-=All About Touhou=-

[kuphien]

tepar?

gw 3 hari yang lalu c.
bengek gw kambuh.....

[BaronTrance]

okaerinasai.... 33k-senpai..

yang sakit.. semoga lekas sembuh... smile:

[kuphien]

ini treads sepi amad?
ramein lagi yuk.....

[SrZ]Xevirath]

Caranya gimanaaaa ..

[kuphien]

Caranya gimanaaaa ..

makanya gw nanya ama penghuni di sini....

[33k]

nih gw kasih kerjaan da lu pada... berhubung cuman copas ya nikmatin de...

東方香霖堂 (touhoukourindou) ～ Curiosities of Lotus Asia is a series of side stories that complement the normal Touhou timeline.

Written by ZUN (but NOT illustrated by him, done by Genji Asai), each story takes up four pages; one full-page artwork, three of mostly text. When serialized in the Colorful PUREGIRL, each story required two months to complete (on average). The stories themselves are serialized in various magazines, now serialized in Dengeki Moeoh.

It's written from the point of view of Rinnosuke Morichika, proprietor of Kourindou, a little odds-and-ends store. Naturally, he has a lot of well-known "customers" in the store, especially Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame.

Curiosities of Lotus Asia: Chapter 01

Spoiler untuk Illustration :

Translated by teru.

==================================================

Gensokyo, blanketed in winter's silver snow.
Rinnosuke, the owner of an antique store which goes by the name Kourindou, receives a visit from a shrine maiden once again.
As Rinnosuke takes up her request to mend her clothes, he is deeply intrigued by the three books included in her belongings, however...
An original story based on the Touhou series at long last begins!

==================================================

幻想郷の巫女と十五冊の魅力 ~ Gensokyo's Shrine Maiden and the Allure of the Fifteen Volumes (First Half)

A silver Gensokyo in the early afternoon.
Pristine snow gently falls and swallows the earth, and transformed Gensokyo into a magnificent spectacle. The only thing that could be heard were the cries of youkai far off in the distance.
The road was enveloped in fresh snow, without a single footprint imprinted anywhere. Humans seldom travel through this path.
Beyond a roadless path, a mysterious building stands. While the owner absorbs heat from a nearby stove originating from the outside world, there is no doubt he is reading an incomprehensible book. Because of such hobbies, it always seems as if he has time to spare.
There is an abundance of goods and items from the outside world within the shop. Gensokyo is in what the outside world would call the Meiji Era (1868-1912), but there are many items here that belong in subsequent eras. The purpose of most of these items were unknown.
On the shop's sign is written "Kourindou". That is where the antique store, Kourindou, stands.

"Rinnosuke-san?"
It appears that someone has arrived for the first time in a while. I wanted to continue reading, but my guest was God, I couldn't just pretend to be out.
"You're there, aren't you?"
The God dressed in red had no need to bother preventing my potential ruse as she was already behind me.
"Oh, it's just you, Reimu. I always tell you not to just walk into my living room, don't I?"
"Forget that, just listen to me. I ran into some bad luck, so..."
This is it. The girl in red before my eyes doesn't listen to a word anyone says. Her name is Hakurei Reimu. She's the only shrine maiden in Gensokyo, but from her actions one would doubt whether she's truly a shrine maiden or not. Pardon the late introduction, but I'm Rinnosuke Morichika. I run an antique store. As Reimu brushed the snow off her shoulders she started chattering away.
"I went out to a village to shop today. The shopping list? I was running out of tea, so I figured I should buy some before my lack of tea gets bad enough to kill me. Well, I won't die, but-- Hey, are you listening to me?"
"You don't listen to me, so I'm not listening to you," is what I wanted to say but, "Yeah, I'm listening," is what came out.
"But you know, there wasn't any good tea... oh, this doesn't have anything to do with this but the village's traveller's guardian deity was completely covered in snow, I mean who the heck was in charge of the umbrella? Oh yeah, what exactly was that God again?"
Now then. If I don't give her a little push in the right direction, the conversation looks like it'll jump to Shinto rites of the Emperor.
"The God of Harm, who prevents catastrophe from occurring in the village. You said you ran into bad luck, what happened?"
"Well, the shopping ended without anything really happening."
Without anything happening.
"On the way back, a youkai was just sitting there minding its own business. And it was enjoying a book, too!"
I attempted throwing in a comment, "Isn't that fine? It's not a big deal," but I was ignored.
"I tried to exterminate it with a surprise attack, but it retaliated! It was pretty cocky and strong. I didn't expect shots to come from behind, because I let my guard down..."
One can only think that the youkai was the misfortunate one. But I wonder what happened to her, if she just launched a surprise attack and then let her guard down.

