Again, I would like to say that I had this idea circling around me for quite some time. I do hope that I don't screw this one up, it's my first lengthy original chapter for the story, and I am looking to use a new plot structure where I set up a more elaborate skeleton for what is to come. Anywho, I do hope that I make it enjoyable for you lot, about as lengthy as my other chapters, yet still full of interesting things among other tidbits. Also, I do not really know how you move to a different home across an entire ocean, but I'll do my best to emulate it from what I think. Plus, since COVID hit, I haven't been on a plane for a long time, so expect some errors in the way the airport scenes are written, as well as me being an idiot due to not knowing about Japanese culture and whatnot, so I owe you guys apologies for any errors in the process. I hope you can still enjoy this.
Episode ?: Secret Sealing Club I: A Brand New Dawn
It has been about a week since it happened. At one day, Maribel had basically been forced into a job at a curse purgatory by some mad scientist, only to save a man from the wrath of angry fundamentalist aliens and go back where she started. Aside from the scientist and the space-time shenanigans, the three children seemed pretty much like three normal teenagers (well, they didn't seem normal) at their own respective ages. Names such as 'Morty' and 'Summer' were pretty common in the west, but 'Reimu'? She was the cousin of the other two and is half-Japanese. Maribel might've been stretching bounds a bit, but at first, she thought she was linked to some mysterious shrine. Of course, her mother was, but it was gone off the map. A pity, she was wanting to visit it. Ah well, there were more where that came from, and she was kinda happy that she was going to Japan. There was so much to explore there, assuming she could get through the schooldays just fine.
Currently, she was at Seattle's airport. After her fiasco with the Sanchez/Smith family back at Pluto, she had to go back home to pack the rest of her stuff up, as they were going to have to move out shortly. If Maribel was being honest towards herself, then she was really happy, yet she was also kind of insecure. Sure, she has been taught enough Japanese to get around in Japan, but despite its advancements after World War II, a lot of its customs were considerably different from those in North America and the western world. They had just gotten past the last lines of security (taking off shoes, scanning devices, etc.) and are just entering the terminal. Already, she could see that they crossed the border between the security zones, but at this point, she was just winging it. Currently, they were sitting at a restaraunt, talking about what they were going to do.
"Maribel, I know you are excited about Japan, but you shouldn't be so crazy about the supernatural." Maribel's mother said.
"But Mom, it has a lot of things to uncover, and a lot of new places to explore." Maribel countered. "Surely, you would find at least something about it interesting."
Maribel's mother locked eyes with Maribel's father. "Well, what do you think about it, Amber?" Maribel's father asked.
"Come to think of it, Joseph, I always wanted to try authentic Japanese sushi." Amber answered.
"I'm all in for that, my love." Joseph replied.
Maribel rolled her eyes at that comment. She knew what Gensokyo was famous for. Sure, it might have all the glitz and glamour of Tokyo, but what she really cared about was the history behind it, all the rumors about the history of the place were just too much to be left alone. She hasn't heard much of it at Seattle, which was why she went to dig in deep for her answers, and she was looking to visit many other places, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Mexico, all of which had very prominent stories that were told all those centuries ago, millennia, even. She wanted to visit them, but to move to one of them was something else. She did hope that her father will go through his job transfer alright, and they did teach themselves enough Japanese to be able to have basic understanding of the locals. True, they were feeling rather insecure about it, but for Maribel, it was the beginning of a brand new journey.
Later...
"err..." Dark.
...
"Huh? Where..." It was dark. It was windy.
...
"Urgh... where am I?" Darkness was all she could see. She could feel a slight breeze on her body.
...
Maribel opened her eyes, but a bright light greeted her vision, causing her to instinctively shut her eyes. "Gah! Who turned on the lights!?" Maribel yelled. Okay, she can hear herself just fine, but her sight was all wonky. She tried to move her limbs, but she couldn't. Opening her eyes again, she let them adjust to the light, but was greeted by nothing but a blurry background. Blinking a few times, the transferred teen let her vision sharpen, and the area she was in started to take shape. It was a grey background... grey clouds under the dim yet prominent light of a grey sun. The sky was all grey. She soon found that she was able to move again, and held a still colorful arm over her head to block the sun's light. Feeling energy course through her muscles, Maribel was slowly but surely able to get up, and once she got onto her own two feet again, she looked around.
It was not just the sky that was grey. Everything was some shade of grey, and at the very most, a dull color. The landscape was a large, grassy clearing in the middle of a large forest, the clearing itself was more of a valley than it was a clearing, with a river running through and a large lake at the center. What did catch her eye, however, was a small village down at the base, surrounded by walls. Its architecture was rather primitive, resembling something from feudal Japan. Nonetheless, whatever they are, there was civilization down there. Maribel could ask them where she was, and from there, she might be able to return home. There was a part of her that told her not to go down there, but for the young girl, she wanted to find any sense of direction in this weird place. As she ran, she found that there was no sound other than that of her own voice and the shallow wind that blew.
For her, it was kind of eerie, but nonetheless, she had to stay determined and persevere in this strange, new place. At first, she heard some incomprehensibly quiet murmuring, and being curious, looked around. "Hello?" Maribel asked. She looked for the general source of the murmurs. "HELLO!? Is anybody here!?" On that second, louder shout, her voice echoed through the landscape. After a few seconds, she shook her head and pressed forward. As she went closer to the village, the whispers grew louder as she trekked on. Soon enough, she could hear them, but there were multiple different voices, none of whom she recognized. They all spoke in a way she could understand, but everything just cancelled each other out. Once she went towards the village, she found that nobody was there. It didn't look abandoned, either. It was surprisingly neat and tidy. "Alright, whoever you people are, stop playing games with me! I don't know where I am but if you have any directions on where I can go home from, please stop rambling and tell me." an annoyed Maribel lamented.
