/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 >>/data/jp/img/0448/28/1696349152839840.png
9 >>44828419 see pic related.

Ever thought about how the title for these threads is "Kirisame Magic Shop", but only first eight or so chapters actually have anything to do with Marisa providing a service?

>>44936657
From thread 8 onwards, KMS stands for Kronkanon's Massive Schlong.

There I was, sprinting down the hallways of Eientei, when I felt a strange feeling of deja vu. I felt like I'd run down this exact corridor before, even though I knew that I had never run anywhere in Eientei before. I spared a glance behind me and shouted at the sight of blueish-white lasers criss-crossing the entire hallway just behind me. "Keep going!" I heard Tenshi yell at me. What was it? Why did it feel familiar? Eirin Yagokoro was chasing me. "Right, right!" Tenshi yelled at me, and I snapped out of my confusion to realise that there was a fork coming up in the road. I turned right and ducked, then shouted again when I heard something impact the wall right next to me.

Oh, I'd had a dream about this exact thing, hadn't I? And if I went through this door, Yamame would be there and then I'd meet Doremy Sweet. Except this time, I was not dreaming. The world wasn't bathed in strange red lights, and while I spotted an open door or two, there were no strange, writhing shapes inside trying to crawl closer. I could look behind me without my mind falling apart. Tenshi was yelling at me to run faster. She threw her hand behind us and fired off a large number of red lasers, then picked up her pace to match mine. "Fucking princess!" Tenshi yelled back at me as I heard the sound of more bullets being fired behind us. "Made the corridors go on eternally! That's why it took us so long!" Us? I'd only seen Tenshi so far. "Marisa stayed behind to fight her! Must have won, or the ability wouldn't have turned- Jump!" I leapt forward and shouted yet again when I heard an arrow impact just where my feet had been. "You trying to kill him, you psycho!?" Tenshi yelled back toward Eirin.

"We are in a medical facility!" I heard Eirin's voice return. She sounded very angry, which wasn't great for me, or anyone else involved. "Any injuries I inflict are trivial to heal!" It seemed that the anger from my supposed betrayal - or more likely, the severe concussion she'd just received - had put a halt in any plans of ours to talk her down. Maybe, if we were lucky, we could fight her to a standstill and reason with her then.

Tenshi dived forward as another arrow crashed into the ground next to her. She tucked into a roll, sprung up onto her feet, and continued. "Left!" She yelled at me as we turned to another corridor. "Thought you doctors were supposed to heal people, not hurt them!" She shouted back.

"Medicine can be used to attack, too!" I heard Eirin's voice, but when I looked back, I couldn't see her for the hailstorm of bullets filling the corridor behind me. I thought I caught a glimpse of her long, braided hair, but it might as well have been another laser for all I could see.

"What kind of medicine is an arrow, you psy-!" Tenshi suddenly cut herself off and looked to the side, then slapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. "That door, there!" She pointed toward a massive double door with heavy looking wrought-iron and thick wooden planks running across it, just down a short flight of stairs. We leaped the stairs as I heard the sound of more bullet flying our way, and I, reaching the door first, burst through it into the room beyond.

It was another massive room, and I started to wonder just how all of it could fit in Eientei. Given the number of descending staircases, I could only assume that the Lunarians who lived here had built underground, at least slightly, to facilitate the massiveness of the rooms. Any other thoughts and observations about the room escaped me as the second I was through the door, something big and strong collided into me from the side, sending me sprawling to the floor, where I rolled several times before stopping. Before my vision could stop spinning, the same big and strong thing had pounced on top of me. "Locked the door!" I heard Tenshi call. "Good thing it locks from the inside, huh?" I looked up in confusion.

Locking my wrists down to the floor beneath me and staring at me with a slightly crazed look in her red eyes, a strange woman. Hair lying somewhere between brown and red and with it hanging in a floppy sort of fringe over her right eye, while curling down to the side of her left eye. She had big, fluffy-looking ears, and in the case of, say, a dog, I'd feel compelled to scratch behind them. With an actual person, maybe not without permission, because her mouth was hanging open just slightly and she had sharp, sharp fangs. Probably as sharp as Yamame's, which only made my comparisons to my dreams even stranger. I was a little concerned that I couldn't see any clothes from where I was staring up at her, but I looked down slightly and with relief, saw that she was wearing a dress that was seemingly only up to her shoulders, at which pound a large, deep grey shawl hung around her shoulders, connected by a golden pin with a large, red brooch, leaving most of her collarbone free. I couldn't exactly see below her chest, though, because...well, it was rather large. The brooch, I meant. Obviously. I forced my gaze back up. I could hear the sort of noise that only a wagging tail could make, which narrowed things down. A...dog youkai? A wolf? I turned my head to the side and saw her hands, which were pinning down mine, I could just about make out something on her forearms. It almost looked like thick hair, but more like fur than body hair.

"Er - Hello?" The maybe-wolf-maybe-dog-youkai said, her voice a little tentative and cautious. "Um. You're not a youkai." I slowly shook my head. "But they told me - The bird said - Youkai, not, um, big, human men." At that point, I remembered that there was likely an angry and possibly slightly brain-damaged doctor outside that door, and I shot up. The youkai on top of me clearly hadn't expected that because she squealed and fell backwards, then scrambled away, a hand on her heart. "Uwah, humans are scary..." I could see her properly now, with her dress coming down closely adhering to her body up until her hips, where it bloomed out with the light grey section separated from a larger red section by a sweeping, curved line. At the hem of the skirt was a section that curved the whole way round, with more curving lines. I frowned. Pampas Grass? No, the Full Moon? What a strange inspiration, but it narrowed it down even further. A full moon? Slowly, I asked her if she was a werewolf. "Urk. Um, yes?" She looked at me. "A wolfwoman. Um, Mr. Human." She rose to her feet and started to step back toward me, reaching an arm out. "What's-"

"Down, girl." I heard a voice, and then saw a hand land on the werewolf's shoulder and pull her back with an 'Eep!'. "Save your attempts at flirting for later." From behind the girl's very voluminous hair stepped Fujiwara no Mokou. I must have looked surprised, because she regarded me for a moment, then shoved her hands in her pockets. "Seen a ghost? You look like it." She asked me lazily. "That's Kagerou. Kagerou Imaizumi. She lives in the Bamboo Forest, same as me." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the werewolf, Miss Kagerou. Mokou stepped over to me and offered me a hand. "Reimu brought me over. Hear you're having a bit of trouble around here with those lot. Not to brag, but I'm pretty experienced in beating up Lunarians." I gingerly took the immortal's hand, and she pulled me to my feet with little effort, only to stumble backwards slightly herself when I turned out to be a good two heads taller than her, which had thrown the weight balance off. "Why're you looking at me like that?" She asked, and I realised that I was thinking about the story that Eirin had told me. Mokou stared at me for a few moments. "Almost not worth thinking about." She finally said, and I got the impression that she was more perceptive than I realised.

Miss Kagerou came up next to Mokou, fidgeting with her hands. "Um, Mr. Human?" I asked Miss Kagerou if there was something she wanted to say. "I - O-Oh, um, please just call me Kagerou. Just wanted to, er, say hello. Properly." Somewhat perplexed, I said hello and waved. "Um, sorry for pushing - pushing you down. I'll make it up to you. Definitely." Was it just the darkness, or did she look flushed? "I heard about you from W-"

"Oh, for - Down, I say." Mokou turned and flicked the wolfwoman in the head. She stumbled back again. "Sorry, she gets a little...strange around the full moon. Some quirk of her existence as a werewolf, like as not." I shrugged and nodded, not really sure what was happening here. "Especially around humans. Couldn't really explain it, myself."

"Are you lot finished?" I heard Tenshi ask. Finally pulled away from the...strange conversation, I looked over at the room as a whole. It was, as I'd already seen, massive. Sparsely furnished, too, with little in the way of furnishing except for a few tables against the walls and a pile of folded up sheets. Too dark to make out the other side, though. I assumed it was meant to be for large dinners or parties. Maybe, in times past, this was where all the rabbits would have come to eat dinner. At the door I had entered from stood Tenshi, who was looking over at me with her arms folded. She had a smirk on her face, and as I stepped over toward her, she slapped her hand down on my shoulder. "Good run, that. You kept up with me just fine! All that training with the hermit really paid off, huh?" I let out a somewhat shaky laugh since I knew that we weren't out of the woods yet, but said that she'd done a great job, too. Despite the fact that she'd probably made things worse by attacking Eirin, I thanked her for coming to find me. "Couldn't well let you get chopped up, could I? Your big sister would kill me!"

"In a heartbeat." I heard the voice and turned. There, her sleeves and part of her vest burnt up and with dried blood coming from a cut on her forehead, was Reimu. Despite the fact that it couldn't have been all that long, it felt like I hadn't seen her in days. She paced forward, her gohei over her shoulder like always. After a moment, I moved to meet her and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Whoa - Hey." She awkwardly wrapped the arm with the gohei around my back and patted it. "Glad to see you're safe." I looked closer at that cut on her forehead. "Oh, this? It's fine. That idiot," she poked Mokou in the back with the gohei, "Wouldn't come with me without a fight." I was glad to see that Reimu had held her own, though I would be hard-pressed to say I doubted her. Finally, I released her, feeling marginally better. Behind her stood Shameimaru, her arms also crossed, but she didn't look like she'd been injured. She did look a little annoyed, though.

Where was Marisa?

"Last I saw her, she was fighting the Lunarian princess in one of these rooms." Tenshi said, scratching her head. "I assume she won, because I was able to find you. Whole place was like a looping maze until suddenly, it wasn't." If that was the case, then where was she now? Tenshi suddenly stopped, her gaze fixed on the side of the room in a way that suggested that it was absolutely not what she was focused on.

"Mokou and I met those two," Reimu nodded toward Kagerou and Shameimaru in turn, "Up at the cliff top, and we all came in together. We didn't see her, but we found Tenshi soon enough, and decided to use this room to meet in."

I was starting to feel unsettled again. There was something missing. Something important. I looked back toward the door. Where had Eirin gone? She'd been fairly close behind us, and there's no way she didn't know where we had gone. I looked around, feeling a little more nervous. "Okay, listen." Reimu pulled me down until me head was right next to hers. "There should be six people in this room. Myself, Tenshi, Aya, Mokou, Kagerou, and you." I nodded slowly. "Don't react. Don't make any sort of face. Just listen to me. Why are there eight?" My blood ran cold and I froze. There was another exit from this room, on the opposite side. Slowly, I stood up straight. Reimu did the same.

After a moment, she suddenly spun and hurled a pair of orbs that had appeared from nowhere at the dark end of the room. I saw them get batted aside, and with a twitch of Reimu's fingers, they returned to her. "Finished?" I swallowed nervously at the obvious displeasure in Eirin's voice. "It's rather impolite to keep me waiting." Next to her, in the flash of light when they were knocked away, I saw Reisen. That's what I'd been forgetting. Eirin was not alone, even if Kaguya Houraisan was otherwise engaged. I'd been really hoping that she'd stay on our side, but at the same time, I knew that she was likely greatly indebted to Eirin and couldn't bring herself to fight against her. I couldn't say I exceptionally blamed her, I supposed. After a moment, Reimu threw one of the balls up in the air and it began to glow bright enough to light the room. Eirin's arms were crossed and she looked very angry, but I could see blood running down the side of her head where she'd been hit. Worryingly, it seemed to be fully dried, which I assumed was the Hourai Elixir at work. Her eyes were focused in a specific direction, on Tenshi. After a second, they flicked to Mokou.

Mokou looked around, then shrugged. "Figured you lot were in need of a beating. Your heads get way too big if I don't." She cracked her knuckles. "Let's start with you. I’ll go and beat…her afterward." She pointed a finger at Eirin. Our only hope was to exhaust Eirin until she couldn't fight anymore, and I hoped that having another Hourai Immortal on our side would be the factor we needed.

Tenshi stalked past me and slung her arm around Mokou's neck. "I've been wanting to hurt her some more for a while. You don't mind, do you?"

"More the merrier, don't they say?" Mokou looked over at her with a grin. “And I know that you’re real strong, so don’t hold back for my sake.”

I backed away slightly, then felt a sudden breeze of air. Dreading the worst, I turned. Indeed, in the lock for the door was a long and sturdy arrow. It had broken the lock, and I wouldn't be able to get that door open anymore. "I think not." Eirin's voice was cold. I looked back to see that she was lowering her massive bow. She’d apparently drawn an arrow, nocked it and fired it so fast that no one had been able to stop her. "We'll settle this, here and now." I looked back and swallowed nervously. The only way out of the room was through the other door, behind Eirin and Reisen. "When I win, I'm taking you with me." She said, staring at me. I could only hope that it had been the concussion talking, because she'd seemed a little more reasonable before Tenshi had lobbed a rock at her head. "Don't think that I'm unreasonable. Our conversation will be finished in due time." That, at least, gave me a little hope.
Reimu tapped Shameimaru on the shoulder. "Don't let him get too beaten up." She muttered. Shameimaru nodded and moved to stand next to me. "C'mon, werewolf. You're with me." She looked at Reisen with anger in her eyes. "You wiped his memory so many times it's a wonder he isn't even more dense." Even more? I mumbled under my breath that I surely wasn't that dense. "I owe you a beating for that."

"I'm a wolfwoman..." Kagerou mumbled under her breath. "And I didn't even want to come out tonight. On the full moon, too..." Nevertheless, she stepped up to Reimu's side.

So, there I was. On my right stood Tenshi, their arms slung around each other’s shoulders as they stared down Eirin. On my left was Reimu, her gohei outstretched in her hand, and Kagerou, who I could suddenly see had claws. They stared toward Reisen, who's red eyes glowed dangerously. She hadn't said anything, and I wondered what she was thinking. Was she happy to fight us, even thought it was clear that Eirin wasn't doing very well? Was it just out of a sense of duty? I could only hope that maybe if Eirin was…killed, and then revived, she would regain full use of her faculties. And I stood by the door, next to Shameimaru, who looked like she had little interest in fighting. In fact, she had her notebook out, and was scribbling something down. "Definitely making an article about those two." She muttered, her eyes flicking up to Tenshi and Mokou. "Well, just try and stay out of the way of stray blasts." She said to me, shrugging. "Can't very well dodge for you, can I?" She seemed nice and helpful. “Strictly speaking, I’m not here to fight at all. Mostly, I’m here as an observer.”

I heard Reimu let out what I could only assume was a battle cry, and then, bullets, blows, and bows were being exchanged in the space of a few seconds, and I couldn't hear or see much besides the overwhelming light. All I could do was try and keep myself free from any blasts that got too close.

I really hoped that this would all come to an end soon.

>>44936886
>More the merrier, don't they say?
Get a load of this!

If anon wasn't already going to be knee-deep in mini Yamame's, he and Kagerou would be fun to see since he can probably keep up with her werewolf libido
Also she sounds about as autistic as he is

It had to happen, it's gensokyo after all

>>44937289
It's a shame she came in too late to brawl in the anonbowl.
I wonder why Marisa didn't think trying to hook him up with the Lonesome Werewolf was worth trying? She tries far, far worse without a qualm...

People as smart as Eirin are terrifying. Who knows what she's got planned...

>>44937289
Spiders don't even go into heat, why would you think a wolf which goes into heat would be more bearable?

Quick, take a nap! Maybe Doremy has some advice!

I have high hopes for when anon meets up with all three members of the Funny Animal Kingdom youkais and gets the brilliant idea to try and have Yamame join them.

>>44937289
She didn't even care about this final showdown of sorts. Poor Anon has his discipline tested whenever he comes across a new youkai lady.

>>44937397
Kaggy was too nervous to enroll in Marisa's program.
And she has nothing to steal

>>44943387
Neither did Narumi and Rumia

>>44943417
to be fair, she was blackout drunk when she set up rumia, and we don't know much at all about narumi except that she's a magician and keeps to herself a lot
which kind of makes it worse in retrospect that anon had a date with her and then disappeared for ages leaving her to think he'd died

>>44938466
Not sure how that would work, besides anon and her sisters Yamame is a bit of a social retard.

>>44944562
Its not her fault
All yooks have autism

>>44944562
that just makes it easier
anon wants yamame to have things to do on the surface aside from work so he tries to get her to make friends with the grassroots youkai network, but unfortunately some of his retardation has rubbed off on yamame and she doesn't know how to talk to people who don't construct buildings for a living
the possibilities are endless

>>44938466
>three members of the Funny Animal Kingdom
For a moment I thought you meant the dragon, the horse and the goat.

Did you ever get the feeling you're only into 2hu cause you're supposed to? I like a lot of Japanese things but 2hu's games are boring and I don't much care for the art or lore. I tried pretending to be into it for like two years before accepting it.

>>44946417
Nope, you are just a gay nigger from outer space(reddit). I love the games and got 3 1ccs already.

>>44946417
The games aren't terrible, but the effort to enjoyment ratio is the main issue. Having to play a like this for dozens of hours to beat it isn't fun. Good thing the music and characters are better.

>>44946417
I only get more into it as time goes by
if you don't care for the art or lore, it's more of a subjective thing than anything else

>>44946417
Nope, no one's forcing me, I just like the games a lot.

>>44946458
The fun should be in playing the game, even when you don't manage to beat it. It sounds like they just don't suit your taste, but props for trying at least.

>>44946417
I love it's lore, music and characters.
I also love the combination of intense gameplay and touhou music.

>>44946505
Something about the games just frustrates me to no end. Spending dozens of hours trying to beat the game only to make a single mistake and fuck it up might have been forgivable back when I was 14 and had all the free time in the world, but not now.

>>44946547
Oh now you have to take care of your 34 kids and 12 wifes. I hate when games dont respect my time too thats why i spend half of the day with one hand on my balls and other on the phone doom scrolling 4chan.

There tended to be a lot of bullets in danmaku duels. I'd not witnessed many, apart from during a few previous incidents which had actually come close to the human village - and been above the canal in one instance, where I'd witnessed Reimu fighting someone with red hair - but I'd seen enough to know that they fired bullets everywhere, not just at their opponents. It was part of what Lady Kasen had explained to me as the Spell Card Rules, which focused on making your attacks have a sense of beauty. From where I had been standing on the ground, I hadn't really been able to see much of whatever patterns the bullets were supposedly creating, but I got the idea.

Unfortunately, when there were multiple people, all engaging in simultaneous duels, I found that there were so many bullets flying around that keeping track of anything at all was impossible. I was forced to look away at first, when Eirin's laser card had come out, the same one that she'd used in the hallways of Eientei while chasing Tenshi and I. Even after the lasers had faded, I was still forced to periodically look away and try to blink away the spots in my vision after particularly bright attacks. And the noise, too. The sounds of lasers, of bullets firing, of explosions and roaring flames. It was enough to almost be deafening by itself, except, every now and then, I could hear a howl. An actual howl, like that of a wolf. That, I assumed, was Kagerou, the wolfwoman that had been brought in for this occasion.

At times, I could see the fight taking place. Moments where I spotted Eirin, using her bow to stop Mokou from slamming her heel down on the doctor's head, only to throw her to the side and smack down Tenshi's arm as she tried to launch her fist into Eirin's side. It didn't stop Mokou from coming back with a spinning kick a moment later that threw Eirin's bow clean from her hands, sending it clattering to the ground off in the corner of the room.

On the other side, I could see Reisen, her head down and her arms raised, blocking a swing of Reimu's gohei. I got the impression that Reimu wasn't looking to inflict the sort of spiritual damage that she had once done to Yamame, because the gohei was able to come into contact with the moon rabbit without any problems. Perhaps it took some serious intent for Reimu to cause that kind of damage, and considering she had thought that Yamame had hurt me at the time, I wouldn't have been surprised. Reimu spun the gohei around, then swept it at Reisen's legs. The rabbit jumped straight over it, then struck out with a left fist jab. Reimu hopped backwards far more than seemed necessary, before breaking into a sprint toward Reisen. The rabbit hunched over, spread her legs and looked ready for Reimu to reach her, when Reimu suddenly dropped into some sort of sliding kick. It seemed to have no hope of connecting, and I wondered just what Reimu was planning, when she suddenly fell into an opening tear in reality, like one of Hearn's gaps but without the eyes and bows. I felt some panic run through me at the notion of Hearn getting involved, when I noticed another gap appear behind Reisen, who was looking around in confusion. Reimu came flying out of the gap, still in a sliding kick, and connected squarely with the back of Reisen's legs, which dropped the moon rabbit to her knees immediately.

Regardless, Reisen threw her hand behind her and fired several blasts of danmaku to force Reimu back before she could press the advantage. At the same time, I saw a blur of movement from Reisen's other side and heard another howl, and suddenly Kagerou was there, a wave of bullets following in her wake. Before Reisen could fire at her too, she was moving again, turning into another blur of something that looked like a massive wolf as she circled Reisen in several fast lunges. Finally, she launched forward at Reisen, throwing her claws out. They seemed to be trailed by much larger danmaku representations, which the wolfwoman swung upwards to knock Reisen into the air. From there, Kagerou followed her up using the same wolf form she'd used for the lunges, before bringing both of her fists down into Reisen's stomach and knocking her back to the ground. the moon rabbit was barely down for a second before she used her hands to spring back up to her feet, launching into two quick jabs at Kagerou, then crouching slightly to duck just underneath her next swipe. Meanwhile, Reimu tried to launch another attack with the gohei, only for Reisen to sidestep it precisely and spin into a strong kick that Reimu blocked, though it did force her back.

I looked to my side and saw nothing. "Kind of hard to follow, isn't it?" I heard a conversational voice ask me. Looking up, I saw that Shameimaru had taken to the air, leaning against the wall somewhere near the ceiling. "Good thing I can write so fast. I'll be selling reprint after reprint of this story when all's said and done." She grinned to herself. "Definitely gonna win the newspaper competition this year..." She muttered under her breath. "You doing alright?" She lazily called down to me. I stared up at her with my mouth open. She didn't seem very concerned about what was happening, though I supposed that she’d never seemed particularly bothered.

Then, a large danmaku bullet crashed into me and knocked me into the door, driving the breath from my body. The door, annoyingly, rattled but didn't break, so I was still trapped. Luckily, the bullet didn't seem to do any lasting damage, but it had felt like someone running into me at full speed. A few more of those, I thought, and I'd be turning black and blue for days. "Oh-ho, you might need to pay some attention." Shameimaru called down to me. "Look, here comes another one." I whipped my head around and saw another bullet heading for me, forcing me to dive sideways and have it miss me by a miniscule amount.

I managed to look around properly, and saw that the bullets were coming from Eirin's battle against Tenshi and Mokou. Tenshi had started to fire danmaku at some point, and some of it was going wide. I thought about yelling something at her, but it could distract her and even then, I doubted that she'd hear me over all the noise from the bullets and howls.

Mokou was throwing punches and kicks wreathed in flames, Tenshi was firing danmaku everywhere and throwing keystones when she wasn't firing bullets, Reisen was doing nothing but blocking as Kagerou circled around her, howling all the while, and Reimu was teleporting this way and that way to land another hit. I was starting to get a headache from all the noise, and I had absolutely no idea what was happening. Shameimaru was proving no help at all, and Marisa was still nowhere to be seen.

And then, from where I was backed against the wall, I heard a different, fainter noise. It was coming from somewhere behind me, behind the broken door that I couldn't get through. I tried pressing my ear against the wall, but was forced to stop when another bullet smacked into my back and knocked me against the wall. I stumbled to the side, hopefully further out of the way, and tried again, pressing my ear to the wall.

It was faint and muffled, but it sounded like something getting closer. After a few moments, I could hear slightly more. It was a voice. "Ah, fun, it's so fun~" The voice was singing, the pitch high and girlish. "To smack the boss right in the face~" I stepped back, then slammed back into the wall when another bullet hit me. What was going on outside? Still, the door was blocked so there was no way whoever was on the other side could get through.

Several things happened at once.

The voice stopped, sounding like it was right outside the door. I turned, worried about what was happening behind me, only to get slammed back against the wall, but this time wasn't because of a bullet. No, instead, Reisen had landed an especially strong shot, and now there was a big and strong wolfwoman rocketing in my direction. She crashed into me, which threw me into the wall and sent me sliding down to the floor. Kagerou moaned in pain, but didn't manage to stand. Instead, she fell back against me, her hair getting in my face until I managed to regain enough of my faculties to gather it all up and push it out of the way, though I could tell that I'd need more concentrated effort to get Kagerou to move from where she was currently sitting against me, looking like she was dazed and confused. Reimu looked over at us, then grit her teeth and yelled something at Reisen, then redoubled her attack efforts.

Tenshi and Mokou were both pushed away from Eirin, but they recovered in moments, only to be forced back some more when Eirin threw another spell card at them which restricted their movement too much for them to make any meaningful progress. They seemed to be working well together, at any rate, and it was starting to see clear to me that unlike Reisen, Eirin didn't have the same experience in fighting in close-quarters. She didn't move much, and seemed to rely more on danmaku to keep enemies away.

The most important thing that happened at that moment was that the door right next to me was smashed open so hard that it flew from the hinges and crashed into the centre of the room. Before anyone could react, a blurry shape shot through the door at incredibly fast speed, somehow missing all of Eirin's danmaku. The figure crashed into Eirin's chest, knocking her to the floor, then pushed up into the air. At the zenith of her jump, I could see that she was another rabbit. Black, shoulder-length hair, with two floppy ears that currently stuck straight upwards from the momentum, and a faded pink dress. She wasn't facing me, but I could see something hanging from her neck, like a pendant of some kind. In her hand was a massive mallet, the kind that was used for pounding mochi. "Nighty-night!" The rabbit yelled, angling herself to slam the mallet down as she fell. I was suddenly very glad that I was over here by the wall and not over there, because there was a sickening crunch as the hammer made contact with Eirin Yagokoro's head, and her whole body jerked before falling still.

And in the end, there was silence.

Everyone had stopped. Reisen was currently blocked Reimu's gohei with her arm, but was staring at Eirin's body, and Reimu was doing the same. Mokou and Tenshi were stood next to each other, with Tenshi's hand on Mokou's shoulder, but they didn't move either. Kagerou continued to be mostly incapacitated, and when I looked up, Shameimaru had her head buried in her notebook as she wrote even faster than before.

"T-Tewi!?" Reisen finally stammered. "What - You - But, I - Huh?" She dropped her arm from the gohei and then relaxed from her fighting stance altogether. "Did you just crush Master's head!?" She finally shrieked, rushing over to Eirin's body.

"Hmm..." The rabbit named Tewi hummed, hefting the massive mallet in her hand. It was covered in a red substance at the business end that made me queasy to think about. "Guess you could say that, huh?" She sounded wholly unconcerned about what she'd just done. "But, y'know, I prefer to think of it as cleansing~" She spoke in a laid-back tone, dragging some of her words out for emphasis. "Like a nice soak in a hot spring." She examined the end of the mallet again. "Hey, I could totally swap this for that moon rabbit in the village's one, couldn't I?"

"Ah." Reimu said, quite cheerfully. "I was wondering when you'd show up." She lifted the gohei and laid it over her shoulder, then wandered over to Tewi. The rabbit lifted her mallet over her own shoulder. "She came through?" Reimu had a smirk on her face that I'd seen before. It was the kind she used when something she'd been planning to do worked out perfectly.

"Like she always does~" Tewi replied, just as cheerfully. "Says you owe her a favour, y'know?"

"Figured as much." Reimu muttered. "Worse fates, I guess. Thanks for the help." She extended a hand, and the smaller rabbit clasped it tightly.

"I've been wanting to do that ever since she started screwing with him." Tewi replied, pointing the mallet in my direction. "Reminded me of the rabbits humans bought and abandoned." A scowl crossed her face, and she turned, heading over to Reisen, who was still fussing over Eirin's body.

"Oh, get up, dumb moon rabbit. Give her a few minutes."

"I - But you just-" Reisen was babbling slightly. Reimu looked over at them, then rolled her eyes and approached me.

"C'mon, let's get you up." She said to Kagerou, who seemed to have come around slightly. Reimu stared at her for a moment, then smacked her in the side with the gohei, which elicited a yelp from her and sent her scrambling to her feet. "He's a taken man, werewolf! No faking injuries so you can cuddle him a bit longer!" She admonished Kagerou, who seemed not very injured at all. "And you, stop letting pretty girls do that!" She said to me, just as sharply. I nodded and said that I hadn't meant for it to happen, but Kagerou was rather heavy and hard to move. "...Hm." Reimu grumbled, before reaching down and helping me up.

We moved to the centre of the room, where Mokou and Tenshi were waiting. Reisen was still fidgeting and looked ready to run for Eirin's body again. "So, um, Tewi." Reisen started, and I was surprised at how different her tone was when she was talking to Tewi. "Where were you?" She asked.

"Oh, I was out playing~" Tewi replied lazily. Now that I could see her properly, I saw the mischievousness in her eyes. The pendant I'd see around her neck was a small carrot. "And the other rabbits just couldn't resist, you see. They just had to join me~"

"But where? Why did you all leave?" Reisen insistently asked.

Tewi's smile grew wider. "Oonamuchi-no-kami." She raised her arms behind her head. "I saw a god that I haven't seen for a long time." Then, she looked first at Eirin's body, then over at me. Her smile faded. "...Not a fan of strong people doing what they feel like to those weaker than them." She finally said, then refused to elaborate on when Reisen kept pushing her.

"So, what now?" Tenshi asked, looking over at Eirin. "She'll wake up in a minute or so."

"Maybe five or so." Mokou crossed her arms and rolled her neck. "Usually takes me that long."

"Hmm." Reimu hummed. "I'm kind of hoping that we're done with the fighting for now. Maybe a new head will give her some better ideas." I hoped so, too. "Maybe we should tie her up. Seriously, where the hell is Marisa?"

