Chapter 13 – The Transfer Students' Club

He had a dream. It was a dream about the outside world… It was just a few inconsistent flashbacks from his childhood, combined with the setting of more recent times and it ended with the recollection of his spiriting away to Gensokyo. When he woke up, he found himself being curled up and covering his head, just as he was in the subway on that fateful day of May the 28th, year 2010. It was only four days ago, so it could be expected that this event would replay itself in Kyouichi's dreams a couple of times with some minor variations. When he fully came to his senses, he exhaled with relief that it was just a dream. However, the fact that he was now stuck for the fifth day in an illusionary world called Gensokyo was as real as life itself.

It was still early – not more than half past seven. Even though the timetable for the "transfer students" began after ten on Tuesdays, Kyouichi had the responsibility to come to the club's first meeting. In other words, he needed to go to school at 8, like usual. After the morning hygiene and eating breakfast made by Minako, he left the house. The Saitou siblings kept him company on his way to school today as well.

As they entered the school, the three of them split up in the hallway, each heading to their classroom and Kyouichi to the library. He walked up two flights of stairs to the second floor of the school and looked for the school library. It took him less then a minute to find it. It was a room at the very end of the eastern wing on the 2nd floor. Not sure if there was anyone there yet, he knocked on the door and then opened it.

The fact that the door was unlocked suggested that someone was already inside, but Kyouichi couldn't see anyone.

"Hello?" he called as he entered.

"Huh? Who's there?" sounded Midori's voice from behind a large bookshelf. Her head peeked from behind it.

"Oh, Kyouichi-san, good morning." she greeted.

"Yeah, good…*yawn*…morning." he responded with a sleepy voice. "Are you alone here?"

"So far I am, but it shouldn't take long until others come as well."

As if waiting only for those words, someone else knocked on the door and entered the small library.

"Good morning."

Kyouichi turned around to see who greeted. It was Hikaru Nagahashi, the eldest member of the Transfer Students' Club. Like Midori, he still remained faithful to his clothes from the outside world. He bowed to the other two members in the library and took a seat at one of the reading desks. Kyouichi, who was still a little sleepy also sat down at one of the desks and rested his head on his hands. Midori was browsing through the books in the shelves more out of boredom than of anything else. Hikaru took out his notepad and started writing something.

After 10 minutes of idle waiting, people from the club finally started to gather one by one in the school library.

Kyouichi didn't even know the names of most of these people yet, but it was obvious that they all had the same desire to be back at home in the outside world.

"Hey, no snoozing." said Midori while lightly shaking Kyouichi's shoulder. "It seems that everyone's here. I think we can start our meeting."

"Great." muttered Kyouichi with his head still resting on the desk. "Go ahead and start…"

"Me?! But founding this club was your idea, so you should do the introductory speech." suggested Midori.

Kyouichi straightened up, his back making a silent cracking sound. He looked at her with a serious face and sighed.

"But we haven't even decided who's going to be the club president."

"What do you mean? You're the founder, so you'll be the president."

"Whoa, whoa… Just a minute!" protested Kyouichi. "I think that the role of the president should be taken by someone more competent."

"I think it will be best if we all introduced ourselves first and then we could vote for the best candidate for the club's president." suggested Hikaru.

"Great idea, Nagahashi-san." Midori praised him. "Everybody, gather around! We're each going to introduce ourselves like on our first lesson with Keine-sensei and we're each going to tell a reason why we joined the club..."

"Isn't it obvious?" Kyouichi interrupted her. "Because we all want to get back home."

"Hmm… I guess so…" she muttered to herself and then again turned her face to other members. "Well then, each of us will tell some idea that could help us return."

Hikaru turned to a new page in his notepad, ready to write down each of the members' names and their ideas.

"Okay, who wants to start?" asked Midori loudly, but no volunteers were raising their hands. "Nobody? Fine, then I guess I'll start…"

She cleared her throat and began her brief introduction along with sharing any knowledge she had acquired about Gensokyo and the Great Boundary over those few days.

"…and therefore, I believe it would be best if we held on to our original plan – to search for the youkai of boundaries, Yukari Yakumo." Midori finished her monologue.

The other members clapped their hands for her in a light applause.