"Rinnosuke-san, are you listening?"
"Yeah, I'm not."
"...And then, I beat the crap out of it and came here."
Looks like however I replied I'd get the same response. Reimu turned around to show her back and said, "See!" and puffed her cheeks.
"And I just got this skirt mended the other time too..."
"A magnificent tear. I see very well, and so you want me to fix that."
"Right now."
Yes, ma'am. Reimu seemed cold, so I made space for one more beside the stove.
"I can't possibly mend it that fast. Just sit here for..."
Pat pat pat...
"I'm gonna borrow these clothes and change, so just wait for a bit."
Gone. Seems she walked right into the back of the store. She really does whatever she wants.

Sheesh. I head back to my seat and decided to continue reading my book-- but, my stretched out hand grasped nothing but air. The book was floating above.
"What'cha readin', Kourin?"
Said a black shadow. Ever since I missed out on tea this morning, I've had a bad feeling.
"Hey. I always say this, but--"
"Don't just waltz in here. Right?"
Every single one of them... The girl in black before my eyes is Marisa Kirisame. A magician whose speech is a little unique. She often comes to the store, but I can never tell if she has any business or not.
"What're you here for today, Marisa?"
"I don't really understand this book. Hup! No business, but I ain't headin' home." No business, huh. She brushed off some dust as she said that and sat down on a pot for sale.
"...That's the 12th volume of a series, the continuation of the books piled up here. You wouldn't know just by reading that much."
"Oh, 'The future of the Non-Neumann-Type Computer'? I can't even imagine what that's about just from the title."
"A magic spell book from the outside world. You probably wouldn't be interested at all but I am."
"Hmm... magic from the outside world... What kinda magic is that, Kourin?"
"I'm still in the midst of reading it, but... they use calculation familiars called computers, and those do exactly as they're ordered. Of course, these are clearly shikigami. Well, I'm still not quite sure what their power is used for."
"Shikigami, huh. ...Huh? Isn't this Reimu's stuff? Reimu's here?"
Either Marisa isn't interested in shikigami or just wanted to change the conversation topic. I told her the details of Reimu's arrival. I said, "You're kind of like Reimu," or some other conversation filler while she poked around Reimu's luggage. She took out three books from her belongings. I felt a light shock. Those books are a part of the same series as these 12 volumes I have here. Why does Reimu have these...?
"Hm? Interested in this book? It's Reimu, so she probably thought, 'It looked pretty important to the youkai so I took it,' or something."
With the 12 volumes I have on hand and the three volumes there combined, that's a total of 15 volumes. I have no doubt that this is a set of 15 volumes. The shikigami of the outside world are the same as the ones in Gensokyo after all. Within computers, F represents 15 and F is the state wherein everything is compounded. It was written that when everything becomes F, the highest value is held. I think that it's natural for 15 to have power. Even in ancient times, 15 meant perfection in this country. The same reason the full moon is also known as the fifteenth night. Computers must be familiars that have resulted from the ideas of the East and the beauty of the moon.
Marisa asked me what I was contemplating as she lined up the three books. Through Marisa's nonchalant actions, I realized something else. The numbers on the books, "13", "14", and "15". When lined up, it reveals 131415. If the 1 in front is removed... it then depicts the number that represents a perfect circle, 3.1415. This also means full moon. And thus my theory that the familiars of the outside world use the power of the moon becomes truth.
I wanted to research more in regards to the shikigami of the outside world, but to do that I required these books.
"...Kourin. You plan on making a deal with Reimu? Forget it, her values are completely abnormal."
Indeed, Reimu is too detached from this world. Normal exchange conditions wouldn't suffice. However, I can make a deal with Reimu. Reimu's values are different, after all.
It was then, I started hearing the footsteps of the owner of these books.

==================================================

Spoiler untuk illustration :

==================================================

幻想郷の巫女と十五冊の魅力 ~ Gensokyo's Shrine Maiden and the Allure of the Fifteen Volumes (Second Half)

