Chapter 14 – Officially Admitted
Closing the sliding door behind him and putting on his sandals, Kyouichi walked towards the marketplace. The place was quite lively with all the merchants selling their goods to the villagers who were haggling for a better price. Oddly enough, Kyouichi no longer felt that strange to be walking there among them.
Perhaps he was beginning to get used to the village or maybe it was because the other villagers didn't give him curious looks and didn't point their fingers at him whenever he was passing by. His new attire helped him blend in with the rest of the natives, but he was still a stranger there.
Although amazed by its supernatural nature and beauty, Kyouichi didn't want to get too attached to Gensokyo or any of its inhabitants. However, getting used to live here was inevitable, for even if he would once get to leave this place, he would have to stay here for an indefinite period of time before that chance arises.
He turned to the street with the Ryuuken barracks. His eyes immediately noticed the White Sakura teahouse where he told his three other friends about his plan to form a club. It seemed that it was opened today as well, but he had no real intention of going there. Instead, he kept on walking forward until he was standing before the tall stone wall, forming a large rectangular area around the entire Ryuuken compound. This wall was the only sign of any fortification this village had. At the entrance there was, as usual, a pair of guards standing in attention.
Kyouichi approached the gate slowly, avoiding eye contact with the guards. Since they didn't stop him, he figured that it was okay for the villagers to enter and leave their headquarters at will. As he passed between them, he found himself in a large stone courtyard where even now, dozens of these black-white and gold-clad warriors were in the middle of training. They were divided into groups according to the weapons they were using. The spearmen were practicing with long bamboo sticks and the swordsmen had wooden training versions of swords. It seemed that both groups were in the middle of performing some sort of kata, as their instructors yelled out numbers from 1 to 10 and then all over again for each new movement their trainees should perform.
Again, he was reminded of his good old days, before he moved from his old home in Sapporo, Hokkaido to his new one in Tokyo. It was during this period of his life, when his friends talked him into doing karate with them.
As he nostalgically looked at the practicing warriors, he realized that he came there looking for something like an office to get his ID finally validated. After a while of looking at the signs on all the other buildings, he found the right building and headed on towards it. Besides the office building there were the barracks, the dojo, a small temple dedicated to the god of war, an archery range, an armory and surrounded by another wall and well guarded by more of the Ryuuken warriors – a prison.
"It's quite developed… this little village…" thought Kyouichi after looking around the main courtyard of the Ryuuken headquarters.
As he entered the main office and court building, he asked one of the guards for directions.
"To get your picture taken, go along that corridor and then turn left." the guard guided him. "It's the first door on that corridor, you can't miss it."
"Thank you." Kyouichi bowed and followed the man's directions.
He didn't see much of the ordinary villagers in the halls of this building, which was good, because he knew that there wouldn't be any long lines in front of the offices. In fact, there was no line at all in front of the civil department's identification card registration office.
"Sorry to intrude…" said Kyouichi after knocking on the door and letting himself in.
The clerk sitting at a conference table, similar to the one he saw at the village hall greeted him by bowing slightly.
"Good day to you, young sir. What can I help you with?" she asked.
Kyouichi took out the ID card and the letter he got from the council and put it before her on the table.
The middle-aged lady raced through the brief letter and nodded understandingly.
"I see… You're another one of them folks from the outside. Come, come… let's make you a nice photo for that card."
She invited him further into the office, behind the table into a darkened room. There was an old camera placed on a tripod stand with its finder aimed at a single chair standing in front of it. Kyouichi took a seat in that chair without having to have the office lady tell him so and brushed off some of his long hair from his face. The lady took a place behind the ancient camera, hiding her head in a black veil as she adjusted the lens for a clear shot.
"Okay, young sir, say whenever you're ready…" she mumbled from behind the camera.
