Sakuya and I went immediately to Lady Remilia to tell her about the green-haired individual by the name of Sanae. It had to be a coincident that the girl had green hair because I saw nothing threatening about her. Remilia didn't seem all too concerned, but she did give Sakuya and I an order. That order was to go to her home and spy on her. I take that back; Sakuya was to lead me to that girl's home and I had to spy on her. Since when did I go from being a butler to a damn secret agent? Lady Remilia must have been fucking with me again. But why should I complain? This would be the first time (not counting the time I got lost in the woods and the transporting of books between the library and Alice's place) I've been outside the mansion's walls ever since I got to Gensokyo.

So, Sakuya lead me to a mountain by the name of Youkai Mountain. It was a long trip there by foot, but it was good exercise. We made our way up the mountain and came to a village called Tengu Village. Going by the name, I made the educated guess that this was where Aya and Momiji came from. The place was bustling with life. What I assumed were other tengu were walking around from place to place doing their business. Buildings were everywhere as far as the eye could see, each one filling a certain roll in the village. Finally I have gone someplace for the first time I've been to this world. It was such a relief to get out for once. I was going to take the time to walk around and visit the many stores I saw just at the entrance to the village, but someone stopped me to remind me why I was there.

"The path to the Shrine at the top of the mountain continues beyond the village," Sakuya said.

I stopped admiring the village to turn to Sakuya. "You know what, Sakuya?"

"No, we are not hanging around the village," Sakuya said, shooting down my enthusiasm.

I got upset. "Oh, come on. You gotta let me relax here. I need my freedom every once in a while and I'm sure you do to. Let's just chill for a little bit," I said.

"Absolutely not," Sakuya said, keeping her eyes peeled for what I would guess for any green-haired people. I'm seriously beginning to wish I never brought up that dream. "We need to take your dream serious. When you or Lady Remilia have recurrent dreams, they sometimes have meaning."

"Sometimes," I repeated her own word.

"Either way, we have our orders from Master. Let us follow them as she demands."

I let out a drawn out sigh. "You're killing me here…" An idea then popped into being. "Well, a green-haired person just went into that building," I said.

Sakuya turned around, face completely serious. "Let's go and question them."

"Alright," I said, but when Sakuya fast walked her way to the non-existence person with green hair, I turned my ass around and walked the other way.

Quickly I made my way down the main street, marveling at all the architecture. I picked a random building and dove inside in order to hide. I'm sure Sakuya is pissed and looking for me right about now. I'm sorry to ditch her, but I really needed my space.

The building I went into ended up being a bar. An empty bar. Perfect place to try and relax. I went up to the counter and had a seat on one of the stools. The bartender came out from the back room. In his hand was a glass cup that he was cleaning like any typical bartender would. The dude sported long hair and a beard. He didn't have any of the features of the other tengu I've seen. Not that it mattered.

"Hey there," I greeted. "You open?"

"I sure am, young man. What can I do for you?" the bartender asked.

"Nothing, I'm afraid. Don't got a cent on me," I said in regret. "Just needed a place to get away from someone."

"Understandable," he said with a nod. "You don't look like a tengu. You look like something else."

"I could say the same about you. I'm a vampire as you probably have already guessed, but what are you? You don't sport the same stuff as these other tengu."

"That's because I'm a human," he, to my surprise, said. He held out a hand to me. "Joshua."

"Isaac," I said as I took his hand. We shook hands in formal greeting.

"Since you're new here to Gensokyo, why don't you talk to me about your stay so far?"

Again, I was surprised, and a little suspicious. "How you know if I was new here?"

"Intuition." He gave me a bullshit answer, but I didn't question him on it because of what he gave me: a nice cold beer. "It's on the house."

And so we talked and boy, did we talk. I told him practically everything that had happened since I got here to Gensokyo. Joshua was a good listener. He didn't interrupt me or anything. He saved his questions till I was finished. And I did answer his questions to the best to my abilities. The guy was strangely easy to talk to and being around him was quite calming. I went to ask about him and why a human was working in a non-human village among other things, but he blocked me out and told me to visit him again to get the answers. He gave me a second beer to drink before I left.

Watching out for Sakuya, I visited a more lively building. I made my way into the crowded building, dodging people left and right, before finding tables placed everywhere. At first guess, it looked like some sort of restaurant so I helped myself to an empty seat and sat myself down.