"̴B̨ut it ͢is̀ ̵yo͢u̵ ́wh͜o ̀h̴a͠s͟n't͡ h̶ad a̧ h̡ome͝ ̴y̵e̴t̷, n͢ot as o̢f́ ṯ̸̪̚h̷͙̐̉e̸̢͌ ̸͔̈́͝ş̵͋t̶̖̣̃̑ǎ̸̡̜t̷͕̮̆̇ė̴̥̜ you͘ an̛d you͢r f͟ami̸l̷y a҉re in҉.̴.̴.i̵s̸n̶'̵t̵ ̷t̵h̶a̶t̶ ̸r̸i̶g̴h̷t̵,̷ ̷M̸a̵r̸i̴b̷e̶l̷ ̷H̸e̶a̵r̶n̷?"̷
At response, all the voices spoke in unison, a rather distorted and slightly out of synch chorus, but a chorus nonetheless. The mere mention of her name and the voices' cryptic speech spooked her, causing her to jump up, but Maribel shook off her fears for a moment and stayed stern. "I don't know how you know my name, but as the people back at home said, 'What's your beef with me?', whoever you are."
"You ̀are̵ ҉̷́r͢a͢͏͏th҉er ̸҉cúr̷̵̕io̴us̶͘, ̧͘déar H̀͞ę̴͠a͜r̸̶n͠.̢́ That is apparent in ̷w̷h̸o̵ ̸y̴o̶u̵ ̵a̸r̷e̵. T͞h̴a҉̴t͠ i͢s ap̀̀͡par̷e̵͞n̶t͝ ̛͜i̵̢͞n͝҉̸ ̷̧w̴̢͞h̵̨o̶ ҉̨͠I ̨͏a͏m."
Maribel looked behind herself to see a figure manifest. They were glitchy and heavily distorted, but definitely humanoid. "Alr-right," a fearful Maribel said, holding her fists up. "I know karate! Don't make me-"
The figure shook their head at that and interrupted Maribel. "Y͏ou'̢r͡e͘ bluff̴in̸g, I c͡a͞n ͠t̨ell, so drop the act.͟"
At this point, Maribel's facade dropped, and fear crept onto her face. Whatever this thing is, she wanted to run, but found that she couldn't. She looked to see that her feet were glued to the ground. As the figure went closer, it became less distorted, having a feminine figure in a white dress, with long hair cascading down their back. However, key elements to this figure were still distorted and out of whack, and she couldn't tell who that person is. "JUST WHO ARE YOU!?" Maribel screamed.
"That is for y̴o̵u̷ ̷a̸n̶d̴ ̷y̷o̸u̵r̸ ̴o̵l̵d̶ ̸f̸r̷i̴e̵n̴d̶ at Seattle t̴o ̛f͝i͢nd ͏ou͡t." the figure sounded more feminine, but was still a mesh of different voices, and even a few masculine voices stuck around. "Yơu'vé just g̶otte͞n oņto a ̨pla͡n̢e͠ t͘o͘ Ni͢ppon, dear M̴a̴r̶i̶b̷e̸l̴ Hea̸r̴n.̵ You are still in it. Y͘o͢u͟ ͡are͘ góing ̷h̸ome, your̵̴ n̵ew ̷͞h͏̢́o̴me. Y̶̩̞͆̒̚ö̴̮̩́̈͗u̸̡̜͈͑r̵̟̈̊̚ ̶̯̈́̎̈́͜͜ă̸̪̹̜̆͒ḑ̸̝̓v̴̛̥̜̆̋ȇ̷̡̟̜n̷̛͈͠t̴̩̓̀̊u̶̹̠̓͘r̵̟̎̆ē̷͕̏͂ͅ ̴̲̮̎͆ỉ̵͇̋ṡ̴͌̔͜ ̶̜̙͘̚a̶̜̹̣͗b̶͉̱̉o̷̧̥͍͑̚u̷̯͊t̴͉̟͗͘͜ ̷̳̝̈͒t̸̳͚̦̏͝ȯ̸̻͐ ̷̝̃̉b̸̢̔̚͠e̸̢̐ģ̸̯̅͒i̷͚̭̓ń̵̹̜̊̒.̴̭̞̑ͅ.̴̟͔̈́.̸̞͇͔̀͊̓"̷̞̥̪̔
As she (at least Maribel thought it was a she) said that, she began to fade away. "Wait! Come back you little-" Soon, Maribel noticed that everything was turning white. "Wait, what's happening? Please! NO! STOP IT!"
"STOP IT NOW!" Maribel yelled, shooting straight up. Her screams were greeted by the sound of several people shushing her. Maribel took several deep breaths and looked around. She found that she wasn't in that nightmare house anymore. Looking around for anything, Maribel found the surroundings of a gigantic airplane, bigger than the ones you would normally fly in, it was an international plane, after all. It was also nighttime, no wonder several people were asleep. She looked towards her right, and all she could see was ocean. A big fat ocean, she didn't know how long she was in the flight, but still, it was the Pacific Ocean in all its vast glory. Thank goodness she was at the window seat.
"Maribel? You screamed so loud you woke me up! What happened?" her mother, Amber, loudly whispered.
"I'm sorry, Mother, but, I had a nightmare." Maribel answered. "I was in this grey landscape, with people whispering, and this weird woman and-"
Amber put a hand on Maribel's mouth. "Shh... hush now, my child, I understand that you had a bad dream." She covered her yawning mouth with her hand. "Oh my God, I've gotta get my beauty sleep in check. See you in the morning, or however long it takes."
