Chapter 1

Today's been an average day so far. That means that things are going extremely well today. I usually suffer an average dosage of seven counts of misfortunate incidents before the day is over. This time there has only been three incidents.

There was the morning when I woke up sweaty because the AC broke and the power went out. That eventually got fixed by the time I came back. There was the second time when I was coming home from work, and my phone slipped out of my hands and cracked itself on the ground. It still works thankfully. Then there was the third moment, which was frankly the worse and the type of bad luck I am most used to.

I was taking a nice shower when all of a sudden, the lights went off and the water turned cold. I jumped from the chilliness of the water on my back, tripped and got my hair stuck in the drainage. I just ripped out the strands that were stuck in there, but man did that hurt. I was able to at least finished the shower even through the cold water and now I'm laying here on my bed.

"I'm going to experience terrible luck tomorrow." I say with resignation. That's the pendulum of my luck. When it starts to be kind, then it swings to the mean side twice as hard the next day. I'd rather it be consistent then for it to be moodier than a woman on her period.

It's about time for me to go to sleep. There's really nothing left for me to do today except to get rest to prepare for the next day. It's hard to sleep when I get anxious for the next day filled with misfortune. I could imagine that some people would kill themselves out of sheer anger or irritation with this life, but I can't afford to do that.

Simple reason is…I don't want to commit suicide. If I had to die, the last way I would go would be by my own hand. So, I'm just sitting here and thinking hard about my life. This is why I have a hard time falling asleep. I'm always using my brain to rapidly think and hypothesize my next day, and think back on the past.

"Still, I should have fallen asleep by now, so why haven't I yet?" I look down at myself and still realize that I'm wearing my deep-black hoodie.

"Oh." I didn't even realize I still had it on. I only wore it from how cold I was when I got out of the shower. If I go to sleep in this and the AC breaks again... I'll actually die from heatstroke. Would that be suicide or stupidity?

I sit up and jump off my bed. The moment my feet touch the ground, I lose all balance and starts falling. I expect a large thud and some pain, not me literally falling through the ground!

"…!" I try to scream out something, but nothing comes out my mouth. I keep sinking into inky blackness that I can't pull my way out of. I start giving in to mild panic and latch on to my table. I grip the leg as hard as possible not to sink into it, and it seems to have worked. I slowly pull myself out of the surprise quicksand trap in my room and stay far away from it.

The fuck was that?! I nearly sunk into hell right there! It's a good thing that there was something to grab on to. If there wasn't... All i can do is shiver from the thought of drowning in inky shadows.

"That…was extremely weird!" That's all I can say to that. I can't even feel shocked, rather I feel completely numb and drained from that ordeal. I actually feel uncharacteristically exhausted from that. I swear my soul was going to get drained there. I turn around and see the…hole stay there. It's not swirling or expanding, it's just static. I hear…no, I feel something buzzing in the back of my mind.

I push back against it, to drown it out, but it keeps invading my mind and knocking back harder. I completely ignore it instead as I get closer to the hole without putting any part of my body inside of it.

"Just what is this…?" I say to myself in horror. The way it started draining my life and body away like that… "Could it be the IRS?" I joke to myself. They are pretty good at snatching people souls. They'd make the Devil sign a deal with the devil, the devil being them.

"Ah, damn it." That nudging feeling is back again. It's starting from the back of my head and making its way towards the front. Because of this buzzing, I didn't notice what was happening to the hole in front of me. It didn't physically move its location, but it started distorting and growing tendrils. I fall on my knees and start yelling as the pain magnified. It feels like my brain is going to explode!

I notice blood dripping out of my nostrils. If I remember correctly, that could be a symptom of a brain hemorrhage. I try to stand up dizzily as I feel my entire senses distort and move outwards. It feels like an out of body experience, and that's when I finally see the absolute Darkness in front of me. The tendrils flash through my body and impale me through my arms, legs, body, and wrap around me.

A splash of blood erupts from the stab wounds.

"What…?" This is just not my day. I can't feel anything. Everything's going numb. I still keep my ground and grip the shadowy tentacles piercing through my arms. The corners of my eyes are getting dark, but there's no way I'm gonna go down like this!

"I think that…but I'm fighting a losing battle here." I note to myself. It's slowly dragging my body closer and closer to that hole. I'm only getting weaker as well. Between this killer headache and the blood loss, is there any way where I can get out of this?

