"Ah, home, sweet home!" A young man sighed in contentment as he entered his mansion.
As soon as he was through the door, the girls behind him followed suit with their own sighs and exclamations of relief.
Now that they were at home, the tension of the day appeared to have dissipated.
Ultimately, the day had been quite eventful.
From the lovely Fischl, to Rex Lapis dying, to meeting Mona...
A lot of stuff occurred.
"Yum-Yum! May I stay with you in your mansion for the night?"
Barbara asked with enthusiasm.
Now that she had made some new girl friends, she was interested in experiencing what it would be like to live with someone she could get along with.
Yomite shrugged. "Well, we have plenty of rooms, so I suppose it wouldn't be a problem."
He was aware that tonight would likely be awkward because she might try to do something to him, but there was no harm in allowing Barbara to get closer to the other girls.
That could lesser the percentage of Yandere syndrome by a lot.
Perhaps she only desired friendships.
All of the girls in his party used to be loners.
Hu Tao due to her reputation and odd behavior.
Fischl due to her manner of speech and unwillingness to open up to others.
Iris because she was a dragon who had been hunted for centuries because of a misunderstanding.
Before meeting Paimon, Lumine used to travel alone for a considerable amount of time in an effort to locate her brother.
And now Barbara, Deaconess of the church who despite her popularity had no real friends, and her older sister was as if pretending she didn't exist...
"Thank you so much, thank you!" Barbara squealed happily.
Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she contemplated the prospect of her first sleepover with her friends.
As it was Yomite's mansion, it appeared that the other girls already knew about the sleepover plan and were simply awaiting his permission.
"Okay girls, just don't be too wild here, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Yomite said as he walked away to take a shower.
He was exhausted and it was late.
As a single man in this mansion, he would only be getting in the way of the "Girl Party".
"How can he just leave! I still didn't pay him back for the doggie thing!" Hu Tao pouted as the other girls laughed. "I will show him!"
"Now now, mein dear Freundin, thou shall not fear, thou ist aware the Starlord is just teasing thou, correct? Tonight is still long! Wings of Darkness, cometh forth, sever the night from day!"
"You're right! We should have an all girl party! We're free to do what we want now that my Assistant is not here! It's our mansion!" Hu Tao joyfully jumped up and down.
"What should we play?" Lumine asked. "I am pretty bad at chess, but we can play some cards."
She was initially surprised by this turn of events, but after hearing Hu Tao talk about the 'All Girl Night', she grew interested in the idea too.
They agreed to start with something lighthearted to keep things light and fun.
"If everyone is okay with it, we could play this new game from Fontaine called truth or dare." Barbara suggested, "Lisa, the librarian explained me the rules a while ago, but I could not play it with anyone yet."
The simple reason was because she had no one to play with.
"I don't know how to play it."
"Me neither."
"Same. Never heard of it."
"Don't worry! It's actually very simple!"
Barbara took the initiative to explain the rules of truth or dare, and everyone agreed to participate because the game seemed interesting enough and fun for the rest of the night.
"But first, we need some snacks and drinks! Lumi-Lumi...Please~" Hu Tao ran towards her with puppy eyes.
"...Fine, don't be sad..." Lumine could not bear her miserable expression and brought out several dishes, cold drinks, and wine bottles.
Due to her Inventory skill, these dishes would never spoil and would retain the exact same temperature as the moment they were placed inside.
After meeting Childe on the streets and realizing that Iris and Paimon were continuously hungry, Lumine decided to stockpile food and beverages in addition to wine and a few weapons as her inventory did not seem to have a limit in size.
"Wow, I can never get used to it no matter how many times I see it...what an amazing ability." Hu Tao grinned and started distributing everything, before she ran off.
Soon enough, she came back with something huge in her hands.
"My Lord...what is that thing?" Barbara raised one eyebrow curiously when she saw what Hu Tao brought along with her.
"A gramophone!" Hu Tao said with pride as she placed it on the table in the room's far right corner.
"That red haired guy, Diluc, gave it to us as a present a few months back! I've tried it a few times and its a tool that generates music! As if a group of bards was singing right next to us! How amazing!"
She started it up and started tapping her foot along with the music playing.
The others regarded it with curiosity.
This gramophone invention really did produce sounds!
"Wow, how beautiful. Indeed, inventions are fascinating!" Barbara exclaimed as she joined the rest of the group on the ground.
Lumine explained, "I recall Diluc stating he acquired the item as a present from a Snezhnayan merchant for saving his life, but he never used it since he valued his solitude and didn't want his home to feel like a banquet every day."
"Of course, Diluc is a loner, so Paimon doesn't find it weird for him to throw something as amazing as this away!" Paimon exclaimed but soon noticed the expression on the girls' faces as she said that.
"Paimon, I think that...all of us here, used to be loners." Lumine replied with a sweet smile. "I was separated from my brother for quite some time and before meeting you and Party Leader, I was all alone. The others here also had different circumstances of being lonely."
"P-Paimon's so sorry. Paimon didn't mean it like that!"
It sounded almost like a whimper, and as if on cue, everyone appeared to be staring at one another.
They had all experienced loneliness, but it had vanished now that they were together.
"Oh, come on guys, what's up with the atmosphere! Cheer up! Cheer up! Let me start with the new game then! Ask me or make me do anything!" Hu Tao began dancing to the music and made goofy faces in an effort to cheer them up.
After a few seconds, the entire group began to giggle and cheer.
