Entry 3: Back On Feet, Back On The Road
Today marked the third day that Kira Yamato had been at Eientei, and thus the fifth he had been in Gensokyo. Amazingly enough, thanks to the work of doctor Eirin, he was now able to walk around with little to no pain.
Eirin had instructed him to stay at Eientei for at least four days, in order to ensure that recovery would progress smoothly. Kira felt that it was somehow both excessive and giving medical science a little too much credit for immediate resolution.
Then again, he was walking on a leg that, only a few days ago, was broken. Chalk one up for moon magi-science, he guessed.
Regardless, Eientei was a very peaceful place. The scent of a warm, pleasant spring seemed to flow through every window. It was a far greater feeling than the artificial spring that Heliopolis had, at the very least.
Absentmindedly, he tugged at the clothes he was wearing. They were one part hospital gown, and one part casual Meiji 18 clothing. Odd, yet strangely comfortable.
As Kira wandered the outer pathways of Eientei, a faint sound of footsteps caught the edge of his hearing. Turning around, he suddenly found himself face to face with a black haired woman who he was fairly certain wasn't there before.
He briefly took in her appearance. She wore a long red skirt and pink shirt adorned with white ribbons, and her hair reached as far as her lower back, if not further. Objectively speaking, she was the picturesque 'beautiful princess' that children would read about in fairy tales.
Unsure how to proceed, Kira decided to put on his kindest smile. "Good morning," he said kindly. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of your acquaintance yet?" It was, admittedly, a little stiff and overly formal, but somehow, it felt almost right to do.
The woman, at the very least, found it amusing. "We have not, sir, though Eirin has made mention of you," she responded. "Your name was Kira Yamato, correct?"
"It is. Might I ask your name, then?"
"Houraisan Kaguya," she answered. "It's not often I get to meet Eirin's more interesting patients, especially those that smell so much of outer space."
"You can smell that?" Kira asked in disbelief. "I can't quite picture that."
"It's a sort of sterile smell, really," Kaguya said, "though with you, it's more... earthly, in a way. More impurities, I think."
"Impurities?"
"Most Lunarians are rather touchy about the things they deem impure, up to and including the concepts of live and death," Kaguya said. "I'm sure if they learnt that, in your future, humans from Earth would take over space, they'd rain down purifying fire on the planet like no tomorrow."
Kira tried to suppress a shiver. "Makes me wonder what happened to them by my time."
"Who could say? They're a rather closed minded lot, so I wouldn't be surprised if they got blind-sided at some point."
"By the way you talk about then," Kira said, "should I assume you were once among them?"
"Banished for drinking the immortality-granting hourai elixer, to be specific." Kaguya let out a small giggle. "Ironic, really, that the people that fear death most of all would banish someone who had a hand in making such a thing."
"Immortality, huh?" Kira mused. "Miss Yuuka and Wriggle said that Mokou was also an immortal. How do you two know each other?"
"Oh, she hates my guts, no question about it," Kaguya answered bluntly. "Though, these days, us killing each other is more just for the sake of tradition."
Kira looked fittingly weirded out. "I'm... not going to ask," he decided. "Sounds like there's just too much history there for an Outsider like myself to just say 'can't you get alone of you're in the same boat?', huh?"
"My! You've reached that conclusion already?" Kaguya asked in surprise. "Usually, it takes viewing some of out more brutal battles to get Outsiders to accept that."
"I think I left my common sense back in the Cosmic Era," Kira muttered. "Quite literally the first person I met in Gensokyo tried to eat me, after all."
"Standard procedures, then."
An unusual silence followed. It was far from being called 'awkward', but Kira, being the fish out of temporal water that he was, couldn't quite say he was 100% comfortable. Perhaps 'pleasant' would be the right word for it.
"Ah. I was wondering where you two went," the voice of Eirin sounded from a little ways away. The two turned, to, as expected, see said doctor approaching them. "At least this saves having to search the entire building."
"Doctor Yagokoro, good morning," Kira said politely. "How are you?"
"I'm am doing fine. Thank you for asking," Eirin responded politely. "I see you and the princess are getting along quite well."
