Walking Trap

Editor: Crembo

-Afternoon, My House, Simulation Room-

-My POV-​

I looked at the image in the mirror.

"… She looks cute…"

*Facepalm*

"… Might as well imagine myself when I'm jacking off…"

*Double facepalm*

"… I need to stop…"

After cringing over my own existence, I refocused my attention on the mirror in front of me.

I saw a girl with tanned skin and shoulder-length black hair looking back at me. She wore a frilly red kimono with a white flower motif and a purple hakama over it. Because she put her hakama above her waist (as the dress code says females should), you would probably think she was female. And, well, you would be wrong.

"… I can't believe this is actually happening to me."

The 'girl' in the mirror was actually me, but despite how girly I looked and how high pitched my voice was, I still had my original sex. Which meant I had become a trap.

"…"

I clasped my hands together, put them below my waist, and started fidgeting.

"… I-I like you, Arah-kun…"

Again, I slowly put my trembling hands to my face, and muffled a scream of agony.

It all started this morning.

Since a new month had arrived, and I was sure that no important events would happen this month, I took a Challenge Quest.

[Please go inside the Simulation Room to apply Challenge Conditions]

To be honest, I was a little worried when I read it, but I followed it nonetheless.

And then, it happened.

["Woman" Among Women]

[User's original voice and appearance will be altered to become more womanly while still having a male reproductive organ. In short, you will become a trap.]

[Survive until 1 month has passed]

[Warning: User can only wear girly clothes.]

[Warning: User needs to interact with at least 5 Touhou Characters per day, or this Challenge will be deemed failed. We will notify the User as they fulfill the quota.]

[Optional: User never discovered to be a Male for the duration of the Challenge.]

As I read the information, my clothes started feeling loose, my arms looked thinner, and my voice sounded different.

I cursed; I was cursing the system for an hour.

After I calmed down, I started analyzing the Challenge.

And that's how I ended up in this situation.

"So basically, I just need to become not-Arah and act like a girl. The reason why the system wanted me to go inside this room was because of the optional condition, which leads me to believe that there's a peeping tom inside the house."

I sighed.

"It's Ran, it's definitely her. I need to do something about this, but how do I do that is the question."

I started thinking.

"System."

[House Enchantment: Dimensional Isolation: 10,000 IP, confirm payment?]

"Ugh, let's hope the optional reward is worth it because I'm using points to keep up the guise. Yes."

[Applying Enchantment]

I sighed again.

"Hope it can block Yukari too."

I glanced at my new look in the mirror.

[Red Cherry Kimono: Add-ons: +Defense Up, +Magic Defense Up, +Durability Up, +Vitality Up, +Vitality Regeneration, +Mana Up, +Mana Regeneration, +Air Conditioning, +Self-repair: 3,010 IP]

[Purple Hakama: Add-ons: +Self-repair: 305 IP]

[Combat Boots: 5 IP]

[Combat Gloves: 5 IP]

"…Something's missing… Oh yeah." I realized something.

[Rose Hairpin: 5 IP]

I placed the hairpin on the right side of my head.

"Done. If you're in Touhou, a head accessory is a must. Except Raiko. I don't know why ZUN didn't put any head accessory on her."

I looked at the other accessories I had on my fingers, beneath the combat gloves.

[Female Scent Ring: 300 IP]

[User's scent will be replaced with a female scent.]

[Presence Replacement Ring: Magic Entity: 2,000 IP]

[User's presence will be replaced with that of a Magic Entity]

"This should fool anyone that can smell or sense me."

Also, I bought new abilities.

[Magic: Flight]: 10,000 AP.

[Magic that lets the user take flight]

[Enchantment: Strength]: 10,000 AP.

[Enchantment Magic that imbues something with additional Strength. Effect varies by enchanted object and how much mana the User has poured into it.]

[Enchantment: Endurance]: 10,000 AP.

[Enchantment Magic that imbues something with additional Endurance. Effect varies by enchanted object and how much mana the User poured into it.]

[Enchantment: Agility]: 10,000 AP.

