The morning breeze awakens my body with the gentle, cold air of the morning. I can hear the chirping of the birds, but my eyes are heavy, and I feel like my mind is clouded.
Ugh, what the hell happened to me?
Moving my fingers around, I can hm…This sheet feels more modern and comfortable, and I think my head is lying on a pillow different from the one I am used to.
I do not remember much before I blacked out, just that I arrived at the shrine in the middle of the night and saw the master carrying me somewhere, but that's about it.
Awaking my eyes with heavy eyelids from slumber, I am surprised that the first thing I see is…A window framing the bamboo forest.
I lifted my arm in a panic, but a stinging pain on my left shoulder prevented me from doing any more movements, and on top of that, a staggering sense of exhaustion. Even though I had just woken up, I felt a crushing weakness, a fever perhaps? But the blanket is fluffy, like something made in heaven, although I may describe it like that because it is way better than sleeping in the subpar futon at the shrine.
…
What was that fairy about? Master informed me that fairies were more annoying than dangerous, but that one wanted to kill me straight and offer me to someone named Rumia, and Master dropped me somewhere inside the Bamboo Forest, the last place where I think I should be.
Looking around some more, the room is solely lit by the morning—soon noon—light coming from the only window in the room. The walls and floor are made of the same white paper I am used to at the shrine (but brand new), nothing crazy…except for the various medical devices that seem to come straight out of a normal hospital, and…what the heck? There's a tube coming out of my arm connecting to one of the machinery in the room. Why am I wearing a white kimono? Someone stripped me?!
Anyway, I can assume I am in a hospital of some sort. Master had told me that Gensokyo was more than a century behind in technology and infrastructure compared to the outside world, but trying to recall more of what she said makes my head hurt, so I will just lie here with my eyes closed and rest.
Thud* *Thud*
Or not. I can hear footsteps coming closer and closer.
The sound continues until they are right outside of my room. Soon enough, someone opens the door to reveal a girl with short shoulder-length hair paired with a pair of white dropped rabbit ears, wearing a simple pink dress with a little carrot attached to a necklace; she also doesn't wear any socks and is just walking around barefoot.
This bunny person entered the room with a curious look, and when she batted her eyes at me, a malicious smile formed on her face.
"Oh, you should be that corpse that Reimu threw here yesterday usa!" usa? She laughs a little and walks to me, hey, you called me corpse? So, Master indeed brought me to this place.
"You should have seen Raiser's face when she had to wake up in the middle of the night to make an emergency call," she giggles a bit to herself.
"W-h-o i-s R-e-i-s-e-n?" No good, my voice won't come out.
"Stop there, buddy, you should not force yourself; I think there is something here that can make your life a bit easier.; you"
She straight up jumps half a room towards the shelves in the corner of the room, wow, after a while, I hear a "Haha!" and she comes back with a small purple pill, a small cup filled with water, and carefully feeds me.
"T-thanks." The effects are instantaneous; my throat feels much better now, but I still feel a tad weak.
"Nice, oh, by the way, my name is Tewi Inaba, but please just call me Tewi! usa" Cool, but why usa?
"Nice to meet you, Tewi, my name is Manato." I guess I will just do the formalities then.
"Then, what happened to you? Attacked by a youkai?"
"More or less, Reimu-san asked me to go to the Bamboo Forest and bring some bamboo shoots to her, but just after I picked them up, I think a rope trapped me in the head town and made me knock my head on a tree, and I fell unconscious- "Oh!" The bunny's eyes shot wide, and her mouth was a big, wide circle.
"Oh?"
"N-nothing, please continue!" Tewi quickly returns her posture, but her face has gone from the bad kid smile to the 'Oh no, I was caught!' face.
"Anyway, after waking up, I managed to cut the rope, but after I realized that It was already night, a fairy attacked me with a spear, badly injuring me"
"But how did you escape?" The bunny seemed even more restless now, but I continued;
"I had some firecrackers, so I used that to distract the fairy and escape to the shrine, and I fainted after that." Master should have carried or flown me to this place.
Tewi now held a troubled face with her chin as if she was thinking something, perhaps she was in trouble?...wait a minute.
