Gensokyo Population Revitalization Plan

"Hmph~ Hmph~~"

Mu Huai hummed a smug little tune as he strolled leisurely along the forest path paved with gray flagstones.

After leaving the Scarlet Devil Mansion, he rushed to the Hakurei Shrine. Thanks to the fact that he hadn't made an appointment with Reimu, he had plenty of time to enjoy Remilia and Flandre's two pairs of delicious black and white ice creams.

After a long time, I came to Hakurei Shrine again. I don’t know if it was just my imagination, but Mu Huai felt that the slightly old torii gates seemed to be much brighter in color.

"Could it be that Reimu paid to repaint it?"

"Given her stingy nature, it's highly unlikely; it's absolutely impossible for her to pay for the renovation of the shrine herself."

"Hey! Brother Mu Huai, what are you muttering to yourself at the top of the stairs?"

A small hand patted Mu Huai heavily on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Marisa's energetic smiling face.

"It's nothing. I came here specifically to be a temporary coach for Reimu's pay-to-win team. Are you a member of the team too?"

"That's right!"

Hearing the answer, Mu Huai was even more puzzled: "She even requires players to bring their own gaming devices to training. What exactly are you after in joining her team?"

"Ahem... Of course, it's because we share the same dream."

He rolled his eyes, clearly unconvinced by the other party's extremely perfunctory explanation: "You might be able to fool Cirno with that, but forget it, I'm too lazy to investigate this matter further. Is everyone else at the shrine?"

"Hmm, Reimu called everyone over, saying she had something important to announce, but I didn't expect it to be related to you."

As Marisa spoke, she pulled him toward the shrine's courtyard. They walked through a dangerous, dilapidated corridor that creaked constantly, and finally came to a room with relatively intact paper windows. They pushed open the door and went inside.

"Reimu! Look who I brought here?"

"Oh, Yao... Mu Huai, you've come!"

Reimu quickly stepped forward, pushing Marisa aside who was standing next to Mu Huai, and gently placed her small hand on his arm, looking like a little bird clinging to him.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time. It must have been tiring to walk all the way to the shrine. Would you like to have some water and rest for a bit?"

"Uh...then I'll have a cup of tea."

"I understand." She floated out of the room, leaving the other four people with shattered eyeballs.

Suika Ibuki rubbed her eyes, looking as if she'd seen a ghost: "Did I just hallucinate? That lazy, gluttonous Reimu actually..."

"This might be a sign that Reimu has grown. Love really can change a person." Sanae said meaningfully, her affectionate gaze falling on Mu Huai like a dragonfly skimming the water before quickly withdrawing, a hint of wariness towards Reimu creeping into her heart.

"It's not surprising that the two of you are here, but this one is..."

Mu Huai's surprised gaze fell on the girl who resembled an exquisite doll; her inhuman beauty gave people a dreamlike feeling.

Alice Margotrovid, the "Seven-Colored Doll Master" who lives in the Enchanted Forest.

"Hello Mr. Mu Huai, I remember you visited me with your girlfriend a long time ago, but I wasn't home at the time."

"So you still remember, Miss Alice. May I ask why you joined Reimu's team?"

"Hehe, let me explain it to my master!"

The chibi-style blonde doll that had been sitting on her shoulder suddenly floated in front of Mu Huai. Its lifelike expression made it hard not to suspect that it actually had its own life and thoughts.

"Because the way you control a character in a game is similar to how you control a puppet, the owner wanted to join a team to experience this completely different way of controlling the character."

"I joined Reimu's team purely because she was the first person to recruit a master!"

"I see, thank you for your explanation."

"You're welcome!" The doll bowed politely, then floated back to sit on Alice's shoulder.

Marisa smacked her lips and exclaimed, "No matter how many times I see it, I still think Alice's doll is amazing. How is it made? Is it because there are a lot of mushrooms in the ingredients?"

Ignoring her strange speculations about mushrooms, Mu Huai knew very well that the dolls she created did not actually have life; they were essentially manipulated by Alice using magic threads.

In other words, the doll's playful personality and maid-like way of speaking are Alice using them for role-playing.

However, Mu Huai wouldn't expose this matter. He still wanted to win Alice over, and if he ruined her on their first meeting, he probably wouldn't get a good look from her again.

After Lingmeng returned with hot tea, Mu Huai asked her to sit down, and then immediately transformed into a temporary coach to assign them training tasks.

Compared to Remilia's expensively built e-sports training room, the environment here is much worse. Each person has a small wooden table and cushion, along with a portable laptop and wireless mouse.

Fortunately, their enthusiasm made up for the difference in environment, and the five of them played together quite well.

