Little Realization

Editor: Crembo

-Morning, My House-

-Me POV-.​

She points her gun at me.

*Bang*

*Klink*

I deflect the bullet using my katana.

*Bang* *Bang*

*Klink* *Klink*

I deflected it again.

"You should give up, miss. All you're doing right now is just wasting our time and delaying the inevitable." I smile evilly.

"Kuh," she grit her teeth while keeping her gun pointed at me.

"You've seen how your friend fares against me. If all of you together can't do anything against me, what could you do alone?" I asked, pointing at her friends.

Currently her friends are sitting on the ground, pretty far away from our position. They are also wearing only their underwear, and are looking angry at me.

"You can do it, Four! Kick his ass!" "Kill that pervert, Four!" "Yeah! Yeah!"

They all said that while covering their body with their arms.

"Everyone…" the maid in front of me starts tearing up.

I just look at her with a jaded expression.

[Lv.21 Combat Maid]

"I think we've wasted enough time talking. Let's end this."

She refocuses her attention on me.

I start dashing towards her position.

She fires her gun, but I'm already prepared to deflect the oncoming bullet.

We are now in close range with each other.

She points the gun at my head - but I cut it before she can fire.

She throws her gun away and starts reaching for her knife.

With Thought Acceleration and Ultimate Brain, I correctly calculate where to slash with my katana.

I cut part of her uniform.

We are engaging in CQC.

I cut part of her uniform.

She throws everything she has at me, from a knee strike to a head butt, while also use her knife, but of course I block and dodge all of them.

I cut part of her uniform.

"Just a few more and you're finished. Any last words, miss?" I cockily taunt.

Her attacks turn increasingly reckless and rushed, which grants me the opportunity to finish what I started and -

- I cut the last part of her uniform.

Right now, it may look like I haven't done anything to her clothes, but in reality they're almost destroyed, and all I need to do is...

I grab the chest part of the uniform, and give it a sharp tug.

It comes off.

The front of her uniform comes off entirely, and finally, I see my prize!

"Striped. is it? Not bad, that's cute actually."

She stops moving.

It takes a second for her to notice what I meant by that, and when she does:

"KYAAAAAAAAA!"

She screams as she covers her underwear, falling flat on her butt.

"""Four!""" Her friends call her name.

The girl in front of me starts glaring with teary eyes.

"Thank you for the fight. And the view."

I put my katana back in its sheath.

[Simulation Complete]

Everything starts to disappear.

They all disappeared as if they are data, block by block, chip by chip.

The ballroom, the floor, everything, even the girls.

In the end, I'm the only one that's standing in the room.

I look around me.

White, everything is white, just like Construct in Matrix.

"Fufu-fuahahah-hahahaha-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

I laugh, I laugh real hard.

And then I facepalm.

"…What the fuck am I doing…"

My eyes start to go warm.

"…So embarrassing…"

I drop the katana and start facepalming with both hands.

"Give up? Delaying the inevitable? Is this puberty? This must be puberty."

I'm dying from shame.

After I mull about how pathetic and insignificant my life is, I leave the room and start making a lunchbox.

Due to a low budget, I could only buy the Basic Combat Feature for the Simulation Room. The opponents I can face can only range from Lv.0 to Lv.30, with basic combat scenarios, weaponry and abilities - for example, ordinary firearms and basic magic/abilities that are easy to understand.

The room also has a unique gimmick I never thought it could do: it can give my opponents a personality. Weakened animals will try to run, cowardly people will beg, battle maniacs will smile when they face me, and just like what happened just now, girls will scream at me when I do those things to them...

Meh, openly letting some of my desires out once in a while is not really that bad. Even though I'm still gonna feel shame in the end, I still think it's gonna be good for me in the future.

Also, I may be going through puberty right now, but I still have my memories of my old world. I still hate anything related to drama and angst, and I still remember how I killed my emotions when I browsed LiveLeak in the internet... If you can do what I did, you're pretty much prepared and jaded for any gore in your life.

Going back to the topic, the Simulation Room now is a place where I can test my abilities and experiment with new Spell Cards! Yup, Spell Cards. I've started picking them back up and I've already created some new ones - gotta prepare some stuff for PCB.

As for the challenge, it finished days ago.

[Challenge Quest - Complete]

[Surviving Life with Fragrance of Hunger]

[Reward: 20.000 AP & 20.000 IP + Random Reward]

I got an ability from that random reward.

[Legendary Butler]

[User will have all the skills to become the perfect butler that will satisfy all his master's need.]

[Detecting weaker version of the ability]

[Absorbing old abilities]

[Legendary Butler absorbing Cooking Master, Iron Stomach, Piano Master, Stage Star, Body Enhancement Lv Max and Lighting Reflexes]

Reading what happened left me flabbergasted.

So many abilities getting absorbed because they were the weaker versions of Legendary Butler.

'Does that mean I hit another jackpot?' I start feeling happy, but then I stop because I have another thought: 'Wait, this ability is still within the realm of logic, so it's not really that amazing of an ability in Gensokyo.'

