The city looked to be glimmering as I walked through the streets, filled with men and women walking and talking with each other. Since nobility has ended, men of all kinds and women of all kinds walked through the streets wearing from poor to rich clothes made from silk.
The air seemed to colder up in London and yet relaxing enough to lower my guard, but for now, I must put away the sense of exploration and sightseeing from the task list to find a roof atop my head in this city. In 1909, hotels were already built from two or three decades ago to accommodate noble staying in the city, my alternative is the inn served to those who could not afford to stay in a hotel.
I walked through the street to find an inn, careful not to hit people with his unfocused vision when walking and to avoid pickpockets. After a few moments of being confused and trying to pick the right, I've finally got a room.
Lying down on the bed after discarding the coat on a chair in the room, I could only stare mentally at the sight of the city from afar and up close. But, I could feel the tension that rose alongside the things hidden in the dark alleys of London even with the illusion of a glimmering city.
Upon waking up in the morning, I immediately prepared myself and changed into new clothes. I could feel the cold radiating from the windows despite the morning sun shining down the city as I ate the food prepared by the inn cook. Quickly getting out of the inn as I was rather excited to explore the city.
The streets in the morning have fewer people compared to when it was at night, and from here I could see the famous clock tower ticking in the distance. After walking some distance into the streets, looking out into the tight alleys placed on the left and the right of the streets.
My prioritization was to walk through the streets of London before exploring all the dark places that would prove to be dangerous. If my walk through the streets landed me into a building yard of some sort, I will also explore it to the fullest.
My shoes clacked against the stone road underneath echoing as less and lesser people seemed to go where I was currently. And sure enough, I stumbled upon a yard of some sort with an open roof, and from afar that I could hear the rumblings and conversation of people in the streets.
A burst of feeling almost froze me on the spot, though it was less of a fate warning, more of a natural feeling screaming out that somebody is watching me right now. My heart also seemed to stop for a few beat at this point, and I whirled around searching for the source.
Perhaps it's from above?
Who on earth is that..?
From the top of the roof, I could only catch a glimpse of a woman wearing a purple dress and white dress at the same time tilting her head in curiosity at my position under the roof. I inhaled sharply preparing for something to happen.
The feeling seemed to disappear after the woman stepped back and disappeared from the vicinity, although I could not pinpoint which character in the past life wore a purple dress. Somehow, I feel uneasy and safe at the same time with the presence of that woman or youkai.
Deciding to forge on and think of the encounter that has me rather confused later on after finishing this exploration of mine. The clouds above seemed to darken for a moment as I stumbled after hitting my feet on a false step in the roads, the people wandering the streets unaware of the things hidden and the one that I encountered earlier.
And they say ignorance is blissful...
In my perspective, ignorance is neither blissful nor terrifying as knowing things will elicit the same feeling as ignorance does. Knowing things may give you a horrific answer, but you can know the truth to be terrified of the answer, and from there that you can learn from the knowledge.
I did not regret knowing that all the mythological creatures and youkai in the world is real, as the knowledge of the things that I've encountered make things more beautiful and mysterious at the same time. Yet when death comes, I still forge on and try to find a new one in life for the sake of knowledge.
If I was still the same person like that before from the past life, I would've said that encountering those mythological creatures and youkai alongside learning what they are, is fun regardless of the danger but that is no longer me anymore. My mind changed after I was born into a different body and the world with a different mindset than in the modern world, though I wonder how much will my mind change after I go back to the modern world...
A loud noise accompanied by an explosion snapped me out of my thought alongside my stance, preparing to jump away at a moments notice, some people have stopped in the streets to turn and look at the source. It seems to be a car crash that collided with nearby buildings, the peoples nearby scattering out of the way.
Blood splattered onto the building windows and the car's window, the driver's head has collided with the steering wheel and it's more than likely that he is dead at this point. A steel beam from the building seemed to have pierced the passengers of the car, creating a gruesome image that made some people looking at the accident nauseous.
On the other hand, I felt suspicious at the strange aura coming out from the radius of the car resonating with my gut, creating the familiar cold feeling associated with fate.
The gaggle of people looked on worriedly at the crash as I slipped away to find where the car had come from. It's quite strange, why would a youkai tamper with the driver to crash into a wall nearby? Not that I could hear or see how a youkai thinks in their mind, for all intents and purposes, they could be wallowing in boredom.
