I don't have much to say up here, figuring this is a double update and all. Just finished this chapter last night. I normally wait, give it a little buffer, and maybe go over it once more to make sure...but...*waves hand* I'm not today for some reason.
Enjoy.
Also, to say, all characters created by other people belong to them and I have no rights to them. You guys know the drill, I don't have to say it a trillion times.
If any of those creators ever read this, I hope it is ok for letting me use your creations. They're all awesome.
Chapter 7 - Welcome to Bhava-Agra!
"So that's what was going on with Nightbug-san?"
Finally, an explanation.
"That, that thing about her, is just really strange. No wonder you two said I didn't need to hold back. Did she really feel like she needed to keep me in the dark about that?"
"Yeep." Komachi sempai calmly said. "She likes to try to get one of those "what you are in the dark" moments out of people before she makes an investment in them. Works sometimes, but I've read your profile and the ministies's dossier on you, it's not like I don't know who you are. You're quite alright in my book."
"Thanks Sempai." I said back. "Honestly, I don't remember my past, and well, that mortal me is a different person then who I am now. What you've see is what you get. It's easier that way."
Yes, I do remember my book. We all have one. A profile book containing our former lives, and dossier of the ministry's analysis of each of it's members, both inducted and non-inducted personnel.
I...really couldn't look through it. I started too...but...when I read my list of misdeeds, I read the first one, which was the final one I ever committed, reading that I had killed someone, I stopped. I couldn't finish that-.
"The Murder of Grail Osternburn Decil..."
That was where I stopped. There was a list of things I had done... I didn't want to see it, I closed the book that contained my former life, put my copy away in a box, and I haven't touched it since.
I still remember what Elly said to me. If deep down, I wanted to remember my past, I would have when I died.
But I didn't. If I forgot, I forgot for a reason.
That world I came from is a hellhole...I know bad things happened to me and to everyone else there when I was alive. I don't want to look it all up, I don't want to relive whatever it was and go through a pain and suffering that is no longer me. I do not want the past to shackle my future. That's the stuff that creates wraiths and other monsters. I let go of those things and started anew without thinking about it during my death, and I should do the same when I am thinking about it during my post-life.
That day I met Elly was the start of my life. It's easier that way.
Getting closer to the clouds, Sempai and I were reaching the bottom of the clouds.
...
It's time to talk to Sempai about my experience earlier.
...now or never. I need to know about this.
I stopped flying upwards. Sempai quickly noticed and stopped.
"Hey, Sempai, before we get there I want to talk about something." I said, despite the fact we've been talking this whole time. Time to bring this up.
"Sure. What's up?" She asked.
"It's about what happened earlier, when Yakumo-san gapped me up there." I said.
Sempai cocked her head. "Something happened?" She asked me.
"Yea, it did." I answered "I didn't want to bring it up infront of everyone, but, we need to talk about it."
And with that I told Sempai about what happened with the celestial above. And the threat.
The moment I brought up that threat her face grimaced. I could notice her fist clench, and her eye contact was wavering.
"And that's what happened." I finished.
She was silent.
"Sempai...What happened to Fukakusa?" I asked her. "All I know is something happened here, and it was a celestial who did it. Can you tell me the whole story?"
Looking at her, I could tell she didn't want to. But...
"...you deserve to know." She said. "Liam, have you read the incident report?"
"No." I answered "I haven't gotten around to it. All I know is what I said earlier."
"I'll save you the specifics, but that's the story. Fuka went to reap a celestial up here, I'm not sure where, and was attacked by a third party doing so. Sadly, Fuka doesn't remember much of the incident. It's just a large blur. Going up there, fighting someone as intended, then something...then waking up a couple of days ago. My gut's telling me the higher ups know a little more then they're letting on, but I'm not sure even if they know who did it."
They're not telling you?
"In the meantime, Eiki-sama and the higher ups barred me from checking out Fuka-chan's office and looking up the information. Eiki-sama's got all of the info, but she's not telling me much about it and saying that she would take care of this. It makes me think and worry, you know, li-like any normal person...but I trust Eiki-sama's word. If she says she'll handle it, I know she will."
Because you'll do something you're going to regret if you did handle it?
"You still want to know?" I asked.
