Author's note : Aaand I finally updated! So sorry for that, since real life started messing with me, internet has given me things to make me get hooked to it, and my laptop can't get the frakking screen on, which is where I usually write this story, and now I'm using someone else's laptop. Overall, a mess. So yeah, sorry for that. But anyway, here's an update, and I hope things would start to roll smoothly again!
Ugh, finally, she's gone. Now I can see why most people don't want to confront her. If you win against her, you don't really gain much, and if you lose, you'll have to hear her lecturing you for hours about to correct your sins and somewhere along those line so that you don't have to be sent to hell for your sins.
Personally, even if I don't have much, as she called it, I have to lay down on my back, trying to ignore the pain after the battle, and hear her lecturing me, for a good nine hours. NINE HOURS! I know I have a lot by having to vent my anger, but seriously! By all the Gods out there in the multi-verse, I'm going to stay far away from her, as far as I can, just so I don't have to sit down hearing her lecturing me! No freaking wonder that Yakumo doesn't even want to be near with her!
Okay, calm down… calm down… It's for my good too, and I should be grateful about that. But seriously, the lecturing is really long and boring! I can change on a whim if I want to, and I want my time to be much more… at least not that boring! That much I can…
…Ah, you're already here? Ahem, sorry about my ranting earlier, got to let out some steam. My senses drop down when I have to rant about something. So, how much have you heard?
…When I started? Huh, and I thought it would much later than that. Well, certainly, as annoying as it was, you heard about me saying about multi-verse. This weird person, as he called himself the Invisible Observer, told me to change his position for now, since he was rather busy about something. Just because I like observing doesn't mean I like it when people told me to do so, and the fact that I only have to think about something and you can hear it is a rather annoying thing, and I can't turn it off using my power.
Well, about the multi-verse. As you can see, or as you have followed that Invisible Observer so far, I can kill immortal and lesser gods easily if I want to. I may lack proof, that being said from my mouth, but if I can kill a god from another universe, why would I say that to other people? Yeah, if you're suspecting that I killed a god from another dimension, then you're right. Why? That's because said god is a total douche that threatens 'his' people to worship 'him' so that he can be all powerful, and that no one can beat him. How did he threaten 'his' people? Through the wrath of the world under 'his' disposal, and some guards at 'his' disposal, that's how.
…And that also means that there are universes made by people from novels and other written stuff, like a fiction. I shudder to think about other universe that might as well be another totally different Gensokyo. So far, I found none. Yet.
You have seen me teleport everywhere since you're following that Invisible Observer, right? That's pretty much it, thought at a much grander scale. That's it. Expecting something a lot more complicated? Too bad. Oh, and the place I got teleported was random. Only after I stayed there long enough I can go back there whenever I want to. And with my current power, since my power is still…at the tip of the iceberg…I have to at least rest for about a year and a half before I could teleport back to my universe, if that universe is a new one that I haven't got teleported yet. Sheesh, and I thought I was holding back by a lot by not killing everyone that I have to fight earlier.
So, anyway, how that happened; it was after about a year and a third. The people was being herded somewhere, and some even stopped to tell me to turn back and head to a field, to pray, as they say it. I never really cared since I'm not a religious… creature, or whenever they're being herded, I simply teleported somewhere else, and also, I'm pretty sure you don't look that scared and worried when you're going to pray, so I decided to ignore every warning, until I spotted several people in heavy armor at the back of the herd.
The armor was pretty exquisite, I tell you. The upper half was totally adorned with ribbons, jewelries, silver, gold, and writings about their language I never tried to decipher, since I usually can translate them after I stayed long enough. The time varies though, and so I can't tell you how long exactly till that happen, but that didn't really get transferred into my eye, however, so I never bother to read about the books in other dimensions. The lower part was also glittered with the same stuff. They were wearing a helmet too, like in the medieval ages, complete with the face mask. They were holding tridents, and they told me to "Get going or face the consequence."
Threat never really worked on me, since I can just plow my way through, so I decided to ignore them and continued my walk, until they pointed the trident at me. I slap it away so that it gets out of my way, but got a bit too much power on my slap, so the trident got snapped (it was made of steel), and flew quite far away, before it latched itself on one of the buildings. The shocked look on the guard that pointed the trident at me was not amusing, since I can't see his face, and it didn't last long till someone properly stabbed me. It hit my arm. And… you can guess what happens next.
