Disclaimer: Touhou, all of its characters, and musics belongs to Zun. The only things I own here is the OC named Reuel. This fanfict may or may not be canon. Besides that, I've got nothing else to say. So with that, please take a seat, grab your drink, pick your snack, and have a pleasant ride (or read).

Chapter 1 "Briefing"

"Okay, what's this?" I said as I looked around me.

As long as I could see, nothing was there. Uhm, scratch that. Actually there was something here. And unfortunately, I didn't know how to describe them well.

They were like blackish violet puddle that somehow has a pair of ribbon attached on each of the end. I said end because the puddle in question had some kind of a knot on two separate sides. Okay, I'm not exactly the best person to describe that, but that's how I see it. Bear with me, 'kay?

And right now, among the darkness, I'm floating.

Yes, floating.

I'm sure of that since my feet couldn't feel anything or touching anything to be exact.

Strange as it was, I'm not in panic. There was this slight feeling that I'm meant to be here. You know, like you're destined to be here or something like that. Once again, not the best man to describe that feeling. Even if I'm a journalist, describing things unknown to me is still hard, you know?

So what now? Waiting doesn't seem like a bad choice. Maybe I'll try to recount my step before I fell into this….what can I call this? Void? Let's go with that.

The last thing that I remember is that I was on my desk at home. I was working on my latest article while browsing through the net for something. Oh yeah, I remember I was looking through those so called image board. Got to love those great artists and their great works. Amazing how they can portray such different character and giving them their own sense of art. Can't really draw, but I love those arts.

So what else did I do? Uhm….

"You were reading a text sent by one of your kohai."

"Oh, that's right! I was–Who's that!?" I shouted at the unknown voice.

I looked around but found none.

"Calm down, young man."

From the voice, I could at least determine that the speaker was a female. Unfortunately, I couldn't determine anything else besides that.

"Uhm, sorry, but could you show yourself? It would really calm me more, don't you agree?"

I can't believe that I am here, talking with unknown voice, with a calm tone. My kohais and senpais did say I'm very weird. But that is beyond weird, even for my standard.

"You're surprisingly calm and compose. Impressive." The voice continued without showing her (Okay, I am still guessing here, okay) form.

"Uhm, thank you for the compliment."

After I said that, all of the puddles emanated some kind of light, making their color much more vivid than before. Then from the one in front of me, a different light shot out.

A figure ascended from the puddle and , just as I thought, it was a female.

The woman, maybe around her mid thirty, have a long flowing blonde hair with a somewhat oriental looking purple and pink dress, complete with a matching hat. Her dark golden eyes slowly opened just as she slowly opened her pink parasol behind her. After that, she sat on top of the puddle. Is that even possible?

"Good day to you," she greeted calmly as she crossed her leg while facing me.

"Good day, too," I replied her greeting.

For a short while, she just sat there, inspecting me with her eyes. As she twirled her parasol, she kept assessing me from head to toe.

For my first impression of her, I can summarize them in three simple words.

Mysterious, powerful, and beautiful.

The first one is, obviously, because of her previous entrance and also the place where I am right now. Simple, right?

The second one is the hardest among the three to explain. Call it instinct, call it premonition, whatever you want. The first time I laid my eyes upon her, I could feel a strong presence. Hmm, how do I put it? Oh yeah, imagine having a meeting with your superior's superior. Got that? Yeah, that fear and pressure that the tiniest mistake you made, you'll got your head chopped of clean.

And here we arrive at the last one. She is very beautiful. Like a painting that made you hold your breath when you see it beautiful. Her dark golden eyes, her long flowing blonde hair, and her somewhat strange yet somehow perfectly match outfit of her really made her beautiful. Her beauty is just out of this world.

"Your reaction."

Her sudden word broke my train of thought right away.

"Y-Yes?" I couldn't help but stuttered my reply.

"Yes, your reaction. Calm, composed, yet had a questioning look," said the woman to me. Her tone contained somewhat a mix of satisfaction and amusement.

