Gensokyo, I am a slime, everyone loves me

Suddenly, a hand reached out in front of her, interrupting her thoughts: "Stop eating rice porridge, I'll make you a bowl of noodles."

After speaking, Bai Luo carried away the rice porridge on the table, turned and entered the kitchen. Before long, he came out of the kitchen holding two bowls of fragrant noodles.

Bai Luo handed one bowl of noodles to Reimu, then sat down himself, picked up a piece of green vegetable with chopsticks, blew on it a few times, and put it into his mouth: "Try it."

"Okay."

Reimu responded softly.

A few chopped green onions floated on the noodles, and together with the white, tender noodles, they emitted bursts of tempting fragrance.

Bai Luo ate the noodles quickly, finishing more than half in no time. However, Reimu on the other side had not picked up her chopsticks yet.

Seeing this, Bai Luo looked up at her:

"What's wrong? Don't you want to eat noodles?"

Reimu shook her head, her eyes lowered, her long eyelashes trembling slightly.

After half a minute, she suddenly looked up, her gaze falling on Bai Luo, staring into his pure golden eyes: "Why are you so good to me?"

Her voice was full of confusion.

The better Bai Luo was to her, the more uneasy she felt. She didn't dare to get used to it, much less yearn for it.

"Because we're friends."

Bai Luo didn't hesitate, blurting it out with a smile: "Of course, if you don't mind, you can also treat me as family."

He said it casually, but his tone was serious, making Reimu unsure how to respond and afraid to meet his gaze again.

Perhaps from nervousness, perhaps from fear, her tightly clenched fists faintly showed veins, and her whole body trembled slightly.

Suddenly, she was gently hugged, enveloped by a familiar scent.

The night wind poured in from the open window, hitting her body and dispelling much of the worry in her heart.

No one spoke, and time was quiet.

After a long time, a slightly childish but exceptionally gentle voice sounded in her ear: "I just hope you can have candy even when you don't cry. When I was little, I cried many times, but I couldn't get candy. I didn't know what the taste of love was like."

Silence, still silence.

But Bai Luo could feel the person in his arms trembling.

Reimu was lowering her head, tightly pursing her lips, trying hard not to let tears fall. Her hand was tightly gripping Bai Luo's clothes, gripping very tightly, as if afraid that once she let go, she would lose it forever.

Who knows how long passed.

Until he felt Reimu's breathing stabilize, Bai Luo carefully used instant movement to send her back to bed, and then quietly came outside the Hakurei Shrine.

Sitting on the sloped steps at the end of the approach path, he quietly looked at the brilliant sky.

The reason Reimu was unwilling to participate in the celebration was easy to guess.

A sense of belonging, or perhaps identity.

As a human, as a shrine maiden, yet spending all day mixed with Youkai, this would definitely arouse the villagers' apprehension, and might even attribute Reimu to the Youkai, non-human camp.

Even though the current Fantasy Land doesn't place much importance on the gap between humans and non-humans, there are still concerns.

Reimu resolved almost every incident, yet she had to endure people's strange looks. Wasn't that too unfair?

The previous Hakurei Shrine maiden passed away when Reimu was still young. The biggest reason for this was the Hakurei great barrier.

To maintain the Hakurei great barrier, each generation of Hakurei Shrine maidens is chosen from the children with the strongest spiritual power and trained from a young age.

The resulting consequence is also obvious.

A short lifespan.

The average lifespan of a Hakurei Shrine maiden is only a little over twenty years.

"Great Sage, I don't think it's fair."

He murmured this sentence, and the Great Sage responded:

[Notification. As a human, yet separating Fantasy Land from the real world with one's own power, this is a price, and also destiny]

"Destiny?"

Bai Luo muttered, looking in the direction of the Hakurei Shrine, and suddenly smiled: "Great Sage, do you believe in fate? Do you think everyone's destiny is fixed, or even planned from the very beginning?"

[Disbelieve]

The Great Sage answered very decisively.

"Then I want to help Reimu."

Silence, the Great Sage did not answer. Bai Luo said again: "Since you haven't denied it, there must be a way. I want to help her."

After another moment, the Great Sage's voice sounded again:

[According to analysis, the two great barriers surrounding Fantasy Land can be compared to advanced energy calculations. They can split off a clone and transfer the energy borne by the individual Hakurei Reimu to the clone]

[This method belongs to overloading energy invocation. After calculation, it will ultimately lead to Collapse Value +10%]

Ten percent?

Bai Luo didn't think it was much, "What are the current Evolution Value and Collapse Value?"

[Evolution Value 58%]

[Collapse Value 42%]

"There's still a difference of sixteen. Even with this ten percent added, isn't there still a six percent difference?"

Bai Luo decided to use this method anyway. The Evolution Value was increasing faster than the Collapse Value, and it wouldn't affect him.

...

Early morning.

The morning glow shone in through the curtains. Reimu's consciousness gradually awakened, and the memories of last night slowly returned.

