Chapter 25 – A Change in Plans
A couple of days have passed and Kyouichi was only more firm about his decision to stop looking for the youkai of boundaries. However, to realize his plan to leave through the shrine's gateway, he and every other outsider would need to be well prepared and well equipped. It was therefore without a question that he'd need more money to afford all the traveling supplies. On Monday afternoon, when his school was over, he went to the village hall and knocked on the door of elder Fukukane's office. The secretary called him in and after a formal greeting he took a seat at the conference table, opposite of the elder.
"Good afternoon, Ishimaru-san. What can I do for you?" asked the head of the village council.
"I'd just like to know if there's any work available."
"Work, eh? Well, let us take a look then." he turned around and browsed through some papers on his shelves. "By the way, Ishimaru-san, don't you still work at the Starlight Glyph?"
"Yes, I do." admitted Kyouichi. "But just in case Shimizu-san would fire me after his assistant recovers from injury, I'd like to have some certainty that I won't be without a job."
"Yes, there are some requests for part-time jobbers here." Fukukane said and took a thin pile of papers and put them on the table. "Here you go. Please, take a look at these and tell me if any of these catch your interest."
"No, Fukukane-san, thank you." said Kyouichi and bowed. "I just wanted to know if there even is any work at all. Looks like there are plenty of opportunities so I don't need to worry when I lose my current job. I kind of like it there, you know, but still…"
"Oh, is that right? So you just wanted to see the situation on the job market? Well, I can certainly say it got better than when you were here last time… Is there anything else you wanted then?"
"That is all, thank you." replied Kyouichi and took his leave.
He felt a little relieved to know that there were quite a few job offers to choose from, if by any chance he wouldn't be working at the bookstore anymore. However, he still worked there and right now, that's where he was headed. He left the village hall office building and walked past the bronze dragon statue. Its mysterious gem-like eyes were now glowing in a blue light, predicting the beginning of the rainy season. The sky was still relatively clear with a few white clouds here and there, but the rain would start pouring down soon enough. Kyouichi entered his familiar workplace and greeted his employer in a friendly and informal manner. Daisuke was reading as usual. However, he wasn't reading a book, but a newspaper. As the outsider entered, he gave him the same look as when he entered his shop dressed up in a pink yukata and started chuckling.
"What's so funny, boss?" asked the confused outsider, but he wasn't too sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"You are…" chuckled Daisuke a bit louder.
Kyouichi now realized what he meant. "Oh no… You're reading Bunbunmaru…"
Now, the shopkeeper burst into laughter. "Hahahahaha~! Way to make a name for yourself, Ishimaru…" he laughed as he passed him the newspapers.
Right there, on the front page of the new edition of this irregularly published popular newspaper full of biased articles and half-truths, there was a large black and white photo of Reimu Hakurei and Kyouichi Ishimaru in front of Hakurei Shrine, both of them wearing the same color and same size miko outfits. Kyouichi wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.
A large-lettered title said it all: Introducing the Hakurei Shrine's New Shrine Maiden.
Kyouichi speechlessly stared at the newspaper, his hands shaking like those of an old man.
"…Aya… I don't like you… Reimu, Suika…. I don't like you anymore either…" he whispered as he dropped the paper on the counter, not even able to bring himself to reading the article inside. In reality, he didn't really dislike any of the girls he mentioned, it was just that he knew that this article was going to yet stir things up in his near future and not in a way he would like.
"Okay, just keep breathing…" he told himself. "Nice slow, deep breaths… Look at it all with rational eyes… You're going to get out of Gensokyo anyway… People will forget… They will not remember… They will not care… And neither will you…"
"I know that this is Bunbunmaru and that pretty much 70% of stuff written there is crap, but when I saw you on the front page…" said Daisuke and didn't finish his sentence due to another laughing seizure.
Even Kyouichi's tolerance had its limits and it was just being tested right now. Daisuke kept on laughing. "First a pink yukata, now a shrine maiden's dress…?"
