Chapter 20 – Always Someone New to Meet
Kyouichi's life in Gensokyo went on in an almost routine, stereotypical fashion. School, work, home, occasionally intervened with a little reunion with his friends and classmates in a tavern or a teahouse.
The following two meetings of the Transfer Students' Club brought a large amount of interesting information to light, as all the members were presenting what they found out in their research. Everyone was now aware that Yukari lived in Mayohiga and a few inconsistent indications suggested that it could be located somewhere around the southwestern edge of the Great Boundary. However, that was just a rumor. There has been little success in finding a map of Gensokyo's surrounding areas, though. The one that Yuujin Ueda mentioned to find in the archives of Kazemura – a remote village located far in the north, east of the Youkai Mountain, was way too old and undetailed to be of any use. He also mentioned that Kazemura was a small quarry village with population slightly exceeding 500, only 200 of which were humans. He said that there has been some rare archeological discovery made at the quarry recently and that the stone mining operations have been halted in favor to the archeological excavations. Kyouichi didn't know if this piece of information was of any relevance, but he told Nagahashi-san to write it into the club's research book anyway. To sum things up, the Transfer Students' Club was off to a good start. They all agreed upon one thing: to leave Gensokyo through the shrine and set out on a hit-or-miss expedition to find their way to Tokyo before winter, should they not find Yukari until then.
The regular lessons at school were quite fun. The outsiders and the young native students learned a great deal about Gensokyo, about its areas and various kinds of youkai, such as phantoms, werebeasts, vampires and the oni. Keine-sensei even threw in a surprise exam to see if her students were taking the school seriously. Fortunately, almost everyone passed it with excellent results.
As for Kyouichi's part-time job, he had no problems. Ever since Shimizu-san ordered a new printing machine, the copying of books was a smooth and easy task. The printer was much better than the previous one. Not only could it print faster, it could also print colorful images. And in quite a high quality too. Kyouichi was needed only for manual transcriptions or to tend to the shop and customers during his employer's absence. He had plenty of free time on his hands nonetheless, so he could even read books at work. In the next two weeks, he had read through almost one half of that plant encyclopedia which he started reading out of boredom and curiosity.
His wounds from the encounter with the youkai of darkness healed up nicely and he now had his stitches removed. There were some little scars, of course, but otherwise his arm was perfectly healthy and useable.
He hasn't been in contact with any of his friends from Gensokyo with the exception of Akyuu-chan, whom he regularly visited on weekends. Other than that, he hasn't heard from Reimu, or Marisa or anyone else he was so-so familiar with.
The only interesting thing that happened to him during the first half of Minazuki was the fact that his face appeared in one of the issues of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper. It was a picture taken from the hanami where he was photographed after his first interview with Aya. It didn't make him famous, but on a few occasions people did recognize his face, so he got greeted by complete strangers a couple of times.
As for his mental state, young Kyouichi was gradually getting used to living in Gensokyo without even realizing it. Of course, there were still times when he felt depressed, thinking thoughts like: "I could have been home in Tokyo, drinking beer with my friends and watching the live broadcast of the FIFA 2010 championship in South Africa, but nooooo~. Instead, I'm stuck in some god-forsaken middle of nowhere full of dangerous youkai." However, his duties and school kept his mind away from the depressing thoughts and instead, forced him to focus on how to solve his problems.
One day, when he was just taking a short break in front of the Starlight Glyph and stretching his stiff neck, he again saw the familiar youkai lady in red plaid dress leaving the florist's. This time, the bunch of flowers she carried was quite smaller. Kyouichi thought that he should be at least polite enough to greet her, if he already saw her so many times. He gathered some courage and bowed to her as she was leaving the flower shop.
"Good afternoon to you, young miss. Buying some flowers today as well?"
He didn't even know why he asked that, but since he wanted to start this conversation, he had to find some topic. The green-haired youkai lady stopped and gently bowed with a very sweet smile. Even though her clothes and appearance in general didn't fit in with the image of most of the people from the village, this young lady was truly beautiful. Her shoulder-length emerald-green hair gently swayed in the pleasant warm summer breeze and her dark ruby-red eyes were dimly glittering in the sunlight. Kyouichi's inner voice called: "Watch yourself around this one…", but now that he spoke to her, he didn't feel so nervous anymore. In fact, he felt peace and serenity as he was looking at her.
