"Who are you?"
The woman, having failed to catch Yu Keke, followed her movement with her eyes—only to realize that aside from the little "monster," there was also a boy standing nearby.
Ignoring Yu Keke, the woman's fierce gaze locked onto Aether.
"And who are you to Yu Keke?"
Aether stepped forward and shielded Yu Keke behind him, frowning.
He had been watching from the side for a while now. Every family has its problems, and he hadn't intended to pry into Yu Keke's affairs.
But this woman in front of him—who by all accounts should be family—was acting hostile, even cursing Yu Keke's father nonstop. That didn't sit right.
"Me? Hmph. I'm her mother!" the woman snapped coldly. "Kid, I suggest you mind your own business! Yu Keke, get your butt over here!"
"She's not my mother!" Yu Keke retorted sharply from behind Aether.
"Pah! You ungrateful little brat! I took care of you and that deadbeat dad of yours for years, and you don't even acknowledge me as your mother?"
The woman planted her hands on her hips and launched into another tirade.
"Hmm?"
Aether turned to Yu Keke.
"Let's go."
Yu Keke didn't answer. She simply reached out her small hand, grabbed Aether's, and ran deeper into the village. Paimon flitted after them, staying close.
"Yu Keke, get back here!" the woman shouted behind them, clearly unwilling to give up—but she didn't chase.
Yu Keke paid no attention to the yelling. She kept pulling Aether along until they reached a dilapidated, secluded straw hut.
"Brother, Paimon… I'm sorry you had to hear all that. Especially you, Paimon… I didn't mean to get you involved."
She hung her head, apologizing over and over as they stopped in front of the shabby hut.
"It's alright." Aether shook his head, letting her know it wasn't a big deal.
"Yeah, it's okay, Keke. You don't have to apologize!" Paimon waved it off, still visibly shaken. "But… who was that scary lady? She was so mean!"
"She's my… new mother," Yu Keke finally muttered after a long silence.
"New mother?"
Paimon's eyes widened. Things suddenly sounded a lot more complicated.
"Mm. It's cold out here. Let's go inside. This is a hut I found that no one lives in."
Yu Keke pointed to the straw hut.
Inside, Paimon eyed the fat spider spinning webs on the beam above and shrank back nervously.
"Keke, why were you staying out here all by yourself?"
"Sometimes when Papa's away, I don't want to go home. So I wait here for him to come back."
Yu Keke sighed. If she could, she too wanted a warm, loving home.
"Earlier… you mentioned your 'new mother.' What did you mean?"
"Papa found her five years ago and married her. My real mama died after giving birth to me."
Yu Keke sat down on the straw-covered floor, cupping her cheeks with both hands as she explained in a low voice.
Her father had once been a soul master, even joining the Spirit Hall's guard corps. But during a mission, he was severely injured and lost his soul power.
For a soul master, losing one's soul power was like losing half your life—after that, even ordinary people were stronger by comparison.
Although Spirit Hall provided a small monthly pension for such disabled soul masters, it wasn't enough to live on in the city. So her father brought his pregnant wife to settle in this remote village.
But fate was cruel. When her mother gave birth to her, complications arose. The terrain was remote, and the nearest clinic was too far. Her mother passed away soon after giving birth.
Since then, Yu Keke and her father had relied on Spirit Hall's pension to scrape by in the village.
To give her a better life, her father began hunting beasts with the other men in the village to sell pelts, saving the money so that when she awakened her martial soul, he could send her to an academy for training.
Then one day, her father returned from a trip carrying a gravely injured woman. That was when their peaceful life began to unravel.
Eventually, her father married that woman and made Yu Keke call her "mother."
When her father was around, the woman was tolerable. But when he was away, it was nothing but beatings and curses—she even warned Yu Keke not to tell her father.
Her father was already struggling. Yu Keke didn't want him to argue with the new mother, so she kept enduring in silence.
"Wow… so Keke's been through all that this whole time?" Paimon looked heartbroken.
"Mm. She always says I'm useless, that all I do is eat and waste food. I thought that once I awakened my martial soul… things would be different…"
Yu Keke lowered her head again, a secret pain weighing down her voice.
"Huh? What's a martial soul?"
Paimon tilted her head, curious about this mysterious thing that was supposed to change Keke's fate.
"A martial soul is a power that everyone can awaken. With it, people become stronger."
Yu Keke shared what she knew about martial souls.
"I see! So did you awaken yours already?"
"I awakened it three years ago, but…"
Yu Keke trailed off, unable to finish.
"What? But if you awakened your power, then why is that mean lady still treating you like that?" Paimon was puzzled.
If Yu Keke had gained power, shouldn't that have changed things?
"My martial soul is weird. The villagers call me a little monster…"
Yu Keke pulled off her old hat, revealing a pair of pointed ears.
"Eh? Those are… fox ears? Are you a little fox?"
Not only Paimon—Aether was surprised too. He stared at the white, fluffy ears in astonishment.
There were records of such things—cases where a mutated martial soul left physical traits behind on the user's body.
"I'm not a fox. These appeared when I awakened my martial soul. I've tried everything, but they won't go away…"
Yu Keke quickly put the worn hat back on, hiding the ears.
To her, those ears didn't give her strength—they only made her more ashamed.
"You don't have to be sad, Keke. I have a lot of friends with ears or tails like you. They live happily—and they're really strong too!"
Paimon tried to cheer her up, sensing her deep insecurity.
"Huh? Really? There are others like me?"
Yu Keke's eyes lit up a little. Maybe… she wasn't so strange after all.
"Yeah! There's the catgirl in Mondstadt, Liyue's… er, Keqing! And Inazuma's Lady Yae! She's a fox just like you!"
Paimon ticked them off on her fingers.
"I'm not a little fox…"
"Ehehe~ Sorry!" Paimon scratched her head sheepishly. She'd gotten carried away.
Still, in her mind, what was so bad about being a little fox?
Fluffy ears, a warm fluffy tail—especially the tail! Wouldn't that be perfect to hug when sleeping outside in the wild?
Speaking of tails…
Paimon started glancing Yu Keke up and down, seemingly trying to spot where she might've hidden it.
_
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