New Year Celebration in Gensokyo

Editor: Crembo.

AN: Author has never seen any real snow in his life.

-Morning, My House-

-My POV-​

"… This is kinda disappointing."

I said while hovering above the ocean.

"Now I understand that no matter how big this thing is, it's still a fish."

The thing in question was in the air, struggling to loosen my (telekinetic) grip on its tail.

[Lv.30 Megalodon]

For simple size comparison, it could take a nice chunk out of a bus with a bite. Say, at least 20% of the bus would be gone.

As for how this situation came to be, I caught the Megalodon after it tried to take a bite out of me by jumping out of the ocean.

I observed the fish that was dangling in the air.

The Megalodon just has a larger body than a normal shark; its moveset is also the same as its smaller cousins. Bite, Tail Whip, Head Butt, Pursuit… the more I say, the more it sounds like I'm describing Pokémon moves, and if that's really what the Megalodon Pokémon moveset is, then this thing is a bad Pokémon.

A Water Pokémon that can only use normal-type/dark-type Pokémon moves, what trash. Even the orca is more interesting than this thing; this thing could win against an orca with its massive size, but without that advantage, the Megalodon would lose instead. Oh wait, is that why the Legendary Pokémon is an orca(Kyogre)? The devs knew that the orca is the true apex predator of the sea, not the shark.

"But I digress, let's stop roasting the poor fishy and just finish this fi-…simulation."

I cut its head off using my Steel Katana and Vector Change.

[Simulation End]

Everything started turning into data and the surroundings became a blank white space.

"Next time, let's fight something interesting. Even if it'll be something low level, at least how they fight or their appearance should be worth seeing… Bikini Warrior?"

And with those final words, I exited the Simulation Room.

"Let's make some snacks for when I'm at Akyuu's place."

I went toward the kitchen.

A week has passed since... You know, since I visited SDM. I did do something besides visiting Reimu and wasting time inside the Simulation Room.

After some hard thinking and brainstorming, I finally planted something in my garden: a bush… I know it's nothing much, but it's a step. I do plan to plant more trees or flowers in there, but since the season is winter, a bush will be fine for now.

On another matter, I was curious about why all of the Oni hadn't come running to fight me since the first one challenged me. My knowledge regarding them is not that detailed, but based on what I know, they should be searching for me since they knew that I was an Oni-Slayer.

I did have some theories as to why they hadn't shown up yet.

1. That Dorokin guy was too ashamed about how I defeated him, so he didn't tell his friends what really happened.

2. They all know what happened, they all want to fight me, but they are all stopped by their obligation to contain the evil spirits, so now they're all fighting with each other and the winner of that fight will fight me in the end.

As much as I didn't want no.2 to become true, I was pretty much inclined to believe that's what really happened.

I scowled as I cooked the snacks.

So that meant it was either Yuugi or Suika that would win the fight, and I didn't want either of those two to visit me.

One of them can cause a calamity and the other one can break the moon, so I had pretty clear pretext to wanting to avoid fighting either of them.

…Fuck, IaMP (Immaterial and Missing Power) will happen, and Suika will appear in Gensokyo.

This is stupid. PCB (Perfect Cherry Blossom) hadn't even started yet and I was already worried about a future incident. But to be fair, the threat here already exists and just needs a little nudge to activate, while on the other hand, other incidents, like SA (Subterranean Animism) need Kanako to arrive in Gensokyo first before the incident would be possible.

"I hope this is enough. 6 portions of potato chips and 6 portions of popcorn. Although they're great snacks, I still doubt it'll be enough, considering these foods' hugely addictive reputation..."

"... Meh. If they are not satisfied then they can have the leftover cookies from a few days ago. Even though I cooked them a while back, they're still fresh because of spacetime storage shenanigans."

I wrapped them up and readied myself to go out of the house. I had a reason why I wanted to go visit Akyuu -

I closed the front door to my house and looked at ground.

It was full of snow.

It covered everything and made the ground white.

- 'We made a deal some time ago, about showing me what winter is, and now is the perfect time to do it.'

Using Vector Change I made all the snow part away from my walking path, just like the time in Marisa's house.

The snow started falling a few days ago. At first I kinda felt excited seeing snow for the first time, but then my brain started working and gave me the anti-fun words "Snow is just ice dust, ice means cold water, water means wet, I hate being wet." and then it stopped being exciting.

"Killing fun time in 5 minutes" by Pessimistic Brain, only 9.99, tax not included.

I got an alert that said I completed my monthly quest that morning, which meant it was now January. New Year's celebrations were happening all over Gensokyo, thus why I was wearing a new clothes.