As Amber fell back asleep, Maribel sighed. She wanted to fall asleep, but the thoughts of that weird place were haunting her. The young teen sighed and plugged in some headphones. "Gee, I cannot sleep. Maybe an inflight movie will distract me from these thoughts." Maribel activated the monitor, looking at the various options for a movie. After scrolling down, she looked at 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' and smiled. "I remember this one. An old time favorite that is bound to help me get through this night, nothing like watching an inflight movie on a plane." Maribel turned the movie on in English dub and took a moment to look outside. Whatever that dream thing was, it seemed that it was... sentient, in some way.
Maribel soon heard the music from the movie come, and she ultimately decided to turn it on. "And so begins 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'. Flint Lockwood, I hope you have cooked me something good to entertain myself." she said with a quiet giggle. Thinking about it, the appearance of Flint reminded her of a younger version of the old man who drafted her into his curse purging business and an adventure to Pluto. Nonetheless, she couldn't wait to see the full movie yet again. All this deep thinking and emotional journeying could wait for better waking hours. She admitted she was probably condemning herself to a day where she is really tired when she first arrives in Japan.
Maribel let out a tired yawn as she heard the sound of the plane whirring. "Oh my... we're here... aren't we?" She looked out, seeing that it was still night. Makes sense, since they were going in the same direction the sun, but if her hunch is right, then it would still be morning soon. Goodness, she would have to adjust to this new time zone. Her eyes were probably baggy, she hadn't gotten enough sleep after watching that movie, even though it was (in her mind) worth it in the end. Her vision was still rather blurry, but she found that they were inland, and she could just see the plane pass over a beach. Indeed, they were in the right direction. Letting out a short yawn, she looked towards her mother and her father. They were barely stirring, just about to wake up. She felt sorry for what she did several hours ago, but for now, she could at least rest, and not in the way of sleeping. Maribel smiled at the sight, and soon enough, she heard the PA system turn on before the captain spoke.
"Attention, this is your captain speaking. We will be arriving in Gensokyo International Airport in approximately thirty minutes and counting. I hope you all had a good, long rest this flight, and I hope you have a wonderful experience. Enjoy the rich culture of Gensokyo and what it has to offer, and I should stop talking about now, should I? What the heck, you can use this time to gather your bearings. Hopefully, none of you are in a rush. Again, I hope you have a wonderful experience, and I hope you had a great experience flying in Interpacific Airlines. Oh, and please be careful with any electronic equipment you have in stock, forgot to tell you that."
And with that, the PA system deactivated, and Maribel looked out the window once more. Across a few small mountains, she saw it: a great valley with a giant lake and a river running down the middle. She looked to see a giant mountain smack dab in the middle, and her heart skipped a beat. Take away the sprawling city, and you will have a valley eerily similar to the one in her dream, only more vibrant and full of life. Shaking her head, Maribel took a look to double check for any signs of being in between sleep and stirring, but there were none. "Perhaps it was a coincidence." the teenager mentioned to herself. As she gathered up any energy needed to move, she looked towards the window and watched as the plane proceeded to land. As it grew closer to the ground, she became a little more excited, yet also a little more cautious given her dream. Again, she should not worry about it too much, but a small part of her is.
Nothing to worry about, she has been worrying about a simple little dream too much. Though, she did have to admit her anxiety was growing with every passing second the plane takes upon getting closer to landing. Perhaps this was what the dream was all about? Japan was considerably different from the United States, but at least the people in Gensokyo are rather lax from what she has heard from. Soon enough, she felt the small shock brought by the plane's landing. It was going rather fast, and while she wasn't able to see it, she could tell that the plane's wings were opening up to slow it down. Soon enough, that was what it just did, slowing down to prepare the final phase of her travels and those of the passengers in the plane. It was but a blur from there, that was, until the plane went closer to the terminal. Once it connected, the captain spoke.
"Say kon'nichiwa to Gensokyo, Japan, folks. By now, the plane has connected and you are free to depart. Thank you for using Interpacific Airlines, and I hope you guys have a wonderful day, vacation, business trip, whatever it is you are going to do. I hope you had a wonderful flight and I hope you use Interpacific Airlines on your next international flight, whatever, whenever, and however it will turn out. Goodbye."
And with that, a new chapter to her life is being written. As the people got up and unpacked their luggage, Maribel looked to see that both of her parents have gotten up and are fully stirring. "Mother, Father, this is it. We're here." Maribel pointed out. "I can't believe we're actually here."
"Well, ya better believe it, kiddo." Joseph said with a chuckle and a smirk on his mouth. "At this point, I shouldn't call you 'kiddo', considering you're growing to be a fine young woman, but still, we've got diem to carpe, so there's that."
"Then let's carpe that diem, shall we?" Maribel replied with a smirk of her own. She soon got up, and the two proceeded to walk through the passageway. That last step on the plane and the first step onto Japanese soil was going to be memorable in her life, seeing herself cross the border and into a brand new world. Whatever kids and possible grandkids she might had, she was looking forward to telling them about the adventures she had and the monsters she discovered in Japan, assuming that they weren't elusive enough to evade her. As for the airport, once she got out of the passageway and into the terminal, she looked out in sheer awe. The place was massive, gigantic even. It makes sense, considering it was an international airport, but Maribel never flew to another country in her life, much less her own parents. "Woah... this is so cool." Maribel said in awe as she looked around. Sure, the signs were written in a drastically different way, but with time, she could probably learn what they mean and even understand them.