Kyouichi faked a gentle smile, trying to look natural and gave a signal to the lady to take the picture. A blinding flash briefly illuminated the entire dark room, immediately reminding Kyouichi of his visit to the new Buddhist temple near the farms where he and other visitors received a mass blessing from Hijiri-san. That time he was also blinded by bright light, although that one was of magical origin.
"Alright, I think it will be a good one…" said the office lady as she was taking out the film from the camera. "While the film gets developed, let's add you into our filing system."
Kyouichi followed her back into the office and there, following a similar procedure as in the village hall, he filled in another form with his personal information. The lady then took an official seal, dipped it in an ink-soaked cotton pillow and printed the office's symbol onto Kyouichi's ID card.
"Please wait a couple of more minutes outside while the photo gets developed. I'll call you in to pick up your valid ID card once it's ready."
"Yes." nodded Kyouichi and left the office while bowing down to the lady.
He took a seat on one of the benches in the corridor and patiently waited for about 30 minutes, all the while humming some melodies and thinking about his plans for the rest of this day.
Finally the office clerk called him in, giving him the valid ID card, complete with his photograph attached to it. Of course, it was black and white, but it was clear enough to anyone that it was Kyouichi's face. The card itself was now coated with a thin transparent protective layer similar to laminate.
"Thank you very much, madam." thanked Kyouichi after a while of observing the card.
"You're welcome, young sir… Please have a nice life here in Gensokyo."
"Uhhh... yeah… sure." responded Kyouichi with clear rejection in his tone.
He didn't mean to be rude, but apparently he still couldn't get over the fact that he might indeed spend his entire life here. He once again bowed to the lady and took his leave of the office and court building and the Ryuuken headquarters.
The lunchtime was getting near, so Kyouichi went straight back home to the Saitou house, hoping that Mizuto would let him help with preparing the lunch at least a little.
"I'm back, Mizuto-san." he called as he entered the house.
A voice sounded from the first door to his right: "Well, Kyouichi-kun, how did it go? Did you get your ID validated?"
"Pretty much…"
"Say, you wouldn't mind lending me a hand here, would you?" asked the fisherman while cutting up some meat.
"Sure. What should I do?"
"Boil some rice… enough for 5 people. Then you can chop a couple of onions, carrots, and all these mushrooms here…"
Having their cooking tasks divided, Kyouichi and Mizuto were done with cooking in no time.
"Mmm… not bad, not bad at all…" mumbled Mizuto as he degusted the curry he prepared with a little help from Kyouichi as well.
"What's that nice smell coming from the kitchen?" sounded the pleasant and cheerful female voice belonging to Minako.
"Oh, Minako-san's here…" said Kyouichi as he turned around to greet her. "Welcome home…"
"Good afternoon, everyone." Minako greeted them. "I can't believe you've made lunch without me."
"What do you take us for?" her husband defended himself. "We men can cook just as well as women can."
"Oh, good. Then you can make all the meals from now on, right, Mizu-chan?" jokingly asked his wife while giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek.
While Kyouichi was snickering at the table, Mizuto was futilely trying to come up with some excuse so that he wouldn't have take on the role of the only cook in the house.
"But I love your cooking, Minako!"
"Really? Now… when was the last time I heard that from you?" Minako further teased her husband. "Hmm… sometime… .before our wedding, I think…"
"But you always cook delicious meals…" Mizuto tried to flatter her. "You know, it's just what they say about love… You shouldn't say "I love you" to the person you love too often, because always having to remind your love to someone means that the love is not true."
"But I wouldn't mind if you reminded me at least once in a while…" replied Minako, still smiling and patting Mizuto's head.
"Well then…" shrugged the fisherman as he leaned closer to his wife's ear and whispered: "I love you, Minako…"
He then embraced her and without any restrictions from having a stranger right in their kitchen, he kissed her right on her lips.
