(1⑨) Rumia (ft. Doremy Sweet) ～ Youkai Hiding in the Darkness

Night of lightlessness
One’s eyes don’t see too afar
Actually, it’s day

Licorice was once again wandering near the Misty Lake. Not because the head maid had requested her to bring water, that problem had sorted itself out thanks to the fact that the plumbing over at the mansion had been repaired. No, after the whole ordeal pertaining to gaps and a certain old hag, our heroine had a desire to be somewhere other than the mansion. She had brought along a healthy stack of books, a less healthy stack of scones, and a couple sets of slippers in case of an (not an un)expected fairy encounter.

It was quite a clear day too – perfect for a session of lazily sitting down and reading a cookbook or two. The scant clouds parted way, letting the sun shine through as if God himself was embracing Licorice after having tormented her for so long. Our heroine was happy to see the heavens be so accommodating, and her general outlook was equally as bright as the sky she was currently under. Coming out today was definitely a good idea. She quickly located a tree situated next to the lake under which she firmly planted her backside on the soil.3

Today would be a good day. An awesome one even. That’s how it felt like to Licorice anyways, and feelings were what were currently important.

Alright, on to reading. Where was I… Mayonnaise, that’s it. That’s where I was. Having found her bookmark, our heroine proceeded to do what one would normally do with a book: reading. One page, two pages, a chapter, sleep…

Licorice had, at one point, managed to make her way into the land of dreams.

“…Oh, it’s that odd lady again.”

I was in an odd place. Quite an odd one – somewhere that looked like it came right out of an old music video. Grids of light, overlaid over an endless starry black void… This is definitely odder than that other place. What was it called again? Gen… Uhm… It’s so hard to properly pronounce. But…

“Hello? I’m talking to you here.”

There’s a person in front of me. One with a red hat that looks like it was stolen right off of Santa’s head. Her deep blue eyes are directly looking at me. I should probably answer. “Hello?” Taking a look around, I think I get what’s happening. “Is this where I’m going to be judged?”

“Judged?” The woman in front of me raises her brown so high that her forehead is squished until it can hardly be seen. “We don’t do that here.”

Welp, I guess death hasn’t come for me yet. “So, if you aren’t Saint Peter and this isn’t the Pearly Gates, then who are you?”

“This is the Dream World, and I’m Doremy Sweet, manager of this place. You’ve met me a couple of times before.” She bowed down politely like any other resident of Gensokyo, that’s what it was called. “Pleased to meet you once more.”

Of course, I made sure to return to bow to her. Can’t go around being rude to people even if you’re floating around in space. “So… How do I return? The head maid is going to be really mad if I don’t get back in time. Plus, I need to cook for the mistress today, train with Meiling and…” While counting all of these, I was quite surprised as to how used to I had gotten to life in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Me being alive is quite a surprising thing honestly, especially considering how the first day went.

“Everyone returns eventually. Unless you die in your sleep.” Doremy yawned after having casually made remarks about death. “Oh, I can feel you getting further.”

“Really?” Why does my arm feel wet so suddenly? I looked down. To my horror, there were bite marks and saliva on my arm. And… My cheek. My cheek!

“Hmm… Quite a predicament.” Doremy was as calm as ever. She waved me goodbye. “Good luck to you then.”

I was too busy screaming to say farewell to the ruler of dreams.

“Mmh… What kind of dream was that?” Licorice slowly opened her eyes. The sun was… not shining directly towards her eyes. To be exact, the sun was absent. Everything else was absent. All had become a black void at this point, yet Licorice was not blind. She could see herself, and…

“Nom nom…” …a young girl biting her cheek furiously. Her black dress blended into the background while her blond hair and red eyes pierced through it. “Why are humans so hard to chew?!” She complained while not ceasing her untowardly act of chewing a human being.

“Excuse me? Miss?” Licorice was a tad bit too calm, mostly due to the fact that fangs biting her flesh weren’t that new to her. “Could you… give me some personal space, pretty please with a crimson cherry on top?”

“Sheesh amlive?” The girl’s response couldn’t be heard properly from the fact that her mouth was filled with Licorice’s cheek. She raised her head after making a couple more attempts at taking a bite out of our heroine. “Peh! What kind of rotten meat are you?”

“Pardon? Sakuya always says that I’m fresh meat!” Licorice attempted to push the errant youkai away, but the carnivore refused to budge. “I won’t be having you disrespecting me, little girl!”

“It doesn’t matter! Rumia is too hungry to care whether you’re rotten or not!” With this she bent down to chew on Licorice again.

Our heroine was having none of it. She did her best to stay calm while quickly searching for something useful under her apron. “Pan Sign「Brat Punishment」!” As the attack name suggested, Rumia’s face met with a speeding pan. Some may talk of unstoppable forces meeting immovable objects; this was the case of an unstoppable force meeting a movable object. Fueled with months of doing tai chi, the pan had become a mildly formidable force of punishment.

Rumia, whose face had become as scarlet as a ground cherry, looked stupefied for a brief second. Then she fell to the floor, completely knocked out from the surprise attack. Licorice had managed to score her second victory in danmaku (?).

She didn’t have time to celebrate much though. Having almost been eaten had made her lose her willingness to stay outside for much longer, especially when the perpetrator of said eating was currently laid next to her.

Licorice retreated from the premises, back to the mansion where she had tried to take a break from. Sakuya later chided her for having taken a holiday despite the fact that the Scarlet Devil Mansion didn’t have any holidays for its workers.

Our heroine was punished with having to sweep the dust off of books in the library, which probably didn’t bode well for the health of her already lead-laden lungs.