It took a while, but they found the luggage room. Fortunately, there was a guide to bring them there, and soon enough, they managed to enter the luggage department, where they managed to unpack their bags. As soon as they did so, it was time for some kind of breakfast. Thankfully, they still served pancakes in Japan, and they were really good at making them, so that was what they ordered. They spent the remainder of their time in the airport talking about what the future will hold for them and how they were going to go about this whole thing. Again, it was but a blur, and it was more of Joseph and Amber talking with Maribel only joining in for a few questions. After breakfast, they went towards the airport's station, which had a bullet train come right through. The family grabbed their luggage and proceeded to go in along with many of the various tourists and businessmen. As the train started, Maribel could feel it kick up in speed and watched the airport zoom right past.
From there, things got blurry up close, but things farther away were more clear. She could see the downtown area, with the skyscrapers loud and clear, even more full than they were in Seattle. 'Heh, 'tis nice so far. Whatever this place is... it seems rather lively. I do hope it lives to my expectations. It seems like it's doing a mighty fine job already.' Mairbel thought with a small smile, mentally crossing out the first objective on her internal list. There was still the matter of changing in tandem to the time zone, where they were going to live, and what school she was going to go to. She's spent most of her time searching for the supernatural on the few towns she lived in but to no avail, save for the fiasco with Rick's family and Mister Needful. She was certain that the latter was not going to have an easy time deceiving people now that his scam has been exposed to the internet, though Google didn't seem to mind his presence. A shame, but at least while the former seemed to be a jerk, he did at least have a rather friendly set of grandchildren. Her encounter with him not only proved her point, but also proved that aliens existed. It was not what she was looking for, but at least it proved that things out of the ordinary were out there, waiting to be discovered yet too shy to reveal themselves. Soon enough, the train crawled to a stop at the next station, and she looked up towards her parents, who had something to say.
"Please stay close, dear. This is new to us as well." Amber said.
"Mother, I've grown up since you and Father brought me to this world. I should be fine." Maribel replied.
"Yes, but this is a new town. Hopefully, we can be guided towards our new home soon enough. The moving company might be there as we speak." Joseph said. He simply sighed and looked outwards. "I do hope that we've gotten our directions sorted out, this place is massive."
'You've got us on that one, father.' Maribel thought. She continued to look out on the city, knowing that a place so big would provide so many opportunities. How long they were going to stay was unknown, and they haven't figured out the school thing yet, so she could use this time to know the city a bit better and make new friends. She may have her parents with her, but she did not want to be alone on this epic adventure. Soon enough, she saw the train pass a boundary and stop. The doors opened, revealing a parking garage that was filled to the brim with cars.
The family got out, and Maribel's father proceeded to look at the keys that were given to him. It took a while, spotting their new car they bought, exchanging their currency, and getting the GPS to speak English for the time being (until they've mastered Japanese enough to be confident in its words), but they've managed to get the car up and running. The car itself was a white Toyota with two sets of doors, not that different from their old car, but not the same either. Nonetheless, it still felt like the new (well, new to them) car that they have just discovered and took as their own, especially when they drove it through Gensokyo.
As the family went through the city, they discovered that Gensokyo was different up close than it was far away. All around the magnificent city, there were large skyscrapers with billboards that advertised various products among other things. Not only that, but the roads went in criss-cross direction, some of which were even elevated to aleviate traffic. The way the cityscape was built would make Gensokyo truly look like a city from those science-fiction novels that the two parents read when they were younger if the sun were to go down. Nonetheless, they managed to snake their way out of the city and into a suburban area, which was just like the suburbs back at Seattle, well, as similar to those as a Japanese suburb would be, anyway. It didn't take long before they found their new homestead.
Well, 'little' wouldn't describe the house, it wasn't big either. It was a decent-sized home with two stories and a garage, as well as a good-sized backyard complete with a swing set and a shed. In all honesty, it was a little generous to be getting a house like that. The roofing resembled blue Japanese tiles, but the house was Western in style otherwise. It was cozy, and it kinda reminded Maribel of her old home. By now, they could see the moving people gather their furniture and haul it into their new house, yet they feel a level of insecurity as well.
Nonetheless, if her father's job transfer took the family to Japan, then they might as well make the most of what they have. Maribel opened up the door and smiled. "So, this is going to be our new home for our time spent here, huh? Not half bad."
"Yeah, though I am kind of nervous." Amber thought aloud.
"Don't worry about that, hun. We're all on the same boat here." Joseph said.
The two walked in and took a look around. Fortunately, they could see that a good chunk of the furniture has already been set up, and hopefully, the beds were already made. There even was a fireplace for a cold winter night (especially on Christmas season, those were the best nights to have the fire roaring as they have hot chocolate and tell stories), empty, but it could be filled up with wood. They could see the door to the kitchen and even stairs to the upper floor. They would have to find places to hang up their family pictures, but for those moving people, they were good at their job. For now, they would probably have to do a little more exploring. One trip won't be enough for them to be familiar with the whole city, after all. Plus, they might as well look for a school for Maribel, and the place that Joseph is going to work at. By then, they'll probably be done with setting up the furniture for their house and whatnot.
Elsewhere, across town, there was a suburban area. The houses were Western in build, but they still had some Japanese elements imprinted onto them. Among the neatly-built roads that coexisted with the land, houses were nestled, and in one of them, a girl sat in her room, looking out at the snow-covered rows of houses from her bedroom window. Said girl was a brunette with crimson eyes, having an outfit that consisted of a white shirt and red tie, a black skirt, some traditional Japanese socks and shoes, and a black fedora with a white band around it, tied into a nice little bow. Currently, she was writing in her diary, writing in the events of the day.