In case you're wondering, I personally prefer being killed than being wounded, due to my own reasons. Being a shinigami fairy, one of the good traits of it is that after I got killed, when I got resurrected, the pain was not transferred back to me, so the pain ended quickly. In other words, I prefer quick death than pain. If it was the latter, I make sure that they pay the consequences. Or as your universe called it, I'm more like a glass cannon, due to my pain senses being amplified, but if you managed to kill me after badly beating me, which wouldn't take more than a couple of heavy blows, then say hello to a fresh me, ready for another round.
The battle ended as quickly as a minute passed by. The 'guards' were hopelessly curb stomped. Their supposedly heavy armor was shredded into useless scrap of metal that's only worth its rare metal and jewelries that adorned it, their body parts was strewn here and there, and there's blood practically everywhere, me included as well, and I think I'll stop there due to my words might upped something about rating or something like that. The people that got herded were absolutely shocked too, and were also frightened how I beat the supposedly unbeatable 'guards'. Some even fainted on spot.
In this case, I pretty much go with what people say when they complained about blood staining your clothes: It's sticky, really hard to clean, and, most of all, raised people's suspicion by a whole lot more. I mean, what in the sane mind would you do when you see a person walking down the street with blood all over him/her/it?
It didn't take for a full five minutes worth of waiting that the douche god to appear, wearing nothing more than a white robe and is a rather young looking man. He looked visibly shocked about the death of his 'guards'. He then pointed at me, being the one in the middle of the carnage, and was the most bloodied of all the surroundings (environment not counted), and challenged me for a duel to the death for disobeying order.
I haven't got the "Settle things without force" trademark with me in my earlier days, so I never think long about duels or try to settle things the peaceful way. Back then, I only have "If you don't annoy me too much, then I don't care" for my trademark, and I mean it when I have that. I have the former after an incident, but that's for later.
After the challenge, with my hands clasped in front of me, I mock pleaded to the 'god' for forgiveness. I don't have any particular respect for anyone back in the earlier days, you know. And that "plead" clearly flip him out, since he called a thunder to strike my place right where I used to be if I didn't jump back. Since I clasped my hands, I can't fight back, still mocking him after the warning thunder. That released the trigger. Earth, wind, water, fire, light, and basically what he can throw at me, he throws at me. You should see his angered face when he can't even land a single hit on me, but sadly, you can't.
I got bored of dodging after several minute worth of doing so, so I decided to take a battle stance, and that's when I realized I have a scythe without me knowing it. Without thinking much, I grabbed the hilt, and teleported towards the god, before I beheaded him in a single swing. The head flew to the air for a couple of second, before it fall down to earth, rolling as it did so. I waited for a couple of minutes, since gods are faith based, so they are practically immortal as long as people continue to give gods some sort of that faith or whatever that is they needed to survive, and in those couple of minutes too, the silent was deafening.
And then, someone clapped their hand, followed by some more. And then cheers began to shout. Some people that are near me ran towards me, and then lifted me up. I was too confused to even know what was going on back then. After a party of a day full, and a couple interrogation that I noticed that they don't like that god, and have been threatening the people to worship him. Heck, even most of the guards are there. I feel glad that I helped them involuntarily, but with my now realized power, I decided to finish the party prematurely by teleporting somewhere, and tried again. When it worked, I grinned so wide that people could tell that I was thinking something very, very wrong.
Then, after three more months staying and being praised as their hero, that I teleported back to this universe, before teleporting to another random universe. I immediately asked about some evil doings gods some people that I met after I understand what they just said, and they were worried about it at first, but since I pried it from them they told me several of the gods there. During the stays I had slain some of the god's weird creation. I hacked, slashed, maimed, killed, and all those sort things. When I reached the god, he already rallied with some more of the evil gods that the people told me, with one unknown god watching from the distance.
When the god asked me why I was going after him, I responded with "Keeping the world clean from evil doers" kind of words. And without more than that, I teleported, behead the god, and teleported again to the nearest one, doing the same thing. Rinse and repeat until all the bad gods are killed. They barely even made resistance, probably due to the shock though. The one that are watching me are shocked about me killing the gods so easily, and then go somewhere I don't know, only to be confronted by the very same god with several more of the unknown ones. He told me to stop doing whatever I was doing, and I only laughed after hearing that, before I punched him straight at the face after I teleported towards him. I didn't have any malice towards them, now that my theory is proven, so I just beat the living heaven out of them.
