See the fourth wall? It's gonna be annihilated.
Luigi's first sights when he slammed the door was crimson. Scarlet crimson, painting the entire room in an eerie glow.
To be honest, he was mostly terrified for his life. The rumbling, shaking of the entire air itself. Bowser was raiding the mansion with Luigi inside it. And goodness knows how powerful the residents of this mansion were. Luigi saw a faint purple glow on the upstairs most-right room. He dived behind a starcaise and peeked over the railing in case anyone were to come down. He then heard Bowser's voice. Seems the Koopa King was caught.
"What are you doing?! Let go of me! This is no way to treat a king!"
A childish, but somehow also mature voice resounded. "Oooh, Bowser, you've made such a great effort to see me. Unfortunately, in you go." The purple glow went brighter and brighter, until it vanished into nothing.
Another looming shadow was in the same room. "Big sis! You seem differen-Wait, what is that...?"
A long pause. Luigi heard his own heartbeat in the silence.
"...It's your new present. Go to your room and take good care of this toy."
"R-really?!" The second figure jumped for joy. "Thank you! I'll take care of it!" The second figure vanishes, and footsteps grew louder.
Luigi quivered. He went behind a pillar to avoid being seen, and held his breath in for dear life. He peeked out, thankfully the childish girl being too giddy and happy to be curious and investigate. That child had blonde hair and a red dress. The terrifying aspect of her was her crystal wings. She opened a door and went down the stairs, silently muttering to herself.
"Big sis always scolds me for sneaking out... but not that time..."
The footsteps got quieter and quieter until there was silence. Luigi slipped out from behind the pillar and finally got his breathing room in the main lobby. "Okay... seems quiet... Where did Bowser go..."
"And you." The still-unknown figure commanded.
And ANOTHER unknown person replied, with a definite mature voice. "Yes, milady?"
"Go say hello to our INTRUDER and make him feel comfortable."
Footsteps got louder as the purple glow vanished altogether along with a faint sound of someone dropping onto the floor. Luigi's mixed thoughts couldn't handle such a complicated scenario. He needed to hide SOMEWHERE. Luigi's feet refused to move. He was in pure uncompared fear. He couldn't move anyway - because he was surrounded by a bunch of fairy maids and hobogoblins.
"Okay, yeah, males exist here too... Uhm..." Luigi awaited his death, then JUST remembered. He dug into his pockets and pulled out the fairy candy. Instantly, the fairies seemed to communicate to the hobogoblins, and the male servants seemed to leave the area. The fairies quietly giggled and stared at Luigi. The plumber practically looked helpless. "Can you all show me a place where you can... uhm... easily get lost?"
The fairies looked at each other. This tall lanky ugly man was practically begging for death. Regardless, they all started floating down the corridor. Luigi picked up his speed after hearing the footsteps get louder. "Hey, wait for me! I'm in a real bind...!"
He kept running, unsure where the fairy maids were headed. Doors and corridors stretching for miles. He mostly blanked everything out, but came to his senses when they were in front of a door. The fairy maids pointed to the door. They're THAT loyal to Luigi. That fairy candy must taste like heaven. Luigi looked up at the sign above the door. "Library, huh... I mean, I-"
Luigi saw a shadowy figure of the imposing threat get bigger. Footsteps nearing him. Luigi gulped. "Okay, library it is. Tell the person chasing me that everything's okay!" He opened the door and closed it.
He breathed, looking at the door handle he used to escape the threat. Luigi's saliva in his throat getting thicker till eventually...
He coughed loudly. "Augh-uuugh... Gack-augh..." He used his green sleeve to cover his throat and wipe it clean. He also used his palm to resist the urge to vomit. Yes, his fear was so present he could puke right there. He turned away from the door, still covering his mouth. When he caught sight of the library, he forgot to breathe as well.
Bookcases spiralling down left and right, horizontally, diagonally, upside down - the library warped Luigi's perception of reality itself. Books flooding the place like an ocean, with only the help of a few library assistants to clean them up and put them into even more bookshelves.
Speaking of librarians, a red-hair girl floated up to the main desk, where a purple-themed girl sat. "Miss Patchy! We've got a... newcomer here? Intruder here? Anyway, they're not normal here!"
The purple girl sighed. "Koakuma... not so loud inside the library..." She snapped her book shut and slowly floated over to Luigi. "I'm Patchouli Knowledge. I won't be hostile to you if you don't make too much noise."
"Huh? Really?"
"Mmmhmm... Something happened to Mistress Remilia, and it just woke me up from my nap. I'm too tired to fight and I'm sure my asthma would kick in if I said otherwise."
Luigi held his hand over his chest in relief. "Oh, thank you. I was about to get on my knees and beg." Luigi chuckled... but that was the truth. He was truly hopeless here. Inside enemy territory. Nobody to turn to. The inner enigma of being a lone wolf inside a giant mansion... felt oddly familiar. It's like it was his job - his daily routine.
"Speaking of asking for mercy - someone shouted at me to alert me of your presence." She glared an icy glare to Koakuma. Luigi went to a library section to avoid the scene, but still heard the brutality of Patchouli bonking a book on Koakuma's head.
"Yipe!" Her cries were very quiet.
Luigi walked down the floors, looking at the endless bookshelves. His mind becoming confused by the titles. "I have a lot of questions... some of these books may hold the answer." He closed his eyes, easing his mind. Bowser sure got quiet, so he assumed he had plenty of time to rescue the trapped person of the mansion. With this, he slid his finger across the spines of the books. He stopped when one stuck-out book blocked his path.
