12 Unlucky Dreamer on the Loose (1/2)

Editor: Crembo.

'… I can't say I never thought this would happen, but I didn't think it would happen so soon.'

I found a body.

”…Seriously, you had one job, and that was to stay alive until old age.”

A dead body, to be exact.

”… How much of an idiot you are to not understand your position in Gensokyo.”

Freedom is a privilege for the strong, and you guys are not strong, at all.

One day. Only one day since that newspaper came out and I've already found a human corpse in the Youkai Forest.

At first, I heard screaming in the distance and rushed towards it, but I was too late.

The scream's originator had already been mauled to death by something, probably Youkai, because I didn't see or sense anything in the perimeter after I discovered it.

*sigh*

His clothes were like something a Human Villager would wear, and there were a bunch of claw marks on his face and chest. This guy's probably from that ”Secret History Association” group from the Human Village. Their goal is like to uncover Gensokyo's secrets, drive out the Youkai, and make it a human-only land.

There were two things I wanted to point out to the founder of this Suicidal Ignorance group.

First, Yakumo.

And lastly, Yukari. Done.

Gensokyo was built inside the Great Hakurei Barrier which was created in a collaboration between Youkai and humans, and Yukari is one of the original barrier creators that made Gensokyo - I don't need to explain any further what would happen to them.

Keine is also trying to fight this group's influence by teaching history lessons in her school, though I don't know how much that's helping.

Because they want to find Gensokyo's secrets, they keep going into Youkai infested territory, which has led a majority of the group members to their deaths. While the rules do say Youkai mustn't kill any humans, it's a different story if the humans themselves are trying to get killed by them. There's dangerous Youkai out there, and if said humans just walk into their den willy-nilly, it's obvious they would be killed on the spot.

To make a simple example, it's like that one guy who ignores a sign saying ”Don't go near the cliff” because he wants to take a selfie, only to slip off and fall to his death.

*sigh*

… But still, it's uncomfortable to see a human corpse, and a fresh one at that.

”KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” A woman screamed in the distance.

'… Damnit, another one.' I turned toward the scream.

I made Quadra Wings and flew toward it.

”… For fuck's sake, at least make your group male only, idiots.”

As I flew through the forest, I finally saw the source of the scream: a woman, being chased by a red-skinned caveman. A Youkai.

I moved one of my feet forward.

”HEY, RED-SKINNED PERVERT!” I shouted at him.

The woman and the Youkai stopped to look at me, and I sped up towards the Youkai's head.

”DROP KICK TO YOUR FACE!”

My foot connected, he flew through the forest, and I stuck a perfect Kamen Rider landing.

Everything's perfect.

”Kukuku, I'm overpowered like always. Now then,” I stood up and turned toward the woman, ”Who-”.

*Glomp*

My face was suddenly covered by something and I felt pressure around my head.

'… Did she just hug me?'

”Thank you, Arah-kun, you saved me!” said the woman.

'… It's a woman. That means…'

”I was so scared, but you suddenly arrived and saved me.”

'… Boobs…'

”… You okay, Arah-kun? You haven't said anything for a while.”

'… Boobs…' I was still in La-la land.

”Arah-kun? Ah, sorry, my mistake!” she let go of her hug immediately.

I was slowly rebooting my brain after what just happened.

I shook my head. ”Ugh, that was weird. What just happened?” And then I started looking at the woman.

She had blonde hair, purple eyes and a white mob cap; she also wore a pale blue blouse and blue-purple skirt, and had a bandage on her right arm. Oh wow, she is… just… like… Yukari…

I blinked.

I looked at her status immediately.

[Lv.9 The Dream Flipper, Maribel Hearn]

'… Oh my.'

”… Anything wrong, Arah-kun?” she worriedly asked.

I put my hand on my chin, to indicate I was thinking.

