Chapter 1: The Young Magician Whisked Away


When Richard first came to, he felt that he was quite groggy about what happened to him, as he couldn't instantly open his eyes, as they felt like they were gummed shut from continuous periods of being closed, and he barely could even feel anything around him. All he could clearly feel was something pillowy underneath him.

Richard took a moment to attempt opening his eyes, and even moved his hands a little, as the movement managed to help him get a good grasp of where he was, as he slowly sat right up, feeling the bamboo tatami floor underneath him, around whatever he was on.

After several attempts, he finally opened his eyes, as he looked around, finding himself in some sort of Japanese-styled room, as all he could see was a shelf of books with titles that he couldn't tell from where he was sitting, and in front of him was a kotatsu with a blue drape cloth, and there was a door ahead of him, as it was one of the sliding panel doors.

"Hm, that's odd. I don't know where I am right now." Richard remarked, before he then began to look around his surroundings. "But I have a feeling that I'm not in a realm that I should know about."

He then noticed that there was a book on the kotatsu, as he picked it up and read the cover title.

"'Perfect Memento In The Strict Sense'..." Richard read, his eyes scanning the words on it. "By…. Akyuu no Hieda?"

Richard then noticed that the door ahead of him opened, as out stepped Yukari herself, although Richard had the strange feeling that this was not the Yukari that he knew, since she had a foreign feeling to him when he looked at her.

"Ah… I see that you're awake." Yukari remarked, before she then sat down. "To be fair, with how hard you hit the ground outside, I would have suspected that it would have taken you longer than a few hours to shake out of that short-term coma, if you would for the next few days."

"Well, I am fairly hardy." Richard answered back. "So you're the one who helped me? May I ask your name."

"Why, of course." Yukari answered back with a curt nod. "Yukari Yakumo, Youkai of Boundaries. And I welcome you to my humble abode, Mr…"

"Richard. Just call me Richard." Richard answered back. "But if you want a formal answer for my full name. It's Richard. Richard Liu."

"Richard…" Yukari remarked, as she had a curious look in her eyes, which Richard picked up, before she then shook it off. "Well, you seem to fit that kind of name quite well, with that kind of appearance."

"Of course. Of course." Richard answered back with a nod. "So… Do you have any idea of what happened? The last thing I remember was fetching a few things for a friend of mine… but then I remember falling through something. I suppose what followed is that I hit my head on the ground nearby as you said, which gave me one nasty concussion. And then you took me inside, and let me rest until I woke up. Did I get the facts right?"

"My my, you're quite the detective are you…?" Yukari remarked, as interest flashed in her eyes. "Now then, I suppose that this is the point where you might ask me if there is any way to send you back?"

"...I think if you have no idea how I got here, it would be better not to try sending me back. You might send me somewhere quite unpleasant by accident." Richard hummed. "...Not that you would do it on purpose, right?"

"No, no, what gave you that idea?" Yukari laughed lightly, as Richard gave a few chuckles of his own. "But I suppose that you are right. I wouldn't be able to send you back if I wanted to. So I suppose that you will be stuck here for quite a while."

"Suppose so." Richard nodded back.

"And do please at least get off the body pillow you're squishing under you." Yukari added firmly.

"Body pi-" Richard started, before he then noticed that it was a body pillow of Reimu, who was in a risque position, although she was well covered up by her shrine maiden outfit, as he sprung off it quickly. "Oh my, I didn't expect that you would have a body pillow. Regardless, apologies for that."

"You're excused. That's a Reimu Hakurei body pillow." Yukari explained. "And don't worry. It's never been used. I just use it to remind newcomers of what she looks like."

"Newcomers?" Richard asked, raising an eye-brow.

"Oh, you thought this was the first time that we had outsiders like you before?" Yukari asked back. "We've had lots of them before you. Some are like you, dropped in this place without any clue of what happened. Others came here on wishes of gaining long lost power to their names, and some just came here to enjoy a world of fantasy."

"Hm…" Richard muttered, as he pursed his lips, digesting the statement in his head.

