At least it isn't Hiatus x Hiatus, but taking big breaks isn't really good. But here it is. I hope you enjoy.
Do tell me if I make any mistakes, I'm quick to fix things up if they are serious.
Jeremy Soule - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Wings of Kynareth
Along the forested path up the mountain, the Hermit and the newly arrived intern walked in silence. The chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects and a soft breeze filling their ears. All the abundant flora produced a natural smell. Combining to generate a very nostalgic and comfortable atmosphere. Maribel's eyes wandered, and she pondered.
This road must be several decades old. This part of Japan really is forgotten.
She looked ahead at Kasen. The hermit's choice of clothing was unusual, must like Doremy. It had an old, chinese-like aesthetic to it. A bracer sat upon her unbandaged arm, with a chain attached to it, although it had been broken. The blonde's first thought was that Kasen really liked her style. If they were to do work today, that must be her costume. She couldn't lie that she adored the coloration.
"...By the way, my name is Kasen Ibara." The hermit formally introduced herself, though, Maribel had read her name in the documents she had to read. Still, a nice display.
As they wandered, the two eventually walked off the old and battered road and into the woods.
"So about the internship..." She said, causing the hermit to eye over her shoulder at the girl. An amiable look on her face. "I hope there'll be enough work. I know I picked you for personal reasons, but I'm still here to learn, you know."
"I'll see to it." The hermit held out a hand to the side as she explained. "The countryside is barely policed, so there should be enough work for us."
Humming in approval and nodding, the violet-eyed student asked a question. "So why do you live so far into the mountains?"
The hermit lifted her finger and began to explain with a soft-spoken tone as they wandered. "I've done so for a long time... As a hermit, I spend my days training myself to abandon my worldly desires. There isn't much of a reason for me to move away, as you could figure." Kasen gestured to Maribel as she finished.
"As strange as I may seem, I don't think I'm alone here." The pink-haired woman smiled. "Is your strange nature something that came recently? I know about quirks, but there's more to you."
"Well... In the beginning, it was just the ability to see the boundaries and through them. At first, I learnt to bend them myself, but I don't think what's happening now is something natural." The young lady answered, she felt a little uneasy getting herself to let those words out. She was afraid of what one would think of her own experiences.
Kasen scoffed at something she said, and Maribel grew concerned for but an instant. Did I say something wrong?
The blonde continued as unabated in her speech as she could try being. "By crossing some boundaries, I've seen odd places, strange creatures and wandered into dreams. For example, I've met a woman who lived in a bamboo forest twice, with long white hair, despite her apparent youth. She told me of the era, and it was in the past."
Kasen suddenly and quickly stepped up a steep and grassy path. Maribel, not being a slouch herself, kept up. In a brief moment they entered a clearing that presented the wide fields that littered the flat parts of the land at the mountain's foot. In the distance, many more mountains covered the skyline and the sun shone above them in the clear blue sky.
It was quite majestic. And a callback to Maribel's adventures when she went on trips with her family and Renko through the country. Through old graveyards, through old woods, to decrepit shrines.
A step more and Kasen set her right foot on a rock. Imposing herself over the image of the landscape that Maribel would see. Her eyes had shifted, and she had remembered. "A bamboo forest... I remember such a place." The hermit looked over and spoke, pointing her hand to the landscape before them. Addressing Hearn informally.
"It existed here, in Gensokyo. Over a hundred years ago."
Maribel was vividly confused, but overwhelmed with curiosity. "...Gensokyo?"
The hermit appeared very serious as she looked away toward the mountains and the fields, embracing the atmosphere. "Ages in the past, this was a desolate and haunted place. The mystical, youkai and the divine gathered here. During the dawn of the era of Meiji, belief in the supernatural waned, and to protect themselves they turned Gensokyo into a land of fantasy. But a land of fantasy is still likened to a dream. It has long since ended, and that is the future we live in."
A breeze passed by, fluttering their hair. The girl waited to take all of this in. It was so hard to believe this wasn't nonsense, but for Maribel, this sounded sensible. A great many experiences passed her memory for but a second, until the hermit spoke again.
"Everyone was distraught then, when the barrier fell. But look around today, the supernatural has returned in quirks."
Blonde hair glittering in the sun, the young gal pondered. Eyes scouting the fields and the mountains of Nagano. She found clarity. The air was warm, and the wind turned silent.
"You stand on the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains. But I'm more used to calling it Youkai Mountain." Kasen declared as she stepped off the rock. Putting a hand on Maribel's shoulder before they began to walk off.
"We'll be there soon, there's not much left to walk."
The further they went, the more Maribel could feel her surroundings shift. It wasn't their appearance or even the air, but a shift in boundaries. The girl knew when she entered a different 'place' than usual, from her time in the dream world. But she was too lost in her thoughts to make a point of it, that was until they wandered across an animal.
