Twenty Years Later- Bunbunmaru Spirit News archives
Child of Miare celebrates eleventh birthday!
The humans of the human village are a pitiable folk, surrounded at all angles by uncultured savages, youkai wishing to terrorise the creatures for one reason or another, I suppose for the same reason a human may kick a creature below them, like a non-youkai dog.
These short-lived, unfortunate creatures rarely have anything to pride themselves in, but their ability to gather information and retain it despite their minute lifespan is something rather incredible indeed. Of course, they are not quite as skilled as the tengu at this documentation, but they have impressed all intellectually-inclined youkai with their academia, nonetheless.
One of the main figures behind their success against the odds is a mere child, even by human standards, of only eleven years of age. Her name is Hieda no Akyuu, an adorable little upstart who has the unique ability to remember the memories of former humans that have died, namely the former Children of Miare.
It is unknown if the title of 'Child of Miare' is arbitrarily chosen, or if it is due to some kind of reincarnation, but, however the humans manage it, they make sure that once one Child of Miare dies, another is born. Their memories are somehow transferred from one human to the other, effectively giving the Child of Miare a pool of experience similar to that of a youkai, with the retention and sharpness gained from being the mind of a short-lived animal.
Anyway, yesterday, the current Child of Miare, Hieda no Akyuu, celebrated her eleventh birthday, making her the first Child of Miare in history to outlive her predecessor, which the human village consider to be an omen of good things to come. This may mean that slow news times are ahead, if they are correct...
Regardless, I was overjoyed to see that the adorable Miss Hieda was alive and well when she was thrown a parade in her honour. She seemed a little overwhelmed by the whole spectacle, and I couldn't help but assume that was the case, given she looks like but an easily overwhelmed child, but then I remembered that her mental age is far greater than that...
Many important members of the human village paid individual respects and gave gifts to the child, including Miss Keine Kamishirasawa, who gave her some kind of special liquid encased in a bottle, most likely not alcoholic due to the young nature of her body. She was heard whispering something to her, but it seemed to amount to no more than a 'thank you' for providing her school with so much information.
The children of the human village also sang her a song in her honour... the strangest part being that, of course, the girl looked around the same age as the children that were addressing and treating her as a superior. The other two youkai teachers of the human village the religious fanatic, Dawitsu and his assistant, Yutaka Hadekawa, each gave a gift themselves, the former most likely apologising for attempting to take over the village. Miss Hadekawa provided young Akyuu with some kind of book relating to her unique sorcery, while Mister Dawitsu had baked her a cake, and even lit candles upon it in her honour. He began to sing what was most likely an unholy chant, but the villagers were wise to his deceit and did not join him in song.
Once the festivities were for the most part over, I decided to ask her about how she felt to be the luckiest Child of Miare in history. This is how the interview went...
Aya: Greetings, Miss Hieda! Congratulations on not dying before your eleventh birthday!
Akyuu: I'll... try to take that as a compliment.
Aya: Oh, did I say something rude?
Akyuu: Well, it's just mentioning my predecessors' short lives, and what that means to me... well, it's just a little impolite to bring death up in such festivities...
Aya: But that's why we're celebrating, right? Because for eleven years now, your death has been avoided! Why would you be afraid of death anyway? You still keep your memories, just keep them in a different body, right?
Akyuu: Well, it isn't quite that simple... see, I may keep my predecessors' memories, but my personality changes with each body... and I like this personality!
Aya: Is that so? Well, I think anyone would find it difficult to dislike oneself. I'm sure you'll like your next body's personality too...
Akyuu: What's making you so eager to see me die, tengu?
Aya: No! No, no! I didn't mean it in that way!
Akyuu: Well, it sure seems that way. Do you have any idea what it's like? Most humans only start seeing their birthdays as commemoration of their approaching death when their hair starts going grey! I've seen it as that for all my life!
Aya: Miss Hieda, I didn't mean to upset you...
Akyuu: What did you mean to do, then?
Aya: I wanted to ask you how much you enjoyed the festivities! Does it feel good to be honoured?
Akyuu: I appreciate everyone's efforts, but I actually prefer to not think about my birthdays. My days are eternal, yet they are always numbered. It's strange... we humans don't have minds that naturally cope with such long lives. That's why I feel sorry for Miss Fujiwara. The sages say that the world will eventually crumble, and there'll be nothing but a void that can never allow life... I will stop reincarnating then. Miss Fujiwara will just keep regenerating. I rather like my vast experience, but I'd also like it to end permanently at some point. I'll be able to get that, but Miss Fujiwara... will not.
