AN: This chapter might be a little darker then the others.
Chapter 6
-1 Month Later-
Judging from the way I woke up, I must've passed out in a weird position. I was and still am researching extensively, so it's no wonder that I would've fallen asleep before I knew it. I'm sprawled out across the futon, legs not even in the blanket. What even happened last night?
"It's two in the afternoon." Rinnosuke should be up and manning his shop. He should know what happened. I get up and walk through the hallway to the store. I open the door and see him look at strangely.
"Hey, what happened last night?" His pace gets pale. Hey…did I do something weird last night? I didn't even drink alcohol or anything though, so why don't I remember falling asleep? And why does my head hurt so much…?
"You don't remember what happened when you took a second trip to the village?" He says a bit hesitantly. Hold on…second trip? Let me try and remember. Let's see, there was me eating some food and going back into my room and that's about it. Wait, I think I'm recalling something.
"Hey Rinnosuke, why do I remember seeing a certain green-haired bitch at the human village...again? Such an awful person hanging around and enjoying herself when she was supposed to be banned from it from one year." He takes a deep breath.
"I don't know anything about banning, but you need to resolve your problems with each other. How about giving her another flower?" I turn a heavy glare towards his direction. He took a step back from the intensity of it. I direct it downward because I know that I should just ignore this hatred festering in me, but I just can't.
"There's no way. The moment I even see her or even think about her, I just want to kill her. She feels the same as I do. Yeah, I remember what happened now." I'm irritated at that incident. Very irritated. We would have broken into another battle if we weren't interrupted.
Flashback
"Rinnosuke let's head back into the village and enjoy ourselves! Marisa left, so we're gonna have some good fun." I grabbed his wrist and flew back to the village. He pulls himself off of me shortly and starts hovering behind me. I'm super tired as all hell with these bags under my eyes. I need to reenergize myself.
"Fine. There're probably some interesting things to do there. Don't cause any trouble though." He says to me like I'm a person who causes chaos wherever he goes. I don't even try to do anything bad, it's just that bad things happen around me. We touch down by the entrance and walk back in while waving to the guards.
All of a sudden, I feel a pulsing from my body. "This feeling…!" This overwhelming anguish and rage coming from my core. It can only be her, but what the hell is she doing here! She's a evil monster who'll kill anyone who even looks at her wrong. I just know it. And why is she here again?! I grit my teeth and begin looking around sharply.
"What are you doing?" Rinnosuke questions me with an odd look on his face. I take off without answering him because I think I finally sensed her out. I run to the center of the festival to where some shops are. By a flower store, I see her looking at me. She's wearing a skirt this time instead of pants. We're just staring at each other.
I see Keine, Marisa, and Reimu also nearby. "Why did you run off like that?" Rinnosuke comes up to me exasperated. He turns to my direction and a shiver goes down his spine. He grabs on to my wrist tightly. "Wil, no!" I shove him off and take heavy steps towards her. She doesn't move from her spot in the slightest, only watching my footsteps.
Keine notices me and waves, but I completely ignore it. The only thing in my sight is this bitch in front of me. "Oh, what's with the bags under your eyes? Are you okay?" She mocks my physical state and tiredness.
Yeah, I'm surprised I'm still awake and functioning right now Haven't slept in three days. At least i reenergized myself from the sight of this...thing in front of me.
"Hmph. What the hell are you doing here, wretch? Here to eat some innocent humans, or do you just want to cause some problems? Actually, why are you even allowed back in the village? Nah, I don't care about that, we can settle our problems right now, you cursed bitch." I cross my arms and square off against her. There's no way I can get along with her. She's too disgusting for my mind.
"Hey. What's the problem here?" The shrine maiden? Have I been so focused on this Youkai in front of me that everything else zoned out? I see Rinnosuke was the one to get her. "Are you guys trying to make more work for me?" She seems to be smiling, but that can quickly turn into irritation if we actually do cause a brawl here.
"Why did you allow her back in here?"
"Why do you think i'm staying around her?" She answers my question with one of her own. So, she's actually on a leash. That's acceptable...I guess. Still makes me upset though.
"…Fine. Yuuka, let's take this somewhere else." Her smile turns into a frown at my words. What, did she really think that I would endanger random people in our brawl? No, not a brawl, a fight to the death. I want nothing more than to wring my hands around her goddamn neck, for good this time.
"That seems fine." At least she had the courtesy to agree, not that I would let her go even if she didn't want to start the processes of mutual killing. Can't call it fighting, otherwise it'd break a promise.
"Don't let them go on their own Miss Reimu." Cue Rinnosuke interrupt. "They'll start killing each other immediately once they leave. They'll also cause a huge incident if they even meet each other. These two are instruments of chaos that choose not to get along!" He points at the both of us and tells lies.
"First, I'm not an instrument of chaos. Second there's no choice about it. Third, when have I ever caused an incident?" I raise my brow at Rinnosuke. Although, I might cause a big incident if it helps me get back home. I put my hand over my face and let out an agonized sigh.
Do I really want to go back…? I pulverize that stray thought immediately.
"You did come to kill me yesterday." Yuuka tells the shrine maiden about what I did. I glare at her.
"You deserved it. I'm gonna keep trying to kill you until you die. You won't stop the threat of death until you kill me with your own hands. Can you feel it, Yuuka? The destiny of our blood?" I spread both of my hands. I know I'm not the only one who feels this abnormal hatred. Dark Matter starts flaking off of my body causing a negative effect on a small part of reality around me.