"Thanks for waiting. Geez, these clothes are way too big. It's hard to walk in this." Reimu expressed her dissatisfaction as she returned. Well, those are my clothes after all so it can't be helped. There's a significant size difference between us. She's the one who up and took the clothes in the first place.
"Oh? If it isn't Marisa. Why're you in such a place?"
"That's my line. I just came to check if anything new was stocked. As a proper customer."
"Reimu. Try not to point at this store and say 'such a place', will you?"
"Whenever I come I never see any customers around. Location isn't so great either."
I began reading the book I was previously reading as Marisa retorted, "I thought I said I'm a customer." Reimu walked up to one of the cupboards, took out a teapot, and began preparing tea as if she owned the place. Doing whatever she wants as usual. She's not even a customer.
While I was glancing at Reimu's books, I thought to myself that I must pretend to not have noticed them at all in order to make them mine.
"Anyway, I'll take up your request to mend your clothes. But I'm hoping that even you're aware it's not going to be free?"
Reimu questioned, "Why?" with her back still facing me.
"Why? Are you kidding? A business, you see, requires customers to pay a suitable price for their services."
"I know that much. I pay the usual shopkeeper when I go shopping. The same goes for my shrine. Wishes are granted in return for donations."
"Are you saying I'm not one of your 'usual shopkeepers'?"
"Rinnosuke-san, you're not interested in money, right?"
"When did I ever say that? Don't go around deciding things yourself."
"Well, you never take any cash."
"What're you saying? The fees for all your requests and everything you took from here is all on your tab."
As she poured tea into her teacup, she replied, "That's because I never walk around with money. Even if I went home, there wouldn't be any, though."
"Nobody donates, huh. Praying at your shrine won't get any wishes granted."
"Oh, I see, since you suddenly brought this up, you're after these books aren't you?" Reimu placed her teacup down, sat beside me, and began reeling in the books that should have been soon to be mine.
"...Reimu, those books aren't enough to cover your tab."
"This book, you know, looked pretty important to the youkai I exterminated. It's definitely worth something."
Marisa looked at me with a face that said, "See?" and because of that I was about to let out a laugh, but I held it in.
"Well, let me have a look then. ...Hm, I see. It's made well, but it looks new. When it comes to these kind of things, the older the better the price. It's not anything special after all. It was probably just something that youkai doesn't see often, so it took it."
"Then those books for everything on my tab sounds like a fair deal," she said with a smirk.
She doesn't listen to others and has no understanding of the concept that things have a value, a price. To her, money is nothing more than some sort of paper or metal. However, she must've slightly felt that I wanted it. After all...
"All right then. I'll buy those three books from you."
"Huh? All three?"
"One for mending your clothes. One for the rental fee for the clothes you're wearing now. And the last one..."
"Ah, wait a second, what about the tab?"
"Hey, exactly how much do you think is on your tab? It's not too much, but you can't cover it with just those books."
That's the truth. Reimu takes the shop's products and requests for clothes and tools. I even prepared her purification wand.
"No way around it, huh. Alright then, what's leftover on the tab can stay as a tab." I looked out through the window. That's right, I've had a bad feeling since this morning.
"By the way, the last one was the fee for door repairs!"

Bam, bam, knock. The sounds of the shop's door being banged on heavily was getting louder. One book might not be worth the trouble...
"I know the one in red is in there! She's the one that took my books!"
By the door was a furious little girl, or what seemed to be. Her clothes are a mess, she must be the one Reimu claimed to have exterminated earlier.
"Geez, you're persistent. You lost to me so just go crawl back into the forest!"
"Huh? You're not red."
"I'm blue today."
"Just give me my books back!"
"Even if you tell me to, I can't do anything about it. I don't have them anymore, so give up."
"So cruel... then where is it!?"
The books are mine now, and of course, I have no intention of returning them. However, I'm unable to do anything rough. Regarding that, the girls said, "Amazing you managed to live so long like that," but I think it's normal, and I've lived "many times" longer than they have. ...I glanced sharply at Reimu.
"...Hey, Marisa! You look pretty sleepy."
"What? You reap what you sow. Go do it yourself."
"I can't move well in these clothes. She isn't much of a pain, so you can take her Marisa. ...But watch out for attacks from behind."
"Are you telling her to get her revenge on me? Geez, Reimu..."
Marisa hopped off the pot, and headed towards the girl in a seemingly good mood.
"Put it on my tab."
Of course, I've never seen Reimu hand over any money to Marisa.
"Here I am. The one in red gave up. Her parent will be taking her place."
"...Whaddya mean parent. There's no way you're her mother!"
"She was abandoned."
Reimu returned to her seat and began drinking tea.
"If you're going to fight, do it outside of the shop. If you destroy any more, you're all going to be the ones paying the compensation fees."
Marisa said, "I know," and forcefully pushed the youkai outside.
"In any case, good for you, getting all fifteen volumes."
Surprised, I looked at Marisa. I don't remember saying anything about it being a fifteen volume set.
"Why did you think it was fifteen?"
Marisa threw the book she was holding towards me.
"I looked at the back of that book."
I turned the book over and flipped open the back cover. "15 Volumes Total" was written in small print.

