Alex didn't understand much about Gensokyo's custom and holidays, but he's learning, and that's what matters. And this is why he is at the Hakurei shrine with many notable netizens of Gensokyo, all sprawled around in the shrine's front yard. The moon above was full and its brilliance is tenfold compared to the lacklustre glow of the outside world. As he gazes into the pearly orb in the sky, he understood why moon-viewing is considered a social event.

Alex takes another sip from the metal canteen in his hand. His nose twitched as the aroma of the roasting boar wafted over the merry girls and into the corner of the mat where he stood. His lips curled slightly upward, a strange sense of peace washes over his soul. How could he not feel peace? He is in company of beautiful maidens, provided with scrumptious meals, and there is no sign of hostility in the air. Yes, the air sings with merriment and the wind blows softly at his brow, cooling off his stress that accumulated in the morning.

His eyes trailed toward the forest edge, idly noting how dark the forest is at night. The moon is not a sun, and its glow while bright is not enough to illuminate the earth. He noted how easy it is for him to disappear into the darkness and observe the drunken revelry from afar. His outfit already proved to be effective now, considering that nobody in the party acknowledges or even notices his appearance.

"Lonely?"

Alex was taken from his ruminating by a sweet voice from below. Looking at the small and cute creature at his side, it was hard to believe that this little girl is an Oni, a terrifying one too. The long horns at her orange hair even compliments her beauty rather than detracts it.

"Could use some company" he replied. He resisted the urge to reach for his pistol as he saw the Oni took a massive swig from her large gourd. He knew that his chance of winning a theoretical fight with Suika is exponentially slim, but his mother raised no coward.

Suika laughed as she groggily stood up to meet the smuggler in the eye. The man may have been short, but she's still shorter than him by a good few inches. Even then, her drunken eyes manage to reach the sober eyes of Alex Armin. "You still sober, come! Have a drink!" She said with a smile as she shoved her gourd of sake to this man.

Alex shook his head gently and pushed the liquor away. "Someone's gotta clean up the mess afterward. Besides, bad shits happen when I'm drunk as hell"

Oni's culture revolves around parties, chaos and drunkenness, so seeing this man refuse to be drunk in a party is a cultural offence to her. However, she was more interested with his statement, which stated that he will do bad shits if drunk. As Oni is all about them bad shit craziness, she is understandably more interested to get him drunk.

"C'mon Alex! Just a little buzz!" she shouted as she shoved the gourd at Alex's face. "It's not a party if you ain't drinking! Come!"

Alexander smiled at the cute antic of the little Oni below. "Sorry, another time. Can't clean if I'm faded to hell"

She laughed again. "Argh! You're a funny one! Just a sip, between buddies! I've heard that you're working really hard in the mansion. You gotta relax! Sakuya-chan will clean it up later!"

Alex sighed again. "Maybe next time"

Suika groaned at his reply. "You kept saying that line every party!"

Alex sighed at her answer. That is true, he kept saying the same thing over and over again for each party. It was a well-known fact that he is a teetotaller, someone who swears off drink for the rest of his life. Very few really known the reason why, but he seems determined to keep that promise to the bitter end.

Realising that Alex will not drink and she's not in the mood to crush an ant, she decided to steer the conversation away to another point altogether. "hey Alex, how's your work?"

"Could be better" Alex replied. "Got some noise complain from the locals though, but if all goes well, we can finally have a proper road connecting from the shrine to the village by tomorrow"

"The roads look pretty big though" Suika replied "You sure you've taken proper measurements?"

"from where I came from, that is simply just a backstreet" Alex replied. "besides, it'll make it much safer for any outsiders to reach the village from the shrine itself considering the danger this place has. Makes it much easier to move stuff around"

Suika nodded at his reply. Alex's have been busy building up the infrastructure of Gensokyo with the help of the local human village. It was unknown how he paid them, but the workers are happy that they have access to some powerful tools usually reserved to kappas and was paid handsomely just to build a road.

Suika looked at the end of the road. Just under the steps and beyond a few paces away, she can see the old stone road connected with a black tarmac that extended further into the forest. She can see how useful it was for anybody who cannot fly or driving some heavy cart.

Even further beyond, she can make out the outline of a large yellow vehicle with a massive spade that can dig a very big hole in one scoop. She can also see another vehicle, but this one was massive with its mandible extended to cover the width of the road itself. She can see where the tarmac flowed from a series of tube lining the mandible itself.