Apparently, this thing thought it was taking too long, so it sent another tentacle to wrap around my neck. Now it's choking me out? So not my kink…

"Now that I think about it, this only ranks in my top five weirdest things to happen to me. The place I live in is pretty wacky after all." Shit, my vision's getting darker. Harder to breathe as well…

It lifts me off my feet and drags me head first into the black hole. As soon as that happens, the pressure building in the back of my head bursts out and I sink into darkness along with my mind falling to oblivion.

The world has an innings and outings, tops and bottoms, fronts and backs. These are the boundaries of the world. What happens…when one from beyond the boundaries reaches an impossible place. A person that shouldn't exist. He who doesn't exist...yet is still there.

-Youkai Mountain-

I let out a yawn and stretch my back. "That was a really weird dream." I sit up and notice that I was laying on…the grass? I sigh to myself in despondence.

"Of course it wasn't a dream. Now, where exactly am I?" There's no need to panic because I still have my life. I rub my nose to get the blood off of it. Good thing that the blood doesn't show on my already black jacket. I do an immediate doubletake as I see that the signs of impalements aren't there anymore.

"Just great." I look up at the sky just to find some semblance of stability. The stars are extremely visible at nighttime at this place. That means I ended up in some backwater place with little to no light pollution at all. At least that means I can actually see in the night. I can't ignore this abnormal feeling I have though.

I can see, touch, hear taste, smell, but it feels like there's something extra there. I don't want to know how that...dark thing messed me up, but I need to know. So, I just think really hard to myself. What I get for my efforts is absolutely nothing.

"Geez. Just what was I thinking?" I did feel something being pulled, but I couldn't quite get it. I got drugged by the darkness…I hope the cops will buy that excuse. I don't know where I am, so I pick a direction and just go. I end up going south from wherever I am.

I notice that I'm on some sort of mountain or hill. I can feel the change in elevation due to the difference in pressure, and through the simple fact that I'm going downwards as I walk south. It's pretty nice walking out with extremely fresh air to breathe in. It's not the first time I've been hiking, but it's already the best just because I haven't experienced any bad luck yet.

The moment I taunt Murphy like a stupid fool, I start hearing creepy giggling around me. It's echoing through the forest tonight, but they're not drums. T-t-they can't be g-ghosts, right?

"Come out! Whoever you are." I manage to say without stuttering in the slightest. I swear it. The giggling only increases in volume and frequency. It seems that there are more tricksters in the forest then before. I book it and start running through the forest at high speeds. I eventually make my way to a waterfall while ignoring all the laughing behind me. I manage to out-speed them and nearly fall into the raging river.

"J-Jesus, that was creepy as shit!" I take in deep breathes just to get some oxygen back in my body. It felt like I was running forever there. Just what was chasing me? More importantly, where the hell am I?! I run my hands through my hair in frustration when I hear someone behind me.

"Halt intruder!" I turn around in shock, and notice the prime furry bait glaring at me. Seriously, a furry's wet dream is looking me dead in the eyes promising pain if I don't listen to her.

"And who the hell are you?!" Way to go, yelling at some random person out of frustration. Not like I can take it back when they look ready to ram that sword up where the sun doesn't shine. I'd rather have it go up the back rather than through the front at least.

"I'm the one asking questions. Why are you on Youkai Mountain?" Hold up. You wanna repeat that for me? I look at her in confusion. Youkai Mountain?

"Look lady. I just woke up higher on the mountain, and I have no idea where I am." I blurt that out in frustration with this situation. Something about her is niggling the back of my mind though.

"I see. You must be an Outsider then. You are currently in Gensokyo." My eyes widen in shock. It can't be… "The Land of Illusions." You've gotta be fucking kidding me right now! I hardly know shit about this place! Couldn't I've at least been sent to a place I have extensive knowledge about, like One Piece? Wait that place is pretty dangerous as well… Shit, why couldn't that thing just let me stay home.

Damn, I can't believe I got infected by the Isekai disease. I'm gonna blame Japan.

"Alright, say I believe you, about this Youkai and all that crap. Just what should I do now?" Only my bad luck could wind up sending me to this place. ZUN get me off your wild ride right now! At least this dog lady looks to be more chill now.

"Well, if you go further down to the base of the mountain, then you'll reach a peaceful village. They can help you out." I wave her goodbye and start running all the way down the mountain. I'm definitely going to find my way back home.

