As he arrived at home as expected his father wasn't at home, as expected though his father was someone who always work late, he didn't get why he always felt the need to arrive late despite not having a reason to do so, Jose questioned upon it but neither his father would acknowledge the question which was very annoying having to divine whether what his father was actually doing was task of its own.

Not that he expected him to say anything about it but he learned to tell by just his face and the way he moves when he arrives, there was those times when he waits at the door for a couple of minutes and enter, that was sign that something went wrong during the job or when there was that blank mask he wears when arrives that was the sign something seriously went wrong or when he entered without care he is in a good mood which was very rare.

He wasn't at home but there was a note saying that his father would not be home for a week or more as there were issues at work, this was something new Jose thought but then again, he always late, so with or without his presence nothing changes his routine of bathing, cooking, eating, reading the news and researching books and sleeping, A routine he did out of sheer instinct.

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Tidying the table and cleaning the house was soothing despite it being exhausting, he only liked it when he volunteered to work rather than told to do it which is ironic, considering someone who wanted to laze around rather than work, but considering that Jose have been working in finding rumors about the town, that would be hypocritical, a little bit of laziness, he guessed.

With that being said monologuing with himself wouldn't do any work and that would only waster time in doing things that aren't useful time-wise, that being said the results brought in by the familiars he made earlier which he used to (eavesdrop) investigate rumors in the city were confused, seeing as with the other new rumors popping in and with others mixing in, it was quite difficult knowing,

Then again not all things could be relied on rumors, he would have to go on to past incidents that are occurring within the city, monitor the activities on the city and find clues, see what to do with it, there are many things that he could say what he wanted to plan but without much anything other than rumors and that person's ramblings there aren't many things he could plan,

He doesn't want to plan things too much neither plan too little, he wanted just balance, a semblance of stability over his life for once, he wanted… He stopped that thought went he thinks that it went to dark things, with that he breathed in and out, tomorrow's a weekend in which he gets to actually work at the place tomorrow.

Despite working them already for a year already, there's that small lingering small voice that ruins everything like a steel chain that tighten within his chest, he shakes his head off to cool off and sighs, looking at the pile of book he brought comparing it with the details of the rumors and the reports of that person's ramblings, there are too much reference and lore to go through, so that is removed.

Though the only way to get information would be in a place where there are many people and were people relax, when people relax they give information about stuff they are much more likely to be more open to you, he thinks deeply and a lightbulb appears and he smiles at the though and a plan starts being planned in his mind, there are multiple places that could be considered somewhere as a start, despite the city feeling like a labyrinth, the city is divided into four sectors, from the four sectors, they are divided as such as distinction between each of them are very different, though the variety from four sectors into tribes from Lumad, Palawan, Aetas and lastly the Mangyans.

Despite the Philippines becoming bigger from defending against three major countries, from before Filipinos weren't that confrontational which from that stemmed culture based upon it but with the new lands, people become less non-confrontational, more likely to voice out their opinion with the addition of new people, with the minor tribes being voiced more.

With the variety of culture and how people want things, with different people and different culture with their own voices, it tends to lead a war, with that the Philippines that was once unified split into 4 separate countries, the first major war was between the two countries that split earlier after the attacks of Japanese attacks, then out of retaliation the Philippines attacked one of Japan's colonized islands.

With a successful attack led to other attacks which forced Japan and U.S.A to attack which led to a fierce battle that most of the parts were unknown to all of them, but what transpires from that was treaty of peace to stop the war, there were known tribes that helped stopped that war which made the known as a minor tribe, which overtime they banded together forming factions within the country. It was what lead to the golden period where Prosperity and Richness became known,

There was treaty to unify the treaties from the colonized island to become part of the Philippines which from that disaster struck, someone was assassinated in that treaty which led to accusations, it was a mystery why the parties didn't try to deescalate but it happened which led from one thing to another until it led to a full-blown civil war, it was the bloodiest battle in history.

Which it separated into four countries under a treaty to stop the battle once again by another minor tribe, it was suspicious from that time but in the end, no one questioned it as they everyone wanted to stop fighting and it did so, only a few know the actual truth of the matter after all, with the amount of brainwashing and hypnosis it took to resolve that incident, there was still a trace of magic from that incident that still lingered from it.

