Guest/Jeremy's Bedroom, Yakumo Residence
5:00 AM, Day 1, 1 day before the Great Hakurei Shrine Flower-Viewing Festival, ReitaisaiI'm not a morning person.
Normally, neither is Yukari.
But somehow that didn't stop her from waking me up at the crack of dawn that day with a couple of umbrella jabs to the side.
"Ow. OW! Damnit, I'm up!"
After announcing my consciousness, I rolled off the futon, away from her poking implement, and failed to fight off a yawn as I glared up at her. Fairly tall, long, flowing blonde hair, smiling/smirking down at me with an umbrella in her hand... the usual Yukari, naturally.
Except for the part where she was wearing a deep purple
yukata, with abstract flower decorations instead of her usual poofy dress. Come to think of it, the white towel flung over her shoulder wasn't typical, either.
She grinned a little. "I see you like the outfit."
On the upside, her teasing DID tell me I was staring, so I looked away. Am I blushing? Damnit, I'm probably blushing. Bah, salvage what dignity you can...
"It's certainly unexpected." I replied, staring over at the wall. And now that I notice it to use as an excuse, at the desk where my laptop was sitting. Damn old thing can barely run games anymore... but it's still usable, at least.
Yukari giggled a little at my reply. Okay, time to change the topic before she decides to push this further and I start digging myself a hole I can't get out of.
Since I take after Yukari's erratic, night-friendly sleep schedules, there was no window in my room. But I could tell from the ambient light from the sliding door she'd left open that it was early morning. So I looked past Yukari, out the door, and asked the obvious question.
"What time is it?"
"Oh, probably five or so." Yukari answered, resting her parasol on top of the towel on her shoulder. "Need to be up bright and early for Reitaisai!"
I blinked up at her a few times, trying to process that, and yawned again. Damnit, I hate mornings.
Then it hit me. "... wait, Reitaisai? Isn't that the Touhou doujin event?"
The gap youkai chuckled. "Of course it is, Jeremy! But that's what Reimu's been calling her spring flower-viewing festival~"
She smiled down at me and let me do the math on that. I came to two conclusions. I brought up the one I expected a simpler answer (or lack thereof) first:
"Was that your idea?"
"That would be telling~" Yukarin sang back, shifting her pose a little.
Yeah, that's about what I expected. Damnit, Yukari.
"And you woke me up because..." my intended brief pause was lengthened by another unwanted yawn, which ruled out having her interrupt me with the answer - so I finished, "... you want me to go, right?"
A grin. "Fast as usual, Jeremy! Though perhaps I should have told you last night,
ne?"
I groaned a bit and sat up on the floor. "Damnit, Yukari."
Well, at least I probably got a few hours' sleep... what was it when I signed off last night? Eleven? Lucky I'd drifted back onto a relatively normal schedule by then. And maybe I should have noticed Yukari turning in early...?
I sighed. Oh, whatever. It's not like I can stop her dragging me along, so...
"Can I at least get dressed?" I asked.
"Do I get to watch?" Yukari countered, a twinkle in her eye.
We had had this exchange many times. Sometimes it manages to retain its humor, sometimes it doesn't. I wasn't sure which it was this time, but my answer remained the same: A level deadpan glare.
After a few seconds, Sukima laughed and shook her head. "Oh, fine, you silly." She raised one finger. "I'll be back in one minute. Make sure you're ready by then~"
I gave her a nod. "Yes ma'am."
Yukari gave me a small wink, a little wave, and stepped sideways into a gap beside her whose appearance I had apparently failed to notice. It quietly slid closed again, and vanished. With any luck, Yukari had actually left the room for me to change.
Which didn't stop me from sighing again. Damn crazy woman. Now to try and find some decent clothes...
-----
Front Porch, Yakumo Residence
5:05 AM, Day 1At least I wasn't the only one tired this morning. Chen is a somewhat uncommon sight at the Yakumos' place, but damn if her yawning isn't adorable. With or without the little fangs, for that matter.