A couple of days passed from that day, and an angel descended in front of me, telling me that he was a messenger from God and he told me to stop killing the evil gods. I disagreed, since I don't see why I should stop doing that, and so, the inevitable fight happened. The angel almost won the fight, but I managed to steal the win in the end by sucker punching him at the last moment, making him unconscious, and then teleported to a far place, trying to lose track of the angel, and resting as I did so. Sadly, that didn't work, since after several days later, another one appeared, and I didn't even bother to try and fight again, I ran away immediately.
And don't start asking why I didn't run away from Sariel-sama. She's a good angel, unlike the others.
Some more time passed, with me killing more evil gods and running from the angels that came to stop me, until I crossed my path with Him, an old looking man that somehow I can't recall how His features looked like, but I just know that He was old. He told me to stop killing the gods so that I don't disrupt the balance of the world I'm in right now, and I disagreed like I usually did, before I launched myself towards the old man, trying to no more than just punching Him in the stomach, since I thought He was just an old man.
I blinked, and I already flat on my back on a nearby wall, completely have no idea of what just happened, before the pain reached my brain. I screamed, and I found myself already in the road, before I was in front of the old man again, with me laying on the ground. It happened too fast, so fast in fact that my senses couldn't even sent the pain to my brain in time. He asked me to stop again. I complied this time, having no more strength due to the pain (It hurts a lot, I tell you), and totally have no idea on how I was supposed to beat Him. I mean, He was just standing there, not moving an inch, and I was tossed around like a ragdoll by Him.
I asked Him who He was, and He only answered with this sentence: God of all the Gods. I asked to elaborate, and He told me with the term: Creator of the World. I asked again for the final clarification, and He told me: The Absolute, The Creator of the World, and lastly, The One and only.
My spine shivered involuntarily so hard after hearing those words. I maybe not a religious person, but at least I acknowledged that there must be at least someone who is all powerful enough that can bent reality and made the world do His bidding just by mere thought. Now, of course I would be scared to the very one of my soul when He came for you personally.
…Well, who wouldn't when you're visited by the real one and only God? The most of the most ultimate in all of the universe, to visit you, told some sense into your brain, and beat you up like you're nothing compared to him? And it took me three questions to finally realized how screwed up I am. Luckily, thought, He then only lectured me to change, and I complied without a heartbeat. The rest is history, and that's how I became what I was now.
…And now I'm telling you about my history. One question was asked, and I told with quite a lot of answer and about my history. *Sigh* And I was told to observe that soldier. Oh well, before getting sidetracked again, without further ado, let's find a vacant tree that's good for observing!
Hmm, this looks good enough, not too far so that I can't hear him, and also not too close so that I won't be seen easily.
And it was already morning too, probably about six in the morning since the sun is starting to rise up, the birds are chirping happily, and that Kotomi, our soldier, was still sleeping rather comfortably while leaning towards a nearby support for the shrine. I don't know if that's comfortable or not, but if the occupation he's in when I looked into his memories, then that would be one of the comfortable places for him.
…Especially since one of his memories have him sleeping on hot sand, only covered by a worm-like bag. At least I think it's uncomfortable.
Hmm? The air around the shrine yard… Ah, there must be someone that got spirited away after visiting the other shrine at the outside world.
After a couple more seconds, the air stopped moving, and on the shrine ground, was now two teenage girls standing, one of them carrying a rather heavy looking baggage. And it looks like it's the two girls from that club. What was they named it again… ah, yes, the sealing club. A weird name, to be honest.
"Hey, Renko, should we go now, or should we wait until Reimu-san wakes up?" The one that almost looked like Yukari, Maribel Hearn, asked.
The other one, wearing her usual white shirt and knee-length skirt, Renko Usami, looked up to the sky, her hat not falling from her head.
"Well, Reimu-san usually wakes up around seven, and now it's still six past twenty three minutes twenty four seconds in the morning, so we still have about thirty six minutes and thirty four… three seconds to wait." Renko answered. I'm still wondering how she can tell time just by looking at the sky, the stars to be exact, and since there's still some glittering, she can still tell the time, but she probably can do it either day or night since the sun is a star too. But then again, some powers are just like that, plain weird and hard to explain. And that doesn't even include that woman that can predict the future just by looking at the stars. "We should just wait right now." She added.
They both turned towards the shrine, and got a good look at the still quietly sleeping soldier.
"Hey, isn't that Horikawa-san?" Maribel asked, sounding a bit surprised. "Why is he sleeping outside? And doesn't he…"
"Well, he's okay, at least. That, I can tell." Renko answered quickly, before she smiled. "Hey, why don't we just persuade him to escort us to the village?"