In the end, I realized that ability was just middle tier at best - useful in a daily life scenario, but barely useful in a fighting scenario.

When you meet someone who can appear out of nowhere, "Legendary Butler" really is not that great.

I can still cook delicious things though, so there's nothing to be sad about.

Also, I forgot to mention, this thing appeared while I was in the middle of annoying Medicine.

[Achievement Alert]

[Impress the Little Sweet Poison]

[Reward: 20.000 AP & 20.000 IP]

'Impress in a negative way, I'm probably the first Human she saw that she couldn't poison, as well as the first Human that annoyed her greatly. She'' probably remember me because of those things.'

I check my points.

Soon… Very soon I'll be able to upgrade this thing, and then I'll probably get more awesome effects from the thing, the thing is probably gonna be awesome, I think…

... Might've overused "thing".

"Okay, it's been a while since I've met Akyuu. I think now's a good time to visit her."

I leave my House and start walking towards the Human Village.

As I walk along the forest trail, I start thinking about a few things to pass the time.

First, I should do the Challenge Quest once a month. If the duration of a quest is 1 month, then after it's over I'll have to wait another month to start it again.

Second, sooner or later Flandre or Remilia would order Sakuya to drag me to their Mansion. I think I should visit them in a couple of days.

Third, what should I plant in my garden? Right now it's winter, so planting a flower is out of question… Maybe a bush?

Fourth, about that 'precognitive' dream. Since it's a dream and a vision of the future, things have probably already changed because I know what would have happened in that future and I'm trying my hardest to avoid the worst of it.

These were important keywords from that dream:

1. I grab "it" before it turned into medicine of immortality

2. Marisa ignored "its" safety and I paid the price for it instead of her.

3. Flandre accidently made me her familiar.

4. Alice denied my situation(?).

5. Yukari and me being buddy-buddy with each other.

I organize them by how outrageous each piece of information is.

In Akyuu's case, it seems like the hint to fixing her health problem is by researching immortality.

In Marisa's case, I can just tie her up when she's affected by the drug, but I won't promise nothing will happen at that point. It's the future, after all. Anything might happen.

In Flandre's case, I don't know how they make someone into a familiar, so I'll just be careful around Flandre, like always.

In Alice's case... Ugh. This is the vaguest of them all, I can only make out that Alice was sad with how I never answered her back, which led her to do something creepy to me. I know how I talk, and that's definitely not how I talk. I don't know what caused a situation like that in the first place, but I think I should be more careful in the future since I know I could become like that.

As for Yukari's case? It's Yukari, not Reimu. There's no fucking way I could become that friendly with her. Let's just ditch that as 'it was just a dream', there's no possible chance that it will happen. Yep, no way in hell it could happen.

And I just jinxed myself cause I said it, Iwanttoburymyselfintothegroundandjumpoffacliffandbecomegay.

"…*sigh*, let's just walk to the village."

-Afternoon, Human Village-​

"Surprise!"

I start blinking.

I am surprised.

"Yay, he is surprised! Thank you for the meal!"

Yes, I am surprised. Really surprised that she looks cuter in person.

[Lv.24 the Cheery Forgotten Umbrella, Tatara Kogasa]

She has turquoise hair and heterochromatic eyes, the right one is turquoise and the left one is red. She wears a blue-green vest with white sleeves and a light blue skirt. She holds a purple umbrella with an eye and a tongue protruding from it.

Her height is almost the same as mine.

'…Let's mess with her.'

"Excuse me, are you an Umbrella Tsukumogami by the name of Tatara Kogasa?"

"Hm? Yes, that is right."

"Then can you become my umbrella of love for today?"

She freezes.

"You see, I'm on the way to meet up with someone, I will be thankful if you become that for me when I meet her."

"E-eh?! You mean that umbrella of love?! M-me?! Y-you ask me to become that?!"

"Yup." I nod.

"S-such an honor, I do not know if I could fit playing that role but I will do my best!"

And with just that little conversation, she follows me in my walk to Akyuu's place.

I look at Kogasa's face, she looks happy.

'Oh my god, she's so gullible! I feel bad doing this but I'm too amused to stop, and besides, she looks happy doing it, so I guess its okay to continue.'

I recall the information I read about her.

Tatara Kogasa.

She is an Umbrella Tsukumogami; she was born after she was abandoned by her original owner. Usually her kind takes vengeance on their original owners for their actions, but her vengeance plan stops at just scaring the humans. She's also kinda bad at scaring.

I look her umbrella design.

No matter how I look at it, it only looks cartoonish rather than scary.

And the worst part is, she eats the surprised feeling of people that she scares, but she's having a hard time getting enough because she's not scary enough to do it.

Kogasa and I are walking together, side by side, under her umbrella.

"Um, excuse me, I know it is a little bit late but what is your name?"

I look at her.

"Sorry about that, the name's Arah. Just Arah."

She nodded "So, Arah-san, where are we going right now?"

"Well, we are going to my most beloved person's home."

"Heee, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of person is this beloved-san you mention?"

"It's a bit difficult to describe her; I think you should meet her yourself."

"I see."

And with that last word, we walked to our destination in silence.

