/jp/ - Otaku Culture

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1 >>44121508 >>/data/jp/img/0445/50/1694087896359134.png
2 >>44290289 >>/data/jp/img/0445/50/1694087962441371.png
3 >>44383367
4 >>44437040 (3&4) >>/data/jp/img/0445/50/1694088027969245.png
5 >>44487600
6 >>44550620 (5&6) >>/data/jp/img/0446/22/1694614997949247.png
7 >>44622465 >>/data/jp/img/0447/13/1695377031281683.png
8 >>44713561 see pic related.

>>44828419
Wtf, Marisa doesn't have friends
Delete that non-canon image

>>44828456
Marisa has a wonderful celestial wife

>>44828456
Patchy is there to beat the crap out of her for stealing the books and Alice is there to watch.

>>44828456
maristock has been tanking in this story
Patchouli
>"You." She said. "No Marisa?" I shook my head. "Good. I've had enough of that black-and-white rat for two lifetimes." That seemed a little harsh, but I didn't say so out loud.
Alice
>"Trying to get rid of me?" Marisa asked sarcastically.
>"Yes." Alice replied, not at all sarcastically.

>>44828907
$MRI has been tanking for the past month or so in general. what will all the witch bullying going on. Is this just the curse that all blonde hus share?

>>44829517
>Is this just the curse that all blonde hus share?
Even her?

>>44829545
i'd say 'especially her' but you didn't post alice

>>44828427
Thanks as always for putting them together, anon.

>>44828907
Clearly we need another side story where Marisa gets fed up with Tenshi "cleaning" her house and she escapes to seek comfort from Rinnosuke.

>>44830734
So what? Marisa going to Rinnosuke's shop, freeloading and eating his snacks until he gets tired of her and picks her up by the scruff of her clothes and kicks her out?
I suppose its comforting to freeload until they get so sick of you they kick you out

I would fix Marisa

As Lady Kasen led us into the kitchens, I felt like I was watching the whole thing play out from some sort of out-of-body experience. I got the feeling that something dangerous was at stake, and Reimu and I had one chance to try and prevent it. Lady Kasen had told me the story of the oni that Reimu had fought in hell, and combined with Reimu's words about the danger of the arm being freed...

Well, I found myself fairly nervous of our chances for success.

I automatically found myself heading toward the kitchen, only to find Reimu already there, beginning to prepare tea. She dragged me inside and whispered harshly. "Listen, she's pretty much set on doing it. We've got one shot at changing her mind." I nodded seriously. "Keep her talking." Reimu told me, pushing me back toward the table where Lady Kasen was sitting and staring at the wall, her fingers interlocked with her chin resting on them. On the table, as if it was watching all of us, was the sealed arm. I took a seat opposite her, and slowly asked her if she was okay.

"Okay...?" Lady Kasen repeated, still not focusing on me. "Yes. I'm fine." That was all she had to say, and I swallowed nervously. She seemed to be in a bad mood. "I'm fine, like I said. I've been thinking, that's all. I'm a hermit. That's what I'm supposed to do." I crossed my legs and leaned back in my chair, staring at her, then asked her if she'd been thinking about something in particular. "...Maybe." She muttered. I continued to stare. "What are you asking me, hmm?" She tilted her head slightly.

At that point, Reimu emerged, three cups of tea on a tray in her hands. She placed it in the middle of the table and passed a cup to Lady Kasen and I, and I took a sip. Delicious, as always. Reimu took one of the other chairs, crossed her arms, and joined me in staring at Lady Kasen. "You're going to do something stupid."

"Reimu." Lady Kasen muttered, taking a sip of her own tea. "You don't even know what I'm doing."

"No, I know exactly what you're doing." Reimu leaned forward, her scowl clearly visible. "What the hell are you thinking?" She slammed a fist against the table, nearly knocking over her own cup in the process. "There's nothing good that can come from-"

"You have no idea, Reimu. None." Lady Kasen sat up, and suddenly there was a note of anger in her voice. "You don't understand what it's like to - to live your life knowing you're missing something. That there's a part of you that's gone, and no matter what you do, you cannot fill that hole." She slumped back and pressed her bandaged arm against her face. "I've tried. Believe me, I've spent centuries trying."

I asked Lady Kasen what had brought this on. It seemed unlikely that centuries of work could be undone by me alone with a random, offhand answer to a question. "Years...of work. Of convincing myself that I wasn't the person I once was. That I could...change." Obviously, at this point, there was little point in keeping up the pretence, so I finally asked directly if Lady Kasen was the oni who's arm was sealed. She froze for a moment, but soon looked over at me in resignation. "I should have known that you'd put it together eventually. You're...no offense, but you're a little dense at times. You really need to be paying better attention to what's around you." I should have known that I wouldn't get out of this without some sort of lecture, so I nodded. "Yes, I am Ibaraki-douji. Or rather, I am what remains of her." And the arm was the rest of her. Lady Kasen nodded.

"Now that that's out of the way, can you please, please explain to me just what the hell you think you're going to accomplish here? You seemed to be doing fine before." Reimu looked annoyed, and I didn't blame her.

"Did I?" Lady Kasen asked Reimu, looking up tiredly. "With the hermit training, and the sweets, and the lecturing?"

"Yes!" Reimu's voice had raised slightly.

"Then I've fooled you just as much as I thought I'd fooled myself." Lady Kasen's voice was quiet now. "I've left the arm sealed for so long that I'd forgotten that it's just as much a part of me as the rest of me." She looked over at me. "You said that the arm might want to know how the body is doing." I had said that, but I hadn't been certain that Lady Kasen was the oni in question at the time. "I wondered if the arm sought freedom out of anger or hunger, or if it was loneliness." I felt like I was starting to see where this was going. "Maybe I've just been lying to myself. Maybe I've been leaving the arm sealed for so long because I was scared of what it represented. The arm is part of me. I can’t say that I’ve changed if I leave it trapped in the box? I might as well still be that same oni."

"No!" Reimu slammed her fist against the table again. "Don't try and feed me that shit. That's not the Kasen I know!" She stood up and pointed an accusing finger in Lady Kasen's face. "You're the one who lectures me about taking the Shrine more seriously. You dragged me here for ascetic training because you wanted to see me improve. You've been training him," She swung the finger to poke me, "For the same reasons. You aren't just an oni of old!"

Lady Kasen's face was mostly expressionless, but I was certain that I saw her falter just slightly. "Reimu." She whispered. "It's my nature."

I'd heard Yamame say the same to me once. Now, I spoke. I told Lady Kasen that the hermit who had made me run up and down the mountain and learn to write poetry and draw was more than just an oni. Whatever she had been in the past, she didn't have to be now. I'd watched Yamame make the effort to change, so I knew it was possible. She wasn't beholden to her past, and she'd already proven that she had changed. She was good-hearted, kind and compassionate. And, she didn't have to feel lonely.

"That's right." Reimu leaned over the table. "You've never been lonely. You surround yourself with so many pets that it's a wonder you can breathe! And then there's all of us at the Shrine! You've never been alone since I've known you!"

It seemed to get through to Lady Kasen, at least slightly. "Reimu..." She murmured. "It's - It's something deeper than that. I keep the arm here because...I need to know it. I need to know that I'm more..." She trailed off, then sniffed and rubbed her nose. "I miss her. It. I didn't realise until I merged in Avici." She looked at me. "You told me that I can change." I had, and I believed it too. "But is it me who can change, or is it the true oni? Can I claim to have changed while I leave the arm sealed like this? Is that something a changed person would do?"

"Yes!" Reimu insisted. "It's not so black-and-white!" I was starting to wonder just what the arm had been like. No one seemed particularly eager to speak about it. Was it that bad? Or was it... "Put the arm away, Kasen. You can think it through some more."

Was it guilt? Was the arm capable of change too, and they'd sealed it away?

"Reimu, I..." Lady Kasen looked...lost. Small. "It's like losing your family, and feeling the pain for every second."

I suddenly got a very bad feeling in my gut, but before I could say anything, Reimu spoke. "You can fill the hole with new family. We're family, now." She gestured between herself and I, and right away, I knew that we'd messed up badly. Lady Kasen stopped, slowly looking up at Reimu. "And he's probably going to be making family with the tsuchigumo at the rate he's going! It doesn't have to be like the past." I silently cringed, because I could already feel the tension in the air shift. Lady Kasen had spent a long while trying very, very hard to force...something between Reimu and I. She'd almost succeeded. Privately, I had at one point wondered if it was because she considered Reimu as something like her own charge and wanted her to find some sort of romance. Now...I wondered if she hadn't just convinced Lady Kasen of something dangerous. That her plans had failed. And if she couldn't even bring together two humans, then what was the point in trying?

"Is that so...?" Lady Kasen whispered. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise. It was like the arm, sitting in the centre of the table, could feel something. You're family, huh?" Glacially, her gaze shifted toward the arm. "Just family." I looked over at Reimu like I was in pain, and I think she realised her mistake too. "Reimu, I'm sorry. I need to do this." Already, I could tell that we'd failed. She'd never change her mind now. "It's...she’s the only thing close to family that I have." And worse, that was the sort of thing that struck my heart. How could I refuse after hearing that?

Reimu grit her teeth in anger and annoyance. "You - You stupid hermit! You're seriously going to release that thing again for-" I got to my feet and put a hand on Reimu's shoulder. She turned to look at me and I shook my head. Lady Kasen wasn't going to change her mind, so the best thing we could do was try and help her so we could minimize the damage. "You're serious?" Reimu asked me incredulously, and I nodded, though I did say that I wasn't happy about it. Personally, I was all for leaving the potentially catastrophic unhinged oni arm sealed, but if Lady Kasen wanted it free, it would be best if it at least happened on our terms.

"Thank you." Lady Kasen whispered toward me. I shook my head and told her that she shouldn't be thanking me. It could all still go very badly. "I know, and I know that it's a stupid idea. But...I need to see it through." That, I could understand.

"Unbelievable." Reimu muttered, her eyes wide. "Did that spider of yours drain your brains too? I can't believe - No, never mind. Let's just...Urgh, I can't believe I'm saying this." She pressed her face into her palms. "...Let's free the murderous oni's arm..."

Decisions made - if somewhat unwillingly - We moved from the kitchen to one of the dojo's training rooms. It was large, open, and what seemed to be most important, sturdy. "We should do this outside." Reimu muttered to me. I turned to her and raised an eyebrow. On top of a mountain? If this arm was strong enough, it could just throw me off the side and let me drop, since I couldn't fly. Reimu might have been fine with that, but I liked at least some walls to be in the way. "I don't remember it being all that fast. I could dodge most of the attacks the arm threw." That didn't fill me with much more confidence because I was not as fast as Reimu and likely never would be.

"Okay." Lady Kasen called. She didn't look particularly happy, but I could only imagine that it was everything weighing down on her mind. She turned to me. "Would you mind doing the honours?" I didn't particularly want to, but I stepped forward.

"Nope, no way. Not a chance. I'll do it." Reimu growled, dragging me back by the collar of my coat. "If it attacks, I'll have a better chance of defending." Which was probably true, but I didn't want Reimu in danger from it either. Just in case the worst happens, I said, could we actually stop it? Reimu reached in her sleeve and pulled out a stack of ofuda. "If this looks like it's going badly, I'm sealing it before it gets fully free." And if she was free? "Kasen?"

Kasen reached into her pocket and pulled out a fragment of metal. "One fragment of the blade." I could only hope that whatever might happen here, it would be enough.

Finally, after some bickering, we agreed to lift the seal together, then back away. "Just for the record," Reimu said, glaring at Kasen. "I am still very much against this." I sighed slightly and placed my hand on top of the box. After a moment, Reimu mirrored me. "Ready?" She asked me, and I found the strength to nod. "Let's get this over with." And together, we pulled the lid from the box. "Back!" Reimu shouted at me, and I stumbled backwards as that black mist I had seen the last time swirled from the box. It almost began to surround Reimu, who swung the gohei toward it as she hopped back. this seemed to cause it to recoil slightly, and after a moment, I saw the shape begin to emerge. The horns, thick and straight, emerging from the almost spiky looking pink hair that perfectly matched the shade of Lady Kasen's own hair. There was the tabard, complete with the large rose on her chest and the thorns trailing down in a twisting pattern. Both of the arms were present, complete with long, twisting chains that ended in shattered links. Unlike Lady Kasen, she wore dark tights, and from her ankle was another chain, this one connected to a massive ball of iron.

Reimu moved to stand next to me, near the wall, with her arms crossed. "If this ends up getting us killed, I'm going to haunt your ghost." She muttered to me. Lady Kasen took a hesitant step forward.

The mist was just about finishing solidifying. After a second longer, I couldn't see through the body anymore, and suddenly, it was over. The arm of the sealed oni known as Ibaraki-douji dropped to one knee, drawing in a ragged breath with the energy of someone who hadn't breathed in minutes. For a moment, all of us, even Lady Kasen, just stood and watched as Ibaraki-douji's arm drew in another breath and rose steadily. She looked up slowly, her eyes narrowing slightly when she spotted Reimu and I. Then, she caught the eyes of Kasen Ibaraki, and she stopped moving entirely.

For a moment, I thought she had turned into a statue. "Partner." Lady Kasen whispered.

I'd had a lot of preconceptions going into this. I'd thought the arm might be a seething ball of rage, ready to strike at anything in sight. I'd been worried that it would be starving, and immediately throw itself at Reimu and I, the only humans in the room. I'd even wondered if it might burst into happiness at being reunited with the body.

I hadn't really expected that it would show no emotion at all. "Partner." Lady Kasen said again, slightly louder this time. She reached out her bandaged arm toward the arm.

In a movement so fast that I didn't even catch it, the arm's fist had suddenly shot forward. Lady Kasen's own had met it, resulting in a blast of energy from two oni bodies hard enough to make me stagger slightly. Quick as a flash, the arm attacked again, trying to strike a different region of the body. Each time, Lady Kasen was able to meet it with a fist of her own, as if I was watching some sort of bizarre fight between a person and their own reflection. They were perfectly matched; each strike being countered exactly in the middle of the space between them. They soon started involving kicks, which they also countered with the same elegance. For a single, mad moment, I likened it to a strange dance.

"Shit." Reimu muttered. "I don't like the looks of this." I wasn't all that optimistic about the odds either. Even if they were perfectly matched, would they both run out of stamina at the same time?

After a moment, the two caught each other's fists, forcing their arms into a locked position. From the looks of it, there was enough strain between the two to move the Heavens themselves. "How long are you going to do attack me?" Lady Kasen growled through gritted teeth. "I could have left you sealed!" I saw something flash across the arm's face. It wasn't the emotion I expected, and for a moment, I was confused. It hadn't been anger, or joy or excitement or anything like that.

It had been hurt.

The arm reared back, then smashed her head into Lady Kasen's, hard enough that it knocked the hermit to the ground. Within a moment, she was back on her feet and looked ready for more, but the arm had already dropped from a fighting stance. "What, is that all?" Lady Kasen asked, looking a little excited. "You've got more strength than that, so-"

"You betrayed me." The arm's voice was rusted, but unmistakably the same as Lady Kasen. Lady Kasen's excitement disappeared immediately. "You betrayed my trust." The arm stared at Lady Kasen, and there was something unmistakable in her eyes. "You betrayed everything we stand for as oni." She pointed a sharp fingernail at Lady Kasen for a second. "You let me down." The voice was almost calm, but there was intense emotion behind it, bubbling just under the surface. "Don't call me 'partner'." The arm whispered. "Don't - Just don't."

Lady Kasen's earlier excitement had evaporated. She looked frozen, like she was at a loss and didn't know what to do. "But I-" She tried. "I couldn't-"

"Couldn't what? Hmm, Kasen 'Ibara'? Couldn't let me go free?" The arm's eyes narrowed. "Couldn't trust your own self."

"I couldn't let you eat people, could I?" Lady Kasen seemed to have regained some thought process, because she responded sharply. "It's what you-"

"You couldn't. Because you had the chance to change, didn't you? The hermit who aims for another world. A regular do-gooder." The arm slammed a fist against her chest. "What about me, Kasen Ibara? Where was my chance!? What if I could have changed!?" She shook her head, letting her shoulders slump slightly. "No, you didn't even wait to find out. You just wanted to hide from yourself. You're still ashamed of your past." At this point, the arm began to pace in front of Lady Kasen, the only sound being the jingling of the chains around her wrists and ankles. "And any reminders. You'd rather create an elaborate plan and use her," She jabbed a finger toward Reimu, who half raised her gohei in defence, "To seal me again, instead of just accepting that you're an oni, and you'll always be an oni!"

Lady Kasen had grown silent. Somehow, I didn't think she had planned for the conversation to go this way. She was looking at the floor, and her fist was clenched. The arm stalked past her, toward Reimu and I. Reimu raised the gohei and took on a fighting stance. "Don't bother, Shrine Maiden. I've lost the taste for it. And unlike her, I don't lie." The arm looked at me. "You're the one who almost freed me before." Slowly, still pressing myself against the wall because I could just feel the strength radiating from the arm, I nodded. "My thanks." She finally said, nodding slightly. "I understand that I'm in...Gensokyo, now?" She asked Reimu, who slowly nodded, still holding the gohei in front of her defensively. "A proper oni would devour you, but I've had her memories in my head. That's not what a proper oni is in this day and age, is it?"

"No. Er, no. Things work differently now." Reimu finally managed to say in a strangled voice. "Most youkai rarely need to eat humans anymore."

"Is that right?" The arm asked, her eyes slightly widening. "Hmm..." She rubbed her chin, and for some strange reason, I noticed that she only had sharp nails on one hand.

"You're a bit more...reasonable than I remember." Reimu finally muttered.

"I had some notions about my standing corrected." The arm said, casting an eye back toward Lady Kasen. "And I'm going to prove her wrong."

"In that case, um, I'd like to request that you don't leave the senkai. It'd cause some...awkward questions." Reimu's grip was looking extremely strong. "And maybe some bigger problems."

For a moment, the arm looked like she was going to refuse, but then her eyes flickered back to Lady Kasen. "For now. We'll see how I feel later."

"Thank you." Reimu said, sounding like she wasn't worried at all, which was a far cry from the way I felt. The arm nodded, then walked past us to the door, which she threw open in spite of the seal that Reimu had placed on it when she had entered.

"Wait!" Lady Kasen shouted, her bandaged arm flying out to land on the arm's shoulder. "Why did you try and trick him into freeing you back then?" The arm sighed, then turned and wandered back over to Lady Kasen, muttering that she hadn't tricked me at all. Which, I supposed, she hadn't. She had nudged my thoughts in a certain direction, which was somewhat manipulation, but it hadn't truly been a lie. "Why did you..." She trailed off, raising her hands and clenching them over each other in front of her chest. She looked abjectly miserable. "I - I wanted...I hoped that we-"

The arm laid her hands over Lady Kasen's own. "That's the trouble with hope." She whispered, staring deeply into Lady Kasen’s eyes. "It's hard to resist."

And then, she removed her hands, turned around, and walked straight out of the room without sparing any of us a second glance.

I turned to watch her leave, and if I pretended hard enough, I could almost convince myself that the small sound behind me wasn’t Lady Kasen's tears hitting the ground.

Breaking a piece of you away is always difficult...

poor Kasen... I thought all day yesterday about what I'd say to her about the arm if I was in Anon's position but in hindsight I couldn't think of anything that would comfort her :(

Maybe it's time for Suika to by Kasen a drink.

>It's been a couple months since Eirin's crisis was resolved
>Yuugi had mostly forgotten about that little scene she stumbled into with Yamame and anon
>It's a slow day for the oni, every now and then she had to stay sober and watch over her brethren
>As she was taking her lunch break she decided to go to a nice restaurant in the more peaceful area of the underworld
>Halfway through finishing her food her eyes began to wander and land on a particular sight
>The same spider girl and human boy eating at a table
>Yuugi began to feel her face grow red
>Her face would grow even redder as she would notice a child sitting with the couple
>A child that would share physical features with both of them
>"So it is true!" Yuugi thought to herself "Kissing DOES make babies!"
>Quickly finishing her food and escaping the restaurant by punching a hole through a wall to avoid interaction with the family Yuugi begins walking towards Satori's
>It was she who told her kissing doesn't make babies and now Yuugi has irrefutable proof of the opposite

>>44833072
I kekked

>>44833072
I chuckled

>>44833072
I lol'd, even if this is too green.

>>44833072
Why so green????
Top post though

Unlike >>44834247, I didn't chuckle.

>>44840675
oh yeah? what DID you do, big guy?

>>44840679
Crash this board.

>>44840743
...

>>44840743
I won't let that happen. You'll have to kill ME first, buddy.

>>44840675
I see you'd rather flex your muscles.

>>44840743
I survived.

>>44841163
Not for long.

If I'd thought that things were complicated before, they had only become doubly so now. Lady Kasen had numbly stumbled over to the wall and slid down to the floor, trying and failing to keep her tears in. I was still staring the direction that the arm had disappeared down, and Reimu looked completely torn between going after the arm and going over to Lady Kasen. "Well." Reimu finally said to me. "I don't think that's how any of us saw this going." Considering I'd been halfway convinced that I was going to die, that was an understatement. "Kasen?" Reimu asked, taking a step toward the hermit. She didn't respond. "Do we - Should I...?" I felt somewhat lost, but I knew that we probably shouldn't let the arm out of our sight. Even if she did tell the truth when she had agreed to stay in Lady Kasen's senkai, she could still be doing anything. "Okay, you look for the arm. I'll..." Reimu looked back at Lady Kasen and breathed in heavily. "I'll...do something. Just, er, take care. We'll meet up in a bit." She clapped me on the shoulder and I did the same, then we split up.

I headed back out through the same door that the arm had taken. We were on one of the higher floors of the dojo, and I couldn't know exactly where the arm had gone, so I took to a light jog through the corridors to see if I could spot her. She didn't seem to be on the current floor, but I could hear some sort of commotion happening on the ground floor, so I thundered down the stairs, wondering what I would do when I even caught her.

When I ended up jumping straight down the last flight of stairs, I found myself stumbling to a halt and blinking in confusion, my mouth hanging open.

The arm was on the floor, having been knocked over if the disarray she was in was anything to go by. On top of her, tail swinging back and forth, sat Houso, and he was licking her face. Several of Lady Kasen's other pets surrounded her, including both Kanda and Kume, and I even saw Mukou flit between them. The arm seemed to be making a half-hearted, ineffectual effort to make Houso stop, and muttering some token words of displeasure, but she didn't seem entirely displeased by what was happening either. "No, don't - Stop that..." She pleaded, which did nothing to prevent Houso from continuing. "I'm not your master, you know? You're not- No, don't pull on the chains..." She directed this plea to one of Lady Kasen's wolves, who had taken hold of the chain hanging from the arm's wrist and began tugging on it slightly, seemingly in an attempt to garner her attention. After a moment, and with the slightest hints of embarrassment starting to bloom on her face, the arm reached out and began to scratch the wolf behind the ears.

I watched this silently, wondering how we'd gotten things so wrong. For all the talk about how dangerous the arm was, what I was staring at now was almost...cute. It made me almost forget that the arm had apparently killed so many people in the past, or that it had attacked Reimu and nearly dragged her to death in Avici.

Finally, the arm took notice of my presence. "...I told you that I don't lie, so now I am going to tell you that if you tell anyone what you just witnessed, I will personally tear your limbs from your body and beat you to death with them. I'll also make like a proper oni and devour you whole." She stopped scratching the wolf behind the ears, who whined in disappointment at the loss of attention. Then, she lifted up the massive, heavy tiger as if it weighed little more than manjuu and placed him beside her. She hopped to her feet and stalked over to me. "Understood?" I slowly nodded and covered my mouth in the hopes of making sure that the message got across. It wasn't hard to feel a little intimidated by the arm. She was taller than I was, which by itself was no easy feat, and I could feel the raw strength contained in her body just by standing here. Her eyes were far sharper than Lady Kasen's, and they glimmered with something deep down, which I couldn't settle between being intelligence or some sort of passion, like a passion for violence.

"Good." The arm nodded once, then turned and hopped over all the animals, who were clearly hoping for another petting session. I made sure to provide each of them with a brush or a stroke as I passed through, following the arm toward the exit. It seemed that Lady Kasen's pets could sense...Well, Lady Kasen, from the arm, and it had them confused.

More interestingly, I found, was the arm's response. She had been just as gentle with the pets as I had ever seen Lady Kasen be. I hadn't known as much about the oni arm as Reimu had, but what little I did know was turning out to be full of contradictions. She didn't seem full of malice. She wasn't angry, or at least, she was capable of controlling the anger. Despite everything, she had seemed genuinely hurt by Lady Kasen's behaviour towards her.

I burst through the door outside and found that the arm was nowhere to be seen. Slightly worried that she had broken her promise, I whipped me head around, then sighed in relief when I saw her, standing on the edge of the mountain peak, and staring out over the mountain range of Lady Kasen's senkai. The sun was high in the sky, at just the right time of day to make the water below sparkle and send bouncing, undulating reflections up the cliff walls and into the foliage that dotted the other peaks.
After a moment spent debating with myself, I edged up beside her, keeping a healthy distance.

"I'm crying." The arm murmured, lightly touching her cheek, which was wet. I looked at her in surprise. She actually was, genuinely crying. "Why - Why am I doing that, now?" She asked, and though I at first assumed it was a rhetorical question, she looked at me as if she was expecting me to actually answer. I finally ventured a guess and said that perhaps it was because she was happy to be free. "Yes. Yes, that sounds right." The arm said, wiping away the tears with her arm. I got the impression that there might have been something more to it, but the arm didn’t want to reveal it and I didn’t want to invade her privacy by asking. I could already spot the signs of a dam about to burst, so I didn't say anything and just waited for her to crack. "I haven't..." The arm began, trailing off after a moment. "I..." Any moment now... "I don't remember the last time I felt the wind upon my skin." She whispered. "Heard the flowing water, or the rustle of the trees. Seen a real, true animal." I stole another glance at her, and saw that the tears were back. "The warmth of the sun." She sniffed and swallowed thickly. "The world is beautiful." She finally said, her voice just so slightly choked.

The arm seemed content to remain out on the cliff side, staring across the surface. After some time, I stepped back and returned to the dojo, looking for Reimu. She wasn't on the ground floor, but I caught her on her way out of Lady Kasen's room, a deep frown on her face and with her gohei tapping against the ground with each step, seemingly more out of consternation than anything else. "Oh, there you are. I was getting worried." Reimu said, quickly grabbing my arm and pulling me away. After a moment, I pushed her hand off and led her to my room, which was hopefully far enough away on the ground floor that no one could hear anything.

We both stepped inside, looked at each other, then fell face first sideways across the bed. "I managed to convince Kasen to go to bed and resolve things later." Reimu muttered into the bed sheet, and I reported that the arm was happy enough to simply be outside and see the scenery. "She's...not taking things well." I wasn't all that surprised. Having spoken to the arm, I could see that whatever she was, malice and hate were not the only emotions she was capable of showing, which already complicated things. She couldn't be dismissed as just an enemy to defeat anymore, and I had no clue what Reimu's plan would be, let alone my own. "We can't just let her go free." Reimu told me sternly. "No one's supposed to know that Kasen's an oni anyway. Tenshi told me that if people knew that the hermit was actually an oni, it'd destroy trust in hermits on the surface." I mumbled a vague 'uh-huh' into the bed. "But we can't leave things like this, either..."