There were cases of people being hypnotized by the residue of magic, but was quickly resolved by mages that were nearby, there were ones that didn't get to be helped but the mages who saw the issue, told them that it became permanent, though depending on what was changed, most of the times those were non-consequential or beneficial. And that seeing as that these islands were the treaty occurs hypnotical magic traces were very high,

And with the ramblings of the man, then there were high chances there were other people who were hypnotized as such, since belief was part of magic in order for it to prosper, when things such as what the man said, then it would be most likely something very powerful and Port City being the highest, going there with his equipment to face it with the various talismans, warding techniques he developed.

Going to the place he worked at would be the best position for an attack or an ambush, whoever does the initiative to attack, whatever the case it, but the outcome would either lead to large amount of casualties or property damage, with that looming threat the leads he had over the rumors of solving the mess that is his origins, his investigation halted as today, there was something that was presently that has a danger towards the citizens of this city, he doesn't have any special attachment towards the city nor was he feeling altruistic, if there was something that he was able to stop that was within his power then why wouldn't he not do so? There was that massage specialist that he didn't even got her name despite working there,

Despite not knowing them even though he worked them for a long time, they didn't have a special connection to him nor did they had, that was a place he went and somewhere he earned additional cash, somewhere he felt belonging into, he always had that uncanny feeling that from back home he had always felt like someone didn't want him there either choosing to study books at home or go to places where there were minimal people there.

Though that's strange though why would Jose work at place where he has to interact people, that's because he doesn't feel those glares, though present those were blocked out as the oils used usually block those foul thoughts from surfacing, and it also helped to relax him, paring with that room he used for massaging has a view towards the sector of the three tribes and minimal views of the last one,

It was one way to scout while being able to be mobilize fast without hindering responding to the situation, there were many exits he could and entrance if he wasn't careful with property damage. He didn't want to let people die while he was still alive and kicking, though with those thoughts in mind, he didn't expect to arrive at the mall that fast,

Though that's to be expected as he really was focused on the task and was instinctively dodging pedestrians in going towards the mall, small mercies really but it helps with the task for today, not knowing the extent of the possible damages and having a small set of materials and predicting what it might be, could only go far.

There only so much he could prepare and not all of your plans will actually work and might fail, with that improvisation which was from him, he wasn't the most rigid preferring to plan and talk it out than go gun blazing, he clears his mind of his thoughts as he enters the store to smell of nostalga working in here.

"Magandang Umaga Po!" says Jose Mapulon

She returns the gesture but she continues," But call me Jennifer! Ang tagal na nagtrabaho ka dito at hindi pa katumawag sa first name ko…"

Though it seemed like a small back and forth he saw the expectations clear in the Clerk. "Oo nga, Jennifer naku… Ang tagal na nga?"

Mapulon never felt that nostalgic look that Jennifer seemed to reference but he went along with anyway to not break the mood, but in the end that stopped as the first customer went in for the day. He was a scrawny man, someone from the middle-class he guessed and from the looks of it, he looked like he would stumble if he pushed even the slightest touch.

The clerk greeted him and gave the options while Mapulon went to the back as he changed clothes towards to the work clothes that were given by the manager, despite being a small shop inside mall where there were many people, during its peak days the amount of people who went there wasn't what you called choked full, as it was always manageable by both of them,

Despite there were times that they think that they needed another person to help out, they always pulled through which they developed a bond as co-workers, from Mapulon's perspective at least, Jose went to the supplies room and stocked the room for the necessary work, it was soothing preparing, as soon as he was done, the bell chimed as the same guy from earlier with a bath robe entered inside the room

With that he rubbed the necessary lotion to the guy's body, and with that the man seemed to relax, within a few seconds, Jose spotted muscles clenched despite him relaxing, there are people like these guys who give there all to support for their families despite being the only one who has the income, Jose hides a smile within himself, as he felt happiness in helping people who were working quite hard.

After the last batch for today, he swapped the spa lounge sign to close as it was lunch break time, it was usually is 50 minutes to 1 hr. 15 minutes, this was established considering the current it was a weekend, there were more people than usual, it was usually the time most people relax specifically those college students and with that, there will be a larger crown than usual in food stalls.

