Kogasa meets Yuuka

"You said she was around here right Aya?" Kogasa wandered through the sunflower field, careful to walk within the paths of dirt. She couldn't see Aya now, she was well too deep within the field. And Aya insisted on giving her a walkie-talkie to communicate instead of just joining her, she wasn't sure why.

"Yeah, trust me, she's there alright!" "Aya said from a safe and comfortable distance away, high in the sky, into her walkie-talkie. Aya wasn't going to take any risks here. Kogasa was a nice acquaintance, but Aya's passion for hard-hitting journalism (literally and figuratively) had to come first. That's how it was in this industry. If Kogasa was in her field, she'd understand.

Kogasa was told by Aya in casual conversation that there was a super powerful and master of fear youkai in this part, an area of Gensokyo Kogasa had barely been to before. She had heard murmurs of the youkai that lives around here, but never knew anything beyond that. Aya mentioned she carried a parasol, and Kogasa's eye's lit up.

"Oh! Do you think that youkai likes umbrellas?!"

"I mean, maybe? But I wo-..." Aya suddenly had a strange expression, which turned into a wide smile. Kogasa assumed this was due to thinking of umbrellas, she was glad this journalist was a fellow umbrella enthusiast! "Actually, yeah, I think she does! She's a big umbrella fan, and takes super good care of them!"

"Aaaah! That's so cool! There should be more of us!"

"Yeah, and she's scary too! The humans are terrified of her!"

"Really? What does she do?"

"Stuff soooo scary that even the Yama would be scared to send her to hell! They say the shrine maiden has struggled to exterminate her several times! And they say this youkai even genocided an entire area just for fun!"

"Wow that is scary!"

"But, I bet if you talked to her and told her you were an umbrella, she would be ecstatic to hear that! I'm sure she'd love to give you all kinds of pointers about being scary, and umbrellas, and all that!"

Kogasa's eyes lit up. It was that conversation from her trusted friend that made her realize she just HAD to meet this youkai! No question about it!

Finally, after what felt like an hour, Kogasa heard footsteps a bit in front of her. Rumbling! This was it! Kogasa headed into some of the denser sunflowers to hide. Aya had told her before this youkai would respect her trying to scare her, and Kogasa wanted a great first impression!

Aya looked through her binoculars and saw Kogasa jumping into the sunflowers. Oh, this must be it! She was getting ready to surprise her! Aya fumbled a bit, grabbing her long-distance camera. Her it comes, the first page story! She raised her camera, and...

"Bero bero ba!"

Kogasa lowered her umbrella after shouting her signature catchphrase to see what appeared to be a mature woman, green hair flowing in the wind. Her eyes were closed and her smile was serene. She did have an immaculate parasol with her, but this lady seemed far from the scary monster Kogasa had imagined. This woman also seemed completely unphased by Kogasa's incredible scare surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry miss. I was expecting someone else."

"You were expecting another person?" Her voice was elegant, adding to her charm. "My, I hadn't expected this area to become so popular today."

"I was actually looking for this really scary youkai! Have you seen any here?"

"Scary youkai huh?" The lady paused, and placed a finger to her chin thinking. Anyone else might've picked up on the woman's playful tone and exaggerated expressions, but Kogasa was not anyone else. "I'm afraid I haven't seen any scary ones around here. There's only me and you here, and the flowers around us." She motioned to the tall sunflowers surrounding the two. "I suppose I might have missed them, it is very crowded here with all us people, no?"

"Huh, maybe so." Kogasa accepted, disappointment in her voice. "That's a shame, maybe they're already gone? Oh well..." She then perked right back up. "Still, it's nice to meet you ma'am! You take great care of your parasol, don'tcha?"

The green haired lady opened her eyes, a bit puzzled at first. "Oh, this old thing?" She gave it a light twirl. "Yes, I suppose I've had it for... Many many years now. It's like a special flower to me, graceful and unending... Speaking of care, I'm impressed you were considerate enough to take care when you jumped into the flowers?"

"Eh? Whatcha mean?"

The woman motioned over to where Kogasa had been earlier. Amidst the sunflowers were smaller flowers, and indents in the dirt where her sandals had been. "A fairy wouldn't have been so careful playing. They would've stepped on these poor souls. Flowers like these small ones here aren't fragile, but still... I can appreciate you being so considerate. If you hadn't been, perhaps our meeting would've been different."

"Ah, thanks! I try to avoid stepping on stuff like that!" The thinly veiled threat completely flew over Kogasa's head. "I'm an umbrella, a karakasa obake! We're good at watching out for what's beneath us, and protecting it! Plus, flowers help brighten up the rainy days we're made for!" The green haired woman seemed quite pleased with that comment. "Speaking of that," Kogasa put on her thinking cap. "... I can sense you're a youkai too, but... What are you miss?"

"Me?" The woman chuckled. "Cute little Yuuka is just cute little Yuuka..."

"Oh, OK!" This answer was acceptable too Kogasa. "It's still very nice to meet you!"

"Likewise. Say, I'm sure you're disappointed in not meeting your scary youkai, but my house is just a bit in that direction, would you care to have some tea with me? It isn't often I entertain visitors."

Kogasa's stomach rumbled at the thought. "I'd love that, thanks miss!"

"Run ahead dear, I'll meet you there, I have some trash I need to tend to first."

...

Aya looked through her camera lens, a bit disappointed in seeing Kogasa begin to run away from Yuuka. "Eeeeh, that was it? She's just giving her a warning or something? I can't use this, what a waste of an afterno-" Yuuka Kazami looked directly straight in Aya's direction. Despite being so far away, high in the sky, should've barely been visible, Yuuka made eye contact with her. "AHHH FUCK FUCK FUCK" Aya dropped her camera and panicked, she needed to get out of there and fast, she prepped to dart of, when she felt something grab her wings, pinning them together.

...

"And then after that she let me take home a few flower seeds to grow at home! They were ones she said reminded her of me!"

"That's nice Kogasa."

"It was really great, I had a happy day I'll remember forever!"

"That's real sweet Kogasa."

"So anyways Aya," Kogasa looked at the medical charts, pretending to know what they meant. Aya laid in bed within her full body cast. "Dr. Eirin says it's impressive. Apparently the bones that were broken are all ones that are extremely painful to break, some of the worst ones on the pain scale. What are the odds of that?"

"Yup, odds Kogasa."

"Well, try to be more careful flying next time Aya, I don't want you getting hurt worse!" Kogasa then leaned into a bag. "Oh, and before I forget! Miss Yuuka is really nice, she wanted me to give you this as a get-well gift." Kogasa placed a small potted sunflower on a table, making sure it was within view since Aya couldn't turn her neck too much. "Get well soon Aya!"

Truly, no group in Gensokyo had it worse than the honest journalists.

Edit
Pub: 17 Dec 2021 15:05 UTC
Views: 153