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Alright, alright, everyone's watching."
Being stared at by so many incredibly powerful, ancient, and familiar faces, Ran Yakumo's usually composed face turned a deep, burning shade of red beneath her golden fur. She gently patted Leo's back where he was tightly huddled in her arms, her voice carrying a distinct, unmistakable hint of doting affection.
Lord Leo really was something, she thought, her heart swelling slightly. Being as unapologetically clingy and desperate for comfort as a scared little fairy in front of all these Great Youkai.
Reluctantly lifting his face from Ran's incredibly soft, sweet-smelling embrace, Leo looked out over the ruined, crater-riddled expanse of his farm. His nose twitched violently, his lower lip trembling, and in the end, he simply couldn't hold back his capitalist grief. He squeezed out two fat, miserable "little pearls" of tears that rolled down his cheeks.
This was the farm he had painstakingly, exhaustingly transformed bit by bit with his own two hands—the expansive, high-yield strawberry fields, the perfectly irrigated rice paddies, the dense potato fields... gone. All completely gone. Turned to ash and craters. Now all that was physically left...
"Holy crap! Someone help! Iizuna Maru and Aya look like they're not going to make it!"
Leo's teary eyes widened in absolute horror. He saw Megumu Iizunamaru and Aya Shameimaru slumped heavily over the only surviving wooden seed box near the porch, aggressively cosplaying as morbid human fountains. He instantly no longer had the heart to selfishly grieve for his lost farm income; these two Tengu were currently violently spewing blood from their mouths as if it were completely free, at least 400cc with every dramatic, choking mouthful!
"Aya is finally about to kick the bucket? Good riddance, meow," Chen muttered from the bed, lazily licking her paw.
But strangely, not a single one of the ancient Great Youkai standing nearby went up to offer medical help or even looked concerned. They all just stood there with their arms crossed, quietly and judgmentally watching the two Tengu perform their bloody tragedy.
Just as Megumu had arrogant stated earlier, Great Youkai simply weren't such fragile, mortal things; violently spitting up a bit of internal blood from a crushed organ was absolutely nothing to their regenerative capabilities. Donating blood to the soil is good for the body and mind!
"Are you guys okay?! How are you feeling now?!"
Leo scrambled off the bed and ran frantically to their side, standing there in the dirt at a complete, panicked loss. In his entire, mundane previous life on Earth, the absolute most human blood he had ever seen at one time was the three tiny plastic vials drawn by a nurse during an annual corporate physical exam. But now, just one single, dramatic mouthful spewed from these two Tengu was easily enough to cover ten years of exams!
"I... cough... I might not make it," Megumu wheezed, her eyes rolling back dramatically. "Before I die... human... I have one final wish."
"I... blegh... me too," Aya gurgled, blood staining her white shirt.
Megumu struggled pitifully to crawl over the dirt, her blood-stained, trembling hand reaching out to firmly grasp Leo's ankle with an iron grip. Aya immediately followed suit, crawling over and grabbing his other ankle.
The sudden, shocking feeling of warm, viscous blood touching his bare skin through his pajama pant legs sent a massive, terrifying jolt of pure revulsion and shock straight through Leo's nervous system. His fragile mortal brain instantly stalled from the sensory overload, his eyes rolled completely back into his head, and he fainted dead away, collapsing like a sack of potatoes right there in the bloody dirt.
"Uh... wake up? Hello? Konnichiwa?"
"Boss, should we keep acting?"
Patting the unconscious Leo's pale face with her blood-stained hand—accidentally leaving behind a few gruesome, bloody paw prints on his cheeks—Aya turned her head to look blankly at Megumu, entirely unsure if they should continue the dying act now that their only audience member was unconscious.
A few massive mouthfuls of internal blood were genuinely nothing to a Great Youkai's vitality. This horrific, bloody display was entirely a calculated, dramatic ploy to play the tragic victim, desperately hoping the soft-hearted Leo would feel incredibly guilty for their "sacrifices" and give them a massive, permanent discount when selling them his premium Stardew Valley strawberries later.
