Chapter 21: A Gap Between Worlds?
After the rooms were assigned, Haruto, Kaguya, and Miko stepped into their designated guest room.
Perhaps King Chen felt a certain consideration for them, being the youngest of the group. He had placed their room in the middle of the three, a strategic position that would allow them to detect and respond to any unexpected disturbances from either side.
The room was old, the wooden walls and floorboards weathered with age. Yet, it was surprisingly clean, as if someone diligently maintained it despite its disuse.
Haruto performed a quick sweep of the room. After confirming there were no immediate threats lurking in the shadows or under the furniture, he locked the door with a decisive click and flopped backward onto the bed with a weary sigh.
Following his lead, Kaguya executed a dramatic "deep-water bomb" dive, launching herself onto the mattress beside him.
Creak—
Her forehead slammed into something unyieldingly solid. A sickeningly clear crack echoed through the quiet room. She let out a sharp hiss of pain, instinctively clutching her head.
"Sister Kaguya, are… are you okay?" Yotsuya Miko rushed forward, her face pale with worry, a dreadful vision of a teammate being taken out before the game had even truly begun flashing through her mind.
Kaguya didn't answer. Her face was a thunderous mask as she ripped the bedsheet back, revealing the source of her pain. Beneath the thin, lumpy mattress, the bed frame wasn't made of wood or metal. It was carved entirely from cold, hard stone.
"Damn it! What a scam!" she seethed, kicking the stone frame in indignation. Another crisp crack of bone breaking sounded out.
Seeing the sheer terror on Miko's face, Haruto spoke up to clarify the situation. "Don't worry about her. She's a Person of Penglai; she can't die."
"A Person of Penglai?" Miko repeated, stunned. "What's that?"
"It refers to a being who has consumed the Penglai Elixir," Haruto explained, his tone carrying a distinct note of envy. "They're known collectively as the People of Penglai. They are immortal and indestructible. It's not just the body, either—even if her soul were to be damaged, it would instantly revert to the state it was in the moment she first drank the elixir." He gestured lazily at Kaguya, who was already starting to look less pained. "So she's not afraid of getting hurt at all. Never mind a cracked skull; she can regrow severed limbs without breaking a sweat."
Yotsuya Miko listened in dumbfounded silence, the words barely registering. While she had known for some time that Haruto was a legendary youkai, she had naturally assumed his friend Kaguya would be extraordinary as well.
But… immortal and indestructible? That was just too much to believe.
"So… so amazing!" she finally breathed out.
"What's so amazing about it? Haruto is way stronger than I am," Kaguya grumbled, pointing a thumb at the boy lying on the bed. "He should have told you, right? He's a Boundary Youkai."
Yotsuya Miko shook her head. "Brother Haruto only mentioned he was a youkai. He didn't specify what kind."
Hearing this, Kaguya shot Haruto a look of genuine surprise. "You had a perfect chance to show off and you didn't take it? That doesn't sound like your style at all."
"Time was tight," Haruto retorted, glaring at her as if she'd just exposed a state secret. "I just left her with a cool-sounding line. Where was I supposed to find the time for a full-blown explanation?"
Seeing that Haruto wasn't hiding some ulterior motive, Kaguya felt a sense of relief and turned her attention back to Miko.
"Don't be fooled by his usual lazy act," she began, a proud glint in her eyes. "He's from the same clan as Yakumo Yukari, one of only two Boundary Youkai in existence. He possesses the ability to manipulate the very concept of boundaries. Simply put, as long as his understanding is deep enough, he's practically all-powerful. Compared to a mere Person of Penglai like me, he's not just on another level—he's several levels higher."
Kaguya boasted on Haruto's behalf, a strange sense of satisfaction warming her as she watched Miko's expression grow more and more shocked. It was the distinct pleasure of bragging to someone about how incredible your best friend was.
Yotsuya Miko's eyes were dazed, her entire worldview collapsing and rebuilding itself with every new revelation. She had thought the existence of youkai was enough of a shock, but she never imagined these two would be so far beyond that.
