So uh...yeah, long delay from the last time I updated. I honestly wanted to get a new chapter up on the full story before putting another one up here, but I haven't got around to finishing that chapter so... Yeah, I'm just going to put this chapter right here... Err, enjoy? :derp:
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Chapter 11 ? The Necessities of Life
The suns rays filters through the windows from the outside, calmly waking me from my slumber to yet another morning in the Human Village. The wake from dreamland is a groggy one as my mind adjusts to my familiar environment, trying to determine if I'm not still in that odd dream I was having no more than just a second ago. But the more I try to think about why it was odd, I increasingly find it harder to remember. This is nothing new, I haven't been able to remember my dreams for years now, but I still wonder why that is...
Once I am again situated with my surroundings and my eyes clear of Sandman's sand, I get myself out of bed, then begin the routine I've been falling into for the past week. I get dressed into some fresh clothes from my pack, I realize I still have yet to completely empty its contents to their places in my new home. Realizing this, I give a tired sigh.
How long am I going to put off sorting through my things? It's not like I plan on going anywhere anytime soon, at least not anymore...Now changed into new clothes, I pull out some of the last preserved food I have had with me from outside the land of fantasy from my pack, one of the non-canned food that is, and try to prepare myself one of the last meals I have left on me. During my stay in the Human Village I've slowly been losing the food from my pack to where I had to try rationing it. Being currently unemployed isn't helping any, nor is having no way to open cans...
How was I supposed to know they don't have can openers in Gensokyo!? It's not like I can just open these things with my bare hands like some muscle-bound sailor!While I am mulling over my increasingly grim predicament and finishing my meal, a rather loud bang from my front door catches me by surprise, pretty much making me jolt from my seat on my couch. Wondering what the hell that noise was, I turn around to find I have gained an unexpected visitor.
"Hey Dash, how's it going da ze?" There standing at my now opened doorway is the self proclaimed ordinary magician, Marisa Kirisame, as brazen as I last saw her.
"Marisa, what the hell!? What are you doing here at this hour?" I demand as the witch promptly walks into my house, leaving her broom at the door and giving me a big grin.
"No reason really, I just thought I'd stop by and see how Gensokyo life is treating ya." She explains offhandedly, looking around my fairly small house. "Huh, kinda expected your place to be a bit bigger. Is this room really it?"
I look around out of impulse from her comment, gazing upon the big room that is in fact all there is to my house. There is the bed I woke up from, the couch I was sitting in earlier, along with an easy chair and table, a fireplace with a pot hanging over it, and a counter with cupboards used as a imitative kitchen.
Slightly irritated at her criticism, I close the door behind her before I take a seat on the couch again. "I can't really complain. I took what was offered to me by the Elder, and beggars can't be choosers."
"Old man Hoshi huh? So the old geezer is still going, that's a surprise." Marisa comments as she continues her inspection with a very perceptive eye.
"Say, how'd you find out where I live anyway?" I ask her, but I already have a feeling of who it was.
"Reimu. She told me she and Suika came over a couple days ago."
Natch. I knew Reimu was the one who told her. Ah well, it's nice to have company anyway."They did. It was actually a few days after I moved in that they stopped by." I explain, as I watch the girl keep looking around my home. "So...What have you been up to? I haven't seen you since you flew me over here the first time."
At my inquiry, Marisa finally stops looking around the room and heads over to the easy chair near me, plopping into it practically. "Not much. No good mushrooms grow this time of year so I just gone around visiting people. Lately I've been over to Reimu's, Alice's, Patchouli's, and Kourin's for some visits."
Did she say mushrooms? What the hell, what would she need something like that for?Disregarding what she mentioned about fungi, I choose to ask about something else entirely. "Alice-san huh? I haven't seen her since the same day as you. How is she?"
"What, Alice? She's just like always, doing her research and making dolls." Taking a more comfortable position, the quirky witch gives me a weird look. "Funny, she actually asked me about you when I last saw her yesterday."
"Did she now? I thought she would forget about me, considering I haven't seen her since." My tone subconsciously grows somber at the thought, before picking up in energy again. "Hey, next time you see her tell her to stop by sometime. It gets surprisingly boring around here, and I'd like the company."