[Enchantment Magic that imbues something with additional Agility. Effect varies by enchanted object and how much mana the User poured into it.]

[Brawler Lv.1 -> Lv.5/Max]: 32,000 AP.

[User's Stamina Usage is decreased and User's Endurance and Strength steadily increase whenever User is in a fight.]

[Level up, 71 -> 72]

I tested flight by floating around for a while before I landed back on the floor.

"Perfect."

I picked those items and abilities because of the background story I picked for my new look.

My name is Bara Api, it means 'Embers of Fire' in English. I'm a magic entity that was contracted by Arah to become his assistant. As of right now, he's in the middle of a breakthrough in an experiment so he sent me to gather Magical Materials for him.

My main ability is Pyrokinesis, my sub is Enchantment Magic. I enchant my body and start bludgeoning things using my fists. I fly using Flight. Not Quadra Wings, not Telekinesis, but Magic: Flight.

My master only lent me his waist pouch to gather the materials for him, if someone wants something, I need to tell him first before doing anything.

… That's it, I think.

Oh wait, don't let anyone touch my pepe because it's still there, or just don't let them touch me in general. And I probably should act more girly now.

"…"

I did a cute pose and started smiling at the mirror.

"Kyaa!! Arah-kun so cool!!"

orz

… I swear to god, there must be some kind of mind control going on right now.

-Afternoon, Forest of Magic-​

'Now, the problem is, who should I visit?'

I thought that through as I walked along the forest road.

'I can think of several Touhou characters that I could interact with peacefully, and all I need is to choose just 5 people.'

While I was still thinking where I should go, I sensed something from the wood.

I investigated it, and then I found something interesting.

A pupa, a giant insect pupa on top of a tree.

[Lv.25 Lord of Insects, Wriggle Nightbug]

"Well, aren't I lucky to find one right away. Hello!" I waved at it.

It didn't respond.

"… Well, of course she doesn't respond, she's in a pupa, what did I expect?" I felt disappointed.

[1/5 interaction]

I blinked.

'… Does that even count as interaction?... You know what, I'm gonna take it, I'm not gonna question it any further.'

I smiled.

"One freebie getto daze!" I pumped my fist in the air. "Onto the next one." I walked to my next destination.

-Afternoon, Forest of Magic, Kourindou-​

I could see a store in a forest clearing as I gradually walked closer to it.

The store had a Chinese style red roof, concrete walls, and a wooden door and sign. The store had a corridor beside it that connected to another building, a warehouse.

The Japanese usually have a warehouse separated from their main building; they build it 2 stories high, and only have 1 entrance door and 1 small window on the 2nd floor.

Every part of the store's walls, including their warehouse, had plenty of Japanese posters stuck on it. There was also a lot of junk scattered around the store, especially in front of the warehouse. This was the first time I've seen so many TVs in one place besides an electronics shop.

"I'm gonna be surprised if the TVs still work after they were covered by all that snow." I said after I saw the scattered TVs on the ground.

There was a reason why I didn't want to come to this place. Rinnosuke is a dude, and why would I want to visit a dude if there's a ton of cute girl all around Gensokyo, it's unthinkable.

"Enchantment: Speed." I imbued a buff to my body.

I stood in front of the store's door and started to smile.

I raised my knuckles to the center of the door.

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK* I knocked hard thrice.

'Ding-dong-dash bitches!!'

I immediately turned around and started running away from the building.

'Hehehe, the System didn't specify what they mean by interact, so I just need to abuse it as much as I can.' I thought.

[3/5 interaction]

'…Hm? 2?' I slowed down my run and turned my head back to look at the door.

It was still closed.

'Did he have a customer or something? Meh, it's not like I care, two more to go.'

I picked up my pace and got the hell away from that place.

-Late Afternoon, Misty Lake-​

I arrived at the largest body of water in Gensokyo. To reach it I had to either go through the Human Village or walk around it, and I chose the former.

To be honest, I was a little tense when I walked inside the village. I did receive glances from people, but in the end, nobody decided to stop me or do anything similar. Words are sharper than a sword; I much prefer punching some asshole than getting talked about behind my back.