"Well, it's not often we get people who still have their heads screwed on straight," Kaguya said with a light laugh.
"A fair point," Eirin admitted. "Well, Yamato-san, ahead of my predictions, you're pretty much good to go."
"Really?" Kira asked. "I'm amazed. Even back home, injuries like mine would have taken at least a week of treatment."
"Then I suppose Gensokyo still has one up on the outside world," Eirin commented. "On the subject of being discharged, Kazami-san asked me to pass these on to you." She handed him a bag that, on closer inspection, contained a set of clothes; a white shirt, red vest, and checkered red pants. "She said you might want something else to wear, considering the state of your previous clothes."
"I won't argue with that," Kira said. "It's rather hard to get blood out of anything, yet alone a pilot suit."
"Oh, I know!" Kaguya exclaimed. "It's especially bad when the blood's from an amputated stump, too. So many other things oozing out... the stains are nightmares."
Kira gave the princess a flat look. "I'm... just gonna be glad I can't relate," he muttered.
Within the hour, Kira had changed into his new clothes. They were... certainly different from his usual. A strange mix of formal and gardener wear, and it was fairly obvious they were Yuuka's old clothes. Tight in some areas, loose in others, and generally big on him overall. If it wasn't for the fact that the pants came with suspenders and a belt, Kira feared he'd look a bit like a tool.
Then again, as he checked his new look out in the mirror, he reached one particular conclusion.
"Red does not look good on me," he said plainly. Right now, he could safely say that he felt he looked better in blue than red.
… Well, at least they were still moderately comfortable.
Entering what constituted as the waiting room for Eientei (it was really just the lounge), Kira found, to his surprise, that Wriggle had been waiting for him.
"Ah, you're here!" she exclaimed. "How are you holding up?"
"Well, it doesn't hurt to walk anymore," Kira replied. "I take it miss Kazami's gone home?"
"Yeah. She gets a bit paranoid when she leaves the Garden of the Sun for more than a few days. Worries someone might come around and burn the fields," Wriggle answered. "You'd think it's paranoia, but if I had ten yen for every time it's happened, then I'd have twenty yen in total."
Kira blinked in surprise. "It's... somehow stranger that it's only happened twice," he commented. "I'm guessing it was by some other Outsiders?"
"Yeah. Those guys can be real pieces of work at times," Wriggle said. "One time, a guy came at me with a can of bug killer."
Kira cringed noticeably. "I might want to start taking notes on what not to do, then," he muttered. "It really seems like Gensokyo's seen more than its fair share of twisted weirdos."
"It's not only limited to Outsiders, that," Wriggle said. "Even some of the people that have been here long enough to be called 'locals' are pretty rotten at the core of it."
"How worried should I be about that?"
Wriggle thought for a moment, before letting out what seemed to be a resigned sigh. "Well, you were probably gonna hear about it sooner or later. What I'm about to tell you is the youkai perspective of the Moriya Shrine takeover."
"Moriya Shrine takeover?" Mu La Flaga asked, wiping the sweat from his brow as he backed away from the engine he had been working on alongside Nitori.
"Kinda an unoriginal name, I agree, but that's just what folks have been calling it," Nitori responded, twirling the wench in her hand deftly. "It would have been... a year and a half ago? Two years? Three at a pinch, when the Moriya Shrine arrived from the Outside and set itself up in Gensokyo. All in all, not that strange; things forgotten or abandoned by the Outside tend to find their way here."
"Advancing science leads to the abandonment of the unknown," Mu surmised. "Why fear the dark when you can light up a whole room?"
"Exactly. So, nothing out of the ordinary; just two gods, a shrine, and their maiden, making a new home for themselves. The first problem is where they decide to set up shop."
"Let me guess, they tried to evict the Hakurei maiden and she took exception to it?"
Nitori gave a laugh at that. "Not a bad guess! That was the second problem they made, however."
"That's part two?" Mu exclaimed. "Who the heck did they piss off first?"
"Let me start with a question: What do you think lives on Youkai Mountain?"
Mu pondered for a second and a half. "Various types of youkai, I'd say," he answered. "I can't image a place literally called 'monster mountain' would be somewhere humans go."
