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It was late summer, the cicadas worked hard, producing their buzzing songs, although one would find it irritating, the sound was nothing to worry about for the Shrine Maiden, who was currently asleep.
Of course, someone had to interrupt her affairs.
"Yo Reimu what are you doing ze?!" comes the witch sliding the door of the shrine open without care.
"Ugh~~" Rubbing her eyes with a troubled groan, Reimu slowly lifted herself off her futon. "How many times do I need to tell you not to enter like that Marisa?!"
Still rubbing her eyes, the shrine maiden adjusted her skirt and walked over to the kitchen "You know what, whatever, I'm gonna have a snack, want some?" The witch giggled in approval, entering the shrine proper.
Meanwhile, somewhere else
A hidden path extended deep into the woods, although I called it "path" It was sparse and hard to follow for nobody had used it for maybe decades but at the end of it one would be directed to an old worn-out shrine abandoned in the woods.
The once white and pristine walls were covered in vines and the woodwork was infested with mushrooms and soaked to the brin by the rain. Once someone slid open the now rotten front door, however, they would find its interior walls filled with inscriptions and runes that connect with a magic circle right in the middle of the room.
Looking at the forest again a bit of hesitation spreads thoughts but is not like I have another choice as I don't have a home left for me anymore.
Checking if anything is in order I set my backpack down and check my belongs:
a week's worth of military rations, a Swiss knife, my purple charcoal (to complete the magic circle), my old man`s photos, and an old book with a blank cover with the instructions for the activation of the magic circle alongside 20 or so firecrackers with two types, one with intention of making a lot of noise but the explosion was small and the other type made a big explosion, nothing to kill but to stagger to get me wherever I was fighting enough for me or to run or to me go on the offensive myself.
Finally, after completing my work, I distance myself from the magic circle that should teleport me to a shrine just like this one.
Drawing a little note from my pocket alongside three black and white photos: It was a note from my grandfather that led me here. He'd left me the book with the details
The tree photos are a little more interesting though; the first one shows a woman with green hair and a checkerboard kimono partially covering her face with what looks like a flower-looking umbrella surrounded by a big field of sunflowers as far as the eye can see.
The second photo displays the same shrine as I am right now but now I can see that it's placed above a high place with a torii gate framing the shrine.
The third one seems to have been shot at night, showing a view of the Paris tower with a figure of a woman floating about…. while wearing pajamas, but from her distance of the photographer and the fact that the photo is black and white, I can't make the details of her dress either her face.
I slide the note and three photos back into my jeans pocket, set myself inside the magic circle for the last time, and recite the simple command to activate the spell.
"Teleport!" Activated the circle and its symbols thus began glowing a purple-ish color that filled the four walls surrounding me and not before long many order symbols and lines that I wasn't aware of at all, began growing in purple in the walls and the selling so bright that I bring my arms to shield my vision from it.
Then the light switched to orange, red, blue, brown, cyan, yellow, and…
Boom!!
"What?!"
Something exploded on my right.
Boshh!
Now on my left!
The light now is a rainbow-ish color repeatedly like some of those gaming keyboards and I am again forced to shut my eyes with the light hitting its peak when…it stopped.
The room now has no one in it, the magic circle and its various systems are going as if nothing has ever happened in the first place.
Somewhere deep in the Forest of Magic
Ugh, I feel like I was shot in the stomach.
Bringing myself to stand and look around, it seemed I was teleported to a forest, a very spooky one. The trees are almost four meters long and only a very dim light penetrates them.
The spell worked but where the hell I was?
The priority now is to leave this forest and find the shrine where I was supposed to appear, looking around, I found that some of the trees had little marks of combustion on them and a bit of smoke was coming, mostly because of my imperfect arrival and checking my body again and it seems I was teleported with my four limbs intact.
The forest itself doesn't look out of place if not for the dimming fog like atmosfere that prevents me to see anything outside of the trees along side this weird smell that gives me a headache.
Rustle Rustle
Suddenly I hear movement in the bushes behind me.
"Hmm~" Looking at the Hmm sound shows me a figure of a Mushroom monster with humanoid limos that were thigh as tree trunks covered in faded white-ish color with a cyan cap. Its limbs look more like elephant legs than something human.
Oh crap, I am right in front of him!
It stood there looking around as if I was just waking up and saw that when he looked at me he locked his eyes on me.
"Ugh!" the monster rushed forward and swung its colossal arm in my head.
By reflex, I jump back barely missing but I lose my balance and my but meets the ground.
"Ugh~~!" The mushroom extends its opposite arm to catch me but I evade again by crawling out.
I cannot win against this thing, I must run!
In a hurry, I picked a firecracker from my pocket, and quickly set the fuse to explode and clumsily tossed at the monster.
Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang
The explosions made loud bangs that stagged the monster and the smoke generated made him try to swing its massive arms again but with so much force that made him lose a bit of its balance making him accidentally smash a nearby tree pinning his arm in the body of a nearby large tree, giving me enough time to get up and run in the opposite direction.
Rushing through the bushes as fast as I could without caring about the cuts of the bushes nor the fatigue of running so fast through the forest, I could after a while the sound of the mushroom monster gradually faded until only the sound of my steps and the bushes could be heard just in time for me to see a glimpse of clearance ahead.
After exiting the forest I realize that I am at the side of a dirty road, to my right I see a path that I can see in the distance I can see a lake? I can see much of it because of heavy fog it's impossible to see much of the lake properly.
Looking up I can see that sky now as a purple-ish color, signaling that is near dawn right now.
To my left, the road continues in the distance but it deviates in two separate paths with a worn-out wood sign with the words with something that I can't read at the distance that I am right now.
Walking up to the sign I can see clearly in written in Japanese the following:
[ - Hakurei Shrine]
[ Village -]
It seems I landed not far from the Shrine I was looking for.
I decided to go to the Hakurei Shrine.
I nimbly walk right in the middle of the path. If something tries to attack me I can at least have some time to react and after walking forever I eventually reached a staircase.
"Ohaa~" This thing must have some 100 steps or so. I should climb the staircase one step at a time because I don't feel like killing myself by doing the last thing I am so tired.
"Ahhh! This is worse than rushing out of the forest!". At the top of the staircase, I spot a Torii gate, greeting me to the shrine proper.
It looks like the one I was before coming here or should I say my shrine looked like this one?
Anyway, I decided to go and call to see if anyone was and see if anyone is home, from the torii gate I could see that the shrine didn't look abandoned but not exactly brand new I wondered if I was at the right place, did I get thrown into another world or to just another place on japan? These buildings certainly look Japanese to me.
Clomp
Hm? Suddenly I hear footsteps just behind me and… it's the same Mushroom monster from before!
"Ughaa!" Picking me by surprise the monster struck me and sent me flying towards the shrine.
"Ugha!?" I landed somewhere far away on the Shrine grounds.
Ugh, did it follow me from the forest? I need to get some help. I tried to lift my body but it was big so I stumbled back and fell on my ass again.
Ughh~ Everything's blurry by the way but I can outline the Monster going in my direction, slowly since its body is so heavy.
I look around and I realize that I am at the Shrine's front door, almost touching the wooden floor that contours the shrine.
Looking at my back I can see that the Monster is already behind me lifting, slowly his arm to give the killer blow.
Now facing the monster I extend my right arm trying desperately to find something that would help me defend myself while weakling extending my left one to defend my face from the inevitable when…. I touched the shrine's main door.
In a moment I felt that something "clicked" inside me and after that, a ball of light materialized between me and the monster before assuming the shape of a purple and white Ying-Yong orb? however, I could not make out what happened next as my vision seemed to blur further as if something was draining me.
With incredulous speed, the orb simply launched forward hit its shoulder, and blew it up.
"Who the hell is making all this noise?! I want to take a nap..here.." Reimu looked her eyes first at the creature before her shrine stone path.
The creature for a brief moment stayed still and gave his missing arm a look, without saying anything before he collapsed on the stone path before the gate, dead.
"What?" Confused, Reimu looked around to understand what happened and found besides the guts of the monster and the unconscious boy in her front door, there was something she recognized quite well.
A Ying-Yong orb however the color was different from hers and much smaller, so it probably fits in her.
"Did I summon it?" ignoring the corpse of the monster and picking up the orb she stayed annoying the orb for a few moments before answering her question.
"No, I did not know who did…it?" Looking at the boy lying beside her in front of her door she connected the dots and sighed.
