"Yakumo Yukari, I'm going to kill you!"
As the saying goes, when enemies meet, their eyes burn with exceptional rage.
Whether it was because Yukari brought that damn portal to Eientei, causing Kaguya Houraisan to be swept away and stranded in another world, or because Yukari had just been teasing her…
In short, Kaguya was now seeing red!
"Alright, Kaguya Houraisan, have you calmed down now?" After a long pause, Yakumo Yukari's voice finally came through the other end of the paper cup again.
"Calm down? I've been perfectly calm! Yukari, you just wait!" Kaguya clenched her fists tightly, then suddenly covered the paper cup and turned to face Chen Li.
"Chen Li, can you forge a Curio that would let me slap someone through the internet?"
"Huh? I need to save my energy to forge the communication Curio. Besides, making such an unreasonable request out of the blue without offering any reward gives me absolutely no motivation to complete it," Chen Li said with a shrug.
Don't think that forging Curios only consumes crystals; it also consumes Chen Li's stamina.
Unless he forged a stamina-recovering Curio, it was impossible for Chen Li to continuously craft Curios all day long.
Such a Curio was already on his to-do list, but he didn't have it yet.
"Reward? I'll give you any reward you want!"
Right now, all Kaguya wanted was to give Yakumo Yukari a good slap.
"Let's forget about the reward for now. When our family is a bit more well-off, I'll forge that type of Curio for you, alright? For now, continue your confrontation with Yukari." Chen Li dangled a carrot in front of her.
Come to think of it, forging such a Curio for himself didn't seem like a bad idea.
"…Fine." Although she couldn't slap Yukari, she knew she couldn't delay important matters.
"Yukari, how is Eirin?"
"Cooled off? Then let's talk about the current situation. A moment ago, I saw a shooting star pierce the Great Hakurei Barrier and head straight for Eientei. Out of curiosity, I followed it and found only the scene of the crime—Eirin Yagokoro collapsed on the ground and a tattered paper cup that was constantly repairing itself. I had a feeling this resembled your power signature, so I picked it up to take a look. Then I moved my bed over and tossed her onto it," Yakumo Yukari explained from the other side.
"…" Kaguya Houraisan turned to look at Chen Li.
Chen Li looked completely innocent.
It was a necessary sacrifice.
He didn't want it to happen either.
"Is Eirin alright then?"
"She's fine. Just looks like she's sleeping very soundly."
"…Wake Eirin up now. I need to speak with her alone," Kaguya demanded.
"Can't wake her."
"Who are you trying to fool? Use your power over boundaries. Just create a boundary between waking and slumber, won't that work?"
"Kaguya Houraisan, you know me. I never use my boundary powers on others without their permission," Yakumo Yukari said, sounding very troubled.
"Like hell I believe you!" Kaguya was deeply shocked by Yukari's shamelessness.
"Oh, right. About this paper cup of yours piercing the Great Hakurei Barrier and causing serious damage to it… I'd like to have a word with you about that too," Yukari added.
"Fine, fine! You're permitted to listen in, happy now?"
"Excellent. I'll go wake your dear Eirin right away."
Even through the paper cup, Kaguya could tell that Yukari must be wearing a triumphant smile.
"Then what about the Great Hakurei Barrier…"
"It was just a bowl-sized hole. It repaired itself quickly. The boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness."
"Tsk."
Although the process was a bit convoluted, half a minute later, Kaguya Houraisan was finally able to speak with Eirin Yagokoro again.
Talking again after two years, Kaguya's heart was filled with complex emotions.
"Princess, you've been missing for two weeks. I was very worried."
"Sigh, only two weeks? It's been two years on my end."
Although for Kaguya, those two years had passed much like two weeks—eating, sleeping, and playing games.
"So, what exactly happened?" Yukari's voice suddenly cut in from the cup.
"It was like this…" Though annoyed by Yukari's interruption, Kaguya recounted her experiences over the past two years.
A censored version, of course.
The true version would have to wait until Yukari was gone. For now, this was just to satisfy Yukari's curiosity and need for control. Otherwise, if Yukari kept dwelling on it, it would surely be a bother for Eirin.
"So you're saying you transmigrated to a world full of youkai and monsters, then met a boy who could be called the world's protagonist, someone who constantly runs into trouble but always comes out better for it, and who somehow gained the power to forge Curios. With his help, you successfully sent this paper cup over and re-established contact with Gensokyo?" Yukari briefly summarized Kaguya's story.
"That's about right," Kaguya replied.
Beside her, however, Chen Li was rather bothered by Yukari's assessment.
