36 Introducing the New “Girl”
Editor: Crembo.
-Morning, My House-
-My POV-
Observe her muscle movement.
'…This is a mistake.'
Calculate the sword path.
'…I shouldn't have done this at all.'
I punched it.
The sword got deflected.
"That's it, kid! Keep it up! Hahaha!!"
I followed up with another punch.
It got blocked by a shield, but she grunted as she withstood my strike.
I backed away to observe what she looked like.
"Even though you're short and small, you really pack a punch, kid! Hahaha!!"
[Lv.30 Bikini Warrior]
A tall, blonde, very muscular woman. With scars all over her body, wearing just an armored bikini.
The only reason I could be sure that she was a woman was because her panties, that thing between her muscular thighs, didn't have a bulge. They were just flat and smooth. Shit, that's a disturbing image right there.
She had a sword and shield, and because she blocked my fists with her shield, it had many fist imprints on it now.
It began when I said "I want to fight a bikini warrior," and yeah, I got a bikini warrior all right.
"Let's stop playing around and end this fight right now."
I pumped more mana into the enchantment on my hands and feet.
"Aw, it's a shame that we have to end this. I still want to continue fighting you know."
Her body started dimly glowing gold.
'Body Enchantment? Is that the reason why she's Lv.30? I need to change my strategy then.'
I changed my stance.
"Here we go!!"
She started to run.
Her speed became much faster after she started glowing but it was useless, my eyes could still follow her movements and I was using Thought Acceleration.
I could see how she would swing her sword, and because of that, when she attacked, I slipped under it and grabbed her sword arm.
"What?!"
With the help of Vector Change, I easily performed a shoulder throw and sent her flying into the air.
"Impossible!!"
And again, with the help of Vector Change, I easily performed an extreme speed flying side kick to her midsection.
"ORAAAAA!!"
"AAARRRGG!!"
I disarmed her, tugging the weapon from her grip using Telekinesis, as she flew from my kick.
I landed, the weapon landed, and she "landed".
I walked to her location.
I arrived and saw her sprawled on the ground, blood dripping from her lips.
"Finally, it's my win right?" I huffed.
"*cough* you are doing well kid!" she smiled while coughing up blood. "Even though you're flat, I still believe you could become a fine Bikini Warrior in the future!!" she gave me a thumb up.
"I REFUSE!!" I immediately denied her claim.
[Simulation Complete]
Everything started turning back to data and the room changed back to its default state.
"*sigh* this is too early for me to get this tired."
I lazily walked to the exit, and after leaving the room, I started gathering the materials for what I wanted to do today.
And while I was doing that, I decided to summarize what I've been doing these past few days.
First thing's first.
The things I wore underneath my clothes.
My underwear.
… I needed to swallow my man pride because I was doing this for more rewards at the end.
It started when I took off my Yukata to get laundry into the pouch. I looked at my chest, …nonononono, I LOOKED AT MY UNDERSHIRT, I remembered that I can only wear girl's clothing, so that meant the underwear I had been wearing must have been quite unisex. But since I didn't want any chance of my cover being blown, I took a step further for my disguise.
I bought a pink camisole and special underwear that could hide my bulge from the system.
'I just have to remember I'm doing this for the reward.'
I wore them and I looked at myself in the mirror.
"…I look cute."
I started wailing after I realized what I just said.
On to the next one.
The Kappa.
"Welcome, welcome, my dear customer, please take a look at my wares." said a blue haired, twin tailed girl in front of a stand.
"Oh my…" I said while covering my mouth with my sleeve.
[Lv.45 Aquatic Engineer, Kawashiro Nitori]
She wore a blue dress with lots of pockets around the hem of the skirt and her upper arm, and a dark aquamarine backpack with a golden key on one of the straps on the front. She also wore a green hat with a wispy white symbol on it, and blue wellington boots.
She appeared on the second day of my gathering, she really is an opportunistic fellow.
I looked at the items that she sold; all of them were the ingredients that I collected the previous day... And she gathered more items than I did, too.
After much thinking, I did what every woman would do in this situation.
I started haggling.
"4 cucumbers for all of this."
"No way! Do you know how cold it was where I searched for all of these?! Make it 10!"
"5! I'm the only buyer for these things!"
"9! I gathered this all by myself!"
"6! I could do it too if you hadn't gathered them all before I did it myself."
"8! That's how business works, early youkai gets the prize."
Both of us stared at each other's eyes.
"Put it in a bag and do it for the entire winter, then we have a deal."
"Deal!"
And that's how my gathering finished faster than usual and how I got one free interaction point for the challenge.