"I do feel it. I don't want this annoyance lingering around me any longer, so I guess we can finish things tonight…" A whisper that reaches only my ears. We smash our heads into each other with bared teeth on one side and a terrifying smile on the other. I can see her for the ugly Youkai that she is in full. That green aura of power threatens to destroy the entire village. Right when I raise my hand to send her out of the village…
"Don't cause me trouble!" Reimu smacked the back of my head hard with that damn stick right on my head. Combined with all of the lack of sleep, I went right into a half-sleeping state. I also saw her hit Yuuka in the same spot, much to my joy. I didn't feel that much joy when I fell on the ground tired though. Reimu looked surprised at my state.
"Miss Reimu, he's tired from doing extracurricular activities." That makes it sound like I've been doing some sketchy things.
"Him and Yuuka ignored the rules of the spell card battles and began a life-and-death duel multiple times." He pushes his glasses up and throws me under the bus. Reimu glares at me, but I have the excuse of already being injured, so she turns on Yuuka who doesn't look amused at all.
"It seems I have to beat the rules into people!" Rinnosuke looks a bit panicked and picks me up. He flies away before a crazy battle can begin.
Yeah, that's about what happened last night. I still feel a lingering anger, but I need to cool off and do something else today. I guess I owe Rinnosuke for not letting me be controlled by my instincts.
"You two have a lot of unresolved sexual tension." He whispers to himself, but unfortunately for him, I actually heard those blasphemous words. I instantly appear in front of him and slam the counter. He drops the book in shock and looks at my deranged eyes.
"You…you dare say such a horrid thing? To even entertain the thought of me having a positive relationship with her is the height of folly, Morichika Rinnosuke!" I call him by his full name to convey just how annoyed I am at his line of thought. "That's no good. That's no goddamn good at all!"
"I think…that you should calm down? And you should also try and make up with her." Impossible. Making up requires that we even had a healthy relationship in the first place. We started off with hatred, the very worst kind. There's no making up.
Do you even understand what that person is really like? No, I won't even consider her a person. I'm going to send that bitch straight to hell.
Shouldn't I focus on getting home instead of a meaningless hatred that won't last…?
My mind cools off instantly. I pull a book out of my hoodie. There's this thing that I can translate with the language books I borrowed from the library. There're also the dimensional travel books I need to finish. There's one theoretical time travel book as well. There's a lot of things I need to do to get home. I look at Rinnosuke with a placid gaze.
"Yeah, I'm calm now." I've attainted a serene state of mind temporarily. There's a lot of things to do today. "Rinnosuke, can I call in sick today? I'm still injured from that concussion that red-white gave me." He picks up his book and begins reading again.
'Yeah, that's fine, but you need to work again tomorrow. There's some extra things from yesterday to analyze." Good he agreed.
"Thanks. I'll see you when it's time to eat." I go back to the house and enter where I stored all of our objects. I pull out all of the books and carry them in my arms to my room. Some of these books are really large, like the language books and the dimensional travel book. Theoretical Time Travel is pretty short. I'll be cooped up all day reading these things.
First is time travel…
"Hey, it's time to eat." Rinnosuke calls out from an opened door. I look at him and put a bookmark on where I stopped. I'm nearly done with a two hundred-page book on traveling through dimensions unharmed and unchanged. Most of it is theory, but it's using the same concept of creating a barrier to cross barriers. It's kind of confusing, but I think I can manage it with my Dark Matter.
The most difficult part will be accessing the barriers between worlds. More than that is the barrier between fiction and reality. Can this place be considered fiction or reality? Are both worlds fiction to each other? To me, my home world is reality. That's where I came from and that's where I will die.
"Soup?" Dinner seems to be a heavy soup with mushrooms and meat in it. He chuckles sarcastically at me.
"Correct. Don't tell me you can't even consume mushrooms?" I don't rise to the bait and simply nod to him.
"Don't worry, I will." That's the only thing I can say to him. I begin slurping down the hot soup. I ignore how it's burning my esophagus in a pursuit to return to my studies. He's simultaneously shocked and disgusted by how fast I'm devouring the food in front of me. I set the bowl down after a minute. "Delicious."
"Completely clean…" Rinnosuke sounds distraught at my plate. "Did you even sate your gluttonous side? I'm pretty sure it tasted good, but you just skipped all of that." No time to care about such things.
"Contrary to popular belief, just because you eat something quickly doesn't mean you can't taste it." I mimic his tutor-like persona. "Now, let me use your shower wherever it is. Actually, do you even have one in this weird feudal Japan like place?" He points behind me.
"Last door on the left. I'll drop you some spare clothes." I wave that concern off. I can just clean these clothes of mine with my ability. There's a lot I can do with this actually. Dark Matter is extremely variant in its uses.
"No need. Don't show any concern for me." Don't care for me, don't worry about me, don't pay me, don't do anything for me. I'll be out of your hair once I find a way back. Back to my boring, dull life. Back to those halcyon days of mine. Back to those hellish days of mine.
I wouldn't trade it for the world…those dreamlike days of mine.
Taking a hot shower feels very nice. I'm the type to turn the knob all the way to the right for max heat. I love that burning feeling on my body. I've taken the bandages off, so the only thing soothing my body is the hot water. It makes my limbs feel loose and comfortable, like I could float away. This comes to an end like all good things though.
