Because he had left without saying a word, Arataki Itto felt a bit guilty.
He was under the watchful eyes of Shinobu and the brothers of the Arataki Gang.
Scratching his head with an awkward grin, Arataki Itto said,
"Don't worry, Shinobu. Next time I'll definitely talk it over with you first."
Kuki Shinobu gave him a once-over. Seeing that he was unscathed and as energetic as ever, she let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Though his clothes looked strange—probably brought back from Natlan, she figured.
After a short pause, she asked,
"So? Did you meet the Traveler in Natlan? And did you bring that outfit back from there too?"
Mentioning the Traveler and Natlan made Arataki Itto sigh.
"I didn't go to Natlan…"
Shinobu looked confused.
"Boss… then where did you go?"
To find him, Shinobu and the others had scoured all of Inazuma, even outside the city.
With no results, they eventually turned to Yae Miko for help.
Yae Miko had gone to Tenshukaku herself and found out from there that Arataki Itto had used the Statue of the Seven to head to Natlan.
He was saying he hadn't gone to Natlan at all, which only deepened her confusion.
Seeing her expression, Arataki Itto hurried to explain.
"I meant to go to Natlan. I haven't seen the Traveler or Paimon in ages, so I wanted to look for them there... but I ended up picking the wrong teleport point and landed in Liyue instead. I even ran into Zhongli."
He gave her a quick rundown of what had happened.
As soon as he arrived in Liyue, he got attacked by some local monsters and barely managed to fight them off.
"I also ran into Zhongli—used to be a guest consultant for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, right? But now he's an employee of Hare's House..."
She'd never heard of such a place. Was it some kind of organization in Liyue?
Before she could ask, Arataki Itto was already excitedly listing all the new friends he'd made in "Liyue":
Billy, Nekomata, Nicole, Anby, Soldier 11… and of course, Sam Li.
"Sam Li is Zhongli. It's only been a few months, and he already changed his name. Isn't that weird?"
Hearing all these unfamiliar names only made Shinobu more confused.
Who were these people?
Although she was from Inazuma, she had studied abroad in Liyue for several years and had even been classmates with Yanfei.
She knew a fair bit about Liyue's history, culture, and geography.
But aside from Zhongli, she'd never heard of anyone Arataki Itto mentioned.
She furrowed her brow.
"You didn't go to Liyue Harbor?"
"Nope!" Arataki Itto said enthusiastically.
"I went to a city even bigger than Inazuma. They have cars, massive skyscrapers, smartphones, tons of amazing food..."
He dove into a vivid account of all the things he saw and did in New Eridu.
Cars speeding through the streets faster than ninjas...
Phones that played games and made calls...
Tiny Bangboo robots...
People with beast bloodlines—catfolk like Gorou, wolfkin, even shark demons...
The more she heard, the more shocked Shinobu looked.
She slowly walked over, stood on tiptoe, and touched his forehead.
His temperature was normal. No fever.
So he wasn't hallucinating... or was he?
Still, none of the things he described were familiar to her.
Shinobu couldn't help but doubt whether he'd actually gone to Liyue at all.
Noticing her skepticism, Arataki Itto laughed heartily.
"Honestly, I was surprised too! Who knew such a huge city existed in Liyue?"
Shinobu narrowed her eyes.
"What's the name of this city?"
Without hesitation, Arataki Itto replied,
"New Eridu. It's part of Liyue. But the city itself feels more like Fontaine. A lot of people wear suits—it must be somewhere near Fontaine."
Was that even possible?
According to Shinobu's knowledge, the town closest to Fontaine was Qiaoying Village, not some hyper-modern metropolis.
In the end, after hearing the whole story, Shinobu wasn't sure what to believe.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Arataki Itto.
But maybe he had just confused Fontaine with Liyue.
Even then, she'd never heard of a place as advanced as the one he described.
Looking him dead in the eyes, she asked seriously,
"Boss, are you absolutely sure that city is called New Eridu? And that it's actually part of Liyue?"
"Totally sure," Arataki Itto replied with full confidence.
"I met Zhongli there! And there was a Geo Statue of the Seven—I used it to teleport back. Oh, and I ran into Venti too! That bard from Mondstadt, remember? The one who came to Inazuma singing for Mora?"
Of course she remembered Venti.
Hard to forget that one.
But Arataki Itto wasn't done yet.
"Even though I ended up in the wrong place, I met Brother Billy! Shinobu, let's go visit him in New Eridu in a few days. I've already been there once—I know the way now!"
But seeing how genuinely happy he was, she gave in with a nod—on one condition.
"We can go, but only after we save up enough Mora."
"Mora won't help there," Arataki Itto waved it off.
"That city doesn't use Mora. They use Dennies."
And so, he launched into another excited retelling of everything he'd seen and done in New Eridu, recounting it all to Shinobu and the rest of the Arataki Gang.
Fighting Ethereal monsters with the folks at Hare's House...
Speeding through the streets in a truck with Billy...
"Next time I go, I have to bring back a car. That way, Kujou Sara and the Shogunate army won't be able to catch me, hahahaha..."
Shinobu listened, half-believing, half-doubting.
She couldn't tell if her boss had actually experienced something so outrageous—or if he'd just imagined it all.
She decided to visit the Grand Narukami Shrine the next day.
Maybe the shrine maiden there, with all her knowledge, could shed some light on what really happened.
Inside the Arataki Gang's headquarters,
Arataki Itto went on and on, telling the story of New Eridu over and over again.
"Liyue really is amazing. I didn't expect it to have such a bustling city. Next time, I'm taking all of you with me—you've got to see it yourselves! Oh, and we'll find the Traveler, Paimon, Kujou Sara, Yoimiya, Ayaka's brother…"
"Boss... it's already past midnight..."