"Of course...Fuka-chan means a lot to me. You don't work so long with someone without forming a deep bond with them...and I know why they won't let me know who did it."
"Why...what would you do if you found out who did it? "
Her eyes and mine locked. The troubled in her eyes were gone, they became steadfast and sharp.
"What I'd do? I'd kill that bastard."
...
"Every part of me wants to disembowel that son of a bitch and make them pay for hurting my Fuka. That person showed no mercy to Fuka, I'll show him the same."
Sempai gripped her scythe hard.
"If I could get away with it, I would beat the life out of that bastard and I'll drag his soul into the deepest circle of hell where he belongs..."
...
Deep exhale, deep inhale, deep exhale. Her grip began to soften. Her eyes closed. That breath of hers was normalizing. It was a good thirty of seconds of her not speaking.
I was about to speak, but she brought up her hand and silenced me.
"You don't need to start Liam, I know... I'm not allowed, It's wrong, it's sinful, it's bad...I don't need the ministry to tell me that murdering mortal souls is wrong. I know it is. And besides if I ever did...I know Eiki-sama would never forgive me for it..."
Us shinigami are forbidden from murdering any mortal soul...self-defense and reaping are another matter, but flat out murdering mortals is one of the most grievous of crimes a shinigami could do...
As I looked at Komachi-sempai, I saw her anger slowly flowing out after venting her ill will...
Fukakusa must mean alot to her. After working alongside someone for centuries...and almost losing them...
"I'm glad I have someone like her to keep me in check and prevent me from doing something I'd regret." Komachi shook her head.
Komachi took a few deep breaths, thinking more.
"I know she's keeping me in the dark for good reasons. Keep me from doing something stupid. After all this is over, I'll be needing to thank her."
...
"You really trust her"
"More then anyone Liam. "
"Heh...the more you're around that woman Liam, the more of her that rubs off on ya. Stick around here long enough Liam, you'll see what I mean.
She forced a smile.
"We should get going Liam. We're gonna be late if we stay still."
I'd have to agree there.
For the rest of our trip, it wasn't much eventful. I told her a little about myself, some of my training at the academy and the friend or two I had made there.
Komachi-sempai didn't really answer much.
I did notice her looking around, checking around her.
I didn't need anything to tell me she was cautious. She's not trying to find something, but keeping an eye out for something unfamiliar... from day one I'd know that look. She's looking for potential enemy contact.
Komachi-sempai and I finally hit the bottom of the clouds.
I saw a little grin on Sempai's face as she doubled her speed and burst through the clouds.
"Alright kid! Just a little more!" She shouted before she passed through the clouds.
And with that we hit the clouds at a breakneck speed. I sped up to keep pace with Sempai, we both rushed through the clouds overhead.
I burst through the cloud cover, flying up a nearly hundred meters into the sky.
The sun burst in my face, it shown so much brighter then when on the surface. I covered my eyes and stopped, my gaze averting and looking down.
And looking down, I got the first glimpse of what Gensokyo calls heaven. And boy, it was beautiful.
It was a pristine paradise, grassy fields ontop of the giant floating keystones, the rocky tops looking like impromptu mountains. Soft clouds covering the rest of what was below, while harder clouds made up paths leading to other keystones and other areas where the clouds became their own surfaces.
"And this, Liam!" I herd from behind me, "Is Bhava-Agra!"
"This place is beautiful..." I said, admiring the view.
"It is." She chimed in.
"Komachi!" we herd someone shout.
As I looked directly down, I noticed someone was there.
She was a girl who had long silver hair, she had a headband with a few simple leaves on it. She wore a simple navy blue dress with short white sleeves, decorated with a cloth necklace with what looks like a white flower at the bottom. Around that dress she wore a gold belt with a gear motif, each gear being a pocket on her belt.
I look down, and I see her-wow, those are nice legs...
I-I look down, seeing the bottom of her dress and her brown shoes, but what caught my eye was a silver quiver by the young woman's side. I could tell by the pokes in it that the quiver was stuffed with arrows. In her left hand she had a strange object. It look like a stick, similar to what the blue-haired jerk celestial had, but instead of it looking like a hilt, it looked like there was a small spiked blue ball on the top of the small sticky-hilt-like, um...thingy.
Sempai, looking down recognized the girl. So did the cute silver haired girl recognize her.