Fortunately Ran's presence made for a good reminder not to stare at the catgirl. Though those tails of hers seem a little better-groomed than usual... Yukari must have warned her kitsune shikigami, at least. Damnit, Yukari.
And both of them are wearing yukata, too... Chen red, and Ran blue. Fitting. And some decent style choices with Chen keeping her hat and Ran ditching hers... Now I feel a little out of place with that sweater and slacks I threw on... oh well.
"There!" Yukari said, once she was done literally dragging me over to the porch by a forearm, "That should be all of us, then!"
Ran gave me a small nod and her usual polite greeting. "Good morning, Jeremy-san."
Chen waved in my direction and roughly echoed her master with her own "Morning, Jeremy-sam...aaaaaaahhh..."
That last part was actually one of those adorable yawns, interrupting the end of the honorific. Damnit Chen, you're too cute.
But I had my oft-rehearsed answer to use, even if it never seemed to stop them.
"Just Jeremy, please." I requested, calmly, then nodded at the two for my own greeting. "Hey."
Yukari ruffled my hair with a hand, and I... well, cringed away from the touch a bit.
"Always trying to be so modest, aren't we?" she teased.
"Yes." I muttered back.
She chuckled a little, and a soft 'zwuun' hailed the appearance of a fairly large gap floating just above the lawn, surface shimmering with a strange dark blur of red and purple.
"Shall we get going, then?" Yukari said, but didn't wait for an answer, immediately hopping off the porch to float through it.
"
Haaaai~" Chen answered, sounding a little sleepy, and stepped off the porch to enter the gap as well.
That left me and Ran. I've done it a few times, but gap-travel still weirded me out a bit. That brief moment of 'empty' running over your body and the weird zero-gravity sensation when jumping right through are kinda disturbing, no matter how you slice it. That and the part where Yukari's dumped me into some less than enjoyable (at the time, at least) scenarios, so I don't think being wary of them is unreasonable.
Ran snapped me out of my hesitation with a polite question. "Would you like any help getting through, Jeremy-san?"
"Huh?" I replied, glancing over. Damnit, must have spaced out for a bit if she was doing that.
... it's close enough to the ground for me to jump through. Just hope I make the landing on the other side.
"Nah, I should be good."
And I was, sort of.
-----
Courtyard, Hakurei Shrine
5:10 AM, Day 1The top of the Hakurei Shrine's front gate... archway... thing, I forget
the name, was not my first choice of landing spots. I'm not terrible with heights, but never learning how to fly after arriving in Gensokyo made getting down rather inconvenient. Fortunately, Ran's arrival a moment afterwards rescued me from that readily enough. Though getting carried down was... fairly awkward. No, she's NOT... hugging me. Remember that, Jeremy...
Fortunately, Yukari's conversation in the Hakurei Shrine courtyard served as some distraction. Especially the person she was talking to - not Reimu, not Suika, but... that had to be Ruukoto. Green hair, maid dress, slightly odd eyes... the only real possibility in context. Not who I would have expected... but I guess I never did find out what the fallout of PC-98 actually was in Gensokyo. Pretty clear it happened, though...
Oh great, is Mima going to be at the shrine, too?
Ruukoto seemed to be rather timid under Yukari's interrogation, at least from what I managed to catch of their conversation during our descent. "... very early, Yukari-sama, the main festival is tomorrow..."
I noticed that the gap youkai hesitated just a moment too long before replying, "Well then, I suppose I've set a new record for being early to the festival, haven't I?"
Ruukoto silently bit her lip for a moment, then nodded. "I... I suppose."
Hm. Something's up here.
It was about then that Ran gently placed me on the ground and let go, my weight settling onto my legs once more. She floated a foot or two away and landed, herself.
I glanced over and nodded at her... bowing slightly, I guess. "Thanks."
"You're welcome, Jeremy-san." Ran replied, and turned around. That was abrupt...?
I turned to follow her gaze and saw Chen curled up at the base of one of the shrine-gate-thing's pillars, snoozing contentedly in that dark red yukata. Awww...
