Continuation of
>>96501 When we last left Anonymous, Keine had asked him if he could possibly pay a visit to the clinic at Eientei and deliver some medicines to Patchouli Knowledge.
---------
"Well..." Although what little remains of your survival instinct is desperately trying to grab your attention, you ignore it out of a sense of duty and worry towards your teacher and mentor. Keine wouldn't send you on such an errand if your life were in any danger, right? Even though she left you alone in the school that one day, with a man-eating little girl stalking you in the shadows. Then again, that worked out better than you could ever have expected, didn't it? Not that the idea of Rumia moving into your room permanently is particularly attractive, but it's certainly better than having to watch your back after school just so she doesn't pounce and eat you; of course, your assumption that she won't do so anyway is based purely on her good word alone. To sum up - what's the worst that could happen, right?
"Of course. I'd be glad to." Keine responds with yet another kind smile, nodding at you in a way that seems more thankful than approving.
"Alright. But the next lesson is about to start, so..." You nod and head back to your seat, just as the rest of the students start pouring into the auditorium. Flandre hops into the seat next to you, face still a little flushed when she smiles at you. Responding with a friendly smirk of your own, you can't help but wonder how Patchouli is doing right now.
...
The Japanese lesson went by without anything particularly interesting happening in between, and you now find yourself in a secluded corner of the school building, sharing lunch with a blonde vampire girl who happens to be sitting in your lap. Though you feel a little guilty, you can't help but notice how her lunchbox is separated into two distinct compartments; one containing her weird red meatballs (the origins and contents of which you'd rather not think on), and the other something more closely resembling human food; it's as if she packed the latter half for you on purpose, which doesn't make you feel any less guilty due to it taking up more than half of the space in her lunchbox. Don't want the poor girl to starve on your account, now do you?
"Hey, Flan." The tilts her head backwards, until she's looking at you upside-down from below; despite sitting in your lap, she's still quite a bit shorter than you. Mouth still full of food, she can only utter a mumbled noise as a response.
"Mmmph?"
"I'm going to a certain place in the bamboo forest after school today, so I'll have to miss club activities again today..." She swallows her food and offers you a disappointed frown that could make stones weep, so you quickly follow up with the second half of the sentence.
"...so I was wondering - would you like to come with me?" It takes a few seconds for what you've just said to sink in, before her eyes suddenly widen to a near-impossible degree; instantly turning herself upright, she straddles your lap and grips your shoulders so tightly it almost becomes painful, staring you right in the face with an incredulous expression.
"...Really?"
"Of course. It could be fun, you know? I've never been there, myself, so it'll be kind of like... an adventure, you know?" All of a sudden, the little blonde vampire girl gets awfully excited, bouncing up and down happily - while she doesn't exactly weigh much at all, the fact that she's bouncing up and down on your
lap, in such a position, is enough to start giving your lower body some confusing ideas.
"I've never been there either! Ahaha, sounds fun!" You rarely ever see or hear her laugh in such a sincere and happy manner, due to her self-restraint whenever she's around her elder sister. She really does become much more of an open person when she's alone with you; you can't help but chuckle along with her, overjoyed to see her looking so pleased. Maybe this'll make up for you neglecting her so much lately... It's not entirely your fault, of course, but you've still got to take responsibility. She hugs onto you tightly, a gesture which you return; after all, she feels and smells nice, so... why the hell not. Heck, you've slept in the same bed with the girl, some physical closeness like this isn't that awkward at all, right? Ignoring the fact that she's still sitting on your groin, of course.
"Ah..." she speaks up again by your ear, her voice quieting down to a more serious tone.
"What about sis?" You think on this for a moment, trying to figure out what you should say in a situation like this. Honestly, you'd rather have Flandre to yourself for a while, outside of her sister's shadow, get to know the -real- Flandre a little better, and allow her to live out her emotions without restraint.
"She doesn't have to come if you don't want her to." Pulling back from you lightly, she blesses you with yet another pure smile, before tilting her head with a mildly surprised expression.
"Oh, you've got some... on your face..."
"Hm?" You touch the corner of your mouth, but don't feel anything; and you're usually not that messy when you eat, either. But then, you usually don't eat while being distracted by a girl's buttocks gently rubbing against your crotch through thin layers of clothing.
"Here, let me... um..." She glances left and right nervously for a moment, as if she were looking for someone; then, she slowly leans closer to you, eyes firmly fixed on your lips, lips parting ever-so-slightly, her motions radiating an overwhelming degree of hesitation.
"Uh... What are you doing?"
Her face instantly turns a noticeable shade of pink.