"Hey! What about me, I'm here!" She complains with a pout, causing me to snicker a bit. "Maybe I should just leave then, since I seem to be such a bother."
Before she attempts to get up though, I try to apologize as best I could. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that Marisa. I'm glad you're here." I give a reassuring smile, causing her to settle down again. "By the way, you said something about seeing a Kourin recently? Do you mean that shop owner you've told me about?"
"Yep, saw him a few days ago." She begins to explain, when suddenly her face lights up with realization. "Oh yeah! I mentioned about you to Kourin last time, he said he would like to meet you!"
"Eh? He wants to meet me? I wonder what for?" I ponder curiously, prompting the monochrome witch to continue.
"Yeah, probably because you're an outsider. He may want to ask you about some things in his shop. That's what he sells y'know, outside world items." As she is explaining what this man does for a living, a thought crosses my mind. A brilliant thought.
Idea! I wonder if I can convince this guy to provide a job for me! Sounds like the perfect opportunity, chances of getting hired seems high, and I really need the money right now!With my plan in place, I proceed with a much needed question to set it in motion. "Say Marisa, do you think you can take me over to him? I'd like to see this Kourindou I've been hearing about for myself."
"Neh? You want me to fly you there?" I nod at her, hoping for a positive response. "Sure, I guess. But if so I'm going to go fast, so no complaining alright ze?"
I hesitate at the condition she lays out worriedly, but after getting a chance for a job I'm not about to lose it. "...Alright. Just let me grab Arashi real quick." I make my way over to my bag again, grabbing my case that is resting on the ground besides it. "Alright, I suppose I'm-"
"Hurry up!" Calls my transport from out the door, already hovering on her broom and ready to fly.
She's pretty impatient, isn't she? I didn't even take fifteen seconds and she's already about to launch like a rocket!"Okay, okay, I'm coming! Just hold your horses...or um, broomstick." My poor attempt at a joke is met with silence, to which I just grow quiet myself. Once outside, I close the door behind me before I get on the broom like I did when I last flew with her. "...I'm ready. Just go easy on me, alright?"
"No can do! Now hold on!" She declines my plea as she ascends into the sky at an accelerated rate. Already as we gain foreword momentum I can feel my poor brain moving into my feet, determining that we are
most definitely moving faster than before.
"HO~ LY~ SHIT~!" I scream loudly as we rocketed over the blurring trees, the village far behind us already. My death grip is tight around the captain of this flight, as I don't even dare to open my eyes to the world around me.
"Oi! Not so tight, I'll lose control!" The crazy girl warns over the whooshing air, barely reaching my ears as we travel to our destination somewhere ahead of us.
I gotta make a choice here. Loosen my grip and possibly
fall, or don't and steer us both straight into the ground full speed anyway. God damned logic...With all the reluctance a guy on the edge can contain, I loosen my grip slightly, getting an affirmative from my pilot. "There, that's better. Take it easy ze, we're almost there!" No more than a moment later she says that we begin descending rapidly like a meteor, leaving my stomach up above us somewhere as my feet finally touch ground with a skidding stop, in turn causing both of us to lurch foreword at the loss of momentum. "See? It wasn't so bad right Dash? ...Dash?"
The black-white girl's confusion is well founded, because as soon as we stopped I slipped off her broom and lay dying on the ground underneath her face up, pale white skin and all. "...It seems my time in this new world has already come to an end. Good bye Gensokyo~!" I melodramatically complain, literally acting out a dead person giving his last words.
Marisa, humorously enough, believed every bit of it. "O-oi! No giving up now do you hear me!? Reimu will kill me if you die here!" The blonde panics wildly, grabbing me off the ground to shake me at the shoulders frantically and making me very dizzy, and possibly sick.
Ugh, this is not
how you treat a dying person!Seeing as that isn't working, she begins to think quickly about what to do, before she gets an idea. "Hey Dash~, if you really are going to die I'm taking your guitar, okay ze?"
Just as she is reaching for the case still in my hand, my other hand immediately snatches her wrist in a death grip. Looking down, she flinches when the cold, dead look in my eyes promises endless pain if she proceeds with her plan. "I wouldn't do that... Ma. Ri. Sa."
