"Based on my observations, I believe the amulet is located right here."
Ryusei pointed at some mountains that had been marked out on a map that he had borrowed quite recently.
"Are you sure?" asked Reimu. "I don't hear any talks about it and some of these sources don't seem to be reliable."
The two were sitting outside a coffee shop where Ryusei decided to show her his current progress and hypothesis on the amulet's location. Much of which was based on historical speculation on the item.
"Well, what's your definition of reliable?" responded Ryusei.
"People who have seen the amulet at its last known location," replied Reimu. "Anything else is just pure speculation."
Ryusei winced slightly. He borrowed this map from a dusty corner of the local library, and a lot of the information it contained was based on historical speculation and folklore. Reliable sources were scarce.
"Well, reliability is a matter of perspective," he hedged. "These sources," he tapped a stack of old books beside the map, "talk about a powerful artifact hidden somewhere within this mountain range. Their accounts match up with its origins and it could be the amulet we're looking for."
Reimu tapped her chin thoughtfully. "True, but these are also just stories passed down through generations. Who's to say they haven't been embellished over time?"
Ryusei had to concede her point. Intuition versus research – it was a classic dilemma. He sighed.
"Alright, let's see it from your perspective then. Where would your gut feeling lead you?"
Reimu pointed at some islands on the map.
"Right here."
"Why?" questioned Ryusei.
"I don't know. It's just my intuition and it's usually correct."
Ryusei had never heard such poor reasoning. Internally he wanted to drop her off at the nearest train station and leave her there but he knew that if he did that, karma would come back to bite him. Aside from that, if he were wrong, he could use her help for any trouble that came their way.
"Alright then," started Ryusei. "Let's do a little more research on our two chosen locations. Then based on what we find, we'll decide which place to go to first."
"Deal," replied the shrine maiden.
"I'm sorry but what drinks did you want again?" asked the waiter. It was clear that the waiter had been waiting on them for a long time.
"Umm…"
"Green tea," responded Reimu.
"Okay," noted the bartender. "And the gentleman?"
Ryusei looked at the menu again before ordering.
"Milk tea. Apologies for the wait."
While the waiter left to get their drinks, Ryusei got out some paper and began writing various kanji symbols on each one with his symbolizer. Each stroke was carefully made and precise. Reimu on the other hand, watched as customers entered and exited the shop and made some origami on some napkins.
When the waiter returned, Reimu drank her tea while Ryusei remained oblivious to the arrival of his drink.
"Hey Ryusei, your drink has arrived," informed Reimu.
Ryusei looked up to see a glass of milk tea in front of him. "Oh thanks."
He then went back to writing more kanji while Reimu watched with piqued curiosity.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm creating some paper amulets so that way, if we run into trouble anytime during our trip, I can pull out one of these to teleport us to a safe place," answered Ryusei. He didn't bother to look up and continued to write more kanji until he ran out of paper.
By then, Reimu had already finished her drink and was just doodling some flowers and a certain black and white witch.
"By the way, what happened to your armor and my uniform?" asked Reimu. "It's not at some store right?"
Ryusei gave her a confused look. "No. Why would I do that?"
Reimu paused and shuddered at an old memory before responding.
"It's nothing."
She wasn't ready to tell him about that incident just yet.
Sensing the discomfort, Ryusei decided not to pry and instead opened his back pack to reveal both of their outfits and weapons inside.
"It's enchanted so I can fit whatever I need in there," explained the samurai. "If you want, I can buy you one after this mission."
He then paid for their drinks and walked with her to the nearest library.
"By the way, how does that brush work?" asked Reimu.
"Oh you mean my symbolizer?"
The shrine maiden nodded and Ryusei held the brush out for her to see.
"This brush allows me to create kanji and symbols in thin air and on paper without ink," revealed Ryusei. "In theory, I can materialize almost anything with this brush though there are limitations."
"Can you use that to transport yourself?" asked Reimu.
Ryusei nodded and held out an amulet.