"Oooh, good idea, Renko!" Maribel agreed instantly, clapping her hands. "Let's wake him up now!"
Renko nodded immediately, and walked to the soldier. After she reached him, she put her hands on Kotomi's shoulder, and shook the soldier. "Horikawa-san, wake up. It's morning now."
"Mmmh…" He grumbled, but complied anyway. Straightening himself, Renko let go of his shoulder, and the latter immediately started stretching all his available joints, some cracking noises can be heard, being followed by a yawn.
"Did you have a good sleep, Horikawa-san?" Maribel asked while walking to the soldier, before sitting at the shrine porch. "That position didn't really seem comfortable."
"Better than sleeping on the battlefield, surrounded by enemies." Kotomi answered lazily, scratching his back. "So, how're you two doing? Good?"
"Couldn't be better!" Renko answered hastily, plopping down near her friend. "Oh, can you escort us to the village, Horikawa-san, since Reimu-san usually wakes up rather late."
"Hmm…" He mused about it for a while, and then his face smiled a little. "Seven is not really late, Sayaka, you should know that."
Sayaka? Who's he talking…
Ah, the sentient-made gun.
"Horikawa-san?" Renko asked, her head tilting to her side. "Who's Sayaka?"
"My gun." Kotomi answered without looking at her, and his smile turned bitter. "You see, after saving the both of you, many things… happened."
"Many things happened?" Maribel parroted, looking confused. "What do you mean…" She trailed off, before she looked shocked. "Your back!"
The soldier smiled a slight wider, but still looking bitter. "No, my back is fine now, due to those many things that happened after saving you girls." The soldier assured them, and looked to the sky. "A lot happened in a single day. A lot more than a single mission that turns really ugly."
"What happened, Horikawa-san?" Renko asked, her face turning serious. "Surely, this means something than just you bleeding to death."
"Actually, that's one of the things that happened." The soldier pointed out, the girl that asked the question blinked in surprise. "But… I got saved at the last minute before I died, as someone injected something into my body. Then I wake up in a demon world, become a servant to one of the demons, my gun is now sentient, and here I am now, probably being watched by a ridiculously overpowered not-a-fairy but still a fairy."
…That's a totally simplified explanation of what happened yesterday. And I'm so going to wreck his head when given the chance. Maybe he can still suffer brain damage.
"A-ah, I see…" Renko said, still trying to digest the information, probably. "So, you ran away, then."
"No, my mistress is inside the shrine, probably still sleeping." Kotomi said, before the door opened. "And looks like she's awake now."
Both the girls looked back, looking directly at Mai as she close the door, a cup of tea in her hand, and she sat down near her servant, before calmly sipping the tea, all the while still being looked by the two girls. Either the ice demon didn't care, or she's just that oblivious to her surroundings.
"Good morning, mistress, did you get a good sleep last night?" Kotomi asked, turning his full attention to his master. When the latter nodded, he hummed for a while. "So, do you need anything else?"
"No." The ice demon answered firmly, before sipping her tea again.
Kotomi's smile turned gentler, and he shook his head slowly. "Well, there's my mistress. Barely needing anything."
"Err… yeah, that's pretty convenient. I guess." Renko said hesitantly, unsure of what to say. Well, given the situation, I'm pretty sure I would too. "So, how about it?"
"About what?" Kotomi asked, tilting his head to the side. Maribel and Renko looked at the soldier with a blank look, and Mai only glanced to him for a few seconds, before she turned her gaze towards the cup again. "What?"
"The escort?" Maribel asked this time. In that instant too, Kotomi remembered that. And honestly saying, I'm surprised that he already forgotten that. Must be because of his sleepiness.
"Ah, yes." Kotomi sheepishly said, scratching the back of his head in shame. "I could, but if my mistress doesn't mind, then-"
"I don't." Mai cut him short, and she placed down the tea on the floor. "I don't really mind. Also, this counts as some sort of travelling." She elaborated.
Kotomi looked to his master in confusion, before his smile turned wider, and he stands up. "Well, guess we started get going, then." He said, before he put his hand on his stomach area. Judging from the way all three girls looked at him, he probably did something embarrassing. "Ah, sorry, I haven't eaten since my last breakfast."
"It's no problem, we're not in a hurry anyway." Maribel assured the soldier, as the latter sighed in relief, I guess.
"Eat on the road." Mai piped in suddenly, standing up as she did. "Don't want to waste time lazing around the shrine."
"Fine, fine." Kotomi shook his hand dismissively, and looked at the two girls. "Well, as my master said, I'll eat on the road. Come on, get up, and I shall escort you to the village."