She may have called out to me right before I left, but I ignored it in haste. With all the shit going around in this forest, I just want to reach some proper civilization already. Now that I know I'm Gensokyo, I can probably guess that those so-called ghosts were actually fairies trying to troll. If I can recall correctly they're also immortal.

I'm just a squishy human who can just be nuked by a single fairy, which is no more than a mob enemy in the games. I also can't do bullet hell because I don't have the patience for that.

"Wait…ghosts actually do exist here, don't they?" All the irritation, the frustration, the annoyance that came from being spirited away to a place I never wanted to come in explodes.

"FUCK!" The moment I say that, all of my anger is channeled into my mind and releases from my body as a shockwave that uproots the trees around me. I was struck dumb like a wooden chicken when I saw the destruction I caused. I even caught a glimpse of some sprites looking at me right before the disappeared.

"Well," I lick my lips in consternation. "At least I'm not totally powerless." I need to figure out what I can do, but before that I need to reach that village that the puppy was talking about. Once I do that, I can finally start thinking rationally about a way to get back. This place most likely has a way to do that hopefully.

"Oh Gensokyo, oh Gensokyo, please don't screw me in the ass~" I made a nice jingle today! I'm a little happy because I don't think I'll be nuked by the fairies with my surprise power. I've only gotten bored running through the mountains.

-Giant Toad's Pond-

I've been running for a bit, and I reached a pond. Wonder if they are any god slaying frogs or toads laying about here. I'm getting thirsty, so I might as well refresh myself with a nice drink of some pure spring water.

"Might as well take a break and start practicing what I can while I'm here." I can produce shockwaves, but I've only done it once. I'm gonna have to get this powerset down. It feels like I can pull things from something, but I have no idea where to even begin. Maybe think hard…or calculate something?

That buzzing returned again. Every time I think of trying to do something unnatural, it kicks in hard. It feels very disabling on the brain, and it makes it hard to think or even use any of the five senses. The dizziness is causes is legendary, it almost feels like a damn migraine.

"Let's try making some wind." I focus deeply and cause an invisible distortion to spin around in my hand. I point it forward and disrupt the entire lake, splitting the water and sending it upwards. I smile to myself in hope that something is finally going my way, but then misfortune kicks in and a giant toad leapt right behind me. The loud impact it made when it landed bounced me off the ground. I turn around to hear a loud croak and it staring at me.

I think I may have pissed it off by screwing with its pond. Knowing my shitty luck, this is actually one of those god killing toads that like to chew bones for breakfast. I throw another burst of wind at it, knocking us both backwards. It blasts through some trees, and I go flying over the lake. If I didn't piss it off now, then I just did then. I have no regrets! I look at the toad as it immediately comes to its senses and lasers in on me.

"Oh, he's mad now." I murmur to myself. I immediately bolt from where I am and run even faster down the mountain as I try to escape the furious pursuit of a mad toad. I start to notice my right hand, the one that I fired the wind from, start giving off a dark aura. Don't tell me I got cursed by the toad?!

I hear the sounds of hopping. If I let it touch me, then it'll swallow me whole. I'm not into that kinda stuff at all! The biggest question is…why is a damn toad so fast! I was joking about it slaying gods. Don't tell me this thing is an actual tried and true super toad?

I hear the croaking behind me get progressively louder.

"I won't let you vore meeeeee!" I scream that in fear as I immediately speed up to escape that horrible fate. I turn around to see the toad open its mouth and spit out a large globe of water. I can't dodge it, so I just catch it with my darkened hand and…crush it.

I have no idea how I did that, but I run and grin all the way, glad to still be alive. It seems the monstrous toad has finally left me alone. The dog said that I only have to go down the mountain, but just how large is this mountain? I let out a yawn.

"Ah, the feeling of being alive is great!" I successfully escaped a horrible fate that was about to befall me. I let out another yawn. Why am I feeling so tired?

"Oh, that's right. I haven't gotten any sleep yet." I don't want to spend any longer than necessary in this place, but I should get some sleep at the village before moving on out of here. Sooner or later I'll make it home. Just gotta have some faith.

-Untrodden Valley-

"I've been walking for too long, I should've just sprinted." I say that the moment a valley and a village came into view. I've been following the flowing river down the mountain in hopes of the village being next to a body of water. I see a bunch of midgets in blue dressed like hikers. The moment I get a bit closer they all turn to me at once.

"The Smurfs?"