Kyouichi got a good idea to silence Daisuke's laughter. "Oh, look." he pointed outside the window. "Isn't it Yuuka-san coming to the shop?" he asked, even though the said youkai wasn't really there.
The mere mention of that name was super-effective. Daisuke's laughter stopped immediately, his smile froze and his reddened face paled instantly. A total opposite of what he looked like just a second ago. Kyouichi couldn't hide his amusement.
"…*snicker*…Pfhahahahahaaa~!" he exploded into laughter. "Oh, man! This is too good… You should have seen your face, boss!" he chuckled as he tried to mockingly imitate Daisuke's shocked face.
Daisuke frowned and exhaled with relief. "That wasn't very funny, Ishimaru. You shouldn't joke about such things…"
"Okay, okay…" Kyouichi promised, still smiling from the afterglow of his good laugh. "But only if you won't poke fun at me for what I was forced to wear on that horrible day." he added and ripped the front page of Bunbunmaru Newspaper into shreds. He still didn't quite understand what made Shimizu-san so much afraid of such a sweet and lovely flower youkai lady, but he didn't have any time to ponder the question as he was immediately tasked to work. More books to copy, more manuscripts to rewrite and more documents to handle. It was another busy day at the Starlight Glyph. Particularly, there were much more customers visiting the shop than usual.
Part of it was probably caused by the fact that it started raining in the meantime and people without umbrellas simply wanted to find some shelter. It was a refreshing sight for Kyouichi to see his boss actually working hard instead of just reading books half the time of his shift. It was also refreshing to have the unbearable heat of summer dampened by a nice cooling rain. However, Kyouichi feared that the rain wouldn't let down any time soon. Not just for today, but for the next couple of days and weeks too.
As he worked on rewriting manuscripts of some unknown author with terrible handwriting, he felt at least a bit relaxed that he was hidden in the printing room – safe from the looks of the people who could have read today's newspaper and recognize its new protagonist. Time went by and there were still many people browsing through the shelves of the bookstore. Many of them got so intrigued that they actually fell for Daisuke's smooth talk and bought some books.
Kyouichi finally deciphered the last paragraph of some alchemical recipe, or at least he thought he did it right. It was now about time for his usual cleaning duty, so he didn't hesitate and took a mop and a bucket of water and began wiping the floor clean, regardless of the many customers still waiting inside for the rain to subside. He didn't bother to tell the people to step aside because they were in the way of his work. He just cleaned whatever else he could and put away the cleaning utensils back where they were usually stored. As he looked out of the window, he could see a really fierce downpour that held no indication of stopping in the following minutes.
"I don't suppose you took your umbrella with you today." said Daisuke Shimizu behind his back.
"I don't even have one to begin with." replied Kyouichi, still facing the shop's window.
"Too bad. Looks like the rain isn't stopping."
"Maybe I could borrow some large book from you and use it instead of an umbrella." jested the outsider.
"You could." admitted the shopkeeper. "Although that would be the last thing you'd do as my employee."
"O-hohoho~!" laughed Kyouichi in a sort of melodramatic manner as he turned his face to his boss. "Look at you, threatening to fire me… As if it's not going to happen in a few days anyway."
Daisuke raised his eyebrow and confusedly tilted his head. "Don't know where you gather that nonsense from, but I never said anything about firing you when Hiroto recovers."
Now, it was Kyouichi who was dumbfounded in confusion. "So… you're saying that you're going to have two assistants?"
"I don't see why not." said the shopkeeper casually. "You could be the one handling correspondence, cleaning and dealing with customers and Hiroto could be the one making copies, transcriptions and running errands if needed."
"What? You're still going to let him run errands outside the shop? After what he got himself into?"
"Look, I know Hiroto for some time and despite him being an ass sometimes, he knows his way around Gensokyo. I wouldn't risk sending you, a defenseless outsider to go on a trip to… I don't know… Youkai Mountain to help us establish some new contacts with potential customers or authors."
