Chapter 230: Eirin's Sinister Smile
The moment Haruto stepped through a spatial gap and set foot on the pristine grounds of Eientei, a chorus of shrill, echoing giggles pierced the tranquil air. He froze. The eerie, high-pitched shrieks sounded like they belonged in a haunted house, not the serene clinic of the Bamboo Forest. He seriously considered turning right back around and slipping into his gap. Before he could make his cowardly escape, a pair of familiar rabbit ears twitched in the front courtyard. Reisen spotted him and immediately hurried over, her face lighting up.
"Haruto-sama!"
Seeing a friendly face, Haruto let out a long breath, releasing the tension from his shoulders. He walked over to the moon rabbit, gesturing vaguely toward the source of the unsettling noise.
"That shrieking... is the clinic haunted? Haven't you guys dealt with the ghosts yet? Are there a lot of them?"
Reisen nodded obediently, her long ears bobbing with the motion. "Yes, but there aren't many. Just four of them, actually. Master is currently studying them and was even wondering where she could catch a few more for her research."
A sudden flash of irritation crossed the rabbit youkai's face. She puffed out her cheeks, her tone tinged with genuine grievance.
"I was just sweeping the courtyard this morning! I had painstakingly gathered all the fallen leaves into neat little piles, and then these four weird creatures barged in out of nowhere. They kicked my piles apart, scattered leaves everywhere, and just ran around the yard making a mess!"
She turned her head, glaring toward a specific room down the left corridor of the traditional estate. "Eventually, Master came out and caught every single one of them. The noises you are hearing right now are coming from them."
Knowing that the annoying little spirits were safely locked up in Yagokoro Eirin's clutches, Haruto completely relaxed. The tension left his spine. He highly doubted those tiny ghosts could ever escape the Lunar Sage's grasp. Even if they somehow leveled up, fused into a giant super-ghost, and detonated themselves, Eirin would still swat them down without breaking a sweat.
"Haruto-sama, do you happen to know where these strange creatures came from?" Reisen tilted her head, her crimson eyes filled with curiosity.
"Well... I guess I might have an idea." Haruto rubbed the back of his neck, a highly awkward expression settling on his face.
How could he not know? These chaotic little gremlins were the direct result of an accident between him and Reimu. At the time, they had simply been trying to construct an automatic, self-powered merry-go-round. Unfortunately, they had pumped way too much spiritual energy into the core, causing the entire contraption to violently explode. Now, nothing remained of their project except a pile of shattered fragments and these weird, shrieking byproducts.
"That is perfect!" Reisen's left ear shot straight up like an antenna. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her eyes sparkling with absolute delight. "Master was just complaining that four subjects were simply not enough. If we can get our hands on a few more, she will definitely be overjoyed!"
"Alright, I will go talk to her." Haruto hesitated for a split second before nodding.
He had come to Eientei specifically to see Eirin anyway, even if the eerie atmosphere of the clinic made him slightly apprehensive about wandering the halls alone.
Reisen eagerly took the lead, practically skipping down the wooden corridors. She was in a remarkably fantastic mood. Ever since Haruto had taken over the burden of being Eirin's primary test subject for experimental potions, the moon rabbit's physical and mental health had skyrocketed. She no longer lived in constant fear of drinking glowing, bubbling liquids. She already respected Haruto immensely due to his terrifying status as a Boundary Youkai, but taking the metaphorical bullet for her had elevated him to an entirely new level.
In Reisen's eyes, Haruto was not just a powerful youkai anymore. He was a god. The absolute greatest savior to ever grace Gensokyo.
Stopping in front of the laboratory, Reisen tapped her knuckles gently against the sliding door. "Master, may we come in? Haruto-sama has arrived to see you."
"Enter." Eirin's calm, authoritative voice drifted through the paper screens.
Reisen slid the door open and respectfully stepped aside, bowing her head. "Haruto-sama, please go right in. I will head to the kitchen and prepare some fresh tea and snacks for the two of you."
"Thanks, Reisen." Haruto gave her a brief nod and stepped across the threshold.
The interior of the laboratory was incredibly dim. The overhead lights were completely shut off, and the thick curtains were drawn halfway, casting long, sinister shadows across the floorboards. Three small, impish oni girls were strapped tightly to a row of cold, iron-framed medical beds. They thrashed against their restraints, their mouths stretched wide as they let out continuous, shrill giggles. Right beside their beds sat a stainless-steel utility cart, neatly lined with an assortment of gleaming surgical knives, bone saws, and vials of bubbling, toxic-looking potions.
Haruto stopped dead in his tracks.
Wait, this isn't right. This is definitely not right.
He sucked in a sharp breath. What the hell is with this terrifying, serial-killer atmosphere? And more... where was Eirin?
His gaze slowly drifted back to the three little oni still writhing and laughing maniacally on the iron beds. Haruto swallowed hard, a drop of cold sweat sliding down his temple. He distinctly remembered Reisen saying there were four ghosts caught in the yard. Why were there only three on the beds?
He scanned the dark corners of the room, straining his eyes, but saw absolutely no sign of the Lunar Sage.
"Eirin? Where are you?" he called out, his voice echoing slightly in the sterile room.
Seconds ticked by in heavy silence. No one answered.
His mind began racing, wildly eliminating logical possibilities until only the most absurd conclusion remained. Could it be... did the fourth ghost somehow break free, knock Eirin unconscious from behind, and then perfectly mimic her voice to lure him into a trap?