And speaking of collecting ingredients, I started using a little bit of Telekinesis to pick the stuff up from the ground. I did it like that because the ingredients were sturdy enough to be harvested without any delicate process, and also because it was faster to do it that way without having to stop every few seconds to pick them up one by one.
That was it for the weekly report I guess.
… Oh, would you look at that, I also finished the preparation for today at the same time I finished my internal monologue, good timing.
I held a letter in my hand.
"Good, let's hope I didn't make any mistakes, after all, it's my first time doing this kind of thing."
I tucked the letter away into the waist pouch.
"Now, first stop, Marisa's House."
I exited my house.
-Morning, Marisa's House-
"Hm… Bara-san, somehow you look like someone I know-ze." said Marisa while looking at me suspiciously.
"Ahaha, that must be just your imagination, Marisa-san." I 'laughed'. 'DAMMIT MARISA! You will not ruin my disguise with your bullshit!' I thought.
I went to her house, she opened the door, we both introduced ourselves to each other, and the first thing she said was this bullshit.
"Yeah, it's probably just my imagination-ze." She dropped the subject. "So, Arah made a breakthrough in his research, huh?" she asked.
"Yes, due to that reason he can't leave his workshop, but since he promised to gather for his friends, Arah-sama decided to contract with me to do it instead. At least, that's what I've been told by him. Is that true?"
She nodded. "He has promised he will do it, but to actually contract someone to do it for him when he's suddenly busy... That was unexpected-ze."
"He said he took promises very seriously, so he's doing well for my first impression of him."
"Hm…" she was thinking. "And what else-ze?"
"What do you mean, 'what else'?" I was confused by her question.
"Your first impression of him-ze. Did you know that he's actually a pervert?"
'…Oi.'
"A few weeks ago, he used a magic item that made him smell nice to all woman-ze!"
'Oi!'
"And some months ago, he tried to enchant his eyes with a see-through enchantment to see under women's clothing-ze!"
'OI!!'
"... I… I don't know what to say." I said, uncertainly.
"And you said you're living with him in his house, maybe he's planning to do something to you right now-ze!"
"T-there's no way he would do that, right? I mean, he was such a nice person when I first met him."
"Just trust me; everything that I said is true because I'm the most trustworthy person in Gensokyo, Kirisame Marisa-daze."
"…"
I closed my eyes and started calming myself before I unconsciously hit her in the head.
Breathe in, breath out, and start thinking.
'This must be a test, she's still suspicious of me so she's testing me if I would give in and hit her right now. Well, sucks to be you because I won't fall for your scheme.'
I opened my eyes, revealing the still smiling face of the blonde magician.
"I'm sorry; I will believe it when I see it with my own eyes, so I can't just take your word for the truth." Even though I was still taller than her after the change, I still bowed apologetically at her.
"No biggie, just be careful around him-ze."
"I'll keep it in mind."
I gave her her share of the gathered ingredients and said my goodbyes.
"Alright, on to the next stop."
-Morning, Alice's House-
"I see, so that's why you're here."
I nodded.
Right now, Alice and I were sitting facing each other in her guestroom. Her share of the ingredient bag had already been carried off by her dolls.
"So, what type of magical creature are you?"
"I'm sorry; I don't want to disclose that information to anyone other than my contractor."
"I understand. Now then, what is your first impression of him?"
"… Why is everyone asking me that question?"
"'Everyone'?"
"Uh, um, I mean, just now I came from delivering Marisa-san's share, and she also asked me that exact same question? Is Arah-sama's reputation that bad?" I - smartly? - covered up my slip of tongue.
Alice gave a wry smile.
"I don't know what Marisa told you about him, but I assure you that he's a good person at heart." she said with the same expression.
"… Is that so?"
A few minutes later, I said my goodbye and started walking away from her house.
After I left the vicinity of Alice's House, I sighed.
"*sigh* from an outsider's perspective, his reputation is really worrying, to say the least."
I sensed something watching me from behind.
I turned around.
Immediately, goose bumps started appearing because of what I saw.
In the distance, I could see Alice, in her door frame, looking at me.
Because we were far away from each other I couldn't see the expression on her face, but I knew she was definitely looking at me.
"Ahaha." I waved at her while smiling awkwardly.
She waved back.
I turned around and resumed walking.
"…"
After a few more steps, I turned to look behind me again.
She was still there, looking at me from a distance.
I waved again and then immediately started fast-walking away from there.
The only things that stopped me from just running away screaming in terror were my determination to keep my disguise safe, and my manly pride that told me 'real men doesn't go screaming like a little girl'.
-Alice POV-
The black haired girl finally disappeared from view.