"Good afternoon~." she spoke with a honey-sweet voice. "Yes, I've come to buy some new flowers to liven up my garden, but this flower shop doesn't have any hibiscus."
"Hibiscus?" Kyouichi repeated the name of the plant. He did come across several examples of this plant's genus in the encyclopedia and now he tired to recall what it looked like.
"Yes~. A white one would be nice, but I haven't seen such flowers in quite a while."
"Maybe it's because hibiscus flowers aren't native to Japan." reasoned Kyouichi. "I don't think you'll see them growing wild in Gensokyo… Although, I could be wrong."
"What a pity~. " sighed the youkai lady with a little disappointed voice. "I can still remember how its flowers look like, but I just couldn't find it anywhere."
"And where exactly did you see a white hibiscus, young lady?" he inquired, being slightly surprised that this young miss knew about a flower that probably never ever grew in Gensokyo.
"I don't even remember…" said the green haired beauty with a thoughtful look. "Some place far away from here, I guess… A couple of centuries ago."
Kyouichi raised his eyebrow. "A couple of centuries? So you used to roam the world before you settled in Gensokyo?"
"I used to go wherever there were flowers~. I still do, but now it's only within the boundaries Gensokyo. I can still remember flying over water for several days during my journeys."
"Wow, you crossed oceans on your journeys to find flowers?" asked the outsider in amazement, even though he was aware that he was talking to a youkai. "Now that's what I call dedication. If I had so much dedication to my goal, I'd be home already…"
"Huh? You know about oceans? And you say that you'd like to go home?" wondered the green-haired girl. "Ah~. But, of course… You are a human from the world beyond the barrier." she deduced quite easily.
"Uh… yes, I am…" confirmed Kyouichi bashfully. "The name's Ishimaru. Kyouichi Ishimaru. It is a pleasure to meet you." he made a late introduction and bowed again.
"Kazami Yuuka." the youkai lady said her name and nodded gently. It was certainly a Japanese name, but her clothes didn't look very Japanese. Probably because she was a youkai.
"Yuuka-san, is it? You're a nature youkai, or something?"
The beautiful youkai smiled as sweetly as ever and nodded. "Yes, something like that~."
"Were you born in Gensokyo?"
"I was born in Mugenkan, the Dream World. I still have a residence there, but Gensokyo is now my home as well… Before it was sealed off, I used to travel a lot."
"To look for flowers, right?" asked the young man, getting a sudden idea. "Could you please wait a minute?"
"Certainly~." replied Yuuka positively and watched as Kyouichi entered the bookstore.
He took the colorful plant encyclopedia from under the counter and hurried back outside, but Daisuke stopped him half-way.
"Isn't it already time to get back to work, Ishimaru-san?"
"Of course, boss." bowed the outsider in an apologizing manner. "I just… I may have a potential customer…"
"Really? Then why didn't you say so?" smiled the shopkeeper approvingly. "Go, strike a good deal, Ishimaru." he added with a friendly tap on Kyouichi's shoulder.
"I'll try…" shrugged Kyouichi and left the bookstore with the borrowed book.
"Sorry for the wait." he apologized to Yuuka, opened the botany encyclopedia on a page with pictures of white hibiscus flowers and showed it to her. "This is what you're looking for, right?"
Yuuka's red eyes sparkled with interest. "Oh, this is it~!" she ran her finger gently over the picture as if she was patting it. "Hibiscus Arnottianus… If I could only get my hands on just one of these, I could make it grow anywhere and as many as I'd like…" she muttered to herself. She flipped a few pages of the book and let out another delightful sigh. "Ah~! So many beautiful flowers… and I haven't even seen these before…"
She was completely mesmerized by the pictures in the encyclopedia and completely ignored everything for well over 5 minutes. Her reactions as she saw some new flowers were quite amusing and adorable. Kyouichi couldn't bring himself to interrupt her and patiently waited until the youkai lady reached the end of the book. Fortunately, she was just looking at the pictures and not reading the texts. Otherwise this would be a really long wait.
"Do you like that book, Yuuka-san?" Kyouichi asked her after patiently observing her reaction.
"Yes, very much~!" she replied with a happy face. "Can I buy it?"