"Anyways, Reimu Hakurei is the first person you find if something goes wrong in your stay here." Yukari continued.

"I could tell. She does have that… welcoming aura to her, just from her image." Richard nodded back. "...And funnily enough, when you mentioned power, I feel like that something was emptied out of me. Your mentioning of that actually made me check myself over, and realize that."

"So you lost your powers? That's a shame." Yukari remarked, with a gentle frown on her lips. "But I suppose that you could learn new ones."

"Could I?" Richard asked curiously.

"Hey now, I wouldn't rush out if I were you." Yukari warned, before grabbing the book that Richard checked. "Before you can leave my house, you must read this field guide to Gensokyo."

"Gensokyo… This is the name of this realm?" Richard asked, before pondering about it. "...'Land of Fantasy', that aligns well with people wanting to live in a world of fantasy right?"

"Ah, you're fluent enough in Japanese already. Then that means that I don't have to bother applying any translation cantrips upon you." Yukari stated. "But still, that's far less than enough to survive out there. To venture out there, you must know our enemies as well as you know yourself. Outside these walls, just about everything will either want to eat you, or kill you and loot your corpse. Even both."

Richard's stomach then grumbled as a result of the words, as Richard held it sheepishly, as Yukari held a smug smile on her face.

"That reminds me. You haven't eaten ever since you have woken up, right?" Yukari asked.

"I can handle it." Richard responded back. "I'm used to being hungry."

"Oh, no no no. That won't do at all." Yukari remarked, before opening a gap and shoving her hand through it, and pulling out a kebab. "Here, have a kebab skewer."

"Kebab, thank you very much. I should show some grace: Itadakimasu!" Richard remarked, before he then began to chew on it, as he tasted it for a while, before he then swallowed it.

As soon as he did, he then felt it trigger his gag reflex, as he then began to spit the kebab out, pointing it away from Yukari, as he then coughed violently, surprising Yukari.

Richard then recovered, before he then looked at the kebab.

"Yukari, could you please tell me what that kebab was made out of?" Richard asked.

"Just some local Gensokyo beef, nothing else, other than some seasoning." Yukari stated. "Is it the seasoning?"

"N-No, the spiciness is fine for me." Richard answered back. "It's just… the meat. The meat tastes fine, and feels soft enough. But when I tried to swallow it, I immediately felt like I was swallowing a furball or something, as if my body was actively rejecting the meat."

"Oh, that's odd." Yukari remarked, before she then tossed the eaten kebab into a gap, before opening another, and pulling out another kebab. "Try this then?"

Richard then took it slowly, before eating it more slowly, even swallowing gently, as Yukari watched, before Richard found nothing wrong with the kebab, as he polished it off with a few big bites, before letting out a satisfied sigh.

"Ah, that's much better." Richard answered back. "This must be standard beef."

"Hm… that's interesting. This is the first time I found someone who was averse to the local brand of beef." Yukari hummed, as she examined Richard all over. "You seem to be chock full of secrets that I think I should find."

"Well, I'm sure that you'll learn some just by watching me." Richard answered back.

"We'll see." Yukari stated. "In fact, just to incentivize you towards helping you regain what you have lost, I heard that there was a seal in one of our forests that manifested almost at the same time you arrived here. But again, before you leap into the fray, I must remind you that you read the manual."

"Hm… assuming that this realm has Japanese origins… the proper term for the creatures here are youkai, right?" Richard asked back.

"Correct. Maybe you can afford to skim a few introductory chapters. But let me see how much you know about them." Yukari stated, before pointing a finger to him. "What's a tengu?"

"Karasu or Hanadaka?" Richard asked. "Either way, the traits of these two variants share in common is that they both wield fans of leaves, which are capable of manipulating the very wind itself, and have wings, although what kind vary among the variants."

"Impressive. But would you care to elaborate further?" Yukari smirked, as she began to be interested in Richard's knowledge. "What's the top speed of a Karasu-Tengu, or crow tengu, which we call here? What about the wolf tengu? And their relative eyesight distances? And what functions do the three variants have in the Tengu Army?"