It seems she has some investigation to do, just to mess with her afternoon.
After she confirmed he was unconscious and an outsider she would have to question him after he wakes up but for now, I have to clean up this mess.
After dragging the outsider inside the shrine, Reimu set out to look for injuries but to her surprise, he did not see a drop of blood leaking from him, just a brushed upper torso and a left arm with a burn mark going from the fingers to the elbow.
After applying Erin's medicine and bandaging the damaged parts of his body, I set out to make tea. Hopefully, someone like Suika or Marisa will appear out of nowhere and help me clean the mess of the mushroom monster that still lies outside.
"Yo Reimu! There's a corpse of these mushroom thin- Hey who is he? He got drunk and fell off the stairs?" Suika stepped inside the shrine and sat down around the outsider.
"No, he got attacked by a youkai and ended up like this, I am sure he is just another outsider" Getting up I moved to the kitchen. "Can you please move him to a futon in one of the rooms in the back? I'm gonna make some tea for myself and go back to sleep"
"Gotcha!" Suika quickly divided herself into small Suikas, as they began lifting him, one of the Suikas opened up the door opposite the front door and one by one they began carrying him towards one of the guest rooms of the shrine.
After warming up with some tea, Reimu asked Suika to also get away with what remained of the mushroom youkai. She just picked up what was left of it and threw it somewhere really far into the forest.
The stain of the monster is still in the stone path but I let the outsider handle it after he wakes up.
My body feels stiff, like, I have been shot, which you may ask I never have been shot, just a figure of language.
"Nnn… Nnn" Where I am?
Slowly opening my eyes, I look around and see that I am inside a room, with a Japanese-esque appearance, the room itself is not big, the only thing in it is myself, lying on a futon on a floor of a similar style.
Even though a thin layer of cloth separates me from the plain floor, It doesn't feel like a floor you see in a modern house, maybe of tiles or concrete but still, I miss my pillow.
"Hmmugn" I am barely able to rise from the futon, my right side feels like crap and every tiny movement hurts a lot.
"Ughhhhh Ah I give up" Puff I let myself fall on the futon. I will just wait and see who comes.
Moments later, I heard the sound of a door sliding open, allowing the late evening light to pour into the room.
From my position, I can't really see who is behind me but the person doesn't waste time and quickly confirms their presence.
"Are you awake? Can you move?" the voice is of a girl, it sounds young, maybe a bit younger than me.
"Y-yes and no I can't move, my right side hurts a lot when I do"
"Hmm….wait a moment" I hear the girl's footsteps going somewhere else, then the sound of something like a cabinet being open.
Moments later she appears inside and now I can hear footsteps going around me and showing the figure of a girl.
She seems to be around my height (although I am not considered tall), wearing a red ribbon with matching red side locks on top of her back hair.
Her costume is what is most extravagant however, consisting of a red skirt, a sleeveless red top with a white collar, tied with a ribbon whose color varies between white and red, and a pair of white detached sleeves, revealing that she might be a shrine maiden.
But why the exposed armpits?
She's now sitting beside me holding a red pin in her hands.
"This is a pain medicine, now open your mouth." Extending her arm, I do as I am told and open my mouth wide, however right when the pill is a tongue distance from my mouth she pulls away.
"Also" She changes from her calm endeavor to a serious look "What's your name? Where did you come from?"
What? Does she already know?! better not keep her waiting.
"You can call me Manato, I came using a spell, to tell the truth, I was only structured to go to a shrine".
After mumming to herself a bit she continued "Very well, I will ask more questions later but before anything else, here" She just let the pills fall into your face before proceeding to leave the room.
I guess she isn't all that kind.
Picking up the pill, I noticed she did not leave anything for me to help swallow, I guess I don't need water to swallow it.
After a few moments, I can sense immediately the effects of the pill, although the pain still has not disappeared completely, I can move my arm now, which is quite surprising since I don't imagine a single pill can do that kind of healing.
I guess I can ask about that later, might as well now leave the room and ask where I am exactly.
After rising from the futon, I left the room from the sliding door the shrine maiden left, leading directly to a corridor where I could see at the end another room with a warm and soft light shining from it.
After walking to it, I realized it was sorta of the same room I was before but a bit bigger and with a Kotatsu in the middle. I guess this is the main room. The kotatsu also had two people on it, the shrine maiden in question and a witch.
The witch in question has long blonde hair stretched on her back, a bit of hair is braided on her front with a bow and her eyes are the same color to match it. Her clothes are what you expect from a witch of the medieval era: her black hat is comically a bit big with a white bow in it, and her attire follows a black and white color scheme with a vest and skirt consisting of a deep black with an equal deep white waist apron and undershirt.
The two are currently sitting comfortably inside the kotatsu, with two cups of what I presume is tea laid on top of the kotatsu.
The witch seemed to notice me as she turned her head to me with a smirk "Oh hey Reimu that guy wake up ze!" annoyed, Reimu picked up her cup to take another sip of tea. "I am not blind Marisa and also" After another slip of tea she sits up, still looking annoyed. "Want some tea?"
Is not like I like tea but I guess is impolite to decline "Yes please if you could"
"Great, please sit in the kotatsu, it's cold right now" The shrine maiden starts to walk outside of the room the room by a sliding door to my right.
Following her commando, I get myself comfortable in the kotatsu and unlike the shrine before, I just sit with my legs crossed.
"Hey" Shifting my attention to the voice on my left, the witch continued "I heard Reimu have been taking care of an outsider curious how had been able to arrive here from Moenza"
Outsider? Moenza?
"Where am I exactly?" The witch took another slip from her cup and continued
"This place is called Gensokyo, a great magical barrier separates this place from the 'outside' where tales and legends that are forgotten in the outside world end up here, so we have youkai, vampires, fairies, oni, monsters of the type you killed three days ag-" W-Wait three days?!"
The witch just broke in a wider grin "Yep"
Resting my head in the kotatsu I just left a long groan "Ugh and here I thought I was prepared enough" Marisa raised an eyebrow "Prepared? Did you come to Gensokyo on your own?" "Yes? I built a portal using a book I found to activate a spell that would teleport me 'somewhere'."
"Hm, that's unusual" Looking peaceful, the witch also rested her head on the table.
A few moments later, the Shrine Maiden arrives back with one more tea cup and a kettle, settling beside me and going back to the comfort of a warm kotatsu before proceeding to inquire about me.
"I heard from the kitchen you two, so you arrive on your own?"Nodding, she lets out a heavy sigh before continuing"
"Consider yourself lucky, most outsiders don't even get past Muenza and end up being eaten alive by Youkai"
"Most outsiders you say?"
"Some outsiders who manage to arrive at the village are directed to me" Pointing at herself the Shrine Maiden proclaimed "I am responsible for maintaining the barrier that separates this world from the outside one and also sends outsiders to well, the outside world"
"That's a bit difficult to believe"
"Well you will see soon enough but for now here is your tea"
So this is how it works, a strange role for a shrine maiden, I suppose she can also use some sort of magic.
"That being the case… I suppose you know the figures of these photographs?" sliding my three photographs from my pockets, I proceed to put them on the table.
"These photographs are from my grandfather" Picking up the three photographs the girls started studying, I continued "By the way thanks for accommodating me for these three days." Nodding the girl continued to stare at the pictures, since we were in the mood to ask questions I asked something that was bugging me "Also there is something….strange about this place."
Placing my right hand on the tatami I continue "I feel as if something is flowing from this room into me." Is like a current, a kind of sensation of like I am connected to this place. In the same way, a computer is connected via a power cable, to a wallet drawing electricity to power itself.
Looking at the Shrine Maiden now and she's hm…
She displays an even more incredulous look, her mouth is wide open, and at some point in my internal monologue, she drops the photographs and is looking at me with her eyes wide.
The witch was also starting to worry "Hey Reimu what's with that face?"
Hearing the witch, the Shrine maiden composed herself and with a worried expression looked at me and the eyes and said.
"W-well you see, Did you know that only those who are part of the Hakurei clan can draw the power of the Hakurei God?"
"Is that so? but what this has to do with me?" The witch however appeared to have already understood and looked at me with the most smudged expression possible.
Ignoring the witch, Reimu continued "You are standing in his Shrine, If you feel the same power as I do then…" She says as if you don't completely believe herself in what she's saying.
"Wait. this means that this you and I are…..relatives?"
