It had been a long afternoon of intensive training as it has been for the past few years.
I was sitting in the living room of the temple looking out the window.
"Hey Michu. Do you think there really are rabbits on the moon?" I asked while keeping my gaze at the window.
"Huh? What a stupid question. It's obvious that rabbits can't jump high enough to get there." "Besides, I've never visited the moon to know that." She replied convincingly.
"Hm... I guess you're right."
"But well, I better go to sleep, tomorrow is the big day and I'd rather get a good night's rest."
"Oh... right."
Just as I was about to leave the room, Michu stopped me.
"This... I wanted to ask you something." She said somewhat nervously.
I stopped to listen to her.
"Have you still not been able to do any research on how your abilities work?"
"..."
"No... Other than being able to control electrical energy, which was what you granted me at the time, I don't know where the rest of such strange abilities come from."
"But it's alright, I'll stick to using what I know, even if it's not much. Being able to have superhuman abilities is quite a bit more complicated than many people think."
"A-Ah... I understand."
I patted Michu's head and smiled at her.
"Don't worry, I think we have a good chance of winning."
With a flash of light in her eyes, I noticed that she was calmer. Although I really don't know what it is that has her worried. She's been like that for the past few days.
We both went to the room where Hina and Mokou were already asleep. So I just closed my eyes as I got into bed.
*****
I was woken up by the sound of chains in the distance.
"What the heck...? "Where am I?" I said to myself in confusion.
The further I went through that strange cave, the sound of the chains got louder and louder.
Until I hit something that left me paralyzed.
I don't quite remember what it was. But it looked like a corpse or a mannequin of a boy. No matter how hard it stared at me, it seemed lifeless.
It was tied by its wrists to two large chains coming from above that made it move.
When I looked up I could only see a dark silhouette of a huge monster with horns and completely white eyes. From these I could see blood coming out.
The creature didn't have a mouth either, so I couldn't quite make out what it was. But it was grabbing the chains as it moved the boy below it.
The boy's body tried to say something to me, but I didn't understand it at all. But he kept repeating the phrase "how unfortunate" over and over again.
Suddenly, the boy's eyes also turned white like those of the monster pulling the chains. His body also began to mutate into something that did not look human.
Everything began to distort around me.
I woke up with my heart beating fast.
"..."
It was just a bad dream. But it felt too vivid...
I was still upset, but I looked around to calm down a bit. Everything was silent except for the clock in the room that read 2am.
The three of them were still sleeping soundly, so I tried just to go back to sleep.
*****
I woke up again, but this time because I couldn't breathe.
And when I opened my eyes all of a sudden, I saw why....
"Ahgggg.... M.... i.... chu- You're... crushing me!" I tried to scream as I pushed her away.
I don't know why she has this weird habit of moving around so much at night that she ends up on top of me. Considering the fact that we sleep on two different futons.
At that Ei came into the room to get us up.
"Good morning, I hope you had a rest-"
Ei just stared at Michu and me.
"..." "Sorry to interrupt you guys, I see you like the early activity."
Michu finally managed to wake up.
"AHG, WHAT?"
"What's wrong with you, why are you getting under me while I'm sleeping!" She exclaimed in embarrassment as she rolled off herself.
I didn't bother trying to explain anything. Sometimes it seems like he has an empty head....
Hina and Mokou got up yawning.
Ei had prepared breakfast for us as usual, so the four of us headed to the dining room to start the day.
"So, how are you guys feeling about the tournament? Ei asked as she finished serving breakfast.
"Ready to burn everything that gets in my way!" said Mokou still a bit tired. Apparently she really likes to sleep.
"I have some nerves, but I'm confident that we can." Hina said smiling.
"I alone am going to finish them all fu fu fu." Michu said proudly as she crossed her arms.
"What about you Arno, are you feeling confident?" asked Ei. "I've noticed you a little different lately."
Michu nudged me. "Hey, they're talking to you!"
"Oh? What happened?" I responded immediately.
"I was just asking you how you were feeling for the tournament."
"Ah... well, I guess. The truth is that facing such powerful beings here can be a bit intimidating hehe..." I replied.
"It's true that for someone who is new around here it can be difficult. But everything will be fine." Ei said trying to cheer me up.
As we ate, I couldn't help but talk about the strange dream I had had the night before.
"I've been a little restless today because of a nightmare I had while I was sleeping..." I said apologetically.
"Oh? What was it about?" Hina asked.
I proceeded to recount everything I remembered from the dream. I don't think I missed a single detail. The experience was so vivid and disturbing that I can't get it out of my head.
"Wow, sounds like something terrifying, but hey, it was just a dream, so calm down man." Mokou said while eating.
Hina looked a bit worried and uneasy after hearing my little story.
"Ah... yeah... It sounds like something quite disturbing." "Do you happen to remember any more details? Like the boy's face or what his voice was like?" Hina asked trying to avoid making eye contact with me.