"Sure can. Please, follow me into the shop." gestured the outsider towards the door. He opened it and gentlemanly held it for Yuuka to walk through before he closed it behind her. As she walked past him, he could smell a faint pleasant scent of some unknown flowers. However, as he tried to inhale some more of the scent, his nose became itchy and caused him to sneeze.
"Uhh… excuse me… My allergy season is starting… Anyway, welcome to Starlight Glyph."
Daisuke opened his eyes wide as he saw the new customer enter his shop and he suddenly started acting really strange for some reason. Instead of his typical cheerful monologue about the fantastic selection of the bookstore, accompanied by his wild gesticulation, he began to stutter and sweat.
"Uhh… I just remembered I needed to check on something…" he bowed in apology. "Please excuse me… You handle this one, Kyouichi-san…" he nervously muttered and disappeared in the printing room.
Kyouichi confusedly tilted his head to the side as he watched his boss hide himself in the printing room. He chuckled amusedly.
"I think that's the first time you called me by my first name, boss… Very well, I'll tend to this customer." he turned back to Yuuka and whispered. "You'll have to excuse the boss… He isn't usually like that. I wonder what's wrong with him today…"
Yuuka smiled and blinked innocently. "Who knows...?"
Kyouichi went to fetch an untouched copy of the encyclopedia and brought it to the counter.
"Okay~! That will be… 2750 yen. I know, it's a little steep, but this IS a rare book from the outside world…"
Yuuka took out a small flower-shaped wallet from her pocket and put 3000 yen on the counter.
"Thank you very much…" thanked the outsider, and gave 250 yen back to Yuuka. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Yuuka curiously scanned the whole shop's interior for a moment and then her eyes rested on Kyouichi again. "Would you mind if I looked around some more?"
"Not if you won't mind me asking you some more questions."
"I can agree to that." said the green-haired youkai and slowly proceeded to the bookshelves and began browsing through the books.
"So… uhh… You have power over plants, right?" the outsider continued inquiring.
"I do. But it isn't my innate power. I acquired it not so long ago… And I also learned some magic." revealed Yuuka about herself. "But I was always fascinated by the beauty of flowers. Long before I learned to manipulate them."
"Do you have any favorite flower? Other than hibiscus…?"
"Hibiscus is very nice, but my most favorite are sunflowers~. I just love sunflowers…"
"Sunflowers, huh? Well, it's the beginning of their season, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's why I love summer so much~."
"And what do you do in winter, when there are no flowers growing?"
"Oh, but there are~." Yuuka corrected him. "There are flowers blooming in all seasons – even in winter. I simply love seasonal flowers… I move to different locations depending on the season, so I'm active all year around."
Kyouichi decided it would be a good time to change the subject.
"Say…Yuuka-san… Do you know a youkai called Yukari Yakumo?"
"Yukari?" she suddenly stopped looking at the books and turned to Kyouichi with a kind of intimidating look in her eyes, but still smiling. "Of course I do. We used to have Spell Card duels every once in a while…"
"Not anymore?"
"Not since last summer…" she paused herself, absentmindedly looking at one direction, as if she was able to see through walls. "I hope she stops by sometime… I really enjoy our battles…"
Kyouichi was a little unnerved by her last remark. He really wouldn't say that a peaceful-looking person such as Yuuka would enjoy duels, especially those against Gensokyo's probably most powerful youkai. But come to think of it, he never saw an actual Spell Card duel yet, and from what he had heard already, he figured it was considered as one of Gensokyo's most popular form of entertainment besides its primary purpose – being a non-lethal means of conflict resolution. He even recalled Marisa's words that anyone can challenge anyone and win. The fact that someone was good or bad at Spell Card battles was not a measure of their actual power. How else could have Reimu Hakurei – a mere human child resolve so many incidents, often times facing opponents of immeasurable power and still live to tell the tales?
Figuring out that there was nothing odd about Yuuka finding enjoyment in Spell Card duels, Kyouichi became more curious about her relation to the youkai of boundaries.
"Are you two friends?"
"There aren't many youkai and almost no humans whom I'd call… friends." she said in a deeper and more serious voice. "But Yukari is one of those rare exceptions."