Ran sighed a little and started walking over to her shikigami. Er... that means I should probably leave them to themselves, shouldn't I?
Right, let's bother Yukari instead. Even if that's almost as suicidal. Almost. Or maybe I can help peel Ruukoto away...
"Damnit, Yukari."
Or Reimu could interrupt, walking out onto the shrine's porch with a half-eaten
onigiri in her hand.
"The last thing I needed was an interruption halfway through breakfast while those two lazybones are falling asleep before they reach the table and I still need to take care of the main festival preparations."
Food? Yes, food does sound good. Yukari dragged me out here without breakfast, didn't she?
Fortunately hunger wasn't getting in my way enough to actually SAY any of that, or I might have earned myself some violence. Which would have been bad.
Instead, I simply walked up a few feet alongside Yukari, and a bit behind. She and Ruukoto both turned to face Reimu, as well.
Yukari gave the shrine maiden a cheerful wave, and called back, "Good morning, Reimu dear! I came early this year~"
'This year?' So this is a regular thing?... I guess Yukari didn't insist on dragging me along last year. I guess she's considerate sometimes, at least...
"Yeah, and I know better than to think your arrival is a good sign." Reimu replied, grouchily. She took a bite of her onigiri and glared at Yukari for a moment... then at me. I tensed up a bit as she frowned, staring and chewing for a moment before asking, "Is this the guy who's supposed to be staying at your place?"
"Sounds about right." I quipped. At least she didn't call me her boyfriend or something. My stupid, hormonal fanboy fantasies do
not need that sort of encouragement. Damnit, Yuyuko.
Yukari laughed a little and confirmed it as well: "Oh, yes, he is! It's nice to have a human around for entertainment every once in a while, and he does quite a good job at it~" She turned halfway towards me and put a hand to her lips, half-covering a smirk. "Though he gets so nervous when I try to catch him changing..."
Damnit, Yukari. I blushed and tried to focus on Reimu instead of amusing Yukari's smirk, which made it easy to catch the miko rolling her eyes and sighing.
"Whatever." Reimu said, heavily, "Just no funny business with him. You know my job."
The gap youkai dismissed this with a small wave of her hand. "Yes, yes. Don't worry, Jeremy is just fine~"
Reimu frowned at Yukari for a moment, then looked at me. She raised an eyebrow inquisitively, obviously asking me to weigh in.
... while there are a lot of things I could complain about, none of them are overwhelming enough to really rock the boat at this point.
I gave the miko a shrug. "Yeah, I'm treated okay."
"Hmm." Reimu... replied, for lack of a better term. She took another bite of her onigiri and looked at Yukari again. "So why are you here, anyway?"
"To help with preparations, of course!" Yukari replied, cheerfully.
Yeah, I call bullshit on that. What's she up to this time?
Reimu nodded slowly, looking clearly unimpressed. "Uh-huh. 'Help.'"
Sounds like she agrees with my assessment.
"Oh, Reimu dear, that's hardly fair!" the gap youkai said, sounding hurt. "I helped out last year, didn't I?"
Wait, what?
The miko on the porch chewed thoughtfully for a moment, swallowed, and answered, "You just dumped Ran here and had her help."
Ah. That explains it.
"But she did, didn't she~" Yukari sang back.
Reimu put the last of her onigiri in her mouth and chewed for a moment again. "Then why are YOU here this time?"
"To help, of course~"
"With what?"
I could see just enough of Yukari's face to catch the enormous grin she grew before replying, "Testing the hot springs, of course!"
A heavy, telling silence fell over the Hakurei Shrine courtyard as this sunk in.
I lowered my forehead into a palm and tried not to laugh. Damnit, Yukari. That's so you. And I guess it explains the towel, too. Heh.
"Uh, um, Yukari-sama, I don't think..." Ruukoto began to say, apparently recovering first, but she was cut off by a heavy sigh from Reimu.
"Okay. Fine. Whatever. Just don't mess things up." the red-white said, waving Yukari away in annoyance.