My words chill her to the bone, causing her to swiftly retreat not only her hand, but her entire self away from my case out of fear. "W-well, it seems you are going to make it after all. Ahahaha...ha...ha." Her nervous laughter recedes as I stand up shakily, her eyes making sure I won't cause her bodily, or mental, harm.
"...Ah whatever. So is this the place?" I ask her anticlimactically as I stare at the building in front of me, eying the scattered items and appliances before said shop. "This place is a dump."
"Yeah, but there is still a lot of interesting stuff here." She claims knowingly, walking up to the worn door. Right when I thought she is about to knock on the door, Marisa slams it open instead with her hand. "Hey Kourin, you here ze?"
In shock from her poor behavior, I'm left behind as I hear an annoyed
masculine voice from inside. "...Marisa, back so soon? What brings you here today, normally you give me at least a week of peace and quiet between visits."
"Ah, don't be like that Kourin. Anyway, I brought you someone interesting." The loud witch claims, waltzing right in.
"...Some
one? You didn't kidnap anyone did you? Because that is taking things too far, even for you." Just as he is asking his question, I walk in behind Marisa, catching his attention. "Hm? Who might you be?"
"He's the outsider I told you about, remember? You said you wanted to meet him, so here he is ze!" She explains, walking around looking at the stuff piled up here and there. And there...
And there...What is with this place? It has more stuffed crammed into it than a storage unit!Pulling myself from staring at the loads of junk, I gain the common sense to give a greeting. "Hello, The name's Tadashi Rizumu, or Dash for short. It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard about you a couple of times during my stay here."
"The pleasure's mine." The man before me claims. He has short silver hair, golden eyes like Yukari's, but has a pair of glasses in front of them. He wears an interesting set of clothes, which seems to alternate between blue and black on each side, with some form of black undershirt that is barely visible from the neckline. The odd things of his attire however is the black choker on his neck and a brown, square bag attached to his front. "I am Rinnosuke Morichika, the owner of this antique shop."
Antique shop!? I can plainly see things here that is not qualified as an antique just yet! Is that a TV?"So anyway Kourin." Marisa jumps in the conversation again. "Can I borrow this as payment for bringing him here? It looks interesting." She asks holding up a red cylinder shaped object that has a black hose connected to it.
Wait a sec, is that a fire extinguisher? Why would she want that, or better yet, why was one here?"...You're going to take it whether I say yes or no, aren't you?" The male shopkeeper sighs, prompting the girl in front of him to nod with enthusiasm. "Go ahead then, I never could figure out how it works anyways."
She would take it anyways? Isn't that, oh I don't know, stealing!? Marisa what aren't you telling me?!"Thanks da ze! Well, since I got what I came for I guess I'll get going then. Later!" With that said Marisa heads for the door, leaving us both dumbfounded by her increasingly odd behavior.
"Um...later..." I dumbly reply, watching her mount her broom and begin to hover. At this time however, I realize what her leaving would mean for me.
Gah! She's my ride back! What in the world can she be thinking!?"Wait Marisa-" I begin to call out, but she is too far out already for her to hear me. Stupefied at the situation, I slowly turn back to look at the man behind the counter, who thankfully has a neutral expression rather than laughing his ass off.
"I take it you needed her to take you home?" Rinnosuke asks me, to which I blankly nod. "Ugh, that Marisa. She never thinks before she does something. One of these days..." He trails of from his train of thought, leaving the shop silent now the loud girl is gone.
Considering that my ride won't be coming back, I sigh deeply at the witch's antics before I decide to just go along with the situation. "Oh well, while I'm here I'd like to talk to you Rinnosuke. I can see just by looking around that you sell things from the outside world, right?"
It's weird how I started calling it that recently, the outside world... Maybe Gensokyo is rubbing off on me faster than I thought?"Yes, I do. Is there something you need?" The silver haired man asks me with insight, prompting me to continue.
"I'll get straight to the point. I was wondering if you would like to hire me as an employee, since I have knowledge about the outside that could help your business. I could also do other odd jobs that would need done if it is needed." I attempt to pitch my idea to the owner of this shop, hoping he would agree. If the contemplating look he is giving me is anything to go on, I think I am successful.