"Dear diary, it's been four days since that blizzard and we've finally went back to school again. I've currently finished my homework, leaving me time to write in this book for anyone who happens to view this in the future. Ever since I went towards fourth grade, I have studied things relating to the mythical youkai, and I began to dig into their history and how they roamed Japan until the nineteenth century when the Europeans arrived. Needless to say, searching for myths would be fruitless, but I still do it. Did it start because of a fit of boredom? Did I make it up for laughs and giggles? I don't remember. What I do remember is that I've been searching for them, not in the physical sense, but by studying the books about myths and legends? These stories are already centuries, if not millennia old on some occasions, with a personal favorite of mine being 'The Tale of The Bamboo Cutter'. The Westerners might think of Frankenstein as the first science-fiction book, and don't get me wrong, I loved it, but it goes further back than that."
The girl smiled to herself and let out a chuckle before continuing her entry.
"Oh, look at me again, going off on another tangent. I could just write all day if I didn't catch myself or my mother called me for dinner. Anyway, it's been quite some time since I first came into this phase, but despite the fact that I am around people all the time (Gensokyo is a really big city, after all), I am feeling rather lonely by myself, and not because of my status as an only child. It might be something that I need to look at, maybe talk to a therapist."
She paused her writing before looking at the house a few homes across the street, seeing a moving truck drive up to it.
"On another hand, as of the time of writing, I have seen a moving truck drive towards a nearby house. It looks like someone is moving in or out. Judging by what they are doing there, I think it's safe to say that they're moving in or something. In all honesty, I am curious about my new neighbors and what they'll have to offer. I know, I know, a new neighbor would not change the neighborhood, Renko, you silly old girl, but that is quite the contrary. On some occasions, a new neighbor can drastically change your life. Like when the Europeans colonized the Americas, it can have drastic effects on the original populace, but for a neighborhood, it is but a smaller scale, one that we as individuals can experience for ourselves. I might see what we can do for the time being. Mother's likely cooking up something for lunch as I am writing this. This is Usami Renko, signing off for the time being."
And with the last of the words written, Renko closed her journal and proceeded to go downstairs, to which her mother was busy serving something on the table. The teenager sat down and looked out as her father walked into the room. She smiled as she, her mother, and her father sat down at the table and proceeded to eat their meals. Whatever the future may hold, she is willing to prepare for it. She looked out the dining room window and saw a car head towards the direction of the house. Out of the car, three people, a family of them, walked out and went into the house momentarily. "Renko-san, you looking at the house on the other side." Renko's father asked/
"Yes, Father. I am." Renko answered.
"I understand. Whenever someone comes around in this neighborhood, I can't help but to think about who they are." he replied.
"Besides, we humans are curious by nature. It's in our blood to discover." Renko's mother added.
"I suppose there's that." Renko assured. "I do hope they're friendly people."
The next day...
"Urgh... five more minutes..." The sound of the alarm clock woke young Maribel up. Her eyes remained closed as she struggled to turn the clock on. Soon enough, she managed to touch something and banged it with her fist, only to have pain pulse there as she got up. "Gah! Cursed table." Maribel yawned as she opened her eyes and stretched her arms. She got up out of bed and proceeded to look into her bag for a clean set of clothes. In all honesty, they hadn't bothered to unpack, considering that they've spent the last day or so taking a look around the city in order to get familiar with it.
Maribel proceeded to slip into a pair of bunny slippers as she went to the bathroom. Maribel took off her striped pajamas and turned the bathtub's faucet on before checking to see if the water was at the desired temparature. Soon enough, it reached the level of heat she wanted, and Maribel turned the shower on before stepping in. She savored the time she had in there, as the warmth of the shower melted off any remaining tiresome feeling she had from waking up. She spent a good ten minutes in there cleaning herself (and she was even tempted to sing a song) before getting out. She dried up and proceeded to put on her traditional purple gown before going downstairs and noticing a smell.
She smiled as she walked down, and she looked towards her parents. Joseph was attempting to read the newspaper, and Amber was busy making something. "Dear God, I swear these Japanese characters tend to scramble on me. I struggle to find their meaning even with the training we've gotten."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Joe-Joe." Amber said, causing Maribel to laugh towards herself."Joe-Joe?" Maribel thought out loud between chuckles. "You just said Jojo, didn't you, Mother?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" Amber asked.
"Because of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure, duh! One of the best-selling animes, produced here in Japan!" Maribel answered. "When you said 'Joe-Joe', I immediately thought of the various protagonists of the anime, all nicknamed Jojo. You have Jotaro Kujo, Jonathan Joestar, Joseph Joestar, and more! I have only watched a few episodes, but it was pretty good all-in-all."
"I see, well, I heard, actually." Joseph said. "I might not be into fiction as you are, but I do get what you're saying there, and yes, I've heard of the franchise, but I can't say that I could cut as one of them, even if I have a 'Joestar' or a 'Kujo', in my full name."
"Well, that doesn't stop me from seeing it that way, honey." Amber replied with a smile. She looked towards the thing she was making and smiled. "Alright, here we are. Goodness, these waffles took a while to make, but here they are, just how you two like 'em."
Amber walked began to walk towards the table, holding two plates of mouthwatering goodness. As she went closer, it became more apparent that those were stacks of waffles. She put the two plates right next to her husband and daughter before getting her own plate. "Woah ho ho, golly! Amber, you've really outdone yourself this time!"
"Thanks. The best for the best for my family." Amber replied.
