NEWCOMERS
4 : Shopping at the Human Village
Oh my beloved moon! How lovely thou art! -[From the song, Bulan /moon/, Translated]
Great Youkai Forest
Kotori wakes up to see green above her. Green and sparkling light... she is still within the forest. Soft humming comes from her left, along with the crackling of wood-fire and the tantalizing smell of her ever-favourite mushrooms… apparently as a soup, as she can hear a thick liquid being stirred around as well.
Wait, what? Wood-fire? Mushroom soup?
"Waah~" with a jolt, the youkai gets up from her laying-down sleeping position and sees beside her, a metre or so to her left, the same human she saw earlier, save that her clothes are now covered in blood and torn in several places.
Hearing the youkai's sudden rising, the human turns to look, and, with a smile on her face, softly says "Oh, I am glad to see that thou bist awake now. How was thy sleep?"
The human notices how the agitated the youkai seems to be, every fibre seemingly coiled to strike.
Noticing, the human can't help but chuckle. "Oh, worry not. I won't eat thee... and those wolves are dead. Here, have some soup."
Eying the bowl, the youkai tries holding back, but the mere sight of her favourite food -as a soup, no less- easily disarmed her, and, with a slight pause, reluctantly accepts the small wooden bowl that the human was holding out.
"I just picked whatever mushrooms out here looked edible" the human hums, drinking her own mushroom soup, but seeing the blissful smile on the youkai's face, grins and adds "but it seems like it doesn't matter anyway"
Lifting her face off the bowl, the youkai timidly asks "Miss... May I ask for your name?"
The human puts her bowl down and, placing her hands to the ground beside her, says "No... I won't tell thee yet. Not in the open at least... but for now, call me 'Elle'"
"Elle." the youkai repeats, her brows rising slightly in interest. It sure is curious... for someone not a reporter or a thief to be using a pseudonym in Gensokyo... and even so, in Gensokyo, reporters and thieves use their real name anyways, as she knows so well.
"So, may I ask thy name in return?" the human asks, scooping another serving of the mushroom soup into her bowl.
"Kotori." The youkai answers. "Kotori Shimada"
"Kotori." The human hums. "Ahh... Such a sweet name... fit for someone like thee, nu?"
The youkai blushes, stammers, and finally notices the state of her clothes.
"Oh, hey! I thought this was ripped in half... how...?" the youkai gasps in surprise.
"Ah, that? I fixed it." The human says in between sips. "Please be careful though... the thread might not hold if thou givest too much strain to it"
With a nod, the youkai utters "I understand."
"Anyway, thou art safe and rested, so I guess this will be adieu" says the human, walking away calmly.
"Wait"
The human turns to face the youkai, looking down at the ground.
"Yes?"
Clutching the dirt, the youkai asks "I cannot defend myself... I can only Fly; I can't even do danmaku"
"Oh... then that means-"
"May I come with you?"
"Of course- Yes", the human replies as the youkai beams in delight.
Human Village [Hitozato]; Square
"Ah, so you were looking for the place where they sell carts?" an old woman said to the one who introduced herself as Elle before, to which the pink-haired human nods politely in response. "Ah, yes, Señora."
The old woman chuckles, "My, there's no need for you to be that formal, *ihihihi~* anyway, the shop is that way"
"Many thanks." She said, bowing politely and then glancing at the place the old woman was pointing to, and sure enough, fifty or so paces away is a shop with varied carts at the entrance.
As she walks towards the shop, Kotori, who was right beside her, asks "Um, Elle-san? What are we going to buy?"
"Hnn?" the human grunts, her eyebrows raised "ah, yes... We're going to buy some necessities."
"And need a cart for that?"
"Fu-Fu-Fu~ It's going to be a lot, Kotori"
Now, it's Kotori's turn for her to lift her eyebrows. "But we don't have a dwelling at the least...! how are we going to keep safe the things we buy?"
"I did say necessities, ya?"
"Don't tell me..."
"We're going to make our own house!", 'Elle' exclaims. In her mind, an image of a sign pointing to a large western mansion flashes, saying 'El Castillo Verde' in bright colours.
"Yep, build a house~ a house~ in a place where plants live eternal~ yes, eternal~", the human suddenly sings.
Kotori sweatdrops "Um... right..." and, with a quick snap of her fingers, she says "Oh~! That's right... Elle-san, You still have not told me your name yet."