"Bingo. Youkai Mountain also has a rather informal hierarchy. The tengu, while not officially the rulers of the mountain, have that sort of position among us. But, they're not what matters yet; the youkai and fairies that lived at the peak are."
"There are fairies here, too?" Mu asked. "Somehow, not surprised."
"Good to hear," Nitori said. "Fairies are also the embodiment of nature, just so you can put that in your notes. Anyway, the folks that lived in the forest at the peak were some of the more gentle sort. Wouldn't hurt a fly. Then, along came the Moriya's, who basically said 'Hmm, yes. This is the perfect spot to turn into a shrine on a lake'."
"... I'm sorry, what?" the voice of Murdock echoed from the other side of the engine room. "Did you just say those folks moved and entire lake just to put their new shrine on?!"
"Please tell me they only replaced some of the forest," Mu begged, "otherwise I can list several environmental protection agencies that'd like to have some words with them."
"Then you might not like the rest of this story," Nitori said darkly. "Around 20% of the youkai living there didn't survive that sudden flooding, and the ones that got out are still struggling to find places to settle. Did you know youkai have a harder time migrating than humans do?"
"We do now," Mu said. "Christ almighty, how cruel can religious minded folks get?"
"You think all that's bad? We haven't even gotten to problems three, four, and five, yet."
"Oh god, it gets worse," Murdock cursed. "So, what'd they do?"
"Well, after Reimu had finished smacking them upside the head..."
"...they what?!" Dearka exclaimed. "Could you repeat that, woman? 'cause it sounded like you just said they built a damn nuclear reactor in hell!"
"That is exactly what I just said," replied the Yamawaro known as Yamashiro Takane. While she wasn't use to dealing with humans, she had to represent her people somewhat after the Kappa made themselves known to this bunch of Outsiders. "Nitori had a more direct role in fighting that Incident, but I've read through her notes on it. It's... quite messed up."
Takane observed the four she was talking to. Aside from Dearka, who was taking the most active role in this conversation, there was the glasses-wearing boy Sai, who was jotting down as much as he could, the brown haired girl she believed was names Miriallia Haw, who looked like she was half listening and half stewing over sad thoughts, and the purple haired girl known as Flay Allster, who, if looks could kill, would have murdered Dearka by now, were it not for the puzzled look in her eyes, and no doubt the shock of the story Takane had just been telling.
"Okay okay okay, let's get back on track for a moment," Dearka said. "First, why the hell would they build a nuclear reactor? From what you, the Kappa, and the other Yamawaro have told us, Gensokyo's about as technologically advanced as a rice farm. What were they plannin' on doing with that power?"
"Search me, kid; I don't know," Takane admitted.
"Okay, then next question: Why hell?"
"Another good question. If I recall, it had something to do with who they chose as their power source."
This time, Flay, of all people, spoke up. "I beg your pardon?" she asked. "Did... you just say 'who'?"
"That I did," Takane said. "Reiuji Utsuho, a Hell raven and pet to Komeiji Satori, that they merged with the sun-god Yatagarasu to grant her control over the powers of nuclear fusion." She did a quick once-over on the four. "In case your wondering; no, they did not get Satori-san's permission. It's as big an ethical rights violation as you might think."
"That's... holy shit, dude," Dearka muttered.
"And there's still two more parts to this?" Miriallia asked.
"Well, fortunately for the Moriya Shrine, these two are more byproduct, and aren't actually related to their goals," Takane said. "So, for part four..."
"... the geyser that opened the way also dislodged a sealed flying ship?" Athrun asked as he read through the book in front of him. "From there, it travelled to Makai, the demon realm, rescued their leader from her millennia of imprisonment, and that led to the establishment of the Myouren Temple?"
"It really does sound absurd when you read it aloud, huh?" Kosuzu said. "Mami-chan, you're sure this was how it went?"
"Positive, sweetie," Mamizou responded. "Heard it straight from the tigress's mouth. Heck, in a way, Nue really helped those girls out by tricking Reimu and the likes into their little treasure hunt."