For a self-proclaimed thug of society, he had done more for this society than any average spirited-away human in Gensokyo ever have.

Suika then looked at Alex who are watching Sakuya cutting up the meat she brought. It is a careful procedure as she must ensure that everybody have the same amount of slice. She noted the longing in his eyes, a gaze that sees the past not the future nor the present.

"remembering something?"

Alex was taken from his daydream from that simple phrase. He nodded with a gentle smile. "Back when I was a kid my dad would usually bring us to the local park for barbecues. Me, David and some other kids that happen to pass by would've received a slice of meat each if they're polite enough"

"Sounds like fun. What kind of booze your old man likes?"

Alex chuckled at her question. "he never drinks"

"Like father like son eh?"

Sakuya then approaches the pair with a platter full of meat. Her white hair has a strange yellowing tint from the bonfire nearby. She then gave them both plates with generous helping of meat on it. "Thanks, Sakuya" Alex said to her. She nodded and then walked away, her steps are elegant and dainty as to keep the remaining plate of meats from the tray in her hand from falling everywhere.

Suika took a massive bite from the juicy meat, moaning sweetly as she ingested the meal. "Damn! This is good shit. Try some Alex"

Alex nodded and proceed to take a small bite at the rib he got. He gotta admit, the little Oni knows how to cook. The pungent smell of the boar is replaced by a faint tint of rice wine, and the meat itself was perfectly marinated with spices and herbs that he cannot identify. He did remember seeing her mix in black pepper and some mint leaves, but the mushrooms and herbs that was thrown into the mortar was alien to him. But then again, he did remember seeing her liberally dousing the poor boar with sake.

"Not bad" Alex replied before taking another bite. The meat is pleasantly chewy with each chew imbued with the taste of marinated juice which has been thoroughly absorbed by the meat.

"Not bad?" Suika asked jokingly. The meats on her platter is vanishing in a rapid pace as she basically inhaled the flesh. "this ancient boar that almost turned into a Youkai is simply not bad?"

Alex took another bite, his eyes closed to further analyse the taste. Strangely, it made him feel a tad light-headed. Doesn't really take away from the meal though. "Sorry Suika, but I'm not the proper guy to talk about liquor or liquor-based food"

"You look like you enjoyed it though" Suika pointed out.

"eh, meat is meat" Alex replied. "besides, it's not like I can get drunk off a couple of liquor-infused boar"

Suika laughed at his reply. "Prepare to eat your heart out boy!"

"I prefer McDonalds" he replied, but his voice has a strange tone to it, like someone on the verge of falling asleep. Alex absentmindedly chews on the meat, but he severely miscalculated the amount of liquor infused upon the slices. He felt tired, wondering why he suddenly felt so slow all of sudden.

Yet, he refuses to stop eating. It is rude to not finish any meal that was presented to him. As a member of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, it is important that he shows proper etiquette befitting a Scarlet Devil.

Alex looked at the plate and wondered if Sakuya gave him either 5 or 8 pieces. He wanted to quit, but he kept seeing the slices becoming lesser and lesser with each bite. He knows that bad shit will happen if he gets drunk, but his mind protested, repeating the same mantra every addict said before a fix. "just one more fix" his mind said to him as he swallowed a piece of the boar's liver. "Just this one bite, then you can stop"

The world swims in his eyes, his joints and muscles slack and unresponsive. Alex tried to form a coherent thought, but his mind refuses to move beyond basic function. He forces his brain to perform, and the answer was clear.

"That's enough"

Alex placed the plate on the mat, or was it the ground? He couldn't tell for his vision is blurry. He stood up, only to realise that he's piloting a ship on a stormy sea. "You ok there, bud?"

Alex didn't look at the direction of the woman who asked that, he doesn't even know if he can recognize the voice. "I…need to…walk it off". There's no taxi or cars that he has to worry about in Gensokyo, so he figured that he can try to walk around the shrine to burn off the second-hand booze.

He was a fish swimming in the river of time, lazily meandering away the night as his mind struggles to purge the drunkenness from his mind. He remembered his mouth moving but no noise coming out of it, he remembered hearing voices but not knowing which one to answer.

Alex found himself at the back of the shrine, slumped at one of the pillars that held the shrine aloft. He was surprised that the pillar wasn't termite-infested like many have famously described. As he inspected the wooden walls of the shrine, Alex noticed with clear mind how pristine the barrier was. Perhaps its divine nature keeps it from being consumed by decay?

