Chapter 227: Mother Yukari: Strip You Naked and Throw You in the Dark Room
December twelfth brought a sharp, biting chill to the air. The winter temperature had plummeted overnight. High above, pale sunlight struggled to squeeze through the dense, heavy clouds, casting only the thinnest veil of warmth over the frosted earth below.
During these early morning hours, when any sensible person should have been buried deep beneath a thick quilt, two thoroughly exhausted figures were still dragging themselves across the various regions of Gensokyo. Their task was tedious and endlessly annoying, forcing them to hunt down and deal with one shrieking, giggling Oni Girl after another.
After an entire night of grueling, mind-numbing labor, Haruto and Reimu finally managed to clear out all the stray Oni Girls scattered across the open areas of Gensokyo. As for the ones that had wandered into the territories of the various major factions, they simply did not bother checking. After all, these spectral entities had split themselves into countless fragmented portions, rendering their individual strength even weaker than the most ordinary, bottom-tier low-level youkai. The local factions could sweep them up like dust.
Back at the Hakurei Shrine, the heavy wooden doors slid shut.
The two of them collapsed onto the woven tatami mats almost simultaneously, their limbs splayed out in complete surrender to gravity. Before they could even enjoy the sweet embrace of the floorboards for more than a minute, the space above them distorted. An eerie rift lined with crimson eyes tore open in the air, and Yakumo Yukari stepped out from the Gap.
"What else do you want? Those guys have all been dealt with."
Haruto remained entirely limp, perfectly imitating a dried salted fish. He did not even bother lifting his head, simply letting it rest heavily against Reimu's outstretched arm. Moving a single muscle felt like too much effort.
Yakumo Yukari walked over, her elegant dress rustling softly against the floor, and squatted directly in front of their faces. Her deep purple eyes narrowed slightly. Reaching out, her left and right hands moved in perfect synchronization, pinching a cheek on each of their faces and pulling outward.
"If you dare cause trouble like this again, I won't be polite."
"H-how are you going to be 'not polite'?"
With his cheek being ruthlessly stretched, Haruto's voice came out entirely muffled and slurred.
"As my brother, and as the Shrine Maiden of Gensokyo, if you two knowingly break the rules..." Yakumo Yukari's voice dropped an octave, carrying a distinct, dangerous edge as she spoke fiercely. "I'll strip you both naked and throw you into a Gap's dark room."
"I knew it, Mother Yukari, you're a total pervert. Have you been planning this all along?" Haruto's tone dripped with absolute, unapologetic disdain.
Beside him, Reimu simply rolled her eyes, shooting the Sage of Youkai a look of utter indifference.
Yakumo Yukari's fists tightened instantly. Faint blue veins pulsed against the pale skin on the back of her hands.
"I'll do more than just the dark room, you—you guys..." Her hands actually began to tremble with sheer indignation.
"We what— mmph!"
Reimu opened her mouth, fully prepared to fire back a sarcastic retort, but a hand suddenly clamped down hard over her lips. Haruto had moved with lightning speed, pressing his palm firmly against her mouth.
He was not about to let her take this argument to the bitter end. He covered Reimu's mouth with genuine force, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. He actually feared that Yakumo Yukari might snap, strip them both naked, and hurl them into the deepest, darkest Gap she could find. After all, Mother Yukari's moral integrity had dropped into the negative numbers centuries ago. She was entirely capable of following through on the threat.
After glaring at them and delivering a few more strict instructions, Yakumo Yukari finally turned around and stepped back into the rift. Only after the tear in space had completely zipped shut did Haruto finally let out a long, heavy sigh of relief.
"That woman has absolutely no integrity to speak of. You really have to watch her expression before you run your mouth."
When a full ten seconds passed without a single word of agreement from Reimu, he looked down in confusion. His eyes widened. Reimu's face had turned a concerning shade of blue, her cheeks puffed out as she desperately held her breath against his hand.
"Mmph...!"
"Ah! Sorry, sorry!" Haruto yanked his hand back as if he had been burned.
"Ha... haah..." Reimu took in massive, greedy gulps of air, her chest heaving violently. "Are you trying to murder the Shrine Maiden?"
She shot him a deeply resentful glare, her eyes promising violence. If the culprit had been literally anyone else in Gensokyo, she would have already smashed a yin-yang orb directly into their face.
"Everything's settled now. Let's just sleep." Haruto let out a massive, jaw-cracking yawn. Having been running around dealing with shrieking ghosts all night, his physical and mental exhaustion had reached their absolute limits.
"Are you going to sleep at the shrine?" Reimu asked, rubbing her throat.
"That woman named Yukari is gone, and it's way too much of a hassle to walk all the way back myself. I'll just make do at your place for a nap."
"Fine. Your room has already been cleaned up for you. The bedding is still in the usual place." Reimu let out a yawn of her own, rubbing her tired eyes as she pushed herself off the floor and shuffled back toward her own bedroom.
Haruto hauled himself up and walked slowly toward his designated room.
During his second year living in Gensokyo, he had somehow managed to secure his own exclusive guest room right here at the Hakurei Shrine. There was no deep or mystical reason behind this arrangement. It was simply because, in the notoriously empty and lonely Hakurei Shrine, he was the only consistent worshiper.
Or perhaps, calling him a worshiper was a stretch. He just came over frequently, casually tossing a handful of coins into the offering box and bringing over fresh, sweet candies made in his own shop for Reimu to snack on. Even on the rare occasions when he actually bothered to clasp his hands and pray, the names of the gods he muttered under his breath were completely foreign entities that Reimu had never even heard of.