"Really?" asked the outsider, surprised by her statement. "I'd say that a sweet young lady like yourself has many friends… You really don't have any friends in the village?"
Yuuka smiled sweetly at Kyouichi's flattering remark. "It's not that I don't interact with humans, just that I had… very few human friends."
"Had? Did you have quarrel or something?"
The green haired youkai giggled and shook her head. "They're all dead~." she said with the same smile on her face as always. "…That was some time ago… You humans are so short-lived. You wither away so fast... just like the seasonal flowers~."
"Hm… you're right…" agreed Kyouichi and nodded thoughtfully. "We're not built to last too long. But if that's how the gods wanted us to be, then so be it. I wouldn't want to live for too long in this world anyway."
"Gensokyo?"
"No, I meant the world in general… Well, anyway, the reason why I brought up Yukari's name is that a lot of her friends are looking for her, but she's a no-show. I'm looking for her as well…"
Yuuka kept on browsing through the books about herbs, plants and flowers, seemingly not paying attention to what Kyouichi was saying until she spoke again. "She hasn't shown up in a while, but it's nothing unusual. It usually means two things: either she is too lazy or she is plotting something."
Yuuka was another person who suspected Yukari's absence to be intentional and that the youkai was planning something big.
"Maybe I'll buy some of these other books later~." she directed the sentence more at herself than Kyouichi. She put the book she was checking back into the shelf and slowly walked towards the shop's exit.
"It's been a pleasure meeting you, Yuuka-san." said the outsider, smiling at her as she was leaving. "Please come again."
Yuuka returned one last smile before she opened the door. "I think I will~. Goodbye, young human and watch out for dangerous youkai~."
The door closed behind her with a gentle knock and Kyouichi watched through the window as the young youkai lady walked out of the village, heading down the Western Road. After a minute, he realized that his boss still didn't get out of the printing room.
"Uhh… Shimizu-san?" he curiously peeked inside the room behind the counter.
Daisuke was crouching over a box with finished book copies, pretending he was working. Kyouichi found his behavior really suspicious today. "Can I help you with something?"
"Uh… Ishimaru… Just… umm… clean up the shop a bit and you can have the rest of the day off…" uttered the shopkeeper with a shaky nervous voice.
"Sweet…" rejoiced the young outsider and hurried to do his task. He dusted the shelves and cleaned the floor in less than 30 minutes. In the meantime, Daisuke finally assumed the place behind the counter and began sorting the copies he printed into several small piles. Kyouichi didn't bother asking him what was wrong with him today and as soon as he was done with the cleaning, he bid him farewell and left the bookstore.
He had saved up some money from the previous two weeks of working in the bookstore, so he could again afford buying things. Since his today's shift ended earlier than usual, he thought it'd be nice to go for a beer in this hot summer day. Right at the corner of the Western Street and the marketplace was a tavern called Drunken Oni. It wasn't as fancy as Uzume, but popular nonetheless. Whereas Uzume was more of a restaurant, the Drunken Oni was more tavern-like. It was a popular place for Ryuuken who were currently not on duty. As Kyouichi entered the establishment, he immediately noticed several men wearing the colors of the militia, sitting at the bar. He walked up to the bar to order some beer when one of the men put a hand on his shoulder. Surprised by this, the outsider slowly turned towards the person to see what he wants. He was relieved to see a familiar face.
"I knew it! It IS you!" called out the young Ryuuken warrior. His name was Akiyoshi Takamori, a lieutenant of the village militia. He was smiling widely and tapping Kyouichi's shoulder. "You're... uh… that... outsider, right?"
"Takamori-san?" asked Kyouichi as he recalled the man's name.
"No, that's my name… You are… Wait a minute, I remember… I just…"
"Ishimaru… Kyouichi." he refreshed the lieutenant's memory. "How's your work, Takamori-san?"
"Oh, you know… The usual – doing night patrols around the village, the farms, escorting the fishermen to the colony and back, protecting the trading caravans and so on. I haven't seen much action lately. Well, except one time when we chased off a youkai lurking near the road to Kazemura… But what about you, Kyouichi-san? How are you doing?"
