It had started innocently enough. While hunting, I had found various pamphlets in another language. After a lot of work with a dictionary, I had eventually figured out that it was about the conflict between the Proletariat¹ and the Bourgeoisie² that keeps bleeding them dry and exploiting their labour. Really, overall, I liked those texts. Unlike the common stance of 'we can't do anything, let's just all stay in the village where it's safe', it instead promoted a more active way to behave. It declared that one should always fight and work to improve things, that one shouldn't tolerate anything less than our due, that we should do everything we can to improve things.

Having discovered something so incredible, so revolutionary, I took to talking about it with others. One of the biggest points I kept coming to is how big Gensokyo is and yet we live in a tiny part of it and keep to it. Maybe the fact that I'm a hunter makes me more aware of it, but the fact that so few of us dare venture out annoys me to no end. There it is, a great big world and we're kept confined by the Youkai oppressor! Apparently, though, there's some people that got a bit annoyed by me talking about that so much and, one day, talks started to get a bit, well... heated. I ended up arguing with an annoyed Mayor for a fair while and, while I kept saying it was possible, he kept arguing that no, it wasn't.

To make a long story short, I ended up agreeing to a bet in the heat of the moment and now, well, I'm in a bit of trouble... Basically, I’m going to live, on my own, outside of the human village for a year. If I make it, I'll have proven that it is possible, but when -their words, they all assume it'll happen- I slink back home shamefully, I'll never mention it ever again. But you know what? I'll show them! I, Sonoda, will live on my own, out there, and I'll have such an easy time of it they'll have no choice but agree with me that it is not only possible but easy!


¹A fancy word for humans I’m assuming

²Clearly some kind of vampire or leech-like youkai.


******

Posing heroically while Imagination drew his portrait, Pride smiled, "At last, we shall show them all! No more cries of 'Sonoda, you moron, shut up already.' will be heard, we shall be known as Sonoda the wise! Sonoda the Brave! Sonoda the Great!"

From his corner, Realism sighed and rubbed his forehead, "That's good and all but we need to do it first. Hell, we need to figure out where to live in the first place. What are our options, Memory?"

A nearby pile of books wiggled and coughed before toppling to reveal Memory buried in it, reading from a book, "Our options are fairly varied, there's a lot of ground after all but first we need to pick an area I suppose. I assume we need to avoid any areas that are too civilized so our options would be... well, for starters, there's the forest of magic and the forest of the lost, there's that nice field near the sunflower field, that's a very pretty area and strangely devoid of youkai. There's also that lake in the forest, it's not too bad to get to, at least during the day. I suppose I should mention the youkai villages as well, the Kappa and Tengu villages to be exact."

Pride snorted, "There's no way the Tengu would let us into their lands though I suppose the youkai mountain, outside of their lands, would work." Realism winced, "That's not exactly a safe place though, same with the forests and the lake. I know we can't find our way in the forest of the lost so that's not an option. The field and the Kappa village, if they let us in, would be the most sensible options. We've always had good relations with the Kappa, our cucumber donations when we go to fish on the lazier days will pay off now."

Pride raised a fist, shaking it as he yelled out, "Screw sensible! Is this not us proving that anywhere in gensokyo is ours for the taking!" I say we should live in the heart of enemy territory and prove that even in adversity, we can survive!" Self-Control struck his hammer a few times, "Calm down, Pride, calm down. Let's argue about our options." Realism suddenly struck a fist in his hand, "And we need to pick who we'll get to build our house, we know a few good contractors." Memory nodded at that, "We do, the town's carpenters already offered to build the house at half price though, to be honest, getting Kappas or Tsuchigumos to build it would go a lot faster. Both of those options would also build the house for using Kappa devices as well while the village's carpenters can't really do that part."

Instincts grumbled from his end, "The Tsuchigumos tend to make houses full of spiders, though, especially pre-human shaped members of their kind, is it a good idea to risk moving in and ending up sharing our house with a sentient spider or two?" Pride snorted, "They are, at most, hand-sized and don't really like to eat humans, there's no risks and getting some goodwill from a growing youkai might pay off later on." Realism nodded, "Point. I'd say all three options have their pros and cons, really."

Organisation nodded, "Right then, so here's our options if I understood right."

Places:
[ ] Forest of Magic
[ ] Great Lake
[ ] Plains
[ ] Kappa Village
[ ] Youkai Mountain

Contractors:
[ ] Human Carpenters
[ ] Kappa Engineers
[ ] Tsuchigumo Builders

(Author Note: Tsuchigumo means Earth Spiders, I tend to favour the original names for species.)