At times like this, it would have been good if we had someone who could talk to Lady Kasen. Someone who had better experience with this sort of thing. There wasn't all that much I felt like I could say to improve the situation. Lady Kasen had essentially been rejected by her own self, and I didn't know how we could resolve the chasm between them. "Ugh..." Reimu groaned. "All this domestic stuff is irritating. Maybe if we just give them both a good smack, they'll work all their problems out." As appealing as that sounded, I decided to pass, because I wasn't sure any part of me would survive such an idea. But if there was anyone who could give them a smack...

Suddenly, I heard a crash from outside, and I jolted up from the bed, then dragged Reimu up to her feet and out into the corridor with me. There was a lot of noise coming from outside, and I had a bad suspicion about what was causing it. "Shit!" Reimu cried over another loud explosion. "I forgot that we aren't the only ones who can get in here!"

We burst through the door to the dojo and were met with a precarious scene. In front of us were Komachi and Tenshi, both in close combat with the arm. Tenshi had aimed a kick at her head, and the left arm was being used to hold her leg, and Komachi had aimed a punch, only for the right arm to grab go underneath the left and grab her wrist right before she could make contact. What resulted was a weird, three way standoff, and for a moment, I wasn't sure how to go about approaching it without someone being freed to hit me instead.

Reimu resolved this problem by sprinting forward, then disappearing from view into what seemed to be a hole in reality, before emerging on the opposite side of the entangled combatants at speed. She dropped into a slide, then crashed into them, knocking all three from their feet where they slammed painfully into the ground. Reimu turned the momentum into a roll, then jumped to her feet right in front of me, spinning as if she'd never moved in the first place.

"Ugh..." Komachi groaned, having landed straight on her head. "Reimu, what the hell...?"

"I'll say." Tenshi agreed, staggering to her feet and repositioning her hat on her head. "She never holds back."

Then, the two seemed to remember what they had been doing, because they scrambled back to their feet and assumed wary fighting poses, keeping their eyes on the arm. "Reimu," Tenshi said, urgently. "Get him out of here. The arm's too dangerous."

"Seriously, Reimu. This is bad, bad news!" Komachi called, her scythe having appeared from nowhere.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to ask you all to calm down." Reimu said dryly, slowly walking up to Komachi and Tenshi. "Things changed." She got in front of them, her back to the arm, and forced their hands down, ignoring the protests from the other two.
I carefully approached the arm, who was also in a fighting sort of pose and had her eyes flicking back and forth between the two opponents. I tried calling 'Miss Ibaraki' since I wasn't really sure what else to call her, but she merely looked my way for a split second before looking back at her opponents. I tried a second time and said that they weren't her enemies. For a moment, the arm continued to breath heavily and stare forward with the poise of a warrior, like she was having trouble taking herself out of the fight, but slowly, she breathed out and relaxed, standing up straight. "Stronger than I'd thought." She muttered to herself. Then, she cast one more look at the ex-celestial and the Shinigami, before turning and stalking straight back to the cliff edge, where she sat down and resumed her staring at the surroundings.

Meanwhile, Reimu was dragging Komachi and Tenshi inside, and I followed them back toward my room. "Reimu, what the hell is going on!?" Komachi was urgently shouting, with Tenshi talking over her with similar questions.

Reimu shoved them through my door, then dragged me through, before finally stepping inside herself and slamming it shut behind her. "Alright, so-" The two continued to shout questions over Reimu, who finally scowled. "Shut up! I'm trying to explain!" The two finally quietened down, letting Reimu and I tell a brief story of the events that had led up to the current situation. "Okay, so there's the situation. One arm, nowhere near as violent as it was the last time we saw it. One hermit, kind of in a bad way. I'm taking suggestions."

"So...She wants to - to change? Prove her wrong?" Komachi slowly asked, looking about as lost as I usually felt. "Is she even capable of that?" I shrugged and said that from my conversation with her, it certainly seemed possible. "But she's - an arm! She's supposed to be just concentrated malice and hatred in one form!"

"Maybe it makes more sense then you think." Tenshi said, wandering over to my bed and dropping into it. She crossed her legs and put her hands behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. "Oni are like that. They experience love and hate as the same emotion. They find beauty in happiness and in suffering. The hermit wants to abandon this world because she still hates herself for her past. The arm seems to want to experience the world, and she knows exactly what she is. They're the same as they've always been. Two sides of the same coin." Tenshi always did seem to have far more wisdom under the surface than she regularly displayed, since she usually couldn't stop herself from bringing up her celestial nature. "They're both idiots. They can't properly know themselves without each other."

Komachi sighed and rubbed her head, resting her scythe against the wall. "I don't like it. Kasen's..." She shook her head. "She's been trying to change, and she's the side that isn't full of malice. She's trying to move past her oni self. That's why she does the poetry, and going down to the Shrine and all that. She wants to fill herself up with good."

"Isn't that the problem?" Tenshi asked, looking over at Komachi. "She's not supposed to be good. She's supposed to cast off her desires. That's a hermit. She's trying to atone for her past and all it's doing is pushing her further from the ideal she wants."
Komachi shrugged. "Well, what would you have her do? What does a washed-up celestial know about-"

"Accept the arm. Accept the pain she caused as an oni. Accept the good she's done as a hermit." Tenshi sat up. "Accept herself, and she might find peace. She can do good as a hermit without having to hate herself for her past."

"Easier said than done." Reimu muttered. She and I had been standing at the door while the conversation played out. "Look, it's all well and good discussing it, but for now, we need a solution. Don't attack the arm." She directed that toward Komachi and Tenshi. "Not only will you lose, you'll just antagonise her, and if she really can change, she should be allowed to try."

"Aw, Reimu, I didn't know you cared." Tenshi muttered sarcastically.

"Shut up." Reimu growled back. "Okay, listen." She said to the room at large. "I expect this might take a while. Would you," She pointed at Komachi, "Be willing to hang around? Make sure she doesn't try and run to Gensokyo as a whole? Or that, uh, Kasen doesn't throw herself off a cliff." Given the way Lady Kasen had seemed almost broken at the arm rejecting her, I echoed the sentiment.

"I've got work, but I can pop in between ferrying souls." Komachi raised a hand. I got the impression that she cared for Lady Kasen a lot, so I hoped that she would be able to talk to her somewhat.

"Yeah, what little you ferry, you slacker of a Shinigami." Tenshi muttered under her breath. I shot her a look, and she raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Anyway." Reimu ground the words out. "I've got a feeling deep down that she'll stick to her word." I hoped so. Despite the slightly intimidating aura that she gave of, the arm seemed to be rather interesting to talk to.

And so, Komachi agreed to keep an eye on Kasen and the arm for now, while Tenshi accompanied Reimu and I back out of Lady Kasen's senkai. As we left, I spotted the arm, still staring out across the horizon. I hoped she was able to change, like she wanted.

We left the clearing and emerged back onto the mountain side in the light of the afternoon. "Oh." Tenshi said, fishing around in her pocket. "Marisa gave me this. Said to give it to you." She passed it to Reimu, who stared at it, then tried moving it further away and closer. I stepped up and peered over her shoulder. The note was a scribbled mess, and I could barely tell what it said.

"Did she...say anything?" Reimu slowly asked, clearly unable to read whatever it was the note said. I was struggling just as much. There were some scribbles that…might have been words? If a two-year old had written them.

"She said that she had a grand idea. About Eientei."

>>44832275
>"I understand that I'm in...Gensokyo, now?"
I was under the impression Kasen helped found Gensokyo before being split, am I misremembering?
Also, I wonder if this story arc is a response of sorts to the conclusion of WaHH. Of course, we don't know until it concludes, but I recall quite a few people being disappointed WaHH ended as "arm gets resealed and nothing changes lol". This is a fascinating way to explore other potential outcomes while also exploring Kasen (both of them) more as a character

>>44841909
Ah, Marisa has gone insane.

>>44842033
It's not stated directly in touhou, but Ibaraki-douji's arm is typically understood to have been cut off either right around or just after the Mt. Ooe massacre, but there's a couple variations on the tale. It's usually around the year 995 or so.
Either way, arm-chan has been stuck in avici since then, so it's reasonable that even if ibaraki-douji was still whole, she might have forgotten

>>44841902
>She's supposed to be just concentrated malice and hatred in one form
So? Concentrated malice and hatred can change! Just look at Junko!

>>44842449
Junko stores her fury in her breasts

>>44841909
>And if she really can change, she should be allowed to try.
Huh. Reimu not advocating for violence. Is that a subtle SoPM reference?
>You claim to want to exterminate youkai, and to create a human-only world. But what you truly desire is a peace that doesn't require violence, don't you?

>>44842449
That's not a great example

>>44842552
No, it's a great example. She changed from pure fury to pure sex

>>44842525
Reimu just doesn't want to beat up her own grand aunt I bet.
>>44841909
Facinating stuff, I was slightly worried this would end soon since Yammy and our trenchcoat wearing villager hooked up. But it seems you still have mileage left.

>>44843148
There's still that entire Eientei plot, which hasn't moved an inch since Reisen was captured.

>>44841909
Tenko wants to savor Kronkanon's scent, so she lays in his bed... scandalous!

>>44843148
The show ain't over yet son!

>>44843388
Not like he's slept in his room at Kasens in a good while, not likely to have slept much at all lately actually.

>>44829675
No problem. It takes no more than 5 minutes on my computer. As long as I don't have to stitch phone screenshots together, it'll be daijoubu.
>>44841909
>"Don't attack the arm." She directed that toward Komachi and Tenshi. "Not only will you lose, you'll just antagonise her [...]"
You didn't have to destroy the ego of my girls like this. They're strong too, you know?!

>>44849797
A bit weird that she said that about Tenshi, Reimu is certainly stronger but Tenshi isn't a push over.

>>44850458
probably because tenshi and reimu faced oni kasen together and the only way they won was by tenshi distracting kasen so reimu could hit her with the fragment of the sword and cut the arm off
and from what we saw of the arm in WaHH, it's just as strong as the full oni is
komachi, we don't really know. The second she saw that they were in avici, the bailed on the whole fight to go and tell eiki so they could come up with contingency plans, but as strong as I imagine she is, the arm is just retarded strong

>>44849797
By the way, I'm planning on editing the screencaps eventually, to add the numbers for the "chapters" dividing each bunch of posts.

>>44850566
Cool. I still have some of the higher quality PSD collages around, although not all of them. I could share the .zip later if you are interested.
The ones I post are PNG-8 exports instead of PNG-24, because every single image would exceed the 4MB limit otherwise. Not by much, but enough to make things annoying.

>>44850642
Thanks, but I think I'll do the opposite: I'll post the layer with just the numbers when I'm done, so you can add it to your pics if you want.

"Tea, tea, honey tea, and...plum wine." Oseki said, placing drinks in front of me, Reimu, Tenshi and Marisa respectively. She seemed to struggle a little at that last one, presumably because it was still early in the afternoon and respectable people shouldn't have been drinking at this hour.

Marisa, though, didn't look respectable. She looked dishevelled and like she hadn't slept in weeks. "Some sort of mushroom." Tenshi had told us, guiding Marisa in and forcing her into a chair while her eyes rapidly flitted between the various customers of the café that Oseki worked at. "She's been like this for days. "

"Youkai, human, human...no, kind of snakey." Marisa was muttering under her breath, her eyes still flicking back and forth randomly. To tell the truth, I was a little concerned.

"And...why is she like this, exactly?" Reimu asked, poking Marisa in the forehead with her gohei. Marisa's head swung back slightly, but she didn't react otherwise. "Are we staging an intervention? Because if she wants to overdose on weird mushrooms, that's her business."

"I...think she was bored." Tenshi said, scratching her head. "She-" She was forced to cut herself off and lift her hat from the table when Marisa made a grab for it. "She said her head hurt."

I ventured that perhaps the attack she'd suffered in Eientei had left a few more lasting effects than she'd thought.

"Could be, but I think they'd have kicked in by now. Maybe her head hurts and the mushroom is helping, but...she probably shouldn't have used it." Reimu said, taking a sip of her tea. "Oh well. Might as well make use of her while she's mentally on another planet. Marisa?"

"What!? Not now, Reimu, there's youkai afoot. No, not afoot. About." Marisa babbled, looking like she would lose balance at any moment. "Aboot?"

"Hey! Pipe down!" Oseki yelled at us from the other side of the room. I awkwardly waved my hand to show that the message had gotten across.

We were in the café, and it was about mid-afternoon. After Tenshi had given us the vague, scribbled note, which now sat in the centre of the table, Reimu had decided that she needed more food if she was going to be dealing with Marisa in whatever state she was in, and dragged us in the direction of the village. Tenshi herself had gone to drag Marisa from her house, where she had spent the last week and a half holed up. When they had arrived, Reimu had muttered something to me about there not being much point in hitting Marisa in the head anymore, because there was clearly nothing left there to damage.

"Marisa, what the hell does this mean?" Reimu asked again, slightly quieter this time. She lifted Marisa's scribbled note. "Because none of us could make anything out."

Marisa's eyes widened dramatically and she made a grab for the note, only for Reimu to pull it back out of reach. "Gimme, Reimu!" She was acting almost like a child, which was a little disconcerting.

"Yeah, I don't really know what this is about." Tenshi said, forcibly pushing Marisa back in her chair. "She said she had a thought about Eientei, but never got around to explaining what exactly that thought was."

"Yeah, well-" Marisa was still trying to get the note, and Reimu had finally had enough. "Alright, that's it. You, come with me." Reimu abruptly stood, dragged Marisa from her chair, then unceremoniously dragged her from the shop without a word to either myself or Tenshi. Silence followed in her wake, and I looked over and noticed that Oseki and the old man who ran the shop were doing a very good job of pretending not to pay attention.

"So, er, I didn't mean to pry, but there's a certain...feel to you." Tenshi said to me. "Different from before. Almost like you were greatly drained, spiritually." I...had a feeling I knew what she was referring to. Instead of answering, I gave her a look. "Ah. Did you - Have you been - With that spider?" I nodded. "I see..." She looked slightly uncomfortable with the conversation, but not really upset, which was nice. "You'd have that Buddhist monk jumping for joy. She's been wanting peace between humans and youkai for years, and here you are, going a step above and beyond." I felt like that same Buddhist monk would decidedly not be jumping for joy when she found out exactly who the spider was, though. "As your friend, I hope you know that if - What was her name? Kurodani? If she hurts you, I'll hurt her back." At this point, I had heard the same threat from multiple different people on both sides of the topic about both myself and about Yamame, so I was honestly struggling to keep them straight. Finally, I just thanked her for her concern. "I hear that's a good way to get ill. You're drinking enough water?"

This was rapidly turning into a conversation I didn't want to have, but I was happily saved when Reimu threw the flap separating the interior of the restaurant from the outside open and stalked back inside, looking rather pleased with herself. "She'll be along in a second." She told us, ignoring the questioning looks we gave both her and each other.

Marisa threw the flaps open and strolled inside. "Sorry, sorry about that. Don't know what came over me! Last time I eat mushrooms from that part of the forest, I tell you!" She was...completely normal. Like nothing had every happened. Marisa took her seat and drained her plum wine in a flash, then made a face and asked for tea instead. "Right, what's happening here, exactly?"

Both Tenshi and I stared at her, then shifted our gazes to Reimu, who shrugged. I slowly asked her just what she had done. "Old family secret. Maybe if you behave yourself for a while, I'll tell you." That was about as unsatisfying of an answer as I could have expected, but it seemed to be the only one I would be getting, because Reimu looked extremely smug about getting to use it, whatever it was. "Back on track, then. Marisa, what the hell is this?" She said, lifting the note again.

"Huh? What's...Are these even words?" Marisa spun the note upside down, then in every direction she could think of. "Who even wrote this?" She asked with a frown.

"You." Reimu, Tenshi and I all said at the same time.

"Me?" Marisa frowned. "I don't think that's me. That's not my - Oh, hang on..." She folded the paper in half, then made another fold in a random spot. "Oh. There we go." She said, her eyebrows raising in realisation.

"What? Bullshit." Reimu snatched the note from her. "...Huh." I leaned over her shoulder to see it from her perspective. Folded, the letter had clearly legible words written on it in-between the scribbles, in what seemed to be a rather ingenious way of keeping a message hidden. "Why'd you even bother doing this?"

"You're asking me? I don't even remember writing the thing." Marisa shrugged, looking fairly nonplussed by the whole thing. "I'm just very good at figuring these sorts of puzzles out."

"What does it say?" Tenshi finally asked. She finished her honeyed tea, let out a satisfied sigh which she immediately cut off as if daring to admit that some drink from the surface was actually good would destroy her reputation, then plucked the letter from Reimu's hand. " It says 'Counselling.'" She frowned and looked over at Marisa. "Are you sure you folded this right? What's that supposed to tell us?"

"Of course I di-" She looked at the note, then twisted her body so that her head was sideways to the note. "Oh." She pulled it from Tenshi, made another fold, then passed it back. "Try again."

"Hm. 'Master not thinking straight. Doesn't know what the patient knows. Use counselling excuse to gain entry.' So this isn't even a note from you? It's from that rabbit." Tenshi cast a critical eye at Marisa. "Oh, there's something else at the bottom. 'Research causing more pain than progress.'"

"Looks like it." Marisa shrugged, then eyed my tea as if she was looking to take it. Quickly, I drained my own cup, and she pouted at me before trying to steal Reimu's tea, only to find that Reimu had finished hers too. "I think I did the scribbles, though. I don't really remember much from the last few days." I looked up at that with some concern, because the last time I'd heard that sort of talk, it had been me, with Reisen Udongein Inaba altering my memories. Marisa waved her hands at me. "No, uh, not like that. I...may have ingested something I shouldn't have."

"You're an idiot." Reimu grumbled at Marisa. "Why can't you just be normal?"

"I'm perfectly ordinary, thank you." Marisa replied with a wide smile.

Teshi tapped on the table to get our attention. "Okay, so evidently, at some point, Eirin's assistant has given this to Marisa." She threw the folded letter back into the middle of the table. "She's telling us to use 'counselling' to get into Eientei...Which means what, exactly?"

"Er...Something to do with therapy? Like, for the mind?" Was Reimu's addition to the conversation. "Think I heard Yukari mention it once..." I thought for a moment, then blinked as one of my memories emerged. Physical therapy had - at least, supposedly - been for my fall from the Heavens after Miss Iku had thrown me. So, mental therapy...And if Doctor Yagokoro had no idea what I knew, she might think that my memories are still locked.

I looked up, the pieces seeming to fit together somewhat. I could try and use the counselling excuse to gain entry to Eientei. "And then?" Tenshi asked. "Because all that seems to do is deliver you straight to her, and we want to sort out her problems, not make them worse."

"Not necessarily." Marisa said, poking Tenshi in the cheek. "How we got in, remember? Through the roof." Reimu looked between them, then frowned. "We could go in at the same time. That way, we can stop him from getting turned into a bunch of bits in jars." Marisa continued.

"Okay, but why send him in at all, then?" Tenshi pressed on. "We could go and do that right now."

"We still don't know what's gotten Eirin like this, and we need to resolve that to resolve everything else." Reimu said quietly. "He might be able to get her talking. She was talkative when she knew Reisen was going to wipe your memories. Hopefully, we can get that but without the memory wiping this time."

"You don't want to just beat the answers out of her?" Marisa asked Reimu, raising an eyebrow.

"Anyone else - well, most people - and I'd say yes. You'll never get a straight answer out of Eirin Yagokoro no matter how much you try." Reimu clearly had more experience in this regard, so I felt like I could trust her at her word. "Not that I'm not planning to beat her up. Just a little. She deserves it for plenty of reasons that aren't even to do with him. Ah, I wish I could have had Remilia's sister blow up the moon for me..."

I was starting to think that Reimu was making things up, but it wasn't like I could contradict her, so I didn't say anything about it. Instead, I asked if it was really the plan we were going with. I couldn't say I was...looking forward to going to Eientei. In fact, I could say that I was rather worried about the idea. I hadn't had the luxury of training myself against panic attacks if I was to be alone in a room with Doctor Yagokoro again, and the whole plan seemed to rely on her not knowing that I knew about her plans to reverse the Hourai Elixir, which was what had caused the panic attacks in the first place. I voiced my concerns.

"What about when Rumia attacked you? Say it's got you terrified to go out at all. She'd have to admit that she had the rabbits break into your house to disprove it, so it might just work." Tenshi suggested. It wasn't an awful suggestion, even if it was an awful thing to think about. My only real concern with it was that I didn't have any reason for not having come forward earlier.

"Look, I've got another suggestion, but you're not going to like it." I'd heard that plenty of times, but Reimu shook her head. "I'm serious. It's cruel to even suggest." She leaned in. "You could...use your other trauma." She told me, looking like she was against it even as she said. And for good reason, because I was somewhat shocked to even hear her suggest it. That trauma felt intensely personal and still very much fresh. It had brought Reimu and I together. I had watched my parents die before my eyes. I didn't think I could talk about that. "I don't want you to. Believe me." Reimu told me strongly, staring into my eyes. "If we can find a way to make the other idea work, we're doing that. Maybe in the future, if Eirin stops being...like this, you could talk to her properly." I supposed that she might be capable of that sort of talk, but nothing I'd seen indicated it.

"Well, you don't have to make a decision right now." Tenshi said, rubbing her forehead. "It's a complicated situation. Best to sleep on it, perhaps." I opened my mouth. "No, I don't want to know who you'll be sleeping with." I closed my mouth again.
"Wait." Marisa said, slamming her hands on the table. "What?" She looked at me, then turned and looked very closely at Tenshi. "Who's he sleeping with?" She looked at Reimu. "You?" Suddenly, I realised that Marisa had no idea about my...spider situation. Reimu raised her hands and shook her head. "Then - Who?" She was starting to look a little desperate now. "C'mon, don't leave me out of this. He's supposed to be my client. Romantic fulfilment? All that?" The blonde girl looked seconds from jumping across the table. "Who was it? Narumi? Patchouli? Don't tell me it was Junko. Don't leave me in the dark like this, man!"

"Marisa, leave him alone." Reimu tiredly said, slapping Marisa's hands away, which had been starting to edge across the table toward me. "If he doesn't want to tell you, he doesn't have to." I found that to be a very big-sisterly response, which made me feel just a little warm inside.

"But - But-" Marisa was at a loss for words, and Tenshi finally rolled her eyes.

"Alright, let's leave it there for now. Back here in a day or two? Good? Good." Tenshi got to her feet, wrapped an arm around Marisa's neck, and dragged her from the chair. "Come on, you. Maybe I'll give you a hint if I feel like it." Marisa's complaints and pleas for answers faded as Tenshi dragged her through the flap, pausing to wave goodbye to us.

Reimu and I looked at each other. Were they-? "No." Reimu said bluntly. "Definitely not. Even Marisa has better taste than a washed-up, delinquent former celestial." I remarked that Reimu really should try to be nicer to Tenshi. "Well, maybe you should try to make your precious Kurodani be nicer to me." I raised an eyebrow. "Shut up. I'm plenty nice." I rolled my eyes and fished around for money, only to remember that my money was in my other trousers. Which were discarded somewhere in Yamame's bedroom. With a lot of tears in them. Reimu looked at me, then rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. You're so lucky you're endearing." That was a nice compliment, even if I wasn't certain it was meant to be taken as one. She fished around in her sleeve, then withdrew enough money to pay the bill. I promised I would get it next time, though the glint in Reimu's eye did concern me slightly when I said that.

We left the shop, and I wondered where I should go now. Back to the Shrine? The dojo? Yamame's home? "I can tell where you want to go, so let's get going before I die of old age." Reimu told me. "But seriously, make sure you're drinking enough water." How did she know that Tenshi had said that to me, too? "Marisa probably can't tell, but I'm just as sensitive to spiritual changes as Tenshi is." I probably blushed from that. "Look, just...Oh, I don't know." She began leading me in the direction of the caves, and before long, we were walking through the darkness, a ball of light lazily floating ahead of us which Reimu had thrown as soon as I had felt the shakes starting to come on. "Seems like everyone's got things going on these days. Kasen's busy trying not to throw herself off a cliff, Ibaraki-douji's arm is trying to reinvent herself, you're getting sucked dry by a spider, whatever's going on with Tenshi and Marisa..." I coughed somewhat violently as I began to see the soft glow of light in Yamame's home. "Oh." Reimu giggled lightly, patting me on the back. "I just...kind of miss the old days. Things seemed much less complicated." The past generally seemed that way, I said. When I thought back to when I'd first met Marisa, everything had seemed simple, but I was definitely happier now. "Yeah. I guess you're right." Reimu said, staring off into the darkness.

Once we were stood outside the door, Reimu turned to face me properly. "I'll come by in a day or so, whenever those two get around to meeting again." She rapped on the door. Within moments, it was flung open and there Yamame stood, looking like she'd been lifting heavy things around because she was sweating. "Just returning my brother, Kurodani." Reimu stepped back. "I'll see you later." She told me, eyeing Yamame who was breathing somewhat heavily. With a wave, she turned and took to the air, floating back down the tunnel.

"You." I turned to look at Yamame, who's eyes had started to become wildly unfocused. "Inside, now." She grabbed me by the coat, hauled me through the door, and all but threw me at her bedroom. "Have you ever heard of coffee?" She asked me, looking like her already abnormally high energy reserves had somehow shot even higher as she pushed me through the door. "I think I've developed a taste for it!"

I thought I was about to develop a taste for something else entirely.

>>44850997
>I slowly asked her just what she had done. "Old family secret. Maybe if you behave yourself for a while, I'll tell you."
I'm going to guess she just made Marisa throw up.

>>44851002
>I thought I was about to develop a taste for something else entirely.
Mmm, our boy is about to receive a good lesson on some cunning linguistics.

No one told him about Sekibanki this time, huh? Wonder when he'll learn.

>>44851002
>I thought I was about to develop a taste for something else entirely.
Dammnit, the man needs a big fucking cup of water.
Is the whole change in spirit thing literally his essence being drained? Be funny if that's the case

>>44851002
uh oh, the spood got spood-liquor

>>44851270
Well, you know what the Taoists say, and Reimu's spiritual acuity is remarked at least once to be close to a Taoist hermit's.

>>44851002
Oh no, now she's horny AND drunk AND caffeinated.

>>44851002
Marisa will spend the entire story not knowing

This story is downright refreshing after the hell the other writefagging thread has become.

>>44852095
Its been depression and hell from the start

>>44852095
QRD?

>>44852424
Look for the Hakurei Shrine Experience.
Original writefag went on a vacay and the anons went insane and wrote a horrific spinoff.
Smut is okay though, which apparently forgives all ills.

>>44850991
>. Marisa's head swung back slightly, but she didn't react otherwise.
NOO MARISA GOT A LOBOTOMY

>>44852471
Any word on Youkai Hunter and Banki?

>>44853227
I started a bnaki thread, you can hope

>>44853227
He said when the thread hit bump limit he would continue it but would wait for a new thread.

>if only we could get Remilia's sister to blow up the moon
Wonder if Reimu could convince Remi to let her 'borrow' her sister for a trip to Eientei? Maybe they'd need Patchouli too to keep her under control, anon could finally have a catch-up with her again and we get the bonus ending where Flandre ends up blowing up most of Eientei before getting overwhelmed by being out her basement and causing an incident the moment Patchouli gets too ill to keep her under control.