"… A Fire Elemental perhaps? She wasn't even bothered by the cold weather while only wearing that many layers of clothing... There's a possibility of Ice Elemental, but her skin tone says otherwise, and she did feel kinda warm when I was near her."
I closed the front door.
"A Contracted Summon, is it? Let's hope he knows what he's doing because usually the price of the contract is quite expensive."
I went back to my workshop.
"… Wait, doesn't that mean currently they are living together inside his house?"
And with that little realization, my control over the dolls was slightly sloppy for the rest of the day.
-Late Morning, Hakurei Shrine-
-My POV-
"So what did you think of him?"
"He's a nice person with a gentlemanly attitude. " I said with a radiant smile. 'I'M SICK OF THIS QUESTION ALREADY!' I screamed internally.
Since I only need one more Interaction Point, I decided to go to Reimu's place. I introduced myself, and guess what, she also asked me the same damn question… I hate myself for having a bad reputation.
"Seems like he's behaving himself, just be careful okay? When a male and a female that don't have any family relationship live under one roof, trouble might start appearing for them."
I looked at Reimu's expression in understanding.
'I feel bad for getting angry at her just now, she's only looking out for the new girl. Let's pay her back.'
"Oh, I'm very sorry; I just remembered he told me give something to Reimu-san."
I bought several items from the system and immediately took them out of the pouch.
"He said because he felt bad that he didn't visit the Shrine on the new years, he wanted to apologize by donating 3 bags of rice to the Hakurei Shrine."
Reimu's eyes literally sparkled looking at the rice bags.
She grabbed and held my hands.
"Thank you for your donation, may luck comes to you and your master." she said with a smile of joy.
"You're welcome too, Reimu-san." I also smiled back at her.
I said my goodbye and walked away from the shrine.
I descended the shrine's stairs while feeling happy.
When I neared ground level, I noticed a Komainu statue that was covered in snow.
'… Why not?' I thought.
I get rid of the snow covering its body and pat the statue's head before I continued walking to my next destination.
-Afternoon, Human Village, Hieda Mansion-
-Akyuu POV-
"There's a letter for me?"
"Yes, Akyuu-sama."
The servant gave me the letter.
"The one who brought the letter introduced herself as Arah-sama's assistant."
"… I see; good work." I sent the servant away.
I stared at the letter in my hand.
"… Herself?" I said worriedly.
I opened the letter.
To the Cute and Honorable Hieda no Akyuu-chan,
I send you this letter to inform you that I made a breakthrough with my research, and because of that, I can't visit you until I have finished my work.
I got the idea for a letter when I remembered that you will be sad and worried that I suddenly stopped visiting you, now you know that I can't visit you because I'm busy and not because I don't love you anymore.
About the girl that gave you this letter: I contracted her a few days ago to assist me in my research, don't worry, I will treat her well.
I hope you will send me a letter back next week when my assistant returns to bring my next letter to you.
Signed
Super Handsome and Awesome Magician Arah.
My face got hotter and hotter by the second and my hands started to tremble.
"… What… what is this letter, this is so bizarre, it's both childish and mature at the same time."
I had to cover my face with my sleeves just from imagining someone accidentally reading this letter.
"Arah-san, please... Now I absolutely can't let anybody read this ever."
I partly uncovered my eyes to stare at the letter.
"Sad and worried, is it? Well, maybe I was worried when he stopped visiting me for a while, but sad…"
An image suddenly formed in my mind.
Arah and I facing each other.
He started to smile sadly.
His mouth moved as it formed words.
'Goodbye' is all I heard before he disappeared from in front of me.
My chest started to tighten.
I put a hand on my chest to ease the pain.
"…" I didn't know what to say.
After a few minutes of silence, I started to realize something else from the letter.
"… Wait, doesn't that mean both of them are living together under one roof?"
I started to panic with that realization.
"*gasp* what do I do…what do I do…" I was panicked the rest of that day until I decided to ask her directly when she delivered a letter again next week.
Reaction Theater:
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ED: MUDAAAA!
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Author note:
Yo, Author here. I finally come back from being busy, and yeah, that's it.
…I think these less than 3k word story gonna be a thing now, this is 2.7k word btw.
I'm just quoting someone word here, "But the bulge make it cuter.", these word definitely not mine, I'm just informing you guys that there's someone that said that word out there. [Beware. You are going down a dark path. If you're not careful, there may be no return... -Ed] [It's not me whose saying that, what are you talking about... -Au]
About the Side Story, I decided to continue writing it after the Trap Arc is over.
…Oh wow, this is probably the shortest Author Note I ever created. It's probably because I pour all my curiosity to the forum in Spacebattles.