A black winter jacket with the black fur on the hood area, that's it, back to basics, but with an enchantment of course.

Black Winter Jacket [Add-ons: +Defense Up, +Magic Defense Up, +Durability Up, +Vitality Up, +Vitality Regeneration, +Energy Up, +Energy Regeneration, +Air Conditioning, +Self-repair] = 3,010 IP

"I know I could use my ability to stop the cold reaching me, but I think I still need to prepare winter wear. On the one hand it's for fashion, and on the other, it satisfies my OCD side. If it's winter, wear winter clothes."

I started my walk to the Human Village.

-Late Morning, Human Village-​

I have arrived.

No Youkai in sight while I was on my walk.

'Thank goodness, they're at least sensible enough to let the human celebrate their new year's.'

Now, since I don't want people to freak out when they see snow part away when I near them, let's change tactics.

The reason why people have difficulty walking on snow is because their feet sink through the snow, and the reason for that is because the snow isn't compressed enough to be walkable, so that means all I need to do is one obvious thing.

I compressed all the snow on the road with my ability.

"Wow, I can totally see the difference between the snow I compressed and the snow I didn't."

The snow that I didn't compress is higher by few centimeters from the compressed snow.

Since I was satisfied with the results, I kept doing it on my journey to Akyuu's house.

Since entering the village, I've already passed several people, and I sensed they were all staring at me.

'They are probably curious about my jacket.'

In the past, when I first arrived here, I was maybe too worried with how people looked at me or judged me based on how I looked, but now, I don't give a single damn so long as I'm presentable (look clean & sane) to other people.

Humans adapt, they will get used to it, and I will also get used to it.

While I was inside the village, I noticed the activities the villagers were doing.

They were all are busying themselves with cleaning their houses and stores.

'New Year Cleaning?' I thought.

New Year Cleaning is not an unknown concept to me, I know this because my family usually does this too.

I saw no children playing around in the street because their parents ordered them all to help with the cleaning, but I did see some housewives gossiping with each other. Guess gossiping is a higher priority than cleaning their house for these people.

Because my hearing is improved I could hear what they were saying whether liked it or not.

"... Kita-san's wife is pregnant…"

"… My daughter is doing great in school…"

"... Mizuhasi-san's store's doing great…"

"… Winter's started, mice are eating our rice provisions…"

"… Youngsters and their weird sense of fashion…"

...

'… Fuck you too, aunty.'

I decompressed the snow around them.

I passed them and encountered someone interesting.

[Lv.27 Headless Horror, Sekibanki]

Sekibanki was walking around with a red Yukata and a blue bow with red trimming behind her head. She also had a black line on her neck.

She and I both stared at each other's appearance as we walked opposite directions on the road.

She nodded her head and I nodded back by reflex before we both passed each other.

'… That was weird.' I thought.

-Human Village, Hieda Mansion-​

"Oh, if it isn't Arah-boy. Did you come to visit Akyuu-dono too?"

Once I slid the door open, I was greeted by an old man.

"Yeah, I'm visiting her too, Harusen-san." I nodded to him. "Are you perhaps here to collect her rented book?" I asked.

I said that because I saw lots of stacked books on the floor.

"Exactly, the Hieda are our long time frequent customers, so it is a given that they are the first ones we visit on our yearly collection rounds."

"I see, did you bring Kosuzu with you?"

"Of course, she was immediately happy to hear that we're going to collect the books from the Hieda, and right now she and Akyuu-dono went with her servants to the back to bring out the books."

I hummed in understanding "If that's the case I have to help them then, excuse me."

"All right, go ahead."

I then went inside the house and crossed paths with a servant that was carrying a stack of books in the hallway. They told me where Akyuu was and I thanked them before I went to her location. As well as the servant, I also crossed paths with Kosuzu along the way, but unlike the servant, she looked scared when she saw me and used the stack of books she was carrying to block my view of her. Of course, it was useless for that, but it was the feeling that mattered.

'… It hurts, when a Loli hates you, it feels so bad.'

I walked past her with a dejected look and reached Akyuu.

"Arah-san, you have come… Is something the matter? You look… down."

"Uh… well, let me help you move the books first, then we'll talk."

"Okay, if you say so. Please move this stack of books to the front door."

"All right."

After we moved all the books, gramps listed all the books that Akyuu borrowed, and checked if they were damaged or not. He finished checking the list to the very end, and finally wrapped the books in some kind of cloth bag and carried them all on his back.

"Thank you for your patronage, Akyuu-dono. We look forward to your continued use of our service." Gramps started to bow.