"Shit." The water turned completely cold. A shivering, freezing temperature permeates my entire body and chills me straight to the bones. I've taken cold showers before, so this is nothing for me. Now that I think about it, I had an extremely bad incident with a shower before I came here.
I clean up in the cold and turn the shower completely off. I look in the mirror to see tired brown eyes reflect off of it. I'm only going to get more tired from here on out.
I need to return home. The more I think about it, the more I want to return. Return or not return, my choice never factored in that decision. I'm going to return. I have to… To live my life to the fullest, I have to return home!
I step out and heat the water droplets off my body. I dress myself swiftly and walk out to see Rinnosuke cleaning the plates. He looks at me and does a double-take. Would've been better if he did a spit-take.
"Was your hair always that color?" He points in surprise at me. Wow, the dye lasted that long? I got dipped into the ocean from Yukari and it still lasted. I guess the shower was enough to remove it completely though.
I've always dyed my hair to make it look like the same as my grandparents. They used to have brown hair before it went grey, and my father had brown hair as well. Also that twin of mine... I thought it'd be fitting to copy them. To actually feel like a family.
I know that people say that blood isn't the end all and be all when it comes to family, but that didn't stop the bullying. Saying things like I was adopted and other hurtful things. Those things were just par for the course with my bad luck. I never hated my bullies because it's better to assume that they had some good in them.
"You got any hair dye?" He's looking at this rustic-red hair of mine. It looks like a faded dark-red mixed with a sharp orange. I do prefer the color of my family though. Sadly, he shakes his head in the negative.
"No, but even if I did, I think it's better for you like this. This is the real you isn't it? Take pride in your identity." My breath hitches for just the slightest, but I just give a melancholy smile. This sadness of mine would make anyone feel depressed, but it makes me feel happy. Sadness makes me content. This is my natural state. I'm not an emo guy.
"Nah, I like the "real" me more. Well, I can just make hair dye from Dark Matter. I know it's formula after all." All of me is the real me.
I create a dye-like substance and go back to the bathroom. I allow it to flow all over my hair back down to the roots. This is me. The real "Wil." I'm adopted, but I'm still a part of that wonderful family. I'm the last remaining member, so I have to go back.
I come back and put on a smile filled with happiness because I'm filled with joy. I've reaffirmed my resolve and I feel closer to my goal. I look at Rinnosuke who looks the complete opposite of me. "Yo, buddy. What's with that frown? Turn it upside-down!" I try and set a joking mood and it seems to have worked. Yeah, I don't like it when people are sad around me.
"You're actually right. You do look better with light-brown hair." I grin at him. Told you so!
"Right? That's one of the reasons why I do it. We can go pick up chicks like this, but sadly there's some things for me to do. I'll be happily working for you tomorrow when I wake up. Hopefully it'll be in the morning. I need to somehow fix my sleep schedule." I finish off with a sigh.
"Absolutely no picking up chicks. There's no telling when you'll get shanked by a knife!" He warns me with a grave tone. I don't take him seriously at all. Just because you had a bad experience with women doesn't mean I will. Besides, I prefer the normal type of woman from good old reality.
"I'll think back on your words when my bad luck screws me over, but other than that, I plan to stay away from relationships." I can at least offer these words to soothe his mind. That is true though. I never had a relationship and I don't plan on getting one. There're more important things than that after all.
I head back to my room with the book still fully open. That theory of forming a shield…it conflicts with the one where I split myself into infinitesimally small pieces to slip through the barrier. Could they both work though? Whether one is right or wrong, I still need to find a way to break through the barrier. Can I create something unnatural to do that?
I eventually finish the book at eight. I still got time before I need to head to bed, so I'll start on this weird book. The title is written in an abominable combination of Latin and Ancient Egyptian. This is going to be hell to translate. Might as well bring out both of the books and pick apart the letters.
The title reads…Phases. Sounds kind of weird. I'm gonna spend two hours on this then head to bed. I open it up and a whole bunch of dust flies off of it. Just how old is this book? When was this book written, and why did they write it this way. What's the purpose of it. I'll find all of those answers from reading everything. It's a long book though.
Oh god…just how many pages are in this book? It makes Rinnosuke's look like a damn children's book! Well after I read a bit, I'll tell him the function of the tools he got and I'll start practicing a way to get back home.
3 Months Later...
Third Person POV
"Yo, Rinnosuke." Rinnosuke looks up from his book to see his best and only employee of his store. He looks a bit subdued today walking in the store from the side entrance. Rinnosuke closes his book and adjusts his glasses.
"You're up early. Did something good happen to you?" His smile turns a bit brighter at being asked this question. That sentence sounds extremely familiar for some reason. The second one. That familiar question...just where has he heard that before?
"After nearly a year, I've finally made a damn breakthrough! You hear me Rinnosuke?! I think I'm nearly on my way back home!" He's never seen Wil this ecstatic about something before. Wil has been in Gensokyo for much longer than he would've liked, but time doesn't matter as long as he arrives back home on the same date that he left.
Just learning about the theory of time and dimensions wasn't enough. That book he received from Marisa luckily had magic theory in it. His body has an extreme rebound whenever he uses magic, but that's not going to stop him. Rinnosuke had to patch him up multiple times after his use of magic.
"Oh…really?" Wil notices his change in mood and decides to comment on it. Any other time he would assume Rinnosuke was on his man period, but he's feeling pretty good.
