"Yes, yes, like this. One, two, one, two, step to the left and roll around."

Physical Education has just turned into Dance Class, mostly because three visiting girls with musical instruments insisted that I teach the children how to dance instead of just plain physical exercise. I did try to protest, but when my ghostly brother told me more about the girls and their shadowy-looking feet, I decided not to resist that much.

The Inn, well, it's pretty much burnt down, destroyed thanks to Suika's willfulness earlier in the week with her very, very large fireball. I barely managed to scrape out, and that was solely because I suddenly felt an energy surge to my working right feet (sole-ly, if you will!) which I used to hop and leap off a wall facing the outside seconds before the conflagration hit me. It was pretty unpleasant crashing into the candy stall right outside the inn - I was left picking ants off myself for three straight hours after because of all the sweet stuff that toppled over me - but at least I didn't end up being toasted by Suika.

Speaking of whom, she's pretty much left town again, and the innkeeper was furious that the horned girl had completely destroyed his inn without paying him reparations. I could feel the innkeeper there.

I had this feeling it was pretty typical of Suika, but I doubt she's going to leave the inn at that. I know for sure she is very playful, but by no means irresponsible; I'm very sure, though, that my so-called stronger-than-the-usual-outsider presence accounts for that.

"Mister Kaylosu, do you, umm, special dance… where you come from?"

It's Keros, Keros! But I couldn't blame the little brown-haired kid at all for not knowing how to bite the R-sound properly, since, with the exception of three youkai and a human magician to date, nobody else spoke English.

"Special dance? Where did you get that idea from?"

"A very big black man… come here, he dance for us. He put his hands on floor, flip, turn. Very funny."

Black man, flips, turns… The only thing I could imagine was that some poor black kid from the States got lost in here, and did hip-hop dancing or even breakdancing for the kids. Even that sounds pretty far-fetched to me, and truth be told, I just cannot emulate it given how my left leg was injured.

"Sorry, mate. Maybe another time, I cannot do it with my foot injured."

The kid seemed a little disappointed, and ran off to join his other friends in play. I watched him frolicking with his friends, and then realized that, perhaps, I think in such complicated terms that I no longer know how to think of matters simply.

Even if I were really just a man of brawn, I still think too much for my own sake.

In that light, perhaps the appearance of such people as Marisa and Suika in my life was someone's way of telling me that even without thinking in complex terms, I can still live my life happily.

***

"Kirisame-ojisan, evening."
After classes, the matron of the school decided she would take me to someone to speed up the recovery of my leg. Turned out to be some sort of neighbourhood sundries store, except, there are books, staffs and wands all over along with the usual things that can sufficiently be defined as "sundries".

It certainly looks like magic does run in some families around these parts.
"Ah, if it isn't Keine-chan! And… who's that?"

"Hello, pleased… to meet you, my… my name is Pasonia," I blurted out in halting Japanese.

"Oh, pleased to meet you too, my name's Kirisame Kojiro. Keine-chan, is this about his broken leg?"
"Ojisan knows me best. So hurry, hurry!"

"…so he said."

All these while, it was my ghostly side of Konpaku Yuuji that ended up translating everything that was being spoken.
Your translations in my head are making things a bit confusing sometimes, I quipped.
"I'm sorry I don't have clairvoyance."
"Ah - ouuuuch!"

Before I could even muster a proper response, I felt something pressing on my injured foot so hard I couldn't contain the pain, screamed so hard I thought the .

"Be a man and bite it! ... Was what he said."
Nicely spoken, but I am the one with the broken foot, old geezer! You didn't have to press so hard on my foot to examine my injuries! Despite all that I wanted to say, though, I couldn't express it properly.

"I can speak the Devil's tongue as well, if you're wondering," blurted Kojiro. "Seen quite a few these past few years."
"Nicely spoken! You could've told me earlier, because my foot effing hurts – OUUUUUUCH!"
"Quiet! You're disrupting my concentration!" The man sounded quite annoyed, and I could hear Keine laughing away in the background.
"I can't help it man," I protested, "yer messin' with MY broken foot!"
"You actually didn't bother looking for a doctor and thought you got yourself a broken foot? Well, young man, it is just a slight dislocation. I'm going to set it back in place in one go."
"Hold on wait a minute what'd you mean by one GO-OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!"

Everything turned black right afterwards. Instant knock-out without actually getting onto a ring, really.

***

"Jeez, this man sure didn't take too long to wake up. The last guy who came in here to get a bone fixed slept for three days.

First voice I hear upon lifting the heavy load off my eyelids were those of the old geezer's. It'll be an excellent day.
"Yawn… At last."
You're tied to my own waking state?
"Pretty much so, ever since you're back in Gensokyo that is how I'd been."

"Ugh… my foot… hey, it actually feels okay now." I twiddled my left toes, and they were just fine without that much pain at all. It felt excellent. "How the…?"