"Yes, I remember now! I think I knew who put you in that situation." Tewi now has a wicked smile on her face.
"Who are you talking about?" This 'who' would be a good person to avoid.
"There is a rabbit who works with the doctor and owner of this place, and her name is Reisen. She puts these traps around so we can get people to treat and get paid for it." Wait, what?
"I-Is that true?"
"Yep," said Tewi with the most shit-eating grin I ever saw.
Thank god that Tewi had come forward to me; I should inform the Master immediately after I see her.
"Thank you very much, Tewi-san; I hope I can repay you in the future in some kind" I would bow if I could towards such a kind-hearted person.
Tewi merely laughed at that, but then she now switched to a more serious face.
"Reisen is a nurse here and will probably come here to check on you, so please don't challenge her directly" She then leaves the room.
Okay, I think I should just stay quiet and wait for Master to pick me up. Just wait, Reisen! You shall be punished after I put this affair in front of the Master.
After a few minutes of finally, the criminal enters the scene, a girl of around 20s or so with deep purple hair that extends down almost her legs with two rabbit hears straight up; her outfit consists of a long-sleeved black business suit over a white shirt and a red tie, along with a beige skirt. She has an article of very outside-like clothing compared to the folks I have met until now.
"Tewi has informed me that you were awake and had even given you medicine. Is that true?" I nod. "In this case, I am going to do a check-up on you; if anything bothers you, please just speak to me, ok? Ah, also my name is Reisen Udongein Inaba, but please just call me Reisen; only my Master can call me Udongein." I nod again, hm she seems to be pretty chill, but I will not be deceived by this rabbit!
The next few minutes are very chill also. Reisen replaces my bandages, gives me additional medicine for the pain, and asks me questions about the pain in my body.
She is surprisingly kind to me, apologetic when she touches a sensitive area on my wound or tries to do some light banter and light the mood. In fact, almost makes me fall into her lies, but I am always observant so that I will never fall into her traps ever again.
"...Okay, now you are going to try, and stand up, ok? Don't worry, I will help you"
I nod and slowly move my legs to the left to a sitting position on the left side of the bed. My legs feel pretty numb after not using them for a few days, and the pain still makes it difficult to do any sort of movement whatsoever, but eventually, I manage to sit straight with Reisen at my side to hold me in case something goes wrong.
"Nice, nice, now I am going to give you a little help, first, we are going to do one leg at a time, and then you are going to try and stand so I can report your position to Eirin, ok?" I give her a nod, but still, I need to do it. With Reisen-san holding me, I first put my left leg on the white floor. Oh the floor is quite nice and clean. "Now try the right one." I slowly put my right foot into the ground, and after I pause, I try to lift….
"Good, good. Now I am going to release you, ok?" Immediately, my legs start to shake, but Reisen is not bothered by it. "Don't worry, I am here with you." I reluctantly nod and look at my legs.
Is Reisen that bad? Now that I think about it, she seems to care about my well-being, as well as a nurse, of course, but a nurse won't want to do any evil to her patient.
Reisen releases me, and I stand perfectly straight; my legs are still a bit shaky, but I can manage. "Great! Now, can you walk a bit? Until the door, at least."
"O-ok." I slowly make my way toward the door; crap did that fairy have to fuck my legs so much? Speaking of fairy, I think that Tewi was lying to me. She seemed pretty suspicious when I mentioned the trap. I think she knows who did it, or worse she is the one who did it and wanted to blame someone else.
Anyway, after reaching the door, I heard a clap behind me and Reisen and found Reisen with her hands together. She's smiling, her smile was so cute. Why are people here way cuter than on the outside?
"Er Manato-kun?" I should apologize.
"I am sorry Reisen-san! ah." I try to bow, but this breaks my balance, and my head makes direct contact with the floor.
I am a fucking idiot.
After my little accident, Reisen dragged me back to bed, and after a checkup, I am fine at least.
"Ahh, why have you done that!? And for what are you apologizing?"
Although my shame had yet to disappear.
"Tewi had told me that you had set up the trap that I was caught in, and because of that, I was attacked by a fairy and ended up in this state." my face is crazy red, by the way.