"You're rattling off quite a few questions." Richard remarked. "But I suppose that I can give you brief answers. A crow-tengu is known for being able to outrun bullet trains by a large margin, half a Mach, if I remember correctly. And, ah yes, the Wolf Tengu. I suppose that I neglected to mention that yes, Karasu Tengu even have a sub-division among crows and wolves, even though common myths portray them with traits of both species. A wolf tengu is not meant for speed, but they still are fast. The common speed that they have is within 120 km/h safely, but they do enjoy a far greater range of sight. In fact, their eyesight stretches within kilometers, while the crow tengu can barely see hundreds of meters ahead. And so, it is commonly said that wolf tengu would take the roles of lookouts, and crow tengus as scouts and messengers. As for the Hanadaka? They are meant as high lords, and professional warriors."

Yukari was left silent for a moment, before she then spoke. "...You know a lot about youkai, don't you?" She remarked.

"Well, I grew up in a background with people who knew them well. And let's just say they were experts on the subject, and go no further than that." Richard shrugged.

"Hmmmm…" Yukari remarked, as her eyes narrowed. "Well, maybe I underestimated you. But my point stands, read the manual. You wouldn't want to have any 'mistakes' out there, would you? After all, a moment's hesitation could spell your end out there."

"I suppose there's no harm in reading through it." Richard nodded.

"Excellent. In the meantime, I'm off to tend to my familiars." Yukari stated. "If you need a drink or anything, just call for me and I'll gap it in. It shouldn't take you too long to read it. It's only 166 pages long. And the additional materials section should be only 184 pages."

"Alright, textbook-length it is…" Richard nodded back, before Yukari then pulled out two more books, as the titles were 'Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red' by the same author, Akyuu, and 'Symposium of Post-Mysticism', by Akyuu and Kirisame. "And I assume that these are additional-additional material, hm?"

"You catch on fast. Once you are done, we'll see about taking you to unlock your powers." Yukari stated.

Richard nodded, as Yukari left the room, leaving Richard to read through the three books.

As Richard began to read through the books, he began to analyze the fact that this Gensokyo was far more different to the one he was used to. At first, he noticed a few small differences here and there, which were minute enough to not warrant his attention. However, as he continued to read through, the differences began to link up to each other, as it painted him a better picture of the Gensokyo he was in, as his expression creased.

"This Gensokyo is far more unfriendly than I thought. Lots of yokai that I expected would be a bit better with humans are actually not so nice around these parts…" Richard muttered to himself. "And the people here… Something's nagging me about what I'm reading about them… Hopefully it's just a bad feeling, and nothing more. Mamizou wouldn't be that bad of a swindler, right?"

Richard then closed the last book of the three, before he then noticed the wind blowing behind his back, as he turned around and noticed that there was a backdoor that was left open, leading right out of the house.

"...Huh, and I thought I was supposed to be more sharp than that." Richard remarked, before he then looked back. "And Yukari's not around here… I think that I should leave. It wouldn't be nice to remain around here… and from what I read… I don't think that she and I should talk more."

Richard then immediately began to move over to the bookshelf, before shelving the books neatly, and stepping right at the edge of the door, and then turning around.

"Hey, Yukari, I would like to say that I've finished reading through the books." Richard answered back. "And as much as I would like to stay around, I think that I would like to go looking for things on my own. Please don't take offense, I promise to not cause trouble."

There was silence as his reply, as he began to walk out of the house, finally taking a step into Gensokyo, where he looked around, and saw the vibrant landscape, seeing a group of young fairies fly over him, giggling like the childish creatures they are.

"Beautiful…" Richard remarked with a smile.

"So I guess you're new here, huh?" A familiar young voice said, as Richard turned around to see Chen in the hole of a tree beside him, her head the only thing poking out of it.

"And you must be Chen Yakumo, bakeneko, shikigami's shikigami." Richard answered back.

"Wow, you actually did read the guides as Yukari told you." Chen remarked. "But still, why leave? Yukari could easily guide you to where you must go."