"N-nothing! Ah, hehe, look, here it is..." She gently wipes across your lip with a slender finger, producing a tiny remnant of the tuna sandwich which you had just devoured; after offering you more of a shy smile, she plops her finger into her mouth, licking it clean.
"...Yum~"
...
Ah, that's better. While fapping in a school bathroom is hardly the most appropriate way to spend the rest of your break, every man has his threshold for excitement, and yours had been crossed - that girl can be quite the seductress without even realizing it. Or maybe you're just adapting to the Japanese way of life and thinking faster than you thought? The whole 'indirect kiss' thing isn't exactly such a big deal in the western world, after all... What's next, are you going to start having nosebleeds whenever a girl shows some skin? The ones you had from moving stuff with your mind were bad enough... Granted, you haven't been having those for a while now. Maybe you're getting better at it? Who knows.
After the last lesson for the day, Keine calls you aside for a moment once everyone else has left.
"The outer edges of the bamboo forest are safe; you'll be likely to see nothing more than rabbits and insects around there. The bamboo stalks aren't that dense either, so you should see a river in the distance; just follow the river, and you should bump into that friend of mine before long, alright?" You nod, still feeling somewhat uncertain about this whole thing. Adventure with Flandre to procure medicine for Patchouli sounds fun and all, but somehow the term 'wildlife' seems to have a higher value of intimidation in Gensokyo; what if said 'wildlife' turns out to be more humanoid youkai? How would you tell the difference between Keine's friend and a man-eater?
"This friend of yours, miss Kamishirasawa... What does he or she look like?"
"She. Don't worry about it, you'll recognize her when you see her." Not the answer you were looking for, but that disarming smile of hers forces you to accept it. Miss Keine is absolutely wonderful, but you're not quite sure if you trust her judgment on most things these days; at times, it seems like she's living in her own little happy world where everyone gets along and all is good. Regardless, you thank her and head off, meeting up with Flandre who had been waiting for you by the shoe lockers and exiting the building; before you get far, however, you hear a familiar voice calling out from behind you. Turning around, you spot Remilia leaning out of one of the auditorium windows.
"Hey! Where are you two going..? We still have to clean up the auditorium!"
"I..." You can feel Flandre grabbing onto your hand.
"...We've got something to do in the bamboo forest. I'm sorry about this, but could you take care of it today? I'll do it myself tomorrow to make up for it!"
She seems more than surprised by this sudden development, leaning further out of the window to the point where you become mildly concerned that she might fall out any moment now.
"O-oh? Wait, let me finish up real quick, and I'll-..."
"It's okay, sis!" Flandre interrupts her sister; somehow, this feels utterly backwards.
"We'll be back soon - I'll see you later when I'm home, alright?"
"Wait, it'll just take a minute, and-..."
"WE'LL BE FINE!" That last shout was quite a bit louder than would've been necessary to cover the distance between the two of you and the school, almost sounding closer to a scream; Flandre's smile seems awfully strained for a moment, and her grip on your hand is getting more and more painful by the second. Even Remilia seemed frightened by that just now, pulling back a bit.
"...Alright. Stay safe, don't come back too late..." And with that, she disappears back into the auditorium. As Flandre's face relaxes once again, you can't help but prod her shoulder lightly to attract her attention.
"Flan... Your grip... It hurts a bit." Realization dawning on her, an utterly mortified look spreads across her face as she releases your hand; you open and clench your fist a few times to get the circulation going again.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She keeps repeating this many more times than should've been necessary, deaf to your assurances that it's fine.
"I didn't... I don't want to break you or anything..." Break you? An odd way of wording things.
"Relax, I'm fine... I don't break so easily. Alright? Now give me a smile again." You ruffle her hair a bit, remembering that she liked it whenever you did that; sure enough, she closes her eyes and smiles again, seeming as happy as a kitten.
You stop for a moment once you reach the outer part of the bamboo forest - it certainly looks huge, and rather deep to boot. What was it you heard the villagers call it sometimes... The Bamboo Forest of the Lost? You can see how one could easily get lost in such a thicket if they've wandered too deep inside, indeed. Ah, but what was it Keine said for you to look out for? Ah, yes, of course - over there, an area where the bamboo stalks are less dense, you can spot the glistening of water in the sun, the gentle lapping sounds of the river's water becoming audible as the two of you get closer. Flandre in particular seems awfully excited by the sight, especially the sizeable silvery fish you can spot swimming along the current every now and then, their scales reflecting the sun's rays in all directions in a colorful display, like living underwater rainbows. Follow the river into the forest, wasn't it?
