Chapter 18 – A Very Close Encounter
"Hey, keep it down!" she scolded the noisy girls who were trying to pick up the drinking cups.
"Oh… I don't remember Kaguya-san being invited to the shrine…" Marisa blurted out and began laughing again.
"Oh, princess, princess!" called Aya at Reimu. "Would you mind me having a small interview?" she asked through her snickering and took out her camera to take a series of pictures.
"Cut it out, you two!" retorted the shrine maiden. "There are people who are already sleeping, you know."
"But Kaguya-sama, it's so rare to see you outside Eientei, let alone here at the Hakurei Shrine…" commented Aya with evident sarcasm. "Oh, and you cut your hair shorter too…"
"Ha, ha… Very funny, Aya. Now why don't you help me by taking the pillows and blankets back inside?"
Aya snickered and bowed mockingly. "Your wish is my command, my princess."
"Hey, Reimu, Reimu!" called Marisa with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard, "Raise your right hand up and down like this and say: Eirin, Eirin! Help me, Eirin! Hahahahahaha~!"
"Shut up already!"
"What's all that shouting about?" asked Kyouichi who curiously popped his head out of the shrine.
Marisa who just walked past him only leisurely waved her hand. "Reimu's at it again…"
Kyouichi gave Marisa a suspicious look. "How did you piss her off this time?"
"Me? I have no idea what you're talking about." denied the witch, but her insidious snickering gave her away.
"Reimu-san looks pretty with her hair untied like that, doesn't she~?" asked Yuyuko's voice from behind Kyouichi.
"Waaah! How did you…? Damn…! Don't scare me like that, Yuyuko-sama." said the outsider holding a palm on his chest. "Weren't you outside just a second ago?"
"Maybe~." said the ghostly girl with an innocent smile.
Kyouichi wanted to ask her how did she manage to get inside the shrine in an instant, but upon realizing that she was a ghost, he just asked her something else.
"So, what's got Reimu so fired up again?"
"Marisa-san and Aya-san thought that she looks a bit like Kaguya-san…"
Before Kyouichi could ask who Kaguya-san was, Reimu was already entering the shrine with a bunch of pillows in her arms, followed by Marisa, Alice and Aya, carrying some stuff as well. The outsider took a step aside to let the girls in, his sight focused on Reimu. Yuyuko-sama was right – Reimu's hair looked pretty even without any accessories. It seemed the girls managed to take all the things from the shrine yard inside in one go.
"Kyouichi~!" called Reimu at the outsider suddenly.
"Yes, Reimu-san?" he turned back to see the shrine maiden with a bucket of water by her feet.
"Could you please put out the fire?"
"Why of course I can." he obliged and took the bucket.
The weak fire that was still burning in the shrine yard went out with a loud hiss as Kyouichi splashed some water over it. Then he noticed that there were still several lamps and bamboo torches lit that were providing some additional light. He thought it would be a good idea to put them out as well. He found a ladle-shaped metal tool for putting out torches right next to the donation box and went over to the first torch. Its flame went out without a sound, leaving only the strong scent of burnt oil.
Then he repeated the process with all the remaining lamps in the shrine yard. Once he was done, he noticed some dim light coming from somewhere below the torii. Just as he suspected, there was a last pair of torches lit at the beginning of the stairway. He carefully walked down the dark stone stairway lined by thick trees from both sides. As he made his way closer to the last lamps, he noticed it got a little darker. It was strange, since it already was a few hours past midnight and the dark night simply shouldn't get any darker. Even the light from the torches seemed to be weakening the closer he went to them.
"What's going on?" he muttered to himself as he stopped to look around. The moon was now but a dim gray blob in the pitch-black sky and the stars could no longer be seen. It wasn't just the sky. The whole world seemed to fade into deep darkness. No need to say that Kyouichi was frightened like a child.
"This isn't good." he dropped the torch extinguisher on the ground and hurried up the stone stairs, or to be exact, tried to. By now it was already so dark he couldn't see anything at all. He was literally blind, and as such, he tripped over the first stone step and fell down.
"What the hell?! What's happening?! Help!" he shouted as loudly as he could.
He clumsily stood up again and tried to walk up the stairs while tracing them with his hands.
Not a second later, something hit him heavily from the front and knocked him down to the ground. Then he felt something clawing at his chest violently.
"Aaaaaah~!" he screamed from pain.
Something definitely attacked him, but he couldn't see anything, so he just instinctively covered his chest with his arms.