"Thank you, Reimu-chan~" Yukari sang, and took to the air, making a quick flight over the shrine and to wherever those hot springs from after Subterranean Animism showed up.
Hm. Now I wonder if she'll run into Genji.
And I know that the back of the shrine is now strictly off-limits to me, because if I ended up peeking, accidentally or otherwise, Yukari would never let me hear the end of it.
Reimu rubbed her forehead for a moment, sighed, and looked at me again, frowning. I took a nervous half-step back as she walked over to me in order to speak more privately.
"You sure you're alright with her?" she asked.
I shrugged. "She can be obnoxious, but it's kinda fun, too."
The miko sighed. "You're a weird one."
"I try."
She shook her head in disbelief. "Well, I hope you're not all the real help she brought this time..."
I jerked a thumb over my shoulder, back towards where I'd last seen Ran and Chen. "I think Ran and Chen are both right over there... er, if you think they'd be willing."
"They'd better be." Reimu said, darkly. "I don't even know how far along things are, Alice's been taking care of the invitations and I've been spending all my time making those two lazybones actually pull their weight..." She trailed off, and sighed.
Two lazybones...? Well, Suika's a shoe-in, but I don't know about the other. Genji? Mima? Who else would be here?
And Alice is here? That's a little odd... I think. I guess I don't really know what's fanon and canon anymore... even at the Yakumos' there's been a weird blend. Hopefully I don't make any stupid mistakes on that front.
Reimu shook me out of my introspection with a rather pointed question. "I don't suppose there's anything useful YOU could do?"
I jumped a little, startled. "Uh... I'm not sure, but I hope we can find something. I'd like some breakfast."
She sighed. "Breakfast. Right." The miko shook her head and said heavily, "I hope you like rice."
"I'll live."
She muttered a little and looked me over, then frowned again. "And I hope you're willing to change out of whatever the hell those are."
... and here I thought Yukari in a yukata was enough of an excuse to get away with casual clothing. Sweater and slacks is Western casual, isn't it?
"I... suppose." I replied, a little uncomfortable with where this was going. "Into what?"
Reimu smirked at me a little. "Well, I do keep a few spare miko uniforms..."
Ah. Crossdressing. Fabulous.
-----
Dining Room, Hakurei Shrine
5:35 AM, Day 1Okay, not QUITE crossdressing. Before getting breakfast, Reimu insisted on getting me into a reasonably masculine hakama and pants - surprising to find in a Gensokyo shrine. But apparently Armpits was also keeping a few more... male Shinto uniforms around, thanks to her live-in... well, he doesn't seem to be treated affectionately enough to be considered a boyfriend. But he was male, he was staying at the Hakurei Shrine, he was strangely familiar for reasons I wish I knew, he was scrawny, he was apparently the other 'lazybones' Reimu had mentioned, he'd just been dragged out of bed to nurse some tea before cleaning up (a glare from Reimu had cut off his request for having one of the limited number of completed onigiri)...
"Still say you've got to be Yukari's boyfriend. That's what everyone's been saying!"
... and he was somewhat annoying.
"He's the only guy in the house, right?" Suika added, lounging over the table in her somewhat inexplicable miko-miko outfit.
Though it's difficult to say if he's just getting egged on by Suika...
"Yeah, and knowing Yukari..."
... or egging HER on...
I wonder which one's the boke.
"I'm entertainment, not a sex toy." I asserted, gruffly, around a bite of onigiri. Yeah, just rice, but it was pretty good rice. Or maybe I'm just that hungry.
"What kind of entertainment?" Suika asked, smirking.
I sighed. Ran and Chen hadn't come to my defense on the matter, even with their own riceballs to munch on at the table. Well, at least Chen had the courtesy to frown at the two between bites. Mikomiko Alice was silent as well, sipping her tea with her eyes closed... probably trying to drown out the whole conversation. Joy.
Luckily, Reimu came to my rescue by peeking into the room and spotting the two lazybones not even pretending to be finishing their tea as an excuse to avoid work.