"I can imagine travelling to somewhere like Makai would be difficult," Athrun said. "Otherwise, I imagine Gensokyo would be a lot different." He continued to read on. "Not long after that, because of where the temple was located, it prompted the resurrection of... Toyosatomimi no Miko. Did I say that right?"
"Nailed it," Mamizou said. "From this, Taoism was introduced into Gensokyo, and Nue called me in just in case any trouble was started."
"Why would Miko-san start trouble?" Kosuzu asked. "Even to youkai, she's been nothing short of civil."
"Oh, no doubt about that," Mamizou admitted. "Nue called me in to Gensokyo just in case she started trouble, but aside from being the religious antithesis to Byakuren, the two get along quite well. Very professional relationship between 'em."
"Yet that's still what brought about the current quasi religion war that's still technically going on," Athrun said. "All this from a shrine that basically overstepped their boundaries."
"The Moriya folks ain't that bad, really," Mamizou said, "but they're certainly bringing the wrong mindset to Gensokyo. What use do we have for a nuclear reactor if we barely even have light-bulbs, right?"
"Come to think of it, isn't Kochiya-san more gung-ho about youkai extermination compared to Reimu and Marisa?" Kosuzu asked.
"She's mellowed out over the years, I've heard," Mamizou answered, "but she's definitely more likely to use the stick rather than the carrot."
"So, miss Hakurei and miss Kirisame are more compassionate?" Athrun asked. "Despite being youkai extermination specialists?"
"They just do what they do," Mamizou said. "Don't tell Reimu I said this, but whether she likes it or not, her kindness constantly outweighs her reputation as the feared maiden of Hakurei."
"... but she keeps trying to come off as threatening and no nonsense?" Kira asked as he and Wriggle were guided through the Bamboo Forest by a tall girl with light purple hair, red eyes, and rabbit ears known as Reisen Udongein Inaba.
"The Hakurei maiden is suppose to keep the balance of Gensokyo," Reisen answered. "To the humans in the village, the perspective of that is 'exterminate youkai', but the job's really more complicated than that. Gensokyo exists for the youkai as much as it does for the humans, after all."
"So she's still doing her job, despite how the humans might see it," Kira mused. "I hope I get the chance to meet her."
"Oh, you will," Wriggle said. "Every Outsider encounters Reimu at some point. What matters is that the meeting isn't about you doing something exceptionally stupid."
"Just another thing to be weary of, I guess," Kira muttered. "Thank you again for guiding us, miss Udongein."
"It's no trouble, really," Reisen responded. "And please, just call me Reisen. There's no need to be so formal."
"If you say so," Kira said. "So, you're going into the village in order to sell off some of the doctors medicine, then?"
"It's a business," Reisen said. "Eientei can survive perfectly well without interacting with the village, but once our existence was confirmed, we figured it was best to do some sort of work, so that we don't earn the ire of Reimu and Marisa. Those two can be quite scary if you're not careful."
"Is that so?" Kira asked. "Just another thing to keep in mind, then."
"Pretty much," Reisen agreed, before noticing the edge of the forest. "Looks like journey's over, buddy. From this point on, life is in your own hands."
"That certainly sounds ominous," Kira mentioned. "I'm not even sure where to begin."
"In that case, I have an idea!" Wriggle exclaimed. "Why don't I introduce you to the rest of my friends? I'm sure they'd love to meet you!"
"It's not a bad idea," Reisen said. "The more positive bonds you make, the better your time in Gensokyo will be."
"I'd imagine," Kira said. "Alright, then. I'll take you up on that offer, Wriggle."
"Great!" the insect youkai exclaimed, before taking flight a few feet of the ground. "Follow me! We usually hang around the Misty Lake, where I first found you!"
As Wriggle flew off, away from both the village and the Bamboo Forest, with Kira jogging behind her, Reisen called out one more time. "Try to be careful! There's rumours around about some giant metal thing by the lake!"
"We will!" Wriggle called back, as she and Kira waved to Reisen.
As the two parties parted ways, they could only wonder what fate had in store for them.
When Kira and Wriggle finally broke through the tree line and reached the lake, the former quickly realised just why it was named the Misty Lake.
