicated relationship, you see." Baizhu said, finishing up the bandages. "Y/N, what are you reading...?" Qiqi appeared from nowhere beside me, as she looked at the book I was reading. "Do you also have a diary...?" She wondered.

"Oh, it's a book from Sumeru, about human anatomy." He answers, Qiqi's interest being slightly amplified, as she also wanted to look at the book.

"This part is about the brain... I need to know these things to have a few ideas..." Y/N explains, lowering the book enough so that the small girl could also read.

- I need to know everything... Since everything can help me defeat him...- Y/N thought, focusing solely on the book.

After staying like that for a moment, Qiqi directed herself to carefully pick up Jinhua, and placed her on her shoulder.