"Isn't Youkai Mountain off limits to humans?"
"I was saying that just as an example, Ishimaru." responded Daisuke, frowning at the outsider. "Hiroto will not do anything stupid like provoking a youkai and do you know why?" he asked without waiting for Kyouichi to answer. "Because that's the last chance he'll get from me. If he does any more bullshit like that, I'll fire him on spot and he can go and look for work in the fields. If he survives another encounter like that, of course…"
"So we'll be working together, huh?" asked Kyouichi and looked outside the window again.
"I might have called him a short tempered fool, but I'll give him a clear definition of acceptable behavior and a clear warning of what happens when he strays from that behavior. I want you to cooperate and do your best while working. I won't care if you two won't get along with each other as long as you don't let it show and do your duties right. Nobody's telling you to be best friends with him."
Kyouichi nodded silently and turned around. He walked past Daisuke and around the counter.
"Well, at least I can stay and do what I got used to." he murmured to himself as he was reaching for the door, ready to open it.
"Aren't you at least going to wait until the rain calms down a bit, Ishimaru?" called Daisuke at him.
Kyouichi smiled, waved his left hand to show that he doesn't care about the rain and left the bookstore after his shift was over.
The rain was dense, but he didn't hurry. He'd get wet even if he ran so what was the point of hurrying? The streets were nearly empty, with the exception of those few people who had umbrellas. Kyouichi just leisurely walked to the Saitou house, ignoring the rain completely.
"Welcome back." said Minako, greeting him in the corridor. "You got all wet. Looks like you're going to need an umbrella during the following days."
"Hi, Minako-san… Perhaps you're right, but I don't like umbrellas."
"So, Kyouichi-kun… How was your work today?"
"I'm not complaining… Yet." he added as if he could predict something bad was going to happen soon.
"And what are you going to do during the rainy season?" she inquired as she brought him a dry change of clothes.
Kyouichi really didn't know that himself. "Beats me." he shrugged. "I guess I'm just going to keep on reading the Gensokyo Chronicle. Although I don't see the point anymore…" he murmured, lost in thought. Since he was convinced that he won't find Yukari by reading references to her name in the books, he considered the whole compilation of the Hieda chroniclers as little more than entertainment reading.
"I guess that the following days are going to be rather boring…" he said as he dressed himself up to a dry kimono. Meanwhile, Mizuto showed up in the kitchen with a folded roll of newspaper in his hand. When Kyouichi saw it, he expected to be laughed at, but instead, Mizuto didn't even mention the photo or the article.
"You know what they say..." he said as he sat down at the table. "That after every rain comes the sun."
Kyouichi didn't know if the fisherman meant that literally or metaphorically, but for him, that sun was the day when he and other outsiders will successfully find their way to Tokyo. He knew that day wasn't tomorrow, but he also knew that it wasn't too far in the future. After the whole family had dinner, the outsider felt really tired. He thought he'd keep on reading, but instead, he just lay on his back in the guest room and stared into the ceiling, listening to the sound of beating rain. He felt just as tired and lethargic as Reimu did when it was too hot and he blamed the whole lack of energy on the weather. Even such was the life in Gensokyo – not always packed with fun and interesting things to do, but also boring at times. That was one of Kyouichi's laziest days ever.
The next day was a different story, though. The rain let up during the night, turning into a calm drizzle by morning. Kyouichi absentmindedly prepared for his meeting with the outsiders and didn't pay attention to mostly anything he was being told or asked by the members of the Saitou family when he had breakfast.
"Hey, Kyouichi-kun… What's wrong? Why don't you say anything?" wondered Minako who just poured some tea into his cup.
"Huh? Oh… Sorry, I wasn't paying attention…" apologized the outsider as he returned back to reality.