>>44851002
Shionbros... Arisubros... these two are way too close.

>>44850739
That's fine with me too. Keep up the good work boss.

>>44852471
I worked very hard on the smut thank you very much.
I'm also half sure the writefag from here popped in a couple of times to join in

>>44853652
It's like the cursed child of Alice and Tenshi

>Ah, I wish I could have had Remilia's sister blow up the moon for me...
anon sure does love his obscure lore references

>>44856733
This is obscure now?

>>44856787
it becomes more obscure every year because the cross reviews don't happen any more and SCoOW doesn't exist as a book
even so, I imagine the average touhou fan probably doesn't know about it

In my opinion I think other girls should appear to disrupt Yamame and anon relationship (they can still be together in the end)

>>44857129
As much i like reading this, endless padding to keep it going is a bad idea, they should solve the entei issue and be done with it.

>>44857653
Kronkanon also has to meet Remilia before the story ends just for the fun of it.

>>44853526
This would make a great spin-off in it's own right.

Finally, the moment had come to confront Doctor Yagokoro and make her explain her actions. Reimu had agreed with the frontal assault but with a secret weapon for back-up that the Lunarians would have never seen coming. I still struggled to comprehend how we'd managed to get our new 'ally' to join us for what we thought would be the final confrontation at Eientei. Everyone was here now as we gathered in sight of the front gates, I felt my heart beating faster as Tenshi turned to give me a reassuring look, "It'll be okay, what they did to you is all in the past now and they're going to answer for everything they did, just hold on I'll be with you through whatever comes next". Tenshi smiled and we kept pacing towards the gates, no-one spoke for a while and the tension grew as the eerily quiet Eientei showed little signs of life, the rabbits having long fled with Tewi and still not returned. We reached the gates and finally Reimu broke the silence Our new 'tool' better fucking show up or I swear I'll exterminate her again! I don't feel like repeating the fake moon incident again, even more so considering we don't have Yakumo or anyone else with us this time". The sun began to set and Marisa without thinking pushed a gate open and took a few steps into the compound.

"Anyone gonna come an roll out the red carpet da ze?"

There was no response and so Marisa threw a small rock towards the entrance of the mansion, coming down on the porch with a deep echo breaking the unnatural silence of the compound. "Idiot! You don't know what they're going to do if we just storm in here like this?!" Reimu snapped with a wrathful look, equal parts anger and pent up tension in her voice. "Ya know it is meant to be frontal assault rrright?" Marisa gave that smug, but also reckless look as both Reimu and Tenshi looked ready to grab an arm each and pull her away. Even Shameimaru seemed a little quiet and off as she fluttered high above, watching the compound but still noting no sign of activity. My heart skipped a beat as one of hte front doors slide open with some force.

"You came back for another beating Miss Kirisame, I'm afraid I'm too busy to treat that?" my heart began pounding as a familiar voice cut through the squabble about to break out among the trio, Yagokoro. "You better fucking start speaking, RIGHT NOW." Reimu turned to the doctor with a look of pure hatred blazing in her eyes. Before Eirin could reply another voice came from behind her; "Heh, you enjoyed bar fighting Kirisame? Wanna have another round, I had fun last time but I had been drinking a little bit too much first. I'm sober this time though!" playfully raising her fists in a mock fighters stance, Kaguya stepped out from behind Eirin as Reisen also shuffled along nervously behind the princess.

"Like I said before, I'm predisposed, leave now before you all get very hurt, this won't be like the last time we faced off"
Eirin stepped ahead of the other two giving a cold, emotionless stare in Reimu's direction. Tenshi grabbed my hand as I started to breathe heavily, the doctor's presence grating my nerves even through my desperate attempts to hold together. Shameimaru gently touched down besides me too. "It's okay, our 'friends' are here now", she hid an eager grin as she turned to me and then moved towards Reimu.

"Oh, you brought a pet bird with you shrine maiden? Didn't Yakumo want to see us again, that's a shame?" Kaguya looked towards Aya as Eiren strode forward, a large bow appearing in her hands and began to draw an arrow. Reimu took a fighting stance, pointing her gohei at Yagokoro as Reisen nervously took stance by her side, trying to somewhat block their master from moving any closer.
"Pet crow? You don't know what's coming your way if I don't exterminate you first! Fuck you, all three of you are finished, put down the bow and start explaining it all; what you did to him, to Mokou, all of it, explain it now!"
"The shrine maiden thinks a witch, an ex-celestial and a tengu can stand against the power of an immortal, master I don't know what they're trying to do, please end this peacefully." Reisen found some confidence although she still stumbled her words somewhat trying to confer with Eirin who still would not break her iron stare into Reimu's eyes, bow half drawn.
"No, we brought someone else too this time"
"Yakumo did come after all?! Oh good I can't wait to fight again"
"No, we found someone... more appropriate for dealing with such a monster of a so-called 'doctor'"

1/2

The other unopened gate unexpectedly moved open, as if it moved on its own without anyone even touching it, despite its weight. To my astonishment Lady Patchouli gently levitated above the ground through the now wide open gateway, a folded up parasol in one hand and an ancient looking grimoire under the other arm. Reimu somehow got the mansion's librarian to come out all this way to here? But then behind what looked like a small girl paced into the compound with the magician, but she didn't look like a normal human girl, she had wings but they looked so strange, more like coloured lanterns hanging from a tree branch than an actual pair of useable wings. She strolled around, looking somewhat confused and overwhelmed by her surroundings, taking them in for a few moments before turning to Lady Patchouli who whispered something inaudible in the little girl's ear.
"Holy fucking shit Reimu, how the hell did you did you get HER to come here?!!"
Marisa skipped towards the pair, eager to see them as Tenshi looked somewhat confused and Shameimaru took a nervous step back behind Reimu as if sensing something wasn't right with the new arrivals.

"What are you so happy about, rat. I didn't come to see you. Miss Hakurei requested the services of the mistress's sister and obliged given her sentiment towards the Lunarians. Not because we want to help you in any way."
"Fun as ever Patchy, aww why didn't you bring your helper I wanted some of her tea again"

Mistresses' sister? I felt a slight sinking feeling in my heart, this strange girl is the vampire's sister?! Lady Patchouli whispered some more words in the girl's ear as Reimu briskly walked towards me, shielding me somewhat, Shameimaru also awkwardly trying to shuffle behind her as well in somewhat comical fashion.
"Get down behind me, now."

The strange girl started to stare at one of the compounds outbuildings with a unhuman dead stare lighting up what for the first time I noticed were her bright red eyes.
"Kyuu...?"

She ran a finger around the palm of her opposite hand before closing it up. I before I could look any further Reimu with a hand behind her shoved my head into her back pushing me down completely behind her as an enormous, deep sounding but fireless explosion ripped through the outbuilding. Millions of shards of bamboo, tiling, wood and plaster rained down all over the vast compound like a sudden burst of hail. Tenshi fell to the floor in shock as even the tengu besides me flinched as Marisa jumped up from a crouching position.

"Holy shit that was fucking awesome, now lets play blow the big house up and I'll come play with ya again soon!"

Marisa seemed to be the only one that wasn't somewhat shocked by seeing the fairly sizeable outbuilding just explode into millions of pieces. The little girl turned to her with a strange smile and let out a muted giggle. "The big house, like the one over there?..." The girl turned towards

"Yea! It'd be the coolest thing ever! Seriously, I'd come play with you again whenever you like if ya do it ze?"
"Marisa! Don't fucking encourage that thing! For fucks sake I'm not dealing with another incident caused by those fucking vampires after we've sorted these Lunarians out, this is enough!", Reimu cut her off gnashing her teeth somewhat as Tenshi got up, dusting off some bamboo and wood shards and regaining her composure again.

Reisen huddled up behind Kaguya, a look of utter terror on her face as even Eirin started to pace backwards, lowering in the bow to her side again and making a vain effort to try and usher Kaguya back with the other arm. The small girl started to walk towards the group in the entranceway of the mansion, slanting her head slightly with a curious expression as her eyes met with Yagokoro's. She slowly started to slip one of her fingers into the opposite palm.

Eirin's eyes widened, for the first time I'd ever seen showing some emotion as a pure of pure terror filled her eyes, her pacing turning into awkward stumbling back from the small vampire girl. Both of her hands nervously trying to hold Kaguya behind her as she dropped the bow and stumbled almost on top of the cowering and terrified Reisen.

"Are you here to play with me?"
The girl's palm closed

"Kyuu....."

2/2

So Yamame CAN feed of anon's love after all

>>44857653
>>44857997
There are some other loose ends that have yet to be tied up:

- Anon and Narumi never interacted again after their date despite getting along.
- Anon still owes Hecatia for her favor.
- Yuuka is still growing that peach tree in Muenzuka.
- Kogasa still thinks Anon is a ghost.
- Orin still despises Anon. Considering his efforts to understand youkai more, I think they're due to settle their differences at some point.
- Seija was brought up in the flashback. Not sure what her role would be if she were to return, but if Anon were to hypothetically confront Remilia at some point, perhaps he could do the same for Seija.
- I think some closure could be brought between Anon and Sekibanki considering he spent much of the intro trying to woo her. He needs to find out she's a rokurokubi, and she needs to find out he has a girlfriend (although considering the last update, she may have overheard that).
- Wakasagihime mentioned she was interested in meeting Anon again.
- Anon still needs to actualize his dreams of becoming a fisherman.

How important these are is subject to debate, but expanding upon any would be a natural extension of the story.

>>44860393
we don't need to tie up everything, just the obvious stuff like the favor to Hecatia. otherwise we'll be here forever, going after minutiae that was brought up off-handedly two months ago

>>44860544
>otherwise we'll be here forever
I'm ok with that

>>44860544
Plot twist:turns out that we where dead all along and as each loose end is tied another loose end appears because we are on limbo. Once the writefag manages to finish the story we will pass on to the afterlife.

"...What is it?" Yamame Kurodani asked, gingerly poking the brown things on her desk. They resolutely showed no reaction, which Yamame found slightly concerning. They looked evil.

"The Moriya called it...coffee granules." Reiko told her. Her sister had finally given into her begging and tied her dark, almost pitch black hair back instead of letting it all hang down into her face, and it was proving to be a marked improvement, regardless of what she said about it. Behind her, Yura leant against the wall of Yamame's bedroom and played with a lock of her dirty-blonde hair.

"What do you...do with it?" They didn't look entirely appetizing. As a matter of fact, they didn't look edible at all. It sort of looked like mud. "Why'd you even take this as payment? We have deals with the Moriya, and if they think we'll take any old payment, they might start to get some strange ideas."

"Because, dear sister, they're flat broke. Some sort of attraction down in the human village drawing their attention, and we took what we could get. Did you really want to spend the next week chasing them up for money?" Yura pushed away from the wall and wrapped her arms around Yamame's neck. She always took great pleasure in treating Yamame like a child, even though they were the same age. "Now, I reckon you use them as building materials."

"No, you really do not." Reiko said, grabbing the back of Yura's collar and dragged her off of Yamame. "And if you weren't trying to put weird ideas in poor Yams' head, I would be able to explain." Yura grumbled in dissent but allowed Reiko to continue. "Now, Yams, the tengu told me that they're for some sort of drink." She rummaged in the pockets of her dress and pulled out a note written in the flowing calligraphy of Kanako Yasaka. Fortunately, much as Yamame had taken up the seamstress profession, Reiko had taken up the business side, and part of that had included a hobby - though Yamame was just as like to call it an obsession - with written language, and could read just about anything. "They wouldn't tell me where they got them from, and I suppose that means that we wouldn't want to know anyhow." Which almost definitely meant that they came from the Outside. Not just anyone could get through the barrier that separated Gensokyo from the rest of the world, but Kanako Yasaka had certainly alluded to the ability once or twice. "You put them in boiling water, she says." Reiko indicated her note. "You don't," This was accompanied by a sharp glare at Yura, "Use them as building materials."

"Still think you could..." Yura muttered under her breath, repositioning Yamame to act as a shield against Reiko.

"Okay, so - Where'd you even get them?" Yamame pinched a small pile of the coffee granules and took an experimental sniff, which wasn't the worst thing she'd ever smelt, but it could hardly be called the best. "Why were the Moriya in the Hot Springs?" Yamame's sisters had been underground for weeks working on the restoration of the Old City's Hot Springs, but this was the first time she'd heard of the Moriya lot appearing.

"That goddess appeared with the weird green-haired human, told us how important and great of a job we were doing, then game us gifts." Yura told Yamame as she began to massage her shoulders. "You're very tense, dear sister." She was silent for a moment. "Missing something?" She asked, coyly.

"My peace and quiet, you - Ooh..." Much to her chagrin, Yura did have a very skilled touch. It took more than a little force of will, but she finally found the strength to push her sister's fingers away. Somewhat annoyingly, she was right. Yamame already missed that strange human who she found so interesting, and he'd only been gone for half a day, in his brand new outfit, no less. "S-So, she probably wants your faith, then. Or to show off how indispensable she is." The Moriya's reactor wasn't far from the Hot Springs, after all, and the goddess probably wanted to make a show of helping her neighbours. It wasn't for Yamame to think about, because she held little stock in gods as it was. The last time she had approached Kanako Yasaka, it had nearly cost her something very dear to her, so she wouldn't take any advice from the snake anymore. "Okay. Graciously accept the gifts, but tell the rest not to let it become a habit." She cautiously tasted one of the granules, and found it somewhat unpleasant.

"Boiling water, Yams. You might be a little dense sometimes, but you're not stupid." Reiko told her, crouching down to meet her height. "Here, you just relax. I'll do it." She swept the granules into her hand, then swept herself out of the room. Soon, Yamame could hear her in the kitchen.

"How's your precious human?" Yura took the opportunity presented by Reiko's leaving to slip her hands back around Yamame's shoulders. "I haven't seen our most beautiful sister smile so much in years."

"Exaggeration." Yamame ground out, trying to ignore just how damnably skilled the girl was at massages. "He's been through a lot. Definitely doesn't need you trying to make - make insinuations."

"Is that right?" Yura suddenly stopped, and Yamame found herself just barely keeping herself from telling her to continue. "Perhaps I'll have to venture to the surface. Find a pretty boy all to myself." Yamame didn't manage to say whatever she was about to say when Yura's fingers managed to hit a particularly tense spot just right. "And just when are you planning to introduce him to us, hmm? I'm starting to think you're embarrassed of us."

"Of course not, Yu..." Yamame was on the verge of falling asleep. "Soon, definitely soon..."

Reiko bustled back into the room, one of Yamame's mugs in her hands. Yamame could see the steam wafting up from inside. "It smells rather nice, but I think I'll leave the taste test to you, Yams." She placed it on the table in front of her. Yura pulled her hands away, which Yamame found to be sorely disappointing. Perhaps it was time to find out just how skilled her human was at massages.

Cautiously, she took hold of the mug and smelt it. It had a strong, almost nutty smell, but it felt full-bodied. She took the barest sip, then felt her eyes widen. It was an intense flavour the likes of which she had never tasted before. Strong, and bitter and hot all at once, and even the bitterness didn't seem to matter much compared to the way she could feel the heat flowing down her throat. She took another sip, this time savouring the taste. "Well, that's, uh, rather nice." She finally said, already reaching out for another sip and ignoring the way her hands were just barely beginning to shake.

After several perilous hours during which I was certain that my life was coming to an end, I decreed that Yamame Kurodani was not to be allowed unsupervised access to coffee. Yamame pouted and whined the whole time, and while it tugged on my heartstrings, I remained steadfast. I started by confiscating her current supply, which was thankfully small, and told her that if she wanted more, she had to tell me in advance. Not necessarily because I hated what had just happened, but because I think I needed some prior warning if it was to happen again.

I did feel like I'd learnt how to do several new things in the last few hours, though, so I supposed that there was a silver lining to everything. Maybe I was getting better at things.

Also, I'd had an idea somewhere along the way, while Yamame had been explaining at an incredibly rapid pace just where she'd gotten her coffee from. It had been rather hard to pay attention at the time, but I'd managed.

I'd been thinking about Lady Kasen and the arm. And if Lady Kasen had been an oni long ago, then had she known the oni who were presently in the Old City? Reimu had suggested smacking both Lady Kasen and the arm until they made up and sorted out their differences, and while I didn't think that was necessarily the perfect solution, I did wonder if it took an oni to know an oni. After a moment's thought, I placed my hand over Yamame's mouth, since she'd still been ranting at me to "Give me back my bloody coffee!", then asked her if she knew of any oni in the Old City who might recognize the name of Ibaraki-douji.

After a moment, I felt her tongue push against my hand, which wasn't a particularly pleasant feeling, so I took my hand away and let her talk again. "Oh, er...Ibaraki-douji?" I wasn't entirely she would even know who that was, but it was worth a shot. "Oh! From the Four Heavenly Kings!" That sounded about right, but I couldn't claim to be entirely up-to-date with oni lore. "Well, er, I quite liked when the kishin of old still lived in Former Hell, and the oni who lived on the surface were really interesting too, so..." I seemed to have discovered something rather interesting. Come to think of it, I didn't know exactly how old Yamame was, but it seemed that she was old enough to have memories of the kishin who used to live in Former Hell. "A-Anyway, Ibaraki-douji was one of the four devas of the mountain, also known as the Four Heavenly Kings." Curiously, Yamame's lecturing voice sounded almost identical to Miss Kamishirasawa's. "They were eventually defeated by a group of humans, and Ibaraki-douji lost her arm in the process." Well, I thought privately. I knew where exactly that same arm was now. "I think...Hoshiguma-douji and Shuuten-douji, and there was another...But I can't remember the name." Hoshiguma? Like, Yuugi Hoshiguma? "Yeah, I think so! She's pretty settled in the Old City, though, and she's overseeing a lot of the reconstruction project. Why?"

I gave Yamame a brief rundown of why I needed to speak with an oni who knew Ibaraki-douji, though I kept it vague to respect Lady Kasen's privacy. Even so, I think I managed to set off some sort of hidden fangirl switch in Yamame's subconscious. "Wait, do...do you know Ibaraki-douji? Oh, you totally do!" Apparently, fangirl Yamame spoke like Lady Hecatia, which was...interesting. "What's she like? Some of the stories get conflicted, so I don't really know for sure, but she's sometimes known as Shuuten-douji's partner, and-" She continued, grasping my hands and shaking them. After a few moments of this, I managed to calm her down and explain that it was mostly something I couldn't talk about. I frowned, then asked about Shuuten-douji. What about her? "She's...Um, do you remember the second time we met? I had to drag you to the ceiling so you weren't in the way?" I did remember that, and now that she'd put my thoughts onto it, I remembered an oni singing as she walked underneath me. "I'm fairly sure that she's Shuuten-douji."

That was a good start, but I didn't know where to possibly find her. "Oh, I think she's in the Hot Springs right now, actually. I know I heard singing coming from the tunnels the other day." Well, that was convenient. "Oh, no wonder my sisters keep coming back up here to bug me. Two of the Four Heavenly Kings in the same place?" That was less convenient, but I needed to talk to her sooner rather than later, so once I'd ensured that Yamame wasn't getting the shakes anymore and seemed to have come down fully from her...caffeine high, we re-dressed and left the home.

The tunnels were thankfully quiet, and Yamame led me down a different series of caves than the previous ones she had used, saying that her sisters had long since gotten over any anger at me for destroying their webs. Amazingly, this cut our journey time by more than half, which would have been useful on our last journey down here. Compared to last time, I felt significantly calmer, though I was still cautious of any oni getting the wrong idea and trying to punch my head off. I could only hope that this Shuuten-douji would be more like Lady Kasen and less like some of the other oni I'd seen in the Old City. Along the way, Yamame kept trying to push me to tell her more about Ibaraki-douji, and I ended up having to get more and more creative with my answers to avoid telling her anything that Lady Kasen wouldn't have wanted me to.

We emerged amid heavy steam and humidity, above the city itself. I'd never come out in the Old City's Hot Spring Town, but I was starting to wish I had done. At a glance, it was a densely packed and sprawling run of twisting streets, bright lanterns, massive springs and from the faint smell, more alcohol than water. Out in the centre of the biggest pools, I could see the massive rock that Tenshi had dropped. Apparently, no one had managed to shift it yet. "They keep trying to get it out, but every time they do, one oni gets it in their head that they can lift it themselves, and then it turns into a contest, and then it ends up staying there for even longer." Yamame told me, sounding vaguely annoyed.

Then, there was a massive eruption of steam from the air above one of the pools. It looked like the air being pushed outward, so I squinted, and I could just about make out two figured in mid-air above the pool, in the middle of what looked like a fight. "Ah." Yamame said, looking in the same direction. "There's both of them. Well, that's going to complicate things."

But instead, the figure in blue, who I could only assume was Yuugi Hoshiguma, launched what appeared to be a devastating punch at the other figure, who was half purple and blue, and half white, and it sent her flying in our direction. Yamame had me take a step to the left, and the smaller oni shot past us and into the tunnel we had just entered from with a devastating crash. "Oh." Yamame said cheerfully. "Never mind. Let's go and talk to her before she gets back to fighting. We'll have to come back for the Hot Springs themselves another time." She happily pushed me back into the tunnel, where I could see that the oni had landed headfirst in the wall, which had promptly trapped her horns. She mostly lay on a bed of rocks, ineffectually trying to lift the cave wall off of her head. After a few moments, Yamame tapped on her shoulder. "Excuse me, Miss oni?" The oni stopped trying to lift the wall and settled for slamming her fist against it instead, which neatly broke off a chunk large enough for her to speak properly.

"Is that you, tsuchigumo? How nostalgic." The oni's voice was strangely smooth, but at the same time had a young quality to it, which made her sound like she was far more intelligent than she looked, which - with her head halfway through a solid wall - wasn't very intelligent. "Ugh, I wanted to have some more fun! I'm absolutely not going to lose to someone like Yuugi!" She started to thrash around inside the wall, but all it seemed to do was cause her horns to scrape against where they were trapped without freeing her. "Useless, useless, useless. Okay, fine, what do you want?"

I stepped forward gingerly, then said that I had come looking for her on behalf of Ibaraki-douji. At the name, the oni in front of me stopped moving entirely, and I got the strong impression that she was somehow sizing me up from behind a solid wall. After a moment of increasing tension, I added that Reimu was also involved. "...Well, that's a given." Then, to my amazement, the oni's form flickered, before collapsing entirely into a swirling, white mist. Before I could say or do anything, the mist swirled behind me, and as I turned, it coalesced back into the same oni. She had great horns that were longer than the horns that Ibaraki-douji's arm spouted, wrapped around with ribbon. Her shirt had the sleeves carelessly ripped off, which tucked into a large belt from which draped several chains. Her skirt consisted of three layers each with differing patterns, and at her waist hung a large gourd. Her arm suddenly thrust out, and I found myself slammed against the wall. I'd been certain that she was shorter than even Yamame just a moment ago, but now she was filling up nearly all of the tunnel. She was pinning me to the wall, and she looked every bit the oni that I had been told to be afraid of, growing up. "What isn't a given is a random human knowing to give me in particular the name of Ibaraki-douji. Where did you hear it?"

Yamame was seemingly torn between trying to intervene or not. While I doubted that Shuuten-douji would kill me, I wouldn't call the experience pleasant, so I managed to choke out that Ibaraki-douji needed help, and then just about managed to gasp Lady Kasen's name, though I don't think Yamame heard it. Immediately, the oni dropped me to the floor, and I coughed violently as Yamame rushed to my side and helped me up. "Hm. How about that? You're not lying. What's that girl done now?" Still trying to catch my breath, I explained in still somewhat vague terms that she needed to talk to one of her oni friends.

"Is that right? I've been watching her from time to time. She's still just like she was back then. A real oni can accept herself for her best and worst." That was the sort of thing I was hoping that hearing from an oni might help to make Lady Kasen feel better. "Are you vouching for him, tsuchigumo?" Shuuten-douji asked, looking at Yamame. After a moment, she nodded. "Good, glad to see you've got some guts. Your family's been responsible for repairing the Hot Springs, right?" Yamame nodded again. "Nice, nice~ The underground thanks you!" She looked back at me, then clapped me on the shoulder hard enough to drop me to one knee. "Arm?" She asked me, with no elaboration. Arm, I replied. "Got it, loud and clear." Then, she looked back out of the tunnel and over to the Hot Springs Town with annoyance. "I need to beat the smugness out of Yuugi, but I'll definitely go and visit poor old Ibaraki later. Name's Suika, by the way. Suika Ibuki." Not Shuuten-douji, then. I offered her my greetings and thanked her for her help. "Don't thank me yet. I might just beat the hell out of her, after all." I supposed that was possible, but at least I'd be pitting an oni against an oni in that situation rather than any of us poor humans or regular youkai. It might be what she needs, anyway. Reimu had suggested it. "That's always that girl's first suggestion as soon as ignoring the problem's off the table. No wonder it took her so long to confront Zanmu again..." Before I could ask her just what had happened in the land ownership incident, Suika Ibuki nodded at Yamame and I again, then punched her fist straight into the wall next to her, emerging with a massive chunk of stone. She began to walk down the tunnel toward the Hot Spring town again. "Good to finally meet you." She said to me. "Reimu's mentioned you a few times." Automatically, I went to ask what exactly Reimu had been saying about me, but before I could, the oni roared so loud that I had to cover my ears instead. "Yuugi! Don't think you're through with me that easily! You alone could never stand against my phantom hordes!" She hurled the rock with such strength that I found myself pushed back against the wall along with Yamame, then gave us a sharp-toothed grin before launching herself out of the tunnel so fast that it left a crater in the floor. In the distance, I heard a roaring laugh, followed by the sound of several blows being exchanged.

Yamame sighed. "Oni. Even the nicest are still like that." She had me raise my head and looked at my neck. "...No, looks like you'll be fine." That was good at least. I heard another crash from the direction of the Hot Spring Town, followed by a large splash. "Ugh. There goes any hope of this work being finished soon." Yamame rubbed her forehead. "Probably just destroyed half of what we've rebuilt, too..." I patted her on the shoulder, wondering if she should be more worried about her sisters getting injured. "No? I mean, we've all done plenty of working around oni in the past, so we're used to that. It's just annoying, more than anything else." It'd be nice if I could say that I was more annoyed about oni ruining my work than killing me. "Well, I don't think you'll want to try and go to the Hot Springs Town right now, then." It certainly didn't look too safe. "Should we go back, then?" Personally, I thought, that sounded just as dangerous. I could only drink so much water in a day. "We could do another outfit!" Yamame told me, rather excitedly, which didn't have me particularly enthused either. But, I decided, there were clearly worse things to be doing. Like repairing the Hot Springs. At least doing another outfit wouldn't have me on the verge of passing out.

Feeling like I'd put some good progress toward resolving one problem, Yamame and I began to head back through the tunnels, picking our way over the rubble where Suika had landed face-first in the wall. On the way, Yamame told me all about the new ideas she'd thought up for clothing.

Eientei loomed in my very near future, but at least I'd be well-dressed when I arrived.

>>44860544
I agree, the importance of each point is subjective. The intent was to list absolutely everything I could think of.
My main argument is that wrapping up Eientei and leaving it at that would result in an ending that doesn't feel as complete as it could be. Most of the points I brought up are quite minor and could easily be addressed without being the main focus of their respective chapter, assuming they need to be addressed at all. I'm sure writeanon can discern which pieces are worth picking up to tell the story in the best way possible.

