Fuyushi himself didn't mind the foliage. His mind was more focused on two things: to save the Firefly Princess and what to eat for dinner. Hey, a monk has to feed himself...but then, didn't the monks in the monk academy taught him not ot mind the worldly things? Alas, his stomach was another universe on its own so it's technically not a 'worldly' thing.
That was when Kai opened his mouth to bark, "What does the Firefly Princess do anyway?"
"Yeah," Hitsumi added. "Does she have any powers?"
Fuyushi shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she rallies fireflies?"
Suddenly, something in his monk robes vibrated. Apparently it was his makeshift pocket; the one that the monks in the monk academy taught him how to fashion a simple piece of cloth to do just that. He frantically shoved his hand in. His hand caught the steel whistle and a piece of parchment that was wrapped around it.
Okay.
That wasn't there before. Or was it? Things always had a nasty way of showing up in his makeshift monk pockets. Must be a new skill. Cool.
"What's that?" Kai said, shoving his face onto the parchment that Fuyushi spread out in his hands.
"Chill," he said. "Good things happen to those who wait. Okay, what is this?"
"Look," Hitsumi added. "It says, 'Stare at dot.'"
"Okay. Staring."
Suddenly, a dark gray misty hologram of Selim, the boy with the shopkeeper from a while ago, appeared in front of them. It seemed to have come from the dot from the parchment.
"You have reached Yumi's Customer Service Hotline," said holographic Selim. "Yumi has a message for you."
Then Yumi's face replaced Selim's on the hologram, only this time the mist was pink. "I'm very interested as to where your efforts will lead to."
"Thanks," Fuyushi replied.
"But," Yumi continued. "I believe you have a question?"
"Yeah," Kai interrupted. "We don't know who the Firefly Princess is."
Hitsumi nodded in agreement.
Yumi's hologram looked like she was thinking for a moment. "There are legends and stories about the Firefly Princess. Shall I tell you the popular one?"
"Yes please," said Fuyushi. "I like stories. My monk sempais used to tell me lots."
Hitsumi snorted.
"It was believed that the Firefly Princess was a Sentinel of Light. [A/N: Is there such a word as 'bringer'? I was gonna use 'bringer' or 'harbringer' but that sounds evil] People believed that she was holding an infinite light source; the one that gave the fireflies their lights to navigate and to give warmth to humans at night."
"See? Rallies fireflies," Fuyushi gloated.
"Yes, but that's not all," Yumi added. "She has two kinds of fireflies that do separate things. One, she has fireflies that lead people to the Light and by Light, I mean to their final resting place. The second kind are the fireflies that light the path for the Hundred Demon Parade."
"Okay. Is she evil or not?" Hitsumi asked.
"It doesn't matter!" Fuyushi said.
"Hush, brave soul," interrupted the shopkeeper. "All will be answered soon."
"Can't you just answer it now? For us?" said Kai, sounding really lazy.
"No," was Yumi's flat out reply. Her pink mist form turned to Fuyushi. "Be wary. Your first puzzle is fast approaching."
Fuyushi looked at the parchment and a bulleted checklist appeared. It said:
- Get the Lunar hairpin from the Opium Queen
- Appeal to the Pirate Lord for access to the Banshee's Sea
- Get black dye from the Banshee
- DONT FORGET TO USE THE WHISTLE
- Have fun
Yumi's apparition said, "The Opium Queen's plantation is just beyond that sign." Her pink apparition pointed to a big sign that said, "Chiharu's Soul Trade Opium Industry."
"A plantation?" Kai asked Hitsumi.
"She plants opium," she replied.
"Opium is a plant? I thought it was a drug."
"You clearly have not been reading Wiki diligently."
"Shopkeeper, what do we have to do to steal the--" before Fuyushi could finish his sentence, he had realized that the pink apparition form the parchment had already faded. The words rearranged themselves to say, "Be back in a bit."
"We should get ourselves one of these," said Hitsumi, pertaining to the parchment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The unlikely trio stopped in a place that oddly reminded them of a familiar hacienda, except this one had strange psychedelic lights rigged all around the place, Hitsumi stopped and pulled them behind a bush.
"We need a plan," said she.
"Steal the lunar hairpin," said Fuyushi.
"No Fuyushi. It can't be that obvious," said Kai, rolling his eyes. "Can we call you Fu? Fuyushi's too long." (Let's all call him Fu now. His name's too long)
"But... my manhood is in that name!" Fu teared up. "Even the author is calling me Fu!"