"Damn it! Remilia, is that you?!" he shouted into the darkness, but got no other answer than a series of nasty scratches, tearing his sleeves apart and cutting his wrists. His heart raced like mad from panic and his mind was desperately trying to come up with anything that could help him in his current situation.
"What did Marisa tell me back then? Don't struggle and let her take a few pints of blood if I get attacked?" he thought as he struggled against his unseen foe. "Like hell I'm gonna do that!" he shouted and tried to return a few blows to whatever was sitting on him and ripping his clothes into shreds. He managed to hit something, but not with enough force to knock it off from his body. Right after that, he could feel his right wrist being grabbed and forcefully pushed down to the ground. The attacker was apparently much stronger than Kyouichi. Then the outsider felt a very painful sensation on his left arm which was covering his chest and neck. It was just as if something bit him.
"Aaaaargh!" he let out another terrified scream as he felt the teeth sinking into his flesh. The creature's mouth was quite small though, so the bite wasn't all that serious, but it was painful nonetheless. Right after that, the thick, impenetrable darkness gradually faded as the creature was gnawing on Kyouichi's forearm. The outsider blinked a few times in disbelief as he saw what was attacking him. Sitting on top of his chest was a small girl dressed in a black vest and skirt, white blouse and a small red ribbon tied to the left side of her short blonde hair. Her bright-red eyes were focused on Kyouichi's neck. She was doubtlessly a youkai.
"Who the hell are you?!" asked the confused outsider, still trying to free himself from under his attacker's grip.
The red-eyed girl didn't pay any attention to his question and took a second bite at Kyouichi's bleeding forearm.
"Goddamn, that hurts!" he groaned and desperately kicked his feet.
The attacking girl let go of Kyouichi's right wrist and used her free hand to push away his left arm from his neck. Kyouichi saw that as an opportunity and punched her to the left side of her head with all his might. He had no time to feel bad about hitting a girl when his own life was at stake. Furthermore, he wasn't even sure if it wasn't just one of the ways this youkai masked its true form. Kyouichi's hit had enough force to knock out an evenly strong adult man, plus, it hit a vulnerable spot, so he thought he just managed to save his life… But he was wrong. The youkai girl didn't even seem to notice being hit and continued to bite and scratch at his poor left arm. He desperately repeated the hits into the same area only to make his knuckles hurt. The attacking youkai didn't even flinch.
"Aaaah! Get off me!" he screamed and punched, but he was simply no match.
Thinking that this would be the end of his short adventure in Gensokyo, he managed to find a small rock on the ground just within the reach of his right arm. Using the last amount of strength in his body, he grabbed the rock tightly in his palm. At the same time, he felt that his left arm was pushed aside, leaving his neck vulnerable to attack. It was literally a do-or-die situation with no room for error. He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and swung his right arm with great force. This was enough to hurt even this youkai.
"Ack!" she screamed in a childish voice as she was grabbing her head. There was no blood anywhere, but she definitely felt the hit. Kyouichi didn't hesitate for a second and he slid from under her, kicked her down and ran to find cover in the nearby thicket of trees. The youkai girl took no more than 10 seconds to recover from the surprising blow and she was ready to fight again. However, Kyouichi was already hidden and watching her motionlessly.
"Aww… my dinner got away." groaned the youkai with a sad tone.
She took off into the air and levitated about 1 meter above ground. She then created some kind of dark sphere around her, enshrouding everything within a 5 meter radius.
"So this is what caused that sudden darkness…" thought Kyouichi, still trembling from fear and excitement. A small branch cracked under his weight and the youkai noticed it. Kyouichi could only see the big sphere of darkness getting dangerously close to him. He immediately grabbed a small rock from the ground and threw it somewhere away from his location.
"There you are~!" sounded the youkai's voice from the middle of the darkness as she followed the sound. Kyouichi even held his breath as she passed just a few meters away from him. Then something unexpected happened.
"Kyah! Ouch!" cried the youkai as she just bumped into a tree. Apparently, she couldn't see properly through her own darkness. That was probably what saved Kyouichi's life that night. That and a conveniently placed rock by his side… He waited there for well over ten minutes, crouching behind a tree, biting his nails. When the sounds of dull bumps and the youkai girl's voice could no longer be heard, he slowly stood up and returned to the shrine's stairway. The sun was already rising and Kyouichi took a look at his wounds.
"Aw, damn it… Just as soon as my first wounds heal up, I get new ones."