"That's pretty much what a coach needs to do. I suggest finding someone to be your coach, as letting you create your own plans might affect the training rhythm."

"In that case, I'll be the coach," Alice's doll floated into the air and volunteered.

Mu Huai glanced at her as she dominated the game with Yakumo Yukari, and sincerely admired her ability to multitask: "Okay, do you need me to repeat the key points from earlier?"

"If it's possible, I'd appreciate it if you could help me!"

"Small things, first and foremost, as a coach..."

For an entire day, Mu Huai ran around Gensokyo, arranging training and explaining the competition rules to the team that had now assembled its members.

A rough count shows that there are more than 20 teams and hundreds of participants in the Dream Cup, which is an incredible number for the newly launched Gensokyo Rumble.

This also indirectly confirms its popularity.

Even monsters of extremely weak species can defeat monsters stronger than themselves in the game through skill, which is a particularly important factor.

The orange sunset gradually sank below the horizon, and the soft light was slowly being replaced by the darkness of night.

Mu Huai had just walked out of the last team's temporary base when he shouted twice into the sky, "Zi Mei, if you have time, let me come to your house, and while I'm at it, I'll also bring the paparazzi Wen over!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the gap filled with scarlet eyeballs instantly opened up in front of him, sucking him in.

After a dizzying sensation, a solid footstep came from beneath his feet, and Mu Huai once again arrived at the Yakumo Residence, whose location remained unknown to this day.

Aya Shameimaru was only wearing a bath towel, her hair was covered in white foam, and she looked completely bewildered.

Yakumo Ran slowly walked out of the inner room, bowed and said, "Mr. Mu Huai, Ms. Shameimaru Aya, Lord Murasaki is waiting for you two in the inner room."

"Okay, let's go in."

"Wait, Brother Mu Huai, didn't you see that I'm only wearing a towel?"

He scoffed, "So what? It's not like I haven't seen you without clothes on before."

Volume 4, "Anything Can Happen in Gensokyo": Chapter 12, Paparazzi Article: How Can He Be So Brave?

Mu Huai's words contained a wealth of information, so much so that Yakumo Ran, who was about to leave, froze on the spot, her gaze uncontrollably shifting between the two, her inner gossip burning fiercely.

"you!"

Shameimaru Aya clutched the towel to her chest, her face instantly turning bright red, almost bleeding. Her not-so-large breasts heaved violently, and her almond-shaped eyes burned with shame.

A few days ago, because of her self-exposure, she had to repay Mu Huai with her body. After the two agreed on a time, Mu Huai brought a JK uniform that was terrible in every sense of the word to her house.

He even sat in the young girl's boudoir with an air of grandeur, watching her take off her clothes one by one, and then change into a sailor-style top that revealed her southern hemisphere and a black pleated skirt connected by thin ropes at the waist.

If Aya Shameimaru hadn't developed a thick skin during her career as a journalist, she probably would have fainted from shame long ago. Or perhaps she was afraid that if she actually fainted, she would lose her innocence, which is why she managed to put on her clothes with great willpower.

During this time, Mu Huai's gaze swept over her body like a blazing laser, leaving no spot untouched.

Finally, he took over a hundred distinctive photos of her forcing a smile with his phone, and only then was this act of sexual repayment considered over.

As the flashback ended, Aya Shameimaru, like a fully cooked shrimp, turned pink from her snow-white skin.

Mu Huai walked up to her as if nothing had happened.

"W-What are you going to do!?"

"Huh?" He glanced down at her, puzzled, then grabbed her wrist. "Of course we should go inside. Your hair isn't even dry. Are you trying to catch a cold by standing outside in the wind?"

"oh oh..."

Shameimaru Aya was led into the house by him in a daze, as if the anger she had felt earlier, which made her want to bite a piece of him off, was just an illusion.

When she came to her senses, she found herself kneeling on the tatami like an obedient doll, with a full-length mirror in front of her and Mu Huai standing behind her, carefully drying her hair with a hairdryer.

The temperature of his fingertips was hotter than the heat from the hairdryer, burning her heart along her hair. Occasionally, when his fingertips accidentally touched the back of her neck, it would make her heart skip a beat.

"Tell me if it's too hot!"

"Uh-huh..."

Yakumo Yukari propped her chin up with her hand, munching on a senbei (rice cracker) while watching the two of them with a gossipy look. As a well-known voyeur in Gensokyo, she knew that Shameimaru Aya had a long-standing habit of using Muhuai's photos to generate her own fantasies.

