Arknights, Suika's Messenger Journey

"Chief, should I bring her to the Guard Department now?" Hoshiguma asked stiffly when there was no response from the other end.

"Mm. Since she chose to return to you, it means she probably isn't any of the things we previously suspected.

What is she doing now?"

"She's already asleep!"

"In that case, bring her to the Guard Department tomorrow morning when you report to work," Jiu said after thinking for several seconds.

"Chief, I have one more thing to report!" Just as she was about to hang up, Hoshiguma spotted the wine gourd nearby.

"What is it?"

"I suspect that a business within the city illegally sold alcohol to a minor."

"You're a police officer. Why are you worrying about that ki... Did that child drink alcohol?" Jiu had initially been annoyed by Hoshiguma's baffling remark. Hoshiguma was part of the Major Crimes Unit, after all; she had no need to concern herself with crimes related to commerce and everyday life. But the next second, Jiu realized why Hoshiguma had brought up something that sounded so absurd.

"Mm..." Hoshiguma knew that saying this at a time like this was rather ridiculous, so she gave a couple of noncommittal hums.

"I'll arrange for someone to investigate all businesses in the city licensed to sell alcohol." With that, Jiu hung up first.

Listening to the busy tone, Hoshiguma finally let out a reluctant sigh of relief.

After returning inside and washing up briefly, she moved a cot into the living room and promptly collapsed into sleep.

The next morning.

"Ahh!" A scream rang out from inside the house.

One second, Hoshiguma had been asleep in bed. The next, she was at the door like a hunting panther, moving with lightning speed.

When she opened it, she saw Suika staring upward with teary eyes, her face filled with an indescribable sorrow.

"Don't tell me... you wet the bed?"

Seeing her look as though all hope had died, Hoshiguma gritted her teeth and asked.

This was her bed, after all.

"You're the one who wet the bed! Your whole family wets the bed!" Suika instinctively wanted to retort upon hearing Hoshiguma, but her head did not move at all.

As Hoshiguma stepped closer, she noticed Suika's odd behavior as well. Pointing at her neck, she asked, "What happened to you?"

"I slept wrong... I can't move at all." Suika spoke with tears in her eyes.

"As long as you didn't wet the bed!" Hoshiguma actually revealed a gleeful expression.

"Are you laughing at me..." Suika shouted furiously when she saw Hoshiguma turn away, her shoulders shaking.

"No, no... I just thought of my little sister back home... It made me emotional..." As she spoke, Hoshiguma even wiped at her tears.

But both of them knew those tears were not from homesickness. She had simply laughed herself into tears.

However, Suika's head could not move because of her stiff neck, so she could only watch helplessly as Hoshiguma laughed.

Once she had laughed enough, Hoshiguma sat by the bed and reached out to feel Suika's neck.

"My bed isn't bad, and the pillow is just the right size. How did you manage to sleep wrong...?"

"Don't even mention it. I was half-asleep and wanted to turn over, but forgot I couldn't. So I pushed hard... When I woke up, my neck was horribly sore."

The very mention of her stiff neck filled Suika with anger.

She had forgotten that she now had two enormous things on her head. They fixed her head in place from either side, leaving no room for it to move while she lay in bed.

Hoshiguma walked out with a smile on her face.

"I'll make breakfast. Rub your neck yourself; it'll get better soon."

By the time Hoshiguma finished making egg noodles, Suika emerged from the room, rubbing her neck.

She sat down on a stool and stared at the bowl Hoshiguma placed before her with a strange expression.

"What's wrong?" Hoshiguma asked when she saw Suika staring blankly at the noodles instead of eating.

"Nothing. It's just that this taste feels familiar somehow. I think I've had it before." Touching her cheek, Suika looked conflicted. The egg noodles tasted very familiar, but she could not remember where she had eaten them before.