His left arm was in pretty bad shape with three deep bite marks and cuts from the youkai's nails. His chest was also crisscrossed with scratches, but they weren't too deep to cause serious bleeding. His clothes took the worst of it, though. His upper part of the kimono was torn into straps with only the right sleeve being intact. On the ground, he could see the remains from his white kimono lying scattered in the dirt and the rock he used to defend himself lay broken in two.
"Well, at least the hakama's still okay…" he summed up the damage tersely.
He slowly walked all the way up the stairs to the shrine yard when he saw Reimu in her nightgown nervously looking everywhere around.
"Over, here…" he moaned and waved his unhurt arm in the air to make her notice him.
"Kyouichi!" called Reimu with a relieved expression and ran towards the outsider.
As she saw his injuries, she gasped in shock. "What… what happened to you?"
"A youkai happened." answered the outsider, still unable to believe what just happened to him.
"What did I tell you about not going home on your own?!" she yelled at him angrily.
"I didn't… I just wanted to put out the torches in the shrine yard." said Kyouichi, looking back over his shoulder. "Heh… I guess they burned out already anyway… Now I believe you that the roads are dangerous."
"Kyouichi… I was so worried…" sighed the shrine maiden with a quiet, but very concerned voice. She tightly embraced the outsider as if to make sure he was still alive.
"Ow… It's not that I don't like you, Reimu-chan, but this kind of hurts…"
Reimu took a look at his left arm and turned away immediately. "This looks serious. You better go to Eientei…"
"Maybe… But first, I need some rest." said Kyouichi and yawned. He was barely able to stand on his feet and he wasn't even in a mood for talking. A good sleep is all he thought about at that moment.
"Of course, Kyouichi-kun. Please, let me help." said Reimu and helped to support Kyouichi's weight as she led him towards the shrine.
"Ugh…thanks, Reimu-chan…"
As soon as the two of them stepped inside, the idle chatter between Aya, Marisa and Alice immediately stopped to be replaced by dead silence.
"What the hell?!" asked Marisa with her eyes widened.
"Kyouichi-san…" uttered Aya, apparently too surprised to even take pictures.
"Oh, no~! He's hurt…" stated Yuyuko, who also looked worried.
"I'll tell you what happened to me… But after I get some sleep…" said the outsider with a hushed voice.
"We can't leave that arm of yours like that." said Reimu as she led him to a futon in the corner of the shrine. "You could get an infection."
"Well… Do you have anything for disinfection then?" asked Kyouichi, undressing the remains of his torn up kimono top.
"Yes, I've got a first aid box from Eirin." replied Reimu and went to fetch some disinfecting solution and a coil of bandages.
"Was it a youkai?" asked Marisa while Reimu was searching for the first aid box.
"Yeah… I think." nodded the outsider, checking his left arm again. "It'll probably take a few stitches and leave some scars…" he murmured to himself. "But still, I'm glad that I'm even alive…"
"Damn! That's really troubling." cursed the magician.
"What's worse, it all happened right under our noses." added Reimu who returned with the promised medicaments. "This will make everyone think that we're not competent enough to do our jobs of protecting people. You must think I'm a terrible shrine maiden now…" she said with a voice full of guilt and self-disappointment.
"What did that youkai look like? Where did it go? I'll Master Spark it to hell!" raged Marisa as she stood up.
"Sit down, Marisa." said Kyouichi, picking up a small brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the first aid box and giving it to Reimu. "She's already far away…"
"Now you seriously got me curious, Kyouichi-kun." said Aya, getting her notepad ready. "So you're saying that it was a female youkai, right?"
"That doesn't narrow our search much." grumbled Marisa as she nervously walked around the room. "There's thousands of female youkai in Gensokyo. Hell, millions if we count the fairies…"
Alice was the first to make a logical remark. "This doesn't look like a work of the fairies, Marisa."
"Okay, Kyouichi, this is probably going to hurt…" Reimu warned him before she poured the contents of the bottle on his injured arm.
Kyouichi halted her for a moment. "Oh, wait a sec." he said as he took a piece of cloth from his torn-up kimono and put it in his mouth to bite on. "M-kay… I'm weady…" he mumbled and turned away.
"So, did you manage to see what that youkai looked like?" inquired the tengu.
"Ow, yea… Fhe haw…Ah, screw this…" he cursed as he took out the cloth from his mouth to be able to talk clearly. "She was kind of short, had short blonde hair, red eyes and… Aaaaaaaaaaaa~!" he yelled from the sudden searing pain. His scream was loud enough to wake up Youmu, who quickly rose up with her sword ready.