"Bone-setting is part of what the Kirisame does," explained Kojiro. "A pity that we have had no luck with a male offspring for the past few years; Marisa's the only precious my wife has ever conceived successfully. And our neglect of her is the only reason she treats us so coldly these days."

"I only just told you how cool you were for having fixed my injured foot," I hastily explained. I certainly don't want to be too indebted to anyone so soon.
"Don't worry, I'm not even asking you for money. If Keine-chan asked, what more can I say? I daresay I treat her better than I do to Marisa."
"Well, at least she's fine, sir? If that's the only thing you're worried about. I've only ever spoken to her on two separate occasions."
"I see. Well, if you happen to see her again, tell her the old man's lookin' fer her. Then again, I guess probably not… I said the same to that shrine maiden and nothing came of it anyway."

No, sir, you don't make me your messenger. It's sickening.
"I'd remember it for you then."
By all means, I'm not going to do it. Tell Marisa yourself if you're that capable.

***

"So I see Mister Keros has had a fixed foot," cooed Miss Keine as I strolled back to the school.
"Thanks for the fix," I replied. "Now I feel great. But I suppose I've got a class to teach."
"There's one in 2 shichen. I mean, uhh… four hours. Until then, would you like to attend a class yourself?"
"Me?" I chuckled, laughing at how much time had passed since I attended a class. I did speak of making myself not so useless, but it was two years minimum since I actually attended classes of any sort.

"Well, actually, I'm abusing you for this one. It's a devil's language lesson. It'll be good for a… native… or a fluent speaker to help out. I thought mine's getting a bit rusty since the Eientei incident, since that was the last time I met anyone from the Mansion."

I felt like pretending I knew what she was saying about the Mansion, but I can't lie to myself. Before I was about to ask, though…
"I know."
You actually do?

"Word has it the mistress used some kinda magic and crossed the sea and the mountains to move their mansion to its present location near the Misty Lake. They're conversant in the language of the land but in their inner circles they speak the 'devil's language', which I'm initially surprised you know so much about. I almost thought we'd changed races from being half-ghosts to half-devils."
No shit. "How long ago was it since you last spoke to them?"
"Let's see… the Eientei incident was at least three years ago."

That sure accounts for the generally poor mastery of the language by the people around here. But seriously, you're askin' me to school kids in English when I flunk it that bad…

"The joke's on you."

Thanks for reminding me.

***

Lies. She is a definite expert of the language. The real problem is that she's teaching way too advanced stuff for their age now!

That was my initial thought after lesson time, completely appalled that she's teaching the class texts like "To Kill a Mockingbird" (does it even apply to them?!) I was reduced to just "yes" and "no" for the entire duration of the class, and as luck would have it, the same goes for the entire class of children at most half my age.

"Miss Keine…"
"Keine will do just fine, Pasonia."
"I mean, well… you're going way too fast with the language. How old are the kids in class? I doubt half of them are above age ten really."
"Well, there are some youkai children in there, so there are some fifteen, sixteen year olds in there. What's the matter?"
"The text," I protested, "even I found it hard to comprehend! Besides, isn't its content something to do more with the world at large, rather than this place?"

Keine just smiled. "You didn't know about the youkai-human wars, so it's natural that you thought it doesn't apply. The reason the Human Village is at peace for the past decade is largely thanks to this text, which I obtained from Sakuya shortly after the wars."

"The youkai-human wars? That's novel, I've never got no idea about it. Nobody told me about it."
"Well, who'd relieve painful memories?" The rhetorical question was noticeably laced with some weight in the voice. "In any case, your class is in ten minutes. I suggest you'd better prepare for it."

"Oh, okay. It's about time too."

As I passed her, I noticed the atmosphere around us turned noticeably cold and eerie.

***

Ever since the conversation in the afternoon, I realized that once again, I've unwittingly made enemies against myself entirely because of my outspoken, brash manner. Already Keine was showing signs of slight contempt over me, though I could tell she's not as rude as the red-white in that aspect by being courteous. I twirled my improvised fork (made out of a forked tree branch I found in the open field) and twisted the noodles around it, finding it near utterly tasteless.

"Sometimes I'm really glad I wasn't you."

I know, right? At any rate, this can't go on. "Let's go to that sundries store."

"Whatever for?"

"It's time to get a few texts and ask a few questions."

***
"Oh it's you from earlier, young man. Any friend to Keine is welcome!"

I nodded politely, but even before I spoke the old man already knew I wasn't there for a simple purpose as to get sundries.

"You seem to have something on your mind. Is this about that lady?"
"Actually, yes… I was told by Keine of some war that occurred between youkai and humans."

"You say, the youkai-human wars?"
"Yes, Mr. Kirisame, I know it sounds really sudden but I'm not in a position to make Miss Keine unhappy. Could you tell me anything about that war that hurt her?"