"I can see that." remarked Minako, giving him a concerned look. "Haven't you woken up yet?"
Kyouichi chuckled weakly. "Yeah, I guess I haven't."
"Then you better wake up soon." smiled the tailor. "I remember that Keine-sensei doesn't like it when her students aren't paying attention during her lessons."
"You're right." nodded Kyouichi and drank the warm tea. "I can imagine my life even without being headbutted by a were-hakutaku…"
"Hey, hey, Kyou-kun?" asked Chitose who just finished her breakfast. "I've heard you've been at the shrine again recently… That's not fair. I want to be Reimu-sama's friend too."
"I don't even know if we're friends exactly, but… she definitely deserves to be called a friend since she's doing what she can to help us."
"Dad won't let me go to the shrine so I could visit her…" she kept complaining. "But one day, I'll be good enough to travel on my own and go wherever I want."
"Yes, yes…" Mizuto patted his daughter's head. "But until then, try to stay focused on your studies."
"But I am…" argued little Chitose. "Oh, but we need to hurry or we'll be late." she said as she looked at the clock. "Tadao-kun, Kyouichi-kun, let's go already."
They all took their school bags, and through the streets of the Human Village on a drizzly morning they trotted to the school. This at least made the outsider's heart start pumping a little faster and he wasn't feeling so sleepy and groggy anymore. As soon as he split up with Chitose and Tadao in the school's hallway, he walked up to the second floor and marched towards the library.
"Ah, finally, the club's president is here." sounded the voice of the foreigner, Daniel, who was sitting at the table with most of the club members.
"Sorry I'm late." Kyouichi apologized to everyone as he closed the door behind him.
It looked like the club started its discussion without him, as Midori was already standing at a small blackboard with chalk in her hand.
"Did I miss anything important?" he asked.
Midori shook her head. "I was just pointing out that all the material we've gathered about Yukari Yakumo so far, including the recent information, is… well… There are so many versions of stories about her, that many of them are contradicting each other."
"Yes." confirmed Hikaru and rubbed his chin while looking into his notepad. "It seems that the more information we've gathered, the less certain we are about her habits, residence and appearance."
Kyouichi sighed and didn't even sit down at the table as he walked up to the blackboard where Midori was standing. "Which is why I'm here to tell you, that the time has come for a change of plans." he said with resolve in his voice.
A mix of whispers and murmurs echoed throughout the room for a while.
"What do you mean a change of plans?" asked some of the club members simultaneously.
Kyouichi took a deep breath and retold a short version of his recent findings. "…And so, it seems to me, that Yukari is not going to help us after all."
"As if I didn't tell you so." muttered Yuujin, the ever-criticizing man among the outsiders.
"Like I mentioned earlier, our second and now, seemingly our only alternative, is going through the Hakurei Shrine's gateway." Kyouichi continued, pretending he didn't hear Yuujin's remark. "We've already agreed upon taking this option if we didn't find Yukari until autumn. However, we didn't set ourselves any concrete date when we'll leave and that's also one of the things I'd like to discuss with you."
He paused himself to take a better look at the people sitting in the room. "And before I begin, I can already see that some of the club members aren't here yet. Hikaru-san, can you tell me how many people are absent?"
Hikaru cleared his throat but before he said anything, Midori was the first to answer. "Nadeshima-san is ill, as far as I know, but have you heard about Asakura-san?"
"No, what about him?" wondered Kyouichi, because he didn't know all the members of his club too well.
"He was attacked by a youkai last Friday and got seriously injured. He had to be taken to Eientei." replied Midori with a serious tone.
"Seriously?" Kyouichi raised his eyebrow. "Tell me more. How did it happen?"
"I've only heard it from other people, but Asakura-san works with the woodcutters in the bamboo forest. Supposedly the group of workers got attacked by a fierce youkai. Even though they were all protected by Ryuuken, they couldn't prevent the workers from getting hurt. But fortunately, nobody got killed at least."