After a longer moment of pondering that quite honestly is making me nervous, he gives his reply. "It's a very tempting offer Dash-san, and it's true your knowledge about my wares would be of big help to me, possibly even increasing my sales." He begins telling me, before his face fell to one of apology. "But unfortunately I can't accept your offer. I don't have the money to pay for an employee, and considering the amount of business I get I won't anytime soon. My apologies..."
Damn, well that went well. And here I thought I would find myself an easy job. Just my luck..."...It's alright." I exasperate out to Rinnosuke, with a tinge of disappointment. "It's just a lot harder to find work in Gensokyo than I first thought it would, it's not at all like job hunting back where I'm from. But I suppose all I can do is keep looking."
My almost employer gives me a sad smile, to which he speaks up again. "Yes, I know how it is. But keep your chin up, you may find one sometime, possibly even soon."
"Thanks." I give my gratitude, before I glance around quickly at the items the man has spread about. "Since I'm here anyways, do you mind if I have a look around?"
"By all means." He replies with a grin. With his permission given, I begin browsing his wares lazily. Since my ride is gone there is no sense in rushing. "By the way, what is that object you are carrying? It looks rather heavy." He asks, pointing at my case.
"Oh this?" I hold Arashi up to eye level, earning a curious nod from the man. "This is my guitar, I normally don't go anywhere without it, not even for a short trip out of the house." I respond naturally, while I still search through the piles of objects in the room. "The first thing I tried to do for a job was being a musician for hire, but I've been getting no offers so far. I've even tried performing in the village square to advertise myself, but I've had no luck. So far all I got was pity change for my troubles and that is nothing to live on."
"A musician huh? Perhaps you should find a new way for advertising." He advises thoughtfully, catching my attention. "The Human Village is a big place, perhaps some still don't know about you, or realize that you are looking for work."
"That could be true, but as far as I know nearly everyone passes by the square. I'm just not sure what to...oh hello what's this?" I inquire, weaving my hand through some bins filled with smaller objects. The object I come across has a wooden handle and at the end looks like some kind of metal pincer or claw. "Neh Rinnosuke, what is this thing?"
"Let me see." He asks holding out a hand, to which I hand it over to him. After no more than a few seconds he begins to speak, as if reading from a script. "This is called a lever-type can opener, made in the year 1885 in outside world terms. It was used to open objects called tin cans that contain food or other substances. Dash, do you know what that means?"
Say what now!? That thing is a can opener? Perhaps it's a good day after all!"Yes, what it means is that is exactly what I need right now for back home! Rinnosuke, what can I do to get that from you?" I practically plead to him, nearly shocking him from my assertiveness.
"This old thing? You can go ahead and keep it, I don't think it's worth selling anyways. Besides it looks like you genuinely need it for something, unlike some other people who come in my shop." The gracious man hands me the old fashioned can opener, leaving me dumbfounded about how easy that was.
"A-are you sure? I can really have this?"
My surprise is not overseen by the man in glasses, if his knowing look is anything to go by. "Of course I'm sure. Each item has it's proper use, a purpose, and if I give this to you I feel you will use it for just that, correct? Besides, I think I've had this thing since I first opened shop..."
His motives are lost on me, but I'm not about to argue about getting another couple of meals if I can help it!"Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I needed this!" To show my appreciation I bow so fast I almost hit his counter with my head, much to both of our amusement. Once I finish my tirade of gratitude, I begin making my way to the door slowly. "I suppose since this will be the best thing I'll find in here for now, I may as well start heading back to the village. Thanks once again Rinnosuke."
"Again, it was no trouble. Stop by again sometime if you have the time, there may be something else you will find here." He waves me off, sending me on my way back. Once out of the cluttered shop, I come upon a dirt path to my right that passes by Kourindou, toward a looming batch of trees. Figuring I don't want to be heading closer to the looming forest, I head in the opposite direction, hopefully toward the village.
The hike back to the village is actually quite peaceful to be honest. It makes me wonder why it is so dangerous traveling alone, from what I keep hearing Gensokyo has been very peaceful lately, and I haven't heard of anyone getting attacked by youkai since I've been here. Putting that out of my mind I proceed to admire the environment around me, watching the lush trees sway in the wind and cheerful wildlife going about it's business as I pass by.
