***
'I feel like I'm having a flashback right before my eyes...and I'm not even dying!' He laughed wryly. 'I really wish someone can just explain why my life has been getting weirder by the day.'
"That's intriguing...why is it not here?" Lisa looked puzzled as they walked towards a wider platform inside the Spiral Abyss. "It makes little to no sense for it to disappear...unless..." Her voice trailed off, as she tilted her head and tried to think about something.
"Is there...a problem...?" Yomite asked, but she shook her head immediately, dismissing his concern.
"No, it's fine." she started walking again, this time towards a new spiral staircase-looking structures leading further up into the depths of the Spiral Abyss.
"Barbara. It appears that your little friend decided to go ahead on their own."
"Little...friend?" Barbara blinked in confusion at first, but soon after, realization hit her like a brick. "Ah! Sister Rosaria! I completely forgot about her! Wasn't she unconscious!?"
"Yes, yes. She was. And she went ahead without us. It seems that she wanted to find us but didn't manage to do so..."
'That complicates things. I was initially planning to use it as a warm up session for them and then continue with the rest. They reappear every day, but if she cleared out everything herself beforehand...all of the challenges...No, she couldn't...there are parts she cannot do alone.' Lisa mumbled under her breath, trying to keep the irritation from showing through, while still paying attention to Yomite and his group behind her.
"Well, it appears we should...ascend the stairs."
"The stairs...?"
"No! Not again!"
"How am I supposed to do it...with this damn bracelet on!?"
"Stop whining, everyone." Lisa rolled her eyes as they complained. "As for you, Handsome, just like last time; you need to push yourself a bit more. Don't give up when faced with difficulty."
"Easy for...you to say..."
Yomite groaned deeply as she walked away, leaving him and his group standing before the pair of spiralling stone stairs—as before, the way up seemed to be nothing but an endless series of those very same steps.
"I guess I'll have to...manage somehow then..." He sighed, already starting forward towards the staircase. Lifting his leg made it feel like someone had just jabbed a sharpened stick deep into his thigh muscles, which was probably the best analogy he could think of now.
Step by step, he ascended, each step becoming a painstaking ordeal, sending waves of intense agony all over his body. His breathing became heavier and deeper with every passing minute as sweat dripped down his face and back.
After ten steps or so, he suddenly stopped when he noticed Lisa resting on one of the steps with her legs splayed out in front of her, watching him as if observing a laboratory animal under the microscope.
Though something was off. Her breathing was labored. Like she might pass out at any moment.
"...Oi...you're kidding...right?" he called out to her while staring at her intently for answers. "You've got to be joking right?"
"..."
"How are you...tired already!? It's not even been ten seconds! I should be the one being tired! I have the bracelet on me! So you better move up!"
"No can do. I'm spent. Carry me."
"Fuck off." Yomite muttered with a huff as he tried to ignore how heavy his own feet felt at this point.
Was she toying with him again? Or was she being for real?
There was a limit to how shitty someone's stamina could be, wasn't there?
If she almost died in a few steps, what would happen if she put on the gravity bracelet? Would she just explode into dust or get flattened against the ground like a pancake?
"My stamina was never that good...but it's been declining lately. Not to mention...my legs hurt after the trip we took here from Mondstadt. I deserve a break."
"Come on! I know you are a neet, but this is way over the line!"
"Hmm? What's neet?"
"Unemployed, indoors person that doesn't even know how to wipe his butt without his parents."
"Now, now. I will excuse your conduct and lack of knowledge about my private life since you're my dear student. However..." She gave him a stern look before continuing. "...You really need to stop making such an ill-informed assumption. My legs are my third most charming feature. I need to make sure they're in top form whenever possible. If not for myself, then for my adorable little student who keeps on admiring them," Lisa said with a giggle.
"..."
Yomite sighed heavily once more. She wasn't wrong. He did often glance at her legs, so he was guilty as charged—he had noticed her pair of well shaped long black lace stockings as soon as he laid eyes upon her for the very first time he entered Mondstadt, which was already enough to raise his attention level quite high.
The way she dressed too, everything always looked rather polished; even though she didn't wear anything ostentatious to impress, she still wore things in a refined manner instead of showing off a bit more skin or gaudiness.
But right now, Yomite wasn't in the mood to appreciate any part of her body or see how lovely it would be if it were bare in front of him. No matter how much he liked those long legs of hers, all that mattered now was that she was exhausted. However, there was no way in hell he was going to carry her by himself.
"Tao, come help me out here."
Yomite gestured towards her with an impatient wave of his hand. "Go and carry her up."
"Eeeh...I don't wanna..." Tao turned away and pouted slightly.
"Haaah...Alright...If you do it for me...I'll...do...handstands with you...but only once this bracelet comes off..." Yomite sighed, "Deal?"
"Deal! Hahaha! You can't back down now!" Hu Tao agreed eagerly.
Without giving it another thought, she ran over to Lisa and grabbed her by the ankles.
Yomite watched as she lifted Lisa into the air like she weighed nothing, put her on her back and ran at breakneck speed upwards.
"Well...that's taken care of at least..."