'How did she know my name? Isn't her ability just teleporting between her dreams and reality, and being able to see supernatural places with vision- only, right? This is supposed to be my first meeting with her, right?' '... Let's just genuinely ask her about myself.'

”… Miss, have we met before?” I asked her while still in my thinking pose.

”Wha-Don't you remember me?! It's me, Maribel Hearn. The woman that was led by the maid from the mansion, Arah-kun was playing the piano when we met for the first time!” she explained.

'... Mansion? Playing Piano? I hadn't visited the Mansion since my fight with Sakuya… Ah, I see, I understand, we met in the future! Her ability is tied to her dreams, and her dreams just randomly pick the timeline for her to teleport to. The problem now, then, is: how will she prove to me that we have met before…'

”… I'm sorry, but I strongly believe that I remember every single day I spent in this place, and I've never encountered you before.”

”No way…” she sounded disappointed.

'Come on, the future me must have given her something to prove we met, something that doesn't need to be carried around, something that can just be remembered and only I would know.'

”… Wait, I remembered, you said the next time we met you wouldn't remember me, I just have to hum this song and you would understand instantly.”

”Hum a song?” I asked.

”Yes, please wait a minute.” She prepared, clasping her hands and closing her eyes.

*huuuum**hm-hm-hmhmmm**huuuum**hm-hm-hmhmmm*

'… That's…'

*hmhmhm-hmhm**hmhmhm-hmhm**huhuhum-hum-huhuhuhuhum*

'… My favorite theme, ZUN's theme.'

I smiled and waited for her to finish.

”Fuh…” she finally finished humming.

*clap**clap**clap* I clapped at her performance.

”I still remember the name of the song, its ”Kid's festival –Innocent treasure-” and it has something to do with Yume-tagae, a prayer to be done in order to prevent a bad dream from coming true… Do you remember now?” she asked worriedly.

”Truthfully, no.”

She looked dejected.

”But I understand what's going on.”

”… What do you mean?” she looked surprised and curious with what I said.

”That song you just hummed is one of my favorite songs, and I doubt anyone in the world would know it except me.”

”… Really?”

”Yeah, adding the fact that you hugged me, that can only mean one thing.”

”What is it?”

”That means,” I opened my arms toward Maribel, ready to receive her. ”you are my FUTURE GIRLFRIEND!”

”Eeeeeeeh?!” Maribel was surprised by my 'revelation'.

”As expected of me, I can find such a beautiful girlfriend.”

”B-beautiful?!”

”And older than me as well, I must be pretty good at kissing.”

”K-k-kissing?!”

”But I think the joke's getting old already, so let's just talk seriously now.”

”A joke?!”

… She's pretty dedicated to the 'straight man' act. No wonder Renko still stick with her, she's amusing to tease.

”… Was Arah-kun messing with me from the start?” she eyed me suspiciously.

”No, no, no, I really have never met with you before, Maribel-san. It's just that your explanation indicated that you were from the future.”

”Indicated? Which part?”

”It's the playing piano part, I only just recently got permission to play the piano in the mansion, and I only played there once. I did plan to start playing there again in the future, while playing my favorite song that only I know. Because of that, I can pretty much guess that you really are from the future.”

”I see, it does make sense if you think about it.” She nodded understandingly, ”But, Arah-kun, your attitude is a bit different from the first time we met, is this your real self?”

”Hooh~, that means my future self was really good pretending to be a gentleman then. As you experienced, I really like to tease people.” I smiled triumphantly.

”Eeeeh~, please bring my Arah-kun back, I like the gentleman Arah more.” Complained Maribel.

”'My'?” I asked.

”Yeah, I really want a brother that listens to me all the time. And Arah-kun at that time really fit my dream brother, I almost thought that I was dreaming at that time... Oh, wait, I really was dreaming at that time.” She said cheerfully.

'…I think I should rethink my plan for her in the future.'

”*cough* Let's get back on topic, what are you doing here?”