It's times like these that makes me want to play my music as I stroll. Too bad it would probably draw some unwanted attention.As if mother nature herself heard the dilemma in my head, I begin to hear the most eery kind of noise traveling through the air into my ears. I would just dismiss it as another sound of the wilderness, if the melody wasn't so composed. I stop in the middle of the road to pinpoint the source of the sound with my hearing, but when I try to find it I discover the echos seem to originate from all around me at once, as if I am surrounded by it. Since listening for the melody is a dud I try to search for it with my eyes, only to find that I feel...disoriented.
It's like I can't get my bearings at all, as if the world is warping and spinning by itself to confuse me. I don't even know if I'm still on the path anymore... I should be, I haven't moved from this spot!Due to the unorthodox predicament I am in, I remain unaware that someone is approaching me from behind. Unaware, until a sharp blow from behind causes my already swirling vision to darken as I fall foreword into the ground. With the combined force of disorientation and bodily harm, I slowly lose my grip on consciousness, with only one thought running through my mind.
Damn it, I was careless...________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When I finally wake up from my forced induced snooze, it's to a head filled with cobwebs. With blurry vision, I take a gander of my surroundings, to which I then analyze my situation. The first thing I realize is that I'm not where I was when I passed out; at least not on the road back to the village, I can't tell with all the trees surrounding me. Next is, besides the headache, I don't seem to have any other injuries thankfully. The last thing I notice is that I still have my case nearby, so whoever moved me while I was out was at least kind enough to look after it, to my relief.
Speaking of which, where is said culprit? Or better yet, why am I still alive if I was knocked out? I was knocked out by a youkai right, so shouldn't I be dead?Before I can fully grasp my situation from my groggy state on the ground, I'm interrupted by a singsong voice from above me. "Well, looks like you finally woke up! I was beginning to wonder if I accidentally killed you."
Taking a quick look above me, hoping I was hearing things, I spot a figure sitting in the trees nearby. She's wearing a brown dress with ruffles at the end which looks to be decorated by wing like ornaments, with one at the collar of a white long sleeved shirt. Her legs are covered by long brown socks and black shoes, with wing ornaments strapped to her ankles, and her pink hair is topped with a brown cap with another wing ornament at the top. The things that define what she is however are the pointed ears, sharp claw-like hands, and the light pink bird wings with purple highlights.
In other words, most certainly a youkai. Well crud..."What's going on here?" I force out of my drowsy mouth, trying to stay calm at the face of possible danger.
"Simple human, I kidnapped you." The bird-like youkai replies directly. "I was lucky enough to find you walking the roads alone, so I just played a small trick on you to knock you out. It was almost too easy to be honest."
By now, I begin to recall what happened to me earlier today which caused my blackout, to which I regard my abductor with uncertainty as I get back onto my feet, guitar in hand. "...That sound was coming from you?" My deduction is met with a know-it-all smirk from the girl, before I ask my next questions. "Right, of course it was you. Well then who are you? What do you want with me?"
"Aren't you the nosy human? But alright..." She chirps from her spot, slipping of the branch she rested upon to hover down to me with her wings. "I'm Mystia Lorelei, a youkai as you probably guessed." I quickly nod that I did, causing her to continue once she lands in front of me. "As for what I want from you, why don't you take a guess?"
Offset from her attitude towards me, no doubt since she feels in control, I put my own speculation out in the open. "Well, considering I'm not dead I don't think you plan on killing me. But anything other than that I'm at a loss. I hope it isn't too gruesome."
"Pretty good reasoning human. True, I don't plan on killing you, but only because I need something from you. Though keep in mind I still can kill you whenever I feel like it." The bird girl drawls as she begins running one of her claw-like fingers up my chest and to my throat, where my breath hitched, before removing it playfully.
Letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding, I regard her with slight fear along with curiosity. "Not that I'm not thankful for letting me live, but what could you possibly need from me?"
"To be blunt, I want your music." The pink haired youkai replies...well...bluntly, making me unconsciously shift my case in my hands. "From what I can tell you have been becoming quite popular in the village the short time you've been here outsider, and I would like to use that popularity to my advantage."
