Story of the Lotus Land Girl

by gengetsooanon

Summary:

Anon-kun falls into gensokyo and speaks zero japanese, while being made to tread the fine line of Yuuka's interest.
Posted on /jp/ first, updated when the thread dies and I remember to update.

Chapter 1: Culture Shock

Summary:

A nameless, faceless nobody falls into the Eastern Wonderland.
By blind, divine luck, he evades the maw of unknown horrors, and makes his way to safety.
But things are not as they seem, and he quickly finds himself an alien in a foreign land.
However, that just means he is forced to adapt; or die.

Gensokyo is an odd place.
You had come here by complete accident, unlike some others you had later learned. You had simply found a weak spot in the fabric of reality, and had fallen through.
This was both lucky and unlucky; On the one hand you were stuck in a land full of monsters and demons, who spent their days drinking and finding men to devour.
On the other, you were not delivered to said monsters on a silver plate, and had managed to stumble your way into an oasis of civilization before nightfall came and robbed you of your senses.
You only learned of this grave danger after you had already avoided it; not once did you think a peep of how odd things suddenly were before you walked into a completely anachronistic town with people dressed in kimonos and wooden sandals speaking a foreign tongue.
Thankfully, a strange lady with a weird box on her head told you where you were in plain English, after you had wandered around for a while. Upon being told that you were in Gensokyo, quite literally an Eastern wonderland, your first questions were standard boilerplate; things like if you could learn magic, when you would learn to fly, if you could complete quests slaying foul daemons of the night.

The truth however, was a lot more mundane. You were an outsider, one born with no magic whatsoever, forever doomed to remain earthbound without the technology to [temporarily] defy gravity, and there wasn't a man alive who could kill a youkai, as they called them. The blue-haired woman suggested you take up a basic job splitting wood and bamboo for fires on account of your liguistic challanges, and to learn Japanese as fast as possible. Sink or swim, as it were. She told you this with a slight look of boredom, although one of a repeated sort, the kind you get by saying something so often you've heard quite literally every possible question ten times over. It was not devoid of pity however, and she looked at you with a slight hint of apology.
"I'm sorry. Normally someone in your position would only have to stay the night and be sent on their way, but due to some odd circumstances that is no longer possible."
Upon being further pressed, the woman shook her head and refused to specify what "odd" entailed.
"You wouldn't understand. Only a few can, and they aren't the type you should be getting to know"
She shuddered a little when she said this, presumeably at the memory of the people in question.
"My name is Keine, by the way. You may address me as Miss Kamishirisawa"
You bowed your head in grattitude and shook her hand.
"No not- nevermind. Just go and find a job to put food in your mouth and a roof over your head, and come to me if you have any questions. And remember to practice your Japanese, or you'll be stuck swinging an axe until your arms fail you."

Generously, she offered to keep you in the local school until she could arrange you a room at the inn. You were to find some basic work as quickly ass possible, and report back to Keine to have her arrange for your wages to be directly transferred to pay your keep, and some books on learning the local language. The plus side of this was that you wouldn't have to speak very much- the downside was that there wasn't a whole lot you *could* do. The night came and went, and with the new day came your hunt for a job. Eventually, you found an odd flier for what looked like an antiques shop, complete with old record players and globes, going off of the little illustration on it. You put it in your pocket, trying to ignore the odd stare from a curious townsman probably interested in your white skin and modern clothes, and proudly marched back to Keine to ask her what it said.

Today seemed to be something equivalent to a weekend, so the teacher was sitting in her house next to the small schoolhouse when you came in. After greeting her, you thrust out the flyer for what you hoped was a job offer at a local novelty shop.

"Didn't I tell you to practise your Japanese?"
Keine looked at you judgingly when you said her name.
She took the paper from your hands and let out a little snort of air as she read it.
"So he's needing help... huh. This could actually work out quite well for you, you know. I'll go and speak with the shop owner this afternoon, but since he's probably expecting a villager there are no promises. Until then, go and read those books I gave you. You need it."
She looked at you for a second, before gesturing with her hand to leave her to work.
Dutifully, you went back to your loaned room to study, motivated by the total lack of anything better to do.

 

A few hours pass, and you've not made much progress, when a knock comes from the door, before Keine and a white-haired man walk in.
The man greets you, before embarassingly having to ask Keine to translate for you as he appears to remember you cannot understand him.
"This is Mr. Rinnosuke Morichika. He is the owner of that shop you found an advertisement for, and he's looking for someone to stock the shelves and clean the shop while he's looking for more products.
It's not the most exciting job in the world, but it's suitable for your background, and he's willing to take you on now so you can tell him about Outsider technology when you are able to communicate."
Rinnosuke stands there smiling, looking a little silly. He seems good natured enough, and Keine seems to approve of his line of work.
It's clear he was wanting someone who is interested in antiques, and you seem to fit the bill enough as it happens.
You thrust you hand out and introduce yourself as Anon, and the two of you awkwardly shake hands. It seems like you might get along fine here after all.
"There's a little time left in the day, so why don't you two go and buy some new clothing. It would be good to not stick out so much, Youkai have a taste for outsiders especially. I'll lend you the money and you can pay me back when you can."
Keine turned on her heel and left the two of you to work something out.
Rinnosuke shrugged his shoulders and beckoned you to follow in the universal sign language of pointing at things.

Once outside, you follow Rinnosuke to what appeared to be the village square, complete with shopkeepers peddling their wares. You squinted a bit trying to see if the antiques shop was here, but to no avail.
In any case, your benefactor seems more than happy to take the burden of paying for your existence in exchange for what seems like pretty easy work, but you are sure you aren't going to have any spending money anytime soon.
The two of you spend some time trying to find some clothes that don't stand out too much, but are still somewhat western in design, since you made clear you can't tie a kimono.
You just about settle for a white tunic looking item with some black shorts to keep you cool, when the familiar chatter of dozens of people quietens down, and people start making nervous exists with some visible haste. The shopkeepers go a little pale, and stand to attention where before they had laid back and waited lazily for someone to warrant their attention.
Rinnosuke seems oblivious to the obvious change in atmosphere, and continues inspecting a pair of shoes you gestured to, much to the ire of the tailor running the stand.
With no way to drag your new boss away from the oncoming danger, you resolve to just go along with his apparant idiocy, wondering if he's really taking you on out of generosity or because everyone else knows to stay away.

You try and look as closely as possible at the wares on display, desperate to look as if you've made an honest mistake.
You pour over all the different clothes as if your life depended on it, aware of the knowledge that it might very well be going off of the looks of everyone left (Bar Rinnosuke of course).
You can practically feel the danger growing behind you as the very last of the day shoppers take their leave, and run to vacate the area.
You look at signs that you can't even read, trying to pretend you are blissfully unaware of the prickly sensation on your back.
A quick glance at the tailor's face shows that whatever you are doing was all in vain, as he practically drips sweat, white as a sheet.
An oppressive aura radiates from the small of your back, and you glance over at Rinnosuke to see him utterly incredulous at the overwhelming sense of malice you are feeling.
From the corner of your eye, you can see a shock of red and green growing larger, and you try to mask your looking away from the sense of impending doom.
A few seconds later, a woman's voice speaks from behind you.
Rinnosuke practically jumps out of his skin as a sing-song voice calls out something that sounds like a pet name.
Curiosity gets the better of you, and it's not like your efforts to go unnoticed have worked, so you turn around to get a look at both of them.

 

Upon doing so, you immediately deduce two things.
One, the lady is not human. Keine had blueish hair, and Rinnosuke has white, but this girl's head is encased in vivid green.
Her eyes, which thankfully are pointed at your employer and not you, are ruby red, and have a piercing quality you've never seen even in the movies.
Her skin is as pale as yours, and has a clearly inhuman quality to it, practically radiating light.

Two, she doesn't look all that threatening.
By this, it's clear that she is a *threat*, but nothing about her appearance betrays anything like the sort of feeling you get from her.
She's wearing fairly normal, if gaudy clothes actually, and is twirling an umbrella boredly behind her back.
The most abnormal thing about her, other than her head, is the odd tartan patterning of her dress and jacket, and the slightly sweet smell coming from her.
She's taller than most of the people you have seen, but her eyes only come up to chin level to you, and a little shorter than the man she's addressing.
In fact, she looks rather nice.
This only serves to heighten your guard, however, since the feeling of Death in it's full glory has only grown stronger since she's walked up to you both.
Rinnosuke stammers for a bit while talking to the lady, which is impressive given how utterly petrified you are.
Once he's finished talking, the girl's blood red eyes flick over to look at you.
For all you care, they might have well been the ends of a shotgun boring into your soul.
She seems to ask you a question, and you can only stand there dumbfounded.
A few seconds pass before she taps her foot on the ground rather loudly, clearly expecting a response.
You pluck up some courage, and say a few words in order to try and save your skin and excuse you from having to talk to her on account of your effective muteness.
>"I-I'm sorry miss, I'm new here and was just l-looking for some c-clothes, and I don't s-speak any Japanese"
Right as you say that, you cringe internally at how stupid you must look, trying to communicate like a tourist in a foreign country. Which you are, effectively.

The girl however, looks slightly surprised when you speak, and takes a second to think.
What followed surprised you even more.
>"Oh, is that right? Well then I apologize for expecting you to know Japanese. I should have guessed given your appearance. Might I ask, just how new are you?"
You take a heartbeat to fully process what just happened.
The girl knows English, speaks it fluently, politely, and without a hint of any kind of accent.
And now she's expecting a response. Meaning you have to continue talking with her.
>"J-just a day"
A slight smile crosses her lips.
>"Well, let me be the first to welcome you then. Although I'm sure that if you're here someone will have been polite enough to introduce themselves to you."
A look of realization crosses her face.
>"Speaking of manners, where are mine? My name is Yuuka."
The way that was phrased didn't seem to indicate she expected a response, but since you didn't know what else to do, you went and introduced yourself back.
>"And mine is Anon"
You stuck out your hand to shake.
>"Pleased to meet you, Miss Yuuka"
A look of mild annoyance crossed her face.
>"Kazami. Miss Kazami, not Miss Yuuka. Yuuka is my given name."
Throughout this time she had not taken your hand, nor had she bowed or curtsied when she had introduced herself.
It seems she didn't deem you important enough to deserve it, despite her general polite speech.
Her face softened up a little, and her tone changed again.
>"But please, call me Yuuka. I don't want to be addressed like an old hag now do I?"
She laughed a little at her joke, although you didn't get what was all that funny about it.
>"Well I'd best be off then. Maybe I'll see you around? Probably not. Most people aren't brave enough to come out and vist~"
She chuckled again, and again you didn't have the slightest clue what she was on about, apart from that she was in no doubt about knowing she was scary.
>"I'm only here for the flowers after all. Toodloo~!"
And without waiting for a reply, she turned around and headed away.

 

The green haired lady headed down the main road out of the square, her brightly coloured parasol and red dress visible up until she walked over the crest of a small hill.
You breathed a sigh of total relief when Yuuka was out of sight.
Rinnosuke did likewise, and in general people seemed to relax a bit.
You turned back to the shopkeeper who's store you had inadvertantly brought someone troublesome to.
The man was gawking at you, presumably trying to guess just what you had said to get her to leave nearly as soon as she came.
Morichika too was looking at you baffled, and all you could do to answer their probable questions was to shrug your shoulders with your palms facing upward.
Once the shock had worn off, you got Rinnosuke to pay for your new clothes and followed him to the edge of the village.
It was a little nervous, passing the official walls of safety, going past the point at which your it was not impossible to be caught and killed by any number of things,
but Rinnosuke seemed to pay no heed to the lack of guaranteed security, instead walking further and further away from what you had quickly understood to be your new home.

