》-=[Forbidden Lead]=-《

I'm walking straight on the main path of the village, hearing whispers, and gossipings from the residents of the village. Due to my 'improved' senses from the [Specialist] perk, I could hear the villagers talking about me, all of them vary, but most of them almost are the same thing, like.

"Another outsider? Hope he won't be gone soon." Yeah that's not gonna happen. Unless I'm asking for a deathwish.

"First time in my life seeing an outsider and he's also young too, wishing luck for him." Uh thanks? "But I wonder, do outsiders always have these kinds of weird things on them?" What do you mean- oh, right, my equipment. Forgot about that.

"Outsider again? I bet he will be arrogant anytime soon." Why so rude, damn. At least I know that the villagers are not always nice people.

Well, that's a few examples of them, now I just need to find the center of the village. Does this place even have a center in the first place tho? Guess I'll find out when I get there.

Gonna, use the sling on the M60 over my left shoulder, the MG at the right hip. Right hand holding the handle. Alright, now let's go-

"Excuse me, are you perhaps the new outsider?" A soft female voice speaks up behind me. "If so, please turn around so I can confirm it." I knew exactly who it was. So I turned around. Keine-sensei. On her head.

[Lv. 40 History-Eating Half Beast, Keine Kamishirasawa]

She's almost the same height as me, but is an inch taller.

"Hello, you're the new outsider right?" I nodded. "Great! Uhm, so. What is your name?"

"Victor Charlie, Miss Keine." Let me see her reaction.

"Oh uhm, Victor Charlie isn't it?" I nod. "You know me from one of the gate guards right?" Oh, she knew it.

"Yeah." Then she just gave me a warm smile. That's very nice of her.

"No need for honorifics." She said warmly, glanced at me for a bit then said. "Perhaps you're not a talkative one?" I nodded again. "I see… then follow me, I will show you around the village."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." I don't know which words I should use in this situation. And I'm still dead calm outside, or should I say pretty much emotionless. But not the insides.

Keine's perspective

In my entire life of being guardian of the Human Village, along with escorting outsiders. This is the strangest one I've ever met… not only was he an almost silent type, he looked everywhere in this village, and just… nonchalant everything about it. Not only that, he was holding onto something strange, big, long, dark color, and it looked heavy. With wearing… a 'helmet'? I think it's called that by outsiders. With some foreign writings, along with something shining at the right front of it.

His outfit is kind of pretty much an outsider standard. White shirt with a red-black stripe collar, dark-blue pants with holster holding his shortblade, which is strange. With black-white shoes. However, I felt something was not right about them.

Judging by his face, along with the glasses, I can say that he was coming somewhere the same as us. Precisely, somewhere in the Asia continent. But, his height is pretty unusual for someone coming from Asia, I guess the Outside World got a better diet? If so, I would be glad. His name is a bit suspicious though.

…

So, after I showed him. The school, shops, general stores, restaurants, blacksmith workhouses including the one owned by a friendly Youkai, logging camps, glassworks, slaughterhouses, the market, farming fields. And I think that's all I could think of. I might have missed some of them, but I shouldn't worry. He should find it all on his own. Overall, he is the curious one. But still.

I can't stop wondering about myself about him, especially his unusually calm attitude to… all of this currently happening to him right now. Most outsiders will panic, worry, and be horrified when I tell them about Youkais. But, did he meet one of them yet? If not, I would be glad, but…

Victor's perspective

This village has much more facilities than the canon one for some reason. Not gonna complain about it tho, better than nothing- "Pardon me for this, but. I have a question for you."

"What is the question you want for me, Keine. Also, I'm 16. Forgot to tell you about that." Her face now surprised a bit. Then turn into a bit of a curious look.

"I see, you're still a teenager…" She thinks for a bit then realizes. "Oh right, the question." I'm wondering what is it? "So, have you seen a youkai yet?" Okay uh.

"Yes, in fact I have. Well, I killed some of them-" Oh crap, I did just-

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Oh Jesus Christ, I didn't expect her to scream at me like that- WOAH- She dragged me to her face by grabbing my collar! Her face looks pretty tho- Ow, ow, OW! My shoulders are being gripped very tight by her!

