It was a clear and bright day in Gensokyo when Kasen Ibaraki traversed the eastern base of Youkai mountain from her mansion on her way to Hakurei Shrine. There was a pertinent matter she needed to make Reimu aware of and after crossing the phantom meadow, all that was left in her way was the magic forest. It was hardly a perilous place, the only issue was the oni tended to get lost along this leg of the journey. She knew there was a path that led through the forest where she could find Alice and Marisa's house along the way, but after her time toiling in the bureaucracy of hell it had been a fair bit since she made this journey.

Still, she followed the path that seemed familiar and kept her walking south. However, as time passed, Alice's house never appeared to the east, and neither did Marisa's house a little after that. Instead, after rounding a corner marked by the trunk of a tree she quickly found herself faced by a south flowing river with a narrow bridge leading across that itself led to a rather small home Kasen hadn't seen before. It was nestled between a second river on the west side of it that conjoined into the first just near the house's south end. However, unlike the east river she stood before, the west had the remains of what once was a twin bridge, yet was completely destroyed with nothing but bamboo strewn about on the other end. Strange, considering there was no bamboo in these parts. Looking to the house, it was propped up off the ground by a series of wooden supports with stairs that led up to a wooden walkway sheltered by the main roof above. The walk way led to a sliding door entrance into what had to be the only room the home had.

It was the only place the path led to and normally, Kasen would've simply turned back and continued on her way. Yet what gave her pause was the fact the sliding rice paper door was broken sprawled flat on the floor and next to it was a rather large overturned bowl with various spilled jars and jugs, along with numerous tangerine peeling and a spilled bag of rice. It seemed like the place had been broken into and ransacked, and worse yet Kasen surmised it may have been due to the incident she was on her way to tell Reimu about. Crossing the bridge to investigate, she stepped up the stairs to the deck before peering inside, only for the floorboard she stepped upon to let out a distinct and not at all subtle creaking groan. Just then the very large overturned bowl seemed to jostle in return, putting Kaisen on guard.

"Wh-who's there?" It was the voice of a child, a young boy by the sound of it, allowing Kasen to lower her guard with an alleviating sigh as she knelt down to help the kid out. "Hello?" the kid called again. "Who are you?"

Her fingers gripped at the lip of the bowl as she asked, "are you okay, why are you under this bowl?"

However she swiftly reeled back when the boy let out a loud sneeze from beneath his bowl only to erupt into a coughing fit, the type that certainly began deep in the chest, rattling the lungs making one's chest sore and throat ache. This kid was sick, that much was certain to Kasen.

"It's not a bowl," the child then insisted. "It's my hat."

A hat so large it easily encompassed his entire body when curled up, as he peered out safely from within as though he were a tortoise. However as he peered up from the hats brim and rested his eyes upon Kasen, he couldn't help but notice her bandaged right arm, yet more startling was the iron cuffed upon her left wrist. Though she didn't seem like a particularly animus individual, yet in the kid's belligerent state he couldn't help but draw a hasty conclusion of his own.

"Y-you're a demon… an Oni! Aren't you…?" His hat slid back across the floor a bit as the kid shuffled away. "I don't taste good! And I'm very weak and not a good fighter. Any battle between us would just bore you."

"No, no, no, I don't have a taste for human flesh! -not to mention it's forbidden." Kasen swiftly insisted, waving her hands to ease his mind. "And… I try not to trifle with children where fighting is concerned, heh"

"Wait!" he barked, having reached another conclusion of his own. "You're the Debt Collector!" Somehow his sickly and wavering tone of voice led Kasen to believe a debt collector was of more troubling and distressing matter than a man eating oni that left the child on the verge of tears. "It's only been four days! I'll have the money later as promised~"

"I'm not hustling you for money!"

The child hardly seemed convinced and only more terrified, retreating further back into his hat causing it to drag against the floor. Seeing this, she quickly reached into the folds of her dress before withdrawing a rounded pellet and placing it before the boy's hat.

"Here, medicine I often carry with me, free of charge! One bite of this and you'll be right as rain."