Mapulon then instead of changing clothes when going out, he simply wen to the employee's break room grab his bag and grabbed the sandwiches he prepared and went outside the city, there was a specific region he goes to when there are more people than usual, it was annoying but the walk from here to outside the city was not that far despite being a large city there were places you could go

Or you could say shortcuts, if you were physically fit enough and practice enough in that area, these types of places are where you could go to get out fast as possible from the city, but then again, the terrain here was hard, thus since as someone who was busy with the various things that his father had to buy from him, or the things he wanted to practice specifically his magic it was a perfect place to practice.

With the way how aggressive the economy has been rising the prices are very unstable in homes or renting in these parts, so they could be very expensive then it became cheap, it was unstable to which they became ghost towns that it quickly became a favorite spot of his, with that jumping from tops to roofs are very scary for the first time, as with the fear of dropping, he did make sure to be tap the roof with a measure stick or a stone to check the integrity of the roofs

He didn't want to fall accidentally because of poorly maintained housetop, then he switched up his routine as Jose felt like he was being followed, landing towards a roof, walking sideway from wall to wall, making it unpredictable and hard to follow but it seemed that the person who was following was quite persistent

He then proceeded to do something risky, he jumped and faked his movements to look as if he was going to jump towards the other building but his eyes were on the railing below him, he falls and timed his stone towards the other building which when he grabbed the railing, the stone crashing upon the glass would cover the sound of him grabbing the railing.

He makes his legs moves sideways to gather momentum, as soon as it gathers, he proceeds to make a backflip towards the balcony silently, but grunted as he felt his arms and body ache as soon as the adrenaline of running wear off, he hides in the broken piece of door and looks outside to find who was following him, he looked outside to spot a blonde piece of hair outside flying a broom,

He knew magic was real and the sorts of monster that prowl around but a magical broom, that was something else that he didn't knew about, he gasped at the sight but quickly hide as the blonde who was finding suddenly looked at his surroundings, he only had a pepper spray and a couple of talismans burned but those weren't suitable for combat.

He never battled with other magicians of the same age of him, the only magic he could use at the moment was fire and that would draw attention towards here and reinforcement magic which basically involved the careful application of magic towards certain regions of the body, it boosted the body's physical capabilities.

But doesn't magic eventually wear off? Indeed, they do but if you did It more than enough the magical energy needed in performing a fully body reinforcement decreases in use and as the user gain more information on the picture of the anatomy of his body, with that prepares his body, his few talismans and the few lessons he got in self-defense, He quivers in excitement and anxiety.

His heart races as he waits there as the blonde in the sky seemed to looked at his direction, the blonde picked some sort of stone in her breast pocket, and she threw it at the ground, it vibrated for a second and suddenly it turned red, the blonde girl then opened three small sacks that reeked of magic, he didn't know why she would do it but he felt his hair rise up as if in danger.

He fell in a state of vision tunnel as he didn't see the shadows twisting in the room that was followed by the balcony he entered through, he saw a window and reinforced his legs as much as his legs allowed it to, he fell magic envelop his legs and with a stance to jump, he jumped forming a small crater in his wake, a few vaults and slides towards the wall from the various old equipment but were actually beasts.

He just thought them as old furniture, and as he reached the window, he crashed upon it and as breaks through it, an explosion occurs furthering his momentum towards getting out, luckily there was small rooftop in front of him, bracing his legs and arms to a ball and reinforcing his body he crashed towards the rooftop and he looked back,

To see that parts of the building were broken, with a smell of burnt wood, he looks back to see that there were sounds that look like cross of a monkey crying and a dog barking, it was something that was disgusting to see, there were four minotaur look alike but it seemed that they were decayed and it smelled from afar, he squinted eyes and to see that there were 50 of them, and that blonde destroyed the first 4 to 5,

That were caught surprised by the sudden bomb dropped from below, Jose worried for the safety of the girl that might get overwhelmed by the beasts in front of him and planned, the blonde seeing the person jump from that distance worried for the boy, replaced her arsenal to non-lethal ones to avoid further injuring the person in that building, and ignorance and the two forgetting to talk instead to stop a simple situation of undead creatures escalated.