"Tell me, did you actually kill one of them?" Oh shit, her voice is serious now. Should I? Uh… screw it. No balls, I'm going to say the truth. Currently tired, hungry from all of the shits that happened outside the village.

"In fact, it was some of them." I corrected her calmly.

"But how did you-" Pause.

"Before you say anything, Miss Keine." I interrupted her. "I suggest that we should maybe talk about that in a private space." I suggest.

"What do you mean by that-" She stopped her talk, looked around a bit then realized it. The nearby villagers are looking at us, whispering to each other. "O-oh, I-I see what you mean…" She now looks a bit embarrassed by that, obviously. She shakes her head, goes back to her usual calm demeanor. "But please, follow me to my house now. Victor." Or nevermind, her tone turned into a serious one. But I'm gonna keep my calm demeanor, through the village.

"Got it. So, where is your house at?" Oh c'mon, don't glare at me like that. She took a glance at my 'special' M60. Then look at my face, narrowed her eyes at me. Still gripping tight on my shoulders. Ow.

"You're gonna explain to me what that 'thing' is." She mentioned my machine gun.

"Sure. Only for you. Also, Keine, can you stop gripping tight on my shoulders?"

She realized it, then removed her hands off my shoulders. Ah, much better.

"Follow me to the office." She said while looking cautiously at me.

"Got it." She started walking first, then I followed her later.

My god. I can still hear the damn villagers speaking to each other about what just happened… let's just hope that it's not gonna end up making me a youkai. Because in Gensokyo, belief is power.

20 minutes later…

So, I'm still in a dirt pathway, Through the old style houses. Walking down behind Keine, still cautious of my movements. There's other people walking besides us looking at me curiously, especially glancing at my Machine Gun. Then, Keine looked behind me for a bit, then said. "Don't mind the people, we're almost there." Uh huh, got it. "Also, Victor." Huh? "Why are you so awfully silent on the way to my office? Like, don't you have any questions for me?" She questioned me. Well…

"I don't feel like it." She looked at me for a bit after I said that, then spoke up.

"Right." Wha-? "Life in the outside world is not that simple, correct?" O- damn, she knows.

"You could say it like that." To be honest, life out there ain't simple, Gensokyo has its own too, I'm a realistic person overall.

"I see…" She said while rubbing her chin. Then she stopped right at a door. "We're here." Huh, her house is pretty near to school, and it's fairly big too. Then she opened the lock, grabbed the knob, and rotated it, opening the door. After that, she went in first. I will go in later.

…

The house itself is… strangely modern, probably from the Kappas. The room itself is not too big, and not too small ethier, I could see the kitchen. A stack of papers lay on top of a desk along with a chair under it, a bookshelf full of various kinds of books, a medium size couch along with a small wooden table in the middle of it. There's a window in front of the desk that I didn't notice until now. Seeing the sun setting down, the room is getting darker.

Then I heard a switch turned on, lighting up the house itself. "Ehem." Huh? Oh yeah, forgot about her. "Would you kindly take a seat on the sofa?" She said nicely. "If you are wondering if the house interior looks strangely 'modern' to you, it was by a Kappa, but we'll discuss it later."

"Alright." I approached the sofa, then sitted on it, and I laid my MG between my thighs. This sofa is quite comfortable…

Then Keine took the chair under the desk, seated in front of me, eyes gazed upon me. "So tell me, how did you kill a youkai? In fact, even managed to kill some of them. And," She pointed towards my M60. "What is that thing?" Oh boy…

Alright. There goes nothing…

"It's a machine gun." I answered her.

"A what?" She looks confused at my answer. Keeping my neutral face, I grabbed my machine gun that still had the ammo belt on it, folded up the bipod, and placed it on the wooden table, the barrel facing east. Then she placed her hand on the chin, curiously looking at it.

Then I started explaining to her how machine guns work. This is gonna take a while…

Some moments of explanation later…

Okay so, I finished explaining to Keine the basics of a machine gun. Now she's recapping my basic explanation of it.

