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“Anon wanna go down to the human village? I hear another outsider from America recently arrived and started a burger shop. I wouldn't know what to order.”

 

“Sure, I'll leave Yuyuko a note saying we'll bring her back a sandwich. Otherwise she might get in the way of our date.”

 

Youmu's face reddened as she hastily got ready saying “good idea.”. I don't think I'd normally be this confident but with her I can be. It certainly helps her reaction is so adorable. I think she likes it too even if on the outside she acts so shocked.

 

There's a nice summer breeze in the air. Not too hot and not too cold. The amount of shade from the surrounding forest helps. It's somehow different than the forests back home though. There aren't many down trees and you see a lot more animals running about. I wonder if she keeps it up. Might be the work of some other kind of youkai.

 

We began descending the hill Hyakugyoukurou is on down the long row of steps. They're pretty and seem stuck in place at the perfect time. Where they're beaten up enough to have character to them but still perfectly intact to function. The Netherworld really is a pretty place.

 

“I'm looking forward to spring with you Anon, we have the prettiest cherry blossoms in all of Gensokyo.”

 

“Me too, maybe living here spring will become my favorite season. In America I always liked autumn the most. Winters would get too cold and often not snow. Spring was too rainy and often felt sticky. Summers you'd be blasted by the heat. Autumn was just about right on top of being beautiful.”

 

“Our fall is really pretty too, not too much rain. America sounds like it swings to extremes.”

 

“Sort of, I'm probably exaggerating but it doesn't help I where I live at. At least we don't have to worry about hurricanes or tornadoes.”

 

“Hurricane?”

 

“A hurricane is like a great big storm. It has huge winds capable of knocking trees over. It rains so much there can be widespread flooding.”

 

“That sounds horrible!”

 

“Come to think of it Japan gets them too, they call them typhoons. Maybe the barrier keeps them out?”

 

“I think... I don't think we've ever had any storms like that. Yuyuko might know. Ask her when we get back.”

 

The stairs seemed to go on forever but eventually we reached the bottom. It's a good workout. I'll eventually adjust but for now it felt endless. Youmu seemed to have thought about this ahead of time and left a couple of bikes at the root of the stairs. That should save quite a bit of time.

 

“Wanna race? I'll go easy on you.”

 

I honeslty wasn't sure if this was a joke the way she looked at me so earnestly. She seemed to honestly believe I could keep up with her.

 

“There's no way I can compete.”

 

“Just do it.”

 

I can only describe what followed as her taking a somewhat sadistic glee in staying a few feet in front of me the entire way there. If she wants to break me in to being fit for life here this is certainly one way to do it. It was sort of like when you're not a runner and you try to do a marathon. You run out of air in your lungs and it feels like you're suffocating.

 

I felt like an idiot when I realized she was simply keeping herself a few yards in front of me and matching my speed. I should have noticed earlier. I slowed down and she followed.

 

“How hard is it to learn to fly? That seems far quicker and easier.”

 

“A bit difficult for humans but if you apply yourself it's fairly easy.”

 

“I'll get out a few books showing you the basics back home. I'll guide you through the exercises.”

 

“Alright, I should adjust soon enough. This is a lot more activity.”

 

Youmu's smile at the sight of me being exhaused was golden. I'm honestly not sure if she's having fun picking on me or if this is simply her way of looking out for my own good.

 

It didn't take too much longer and we reached the village. It made me a bit fearful as we turned quite a few heads. Nobody said anything but I definitely got the impression I was an oddity. This tension soon broke.

 

“Why are they staring at me?”

 

“Oh I didn't even think about it, they haven't seen you before and you look unusual. They're awfully cautious about strangers.”

 

She cleared her throat.

 

“He's with me. He's my hu...helper. H-he won't bite.”

 

The village then returned to its normal functioning as quickly as it had stopped.

 

Just outside of the restaurant I saw a couple of kids playing checkers. Or rather trying to play checkers, they seemed to be having a hard time piecing together how to play it.

 

“I know this game, it's really simple, I'll show you how it's played really quick.”

 

It took all of five minutes but they seemed really thankful for it. Maybe kids here are just more respectful, may they're just interested in these weird outsider objects.

 

“Thanks! Maybe you should help out Rinnosuke with Kourindo sometime. He has a bunch of stuff he needs help figuring out.”

