Chapter 7: Bittersweet Interrogation
The change in Lisa's expression was so sudden that Sai was shocked.
At first, she had a blank look, and then she was confused for a while, but quickly regained composure and put on a serious face.
'Scary…'
The aura around her immediately became serious, her face almost dreadful. Pressure emanated from her, and Sai realized that the woman in front of him was a monster of her own.
Nonetheless, he could still move. After some time pondering, she looked at Sai and then around her.
"So you were caught up this time too…" She seemed to ponder even harder now.
"Caught up?"
His voice drew her undivided attention.
"What's your name, boy?"
"Gulp…" Sai was startled, why did she call him 'boy'? 'And she looks dead serious right now, I better answer her now…'
"Sai… My name is Sai."
"Are you from Inazuma, Sai?" She squinted her eyes as if to measure him.
"Eh? Inazuma? No…"
"Where are you from, then?" She demanded.
He immediately noticed his mistake. He couldn't possibly tell her that he was from another world, right?
He fell into silence thinking about whether he should tell her the truth or make up a birth place.
Lisa wasn't too glad that he didn't answer immediately, and once again squinted her eyes slightly.
Cold sweat began to run down Sai's already wet spine, and when he was about to tell the truth, Lisa said:
"Well, it's fine if you don't want to tell me. Just follow me for now, we are not too far from Mondstadt."
"Erm… okay."
Lisa immediately turned and walked away in a normal pace. Sai simply followed.
'She doesn't know who I am… Well of course she doesn't. But what is going on? Is this really Lisa? She's definitely different from the game…'
They kept walking for a while until they reached the trees. She turned left around some rocks that Sai recognized from the game and kept going without looking back.
When Sai was about to say something, Lisa casually remarked:
"Quite the cold day today, isn't it?"
'How does she manage to say something right before me every time?'
Although that was his first thought, he soon pondered about her question.
He swam in the lake, and she did too, but it was hot enough that his clothes were half dry after a five minute walk. For him, this weather was a tad too hot.
But would he deny it? What if he angered her? She is a witch and he was just a civilian, he must avoid that at all costs. Perhaps she only thought it was colder than usual…
Such thoughts raced his mind and he simply said:
"Y—yea."
She glimpsed behind her and followed with another question:
"Are you hungry? Do you wish to grab a bite before we enter the forest? Or would you rather rest before going?"
The sudden barrage left him agape.
"I, uh… I'm a bit hungry indeed… Do you have food on you?" He wondered if she could make food pop out of nowhere like in the game.
She snickered and ironically asked:
"Do you see any food on me?" Then she cackled. "Huhuhu… maybe I should have put it in another way…"
He formed a wry smile on her joke. He was about to ask her something when she said:
"There's a clearing ahead, let's see if there are any sunsettias or apples lying around. If we don't find one, we can only wait until we reach the city."
"…Okay."
They walked some more, Lisa about two meters ahead of Sai.
"D—"
"By the way… you haven't asked about my name or anything… are you not intrigued by this situation?" She interrupted him again.
He felt slightly irritated that she wouldn't let him speak, but honestly answered her.
"Well, I was wondering what you meant by—"
"My name is Lisa, glad you asked." Her tone was slightly more cheerful now.
She made her mind about what was bothering her.
"…"
"Why are you so quiet? Mm?" She turned her head to look at him for a second.
"Can you tell me about what you remember?" Lisa proceeded.
"…" Sai decided not to fall for it again.
"Go on, I'm listening." She urged.
"Sigh… I was just walking home when suddenly I appeared in uh… a mountain. And uh… I was forced to fight some hilichurls."
"Oh… a mountain, you say? Hmm… Do you remember what kind of hilichurls you fought?" Sai could hear some eagerness in her voice.
"Uh… some normal hilichurls and a hilichurls boss. Oh and there was a frost bull as well." Sai decided to honestly answer her. Nothing good could come out of lying in this situation.
"Frost bull? You mean a Lawachurl?" She was clearly surprised.
"Y-yea… you were there too, don't you remember?" Sai realized that she didn't remember what happened with the player at all.
He thought that the possibility that she was just pretending was small, since these questions wouldn't make sense in that case.
"Well, yes."
It looked like Sai was wrong. She continued:
"But I don't remember as much as you. Who else was there?"
Sai was slightly surprised now.
'She said she remembered what happened but not who was there? Hmm… maybe she couldn't see them since she was the active character… ops. I guess she's not just a character anymore.'
"Noelle and—" Sai didn't notice on time. He gave away that he knew Noelle, so it was given that he was either from Mondstadt, or he had a special identity.
Nevertheless, Lisa pretended not to notice.
"And?"
'Ah… I messed up there. I was going to pretend not to know anyone in Mondstadt…'
"…and Kaeya."
"Kaeya too, huh? You seem to know a lot about the knights… are you perhaps an aspiring knight as well?"
Sai slowed down. 'Aspiring knight? Oh right! Noelle is one! But if I say I am, all she has to do is ask the instructor or Jean and I'll be busted. What to do…'
"I'm… not."
"Ho… I'm glad you spoke the truth. You aren't from Mondstadt, how do you know who they are?"
"…" 'Damn! I almost messed up for real there!'
"Can't answer that? It's fine, I won't force you. I just want to know what you witnessed from when you appeared to the moment I asked for your name. You can tell me that, right?"
"Yes."
"Good boy." She flashed him a smile as she kept walking.
Sai felt like he was her underling as she talked without looking at him, only for him to stare at her back.
'It's a nice view though… not going to lie.'
…
Sai told her precisely what he witnessed from beginning to end, carefully avoiding any sensitive details that could put him in jeopardy. The players' dialogue, for example. Or the deaths of the other three.
He also decided to add that Amber was there too, since he forgot about it earlier. Perhaps the habit of ignoring her existence was influencing him in real life too…
"…And that's what happened." Sai was content about coming up with a story not filled with many holes so shortly.
Besides that, he was glad she hadn't killed him on the spot. Her temper seemed to be as strong as her magic, he wasn't mentally prepared to face her yet.
He couldn't afford to lie to her, given that she could remember about the exact part he lied about, so Sai was on constant pressure throughout his statement.
"I see…" She was solemn. "Look, there's an apple tree right there, you can probably find some for you to eat." She pointed ahead as if they hadn't been walking through a forest of apple trees for minutes.
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