Chapter 28

Gensokyo - Kourindou

-= Rinnosuke Morichika's Point of View =-

Gensokyo shines with silver in the early afternoon.

Pristine white snow falls gently and silently to the earth, turning the land into a fantastical dreamscape. All that could be heard were faint cries like the shrieks of youkai.

Not a footprint can be found in the fresh powder that covered the road. Humans do not often come this far.

At the end of this unmarked path there may be found a mysterious shop, whose proprietor may often be found warming himself by a stove from the Outside World, reading some incomprehensible book.

He always seems to have plenty of time for this on his hands, since within the shop may be found numerous articles from the Outside World.

And although Gensokyo is frozen in what the Outside World would call the 'Meiji Era', many items from the modern times may be found here, yet the purposes of most of these items are unknown, since almost no one in Gensokyo knows anything about them.

On the store's sign are the characters 'kou' 'rin' 'dou'.

This is the place of Kourindou Curio Shop.

"Mr. Rinnosuke?"

'It seems we'll finally have a visitor in such a long time.' thought Rinnosuke as he turned his eyes from the book that was in his hands and into the stove in front of him.

I wanted to continue reading, but... as they say : "the customers are Gods".

I couldn't just pretend to be out.

"You're in there, aren't you?"

The goddess dressed in red had no need to bother preventing my potential ruse as she was already behind me.

"Oh, it's just you, Reimu. Don't I always tell you not to just walk into my living room uninvited?"

"Forget that, just listen to me. I ran into a bit of trouble, so..."

This is her. The girl in red before my eyes who doesn't listen to a word anyone says. Her name is Reimu Hakurei. She's the only shrine maiden in Gensokyo, but from her actions one would doubt whether she's truly a shrine maiden or not. Pardon the late introduction, but I'm Rinnosuke Morichika. I run this antique store.

As Reimu brushed the snow off her shoulders she started chattering away.

"I went out to the village to shop today. For what? I was running out of tea, so I figured I should buy some before the lack of tea gets bad enough to kill me. Well, I won't die, but-- Hey, are you listening to me?"

"You don't listen to me, so I'm not listening to you," is what I wanted to say but, "Yeah, I'm listening," is what came out.

"But, you know, there wasn't any good tea... oh, this doesn't have anything to do with it but the traveler's guardian deity in the village was completely covered in snow, I mean, who the heck was in charge of the umbrella? Wait, which god was it anyway?"

Well, it looks like if I don't give her a little push in the right direction, the conversation will diverge into discussing the first chief of the village.

"The God of Harm, who prevents catastrophe from occurring in the village. You said you ran into trouble, so what happened?"

"Well, I finished shopping without anything really happening."

Without anything happening, huh?

"But then on the way back, a youkai was just sitting there minding its own business. And it was enjoying reading a book, too!"

I tried to say "Isn't that all right? It's not a big deal," but I was ignored.

"I tried to exterminate it with a surprise attack, but it retaliated! It was pretty cocky and kind of strong. I let my guard down, so I didn't expect shots to come from behind..."

One can only think that the youkai was the 'actual' unfortunate one. But I wonder what happened, if she was the one who did the surprise attack yet let her guard down.

"Mr. Rinnosuke, are you listening?"

"Yeah, I'm not."

"...Well, anyway, I beat the stuffing out of it and then came here."

"..."

Seems that no matter how I replied, I'd get the same response.

Reimu then turned her back to me and said, "See!" and puffed her cheeks.

"And I just got this skirt, too..."

"That's quite... a tear. Now I see why you want me to fix it."

"Right now."

"...Yes, ma'am."

Reimu seemed cold, so I moved a spare chair and made space for one more person beside the stove.

"I can't possibly mend it that fast. So just sit here for-."

*Footsteps*

"I'll just borrow these clothes and change, so hold on a bit."

Gone. She walked right into the back of the store again... Sigh, she is truly an audacious one.

I headed back to my seat and decided to continue reading my book, but my stretched out hand grasped nothing but air. The book was floating above.

"What'cha readin', Kourin-ze?"

A black shadow spoke. I've had a bad feeling about her showing up ever since my teacup went missing this morning.

"Hey, I always say this, but--"

"Don't just waltz in here. Right?"

Every single one of them... The girl in black before my eyes is Marisa Kirisame. A magician whose speech is a little unique. She gets along well with Reimu. She's a frequent visitor to the store, but I can never tell if she truly wants to do business with me or not.

"What're you here for today, Marisa?"

"I don't really get this book. Hup! Nothin' much, but I ain't goin' anywhere-ze."

Nothin' much, huh? As she said that, she returned the book back to me and brushed off the dust on a nearby pot for sale then sat down on it.

"...That's the 12th volume of a series, the continuation of the books piled up here. You wouldn't be able to understand that book without reading the ones before it."

"Oh, 'The Future of the Non-Neumann-Type Computer'-ze? Man, I can't even figure out what it's about by the title."

"It's a spell book from the outside world. You probably wouldn't be interested at all but I am."

"Hmm, spells from the outside world... What kinda magic is that, Kourin?"

"I'm still in the middle of reading it, but... they use calculation familiars called "computers", and those do exactly as they're ordered. Of course, those are clearly shikigami, but I'm still not quite sure what kind of power they use."

"Shikigami, huh? ...Hey, isn't this Reimu's stuff? She's here?"

Either Marisa wasn't interested in shikigami or just wanted to change the topic. I told her the details of Reimu's arrival.

I said, "You're kind of like Reimu," or some other conversation filler while she dug around Reimu's belongings, and pulled out three books from them.

*Flinch* Those books are part of the same series as these 12 volumes I have here. Why does Reimu have them...?

