Chapter 10 - A Meeting
It was another day in Gensokyo, and it was another day for Takeyoshi, son of the human village's chief. He casually strolled through the streets and greeted the passerbys. A busy-turned-lazy day for him, but not so much for the bustling village.
A yawn slipped out of the young man. Since he was done for the day, the successor to-be of his father sought for a way to kill time. Despite his prestigious heritage, Takeyoshi had helped out around the town ever since he was little, interacting and socializing with the common people. Takeyoshi never wanted to be a simple good for nothing, merely borrowing his father's fame as "the son of the village chief".
Because of his tireless work for the common folk, Takeyoshi was deeply respected in return. Add in his natural, amiable charisma, the guy was magnetively popular.
"Hey Takeyoshi~!" A girl of his age called out when seeing him across the street. He waved back, showing her one of his trademark handsome smiles. The girl quickly blushed and ran away, leaving a few people laughing wholeheartedly. Everyone knew the girls here liked him, but they also knew that Takeyoshi had his sights on someone else. That doesn't mean he hates teasing the damsels here, however, and the person who he favored would scold him for the mild, lecherous, display.
Feeling hungry, Takeyoshi went to a local favorite, the taiyaki stand. The old lady there smiled when seeing him.
"There there," she took out a fresh taiyaki and handed it to him, free of charge. "A little snack for your afternoon, Take."
"Ah no, I can't..." He fished around the inside of his green yukata, which was expensively tailored. When realizing he carried no money, Takeyoshi reluctantly accepted the food, bowing in gratitude. "Sorry, I'll pay you back tomorrow."
The old lady smiled and shook her head, leaving Takeyoshi a little flustered. He bid farewells and continued his aimless walk, chewing on the delicious if not hot fish cake.
Another day for the human village, where everyone made their livings by honest work. The ambient commotion of the marketplace filled him with an inner peacefulness that was reserved for someone of his position. The steady, stagnant way of life everyone lived, the busy, yet carefree routines the humble villagers lead to, it all contributed to the satisfaction that he felt. Deeply tied with the citizens, he carried a burden, being the next in line of his father. But that burden made him feel alive. With every deceased villager he shed tears as if they were his own family, with each newborn infant a surge of hopefulness enveloped him to carry on for a better future. Because of him being so popular with the people, Takeyoshi's father, Hachirou, felt that he will be a leader greater than himself, leading the human village to a brighter tomorrow in this god forsaken land.
Takeyoshi would have enjoyed this moment thoroughly, chewing on the delicious taiyaki, if it weren't for the little distraction above him. The shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei, flying laps around the village like nobody's business.
In a way, it was her business. Ever since receiving the enormous amount of donations a few days ago, Reimu was fired up on honoring her shrine maiden duties. The few dictated commandants passed down from her predecessors were simple and clear: protect the humans, maintain the Barrier, and collect donations. Because of the overly generous amount of the money dumped at the shrine, she was overjoyed when the final criteria, daunting and beyond her powers, finally showed itself.
The son of the village chief waved at her. She stopped flying for a moment and looked around the land with an eagle eyed view, not noticing her benefactor below.
Takeyoshi sighed silently. It's good that she's really into it, and the people felt secure as ever, but eventually, given her lazy and rather arbitrary attitude, Reimu will soon get tired of this and everything will go back to the way it was. He wagers that Reimu will last for perhaps a week before finally saying "Fuck it, I'm bored."
It wasn't exactly his idea to give her the money. Well, he had pressured his father to pay homage at the shrine ages ago, to reward the shrine maiden and show her how faithful the people still are, but Hachirou never complied. It was rather strange and sudden for him to ask Takeyoshi to deliver the large money bag a few days ago, saying that he felt the time had come.
Ever since then, Takeyoshi never saw his father, thinking that he must be on another trip around Gensokyo to do one of those secret jobs he never talks about. It had been a regular routine from his childhood. One day Hachirou would just disappear, then return days later as if nothing happened.
What I wouldn't give to learn what he has been doing...Takeyoshi finished the last bit of the taiyaki and watched the shrine maiden fly out of his view. Further down the street he spot the all familiar building of his beloved teacher. It was decided that visiting there would be a nice way to spend the evening.
"Bye bye, Keine-sensei!" The children who were attending the schoolhouse waved goodbye to their teacher.
