SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 107 out, I present Chapter 108 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Pairings: Albedo/Sucrose, Zhongli/Mitsuko/Kazuha, One-sided Diluc/Mitsuko, One-sided Diluc/Jean
Disclaimers: Genshin Impact and Sailor Moon belong to miHoYo and Takeuchi Naoko-sensei respectively. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except the plot, I hope.
Chapter 108: Teyvat Arc: Akitsu Yuugei
Back at the starting point...
"You guys finally made it!" Itto spotted the Traveler. "I was searching for hours. Still didn't see any sign of those three, so I decided to come back. How about you? Find anything?"
"It's kinda hard to explain." Paimon stated.
"So you came up empty-handed, too." Itto realized. "It doesn't matter! I already came up with a new plan! Shinobu told me a saying after she got back from studying in Liyue. It went something like, 'The something by day becomes... something by night?"
"The hunter by day becomes the hunted by night." the Traveler sighed.
"Anyway, I was so focused on scaring people last round that those three dressed up as ghosts caught me completely off guard." Itto stated. "But not this time! I'll be hiding nearby and waiting for those three to emerge first, then I'll nail 'em with a surprise attack. You two just gotta keep playing it natural and join the contest. See ya later!"
"His plan does make some sense at least." Paimon shook her head after Itto ran off. "Let's go talk to the shrine maiden so we can join the second round."
"Congratulations on winning the first round of the Test of Courage." the shrine maiden laughed evilly. "Now you're one step closer to the dark, messy truth. But is that really a good thing?"'
"Cut the nonsense!" Paimon snapped. "What we just saw was super terrifying!"
"Good to hear." the shrine maiden declared. "Hearing the words 'super terrifying' is exactly what all us event organizers would like to hear."
"That's not what Paimon means!" Paimon insisted. "Something mysterious is also happening here, not just the event!"
"You've heard the stories about the Test of Courage, haven't you?" the shrine maiden reminded. "Everyone who participates in the event faces a variety of emotions. People are afraid of seeing their innermost fears appear before them, yet they still seek the thrill of experiencing those fears. So, isn't it natural for us to have things in the dark and deathly silent forest to help fulfill that experience? The second round of the Test of Courage will begin shortly. Have you found your partner yet? You must find a different partner for each round of the event."
"Let's ask around and see if there's anyone looking for a partner!" Paimon told the Traveler.
"You found me..." a snoring Sayu snapped awake.
"Are you here for the Test of Courage, too, Sayu?" Paimon asked the Anemo ninja.
"Yes..." Sayu yawned. "The Test of Courage is too scary, so I keep my eyes closed to not feel scared. But as soon as I close my eyes, it's really easy to fall asleep. During the first round, a big bull-headed beast leaped out of nowhere and scared me half to death, so I ran and hid behind a tree. I closed my eyes and tried to hide for a while, but it was really dark and I fell asleep. By the time I woke up, the round was already over. Now, no one wants to partner up with me for the second round."
"But why would you join the Test of Courage in the first place?" Paimon was puzzled.
"I heard Kazu-papa is also in the Test of Courage." Sayu answered. "I want to surprise him."
Sayu doesn't have a partner yet." Paimon stated. "Should we team up with her?"
"Let me think about it." the Traveler responded.
"Congrats on winning the first round of the Test of Courage." the Traveler found Thoma next.
"Thoma!" Paimon recognized the Pyro spear user. "Were you also a contestant in the first round?"
"I sure was!" Thoma nodded. "But I couldn't shake this constant feeling that someone was secretly following me the entire round. He didn't seem to be from the Yashiro Commission, and I was concerned that he might be out to stir up trouble at the event, so I tried to capture him. I didn't expect him to run so fast. I gave chase for a while, but I couldn't keep up and before I knew it, the round was over. Anyway, I'm gonna be sure to show everyone my abilities in the second round. My lord has granted me a rare vacation, so I'd rather spend my time relaxing than worrying about some contest. Speaking of which, have you found a partner yet? Would you like to pair up with me?"
"Let me think about it." the Traveler responded.
"Heya Traveler, Paimon!" the Traveler met up with Yoimiya next. "I had a feeling you two would be here!"
"Yoimiya!" Paimon gaped. "You're here too?"
"I was also here for the first round, but I arrived a little early, so maybe that's why I didn't see you." the Pyro archer remarked. "By the way, I heard you were the winners. Impressive! I eventually found the hidden Dango Milk too, but it was already too late. Traveler, you never told me you were so good at this sort of event. You weren't keeping it a secret, were you? Anyway, would ya like to pair up with me? We'd be an amazing team! With us working together, the second round will be a piece of cake."
"Let me think about it." the Traveler answered.
"So, made up your mind yet?" Yoimiya asked, seeing the Traveler still remained. "Do you wanna team up with me?"