"That was fast" Alex noted to himself as he observed the stars above him. he expected himself to be out of it until tomorrow. He didn't know how he got here, right behind the shrine sleeping on the dirt in his uniform. Then again, the only coherent last thought he has when drunk is to simply walk it off.

"Note to self, never eats anything an Oni makes"

But then again, drunken parties are a cultural importance in Gensokyo. If there is a national drink for Gensokyo, it would've been rice wine. He knows that even if avoided what Suika cooks, there are still matter of drinks. Alex drank only the liquid he brought with him, never the one provided to him in the party. But he just got drunk from that roasted boar alone.

Alex clutched his head, realising that he doesn't have a headache. That's weird, drunken people should feel a painful migraine after a hangover, why did it not hit him?

Alex walked around the shrine, wondering why the party was silent despite the night being so early.

"Hakurei Style, Fantasy Drunken Fist!"

Alexander's head snapped right up. The yell definitely belongs to Reimu, but why though? Is she starting a fight with Suika, or anybody else in that manner? Everybody in Gensokyo is trigger-happy as fuck, surely this is no different. Reimu can handle herself that's for sure.

But then again, he never heard nor seen this fighting style before. Drunken Style he knows, but of the Hakurei style?

Curiosity burning high, Alex ran forward to the party hoping to see the battle.

Everyone is lying on the ground unconscious. The bonfire illuminates the massacre on the picnic ground. Alex sees no blood much to his relief. But then again, something is truly wrong if all of them is unconscious.

His eyes then trailed toward the bonfire. To his horror, he saw a shadow of a man standing over Reimu's prone body. She wasn't moving and beside her is a small purple gourd of sake that once belonged to Suika, smashed to pieces. The man appears to be wearing a loose-fitting shirt and pants as well as a baseball cap.

Alex have no time to pull out his weapon as the man runs toward him with his arms outstretched like how a typical Grudge-like ghost girl do to grab and feast upon her victim.

SHADOWY MAN

The shadowy man rushes forward to grab Alex, but he sidestepped the wide grapple attempt and countered with several punches before trying to roundhouse kick the shadowy man. The man manages to grab his leg and shoved Alex down to the ground and proceed to mount Alex for a ground-and-pound position. Alex, whom are inexperienced in ground-fighting can do next to nothing as he desperately blocked the fists that rains from above.

Alex realised that his lower body is still free as the man sat on his chest. Knowing that he has no choice, Alex tries to wrap his legs around the man's neck. It succeeded and Alex manages to throw him off. Both combatants then stood up, prepared for another round.

Alex kicks off the battle with a round kick, this time it connects at the man's rounded jaw. Seeing that he's dazed from that powerful kick, Alex rushes forward and slammed his elbow at the man's nose followed with a right hook at the man's gut. He then pushed the shadowy man away with a well-placed front kick. The shadowy man clutched his stomach in pain, then he raised his head to see his opponent's foot making contact with his temple.

The shadowy man fell onto the ground, his mind dizzy from the fresh round kick he received. He manages to stand up before he got stomped on, but he can do nothing as Alex wrapped his hand around his Adam's Apple, slammed his knee at his lower spine and slams him down to the ground like how he did it to him earlier.

Alex knows that he's no good at ground-fighting, so he tried to stomp on the man while he was down. The shadowy man saw the foot and rolled away before it makes contact with his face.

But Alex was relentless. Just as the shadowy man freshly recovered from the roll he was kicked right at his gut, propelling him straight to a large Sakura tree. Dazed from the kick, Alex rushes forward and punched him in the gut, his jaw, his left cheek and dropped him to his knees with a roundhouse kick to his temple. While he was recovering from the kick, Alex then slammed his elbow at the man's cranium, forcing him to his hands and knees. Alex then kicks the man's visage like a football, knocking the man to his back.

The shadowy man in a strange case of resilient power manages to stand up from his prone position despite the beating and tried to grab Alex's shoulders. Too bad that he saw that clumsy attempt and answered with an uppercut to his jaw.

