Stardew Valley of Gensokyo

The red and white priestesses were sitting in front of the donation box as usual, calm and peaceful.

Upon seeing his arrival, a slight smile appeared on her face.

It feels so good to be familiar.

Akina Sawa also smiled happily.

......

Akina is already quite familiar with Hakurei Shrine.

Without exchanging words, Akina followed Reimu Hakurei, who had gotten up from in front of the donation box, all the way to the table in the hall.

Sitting steadily on the tatami mat, Akina Sawa watched as Hakurei Reimu walked briskly into the kitchen and brought out a cup of tea that was always there, placing it in front of him.

After completing these steps, Reimu Hakurei, sitting opposite her, finally spoke up: "So, what brings you here this time?"

The shrine maiden once again sensed that he had come to see her for something, and Akina Sawa said somewhat awkwardly:

"Thank you for your help all this time."

After all, he only visits the temple when he has a reason.

"You know it's troublesome, yet you keep coming to me?" Reimu Hakurei asked, sipping her tea, though her tone wasn't particularly serious.

"I had no other choice..."

"So you've had quite a few times when you had no choice," Reimu Hakurei teased.

These words left Akina Ze speechless. He licked his lips, picked up the tea in front of him, and took a sip to ease the awkwardness.

Reimu Hakurei seemed to sense his situation as well, and after Akina Sawa put down his teacup, she urged him:

"Hurry up and tell me, I don't have that much free time to chat with you."

Actually, Reimu has always been very free, and she still is.

"Okay, here's the thing, basically Aya Shameimaru is living at my house now, and then her..."

As he walked up the steps, Akina Ze gestured with his fingers to explain why he had come here.

Reimu Hakurei listened quietly to Zeya Akina's request, her fingers gripping the teacup tightly until her knuckles turned bluish-white. Then she spoke, a hint of barely perceptible anger in her voice:

"So... you mean, Aya Shameimaru... she's living in your house now, and even sleeping in the same bed with you...?"

"That's not the point," Akina Sawa quickly explained, eager to get the question out of her mouth. "The point is the smell..."

"Phew, wait a minute."

Reimu Hakurei reached out to interrupt Akina Zeya before she could finish speaking. She took a deep breath, suppressed her surging emotions, and picked up the cup in front of her with slightly trembling hands. She took a sip of tea, then another, until she had finished all the tea.

After a long silence, Reimu Hakurei calmly said, "I can't help you, but you can go to Marisa; she might have a solution."

"Then, now, get out of here!"

"what?"

Akina Sawa was genuinely baffled by Hakurei Reimu's sudden and unexpected attempt to kick him out.

However, he couldn't disobey Reimu Hakurei's orders. Now that he knew who to go to, Akina Sawa took one last regretful look at the unfinished tea in his cup and obediently went down the mountain.

Only after Akina Zeya's figure disappeared from the torii gate on the imperial road did Hakurei Reimu, who was standing in front of the donation box gazing into the distance, finally withdraw her gaze.

An inexplicable emotion welled up from my heart.

Reimu Hakurei felt utterly hopeless. She wanted to use the Yin-Yang Orb to shoot at the Youkai Mountain, but she couldn't find any reason to do so.

Finally, Reimu Hakurei shifted her gaze to the teacup on the other side of the table, the one she had just served to Sawaya Akina.

In a daze, she reached out and touched the inside of the cup; it still seemed to be slightly warm...

"Reimu, I've come to play with you!"

The sudden sound broke Reimu Hakurei's thoughts. She put the teacup back down and turned to face it.

Before me stood a blonde little girl with a bright smile.

......

Chapter 79 Marisa...

Without making a sound, Reimu Hakurei turned her back and placed the teacup back in its original position. Facing the newcomer, she asked:

"Marisa, what brings you to my place?"

"I've been dealing with some troubles lately, so I came out for a walk to clear my head. I just happened to pass by the shrine and came in," Marisa said with a grin.

Under Reimu Hakurei's watchful gaze, Marisa straightened the broom, head down, and changed her posture from sitting to half-squatting. She placed her black leather boots directly on the wooden pole, bent her legs slightly, exerted force, and then jumped.

da~

With a dull thud, Marisa landed smoothly on the ground with her arms outstretched. After landing, she gave a slight bow to Reimu, who was watching.

Marisa learned this method of getting off the broom from a picture of unknown origin in Kourindo. The picture showed a shrine maiden wearing a big black hat striking a pose that Marisa thought was cool, and she often tried to do it from then on.

Reimu Hakurei was already used to Marisa's strange behavior and simply ignored it.

At first, Reimu might have cared, but after experiencing more, she realized that ignoring it was the best approach.

After all, don't try to understand Marisa Kirisame's thought process, or you'll just become as clueless as her—this is a conclusion that Alice and Reimu Hakurei reached together.

"Oh, Reimu, your place is so spacious!"

As soon as she entered the room, Marisa stretched and plopped down on the tatami mat opposite Reimu, stretching her legs out restlessly and not sitting upright.

But when she saw the half-empty cup of tea on the table in front of Marisa, Reimu Hakurei's eyelids twitched.

Sure enough, as soon as Marisa sat down, she noticed the teacup in front of her and asked curiously:

"Reimu, did you know I was coming, so you prepared in advance?"

Before Reimu Hakurei could respond, Marisa Kirisame curiously leaned closer, but soon discovered that there was only half a cup of tea inside.

"Huh? At a time like this, would anyone else come to the shrine besides me?"

"Don't talk like the shrine has closed down," Reimu Hakurei retorted, then stiffly turned her head to look at the nearby floor and said, "No, no one has been here..."

Subconsciously lying, Hakurei Rei dreams of concealing the fact that Akina Sawa also came.

"Is no one coming?"