Kyouichi's lips parted and he whistled in amazement. "Whoa… I guess I'm not the only one to brag about something like that." he told himself as he rolled up his left sleeve and revealed the scars left by the teeth of the youkai of darkness.
Midori's eyes widened in surprise. "What's that? You were attacked too?! You never told us about that…"
"It wasn't all that serious really."
"What happened?" Midori inquired.
"Just some young youkai of darkness jumped on me and went "omnomnomnom" on my left forearm." replied the outsider jokingly. "But seriously… I hope Asakura-san will be fine."
"I'm sure he will." said Sayuri, who joined the conversation. "I've heard that the doctors at Eientei are really amazing and can save people with even the worst of injuries… Provided they still live, that is…"
"O-kay. But what about the other absent members?" wondered Kyouichi, who counted only 13 out of 18 people in the room, including himself.
"Ah, yes…" sounded Hikaru and frowned a little. "It seems that three members of our club have changed their minds and decided to stay in Gensokyo… They won't be coming with us."
Kyouichi again put on a surprised face. "Really? So there are people who are staying here after all… Well, it's their decision…"
"So, what did you want to talk about today?" asked Midori impatiently.
"Right… We're going to leave Gensokyo on our own, but for that, we'll need to buy a lot of supplies, because we don't know for how long we will be wandering before we find any sign of civilization. That's why I'd like to establish something like a club's fund for that purpose. Each week, every member will contribute a part of their earnings to this fund and with that money, we'll buy all the necessary traveling supplies like tents, food, spare clothes and medicine."
"Very well, Kyouichi-san." nodded Hikaru as he scribbled notes into his diary. "I suppose if we all paid let's say 2500 yen per week, we could save up enough money to buy what we need until autumn."
"But why the hell should we be waiting until autumn?!" protested Yuujin. "Why not leave sooner if we manage to scrounge up enough cash together?"
"A very good question, Ueda-san." nodded Kyouichi understandingly. "I too would like to set out on that journey without any unnecessary delays, but as you might have noticed already, the rain season has just started. I don't know about you, guys, but I certainly don't feel like hiking through the dangerous mountain terrain in this miserable weather. The second thing is, we probably won't manage to scrounge up enough money any sooner than autumn anyway. Remember that we'll still need to take some money with us to the outside world, not to mention that we should also pay something to Reimu-san for her kindness of taking us through the barrier. It seems to me that traveling in fall is our best choice."
"Looks like you have it all thought through…" acknowledged Yuujin reluctantly. "Except for one minor detail… How the hell do you plan us all to gather at the Hakurei Shrine PLUS carry all the traveling equipment that we'll need? The Ryuuken will turn us right back if we try to leave the village all at once. They have orders from the council not to let outsiders travel around Gensokyo without permission."
"The Ryuuken are the least of our worries, Ueda-san. We could sneak away by small groups or if that fails, we could bribe the guards to let us pass. Right now, we need to set ourselves the day when we will begin our exodus."
"And when exactly will be the day?"
Kyouichi took a longer moment to think about it before suggesting his idea. "How about the first day of Kannazuki (October)?"
A complete silence filled the school's small library until Hikaru replied: "I have nothing against it."
"I agree too." acknowledged Sayuri.
"Me as well." nodded Midori.
"First of Kannazuki? No problem." replied the other "transfer students".
"Excellent." smiled Kyouichi and turned to Hikaru. "Nagahashi-san, I'm putting you in charge of the club's fund. I don't know where we are going to put the money, though… I don't recall seeing anything like a bank here in Human Village."
"Of course, just leave it to me."
"Thank you very much. Now… all that's left for me to say is… that I wish you all good luck at your part-time jobs. Oh, and in case some of you still had the feeling like they have too much time on their hands, they can continue gathering whatever helpful information about Yukari like we did up to now. I didn't give up on looking for her entirely; I was just saying that our priorities should be focused on preparations for our expedition. That's all I wanted to say, thank you."
