On the Go Journalism

That is right, this is happening.

As the outsider is barraged with all kinds of questions, all of varying comprehension, he’d have a hand to his chin as he dived into deep thought.

What kind of blacksmith, “I work with blade”, he starts, cleaning up his accent. “How you say, mainly blade? I take some order for tool, but it is blade I primarily work with.

“Customer come…” he starts, trying to scrounge together the words. “They come enough, I am sorry.” Forgive his poor vocabulary, “But some of them are return, yes. I say that right?”

“Blade... mainly blade... ‘some order for tool’... ‘some’ regulars...” Taiki would have been wise to pardon the energetic journalist and her loud scribbling.

Hikari couldn’t help but giggle as the other crashed right into the side of a building. The girl really couldn’t tell she was being fooled. Regardless of such humor, Hikari would float down and make herself known, changing her entire expression and emotion to fit the situation.

“Oh no! Miss are you okay? You just fell from the sky! Are you an angel?” She was trying to appear as a human girl now to trick the reporter. She hoped it would work. Hikari had to change her clothes to fit more along with the people in the village.

The poor bird fluttered around before sitting upright in her fallen state, shaking her head violently to straighten her hair out. She patted herself down, making a sound of relief when her hand hit her pocketed cellphone. She had almost turned her head to the sake shop that broke her flight path when she heard the worried voice calling to her.

Hikari was listening in on the other and wow–this girl had a verbal tick similar o some of those in America. Spamming the word “like” certainly made her seem like a delinquent. She hadn’t met this cute youkai before–and she was going to abuse this. 

Following behind, Hikari let the world just repeat for Hatate. She would just see herself flying, passing by the same things again and again. She would allow this illusion seem like an endless loop–making her laugh. 

The illusion could not have been more seamless in Hatate’s eyes; in fact, it was only after a solid minute of flying in the same general direction that she raised an eyebrow and slowed down to examine her surroundings more closely.

“...huh. That’s weird, like, I should’ve at least SEEN the shop in the distanc--”

“Ayayaye... how’s this for, like, a headline? ‘Breaking News: Hatate Himekaidou, like, Goes Outside’? Ugh, they’d totally eat that ‘like’ up like was some kinda, like, super professional thing, too. That should be informative enough for them to, like, totally not read the article where it says I’m just getting some sake and going back home?”

“And we’re off! First attack granted to Captain Murasa! What an excellent choice, too! Like, oh my god! Thank your lucky stars there’s a barrier around the arena, folks, otherwise half of you might’ve been wiped out just now--

Reimu can’t help but feel like this is an admittedly somewhat clever ploy to get her to talk about something, anything at all, but… she did say that she would answer them as long as it wasn’t related to the topics she mentioned before, and these questions — whether an attempt to dig into deeper topics or not — fall in line with what she said she would answer.

And Reimu’s not certain if she can believe that Hatate is capable of being a schemer. Might as well answer honestly, right?

“Whether or not people find me transparent or trustworthy is entirely up to them. Their opinions of me, regardless of what they are, hold no weight to the fact that I’m the Hakurei Shrine maiden. Even if every human and youkai stopped trusting in me, it would still be my duty to protect them, and all of Gensokyo. Nothing is going to change that.” By the end of her speech, her expression is almost solemn, as though a weight was being pressed on her mind and distracting her from the situation at hand.

Yet as quickly as it came, her somber expression vanishes, and is quickly replaced with one of mild irritation — directed, of course, towards Hatate. “Are you happy with my answers now? Because you’re free to leave any time.”

“...no lie, I can’t really fault you here. Like, at all. Totally.” The first three pages of her notepad are still filled to the brim with notes related to this encounter and Aya’s. “That aura of solemness I felt while you were answering me says more than any amount of facts ever could.” A moment of reflection, and...