"Pffff hahahahahahahahaha! " Reisen breaks into a loud laugh, holding her stomach. "Pff, so this is why you were looking at me like that?! Hahaha!" she continues in this state for a bit before recollecting herself.
"Anyway, now talking about you…You are an outsider, aren't you?" I screwed, Master told me that people knowing I am an outsider is bad business, and now this rabbit has stopped laughing and is looking with a very serious and hungry-looking expression!
You see, according to the Master, an event called the Vampire Incident sparked a change in the rules. Spell Card Duels (which Master is yet to explain) were established as a result. In addition to that, another rule was created to protect the humans born in gensokyo from being eaten by youkai. Master did admit that even that does not prevent villagers from being attacked by stray youkai, and some of the strongest ignore the rules anyway.
But none of the protection applies to outsiders. Unless you can beat Youkai up or stay in a safe place like the village, you are in the Free PVP zone.
And to add salt to the injury, my slightly tan skin is enough to make me stand out even though my hair is black, and my face is somewhat Japanese, although my Brazilian heritage shows quite a lot.
Anyway, I need to divert the conversation and to do that I have a card on my sleeve.
Cough* "Well, hypothetically speaking, I am, but in this hypothetically speaking scenario, I am currently under the Shrine Maiden's protection…" Inside the Shrine, that is "...and if, hypothetically speaking, I happen to be hurt or worse, eaten by a youkai, then, hypothetically speaking, the Shrine Maiden, wound, hypothetically speaking, would be very distressed and would possibly look for justice" Or this works, or I am boned.
"Hypothetically speaking?"
"Hypothetically speaking"
…
…
…
"Pffff hahahaha you are so easy! Do you think I am going to eat you? Hahaha!" You know what? Being teased like this is not that bad when the girl is cute, so I am just going to sit here with my red face and take it.
"Anyway, I need to leave now. I'm going to come here once a day to do checkups on you. Ah, also, I will inform Eirin-sensei that you have awakened; she is the Doctor of this mansion/clinic, saying that I think I am going to see you later…" "Manato." "Manato, right, see ya." Reisen leaves the room, still laughing under her breath a bit, and for last, I am alone in the room.
I think I am going to sleep then, if my cringe won't bother me, that is.
"So, Eirin, how much will this cost me?"
I managed to sleep quite a bit, and after waking up, I think I found the actual Doctor/Owner of this clinic and said the owner is, in my eyes, quite beautiful.
Her eyes are dyed with a silver deeper than aluminum, same for her long, silver hair with a braid resting on her back, and her clothes make her profession quite obvious. First, she wears a blue nurse cap with a red cross on the front, furthermore, her attire consists of a chess-like pattern that divides a blue and red for each tile with what I assume to be constellations.
And to my surprise, Master is here too! Although she is just resting in the window panel…outside of the building, did she not even bother to enter by the main door?
"Reimu, You and I know that you can't pay for the treatment, nor the pills I "sold" you weeks ago- Oh, It seems that our patient is awake. Good evening, Manato-kun. How well are you feeling right now?" Straight to the point.
"I feel weak, especially my legs. I feel hot, it is hard to talk, and my shoulder feels…should I say lighter? I did not touch it much because It hurt a lot; as a result, I cannot move it."
The Eirin takes a clipboard from the nearby table and begins to read its contents aloud. "You lost 30% of your shoulder, a lot of your nerves in your legs were broken up, and if what Reimu told me is correct, you run towards the shrine from the bamboo forest in the bitter cold of night while losing blood, It's no wonder that you have a fever right now." She placed the clipboard back on the table and gave me a look of curiosity. "And yet you manage to just stay in one piece long enough to let Reimu bring you back here." She rested her chin in her hand and gave a predatory look at Master. "Is there something that I should know regarding this person, Reimu?"
This situation feels like just before the scenes in detective movies where the detective finds the culprit and pokes at the culprit to reveal himself…If the culprit was paying attention, that is, Master is half asleep, just like I would on a Friday, waiting for the final 5 minutes to pass to get me out of the class as soon as possible.
Eirin, unfazed by this development, just shifted her gaze back to me.
"Eir. I don't know?"