"What the…?! Yuyuko-sama, are you alright?!"
"I'm perfectly fine, Youmu, thanks for asking~." replied Yuyuko with her ever calm voice. "But it looks like our new human friend had a recent run-in with a youkai."
"Really? When?" asked confused Youmu, still wielding her sword in a fighting stance.
"Excuse me, Youmu-san, but I'm in the middle of an interview here, so please ask your questions later." Aya interrupted her. "But you can listen and maybe your questions will be answered before you even ask them… So, Kyouichi-san, could you repeat your description of the youkai that attacked you?"
"Well, like I said: she was short, had short blonde hair and red eyes… Oh, and don't put that screaming part in there, okay?"
"What about clothes? What clothes was she wearing?"
"I don't know… some plain black dress with a vest and a white blouse. Nothing too conspicuous."
"And how did she attack you?"
"That's the strangest thing… I didn't see her coming. It was like the whole world went black for that moment. Then I got pounced on by her and knocked to the ground. I still didn't see a thing and only instinctively tried to push her away, but she was incredibly strong. Then I felt scratches all over my body and then a bite on my left arm. Then all of a sudden, the darkness faded and I was able to see her up-close."
"Say no more, Kyouichi." Marisa stopped him. "I know that youkai…"
"Rumia." muttered Reimu thoughtfully as she was binding the bandages around Kyouichi's forearm. "The youkai of darkness."
"Rumia-san, huh?" repeated Aya, putting a pen to her mouth. "Yeah, that description does sound like her… I knew she was dangerous for humans, but I never thought, she'd lurk for prey so close to the shrine."
"You know her too, Aya-san?" wondered Kyouichi.
"What did I tell you about calling me so formally?" she reminded him. "Yes, I know her… I know many youkai all over Gensokyo. I've even done an interview with her a couple of years back."
"She's just a small fry, but for a defenseless outsider…" said Reimu without finishing her sentence.
"Indeed." nodded the reporter. "Despite her appearance, she does eat humans. Now, to the question I'm most curious to hear an answer to: How did you manage to survive that encounter?"
Kyouichi exhaled and shrugged. "I guess I rolled double sixes on my luck check…"
"Could you be a bit more specific?"
"I hit her hard with a rock that was lying on the ground next to me. Then I ran for it. I hid behind a tree and she wasn't able to find me… I guess I really am a lucky bastard."
"That's quite impressive for an outsider." complimented the tengu while taking notes. "Kind of makes me feel bad that I wasn't there…"
"Would you help him or would you just stand back and take pictures?" asked Reimu with a disdainful look.
"Of course, I'd help him…and take a few shots while I'd be at it…" replied Aya with a smile.
"Then I could write an article about a brave heroine, Aya-chan…"
"Perhaps another time, you'll have such a chance." said Kyouichi jokingly. By that time, Reimu already treated his injured arm to the best of her abilities.
"There, that's all I can do for you… Make sure you go visit Eientei, okay?"
"I don't even know where that is. But some folks in the village might…"
"Right… Well, then I'll at least take you to the village when you're ready." promised Reimu and put away the leftover bandages back into the box.
"It's a little late now, but you could at least give him some protective blessing, no?" asked Marisa when she had calmed down and assumed sitting position on her futon.
Reimu slapped her forehead with her palm. "And I couldn't think of it sooner… I really am a terrible shrine maiden… I can't even protect people at my own doorstep."
"Nobody's blaming you, Reimu-chan." Kyouichi reassured her. "You can't seriously hope you'll be able to protect every single person in Gensokyo. It's impossible. It's me who should have listened to people's advice and warnings…"
"But it was me who told you to put out the fire…"
"What's happened has happened and none of us can change it. Besides, it was a valuable experience. A one which I will remember for the rest of my life, and another reason for me to find a way home. The sooner, the better. Now… why don't you tell me about that blessing Marisa mentioned?"
"Oh, yeah… The blessing." Reimu shook her head as if waking up from a trance. "Well, basically, as a shrine maiden, I can confer blessings upon people or cleanse them from evil spirits. The blessings can have various effects from good health, success at work to protection from youkai. I can even use some of them on myself, but unfortunately, the one for more donations doesn't seem to work…"
"So can you give me a protective blessing?" asked Kyouichi curiously.