After about half an hour of lesiurly walking, you noticed the trees looked decidedly more gnarled and leafy than before,
with the floor of the forest losing it's grass as light became somewhat of a scare resource.
It was a relief therefore, to spot a cabin in a small clearing not too long after.
You couldn't read what the large sign on top said, but seeing as Rinnosuke isn't stopping to knock, you can only guess that this is the place.

...

Come to think of it, you never thought to ask Keine what this place actually did or was called.
You'll have to figure it out, it seems.
Rinnosuke leads you to a small room in the back, with a sleeping bag, a desk & chair, and a small shelf with your Japanese books already on there.
On the table is a note, seemingly for you unless someone else only speaks English.
After looking to your landlord, who only gave a nod, you pick up the paper and read it.
Unsurprisingly, it's from Keine.

>Anon
>I caught someone who was heading in the direction of Kourindou, and gave her your books.
>Please check none are missing.
A quick scan of the titles shows to the best of your memory that they are all accounted for.
>Mr. Morichika has a spare room i've asked him to lease you, and it should be enough for your purposes.
>He will take care of your wellbeing as far as he can, but don't expect him to reattatch your limbs
>He lives in the forest of Magic, which is a relatively dangerous place to wander around in, so don't take any walks alone, especially at night.
>Kourindou is taken as a safe haven by most, but if someone really wants you dead they aren't going to treat it like the Human Village and wait until you leave, so don't go making enemies.
Reassuring.
>Speaking of enemies; There are a few people you might have to deal with. Most of theme are not human, but if you are working for Mr. Morichika,
they should respect you enough to not eat you unless you do something really stupid like attack them, or disobey any reasonable request they might have.
>If a blonde lady shows up out of thin air, you'd best just do whatever she says until she gets bored and goes home.
>If a girl with white hair shows up, and she's dressed in a maid outfit, you should be in good company. I've heard she should know English, so you should have no issues there.
>If a girl with white hair shows up, and she is carrying two swords, you needn't worry, but she won't be interested in the shop. Try and inform her of where she is.
>If a witch shows up in a black hat and carrying a broom, watch her and make sure to direct her to Rinnosuke at the shortest notice.
>The same applies for the girl in red with her armpits on full view
A long list. You had better hope you remember all of this if any of these people show up, but there don't seem to be any men mentioned. Interesting.
You reach the end of the letter, and nearly go to put it away before thinking to check the other side, and upon doing so you find a few hastily scribbled postscripts.

>If you need anything, tell Rinnosuke to take you to me, and if you see any sunflowers, DO NOT DAMAGE THEM!!
That last part was double underlined. Must be very important, were sunflowers significant in the religion of Japan ... whatever that was?

 

At any rate, Rinnosuke, now to you Mr. Morichika, was the one housing you, in return for your labour.
The sun was just coming down to the western horizon, it's yellow light growing orange as time passed.
Your stomach grumbles, and you realize you haven't had anything since breakfast.
You look over to him, and he's standing there scratching his head. You think you're in good hands, at the least.
He makes eye contact with you, and shrugs again. He seems to do that a lot, so it's not like he's the serious type at least.
Your boss beckons you to follow, and he leads you to a kitchen area up the stairs.
He hands you a knife and some vegetables, and points to a wooden block on one of the counters.
Seems like you are going to be chopping them for dinner.

A few minutes later, and the two of you have made a simple, but filling meal of eggs, rice and onions.
The stinging in your eyes hasn't quite subsided, but the results are undeniable. Rinnosuke's a surprisingly good cook.
You had to pester him a little for some proper cutlery, since you couldn't eat with chopsticks as well as he, but in the end it was a more than acceptable meal.
The sun is now touching the horizon, and the sky is growing dark. There doesn't appear to be much point in staying up to work, since there will be plenty of time for that in the morning.
The first proper day of your new life starts tommorrow, as it would seem.
You bow in gratitude, and take the cleared plates to the sink and soak them, drawing water from a small bucket next to the basin.
The "bed" proves to be very firm, but not unworkable. You might develop back pain if you keep it up for too long, but it shouldn't be a problem in the short term.
Your room is cold, owing to it being unheated, and you have to pull the blanket quite tight over you to get comfortable, but sleep comes fairly easily if you have no other options.

Sunlight streams in throught the singular slotted window next to your small desk, and you wake up feeling a little groggy. It would appear that floorboards, even with some cloth between you and them,
don't make a good matress. Nothing that can be done about that, though.
As you stretch and work out the tension accumulated in your spine, someone knocks on your door.
When you open it, it's Rinnosuke.
He seems oddly proud of himself, and the reason makes itself apparant when he thrusts a note under your nose.
It looks like he's gone through the painstaking process of translating something for you, as it's clear the author isn't used to writing in the latin alphabet.

>Hello.
>My name Is morichika rinnosuke
>pleased to Meet you.
>I would like you. to stock the shelves. And keep Me store tidy.
>thank You.

You try and contain your laughter at the horrible grammar and punctuation, since it probably took him some time to write this, and it's more than you could do.
Luckily, you are able to hide your smile as one of eagerness.
Nodding your head, you try and indicate that you understand what he said. Which you did, but it doesn't make it any less funny to read.
Mr. Morichika returns your smile tenfold, and walks over to the shop counter to take his seat.
Looks like you're just supposed to keep the place clean and presentable as a shop.
Easier said than done, as it appears you are the first person to have this job, since a thick layer of dust and crumbs appear to be on about half of the items that look to be on sale,
and all of the shelves. The general state of the room is a mess, to be honest. It's not like you can complain though, since dust can only accumulate so fast, right?

It's about midday before you are done dusting a single shelf.
Each and every item, some of which you wonder what they are doing there, has to be picked up and have dust blown out of it, which is made more difficult by the sheer variety of things.
Some are easy, like the two-litre coke bottles, which only needed a quick wipe down to be as clean as needed.
Others needed you to be careful not to break them, like an extensive set of tea accessories that was made from very thin porcelain.
Others still required you to get at them with a toothbrush you had been provided, furiously scrubbing at a dozen Rubick's cubes took up more time than it should have,
since they seemed to be just full of what looked like ash and mud. You had to wonder, just where had these things been to get so filthy?

 

Throughout all of this, your boss had been sitting at his desk, reading a book and sipping tea, occasionaly scribbling onto a bit of paper.
The book's title was in Japanese, so you couldn't tell what he was doing until he called out your name.
Expecting to be taking a break from work to have lunch, you put down an old hard drive (It was only 10GB, so it must have been positively ancient),
and walked over to the front desk.
Rinnosuke has a familiar-looking grin plastered on his face, and another note is on the desk in front of him.
Reading his expression, you move to pick it up, and he makes no move to stop you.
It seems he's been translating what he wants to say from a book.

>Hello again.
>Keep shop full please.
>i will be going out to look for the thing.
>thank you.

At least his punctuation has improved. It's not as clear as the last one though. Seeing as he is going out, you take it that he really means to man the store.
He must have only looked at the first definition in the dictionary.
Sure enough, once you are done reading he gets up and leaves.
...
I guess he just wants you to stop people from stealing?
If you recall, Keine's note said something about that.
It figures that a store all the way out here might deal with some dishonest folks from time to time, after all.
It doesn't fill your belly, but it means you can sit back and practise some much needed Japanese. You go back to drag your books out, and plop down in the chair to begin studying.

An hour or so passes, and Rinnosuke isn't back. It's looking like he's going to be out for the day. You've just finished practising your katakana, when you hear the bell ring signifying a customer.
Shit. You still can't speak even basic Japanese. Looks like you're going to have to try and tell them to come back later when Mr. Morichika is in.
You look up to see a white headdress peeking over the shelves, but you can't see any of their hair yet, not like you'd know who they were...
Hair...
Thinking quickly, you pull out Keine's note, and set it on the front page of your book.
Reading over it, there's already someone eliminated. If she had appeared out of nowhere, you'd be in trouble but she walked in through the front door like a normal person.
That's good... right?
...
And then you get to the bottom two entries.
They quite clearly tell you to watch people closely, and since you can't tell who it is, you'd best at least try and stop their potential shoplifting.
Just as you start to quietly get up to go and check on the possible theif, they march around the corner of the nearest aisle.
And by "march", you can think of no other word to describe how she walks.
She's about average height for a woman, you estimate, with steel-grey hair and a well fitted... Victorian maid costume?
You try your best to not gawk at the sight in front of you, aided by the girl's ice-cold gaze. This was unlike Yuuka's stare, as it didn't seen to quite bore into your very sense of being like she did,
but all the same it gave you a sense of unease you'd rather not have in your life. You hoped that she wouldn't be a regular customer.
Currently, she seemed to have realized that you were not in fact the person she was expecting to be at the desk. It wasn't much, just a subtle raising of the eyebrows,
but it was clear as day that she had figured out Rinnosuke wasn't caucasian.
She came to a stop in front of you, a newly-dusted tea set in her arms, expertly stacked so she could hold the sizeable weight of it in her rather slender arms.

>"Anata wa Kourin janai?"

Oh. She just mentioned something about the shop, did she?
You glance down at your book, the cheat sheet on probable customers tucked discreetly between the pages.
Grey hair... maid dress...
White is a little like grey, isn't it?

>"Hello, welcome to kourindou. You wouldn't happen to speak English, would you?"

 

THAT got a reaction. Confusion, then understanding, then realization, all within a second.

>"Well, y-yes I would. You aren't Kourin, are you though?"

Well that's a blunt way of putting it.
She's either really, really surprised or a little dense. Possibly both.

>"No, I'm the hire. I only started today, and Mr. Morichika is currently busy doing... something. Who's kourin?"

Way to go, you sound real professional.

>"Mr. Morichika? How do you call him that and not know about Kourin?
Helpful.
>"Is kourin like, his brother or...?"
You get the feeling you look stupid right now.
True enough, the girl holding a banquet's worth of chinaware is glaring at you with a mix of annoyance and confusion.

>"Everyone just calls him Kourin. Is he out looking for things to sell?"

So that's who she was talking about... Did he name the store after himself?
She's still staring at you, and those eyes of hers could make ice seem warm.

>"Y-yeah, he's out looking for... stuff. He didn't really say much, you know. Or at all, in fact."

You look over and see that last note still on the counter from this afternoon. The maid with all the tableware sets it down in front of you, and you have to peek over it a little to see her.
With your right hand, you point at the note.

>"He left a note..."

She reaches over and picks it up.
Now that her eyes are not doing their best to vivisect you, you can get a more comfortable look at the lady in the light.
She has her grey hair parted down the middle of her head, and at the sides she has two braids in front of her ears, tied with green ribbons.
Her face is quite well-shaped, in fact you would go as far as to say she even looked quite pretty.
Her nose is rather small, in a cute way, and her cheeks look full but not fat.
Looking down a bit, you can see she's smiling just a little, her thin pink lips ever so slightly turned up at the corners.
This young lady is really rather elegant and charming in her own way, once she's got her eyes off of you.
You don't get a chance to look any further down than her neck (Which was thin and pale), as she snorts a little and hands back the note.

>"I see what you mean. Say, you wouldn't mind standing up for a second there?"