Seeing two people who love each other gave Kyouichi a very nice and warm feeling inside and he couldn't help but to smile while looking at them and thinking: "Awww… How sweet…"
"Now, let's have a taste of what you cooked up, shall we?" said Minako once she was released from her husband's embrace. "Mmm… not bad at all… "
"I should think so!" said Mizuto who was already serving the curry onto plates. "We both did our best, right, Kyouichi-kun?"
"Well, I guess so…" muttered the outsider.
"Oh, so that's your secret, huh?" Minako jokingly jabbed at Mizuto again. "You're letting our guests do the work for you, eh?"
"Nonsense! And besides, he's not just a guest anymore, but almost like an adopted member of our family. And any member of the family should contribute to the household by some work… Show her your ID, Kyouichi."
"Eh? So you already have a valid card, Kyouichi-kun?" asked Minako and curiously looked at the young man, whom she and her husband decided to take under their roof.
"Oh, sure…" said Kyouichi as he searched his pocket and pulled out his ID card, passing it to the Saitous.
"So it's official now, isn't it?" commented Mizuto as he was observing the small card.
"So it seems…" nodded his wife, holding the ID with her fingertips. "You look good in that picture."
"Thank you, Minako-san."
"So, shouldn't we celebrate this somehow?" asked Mizuto as he was returning Kyouichi's ID to its owner.
"Actually, I was planning to see Naota-san, since I've promised him to have a welcome party as soon as all my admission business was over." said Kyouichi, while putting his ID in the safety of his breast pocket.
"Really, then why not go together?" suggested the head of the Saitou family. "It's been a while since I've talked to that old coot, hehe…"
"Of course, you're welcome!" agreed Kyouichi. "If it weren't for you, I'd be a homeless bum, or worse yet, youkai food… Well, now I'm just a normal bum."
Mizuto chuckled heartily as he smacked Kyouichi's back with moderate force. "If it's housework you want, then I'll be sure to give you some… But not today, because today, we drink till dawn!" he shouted while standing up and raising his arm into the air.
Minako disapprovingly stared at him and shook her head. "Hey, Mizuto, calm down! You can't get Kyouichi drunk. He's got school in the morning…"
"I… uh… didn't mean that literally, my dear." replied Mizuto with a serious face, but neither Minako nor Kyouichi were sure if he wasn't just faking it.
"Okay, Mizuto-san," said Kyouichi after a moment, "I'll see you at the party… wherever that is going to be… But it's going to be late, since I've also promised Chitose to look at her magic practice."
"Alright, young one… But don't complain if there won't be any more sake left when you come, hehehe…"
Minako gave him another warning glare.
"I was only joking, honey." Mizuto reassured her. "Alright, let's eat before it gets cold…"
"Jeez… Sometimes I'm not so sure about your "jokes"…"
"Itadakimasu~!" called the Saitous and Kyouichi as they were ready to feast on the meal.
The children were not there since they had consistent timetable and most likely had their lunches at the school cafeteria. Whatever was left of this curry would be their dinner.
As everyone finished their portion and Minako picked up the plates to wash them, she turned to Mizuto again.
"That sure was an unusual visit yesterday, wasn't it? It's a pity that she left before I got home. It's been a while since I've seen the girl to be honest."
"Well then you're in luck, because she said that she'll come here again this Friday." Mizuto informed her as he grabbed a newspaper from one of the shelves near the door.
"Whaat?!" exclaimed surprised Minako. "You didn't tell me about that!"
"I thought Chitose already told you…" Mizuto excused himself.
"She didn't…" muttered Minako as she stared to panic a bit. "Oh my… we need to put this place into some order and buy some snacks… And maybe I should bake some cookies or something… But will I even be back from work before she leaves again?"
"Now who should calm down?" Mizuto poked fun at his wife for a change. "Just relax. We still got 3 days. And besides, I think we can talk Reimu-san into staying at least until you get home, so there's no need to worry."
"Hmm… okay, but make sure to keep your promise." said Minako over her shoulder as she was washing another dirty plate. "Huh? You're going already, Kyouichi-kun?" she asked as she noticed him standing up from the table with the corner of her eye.