We stare at each other for a bit before the Witch decides to break the deadlock putting a hand on Reimu's shoulder and proclaiming "Congratulations Reimu! You just found a relative ze!".
At that moment the red and white shrine maiden jumps off the kotatsu pointing at me. "B-but that should have been impossible! N-no ancestor of mine ever left Gensokyo! I am the only heir to the Hakurei clan alive!"
The witch then decides she wants to annoy me and puts her free hand on my shoulder "Congratulations to you too!" She now wears the most shit-eating grin ever.
This girl is handling this as if she were in a bar, I think why this Shrine Maiden finds her annoying.
"Stop with that Marisa! And with that shit grin," Reimu is getting even more annoyed very fast by the witch's behavior.
That said, the Witch also stands out of the kotatsu still with the grin.
Is my impression or did this room just get a lot more tense?
"And what are you gonna do ze?" "I am gonna beat you up!" " W-wait you two are gonna start to fight-" " How about this? if you manage to graze through my three cards I will do anything you ask for" "You bet!".
Standing opposite of one another in the front of the shrine, Marisa prepared her broom and just like that, she took off to the sky….. She just started flying out of nowhere!
Following suit, Reimu, who now holds a gohei in her left hand, takes off as well, although she doesn't have a broom to fly.
Are they gonna fight? But how?
"Hey, you!" Shiting my view to the witch who called me "Watch this!" She raises a card high into the air and declares
「Magic Space 'Asteroid Bolt'」
From herself, six yellow magic circles pop up around her shooting small stars not exactly aimed at the Shrine Maiden many of which go in opposite directions, moments later red and blue stars as big as Marisa materialize from within herself scatter in all directions.
"Taking easy on the first one?" Reimu for its part casually dodges the upcoming projectiles Big stars while showing minimal effort in a zigzag pattern and when a small star appears, she just flexes herself to not be hit while at the same time, she starts throwing. shooting? what appears to be needles she takes from her sleeves.
And myself? well, I am just barely hanging behind the donation boxes trying to not get shot! and that shrine maiden says she is just taking it easy? This is utter chaos.
After a minute or so has passed, the star shooting stops and the sky becomes clear with Remix coming out of it appearing without a scratch.
"You should have known that this is child's play, Marisa, so go ahead and the next one! And once you are done I'm gonna make you eat your own words!"
Aren't shrine maidens supposed to be holy and composed?!
Marisa still holds that cock smile of her and proceeds to prepare another spell of hers.
「Love Storm "Starlight Typhoon"」
In an instant a thin ring of magic runes engulfs half of the arena past the red and white, at the same time various magic circles different from the last barrage materialize around Marisa and go to settle on the ring however instead of just shooting stars at their foe, they also continually shoot lasers out of the ring making it impossible to stay off a certain range from the arena it and on top of all that Marisa starts shooting small stars in the general direction of Reimu's.
The battlefield quickly becomes another mess but as the ring contracts the shooting becomes more and more chaotic.
Reimu's movement becomes more and more precise showing not only enjoyment but also a beauty that hastily dodges these projectiles at the same time she throws what appears to be paper? at the Witch which flickers at each hit.
This pattern that the Witch is using is surprisingly shorter than the last one and less than a minute late, when even after that the magic hazard stops, and Reimu once again comes out of this madness without a scratch.
The Witch on the other hand appears very fatigued and her clothes and some burn-out marks all over.
Seeing the opportunity, the Shrine Maiden directs what appears to be the same Yin-Yang orb I used to kill that Mushroom monster when I first came that strikes the Black and white right in the guts.
"Ughhh!" the witch grunts and almost falls from her broom before quickly adjusting herself.
This time however she takes from her pocket a brown octagonal object that from where I stand I can't figure out its details and with haste, she points the object to Reimu and announces her last spell or whatever they call it.
For a moment I thought something was wrong since no bullets seemed to be leaving Marisa as before but the object in her hand seemed to be glowing more and more so did Marisa's Smile.
"Ready to give up ze?"
"As If, I am just waiting for you to use up everything you had before crushing you!"
"Then better you look at who's behind you!"
Reimu then, as if noticing something, quickly shot a glance behind her only to find that Marisa was in a higher elevation than herself and was in the opposite direction of the Shrine with me hiding behind a strangely large box that was sitting in front of the shrine.
Terror quickly falls upon Reimu's face and she rushes to pick up a card from her sleeves but by then it is already too late.
「Love Sign "Master Spark"」
"Woshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" Ugh my fucking ears!
I could not make much of a spell as a bright rainbow light engulfed my sight however I did not feel the impact of the blast and opening my eyes just enough to not make me blind could make out the loose outline of the Shrine maiden's that is receiving the blast upfront.
After what appears an eternity the light did die out however the Reimu was nowhere to be seen.
Did She just get killed?!
As I composed myself I noticed that the Witch was in a state of confusion not of the apparent death of her friend (I am not sure if they were) but she was worrying while looking around trying to find her opponent.
I did not take much though, as the voice of her opponent quickly made her location known.
Above her is a face that expresses the desire to kill.
「Dream Sign "Dream Dimensional Rift"」
As a reflex Marisa tries to look up only to find that Reimu has already disappeared, flying so fast that as if she's teleporting at the same time she unleashes on what appears to be a blue-collared piece of paper but I suppose being by hit should hurt since the witch is desperately trying to evade them.
This pattern continues until the Red and White at last appears in front of Marisa and swings her gohei she bombards the Witch this time red growing paper before quickly disappearing and doing the teleport thing again.
At some point, after being hit so many times by these pieces of paper the witch succubus falls off her broom.
Oh shit! Quickly I spring from my hiding to catch her, fortunately, she is not heavy and I manage to catch her.
She slowly opens her eyes again and after realizing her position the Witch stares at each order a little bit before a deep crimson red fills her cheeks.
"Y-you let go of me!" She suddenly starts struggling and swings her arms widely.
Unfortunately for her, my 16-year-old gamer arms don't like that and I end up dropping her, stomach down, on a pool of water just in front of me.
"Ohh" I stand there for a bit before she quickly rises from the pond looking tired.
"Hahahaha!" We two stare at the direction of the launch, to find Reimu laughing loudly holding her stomach.
"Deserves you right! Who do you think you are to attack my donation box? hahaha" She is now in a crunch position laughing at the now sad and annoyed-looking Marisa.
The way she flows through the witch spells, her skill, and her confidence in avoiding these bullets were beautiful!
Knowing exactly what to do, I make my way toward the Red and White who is now composing herself, and stop right in front of her.
Reimu, now realizing my position looks at me with confusion before I quickly grab her hand and go to an uncomfortable distance from her, the Shrine Maiden looks at me eyes wide unsure of what to say.
"I-I" This doesn't work. I should be just as direct as possible.
"Reimu-san" I call her name with honorifics to get her attention
"Y-Yes?" Reimu's cheek is deep red, anticipating what I will say next.
"P-Please make me your Disciple!"
As if time has stopped, silence fills the shrine grounds, even the noisy wild stops blowing at this moment.
"Eh?"
The Hakurei Shrine not only consists of the main building wherever the god resides but also the grounds at the top of the hill that the main shrine sits on, including a building as big as the main shrine that sits at the slope of the hill near a hot spring behind the shrine.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few moments ago
I stare in anticipation of her response.
Now that I think about it, I might have been a bit too direct, but for now, it is better if I let it go out of her hand first.
Letting her hand go and putting a bit of distance from her. The Shrine Maiden is still a bit shocked by my request, only being able to say in a low voice.
“Why?”
“T-The way you flow through that witch magic, your speed your beauty in doing so that I truly want from the bottom of my heart to be like you!” That’s a bit hard to say upfront but throwing my shame away.
…..Oh wait this looks like a confession.
The Shrine Maiden seems to be melting, her entire face is now a big red tomato struggling to find words.
Uh, I think it is better for me if I rephrase it.
“W-what I want to say is, that your performance in this “duel” has truly shaken me! I have never in my life seen such a show of skill and confidence that made me wish I could do the same”
Bowing my body a full 90 degrees in a bow I conclude. “So that being said, please allow me to be your disciple!”
I waited in that bowed position until I felt a hand on my shoulder, tilting my head slightly so I could see the witch from before with a confused expression.
“W-wait a minute! I won the duel! I managed to hit her with my Master Spark then why are you asking her?!” She seems a bit upset, but I know the answer to her response.