"Breaking the 4th wall already Fu?" added Hitsumi, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Besides Fu sounds cool. Like, you know, the Fu in Kung Fu." She wiggled her eyebrows.
"How about we Kung Fu our way to stealing the hairpin?" grinned Kai. A piece of a plant got into his face and he slapped it away. "Dear Konohamaru! Opium!"
"We are in an opium plantation," said Hitsumi.
"Okay okay guys," said Fu. "Follow my lead."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a knock on the door.
The Opium Queen thought it sounded too annoying. "Guntheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" she called out.
Just as she hollered, a penguin appeared in front of her.
"Go get the door."
"Quack!" [T/N: What does the penguin say? Like, really?]
"No, they're probably not muggers. Just go get it. Must be some customers."
"Quack, quack."
"Yeah, yeah. Earn your keep, you flightless avian."
"Quack!"
"Hello!" said a monk as Gunther the penguin opened the Spanish villa-ish doors. "We are CDC [T/N: Google it] and we would like to see if your plantation is following the standards."
"Because no one likes E.coli in their Opium!" added a girl with brown wavy hair and blue eyes.
"Have you been washing your Opium frequently?" said a guy with eerie white hair.
"Keeping any livestock in your plantation?" said the monk.
The Opium Queen furrowed her eyebrows. "Ugggh CDC people. Fine, fine. Gunther and I will see you through. This way."
As she stood up, psychedelic lights were starting to dance around the place in different neon colors.
"Oooooh," said the white haired teen. "Pretty lights."
The female elbowed him.
"I like to keep things trippy around here," said the Opium Queen. After a pause, she said, "No violation in there right?"
"Nope," the monk shook his head. "None ma'am."
"Alright," she stopped in front of an ornate wooden door. Probably mahogany. "This is the fairy room. Most of my hands-on workers are fairies 'cause they love nature and stuff and they don't break the opium leaves. The penguins do 'cause they don't have hands so I make them work around the house instead.."
The girl gasped. "Oh no ma'am! We'll have to check your penguins! For all we know, they could be carrying a lot of potential pathogens.
The Opium Queen waved her head. "Check Gunther. He's my head penguin."
The girl picked up the penguin in her hands and stared at it.
The white haired guy and the monk stared at him too.
"Just look at him," said the white haired guy.
"QUACK!"
"Those eyes... pure evil," added the monk.
"Quack, Quack."
The girl started whispering things to the penguin.
After a while of looking at them, the Opium Queen finally snapped. "HEY. Y'all taking so long! Gunther, go fetch me some honey."
"Quack! Quack quack quack quack, quackinns."
"Gunther, what are you talking about?"
The three visitors turned to look at the Opium Queen.
"QUICK! IT'S ON HER HAIR!" hollered the girl.
"What?" spat out the Queen.
Before the Queen could come up with something, Gunther fell flat on her face and she felt a few strong hands grab her and tie her to a fabulous red velvet chair.
"WHAT IS THIS? I'M GOING TO THROW YOU ALL INTO HONEY WHERE Y'ALL GOING TO BE EMBERIZED AND I'M GOING TO DISPLAY Y'ALL TO THE NEXT CDC PEOPLE THAT'LL COME!"
"No need for that ma'am," said the monk. "We're just here for one thing."
"You can get the Diamond Opium for all you want. I can make more of those in no time!"
"The what?" the monk blinked, looking surprised.
"GUNTHER! YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME!"
"QUACK!"
"No, I DID NOT REARRANGE YOUR NEST THING!"
"We just want this," said the girl, reaching into her hair and plucking out a hairpin that looked like crystallized opium shaped into a crescent moon.
"Naw, not that!"
"And how come?" said the white haired guy.
"Because that's my boarding pass to a cruise ship. I always go on one to unwind."
The look on their faces said, "HUH?"
"I thought it was connected to probably a sister of yours?" said the girl.
"Yeah. So?"
"I thought she was a pirate," said the monk.
"Who said pirates don't have cruise ships?" answered the Queen.
"Okay, that's it," said the monk.
"Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am," said the girl.
"And by the way, we're not from CDC," added the white haired guy.
The Opium Queen wasn't enraged. Instead, she replied, "NO DUH."
With a smirk, the door from the fairy room burst open and a legion of angry pixies and fairies poured out into the room.
--------------------------------------to be continued in chapter 3------------------------------------------