"I want to partner up with Yoimiya." the Traveler informed,
"You appear to have found a partner." the shrine maiden noticed the Traveler and Yoimiya approach. "Let's see if you can repeat your luck from the first round. Though, whether winning should be considered 'good luck' or not is debatable. Anyway, I will now reveal the item you'll be searching for in the second round of the Test of Courage. It's a fan: the fan was personally selected by the Yashiro Commissioner himself and has been placed somewhere in the Chinju Forest. There will be signs to guide the way, but beware, the darkness that lurks in the forest is drawing nearer."
In the forest...
"Something just fell from above!" Paimon exclaimed.
"It's some Onikabuto!" Yoimiya looked at the insect on the ground. "And pretty strong ones, from the looks of it. I'll hold on to them! They'll come in real handy for the next Onikabuto tournament! Did you guys hear that?" she asked, the trio continued their way. "It sounded like it came from inside the shrine. I've heard people say that some evil spirits are sealed in shrines, and at night they make banging sounds from inside."
"Meow?" Mitsuko, in her two-tailed cat form perched on the chest in front of the Traveler.
"It's a kitty." Yoimiya was disappointed. "That's kinda disappointing! I was hoping to see a real evil spirit! That's strange. How did Paimon transform into a Lavender Melon?" she wondered, the trio taking the left side of the path.
"Paimon's over here!" Paimon huffed. "That doesn't even look like Paimon!"
"Look what we have here!" Yoimiya grinned, finally locating the fan. "Isn't this the fan we're looking for? It has such a beautiful design on it. Are those fireworks? It seems to be for some sort of festival! So now that we've found this fan, does that mean we've won the second round of the Test of Courage? Let's bring it back!"
"Wonder if Itto's still out trying to capture those three from earlier." Paimon wondered. "Paimon's a little worried about him. Why don't we have a look around?"
"Is there something else you need to take care of?" Yoimiya noticed the Traveler's expression. "How about I take the fan back, then?"
Deeper in the forest...
"I've gotcha now!" the Traveler increased their pace upon hearing Itto's voice. "Don't underestimate this oni! None of you are getting away today!"
"Itto, you really captured them!" Paimon was impressed.
"Seriously, why didn't you run when I told you?" Kappa chided.
"What're you saying?" Youko chided. "We couldn't abandon you!"
"So just get on with it." Hitotsume Kozou huffed. "If you're gonna eat us, then you'll have to deal with all three of us!"
"I have a weird feeling that I've seen these three somewhere before." Itto pondered. "These are all creatures from the Ultimate Youkai Field Guide that granny used to show me! There's Youko, Kappa, and Hitotsume Kozou! They're all youkai."
"We recognized you right away!" Kappa added. "You're an oni, aren't you?"
"According to legends, oni are grouchy, extremely strong, and crush other youkai into balls to eat them up!" Hitotsume Kozou remarked.
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Itto snorted. "Who came up with that!?: Besides, you're the ones people are scared of! Hiding behind bushes and scaring people off the road, what are you trying to do here? Don't think I didn't see you! Following them around and conjuring up all sorts of weird, scary stuff."
"We weren't trying to scare anyone." Kappa insisted. "We were just trying to..."
"We were planning a festival." Youko continued. "One hosted by the youkai, but humans are also welcome to attend."
"You mean, the Mikawa Flower Festival?" the Traveler was surprised.
"Mikawa Flower Festival..." Itto mused. "That does ring a bell. It used to be hosted by the top youkai. I heard it was supposed to be a lot of fun."
"The Mikawa Flower Festival is our aspiration." Youko admitted. "But we know that our festival doesn't deserve that name. The times of Hyakkiyakou are long gone, we're just a bunch of little youkai living in the wilderness. As you can see, we lack the necessary youkai powers to put on such a grand festival. But we're determined to still reach out to humans and express our gratitude."
"We live in the wilderness and are frequently attacked by monsters." Kappa explained. "They would come and stir up trouble on our land, forcing us to hand over our food. Sometimes they would even get rough and leave us injured. But later, many human adventurers came into the wilderness and drove off the monsters, allowing us to live in peace."
"You wanna repay the favor, but your powers are too puny!" Itto realized. "You might be a bunch of pip-squeaks, but you're all solid youkai in my book!"
"So, are you the ones who set up the Akitsu Yuugei game on the beach?" Paimon gawked.
"That was us!" Hitotsume Kozou nodded. "Have you tried it yet? Isn't it fun? We drew inspiration from the legendary Akitsu Hazura. It took a lot of youkai power to set it up. After that, we didn't have much youkai power left, so we set up some stalls in the forest to add to the festival atmosphere."
