"Sayu! Come on, you know that carrots are good for you."
Across the table from the small ninja, a shrine maiden sat. She could be said to essentially be Sayu's caretaker--watching over her in order to make sure she was doing what she was supposed to. Whether it be work for the Shuumatsuban, eating her vegetables, or just making sure she wasn't slacking off in general, this was what Kano Nana was tasked with. It'd been a request from the Kamisato Clan specifically, so she didn't find any reason to refuse at the time, thinking that it wouldn't be that hard.
Looking over a Shuumatsuban member didn't sound all that difficult, especially due to their high regard within the power structure in Inazuma.
Right?
Well, yes and no. For one, Sayu, as a member of the Shuumatsuban, was highly adept in hiding--which made sense, given her resume. Her ninjutsu skills, derived from the Yoohoo Art, were amazing at playing hide and seek with the maiden, and she often found herself being the one trying to find the little lady. Though she could never understand why Sayu would want to hide from her, at least the little tanuki girl wasn't going off and doing anything dangerous. Then again, she was always sleepy... so whenever nighttime came, Sayu never resisted following through with several nighttime tasks, one of which was going to sleep.
That was probably the easiest task to get Sayu to do.
"No!" Sayu huffed, crossing her arms. Kano Nana sighed, being well aware of Sayu's habits for a while now.
"It won't do any good for your height if you keep this up, you know," She reasoned with the Shuumatsuban member. Vegetables not only contributed to a healthy diet, but also to one's growth in some way. She ate her vegetables and she grew--it'd make sense to apply that same logic to Sayu. "It's just 15 carrots."
"Just 15?!" The ninja glared at the carrots in front of her with a look of disdain on her face. "That's... that's too much!"
"I'm sure that Miss and Mister Kamisato would be less than pleased if I were to-"
"O-okay, fine!"
At the shrine maiden's threatening words, Sayu's reasons crumbled. In less than a second, she'd swiped the chopped carrots from the bowl on the table in front of her and into her mouth, chewing them as quickly as she could to get over their taste.
"Phew. There you go--not too bad, right?" Kano Nana reassured her, giving her a smile of sympathy. Sayu sulked quietly, offering no comment in return.
"Afterwards, get ready for bed. You can't slack off then, can you?" Kano Nana tried her best to ease Sayu into behaving--almost like a child. Sayu still remained quiet, chewing on the 15 carrots the shrine maiden had given her bitterly.
Nighttime resumed as usual, and the day ended with Sayu heading off to bed.
"Traveler! Guiji Yae sends her regards," A shrine maiden greeted the traveler at the entrance of the Grand Narukami Shrine. "I presume you're here on behalf of Kano Nana, right?"
> Yes.
> What's it to you?
The maiden chuckled, placing a hand over her lips to hide her smile underneath. "Great to see that you're as lively as ever. Your deeds have spread throughout Inazuma, and it's good that you're trusted by the citizens."
A exasperated shout from the traveler's side quickly offset the shrine maiden's praise. "Hey! What about Paimon? Paimon's done great things too!"
The maiden only chuckled slightly at her words, and the blonde outlander followed. They weren't here to babysit Paimon and her Paimonal needs of praise and encouragement.
> Anyways...
> Yes, I'm here on behalf of Kano Nana.
"Then you're here to babysit Sayu, yes?"
> Babysit... Sayu?
They looked over at Paimon incredulously. Paimon shrugged, having no idea at what the maiden was trying to stipulate. The shrine maiden just looked on at them innocently. She offered no further context to her words, making the traveler repeat themselves--half in shock, half in bewilderment.
> I'm sorry. You said to babysit Sayu?
> I didn't hear that wrong?
The shrine maiden again reaffirmed her words. "Yes, that's correct. You're here to babysit Sayu during Kano Nana's absence, yes?"
"Huh?! But Paimon never heard Kano Nana mention that!" An angry Paimon stomped in midair, expressing her frustrations.
"You didn't? Surely you heard something along the lines of, 'Please accompany Sayu for me', though?" She looked on, faking a look of puzzlement.
> Wait, you couldn't mean...
> So that's what she meant?!
"Traveler, you're actually making sense of all this?!" Paimon again reiterated her visible distress. "Is Paimon the only one not understanding?!"
> Paimon, when we were at Kano Nana's place earlier...
