<- Back to Chapter 1 | [Back to the Table of Contents] | Forward to Chapter 3 ->

"Hey Kourin! What's up? Today's our customary hot pot day!" Along with that noise, the door was thrown open; as far as I'm concerned, today's animal protection day.

"Oh, it's you, Marisa? What's the meaning of coming here and claiming this to be a hot pot day?"

Marisa showed me what she had in her right hand, and there it was: an exhausted-looking, red-and-white lump.

Some way from the Human Village in Gensokyo is the Forest of Magic, and close by this forest is my shop, Kourindou. In other words, it's halfway between where the humans live and where the youkai are. I'd thought I could do business with both humans and youkai with this location, but the truth is that I almost never have clients from either of them. Well, it gets lively at times, but...

"Isn't that a crested ibis? What happened?"

"Ahh, I caught it by the shrine. Reimu's preparin' stuff for the hot pot, so she'll be late."

"And why did you decide to meet at my place, without asking me?"

"What're you talkin' about? This guy's delicious! It doesn't look so good, though..."

The crested ibis. More and more of these birds have been appearing in Gensokyo every year. Wherever they are coming from, every so often the sky would become dyed in their colors. Even so, their meat tastes good, despite their poor appearance. The hot pot, too, would end up dyed in that ibis' color, almost a scarlet red. Not a nice way to put it, but it'll look like a human hot pot made by a vampire.

"Well...I guess it's fine, but why a hot pot, all of a sudden?"

"Isn't it obvious? Cold days are all about hot pots."

Marisa continued to talk about it while going ahead into the kitchen. "Well, I just got this ibis by chance, but it was very lively until a while ago."

Gensokyo is, quite literally, a place where illusionary creatures dwell. At the same time, the people in the outside world would write off "illusionary" creatures as nothing more than "fantasy" creatures. But, of course, illusionary creatures and fantasy creatures are very different kinds of creatures. "Fantasy creatures" are just another name for delusions, misinterpretations, or misunderstandings. On the other hand, an "illusionary creature" is one that can only be found in Gensokyo. It goes without saying, then, that both Marisa and I are technically also illusionary creatures.

However, the reason behind the sudden proliferation of crested ibises is something I don't understand. Could it be that they have become "illusionary" birds? That would be unthinkable in the outside world I knew, but then again, too much time has elapsed since then. As much as I try to imagine the outside world from limited literature and old memories, it would amount to nothing more than fantasies. A guess plagued by imagination is no more than fantasy. As for guesses, I rank them among "fantasy," "delusion," "forecast," "supposition," and "illusion."

"Sorry for the wait! Marisa is here too, right?"

"I wasn't waiting; it's not like I would even have time to do so, since you girls came so suddenly."

"Well, of course we came suddenly. But you should be waiting at all times; isn't this a shop, after all?"

Reimu came just as Marisa said. She was carrying several bags with her; ingredients for the hot pot, I guess.

"Ah, Reimu! Took a long enough! Let's get started with the hot pot." Marisa was stretching out her harm, with a feeling of "c'mon, hand it over!" to it.

"I bought everything, yes."

"...Huh? This is red miso. Who told you to bring red miso?"

"I didn't need to be told. The fact is that for ibis broth, it has to be red miso!"

"Hey, hey! The hot pot is alread red enough, so we should make it with white miso. Putting red miso in red broth? Are ya some kinda Communist?"

"It's not like you aren't going to eat it just because it's a different color. Since ibis meat is red to begin with, it shouldn't bother you, right? And white miso - this is not the Genpei War."

The two of them were going on about food coloring - but I wasn't listening. On top of that, Marisa was holding the ibis, and every time she gave it a squeeze, the ibis would squawk; it was kind of weird, like the ibis was her yes-man. I'm sure she was doing it on purpose.

"...And don't you put red pickles on top of tonkatsu? And what about miso ramen?"

"And don't you put fukujinzuke in curry? I wonder if you even put it in cream stew?"

"Havin' somethin' red in the middle of white is the sign of a Japanese soul!"

"As for red-and-white things, just me is enough. And what part of you has a Japanese soul, Marisa? Do you even know what wabi-sabi is?"

"I don't think ya know that yourself, Reimu."

"Of course I don't."

"Anyway, we're not makin' the hot pot that way."

"Wasn't it you who came up with the hot pot idea? We can't eat this ibis raw."

"That's the problem? Alright then, if that's all it is, I can handle it."

"...Judge it?"

"Ahh, that might work too. Wanna go for it?"

In the end, it seems like they decided to settle the matter in a danmaku match, without so much as asking for my advice (even though they came to my shop on their own whim). The rules are 1-on-1, using Spell Card Rules; if Reimu wins, the hot pot gets done her way; if Marisa wins, she'll apparently make her go buy the white miso. Nevermind the fact that I've got some white miso in my place; they seem to be enjoying it, so I'll just let them be. Speaking of which, I actually know the tastiest way to cook a crested ibis. "Marisa, I'm always telling you-"

"If you're gonna fight, then go outside, right?"

"More importantly, could you handle that for Marisa, Mr. Rinnosuke?"

Their objectives seem to have changed already. Whatever the result is, I guess they'll happily eat it however I cook it. I could go as far as to think they arranged this scenario from the beginning, since it always follows the same pattern. Those two are frequently dueling to decide the most insignificant things. On top of that, they lately fight a lot with flying attacks. It's extremely bright, and hard on the eyes.

Their duels are always a study in contrast; against the gung-ho Marisa, Reimu - either on purpose or naturally - fights in a more laid-back style. The duels mostly go Reimu's way, but Marisa doesn't always lose. It's just that Marisa, attacking with all her skill and might, against Reimu, who looks just like she was made of air...it's like trying to pound a nail into dust. In any event, when looking at Reimu, she gives off a feeling that she is not quite from our own world. Anything more than that is something one cannot quite grasp.

"Hey, that's dangerous! What if it had hit me, Marisa?! Geez..."

"Aw, damn! Why didn't it hit?"

"Your bullets avoid me on their own. How nice of them!"

"They're flyin' straight..."

Since I could hear their voices, I went to see how things were going. Reimu looked like she would plainly teleport at times. And her bullets would fly guided, or in impossible directions. ...It was kind of unfair.

Well then, this nice, round ibis looks really tasty; I've never seen one like it before. Speaking of which, Marisa said something that bothered me:

"Sorry for the wait; we've just made a decision."

"Ahh, you always make me wait like this. I already made the hot pot. With red miso, as planned."

"Gee...you already prepared the hot pot? What would you do if I had won, Kourin?"

"I would have had you eat an ibis cooked in the tastiest way."

The Hakurei Shrine is located on the edge of Gensokyo. And by edge, that doesn' t mean only in the physical sense; there is the border between the outside world and Gensokyo. Because of that, the Hakurei Shrine is not an entirely "illusionary" place. And Marisa said she caught the ibis by the Shrine. It may be that this ibis is indeed from the outside world. So it would seem that crested ibises are not illusionary birds yet.

I feel somewhat relieved.

---