Mondstadt Alter (Rewrite)

Act 1 Chp 2.5: First Hidden Ability

The two start eating their food. Mr. Hao and Amber slip a small talk while eating, and I remain silent, finishing my drink. Only having my drink, I finish it first and wait until Mr. Hao dismisses us. It did not take long for Mr. Hao to empty his bowl, and Amber followed.

"It's time. I have to go." Mr. Hao declared as he got up.

"Are you going to work?"

"Yeah, it's almost time for Outrider assembly. Thank you for sharing your time with us, Morgan."

"Pleasure is all mine, sir." I shook his hand.

"Then I'll be going, Amber. Be a good girl while I'm gone, okay?" He patted her head.

Amber and I watch Mr. Hao's figure disappear from our sight.

"Amber, what are you going to do?" I asked, looking at her.

"I'm going to play with my friends. Why do you ask?"

When I was about her age, I never spent my time playing with anyone. I had my own entertainment, but hearing she would be playing with someone didn't surprise me either. It's only natural for her to spend most of her time playing.

"I see. What are you going to play today?"

Amber hums, "I don't know. We will decide when we gather. You want to come along, Morgan?"

I was dubious about accepting her invitation. My head has been feeling hurt recently, maybe because I'm stressed. Perhaps it will get better if I join her.

"Sure, I suppose I've got time."

"Yay! Then let's go! I'll introduce you to my friends." Amber pulled my arm enthusiastically.

...

Three kids gather in front of a house as they talk about something. They stopped as soon as Amber and I got close to them. They seem younger than me, but that makes sense since they're Amber's friends.

"Hey, guys! Did I make you wait long?" Amber waved her hand.

"Oh, Amber. You finally came! I thought you overslept again."

"I didn't!" Although she tried to deny it, her friends laughed for a while.

"Sorry, sorry. It was just a joke, Amber." One of them said as she wiped her tears.

The group in front of me consists of two girls and a boy. Although I don't know them, I have seen them once or twice. I'm not sure I can say the same for them, maybe even the fact they never saw me before. It's not like it matters either since they or I will introduce ourselves to each other.

"By the way, Amber. Who is that beside you?" The only boy in the group asked.

"Ah, right." Amber gasped and reverted to her usual, "Let me introduce him to you all! His name is Morgan. We met at Good Hunter this morning, and he's my new friend. Though he's a bit older than us."

Did she take me as a friend even though we met an hour ago? I wouldn't say she's not my friend, but I didn't know you could make a friend out of people that easily.

"Nice to meet you. I hope we can get along well."

"Nice to meet you too, Morgan. My name is Luna."

"I'm Kent. I also hope we can get along well."

"And I'm Clara. Nice to meet you."

"Hehe~ Now we're done with the introduction. What are we going to do today?" Amber quickly shifted the topic.

"Oh, I think we could play hide and seek today!" Kent raised his voice.

"Hide and seek, huh?"

"Sure, it's been a while since we played that! What do you think, Amber?" Luna asked.

"Count me in." She raised her hand.

Amber then turned to me, "How about you, Morgan? Will you join us?"

It's a bit late for that, isn't it?

"Okay."

"Alright! Then it settles." Kent pumped his fist before continuing, "Now, who will be the seeker?"

"Let's decide that with rock-paper-scissors." Clara proposes her idea.

None of us raises our voices against the idea. And,

"Oh, how coincidence. You are the seeker now, Morgan."

Goddamnit.

"Phew, that was close." Kent wiped the nonexistent sweat on his forehead.

"Haha, you're lucky that Morgan joins us."

"Now, Morgan. Close your eyes and count to twenty. We will hide before you finish counting."

"Got it."

I close my eyes after I turn my back and start counting. I heard their footsteps getting farther from me in many directions. I have no intention of cheating in kid's games, so I keep covering my eyes and counting until twenty.

"Ready or not, here I come!"

I look around, but none of them hide in plain sight. Many places around here seem good as hiding spots. I also don't know how far the playground is. But I don't think they would think of hiding somewhere far away. It seems that this hide-and-seek won't be easy.

However-

They don't know that I have this ability where I can tell who and where people are at a certain distance. Right before I finish counting, I know where everyone is hiding. I can just bust them one by one right now, but after giving that idea a second thought, I don't think that's a good idea.

The nearest one who hides from me is Luna. She's hiding behind barrels next to a house, another house away from me. When I turn to the corner of the house, I see a couple of barrels with a pot on top, and behind the second barrel is where Luna is hiding.

"Found you." I said as I caught her.

"Wha-!" I caught her by surprise, "That was quick!"

"Your head poking out a little from that corner. That's how I find you."

"Hmm~ Really?"

"Come on. You're not going to say I'm cheating or some sort, are you?"

"What? No, no, of course not. I'm just impressed and thought you might have a talent for this."

She smiles while humming and nodding her head.

"It's too early to celebrate. You need to find the rest to win this." She said while pushing my back.

And so, the game resumes until I decide to give up.

After a few rounds, we settled to take a break and chat. Because they didn't know anything about me, we talked about me as a starter, but my turn ended soon. It was my turn to know better about them. However, I can remember very little about them, notwithstanding they told me a lot about themselves.

A/N: I have a fixed amount of abilities/power for Morgan, and one of them is out of the bag. I'll lay out some clues before giving an exposition about them in the story.

Anyway, I made this fic before HSR release, so I didn't expect there would be a character called Clara in there.

Thank you for reading, and carry on!