She smiled as brightly as she could to ease the child's mind, and slowly she watched as his small tentative hand reached out from under his hat before gathering up the pellet and disappearing again. There was silence for a moment as that hat closed around him, but not long before Kasen could grow doubtful, the hat began to raise as the child assumed a sitting position.

"Th-thanks," he muttered in a low, muted and shy voice.

He sat with his head bowed, his large hat obscuring his whole body from where Kasen knelt, prompting the Oni to bow her head in an attempt to pear under. She got a quick glance at the child, seeing his tangerine orange hair with eyes that matched. He was dressed in clothing from the human village, with long baggy sleeves, a belt at his midsection with the hakama tied off at his ankles. Once she made brief eye contact he again bowed his head, allowing his bowl-like hat to obscure her view of him. He was definitely from the human village, but why he was all the way out here in the magic forest left her curious.

The boy then said, "I-I'm penniless and don't have much to offer you… aside from my hand in marriage."

"It's Forbidden!" Kasen swiftly blurted out, a deep burning blush radiating upon her cheeks! "A human and an Oni? It just couldn't be! Not to mention you're so young and have yet to live your life! A boy your age shouldn't be making such hasty propositions! Just what would Reimu think if she heard?"

However, in a quiet voice, the boy said, "it's… an expression where I'm from."

Near instantly he heard a knock upon hat as Kasen whacked it with her knuckle, hard enough to feel it but not so hard it actually hurt.

"You shouldn't play with a woman's heart like that young child," she huffed. "Even that of an Oni."

"Oni," the boy muttered. "Wait, you're Kasen?"

"That is me!" she declared, happy to be recognized for the good she'd done in the human village keeping away less virtuous oni, youkai and the like. "Since you know my name, why don't you tell me yours?"

"Larin," he answered. "-uhh… Isazigred."

"Larin Isazigred," she repeated. "Why are you so far from the human village?"

"I'm not comfortable around others," he meekly answered. "So after two years of working the rice fields I put it towards paying for this house, but it wasn't enough, so I got a loan. Now I need to pay that back plus interest and the first four days have been nothing but agony."

"Why don't we begin from the start then," she insisted. "Day one."

"O-okay… it all started four days ago when I went fishing at the misty lake early in the morning…"

Larin had sat himself down on a suitably large boulder upon the river bank with his bamboo fishing rod cast just waiting for something to bite.. Not to mention the fact he lost easy access to the village utilities, requiring a few miles trek if he simply wanted to get supplies. With the sun to his back, rising in the east, his large rounded hat did well to keep him shaded as his mind drifted to and from the handful of events that preceded the day.

He recalled how the folk were weary towards his decision to move out of the human village and into a corner of the magic forest. They often expressed their doubt towards Larin being able to persist so far away with little help. and it was only through repeated insistence that they reluctantly obliged before constructing that house of his. Now however, he had to prove them wrong and himself right, he just needed more than a bag of rice to eat so was hoping to catch an early morning carp to add to the pallet. However, as the bobber sat within the water, and no tug on his line could be felt, his mind couldn't help but drift to the ever looming concern that was his debt.

Though he worked the rice fields for two years, it was far from enough to afford the cost of labor that went into constructing his house and the twin bridges that crossed both rivers. Add thirty percent interest on top of that, and it left a lot of yen to be paid until his debt was settled. The only issue was Larin didn't exactly have a money making method in the works, which in fact was a major issue. He didn't necessarily have any skills, wasn't a woodworker, a brick maker or a carpenter, which tended to be the only valued skills beyond rice farming. It certainly was a predicament that warranted concern, and in hindsight, more forethought.

'Whatever,' Larin thought. 'I'm gonna make the most of it! First day on my own, nothing will stop me!'

That was when his hat was suddenly struck with a sturdy thump. It left him unharmed, but as he turned around to investigate, only to look up from beneath his hat, he found Marisa high in the sky flying off east from the Scarlet Devil Mansion upon her broom.

Before she could even question what she was doing a voice asserted, "you raided my library."

Swiftly Larin's head snapped around to his other side to find a woman with long purple hair, a pink and white dress, carrying an umbrella with a rather dissatisfied expression upon her face.

Larin was quick to disagree and insist, "n-no… I was fishing."

"What might that be?" she pointed just next to where he was seated.

