Stardew Valley of Gensokyo

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Encountering a Female Ghost at Night

"I remember it going this way, right?"

By the faint moonlight, Akina Sawa searched for his own room, one room after another.

Because all the rooms look very similar from the outside, Akina Ze couldn't tell them apart and had to search for them one by one.

In his haste to find the restroom, he had overlooked his surroundings, and now the courtyard was pitch black. The daytime scenery had become eerie and terrifying under the moonlight, and Akina Sawa felt a chill creeping down his spine.

"Find it quickly!"

Unwilling to think about those things anymore, Akina Zeya wrapped his hands around his pajamas to shield himself from the cool night breeze, and continued on his way.

Some things become more frightening the more you think about them. As long as you don't think about them or ponder them, terrifying images won't appear in your mind, and you won't be scared. At least that's what Akina Sawa thinks.

Although he was supposed to find the bedroom quickly, he still couldn't find it. His thin pajamas were barely enough to keep out the cold night wind, and his body under the pajamas was starting to tremble slightly, after all, he had been out for quite a while.

As he was aimlessly searching room by room, he noticed a light still on in a room at the end of the corridor. Perhaps this was where the night watchman lived?

Overjoyed, Akina Ze wanted to run over quickly to seek help, since it was too cold here at night!

The excessive cold eroded Akina Zeya's mind, making him think only of things that would benefit him. He assumed this was where the night watchman lived and believed it must be, without the slightest doubt. Perhaps the occasional cold winds didn't give him a chance to think.

Akina Sawa practically jogged over there.

Imagine being in a cold, despairing wilderness on a cold night, only to suddenly discover a warm, luminous cabin. That's a situation like this.

The door to the room was slightly ajar, big enough for a child to squeeze through but not for an adult.

Akina Ze also peeked over to see what was inside. The first thing he saw was a display screen, but it was too far away to see clearly. He could only vaguely make out the colorful lights.

Where is the person on night duty?

All they could see was a monitor, but no one on night watch was visible, so Akina Sawa stuck his head even further inside.

Finally, under the dim light of the screen, he discovered that there seemed to be a person sitting on the tatami mat in front of the screen.

"Excuse me? Could you do me a favor? I'm lost and can't find my room."

Without hesitation, Akina Sawa really didn't want to stay in the cold wind any longer. He wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible, so he asked the figure with his back turned.

After those words were spoken, the figure sitting on the tatami moved slightly. Her long, dark hair, which appeared exceptionally black in the dim light, swayed a few times as she moved.

Akina Sawa stood in the corridor, shivering in the cold wind, waiting for a reply from inside.

Seeing the figure inside move a few times and then fall silent, Akina Sawa said again, "Excuse me, could you please take me to my room? I'm lost, I'm so sorry."

The soft moonlight shone through the cracks in the door into the small room.

This time, the figure behind her finally reacted more strongly, turning her head mechanically.

All that could be seen was a figure whose face was almost entirely covered by hair, and the only part of her face that was exposed was still deathly pale in the moonlight. Her eyes, which peeked out from the gaps in her hair, seemed to be emitting a white light. She looked like a female ghost and appeared in front of Akina Zeya.

Akina Zeya's face immediately turned deathly pale.

"Wow, a ghost!"

Akina Sawa screamed and ran away, tumbling and crawling all the way.

The ghost-like woman shook her head, a faint smile playing on her lips, picked up the controller, and continued playing. The intermission was over.

On the other side, Akina Sawa, in a panic, also found his room in his haste, closed the door, quickly slipped into bed, curled up and trembling.

This was too much of a shock for him. Although he knew that there were many unusual things in Gensokyo, the demons were still too scary!

Terrified, Akina Zeya kept repeating "Amitabha, Amitabha" under his breath, as if reciting these words would protect him.

Although reciting these words was actually useless, it gave him a strange sense of security, like counting sheep when he couldn't sleep. As he kept reciting them, Akina Ze felt a wave of sleepiness wash over him.