"Now that we've said everything important," spoke Daniel suddenly with a strange grin on his face, "I'd like to present the next topic… Has anyone read yesterday's Bunbunmaru news?" he snickered as he waved the printout of the said newspaper in his hand.
Kyouichi's jaw dropped and he slapped his head with his palm. "Oh for God's sake, people… Don't embarrass me more."
The entire library echoed with wild laughter, with Kyouichi being the only one who wasn't laughing. He knew that this sort of publicity was not going to make his life in Gensokyo any easier. But it was too late for him to make other people unsee what they already saw.
And thus started a series of jokes and rumors about Kyouichi wherever he showed up at school. When the club's meeting ended and the outsiders and other regular students gathered in the classroom on the first floor, the young ones already started pointing fingers at him and giggling. Some of the students have even started calling him Miko-Miko-Kyouichi or Reimu-kun. Even Keine-sensei looked at him with a strange, suspicious look the whole time. Kyouichi rarely felt so happy to be leaving the school after the final class as he did today.
He didn't wait for any of his friends. He just hurried up straight home to have lunch before his next shift at the bookstore.
After approximately 30 minutes, he was already entering the Starlight Glyph, hoping he could at least relax his mind while working. However, as he entered, he could see Daisuke as well as another person behind the counter as they were talking about something. What was their conversation about remained unknown, as they stopped talking as soon as Kyouichi showed up.
The person standing next to Shimizu-san was a tall young man with wide face and muscular stature, dressed up in black kimono pants and vest. He had dark-brown eyes and his hair was cut very short and it was hard to tell what color it was. He almost looked bald. He was a little shorter than Kyouichi, but he looked much stronger. The outsider guessed his age to be somewhere around mid twenties.
"Uh… Good afternoon, boss." he greeted bashfully.
"Ah, good afternoon to you too." bowed Daisuke and gestured towards Kyouichi. "And this is your new co-worker I mentioned to you earlier - Ishimaru Kyouichi-san."
"Nice to meet you." bowed the outsider once more. This time, to the other man.
The young man crossed his arms as he measured Kyouichi up with his eyes. "Hmph… This one here is your new assistant?" he disdainfully cocked his head at him. "He doesn't look like much…"
"Hiroto!" Daisuke looked at him scoldingly. "What did I tell you just now? Don't you know how to behave?"
"Oh… So you're Hiroto-san? Shimizu-san's usual assistant?" asked the outsider.
"Figured that out all by yourself, have you?" asked the muscular young male with a cocky tone. "Yes, I am Hiroto Yukiyama and if you want us to get along well, you'd do well not to get in my way."
"You two are certainly not going to get in each other's way here." retorted the owner of the shop. "That's because you'll be working cooperatively."
"Hmph… If I have no other choice…"
"But of course you do, Hiroto-kun." said Daisuke with a forced smile. "You can always look for work elsewhere if you don't find the working conditions in the bookstore to your liking."
"Didn't you want to become a Ryuuken, Hiroto-san?" wondered Kyouichi.
"I still do. And mark my words that I will become one!" replied Hiroto loudly and boastfully. "But until then, I'm going to help out here."
"Fine by me." shrugged the outsider. "So, what is there to do today?"
"You will now take your place at the counter and deal with the customers, Ishimaru." replied Daisuke and tapped the counter with his hand. "As for you, Hiroto, you'll be printing and transcribing in the back."
"Why do I have to get the menial tasks?" grumbled the older assistant with displeasure.
"It's not menial. It's just as important as any task here. Now… let me explain how this new kappan machine here works…" said Daisuke and led Hiroto into the small room in the back of the shop.
A couple of minutes have passed and a few people showed up in the shop. Kyouichi thought he'd get the chance to sell something again, but it seemed that these people have just come to browse.