"Hi!" She said, waving her hand to this silver haired girl. "Good to see you Komachi!"
Both girls turned and smiled at eachother.
"Didn't expect you to be coming our way. We're suppose to be coming your way." Sempai said to her.
And to that, the silver haired girl smiled. "I'm more then ready today. I figure I might as well head you off."
Sempai smirked with a "Heh", before saying "You sound really confident Sen."
Both girls exchanged a smil-
-This Sen girl's a celestial and I'm going to be fighting her, My mind clicked and put it all together.
...
Appointment. Duh. That's what I'm here for.
I'm up here to be fighting the celestials that live here, and Sempai's here to make sure nothing bad happens to me and that this formalness is maintained.
Duh.
Great.
Sempai putting her arm around me took me out of my distraction.
"Liam, this is Sen." I herd sempai say "Sen, this is Liam. He'll be filling in for Fukakusa for a while."
I looked at her- wow she has nice brown eyes, and those brown eyes looked into mine crimson ones and gave a greeting bow.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Shinigami-san" said Sen, my future opponent.
"Likewise." I said to Sen, bowing the same.
"Let me take you to where everyone else is." Said the celestial beauty "Lord Nai is with the others and we're all ready and waiting for you two."
"Huh. What about Belle?" Sempai said.
"Nope, just Nai today."
Sempai's tone changed when she heard that. She didn't like what she heard. Not one bit. "Belle's not here?" She said.
"Sorry. She's not in Gensokyo right now." Sen said back
Sempai's hand met her forehead "After all this, she's not here? I was expecting that girl to be here." Sempai said, ending that sentence like... "She does know what happened, right?"
Sen answered back, "Yea, Lord Nai and Lady Belle do, but Lord Nai said they couldn't leave their current matters hanging. Someone had to stay behind."
Sempai sighed again, and took her hand off her forehead. I herd her mutter a soft "At least...oh well."
Naturally, I'm getting more curious. "Komachi-sempai, who are they?"
Komachi-sempai stopped, but instead of hearing her answer, Sen did instead.
"Lord Nai Hinanawi and Lady Belle Hinanawi are the patriarch and matriarch of the Hinanawi clan. They're also really powerful too. I'd say they're the strongest celestials in all of Japan."
Japan?...oh yea, that's the country Gensokyo is in.
"You'll love them, I'm sure of it." Sen said with smile. "Follow me."
With that we all agreed, and Sempai and I followed Sen.
As our trip continued, I began to see a little bit of development. Seems like the Celestials really do make their homes here. And as I see, quite literally and quite nicely.
"You like the houses?" Sen said as we passed by them with a bit of glee.
"I do."
I herd her have a quick "heh-heh"
"You see, I designed them." Sen then said.
"You?" She doesn't look the part at all.
"Yep. I've been designing things even before I became a celestial. Granted, when I finally became one was when I really took off. I've designed castles, towns, buildings, machines, and even a fortress too"
I asked "A fortress?"
"Yep. Hell of a fortress too." Answered Sempai "I've seen Sen's Fortress before, and believe me it's a place you're never forget. Trust me."
"Oh, and here we are."
Instead of thinking about what was just said, I looked and saw that we had found our destination.
Yes indeed. There was many celestials here. Among them I noticed one tall man amongst them. From my perspective, all I could see was his blue hair.
"Lord Nai!" I heard Sen shout out, waving both her hands like a kid.
"Hello!" I herd one of the celestials shout back. It was the man with blue hair.
That must be Lord Nai.
"Nai! Hey!" I heard Sempai shout back.
Yep, heh. Intuition for the win.
We approached them and made our landing. Sen and Komachi landed first, I landed last and stood behind them. Komachi naturally took the lead, Sen followed by the side. If I didn't know any better, Sen was scanning my sempai.
Speaking of...did she have anything on her? Might she have some sort of weapon on her aside from her scythe? Hmm...Letting my curiosity get the better of me I scanned her myself. Looking from her feet up, nice figu-no, don't think about your hot sempai. I look, and I don't see much. The only thing of contention I see is that scythe of hers, which the blade was wavy, slightly tilting towards whatever direction Sempai moved it in. Not as malleable as Elly's for sure. Weird design choice.
"Nai-nai, glad you could make it!" Sempai said, like speaking to a old friend.
