The strange thing was that despite the slight worries in the back of my head, I had not found anything of particular threat. It didn't stop the worries from growing though. It was obviously going to be a matter of time before I met one.
I followed her advice, and continued the path. Interestingly enough, I have not encountered any fairies. Whether or not I was just lucky to find them not in the Forest or down the path, I don't know. If I remembered correctly, there were some fairies that lived in the Forest, and potentially dangerous ones since they dodge my senses with ease, and then there were some that often visited the village and the shrine I was about to go to. I continued walking, gazing at the village.
Although the village was big, it was nothing like the cities I was from. Though, the village did have everything one would need, but I couldn't quite tell since I was practically on the outskirts. I didn't see anyone strange, like a certain half-human I knew about, a book renter, and a historian.
So, Alice's house was somewhere in the Forest, I began pondering. Most likely, her friend's will be somewhere nearby as well. There's clearly a path they're taking in order to avoid the distortion and illusion of being lost, from either flight or just simply a puzzle. When I left, there was a building just outside the Forest, which I think is where "antiques" are found. Going from the point, the path we took seemed to be linear enough, nothing branching off. The village gets much bigger from this point, and the path to this concrete thing must be...The shrine.
I stared at the path. "Okay…" I quietly muttered, noticing the problems with the stairs as I walked.
"Alright, I can do this! With or without magic!" I began climbing the stairs.
All that magic stuff Alice explained was extremely vague. I think all I got were some general tips. How does ESP work? Do I just focus in on my "mind's eye" and suddenly I got it? What do I do?
Maybe I have to imagine myself levitating something! Or maybe pretend like I'm moving it even though I'm not there! Something. I'll try tomorrow, or something. My thoughts seemed to be taking the idealistic route, but I wasn't sure myself.
"Aaagh," I stated as I climbed the last step, slouched and somewhat sweating. "Too many stairs, no wonder these people fly so much." However, I was closer to the shrine than ever. I had passed the gate! Unfortunately, I had no money to donate to the shrine so I had no business here. Hopefully, she'll know from the clothes.
I walked toward the shrine, noting the familiarity of its presence, yet so different.
I assumed it was all of the senses now coming together. I could smell the atmosphere, and hear the silence around the shrine, aside from some water running in the back with what I assumed to be the hot spring.
Where am I in the timeline, anyway? If that's the spring, that's pretty far ahead, at least if this is the game I'm thinking of. I don't even remember what happens past that point. Something about some orbs that could tunnel people here or something, and uhh...Stuff.
I could see the donation box, which reminded me of some stupid joke. The building itself was very...Real. I wasn't used to seeing the difference of the art of creators and then art that reality brought itself. It seemed so...Accurate, yet contrasting to what I was expecting.
Alright, where is the shrine maiden…? Wasn't she dueling with someone in the sky earlier?
Night was beginning to take over, and I could tell it seemed a lot different seeing the night here than in America. For one, There were more stars than I imagined and the night truly was illuminated. Though, it brought ominous warning.
Youkai.
I was very glad I got here in time. The night is where the youkai roam, and I was an ordinary human from outside this border. Keeping my guard up would mean nothing, but at least I'm in a safe zone. I looked up at the stars and sat on the front steps, instead of going into her shrine like a pervert. I would've done some prayers...But I was Christian. Hopefully, it wouldn't be a problem yet.
In the sky, I noticed the sounds of flight. While planes usually produced the sound of their loud-as-all-hell noises through the sky, this formed a flight sounded more like...Wind. Wind blasting through the air, but not like a storm or a tornado, rather a sort of high whistling sound. In the distance, I could hear it coming closer, before I noticed a spot of red amongst the stars in the sky. There she was, the center of the series I remembered, landing in front of the steps, and in front of me.
Reimu Hakurei. Her brown-black hair extended down just below her shoulders, while matching tubes were on her side locks. Her shrine maiden uniform was a bit off to me as she wore a red-white schemed apparel and it was the only common characteristic. She wore a red skirt, with a matching sleeveless red top with white collar tied with a blue ribbon. Underneath her armpits I could see the bindings that constricted her chest, and a large red ribbon was on the back of her hair. She held her rod of purification, a gohei. It was a simple wooden rod with paper streamers in zig-zag patterns leaving from one end of it.
Aren't breast bindings bad for your body or something?
"Hi," I casually greeted.
"Hello," Reimu politely replied. At least she sounds young. Her red eyes inspected me closely, mostly to my clothing. "Outside World, I'm guessing you're from. I'm Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden of this shrine."
"Alan Vu, a guy who woke up here...Yeah. I think I was about to die."