"Yeah. I'm going to try and invite Akyuu-san to the hanami on Reimu's behalf." replied the young man.
"Okay… Good luck. And don't forget that your shift starts in less than an hour." Minako warned him as he was leaving the kitchen.
Kyouichi lifted his head and noticed a small, old clock hanging above the kitchen's door and assuming that it was working properly, he saw that he still had some 50 minutes before his part-time work shift starts.
Bowing to the Saitous and saying that he's leaving, he slowly strolled down the familiar street with the familiar houses and a large fireside with four wooden logs placed around it until he reached the marketplace, from where he took a turn to the west and into another street where both the Hieda house and the Starlight Glyph bookstore were located. A few people on the street were spending the afternoon by shopping and exchanging gossip. Some kids were trying to persuade their mother to buy them some sweets from the candy shop, an elderly couple was looking through the window of the bookstore, a young lady in red plaid dress and short green hair (probably a youkai) was leaving the flower shop with a bunch of different flowers in her hand and a folded white parasol in the other one… It was just another peaceful afternoon in this peaceful little village. Kyouichi stopped just a few steps away from the Hieda residence, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Sorry to intrude~!" he called into the hallway as he walked in.
Some unfamiliar male voice called back: "Just a minute! I'll be right there!"
Trying not to be too rude, Kyouichi waited there in the hallway for this unknown person to come and let him in or otherwise.
"Good afternoon, young sir." greeted a tall man in a completely plain white kimono. His head was shaven bald and his hazel eyes were looking directly into Kyouichi's. "Welcome to the house of Hieda. Please come in…" he invited him further.
"Have you come to seek the knowledge of the chronicle or is this an informal visit?" asked the mysterious man.
"Maybe a little bit of both…" said Kyouichi as he followed the man into the living room where he noticed the smell of burning incense and several lit candles placed at the Hieda family altar. Kyouichi figured that he probably disturbed the man from his prayer or meditation.
"Is there any particular event you'd like to know about? Or some person perhaps…?"
"Actually, I came to see Akyuu-san." answered Kyouichi truthfully.
"So you're already familiar with my daughter? I'm sorry, but I don't recall seeing you before, young sir…" said the man in white, not letting his eyes from his visitor.
"Yes. I've already been here once… You see, I'm from the outside world and I came here to look for some information…" Kyouichi started explaining how he got to know the Gensokyo chronicler and it took him quite a few minutes to do so.
"Well, Ishimaru-san, that was quite a tale… I do remember several outsiders visiting the archive with the very same intention as you are now…" spoke Akyuu's father after hearing out Kyouichi's story in a nutshell. "Unfortunately, as far as I know they all still live here in the village. At least all those who weren't yet eaten by youkai or died naturally… But I don't mean to discourage you. On the contrary, I want you to learn from their mistakes and take off from where they finished. I believe that you're stepping in the right direction in your search, but you must be aware of the many perils that will await you on that path…"
"You know something that could help me?" asked Kyouichi. "Please, tell me."
"I believe my daughter will be able to tell you about the failed escape plans of the outsiders much better than I. After all, she remembers everything... I'll go and call her, so please wait a second…"
The man walked off to somewhere, returning after a while with his little daughter at his side. Akyuu seemed pleasantly surprised by this rather unexpected visit from her recent acquaintance as she welcomed him with her cute smile.
"Nice to see you again, Kyouichi-san."
"Same here, Akyuu-san." replied the outsider and reciprocated Akyuu's smile.
"I hope dad didn't interrogate you too much like all the newcomers…" said the chronicler, looking straight into her father's face.
"Well, not really." replied Kyouichi negatively. "I sort of told him everything that happened to me by myself…"
"Okay, then…" smiled the child of Miare, "come with me so we could talk in privacy."
Kyouichi followed her right after he bowed to her father. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Hieda-san."
