"I'm telling you, it's only because you vanished that we had so much trouble to deal with in the first place."
"Is that so? Then I'm truly sorry for causing you such an inconvenience."
Sakuya offered a calm, understanding response as she looked at the figure huddled beneath the kotatsu.
"Yeah. A massive brawl broke out almost immediately. If Reimu hadn't been there to handle things, it would have turned into a complete disaster."
The magician wearing the pointed hat spoke as she peeled an orange, her voice carrying a note of lingering irritation at the memory of the incident.
"You have no idea. Even Meiling stopped sleeping for once and went out looking for you."
"The whole place was upside down."
Marisa sat at the table, resting her chin in her palm as she continued her narrative.
"Well, as long as you're back now, that's all that matters."
"Otherwise, having to entertain that vampire's tantrums would have been an exhausting ordeal."
Reimu lay on the floor, her entire posture radiating a complete lack of motivation to even move a muscle.
"So, what were you actually doing?"
"Even if you did wander outside of Gensokyo, it's not like you'd actually get lost, would you?"
"While you were only gone for less than half a day, for a maid who can manipulate time, that's an exceptionally long absence."
Marisa thought back to the events of the afternoon. She was genuinely curious about where Sakuya had gone.
She had been busy "Borrowing" books at the Scarlet Devil Mansion when she had heard a Series of explosions.
Initially, she'd thought she'd been caught, but it turned out the commotion was simply Remilia Scarlet losing her temper because she couldn't find her head maid.
"Well, I was participating in an interesting little gathering."
Sakuya sat down at the table, offering no attempt to hide the truth as she began to relay her experiences.
"Ehh?! There really was such a thing!!"
"Reimu, doesn't that sound incredibly exciting!!"
"Could we call it an 'Incident' from the outside world?"
By the time Sakuya finished her story, Marisa was practically vibrating with excitement.
"A wish that can realize anything, huh..."
"If I had been there, I would have wished for the donation box at the shrine to be full every single day."
Reimu sat up, resting her head on the table with a look of idle, impossible longing.
Despite her words, she didn't look like she had any intention of actually putting in the effort to find such a thing.
"Hehe! I want to join too! I bet there would be so many interesting things to see!"
Marisa stood up, her eyes shining with anticipation.
"But from the sound of it, it was just seven people beating each other up."
"Knowing you, you'd probably just try to steal the prize before the fight was even over."
"H-hey! I don't 'Steal' things!!"
The room was filled with cheerful, playful banter. Now that the mystery of Sakuya's disappearance had been solved, Reimu found herself no longer caring about the details.
She treated it as though Sakuya had simply taken a short vacation.
As long as the news didn't spread to the rest of the local yokai, there wouldn't be any major disturbances.
At least, Gensokyo should remain relatively peaceful for now.
Probably.
"By the way, Sakuya, since the situation ended the way it did, did you actually get anything out of it?"
"A rare treasure? Or something else entirely?"
Marisa's eyes sparkled at the prospect of loot.
"Nothing major. I simply managed to rectify a minor, insignificant flaw."
"A flaw?"
Both Marisa and Reimu paused, seeing the faint, genuinely happy smile on Sakuya's face.
"Yes. As the Mistress's maid..."
"The one fundamental deficiency I possessed was the fact that, as a human, I couldn't stay by her side forever."
"In other words..."
"It was just a matter of my lifespan."
***
"By the way, Mister Jotaro, what exactly did you give Goku?"
Koichi asked as the group walked down the street. He looked up at Jotaro with a look of sincere curiosity.
He knew that while Miyu and Subaru hadn't made any immediate requests, Jotaro had already assisted the other participants in various ways.
"I simply helped him locate the Four-Star Dragon Ball."
"Though, to be honest, he likely would have found it on his own even without my intervention."
Jotaro spoke plainly, recalling the nature of the boy named Son Goku.
"Is that so?"
"Then it seems like nothing much has changed for him."
"That's a shame. I was hoping I could get a photo of him as a Super Saiyan."
Jotaro's eyelid flickered at Koichi's remark, and he remained silent for a brief moment.
'Yare yare daze... it shouldn't be a problem.'
He admitted to himself that he had acted on a whim, making a small adjustment to the boy's biological structure.
He hoped it wouldn't lead to any radical departures from the intended path.
But if things did start to spiral out of control, he could always step in and fix it later.
***
"Kid, you're about a hundred years too early if you think you can defeat Tao Pai Pai with that level of strength."
Tao Pai Pai looked down at the small child he had easily knocked to the ground.
He admitted the boy had a bit of talent, but it wasn't nearly enough to be a threat.
The brat might be able to handle ordinary humans or the thugs of the Red Ribbon Army, but thinking he could stand against a master was pure delusion.
After all, he was the world's number one assassin!
"You... you killed Upa's father!"
"I won't forgive you!"
Tao Pai Pai scoffed at the sight of the boy stubbornly pushing himself back up.
"RAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
The boy's clumsy, reckless charge nearly made the assassin laugh.
'I'll kill you with the next strike!'
Tao Pai Pai had no interest in wasting any more time.
He prepared to block the incoming punch with a casual swipe of his palm.
'Hmm?'
For a split second, his vision seemed to blur. He could have sworn the boy's black hair had suddenly flickered into a bright, brilliant gold.
BAM!!!
The moment his hand made contact, his entire arm was twisted into an unnatural angle. A staggering, impossible force surged into his body, sending him soaring through the air like a discarded toy.
Tao Pai Pai lost consciousness before he could even comprehend what had happened.
"Hah?"
Upa stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the sight of the formidable enemy being sent flying by a single punch.
Just a moment ago, the man had been completely dominating the fight, and now he was gone.
"Ehh?"
"What just happened? My strength suddenly multiplied by dozens of times for a second."
Goku looked down at his own hands, scratching his black hair with a look of total confusion.
The punch he had just thrown had been Vasterly more powerful than anything he was normally capable of.
But as for how he had achieved it... he had no idea.
"Well, whatever!"
He decided not to dwell on the mystery. He had defeated the bad guy and avenged Upa's father, and that was what mattered.
The young Goku had no idea what kind of radical "Anomaly" his momentary flash of anger had triggered.
Indeed.
Although it had only lasted for a fraction of a second, there was no doubt about what had occurred. He had transformed into a "Super Saiyan."
It was a power that was traditionally far beyond his current level of development.
However, the increased density of "S-Cells" within his body had made the impossible possible.
This was the result of Jotaro's subtle intervention.
As he had said, aside from helping Goku find his grandfather's memento, he had simply made a "Small Adjustment" to the boy's potential.
As for how this variable would shift the course of his journey...
That remained to be seen.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]