A large tiger trod on the stone road before them and Maribel felt herself becoming hesitant to approach. "What is this place?!" She started wondering out loud.
However.
The hermit had no issue in approaching. She was quick to move close and begin petting the tiger, lightly cuddling with it and talk with it of all things. Safe to say, the student deadpanned in disbelief at this playful indifference to danger before they moved on.
Eventually, they approached a three-story mansion which looked very old fashioned. It was as if it were constructed centuries ago, but at the same time, the house remained unbroken by time. A large eagle sat sleeping on the roof. Amazing was the word that the blonde would let ring through her head.
Moving inside, they were both prompt to remove their shoes.
"This building looks so old, but it's still so pristine... How?"
"The ways of a hermit." Kasen cheekily replied and left it at that. While buildings like these could be easily conserved with modern technology. The fact that it was apparently in another world entirely if the girl's following of the boundaries were accurate, made her feel it was unlikely such method was used.
Song: End
The hero-hermit told Maribel to sit down on one of the old wooden chairs that were in one of the loftier second-floor rooms. After being gone for a bit, to fetch some tea, the pink-haired ascetic was quick to take a seat before her. Calming rays of sunlight shot through the window as they looked across at each other. With an old, handcrafted table draped in a cloth for them to set their arms on.
"Now, on the internship. How long did it take for you to arrive with the bus?"
"A little over an hour. So I shouldn't have any problems getting here."
The hermit nodded. "So, what do you think would be best for us to do? I've my ideas, but it's an internship to help you learn, after all. Working together, I think we can help uplift the rural folk around here. They're more shelled by crime and violence than I've ever seen before."
Since she was almost a little too used to her teachers holding the reins of education, the girl was unsure at first. Fumbling with her words however, she eventually came forth with an idea after a warm smile from the hermit. "I... ah... We, well- I agree. Heroes focus often on the cities due to the publicity from doing work in them, but it neglects places like these, even if few people live here. If we show we care, then the villains will be less courageous." The girl explained, then pausing to bring her hand to her chin, smiling. "You'll probably make a few headlines by fighting with the Festival victor out in a place with little competition. Doesn't that sound nice?"
"Ah... Well, I guess... Yeah." The hermit nodded. "It's in good nature and also a good way to learn and progress for you. We've other things to look into too, so doing work out here is quite suitable."
"Yes!" The young girl happily agreed, purple eyes gleaming in the sun. The girl had a strange lack of irritation this time around. "So, why did you decide to become a hero? You hermits don't seem to be too similar to youkai. So what is your relationship to humans, really?"
Clasping the tea, she'd brewed, Kasen sipped before she began to answer. "If humans are in trouble, we hermits usually show guidance and help. That's part of the reason, but there are perks to begin one. Shame is I don't really use them as often as I'd like to, I'm too busy with my training." She snickered, closing her eyes.
"Well, you'll have plenty to do now to compensate." The young girl leaned forward to rest her chin on her two knuckles. The hermit continued smiling, but Maribel couldn't help but wonder if she was secretly irritated over having to fit more things into her schedule.
They enjoyed their time and their tea. Eventually, ten minutes in, their conversation was almost casual. It traveled between several things, Kasen's experiences in the modern day and finally Maribel's mystical experiences.
"Graveyards give me the creeps, but it's an interesting feeling, the presence of death. I wouldn't be surprised if ghosts are real now, if that's what was making me feel such."
Kasen looked on with a friendly visage. "Then you won't be surprised." She sipped on her tea again and so did Maribel.
A set of footsteps could be heard as someone descended from one of the upper floors.
"Kaaaaasen! Is there any food prepared or do I have to make some myself?" An older, womanly voice sounded out from the staircase. Both their eyes fell upon her, a woman who looked in her forties, with long brown hair and glasses. Her garb didn't look so sophisticated. It looked like something you'd have on while you were sleeping. Maribel stared in odd recognition.
Who is that? The violet-eyed mystery girl was quick to begin talking as she left her tea cup on the table. Pulling her chair out a little so she could stand up and make a slight bow. "Uh, hello! I'm Ibara-san's new intern, Maribel Hearn." Standing straight, she was eager to ask. "Who are you?"
The pink-haired hermit was interrupted before she could talk, so her eyes wandered between the two with her mouth agape for the moment.
"I am..." The girl with the glasses decided to be humorously dramatic and slowly pointed at herself with her thumb.
"Sumireko Usami!"
Maribel froze. "Wha..."
Waving Sumireko off and easing the air, Kasen decided to speak. Her attitude almost mother-like. "You can't find yourself wanting for food all the time if you want to be a hermit. Wait a little longer, will you?"
"Yes... Regardless, have fun with your intern!" The woman said in a manner more befitting of a youngster than a lady her age, or even Kasen as she waved and retreated up the stairs again.
The blonde had many questions now, but she swallowed the desire to ask them, thinking that maybe it's best for later.