The man with blue hair, Nai Hinanawi, adjusted his glasses.
This man is the leader of a clan? He seems...simple. His blue hair wasn't combed very much. He wore a simple pair of oval glasses. It fit well with his short feathered blue hair. He wore a large brown shawl around him. Looks like he just came from a desert. I could see him wearing blue pants and yea he did. I see sand, I see some slight wear and tear from it. Nothing much my intuition told me instantly he had been traveling somewhere sandy from the looks of it. Must have been in such a rush he didn't prepare. Maybe it's not his time.
I could hear the others start speaking amongst themselves. I could hear two of them whisper something to eachother. It wasn't in Japanese, but in...um...Korean, or is it Mandarin?
"Bro, who's the new kid? Where's Fuka?"
"No idea sis. I guess this guy is a replacement or something. He doesn't look too tough. "This should be easy"
"Let's hope. We should probably let Lord Nai fight for us instead, you know, just in case."
"So the same as always? Eh."
Oh...
" Lord Nai Hinanawi and Lady Belle Hinanawi are the patriarch and matriarch of the Hinanawi clan. They're also really powerful too. I'd say they're the strongest celestials in all of Japan."
And now another click. He fights in place of others. That's the agreement. Someone else can fight in place of someone's who's got to fight a reaper, be their representative. These Hinanawis are fighting in place of these celestials and keeping them around. Clearly, Fukakusa wasn't strong enough, and I doubt I am too...So that's why they're still around.
But why would Komachi-sempai and Fukakusa-sempai agree to this deal?
"Nai, this is Liam, he'll be filling in for Fukakusa for a little while"
Komachi-sempai's voice shook me out of my thoughts once again. I saw Lord Nai step towards me-oh I have to react.
"It's very nice to meet you Albius-san" He said to me, extending his hand towards me.
I took Lord Nai's hand. "Thank you very much sir." I said back to him.
He smiled. I gave one too.
"So, should we get to business?"
"Yea."
"Where's Fuka-san?" We herd one of the celestials behind Lord Nai say.
Upon a closer look...most of them seem to be my age-size. They don't seem like adults...more like teenagers and kids.
"As you know, Fukakusa's hurt, and has to take a little sick leave. Don't worry, Fukakusa will be back. In the meantime Liam here will be taking over those duties. and so, Liam's here to reap the souls of who's times it is. And as such, they must duel death and win if they wish to stay."
That was quick and to the point.
I began to stretch some of my without making it oblivious. G-Ow...ouch, some of those hits from Nightbug-san still haven't finished...some of my ribs still aren't there either. Bah, I could work it off...I'm not sure how well I'm gonna do here, but I do need to try.
Though, sizing up Lord Nai...I could feel a calm air around him. Simple...yet the more I look at him, I could sense a taste of the power that he's suppressing. He isn't giving off anything. And only the strong have the sense of doing that...
Gah...this is gonna suck. I suppose this day really is fated to be nothing but being handed my ass over and over. Damn it a-.
"But, well, I'll be honest. Liam's in no shape to fight anyone. You or anyone else. So, we're gonna have concede this time."
What? Concede? Just like that?
I mean...it well...also mean I don't have to fight, but...um...
Sempai leaned in towards me and spoke softly to me. "Figuring how strong you are and how strong I know he is, I'd say it's your best option. And he is really strong, Heck, he's stronger then me."
"But I don't know how strong you are either."
Sempai processed that. "Oh, right, you don't"
"Long story short, Wriggle is child's play compared to this guy. This guy is very, very tough, and that's not even figuring in his abilities as a celestial. We can concede and give them an extension, or we can do a fool's errand and get pounded into mush. Let me tell you, Nai is very good at pounding things."
...
Hmm...
"Alicia-san?"
"Yea Liam-san?"
"Um...what's the answer to number 20? I forgot how many years we can give on a extension."
"It's thirty years max if we concede on our end. Do you remember how many times we're allowed to give that extension before submitting a report about it?"
"Ummm...three?"
"It's twice. My god, you are such a terrible study partner."
"You're suppose to be the one tutoring me remember? Besides, I'm the muscle and you're the smart one."
"No, I'm the brawns, the brains, and the beauty. You're the guy who manages to gets victories out of nowhere and pull our asses out of the fire when we get it in over our heads. You're our lucky one. Personally, I think it's that scythe of yours."