"Ah? Hm... I don't really remember that. I just know that he looked younger than me."
"I see..."
Hina looked a little pale and just talked more on the subject.
"This can't be happening... I thought I'd never have to deal with this again. This is all my fault-"
Having talked about this with the others made me feel a little more at ease. So we went about our day as usual.
It was another sunny morning.
I wasn't planning on training today since I wanted to get some rest before the tournament. So I just went out to sunbathe for a while.
I sat on some stone steps outside the temple while looking at the clouds.
I have spent 3 years of my teenage years in this wonderful place. But still I don't know why I can't feel satisfied at all.
For some reason I feel like I have a huge burden on me that I'm having a hard time carrying.
I also feel that since I came here I have changed a lot. I don't know if for better or for worse. I feel more pressure being with the girls than when I was a little younger. But well, it doesn't affect much either.
As I was talking to myself, I could see something in the clouds moving incredibly fast, like a jet.
And something landed right in front of me with a big explosion.
"Ayayaya..." Said the jet girl as she got up from the ground.
It was that winged fake news reporter I had run into when I first arrived in Gensokyo. Her name was Aya if I remember correctly.
"Good morning...?" I said trying to help her.
"Oh wow, you're the lost human with horns." She said surprised.
"I see you don't remember my name..."
"Ah yes, that's me." "But what brings you here?"
"I was just on my daily routine of delivering the newspaper hehe." Aya said smiling. "Besides that in it comes the details of the tournament starting later."
"Well how convenient. I needed to know about it." I said surprised.
"Do you plan to participate?" Asked Aya.
"Yeh, we've been training hard for this."
"Hm, I see." "In that case, good luck to you guys. The competition this year is gonna be hard fu fu fu." Aya said as she prepared to fly off again.
"Okay, thank you very much!"
"You're welcome, my dear horned human." Aya said as he took off as fast as light.
"Horned? Are you serious?"
"Well, I'd better get ready to go to the place indicated in the paper." I said as I headed back to the temple.
*****
"Ah, Arno, there you are. We were just about to leave" Said Mokou who was at the entrance of the temple.
"Gee, I'm sorry. I went to pick up the newspaper, but I'm ready now."
"Nah, it's k. Let's give it our best today heh." Mokou said smiling.
"Yeah." I replied as we bumped fists.
*****
The announcement of the tournament is going to be given at the Human Village as far as I know. So the five of us left the temple flying towards the place.
Flying takes a lot less time than walking, so we got there pretty quickly. There were few people because there was still some time before it began. But it really is amazing the variety of beings that exist in this land.
In my short time here, I have had the opportunity to talk to a few people, but there are more than I thought.
It is also curious that I never noticed that there is not a single man. Leaving aside the residents of the Human Village, all the other beings that inhabit this land seem to be only women. I wonder why that is.
From the group of people I saw, I managed to recognize a few like Reimu, the priestess in red with whom I had a duel having just arrived to Gensokyo. Marisa, the blonde girl in witch's attire that I ran into a couple of times. Remilia the vampire along with Sakuya, her maid, and... what appeared to be another girl just like Remilia, but blonde and wearing a red dress, they looked like twins.
I also saw people from the Eientei like Eirin, the nurse and a girl with long purple hair and big bunny ears.
And many many more people I didn't know.
After a few minutes, Princess Kaguya came up to a small dais where she was going to start giving the indications and rules.
"Welcome everyone, humans and youkai to the much-acclaimed Danmaku Lunatic Tournament. I myself will be the one who will be guiding you during this wonderful event."
"Before we begin, I will comment on the rules of this and general aspects."
"First of all. As expected, these bouts are guided by the already established danmaku rules, so you can't use attacks that can strongly attempt against the opponent's life."
"As you already know, the tournament will be given in teams of four members maximum."
"The space you will have to fight will be.... ALL GENSOKYO!"
I think this will be a problem for me... I don't know this place well enough not to get lost.
Although it seemed like a good thing to the audience by the way they were shouting.
"The dynamic is simple." "You will fight two teams at a time, and at the start these will be spread across all of Gensokyo. It makes the most sense to be able to meet up with your allies as early as possible to have the best chance of winning the duels."
"It will be done through eliminations. So, with a loss, the whole team is out and the one that wins, will continue to the next phase of teams. Thus reaching a final where it will be decided who are the strongest beings in all of Gensokyo."
"For the moment that would be all and your trusted hostess retires. In a few moments you will be told the order of the bouts. I wish you all the best of luck hehe."
Having said all that, Kaguya stepped down from the stage and exited the Human Village. It looks like she won't be participating.
"Too bad." Mokou said with a frown. "I would have kicked her ass so easily if she had participated, hmph."
But well, now it's just a matter of waiting for the first match. This looks interesting yet difficult at the same time.