Lately, just buying Leo's addictive, stat-boosting strawberries at full market price had almost entirely bankrupted the entire Tengu Tribe's treasury; they were nearly regressing back to a primitive barter society just to afford fresh fruit!
"What's there to act for anymore, you idiot?!" Megumu panicked, shaking Leo's limp shoulder. "Save him! Where's Eirin Yagokoro?!"
Leo didn't know anything about the frantic, shouting medical chaos that immediately followed his fainting spell.
When he finally groaned and woke up the next morning, the terrifying, chaotic presence of the Great Youkai was completely gone, and the ruined farm was eerily quiet again.
The four blonde Flandres were lying neatly in a row by the side of the bed, their chins resting on the mattress, watching him intently with wide red eyes. Chen, the kitty, was curled up into a warm, purring ball right on his chest.
"Big brother, you're awake! Time to get up and get to work!" Flandre cheered, sitting up. "This is the massive bill we owe from yesterday's fight! Lady Ran Yakumo said it's the official appearance fee for the backup, and we need to pay it off as soon as physically possible!"
Flandre proudly handed a long, rolled-up piece of parchment paper to the groggy Leo.
Yesterday evening, after Leo had fainted from the blood, Yukari Yakumo and Ran Yakumo had engaged in a fierce, brutal verbal and economic confrontation right there in the dirt, ruthlessly haggling over the specific appearance fees for the Great Youkai's cross-world magical support until late at night.
As expected of the brilliant, calculating Ran Yakumo. Though she was technically just Yukari's assistant Shikigami, she was effectively the highly competent administrator who had actually, practically managed the entire economy of Gensokyo for all these centuries while Yukari slept.
She deeply understood the exact psychological weaknesses and desires of every single Great Youkai present, and managed to ruthlessly whittle down their initial, astronomical appearance fees to the point where even Yukari was left completely speechless by her servant's aggressive bargaining. Ran finally secured this itemized bill at the absolute lowest possible price for her Lord Leo.
With trembling, weak hands, Leo unrolled and took the bill.
Just seeing the very first, bolded line—"100,000 Gold Owed to Reimu Hakurei"—made Leo's vision go completely dark again, his chest tightening.
This was the one absolute, undeniable debt Ran truly didn't dare to aggressively haggle down or skip; absolutely no one in Gensokyo ever dared to stiff the Shrine Maiden on a promised payment. Whether she was vastly overpaid for the minimal effort she put in was highly unclear, but if you maliciously underpaid her agreed-upon rate, you'd better get down on your knees and pray you had the defensive stats to tank a full-power Fantasy Seal to the face.
But Leo sighed heavily, rubbing his temples. He had to take full financial responsibility for his own greedy, meteor-summoning mess, even if it meant crying himself to sleep while farming for the next month.
Besides, carefully reading down the rest of the parchment, excluding Reimu's outrageous 100,000 gold, the negotiated appearance fees for the other Great Youkai weren't high at all; they were practically friendly, symbolic cameos. Most of them were only asking for a dozen or so pounds of specific, future Gold-star crops when the farm recovered.
Given the terrifying, god-like status of the Great Youkai who had saved his life, they were truly being incredibly generous. Asking for something minor in return wasn't an attempt to maliciously kick him while he was financially down, but rather a subtle, polite way to ensure Leo didn't feel too much crushing psychological pressure or indebted guilt. By taking a small, physical payment of crops, it formally wasn't an unpayable 'life favor', but simply a normal, equal transaction, so things wouldn't be socially awkward when they met to trade in the future.
After washing the dried Tengu blood off his face with cold water at the sink, Leo emerged from the windowless, shattered Farmhouse.
Out in the morning sun, Kagerou Imaizumi, Ran Yakumo (in her human form with her tails hidden), and even the gloomy Ishin Shion were all wearing simple, dusty clothes suitable for heavy physical movement. They were already hard at work, sweating as they manually cleaned up the pitted, cratered farm dirt.
"Everyone, come help! Move all the heavy stones away to the edge of the fence so it's easier for Sister Kagerou to till the land with her hoe!"