"The princess, too." Tewi added. "I got here through Marisa's door, after all. She was still fighting her, so I just left her to it. They might be coming this way, if you're lucky." She smiled widely after saying that, though I didn't know why.

I turned to look at the door that Tewi had smashed through. It looked like it wouldn't be salvageable. Half of it was smashed through, and the lock was in pieces. I wandered over, leaving the others to discuss what they were planning to do from here. Kagerou looked torn between staying over with the others and coming with me, though. The doors were extremely heavy, too. That said, I had an idea. I just so happened to know someone who specialised in construction, after all.

I moved past the broken doors on the floor and looked at the doorframe instead. The spot where the hinges had been was a little mangled, but seemed like it was probably salvageable. I couldn't say I knew for sure, though. I stepped out into the corridor, then looked around. It was dark outside, and there didn't seem to be much moonlight making its way through the corridors, so I couldn't see very much.

"Hey!" I heard Reimu call. "We're tying Eirin up!" I was just about to step back in when I heard something. A noise, faint at first, but growing in intensity rapidly. Wondering just what could possibly be coming to us now, I squinted down the hallway.

First, I saw someone with black hair stumble into view. The princess, I could only assume. She was covered in dried blood. I turned to call out to Reimu and the others. Then I heard a strange clicking sound. And then, more alarmingly, I heard Marisa's voice. "Master Spark!" She screamed. I hadn't heard that one before, but I felt like I should probably get away from the corridor.

I managed to turn my head to see Reimu and Tenshi sprinting toward me. I became aware of a very bright light coming my way, and a loud noise. The light seemed to contain all the colours of the rainbow, and I thought it was rather pretty.

That was about the last thing I thought before the colossal beam crashed into me and surrounded me in heat and light. I barely even felt myself lift off the floor.

I didn't hear myself land because I'd already passed out by then.

Good job Marisa, you just burnt anon to a crisp.

>>44947913
It looks like Komachi is going to get a second chance with Anon!

Then Anon died. The end. I hope you guys liked the story, i will upload it to AO3 tomorrow.

Don't worry, it's just a really strong flashlight, he will be fine

He'll be fine, a combination of the peach and literally being in Eientei already
Reimu and Tenshi will probably force Eirin to treat him while they keep her at fiery sword point and gohei point
Wonder if he'll end up at the sanzu or meet doremy again in his unconsciousness dreams

>>44947797
I see 'Risa just earned 3 more days of Maribully

>>44948437
Seems Tenshi will have to discipline her
...After Reimu beats the shit out of her

>>44947797
>I didn't hear myself land because I'd already passed out by then.
Anon managed to avoid getting hospitalized for eight threads. That's a pretty impressive record.

I was wondering how a danmaku battle might be play out in this story, and this is pretty neat. The hybrid of close-quarter/ranged combat seems to take after the fighting games, especially if the difference in Reisen's and Eirin's fighting styles is anything to go by. I reckon the differences are meant to allude to how the former was in several FGs while the latter was not.
Also curious about something, if the author is willing to share. How do you approach narrating an action sequence? It's rare that I find myself engaged by action described in text as opposed to demonstrated visually, so I'm wondering how you do it, and if there are any other works you take inspiration from in your writing style.

Ah, so much fun!
And I know our dear writeanon has lots more in store...!

Eirin may now have a bargain point on her favor if anon is mortally wounded

This witch is going to need some real bullying after that and I expect Reimu to take the lead in seeing to it.

Think on the positive side, at least now anon won't be caught cheating since Marisa so helpfully burned away any hair/scent Kagerou left on anon.

Poor Anon just learned how to graze and can only watch as his unknowing concubines duke it out.

writeanon I remember you saying that you can not found a pic with Marisa and Tenshi together, I found this one

>>44953397
This seems like a task for the AI anon.

Kagerou going into heat on the full moon is a fun detail. Too bad she's way too late to the party, like Waggy. Better luck next time, grassrootbros.

"I heard my sister say that the mountain is made out of chocolate." Yamame told me in the morning. "We should go and eat the whole thing." I nodded seriously. That would be a big endeavour sure to earn us a place in the history books. "Okay, now you just finish eating this edible underwear and-"

No, wait. That's not right.

Why am I in Yamame's house? I was...in Eientei. I'd been chased through the hallways by Eirin Yagokoro, and I'd witnessed the rabbit known as Tewi slamming a hammer down on her head. And then...I'd walked outside and...Something had happened to me outside. Something dangerous. I'd seen someone with black hair. Kaguya Houraisan. Then, I'd heard a voice. Marisa, calling out something, and then I'd felt hot, and everything had turned white.

Yamame poked me in the cheek. "They taste like oranges." She told me. I shook my head. I'd passed out, and I'd still been in Eientei. So, to be here...

"Correct, correct!" And the whole scene vanished in a poof of pink smoke, sending me flailing to the ground as the bed I was lying on disappeared. "My, you're really rather good at this dream deduction thing, aren't you? I might just have to see you more often." I fell into a large, pink cloud, and it slowly gave way to drop me on the side of a balcony. Shaking my head and wondering why everything seemed to hurt so much even in my dreams, I threw my arm over the balcony and dragged myself to my feet.

Next to me, Doremy Sweet leaned back against the balcony. I looked at her, then asked her why I was here. "You tell me. It's your dream." Doremy shrugged and flipped her book open. "Hm. No, I don't think we'll be getting much from this." She snapped it shut, then threw it into the air. A small, pink orb floated past and enveloped it, then hovered next to Doremy. "I do deduce, however, that something happened to you." I frowned and asked her what she meant. "Well, you..." She eyed me curiously. "You appear to be smoking." I stared at her for a few seconds, then raised my arms to look at them properly. Indeed, there seemed to be steam of some kind rising from them. "Actually, I think I do know what's happening. Was Marisa Kirisame there?" Confused, I nodded. "Ah. You may have been on the receiving end of her Master Spark. That happened to me once. Wasn't fun!" Oh, that had been the thing that Marisa had shouted. And it explained the light, as well. I must have passed out. Now feeling mildly concerned, I asked Doremy if I would be okay. She frowned and rubbed at her chin. "...Probably? I'm not exactly the person to ask about that sort of thing. You're here because you're probably having a dream while you're unconscious."

I guessed that Reimu, Tenshi and the others would be able to sort something out. At any rate, at least I'd been hit in Eientei, rather than out in a field or on the mountain somewhere. They could probably threaten Eirin into treating me without performing weird experiments on me, if I was lucky. At any rate, I supposed I was in the Dream World until I woke up. So, I looked out over the balcony I was standing at the see just where I had ended up.

What spread out below me looked to be a massive room. I didn't recognize the style of the decorations, nor the general designs. I was resting my hand on the edge of the balcony, which was cool and felt like it was made out of some material I didn't recognize. It looked like stone, but it was white and felt smooth in texture, with no rough edges. It wrapped around the balcony's railing, with some sort of golden metal forming a trim. The floor was carpeted, though I was still dressed in the clothes that Yamame had created for me, including the boots, so I couldn't feel it. I looked behind me, and saw massive curtains holding open the entrance to the balcony that I was stood at. Behind it, I could only see hazy, indistinct darkness, with vague light sources that didn't light anything behind it up. "I suspect that the dream is only able to pull so many elements together cohesively. Perhaps if you walked in that direction, it would compensate." Doremy told me, pointing down past the entrance to the balcony. I nodded slowly, then turned back to see what the balcony overlooked.

Ahead of me was what I could only describe as a ball. Huge curtains hung down at the front, over a massive stage. I looked to my sides and spotted several more balconies, each looking as resplendent as the one I stood in. Below was a gargantuan open space, easily larger than the Hakurei Shrine's courtyard. The floor looked to be varnished wood cut into intricate patterns in ways that I couldn't hope to understand. There were even more intricate patterns running up the walls and across the arched ceiling, which had been covered in a massive painting of incredible detail, such that I couldn't possibly understand how something like it could exist.

But then, it was the Dream World, after all.

Hanging from the ceiling were massive chandeliers the likes of which I had seen in the Palace of the Earth Spirits. Here, however, there were far more of them, and the light they reflected danced and flickered in pretty little crystals of light upon the floor below.

And across the floor, indistinct figures whirled and stepped to music that I couldn't hear in truth, but could feel deep in my soul, as if it was not playing into my ears but into my heart. The figures filled the hall, so that I could barely see any space between them, yet they didn't seem to ever collide with each other, each movement perfectly crafted to dance around everyone else. The figures were in all colours and sizes, and in every other moment I thought I had caught a glimpse of someone I recognized, only for it to disappear the next. There, for a fleeting moment, was Tenshi's hat, then Fujiwara no Mokou's bow, or the criss-crossing golden pattern of Yamame, or the strange apparel of Chiyari Tenkajin, who still resided in my house. The figures were ever changing nothing about them constant, but captivating in their fluidity, nonetheless.

Slowly, astonished, I asked Doremy what I was seeing. "...Hmm." Doremy reached out and pulled her book from the bubble it was floating in. "Can't say I've seen many dreams of this nature before. Must be something you read? Or perhaps there's some deeper symbolism that I can't quite..." She flipped through far more pages than the book could possibly contain. "Hmm, could be..." She looked up at me. "You're not expecting to get married any time soon, are you?" I opened my mouth, closed it again, then looked away. "Uh-oh." Doremy sounded smug, and I looked back. "Uh-oh. I think I know what that is." The smile was blooming across her face, and I frowned and asked her what she was saying. "Oh, I think not. I'll leave you in suspense." My frown deepened. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I do know what else you've been dreaming about recently." She wiggled her eyebrows and this time I knew that my face was turning red. "Rather - if you'll pardon the pun - sweet, your recent dreams. Just adorable. A nice change from the dreams I complained to you about before."

Now desperate to either change the subject or leap off the balcony head first, I looked back over the crowd. This time, my gaze caught Lady Hecatia's hat for a moment before my eyes slid past her.

No, hold on. It wasn't just a fleeting moment. I squinted. Below me, in the thick of the crowd, whirling around and performing dance moves that I'd never seen before, was Hecatia Lapislazuli. The blonde one, to be specific. Her partner was indistinct, flitting between features of Miss Junko one moment and a random man I'd seen in the village the next. For a split second, I was certain that it was Yamame herself that she was dancing with. "Oh my, how did she get in here?" Doremy muttered. I remembered that Doremy had described her as an annoyance in the past. In the middle of Lady Hecatia's next spin, she caught my eye and winked, then tilted her head in a way that suggested that she was inviting me to dance.

I was, in fact, somewhat experienced in dancing due to Lady Kasen's increasingly strange training ideas during my time living at the dojo. I supposed, in retrospect, it was because Reimu was also well versed in - at the very least - the forms of dancing that came with rituals she performed as a Shrine Maiden. "Well, I can't imagine she's here for no reason, so you'd better go and talk to her." Doremy told me with a sigh. I looked over at her and asked her why she was so cold towards the goddess. "I don't much appreciate when people use my domain as a prison without so much as a by-your-leave, thank you very much." She wrinkled her nose. "Well, off you go. Perhaps I'll see you before you wake up. If not, see you next dream." She shrugged, then waved a hand. Suddenly, I felt something smack into me from behind, and I went flailing from the balcony into open air. I managed to hold my screams and spin in midair to see a big cloud of pink smoke, which had formed into a shape kind of like a big snake and knocked me from the balcony.

Hoping that there was no such thing as falling damage in dreams, I spun myself back around and promptly smacked into the ground. It didn't hurt, thankfully, and none of the indistinct dancers around seemed to even take notice, instead flowing around me as if nothing had even happened. I stumbled up to my feet and dusted off imaginary dust. Ahead of me, Lady Hecatia continued to spin with her partner. I could tell what the dream expected me to do, so I pulled on my coat's lapels to get it looking somewhat presentable, then walked purposefully to Lady Hecatia. As soon as I got close enough, her partner vanished into smoke. I asked her if I may have this dance, and with a widening and somewhat calculating smile, she took my offered hands.

Fortunately, what was being performed was one of the many dances that Lady Kasen had drilled into my head. I could only assume that the dream had pulled the knowledge from my head. Stepping back slightly, I raised my right hand, which was clasped around Lady Hecatia's hand, and angled my body to the side with my left hand extended outward behind me. Lady Hecatia's smile grew even wider as she mirrored my pose, in what was called the Open position for a ballroom dance.

Lady Kasen had refused to explain where she had acquired the knowledge of all the dances she had taught me, but knowing what I did now, I assumed that she had learnt them sometime in the last thousand years, or possibly in recent years when she had been searching for her arm, as she had explained to me.

"You're just full of hidden talents, aren't ya?" Lady Hecatia said to me as we closed the distance and assumed the Closed position. "Alright, let's put you through your paces, huh? How's your footwork?" She took the lead and placed her right hand on my left shoulder, moving us into the Promenade position as we stepped forward, the other dancers in the room gracefully spinning out of our way as if it had been planned all along. Fortunately, Lady Hecatia was of similar height to me, which made swaying to keep my balance far easier. I took control back after we'd stepped forward several times and led her into a spin. She matched me perfectly. "You'd be surprised at how much overlap there is between those who worship me and those who dance." Lady Hecatia told me as she span out to arm's length, then back in. "I totally had to learn it, y'know?" We continued, and I was surprised at how little I seemed to struggle with the moves despite only having practiced them for a relatively short period of time. I asked her why she was here in my dreams again. "Can't a girl check in on someone?" She smirked at my clear lack of belief in her reply. "Oh, alright. Been curious, that's all. Yep, so lemme hear it. Why are you smoking?" She asked with some interest.

I briefly explained what I remembered as the sequence of events leading up to my passing out. "That Marisa, huh? With the big magic laser, yep, yep. I totally remember her." Lady Hecatia took the pose that I'd initially assumed to be leaning back, but Lady Kasen had corrected me by explaining that it was a position that required perfect poise from the partner. "She's a real handful, huh?" I shook my head, though a slight chuckle did escape me.

After a few more moments, I asked again what Lady Hecatia was doing here, because I didn't truly buy her explanation. "You got way more suspicious, didn't you?" The goddess asked me with a smile. "Alright, clever clogs, there's something else. I've got a little proposition for you." I raised my eyebrows. "Ha!" Lady Hecatia laughed. "Not like that, you. I know that you're totally smitten for dear Yamame. Blue me's always singing her praises. Though if you weren't..." She bit her lip slightly and stared at me thoughtfully. "Nah, you totally are. Adorable." Lady Hecatia released my hands and we executed parallel spins before coming together again at the end of it.

"So, you, like, definitely owe me a favour, right?" I nodded slowly. I'd discussed it with Lady Kasen and Komachi when I'd met them the day after the storm. "Yep, yep, so I've got something of a job opportunity opening up, right?" Interestingly, this had been one of the possibilities we discussed. "You'd be, like, my representative. Even with three of me, I can't be everywhere at once, y'know." I asked her if this was the favour she wanted from me. "Well, kinda. Don't really want to force you, though, so it's more like an offer. Tell ya what, take some time to think about it." She smirked. "I expect I'll see quite a bit of you, what with blue me's meetings with Yamame Kurodani. I would like an answer, though." Slowly, I nodded and said that I'd think about it. "Great, great! That's what I wanted." I had a feeling that the dream would be coming to an end soon, so I began to lead Lady Hecatia toward the end of the dance. "This place is seriously pretty, you know? Where'd you come up with it?" I shook my head and said that I had absolutely no idea. The best I could figure was that it was something from a book I'd read in Suzunaan. "I've got no clue what goes on in that head of yours, seriously." Lady Hecatia complained. "If you come work for me, I'm expecting a lot more headaches." I shrugged, then said that she was the one who wanted me, so I couldn't be that bad. "Heh. Yamame's definitely made a nice catch out of you. I'm almost jealous." She shook her head. "Shall we wrap this up?" She asked me, and I nodded. We put the conversation aside to finish the dance, ending back in the Open position. "Very impressive." Lady Hecatia decreed. "I do hope you aren't planning to keep these skills to yourself." She stared at me for a moment, then winked.

I looked around. Clearly, the dream was coming to an end, because the room was suddenly empty, the last traces of the dancers vanishing in wisps of pink smoke. The music too had stopped. "Well, looks like our time's up. Totally gonna come see you and Yamame soon, though." Lady Hecatia told me. "But for now, it's farewell." She took my hand, planted a kiss on it, then promptly threw her hand out in a harsh slap across the face.

And my eyes shot open. I tried to move, only for every single part of me to scream in pain. All parts except my mouth, from which no sound escaped because the pain had wiped all control from my body. I finally managed to drag in a ragged breath. "Miss Shrine Maiden, he's awake!" I heard a voice shout, which made my head pound.

I just about managed to identify it as Kagerou before a red-and-white blur raced into the room and slapped her to the side. "You're awake!?" I heard Reimu cry out. She looked exhausted and her eyes were red. "How are you!? Are you in pain!?" I tried to speak but only managed to groan something incoherent. "Oh, I thought you'd died!" Reimu gasped out, her body sinking against the side of my bed. "We threatened Eirin into treating you without any tricks. She seemed a lot more reasonable now that she's had her head crushed." That was good, at least. I tried to look around. I was in Eientei, which almost made my heart start beating faster, but knowing that Reimu was right there with me helped calm me down. "It was - Marisa was trying to defeat Kaguya. She didn't know you were there."

"...Uh-huh." I heard a groan from my other side, and with great effort, turned my head. There, in the bed next to me, lay Marisa, covered in so many bandages that they outnumbered the visible skin of her body. "Really don't think I deserved all that..." She forced out with a wheeze. I looked back over at Reimu, unable to really move anything else.

"I, um, may have gotten a little upset. So did Tenshi." Reimu mumbled. During Marisa's story just after the storm, she'd mentioned Reimu 'punishing' her for letting me get so injured. "She'll be fine, though. So will you, um, eventually. Lots of burns, Eirin said. Marisa wasn't really holding back, because Kaguya's immortal anyway. Just rest."

I tried to speak again, but settled on vaguely nodding.

I felt the most at ease in Eientei I had since the whole thing had started. As I drifted back into unconsciousness, I spotted Tenshi coming into the room too.

It was good to know that people cared about me.

>>44956965
moonies?

Jeez, now Anon is swimming in women that actually want him. Turns out going to Marisa was the best decision he ever made, huh?

>>44957309
Conversely hanging out with Anon might not have been the best decision for Marisa

>>44957427
I think a few beatings are worth a celestial wife
Plus, she got to suplex kaguya, and mokou is probably the only one to manage that

>>44957427
Daze...

>>44957427
Oh don't you worry, Marisa has one hell of a payday coming when she finally finds out about Yamame.

is this story yuri?

I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAAAAAAAAAAM

>>44957803
No but it will be when Tenshi 'looks after' Marisa during her recovery. We're getting the Reimu/anon storm arc but something actually happens there this time round.

>>44956965
"Hey Anon, why are you smoking? Smoking hot, that is."

>>44948515
I'm going to have to disappoint you and say that I don't really have an approach. Nearly everything I've written has been as it comes to me, and I couldn't name any inspirations off the top of my head (and honestly, I'd probably still struggle even with time to think about it). I'm a very boring writer in that regard. I suppose my process was to just make sure that everyone got some hits in and that people were allowed to attack at the same time. Describing moves from the fighting games made things easier, because there's already something to work off.
But yes - Reisen was meant to capitalise on her being in the fighting games, as well as the fact that we see the moon rabbits train in, at the very least, bayonet attacks, so I made the assumption that they train in hand-to-hand combat as well. I also took some inspiration from Burning Meiling, where Reisen uses Sambo, though given she's a rabbit, I figured she'd have some intensely strong kicks as well.
And Eirin, with little if any experience in physical fight, mostly relies on her magic skills, which is why she immediately lost her bow when Mokou and Tenshi were able to get in close. She's probably strong, but hasn't got much idea or interest in how to actually utilize her strength.

>>44960388
You're a fine writer, anon!

>>44960388
your a fine, writer anon!

I wanna creampie this witch's hitbox!

>>44957803
No not really, personally I think Tenshi's and Marisa's relationship works better as an odd and unexpected friendship.

>>44957803
No, its just that yuricucks are used to never have friends so when they see two friends they assume it has to be something romantic.

>>44960388
No worries, you didn't disappoint. Any window into how something is made or the rationale behind its design is immensely fascinating to me. Thank you for answering!

It had been a day since the big Eientei infiltration, and I'd not been alone since. After my weird dream with Lady Hecatia and Doremy Sweet, I'd passed out again from the pain into a more dreamless sleep, and I'd woken up to the weak light of early morning streaming through the slats in the top of Eientei's rooms. Reimu was sprawled in a nearby chair, her gohei clutched to her chest and looking absolutely exhausted. As soon as Eirin Yagokoro had entered the room, her head looking decidedly not flattened, and in fact looking more well-rested then she had the last time I'd seen her, though still just about as emotionless, Reimu had scrambled to her feet and warily looked between my hospital bed and the doctor. "Sit back down, Hakurei." Eirin had told her. "He and I have a conversation to finish." She approached me with the cold eyes of someone who hadn't had their head crushed recently. "Have you thought about my proposal?" Reimu looked at me as if asking for approval, which I thought was funny given how quick she usually was to jump on the attack, and I slowly nodded. She sighed heavily and collapsed back in the chair, though her eyes still shifted back and forth suspiciously.

Eirin had given me the offer of assisting her in continuing to work toward a cure for the Hourai Elixir. I hadn't been necessarily against helping, but I was against being killed for her experiments. Slowly, I asked her if she would put her results above my personal safety. She stared at me impassively for a few moments. "No." Short and to the point, but I got the sense that it was a difficult thing for her to say. Perhaps it was, if her guilt over Mokou was as big as it seemed to be. I told her that I would be willing to consider it further on the condition that I was always accompanied by someone else. Just as a little...insurance policy. Eirin, predictably, didn't react, but she did give a very short nod after a few moments. "Your burns look to be healing nicely. Magical furnace burns are not as bad as the flames of a divine spirit, so you won't have any new scarring, either." That certainly sounded good, considering my entire body had been enveloped by the laser. "You'll be able to start walking about today."

Then, she turned to Marisa, who was still covered in bandages and didn't look particularly happy. "You, however, will be sore for a long time. I must stress that you are not to engage in any sort of physical activity for some time, though I have reason to believe you will ignore me."

"...'Kay." Marisa mumbled, looking rather miserable as a matter of fact. I felt a little bad, and resolved to buy her some sort of gift for when she was well again. Eirin seemed far more talkative now, in contrast to how she had been when I had been visiting here at the start of the whole ordeal.

Reimu noticed me looking at Eirin. "Think she just needed to actually sleep, myself." Muttering to me, she stretched her legs out further and let her arms dangle over the side of the chair. I told her that she should really go and get some sleep herself. "I'm fine." Her answer was just as short as Eirin's had been, but she was more obviously lying. Every few seconds, her head would start falling back. She'd done a lot of fighting in the last night, and it looked like she'd stayed awake all night as well. A second time, I told her to go to bed.

Eirin came to a stop in front of Reimu. “You need to sleep.” She told her. “Poor judgement follows poor sleep.” Reimu rolled her eyes.

"They’re right, you know." Tenshi slid the door open and stepped inside, a sheepish-looking Kagerou following behind her. "You really should go to sleep.” She told Reimu. “Found this one wandering around outside. I thought she'd gone home, but..." Despite the full moon having faded, the girl had kept the animal ears and tail, which led me to believe that she was likely some sort of wolf youkai even when she wasn't being transformed by the full moon. After Tenshi and Kagerou had entered the room, Eirin - muttering about constant interruptions - had left.

Given my sudden switch from conscious to slightly cooked and unconscious, I'd missed the aftermath of the fighting in Eientei. Since I'd awoke, I'd only seen Marisa, Reimu, Tenshi and Kagerou, which left a few faces unaccounted for. Tenshi strolled into the room and threw back the sheets on my bed. I yelped, but calmed upon realising that I was, in fact, not undressed. I'd had the covers pulled up to my neck before, so I hadn't seen the extent of the damage to my body, but thankfully, my skin mostly just looked a little more red than usual, though I did feel very sore all over. I was dressed in a somewhat loose, but comfortable jinbei, which I tightened slightly. "You've got a heavenly peach coursing through your veins, so you'll be fine before long." With some confusion, I nodded. I'd hoped that the peach would protect me from the damage in the first place, but I supposed that I'd asked a little too much. Tenshi patted me on the arm, which sent some waves of pain through me. “Oh, er, sorry.” She said, seeing me show some discomfort.

Tenshi nodded sagely, then stepped around my bed. "Marisa, Marisa, Marisa. Whatever am I to do with you?" She cheerfully spoke to the witch who was more bandage than person at the moment.

"Fuck off, for a start." Marisa muttered, and Tenshi let out one of her girlish laughs. I really wondered about those two. They could be rather caustic to each other, but theirs seemed to be a rather unconventional friendship. “How come you never get injured? Be a nice change from you annoying me to no end.”

"Um, Mr. Human?" I looked back to the other side, where Kagerou was stood with her hands behind her back and an even more sheepish look on her face. "I just, er, wanted to apologize." I blankly stared at her, then asked her what exactly she was apologizing for. Her face, I noticed, was started to become more and more red. "It's just - um, around the full moon, I get...Oh, well, um..." She trailed off, looking tongue-tied. "I'm sorry for acting inappropriately!" She finally cried with a deep bow.

"Don't shout at him, werewolf..." Reimu mumbled from her chair, looking about a moment from passing out. "Don't shout near me, either. I'm too tired to beat you up right now." I awkwardly laughed and told Kagerou not to worry about it. It had been a little strange, but I'd taken it as just a strange quirk more than anything serious. It wasn't like it was much worse than Yamame's biting habits had been.

"O-Oh, that's, um, good. Thank you." Kagerou looked relieved, which made me feel relieved too. "I hope I didn't injure you. That rabbit has a strong kick..." I had seen as much when she had kicked out at Reimu, too, so I could believe it. Speaking of, where was Reisen? Or the others who had been present the night before?

"Aya's gone to write her stupid article for her stupid newspaper." Reimu mumbled, her eyes closed. The sunlight from outside was just started to shine through onto her face, and she groaned in annoyance. "Sounded stupid, but she's stupid, so it all works out stupid. Er, I mean, it all works out smoothly." Reimu really needed a nap. "She said she'd be back to collect her reward from you, whatever that means..." That, presumably, meant the exclusive interview that I had promised her. "Um...Mokou went off to fight Kaguya for a while. They kept it away from Eientei, though. Basically, the usual." I hadn't really known much about them, but if Reimu said so, I assumed it was probably true. It took Reimu a lot longer to get to the next part, and I started to think she'd fallen asleep. "Reisen...I dunno. She's somewhere. Tewi said she was going to start bringing the rabbits back, so this place will be a lot more lively soon." Reimu muttered something about annoying goddesses and owing favours, so I assumed it to be related to whoever she had spoken to in order to get Tewi to appear when she did.

On my other side, I could hear Marisa telling Tenshi about her fight with Kaguya. Tenshi was saying something about her training paying off, and Marisa sounded like she'd cheered up a little, so that was nice to hear. Turning back to Reimu, I asked her for a third time to go to sleep. "Ugh, leave me alone!" She groaned and complained, then dragged herself to her feet. "Can't, anyway. Your..." She glanced over at Marisa, then smirked slightly and whispered instead. "Your lovely spider must be going spare about now, since you haven't been home all night. I'd better go and tell her that you're okay before she tries to infect us all with...I don't know, dancing fever. I'll leave it up to you to explain what's been actually happening, though." How thoughtful of her, I said dryly. "That's what big sisters are for, isn't it?" Reimu said with a tired smile, patting me on the head. She shuffled over to the door, then turned. "You," She pointed her gohei at Kagerou, who's ears flicked straight upwards. "No getting in bed with him." Kagerou blushed scarlet, and I felt a sudden urge to pat her on the head. "You," She pointed now at Tenshi. "Er, take care of them, or something. Don't let Eirin get any funny ideas." Tenshi offered a mock salute. "You," Now it was Marisa's turn. "No, you're a lost cause." Marisa pouted and opened her mouth, but Reimu cut her off. "Well, I'll be back as soon as I can." With a final wave, she turned into the corridor and disappeared out of sight.

"She's gonna fall asleep as soon as she gets there." Tenshi muttered out of the corner of her mouth. I snorted, then coughed. “That girl’s always forgetting to take care of herself.”

"Gets where?" Marisa asked with a frown, and I remembered that she still had no clue about Yamame, and it seemed to have turned into a bit of a joke that everyone was dancing around the subject with her. "Seriously, where's she going? Who’s she meeting? Who – Who’s her meeting with?"

"Marisa, let's talk about some trigger discipline." Tenshi brightly told her, changing the subject entirely. "So that you don't roast one of your friends next time."

"Roast? I didn't - I said I was sorry - Wait, don't change the subject! Where's Reimu going?" She pointed a bandaged arm at me. "It's your mystery lover, isn't it! Who!? Who is it!?" She looked ready to dive out of bed, then hissed in pain and let Tenshi force her back down. "He's still supposed to be my client!" She muttered petulantly, trying to cross her arms and failing.

While Tenshi engaged Marisa in another conversation about fighting techniques, I looked over at Kagerou and asked her to tell me a little more about herself, because aside from knocking me down and helping to fight Reisen, I knew nothing about her. "Me? Um, well...I'm a wolf youkai. I live in the Bamboo Forest. I'm friends with a mermaid who lives in the lake and a-" I cut her off with some excitement. Wakasagihime, I asked? "Yes! Wait, do you know her?" I nodded and explained the time I had met the princess at the Misty Lake. "Oh, I remember! She mentioned meeting a strange human who wanted to fish! She said that you were nice." That was kind of her. I had said that I wanted to fish, too. And now that I remembered, I told Kagerou that I had a stone which Wakasagihime had left out when she had left me at the lakeside. It was still in Yamame's house, though, in the clothing I'd worn there. I'd been meaning to return it, but I'd never managed to make it back to the lake. "Oh, um...Well, I'm sure she'll be happy to have it back." Kagerou told me.