"I can, but I shouldn't perform the ritual in my nightdress. But I'll give you a blessing when we wake up tomorrow… I mean today, since it's already morning."
She then stood up and put out all the lamps inside the shrine. The others made themselves comfortable on their futons and closed their eyes. Finally, Reimu crawled into her own yin-yang patterned futon and yawned before she fell asleep.
Despite experiencing another unpleasant event in Gensokyo, Kyouichi managed to fall asleep easily. He was still alive and that was all that mattered to him at the moment.
He woke up to a pleasant smell of something delicious. He opened his eyes and figured it was already around noon. The only person that was still sleeping was Suika. Everyone else was already awake. Just a few steps away from his futon, Reimu and Youmu were standing over a stove, preparing lunch. Both were wearing aprons on top of their regular clothes.
"Oh, I see… You put the meat in afterwards, huh?" asked Reimu, who was carefully learning some new recipe from Youmu.
"Yes, just wait until the onions fry to golden-brown, then put the rest of the vegetables in, let them fry for a minute or two and finally, put the meat in, pour in some water, cover the pot and let it cook for about 20 minutes." Youmu instructed her.
"Good afternoon morning to you, Kyouichi-san~." greeted Yuyuko-sama, sitting at the table, looking at him with her sweet smile.
The outsider yawned loudly before he managed to utter any words. "Yeah… Good afternoon to you too, Yuyuko-sama."
The girls at the stove looked back for a moment to greet him as well and returned back to cooking.
"How's your arm doing?" asked the shrine maiden while she was stirring something.
"It still hurts, but I'll make it." answered Kyouichi truthfully.
"That's good to hear." she said with relief. "Please wait a couple of minutes and the lunch will be ready. And since Youmu-san's helping me, today's lunch is guaranteed to be delicious."
"Youmu has many talents~." said Yuyuko matter-of-factly. "I think her cooking is at least as good as Sakuya-san's."
Youmu didn't say a word, but her ghostly half was blushing again. She got embarrassed even when Yuyuko-sama was praising her.
"Where are the others?" asked Kyouichi, since he didn't see anyone else inside the shrine.
Reimu was the first one to answer his question. "Marisa, Akyuu and Alice are drinking tea outside and Aya already went home."
"Need help with anything?"
"Are you kidding me? You want to help me even after what happened to you last night?" asked Reimu unbelievingly.
"I'm just hurt, not a cripple." replied Kyouichi as he was standing up. "And I really don't like when people pity me."
"I don't pity you. I'm just being considerate."
"Well, thank you for your concern, but I really am able to work. Fortunately, I'm right-handed, so I can still perform most tasks like usual."
"Well, if you insist, there's still quite a pile of unwashed plates over there…" said the shrine maiden while pointing at a stack of plates standing next to a large wooden bucket.
"Well then, I'll get right to it." said the half-naked outsider and started washing up right away.
Kyouichi could still use his left hand, since only his forearm was badly bitten. He didn't do the washing up as fast as he would with a healthy arm, but neither him, nor anyone else at the shrine was in much of a hurry, so he just worked at his leisure pace. He finished washing the last plate almost in-sync with Reimu and Youmu, who were just about to serve lunch.
Kyouichi took his place at the table, again sitting opposite to Yuyuko-sama. Reimu went to call the girls in, while Youmu served the food with great finesse.
Marisa, Alice and Akyuu were eager to hear Kyouichi retell the event from today's early morning, but he refused, convincing them that he already told them everything. He certainly wasn't in a mood for recalling that attack. Youmu interrupted their chatter with an announcement: "The meal is served. Hope you'll like it."
"Itadakimasu~."
Finally… Sweet silence. At least for this short moment while everyone was savoring the delicious taste of the meal, everyone was quiet. Kyouichi didn't hurry to gobble up his portion as he usually did. The curry made in a joint effort of Youmu and Reimu was even more delicious than his mom's home cooking and that was really something to say. The quiet atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by Suika.
"Good morning, everyone~!" she squealed through her yawn. "Something smells nice~. Hey… You're already eating! Wait for me~!"
She quickly got on her feet and hurried to the table, tripping over one of the futons and landing on another one. "Kyaaaah~!"
Her scream was followed by a silent thud as she was stretched on the floor.
"Hey, careful there…" smiled Kyouichi as he watched the little oni standing up and rubbing her knee. "You still don't look too sober, Suika…"
"You bet she isn't…" stated Reimu as a matter of fact. "Now, when was the last time you were sober, huh, Suika?" she asked and hummed thoughtfully. "I think I'd have to take a look at Akyuu-chan's chronicle for that… One of the early volumes."