It's snowing outside. If I don't get the door repaired soon it's going to be tough in here.
"Christ, whenever you come here, Reimu, nothing good ever happens."
"The shop itself has nothing good. Here, tea."
I sat down beside her and took the tea. It had an extremely pleasant fragrance to it. "Ah, this tea.　You used the tea leaves at the back of the shelf, didn't you."
And here I thought it was tea Reimu bought herself.
"That was the one with the best smell to it."
"It's the best breed. I was saving it for a special occasion, too..."
Reimu was completely relaxed and in a good mood. The sounds of Marisa's enjoyment and laughter and the cries of her youkai partner can be heard.
This is relatively the usual. I didn't think of these days as special.
"Rinnosuke-san. You're not going to sell those books anyway, right? All the goods here haven't changed at all."
The majority of the wares here are my collection; indeed, I don't want to let go of anything so easily.
"No, they're all proper merchandise."
--Maybe I'm not be suited to be a businessman.

==================================================

P.S : kalo pada demen en tertarik baru gw lanjutin kalo ga yo wes... berakhir sampe disini

[kuphien]

boleh tu dilanjutin boss....

lumayan seru tu.....

[33k]

Curiosities of Lotus Asia: Chapter 02

Spoiler untuk illustration :

==================================================

Marisa, visiting the Kourindou, had something with her. It was one of the beautiful Crested Ibises that were increasing in number in Gensokyo lately. Marisa was planning to cook it and eat it with Reimu. In the now lively Kourindou, the owner Rinnosuke was immersed in thoughts about the reason for the increase in the Ibises…
An original story based on the Touhou series, chapter 2!

==================================================

幻想の鳥 ~ Illusion Bird

“Hey, Kourin! What are you doing? Today’s our customary hot pot day!”
Along with those loud sounds, the door was thrown open. As far as I’m concerned, today’s the Animal Protection Day.
“Oh, it’s you, Marisa? What’s the meaning of coming here and claiming this to be a ‘hot pot day’?”
Marisa showed me what she had in her right hand, and there it was, an exhausted-looking red-white lump…


Some way from the Human Village in Gensokyo is the Forest of Magic, and close by this forest is my shop, Kourindou. In other words, it’s halfway between where the humans live and where the youkai are. I thought that in this place I could do business with both humans and youkai, but the truth is that I almost never have clients from either of them. Well, it becomes lively at times, but…

“Isn’t that a Crested Ibis? What happened?”
“Ahh, I caught it by the shrine. Reimu’s doing the preparations for the hot pot, so she’ll be late.”
“And why did you decide on your own to gather at my place?”
“What are you saying? This guy’s delicious! It doesn’t seem so good by its looks, though…”
Crested Ibis. This bird has been increasing in Gensokyo every year. Wherever they are coming from, every so often the sky would become dyed in their colors. Even so… their meat tastes good, but the looks aren’t that nice. The hot pot too… it would end up dyed in that Ibis color, which is a near scarlet red. Not a nice way to put it, but it'll look like it’s a human hot pot made by a vampire.
“Well, it’s alright, but why suddenly come up with a hot pot…?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Cold days are all about hot pots.”
Well, I just got this Ibis by chance, it was very lively until a while ago, Marisa was saying, while going ahead into the kitchen.


Gensokyo is, quite literally, a place where illusionary creatures dwell. At the same time, the people in the outside world would be writing off “illusionary creatures”, as nothing more than “fantasy creatures”. But, of course, illusionary creatures and fantasy creatures are very different kinds of creatures. Fantasy creature is just another name for a delusion, misinterpretation or misunderstanding. On the other hand, an illusion creature is one that can only be found in Gensokyo. It goes without saying, then, that both I and Marisa are also illusionary creatures.
However, why the sudden proliferation of Crested Ibises is something I don’t know. Could it be that they have become “illusion birds”? That would be unthinkable in the outside world I knew, but then again, too much time has elapsed since then. As much as I try to imagine the outside world from restricted literatures and old memories, it would amount to nothing more than fantasies. A guess plagued by imagination is no more than a fantasy. As for guesses, I rank them into Fantasy, Delusion, Forecast, Supposition and Illusion.