Upon following the scratch mark from the tire on the road, I finally entered the place where the car seemed to run away from. A parking slot on the top-right corner, the mark on the road seemed to go atop the barrier stopping vehicles from sliding away. The freezing cold seemed to be the strongest here, and I looked down to find something quite strange.
Pieces of metal and bolts, along with an empty toolbox laid on the edge of the parking slot. A crushed screwdriver was seen a few meters away from the barrier, meaning that It was crushed by the car as it screeched away.
It was painfully obvious at this point that the youkai culprit is a kappa living nearby, though whether they have the name Nitori is unknown for now. To know the location of the culprit is rather tedious and I do not want to look suspicious to the patrol guards in this part of the city.
Kappa is known as a water creature, therefore I should search for anything nearby with a large source of water enough to appease their sense of nourishment with water. But what will I do then, after I find the culprit messing with the car controls?
The likely way to evict them from this part of the city is to invite them to a danmaku battle, which I cannot do and will likely die from injuries as soon as I get really into the battle. The second is to convince them of our (my) annoyance with their incessant and unnecessary modification with the machines as to my knowledge from the Touhou universe that they like humans.
The latter is more likely then. I stood after inspecting the empty toolbox closely and went out of the park to search for nearby water sources that I could hear and find. It's likely that this is going to take the entire day, so I walked slowly and checked every nooks and cranny of the streets.
The sun from where it was at its peak went down and descended, changing the once blue skies to orange and pinkish skies with ever-changing temperature leaning to the coldness of the night. I shivered as I stumbled upon a large river, my legs are aching from the long walk and constant kneeling.
I could see the distant bridges and the little dots of people walking through them, the night is approaching soon and I needed to finish this as soon as possible. If only there was Reimu Hakurei somewhere nearby here, I wouldn't have to do this at all and just rest easy.
What a bothersome kappa..
As I walked the side of the river fence, I rubbed my eyes tiredly at my seemingly useless search have not yet found some sort of proof that the kappa was behind this. For all I know, it could be a human that wanted to prank but went too far with their prank, therefore causing that car crash.
"If I could only find them…" I mumbled tiredly.
"Find who?" An unfamiliar voice said from behind, it was rather squeaky and childish yet filled with a brilliant light of intelligence. I blinked rapidly and turned around to only face a short child wearing a green parka with a yellow mob cap atop her head, amber and blue gradient eyes stared out with curiosity.
My brain immediately crashed, "You, apparently." I responded dryly, who knew that I had to speak of the culprit just for them to approach me. The supposed kappa gasped and if you looked closely enough, you can find a star in her eyes. "Are you a fellow engineer!?" She zoomed into my face, enough to make me grimace.
Well, if you count my past life as a former engineer studying to be one… "Perhaps. But I'm here to tell you something." I hesitantly said, pushing myself to back away from her excited face.
"What is it, human?" She seemed to go closer as I stepped away, although her adorable face seemed to lessen the fear that I would have and I wish to avoid a danmaku battle with her. I could tell her that machine modification makes people die, but I doubt a youkai understands the consequence of people dying. "I want you to stop modifying the machines. They are making people annoyed and it's a waste of material." I said those instead.
The kappa seemed to pout, "And what will I do instead?" She asked and pulling back her face to fidget nervously and a somewhat sheepish look on her face. Well, for the time being, I could ask her to keep away from the center of the city and keep to the outskirts of London instead.
"Maybe you could go somewhere with less emphasis on materials, like on the outskirt of the city here?" I suggested sweetly, and her eyes seemed to lit up at the brilliant suggestion that I seemed to have put into her head. She beamed, "Great idea! But for engineers to engineers, I want you to examine this device first!" I seemed to have gulped unconsciously.
"Sure, what is it?" I answered instead, keeping my face blank enough to not make her suspect of my real motive of keeping her away. She pulled out something from her pocket, a circular device with gilded gold all over it.
She smiled sweetly, "You see, I got this idea from the giant clock tower there and I realized it would be such a great idea to make it smaller!" and I merely looked at her deadpanned that made her fidget nervously. "I call it Mini-Tower!" She continued instead.
If this was a comedy, I would've thought of myself sweatdropping at her antics. But I merely watched on with an amused stare that would've annoyed anyone, Miyo included from my past, "I suggest you change the name to the pocket watch. Such things are common nowadays."