Over time, he simply became so well-acquainted with Reimu and her daily habits that claiming a room for himself felt entirely natural.
Of course, given Reimu's fundamental personality of hating any form of extra trouble, she had initially tried to shove him into the spare room that Marisa often crashed in. Marisa herself had not minded the idea in the slightest, but Haruto had flatly refused. He had absolutely zero desire to be sleeping soundly in the dead of night, only for a certain Black and White Mouse to suddenly kick the door down, burst inside, and start ransacking every single item in the room looking for shiny things.
Haruto slid the paper door open, finding his exclusive guest room with ease. The few personal items he kept there were exactly where he had left them. The wooden floorboards were spotless, and the air smelled fresh. Clearly, someone had been specifically and regularly cleaning this space just for him.
After dragging out the thick tatami mattress and laying out the blankets, Haruto threw himself down onto the soft surface. He lay flat on his back, quietly gazing up at the familiar grid-patterned wooden ceiling.
Three years ago.
He remembered the day perfectly. He had been sitting in the Human Village, casually shooting the breeze and trading jokes with Mokou, when Yakumo Yukari suddenly materialized at the door. Without a single word of explanation, she demanded to take him away.
Fujiwara no Mokou's personality was notoriously fiery, and the resulting clash was entirely predictable. However, Haruto truly had not expected that Mokou would actually plant her feet, stand up to the legendary Yakumo Yukari directly on his behalf, and start a full-blown fight right there on the spot. Looking back, he could only say that those six months of chatting and joking around with the immortal had not been in vain. He had genuinely been a little touched at the time.
But the gap in sheer power between the two sides was simply too massive.
In order to keep his good brother Mokou from getting beaten into a bloody pulp by the Sage, he finally raised his hands in surrender, compromised, and agreed to leave with the mysterious blonde woman.
Of course, the only reason he agreed so easily was because of his innate ability to perceive crisis. Deep down, his instincts screamed that Yakumo Yukari bore him absolutely no ill will. If his danger sense had triggered even slightly, he would have rather clung desperately to Fujiwara no Mokou's leg and shamelessly called her 'Sister', or sprinted all the way back to the Terakoya to beg Keine to ship him off to the Hakurei Shrine, rather than take a single step with Yakumo Yukari.
With the sheer amount of donation fees he had handed over during those six months, combined with the friendship he had worked so hard to cultivate, Reimu definitely would have stepped in to protect him.
It was only after they arrived at the Yakumo Residence that Yakumo Yukari finally told him the truth.
He was a Boundary Youkai. He was her kin.
That strange, hyper-accurate perception of danger he possessed was actually the innate, fundamental instinct of a Boundary Youkai.
Although he had sat there in a complete daze for a long while, trying to process the absurdity of it all, under Yakumo Yukari's careful and surprisingly patient guidance, Haruto did indeed gradually learn to cultivate Demonic Power. He slowly mastered the reality-bending abilities that rightfully belonged to a Boundary Youkai.
And just like that, he became Yakumo Yukari's younger brother, officially stepping into his role as a member of the Yakumo Family.
That very night, Yakumo Yukari had gone so far as to send out invitations to every single major faction across Gensokyo, hosting a massive, extravagant banquet. Anyone with eyes could see that the ancient Sage was in an incredibly, unprecedentedly good mood.
Reminiscing... reminiscing... the heavy weight of sleepiness quietly crept into his mind, and Haruto gradually sank deep into dreamland.
A moment later, the space directly in front of the bedroom window distorted. A Gap quietly opened in the air.
Yakumo Yukari stepped out slowly, her movements entirely silent. She stood there for a long while, quietly gazing at the serene winter scenery outside the window. Eventually, her purple gaze shifted, falling onto Haruto's messy bedding, which was dangerously close to sliding completely off his body and onto the floor. She stepped forward, her expression softening, and gently tucked the thick quilt back over his shoulders.
Leaving his room, she drifted silently down the hall to the other bedroom. Peeking inside, she saw that Reimu's sleeping posture was exactly the same as Haruto's—limbs sprawled out, the blankets kicked halfway across the room. A hint of fond helplessness appeared in Yukari's eyes. She walked over and leaned down, carefully pulling the quilt up to cover the Shrine Maiden's shoulders.
Just before leaving, she paused. Curling her slender finger, she aimed carefully and, with just a tiny bit of punishing intent, delivered a sharp, light flick directly to Reimu's forehead.
"Ugh... who... who's sneak attacking me..."
Deep in her sleep, Reimu furrowed her brows, rubbing her forehead as she mumbled unclearly into her pillow. Yakumo Yukari simply smiled, stepping backward into the waiting Gap. The rift zipped shut, and her figure completely disappeared from the shrine.
Meanwhile, deep within the Forest of Magic.
A place that should have been dark, quiet, and peaceful was currently having its silence violently shattered by bursts of cute, terrified wailing, accompanied by peals of shrill, echoing laughter.
"Aaah—stop chasing me! Stop chasing me!!"
Marisa was speeding through the dense trees on her broom at maximum velocity. Her iconic black-and-white witch outfit was completely covered in dirt and dust, and the edges of her skirt had several fresh tears from snagging on low-hanging tree branches.
Right on her tail, two terrifying Oni Girls were chasing her relentlessly. They laughed with a shrill, ear-piercing sound, their limbs twisting unnaturally as they used both hands and feet to scramble rapidly across the forest floor like massive, grotesque spiders.
With her delicate face pale and full of absolute terror, Marisa pushed her broom to its limits, rushing frantically toward the Hakurei Shrine without daring to look back.
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