"You're done, aren't you?" she asked, sternly, making the two jump.
"Uh, well, we were talking with Yukari's boyfriend..." Suika started, a little nervously. The guy... what was his name, Motoko?... just tried to smile.
"Not boyfriend." I cut in, tersely.
"Whatever he is, he's not as important as getting the courtyard clean for the spring-inviting dance." Reimu growled.
... the what?
I couldn't help it. I turned and gave the genuine miko a perplexed look, stunned by the notion of Reimu dancing.
"Don't give me that look." she told me, coldly.
"Not stepping outside." I replied, turning around again to focus on my riceball.
Armpits muttered something I couldn't hear, sighed, and added, "Alice, get these Yakumos something productive to do."
Alice nodded, still nursing her tea. "Right."
"Not a Yakumo either." I muttered. Cheeks burning. Blushing again. Damnit.
"Maybe get them to help with whatever Byakuren's up to."
That was an unexpected name. I spun around again.
"Byakuren?!"
... did Ran's ears just twitch?... why am I assuming the name is important to her, too? What's going on h--
"Yeah, Byakuren." Reimu went on, giving me a puzzled look. "She's here to help out."
Well yeah, but why...?
"What do you care?"
Oh dear. Delicate question. Choose words carefully. "Uh... well... I... rather respect her philosophy." I explained, cautiously.
Reimu nodded, the interest in her face promptly vanishing. "Right, whatever. Now would you two get the front cleaned, already?"
It took a minute or two for her to chase the drunkard oni and her distinctly male cohort out of the room, leaving us with just Alice, still sipping her tea.
There was an awkward silence as the sounds of Reimu chasing away the lazier shrine residents faded into the distance, and the shikigami and I finished our rice.
Ran pressed her hands together after she finished. "
Gochisosama deshita."
Oops. I always forget that bit of etiquette. I mimicked her, rather quietly.
After a moment, Ran broke the relative silence again with a question.
"Alice-san, how should we help prepare for the festival?"
Alice finally opened her eyes, and looked each of us over carefully.
"Can you keep a secret?" she asked.
Maybe for a little while...
-----
Guest Bedroom, Hakurei Shrine
5:50 AM, Day 1It didn't take very long to figure out why Alice wanted to keep the last-second invitation writing a secret: The day before is really not enough time to respond to, or make arrangements around, an invitation. And since Reimu mentioned that Alice was supposed to be responsible for them and didn't know what Byakuren was doing, well...
Whatever. It'll bite Alice in the ass soon enough. Might as well not make myself the target for retaliation.
Unfortunately, Ran was the only one of us three that had good enough penmanship to make the invitations look as attractive as they should. And she was very fast at it, too. Between her and Byakuren, it was enough to keep both Chen and I folding up finished invitations and carrying nondescript stacks of them over to the front room on a regular basis.
But after a little while, we caught up, and I tried to make some... well, admittedly small talk with Byakuren, to try and touch on a few things that I was curious about. After seeing everyone else at the shrine in miko outfits, I was willing to assume that it was due to some whim of Reimu's, and not worth trying to get an explanation for. There were more important questions to ask, anyway.
Such as why she was here.
"So... Byakuren, right?"
She looked up for a moment and blinked at me. "Hm? Oh, yes." She smiled warmly; between the soothing voice and those first few hints of her personality, she was looking like the motherly sort. I am okay with this.
"I'm surprised, not many humans really know my name." Byakuren continued, looking down again to better focus on her repetitive writing task.
"I'm not especially normal for a human." I countered, "Especially if living with three youkai is any indication."
Byakuren's pen paused. She turned to look at me again, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really?"
I shrugged. "Being Yukari's plaything isn't a bad existence, really."
"So she treats you well?" the gradient-haired magician asked.
That question again. "Yeah, it's okay. She's mischievous and uh..."
A glance at Ran cut off my impulse response of 'sometimes obnoxious,' so I toned it down a little.
"... can be a pain sometimes, but if you're willing to laugh at yourself a little..."