She shook her vigorously, "Of course, I know it's common! But this one can reverse, speed up, and pause!" I held the urge to snort and laugh at her insistence to make her creation more wide-spread, and knowing this creation would make Sakuya proud of the kappa.
Nevertheless, it is quite refreshing to hear another spouting off technical jargon in this era, which is something I've always missed from my past life. "Though I love the name pocket watch! Maybe I will name it, Round Pocket Watch!" My face seemed to twitch with amusement as she waved the device around.
After exactly thirty minutes of talking with the kappa, around the end, we talked about my knowledge of logic gates and she seemed to correct me like she was my mentor or something. "Right then! See you later, human! I have to leave to the outskirts, ta-ta!" She turned around and ran away with a ridiculous burst of speed.
Then she came back once more, "By the way, since you helped me name this device, I'll give it to you!" She beamed and threw the device at me, which I caught successfully though in no way my pride allowed me to say that I almost did not catch it before it fell to the river below. "Thanks, kappa!" I shouted out in thanks.
Her green parka disappeared into the darkness as the night seemed to fall upon the world once more, the clock in my hand ticking without fail until the end of its life. For its numeral, it uses Roman numerals instead of the usual numerals used by a watch or pocket watch like these.
Then again, it was not that useful to me after I've already learned how to analyze the time by merely looking at the height of the sun and moon. Putting the watch in my pocket, I set out my way back to find food and stave off my hunger before I could sleep properly in my inn.
The first day in London and my exploration is already successful. In the other case, the kappa did not introduce themselves and I did not even give her my name. She seemed only to call me by my given species, but I doubted that it was Nitori judging by her appearance.
It was not one of the canon characters for sure, but a random kappa that was messing around with the machinery in this city. But nonetheless, I felt quite comfortable talking to the kappa. "Hm?" I looked up and saw a familiar face wandering the dark streets.
Miyo?!
She seemed to be carrying something or someone, a female child with the age under nine with silver hair and rumpled dirtied clothes on her. She seemed to be unconscious.
I approached Miyo, my former servant in my past and she seemed to be spacing out in the midst of my approach. My footsteps that echoed down the alley seemed to snap her out of the space, she blinked rapidly and turned her head to me only to widen her eyes in surprise.
"Remilia, is that you?"
"That's my line. Is that you, Miyo?" I returned the greetings with the ever-relevant amused smile on my face, she seemed to twitch at the smile plastered on my face and ignored it for her own health. "What are you doing here this night?" She asked with a face that would say that she is worried about me, almost.
"Exploring the city. It's fun." I responded dryly.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation and turned to what seemed to be her home, she must have paid a lot to own an apartment room. It was also fitted with furniture, meaning that she is staying for an indefinite time in London. "Judging by your face, Remilia, I think you're analyzing my intent." guessed Miyo with an almost fond smile on her face, putting the silver-haired girl on a couch softly.
"You guessed correctly, Miyo. I am glad that you decided to take my suggestion and learn from the environment around you." I smirked at her briefly annoyed expression as she sat on a chair nearby and I joined her on the opposite. "Who is the girl?" I asked curiously, looking at the rumpled clothes.
"I have no idea about her name, but I just found her in the alleys nearby sleeping on the floor. I decided to take her in, just before you found me." She answered, standing up once more and went into the kitchen presumably to prepare tea. The girl's face looks to be very familiar, and I could not pinpoint where I have seen it.
Miyo gave me a particularly sweet tea, she still remembers how sweet I liked my tea and she seemed to drink the tea a much faster rate than I do. A groan from the couch made me stop drinking and it seemed Miyo had heard the same as I did, and I quickly put the teacup over the table on the plate.
I quickly walked to the couch and saw the opened eye, they were strikingly blue that seemed cold enough to make me remember which one in Gensokyo that has silver hair. I released a sharp exhale as my mind seemed to land into a conclusion of her name.
Sakuya Izayoi, the maid of Scarlet Devil Mansion.
She is however young and may or may not have the same powers as she was in her adulthood, and I could only watch on as Miyo caressed her hair softly as she would when taking care of a traumatized child. The tear that came out of her eyes, perhaps it is better for me to leave her in the care of Miyo than myself.