"Interesting," she said with a small smile.

"…Uhm, thank you."

"It seems this time we will have a rather interesting one." She kept smiling at me with such a mischievous smile.

Honestly, that smile made me a bit scared. Once again, called it my instinct.

I took a deep breath and brace myself.

"Excuse me, who are you?"

"Hmm?" She raised her eyebrow at my question.

Did I do something wrong?

"Aren't you going to ask where you are right now?"

Eh? Should I? I guess I'm more interested in knowing who this mysterious lady is than learning where I am. Besides, there is a chance of learning where I am right now after knowing her identity.

"I will, but right now I'm more interested in knowing who you are, ma'am."

Once again, she raised her eyebrow after hearing my reply.

Then a slight smile crept on her face, the same smile that seems carry mischievousness.

"Interesting. Very well, you pass."

Pass? For what?

"The reason will be told after this."

"You knew?" She can read my mind?

"Your expression showed me more than enough, boy."

"A-Ah, …I see." Not good. I need to keep my face as compose as possible.

"Well, boy, there is a custom that you must give yours first before the other one give theirs. Isn't that right?"

If this was the usual condition, I would be angry. But seeing that she didn't show any chance of me defying her wish, I have to state my name first.

"Very well. I'm Reuel…."Eh?

Seeing me hesitating, the woman looked at me with a curious look.

"I'm Reuel….Uhm…" That was strange. I couldn't remember my last name.

"What is it, boy?"

"Please wait a minute, ma'am. I'm Reuel …Reuel…Ugh, w-what's going on here?" I really can't remember my last name. How can that be? I raked my brain for anything, but I got nothing. It is as if I've never have any last name in my life.

"Come on, boy. I don't have all day. Well, actually I have. But you get the meaning."

"Uhm…." I massaged my temple, hoping that the blood circulation would flow better and helped me.

I can't. Even after thinking so hard, I can't seem to remember my name.

"Uhm, forgive me, ma'am. But I can't seem to remember my last name." In this situation, I feel that I need to be honest. Although I doubt that she would believe me.

"Hmm?" She raised her eyebrow again.

I waited for her reaction. But she stayed silent.

"I see. You can't remember your last name."

"Uhm, y-yes. I'm sorry." I bowed to her to apologize.

"Well, no matter. Reuel, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Reuel, my name is Yakumo Yukari, a youkai."

Youkai? As in that kind of youkai? The kind that have supernatural skill and such?

Okay, that didn't give me much info besides that I might be in danger.

"You don't look surprised."

"Uhm, I–I am Yakumo-san. Too surprised, in fact," I said as I scratched my head.

Yes, I was too surprised to give a reaction. Right now, my mind is filled with all kinds of thing. Fear, curiosity, confusion, and maybe a bit excitement. You know, I've never seen a real life youkai before. Although I know how dangerous those creature are, this is still an exciting things for me.

"Uhm, another question if I may, Yakumo-san?"

"You may."

"Thank you. What kind of youkai are you? Uhm, I mean, what is your power? Is this place also the result of your power?"

"Boy, I thought you were only going to ask one question."

"Ah, forgive me, Yakumo-san." I quickly apologized to her after being reminded of my usual journalist habit.

"No matter. Well, I am a youkai that controls boundary. And yes, this place is the result of my power."

She answered that with calm tone.

Hmm, my hobby is not exactly the occult, so I can't really say if there is a youkai like that before. But as seeing is believing, than experiencing is more than convincing for me.

She looked at me as I processed her answer. As I looked at her eyes, I sort of have the feeling that she wanted me to make another question.

I slowly moved my feet, trying to reach something solid as I notice I was kind of floating around. Unable to do that, I try to adjust my body to be able to at least into a standing posture with both my hand behind my back.

I took a deep breath and look at the proudly sitting youkai.

"Then, Yakumo-san, what do you need me for?" I hope I phrased that correctly. Unfortunately, her face didn't show any change.