... well, unless that's Stockholm Syndrome setting in.
... nah, probably not. Still got a fair share of complaints, and I've been careful to squelch any romantic impulses, even at Yukari's suggestion.
Especially at Yukari's suggestion. Still...
Byakuren nodded at her paperwork, putting the finishing touches on an invitation and setting it aside for proper folding and sealing. I still really wasn't very good at it, but a little guidance from Byakuren had made it pretty easy. And if our recent timing cycle is any indication, Chen should be returning...
"Stack delivered, Ran-shama!"
... right about now.
This time it was Ran's turn to look up, and give her shikigami a beaming smile. "Thank you, Chen. Why don't you take a break for now, and let Jeremy-san get the next stack."
"Yeah, yeah." I replied. The usual for now. But I still wanted to finish that train of thought with Byakuren... I still didn't know why she was bothering with all this. She had a temple in the human village to run, didn't she?
"Does Yukari seem to care that you're human?" Byakuren asked.
I blinked. Huh, I guess she's curious, too...
"I don't think we make a big deal about it, at least."
Okay, where was I in folding this? Crease...there, fold this way... right?
Byakuren chuckled softly. "So, there are youkai that have learned what I forgot..."
I looked up and blinked at her. "Huh?"
Her pen hesitated. "... I suppose it's something personal. It shouldn't be much of a concern for you..."
... am I willing to take a risk here, and try to push for an explanation?
... yes. Yes I am.
"Is this about the Temple's philosophy about humans and youkai getting along?" I asked.
Byakuren chuckled again. "So, you know about that, too?"
"And for what it's worth, I respect it deeply." And I was dead serious about that.
Her pen paused again.
"... I truly wish there were more humans like you at the village." She said, wistfully.
... maybe I went a little far.
"It's so difficult to convince them to give youkai a chance, even with all we do at the village..." she sighed. "I just hope that helping them come to enjoy this flower-viewing festival will help them understand..."
Ah... that would explain why she's here. Makes an awful lot of sense, really... she'd have a harder time convincing humans as a youkai, wouldn't she? Even if she once was human...
"Byakuren-dono." Ran said, calmly.
... why did she use that honorific? I know she tends to be a little formal, but... there was something about -dodo that meant more, somehow. And why do I find it significant? I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I can't put my finger on it... maybe the two have some sort of history?
Well, with Ran involved, I'm not about to pry further. For my health, you see.
"Ah, yes, yes." Byakuren said, her voice growing even again. "We're not here to reminisce, are we? These invitations won't write themselves, after all."
"Or fold." Ran added, a little pointedly.
Whoops...
-----
Living Room, Hakurei Shrine
6:15 AM, Day 1I ended up taking the last stack of invitations into the corner of the shrine's front room. And OCDly trying to organize them into easily managed, evenly sized towers, just right for carrying an armful. Chen's staring at my unnecessary fiddling made me a little uncomfortable, but I couldn't really do anything about it. Ran and Byakuren were talking quietly in another corner of the room, though I couldn't catch any of the details... it sounded amicable enough, though. Good that those two get along. Two of my favor--
No, oh god no,
stop thinking like that. This isn't an internet fandom anymore! I can't do that sort of shit!
I smacked the side of my head with a palm. Bad thoughts! Out!
"Is something wrong, Jeremy-sama?" Chen asked, curiously.
I glanced over at her and blinked. "Uh... not really. Just stupid fanboy stuff."
"Ohh..." Chen nodded, and left it at that.
"Well, I should let Mitaka-dono know that the invitations are done." Byakuren finally announced, sounding rather cheerful. Guess she did enjoy that talk with Ran, though I'm a little curious about what it was about.
I turned, and caught the youkai magician smiling over at Chen and I, bowing reasonably low to both of us. "Thank you, Chen-san, Jeremy-san."
She faced Ran again, and gave her a bow as well. "And Ran-san. You were all a great help."
"No problem." I replied.
"You're welcome, Byakuren-san!" Chen added, with an enthusiastic wave.