Aya: Oh my, an information gatherer and a philosopher! You are a skilled human, aren't you? Let it be said that you are always welcome with us tengu.
Akyuu: There's no need to kiss my ass just because you accidentally insulted me with your insipidity...
Aya: Insipidity? Cheeky girl!
Akyuu: Remember, this is only my body. I've been a girl or a boy for many a year... not as long as you, but do not talk down to me.
Aya: Sorry, Miss Hieda!
Akyuu: There you are again, butt-kissing...
Aya: It's quite disturbing to see such... mature dialogue coming from such a young mouth. Uh... a change of subject is in order, I think! What gifts did the three teachers of the village give you, and why?
Akyuu: Well, Miss Kamishirasawa and I, we go way back, since my first body. That body was a boy's one, not a girl's...
Aya: Ooh, I forgot about that! What's it like knowing what it's like to be both a boy and a girl?
Akyuu: None of my bodies have been fortunate enough to go through puberty and experience any real difference. Anyway, before you so rudely interrupted me, I was talking about Miss Kamishirasawa and I. When I was a boy, the first Child of Miare, I made sure that I wrote down my favourite drink down in the Gensokyo Chronicle so that I'd never forget it...
Aya: And what was it?
Akyuu: Salted sakura tea, made from edible cherry blossoms. I positively love the stuff, and Keine... Keine went above and beyond getting her gift for me...
Aya: What's so special about that? Anyone can collect cherry petals and make them into a tea. She didn't even give you that much!
Akyuu: You're so rude. It's special because Keine collected the sakura petals necessary for that tea from the Saigyou Ayakashi itself. Youkai Trees are said to make the strongest flavoured flowers, and as far as I know, the Saigyou Ayakashi is the only Youkai Cherry Tree in all of Gensokyo. It never blooms, so they say, but apparently the Ghost Princess, Miss Saigyouji, kept some of the petals from a time it nearly bloomed... Keine had to beg and beg to make her give her some... she's probably indebted to her in an unimaginable way. This tea is the most valuable present I could ever ask for...
Aya: Now I feel like a jerk...
Akyuu: And so you should...
Aya: Um... so... what did the other teachers give you?
Akyuu: Hmm... that creepy magician girl with the smiley face gave me a set of small books she calls 'scientific journals'. The first entry is one written by a human named 'Robert Oerter'... they seem confusing, but apparently she wants to contribute something to the enlightenment of the human village, so I guess she means well enough, especially given she's a youkai.
Aya: I'm a youkai too, you know!
Akyuu: Given how you've acted, I think you can forgive me for being a little callous. You're probably going to ask me what that strange mimicking youkai gave me, aren't you?
Aya: Well, I know it was a cake... why did he light candles on top of it, though? I can understand lighting candles in your honour, but why do that on top of your food?
Akyuu: I don't know. But the cake was nice. I haven't eaten it all yet, but it tastes like... sugar cane and... cream. He's a nice man, but very weird, just like his smiley friend...
Aya: Ah, and what was the unholy chant he was going to sing?
Akyuu: 'Happy Birthday to you'. No-one in the village knew the lyrics...
Aya: You mean... he wasn't trying to use the celebrations to promote his twisted religion?
Akyuu: He has a religion?
Aya: You live in the village, how could you not have noticed?
Akyuu: I'm afraid I haven't noticed anything. I'll ask him about it... so, anything else you want to say that could unintentionally insult me?
Aya: Um... I get the feeling you want me to leave...
Akyuu: I do. Goodbye, tengu.
Aya: Um... okay. Goodbye, Miss Hieda. I hope the rest of your birthday will be fun... let's toast to a long... life...
Akyuu: Okay, just go.
I can only assume Miss Hieda no Akyuu did enjoy the festivities, and secretly enjoyed receiving gifts for her uncharacteristically long life, and I honestly wish her all the best in remaining the humans' lead collector of information.
We tengu pride those who love knowledge, and therefore, of all the humans in the village, we are most proud of Hieda no Akyuu. If you're reading this, Miss Hieda, please accept my most sincere apologies, as I only wish to be respectful to you.
Article written by Aya Shameimaru
Present-day hindsight: Like, this was totally funny, like, Aya must have felt super-goofy! I'm, like, surprised she truthfully typed up her interview like that. I guess she wanted to be truthful because she wanted Miss Hieda to read it, and she'd be, like, super angry with Aya if she found out she had misrepresented her.
And I, like, think she honestly wanted to apologise... like, guess there's a first time for everything, huh?