Next was Hikaru. He apparently gathered more knowledge about Gensokyo than Midori, but it was nothing new to Kyouichi. He was also hesitant to decide on any ideas about how the outsiders should attempt to return to Tokyo. He explained that he still knew too little to tell what would be the best way of trying to return, and therefore, he suggested further studying of Gensokyo in general.

In very similar manner, all the club members made their short introductions, and told what they know about Gensokyo, unless it was something already said by other members. Their ideas for looking for a way home were various: some of them being funny, stupid, pointless and even dangerous. Not that looking for some mysterious boundary altering youkai was the most reasonable of plans, but it certainly sounded better than digging a tunnel under the Great Boundary or trying to build an airplane and fly over it. Some people didn't even have any ideas. They just wanted to get home like everyone else.

Finally, it was Kyouichi's turn to say something. He stood up in his desk, took a deep breath and literally began a lecture about Gensokyo, going into details about what he heard and read about it. He also mentioned his short trip to the outside world with Reimu and Marisa through the Hakurei Shrine, which lies somewhere in the middle of mountains, far away from any towns or villages. He also brought up two ideas: one to search for Yukari and the other to find out Gensokyo's location in Japan, so they could exit through the shrine and walk on their own to the nearest settlement and return to Tokyo from there. He also pointed out all the flaws of other members' ideas and kindly asked them not to attempt such ridiculous actions.

"…and finally, not that it wouldn't interest me if we could overcome the navigation disrupting effect of the Great Boundary, Yamada-san," spoke Kyouichi to one of the members, "but seriously… Trying to dig under it? I mean… what's the point? We could all just cross the barrier now if we wanted to. Reimu the shrine maiden can do it. The real problem is that this Gensokyo is not even near Tokyo, so even if this curious plan of yours worked and we would manage to dig a tunnel to the outside, we would still be lost in the middle of… God knows where."

The other members started to chatter and whisper something to each other and Yamada-san, a young Japanese male otaku sulked in his chair.

Kyouichi was winding up his speech: "I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's either Yukari or a map of Gensokyo's surroundings. My only hint regarding the location of Gensokyo would be that it's somewhere near the Yatsugatake mountain range. We should be working towards at least one of these two goals…"

As he sat down, nobody even applauded, as they did for everyone. Instead, they were indulged in exchanging their opinions on what they just heard.

As the introductions came to an end, it was now time to decide on picking the most competent person, who would be able to organize the work of the other members to look for relevant but different pieces of information that would help them fulfill their goal.

"Alright~!" Midori was again standing and getting the other people's attention with her slightly hyperactive attitude "Now each one of you will write one name on a piece of paper to give your vote to the person you believe would be the best in the position of the club's president and put them in this vase. The members placing 2nd and 3rd in this poll will be entrusted with the roles of the vice-president and the club's chief secretary." She took a small empty clay vase that was standing on the windowsill of one of the library's five windows.

Some people immediately jotted down some names, others needed some more time to think, but eventually they all managed to throw in their vote into the vase. Kyouichi without thinking wrote "Hikaru Nagahashi" on his little scrap of paper and put it into the vase along with others.

"I hereby declare this poll as closed." announced Midori as the last person threw in their vote. "Now we shall commence with the counting of votes…"

She took the vase, flipped it upside-down and spilled all the crumpled up pieces of paper on one of the desks. Then with the assistance of two other randomly picked members she counted the papers and sorted them according to names. There weren't too many members in the club, so the counting was over in a minute.

"And we have the results~!" she announced again while waving her hands in the air. "Placing as 3rd with 4 votes is… Nagahashi Hikaru-san! Congratulations!"

Hikaru didn't look very surprised as he stood up to bow to the others. "Thank you for your votes." He even smiled a bit, showing that he had no objections to working as the chief secretary of this club.

Midori continued with announcing the results. "Placing 2nd in the poll with 5 votes is... why, thank you very much! It's me! Yay~!"

"Congratulations, Midori!" called Kyouichi as he applauded for her. Midori was apparently more surprised than Hikaru that she managed to take the 2nd place. She even blushed a little which made her look quite cute. When she realized that she spaced out for a while, she apologized and announced the name of the club's president.