 

“I'll think about it, have fun now.”

 

“You too.”

 

Finally after the trek to get here we're ready to go in and order. At long last Youmu will be able to try this foreign concoction known as a “burger”. It's mildly surprising that they have things like soda, I thought there wouldn’t be enough to stock in Gensokyo. It's fairly expensive though. Burgers, fries, and so on are reasonable. Understandable since the materials for those will grow just about anywhere.

 

“Why would you eat the rings of raw onions...”

 

“No you cook them in a breading batter first. They're alright but if you want something more common go with french fries. They're potatoes cut longways. Around the size of a finger.”

 

It's amusing to finally see the joke of “We ordered Caucasian!” play out but I'm sure I'll have plenty of these moments myself moving forward.

 

“I heard about these 'soda' things, which should I get... so many.”

 

“I'd go for a cherry pepsi. It seems like the sort of thing you might like from what I've seen you eat.”

 

It wasn't long after that we ordered. This place has an interesting atmosphere. It's like a mishmash of the town at large and what few things they could acquire to try and bring a bit of the west into it.

 

Being located where it is gives it reason to be more of a sit-down restaurant where you're catered to. Burger joints like that in the outside world were almost always underwhelming and extremely overpriced. Some things here were but that's just supply and demand.

 

“You'll have to teach me how to cook this stuff.”

 

“It's not very hard. One of the reasons it's popular in the outside world is it's quick and easy to make.”

 

As I finished up explaining a quick explanation of how to make some dishes she saw other patrons order the waiter came by and handed us our drinks.

 

“This is weird, it's sort of like a medicine but in a good way. How do you make this?”

 

“No idea. The company that makes it keeps their recipe secret. You might be able to find some recipes for a similar homebrew but I wouldn't recommend it.”

 

“Why?”

 

“It's bad for you. It won't kill you to drink as long as you only do it sparingly. It's like liquid candy.”

 

Our food arrived. We both just got a burger and fries. It's simple and as she'd think of it “outside world food”. After eyeballing it for a brief moment like it may sprout legs she dug in.

 

“Wow, it's really simple but effective.”

 

“Did it never occur to you to make meat sandwiches?”

 

“This is different... I'm not sure how to describe it.”

 

After a few more bites of the burger she turned her attention to the fries. She almost poured ketchup on the fries but I noticed what she was doing. I had to show her they're supposed to be dipped.

 

“These would make a really good snack. You could cut it thinner and dip it in chocolate. It'd be like potato pocky.”

 

We soon finished up and headed out. I feel bad about her having to pay but I only just got here, I have no money of my own. Besides if you listen to her story of me being her “helper” then it makes sense.

 

I almost forgot about Kourindo until the same kids said bye to us on our way out. We got back on our bikes and headed over. As we came in Rinnosuke was moving a lot of stuff around to minimize clutter.

 

“Shopkeeper? This is Anon. He's an outsider that's helping me and Yuyuko.”

 

Being polite I reached out to shake his hand, as you typically do when bringing this sort of business up with people. It didn't occur to me this gesture would be lost on him. He just stared back blankly.

 

“Hey, I heard you needed some help figuring some objects out. I can help with that if you have the time.”

 

After looking bewildered for a moment he noticed that not only was I an outsider but from somewhere that doesn't share the same culture.

 

“I could definitely use the help but I've got things to do today... Youmu how about you bring him here in a few days time? I'll make sure you get something out of it too but you may need to accept some items as payment.”

 

“Sounds good to me.”

 

“Fine with me too.”

 

The visit was short and to the point. He seemed in a hurry, maybe he wanted to get things organized before going somewhere else. No matter the day was done and we rode off back to the netherworld. It felt a lock quicker going back than leaving. Before we knew it we were chitchatting as we began ascending the steps yet again.

 

“That was nice, I hope you had fun.”

 

“I did, we'll have to teach eachother how to make all sorts of dishes. And figure out neat stuff like potato pocky.”

 

“It'll be nice to help Rinnosuke occasionally. Makes me feel like less of a freeloader.”

 

“It's true though! You are my helper.”

 

“I guess you could say that. A bit hard to keep up with superwomen like you.

 

She smiled and let out a slight giggle finding my flattery amusing.

 

“Oh you!”