They spent their time eating breakfast and decided to watch TV. Though they didn't fully understand what was going on, they enjoyed it anyway. What they were watching was a soccer game between two opposing teams, one of which they were sure was from Gensokyo. The Japanese weren't big on their own anime products, though they did love a good sports match, apparently. "We've been driving for quite some time. Is it high time to find a place for you to go to school?" Joseph asked.
Maribel had a feeling they would call her crazy like they did in Seattle, but hopefully, there would be someone who would share her interests in things. The Japanese were quite proud of their culture and what it is, and in all honesty, she was pretty eager to learn more about their legends of old and the past. Of course she did love the anime, but that was not the meat for her. However, her father did provide a good point. She should be looking for a place to go to school soon. As soon as she was finished eating, she spoke. "Alright, which part of the city would you want to go to first?"
Later on, in another part of town, Renko was in her school, walking past the various lockers and doorways leading to classrooms. Unlike in most regions of Japan, Gensokyo really didn't care for school uniforms, so people could go without 'em. That's still not saying that they couldn't dress professionally and on some level of dignity. She was still dressed in her usual getup, and she was carrying her backpack and holding some school supplies. As she was walking, she took notice of a person walking with three other people around the school, one of which was dressed in a particular-looking gown and cap.
As Renko approached, she heard them speaking in a language other than Japanese. She recognized it as English from those foreign language classes she had for the last two grades. "Alright, so this Gensokyo Central High, as our translator apparently said. My word, it is vast." the young girl said.
'Indeed it is. Sometimes, I can't even find my own classes.' Renko thought.
"So, is this where you would want to go, Maribel?" the man who was presumably her father asked.
"I might think about it. Depends on what I find." Maribel answered.
"Dear, I'm not sure how long you can wait." the woman who was presumably the mother replied. "For the time being, we might need to homeschool you, but I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't want that, would you?"
"Well, not exactly. The last few seemed nice enough. We might as well keep looking." Maribel replied.
And with that, the three walked off, leaving Renko to question the girl's fashion. She has read Shinto mythology and found a figure that had a similar taste of fashion to the English-speaking girl, who is presumably of American descent. Long ago, there was said to be a figure named Yukari Yakumo, who was said to have been the overseer of youkai for millennia. She was almost always depicted with blonde hair, sometimes short, sometimes long with bows tieing her bangs as they cascade down her back. The way her dress is depicted as well differs from story to story, but Maribel's dress looked like one of the more plain depictions, being a simple purple nightgown. Needless to say, that was most likely just some coincidence, and she still had a pretty good ways to go before digging deep enough.
Renko looked at the clock and realized it was lunch period, her lunch period, so to speak. She pulled her paperwork into her backpack and got out her lunchbox, walking towards the cafeteria along with the rest of the students. She walked towards her spot in the cafeteria and placed her lunchbox on the table before opening it. Inside, there was a simple sandwich with some rice cakes and sushi. Water can go for the fountains, so that was there. As soon as the rest of the students came about, she proceeded to take one of the rice cakes and take a bite.
Meanwhile, at a McDonald's on the other side of town, things were busy, especially considering that it was lunch hours. As the people were eating, the doorway opened. The person who opened it was a young-looking woman donned in a rusty-looking five-point cap, a long coat that went to her knees with some slight patches stitched into it, and a pair of black boots over the outfit she was wearing underneath. Her hair was long and white, tied together with various red bows as it went down her back. If she didn't have her red cap, they would've seen a larger bow just like it. The presence of this mysterious woman caused several of the people to stop eating as they turned their heads towards her.
The woman, however, did not care the slightest as she walked towards one of the tables and sat, much to the confusion of the cashier and the customers looking at her. She did not walk up towards the counter to order, or do anything. Before anyone could speak, the woman spoke first. "Before any of you people ask, I've had my fill. I am not interested in food at the moment." she said. Mouths that had opened immediately shut back up. This woman may have appeared young, but she radiated an aura of mystery that shouldn't appear on someone that looks like her, even if their clothes are old and slightly tattered.
She was about to enjoy her moment when somebody spoke. "Are you sh-sure you wouldn't like something to eat... or-or even something to drink?" a random kid asked.
The woman sighed before replying in a calm yet stern tone. "Again, I am not in the mood to eat. I just came here to take a slight rest at the moment." Her expression softened as the child went back before she looked down at the table and let herself drown in her thoughts. She reached into her coat with her gloved hands and pulled out some pieces of paper and a pen and proceeded to idly doodle on the paper. As she was doodling, her mind turned towards older memories, memories of a forgotten time. 'It has been so long since it's happened. Gensokyo is not what it used to be.' She looked at her surroundings and let out a quiet laugh. 'No matter what, I cannot change what has already been done. It might be wishful thinking, but my hopes lie elsewhere.'
As she was thinking that, she idily pulled out a cigar and was about to smoke, but remembered that it was a no smoking place, so she put it away and instead pulled out a piece of gum and began chewing on it, pondering as she usually wound up doing (especially at this point in time). She looked around at the McDonald's and saw the customers eating and ordering as the employees did their various mudane tasks like getting the orders of the customers, serving the customers, and there was a spot that had recently been mopped by a janitor, whom she saw eat his own lunch at a table across from hers.
The white-haired woman felt her mouth slightly water at the sight of all that food. "Maybe I should have ordered something to eat..." she said to herself. She reached into a pocket in her coat and pulled out a good amount of yen she was keeping. 'Look at me. I've been reduced to a lowly beggar looking for places to sleep and money to get just to get some food.' She sighed and looked around. 'At least I'm not getting... that kind of attention. The last thing I need is to be locked away in some lab with scientists poking at me, not that they would find any answers, but still!"