“Sorry for the wait! Marisa is here too, right?”
“…I wasn’t waiting. It’s not like I would even have time for that since you girls came so abruptly.”
“Well, of course we came abruptly. But you should be waiting at all times. Isn’t this a shop, after all?”
Just as Marisa announced, Reimu had come. She was carrying several bags with her. Materials for the hot pot, I guess.
“Ah, Reimu! Took you long! Let’s get started with the hot pot.”
Marisa was stretching her arm, with a feeling of “C’mon, hand it over!” to it.
“I brought everything, yes.”
“Ah? This is red miso. And just who told you to bring red miso?”
“Being told or not, the fact is that for Ibis broth, it has to be red miso!”
“Hey, hey! The hot pot already is red enough, so we should do it with white miso. Putting red miso in a red broth? Are you a Communist?"
“It’s not like you are going to eat because of the color. Since Ibis meat is red to begin with, this shouldn’t bother you, right? And white miso…, this is not the Genpei War.”
I kept hearing the two of them going on about eating colors. On top of that, Marisa was holding the Ibis, and every time she gave it a squeeze, the Ibis would squawk. It was kind of weird, like the Ibis was her yes-man. I’m sure Marisa was doing that on purpose.
"Don’t you put red pickles on top of tonkatsu? And what about miso ramen?"
"And don’t you put fukujinzuke in curry? I wonder if you put it in cream stew, Marisa?”
“Having something red in the midst of white is the sign of a Japanese soul!”
“As for red-white things, just me is enough. And what part of you has a Japanese soul, Marisa? Do you even understand what ‘Wabi-sabi’ is?”
“This is not something likely of you too, Reimu.”
“Of course, I don’t understand it.”
“Anyway, I won’t make a hot pot like that.”
“Wasn’t it you who came up with the hot pot idea? And we can’t eat this Ibis raw.”
“Is that the problem? Alright then, if it’s about handling it, I can handle it.”
“Judge it?” [‘Judge’ and ‘handle’ sound the same in Japanese.]
“Ahh, this sounds good too. Wanna go for it?”
In the end, it seems like they decided to settle the matter with shooting duel, without as much as asking for my advice (even though they came to my shop on their own whim). The rules are: 1-on-1, with Spellcard Rules; if Reimu wins, the hot pot gets done her way; if Marisa wins, she’ll apparently make her go buy white miso. Never mind that I've got white miso in my place, they seem to be enjoying it, so I’ll just let them be. Speaking of which, I actually know the tastiest way to cook a Crested Ibis…
“Marisa, I’m always telling you...”
“If you’re gonna fight, then come outside, ‘kay?”
“More importantly, could you handle that in Marisa’s place, Rinnosuke?”


。 Their objectives seem to have already switched. Whatever the result is, I guess they’ll happily eat it whatever way I cook it. I could go as far as to think they arranged this scenario from the beginning, it always follows the same pattern. Those two are frequently dueling to decide the most insignificant things. On top of that, they lately fight a lot with flying attacks. It’s extremely bright, and no good for the eyes.
Their duels are always a study in contrast. Against the self-exerting Marisa, Reimu – either on purpose or naturally – puts on a laid-back way of fighting. The duels mostly went Reimu’s way, but Marisa wouldn’t always lose. It’s just that, Marisa attacking with all her skill and might, against Reimu, who was just like she was made of air; it was like trying to pound a nail into dust. In any way, when looking at Reimu, she gives off a feeling that she is not quite from our own world. This much is something one cannot quite grasp.
“Hey, that’s dangerous! What if it had hit, Marisa!? Geez…”
“Aw, damn! Why didn’t it hit?”
“Your bullets are so easy to avoid. How nice of you, Marisa!”
“How straight...”
Since I could hear their voices all the way, I went to see how things were going. Reimu looked like she would plainly teleport sometimes. And her bullets would fly guided in impossible directions. It was kind of unfair.


Well then, this nice and round Ibis looks really tasty; I’ve never seem one like that before. Speaking of which, Marisa said something that bothered me…
“Sorry for the wait, we’ve just reached a settlement.”
“Ahh, you always make me wait like this. I already made the hot pot. With red miso, as planned.”
“Gee... You already prepared the hot pot? What were you intending to do if I had won, Kourin?”
“I would have had you eat an Ibis cooked in the tastiest way.”


。 The Hakurei Shrine is located in the edge of Gensokyo. And by edge, that doesn’t mean only in the physical sense. There is the border between the outside world and Gensokyo. Because of that, the Hakurei Shrine is not an entirely “illusionary place”. And Marisa said she caught the Ibis by the Shrine. It may be that this Ibis is indeed from the outside world. So it would seem that Crested Ibises are not Illusionary Birds yet. I feel somewhat relieved.

==================================================

[kuphien]

bos, chap 2-nya kok ilang?

[Barreon]

wah bahasa inggris.. @___@

gw save halaman dulu d.


btw.. jadi si Rinnosuke muncul2nya d sini to..

[33k]

bos, chap 2-nya kok ilang?

kagak au dari sananya kaga ada...

wah bahasa inggris.. @___@

gw save halaman dulu d.


btw.. jadi si Rinnosuke muncul2nya d sini to..

bakal selalu muncul malah... soalnya ceritanya dari sudut pandang si rinnosuke

[SrZ]Xevirath]

Bukannya yang second half itu chapter dua ?

salah ya

[kuphien]

kagak tau.

sekarang ge baru baca part 1 yang 1st post.