Maribel looked hesitant after hearing the declaration, but she then stands up, followed suit by Renko. A look to Kotomi's face said that he was pleased by the situation, and then, the two girls walked to stairs, followed by the soldier and his master. After the group was now gone from my line of sight, I waited for several seconds, to see if something is going to happen.
Well, nothing happened, so let's find another tree so that I can continue my observation.
Nothing much happened on the road, really, what with every youkai that tried to attack the group either ran away after looking at the soldier, or they got get into the afterworld pretty quickly by the soldier, Mai when she got attacked, and surprisingly enough, Renko, using a small L looking like object. Kotomi also sometimes commented about getting into the military or something like that to Renko, but the latter simply says no.
The soldier keeps on persuading her, but eventually, since Renko is pretty stubborn, he gave up. But that didn't change the fact that he asked how she got so good using guns. Basically, she only told that his father is a soldier, and that his father taught her how to use some guns and basic defensive skill. And she also added that her mother is an astronomer. That certainly leads to her power, even if indirectly.
Eventually, after some more chatting and killing stupidly brave youkais, with Mai only occasionally talking, they reached the outskirts of the village, with some houses and stores outside the fences and gate from the center of the village.
"Well, thanks for the escort, Horikawa-san." Maribel said while bowing to their escort, with the soldier bowing back.
"No big deal." The soldier said, before his stomach demanded food again. "Though, I think I'll look for some food inside."
"Then follow us! I know a good place to eat!" Renko piped in as she put the gun back to her bag.
"No thanks." Kotomi rejected the offer for what reason I don't know. "I'll look for the place myself."
"Well, okay, then." Renko replied, and then walked to the gate with Maribel following behind her, told the two guards there who they are, and went deeper into the village.
"So, you're not going to do it?" Mai asked suddenly, looking to her servant.
"Do what?" Kotomi asked, as he stretched his hand, and then…
Oh God, what the hell, Kotomi? You make your own arm into freaking food. What the hell.
"That." Mai said with a little sign of disgust. Seriously, why would someone want to eat a piece of their own body? "And you're going to eat your own arm."
"Who cares, its food." Kotomi shrugged carelessly, bringing his arm into his…
Sorry, I can't watch that. Way too disgusting, even for me. I may have seen completely out of shape humans, but at least it's not that bad. Eating your own self… No. Just… no.
"Ah, that hit the spot." Oh good, looks like he's done eating his own arm. "Oh, how I almost forgot eating that chicken."
"You know, you can just stuff that food into your stomach." Mai pointed out. I agree with her, by the way. "That way, people can just, well, not get disgusted by it."
"Well, that's a good idea." Good, at least he agreed with that. "But I digress. Eating from your mouth is way better than just stuffing it into your stomach."
…Great, so much for that.
"Anyway, making your ability mundane aside, let's go into the village." Mai said as she walked towards the gate, followed by her servant.
"What about your wings? I mean, this isn't named human village for nothing, right?" Kotomi asked, looking doubtful.
"There are youkais inside too, but only the ones that stay neutral, or good, or downright can't be stopped." Mai answered, and shivered a bit. "Including that youkai."
"That youkai?" Kotomi asked, tilting his head to the side. "Who's that youkai?"
"Yuuka Kazami." Mai answered, terror filling her face. "Whatever you do, don't go near her, or her garden. Especially her garden. You pluck one of her flowers; you'll be fertilizer in a second."
Ah, that youkai. Yeah, she's a powerhouse alright. I got into dispute with her sometimes, and always ended with a draw. Unlike angels that don't hold back, she holds back, since more of her sinister side is on her other half. And if she can take on Shinki one on one, and that she can go and harass those two gods of their dream world, then she's on my level. And with that, I also respect her.
"…Well, since I don't want to be a fertilizer, I'll note that." Thankfully, Kotomi is no idiot.
They stayed quiet until they reached the gate, where the guards stopped them.
"Hold it. What's your name, and what are you?" One of the guards asked, with the other simply looking at the two. The latter jaw opened as he looked to Kotomi, probably after reading the tengu newspaper.
"Ah, well, this is-" Kotomi said, but got cut short as the other guard closed their distance with the other guard.
"Dude, you don't recognize him? He's the one that took care of a lot of youkais! The description matched perfectly!" The other guard almost shouted, making the other guard cringe due to the proximity of his partner. "Hey, what's your name, and who's that girl? Certainly, you outsider are not like the ones that usually got here."