"What can I say, it's my lucky charm.."
"Yea. Too bad my mom's too alive and too psycho to give me my own lucky charm. At least yours takes care of you."
"Elly's not my mom!"
"So if you're saying the woman you live with isn't your mom, then you're admitting she's your girlfriend then? Heh-heh."
"Alicia! Elly is not my girlfriend!"
"..."
"Umm...she's...just really nice to me and is giving me a place to stay. I still can't believe they kicked me out of my dorm. You're lucky. You get your own dorm, no troublemaking roommates, and nobody to bother you."
"It's not all too awesome. It gets lonely you know, being all lone. Besides, you're a guy, I thought guys would love living with a girl."
"Like you said, it's not all too awesome. It's nice to have someone there...but, um...I have to keep on guard and well...um, I mean well, I just don't wanna show her that I'm barely passing and...-sigh...well, you know..."
"You don't need to say anything else Liam, I understand. You wanna make her happy, I know. I felt the same way about my mom when I was growing up."
"You'll be fine Liam. After all, you got me, the cool smart one to help my super lucky friend through it. You're gonna pass, and you're gonna make her and me proud. "
"You're right. We got brains and luck on our side, nothing's gonna stop us."
"You can say that again."
"..."
"Thanks again for helping me study Alicia, I really appreciate it."
"Anytime Liam. What are friends for?"
"..."
"..."
"After we finish this up, you mind showing me that spirit gun stuff? You've mastered it but I still keep blowing up my hand. Can you show me how you do it again? I keep messing up every time they test me on it.."
"Of course Alicia. Like you said, what are friends for?"
I thought about my choice...
"Ok" I answered. "Concede it is."
"Good choice." She said to me, leaning back away and then turned towards the crowd of celestials.
"Alright, we're going to concede." Sempai said. "And so, all of you who's time it was will get a extension. 25 years. I'll be letting our boss know and get the paperwork taken care of."
I suppose that's the main matter of business...that went much quicker then expec-
"Wait, what?! That's it?" shouted out one of the celestial kids making up Lord Nai's followers. "So I came all the way out here for nothing? I've spent a whole month getting ready for today! And this is what happens?!"
And a fellow Celestial child silenced with a hand on his mouth. "Dude. Shut up! Gift horse! Gift horse!"
With the outburst silenced...we fell to silence.
"Hmm, Komachi-san, anything else needed to take care of?" I asked.
"Nope, that's everything Fuka-san needed to do. I'd say we're done here." she replied.
...
...
I guess we we're done.
The celestials seemed to be thinking this too...aside from that one guy's outburst.
"Well, I guess that means we won, right?"
"Well...technically"
"Um, by default"
"Does that still count?"
"I have no idea..."
They all looked at towards Komachi for her input. She nodded.
And the crowd went wild.
"Woohoo! We won!" They cheered.
And the Celestial kids went raving, a few hugged, I saw a couple kiss (they had earlier too), and everyone was ecstatic.
"Hey, let's celebrate! Party at my place!" said one of the celestials "Alright!"
A party? They sound like they're gonna have fun.
With plans made the crowd started leaving, passing by us and flying off. I saw Sen almost leave with them, but looked at Sempai and Lord Nai and stayed behind.
I overheard a pair of them speak.
"Think he'll make pizza bagels again?"
"oooh, those were so nice last time, I hope so."
Pizza bagels?
I've heard of bagels and Alysia showed me what pizzas are...but what's that?
Eh, I'll ask later about this interesting sounding food. Besides, they were all gone now.
"So, I guess that's a wrap on everything?" I said to Sempai, still looking at the celestials off in the distance.
Instead of answering, Sempai put her hand on my shoulder.
I reactionary moved foreword as she did.
"You two should go hang out to with them." We heard Sempai sa-wha?
Uh...umm...wha
Groups and crowds...uh...
Umm...
N- n-no.
I'-I'd rather not..
Yes, that. "It's..um, didn't you want us to stay together?" Yes, another reason not to answer.
"No no, it'll be fine." Sempai saying the opposite of what I hoped. "Things should be safe around here. Besides." She began to say, focusing her line of sight on Lord Nai, using her ability of distance and wrapping her shoulder right and buddying up to him to all our surprise.