"Alright, Ishimaru I'm going to the post office to order some new titles, so watch over the shop for me, okay?" requested Daisuke and not even waiting for a positive reply, he left the bookstore.
For a moment it was quiet, but after a couple of minutes, Hiroto walked out of the printing room stretching his arms like after some exhausting work and sat down right on the counter.
"So… What's up, Hiro-kun?" asked Kyouichi, trying to break the ice.
The man gave him a piercing glance and he furrowed his eyebrows. "If I'll like you, you may call me Hiro-kun… But guess what? I DON'T LIKE YOU!" he yelled loudly straight into Kyouichi's face, letting the outsider smell his bad breath.
"Do you have a problem with me?" asked Kyouichi with a calm voice.
"I don't like your mug… outsider." he said the last word with utter disgust in his voice as if it was the worst insult he could think of.
"You're not exactly my type either." retorted Kyouichi reservedly. "But why making yourself more enemies instead of friends? Yukiyama…"
"Ha! I'd rather be kissing a horse's backside than associating myself with a miserable outsider such as yourself!" he growled back and provokingly prodded Kyouichi's shoulder.
However, Kyouichi could remain perfectly calm in similar situations. Perhaps he was afraid of the youkai in Gensokyo, but people such as Hiroto didn't scare him at all.
"So you have something against outsiders?" he inquired nonchalantly.
"What an idiotic question!" laughed Hiroto amusedly. "Let me put this as politely as I can… You are the scum of Gensokyo! You and the rest of that pathetic rabble from the outside… You think you're all smarter than gods! You think you can change the whole world! You think you can just pop up here and turn Gensokyo into another one of your colonies!"
"What the hell is this guy on?" thought Kyouichi to himself as he watched Hiroto's nonsensical rambling.
"You bring your fantastic ideas and inventions and rules to Gensokyo and you're all expecting us to be kissing your boots for that? Ha! You mean NOTHING! You're weak and pitiful and unable to take care of your own selves! The money of all honest taxpayers is wasted on feeding you worthless bums! You take up other people's houses and you even take jobs away from the native villagers! Why does the elder even let you stay here?"
"I'm not too sure if your former master, Tanisake would be very happy to hear you say such things, Yukiyama…" remarked Kyouichi.
"Pffff… That old drunkard can go die in a hole! He is a perfect example of why I hate outsiders! Bah! Even saying the word makes my skin crawl! You are not going to dictate OUR lives! You are the lowest of the low! Even fairies here mean more than you! Gensokyo would be much better off without the likes of you!"
Kyouichi smirked and shrugged. "Well, good for you then, because we are all currently working on how to get home where we came from. You won't have to put up with "us miserable scum" for too long. When autumn comes, we're out of here. And once we make it home, then Gensokyo can rot for all I care! Oh, and if you meet Yukari Yakumo by any chance, please, do tell her that I send my regards and that she can teleport herself into another galaxy or into the deepest level of hell and stay there for at least an eternity, rather than forcefully taking people into this insane asylum of a world and letting half of them die!" he shouted as his voice turned gradually from calm to angry. He said words he wouldn't normally say, but Hiroto was really starting to get on his nerves. Hiroto didn't speak for a moment, and so, Kyouichi continued. "I don't plan on dictating anyone's life and I'm not happy about having to stay here any longer than necessary. Don't know how you would act if you found yourself stranded in Tokyo one day and you couldn't even explain how you got there…"
Hiroto annoyingly waved his hand. "Bah! I'm not curious about your problems. Why do I even waste my time talking to you?" he asked and went back into the printing room to continue whatever work he was in the middle of.
Kyouichi was almost proud of himself that he managed to talk his way out of this conflict without provoking Hiroto into beating the crap out of him. Suddenly the shop's door opened again and Kyouichi expected to see either Daisuke or some customer, but the person entering was Hieda no Akyuu with a small pile of books in her hands.
"A-Akyuu-chan?" asked surprised Kyouichi. "How nice to see you again."