You furrow your brow. That is an odd request to make of someone, especially someone who's running the store you are in. Not wanting to draw the girl's ire,
as much out of politeness as of fear, you do so slowly.
When you draw yourself to your full height, one that is a little too close to the ceiling for comfort, the maid inspects you thoroughly.
Those eyes really do lack something, you think.
After a few seconds of this, her face brightens up coniderably and her body relaxes almost imperceptably, seemingly content in her findings, whatever they were.

>"Sorry. I thought I might have recognized you from somewhere. My name is Sakuya, Sakuya Izayoi. Pleased to meet you!"

She reaches her hand out to shake, and smiles widely.
You return her smile, and shake her hand, but as you do, you look at her face again.
Those eyes... They haven't changed one bit. There isn't a hint of warmth in those pools of ice to be found.

 

As unnerving as the light in her eyes is, Sakuya's hand is still warm like a human's so at least she isn't some kind of evil spirit, and Keine's note was true that she spoke English
so she couldn't be that dangerous. Even so, now you've noticed it, her smile seems a little too perfect, almost as if it had been practised for long hours.
You can only hope she hasn't picked up on the fact you suspect she isn't truly genuine in her greeting.
Thinking quickly, you change the subject to distract her from possibly realizing this fact in full.

>"That's an unusual name, for an English speaker at least."

A slight shadow seems to cover her as you say this.

>"Ah, it is. The Mistress prefers this one."

She said it normally, even, had another girl said it, almost sweetly, but with a definite undertone to not press any further.
Knowing that it might be in your best interest to respect the implicit statement, you change the subject again.

>"I-is that so? Well my name's Anon. It's a pleasure to meet you too Sakuya. Are you buying this tea set?"

You don't quite know if you have the authority to actually sell something, and as far as you remember you don't think anything you saw had a price tag on it, therefore as you say this you hope to dear Jesus that there's some way of working out payment that won't leave you on your ass in the gutter. Thankfully, your slightly obscene inward prayer is answered.

>"Yes, I will. I paid for this last week, and was waiting to find time to bring it back once I had organized the proper transport. I thought I had told Kourin to be here for this day, but you'll do fine."
>"Come and help me load up the cart, I might be good, but I'm not carrying a month's salary worth of fragile items in my hands."

It is relieving to hear that Sakuya has everything worked out, and explains how quickly she picked out that particular purchase, but you are also now worried you are getting dragged into helping her,
which can only go one way. You are about to tell her that you aren't paid to do that (Or really at all beyond your basic keep), but the instant you hesitate in going to help her
Sakuya glares you down with those freaky eyes of hers. There's something wrong with them, you think to yourself, as you surrender to her service.

Outside the shop, with half a load of porcelain in your hands, you see what she meant by "cart".
Rather, the little wagon itself was perfectly normal, if rather well-built compared to what you had seen of this place in general, but the odd thing was the animal you expected to be driving it.
To be exact, the "animal" that looked to be pulling the cart was a rather tall, busty red haired lady in a curious green uniform,
almost like an old-fashoned soldier, but made into a rather interesting dress. At least she was just pulling the cart like a person would, rather than with a bit in her mouth.
That might have been too strange for you to handle. As it is, the number of odd and backward things you've been expected to deal with lately is starting to make it's effect known to you.
The faint smell of star anise and ginger works it's way into your nostrils, reminding you of a chinese resteraunt you had visited once.

The woman notices Sakuya has come out with someone she obviously won't recognize, and smiles brightly.
She bows over, her red braids that match Sakuya's swinging wildy.

>"Herro! Howa you?"

Sakuya glares at her, and although you can't see it, you are certain those eyes are doing their best attempt to jump out and slice her throat open.

>"Cut it out Meiling, it's not funny. You are supposed to show an example you know."

>"Oh come on Sakuya, can't I have a little fun? I get little enough as it is you know. And besides, it's not every day you see someone new!"

She must be referring to you. Sakuya called her Meiling so that must be her name, you hope.

>"You have enough "fun" at the gates as far as I have been able to tell."

>"Oh come oooooon, you'd be bored out of your mind if you did my job."

>"I'd also stop that bloody theif from destroying the Mistress's library!"

>"Hey, whenever I try and fight her, she wins and I get hurt real bad, so it's not like it matters!"

The two start to quarrel over... something. You honestly have no idea what this is based on, but it's interesting to watch.
A few minutes later, "Meiling" seems to realize you're still standing there.

>"Just because I'm not a neat freak doesn't make me useless. And besides, you've kept this lovely young man waiting for a while now, trying to one-up me!"

Sakuya freezes at this realization, now probably uncomfortably aware of the person she specifically got to go outside to help her.
You can see the back of her ear from where you are standing, and it looks to be going a shade of bright red. She must have completely forgotten about you in her argument with Meiling.

>"N-no I..."

Meiling is smiling devilishly, clearly having won the argument by virtue of not being the one to forget what she was doing.
Sakuya slumps her shoulders just a tad after a few seconds of trying to come up with a counter.

>"Fine. But not a word of this to her."

>"You already know my terms~!"

You thought Meiling's smile was bright before, but she suddenly breaks out into a huge grin, showing off all her frontal teeth, and winking at Sakuya.
It wasn't all that clear before, but she had really warmed up Sakuya's cold demeanor quite well, even if the aforementioned was sulking a bit as she loaded the tea set into Meiling's wagon.
You did likewise, and Meiling caught your attention as you stood back up.

>"So, who are you? And where's Kourin?"

You can't help but answer her, even if you can just feel Sakuya's glare bore into the back of your skull. She's just too nice and friendly.

>"Oh, I'm Anon. Mr. Morichika has hired me to assist him in running the shop, while I learn Japanese- Say, I knew English wasn't well spoken around here, but you two seem to speak it just fine."

>"Mmm, Well Sakuya's a naitive speaker see? And as for me, well it's the main language around the Manor, so I picked it up a few centuries back."

Centuries? She can't possibly be serious... Although this is Gensokyo, she LOOKS human enough, and isn't nearly as frightening as Yuuka was yesterday.
You decide to just ask her about it. Something about her just puts you at ease somehow.

>"Well, yeah. Mansions don't guard themselves, you know. Although... Could it be... That you have forgotten where you are...?"

The red-haired woman's grin twists into an altogether more nerve-wracking sight.
She tilts her head downward, and you notice she has quite well-developed canines for a human.
Several seconds pass, and all you can to there is be frozen in sheer terror,
knowing for certain that there is nobody come to save you from being eaten alive by this girl who had seemed so nice just moments ago.

And as soon as it started, it stopped.
Meiling erupts into laughter, clutching her diaphram as she does so.
She eventually calms down enough to speak, but not before Sakuya starts tapping her foot impatiently.

>"Ahaaahaha, your face is a picture Anon! I haven't had the chance to scare someone so good in years!"

She straightens up a bit, wiping a tear from her eye as she does so.

>"But there's nothing to worry about. I'm not hungry, and there's good enough food at the mansion."

Noting the repeated mention of a "mansion" with a "mistress", you decide to inquire about it. Maybe it'll serve as payback for nearly giving you a heart attack.

>"So where do you live miss Meiling? You've mentioned a mansion, but i've never been told about one here."

Meiling sobers up immediately, and looks at you in shock.
Sakuya too looks at you with a puzzled expression, but Meiling is the first to talk.

>"No way"
Her azure eyes are wide with glee.
>"You speak English and live here, and you don't know about the mansion? Oh, Remi's going to love this!"

>"Address her properly Meiling. And yes, he does seem to have an odd lack of knowledge on the land."

>"Whatever, just don't tell anyone. And if you want to see the mansion, I can't let you in without orders from Remilia, but you're welcome to come visit me at the gate!"

She winks as she says the last part. She really isn't a very serious person, is she. Much the opposite of Sakuya, and it looks like both of them know this.
In a weird way, they seem to actually get along quite well despite this.

>"Just fly over the lake, and it's the big red mansion that you can't miss!"

Before you can tell her you can't fly over the lake, due in great part to the inablity to fly in general, she takes off with the wagon full of china in tow.

Sakuya stands there beside you for a minute, as the eccentric youkai laughs to herself down the road.
Eventually, she speaks up.

>"I don't know why I keep bringing her."
She turns to look at you, face to face.
>"If you ever have the chance, I'm sure the Mistress would find you interesting. She likes interesting things, after all. I trust you aren't a native?"

Taken aback by the sudden question, you manage to answer truthfully despite your hesitation.

>"Well, no. I thought it was obvious really. Uh, you won't like... eat me, will you?"

Sakuya blinks, and then recoils slightly in disgust.

>"Of course not. I'm not a youkai. Can't you tell I'm a human?"

She flicks her hair a bit at this.

>"Well, no, actually. I thought she was the normal one and you were the youkai. You gave me the same feeling as the green-haired lady with the red eyes who walked in the village, just less intense."

Sakuya goes from being mildy insulted to looking rather curious at the drop of that final bit.
She turns to face you fully with her body, instead of looking over her shoulder.

>"Oh? Did you catch her name? I've met most people in Gensokyo at some point or another, so I should know everyone of note. Although there are only a few Youkai who dare go into the village, so I think I know who it is if you didn't."

You need no time to think, her voice had cut through your very soul and imparted those few sentances onto you like the etching on a plate of metal.

>"Yuuka Kazami, not Miss Yuuka, and she likes being called just Yuuka."

Surprisingly, or rather not considering her earlier words, Sakuya nods slowly.

>"That's her. And although I'm not exactly flattered by your comparision-"
She glares at you, further reinforcing the fact that she's not normal in your mind.
>"-I get what you mean. There aren't many Youkai that can get me feeling uncomfortable, and she's top on my list. I'd hope she doesn't take an interest in you, but given how interesting you would be to someone like her, that's unlikely. The good news is she won't really come round unless you anger her, and since you are here talking to me, you haven't."

You're taken aback a bit.
This girl knows her stuff it would seem. Maybe she's not going to be a pain in your ass if she comes back at all.

>"I would stay away from her at any rate. Although I don't think you need me telling you that. She has a... reputation for that."

Before she can elabourate, Sakuya glances at the road where Meiling trundled off to.
Just before she leaves, she says her final words.

>"I might be back later in the week. The Mistresses like having Outsider novelties to keep them entertained, so this is a frequent stop for me. If Kazami comes and bothers you too much, I'll see about directing some people your way. Ordinarily I wouldn't bother, but if she's getting more active and starts meddling with people, it could cause trouble for me. If you think she is, I want you to tell Reimu and Marisa. They have more time in their schedules for this sort of thing, and are a little better at it."
She turns on her heel 90*, and takes off down the road. The wind blows in your face a little, and you catch some whispered words you probably weren't meant to hear.
>"Not by much though"

And with that, you were alone once again.

 

Notes:

If you aren't reading this from the Yuukarin thread on /jp/, it's going to look weird.
Hell, even if you are from /jp/ it'll look a little funny.
I'll probably end up taking out the 4chan syntax when I'm done with the story, but it's not a priority.
In the rare case I finish this and move on to other things, there might be some general similarites, since this is partially based off of some daydreams I had, and I might want to go back and revisit them properly, but not right now.
I might throw in a reference or two eventually, set it up as a "parallel world" kinda thing. Or maybe not, since really I just like Yuuka as a character. Oh well.
Expect this to be a longish one, since I found Dr. Strangelove to be a thrilling action piece, and I like a little character development and pacing.