Kyouichi took a few gulps from his beer stein and told him about his experiences and mishaps during the 3 weeks of his life in Gensokyo. Akiyoshi listened with great interest and stopped him a few times to ask some questions. Once Kyouichi finished his story and his beer, he was curious to hear about the recent events going on in the village of Kazemura. He already heard something from Yuujin, but it couldn't hurt to hear about the matter from another person.
"Yes, the quarry workers have found some ancient ruins and are now proceeding slowly with unearthing them."
"When did they discover those ruins?" inquired the outsider, gesturing to the bartender that he'd like another beer.
"I believe something over two months ago. It looks like they've found some kind of ancient temple or perhaps a tomb. Nobody can say with certainty. But they already managed to uncover quite a bit of those ruins in relatively short time. If you'd like to see them, I could take you there. My next assignment in Kazemura will be on the 27th of Minazuki and we're leaving the village early in the morning, so if you want to go, you should be waiting at the Northern Road at 6 in the morning."
"Minazuki 27, huh? That's in 10 days…" murmured Kyouichi and sighed with reluctance. "As much as I really hate getting up early, I'm curious to see the other parts of Gensokyo besides the village… Alright, Takamori-san, I'll be there… But… what about the return trip?"
"Oh, we're just escorting a caravan, so we're returning to Human Village on the same day."
"Very well, I think I'm convinced to take that trip. Provided you can ensure my safety…"
Lieutenant Takamori chuckled amusedly. "I can't guarantee anything, but I'll try to protect the caravan should it get attacked. You shouldn't worry too much, though… From my own experience, only 1 out of 6 caravans gets attacked…"
"You call that "ONLY"?!"
"Relax. There haven't been any human casualties among the caravan runners ever since 112."
If that was Akiyoshi's attempt to reassure the young outsider, it certainly didn't work much. However, Kyouichi knew all too well that no trip throughout Gensokyo was without a risk, so in the end, he made the agreement with the lieutenant to travel to Kazemura on the said date – the 27th of Minazuki. He and Takamori spent the rest of their conversation talking about various trivial matters and drinking beer. Once they left the tavern and parted their ways, Kyouichi went home to indulge himself in further reading and understanding the history of Gensokyo.
The stereotype of his previous days was about to take an unexpected turn. That's what he thought when his part-time employer, Daisuke Shimizu, gave him some more important assignments. Apart from his usual tasks, he was now responsible for handling business correspondence with suppliers as well as buyers. Among one of the suppliers was the library in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. At first, there wasn't anything strange about handling the orders, shipment logs and invoices, but soon after Kyouichi began signing the business documents in his name, he got an unexpected letter accompanying one of the shipments from the mansion.
It was addressed directly to him and was signed by the proprietor of the library, Patchouli Knowledge. The letter was an invitation to the mansion, but it stated nothing about the purpose of this invitation. Kyouichi found it very unusual and turned down the invitation out of fear for his own safety. He wrote an apology letter, in which he made up some excuse why he couldn't accept the invitation and was about to go to the post office to send it to the mansion.
"There's no way in hell I'm going to that place…" he thought to himself quietly as he folded the letter and put it into an envelope. As he opened the door and left the Starlight Glyph, he met Yuuka-san again, but this time he was too busy to stay for a conversation and only tersely greeted her as she was passing by. He hastily marched towards the marketplace and from there he turned to the street by the left side of the village hall.
"Come to think of it, this will be my first time visiting the post office."
Although it was already one full week since he was assigned to help Daisuke manage the correspondence, it was always the storekeeper who dealt with the post office personally.
He opened the door of the new post office building and entered. After waiting some time in the line, he put his letter on the clerk's desk and explained that this was his first time using the services of this post office and that he simply wanted to send the letter to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The clerk was a young crimson-haired girl dressed in a dark-blue outfit, similar to a school uniform.
"Oh, so this is your first time in this post office?" she asked and without waiting for an answer, began a short introduction. "In that case, welcome to the First Fairy Post Office~. My name is Kurohana Ai, but you can just call me Ai-chan." she said and smiled brightly. "I am the founder and owner of this post office. My fairies are all well trained and can deliver letters or parcels to almost any place in Gensokyo… Except Mayohiga, that is…" she added and scratched her head embarrassedly.
"You… trained all those fairies?"