"A human!" Their eyes are alight with curiosity the moment they spot me. Alright, they're not hostile. This is good, right? There's nothing that my negative luck can screw me over with here. At least I hope so…

One particular twin-tailed midget walks over to me. I look down at her in what I hope to be not a condescending manner. She looks up to me with optimism and curiosity shining in her eyes. I wish I could look so hopeful every day. Maybe then, I could face my misfortune head on and try to do something about it.

I make myself sad.

"Based on your appearance, you must an outsider, right?" She is spot on. The only thing I can do is nod in agreement. These little guys have to all be Youkai I'm pretty sure. They can't be actual kids because that'd be too dangerous for them to be out by themselves. They're all female too? I guess the rumor about this world is true.

"Yeah, you're right." I let out a sigh. "I just got here and ran into a lot of trouble. By the way, what kinda Youkai are you guys here?" They don't seem to be hostile, so maybe Zashiki-warashi? I barely know my Japanese mythology in the first place.

"We're Kappa!" She gestures to her entire village cheerfully. Oh okay. Wait, Kappa?! You mean those turtle things that suck the souls out of people's assholes? I remember those because that's such a weird and shitty way to die. These guys are friendly, but what if that's a façade. All of a sudden, I don't want to stay here anymore…but god damnit it's nighttime.

"Look, I'm sure you guys are very friendly and nice Youkai, but…could you point me to a way out of…Gensokyo?" It seems that the twin tailed one is the only one willing to do conversation with me. The others are content to just sit back and watch us talk. Now that I know what these guys are, it feels almost sinister, the way they look at me.

I stick my hands in my pockets to hide the shaking. I can't show any fear to these demons. They could be like dogs, and just sense my fear. Then they'll chomp down on my ass. Literally. Gotta make sure to hide this feeling of dread crawling up my back.

"Of course. You just need to head on over to the Hakurei Shrine. We can give you a map of this area to help you out." How…considerate. I close my eyes and think for a second. I can risk my own ass, literally, to stay here and rest. Or I can risk my own life wandering through the forests even more at nighttime. I just got a feeling that there are some hostile monsters chilling there as well.

"I'll take the map and go on over there right now. I appreciate the help." I hold my hand out for a map. The look she gives me is one of confusion.

"You're gonna head out this late? You should stay here for the night. Right guys?" The other Kappa nod and agreement. That's…

"I'm sorry, but I just can't agree to that. I'm in a hurry you know. I understand the risk of the Youkai, you know. I ran into some earlier up in the mountains." One was friendly and the other was a hopping-mad toad though.

"Trust me, I'll be fine. I can go through the forest without being hurt. I'm a pretty good runner and I think that I can escape the Youkai unharmed." I give her a thumbs up to show my confidence.

Now will you let me go already?

"Prove it with a spell card battle!" So damn stubborn!

Yeah…I actually don't know the rules for that. All I understand is that I have to go through bullet hell, and that it's apparently nonlethal? As long as it doesn't run the risk of me getting killed, then I guess I can participate in one.

"Explain the rules." I said curtly. And she did. She simplified it quite nicely.

Basically, the rules consist of using spell cards to win a magic duel. Whoever is the first to lose all their spell cards loses the duel. It can be decided how many spell cards each side is allowed to use. Oh yeah, spell cards have to be named upon use. So, we literally have to call our attacks. The participants in the duel decide who gets what upon victory before the match starts. It seems like it was made to be fair for both sides.

The person who made this rule was Reimu, the protagonist of the series. She's also my ticket way home. These rules were made to protect humans and Youkai simultaneously it seems, but what stops a person from completely ignoring the rules? The threat of her power?

If I don't accept this duel, then I'll most likely be forced to stay here. I could be completely wrong about these Kappas, but I refuse to risk my life for that. I want, no, I need to go home and get a good night rest. The way forward is through this battle. It doesn't matter who stands in my way, I'll do anything to go home.

Except there is a huge problem for me. "I don't have any spell cards." I look her into the eyes as I say this. Her reaction will tell me how I shall proceed.

"That's fine. Just make one." Just…make one? These people sure say some crazy things. I mean it's not like I can hold out my hand and believe with all my heart to create a card that symbolizes my power.

"What the hell?" Of course, the moment I think one thing, the world has to contradict me. I did exactly that and a card just formed in my hand. Might as well read what it says. It isn't like this day could get any crazier. The moment I look at the card, my heart stops.