Hoshiguma was astonished by her words. She had thought Suika finished the noodles last night while half-awake, but apparently she had not woken up at all. She had eaten the entire bowl in her sleep.

"Who cares whether the taste is familiar? If you don't eat soon, the noodles will get soggy..." Hoshiguma lightly patted her head.

Suika thought that made sense. She could slowly recall things she could not remember later, but once noodles got soggy, they were truly soggy.

Ibuki Gourd Was an Inseparable Part of Ibuki Suika

Watching the child somehow eat even clear noodle soup until her mouth was slick with oil, Hoshiguma felt that yesterday she had truly worried for nothing.

It was hard to imagine a child like this being involved in any conspiracy or scheme. Sitting there eating, she had a dazed, silly sort of cuteness.

"You went out yesterday?"

Hoshiguma suddenly asked after watching her eat and drink her fill.

"Yeah. There was nothing in your house, and it wasn't fun, so I went out for a walk."

Suika sprawled across the couch, let out a satisfied burp, and spoke lazily.

"And then?"

"Then I kept walking and walking. I reached another street around the corner and met an old lady selling breakfast tea. She insisted I sit with her and chat, so I kept her company for a while.

"Later, a few little thieves came out, robbed the old lady, and hurt her. I saw them run into a very narrow alley, so I chased after them.

"But they ran too fast, and the paths inside were too complicated, so I lost them.

"Then a blond uncle appeared, muttering something about 'fearing no hardship.' He saw me and asked whether I was lost. I said yes, so he led me out.

"After I got out, I didn't know where else to go. I was afraid of getting lost again, so I came back."

Suika understood that to fool someone, she needed to mix truth with lies. For example, most of what she had said earlier was true, as was the fact that she returned because she did not know what else to do. Only the part about how she got out of the alley was false.

It was not as if Hoshiguma had failed to notice that. She pressed Suika for details about the blond uncle's appearance, and Suika gestured animatedly, almost ready to grab paper and pen and draw Old Ma for her.

Naturally, she only described his general appearance, but that made her story seem even more believable.

"Then this gourd..." Hoshiguma looked toward the wine gourd she had tossed into the trash can.

"Ah, my Ibuki Gourd!" Following Hoshiguma's gaze and seeing the wine gourd, Suika leaped off the couch and rushed to the trash can, pulling it out.

The next second, Hoshiguma lifted her up.

"You're so young. How can you start drinking alcohol? And where did you buy this wine...?"

"I don't know, I forgot. Don't touch my Ibuki Gourd..."

When she realized Hoshiguma wanted to take her wine gourd, Suika simply held it against her chest and wrapped all four limbs around it tightly.

Seeing how completely unreasonable she was being, Hoshiguma decided to take back her earlier assessment that Suika was rather cute. Children truly were synonymous with trouble.

After putting her back on the couch, Hoshiguma turned and carried the bowls into the kitchen.

Once she had cleaned up, Hoshiguma came back out.

"Come with me!"

"Where to?"

"The Guard Department."

"Oh!"

Watching Suika follow behind her with the wine gourd hugged to her chest, Hoshiguma felt her eyelid twitch.

When she opened the door, a cold gust blew inside and sent Suika's skirt fluttering up. Fortunately, Suika reacted quickly, or she would have flashed someone before even leaving the house.

Only then did Hoshiguma realize that Suika's clothes were far too thin for this season.

"Get in!" Pointing at the sidecar motorcycle beside them, Hoshiguma said nothing more and climbed on directly.

Suika's eyes lit up at the sight of the vehicle.

Her impression of sidecar motorcycles was still limited to certain television dramas, where they were the exclusive rides of military officers.

After she got in, the vehicle roared to life and headed onto the street.

Before long, Hoshiguma parked outside a newly opened children's clothing store.

"Let's go!" Hoshiguma got off.

"Hmm? Your Guard Department sells children's clothes?"

The moment Suika spoke, Hoshiguma felt her fists tighten again.