"Yep but since I haven't mastered how to use it yet, I still rely on making amulets to cast everything. A well experienced person wouldn't need to use amulets like me," informed Ryusei.
Afterwards, he put the brush away and held the library door open.
"You first."
Reimu could not believe their current predicament. Both she and Ryusei had been kicked out of the library. She had never been kicked out of a library before let alone forced to leave by the librarian.
"Well, that went well," commented Ryusei, amused.
"Oh really?" questioned Reimu. "They kick us out and let the others stay?"
"To be fair I did warn you, I had a reputation and a history with this place."
"Huh? You didn't tell me that."
"I did. I guess you weren't paying any attention after all," commented Ryusei. "Besides, those guys back there weren't playing around. What were you even thinking back there anyways?"
Flashback…
Ryusei was looking through several old books that Reimu herself found boring and uninteresting. As a result, he was doing all the research work while Reimu herself did other things to keep herself entertained.
"At least the uniform works," pondered Ryusei. He and Reimu changed into their school uniforms to better blend in with the students at the library. Not that it helped much but at least they wouldn't look out of place.
While Ryusei closed his current book and opened another, Reimu went through the manga section to see if she could find any books she'd like to read.
"Ah! Here it is!"
Reimu pulled out the latest volume of the IdolMasters Cinderella Girls U149 and began to read. Before she could though, Ryusei pulled her aside and gave her the sign to be quiet.
"If you're too loud, we'll get kicked out," whispered Ryusei.
Reimu nodded in understanding and read quietly while Ryusei continued to read his book. Unbeknownst to any of them, several pairs of eyes were already watching them. After a few more moments of silence, several people in business uniforms nodded to one another and approached the samurai and shrine maiden.
Secretly, they drew hidden pocket knives and readied themselves to strike. However, Ryusei himself had noticed and began reaching for his dagger while Reimu remained completely oblivious to the situation.
The next moment happened so fast, even a single blink was enough to miss everything. The would-be attackers simultaneously lunged forth and attacked the two only for Ryusei to quickly throw his chair at one, kick another, and catch the knife of the last attacker. Just as one of the hurt attackers got back up, Ryusei had wrestled the knife out of his current opponent and threw him at several bookshelves and causing them to collapse on him.
The one who had been hit with the chair pushed the wreckage off of him moments later but found himself pinned to the wall by the knife of one of his allies. Right as he pulled it out, Ryusei punched him in the face and sent him flying over several tables.
The last of the attackers began swinging his knife wildly until the samurai made several swift stabs that incapacitated him.
"What just happened?" asked Reimu.
"Unwelcome guests," informed Ryusei. He sheathed his dagger and began to search the downed man's body for useful items.
"Uh Ryusei, we have a problem."
The samurai looked up to see several other businessmen now donning ski masks and pulling out tanto knives for combat.
"Oh great. I was hoping that I didn't have to use this."
Ryusei and Reimu brought out their katana and gohei respectively and prepared for battle. Then all hell broke loose. Ryusei quickly split his katana into two swords identical to the original by the hilt and cut down several of the attackers while Reimu deflected a few attacks and smacked a few over the head with her gohei. Whereas Ryusei's weapons were able to injure their attackers, Reimu's had little to no effect unless the weapon hit the head. Her gohei was only effective against youkai beings, not humans.
Ryusei himself was aware of this fact so rather than standing his ground and fighting, he was more focused on clearing an escape route for him and his partner and leaving as soon as possible.
Reimu on the other hand was more focused on the fight itself and paid little to no attention to her partner's cues of leaving. Just as they had her cornered, Reimu pulled out a green and white square with a capital letter B.
"Fantasy Seal!"
She threw out the card and sent out several large color balls of light that exploded upon making contact and sent everyone flying while destroying the interior of the library. When the smoke finally cleared, Reimu stood triumphantly at the center of the mess while broken books and pages flew all around her. Ryusei himself got up moments later, he had managed to reach his backpack in time to activate an energy shield that protected him from the blast. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a loud booming voice that told him that they were no longer welcome.