Foreign Sign "Dark Matter"

This card, the name of it, the way it looks, and the way I instinctively just know what it does. Well, at least it helped me figure out my power. Dark Matter huh… That's the power that Kakine Teitoku had. It's an extremely strong Esper ability, which got him ranked as the number two in Academy City.

"Wow, you actually made a card?!" She seems truly surprised. Did she actually think I couldn't do it? Was she actually planning for me to back down from this? Now I really have to win this battle and get out of here. I let out a cough.

"Let's set the rules. They'll be as follow:

1. Each side will use one Spell Card each.

2. If I win, you'll hand me the map and let me leave. If you win, then I'll stay in the village overnight.

Is that fine?" Hopefully she agrees. This is my first time after all.

"That's good enough for me. Let's do this!" Then she begins to fucking fly of all things and expects me to take after her in the skies. Wait, I think I can make wings. I just need to calculate…not calculate, but pull out something that doesn't exist and calculate what it does to the world. I was always pretty good at math.

That buzzing is still there. Like an annoying mosquito that keeps hovering around your ear, or a bee that makes you want to run away from, but it keeps chasing you. How many more similes do I need to make to actualize the annoyance of this? It's because of this that I can't focus at all!

Something that doesn't exist cannot be understood. It doesn't exist, so it can't exist. This is the nature of Dark Matter. Of course, I still can't make wings even if I understand that fundamental truth about it. This brat is looking at me as if I'm slow.

"What are you waiting for?" I can't fly. You know, like a normal person?

I can at least change my shoes to a material that doesn't exist to stick to walls. Something like that is easy to imagine through my reality. I begin walking sideways up on of the houses until I reach the roof. I stare at the dumbfounded eyes of the Kappa. Why would you be surprised at that rather than a person flying?

She pulls herself together immediately and begins chucking balls of blue death at me.

My eyes widen to comical levels as I skedaddle on out of the way of that hail of magic bullets, Danmaku as it's called. I just got on top of the house and now I have to leave. At least these guys don't care about collateral damage.

I'm leaping off of houses right now trying to get out of the way of the hail of pain. I'm somehow managing to survive by the skin of my teeth, but these leading shots and the small gap to duck in between are getting narrower.

In the middle of my jump, three shots hit me. One in the chest, the other in the head, and the last one in the thigh. The pain was quite shocking, but not debilitating enough for me to stop fighting.

Honestly, why am I wasting my time with this again?

I tumble on the ground and land on my back roughly. I see an annoying midget send a spiral pattern of bullets towards me while I'm down. What a cheeky bitch! I keep my palm open and blast a shockwave of air through the bullets and utterly throw their aim off all while I'm still on the ground. I stand up and look at her start flailing a bit.

It seems that did more than I thought. So much so, that she's pulling out her spell card. What's it gonna be? I crouch low in preparation to dodge. I feel an odd mix of anticipation and dread.

"Water Sign "Kappa's Great Illusionary Waterfall!""

The blue magic bullets are just building up by her side. What's…Oh shit! It's falling down like a waterfall. I'm an idiot. It's literally in the damn name. All I need to do is focus on dodging. I've played bullet hells before, but only on easy like a scrub. It's rushing at me so fast though.

All I can do is cover body in Dark Matter and weather the impact of the pellets, and she has the gall to taunt me like this. I need to think how I'm going to counterattack here. To win I need to break that spell card with more power, but I don't know how to do it. At least she's only limited to one spell card in this duel.

"Is that it? Had enough yet? You can always surrender. I understand if I'm too much for you." She mocks me arrogantly. Oh, so you wanna play like that? Alright then, let's play!

I pull something from somewhere and force it to act as a shield. I have no idea what I created, but as long as it serves its purpose to protect me while I think about How I'm going to use this Esper ability. Something about Personal Reality, AIM, and the power of belief if I remember correctly. The way Espers see the world is fundamentally different from the way normal people do. I have to disassociate myself from the norm of reality and make my own limited to just me.

All I need to do is change the energy in the air. Dark Matter is an ability that screws the laws of physics right up the ass. It makes its own laws arbitrarily and denies the ones currently in place. The only thing the bullets are hitting is a mass of darkness. The Kappa finally notices that she's doing jack shit to me now.

All of a sudden, things just snap in place for me. The omnipresent buzzing finally wormed its way in deeper in my brain and some things became just a little bit clearer. It went from the occipital lobe to the parietal lobe. If i remember correctly, the parietal lobe is the one that deals with sensory information, language, and calculation visual information. Also has stuff to do with math.

