Stardew Valley of Gensokyo

Outside, the sky was blue and white, and the sound of birds chirping could be heard from the woods near the shrine.

Today is a good day to do preparations.

However, Reimu Hakurei simply didn't want to move, exuding a lazy vibe from head to toe.

It's late spring now, summer is almost here, the temperature is slowly rising, and the kotatsu and the like have been taken down. Logically, most of the factors that would make people lazy should be gone, but the shrine maiden is still unwilling to move.

Recently, Marisa has been preparing magic for the Flower Dance Festival and hasn't come to the shrine, so Reimu has been living a lazy life every day.

I wake up in the morning with a cup of tea, sit alone in the shrine's main hall, and go back to sleep when night falls. Every day passes like this.

If Marisa were to come and see Reimu living such a life, it would definitely cause a major upheaval and make her move around a bit.

But today was different. As usual, Reimu Hakurei served herself a cup of tea and planned to sit and watch the sky outside to while away the day. But her rational mind told her that if she didn't make preparations soon, it would be too late.

The shrine's tradition of holding a banquet on the night of the Flower Dance Festival has been passed down through generations. In the past, the grandmothers would prepare the banquet, and the shrine children would simply eat and drink. But now, the shrine children have to prepare the banquet themselves...

Reimu Hakurei, who was lying on the table, had a slightly dimmed look in her eyes and buried her face in her arms.

She's already attended several banquets she prepared herself, but Reimu Hakurei still doesn't feel comfortable with it.

Although the yokai didn't say anything, Reimu knew in her heart that the banquet she prepared couldn't compare to the one her mother used to make.

At the banquet, everyone drank heartily and chatted as usual, but something was missing – the same bold and unrestrained figure drinking heartily was gone.

And now it's that time of year again for the Flower Dance Festival, and the scabs are about to be peeled off once more, which is why she lacks motivation.

But no matter how unwilling I am to face it, I have to face it, because I am the shrine maiden of Hakurei.

Reimu Hakurei got up from the cushion; it was time to get to the preparations, but the shrine no longer had the ingredients needed for the banquet, so she had to go out and buy them, but...

The empty offering box outside indicates that the shrine has run out of money.

Since when, fewer and fewer people have come to the shrine, and no one has put money in the offering box for a long time. Apart from the five copper coins thrown in by that outsider, no one has thrown any in.

Her daily living expenses were provided by the purple shikigami, Ran; otherwise, she would have starved to death long ago.

But Reimu had already figured out where to get the ingredients for the banquet.

Since that outsider named Akina put five coins into our offering box, we've become connected. If I have any difficulties, I can just go to him.

With that in mind, Reimu Hakurei hung up a sign saying her shrine was closed for the day and headed to the courtyard of Zeya Akina in front of it.

The sky was perfectly clear today, ideal weather for an outing. Reimu Hakurei walked step by step along the bluestone slabs in front of the shrine toward the human village. After passing the dark red torii gate, wisps of steam still lingered in the air above the remaining tea from the shrine...

"Haha! Look, Da Jiang, this is a congee popsicle!"

Inside the restaurant, Cirno held up a chopstick with a white solid wisp of icy vapor sticking out of it.

"How about that? Aren't I amazing!"

Cirno proudly held up the solid object and waved it around in front of the soybean paste as if showing off.

Wow~ Cirno-chan is amazing!

The great fairy praised Cirno while scooping porridge into her mouth with a spoon.

The porridge had sugar added, giving it a sweet taste. The great fairy half-closed her eyes; she really liked the flavor.

"Hehe, of course! Let me freeze your porridge too!"

After being praised by the Great Fairy, Cirno became complacent and gathered ice energy in her hands, intending to freeze the sweet white porridge in the Great Fairy's hands into a block of ice.

"Ah, no!"

But Cirno completely ignored the Great Fairy's objections.

Seeing that her porridge was about to freeze into a lump, the great fairy panicked. She liked watching Cirno's silly actions and praised her, but it wouldn't be good if it got on her.

So...

"Akina-nii-san, come quick! Cirno's causing trouble again!"

The great fairy began calling for assistance from the sidelines.

The restaurant door was suddenly flung open.

Before Cirno could even realize what was happening, she was completely bewildered when Akina Sawa lifted her up and pinned her to his lap for what was supposed to be a routine activity.

"Wait, you haven't seen what Cirno did yet."

The great fairy walked over from the table and brought over the bowl of white porridge that Cirno had frozen into ice cubes.

"Look, this is what Cirno made."

Pointing to Cirno's masterpiece, Daiyousei said to Akina Sawaya.

"Hehe, saw that? I did all of this, so hurry up and thank me~"

Although Akina Sawa also pinned her to his lap, Cirno still stood proudly with her hands on her hips, completely unaware of the situation.

"I understand. You go ahead and eat. Cirno and I have some things to take care of."

Akina Ze smiled and waved, signaling the Great Fairy to go back and sit down first.

"Okay, I'll head back now."

The Great Fairy placed the bowl containing Cirno, which had been frozen solid, within Akina Zeya's sight, then sat back down and continued eating the white porridge that Akina Zeya had specially made, which contained added sugar.