> Didn't you find it a little strange that she specifically asked for us to accompany Sayu around with her daily tasks too?
"Uh-huh. Well, yeah, maybe, but-!"
> We've already accepted her request, so...
> It can't be that big of an issue. It's just Sayu, after all.
"H-Hey! Traveler!"
The traveler turned back to face the maiden, who was still looking on to the duo's interactions with a smile on her face.
"So?" Her look held an aura of expectancy. This was the famed traveler of several nations--Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma. Their deeds of Sumeru would also soon encroach the remote island--perhaps one day, maybe even the whole world. There was no end in sight for the traveler, and the shrine maiden appreciated the fact that they'd go all this way back to Inazuma to help them out--even if it was just watching over a troublesome little girl.
Paimon sighed, looking at the traveler. They smiled at the shrine maiden, making up their mind.
"Augh, fine! We'll take it, just give us Kano Nana's daily tasks first..."
"Great! Just right this way, Sayu should still be sleeping..."
Upon arrival into the sunlit room, a figure sat on her bed, looking dazedly into the window peering outside.
> Huh?
> You're awake?
"Traveler?"
During the Inazuma Archon Quests, the traveler had had the help of a small, tanuki-like ninja in order to obtain incriminating evidence against the Kujou Clan. Though they only truly met for but a brief moment, her appearance was undeniable. The ninja, part of the Shuumatsuban under the Kamisato Clan, was named Sayu--just about perpetually tired, with a small stature to boot. But without her, the entire ordeal would've taken much longer.
Her Yoohoo Art prowess was impeccable.
But standing before the traveler and their floating companion...
> ...Who are you?
> You're not Sayu...
The female basking in the sunlight gave the two a soft smile. She was of medium height--almost as tall as Ayaka. There was no way this was Sayu.
"Sayu, Shuumatsuban, at your disposal!" She stood up promptly, disguising herself into her usual, rolled up mujina-tanuki ball. After reassuring her identity to the two, she changed back, standing up to greet them.
Paimon was the first to show her surprise. "What the-!!"
> S-Sayu?
> It is you...
"Why wouldn't it be?" She yawned, stretching her limbs and muscles. "Mmmm-ahh. That was a great nap..."
"Huh?! No, what?! You're not Sayu! Paimon refuses to believe that you're taller than Paimon!" Paimon again stomped the air angrily, with the blonde traveler next to them chuckling at their floating companion's response to the lady. "After all, the Sayu Paimon knows is short! As short as a stick!"
> Paimon, you've been short ever since I met you.
> Let's face it--you're not going to grow anytime soon.
"Hey!"
"I guess vegetables are good for me..." Sayu muttered. "Anyway, is she... gone?"
"Hm? Who, that sneaky, pesky shrine maiden lady?" Paimon questioned the now-taller Sayu, who still retained her original voice. Her identity--though she looked taller now--still reflected how she was in the past, with her half-drooped eyes and attire overall. Sayu nodded, expressing her discontent.
"She'd been checking up on me every few minutes, as if I'd go wandering around somewhere..." She shook her head as she said her words. "I'm not going to do anything crazy. Plus, the eldest daughter of the Kamisato Clan got one of the other shrine maidens to do that... I can't think of her name right now, though..."
> You mean Kano Nana?
> The sick shrine maiden?
"She's sick?" Sayu gave the traveler a surprised look--one of complete unknowing.
"Yeah!" Paimon furiously nodded her head, taking up a thinking gesture afterwards to question Sayu yet again. "Didn't she tell you we were coming?"
"No... I had no idea, otherwise I could've done something in advance..." She yawned once again, and the traveler went over to pat her back.
> I honestly can't believe how tall you've grown since we last saw you.
> It's a miracle.
"It's like a dream!" Sayu cheered happily. "Maybe that shrine maiden really was just looking after me... but then again..."
"Wait! Paimon thought you were supposed to be doing Kano Nana's tasks!" Paimon interrupted the traveler's gesture of sympathy.
> Oh, right.
> Those...
"I don't mind," Sayu said, taking a breath to yawn, "let's go."
On the way to the Kamisato Estate, the now-trio passed by Chinju Forest, home of little creatures that loved to play pranks--the tanuki.
Shaking her head, Paimon still held a look of bewilderment at Sayu's grown self. "Paimon still can't believe this! Since when were you taller than Paimon?!"
