Blossom of Bodhisattva (Touhou)

[Erien]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-fCUsSNkOw&ab_channel=Diremagic
[The Fox in Town]

Commissioned by @Dragontrapper

Ayumu is a character from my previous Touhou quest. A Fox in Paradise.

—

It was a small, but pleasant shop. Nestled in the corner of the Human Village. There was little to differentiate it from the rest, with woodframe construction, rice-paper walls, and little in the way of vanity. There was nothing that would mark it as a place of any importance, and, in truth. It wasn't important. But that, Myouren felt, was exactly as the owner wished for it to be. The door opened with the soft chime of bells, and Myouren walked into the interior. At once, the scent of the human village was replaced by that of… herbs the priest couldn't immediately identify. The room was a simple thing, small, with little more than a desk, and a nearby table. Both were aged, worn with marks and cuts in such a way that the monk could appreciate.

That was it, barring a simple sign that was placed against the wall. Like the desk and table it was worn and aged, and bore just a single word. "Akiya's."

Behind the desk, was the only thing immediately notable besides the furniture, a man, young by appearance if not by nature. With short black hair, golden eyes, and a rather easy going smile on his face as he watched Myouren enter. He was dressed in rather out of place finery compared to the rest of the village, not that of a noble, but that of a modern man, a black two piece suit that had no sign of dust, dirt, or any other disfigurement, a far cry from what the rest of the humans around wore.

"Good morning Ayumu," Myouren says warmly.

The man simply stared at the monk for a few moments, saying nothing, expressing less. "I don't believe I have the pleasure?"

"Myouren Hijiri," the monk offers.

"Ah," Ayumu replies. "That would explain the hair. Tea?"

Myouren shakes his head. "No, but thank you for the offer. I understand that this is a… take-all-comers shop? I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean by that."

In truth, Myouren was curious as to why a youkai was setup in the human village, and curious as to why he was tolerated. As his 'nature' was apparently widely known by those around. The village had little tolerance for youkai, and as a monk, it was his duty to see that he was not a threat.

Perhaps it was not the task he had been assigned, but it was one he still performed regardless.

The man behind the desk smiled, it was a simple smile, deliberately so. "It is as it is stated, I accept anyone who walks in, provided they can provide payment or give me a good enough reason not to accept payment. From there, I simply do whatever it is that is required."

"The last I spoke to mentioned you negotiating the return of some family heirlooms that had been seized by Kappa. I don't suppose you harmed anyone?" Myouren asks.

"I tend to avoid fights, despite Gensokyo's inclinations otherwise," Ayumu replies. "A farmer offered his daughter to the Kappa in order to have a new irrigation system installed, he balked once they finished, so they took something of equal value." The man smiled, slightly cruelly. "The Kappa of this place have no desire for what they were previously infamous. They do not leave corpses behind, but the destitute. I merely negotiated."

"And the fact the daughter is now missing?" Myouren says, not quite accusing, not quite asking.

"Eloped, actually. She found herself fancying an oni of all things." Ayumu says, shrugging his shoulders. "I traded the Kappa information I had gleamed from the goblins, who in payment gave me the heirlooms. I then returned those to the farmer, who then accused me of absconding with his daughter so that he didn't have to pay me." Ayumu's expression then falls flat. "So I simply left."

"And the fact the man is screaming and howling in the local jail?" Myouren asks.

The smile returns, wider,, and for a moment, the sunlight pouring into the room is a touch less bright. "He saw himself surrounded by those who plotted his ruin, or at least, he believed he did. I merely… aided him in his visions. The illusions shall wear off in…" the man lifts a wrist to look at a strange device attached to it. "Six days."

Myouren stares at the Kitsune across from him, saying nothing for several moments. "I would like to hire your services."

Ayumu stares back, then, slowly, leans over the desk to rest his elbows upon it, his face neutral once more. "Oh? In what manner?"