"Really?" Reimu asked, somewhat surprised. "Well, at least someone saved you, right?"
"I mean, I'm pretty sure I was dead, but then I ended up waking up in that big forest."
"Forest of Magic? Did the puppeteer lead you here?" I nodded. She sighed.
"Alright, well, I think I know who may have something to do with this, so do you want to wait until she stops by?"
"Sure...Sorry, I don't have any money." Reimu shrugged in reply.
"It's no problem." She casually walked up the steps past me, into her shrine. She was more polite than I remembered her being. I had no idea if I should come in as well.
"May I come in?" I asked, unsure.
"Of course, I'm not gonna let you get eaten in front of my shrine."
I blinked in wild panic, taking off my shoes and replying with, "Will that really happen?!" Reimu chuckled softly.
"No, why would that happen when I'm here?" I sighed in relief, to Reimu's amusement.
"While we're here, you want some tea?" Reimu offered.
"I already had some earlier, but thank you..." The shrine maiden shrugged in response.
"You never really try them all."
"Well…"
"Want tea or water?" Reimu asked. I shrugged.
I thought briefly. "Tea. Surprise me, please." I was hoping I wasn't going to be drinking blood.
Reimu walked into another side of the shrine, which I assumed was the kitchen. Now that I looked at it...
I'm pretty sure I was sitting behind the place people are supposed to worship in. There was also a fence surrounding this main hall I was now inside. I noticed a table that was inside, it looked like a table with just a giant blanket underneath. I thought there was a heater under it, but I tried not to seem like I wanted to pass out under it.
"Can I sit under the kotatsu?" I asked instead.
"Yeah," Reimu answered from the other side.
I ooh'd with gleam, and sat under it.
I was extremely comfortable with this, it gave me this feeling of just wanting to laze around in this all day. Kind of like another person I was looking at.
"You act like it's your first time being under a kokatsu," Reimu casually commented, popping by with a tray of two partially steaming cups of tea. You're not wrong.
Unlike the last time, these two cups seemed much less fancier, and looked similar to brown cylinders this time. "Jasmine tea," She continued. "I've been experimenting lately. I think it tastes nice."
Strangely enough, this tea seemed significantly colder. I tried it anyway, since I was going to have to get used to drinking this kind of stuff without my tongue dying of heat stroke.
It was...Hot, but more manageable. However, there was this strange taste that I loved yet hated. A sort of...floral flavor. In a way, the tea tasted...peaceful and serene? There was a slight bitterness to it as well, yet they all just came together and I couldn't quite describe it.
I wasn't a big fan of those kinds of tastes, if I was honest. I prefered Alice's more, but I could see why a lot of people would like this tea.
"Uhm...Wow...This is pretty good."
"Is it? Thanks, I've been working on this for a while," Reimu replied back, looking somewhat smug with the compliment I gave her.
"Well, I don't think we should be talking about tea…" I kind of wanted to get to the topic of where I was going to live for the time being.
"Oh, right, Outsider. Well, um, you'll probably need a place to stay for the time being until you can return. I'm pretty fine with you staying here for a little bit, but you'd have to help me with all the youkai that mess with the shrine. Plus, this shrine isn't really...Home sweet home, you know?"
"Actually, I was hoping to see the other shrine." I noticed Reimu's gaze go a little colder. "You know, the one near the mountain?" Alright, I was going to have a lie a little. "Alice kind of told me there was another Outsider on the mountain, who runs a shrine. I was hoping for more tips on how to...You know, adapt."
"Yeah...I know who you mean, Sanae. I can see why you would say that, since she knows what it's like to be in that sort of ordeal. At least stay for the night, so you'll get some time with my...Accomplice with your situation." Reimu sighed. I wanted to sigh as well, since that accomplice could just destroy me in an instant.
"Thank you," I reply. They were going to assist me anyhow, right?
"Well, don't thank us yet, I'm not too comfortable with her. I'm pretty sure she's the cause of why you woke up here. "
"So no one has any idea of this place?" Reimu nodded in answer. Why do I know so much about it then?
"Right. Anyway, usually Outsiders lose their memories when they come back out, and it ends up being this dream, but sometimes people want to stay and live here. You know, new life and all."
"And abandon their family and friends on the Outside?"
"...Sometimes, they don't have any." Reimu was a bit silent. I hadn't expected something like that. I was thinking too much about myself.
"So...Any tips while I'm here?"
"Don't go outside at night, unless you're in the village or in my shrine."
"Thanks." Reimu let out a gesture of a thumbs up at me.
"Anyway...That's about it, unless you're looking for details. Do you know of a woman with blonde hair?"
"Yes." I know where this is going.