"Oh, come on, Reimu~…" pouted Suika as she finally crawled to the table on all fours. "An oni that isn't drunk is either ill or a weirdo."
"Well, you're a weirdo regardless…" jabbed the shrine maiden at her. "Come over here and eat or there'll be nothing left…" she warned her. Then her eyes turned to Yuyuko-sama and she added: "You really ought to hurry before SOMEONE asks for seconds…"
"How much did you even drink yesterday?" asked Kyouichi as Suika sat down by his side again.
"I don't know… I don't measure it. I just drink till I drop." she replied nonchalantly, taking a ladle into her little hand.
"Heh… I think you'd really get along well with Naota-san." chuckled the outsider and took another piece of meat with his chopsticks.
"Who's Naota-san~?" asked the curious little oni as she was serving some curry on her plate.
"One of my friends… But he doesn't like youkai much, so I'm not sure he'd be too eager to meet you… Come to think of it, I'm not sure I like them too much myself."
"Considering what happened to you, I can't say I blame you, ze…" stated Marisa as she was playing chopstick hockey for a piece of meat from the pot with Yuyuko-sama.
"Huh? What happened to him, Marisa~?"
"This happened." answered Kyouichi by showing her his bandaged left arm.
"Eeeh?! Did you trip and hurt yourself, Kyouichi?"
"Err… something similar…" replied the outsider, not willing to retell the whole story about being attacked.
"He was attacked by Rumia last night." said Marisa, still struggling to get the same piece of meat that Yuyuko wanted. "And he managed to chase her off all by himself."
"And when did I ever say something about chasing her away, Marisa-san?" asked Kyouichi surprisedly."
"Amazing~…" stated the little oni, who apparently fell for Marisa's made up version of the tale. "You're quite something, aren't you?"
"For the last time, Marisa, I did NOT chase that youkai away!" insisted Kyouichi. "I just gave her a hit in the head with a rock, crawled from under her and kicked her down while she was holding her head. Then ran for cover and hid behind a thick tree… That Rumia or whatever you call her was up on her feet in a matter of seconds without a scratch on her. Then she created that dark field around herself like before and tried to find me… But she didn't. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here talking to you."
"That's still impressive… for a human that is." Suika complimented him.
"If you say so…" muttered the outsider, gently pressing his injured arm with his right hand. It was sensitive to even little pressure.
"Make sure you get that arm looked at at the village or at Eientei, okay?" Reimu reminded him, wagging her finger.
"Yes, mom…" replied Kyouichi jokingly. He thought that she was sometimes being a bit too patronizing. But at least he knew that Reimu wasn't completely indifferent to other people's well being.
"Ahh… that really was delicious." praised Kyouichi after he finished his meal. He amusedly watched as Marisa finally managed to grab the piece of meat with her chopsticks, giving Yuyuko a wry, triumphant grin. The ghost princess stared at her with her mouth agape, her sad eyes widening and tears forming at their corners.
"Look at it this way…" spoke the witch to her like a person giving away consolation prizes at a competition, "You're a ghost. You eat only for enjoyment, whereas I eat to stay alive. Surely you must acknowledge that I'll need this piece of meat more than you, ze…"
Having that little speech was Marisa's great mistake. Just as she finished her sentence, Yuyuko opened her mouth wide, and since she was immaterial, or at least seemed to be to a certain degree, she swallowed the piece of meat right from between Marisa's chopsticks without any difficulty.
"Mmmm~… Delicious~ ." she sang in delight as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the taste as well as Marisa's shocked expression.
"What the heck?!"
Everyone then started laughing at the outcome of that situation. Alice even made her doll, Shanghai pityingly pat Marisa's head.
"Hahaha!" Reimu chuckled heartily. "That's Yuyuko-sama for you…"
"Next time, we should settle similar things with danmaku." grumbled Marisa angrily.
"We still can~." Yuyuko pointed out calmly.
"And what for? You've already eaten the prize."
"Or she's too scared she'll get her butt kicked…" whispered Reimu to Kyouichi.
"Say, Reimu, are you going to take me to the village now?" he asked the shrine maiden.
"Oh, that's right… I should take you to the village. Okay, but I should get you some replacement for your kimono…"
"Hey, why don't we take him to Kourindou first?" suggested Marisa. "There's a good selection of clothes too. Then we could take him and Akyuu-chan back to the village."