He scales the two-story building with the reinforcement in his legs and grabs the few talismans he brought with him, which is in total of 5 pieces and a bottle of pepper spray, though he doubts such measly item would be useful against those monsters, he looks at the surroundings of his to see that the zombies could exit this sector in three exits which two of them lead back to the city,

Destroying both of those exits and allowing it to exit through which afterwards he could use the remaining three talismans to destroy the rest of the undead monsters, though if there were still stragglers left, he could easily try physically attacking them but that itself would be danger as there's a possibility of getting infected by one of them, he didn't want to explain to his father why he was infected by an undead

Something that he didn't want to tell him as he felt that telling him would worsen his pursuit in his origins, true he could be given an antidote for the infection but with the limited mobility in going out, that would reduce the current ongoing speed on his information gathering, looking at the outside, he could see the blonde gathering them up, flying above him to blast all the undead monster below him

Jose creeped to get a better overview on the undead monsters that were trying to shoot her down with small pebbles, large clumps of trash, overall, they had bad aim, it wouldn't hit Marisa seeing as she was dodging the obstacles despite the speed, they were thrown she was dodging it with precise movements, Jose eye's widened at the display of combat

He did have small experience that one time where one drunk brawling, and he didn't notice at that time but he got caught upon it, but all he remembered was the adrenaline and the feeling of a punch connecting to the drunk and passing out, but he felt dizzy seeing the pebbles flying around and the blonde countering with bombs of her own, despite being zombies,

They moved fast enough that at least one or three dodged it not out fear of getting hit but they were fast enough, it looked like the zombies were winning with the pure numbers and the disorganized way they ran towards the blonde, Jose stood up as he tried to ran without alerting both of them of his presence, but slight misstep was all it took, the blonde or Marisa saw Jose from that distance tried to warn of him of the threat Jose was in.

But a slight misstep was the deciding factor as a fast small pile of trash was heading towards Marisa with the distraction she went down, he stumbled upon as he felt his heart beat as he imagined Maris being eaten by the monster as his eyes took upon as brighter color, the talismans in his hands grew hot, but he didn't know about that

All he felt was the possibility of her dying because he did something that endangered her, he pumped his body with lots of magical energy and sprinted towards the location were Marisa was and hoped that she wasn't dead yet, His mind went to different possibilities of what might happen and he felt a shudder as that thought of being responsible for someone's death,

He leapt from roof top to roof top, climbing walls and doing maneuvers that he didn't normally have done, running down the walk way and jumping up and flipping towards wear she crashed, he could hear the increase of bombs being thrown as she threw more in attempt to giver herself some breathing room but the zombies didn't halt at the sudden increase but merely continued attacking

He arrives to see Marisa slowly being backed at the corner with few tears in her costume and the zombies closing in, forcing her to go to a wide street to at least have breathing room but it made the zombies force them to go faster, it was only a split second as Jose widened at the situation, pulling of two talismans in hands which he didn't noticed had slight fumes and hot due to the adrenaline of running in full speed,

With a single throw of his hand, the two talismans fell towards the crowd of zombies that were ganging up Marisa, it flew close and as it burned into a small incendiary that grew hot as it soared, hitting the zombie in the head, it instantly lit the zombie up the for a few moments it grew in size, it curled up and for a moment it stilled there,

Explosion sound effect*

It exploded, swallowing the crowd with it and crumbled the abandoned buildings leaving one entrance intact away from the city, the flames seemed to have turned alive as it grew large but it only targeted the zombies as if it was a spirit of vengeance but that didn't matter to Jose as he felt like he ran the farthest he did today, and his magical energy spent from running and throwing the two talismans.

The last thought was him failing to finish his shift for today, and ruining clothes, a frown appeared in his face as he felt himself fell and slowly go to the lands of dreams, the smell of fire seemed to go down and he felt the last vestiges of someone calling out for him but he only fell to the ground.

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AUTHOR NOTES: Since I only played Touhou 6 and 7, The systems that are used in the game are there are quite vague and the ones were definite ones, were either fan-made or a fanfic head cannon, so don't expect the fight scenes to be that good and with this being a self-indulgent fic, though it may be that constructive criticism based upon plot or like OC interacting with this or that, or sentence grammar correcting are welcome 😊.

If you see that the OC acting like teenager and lashing out, well would you expect teenager to do, he knew he already fought with someone and the small self-defense lessons but did he expect something like hordes of zombies? Then no… Seeing as this my first time writing a fight scene so there will be times where it would be unrealistic…

[hmmm…. That was a blast writing, if you like the story, it would be nice to leave a review 😊 thanks!]