"Hm? Interested in these books-ze? Knowin' Reimu, I bet she thought, 'They looked pretty important to the youkai so I'll take them,' or somethin'."

With the 12 volumes I have on hand and the three volumes there, that's a total of 15 volumes combined. I have no doubt that this is a set of 15 volumes.

The shikigami of the outside world are the same as the ones in Gensokyo after all. With computers, F represents 15 and F represents a state of maximum capacity. It is written that when everything becomes F, the highest value is held.

I think that it's natural for 15 to have power. Even in ancient times, 15 meant perfection in this land.

The same reason the full moon is also known as the fifteenth night, Computers must be familiars that have resulted from the ideas of the East and the beauty of the moon.

Marisa asked me what I was thinking about as she lined up the three books on the floor.

Through Marisa's nonchalant actions... I realized something else.

When lined up, the numbers on the books, "13", "14", and "15", make 131415. If the 1 in front is removed... It then depicts the number that represents a perfect circle 3.1415.

This also means a full moon, and thus affirms my theory that the familiars of the outside world use its power.

I wanted to research more in regards to the shikigami of the outside world, but in order to do that I required these last missing three books.

"...Kourin. You plan on makin' a deal with Reimu-ze? Forget it, her idea of value is completely different from everyone else."

Indeed, Reimu is too detached from this world, Normal exchange conditions wouldn't suffice...

However, I can still make a deal with Reimu, for I have a general understanding of her values. Those books have already aroused my collector's soul. I have to somehow get them no matter what.

It was then that I heard the returning footsteps of the three books' owner.

"Thanks for waiting. Geez, these clothes are way too big. It's so hard to walk."

Reimu expressed her dissatisfaction as soon as she returned.

"Well, those are my clothes so it can't be helped."

There's a significant size difference between us, but she's the one who took the clothes in the first place.

"Oh? If it isn't Marisa. What are you doing in a place like this?"

"That's my line-ze. I just came to check if there was anythin' new in stock, just like a good customer."

"Reimu, this is a store. Could you not call it 'a place like this'?"

"But whenever I come, I never see any customers. The location isn't so great either."

I began reading the book I was previously reading as Marisa retorted.

"I thought I just said I'm a customer."

Reimu walked up to one of the cupboards, took out a teapot, and began preparing tea as if she owned the place.

They do whatever they want as usual... They're not even customers.

While I was glancing at Reimu's books, I thought to myself that I must pretend to not have noticed them at all before I turned to her.

"Anyway, I'll take up your request to mend your clothes. But you know I won't just do it for free, right?"

Without turning to face me, Reimu asked, "Why?".

"Why? Are you kidding? A business, you see, requires customers to pay suitable compensation for their services."

"I know that much. I pay the shopkeepers when I go shopping like normal. The same goes for my shrine. Wishes are granted in return for offerings."

"Are you saying I'm not 'normal'?"

"But you aren't interested in money, are you?"

"When did I ever say that? Don't just decide things on your own."

"Well, you never take any cash."

"What're you saying? The fees for all your requests and everything you took from here is all on your tab."

As she poured tea into her teacup, she replied,

"That's because I never walk around with money. But it's not like there's any at home either."

"Because nobody gives to your shrine, huh? Maybe it doesn't grant requests no matter how hard you pray."

"Oh, I see. Since you suddenly brought this up, you're after these books aren't you?"

*Flinch*

Reimu placed her teacup down, sat beside me, and began gathering the books that were soon to be mine.

"...Reimu, those books aren't enough to cover your tab."

"They looked pretty important to the youkai I exterminated. They're definitely worth something."

Marisa looked at me with a face that said, "Told ya so". I was about to let out a laugh because of it, but I held it in.

"Well, let me have a look then. ...Hm, I see. They're well-made, but they look new. When it comes to these kinds of things, older ones are more valuable. They're nothing special after all. They were probably just something that youkai don't see often, so it took them."

"Then those books for everything on my tab sounds like a fair deal." she said with a smirk.

She doesn't listen to others and has no understanding of the concept that things have a value, a price.

To her, money is nothing more than some sort of paper or metal.

However, she must've faintly realized that I wanted them... Ah whatever.

"All right then. I'll take those three books from you."

"Huh? All three?"

"One for mending your clothes. One for renting the clothes you're wearing now. And the last one..."

"Ah, wait a second, what about the tab?"

"Hey, exactly how much do you think is on your tab? It's not too much, but you can't cover it with just those books."

That's the truth. Reimu takes things from the shop and requests clothes and tools. I even prepared her purification rod.

Does she even realise the value of that powerful divine item?

"No way around it, huh. All right then, what's leftover on the tab will stay there."

I looked out through the window.

"By the way, the last one is the fee for the door repairs!"

That's right, I've had a bad feeling since this morning.

...Maybe I'm not suited to be a merchant.

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Yo guys its author here (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿), well then I think some of you have noticed but I'll say it for those who didn't :

In Touhou there is almost no explanation about the Outside World whatsoever, only that it is like our modern world and that's it.

This is definitely a problem in the long run so I decided to fix it by fusing the story with another one that has a setting similar to Touhou world.

And 'High School DxD' was strangely the perfect candidate for that, they both have Youkai, Vampires, Devils, Gods, True Gods(Like the Bible God in DxD), Modern Setting, magic etc etc

And look at that, they even have the same strongest entity : The Dragon God (Also known as Great Red in DxD world).

Just keep in mind that in this story, Touhou world will be identified as 'Gensokyo Faction' by the DxD cast.

Also, this story will be focused and mainly written from the point of view of the main character and sometimes the Youkai, so the MC might not even meet the main cast of DxD but it is not impossible if you guys really want that to happen, so tell me what you want ;)

(Psst : Ophis exist too.)