Meiling was the most fun to write out of everyone actually. She was sort of an afterthought to Sakuya's introduction, but I thought Anon could use a little comic relief. The two beauties of the mansion work quite well as a straight man/ jokester duo surprisingly. It's almost a shame, since I don't think she'll ever get the development and (Screentime?) she really deserves, but then again this isn't focussed on her, nor Sakuya, and Anon I don't think is going to have many (believeable) excuses to run into her all that often.
I might give her a little more time than is strictly necessary for her to compliment Sakuya though, even if she still might not be all that important narriativewise.

I don't intend to do too many of these, so I'll finish up now with a short shoutout to SmallTimeWriteGuy who I may have bugged anonymously into producing his own story first and who has inspired a new generaton of writeanons these past few months, CinderWheat for producing one of the best stories I've ever read that kinda got me thinking about doing this in the first place, and the anons on /jp/ for being the target audience with all the free time in the world to wait for my glacial typing speed.
I've said my bit, and unless people bug me for author's comments to be included in the future, will probably be the last note I make. Stories should speak for themselves after all.

Chapter 2: Kourindou Days

Summary:

Anon settles into his new life,
But his unusual choice of work leaves him open to some unreasonable characters.
Will he cope?
Will he crack under the pressure?
Will he learn how to speak Japanese?

 

It was a few weeks before Rinnosuke next had to go out for more items.
During that time, you had studied enough to read signs pretty well, even if you didn't usually understand what the words meant, and the chinese characters were well beyond you yet, bar a handful of the most necessary ones. You had at least progressed to the point of being able to take basic orders from Kourin though. Sakuya had in fact stopped by a few days later, and had spoken with you on trivial matters over a cup of black tea.
You still didn't entirely trust her, but she might count as the closest thing you had to a friend. Meiling hadn't been with her though, and for that fact you were a little sad. She seemed like a very nice person, even if she wasn't human really.

During this time you had gotten to know a few of the regulars to Kourindou. You had only been able to pick out their names along the various other bits of what they were saying about a week ago, but you understood them to be the same "Reimu and Marisa" Sakuya had mentioned when she left after meeting you the first time.
Marisa in particular seemed like a regular "customer", although never seemed to buy all that much. She also spent a lot of time with Kourin in the back, and you knew she also made a little money selling to the shop, since you usually ended up cleaning and stocking whatever she had brought in.
Reimu proved to be the "girl with her armpits out" referenced in Keine's note, but to your delight neither of them had even so much as read through one of the dusty old magazines that lay in a few piles here and there, although that might have been a bad example seeing as most of them were at least ten years out of date.

Other than the three you had mentioned, no one else had actually come into the shop however.
Maybe it didn't help that you were a long and dangerous walk away from where most people lived, or maybe it was the fact that the shop itself didn't seem to stock all that much in the way of useful items, but the only really regular visitor was Marisa.

A few nights ago you had asked your boss (Mostly to practise your Japanese, seeing as you were going to have to do it at some point), and after a little explanation were eventually told Marisa was and old friend of Kourin's. You hadn't been told how long exactly, but given the girl's short stature you couldn't imagine her being all that old a friend of his...
Regardless of that, it was through this that you had finally figured out exactly how Kourindou made it's money. As it happens, Rinnosuke was proficient in making general magical items. In particular, he seemed to do a lot of work on a possesion of Marisa's, although you hadn't figured out what it was called.

In any case, today you were doing the same as usual. General cleaning of the store, keeping the seat warm, practising your handwriting, when the door opens again.
Nothing unusual about that, since Marisa does tend to come and go at random times during the day, sometimes even twice a day if she had something to do, and it's not unlike "Reimu" to sometimes come in and ask for Kourin if you're left in charge of the front desk, as you're finding yourself increasingly being put in charge of managing the storefront while Kourin does most of the actual work.
You don't bother looking to check for who it is, since the only three people you've seen come into the shop are all familiar enough to you at this point.

From the corner of your eye, you see a flash of red as whoever it is rounds a corner.
Meiling must have made a visit, you assume.
This might prove a pleasant visitor after all. You didn't get all that much time with her, and Sakuya was watching her the entire time, so despite her attitude, it's not like she was saying everything she really wanted, right?
A flash of green poking over the top of the aisle all but confirms your suspicions.
You note where you left off in your textbook, and set it aside for now, ready to greet the care-free gatekeeper.

 

And then you freeze in place.
That green peeking over the aisle is alltogether a much lighter shade than you remember.
And come to think of it, Meiling looked to be a little bit taller than that shelf, enough that her signature red hair would be visible.
Come to think of it, there doesn't seem to be any red on this person's head at all. You hope and pray that your worst fears are not true.

They come true. Or, more specifically, they came true about twenty seconds ago.

Yuuka Kazami steps out from behind the shelf, looking alltogether more annoyed than when you first met her.

>"Kouriiii-"

She stops mid word, as she looks at you behind the counter.
An eerie smile replaces the slight grimace she was wearing before.

>"Well, whatever could you be doing here Anon?"

Shit she remembers you. Not even just your face, but she knows your name instantly. This can't be good.

>"I had honestly thought someone would have snapped you up by now."

Her voice is a threatening monotone, but her voice never not once deviates from being soft and unassuming.
Something about her seems to just exude threat, the same way a sleeping bear might, but there are now claws or teeth to point to to explain that feeling.
The lack of any rational basis for your fear only serves to amplify the alarm in your mind.

>"But it seems you've survived a lot longer than I expected. Well done."

You nod your head dumbly, unsure of whether or not that was intended as a compliment.
She slowly walks over to be right in front of you, and from where you are sitting she seems to tower above you.
You have no intentions of trying to assert otherwise.

>"So tell me Anon."

>"How are you doing?"

It takes a heartbeat to fully process that she's asked you a question.
It takes another to process that it was a wholly polite one you've asked many a friend before.
You gather your thoughts together quickly enough to avoid needing a third.

>"Good! All good here, yes ma'am. Not much business, but as far as I know it pays well!"

>"Well isn't that great?"

You sit there in awkward silence for a few seconds.
Yuuka's smile is unwavering, although it looks to be genuine.

>"You know, you are supposed to ask if the customer would like anything without having been asked~."

She barely moves her lips when saying this, and you have to jab your thumbnail into your thigh to snap yourself fully out of the trance she seems to put you in.

>"AH, sorry, I -um- got distracted!"
>"Is there anything I can do for you, m- Yuuka?"

You nearly slipped up there, but you caught yourself the moment before you had to commit to the honourific.
It doesn't look like she's noticed, or maybe she's letting it slip since you corrected yourself.

>"Hmmmmm, what do I want?"
>"... I think I would like some tea."

Tea? You don't remember anyone ever asking for tea before. In fact, you don't think the shop even technically offers it, although Kourin shared a pot or two with Marisa.
Shoving those thoughts into the back of your mind as self-preservation kicks in, you get up to go and make a pot of it.
You don't really drink tea, and the green tea that Rinnosuke drinks doesn't really appeal to you, but if Yuuka wants tea, by hell she'll get tea.

>"Right away! I won't be a minute!"

With that, you hurry to the back room.
Once safely out of sight, you take a moment to calm your racing heart. She's really someone else, and from Sakuya's words a fortnight ago, you suspect she's unique in a certain way.
Meiling didn't give you this kind of fear just inherrently, and although Sakuya gave you the creeps at first, her eyes didn't seem nearly as bad as Yuuka in comparison.
You honestly don't really know where Rinnosuke keeps his teapot, but by fuck if you have to go out and tell Yuuka that.
A minute of searching reveals the earthenware vessel, complete with a packet of loose tea leaves. You make a mental note to apologize to your boss when he comes back, but you don't think he'll mind.
You pick up the teapot, and go to fill it up from the bucket in the kitchen, and as you turn round, you are met with a sight you'd rather have not seen.

Yuuka is standing there, leaning on her parasol in the back room with you, patiently waiting for you to start making the tea.
She doesn't seem to have only just come in either, since she has a slightly bored look on her face.

>"What's the matter Anon? Is something wrong?"

The shock of seeing such a vibrantly coloured person in an otherwise drab room, not least one that wasn't open to people like her, was almost enough to get you to drop the tea set.
Thankfully, you were almost expecting the worst with this person.
Yuuka doesn't flinch as you wrestle with gravity for control over the set. Thankfully it was one you won.

>"My, you appear to be having some trouble there. I would hate to be an inconvenience you know."

The surprise from seeing her when you weren't prepared to has worn off, and the knowledge that she was tresspassing without so much as an invitation had set in.
You fought with your tongue to keep your tone polite and reasonably respectful, even if your instincts were to try and scold her, no matter that it would be pointless.

>"Miss Kazami, I wasn't expecting you back here."

The urge to shout at such a violation of what was expected of a customer was overwhelming, and you had to concede to it the slight hissing behind those words.

>"This section isn't really open for people to just walk in you know."

Yuuka blinks in faux astonishment. It's a very convincing impression, but undermined by the fact that you happen to know there's a sign on the door she entered from specifically telling her that this was a storage area.
Your tormentor lifted her hand to her chin as she talked;

>"My, is that so? Kourin lets me in whenever, so I assumed that the rules hadn't changed. I only wanted a simple cup of tea, if you had so told me that that was unavailable I would have been perfectly willing to respect the decision you had made."
She twirled her umbrella on it's point as she rested it on the ground.
>"Although since you've gone to all this trouble finding the teapot for little old me, it would be a shame for me to allow you to waste all that effort would it not?"
>"A nice cup of tea really does calm you down does it not? And you do seem a little stressed for some reason. I think it would do you some good to relax a little."

That was... oddly sound logic.
It's almost enough to convince you that she isn't just trying to make an unreasonable request without looking demanding.
Almost.
You do feel stressed however, and since the source of that stress is in fact giving advice on how to make her presence more tolerable, you can't see much point in going against it.

 

>"Oh, yes you are right. I suppose it's all for the best then."

You say this through partially gritted teeth, unwilling to fully accept her manipulation.

>"Well, hurry up then. It's not every day you get to serve tea to me~."

Trying your best to ignore Yuuka's reveling in your discomfort, you light the stove and put a pot of water on to boil.
The wood takes a little bit of time to ignite due to your general fumbling with the tinder, but you get it going eventually.
Notably, she still hasn't gone back to the front of the shop yet.

>"My~, you are awfully slow with that thing you know. And it'll still take so much time to boil..."

She seems genuinely annoyed at your inablity to boil water faster than nature will allow you to, even though there is quite honestly no other way of doing so.
Her general teasing of you is starting to get more annoying than frightening, given that it seems to amount to nothing more than being passive-aggressive.
Even her general aura has gotten less oppressive now you are used to it.
She sets her umbrella on the table (Thankfully it was dry anyway... so why does she have it?) and walks over to where the pot is.
The water inside is barely warm, but even so the fire underneath will have made the metal too hot to hold for more than a split second, something you found out when making your dinners.
This makes it all the more surprising, when Yuuka lifts the pot straight out of the fire, not even holding it by the handles at the top.

>"Let's try... This~!"

A slight breeze comes over the room, and within seconds the water is steaming and sizzling.
Before you know it, she's started pouring boiling water into the teapot.
You have to remind yourself that letting your jaw hang open is rude.
All the same, the woman who's seemingly intent on pestering you is pouring boiling water from her hands into the teapot, not to mention the fact that she must have used magic to boil it in the first place.
She doesn't even look as if it's a thing that by all logical sense one shouldn't be able to do, like it just comes naturally to her as simple as walking to violate the laws of thermodynamics.

>"All done~!"

Yuuka sets the pots down and turns to face you.
Going by the tone of her voice and the look in her eye, she intends to use every second waiting for the tea to brew to annoy you.
Surprisingly, she just... sits there for a few seconds.
Not entirely sure if this is some kind of psychological trick, you concede to letting her in the back room. It's probably what Kourin would do after all.

