Chapter 3 - Bamboo Shoots
A full two weeks have passed since the hot spring incident (That is what I call at least) but Master has yet to teach me about danmaku (the bullets and spells she was talking about) and instead, she has been teaching me mostly about gensokyo and its inhabitants, apparently that fairies that attack me before leave somewhere near the shrine, which worries me a bit but they have yet payback, I did inform her how I "beat" the three and she says that we should look up more on my firecrackers to make spell cards, that's if I can pass her test only.
Also, she gave me a similar-looking stick she carries with her, a gohei she calls it, when I asked why she had yet to teach even how to make spell cards or danmaku, her justification was that if I can beat minor youkai of which doesn't regard the so-called spell card rules, then how I am supposed to live in Gensokyo as a outsider? Also, she reminded me again that I still have to pass her test or she will not accept me as her discipline.
When she's not teaching me, she will make do the so-called shrine duties…which are just chores. By the looks of this place, Master does not do her "shrine duties" either, so far my schedule has been spent like this: Around sun's rise I wake up and grab a snack to fill my stomach until a proper breakfast and start sweeping the grounds around the shrine, cutting leaves that were overgrowing the shrine's garden, clean the branch shrine next to the Torii gate, and If I am done before noon then I will do any other chore that the Master tells me to do.
I only stop for proper breakfast whatever time Master wakes up, then somewhere around noon we will have lunch. Unfortunately Master does not have too much to eat and my diet has consisted mostly of rice, tea, and some other stuff that Marisa would bring along for us to eat.
Speaking of Marisa, she appears at the shrine fairly often to chat and drink tea with the Master while I do the chores of course. I have not spoken with her that much since I woke up in the Shrine and I think sometimes she tries to show some weird magical thing that she thinks is cool.
Thinking about the time I already spent here, I think we are near fall now. The leaves on the trees around the shrine had started to change to red and orange colors and the temperature was no longer hot, humid and the sun was not that crushing heat that even though I am used to these hot temperatures back in my home country, I always hated coming home sweaty and smelly so this weather is a blessing…..or not.
You see, I have another pressing issue right now, one is that I am still using my tattered clothes that I came to Gensokyo with and now the air is getting really cold. I should ask the Master later if she has spare (male) clothes for me to wear in the meantime.
After cleaning the hallway of the main shrine, I put the bucket and cleaning cloth I used in the storage room next to the shrine. With that done, I set myself to look for a Master, she said to come and talk to her as soon as I finished my chores.
Looking a little bit, and opening the door to the outside, I found her sitting on one of the steps alongside a basket of a cylindrical shape with straps so I can wear it, which from what I can tell is made of bamboo. The whole thing is about half my height. The same cup of green tea she always drinks when she is free…..which is almost all the time sits just next to her, speaking of tea, I think I am used to drinking tea by now, granted that I am a coffee lover but I think I can use tea a substitute although I hope I can buy coffee from somewhere… if I can find a job somewhere at least.
Realizing that I am present, she looks at me with her peaceful face and pats the ground beside her, signaling me to sit with her.
Sitting beside her, she takes another sip of her tea and looks at the horizon for a bit before informing me
"I think you are already prepared for your test" Saying that, she puts her hand on her sleeves and takes off what appears to be a bamboo shoot, Marisa had once brought one a few days back they are tasty.
"I also have prepared this basket, especially for that purpose, you shall go to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and shall fill this basket with as many bamboo shoots as you can and bring them to me, that's it" She then picks the basket and hands it over the basket to me.
"The Forest I just now is situated close to the Human Village. As I already told you, this village is where the vast majority of the humans in Gensokyo live and one of the paths that cross through the village leads to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and consequently the bamboo shoots." She takes her empty cup and lifts it off the ground herself. "You have until sunrise of the next day to complete the task, which means that if you fail to come back by dawn, you can try and walk back through the shrine in the dark but do you have the guts to do it? fufu" She leaves the vicinity and goes back inside the shrine, presumably to make more tea.
I pick up the basket and position it on my back and it is quite light. Looking up in the sky I can see that we are near noon After going back to my room to take my gohei with me, my Swiss knife just in case I need to cut something.
Reaching the end of the staircase, The dirty path to the Human Villagestraight only closed the two sides by a forest, not as dense as the one I first appeared in gensokyo but enough so that a youkai could stay hidden, fortunately, Master had assured me about the safety of the Hakurei Train although she complains that about the people of village rarely coming to visit the shrine. Going back to the topic of the Village, I have never been there myself so I am a bit worried about going alone, but the trip is peaceful, and soon enough I can see the village gate in the distance.
Village's gate with two guards stationed near it, one of them seems bored while the other seems to be sleeping leaning against the gate. The bored one notices me coming and straightens himself up while the other continues to sleep.
