through the looking glass

Yukihira Souma, an eccentric human being, finds himself embarking on the oddest of adventures when he encounters Tadokoro Megumi the Ame-onna.

.

"Oh no," wails the dark blue-haired girl, looking quite upset with herself. She doesn't seem to be bothered by the rain that had suddenly come pouring down despite not having an umbrella. "This place is so unfamiliar… How can I find my way home?"

Souma, taking pity on the poor girl, walks out from the safety of under the roof and into the rain, tapping the girl, who seems distracted, on the shoulder. "Hey."

"Hiiiek!" The girl makes an unintelligible noise of surprise, jumping a foot at the contact and turning to him with wide gold eyes. "Ah! I-I'm sorry," she squeaks, as though she'd done something wrong.

"Er, you didn't do anything," Souma says awkwardly, scratching his cheek. "Sorry for startling you, though. But I heard you say you were lost, so… do you need directions?"

"Oh! Um! Yes! Thank you!" The girl bows deeply and rapidly, fast enough to make Souma nauseous. "I'm sorry for troubling you—"

"Nah, it's fine," Souma dismisses, waving his hand. "So, where do you need to get to?"

"Um… I can't find my way to the park… A friend told me to wait there, and they'd pick me up," the girl answers after straightening.

"Oh! That's pretty close by." Souma points in its general direction. "Just go down until you see it. You can't miss it, even in this rain… speaking of it, the weather reports didn't notice anything."

"Oh." The girl shifts awkwardly before meeting Souma's gaze again. After a pause, she adds, "Thank you… er…"

"It's Souma."

"Thank you Souma-san!" She smiles warmly. "I'm Tadokoro Megumi. Thank you for the directions!"

"No problem." With one last nod of thanks, Tadokoro races down the street, disappearing into the distance. Shrugging, Souma heads back inside, and doesn't think about her much afterwards.

.

Well, shit. It's way passed curfew. Dad's gonna kill me.

Souma runs a hand through his hair as the thought crosses his mind—his dad had always been incredibly strict on curfew—never come home after eight pm, never go out before five am.

It's eight thirty.

He really hadn't been intending to work on that project with Kurase and the others for that long, though he knows that's no excuse. The elder Yukihira is utterly terrifying.

People may, and have, laughed at him for actually following the curfew his dad set for him out of fear, but he'd done it once, and only by five minutes, and his father had been so angry, and so, so worried. He'd raised his voice, something he never does.

There are quite a few people around, still, but it's a lot emptier than he's used to. A chill runs down his spine like his sixth sense is warning him, and suddenly he really wishes he'd followed his dad's orders.

Souma passes by the park, and suddenly, the air seems to be colder. It's harder to breathe, and a sense of uneasiness settles over him. Was the park always so terrifying?

He hears a rustle.

That's all the incentive he needs to start running.

When he returns, his dad doesn't yell. He's definitely angry, but he probably sees Souma's panicked expression, and supposes he's learned his lesson.

Souma knows he has.

.

"You're what," Souma states flatly.

"I'm going to move around for a bit, so I'm closing Yukihira's," his dad repeats quite cheerfully. "And you'll be fine. Wait at the park at noon, and someone'll pick you up. Oh, and bring an umbrella."

So Souma does exactly that, sitting on a bench with a suitcase with the few things he wants to bring, wondering who the one picking him up will be as it starts to rain. He's glad he'd brought his umbrella.

"Tadokoro?" he asks blinking a bit in surprise. She doesn't have an umbrella, but doesn't seem bothered by it.

The blue-haired girl smiles at him. "Hello, Souma-san!"

"Why are you here?" Souma inquires. "And don't you need an umbrella?"

"Oh, the rain doesn't bother me, so I don't usually bring one," Tadokoro assures him, though a moment later, she's on the ground, looking rather depressed. "But it always bothers others…"

"Tadokoro?"

"Oh!" With that, she seems to remember something, and picks herself up, brushing her skirt off. "Oh no! I forgot! I'm supposed to pick you up…"

"You?"

"Er! That's only if you want me to, I mean somebody better qualified—"

"No, no," Souma says hastily. "I was just surprised you know my dad, is all. So, how are we supposed to get to wherever we're supposed to be?"