Seeing through Reimu's guilty conscience at a glance, Kirisame Marisa repeated the story in a drawn-out tone before saying firmly, "I don't believe it!"

Since Reimu wouldn't tell her, Marisa Kirisame decided to find the answer herself. Doing some detective work while relaxing wouldn't be bad either.

"I'm warning you, don't you dare do anything reckless!"

Worried that Marisa might do something strange, Reimu Hakurei couldn't help but speak up.

"Don't worry, it's just a matter of finding out who came; I don't need my little gadgets."

Marisa chuckled and stood up from the tatami mat. "I was wondering why the tatami mats were still warm. It seems like they just left not long ago."

"..." Reimu Hakurei remained silent, not responding to Marisa's words.

Although Reimu did not respond, Marisa had already reached a preliminary conclusion. Suddenly, she squatted down, her delicate nose touching the tatami mat a few centimeters above her head.

"Don't do that!" Reimu Hakurei was dumbfounded by Marisa's actions and tried to dissuade her.

Marisa Kirisame, of course, wouldn't listen to Reimu's advice; for her, finding the truth was the most important thing.

Sniff sniff~

With a slight twitch of her nostrils, Marisa Kirisame, having received the information, stood up again and sat cross-legged on the tatami mat. She stroked her chin with her right hand, looking like a detective, even though she had no beard and her chin was very fair and delicate.

...A fresh fragrance of flowers and plants, with a slight earthy smell of soil, suggests that he is probably the only one who will come to the shrine this season.

Having consolidated the information she had gathered, Marisa Kirisame confidently pointed to the half-full cup of tea on the table and said:

"Wasn't that Master Akina who was just here a moment ago?!"

"...Is it really necessary to go this far?" Marisa's extraordinary actions surprised Reimu Hakurei once again. After a moment of silence, she replied:

"Yes."

"Hehe, I knew it was him."

Marisa smiled happily after her deduction was confirmed, but the next moment she put her hands on her head and looked distressed.

"Ah! If I had come earlier, I could have chatted with Master Akina, and maybe the problem could have been solved. I really like him."

"...Marisa?"

Unexpected words came out of Kirisame Marisa's mouth once again. Reimu Hakurei turned her head to face her, half of her face, which was close to the inner room, was hidden in the shadows.

"Reimu, don't you like the food that Master Akina makes?" Marisa, oblivious to Reimu's expression, clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling, and praised without reservation, "And the cakes he taught me to make before, they were so, so delicious~ You probably haven't tried them, have you?"

For Marisa Kirisame, who can only make a mess of mushroom dishes, Sawa Akina's cooking skills are a complete disaster.

Phew... So that's what she likes... Hearing Marisa boast like that, Reimu Hakurei secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and her originally bad mood suddenly turned into a pleasant one.

She stood up with a smile and said to Marisa, "Would you like some tea?"

"Tea? I'm thirsty. Quickly bring me your plain water."

Lying on the cushion, Marisa tilted her head back and said casually and without any politeness.

"It's tea, not plain water," Reimu Hakurei tried to correct her mistake.

"Alright, alright, it's tea."

Marisa, who had been wandering around Gensokyo all day on a broom without even having a sip of water, naturally nodded in agreement.

Seeing that she had corrected Marisa's slip of the tongue, Reimu Hakurei walked towards the kitchen with satisfaction. Just as she stepped out of the room, she seemed to remember something and turned back, saying:

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you earlier, Akina Ze should be on his way to your house right now. You might run into him on your way home later."

"What? You're saying Master Akina went to my house!?"

Marisa, who had just been looking relaxed, suddenly tensed up, because she remembered that her house was a complete mess: garbage piled up in the cupboards, mushrooms overflowing, and personal belongings scattered everywhere...

Marisa Kirisame blushed, picked up the tea on the table and poured it into her mouth in one gulp. She then rushed out of the house and jumped directly onto the broom that was parked outside.

"Reimu, something suddenly came up, I have to head back now!"

With a wave of her hand, like a fleeting breeze, Marisa Kirisame's figure quickly disappeared into the horizon.

"Why are you walking so fast? Oh well, it saves me the trouble of boiling water again."

Reimu Hakurei shrugged in confusion at Marisa's sudden departure, shook her head, and went back inside.

But when she glanced at the table, Reimu Hakurei froze on the spot.

The half-empty cup of tea was now completely gone, the white walls of the cup, exposed to the bottom, resembling a wide-open grin that seemed to be mocking the cup.

"Marisa..."

Taking a deep breath, Reimu Hakurei softly murmured the name of the blonde little girl.

......

This is the human village at this moment.

Inside the secluded Akina residence, the sound of writing echoed continuously, forming a melody.

Without the help of a printing press and unwilling to ask Himekaidou for help, Aya Shameimaru sat at his desk, holding an ink pen and writing furiously.

"The next edition of 'Wenwen, News' will be a handwritten copy, so you'd better cherish it."

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Aya Shameimaru tried to find humor in his predicament.

Chapter 80 should be fragrant, probably.

The once lush and verdant forest is now covered in a blanket of white snow, with thick layers of snow covering the green leaves, waiting to melt into water next year.

At the fork in the path, the road was covered with snow, and there were no signs of pedestrians on the road, only a few footprints left by some unknown animal.

Looking at the two nearly identical paths leading deep into the woods, Akina Ze was quite troubled. If he took the wrong path, it would be a real problem.

Actually, this wasn't his first time here. Akina had visited in the spring and summer, and he still remembered some of the landmarks along the way clearly. But now, in winter, the snow had covered everything, and they were all gone.

He had absolutely no idea which way to go; in short, he was lost.

"So, which way is it to get to the Mist Rain Magic Shop?" Anxious Akina Sawa muttered to himself at the crossroads, unable to make up his mind. But time was ticking away.