“Because you cheated” I left my bowed position to face the Witch who looked taken aback by my response but even so I continued.
“You cheated by targeting me, which made Reimu-sama…“ Reimu made a weird sound at that. “...Go in front of your attack to protect me, so of course you won” She took a step back with a mixed expression but I finished my piece.
“Don't misunderstand me, I also think you are cool but not as much as Reimu-sama and I think that riding a broom is old-fashioned” With that said she starts…..crying?
“Y-Y-You don’t know anything about danmaku! About beauty and what is cool or not! I swear that I will make you regret what you just said!” Without letting me reply she springs into her broom (How did that piece of wood survive all that?) and flies away at absurd speed almost throwing me away by the air current it made.
I think I did go a bit overboard with it.
“Don't worry about it” Reimu walked by my side (A bit distant I noted) looking towards the direction where her friend went.
“She is quite prideful of her magic and style so when someone like you sees all the shows she puts on, walks by, and tells her that someone else is better in her own category is no mystery that she would get hurt a little” We observe Marisa fly away until her figure is only but a dot in the now already darkened sky.
Oh right, I still have business with this Shrine maiden.
I turn to her to ask about my response but I am stopped by Reimu lifting a finger to me.
“I will think about your request, partly because it is my duty to protect humans since teaching your danmaku would be part of that and the other part the other because….. well” she stops a little and recompose herself I can see that is still a little embarrassed by request ”I believe your praise is genuine, however!”
She turns around and starts walking towards the shrine.
“You are an outsider, who, until settled in the Human village as a normal villager or becomes strong enough is still fair to pray for man-eating youkai”
Reaching the shrine’s sliding door she spoke for last.
“I will not train someone seriously if they are going to die so easily, so be ready that once I train you just enough I will send you to a task that will prove to me you are worthy of my time”
She steps into the shrine and closes the door, leaving me alone in the wild grounds of the shrine.
Can't believe it! I got a rough start but if I am successful then I can be her disciple!
“Also” Reimu slides the door of the shrine covering her nose with her sleeve.
“There is a hot spring behind the shrine, go there and take a bath, you stink!”
With that, she closes the door one last time and goes to do whatever a shrine maiden does.
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Before the hot spring, there's a dresser room sticking out of the larger building that has two doors: one for the outside from where people enter and the other at the opposite side of the room to enter the hot spring proper, this room houses towels and buckets made of wood to someone bathe themselves with the hot water of the hot spring.
Sliding the door open is exactly what you see in typical anime, a wooden building with a hot pool of water spring a.k.a the hot spring, however, the building was quite large with a good capacity for some 100 people or so and the ceiling is as high as 10 feet! The wall had some windows here to let out the hot steam but now they were closed.
Undressing my clothes in the room before the hot spring, picking my bucket and picking a towel in a basket in the corner of the room.
Glancing at the far side of the hot spring is a small fountain that pours hot water into a big pool of water. There were also a few rocks gathered in the far corner of the hot spring with a little broom at the side.
I decided to enter the hot spring and sit far away, behind a big rock that was almost 10 feet in size. I couldn't see the dresser from this angle and it seemed that the pool’s interior was also rock, which is quite smooth by the way.
The pool is not actually that deep, It barely passed my hips.
Sitting there for a minute or so I realize something.
……..How am I supposed to bathe myself without soap?
*Thud*
Something in the dresser room just fell over, peeking from behind the rock I can see three outlines (and their wings) of the paper door of the dresser, one of which is getting up from a fall.
“Ahh! Luna, I think you slipped in his clothes!”
I heard a childish voice from one of the outlines in the dresser.
Are they perhaps children? But I can see the outline of wings behind the door.
“Shhh! Sunny, you are talking way too loud! He's going to hear us!” The other, as much louder as the other, spoke putting a finger in her lips.
“You two are hopeless, what if he hears us? Our plan to kidnap him will be in vain, If that happens we won't get any candy from Reimu!” the third one spoke with a far more composed choice than the other two but just as loud.
But wait, they said they are going to kidnap me?!
Looking around the only cover I have is the big rock in the middle of the room and nothing else, the windows are too small for them to cramp though and I am not leaving this place naked.
I need to reach my pants in the room they are in right now and go call Master or……
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“Okay then, are we going to do this or not?” Star and Luna nod in response and Star, with Star, opens the door.
“Shouldn't we cover ourselves first?” Star seems skeptical.
“Nah, is just a human that Reimu has taken in, it seems he was injured so this will be a piece of cake!” Luna seems confident in herself.
“Then where is he?” it seems the human is nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe he is behind the big rock?” Luna points at the center of the hot spring where there is, well, a big rock.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s pick him up already!” Luna starts flying towards the rock
That seems suspicious. I am sure he had heard us. “Luna, wait! He this might be a bad ide-” *Thud* “Oh” A rock the size of a human hand just struck Star.
“Ugh~” She flies a bit before falling off into the hot spring. I can see some bubbles forming in the water in the place where she fell off.
But wait, this rock came from the direction we came from!
Looking around I can see the guilty, with one hand clinging to a window above the door we just came from and another holding his towel wrapped around his waist.
Smiling he says “I am very sorry but I have no intention of being kidnapped so if you excuse me.” He then releases his grip on the window corner and rushes into the changing room.
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Well, that's one out, I still don't know what they are capable of but now the odds are more on my side.
Searching for something on my pants I find a ball of firecrackers in one of the pockets, but how can I use it? but I don't have time to think now.
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“Sunny, go and use your ability. I am going to see how Luna is.” Sunny just nods and goes flying toward the now-drowning Luna. I think she's out by now.
Why is Star so clumsy? Now the human has gone away!
Sliding the door of the changing room open I can see that he already left since the door to the outside is open.
But it is alright, he doesn't seem to know how to fly. I can reach him before he can call the Shrine Mai-.
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*Thud*
“What?” Someone fell over again. I think the human was caught!
……
……
…… I think Star is not coming.
The dresser’s door is slid open with the human, a hand on the towel still warped around his waist and the other holding a ball of tubes. it doesn't seem dangerous though.
Oh right, I should have rescued Luna! Looking back at the water, there are not any bubbles anymore, I think Star is dead by now.
“It seems we are alone now” Looking back at the human, the dresser room is closed, and just stays there with a cool expression doing nothing.
I think Luna is out of them but don't worry! He is just a human. I can take him with danmaku.
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Looking at this….Fairy I think? She has short orange hair with braided red ribbons at the side of her head, blueish eyes, and a pair of white wings.
Her red and white consists of long sleeves and frills and another set of ribbons attached to them with a yellow neckerchief. Her shoes are just plain black and white.
I wonder where they got all these “fantastical” attires because they look really cute.
“Now human!” taking flight she takes a card from her sleeve. “You shall perish so the Shrine Maiden can give candy!” Is she trying to intimidate me? her threads just made her look cuter though.
She doesn't use the card right away, instead, she starts shooting various yellow orbs at me that are very easy to evade.
Holding tight on my towel I evade the orbs with ease but I suppose It won't stay easy that long.
“You did very well human but now is your time to perish!”
「Flickering Light "Fatal Flash"」
The card in her hand glows white for a second before she starts shooting yellow orbs again, however not only for shooting them directly but also at my vicinity and they are fast!
“Agrh!” One of the orbs hits me right in the arm holding my towel and my god does this HURT! These are harder to evade than they look!
I don't think I can keep up with this much longer.
After what appears an eternity the card in her hand shatters and the room orbs stop coming.
The fairy doesn't appear to be intimidated in the slightest and now wears a mischievous smile. I think she is having fun.
“Now human you can surrender or you….will….perish” Hm? She now goes from the slime face to a surprise one and then starts reddering like a tomato.
Why is she like th-OH MY GOD!
Looking at where my towel is supposed to I find out that, I am in fact, naked.
“w-w-what are you doing!?!?!” Oh, she is panicking.
The red-faced fairy is again shooting orbs at me but now she doesn't even aim properly because of my currency status she can’t bring herself to look at me and the orbs go all over the place.
Wait, this might be my chance! I still hold on to my firecrackers but I don't have any means of kindling them ... Or in fact, I do?
After a bit more of evading her
I toss them directly at the fairy “W-what” as she shoots directly at the ball of warped tubes that…
*BOOM~!*
…Exploded her face making her lose control of her flight and smashed her head down on the big rock in the middle of the hot spring.