"Tell me, why do you ask me that?"

Huh? Are you kidding me? You're the one that put me here and you ask me the reason I asked that? I endured the urge to shake my head in disbelieve, knowing that might anger her.

I thought for a while, preparing my answer. After a while, I readied myself to deliver the best answer and reason I can give her.

"I have a few… theories."

"Theory?" she tilted her head slightly at that and then continued, "Do tell, boy."

"Very well. First, there is a chance that you need me for something since you threw me into this strange….What should I call this? Space, place, dimension, uhm…," I mumbled for a while, searching for the right word, "Let's go with the term space. You threw me into this space because either you need me to do something for you or you want something from me."

"Go on, I'm listening."

"Second, you either have something for me that cannot be given normally. If you can give it normally, you can just either deliver it to me personally, with courier if you want to remain anonymous, or even call me somewhere without the need of being in this space."

The blonde woman just stared at me without saying anything. I better continue.

"And third, you might want to tell me something, once again, that could not be delivered in normal method."

I took another breath.

"Of course, there is also the chance that you wanted to kill me, either because of your own reason or someone asked you to." Which I will fight with my best since I don't want to die for now.

"And according to that last one, I will of course want to ask why I should be killed, not that I want to, mind you," I added.

After that, silence came over again. She closed her eyes and stayed still.

Did I say anything wrong? I hope not.

"Hmmm…" She seemed to be in deep thought.

Waiting a reaction for her is so nerve wrecking since I don't know what awaits me. Am I going to be killed? I really hope not, but that is the worst outcome for now. I did think that I will fight, but how? For starter, I don't know where I am right now. Besides unarmed, the opponent is not a human being. The odd of me getting out of here alive is next to none.

While I was raking my brain out for any possible method to get out alive, she opened her eyes, making me flinched.

"Boy, you are indeed an interesting fellow." She smiled mischievously, again.

Every time she flashed that smile of hers, I couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated.

"T-Thank you, …Yakumo-san." I stuttered my speech accidentally.

"Well, let's get down to business then."

Okay, here's come the verdict. Will I live? Die? Or maybe even worse.

She rested her chin on her hand while still keeping her parasol opened behind her.

"Your theory is not too far."

"I see. And that is?"

"The first one."

She needed me to do something for her?

"So you need something from me?"

"Not quite, boy. I offered you something."

Huh?

"And that is?"

"This." She flicked her finger.

All of a sudden, similar puddle appeared all around me. They opened one by one, revealing a variety of scene. So those puddle-like objects also acted like screen?

"As you can see from all of the gaps, those places are not your everyday Japan."

Huh? Not my everyday Japan? What did she mean by that? And did she call them gap?

"Just look for yourself, boy." She pointed to the so called gap.

I look through it and realized what she meant by that.

"W-What the!?"

Some of the scenery looked normal, but some of them looked much more bizarre than I've ever imagined. One of them showed the scenery of underground cave, filled with spider web and growing stalactite. That was normal, until I see the buildings and people on that scenery. Rows of classic Japanese style buildings filled with people that have horns on their head walking around. And if I'm not mistaken, I also see a floating wooden basket and a girl with rather weird looking outfit walking alongside the bucket.

I moved my eyes to the next gap and found another strange sight. Mountain that filled with group of flying winged human and also people in blue outfit building something that looked like a steam engine. And is that wolf ear I see on one of the girl?

"Judging from your look, you believe me straight away," she said in an amused tone.

"…Yes, Yakumo-san. It is not my everyday Japan. Even if they are cosplaying, I really find them quite strange."

"Good observation, boy. And yes, they are not cosplaying, I can assure you."

"Then what are they? Youkai?"

"Correct."

"I …see." If someone showed me that before, I would certainly ignore the fact that those were youkais. But, experiencing is sooo much convincing, you know?

"Once again, you don't look surprised."

"You have said that you are a youkai, Yakumo-san. I think the possibility that there are more out there are quite high." I tried to act as calmly as possible.

