The Third Shikigami (Yukari x Gender Neutral Reader)

Chapter 2: The Land of Illusions

Excruciating pain reverberated through my head as I finally regained consciousness. I was surrounded tall grass and and vivid colors of autumn. After surveying my surroundings for a few seconds, I realized there were stairs nearby.

I sprinted up the steps, only to find myself greeted by a towering tori gate, and a small Shinto shrine. Weird, there were no such shrines where I'm from. As I cautiously approached the gate, I spotted a teenage girl in a red dress with a matching bow in her hair sweeping away at the autumn leaves scattered across the ground. When I attempted to ask her one of the many questions zooming around in my mind, she sternly replied, without even looking in my direction:

"The shrine's not open to worshippers right now. Come back in about two hours."

"Wait, hold on! I'm not a worshipper, I'm just incredibly lost. Can you at least tell me where I am?"

"How in the Three Sages' name do you not know where you are? You are at the Hakurei shrine, idiot. Has every human villiger just decided to forget about it's existence?! No wonder I've been getting less donations than usual—" Her ranting was cut off once she turned around to actually get a good look at me. After inspecting my outfit, she groaned and said, "Oh. You're from the Outside World, aren't you? That explains a lot." The girl in scarlet shoved aside her broom and cursed to the wind, "Damn you, Yukari! Stop spiriting away outsiders to my shrine willynilly! Does she not realize how much of a pain it to send them back through the barrier?!"

"Wait..." I muttered, finally remembering how I wound up here, "you know that Yukari lady?"

"Unfortunately, yes. She's one of the reasons Gensokyo even exists in the first place. Now, let's make your return to the Outside World as quickly and painlessly as possible—"

"That won't be necessary, Miss Reimu~"

There is was. That sweet, but dreaded voice again. The voice of the lady that scared me shitless.

A black eye-shaped gap materialized out of thin air, and out jumped the Mistress of Bounderies herself, landing perfecting on her crimson heels. Twirling a ribbon-clad pink parasol on her shoulder, she said, "Glad to see finally awake, my dear (y/n)."

"Can you please tell me where the fuck I am at least?" I hastily cried at her.

"My, my, I understand you just woke up, but there is no need to speak in such a foul manner. However, since you did ask, this is Gensokyo. The Land of Illusions, and the home of all that is forgotten. My home. And from this day forward, it is yours as well."

"Are you still going on about the whole shinigami business? I never actually agreed to that!"

"You may have never said so, but you fell down the rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland anyway."

Through clenched teeth you yelled, "I didn't fall. You pushed me down the eye void thingy!"

"Push is such a strong word," Yukari replied nonchanlantly. "I prefer calling it, 'giving you a little nudge in the right direction'." Reasoning with this woman became more difficult by the second.

"Hold up, no way. I remember you told me a million times about finding a another shikigami to take Ran's place, but I didn't think you'd actually go through with it," interjected Reimu. "Besides, don't you already have that little nekomata for a shikigami? Isn't one enough?"

"Chen is still too young, Reimu. She's only a child, barely forty-three years old. She needs to be protected in such dangerous times."

"How can you call a forty-three year old a child—" My protests were cut off when Yukari pressed the tip of her fan at my lips. "We are youkai, little human. We age far slower than your species does. Trust me, you will get used to this land soon enough. Now, come with me, I shall get you settled in. Good day, Miss Reimu." As she waved to the grumpy shrine maiden, another black portal opened in front of us, and she took my hand to pull me in with her. You could hear Reimu yelling something to Yukari, but as  I was dragged farther into the void, her voice grew faint and unintelligible.

The scattered eyes followed my every move. I hate prolonged eye contact with any one person, let alone thousands of disembodied eyeballs. So, I gazed at below your feet, until I realized there were eyes underneath me too. Just fucking great. Was there any escape from their stares? And how was Yukari not creeped out by any of them?

Then, an opening appeared, and we were finally freed from the tunnel. Out we stepped into a realm with a sky painted with galaxies. In the middle was velvet lounge sofa enveloped by a huge parasol. There were designs on the floor that were also shaped like eyes, but they also seemed to be portals to other places.

Yukari's gloves hand pulled my chin into her direction. When our eyes met, only then did I notice how deep violet they were , like two infinite voids staring back. Her scarlet lips smiled and she whispered to me:

"Welcome to your new home, my servant~."