And here we are, in Misty Lake.

I walked along the frozen lake, sensing for any magical signatures while searching along the ground.

The magical ingredients for this season only appear near large bodies of water, which meant the places I was going to search were gonna be Misty Lake, Genbu Ravine, and Giant Toad's Pond.

'Ho boy, I can tell some Youkai asshole would pick a fight with me on the way to the second place… Oh, there's one.'

I picked up a magical ingredient from the ground.

"This is a nice one."

Aside from only appearing near a large body of water, the item in question is not a plant. It's actually a crystallized essence of winter. It's great isn't it? It's an actual item and not a plant. WOW.

... I turned into Owen Wilson for a second right there. Back on topic, as for how frequently these spawn, based on what I read, it's quite infrequent, and they can't spawn more since they naturally form a ways apart from each other. So I can't gather a ton of them in one big swoop, and can only do it effectively by gathering them daily.

I saw something flying up above the lake.

A blue thing and a white blue thing.

Cirno and… Letty?

[Lv.49 Winter's Embrace, Letty Whiterock]

'Okay, that's definitely Letty. Let's not pick a fight with her right now. I'm not sure if I could win against her while keeping my disguise since Pyrokinesis is harder to use in winter.'

I pretended not to see them and continued my gathering.

But of course, it was not gonna be that easy, would it?

"Hey, red lady over there! Wat'cha doing?!"

I turned toward the voice.

It was Cirno. She crossed her arms while looking smug.

Off to the side, I saw Letty waiting, leaning against a tree looking bored.

'Ugh, I knew I should've run away immediately when I sensed two signatures coming closer to me.' I thought.

"Ahaha, nothing really, I was just collecting this pretty stone." I showed her the thing that was still inside my hand.

"Oh! Pretty Rock!" Her eyes started to glitter when she saw it, "Gimme!" she stretched her arm to me.

"Here you go." I put one on her hand.

"Yay!" and there she went.

'… That was easy.' I thought while watching her fly away.

I saw Letty coming closer.

"I'm surprised you gave it to her that easily, is it okay though?" I turned my head in her direction. "After all, I saw you collecting those things all around the lake." she gave me a curious expression.

She had lavender eyes and curly lavender hair. She wore a blue and white dress with a white apron at the front. At the top of her skirt, there was a golden lapel resembling the alchemical symbol for silver. She also wore a white cap and a nearly transparent cape.

And she was taller than me… God dammit.

"I think it was okay, I only gave her one stone and I think my master will understand when I explain what happened." I explained with a small smile.

"Master?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm contracted by a Human Magician, I'm free to cancel the contract if I don't like how he orders me. And here I am, collecting magical ingredients for him." I waved my hand at her, hoping she understood that it implied a 'don't worry' gesture.

"Hmph, humans." she scowled. "All right, just be careful around them, okay?" she waved me goodbye before she started to float.

*ding*

[Achievement Alert]

[Reward: 20,000 AP & 20,000 IP]

[Impress Winter's Embrace]

"Yes, thank you for your concern." I smiled and waved back as I watched her fly away.

I sighed.

'I think my reputation will plummet down even further in this 1 month of challenge.' I thought.

I looked at the rings on my fingers.

'Based on her reaction, these things actually work, I guess' I tilted my head.

[5/5 Interaction]

'And thank you for the interaction.' I thanked those two in my heart.

I started my walk to another gathering location.

-Late Afternoon, Youkai Mountain, Giant Toad Pond-​

[Lv.21 Medium Imp]

[Lv.20 Medium Imp]

[Lv.19 Medium Imp]

"Woman!! Woman!!"

"Kekekeke! Feast on her bones!"

"Eat her!! Eat her!!"

'… I have conflicted feelings between being grateful that they recognize me as a woman and being disgusted that they want to eat a woman.'

I was approached by these blue skinned imp-looking creatures while I was eating my cookies for lunch beside the frozen pond.

I gave them a bored stare.

*Crunch-crunch*

'On one hand, I want to smash them to pieces…'

*Crunch*

'But on the other hand, these cookies are just too delicious to stop.'