[33k]

Curiosities of Lotus Asia: Chapter 03

Spoiler untuk illustration :

==================================================

An unusual client came to Kourindou today. This client is the maid from a certain mansion – Izayoi Sakuya. And the thing she wanted was an "ideal pair of teacups". Rinnosuke complied with this somehow complicated request, but his best choice of teacups were hopelessly broken...
An original story based on the Touhou series, the first part of chapter 3, where new characters appear!

==================================================

完全で瀟洒なティータイム 前編 ~ Complete and Elegant Tea Time First Half

My outside world heater is repeatedly making some noises. It has some switches I don’t quite understand about, but since I press them and nothing happens, I’m using it in my own original way. Lately, the fire has been too strong at times, it’s a little dangerous.
Speaking of fire, there has been an increase of cremations in Gensokyo lately. Until now cremations were almost never performed to dispose of a dead human remains – well, those probably ended up as youkai food. Maybe it's because the youkai are attaining higher purposes that, as of late, the ones that would eat corpse meat seem to be decreasing. If you see it from the side of the humans in Gensokyo, those remains simply can’t be left neglected – for both sanitary and spiritual reasons – so apparently there’s little choice but to cremate them.
On the other hand, doesn’t that reduces the opportunities for new youkai to be born? …humans have little chance for being anything but humans. And if they have, those are mostly after they die. If they are cremated, it would be difficult for them to become Jiang Shi, Vampires, or such beings.
Well, maybe that’s a good thing. And besides, there are times when youkai can be born from ashes, ghosts specially might be easily formed this way. Speaking of which, it feels like there has been an increase of ghosts in Gensokyo lately. Maybe this is an effect of the cremations, and maybe not… However, these ghosts of recently sure are cheerful and high-spirited. But after all, ghosts, as far as Gensokyo is concerned…


Knock, knock.
Someone just arrived. But I hesitated in saying “Welcome.”. Usually the visitors are the ones to start with the boisterous talk, because they usually are not customers.
“Is someone there?”
“Ah? Aah, welcome! How may I help you?”
“I’m looking for some ideal teacups, do you have some here?”
And there it was the figure of a maid girl (although the frequency is low, I DO have real customers!). My expectations were unusually off, but that’s because, having always only one kind of expectation, if a customer shows up they will always be wrong.
“Yes, I surely do. What kind of cup do you wish for?”
“A small one, that looks pretty, a white one... You see, the kind of white cup that would look nice with crimson liquids. And it can’t be too heavy. But the real issue is the shape, which is a little complex… Well, I’ll decide about that when I see them. Oh, and it would be a pair of them.”
“Err, I see...”
A complicated request. It almost seems like an exam for a Cup Expert certification. This is a quite difficult problem. Solving it while I try to remember just where in the piles of merchandise are the cups might be a little too difficult.
“...well, I do have a lot of cups. It’s for drinking crimson tea, right?”
“Well, it’s in the same style as cups for crimson tea.”
“The cups for crimson tea were around here...”
Crimson tea and coffee are major luxury items in Gensokyo. Things like youkai that took in foreign countries culture and appliances and books that drifted here naturally are established occurrences. Even if Gensokyo is closed as an area, it’s very international in spirit.
Well then, I just found an antique case. I’m sure that in this case were two cups that I liked.
“Found it, found it! I think these ones will be of your liking!”
When I opened the case, I was appalled. Those weren’t the shapes I was expecting to see there. There was a teacup, and something that once was a cup was lying there in several broken pieces… Yes, my favorite one was atrociously broken.
“Which ones?”
“Err, hum, just a moment.”
Even in my disappointment, I noticed that there was a single sheet of paper inside the case. What would that be? I reached for the paper, but….
“Humm, isn’t this Marisa’s writing? ‘Sorry’, it says? What is the meaning of it?”
「！？」
What just happened? Why didn’t I get the paper. And I really mean “Why?”. When I realized it, this girl already had it.
“Here, please have it back.”
I looked at the paper she handed me. The only thing written there was a ‘Sorry”. ……that Marisa, what should I do with her next time she comes here?
Well then, I quickly regained myself from my confusion. I wouldn’t bother too much with things I can’t understand. If you don’t do like this, you can’t live in Gensokyo.
“Yes, just like you said. I really like these. Can I take them?”
I take that back. I’m still confused. She liked the broken cup?
“Eh? I-is that so? Well, I do like them… but they are not exactly in normal conditions.”
“As for small, they are small as it gets (because they are in pieces), and they aren’t heavy. Just as requested.”
“They are so pretty, and they will look glorious with the red tea, they are exactly like the Mistress wished."
Yeah, but you may bleed if you touch them...