"No. If you go out dressed like that, people will think the Guard Department abuses children.

"Before we go to the Guard Department, I'm buying you a new outfit."

After saying that, Hoshiguma took her hand and led her inside.

Looking at the dazzling array of beautiful clothes, Suika realized for the first time that girls' clothing came in so many different styles.

After agonizing over it for a while, she chose a puffed dress that looked very similar to Pachi's outfit. Then she picked out a large bow to tie at the back of the collar, and only after that did she walk out with Hoshiguma in satisfaction, despite Hoshiguma's frown.

Before choosing the dress, many clothes had been impossible for Suika to wear because of her huge pair of horns. Fortunately, the staff found her a dress that did not need to be pulled over her head, solving the problem.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the Guard Department.

Chen and Swire had already been waiting at the entrance. The former came out because she and Hoshiguma were longtime partners, and Hoshiguma was unusually late today. The latter had heard that the child from yesterday had been found, so she had come specifically to see the little brat who had slipped away without permission and made them search everywhere for her. She also intended to give the child a scare.

When they saw Suika getting out of the vehicle, both of them showed surprised expressions.

"She really is a cute little child. No wonder those traffickers picked her up on impulse." Swire rarely gave other women such a favorable evaluation.

"Mm. Hoshiguma, what is that gourd in her hand?" Chen looked curiously at Suika, who was holding Hoshiguma's hand with one hand and clutching a gourd tightly in the other.

"It's an Ibuki Gourd!" Suika answered on her own initiative.

"An Ibuki Gourd?" Chen was completely baffled.

"It's a wine bottle!" Hoshiguma sounded irritated. Several times on the way here, she had wanted to throw the bottle away, but the little brat had watched it like a hawk. The slightest hint that Hoshiguma might take it away made Suika stare at her warily, giving her no chance at all.

"A wine bottle! My god, Hoshiguma, you let such a little child drink alcohol!" Swire looked shocked.

"I... It's not... Sigh..."

In the end, all of Hoshiguma's explanations turned into a long sigh.

On the way inside, the other two learned that it was not Hoshiguma who had let Suika drink. Yesterday, the little brat had gone out without even eating, taken all the money Hoshiguma gave her, and run off to buy alcohol.

That night, she had been so hungry that Hoshiguma cooked her a bowl of noodles. Yet somehow, she accomplished the glorious feat of eating every last noodle while asleep.

After hearing Hoshiguma's words, Suika also remembered where the familiar feeling from this morning's noodles had come from. Wasn't it exactly the same bowl of noodles from her dream last night?

At the time, she had thought the dream felt very realistic. Every bite of noodles gave her the illusion that she was truly eating.

Only now did she realize it had not been an illusion at all. She had gotten drunk, then eaten a bowl of noodles in a daze.

Thinking of that made her feel a little wronged. After all, this body was supposed to be Shuten-dōji, the Ghost King of Mount Oe. Although Ibuki Suika from Touhou was often slightly tipsy, Suika herself had only taken a few small sips. How was she supposed to know she would get drunk like this?

Seeing the strange looks from the three beside her, she felt her face growing hot.

I'm a Little Expert at Delivering Letters

The identity check proceeded quickly.

Suika insisted that she had no parents and did not know where her hometown was.

Whenever they asked about her past, she knew nothing.

The traffickers also said they had picked her up off the road.

The abducted children could indirectly confirm that as well.

Considering that although she had gone out alone during the observation period, she had ultimately returned to Hoshiguma's home, the final decision was that there was no issue and the observation would be discontinued.

The police officer in the room believed that since Suika was still young and unable to live independently, she should be sent to a public orphanage.

Hearing this, Hoshiguma could not accept it. She took the initiative to find Jiu and said that she could take responsibility for looking after Suika.

"Isn't this nonsense?

"Not to mention what people will think when an unmarried woman takes care of a child.

"Does your job even support raising a child?"