"That..." the human hums, "oh that... my real name is... Sayundobiigafujan ni Ginsapamato-puso, though I desire you call me by my name's pronunciation in a different manner, which is Sayuntubignanaghulan Ning Gintonsapaskamatayambuso"
"Waai~" the youkai gasps, waving her arms around. "I~ cannot~ remember~ it~" she mumbles with slightly dizzy eyes.
"Just call me Sayu then." The human replies with a slight chuckle. Turning her face to the heavens, she then hums happily "Oh Moon! How beautiful art thou~"
The youkai stares at Sayu, dumbstruck.
"Those that confide to thee lose their grieva-" she suddenly stops. "Oh, it seems like we're here."
Before Kotori could either comment or react, Sayu rushes into the store and then rushes back out, pulling a large black cart.
"Wha!" the youkai exclaims, her eyes wide open in shock. "That was F-A-S-T!"
"Oh yes~", the human replies. "To infinity and beyond it was~"
"Err" the youkai sweat-drops once again.
"Nn?"
"Anyway, how did you buy that, Miss Sayu?" Kotori asks with an innocent look. "How did you get the money?"
"I exchanged mine" answers the human, showing the youkai the hidden pockets in her dress.
'No wonder her dress droops' thinks Kotori as she sees the nearly bursting money bags.
"Whaa~t!" The youkai utters in disbelief "You're Rich!"
"Uhm, what...?"
"..."
"Shall we go buy something?" the human inquires while motioning Kotori to the large empty back of the cart.
Human Village [Hitozato]; Shopping District
Half an hour later, the duo have shopped almost everything in the human village, including, amongst other things, A gargantuan cart that could barely go through the human village's gate to hold their first cart and numerous purchases, almost all of the varnished hardwood available for sale, construction materials, peach seeds, gardening tools, and magically sealed steel safes. What is really eye-catching in the pile of merchandise though, would be the fat Mobile Armoured Unit-esque robot pulling the cart, sold by the kappa as powerhorses for phenomenal prices.
Kotori sits on top of the man-sized, but bulky robot, piloting it while Sayu walks on ahead, showing where Kotori is to go.
Kotori now wears a green whole-body dress with a contrasting purple obi at her waist, and at her back, fastened to her through the obi, is the fused sheath of the scythe. Lower down, she wears a wooden tall geta.
As for Sayu, she now wears a black kimono with pink flower designs snaking from the bottom to the top, a black mop-cap that has a red ribbon running around it, bunching into a golden ribbon at the side, where it looks like a ponytail, has her two swords sheathed at her waist, and wears a black Bakya*.
As they walk towards the village's gate, Sayu looks to her side. And, noticing a Jewellery store, stops, turns around, says "Kotori! Let's go buy a few!" as she points at said store.
"Hai~" answers Kotori as she activates the robot's lockdown system and climbs down just as the NitoriTek(tm) force field coats the robot and the attached cart.
However, just as Kotori turns to face Sayu, she notices that the human is no longer there.
Looking around nervously, she sees the human standing in front of the jewellery store. Surprising, considering that the store is at least twenty metres away and Kotori took no less than two seconds to get off the robot.
'This is insane. What happened?' she thinks as she walks over to Sayu, who, seeing Kotori beside her, takes a small headband and presents it to the youkai, saying "It looks so nice, care to try it on, Kotori?"
The headband is black with pink lines and on one side, a ribbon tied into a rose design. Putting on the headband, Kotori then shyly asks "and... how do I look?"
Covering her mouth with her fan, Sayu says "Perfect."
Kotori and Sayu start giggling, but are cut short when the Shop's owner suddenly barks "Hey, Lady! Are'n'tcha buy'un zat o' not? Fifty Yen."
Kotori immediately glares at the shopkeeper with a look that says 'Take that back or I will kill you', but the man -who wears black jeans, green shirt, and holds a large bottle sake in his left hand, by the way- seems to ignore this. Sayu on the other hand, immediately hands the man twice the amount stated.
The man takes the money bag and then starts chuckling as he counts the excess money, thinking 'my, my, ze lady doesn't look at what she pays... heh.'
Seeing the smug smirk on the man's face as he counts the coins, Kotori could feel her body getting hot in rage. At once, she turns to Sayu and asks "Miss Kotori! Why did you not scold that rude man? And you payed him twice the amount of what you just bought!"
Looking at the little youkai solemnly, Sayu says "Oh, my, Kotori. I stick to the saying 'be polite even when others are not, when others cannot, and when others could not. Besides, I also plan on buying something that also costs 50 yen."
