Marisa sighed in reply, scratching her head. Perhaps she was worried about me, the thought which gave me some tingles of sorts.
"Splendid. You can stay here and have some lunch and head out once you're finished," Kanako said.
Marisa instantly brightened up at the word of lunch, replying, "I'll join you!"
"Wha-" Suwako began before Kanako covered her mouth.
"I don't want to hear it, you're taking care of him and her for one hour and if I hear a complaint, I'm telling Sanae about the books you've been stealing." Suwako sighed in defeat, reluctantly walking back into her shrine for who knows what.
"Who's doing what?" I heard from inside the shrine. A younger, much more teenager-esque voice, I noticed. "Oh, hi, Suwako-" I managed to piece out before it just became unintelligible conversation.
Oh right, I had nearly forgotten. "Oh, Miss Kochiya!" I called inside, 'I have a thing from uh...Miss Kawashiro!"
"Doing deliveries already?" Kanako asked.
"Nah, just a bargain," Marisa asked, causing a raised eyebrow from ye large goddess.
"OH!" I managed to piece from inside the shrine once again, "Is it my figurine?" Sanae poked her head out.
The green hair was the first and the strangest appearance to me, and I was left watching the cascade of smooth grassy hair being let down and falling just above the ground. She had her hands on the door, and her eyes glinted with excitement. She was awfully cute, and I really hated that I wanted to keep staring.
"Ah-uhm, yeah," I stammered, holding up the figurine. Marisa chuckled in amusement, and I shot a glance at her in a way that said, "Die."
Sanae beamed with happiness, trotting right out on the front steps, wearing a black clear t-shirt and dark-blue skinny jeans, alongside some bunny slippers. She still had the frog clip on her hair and the gohei that came along the job of a shrine maiden, though it was different from Reimu's. It didn't stop me from being reminded of my old clothes, if anything, I was still wearing them at that time.
"Yees, she finally made it!" Sanae said happily, carefully taking my figurine and holding it up to the sun. "She actually did it just right too…"
I didn't pay much attention to it until now, and I suddenly had some realization.
"That's from...Neon Genesis Evangelion, isn't it?" I asked her. She turned toward me, walking until she was inches away from me. We only looked at each other's eyes for a singular eternity, though I had to look down slightly so it actually seemed like we were. All I could smell was a hint of vanilla from her hair. God was either blessing me or I was cursing myself.
"Yes, it is!" Sanae said, looking fairly joyful. "I never thought I'd find an outsider who watched it- Oh wait, which one's your favorite?"
I didn't actually watch it. "Oh, I haven't really finished it since I got gapped, but I do like EVA-01." If heaven didn't exist, then Sanae's grin would've made it exist. She seemed so gushy that I didn't want to ruin her time.
"Oh my- Same here! Ah, geez, I can't believe someone knows about it, it's been so long since I've met a fan of it…" She proudly held the figure close to her. "I need to put this in, hold on," She chirped. Before I could even ask, she dashed to the inside of her shrine, similar to a cartoon character.
Marisa elbowed me. "Aw, someone's got a little something~" She teased.
"When I learn to fly, I'm going to slam into you," I said, smacking away the elbow.
"Hey, I need this body!" Marisa patted her stomach with both hands.
"I'll borrow it, don't worry you can have it-"
"Don't you dare say it, Alan, that's my thing!" Marisa complained, pouting.
Kanako sighed, "Alright, lovebirds, let's assume I invited you in for lunch and if you denied, I made it my personal interest to threaten one of you."
I then said, "Uh, we're not lovebirds."
"Hey, let her dream, Alan," Marisa said. wrapping her arm around me and practically pulling toward the shrine. I cleared my throat nervously, sort of suffering a heart attack now. In the end, I went along with it, since I was more-or-less being pushed into it.
Kanako stood up, and I realized again that she was tall. It was hard to imagine a girl a head shorter than me beating a godly basketball pole about a head taller than me, but I could only assume that's how life went. She gestured toward the inside of the shrine, allowing us to move in first. I went ahead and took off my shoes.
The inside of the shrine, unlike Hakurei Shrine, felt a little more claustrophobic, with many more shelves and drawers probably filled with manga and clothes Sanae probably brought with her. A lot of the space that I was quickly accustomed to in the less-wealthy shrine was taken up by technologies I recognized. A TV that had those backs sticking out that stood on top of a large table with cabinets underneath was the first thing I saw, which brought back memories to my own childhood. Some old consoles I vaguely remembered like the Nintendo 64 and a SEGA Genesis, then newer consoles which I couldn't quite pinpoint because they were inside/outside the drawers. Shapes of familiar sizes intrigued me and brought me back to last year.
It felt like I was in a crossover between a college dorm and the average Japanese house. I felt much more comfortable in here.
"So, Vu, I've heard that you're attempting to learn magic?" Kanako commented from behind while I was slowly taking in nostalgia.
I blinked and cleared my head, replying, "Ah-wuh- Yeah. Er, Yes, Lord Kanako." I sat down in front of the table, with Marisa by my side.
"No need for formalities, unless you'd like a wish granted. How has your experience been as of yet?"
"So far, not much as happened. I could probably make a coin shudder if you gave me thirty minutes." Marisa put her arm around me in a casual fashion.