I swallowed.

'Decisions, decisions… Oh wait, I can just burn them. It's easy.'

As I started concentrating to burn them away, I heard a noise from the pond.

*CRACK*

Suddenly a large figure jumped out of the pond, breaking through the ice, straight at my location.

It landed with a heavy thud.

It was the giant toad.

"CROACK!"

It landed between me and the imps.

"""Hieeeeee!!"""

"BLEAACK!"

"Gyaaaa!"

"Run! Run!"

Since the toad blocked my vision, I could only hear the imps' cries of fear, and I was guessing the toad tried to eat them?

I heard the running footsteps getting farther and farther, I guess some of them survived the encounter?

The toad started to turn its huge body toward me.

I tensed and got ready to dodge if it wanted to attack me too.

I waited a few seconds but the attack never came.

I was curious why it didn't attack me so I finally looked into its eyes.

Its eyes showed intelligence, they showed wisdom, and it wanted something from me.

And then I realized what it wanted.

It wanted my gratitude.

I put away my lunch and put my hands together.

*Clap-clap*

I clapped twice and bowed my head.

"Thank you for your protection."

"CROACK."

*Splash*

I raised my head.

The giant frog was gone. Based on the splashing noise and the waves on the pond, it probably went back inside.

"… That was some experience."

I remembered that there was a shrine for the pond.

I searched for it and offered some food to the shrine.

Just like last time, the food disappeared a few seconds later.

"Kero."

And a frog appeared to follow me home.

"Sorry little guy, I will be flying to my next destination so you can't follow me around after this." I didn't know if it understood me or not but I still apologized to the frog.

"…Kero." it looked down.

'…Omg, this is the first time I heard a frog that could make a sound that sad.'

"G-good bye, little guy." I held my tears as I flew away from there.

-Evening, Youkai Mountain, Genbu Ravine-​

"Uwaaah, the waterfall totally looks frozen solid."

Since I knew that Genbu Ravine had a waterfall in it, I kinda guessed that with an aerial survey I could totally easily spot the location, which I did.

I landed near the frozen water.

I started looking around for any sign of danger or invisible Kappa. Not the twitch Kappa, but the Japanese myths Kappa.

'There's still no pipe along the waterfall rock wall, guess they will start installing it when HM (Hopeless Masquerade) begins.'

Kappa in the Gensokyo series are one of the technological genius species. If you ask me how genius they are, they are the ones that create the Nuclear Reactor inside the Old Hell in the future, and right now the other technology that they have already created is the Cloaking Device. And Genbu Ravine is supposed to be their home, that's why I was more cautious while I was here.

'Nothing could fool the system, so that means there's no Kappa in here, but I bet they have some kind of security camera somewhere hidden to observe me, which I don't really mind. Once they know what I'm searching for in here, they will probably gather it and try to sell it to me the next time I come.'

I concluded my thoughts and started gathering the items along the water.

After I gathered everything, I flew back to my house, ending my activities for today.

Reaction Theater:

-

(Reading I plan to wreck something with my fist)

ED: Musclewizard.jpg

(The part where I say don't let them touch my pepe or touch me in general)

ED: THAT'S LEWD!

(orz)

ED: You'll be fine so long as you don't do anything silly. Like get Akyuu to call you 'onee-sama'. Yep, definitely don't do that.

AN: No one mind controlled him, he just troll himself in reflex. I do it to myself if it happened to me too.

-

Author Note:

Heyo, Author here, I'm really sorry about the lateness of the chapter, I got sick a week ago, hence why you people get the chapter this week, and you people also have to wait for another week because I will be busy for a while in the next month, and it probably cause another week without update because of that, sorry.

About this chapter, this is the first day of the Challenge, I need to build the foundation first before I do anything crazy/interesting, which I already planned for the next few chapter, so if you feel disappointed with this chapter, sorry about that.

About voting a challenge, it was a bad idea, I'm not gonna do it the second time around. As for the left over challenge, don't worry, I'm gonna use it in the future challenge.