Touhou - Journey Across The Sanzu River

by mukyu09

Onozuka Komachi is a shinigami, but not the killing kind. Her job is to sail lost souls over the Sanzu River to be judged. But, she usually spends time slacking off and throwing money into the Sanzu. Eventually, she is demanded to do her job, however, only one lost soul is "there". The soul is a young women's, 14-18, whose name is Ai. Komachi must sail her across the Sanzu River.

1. Chapter 1

I leisurely open my eyes to find a sky roofed with monotonous, grey clouds. I descend my head a petite amount to find my drained body in a wooden boat. Just where am I? I ask myself. I hoist my head up a notch to find a red headed woman at the head of the boat, seemingly steering the boat. Her hair was tied up into two pigtails, one on the left and one on the right. In her right hand, she was grasping a scythe-like weapon. I finally managed to ask her a question…
"Where are we?" I sputtered shakily. The woman looked over her shoulder. She saw me at the corner of her eye. Her ruby red eyes met with mine.
"Ah~ We're on the Sanzu River," she answered, casually.
"Where is that?" I answered back instantly. She bopped her head unhurriedly.
"I guess you could say we're on our way to… Death."
My eyes widen on the word death. Death? So, we're in a boat… Is the boat going to sink? I shake my head, panicking a bit.
"Are we going to die?" I finally manage to ask her.
"No, no," she answers again, still casual and somewhat laid back. "You're already dead."
"I'm already dead?" I solicit. "But I don't remember anything.
"Oh… That's common," the red head woman informs me. "If you die in an accident, you usually injure your head in some way."
I died in an accident…?
"How did I die?" I ask, craving an answer.
"Mm… I don't know. We'll find out when you're judged," she answers. I'm going to be judged?
"What am I going to be judged on?"
"On life, basically." It's possible to fail life?
"People can fail life?" I echoed my thoughts. The woman hesitates a bit, and finally shrugs.
"Maybe," she says, leaving me hanging. I move onto another question.
"Who are you?"
"Me?" the woman questions, pointing to herself with her free hand. I nod swiftly.
"I am Onozuka Komachi, a shinigami," she responds.
"The one who killed me?"
"No, I may be a shinigami, but I'm not the killing kind." I just nod, a bit baffled.

Suddenly, the boat stops with a thud.
"Ah, we seem to be having some technical difficulties. Please stay put," Komachi informs me. I nod briefly. She peeps her head just over the boat.
"What…? I don't see any problems—"she is cut off by a sword ascending out of the misty water. Komachi swiftly backs away as two figures rise out of the water. Komachi grins, astounded. "Lady Death, and her gardener," she comments. "Yuyuko and Youmu." The pink haired woman smiles delicately.
"Mhm~" the pink haired woman hums.
"What exactly are you two doing here? How did you get here?" Komachi asks with her playful expression, gone.
"I heard you have a new client~" the pink haired lady remarks. Me? I think to myself.
"Actually, I've been quite lonely~ Hardly any visitors come to Hakugyokurou~ It's just Youmu, Youki and I~ So, I've come to take your client off your hands~" the pink haired lady tells us jubilantly.
Komachi shakes her head.
"Sorry, no can do, Yuyuko. I need her to get to Shiki-sama first. Then, we'll see if she's permitted to go with you to your ghost land," Komachi retorts.
"Oh~? Is that so~? Then… I'll take her," the pink haired lady says blankly. "Youmu," she calls. A girl with strictly cut white hair and a ghost hat comes slashing with a sword hand in hand.
"Do not lose," the woman with pink hair commands.
"Yes, Lady Yuyuko," Youmu swears on her honor, slashing towards Komachi. The shinigami takes out some sort of card. What is that for?
Komachi adjoins her eyelids and chants: "Throw Away 'Money From
The Yesterday'!" Three expanding rings of coin-like things and bullets expand north, and disperse in different directions. Youmu summarily dodged the bullets and charged at Komachi with her sword. On guard, Komachi swung her scythe in front of her at the last possible moment, nearly beheading Youmu. Youmu dwindled down to Yuyuko, both of them vanishing into ripples, leaving nothing but debris left from their fight.
At that moment, I decided I did not want to go to Hakugyokurou.
"So," Komachi started. "It's my job to get you across this river and judged. It seems another mouth has opened, so others have access to Sanzu…" her voice trailed off. "So, I guess we should get going!"