"Er, that's a bit vague. An old woman who likes to hold a parasol or a fan around, and travels around using big portals with eyes inside?"
Yes. I lied and said, "No."
"Okay, well, you're about to meet her in...Hold on." Reimu drank the rest of her tea, before resting a bottle which looked similar to a vase, on the table beside it. Was that sake? Did Japan even have a legal drinking age? It's 20, right?
Then again, they didn't really care.
Reimu casually picked at her fingernails, forcefully ignoring the sake, while sipping her cup of tea, even though there was nothing in it. "Usually I can get her with some alcohol, but this stuff tastes terrible, I'm not sure what she likes about it."
"It's a classic!" I heard, then there I saw it. A portal above the bottle. I immediately jumped from the sight.
The portal was somewhat creepier when I looked at it and made me jump in surprise at the sight. There was something awfully intimidating with a giant rip in the air showing an endless purple-black void while dozens, almost hundreds of eyes stared into the rip's direction.
I saw a hand slowly extend outward from it, reaching for the bottle. That is, before Reimu acted so quickly, I couldn't even see her hand. Reimu was tightly gripping an arm.
"Hey, Yukari, you have an Outsider, do you mind?" Reimu asked as she kept hold of the hand. Something told me this Yukari could pull her hand out at any time if she wished, but she simply wasn't doing it.
"Do you mind?" I heard another voice reply. Older and much more mature.
"Could you stop trying to steal my empty bottle of sake?"
"It's empty? You really should throw those sorts of things away." She didn't see that? Maybe I could've bribe her alliance with alcohol!
Oh wait, I was 16.
"I'll use your gap as my trash can."
"What? My boundary transportation does not come with a recycling bin!"
"Really?" Silence aside from maybe the interrogating lasers Reimu was firing.
"...No."
"Well, unless you want my empty cup of tea in there as well, I think you should explain how you transported him," She gestures toward me, "Into here."
"Yes, yes…" Yukari replied. I then noticed the portal suddenly expanded. As the purple eye-filled void got bigger and bigger, the strange thing was how silent it was, and how it literally made no sound as it expanded. In a way, it frightened me.
As she floated through the portal, I got a good look at the legend that stood with the game, Yukari Yakumo.
With purple eyes and long blonde hair, she carried a pink lace parasol and a paper fan, while a dress matching her eyes covered for her apparel. She had a pink mob cap with a thin red ribbon, and there were other smaller ribbons tied on her accessories and the tips of her hair.
Didn't she wear a different kind of attire in another...Er...Maybe this is like her casual wear or something?
"...Hello, miss...Sorry to disturb you," I politely greeted. I badgered myself, realizing I should've stood up and bowed.
"Ah, no need for formalities," Yukari replied back, closing her parasol and then unfolding her fan, covering her mouth. I felt a smile toward me, in a sort of terrifying feeling behind it.
"So...My name's Alan. I don't know what to do here."
"Alan? Which Alan?" I realized that Yukari must have transported many into Gensokyo.
"Alan Hien Vu."
"Ah, yes. " She replied, "I remember now. You were about to get into an accident, weren't you?"
"What? But...I was about to die, and I woke up here!"
"You likely passed out since it was quite a close moment. You didn't even notice the clothes I dropped for you. " I blinked with no idea briefly. Before long, I realized Yukari must have sent some clothes over and I just didn't see it. Whoops.
However, the close moment dissipated. Like a boulder on my head, I immediately turned my thoughts to my mom and dad.
"What about…" Yukari covered her lips with her fan in reply, but something told me there was an expression I did not want to see.
"...I imagine you know." Complete silence. I don't know what I thought during that moment, but I assume it was surprise, then anger. I don't know if the tone of her voice was what induced it, or if it was just shock and denial flying through my head.
"..." The youkai stayed quiet as well in reply, and knew what my reaction was going to be.
"Forgive my bluntness, and my condolences to your loss." I imagined this to just be a regular polite reaction from a youkai. She probably didn't care at all.
"...It's alright, " I said, even though it was blatant lie and I was not okay.
"Though, you are alive, at least." I was beginning to have thoughts that Yukari was simply using me as something else entirely, like food. I forced myself not to curse out at the youkai. There was more silence that took control of the mood.
I finally took a deep breath and said, "Thank you. For saving my life." Yukari blinked, and I kept in memory the brief moment of surprise that was on her face. "Even if you couldn't save my parents...They would've died to protect me."
"Like any other parent should," Yukari mumbled after a long while. I could've sworn she glanced at Reimu, but I took it as my imagination. Reimu didn't say anything nor could I read her expression.