The moment the thought crossed his mind, Haruto let out a dry, self-deprecating chuckle.
"How could that even be possible?" he muttered to himself. "Even if Eirin just stood there and let them attack, those weak little imps couldn't break through her passive defenses if they wailed on her for a century."
He shook his head, dismissing his own ridiculous paranoia. He decided to just step back out into the hallway and ask Reisen what was going on. But the exact second he pivoted on his heel, a pair of cold hands gently rested on his shoulders.
An icy chill shot straight from the soles of his feet all the way to the crown of his head.
Pure survival instinct took over. Without a single second of hesitation, Haruto ripped a solid red brick straight out of a spatial gap, spun around like a top, and viciously slammed it right toward the unseen assailant's skull.
"Eighty!" he roared, putting his entire back into the swing.
The heavy brick violently shattered into a cloud of red dust upon impact. The figure, however, did not even flinch. They remained standing perfectly still, entirely unfazed by the blunt force trauma. Haruto was just about to dive into a gap and flee for his life when the dust settled, revealing the person's face.
"Huh? Eirin?"
"It is me."
Yagokoro Eirin took a slow, highly controlled breath. She calmly raised a hand, elegantly brushing the pulverized brick dust out of her silver hair. Before she could even utter another word, Haruto leaped two massive steps backward, dropping into a defensive stance with utter suspicion written all over his face.
"No! You must be the fourth ghost in disguise!"
Eirin's eye twitched. A vein pulsed faintly at her temple.
"I am the real Eirin. I was simply conducting an observational test in the dark. As for the fourth ghost... I already used it up for a destructive experiment."
"I do not believe you!" Haruto shot back, wearing a stubborn expression that screamed he was not going to fall for any tricks. At some point during his retreat, he had already fished a second solid brick out of his gap, gripping it tightly like a weapon. "What proof do you have to—"
Before he could even finish his sentence, the brick vanished from his grip and materialized directly in Eirin's hand.
"You want proof?" Eirin casually weighed the heavy brick in her palm. Her lips curled upward into a cold, thoroughly sinister grin as she advanced on him, her steps slow and predatory.
"No need, no need! I completely believe you now!" Haruto panicked, rapidly backing up until his shoulder blades hit the solid wall, leaving him with absolutely nowhere left to run.
"Master, Haruto-sama, I have brought the tea and snacks."
Reisen's cheerful voice rang out from the hallway. She slid the door open, carefully balancing a wooden tray loaded with steaming teacups and sweet pastries.
But the moment her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she took in the highly compromising scene before her. Her strict, dignified Master was aggressively pinning Haruto against the wall in a dominant posture.
Reisen froze completely. Her long rabbit ears drooped flat against her head in sheer shock. The wooden tray slipped from her numb fingers, crashing onto the floorboards. Hot tea splashed everywhere, shattering the tense silence.
The noise snapped Reisen out of her stupor. Her face flushed bright red, and she immediately spun around, sprinting down the hallway at top speed.
"I—I did not see anything!" she squeaked as she fled.
In the end, Eirin did not bludgeon him.
She let out a soft, exasperated sigh, casually tossing the brick onto her stainless-steel utility cart. Turning her back on the terrified Boundary Youkai, she walked over to the iron-framed medical beds. She stared down at the three little oni, who were still violently writhing and giggling against their leather straps.
"These strange entities... you are the one who created them, correct?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder.
"It was a total accident," Haruto admitted awkwardly, rubbing his nose. He knew better than to lie to her.
"Are there any more of them?"
"No, that is all of them. These weird ghosts were just a byproduct of something Reimu and I accidentally cooked up at the shrine."
Haruto quickly recounted the entire embarrassing story, explaining exactly how their engineering project had gone horribly wrong. Eirin's sharp mind clearly grew more intrigued the more she listened to his explanation. However, when he reached the part where the spiritual core of the merry-go-round violently detonated, a rare look of genuine disappointment crossed her elegant features.
Seeing her reaction, Haruto reached into a small gap and pulled out a pile of scorched, twisted metal and wood, dumping the wreckage onto a nearby table.
"I still have the leftover fragments right here. Take a look and see if they are of any use to you, or if the machine can even be repaired."
"Fragments, you say?" A sharp, calculating glint flashed in Eirin's eyes. She stepped up to the table, her slender fingers carefully examining the scorched debris. "I can certainly try to rebuild it. However, if I manage to restore the core mechanism, I will definitely need a steady supply of these ghosts to power it."
"Take as many as you want. Honestly, I only care about getting the merry-go-round working again," Haruto said, waving his hand dismissively. "But what exactly do you want these noisy little ghosts for? Just to test medicine?"
Eirin nodded, her gaze shifting back to the giggling imps.
"Precisely. There are many simple, foundational potions that require extremely low doses and constant, repeated testing. These creatures are perfect for that. Although they possess only the most basic, primitive instincts, their physiological reactions to various alchemical compounds will still provide me with highly valuable reference data."
Haruto's eyes instantly lit up with hope. "Wait, does that mean I am finally off the hook? I will not have to test your weird medicines anymore?"
"Do not get ahead of yourself. You are still very much needed." Eirin shook her head, thoroughly crushing his dreams in an instant. "For my more volatile and complex potions, I will still have to trouble you for your unique assistance."
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