"The name's Reiji by the way…" said Akyuu's dad as a late introduction. "Hieda no Reiji."
His daughter gave him a blaming look. "Gee, dad… Asking people questions without even introducing yourself?"
"I'm sorry… I just went with the flow of the conversation." her father apologized.
Akyuu sighed while shaking her head and led the way into the vacant guest room, as expected, crammed up with tons of books. "Please wait here a moment. I'll tell my mother to make some tea."
Kyouichi didn't even get to look around the room properly before the young chronicler returned.
"Well then, Kyouichi-san, please make yourself at home. You've come to talk about something, have you not?"
"Uhh… yeah…" muttered Kyouichi while sitting down. "I don't have much time, so I won't stay for too long…"
"So, what can I help you with in this short time?" asked Akyuu.
"Well, Reimu-san's going to host a hanami at the shrine and she's looking for some more guests… She said that I can bring a few people along and I thought that maybe you'd like to go there too…"
Akyuu's eyes lightly sparkled with joy as she was surprisedly looking at her guest. "You're inviting me to a hanami?"
"I am, although I'm not the host…" responded Kyouichi.
"And is Reimu-san ok with this? She never invited me before…"
"To tell you the truth, she said that she almost forgot about you… But she'd like to make it up by inviting you this time."
"Oh, my…" Akyuu paused for a moment, trying to process the pleasantly surprising news. "I… I don't know what to say… Thank you… and Reimu-san, of course… I'll gladly come, but… When is this hanami going to start?"
"I don't know the precise hour, but it takes place this Friday. Sometime in the evening…" answered Kyouichi while explaining that Reimu herself will be waiting at the Saitou residence to personally escort them both to the shrine.
While the little chronicler bowed and thanked once more, the door to the guest room suddenly opened and an unknown young looking woman entered with a porcelain tea set on a silver platter.
"Good afternoon to you." she greeted. "Here's the tea, Akyuu-chan…"
She had black shoulder-length and slightly wavy hair and was clad in a light-purple short sleeved kimono with a red obi tied around the waist. Judging by the informal endearing suffix that she addressed Akyuu with, Kyouichi thought of her as the chronicler's mother.
"Thank you, mom." said Akyuu while bowing and smiling and confirming Kyouichi's deduction.
"Won't our guest stay with us for lunch?" asked the mother.
"No, thank you…" Kyouichi kindly refused. "I've already eaten and besides, my work starts soon, so I'll be leaving in a couple of minutes."
"That's a shame…" sounded the woman with disappointment as she poured the tea into two cups. "Alright, I won't be delaying you two with your conversation. See you next time…"
"Yes, goodbye, Hieda-san." bowed Kyouichi to the leaving mother of Akyuu.
"So, Kyouichi-san," the chronicler resumed the conversation, "should I be waiting at the Saitou residence on Friday then?"
"Sure. Why not?" agreed the young man. "I'll let the Saitous know that there will be two guests."
"Okay then… Thank you again."
"No problem."
"Well, why don't we enjoy those last few minutes with this tea that my mom brought?"
Kyouichi nodded as he and Akyuu took the cups in their hands and sipped the hot but delicious green tea with honey. The outsider then spoke again after a while: "It just occurred to me, Akyuu-san, but… when you reincarnated nine times…"
"Eight." Akyuu corrected him.
"Huh? Oh… right, eight times… Well, does that mean that you had different parents each time?" asked Kyouichi, even though he expected Akyuu's answer to be positive.
The little chronicler nodded, again with her childlike smile. "That's right, Kyouichi-san. A little weird, isn't it?"
"How's it like? Being born into a new family every time? Did you like all your parents?" wondered Kyouichi whose curiosity grew proportionally with the amount of information he absorbed.