Ai widened her smile and proudly nodded. "Yes~. I love fairies so much. It all started when I left my curry to cool down a little on the windowsill and went to make myself some tea in the meantime. By the time I remembered I put it there, the plate was already half-empty and grains of rice scattered all around it. I knew it was a fairy, but I didn't pay it any mind. Then another day I saw a fairy flying just outside the window and looking inside my house. When she noticed me, she fled immediately. I figured it was the same one who ate my dinner the other day, so I thought to myself: "She must be hungry.", so I put some cookies on the windowsill and watched. The fairy returned after a few minutes and started eating the cookies.
She was so cute~! But she was still frightened when I came closer to her… Only after a few weeks, she didn't fly away, when she saw me. I slowly moved towards her, holding a cookie in my hand and told her: "Little fairy, little fairy, don't be afraid… I'm Ai and I've got more cookies for you." She just stood there and watched me. I moved closer and stretched out my palm with the cookie. The fairy hesitated for a minute, but she snatched it and fled in an instant. That day I made myself a new friend. It took almost a year until the fairy was so used to my presence that she let me pat her on the head, but it was worth the time and effort. Soon after that, she brought another fairy with her and eventually, a whole pack of them. As I was feeding them, I tried to teach them some things by playing some simple games with them and they learned quickly. Now, seven years after befriending my first fairy, I managed to teach my big fairy family how to read and some of them even how to talk. I taught them about the names of places in Gensokyo and how to make small deliveries. For the first time in Gensokyo's history, I managed to do something nobody else did before me. I proved that the fairies can help humans. Well, perhaps not completely first, as the Scarlet Devil Mansion has fairy maids, but I trained my fairies to be helpful to a wider community. Don't listen to what some people say about fairies. They're really smart. Although, a bit clumsy sometimes."
"And sometimes even dangerous…" added Kyouichi upon the recollection of his first encounter with the creatures.
Ai looked at him quizzically. "They're playful and mischievous, but dangerous…? I don't know…"
"But I do…"
"Well, if you make them angry, then of course, they can be aggressive, but still, most of them are hardly a challenge for even average humans."
"I guess I must have made them really angry back then…" murmured Kyouichi to himself.
"So you were attacked by fairies? Didn't you try fight back?"
The outsider let out an embarrassed sigh. "I'm incapable of using magic… I'm not from Gensokyo."
"I see. So, my guess is that you don't like the fairies too much…" presumed the owner of the Fairy Post Office. "Nonetheless, please don't be afraid of my fairies. They're very friendly and very cute. Wait a second…"
She turned her head back and let out a high-pitched whistle. A couple of seconds later, a single fairy came flying towards Ai from the mail sorting room. She was small like most fairies – just around 1 meter tall, had light-pink semi-long hair trimmed by a silver diadem. Her dress was white and pink and her wings resembled those of a butterfly and were flapping rapidly as she hovered next to Ai, looking at her with questioning eyes. Ai stretched out her arms, as if prompting the fairy to come closer to embrace her. And that's exactly what happened. The fairy joyfully exclaimed: "Ai~!" and threw her little arms around the girl in a loving embrace. Ai gently held the little fairy in her arms and planted a feather-light kiss on her forehead.
"I just wanted to introduce you to someone." said Ai as she let go of her.
The fairy again began hovering in mid-air, propelled by her wings and curiously stared at the young man standing at the other side of the desk.
"Umm… h-hello…" she greeted shyly and bowed once. "I… My name is… Moe-chan… I'm a fairy… umm… nice to meet you."
Even though Kyouichi felt nervous whenever he saw a fairy so close, this one seemed like a very peaceful one. Furthermore, he never ever met a talking fairy before, so he was more curious than nervous. He introduced himself to her with almost the same level of shyness as she greeted him.
"Yes, this is Moe-chan – my most beloved fairy. She's the first one I managed to befriend." explained Ai while looking at her. "She now voluntarily helps me with sorting the mail… In return, I give her cookies." she smiled and took out a home-baked cookie from a lunchbox she had under the desk. "Say aaah~."
The fairy closed her eyes and opened her mouth in anticipation. Ai moved her hand with the cookie to the fairy's mouth and fed her. Moe delightfully munched the cookie with a blissful expression. It was a very endearing sight. For a moment, even Kyouichi forgot about how dangerous can some of these creatures be.