"Very good. A boy who can think out of the common sense." She giggled at that.

By the way, I'm not really that young anymore to be called boy, am I? But maybe the concept of age between normal human and youkai differ. Better not ask about that. Especially if the other party is a female. You know what they say. If you want to live long, avoid asking a woman's age. And believe me, I will abide that saying as best as I can.

"You said that you have an offer, Yakumo-san. What is it?"

"Oh, quite impatient, aren't we? Well, not that I dislike impatient person." Once again, she showed me that disturbing smile of hers.

"I offer you the honor of being the first human journalist in Gensokyo."

Gensokyo? Is that the name of that place?

"As you know, you are human from the outer world. The way you live and the way they live differ greatly. I want to know their daily life. Not that I don't know."

"Huh? So you already know? Then why are you asking me that?"

"Because I want to see what the view of an outsider like you against their life. It is more interesting." She grinned at me. So this is actually not that important?

"So I'm the first journalist in that pl-Gensokyo?"

"No, you're the first 'human' journalist there. There are other journalists there. And they are not human."

"Oh, I see."

I don't really mind doing that. It is, after all, my daily job.

Wait, daily job? I have a job back in the real world! And a daily life too! I can't do this just like that!

"Ah, may I remind you that if you don't take my offer, you can't kiss your way back goodbye, boy. Tehehe~…"

Damn! This was her plan all along. If I stay here, I will die sooner or later. And I can't risk giving up my daily life just like that.

"How about it, boy?"

"You didn't exactly give me a choice, didn't you?" I spoke with a polite tone, although I realized that a slight hint of irritation is there.

"Now, now. No need to get thorny. Tell you what. I'll give you 3 wishes. But after that, you'll have to work for me."

Now she's a genie? Not that I will say that out loud.

Hmm…I think I have to make do with what I have now.

Let's see, 3 wishes, eh?

"And no 'I wish for more wishes' wish."

"Understood."

Now there goes my first wish. So, what should I wish for?

For starter, if I can't get back for a while, I need to still have access to my world. Call it a safety line. But maybe I can ask my kohais about how to get back.

Secondly, I need to survive in that world. From my observation, that world is filled with dangerous creature. I need a way to defend myself.

Thirdly, since I will have to live there a while and collect information, I will need a sure way to communicate with them easily. If they are human, I might be able to communicate, but what if they are beast? I doubt I will be able to even greet them.

"Don't think too long." She sounded irritated as I was still thinking.

Okay, let's go with that.

"Before I make the wish, can I ask another question, Yakumo-san?"

"Ask away."

"Will I be back to my world one way or another? Because if you want me to give a report from the view of a regular person, I need to at least be back and still retained the way I live in my own world, right? At first, I will give a suitable report, but as time goes, I will give a report as one of human in Gensokyo. Don't you think so?"

"You're trying to bargain, boy?" Did she become angry just now? Now that's not good!

"Forgive me, Yakumo-san. But it is my logical view. I will give you the report, you don't have to doubt me. But I want to give you the best report I could give. Why settle for a third rate over the mill report when you can always have the best?"

She went silent. Good, it seems I can somehow convince her.

"I will not ask that you will let me home every day. I know that is impossible. Besides, it also risks Gensokyo being discovered, right? Or is it not supposed to be a secret?"

"…It is supposed to be a secret."

Another nice shoot! She might think that I was being concern of Gensokyo, but I was just being selfish.

"Good, then all I ask is that I will at least be back for about once a week or so. By doing that, it will at least keep me still accustomed with the life of a regular outside human."

"Hmm, interesting."

So what now? Please say yes! Please say yes!

"But no can do."

Damn!

"I can only let you go back once a month. No more bargaining."

Well, that's not so bad. I hope.

"So that's your first wish. Your next one?"

"I am a normal weak human. How can I survive there?"

"I will not answer that. I'm not a consultant."

Stingy woman.

"Well, for starter, is there magic in that world?"