"To put it simply, I got used to it. Even though I consider my first parents as the real ones, I do love all my other parents as well…"
"I admire you, Akyuu-san…" admitted Kyouichi and drank the last drops of the tea in his cup. "To be able to bear the burden of all the memories from your previous lives and being aware that you're probably going to repeat it yet a couple of more times… And all the while knowing that your life gets shorter… I really doubt I'd be strong enough to live like this and even manage to keep on writing a chronicle… I wish I could have such a strong spirit."
"Thank you for your kind words, Kyouichi-san, but I don't think there's really much to admire me for." said Akyuu, shaking her little head in denial. "I can give you a little advice, however. It's all about the standpoint… The outlook on life and the world… If you can think of every aspect, every event, every little detail in your life and realize that there's a reason for everything, you can easily understand and learn to accept both the "good" and "bad" things equally, without putting too much strain on your soul. And faith… faith is a necessity. It doesn't matter what you believe in. Be it a god, or some personal idol, or some supernatural force or simply your own self… Faith is the key that can work wonders with your inner self… It may not help you directly in a certain situation, but it offers answers… Answers to the questions every one of us keeps asking before we fall asleep… Like: Who am I? What am I doing here? What is my purpose? Is there life after death? Is it really possible to achieve eternal happiness? Faith helps people realize... it opens their eyes to see the world in a whole new color. It is like a shield… like an armor for your soul and mind to help you endure the emotional blows that every one of us encounters in our lives sooner or later. Of course, I believe even those who claim that they don't believe in anything will be able to find happiness in the afterlife, but hardly any in their present life… Those who don't believe and those with a narrow point of view tend to give up easily, being depressed and committing suicides… Really, it's true. So what about you, Kyouichi-san, do you believe in something?"
Without much time to think, he responded: "Yes, I do…"
"Then you already have what it takes to find happiness in your present life. Most people don't realize it, but they all have the key to happiness with them all along."
"Really?"
"Indeed." acknowledged the ninth child of Miare. "I'll tell you a little story so that you'd better understand what I mean…" she finished her cup of tea and cleared her throat. "Once upon a time, there was this old beggar who had no home. Every day he was sitting near a road on an old rotting wooden box and begging for a few coins or a little bit of food from the passerby. One day as he was again sitting in the scorching summer sun near the road, a stranger was passing by and the old beggar stopped him. "Would you please spare a few coins for this humble old man?" he asked. The stranger stopped and told him: "I'm sorry, but I don't have any money." The old beggar sighed: "That's a pity." and sat down again on the aged wooden box. The stranger suddenly asked: "What do you have inside that box?" "Nothing." The beggar replied, "It's just an old box… It's been laying here for as long as I can remember." "Have you ever looked inside?" asked the stranger. "No. Why should I?" wondered the beggar. "Maybe there's something that you could sell…" said the stranger as he was again walking away from the beggar, on his way to his unknown destination. "Yeah, right…" grumbled the old man as he spat on the ground. As he was sitting there for several hours, the stranger's words kept echoing inside his head, making his mind restless. Finally, he just couldn't take it anymore, and to get rid of this feeling, he decided to take a look inside that old rotting box to make sure that there was nothing there. As he opened the decayed lid of the box, however, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, for inside of that box was filled to the top with gold bars. He wanted to thank the stranger for telling him to look inside, but the man was long since gone. The old man lived off the rest of his life as the richest man in the village where he had settled… End of story."
"That was a very interesting story indeed." stated Kyouichi after Akyuu finished.
"Yes. It simply says that we all already have the greatest treasure we can find right within ourselves." Akyuu summed up. "All that we need is to become aware of it. Or a help of a stranger who will tell us to take a look inside..."
"I see… Thank you for this story, Akyuu-san… I think I'm beginning to see how you managed to keep your cheerfulness throughout all those lives that you've lived…" said Kyouichi while nodding understandingly. "But… I think I should really get going now if I don't want to be late for work."
The chronicler giggled. "Right… I didn't mean to delay you."
She stood up and accompanied Kyouichi all the way to the doorstep of her house.