Stay Down! Alex thought as he grabbed the man with a double clinch tie and kneed the man's jaw with reckless abandon. After what he felt was the 6th kick, he then tries to knock the man back with a front kick. The shadowy man, realising what just happened, diverted the wild kick with his own thigh and rolled forward, catching Alex's face with his boot on the process. The shadowy man then tries to slap him, but Alex leaned backward and saw it whiff pass his face, and he answered with a front kick, a side kick and finally a right hook. Alex again roundhouse kicked the man's temple, but he anticipated the kick and rolled backward to mitigate the blow.

Doesn't matter for Alex though. He then rushes forward and grabbed the man again in the same clinch hold. he then kneed the man's jaw again like before, but instead of going for a strong kick, Alex kneed him in the gut and throws him to the ground. It looks like a bear hug, except that he's hugging from behind and it was upside down. This was part of the plan as this position give a clear shot for his knee to hit the man's neck on the ground. Out of all ground technique Alex know, this one is his favourite.

The man cannot move due to the weight of Alex's body pinning him down around his upper spine and he cannot think straight as Alex's knee proceed to mercilessly pummel him to oblivion. After what felt like an eternity to him, he felt himself being pulled upward. With the extra space Alex have created, he then proceeds to slam his knee at the shadowy man's face at full force, making him fly backward from the sheer impact of the blow.

Much to the shadowy man's credit, he's still awake despite what would many consider a killing blow (hitting someone in the nape of the neck multiple times gotta kill someone) he then stood up and throw a fistful of dirt into Alex's face. Alex manages to block the dirt and answered with several kicks before grabbing the man again. Alex throws the man back to the Sakura tree earlier where he proceeds to brutally kick him to the ground.

Again, the shadowy man proved to be resilient as he rises again from the ground. If Alex wasn't consumed with bloodlust, he would've bought the man a drink for his absolute willpower. But he was fighting so he settled for an elbow to his chest followed with another round kick.

The man again stood up as if the blows earlier doesn't even faze him. Alex took two steps forward and gave another powerful front kick to the man's gut, staggering him again. Alex then rushes forward and grabbed the man again in a collar tie clinch where he viciously punches the man in the gut twice. The man answered back with an uppercut, dislodging him from the clinch Alex put him in.

He then kicked Alex in the gut as well, interrupting him as he went for another grab. The shadowy man then tries to grab Alex only for him to counter with a low kick aimed at his shin. Then he grabbed the man again with his favourite clinch and kneed him in the gut again. This time, Alex made it clear that this will be the last time he fought him.

Alex gave everything he got in the clinch. He kept kneeing the man in the gut and jaw over and over again until he felt the body goes limp. Alex then angled the man's face so that the knee hits its nose with a resounding thud. Then, he put every ounce of his power into a devastating high turning kick. The kick hits the man at his temple, sending him flying for a few second before landing harshly upon the ground with an earth-shattering crash.

KO

Alex stumbled a little from that devastating kick he delivered, leaving him open for a few second. He then lashed out with a side kick, but it connected with the air only. He looked at the unmoving body of the dark man on the ground, slowly dissipating into thin air like smoke.

"For a ghost, you fought like a punk"

Now with that taunt out of the way, Alex did the sensible thing and tried to check on the girls. He started out with Reimu, who are lying comfortably on her back. With her posture rigid and her hands clasped together at her stomach, Alex would've mistaken her for being sound asleep like a corpse. Then again, he placed his index finger on her carotid artery and sighed in relief when he found a steady rhythm. She was asleep and without stress too.

Alex then notices the small shards of pottery lying around her. It was purple, so Alex deduced that it belonged to Suika earlier. "She's going to be absolutely fucking livid" Alex said as he tries to fit two pieces of the broken gourd together. It's not going to be fixed unless he has some extra strong glue or magic.

Alex then felt his hackles rise and he turned around, his hands automatically grasped the handle of his pistol. To his horror, the shadowy being is not out for the count.

The being, realising that he cannot beat Alex in a fair hand-to-hand fight, decided to tip the scale to his favour, or to be more accurate, blow it out of the water. As Alex stood up with his gun aimed at the creature's beady eyes, he wondered what the hell Suika put in the meat he ravenously consumed earlier.

The boar returned with a vengeance, a massive beast of nature that it would probably be if it doesn't meet its grisly fate with Suika. Its ethereal muscles rippled as it breathed, the ghostly flesh holding the massive skeletal structure together as if it was never killed in the first place. Granted, its flesh is see-through and almost ethereal, but the hate in its beady black eyes is easily recognizable by the thug.

"Motherf-"