*Crack* Ouch that should have hurt quite a lot!
The fairy is now doing nothing but sitting in a crouch position while rubbing her head, weeping quietly.
You know I kinda feel bad right now, I used to work at a daycare, and seeing a “kid” cry like this moves me the wrong way.
After picking up my towel and making sure it will not fall again, I approach the fairy to try and say something to her but when I do she just rises (still rubbing her head by the way), with her hair a mess and a crying face.
“h-human! Y-y-you!” Sunny clumsily flies towards her drowning friend and picks her up from the hot spring with an arm clumsily.
“I will make you remember this incident!” She then flies strength through the paper door of the dresser towards the outside but stops midway towards the exit, picks up her other friend too and flies in the dead of the night, defeated.
Is this place always like this? Have these random encounters all the time?! Oh, there is my towe-
“Manato!” Oh shit, it's Reimu! “I forgot to give you bars of soap so you can wash yourse-WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED HERE!?!?!” Looking around I can see the Reimu-sama from the dresser, looking really upset. Luckily I had already warped my towel around my waist.
“W-well I had a little fight with hm...fairies? Something about kidnapping me for candy?” Reimu-sama just signed at this revelation. “Look I am not even going to look at the mess, I can make these three clean later” She then placed a basket near the door ” For now just wash yourself already”
I could hear her footsteps getting quieter and then after a while, I was again alone in the quietness of the hot spring.
I guess I should just finish already then. Picking the casket I can see that they were just your standard bar of soap
Picking up one and bringing it to my nose *Snif* *Snif* Oh can see that they smell kinda like cherries.
Anyway, better be quick. I don't want to upset Reimu-sama more than I already did today.
Chapter notes:
I will be posting chapters on thp at the same time as FF, I am still new to this stuff so if there is something you want to point out, I am welcome to all the feedback I can get.
Also, I forgot to write that the protagonist came over with his phone so yeah major miss but I am still figuring things out so the next chapters will probably be a lot better than the earlier ones.
A full two weeks have passed since the hot spring incident (That is what I call at least) but Master has yet to teach me about danmaku (the bullets and spells she was talking about) and instead, she has been teaching me mostly about gensokyo and its inhabitants, apparently that fairies that attack me before leave somewhere near the shrine, which worries me a bit but they have yet payback, I did inform her how I "beat" the three and she says that we should look up more on my firecrackers to make spell cards, that's if I can pass her test only.
Also, she gave me a similar-looking stick she carries with her, a gohei she calls it, when I asked why she had yet to teach even how to make spell cards or danmaku, her justification was that if I can beat minor youkai of which doesn't regard the so-called spell card rules, then how I am supposed to live in Gensokyo as a outsider? Also, she reminded me again that I still have to pass her test or she will not accept me as her discipline.
When she's not teaching me, she will make do the so-called shrine duties…which are just chores. By the looks of this place, Master does not do her "shrine duties" either, so far my schedule has been spent like this: Around sun's rise I wake up and grab a snack to fill my stomach until a proper breakfast and start sweeping the grounds around the shrine, cutting leaves that were overgrowing the shrine's garden, clean the branch shrine next to the Torii gate, and If I am done before noon then I will do any other chore that the Master tells me to do.
I only stop for proper breakfast whatever time Master wakes up, then somewhere around noon we will have lunch. Unfortunately Master does not have too much to eat and my diet has consisted mostly of rice, tea, and some other stuff that Marisa would bring along for us to eat.
Speaking of Marisa, she appears at the shrine fairly often to chat and drink tea with the Master while I do the chores of course. I have not spoken with her that much since I woke up in the Shrine and I think sometimes she tries to show some weird magical thing that she thinks is cool.
Thinking about the time I already spent here, I think we are near fall now. The leaves on the trees around the shrine had started to change to red and orange colors and the temperature was no longer hot, humid and the sun was not that crushing heat that even though I am used to these hot temperatures back in my home country, I always hated coming home sweaty and smelly so this weather is a blessing………..or not.
You see, I have another pressing issue right now, one is that I am still using my tattered clothes that I came to Gensokyo with and now the air is getting really cold. I should ask the Master later if she has spare (male) clothes for me to wear in the meantime.
After cleaning the hallway of the main shrine, I put the bucket and cleaning cloth I used in the storage room next to the shrine. With that done, I set myself to look for a Master, she said to come and talk to her as soon as I finished my chores.
Looking a little bit, and opening the door to the outside, I found her sitting on one of the steps alongside a basket of a cylindrical shape with straps so I can wear it, which from what I can tell is made of bamboo. The whole thing is about half my height. The same cup of green tea she always drinks when she is free…..which is almost all the time sits just next to her, speaking of tea, I think I am used to drinking tea by now, granted that I am a coffee lover but I think I can use tea a substitute although I hope I can buy coffee from somewhere… if I can find a job somewhere at least.
Realizing that I am present, she looks at me with her peaceful face and pats the ground beside her, signaling me to sit with her.
Sitting beside her, she takes another sip of her tea and looks at the horizon for a bit before informing me
"I think you are already prepared for your test" Saying that, she puts her hand on her sleeves and takes off what appears to be a bamboo shoot, Marisa had once brought one a few days back they are tasty.
"I also have prepared this basket, especially for that purpose, you shall go to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and shall fill this basket with as many bamboo shoots as you can and bring them to me, that's it" She then picks the basket and hands it over the basket to me.
"The Forest I just now is situated close to the Human Village. As I already told you, this village is where the vast majority of the humans in Gensokyo live and one of the paths that cross through the village leads to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and consequently the bamboo shoots." She takes her empty cup and lifts it off the ground herself. "You have until sunrise of the next day to complete the task, which means that if you fail to come back by dawn, you can try and walk back through the shrine in the dark but do you have the guts to do it? fufu" She leaves the vicinity and goes back inside the shrine, presumably to make more tea.
I pick up the basket and position it on my back and it is quite light. Looking up in the sky I can see that we are near noon After going back to my room to take my gohei with me, my Swiss knife just in case I need to cut something.
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Reaching the end of the staircase, The dirty path to the Human Villagestraight only closed the two sides by a forest, not as dense as the one I first appeared in gensokyo but enough so that a youkai could stay hidden, fortunately, Master had assured me about the safety of the Hakurei Train although she complains that about the people of village rarely coming to visit the shrine. Going back to the topic of the Village, I have never been there myself so I am a bit worried about going alone, but the trip is peaceful, and soon enough I can see the village gate in the distance.
Village's gate with two guards stationed near it, one of them seems bored while the other seems to be sleeping leaning against the gate. The bored one notices me coming and straightens himself up while the other continues to sleep.
"Halt!" the bored one points his spear to me "Have never seen your face kid, but these clothes hm…. Are you perhaps an outsider?" I just nod to him "The quiet type hm? No problem then" he then retreats his spears and goes back to his post "Come in, Just don't cause problems okay?" I nod for last and the guard lets me into the Village.
Good thing he did not ask a bunch of questions.
Master did not give me much information about the village itself but said that if I needed to ask anything about the village, I should look for a woman that goes by the name of Keine, a teacher of the only school in the village but I do ask stuff to people again? God, I struggle to even ask the waiter for the bill.
…
…
…I might as well just walk around here and find this school myself, sure that they won't put the school into a far-reaching corner that makes it a pain in the ass for kids to walk from their homes right?
Walking for a bit I can see that the village is mostly composed of buildings that look as you expect from the early Meiji era, buildings made of wood being at most, two stores tall and they range widely from actual homes, soba shops, tailor shops, bakeries and of course bars, all of they have at least a bit of paint applied to their exterior. What surprises me the most is that poverty is practically nonexistent, I think the economy is very stable around here.
Going further, the villagers are nothing special, almost all of them wear kimonos except this redheaded girl with a capelet covering her neck.
Speaking of the villagers, they are giving me this blend of worried and curious stares, maybe because I am still wearing these patched clothes from when I came to Gensokyo, and dude this is so embarrassing! Where the hell is this freakin school?
"Er sorry can I help you?" I look around to find a woman a bit taller than me with long silver hair. She wears a dark blue hat that looks like a Japanese building with an inscription on its sides and a red ribbon on top. Her dress is dark blue with white short sleeves, and a red ribbon is tied to the bottom of the collar.
I think this person is the Keine I was looking for.
"Yes, of course, you should be Keine-san?"