A bunch of random calculations slammed its way into my mind. I feel like a mathematical genius, almost. I think I have a grasp on this Danmaku and Dark Matter shit going on now. I'm going to finish this now. Is that a smirk I feel making its way onto my face? My right hand starts shading the air around it, and a card forms in the center of the darkness.

"I'm done calculating now. Foreign Sign "Dark Matter.""

It's those words that spell her end. I invoke the spell card and I release a huge, swift tidal wave of Danmaku, utterly blasting through her and her own spell card. She was attacked by twenty-five thousand different types of energy breaking her own card in the process.

She tried to dodge as frantically as possible but then a huge swirl of clockwise and counterclockwise Danmaku spread outward and clipped her. I watch as she falls to the ground. It was an absolute random pattern of chaos that submerged her. This is not supposed to lethal, but it still hurts, right? Ah, they're Youkai. I'm sure they'll be fine. I don't need to care about their well-being at all.

"It's my win. Hand me the map now." I walk over to her with hands in my pockets. I feel as cool as a cucumber right now. I can barely hold myself back from doing a happy dance to celebrate my victory. Now I'm one step closer to home.

"Fine, fine." The Youkai pouts. She reaches into that hiker bag and pulls out a map of the area. She shows me where I am, where the Hakurei Shrine is, and where I have to go.

"So, it's an all-nighter for me this night." I let out a long sigh. Well, that's nothing new. I'm used to running on little to no sleep quite often actually.

I take the map and wave goodbye to the village as I prepare to leave. Right before I celebrate not getting sodomized, the twin-tailed Kappa calls me out.

"Hey, wait! You need to tell me your name so I can know who to rematch. I'm Kawashiro Nitori!" Do…I have to? Well, it's not like we will ever meet again after this…hopefully.

"I guess I could tell you my name. It's Wil." No surnames are necessary here. Besides it's easier to call me by my first name cause of how short it is. It's the perfect name for impatient people such as myself. She attempts to repeat it to herself.

"Wiru?" Absolutely fucking not. Don't you dare butcher such an easy to pronounce name. How did you mix up the L and the R and add a U at the end? Wait a sec, Touhou is Japanese. Damn, I forgot about that. Actually, what language are we even speaking right now? How can we understand each other if we speak different languages?

Another mystery that I don't care to find out, I guess.

"No, Say Wil. Like this." I tell her to repeat three more times and she eventually gets it right. Is there actually a proper reason for why Japanese people cannot pronounce Ls? I remember hearing something about it not being in their alphabet, but it's just movements with your tongue? Whatever, I'm just a filthy American who doesn't understand the nuances of proper language.

"That's too complicated. I'm just gonna call you Darky, for your spell card." D-darky? I've…never had a nickname before. Wait, that's the wrong thing to think! Ugh, it doesn't matter at this point. I just need to leave this place before my sanity leaves my brain. I immediately run south out of the village ignoring all cries for me to wait.

Let's see…according to this map I relieved Kawashiro of, I need continue to head south through this forest, then I'll reach the foot of the mountain. From there, I can reach the Forest of Magic. "Alright sounds good!"

I roll up the map and place it in my deep pockets. They're so nice and deep. So…deep and nice. So comfortable. I start fantasizing about deep and comfortable pockets. I nearly lose track of where I'm going until I run face first into a tree. The branches fall from the impact and hits me on the head making me dizzy. I shake the dizziness off and remember where I am.

"Constant Vigilance!" I yell to myself. I can't afford to go easy on myself at all, especially with my poor luck. I have no idea if it's running on full power or not. The instant sound of rain and thunder answered my question. It still doesn't stop me from walking. All I need to do is cover myself in Dark Matter to block off the rain.

I must pain a pretty strange picture to other people here. I can already imagine the thought processes of the fairies. A weirdly dressed human is walking through the rain and not getting wet! Sounds interesting right? Well, let's hope they don't find me interesting enough to actually bother me.

This place feels very dreadful, like something's bad on the cusp of happening. It feels like when I just know when something's unlucky is about to spawn on me. I look up and see a flying person descend right in front of me.

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ

"Hold on!" She drops right in front of me and gives of a very menacing aura. Just what is she trying to do. I put my hands in my pockets to get my calm back. All I can do is stare at that purple mist surrounding her and nearing me.

"What is it?" I prepare to square off against her.