What kind of protagonist treatment is this? You want it? You can have it.
A small problem every day, a big one every three days, and a minor transmigration every seven.
Although every trouble he encountered was coincidentally at the very limit of what he could handle, and he always gained rewards commensurate with the trouble…
Hiss, wait a minute…
---o---
In contrast to the pensive Chen Li, Yukari was observing the paper cup in Eirin Yagokoro's hand, feeling that the wondrous nature of this object didn't seem like something that could be produced within a world.
The communication Curio was currently held by a mature woman dressed in red and blue Daoist-like robes, but wearing a nurse's cap. A string, about a meter long and held taut by a strange power, was connected to the bottom of the cup. Eirin's eyes occasionally betrayed her concern for Kaguya on the other end.
Meanwhile, Yukari, with her waist-length golden hair, was more concerned about the potential risks… and potential benefits… this thing called a Curio could bring to Gensokyo.
"By the way, can Yukari really not tell the connection between this thing and the power of Miracle?" Kaguya asked Chen Li, covering the cup with her hand.
"Don't worry, she can't. If I hadn't made it myself, even I wouldn't be able to tell. However, if she has a strong imagination, she might make some strange associations due to the Curio's abilities and name. In any case, it's not a big problem," Chen Li said.
So what if Yukari found out? Could she slap him through the internet?
"Princess, now that you have a way to communicate, when will you be able to return?" Eirin's concerned voice came through the cup again.
"Yes, yes! Hurry up and bring that boy over for us to meet. As your family, I'll have to vet him for you," Yukari's voice chimed in as well.
"It'll probably be a while before I can return. I don't have a Curio to record world coordinates, and forging one that lets me travel just by following a connection is too expensive. So I plan to wait a bit longer. And Yukari, could you have some shame? Who said you're my family?" Kaguya said bluntly.
The dilemma Chen Li faced was never about inability, but a lack of funds.
"Kaguya, if you say that, you're making us sound like strangers. Anyway, I'll be waiting for your good news." Yukari wasn't angry at all.
In fact, she was rather pleased that Kaguya was able to vent a little.
It wasn't because Yukari had awakened some kind of M-tendency, but mainly because Eirin's rather abnormal behavior during the two weeks of Kaguya's disappearance had kept Yukari on edge.
However, to fully restore their relationship to normal, Yukari knew she would have to provide some assistance in the process of helping Kaguya return home.
Yukari wasn't concerned about Eirin herself, but she couldn't ignore the potential damage Eirin could inflict upon the Great Barrier.
Yukari had never underestimated Eirin, the Sage of the Moon; after all, she was one of the few old-timers who had handed her a sound defeat.
"Hm?" Eirin suddenly turned her head to look at Yukari.
She had a feeling this person beside her was badmouthing her.
"In any case, it's good to have news. Alright, Yukari, your curiosity should be satisfied by now. You can go back," Eirin issued an order to leave.
"Very well." Yukari took a step back, entered an opened gap, and vanished from Eientei.
"…" Eirin said nothing, but simply punched the empty air.
"So petty," Yukari muttered, disappointed. She had been sitting at home, planning to peek through a gap to see what would happen next.
A Curio (奇物)… could it be related to a Miracle (奇迹)?
It wasn't that Yukari was overthinking things, but rather that Kaguya had disappeared because of a 'Miracle.'
As the Sage of Youkai, Yakumo Yukari possessed the fine quality of suspecting everything.
"Alright, Princess. I've dealt with Yukari's spying. You can continue speaking," Eirin said.
"Next, Eirin, I need you to hold onto this communication Curio. No matter what happens in a moment, don't let go, and don't be surprised. I will explain everything to you."
"Understood." It wasn't that Eirin hadn't suspected this Kaguya might be a fake, but while the nature of the eternal power on the cup had been altered by some force, she could still discern the part that belonged to Kaguya.
Out of her trust in Kaguya, Eirin did not let go of the Curio, even when an ethereal blue flame suddenly ignited upon it and enveloped her completely.
"Again." After being covered by the blue flames, Eirin's senses sharpened, and she felt another prying gaze upon her. She immediately formed a hand-blade and slashed at a dust-sized "gap" (crevice).
"What is this?" The Miracle flame followed the gap and burned its way toward the intently spying Yakumo Yukari.
Yukari subconsciously used her boundary powers to try and extinguish the flame, only to find that it burned even brighter as a result, engulfing her as well.
"Wait, what is going on?"
Chen Li stared at the sudden flood of new Entries that had appeared within the flames of his forge and fell into deep thought.