Relaxing my legs after the long walk up the mountain, I casually looked about the room, watching as people served and were served. The place was loud, but my eyes grew heavy, exhausted from the day's work. I may have managed to fall asleep in that chair if not for a pretty waitress poking at my shoulder.

I snapped back up in my seat and turned to the girl. "Sup?"

The girl gave me a cute smile, her big boobs catching my eye first. "Wakey, wakey, sir. How about something to eat before going to sleep?" she said, pencil in one hand and a notepad in the other.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just came in to relax. Is that okay?" I asked.

"For you, handsome, it'll be just fine," the girl said with a wink. I'm already liking her. "Of course, if you want company you can always ask for me." She leans in closer to my ear, her sweet perfume waking me up completely. "I've never asked to be bought before, but I just have to with you." Her cheeks were red as roses.

I raised an eyebrow. "Buy you? What do you mean, exactly?"

The girl giggled. "Honey, you're in a brothel," she said.

"Oh…? OH! Well, I… I didn't realize that. I'm sorry," I said with my head bowed down.

The girl laughed, her jugs bouncing up and down as she did. "Hon, I realized that the second you came in. You're obviously not from around here," she said and laughed some more, making me feel a little embarrassed. "I take it you're here because you're running from someone."

I was shocked by how accurate she was with her guess. "Yes, actually, but how'd you know?"

"Hon, everyone who comes here is running from someone. Normally it's from a girlfriend or wife or ex."

"I see…" I said. "Well, I am running from a girl, but for entirely different reasons."

"Stalker?"

"Demanding co-worker," I said.

"Would that be her?" she asked, pointing at the entrance to the brothel.

I looked to where she was pointing and wouldn't you know it? It was Sakuya. Somehow she managed to pick the right building to find me. Boss Maid managed to spot me and, with an angry expression, walked up to me.

I turned to the waitress with a sigh. "Yup… That's her…"

"Then I'll leave you two be," the waitress said. Before she left, she placed a kiss on my cheek. "Make sure you visit again. I'll be waiting," she said with an engrossing smile then left.

I waved and smiled at the waitress as she left. But when I turned in front of me, I found an angry woman staring back at me with her arms crossed in front of her. She just stood there glaring at me, making me feel small.

"That wasn't funny," Sakuya said.

"It wasn't meant to be…" I said quietly.

"You need to take your dream seriously. I mean it, Isaac."

"I told you I know. I just wanted some free time to myself for once is all."

"I know you do, but now is not the time." She reached a hand out to me. "Now, let us get going. Once we make it to the other side of the village, I will be staying behind for you to do your part."

I took her hand and she helped me to my feet. "Yes, ma'am…"

And so we continued our trek across the village. When we made it to the other side, Sakuya gave me the simple directions of "follow this path" and thus I did exactly that. The trek was yet another long one, but the forest around me was a beautiful sight. As much a pain as my orders were, this did beat working in the mansion constantly. It's about time I got to do something new. I just wish it was a more reasonable order. I'm not even sure what exactly I'm supposed to do. Spy? Spy on what exactly? What kind of information am I supposed to gather? I didn't know, but I was going to make an honest attempt at finding out something.

On the way up the mountain path, I started to realize that I was being followed. At least I thought I was. Glancing over my shoulder revealed a short girl with a strange, light-brown wide-brimmed hat. The hat, for whatever reason, seemed to have two frog-like eyes on top of it. She wore a purple dress with frog print designs on it (girl likes her frogs). Large white sleeves were stitched onto the torso. She had medium length blond hair and what looked like grey eyes. On her legs was a pair of white knee-highs and on her feet were black shoes. I'm sure the girl just so happened to be using the same path as I was, but I couldn't scrape the feeling that she was following me.

Doing my best to ignore the girl, I continued my way up the mountain, hoping I would come about my destination soon so I could do my odd job and be done with it. If I finished quickly to Sakuya's satisfaction, maybe she would hang out with me at the village for a little bit. Again, I could only hope.

"You going my way, friend?" the girl suddenly spoke up.

I stopped where I was then turned to the girl, spotting a bold grin on her face. "I'm not sure. Does this place lead to one destination?" I asked.

The girl smiled as she approached me. "It sure does."

"Then I guess I am."