"You're too close to Youkai Mountain. Begone!" Why are you trying so hard to steer me from a place I literally just came from? I give her a questioning look.

"I just came from there." When I say that with a monotone, her menacing aura ceases to exist and she goes quiet. Her eyes go unfocused and then she looks at the ground like she made a mistake.

"Why would I even want to go back in the first place. Besides, you're in my way." I brush past her and start to run to the Forest of Magic. From there, I can go to the human village, which is supposed to be Youkai free. That means that I can get some rest there. With a sense of purpose filling my steps I start to speed up.

"Wait!" Then I trip and fall face-down ass-up. The worst position to fall in period. I stand up with dirt marring my face while I glare at the Youkai who stopped me. She seems to step back and half-heartedly apologizes.

"Um…why are you so misfortunate, and why was a human like you at Youkai Mountain?" I didn't hear the second part. All I heard was the first question. There's a person who can sense the misfortune I have? And it actually just wasn't a series of coincidental moments of bad luck? It was real supernatural misfortune?!

I stomp up to her and grip her shoulders with both of my hands. I shake her. "What do you mean why am I so misfortunate?! I was actually born with way with nothing going right for me!" An example of my luck: I win a million dollar lottery, then I lose the ticket and find out it was in the hands of my brother, who then died before he could cash it in. I was never actually able to cash in the ticket because it was burned along with him. That's the real deal misfortune. I get what I don't want and I never get what I need.

I may have been a bit more emotional than I would've liked. My shaking made the Youkai's voice warble, and her eyes started spinning. I take my hands off of her, like I was touching a hot stove.

She manages to come back to her senses before looking at me deeply.

"I can take your misfortune from you. That's my domain after all. I'm the goddess of misfortune!" She says that and puffs up with pride.

That's a truly a terrible mantle to take on. All I can do is look on her with pity filling my mind. How can someone just be misfortune like that. I can imagine the bad luck that surrounds her. "I'm so sorry for you." I give her my deepest condolences.

"Wait, it's not like that! I don't actually experience the misfortune. I only take it away from others." She corrects me and all of my pity turns into disdain. I can't believe I was tricked by her into giving her my sympathies.

"You don't understand the harshness of bad luck. I feel like an idiot for giving you my pity. Just take my bad luck and be done with it." My irritation seems to shock her, but she grabs be and just drains something from me. She's there for 3 minutes and after she lets go, she looks a little woozy and giddy.

"Wow…you have a lot of misfortune stocked up. Thanks for the meal…" And she falls backwards unconscious. I look on at her wondering what I should do. I could always just lay her down next to a tree, or cover her with my jacket.

"Thanks for the help." I run off in pursuit of my destination. If she's really a goddess, then she'll be fine by herself. The worst thing in this forest is probably the odd Youkai or annoying Fairy.

I can't believe it. I should be celebrating with joy and throwing a huge party for myself, but all I can feel is numbness. That's it? All that bad luck that has chased me all my life was taken, just like that? It almost feels like all my suffering was worth shit. I feel good that I won't have to experience such monumental shit luck, but I feel terrible that my life was solely dictated by it. Only now am I free and some random goddess just took my identity away so easily.

In short, I got a feeling so complicated.

I finally reach a clearing. It's a pretty open space with a nice river flowing eastward from here. I pull out the map once more.

"So, once I reach the clearing…I have to continue going east along the river. I'll run into a place called Kourindou?" Not quite in the Forest of Magic but between that and the Human Village. The growling of my stomach distracts me from the map. I'm already getting hungry? I've been up for a while and day hasn't broken yet.

"Guess I'll check out what this Kourindou is. It's shown on the map as a building, but what kind of building?"

-Forest of Magic Outskirts-

A light-brown haired individual with a black jacket and blue pants is walking through a clearing. He eventually found a road that made his eyes light up. He put away the map and followed the road.

"When I get home, I'm never going to talk shit about my luck ever again." The man has finally learned to no longer taunt Murphy. It's too bad that he's prone to forgetting learned lessons, almost like he has Aesop-Amnesia.

Further away from him is a building named Kourindou. It's connected to a larger house where the storeowner most likely stays in. While Wil is whistling a jaunty to himself, he notices the place at the edge of the road. He jogs up to it and knocks on the door to the store. He waits there for about a minute, then he walks on over to the building connected to it and knocks on it obnoxiously loudly.