"Halt!" the bored one points his spear to me "Have never seen your face kid, but these clothes hm…. Are you perhaps an outsider?" I just nod to him "The quiet type hm? No problem then" he then retreats his spears and goes back to his post "Come in, Just don't cause problems okay?" I nod for last and the guard lets me into the Village.
Good thing he did not ask a bunch of questions.
Master did not give me much information about the village itself but said that if I needed to ask anything about the village, I should look for a woman that goes by the name of Keine, a teacher of the only school in the village but I do ask stuff to people again? God, I struggle to even ask the waiter for the bill.
…
…
…I might as well just walk around here and find this school myself, sure that they won't put the school into a far-reaching corner that makes it a pain in the ass for kids to walk from their homes right?
Walking for a bit I can see that the village is mostly composed of buildings that look as you expect from the early Meiji era, buildings made of wood being at most, two stores tall and they range widely from actual homes, soba shops, tailor shops, bakeries and of course bars, all of they have at least a bit of paint applied to their exterior. What surprises me the most is that poverty is practically nonexistent, I think the economy is very stable around here.
Going further, the villagers are nothing special, almost all of them wear kimonos except this redheaded girl with a capelet covering her neck.
Speaking of the villagers, they are giving me this blend of worried and curious stares, maybe because I am still wearing these patched clothes from when I came to Gensokyo, and dude this is so embarrassing! Where the hell is this freakin school?
"Er sorry can I help you?" I look around to find a woman a bit taller than me with long silver hair. She wears a dark blue hat that looks like a Japanese building with an inscription on its sides and a red ribbon on top. Her dress is dark blue with white short sleeves, and a red ribbon is tied to the bottom of the collar.
I think this person is the Keine I was looking for.
"Yes, of course, you should be Keine-san?"
"Yes indeed, I am Keine Kamishirasawa. Nice to meet you" She does a little bow and smiles. "Are you perhaps lost? You are an outsider aren't you?"
"You can just call me Manato, nice to meet you" I also do a small bow to show respect.
"Mast-Reimu said to me that you can answer any questions about the village. Is that correct?"
This time she smiles "Oh Aren't you polite? And you already met Reimu-san before anything else, but yes I can ask your questions"
"In this case can you please show me where the Bamboo Fores-" "What?" Her smile completely cuts off for a troubled facial expression.
"I-I uh n-need t-to uh….." I contract a little, I can't speak!
I think she realized my pledge signed a little and got a little closer to me.
"W-why would an outsider like you want to go there? It's a dangerous place!" Ugh better explain to her, but leave some parts out.
"Y-you see Reimu-san has tasked me to go there and pick up bamboo shoots for as some sort of 'test', She said that if I succeed, she will train me in danmaku to defend myself"
Keine could only scratch her head at that and after signing she just responded "Well in that case I can accompany you in the fores-" "I refuse" "..." She just stares me dead in the eye.
Yeah, I am not going to cheat, If I can't go and bring some bamboo shoots then I don't deserve to be Master's disciple.
She signed harder this time. "Okay I can ask Reimu about you later for now follow me I will leave you in the forest" I nod and then she goes in the opposite direction I was walking earlier, Oh.
We arrived at another gate, this time however I could see that the guards were more heavily manned and armed not only near the gate but also on watch towers and most importantly not sleeping.
One of the guards stopped us near the gate but when they saw that Keine was with me they all paid their respects to the teacher. After talking with them a bit we crossed the gate, with them shooting curious glances at me but otherwise they stayed quiet.
We don't need to walk much and a minute or so following a dearth path but I can already see why this place was called The Bamboo Forest of the Lost.
Huge bamboo trees up to 30 feet high, densely packed with a small train going deep into the woods. The inside of the forest was not as dark as the Forest of the Magic from where I first arrived but certainly dim and I couldn't see that much further into the forest from the gate.
Storing just outside of the path leading deep into the forest, there was a big sign with the saying "Do Not Enter".
Yep, I think it is pretty safe.
Keine stops just before the sign and looks me dead in the eye for last "I will give you some advice: Do not go deep into the forest, It's called not The Bamboo Forest of the Lost for nothing, and be careful where you set foot, I have a friend that leaves here and guide people out if they were lost but don't count on her" I nod " also a youkai rabbit has the hobby of putting traps around the forest to prank whoever goes in, so once again be carefully." I nod for last and Keine returns to the trail we came from, leaving me alone.
It's not hard to find bamboo shoots around the trail. The Forest is bright enough for me to see but I still keep my eyes wide open for any threat, Master said to not, under any circumstances, try to venture well into the night to find trouble.
Looking back at the basket, I can see the basket already going almost full to the brim. Looking at an opening in the bamboo, the sky is a bit more orange than when I entered, better if I come back before dawn.
Just need to pick up one last bamboo shoot and…there! good, I think I have enough.
Approaching the basket I felt something tighten around my foot, looking down I could see a knock now tightly attached to my foot, and before I could react the cord lifted me off the ground, making my head near a bamboo tree, All I could hear before losing conscious is a childish voice laughing at my wretched state.