"And finally, our club's president, with a total of 8 votes is… Ishimaru Kyouichi! Congratulations~!"

Everyone applauded to the new president and Midori and Hikaru even shook their hands with him. Kyouichi bowed to all the club's members and made a wide smile more out of courtesy than out of genuine joy.

"So… I get to be the brigade chief, huh?" he muttered to himself.

"Okay, okay!" sounded Midori again, flailing her arms in the air to get some more attention. "Our president will now start the introductory speech and tell us what he will expect from us and our work as a club."

Kyouichi lowered his head and sighed heavily, trying to focus his mind on what he would tell these people. After a few seconds, he nodded in agreement and stepped forward to the middle of the room so that everyone could see him.

"Dear ladies and gentlemen, my fellow outsiders, my new friends," he preambled, "…I welcome you all heartily in this new club… Phew… I don't even know how to start…"

He paused himself to take a couple of deep breaths and continued: "First and foremost, I'd like to thank you all for putting so much trust in me… Although frankly, I hoped that this responsibility which I'm now going to bear would fall onto someone else… Someone more capable of management and someone with certainly better leadership skills than myself… But since I've already been so officially elected, I'm not going to back away from the responsibility that this role brings. I have to admit that I've never had any experience in managing people and assigning them to some tasks, but I'm going to try and do my best in order to coordinate this club as effectively as possible. I can only hope that you all knew what you were doing when you wrote down "Ishimaru Kyouichi" on those little paper strips before you put them in that vase… I can very well understand your desire to return to your homes and families, and therefore, I ask you to be strong… strong and patient, because neither I, nor anyone else whom I've met in Gensokyo so far can guarantee that we'll succeed in our quest. We can only deserve this success. I expect each of you to put your best effort into helping us all find a solution to our problem. I will only be here to help us coordinate our search."

"And what if we won't be able to find anything? What will you do then?" asked Yuujin Ueda, the engine driver of one of the lines of the Tokyo subway.

Kyouichi knew that this guy never really trusted him and his idea of searching for Yukari, but he couldn't really blame him… Although Yuujin could be a little irritable, he was nonetheless a member of the club and due to his current job as a part of the trading caravan, Kyouichi viewed him as an invaluable asset of his team.

"Then, Ueda-san, I promise I'll let you whine and complain and blame me all you want, for I'm afraid that I have no other alternative."

"Do you have any assignments for us, president?" asked Midori, like a polite little schoolgirl with a raised hand.

"Actually, I think I do…" Kyouichi replied as he started to thoughtfully walk around in small circles – one of his habits when he was thinking hard about something. He suddenly stopped and repeated himself: "I think I do…"

"So what do you want us to look for, president?" asked Midori again.

"First, let me get one thing straight… Don't call me "president", ok? We're all friends here, so please just stick with "Kyouichi" or simply "Kyou". Now for your first assignment… Well, it's not actually an assignment as it is an invitation."

"An invitation?" muttered Midori with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. Since I already have all of you guys gathered here, I'd like to invite you on behalf of Reimu Hakurei to a hanami which will take place this Friday in the evening at the Hakurei Shrine…"

Everyone started whispering: "What? A hanami? Where? At the shrine? Is he serious?"

Kyouichi tapped on the desk with his hand like a judge trying to silence the people at the court. "As I've already explained, Reimu Hakurei is the local shrine maiden and a key figure in Gensokyo due to her role as the barrier keeper and something like a youkai police. She's going to host a hanami this week and I've been invited there as well. Not only that, but I've also been permitted to bring a couple of my own friends along with me… So I'm asking you: who would like to come with me?"

Yuujin immediately objected. "This is what you call searching for a way home?! Going to some stupid flower viewing?! I'm beginning to seriously regret giving my vote to you…"

"Whoa, take it easy, Ueda-san. I wouldn't bring it up if it was completely irrelevant…" Kyouichi defended himself. "This hanami is going to host some youkai too, as I presume, and some of these youkai may have some relation to Yukari. That's why I'd like to go there and ask around a bit… and I'm inviting you as well."

The club members again started to whisper something as they exchanged their surprised looks.

