The Disillusioned Land

Chapter 31 - Malcontent of a Poisoned Mind

I follow Kasen towards a large room, probably the one where Reimu and Marisa await us. Before entering it I take some time to catch my breath and rest my head on the wall while supporting it with my arm.

It seems like that last encounter has left me more shaken than I thought, even if my brain intents to move forward, my spirit remains hysterical. I have no recollection... no, I know I have met her before and not just once at that, how could I have forgotten about it, yet her existence still feels alien to me, as if I wasn't the one who had met her, nonsense, I must be losing my mind... I need to... What do I need to do again...? My vision blurs, breath becomes unsteady, my soul dwindles... I extend my shaking hand into the air. "Let's... retu-" before I could finish my sentence, Kasen, who was waiting for me by my side, appeared to my front in a battle stance like a flash of light, manifesting her aggression towards nothingness and unleashing a battle cry. My trance seemed to have been broken and I fall to the ground while gasping for air, Kasen gives me support while showing a concerned expression I haven't seen before.

"Are you alright Ryan!?"

"...Haaaaah Can't say I am." Clenching my chest, I tell her while trying to smile.

"Phew If you have the strength to be sassy then you're more than fine, please don't scare me like that ever again." She helps me to get back up on my feet and pats me on my back. "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah... thanks for that."

She smiles back. "No need to worry but... Can you tell me what that was all about? You seemed odd ever since I went to get you in your room..."

"I wish it was that simple to explain..." Although strict, I know Kasen cares about my well-being and tries her best to make even someone out of shape like me into a fine warrior, keeping her in the dark would be akin to betraying the trust she has put in me, however we lack the time to. "After we're done with this I'll tell you everything." I wonder what sort of expression I had when I told her that.

I can see her expression sadden. "Alright... I'll hold you up to that." We compose ourselves and continue towards the guarded room.

"Took ya long enough dontcha think?" Marisa asks us while Reimu calmly sips on her tea.

"My bad, we ran into a bit of a problem."

"No worries, come 'ere, the kotatsu feels pretty nice~"

I look at the magician in front of me who appears to be as relaxed as ever, her and the shrine maiden are both inside this large sized kotatsu and tempting as it is, it would probably do me well to refuse her offer, especially with Kasen in there as well.

"No thanks I'll just stand over here. Ahem And I don't think I should be the one to mention this but aren't you two being too carefree?"

Having finished her tea, Reimu spoke. "Sigh You're too tensed up, why not relax a little bit? But I suppose that can wait. Let's get this out of the way already." Still sitting, Reimu claps her hands. "You should be well acquainted with Yukari and her shikigamis right?"

"One way or the other yeah."

"Good enough then, let's talk about Junko and Hecatia then."

"Been a while since we fought them hasn't it ze~"

"Shut up Marisa. Anyway, Junko is a vengeful spirit who bears an incredible amount of resentment towards the lunarians, even if I don't like them that much, I cannot agree with what she has done before but well, the only thing that matters to you is that she's an extremely strong divine spirit so I doubt any half-assed attacks would work against her."

"I see I see, but why does she hate them that much?"

"I'd rather not elaborate on that for your own good. Moving on we have Hecatia who we know is working with her, fighting against her is gonna be a pain since we'll likely have to face her other bodies, as you know she's a goddess of Hell so you can imagine how well it'll go to try and face three of her at the same time, tho I doubt she'll actually do that."

"Uhuh... So what I'm getting from this is that both Junko and Hecatia are extremely strong, how do you suppose we'll deal both of them?"

"That's not for you to worry is it? Focus only on fighting against Yukari and leave the rest to us."

"Hmm fine then."

"Alright that's all, you should be getting ready for more training tonight."

"Wait what, that's all?"

"Yes? Is there a problem?"

"...No nevermind." Seems like she really doesn't have any sort of strategies for the upcoming battle, neither Kasen who is calmly now drinking tea as well, nor Marisa who is still with her mouth shut seem to care that much about it, perhaps I expected too much.

I leave the room and sit on the ledge outside the shrine, looking at nothing while waiting for time to pass. Marisa, with her broom in hand waves towards me while leaving the shrine, seems like she's going back to wherever her home is. How laughable, seems like I'm leaving it all to luck again, they'll probably be fine on their own but I'm not confident I'll be able to survive this ordeal even with Okina's help, suppose there's nothing else but do besides train.