Speaking of, I looked around, wondering where my clothes were. "Your clothes?" Tenshi asked me. "They're folded up over there." She pointed, and I was pleased to see my outfit was safe and sound. "They may be...slightly charred." Okay, maybe not sound, but at least they were safe.

I turned back to Kagerou and asked her to tell me more about the Bamboo Forest, since I’d never been able to really get to know the place beyond going to Eientei.

I'd just have to hope that Yamame didn't murder me for the damage Marisa had done to her clothing.

for some boring personal reasons I had to cut this one shorter than usual, sorry.

Marisa...

>>44966548
That's okay man, take it easy.

They'll get all the way to Anon and Yamame's wedding and somehow still keep Marisa out of the loop
There will always conveniently be a guest standing in the way of Marisa's line of sight and then Tenshi will cough really loudly when Yamame's name is said.

>>44966545
>"You," Now it was Marisa's turn. "No, you're a lost cause."
Hah.

The maribully doesn't stop, I hope she has a happy ending...
...with Tenshi

Eirin is ecstatic that more test subjects have come to her free of charge!

Kagerou a cute!

>>44969164
Someone should give her an outsider or villager to squeeze

>>44969396
I volunteer for it!

I suppose the arc is mostly wrapped up then. If the dark horse is to make her move, it must happen soon.

>>44973969
Anon still needs to finish their therapy session, possibly with Yamame present the next time.

Feels like yesterday that this story started to me.

"Go slowly. I mean it. You trip like this, and your heart will probably explode from the pain." Tenshi had taken it upon herself to become my nurse in the wake of my accidental charring via Master Spark, and had been fussing over me ever since Reimu had left and I had given in and full on begged Tenshi to let me get out of bed. For at least two hours, she refused on the ground that I might hurt myself again, and would alternate between bugging Marisa and trying to keep me from getting up. "Here, let me just - Wait, but that'll hurt too..." She couldn't seem to make up her mind between trying to put my arm around her shoulder or not.

"I wouldn't mind some help too, you know." I heard Marisa mutter from behind me. I slowly turned my head, exhaling heavily. The witch was just about as injured as I was, or possibly more, and that was from both Reimu and Tenshi beating her up for catching me directly in the path of a giant, magical laser. I couldn't say I wasn't perhaps slightly miffed at her for not checking who she was about to hit more carefully, but it was hardly the worst thing she'd done to me. Sending me on a date with Rumia, who had torn half my body to bits, was up there too. I had found that I couldn't really stay mad at her. She wasn't going to be getting up any time soon, or so I surmised. And, she'd probably need some help when she did, so it wasn't like Tenshi could spend all of her time helping me stagger around.

After about an hour of Kagerou chatting to me about the Bamboo Forest, she had bade farewell and left the room. And then, from the conversation I heard from outside the doors, been press-ganged by Eirin and possibly some of the rabbits into walking straight back in as a nurse. Thus, she was now stood in front of me, awkwardly reaching her hands out, then dropping them, then trying again, and on and on. I'd heard talk from outside of an outfit, but clearly she had vehemently denied it, because she was still wearing her normal clothing. "Do you...need help?" She managed to ask me. Her ability to speak to me without blushing scarlet had improved greatly after our talk about the Bamboo Forest, so I wasn't all too worried about any more weird behaviour. I was still sat on the bed, but I had managed to swing my legs over the side and I was about to try and stand up. I didn't feel like anything in particular was more damaged than anything else, but everything did hurt, and I knew that I'd be too sore for any sort of intensive activity for a while.

...Which made going to Yamame's home a bit of a terrifying prospect, but Reimu hadn't managed to come back and I wanted to see Yamame again anyway, so I was set on going. Finally, I nodded at Kagerou and said that I'd appreciate it, so the wolf positioned herself on my other side, while Tenshi did pull my arm over her shoulder, despite muttering about how I shouldn't really be trying to move around yet. Slowly, I shifted my weight down toward the ground, then let out a long, pained hiss as my whole body protested. "Is it too painful?" Kagerou asked me. "Should we, um, stop?" It was painful, but even so, I shook my head and forced myself to keep going, and eventually I was stood upright, though I was breathing heavily. After a few moments, it felt like some of the difficulty had faded, and I took a step forward. Still aching, but nothing unmanageable. I made use of my newly restored mobility to walk over to where my clothes were folded.

Only then did I remember that there were three other occupants of the room, all of whom were pretty girls. I turned and was met with Tenshi, her arms crossed and a bored look on her face. "What?" She asked, tilting her head. "Should I turn my back? Run out the room screaming? Are you even capable of dressing on your own?" For her part, Marisa didn't look particularly interested in the ongoing proceedings, but perhaps she was still in too much pain to really think about it. Unlike me, she didn't have a heavenly peach to speed things up.

"Um, I don't mind helping, if it's-" Kagerou mumbled.

"Shut up, you." Tenshi continued. "What did Reimu say? No leaping into his bed? That includes leaping into his arms. “I took my clothes into my arms, turned, and shuffled out of the room before Kagerou could get over her stammering.

The hallways of Eientei were still quiet, but I could hear faint conversation from somewhere far away, which made me wonder if the rabbits had returned. Not wanting to commit to a longer walk than necessary - especially since I'd be walking all the way to Yamame's home later - I found the first door I could, which opened onto a laundry room that was thankfully empty. I didn't much feel like dodging rabbits, especially since they were still making my heart beat a little faster, even though they'd not really had much to do with the bad things that had happened to me. I unfolded my clothes, which were thankfully intact - I'd have to give Yamame an extra tight hug - and slipped the jinbei from my body. Not much relishing the prospect of being caught naked in Eientei right after beginning to sort out all of the Eientei Investigation, I pulled the trousers on as fast as I could, followed by the sweater. The whole thing made me ache something awful, but I persevered if only because the alternative was worse. I pulled the coat from its folded state and held it up loosely. It seemed okay. Then, I ran my hand along it and was surprised to see that it felt slightly tougher than it did before. Not necessarily in a bad way, either, since it seemed to still have the same general flexibility. I just hoped that Marisa's attack hadn't weakened it at all, because it was a nice coat, and I didn't much want to explain to Yamame what had happened to it. I pulled it on, hissing in pain at the way my body protested, then stumbled my way back into the room I had woken up in.

By this point, Tenshi had gone back to harassing Marisa, if her words were anything to go by. Kagerou had busied herself with straightening out the bed I had been in, but she turned when I entered the room. "Oh, um, you're dressed!" She said in a way that might have been an attempt at cheery, but still seemed tinged by a little embarrassment.

"So you are." Tenshi muttered, looking up from where she was trying to force Marisa to let her comb her hair. "Are you going?" I nodded, and Tenshi sighed, before standing up straight and coming over to me. In the background, Marisa yelled something about personal boundaries, but I think everyone ignored her. "Do you need me to come with you?" She asked me quietly. I thought about it, but decided that the walk would probably do me some good anyway, so I thanked her for the offer but said that I would be fine. "If you're sure." She looked over my shoulder. "You, Miss Wolf. Could you go with him, at least as far as the edge of the Bamboo Forest?" Kagerou's ears stood straight up, but she managed to nod regardless. Tenshi gave me a brief hug. "Hopefully you'll not have any more bad memories with this place." She whispered to me. I smiled weakly and nodded, then turned and groaned as I bent down to pick up my boots. Before I knew it, Kagerou was next to me and supporting me as I stood back up. I thanked her, and she nodded with a small smile. As I left the room, I heard the squabbling between Marisa and Tenshi start back up about combing Marisa's hair, so I decided to leave them to it.

As we headed down the hallways of Eientei toward the exit, I spotted one or two rabbit girls wandering the hallways. It seemed that Tewi had been even faster than expected in bringing back the other rabbits who had left with her, and I supposed that she must have thought that the primary threat was over. I hoped she was right, because I'd love to know that things were calming down, finally. "The rabbits usually run from me." Kagerou commented as we walked. I wondered if that was because she was a wolf. "Maybe...Tewi talks to me, sometimes." I asked if she saw her often. "Well, when it's not the full moon, I'm happy to talk to anyone who wanders into the forest, or those that live here. Mokou lives downstream from me, so I see her sometimes." I asked her how she'd been convinced to come to Eientei during the full moon from the night before. "Um..." Kagerou looked away, and I wondered what I'd just uncovered. "That journalist, Aya Shameimaru, came by. She said that Reimu personally requested my assistance in dealing with some bad youkai in Eientei. I was going to refuse, but..." But...? I prompted her to continue. "She said that Eientei would be off-limits if I didn't help. I, um, need to be able to come here..." I asked her why, then immediately regretted it. It wasn't my business. "B-Because..." Nevertheless, Kagerou seemed to be answering. "They give me cream." She mumbled in a very small voice. I stared blankly. Like, the spiritual injury cream that Yamame had? "No, no, just, um, cream...for things." I could tell that she was skirting around something, and I didn't much feel like embarrassing her further, so I let her off and changed the subject.

Finally, we reached the main clinic of Eientei, which I happily noticed looked like it was about to re-open properly. Now, things really felt like they were going back to normal. I sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room in order to put my boots on, which was difficult when any sort of bending over made every part of me hurt at the same time. I persevered, and eventually I'd managed to pull them on, and I sat back up only to jerk in shock, because in front of me stood Eirin Yagokoro.

Kagerou had wandered outside while I was putting the boots on, so suddenly, it was just Eirin and I in the empty clinic. "Are you leaving?" The doctor asked me, in her usual tone. I nodded slowly, feeling a little exposed. "I want to see you here again. Regardless of your decision about the Hourai Elixir. You came here last night for a counselling session, and I believe that you are still in need of someone to talk to." I stared at her suspiciously for a few moments, then slowly agreed to return in time. I did add that I wouldn't come alone, though. "That is acceptable." Eirin nodded. "Though if you wish for them to accompany you to the session itself, rather than just the building, it should be someone you can absolutely trust with any and all details." I told her that I'd think on it, then stood. "Your body recovers faster than an ordinary human, but I must still recommend that you stay away from any sort of strain for the next several days." I nodded, and after a moment, forced out my thanks. It was slightly difficult, since she had still done some awful things to me, but she seemed to be behaving differently now, so I thought I should try and be nice. Finally, fully dressed, I left Eientei after what had felt like days.

And froze, because before I could take even a step, something blurry, very fast, and white, slammed into the ground in front of me so hard that it left a crater. I felt my jaw drop open as I stared at Fujiwara no Mokou's body, which was leaking a lot of blood and had bits and pieces of bone sticking out at weird angles. It was a little horrifying, and I was suddenly happy that I hadn't had anything to eat recently. I heard a condescending laugh from above, and I looked up to see what could only be Kaguya Houraisan, laughing at Mokou's predicament. I looked back at Mokou, who's bones seemed to be retracting back into her body in a way that made me feel a little queasy. After a few moments, she looked completely uninjured, and she opened her eyes, looked at me and blinked, then immediately launched herself back into the sky without a word. I stood there, staring at the crater for a few moments, then shook my head and walked straight past it. Kagerou had been waiting at the gates, so she hadn't been as close to the crater as I had, though she still did seem like she wanted to leave too.

Kagerou accompanied me to the edge of the Bamboo Forest, and we talked about what she referred to as the Youkai Grassroots Network, which seemed to be a loose group of weaker youkai who banded together. It seemed a little rich considering how Kagerou had not seemed like much of a pushover, but then again, compared to some of the other youkai I'd met, perhaps she was still relatively on the weak side. She was telling me about a girl she had been trying to recruit into the Grassroots Youkai Network, some sort of flying head youkai named Sekibanki. I thought it was kind of funny, because the redheaded waitress, Oseki, in the village was sometimes called just 'Seki' by the owner. When Kagerou said that Sekibanki had red hair, I laughed a little, because it was a funny coincidence.

Finally, we reached the border between the Bamboo Forest and the village and Kagerou told me that she needed to part ways, since she hadn't been home at all since Shameimaru had brought her to Eientei. "I usually go and see Hime - That's Wakasagihime - every day or so. If you ever want to talk, that is." I nodded and said that I'd like to see both of them again, anyway. Then, I thanked her for her help at Eientei and said that we might not have won without her, which elicited another slight blush from the wolf. She nodded once. "Yes, well, er, very good. Happy to help." And then she was gone, back through the Bamboo in a flash.

The village was uneventful, though I imagined that I would probably need to deal with Chiyari Tenkajin before long. If she was even there anymore, since it was possible that she'd gotten bored and left at some point. My old house didn't look much different from the outside, though, so I didn't really know. I waved to Oseki as I passed the café, but I didn't go in, since I wanted to get back to the caves. And privately, I was a little worried about Reimu. She'd been looking absolutely exhausted earlier in the morning, and even aside from that, she had seemed to be working herself a little hard lately. I hoped she was doing okay.

I got to the caves just as the weak sun peaked in the sky, and I swallowed heavily, then stepped inside before my panic could overtake my bravery. After a few steps, the light had mostly faded, but I refused to slow down in case I failed to get going again. And then, just after I turned down the tunnel that led toward where the tsuchigumo lived, I heard voices. "D'you reckon I could just chuck her down a cliff like this? She did destroy half our webs, after all." The voice was female and slightly familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Wouldn't recommend it. Someone would be along in the middle of the night to chuck you off a cliff in retaliation. You know the Spell Card Rules, sister." That voice was familiar, too. "Wonder what she's even doing here. Surely her Shrine isn't so bad that sleeping in caves is better?"

"Um, should we help her...?" That voice, I did recognize. That was Nai. "I mean, something's not right, er, right?" I quickened my pace, then decided that I didn't want to bumble into whatever was going on down the tunnels, so I slowed down slightly.

Of course, I shouldn't have expected to keep myself hidden from a spider, so I wasn't all too surprised when the voices cut off a moment later, and a moment after that, Nai's eyes were boring into mine. "It's you!" She said in surprise, dropping from where she hung in the middle of the cave to the ground. "Wow, it feels like it's been ages." Then, she slapped my shoulder, and I yelped. "Big Sister's very upset since you didn't come home!" I apologised and asked her to stop hitting me.

"Yes, little sister." One of the familiar voices said, and I saw the dirty-blonde sister of Yamame saunter into view from around the corner of the cave, her arms crossed. "And we don't much love those who upset the dearest of all my sisters." I had only seen her the one time, but the immediate impression I got from her was slightly mischievous. "But, you're also greatly pleasing her, so I suppose I can let you off for now." She bowed - extremely exaggerated - and offered me a smirk. Her eyes, somewhere between red and brown, narrowed just slightly. "Yura, at your service. Well, Yamame's service, actually." I introduced myself and said that I'd wondered if I would ever meet Yamame's sisters. "Some of us, maybe. My dear sister - Yamame - doesn't get to see all of us as often as we wish she would." She shrugged slightly. "So, you're the one who's stolen dear Yamame's heart, hmm? Well, you don't look quite as dumb as I thought you would." I blushed slightly at her wording, then said that I tried my best. "That right? Except when it comes to telling poor Yamame where you are? She's been working herself up into a frenzy all day." I felt bad about that, but in my defence, I'd thought that Reimu was going to explain things. "Reimu? The Shrine Maiden?" Yura suddenly burst into laughter, and I frowned. "All that sleepy Shrine Maiden's going to be good for at this rate is a free delivery for someone who's hungry!"

Now a little concerned, I asked her what she meant. "It's probably best if I just, um...Follow me?" Nai said, sounding somewhat unsure of herself. Shrugging, I did so, letting her lead me around the corner of the tunnel. Then, involuntarily. I slapped my palm against my face, which seemed to startle Yamame's other sister, who was stood with her hands on her hips over the clearly unconscious body of Reimu Hakurei, who'd wedged herself into a little crevice and promptly fallen asleep.

"Whoa! Startled me." The taller tsuchigumo said, turning. She had her hair pulled back, but it was messy in the way that suggested that she was unused to doing so. "Oh, you're..." Yura, who'd followed behind me, snorted. "Well, Yams' has excellent taste." Yura fell silent rather fast. "I'm Reiko. Can you, er, do something about...this?" She waved a hand over Reimu's sleeping body. "She's just as likely to exterminate us as thank us if we wake her up." Without thinking, I scratched my jaw. Reimu did have a rather nasty punch when woken up...

In the end, knowing which hand she would favour, I shook her shoulder and promptly dodged to the left, which should have put me out of range of her fist. Instead, she hit me in the head with her gohei, which hurt rather a lot more than usual since, well, everything hurt. "Whazzat?" She slurred her words. "I'm 'wake." Perhaps it was related, but she still looked awful. "Where am I?" She frowned, and I explained that she'd fallen asleep in the caves. "...Huh. Oh. Oh, I remember." She stumbled out of her little crevice, then nearly fell over since the blood circulation must have been awful inside. I ended up having to wrap my arms around her just to keep her upright. "Um, don't freak out, but there's three tsuchigumo surrounding you."

I shrugged, then said that they were friendly. "I guess you could say that." Yura muttered. "Maybe to someone dear sister likes. No so much to a cranky Shrine Maiden." I heard Reiko tell her to be quiet, and Nai ask if they should fetch Yamame.

"No, no, don't bother. We're going there..." Reimu slapped my hands away, then took a shaky step forward. "Shut up." She told me before I could say that I'd told her to have a rest earlier. "I'm fine..."

I sighed in exasperation, then reached out and wrapped and arm around her to keep her from falling again. I turned to Yamame's sisters and said that I'd like to talk to them more, but it would have to wait. "Don't worry, we pop in to see Yams fairly often." Reiko told me. "She can't hide you from us now that we've actually met you." That sounded a little ominous, but as I was so used to doing, I simply smiled and nodded. Yamame's sisters big us farewell, then made their way toward the tunnels that headed into the Old City, presumably so they could continue work down there.

"Don't say anything." Reimu growled at me. "I'm not that tired." I didn't say anything, but this didn't stop Reimu from hitting me in the chest anyway. "I just didn't want to go to sleep without being certain that you were okay." She finally mumbled. I felt a warmth in my chest and pulled her closer for a one-armed hug. She definitely needed to sleep, though.

Finally, we approached Yamame's house. The lights were on inside, and as I got closer, I began to hear noises. Hammering sounds, some other sorts of carpentry, and every now and then, an annoyed swear. Somewhat worried, I knocked on the door. "What, what!?" Yamame opened the door with a yell after a few moments. "You know I'm bloody bu-" She froze as she stared at the two of us. Then, her jaw clenched and her lips fell into a very thin, straight line. "Inside." She said, her voice somewhat cold. We stepped inside and she shut the door behind us. "Just where have you been?" She asked me. Eientei, I explained. "Eientei? You mean, that place that experimented on you? That Eientei? And what about her?" She nodded at the Shrine Maiden. "Has she been experimented on too?" Just tired, I explained.

"I'm fine." Reimu told us, her head falling back as she said it. "Just wanted to explain what happened." She frowned. "Guess I don't need to now..." She was silent for a moment. "He's not meant to do anything strenuous for the next few days." She forced the words out, and Yamame opened her mouth. "Anything, Yam..." Seeing that she wasn't finishing words now, I decided that she had to sleep.

I looked up at Yamame and asked her if I could let Reimu sleep somewhere. "Oh! Er..." She trailed off for a moment. "...Oh, fine. Put her on the couch." I felt some relief and happily led Reimu over to the couch, where she fell asleep almost the instant she was on the furniture. Then, I felt Yamame tap me on the shoulder. "I'm rather upset with you. You didn't even tell me that you'd be going to Eientei!" I hadn't wanted her to worry. "I worried anyway. I didn't know where you'd gone!" I was really sorry, but I hadn't expected to take all night. Yamame crossed her arms and stared at me for a few moments. "Urgh. You're just too endearing, that's your problem. Do you need to lie down?" I said that I'd love to, but I really was very sore everywhere. "Fine, fine. I'll be very gentle." I kicked my boots off, put my coat down, then shuffled into the bedroom, flopped onto the sheets and groaned in pain, then felt Yamame settle next to me. "I'll get a full explanation from you later. For now..." She threw the covers over me. "Sleep tight." After a moment, I asked her if she was tired. "...No." She muttered, but it took her seconds to break and pull her shirt off before slipping into the bed with me. "There we are. Nice and cosy, hmm?" Then, after a moment. "Don't think this means I'm not going to have a go at you later, though."

I'd already fallen asleep by then since I was far more tired than I'd thought, so I missed the part where she wrapped the covers around us more tightly and held me closer.

>>44975242
I had to sleep on a place right next to a room with a horny couple before and man its not fun.

>>44975372
Reimu is sleepy enough to pass out between two rocks; she'll probably manage

>>44975242

>>44975233
>And privately, I was a little worried about Reimu. She'd been looking absolutely exhausted earlier in the morning, and even aside from that, she had seemed to be working herself a little hard lately. I hoped she was doing okay.
Poor Reimu needs to get laid. I feel kind of sad that despite gaining a brother with a lack of brain cells, she's still pretty alone.

>>44975790
I can save her. I will also go fishing with her brother one day.

>>44975226
>funny coincidence.
bankibros win again

>>44975790
Following the theme of the story Reimu will marry Marisa's brother

>>44976080
What about Marisa's father

>>44966548
Y'know there was a time where the daily updates were way shorter than that so don't worry

>>44975226
>When Kagerou said that Sekibanki had red hair, I laughed a little, because it was a funny coincidence.
I don't know what's funnier, the fact that he STILL doesn't know or the implication that Kagerou doesn't either since she didn't say anything.

>>44975372
She won't have to worry about that, at least for this night. Otouto passed out just as quickly as she did.

I mean he's basically both

>>44976234
Was meant for
>>44976097

>>44975226
>I laughed a little, because it was a funny coincidence.
Please tell me you're going for that wedding gag

>>44976234
Man's only married to his grind

I woke up to Yamame sitting on top of me, her shirt discarded somewhere on the floor behind her. This, in itself, was something that I had woken up to before, and in nearly every circumstance, I was absolutely happy with it. This time, however, I was not so pleased.

I grumbled in pain as my body protested at movement. "Really?" Yamame muttered in consternation. "You can't even sit up properly?" She begrudgingly rolled off of my lap and lay down beside me. "Oh, fine. I'll have to adhere to your poor sister's advice for now. Nothing...strenuous." Her bare chest was pressing against me and the heat of her body was almost overwhelming. "But you'll be making it up to me when you're well again. Consider it your apology for not telling me about Eientei." I could live with that. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked again, some sort of hurt apparent in her voice. "I'd have come and helped if I'd known." That had been the problem. In truth, I'd been worried about her getting hurt, and I hadn't known what I would find at Eientei. Yamame looked at me with a frown, but it was undercut by the way her lips kept trying to twitch toward a smile. "You worry too much. I'm not exactly fragile, you know." She went to wrap her arms around me, but I found that the squeezing pressure made it hurt. "Honestly, that Marisa hit you with her massive laser?" I mumbled a confirmation while I let my eyes slide shut. "I might need to give her a piece of my mind. She's causing me problems, too." I cracked open one eye and asked what problems those were. "What am I supposed to do with you hanging around but so delicate that I can't even jump your bones?" My face was red in seconds, and Yamame was quick to plant a kiss on my lips. "Oh, you're so innocent. Makes me want to do bad, bad things." That, I mumbled, would probably serve to extend my recovery time.

Much as I wanted to, I couldn't get up to much of anything for at least a day or so. Walking from Eientei to the caves had been enough to put me at my limits even if I hadn't realised it, so I'd passed out almost the second my head had hit the pillows. Much like Reimu, funnily enough. Sleep was refusing to come back to me, especially with Yamame lying right beside me, so I gave up and asked if Reimu had woken up yet. "Not yet, no. The sleeping shrine maiden slumbers still. It's been...oh, twelve hours, I think. I don't know what she got up to, but she's probably beyond exhausted. You were asleep for just as long, though." I finally voiced my worries and said that I was a little worried about Reimu. Well...I can't claim to know what's best for her, but she always seems alright whenever I hear of her. Maybe she'll be fine after a long sleep." I hoped so.

Realising that I couldn't possibly lie around idle in bed all day, I told Yamame that she had to help me get up. "Why? Let's just lie around all day." I said that while that would be lovely, Yamame was honestly too pretty for me to lie in bed next to while being unable to actually do anything with her. It was incredibly frustrating. "That might be just about the cutest thing you've ever said." Yamame told me with a growing smile. "Alright, let's get you up." She hopped from the bed and pulled her shirt on, then turned back to me. It took a few moments, but eventually I'd been coaxed from the bed properly. Perhaps it was because I'd not had a proper sleep when I'd actually been hit by the Master Spark, but I felt even more pained now than I had yesterday, but I hoped that it would pass fairly quickly. Now wearing only my sweater and trousers, Yamame helped me to the door. After a few moments, the pain lessened slightly and I was able to walk myself, so I pulled the door open and stepped out of Yamame's bedroom and into the main room.

Reimu, it seemed, had died. Or at least, she might as well have, because she was so buried underneath blankets that it was like she'd been buried for the last time already. "She was shivering." Yamame muttered next to me, and I turned to her with a small smile. "What?" She asked with a frown. That was rather kind thing for her - a youkai - to do for Reimu - the Hakurei Shrine Maiden - without any real reward in mind. "Don't look at me like that! I'm not letting someone freeze to death in my house." I simply smiled and nodded, then went over to the couch to actually check on Reimu. She was clearly still deeply asleep, because there was no movement from her at all, even when I poked her in the cheek. Despite the blankets, she still felt a little cold, so I hoped that she wasn't falling ill again. Gently, I pulled her ribbons and hair tubes out so her hair fell freely, then folded them next to the couch. I wondered if she'd been concealing something. Where had Tewi gotten the idea to show up to Eientei right then from? Reimu must have gone and found her, wherever it was that she was hiding. And when had she done that? I was starting to think that Reimu hadn't been sleeping properly.

"Huh." Yamame had her arms crossed and her eyebrows had raised slightly. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow of my own. "Just, er, thinking that she looks like almost a different person with her hair down." I looked back at Reimu. Sure, I'd spent a reasonable amount of time with her in this state, so I was used to it, but I kind of understood. If anything, she looked just a little bit like Kaguya Houraisan. They both had the same hairstyle. "She's still cute, though." I stood up straight, then turned and stared at Yamame. "What?" She asked, looking up at me. I stared slightly harder. "I'm not blind, you know. She's very pretty." I tilted my head. "No, I'm not interested!" Now, Yamame looked a little scandalised. "Urgh, get your mind out of the gutter. It's you that I'm interested in, not her. But I can still appreciate that she is very pretty!" I quit my teasing of Yamame and agreed that Reimu was indeed very pretty.

Pretty or not, that didn't change the fact that she was still fast asleep on Yamame's couch. "So, er, do we need to wake her up, or...?" I thought about it. The most likely scenario was that someone like Marisa would get worried, but she was with Tenshi who had accurately guessed that Reimu would fall asleep just as soon as she'd left Eientei, so I imagined that they would understand what was happening. Aunn would probably worry, but I doubted that it was the first time that Reimu had been gone from the Shrine for longer than a day. All in all, I figured that it would do more harm than good to wake her, so I shook my head and said to Yamame that we should just leave her alone until she wakes up. She probably needed the rest. "Hmm...Okay, well, I don't really want to have a cranky Shrine Maiden rampaging about my living room, so...Outfits?" I felt a chill wash over me. "Or sketches, at least. Maybe not outfits, if you're hurting as much as you seem to be." I could...probably handle sketches. Probably.

But instead, there was a knock on the door and both Yamame and I jumped. "Sister~?" Now that I'd met them, I recognized that as Reiko's voice. "Yams? You busy?" Yamame and I exchanged a look, then both turned to look at Reimu. "Pretty boy Come on, I can tell you're home." I stared blankly at Yamame for a moment, until she raised her eyebrows at me. Bemused, I pointed a finger at my own chest. Was I the pretty boy? Yamame scoffed, then let a thoughtful expression come over her face, then nodded. For a moment, she seemed intent to carry Reimu off somewhere, but then she shook her head and shrugged. They'd known that we were going here, anyway, I whispered.

Finally, Yamame shrugged and opened the door without a second thought. "Oh, there you are." At first, I thought that it was just Reiko outside, but after a moment, Yura's face popped out from above the door, upside down, and I startled, jumping back slightly. She was kind enough to cover her mouth, so I didn't see her laughing at me, but I knew she was. "Yams, we really could do with your help downstairs."

I looked at Yamame in confusion. "The Hot Springs." She mouthed to me. Ah, that made sense.

"Look, the oni have decided to get really rowdy lately. Something about the managers going off on a business trip and the ones that they put in charge are, well, oni. They got drunk, forgot that we had work going on, and got straight back to attempting to lift the big rock. They keep finding out supplies, too!" Reiko was starting to look stressed, and I'd only seen her once but even so, I could tell.

"Yeah, she's right. They keep coercing the others into drinking games, and then it slows up work for another day or two until they've recovered from their hangovers. Right bloody pain, dear sister." Yura shook her head. "But you're our most beloved sister, and even the oni love you." I'd gotten that impression when Yamame had led me through the Old City to meet Satori. "So..." Yura's eye flickered back and forth between Yamame and I with a slightly coy smile. "If you're not, er, busy..."

"No, no, sister. Definitely not. Not with this injured idiot," She pointed a finger at me, and I looked away, "And this sleepy idiot." She pointed a finger behind her, to the unconscious Reimu.