"We were just following you to see your reactions." Youko stated. "To be honest, we've never met a human before, so we had no idea what you would like. We focused on building the Akitsu Yuugei because of a legend we heard. It's the story of youkai meeting a human during a festival hundreds of years ago. It's said that long ago," she began the cinematic. "A human samurai once stumbled across the Mikawa Flower Festival. The youkai at the festival began discussing how to drive away the human. When suddenly, they heard a voice. 'This is our festival, and the point is to have fun!' Kamai Kenji rebuked. 'What difference does it make if a human joins us youkai!?' The speaker appeared to be a prominent figure among the youkai. And when he spoke, the other youkai fell silent. 'You there, young man. Do you drink sake?' Kamai Kenji asked. 'Yes, I do.' Yanagibashi Takuto responded. 'Then join us. We can enjoy tonight's festivities together.' Kamai Kenji invited. And so, the youkai and samurai celebrated together. The two competed in the highlight of the festival: the Akitsu Hazura. Their spectacular game ended in a draw, and a new friendship was forged.: The Mikawa Flower Festival is meant to bring happiness to all who attend and Akitsu Hazura is a symbol of friendship.: That's why, when we decided to hold the festival here, setting up Akitsu Hazura was our first priority. Unfortunately, the real Akitsu Hazura has been lost to time. What we created is a version of the game we heard about from a wandering merchant, so we changed the name to Akitsu Yuugei."
"We heard that someone had been trapped in Akitsu Yuugei." the Traveler remarked.
"That wasn't us!" Hitotsume Kozou insisted.
"We closed Akitsu Yuugei a while ago and carefully checked it for any issues." Youko stated. "But, we didn't find anything wrong with it. Maybe it was just some strange mishap caused by our unstable youkai power at the time."
"After that incident, people stopped coming to the attraction." Hitotsume Kozou moaned.
"Later, a human man with blue hair appeared and walked around the area." Kappa added.
"He had a piercing gaze, I almost felt like he could see us." Youko shivered. "But then he turned and quickly left without saying anything."
"It must have been Ayato." the Traveler realized.
"Now that you mention it, the fan that Ayato chose is the same kind that's used at a festival." Paimon agreed. "Do you think that he knew about the youkai when he decided to hold the Test of Courage here? Seems like all the strange things we saw earlier were caused by these little youkai, not ghosts. What a relief."
"You want to hang out with humans, right?" Itto told the three young youkai. "I totally get that. So, why don't you let this oni do ya a favor? I'll show you around!"
"The youkai said they wanted to host a festival, but Paimon was too busy having the bejeebers scared out of her to pay any attention until now." Paimon noted, after Itto led the three youkai off. "Come to think of it, Paimon remembers seeing some festival-related items on the beach. Let's head over there and take a look. Maybe we can help out!"
At the beach...
"You're the strange lady we met before!" Paimon noticed the familiar figure at the beach.
"It's you two again." Hanyuuda Chizuru turned. "I have to say, I'm impressed by your willingness to approach me after last time. You're much braver than I thought. But I'm not going to let you off the hook so easily this time. If you don't leave, I'll..."
"We just met your fellow youkai, and they told us everything!" Paimon huffed. "You're another little youkai who lives in the wilderness, aren't you? We just met Youko, Kappa, and Hitotsume Kozou! We're on our way to play Akitsu Yuugei, care to join us?"
Back in the forest...
"So, she was a ghost?" Paimon panicked after Youko confirmed that none of them have any idea who Hanyuuda was.
"What's all the noise about?" Heizou stepped in with Mitsuko.
"There's really nothing to fear." Even if there really is a ghost, all the noise you made would drive them away."
"Itto, you and your gang should go and inform the other contestants about the situation." Heizou instructed. "Traveler, Paimon, please come with us."
"Miss shrine maiden!" Paimon called out, the quartet arriving at the starting point. "Strange, she isn't here. There's something written in red on the bulletin board! 'Round 3... Item... Hagoita." she read the note. "Does this mean that the item we have to find in the third round is a hagoita?"
"The shrine maiden appears to be urging us to finish the third round of the Test of Courage." Heizou noted. "The words are scribbled hastily, but there's no evidence of a struggle. However, aren't there too many words written here? I believe that the three items chosen for this three-round contest were each selected by the three organizing parties. The Dango Milk was chosen by the merchant who funded the event, and the fan was chosen by the Yashiro Commission, which provided the staff. So, does the hagoita, which should have been chosen by the Grand Narukami Shrine, have any unique significance?"
"Could it be..." Mitsuko wondered. "Shikanoin-kun, I do believe your mysterious perpetrator to be a tsukumogami."
"Oh?" Heizou was intrigued. "How do you know?"
"Every youkai species have their own unique energy wavelength." Mitsuko explained. "Remember when we found the Traveler unconscious? I pin-pointed the energy residue left by the perpetrator and confirmed it to be tsukumogami. The question is: of which item did she manifest from?"
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Grins* Don't you just love plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.