After the inital shock, Nai seemed to play it all cool.
"Nai and I need a little alone time. Sen, I hope you don't mind me stealing your boss for a bit. He and I, need to talk and stuff."
Sen and I had the same reaction. "Huh?"
"What about me Sempai?" I asked.
Lord Nai spoke this time. "Why don't you go with Sen and go to that party? I know you'll get along with them just fine."
crud...
"I'm well, um, not of a party guy." I tried to say
Yea. If-if I wasn't going to go to some of the parties in the afterlife, I wouldn't here.
...granted, I did have to go to those academy trainees mixers. I mean, I did mostly stay on the side lines...ummm...
Sempai then spoke up. "Sen, why don't you show Liam the shooting range you made here?"
Shooting range?
My ears picked up the moment I heard that. When I glanced at Sen, she seemed to share the reaction.
Sempai smiled. "Liam, Sen can show you around, and then you two could hit the range. Liam's a good shot, I'm sure he can give you a run for your money."
I looked at Sen, and I could see a pretty smile on her face.
"You, you're a good shot?"
I am.
"I am." I said, "Best marksmen in my class" I said with pride to-Oh wait she might not get the class thin-
"Yeeeaaaaa" She said "I don't think I can let you walk away now without seeing that. I have such few competition around here, everyone here just plain sucks at shooting straight. Comeon, I'll take you there."
That...um, that sounds really awesome! I haven't gotten a chance to do any practice in a while with graduation and all, and it's so calming to pick up a rifle, bow, or whatever and just zone out on nothing but the shot and the target.
I was psyched up, smiling and definitely I want to-wait um...uh...
"Don't worry Liam." Spoke Sempai to calm my fears "Sen's a fine girl, you'll be fine. As soon as we're done, I'll come find you. We shouldn't be too long."
...something tells me what she thinks is long is not what I think is long..
She then turned to Sen. " Sen, I trust Liam will be fine in your capable hands?"
Sen just smiled. "Of course."
Well...I wouldn't mind. If Sempai trusts her...though Sempai seems way to eager to ditch me.
I mean, I did just get here, and this place is totally new to me, and despite what she says I'm not sure if this place is all that safe. She wanted me to be here to make sure everything went without incident, and now she's ditching me for Lord Nai leaving me in the hands of a (very attractive) stranger...this formal at all...but...
Well...Sen is really cute. And the range too. That's awesome! And If Sen's a really good shot too, I think it'd be fun to see how well we stack up against eachother. I haven't had a decent challenge in months.
Ok ok, I'll do it!
Range here we come!
Chapter 7 End - Welcome to Bhava-Agra!
Do I smell a love interest? A forbidden love between Shinigami and Celestial?
Heh. You'll see soon enough.
Did you enjoy it this chapter? Tell me if you did.
Also, notes on Sen.
For those who haven't herd of Sen before, Sen Gatensoku is a fanmade touhou character created by Tottema (on Pixiv).
The Doll Learning From The Natural Laws, Sen Gatensoku is a robot and was made as a fake final boss for Hisoutensoku. Created by Tottema in the pre-release hype of Soku.
Granted, she's not really that here. She's a Celestial, and pretty much wearing the hat of the good celestials. I'd say more, but we'll see more of Sen in the next few chapters so I'll save it for that.
I well, don't have permission (I not really sure how we can even get in touch), but I hope if you ever do read this, you don't mind me using your creation. I will be treating her well, I promise.
Personally, I like the Touhou fan-characters (like Midori, Masha, Jozu, Sasha, and Meimu, for example). I would use the "Hakurei Miko", but Seika Hakurei took her place. Maybe I'll get a chance to use one of them and make them awesome too, time will decide on that.
Speaking or original characters, we see Lord Nai, Tenshi's father for the first time...instead of going for some towering, all powerful usually maybe a jerk guy...I went for the Shiki Tohno look and that nice guy archtype. I think it's good here, and more potential for use.
Belle Hinanawi, Tenshi's mother though is absent for reasons (Absolutely none involve me not having an idea what she looks like, totally.).
Hopefully the next chapter doesn't take as long. It shouldn't at least.
Anyway, I'm at 49,303 words now. I need to keep pushing onward.
See you next chapter!