Eyeing the stall, she scans the merchandise before picking out a bracelet with carved wooden beads priced at 45Y, and at once, reaches for it. However, a pale hand grabs the bracelet at the same time at her.
Sayu turns to look at the person who also turned her head to look at her.
She appears to be somewhere around 12 to 13 years old, has sapphire eyes, snow-white short hair, and wears a green vest over a white shirt, a green skirt with white borders, and a headband identical to the one Sayu just bought for Kotori, except that it is pure black and the ribbon is in a more classic ribbon shape, as opposed to a rose.
She also has two sheathes at her waist, one longer than the other, and floating near her, a white soul the size of her body.
The young girl mutters under her breath "Yuyuko... sama?" as Sayu bows politely, saying "Ara~ If you wish to buy this one, young lady, I can pay for it if you wish. I already did."
"Sayu-sama" Kotori calls as she walks to Sayu's side. "This would be Youmu Konpaku: the half-ghost gardener of the netherworld. That soul floating around her would be her ghost half."
Donning a whimsical smile, Sayu turns to face Kotori and then says "Please, call me Zurocha" and then, leaning forward towards Youmu, reaches out her hand as she says "Ah, nice to meet you, Señorita Youmu. Call me Zurocha."
Youmu takes her hand, surprised for a moment by the deathly cool of the skin which contradicts her life force and human aura. Getting over it, she moves her hand in a handshake as she says "A pleasure to meet such a nice person as you, Miss Zurocha."
Ending the handshake, Youmu thinks 'No human could have skin as cold as this. Is that you, Yuyuko-sama?' as Sayu says "Oh no, the pleasure is all mine.", she herself thinking 'is it just me, or did she cringe a bit there?'
Sayu turns to get the second wooden bracelet available, pays for it promptly, and then explains for the shopkeeper that her previous 100 yen was for the headband and the bracelet in Youmu's hands.
Afterwards, Sayu instructs Kotori to turn on the robot or, as the kappa called it; "Multi-purpose Automatic Workhorse", Youmu observing the scene with some confusion. For some reason, Kotori and Sayu interest her.
"Ah, I have to go now. Farewell." Says Youmu as she starts walking for the village's easterly gate.
"Kon'inara" replies Sayu as she climbs the robot's back and sits beside her companion.
Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice
Elle/Sayu and Kotori belong to Zurocha
Broken Down 2012:06:20;水曜日;UTC+8
Written by: Zurocha, the Blood-Tea-Lovin' Vampire of Ragnarök
Assists: None
Special Credits: Etherdrone, for making her… slightly confusing (at first), but enjoyable fic. Don't confuse Shinki for Shinki though, because Shinki is always Shinki and can never be Shinki because Shinki is Shinki and not Shinki. Why? Because, Shinki is just not Shinki because Shinki is Shinki and not Shinki for Shinki is Shinki and not Shinki but Shinki.
AUTHOR NOTES
You might have seen it for four chapters already, but I modified disclaimer a bit and came up with something different from the Willie G.R.-Dono's disclaimer format (Which was the original; The old disclaimer, such as the ones you will see in arcs 2-3 is more or less identical)
"Assists" are people who willingly or unwittingly helped me in the particular chapter through comments, etc.
"Special Credits" refers to people I just have to mention… like the person who made the OC that was the inspiration of one of my OCs, etc. The special credits are one-chapter only, so I give the Special Credit to the person I have to credit only for that chapter; for example, for helping me shape an OC, that person will be mentioned when the OC is first introduced. No mentions will be done in the following chapters as it will take up too much space.
Aaand… yeah.
So far, the chapter seems blank and too daily-life-y.
Ah, and I also modified the chapter format as a whole… though that might not at all matter.
FOOT-NOTES, ETC.
*Bakya - A Philippine toothed wooden sandal similar, if not identical to the Geta: Usually made of bamboo and has two teeth that run side-by-side throughout the sandal's length. (by comparison, the geta teeth run across.)
*Translated lyrics of "Bulan" which talks about Bulan/Bujan/Buwan or Moon.
*Thou Bist is my preferred spelling of Thou Be'st which is pronounced as /ðaʊ bist/ and it means the same thing as "Thou Art."
*You can find Thou Bist/ Thou Be'st in German as Du Bist.
MAW – this is similar to "MAU" (from RF)