”Sorry, well, it's my usual routine of dream traveling... Oh wait, since this is the past then I should explain what my ability is again, right? Yes, as you have heard I can switch between my dreams and reality, and vice versa, which lets me go to another world easily.”

”But you can't control where the dream takes place, that's why this time-line issue happened, and also why you're here right now, in the middle of Youkai Forest, where a lot of Youkai are roaming about?” I finish her explanation.

”…Yes.” Her mood visibly went down from my words.

”Is that also why you have a bandage on your arm?”

”Ah, this one?” she showed me the bandage on her right arm. ”No, this one happened when me and my friend were traveling to a satellite station in space. The doctor said it would heal in a few days, you don't need to worry.” She bitterly smiled.

'…She's already at 'Neo-traditionalism of Japan' huh. That means she can already pick up anything she consciously grabs in her dreams, and also that I can help her right now too.'

'System, buy and confirm everything that I told you.'

[Affirmative]

[Lesser Vitality Pill] x 100 = 10.000 IP.

[Healing Salve] x 6 = 3.000 IP.

Separate it into two pouches that hold 50 [Lesser Vitality Pill] and 3 [Healing Salve] each, put them in my waist pouch.

I shoved my hand inside my waist pouch and pulled out the 2 pouches.

I took a healing salve out from one of them.

It's a medium-sized glass jar that has green cream inside it.

”Maribel-san, show me the wound.”

”E-eh, there's no need to do anything to it, Arah-kun, it will heal in a few days.”

She said pleadingly but I insisted.

I grabbed her right hand and turned it to look at the bandage.

I ripped the bandage off with my ability so that she won't feel pain from it.

The bandage came away from her skin, revealing a scar that ran from her elbow down to her hand.

'… I'm gonna Laser Snipe those Chimeras in that Space Station.'

”…Does it still hurt?” I asked her while looking at the scar.

”… Just a bit.”

”… Then bear with the pain for a moment.”

I opened the jar and smeared the green cream on the scar.

”…Ukh…kuh…” she moaned from the pain.

”… Please bear with it for a few more seconds.”

This is serious business; even I won't joke around at her condition. A woman's skin is a precious thing, so if you can heal her, heal her.

I finished smearing the scream, and just as I finished, the scar and the cream slowly disappeared.

”… How does it feel?” I asked her.

She moved her arm, testing if there was any pain left from the scar.

”It healed, there is no more pain when I move my arm, Arah-kun, it healed!” She smiled toward me.

”Good, then-”

*glomp*

”You really are the best! Thank you very much!” she hugged me again.

'… Boobs…' And my brain malfunctioned again.

*ding*

[Achievement Alert]

[Impress The Dream Flipper]

[Reward: 20.000 AP & 20.000 IP]

-Several Minutes Later-

”Arah-kun, where are we going?” Maribel asked.

”To the Giant Toad Pond.” I answered.

”Giant Toad?! Isn't it dangerous?”

”Not really, if you respect everything in the area then you will be okay. Moreover, I'll be there, so you don't have to worry about anything.”

Maribel decided to follow me. Even though she could just wake up from here and take the pouch bag home, she instead wanted to follow me while I was gathering Magic Ingredients in Youkai Mountain.

”By the way, your pill really is amazing, Arah-kun. I don't feel tired at all even after hiking this mountain path.”

”I'm really amazing you know, I'm happy that you know it now.” I smugly smiled.

”Yes, yes, my little brother Arah-kun is amazing.”

”… Damnit.”

'Damn teenager height, just wait 4 more years and I will have my growth spurt and will be taller than every Japanese human in Gensokyo...'

The system turned me 15 years old per my request, while she's a college student.

Is this ”Detective Conan” right now? Am I Conan right now? Then where's Gorou? Where's the drunkard idiot who is full of himself even though he doesn't know anything?

”I see the pond!”

I was snapped out of my useless pondering by Maribel's excited voice.

-Giant Toad Pond, Mountain Area-​