"There is."

"Then give me a magic that can get me out of trouble in an instant."

I know that I can wish for an offensive magic, but I doubt I can hold it against one of those monsters.

"Be specific, boy." She seemed getting angrier by the minute.

"Okay, okay. Uhm, fast feet? No, fly? No, no. Uhm…"

"Come on, boy. Stop mumbling and decide already." She switched her leg while her face clearly showing her dissatisfaction at my slow decision.

"Okay, okay. Uhm," I thought for a while and a word appeared on my mind," teleportation?"

"What's that?"

"Yes, teleportation. Instant teleportation. Can you give me that?"

"Teleportation? You mean instantaneous transportation?"

"Yes, that's correct. Is that possible?"

"Possible. Are you sure about it?"

If I'm not, what should I choose for? It is either that or fast feet. But I doubt that fast feet could get me out of trouble as good as teleportation.

"Yes, I'm sure, Yakumo-san."

"Very well. Your last one?"

Ah, among the other two, this might be my easiest decision.

"Make me to be able to understand all their language. And also vice versa."

With that, she smiled widely. Okay, is that a good wish or not? Now she is making me nervous.

"I hope you're not going to regret that last wish of yours, boy."

"Eh?"

She flicked her finger.

"Ugh!" A sudden flash came to my eyes. It blinded me for a second, but nothing else happened.

I hope so.

"Well, too late for that. Okay, wish granted, all of them."

And now I'm more convinced that there is another word that could describe her. Sly. As a fox. Maybe even more. Why should she say that after granting my wish? Is a simple warning is something that she can't give me?

"Well, now with that out of the way, I'll let someone guide you there."

"Thank you, Yaku–ARGGGHHHHHHHHHH….." Before I can finish my sentence, a gap opened under me, forcing to free fall.

Why did she have to drop me!? Once again, a simple warning will be fine!

Damn you! And the last thing I could see is that smug face of her, smiling proudly.

*In an unknown part of the world

N : Okay, ladies and gentlemen! This is time for our small talk in the end of the show! I am your host, Mr. N.! And this is our first guest…., w-where is our first guest? Camera-kun?
C : Uhm, s-sir, she hasn't arrived yet.
N : Really? I would really hope that she could at least st–
Y : Hello~!
N & C : AARRGGHH!?
Y : You two are too easy to surprise~ hehehe….
N : Please, Yakumo-san! I do have a strong heart but my assistant here–AAAAHHHH Camera-kun!
C : *foaming*
Y : Arara…
N : Camera-kun! Get a hold of yourself! Wake up! *shake Camera-kun body in panic
C : W-What happen?
N : Ah, you're awake. Good. Are you fine to start now?
C : Y-Yes, sir. Certainly.
Y : Arara, your assistant is quite funny, N-san.
N : Please, Yakumo-san. Could you refrain from teasing my assistant? It is hard to find good kid like him.
Y : Oh, really? I could just gap another one–
N : Please don't. I have a rather…..too interesting experience with that.
Y : If you say so. Shall we start now?
N : A-Ah, yes, of course. Welcome to our little side corner where we will talk with various guest. I presume you will be the one to bring them here, Yakumo-san?
Y : But of course! It will be my pleasure.
N : Well, thank you very much, Yakumo-san. Well, since our time is rather short thanks to, uhm, technical difficulties, we will only ask you one question.
Y : Very well, what will it be?
N :Please give me your opinion on our 'volunteer' for this task of yours, Yakumo-san.
Y : Well, for once I don't think he know Gensokyo, which will make it interesting.
N :I hope he will be safe.
Y : Hmm? Did you say something?
N : No, nothing, Yakumo-san. Ehem, is there anything else?
Y : Well, let's just say that I am expecting great result for our human journalist~ ufufu…
N : Ah, thank you then, Yakumo-san. Well, we'll see you later. Don't forget to send us your comment (aka Review). Thank you for watching, have a nice day, and stay healthy, everyone! Bye!