"Take care!" Keine Kamishirasawa, history teacher, returned the farewells. When seeing the kids dashing the down the street, an exclusive smile that a teacher reserved for her students displayed across her face.
Keine went back inside the modest sized schoolhouse, which was not much different from the other buildings in the human village. Gabled, ridged roofs with a dark green color and the rectangular body structure, it was fairly easy to miss the building if one's not familiar with the it. Takeyoshi, however, will never make such a mistake, as this place held the fond memories of him being a student here.
Heh, he mused to himself, she's probably gonna tell me go shave properly.
Just as he was about to enter the building, ripen with nostalgia, a chilling voice from behind halted him.
"You seem free, as usual."
A portal opened up in space horizontally like an eye. A "gap" was the proper name of this particular kind of portal. Inside of the gap was an endless purple void, with individual human eyes drifting freely, threatening to stare into the soul of anyone who dared to look. A tall, slender woman, caucasian in feature, climbed out of the said gap and leaned her long, purple dress against it as if it was the ledge of a window. She had violet eyes, almost identical to the vacuuming hue of her gap, and her long, silky blonde locks deemed her as a foreigner to anyone in Gensokyo. But she was no foreigner, no, that is entirely false. She was a powerful being who had resided in Gensokyo for over a thousand years, before Gensokyo even called Gensokyo. This woman who casually leaned against the floating gap was named Yukari Yakumo, an eternal amusement seeker.
Takeyoshi scoffed at her rather inconvenient timing.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the village?" He said. "People are gonna see you."
"Oh nothing, I'm just bored."
"...I can see that, but surely you must bother the son of the village chief for good reason." It wasn't exactly true, as Takeyoshi had experienced firsthand during his childhood. He must be some kind of blessed prodigy, because it was him, out of all people, that was bothered by Yukari nonstop for years.
"Well now," she smirked "the absence of your father is intriguing, I'd say. Tell me, where has he gone off to?"
"I dunno," Takeyoshi shrugged "he never tells me me anything. Why do you ask? Trying hit on my old man?"
Yukari snorted a surprised laugh. "Him? That grumpy brat? Don't think I'm some sort of desperate wench, Take."
You sure look like one, Takeyoshi thought. Way out of your marrying age.
Still, his father's absence bothered him. If not even someone like Yukari, who was basically omnipresent in Gensokyo, had clue of his father's whereabouts, then something must be amiss. He had tried to personally investigate before, but absolutely no progress was made. It was as if his father had disappeared altogether for some secret business trip.
"Well, you've asked me this like a million times before," Takeyoshi said "and the answer will always be the same. I was never informed of his activities."
"Is that so..." Yukari took out a closed purple paper fan and pointed it to her lips. "It's natural for fathers to share a conspiracy with their son, after all."
"Conspiracy? You think he's trying to kick out the youkai from Gensokyo or something? My father may be a little stubborn, but I don't think he's that dumb."
"Well, you never know." Having heard his answer, Yukari figured her interest in the conversation was depleted, so her gap enlarges and slowly began to swallow its master. Seeing her about to leave, Takeyoshi suddenly remembered the strange task his father told him to do a month ago.
"Wait, before you go, what happened to that human from the outside?"
Hearing this, the gap youkai stopped, her back turned to him. "You mean that guy you wanted me to bring over? Mario? Ma Su? Whatever his name is?"
"Yeah, is he here yet? Pretty sure my father wants to see him."
Yukari opened her fan and covered her mouth, eyes looking at elsewhere. "...He's in Japan, but you'll have to wait longer."
Takeyoshi raised one eyebrow in response. She could be lying, but what could he do about it? He had no idea why his father asked him to tell Yukari to drag this poor human into Gensokyo. That, along with the sudden donation to the Hakurei shrine and another one of his disappearances, the young man can't help but feel something is seriously fishy.
"Oh well, make sure to not let anyone see you, else I'll have to calm down the village again. That wasn't so fun." Takeyoshi turned and entered the school building, aiming to greet his teacher and catch up with the olden times. The gap youkai remained behind for a while, silently staring at the sky with her fan perched to her lips.
"Hm...she's interfering with me, isn't she..." Yukari Yakumo wondered out loud. After a brief moment of contemplation, she vanished without a trace.