"Who did you say we're meeting?" Flandre has been asking you random questions during your walk here, and it doesn't look like she's about to stop, either. You don't mind, though; you're happy to answer, and her voice is pleasant on the ears.
"Miss Kamishirasawa's friend. She'll be guiding us to Eientei; I've got to pick up some medicines for miss Knowledge."
"Hum..." She sounds a tiny bit disappointed.
"What's wrong, Flan?"
"Nothing." Skipping onto a rock by the river, she twirls around on one foot, making your heart skip a beat at the thought of her losing balance and falling into the river - what exactly does a vampire's weakness to flowing water involve, anyway?
"It's just that I was hoping we'd get to explore together, just the two of us. It's fun like this, just you and me." Another lovely smile, and she starts absent-mindedly toying with that side-ponytail of hers.
"Well, maybe we can go explore another place together someday - just the two of us. Alright?"
"That's a promise, then!" Your blonde companion giggles and grins, heading off in the direction of the river in a playful jog, as you follow behind. She's certainly got you beat when it comes to stamina, that's for sure... Suddenly, you hear a light yelp, and rush over to her to see what happened.
"What's wrong, Flan?" She merely gestures to the other side of the river, at a figure lying on the ground, one leg crossed over the other, arms folded under the head, apparently taking a nap. The person appears to be wearing a rather baggy pair of pants - finally, someone besides you in this land who doesn't wear a skirt or dress! - held up by a pair of suspenders, a worn-looking pair of boots, and what was once a white dress shirt, now closer to a dim light brown after what must've been several years' worth of stains and washings. The pants have odd charms stuck to them - you can't quite tell if they're woven in or more like stickers, from this distance. Similar charms appear to be tied into the girl's - because, upon further inspection, it appears to be female - long, very long hair, which is also strangely pure white.
"Ugh... Noisy... Who the hell're you? You're scaring the fish away." A voice, while obviously feminine, sounding a significant deal lower than that of any other girl you've spoken to during your stay in Gensokyo, speaking in a harsh and not-at-all-girly tone is heard, and you notice a fishing rod fixed to the ground beside the previously sleeping figure, who sits up and rubs her eyes lightly, squinting at you. Deciding she could use a closer look, she stands up and hops over the reasonably wide river in a single impressive leap, coming to a stop right in front of you. She's rather tall, compared to the girls back at school, and her face is as harsh as her voice. It's also incredibly pale, and the irises of her eyes are red; not in that mildly-glowing supernatural way as it is with the Scarlet sisters and Rumia, but more as if the blood was showing through the irises. Based on her overall appearance, you assume she must be albinistic; must be why she's squinting at the sunlight so much and wanted to get such a close look at you. You've heard people with albinism tend to have weaker eyesight and low tolerance towards light.
"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer."
"Er, sorry... But aren't you checking me out as well?" She doesn't let herself be interrupted by your remark, continuing to eye you up and down with a very mild degree of curiosity.
"'Checking you out' would be a generous way of putting it." She pulls what appears to be a slightly crumpled packet of cigarettes from her pocket, pulling one out and putting it in her mouth, before lighting it with... her thumb. Huh, that's certainly a neat trick. Somehow less intimidating than anything Patchouli has shown you so far, though.
"So, like I asked... Who the hell are you? You lost or something? People don't usually come this far into the bamboo forest of their own will, after all..."
"Isn't it polite to give your own name before asking others?"
She rolls her eyes at you. "Mokou. Of the Fujiwara clan. Just call me Mokou. And if you call me 'Mokotan' or anything like that, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll be tasting your own shit for a month." Such an unfeminine thing to say, with such a straight, relaxed face. You almost expect her to blow some smoke into your face to emphasize her disdain towards you. In any case, you introduce yourself by name as well; in response, Mokou holds the packet of cigarettes out towards you, before gesturing towards your side with her other hand, and you notice Flandre peeking out from behind you, furrowing her eyebrows at the girl standing before you. Looks like Mokou hasn't left a good first impression on the vampire girl; she's probably still thinking of her as little more than an interruption to your private time together.
"And her? Your girlfriend or something?"
The cigarettes?
[] "Thanks."
[] "I don't smoke."
[] "Those things will end up killing you."
G-girlfriend?
[] Yeah, you guess you could think of her that way...
[] Just a good friend.
[] You're here on business. Avoid the question by bringing up what you came here for.
[] Fujiwara no Mokou? Avoid the question by bringing up her utter lack of school attendance.
-{} ...because you're the class representative.
-{} ...because it's worrying Keine.