He looked down to his side only to find a book resting just next to him. No doubt one Marisa accidentally dropped while making her escape.

"A b-book," he admitted, as he set his fishing pole aside and picked it up for her. "I didn't take it. I saw a witch flying overhead," he pointed, as he stood so he could hand it off to Patchouli. As she looked to the direction he gestured in only to find nothing but an empty sky, Larin tilted his hat upward so that he could properly return the book to her. "I haven't even been to the Scarlet Mansion, but I did hear you lend out books."

Though Marisa was nowhere to be found, Patchouli reasoned this child had to be telling the truth. He hardly seemed like the type with any powers or abilities to break into the scarlet mansion and make off with ease. Taking the book back, she looked down on him once more, seeming to judge his short stature and mop headed tangerine hair. He hardly looked like he could harm a fly as he shrank beneath her discerning glare, lowering the edge of hat to hide his face.

"I do," she answered, having concluded her judgment of him. "But only two books at a time… per person. Something that witch has yet to grasp within that dense skull of hers."

"Would you happen to have a Gensokyo foraging guide?" he asked, pressing the tips of his fingers together nervously. "I just moved out of the human village and figured it would be useful to know. I-I'm penniless and don't have much to offer you… aside from my hand in marriage"

"That's worthless," she swiftly insisted, though a crimson blush took shape on her cheeks.

"It's… an expression…"

"May I know your name child?"

"Erm… Larin Isazigred…"

Patchouli then turned on her heels heading north intent on circling around the misty lake to return to the mansion. "Speak to Meiling tomorrow and she'll give you your library card."

With that, she parted ways. As far as first impressions went with residents outside the human village, Larin figured it went a little better than he expected. However, when he turned around to continue fishing, his bamboo rod was swiftly being pulled across the Misty lake into deeper waters. Without thinking he jumped in after it.

"Wait!" Kasen interrupted Larin's story. "So you soaked your clothing completely trying to get your fishing rod back?"

"I didn't get it back," he sheepishly admitted. "I only ended up soaked to the bone and chilled to my core, so I came back home to start a fire and dry them off."

The only issue is Larin didn't have any fire wood at the time, just an ax. He didn't even have a stump to chop logs over. Fortunately, within the forest of magic, there's plenty of trees readily available to cut, and he delivered his first strike to one just beyond the western river a short distance from the twin bridge. However, likely due to his short stature and diminutive strength, the steelhead hardly bit into the wood. He swung again and again, only for a tiny chip to come unlodged and fall to the ground. Looking down at the poultry wooden scrap, Larin let out a deep sigh before setting his hat aside. With his clothes already wet and weighing him down and his lackluster strength, he already resigned himself to the idea that chopping down this tree might take all day. If he wanted to be stronger, and wield that ax more efficiently, the growth of his skill and the growth of his strength would have to begin now.

Again and again he drove that ax, letting its edge bite into the bark. By minute one he was already exhausted, yet hardly made a dent. He would have to keep swinging, striking with angled upward swings, and then downwards, creating a wedge in the bark that slowly bit and gnawed away at the tree's trunk. By hour one he was already resting, his nose a little stuffy as he peeled the skin off a couple of tangerines enjoying his snack as he recouped a bit of his strength.

Not long after he was back at it again, chipping away at it little by little. Between each swing there was a long pause as Larin steadied his breath and rested his arms for a bit before raising the ax to strike once more. He could see himself making progress as slow as it was. Hour after hour he'd be back at it, attacking the tree trunk when he had the strength to and resting when he needed. He was determined to fell it above all else that he hardly felt a fever coming on, mistaking the minor headache for being caused by the great amount of stress and exertion he was putting into it.

His arms felt heavy and chest ached from breathing so hard, even as he sputtered and coughed from time to time, yet after hour three he'd eaten through half the trunk. Just a few blows now and surely it would topple over and just when he delivered a splinting blow to the very depth of the wedge he carved he heard a deep internal crack echo outward as the tree seemed to give. Hastily, Larin withdrew his ax before stepping aside ready to watch that tree fall alongside the dirt path that led to the misty lake. However, as his eyes traced its movement, he quickly saw that it began to sway east to the river. At that point there was nothing Larin could do but watch as it toppled over right on top of the western twin bridge, smashing it with ease as the whole thing tumbled into the river and was dragged away by the fast flowing current.