"So you telling me that, this 'M60' or 'medium machine gun' you called it, capable of firing 'bullets' in a fast rate, heavy, can be used on the shoulder, underarms, but laying on the ground using it is the most effective because of the 'bipod', is loud when firing, supposed to have a 'muzzle flash' you speak of, but the 'flash hider' at the end of a barrel did it's job, so it doesn't have it anymore, it's main role is about 'suppressive firing'. And, it needs 'ammunition' to fire. Am I correct?"

"Yes." I replied back. God, I really needed to eat some food. And maybe a shower too. Wait- no, the aura did its job. Forgot about that.

"I'm still wondering," She spoke up. "The 'bullets' you speak of, are physical right?" Okay, this is gonna be a rough one. Half-stupid time.

"Yes? Why do you ask that? Is there something important about it-"

"OF COURSE IT IS!" O-oh, jeez- "WOAH- WA!" Well shit. She stood up, and grabbed my collar, pulling me up, her brown eyes looking directly at my face. Now I'm afraid.

"Tell me, are you a youkai hidden under human skin?" …well, I can't blame if she mistakenly thinks that I am a Youkai.

"N-no, I'm not." Now her eyes narrowed at mine, checking if I am lying or not.

"How can I believe your words then?" Her voice is quite furious now.

"W-well, if I'm one of those 'Youkai' you just said. Why am I not hurting or worse, ending the life of a… human?" I responded back.

"I don't believe it." She said coldly with a hint of disgust. Well, guess I'm fucked-

"Oh dear, it seems like our special outsider got into trouble on the first day." Wait, that fucking playful voice. And Keine just realized it too. We both turned our heads to the source of voice. A gap can be seen, full of eyes, scary as usual. Then a womanly figure walks out, and is Yukari. Working dress huh?

"Yukari!" Keine screams, Thud! And released me, landing my ass onto the ground. Ouch. "What are you planning this time!"

"Hmm? What do you mean by that my dear Keine?" Yukari said playfully, while covering her mouth with a fan.

"Him!" Keine angrily pointed at me, while still looking at her. Still sitting on the ground. "It is your doing!"

Yukari just standing there, humming in thoughts, gazing at her eyes at mine and Keine. Eventually, she speaks. "Well Keine, I did in fact speak to him, but never brought him to this land in the first place. In fact, he just happened to have… something special, to be here, at all." Then she locked her eyes into mine, goosebumping myself in the process. "Say Victor, did you forget to tell my dear Keine that you did 'it' for self-defense?"

"Y-yeah, I did 'it' in the name of self-defense..." I replied back. Should say that sooner.

Yukari nodded her head once, getting her paper fan out of her mouth, folded, revealing a smile onto my face. She turns her head to Keine. "See, he's not lying."

Keine's face is now in a state of confusion, with a hint of shock.

"Keine. I know that you're disbelieving about this, but you ought to believe it, is the truth overall. Plus, he's still young at age and rather naive." She said, "I may not be able to read minds like that Satori. But trust me, you know me well, right?"

I take a peek at Keine, she's rather exhausted from it, rubbing her temples. "Fine, I'll trust you this time."

"Good~" Yukari playfully said. "Also, Victor?"

"Uh, what is Miss Yukari?"

She came closer to me, said. "Kindly stand up please?" I standed up, reminding myself that she's taller than me. "Good! Now, I've something to say for you. Can you guess what it is?" She smirked.

I shrugged. "No idea."

"Aw, that's bad but I can expect it." What? "Anyway, what I'm telling you is that, try to not kill youkais next time. Even if it has the intention to kill you. But still, control the damage as minimal as possible." Ah, understandable. But still.

"How so?" I ask her, acting dumb that I don't know what the hell is 'Danmaku' or 'Spell Card Rule' is.