"What's wrong? Today's a great day!" Wil does a little spin in place from sheer joy. He stops and just looks up at the ceiling with a smile containing a combination of emptiness and relief.
"Do you really want to go back to a place where there's nothing for you?" The illusion falls apart. Wil doesn't consider it a lie, but a façade created unconsciously from his resolve. "There's nothing at all left there! You've told me about those great days, but there's nothing great about it!" Rinnosuke starts raising his voice. Wil doesn't understand what he's getting upset about.
He opens his mouth about to say something along the lines of, "so what," or "I made a promise." Something that shuts off the conversation permanently. But now…he decides to open up finally.
"Hey Rinnosuke, I never told you about my life before I was adopted." Wil stares straight at Rinnosuke's anger with a melancholy smile. He pulls up a chair and sits directly across the counter from him. "I'm unlucky, but back then…I was truly a plague of misfortune. Dunno if God hated me or something, but everything bad happened to me. Getting sick, causing people to get sick around me, causing families to break apart from random incidents…I was even assaulted because one of the parents blamed me for the death of their child."
Rinnosuke's extremely quiet now. This is the first time that Wil decided to open up about his past. Rinnosuke has barely told him about his life, but Wil decided to open up first. He opened up before Rinnosuke even came to terms with his everything falling apart.
"The orphanage I was in shut down and I was forced to fend for myself on the streets. I eventually met a family that was kind enough to take me in. Grandparents, parents, and even a younger brother who actually looked a clone of me minus the actual hair color. We eventually called each other twins once I dyed my hair light brown."
Wil's regaling his past like it was something extremely joyful. Rinnosuke can already predict the next part though. Nothing good ever lasts when it comes to this person in front of him. He's a sponge for calamity.
"It turns out that one of the unfortunate victims of my curse decided that he wanted me dead. My mother took a knife for me. He got off scot-free. Talk about bad luck yeah?" Wil laughs a bit to himself, but the halfling cannot join him at all. Who can laugh at the tragic jester in front of him?
"This part's really good though! Keep listening." That excited façade is uncrackable by this point. "My grandparents won a lottery because I told them which numbers to put in, I even thought my luck was turning around!" He raises his hands in the air. A wide grin. "But! The place where they were going to cash in got bombed." A morbid end. The child's tears have already dried up from the very start.
"Next was my brother and my dear old dad. Not even I can get excited at this tale." Rinnosuke would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit curious at this. "They both got into a car crash. The end." Wil's smiling like he told a joke. "But wait! There's more!"
The storeowner doesn't feel like listening to this anymore. He feels sick looking at the dissonance between the Wil now and his past. How can someone who went through so much still smile and show actual joy? Rinnosuke's confusion forces him to power through the tale.
"My dad survived on life support. We kept talking with hopes that he would recover…but he kept slipping into a coma for longer and longer periods. His very last words were live your life to the fullest. I floundered around for a bit after that. I then pulled the plug on him and killed my last remaining family in this world. I ended up here shortly after that."
"I don't have any more ties Rinnosuke! I'm all alone now and I have nothing. I started with nothing and I ended with nothing! Don't you see? This is my resolve! I'll…definitely get back and finally die to the fullest!" Rinnosuke was completely blown away by Wil's words. Nothing can come out of his mouth. What could he even say. He doesn't think he's good at comforting people, and this exposition dump just came out of nowhere!
"Don't worry about me though. I'll be perfectly fine." Wil sends him one last smile from the bottom of his heart before changing the flow of the conversation. "Let's talk about more interesting things. Like the time I've spent here!" He raises a single finger. "Number One at causing chaos is what you called me right?"
Rinnosuke puts that entire episode of lunacy out of his mind temporarily. If Wil jumps off of it like a man with a split personality, then he will also ignore it for the time being. He wants to question even further, but he understands what keeping to oneself is like. All he can do is try to force positive emotions on hisself.
"Still though, I've been here for quite a while now, and I didn't even cause any incidents." Rinnosuke gives him a deadpan look. There were many minor events that he caused while he was here. He nearly caused the Human Village to literally go under a mass of plants from pissing off Yuuka beyond what's normal.
His presence always sets her off, but he did something awful. He burned down her entire sunflower garden and even found her house. That got burned down as well. He said that it wasn't him the first time, but he did it the second time because of something like 'principles.'
There was no proof it was him, but Wil showing up to taunt her while she was in the Human Village nearly made her destroy everything in a furious wrath.
In the end, it took Reimu, Marisa, and Wil to keep her from blowing everything up again. Reimu severely punished the both of them. Wil had the choice of repairing the entire garden or serving as Reimu's assistant for another month. He was worked even harder than the last time.
He was trapped between two hells, but when Rinnosuke asked him was the incident worth it, he responded predictably.
'You're damn right it was worth it.' That's what he said much to Rinnosuke's chagrin. Another part of him was extremely amused at the rivalry between those two. He can't call it a life-and-death hatred anymore because it can no longer be considered one. He once tagged along to see one of their "mutual killings" as Wil called it. He saw the battle between the two.
All he can was that it was interesting. It looked like they were sustaining off of their mutual hatred, which they probably are, but it doesn't seem like they desire the death of one another. As a matter of fact, Rinnosuke has the inkling that they may come to understand one another sooner or later. He believes that it's a kismesis. Those who detest one another, but can't live without the hatred they feel for each other.