"Whoa, she's still here?" Yura asked, now barging into the room. After a moment, and shaking her head, Reiko followed her. "That was half a day ago. How tired was she?" Yura looked over at both of us, and I shrugged while Yamame made a noncommittal noise. "Hey, can I mess with her?" She squatted down in front of Reimu, who I noticed with some worry had acquired a slight crease to her brow. "Nothing bad, promise. Just...draw on her face or something."

"Don't be a child, sister." Reiko admonished. "She's clearly not well." The tallest of the spiders looked over her shoulder at Yamame. "Not your handiwork, Yams?"

"What? No, obviously not. I've already gotten her once, after all." Yamame sounded slightly bored as she examined her nails. "Leave her alone, Yura. She's tired." Now, it was my turn to look at Yamame with some surprise. She'd talked about how pretty Reimu was, but I hadn't expected to hear her actually defend Reimu from her sisters. "It'll just upset her, and it'll upset him, and that'll upset me, which will upset you, which will...Well, you get the idea."

"Oh, alright. Anything for you, dear sister." Yura finally acquiesced, standing up straight. She stepped over, not to Yamame, but to me. Rather close to me, too. "Say, Yamame. Just why did we have to run into him in the tunnels instead of you introducing him to us like a normal person?" Yamame looked at me with a raised eye and I told her that Reimu had passed out in the tunnels before we'd even made it to her house.

"I'm not hiding him from you, sister. You've just been missing each other." Yamame came over and petted Yura on the head. "Reiko, your hair looks good like that." She had to get on her tiptoes, but she was able to brush a stray lock from Reiko's hair, which was all swept back and behind her ears. "You should try more different hairstyles. No more hiding your face, hmm?" And immediately, the taller girl blushed scarlet, and then she looked away.

And then, she started stammering. "Y-Yes, well, um, thank you, Yams. But, you know that y-you're still the prettiest of us..." This was turning into quite the spectacle, I thought, but I was glad that it wasn't waking Reimu up.

"Oh, this is just a lost cause, isn't it?" Yura muttered, finally stepping back from me. "Okay, you're not going to get anything out of her, dear sister." She wandered behind Yamame and placed her hands on her shoulders, beginning to massage them. And to my surprise, Yamame melted. She seemed to immediately get weak in the knees and almost fall, and her face instantly became more relaxed. "So, since you, dearest of us all, are loved even by the oni, we'd like it if you'd come and talk some sense into them. Bring him, if you want." She smirked in my direction. "Doesn't have to be right away, but soon would be nice. Plus, we miss you when you're not around, dear sister. It seems like we see less and less of you these days, so shut up in your workshop."

"Not shut up, Yu..." Yamame looked like she was barely getting the words out without falling asleep. "Jus' busy, s'all..."

"Yura, please stop using your massage skills to make Yams agree." Reiko had seemingly recovered, but she still had a hint of red in her face. Without really thinking, I crossed the room and sat on the edge of the couch, making sure that Reimu had enough space. When I looked back, I was pleased to see that the frown had faded from her face. "But yes, sister, we would all be very grateful if you could come down."

Yura had ignored Reiko's words entirely, and instead had intensified her efforts until Yamame's eye had closed entirely. "Come on, dear sister. You and your precious boyfriend, sharing a hot spring? Ah, how romantic..." Yamame's eyes re-opened at that, and she eyed me curiously. I may have gone a little red, but I wouldn't say that I was against it.

"Oh, yes, alright, Yura..." Yamame sighed deeply, her body drooping even further. "I'll be down as soon as I can..." Looking victorious, Yura removed her hands from Yamame's shoulders, and strutted around, over to Reiko's side. "But using your massage skills is cheating, so I'm not going to hug you for the next few days." I was surprised by how much that seemed to get to Yura, and then it reminded me of how seriously Nai had taken Yamame refusing to talk to her for a week. Family was everything to the Kurodani family, it seemed.

I looked over my shoulder at Reimu, then brushed some hair from her face. For a moment, I thought I spotted a ghost of a smile flit across her face, but I dismissed it as my imagination. Family meant a great deal to me, too, I supposed.

"Well, er, I suppose that's what we came here for." Reiko said, scratching her head. The action dislodged some of her hairstyle, and Yamame huffed slightly before pushing her hair back into place herself. "We'd best get back down there before another oni tries to eat a box of nails." I opened my mouth. "I'm not joking." She said to me, very severely. She somewhat reminded me of Miss Kamishirasawa, now that I thought about it. She even had the thing where she broke into blushes and stammers, too.

"Yeah, they'll do that..." Yamame muttered. "That's the thing about oni. Half the job is directing them away from the other half of the job. It's a right hassle." She shook her head. "I've probably been neglecting you all, sorry to say. I'll be down as soon as I can."

Reiko and Yura moved to the door. "You don't have to apologize to us, Yams." Reiko said cheerfully. "There's not a spider in these caves who wouldn't forgive you for anything you did."

"Yeah, even if it was shacking up with the human who destroyed all our webs, and having the Hakurei Shrine Maiden - who also destroyed all our webs - asleep on your couch. We forgive you it all, dear sister." Yura's wide smile seemed to reassure me that she wasn't thinking anything particularly malicious. "Alas, we'd better make ourselves scarce. We...may have left Nai down there with our tools."

"You - What!?" Yamame almost shouted. "You know she's too young to be down there!"

"We didn't think we'd be gone so long!" Yura cried, raising her hand in defence. "We'll go and pick her up now, don't worry!" And before Yamame could throw something at her, Yura was out the door.

"Yes, er, sorry, Yams. All Yura's idea, of course." Reiko said, scratching at her cheek. "Hoping to see you soon." She nodded, then backed out of the door and shut it behind her.

"Those lot will be the death of me." Yamame sighed heavily, then turned and stalked over to me. "How's the idea of a trip to the hot springs sound?" Sounded great to me, but maybe after I knew that Reimu was alright. "Hmm. Yes, I suppose so. How is she?" Still asleep, but she seemed to be a little more at ease now that the others had left. "Well, that's good. What about you?" I felt...better. I supposed that getting to my feet for a bit had done a good job at getting my blood flowing properly, because the aching seemed to have lessened just a little. "Is that right?" Yamame asked me, crossing her arms. "Well, I'm expecting a big apology from you." She lifted me from the couch by my sweater. "And if you're feeling better, maybe I'll finally get it." And there I was, off to Yamame's bedroom again. "Maybe a few apologies. We'll see."

They do say that Autumn is the season of sports, and I supposed that one way or another, Yamame was making this into a sport.

It's strange but as the story has gone on I'm slowly starting to find I don't like Yamame, I want something to doom her and anon. Maybe I need to squish more spiders in future?

>>44986106
why? I was a Reimubro but I think the chapters with Yameme are cute

>>44986206
>Yameme
Yamame

>>44986206
I just don't know, I'm a huge SAfag too for the characters and any Underworld arcs so it's a mystery to me. Before the story I never really liked Reimu much and when it was a binary choice played as Marisa for the more fun dialogue unless Reimu was clearly the better character for a certain game. But writefag's Reimu grew on me over the story and I slowly warmed to her after all. Yamame on the other hand I liked in the game and 17.5 but I never really liked this Yamame much and feel likely resigned when it's another Yamame chapter. But then maybe it's just salt after all I still feel like anon made the wrong choice.

I liked Yameme from the start, even though I was one of the people who argued that Anon's backstory would probably drive a wedge between them. I'm content with the way it turned out :3

>>44985906
how long until yams starts getting aggressive towards anon and slaps the condom out of his hand before hauling him off

>>44986354
I think once the backstory was revealed, picking reimu started to feel a little like it'd be the easy way out
It meant anon didn't have to address his problems with youkai like he had to with yamame, because reimu is human, so even though he probably would have been able to befriend some of the youkai who visit, he'd likely still be holding them at arm's length

I'm glad to be a part of these threads. You've done great, writeanon.

>>44986395
They have condoms?

>>44986106
Me too. She seems to have more lust for Anon than love. And the fact that he would be dead when he met her if it wasnt for the peach does not help.

>>44986666
Satan seems to agree too.

Are you guys still mad that he didn't pick Tenshi?

>>44986900
Tenshi? I'm still mad he didn't pick Narumi

My second choice would have been Kasen desu. Imagine Anon paying attention to her romantic "hermit training" and then turning around to use all of his learned techniques on her.
As an aside, my headcanon is that Komachi was recruited by Kasen to try to seduce Anon to test if he would stay loyal to Reimu. He passed the test, but for the wrong girl lol

I'm happy with the Yamame choice, even if I'm slightly dissappointed in how often we cut to black and don't get to see much of the day to day things.
He should just take her with him to Eientei for a little couples therapy about anons traumas and maybe a little bit of talking between our love spiders about what they plan to do with each other.

>>44986900
Not personally. I like Tenshi better, but in this story it always made more sense for Anon to end up with Yamame.
Besides, I enjoyed how Tenshi turned out to be a reliable confidante with major story presence. The bits where the Kurodani sisters are involved tend to be very sweet too.

>>44986900
After Tenshi took a back seat during the Reimu arc and wrote herself out early i knew there was no hope a tenko end.
I'm still in favor of a DARK HORSE EIRIN END as Anon remembered how he consented to everything

>>44985881
>If anything, she looked just a little bit like Kaguya Houraisan. They both had the same hairstyle.
HAHAHA oh man it's canon now

>>44985906
>Yeah, even if it was shacking up with the human who destroyed all our webs, and having the Hakurei Shrine Maiden - who also destroyed all our webs - asleep on your couch.
I imagine this may be planned with the hot springs visit coming up, but I kind of want to see Anon help the sisters out a bit to make up for that whole ordeal. I mean, it was an accident and not at all his fault, but he seems like the type who would feel a little bad about it, and it could be an opportunity for them to get to know each other better.

>>44986666
>She seems to have more lust for Anon than love.
I disagree, she borderline bends over backwards to take care of him, and his feelings are very important to her. She comes across more as a doting wife who's perpetually horny than merely someone with ten desires.
>And the fact that he would be dead when he met her if it wasnt for the peach does not help.
I personally find that shows how far they've come.

>>44987680
I really like the idea of a Kasen route too, but at that point Tenshi, Yamame, and Reimu were already potential love interests, so it would have felt out of place. Plus, I find it rather out of character that the hermit who has shed worldly desires would want a romantic relationship. Then again, she tends to fumble the hermitage thing.

>>44986943
I've been on Team Yamame since the Chireiden arc and honestly I feel you

>>44989733
>that the hermit who has shed worldly desires would want a romantic relationship
At least legend wise hermits having spouses is a thing so its not a strange concept.

>>44986666
If you want a slow burn romance where Yamame doesn't jump the guy's bones until the ending chapters then there's that other story. Folks, strokes, etc.

That said, my sentiment is close to yours.

>>44989516
>Anon help the sisters out a bit to make up for that whole ordeal.
I just had a horrible scene pop in my head, one where anon lifts the keystone effortlessly because his heart is pure or doped with peach-juices or some shit.
Now I'm sure this won't happen, but anon is still in danger of making new fans if he dares show his topless body around a bunch of Oni and Yammy's sisters.

>>44990009
yeah, in that story, it's all about yamame and while there are other characters, they're not really the focus
here there's a lot of moving parts and it means that some thing don't get the same amount of elaboration
still, I expect that if there's a hot springs thing, it'll be where they do finally sort their feelings out properly

>>44990230
NTA but whats there to sort out?
They clearly both love each other and seem to be compatible. Unless you want some kind of confession scene its a silly idea to spend text on it.
As for yammy jumping his bones its a simple case of the 'horny' stage of things where they just can't keep their hands off each other for long

One of the oni, likely Yuugi finally gets the boulder Tenshi dropped loose and manages to throw it out of the hot springs entirely. But it in a major plot twist it lands on Yamame who was heading there with anon and her sisters to resolve the constant oni problems and squishes her. This leads to an incident and a civil war breaking out in Former Hell between the oni and now tsurigusho seeking vengeance for Yamame's unexpected death. Reimu has no choice but to help Satori and Patchouli intervene and restore order to the underground. She ends up exterminating Yuugi, a number of unnamed oni and all of Yamame's sisters but Nai who is left picking up the pieces with anon together trying to hold the fragile peace together. The arc ends up with anon 'adopting' Nai into his unexpectedly growing family of siblings.

>>44990009
What story is this? Tried looking through the a bit but didn't see anything.

Yamame could be rather noisy. This, I had learnt during the previous bout of time I had spent here just prior to unsealing Lady Kasen's sealed arm. I supposed that we'd both simply gotten used to it, because I'm not sure that either of us were prepared for Reimu Hakurei to kick open the door to Yamame's room and yell at us to shut the hell up. But, on the other hand, I don't think Reimu was prepared either, because the second she'd actually seen what was happening, she'd blushed bright red and fled the room immediately. I definitely wasn't prepared, because the sudden surprise had pushed me right over the edge and before I knew it, I'd completely failed in my attempts to hold true to Miss Kamishirasawa's attempt at The Talk.

After several minutes, it was all three of us, awkwardly sat in the living room and not looking at each other. I imagined that it probably wasn't the bracing start to the day that Reimu had been planning since she'd been asleep for so long. "S-So, um..." Reimu took her best shot at breaking the silence. "How - How long was I asleep?"

"Er..." Yamame began, staring resolutely at her hands. "About, um...Fourteen hours?" Reimu inhaled rather sharply at that and I wondered, again, just what she'd been doing that had left her so exhausted.

"And..." Reimu grew a little redder and more withdrawn. "You - You couldn't do, um, that...in-between?" I felt like giving her a hug but I had a feeling that she would not be particularly welcoming about it at the moment.

"In our defence," Yamame piped up, "You're the one who kicked open the door. And he was asleep for twelve of those hours, too, so..." She began to fidget with her hands, and I knew immediately that she'd felt bad about it.

At this point, I decided that I needed to enter the conversation, so I apologised, first and foremost. Both for what Reimu had walked in on, and - more importantly, for me - that I'd missed how much she'd been pushing herself. No one should have been quite so exhausted. "Oh, er..." She looked a little lost about what to say. "Thanks..." She finally managed. "Just, um, a bunch of stuff I had to do that day."

And then her stomach rumbled.

And happily, that was the thing that broke the tension, because I found myself stifling a laugh, and Yamame smiled weakly, and Reimu even managed to not look too embarrassed. "Not eaten for a while?" Yamame asked after she'd thumped me on the back to get me to calm down.

"Not since..." Reimu frowned, and I stared at her incredulously. "Er...The day before yesterday...?" Without even thinking, I asked her if she was out of her mind. "Well, you seem to do it just fine!" She replied, a bit testily. "When's the last time you ate anything?" Which was a good question, now that I thought about it. Was it...when Yamame had been making me wear her designs? When was that? Two, three days ago? It couldn't have been more than that, surely? Or no, wouldn't it have been when Hearn had kidnapped us? To Australia, where her shikigami had served us. When was that? That was...after I'd gotten my new outfit. And afterward, we'd stayed inside for the rest of the day, and then Reimu had come to collect me to meet Marisa and Tenshi to discuss Eientei, and then...Had that really only been about two days ago? "That, er, wasn't supposed to take so much thought." Reimu finally mumbled when I was still deep in thought and attempting to figure out how much time things had taken since then. It had been a very busy day. Eventually, I ventured a guess at nearly three days ago. "See! And you're doing fine. So don't get on my case when I-" I cut her off. Heavenly peach, I reminded her. And I didn't eat very much as it was, so just because I could handle it didn't mean that Reimu could neglect her own health to such a degree too. Finally, Reimu pouted and looked away.

"So...Does anyone want some food?" Yamame finally said, hopping to her feet and clapping her hands together. "Only I've still got some of the meats left. Some, in any case. And some vegetables, though with the harvest coming up I'm due a restock anyway. As I imagine you are, too?" She said to Reimu, who thought for a moment, then nodded. I'd not had a chance to peruse the pantry of the Hakurei Shrine for a while, so I couldn't say how the supplies were, but I imagined that they were beginning to run low. "Well, I'll go and handle that." Yamame said cheerfully, already on her way to the kitchen. "Have another nap if you want." Behind the door she went, and I soon heard the sounds of things being moved about within.

So Reimu and I were left to stare at each other, and I'm sure that we were both trying to get a feel for what the other was thinking. "Are you - No, I'll go - No, you go - Okay-" We both spoke at the same time, and then Reimu broke through before I could try again. "Are you okay?" She finally asked me. I shrugged and said that it was rather hard to injure me for long these days. "No, that's not..." She sighed and shook her head. Now feeling a little more intrigued, I got up and joined her on the couch. "I mean, are you okay? After Eientei?" I stopped short of anything I'd been thinking, because the question mattered more now. It was easy to brush off Reimu asking if I was okay, but it was less so when it was a question like this. I'm always okay, I said.

"No, but...You haven't told any of us what Eirin said to you." In truth, something about the conversation I'd had with Eirin felt private, in a way that meant more than just silly words. I had told her about my family, but in return, she had told me something about herself. She had told me of her guilt toward Fujiwara no Mokou's eternal life and her desire to rectify it. Maybe that in itself wasn't the most ground-breaking secret, but it was a secret she had entrusted to me, which meant that I had to treat it with the respect it deserved. I'd not exactly told her the truth, but I had wound up telling her rather sincerely about my family. "And she - She didn't try anything...weird?" That had been the strange part. No, she hadn't. She had listened, and she'd spoken to me in terms that made me believe that she was actually serious about it. "Like...professionally?" I was starting to revise my opinion of Eirin's state of emotional detachment, but in that session, she had seemed quite emotionless until we had reached the topic of the Hourai Elixir. "Are you...going back?" Reimu asked in a small voice. "I don't want it to be some kind of trick. For her to hurt you again." After a moment's silence, I wrapped my arms around Reimu. She looked like she was about to push me away, but with a second or two, she relaxed. Eirin likely wasn't planning anything. I thought that she was coming to realise that her methods weren't the only ones available. And privately, I thought that her previous methods had been borne of some sort of martyrish tendency to try and do it all herself. Maybe, after getting her head splattered all over the floor, she'd been able to think of something new, and hopefully a lot less fatal.

But it wasn't me I was worried about. It was Reimu, and I asked her why she'd been so exhausted. "I just - It's nothing, alright? I just had to do a few things and I hadn't eaten, that's all." It might have been the truth, but it was so glossed over that it didn't really matter. I looked closer at Reimu and asked her a second time. "What do you want me to say? That I was up all night worrying about what would happen to you in Eientei, ever since Reisen's note about counselling came?" I thought that seemed a little overzealous for Reimu, personally. And as I opened me mouth to answer...

"Here we are!" Yamame cheerfully called, balancing a bowl in the crook of her arm while she held two more. She bustled out of the kitchen, then paused when she was Reimu and I. "Oh, er, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She asked, frowning.

"No!" Reimu cried out quickly. "No, nothing at all." She was up on her feet in seconds and grabbing one of the bowls from Yamame. "Hmm, smells good!" She said, digging in so quickly that I was worried that she'd choke. Clearly, she had gotten away from talking to me properly, on this occasion. "Wow, this is good." She continued, her mouth full enough that she couldn't possibly answer my questions. Shaking my head, I got up and took the bowl with the far smaller portion size from Yamame, since I rarely finished the meal if she gave me a regular size. I took a few bites and found that it was indeed rather good, and I found myself working my way through the whole portion, for once. Reimu clearly was starving, because she finished even faster than I did despite the larger portion, and she looked a little put out that I'd finished mine and she couldn't steal it. Then, I turned my head to the side and found that Yamame had the exact same look on her face, even though she had done the portions herself. Maybe, I thought, they just liked to steal my food.

The real queation is whowill be the chosen one to kick out the freeloader at Anon's home?

"So, er, Hakurei." Yamame said, bringing Reimu's attention back from her - and my - empty bowl. "You were here to fill me in on what happened at Eientei, but I've already heard most of the details from him." Because not all of the time before Reimu had kicked open the door to Yamame's room had been spent doing...things. "So...What happens now?" Yamame asked.

"Now...?" Reimu repeated, frowning. "Er, I guess we all go home. I'll check in on Eientei more regularly, though. I'm sure the others had similar thoughts. What about you?" Reimu asked Yamame, raising her eyebrows.

"My sisters want me down in the Old City to help with the hot springs, so I figured I'd bring him, too." She poked me on the shoulder. "Apparently, the managers are away, so the oni are getting a little wild."

"Huh." Reimu commented. "You know, the divine spirits near the mountain told me that they'd seen two oni wandering up there recently. Probably those two, knowing how these things usually work. I was going to check on it, but I didn't get the chance before Eientei happened." That'd been us, then. Asking Suika Ibuki to check on Lady Kasen. "Maybe we should have a look." Reimu looked at me. "Is it her?" I nodded. "Hm. Well, that makes it a little better. At least they're probably fighting in senkai and not on the mountain." Considering the casual destruction I'd seen some of the oni in the Old City cause, I agreed on that. Not to mention the devastating power I could feel from Ibaraki-douji's arm, or the strength I had felt when she and Lady Kasen had fought. "So, um, I'd kind of like to check up on that. And I'd like you to come, but..." She turned her gaze toward Yamame.

"Hmm?" Yamame looked up from where she had been deep in thought. "Oh, uh..." After a moment, I started to see some connections being made. "Wait, oni? Like...Suika Ibuki and Yuugi Hoshiguma?" Reimu raised her eyebrows, then nodded. "Wait, wait. Are they...going to see Ibaraki-douji?" And Yamame actually bounced in her seat. "Are you two going to see her!?" She suddenly sounded much more involved. "Can I come!?"

Reimu and I exchanged a look. Lady Kasen had told us in confidence, and while Yamame had guessed that I knew Ibaraki-douji, even if it wasn't quite the one she was thinking of, I'd never specifically confirmed it. To invite Yamame, who was - to Lady Kasen, at least - just a random tsuchigumo, felt like it was possibly a betrayal of that trust. "I'm...not sure-"

"I'll be quiet! And - And nice, and-" Yamame was grasping at the air now, her hands working at nothing in particular. I knew that she had quite an interest in kishin and oni, but I hadn't imagined it quite extending in this direction. "I, uh, I really like hearing about the kishin and the oni of old." I personally wondered if Lady Kasen was going to meet her expectations. Even the arm, while much more oni-like, wasn't quite the same as what Ibaraki-douji probably once was. "So, so, can I come with you...?"

Reimu looked over at me, and simultaneously, we both stood up and wandered over to the corner of the room, our arms crossed. "What do you think?" She murmured to me. I replied that I did trust Yamame, at the very least. "But it's not our secret to share." Which was true, and pretty much the crux of the matter. We couldn't just...say yes. I offered a suggestion. We could bring Yamame up the mountain, but leave her outside of Lady Kasen's senkai until we'd gotten confirmation from the two halves of Ibaraki-douji themselves that she could come in. "That could work, I guess...Though I don't know if she'd like bringing another person into her senkai." Well, the other choice was to get them all to go out of senkai, which seemed just as big of a problem. "Oh. Yeah, definitely not. Two big time oni and two halves of another? The tengu would have a fit." I'd heard somewhere that the oni had lived on the mountain in the past. Probably from Miss Kamishirasawa. "That said, she didn't seem to be in much of a state to say no..." Reimu mumbled thoughtfully. I looked down at her with a surprised expression. Was she willing to bend the rules for Yamame? "I can't much exclude her for no reason. Besides, you're clearly smitten with her. Deny her and I upset you." I felt that warmth in my chest again. "Now, that wouldn't be the sisterly thing to do, would it? Big sisters should look out for their little brothers." Suddenly, it seemed like there were onions being chopped. Before Reimu could stop me, I'd grabbed hold of her and pressed a kiss against her forehead, and even though she pushed me off and punched me in the shoulder for it, I felt rather happy.

"What's...going on?" Yamame slowly asked, looking between us with some confusion.

"Well, Kurodani." Reimu uncrossed her arms, only to cross them again a moment later. "I don't know if she'll say yes, but you might very well be able to come with us." Yamame drew in a breath and hopped off her seat like she was about to start cheering. "Don't," Reimu said, holding her hand up. "Get your hopes up just yet. She hasn't said yes yet, and even if she does, she might not be...quite what you're expecting."

"No, that's fine! Um, thank you!" Yamame said, just barely containing her excitement.

"Oh, but - Don't you need to go to the hot springs for your sisters?" Reimu asked her, and she paused for a moment, then shook her head.

"They've got on fine so far, and I think they'll be fine for a while longer. The oni are a constant annoyance, or so they tell me. We'll head down there afterwards, I suppose." Yamame shrugged slightly. "There wasn't a time limit or anything on when I needed to go and see them, after all."

"Hmm...Well, okay. I suppose we'd best be off, then." Reimu said, and within moments Yamame was dashing from the room to get her clothing in order. "Haven't seen Kasen at the Shrine since the arm was unsealed." She told me, quietly. "Komachi might still be up there, which would be good. Otherwise, we'll have a bunch of the rowdiest oni around together, which is a recipe for disaster. Stay by me when we're there, please." I nodded and said that her side was about the safest place I could think of anyway. "Cute." She replied dryly.

Yamame barrelled back into the room, fully dressed in her usual outfit. I pulled my boots and coat on, but Reimu didn't have any sort of protection from the elements, so I could only hope that it wasn't raining too heavily. And as we left the house, I hoped that Lady Kasen hadn't done anything reckless since I'd last seen her.

On time aha!

Are they passing by the lake? Let's not forget Hime's rocks

Interesting day...

I hope Kasen isn't unfairly mean to Yamame because she "stole" the man who was supposed to be Reimu's.

Just want to pop in and say that I really appreciate everyone who's stuck around reading this and commenting on it. I'd never done any writing even remotely close to this long before (previous longest was 10,000 words and I didn't even finish it, let alone post it anywhere) so it's been greatly enjoyable to read everyone's comments as we go

>>44999011
I have been reading it since the frist thread. Thank you for staying with us and not dropping it like many do.

Man i did not even notice how long it got.

>>44999011
No, thank YOU for sticking around this long. Putting out ~2-3k words worth of daily updates for three months is insane, especially considering how overall cohesive the narrative is.

>>44999011
it's been a fun trip

>>44999011
Thank you writefriend, can't wait to see what you have in store next.

>>44986900
For me? Yes, absolutely wish it had been tenko.
or the dark horse Kanako ending, but I'm a huge kanako fan, so I always hope that

>>44999011
I've been following since the first thread as well, and I've enjoyed it from the beginning.
Serious romantic writefagging is guaranteed to get my attention, but keeping, like you have, is far from assured.

>>44999011
Writefriend, you are a role model and a shining beacon in this once glorious and now stagnant board. I salute you for your effort and genuine passion in producing this work. God bless you.

The writing will continue for eternity.

>>44975221
>"They give me cream." She mumbled in a very small voice. I stared blankly. Like, the spiritual injury cream that Yamame had? "No, no, just, um, cream...for things."
What did she mean with that?

>>45006614
Something to calm her heat down i guess.

>>45006614
Hair removal cream

>>45006614

>>45007854
now it makes sense

>>44998345
Oh no! Reimu accidentally turned herself into an aunt!

Yamame peppered Reimu and I with so many questions on our way up the mountain that I eventually lost track and started answering entirely different questions to the ones she was asking. She'd ask what Ibaraki-douji's favourite food was, and I'd answer her by saying that she was about as tall as I was. This went on for a while, until Reimu finally got sick of it. "Oh, for - Shush, Kurodani! I don't even know if she's going to let you come in! Stop getting your hopes up!" And finally, Yamame fell quiet for the last leg of the walk up the mountain, though I could tell that she was still rather excited from the way she kept fidgeting and trying to run ahead of us. After a moment, Reimu looked at me and softened slightly. "She eats a lot of sweets." She finally said under her breath.

Reimu's mood had soured rather quickly upon leaving the caves, as it had turned out to be raining, much like it had been for most of the months. After a surprisingly heavy amount of rain in the summer and even more now that the rainy season was here, I'd worried a little about the state of the crops for harvest, but Reimu had reassured me that there were people to take care of that, and even if there weren't, the harvest goddess still had a lot of influence during this particular time of the year, even if she wasn't given much attention outside of it. Either way, Reimu was now getting pelted with rain, and she'd refused when I'd offered her my coat, saying that it'd just get wet and dirty from dragging on the floor since she wasn't tall enough for it. She had instead griped about wanting to teach me to fly, because she'd done 'far too much walking lately'. I kind of doubted that I'd be flying around Gensokyo any time soon, but I smiled and nodded anyway while Yamame hung off my arm, asking me whether Ibaraki-douji had any pets.

By the time we reached the mountain, Reimu looked thoroughly miserable and even more annoyed, I wondered if my coat was going to withstand the weather, and Yamame, while soaked through, seemed to be ignoring it completely. I supposed that weather might have had slightly different effects on youkai, though no one had ever really indicated as such, and Yamame had worn a nice coat when she had last come out during the rain. Maybe the excitement was just getting to her instead, even though she might not be coming into Lady Kasen's senkai at all.

"Do you mind if I fly ahead?" Reimu finally asked me in a pained voice. "I can see if they've torn the whole place to the ground already. And ask if she can come in." She nodded at Yamame, who stood up straighter. "And most importantly, I'm going to get halfway up that mountain, then turn and hurl myself face first off the side if I have to walk through this rain any longer." With the way she said it, I almost believed her. So, I nodded and said that we'd meet her up there. She didn't waste a second, shooting away from the ground so fast that it knocked me backwards and I worried that I was about to fall, though I managed to regain my footing after a few seconds.