-Hieda Mansion-​

She's shocked.

"Following you was a great idea, Arah-san! I have never surprised people this much in a single day! But it is kinda weird that even though I did not do anything, I still made someone surprised."

*ding*

[Achievement Alert]

[Impress the Cheery Forgotten Umbrella]

[Reward: 20.000 AP & 20.000 IP]

"Isn't it okay as long as someone is surprised by it?" I smile. 'And thank you for the points.'

"Well, yeah, but it is still strange for it to happen out of nowhere." she still looks unsure.

I just nod at her.

Now I look back at the person that was shocked.

It's Akyuu.

'Am I throwing her for a loop? Did she not expect that Kogasa would appear beside me?'

"Yo, Akyuu-chan. It's been a while." I wave my hand.

"…Arah-san." she looks troubled.

"Oh right, now it's my turn."

Kogasa walks ahead and puts her umbrella between me and Akyuu.

Kogasa looks proud, while Akyuu looks confused.

"…Arah-san, what is she doing?" she tilts her head.

"Please don't mind me, I'm just an Umbrella."

Kogasa still looks proud while saying that and Akyuu looks even more confused with this situation.

"Maybe we should continue this inside the House rather than standing in the entrance."

They all agree with my suggestion, and shortly we all are seated inside the Mansion's main room.

I cross my legs and the girls are sitting on their knee. Kogasa holds her folded umbrella on her lap.

"So, Arah-san, isn't this Tatara Kogasa-san, the Youkai that is usually scaring people in the village?"

"Yes."

"Yup, that's my name!"

"Then why is she following you around?"

"He asked me if I could become his umbrella of love."

Silence.

Akyuu starts glaring at me, but I just smile at her.

"Kogasa-san, have you ever thought that you were the one he was targeting to be under the umbrella with?"

"Eh?"

Kogasa looks at me.

"Eh?"

Kogasa looks at Akyuu.

"EH??"

She looks back at me.

"EEEEEEHHHH?!!" Kogasa starts to blush.

"*cough* I don't know what you're talking about, Akyuu-chan. I only invited her to accompany me to your mansion, there were no underlying motives whatsoever." I utter my denial, smiling.

Akyuu didn't believe me and is still looking at me suspiciously.

"Besides, my intentions still hold true. I did want to bring her to you, my beloved cute girly little sister Akyuu-chan." I continue.

Now it's Akyuu's turn to blush.

"W-well, what was the reason you brought her here for then, Arah-san?"

"It was to interview her, I guess. Aren't your clan supposed to record all Youkai in Gensokyo?"

Her blush completely disappears as Akyuu immediately turned serious when she heard what I said.

She turns toward Kogasa who's still blushing on the side.

"Kogasa-san."

"Y-yes!" she stammered.

"Can I interview you?" she asks with professional aura.

"Ah, interview me? It's okay, I guess." Kogasa turned back to normal.

And then the interview starts.

I already know the majority of what she says, but when you're listening to it in person, and hear her emotions, it's a whole new experience.

She was born a long time ago, a time where Youkai still ran rampant and terrorized the night, probably 100~200 years ago - or longer than that. And because in this day and age people have already gotten used to Youkai, she's having hard time getting food.

Also, recently, she started thinking whether she should just turn back into an object and start being useful to other people. It's likely she started thinking that way due to being an old Tsukumogami, and her origin as a tool.

Akyuu said that's an interesting bit of information since she's never interviewed an old Tsukumogami, or any Tsukumogami in general.

I guess, I think it's interesting too. Raiko and her friend don't have those kinds of feelings since she is only just born in the event of DDC (Double Dealing Character) while the Prismriver Sisters are Poltergeists and not Tsukumogami, so they don't count.

After the interview reaches its end, Akyuu and I lead Kogasa to the exit.

We said thank you before watching her leave via the front gate.

"Say, Akyuu-chan, that interview piqued my interest with Tsukumogami. Do you have any books related to them?"

Akyuu smiles.

"Of course, let me show you some of them."

And with that, we go back inside her mansion.

Author note:

Heyo, Author here, I think this is the shortest chapter I ever created; it's below 3.000k word.

About Kogasa unique diet, I think that every kind of surprise would become food for her, and not just jump scare kinda surprise.

At first, I thought that Legendary Butler is an OP skill; I was worried that I gave Arah that kind of skill, but then I start comparing the abilities of all Gensokyo Character with this new ability. 'Nope, I was wrong, it's not that OP' and then I just wrote it, guilt free.

@Acerman, the reason as to how Arah could defeat an Oni that easily was because of that special Katana and also because Oni is renowned for their downfall by trickery, and in Arah case, he defeated them using 'Hit & Teleport' strategy. Even if Arah doesn't have that Katana, he still won when fighting that Oni, albeit it takes longer time to do it because how resilient an Oni is. As for your worry that Arah becoming too OP, DON'T YOU SEE WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT ABILITY IN SOME OF THE TOUHOU CHARACTER?! HE NEEDS TO BECOME OP TO SURVIVE ALL OP SHENANIGANS OF EVERY CHARACTER!!