Knock-knock-knock.
“Hey! Sakuya, are you in there?”
This time I wasn’t wrong. The usual is for the noise to begin in less than 3 seconds after the door is opened. And of course, this red person is not a customer.
“My, isn’t it Reimu? When did you come back to the shrine? And the Mistress too...”
“Come back? That’s not the point! What’s with going inside the shrine when there’s nobody there!? And on top of that you leave this one there to go doing I don’t know what.”
“I’m not doing anything. It’s just that there weren’t good cups at the shrine, so there couldn’t be a decent tea time.”
“I won’t treat to tea people that come inside on their own!”
Most likely, entering in other people’s homes on your own whim seems to be a tradition among the girls of Gensokyo.
By the way, the name of my client is Sakuya. And this mistress that Reimu brought along is called Remilia. Sakuya is a maid at Remilia’s service. But, as you can see, this mistress is a vampire. It seems like they were taking a walk and decided to stop by the shrine.
“Even during a walk, having a tea time is indispensable. And with beautiful cups, of course.”
」 “Remilia, in the first place, why are you walking about in the middle of the day, even though you are a vampire? Shouldn’t you be inside a coffin? “
“Even I can have a sunbath viewing. And by the way, coffins are for putting dead people into. You seem to have a misunderstanding.”
A sunbath viewing apparently consists of appreciating other people having sunbaths.
“Anyway, what I’m going to do if rumors of devils at the shrine start to spread!?”
“You don’t have to do anything. Besides, the donation box was empty.”
“But that may be because it’s a godless shrine. Right, Mistress?”
“Don’t call it godless!”
I’m probably the only one that knows about the origins of the Hakurei Shrine. Here I thought about teaching it as for restoring Reimu’s honor, but… it’s not really important, so it was rejected. How sad.
“Oh, right, Sakuya. The beautiful teacups, did you find some?”
“Yes, I believe I did. They are quite splendid ones”
And then I was immersed in confusion again. What am I going to do about that cup? Its pair is in pieces.
“Here, Mistress. Can you see them?”
Sakuya opened the lid of the case, and lowered it so that her mistress could see.
Why is a broken cup alright? Maybe this is some kind of charade. That’s it; there must be a meaning behind the broken pair. For example, the crimson tea and the cup pieces would represent a pond of blood and a mountain of splinters, like it was a choice between two kinds of Hell… For a devil and a maid, that must certainly be it!


However, when Remilia saw the cups, she showed a doubtful and disturbed expression on her face. That was a more human reaction than I expected.

==================================================

Spoiler untuk illustration :

==================================================

The Chief Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion – Izayoi Sakuya – had a particularly unusual ability. It was as if a sleight of hand without any kind of trick. Unlike the bewildered Rinnosuke and others, Sakuya alone was putting out a bright mood. Finally, with a single warning, she threw the case in the
air…
Chapter 3, “Complete and Elegant Tea Time”, the conclusion!

==================================================

全で瀟洒なティータイム 後編 ~ Complete and Elegant Tea Time Second Half

“Ahn…? What the hell is this?”
Remilia pointed inside the box with a tired air.
Well, that’s an understandable reaction. Sakuya came to buy teacups and got herself a broken one. I thought Remilia had some strange reasons behind her orders, but it seems I was wrong. Surprisingly, I can relate to Remilia’s feelings.
“Eh? ‘What’, you say? Why, they are teacups. Are they not of your liking?”
“It’s a pretty vanguardist design. For example, even if you take it by the handle, one third won’t come with it, you almost wouldn’t think it’s a cup at all…But wouldn’t it be nice if it had a little more portions that could hold liquid?”
“But isn’t it a nice style? I really like this relaxing and refined antique feel it has. And the shopkeeper also said he liked it, right?”
“This design... So even though it is weird, he also liked it, the shopkeeper, I mean.”
Remilia was giving me a suspicious and pitiful look. Well, I used to like them. If she starts thinking that I’m trying to push a broken cup onto them, I’ll be in trouble.
“Oh, and what is this paper?”
The paper with Marisa’s apology was inside the case too.
“I think maybe it is an expert’s appraisal or something like that.”
“Are there such thing as expert appraisals with only ‘Sorry.’ written on them?”
“It’s a ‘I couldn’t appraise it.’ appraisal.”
“It’s like a magician’s introduction saying ‘There isn’t any kind of trick.’, isn’t it?”
That would be highly improbable.