I'm popular in the village? Well hey, isn't that just dandy! I suppose my advertising has worked after all, if not for the reason I hoped for!Despite the internal victory I'm having, I couldn't help but catch a tidbit she let loose. "Hold on, how'd you know where I was from?" My question is met with a stare that screams 'Are you an idiot?', to which, after considering how she could possibly know, makes me wonder if I am one. "Right...dumb question, of course you would know. But still, why would I want to help you?"
My inquiry causes her joking mood to darken slightly with her response. "I can name a couple of reasons why you should help me. For one, if you refuse to help I'll kill you right here, right now since I would have no more use for you..."
Yep, a very good point! Not killing me is high on priorities!"...And two, I'll be willing to pay you for the work you'll do. So how does that sound?" Mystia offers/demands, providing me with little room to argue with her reasoning.
"...It seems I don't have a choice. What do you want me to do Mystia-san?" I relent tiredly, making her put on a victorious grin.
"It's simple really, just take a look behind you." She directs my attention in said direction, and I spy a wooden, mobile cart directly behind me, with a built in grill and other similar perks adorned to it.
I must have been resting against it when I was out the whole time. How'd I not notice it till now?"As you can plainly see, I run a grilled lamprey stand. I usually work during the nighttime, thanks to a successful gimmick I had going to attract customers, but lately I haven't been getting any human customers at all. And since they are my target consumers I decided I need to change my approach, like selling during the day to name one..."
I patiently stood there listening to the bird girl explain, trying to see the relevance to my question. "That sounds good and all, but where do I fit in with all of this?"
"I was getting to that!" She huffs irritably. "That would be another thing I'll be changing. Normally I would attract my customers with my singing, again apart of the gimmick, but that doesn't seem to do it anymore."
So she sings? That must be what I heard before she jumped me. Interesting...Unaware of my inner deductions, she continues. "So like I mentioned before, you have been getting popular with the humans the past few days, so I figured why not use you to attract customers with your music instead of my singing?"
"Wait wait wait..." I hold up my hands to gesture for her to stop, with her promptly doing so. "You're telling me you want me to play my music to attract customers for you? And you will be paying me for it? That's it?"
"Yep, pretty much!" Mystia admits straight out. "Well? If you got any complaints you better say them now human, because I'm not taking no for an-"
"Where do I sign up!?" I interrupt her almost too enthusiastically, causing her to react to me in shock, complete with slumped shoulders and a slack jaw.
"E-eh?! You're not going to fight about it?" The bird girl asks uncertainly, probably unsure if she heard me right.
She honestly thought I didn't want to. Was I supposed to be uncooperative? Not likely in this case, this is too good of a chance for me to pass up!Despite my internal musings, I try to reply to the winged youkai in a calmer manner, though the excitement is still showing. "Mystia-san I'll be frank with you. I've been looking for a job like this ever since I started living here, it's the whole reason I was playing in the square for the past week in the first place, to spread word about me! Until now, no one has yet to approach me with a job offer like you are, so please understand my reasoning for jumping at the opportunity like I am now. I want this job badly!"
"I-I see." Her response is less dumbfounded than before, though the pleased look splashed upon her face is hard to miss. "You know, you're really are an odd human. To jump at an offer a youkai is giving you without even thinking about it, most humans would think you're crazy!"
"I seem to be getting that reaction it seems..." I admit humorously, scratching the back of my head. "I just don't see a reason to treat youkai differently from anyone else, y'know? That is, as long as they don't plan to kill me."
"Maybe you should, some youkai hate humans you know. And others just see them as food." She lectures to me lightly, before ranting on. "I myself don't like humans too much, mainly because of their arrogant attitude. They either think they are superior in some way, or just want to be rid of us. It's infuriating sometimes!"
Undaunted by her obvious dislike of humans, I couldn't help but smile. "Well I for one don't think like that. From what I could tell on my first day here, youkai like to party or have fun just the same as humans do. Nothing different about that if you ask me."
Mystia looks at me with a ludicrous face for a while, before she gives a tiny grin in response. "That's a weird way to look at it I suppose. But I'm glad you think that way, it will make having you around easier to bear." She admits truthfully, to which I couldn't help but think along the same lines.