"The potential to be a master magician right here! And most definitely not staying at a youkai that could instantly wipe him out," She added, throwing a pointed gaze at Kanako.
"Marisa, the decision is completely his to make, we're simply making suggestions for him. If I try to house him here, then Suwako will just complain until he gets removed."
"Can't I just find a different place to stay?" I asked.
"Of course. I just felt the Garden and the Human Village would've served as the best locations."
Marisa then said with a pout, "Hey, I can teach him at my place!"
"Your place? You can barely maintain a clean roof off of your friend's home, much less keep him from getting sick. Not to mention, a human like him can easily get lost in the Forest. Unless you plan on teach him about every nook and cranny for the following month."
I glanced at their conversations back and forth, a loss as to where to go at this point. Marisa replied, "Hey, it'll be fine, I'll walk him out myself! Or better yet, fly him out!"
I sighed, putting my head on the desk. "I just want to chill at this point…"
"You know, I agree," Marisa said. "I haven't eaten since yesterday, so what does Suwako have in store?"
Sanae came by and had skipped over her piles of disorganized things, popping right back into view over the opposite side of the table with a bright grin. "Marisa! 'Sup?"
"My want for some food, Sanae!" Marisa cheerfully grinned back.
Kanako and I seemed a bit a thought at the moment, and Marisa and Sanae seemed to be more focused with conversing to each other. At the time, I was more-or-less thinking about if I really made the right decision about trying to live somewhere like...There. In a way, it would've given me future insight as to who the woman really was. Perhaps the flower youkai that spoke of really was just a nice person...Now. From what little I knew about this universe, she was the most feared one. It made me wonder what changed.
For Kanako...I had no idea what would be on her mind. She apparently had noticed the heart-to-bigger-heart conversation the two bubbly people were giving to each other, and had moved over to my side. "Alan."
"Ah, yes, ma'am?" I said blankly.
"I imagine you have already gotten a brief introduction into how danmaku works, correct?"
"Kind of, not really," I said.
"Well, then, I'll get right on to explaining."
Explanation? I could only describe it as confusion. She had already started giving me the idea of danmaku, which was something I was aware of, but then she instantly had moved on to magic. Magic was a weird thing, and trying to comprehend it was like trying to understand physics without taking chemistry.
In the end, I sort of spaced out several times, to the point of someone calling my name.
"Alan!" I heard, sort of daydreaming on my own. I blinked again, out of my daze.
I then heard some squealing and a table falling onto the ground with a loud thud, scaring me beyond belief. I made some sort of embarrassingly frightened noise.
Kanako raised an eyebrow toward Marisa, who was just grinning. Sanae for one, was shocked and perhaps gleaming in excitement. "So he does have a talent."
"I do?" I asked.
Marisa pointed her finger at me. "Damn right! You just lifted a table up! Now if only you weren't so busy being bored and you could actually control it."
Sanae stared at both Kanako and Marisa. "Whuh- You didn't tell me he could do magic!""
Kanako rubbing her chin in thought, ignoring Sanae's question. Marisa took over and responded, "Yep! He's gonna be the new Sumireko!"
"Oho, no, I'm not," I assured Marisa, though she casually waved off my response.
Marisa put her hand on her hips, saying, "I think it would be better if he stayed at my place."
"Woah, but what if I die?" I asked.
Sanae interrupted, "Oh, please, the Forest isn't that dangerous, Marisa used to wander around there when she was a kid. Now, I can do a super job honing your magic!"
"How'd you know that?" Marisa said, raising an eyebrow at Sanae. "And ya' barely walk there, so how would you know what's in it?"
"It's called, 'asking Reimu about her friends,' or you know. 'Conversation!' I know you're not fond of social living, so-"
"You wanna go?" Marisa teased, elbowing Sanae. "How about we duel it out right now? Winner has to take him to their new home."
"Oho, you're on! Two cards," Sanae challenged.
"Five!"
"...Three, I have a doctor's appointment later..."
"Better hope you win quick then, cause' I ain't backing down!" Marisa said smugly. I watched the both of them with confusion.
"Why am I being gambled on?" I asked with a sigh.
"Both choices would do you well, I imagine," Kanako commented. "Though, try not to spend too much time dueling it out- Actually, one of you should keep Alan by you so he can have the experience."
Sanae blinked. "But he'll handicap us. No offense."
"Yeah!" I said.
"Do you want to try danmaku or not?" Kanako asked me. "If you'd rather be just a regular Human in the village with an ordinary job until you return back to the Outside instead of taking the risk of becoming a duelist and still being able to decide to go to the outside, then that's your decision."
I sighed, scratching my head in thought. Eventually, I said. "...Sure...I'll go, I guess…"
Marisa then grabbed my hand and said, "Settled! Let's go, Alan, trust me, you're gonna love the ride." No, I wasn't.
Sanae happily ran back to the depths of her shrine, calling out, "Hold on, lemme get my out- er, uniform!" I sighed ,again, with a slight amount of worry.
i know some of yall wanted some character development but don't worry there's probably going to be some when they fite club it out
rule number one of danmaku: scream out your spell cards like youre retarded
continue limit is just how much longer their voices can last before they're unable to scream out "REMATCH REEE" again
unfortunately, i did not check this thoroughly for grammar errors, so forgib me
"get in the robot, nitori" says sanae in her free time to herself