Maybe Reimu got tired of their wordplays, because she went to have a tea by herself. Speaking of which, I wonder why is there a chawan exclusively for Reimu’s use at my place.
“I will ask again, Sakuya. Just what the hell is that?”
“Like I said, it’s an avant-garde teacup.”
“Did I order such thing?”
“Indeed you asked for it to be small, light, unusual, pretty...”
“Well, this one is pretty, though.”
It is?
“And besides, it has a more refined air than the ones at the shrine, has it not?”
“Their shape is indeed similar, but...”
Their shape is similar? Are there such avant-garde (though that means not limited by the original form) cups at the shrine? I asked Reimu about that.
“I don’t know about these cups.”
“Aah, Reimu doesn’t know? They were there just before I sent Sakuya out.”
“I don’t know about that, Mistress. It was after we arrived that the cups became ‘avant-garde’.”
“Wha...? So you broke my cups!?”
For a while, the shop resounded with Reimu’s barrage of angry words.
Right, so this is it. They broke Reimu’s teacup, so they came to buy one for replacement. But then why would they buy a broken cup?
“Sakuya, I did indeed ask for a cup that looked alike Reimu’s. But, I didn’t mean the last form of it, but the one it had before changing. Can’t you understand that?”
“Hmm, is that so? I was sure you wished for a cup that made a set with Reimu’s.”
“This is not a set, it’s a mix.”
“But if I buy a normal cup, weren’t you planning on saying ‘What are you doing!? Their shapes are completely different!’, or something like that?”
“I... I wouldn’t say that.”
Maybe you would. Even for a maid it must be hard to be a companion to this childish (even though she’s apparently over 500 years of age) and malicious mistress. But if you wanted a broken cup, isn’t it just a matter of buying a normal one and breaking it? That’s what I thought, but that might as well be one of the Gensokyo girls idea of a joke. If I think about it too much I’ll get tired. That’s why I take that stance of not bothering too much with things I can’t understand.


“I understand. You want a normal cup, then?”
“If that is what you think, do as you please, Sakuya.”
“Of course, that’s just what I’m thinking.”
、 What a pain, those girls are a completely different type of bother than Reimu and the others. Anyway, the moment I was thinking that I had to go searching for another cup, I heard Sakuya’s voice.
What!? Wait a moment! When I turned around, confused, to face Sakuya, it was already too late. She had thrown the case and the cup high up in the air!


...the fragments were dancing in mid-air! Time seemed to run slowly – this was the kind of illusion the tension caused! One of the cups was still in one piece. But even if they were all broken, what kind of person just throws them up!? Even the carefree one drinking her tea seemed surprised! And I got even more worried if Reimu wasn’t going to drop her chawan from the surprise. As for Remilia, her bat-style wings were completely outstretched. I’m not sure if that was because of the tension or the surprise, though…
...but, the cups are sure taking some time to fall. Hasn’t the case hit the ground some time ago already? Well, that’s obvious considering the time… The piece of paper with Marisa’s ‘Sorry’ written on it was fluttering in mid-air.
“So, how is it? A real sleight of hand, without any tricks.”
。 I couldn’t see even one piece of the cup on the floor! Surprised, I turned to Sakuya and, mysteriously, she was holding the cup. However, more mysteriously than that…


In the end, the teacups were peacefully sold, and the two of them left the shop. Remilia seemed greatly pleased with Sakuya’s performance. Reimu was in mute amazement for a while, but then she must have remembered that those two were going to the shrine, so she left the half-drunk tea behind and went chasing after them.
As for me, I didn’t understand how Sakuya could gather all the pieces of the cup she threw up, much less how could she perfectly restore the broken cup to it’s former shape. I just stood there dumbfounded...


Several days later. By following my “Don’t bother too much...” ideal, I was able to safely recover from my confusion. Just as Marisa came to visit and I was scolding her about the cup, I made her listen about the events. She started explaining with her usual way of speaking “That’s normal.”. Apparently Sakuya has this ability. An “ability to stop time”, it seems. Of course, this way, even if throwing it up, she could pick up the cup before it broke. You could indeed say that there wasn’t in fact any trick.
But wait a moment... This ability couldn’t restore a broken cup, could it? Something's not right. Even though I should have given up, I started to think about it again. Yes, there’s a way to restore a cup only by stopping time. The more I thought about it, the more my head became full with a particular concern.
“That’s it, the cup that I ‘used’ to like wasn’t like that!”
Caught in a bad premonition, I looked into my piles of merchandise. That customer is the type to knowingly do something unbelievable! Well, I did sell it, so there’s no real loss, but…I checked most of the merchandise, the only one left… is it the pile Marisa is sitting atop? I moved Marisa, and under her I found a refined-looking case. That’s the one, no doubt about it. With Marisa peeking along, I fearfully opened the lid.
Both Marisa and I recognized the Japanese paper sheet and the cup fragments. And on top of the Japanese paper there was a new slip of western paper. There was only a “I’m sorry.” written on it. Truly a magician’s ‘appraisal’.

==================================================

[kuphien]

sip...

ada yang ke 2.

THX bos.