The Flower Youkai
Luigi cringed. The word 'flower' ruined for him forever. That damn sadist... Regardless, he needed to know. Was Yuuka always like this, or was she just having an off day?
With this, he opened the book.
Yuuka Kazami. Yokai of the Garden of the Sun.
A troublesome youkai, who is playful, but also sometimes brutal. She spends most of her time alone- Not many people she had relationships to.
Luigi closed the book. Only two lines read. She's alone? Now he felt- actually, he wasn't sure what emotion to currently display. Guilt? Karma? Giddy laughing? Sure, it's Yuuka, but...
...Luigi put the book back in the bookshelf. "Let's move on..."
Koakuma floated down to Patchouli's desk, holding a tea set. "Your tea, Patchouli."
Patchouli took it. "Thank you..." She paused before sipping it. After swallowing the tea, she spoke her inner mind. "Say, isn't it usually that time where the certain magician comes to steal our books?"
"Yes, but..." Koakuma picked up a Bunbunmaru News paper. "It says here that she was recently defeated by a tall, skinny, green plumber guy."
Patchouli immediately stood up on her feet. She walked away from her desk.
"Patchouli, your tea-" Koakuma warned.
She floated up the library, hoping to find him.
"Patchouli, your asthma-" Koakuma warned again.
Luigi stopped tracing his finger across the books. "Why do I hear Locked Girl - The Girl's Secret Room?" He turned to see Patchouli approaching. "OH LAWD SHE COMIN'-"
Patchouli soflty locked her hands with Luigi's. Luigi blinked. "Huh."
She exclaimed happily. "I will never be hostile to you, ever!" She let go. Scene cut to Patchouli walking away with a rainbow aura around her. A happy little rainbo-
"What the hell." Luigi pondered. Regardless, he lost track. Now that Patchouli was gone, he pulled out a book.
"Hmm. What does an 'X Reader' stand for..." He flipped open the book. "Let's see. Bio... ha-..." He deadpanned at the content. "Harem? The hell? That's wrong." He flipped through more and more pages when it just... abruptly ended. "What? The hero gets the girl so quickly and easily? I had to work for my friendships..." He put the book back in the shelf. He walked to the next one. Then the next... He picked up the furthest book. "...X Gamer Reader?"
...He read through the pages. Long lists after long lists... "...it's just bios, stats and harems.. who would..." Luigi chuckled sadly. "...like this?" He stopped flipping pages, thinking to himself. "Then again, my dignity and pride took a nosedive with Yuuka. It went from happiness to depression real quick if I do say so myself..." He put the book back, pulling out another X Gamer. And another... And another...
"...they all just get overpowered abilities, get the girl, or in most cases, get multiple girls, and live a peaceful life in Gensokyo." Luigi paused, peeling his eyes off the book for a second. "...Menu."
...That little bit of humiliation further solidified the fact that this wasn't just some fantasy - this was reality. He felt stupid for even trying. He then tried to peer into the top-left of his very eye socket, nearly digging in - but no. Not even a health bar or anything. So what? Were the people who made these books aware of Gensokyo? And it's just a fantasy? And...
...No. There had to be a second puppet string. Perhaps... they just wanted to vent their feelings about this world... came back to write a book about their experiences, but altered it so it could be a fantasy escapism from the impending struggles of the real world.
...Too meta?
...Luigi sure felt different ever since arriving to Gensokyo. As if losing his innocence was a sacrifice he had to make. Perhaps others if you counted his brutal suffering when Yukari pushed him off Youkai Mountain, or the entirety of Yuuka.
"...I'm hiring a therapist when I get back to Evershade Valley." Luigi reminded himself. Although that could be a while. Luigi looked at more books, looking at more people who got the easy way out.
He looked back on his past adventure so far. He got mentally bullied by Starlow, had to say goodbye to his long-time childhood friend, and was forced to fight Alice.
All within the same continuous Dream World. He's shocked - baffled on how he hasn't broken down yet. Speaking of, Luigi looked at all the books. "Is it even possible for my recent adventure here to be a book? Then again, who'd like that junk... They'd come for an innocent green plumber guy go through a wacky world... not tackling some inner existential crisis, or suffering brutal danmaku attacks, or looking like a wimp, or..."
...He truly reflected on himself.
"I suck."
Insulting himself just like that, his guilt catching up again. For being such a wimp, a coward. Why, oh why did he not just take the initiatives sooner...
He grabbed one of the 'X Gamer' books and jumped down the deck, walking to the desk.
Luigi put the book onto the desk, Patchouli staring at it dumbfoundedly. Luigi pointed at it. "Where the hell do you get these?"
"Oh, those?" Patchouli examined it. "It's been a while since I visited those, but I travelled different worlds to get them. With the help of Koakuma, of course, otherwise my asthma would not forgive me. I got them, some of them are fiction, some of them would belong in a cozy little pad and I definitely archive some."
Luigi gazed. "Did you just make three references in one?"
"I did."
"That didn't tell me WHERE you got them."
"I did."
"..."
"..."
After the long uncomfortable silence, Luigi sighed. "Well... thanks for letting me stay anyway. I've got my questions... mostly answered."
"Oh, no problem." Patchouli waved her hand dismissively. "It's the least I can do for someone who beats up a nuisance."
"...Word travels fast, huh."
"I thank the newspaper." Patchouli smiled.
After that heartwarming interaction, Luigi gripped the door handle to the front entrance.
Prepared to face the terrors of outside the library, and into the mansion again, he opened the door.