Yamame looked up, squinting as Reimu blazed up the mountain so fast that I wondered if the rain was even managing to hit her any more. "Did I upset her?" She asked, frowning. I shook my head. She was just in a bad mood because of the rain. Privately, I wondered if there was anything more to it than that. Maybe Reimu's frustration was borne from something else entirely. I'd have to think on it, but I didn't have any time at the moment, because it didn't take Yamame long to get back to questioning me about Ibaraki-douji's training methods. I gave some vague answers, because I wasn't entirely sure that Lady Kasen's training was the same as what the full oni's would have been. and especially since I wasn't sure how much of Lady Kasen's training wasn't secretly plans to make me fall in love with Reimu. I'd been rather vague about that little element of my time with Lady Kasen, and I wasn't entirely sure how to broach the subject. I hoped it wouldn't be necessary, because I thought that Reimu and I were well past that.

The rain made the ground somewhat slippery, but I'd walked the path up to Lady Kasen's senkai multiple times and knew where it would be harder to keep my feet steady, so I didn't find myself having too much trouble. I'd kept a tight grip on Yamame for the first few minutes, until she'd blandly reminded me that she was just as capable of flying as Reimu was, and wasn't in much danger of falling. She took to the air after that, but floated alongside me, just barely above the ground. Twice, she asked if she couldn't just give me a lift, but I'd felt slightly strange about agreeing, perhaps because I'd walked this path in the past and thus new that I could do it myself. Maybe it was just a way of exercising some control over myself, since I seemed to rely on the people I knew for a lot of things lately.

Before long, we'd reached the part of the mountain where the path split, and I led Yamame off toward the clearing that housed the entrance to Lady Kasen's senkai. Only as we got close did I realise that I had no idea if Lady Kasen had changed the path to the entrance in the time since I'd last been by, but I had to hope that she'd not gotten the chance between her own state of depression over the arm and keeping all her pets healthy. Reimu was waiting for us, not far from the main path up the mountain and with her arms crossed as the rain weighed down her bow and made it droop downwards. Sometimes, I wondered if it was alive, and moved in response to her emotions, but that was silly so I never thought about it much beyond a passing joke. I waved at Reimu as we approached, and asked her what the situation was. "...Yeah, we can go in." She said, rather more slowly than I'd expected. "Just...keep your wits about you. Three major oni in close proximity is a dangerous situation regardless of how well you know one of them. All it takes is one of them having a stupid idea, like seeing who can shout the loudest, and they'll all go for it." Even Lady Kasen would go for it? I asked quietly. "Maybe not her, but the arm? Definitely." She breathed in deeply. "Alright, come on." She beckoned us both, and we began to tread a path that was just slightly different from the one I had used most recently. I asked Reimu how she had known it, and she shrugged, saying that she'd just been lucky and caught Kanda on his way in. Personally, I thought that was a very lucky coincidence, but after everything I'd learnt about Reimu, lucky coincidences seemed to always happen around her.

The path was long and winding, and Yamame asked me just what we were doing twice, but I told her to just wait and see. And eventually, we approached the clearing, and I let Yamame go in ahead of me because I had yet to see anyone else's reaction to seeing senkai for the first time, apart from Ibaraki-douji's arm herself, which had been a very different situation to this, and thus seemed to not quite count.

And Yamame did not disappoint me, letting out a gasp as we emerged into the sunlight of a perfect day inside Lady Kasen's senkai. We walked toward the cliffside slowly, and I watched her as she gazed around her in wonder, at the perfect sun high in the sky, at the peaks around us, the dojo itself and the seating areas that Lady Kasen had set up around it. She paused for a moment, and I knew that she was hearing the waterfall. The place was very serene, and I did greatly enjoy my time there. It was relaxing, and I said that to Yamame as she stared around. "It's about to be the opposite." Reimu suddenly said, her hand shifting into position around her gohei. She was staring at something, not on this peak, by the dojo, but off into the distance, several peaks down until it was nothing more than a vague speck. "Brace yourself." She told us.

Yamame squinted off in the direction she was looking. "Is that-!"

And then, before she could answer, there was something very blurry and very fast rocketing toward us. After I'd noticed it in the air, I heard a booming sound that almost made me stumble. Reimu kicked me enough to make me stumble just slightly to the side, and the blurry thing rocketed past me, slammed into the rocky terrain, then left a trail running almost to the edge of the clearing and back out of Lady Kasen's senkai. Their body slammed down into the ground, and I stared as they sat up and shook their head in an attempt to clear the dizziness. "Phew!" Ibaraki-douji's arm sighed, stumbling to her feet. "Not good enough! You call that a punch!?" She yelled at an extremely loud volume, waving at something in the distance. "Be a proper oni and throw me more than three measly peaks!"

A roaring laugh sounded from somewhere in the distance. I squinted and could just about make out a yellow shape. Possibly Yuugi Hoshiguma, I supposed. "Ha! You thought I was trying!?" I heard her shout back.

I wondered just what we'd walked in on when Reimu subtly shifted in front of me and caught the arm's attention. "Hey." Reimu said sharply. "Still keeping your nose clean?"

The arm shook some debris out of her hair and dislodged a rock that was stuck on her horn. "Why, yes. Yes, Shrine Maiden, I have not made any attempts to leave this place, though I confess that I would like to." The arm rolled her neck and stretched her arms. "I appear to have been reunited with some figures from a long, long time ago. Do I have you to thank for that?" She nodded toward the distant shapes, off on the other peak. It wasn't just Yuugi, I could see. There was a shorter person that I thought was probably Suika Ibuki, and next to her, another pinkish shape that I assumed was Lady Kasen. "I hadn't expected them to be quite the way they appear to be." The arm commented. “In mood or appearance.”

"Wasn't me." Reimu said, shaking her head. "Those two," She pointed a thumb back at Yamame and I, "Went and asked Suika to look in on your hermit counterpart."

I awkwardly waved at the arm and found that Yamame had shifted herself behind me. I looked back and raised an eyebrow, noting that she looked a little nervous. I supposed that made sense, since she seemed to hold Ibaraki-douji in high regard and was probably worried about meeting what was essentially one of her heroes. After I stared a little longer, she finally moved back from behind me to beside me. "U-Um, hi..." Yamame stammered out. "You - Um, are you really Ibaraki-douji?" She asked in a somewhat small voice. It was a little disconcerting, I thought, because she'd been so energetic about it the whole way up. I supposed it was easy to be energetic until you were actually in the situation, though. "I'm a - I've heard a lot about you."

The arm raised an eyebrow. "You could say that, I guess." She slowly replied. Was she keeping the fact that she was only a part of the oni a secret? "I'm not quite the whole thing, and I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. What's your name?" I was surprised at how polite the arm's tone had become. She was still brushing fragments of rock from her hair every now and then, but otherwise, she seemed about as polite as can be.

"I-It's, um, Yamame Kurodani." Yamame stuttered, bowing so deeply that I thought she was about to fall over. The arm returned the gesture. "I'm a tsuchigumo from the underground tunnels leading to Former Hell."

"Former Hell?" The arm repeated. "Where Hoshiguma and Shu- Ibuki came from?" Yamame nodded somewhat timidly. "I see...That's where most of the oni in Gensokyo live." She looked over at Reimu and I. "From her memories." She told us. She'd spent some time merged as the full Ibaraki-douji, and I assumed that she was referring to the memories she'd gotten from Lady Kasen in that time. "I've gained an interest in travelling there." She said, slowly.

"We'll see." Reimu said shortly. "What are they doing?" She nodded over toward the three in the distance.

"A game, as I understand it!" The arm said, sounding a little more cheerful. "See who can punch the other the furthest away. We used to play that on Mt. Ooe, back in the day." She threw a fist out at the air in front of us, and Reimu suddenly had a stack of ofuda in her hand. “Oh, calm down, Hakurei Shrine Maiden. We both know how that particular song and dance goes.”

"...Right..." Reimu slowly said, shoving the ofuda back into her sleeve. She then turned and looked at me with a resigned expression. "Told you they'd get weird ideas like this." I'd expected more damage, really. "Eh, Kasen probably told them not to."

"I'd better get back." The arm told us, taking to the air and shrinking until she joined the others.

"Well, they weren't doing that when I walked in a few minutes ago." Reimu muttered. "Oni are so weird." She looked over at Yamame, who was fidgeting a little. "Well?"

"She, um, she's definitely her, but...not quite." Yamame said, looking somewhat distracted. "Like she's not all complete." That made sense, I supposed. "Should we see the others?"

"No need." Reimu said with a slight bit of apprehension in her voice. "Move...two steps to the right." She told me, and I did so, just in time for another blurry figure to come flying past me and into the ground. "Oh, they're aiming at you." She told me, with little interest. I raised my eyebrows and asked if I should be worried about that. "Nah, I'll keep you out of the way."

"Ah!" The figure lifted their head, and I was pleased to see that it was Lady Kasen, horns covered and all. "Reimu!" She got to her feet, the bandages around her arm wrapping back into shape after they'd deformed in the landing. "It's been a few days, hasn't it? How are you? How's he?" She nodded at me. "And - Oh, is this...?" She looked at Yamame, who managed to resist hiding behind me this time. "You're one of the tsuchigumo. Kurakani?"

"Um, Kurodani." Yamame said, managing to hold herself together this time. "Yamame Kurodani."

Lady Kasen's eyes narrowed for a split second before relaxing, but the fact that I caught it had me a little worried that Lady Kasen was about to take it somewhat personally that I was with Yamame and not Reimu. "Kurodani, yes. So, you're the one who's..." She trailed off and looked between Yamame and I. "Hmm..." I coughed harshly and hoped that she wasn't planning to be cold to Yamame, especially since she'd been so excited about meeting Ibaraki-douji.

"So, er, you're looking better." Reimu said, before anyone else could say anything. "Good talk with the oni?"

Lady Kasen broke into a more relaxed looking smile than I'd seen on her for a long while. "Yes, as a matter of fact. It took some time, and a little bit of fighting, but I think we're finally getting somewhere." She looked back at Yamame. "But let's not get into that right now. Are you all tired? Would you like some tea?" We looked at each other, shrugged, then agreed. "Excellent! Shall we?" She gestured toward the dojo, so I stepped forward and opened the door.

And just like last time, this led to a very big tiger barrelling into me and knocking me to the ground so he could lick my face. Houso didn't waste any time, it seemed. I did hear Yamame panic slightly while I ineffectually tried to push the tiger back so he'd stop licking my face, but while I'd become fairly strong, I was not quite that strong. After leaving me to Houso for a few moments, Lady Kasen finally took pity and convinced the tiger to step back and let me get to my feet. "Back inside, you." She told Houso, who whined slightly but did as he was told. "He doesn't like it when I have to keep them cooped up inside, but they'd be in danger from those three if I didn't." Lady Kasen told us.

Yamame rushed to me as soon as I was stood and after a few moments, I finally convinced her that I was fine and the tiger liked me. I'd seen him do the same to the arm, too, so I figured it just took a little time for him to get used to someone. He'd probably do it to Yamame too if she came here again.

We stepped inside, and Lady Kasen took a moment to shout at the other oni that she was taking a break. They said that they'd come over in a little bit, and almost immediately afterwards, I heard another boom that could only mean someone else had been punched in our direction. While we walked toward Lady Kasen's kitchens, I hung back slightly and asked Yamame if she was okay. "Er...Yes. I think so. It's not quite what I was expecting, though..." I shrugged, saying that I hadn't expected it when I'd first learnt about the arm. "So that...The one with the horns, that's..." Ibaraki-douji's arm, which had been cut off and sealed. She was trying her best to become something more than just sealed hatred. Yamame was quiet for a moment. "How come you seem to cause this to happen with every youkai you meet?" She finally asked me, half-jokingly. I laughed a little, glad that it seemed to have broken through her quietness. "It's funny how you build up the stories in your head and forget that there's a real person behind it all." She remarked. "Two, in this case." I said that plenty of time had passed since the stories, so it made sense that things had changed.

Personally, I hoped that the arm would succeed, though I couldn't deny that I was a little curious about what the merged form of Ibaraki-douji was like. I wondered if I'd ever find out.

Probably not for a long time.

I'm a bit curious about what Yamame was expecting, i think her shrugging off getting punched though mountains would be the expected first impression.

>>44986900
It's Oseki for me

>"Oh, they're aiming at you."
Wonderful oni

Now this is my kind of rain.

>>45011064
Probably just that she'd be the big powerful Oni that she built up in her mind but then she turns out to be two Oni with differing personalities
It's just got her on the back foot, I think

Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni! Oni!
...
onii-chaaaaan...

>>45010903
>I couldn't deny that I was a little curious about what the merged form of Ibaraki-douji was like. I wondered if I'd ever find out.
Do you guys think we'll get a merged Kasen in this story? I'd say the foreshadowing definitely points to yes, and while I think it would be neat to see, I'm still on the fence about whether or not it would be the best way to cap off Kasen's arc.

>>45011754
There is a high probability, but i prefer for them to stay separate

>>45011754
Honestly, the kasen/arm merge is left just vague enough that you can do a couple things here
When they merged in WaHH, they weren't on the same wavelength which you could say is why ibaraki-douji was so unstable
Here, if they merge, it's probably going to be because they've come to terms with each other, but arm-chan has already expressed a desire not to merge, so it might be possible for them to temporarily merge and then have reimu cut the arm back off to separate them but without sealing her
Or maybe they could just separate themselves if they're friends now
I'd like to see ibaraki-douji in full, but I don't want to sacrifice kasen or arm-chan for it, at least not permanently

>>45011754
Probably at the wedding ceremony

>>45011802
>Here, if they merge, it's probably going to be because they've come to terms with each other, but arm-chan has already expressed a desire not to merge
Arm-chan wanted to merge in WaHH, she just changed her mind in this story because she felt betrayed by the whole re-sealing thing. Like you mentioned, I could see them wanting to merge once again if they restore their trust in each other.

>I'd like to see ibaraki-douji in full, but I don't want to sacrifice kasen or arm-chan for it
I could potentially see the full Ibaraki-douji as something akin to an averaging of the two personalities. Arm-chan is considerably more mellow in this story, so perhaps the two aren't as radically different as they were in WaHH. Perhaps after experiencing more of the world around her, she can come to a similar conclusion on her role in life that the rest of her body has, just with a more balanced perspective and less denial regarding who she is and what she's done. That would be the complement hermit Kasen needs to fill the voids in her mind and the two can merge, this time on the same wavelength and with inner peace.
Then again, Kasen has become a wholly different person after the split, whereas Arm-chan is almost like a time capsule of what she was like in the past. If both are to be shaped by their differing experiences, that moulding would differ as well. This leaves me undecided as to whether a merge is the proper way to develop their character.

>>44999011
Another one reading since day 1. Keep nurturing this talent of yours anon, free entertainment of this quality isn't as common as one would think. But make sure to rest well too because you've been grinding big time.

>>45011410
Early on in the story, I wanted him to end up with the Banx, and although I now prefer how things turned out, I wonder how that would have gone down.

"It's fine if they cause some damage. It's my senkai, after all. I can do with it as I wish." Lady Kasen told us, setting four cups of tea down on the table. "It's not much work to restore it." She looked at me. "You could learn to do the same thing, if you became a hermit." I had thought about it, especially while I was still living at the dojo regularly, but I'd learnt that being a hermit meant fending off assassination attempts from Shinigami, which had sort of soured me on the idea. Yamame sipped her tea, paused for a moment with a strange look on her face, then drank deeper. Reimu and I took far more normal sips. "So, Miss Kurodani. What brings you to see me?" Lady Kasen breathed out heavily as she asked, and I found my eyes narrowing. What was she...? "Did you want to become a hermit? If so, I'm sorry to say that I couldn't take on any more students at this time." Oh, I got it. "But still, you seem to have things worked out just fine." She looked between the two of us sharply. Yeah, she was still holding a slight grudge because Yamame got to me instead of Reimu. Happily, it didn't seem to extend any further than comments like these. I looked at Reimu, and she gave me a look back that screamed resignation.

Instead of letting Kasen try and sneak any more complaints in, I loudly asked her how things had been. "Oh, well..." She eyed Yamame for a split second, and I could immediately feel that she wasn't going to be particularly forthcoming. I couldn't necessarily blame her, I supposed. We had brought Yamame along unannounced and told her more than a little of Lady Kasen's personal business. "Everything is fine. Or rather, better. It was good of you to fetch Yuugi and Suika, you two." She told Yamame and I. I laughed awkwardly and said that it had been Reimu's idea of sorts, since she'd recommended just smacking Lady Kasen and the arm around until they sorted out their differences. "Oh, Reimu, that certainly sounds like you. Really, must you always resort to violence? There are plenty of other methods to resolve issues, and you didn't need to jump to the more painful options first, you know. And also..." She'd clearly missed the time she spent lecturing Reimu to no end, because she was indulging in it fully right now. I glanced over at Yamame, who was looking between Reimu and Lady Kasen with some confusion, so I tapped her leg underneath the table and mouthed that this sort of thing was very common with Lady Kasen. She was always looking for a chance to lecture someone, and I'd been on the receiving end plenty of times too.

Eventually, Reimu got sick of it, though she lasted longer than I'd expected. "Kasen, I'd just walked out of the weirdest meeting with an oni I've had in my entire life, which is saying something, so forgive me if I was feeling a little frustrated!" She crossed her arms and defiantly looked to the side. Lady Kasen clicked her tongue but didn't continue.

"Um, I think your dojo is really nice, Lady Ibaraki." Yamame tentatively said. I thought that she was perhaps still struggling to piece together how to act in this scenario. In fact, thinking about it, Yamame was generally a little awkward in social situations that weren't with myself or her sisters. Even with Reimu, I could tell that she was a little uncomfortable. Hearn, too, but I was willing to forget that one due to the fact that being kidnapped would probably throw anyone's social skills off a little bit. Perhaps I'd have to try and introduce her to some more people. What had Wakasagihime said...? Something about a group for youkai. Weak, docile youkai. Maybe she'd be the one to talk to. I still had a very pretty stone that I needed to return to her, anyway. "And, um, your..." She seemed to be floundering for a word, and while I had half a mind to help her, the other half of my mind was finding the sight extremely endearing. "Space..." She tried, slowly.

"Senkai?" Lady Kasen supplied, a slight tilt to her eyebrow. I wasn't certain, but she seemed to be evaluating Yamame.

"Y-Yes, um, senkai. It's very pretty. I don't get to come to places like this very often." Yamame was doing that fidgeting thing again, her hands wringing each other underneath the table. Perhaps, I thought, she was a little more awkward than I'd thought. "My sisters and I usually work underground or on the surface at night. We don’t usually get to see sights like mountain ranges in the daylight."

"Tell me, Miss Kurodani. What do you and your sisters do?" Lady Kasen asked, her eyes narrowing just slightly. Yamame began awkwardly explaining how the tsuchigumo construction business worked, as well as how the family was currently busy working on the restoration of the Hot Spring Town in the Old City. “Ah, so you’ve got a large family…”

While she was speaking, I shuffled my chair slightly closer to Reimu and asked her just what was happening at this table. "I...think that Kasen is trying to..." She trailed off and crossed her arms unhappily. "I think she's trying to determine if Kurodani is a good partner for you." I slumped in my chair, and Reimu patted me on the back. "At least she's not trying to do it to you and me again. Although, if she decides that she," Reimu nodded at Yamame, who was attempting to explain how spider webs could be used to strengthen the wooden planks of buildings, "Isn't suitable, she might try again. Or maybe the other oni will have convinced her not to. We can only hope." She laughed a little at her own words, though I struggled to laugh with her.

But happily, Lady Kasen's strange attempts at determining the exact nature of Yamame and I's relationship were thwarted when the door to the dojo banged open. "-Just saying, we've got better outlets for things than gobbling up humans now, so-" That was the voice of Suika Ibuki, once the Heavenly King known as Shuuten-douji. She was cut off by the sound of several somethings running on four legs, as well as the squawk of birds, then the impact of something, and following that, she burst into laughter. "Haha! They love you, don't they!?"

I could hear Ibaraki-douji's arm, first telling Suika to shut up, and then trying to reason with what I assumed was Houso, who was probably giving her the same treatment that he gave me. "Oh, I'm not your master, won't you just stop? Wait, not the tabard-" She let out a squeal that sounded nothing like what an oni was capable of.

"You know, 'Raki, I think you look pretty good like that. No wonder your better half loves her pets so much. They love you right back!" That voice had to be Yuugi Hoshiguma.

"They're just confusing me for her - Wait, what did you call me?" I heard the arm ask slowly. "'Raki?'" There was silence for a moment. “Hold on, what do you mean ‘better half’!?”

"Yeah." Yuugi replied cheerfully. "Since you're not quite all of Ibaraki, so you only get half the name." I heard movement, then the sound of something being picked up. “But she got all the moral righteousness.”

"...Huh." The arm said, slowly. I heard her stand up, and finally, the three walked into the kitchens. The arm was still brushing stray tiger hairs off of her clothes and trying to straighten her tabard, which looked like something had been pulling on it with their teeth. Suika Ibuki looked wholly unconcerned with anything currently happening, and Yuugi Hoshiguma, the supposedly strongest of them, had stopped moving. I watched curiously as her eyes followed a path from Lady Kasen, to Reimu, to me, and finally to Yamame. And then her face turned as scarlet as her horn, and I remembered what had happened the last time I had been near her. I turned to look at Yamame, who looked back at me and raised a hand in uncertainty. "You know, maybe that's not a bad name." The arm said, turning to Yuugi, who had seemingly locked up entirely. "Huh." She said, poking a sharp nail into the tallest of the oni's chest. It elicited no response but a sort of drawn-out whine. "Ibuki. I think Hoshiguma is broken."

"You - You two..." Yuugi finally stammered out, staring between Yamame and I. "You were the ones that - That..." Her brain seemed to have locked up again. “K-Kissed…”

"Oh, this is just sad." Suika muttered under her breath. "Get over it, you hopeless romantic!" She barked, slapping Yuugi in the back so hard that my chair rocked backward slightly. Reimu, somehow, had leaned forward exactly as it happened which had resulted in her missing it entirely, and she looked at me in confusion. "Moving on. Reimu, I haven't seen you in ages."

"That's because you went off to the underground, all 'I'll pay for your kotatsu later, Reimu!' You remember that?" Reimu asked, her voice somewhat sharp. Suika scratched at the back of her head and laughed.

"Oh, was it that long ago? Sorry, it's hard to tell the time down there. I’ll pay you back, don’t worry." Personally, I thought she didn't sound very sorry. "Oh, and you," She continued, looking at me now. "Sorry about trying to choke you for saying Ibaraki's name. I thought you might be someone more…dangerous."

Reimu, who had been taking a sip of her tea at the time, choked and spluttered. "You - You did what!?" She slammed her cup back on the table. "Alright, I've had enough of you doing what you feel like! Come on!" And then the Hakurei Shrine Maiden jumped to her feet, grabbed Shuuten-douji, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, by one of her horns, and dragged her out of the room. "We're fighting, and if I win, you're repaying me for the kotatsu and you're gonna apologize again for choking him!" I heard Suika's laughter as she stumbled out of the room awkwardly thanks to Reimu's grip on her.

With a seat vacated, the arm was quick to slip into it. "Hm. Raki. That's not too bad." She muttered. Then, she looked across the table at Lady Kasen, who's jaw clenched ever so slightly. "Kasen." She said, just slightly frostily.

"Still won't call me partner, then." Lady Kasen replied, her tone neutral but with a slight hint of wistfulness underneath it. I remembered that she’d been incredibly upset when the arm had rejected the name just after being unsealed, so I supposed that this response was at least an improvement. "Shall I call you 'Raki', too?"

"Partners don't betray each other." The arm replied, and while the tone was still frosty, there was an undercurrent of hurt in her voice that made me feel a little sad too. I looked over at Yamame, who was looking between the two as if she too was feeling some sort of distress. "Call me what you wish." She had been talking to Lady Kasen, but I thought about it and decided that 'Raki' was at least a better name than continuing to think of her as 'the arm' in my mind.

"Betrayal is a strong word." Lady Kasen replied, much calmer than she had been the last time she had tried to talk to Raki. "If I had not intervened at the moment I did, you would have eaten the Hakurei Shrine Maiden." Now, her eyes were sharp. "Wouldn't you?"

"That whole situation only came about because you wanted to run from your past. Pretend you're something else." Raki's voice was cold. "The Shrine Maiden was only there because you wanted to pretend that your past was my fault and not equally your own decisions." Her eyes grew sharper. "We are, both of us, Ibaraki-douji." It was beginning to feel like Yamame and I were not present at this table anymore. The two facets of Ibaraki-douji seemed to only have eyes for each other, and even Yuugi Hoshiguma seemed to have faded into the background.

Suddenly, I didn't want to be there. This seemed to be the sort of personal topic that wasn’t entirely meant for my ears, let alone Yamame’s. So, I abruptly pushed my chair back, stood, and then invited Yamame for a tour of the dojo before the two oni before me, who should have been one, could come to blows. Or tears. Either way, I wasn't taking no for an answer and was around the table and pulling Yamame from the chair in seconds. Yuugi Hoshiguma still stood at the door, though, so I gripped Yamame's hand tighter and asked her if she could let us pass. "Huh?" The oni ahead of me frowned, then looked over at the oni behind me. "Um, yeah. Sure." She shuffled to the side, her eyes now locked on Yamame and I's interlocked hands. It was difficult to describe the noise she made then, but I decided that I'd rather leave instead of deal with it.

I took Yamame to my room in the dojo, instead. Happily, I'd remembered to make the beds and tidy before I'd left for the caves, so it wasn't a mess inside. "Um, so..." Yamame began, then trailed off. "Ibaraki-douji...is two people. And they're both her, and they don't seem to like each other much, and Hoshiguma-douji and Shuuten-douji are both here, and..." Now Yamame was starting to look like her brain was locking up, and I was getting a little tired of it all, so I dragged her to the bed and collapsed on top of it. After a moment, she lay back on the bed, next to me. "This is a lot more than I was expecting." With my face buried into the mattress, I asked her if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "A...good thing, I think." I shifted my head to look at her. "Well, I'm learning more about the oni of old." She said, shrugging. "Though I knew Yuugi Hoshiguma somewhat, and I've spoken to Suika Ibuki once or twice. I never knew that Ibaraki-douji - Um, Kasen - was here too." She frowned. "Why don't they like each other? I heard what the arm - Er, Raki - said to Lady Ibaraki. Or, um, Lady Kasen...?" I shook my head and said that it was private business, so I didn't want to tell her much more without the two halves of Ibaraki-douji saying I could.

There was a loud explosion from outside and I jolted. I supposed that Reimu and Suika's fight must have gotten intense. I stumbled to my feet and went out into the hallway, where I looked out of a window. Outside, I could see Reimu, performing backward handsprings to dodge out of the way of a Suika Ibuki who was larger than the dojo itself. She was trying to stomp on Reimu, which seemed incredibly dangerous to me, but Reimu seemed to be having no difficulty at all in evading the massive shoes of the huge oni.

Clearly, my brain was locking up too, because all I did was rub my temples and walk straight back into my room, then fall into the bed and hold Yamame tightly. There were complicated things going on outside, and I didn't want to think about them. "Um, thank you for the hug." Yamame said with some confusion, patting my head. I told her that the Ibaraki-douji situation just had me feeling a little down. "Maybe they just need to fight each other until they've vented all their frustrations." I chuckled a little, because it was just about the same advice that Reimu had come up with and been lectured for. There really did seem to be more in common between Reimu and Yamame than either of them seemed to think. “Are you laughing at my ideas?” She asked me, and I shook my head, drawing her into another hug. It had just been funny, that was all.

Wanting a distraction, I asked Yamame if she'd ever thought about hanging about with mermaids and werewolves. When she stared at me and asked me if I was feeling okay, I shrugged, laughed, and kissed her.

I want to see how Yam will react when Anon suggests that she should join this group of "weak and docile" youkai.

>>45022570
I imagine he will not be making that particular line part of the invitation
They make a big deal about how strong the youkai underground are in SA and Yamame was able to fight both Flan and Toutetsu and come out of it alive, so she's definitely no weakling

Yammy would probably get along just fine with them as long as a certain wolf keeps quiet about her attempts at her boyfriend.

This makes me wonder which of the onis is stronger, I've never seen any statements that can give a clear strength level for any of them.

>>44990009
>then there's that other story
huh?

>>45022634
Last time someone asked the aftermatch nearly made the old hell cave in.

>>45022622
And the mermaid giving him shinning gems as a gift. And the waitress which he asked out before.

>>45022634
Overall, probably Kasen.

>>44999011
Thank you! Anon!

I hope Reimu doesn't tire herself out too much again beating up Suika. Even a twelve hour deposit isn't enough to clear the loan from a sleep bank when you're really, really in debt.
Also, since much of this side plot happens off screen, I think it would be neat to see some Kasen chapters to fill in the blanks. If that would be unnecessary to fully tell Anon's tale, I think it could even stand on its own as a side story. Something like, I dunno, how Xenoblade Torna was originally conceived as chapter eight of 2 but eventually became its own game.

>>45022622
>>45022934
Kagerou more or less backed off after finding out he isn't single, Wakasagihime left her stones on accident, and he asked out Banki way before he even met Yamame. I think they're safe.

>>45023293
>Wakasagihime left her stones on accident,
Or maybe not....

>>45022598
Socially she does seem to be pretty weak, at least in this story.
So in those terms, Waggy could be the strongest.

>>45022144
>>45022122
I wish to take a moment to appreciate easily flustered Yuugi

>>45024369
Please pray for her when the rest of them send Yuugi up to anons room to fetch them for dinner.