"Well then, I guess we'll see each other again this week." said Akyuu.
"Yeah…" acknowledged Kyouichi. "I'm looking forward to that too… Goodbye for now."
"Bye~!"
Leaving the Hieda residence, the young outsider didn't have a long way to walk to get to his workplace since it was just across the street. This time he didn't feel nearly any stress as he walked into the bookstore named Starlight Glyph to begin his second shift as the storekeeper's assistant. Daisuke Shimizu, his employer, was standing at the counter, talking to some customers who apparently just bought some book. As he waved at them while they were leaving the shop, he noticed Kyouichi standing there and gestured for him to come closer.
"Good day, Ishimaru-san, you came right on time~!" he called with his hyped up tone. "Let me give you some tasks right away."
He led him again to the printing room behind the counter and put a whole pile of books for him to make copies of.
"Albright, Ishimaru-san, we've received a larger order from one of the other villages and I need you to make copies out of all these books here before the closing hour. Also… while the printer will be making copies, I've put a pile of manuscripts that we bought from Eientei on the table over there and want you to manually transcribe them into something more… legible. Yagokoro-sama may be a genius, but she sure could use a few calligraphy lessons… At least by the time she was writing these… They're very old as you can see, so be careful while manipulating with them, okay?"
"Yes, boss." nodded Kyouichi. "Anything else?"
"That is all." replied the storekeeper. "You can do the usual cleaning afterwards. But it's enough work to keep you busy for the better part of the shift."
"Alright then, I better get started…" said Kyouichi as he loaded the kappan printing machine with the first book of the pile, blank paper sheets and more printing ink.
"I'll be right here at the counter tending to the customers." Daisuke informed him while pointing backwards with his thumb. "If you'll have any questions or problems, just call me."
"Airtight, Shimizu-san, I'll let you know if I need anything."
"Oh, and one more thing…" said the shopkeeper as he was about to leave the printing room. "Be sure to check on that old printer every once in a while. It's a small miracle that it's still functioning properly, but with the amount of books I need to get printed today, I'm afraid it might be a bit too much for it to handle. If it starts making any strange noises, or if it starts smearing ink over the pages uncontrollably, turn it off and let it cool down for a while. If the problems persist, then I'm afraid we would have to get it fixed again and my promised shipment will be delayed… meaning, my reputation would suffer." explained Daisuke as he again started to gesticulate excitedly. "Okay… I guess I should let you work now…"
As Daisuke left Kyouichi alone in the printing room, the outsider took one deep breath, cracked his knuckles and started working on his tasks. He put the first of the books into the duplication slot. Pulling a couple of levers, turning a dial to set the machine's performance and pushing the start button on this wondrous, but aged piece of kappan technology, he began making copies. After watching the printing process as several text-covered pages successfully made their way out of this clunking and humming machine's interior, Kyouichi assumed that it was working smoothly. He then took a seat on a simple wooden chair at a simple wooden desk where a small pile of yellowed manuscripts with faded and barely legible text was waiting to be transcribed to preserve the ancient wisdom of their author. Carefully taking the first parchment into the gentle grip of his fingertips, Kyouichi began to diligently decipher the hurried and sloppy handwriting.
"Extracting… the essence… of healing herbs… to produce… universal… cold and flu… remedies…" whispered Kyouichi as he checked and stopped after every couple of words of the manuscript as he copied those words on another paper in his own handwriting, trying to write the kanji characters as legible as possible.
"…by Eirin…Yagokoro…" he finished transcribing the title and the author's name.
He recalled that he had sorted some books yesterday which were written by the same author… Or at the very least, by a person with the same name. Whoever this Eirin was, she certainly had considerable knowledge in the field of medicine, chemistry, human anatomy and herbology, as Kyouichi was gradually figuring out while reading and transcribing her texts filled with tongue-twisting scientific terms and mind-boggling amount of information about things he couldn't even begin to understand.
