No one had expected Lisa's sudden ambush.
Least of all the man at the center of it all—Gong Qu.
Amber and Eula were so nervous it felt like their hearts might leap right out of their throats.
Jean, on the other hand, watched the two—who looked like they were kissing—with calm, unreadable eyes.
She understood Lisa well. Just as Lisa understood her.
Though Lisa might appear to be a confident, battle-hardened older sister figure on the surface, deep down she was a lonely witch starved of love. In that way, she was not so different from the pure-hearted Grand Master of the Knights herself.
For Lisa to act so out of character, there must be a deeper reason.
Yes... next time she applies for leave, maybe I'll let her take an extra week or two.
. . .
The two remained in that position for nearly a full minute.
Gong Qu let out a sigh, gently pushing Lisa back down into her seat.
"I understand now, Lisa. So this is your answer."
You won't settle for that so-called platonic friendship between a man and a woman. You want me to choose.
But if I accept your feelings, wouldn't that be a betrayal to the others?
Witches really are selfish.
"Hehe~ What's that, darling? I didn't quite catch it~"Lisa brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, smiling like the victor already claiming her prize.
Gong Qu turned to glance at the other girls seated around him.
Each face bore the same unspoken message: Choose me.
Yet, behind every gaze was the same fear: What if I'm the one left behind?
What is this, some kind of reverse If You Are the One?
He exhaled deeply, the kind of breath that comes when the sky is eerily calm—just before the storm breaks.
"I'll give you all an answer. But before that... let me tell you a story. A long one. About a girl with no memories... searching for her brother."
And so, as the food was being served, Gong Qu began to recount the events of the Archon Quests in Teyvat.
Everyone listened intently. The tale felt familiar, almost like it was the way things were always meant to be.
But... something was missing.
"You, Traveler," Amber asked. "Why aren't you in your own story?"
"Yeah," he said softly. "I'm not in it. But that's the truth as I know it. Lisa, what do you make of that?"
"You mean... the Irminsul has altered our perception? That you never existed? That's impossible! You're right here! And those weapons... those artifacts... and wait—Genesis Crystals?! Where did those come from? I don't think I ever asked before."
Lisa, a graduate of Sumeru's Akademiya, knew some of Teyvat's deepest secrets.
But it was precisely because she knew such things that she grew afraid of knowledge. Hence her current, laid-back demeanor.
Gong Qu stood up, casting a sweeping gaze over the girls seated before him.
Lisa's bold action had been a wake-up call.
All these top-ranked girls in Teyvat—each with her own "flaws." Pursuing any of them through normal means would take a lifetime, and might still end in failure.
But the game system didn't care about that. It reduced relationships to a number called "affection," as immutable as the world's code itself.
And the higher the difficulty, the more intense the emotion.
Handle it poorly, and it could end in disaster—for everyone involved.
Having only recently arrived in this world, Gong Qu still held onto his habits as a regular person.
Instinctively, he'd tried to preserve the girls' feelings through an almost idealistic approach.
But he was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
He wasn't some background character anymore—he was a god. A creator. A destined conqueror of stars and seas—the Fourth Calamity.
He had the power to flip the table, so—
This sappy, outdated dating-sim drama?He'd tear it apart with his own hands.
"Li↗sa↘ Miss↗ Li↘sa!"
His voice, sharp and rhythmically rising and falling, instantly drew everyone's attention.
Then, he began to chant—almost like reciting a cosmic riddle.
"Why do I travel with the Traveler, yet I'm not in the story?"
"Why does everyone know who I am... but no one knows what I look like?"
"Why do Genesis Crystals always come in packs of 8088?"
Lisa's pupils contracted. "No... That can't be!"
With a voice laced in gravel and truth, Gong Qu said the one thing Lisa had never dared to admit:
"That's because, in my eyes, all of you... were once just characters in a fantasy world."
"If it's answers you want—then I'll give them to you."
"Lisa."
". . ."
Lisa stared at him, lips pursed, as if words had abandoned her.
"I like you."
"Mmph!"
Gong Qu pulled her into a kiss. She froze, lips parting involuntarily, and then collapsed dazed into her chair.
Then he turned to Jean.
"Jean!"
"Traveler, you—"
"I like you too!"
"Mmph!"
Jean, too, was kissed. Face flushing crimson, she sat back down wordlessly.
"Eula!"
"D-Don't you come any closer!"
"I like you!"
"Mmph!"
Eula looked ready to unsheathe her greatsword, eyes burning with embarrassed fury.
"And last—Amber!"
"Traveler, are you feeling okay?"
"Thank you... for still worrying about me, even now. You may have fallen from Teyvat's top Pyro archer to just Mondstadt's best Pyro archer—but I still like you!"
"Mmm~!"
Amber finally got the kiss she'd dreamed of. Though, it happened in a way she never could've imagined.
After all was done, Gong Qu returned to his seat, arms wide open.
"No need to choose! From the moment I obtained your name cards—you were all my wings."
Silence fell upon the group.
"U-Um, are you... still going to eat your food?"
Sara, trembling, peeked in and asked cautiously.
Can you blame her for being scared? The scout knight Amber, the recon captain Eula, the chief librarian Lisa, and the acting Grand Master Jean—half of Mondstadt's core fighting force had just been emotionally conquered in one afternoon. Sara was worried the flames might leap the table and engulf her too.
Poor Jean. To end up with such a deranged friend.
"Just leave the food on the table. We'll help ourselves."
"O-okay!"
Sara dropped off the dishes and fled, then peeked from around the corner.
Now that the emotional storm had passed, Gong Qu was calm again. He divided the food among them.
"Let's eat first. Even if you want to beat me up... at least eat enough to have the strength for it."
Eula immediately shot him a glare sharp enough to slice steel.
Jean and Amber said nothing—just quietly started eating.
Lisa let out a long sigh.
After today, peace in the Knights of Favonius might become a thing of the past.
That belated lunch tasted like it had been eaten in another lifetime.
. . .
On the way back to the headquarters, Lisa led the group as if they were escorting a condemned man.
None of them, save Lisa, took Gong Qu's claims about them being fictional very seriously. They chalked it up to melodrama.
"Six in total, counting Lumine and that Liyue Qixing girl," Lisa murmured. "Darling, are you sure you can handle this many?"
Gong Qu knew that one outburst wasn't enough to earn their understanding. But now, with his soul finally awakened, his resolve for the harem path was unshakable.
"No matter whether I give up or choose, someone gets hurt. That's unavoidable."
"So rather than let regret rot us away in sadness forever, let me bear your sorrow and your hatred."
"If you're willing to accept this love shared equally, then let us complete each other, without regrets."
"If you can't... then just blame me. Hate me. That way, no one else needs to be hurt."
Jean, Eula, and Amber exchanged glances, then let out soft, bitter smiles.
They had long known that the Traveler would never stop for any one person.
And still... each of them had secretly hoped to be the exception, carefully ignoring the heartbreak that would follow if they weren't chosen.
Now he had made his decision.
And for them, it was both sweet... and painfully sour.
Gradually, even Lisa's inner balance began to tilt toward that equal share of love.
Perhaps one day, they'd look back on this impulsive moment with regret.
But in this fleeting age of youth, at least they had the courage to act on that impulse.
And so—
There could only be one answer.