The black-haired miko hummed and scratched her chin. "That's not a bad idea. I've got some clothes I need mended as well."
"Alright, it's decided then! Let's head to Kourindou!"
"In that case, it's time for us to go home as well." announced Yuyuko. "We can't leave the Netherworld unattended, right, Youmu?"
Youmu took it as a cue to stand up, bow to everyone and come to Yuyuko's side.
"Thank you very much for the invitation, Reimu-san. You've been a great host. Next time, I'll be sure to invite you people to a big feast in the Netherworld. And Kyouichi-san, I hope you'll manage to meet Yukari soon and get home…" she paused for a moment and smiled at him warmly. "And if you die by some unfortunate turn of events, you can come to live with us at Hakugyokurou~. There's plenty of rooms for many souls to live~."
"Uhh…Thanks… I'll keep that in mind."
Kyouichi's smile froze on his face as he heard Yuyuko talk about his death so nonchalantly. However, given the current state of affairs, people like Kyouichi would be among the first ones on the Grim Reaper's list in Gensokyo. He was now more than well aware that this world, which was still quite alien to him, presents deadly dangers at every corner and that if he wanted to stay alive, he'd have to live by its unwritten rules. First and foremost, he should listen to people's warnings and never act on his own, because just being careful is not good enough here.
He absent-mindedly watched as Yuyuko and Youmu were leaving the shrine, bowing twice to everyone before they soared up into the blue afternoon sky.
"Okay, are you all ready to head out?" asked Marisa, putting on her pointy black hat.
"I'll stay here and hold the fort~." said Suika who stretched herself on a futon again, patting her satisfied stomach.
"In other words, you'll laze around and drink sake." stated Reimu with a hint of sarcasm. "Fine. Just don't break anything."
With that said, the Hakurei shrine maiden left the shrine's living quarters and closed the sliding door. Kyouichi was already waiting outside with the other girls. He was, of course, still half-naked. Before he left the shrine, however, he took his ID card from the breast pocket of his torn up kimono shirt and put it in the pocket of his hakama.
"Can I get that blessing now?" he asked the shrine maiden suddenly.
"Oh! But of course…" she nodded as she just recalled her promise. She took a gohei wand into her hand, took several deep breaths and began performing a series of elegant movements around the outsider, occasionally swinging the gohei at him, letting only the paper straps hit him. All the while she kept muttering some sort of incantations, too silently for Kyouichi to make out the words of the prayer. The whole "dance" lasted something around two minutes and was finished by one final touch of the gohei on top of Kyouichi's head.
"There… You are now blessed to repel youkai and to heal up faster." explained the miko. "Now remember, blessings are only temporary, lasting but a few days at best. But I could sell you some protective charms that I use as danmaku…"
Kyouichi didn't take a second to think of his next question: "How much?"
"For you, let's say… 50 yen per piece."
"Will I need more than one?"
Reimu shrugged. "Better safe than sorry. These omamori are a weapon I throw at youkai. They're vulnerable to faith-based attacks. If you ever find yourself in a dire situation like yesterday, just take one of these and touch a youkai with it. The amulet will disappear instantly, but the youkai will feel the burn of divine power."
"I'll take 5." said Kyouichi, reaching inside his hakama to prepare the money. "I still need some cash to buy a new kimono shirt."
Reimu smiled and counted off five of her rectangular, red and white paper amulets and gave them to Kyouichi, who paid her equally with a sum of 250 yen.
"Okay then…" spoke Marisa, getting everyone's attention. "Kyouichi, Akyuu, you will ride on the broom with me… Don't worry, I'll fly really slowly." she added as she saw the scared look in the chronicler's eyes. "Alice and Reimu can fly by themselves so don't worry about them."
"Does that mean that you can't fly by yourself, Marisa-san?" wondered Kyouichi. "…since you're using a broom to fly and all…"
"Oh, but I can." answered the witch, waving her hand. "But this is faster… Furthermore, I can tie a bag to the tail and carry heavier loads like books and such…"
"From the Scarlet Devil Mansion, right?" pried the outsider.
"Hehehe… Well…you know… Patchouli has already read those books hundreds of times, so there's no harm if I borrow some every now and then… That is… unless she thinks otherwise and protests with danmaku, which is the case most of the time, ze…"
"Patchouli, huh?" muttered Kyouichi silently as he was sitting astride over Marisa's broom. "Now why does that name sound so familiar to me? Wait a second…." he finally remembered where he first came across that unusual name. "Patchouli… Patchouli Knowledge?"