Daiyousei fluttered above the fields, blowing a tiny whistle. She had all the Little Fairies lined up in a neat, organized row, marching forward like a tiny army to clear the rubble.
A crew from Kappa Heavy Industries was stationed in a corner of the farm, efficiently collecting the raw rubble cleared by the Little Fairies. They were using loud, steam-powered sorting machines to quickly separate the incredibly valuable Iridium, gold, and iron minerals from the ordinary, worthless stones.
Marisa Kirisame, wearing her witch hat and a dusty apron, was also enthusiastically mixed right into the middle of the fairy cleaning crew. Though her nimble little hands weren't quite honest; from time to time, a few choice, glowing pieces of raw Iridium ore would "accidentally" slip from the pile and vanish directly into her deep apron pocket.
Seeing this bustling, cooperative, incredibly hard-working scene under the morning sun, Leo was moved to genuine tears. This is exactly what it meant to see true, unconditional friendship in times of absolute trouble.
Silently taking out his heavy iron pickaxe and his hoe, Leo didn't say much. He simply walked into the dirt and joined the cleaning crew. From now on, the farm would absolutely cover all their meals for free!
"Everyone, take a break! We've brought back fresh ingredients!"
They worked tirelessly, sweating in the dirt, until noon. Aya Shameimaru suddenly flew in from the distant horizon carrying Wakasagihime piggyback on her shoulders, holding a massive, dripping canvas bundle in her hand, entering the airspace above the farm like a loud dive bomber.
Landing slowly and gracefully in the center of the cleared yard, Aya untied the heavy bundle to reveal a literal, glistening mountain of lively, thrashing, incredibly fresh deep-sea seafood.
Leo immediately brought out all the heavy iron kitchenware and portable grills that had miraculously survived the meteor bombardment and set them up on bricks. He suddenly had a strong, nostalgic sense of déjà vu, as if he were eating at a bustling, massive People's Communal Canteen from the old planned economy era back on Earth.
Rich, aromatic fish soup simmered aggressively in a massive iron pot, heavy garlic butter clams were stir-fried with a deafening sizzle in the wok, and spicy squid tentacles were being seared on the hot grill rack. Leo and Ran Yakumo worked side-by-side like a well-oiled machine, going all out, striving to quickly cook and feed absolutely everyone who had come to help rebuild.
"We still have some processed rice safely saved up in the silo. Let's all eat together."
Daiyousei fluttered out, proudly bringing a large, modern electric rice cooker from the Hero's Hut. Behind her, Cirno struggled to hold up a heavy, 50-pound burlap bag of white rice, not entirely knowing exactly why Daiyousei was bringing out their highly limited, emergency supply of rice just for this.
But whatever, Cirno thought, wiping sweat from her brow. Daiyousei was definitely always right anyway, and it was always way more fun with more people eating together.
As soon as the gleaming white rice cooker was plugged in and appeared in the yard, the Fairy Swarm immediately stopped crowding around Leo's sizzling grill to sniff the spicy aromas. Instead, they all ran excitedly over to Daiyousei, completely surrounding the humming rice cooker in a tight circle, and abruptly started to perform a bizarre, synchronized dance.
The synchronized, rhythmic, and utterly bizarre stomping dance drew absolutely everyone's confused attention. The Little Fairies performed with totally blank, serious expressions, as if no one else was watching them, while Daiyousei, trapped directly in the middle holding the steaming rice cooker, almost died of embarrassment, burying her red face in her hands.
She had secretly taught this specific, silly dance to the Little Fairies a few weeks ago, directly referencing the sacred, complex Suwa Dance of the Moriya Shrine she had seen. She had innocently told all the gullible Little Fairies that only by strictly dancing a formal, sacrificial dance around the electric rice cooker would the machine magically produce delicious, fluffy rice.
Her original, practical intention was simply to distract them and prevent the hyperactive Little Fairies from running around and causing dangerous trouble while she was busy cooking in the hut. But she had completely forgotten that they would also faithfully perform the embarrassing dance when they were outside in front of the Great Youkai! Daiyousei was so profoundly embarrassed that her toes physically curled inside her little leather shoes.