>"Ahem. Yuuka, would you like to take a seat?"

You try and break the awkward silence that had filled the room.
Yuuka blinks, and you notice her expression was blank, a contrast to her usual smile.
It was concerning in it's own way, since you had never seen her without it for so long, even if it was for just a minute.
She regained her senses a little, and smiled again, although more gently than before.

>"Ah, thank you."

She took a seat at the dinner table you and your landlord usually had your meals at, in the chair you pulled out for her.
It wasn't like you were being particularly kind to her, but basic courtesy would go a long way in your case.

 

The way she's sitting looks rather uncomfortable, as she's perfectly upright in the chair, with her hands on the table in front of her twiddling thumbs.
You think about telling her she can relax, but then you remember why you're here in the first place.
If she wants to sit like that, she can you think.
At the very least you want to strike up a conversation though. Come to think of it, you don't know much about this woman who's taken an interest in you.

>"So m- Yuuka, did you have a particular reason to come to Kourindou?"

Basic, predictable, but better than nothing.
She looks up from the table at you, slight smile still on her lips from earlier.

>"Hmm?"

>"I said, did you have a particular reason for coming here beyond wanting tea."

>"Am I not allowed to go where I want? Do you have any reason to inquire into my business?"

>"Well, yes, given that I'm manning the shop you are visiting."

>"..."
>"Sometimes I look for gardening magazines here."

Again, a surprisingly reasonable reason for being here.
...
Wait...
Gardening? Her? Wouldn't the plants uproot themselves and run away when they weren't looking? It wouldn't be the strangest thing you had heard about here.
Regardless, maybe it would be better to pursue that line further. Maybe she wasn't a gardener, maybe she only grew plants for their poisons, but someone as terrifying as her to humans like you couldn't be doing something as simple and nonviolent as gardening.

>"I wanted to ask Rinnosuke about whether the next issue had come through yet, but of course he isn't here."
>"Did he go out to Muenzuka to get more stock? I sometimes catch him there rooting through the heaps of junk, just before the spider lilies bloom and release their poison."

Not looking good on the gardening thing, it seems.
She must have different interests, right?
Swallowing your aprehension, you pop the question you don't think you'll get a nice answer to.

>"S-so Yuuka, you have never told me what you do through the day. I-i'm sure that you do lots of... Interesting things."

Her face lights up at this, her lips growing at the sides and spreading across her face.
You wouldn't go as far as to say it was creepy, but it certainly wasn't entirely comforting either.
It had a unmistakeably inhuman quality to it, like a dog walking on it's hind legs. Or a deer at night. Or deer in general, deer are freaky animals all around you found out.

>"I talk to the flowers!"

...
Yuuka is insane.
That's your first thought.
Your second is that you already knew that, and that given she was a youkai, a demon, a monster of the night that preyed upon unfortunate souls, you wondered what you were thinking talking with her in the first place.
Then you remembered if she wanted you dead you wouldn't be here to contemplate the matter.
Finally, you realize that Gensokyo has no logic, and she might actually be telling the truth.

 

>"I see."

You take a second to compose yourself after having bought some time to mull over her ridiculous statement.
But you cannot come up with any way of that making sense.

>"And how does that work then?"

Taking the easy route, you opt to just get her to tell you.
She seems to be jumping at the bit to do so anyway.

>"Ah well, you see, I go out into the field, and I listen to the flowers there are, and if they need anything they tell me!"
>"I wish people were more like that sometimes, just upfront and honest, but then again that's just one of the natural differences between the two!"

You aren't sure what to make of that.
The second bit is understandable, even relateable, but the first half of her sentance is still lunacy.
She's leaning forward a bit now, expectantly grinning at you with anticipation.
It seems she really does like... Gardening.
That still doesn't sit right with you, but it appears to be the reality of the situation.

>"A-and how do they talk? I've never heard a flower... Talk."

You are handling her like you would someone who claims to be Napoleon or Caesar.
That is, like she is utterly out of her mind.

>"Well, most people don't appear to notice when they do, or aren't observant enough to pick up on it at all, so I won't hold your ignorance against you. It's really quite simple when you get it."

You have an urge to ask if she lifted her finger and talked to it as well, but you'd only antagonize her with a reference she wouldn't get.
Instead, you conclude that you must be the insane one. Gensokyo? Danmaku? Girls that could turn whole oceans to ice with how they look at things? None of that is reasonable.
Convinced of your lunacy, get up and walk over to the teapot, and with your left hand grab it at the base.
Yuuka watches you as you do this, a confused look on her face.
Unsurprisingly, you burn your hand after a second, and jerk it away in reflex once the heat gets into it.
Yuuka looks at you over her shoulder boredly, seemingly oblivious to the nasty red mark growing on your palm.

>"Anooon~ Is the tea ready yet?"

You just barely stop yourself from cursing out, half at her and half out of pain, but keep it together for the sake of your duty as a (forced) host.

>"J-just a minute."

You grit your teeth to bear through the stinging, and start taking out the cups to pour the tea into.
It's clear to you now that Yuuka is probably,- no, DEFINITELY some sort of sadist.
She watched as you burnt yourself on the hot teapot, and didn't even bat an eyelid. Not to mention she barged into the back room earlier, and demanded tea from an antiques shop of all things.
Revelations aside, you pour the tea into the earthenware cups you drink from, noting how unlike the tea you understood back home, the japanese seem to use a different plant for making it, since it's barely even coloured green.
You wondered if they made it from dandelions or something, but regardless of that it's what you had, and what everyone seemed to expect. You can't say you were fond of the stuff, but given that any cans of juice that fell in were strictly treated as stock, you took it since it was better than water.
Handing Yuuka her teamug, you sat back down and blew on your own after recieving a short thanks, after putting the pot onto the table for a quick refill should either of you need it.0
Yuuka has reclined back a bit, seemingly having gained her confidence back from earlier.
She brings the steaming cup to her mouth, and politely enough drinks deeply from it.
It wouldn't be much like her to daintily sip from it, you thought. Whatever she does, she doesn't much seem to care for half-measures.
A second or two later, she puts down the cup in front of her.

>"Anon, might I ask you a question?"

"You just did" you nearly blurted out, but you held back again from chewing the woman who could boil a pot of water within seconds only using her bare hands out.
You seemed to be more than a little tense with this girl sitting across from you, given how often you had come close to snapping at her.
Regardless, the question was posed politely enough.

>"By all means."

>"Did you happen to catch what kind of tea you had used?"

Yuuka is staring you down like a hawk, those crimson red eyes of hers reminding you of when you had first met Sakuya.
They were a little warmer, sure, but you could tell a predatory gaze when you were being glared down by one.

>"N-no? It's just the stuff that Mr. Rinnosuke had..."

>"Is that so? Would you mind telling me what colour it is?"

Oh god, Oh lord Jesus Christ almighty, hallowed be thy name, have mercy on your soul.
You slowly lean over to where Yuuka has picked up her mug and is showing off the contents to you.
The green liquid inside stared back at you, a paltry imitation of the vivid hair of the girl in question, but quite possibly reflecting your face rather well.

>"G-green?"

>"Is that so? I thought as much."

Her words said, she knocked back the remainder of the offending tea, and reached over to grab the pot in front of you.
"She can't have found it that bad then", you thought.
As you were cautiously patting yourself on the back, Yuuka lifted the teapot.
And then she brought it to her breast.
And then at arm's length to her side.
Before you can ask her what she's doing, she does it.
She pours the whole teapot onto the kitchen floor, leaves and all.

 

You took a second to force your blood vessels from popping, despite knowing that just makes it worse.
A headache flares up on your right temple from the rage and gall of this woman, who's now sitting there smiling at your suffering.

>"Go and make it with *real* tea leaves Anon. There's a good boy~!"

At this point you're jabbing yourself in the thigh with your thumbnail to force yourself from yelling at her, consequences be damned.
Like a pressure cooker on the heat, your blood pressing is rising beyond safe levels, and your eye twitches ever so slightly.

>"W-well then. Right away."

Your voice quakes in sheer rage at the insolence of your guest.
If she comes back again you'd better have thought of a way to make it unpleasant for her without making it obvious enough she decides to retaliate.
Easier said than done, but *this* is beyond simple teasing like you had prepared mentally for.
This was undoubtedly some form of psychological conditioning to make you her pet. Like hell you'll let that happen though!
You get up and shakily take the now-empty teapot from her hands.
Leaving the room fuming, you realize that you have no idea if there even is any more tea, nevermind where it is or if she'll like that either.

After a few minute's searching, you come up with a dusty packet of English-looking tea with a picture of a teacup on it. Despite the age of it, it's still sealed up.
Seeing as there isn't any other option short of going out and digging the stuff up, you decide to just go along with it and hope for the best,
reminding yourself to make another apology to Rinnosuke for technically stealing some of his scrounged goods.
After coming back into the room, a lot calmer now that the intial shock has worn off, you get to work putting the tea into the pot, following the instructions on the packet.
Oddly enough, Yuuka doesn't get up to boil the water for you, and you have to wait for it to heat up naturally.
There was still a lot left over from the last pot though, so it's only a minte or two before it boils.
During that time, neither of you spoke a word, the silence hanging in the air like an invisible smog.

Setting the refilled teapot down in front of Yuuka, you glance over at the spreading pool on the floor, and not that it's been mopped away from the table ever so slightly.
It seems like Yuuka doesn't want to get her feet wet, more than she wanted to make her point.
You'd almost want to thank her, but it's her fault in the first place and she didn't do it all anyway, only around half.
Still, it saves you a little time doing it yourself.
Yuuka looks at you with a curious look on her, inspecting your face it seems.
She opens up the top of the teapot and wafts the steam toward her.

>"Earl Grey?"
>"I never told you my favourite blend."

That last part was said in genuine surprise, and not really directed at you.
It seems you've come into some good luck, finally.
Best not to tell her it was the first thing you found though.

>"It smelled floral, so I thought it would suit you well."

A total lie, you did't even notice it smelled like flowers until you had made the stuff.
Hell, you only opened the packet just now to make sure it WAS tea.
She seems to have bought it though, and is looking a little guilty, although maybe you aren't supposed to have noticed that.
Sometimes it's better to pretend that you haven't.

>"A-ah, I guess you're right."

She sips it cautiously, maybe expecting you to have put salt in it.
...
Why didn't you do that?
Too late now though.

>"T-thank you."

She seems to be honestly enjoying herself now, although in an uncomfortable sort of way.
It appears like she really wasn't expecting to be given something she wouldn't be willing to complain about.

>"Welcome"

You blow on your own tea and sip it once you're sure you won't be burnt.
It's nice, although a little high class for your tastes.
She's sipping her tea rather than gulping it down as she did before.
It's an odd sight, seeing the terrifying youkai be taken aback at being server her favourite tea.
You'll have to be on the lookout for more in case she makes a habit of this.

The two of you sip your teas in silence as the day slowly passes.
It seems like denying Yuuka your honest reactions to her bulling has taken the wind out of her sails.
Inwardly, you smile to yourself at having done this.
You then remember that that's not much different than just letting her walk all over you,
which appears to be what has happened given that she's manipulated you into stealing from your employer and made you her servant.
Consoling yourself, you try and focus on the positives. At least you're alive and haven't pissed her off.