"Rinny, I don't like that look on your face." He says with a serious face. Rinnosuke has told him many times not to use that name, but he doesn't listen at all. In Rinnosuke's opinion, Wil is number one at pissing people off. He saw Yukari nearly attempt to gap his body in half. The twitching of her fingers and eyes. She removed herself before she did anything.
Wil had an extremely confused smile on his face when he told him that he was making Yukari mad. He just said that people shouldn't hide their real ages and stuff like, "do you have any grandchildren?" The worst part was that he was being honest and trying to be friendly because Rinnosuke wanted him to.
The worst of his habits are his tendencies to wander around Gensokyo and piss people off. Within the span of his eight months here, he's triggered Yukari, Yuuka, Reimu, and he even set the entire Youkai Mountain on fire, which has the Tengu still trying to hunt down the person who did it. The silver lining is that he used his JoJo disguise.
"My bad." Rinnosuke says without a hint of actually feeling bad. "I was merely thinking off the incident on Youkai Mountain."
"That doesn't count as an incident. Also, that was an accident and you know it!" Wil was practicing using his JoJo disguise and ran into Cirno. He was bored and started to play with ice. They had a fun little spell card battle without any of the seriousness he usually puts in it. The weird thing is when he started summoning ice.
Wil's ice doesn't act like normal ice. He creates ice that doesn't follow the rules; for example, he summoned a glacier that burned everything it touched. Case in point, Youkai Mountain was lit on fire. Wil was chased by the Tengu goons along with Cirno.
"If that was an accident then what about the latest incident in that mansion…?" Rinnosuke is still curious about what happened there. Wil shut his mouth about it, but from what he found out, he went in there with his JoJo disguise to return the books. Things…happened. When Rinnosuke tried to inquire further Wil responded with, "Noodle Incident."
"You can always just lie and tell me what I want to hear." This is what got Rinnosuke the title of Filthy Gossiper" by Wil. He's almost as bad as Aya in some cases. He just wants to hear interesting things. Doesn't matter if they're truthful or not.
"Told you already: I don't lie at all." Even if that sounds like bogus in Rinnosuke's ears, that's the only thing that stayed stagnant about Wil. He still refuses to tell Rinnosuke what happened. When he pushed him, Wil gave him sudden tinnitus by slapping his ears with the palm of his hands.
Rinnosuke wasn't amused. He was amused even less when he tried to chase after Wil in fury, but couldn't catch up to him because he flew away at stupid high speeds. Wil tells him to stop holding back and chase him across Gensokyo, but he's rebuffed every time.
"Hmm?" Both of the people in the store notice a disturbance outside. Wil opens the door to see red mist covering everything.
"What's going on?" Rinnosuke gets up and analyzes the mist himself. He then pulls out a fan and blows it out of the store before shutting the door. He's giving off an aura of not-my-problem. Whenever there was a Youkai disturbance or something acting up, Rinnosuke was never curious enough to research it. The only time he wanted to get involved in events was when Wil was doing something dumb.
Or if Rinnosuke decided to disguise himself.
"Aren't you curious about it at all? This can be the last thing I check out before I go home you know." Whenever Wil brings up something about going home, Rinnosuke just seems a little bit down. Wil doesn't understand why though.
"Don't care. If it's an incident, then the shrine maiden will take care of it." Wil is exasperated by Rinny's lack of a sense of adventure and pure laziness. "If you want to check it out feel free to go ahead."
"Right-o! I'll be back in a bit, or I might not be back at all. This may be the last time you see me." His cheer doesn't change in the slightest. "I may just return home the moment I check this out, you know. Any last words?" He doesn't say anything, so Wil leaves.
Rinnosuke lets out a sigh. "What's even left to say?" There's nothing he can do to turn Wil away from the path he chose. The friendship between those two has grown into something strong, but all Wil is doing is substituting Rinnosuke for his younger brother. That kind of bond isn't healthy at all.
"Wil…" Rinnosuke glances at his sword from the corner of his eye.
The moment Wil finishes, he's severing everything. His ties to Gensokyo, his ties to the people he met here, his friendship, and even his hatred. Everything will be shattered.
Wil POV
"Let's see…where should I stop by first? Guess I'll head over to that winding forest." That dumb Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Its name is definitely warranted. I've got trapped in the forest so many times, but Mokou was always there to help me out. I kept returning to that forest because of those damn rabbits. I heard seeing one of them is good luck.
I need that badly, but my bad luck is preventing me from gaining good luck. I fly over this place again and spot a large conflagration of flames. Is Mokou fighting her fellow immortal again? I remember when I first found out about her immortality. More like I ran face first into her battle against her immortal rival.
Luck's great. I wish I had some.
Anyways, I saw them both deal a fatal blow to each other much to my shock. Then they just began healing. I didn't question her until she was alone. She's quite open about her immortality shockingly. I still haven't actually talked to Kaguya. Better not be the one from Naruto, or we're gonna have some problems.
"Hey, you alright down there?" I fly down and see her chest split open. She won't die, but that doesn't mean she won't feel pain. I wait a while for her to pull herself back together. Of course, I get worried about her when I view her in this state, but she's immortal so it should be fine? I think I understand how the green fairy must feel when I grab Cirno for some shenanigans.
"I'm fine." Of course, she is. Well, time to break the news. But before that…
"You know anything about this red mist around us?" She stands up and gives me a gruff look. She's always grumpy right after being put in a fatal state like that.
