Hieda no Akyuu's Rare Break

There was a line outside of the Hieda Mansion. Previously a strange sight, it was oddly comforting to see how quickly people got used to things. The line was filled with humanoids and humans of every variety, but there was a wide arrays of sapients of various builds; some beastly, some plantly, some ghostly, all waited with… some degree of control. It wasn’t quite patience, wasn’t quite peaceful, but the people waiting in the line were waiting without too much disruption in the hopes of finally settling disputes.

The line was to see a certain head, a certain child. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a snag as she was currently on break, listening to the Transmission. Fortunately, most of the cases were not time sensitive, though those in line certainly felt they were.

Enjoying her small break, the girl couldn’t help but agree with the Transmission on the stupidity of setting the bounty on the Fool with the Voice Voice. Perhaps she had been a bit too hasty in ordering that, especially with all the idiots invading the Yokai Trail, but… she was tired. Very tired at the time. She still maintained that taking away the box was a good idea though. Even if the Fool sent another one, she would have her retainers confiscate it again. Best not to encourage any more idiocy.

By the Heavens, she was so tired. Hieda No Ayuu, 9th Child of Miare, had had an exhausting week since the last Transmission. Nearly every day there had been half a dozen cases for her to oversee.

They had changed the format at least after the second day of things. She would only see a certain number of cases and after each case she would get a small half hour break. She didn’t even want to record things for the Perfect Memento during her breaks anymore. She just wanted tea, something to read, and snacks. For the first time in a long time, Hieda no Akyuu wanted to act her age.

Hence why she was lying on the tatami sprawled out in a way that would make all eight previous incarnations of her cringe in embarrassment. It felt liberating to be so lazy.

...Unfortunately, her mind had not learned how to be properly lazy and was hard at work, thinking about other things such as the yokai’s surprising amicability.

She was led to believe that most youkai were feral things that needed to be exterminated as soon as possible. But… there were far more youkai willing to speak and negotiate than she thought. Not just powerful ones that found it too bothersome to flex their powers, but weak ones that seemed more terrified of humans than humans were of them.

She had just had her fifth case of the day, and many more before that in the previous weeks. It was also, surprisingly, her fourth successful one with both sides coming to an agreement or resolution.  The first one had been a simple territory dispute, easily resolved. She shouldn’t be surprised, not with how much practice she had been obtaining in resolving conflicts, but Akyuu was pleasantly surprised at each successful resolution nevertheless.

The second one had been a youkai asking for compensation when the human had stolen radishes from her garden. Surprisingly, also easily resolved with the human simply vowing to work for her until the value had been repaid. That one had been tricky as the yokai had tried to inflate the value of her radishes and force the human to work for a century in her garden, but Akyuu had reworked worse contracts written by human hands. While the yokai hadn’t been happy, she was content with the month long contract and the fine.

Hieda no Akyuu hadn’t even been aware that Yokai used money. Something to update the Memento on.

The third one had been a youkai asking for a business permit which Akyuu had granted with a bit of trepidation. Again, Akyuu wondered what exactly yokai used money for.

The fourth had… ended with the youkai being exterminated. That one had actually been comforting in a strange way. When the youkai had disagreed with her verdict, it had acted within the realms of established behavior, lashing out blindly at humans. The other four had been a bit too reasonable.

And today served as a small sample size of the weeks and week’s worth of disputes that she had resolved and overseen. Today had not been an anomaly, strange as it may seem. Most yokai can and were willing to negotiate.

Was it strange that she wished more youkai were… nonsensical? Or chaotic? While their logic was strange, they had a logic. And though their morals were alien, their word was a law unto themselves. Akyuu had asked the second yokai if it would keep to the contract and it had almost attacked her for the perceived insult, declaring that the human would be safe so long as he did its part according to the contract.

...She would have to note that in the Perfect Mementos that Yokai viewed Contracts as inviolable. Just as prone to making them lopsided as humans did, but loathe to break them. Strangely honorable of them in a way. Hieda no Akyuu almost wished more humans treated contracts the same way Yokai did.

There were problems for sure. Some yokai were violent no matter what.  However, she couldn’t help but have her view on Yokai changed.

...Yupyup. She was going to have to revise the Perfect Memento to add in policies on Yokai negotiations, wasn’t she? ...Perhaps she could reach out to the owner of the Kourindou. She remembered that the Fool had mentioned him too. Surely, he had experience too with this spontaneously assigned duty? Perhaps some suggestions

His perspective as a half-breed could be invaluable for this project, no, new shift in Gensokyo politics.

Ideally, she would’ve liked to have spoken with the Fool who started it all, but reports on him were scarce. He was doing his part, annoyingly enough, wandering about and resolving disputes as he had promised, so Akyuu could not even curse him for his hypocrisy.

That did not make him any less infuriating though.

...She should schedule a meeting with Keine Kamishirasawa, Half-Beast of Knowledge and History, about the new developments. See what the were-Hakutaku had seen with her powers over history. These recent developments were definitely historical.

...Later though. Yupyup. Right now was for relaxing. Hidea sighed in contentment as she rolled into a more comforta--

“Hieda-sama!” a voice called out, “The next group is here.”

Idly, Hieda no Akyuu wondered if she shouldn’t push for days off. Perhaps one day just for her? Starting today.

...She sighed in defeat, letting the thought go as soon as it came. She would definitely have to come up with a healthier schedule than this, but that would have to come later.

Sitting up, she steeled herself for the next case. If this was what Gensokyo needed, then a simple record-keeper would simply need to be a bit more proactive in helping with the peace.