“Uhhhh, where am I? What happened to me?” I groggily groaned as I slowly pulled myself off the ground. I dusted my clothes and tried to remember what exactly happened before I woke up. After trying for a while, I found out that I had no clear memories of anything before I woke up, except my name. All of my memories were hazy and distorted, as if something was inferring with them, which prevented me from accessing any of them. In disbelief, I tried to vocalize everything that I could, hoping that my mouth somehow remembered even when my brain could not, but I only managed to say one sentence. “My name is Ayaka Komeiji……” Then I went silent.
“No way, I really can’t remember anything except my name.” I pathetically whispered as I fell to my knees, eyes full of tears. I continued to cry for what seemed to be hours before I eventually snapped out of it.
“No point in despairing about the past, I should focus on the present,” I mumbled to myself as I slowly rose to my feet again. “Back to my original question, where am I?”
I looked around and saw that I was in some kind of enclosed space. Stone walls prevented me from moving to my left and right and over my head was a stone ceiling. It seemed that I was in some sort of cave. Behind me, the ground slanted upwards supposedly towards the surface, while in front of me the ground sloped downwards leading deeper into the cave. After looking at my surroundings for a while, I came to the realization that I could see everything perfectly, despite being in a cave.
‘It seems like the only choice I have is to either move deeper in this cave or attempt to follow this cave to the surface. Logically, I should try to go upwards, as I have a feeling that it will likely lead me out of this cave, but I feel something resonating with me deeper in the cave.’ I thought to myself.
The attraction to whatever was deeper inside the cave gradually grew stronger, eventually becoming a feeling of excitement and relief similar to returning to my house and family after being away from them for a long time. After a while, I was still hesitating between the two options, when suddenly…
BAANNNGGG
A loud sound echoed behind me, from where the path led upwards and the entire cave started to shake. Hearing the sound and feeling the tremors made me make a decision.
‘I definitely do not want to go upwards after hearing that. There is definitely something strong and threatening up there, but I don’t know what. Anyways, I am not risking my life going up and messing with something that could create such a loud noise. There could be something even more dangerous downwards, but I’m willing to take the chances as it is not guaranteed that something dangerous is deeper in this cave, highly probable maybe, but not guaranteed. Guess that means I’m going deeper into this cave then’ I reasoned.
Just before I started to follow through with my decision, two books suddenly fell within a few feet of where I awoke. The two books were titled Myths and Legends Around the World and How to Best Learn from Observation. They looked oddly familiar to me and they landed near where I awoke, so I reasoned that they were likely with me before something happened to me. I grabbed the books and began to move downwards, deeper into the cave. A few moments later, a giant building appeared in my vision. The building itself had no front yard, a tiled pathway to the large double doors, statues of animals on top of the roof, stained glass windows that formed a mosaic of a rose, and several eyes carved into whatever material that the building was made of.
“What is this place?” The words flowed out of my mouth unintentionally. I was not expecting an answer because the place looked to be devoid of any people, but I heard a voice behind me.
“This is Chireiden, otherwise known as the Palace of Earth Spirits.” The voice explained.
I hurriedly turned around to see who had answered my question. I turned around and saw the person who had answered my question. I saw a girl with long, bright red hair tied into a twin tails hairstyle with green two black ribbons tied to each side of her hair and had a ribbon tied on her left leg. She wore a forest green dress with a red band near the collar with black shoes. Most notably however, she had a pair of cat ears on top of her head. The edges of these ears were black, but the inside was red. In one of her hands, she was holding onto a two-wheeled wheelbarrow. In the other, she held a white rock-like thing that glowed with a weird bluish aura. I thought that she would have a composed expression on her face because of how calmly she answered my question, but instead it showed a look of complete shock.
“Ummm, uhhhh, p-p-pardon my rudeness but what is your name, and how did you, a human, get here?” The girl asked while stuttering, dropping her rock in disbelief. “I didn’t receive any reports about any visitors or intruders”. The girl muttered under her breath.
‘W-w-who i-i-is t-this g-girl and w-w-what should I do? I-I’m scared to talk to her, but I’m also scared of what she will do if I d-don’t answer. W-w-why did I already have to meet a stranger to talk to this early?’ I thought in a panic. For a few moments I was speechless, thinking to myself ‘strangers scary, interaction scary, conversation bad.’
After becoming a nervous wreck for a good few seconds, I finally concluded ‘Not good, I probably have to answer her questions or else I will be deemed as someone suspicious. O-o-oh w-w-well w-what must be done, must be done I guess, here we go. I can do this, I can do this, I c-c-can d-do this.’ I tried to reassure myself, but it ended up failing as I was more nervous to talk to this girl than I was before. I couldn’t help myself from getting scared, strangers had always scared me. Suddenly, I froze in place as I attempted to figure out where the idea that strangers had always scared me came from. ‘Wait, strangers, why did they always scare me before? Likely something to do with my missing memories. Seems like I can remember the effects of certain moments of my life, but not the moments themselves’ I deduced before remembering that there was someone in front of me who wanted an answer.
“Hello? Did you hear me?” The girl asked while stepping closer to me, trying to grab my shoulder.
I quickly stepped back. ‘N-n-no c-c-choice, I-I h-have to talk, h-here it g-goes’
“H-h-he-hello, m-m-my n-name i-is A-ayaka Komeiji a-and I w-woke u-up around here w-without m-my memories. W-who are you? A-and i-i-is t-there a p-problem with m-me being a h-human?” I uttered in a very quiet voice that was practically silent.
The girl’s ears twitched then she chuckled before responding. “My name is Rin Kaenbyou, but everyone calls me Orin, feel free to call me Orin for the moment though. There’s nothing wrong with you being a human, I was just surprised that a human managed to wander this far deep in the Underground. Usually, humans stay in their village at the surface.”
