Chapter 10: The Youkai Who Wanted to Join the Fun.
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Yanami Anna had no idea why the question had hit her that way. She spun around, yanked the rooftop door open, confirmed that Kihara was not standing immediately behind it listening, and pulled it shut again.
"Why — why would you say that?"
"Hmm..." Lala's index finger rested lightly at the corner of her mouth, her expression the gentle concentration of someone reviewing their own reasoning. "No specific reason. Just a feeling. Was I wrong?"
"You were probably wrong."
"I see!"
Yanami Anna looked at her.
There it was again — that quality. Lala had accepted the denial with the complete trust of someone who hadn't considered that people said things they didn't mean. She was so genuinely without guile that Yanami Anna couldn't bring herself to confirm what Lala had already guessed.
Because that was the problem.
Appearance — impeccable. Personality — the kind that made you feel vaguely ashamed of your own personality by comparison. Lala was, by almost any framework Yanami Anna could construct, the optimal answer to the question who should be someone's wife. There was no angle from which a direct confrontation made sense.
"Earth's monogamy rules don't really apply across the universe—"
The sentence made it most of the way to Lala's mouth before she swallowed it back.
That's a shame, she thought instead. I was so sure Anzu liked Kihara. It would have been nice if we could all just be happy together.
She'd known Yanami Anna for less than a day. But she'd watched her closely enough to see that the cheerful, competitive surface covered someone who genuinely thought about Kihara's wellbeing before thinking about her own position. That was worth something.
It made her a friend.
"Class is starting soon. Shall we go back?"
"Yeah."
Somewhere considerably further away.
"What?! You're telling me Lala found a fiancé on some unknown little planet, and that the proposal ceremony has already been performed?!"
Zastin knelt before the communication projection with his head bowed and both hands on the floor. "I sincerely apologize, Lord Gid."
"...You also mentioned my future son-in-law has impressive combat ability?"
"The battle scanner was still climbing when I withdrew. I was unable to obtain a ceiling figure. Kihara-sama's strength is considerable, that much is confirmed."
"Interesting." A pause that had the quality of someone reaching a decision. "Then release the news. Let's see if he has what it takes to be my son-in-law."
"Understood!"
The projection closed.
Zastin stood, turned, and issued his instructions. "Lift all security restrictions on Earth. And release word that Lady Lala's location is on Earth."
"Sir!"
He stood alone after that, looking at the blue planet through the ship's viewport.
"I hope Lady Lala won't be too upset with me for this."
Gensokyo.
Aya Shameimaru was in her tree.
This was her standard operational position when monitoring Kihara's house — well-concealed, good sightlines, camera ready. She had been here for some time. She had not seen him. The house showed no movement. The door had not opened.
"He doesn't sleep in this late. Something's wrong."
She deliberated for approximately thirty seconds before concluding that waiting in a tree for a subject to appear was, fundamentally, bird behavior. She had a reputation to maintain.
She kicked open the artfully camouflaged nest-door she'd constructed in the tree branches, spread her black wings, and ascended toward the roof. The chimney was the obvious entry point. It was autumn — no fire running, no smoke — a straightforward access route for a journalist with a conscience and a schedule.
She lined herself up, held her camera steady, and descended into the chimney with the composed professionalism of someone doing field work.
A gap opened in the darkness of the chimney shaft.
The eyes were red, numerous, and arranged in a pattern that suggested whoever had opened this gap had anticipated this exact scenario and found it amusing.
A small piece of paper attached itself to Aya's face.
"WHOA— I nearly fell!! Yukari, what is the meaning of—"
She peeled it off. Held it up toward the light filtering down from above.
Kihara is currently exploring a peculiar alternate world with free passage to and from Gensokyo. Any youkai interested in visiting that world for fun may register at Eientei.
??
"THIS IS ENORMOUS NEWS!!"
She was up and out of the chimney before the paper finished falling, wings already carrying her at full speed toward Youkai Mountain. She had a front page to compose.
The Bunbunmaru News Dispatch arrived earlier than usual that day.
This reporter has obtained remarkable intelligence from the great Youkai Sage herself: Kihara-kun is currently present in an alternate world accessible via free passage to and from Gensokyo. Youkai interested in experiencing life outside the Barrier may register at Eientei to participate, operating as high school students in the other world.
Under normal circumstances, the Great Hakurei Barrier's isolation of Gensokyo from the outside world makes departure essentially impossible. This represents an unprecedented opportunity.
Registration slots are limited. An opportunity missed may not come again. Interest without action produces nothing — register at Eientei now!
Moriya Shrine.
Sanae read the paper, set it down, and walked back to her room to pack.
Kanako was leaning in the doorway when she came back out with her bag. "Going to see Kihara-kun?"
"Partly. Mainly I want to check if they have Gunpla in the other world."
"Take it as a vacation then. Rest properly." Kanako's expression had the quality of someone relaying useful intelligence rather than just making conversation. "I've heard the time flow in that world is different from Gensokyo — a day here might be several weeks there."
For a shrine maiden who'd been preparing to run back and forth between worlds, this was considerably reassuring.
"Then I'll enjoy the vacation properly." She bowed. "Kanako-sama, please look after Moriya Shrine while I'm away."
"Go on."
Kanako watched her head down the stone steps with the particular expression of a parent watching a child leave for something significant — a mixture of amusement and something warmer underneath it.
"Off I go!"
"Travel safely."
After Sanae's figure disappeared, Suwako hopped over in her distinctive frog-jump style, hands clasped behind her back. "You think she'll come back with a child?"
"Pfft. That's too fast. She hasn't even told him how she feels yet."
"I just want her to find her own happiness. She's been a shrine maiden her whole life."
Suwako delivered this with the childlike face and the ancient-entity cadence that was her particular specialty.
Kanako raised an eyebrow. "And the second half of that thought?"
"Once she has a family of her own, she definitely won't turn into another Reimu."
"Hahahahaha!! That is the most ancestral thing you've ever said to me."
The news moved fast.
Yukari opened a gap, looked through it at Kaguya's end, and assessed the situation. A handful of youkai had already assembled, each with a version of I want to see this written plainly on their faces.
The harem members — the ones who had, under normal circumstances, treated Kihara's shadow as a desirable address — were notably absent. This was expected. Re-enrolling as a student meant tests. Quizzes. Exams. The specific suffering of being academically evaluated. Kihara could come and go freely, which meant there was no particular urgency to brave the curriculum.
The youkai who had shown up were a different category. The ones who wanted the experience for its own sake.
Yukari watched them with the expression of someone watching a mechanism she'd built proceed through its sequence.
"Suika confirmed the theory for me," she said, to no one in particular. "Now I need you to help me complete the process." A pause. "You all like Kihara anyway, don't you."
The smile that followed was the specific one she used when a plan had reached the stage where she no longer needed to push it.
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Thank you for reading.