"Simple actually. Tomorrow you'll meet one of my… Well, let's just say 'close friend' of mine visiting you tomorrow when I told her. She will guide you on how to fight without the bloodshed part." I had a feeling that the 'close friend' part she said is Reimu. "Either way, the time is getting late, Ran is probably waiting for me at home, and probably Chen too. So." A gap appeared behind her, Yukari slowly walked into it, when she was near it, she stopped and turned around her head, looking at both of us, me and Keine. "I hope both of you have a good night." Then she was gone.

I immediately sit right on the sofa, fucking tried from all of this. Took off my helmet, placing it on the table. Viewing my M60 still on the table, still looking new and fresh. I see Keine, still looking at me.

"I'm sorry for ruining your day, Kei- Miss Keine." I spoke up to her.

"It's… okay. It's just that… It is my duty to protect the village overall. So, sorry for treating you to… harsh."

"It's… alright, Miss Keine. Sometimes people makes mistake- *Stomach growl*" God… damn it. Curse my hungry ass. Now I'm embarrassed of myself.

Keine holds her laugh, tries to not burst out because of it. After it died down, she spoke. "Guess that you haven't eaten anything yet?" She smiles.

"Yeah." I looked on the wooden floor, trying to hide my embarrassment.

She chuckled from my actions. "Alright, I'll make dinner for both of us to eat, since I haven't eaten yet." She walks to the kitchen, ready to make dinner. "You should really put your stuff currently on the table somewhere else, or no dinner." Keine said humorously.

"Got it, miss." I grabbed the carry of my gun, placed on the ground. "Oh yeah, Miss Keine?"

"Hm?"

"Where am I gonna sleep after this dinner?"

Few hours later, early night

Well, I'll be damned. Keine told me I had to temporarily sleep on the couch, but hey. At least I'm full. Even though it was just a plain fried egg with fish, along with white rice it was delicious nonetheless. Got this pillow, and a blanket for easier sleeping, without getting cold. Seeing my M60 and the M1 helmet placed on the table makes me pretty happy. Even tho I just fucked up a few hours ago but hey, it was temporary.

I lay down straight onto the couch, placed the pillow below my head, and unfold the blanket to cover my body. Pretty comfortable. Now, time to sleep.

…

I can't sleep. Why? Because I'm questioning myself whether the choice of staying at Gensokyo is good, or not?

I mean, I do ask for it, because the System chose me to hold this power, and go to this land by my choice. Like I'm not even the first one.

Silent…

Am I… gonna make it through the upcoming incident, or… I failed it. Or worse, death itself.

Mobile. Let me check what the current date is now.

[September 30th, 2004]

Huh, I can expect the year- hey, wait a second. There is something wrong about this current date. Don't tell me that…

It happened because I got so excited that I forgot to tell the System to which Gensokyo timeline I wanted to be in. And let it randomly pick.

Okay, let me sum up the incidents. EosD started on November 12th, 2003, PCB on August 8th, 2004, IMaP happened 3 months after that. So that means… one month has passed since the events of it, and the next incident will happen 27 days later, lasting 1 day long. Now I'm here at this mark, ready to sleep for a new month, December.

…

Well, at least it's not transported me to the PC98 era, if it was. I would probably really fucked up badly.

I sighed. 27 days, 648 hours to prepare for the next incident. Sounds a lot, but knowing myself well that I barely do anything productive.

…or, using this chance to improve myself. Even if my short attention span will fuck it up a lot. Still, I won't give up. Just a Vietnamese dude with an adult like looking face, who had an interest in military stuff, but mostly about guns.

I turned my face to the window, first time seeing the beautiful, unpolluted, starry skies. It could be better if it wasn't for the houses blocking the view but still, I don't mind it.

Well, enough talking. Hoping the new day won't be shitty.

Gonna close my eyes, and slowly… but surely fall into a deep slumber…

[Calculating today's action… completed!]

Ding!

[New quests are now available.]

[Prepare for the next incident.

-Time limit: 648 hours left, countdown starting tomorrow.]

[A wish for improvement.

-Find a way to overcome your flaws, and weaknesses.]

Author Note:

Not much to say here, other than MONTHS have been passed since the publication of the second chapter. So yeah, not much else to say.

(oh yeah, if I portray the characters wrong or right, please let me know.)