"I believe my sister has been sleeping around, I would desire to know with whom."

The smile returned, and distantly, Byakuren shivered.

She did not know why.

 

[Erien]

[Subterfuge]

Commission requested by @Dragontrapper

—

There were many strange occurrences in Gensokyo, and many even stranger beings. There were oni who could break the moon, shrine maidens who could pass between realities, and vampires who could change fate… one of those was likely a lie, but then, what was fantasy but an ever-growing series of lies until you reach a book deal? Insanity of course, but insanity was nothing but a boon in Gensokyo, after all, when one witnessed the impossible daily, to restrain yourself to what merely made sense was much the same as trying to give a Hakutaku a normal cup size.

It simply just wasn't done of course. But, the author digresses and chooses to instead paint a scene, of a relatively normal day within Gensokyo.

—

Our subject for today's tale is one Cirno, an Ice Fairy, an odd moniker to be certain as she was the only Ice Fairy. Perhaps that was why she was, by definition, the strongest. But at the moment she wasn't using her strength, she was using subtlety, indeed, she was making her way around the back of the newly rebuilt shrine, a pair of leafy twigs held beside her as she crab-walked past Myouren and the class he was teaching. He noticed of course, but there was very little he didn't. The rest of the class failed to see her of course, because ice fairies do not sneak, therefore she couldn't actually be there to be spotted.

Such was the way of Gensokyo.

She slipped across the grounds, past the sleeping Shou, the sloshed Ichirin, the seeking Nazrin and the sly Mamizou. There, she found her target. A small shed, wooden if the reader must know, with a simple wooden lock made of kappa-forged iron. It was shatter proof, freeze proof, unmeltable, and was laden with charms to be immune to any spell. It was, for all intents and purposes, completely impossible to get past it without the key. This posed a problem, a conundrum, and the Ice Fairy stared up at it, thinking whatever thoughts her childish mind could summon forth. If only Dai was here, she briefly thought, she always came up with the best plans. But then she remembered, indeed, one of Myouren's lessons!

And a smile came upon her face, a very smiley smile, as she realized she had indeed been a good student, and recalled one of the lessons he had imparted upon her. "Form is no different from emptiness. Emptiness is no different from form. Form is precisely emptiness, emptiness is precisely form." She didn't know what that meant, or how it applied in any way to this situation. But she remembered it, so it must mean it was important.

Nodding to herself, and with a blizzard raging in her heart, she sprung to action.

And if anyone were to be looking at the shed, they would have seen a small ice fairy leap back, let out a battle cry, then charge headfirst through a glass window.

Truly, her wisdom knew no bounds.

And in the shed, she found her prize.

—

Myouren looked up from his teachings, "to best teach today's lesson we shall take all one large step back."

At this, he received looks of confusion, as, after all, one was meant to walk forward on the path, not backward. Had he gone senile in his old age? They didn't know, but they wouldn't dare whisper such things, Yukari was nervous around this man, and that meant that what didn't make sense to them must make perfect sense to him! So they did indeed do so, all taking long steps back.

Myouren smiled, then picked up a particularly small child and gently placed him back further, then nodded. Then, with a visage of calm acceptance he looked towards the back of the temple, where the simple wooden shed… exploded.


View: https://youtu.be/irEzFWOitHI?t=5

Cirno came screaming, both literally, and figuratively out of the shed, her hands holding onto the throttles of Byakuren's motorcycle for dear life, her feet danging in the air behind her as she went roaring past the past between Myouren and his students. The Bodhisattva watched her go, idly wondering how he was going to punish his sister for this.

Distantly, a dull thud sounded from the direction of the shed.

The kappa-made lock was fine. It would grow legs and spawn an incident later of course.

But that was not a tale for today.

Nor is the tale of how Cirno somehow rode the bike all the way into New Hell and toppled the local government therein.

Study these words, and you shall proceed upon the Eightfold-path.