Despite it being at least around noon, the faint layer of fog that seemed to emanate from the lake gave the surrounding area a sort of chill, like a cool morning in the middle of summer. All in all, it was quite nice.
"Huh. Wouldna though they'd have been here," Wriggle said, looking around. "Playing hide and seek, maybe?"
"I think it'd have more to do with that thing Reisen said before," Kira spoke. "Something about a metal giant."
Wriggle pondered for a moment. "Yeah, I could see them getting distracted by something like that," she admitted. "One time, Cirno tried to hunt down what she thought was the legendary Daidarabotchi."
"How'd that go?"
"Marisa misdirected her into a boiler."
Kira almost fell over himself, yet how shocked he looked was apparent. "That's... oddly cruel."
"No kidding," Wriggle muttered. "Cirno's an ice fairy, so if she wasn't unnaturally stubborn, that could have turned out bad."
For Kira, 'shock' quickly turned into 'abject horror'. "That's... that's just straight up attempted murder!" he exclaimed. "I... I know I already promised I wouldn't judge Gensokyo for its different values, but that's just cruel!"
"Hey, no one's arguing that," Wriggle said. "Just about everyone I know agrees that was Marisa did was pretty twisted. The only caveat there is in this situation is that fairies are pretty much unkillable."
If Kira's jaw could drop any more, it'd be catching fish. "I'm going to have to leave my morals at the door, aren't I?"
"Only most of them," Wriggle said. "Gensokyo'd be pretty crazy if you left them all."
Before either could say more, they spotted what looked, at a distance, to be a small flock of birds, but upon closer inspection, was more a group of floating humanoids observing something in the distance.
"Ah! There they are!" Wriggle exclaimed, before yelling loudly. "Hey! Guys! We're over here!"
The group, numbering around eight different people, all turned, and upon noticing Wriggle, all quickly flew over to them. It was, in Kira's opinion, a weird sight to behold. If he had to guess, he'd say at minimum six of them were fairies, and the other two, like Wriggle, were youkai of some kind.
"There you are, Wriggle!" the one that had wings akin to a sparrow exclaimed. "You've been missing all week!"
"Sorry, Mystia," Wriggle apologised. "Got kinda caught up on something big."
"That gotta do with the human you brought?" the blue haired fairy with ice for wings asked. "Never seen a guy like him around before. And, are those Yuuka's clothes?"
"Got it in one, Cirno," Wriggle said. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Gensokyo's newest Outsider: Kira Yamato!"
Wriggle flourished, as if presenting a golden statue on a pedestal, which left Kira feeling mildly embarrassed. "It's... nice to meet you all," he said bashfully.
The blue haired fairy, Cirno, hovered closely to Kira, observing him as if a lion stalking its prey. "You..." she muttered, as if trying to figure something out about him, "... are a human, aren't you?"
Kira blinked in surprise, not at being found out, but at the sheer... simplicity? "I... thought that was established?" he asked. "I mean, I came from Outside, right?"
Cirno, for her part, looked rather smug, as if she'd just figured out the greatest secret in the world. Even Wriggle and the other six looked rather exasperated by it.
Wait... six? Kira did a quick headcount, comparing it to how many he saw barely a minute ago. If he recalled, excluding Wriggle, there were eight, right? So, where'd...
[CHOMP]
Kira let out a small yelp, not in pain, but more just general surprise. Something, without him noticing, had just bitten down on his arm. Not in an 'I'm gonna rip ya limb from limb' way, but more a playful teething.
He lifted up his arm, and saw at the end of it a familiar girl with blonde hair and red eyes. A familiar girl who, somehow, managed to fit Kira's whole fist, up to the wrist, in her mouth.
Kira locked eyes with Rumia, and the youkai let out a muffled 'hello'.
"Um... hi?" he responded, as the others tried to pry her off him. There was something just fundamentally comical about it all.
"Um, Yamato-san?" a small voice spoke. Kira looked down, to see the green haired fairly dressed in blue looking up at him sheepishly. "Sorry... about Rumia-chan," she said hesitantly.
Kira, for what it was worth, simply smiled kindly, even as they finally managed to pull Rumia off him. "It's quite alright," he said. "It's still nice to meet you all, miss...?"