Yuuka puts her cup on the table and motions toward you and the teapot.
You refill it, and top off your own.
Finally, after all of that hassle, you can relax.
Leaning back in your chair, happy that Yuuka is content to drink her weird tea, you close your eyes and let all the tension that's built up in your shoulders go.
There was quite a lot actually, or unsurprisingly given your situation.
The source of all that tension doesn't seem to mind letting you doze off a bit in front of her, and seems to have entirely forgotten about pestering you.
In an odd turn of events, ignoring the puddle of tea on the floor, you've won. Yuuka isn't all that intent on bugging you for the sake of it, and you've figured out how to handle her.
Yes, things seem to be getting better after all.

>"Boop"

Something pokes your nose.
Something said "boop" while doing it.
You open your eyes.
You wish to god you hadn't.
The top half of a woman is standing behind you.
Wait, you're upside down, and her hair is trailing up...
The top half of a woman is HANGING behind you.
The top half of a woman is looking at you in a way that corpses don't.
Mischeifously, yes, but most corpses don't look at an awful lot.
You look at where her legs should be, and see your ceiling.
You look at where her body stop and the ceiling begins and see a weird discontinuity, and some red ribbons hanging in space.
This woman is hanging out of a hole in your cei...
No, in space itself.

>"Oh no, not her."

Yuuka sips her tea in front of you nonchalantly.
You have to ask yourself who could be more annoying than Yuuka, enough to make HER dread this intruder.

>"What are you doing here Yakumo? Don't you have some sleep to catch up on?"

Chapter 3: Excursions

Summary:

The woman who lives in the infinite space between what is, and what isn't has paid a visit.
Death hangs over her like a shround;
Countless lives about her scream silently and invisibly.
What kind of woman is she, she who lives off of man-meat?

"Yakumo" as Yuuka called her is grinning like a madman at you, her face only a foot or so away from yours.
Ignoring the spatial impossibility of her position, she has an odd aura about her, which might be related to her violation of the laws of geometry, or possibly her inhuman features.
Her hair is long and golden, her complexion is flawless, her eyes are... Purple?
Makes about as much sense as red, you think.
She's wearing a funny hat and a lot of ribbons in her hair, which is still nothing to Keine's bizzare headpiece, or Reimu's elaborate ribbon of her own.
About the only truly surprising thing about her is the size of her breasts, which are even bigger than Meiling's, while everything else fails to match up to everyone else's quirks.
By the way they are being supported by her other arm, the one that didn't touch your nose, you can take a good guess that she's not wearing a bra either.
Mezmerised, you lean back to try and get a quick peek down her purple dress, and fall over on your back in the process.
In the time it takes for the pain in your head to subside and for you to get up, she's gone from the roof.

>"You know, it's rude to stare at that area. And here I was thinking that you were a polite young boy."

You jerk your head over to your right, and find the disembodied head of "Yakumo" peeking out from the same rip in space as before, her body from the neck down hidden.

>"Honestly, with manners like that I'm surprised you haven't been ripped to shreds already, given your choice of company."

The woman ducks her head in and the rip in space closes itself after her.

>"Oh great, she's doing that again. She must have heard about you from someone and have gotten bored..."

Yuuka doesn't move a muscle beyond sipping her tea again.

>"Just try and not stare too much, it's what she wants you to do."

You can feel your face redden at the acknowledgement of your... Carnal indescretion.

>"Who is she! And why is she here? And why does she want me to, uh, look..."

You tapered off your outburst at the end, your voice catching in your throat as Yuuka looked back over at you with a hard look in her eye.

>"She's a troublemaker, and an annoying one at that. I was hoping today would be relaxing."

>"And why shouldn't it be? Is my mere presence such an irritation to you? Oh, how you wound me so!"

You jump and turn around, nearly falling over again.
"Yakumo" is poking her upper body out of another ... thing.
Seems like she can make them at will.
You try and focus on that fact instead of checking to see if she is wearing a bra now.
You fail, since she's laid her arm over her head for dramatic effect, and with only one supporting her ... Assets, the temptation overtakes you.
She is, but it's not helping much.
Thankfully, she had closed her eyes at the same time, so she won't have noticed.

>"Yes. It is. And you know I'd wound you worse than that, if you'd let me."

Yuuka isn't raising her voice, but she's dropped her usual singsong way of speaking for a monotone.
Somehow, the lack of any over-the-top threats makes her threat feel like more of a promise.
A chill goes down your spine, and you feel lucky it wasn't aimed at you.

>"And as I've said before, you and your gorilla-brain couldn't land a hit on me if you tried, not with your reflexes."

Yuuka's eye twitches at the insult, and you can tell that if this keeps up a fight is sure to break out, and with you in the middle of the two.
Confident that that situation would lead to Kourindou being razed, nevermind your death, you decide to intervene.

>"Ahem."

The blond woman in the portal breaks off her and Yuuka's staring match, and looks at you square in the eye.
You can see Yuuka reaching underneath the table for what looks like her parasol you saw her before with.
Despite the bad feeling you get from this woman, a pissed off Yuuka is the single last thing you want to see.

>"I-it's unusual to meet someone who speaks English around these parts. I'm Anon. It's n-nice to meet you miss... ?"

Yuuka seemingly forgotten, the blonde in front of you crosses her arms (And uses them to further amplify her already impressive bust, but you manage to keep your eyes off it for the time being),
smiles smugly, and generally exudes superiority.

>"Yukari Yakumo. And I don't"
>"I'm just manipulating the boundary between languages. A simple trick for me, but to a mere human like you it must seem impossible."

She pauses to dig out a fan from inside her portal, and confusingly steps over it to sit down on the edge, before fanning herself. Smugly.

>"Oh, but this is just a minute fraction of my power. The full extent would quite literally turn your brain inside-out, and leave you a gibbering mess. With the flick of my wrist, I might go wherever I please in Gensokyo;
> the highest mountains are but a footstep apart for me, and even the heavens themselves are mere moments away."

>"She's lying"

Yukari gares over at the interruptor, who has calmed down and is sipping her tea again.

>"Shut up will you? I don't remember anyone asking for your input!"

Yuuka ignores her retort, and continues on.

>"She figured it out last month and has been bragging about it ever since."

Steam is practically pouring out of Yukari's ears.

>"Well, if you ever want to read something in Icelandic, you'd better sit down and do it the hard way then!"

Yuuka smiles behind her cup, although one of victory more than smugness, unlike Yukari's earlier one.

>"I already speak Icelandic. There's precious few languages I don't know. Pretty much every culture has a different meaning for the same flowers after all."

Yukari is getting a little red in the face from irritation.

>"Well what about Finnish? Or eighth century Mongolian? What about that, huh? Face it, it was worth the effort!"

>"All twenty years of it, yes. Meanwhile those of us that get up before dinner had already learnt all the South-east asian languages in that time, accurate to eighteen-hundred."

Yukari appears to have been bested, given how she stutters for a bit then gives up.
She turns back to face you, clearly annoyed at having seemingly been bested verbally.

>"ANYWAY, I have heard about an outsider that has fallen in, and rather than be eaten up like they're supposed to, has been taken into the employ of the shopkeeper. Not many people make it past the first day,
> and their curiosity normally costs them the second, so naturally I, the great Youkai sage thought it would be interesting to see what kind of person he would be. Really, you should feel graced by my presence
> not many men in Gensokyo can say they have been lucky enough to gaze upon me, at least-"

Yukari grins devilishly, although it looks more silly than intimidating since she's putting in too much effort.

>" -Not many that have come away alive. Hehehe!"

>"Definitely not because she sleeps through all the hours men are awake, and gets her pet to do all her chores. No, really."

The sarcasm coming from Yuuka was strong enough even you felt a little sorry for the Youkai sage, as she called herself.
Not all that much though, since she had just bragged about being a maneater in front of you.
Yukari ignores Yuuka's comment, and continues on. At least the two of them aren't fighting physically.

>"So tell me Anon, after having come to Gensokyo, what do you make of it? I'm quite proud of it really, seeing as it's my greatest accomplishment."

She props up her other "great accomplishments" subtly with her offhand.
The novelty has worn off a bit,and the blatant teasing is starting to lose it's appeal.
You think about her question for a moment before answering, making sure you don't offend her.

>"Well, to be quite honest with you, I haven't seen very much of it."

Yukari ceases her gloating for a minute.
She's clearly taken off guard by that response, and takes a second to process your answer.

>"What?"

>"I said I haven't seen all that much. Only the human village, the road from there to here, and a mile or two of forest I stumbled through on my first day that I wasn't paying attention to."

Yukari looks almost distraught at this information.
Even Yuuka has perked up a little at this confession.

>"You mean to tell me that you've only seen the bloody forest?"

>"Language miss Yakumo. Although it would appear that your deduction is correct."

You nod quietly.
Truth be told, you had been so concerned with getting basic survival skills in check that you hadn't worried much about the world beyond the clearing where Kourindou sat.
Most of your spare time was eaten up by your language studies, and everything had to stop once night came since lamplight was a little too risky to leave on inside an entirely wooden building.
It didn't help that the "forest of magic" in which you resided was apparantly known for harbouring a large number of minor youkai, the difference between them and major youkai being
that minor youkai wouldn't ask questions before eating you most of the time.

>"B-but how? I specifically made it all so nice! There's a lake, there's a lovely big mountain, there's uh... a river? I mean-
> - I didn't make it all for humans, but the least you could do is take an interest! Now what am I supposed to talk to you about? How can I ask you what you think about all the fish in the Misty Lake if you haven't been!"

>"Don't forget the Garden."

>"- Yeah, and behind that big nice mountain I spent ages working on to make look so good your girlfriend here has a lovely garden that you can see for miles around, and you haven't even looked at it!"

At Yukari's slipped praise, Yuuka shows a brief moment of pride, her face beaming with satisfaction.
She must really have a nice garden if it's so famous, huh.
It only lasted a second however, before she realized that Yukari had made a rather large assumption about you two.

>"Now what was that just then?"

Yuuka again reaches under the table for her parasol. You suppose she isn't planning on beating the sun indoors with it, although you get the feeling she might try a more literal version of that phrase in a second.
Yukari continues on her rant about how great she made everything, oblivious to the mounting rage building in the girl behind her.

>"Out of all the places in all the worlds to land in, you land HERE and don't even have the common decency to look at any of it!"

>"Well, it would be rather hard for me given how I'll be eaten if I even so much as go back to the village for the day."

>"...oh."

It appears Yukari had forgotten the tiny problem in her reasoning.
The fact that you were cursed to be a human all your existence, and a nonmagical one at that.
She slumps back down into her portal-chair, and looks at you defeatedly.

>"Well at least ask that boss of yours to take you to Muenzuka one of these days. It's not the most pretty part of the place, but you might get a peek at all that other stuff."

Yukari sighs in resignation.

>"And don't worry about telling me about it; I'll know. Expect to see me again once you've actually been someplace."

She leans her head back and fans her neck.

>"Aahhh, so hot..."

And because of this, she entirely misses Yuuka grabbing her parasol and getting up.

>"Well, Miss Yakumo-"

Yuuka hisses at her almost like a cat, her parasol being gripped visibly firmly at it's centre of mass.

>"Would you mind expanding on the relationship you presume us to be in?"

Yukari opens her eyes.
And stops fanning herself.

>"Ah?"

>"I don't enter into friendships, Hag. You know this."

Yukari tries to fall back into her portal, but is stopped by Yuuka's hand grabbing her dress, little as it is around her chest area.

>"If you two are going to fight, please do it someplace else."

Two pairs of eyes look back at you, one red, one mauve.
Yuuka's face is full of malicious glee, and Yukari's one of worry.