"No. Don't care either." Her eyes seem to be asking me what I'm really here for.
"I'm leaving Gensokyo today, and I'm visiting everyone as a sendoff." I say with a joyful smile. Her eyes widen in minute shock, but she stabilizes herself. "What's wrong? Gonna miss me?" I poke the phoenix.
"Not really. I guess this is the last time we'll be talking then. I'm used to people going away, so go away already." She turns away to miss me nodding my head. The moment I say that, she just shuts me away like a deleted photo. You'll remember it sometimes, but it's not something you'll care about often. I guess immortals have to throw away a lot. I wonder how long she has lived...? Doesn't matter now.
Yeah, that's wonderful. I don't need to be missed. Nothing will matter at the end.
That's par for the course for someone like me. I'll live my crooked life back home and reject this wondrous life here. I refuse to live a lie no matter how beautiful it is. I'll live in the ugliest, harshest reality and die there like a dog in the mud.
It's lonely, but it's suitable.
"Heh. See you later."
"Wait." I stop and turn around. She looks likes she's hesitating to say something. "You're nothing but a bad luck charm...but you weren't that bad a person." How...interesting. So it seems I'm not universally annoying to everyone. That's...annoying.
I send her a transient smile and fly off without any regrets. There's no time for second guessing. I'm right for trying to return. There's nothing wrong with choosing reality at all. I won't run from it, nor will I reject it.
My next stop should be the Human Village. I touch down in the middle because most of the villagers already know some of the things I can do. It's taken them a while for them to get used to me, but it feels like talking to my co-workers. It's impersonal, yet it feels like a warm environment.
Ah, there's Keine. Reimu's there as well. "Hey guys." I wave to them cheerfully. They turn to me, one with an annoyed look and the other with a worried one. Keine is the first one to question me.
"Do you have any idea where this mist is coming from?" She sounds pretty concerned for the villagers, but the villagers themselves keep on working like it's the norm around here. Considering what this place is, it might as well be the norm.
"No clue. I'm going back home today though." Like I told everyone else, I respond with a voice filled with cheer. I'm so close…
"Really? Well good luck." Reimu that's a cruel thing to say considering how my luck is the complete opposite of good. She seems wholly unconcerned with my choice though. That's perfect. Keine seems to be wavering about something though.
"Are you sure you really don't want to stay? Even after the villagers have accepted you as one of them?" Trying to convince me into staying? Absolutely not.
"Nope. The only one who can change one's heart is the person themselves. Don't try to do otherwise. You'll always fail. That's all for Wil's wondrous words of wisdom. Keep that in mind for the future, but don't think of me when you remember those words." Forget me, pay me no mind, remove me from your memory.
"Hold on, why are there a lack of some villagers? What's more is that all of them were Outsiders!" My eyes narrow as I look through the population of the people. I can tell they were Outsiders like me because they didn't let go of their fashion from the outside. I notice the faces of Reimu and Keine darken.
"That is also another incident to solve. They went missing around a couple months ago. Have you really not noticed before?" Reimu derisively asks me. I was cooped up in the room working on a breakthrough for that duration of time. I barely went outside and when I did, I never went to the Human Village. "You're free to help out if you want."
I'm worried, I want to find out what happened to them and help them out if possible. But I also want to go home. The desires of my family are warring with my own desires to help others. I…I'm going to complete to visits and go home. My desires don't matter in the face of other desires. My family wanted me to live my life to the fullest.
That creates a conflict of interest because I don't care about my own life at all.
But…if my family wanted that…if my dad's last words were that…then I…I'll live my life back home and die there with them. That's the only fulfilling life that I can accept. There's really nothing left for me anyways except for this one goal. There're still two places left to go. I'm saving my wrath for last.
"I'll leave it you…shrine maiden."
The moment I start walking out of the village, a certain familiar fortune teller calls out to me. I go over to his smiling hooded face and the tarot cards around him. "I see that you're finally leaving Gensokyo. How about one last reading, free of charge?" Another free one? He has much more cards than last time. Did he include the minor arcana?
"I'll take it." He does the same thing as last time with that glowing yellow aura around the cards. His smile eventually turns neutral as he finishes and looks up back to me. Before he speaks up, there's something I need to ask him.
"What's your name. I'll remember someone like you until the end, so I need a name for you." He pauses.
"Just call me Taka. Now pick four cards this time. No...draw two, then draw two more.." Two then two? Alright then. I hesitate for a bit and pick both cards at the same time. I hand them back to him as he analyzes them. I then pick two more instantly and he grabs them. I see his mouth open a bit as he lays the cards flat face-up.
"Hermit upright, Judgement upright, Five of Swords upright...and Death reversed." He goes quite for a bit. I wonder what this combination means?
"Hmm...you won't have a good ending at whatever you're trying to do." Naturally, I'm unlucky after all. And if I do get a bad ending, that's good cause that's what I'm aiming for. A bad ending back at my home.
"You will go through a period of introspection, which will lead to absolution and finding your inner calling after you discover something. Beware of what you find. After that you will go through a great conflict that you must win at all costs. Only after that will you reach personal transformation and inner purging." He looks at me with a grave grin.
"You don't have fortune at all. There's no good luck for you. You will get what you're searching for, but at what cost? Since you don't have any good luck, I'll at least wish you some." I wave him off as I leave the village. I don't know if he noticed my smile though.