"We're supposed to go this way, but only if I can do this right… last time Isshiki-senpai had to come pick me up," Tadokoro says mournfully as she heads into the bushes.

Souma follows her, a bit uncertain. "Are you sure this is the way?" he asks, tilting his head as he ducks under a low-hanging branch. "It's just trees here."

"Yes." Tadokoro stops, looking relieved. "I'm new to this place and travelling between here and the other side, so I don't do it too often." With that being said, she taps the tree she stopped in front of.

Something shimmers, and suddenly a completely different area appears in a vaguely oval-shaped… thing in the air. "Um," Souma says, blinking. "That's… innovative."

"Come on, Souma-san. It's perfectly safe." With that, she walks straight into it without any hesitation, and disappears.

"Okay. Why not?" Souma asks nobody, and follows her.

For some odd reason, rain starts to fall after Tadokoro enters, though considerably less than where they'd come from. Souma finds himself in a grassy field, with the sun still out despite the drizzle. When he looks further out, the rain seems to cut off oddly.

"Wow," he says, impressed. "It's really pretty out here."

"I know right!" Tadokoro agrees with a soft and warm smile. "It's a great place." After a moment, Tadokoro gives Souma a weird look. "Souma-san, you're taking this awfully well for somebody without previous exposure to this kind of thing."

Souma just blinks. "Well… I guess…" He tilts his head. "It can't be that out there, right?"

Tadokoro just looks at him for a bit longer before just looking resigned. "Um, well, let's go. We're going to Tootsuki City."

"That's not in Japan, isn't it?"

"Not your Japan. This is 'Japan' for us, but to you, it's the 'Other side'," Tadokoro answers. "Most beings from your Japan don't know about the existence of this place, and without special permission, they can't even come here."

"That's pretty cool," Souma remarks. He wonders how his dad knows about this side. "So, what's Tootsuki like?"

Tadokoro laughs a little awkwardly, scratching her cheek sheepishly. Her eyes slide away, not looking at Souma. "It's high class… it's great… ha… ha…"

"Er…"

"I'm just a lowly Ame-onna," Tadokoro says, looking more and more depressed. The rain falls just a bit harder. "I'm from a small port town… I have no idea how I made it to Tootsuki as one of their trainees…"

"Oh. No wonder it rains whenever I see you," Souma comments, gesturing to the water falling around. "But don't Ame-onna also bring good luck with harvest and stuff? I mean, that's what the legends I've read about say."

Tadokoro doesn't seem to hear him, shaking her head as though to clear her thoughts. "Alright. We have to get to Tootsuki. It's not too far from here; we should get there in ten minutes on foot. But we have to be pretty careful as well."

"Careful?"

"There are a lot of dangerous people around here," Tadokoro says, leaning in to whisper as though said dangerous people can hear them. "I can fight them off, but not very well… they're really scary. It's safe here because Senzaemon-sama had placed powerful barriers around here. But we should still get moving."

"Sounds fun," Souma says, swallowing slightly. Are these "dangerous people" like whatever had been there that day? He brushes away the thoughts, giving Tadokoro a bright smile. "Alright, Tadokoro. I trust you. Let's go to Tootsuki."

"Eh? You… trust… me?" Tadokoro's eyes are wide, as though nobody had ever said that to her before, before she narrows her eyes in determination. "Okay! Let's get there safe and sound!"

.

I have no idea where this is going

I just wanted to write a fanfic where Souma meets the other characters who are all supernatural creatures and doesn't even bat an eyelash at anything

(oh and he's going to get a harem again somehow)

Alright as for Megumi's choice in supernatural being:

Ame-onna- literally means "rain woman". She brings rain wherever she goes, and can be seen as a symbol of luck because she brings rain to grow plants. However, in real life, people who bring misfortune everywhere they go are called "Ame-onna".

I picked this as Megumi because her lack of self-esteem; others think of her as the dead last. But in actuality, she's quite good with cooking. Ame-onna bring rain wherever they go, and is quite an annoyance, but she's also necessary for your crops to grow.