>>45024637
imagine yuugi hearing the noises and having no idea what they are so she just throws the door to anon's room open
she faints immediately and when she wakes up, she's nearly catatonic and incapable of looking at them

>>45024637
>>45024659
And then Kasen reprimands them for not being able to keep the snake in its cage for 24 hours.
Actually, that's going to be a REAL bad impression of Yamame on her. They really shouldn't be doing that.

>>45024974
They aren't even doing anything TOO scandalous, just a little kissy kissy.
Which of course to Yuugi reports as "t-t-they... they were... m-m-m... MAKING BABIES"

>>45023314
The stone that makes you obliged to marry her, just like with celestial's veils

>>44997788
>>45022899
Kurodani Yamame Has No Gods by your errant AIfag. Originally a CYOA on Touhou-Project.com, if that means anything.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28703256/chapters/70372335

Have in mind though that this Yamame is somewhat different from the one you've come to love here. There are a few inspirations (I think I've spotted), but overall rather a different person.

>>45028885
I had forgotten about Iku, did she regret "killing" Anon?

>>45024637
Yuugi is relieved they're not kissing and just doing some weird form of wrestling instead, although she's not sure why they're doing it in the nude.

>>45029737
>I had forgotten about Iku
Many such cases.

>>45029762
Yuugi would cheer one of them on thinking that it must be intense if their clothes flew off then wonder why they got so flustered

Yuugi can have her tits flopping around after a wardrobe malfunction during a fight but if you mention kissing to her she runs away with a red face bursting though several walls
I don't think i know which dere is this

>>45031358
Onidere.
The most perplexing of them all.

>>45029599
Thanks!

>>44999011
I've also been reading from the start, and I daresay you've let some of my posts influence a few major plot points.
When I found the first thread, I was browsing /jp/ thinking about how there wasn't anything worth looking at here...
You have my thanks for making this board a worthwhile place to visit.

>>45031388
>>45031358
Affection and lovey-dovey are the greatest weapon against oni it seems.
Well, at least Yuugi

>>44975226
>laughing at Mokou's predicament
I've forgot to ask before, but is this perhaps a Mystical Chain reference? It reminds me a lot of the boss fight against the two hourai.

I could tell that Reimu was on the back foot, if not by sight, then by the sounds of Suika Ibuki's voice getting more and more frustrated. "Come on, Reimu! Fight back! Are you even trying!?" She was yelling and her voice seemed to amplify with her height, so I could hear her easily through the walls of the dojo. After the third such shout, I finally gave up on kissing Yamame until she couldn't think straight and stood back up from the bed with an annoyed sigh. Yamame followed me up, breathing heavily and slightly wild-eyed. "Ugh, Reimu, you look like you'd love a good nap! You think if I laced my fists with caffeine, you'd dodge a little harder!?" This was punctuated by a thundering boom and, sending cold fear down my heart, the sound of Reimu shouting in pain.

Immediately, I grabbed Yamame's hand and rushed down the hall, just barely angling my body to dodge Yuugi Hoshiguma, who seemed to have been coming the same way. "Hey, what-!?" I yelled an apology for nearly crashing into her, then said that Yamame and I had been kissing. I heard the clattering sound of her sake dish hitting the floor and shook my head. Perhaps I shouldn't have said that, but I had more important issues at the moment, so I continued, and at one point, I leaped over Houso, who was wandering through the corridor, then turned my head to see that Yamame had given up on running and was simply floating near the ceiling where she wouldn't run into anything. I was forced to make a large sidestep to avoid Kume, Lady Kasen's giant eagle, and finally, I made it outside.

First, I spotted Lady Kasen and Raki, both standing a ways back and watching the fight. The disagreement they had been having earlier seemed to have been forgotten, which I took to mean that at least one ongoing argument was halfway solved. Yamame landed next to me, and I turned to take in the fight that I'd heard. In front of me, swaying unsteadily on her feet, was Reimu. She spat some blood from her mouth and wiped it with the back of her hand. In front of her, shrunk back to normal size, was Suika. She had her arms crossed and a disapproving look on her face. "Reimu, this is really disappointing." She said, with a little dejection in her voice. "When's the last time you slept?"

"I woke up a few hours ago. I'd slept for twelve hours." Reimu's reply came through gritted teeth and a harsh temper. I couldn't see her face from where I was standing, but the way she gripped her gohei told me that she was not happy. "Don't - fucking - patronise me."

"Tw-Twelve hours!?" Suika fell out of her relaxed looking pose for a moment and stood up straight. "And you weren't even drunk or anything? You're a human, you know? That much sleep will make anyone feel rough." She rolled her neck and cracked her knuckles. "How's about I wake you up?" And then she was moving, launching at Reimu so quickly that I almost missed it. Reimu, meanwhile, seemed only able to just barely get her gohei up to deflect the incoming fist, and then she was parrying, sweeping the gohei back and forth, but I could tell that it was an extremely close action, where Reimu would be getting hit if she was a split second late.

"She's a little half-cooked." Raki commented to Lady Kasen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them both cross their arms and transfer their weights to their opposite feet as if they were performing the action into a mirror. It was just slightly unsettling. "Not sleeping. Not eating, the last time I - We - fought her."

"Reimu has historically shown a constant inability to properly take care of her own body." Lady Kasen muttered back, raising one of her hands to rub her head. "It is just as constant a source of annoyance." She turned her head toward me. "I thought I told you to make sure she was well." I raised my hands and said that I had been busy too, and Reimu had gone and fought continuously for almost twenty-four hours without my knowledge. I'd already reprimanded her about not eating while we were all still at Yamame's home, though. "Perhaps you've been getting distracted." Lady Kasen said, just slightly more sharply. She was looking at me, but I know that her eyes had shifted slightly toward the side that Yamame was standing on. Yes, I wanted to take care of Reimu when she needed it, but I couldn't be expected to look after her every second of every day.

"And perhaps you're getting a bit too involved." Raki told Lady Kasen. "For a part of me, you're awfully nosy." The two Ibaraki's turned toward each other at the exact same moment, and sensing the beginning of an argument, I looked back the other way.

Yuugi Hoshiguma had just pushed open the doors to the dojo and was stepping outside. She paused slightly when she saw that Yamame and I were still holding hands, but shook her head clenched her jaw, and continued, joining us so that the five of us were in a line, watching Reimu fight Suika. After a moment, I crossed my arms, and then Yamame did the same and so did Yuugi, so now we were all stood, cross-armed, watching Reimu fight Suika. And the fight seemed to be taking a turn for the worst. Despite the burst of energy Reimu had clearly gotten between waking up and starting the fight, it had dissipated fast, and she was getting sloppier with her movement. I saw her just barely graze Suika's chain, the one with the sphere on the end of it, but get caught a second later when the other chain, this one with the pyramid shape on it, wrapped around her arms. To her credit, even though she was struggling, Reimu immediately threw herself backwards, pulling the chain taught and sending Suika stumbling forward. Reimu landed on her back, then immediately threw her hand back against the ground and launched herself upward in a handspring, smashing both of her shoes against Suika's face hard enough to send her flying backwards.

The chain unravelled, leaving Reimu to stagger forward, swaying badly. I was starting to really worry that she needed to go to Eientei or something. "Total exhaustion." Lady Kasen muttered. "Sleeping for half a day won't fix that. She needs multiple days of getting a healthy amount of rest."

"She needs to do something to end this fight or she's going to need a little more than rest." Raki muttered back.

I don't think Reimu expected that Suika would dissolve into mist as she fell back, and her exhausted state meant that she missed the mist moving to her back, where Suika reappeared and swung her foot into Reimu's back hard enough to send her crashing to the ground. More concerningly, she didn't get back up. She tried, and then fell back. "Wow." Suika said out loud. "She actually fainted."

"That Reimu's sure not on peak form today." Yuugi commented, drinking from her massive sake dish. "Needs more meat in her diet."

"Huh." Raki said. "She put up way more of a fight against me." Lady Kasen cleared her throat. "Against us." Ibaraki-douji's arm raised a hand to her mouth. "Throw her in the water! That'll wake her up!"

"Excellent idea!" Suika shouted back, leaning down to pick the unconscious Shrine Maiden up. I started to push forward to stop them, and then, something strange happened.

First, Suika froze, her arm halfway outstretched. I could see her eyes shift from Reimu's face down to the gohei at her side. Strangely, it was beginning to vibrate. Suddenly, Suika's eyes widened, and she threw herself backwards several steps. "Get inside!" She roared at us, making Yamame and I jump, while the three oni merely watched. "You're not gonna like what comes next!"

"Something that scares even Shuuten-douji?" Raki muttered curiously. "This, I have to see."

"I don't think I even know of this one." Lady Kasen added. "Reimu's always full of surprises. Just when I think I've seen all she's capable of..."

Yuugi scratched at her chin. "That Shrine Maiden's stronger than she looks. She..." Yuugi trailed off, staring at Reimu's body.

And indeed, Reimu was beginning to float. Her body was lifting from the ground, with no one supporting her. Her head fell back, and I could see that her eyes were closed, but her lips were moving, like she was murmuring something silently, despite the fact that she was clearly unconscious. I looked at Yamame and noticed that she was frozen too, and her eyes were widening. I nudged her, but got no response. I felt like I was beginning to hear something. Something vibrating in the air, like something was approaching. Suika had backed up a few more steps, and all traces of her carefree nature had disappeared, leaving only the oni, the Heavenly King, behind. She was braced, her legs apart and her arms raised, and now I was really starting to worry about what I was about to see. Reimu's body seemed to be gathering energy, a vague white mist beginning to pulse around her. "What...Do we do?" Yamame whispered, her eyes fixed on the otherworldly sight, which was saying something considering what I’d seen some youkai do.

I opened my mouth slowly.

Reimu suddenly spun around in mid-air, and even though her eyes were still shut, her arms suddenly spread out, her fingers outstretched. Her gohei began to spin violently right next to her. The mist around her concentrated, and suddenly, I just knew what was going to happen. I grabbed Yamame's hand and screamed at her to run, and then we were both sprinting for the dojo. I spared a glance at Reimu, and was just in time to see the mist explode outwards, sending otherworldly talismans that looked like Reimu's ofuda, but not quite, out in massive spheres, and huge, sweeping, spiralling streams of talismans came flying out from six massive yin-yang orbs which had appeared from nowhere and began to orbit her body, despite the fact that she wasn't aiming. I saw Suika's expression change to something between determination and amazement, and then Yamame and I were inside the dojo, and we both fell to the floor, breathing heavily. I looked back and saw that the other oni had been forced to get involved, and they were all trying to dodge the unrelenting stream of attacks that Reimu was firing. It didn't seem to be going too well, because Reimu's attacks weren't discriminating for targets, but attacking everywhere at once in massive, barely penetrable walls.

I stumbled over to the first window I found, and could see that Suika was managing to barely find the gaps in the walls of talismans, and every few seconds, she would manage to dart forward and land a blow against Reimu, but she'd be forced back immediately afterward.

"What...is that...?" Yamame whispered. I looked at her and saw that she had backed up against the wall, and she looked rather frightened. "There's no way that she's using a spell card. That's something else. She's not even conscious!" I crouched down in front of her and gathered her into my arms, and told her that everything would be fine. Truthfully, I had no clue what magic Reimu had pulled out, but it was clear that she was tapping into something that was beyond the ken of even normal magicians like Marisa or Lady Patchouli. I got back up to look out of the window again. Now, Suika was started to look a little battered, but she was still darting in and out of the walls of bullets to land small hits against Reimu's unconscious body.

She looked to the side. "What the hell are you idiots doing!?" She roared at the other oni, who were further back and still having to dodge carefully. "There's no time limit on this! Either she goes down or we all go down!" Before anyone could respond, Suika was caught in the path of one of the streams of ofuda erupting from the yin-yang orb, and she was thrown backwards, slamming into the wall of the dojo, and making the whole place shake. I stumbled backward, then fell against the wall inside.

"Partner!" Lady Kasen yelled. "One shot!" I looked out of the doors that we had ran through and saw that Lady Kasen had yelled at Raki, who's expression was veering between excitement and annoyance. Lady Kasen's bandaged arm shot out to bat away some talismans that Raki hadn't seen, and though it temporarily caused the bandages to unravel, Lady Kasen managed to keep the hand together within seconds. "You're the only one who can do it!"

"Why didn't she use this when she fought us!? Now I just feel cheated!" Raki shouted over the omnipresent sound of bullets impacting with the ground, walls and the distance peaks of the other mountains in Lady Kasen's senkai. "Alright, throw me!" She turned and shouted at Yuugi, who had taken multiple hits but didn't seem all that injured by it. "Straight at her!"

"Don't have to ask me twice!" Yuugi dropped her sake plate, dashed through the next set of bullets until she was next to the comparatively shorter Raki, then cracked her knuckles. "Ready!?"

"Just - Get - It - Done!" Suika yelled, still pinned against the wall, and using her arms to try and defend even slightly from the bullets coming her way. "I could barely handle this during the feasts back then!"

"Here we go!" Yuugi roared, forcing me to clap my hands over my ears. She slammed a foot against the ground, throwing up a cloud of dirt that disrupted some of the coming talismans. Immediately, she grabbed hold of Raki by the neck of her tabard, turned, and lifted a foot into the air. Slamming it down again, she swung her arm overhead, hurling Ibaraki-douji's arm straight at the bullets being fired by Reimu. For a split second, everything stopped, and we all stared as the fragmented oni curled into a ball, spun twice, then threw her limbs out just in time to crash through the next sphere of talismans with a pained roar. She slammed into Reimu with her shoulder, wrapped her arms around the Shrine Maiden, and forcibly asserted gravity's hold on them, sending both of them crashing into the ground. "Ha! Perfect shot!" I heard Yuugi shout.

The bullets stopped spraying, and the yin-yang orbs blinked back out of existence. Suddenly, Raki was on top of Reimu, and her fist was pulled back. I crashed through the door just as I heard Lady Kasen shout. "Don't hurt her!" I'd never reach her in time, but I saw it in Raki's eyes. Conflict. Her teeth gritted, she began to throw her fist downward, and Lady Kasen screamed. I squeezed my eyes shut involuntarily. There was another loud booming sound, and after a moment, I dared open my eyes.

Ibaraki-douji's arm had crashed into the ground, right next to Reimu's head. She was breathing heavily, and as she slowly pulled her hand back, I saw that it was shaking. "Feeling - So intense." She muttered, before rolling to the side and collapsing flat on her back next to Reimu, panting for breath. "Barely resisted it..."

I slid to my knees right next to Reimu. She was unconscious, but when I brought my hands around to check her temperature, she stirred. "...Huh?" She murmured. "What...happened?" I stared at her, lost for words. Reimu shifted her head to the side. "Did I...win?" I broke down into nervous laughs. I supposed that she could call it winning in some form. “Ugh…” Reimu groaned, raising her shaking arms to cover her head. “Head hurts…”

Ahead of me, Lady Kasen fell to her knees next to Raki. "You didn't kill her." She whispered. "You - You were so close, but you didn't..."

"'Course I didn't." Raki replied, raising a shaking hand. "That's what we would have done. Back then." She let the arm fall back to the ground. "Not now."

"I..." Lady Kasen began. "You're really trying to change, aren't you...?"

"Just noticed?" Raki dryly asked. "The instinct is still so hard to resist. I only just..." She let out a shaky breath.

"Don't worry." Lady Kasen said, tentatively reaching out for her reflection's hand. "It'll get easier. I'll help you."

The two exchanged a look, and I looked back at Reimu as if I'd been intruding. Not wanting a repeat, I helped her to her feet, only for her to completely collapse against me, barely awake. "Think I'm gonna need to sleep again..." She mumbled. I swept her up into my arms, hoping that she hadn't been too injured when Raki had crashed into her. I told Lady Kasen that I would take Reimu to a bedroom, and she nodded at me, despite being clearly more pre-occupied with talking to Raki. Funnily enough, it seemed like Reimu's suggestion for them to fight had worked. She probably hadn't expected that to mean that they would fight against her, though.

"She's one strong opponent, huh?" I looked up to see that Yuugi Hoshiguma was approaching me. She’d re-acquired her sake dish on the way, and I was somehow unsurprised to see that not a single drop of it seemed to have spilled during the entire ordeal. "Haven't seen a human like her, not for a long time." I nodded, but said that I was more concerned for her health at the moment. "Hm." Yuugi smiled slightly. "As you should be. Strength's no good without the proper body to wield it." She stepped past me, then moved over to Suika, who had slumped against the wall, to check on her. I could see some blood, and plenty of bruises, but seeing as she was such a strong oni, I hoped that she would be fine.

Yamame joined me again once I was inside, though she seemed to be keeping a bit of a berth from Reimu. "What if she does it again?" She asked, somewhat fearfully.

"Does what...?" Reimu mumbled, seemingly unaware of what she had done. I said that it seemed to happen when she was in danger, and I wasn't putting her in danger. Instead, I took her to my room and laid her down on the bed, where she immediately fell into a fitful sleep.

"That was scary." Yamame finally said, shaking slightly. I crossed the room and pulled her into my arms, then told her that she was fine, and it wasn't something that was likely to happen again. I had thought that she and Reimu were beginning to get along well, and I hoped that this wasn't going to be a step back. "No, it's just...You forget, sometimes, how strong she is. I mean, all youkai know that she can inflict serious damage, but that..." She shivered slightly.

Well, then. Seemed like we'd made some great progress in getting Lady Kasen and the arm to reconcile, but now Yamame was afraid of Reimu.

It really was just one step forward, two steps back around here.

It's a good thing Marisa wasn't there to see that, that girl has taken enough physical blows already, taking blows to her ego might just finish her off.

wow this chapter was so intense i could feel reimu's musou tensei coming inside of me

It was a good chapter, took two and a half super oni to take down one sleepy 'mu. I love that grump

>>45037400
this so much this

I had doubts with Kasen being brought to tears when the arm was first brought back. But I've come to really like this take on them. You get my thumbs up GJ award writefriend.
Definetly want a more in depth flash back of them coming to terms, possibly from a Kasen who's a drunken mess after a few weeks of drinking with Suika and Yuugi.

Anon has youkai trauma and Yamame has human trauma, they really are meant for each other

>>45040075
Truly a match made in heaven

because of this story, I went and finished reading WaHH. any recommendations if I want more Kasen?

>>45044231
She's playable on the floating fighting games, not much else after that unless you're willing to look for fan content, good luck finding something that isn't porn if you go for it.

The only thing worse than a drunk oni was an injured oni. And the only thing worse than an injured oni, was a drunk, injured, whiny oni.

So, lucky me, I was now in senkai, with one roughed up oni, another slightly roughed up oni, and two halves of an oni who hadn't left each other's side since Reimu's unconscious bullet-spraying incident. Yamame didn't want to be alone in the same room as Reimu - which happened to be my room - so she wouldn't leave my side, Suika Ibuki kept trying to get up and wander off despite being incredibly injured by practically a hailstorm of danmaku from Reimu, Yuugi Hoshiguma wasn't quite so injured, but as a result was getting bored and had started wandering around and making Suika drink with her, and the two halves of Ibaraki-douji had taken over the table in the kitchen for a long conversation.

As a result, I didn't really know what to do with myself. I couldn't exactly stop Suika, being that she was an oni and I was a human, but I couldn't exactly stand by and watch as she injured herself more by trying to get back up. I'd tried explaining to Yamame that Reimu wasn't that dangerous, and that she'd be fine as long as Yamame didn't try and hurt her, but the easily scared earth spider wasn't having any of it. "B-But, what if she rolls off the bed or something? She might think I've tried to hit her!" At this point, Yamame had devolved into suggesting the most ridiculous scenarios she could think of with complete sincerity. It would have been adorable if it wasn't happening between two people who I cared a great deal about.

Since I couldn't do much with Reimu other than let her sleep some more, and Yamame wouldn't stay with her unless I was there, I decided to go and talk to the oni. If anything, I was curious about the events that had led to everything. Yamame and I entered the room that Suika had been dumped in, which was somewhere down the corridor. Yamame was silent as I moved to the edge of the bed, and she looked a little anxious.

"What, Reimu's thing? Yeah, she did that to me once, when we were having festivals for eleven days in a row. Thought I'd knocked her out, then up she got." Suika tried to get up once more, and I reflexively reached out and pushed her back down, which was something like trying to push against a brick wall. Happily, Suika only stared at my hand for a moment before relaxing back to the bed. Someone, probably Yuugi, had dragged her in after the fight had ended, and she'd at least spared the effort to wipe her face clean. It seemed that when Reimu had driven both of her shoes into her face, she'd cut her just a little, but in my experience, cuts on the forehead tended to bleed a lot and for a while. "She had me bouncing back and forth between those yin-yang balls of hers forever. Didn't even know it had happened until...Ooh, about three days later? She thought she was just hungover." That sounded very much like Reimu, capable of pulling off incredible acts without even realising she was doing it. "Why do you ask? Worried?"

A little bit, I conceded. I knew that Reimu was very strong, both physically and mentally, but I didn't like the way she had been pushing herself lately. "Can't say I've noticed. Then again, I was in the underground for a while, then I was here." Suika, it seemed, had become far easier to talk to. The first time, she'd threatened me and tried to choke me, but now that she was injured, she just spoke, cheerfully and calmly. "Ugh, useless, useless, useless. I hate being injured. Can't do anything. Hey, is my gourd there?" I frowned, looking down. No, I said, I couldn't see a gourd. "Huh? Where the hell is...Oh, it's with her in the village. Right. Ugh, you got any sake?" I did not, and I wasn't sure that drinking was the best thing to do right after getting injured. "Oh, because you'd know all about what's good for an oni?" Suika asked me, with just a hint of bite in her voice. I raised my hands and shook my head. She was the injured one, not me. "Oh no, I'm starting to sober up..." She threw her head toward me, which was halted by the way her horn smacked into the side of the bed. "Hey, boy." I mumbled that I was an adult. "So? You're still a boy to me. I need a distraction before a centuries long hangover either kills me, or makes me kill you. Give me something to talk about."

That sounded like something that an oni could actually do, so I decided not to try and tempt fate. Instead, I asked her how her and Yuugi's entrance to Lady Kasen's senkai had gone. How had they convinced Lady Kasen to stop, for lack of a better word, moping? A small smile grew on Suika's face. "It's a good story. Tell you what," She pointed at Yamame, who'd been awkwardly stood in the corner of the room the entire time, seemingly not sure what to do with herself. "Why don't you go and find me some sake so I can get back to my much more natural state, and I'll tell you all about it?"

"U-Um, are you sure?" Yamame asked, looking worried. "Um, Miss Oni."

"Huh? Yes? Come on, someone's gonna be dying in this room otherwise, and I don't much like his odds." Suika frowned. "You weren't this much of a worrywart earlier. Relax."

Yamame, I said quietly. It was probably best to do as she said. Plus, she was the injured one here, so there was no reason to deliberately not make her comfortable. I got up from the bedside and crossed over the room to Yamame. I took hold of her hands and asked her if she was okay. "Yes. No. Um, maybe." I squeezed her hands just a little tighter and told her that she was fine. "I know. I just..." Finally, she shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Sorry." She didn't need to apologize. Louder, now. "Sorry, Miss Ibuki. I'll go and..." She trailed off awkwardly, then shook her head and left the room before she could say anything else.

"She's a little awkward, huh." Suika remarked as Yamame's footsteps faded. "Kind of endearing, though. She used to spend so much time around the oni, too, when Former Hell was still being built up." I couldn't say I knew what had happened, but she always seemed just a little out of step when she was talking to people other than her sisters or me. "Okay, well...I trust her to bring me something to drink, so I'll just start the story now." She tried once more to sit up, then breathed out heavily.


It was only when Yuugi's body was further underground than it was above ground that she signalled a time-out to their fighting session. Suika sighed heavily, then fell back onto the ground next to the taller oni, who was struggling to pull her head and entire upper body from the ground about as much as Suika had struggle to get out of the wall that Yuugi had punched her into. And of course, Yuugi didn't have any density changing powers, so she was stuck struggling. "Score for me! That's two points I've got on you!" Suika cheered, reaching for her gourd. It was not there, and she groped around for a moment before remembering that she had left it with Miyoi. Probably for the best, too, because another repeat of that incident with the taotie and she'd have Reimu breathing down her neck. Again.

At least, assuming she could take some time off from that boy she'd taken an interest in.

Yuugi slammed a fist into the ground until her arm was buried up to her elbow, and then she pulled a large chunk of rock out of the ground, which finally gave her the leverage to pull the rest of her head out of the ground too. "All that third-rate swill you drink has dulled your head even more than normal, Suika. You've got one point on me, not two." She shook her head hard until all of the stone fragments trapped in the blonde curls were shook loose, then she fell from her knees onto her rear so she could sit across from Suika. Reaching behind her, she lifted her sake plate, which still had some sake left in spite of the fact that Suika had thrown Yuugi at the ground from well in the air, and then smashed her head into the ground until she was half buried. Sometimes, Suika wondered how Yuugi did it, but the alcohol usually wiped the question from her mind before long. "So, what was it?" She took a drink and sighed happily.

"What was what?" Suika asked, eyeing Yuugi's drink enviously. Next time, she was dragging Miyoi down here, Shrine Maiden or no Shrine Maiden.

"We both know that you weren't trapped in the cave to the surface for that long because you were actually stuck, Suika." Yuugi told her, lifting herself from the ground. Her deep blue kimono had somehow avoided any particularly bad damage, though it was scuffed just a little at the top in a way that left it unable to properly cover her shoulders. Yuugi didn't seem to care, which was interesting to Suika because she had a tendency to fall apart at the slightest hint of anything even remotely lewd from anyone else, but her own bare shoulders and cleavage meant nothing to her. Someday, Suika though, she would tell her exactly where babies came from, and on that day, Yuugi Hoshiguma's head would explode from embarrassment.

But, that day was not today. "I met an interesting couple. That boy Reimu keeps talking about, and the tsuchigumo, Yamame Kurodani. You remember her, don't you?" It was fortunate that Yuugi had already pulled Suika to her feet, or she'd probably have dropped her right there and then. Suika had heard all about the embarrassing encounter, albeit through a lot of stammering and euphemisms when Yuugi became too overwhelmed to say what had actually happened. In the end, Suika had discovered that a human and a youkai had burst out of the corner of a street right in front of Yuugi, kissing intensely and rubbing up on each other, and Yuugi had promptly ran away to cool her head. Which...really didn't seem like much to Suika, but she'd known Yuugi more than long enough to know that she was very sensitive around these sorts of things.

After giving Yuugi a moment to recover, the pair began to walk. They'd fought in the air, and their fight had finished in what was happily an unused bit of land in the Hot Spring town situated just a small way off from the Old City itself. Suika sighed, rolling her neck as they passed by the canal running through the twisting streets. The water ran just fast enough to create a satisfying sound, which was enhanced by the muted conversations that Suika could hear around her. Various other underground youkai wandered around them, shifting out of their way once they realised just who was in front of them. "Hang on." Suika muttered to Yuugi, who turned to look as Suika entered the first pub she found. A few minutes later, she emerged with two more bottles of strong sake, one of which she offered to Yuugi. They continued their walk, and Suika was able to top up on her alcohol until everything was just the right amount of fuzzy again. They crossed a bridge, then headed through an alleyway where Suika was certain that she'd heard...noises, but she ignored it. Finally, they emerged into a far more open space.

Formerly the largest of the hot springs in this part of Former Hell, the massive keystone sat in the middle of the water had split it into multiple, smaller springs. "It's about the challenge." Yuugi commented, continuing a conversation they'd had when Suika had first arrived to see the massive rock tainting the view. "The spiders want to get rid of it, but they need the oni to actually lift it, except the oni keep trying to do it on their own, so nothing gets done."

"Why don't you just do it?" Suika asked, genuinely curious. "You could lift that thing with one hand and me punching you in the back of the head."

"Where's the fun in that? If they want to do it, they can try. I'll move it only if it's clear that nothings getting done." Yuugi shrugged, leaning against the cave wall behind them as they looked across the sprawling Hot Spring Town. "The spiders complain, but they're getting more work done while those lot can be distracted by the keystone." She took a long drink from her cup and let out a satisfied sigh. "Alright, you're keeping me in suspense. What did they say?"

Suika waited for Yuugi to take another drink. "You ever think about Ibaraki?" She asked, then stifled a laugh as she waited for Yuugi to finish chocking.

"I-Ibaraki?" She asked, still coughing slightly. "I haven't seen her in years. The last time was...When she borrowed the dish," She raised her sake dish, "For some party she was involved in on the surface." Frowning, Yuugi finished he drink. "Why? Does she want some exotic drink to impress some humans?"

"I didn't say Kasen Ibara, the hermit. I said Ibaraki. Our Ibaraki." Suika leaned back against the cave wall, then waved when a passing tsuchigumo worker caught her eye. "The one we lost."

Yuugi straightened up, and Suika saw a slight edge to her eyes that meant she was being serious. "Sometimes." She said, staring out into the distance wistfully. "Only when everything's quiet and the silence twists my thoughts out of control. Kasen Ibara, the hermit, doesn't have her emotions. Our Ibaraki had an appreciation for the world that I've never seen from another oni outside of us. She felt emotions on a deeper level, and we loved her for it, even when she'd cry at a particularly beautiful sunset or sunrise or become furious because a man she took an interest in didn't immediately proclaim his love for her." Suika saw Yuugi's fist clench She could sympathize. When she’d first seen Kasen Ibara, she’d had no clue what to think. "Then her arm was cut off, and that was it. She was never the same." Yuugi shook her head and let out a long breath. "I know you probably miss her even more than I do considering…You know, but she's gone."

"Well..." Suika scratched at her cheek. "About that..." She waited for Yuugi to look at her before delivering the news. "I hear that there's currently a hermit and an angry arm sitting in a senkai up on the surface." Yuugi stopped and stared. Her mouth hung open slightly. "Seems that Reimu and that human of hers managed to convince Kasen to unseal it." She stared at Yuugi slightly more intensely. "And you know what that means, don't you?"

