Forbidden Knowledge Vol.1 (Marisa Kirisame X Male Reader)

Chapter 6 - Forbidden Knowledge, Vol. 4: Wealth

As Marisa and I walked through the village, my mind was utterly consumed by the forbidden tome in my hands. I hadn't dared to open it yet—not after seeing Kosuzu's reaction—but still, I found myself inspecting every inch of it. I ran my fingers over the cover, traced the spine, and flipped it over to look at the back, hoping to find some hidden clue, some detail I'd missed the first dozen times. Nothing had changed, of course. It was still the same unnerving book.

I barely noticed the village around me. Only when something caught my eye did I finally look up—a small, worn-out sign that read "Kirisame Shop." It took me by surprise.

"Is that your family's shop?" I asked, glancing over at Marisa.

She looked over at the sign and gave a quick, disinterested nod. "Yeah, it is."

The conversation could've ended there, but for some reason, I felt compelled to push further. "You want to stop by? Say hello to them?"

Marisa's reaction was almost immediate. She brushed the idea aside with a wave of her hand. "Nah, we've got more important things to do than seeing them a lot." Her tone was dismissive, but there was something underneath it—something I couldn't quite place.

We walked in silence for a while after that, the words of the stall owner creeping back into my mind. Living outside the village doesn't sound so rewarding when you're broke, does it? It echoed in my head, making me feel like there was something more going on here, something Marisa wasn't telling me.

The silence stretched between us until I finally decided to break it. "So, why don't you live in the village?"

Marisa stopped dead in her tracks. She didn't look at me, but the question had clearly struck a nerve. There was a long pause before she finally spoke, her voice tight. "Where are all the villagers?"

"Huh?" I blinked, thrown off by the sudden change in topic. It wasn't until then that I noticed the village was unusually empty. How had I missed that? I glanced around, seeing only a handful of shops and homes but no one walking the streets. It was... eerie.

"Maybe everyone's gone to bingo?" I suggested weakly, trying to break the tension.

Marisa didn't laugh. She started walking again, her pace quicker this time as her eyes darted around, scanning every corner of the village. Her arms crossed over her chest, and I could hear her muttering to herself. "I've got a bad feeling about this... might be an incident..."

"An incident?" I hurried to catch up to her. "You think something's going on?"

She stopped again, tapping her chin in thought. "Maybe it's Keine? But that doesn't make sense. When she made the village disappear during the endless night, it wasn't just the people—it was the whole village."

I was about to ask what she meant by that, but something made me stop. "Wait... do you hear that?"

Marisa frowned and listened. It took a moment, but then we both heard it—music. Faint but unmistakable. We turned around, seeing distant lights flickering in the direction of the shrine.

"Huh," Marisa muttered. "Maybe there's a festival going on? Could explain why the village is empty."

"No, no, that wouldn't be possible," she continued, shaking her head. "Even if it were a festival... not everyone would leave the village. And Reimu would've told me about something like this."

I didn't know much about festivals or how things worked in Gensokyo, but something about the whole situation felt off. Marisa's unease was starting to rub off on me.

She sighed, her brow furrowing. "I don't like this. We should get to the shrine and ask Reimu. She'll know what's going on."

I nodded, watching as she pulled her broom from her side and swung it up, holding it out for me to jump on. I hesitated for a moment—I'd never flown on a broom before, and the idea was... daunting. But this wasn't the time to be picky.