"Yes indeed, I am Keine Kamishirasawa. Nice to meet you" She does a little bow and smiles. "Are you perhaps lost? You are an outsider aren't you?"
"You can just call me Manato, nice to meet you" I also do a small bow to show respect.
"Mast-Reimu said to me that you can answer any questions about the village. Is that correct?"
This time she smiles "Oh Aren't you polite? And you already met Reimu-san before anything else, but yes I can ask your questions"
"In this case can you please show me where the Bamboo Fores-" "What?" Her smile completely cuts off for a troubled facial expression.
"I-I uh n-need t-to uh……….." I contract a little, I can't speak!
I think she realized my pledge signed a little and got a little closer to me.
"W-why would an outsider like you want to go there? It's a dangerous place!" Ugh better explain to her, but leave some parts out.
"Y-you see Reimu-san has tasked me to go there and pick up bamboo shoots for as some sort of 'test', She said that if I succeed, she will train me in danmaku to defend myself"
Keine could only scratch her head at that and after signing she just responded "Well in that case I can accompany you in the fores-" "I refuse" "....." She just stares me dead in the eye.
Yeah, I am not going to cheat, If I can't go and bring some bamboo shoots then I don't deserve to be Master's disciple.
She signed harder this time. "Okay I can ask Reimu about you later for now follow me I will leave you in the forest" I nod and then she goes in the opposite direction I was walking earlier, Oh.
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We arrived at another gate, this time however I could see that the guards were more heavily manned and armed not only near the gate but also on watch towers and most importantly not sleeping.
One of the guards stopped us near the gate but when they saw that Keine was with me they all paid their respects to the teacher. After talking with them a bit we crossed the gate, with them shooting curious glances at me but otherwise they stayed quiet.
We don't need to walk much and a minute or so following a dearth path but I can already see why this place was called The Bamboo Forest of the Lost.
Huge bamboo trees up to 30 feet high, densely packed with a small train going deep into the woods. The inside of the forest was not as dark as the Forest of the Magic from where I first arrived but certainly dim and I couldn't see that much further into the forest from the gate.
Storing just outside of the path leading deep into the forest, there was a big sign with the saying "Do Not Enter".
Yep, I think it is pretty safe.
Keine stops just before the sign and looks me dead in the eye for last "I will give you some advice: Do not go deep into the forest, It's called not The Bamboo Forest of the Lost for nothing, and be careful where you set foot, I have a friend that leaves here and guide people out if they were lost but don't count on her" I nod " also a youkai rabbit has the hobby of putting traps around the forest to prank whoever goes in, so once again be carefully." I nod for last and Keine returns to the trail we came from, leaving me alone.
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It's not hard to find bamboo shoots around the trail. The Forest is bright enough for me to see but I still keep my eyes wide open for any threat, Master said to not, under any circumstances, try to venture well into the night to find trouble.
Looking back at the basket, I can see the basket already going almost full to the brim. Looking at an opening in the bamboo, the sky is a bit more orange than when I entered, better if I come back before dawn.
Just need to pick up one last bamboo shoot and…there! good, I think I have enough.
Approaching the basket I felt something tighten around my foot, looking down I could see a knock now tightly attached to my foot, and before I could react the cord lifted me off the ground, making my head near a bamboo tree, All I could hear before losing conscious is a childish voice laughing at my wretched state.
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"Ugh, My head where I am?" Forcing my eyes to look around and take my phone from my pockets to find out that it is almost dawn!!! panicking, I look to find myself in the same place I was before but upside down and with my right leg still tied to that knock from before.
How can I…Oh yeah, I can use my knife.
Luckily my Swiss knife had not fallen from my pockets and soon enough I was cutting the cord attached to my leg.
"Almost there and…Oh, haaaaa!!!!!..... Ugh'' I fell backward towards the hard ground of the trail, Switching off my alarm that I put on earlier I can see that the sky has considered darkened, If I run fast I can reach the shrine without *Rustle Rustle* Well shit.
"I thought that I had heard a scream here but…"
Looking around I saw a figure with a height similar to me and her appearance screamed the night: Her dark long hair brandished that extended well into her back, she wore a dark dress and had dark eyes, and her shoes were also black but most importantly her wings showed that she was a fairy, A dark fairy the most dangerous and powerful kind and I have to meet one at night where she was at her strongest.
"... You will be useful for Rumia-sama all the same!" She then smiled and in a moment she extended her wings and broke into flight however unlike the fairies I fought weeks before, she did not start shooting any sort of danmaku but raised her spear materialized, and trusted right into my direction.
"Die!" She then dived with all her might towards me but it was so obvious that I evaded with ease and she had struck the ground right before me and stuck her spear into the ground leaving her back exposed to me, the moon making a shadow of her silhouette on the ground before me.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Using all my strength I swung my gohei to strike her back but my feet won't leave the ground looking. Glancing at my feet I found out that I had stepped into her shadow.
Shit shit shit shit!
She finally manages to remove the spear from the ground and turns back to me, looking at my situation she laughs a little and raises her spear to strike me.
Ugh!
She pierces right into my shoulder, not too deep but painful all the same.
But she doesn't stop at that, she continues to strike at me, some of them I deflect, some I don't.
After a fall strikes she gets impatient with my resistance and as if remembering something she properly prepares her spear, this time pointing the spear at me and she breaks into a run.
"Die!" Now I can use this!
Releasing my firecrackers, the light produced by the explosion blinds my enemy, at the same time the shadow she was projecting disappears for a short moment and I break free from her ability.
But that is not all! After evading her thrust, I swang my gohei once more and properly strike the back of her head making her lose balance and go straight into a three.
"Ugh, Dawn Human!" She manages to take the spear of the three and after recovering for a bit, she looks around to continue the fight but her prey has already left.
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"That's disappointing" I sigh, Is almost morning and Manato has yet to come back. Now that I think about it, why did I tell him to come back in the morning? Why not at night? Now I have to at least wait for him until the deadline in the cold outside of my (not much warm really) shrine.
"That's a waste of time" I lift the steps and pick up my empty tea cup. Maybe it was a bit I gave him something his ability to do? Almost nobody goes to the Bamboo Forest alone, much less an outsider.
….Crap now I am starting to get pity for him, It shouldn't be too much of a hassle from now on, no way he would travel alone at night, good thing the village is in between the forest and shrine and neither of the guards neither Keine would allow him to leave the village in the dark so I can be safe that he won't…come…back?!
"Ha ha ha ha~" Manato is standing, or should I say learning in the Torii gate carrying the brackets in his back. As I get closer I can see not only is his hair a mess, his face is pale and his clothes have blood marks on them.
"M-master I came back~" He attempted to remove the bracket from his back but he fell over on the ground "Ugh~" still panting "Ha ha ha a-as you asked I came back with b-bamboo shoots you have asked me for" He smiles, despite his situation he still smiles. "Now I can be your disciple!".
Despite his body protesting I lift him and bring him inside, good thing I keep some medical supplies in case I like this but I should bring him to Eirin but I need to stop the bleeding.
"Idiot Idiot Idiot How did you leave in the night!? The guards won't allow you!"
He looks weakly at me still with the same dumb smile from before "Oh I just circled the village! Er, I thought that the teacher wouldn't allow me" leaving at my futon inside the shrine. I leave once more to bring back a bucket full of water. entering the shrine again, he is already unconscious, good now I can thread him without him moaning at the pain.
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After all is said and done, He is currently sleeping in my futon in the main room. He is still in danger but not in immediate danger anymore.
"Ahhhh!! What a disaster!" That wasn't supposed to go like this! And even worse now I know it is my fault! This test was just to spook him a bit about youkai and make him leave my arms but now? Eirin will give me that look and make me own her one for this Idiot's treatment Ugh!!.
Lifting him from the futon I can tell his breathing is normal, just.. don't stare at him… this closely. Opening the shrine's front door I break into the flight, hopefully, Eririn can tread on him.
Did not expected arriving at Eintei at this point I'm the story, to tell the truth I was divided between delaying this chapter a bit so Manato could get a side adventure at the SDM, but I figured out that it was better to put him into trouble already so here we are
Bro's attracting all the fairies towards him
>>210639
I was divided on which caracter I was going to throw at the protagonist
Rumia was overused already and Mystia was not going to cut for the story foward, so I made this OC that will have a broadwer purpuse in the story
The morning breeze awakens my body with the gentle, cold air of the morning. I can hear the chirping of the birds, but my eyes are heavy, and I feel like my mind is clouded.