"Ugh, My head where I am?" Forcing my eyes to look around and take my phone from my pockets to find out that it is almost dawn! panicking, I look to find myself in the same place I was before but upside down and with my right leg still tied to that knock from before.
How can I…Oh yeah, I can use my knife.
Luckily my Swiss knife had not fallen from my pockets and soon enough I was cutting the cord attached to my leg.
"Almost there and…Oh, haaaaa!... Ugh'' I fell backward towards the hard ground of the trail, Switching off my alarm that I put on earlier I can see that the sky has considered darkened, If I run fast I can reach the shrine without *Rustle Rustle* Well shit.
"I thought that I had heard a scream here but…"
Looking around I saw a figure with a height similar to me and her appearance screamed the night: Her dark long hair brandished that extended well into her back, she wore a dark dress and had dark eyes, and her shoes were also black but most importantly her wings showed that she was a fairy, A dark fairy the most dangerous and powerful kind and I have to meet one at night where she was at her strongest.
"... You will be useful for Rumia-sama all the same!" She then smiled and in a moment she extended her wings and broke into flight however unlike the fairies I fought weeks before, she did not start shooting any sort of danmaku but raised her spear materialized, and trusted right into my direction.
"Die!" She then dived with all her might towards me but it was so obvious that I evaded with ease and she had struck the ground right before me and stuck her spear into the ground leaving her back exposed to me, the moon making a shadow of her silhouette on the ground before me.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Using all my strength I swung my gohei to strike her back but my feet won't leave the ground looking. Glancing at my feet I found out that I had stepped into her shadow.
Shit shit shit shit!
She finally manages to remove the spear from the ground and turns back to me, looking at my situation she laughs a little and raises her spear to strike me.
Ugh!
She pierces right into my shoulder, not too deep but painful all the same.
But she doesn't stop at that, she continues to strike at me, some of them I deflect, some I don't.
After a fall strikes she gets impatient with my resistance and as if remembering something she properly prepares her spear, this time pointing the spear at me and she breaks into a run.
"Die!" Now I can use this!
Releasing my firecrackers, the light produced by the explosion blinds my enemy, at the same time the shadow she was projecting disappears for a short moment and I break free from her ability.
But that is not all! After evading her thrust, I swang my gohei once more and properly strike the back of her head making her lose balance and go straight into a three.
"Ugh, Damn Human!" She manages to take the spear of the three and after recovering for a bit, she looks around to continue the fight but her prey has already left.
"That's disappointing" I sigh, Is almost morning and Manato has yet to come back. Now that I think about it, why did I tell him to come back in the morning? Why not at night? Now I have to at least wait for him until the deadline in the cold outside of my (not much warm really) shrine.
"That's a waste of time" I lift the steps and pick up my empty tea cup. Maybe it was a bit I gave him something his ability to do? Almost nobody goes to the Bamboo Forest alone, much less an outsider.
….Crap now I am starting to get pity for him, It shouldn't be too much of a hassle from now on, no way he would travel alone at night, good thing the village is in between the forest and shrine and neither of the guards neither Keine would allow him to leave the village in the dark so I can be safe that he won't…come…back?!
"Ha ha ha ha~" Manato is standing, or should I say learning in the Torii gate carrying the brackets in his back. As I get closer I can see not only is his hair a mess, his face is pale and his clothes have blood marks on them.
"M-master I came back~" He attempted to remove the bracket from his back but he fell over on the ground "Ugh~" still panting "Ha ha ha a-as you asked I came back with b-bamboo shoots you have asked me for" He smiles, despite his situation he still smiles. "Now I can be your disciple!".
Despite his body protesting I lift him and bring him inside, good thing I keep some medical supplies in case I like this but I should bring him to Eirin but I need to stop the bleeding.
"Idiot Idiot Idiot How did you leave in the night!? The guards won't allow you!"
He looks weakly at me still with the same dumb smile from before "Oh I just circled the village! Er, I thought that the teacher wouldn't allow me" leaving at my futon inside the shrine. I leave once more to bring back a bucket full of water. entering the shrine again, he is already unconscious, good now I can thread him without him moaning at the pain.
After all is said and done, He is currently sleeping in my futon in the main room. He is still in danger but not in immediate danger anymore.
"Ahhhh! What a disaster!" That wasn't supposed to go like this! And even worse now I know it is my fault! This test was just to spook him a bit about youkai and make him leave my arms but now? Eirin will give me that look and make me own her one for this Idiot's treatment Ugh!
Lifting him from the futon I can tell his breathing is normal, just.. don't stare at him… this closely. Opening the shrine's front door I break into the flight, hopefully, Eririn can tread on him
Chapter notes: I am changing the fanfic's name from Foreign Disciple in the Dreamland to Foreign Disciple in Paradise.