Lord Frieza incarnate in Gensokyo

Chapter 34

Gensokyo - Kourindou

-= Marisa Kirisame's Point of View =-

I travel down a gloomy, unmarked path. My clothes feel twice as heavy as usual. A natural result of this morning's drizzle, of course.

Be it sunlight or pouring rain, this forest's leaves will dissipate it completely. Whether it's sunny or rainy doesn't make much of a difference here. You can't even tell if it's night or day... I really like this unbounded feeling a lot.

But it sure is hard to walk when your skirt is so heavy. I feel the rough object I'm carrying within it, and look up. Come to think of it, wasn't it drizzly on the day I got this, too?

He had been running a shop here for as long as I can remember. I don't really like to think about the past often but, well, I remember lots of stuff and the pleasant dimness inside the shop. Yes, there was no such thing as day or night, human or youkai there. It's that kind of place. It's definitely comfortable there, but there's just one thing I can't stand.

It probably has to do with my family, but he's so stiff towards me. Well, of course, since before I was born he was an apprentice to the Kirisame family. In the end, it seems he said that by dealing with our everyday merchandise and human customers he couldn't make the most of his "ability", and struck out on his own. This ability of his, though... it's just a so-so ability that can neither kill nor revive. Just a while ago he was saying stuff like "This is a heater.", and how he uses it in a really weird way. In any case, since long ago he's been reserved when it comes to me, even though I already said I'm not going back to live with my family.

Just then, I saw a fairy sitting on some huge mushrooms. This type of mushroom can cheer people up, so I'll take some to recover from fatigue. He's always being anti-social and listless, so maybe I'll give some to him as a gift.

The forest's mushrooms grow in a blink, and they always grow in different places. They practically pop out of nowhere and vanish just as fast. The forest itself is alive, and it's always changing. But there are things that change even faster than the forest. Like humans. It's really humans that are the elusive ones.

But him, that guy hasn't changed in any way at all since long ago, neither on the outside nor on the inside. For as long as I remember, he was already running this shop, so I don't really know when this apprenticeship story of his happened. How long is he going to live anyway?

There are humans who defy gravity. And there are humans who can stop time, too. But not changing on the outside nor the inside? That may be the one thing no human can imitate. Man, am I jealous.

That's when I realized I had grabbed too many mushrooms so the fairy looked unhappy. It didn't look like I could carry that many, but it seemed a waste to leave them behind, so I just stuffed them inside my hat. They were wet, so they felt a little gross. Wow, I just can't seem to be able to throw stuff away. I amaze myself sometimes.

It was just like when I was living with my parents. During one of his rare visits to my house, he was carrying some scrap of metal, and got in an argument with my father for some reason. I was very young, and even though I desperately tried to listen in, stuff like "hihiirokane" (crimson ore) and "rare metal" was all I could hear. And after that I got curious and started to gather everything from iron tools to old iron rods and even iron scraps, anything that was metal. In the end, it was pointless, but even now that I've left my parents' home, all the iron scraps I gathered at that time – well, trash, really – I still have them at my new house. I could throw away my home, but I wouldn't throw away those metal scraps. I sure amaze myself.

While I was remembering these unnecessary things, I saw my destination. The "rin" comes from being close to the forest and the frequent drizzles. Yes, this is a shop with an owner that would make such an obvious name. The "kou" of incense relates to gods, basically meaning shrine. Geez, this guy really likes this stuff. "Kourindou''. This old and small shop is the shrine that sits on the border between human and youkai, drizzle and forest. So in other words, is this place supposed to be the heart of Gensokyo?