"QUIET IN THE LIBRARY!"
Everyone stopped fighting and turned their sights to a very angry librarian.
"YOU TWO OVER THERE! THE ONE WITH THE SWORD AND THE ONE WITH THE STICK, GET OUT!"
End of flashback…
"Ah yeah. I was trying to take out everyone. I guess I forgot, bombs are loud and this isn't Gensokyo," remembered Reimu.
Ryusei sighed and facepalmed.
"Also, we aren't the only ones looking for that amulet."
Ryusei held out a pin that he had pulled off from one of the businessmen. On it was the picture of a shovel on top of a cracked skull.
"What's that?" asked Reimu.
"This pin is the symbol of Belloq," revealed Ryusei. "He's an archeologist that hunts for the same artifacts of us in hopes of gaining immortality and power. Rather than hunt them himself though, he prefers to send out men to keep tabs on his competitors and steal it from them at the last minute."
He handed Reimu the pin.
"Those men we saw back there were some of his soldiers and they may have recognized me as a member of the Adventurer's Guild," informed Ryusei. "This means we'll have to be more careful from here on out. Don't let off any more bombs unless the situation really calls for one."
Reimu nodded and pocketed the pin.
"One thing I don't get is that you said Bellwhoeverthisguy prefers to steal from his competitors. So why attack us there when he could've waited for us to have the amulet first?" asked Reimu.
"Because, the Adventurer's Guild was established to prevent people like him from obtaining such artifacts. Once we get our hands on an artifact, it's impossible for him to steal it without getting caught or tracked down by us thanks to the trackers we put on the item once we get it," revealed Ryusei.
"I see. Well, it's a shame we couldn't get the books we needed," commented Reimu.
"Correction, we did get the book we needed. This came out unscathed," commented Ryusei.
He pulled out one of the library books that he had managed to snag on their way out of the library. The book itself had a very familiar picture of a certain amulet etched on its cover.
"I found a map in this book and it's got several marked locations in there. One of them is the islands you pointed out and another is the mountains I've chosen," informed Ryusei. "There's a tourist bus that will be heading to those mountains today. We can get a ticket on our way there and check that spot out first."
"Okay," replied Reimu. "What about the islands?"
"If the mountains don't have it, then we'll check your islands. Those islands are supposed to be deserted and isolated from what I know and it will take a while for me to get us a ride over there."
Reimu nodded with understanding while Ryusei closed the book.
"How long will it take then?" asked Reimu.
"An hour minimum to get a ticket. The bus comes at night," informed Ryusei. "If that's too late for you, I'll get us a hotel room. We can always go in the morning."
"Alright then, we'll go to the mountains first. But in the meantime, you need to live up to your end of the deal."
"Uh… which part?" asked Ryusei. "We haven't got the payment yet."
"No! I mean showing me around," corrected Reimu. "You'll show me around right?"
Ryusei smiled and took her hand.
"Alright then. Let's start with the hotel."
Author's Note(and a small reflection): Well look like it's time to add some competition. While Belloq won't be making an appearance till later, there's a chance that I might change his character up a bit even though I'm on the final draft.
On the other hand, I personally believe that while Reimu can exterminate youkai, I'm not sure how effective her gohei would be against non-youkai enemies/targets so I gave her a really big nerf with her weapons. Additionally, I'm not sure about the spell card rules as I read them over quite a few times and looked at both the games and the manga to get a better picture of how they operate but due to their complexity, I've decided to omit spell cards from this story. It's also because of this, I don't know how the bomb cards operate so sorry if I portray Reimu's bombs incorrectly.
I'm sorry if Reimu seems a bit OOC. She usually relies on intuition and luck hence why she see seems a bit ignorant to written sources in this fic. She probably doesn't have much to go off of in most cases, usually relying on the words of other people or her own intuition which hasn't failed her yet as she still manages to reach the source of the incident with just that alone.
In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading this part and hope to see you in the next chapter!