"Honestly, I'm not too sure of that myself," Sayu said, "but that shrine maiden was probably telling me to eat my vegetables for something like this..."
> Right. We're off to do Kano Nana's tasks.
> Speaking of, in the past, she'd posted requests for veggies...
"Paimon remembers! Just not that long ago, the traveler gave Kano Nana a bunch of carrots. Like just a day ago!" She floated about in the air, almost whacking herself on a tree branch as she turned around to face the duo. The height difference between the two could easily be seen. "Around 15 or so of the little orangey things."
"15?" The number felt familiar to Sayu. All too familiar, actually...
...wait.
"That's the exact same amount she forced me to eat yesterday!"
> Huh?
> Wait, Sayu, you couldn't mean...
"So it was you who took her requests?!" Sayu was somewhat baffled at the disposition. No wonder why the shrine maiden never seemed to be out of those bitter foods...! The traveler was her supplier!
> Haha, yeah...
> Paimon!
"What? Paimon didn't say anything false!" Paimon crossed her arms, defiant. She thought she was helping the situation, not adding fire to it!
"No, I think you've got it wrong. I'm not mad at you." Sayu said, stretching a few of her limbs. She could feel that the traveling duo felt like she was going to try to scold them, or something of the sort. "In fact... thank you."
> You're thanking me?
> If I recall correctly though, you hate vegetables.
"I do! Still do!" Sayu huffed, the hood on her head covering her expression from the traveler as they walked side-by-side. "But... all my life, I've been super short compared to the other Shuumatsuban."
"Huh? Paimon's short too! Hey!"
> Paimon...
> Give her a second.
"Hmph!" Paimon floated away, up and over the Kamisato Gates as they neared the residence.
"Even using my claymore took a lot of effort. When I got my Vision, it helped a lot, but only in handling my work as a Shuumatsuban." Sayu took a detour to the same spot of Chinju Forest where Ayaka had shared her dance with the outlander as a lightly-colored, crinkly leaf fell onto her hood. "Growing up, I'd always be the last to grow. Because I was small, I couldn't handle tasks that required infiltration or something similar, even with my skills."
She demonstrated her ninjutsu by picking a loose leaf from top of her head. She held its stem in her hands, and enclosed it in her palm. In the blink of an eye, it'd turned into a small, Paimon-sized wind glider.
"Even if I could transform taller, the change would only be temporary at best, and I wouldn't be able to hold it up for long."
Suddenly, the wing glider in her hands emitted a cloud of smoke. As the traveler fanned it away, there only stood a leaf in Sayu's palms once more. She sighed.
"Everyone was growing taller."
She took the dehydrated leaf and blew on it, making it fly away from the two and into the wind, where it followed other leaves in the wind current. She looked at its trajectory, hoping for it to be carried elsewhere by the wind. However, it was only able to keep up with the rest before falling out of the current a few seconds later.
"Everyone... except me. And I tried many ways to grow--even sleep and vegetables... but nothing worked."
She removed her tanuki hood, revealing her hair and face from underneath. She looked at the traveler, and they smiled back. The shade of her hair somewhat resembled the leaf's, and though the outlander had seen what she looked like dozens before... this new Sayu felt different. Her eyes glowed today, yet still held the same half-drooped position as before.
"So being able to actually see everyone like this... it's refreshing!" Sayu stretched again, letting out a characteristic yawn. "Thank you."
> I'm glad that you're feeling better, Sayu.
> I didn't excpect this to happen either. But it's not me you should thank.
Oh. Right. It was that shrine maiden who'd been looking after her, not the outlander. However, the traveler supplied the vegetables, so she felt that her form of gratitude was still fine.
Nonetheless, Sayu nodded. That was reasonable. "Her... right. When she comes back tomorrow, I'll be sure to let her know."
> Kano Nana's going to appreciate that.
> Give her my thanks as well.
"Hm? Sure, but... why?"
Couldn't they just go back to her themselves later on?
> It'd sound nicer coming from you.
> I just help her out from time to time.
The traveler felt guilty withholding their true reason for thanking Kano Nana, but if they told Sayu that it was because they were broke and in desperate need of mora...
...yeah, no, that'd probably ruin the moment.
"If you say so." Sayu shrugged, turning to face the direction of the Kamisato Estate. They had dallied long enough. "Wonder what I'm going to do today..."