Sighing, the hermit made a facepalm. Opening her eyes to look at Maribel, the girl rose from her seat. "I think it's about time we got started with the day. Come on."
Her curiosity dispelled for now, the schoolgirl was quick in tow.
Now clad in her slightly victorian-styled, yet modern hero costume. The young heroine walked along with the more eastern-looking pink-haired hermit until they left the strange world that contained Kasen's mansion.
"By the way, could you tell me why this strange boundary surrounds your home?"
Kasen cleared her throat as she brought her bandaged fist close to her mouth. "We hermits often know of a sorcery, called fangshu... It lets us create our own secure spaces. Did you notice due to your quirk?"
Hearn nodded.
"I see. You're very peculiar, you." The hermit laughed in a pleasant manner as they walked to the clearing they'd been at before. "Anyway... How do we start?" Kasen asked nobody in particular as she got her hands on the phone she was supposed to use for hero activities. It didn't look like Kasen had used the mobile telephone much, so she was inexperienced.
In the cities, criminal activity was directly reported to the police, who'd then use the antennas in the local area to alert heroes in the vicinity. This national system worked well and efficiently by having the police confirm activity with use of public monitoring services. Cameras don't lend themselves to privacy, but it would lead to quick responses, so everyone went along with it. The trouble in the countryside, where the two currently were, was it was very challenging to pinpoint crimes and events on a regular basis.
That is part of the reason why so few even live in the countryside. While a hero could patrol a city and locate trouble via the chaos it generates, towns, forests and roads aren't frequently monitored. And if something happens, it's often too small to cause a lasting impact. To an extent, the amount of crime occurring there was exaggerated, but if you invited crime there wasn't much to stop it either. Reports in this region thus did not go to the police themselves, but rather a computer that would handle the alerts on its own. Leaving the trouble up for the hero themselves to tangle with unless it was big enough for the police to investigate. In the past, this led to ambushes, destruction of communication infrastructure to prevent even being reported and more so.
Maribel hadn't learnt this just from her time in school, but also as a personal study into things. The systems that cities often benefited from were maintained around tourist areas and important places for companies. However, if you didn't live close to those, you would be worse off. In the two seconds she'd thought of this, it came logically to her about what they should do.
"Firstly, enable the settings to pick up rural signals on the phone." Hearn simply told her, grabbing the phone with a swipe while Kasen looked oddly mystified. Making one of her trademarked weird faces. The girl was quick to find the correct settings on the phone, although the whole thing seemed to be a little old. "And after that, we'll investigate the last area of activity. Do you know the locals?"
The hermit scratched the back of her head, a drop of sweat on her forehead. "Well... some."
"Then let's go!" Maribel said, her aura flaring up briefly as she hoisted her folded up parasol over her shoulder and jumped from the clearing and into the sky.
"Bah." Kasen shrugged and leapt after her. Kicking up leaves, grass and some dust in her wake.
For the day, they will be the heroes of the forgotten and neglected countryside.
In the office of the number-four hero, a rowdy student sat waiting to go out and do what was necessary. His usually bombastic haircut had been combed over, much to his dislike: But he was willing to put up with it if it meant getting to prove himself to the greater masses.
"Psch..." Katsuki Bakugo thought back to the festival and the row of victories that Maribel had won, despite his determination and skill. There was just something in the way preventing him from beating her. That's a damn overpowered quirk... But I'll crush it eventually, nothing's invincible... His eyes darted to the door of Best Jeanist's room, which flung open. He really did not like dealing with the damn hero.
"...Bakugo-shounen, I've found ourselves an arrangement in the next few days. We're to play guards at the science conference taking place at the Nijo building in a few days. I hope you're prepared. It might be a bit difficult to get used to for you."
The ash-blond boy frowned. "Watch me. I'll prove you're wrong."
A bit of a short chapter, but getting through this will probably make me a bit more motivated to write. At least I hope so, corona and other things have dragged tons of motivation out of me- though, I'd probably get it back at one point or another. I hope this chapter was decent.
Gensokyo EXISTED but not anymore! Why? You'll have to wait and find out. Did Yukari exist before? It's a good question, but that will also get an answer when more serious talk becomes appropriate in the story.
Sumireko still exists! Hurah! And she's a hermit, so she's still alive! What will I do with Sumireko as time goes on? Wait to find out. All that you need to know now is that she looks kind of like Mamizou except not really. I will give her a proper introduction a little later on, and explain some details that'll tie her into things further down the line.
When I get this arc fully started, my plan is to center the story on Maribel, Renko, Bakugo, Best Jeanist, Kasen and our currently yet to be fully revealed antagonist. Hopefully I can pull something off. With Bakugo's loss in the tournament, I'm a bit torn on if I'll make him slightly mellow with Maribel or even more rabid. However, if I push for a more Deku-esque respect like in the main canon, I could have him bounce off of Renko. I think that might be fun, it will let me expand on her some more.