I fly off and go to that Scarlet Devil Mansion with heavy thoughts on my mind. I'm not going to enter it and talk to anyone though. Just gonna view it from afar. Moving around in this mist is a pain though, trying to scour my way through this place. I think I've reached the lake. Now to go to the ridge.
Yup, there it is in all of its glory. I still see that the Chinese-looking lady is still there. I actually never found out her name, so she's been referred to as China in my head. Nothing really to do here.
There's one last place to go to. The Garden of the Sun. For better or for worse, I've survived multiple battles with that crazy Youkai over there. Rinnosuke has gotten it into our mind that we are becoming friendlier somehow, but he couldn't be more wrong. The hatred we feel for each other has not waned in the slightest.
On my way there I swerve out of the way from a certain gap. All those eyes inside of it makes me think I'm getting ganked by the crawling chaos itself. Ugh, it's her…
"Oh my, I'm surprised you haven't left Gensokyo yet. What might you be doing?" Talks like a high-class lady, but gives an ass whooping like a first-class wrestler. "Thinking about the time we fought?" Of course, I am. That was only around four months ago, but it'll stick with me till the end.
That was an extremely abnormal fight, but that's a story for another time.
"What do you want Yakumo?" The outcome of our fight…it doesn't change how I treat her in the slightest. She's still a very unnerving and annoying person to be around, but she'll be out of my hair soon enough.
"I want to know why you are bothering to give a final tour around this place? Are you continuing to stall again, Wil?" I give a minute flinch. Yeah, there's no way I'll ever forget that…
"Yeah I'm stalling. I know this method will get me back home, but there are still things I have to do. I have to live a life with no regrets…so I'll leave this place with no regrets." It seems my answer has satisfied her just a bit.
"What if you decide to stay?" What? That's a meaningless question. There's no way I'll stay here. Just what is she getting at? She notices my annoyed confusion. "Just answer my question." She hides the lower part of her face with a fan.
"If I stay then…I don't know." The sound of her laughter is like irritating bells.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same. This phrase applies to you quite well. You just keep standing up and chasing. That can be viewed as an entertainment of its own." She reveals her smile behind the fan. Before...she would be someone right below Yuuka on my list of people I don't like. For a myriad of reasons that changed a little bit. I can't say I hate her, but I still don't like her.
"Just remember...I always get what I want in the end." Ominous.
"Don't let me keep you." Because it was my last day here, I did something that will warm my heart until I die. I kicked this Yakumo right in the spine back into her gap. She never expected someone like me to have the guts to do this to her after our fight in the boundaries. The look on her face satisfied me immensely. I plugged her gap before she decides to get petty revenge.
'Plugged her gap' is a weird euphemism that I will never say again.
Since she's out of sight, I put her out of mind and put Yuuka on my mind.
I stoke the flames of anger and keep it from going out for eternity. I'm sure she's holding on that same rage similarly like me. Even if we tried to let it go, there's no way it could dissipate. This will be our last battle. That means…that all things will end here. I'm nearing the Garden of the Sun.
I've touched down, but the place feels void of life. There's no Youkai, fairies, or anything here. The only thing I see are completely closed sunflowers. Even though the sun is out, they aren't facing the sun, but downwards with their petals covering their head from the world. Almost like how Yuuka completely shuts down any attempt at understanding. Well, it's not like I tried to understand her.
I walk forward waiting for Yuuka to greet me with either her perpetual frown or smile as usual. Then we can begin our last battle. However, no one is here at all. I keep walking forward in this endless field of snoozing sunflowers all the way until the end. Eventually I come across a very familiar cottage. I should know because I burnt it down and rebuilt it after all.
I gently open the door. Thankfully no one is hanging from a ceiling fan.
I've only been in her home twice. The first time she invited me to a trap, which came very close to killing me. The second time is when I burned down her house and her garden while she was rejuvenating the soil.
I wander around the house for the final with hands in pockets. Might as well properly take in the place before moving on. It's a nice homely cottage, not what I would expect from a person like her. Absolutely destroys one of my perceptions of her. Still doesn't deplete my distorted rage towards her in the slightest though.
I start a small spark and light the cottage on fire. This is the last battle, so I'm going to make her furious. We're going to settle this with our rage burning at max. That's the only way this match will go. I will win and she will die. Our ties will be severed and I will finally be able to leave with no regrets. I look down at my right hand very deeply.
"We're going to finish it this time…" I walk out of the burning house and go even further deeper into the garden. The deepest parts of it, which I've never been in before. The moment I enter small forest I start hearing a voice talking.
"I heard from nature that this is your last day… You've saved me for last? You want to finish things for good? You want me at my best?" I hear these words echo throughout the forest as I go deeper. They only progressively get louder. I refuse to respond to the voice. There's a large shadow in the center of a road of trees. I go through it and come out in what seems to be an entirely different world.
It literally looks like I've wandered into a fantasy world. The sky only shows darkness in stars, very similar to being in outer space. This place gives me an extremely bad feeling, but I press onwards nonetheless. There are no doubts left, I have to kill her.
I walk for what seems like forever and reach a mansion. There's no gatekeeper here so I kick the doors wide open. All I got for my efforts were a large creaking sound and the dread of silence. There's an extremely long hallway before me and a set of double doors at the end.