>>44860785
I've always wondered what the rest of Yamame's family was like, and seeing them more fleshed out like this gives me joy

so how long until the disease youkai gets morning sickness?

>>44860999
Good trips
It seems like it would be fine to wrap Eientei up, then dp some of the other plot points you listed as an epilogue
I mean, it's got to end with their wedding, right? Complete with all the awkwardness, like yukari being upset that she missed out on the whole incident because she's too much of a socially awkward weirdo to just get involved normally, kasen and kasen's arm (she wears a pair of glasses and everyone immediately loses the ability to tell who she js), and heca trying to make people wear hell themed t-shirts

>>44861067
A fortnight.

>>44861067
it's already been established that he's pulling out, so it'll probably be fine for now. but if we timeskip a few years into the future as an epilogue, we can probably expect a spider-family

>>44861606
he didn't at the very start, it is probably already too late and the spood caught him forever

>>44861644
It's too early to tell if it's on or not, give it some time.

I wonder if Yuugi will get to see more of anon and Yamame

Tanks for the story so far writeanon!

>>44862340
Yeah, we all love it!
I've been here since the beginning. I always knew that picture had potential.

>>44861644
I don't think the spood needs to baby trap him to have him forever

Can't wait for the akward family dinner where Yams breaks out the long table, then another and another and another...
And it dawns on Anon how many sisters Yamame has.

>>44865535
I don't think it can be more awkward than Reimu reconciling with Yamame and that turned out mostly fine.

>>44866337
It'll get real awkward once yamame's sisters start trying to tell anon all sorts of embarrassing stories about yamame and you've got yura trying to tell him just where all her sensitive spots, all the while yamame's trying to cover nai's ears to not ruin her innocence

>>44866576
As long as nobody serves the whole family coffee I'm sure anon can survive the storm somehow.

>>44865535
Lets hope none of them try to seal him from her. Or you think Ham would share him with her sisters?

>>44867093
Honestly, I think her sisters love her too much to even try, and given what yams said about wanting anon to only be her body pillow, I think she's interested in keeping him all to herself

>>44867093
>Ham
Y and H are so far from each other how could i make this mistake?

>>44867157
You were subconsciously calling her fat.

>>44865197
She doesn't need to, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't want a mini Anon to cradle

>>44867227
Yamame's sisters wouldn't mind either

>>44867157
You were still thinking of Hijiri.

>>44867315
man, if you think elly's nephew has it rough, imagine being yamame and anon's son having to deal with all your aunt kurodani's

>>44868092
Good thing anon will only have daughters.

>>44868141
I think their first kid should be a boy, just because it would be extremely funny.

>>44868167
Their first kid will be a boy but due to spider genes he'll be small framed and effeminate.

>>44869131
But due to anon using the techniques he learned from Kasen their kid will be like a Krillin.

>>44869153
...bald?

>>44869153
so he'll have no nose...?

>>44867157
Are you german? They're right next to each other on a regular qwerty keyboard.
Regardless, maybe it was just muscle memory.

>>44869153
so he'll be a shorty with moderate strength who will only be situationally useful before settling down with a crazy hot wife? I suppose there are worse fates.

>>44869131
Half youkai are like the gerudo: there can be only one male alive, and when one die the other one is born after 100 years. And i doubt Kourin is going to die so soon in the comfyness of his shop.

Yamame Kurodani's fixation on getting any outfit for me to be just right was starting to cost me my sanity. I couldn’t remember when I had last sat down. I couldn't remember how to sit down. "No, turn your arm just - No, the other arm - No, the other way! Why must you be so uncooperative!?" Yamame got up from her favourite seat to forcibly rotate my arm to the position she wanted. "Now keep it there!" She turned, walked back to her chair, sat back down and- "Argh! You moved it again!" And it went on for hours.

Eventually, I lost all sense of dignity and fell to my knees, grabbed Yamame's hand, and begged her to let me take a break. "But we..." I gave her my best 'pitiful child' impression. "...Oh, fine. You're so lucky that you're endearing." Reflecting to myself that Yamame and Reimu might have had more in common than I thought, I shrugged off the sleeveless shirt that Yamame had been dressing me up in and pulled my white turtleneck on. Fortunately, the trousers were close enough to my other ones, though when I had asked Yamame why I couldn't just wear those instead, she had insisted that it wouldn't have worked right. Personally, I thought she was getting a little too specific about things. I needed a change of scenery.

Finally, I asked Yamame if she wanted to go to the village. "The...village?" She slowly repeated, an intense frown coming over her features. "That...might be a mistake. I'm not exactly welcomed with open arms around there." I shook my head. If anything, we'd show them that Yamame could be perfectly pleasant. And she'd finally get a chance to wear some of those multitudes of outfits she made for herself. "You really want to take me to the village?" I nodded. "...You are so strange." But I could see that she was warming slightly to the idea.

I went to hop down to the ground floor and grab my coat, only for Yamame to force me to change my trousers to the ones she deemed to match with the other outfit. I couldn't claim to understand it, but she was the seamstress and fashion-conscious one, so I relented and changed until she deemed me acceptable. Then, I finally managed to leave the workshop and wait for Yamame outside.

And when she emerged, she looked so different that I almost didn't recognize her. She had discarded the ribbon and bun for her hair, and replaced it with an earth-coloured beret and loose hair. She still worth her black shirt, though this one had tighter, more sleek-looking sleeves and a generally slimmer, less bulky design which I thought highlighted her hips rather well. The shirt went and tucked into her long skirt, which came down to below her knees and was similarly coloured to her normal dress. She had made a concession here and sewn golden bands into the fabric to emulate her usual affair. Her shoes weren't as bulky as usual, though they still fit the description of boots more than regular shoes.

As she stepped out of her home, I noticed that in one hand, she carried a long, flowing scarf rather similar to mine but in thick stripes of earthy-brown and gold, and in her other hand she held a heavy-looking coat, which was just slightly differently shaded to her dress in a way that brought the colours out more. I took the scarf from her and allowed her to pull the coat on, which was far shorter than mine, but made up for it by looking far sleeker in design. After she had pulled the coat on, I wrapped the scarf around her neck, and then threw the remainder over her face for good measure. "Oh, stop that, you child!" Yamame told me indignantly as she pulled the scarf down into a more normal looking position. "...How is it?" She asked after a moment, and it suddenly occurred to me that she might not have gotten much chance to show her own outfits off to anyone before. I brushed some imaginary dust from her shoulder and told her that she looked beautiful. "Well, that's, um, good." Yamame told me seriously, though I was certain that I caught a blush before she looked down at my own outfit. "You look, er, good too. Yes."

I took Yamame's hand, and we began walking in the direction of the village. Once it was dark and my heart was starting to pound, Yamame took pity on me and created a ball of danmaku to light up the tunnel, and squeezed my hand tighter. It helped me keep myself grounded in the here and now until I saw the light beginning to grow at the other end of the tunnel. I breathed out slowly as my heart began to slow, then groaned when I saw what awaited us. "It's the rainy season, huh?" Yamame commented, wrapping her coat around her. "Good thing I wore this, then. Oh, and the finishing touches I put on your coat should keep it safe from most of the rain." I lifted my coat as if I was going to inspect it, then remembered that I would have absolutely no idea what she was talking about. It did feel warm and nice, though, so I figured she was probably right.

It was raining outside, but it was the dreary sort of rain, which meant it was miserable, wet, and people who did go outside would be shuffling along with their head down, desperate to hide in a pub for hours on end until the world was just a little bit nicer. I looked over at Yamame, who was fiddling with her hat and muttering to herself about how she should have made it more waterproof, and I smiled. At least this way, there would be less people out on the streets to stare, or potentially accuse her of being a youkai. Hopefully, no one would recognize her from her last, more ill-fated visit to the village. I rolled my shoulders, then took Yamame's hand again and led us toward the village.

As I had predicted, the village might as well have been deserted. There was little sound other that the dull drone of the rain, and the whole place had a lethargic feel to it. "It's weird, being here." Yamame said to me, and I remarked that it was always slightly odd when the place was completely empty. It reminded me strangely of that time, years and years ago, when everyone had become strange, like we'd all lost all hope. Thankfully, it hadn't lasted all too long. "What should we do?" Yamame asked me, and I rubbed my chin. Obviously, going near the Myouren Temple would be a recipe for disaster, but there were plenty of other places in the village. Suzunaan was a good choice, since I couldn't think of the last time I had been there. It had to be as far back as when I had just met Marisa. Miss Kosuzu was very nice, too, and I hoped that she wouldn't be able to tell that Yamame was a youkai. But at the same time, I didn't really want to drag Yamame all the way here just to look at a bookstore. That said, she might appreciate a few new books for her collection, but...

"Are you thinking too hard?" Yamame asked me sarcastically. "Don't worry, I'm happy with whatever you want to do." I shook my head and decided that Suzunaan was a fine choice. We proceeded down the rainy streets, and I wondered what the people in the pubs must have thought, since we didn't look all that much like a typical pair. I could only hope they'd explain us away as a funny little pair with weird fashion choices, though I refused to explain that phrasing to Yamame. Eventually, just as the rain was beginning to work its way into my sweater instead of my coat, I spotted Suzunaan. The paper lantern outside the door was fighting a valiant battle against the rain, though it already looked as it if was close to a decisive defeat.

I went to push my way through the flap covering the entrance, only for someone else to walk through from the other side, bumping into me. They were either massively strong or somewhat inhuman, I thought, because no regular villager would be able to push me back quite so hard just by walking into me, and yet I stumbled backwards, nearly fell over, and finally managed to regain my balance, sweeping my coat out behind me. "O-Oh my, it's you!" I heard a voice exclaim, and I looked up.

The girl had two long braids that stretched down her back, and she wore a grey coat that was perhaps even longer than my own. Over her head was a massive straw hat, and she had the distinctive long earlobes of a Jizo. More to the point, she was familiar. Miss Narumi! I hadn't seen her since our ill-fated date. She'd been frightened by the Horismriver Ensemble practicing in the Ruined Mansion off of the Misty Lake, and it had caused her to fall on top of me, which had caused some grievous bodily injuries that only the tender - or not so tender, it had turned out - mercies of Doctor Yagokoro could fix. I'd already been going to the sham that was my physical therapy sessions by then, so my memories of the time were still a little hazy.

Miss Narumi bowed deeply, and without really thinking, I reciprocated. "I haven't seen you in so long. And then, when I tried to find your house, someone from the café nearby said that you were dead!" I shook my head and told her that reports of my supposed death had been greatly exaggerated. "Ah, that's a relief. I was worried that you'd gotten yourself injured even worse than before." Miss Narumi looked over my shoulder, where Yamame had sort of shrunk against the wall as if she was trying to hide her presence. "Who's your friend? She's very pretty." I looked back and saw Yamame break her gaze to stare off at the ground. She was proving herself to be very weak to compliments on this trip, but it was very cute, so I simply took her hand and brought her to stand next to me. Since Miss Narumi wasn't exactly human either, I hoped that she would be at least somewhat amenable to the idea of Yamame in the village. I decided to err on the side of caution, so I simply introduced her as Yamame without mentioning her last name. "Hello, Miss Yamame." Miss Narumi said, bowing again. "I'm pleased to meet you."

"Oh, er, yes, you too." Yamame mumbled, managing to bow in return. "So, um, you two met in the past?" She asked. After a moment, the dots connected in my head and I reminded Yamame that I had told her of some of my less successful dates once. "You did?" She asked blankly. Slowly, realisation bloomed. "Oh! You did!" She shook her head, then bowed again properly. "Um, sorry about that." She said to Miss Narumi, who waved a hand in dismissal.

"No, no, it's my fault. I shouldn't have acted so overly familiar. I'm happy enough knowing he didn't actually die." Miss Narumi was still looking at Yamame. "If you don't mind me saying, I really love your outfit, Miss Yamame. You're so pretty!"

This time, Yamame did blush scarlet and no amount of looking at the ground could hide it. "N-No, it's, um, just-" Yamame, I whispered. Just accept the compliment. "Um, thank you."

Finally, I felt a shiver coming over me from the rain. "Oh, it's just awful out today, isn't it?" Miss Narumi said to me. "I almost reconsidered coming to the village to shop, but I felt like I needed to come today." She beamed at me. "And I was right! I'm really glad that I ran into you again!" I was glad too, actually, because I felt like I'd never gotten proper closure when it came to Miss Narumi. We'd gotten along fairly well on our date, even with the messy ending, and I'd half wondered if there could have been something there...

But I looked over at Yamame and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and as I flipped her scarf back up into her face, I knew that I was more than happy with the way things had worked out instead. Miss Narumi looked between the two of us, and realisation bloomed across her face. "Ah..." She nodded knowingly. "I'm happy that you're doing so well." A strong gust of wind blew between us all, and I realised that we were still loitering outside of Suzunaan. "Ah, I'd better get going before the rain gets worse. I'll put you in my prayers!" She stepped past us, waved and bowed, and soon, she was off, headed down the street.

"She was nice." Yamame said to me. I nodded and said that she had been one of the few dates I had been on where I hadn't been told to stay away from whoever I went on the date with. "But you didn't see her again?" Yamame asked me, looking at me closer. I shook my head and said that after everything else that happened, I'd never gotten a chance. For a split second, I thought that Yamame looked a little conflicted, so I pressed a kiss against her forehead and told her that I was absolutely happy to be with her. "Y-Yes, it's just, um..." She trailed off, then shook her head. "Sorry, I just...felt a little possessive." I told her not to worry, because I didn't want to be with anyone else. After a moment, she finally nodded.

We stepped into Suzunaan, which was empty, dimly lit, and smelt like the rich scent of books. I heard a noise from somewhere behind some bookshelves. "Miss Yatadera, is that you? Can I help-" The girl poked her head out from behind a bookshelf, a jingling sound following her. Her hair was a bright orange, almost like a fire, and she wore large, round glasses that made her eyes look big and curious at all times. A large apron hung from her neck and tied around her waist, declaring that she was an employee of Suzunaan. I knew her as Miss Kosuzu, the only daughter of the old couple that had ran the store themselves in years gone past, and who had put their young daughter to work so that they could better enjoy their years. It turned out to be a rather good idea on their part, because Miss Kosuzu was outgoing, friendly, and somehow had increased the number of books stocked at Suzunaan by a large number since she had began working there. No one in the village was quite sure how she did it, but everyone was eager to shop there, especially after she started selling the Bunbunmaru newspaper and Agatha Chris Q's novels. "Oh, I haven't seen you in a long time!" I had been a bit of a regular at Suzunaan, but I hadn't been able to visit since shortly before the whole Eientei Investigation had started. "Wow, I like your coat!" Miss Kosuzu said to me.

After another song and dance of explaining that I hadn't died, and introducing Yamame, we were finally able to browse the bookshelves, and I got to watch as Yamame excitedly pulled different tomes from the shelves, ranging from cookbooks to medicine books to even one or two of Agatha Chris Q's novels. I hadn't expected it to be in her wheelhouse, but I supposed that I could still be surprised. "Do you think she'll be releasing a new one soon?" Yamame asked me, indicating the book she was holding.

Miss Kosuzu happened to be walking past with a stack of books in her hand at the time, and she stopped, looking back over at us. "Ooh, a Chris Q fan, huh? I hear she's planning something big for her next book." Miss Kosuzu gave us a knowing smile and a nod, like someone who knew something that they couldn't let on about, but couldn't seem to stop talking about either. "Should be soon, I think..." She walked off, whistling some tune I didn't recognize.

After Yamame had made her purchases - refusing to let me use any of my own money, and citing her various construction projects as evidence that she could afford it just fine, we left Suzunaan into somewhat heavier rain, which only made me gladder that we'd wrapped up warm before we'd left. I had been in the middle of suggesting something else to do when it happened.

There was always an 'it', I found. Some stupid, inane thing to get in the way of a good day. This stupid and inane thing looked to be topping the list of stupid and inane things that could interrupt a nice day, because one second, I was looking at Yamame and asking her if she wanted anything to eat, and the next second, both of us had begun to drop. I didn't mean that in some metaphorical term, either. The ground seemed to be rising up to meet us, but neither of us had fallen over. Yamame's spider instincts kicked in, causing her to wrap her arms around me - which was fairly nice, I had to admit - but she couldn't seem to move. Then, a giant eye rushed past me, followed by another, with bloodshot pupils. This was all seeming very familiar, and I had just enough time to recognize that same red-white thing rushing toward us when the weird, murky world disappeared and I slammed into the ground, only for Yamame to immediately drag me into what appeared to be the nearest corner.

"Oh, I do appear to have startled you." I looked up from where my head was wedged against Yamame's chest, which was making the voice difficult to hear over the sound of Yamame's frantic heartbeat. "My apologies." There, on the opposite side of what appeared to be a woven table, was a woman with long, blonde hair. She wore a long dress in deep purple, and in her hand was a small fan. "I hadn't expected to pick up both of you. Perhaps I should have checked ahead better." I was hot. In fact, I was overwhelmingly hot and starting to sweat, and when I looked up at Yamame, who's teeth were gritted and who's eyes seemed to be trying to view everything in the room at once, she was beginning to sweat too. "Oh, the climate here might be rather warm for you two, though I do rather like the outfits." I knew exactly who I was speaking to, and as I stared, the sun caught her hair and brightened it so much that it was almost difficult to look at.

"Now," The woman I only knew as Hearn said, "Why don't you sit down?" She indicated the seat in front of me, and after a moment, a second seat fell from another gap in reality to land next to the first. "I'm just dying to hear how you're getting along with my Shrine Maiden."

Things always had to be complicated.

>>44870495
I'd get upset at her but i always preferred the summer over the winter.

>>44870495
Can she not just bring Reimu there?

>>44870495
Anon could ask her if she knows what's up with Eirin, or if she can help Kasen, actually does she even know what's going on?

>>44870670
Yukarin is a socially awkward weirdo who can only interact with others by kidnapping them and saying weird, cryptic nonsense so that she stays in control of the conversation
Bringing Reimu there would defeat the purpose
>>44870738
She had some vague idea the last time she kidnapped anon, but she probably actually just wants him to tell her what's happening because she's too weird to just actually appear at the Shrine and offer to help

>>44870486
>Miss Narumi looked between the two of us, and realisation bloomed across her face. "Ah..." She nodded knowingly. "I'm happy that you're doing so well."
Damn, I feel kinda bad for Narumi here. Still, it was only one date at least. She'll be able to find the right one.

>>44870495
>Miss Kosuzu gave us a knowing smile and a nod, like someone who knew something that they couldn't let on about, but couldn't seem to stop talking about either
A certain third-eyed girl...

>>44870862
I feel bad for her only because the bit of peace of mind she deserves was denied for so long

>>44870474
>The...village?" She slowly repeated, an intense frown coming over her features. "That...might be a mistake.
Still reading but if youkai need fear her going ti the village might get "Hearn"s attention

>>44870495
Ah yep Yukari brings them to a beach lol.

>>44871397
kosuzu always seems smug about knowing who agatha chris q is because she can't stop calling her by that name

>>44871922
Yeah, that's true. Imagine going on a date with a really nice guy that ends in a freak accident, then he seemingly ghosts you for two months, and then he goes completely missing and you start to hear rumors that he died. That actually sounds way worse than I initially thought.

>>44878185
to be fair, he was in the middle of his physical therapy sessions at the time, so frankly I'm amazed he remembers going out with her at all

>>44878333
Oh, I don't blame Anon at all for how things turned out. He even tried to reach out to Narumi, but he couldn't get into contact with her. Then, er, life circumstances got in the way.

>>44872467
Yep, just like you said. That was a terrible move on anon's part, although mostly born out of ignorance regarding gensokyo's situation so I can't really fault him.

>>44880043
Even if anon has had some character development, he is still as dense as a black hole.

"Who are you!?" Yamame's voice was sharp, though she was holding it together enough to not shout. "Where are we? What do you want?" She was keeping a tight hold on me, which was nice enough but was making it rather difficult for me to be an active participant in the conversation.

"So many questions. What a troublesome person..." I could hear Hearn's voice, and somehow I could just tell that she had a smug smile on her face. "Very well, my dear little spider. In order: I am what you may call an interested party in your dear little human, we are on a beach in the east of Australia, and I want nothing more than to have a nice chat over a meal. Your presence wasn't necessarily intended, but I can accommodate." Finally, I managed to slur into Yamame's chest that she needed to release me. She looked down at me like she'd forgotten I was even there, then suddenly lifted her arms and let me fall backwards onto the floor. I took a long, deep breath, then dragged myself up to my feet.

Hearn hadn't been lying. I'd heard of beaches, at least, the real ones with an endless expanse of water beyond the pearly, white sand. This, more than anything, fit my impression of the word. From where I was stood on what seemed to be a balcony of some sort, there was a large expanse of white sand, dotted with what looked to be parasols and what appeared to be more people than I had ever seen in my life. In fact, there were people as far as the eye could see, and when I poked my head out of the balcony and looked to either side, the sand stretched out in a massive band across what appeared to be the shoreline, and I could see more and more people, and buildings that looked to be taller than anything I'd ever seen. Yamame even managed to put her mistrust of our kidnapper beside and joined me in staring out in wonder.

And the water! The water was the deepest blue I'd ever seen, far more than the Misty Lake could ever aspire to be, and it was well and truly endless. Even at the further point in the Misty Lake, you could still see the other side. Here, there was nothing. Out across the water was the end of the world as I knew it, and only the massive and white fluffy clouds told me where the sky ended, and the water began. I heard Hearn clear her throat. "They call this the Gold Coast." I could certain see why. "Deep, endless blue. If you go...Oh, about four thousand kilometres in that direction, across the sea," She indicated somewhere slightly to the right of the way the balcony was facing, "You'll get to New Zealand." I had no idea what New Zealand was, nor what Australia was, but they were likely incredible if this was anything to go by. "That's about...a thousand and fifty ri, for comparison's sake." That was something I could understand and was a frankly insane distance. I couldn't imagine anything existing beyond all that water.

Yamame had stopped staring out into the sea and had instead turned her attention to the buildings alongside the beach. "...How did they build all that?" She faintly asked, sounding completely astonished. "Even all my sisters together couldn't build that."

"Structural Engineering, my dear spider." Hearn told us, rising from her seat to stand behind us. "When the dark stopped being something humanity cowered in fear from, understanding the world became their new obsession, and learning to manipulate the world became their new addiction. If I was to show you some of the things humanity has built over the years, it would blow your mind apart." She clapped her hands, making both of us jump and whirl around. "So, rather than staring at things that are beyond your comprehension, how about you have a seat?" I managed to force myself to step away from the balcony and go toward a seat, but then I remembered that it was extraordinarily hot. "Oh, feel free to take your coats off. Common courtesy should be obeyed, even in unfamiliar situations, don't you agree?" Hearn favoured us with what I thought was a disarming smile. "In fact, I'll treat you to a pleasure you'll likely never see in Gensokyo." Hearn raised her hand, which was suddenly holding a small, rectangular object. She pressed something, and I heard a rumbling start up from somewhere behind me. I whipped my head around, and saw that up against the ceiling of the room and the wall was a large, rectangular device with some sort of mesh thing on it, and it was where the noise was coming from.

"How can we trust you? You - You kidnapped us!" Yamame did have a point, but this had already happened to me, so I knew already that we were at Hearn's mercy, and if we ever wanted to go home, we had to play by her rules. I caught Yamame's arm as she turned toward the other blonde, and pulled her closer to me. I whispered urgently in her ear to just play along, and everything would be fine. She looked at me with confusion across her face, and I supposed that my gaze must have had the right sort of intensity in it, because after a moment, she slowly nodded and began to pull her scarf off. I shrugged my coat off, then heavily regretted not having anything to wear underneath my sweater. A thin shirt like Yamame's would have been perfect right now. But then, after a few moments of hearing that gentle whirring noise from the thing near the ceiling, I realised that the temperature in the room had somehow dropped, despite it still being just as sunny outside. Was it some sort of...cold air youkai? I knew that there was a yuki-onna somewhere in the valley during winter, but as far as I knew, you couldn't stick her in a box and put her in any room you wanted.

"Hmm..." Hearn made a great show of thinking deeply about Yamame's question. "Well, your dear human seems to have made the case for you, but to summarise: You can choose to not trust me, and I can assure you that if you were to try and escape from here, you would not survive the week. Alternatively, you can choose to trust me, and you will enjoy a nice meal followed by a comfortable trip home, feeling considerably enlightened. This is your choice, though I would imagine that it's a rather easy one to make." The situation had been very much the same the last time Hearn had kidnapped me, though I had been alone, in the dark - figuratively and literally - and much more nervous at the time. This time, the bright daylight and amazing view was making it much more difficult to maintain the suspicion. "Now, I took the liberty of making his order for him, but I hadn't expected him to have a companion, so if you'll excuse me, I must inform my shikigami that there will need to be a second order." She stared deeply at Yamame, and I got the sense that something was being communicated between them. "Unless, of course, you don't have any taste for it, anymore."

Yamame stared, frozen. I could tell that this was a big deal for her and that I shouldn't interrupt. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Then, she looked sideways at me. "Just...beef, please." She finally choked out. I took her hand under the table and squeezed it tightly, and she gave me a weak smile.

"Is that right?" Hearn gave us a smile that I was sure she thought was reassuring, though to me it just came off as smug. "Just like last time, hmm?" She said to me. "Well, I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere, you two." She turned, her dress swirling around her, and gave us an offhand wave as she disappeared through a set of double doors on the other side of the room. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of what looked to be a kitchen, and I thought I saw another woman inside, tall and with a severe face. She looked vaguely familiar, though before I got a chance to place her, Yamame was pulling on my sweater to make me turn to her.

"What the hell is happening?" She hissed at me. "Who is that? Why does she know you?" I explained as quickly as I could the circumstances of the last time I had met Hearn, in the dark atop another massive building, with rain lashing at the windows and indistinct whispers of conversation happening all around me. In comparison, this was rather nice. "She already kidnapped you once and you never told me?" Her voice sounded slightly dangerous now, so I raised my hands in surrender and told her that I hadn't expected it to come up, nor had I expected her to kidnap me in the middle of the day from the village, where everyone could see. Even so, I apologised for not telling her. "I...Okay, fine. Let's just...get through this." It hadn't been...the worst thing to happen to me, the last time, so I hoped that it wouldn't be too bad this time either. At least the view was good.

With a noise akin to a bubble popping in reverse, I heard Hearn's footsteps. I whipped my head around to catch the sight of a tear in reality, neatly tied off with two bows at the end. Hearn stepped out of it, and within I could see more bloodshot eyes, before it winked out of existence like it was never there. "Well, here we are. My shikigami tells me that she divined a sixty three point four percent chance that you, Miss Kurodani, wouldn't abstain. You're doing well to beat the odds." Yamame looked away and nodded, her jaw tense. "Now then, shall we get to the point?" Hearn slid into a seat opposite us. "I have some questions that require answers. First and foremost: How is my Shrine Maiden?"