"Well, I'm Kotomi Horikawa, a soldier from the outside world, as you call it." Kotomi introduced himself, after the first attempt failed. "And this right here is…"
"Mai." Mai cut her servants words. "A youkai. Not a bad one."
"Well, surely, you can just say that." The first guard remarked.
"This human saved me from several more of the youkais in the forest."
…Wait, did she just make up a story? Does she even know the story of the newspaper?
"Oh, you mean the fourteen youkais in the forest? But why? Surely, youkais doesn't attack each other." The second guard asked. He's smart, I can tell that.
"…I don't know about that too. They just attacked me suddenly." Mai said with a grimace. Kotomi looked like he was swallowing rock, seriously.
…Wait, I can jump into the story too. Maybe it'll snap him out of his trance.
Teleporting to the back of a house, I stepped out into the road, looking my best to look both confused and sad. "Mai-chan…"
"Black?" Mai asked, looking towards me. The three men also looked at me. Following my plan, I beamed at the sight, and flew towards the girl.
"Mai-chan!" I said, before burying my face into the girl's stomach. "Black is glad you're okay! Black wanted to help earlier, but my friends told me not to!"
"B-Black…" Mai said, sounding confused. I lifted my face from her stomach, and winked my right eye to her. She looked even more confused, by then get the message. Smiling, she continued the plan. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for worrying me."
"And who's that guy?" I asked, glaring to Kotomi. Poor soldier looked even more confused than before. He probably didn't expect this to happen, even with his motto still running.
"That's Kotomi-san, who helped me against the bad youkais." Mai answered with a small smile.
"Really? Black is not sure. He looks weak." I said with a bit of skepticism in my voice, tightening my grip on Mai's dress. Mai shook her head slowly, a small smile on her face.
"Don't judge people from the looks, Black-chan, it's not polite to do so." Mai scolded me lightly.
"A-ah." And that finally snaps him out of his trance. "Yeah, uhh, Black. It's not good to judge people just from the looks." He added his two cents, and then looked at the two guards. "So, are you satisfied now?"
"Well, it does look promising." The second guard muttered while looking at me, and I kept my eyes locked on to him with a childish glare I could muster. "Oh hell, she's cute. You all can come in."
"Thank you very much, and sorry for the trouble." Mai said while bowing. "We'll make sure not to cause any trouble in the village."
Without any further chit-chatting, our group went into the village, with me hearing the two guards arguing. After a couple more steps, Kotomi sighed. "Seriously, did you have to make that story?" He grumbled, obviously not pleased by the made up story.
"What's Kotomi-san talking about Mai-chan? Black doesn't understand it." I said while looking to Mai. The latter shrugged.
"I have no idea, Black-chan." She added, much to the soldier's annoyance.
"Stop the drama acting and get back to your own persona, damnit." He grumbled again.
"Well, at least the story helps." Mai said, and her face turned cold again. "Though, it's fun while doing so. Right, Black-san?"
I looked to Mai with confusion on my face, and then sighed. "Well, at least they believed it." I said, dropping the posture of childishness. "I simply had the urge to jump in and make the story a bit more interesting."
"And it worked greatly that my brain gets a BSOD." Kotomi said, still grumbling. I don't know what this B-S-O-D is, but it ought to be something not really important, so I ignored it. "Anyway, where to now?"
"Well, you're the one that wanted to travel the village." I pointed out, which Kotomi then looked to the side. "You can just go around, find a place to stay, or anything."
He grumbled something again, but decided that the best course of action was to stay silent, and went to the center of the village. Mai and I followed her, and our group becomes the center of attention in no time, mostly to the soldier. He didn't like it one bit, though.
It doesn't take long for the three of us to reach the center of the village. In it was the dragon statue, it's eyes was some sort of magical gem that can predict the weather for the present day, which is a clear sky blue, indicating it will be clear for the rest of the day. There's also the building that indicates the place where the leader of the village takes place. Some shops and stalls here and there, and some houses too, but there's one place I didn't like one bit about it.
"A church? Here?" Kotomi asked while looking to the building. It is a simple building, really, made completely out of wood, stained glass on the windows with Christian cross in the middle of the glass. It also had a towering part of it, with another cross on top of the pointy roof.
And that is also the building that I didn't like one bit about it.
"Yeah, because of a certain incident that a false apocalypse about angels and the Morning Star fighting." I said, my voice clearly indicating my harshness. And Kotomi didn't seem to realize this little thing, or he doesn't care.
