NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Once I got closer, kagerou's ears twitched a bit before looking over in my direction. "Kii-kun, how are you?" She asked, a smile blossoming on her face. Wakasagihime and Sekibanki look at me with a smile on their faces.
Hurrying over to them I replied to Kagerou. "I'm doing just fine, although I do hope that I'm not disturbing your fun..."
Kagerou squealed a "kawaii~" in the background.
Wakasagihime replied "nonsense. You're all our little brother." While she made me crouch down a bit so she can pat my head. "Now, why don't you play us?"
Playing by the water is fun if you don't mind getting splashed on, or you can simply just float and feel the current. The clothes though, are a matter I forgot, so I went back to change. Sekibanki went back with me.
The other people with met- I mean quirks, in gensokyo, live apart from regular folks. Probably because of how backwards this place is when it comes to logic and science. There might even be a chance where they just straight up went for a witch hunt. However, [Because of our lack of distinct features, detachable heads being quite inconspicuous, we can blend in with the other humans. Also, having a home at the human village would be easier to gather information.] Is what my sister told me when I was younger when I asked her about it.
Walking slightly ahead, I can feel my sister's gaze trying to bore a hole through me. When I turn my head to look back, she makes eye contact and just stared. With my 10 years of living here, I know I will lose this staring contest so I broke the ice.
"Yes...?"
"... According to my instincts, you want to tell me something."
I deadpanned at her for a bit before sighing, I told her about my little antics with the others. She just quietly listened even when we reached our home, dried ourselves off and changed clothes. Sitting opposite to each other on the low table with a cup of tea, I finished telling her everything.
She took a sip from her cup and looked at me in the eyes. "You've narrowed your vision, obviously. You could've moved around too even with frozen ground, hitching a ride on your heads." Hearing this made me feel like an idiot. I'm a reincarnator so I should have- wait, maybe my mind did regress. Influenced by my current body, the mind regressed to match my physical specs. Like how you can't just strap a jet engine on a bike and expect it to work flawlessly.
"-ki, Kizuki!" I snapped back to reality. Bad habits die hard. I tend to overthink and lose my grasp of what's Infront of me. "If this was a battle, you would've lost." She flicked my forehead. "Focus."
I felt my ears heat up, no doubt that I am blushing from embarrassment.
"That too, you should fix it. Easier said than done, I know, but hesitation will only make you lose faster. Sometimes it's better to trust your instincts first then overthink after." She takes another sip of her tea.
"You also only think about the battle but never where to battle. Traps, terrain, weather, other factors you could take advantage of." She paused. As she ponders, I gazed at my reflection in my tea before taking a sip.
"You know... any other older sibling would reprimand their younger sibling if they start a fight. But you getting some battle sense and instinct is a good thing so I'll overlook it just this once." She said with a gentle, comforting look.
Her eyes quickly narrowed with a sharp glint. "I suppose that I should take this as a hint and double your training with your power"
Much to her suprise, I give her a cheeky grin. Finding out that this world has a good chance to be an amalgamation of different franchises is certainly not good. Even if it's just MHA and Touhou together, it's not good.
Perhaps this is why characters like the ones from the scarlet devil mansion aren't here? The magicians Alice and Marisa aren't here either. I don't know if they willingly got out of gensokyo for something, or worse...
This just means that I need to get stronger, get more serious in my training...
But first, I must set small goal to myself. Like finally getting at least one snowball on the 4th user's face.
'And to do that, I need to plan another battle tactic.' I thought, ignoring my sister who kept patting my head.
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Making my way through an animal trail, we reach a clearing. The morning sun gently caressing my face with its soft warmth.
It has been 2 days since we retreated and now we are back here again. But this time, we came with an even better plan.
Some of you may ask 'why do this in the first place anyway?' Or 'just stop' or something along those lines. I ask that myself as well. However, even if it did start out as a prank, a joke, or a curiosity, now it is also a matter of honing my skills while having fun at the same time!
What was that? 'sounds stupid' you say? I cannot disagree more! Just because this world may or may not be an amalgamation of supernatural forces threatening to end all semblance of order and or become some dictator to enslave mankind, doesn't mean I should spend my life wound up and tense, looking over my shoulder 27/7, 365 days a year. Especially since this isn't the canon timeline of [MHA].
Considering that the other users of OFA died early, I can assume that this is around the turbulent era of quirks. An era when the hero system either just started or still doesn't exist as of yet.
I refuse to be some sort of rigid machine that only has a single directive of gaining power. I WILL enjoy my second chance at life to the fullest and enjoy my youth while training hard to strengthen my powers and abilities. And when the time comes, I will die with a satisfied smile on my face.
Now where was I? ...Oh yes!