The fairy quickly perked up. "Oh! I'm... Daiyousei," she answered. "Would you... like me to introduce the others?"
"Of course," Kira responded. "I'd be glad to meet the others."
And so, introduction began. Among those of the self-named Team Nine were: Cirno, the blue haired fairy and self appointed leader of the team. Daiyousei, the fairy that had known Cirno the longest out of everyone. Rumia, the darkness manipulating youkai that had a perchance to biting people. Wriggle, who was already established. Mystia Lorelei, a night sparrow who was a long-time friend of Wriggle's. The three fairies of light, consisting of Sunny Milk (orange hair and dressed in red), Star Sapphire (black hair and dressed in blue) and Luna Child (blonde hair and dressed in white). Finally, was the butterfly-winged girl with light blue hair, known as Eternity Larva.
Somehow, out of all of those names, 'Eternity Larva' struck him as the strangest. It seemed like less a name and more a title.
At some point during those introductions, the three fairies had, at some point, latched themselves onto his back playfully. If anything, it certainly helped with the chill.
"So, what are you all doing here?" Kira asked. "It looked like you were all looking at something."
"Oh, you wanna know?" Cirno asked cockily. "Well, I'll tell ya! We, as it so happens, have found the corpse of the legendary Goliath!"
"Goliath?" both Kira and Wriggle asked. "As in, the biblical Goliath?"
"I dunno what that word means," Cirno said, "but it sounds epic!"
"And, did you say 'corpse'?" Wriggle continued. "How can you know it's Goliath, then? In fact, how do you know it's dead?"
"Well, it's missing its head, for one thing," Sunny spoke up from over Kira's left shoulder. "Also, Cirno's the only one who believes it's actually Goliath."
"So, where is it?" Wriggle asked. "Surely something that big would be easy to spot."
"It's 'cause it's so foggy today," Eternity answered, shivering slightly. "Hate the cold."
"You always say that," Luna said, "but you still come and play with us. Can't you change an area into summer with your power?"
"Yeah, but then that causes Cirno to melt."
Kira gave an exasperated laugh, realising the sheer amount of nonsense he would no doubt have to deal with in the coming days. Gradually, though, the group of ten moved forward towards where the supposed Goliath corpse was, and as the mist thinned, Kira found his breath hitched in his throat.
A humanoid figure of metal, down on its knees. Its left arm was torn from just below the shoulder, and its head missing entirely. The wings on its back, once majestic in their black and red splendour, now seemed to droop sadly, framing the gunmetal-grey figure adorned with holes and tears. It was a sad, defeated looking thing, yet at the same time, there was something almost triumphant about the fact that it remained so upright.
"I don't think this is Goliath, chief," Wriggle said, directed at Cirno. "Somehow, I don't think it would be made of metal if it was. What the heck is it, anyway?"
"... Strike," Kira muttered, approaching the damaged figure.
The three fairies of light, who had been on his back, drifted off as Kira began to tread water. "You know this guy, Yamatomato?" Cirno asked. "Don't tell me... you're the one that killed it?!"
"Killed it... perhaps I did," Kira answered, hardly even phased by the fairy mispronouncing his name. "But, more than that, it was my partner."
"Your... partner?" Mystia asked.
Kira nodded. "I wouldn't have gotten as far as I had if it wasn't of it." He placed a hand on its damaged leg. The metal was cold and rough to the touch. "GAT-X105, Strike." Looking up, he could see clean into the cockpit, where something in particular caught his eyes. "The blast shields," he muttered, before smiling sadly. "So, even at the end of it all, you still saved my life from that battle." Closing his eyes, Kira pressed his forehead against the leg of the Mobile Suit. "Thank you, my friend."
"What's going on?" Cirno whispered to Daiyousei. "The mood's gotten all weird."
"Cirno-chan, please!" Daiyousei said in a hushed voice. "He's having a moment!"
A/N:
So, a whole load of info being dumped all over Gensokyo, and a touching reunion of a boy and his robot, slightly ruined by everyone's favourite idiot.
Yup. Sounds like a regular day in Gensokyo. Nothing more to see here, let's move on.
