And now our story jumps once again to another day, near the end of June, if I remember correctly. It was already unusually hot that day, with the summer sun beating down with a palpable, almost weighty pressure as the two of us relaxed in our office just before noon. It was the day of a full moon that day, and so the temple school was closed.
Sanae hadn't come by today and we weren't expecting to see anyone else. Despite it still being morning, the sun was already hot enough outside that just walking around was enough to make one feel exhausted, and so I was quite contentedly lazing about and reading a magazine borrowed from Suzunaan as I leaned back against the wall. Renko, however, seemed to be in no mood for a quiet day spent leafing through Outside world magazines.
"Hey Merry, let's go do something," she said, looking up at me from where she had sprawled on her back on the floor. The expression on her face reminded me of a dog begging for a walk. "The weather's gorgeous today, let's not waste it by staying inside and reading."
"I'd rather not spend a day off getting sunburnt, sweaty and exhausted, if it's all the same to you." I said without looking up. We had done this dance often enough that I knew meeting her eyes would be a mistake.
"Don't be a hikikomori, we could do something to beat the heat. Misty Lake is always nice and cool, why don't we go take a dip? Maybe we'll run into Wakasagihime and Kagerou."
"I suppose that might be alright. It gets hot even just sitting in this office in the afternoons..."
"Oh, or we could go to Hakugyokuro, it's always temperate there. It's been a long time since we've seen Youmu, right?"
"How would we even get there, Renko?"
"You could call Ran, she seems to have a way of getting there."
"I can't call Ran, only the youkai sage can do that. I'm just a human, Renko." I say that, but Renko had been fairly regularly using the shrine outside of our office as a telephone to contact Kanako up on the mountain. I doubt that the average human had such a direct means of contacting a divinity.
"Well, you could pretend to be your doppelganger. It wouldn't fool Ran, of course, but I bet if we got you a fancier dress and a parasol and you walked around town acting all haughty and telling people what to do, that would be enough to get her attention."
"Renko, that's just about the worst idea I've ever heard from you. If you had ever met the youkai sage, you wouldn't want anything to do with her."
She seemed like she was about to offer a rebuttal, but our conversation was interrupted by a knock on the office door.
"Hello!" called a familiar voice from outside. "Aya Shameimaru here, the pure and correct tengu reporter." I stood up and hurriedly walked over to open the door. Behind it, Aya was standing with her best sales smile beaming towards me.
"Hello Aya. Are you here to deliver a special edition?"
"Not today, dear friends. Today I'm actually performing some important market research. I need to get the opinion of the man on the street, and as villagers, you two seem close enough to that. May I come in for a moment?"
I invited her inside and offered her some of the cold barley tea that Renko and I had brought from home. She downed the offered cup in a single gulp, then produced a small paperback book from her shoulder bag, handing it to Renko and saying "This is what I wanted you to look at."
"Is this... a manga?" Renko asked, turning it over in her hands. From the covers it definitely looked like one. The art adorning the jacket could have been the sort you might find on any number of typical shonen battle manga and both the binding and printing styles looked appropriate for a cheap tankobon from the Outside world. "Wait a moment Aya, is this a tengu-made manga?"
"Indeed it is, the first of its kind. It was a collaboration of several different tengu, based on the examples we saw at the Moriya shrine. It's intended for distribution in the human village. As Outsiders, I'm sure you've seen plenty of manga from the Outside world in your time, so I'd like to get your opinion."
"Well, it doesn't look too long. Do you mind if I read it right now?"
"Please do."
Renko sat down at her desk and peered at the book, reading quickly through its pages. It didn't take her long to reach the end, at which point she leaned back and grumbled with an uncertain expression on her face. "Hmmm. It's uh..."
"Please speak freely, we welcome your honest criticism," Aya said.
"Ah, well, even so, you'd be better off getting a larger sample size. Merry, you read it, see what you think, Renko said, tossing the volume to me.
