32 Little Realization (2/2)
In Flandre's case, I don't know how they make someone into a familiar, so I'll just be careful around Flandre, like always.
In Alice's case... Ugh. This is the vaguest of them all, I can only make out that Alice was sad with how I never answered her back, which led her to do something creepy to me. I know how I talk, and that's definitely not how I talk. I don't know what caused a situation like that in the first place, but I think I should be more careful in the future since I know I could become like that.
As for Yukari's case? It's Yukari, not Reimu. There's no fucking way I could become that friendly with her. Let's just ditch that as 'it was just a dream', there's no possible chance that it will happen. Yep, no way in hell it could happen.
And I just jinxed myself cause I said it, Iwanttoburymyselfintothegroundandjumpoffacliffandbecomegay.
”…*sigh*, let's just walk to the village.”
-Afternoon, Human Village-
”Surprise!”
I start blinking.
I am surprised.
”Yay, he is surprised! Thank you for the meal!”
Yes, I am surprised. Really surprised that she looks cuter in person.
[Lv.24 the Cheery Forgotten Umbrella, Tatara Kogasa]
She has turquoise hair and heterochromatic eyes, the right one is turquoise and the left one is red. She wears a blue-green vest with white sleeves and a light blue skirt. She holds a purple umbrella with an eye and a tongue protruding from it.
Her height is almost the same as mine.
'…Let's mess with her.'
”Excuse me, are you an Umbrella Tsukumogami by the name of Tatara Kogasa?”
”Hm? Yes, that is right.”
”Then can you become my umbrella of love for today?”
She freezes.
”You see, I'm on the way to meet up with someone, I will be thankful if you become that for me when I meet her.”
”E-eh?! You mean that umbrella of love?! M-me?! Y-you ask me to become that?!”
”Yup.” I nod.
”S-such an honor, I do not know if I could fit playing that role but I will do my best!”
And with just that little conversation, she follows me in my walk to Akyuu's place.
I look at Kogasa's face, she looks happy.
'Oh my god, she's so gullible! I feel bad doing this but I'm too amused to stop, and besides, she looks happy doing it, so I guess its okay to continue.'
I recall the information I read about her.
Tatara Kogasa.
She is an Umbrella Tsukumogami; she was born after she was abandoned by her original owner. Usually her kind takes vengeance on their original owners for their actions, but her vengeance plan stops at just scaring the humans. She's also kinda bad at scaring.
I look her umbrella design.
No matter how I look at it, it only looks cartoonish rather than scary.
And the worst part is, she eats the surprised feeling of people that she scares, but she's having a hard time getting enough because she's not scary enough to do it.
Kogasa and I are walking together, side by side, under her umbrella.
”Um, excuse me, I know it is a little bit late but what is your name?”
I look at her.
”Sorry about that, the name's Arah. Just Arah.”
She nodded ”So, Arah-san, where are we going right now?”
”Well, we are going to my most beloved person's home.”
”Heee, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of person is this beloved-san you mention?”
”It's a bit difficult to describe her; I think you should meet her yourself.”
”I see.”
And with that last word, we walked to our destination in silence.
-Hieda Mansion-
She's shocked.
”Following you was a great idea, Arah-san! I have never surprised people this much in a single day! But it is kinda weird that even though I did not do anything, I still made someone surprised.”
*ding*
[Achievement Alert]
[Impress the Cheery Forgotten Umbrella]
[Reward: 20.000 AP & 20.000 IP]
”Isn't it okay as long as someone is surprised by it?” I smile. 'And thank you for the points.'
”Well, yeah, but it is still strange for it to happen out of nowhere.” she still looks unsure.
I just nod at her.
Now I look back at the person that was shocked.
It's Akyuu.
'Am I throwing her for a loop? Did she not expect that Kogasa would appear beside me?'
”Yo, Akyuu-chan. It's been a while.” I wave my hand.
”…Arah-san.” she looks troubled.
”Oh right, now it's my turn.”
Kogasa walks ahead and puts her umbrella between me and Akyuu.
Kogasa looks proud, while Akyuu looks confused.
”…Arah-san, what is she doing?” she tilts her head.