After a long day of Shuumatsuban tasks and the traveler off to complete Kano Nana's, Sayu revisited the spot they'd visited in Chinju Forest. The water lightly lapped around her feet, and she placed herself on a rock, feeling the air coursing through her hair and skin. Her abrupt growth spurt couldn't have been a subconscious Yoohoo Art technique of any sort, but nothing she experienced was out of the ordinary, either. It'd been a while since Kano Nana was sick, though.
Years, even...
...
...when was the last time Kano Nana had been sick, actually?
"Wait..."
A thought echoed in her mind.
Never.
And she woke up.
The first thing Sayu heard was a ecstatic, high-pitched voice. "She's opening her eyes! Traveler, come quick!"
"Oh, thank goodness." Another voice followed--one that Sayu hadn't heard before. It was foreign, but held an aura of kindness all the same. At the same time, Sayu promptly stood up. She heard a different voice yell out 'coming'--presumably the traveler--and shook her head to get rid of the feeling of sleep.
"Sayu?"
The last one to show themselves was all too familiar to her.
"It's Kano Nana," Sayu mumbled, still in a state of sleepiness.
The room was crowded in seconds.
On one side, the traveler, Paimon, and another small lady next to them stood at the foot of the bed. On the other, Kano Nana, who looked at Sayu a bit worriedly.
"Are you okay?" That was quite a fall back there." Kano Nana looked at Sayu, gesturing to the latter's shoulder. Sayu's senses quickly returned to her, and she winced slightly.
"Ow..."
"It's fine, she'll recover," The small person said. "That dream seems to have heightened her body's natural healing temporarily, so she doesn't feel that much pain."
A... a dream? Sayu looked around, puzzled. "Dream?"
Speaking of which... where were they? Looking around, nothing seemed to even be remotely Inazuman here--save for Kano Nana's attire and Sayu's own.
As if sensing her confusion, the traveler once again smiled back at her.
> Welcome to Sumeru, Sayu.
So they were in Sumeru. The thoughts all flooded back to her now--how she and Kano Nana were invited by the traveler to go visit Sumeru for a day, and had even been given leave by the Kamisatos, only for her to be unaccustomed to the environment of Sumeru and accidentally aggravate a Rishboland Tiger hiding utop a tree. Seconds later, she'd fallen, being whacked by multiple tree branches in the process.
She quickly looked back at herself--her gesture clearly visible to everyone as she sighed disappointingly.
"So it was just a dream after all..."
Everyone in the room smiled back at her now.
"Not just a dream--it was an experience, Sayu." Kano Nana chuckled lightly. "You're welcome."
"Paimon still can't believe you casted Paimon away like that, you, you--!!" She sulked frustratingly. The traveler laughed.
> On the contrary, I think it's commendable.
> Your power over dreams truly is something, Nahida.
They turned to face the only other person in the room aside from everyone who Sayu knew currently.
"Nahida?"
> That's right. Nahida.
"A dream that envelopes one's self into a euphoric experience, encasing and securing themselves..." She turned to look at Sayu, giving her a soft smile. "You seemed to be losing your way, so I only wanted to guide you to a new field of direction--one where you could truly just be yourself."
Suddenly everything made sense. Why Kano Nana was sick, why the traveler had gone out of their way to accompany Sayu even to Chinju Forest, and even Paimon 'being sent away' elsewhere... even her sudden growth, and how everything felt so natural to her--even walking, holding her claymore, everything...
"Being small isn't necessarily a bad thing," Kano Nana interjected. "There's many things you're able to do that others cannot. For example, hiding."
The maiden's comment reminded her of her sensei.
"The Yoohoo Art isn't suitable for everyone," Nahida interjected. "I may not have much experience with people, but I did find someone who was adept in it once."
Nahida wasn't ever let out of her cage before the traveler had come along, but through the many Akasha Terminals, even she was able to find a bit of information about other nations.
"You're a wonderful fit for it. Perhaps even the only one in the whole of Inazuma."
Having someone similar of height to her did feel reassuring. Nahida was super mature too, making Sayu wonder about her age.
"Even if you're alone now, you've already found your own path. It might not be as normal as others in your line of work, but it's entirely your own."
A small, colorful pop of colors entered her sight. The traveler had release a small party popper, along with Kano Nana and Paimon.
"And nobody can take that away from you."
> Happy birthday, Sayu.