"Ha~"

After yawning, Akina Ze fell asleep peacefully, having been up for so long.

......

A dreamless night.

Just as dawn was breaking, Fujiwara no Mokou came in and woke Akina Sawa up as well.

Akina Ze rubbed his sleepy eyes and was just thinking about how to clean himself.

All I saw was a chubby little white rabbit hopping over with a small wooden basin on its head.

It's worth mentioning that although the little rabbit hopped and skipped forward, not a single drop of water was splashed out of the small wooden basin.

Akina Ze also smiled and took the wooden basin with one hand, reaching out to rub the little rabbit's long ears. Unexpectedly, the little rabbit jumped away from the evil hand reaching for her ear.

Then the little rabbit glanced at Akina Zeya with its bright red eyes, and hopped away.

To be honest, Akina Ze also felt that he seemed to see contempt in the rabbit's eyes, which was really terrifying.

Putting aside the rabbit from before, Akina Ze also put his hand into the wooden basin, and a cool sensation came from his hand.

This must be spring water, right?

Looking at the water in the wooden basin, Akina Ze secretly guessed that such water would be quite expensive outside, and he wouldn't be willing to use it to wash his face.

Of course, this is Gensokyo, an unpolluted place, so water of this quality is readily available and not particularly surprising.

Akina Ze stretched out his hands and scooped some water from the wooden basin onto his face.

My still-drowsy brain, which had just woken up in the morning, instantly cleared up with the cold stimulus. I took out the matching towel and dried the remaining water from my face.

After washing up, Akina Zeya's brain returned to normal, and he instantly realized that something was wrong with last night.

Recalling the scene from last night, Akina Ze also drew a conclusion from various clues.

That shouldn't be a female ghost, right? Although it looks very much like one.

Akina Zeya, finally realizing what he had done, instantly felt ashamed.

Last night I did something so rude, calling someone a ghost.

Akina Sawa also wanted to apologize to her, but he didn't know who she was. Besides, he thought it might be better not to tell anyone about it, especially since it happened so late...

After much deliberation, Akina Sawa decided to put that matter aside for the time being. He began to think about something else.

Why am I lying in a water tank? What happened in between? Why have I lost my memory?

After much thought, he still couldn't figure it out.

"Captain Mokou, do you know what happened to me yesterday?"

With no other option, Akina Sawa could only ask Fujiwara no Mokou, who was standing to the side and had already finished washing up, with a question in her mind.

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Morning Grumpiness

When faced with Akina Sawaya's question, Fujiwara no Mokou shook her head. After all, she had only thrown Akina Sawaya into the water tank, and she had no idea what had happened before that.

You don't know either?

After seeing Fujiwara no Mokou shake her head to indicate that she did not know, Akina Sawa also fell into deep thought: How did I get into the water tank?

Akina Sawa asked Fujiwara no Mokou once again.

"I threw it in," Fujiwara no Mokou replied calmly.

"Why?" This was something he hadn't expected; it was Mokou who had thrown him in.

"This is what Eirin told me to do. As for what happened before that, you should ask her yourself."

Fujiwara no Mokou mentioned Yagokoro Eirin's name and got up to leave, but after taking a few steps, she turned back and said, "Come with me, let's finish asking our questions so we can go back sooner."

"Okay." Akina Sawa, who was just wondering how to find Yagokoro Eirin, heard this and quickly followed Fujiwara no Mokou. He didn't want to get lost again.

And so Akina Sawa followed closely behind Fujiwara no Mokou, walking through the courtyard.

Even Akina Sawa, walking behind, could clearly see Fujiwara no Mokou's long, white hair, reaching her ankles, swaying in the morning breeze, the ribbon at the end bobbing as her hair moved.

This made Akina Ze wonder how he cleaned such long hair.

Perhaps sensing the gaze behind her, Fujiwara no Mokou quickened her pace, forcing Akina Sawa to follow suit, or she would fall behind.

So the rabbits around noticed this: a man was closely following behind the girl, and the faster she walked, the faster he followed.