Her peach-colored eyes were filled with confusion.

She slept very comfortably last night, and at the same time, the feeling of being covered by the great barrier's vast spiritual power miraculously disappeared.

Walking out of the room, the air was filled with the scent of food, and she looked up to see Bai Luo busy in the kitchen.

"Awake? Hurry over and eat breakfast. I've been busy with this breakfast all morning. It's specially for you to supplement your nutrition. You must eat it all with gratitude!"

"Why?"

Reimu didn't move.

"Hmm? Of course, you're not getting enough nutrition, you need to eat more to supplement..."

"I'm not asking about that."

Reimu interrupted Bai Luo, looking at his slightly pale face. She pursed her lips tightly: "I'm talking about the great barrier. Will this have any effect on you?"

"Yes."

Bai Luo pretended to be in pain, uttering two words with dimmed eyes. Hearing this, Reimu clenched her hands tightly, and guilt filled her heart.

"How could it be fine? For you, I used up all the thousand years of cultivation I painstakingly trained, and my strength is greatly reduced."

Speaking of this, Bai Luo sighed deeply: "Originally, my strength was almost surpassing A-San."

Seeing this, Reimu felt relieved instead. She quickly stepped forward and forcibly pulled Bai Luo out of the kitchen:

"You just go sit down, I'll do the rest."

It was the first time Bai Luo had seen Reimu work so seriously. He lay on the table and said with a grin: "For you, my vast thousand years of cultivation are gone. Are you going to take responsibility for me?"

At this moment, Reimu also happened to finish the remaining dishes. She placed them on the table and looked at Bai Luo's childish face: "But Bai Luo, you don't look older than me. Where did you get a thousand years of cultivation?"

"Nonsense! What do you mean I'm not older than you! Don't judge a person's age by their appearance, okay!"

Bai Luo grumbled discontentedly, "Look at Yakumo Yukari, she looks alright, but her age..."

He didn't finish speaking, but it was already clear to everyone.

"That's true." Reimu nodded in agreement.

"True my foot!"

A hand reached out from a gap and sharply knocked her on the forehead. The force was so great that she hissed in pain.

Yakumo Yukari tried the same trick, wanting to hit Bai Luo on the forehead, but he dodged it with an instant movement.

She glared at Bai Luo: "What do you mean looks alright, but age? If you can't speak properly, don't speak! If there's a next time, I'll throw both of you into the dark room!"

Leaving a threat, Yakumo Yukari closed the gap and left.

Seeing this, Bai Luo felt strange.

He originally thought it would be another chase, but he didn't expect it to be so simple.

The Purple Old Woman was unusually easy to talk to today.

Chapter 51: Heading to Eientei

Another half a month passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was mid-May.

Summer was quietly approaching, and the weather was getting hotter day by day.

It should have been a day for staying home, sleeping peacefully, and enjoying the air conditioning, but the atmosphere was ruined by the early morning disturbance.

Bai Luo looked at the faint white glow just appearing in the sky, then glanced at Fujiwara no Mokou by the bed, and his morning grumpiness surged.

"Disturbing people's sleep early in the morning, this is a crime!"

"Didn't we agree to go to Eientei together today?"

"But you shouldn't be this early! The sun has just come up!"

His childish face was filled with resentment, and he smacked the bed angrily.

Fujiwara no Mokou was at a loss for a moment. She stood there for a long time before squeezing out three words: "I'm sorry."

Hearing this, Bai Luo's expression still didn't improve. He covered himself with the quilt and ignored Fujiwara no Mokou.

The room became quiet.

After a moment, Fujiwara no Mokou's voice sounded again, weakly: "I just made you some breakfast and wanted to bring it to you early."

Breakfast?

Bai Luo lifted a corner of his pillow and peeked through the gap. Fujiwara no Mokou was holding a thermos bowl.

He woke up a bit, and his morning grumpiness had mostly dissipated.

"Next time, come over at noon. Don't play the game of waking up before the sun does."

"Okay, okay, I understand."

Seeing that Bai Luo was about to forgive her, Fujiwara no Mokou nodded repeatedly and opened the lid of the thermos bowl.

"This is pumpkin millet porridge. Eat more, it's good for growing."

As expected, he shouldn't have forgiven her!

A few black lines appeared on Bai Luo's face.

"What do you mean it's good for growing! Do you think I'm a child!"

"...Aren't you?"

Fujiwara no Mokou was again bewildered by Bai Luo's sudden dissatisfaction.

Before leaving, Keine had specifically instructed her: "Bai Luo is still young. You should be more accommodating in everything and treat him like taking care of a child."

And she clearly did as she was told.

Looking at Fujiwara no Mokou's bewildered and innocent look, Bai Luo could only sigh silently and unhappily finish the bowl of pumpkin millet porridge.

The taste was still good.

Fujiwara no Mokou made it herself.

Having tasted the dishes Keine made last time, he, whose cooking skills were close to maximum level, could naturally taste it.