"Then, Sister Kaguya and Brother Haruto… aren't you invincible?" she asked tentatively.
The moment the words left her mouth, a flicker of awkwardness crossed Kaguya's face, and she fell silent. Miko immediately realized she had misspoken and was about to apologize when Haruto spoke up with a helpless sigh.
"How could we be invincible? If we were, we wouldn't be kept on such a tight leash."
"Kept on a leash?" Miko truly couldn't imagine anyone capable of controlling these two.
"The leaders of our respective factions," Haruto explained, pointing first at Kaguya. "The one on her side, Yagokoro Eirin, is a true top-tier deity—the Sage of the Moon." Then, he pointed at himself. "And the one on my side, Yakumo Yukari, is the founder of Gensokyo, the Youkai of Boundaries, the Sage of Youkai."
Kaguya chimed in to supplement his explanation. "You've heard of the Nine-Tailed Fox, right?"
Finally hearing a familiar name, Miko nodded her head in a hurry.
"Yakumo Yukari's shikigami, Yakumo Ran, is a Nine-Tailed Fox," Kaguya continued. "A thousand years ago, she was a Great Youkai whose name was famous throughout the human world. Even so, she was forcibly bound by Yukari to work like a beast of burden, living a miserable life of working from dawn till dusk, seven days a week."
Miko stared at Haruto in disbelief. She never would have guessed that the "Yukari-nee" he spoke of was so terrifyingly powerful. If terms like 'Person of Penglai'and'Boundary Youkai' had been too abstract for her, the legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox was something every household knew. And yet, such a legendary being was merely a subordinate to this Yukari.
For a moment, Miko's fear of the Death Game seemed to lessen considerably.
At that moment, however, Haruto's voice cut in, grave and solemn. "Don't let your guard down. Our abilities are restricted within these instances; we can't use them freely. Kaguya's fine, but I've only been training for two years. At best, I can play a supporting role. Not even Eirin-sama or Yukari-nee can help us directly across worlds. If we get too reckless, we'll die just like anyone else."
As he said this, Haruto himself felt a pang of uncertainty. He wasn't entirely sure if Yakumo Yukari's gaps could actually traverse different universes. From his current level of understanding, he couldn't even begin to fathom such a possibility.
"I understand." Hearing his warning, Miko immediately suppressed the hopeful thoughts that had just begun to form and nodded with renewed seriousness.
"It's getting late. We should hurry up and get to bed," Kaguya announced, though her eyes were still sparkling with an undercurrent of excitement.
"S-Sleep?" Miko's voice faltered, and a faint blush instantly crept up her neck and onto her cheeks.
"What else?" Kaguya replied, patting the empty space on the stone bed beside her. "In a place like this, maintaining your mental and physical stamina is crucial." She gestured again. "Don't just stand there in a daze. Come on, lie down and get some sleep."
"I-I'll keep watch. Doesn't someone need to? Sister Kaguya, you and Brother Haruto should sleep first."
"That won't do," Kaguya declared firmly. "You're a normal person. A lack of sleep will directly impact your ability to survive. I'm different. Not only am I Gensokyo's reigning 'immortality cultivation' champion, but as a Person of Penglai, I can just hit the restart button if I die!"
Kaguya spoke with such flawless logic that Miko couldn't find a single argument against it. She knew she couldn't allow herself to become a liability to the team due to poor condition.
"Then… excuse me." Steeling herself, Miko stepped forward, lifted the edge of the covers, and carefully lay down.
Haruto was speechless. Aren't I the one getting the better end of this deal? Why is she the one saying 'excuse me'? He shot a look at Kaguya, who returned it with a smug expression that clearly said, 'See how much I'm helping you out?'
He rolled his eyes at her but didn't dwell on it. He had only been a youkai for two years; he still had perfectly normal physiological needs. With a deep yawn, he reached over, switched off the light, and crawled back under the covers, closing his eyes.
Since this idiot princess was willing to stand guard, he certainly wasn't going to refuse the offer.
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