"What do you plan on doing?" The youkai asked, likely curious about my plan. Unfortunately, my plan extended through me getting into the shrine. I had no idea what to do next. I sort of winged it with my reply.
"...I'm not sure. Maybe look for a house and job. May even try to become someone's apprentice. I really don't know."
Reimu offered, "You could help clean up around my shrine, and I'll let you stay here." It would've resolved the guilt I had for not doing anything in here.
"Or become my servant~" Yukari casually pointed out. Reimu shot Yukari a glare. "Or not. Reimu, you should learn how to take a joke."
"I don't think that's a joke," We said, mostly in unison. Yukari continued staring at us, the eyes beaming with amusement. Reimu and I shot a glance, only replying with a shrug.
"Reimu," Yukari began, "I think you could at least recommend something that doesn't involve working for you. You're slacking enough as it is."
"And where are you?"
"Negotiating."
"About 'classic' sake?"
"I never said it was a democratic negotiation. These things are very important to discuss about."
"So is this." Yukari blinked.
"Well, you're not wrong. Alan." I looked up at her.
"Yes?" I replied.
"If you don't know yet, I'm Yukari Yakumo, a simple passing youkai who led you here. According to the other world, you're dead, but if you wish to return; you are free to ask. I can offer you much here, without much in payment. I don't really need much, either way." It was a bit of a no brainer if I didn't think about it, but I was considered dead outside of Gensokyo. What would be the point of coming back?
"I'd need some time." The youkai nodded in reply.
"I'll be returning home now. For now, farewell, Reimu, Vu. Oh, and if you need anything, feel free to call for me." Yukari quickly left through her portals, gracefully and quickly. Reimu sighed.
"I'll go set up an extra futon." She walked into the depths of her shrine.
I helped Reimu out with the futon, since I didn't want to be first impressed as a lazy doorknob who just wanted to sit under a heated table. Reimu seemed to be appreciative of the help, at least.
Construction with my brother has never felt so useful now.
"I think I have some extra blankets and a pillow, so I'll go look for that." Reimu began walking away once more. I looked at the futon. It was very different than the kind we have. For one, it wasn't a portable couch that you could change into a makeshift bed. It looked like a fairly small mattress with what I assumed would be covered with a blanket and a pillow.
"So, Alan, what's it like, in the Outside?" I shrugged in response.
"Boring."
"I've heard. Is it really that dull?"
"It's more like, people have the 'peaceful' life they want, but it's not enough. Though, judging from what's happening now, it's almost as if the world is gonna tear itself apart. It's all just waiting and working to me."
"Tear? Wait, why?"
"Politics, poor leaders, you know." Reimu nodded in reply.
"That's...Generally vague, but I kind of see it. Is it that bad?"
"I think we've just gotten too sensitive. It's...I don't know, really." I went to the front step, looking up at the sky. I wanted to change the subject. "I never knew the stars could shine like this," I commented. I could hear footsteps trail behind me.
"You get used to it," The shrine maiden replied, "But yeah. It really brightens up Gensokyo."
"I think I would prefer our more simple colors," I added. "It feels like I'm looking at night lights."
"That's just the magic," She replied, spinning her gohei.
"Magic beyond the stars?"
"Nah, just kidding..." She began walking away. "Or not. Who knows?"
I didn't have an answer. "Something, I guess. Good night, Hakurei."
"Good night," Reimu replied, walking to what I also assumed was her room. I sat back from the kokatsu, sighing. I was only hiding my feelings of fright with the polite manners I was expressing. What was I going to do?
I spent several minutes in the dark. I sat under the kokatsu, and simply pondered.
What was I doing here? What should have I been doing? Why was I here and why do I know so much about this place when I shouldn't?
To be food. For them. My conclusion went. Why else would I have woken up in the Forest? To them, I was a regular human. Only...I wasn't. From what I remember, no one from the outside world should have known about Gensokyo, except for three people! Where was I, and where from? Did Yukari accidentally travel to another universe? Was everything just a coincidence?
It made me angry that Yukari would think of me that way. Something for other youkai to feast on. Was that what all humans were to Yukari? Was Gensokyo this dark inside the colors of its danmaku?
Before long, my questions ran away from my mind. I walked toward the new futon set for me, with one last question while my heart pounded away my desire to sleep.
How can I benefit from this?
idk how can he benefit from this
this story is probably gonna get worse, but it depends on how far my imagination goes
i personally think the concept i had is somewhat solid, but his prior knowledge of the touhou project is a bit out of place. i really dont know
i might put this story on hiatus to give myself some time to confirm what exactly i want to happen; new summary and all, since i don't quite have the idea yet about what i want to happen to alan