"Thank you for your patronage!" Kosuzu also started to bow.

Akyuu bowed back and since I was by her side, I also bowed back at them.

"Now we will take our leave. Come on, Kosuzu." Gramps turned to the door.

"Good bye, Akyuu-chan!" she waved at Akyuu.

"Good bye too, Kosuzu-chan." Akyuu waved back at her.

'… There's no need to be jealous, as long as Akyuu's happy then I'm happy too.' I thought calmly.

"U-um… g-good bye to you too, Arah-san." I unexpectedly heard someone say.

"Uh, y-yeah, good bye to you too." I hurriedly said that but the culprit already turned her back to me.

I looked at Akyuu.

"… That's progress right?"

She lightly smiled. "I hope so, Arah-san, I hope so."

After that she led me to her yard, she said it was easier to see the snow.

I observed the yard. Then I remembered this place from the manga. It's the yard that she uses to pray to that certain goddess for longevity .

She wanted us to sit on the porch but I stopped her by saying I will warm it first.

"Flash Fire."

Flames burst on the porch before disappearing a second later.

I stepped on the porch to feel the temperature of the floor.

"Yup, it's warm all right. Please sit down, my lady."

"Hehe, thank you."

We both finally sat down on the yard porch.

"Arah-san, do you know why the winter is so cold?"

"… To help with explaining, I'll pretend to be the idiot here. 'Isn't it because of the snow that everything turned so cold?'" I asked with a ridiculous tone.

"…I will be mad at you, Arah-san."

"What'cha gonna do about it then, hmm?" I said with smug attitude.

"I will… I will…" she paused to think. "I will ignore you for a week." she said in a resolute voice.

"... Okay, I'll behave."

"Huhu, then I will start the explanation." she cleared her throat.

After that she recalled the legends and theories about how winter existed, from how Amaterasu shined the weakest thus creating a winter, to there being a big crystal of ice that appears above Gensokyo, and it blocks off the sun's heat but because of that it starts breaking apart and its fragments become snow, and all kinds of unknown references that I've never heard of.

I was genuinely confused at everything she said.

Also, I took out some of the snacks that I made while she was in the middle of explaining some… stuff, I don't remember what she said at that time, I was just eating the popcorn while looking at her face…

She's cute.

"Arah-san, did you hear what I said?"

"Something something Maitreya and something something left over from heaven right?"

"... You really didn't listen to what I said."

"It's not my fault that you started rambling about something I care little about. Also please taste this potato chip before you continue, I'm sure you will like it."

I gave her a bowl of potato chip.

"Potato…'chip'?" she tilted her head while holding the bowl.

"Yes, please take it, I made it this morning."

She looked unsure but tried it anyway.

*crunch*

"Hm?"

*crunch* *crunch*

"Hmm?!"

*crunch**crunch**crunch*

"Hmm! Hmmm!"

"Hahaha, there's no need to go fast, there's more where it came from."

I pat her head.

And we both sat, happily eating (Akyuu was the only one actually eating, while I was only savoring the face of a Loli eating) all of the snacks I made.

Reaction Theater:

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Editor: Hey! You can't leave tax out when listing prices! That's illegal in the EU!

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Editor: Careful. When you pack snow too hard, you make ice. Ice is.. harder to walk on than snow. Trust me :/

Author: I don't know how ice work, dammit!

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Author Note:

Yo, Author here. I feel sick for quite some times, I maybe need to rest for a while; I also need to fix this less than 3k word per chapter, right now I have done 3 chapter in a row of this shit, it keeps happening. I need to rest ASAP.

About Akyuu theory of winter, I kinda pull it out of nowhere, my brain need a rest. I need a rest.

I have heard from other Touhou Author that from their opinion, a Danmaku fight are hard to be described, it is not suited to be write because of how complex the pattern of each fight, and I also agree to them, so I probably stop writing a Danmaku fight and just straight to super power brawl.

So I have a question for the reader, are you guys reading this with the foreknowledge of all Touhou games? Or you know what a Touhou is but only have little knowledge about the series overall and my story help explaining thing to you all? I'm curious with the answer.

@Guest, for the memo, Amnesia is the stupidest genre that was ever existed, and that's why I'm never gonna put Amnesia inside the Challenge Poll.

And speaking of Challenge Poll, since I collect all the votes from SB(SpaceBattle) and FF(FanFic), here are the result:

1. Gynophobia : 26 votes

2. Full body paralysis : 10 votes

3. "Become" a Woman : 26 votes

Since it's a tie, I'm doing a coin flip, and the winner is "Becoming" a Woman. Bleh….