"We could convince her. We could, couldn't we? Convince her to become one again?" Yuugi's gaze had gained an intensity to it. "We're going to see her, right?"

"Oh, without a doubt. Even if it wasn't for convincing her to merge again, the hermit half is apparently in a bad way. The arm's upset with her." Suika had picked up immediately on the fact that the human she had spoken to was keeping everything he was saying vague, but she'd not needed much more to go on than the knowledge that both halves of Ibaraki-douji were around at once. "We owe it to the Ibaraki-douji we used to know to take care of the two halves of Ibaraki-douji that we have now." Suika pushed herself off the wall with a sigh. "Can't say I'm much looking forward to a moping, sad, downer of a douji, but hey, that's what we're here for." She turned and pulled Yuugi forward, and off they walked, back through the twisting streets, over the rushing water via the bridge, through the staircases cut into stone, until they were finally at building high up in the district, where Suika could see across the entire Hot Springs. Things were quieter up here, the sounds of the crowds below talking reduced to murmurs on the wind, and the shapes made indistinct and fuzzy.

Yuugi slid the sliding door open. "You want something to eat first?" She asked, stepping into her home. Suika could soon hear noise from inside, first the rustling of clothing, then things being thrown around.

"Nah. One thing that never changed between Ibaraki and Ibara is her appetite. There's definitely more than enough food in her senkai. Get changed, though. You probably don't want to ruin that kimono up there." Suika took a seat on the steps, staring across the Hot Springs. It really was impressive, she thought. Paradise for the underground youkai. She squinted, then snorted when she saw a group of tsuchigumo trying to stop one oni from smacking his friend in the face with a wooden plank. The things were like sake; They were absolutely irresistible to an oni. Hiding your supplies was the only real solution. Perhaps, if things went well, they could convince Ibaraki to accompany them back down here. Or at the very least, they could convince the two halves of Ibaraki-douji to join them. Maybe convincing them to merge again would take some work.

Even Suika hadn't been told everything that had happened between Reimu and Ibaraki-douji in Avici, after all. Something she was still rather upset about. The first time Ibaraki-douji had lived again in a thousand years, and Shuuten-douji hadn't even been there to see it? No, instead, a human Shrine Maiden had got to see her. The absolute injustice of it!

"Alright, I'm ready!" Yuugi called, and Suika shook her head to clear the thoughts and turned. Yuugi had traded the kimono for her more casual outfit of a white shirt with red highlights, and a slightly see-through long skirt that ended in a pointed section, also in red. Underneath the skirt, Suika knew that she wore something, but she'd never really cared enough to find out what. Plus, if she tried to peek, Yuugi could, would, and had crushed a tiny version of her without even looking. "Let's go see her." She still held her sake dish, and unlike usual, she'd left her hair tied up. She looked rather more cheerful than she had earlier.

Suika wondered how bad things could be. The human and his spider hadn't explained exactly how Ibaraki's two halves were doing, but the fact that they had ventured to the underground in search of Suika herself made her think that she probably wasn't doing great.

Still, there was nothing that a good punch in the face couldn't fix.

Guys
Can't they just heal Suika with Kasen's drinking box?

>>45045266
Yuugi might be going to get it already but it's probably with kasen and arm-chan who are having deep conversations
And I think that Suika wants to tell the story so she never suggested it

Does it still count as masturbating if your arm is a different entity?

>>45045148
I didn't know that artist could draw Suika normally.
>>45045266
I bet Yuugi and Suika just forgot about it and Kasen is currently too busy talking into a mirror.

>>45045130
>she would tell her exactly where babies came from, and on that day, Yuugi Hoshiguma's head would explode from embarrassment
Heh, this my favorite headcanon

>>45046391
>I bet Yuugi and Suika just forgot about it and Kasen is currently too busy talking into a mirror.
They honestly just might not know about it. Nobody conscious there has ever used it i believe

>>45052863
This may have been ジョイフル infecting my brain with fanon but i could have sworn the drinking box was a gift from Suika to Kasen

>>45052863
Except for one person who's skull is as thick as his biceps are big.
He drank from it and was told what it does.

Yamame returned a ways into Suika's story, brandishing a bottle of sake and a sake box. "Ah!" Suika almost cheered upon seeing it. "I knew it was around here somewhere!" She tried to reach out immediately to grab it from Yamame, who shrunk back slightly. "Oh, relax, you skittish little spider." She muttered, slightly petulantly. I got up from the side of the bed and went over to Yamame, where she looked a little concerned.

"Never felt so - so out of step before. Like I can't get any sort of rhythm going." She sighed in frustration and closed her eyes. I put my hands on her shoulders and told her to just take a deep breath. Slowly, she breathed in, held it, then breathed out, and then smiled weakly. I kissed her on the forehead, then took the box and bottle from her, returning to the bed. I passed them to Suika, who wasted no time in opening the bottle, filling the box to the brim and downing the whole thing immediately.

"Oh, that's so much better!" She gasped happily, sinking back against the bed contently. Before my eyes, I could see the bruising she had just been covered in beginning to fade. "Can't turn you into an oni if you already are one, either." She refilled it and drained it again. "Phew! I was starting to get worried that I'd be able to see how dumb and ugly you are." She cheerfully said to me, then burst out laughing at my intense frown. "Joking, joking!" She calmed down a little, but was clearly in much greater spirits. "You two are very pretty. And you're just adorable together. Makes Yuugi blow her top, which is always fun to see." Considering the ways that I had already seen Yuugi react to Yamame and I, I wasn't all too surprised. Suika sighed, her smile beginning to fade. "Ibaraki - My Ibaraki, the one I knew in the past - would absolutely adore you two." She rubbed at her chin. "Or she'd try and kidnap you for herself." She told me, which sounded like a far worse option. "Hard to say with her...She always burst into tears if she saw marriage ceremonies." Suika was still referring to 'her Ibaraki' as the one from the past, rather than the two halves of her that were currently in the other room, so I asked her what exactly she thought about Lady Kasen and Raki. "They're different. Not especially bad, but different nonetheless. Mind you, they're-" She cut herself off and looked over at Yamame. "Where'd you get the sake box from, actually?"

"Huh? Oh, um, Lady Ibaraki saw me and asked what I was doing. She gave me the box when I said that you'd asked for a drink." Suika asked Yamame what the two Ibaraki's were doing. "Just talking, I think...In the kitchens." Yamame looked at me. "She said that she'd expected you to come and ask for it, actually." I frowned, then thought back. Why would I have known about a sake box? "Uh...She said that you used it once...?" I had? I frowned more intensely. My first night here...? I'd seen...a rabbit.

Oh, I had used it! The realisation dawned on me and I let out a satisfied sounding noise. "You, uh, doing alright? Need a drink?" Suika asked me slowly. "I think that vacant expression suits you better than...whatever this is." I shook my head and said that I'd forgotten that I'd used the sake box once in the past. "You did, huh? Well, you're no oni, so I guess you were injured too." I'd been having a panic attack, but I supposed it was still true. "Right...And Kasen had you drink from the box to calm you down. I get it. Well, that's very her. The hermit who helps." Suika shrugged and finished downing yet another refill of the sake box. "Ibaraki probably wouldn't have. That was back then, though, when the line of hatred between human and oni was more stark. If she'd grown alongside us..." Suika shook her head, perhaps a little dejectedly. "Doesn't matter." She looked up with brighter eyes. "Anyway! I promised you a story and I'm not going to leave it half done!" She'd deflected, but it was clear that I wasn't going to get anything more out of her. "So, where we were? Oh, right. Yuugi and I left Former Hell."

"That one! That's not right!" Yuugi suddenly pointed at a completely inconspicuous rock on the side of the path up the mountain. "It didn't slope like that!" She took a sip of her sake dish, sighing. Meanwhile, Suika debated the merits of turning around and hurling her back down the mountain. She'd been shouting the same random things ever since they'd left Former Hell. Always pointing at some completely random piece of flora or a bit of the terrain, and yelling about what was wrong with it.

"Are you seriously going to do this the whole way up?" Suika finally asked, the irritation clear in her voice. "Because I'm going to put some new holes in your precious landscape with that head of yours if you don't stop it." She really wished that she had her gourd right about now. Bottles only lasted so long.

"But it's not right!" Yuugi was whining, and Suika really, really wanted to punch her. But that'd start a whole fight, and starting a fight between oni on the surface was sure to get Yukari involved, and that wouldn't be good for anyone. "The mountain used to look better..."

"Ugh..." Suika groaned. They should have been flying, but Yuugi had practically begged to walk because she 'wanted to see the sights', as if she couldn't see them from the air just fine. "Of course it looks different! How long's it been since you were up here, huh? Few hundred years? More than that? Things change, Yuugi. Doesn't have to be the work of men. It's time. Just time."

"So, nature's redecorated." Yuugi remarked, then made a face. "I don't like it."

"Yeah, well..." Suika shook her head. "Get used to it. You're not even up here during Setsubun. Then you'll find out what not being liked is really like." Not that Suika could claim to have it all to herself. Kasen may not have been the whole oni she used to be, but even though she was disguised, there was no way she didn't feel it too. Still, when everywhere you went, someone was cooking beans for the express purpose of killing you, it tended to get under the skin no matter how many years went by.

About halfway up the mountain, Suika got a scent for something. It was probably for the best, because if they'd gone much higher, they would have been walking straight into the tengu city. As it was, there were probably no less than three tengu watching them already. She already knew where Ibaraki generally was, since she'd spent some time in a mist form watching her, trying to understand what she was planning. But, she hadn't been able to find her properly, which could only mean that wherever she lived, it wasn't in the regular world. And since she was a hermit now, that could only mean that she was in senkai, probably one of her own creations. Of course, that didn't mean that she could easily find it, since she had also witnessed the hermit following a strange, almost nonsensical path before she had disappeared, which meant that she'd thought up a clever system to keep stragglers from finding her home.

"I don't exactly know all of these hermit arts, but I'm assuming that we can't just walk right in." Yuugi said, one hand on her hip. Suika shook her head. "And we can't just break through?"

"It's not a physical barrier, and it's not a normal illusory barrier either. Hermit arts are different. We'll need to find the path, which we can't just guess at. So..." Suika stroked her chin for a moment, then looked over at Yuugi.

"Wait, don't ju-" With a wide grin, the shorter oni's form began to wobble, then faded away like a rolling cloud, until nothing but mist remained. "Fine." Yuugi shrugged, shaking her head. "Don't take too long, though, or I'm going to get bored enough to start smashing things. Or smashing tengu heads. Or smashing tengu-" The mist that was Suika Ibuki swirled around Yuugi. "Okay, I get it. Stop that!"

In her mist form, the world made a lot less sense, but paradoxically, a lot more sense too. Things were easier to understand, but only because it was harder to make out the complexities in the world around her. Fortunately, she didn't need to make out any complexities for her next task. In truth, the mist was Suika at her least dense, barely a step from being nothing at all. And split into so many versions of Suika Ibuki as possible, she suddenly had a huge number of attempts to find the path into Ibaraki's senkai. And even better, they could all happen at once.

The mist spread out across the mountain ahead of them, through the patch of wildflowers, the rocky cliff face, and the edge of the wooded side of the mountain. There was a clearing ahead of her, and while Kasen might have done an excellent job at concealing the path, she hadn't managed to conceal the trace signs of movement through the branches. Spots where the leaves were just slightly bent, in a way that the Autumn goddesses couldn't have done, but a human wandering through could have. And there were no tracks beyond the edge of the clearing, either, so it had to be here. The Suika mist turned a ways back, and then started in earnest, spreading out even wider, each mini-Suika taking a slightly different route to try and find the right one.

One of the mini-Suikas hung back, keeping track of the paths they'd tried so far. She registered that Yuugi was next to her and probably trying to talk, but when she was this small, normal parts of the world started to break down and the sounds didn't seem to be making their way across too well. Even in mist-form, if she was denser, she could hear it, but not now.

Fortunately, it didn't take too long before one of the mini-Suikas stumbled upon the path, and Suika recalled the rest until she was back in her normal form. "Found it!" She cheered, punching the air. "Ooh, she's good!"

"Pretty fast, Suika. Love your work." Yuugi said, elbowing her in the side appreciatively. "We should probably move before the tengu get any more nervous than they are already. Much as I'd love to fight them." Being perfectly honest, Suika wouldn't have minded a fight with them either, but it wasn’t what they were here for and Ibaraki was more important than a bunch of stuck-up birds, wolves and other idiots that Suika didn't even care enough to remember. Shrugging a little, she led Yuugi through the path until they'd reached the clearing. Ducking underneath, they emerged into a brighter world than the one they'd just left.
Already, Suika thought it was just a little too perfect. The perfect temperature, the perfect sun, the perfectly random formation of the mountainous peaks and valleys that she could already see from the clearing that the two of them were stood on. A real oni could appreciate the rough just as well as the good, and she clicked her tongue slightly.

But, there was something else that she could see which was far, far more important. Sat on the edge of the peak that they had emerged into, legs crossed and head down, was Ibaraki-douji. Or...not. For a moment, all of Suika's plans had gone out of her head, but she recovered as she caught the subtle differences. The horns were slightly shorter. There was a shirt with sleeves under her tabard. She wore dark tights the likes of which Ibaraki-douji never had. No, it wasn't Ibaraki-douji who sat there. It was the arm.

She looked at Yuugi, who's jaw had clenched slightly. She looked at Suika, then pushed her forward. Suika looked back, then pointedly dragged Yuugi forward with her. After a very slight bit of squabbling, they both stepped forward as one. "Well, now. Isn't this an interesting sight?" Suika finally said, causing the arm to whip around and launch at her. Even in her diminished form, the arm was strong, and Suika was slammed into the ground hard enough to crack it around her. "Scary, scary." She whispered, grinning at the wild-eyed look of the arm. "Glad to see you greet your old friends just like you always did."

"You..." The arm whispered back. Her other hand came up, slightly shakily, as if she couldn't believe that Suika was there. "I knew you were around, but..." The hand poked Suika in the cheek, and she was suddenly grateful that the hand currently around her neck was the one with the sharp nails. "Never thought I'd see you again. Not the version of me that was sealed." After a moment, she released Suika, who hopped to her feet. "How long has it been? A thousand years?"

"Give or take." Suika replied, scratching at her neck. "So, you're the arm, huh? I'd only seen the hermit around Gensokyo." The arm was close, so close to being Ibaraki-douji herself, but she just wasn't quite there. "You look..."

"Like her?" The arm asked back. "Not quite, though. I'm still struggling to get used to it. Not many mirrors in Avici." At that point, the arm took notice of Yuugi, who was watching the exchange with her arms crossed. "Yuugi Hoshiguma!" The arm called, a toothy smile on her face. "It's been just as long since I've seen you!" She approached her, then, fast as a tengu, struck out with a fist. With a great burst of air, the tallest oni had caught the arm's fist in her free hand. "You haven't aged a day."

"And neither have you, Almost-Ibaraki." Yuugi replied with a slight grin. She released the arm's hand and sent it stumbling backward. "Though you're certainly not quite the oni I once knew. Where's your other half?" At that, the arm's mood quickly turned sour. "Oh-ho. Would you look at that, Shuuten-douji? I seem to have struck a sore spot." Suika looked up at hearing her past name, then at the arm.

"We're not talking." The arm muttered. "It's rather hard to move past getting betrayed by your own self. She's moping somewhere inside." Without thinking about it, Suika snorted. The arm shot a sharp look at her. "Something funny, Shu- No, it's Ibuki now, isn't it?" She paused for a moment, and somehow, Suika just knew what she was about to say. "Where's-"

"Not here. Not gonna be here. Moving on." Suika almost growled. She squeezed her eyes shut, then shook her head. "Ibuki, yeah. Sure is." Suika said, still pushing past the laughter she'd almost gotten caught in. "Sorry. Just sounded like a married couple." The arm's eyes narrowed for a moment, then she shook her head. More than anything, that sobered Suika up just a little. She wasn't Ibaraki-douji. Could be, maybe. Had the potential to be. But Ibaraki-douji would have cracked a smile at the mention of weddings, or laughed, or gotten sad, or cried because she was remembering some particular wedding she'd seen, or something. She would have been more emotional. "That's what we're here for, anyway!" She clapped the arm on the back, which she was happy to see didn't make her stumble at all. "Sorting out you and your other half's issues. Not much of an oni task, but hey, someone's gotta do it! So, we're gonna go and see the hermit, and we'll go from there, alright?"

The arm held her stiff pose for a moment, then sighed and relaxed. "Whatever. Sure." She shrugged. "Guess I've got to talk to her eventually."

"That's the spirit!" Suika cheered, then spun around and began dragging Yuugi away by the shirt. "Just you wait, we'll have you two thick as thieves in no time!" The arm nodded slowly, then turned back to the scenery in the other direction. "What do you think?" She whispered to Yuugi once they were out of earshot.

"Could be worse." Yuugi muttered back. "Still got the spirit, I think. Really depends on how the hermit is doing." Suika nodded, then cracked her knuckles. "She's just as strong, though. I'll tell you that." Probably not physically stronger than Yuugi, which Suika was convinced was impossible, or magically stronger like Suika herself, but Suika had always wondered if Ibaraki-douji had the greatest mind of all of them.

"Oh, I could tell." Suika muttered, looking up at the dojo that Kasen clearly lived in. She didn't want to take the front door, since it was almost definitely trapped. Instead, she took to the air and halted on a ledge two floors up, looking through an opening in the wall for ventilation. Yuugi joined her after a moment. "Don't see her...Hang on, is that a tiger...?" She'd definitely seen something stripy slink past. "Door's probably not trapped from the inside, so I'll just..."

"What, use your mist form again?" Yuugi asked her with a little bit of annoyance. "So unfair." She muttered under her breath.

"Yeah, well, you especially aren't fitting through there." Suika growled back, eyeing Yuugi's...assets.

A few minutes later, Suika had used her mist form to slip through the window, then down to the first floor, where she'd let Yuugi inside. The animals had sniffed at them, but hadn't tried to stop them, which Suika reckoned was because they were worried about their master too. They must have known that Suika and Yuugi were two oni, but perhaps they were confusing them for the other oni currently in the building. "She's probably..." Suika mumbled, looking for that staircase she had come down. Finding it, they ascended two floors until they were near the top of the building. "Oh, she's definitely up here." The doors were all shut, but one or two in particular looked like they'd been slammed particularly hard. Perhaps the tiger curled up in front of one of the doors was a bigger indicator, though.

"No time to lose." Yuugi said, breathing in sharply. She stepped forward to the door, leaned out over the tiger, and tried to open it. Nothing, as expected. Rolling her eyes, Yuugi tried a second time, just a little harder. Still nothing.

"It's probably a little bit more oni-proof." Suika muttered. Yuugi looked at her like she was stupid, then kicked at the door, breaking it from the hinges instantly. The tiger woke up and immediately ran, having been spooked by the noise. "Well, that's one way, I guess..." Suika followed after Yuugi as they stepped into what had to be Kasen's rooms. Hopefully Kasen would be able to repair the door. "So, good hermit!" Suika called as they entered the room. "A beautiful senkai this be!"

Ahead of them, sitting on the ledge of a large, circular window, was Kasen Ibara. She looked rough. Her hair wasn't as well-brushed as it had been when Suika had last seen her, her clothes were a little wrinkled, and the skin around her eyes were red. “Suika and Yuugi.” She turned to look at them without any real expression. "Please don't break my stuff." She muttered listlessly. "I'm not in the mood, either of you." Suika hadn't seen such a poor excuse for an oni in a long time.

Suika and Yuugi exchanged a look. This, they both decided at once, was unacceptable, considering they had essentially broken into her senkai. Turning away for a moment, the two whispered. "So, do you want to do it, or...?"

"You got to do the other one, so I'd like to..." Yuugi replied.

"Yeah, but..." Suika jerked her head toward Kasen. It wasn't entirely fair to say that Suika got the arm, because she hadn't even gotten to fight back.

"Okay, we'll play for it. One go." Suika nodded, and they both stepped right next to Kasen, who stared at them with a complete lack of energy, but at least the slightest of frowns. "Alright, here we go." Suika and Yuugi held their fists out, then- "Wait, hang on. On three or after three?"

"Oh, for - After three!" Suika replied with no shortage of exasperation. "Honestly, every time with you..." Finally, they slapped their hands against their palms three times, and cast their play. Yuugi's hand had two fingers extended, while Suika's had her whole hand extended. "Damn. Alright, go ahead." Suika stepped back slightly.

"What-" Kasen began to ask.

And then Yuugi punched her in the face.

>>45055129
Ah the good old kid bu treatment

if I knew we were gonna get this arc, I would have campaigned for the Kasen route way back when the Anonbowl was still in question. hopefully she finds her new groove

>>45055397
Once she becomes whole again she will challenge Yam for a duel for Anon's hand.

You know I could honestly see Suika and Yuugi playing rock-paper-scissors over who gets to punch Kasen in the face.
It seems very much like an Oni thing to do.

>>45055482
That's okay, Yams will use her oni pride to trick her into a sewing competition.

>>45055287
>>45055720
Touhou onis are basically saiyans when you think about it

>>45055397
Yamame Route is wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for anything else, but had we not gotten the crossroads we did, Kasen Route would honestly suit this story to a T. Their arcs so befittingly complement one another: learning how to accept their pasts, trust others, and move forward with all they've learned... I could see a romance beautifully intertwining and enriching their lives.

I still wonder how a Narumi or Sekibanki route would have gone though.

>>45055095
>>45055104
Never pegged Suika for the hacker type.

>>45058034
But would she peg you?

>>45058195
Kasen would

>>45060679
I think she's more into fisting. Rumor has it that she got carried away once and lost her whole arm in the process.

>>45057222
The main problem with a narumi route is the lack of characters for her to bounce off
With banki there could have been a cafe subplot or something instead of the kurodani family hijinks

>>45055482
I do at least look forward to her seriously grilling Yamame to determine whether she's a good girl who's right for Anon, or if she's just a horny youkai. Not only because she's looking out for Anon, but also to soothe her bruised ego from failing to pair him with Reimu

>>45063267
Both of them (or their union) will 100% cry at anons and Yamames wedding.

"In the face?" Yamame asked, her shyness forgotten in the sudden turn of Suika's story. "Can she...do that?"

"I can do more than that, Kurodani." Yamame and I turned to see Yuugi standing at the door to Suika's room. Her clothes were still slightly damaged from Reimu's attacks, but otherwise, she seemed entirely unharmed. She was drinking from her sake cup, despite not having a bottle of sake in hand. She seemed to have recovered from her earlier embarrassment, possibly because Suika was here and because Yamame and I weren't engaging in any...amorous behaviour. "No sign of the sake box, Su-" Yuugi looked at Suika and frowned. "Oh. You could have told me, you know?" She entered the room, having to duck through the door because of her height. "Checked on the Shrine Maiden as well." I looked up. That meant that Yuugi had entered my room. Yuugi must have caught my movement because she turned to me. "I just opened the door. She's still asleep. I've got no intention of causing anyone problems." She scratched her head. "Except Ibaraki. Maybe. Probably."

"Yeah, I could have." Suika said, drinking from the box again. "But I'm still annoyed that you won the right to punch her in the face first, so you'll just have to deal with it." She looked back at Yamame and I. "I probably should explain something. Ibaraki-douji was always full of life. Of joy and rage and sorrow and happiness and everything in-between. I knew what we'd lost as soon as her arm was cut off, but to see her in the state that she was in when we arrived..." I cast my mind back. She'd cried, after the arm had rejected her. I'd thought it a strong response, but if the heightened emotional state of Ibaraki-douji was true, perhaps it wasn't so far from how she used to be. I wondered what I'd see from her if she did merge again. Would she try and fight me? Try and kiss me? Try and kill me? ...Try and kiss Yamame? I didn't know, and I found myself at odds between wanting to know and not really wanting to risk another oni doing whatever she felt like with me. "Well," Suika shook her head, and for a split second, I saw something in her eyes. A deep sort of dejection. "I've wanted her back for about a thousand years."

"Oh, lighten up, Suika!" Yuugi sharply barked. "You'll bring the whole mood down." She tossed her sake cup at Suika, who caught it with an entirely healed hand. "Here, run that stuff through this." Suika looked at Yuugi strangely for a moment, then grinned and did so, first pouring the sake into the cup, then following it up with the box. "Checked on those two, by the way. Still talking. Must be a hell of a conversation, because they're not even drinking."

"How horrifying." Suika dryly replied, downing the boxful of sake. She let out a long, very satisfied sigh. "Oh, that's good..."

I looked at Yamame. Honestly, it was getting a little hard to keep track of everything, with all the oni running around and giving constant updates on how various people were doing. Making a decision, I abruptly stood and grabbed Yamame's hand, pulling her up too. A break, I announced. I wanted to check on Reimu myself. Not because I didn't trust that Yuugi was telling the truth, I quickly amended at Yuugi's frown, but just for my own peace of mind. Cheerfully, I pulled Yamame out of the room and back into my own, where my attitude faded.

Reimu was still asleep and had, much like I'd seen her do many times at the Shrine, curled up and pulled all the bedding over her. I stepped over and lay a hand on her cheek, which was cold and clammy. I hoped that she wasn't about to get seriously ill again. I wasn't sure if I could take that so soon after the last time. Yamame looked a little nervous, so I placed my hands on her cheeks and told her to stop worrying. Then, I asked her if she was doing okay. "Okay...? Um, yes, I suppose." I stared at her a little closer, then raised an eyebrow. "Oh, fine. No, I'm...nervous. Maybe a little scared still. It's not just...Whatever Reimu did." She looked back at the wall, though which I could hear Yuugi laughing loudly. "I'm used to oni. I dealt with a lot of them when we first built the Old City, and I'm dealing with some now while my sisters are down there rebuilding the hot springs, but I'm used to them being more...normal. Loud, obnoxious, spending more time drinking than breathing." So what was the problem, I asked her. "It's just..." She sighed in frustration, and I took her hands. "I don't really know how to interact with these oni. They're so - so emotional. They miss their friend, and they want her back, and I don't know what I should say to them." She didn't need to say anything. Just listen and be sympathetic. "I'm trying, but it's just..." Don't try, I replied. Just let it come naturally. "I...Oh, fine..." Yamame mumbled, and I wrapped my arms around her. "I want to go home soon." She confessed, whispering into my chest.

Once we'd come back to Suika's temporary room, the situation had changed slightly. Suika had finally hopped from the bed and pulled a pack of cards from somewhere that I recognized as hanafuda cards. Even though we hadn't been gone for long, she and Yuugi were looking desperate to get into a match. "Oh, there's a third and a fourth. Want to play?" Suika asked us, lifting up the cards. I was about to say yes, but I felt a strong sense of foreboding, and before I knew it, I had declined the offer politely. "Oh, my cards not good enough for you?" Suika's voice took on a slight edge and I suddenly wondered if I could run to Reimu before she could punch my head off, but then Suika relaxed. "Nah, just kidding. Oni and humans don't have the best of history when it comes to hanafuda matches. What about you, Kurodani?" She turned her attention to Yamame, who squeaked and looked around. “Can I call you Yamame?”

"Um, me? I don't really know much about hanafuda." She sounded apologetic. "I could try, I guess?" At the very least, I doubted that Yamame would be in fatal danger if she lost. Or won, actually. "Just, um, take it easy on me?" Yamame belatedly nodded. “Oh, um, you can call me Yamame, too.”

And Suika dealt in both Yamame and Yuugi, leaving me to sit beside them and watch with my arms and legs crossed. "Oh, let's get on with the story while we're playing." She looked back up at me. "Won't get distracted again, trust me." I shrugged and said that I was happy to listen. "Alright, so Yuugi punched Kasen in the face right? Wham! She went flying! Oh, it was great..."


The window broke with little effort. Apparently, Kasen hadn't oni-proofed her own window. Or maybe Yuugi had just put all of her strength into it. Either way, the end result was one hermit sent flying into thin air, surrounded by shards of broken glass, three floors off the ground. Hardly a threat, but quite the image, nonetheless. Suika put her hands on her hips and watched with some amusement, though it was tempered by annoyance that she wasn't the one doing it. At least, until she noticed something white flying toward her at speed. She caught on just in time to see that it was a hand. A bandaged hand. "Oh-ho...!" Suika felt a smile beginning to grow as the bandaged hand crashed into her chest and clenched a handful of the white fabric of her shirt.

Yuugi turned to her in annoyance. "What? This one was meant to be mine!" She reached out for Suika just in time for the bandaged hand to yank, dragging the smallest oni into the air. She went hurtling forward, just barely missing the shard of glass still embedded into the window frame, and then she was in open air, just in time to see Kasen dragged Suika toward her. She must have been slowing the rate of her descent, because she surely should have hit the ground by now. The bandaged hand snapped back into the shape of an arm, and Kasen spun in mid-air so she was above Suika. Her face had transformed, the listless energy replaced with seething anger. It was a delightful thing to see, and Suika was already laughing herself hoarse as Kasen's bandaged hand moved to her throat, and suddenly they were falling at speed. Suika's laugh only grew until she was suddenly smashed into the ground hard enough to embed her into it. Her legs and arms involuntarily were thrown upwards, and then slammed down unceremoniously into the ground beside her. She heard a loud cracking sound and knew immediately that a crater had probably formed around her. "Hey!" Suika tried to shift her head just enough to see Yuugi leaning out of the shattered window. Kasen's head whipped around and she growled. Actually, honestly growled. "Here I am, punching you in the face, and you thank me by attacking someone else!? You've sure changed, haven't you!?"

