anko2272
The Love of an Unpopular Yukkuri
Summary:
A wild yukkuri Reimu has a dirty ribbon, isn't good at hunting or singing, prefers to daydream instead of thinking seriously, and likes to hang around damp places. Her parents dislike her and give her less food than her sisters, telling her she can't take it easy, but Reimu thinks of herself as perfectly easy.
Reimu grows up and leaves home with her sisters, but they soon find mates and leave her all alone. Although she's lazy and flighty, she lucks upon a small, dark, damp cave that suits her perfectly and has plenty of earthworms and mushrooms around. Reimu likes to sit at home all day, waiting for the dashing Marisa of her dreams to ride up on a beautiful suii and fall in love with her. However, hardly anyone ever passes by, and Reimu's desire for love grows and grows.
On one of the rare instances when Reimu goes hunting in a sunny spot, she meets a very easy Marisa. Reimu suggests that they take it easy together, and Marisa says she will if Reimu is a yukkuri who can take it easy. To prove she can take it easy, Reimu sings for her. Marisa tells her to stop and asks if Reimu has an easy house. Reimu leads her there, but as she talks with Reimu, Marisa grows less and less happy. Reaching her house, Reimu begins hopping up and down, inviting Marisa to hop with her. (In this area, yukkuris have the custom of hopping together outside their house to commit to each other as a couple.) Marisa says the house is damp and uneasy, and she doesn't want to hop with Reimu. Marisa runs away. Reimu is shocked to be dumped and cries all night.
Reimu really wants to take it easy with someone, so lowering her standards, she starts hopping in front of a Patchouli who passes by her house. Patchouli comes inside and praises the damp, narrow house, but then she tells Reimu to leave--Patchouli wants to live there, and since Reimu is so uneasy, Patchouli can't take it easy with Reimu around. Reimu kicks Patchouli out.
Another day, Reimu meets a Chen and invites her to take it easy with her. Chen says she gets it that Reimu can't take it easy. Despite Reimu's attempts to convince her otherwise, Chen turns her down.
Reimu approaches countless yukkuris and is rejected every time. She prioritizes finding a mate over gathering food for the winter--having grown up in a bountiful area, she doesn't know how much work gathering food for the winter can be. She gazes enviously at couples and continues fantasizing about her dream Marisa.
One day, a Marisa comes into Reimu's house. She doesn't respond to any of Reimu's questions, she just begins rubbing up against her. Reimu is delighted, and they refresh three times, but when Reimu wakes up the next morning, Marisa is gone and it's snowing outside. Reimu belatedly realizes that she doesn't have much food in her house, but when she tries to go out to hunt, it's too cold for her to bear. She wails that she'll be hungry and unable to take it easy.
Reimu's uneasy feeling is lightened by the realization that Marisa must have gone out to hunt and will come back soon with food. The next day, Reimu feels something heavy on her forehead and happily realizes she's pregnant. She looks forward to showing off the babies and doing rub-rub to warm Marisa when she gets back, and her fantasies help her forget about her hunger.
Marisa still hasn't come back when the last of Reimu's mushrooms are gone. Desperate, Reimu decides to eat her babies, but she can't shake them off the stalk no matter what she does. She takes it as proof of how easy and healthy they are.
The next day, Reimu realizes that she's dying. As she wishes she could take it easy more, her last word is "Ma... ri... sa..."
Growing from Reimu's forehead is not a stalk full of babies, but a mushroom.
When Spring comes, Reimu's body is covered with mold. Just as the yukkuris who've made it through the winter burst out of their homes, so do the spores burst out of Reimu's home.
Marisa hasn't returned.
She will never return.
Because Marisa was just a figment of Reimu's imagination.