"Well… Frankly, after reading the guides, I think that I'm better off going alone." Richard stated, looking out towards the world outside. "It's not that I'm afraid of what Yukari could do. Oh no, I'm well aware that if she wanted me dead, I wouldn't even be alive to even consider that. And I assume that she's been watching this all this time?"

"Mhm." Chen nodded softly back. "Seriously though, I think that you can trust the mistress. She helped a lot of newcomers before, in finding their bearings in this land. Besides, you never know what you might encounter out there. Many newcomers found a not-so-nice youkai out there, and that's all for them. It's a mistake that you wouldn't want to make."

"...As much as I see the point in your words." Richard admitted. "...I must respectfully decline. Yukari is fairly scheming in the guides, and I think relying on her for everything might not make my stay pleasant for long."

"Suit yourself." Chen remarked, before Richard then began to climb the tree. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Getting you out." Richard answered back, before climbing onto a branch next to the hole, and then pulling Chen out with all of his strength, which took several tries, although he succeeded in the end, as he fell down onto his back, although it only left him sore, while Chen was shaking about.

"Well, thanks, I guess." Chen answered back. "That's the first time someone like you helped me."

"You're welcome." Richard answered back. "If I must ask, do you know where the nearest settlement is? I think that it would be a smart idea to find some people to commune with that are civil."

"Over there." Chen remarked, pointing to a forest of bamboo. "You'll find a nice place there that is willing to take care of people there."

"Thanks." Richard answered back, before he then trekked towards the location.

"...Man, I can't believe he just went like that. I almost feel bad for what's about to happen. Almost." Chen muttered to herself, before she entered the residence.

As Richard began to walk through the bamboo forest, he began to notice that his surroundings were getting darker and darker, which caused him to be alert.

"...Darkness. And it's not even night. Something wicked this way comes." Richard remarked, before he then heard the sound of danmaku fire, which alerted him. "Yep, right on the spot."

"It's Rumia! Run for your life!" A frantic female voice cried, as Richard heard the fighting come his way.

"...Shit. I was joking about it coming my way…" Richard cursed, before he then noticed a wall of bamboo that was tightly packed together enough to hide his figure. "...I don't know if I can even take Rumia in a straight fight. I should hide, and hope that she can pass me by. Hopefully, what comes next should distract her enough… otherwise it will be dicey for me."

Richard then slipped behind the curtain of bamboo, as he watched a pair of moon-rabbit youkai that were dressed in military uniform, trying to use their hand-guns, which fired red bullet-shaped projectiles at their target, before a massive spread of orb danmaku hit both youkai across the entire body, as both of them were knocked down to the ground, and unconscious from the force of the magical attack.

Richard's eyes tracked to the other side, towards Rumia, who came over, looking fairly menacing, as her sharp teeth were bared in a predatory grin, as she walked slowly over towards the rabbit youkai.

"Aw, I wish there was something more filling than moon rabbits around here." Rumia remarked, before grabbing the one of the left, who had short purple hair. "Ah well, itadakimasu…!"

Richard could only watch as Rumia began to devour the moon rabbit youkai, messily biting parts of her flesh off, and snapping bones off whenever they stopped her from getting to the juicy flesh on the body, as she even broke open the ribs to expose the chest cavity, as she began to gorge on the organs inside, as her entire face and mouth was dripping with the blood of the youkai. By the time the deed was done, there were only bones remaining of the former youkai. When Rumia moved onto her partner, it was a far more gruesome fate, as she was barely conscious, before the pain of being devoured caused her to jolt awake, causing her to scream in agony, as she was being eaten alive, with such fear and despair that it shook Richard's heart.

'Calm down… calm down…!' Richard thought to himself, as she pressed a hand to his own beating heart, which was aching from the bloody scene he was seeing. 'You can't be a hero right now. You're barely able to survive on your own smarts… you have no power. The only way we survive is if we keep our heads low. We'll right this wrong soon enough.'