"So, Kyouichi-san…" Ai broke the brief silence. "You want to send this letter to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, am I right?"
"Yes, please." he nodded and passed the letter to her.
"No problem. That will be 20 yen, please."
As the outsider searched his pockets for the coins, Ai forwarded another question. "May I ask what business does an outsider have with the residents of the mansion?"
"Uh… just… business, that's all. I work for Daisuke Shimizu-san, the owner of the bookstore."
"Ah, so you're his new assistant…" Ai smiled understandingly. "Well, you didn't hear this from me, but his previous one is a really unsympathetic guy…"
"Really?" asked Kyouichi, raising an eyebrow. "Do you know Hiroto-san personally?"
"Yes… unfortunately…" she affirmed with a certain level of distaste in her voice. "I've heard he provoked a youkai. A really powerful one too… Ended up with a broken arm, he did. A very, VERY lucky outcome for someone who angered such a mighty and dangerous youkai... Hopefully, he'll learn something from that experience."
"Well, it seems he'll return back to the bookstore as soon as his fracture heals… I'm afraid, I'll have to look for some other work soon…" predicted Kyouichi thoughtfully.
"I don't know about Shimizu-san, but he'd be foolish if he fired you in Hiroto's favor." speculated Ai and put a stamp on the envelope of Kyouichi's letter.
"Even if you say that, I still think I'll be made redundant in a week, maybe two. Anyway, I'm still on duty, so I should hurry back to the bookstore… It's been a great pleasure meeting you, Ai-chan… and Moe-chan too." he added and smiled at the fairy.
"Looking forward to seeing you again too, Kyouichi-san~!" called Ai, waving her hand.
Kyouichi hurried back to Starlight Glyph, where he still had his hands full with writing more business documents. Daisuke even put so much trust in him that he asked him to help him check the accounts in his ledger and make an inventory check. Even though he no longer acted as strangely as he did on the day when Yuuka-san came to buy a book, it was still quite unexpected for him to develop such trust towards Kyouichi in such a short time.
Today was one of those rare days when Kyouichi worked all the time until the bookstore's closing hour. Just as he double-checked the store's income for the past month, there was a knock on the shop's door. Daisuke and Kyouichi exchanged their surprised looks and the outsider volunteered himself to open the door. It was really unusual for someone to be knocking on the door to the shop and not entering. He opened the shop's door to see a small creature standing at the doorstep.
It was a fairy, holding a small leather satchel and a letter in a light-purple envelope. It didn't take him long to figure that the fairy was one of Ai-chan's postal fairies, but it still surprised him to see one knocking on the door of the bookstore at this hour. Just as he took the letter from the fairy's little hands, the little youkai took flight, heading towards the post office. The letter was again addressed personally to Kyouichi, written in a familiar elegant handwriting, characteristic of Patchouli Knowledge. The envelope gave off a faint scent of lavender. Kyouichi nervously stared at the letter for a few moments and after swallowing his own saliva, he tore the envelope open.
"What's this?" asked Daisuke, curiously looking over Kyouichi's shoulder. "Another letter form Patchouli-sama? Addressed to you? I wonder what's this all about…"
"I'd like to know that as well." said Kyouichi and turned his head back to his boss. "Ehm… Will you excuse me for a moment?"
Daisuke backed off almost immediately as he realized that reading letters addressed to other people was none of his business, no matter how curious he was.
"Oh, but of course, Ishimaru-san…"
Kyouichi entered the printing room and took a seat as the table. As soon as he had some privacy, he unfolded the letter and began reading it by candlelight.
Dear Ishimaru-san,
I fully understand that my sudden invitation to the library without giving any reason or stating my intention has left you in doubt and you probably hesitate to accept it, because you might fear the mistress of the mansion.
Rest assured that my intentions are not of malign nature. On the contrary, my wish is to help you and the rest of the outsiders who got spirited away to Gensokyo over 3 weeks ago. I'd like to speak with you about this matter personally and try to come up with a reasonable solution for your current situation.
Remilia-sama herself wishes to see you again and discuss the same matter. We both guarantee you absolute safety within the premises of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, provided you abide a couple of our rules, which will be explained to you upon your arrival. It would be best if you arrived as soon as your duties will allow you.
Yours truly,
Patchouli Knowledge