For a moment, I considered asking her why she didn't just go and ask her herself, instead of going to the lengths she was going to and kidnapping two other people. Then, I reconsidered. She clearly had ulterior motives, and if the way that Reimu had laughed herself silly upon Hearn's last talk with me was any indication, she was used to being overly dramatic and theatrical in accomplishing those motives. So, taking a page from myself on my last visit, I leaned back in my chair, crossed my arms, and told her that Reimu was doing just fine. "Is that right? Could you explain, then, why she seems to be spending so much time somewhere that I cannot divine, not to mention coming to the underground so much? Why are those aliens in Eientei still locked up tight, even when flu season is fast approaching? This is Reimu's duty, you know." That had been something I'd never considered, but it was actually something of a concern. I remembered a time, a long while in the past, when nearly the entire village had become ill, and nothing seemed to be resolving the problem, until Reimu had come around brandishing a shard of what looked to be an old pot, claiming that she had sealed the curse god that was making us all sick. This time, there'd be no quick salvation coming, and if Doctor Yagokoro was still in the state she was currently in, nowhere to go.

And I knew that Reimu had been busy dealing with me, and as of the last few days, Lady Kasen and Ibaraki-douji's arm. But, I wasn't sure I wanted to tell Hearn about Lady Kasen's problems. They were not for her to know about unless Lady Kasen said so, or the arm said so, because I had to consider her opinions too. Instead of answering anything that could give away Lady Kasen, I decided to say that Eientei was a complicated topic, and Reimu was working hard on resolving it. "Hm. So you say. You are very confident in her ability to resolve things, aren't you?" I had no reason not to be, after all. It wouldn't be very good of me to have so little faith in my elder sister's skills, would it? I kept that private, and instead said that Reimu had decided that things needed to be sorted out properly before anyone went storming into Eientei. "My, my, how very uncharacteristic of her. Is this your influence? Well, I can't say I much approved of Reimu's...lax approach to incident resolution, but I would very much like this issue to be sorted sooner rather than later." I told her that I wanted that just as much as she did. "Oh, you have no idea. Still, I appreciate the enthusiasm."

Before either of us could say anything else, the door on the other side swung open, and that woman I had seen stepped out. She was wearing clothing similar to those I had seen Hearn in on my first kidnapping, with a white shirt not dissimilar to Yamame's black shirt, a dark blazer and long, slim trousers not entirely unlike my own. Her shoes were sleek, with metal toecaps and a curious pattern across the top. I looked up at her for a moment, then the dots in my head finally connected. It was her. That nine-tailed fox who had approached me at the Hakurei Shrine and asked to see Reimu while she was ill. Her tails and ears were invisible, and I wondered if that was because foxes, which she must have been, were uncommon out here. She was holding three plates, one in each hand and the third balanced in the crook of her arm, and she was moving as if it all meant nothing at all. I'd have been too nervous to walk so smoothly if I'd been carrying that much food. She placed two plates in front of Yamame and I, and the third plate in front of Hearn, who's smug smile grew wider. Again, the meat on Hearn's plate had just slightly different textures to the meat on mine and Yamame's plates, and I tried not to think about it. The fox stepped back, her eyes sharp, but giving away no expression, nodded once, then spun on her heel and exited the room. "So reliable, isn't she?" Hearn remarked as the door swung shut behind her. "Even if she finds the heat disagreeable, she is still willing to serve at my request."

Yamame looked down at the food, then across at Hearn's, then narrowed her eyes. "I'm not eating this." She finally said. I suspected that she was still feeling immensely distrustful, and since I was here, she felt that she could afford to be defiant. I had been alone and afraid, and had little choice but to accept Hearn's whims. "There could be anything in there."

"There could be, of course." Hearn said, taking a knife and neatly slicing off a strip of meat. "But, there isn't, and your human there can attest to the fact that I did not poison him on our last encounter, so why would I feel the need to act differently? If I wanted you dead, dear, there are much simpler ways." Which was a very good point, and I whispered to Yamame that she should probably just eat it. If it was anything like the last time, it would be, at minimum, delicious. To demonstrate, I cut my beef and ate some, confirming that yes, it was delicious, even though it was cooked differently to the other meal I had taken with Hearn, in what she had called Tokyo. "Now, I have another, more important question that I need to ask. Whatever were you," She was looking at Yamame, "Doing in the village with him?"

Yamame finally took a tiny bite of the food. "We, um, were shopping..." She mumbled, presumably realising how ridiculous of a situation it was as she said it.

Instead of whatever response I had expected, Hearn let out a laugh. "Shopping? My, my, how things change..." She reached a hand out into another one of her holes in reality, and it returned holding what looked to be a glass of wine. "To think the spider who manipulated infectious diseases would one day shop for regular goods in the village next to other humans."

"I did disguise myself!" Yamame replied indignantly. "It's not like I was running around threatening to inflict Influenza or spread a plague on any humans I saw!" Which was a very good thing, in retrospect, because not only would it have gotten Yamame in a load of trouble, I couldn't imagine it would look good for me, either.

"Well, that's very good of you, dear. Humans need to fear youkai, or the whole system we've built up would break down. And that, I imagine, would make your comfortable little life with your sisters rather difficult, hmm?" That, I fretted, sounded like a veiled threat, though I couldn't figure it out.

Yamame didn't look too threatened, though. "I'm not expecting to be welcomed with open arms." She told Hearn. "But I fail to see why I shouldn't be able to shop there assuming I take the proper precautions." I wanted to welcome Yamame with open arms, but I was sure that there were still plenty of grandparents in the village who had lost someone to illness, and they would love to blame it all on Yamame.

Hearn had an appraising look on her face. "That's very decisive of you." She said, turning back to her food. After I'd stared at her for a moment, I slowly did the same. "Perhaps, I think, you might be something more than I'd expected."

Yamame kept a defiant look on her face for a moment, then returned to her own meal.

Soon, we'd all finished, and I had questions of my own. Again, I asked Hearn why she had gone through all the effort of bringing us out to wherever this Gold Coast place in Australia was. Hearn's eyes, still very much on the inhuman side in a way that Yamame's were not, looked at something that I suspected was not in the room. After a moment, she stood, then strode around to the balcony. The gentle breeze outside blew her hair, and the sunlight indeed proved to make it shine as bright as the sun itself. "Somewhere out there, a god is being born. At the same time, plenty more are dying." I didn't think I'd be understanding much of this speech, either. "Humans have fun in the light while we youkai die in the dark, forgotten. I choose not to forget the times when the beauty of our world belonged to all of us, human and youkai." She looked back at us. "To share something is to invite others to see what you see. If you can see this view the same way I do..." She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I suppose I'm overcomplicating things. Perhaps it would be better to say that I'm simply feeling nostalgic." As I had expected, I had no idea what she was trying to say, and I wondered if she couldn't find a plainer way to speak.

"Now, the last time I spoke to you, I offered a toast." I remembered that. It had been to Yamame's success in changing herself, and I supposed that she had succeeded, or at least, she was doing well in the process. "Now, I don't have any whiskey for you, or at least, I don't have any right now. Instead, I can offer you..." She reached into another one of her tears and pulled out three flute glasses, in which were sparkling, slightly coloured liquid. "Ah, champagne. I doubt you'll have ever had anything quite like this." She reached back in, then pulled out a bottle. "Salon? My dear shikigami is spoiling you." I didn't know what that meant, but I could only assume that it meant it was expensive alcohol. Hearn passed Yamame and I a glass each. "What shall we toast to? Your dear spider's doing rather well, so I think it would be a little redundant to offer the same toast as last time." Hearn looked at the two of us for a moment, then looked back at the gap in reality that she had opened. "How about...A toast to your good luck? In Eientei and beyond." That felt a little bit like Hearn had some knowledge she wasn't sharing, like something bad might happen to me in the future, but I wasn't given time to think on it before Hearn was raising her glass, so I raised mine in return and took a sip of the champagne, then coughed slightly as the unfamiliar taste washed over me. Yamame fared little better.

After we'd finished our drinks, Hearn spread out her hands. "Now, I think I've kept you long enough. Do pass my regards onto Reimu and remind her that I should like to actually see her for once before winter. And, of course, tell her 'good luck' for the Eientei investigation's conclusion." I slowly nodded, then asked if she was going to send us back. "Of course. I am a gracious host, aren't I?" That was debatable, but I kept quiet. "The tunnels, then?" Yamame nodded this time, then let out a shriek when a hole opened up at her feet and sent her tumbling into it. "Well, I should like to get you and Reimu together next time." Hearn said to me cheerfully, ignoring the indignation on my face for the way she had dropped Yamame alone. "I really had hoped to have you all to myself this time, just like before, but I suppose not everything can go right." That sounded slightly scary, and I was suddenly thankful that Yamame had been with me. "Alas, I must get back to work, and I'm sure you have plenty to do." Suddenly, I remembered our coats, so I dived forward and grabbed them, since Yamame's had been left on her chair. "I'd have sent them to you. Really, this level of distrust is so unnecessary..." Hearn shook her head, and before I knew it, I was falling too, into that strange world of eyes once more, and then I had slammed into the ground with a moan.

Immediately, I felt Yamame dive on top of me, lift me up, and drag me all the way back to her house. "That was awful." She was saying. "Urgh, so unsettling!" She threw the door open, pulled us both inside, then slammed it shut again. "I can't believe she took me back first and left you there!" Hearn had been about as rude as she had the first time, so I wasn't all too surprised by the way she acted. "Alright, I just want to hole up somewhere enclosed. Can we do that?" I nodded, and within minutes, we were both wrapped up in blankets in Yamame's bedroom, with my arms around her waist. "...Place was pretty, though..." I nodded into her hair. It had been, and I wished I could see it without needing to be kidnapped.

We didn't move for the rest of the day and night, but the next morning, Reimu knocked on the door and told me that Tenshi wanted to meet up again.

Well that was fucking rude

>>44880632
>My shikigami tells me that she divined a sixty three point four percent chance that you, Miss Kurodani, wouldn't abstain. You're doing well to beat the odds.
A 36.6% chance isn't good, but I wouldn't call it ultra low. You're less likely to, I dunno, miss a blizzard in Pokémon.
I guess what I'm saying undermines Yamame's achievement, which isn't really my intention. But perhaps that's the point for the choice of number here.

>>44880653
>the next morning, Reimu knocked on the door and told me that Tenshi wanted to meet up again.
I almost wonder if Yukari had a word with one of them here. Reimu likely would have mentioned it, but I could see it being more than coincidence that the Eientei investigation gets spurred along just now.

>>44880653
>>44880644
>>44880632
>>44880625
>>44880612
Yammy is gonna have to watch out if that predatory Youkai is trying take him on solo dates while wining and dining him. She already is taking him aside, making him comfortable, amazing him, sharing her inner worries, and inviting him out again.
Damn lewd gappy

>>44880625
That picture...
Holy FUCK Yamame is so pretty
no wonder everyone keeps complimenting her for being so pretty

>>44880975
Yooks are shapeshifters
they're all perfectly beautiful
Yammy is just a seamstress on top so her clothes always look mint and fashionable

>>44880810
Please be patient, gappy has autism and can't interact with people normally

Anon still needs to be kidnapped by Okina and her two child slaves comedically

>>44881359
Okina is mature enough to not act like a highschooler because of some villager

>>44828456
Narumi is her friend

>>44880612
>>44880625
>>44880632
>>44880644
>>44880653
Is it wrong that I find Yukari's antics endearing?

>>44882852
I do too, so it can't be wrong

>>44880915
>>44882852
Gaslighting Yukari into doubling down isn't very nice Yuyuko-sama.

>>44884657
Yuyuko-sama just thinks it cute that Gappy is still thinking about a man that already has a GF. Its not her fault if Gappy keeps trying to see him on the side and steal him away.

>>44870474
I've definitely fallen behind.

>>44887245
That looks pretty good tho

>>44887245
oh mai gah

>>44887245
Damn, that looks really nice. Reading the verbal description, I imagined a style I didn't like, but this visual manages to appeal to my very plain and simplistic tastes.
I still can't mentally visualize Anon's getup for the life of me, though.

>>44887839
I wish I were a bird.

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!" Tenshi told us, her head held up high and her arms clasped behind her back as she paced past us.

Myself, Reimu, and Marisa were sat against the wall of the Shrine's veranda, and Tenshi had been pacing back and forth in front of us for several minutes now. "Even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's blessing!" She had been talking all the while, though most of what she was saying went straight over my head, and when I spared Reimu and Marisa a sideways glance, it seemed to be going over their heads too.

"Uh...Okay?" I looked to me left as Marisa muttered, her arms resting on her knees as she messed around with her miniature furnace thing. On my right, Reimu had taken her gohei out and begun trying to spin it as many times as she could without it falling over. "What does this have to do with-"

"Sun Tzu said that!" Tenshi shouted suddenly, turning and leaning over Marisa, who looked up at her like she was considering firing a bolt of danmaku into her face. "And unlike you, Marisa, he actually knows a thing or two about a battlefield, so shut it!" Marisa looked mutinous, and her face only got worse when Reimu muttered a snide comment about her knowing what a battlefield smells like, something else that went over my head entirely. "Now, you may wonder why I am telling you this, and the answer is simple. The ancient classics hold the answers to all modern situations, and there was little else to do in Heaven but study the ancient classics, so I'm appointing myself as commander of Operation Eientei Storm."

"Operation...what?" Reimu looked about seconds from whacking the ex-celestial over the head as she got to her feet.

"All good attack plans need a name." Tenshi told us haughtily. "Now, we have a plan of attack, so let's-" At this point, Reimu's generally short temper when it came to Tenshi boiled over, and in a flash, she had swung the gohei down on Tenshi's head with an audible 'thunk'. Tenshi had apparently not been expecting this, because unlike the last time I had seen the two fight, she completely failed to dodge it, and instead stood still for a second, then tipped sideways and landed on Marisa, who let out a deep breath and rolled her to the side. "...That was entirely unnecessary." Grumbling, the blue-haired girl crossed her arms and stared at the ceiling.

"Okay, now that the comedy show has ended..." Reimu hefted the gohei over her shoulder and regarded the three of us. Well, the two of us and the third, who was still staring at the ceiling. "You said that you wanted to meet, so I gave you the benefit of the doubt and assumed that it wasn't just because you wanted to talk nonsense to us, but since you clearly don't share my opinion, I'll have to take control here."

When Reimu had approached Yamame's house that morning, she had waited for several minutes because Yamame had wrapped the both of us up in blankets and I was struggling to actually get out of the covers, but her knocking had become more and more insistent until she had finally thumped the door hard enough to wake Yamame up, who had promptly stomped over and shouted up a storm at Reimu, who had responded in kind, until I'd finally managed to get dressed and freshened up to join her. That meant that Reimu-Yamame relations were back in the gutter, but at least it was for fairly innocuous reasons this time.

Once I'd finally emerged, Reimu had told me that Tenshi had arrived at the Shrine, threw the door open while Reimu was still asleep, and demanded that Reimu fetch me at once, while she fetched Marisa. After a few slaps in the face, she had amended that to fetching me as soon as Reimu was ready. While griping to me about Tenshi's last of decorum, I'd said goodbye to Yamame, threatened to stop doing that thing she liked if I came back and found her in the coffee supply that I had made sure to hide, and then had fended off Reimu's probing questions as we walked back through the tunnels. The rain had finally decided to take a break from battering us, and the autumnal sun greeted us from between massive clouds snaking through the sky.

Of course, our progress was somewhat halted once I told Reimu about my second kidnapping by the mysterious 'Hearn', because she became unable to walk more than a few steps without breaking into a fit of giggles. On the plus side, at least she wasn't rolling around on the floor like she had before, because I didn't expect that it would leave her outfit particularly clean. Finally, I asked her why this Hearn was doing this. "She just...She wants to help, I think. But she doesn't know exactly how to help, so she's doing what she can. It's just that she's always so awkward about it, and can't help but try and be as mysterious as possible. Personally, I think it's a defence thing." Reimu gave me a sideways glance and a growing smile. "Or maybe she's just into you." I couldn't imagine how I'd deal with the unwanted affections of somebody who could quite literally take me from anywhere she wanted at any time, and drop me in a completely different part of the world where I would have absolutely no idea how to get home. "Still, at least you're getting to see interesting places. The only time I went to the outside world, it was just really bright and confusing despite being nighttime, and I had to prevent someone from blowing Gensokyo up, so I didn't get much of a chance to see the sights." I stared at her, wondering how she could just mention something like that so offhandedly. "...What? I did stop it." I could tell, since I was, you know, still here, but I'd never really thought about how dangerous things might have been had some of Reimu's incident's gone just slightly differently. "Anyway, tell me more about this 'Osto-raila' place." Australia, I corrected, then went about explaining some of the things that I'd been able to see, and that Hearn had mentioned while I had been stuck at her leisure.

Eventually, we'd made it to the Shrine, where Tenshi was already lecturing Marisa about something or other while Marisa sat with her back against the wall and played with her miniature furnace device. Thus, bringing us to where we were now.

"Okay, so here's the situation." Reimu said aloud, emulating Tenshi's pacing but with less of the random quotations. "We've let this fester too long, and now," She eyed me, and I knew she was thinking about Hearn asking me why Eientei was still closed up, "The Eientei issue has become an immediate issue, so we're resolving it. I agree that we can't just go running in, but happily, we have a possible solution." This time, she looked at me more directly. "Counselling. That's what Reisen suggested, and I think I can understand why." The solution was fairly simple. I'd go to the front gates and ask to see Doctor Yagokoro for counselling regarding...something. I could - though the idea still made me feel a little squeamish - use my family's death as a reason, or perhaps Rumia trying to eat me, or whatever that hermit with the pet had done to me, or something like that. I still hadn't truly made my mind up, though it was seeming less and less like there was a real choice to be made.

While I was getting counselling - or possibly getting dissected, since we didn't know for sure how Doctor Yagokoro was feeling - Reimu, Tenshi and Marisa would be breaking in through the roof of Eientei, as Marisa and Tenshi had done in the past. "Since Reisen's supposedly on our side now, I'm hoping she won't rat us out if she sees us. Happily, there should only be the three of them in Eientei, so it shouldn't be too hard to sneak through." Reimu had explained that part to me. Then, hopefully, they would be able to prevent me from getting turned into bits and pieces distributed about several jars, get some real answers from Doctor Yagokoro, put a stop to whatever she was planning - or at least, make her go about it in a significantly less psychotic way - and we could all move on with our lives.

"I've got a question." Marisa said, idly poking Tenshi in the side while she lay on the floor next to her and clearly enjoying the way it made her squirm. "What about Mokou?" It was a good question, because Fujiwara no Mokou had been mostly absent from the conversation. As far as Marisa and Tenshi had been able to tell, she was still deep within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and absolutely none of them knew what she was up to. "Because apparently this whole thing started with her. Shouldn't we...I don't know, talk to her or something? Kill her a few times?"

"Probably..." Reimu was deep in thought, staring off into the distance as she spoke. "Okay, yeah...We should probably find her on the way." That sounded overwhelmingly morbid, and it must have shown on my face because Reimu looked over at me. "She can't die, remember. Unfortunately, it also made her a little stubborn, so it takes more than it does for most people to make her concede a duel. We're not, er, sadistic crazy people or anything like that." I supposed that it would have been a bit much for them to be killing her just for fun, though the ease with which they spoke about it was still just a little unsettling.

Tenshi finally caught Marisa's finger as she went to poke the taller girl's side again, and rolled, causing Marisa to end up being thrown straight over Tenshi's body to crash into the veranda just ahead of her. She let out a pained groan as all the breath was forced from her. Meanwhile, Tenshi got to her feet, brushed herself off, and turned toward Reimu. "This whole plan is full of holes. As the commander," This time, Tenshi spun, causing Reimu's gohei to sail just barely past her back as she gracefully twirled, resulting her grasping Reimu's wrist with one hand and placing the other on her shoulder, "I say that fighting is not sure to result in victory, thus we must not fight."

"And what would you propose we do, huh?" Reimu asked icily, slapping Tenshi's hand away. "Because I'm sick of this hanging over our heads, and I want it sorted, soon." She scoffed, looking at Tenshi closer. "Victory? Is that what you think I'm aiming for? I don't care about winning. I just want to know that she'll leave him alone, that she'll open up Eientei and go back to being normal, awful-to-talk-to person who heals others, and then things can go back to the way they were." When Tenshi opened her mouth, Reimu cut her off. "Yeah, it's not great, but it's the best I can do, so we're doing it. Got it, 'commander'?" Now that I looked at her properly, Reimu looked tired.

Tenshi looked at Reimu closely, then a slight smile came over her. "Got it. Not that I'm happy about it, but I can only hope that our odds were good in the first place." She looked over at me. "You'll be fine. A fine celestial I'd be if I let you get cut into little pieces."

"Maybe she won't even do that." Marisa said, now emulating Tenshi in staring up at the ceiling while lying on the floor with her arms crossed. "Maybe if we just smack her around a bit, she'll sort herself out." Reimu and Tenshi looked at her incredulously. "What? It worked last time." I could only guess that this was some previous incident involving the good doctor.

"Last time was a seriously weird incident that I'm still not convinced I fully understand, but Yukari said that it was part of some overcomplicated plot involving the moon. This is a lot more...involved. But yes, we'll probably have to beat her up a little."

The conversation mostly turned to how Reimu, Marisa and Tenshi would find Mokou at that point, and while I was interested, I expected that I would have little to do with that. Honestly, I was starting to feel a sort of nervous energy. I knew that I'd have to return to Eientei at some point, I supposed. It wasn't like I could just pretend nothing had ever happened to me there. All I could do was hope that I could suppress any panicking I felt like doing until everything was over.

"Hey." I looked up sharply. Marisa was sitting next to me all of a sudden. Over her shoulder, I could see Tenshi and Reimu had gotten into some sort of argument, and Reimu was trying to hit Tenshi with her gohei again. "I know going back to Eientei's gonna be pretty tough, so I whipped up this." She reached into her apron and pulled out a vial containing some sort of liquid. "Should help calm your nerves." Slowly, I asked if it was another of her weird mushroom concoctions. "What? Nah, it's just strong alcohol. Well, it's got mushroom in it, but - Look, it works wonders, so stop your complaining." I managed to offer a weak smile and slipped the vial into the pocket of my coat. "Look, I didn't want to say it out loud because it's not the sort of thing that Reimu and Tenshi can think of, but I've got my own suspicions about Eirin. I think she's scared." I frowned, and asked what she had to be scared of. "The future, I guess. She said something once...Just an offhand comment, but it sounded like she's been around since before humanity. That makes her incomprehensibly old." I, as expected, couldn't quite comprehend it, but I got the idea. "And if she's as immortal as the other two, all those years of her life? A drop in a bucket." That was a comparison I could comprehend, and it was slightly terrifying. In light of that, it's no wonder she wanted a solution to the Hourai Elixir. "I've had some interest in immortality, but I'm just a normal human. I can't hope to understand truly what eternity means. Though...I expect that Kaguya Houraisan could." She was the princess, the one that had attacked Marisa. "That's the one. Oh, I better get an opportunity to pay her back, too!" I nodded dumbly. Eternity, huh?

"My, my, my, I do smell a plot to exclude me!" I jolted backwards, forgetting that I was already sitting against a wall and only succeeding in bashing my head against said wall. There, hanging upside-down from the roof, was Shameimaru.

"What? Piss off, birdy." Reimu growled, swinging the gohei in a wide arc which Tenshi avoided by repeating the handspring move she had used just before the storm had hit a week or so ago. Before it could reach Shameimaru, she flipped herself the right way around and turned to me.

"Now, now, it's no good to try and exclude the press on opportunities like this. I might be useful, even." Shameimaru leaned down to me and nodded rapidly. "I'll accompany those three into Eientei. After all, the best experience is first hand, and for a journalist, that's where my most accurate writing will come from. I can't claim to report the truth if all I'm doing is speculating, can I?" I opened my mouth, frowned, then closed it. "Of course, I still want a...very extensive interview with you. Exclusive publishing rights, and all." I'd been expecting that, since it had been part of the deal from the very beginning. "Don't look so concerned, boy. I'm not feeding you to the white wolf tengu just yet. I'm on your side at this moment." Which could very easily turn into her not being on my side. "In many things, perhaps. This? No, I think I'm squarely on your side." She stood up straight, spun, and joined the discussion taking place just down from me, where Tenshi had apparently upset Reimu enough that Marisa was now trying to pull the gohei from her before she could do something she wouldn't regret. I felt a weak smile overtake me.

In the end, the decision was made. That evening, I would walk into Eientei.

>>44889292
somewhere, up there, a certain soldier smiles...

>>44889292
>"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!"
Sun Tzu said that

Yay it's time for fire girl wolverine

>>44887245
I love it! I was starting to worry that you'd lost interest, actually.
>>44889365
Tenko is shown to know a whole multitude of chinese classics in her win quotes, so I felt like I had to throw one in somewhere, and that particular one is even more timeless than the rest
she specifically quotes Sun Tzu to Alice in SWR's win quotes

>>44889292
i enjoyed this one too

>>44889313
>that Marisa was now trying to pull the gohei from her before she could do something she wouldn't regret.
It's the little things

>>44889300
>>44889305
Marisa and Tenshi no longer shy away from acting all touchy-feely in public...

>>44889292
>I'd said goodbye to Yamame, threatened to stop doing that thing she liked if I came back and found her in the coffee supply that I had made sure to hide
alright, what's yamame's kink?

>>44891472
When is the 'mu going to get her happy day? She's lost anon to becoming the spider's new favourite sex toy. Now despite her assumptions Marisa would never stoop that low it seems like she's now all over the 'filthy ex-celestial' and craving some of that heavenly peach.

Seems like she has the most thankless story of all the major characters.

>>44893603
Anon's concerns about its potential consequences and 'the talk' he remembers getting once already suggested it's being creampied by humans or at least just by anon. That or it goes a lot deeper and we haven't learned exactly what it is yet.

>>44893603
biting her

>>44893603
For some spiders the male ties the female up to avoid being eaten

>>44893603
Having the tip of her spider legs massaged

>>44893603
dressing kronkanon in ridiculously undersized female clothes

>>44893603
Spinnerete sex

>>44893603
shibari while anon is dressed up in fairy wings and lots of biting her delicate areas to 'inject her' while he injects her

>>44893706
It's going to be forever until Reimu meets another male human that isn't faceless. Maybe she'll have to resort to carpet munching like her best friend did.

Having sex with anon after sticking him to the ceiling like a piece of bubble gum (with webs)

>>44897472
>>44893603
Oops I'm as dense as he is

>>44893603
I bet it's something only slightly sexual, like letting her ear the food he made off of his abs.

I imagine it's something a little more vanilla, like high-octane cunnilingus. Something she can only get through Anon's cooperation rather than just overwhelming and ravishing him.

>>44897604
That may as well just be cooking for her

I like the idea that everyone is starting to think that Tenshi and Marisa are turning gay for each other except for them

>>44898195
For the record, I don't think they are gay. I think they are developing an unlikely friendship.

>>44898214
I agree, which is why it's funny that Reimu suspects it

Can't they just ask Keine? At least one of them should know she's friends with Mokou by now

>>44898328
Why would they talk to a regular human teacher? Sure she has a pretty good memory of history, but I don't see how that helps.

>>44898328
we're not given much indication in canon of whether mokou and keine being friends is common knowledge, but mokou lives out in the forest and keine lives in the village, so it's possible that they don't know that they're friends, especially since mokou is shown to keep to herself a lot so we don't know how often she even goes to see keine

>>44898338
>>44898351
In IN's extra, Keine tells both Reimu and Marisa that "she will not let them lay their hands on that human". Given that context, I reckon at least one of them could connect the dots and ask Keine exactly what her connection to Mokou is.