"I sure hope it makes things easier, or else it would just make work stressful. Nothing like working with someone you don't like to ruin a good job, am I right?" I laugh lightly from my remark, but it was lost on deaf ears regarding my soon-to-be boss. I soon realize this, so I try to talk about something else. "So...when do you want me to start? I assume you have this all planned out since you went through all this trouble?"
"Oh! Well um..." Mystia trails off, looking away from me nervously at my question and causing me to ponder if that isn't the case.
Don't tell me, she didn't make any plans past this point?! This is who I'll be working for?When she doesn't reply back to me straight away, I let out a tired sigh. "Tell you what, if you lead me back to the village we can come up with a plan on the way. Sound good?"
"Hey! What do you take me for, an idiot?! I have a plan!" She retorts swiftly to her defense, though it only leaves me amused.
"Really now? Then can you tell me what my wages will be? Or how about working hours? Or how about..." I continue asking one work related question after another, making me wonder why I would even be concerned about half of the stuff I say.
My stream of questions leaves Mystia baffled again, actually making her stutter a bit this time. "Well uh... I guess I will...no wait, actually I'll...ugh..."
"Uh huh." I comment disapprovingly. "I thought so. I guess even youkai have these kind of troubles, huh? Should I be worried?"
"Watch it..." The bird youkai warns with a cool response, making me break a cold sweat. "Alright maybe I didn't plan ahead, but don't be getting any ideas. Remember I'm still going to be your boss, and I still can kill you if that's what you want."
Eep, I think I took it too far. Note to self, don't make fun of a youkai's intelligence. It isn't healthy."Right, you're the boss Mystia-san. I'll remember that." As if knocking me down a peg is amusing, my 'boss' sported a satisfied smirk.
I think she enjoys putting me lower than her. Ain't that just great, I'm going to be getting a sadistic boss!Once Mystia seems to be content with her self gloating, she brought herself back to the current dilemma again. "...But yes, it seems your idea is the best course of action for now. Follow me, we can talk on the way to the village."
Following after my official new employer, we make our way past the treeline that surrounds us and onto a road again. As we begin to discuss the finer details of my employment to Mystia, I realize that we are walking past what looks like a grove of bamboo. When I inquire Mystia about it, she informs me she brought me to the southern road that runs near the Bamboo Forest of the Lost when I was unconscious, which was on the other side of the village. Deciding not to ask further about it for now, despite wondering how she brought me
and my guitar that far, we further discuss the foundation of her new plans for her business, until the village gates begin to appear in front of us.
"Well, this is far as I'll take you. I'm not too welcome in there if you catch my meaning." She states sourly, before looking at me with a serious look. "Now I expect you to be right here tomorrow morning to start working. I'll be at this spot with the stand, so you have no excuse for not coming on time. Got it?"
Despite the seriousness she is showcasing to me, I still can't help but grin wholeheartedly at the bird girl. "Got it. Thanks again for the job opportunity, you don't know how much trouble this saves me."
"It's no problem human. In fact, I should thank you for being so cooperative. It saved me the hassle of threatening you into submission." With that joke aside, if it was a joke, Mystia spreads her bird-like wings to begin her ascension into the sky. "Well then, I guess I'll be off."
Something inside my head twitches as she spoke, making me call at her before she gets any higher. "Y'know, if I'm going to be working for you, you should start calling me by name instead of human. It's Dash by the way."
"...Fine, I'll attempt to remember that. See you later...Dash." With that she gives a mighty flap with her wings, before taking of in the general direction from whence we came.
Once she is out of sight, I slowly make my way back into the village, getting a curious look from the guards but nothing more. I just now notice how late it is as I look into the orange sky to see the setting sun sinking into the mountains in the distance, making me wonder how much time has actually passed for me. Swerving through the now familiar roads of the Human Village after a week of living here, I finally reach my small home after the long day, walking through the front door and plopping into my chair. After getting comfortable after all the flying and walking I've done today I feel a hard bulge prodding me from inside my pocket, which reminds me of the supposed can opener I got from Rinnosuke.
The thought of the cans in my pack instantly gives my stomach the signal to growl, reminding me I haven't eaten since this morning. I force myself from my seat to the contained food, now accessible with the tool in my possession, and begin fixing myself a big mismatched meal to fill my tummy.
No need to worry about rationing food now, since I finally got myself a job. I wonder how it will be like, working for a youkai?