>"Ah, well you heard the boy, let's keep this civil now, ehehehe..."

Yuuka doesn't even look back at her, but instead smiles wider than is really normal for a human to be able to.

>"Well, as you wish Anon. We shall go someplace else entirely. Thank you for your tea."

Yukari's face is taken over by a cold sweat as she realizes she isn't wriggling away out of the situation she's gotten herself into.

>"Hey, now just wait here a second, that's not what I mea-"

The last of her sentance is cut off by Yuuka falling forward into the weird rift thing Yukari was sitting on, pushing the two of them into wherever it was that Yukari had come from.
It seals up behind her without a sound, although a minute later you swore you could hear a bomb go off in the distance.

You have just finished up cleaning Yuuka's mess when Rinnosuke gets back from his trip.
He's in a good mood like normal, and readily accepts your explanations surrounding your requisition of the tea set and tealeaves you had taken from a shelf.
Your boss brushes it off as just another one of those things that has to be taken into account, although he seems impressed that you handled two arch-youkai by yourself,
and even congratulted you on having kept the shop intact.

>"Watah unda za buridgu, my furiendo!"

By this point, you had learned enough Japanese to have a basic conversation, but that hadn't stopped your boss from attempting to learn your native toungue.
He had already seemed to have a basic concept on how to put stuff together, and after the first few days his horrible grammmar had tidied itself up and the letters become more neat.
That hadn't helped his pronunciation though, and you quickly figured out that Japanese had a limted set of sound, much smaller than Englsih had.
It wasn't that big a deal though, since you could still understand the eccentric shopkeeper, and in a way it was endearing. He was trying his best after all, and it was in good humour.
You still got a chuckle every now and again however, and he didn't seem to mind when you did. With his general demeanour, you guessed that it was only partially due to the language barrier.
Partially.

>"Ah, since you have done a good jobbu this montsu, today we go down to drink hai?"

A whole month?
You must have lost track of time while you were here.
Certainly it's been a few weeks, but you could have sworn it was a month the next week.
In any case, you'd been cooped up in the shop for a long time, and as occupied as you were with cleaning and studying, there really wasn't a whole lot to do outside of that.
Kourin could more or less come and go as he pleased, you had gathered, for some reason he was never targeted by the apparitions that stalked the night, but you had no such luxury.
You hadn't ever considered yourself all that much of a drinker either, but a shot at the town might be in order after having to deal with those two for so long.
After voicing your approval, the two of you packed up and left for the village.
You couldn't say leaving so late was entirely okay with you, but Rinnosuke didn't seem to think anything of it.
Come to think of it, he didn't seem to think much about his own personal safety at all.
... Maybe you should have asked beforehand how he planned to avoid your consumption.

Regardless, the two of you safely make your way to the human village, and to a small pub on the main road, thankfully without encountering any youkai along the way.
It's quite late at night by the time you get there, and the establishment is not as full as it could be.
The two of you sit down at the bar and await to be served.
On your left is a familiar-looking girl who's slumped over a bit, a large half-empty mug of beer in front of her, on your right past Kourin is a small lady with a massive bowl on her head for some reason.
She's talking loudly and drunkedly, stopping only occasionally to gulp down a seemingly neverending supply of liquor from a purple gourd.
You don't know why, but you get the feeling she's been there for a while. Maybe it has something to do with the bowl hat, actually.
Regardless, your boss called over the red-head waitress, and placed an order. Two beers and two bowls of soup, you worked out.

Some slight snoring is coming from your left hand side, and you look over to see a mess of long, reddish hair spilling over the bar.
The woman (Going by her not-insignificant bust, although Yukari had spoilt you in that regard) is wearing a blouse with a green vest over it, and the faint smell of star anise eminates from her.
You aren't entirely sure as to whether or not waking her up would be a good idea, but seeing as her beer is probably getting quite warm, you move to shake her gently.
...

She's still fast asleep.
You shake her quite firmly now.
Nope. In fact she's snoring quite noticeably now, and somebody in the booth is giving you a look.
Even that odd girl on Kourin's side is taking an interest, although you can't quite make out what she's saying.

Just as you give up, and resign her to a slightly less enjoyable drink, the chef picks up a knife from the block, and like magic she's awake in a flash.

>"I wasn't sleeping!"

A shockingly familiar voice rings out through the small pub.
Her volume is nothing to be sneezed at, and you flinch involuntarily from being so close to it.
Everyone looks at her for a split second, wherin you could have heard a pin drop for how quiet it became, before going back to their business, with some glares being thrown at the woman now and again.
That woman being Meiling, of all people.
She hasn't realized you're next to her though, and she's started skulking low behind her mug, taking a big gulp before resting her head on the table.

>"Hello Meiling. It's been a while."

-

You've never quite seen someone sit to attention before, but somehow Meiling manages to pull it off.
Her braids go flying as she whips her head round to see who's addressing her.
Sky blue eyes look you up and down, and it takes a second for her to remember your face.

>"Anon!"

A wide and welcoming smile parts her face in two.
In spite of her previous unwakeable status, she seems totally lucid and aware of where she is.
There seems to be something different about her though, but you can't put your finger on it. Best not to say anything in case it's that she hasn't put any makeup on.
Does she even wear makeup? It'd be too rude to ask you think.

>"You didn't get eaten!"

>"Well, it's not like I've been anywhere. This is the first time I've left the house since I got there.

>"I thought I told you to come visit?"

Did she?
You think back to the first time you met.
Vaguely, you can recall something about a mansion on a lake.

>"Don't tell me you forgot!"

Meiling pouts at you, although one corner of her mouth is twitching a bit.
Seems she is trying her absolute best to hold in her smile.

>"Anon, it's rude to forget things like that! Don't you know how much I was looking forward to seeing you again?"

Her facade is cracking slightly.

>"Even Sakuya was looking forward to your visit, she bought new plates and everything! And oh what a fuss we had calming down Remi! She was heartbroken!"

She's managing to look genuinely distraught, maybe you read her mood wrong?
From what she's saying, you've really let them down...
...
Didn't Sakuya already buy new crockery? Wasn't that the whole point of her first meeting you?
She's just made all that up, hasn't she?

>"I can only apologize for my extreme tardiness."

She breaks.
Meiling rubs her knuckles (Somewhat painfully) into your head.

>"Awwww, you're a cute one! I suppose I can wait just a little while longer, but make sure to find someone to take you soon, okay? We've told Remi about you and she really is interested to meet you you know!"
>"I'd look silly if you died before she could see you!"

>"And of course sad that the diligent apprentice shopkeeper was brutally eaten alive I hope?"

>"... That too!"

You chuckle to yourself.
Not many people are as genuinely whole of heart as Meiling you think.
It's been a while since you came here, and you've learned to accept that on some level you're living on borrowed time.
Although getting eaten doesn't seem like all that common an occurrance, it's an everpresent danger, and any day a wild youkai could find you, and there's not much you can do about that.
The waitress lays two bowls of soup in front of you and Rinnosuke, along with two mugs of beer.
You'd forgotten that this was technically a work outing, but your boss was quite content speaking with the vividly red haired waitress.
They were talking too quickly for you to pick anything up though, and you silently cursed those builders of Babel.
Meiling puts a hand on your shoulder as you take a sip of your drink.

>"Really though. I'm sure Sakuya would be able to work something out with Kourin over there. Gensokyo is a really beautiful place, and you're missing out on something by not seeing any of it."
>"Don't worry about Remilia either, there are dozens of empty rooms on the third floor that are supposed to be for any guests. Remilia is the type to show off a little, and is probably dying to find someone she hasn't showed everything to yet"

You swill around the beer in your mouth.
Yukari was rather offended that you hadn't seen anything but the forest here, and Yuuka too seemed a little surprised you thought.
Having three seperate people tell you to go outside and experience the land in which you lived was a big motivator to go and do so.
Mulling everything over slowly, you rationalise that you're going to have to see the world at some point, and Meiling is too nice a person to outright turn down.
There are a few considerations you need to, well, consider, but there doesn't appear to be any overriding reason why you can't take a day out in the next week or so to visit someone, especially Meiling and Sakuya.
It's not like you know anyone else all that well really, you never did find out what Yuuka did all day, and from her comments it seems that Yukari isn't the most active of... Youkai.
Come to think of it, you're talking with a youkai right now. In the human Village. Where Youkai aren't supposed to be.
Meiling is as friendly as anyone you have ever met, but she's still a youkai.
Is this a convoluted plot to bait a human onto a youkai's dinner of their own free will?
You swallow.

>"I'd like to talk to Sakuya about it."

Not an outright refusal, but not an acceptance of her invitation either.
Meiling wrinkles her brow a bit, and you realize she isn't wearing the hat she had on last time.

>"Why?"

There is no hint of offense in her voice, although maybe just a little bit of hurt.
Too late for that now though, much as you don't want to hurt her your survival comes first.

>"I'd just like to talk with her about the matter, don't take this the wrong way, but I'd rather consult a human about this and not *just* a you-"

Meiling's eyes widen and she jams a thumb onto your lips and rubs it in vigorously
Just like when she did your head, it hurts a little, but not enough for you to think it's intentional.

>"Oh look, you've got a bit of rice on your face! Let me get that for you!"

You've not even touched your meal yet, and there's no rice in the soup.
Meiling's thumb smells strongly of chinese spices and sweat.
She finishes pretending to clean your face and leans in close to it.

>"They don't know about that."
>"I keep myself clean from *that* kind of thing, and don't do anything to offend the people who do know, but it's not good to say that out in public."
>"I don't know how good the English of the people round here is, but *that* word might draw undue attention."
>"I'll let you off since you won't have known about it, but there are a couple around the village that are allowed to come and go so long as they don't cause any real trouble."

The waitress looks at Meiling worriedly.
You notice she's wearing a rather high collar all things considered, even covering the front of her neck.
In fact, her neck is not visible at all.
Her eyes flick between you, Meiling, and Rinnosuke.
Interestingly, they're red in color.

Meiling has kept her thumb on your lip for all of this, and is speaking in a very low voice, just enough to be heard over the general din of the pub.
Someone in a booth behind her makes a catwhistle.
It seems her obvious excuse to stick her fingers on your mouth has been taken differently than intended, although the woman pays no mind to the suggestion.

>"Got it?"

You nod as best as you can, and the lock on your mouth is released.
Inhaling slowly, you take a quick look at the waitress again.
Meiling looks at her, and nods quickly.
The suspiciously red girl nods back, and goes back to her job as if nothing happened.
You can actually feel the tension in the air lift as the three of you pretend as if nothing happened just then.

>"So, you want to speak with Sakuya about it? I guess that's understandable. Although I don't see much point in it, given that it's Sakuya."
>"Really, sometimes even I worry for her soul."

Good point actually.
Both of the times you've met Sakuya, you get the feeling that there's something just a little off about her.
She said she was human, and Meiling hasn't said anything to the contrary, so at the very least she's probably not a liar.
Still, it feels a little odd putting so much faith in your safety in someone you can't help but not trust quite fully, like she's purposefully withholding information from you.

>"We-ell, I guess I've dealt with worse. You wouldn't happen to know about Yuuka would you..."

Meiling gives you a glare, and Rinnosuke glances at you for a second before continuing on with his socializing.
You can't help but trail off slightly, well aware that you might have broken another rule you didn't know about unwittingly.

>"I wouldn't mention her by name either. She's well known by everyone, even here. Too well known, in fact. Kazami's the kind of person who's name is said brings bad luck."
>"Course, that's utter hooey, but that doesn't change what people might believe."