Mr. Kirisame sighed out loud, as though it was something he'd long wanted to share.

"Keine's parents died at the hands of the Rou Youkai, and she was nearly killed. She would have died if I wasn't there at the time, and that run from those rogues… I'll never forget that. That's why she dislikes youkai in general, and often appears to them in a cordial manner. At least it was better than ten years ago, where people in the village were guarded about the topic, pretended it didn't happen."

"That explains her behavior indeed. Looks like I really touched a raw nerve. Why'd she have youkai children amidst the crowd then, if she disliked youkai so?"
"I don't know the answer to that. Maybe she wants to know youkai better, and attempt to clear her inner demons?" The elder Mr. Kirisame leaned towards me, making sure nobody else heard him. "She's also a youkai herself, by the way. That's why I find that pretty odd, too, that she would hate her own lineage."

"Really? No shittin' me are you?"

"I am an honest man."

"Tell me then, do you have a book called 'To Kill a Mockingbird'?"

***

I couldn't sleep that night, and my eyes were wide open even though the surroundings were pitch black.

"Mate, your not sleeping is going to affect me."

Sorry then. I'm just horribly confused.

"Okay, I give up. Why don't you try an origami crane?"

Paper cranes? Does that actually work on Keine?

"Why ever not?"

You've got to tell me how then. I'm bad at craft.

It was plainly speaking, one of the most torturous nights I have had. It wasn't because of physical pain, but the crafting of a single paper crane using newspaper pieces alone was quite a ridiculously slow process, even though it looked simple.

"How long is this going to take?" I muttered out aloud to myself, expecting a long night ahead of me.

It was at this moment that the world behind me suddenly exploded in a resounding bang.

"Nyan, watch out!"

I flipped over to my left, instinctively grabbed the chair and swung it upwards, striking something squarely as I back-flipped out of the tatami-laden room and into the grassy open, amidst the sounds of broken vases and flipped furniture.

"Nyan, hostiles behind you and to your sides!"

Thanks to this ethereal assistant, I was able to swerve my way past the first, but had to throw myself leftwards in order to deal a straight blow to the hostile on my right. Upon contact I felt there was some kind of fur to the hostile's body; to ascertain their identities I swerved around for the closest source of light and decided to make a break for it, whilst noticing that more and more candlelight lamps were being lit in the wake of the noise.

"These… they're wolf youkai! The full moon tonight must've antagonised them."

Now's not the time to think of that, but to subdue these enemies is, frankly speaking, impossible. I remembered landing a blow hard enough to break a bone in the chest, but when I checked again, none of them looked fazed for one bit.

Then, just as fast as they came attacking me, they left swiftly just as well. By this time, most of the villagers were wide awake, unhappy over the noise.

"Hey, kid, what the hell just happened?"
"What's the ruckus about man?"
"It's far too noisy already! Keep it down!"

"…so they said."

"Now's not the time to say that—"

"What just happened, Pasonia?"

I looked around quickly; it was Miss Keine, her eyebrows apparently still creased from earlier.

"Uhh, well, it's a long story you see… umm… apparently some kinda wolf youkai. Whoa, what's with the horns on your head Miss Keine?"

"I'll explain later. Guys, it's the wolves attacking Pasonia-san. He's a trained martial artist and so he managed to get away unharmed. Sorry for the inconvenience, I'll take him away."

"You've got to be kidding us… a kid took on a bunch of wolves and survived?"
"That guy's got some moves in him, wow."
"That's my dance teacher, Ma!"

Soon, the grumbling noise made way for some rather discomforting, yet agreeable voice, and I noticed the villagers' spirits were somehow lifted.

"Come on, I need to talk to you now," growled Keine, who quickly whisked me away to an alleyway.

***

Miss Keine's residence was about as big as the inn itself (or what was the inn before that big ball of fire), but for some reason, a place that big only housed the lady alone. The residence might not be as grandeur as that Child of Miare's, but it sure does reek of the same learned style, what with the slabs of ink, brushes, and paper and paintings.

"Green tea's all I have for now. Sorry I couldn't give you anything better."
"That's fine enough already. What's with the horns, Miss Keine, if you'd pardon me asking?"

Miss Keine sighed. "Look at the full moon out there. That's what's causing it to pop out."

That immediately got me thinking of werewolves, but then again she isn't as furry as those youkai that tried to kill me.

"I'm a hakutaku only during the full moon. I'm sorry if I seemed particularly grumpy during the day."

"A hakutaku? What's that? Another kind of youkai?"

"Hakutakus… It's complicated, but when provoked, I may morph into something not human-like. Right now I'm still in full control of my sanity, but when I do go into a frenzy I can't even remember what I did."

I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't saying everything she should, but I was shoved about quite a fair bit by the wolves, so I thought it'll be better if I left it at that.

After all, that stupid led-me-into-this-mess oni still hasn't returned from wherever she went.