Ugh, what the hell happened to me?
Moving my fingers around, I can hm…This sheet feels more modern and comfortable, and I think my head is lying on a pillow different from the one I am used to.
I do not remember much before I blacked out, just that I arrived at the shrine in the middle of the night and saw the master carrying me somewhere, but that's about it.
Awaking my eyes with heavy eyelids from slumber, I am surprised that the first thing I see is…A window framing the bamboo forest.
I lifted my arm in a panic, but a stinging pain on my left shoulder prevented me from doing any more movements, and on top of that, a staggering sense of exhaustion. Even though I had just woken up, I felt a crushing weakness, a fever perhaps? But the blanket is fluffy, like something made in heaven, although I may describe it like that because it is way better than sleeping in the subpar futon at the shrine.
…
What was that fairy about? Master informed me that fairies were more annoying than dangerous, but that one wanted to kill me straight and offer me to someone named Rumia, and Master dropped me somewhere inside the Bamboo Forest, the last place where I think I should be.
Looking around some more, the room is solely lit by the morning—soon noon—light coming from the only window in the room. The walls and floor are made of the same white paper I am used to at the shrine (but brand new), nothing crazy…except for the various medical devices that seem to come straight out of a normal hospital, and…what the heck? There's a tube coming out of my arm connecting to one of the machinery in the room. Why am I wearing a white kimono? Someone stripped me?!
Anyway, I can assume I am in a hospital of some sort. Master had told me that Gensokyo was more than a century behind in technology and infrastructure compared to the outside world, but trying to recall more of what she said makes my head hurt, so I will just lie here with my eyes closed and rest.
Thud* *Thud*
Or not. I can hear footsteps coming closer and closer.
The sound continues until they are right outside of my room. Soon enough, someone opens the door to reveal a girl with short shoulder-length hair paired with a pair of white dropped rabbit ears, wearing a simple pink dress with a little carrot attached to a necklace; she also doesn't wear any socks and is just walking around barefoot.
This bunny person entered the room with a curious look, and when she batted her eyes at me, a malicious smile formed on her face.
"Oh, you should be that corpse that Reimu threw here yesterday usa!" usa? She laughs a little and walks to me, hey, you called me corpse? So, Master indeed brought me to this place.
"You should have seen Raiser's face when she had to wake up in the middle of the night to make an emergency call," she giggles a bit to herself.
"W-h-o i-s R-e-i-s-e-n?" No good, my voice won't come out.
"Stop there, buddy, you should not force yourself; I think there is something here that can make your life a bit easier.; you"
She straight up jumps half a room towards the shelves in the corner of the room, wow, after a while, I hear a "Haha!" and she comes back with a small purple pill, a small cup filled with water, and carefully feeds me.
"T-thanks." The effects are instantaneous; my throat feels much better now, but I still feel a tad weak.
"Nice, oh, by the way, my name is Tewi Inaba, but please just call me Tewi! usa" Cool, but why usa?
"Nice to meet you, Tewi, my name is Manato." I guess I will just do the formalities then.
"Then, what happened to you? Attacked by a youkai?"
"More or less, Reimu-san asked me to go to the Bamboo Forest and bring some bamboo shoots to her, but just after I picked them up, I think a rope trapped me in the head town and made me knock my head on a tree, and I fell unconscious- "Oh!" The bunny's eyes shot wide, and her mouth was a big, wide circle.
"Oh?"
"N-nothing, please continue!" Tewi quickly returns her posture, but her face has gone from the bad kid smile to the 'Oh no, I was caught!' face.
"Anyway, after waking up, I managed to cut the rope, but after I realized that It was already night, a fairy attacked me with a spear, badly injuring me"
"But how did you escape?" The bunny seemed even more restless now, but I continued;
"I had some firecrackers, so I used that to distract the fairy and escape to the shrine, and I fainted after that." Master should have carried or flown me to this place.
Tewi now held a troubled face with her chin as if she was thinking something, perhaps she was in trouble?...wait a minute.
"Yes, I remember now! I think I knew who put you in that situation." Tewi now has a wicked smile on her face.
"Who are you talking about?" This 'who' would be a good person to avoid.
"There is a rabbit who works with the doctor and owner of this place, and her name is Reisen. She puts these traps around so we can get people to treat and get paid for it." Wait, what?
"I-Is that true?"
"Yep," said Tewi with the most shit-eating grin I ever saw.
Thank god that Tewi had come forward to me; I should inform the Master immediately after I see her.
"Thank you very much, Tewi-san; I hope I can repay you in the future in some kind" I would bow if I could towards such a kind-hearted person.
Tewi merely laughed at that, but then she now switched to a more serious face.
"Reisen is a nurse here and will probably come here to check on you, so please don't challenge her directly" She then leaves the room.
Okay, I think I should just stay quiet and wait for Master to pick me up. Just wait, Reisen! You shall be punished after I put this affair in front of the Master.
After a few minutes of finally, the criminal enters the scene, a girl of around 20s or so with deep purple hair that extends down almost her legs with two rabbit hears straight up; her outfit consists of a long-sleeved black business suit over a white shirt and a red tie, along with a beige skirt. She has an article of very outside-like clothing compared to the folks I have met until now.
"Tewi has informed me that you were awake and had even given you medicine. Is that true?" I nod. "In this case, I am going to do a check-up on you; if anything bothers you, please just speak to me, ok? Ah, also my name is Reisen Udongein Inaba, but please just call me Reisen; only my Master can call me Udongein." I nod again, hm she seems to be pretty chill, but I will not be deceived by this rabbit!
The next few minutes are very chill also. Reisen replaces my bandages, gives me additional medicine for the pain, and asks me questions about the pain in my body.
She is surprisingly kind to me, apologetic when she touches a sensitive area on my wound or tries to do some light banter and light the mood. In fact, almost makes me fall into her lies, but I am always observant so that I will never fall into her traps ever again.
"...Okay, now you are going to try, and stand up, ok? Don't worry, I will help you"
I nod and slowly move my legs to the left to a sitting position on the left side of the bed. My legs feel pretty numb after not using them for a few days, and the pain still makes it difficult to do any sort of movement whatsoever, but eventually, I manage to sit straight with Reisen at my side to hold me in case something goes wrong.
"Nice, nice, now I am going to give you a little help, first, we are going to do one leg at a time, and then you are going to try and stand so I can report your position to Eirin, ok?" I give her a nod, but still, I need to do it. With Reisen-san holding me, I first put my left leg on the white floor. Oh the floor is quite nice and clean. "Now try the right one." I slowly put my right foot into the ground, and after I pause, I try to lift….
"Good, good. Now I am going to release you, ok?" Immediately, my legs start to shake, but Reisen is not bothered by it. "Don't worry, I am here with you." I reluctantly nod and look at my legs.
Is Reisen that bad? Now that I think about it, she seems to care about my well-being, as well as a nurse, of course, but a nurse won't want to do any evil to her patient.
Reisen releases me, and I stand perfectly straight; my legs are still a bit shaky, but I can manage. "Great! Now, can you walk a bit? Until the door, at least."
"O-ok." I slowly make my way toward the door; crap did that fairy have to fuck my legs so much? Speaking of fairy, I think that Tewi was lying to me. She seemed pretty suspicious when I mentioned the trap. I think she knows who did it, or worse she is the one who did it and wanted to blame someone else.
Anyway, after reaching the door, I heard a clap behind me and Reisen and found Reisen with her hands together. She's smiling, her smile was so cute. Why are people here way cuter than on the outside?
"Er Manato-kun?" I should apologize.
"I am sorry Reisen-san! ah." I try to bow, but this breaks my balance, and my head makes direct contact with the floor.
I am a fucking idiot.
After my little accident, Reisen dragged me back to bed, and after a checkup, I am fine at least.
"Ahh, why have you done that!? And for what are you apologizing?"
Although my shame had yet to disappear.
"Tewi had told me that you had set up the trap that I was caught in, and because of that, I was attacked by a fairy and ended up in this state." my face is crazy red, by the way.
"Pffff hahahahahahahahaha! " Reisen breaks into a loud laugh, holding her stomach. "Pff, so this is why you were looking at me like that?! Hahaha!" she continues in this state for a bit before recollecting herself.