>>44898214
I don't know about Tenshi I think she's just playing around and having some fun winding up her new friend which is entirely what she's like anyway. Marisa on the other hand almost seems to be borderline flirting with her and that's probably what's confusing Reimu. They're definitely becoming an unlikely pair of friends but anything more is probably unrequited on Tenshi's side. Although it would be strange and hilarious to see how Tenshi reacts or rejects her if Marisa actually tried making a move on her.

>>44893603
Tugging her web out of her (slowly)

>>44898842
Nah, its clear friendship from Marisa's side, but it is fun to speculate

>>44898944
>>44895665

"Okay, our research tells us that our target is the doctor. Eirin Yagokoro, from the moon. She's within Eientei, so we'll need to split up in order to capture her." Reimu frowned and turned her head. "Intelligence from the moon rabbit suggests that Eientei is nearly deserted, so we'll be able to comfortably split up. You," Shameimaru pointed at me, "You'll go in on the ground floor and see her face-to-face." She pointed her thumb backwards toward Tenshi. "You're our best bet at navigating inside, so you'll be with us. Marisa and Reimu will cover our defensive needs, and we'll regroup once we're inside. Any questions?"

"Excuse me?" Reimu asked politely.

"Yes?"

"Who's in charge, here?"

Shameimaru looked almost entirely unperturbed, but she did look back ahead and nod slightly. "Apologies. Awaiting your orders, boss."

Reimu smiled widely, then turned back to face forward. "Right, here's the plan." Then she nodded at Shameimaru. "Like she said. Good plan. Anything else?"

Marisa cleared her throat. "Mokou?" She asked. I couldn't understand what the reticent immortal's role in this whole thing was.

"Ah." Reimu looked back at Shameimaru. "Yeah. Okay, we're splitting up. Aya, you'll come with me to fetch Mokou. Marisa and Tenshi, you'll do the original plan. We'll meet up as fast as we can." I asked her what she would do if it took too long. "That's why Marisa and Tenshi are going in instead of Aya and myself. They've already got experience breaking in, and so does Mokou, so we'll be able to catch up quickly."

We were stood in a row on the cliff that overlooked Eientei deep within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and all of us were staring down at the building in question. I hadn't been here at night like the others had, so I couldn't say for certain if it was more or less dark than it had been, but I could see a few torches burning away, so I assumed that the place wasn't unoccupied. Marisa had mentioned seeing Fujiwara no Mokou slip away from Eientei with Kaguya Houraisan in tow during her story, but it seemed that such a fate wasn't going to happen on this occasion. It was early evening, with the sun's last rays stretched across the sky in brilliant pinks and orange.

"Are you sure she'll even agree to see him at this time of day?" Tenshi asked, putting her hands on her hips and turning toward Shameimaru. "A fine waste of time this'll all be if she doesn't even bother to bring him in."

"From what the moon rabbit said, she's not sleeping much, if at all. At best, her judgement is impaired, but even if it isn't, she's probably desperate for someone to shake up the routine." Shameimaru flipped her notebook open, then flipped through several more pages. "Yeah. Here, four days ago. I spotted her standing on the veranda sometime in the early morning and staring into the woods. She didn't do anything or move at all in that whole time, and then she suddenly turned and walking straight back inside. She's pretty emotionless usually, but whatever that was, it was creepy. She just stood there, staring, for at least an hour." Well, that just filled me with confidence.

"Alright, everyone knows their roles." Reimu said, taking a deep breath, though I noticed that it was just slightly shaky. She stepped over to me. "Listen, I know this must be difficult, but I believe in you. Okay?" I managed to nod. "You come back safe. You hear me?" I nodded again and forced myself to say that I expected the same of her. "Let's get going." She said to Aya. "Good luck." She said to everyone else.

And there I was, making my way to the front gates of Eientei, like nothing had changed. Like I was still that clueless, bumbling villager. I'd probably have let Doctor Yagokoro do whatever she wanted to me in that case, and I wouldn't have even known. It wasn't like I'd known that anyone would have missed me. But now...Reimu and I were family in all but blood. Tenshi, too. I found myself lucky to count Marisa as a close friend. And Yamame...Frankly, I should give Kogasa the hug of her life for knocking me down that hole. I owed so many people in so many ways for getting me to where I was now. And I needed to see this through.

Just as I rejoined the path toward the gates of Eientei, I reached into my coat and retrieved the vial that Marisa had given me at the Shrine. I uncorked it and cautiously sniffed it. It smelt like alcohol. It looked...kind of like alcohol. After a moment, I shrugged and tipped the whole thing into my mouth, then coughed harshly at the taste. It was quite possibly the most disgusting thing I'd ever tasted, and for a moment, I felt like forcing myself to throw up, but the taste faded from my mouth after a moment, and I let out a drawn-out groan. Never again.

Still, I did feel slightly less nervous, especially once I spotted the building in the distance. Swallowing, I forced down any bad feelings and continued to walk forward. High in the sky above me, the pink of the sunset was just beginning to be replaced by the blue of dusk.

At the gate, I paused. How was I supposed to get their attention? The last time I had been here, the other rabbits had yet to abscond from the building, and there'd always been someone manning the gate and ready to greet me. Now, with everyone gone, I wasn't sure what to do. Call out? Throw a rock over the gate and hope someone saw it?

In the end, I knocked. And after a few minutes, I heard footsteps. Steeling myself, I swallowed heavily and crossed my arms, trying to force an expression of general wellbeing onto my face. After a moment, I realised that I was supposedly showing up for counselling, so I let just a little of the worry in my mind slip into my expression. I heard the sound of a latch being pulled on the other side of the gate, and then the right door shifted open just slightly. After a moment, Reisen Udongein Inaba's head poked out, suspicion in her gaze. Slightly worryingly, I noticed that she had deep bags under her eyes. "What are you doing here?" She hissed. I decided that it was about time to get into character, so I told her in a slightly shaky voice that I was here because I needed to talk to someone. For counselling. After a fraction of a second, I saw Reisen's eyebrows raise just slightly, and I knew that she'd gotten the message. "For counselling? My Master is fully trained in dealing with psychological trauma." Which was funny, because she'd inflicted most of it in the first place, but I nodded nonetheless. Reisen stepped back, raising an arm. "Please, follow me." She turned and started to walk, and as I followed her, I really began to feel like I was walking into a snake pit. Reisen looked tired. I didn't know exactly what had been happening inside Eientei, but Reisen's note had included a line saying that the research happening in Eientei was causing more pain than progress, so I had some ideas, and none of them were good.

We left the grounds and entered the clinic, and I immediately felt a profound sense of wrongness. I hadn't been here for Marisa and Tenshi's infiltration, so I couldn't say if it was the same then, but the whole place was just too empty. Too quiet, too big, and I could already hear my heartbeat in my ears. The last time I had been here, there had been rabbits, and sometimes other patients from the village, and sunlight and a general feeling of business which was just missing, now, and I felt like the shadows were stretching out toward me and at any moment, Reisen would turn around and reveal that it had been a trick the whole time.

But no, that wasn't what was happening. That was my panicked mind, screaming that I was somewhere that I had gone through some very bad experiences in, and I needed to leave right now. I took in a deep breath, then forced that part of my mind into a corner and told it to shut up. Maybe Marisa's alcohol was doing more for me than I thought. I looked at Reisen, who continued to lead me deeper into Eientei, past the usual rooms I had been in and into the corridors which vanished into the darkness. With the silence getting to me, I somewhat nervously asked Reisen why all the lights were off. "Master said that with most of the rabbits gone, there was no reason to waste the materials. When they return, things will be back to normal."

Despite the fact that the current visit was only possible because there were no other rabbits around, I hoped they would come back soon. It felt very unnerving to be in Eientei like this. Reisen led me down a different hallway, deeper into the building, and I wondered if it would be this unsettling in the daytime. There were slats at the top of the walls to let fresh air in, and I supposed that they would let sunlight in too, but it was already too dark for that. Finally, I saw a light running across the wall from an open door, but Reisen led me past the room, which I could see was empty.
After some more walking, Reisen stopped and opened a door. I had no idea how deep into Eientei we were at this point, but when I walked past Reisen and through the door, she whispered without looking in my direction. "I've picked a room close to the place Marisa once broke in from." I didn't look at her, but I nodded regardless. That was good, at least.

Once I'd entered the room, Reisen pressed something behind me, and the lights in the room came on at once. For a moment, I was disorientated, but then I figured that it must have been some sort of moon thing, because there didn't seem to actually be any visible light sources. It wasn't like Yamame's home, either. There were no hanging bulbs in the room. Instead, there were bookshelves against the walls and a chair, plush and comfortable looking, almost like the ones I'd seen at Eientei. The chair was situated in front of another piece of furniture, this one long enough to lie down on. I supposed that this was how the counselling sessions worked. "Lie down there." Reisen told me, her voice completely emotionless. "I'll be along with my Master." She turned and took a step, then looked back at me for a moment. I thought for a moment that she was about to say something, but instead she shook her head and disappeared into the darkness.

I stared at the long chair-slash-bed-thing and decided that I didn't feel comfortable lying down just yet, so I crossed the room and looked at the bookshelf instead. Aside from the books, there were a number of smaller items. A thin piece of card that I found to be a child's drawing. The simple text on it said 'thank you for saving my daddy!'. I wasn't sure what had possessed Doctor Yagokoro to keep it, since it didn't seem like the sort of emotional thing she cared about. I slipped it back into the bookshelf and looked over the books themselves. Most of the titles were incomprehensible to me. Not as if I couldn't understand them - though I doubted that I could - but whatever script they were written in was completely impossible to understand. I couldn't even recognize it as letters, and I started to wonder if there was something more to the language than simply words.

"Old Lunarian." The voice - sharp, but cold and with so few inflections to it that it could not be her native tongue - sent shivers through me. I spun, then forced my teeth together before my pounding heard could force me to cry out. Eirin Yagokoro stood in the doorframe, her eyes that same cold, watery grey, with no emotions behind them. New were the barest traces of shadows under her eyes, and I wondered what had made Reisen's exhaustion so much more pronounced. Her arms were behind her back, but her uniform looked just slightly crumpled, like it had been creased and left that way. "That script will never be understandable to humans." The doctor stepped into the room properly. "I understand that you wish to speak with me." I couldn't help but shrink back a step, and as I nodded, I found that I'd moved the book I was holding in front of me as if it was a shield

"Counselling, is it?" I nodded again, then found the strength to turn and place the book back on the shelf. Reimu and the others would come for me. "It was very irresponsible of you to stop coming to your appointments." Doctor Yagokoro said to me with that same tone of voice. I tried to keep my voice steady and said that I had stopped feeling any pain. "The point is to complete the full course. The patient's word carries less weight in matters of physical medicine. You should have kept coming." Inwardly, I tried not to scream that I'd stopped coming because she was stealing my memories like the blood she was also stealing from me. Instead, I nodded and said that I was sorry. "No matter. Lie down." Doctor Yagokoro indicated the soft-looking bench, and I knew I couldn't say no on this occasion. Feeling like I'd be naked without it, I left my coat on, and wrapped it around me as I first sat, then lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. I heard Doctor Yagokoro take the seat next to me and pick up a clipboard that had been lying in the chair. "What is it you wish to talk about?" She asked, still sounding completely emotionless.

Here, I had a decision to make. I'd wrestled with myself through the days since the idea had been put forth, but I was finally forced to admit to myself that if I ever wanted to be able to trust Doctor Yagokoro again, I would need to be willing to try, and assuming this whole plan worked out, I would need to start now. In the end, I told her. My family, I said. I kept things vague to conceal Yamame and Satori's involvement, and instead said that I'd been having nightmares about seeing my family die until it had broken through the barriers and I'd remembered the truth. "You witnessed your family die in a youkai attack several years ago." Doctor Yagokoro confirmed, and I immediately began to wonder about her suitability for this sort of thing. "Are you still having nightmares?" I hadn't been since meeting Yamame again, but I didn't want to say that, so I told Doctor Yagokoro that I still was. "Do not feel the need to refer to me by my full title in this session. Eirin is fine." That was very surprising, and I actually turned my head to look at her. She still looked emotionless, but there was something about the concession to use her first name that I found interesting. "Why did you not take your coat off?" She asked me after a moment of silence. Unsure of what exactly that had to do with anything, I said that I just didn't feel like it. "Is that so?" I heard the sound of writing and wondered what she had just put down.

Doc- Eirin didn't speak for a moment, and eventually the silence got to me, so I asked her if she was going to speak. "Only if you desire it. This session is led by you. You are the one in control. If you wish to sit in silence, that is what we shall do." So, it appeared that I would need to contribute more to keep this going until the others could arrive. I began to talk. I explained what had happened to my family in full detail. And slowly, I began to wonder just what Eirin's game was. She seemed genuinely interested in the conversation, though it was hard to tell by her general lack of emotion. Was she planning to attack me on the way out? Have Reisen slip in and wipe my memories? What was the goal?

And more than that, I was starting to actually get into the session. I hadn't realised that what had happened still had a strong grip on me. Eventually, I said that I was just hoping to get over it, since it had already happened and I couldn't do anything about it. Wasn't that the point of the session? "Is that what you think?" Eirin asked me, and I frowned, gripping my arms harder. That was the point, wasn't it? For the doctor to tell you how to fix the problem? "I can help you talk about it. I cannot hope to solve your problems for you just as much as I cannot hope for you to solve mine."

I froze, then slowly turned my head toward Eirin. "Those were not the only memories you uncovered recently." After a moment where my mind whirled as I tried to think of a way to deny it, Eirin spoke. "I mean this not in a rude way, but you are far too young to hope that you can trick me. Shall we talk about my treatment of you, instead?"

And despite my hopes, Reimu and the others had not come to kick the door down yet.

>>44899054
She bamboozled everyone

>>44899054
She did the fucking spy crow thing didn't she?

I mean come on, did any of them (and (you)) really expect Eirin to somehow not catch onto Anon's shenanigans?

>>44899189
Don't worry Reimu cross through Eienti without knowing it's endless, in general her Float ability works the less stressed and more oblivious she is, so it'll probably be okay.

You had everyone going for a bit with the whole spider sex thing, but now it's finally time to get the Eirin route underway.

>>44899189
Their mistake was thinking that Reisen could be trusted for anything except spreading moon STDs when she sent the note that said Eirin didn't know anything

>>44899054
Poor Anon, it's clear that the guy actually does need professional help. Shame the moonie is more interested in his blood than his wellbeing

>>44899309
This, now we finally get to Eirin harvesting his life essence to break the elixir. Along with a whole arc of him remembering that he willingly joined those experiments out of his feelings for her.

>>44899309
Dark horse Eirin my ass. Dark horse Sekibanki is where it's at.

>>44899189
I didn't think they were going to waltz in and just solve the problem no

>>44899189
Well that was the plan wasn't it? To get Eirin talking and then swoop in before she can make Reisen do ger eye thing and make anon forget again.
Personally I hope anon lets slip his worries about making babies with Yamame because he really needs a doctors opinion on that.

>>44899158
eirin would probably take it as an insult if you implied that she needed outside help to figure things out instead of just using her huge fucking brain

>>44899046
"Come on, Anon. It's time for your dick flattening session."

>>44899054
I'm not sure how much of this is a facade, but Eirin seems to be willing to talk things through. She even admits that goals are reliant on Anon's compliance, at least to some degree. He can at least get answers to the questions he's had for so long, and although I doubt there's much room for compromise here, it's still worth noting he's typically pretty good at defusing tense and dangerous situations.
I'm getting vaguely similar vibes to this scene from Avatar (which mind you was ultimately a trap).

>>44899158
I assume you're talking about Reisen's allegiance ultimately being to Eirin and that the information leaks were a sting operation? Perhaps so, but she genuinely seemed concerned about Eirin's demeanor, not to mention she's not doing so well herself. Think there's more to it than blind loyalty.

>>44901434
I reckon she expects backup if she's aware the whole session is a sham.

>>44902356
>Eirin could be aware anon has backup ready to pile in at any moment
Maybe while they were planning this they should have had some kind of backup of their own for reinforcements in case their plan got leaked or Eiren had some kind of plan b to ambush any potential help that comes for anon. Mokou is a good idea but not enough, or could at least keep Kaguya busy if they break off for yet another round trying to kill each other if she joins the likely impending battle.

Kasen is probably not mentally in any fit state to be involved for the time being so it would have made sense reaching out to Satori and her pets for help, even Yamame or the oni given Reimu is generally friendly with Suika and she could have been a potential backup. If Eirin is ready and expecting an attack it's likely she has some kind of backup of her own ready or could at least probably go toe-to-toe with Reimu/Marisa/Tenshi alone considering despite her abilities Aya is likely a non-combatant here unless attacked.

>>44902356
it's not really a sham, though, and she can see that which is why she's asking the sort of questions a real therapist would (like why he hasn't taken his coat off, because he feels defenseless without it)
it's kind of debateable if she cares or not, but maybe she considers it a blow to her professional pride if she doesn't prove that she's just as good a therapist

>>44889805
Just busy including trying to write my own nonsense. You're genuinely going too fast for me. Shazbot.
>>44888105
>I still can't mentally visualize Anon's getup for the life of me, though.
Me neither, but I'm going to excuse myself from actually trying by saving I wouldn't presume to design somebody else's (mostly descriptionless) protagonist.
>>44899046
>"That script will never be understandable to humans."
I wish. It's machine code.

>>44902670
>I wish. It's machine code.
Imagine the smug vanishing from her face when some code monkey with a 102 iq reads back her moonie mumbo-jumbo and calls it 'shitcode'

>>44902356
>I reckon she expects backup if she's aware the whole session is a sham.
You can't hope to assume you know what the brain of the moon is thinking, to even try shows how naive you are.
But moon propaganda aside. Her reasonings for becoming this unhindged is still unclear to us, or to me anyway. Because it's not like anons case is common or anything, but if Eirin truly thinks that juicing up a lucky human with a heavenly peach is all that she needs to make a breakthrough then she is going about it in entierly the wrong way since it'd be easier to just get another human.
I think writeanon is misleading us and the next chapers will reveal some other reason for the sucking of precious fluids from anon and maybe even paint Eirin in a good light.

>>44902889
The answer is clear, Anon agreeded to it all and she had Reisen wipe his memory out of regret for abusing a guy that genuinely liked her and saw past her icey exterior.
That's right, yammy was a red herring and we're actually due for a DARK HORSE EIRIN ENDING

>>44902959
More like white horse, amirite?

>>44903014
Like the white rabbit of inaba?
That's right, what you thought to be Eirin route was actually just a way to unlock the Tewi route.

>>44902495
Maybe Tenshi, Marisa and Reimu did get back up, they just didn't tell anon in case he ends up spilling the beans to Eirin, Reimu and Marisa have connections everywhere and Tenshi is smart enough to not go in there blindly. If anything this is a good time for Yukari to get off her ass and get involved.

>>44902661
Sham in the sense that Anon is part of an attempt to dupe her, not that Eirin is a fraud.
Regarding whether or not she cares, CiLR depicts her as having some semblance of empathy in how she treated the Watatsukis, Kaguya, and even Reisen. If anything, her attitude regarding Anon's trauma could be something of an "I don't really care, but since you do, I will too" attitude like with the Watatsukis and Uranoshimako. Hell, her remark about solving each other's problems can be interpreted as an attempt to establish common ground, and allowing him to address her by name may be with the intent of being more approachable.
Whether these actions are earnest or duplicitous, we'll see next chapter.

>>44902889
>I think writeanon is misleading us and the next chapers will reveal some other reason for the sucking of precious fluids from anon and maybe even paint Eirin in a good light.
I agree. Much emphasis has been placed on how Eirin's characterization through the story is abnormal and that there's something deeper behind her behavior.

>>44903350
I doubt Eirin is building geniune rapor with anon, rather she has entered work-mode as a therapist and is being brutally efficient.
I bet writeanon read a book on typical therapist behavior or has been to one before, becaue they do act like this. The difference here is that Eirin actually is intimately familiar with the spesific subject and is a professional doctor instead of the usual scammer that the-rapists are.

I'm facinated and eager to see where this goes, because Eirin is both the cause and the best medicine for anons current situation. It all really hinges on the reason for why she presumably experimented on anon, since we have to remember we don't know what Eirin actually did. Our sources right now are the anon with no medical knowledge and Reisen.

>>44903473
"But doesn't experimenting on someone go against the Hippocratic oath?"
"The what?"
the end

>>44902889
>sucking of precious fluids from anon
You stop that right now! That's Yamame's job!

>>44902889
>if Eirin truly thinks that juicing up a lucky human with a heavenly peach is all that she needs to make a breakthrough then she is going about it in entierly the wrong way since it'd be easier to just get another human.
I personally think it had something to do with Anons Parents and some other suppressed memory? Maybe some blessing possibly by the lucky rabbit herself hence Tewi wanting to leave since she doesn't want to get involved in messing with the human under her protection nor Kaguya and Eirin.
Also the reason for all this could be Kaguya and she might have wanted this despite the low odds of success and Eirin is just entertaining her since she is a princess after all.

>>44903506
"The hippopotamus loath? Anon, your nightmares must be affecting your thought processes. There's no such thing as a hypotenuse roath. I would know, i have a huge fucking brain."

It was a few days before the crew would decide on what to do with Eintei
Reimu was phasing around her house anxiously
Although she hates to admit it, the constant intrusions on her home at least kept her distracted
After chewing her nails a bit she finally decided on visiting Marisa, perhaps she had an update on the lunarians and if not she could stay at her house for a bit, it's the least she could do for Reimu after everything she's put her and anon through lately
As she neared Marisa's house she had a small freak out as she began hearing what sounded like screaming coming from within the shop
Did Reisen sell them out? Did Eirin run out of patience?
Reimu would sneakily approach the window to Marisa's room which seemed to be where the yelling was coming from
Eventually she could make up a... conversation?
"Slow down! You're being too rough!"
That sounded like Marisa
"I'm being as slow and as gentle as i can! Stop being so sensitive"
And that sounded like Tenshi... N-no, there's no way they are actua-
"OOOOW! Seriously you suck at this!"
"Maybe i'd be better at it if you cooperated, you're just laying there face down and complaining!"
"I did NOT just lay here! You're the one that pushed me down!
"Because you keep refusing when I ask you nicely! This is the only way I can get you to do this"
"Ah! AAH! Stop it I'm bleeding again!"
"No you're not, I'm looking at it right now and there's no blood, would you stop behaving like a child for a minute? I'm almost done"
At this point Reimu decided to let them be, perhaps being alone for a few days wasn't so bad, maybe she could play catch with Aunn
Meanwhile inside Marisa's room Tenshi finished cleaning a wound on Marisa's back with some alcohol, she was mostly recovered by now by this wound was particularly bad and still needed tending to
"There, it's done! I can't believe you couldn't behave yourself for five minutes"
"That was thirty minutes you asshole"
"Whatever, I'm going to cook dinner, what do you want?"
"... Could you make some of that grilled fish you made the other day?"
"Sure, you get some rest"
"... Thank you"

Eirin might have seen through Anon's lie, but I think it's still possible that the plan could go on without a hitch. Since she has no eyes or ears outside of Eientei, she might not have made the connection that Anon is acting as a distraction for an elite taskforce to raid her home, instead coming to the conclusion that he somehow knocked some memories loose in his head and has now come by himself to confront her over it.
It's like Anon is a trojan horse, but while she assumes there is a trap in him, the actual trick is that the soldiers are climbing over her walls while she investigates the horse.
However, while it's still possible that she plans to vivisect him, her wording and demeanor here make me think that she's going to extend an olive branch to him for the sake of her research or something else. This might be an interesting thread for Anon to consider, if the other girls give him the chance to do so before they bust in to rescue him.

As it turns out Eirin was experimenting with lack of sleep on immortals a couple of months before, sadly at some point due to the lack of sleep she's completely forgotten about the experiment and how to fall asleep which led her to believe human blood combined with celestial peaches was somehow a cure for immortality.

All I want is just to see in the final showdown at Eientei is a rematch of the Marisa v Kaguya fist fight. Although Mokou piling in and forming a tag-team with Marisa would be fun as well considering she likely couldn't resist the urge to pile in if there's a fight with Kaguya on the card.

>>44903473
>I doubt Eirin is building geniune rapor with anon, rather she has entered work-mode as a therapist and is being brutally efficient.
That's more likely the case, yeah. What's up in the air is whether she's earnestly trying to do a good job, or if it's to lull him into a false sense of security.

>>44903803
>Maybe some blessing possibly by the lucky rabbit herself
In his childhood, Anon did get attacked in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost after all. It's possible Tewi took pity on him and blessed him with some divine luck.
The problem with this is that if divine luck really is the antidote for the Hourai Elixir, Eirin could have asked Tewi about it at any time in the past millennia. Yuuka also did mention that Anon "draws youkai like moths to a flame" at one point, and that hasn't been explained yet. As of now I'm guessing that his close call with them back in his childhood (or some other event we don't know if yet) created some sort of effect similar to the Brand of Sacrifice in Berserk.

>>44905688
>However, while it's still possible that she plans to vivisect him, her wording and demeanor here make me think that she's going to extend an olive branch to him for the sake of her research or something else.
I was thinking that too. I'm wondering if they'll come to some sort of mutual understanding, only for the other girls to bust in at the worst moment and make the situation worse.

>>44907599
I'm pretty sure divine luck isn't being touted as the cure, but Reisen mentioned that Eirin was trying to bottle luck, so she probably wants it not as the cure, but to give her more luck to go with her huge fucking brain so she can find the cure herself

>>44906759
A Mokou v Eirin fight would be funny
Eirin exists to pretend to be queen shit of fuck mountain, but likely hasn't been in a hand to hand brawl in millennia, if ever

>>44907617
That makes more sense. Still, couldn't she have asked Tewi about that?

>>44907684
tewi's basically her landlord and reisen was worried that the process was maybe slightly fatal
better to possibly kill some human dumbass rather than piss off your landlord and have her kick you all out
reisen's convinced that tewi left to help keep the other rabbits safe (maybe because eirin's having outburts of anger when something doesn't work) but tewi still thinks that eirin can be redeemed or she would have kicked her out instead

>>44907599
She could have asked but since Tewi left Eirin probably asked for... her foot? Brain matter? Something Tewi would just say "hahaha no I'm leaving until you stop this?"

>>44907699
>>44907790
I was thinking that Tewi might know of a way that luck could be manipulated without involving such extreme measures

After walking through the Bamboo Forest of the lost for what felt like hours but couldn't have been more than a few minutes, it was clear that Reimu was getting annoyed with Aya. "What?" She asked.

"What?" Aya replied innocently.

"Don't 'what' me. You're obviously dying to ask something, so get it over with being I have you dying for a different reason." Aya didn't put much stock in Reimu's threats these days, because she typically didn't follow through with them, and even if she did, Aya was still faster by orders of magnitude. "Seriously, before I hit you."

"I suppose I do have some questions I'd like answers to..." Aya reached into her breast pocket and retrieved her notebook. "Can you clarify your relationship with-"

"Next question." Suddenly, Aya became aware of Reimu's gohei, which she had slung over her shoulder and was tapping her finger against with slightly more intensity.

"Okay. Then, can you tell me anything about the relationship between Marisa Kirisame and-"

"Nope. You get one more, then you get a needle between the eyes."

"...Do you and him really sleep naked together?" Before she'd even finished the question, Aya was tilting her head to the side, but even so, she felt the needle pass through her hair.