Here we are face to face once more with the 4th user, or rather just me, since the others separated so we can encircle him.
Daigo, the supposed 5th user is nowhere to be found. Either he left during the 2 days we were gone or he is simply hiding to ambush us again.
Even if he comes, unluckily for him, I already set up 5 heads as lookout. And about 30 heads withing the encirclement floating close to the now slippery frozen ground. I know that it wouldn't hold him back much but it's better than nothing.
The 4th user is smiling again as he looks around the field. The air is pretty tense but the three of us have grins on our faces save for Daiyousei who has a serious expression.
Without saying a word, we began our game. Rumia rushes from his left, using some of my floating heads as a foothold while simultaneously using her darkness to blindfold him.
Cirno, who now finished making snowballs, started to create ice walls. On the other hand, Daiyousei and me first started throwing snowballs in certain locations to make them slippery, like how people can slip from banana peels, before throwing them at the man.
Using OFA, the 4th user easily broke through the ice on his feet, and the ice wall blocking him forward making Rumia miss her tackle.
I would've used flying headbutts to further hinder his path but with the force behind his movements, I doubt that my heads would be able to withstand it. Using them for support is much more efficient in this case.
Other than OFA, I've already forgotten what his actual quirk was, but I am certain that it is something that somewhat grants him the capability to navigate his close proximity as he manages to dodge Rumia but crashes through ice walls while blindfolded.
The snowballs that were thrown at him are also somehow dodged, perhaps he is sensitive to the air flow or he has some sort of 6th sense?...
...6th sense? Wait a minute, That's right! His quirk was [Danger sense]!
Calling over Cirno, I quickly whispered to her my idea. She nodded at me before gaining some distance by skating on her ice. I whispered over my idea and hypothesis to Daiyousei while we took in more snowballs in our arms.
Cirno made ice spikes and threw them over the man which he and Rumia avoided but it slowed him down enough for me and Daiyousei to set off snowballs in his direction.
He slightly jumped backwards to evade the snowballs in front of him, Rumia to his right, preplaced ice spikes to his left, and some floating heads above him, only to find out that a tree was behind him, cutting his escape short.
The snowballs made his way to his now uncovered face, courtesy of Rumia who wanted to his expression as he gets pelted.
With his sight now recovered, he only took a single glance at what's in front of him before deciding a counter.
In a speed that I couldn't follow with my eyes, he took both hands and clapped. This action created a shockwave that broke the ice, dispelled at least 20 of my heads and pushed me, Cirno and Rumia backwards.
Lowering his guard, his took a look at the nearly uprooted trees and the three of us who now lie on the ground. Despite how sounds of cawing birds in the background and the small ringing in our ears, we all hear an audible splat coming from behind him.
Behind the 4th user is Daiyousei who threw a snowball in his close proximity. Daiyousei, who is quiet, who had little to no ill intent, managed to bypass his danger sense quirk and finally managed to hit him when he turned somewhat lax in his defenses. I guess this proves my hypothesis that some of my ill intent somehow mixed and stuck onto her attacks.
"I-I did it? I did it!" Daiyousei's eyes widen, she almost couldn't believe that she managed to succeed on an impromptu adjustment to our plan but the small smile creeping on the corner of her lips couldn't betray the happiness she felt.
Rumia was absolutely relishing in the disbelieved expression on his face. She collected some of the scattered snowballs on the ground, about to throw more snowballs while her grin practically went from ear to ear.
Cirno started laughing, holding her stomach while she created more snowballs by her side. Judging by the somewhat loose shapes of the snowballs, she was barely holding on standing due to how hard she was laughing.
Looking at this scene, I can't help but feel a great sense of satisfaction. A small victory it may be, still felt amazing. Perhaps like a runner's high when they reach the finish line? If so, it is understandable why we all let loose now that the tension is lost.
Amidst our joy, the sound of the 4th user softly chuckling sounded out.
"Now that I think about it, I haven't introduced myself have I?" The four of us set our gaze on him as he seemed to enjoy this moment. "I am called Hikage Shinomori. You may simply address me Shinomori... And now it is my turn."
Shinomori picks up a snowball by his feet as we make some distance. It would be a lie if I said that I wasn't the least bit intimidated. Having the table turned on us is certainly not surprising but looking at my friends, I am sure that they are having fun at this.
I can feel the excitement starting to bubble within me. As I clenched my fist in anticipation I remade the heads that were dispelled and made them block his sight of us as we collected more snowballs and took aim.
'This game has just truly begun... and I- no, we are really having fun.' From the corner of my eyes, I took a peek at the surroundings. 'Yup. Can't let loose a bit and not have collateral damage like this in gensokyo without getting scolded.'
Musing such thoughts such as that, we started the second phase of our game.