"Huh? You mean, there are angels here too?" Kotomi asked.
"No, but they do sometimes come down and help spread the religion. It's a slow progress, really, but it's a progress. Some was interested, and some simply got intimidated by them." I answered.
"Does the angel look like Sariel?" Mai piped in.
I shook my head. "Yes, and no, their clothing is much more extravagant, unlike the humbleness that Sariel-sama wore." I answered. "And to think that the closest angel to god also comes down too..."
"The closest angel to god? As in Michael?" Kotomi asked again. And for someone that isn't part of the religion, he's pretty well informed.
"Yeah, though here "he" was more of a woman, and is named Michel." I answered again, correcting him too. "And you know about these things too. Was it because of your friends?" I asked this time.
He smiled slightly, and nodded. "Yes, being with them certainly gave me knowledge about those kind of things."
"Well, you better be careful, what with you bringing demons near them." I pointed out. Kotomi nodded, before he shot a look at me, his face completely pale.
Ah, yeah, he was part of a demon himself.
"A-ah, noted sharply." He meekly said, and looked to Mai. "Let's go then. I'll inspect the village more after we find a place to stay."
"Yes, that would be good." Mai agreed, and looked to her stomach. "And I want to eat something too. And not from a part of your body, thank you very much." She emphasized the word "not", clearly not wanting that.
"As you say, mistress." Kotomi bowed, and took the lead again, this time going away from the center of the village.
Cklink.
"Ah, welcome sir, and… madam. What can I help you on this good day?"
We're currently in a small, modest inn, named Satomi's inn, with an old man greeting us. Not really old, though, looking about his fifty or so, and most of his hair had whitened due to age. His clothing was like most of the villagers, a kimono of the sort, I don't really care about clothing. And the walk is boring, so I skip the story of it.
"Do you have a vacant room for three? We need a place to stay right now." Kotomi asked, his hand behind him as he prepared something.
"Ah, of course. Let me check the list first." The inn keeper said, and shuffled through his book on his counter table. Not long afterwards, he looked at the soldier again. "There are three vacant rooms right now, sir."
Kotomi nodded, and asked. "How much is the price?"
"Well, for each day, you pay for about one hundred and twenty yen." The inn keeper said. It's reasonable, really, but if Kotomi was planning to stay here, and that the price also includes other things, then he'll keep his decision.
Kotomi nodded again. "Do you accept any other kind of payment? Like some gold, perhaps?"
This clearly took the inn keeper by surprise. He just said his price, and now Kotomi was willing to pay him with gold. A real gold, made from parts of his body.
Surely, Shinki sometimes makes weird and useful things when she's bored.
"W-what do you mean, sir?" He asked for clarification. "You're willing to pay me with gold?"
Kotomi didn't answer, and simply put his hand from his back to his front; on it was a shining gold bar. The inn keeper was, of course, shocked by the display.
"I am willing to pay you with gold." Kotomi said, in it was a bit of finality in the tone. No room for bargaining, but who was going to argue with being paid by gold? It was, universally, a rare metal, and a really valuable one too. Kotomi sure knows how to put his power into use, even if mundane ones.
…And completely disgusting ones.
"Then allow me, Atsuhiko Satomi, the owner of this inn, to give you the most comfortable service as best as I could, for as long as you stayed here." The inn keeper, now identified as Atsuhiko (I'll call him with Satomi, though), declared. I already expect the back name, though, since it was clearly being written as the name of the inn.
Kotomi didn't waste any time in bantering, and put the gold on the table. I instinctively reached it, and poked it, to see if it was real or not. Well, that caught the attention of Satomi, though, so I'll play my little drama again.
"It's shiny…" I said in awe, as I keep poking it again. I could hear Kotomi snorted, probably believing that I haven't seen one yet. "Black likes it!"
It's hard as a metal it should be, so it should be real, and it doesn't look like it'll change back into gruesome flesh and bones and blood anytime sooner, so I keep poking it. Satomi smiled, and takes my hat, before making a mess of my hair. And he also takes the gold away. I pouted childishly, which makes the inn keeper chuckle.
"Quite a cute child you bring here." He said as he keeps making a mess out of my hair. "Let me show you the way to the room, mister…"
"Kotomi, Kotomi Horikawa." Kotomi said without missing a beat. Satomi in response stop rustling my hair, and put my hat back after tidying my hair again. I crossed my arms and looked away with a pout, making me look more like a child than my usual self.