"Don't have time for these shenanigans…" I run to the door immediately and stop there. "What is this sense of malice I'm feeling?" I feel just a small bit of hesitation before gripping the handles and throwing the door open. I'm…treated…to one heck of a…sight.
"What…the…fuck? My brain can't comprehend what I'm seeing before me. I want to yell and scream and destroy whatever my eyes are sending to my brain, but all I can do is stand there in mute horror.
Third Person POV
It's finally happening...it always happens,
The bad luck draws everything down,
Misfortune consumes everything,
IT always appears.
What you desire,
What you disdain,
No matter the era...
You always choose that path that leads to ruin!
He looks at the green-haired devil in front of him reveling in this tragedy. A parade of corpses, no not corpses, they're still alive. But they'd be better off dead with the condition that they are in. Many bodies strewn up like party lights with their gray gaunt bodies hanging for the world to show.
"Oh, you've made it before I was finished!" Yuuka says a bit excited to see Wil. Her bloodthirsty grin matches the messy ballroom. Her maniacal red eyes staring into nearly empty brown ones. Wil feels like he's going to break by seeing this sight.
"It took a bit to crack the type of person you were, but I eventually figured you out. Someone who can't stand others getting hurt, but it's fine for them to get hurt. Do you think you're some type of 'hero?' Well then, go ahead and save them hero." She mocks the horrified Wil as she turns around to remove the mess.
What he's seeing is where the missing Outsiders wound up. He sees it, but doesn't want to comprehend it at all. Extreme shock and despair turn into anguish. "Why…?"
"Hmm?" She turns back around to see Wil shaking in place. Not out of fear…
"Why the hell would you do something like this, huh?! What did they fucking do to you. You goddamn bitch!" This is the very first time that he has shown rage like this in his entire life. He tightly grips his right arm in anger. The pain is the only thing keeping him stable.
"You feel that anger don't you. That's what I've felt for you all this time. I wanted you to understand. We are natural enemies, but I've always hated you more than me. You've always had something else on your mind. About getting home? There will be no interruptions this time. Let's start this the moment I clean these creatures up." She finishes with a smile.
"Don't you like how I pierced all of their bodies with thorny roots. I'm even feeding them the bare minimum of nourishments to keep them alive in this place. I've been waiting for you to face me with everything you had for a while. I nearly got bored and started killing them.
"Stop it…" He pleads with her.
"I always tried to come up with new ways to torture them. Maybe feed parts of them to my plants…oh! I also peeled off their skin! You can see the red and gray blending together quite nicely, can't you? I made this scene just for you!"
"Stop it you bastard!" He can't stand this. He wishes it were all a dream. He wishes he came sooner. He wishes he wasn't such a misfortunate loser. That's right…all he can do is lose, lose, and lose. All he keeps doing is losing, No matter who he saves or what he protects, he keeps losing more.
Wil can't look at this despair-inducing sight in front of him any longer. The person who caused all of this…he glares right at her with burning eyes. Tears run down his face from frustration with himself and rage. He rubs his eyes raw and nearly screams. He's clenching his jaw so tightly it feels like his teeth will shatter.
"I hate humans. I hate you even more. I wanted to find a way for you to experience that same hatred. Yes, this is all your fault. You never should have come to this wonderful paradise." A neutral stare matches a pissed-off one.
Wil somehow fuels his body with determination to look on at this ugly sight in front of him. He knows that he never should have come here. What's happening right now...he's blaming everything on himself.
"I won't forgive you, I'll never forgive you! You think you can get away with this shit and not pay the consequences? What do you mean hatred?! What do you mean fault?! You decided to do this all on your own! Passing the blame like that won't absolve you of any guilt! I understand that I bear some blame, so I'll pay for that later, but you're going to pay right now!"
"Oh? What are you going to do then?" The parasol closes as she presses down on it like a cane. Her smile gained an edge to it. The end to a long series of battles will finally come.
"The stage is set, we've reached the curtain call. Now all that's left is one last dance." If Wil focused just a bit, he would've noticed something off about her.
"I thought for the smallest moment, that there could be acceptance between us." He takes a moment to sound distraught. "Even if it was nothing but hatred, that's a bond that people can understand. But…you!"
"No matter what happens, I can't accept you! Now that you've gone so far to piss me off, I'll never forgive you! I'd risk my body and soul to destroy you! I won't forgive, I won't forgive, I definitely won't forgive you! You'll regret making me, Wil Greyson, your enemy! I'll kill you no matter what! No matter what happens, I'll erase every cell of you from this world!"
He swore on the name of his family. Something that he never wanted to bring to this world.
"Wonderful! Just the thing I wanted to hear. Now then, shall we dance? Let's forget all our worries for the day and actually kill each other permanently! After all, all good things must come to an end, right Wil?!" She roars at him and finishes it off with a loud guffaw.
"I've decided that you need some more motivation! If you kill me, then that's your satisfaction, but if I win, then you have to be tied up and watch as I systematically torture every last Outsider to the death! I might even include every single human in Gensokyo! What do you say?! Great, right?!" Yuuka's completely lost it for some unknown reason, but Wil found something to stand on.
He looks at one of the people hanging on within an inch of their lives. He sees him mouth something at him. 'Save us.' His wish was received by Wil with a sharp nod.
"You think that you can toy with the lives of humans like that? I'll definitely smash that damn delusion of yours!"
"I see I'm still not your main focus...! I won't kill you, I'll ruin you!"
Now, fight.
Clench your fist to protect your goal.