Ran was more formal, as usual, and gave Byakuren a proper bow - at least as low as the one the magician had given her. "It was a pleasure, Byakuren-dono. Shall I prepare some tea?"
Byakuren laughed lightly. "Oh, yes, that would be very nice. Thank you again, Ran-san."
The kitsune smiled and gave her another, smaller bow, then backed towards one of the other exits from the shrine's main room. Probably the kitchen - with Yukari's shenanigans I suspect she has some knowledge of the shrine's layout. Convenient, isn't it?
"I'll help!" Chen chirped, and rushed after her, skirting around Byakuren en route to the door Ran had used.
Byakuren chuckled a little at Chen's behavior, and gave me another small smile. "Even youkai can be children, it seems. If you'll excuse me..."
I nodded, and she headed out to the main porch to announce the results to the shrine members outside.
... so now what do I do?
Lounge about, I guess.
Oh yes, getting off my feet and flopping down against the wall next to those invitations was a definite relief. Ahhhhh... yes, that was worth a contented sigh.
... wonder where Alice is, and when her invitation negligence is going to get discovered. I'd rather not be there to see it, but the event would probably be morbidly amusing. Hopefully it won't dash Byakuren's hopes, either...
I closed my eyes, mind wandering. Oh... now I'm all tired again. Maybe I can doze off for a few minutes... mmm, were those footsteps? Ugh, don't feel like messing with it right now...
"KYAAAAAH!"
What the-?!
Wasn't that from the kitchen?
That means Ran and Chen--
My train of thought was interrupted by an oversized Kirby abruptly poofing through the door to the kitchen, and belching.
The fuck?
... wait, that isn't a Kirby. It's too fluffy, and the mouth and eyes aren't quite the right shape, and I don't see any arms or legs...
... and it seems to be staring right at me. And it still looks hungry.
Oh dear.
"HELP!" I cried, scooting backwards on my rump, silently praying that the main shrinegoers outside would be able and willing to save my ass, and that I'd live long enough for them to try.
Luckily, the... fluffy... pink... Kirby... thing made a beeline for less mobile 'food,' in the form of the stack of invitations that were off to my side. Damnit, we worked hard on those!
But they're not worth my hide. I managed to scramble into one of the other doors leading further into the shrine, and hid around the corner, hoping that it would lose interest in me.
It seemed to, fortunately, and instead zipped over to the front doors of the shrine with incredible speed, ramming straight through the front doors and... into Reimu's donation box, launching it into the air.
This thing is so dead it isn't even funny.
I stuck to my hiding spot and watched for a bit as Reimu caught her precious donation box, the sakura trees around the shrine spontaneously burst into full bloom, and the Kirby-like 'god of plenty' was threatened at gohei-point to provide some sort of abundant feast.
It was clearly frightened by the (metaphorical) oni miko, but apparently decided it was better to smack her boytoy into the dirt and take off into the skies like a rocket.
God damn that thing is fast. It'd probably give Aya a run for her money. Not that I've seen her in action in order to compare, mind, but jesus.
Reimu roared after the rampaging god, others from the shrine chiming in on things other than money that it had interfered with. Including a less familiar voice from the kitchen - must have been those footsteps I heard. And... was that a whimper? I think something other than food got hurt in there...
A rather frazzled Alice walked out of the kitchen, obviously alarmed by whatever had happened in there. She saw me peeking out from behind one of the other doors in the shrine's front room, and scowled.
"You didn't even try to stop it, did you?" she asked, grouchily.
"And you?" I snapped back.
... fuck that was a bad thing to say no change topic NOW
"Sorry, I'm not exactly danmaku-capable."
She snorted, and turned her glare away. Phew, dodged a bullet there.
"Wonderful. And now there's another thing to add to that mini-incident list Reimu mentioned."
"Er, what?"
She frowned at me again. Eep. Stop shooting your mouth off, Jer, or you'll shoot yourself in the foot soon enough...