>"Ah, sorry. Although I thought she came around here sometimes? I saw her in the square right before I landed myself in Kourindou, after all."

Meiling pauses for a moment.

>"Ah yeah, I think I was told about that actually. Don't tell me she's taken to following you around?"

>"Not really. Although funnily enough, she came by the shop today. A real handful as well, demanding tea and throwing out the first pot since she didn't like it."
>"I don't think she was following me or anything, since she was surprised that I was at the desk instead of Rinnosuke."

Meiling listens in rapt silence, leaning her hand on the bar as she does so.

>"Sounds like her all right. It goes without saying you don't want to tick her off, right?"
>"Including, but not limited to, going into her garden and being anything other than reverential, and picking sunflowers before they start wilting."

Meiling's comment rings a bell in your mind, something about sunflowers, although you don't get much else before she starts talking again.

>"It might not be entirely wise to mention any of that to Remilia, if and when you come see her."
>"She's a little bit sore that she can't beat her you know."

>"Beat her?"

>"You know, in a fight. It doesn't happen very often, since Remi doesn't leave the house all that often and usually just to view her garden outside, but sometimes she comes around looking for trouble..."
>"Really, it's quite something. Remi isn't the kind of person you can just *beat* y'know? For all her lounging around and impulses, she puts on a beautiful show."
>"Trouble with it is that miss Flower Power can put out some complex patterns, the kind you just don't get to make mistakes with, and is nearly perfect herself."
>"I once caught Remi managing to get close in to attack, but now here's the thing, *she dodged it*"
>"That ain't no small feat, Remi's got the reflexes of a cat, and can damn near swing her spear at the speed of sound, and sunlight herself danced away like it was a , before smashing Remi over the head with that parasol of hers..."

Meiling continues on about the Danmaku game you've heard about from time to time.
Having never seen any, or been given a proper explanation on how it's supposed to work, you can only nod dumbly past the inital torrent of words and terminology.
The only thing you can glean from the verbal outpour is that Meiling both knows her stuff, and that Remilia is a hell of a lot stronger than either of you.
Inhumanly strong, in fact.
She never mentioned it, but it's totally obvious that you've effectively meet up with another inhuman monster.
As much as the prospect sends a small chill down your spine, you can't help but think back to her earlier words.
If Meiling is a youkai, and Yuuka is a terribly feared youkai, and both Meiling and Sakuya speak of Remilia in such glowing terms, she can't be that bad, right?
You're really not sure about this, but if you can corner Sakuya at some point and at least get a description of what to expect, then provided you watch yourself and mind your manners, you have nothing to fear, right?
... Right?

>"...Oh, and then there was this one time, when the fairies came round and fought me for my hat! Who could have known that they would want something like that, huh? 'Course, they didn't get past me though, nuh uh. Meilings are made from stronger stuff than people give us credit for."
>"Ahhhh, sometimes I wish I could go around doing what I want to, like that black-and-white 'witch, but I much prefer knowing I'll get a hot meal cooked for me at the end of the day."
>"Sakuya's a great cook you know, and you'll find out soon enough. Hey, you are coming right?"

You snap to attention.
That little internal monologue of yours cost you valuable information, and now you have to try your best to not appear rude.
Before you can open your mouth however, Meiling answers her own question.

>"Oh yeah, you wanted to talk with Sakuya about it. Well, I'll treat that as a yes then. I don't know what you want to take from her though, Sakuya's probably the last person you should ask for advice in that regard."
>"Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Sakuya's cooking. Y'see, she does a really nice thing with the meat..."

You turn off your ears for a moment.
Not to think about anything in particular, although you idly wonder what this 'mansion' looks like.
Meiling doesn't look as if she's from this place more than you are, and Sakuya's first language appears to be English...
It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a western-style of house, you conclude.
You finally get a chance to eat your soup, which has cooled down a bit so you don't have to blow on it.
It's onion soup, which is a pleasant surprise. And it's perfectly salted as well.
Meiling stops her verbal outpour a moment to down a gulp of her beer, before continuing on.
It's almost like she doesn't get the chance to talk to someone all that often, at least, someone she doesn't work with you'd assume.

>"So anyway, what'cha got there, mh? Onion soup? That's nice, although really it should have some cheese in it, preferably a strong Alpine one. It's supposed to be Gruyere, but I think that Swiss cheese is close enough that no one will notice. Although I prefer a stronger one myself, so sometimes I take a little cheddar from the pantry.
>"It's not the most used cheese we keep stock of, since everyone else gets so snobby about it, but honestly for all the praise French, Swiss and Italian cheeses get, there's nothing all that much wrong with it. It tastes just fine, and that's all I care about."
>"And what's in that mug there, hm? The beer here is a little weak compared to what I'm used to, but then again it's not about the beer. Hey, what's say we commemorate this fine occasion with a little tot of something *stronger*, eh?"

There's a look of adventure in Meiling's eyes, and despite your reservations, you can't quite bring yourself to turn her down yet again.
Besides, it looks like she's buying.

Notes:

Meiling really is fun to write for.
I might do a spinoff eventually, but she wasn't even supposed to appear at all,
I only put her in for a one-off gag and to break Sakuya's cool, but her personality has cataulted her into a minor role.
Which is saying a lot, since I wrote her and am supposed to know what she'll do and why all the time, but I might be a little sad to get rid of her.
Oh well, can always write a spinoff...

 

28/05/03
I added the latest part to the chapter, since it left off better. In hindsight, I shouldn't have ended things partway throught a conversation.
Think of it as a preview of essentially the final version of the chapter.
Sorry for any confusion caused, but I ended up taking it in a slightly different direction than I planned before, and it wouldn't make sense to break up the scene halfway through.
Saying that, I might change it again if the next part ends up still taking place in the pub, but I haven't written it yet, so if I do, I'll make the choice I make.

Chapter 4: Tengu intermission

Summary:

Seldom passes the eye of a Tengu, but only a small fraction of that is worth the ink to write down.
However, the journalistic habits of the race are well known, most of all that of one girl in particular.
The Fantastic Reporter has earned her title well;
Albeit with a different meaning than she'd perhaps like.

By the time the pub had closed, you had already blacked out.
The chaos that had ensued once Meiling paid for some fancy Mexican spirits was the stuff of legends.
It had started with a simple toast to your new life (Although you knew that was really just an excuse for Meiling to have some fun), but quickly escalated to a huge drinking contest,
involving everyone in the pub, and a few people that joined in later.
At some point, you lost track of the sheer quantity of alcohol consumed, only knowing that the lady with a bowl on her head didn't seem too much different at the end of the night than at the start.
The morning, when it came, greeted you with a painful reminder of your humanity, and some hollow promises to your liver.
Sakuya, when she came later that evening, was none too happy at the state of her coworker and scolded you roughly.
But at the same time, far off in the distance on the side of a tall mountain, a different sort of excitement filled a room.

A raven-black haired girl hung up her jacket, dashing inside to finish her work. She didn't even bother taking her shoes off in her haste, and practically hopped into a chair sitting in front of a well-used typewriter.
Said girl had more than a little about her that was somehow a little avian, her features were a little sharper than most human's, she had a habit of perching on one foot sometimes;
But at the forefront of this wasn't anything physical, but rather her mind was entirely different than that of a human's.
Specifically, Aya was a Tengu. A crow Tengu, and one that had just picked up her latest scoop, one that would put the Bunbunmaru in it's rightful place at the forefront of Gensokyan society;
And not just as a convenient source of scrap paper.

>"Let's see what we have this time..."
>"First, mysterious explosion at the Hakurei barrier, cause unknown...
>"What could we turn this into..."

Aya was never one to let a perfectly good story go to waste, even when she maybe didn't have all the pieces yet.
Nothing a little 'artistic embelleshment' couldn't rectify, though. A girl needs to make a living, after all.

>"... I suppose we could have something about that weird gap youkai, she's just come out of hibernation."
>"And the kappa are always up to no good somehow, although the crater seems a little big for one of their mistakes...
>"I suppose "She" could have lost her temper and beat them up after yet another accident near her home"
>"Not coverpage material though, but it'll do for now."
>"Second, midnight party in the Village..."
>"Some of these are a little shaky and out of focus, but I'm sure it'll come out in the print..."

Her face was parted by a frown, noticing something she hadn't before.
She cursed herself for not having realised sooner, as she could have 'interviewed' all those that she was interested in to her heart's content, before they dispersed at sunrise.

>"What's Kourin doing there?"
>"I thought he never left that shop of his except to buy groceries and to sift through Muenzuka?"

She inspected her photographs more closely, looking past the very red faced looking Meiling featuring in most of them.
A familiar face looks back at her in nearly as many, but since she had been planning to focus on the cheerful martial artist, getting good shots of her had been her top priority.
She can't quite put her finger on who it is for a moment, but the man is clearly somone she should know about, even if she had never spoken with him.
Such a job is the one of a Tengu's prized notepad, filled to the very brim with useless information about just about anything half-worth writing down.

>"The new Flower Shop merchant? No, he's too tall..."
>"Blacksmith? Too scrawny..."

Aya compares some of the photos she took of the party to a quick description in her notebook, mentally striking off ones that don't match.
Finally, she finds a match.

>"That outsider who works at Kourindou?"
>"I'd honestly have thought he'd be dead by now... It explains why that weirdo is there though."
>"Still, not every year one of them makes it this far... In fact, he looks promising. Quite promising actually."

She digs around in her makeshift office for a set of notes, and sifts through them.
Not much in Gensokyo happens without Aya's eventual knowledge, since information of all kinds is held in high regard by the Tengu.
Upon cross-examination of her notes, a delightful trend appeared before her.
"Anon" had been mentioned here and there, actually.
It wasn't much, just a couple of words from the Temple School teacher and a few more extracted from the miko, but she had enough to build a profile.
And the best part was that he had been at that narcoleptic guard's side for most of the night, right from the beginning it would seem.
He stuck out like a sore thumb with his height, his face, his bastardisation of the language...
Anon might prove to be quite the interesting character after all.
It saved her trying to find a new headline at least.

>"Anon~! Oh, do you not want to be a celebrity Ano~on! Well, too bad!"
>"Who knows! Maybe you'll get up to more stuff in the future! I can really see us having a wonderful relationship!"

With rapid keystrokes, Aya types out a rather unusually engaging edition, motivated by her interest;
And not in the slightest bit because she didn't have to make anything too outlandish up, since that party really had been something else...

Notes:

Dear god I forgot how hard it is to start once you stop.
This was all written a few months ago for the most part.
I've edited it a bit since then, but for the most part it's all from about a week before I had to stop writing.
What comes next will (Hopefully) be mostly rewritten, since I wasn't happy with it once I looked at it again. Almost ashamed of it in fact, although the intro isn't as bad as I remember.
Anyway, with this up I might get back to something resembling a schedule, even though it's still going to be slow.
I'll keep the syntax the same even though I might not actually post the next few bits on /jp/, since I want to deviate a little from what I had originally planned.
It wouldn't feel right to focus on people other than Yuuka for a bit and post in her thread, and unlike some other writeanons who get one of their very own more or less, I never did that, nor do I really want to.
Once we get back on track I'll see about posting there again, but for the time being I think I'll hold off on that.

Really I just wanted to break up the flow a bit to convey the jump between the party starting and waking up the next morning to an annoyed maid who's had to clean up your mess for you.
Also I just like Aya as a character, even if she's a pest to everyone. Something something Tengu Moe...