The little chronicler smiled sweetly. "Hi, Kyouichi-san. Is Shimizu-san here?"
"Ehh… No, he's out at the moment. Is there anything you wanted from him?"
"I've just brought an update to the ninth volume of the chronicle, so it could be copied." replied Akyuu and heaved the books on top of the counter.
"Oh, why… yes, thank you very much, Akyuu-chan. I'll let the boss know that you brought it. And I'll return you all the books I borrowed from you soon."
The chronicler looked at him with curious eyes. "You've read them all?"
"No. I won't need them anymore… What's the point in learning various trivia about Yukari if she's not even in Gensokyo? Oh, no… I've already decided to leave Gensokyo with Reimu's help. Even if it's risky and more difficult."
Akyuu looked at him seriously and muttered: "Won't you wait until next spring at least?"
The outsider immediately shook his head in disagreement. "Forget it. Oh, wait… You can't. Well, just ignore it… I'm not waiting any longer than until Kannazuki. Then we're all leaving this place even if it started raining chainsaws."
"Chain… what?"
"That was just a metaphor… Anyway… I'd like to thank you for all the helpful information you provided to help us, Akyuu. I really appreciate it. I'll even pay you for the help you provided, but not before we all buy all the necessary supplies for traveling."
"Kyouichi-san…"
"I know that you won't forget about me, and I won't forget about you either… We can still enjoy a few months of time as friends, but then we'll part our ways for good."
Akyuu smiled again and nodded. "I know. But I guess I wasn't much of a help after all."
"Oh yes, you were." argued Kyouichi. "It's not your fault that your good old friend decided to go for a vacation somewhere outside of Gensokyo. But it doesn't matter to me anymore. Once again, thank you… And have a nice day."
"You too, Kyouichi-san." bowed the little chronicler and left the bookstore.
As soon as she did so, Hiroto's face popped out from the printing room. "Aww! That was sooo touching." he jeered with sarcastic tone. "Pretending to be nice and caring and shit…"
"I thought you didn't care about my problems." remarked the outsider and gestured to Hiroto to return back to his tasks.
"What did you just do?" asked the older assistant in incredulous manner. "Did you just shoo me off to return back to that room, outsider?!" he stepped forward with a threatening gaze.
"I just want you to do the same you want from me – to mind your own business."
"Oh, sure… That's just what I'm going to do." he grinned crookedly and glanced on the small pile of business documents that Kyouichi was writing. Then he picked up an ink flask from the counter and spilled its content over all the documents. "Oooops! Looks like you're going to have to start all over again. What can I tell you...? Accidents happen sometimes. But don't worry, outsider, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it one day…" he returned back to the printing room while laughing stupidly.
Kyouichi clenched his fists and teeth hard, trying his best not to attack the other guy. After taking several deep breaths, he managed to calm himself down and he started cleaning up the mess on the counter. Fortunately, Akyuu's update to the chronicle was unharmed. Another fortunate thing was that there weren't too many documents soaked by the ink. In the meantime, Daisuke returned from the post office and noticed Kyouichi washing an ink-soaked rag in a bucket of water.
"Did you spill some ink, Ishimaru?"
"Nope." he replied tersely and pointed his thumb backwards at the printing room, but Daisuke obviously didn't notice it. He brought two bags of fresh yakitori from one of the stands in the marketplace and a pleasant smell immediately spread across the shop. He gave one to Kyouichi and carried the other one into the printing room.
"Oh, by the way boss, Akyuu-san just brought some new material to be copied." Kyouichi informed his employer.
"Akyuu-san was here? Ah, there's the new material… Good, good. We can start making copies right away." smiled Daisuke as he rubbed his hands. He carried the pile of Akyuu's notes into the printing room and tasked his other assistant to make copies of them.
The tense atmosphere partially dissolved when Daisuke was there in the shop, but whenever he left, Hiroto started acting up again.