The dollmaker shook her head. "Something about weird little things that Aya told her about and she's got a hunch about... I think she was planning to explain once the festival got underway, since she doesn't want to repeat it a dozen times. So she didn't tell us what the deal is, but apparently it's nothing Incident-level..." She looked out the broken front doors of the shrine, and into the sky beyond, where Fluffball God Kirby was surely running amok. "... unlike this, I suppose."
"Ah."
Alice continued peering out the broken doors. "And I see Mitaka's already strapped down for the chase... I suppose I should join them." She grinned cruelly, and raised the grimoire in her arm.
"Um...
ganbatte." I offered. No, I do not want to go chasing that thing. And come to think of it, I need to make sure Ran and Chen are okay...
Alice turned to smirk at me, in a... more sinister fashion than Yukari generally gave me. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand up...
"Not going to come along?" she asked, dark mocking in her voice.
This girl can be scary.
"I've already proven that I'm useless for something like that." I tried to explain.
Much to my relief, she seemed to buy it, smirk vanishing into indifference. "Hmph. Well, make sure Yukari and her pets don't make a mess. I suppose you should check on them as well..."
Well, I'm not about to go see if Yukari's alright on my own. She MUST have heard what's going on, one way or another... and she must have watched it through some stealth gap after that scream, right? She's not about to let herself get hurt, either...
But I AM worried about the shikigami, Alice's insulting referral aside.
I gave her a nod, and repeated my only real advice on the matter. "
Ganbatte."
"Hmph." Alice dismissed the encouragement with a flick of her hair, and silently took to the air, dashing out the broken doors at roughly running speed, following a small squadron of other specks fading in the open sky... was one of them turtle-shaped?
... ah. Genji. That must be what Mito... Mati... what's-his-face got strapped on to.
Deodorant. That's his name.
... wait, why am I so convinced of that?
Fuck, whatever, the shikigami are waiting!
-----
Kitchen, Hakurei Shrine
6:30 AM, Day 1The shrine's kitchen was not in pretty shape.
Which is rather an understatement, considering that the remains of the pantry were limited to a few stray planks of wood the... Kirby F.O.E., yes, that's the perfect name... had apparently failed to eat during its sweep of the kitchen.
Not much remained of the non-food stuff, either. If that means it can eat knives, then we may be in for trouble...
More importantly, Ran and Chen were huddling in the far corner of the room, among the remains of a simple stove that had mostly fallen victim to The Hunger.
"Ran? Chen?" I called out, looking them over. Neither of them looked hurt, at a glance, but something didn't seem quite right... and even if Chen curling up in Ran's lap is normally benign and cute, the nekomata's choice of the fetal position in her master's arms and the wide-eyed shock on her face were worrisome.
Ran looked up from, I presume, comforting her shikigami for whatever had happened, and looked me in the eye, still looking a little frazzled herself. Those tails weren't nearly as tidy as they'd been earlier.
"Ah, Jeremy-san. You're alright." Ran said, in a rather neutral tone, all things considered.
"It went for the invitations instead." I supplied, though I suppose the detail was ultimately irrelevant. "Sorry I took so long..."
"
An... and it ate the invitations too..." Chen whimpered, nuzzling up against Ran a little more.
If it weren't for realizing that she'd been crying, I'd have found it very cute. But as it stands it was... not encouraging.
... yeah, this warrants crouching down closer to them. Yes, even if it risks Ran's wrath. I don't like seeing a girl cry without trying to help somehow.
"Chen." I said, quietly, "What happened?"
Ran cut in crossly. "Can't you see? That thing ate half the room and ran off!"
Okay, playing with fire here. Um... how to do this...
"Well, I... think there... might be something more specific?" I provided, lamely.
Shit. This wasn't going to reflect well.
Ran just glared at me, but after a few seconds Chen spoke up again, in a small voice.
"
...hat..."
"Hat?"
"
... it ate my hat... my favorite hat...!"
And with that, Chen started to tear up again.
Right. Kirby F.O.E. just earned a few more hells to pay.
... now if only I could actually help with that.