"There is… well, actually… there SHOULD be no danger from these youkai, assuming that they are on friendly terms with the shrine maiden, but if you aren't trusting enough, then you better not go… If anyone feels like coming with me, just let me know."

Nobody out of all the 17 other members raised their hands. As Kyouichi looked at them left and right, hoping that at least someone would like to take this unique opportunity to find out something new and to meet new people and youkai, Hikaru shook his head.

"It's not that we wouldn't like to come, but… we all have jobs already and I'm afraid that I won't be able to go…"

"Yes, and besides," said Sayuri, "the Ryuuken won't even let us out of the village."

"As for that, Reimu herself offers us escort to the shrine." Kyouichi explained.

"But I'm afraid I'll be busy as well." objected Sayuri while shaking her head.

"Me too… Yeah, likewise… I'm not going, sorry…" replied all the other people with regret.

"Never mind." muttered Kyouichi silently. "Let me then give you some tasks at least… Midori, Hikaru, Sayuri, and you too, Dan, I want you to ask some village folks about any rumors, legends and stuff they've heard about Yukari. Ueda-san, you have a special assignment. Since you're traveling with the traders to the other remote villages of Gensokyo, I want you to do the same and ask around about Yukari there. You may also want to dig around the other villages' archives a bit and see if you can find a map of Gensokyo and its surrounding areas. I know I might be asking a bit too much of you, but you can ask the other traders to help you gather some pieces of information. Everyone else, try to get your hands on any interesting books about the Great Boundary and take notes of the important information, because you'll be each presenting your new findings to all of us. And Hikaru-san, one more thing: You'll be in charge of compiling whatever useful information we may find to the club's research log. You may also pick two assistants for this task."

Hikaru nodded with a smile and showed several pages of his notepad already filled up with his handwriting to show that he already noted down everything that was already discussed today.

Kyouichi showed a thumbs up gesture. "Great work, Hikaru-san…" he praised him, "Everyone, take example of this man. But don't worry if you won't be able to find anything. I'm not going to scold you. I think our will to return home is strong enough to keep us motivated. Well then… enough of my ramble. Our first club's meeting is concluded. We'll be holding meetings once a week. You may all go about your own business now."

Kyouichi then walked back to the desk where he was sitting before the meeting and slumped down onto the chair. Midori walked up to him and leaned over his desk.

"I told you you're going to be the president, didn't I?" she provoked him a bit, a wry smile settling on her face.

"I guess I should have seen this coming…" admitted Kyouichi with a sigh. "But I really DO want to return home, so I'm going to be serious about this club."

"Me too." Midori backed him up.

"I never doubted that, Midori. I'm glad to have you in our team."

She giggled a bit. "Stop… You're making me blush… Anyway, now that the meeting's over, we still have some time before the typology starts. Would you like to take a little walk?"

Kyouichi suddenly realized something: "Typology! Homework! I completely forgot!"

He quickly took out the textbook of the Youkai Typology from his handbag in a state close to panic and checked the notes he took on yesterday's lesson.

"What did we even have for homework...? Let's see… Oh, just read the article about the kappa? Whew, I was worried I'd have to write something."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk…" Midori shook her head disapprovingly. "How irresponsible of you, club president…"

Kyouichi shrugged and smiled. "If you knew me a bit more, you'd be more surprised if I ever DID my homework…"

"You don't want to get into trouble with Keine-sensei, do you? I've overheard some of the younger kids talking that she sometimes resorts to corporal punishment."

"Really?" asked surprised Kyouichi as he was racing quickly through the text about the kappa. "She certainly doesn't look like the type… But I guess that sometimes a little educational slap can't be avoided in a village school."

"I've heard she uses a rather unconventional method for that, though…"

"…Alright. I'm done reading." announced Kyouichi after a minute while slamming the book shut. "So… you wanted to take a walk?"

It was still an hour too early for the transfer students to be at the school, so it was perfectly fine to take a little walk before the first lesson. This time Kyouichi was accompanied only by Midori. They were walking around the school grounds for a while as they were getting to know each other a bit more.

"…Eh~? So that Saitou family took you in?" asked Midori curiously. "Lucky you… Me, Sayuri and Dan-san are living at the Ryuuken barracks. We have food and a bed to sleep in, but in exchange, we have to be on regular cleaning duty."