”Please don't mind me, I'm just an Umbrella.”
Kogasa still looks proud while saying that and Akyuu looks even more confused with this situation.
”Maybe we should continue this inside the House rather than standing in the entrance.”
They all agree with my suggestion, and shortly we all are seated inside the Mansion's main room.
I cross my legs and the girls are sitting on their knee. Kogasa holds her folded umbrella on her lap.
”So, Arah-san, isn't this Tatara Kogasa-san, the Youkai that is usually scaring people in the village?”
”Yes.”
”Yup, that's my name!”
”Then why is she following you around?”
”He asked me if I could become his umbrella of love.”
Silence.
Akyuu starts glaring at me, but I just smile at her.
”Kogasa-san, have you ever thought that you were the one he was targeting to be under the umbrella with?”
”Eh?”
Kogasa looks at me.
”Eh?”
Kogasa looks at Akyuu.
”EH??”
She looks back at me.
”EEEEEEHHHH?!!” Kogasa starts to blush.
”*cough* I don't know what you're talking about, Akyuu-chan. I only invited her to accompany me to your mansion, there were no underlying motives whatsoever.” I utter my denial, smiling.
Akyuu didn't believe me and is still looking at me suspiciously.
”Besides, my intentions still hold true. I did want to bring her to you, my beloved cute girly little sister Akyuu-chan.” I continue.
Now it's Akyuu's turn to blush.
”W-well, what was the reason you brought her here for then, Arah-san?”
”It was to interview her, I guess. Aren't your clan supposed to record all Youkai in Gensokyo?”
Her blush completely disappears as Akyuu immediately turned serious when she heard what I said.
She turns toward Kogasa who's still blushing on the side.
”Kogasa-san.”
”Y-yes!” she stammered.
”Can I interview you?” she asks with professional aura.
”Ah, interview me? It's okay, I guess.” Kogasa turned back to normal.
And then the interview starts.
I already know the majority of what she says, but when you're listening to it in person, and hear her emotions, it's a whole new experience.
She was born a long time ago, a time where Youkai still ran rampant and terrorized the night, probably 100~200 years ago - or longer than that. And because in this day and age people have already gotten used to Youkai, she's having hard time getting food.
Also, recently, she started thinking whether she should just turn back into an object and start being useful to other people. It's likely she started thinking that way due to being an old Tsukumogami, and her origin as a tool.
Akyuu said that's an interesting bit of information since she's never interviewed an old Tsukumogami, or any Tsukumogami in general.
I guess, I think it's interesting too. Raiko and her friend don't have those kinds of feelings since she is only just born in the event of DDC (Double Dealing Character) while the Prismriver Sisters are Poltergeists and not Tsukumogami, so they don't count.
After the interview reaches its end, Akyuu and I lead Kogasa to the exit.
We said thank you before watching her leave via the front gate.
”Say, Akyuu-chan, that interview piqued my interest with Tsukumogami. Do you have any books related to them?”
Akyuu smiles.
”Of course, let me show you some of them.”
And with that, we go back inside her mansion.
Author note:
Heyo, Author here, I think this is the shortest chapter I ever created; it's below 3.000k word.
About Kogasa unique diet, I think that every kind of surprise would become food for her, and not just jump scare kinda surprise.
At first, I thought that Legendary Butler is an OP skill; I was worried that I gave Arah that kind of skill, but then I start comparing the abilities of all Gensokyo Character with this new ability. 'Nope, I was wrong, it's not that OP' and then I just wrote it, guilt free.
@Acerman, the reason as to how Arah could defeat an Oni that easily was because of that special Katana and also because Oni is renowned for their downfall by trickery, and in Arah case, he defeated them using 'Hit & Teleport' strategy. Even if Arah doesn't have that Katana, he still won when fighting that Oni, albeit it takes longer time to do it because how resilient an Oni is. As for your worry that Arah becoming too OP, DON'T YOU SEE WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT ABILITY IN SOME OF THE TOUHOU CHARACTER?! HE NEEDS TO BECOME OP TO SURVIVE ALL OP SHENANIGANS OF EVERY CHARACTER!!