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‘What is this Underground? Why do humans limit themselves to one place? Are these humans similar to me?’ Many questions came to my mind after she finished talking.
I wanted to ask her more about this Underground that she talks about and the village that humans stayed in, but in the end, I was unable to because I could not gather the courage to talk to her again. I was only able to respond because I thought that something bad might happen to me if I didn’t, but now that the impetus has died out, I could no longer bring myself to say any words.
‘This will be helpful, this will be helpful, it’s only a few words, I can do this.’ I tried to convince myself that more information would be very helpful, hoping to gather enough courage to be able to ask Orin the questions that appeared in my head. After about a minute, I was finally able to gather enough courage to ask her. I slowly opened my mouth, but before any words came out, I heard a voice resound in my head.
Contact with a resident of Gensokyo detected
System Initializing
10% 35% 52% 73% 87% 98% 100%
Initialization complete
System #1100312 online
The voice sounded mechanical and emotionless. To me, it gave me the feeling of someone who was only focused on accomplishing their goal regardless of how others would feel. The type of person focused solely on object analysis without letting any of their emotions or thoughts cloud their judgment.
Hello Host and welcome to your new life!
Suddenly, the voice swapped to a joyful and excitable tone, similar to the type of voice a little child would make after their parents gave them a gift.
“W-w-who a-are you?” I asked the new voice, shocked that another person had appeared.
“Did you ask me something?” Rin responded while her ears twitched.
I quickly shook my head before I tried something.
‘H-h-hello? C-can you hear me?’ I thought in my mind.
Loud and clear host! Host can talk to me though your mind. My voice will also only be heard by Host, as only are my host
‘W-w-who a-are y-you?!’ I asked, panicking at the fact that there was someone else that I did not know who was trying to talk to me.
I am your system, here to help Host through Host’s new life. I am like an assistant for Host, here to help Host get stronger.
‘D-d-do y-you have a name, a-also, a-are y-you a girl o-or a boy?’ I questioned.
I do not, if Host wants, Host could assign me a name. I mostly regard myself as a female.
I considered many names before finally deciding on one. ‘O-o-okay, h-how about Miu, and p-please d-don’t be so formal, just call me Ayaka?’
Name accepted
System #1100312 has been renamed Miu
Miu’s voice once again swapped to the mechanical voice devoid of emotions.
Thanks for the name Ayaka! I will do my best to help you in your life
As quickly as Miu’s voice had switched to the emotionless one, it swapped back to the innocent and gleeful one. ‘Why does your voice swap between a mechanical one to an excited one?’ I asked, curious about the reason why Miu’s voice changes. However, before Miu was able to respond, I heard Orin start to ask me something.
“Are you okay Ayaka?” Orin questioned, worried about why I had gone silent and frozen in place for so long.
I quickly nodded to Orin before turning my attention to Miu, who was just beginning to explain the reason for the change in tone.
The system essentially has two modes, or personas as I like to call them. Each one has a designated responsibility and duty over certain aspects of the system. I am one of these two modes, and I am in charge of talking to you, answering your questions, and providing guidance. The other persona, the one with the more mechanical voice, is in charge of announcing system notifications, analyzing information, and reporting the analysis information.
At this point, I started to grow a bit more fond of Miu after interacting with her for a while and knowing that she will probably stick with me for a long time. Also, naming her really made me feel more affectionate toward her, as it, for some reason, made me feel proud to have been able to name someone and engage in a conversation for this long with them.
As a result of my growing fondness, I started to stutter less when talking to her. Although I still stuttered quite a bit, it was much less than when I talked to Rin. Perhaps someday, it will lessen to the point when it will be like speaking to my family and my stuttering will completely disappear.
‘D-do you want me to n-name each person something d-different to distinguish y-you two?’ I asked Miu in my mind.
If you want to, go ahead! I’m fine either way if you decide to name us differently or call us the same name. We may have different personalities, but we are still part of the same system, so either way, I’m fine with either choice! Miu brightly responded.
‘O-okay, in that case, I-I will keep the name Miu for you, and r-rename the emotionless personality Mio’
Host Interactions Unit has been named Miu
Analysis Processing Unit has been named Mio
Mio emotionlessly reported.
Great decision Ayaka, now you can distinguish who you ask for something!
Miu excitedly complimented me.
I faintly smiled and blushed at her compliment.
“What are you so happy about? It’s fine if you don’t tell me, I’m just curious about what made you happy, anyways it’s been quite a while since you’ve just been standing there, so do you want somewhere to sit down and rest? I could bring you into the palace if you want.” Orin asked, noticing the smile and blush on my face.
I nodded to Orin while my blush deepened due to being embarrassed that she had noticed my smile and blush.
“Follow me then,” Orin instructed while walking forward toward Chireiden.
I quickly followed after her. While following her, I decided to request something from Mio.
‘Mio, could you tell me who Orin is?’
Affirmative Ayaka
Analyzing… Analyzing… Analysis completed
Rin Kaenbyou, one of Satori Komeiji’s pets. A kasha with the ability to carry away corpses and talk to and command spirits. She has an energetic and overall positive personality, loves to talk to people, and takes great pleasure in her work. Her job is to carry corpses deep into the Underground to regulate the heat produced. Despite her job as a corpse carrier, she does not kill humans; instead, she tracks down those close to their death, engaging in conversation with them right before they die, then retrieving their corpses. In addition, she has no interest in digging up corpses after they have been buried.
Mio reported after a while.
Almost immediately after Mio finished her report on Orin, we arrived at the entrance to Chireiden.
“Here we are, and welcome to Chireiden!” Orin announced as she opened the large doors to the entrance hall of the palace.