"Follow me, then." Satomi said as he gestured our group to follow him deeper. We followed, passing some room that probably have occupants in it, and went upstairs. After turning left and passing two more room, he opened the door to our room. I peeked at how the room looked like.
Well, it's big, that one I can already guess. There were two windows on the walls that are faced to the center of the village, a sliding door where you usually put your futon in there, some paintings, a round table that you can put in the room, some pillows for sitting, overall, a pretty good place.
"Black likes the room." I commented as Kotomi entered the room and looked around. Mai followed shortly after. After some thorough looking (which makes us know that there are four futons instead of three, but who cares?), Kotomi nodded.
"This'll do nicely." He commented. "Oh, and do bring some green teas for us."
"And I want to eat some sushi." Mai piped in.
"I'll deliver it as fast I can." Satomi said, and then walked away from our room. I closed the door after I entered the room, and immediately plopped to the floor.
"Ahh, what a day…" I muttered.
"Yeah, I agree." Kotomi responded while lifting the table, and put it in the center of the room. "Though, what did you do earlier? Just watching us from afar and doing nothing, right?"
I chuckled after hearing his response. "Sure, you could say that, but I also had a rematch with the yama."
This perked Mai by a bit. "And the result?"
I shrugged. "I lost, as I predicted. Though I was planning on to make it a draw, or a stalemate, I was fighting my real self, not my current self. And the beating of the yama was just me throwing Miss Eiki twice, and she only retaliated once."
"Real self?" Kotomi asked for clarification. But before I can answer, he continued. "You mean, he used that spell card that makes you fight yourself? Then why is there a "current self" and "real self"? And please don't tell me something that I don't want to hear in the future."
"Well, yeah, that what she used. And the reason why added those two was…" I hesitated for a bit, since this will only mean bad news for both of them. Kotomi sighed while rubbing his forehead, while Mai still listened intently.
"Go on, tell me. I'm expecting something totally unacceptable." Kotomi said, pressing me to continue.
"Well, my "real self" said that in my "current self", my power is the tip of the iceberg, and that the answer to my body reacting to pain violently is because my body acts as a dam to hold my power back that strained the pain senses." I answered. "And that in the future, the dam burst, along with my mind, so you can expect some very bad things to happen in the future."
The shock was totally underestimated with the term extremely, since Mai turned as white as snow. Kotomi, on the other hand, already expected it. There was a minute worth of silence before Kotomi sighed.
"Great, more head ache for me in the future." He groaned, and banged the table with his head. The table is surprisingly much sturdier than I thought too. "Why… why God, why do you have to pull all these strings in the span of two days? Do you plan on making me suffer for something I haven't even done yet?"
"He's probably bored." I commented. I still left the part about me losing something precious to me. But it's up to me to solve that myself, probably in the span of the next days.
"But why me…" He muttered again. I feel pity for him, seriously. He barely got away from the first day he got here, and he's already suffering this much.
There was more silence as we waited for the teas and food for Mai. Mai had bowed down, still trying to digest the information, Kotomi had given up hope for living, I guess, and I don't have anything to do. The silence was finally put to an end by Satomi as he opened the door, with three cups of tea on it, and a plate of sushi.
"Here's your order." He said with a smile, and entered the room. He put down the teas to each of our side, and an additional plate full of sushi to Mai. "You must be tired from yesterday, right, Kotomi-san?"
"Yeah…" He mumbled as he straightened himself, and sipped the tea. "Ahh… just what I needed…"
"You can call me later if you need anything." Satomi said, and exited the room.
The room fell silent once again, as everyone minded their own business. Mai was silently eating, Kotomi was sipping the tea, probably savoring it, and I just looked at the tea. The answer that I said still lingered in my mind stubbornly, even if I tried to kill it. Eventually, I got fed of it, drank the tea really fast, and slumped down to the floor.
I need some goddamn rest, after all. Even if only to satiate my physical need.
Author's note : The next one will be from our soldier's POV, and he gets into trouble. Again. Yeah, I'm that bad to my own OC. And I also added one fangames into the story. I don't know why, but it complicates the problem for my OC. Yeah, again, I'm bad to my own OC.
And also, I'm planning to make Lily Black a "little" bit overpowered, but not overpowered enough for her current self to be able to win on a one on one fight with an angel, so don't expect her kicking angels rear easily before she snaps.
...Wait, my common sense part of my brain is now complaining to me, telling me that the creative part of my brain is getting overboard. Yeah, I can see a mess in my brain coming in the future too.
Anyway, see you guys on the next chapter!
Next Chapter : Divine problem
