Day 5- Scariest Touhou
?Give- hh- give- it- baaack!?
The little human girl ignored the call, and kept running; she was faster than her pursuer, even weighed down by the pilfered swag, and regardless half of the fun was in the escape. Kogasa, who was as much part of the stolen umbrella as it was part of her, gave futile chase, her youkai eyes allowing her to keep track of the thief despite the swallowing darkness of the moonless night.
The human girl had always been told to fear youkai, especially at night, but she had never paid much attention; the Human Village was safe from any real attack, after all, and the shrine maiden was close enough that no genuinely dangerous youkai would dare come here. When Kogasa had jumped out at her and made a feeble attempt at scaring her, therefore, her impish nature took over; a sudden grab, a push, and a twist, and like the shrine maidens in folk tales, she too had defeated a youkai menace.
Kogasa was about to give up hope of ever being reunited with her other half as the child disappeared around a corner, but suddenly there came a terrified shriek, and the girl reappeared, back-stepping with fear; Kogasa watched as from behind the wall a bear- no, five- twenty- a hundred bears walked forwards, each twice the size of a man, their eyes glowing blood red. The child tripped and fell on her backside, holding Kogasa?s umbrella in front of her for what little protection it could offer. The foremost bear roared and a torrent of flame issued from its mouth, lighting their faces up just long enough for the terrifying image to stay with her long after the light failed. The bear raised a paw, caked black with blood up to the elbow, and pointed a hooked, serrated claw at her. ?RETURN IT,? it seethed, venom spraying forth like spittle from its giant fangs and hissing against the ground.
Kogasa stepped forward glumly, and held her hands out for the umbrella?s return; the child threw it into her hands and, tears streaming down her face, ran away into the night.
?Come on, Kogasa,? the bears spoke in unison; ?kids are Easy Mode.?
?I know, I know, I?m sorry,? she said tearfully, inspecting the umbrella for any damage. ??Thanks, Nue.?
?-
Youkai all feed from humans, but they do so in different ways. Gods exist because of human worship, belief and faith, some youkai come from the folklore and stories humans tell each other and over generations come to believe, and other youkai are forces of nature that exist so humans have an answer to hard questions, like why objects go missing or why harvests are good one year and bad the next.
And then some youkai are born of fears, horror stories, and the darkest of thoughts. They feed off human fear and, were they no longer feared, would cease to exist. The fact they exist at all, then, makes them naturally the scariest of all youkai.
Of course, Gensokyo doesn?t follow the rules of the outside world, so even youkai born of fear aren?t necessarily feared by anyone who matters. And even then, some are just better at it than others. Compared to other youkai in Gensokyo, Kogasa isn?t especially fearsome, but I bet if your umbrella in real life said ?boo!? you?d be surprised, even if it was as meek as she is.
If Kogasa could rewire herself somehow to feed off being adorable, though? she?d quickly become the most powerful being in Gensokyo.
(I?m really surprised Kogasa/Nue isn?t a more popular pairing. One has what the other desperately needs- imagine the fun they could have with Nue uselessly trying to teach Kogasa some tricks of the trade, super cute!)