As soon as Rumia was done, as the rabbit youkai let out a few bloodied gurgles and death rattles in the middle of the eating process, she immediately wiped her mouth off with her own sleeve, although it didn't do much to get rid of the blood on her. She was about to walk by, before she then began to smell the air around her, which made Richard unsettled.

"I smell a hummmaaannn…" Rumia drooled, as her tone felt hungry, as Richard's breath hitched upon realizing he was detected. She then raised a hand as blue energy gathered before it, causing Richard to duck low, as a blue beam cut right through the curtain of bamboo he was on, exploding it, rather than just cutting through it, as jagged fragments of bamboo clattered on the ground. "You look tasty!"

"Okay, Plan B-" Richard remarked, before he then raised his hand to fire some magic back in order to deter Rumia, only to find that nothing was working. "What…? WHAT…!?"

Richard attempted to cast magic several times, only for him to run blank each and every time, as Rumia began to giggle maniacally, while walking towards him.

"GODDAMN…!" Richard cursed, before he then looked frantically around for anything that could help him, before he found a large rock, and then the large bamboo fragments on the ground, as his mind concocted a plan quickly.

Richard dove for the large rock, before cradling it in both of his hands. "You stay back! I don't know what magic you have, but I know that I can bash your head in with this rock! I have the right momentum to make it work!"

"Oh my. A rock." Rumia dryly remarked, as her smile disappeared into an unamused look. "That means I'm no match for you. Sure, I can gun down a squad of moon rabbits and blow up the bamboo stalks you were hiding behind. But a rock. By Jove, I do believe you have trumped me, good sir."

"That's… That's just sarcasm!" Richard exclaimed, keeping his tone raw to lure Rumia's attention. "And besides, I bet that you can dish a hit, but you can't take a rock to the head! You're not physically strong! I bet that you're scared that I'll actually win with that trick."

"Oh please, do try. We're all about fair combat in Gensokyo. I'll give you a free hit with that rock." Rumia mocked.

"Oh yeah? And how do I know you won't try something cheap?" Richard asked back aggressively. "You aren't exactly the most trustworthy. And besides, if you close your eyes, it might actually prove you don't give a shit. Or do you need your eyes open to handle a 'poor weak little human' like me?"

"Oh fine, I'll humor you." Rumia remarked, before she then closed her eyes. "Just know that I'm going to enjoy feasting on your innards."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep talking." Richard remarked, as he swapped the rock for one of the jagged bamboo fragments that was created from the explosion, before he then tested its sharpness, by jabbing the sharp end against his open palm, before he found that it managed to cut into his palm well, which actually made Richard sure of his choice. "Okay, I'm ready. Now hold still. Don't want to be seen flinching before a lowly human like me."

"Oh trust me, I don't even need to." Rumia answered back with arrogance, before Richard walked over, scooping some dirt into his other open hand.

In one swift motion, Richard cocked his arm back, before locking right onto Rumia's left eye, before he then thrusted the bamboo shard right into Rumia's eye with all of his strength, as he managed to puncture her eye hard, which caused her to be stunned for a moment, as her other eye opened, giving Richard the chance to throw the dirt inside, blinding the other eye hard.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Rumia screamed in agony, as she gripped her bleeding eye, collapsing on the ground, writhing in pain. "YOU BASTARD! MY EYE! MY EYE! YOU STABBED ME RIGHT IN THE EYE, YOU WRETCHED MONSTER!"

"Serves you right for trying to kill me!" Richard shouted, as he already broke into a sprint. "I'm not about to die just because you're hungry. Besides, you said that it was a free hit, but you never said it had to be with the rock, so that's on you, not me!"

Richard then took the chance to grab one of the fallen pistols from the devoured moon-rabbits, before then bursting away in a full sprint, diving into the thick of the bamboo, running opposite of the way that Rumia and the moon-rabbits came from.