After the great fairy returned to her seat, Akina Ze's face immediately fell, and he asked with a dark expression.

"Cirno, why did you turn food into ice?"

As a farmer, he would be angry if food was wasted carelessly, and as a chef, he would be angry if his dishes were handled carelessly.

Cirno did both.

"These popsicles are delicious!"

Cirno held up the white porridge popsicle in her hand and said, puzzled.

"But this is porridge...not a popsicle..."

"I told you this popsicle is delicious, absolutely delicious! You should try it!"

Cirno held the popsicle to Akina Zeya's lips, her eyes filled with unwavering conviction.

Looking at the white, icy mass in front of him, Akina Sawa shook his head helplessly.

"Okay, I'll try."

The unwavering conviction shining in Cirno's eyes was so dazzling that Akina had no choice but to give it a try.

With his eyes closed, Akina Ze also took a small bite of the ice.

Click!

Thanks to his daily exercise, his teeth have improved; otherwise, such a hard block of ice might have broken his teeth.

Um! ?

The taste of the ice in his mouth made Akina Sawa frown slightly.

"This taste..."

Before Akina Ze could finish speaking, Cirno impatiently said, "It's ice! I added ice!"

"It's just ice! Cirno, you've completely ruined the taste of the food!"

“How is that possible!” Cirno exclaimed in disbelief.

She then stuffed the white porridge popsicle into her mouth; she wanted to try it too.

Then Cirno's bright eyes dimmed, and the whole fairy became dejected.

"Turns out my popsicles and congee aren't tasty at all... Da Jiang even said I was amazing..."

Seeing Cirno's state, Akina Sawa, who had originally intended to teach her a lesson so that she would know that food was not something to be trifled with, also gave up on the idea.

Just as he was about to put Cirno off his lap.

"Stop! Let go of that vixen!"

Reimu Hakurei was already standing in front of him, holding the gohei (a type of coin).

Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Cellar

"Huh? You've misunderstood!"

Akina Sawa also put Cirno off his lap and stood up from the chair to explain to Hakurei Reimu.

"No need to explain. Look at those eyes that have lost their sparkle. What are you trying to explain? Today I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

Holding the gohei (a type of coin), Reimu Hakurei spoke with a cold gaze.

Rings of spiritual pressure emanated from her body.

"Please let me explain!!!" Akina Ze said in a flustered manner.

But Reimu Hakurei did not stop; a faint halo of light emanated from around her gohei.

"and many more!"

Just as he was about to get a beating, Akina Sawa pulled the big fairy over.

"Ah! My porridge!"

The great demon, who was still drinking porridge, was forcibly dragged over, and some of the porridge from the spoon spilled onto her.

"The great fairy can testify that I really didn't do anything!"

"He did nothing, I can testify."

Although he didn't understand the situation, he figured it was best to give a positive assessment, and that's what the great fairy thought, so he said confidently.

"Tsk, so you've been hiding more than one fairy in your house?"

Seeing another fairy appear, Reimu Hakurei said with a gloomy face.

"Haha, it's just a coincidence, you have to believe me~"

"Release the great demon," Akina Ze said devoutly, his hands clasped together.

You have to believe him!

Rumia, who was arranged in the shape of a cross, came out of the inner room and stood next to Akina Zeya.

Facing the sunlight streaming in through the main entrance, Akina Ze seemed to have a halo above his head. He closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, while Rumia stood in the shadows behind him.

The cross and the hands clasped in prayer have a strange sense of holiness.

Snapped!

A gohei struck Akina Sawaya's smooth forehead directly.

"Stop your nonsense, your tricks won't work on me. I only believe what I want to believe. You're just keeping demons at home, aren't you!"

With a righteous and awe-inspiring air, Reimu Hakurei held the gohei between two fingers and said.

"Am I really going to be exterminated?" Akina Sawa also staggered back a few steps, he understood what Hakurei Reimu meant.

"I heard that prisoners are put in a bag labeled 'crime bag' and locked in a terrifying place. I don't want to end up like that..." Akina Sawa muttered to himself.

But things shouldn't have turned out this way...

"I am innocent! I merely invited some fairies to dinner at my home. Even if you are a shrine maiden, you cannot do such a thing!"

Since things have come to this point, there's no point in worrying about anything else," Akina Ze said firmly.

"Don't get agitated, there's still hope."

Seeing that Akina Sawa was genuinely frightened, Hakurei Reimu quickly tried to calm her down.

Although the idea was to scare them a little so they could be more assertive when taking the ingredients, it seems like this is going a bit too far.

"Alright, alright, I'm not that unreasonable." Reimu Hakurei took back the gohei in her hand. She had already achieved her goal, so there was no need to keep it.

"By the way, did you prepare the ingredients I asked you to last time? If you prepare a lot of good food this time, I'll pretend I didn't see it~"

There were plenty of lush green vegetables in the yard, and Reimu Hakurei was already thinking of taking some with her, but she couldn't afford to lose sight of the bigger picture.

She was already looking forward to seeing what kind of ingredients Akina Sawa would bring out.

"Ok?"

At this point, Akina Sawa finally understood that Hakurei Reimu had actually come to ask for ingredients, and what had just happened was just a bargaining chip for her, which could be used for any purpose.