"You may call me Suwako Moriya. What's your name, boy?" she stated as she handed out a hand.

I took her hand and we shook in greeting. "Isaac," I answered.

"Ooo, nice name you got. That vampire has good taste in names."

"You know who my master is?" I asked, surprise.

"I've already heard about you, Isaac. Heard a lot of things actually," Suwako said with a mischievous chuckle.

Girl seemed a little strange at first impression. "Uh-huh… Am I that well known now?"

"You bet'cha! Being the new childe of that vampire will have that affect. You'll get used to it so don't sweat it," she said as she gave me a hard pat on the back. "Now tell me why such a nice young man is heading to my humble home?"

Well shit… cover blown already…

"Uh… Nothing much. Just… Just wandering around. Seeing what sights there are to see. I'm new here, after all," I blatantly lied.

"Suuure," the girl said as she embraced my arm, looking up at me with those surprisingly pretty eyes. "Why don't I take you to our home? Though…" Suwako suddenly started to nervously bite on her thumb nail. "That woman is home… I'm afraid what she would try to do to you."

I laughed. "I've been through a lot of shit already. Nothing this woman can do to me that can be half as bad."

"But I can't let her! You're mine now, right?" she said.

I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. "Heh… Yeah sure. Whatever you say," I said.

She wiped her brow. "Phew! Glad we got that settled already. Most young people these days are so stingy when it comes to relationships. Glad ours was settled in five seconds," she said with a laugh.

And I laughed right along with her. "Damn right!"

Suwako ran on forward. "Follow me, lover! The shrine ain't too far up," she declared.

I ran close behind as she lead me to whatever this shrine was. As I did, I noticed her dress was rather tight around her waist. I could actually see the outline of her butt. Made me wonder what kind of panties she was wearing, if any. She was a bold one either way. That's when I noticed the eyes on her hat were looking straight at me.

What the fuck? How did they turn around?

Suwako snickered to herself suddenly. "Naughty boy."

I instantly blushed. Did she just read my mind? No, that's not possible. She was just messing with me, that's all. That, or that stupid hat of hers was getting to me. Either way, I tried to ignore the hat and just concentrate on following the girl.

Now that she was leading me to her place, my job had practically failed. Then again, maybe this would be a simpler way to see if that green-haired girl, Sanae, was up to no good. That would assume she was even home. If not, I could settle with questioning Suwako and whoever this other woman was. I wasn't actually looking forward to this, but I wanted to try my best, for Lady Remilia.

After several minutes we finally made it to what indeed appeared to be a shrine. At least on the outside it did. Suwako raced to the front door and slid it open. She beckoned me to enter.

"Hurry! Get your butt in here. Don't be shy," she said as she urged me on.

I shrugged my shoulders and did as I was asked. I entered the shrine to discover that it looked like an ordinary home inside. It was a nice place too. The mansion puts this place to shame, but it was a humble place. I would sort of prefer a place like this instead of the giant mansion that takes ages to navigate.

Suwako walked over to a table and took a seat on the floor in front of it. She signaled me to take a seat next to her so I did. "You like it?" she asked.

"Yeah, nice little place you got here," I replied.

"Good!" She turned around her, facing a doorway that lead further back. "Sanae! Get your butt out here!" she yelled.

"Coming!" a girl answered. From that backroom appeared that green-haired girl, Sanae.

Once she spotted me, she pointed a tense finger at me. "You!" she loudly announced, her face as tight as can be.

Again, I felt that utter dislike swelling up in my chest. I tried telling myself that there was no reason as of yet to hate the girl. She did nothing wrong so I shouldn't be getting angry, but here I was, face heated and fists tightened to the point where my nails were about to puncture my skin.

"Woah! What is up with this sudden atmosphere?" Suwako asked. She was understandably confused.

"Why are you here? You here to harm us?" Sanae asked. She looked like she was prepared for a fight.

"No," I said. "Just came to check out your crib is all so settle down. You're putting me on edge here."

"I'm so glad you two are getting along so well," Suwako happily said.

Suddenly, a woman stepped out from the back room. "Alright, alright. What's going on out here," she said.

Now this woman was a treat. The woman sported poofy blue hair and dark red eyes. She wore a long black skirt with an elaborate red shirt that had long white sleeves. On her chest was an odd round mirror. She was someone I would be glad to meet. Her strong presence seemed to calm my nerves.