Some of the younger rabbits, unable to bear it any longer, wanted to take out carrots to teach that shameless man a lesson, but were stopped by the older rabbits nearby.

After a brief exchange in rabbit language, the young rabbit dropped the carrot in his hand and looked at the man in fear. He had actually done something that ordinary people could not do: he had sexually assaulted Yagokoro Eirin.

How terrifying! The young rabbit watched helplessly as the man chased after the girl. The old rabbit came over, patted the young rabbit on the shoulder, and shook his head.

The young rabbit glanced at the old rabbit, silently picked up the carrot from the ground, and stuffed it into its mouth...

Soon, Fujiwara no Mokou, who had been speeding up, arrived at the courtyard where Yagokoro Eirin was with Akina Sawa, but there were already people in the courtyard.

There stood Inaba Tei, the rabbit demon, tied to a wooden stake in the yard. Next to him stood a rabbit girl, whom Akina Sawa recognized. She was the one who had bumped into him, and he could never forget the pain he felt then.

Upon noticing that strangers were approaching, the rabbit girl hid behind the wooden stake to which Inaba Tei was tied, avoiding Akina Sawaya's gaze.

"You two are here."

Standing under the eaves, Yagokoro Eirin greeted Akina Sawaya and Fujiwara no Mokou.

Looking at the scene in the courtyard, Akina Sawa also cast a questioning look at Yagokoro Eirin.

“Oh, I’m punishing her now, to stop her from playing pranks on people,” Yagokoro Eirin replied.

Oh, I see. Akina Sawaya suddenly realized.

Wait a minute? Why did it suddenly dawn on me?

Looking at the rabbit tied up in the courtyard, Akina Ze felt increasingly uneasy. Who had this rabbit tricked? And what did it have to do with me?

"What exactly did she do?" Akina Sawa asked Yagokoro Eirin with a frown, feeling like he was about to grasp the key point.

"this..."

Even Eirin Yagokoro was taken aback by the question, but she quickly replied, "This rabbit took it upon herself to engrave the words 'Ten' on Reisen's name tag. Reisen was naturally very angry and wanted to change it back, but she hid the name tag and is being interrogated by her now."

Don't you all agree?

Eirin Yagokoro looked at Tei Inaba and Reisen with a kind smile.

Inaba Tei, who was originally restless on the wooden stake, immediately became quiet after being looked at by Yagokoro Eirin. If his head hadn't been taped up, he probably would have been like Reisen next to him, who was shaking her head like a pestle.

"That's right"

Akina Sawa shook his head in disappointment; he had thought this matter had something to do with him.

"By the way, what kind of training did you do to get here?"

To divert attention, Yagokoro Eirin seized the opportunity to ask a question.

"I followed the instructions in a book and ended up overdoing it, hahaha."

The naive Akina Zeya was immediately diverted by Yagokoro Eirin's question.

"Oh? Then show me how it's done, so that if anything goes wrong, it will be easier to treat."

“This…” Akina Ze also hesitated.

"Hurry up and do it. My yard is quite big; it should be enough to meet your exercise needs, right?"

Eirin Yagokoro urged from the side.

"Okay, then I'll begin."

Since the doctor had said so, Akina Sawa had no reason to refuse. However, seeing that Fujiwara no Mokou was already showing signs of impatience, he decided to do only half of it and finish the other half when he got back.

And so, the rabbit's punishment and Akina Zeya's training began in this courtyard.

The noise and disturbance are also quite significant.

"Quiet!!!"

Suddenly, the door to the room behind Eirin Yagokoro was pushed open, and a disheveled woman with messy hair appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, has Your Highness woken up?"

Eirin Yagokoro turned around and greeted Kaguya Houraisan, who had just been woken up.

"Eirin, you did this on purpose!" Kaguya Houraisan said angrily.

Hearing this, Yagokoro Eirin did not refute, but just looked at her with a smile. Of course, she was not the only one looking at Houraisan Kaguya.