"Yes, that's her full name." nodded the witch.
"Seriously... That's the weirdest name I've ever heard." remarked Kyouichi, giving a hand to Akyuu, who was just trying to sit on the broom as well. "Damn… And I thought it was just some kind of pseudonym… She's the one who's written some books about magic and elements, right? I've seen some in the bookstore I work at."
"Oh-ho! Not just SOME books, Kyouichi. She's written so many books, that you could build a house from them. Not to mention the other ones she keeps in her library. I'm telling you, you haven't seen a library yet until you visited the one inside Koumakan (Scarlet Devil Mansion). It's freaking huge, ze… Maybe I'll take you there… some day. Hopefully, Patchy won't mind to see a new face."
"Hold on, isn't Remilia-sama the mistress of the mansion?" Kyouichi inquired further.
"That she is. But Patchouli is her close friend who received permanent residence in the mansion – the library part, obviously. Even though she's basically a just guest in the SDM, even Remilia respects her privacy. She rarely comes down to the library anyways. To be honest, most of the time I visit the library, Remilia doesn't even know I'm there. And sometimes not even Patchouli… Okay, ready to take off?" she asked, turning her head back.
Kyouichi nodded affirmatively. "Well, I'm ready. What about you, Akyuu-chan?"
As he turned back he saw the chronicler already sitting on the broom with a face flushed from embarrassment that she will have to hold onto Kyouichi's half-exposed body. The young outsider figured as much and smiled at her reassuringly.
"Oh, come on, Akyuu… I won't believe you if you tell me that you haven't yet seen a naked man during your previous eight lives…"
Actually, he thought the exact opposite. "I bet she's already more "experienced" than any other normal woman."
That thought was just as intriguing as it was disturbing.
"Come on! I'm just half-naked, so what?" he tried to encourage her.
Finally the chronicler obliged and tightly embraced Kyouichi's waist.
"Alright, Captain Marisa, this is the Hakurei Airbase control tower, you have permission to take off from the torii runway." he announced with humor - one of the things this human almost never seemed to lack.
"I have no idea what you just said, but we're taking off, so hold on tightly."
The next second, they were in the air, slowly gaining altitude and flying right over the shrine's torii. Marisa was true to her word and she was flying much slower this time. At first, Kyouichi thought that perhaps another passenger on the broom had something to do with this fact as well, but Akyuu-chan was just a child who could weigh only something around 30 kilograms, so the broom couldn't be overloaded. If it could fly like a rocket with Marisa and Kyouichi sitting on it, then Akyuu's negligible weight could hardly slow it down.
"If my hat gets in your way, you can do what you did yesterday." said Marisa on a side note.
"I was just thinking the same thing." sounded Kyouichi from behind her and borrowed her large witch's hat. The sight at them must have been ridiculous – a blond teen girl with black and white dress, a half naked, long-haired young man with glasses wearing a hakama and a witches' hat and a small purple-haired girl wearing a bright, colorful kimono, all riding on a magical flying bamboo straw broom in broad daylight. Reimu and Alice escorted them by each side.
"I bet Aya would take pictures of us if she was here…" thought the outsider to himself.
They were heading west, along the road which Kyouichi walked one week ago when he got spirited away.
"Maybe I'll see that clearing where I first appeared." came another thought to his mind.
As they followed the road below them, the trees were gradually becoming more and more dense until the road was no longer visible. They were now flying over the vast Forest of Magic. Kyouichi noticed the tall hill which he had fallen down from as Marisa drove her broom further and further west.
"Um… Marisa?" he asked her bashfully. "How are you going to land with all those trees in the way?
"We're not there yet, Kyouichi. The shop's at the edge of the forest, so there's no problem with landing." Marisa informed him, turning her heading a few degrees to the south.
A couple of minutes later, they were already nearing the south-eastern edge of the forest and the road which led to crop fields, farms and eventually, the Human Village.
"Here we are." announced the blonde witch and began descending to the ground. Only now Kyouichi noticed a wooden building, not much different from a regular Japanese house in both size and architecture standing at the edge of the forest near the road, leading further into the woods. Marisa managed a smooth landing, letting the outsider and the chronicler get off the broom and feel the solid ground beneath their feet again. Reimu and Alice were already standing in front of the shop, waiting.