"So that's how the bridge was destroyed," Larin lamented.

"But… where'd that bamboo come from?" Kasen asked.

"The bamboo forest," he answered shyly. "I thought I could use it to create a makeshift bridge."

That was much further south beyond the human village. And seeing just how much he brought it was hard to imagine him dragon those whole stocks of bamboo all on his own.

"So… why didn't you?"

"They, eh," the boy hesitated. "They weren't long enough. Not to mention I only realized after that I didn't have rope or nails to bind them, much less a shovel to bury the ends in the dirt."

"Well what about that sliding rice paper door?" she then pointed with her thumb. "Did someone or something break in while you were out?"

"That was me," he sheepishly bowed once more. "By the time I realized I couldn't mend the bridge, I was already becoming very ill with a deep cough and a bad headache. I had to walk north around the magic forest to cross the two bridges that would lead to the path you took here. Except when I went up to my door, it wouldn't budge. So I pulled and pulled with all my might until I heard a snap and the thing slammed open and fell off its frame. I forgot I locked it before I went fishing…"

"Oh… that would explain it…" She then guessed the rest, asserting, "after that you probably were too tired and sick for much else, and huddled under your hat for… three days straight?" Larin nodded. "And you drank what water you stored and tangerines you had to keep from starving." That would've explained the mess, something she could tell by how Larin continued to shrink away was something he was embarrassed by. "Why don't we get you back to the human village?"

"No!" he quickly blurted, leaping forward a bit on his knees, the only effort he made to get closer to Kazen during their conversation. "I can't go back, I… it would be embarrassing. Very… very embarrassing." He hesitated to admit it but ultimately he said, "I… talked a lot of big games about how I could make it on my own. If I went back now my reputation… would be ruined~"

Larin was so young Kasen wondered how much of a reputation he could've possibly had to lose. Yet given how he seemed to be on the verge of sobbing, it had to be a serious issue for him. He clearly just wasn't the type to be fond of a crowd of people, and the human village had loads of them for better or worse. However, Kasen wasn't one to pass up an opportunity to lend a word of advice.

With a heavy sigh she spoke in a carefully measured voice and explained, "Larin, the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. If you wish for everything to go right, you must first understand how anything goes wrong. Gensokyo is a paradise. However, it can just as easily be your hell should you let it, Larin."

"I'm trying my best to make a paradise out of it," he admitted. "But what more can I do?"

"Maybe start by introducing yourself to your fellow neighbors of the magic forest. Even the hermits of Gensokyo are quite sociable."

For a brief moment he seemed to consider it, yet his helmet shook as he answered, "I… I just need to fix some things up first. Maybe later."

As much as Kasen could insist, she wouldn't force him to do anything he was uncomfortable with. "The humans, fairies and youkai are often happy to help one another, you don't need to feel like a burden when asking for help."

With that said, she stood up before politely excusing herself and exiting from Larin's house upon the path that she'd come. Larin was left sitting there to process their conversation but as he did all his mind could focus on was one simple fact.

"I forgot to thank her for the medicine."

It may have just saved his life. With nothing else to do however, Larin figured it wise to get the jump on the morning and take advantage of his new found vitality and outlook on life. Being isolated, ill and at death's doorstep gives one drive to take life by the throat, and so he made the decision to attempt to mend his broken sliding rice paper door first.

A brief cursory glance showed Larin that while it had been locked, it only came 'unlocked' when the side wooden frame snapped in half. Though he didn't have glue he was able to roughly stick it back together before standing the door up in the sliding groove, before carefully closing it. He kept his eye on the snapped frame, careful to make sure it didn't bow in one direction or another as the door slid shut. Once closed he steadily backed away to test its durability, yet even as the wind gently blew outside, it seemed to hold firm. With a sigh of relief, Larin began to consider what he might do next, but just as he took one step towards the opposite door, the broken one fell flat yet again.

By now he accepted nothing he could possibly do would come easy, yet with no other option he was still determined to try.