"Why won't you look for a family that would take you in?" Kyouichi offered her a solution.

"I've tried, but so far no luck…" replied Midori, looking somewhere away. "With so many people spirited away, most of the families I've asked already took some outsider into their custody. Like I said… I've just been a little low on luck in the recent days."

Kyouichi thoughtfully hummed. "I may know about at least one person who might be willing to take you in… after I do a little talking with him."

"Really? I'd be really grateful to live in some normal house. I wouldn't even mind helping the family with household chores… I just can't stand some of the Ryuuken. Some of them are nothing but a bunch of arrogant, bossy and even perverted bastards."

"I'll see what I can do…" said Kyouichi without any false promises. "But I think we better get going... our lesson's about to start soon."

As they walked back into the school, they could hear the bell ringing in the school's small clock tower announcing the end of recess and the beginning of the next class. They entered the classroom just in time, but they still received a few curious looks from the other students as they immediately assumed that a new pairing was sprouting up. Ignoring their provocative remarks, Kyouichi took a seat at his desk and pulled the Youkai Typology book out of his handbag only seconds before Keine-sensei entered the room.

"Hello, students." she greeted her class. "It's time for another lesson about the different kinds of youkai who inhabit our little Gensokyo. Last time we were talking about the kappa, if I remember correctly, and I also gave you an easy homework to read the whole text, which we didn't get to do yesterday, as we ran out of time. So, to check if you really read that text, I'll ask you a few questions. Who can tell me what's the favorite food of the kappa?"

Many students in the classroom raised their hands. Even those who were labeled as "transfer students".

"Hmm… How about… Hayashi Sayuri-san?"

"The kappa love to eat cucumbers." responded Sayuri without thinking.

"That's right, Sayuri-san." nodded the teacher. "Next: Who knows the name of at least one kappa engineer and manufacturer?"

Again some hands were stretching upwards.

"Tell us, Daniel-san?"

"Hmm… Kawashiro?" he answered uncertainly.

"Yes, Nitori Kawashiro is indeed one example of the creative kappan minds…" confirmed Keine-sensei. "Okay, one last question: What are the kappa famous for besides making tools?"

This time only few hands were raised, but Keine-sensei wanted to pick someone who didn't raise their hand.

"Kotomi-chan, how about you?" she asked one of the regular 6th graders.

The girl nervously scratched her head and after a while she muttered: "Umm… they are… famous merchants?"

"Why of course, they are." agreed Keine-sensei. "However, as I already told you, they're still a little shy from humans. They exchange mostly with tengu… Alright, it seems that you've all read the text. And speaking of the tengu, in this lesson we are going to learn something about this interesting race of youkai who inhabit the tallest mountain in Gensokyo. Open your books on page 47 and we can begin."

In a rather short lecture, Keine-sensei explained that there are several sub-races of the tengu in Gensokyo; the management type – daitengu, the information gathering type - the crow tengu, the office work type – the hanataka tengu, the mountain's defense force – the white wolf tengu and some more. Unlike what Kyouichi had expected them to look like, Keine-sensei said that like all the youkai in Gensokyo, they look like humans, but bear certain features of one of their sub-races. One of their common features is that they wear tokin on their heads and often carry hauchiwa fans made of aralia leaves or from feathers. These fans are dangerous weapons and have the power to create very strong winds.

The tengu are an example of the so called "deified youkai", who are sometimes worshipped at Shinto shrines as other kami. They inhabit the upper parts of the Youkai Mountain, which they regard as sacred and will forcefully drive away any intruders. The tengu are socially more stratified than their kappa neighbors. Their current ruler is Lord Tenma. The tengu are well known for their love for gossip and many of them write different kinds of newspapers. The most popular examples of these are the Bunbunmaru Newspaper or the Kakashi Spirit News among many others.