She let herself laugh at that thought. She was getting a little paranoid right there. She was nowhere near that part of the story. The woman looked at the money she had in her person, and after silently counting her yen, was confident enough that she had taken enough to last her a while, one of which she was not wanting to talk about. 'Hmm... I think that we might have enough of it for a while, so what the heck, I might as well seize the opportunity.'
With a look around, she ultimately decided to get up. If it's good, why not join? She was about to walk towards the cashier when she heard the door open. She looked to see a family walk in. The mother and father seemed normal enough, but the young girl they were raising, she was in her teens, but her appearance fortold something strange about her, which reminded the woman of someone oddly similar in appearance to the girl that was standing before her. The white cap, the purple dress, red ribbons, and that mane of blonde hair, as well as those eyes. Granted, it was not a complete similarity, but the closeness towards it was eeriee nonetheless. She looked almost exactly like... "She's like... her.." the white-haired woman muttered, making sure that nobody would've heard it, not even the girl. 'But how!? She's been dead for centuries! This makes no sense...' The woman shook her head and took a deep breath. 'Take a deep breath, old girl. This is another random joe walking about, your nostalgia is not in control of you.'
As the family went into the line, the woman's firey red eyes never once left the girl. All three members of the family seem to be speaking English, and judging by their slang, they must be Americans, and they're either tourists or on a business trip of sorts. Apparently, they were in a hurry, considering that the father was, while able to speak Japanese, didn't really seem to have mastered it enough to be considered fluent. She wasn't quite sure what they were, but something just told her that she had to clear her head. Many would dismiss her stories as tall tales, but she could not blame them for that. After all, she has seen far more than any of them have. In all honesty, it made her feel lonely, so very lonely. After waiting for five minutes in line, she approached the cashier and let out a sad smile before handing her some of the money.
"Oh, what can I get you?" the cashier asked.
The woman has seen this happen a hundred times before, and she proceeded to make her answer as she looked at the menu. "I guess a cheesburger would do, preferably with a drink of coffee. It's a to-go order, by the way." Originally, she didn't come here to eat, just warm herself up, but all this deep thinking has made her hungry. She handed her some of her yen. "Here, take it. I'm not bothered."
"Okay, just wait right here and I'll be back to get your order..." the cashier answered, taking the money and proceeding to put it in the cash register. He proceeded to go into the kitchen, to which the woman rolled her eyes and proceeded to walk towards the left and wait there.
The woman watched to see that another person was holding a bag. "This mine?" the woman asked.
"Actually, it is." the employee answered.
"Thanks a million." the woman replied with a smile. She proceeded to walk out of the McDonald's and into the snowy city, and her smile quickly turned into a slight frown. 'This is not the Nippon I knew. So many years have passed, but like always, we have to adapt, I have to adapt.' She proceeded to walk through the brick path in the shopping area, and she did have to admit, they did a really good job with building that place, and she couldn't help but to marvel at it, but she wanted to go somewhere.
Still holding her food and drinks, she went towards one of the bullet train routes, and she proceeded to enter along with a few other people. As the train went on its way, the woman looked out at the big city and continued staring off into the distance, not caring where she would wind up going.
A few hours later, the Hearn family was driving across the freeway in their new car, and Joseph looked at the car he was driving. For him, it honestly felt kinda strange to be driving from the right side of the car with the shotgun seat on the left, to which Amber was sitting on. Well, while most of the world drove on the right side of the road, Britain, Ireland, India, southern Africa, Japan, and the like had their cars drive on the left side of the road, which felt slightly upside down. Soon enough, Joseph noticed a beeping sound and looked to the radar. It showed that the gas tank was low. "Cripes. We're nearly out of gas." he muttered. He looked at an exit and turned towards the left, one leading to a group of apartments and oddly enough, a conveniently placed gas station right on the side. "Huh, that was neat."
He steered the wheel to the left, and they proceeded to drive towards the gas station. It was a small building with red and white paint on it, as well as a small roofed area where people could refuel their cars, not that different from any other gas station they saw in America, save for the change in language. The three proceeded to stop at one of the charging stations and proceeded to fill up the tank. After filling it up, Maribel looked out at the apartment flats, her eyes as curious as ever. To the senses of norm, it would seem like any normal set of apartments out there in the world. She has seen them before, but for her, she could sense something else about them. These apartments seem to be covering up something sacred, something-
"Sweetie? Maribel?" Amber asked.
Maribel's eyes widened as she looked towards her mother. "Sorry, I was just... zoning out, I suppose." she said. It was partially truthful, to say the least. Her ability to see boundaries and other weird things is difficult for someone to wrap around, especially if you don't have that ability yourself. Maribel's parents know she has something with her, but despite all the medication, it did not go away, and every doctor found her vitals, hormones, etc. were like any other normal girl her age. She was unsure of what her parents or anyone else would think about her ability, but so far, they've been rather easy on her. "Is something wrong, Mother?"
"Oh, there's nothing wrong, Maribel. I was about to ask if you wanted to get out into the building and get a snack or something?" Amber asked.
"You know, thinking about it, all this thought has made me hungry." Maribel answered.
"I'm kinda in the mood for a bite as well." Joseph admitted.
With that, the family parked near the small shop and proceeded to enter. Inside of it, there were a few small isles filled with small snacks, surrounded on most sides by refrigerators that contained frozen drinks, desserts, and other cold products that needed to be stored frozen. They expected there to be a lot of sushi, but surprisingly, there was more than just that. There were all kinds of treats that were littered about (actually, they were neatly stacked and sorted into their respective aisles) in the store. At the left of the display, the cashier sat. The three began searching around the store, and soon enough, the got what they wanted out of it. After paying the cashier, they proceeded to get out, and Maribel took one last look at those apartments. "You know, there's something about these buildings that I just can't get out of my head."