I reacted just in time to catch it, only fumbling slightly. "Me? I'm not usually much for manga, but let's have a look." I turned the volume over in my hands, looking at the cover. The illustration adoring the jacket was bombastic and well drawn, but the lettering at the top of the cover simply read "Manga." There was no artist's name to be found. I suppose that might be typical of a prototype though. I opened the book and began to page through it.
"Oh..." I muttered as I flipped through the pages. "Um, I see."
The content of the book was exceedingly simple. It told the story of a formless evil being known as the Dark Lord sending assassins disguised as friends after a human hero who protected a suspiciously familiar-looking village by exterminating monsters. The drawings themselves were well executed and surprisingly lifelike, though barely stylized at all, looking more like tracings of photographs. More than anything, the manga was bland. The story was almost all conveyed through text and narration and both the hero and their villainous opposite were poorly defined characters with neither backstory nor any sort of personality to them. The fight scenes were competently executed, but without any sort of gimmicks - someone would simply attack the hero, and he would effortlessly best them. Even the final confrontation was written as if the author had gotten bored with the concept, being resolved in the space of only a few panels and without any serious threat to the hero.
It would be unfair to compare this manga, which just from the quality of its presentation would make it an impressive product for an amateur to have completed, to the professionally made, and in many cases famous series found at the Moriya shrine. As such, I was hesitant to voice my opinions. Additionally, if the intention was to sell this manga to villagers, who might not be familiar with the medium, it could perhaps be forgiven for its simplistic approach. Even still though...
"Well, what do you think?" Aya asked expectantly.
Renko and I glanced at eachother. Seeing my reluctance, Renko cleared her throat. "Well, it's not like I've ever produced a manga or anything myself, and while I may be from the Outside world, I don't consider myself to be an expert by any means. But compared to other manga that I've read..."
"Yes?"
"I'd have to say it's sub-par, to be honest. If you're selling it to villagers who've never seen a manga before, they may still enjoy it just for its novelty, but it's lacking in both charm and excitement."
"Ayayaya, that's what I was worried about." Aya said with a sigh. "I stopped by the Moriya shrine before I came here. The wind priestess told me it was 'pretty good for a first time effort,' and Lady Moriya just took one look at it and said 'boring.' Ah well, I suppose it's to be expected. Can you tell me more precisely what its failings are?"
"Well, the art itself isn't bad at all, though it could probably stand to be more exaggerated at times. My main critique is the storyline..." Renko then spent some time pointing out specific flaws in the storytelling. Her points were almost entirely the same ones I would have raised. Aya listened intently and politely, then let out a deep breath.
"Well, thank you for that honest review. I suppose there's more to making manga than just copying what we've already seen."
"Sorry Aya, I don't mean to be harsh," Renko said, handing the book back to her.
"No, no, don't worry. I was hoping that perhaps you two would be a bit less discerning than a goddess, but I'm glad I came and got your response. I'd be a laughing stock among the tengu if I tried to sell something like this in the book stores only for it to go untouched. Well, thank you for your time then," Aya said, standing up and bowing briefly. "I appreciate your honest feedback." Saying that, she turned to leave.
"Oh, miss Aya?" Renko asked as she slid the door open and stepped outside.
"Yes?" she asked, turning her head to regard Renko over her shoulder as she stretched out her wings.
"What are you going to do with that prototype if not sell it?"
"Burn it, I suppose. Did you want it?"
"Well, not personally, but I was going to suggest you go show it to the people at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. You may find them to be a more receptive audience."
"Oh, I suppose that's a good place for it. I've heard that library only collects useless books. I'll do that." She smiled briefly before flexing her black wings and launching herself straight up into the air with one powerful flap. We watched her disappear into the endless azure expanse of the summer sky.
"Renko," I said, once Aya had disappeared from sight. "Do you think she drew that manga herself?"
"Or wrote it, maybe. There's no way to be sure though. Poor Aya. I hope she didn't spend too long on it."