Despite her seemingly virtuous and indomitable demeanor on the day she was photographed, the moment Mu Huai left, this lecherous tengu immediately grabbed the camera from the desk.

Using the recorded images, she put on an intense water magic show, producing such a large volume of water that it ranks among the top three of all the girls Yakumo Yukari has ever seen.

(Why didn't I think of letting the paparazzi Wen and Mu Huai have more contact before? But knowing this tengu's personality, even if he had a relationship with him, he might still be obsessed with gossip news.)

The youkai of Gensokyo don't actually have a strong obsession with love; the most typical example right now is Suika Ibuki.

Time has diminished some of the emotions of the yokai, so only interesting things can move them.

Suika Ibuki's initial attraction to Moku was curiosity. As she got to know him, she came to believe he was a decent human being she could get along with. Later, through multiple encounters and body-swapping incidents, she used other people's bodies to have pleasure with him.

She finally concluded that she could entrust her body to him and enjoy exercising together, so she went to another world to be with him.

From beginning to end, the emotions of "curiosity" and "novelty" dominated, and the feeling of liking could be said to have developed after the relationship took place.

Most youkai in Gensokyo are like that, but that doesn't mean they're easygoing. You have to first pique their interest and gain their approval through contact before anything further is possible.

However, it cannot be ruled out that some carnivorous monsters are simply lusting after Mu Huai's body and only want to get on the bus without paying the fare.

After learning from Suika Ibuki that the divine sake was given to him by Mokuei, Hoshiguma Yuugi wanted to repay him with his body, but he was always blocked by Yakumo Yukari with gaps on his way to Pelican Town.

Although Mu Huai's relationship with a youkai is a good thing for reviving his best friend, Yakumo Yukari is not sure if this simple physical relationship can further connect him with Gensokyo.

She dared not gamble with something so important. Fortunately, after being stopped several times, Hoshiguma Yuugi realized something and stopped trying to take advantage of Moku Huai, which relieved her.

After Aya Shameimaru's hair was dried, Mu Huai began to talk to her and Yukari Yakumo about serious matters.

"You should both be free in two weeks, right?"

"I am a sage of monsters, I am busy with many things every day, I don't have time."

Mu Huai glared at Yakumo Yukari, who was hiding half her face with a fan and smiling: "You're always lounging at home either spying or stirring up trouble on the Gensokyo forum. What are you pretending to be so busy for? Believe me or not, I'll just block your IP and make sure you can't use the internet anymore!"

"Oh dear, are you threatening me?"

An immense sense of oppression rushed towards her, and Yakumo Yukari slightly opened her crescent-shaped eyes, a chilling killing intent flashing in her purple pupils.

Shameimaru Aya was so frightened that she didn't dare to breathe. She hid her small hands under the table and tugged hard at Mu Huai's clothes, signaling him not to continue provoking the other party or he would be locked in the gap.

"How dare I threaten the monster Idler?" Mu Huai said with a forced smile. "After all, you used to kick my kidneys for no reason before. I can't stand that kind of sneak attack."

"Don't you have any doubts about Kaguya at all?"

"Would she harm my brother?"

Yukari Yakumo laughed in exasperation at the answer. The chilling killing intent emanating from her vanished instantly, and she reverted to her lazy, useless mode, slumped on the table, crunching away at her senbei (rice crackers).

"Tell me, what do you want me to do in two weeks?"

"Go be a commentator for the Dream Cup."

"What are the benefits?"

"Let me think..."

Mu Huai didn't know what Yakumo Yukari liked, and it would be troublesome to send a gift to someone from the "Indian" area. He glanced at the loose white T-shirt she was wearing and tentatively asked a question.

"How about...we go on a date in another world, and buy some pretty clothes or something?"

Shameimaru Aya's eyes widened like a bull's. She wondered if Mu Huai had lost his mind, being so audacious as to set his sights on Yakumo Yukari.

If she knew that he actually wanted to seduce Yukari Yakumo on his very first day in Gensokyo, she would probably be so shocked that she would want to pry open his skull to see what was inside.

"I'll pass, but you can bring Lan over to have some fun."

Yukari Yakumo gave a mysterious smile that was hard to decipher, as if this was her original plan.

"Then it's settled, Paparazzi Wen, what about you?"

"I have time, but I want something in return!"

"no problem."

"Then... let me do an exclusive interview with you!"

Mu Huai thought she would ask him to delete those photos, but he didn't expect her to be so dedicated, still thinking about the news: "I promise you, let's set the time a week after the Dream Cup ends."

"It's a deal!!"

Volume 4, "Anything Can Happen in Gensokyo": Chapter 13, "Revisiting Orario"