"Anyway, now talking about you…You are an outsider, aren't you?" I screwed, Master told me that people knowing I am an outsider is bad business, and now this rabbit has stopped laughing and is looking with a very serious and hungry-looking expression!
You see, according to the Master, an event called the Vampire Incident sparked a change in the rules. Spell Card Duels (which Master is yet to explain) were established as a result. In addition to that, another rule was created to protect the humans born in gensokyo from being eaten by youkai. Master did admit that even that does not prevent villagers from being attacked by stray youkai, and some of the strongest ignore the rules anyway.
But none of the protection applies to outsiders. Unless you can beat Youkai up or stay in a safe place like the village, you are in the Free PVP zone.
And to add salt to the injury, my slightly tan skin is enough to make me stand out even though my hair is black, and my face is somewhat Japanese, although my Brazilian heritage shows quite a lot.
Anyway, I need to divert the conversation and to do that I have a card on my sleeve.
Cough* "Well, hypothetically speaking, I am, but in this hypothetically speaking scenario, I am currently under the Shrine Maiden's protection…" Inside the Shrine, that is "...and if, hypothetically speaking, I happen to be hurt or worse, eaten by a youkai, then, hypothetically speaking, the Shrine Maiden, wound, hypothetically speaking, would be very distressed and would possibly look for justice" Or this works, or I am boned.
"Hypothetically speaking?"
"Hypothetically speaking"
…
…
…
"Pffff hahahaha you are so easy! Do you think I am going to eat you? Hahaha!" You know what? Being teased like this is not that bad when the girl is cute, so I am just going to sit here with my red face and take it.
"Anyway, I need to leave now. I'm going to come here once a day to do checkups on you. Ah, also, I will inform Eirin-sensei that you have awakened; she is the Doctor of this mansion/clinic, saying that I think I am going to see you later…" "Manato." "Manato, right, see ya." Reisen leaves the room, still laughing under her breath a bit, and for last, I am alone in the room.
I think I am going to sleep then, if my cringe won't bother me, that is.
"So, Eirin, how much will this cost me?"
I managed to sleep quite a bit, and after waking up, I think I found the actual Doctor/Owner of this clinic and said the owner is, in my eyes, quite beautiful.
Her eyes are dyed with a silver deeper than aluminum, same for her long, silver hair with a braid resting on her back, and her clothes make her profession quite obvious. First, she wears a blue nurse cap with a red cross on the front, furthermore, her attire consists of a chess-like pattern that divides a blue and red for each tile with what I assume to be constellations.
And to my surprise, Master is here too! Although she is just resting in the window panel…outside of the building, did she not even bother to enter by the main door?
"Reimu, You and I know that you can't pay for the treatment, nor the pills I "sold" you weeks ago- Oh, It seems that our patient is awake. Good evening, Manato-kun. How well are you feeling right now?" Straight to the point.
"I feel weak, especially my legs. I feel hot, it is hard to talk, and my shoulder feels…should I say lighter? I did not touch it much because It hurt a lot; as a result, I cannot move it."
The Eirin takes a clipboard from the nearby table and begins to read its contents aloud. "You lost 30% of your shoulder, a lot of your nerves in your legs were broken up, and if what Reimu told me is correct, you run towards the shrine from the bamboo forest in the bitter cold of night while losing blood, It's no wonder that you have a fever right now." She placed the clipboard back on the table and gave me a look of curiosity. "And yet you manage to just stay in one piece long enough to let Reimu bring you back here." She rested her chin in her hand and gave a predatory look at Master. "Is there something that I should know regarding this person, Reimu?"
This situation feels like just before the scenes in detective movies where the detective finds the culprit and pokes at the culprit to reveal himself…If the culprit was paying attention, that is, Master is half asleep, just like I would on a Friday, waiting for the final 5 minutes to pass to get me out of the class as soon as possible.
Eirin, unfazed by this development, just shifted her gaze back to me.
"Eir. I don't know?"
The Doctor just signed at my response and proceeded to pick up the clipboard again to read the rest of whatever was written in it.
"Anyway, I also have a complaint about your diet, even though you have been in Gensokyo for a few weeks already…" So she already knew I was from the outside? " The food you ate before coming seems not to be the best; therefore, you will be receiving a special diet to clean away any impurities in your body and heavens! I thought that Usami girl was poor, but you are, somehow, worse than her. What kind of crap do you outsiders eat? And speaking of your body, how much exercise have you been doing in your whole life?" I think Eirin is being spiritually hurt by reading about my poor lifestyle.
"Hey Eirin, how much effort can he do?"
"Not much, nor anything that involves him going around; it's best for him to stay in bed until tomorrow at the earliest. What is the matter?"
"Hm…I think this can work. Can you give me a bit of time with him?"
Eirin raises an eyebrow "Sure, I had already finished giving him the details" The doctor then leaves her seat and after that the room.
"Is there something you want to discuss, Master? Am I in trouble?"
"Nope, I just want to start your training, that is." Ah, my training…Wait a minute!
"Will you accept me as your disciple?! Even after all the trouble-" "Don't matter; you passed. Now, shut up and listen, ok? We don't have all day to talk." I shut up.
The Shrine Maiden sat at the vacant chair left by Eirin, now looking at me with a melancholy expression.
"What do you think of faith?"
"Faith? What do you mean?"
"I talk about believing in gods, ghosts, or whatever you think involves faith. Before coming here, I am referring to"
"Hm…To tell the truth, I never actually took the time to learn about religion in general, and neither did my parents talk to me about much, however…"
"However?"
"I do believe that I have a soul, something beyond science, something only I can feel."
"Why is that? How did you know you have a soul?"
"This is something I concluded after thinking about the conscious."
"Conscious? What does this have to do with faith?"
"This is something hard to explain. Hm, Master, are you familiar with the idea of the Human body and Cells?"
"Usami-chan spoke about this to me a while ago, but go on."
"You could say that the Human body is a machine that is made of smaller machines called cells. Cells are something that we consider to be alive, but why so? They are just made of dead, minuscule stuff that happens to have special properties that allow them to keep working."
I show my hand to her to explain a point.
"These cells are also on my nerves that send signals to me if I touch something and allow me to be "aware" that my hand is touching something. This is not something exclusive to only humans or animals, but I think there's a difference."
I lower my hand so Master can focus on me as a whole.
"How can I be "aware" that I touched something in the first place?"
Master seems confused by this. "What do you mean? You just said how you know they do."
"Remember when I said that the cells are made of dead stuff?" She nods.
"Then, if I am made of cells, how can something "dead" be aware in the first place? Isn't something missing? Something that cannot be explained by science?"
The master stops for thought for a moment before a sneak smile forms on her face.
"The missing piece is what I believe is the Soul, that allows this machine of dead stuff to be aware and have a self."
The Red and White just gives a smile; I think she understands now.
"Well, that's about it for today-Ah! Also!" She goes to the window and picks something up from outside the building, and it's… my backpack!
"Thanks, Master! You did not need to do this for me."
"Well, since I did this for you, can I hm?" She opens the backpack and takes out one of the military rations that I brought with me to Gensokyo.
"Yes, Master, you can have all of them. I was going to keep them for winter, but I do not mind you eating them." She just smiles like a child who just received candy.
"Thanks! I think I am going home then. Ah, I will come back in the morning to start teaching you already. See ya! Oh, I might have lunch here as well."
She slides the door open to find Reisen holding a tray with what appears to be my dinner.
"Hi Reisen"
"Hi Reimu"
"Where-" "Just go straight to the right, and at the end of the corridor, go left, there you will find the dining room." "Don't mind if I do!" Master doesn't even try to hide her hunger and flies like a missile out of the room and subsequently out of my sight.
…
"Is Master always like this?"
"When the topic is about money and food, yes, and what's up with calling Reimu "Master"?"
"Hm~ It's a secret" The rabbit just shrugs and proceeds to serve my dinner.
I should definitely ask Eirin-Sensei for a way to compensate for my stay here later.
I must admit, I get a bit leery when Lunarians start talking about impurity. Though, considering it's Eirin, I guess she gets the benefit of the doubt
Also, it must really be throwing everyone to find some random dude following Reimu around calling her 'master' lol. She's not really the teaching sort on first glance.
Nice to see Manato's views on spirituality. The fact that he was already a believer in the soul will probably help him acclimatise to Gensokyo a bit faster. Might help if he decides to go the priest/kannushi route especially