'I don't know if I'm going the right way, and since this is a different Gensokyo, Eientei could be in an entirely different place for all I know…' Richard thought. 'But the more distance I can have from Rumia while she's cradling that bloodied eye of hers, the more time I can find clues towards where it is. And once I get there, I'll be safe… or if I'm lucky, I'll find a patrol that can save me from Rumia in my current state.'

Richard then noticed several figures in the distance, on the other side of the bamboo patch, as he saw that it was a clearing for whoever was on the other side to see him properly. Noticing that hope was right before his eyes, he immediately forced himself to pick up speed.

"Help! Help!" Richard cried out, waving his hands about towards the figures. "Help me! I've been attacked by Rumia! She ate several moon-rabbits nearby, and she's coming after me! Please, whoever you are, help me-"

Richard barely managed to make it out of the clearing, before he heard the sound of energy discharge, before he felt a searing heat on his own stomach, before blood erupted out of it, as a blue beam pierced right through it, stopping him dead in his tracks, as he tumbled onto the ground, before landing flat on his back.

"Yeeearrgghhh!" Richard cried in agony, clutching his punctured abdomen. "Please! Please help me!"

Rumia then floated down, as her expression was downright feral, as she held the bamboo shard in her hand, with her blood dripping from the jagged edge, while Richard saw that Rumia's punctured eye was leaving a trail of blood that ran down her face, and her other eye was red from rubbing all of the dirt out.

"You know, I have to admit, that was pretty gutsy of you." Rumia remarked, before she then stepped onto Richard's chest with her foot, pinning him down. "I actually got hurt by a human who managed to trick me. I would be impressed if it wasn't for the throbbing agony of getting my eye gouged out. So I'm going to eat you alive, like I did with that moon-rabbit, but I'm going to enjoy you more slowly, so that I can savor the fear."

"Get off!" Richard exclaimed, before he fired the entire magazine of the weapon on Rumia's head, before she then seared a hole right through his hand with another close-range beam, causing him to drop it, and his hand to slump down.

"Give up, you humans won't ever beat us youkai." Rumia remarked, before she then shifted her hands into claws. "So, let's start with the course. I think I'll have your ribs first-"

"Hey, Rumia! Over here!" A familiar female voice cried, as Richard immediately recognised it.

"Huh?" Rumia asked, before she looked at whoever called her, before her eyes glinted red, before they lost focus, as if she was in a hallucination.

"Rei…" Richard barely managed to say, before he then hacked violently, coughing some blood out.

"She's paralyzed. Open fire!" The voice cried, before a barrage of bullet danmaku hit Rumia, pelting her all over, before she then exploded into a spectacular show of white particles, as the darkness was dispelled the moment she was defeated.

"Find the lost ones. I'll tend to this human." The voice remarked, before Richard saw another pair of moon-rabbit youkai brush by him, before he was being moved slightly by Reisen, who was in her standard attire. "...You cried for us. I'm glad that you did, because it helped us find Rumia before more casualties happened."

"You're wel-" Richard rarely got out. before he then coughed violently again, as his vision and consciousness began to slip from the prolonged blood loss.

"Hey, hey!" Reisen cried out, as she tried to get Richard to respond, although Richard was losing consciousness already, losing the ability to speak. "This is bad, he's already entered severe hypotension from the rate he is losing blood from that wound… "

"M'am. You don't happen to know a Private Nanako, did you?" One of Reisen's escorts remarking, bringing back a helmet in her hands. "We found two skeletons that match moon-rabbit physiques. These might be the ones we lost contact with."

"Forget that! This human is bleeding out right here!" Reisen cried. "Message the House of Eternity and let them know we have a human male in critical condition, at risk of dying without immediate treatment, in fact."

"Understood. Squad 3 to House of Eternity. We've got two down and one critically injured civilian. Get a med team on standby." The other escort remarked, speaking through a communicator, as Richard could barely hear the words. "I repeat…"

At that moment, Richard's senses began to fail him, as he slipped into unconsciousness, his vision fading into a inky darkness, and his own breathing the only thing he could hear… before he heard and felt nothing at all, finally unconscious, and barely alive from Reisen doing all she could to prevent him from bleeding out further.