The woman looked at me and grinned. "Well who do we have here? Looks like Sanae brought home herself a winner," she said.

"Wrong!" Suwako wrapped herself around my arm. "I found him, thus he is mine. He even said so," she said then stuck her tongue out at the woman.

"Of course we were just joking around," I hastily said.

"Hmph… I see." The woman stared at me intensely as if she was waiting for something from me. That stare frightened the words out of me.

"I'm Isaac. Nice to meet you," I quickly greeted. Sweat was now pouring off me.

The woman smiled, the air becoming less tense. She took a seat at the table with me and Suwako "I'm Kanako Yasaka, god of this here shrine," she said and I just burst out a laugh. It was rude of me, but I couldn't help it.

"Oh come on now. A god? I was born not long ago, but it wasn't yesterday," I said, unable to wipe the smirk off my face. I mean, sure, there's fantastical creatures in this world, I get that, but gods? I can't even begin to believe that.

A devilish grin formed on Miss Kanako's face. "I like you already, newborn vampire," she said.

I shivered a little. "You know of me too?" I asked.

"You shouldn't be surprised," Suwako said. "Also, I'm a god as well. Ain't that cool?!"

"Sanae. Get the new stuff we just imported. We're going to have a long chat with this young man here," Miss Kanako said.

"Actually, I'm just here to ask a few questions and those questions are for Miss Sanae," I said.

"Oh? Well, I'll answer your questions if you answer mine," Sanae said.

"If I must," I said tiredly.

"What does Miss Remilia have planned for you?" she asked.

"I'm just her servant. That's all," I answered.

"Yeah, right. Hee hee," Suwako said as she playfully wiggled my ear.

"That's the truth," I said irritably. "You can believe it or not. I don't care."

"You're not aware are you, young man?" Kanako asked.

"Aware of what? What are you talking about?" I asked, frustrated.

"You being created tipped the delicate balance of power we have here in Gensokyo." Kanako stated. "You tipped the balance to your master's benefit."

I shook my head. "I don't understand. How on earth could I do anything like that? I can't do diddly squat. Some people I've met have the ability to blast me to the damn moon."

"Maybe not now, but later you could become quite powerful. A power that's under the control of the Scarlet Vampire. There are plenty of people who don't agree with her creating a new vampire, you know," she said.

"I don't know, but I do know now why someone would want to harm my master," I said, anger swelling up with me. "I'm sorry to say, but I have reasons to believe that Sanae might be someone like that."

"What?! I wouldn't!" Sanae angrily stated. "I would only exterminate her if I absolutely needed to."

Suwako shook her head, troubled. "Sanae, go get the whisky before you say something stupid again," she ordered and Sanae, with a huff, did what she was told.

Miss Kanako stretched her back. "Let's forget all about that for now and just talk about nicer things," she said.

"Yeah, the air is getting muggy in here with all this serious talk," Suwako said.

Sanae reappeared with a big bottle of whisky and with some shot glasses. My heart swelled up in delight while at the same time I felt a sting in my chest. I was once a big drinker, but that stopped when I was reborn as a vampire. At least I thought it had stopped. When a shot glass was presented to me, I swiftly took it and eagerly waited for Miss Kanako to pour me a glass. Once she was finished pouring, I instantly drank the shot. Kanako wasn't too happy.

"Now calm your horses there, my friend. We all are going to take a shot together in welcome to our new resident here in Gensokyo," she said.

I felt a little embarrassed. Only a little. "Sorry, it's just been so long."

She poured me a second glass and this time I waited. Once we all had our drinks ready, they wished me a happy stay in Gensokyo then we all drank our shots all at once. Kanako, Suwako and I continued to drink while Sanae served us. They questioned me about many, many things and I just answered to the best I could. I questioned them back, seeing if they had any ill-will towards Lady Remilia, but they didn't seem to, thankfully. Just made me think that my dream was only just a dream and it wasn't something to worry about. By the end of it, Sakuya had arrived to see if I was alright and all she did was find me drunk as was Kanako. We had challenged each other to a drinking contest at some point. We both lost. Sakuya dragged me home, but I was able to tell her about my stay at the Mountain Shrine. I told her what I learned and what I thought about it. She seemed rather pleased with my findings. It took us so long to get back home that I had practically sobered up. And what was waiting for me once we got home? More work…