"No, we do not." Reimu's voice was cold as ice. "That was your last question, by the way. Get involved."

The pair were walking through the forest because the place had a habit of letting the terrain slip around if you took to the air. Fine for walks when you wanted to let your mind wander, but not so fine if you needed to get somewhere and back fast. Aya had to be careful when picking her way through the brush, because shards of bamboo and who knew what else littered the floors and it was getting darker by the minute. Somehow, in defiance of all logic and fairness, Reimu never seemed to touch anything. Her feet always managed to land in clear bits of ground without her even thinking about it, which was starting to make Aya a little jealous. Maybe if she took to the air, just a little bit- "Don't fly. You'll get lost." A hand landed on her shoulder. Reimu's voice had taken on that short quality it did when she was serious. Gritting her teeth, Aya continued to pick her way across the ground.

After a few more minutes of silence and darkening skies, Aya grew impatient again. "Why didn't you tell him-?"

"He didn't need to know." Reimu responded tersely, but this time Aya let the silence stretch out, and finally, Reimu broke. "I didn't want to tell him anything more than he absolutely needed. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with Eirin before?" Aya had, but only once, and it wasn't a thing she much wanted to repeat. She'd spoken in weird accents, tried to confuse her with long and overly complicated speeches, and then tried to sell her on nightmare pills. Well, they'd been faster paced than the butterfly dream pills, that was for sure, but it wasn't like Aya had needed pills to improve her dreams in the first place, so it had mostly felt like a wasted night.

"Yes, but-"

"If you know something that she wants to know, she'll get it out of you sooner or later. I didn't tell him because I didn't want her to find out that I’ve got more backup coming." Reimu's general demeanour always took a turn for the worse when that man was involved. She became on edge, serious in a way that only happened on extremely rare occasions, and she was even more prone to violence than she was usually, which was really saying something when it came to Reimu Hakurei. She huffed. "...You think this...counselling idea is going to work?"

"You're asking my opinion?" Aya raised an eyebrow. "I thought you just wanted to tease me with the opportunity to ask you questions that you'd refuse to answer."

"Well, answer it before I get back to doing that, then." Reimu switched the gohei to her other shoulder, looking like she was full of nervous energy.

"Probably not. I think you're all underestimating Eirin." Aya was older than the other three combined, though Tenshi Hinanawi's presence made it a little closer. If there's one thing that a long life had taught her, it was how easy some people found it to just assume that others weren't as smart as them. And Eirin Yagokoro was likely smarter than the rest of Gensokyo combined. "She'll work out that he's not really there for counselling before long, but she might not work out that he's not alone if he, er, acts like himself. I assume that's why you didn't tell him anything about your backup option?"

"Didn't want to get his hopes up. Besides, she'll not be out for a few hours yet." Reimu had sprung the idea on her earlier that day, but had implored her not to tell anyone. "Full moon tonight?" Aya nodded, hopping over a cluster of bamboo shoots. "She'll be a little difficult to coax out, but I'm sure we'll come up with something." She was fiddling with the gohei again. "I'm thinking that Reisen's going to side with Eirin. Maybe not maliciously, but it's going to happen. That's why I want a trump card. Someone she wasn't aware of."

The Bamboo Forest of the Lost was home to a lot of strange, disjointed youkai. The kind who eschewed the company of others because they were feeling as lost as the place itself. Most of them were little more than beasts, barely even sentient and living to eat and sleep alone, but several exceptions existed. "Mokou shouldn't be too far." Reimu muttered. "Keep up. I've had a bad feeling since we left, and the longer we take, the worse it gets." She broke into a jog, and Aya cursed under her breath, knowing that Reimu would not stumble a single time on the way.

On the way, Aya pondered on the relationships she was discovering on this investigation. There was Reimu and her mysterious scarred man who Aya could barely find any information about. Marisa Kirisame had seemingly struck up an unlikely friendship with Tenshi Hinanawi, or possibly something more if the way Tenshi kept going to Marisa’s house was any indication. It was something Aya had yet to confirm, because the pair seemed to be incredibly adept at making whatever their relationship actually was seem completely obscured from the outside. Just a friendship? Maybe. And what of Reimu and the man of the hour? Aya hadn’t said anything, but she’d been well aware of the conversation the two had shared just before he had left for Eientei. It wasn’t the sort of thing two people who were just friends said. It was something that came between two people who were incredibly close. Lovers? Unlikely, Aya thought. But what, then? Family? Could he be a secret Hakurei family member? No, that would be ridiculous.

By the time Aya heard the sound of rushing water, the sun had well and truly set, though the darkness hadn't quite fully encroached on the world and the moon was yet to show itself. In the air, no one was faster, but on land, Aya could privately admit that she might have some coordination trouble, because it had been more difficult than she had thought it would be to keep up with Reimu, who had run into absolutely no trouble. It was one of the world's great injustices.

"Can you not slow down just a little?" Aya finally asked, only for Reimu to look back at her with a thunderous expression and shush her. She looked ahead and realised that there was something blocking the view. A large, darkened shack. Calling it a home would be giving it a lot of undeserved credit. It looked abandoned. "Is that it?" She asked incredulously. That was the home of Fujiwara no Mokou? The only time Aya had interviewed her, it had been in the charred cinders of a fire that Mokou had absolutely been responsible for, no matter how much she tried to claim otherwise. She hadn't realised that Mokou had actually lived so deep in the Bamboo Forest, in what seemed to be squalor. Of course, once she'd started threatening to roast her, Aya had been forced to cut her investigation short.

"Let's see if she's home." Reimu said, switching the shoulder her gohei rested on again, then walking forward with determination in her steps. Aya followed, slightly more cautiously. The house was dark all around, and while Aya did spot a bracket or two on the walls for torches to be mounted, a cursory inspection revealed that they had not been used for a long, long time. In front of the house, there was a tree stump sat just in front of what looked like a vegetable patch, which itself was just in front of the stream, which had been the running water that Aya was hearing. Reimu stalked forward, completely silent and with something deadly in her gaze. The house, like Aya had seen from the back, was a wreck. One side had collapsed, and the other side looked like it was being held together by dreams and dust.

Reimu stalked up to the door, which was more or less intact apart from some ripped paper in the panelling. "Mokou! Get out here!" She slammed the butt of the gohei against the wooden floor. No response. "I know you're in there, so don't try and lie to me!" Aya opened her mouth, only for Reimu to turn to her sharply. "Don't say anything. I've never seen anyone do a faster job of annoying whoever they're talking to than a tengu."

That seemed unnecessarily rude, but Aya was willing to let it slide if it would enhance the story she was getting from this whole endeavour. There would be plenty of time to write about Reimu's more shameful behaviour later. Speaking of Reimu, she was still shouting at the door and slamming her oversized gohei against the ground. Aya turned and looked over the vegetable patch, pulling at her collar. It was rather warm for the middle of autumn. Especially in the middle of the rainy season. Aya stopped. She paused. She turned.

Was it just her, or was Mokou's house glowing?

A ghost of a smile crossed Reimu's face. "Here she is." She muttered. The darkness had lost some of its hold on the night. Now, Aya was certain that she could see something inside the house. A reddish glow. And then, things got hot. Reimu suddenly threw her entire upper body backwards, until she was so far backwards that she was certainly going to fall. Before Aya could question why, a ball of flame smashed through the door, straight through the spot that Reimu had just been occupying. It flew through the open air and landed in the stream with a sizzle and a massive burst of steam. Reimu, meanwhile, fell backwards onto her hands, then sprung over onto her feet, spinning her gohei over her hands until she held it back in front of her.

The sound of cracking knuckles hit Aya, and she looked back from Reimu to the house. The smouldering remains of the front door were soon kicked at Reimu, and she batted them to the side with her gohei. And out stepped a woman. Her hair long, tied through with red and white ribbons, in the palest shade of lavender possible. She had a sharp, almost dangerously thin-looking face, but her eyes burned with the fires of life. Her shirt was ragged and well-worn, the sleeves torn off and the scraps dangling around her upper arms, and a pair of red suspenders held up her baggy trousers, which were plastered in talismans that Aya could only guess were for fire resistance. "Can't say I've seen you in a long while." Her voice was rusty in a way that spoke of disuse. "Sounded exactly like Keine. Uncanny. How're you doing?"

"I'm in a hurry, sorry. No time for idle chatter." Reimu replied, her voice not rusty but sharp like a knife. "I need you to come with me."

"That right? Isn't it rather strange for someone so young to be ordering around her great senior?" Fujiwara no Mokou's dull, red eyes flicked toward Aya. "Isn't that right, crow tengu?" Aya shivered slightly. "Didn't expect to see you in the Mecca for yakitori again." It took a moment, but Aya managed to squash down her desire to vacate the area immediately. "What's up?" She said to Reimu.

"Eientei." Reimu responded shortly, and Mokou rolled her neck and shoved her hands in her pockets. “I need you to come with me to Eientei.”

"Yeah? Well, Eientei is full of Lunarian cronies. It's good to give them a beating every now and then. I'm very frail, you know. Just moving might destroy my body." Mokou's voice was nonchalant, but there was something just beneath the surface that Aya could only hear through countless years of experience with people lying to her face. There was more to it than just beating the Eientei residents up. Mokou was hiding something.

"I'm afraid," Reimu spun the gohei around and slammed it into the ground at an angle. "I'm not taking no for an answer." Suddenly, there were four orbs rotating her body. The Hakurei orbs. Now, Aya started to wonder just how far Reimu was willing to go for this man that she had made her pet project.

Mokou let out a rusted laugh that shook her whole body. For someone frail, she didn't seem to have many qualms about movement. "If you want me, then you'll have to make me." Aya noticed with some alarm that her body was starting to glow slightly, and there was a hint of something new in her eyes. Excitement. "But you already knew that."

"I had an idea." Reimu agreed, lifting the gohei and holding it out perpendicular to her body. "Aya, it might be time to go and find out about our backup option. Things are about to get messy." The streamers on the end of the gohei were beginning to flutter despite the lack of wind in the clearing.

Aya had no intention of sticking around Fujiwara no Mokou when she was in a fighting mood, and given when Aya did know about her, it was likely that this duel would involve no holding back, if it adhered to the Spell Card Rules at all. "Fine!" She backed away in the opposite direction. "But I want an interview afterward!" And with that, she turned and fled before Mokou could make good on her threats of turning her into yakitori.

"Right." Reimu said, her voice fading into the distance. "I've got no time for this. I will kill you as many times as I have to until you agree to come with me." Aya looked back over her shoulder, her eyes widening at the orange haze settling over the clearing. She wouldn’t call it fear, but she did have a healthy respect for strength, and her crow instincts were quailing slightly at the sensation of a bird of fire.

"That'd be quite the sight." Mokou's voice sounded completely conversational. "If you can follow through, that is." And then, she could hear the sounds of battle, explosions and Mokou's rusted laughter coming from behind her.

The moon was high in the sky in all its full glory, which meant that somewhere along this stream was a house with the occupant hidden deep inside. Somehow, she would have to convince someone who was awfully self-conscious to come with her to Eientei. She'd been sceptical about this, but Reimu had been insistent that if she was allowed to run wild, the werewolf of the Bamboo Forest was no slouch in a fight. Marisa had backed her up after a short argument that Aya hadn't caught in its entirety, but she had heard Marisa say that Reimu's penchant for games of chance had given her an unfair advantage over the werewolf in question, so she was actually more of a challenge than Reimu thought she was.
She had no idea how she was supposed to convince the werewolf in question to accompany her, but at least she had some time to think about it on the way. Honestly, she thought to herself. That exclusive interview had better be worth all the hassle.

Idly, as she heard another massive explosion in the distance and what she thought might have been Reimu yelling, she wondered if Marisa and Tenshi were having better luck.

And back across the forest, pressed against a wall inside one of Eientei's massive tatami mat rooms, with Kaguya Houraisan standing at the entrance and peering in at the darkness, Marisa felt the insane, unavoidable urge to sneeze.

Anon has many trump cards yet to be revealed...

>>44908414
I think he's pretty much out of trump cards by now
Moonies?
Moonies?!
MOONIES?!!

>>44908751
Anon is divinely endowed... His success is guaranteed, even if the journey itself is terrible.

>>44908414
One fluffy wolf, that will tip the odds.

I just realized that Kagerou was the only Grassroots member who hadn't made an appearance yet. Here's hoping that these wicked moonies don't hurt her too badly, she's a good girl.

>>44912773
anyone who's played DDC on lunatic knows she's the most psychotic stage 3 boss in the series, she'll be just fine

>>44910781
I still think they should get Satori's pets to help out considering she was investigating Eientei as well as Reimu. Although that might end up getting too excessive if ends up reducing the entire Bamboo Forest of the Lost to a smoking nuclear wasteland if a certain one of them gets too carried away and spawns an artificial sun in the mansion's basement...

>>44912773
She will be used to evacuate Anon to safety when shit hits the rabbit shaped fan.
Having dragged him to the only safe space she knows, anon wakes up with a familiar face right next to his.
"Hello mister human! How are you today?"

I can't say I'm very happy about the loss of immersion brought by the change of narrator.
Last time it made sense because it featured Marisa going through a flashback, and telling anon and the others about what happened at Eientei. I wonder if writeanon has a similar trick in mind to link the thread of knowledge back to anon eventually.

>>44916696
this one's nice and easy to explain
not only would the others likely tell him what happened, Aya's writing her exclusive and interviewing him, so she'll explain it as well.
I think it would have been just as jarring to not explain until after the fact considering it's three different teams doing things and there's only so much you can throw in dialogue instead of actually changing narrator

>>44916696
I dunno, I personally love shifting POVs in storytelling: multiple characters get to be fleshed out in the same way a first person narrator would be. CiLR is my favorite work in all of Touhou.

It felt like it had been hours, but the sun hadn't yet set when Marisa Kirisame and Tenshi Hinanawi had tipped forward from the cliff face and went into free-fall toward the rooftops of Eientei. Marisa had landed first, her broom strapped to her back and her feet alighting on the rooftops without the slightest noise, and she turned back to see that Tenshi hadn't even attempted to slow herself down, instead opting to burst forward at the last second, which sent her into a roll that she sprung up into mid-air from, then she twirled and landed in a crouch right next that what Marisa was certain was the hole in the rooftop that they needed to enter from. That celestial luck of hers never seemed to run out, even though she had been exiled. It seemed to let her do the strangest things, from just happening to move in time for a bullet to miss her to preventing Marisa from actually managing to kick her out of her house. That had to have been a quirk of her luck.

"Show-off." Marisa muttered under her breath as she jogged over to Tenshi, who gave her an exaggerated bow before turning and lifting the old, tattered piece of rooftop that disguised the secret entrance that Fujiwara no Mokou had constructed.

"I do my best. Shall we?" Tenshi's voice was light and unconcerned, like she wasn't sneaking back into a place that she'd already very nearly been caught in once already. Marisa's nerves already felt stretched. She'd paid dearly for their last visit and she was certain that she'd still be feeling the aches once the winter came. "Here, I'll catch you if it makes you feel better."

"It doesn't, thanks." Marisa growled at Tenshi, placing a hand on the small of her back and shoving. To her annoyance, Tenshi refused to budge. "Stop fucking me ab-Mmph!" She very nearly shouted, only for Tenshi to slap her hand over Marisa's mouth. Tenshi raised a finger to her lips and Marisa retaliated by sticking her tongue out, which did make the ex-celestial pull her hand away. "Just go, already." She grumbled while Tenshi clicked her tongue in annoyance, stepped forward and wiped her hand on Marisa's sleeve, then hopped down the hole and into the darkness. Marisa took a second to look around. The last colours of the sky were stretching out and beginning to shift toward blue, and the wind was just slightly picking up. She turned, squinting into the distance. It felt like rain was coming. Shaking her head, she turned and hopped down into the hole, using her free hand to bring the section of roof back into place as she fell.

She landed silently on one knee, looking up and around to make sure the place was empty. Still nothing but dust and the covered cases of random objects from the moon that Kaguya Houraisan kept around for her Lunar Capital Expo. Tenshi was already ahead of her, stepping up to one of the covered cases and lifting the sheet covering it, then frowning. "I don't get it." She complained, dropping the cover again. Some of the items that Kaguya had displayed had seemed confusing at best and useless at worst. "You okay?" She asked Marisa, who was still down on one knee. She was fumbling around in her pockets and frowning. Where was her vial full of the potion that let her see at night? It should have been in this pocket! "Seriously, are you having a mental breakdown or something? Because, you picked the right pl-"

"Shut up!" Marisa finally hissed, trying to keep her panic at bay. No, it wasn't in any of her pockets. "Where - Oh..." Suddenly, she had a very bad feeling. Somewhere in her house lay her potions cabinet. Somewhere...that it hadn't been a few weeks earlier. "You! You moved my potions cabinet!" She hissed, an accusatory finger poking Tenshi's cheek. "I forgot my potions because you decided to rearrange my house!"

Tenshi did not look as guilty about the incident as Marisa thought she should as she raised her own hand and pulled Marisa's finger from her face. "Marisa, it isn't my fault if you don't do a good enough job at preparing yourself. We can sort out your house properly after this is all fixed." Just as Marisa thought about the comparative good it would do her to punch Tenshi in the face versus the comparative bad it would do for the whole mission if she started fighting her own team, Tenshi laid a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry." She said, shortly. "But we don't have time for this. You'll just have to stay close to me." Marisa grit her teeth and almost swore at her, but shook her head at the last second. She'd be fine. Possibly a little slower, but fine nonetheless.

The exit from the attic was exactly where she remembered, and Marisa took no time at all to make her way over there without tripping. Cautiously, she poked her head down low enough to see into the corridors of Eientei, which were empty and just as silent as last time. It was still disconcerting. "Let me go first." Tenshi whispered into her ear, crouching down next to her. "You might trip." She didn't give Marisa a chance to respond before she began to descend the steps into Eientei proper, leaving Marisa little choice but to follow behind her.
"It's this way." Marisa said once they were situated, pointing down the hallway they had followed on their last incursion.

"No, it's this way." Tenshi pointed in the opposite direction, deeper into Eientei. "What, you think they're going to have a counselling session at the front door? No, they'll be further in." She saw Marisa hesitating.


"Can you tell?" Marisa finally asked with a frown. "Sense the air currents or something?"
"...Not this time." Marisa found that she didn't much like the way uncertainty looked on Tenshi's face. "It's weird...Like they're all jumbled up. We got lucky last time, since Eirin had her office door open, but wherever they are, it's not got a clear enough flow of air for me to tell." That probably meant that they'd gone in a room and shut the door. Not good, but it could be worse. "...Alright, let's just start moving." Tenshi finally said, an intense frown creasing her brow. "Stay behind me."

The weird protective stuff she was doing could really go away, though. Marisa scoffed, then pointedly followed next to the taller girl instead of behind her. "Look, I know I got injured last time, but I'm not gonna let it happen again. At least, not without getting some good shots in myself." She poked Tenshi in the side, then suppressed a giggle when she jolted.

"Stop that!" Tenshi whined at her. "I'll definitely get you back, you know."

Marisa smiled smugly. "Hm. Looking forward to it." Any reasonably justification to escalate to actually getting to punch Tenshi in the face was a justification to take.

Eventually, after following through some twists and turns in the corridors, but encountering no one, Tenshi held her hand up. "Wait, there's..." She frowned intensely. "No, what's...?" She began mumbling to herself, and when Marisa strained to hear, it sounded like some sort of equation. "Shit." Tenshi finally finished, cursing. "We've screwed up. We're going on in circles."

"What?" Marisa frowned. "I think I've got enough experience breaking into houses to know when I'm somewhere I've already been." And she hadn't felt anything. It felt like things were normal.

"It's the air. It's...Oh." Tenshi suddenly froze, standing up straight and looking from side to side. "Oh, no..." She mumbled under her breath. For a second, Marisa considered asking, but then Tenshi burst into movement, throwing open the nearest door and dragging Marisa inside. "Hide!" She hissed.

The room was some sort of living room, with bookshelves, cabinets, small tables and a pile of folded up sheets in the corner. Tatami mats covered the floor. Tenshi wasted no time in throwing herself into a crouch behind a cabinet in such a way that hid her from view to Marisa at the door. Marisa whipped her head back and forth, then crept to the pile of folded sheets and dragged it just slightly to the side and over by the cabinet, then she flattened herself against the wall and hoped that whoever was coming didn't know what this room had looked like.

The door opened, and Marisa grit her teeth to stop herself from breathing too loudly, because there was Kaguya Houraisan, peering into the room. "Inaba~" She called softly. "Was that you?" Just dismiss it as a noise. As nothing at all. "Eirin~!" She called. "I think there's a noise youkai in Eientei again~!" After a moment's silence, she tutted. "Oh, she's busy..." It looked like she wasn't interested in coming into the room to check thoroughly. With just a little bit of luck, they'd be making it through.

And then, of all the possibly moments, Marisa's nose began to itch. It was the most maddening thing possible. It was luck that was actually so bad that Marisa felt like going to the Yama and asking her to strike a sin from her record as recompense. Seriously? A sneeze? Now, of all times? She caught Tenshi's eye from across the room. The ex-celestial had noticed, and Marisa could see her eyes widening. She frantically tried to shake her head without letting the motion break her cover, but it was too little, and too late. There was no way she could avoid it.

And then she heard Kaguya turn, which only made it more heartbreaking. They had actually been about to get away with it! The sneeze was so loud in the enclosed space and the oppressive silence that it left Marisa's ears ringing. "Ugh." She muttered, rubbing at her nose with her sleeve. At least it had been a dry sneeze. Well, no point in trying to conceal herself now. She slipped out of her hiding spot and stood, then crossed her arms and stalked out into the centre of the room. Kaguya Houraisan didn't seem entirely surprised to see her. "Greetings, Your Royal Bitchiness." Marisa drawled, hoping that Tenshi would stay hidden. "Seems we just keep running into each other like this, huh?"

"My, whatever could that mean? The last time I saw you, you were lying on my pathway and bleeding rather severely. Greetings, dear thief. Back for another attempt at my treasure?" Kaguya's voice was smug, and there was more than a hint of knowing amusement behind it. She reached out to some sort of pad on the wall, and the room lit up with soft light coming from a source she couldn’t identify. If that was Lunarian technology, then Marisa wanted a look at it. “You seem to have a talent for sneaking in.”

"You knew I was here." Marisa stated bluntly. There was no way she hadn't. No reason at all for her to just happen to check this particular room.

"I might have had an idea, yes." Kaguya's smile got even more knowing, and Marisa's temper got even worse. "Did you not wonder why you were having trouble navigating the halls?" Marisa's eyes widened a fraction. Of course. She hadn't been in Eientei on their last attempt, so they'd been able to get around just fine. "Now, why don't you tell your friend to come out, and we can talk properly?" So, they'd been screwed from the start.

"Tenshi." Marisa finally said. She'd made her mind up. The ex-celestial stood and grumbled in annoyance.

"You couldn't keep it secret any longer? You took a beating to keep my name out of it last time!" Tenshi asked Marisa with a frown. "Okay, whatever. Yes, hello, Immortal." Kaguya waved politely.

Marisa grabbed Tenshi's shirt collar and pulled her down. "You need to keep going. No sign of Reimu yet and we don't want to leave him alone with Eirin any longer than we have to." She looked the taller girl in the eye. "Don't worry about me. I've got some payback to deal out." A smirk came over Tenshi's face and she nodded.

"Good luck." She whispered.

"Don't need it." Marisa said back, cracking her knuckles. "Just get to him, fast."

"Excuse me, thieves?" Kaguya had taken on some sort of annoying high tone. "I'll need to punish you for whatever you stole. Or whatever you’re about to steal." She stepped a little closer, leaving the door open behind her. "Or maybe just because I’m bored. I think another brawl would be fun, don't you?"

"Oh, I would so love to wipe that smirk off your face..." Tenshi muttered under her breath. Then, she dropped slightly lower and sprinted forward, a wide punch aimed at Kaguya's head. The Hourai Immortal placed her hand out to catch it, only for Tenshi to feint at the last second and bring her knee up into Kaguya's stomach, forcing the other girl to double over. Tenshi wasted no time in transferring the momentum into a spin and sprinting straight through the open door behind her. Kaguya turned with a frown, holding her stomach, and looking ready to follow, when Marisa laid a hand on her shoulder.

"You know, I spent a good while laid up in bed from what you did to me." She yanked back, spinning Kaguya around and slamming her fist into the smug Immortal's face. A satisfying crack rang out in the silence and the girl stumbled backwards, blood pouring from her nose. "But knowing that I'd get to do that to you the next time we met made it all worth it." Marisa pulled her hat from her head and tossed it behind her, then slightly bent her knees and raised her fists. "You're not going after her. You're facing me, you stuck-up psycho!"

Kaguya giggled, something slightly mad and creepy. "Is that right, Miss Thief...?" She turned back to look at Marisa, cracking her nose back into position. The blood flow instantly ceased, and Marisa's eyes widened slightly when she saw that it didn't look at all broken. "Are you going to put up a fight this time? It was dreadfully boring, last time." Her eyes didn't look so dull anymore. There was something in them. Lunacy. She raised her arms, assuming some sort of stance that Marisa didn't know.

And then, she was attacking. Her fist shot out incredibly face, but Marisa was ready and tilted her head, letting it thunder past her ear with frightening intensity. In retaliation, she jabbed out with her left fist, catching the princess in the head a second time, then she jumped forward and repeated Tenshi's action, driving a knee into her stomach before she could stop reeling. For a split second, she let a smile come over her face, but it froze when Kaguya suddenly slammed a fist into Marisa's stomach, driving the breath from her and making her bite her tongue. "So, you can take it just as well as give it, huh?" Marisa looked to the side and spat out some blood, letting it splatter across the mats on the floor. "This may be fun."

This time, she let Kaguya come to her. She surprised her by firing two short jabs at her midsection, which Marisa blocked, only for her to quickly launch into a kick, her dress apparently doing nothing to hinder her mobility or flexibility. Marisa felt the kick clip into her shoulder and was surprised even more when it sent her spinning. Just how strong was she? That hadn't felt like a normal kick. That had felt like being hit by a brick. Still, not one to lose momentum, Marisa took the spin and launched into a kick of her own, landing her heel against the princess's side, which caused her to stagger to the side. Before she could recover, Marisa was on her, punching her with each hand, then following with an uppercut that sent her stumbling backwards. Not wanting to waste any more time, Marisa waited for her to stop stumbling, then rushed forward, spun slightly to the side, and smashed her elbow into Kaguya's midsection as hard as she could. The princess rewarded her with the sound of all her breath rushing out, then she crumpled to her knees before falling onto her back.
Marisa found herself breathing just slightly heavier as she stood back up straight. That had been easier than she'd expected.

Then, she felt something strong collide with her shins, forcing her to double over in pain. Kaguya swept out a second time with her leg, tipping Marisa to the floor, while she rolled up onto her knees beside her. Marisa had just enough time to see the fist coming toward her face, so she took the only agency she had and slammed her forehead into it, which resulted in a sharp cracking sound and Kaguya stumbling backwards, holding her hand. Marisa staggered back to her feet and saw what looked to be a big lump on Kaguya's hand. A broken bone? Perhaps Reimu was right about her head being dense. Grimacing, Kaguya pulled the finger straight. "What's the point of tricks like that, huh?" Marisa growled. "If you're not gonna come to me, I'll come to you!"