After successfully copying the third parchment, the young outsider let out a sigh. "Damn… It's a good thing I didn't get to study medicine… This stuff makes my brain hurt."
As he was shaking off the stiffness from his right wrist, he turned to check the progress of the printing machine. Everything seemed to be going well so far and the pages that were gradually piling up in the printout tray were printed well and without any ink smears. Kyouichi was a little surprised by the machine's performance, because it had already managed to print over 80 pages, while he could only transcribe 3 parchments. He reluctantly returned to the uncomfortable chair and resumed his work of parchment transcription. It clearly wasn't as easy a job as he had thought it would be, but come to think of it, none of the part time jobs he had tried were exactly easy. After some more minutes spent writing, Kyouichi noticed the printing machine stopped making the clunking sounds and was only silently humming.
"Huh? Is this thing done with work already?" he stood up from the desk, walking towards it.
It certainly seemed that way, so Kyouichi turned the machine off to cool down, as recommended by his boss and at the pull of a lever, the mechanism ejected the original book out of the duplication slot like a VCR ejects a cassette.
"So, how's it going, Ishimaru-san?" Daisuke's voice came from the doorway as his small stature leaned in to peek into the printing room.
"I've got the first book copied a-okay, but I'm not doing so hot with the manuscripts…" admitted the assistant with a humble tone, being aware of his lack of speed in transcribing.
"That's okay…" the shopkeeper comforted him. "Take your time with the parchments… I know all too well how hard and time-consuming a task it can be to make a good transcription. Especially when it's a handwriting written by someone like Eirin-sensei… The book copies are our top priority for today. Anything else can wait, ok? You'll yet have plenty of time to work on the manuscripts. Just please, let that machine rest every now and then…"
"Alright, alright… I know…" replied the outsider, already getting tired of Daisuke's constant warnings about the machine's unstable functionality.
There were still 8 titles left to be copied before the store closes, so Kyouichi waited but a couple of more minutes before putting in the second tome and starting the printer up again.
Doing a couple of simple stretching exercises with his arms, back and neck, he again assumed his place behind the desk and continued working on the manuscripts from Eientei. As he was filling more and more sheets of paper with the barely comprehendible entries on how to concoct healing ointments, sleeping powder, hallucinogenic incense, anesthetic pills and even aphrodisiacal potions, he could hear Daisuke's voice enthusiastically explaining to some customers why is the Starlight Glyph the best bookstore in all of Gensokyo. Again, he instinctively checked on the printer and made himself sure it was working as it should be…
Four and a half hours have passed until the final page of the final book of the pile came out of the belly of the printer.
"…And done." announced Kyouichi to his boss that the copies were ready to be bound, packed and sent on their way.
"Ah, excellent work!" he praised both his assistant and the kappan printing machine. "And the printer's still working. Amazing… You're like a good luck charm, Ishimaru-san, you know that?"
"That's ridiculous…" denied Kyouichi, chuckling to Daisuke's remark.
"No, trust me… If you told me that I'd be able to make 9 full copies of books with that old hunk of metal today, I'd probably laugh you off, thinking that you're a fool. But just look at that! It still works."
"So you were not even hoping that you'd be able to deliver that order today?"
"Frankly, I was almost reconciled with it." admitted the storekeeper. "It's just about time I started considering ordering a new printer from the kappa."
"So, should I keep on transcribing or do you want me to clean up the store?" asked Kyouichi.
"Just run across the floor with a wet rag. You don't need to wipe the dust from the shelves every day… And I guess I can let you go after that. What do you say?"
Kyouichi was more than happy to agree to that offer, since he still had a few things planned for today. The sooner he was done here, the sooner he could go and take a rest while watching Chitose practicing magic and later drinking with Naota, Mizuto and perhaps some other people. He wiped the floor of the bookstore as he was told, and after 10 minutes, he was already bowing to Daisuke and taking his leave with the content feeling of a job well done.