"What of it, Maribel?" Joseph asked.
"The thing is, these may seem like ordinary apartments, but I think that something important used to stand here. I'm not sure what it is, but I can feel that they stood where something very important once stood." Maribel explained. She looked towards her parents and sighed. "Man, I need someone to be with so I can talk about the subject."
"I wish we could make it true, but we're not God." Amber said.
"I don't care if you are. I still know you're doing what you could and for that, thanks." Maribel answered. The family proceeded to walk towards their car, but soon noticed a girl about Maribel's age walk over to the apartments and observe them. She wore the typical winter gear worn around this time, and they could see the bright green hair cascade down her back. If they were looking at her front, they would notice that her blue eyes had a saddened look on them, with a slight tinge of worry as well. Curiously, Maribel looked at the girl, wondering what she was thinking.
"I know you're curious, are you not?" the girl said in Japanese.
"Wait... what?" a curious Maribel asked.
"Oh, I see you speak English." the girl stated in slightly broken English. "Sorry if my English is broken, I assume you are tourists from an Anglosphere country."
"Well, we came from the United States, specifically, and no, we're not tourists, Father's job transfer and all." Maribel answered.
"I see. Again, you might be curious about those apartments." the girl stated. "You see, about twenty or so years ago, before either of us were born, these apartments weren't there at all. Instead, there was this shrine that sat. That was the Hakurei Shrine. I've heard from various myths and legends that that lineage fought youkai for centuries until a great crisis came about lead by an evil youkai. I'm not going to go into too much detail, mainly because I want you to read it for yourself."
Maribel nodded. "I would've wanted to hear the whole story, but I understand."
"Well, not to barge in or anything, but is that why you are here? Or is there something else that's bothering you?" Joesph asked. Both Amber and Maribel looked at him. "What? I'm just curious about the whole thing."
"Understandable." the green-haired girl said, turning towards their direction, revealing that she had a frog hair pin and one of her bangs was held by a large hair tube, said bang had a rubber snake coiled around it. "Continuing with the Hakurei Shrine, over time, it had less and less attention paid to it over time, all to the point where it was basically going to collapse due to not being maintained. However, the Hakurei line still persisted, refusing to change as Gensokyo did. However, that changed when a man from your country arrived as a young boy. He met the heir of the shrine and fell in love with her. The two went back to America (or immigrated to it, in the heiress's case), and the shrine was eventually bulldozed due to its condition, and then the apartments were built."
The family looked at each other, and then at the girl. "Is that all of it?"
"Well, that is not everything. You see, I'm a miko myself, managing a shrine of my own known as the Moriya Shrine." the girl said. "Like the Hakurei Shrine, we had our own deity, well, two of them, actually. My family took notice of what happened to the Hakurei Shrine and proceeded to modernize so we wouldn't fall down the same path. Feel free to visit any time you want, I would love the company. I could care less about donations, but we do have to maintain it some way."
"I see. Thanks for talking about that, wait, what's your name?" Maribel asked.
"Oh, silly me. I forgot to tell you who I am. My name is Kochiya Sanae, or Sanae Kochiya for you folks in the west. You?"
"Maribel Hearn." Maribel replied.
"Thanks for talking with me, by the way. Have fun at whatever it is you're going to do in the future." Sanae replied with a smile. She proceeded to walk towards the street, presumably towards a bullet train stop towards her shrine.
The next day...
The first school bell rang in Gensokyo Central High, and Renko proceeded to walk across the hallways to her first period. She has heard some things about a new student entering the fray, and needless to say, while she was curious on who it was, she had an idea who it was, and she was eager to meet her. Soon enough, she made it to her first period class and walked in. It was a Language Arts class just five doors east from the entrance and two doors south of the library, and it was bustling with the various overlapping conversations of students that entered the classroom. As soon as they took a seat, they slowly stopped talking and saw the teacher walk in.
"Alright class, I hope you have a wonderful time yesterday night, but today, we have a new student joining our first period class today." the teacher said. "Due to a job transfer, she's coming here to Japan. Everyone, meet Maribel Hearn."
Everyone turned to see a certain blondie wearing a purple dress walk in. "Greetings, everyone." she said in slightly broken Japanese. "I'm not really the best at Japanese, and I hope you can understand me... but to those who do, I do hope to have a good time at this school."
As she proceeded to walk towards one of the empty seats, she unknowillingly sat next to Renko. As the two got instructions from their teacher, the entire class was handed their worksheets as they paid careful attention to what she had to say to them.
Phew, I hope that I did a good job at an original chapter for this story. And look what we have here, we're past a hundred thousand words, people! Happy day, accomplishing a great milestone. Granted, I had to jump a few hurtles and figure out the plot, but I hope that it turned out okay in the end, playing around with the characters and whatnot. I hadn't had Renko and Maribel have major interaction yet, and that was my fault, I guess, though I do hope that the extra Touhou characters I implemented would provide some compensation, as well as some foreshadowing on what is to come.
Also, did you like the first two episodes of Season Five? They were pretty cool in my opinion. While the first one I wasn't a big fan of when I saw it, I loved the chaos and calamity that the second one had with all the decoys murdering each other. I think that would be a fun one to write. I might as well watch the rest of the season when it airs, and I do hope that the sixth season will provide some interesting stories. Anyway, stay turned for the next chapter, which will definitely be the tenth episode, by the way, and boy, do I have plans for it. So for those willing to wait, tune in next time.