The tengu are also generally known as heavy drinkers, rivaled perhaps only by the oni. They also have technology of their own, but most of the time they rely on the products made by the kappa. They are far more intelligent than humans. They are apparently more outgoing towards humans than the kappa and are usually very friendly. There is no need for humans to fear them as the tengu aren't anthropophagous kind of youkai. However, one should always keep in mind that trespassing into their sacred territory will be met with dire consequences. Their physical and magical abilities command respect among any other youkai in Gensokyo. They can fly at extremely high speeds that very few youkai can match. And unlike any other race of youkai, they are very cooperative with each other.

Keine-sensei's lecture was concluded with her reminding the students about the autumn field trip around Gensokyo.

"…so if any of you have already decided to go, please sign yourself up on the list hanging on the corridor's information bulletin board… Well, I guess that's it for today's typology. For homework, do exercises 2, 3 and 4 on page 50. Also, try to bring an issue of any tengu newspaper for your next lesson. See you next time, students."

The students stood up as Keine-sensei was leaving and sat back down as soon as the door behind her closed. Kyouichi and other outsiders were already packing up, because today they had only one compulsory lesson. As he was waiting in the line of outsiders who were leaving the classroom, he tapped Midori's shoulder.

"Yes? What is it?" she asked.

"I'm going to try and persuade one of my... umm... friends… to see if he wouldn't let you live in his house." Kyouichi informed her. "I'll let you know as soon as we meet next time, meaning tomorrow."

"Thanks. If you'll arrange that, then I don't know how I'm going to repay you…"

Kyouichi gave her a devilish grin. "I'll think of something…"

"What's with that look?" asked Midori with a little frightened voice.

"Oh, nothing really." Kyouichi calmed her down, returning to normal expression. "For now, all that I ask in return is you being serious about your work for the club. And if I'll need any special favor from you, I'll remind you… Deal?"

"Okay." she giggled as she grabbed his stretched out palm and shook his hand. "Deal."

The outsiders parted their ways as they left the school grounds and were each headed for their own destination. Kyouichi thought that he'd at least help Mizuto make lunch today. He marched up the street turning north and reached the Saitou residence. Just as he had thought, Mizuto was home today as well.

"Oi, Kyouichi-kun! You're back a bit earlier, eh?"

"Such is our timetable…" explained Kyouichi tersely.

"I've got something for you." said Mizuto, expecting Kyouichi to guess what it was.

"What? You've made lunch already?"

"Well, err… no…" he embarrassedly replied while scratching his head. "What I meant to say was that the village council has sent you your very own ID card… Catch!"

Mizuto passed him a small envelope, but Kyouichi failed to catch it and had to bend down to pick it up from the floor.

"My... You should train your reflexes a bit more…" Mizuto teased him.

"Yeah, whatever…" Kyouichi muttered under his nose as he picked up the envelope and dusted it off with the back of his hand.

Just as Mizuto said, it was from the village council and it was addressed directly to Kyouichi. Curious and slightly excited about the envelope's content, he ripped it open. Out of it fell a small hard paper card with Kyouichi's basic personal information. The only thing that was missing was, of course, the photograph. It was even explained in the brief letter that was also added in the envelope. His duty was to have his picture taken at the Ryuuken headquarters and have that photo attached to the card. Once this is done, he'll get a seal of approval from the Ryuuken and will officially become one of the denizens of Human Village.

"Simple enough…" thought Kyouichi as he finished reading.

"So, I'm guessing that you'll be going off to the Ryuuken headquarters right now." said Mizuto.

"Yeah, I think…"

"It'll still take me some time to prepare lunch so you might as well go there now."

"Heh, and there I was thinking that I'd finally help you with something…" said Kyouichi while putting the card and the letter into his breast pocket.

"Hm? Are you any good at cooking, Kyouichi-kun?" asked Mizuto with a teasing tone, since he wasn't too sure about his manual skills.

"So-so, I guess…" he replied while shrugging. "At least I can slice the ingredients without adding my fingers into the dish. As for my actual cooking… Well, let's just say I wouldn't starve to death if I lived on my own and had a supply of cooking ingredients…"

"Well, that's the most important thing…" nodded Mizuto approvingly. "It doesn't have to be super-delicious as long as it serves its main purpose – to feed a person, am I right?"

"Right." nodded Kyouichi. "Alright then, let's not waste any time. I'll be back soon. See you later, Mizuto-san!"

"Yeah, later, Kyouichi-kun!"