A disheveled man comes out of his house putting on his glasses. He has short silver hair and golden eyes. He's wearing a strange combination of western and eastern clothes, being a pair of white boots, blue pants, and a blue and black kimono. He seems annoyed at being woken up so late, but then he sees the strangely dressed man in front of him.

"Excuse me, but who might you be?" His politeness makes the other person smile a bit.

"I'm an outsider." His eyes lose the tiredness he had. "From America." His eyes light up in excitement. All trace of sleepiness gone.

What many people don't know is that the owner of Kourindou, Rinnosuke, is very fond of western technology and culture. He could even be called a Westaboo. He notices Wil staring at a calendar inside his house. Wil's eyes widen and his mouth opens in shock.

He then zeroes in on Rinnosuke with a serious gaze. "Apparently I'm from the future as well. From 2019 to be specific." Rinnosuke looked at him quite baffled.

"Do you have any proof of that?" Wil runs through his pockets looking for his phone, but he doesn't have it with him. He puts his hands up in the air.

"Guess not. Look that's not important. Do you know how I can get to the Human Village from here? There's something I need to check out." Rinnosuke looks at him in concern.

"Don't you need to sleep? It's way past midnight you know?" He looks back at a clock in his house to specifically check the time. It reads 3:34 a.m. "I'll even let you rest in my house. I have an extra futon I can roll out.

"You're…quite kind lady. I don't expect a Youkai like you to show me pure altruism like that. So, what do you want in exchange?" Rinnosuke noticed that the man before him has made an extremely large mistake.

"I'm actually a half-Youkai. The other half of me is human." Wil nods in concession to that. "Also, I'm a man." Wil seems to nod again, but then he stops midway with his jaw dislodging.

"Impossible! Everyone in Gensokyo is female. It's basically the Land of Lesbians instead of the Land of Illusions!" His suspension of disbelief was broken. He cannot comprehend the fact that a guy was here. He immediately assumed that Rinnosuke was a reverse trap when he opened the door.

Rinnosuke was stuck between laughing and shock at Wil's assumption. His nickname for Gensokyo, whether he came up with it for accident was perfect. He's now going to refer to this place as the land of lesbians from now on. He cannot tell anyone about this.

"So, you're telling me I'm not the only guy here? That there's actually another bro besides me?" He says with hope overwhelming him. Wil is a person who is bad with women. He just always found it easier to get along with guys, not that he batted for the other team or anything like that.

"What's your name!" Rinnosuke is temporarily overwhelmed by the amount of passion in his voice, but he collects himself soon enough.

"I'm Morichika Rinnosuke." Wil nods to himself and repeats the name in his head multiple times to memorize it. A grin makes its way to his face.

"Alright then. I'm Wil. I'd like to take you up on that offer of sparing me a futon. I could use the sleep before running off." Rinnosuke smiles along with him and lets him in the house. Rinnosuke is thinking of pestering him about Western technology and he wants to ask him about how some of the devices in his shop work.

While Wil is thinking of mooching off of him for a free meal and dipping off to the Human Village. From there he has hopes to reach his goal even though in the back of his mind he knows that all he's chasing is a false hope.

While Rinnosuke gets out a futon, Wil starts chatting him up. "So, what is Kourindou?" He's curious about the nature of the place. He deduced that it was a store, but he has no idea what it sells.

Rinnosuke's glasses glint with unholy light as he props them up with his fingers. "Ah, well you see, it's a store that sells items from the outside. It can range from heaters to iPods. I know what they do because one of my magical abilities allow me to identify them."

"I see. So, what do you want in return for allowing me to stay. No one is that altruistic, Youkai or not." Wil sees Rinnosuke look at him with a strange smile. He's nearly about to pull out his only spell card before Rinnosuke assuages his worries.

"I just want you to tell me how to use the items in my store. I can identify them, but I actually don't know how to make them work. All I can do is make context clues." Wil realizes that a person from the outside shouldn't actually know how to use the items of the outside. He nods in agreement because it's an easy deal that he can uphold without anything about it going against his morals. 'Well, unless the half-Youkai decides to tie me up and sell me as one of the outside items to his customers.' He cynically thinks.

Rinnosuke has finished setting the futon. "Well, that's it. You can use it and wake up whenever you want to. I'll see you later." He goes back to his bedroom and leaves Wil in the living room. He looks at the futon for a while, then he crawls in it and almost immediately goes to sleep.

"I'll get home tomorrow." He says right before he goes to sleep.