During the time since the storm, Marisa had not been idle. What had begun as Marisa attempting to drive Tenshi from her house had eventually, with some reluctance on Marisa's part, evolved into something of a sparring session, which had then evolved into a teaching session. She supposed that she should have expected it from the delinquent, but she was actually full of fighting knowledge, which she had said had evolved from the dances that the celestials in Heaven performed. In that period of time, Marisa had proved to be a very fast learner, and after a week, she'd picked up a fairly solid amount.

Kaguya's smile grew as Marisa rushed at her, and she braced herself and held her arms out, ready to receive her. Marisa's first two swipes went wide, and then she shifted her weight slightly backwards. When Kaguya tried to retaliate, she swung her arm out and caught the princess's arm. For a split second, surprise showed on her opponent's face, and then Marisa hopped backwards, pulling Kaguya into stumbling forward. Refusing to let go, Marisa swung her other fist at Kaguya's head, where it connected with her temple and sent her stumbling. She didn't wait, trying to strike again, but this time, Kaguya shifted her head and threw her free hand up near her neck, where it blocked Marisa's arm. Now, Marisa had both hands engaged, but so did Kaguya, and to try and drop the other fighter, she spun, but Kaguya spun with her, rolling until they were back in their original position. Kaguya took the opportunity to slam the hand near her neck down on Marisa's hand, forcing her to release the princess. Left with no alternative, Marisa allowed the next two hits to her stomach to connect, and once she'd doubled over, she used her hands to block the knee that was coming up into her nose, then barged forward into Kaguya's chest. Immediately, she spun, slipping underneath Kaguya's flailing arm and appearing behind her. Relishing the opportunity that she'd probably never have again, she grinned madly and wrapped her arms around Kaguya's stomach. "Let's go for a ride!" Marisa roared, tipping her body backwards with all the strength she could muster and letting gravity take care of the rest.

Kaguya didn't scream. She let out a mad laugh as her feet left the ground and she was in the air, falling backwards. The laugh only grew until the exact moment her head slammed into the ground. Marisa hadn't been particularly experienced at this kind of move, so she grunted in pain when her own head hit the ground too, but it was nothing compared to the sickeningly loud snapping sound she heard after. Immediately, Kaguya fell limp in her arms. Feeling a little queasy, Marisa rolled the princess off of her and pulled herself up to her knees. Were necks supposed to bend that way? Marisa stumbled backwards slightly. She'd actually killed her. How had she done that? Had her neck hit at the wrong angle? Even though she consciously knew that Kaguya was immortal, she still felt ill, and she stumbled over to her hat and lifted it with slightly trembling hands. She stumbled over to the door and screwed her eyes shut.

"Getting better..." A guttural whisper came from behind her and she froze, then slowly turned her head. Kaguya's body was rising, the neck flopping with a crunchy noise. "Better than last time...Maybe I underestimated you." Kaguya's hand reached out and cracked her head back into position, and after a moment, she rolled her neck, seemingly undamaged. "You didn't seriously think I'd be satisfied after one round, did you?" She stepped forwards. Marisa noticed, curiously, that she was still breathing heavier despite having just recovered from a broken neck. "We'll keep going until I'm satisfied. I'm thinking...ten rounds? Maybe more?" It looked like despite being able to come back to life, she still felt the fatigue from last time. In that case, Marisa could win by tiring her out enough. Being able to say that she’d fought both Kaguya and Mokou to exhaustion would be good.

"You immortals are something else, huh?" Marisa asked, turning back from the door fully and tossing her hat back into the corner of the room. "Gonna put up a real fight now?" Kaguya's attack so far, apart from the kicks to the shins, had felt a little...playful. Like she wasn't really trying. "What's the point of living forever if you aren't even gonna use the experience?"

Kaguya's smile grew wider still and the lunacy in her eyes grew more potent. She mirrored Marisa's pose. "Why don't you come and try me?" She asked lightly.

Marisa settled back into a fighting pose, feeling the blood thundering in her ears. She hoped, in the back of her mind, that Tenshi or Reimu were making more progress than she was.

Where is Meiling when you need her?

Kaguya got what she deserved. Bitch.

>>44917133
>>44917126
>>44917119
Kaguya proving to be best girl without even trying

i hate the hourai elixir

Damn violent dykes.

>>44919639
How kind of Kaguya to teach Marisa the ropes, would be terribly embarrassing if she couldn't hold her own against Tenshi.

If the aifag is still around after reading that chapter the funniest thing ever would be to see a Gachimuchi version of Marisa and Kaguya's fight.

marisa thinks she's won
>Getting better...
>Maybe I underestimated you
oh, I see what's going on here

>Thread 5
24 story updates
>Thread 6
26 updates
>Thread 7
37 updates
>Thread 8
39 updates
>Thread 9 (so far)
44 updates
While people might have learned to be less spammy throughout these threads, we have to give credit to writeanon's for his grind too.

>>44921685
Writeanon is credit to team!

>>44921685
Writeanon is really inspired

>>44921685
Let's all appreciate writeanon!

>>44921685
Writeanon is a legend!

>"If you want me, then you'll have to make me." Aya noticed with some alarm that her body was starting to glow slightly, and there was a hint of something new in her eyes. Excitement. "But you already knew that."
I've been enjoying this arc

>>44926972
I wonder if the Yamato could be used to travel from the outside world to Gensokyo like it can do to hell.

It felt like hours had passed since Eirin Yagokoro had told me that she knew of my deception. I hadn't uncrossed my arms, nor had I said anything, but the room had shifted. Where before had been my nervous tension and worry, there was not my much more present fear, though underneath, there was a slight undercurrent of relief that I didn't need to try and keep up the lie any longer. Still, I was worried about the others. I couldn't tell how long it had been, but surely Marisa and Tenshi should have been nearby? "Shall we begin by discussing your first visit here?" Eirin said to me, her tone still as business-like as ever. After a moment of weak defiance, I gave in and nodded. Eirin flipped the paper on the clipboard over, beginning to write on the back. "You arrived for some medicine to deal with a minor illness." That had been years ago, back before I'd known anything at all. I'd been a teenager then, convinced that I was going to die because I'd caught a small cold. I'd rushed to Eientei, gotten lost several times, and finally stumbled in covered in dirt from falling in holes, only for Eirin to give me a packet of pills and send me home again.

I didn't see how it was relevant. "Behind you, on your approach to Eientei, were three minor youkai. They do not usually try and approach us. Udonge had to dispose of them, but you never knew they were there." I turned my head, looking at the doctor again. She didn't look particularly bothered. "Typically, this would not be cause for alarm. We do, after all, live in a youkai-filled forest, and we are not human ourselves. At the time, I thought nothing of it."

I forced out a question and asked her what had changed. Inside, I was panicking. Reimu and Shameimaru were off somewhere, trying to convince Fujiwara no Mokou to accompany her. Marisa and Tenshi were supposedly inside Eientei, but there was dead silence outside of the room I was currently in.

"The youkai known as Rumia." That made me even more frozen than I was before. It didn't seem to matter how long went by and how good Yamame was at chasing the nightmares away, I still remembered the pain and terror I'd felt then as plain as day. I'd been absolutely certain that I was dead then, even more so then at any other moment, my arm torn to bits and my life blood trickling out into a pool on the dirty ground around me. I'd gotten close to accepting my death then, too.

And then, Reimu saved me. She saved me just like she'd been doing as a child and doing still as an adult. That was what I had hope in. Reimu would save me.

Finally, I nodded. The youkai known as Rumia. "You arrived on our doorstep close to death. Hardly an issue for our technology, of course, but I recognized you. One incident of you attracting youkai is easy to explain away, but two..." Eirin finished whatever she was writing and looked at me. "You might start to wonder if there's something more." I knew that in the current day and age, youkai attacks weren't especially common. "Especially from Rumia, who's noted to have not attacked anyone for many years. I began to wonder just what made you different." That had been the first incident since I'd met Marisa. And then, right afterwards, had been..."Kaku Seiga." Absent-mindedly, I rubbed at my forehead, then frowned when I realised what I was doing. "The Shrine Maiden brought you in after you attempted to bite her. At that point, I knew that there was something wrong with you." I muttered that I thought it was just my typical bad luck. Privately, I wondered if this very conversation was also my typical bad luck. Instead, I asked her just what she thought was wrong with me.

"Something about you attracts youkai. I want to know what." Miss Yuuka had once said the same, but I'd not thought much of it. At the same time, I did seem to run into youkai a lot. Even apart from the ones that Marisa had set me up on a date with, I'd run into plenty otherwise, like Doremy Sweet, or Wakasagihime. I'd made some close friendships like Tenshi from this, and I'd run into her in the middle of the sky while falling from Heaven. "Not long after your encounter with Kaku Seiga, you were brought back in, your body covered in severe burns. A divine spirit. Do you understand? You continue to run into beings of unnatural power and I need to understand why."

Now, I started to feel angry. Was that all this was? Professional curiosity? That's why I had to go through the traumatic situations that I had? I found that I no longer could remain lying down, so I got to my feet and began to pace the room. I asked her if that's why she had experimented on me. If that was why she had stolen my blood. If that was why she had sent rabbits to watch my home and ransack it.

"I suggest you keep a hold on your emotions." Eirin's voice remained cold. "It is good to process them, but not to lash out. Sit down." I swore at her. I couldn't help it; the anger was still too raw. "Sit. Down." Eirin repeated, and this time, that inner, primal part of my brain heard her voice, and told me to sit down right away. Numbly, I stumbled back over to the bench and sat back down. "Good." Eirin told me. "Do not let your emotions control you or we shall never get anywhere." She wrote something else on her clipboard. "I will make this simpler for you. I will ask you a question, and you will answer it in full detail. Then, I will permit you to ask a question of me." I crossed my arms again. My distrust was still strong, but Eirin seemed to at least be continuing to talk to me rather than dragging me off for memory wipes and dissection. "Tell me what memories you recovered."

Still glaring at her, I told her all about my memories of her experiments. I told her that I knew she was stealing my blood with the help of the princess. That she was using it as part of some hare-brained scheme to cure the Hourai Elixir, or to bottle luck, or for something I couldn't even understand, but I knew it was bad and-

"We-" She began, looking at me so sharply that it shut me right up. "-Will discuss the Hourai Elixir in a moment. Let us begin with your memories." I crossed my arms and scoffed. "I did experiment on you. I shall not deny that. However, and I mean this without any attempt at bragging, I am the most skilled medical practitioner in this world and all the worlds beyond it. I performed no experiments that I could not reverse with little effort. You would not be the first that I have tested a theory out on. The only difference is that you were returning here regularly." Eirin's emotionless grey eyes continued to observe me, and I found myself stammering as I tried to respond. Finally, I said that just because she could reverse it didn't make it okay. "No? Even though there was no lasting effect?" My nightmares said otherwise. "Your nightmares are nothing to do with the experiments I performed on you. Shall we discuss those, instead?"

In my memories, Eirin had told Reisen that she was analysing my blood, and that I may provide a solution to her problem of counteracting the Hourai Elixir. "You misunderstand. Udonge misunderstands, too. My work to create a countering agent for the Hourai Elixir continues regardless of you. You have contributed to it, by means of the materials you have gifted me on your visits here. You could contribute to it more, if you so wish." But - My blood? "I took your blood from you during your physical therapy sessions, but I never took enough to cause you harm." Then why had she taken it at all? "Are you tired? You are struggling to pay attention. I told you already that your very being attracts youkai. I took your blood to analyse it. I want to understand you." I stared at her, my mouth agape. "You do have seemingly divine luck, despite being completely normal. I would like to examine you further, but it cannot occur under these conditions." Was - Was she trying to offer an olive branch? "You may have wondered why I had the rabbits watch you, while you were still living in the Human Village." It had crossed my mind, yes. "As I said, you could contribute far more to my project of discovering the truth behind the Hourai Elixir's countering agent. I wanted you kept safe, and I couldn't risk another youkai attack being the end of you. That is why I had the rabbits monitoring you." I found my mouth hanging open again. She'd been...Protecting me? Eirin crossed her legs and put her clipboard down. "We will discuss your other grievances first." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Let me tell you about the Hourai Elixir."

I stood again, and muttered that I'd prefer to be standing. "If that's more comfortable. Now, Do you know what the Hourai Elixir does?" I recalled that she had claimed it to be absolute and completely unable to be countered. It make the drinker well and truly immortal from anything and everything. "Correct. Do you know who the immortals are?" I'd heard that Fujiwara no Mokou was one, and I assumed that Eirin herself was another. "Very good. The third is Kaguya Houraisan, my princess." The black-haired girl I had seen at my physical therapy sessions. The one who had attacked Marisa in her infiltration attempt. She was immortal too? "Yes. The Hourai Elixir is my greatest achievement." And here was where things took a change. Eirin suddenly wasn't looking at me. She was looking down, at her clenched first. "It is also my greatest regret." I slowly asked her what she meant. "Immortality is a curse as much as it is a blessing." She was somewhere else. Whatever she was looking at, it wasn't in the room with us. Finally, I asked the question I had been dying to ask. What had started all of this? This obsession with curing the Hourai Elixir? It had been enough to drive all the rabbits from Eientei, leaving her with only Reisen. It had been enough to make her send rabbits to watch my house. It had been enough that everyone I had asked had known that something was wrong with her.

Eirin didn't look back up. "I will explain, in the hopes that you will understand my actions. Then, I will ask you a question. Your answer will determine the way the night goes from then onward."


On a cold, wet night, Eirin Yagokoro watched Kaguya Houraisan shuffle into Eientei. Her left arm was missing below the elbow, and her right arm had a large shard of bone sticking out of it. Another bone, this one from a femur, had pierced her navel. Her dress was in tatters, some of it trailing on the floor behind her. There was a gaping hole in her face, her eye burnt until it had dribbled down her face and left the empty socket of her skull to stare at Eirin with ghastly darkness within. One of her legs was gone, and she was walking on the bone alone. Her face, what little of it that was visible underneath the gore, was blank in a carefully constructed manner that concealed an emotion. Eirin, for once, did not know what emotion this was. It only appeared on her face in very specific scenarios, ones that Eirin was not, and could never truly be a part of.

She had just returned from a fight with Fujiwara no Mokou.

The Hourai Elixir could have restored her body by now. She would be whole again, as if nothing had ever happened, allowing her beauty to radiate out as bright as the moon itself. But, as Eirin had learned by watching her on these rare occasions, she wouldn't let it. She would use her power over eternity to suspend her body in that state, letting the blood flow out of her and her body grow heavier and heavier, until she was left with no choice but to release her grip on eternity. When Eirin had asked her for the reasoning, she had merely smiled and sipped at her sake as they stared up at the home that they had both left behind, full and high in the night's sky. Eirin wondered, sometimes. Did she feel a stronger connection with the Earth in those moments? When she was close to death, was that when she felt like her soul was laid bare to the impurity that surrounded her? To the world she now lived in? If anything, it made Eirin feel like she understood her less.

She needn't have bothered, but she still reached out, wiped some of the gore from her face. It was one of those little things that had grown between them over time. "Eirin." Kaguya's voice was little more than a murmur, a breath on the wind. "Mokou's alive."

Eirin didn't make any judgements when it came to Kaguya's pastimes. If she wanted to slaughter her fellow immortal over and over, that was up to her. Eirin would love her all the same, as was her duty. Her duty in this little ritual only sometimes came into effect. "I'll see to it, princess." She would whisper, brushing some of Kaguya's beautiful hair - what was left of it - from her face. Then, she turned and left the princess. When she returned, she would be whole again, in heart and body.

She went to her study and retrieved a dagger. Kaguya had crafted it over the centuries, only making one step in the process every ten years, until some of the men who had gathered the materials had died with it still unfinished. It was every bit as beautiful as the princess herself, perfectly balanced and with intricate carvings along the hilt. Kaguya wouldn't explain the meanings to her, but Eirin didn't need to be the genius that she was to know that the message written on the dagger was not meant for her.

The Bamboo Forest of the Lost should have been busy at this time of night, but the rain had kept most away, and the battle that had occurred here had kept out the rest. Eirin's footsteps made no sound. She walked between the bamboo, almost ethereally. She didn't need to ask Kaguya where she would find Mokou. The trail of blood led her in the right direction. The smell of smoke was enough to narrow it down, and the destroyed shoots, the scorched ground and the crackling of dying flames only made it clearer. There was a splatter of blood there, the remnants of someone being sliced open. And there, a pool from a steadily dripping wound. As she walked further, the damage got more intense, and she began to squint. After a moment, she saw her.

Fujiwara no Mokou stared at the night's sky, her mouth open and her body - what little remained of it - limp. She was on her back, and she didn't have a front. Her entire stomach was a bloody mess, with her shattered ribcage showing through. Her left leg was torn open, and Eirin already knew where the bone that had once been inside was. Half of Mokou's face was gone, leaving her skull exposed to the open air and the rain. Her hands were skeletal too, which Eirin attributed to Kaguya's electrical prowess. Despite the damage she had suffered, she was alive. Her chest rose and fell, and each time, a little more blood dripped out into the cavity of her stomach.

Eirin approached, dagger in hand. It would only ever be used for this purpose. Never by Kaguya. Only be her. She stood over Mokou's body and watched as another plume of smoke escaped from her, the fiery energy inside her still trying to keep going, even though it was too late for this body. Was this all there was? The Hourai Elixir was supposed to be her great achievement, besting death itself. Yet death never seemed far. Never coming close enough to free a Hourai Immortal, but close enough to tease them with the opportunity.

Fujiwara no Mokou's one remaining eye - the opposite eye to the one Kaguya had lost - flicked over to her. They made eye contact, which Eirin's cold, grey eyes returned. After a few moments, Mokou turned her gaze back up to the clouds.

Wasting no time, Eirin knelt, took the dagger in her hand, and plunged into Mokou's weakly beating heart. A faint gasp escaped the girl's lips as her body slackened. Then, with Eirin still holding onto her, she burst into flames.

Death was transient, but never quite all the way with a Hourai Immortal. It was the sensation of freedom, only for it to be cruelly snatched away. Eirin's eyes opened. She was stood over Mokou's intact body. After a moment, she stepped back and waited.

It only took Mokou a second or two longer to awake, and she breathed out harshly as she stood, her body still trembling from the exertion. "Are you well?" Eirin asked, her voice cutting through the silence.

Mokou turned her head to look at her, her face impassive. "Why does she smile like that?" She asked, her voice sounding slightly scratchy from its new lack of use. "While ripping me open. Why does she smile like she's in love?" Eirin didn't answer. It wasn't something she could answer, and it was something she could never understand about Kaguya Houraisan's relationship with Fujiwara no Mokou, even with another sixty-five million years on the planet. "You didn't have to burn too." She finally said, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"It's my duty." Eirin murmured, finding it difficult to keep eye contact. "Someone should be with you in your final moments."

"Is that right?" Mokou sounded listless. "What about the next ones? And the ones after that? How long, Eirin Yagokoro?" She sat down on a small rock nearby. "I want to die." She said plainly.

"The princess-"

"I don't care what she thinks. She'll never understand me like that." She looked up at Eirin. "I should have died over thirteen hundred years ago. Why can't you kill me?"

"The Hourai Elixir is-" Eirin tried again.

"Unbeatable. I know." Mokou's demeanour was starting to get to Eirin. "You've said." She never usually stuck around for the conversation afterwards. "Life is long. And all good things come to an end. So, what am I left with?"

"Mokou, you-"

"Nothing but you and Kaguya." Mokou whispered. "I want to die, Eirin. I don't want to come back anymore. Can you really say you've tried everything?"

Obviously she hadn't tried everything. She hadn't tried much at all, because her princess seemed perfectly content with immortality. "Of course not. But that doesn't mean it'll work." And yet, there was just something about Mokou. She could feel the exhaustion rolling off of her like a cold mist, sapping at her energy. A human being was not supposed to live this long. And what of her future? The brain could only keep working properly for so long. Would her princess want an immortal companion who was little more than a dementia-riddled fool?

Eternity was unfathomable. Even for Eirin, who was older than anyone else in Gensokyo. "How many seconds in eternity?" She murmured under her breath. Too many. Even for her. She didn't want to die, but did she truly want to live forever? If her princess asked her to, then yes. But did she have the right to force that decision on others? Fujiwara no Mokou was suffering. She'd clearly been suffering for a long time. She'd go on, suffering and suffering for an eternity longer.

And that was Eirin's fault. She'd prepared the dose of the Hourai Elixir that Mokou had taken. Eirin Yagokoro was responsible for Fujiwara no Mokou, both for her happiness and respecting her wishes. "I could try." Eirin finally said. She could utilise her network of resources in Gensokyo. Every second that Mokou spent alive with a death wish was a sin that Eirin was committing by not attempting anything. "I...could try."

Mokou looked up, and Eirin could see the curiosity in her eyes. "Why now?"

And Eirin found the words struggling to come out. She'd refused to admit it properly for over a thousand years, ever since she had learned of the fate of the one dose of the Hourai Elixir on Earth. It was the truth. "I have a duty of care."


I stared at Eirin, who continued to look down at her clasped hands. It was for Mokou's sake? Her desperation to cure the Hourai Elixir was born from a desperation to end Fujiwara no Mokou's suffering? She was more emotional than she let on, wasn't she? I finally managed to speak, and I asked her if she was finished. "Yes. That's the truth. The burden of immortality is...I never should have let it happen. I never should have made that dose of the Elixir." In truth, it seemed, Eirin's regrets were too heavy on her conscious.

I...didn't know what to make of this. It hadn't been the nefarious plot I was expecting. It wasn't even some secretly heroic goal to benefit the lives of many. She wanted to end one girl's suffering, and I had been in the right place at the wrong time. Was she wrong?

"In my later discussions with Fujiwara no Mokou, she has confessed that she doesn't wish to die immediately, but in relative terms, she does not want to wait too long. I believe there is someone she does not want to outlive. I want you to continue helping me with my attempts to cure the Hourai Elixir." Eirin said, looking up. "I'll try and keep you safe. I don't...I was wrong, in the way I treated you." My eyes widened slightly. This, I hadn't expected. An apology? "I was foolish and assumed that nothing else mattered. With your cooperation, I might even succeed."

And what did I think? I could sympathize with her motives. I understood where she was coming from, but she'd already hurt me once, and I didn't know if I could trust her to not do it again. I opened my mouth.

And then, the door slammed open, and a large rock crashed into Eirin Yagokoro's head, throwing her from the chair. "Ha!" Tenshi Hinanawi yelled, her clothes singed and burnt away in places. "Not this time!" She rushed in, grabbed my hand, and pulled me away toward the door before I even had time to protest.
"You appear to have misled me." Eirin's voice came, hard as steel. "We'll have to continue our discussion after you've all been punished."

"Uh-oh." Tenshi muttered. "We need to meet up with the others, fast." Then, she turned and dragged me from the room and into a sprint. I felt the heat on my back as Eirin opened fire behind us. "I really hope you learnt something useful, because we're going to need to talk her down after this!"

I really, really hoped I could. I hadn't been entirely opposed to saying yes, as long as someone was able to make sure Eirin didn't start getting weird again.

Still, I'd have to survive long enough to give an answer.

to be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely happy with this one
felt like I was drawing a total blank on something that actually justified things well
not that I'm making excuses or anything, but I suppose that's what happens sometimes when you don't plan things out from the start

Mokou drank the elixir entirely of her own volition. Murdered a guy for it too. Can't feel bad for her in the slightest.
Can't say I'm entirely opposed to Eirin's... methods, but she endangered anon extremely. Had he not eaten that peach, well...
Knowing him though, I wonder how things will turn out? I still don't trust Eirin.

>>44927828
Mokou was an emotional teenager at time angry at Kaguya because her dad, it was a mistake and she had more than enough punishment over it too.

>>44927788
I liked her reasoning but the real question here is why she did not ask his help from start instead of going full retard over it.

>>44927982
She's autistic and thought doing what she did would be easier than just asking. Not uncommon with hags.

>>44928050
Hag autism is a good answer but if she's really as guilty over mokou taking the elixir as she seems to be, she probably also decided that it was her responsibility and she could tell anyone about it
It's hard to say since the only Canon lines in the whole series from Eirin about Mokou are the ones in CDS where she finds out that Mokou knows how to get into Eientei undetected, and she mostly seems slightly embarrassed by the whole thing

>>44925275
Let's all love Writeanon!

>>44927982
The author already gave you the real answer, but I'm going to try to theorize an in-universe explanation.
I imagine it's a combination of pride, arrogance, and shame. If no one has to know any of this was even going on, then no one should know.

>>44927769
Well Eirin isn't exactly known for her speed but then again neither is Tenshi
>>44928450
Eirin is an immortal lunarian and human logic shouldn't be applied to her

keine-sensei...

>>44928922
Shhh

>>44927788
I can personally chalk it down as Gensokyo (read: Keine) changing Mokou enough that she asks Eirin about death.
While I'm not convinced about Eirin actually regretting having made the elixir that young Mokou drank, I think it's more a mix of Lunaria/Goddess pride and jealousy coated in this mask of a doctor she seems to enjoy wearing. What little we do know of Eirins character from canon does seem to indicate that she is almost a fanatical follower of Kaguyas, so she could be getting jealous of Mokou for taking her Princess away while not even wanting it but having no choice since she is one of the only three hourai immortals.

I think the only thing I can't really accept is that Eirin claims she put him back to normal after doing whatever she needed to do. Anon was feeling light headed even after the experiments and using a messy power like Reisens to wipe his memory is absolutely not a good way to deal with him when you could just put him to sleep before the experiments.

>>44929575
I was under the impression her claim was that she would have eventually put him back to normal, ie. upon concluding the "physical therapy" sessions

>>44927788
I think it's more than fine. The only real complaint I can think of is Eirin's lack of research when it comes to finding out the reason behind Anon's most unusual encounters.
Then again, Eirin is an extremely rational woman who has lived for a very long time, so it's not unlikely that she'd try to overthink something spawning from Gensokyo's sheer absurdity, even if it's staring at her in the face.

We should probably kill off this thread before writeanon's next update.

>>44929695
That could be it, but I'm as dense as anon here so I think my confusion is canon.
Also if it ends up being Reisens fault that anon was feeling woozy it's going to be great.

>>44930400
>We should proba-ACK!

>>44930400
ok

>>44933636
Now this thread won't hit page 10 before the next one...
I'm getting banned /jp/sies! And it'll be your fault!

>>44933914
I thought it was to make the thread reach the bump limit sorry

>>44934019
Eh, it's okay, just being retarded on purpose. I hope that posting a little earlier than usual won't rustle anyone's jimmies.

they just need to charisma break the hag and they'll be able to make this all work out

>>44934044
I don't think a charisma break is possible while Eirin is absolutely pissed and probably has a severe concussion.

Why can't Sagume just say that the hourai elixir works?

>>44934422
Because abilities like hers... aren't absolute. Some parts of reality are highly malleable while others are highly static. A person going on vacation to a city 500 miles away is highly malleable. A large mountain isn't. Many problems can occur on a 500 mile car trip and within the individual themselves while the destruction/modification of a mountain is difficult, especially if left up to natural phenomena. She can't destroy that mountain in a week or even a year by simply saying "That mountain will be just fine in that spot".

Her power is very cool, yes!

>>44930427
Woozy...
Was Yamame not actually his first time?
Damn slutty bunnies...

Next thread:
>>44936122
Now featuring most of the key players in the OP.