The Doctor just signed at my response and proceeded to pick up the clipboard again to read the rest of whatever was written in it.
"Anyway, I also have a complaint about your diet, even though you have been in Gensokyo for a few weeks already…" So she already knew I was from the outside? " The food you ate before coming seems not to be the best; therefore, you will be receiving a special diet to clean away any impurities in your body and heavens! I thought that Usami girl was poor, but you are, somehow, worse than her. What kind of crap do you outsiders eat? And speaking of your body, how much exercise have you been doing in your whole life?" I think Eirin is being spiritually hurt by reading about my poor lifestyle.
"Hey Eirin, how much effort can he do?"
"Not much, nor anything that involves him going around; it's best for him to stay in bed until tomorrow at the earliest. What is the matter?"
"Hm…I think this can work. Can you give me a bit of time with him?"
Eirin raises an eyebrow "Sure, I had already finished giving him the details" The doctor then leaves her seat and after that the room.
"Is there something you want to discuss, Master? Am I in trouble?"
"Nope, I just want to start your training, that is." Ah, my training…Wait a minute!
"Will you accept me as your disciple?! Even after all the trouble-" "Don't matter; you passed. Now, shut up and listen, ok? We don't have all day to talk." I shut up.
The Shrine Maiden sat at the vacant chair left by Eirin, now looking at me with a melancholy expression.
"What do you think of faith?"
"Faith? What do you mean?"
"I talk about believing in gods, ghosts, or whatever you think involves faith. Before coming here, I am referring to"
"Hm…To tell the truth, I never actually took the time to learn about religion in general, and neither did my parents talk to me about much, however…"
"However?"
"I do believe that I have a soul, something beyond science, something only I can feel."
"Why is that? How did you know you have a soul?"
"This is something I concluded after thinking about the conscious."
"Conscious? What does this have to do with faith?"
"This is something hard to explain. Hm, Master, are you familiar with the idea of the Human body and Cells?"
"Usami-chan spoke about this to me a while ago, but go on."
"You could say that the Human body is a machine that is made of smaller machines called cells. Cells are something that we consider to be alive, but why so? They are just made of dead, minuscule stuff that happens to have special properties that allow them to keep working."
I show my hand to her to explain a point.
"These cells are also on my nerves that send signals to me if I touch something and allow me to be "aware" that my hand is touching something. This is not something exclusive to only humans or animals, but I think there's a difference."
I lower my hand so Master can focus on me as a whole.
"How can I be "aware" that I touched something in the first place?"
Master seems confused by this. "What do you mean? You just said how you know they do."
"Remember when I said that the cells are made of dead stuff?" She nods.
"Then, if I am made of cells, how can something "dead" be aware in the first place? Isn't something missing? Something that cannot be explained by science?"
The master stops for thought for a moment before a sneak smile forms on her face.
"The missing piece is what I believe is the Soul, that allows this machine of dead stuff to be aware and have a self."
The Red and White just gives a smile; I think she understands now.
"Well, that's about it for today-Ah! Also!" She goes to the window and picks something up from outside the building, and it's… my backpack!
"Thanks, Master! You did not need to do this for me."
"Well, since I did this for you, can I hm?" She opens the backpack and takes out one of the military rations that I brought with me to Gensokyo.
"Yes, Master, you can have all of them. I was going to keep them for winter, but I do not mind you eating them." She just smiles like a child who just received candy.
"Thanks! I think I am going home then. Ah, I will come back in the morning to start teaching you already. See ya! Oh, I might have lunch here as well."
She slides the door open to find Reisen holding a tray with what appears to be my dinner.
"Hi Reisen"
"Hi Reimu"
"Where-" "Just go straight to the right, and at the end of the corridor, go left, there you will find the dining room." "Don't mind if I do!" Master doesn't even try to hide her hunger and flies like a missile out of the room and subsequently out of my sight.
…
"Is Master always like this?"
"When the topic is about money and food, yes, and what's up with calling Reimu "Master"?"
"Hm~ It's a secret" The rabbit just shrugs and proceeds to serve my dinner.
I should definitely ask Eirin-Sensei for a way to compensate for my stay here later.