Kasen turned back to Suika, reared back her fist, then drove it into Suika's stomach so hard that her entire body was pushed further into the ground. "Don't you move." She murderously whispered. Suika let out a lazy agreement, happy to see where this avenue led. Kasen turned, crouched down as if she was about to jump, only to suddenly stop. Up above, there was a voice, and it wasn't Yuugi.

"No one's punching her lights out without me watching!" Suika's eyes widened. That had been Kasen. Except, Kasen was here, so it was the arm. And then, she heard the impact of someone being punched. She involuntarily burst out laughing as Yuugi was sent flying through the window too, all of the impact clearly to her face, since her entire body limply followed.

"Well, that's interesting." Kasen muttered, throwing her bandaged hand upward to catch the oni by the ankle. Then, she whipped her downward, slamming her face-first into the ground next to Suika.

After a moment, Yuugi's muffled voice emerged. "...Time out..." She lifted her head from the ground, no doubt leaving a nice, cone-shaped hole where her horn had been. "She teamed up with herself. That's cheating." She looked at Suika, who couldn't really turn her head the whole way because of her own horns getting in the way. "Isn't that cheating?"

"Eh." Suika muttered, staring at the too-perfect sky. "Never said she couldn't, I guess." She finally lifted her head, looking at Kasen who herself was looking at the shattered window. "Thought you two weren't on speaking terms." She muttered, only slightly accusatory.

"We aren't." The arm called down from the broken window. "You said you were just going to talk to her!" Despite the first half of her sentence, she seemed a little offended that they’d attacked.

"What? No, I didn't. I said we were going to see her. I never said what we'd be doing to her!"

"Rather bold of you to assume that I'd let you do anything to me." Kasen stalked over, her bandaged arm unravelling enough to pull Suika up by the throat again. "What are you two idiots doing here?" She rolled Yuugi over onto her back with her foot. "I'm not in the mood for guests."

"Well, that's-" Suika lashed out with a kick to Kasen's stomach, enough to make the bandaged hand release her. "That's the problem, isn't it? What kind of oni starts moping around after a little bit of rejection, huh?" They both knew that Ibaraki-douji had been that exact kind of oni, but if Kasen wanted to pretend she wasn’t the person she used to be, it was a valid question. She pointed up at the broken window, which the arm was currently leaping through. She landed just behind Kasen, but seemed slightly reluctant to come forward. "Come on." Suika leaned forward and stared strongly at Kasen. "What ails ye?"

Yuugi staggered back to her feet. "Whoa, I think you knocked my brain loose." She shook her head. "Oh. Never mind, we're all good." Putting her hand on Suika's shoulder, she pulled the smaller oni back slightly. "Alright, Ibaraki's moral busybody half, what's it gonna take to get you to stop crying about this? I’m a little too straightforward for all this hermit stuff. Me, I like to hit things until they stop needing to be hit."

Kasen's eyes narrowed, her bandaged arm winding itself back into shape. "It's none of your business."

"Oh, is that right? I think I owe it to a certain pink-haired oni to take care of what remains of her. What would she say if she saw you now?"

"She'd be in two minds about it." Kasen growled. "Fortunately, both of them are standing right here."

"And both of them are thinking the same thing." The arm muttered, finally walking forward to stand next to Kasen, who looked rather surprised as the development. "I'm not forgiving you quite so soon. But I'm not letting these two look down on me either. Or you."

"Sounds very much like a murderous arm." Kasen told it, darkly. "What happened to 'I'm going to change'? You're just the same as always."

"Oh, don't hit me with that sanctimonious act. You love fighting just as much as I do. You just pretend you don't because that would be too oni-like."

"Don't pretend you know me." Kasen muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"I am you. You are me." The arm was more insistent. "I might have been sealed away in Avici for centuries, but I'm still you. The sooner you stop denying that, the happier we'll all be."

Suika looked back and forth between the two. It was like some sort of comedy act. If the comedy stabbed her in her heart. "Are we fighting now?" She asked innocently. "I'd really like to punch you too."

"Count me in." Yuugi announced. She looked up, then tossed the sake dish, which disappeared back into the broken window of the dojo. "I'll even refrain from holding back."

"Oh, joys abound. Who sent you two here, anyway?" Kasen was being sarcastic. "Just so I know who to lecture next."

"Would you believe it was a human and a youkai together?" Suika asked, scratching her head. "A boy and his earth spider. I think it'd make an excellent Noh play."

"Oh, for - Not him?" Kasen actually whined, rubbing at her temples. "Ugh, him and Reimu..." She looked up at the sky and sucked in a breath. "Not my greatest moment."

"Well, he nearly freed me, so he can't be all that bad." The arm commented.

"And that's not one of his greatest moments." Kasen shook her head. "We'll be having words the next time he shows up, rest assured."

"Do you have to?" Suika asked. "Because to me, it looks like he did the right thing. You look like a mess, Kasen. Methinks a good, long punch-up with your best mates will do you a world of good. Nothing brings people together like beating the snot out of each other." She rolled her neck.
So there the four of them stood. Suika and Yuugi on one side, Kasen and Ibaraki-douji's arm on the other. "So...You gonna come at me? Should I come at you?" Suika slowly asked. "Ooh, should we c-!" Before she could finish speaking, she realised that the world had begun to tilt. This, she soon realised, was because Kasen had rushed at her incredible quickly, striking out with both feet. She drove her heels into both of Suika's horns, forcing Suika's head to tilt backwards and the rest of her body to follow. Before she could slam into the ground again, she tilted her head to the side, making Kasen's centre of balance slip and causing the hermit to fall onto her back. Wasting no time, Suika slammed a fist down at Kasen's head, only for the hermit to repeat Suika's trick and tilt her head just enough for the fist to miss, at which point she struck out with a fast punch at Suika's head, which connected and forced her back.

As Kasen got to her feet, Suika took the chance to see what was happening between Yuugi and the arm. Yuugi typically put little stock in defence, so she was unsurprised to see the arm slam a fist into Yuugi's stomach, only for Yuugi to grab hold of it and spin, then wrench the arm forward while crouching, which sent the arm flying straight over Yuugi's shoulder and into the ground. Yuugi let go and sighed. "This is going to be a real boring fight if you don't-" And then there was a cracking sound as the arm slammed her hand into the ground next to her and ripped out a massive chunk of stone. "Well, that's more interesting." A small smile grew on Yuugi's face before the stone smashed into her and send her rolling across the ground until she was back by Suika.

She got to her feet, shaking her head slightly to clear it. On the other side, the arm and Kasen moved next to each other again. "Feeling better?" Suika asked Kasen lazily.

"Not in the slightest." The hermit growled, doing a very unconvincing job. She could see it at the corners of her mouth. The beginnings of a smile. "But I'm not done teaching you some manners. Shall we continue?"

“I’m feeling better.” The arm added. “Not very oni-like to dislike a good fight, is it?”

"We shall." Yuugi cheerfully agreed to Kasen’s question. And before Suika could argue, Yuugi had grabbed her by the back of her shirt, and despite her yelled protests, hurled her at the two pink-haired oni. Suika really, really hated this excuse for a game.

"'Toss the oni!'" The arm cheered. "I haven't seen that since-!"

And then Suika's shoe connected with her face and sent her flying across the ground until she shot off into open air and crashed into a different mountain somewhere in the distance.

Suika raised her head to the sky and tried to will the dizziness away. Was that her, or was Kasen actually laughing? “Now that is nostalgic.” Kasen muttered, suddenly spinning and launching another punch at Yuugi’s face.

Suika sighed and broke into a sprint, then took to the air to meet the arm, who was rushing back at her. Hopefully, she thought, the two wouldn’t give up before she had her fill.

heh

Oni funtimes are always a treat to read

>>45065343
>. Oni and humans don't have the best of history when it comes to hanafuda matches.
Is this based on some japanese legend or something?

i would be instantly in fighting mood if someone broke my window after breaking into my house, and i'm not an oni

>>45065786
Lotus Eaters, actually.
Suika probably shouldn't actually be telling him that, but she didn't explain why and only a few people could explain it, so it's probably fine.

>>45065848
Well he has the peach so he would survive the hip shattering sex after he lost the bet.

I was wondering when was Yuugi going to toss Suika, i'm surprised she could hold it back for that long

I love oni doing oni things
Also, smooth dodge about the fourth friend, gotta say

>>45065326
>I wondered what I'd see from her if she did merge again. Would she try and fight me? Try and kiss me? Try and kill me? ...Try and kiss Yamame? I didn't know, and I found myself at odds between wanting to know and not really wanting to risk another oni doing whatever she felt like with me.
I honestly don't think merged Kasen would be radically different from hermit Kasen. She was only a jackass in WaHH because of Arm-chan, who has mellowed out considerably.
I could see her being more openly emotional, more energetic, and less pessimistic. Maybe even nagging just a tiny bit less.

Anon's wedding will be held at the SDM, yes?

>>45073295
Hijiri's youkai-human dating senses have been tingling for quite awhile now.
She is rapidly approaching, Anon should run

>>45073295
Hosted by that harlot who got his parents killed? That would be a disgrace.

>>45073833
Disgrace? No, no. The road to it would be absolutely hilarious.

>>45073865
>absolutely hilarious.
It'd be like a whole nother arc of Kronk suffering before he could face Remillia and move on enough to get married by Meiling who is also an ordained minister for some reason

>>45073833
That was Seija though not Remi wasn't it?

>>45074151
Remimi orchestrated the whole thing. Seija was just the one to personally lead them to their doom

where

"Wait, so is that what you were doing when we arrived?" Yamame asked curiously. "Playing 'Toss The Oni'?" She seemed to have recovered from her nervousness at this point and was starting to regain her bright personality. "...It looked a little fun."

"It's - not - fun." Suika grumbled. "Koi koi." She muttered, receiving another card. "They - Hoshiguma and Ibaraki, dumb and dumber - started it when they were more drunk than me. 'Hey, look at the small oni! I bet I can toss her all the way down the mountain!' Beat them half to death once I got back up."

"Never seemed to stop you from returning the favour, did it? Ibaraki always loved you too much to stop you from doing it to her." Yuugi said, flipping a card on the playing field in front of them. "Ha! My win!"

"Yeah, but she was at least easier to shift. You're a little...bulky." Suika muttered, eyeing Yuugi's muscles.

"You calling me fat?"

"Well, some parts, I guess." Suika was no longer eyeing Yuugi's muscles.

"But..." Yamame interjected, dropping one of her cards on the playing field. "Why were you aiming at him when we walked in?" She nodded at me, and I looked up at Suika, then at Yuugi in turn.

"Oh, he was just a bigger target to aim for. I knew that the Shrine Maiden would stop him from getting hit." Yuugi scratched her head and looked down at her cards. "Probably."

Probably? I repeated her words. "Besides, the way I hear it, you're more than tough enough to withstand one of us crashing into you." Yuugi slapped me on the back hard enough to make my spine creak. "So really, you had nothing to worry about." That...seemed a little presumptuous, but at least Reimu had made up for it by nearly obliterating all of the oni. I weakly agreed with her. "Oh, Kurodani, I got a request from your sisters the other day. They wanted me to get all of the oni together to lift that keystone out of the hot springs. That sound about right to you?"

"Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen..." Yamame mumbled under her breath. "Er, I suppose what they're asking for is that you keep them from getting ideas about lifting it individually. But I'm sure you could do it, Miss Yuugi."

"Well...Yeah, probably. Don't really want to, though. No fun in that." Yuugi shrugged. "I'd rather see you spiders do it. Use webs or something. Be a lot more fun than a bunch of oni lifting a big rock." I looked at Yamame and was interested to see her deep in thought. That did sound interesting, if a little impossible, even for that many spiders. I'd seen the size of that rock, and I was still struggling to wrap my head around the idea that Yuugi could lift it by herself.

The door bounced open and Yamame and I jumped. Turning, I saw Lady Kasen at the door, and behind her, I could see Raki. "So, this is where you've all been hiding." Lady Kasen muttered, her arms crossed as she stalked into the room. "I was starting to worry that you'd forgotten who's house you were in. You've been drinking all my sake, haven't you?" The hermit shifted to the side slightly, and Raki stepped in behind her. "Where's your gourd, Suika? Really, I do hope you haven't lost it. Losing your possessions intentionally might be akin to casting off worldly possessions, but losing them accidentally is simple carelessness."

"Yes, Mother." Suika muttered, and Lady Kasen clicked her tongue in annoyance while Raki snorted. "Are you planning to lecture me all evening or are you going to join us?" Lady Kasen looked slightly indecisive. "And my gourd is safe and sound. Got a lovely, slightly panicky bartended looking after it. Anyway, we're telling the story of how we beat each other up earlier. For all you know, I'm saying that you cried and begged for mercy."

"Yes, well, that'd be a fine show, wouldn't it?" Lady Kasen remarked. "Unfortunately, it's not true."

"Much as you'd wish it was. I'd throw down again right now, but I suspect that some of the occupants of this room would disagree." Yamame and I were the recipients of her gaze.

"Including me, partner." Lady Kasen said, turning to the arm. She poked her in the chest with her bandaged hand. "My animals will hardly thank you if you lot destroy half of their house."

"Well, better start drinking instead, hmm?" Ibaraki-douji's arm poked a finger in Lady Kasen's chest instead. "Or I might get a little...antsy."

>>45074500
Four minutes.

"Oh, just - Fine, pass me my box, Suika. Drink any more like that and you'll get even more annoying than you already are." Lady Kasen sighed, then stalked forward, swiped the box and the bottle of sake from Suika, then sat down cross-legged next to me. "And you're doing alright?" She asked me quietly. I nodded, happy to talk to Lady Kasen while she was in high spirits. "And you, Miss Kurodani? Doing well in the game?" She nodded at Yamame, but I was started to second-guess a lot of her words. If one thing, I hoped that if she did merge with the arm, Ibaraki-douji was at least a little more straightforward with her words. Maybe she was genuinely just asking Yamame how the game was going? Or perhaps she was secretly asking her about me? In all honesty, I wasn't much for all the mind games and double meanings. I just liked things to be straightforward. Unfortunately, my life never really seemed to be.

"Oh, um..." Yamame looked at the state of the board. "Miss Yuugi's winning, but I'm doing okay." Lady Kasen nodded, taking a long drink from her box.

Then, Lady Kasen looked at me. "Oh, I forgot to get you a cup..." If everyone else was going to be drinking, I didn't really want to be missing out, though I did wonder how well I'd withstand being the only human drinking in a room full of oni.

"I'll get it." Raki said, still standing by the door. "Not like I'm letting you lot drink without me, either." She disappeared down the hallway, humming something I didn't recognize.

I commented to Lady Kasen that they seemed to be getting on better now. "Yes, well...Even in Gensokyo, sometimes what you really need is a good talk instead of a fight." Lady Kasen smiled slightly. "I think we understand each other better."

"Koi koi." Yamame called, and I looked over to see that the others had resumed their game. "I've got a good feeling about this one..."

"Got it!" The arm called, walking back into the room with a several cups and even more bottles tucked under her arm. She cheerfully dropped down on my other side, leaving me sandwiched between two pink-haired powerhouses. "Here y'are!" She happily dropped a cup into my hand, filled it up, and then watched me until I drank it. It was strong alcohol, and it made me cough as it went down. Not quite as strong as whatever Hearn had served me in the outside world, but strong nonetheless.

"Hey, try it like this." Suika passed me Yuugi's sake dish, and Raki poured out some more alcohol. I looked at them slowly and immediately knew that I was not getting out of it, so I knocked the dish back and drunk the whole thing. It was somehow even stronger, and multiple times tastier, but the heat of it made me wonder if steam was coming out of my ears. "Alright, pass it back. I want some more like that." Yuugi cleared her throat. "What, you got a problem?"

"Yeah, just a minor detail. You know that the sake dish is, uh...Mine, right?" Yuugi shot a pointed look at Suika. "If you wanted a bunch of sake, you should have brought your gourd." She plucked the sake dish from my hand and another bottle of sake from the arm. Pouring some of it into the dish, she drank and smiled. "Yep, still the best."

Yamame looked back down at her cards. "Oh, look at that." She plucked a card from the playing field. "My win." I was rooting for Yamame, so I placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair, which made her try and ineffectually swat my hand away. "Stop it, you..." She mumbled, a small amount of red beginning to spread across her cheeks. The three players began to put their cards back together for the next game, and Ibaraki-douji's arm passed Yamame a cup of sake. Now, everyone was drinking, but with the general mood, it felt quite cheerful.

"Hey." The arm nudged me, and I turned my head, then immediately had to fall onto my back before one of her horns could stab me in the skull. "Oh. Oops." She looked down at me. "Hey, maybe you should stay like that." I said that I wouldn't be able to drink properly if I did that, and sat up before she could do anything weird to me. "Spoilsport." The arm muttered. "I'm not going to eat you."

"But it's still best if you don't make jokes about it, hmm?" Lady Kasen told the arm, the tone suggesting that it was less of a 'for the best' thing and more of an order.

"Yes, mother." The arm muttered under her breath, making Suika burst out into laughter. After she'd calmed down, the arm continued. "But anyway, I was wondering where you got those clothes?" I looked down at my coat. I hadn't really been thinking about it, since I'd gotten used to wearing them. Yamame, I said. She'd made them for me. "Oh?" Raki turned to the earth spider, who shrank back only a little under her gaze. "You're a seamstress?"

"Well, um, yes." Yamame said a little awkwardly. I didn't say anything, but I did hope quietly that she'd be able to keep herself together. "Um..." She seemed to snap out of it, thankfully. "Sorry, yes. I design clothes constantly, and being a spider, I'm already a deft hand with the materials. My sister once said that I could make a dress out of anything."

"Is that right...?" The arm was biting at her thumb, but not in a jealous sort of way. She reached across my back and tapped Lady Kasen on the shoulder. "You ever wanted some new clothes?"

"I seem to be managing just fine." Lady Kasen told her.

"Tch." The arm looked back. "I'm definitely keeping you in mind." She told Yamame seriously, and Yamame smiled and nodded just the way I would do.

"Hey, stop distracting her!" Yuugi called, tapping Yamame on the shoulder. "Unless you want her to forfeit the game. And she's actually pretty good, so..." Yuugi looked over at Suika. "Better than this lump, anyway."

"Hey!" Suika looked a little offended. "It's not my fault I found more interesting things to do with my time. You're the one who sits in the underground where you can't do much but drink and play card games." Yuugi looked more than a little offended at that. "Oh, and look here? My win, this time. Yeah, I can smell a comeback brewing."

And on it went. Suika's comeback fell apart on the very next match, while Yuugi and Yamame remained evenly matched right up to the final match. By that point, we'd all drunk a fair amount. I felt mostly okay, and I assumed that I had the peach to thank for that. The others, especially Yamame, who was not an oni and didn't have a heavenly peach burning away the alcohol in her system, and Yuugi, who was using the sake dish liberally, seemed to be fairing the worst, but it hadn't affected their play at all. Suika was not far off, but she'd quietened down a lot and seemed happy to mostly just watch as Yamame and Yuugi's game got more intense, and Lady Kasen argued with Raki about something or other, despite the fact that I was sitting in-between them. I watched her, and saw a small smile bloom across her face. She caught my eye and raised her cup, so I did the same and knocked it back.

"No, you're not listening. It's not like a card game, it's - Don't say anything! You're just being unreasonable because it's something new and you hate new things!" Lady Kasen was punctuating her point - and I had no idea what her point actually was - by slapping her hand against the floor of the room, once for each word.

"Hate new things? Do you even hear yourself? You're the one who's always going to the village to find new sweet things to stuff down your gullet! I have a more refined palette!"

"You mean, you have no palette, because you hadn't eaten anything in a thousand years! If you tried some of them, you'd love them, because I love them and you're not gonna pull the 'I'm you and you're me' argument for the other stuff without having it apply to this too!" Lady Kasen pushed me into a hunch so she could get a better look at Raki over my back. "Okay, look. After this, we're going to the cookbooks. Then we'll see who's right!"

While that was happening, Yuugi and Yamame's game had become even more intense. Suika was still playing, but she was clearly not a threat. The game didn't really involve her anymore. "Three Brights!" Yamame called. "And Flower-viewing Sake!"

"Five Brights!" Yuugi called, one round later. They'd already reached the point where I'd stopped keeping track of the score, but it still seemed to be a close game. There were several bottles strewn around us, and I found that I'd finally started to feel a little fuzzy. It had taken far longer, but I supposed even the heavenly peach had a limit when faced with copious amounts of oni sake.

"So, you're the human that Reimu's taken such an interest in, huh?" Suika asked me across the room. "Never seen her quite so involved with someone before. And yet..." She looked over at Yamame, who was cheering at another win. "Reimu's not where you set your sights, hmm?" I looked straight at Suika and nodded. "Well, now. You're a very interesting human." She leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Maybe you're a perfect match for Reimu, too. You're both unique."

"Suika, the hell are you going on about?" Yuugi called. "It's been your move for a while."

"Huh?" Suika snapped out of staring at me. "Oh, just...nostalgia." She looked up at me, then at the two Ibaraki's on either side of me. She made her play, then began to hum.

After a few moments, Lady Kasen looked up, focusing on Suika. On my other side, Raki did too. "Is that-?" Raki began to ask.

"Sounds like it." Lady Kasen said, slowly nodding. I looked between them and asked what it was. "A song. Once upon a time, we used to sing it on the mountain a lot. It's in the old oni language, so you won't understand it, but..." I looked at Raki, who's lips were moving. She was mouthing words. And then, I heard Lady Kasen begin to sing. As expected, I couldn't understand a word.

Yuugi looked up from the game, first at Lady Kasen, then at Suika. Then, a smile began to bloom upon her face. "Oh, it's been far too long." Then, she began to tap her fingers against the floor in a simple enough to understand rhythm. She nodded toward Yamame and I, and after a moment, we began to copy it. Yuugi began tapping out a different pattern that synchronized with ours, and then she drew in a breath and added her voice to the song.

And then, they were off. The song's chorus was easy enough to recognize, and before long, Yamame and I were joining in. Yuugi, Lady Kasen and Raki led us, and Suika continued to hum the melody, but I could see the wide smile blooming across her face. It was a lot of fun, actually. I felt like there was a real sense of closeness between the oni, and Yamame and I were getting to feel just a bit of it. I shifted myself so I could sit properly next to Yamame, and she laid her head upon my shoulder. Then, Yuugi was on her feet, pulling Lady Kasen and Raki up, and they were beginning to get more into it.

And then a foot smashed open the door. We all froze, though none of the oni seemed to have jumped. Reimu stomped into the room. "Oi! Listen, oni-diots! I don't care if Gensokyo itself is exploding outside, button it! Some of us are trying to sleep!" She paused in that position just long enough for Lady Kasen to shift, which exposed my presence to Reimu. Her hand dropped and she stared at me with a face that screamed betrayal. I finally shrugged and told her that I quite liked the sing-along. "I should probably yell at you, but...Oh, fine." She stepped into the room, then dropped down next to me and crossed her arms. "You're so luck you're-" Endearing? "Shut up." I passed her one of the spare cups and filled it. She drained it with a happy noise.

And before we knew it, Reimu was singing along with us.

I couldn't imagine what my life would have been like had I done anything differently to the way I had. Nor, as I watched Reimu and Suika spin a circle about the room, did I think I would change a single thing.

hah i get it
yuugi is a card nerd

Sounds like Suika's just happy to have the other Oni around and having fun instead of engaging in weird schemes or lying to each other. That's cute, I think. She missed her friends.

>>45074986
The onis never really cared for scheme shit, even Zanmu was dicking around during her incident.

>>45074992
Well a lot of Kasen's WaHH stuff involved her trying to find the arm and keeping up a paper thin pretense about what she was up to, so it's probably the fact that they're not really doing that here anymore that's cheering her up
Plus, since kasen is a hermit and yuugi lives underground, suika is still the only real oni on the surface and thus probably gets a little isolated

>>45073564
Before the story ends we have to see Byakuren react to Anon and Yamame

this group is great. I hope we get more of Anon being caught between the two halves of Ibaraki like it's a proxy war

>>45073295
Wedding under the peach tree at the garden of the sun or bust.

>>45074544
>"Got it!" The arm called, walking back into the room with a several cups and even more bottles tucked under her arm. She cheerfully dropped down on my other side, leaving me sandwiched between two pink-haired powerhouses.
>"Hey." The arm nudged me, and I turned my head, then immediately had to fall onto my back before one of her horns could stab me in the skull. "Oh. Oops." She looked down at me. "Hey, maybe you should stay like that." I said that I wouldn't be able to drink properly if I did that, and sat up before she could do anything weird to me. "Spoilsport." The arm muttered. "I'm not going to eat you."
Damn wild and horny hermit...

too bad she missed it

>>45076990
Yeah, where is she anyway?

>>45077147
probably at work
she can't be there every hour of the day and eiki would slap her tits with the rod of remorse if she didn't show up for work

>>45077310
But haven't the Oni been doing their thing for a little bit now.
Not like Komachi spends every day there, but she's still a fairly frequent visitor.

I bet Eiki was just really jealous of her cool new T-shirt and is making her work extra hours.

>>45076771
I'm starting to wonder if the author is intentionally teasing us with this Kasen route that never was.

I thought Kasen was dating Komachi

Yuugi won the hanafuda game with an overwhelmingly slim lead, so close that Yamame was immediately trying to set up a rematch, but Suika didn't feel like playing anymore, I was far too out of my depth, and Reimu had been dragged into some sort of dance by the two Ibaraki's. So, they went about arranging a rematch when Yamame was in the Old City's hot springs, which would probably be sometime soon since her sisters wanted her down there. The atmosphere had turned very lively, and even more so when some of Kasen's animals, including Houso and Kanda, barrelled down Raki and Lady Kasen together, possibly out of some outrage toward the fact that they'd not been receiving all of Lady Kasen's attention lately.

Eventually, Suika led everyone in one last song and dance, and from there, things had started to calm down. I turned my head toward Reimu, who was leaning against me, her sake cup held limply in her hand. Quietly, I asked her how she was feeling. "Hmm?" I repeated myself. "Oh, uh...Restless, but somehow still tired." That made sense. It sounded like she'd burnt up a huge amount of energy not only throughout the days leading up to Eientei, but then in Eientei itself and again when she'd fought Suika in Lady Kasen's senkai, here. I was slightly dancing around the subject, because Reimu didn't seen aware of the attack she'd performed while unconscious, and I wasn't sure I wanted to try and explain what it had been or how it had worked. Lady Kasen had mentioned that it would probably take several days of regular sleep before she started feeling like herself again.

"Right," Suika said, calling over the noise. "Let's finish the story, shall we? Everyone's here now." I looked around, at Lady Kasen scratching Houso behind the ears, to Raki, who was still putting up ineffectual resistance against Lady Kasen's pets and their affections. Finally, I nodded, eager to hear what had happened before I had shown up. "Especially before they get drunk enough to forget what happened while they were actually there." She rubbed at her chin. "Actually, I guess that's never been a problem before..."


The first bout ended when Suika managed to surf down the side of the mountain while pressing the arm's face into the cliff face. It had continued until both of them had crashed into the water below, which Suika hadn't seen from the peak. That had been impressive enough that when she'd dragged the dazed arm back to the peak that Kasen's dojo sat on, both of them soaked through, Yuugi and Kasen herself hadn't even been fighting. They'd just been staring. "I'm starting to think you've got some secret luck ability you're not telling me about." Yuugi complained, slowly. "How the hell did you pull that off...?"

"If I had a luck ability, we'd never have left Mt. Ooe." Suika muttered, throwing the arm ahead of her, where she crashed into the ground and rolled onto her back, groaning. "Besides, who needs luck? I'm just that good."

"This kind of egotism isn't good for you, Suika." Kasen reprimanded her. "You need to become more humble, so-" At that point, Suika got sick of it and threw a rock at the hermit's head.

"Can I get a rematch...?" The arm mumbled, still looking very dizzy. After a few moments, she managed to stagger to her feet, checking her horns to see if they'd dulled from the beating. "Don't remember that one from the mountain..."

"What can I say?" Suika spread her arms. "I've had plenty of time to come up with ideas." She cracked her knuckles, stalking around to Yuugi's side, leaving Kasen and the arm opposite them. She was thinking. While, yes, she did want to spend as much time as possible just fighting like the old days, her secondary goal here was to sort out Kasen's depressive funk. That had been her promise to that strange human and his spider friend. It seemed that she'd already made some fair progress, but getting Kasen and the arm to make up properly would be better. Especially if it made them more open-minded to merging again. With everything in mind, Suika began to think of ideas.

Then, she turned to mist, and reappeared in mid-air, behind Kasen. Already, she was reaching out to land a punch at the hermit's head, when her hand was caught. "I think not." The arm told her, spinning and slamming Suika into the ground. "Sneak attacks aren't very oni-like, are they?"

"How would you know?" Suika muttered, brushing some loose gravel from her face. She hopped back to her feet, looking over at Yuugi. "You gonna get involved?"

"Sure, when someone actually bothers attacking me." Yuugi shrugged. "Seems like they've got this in hand."

"You just want to see me get beaten up!" Suika accused, pointing an accusatory finger at Yuugi.

"No, no, that's ridiculous. I don't want to see you get beaten up!" Yuugi waved a hand dismissively. "I'm just not opposed to it, that's all."

"That is so callous of you!" Suika cried out. "How can you treat an old friend like that!? Maybe I should start fighting you, instead!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kasen and the arm turn to each other. Funnily enough, they were still alike enough to mirror each other's movements unconsciously, as they both crossed their arms in exactly the same way. "So, do you want to...?"

"Seems a little rude with no warning." Kasen raised her bandaged arm and inspected it.

"Should I throw some rocks at them?" The arm raised an eyebrow. "Or would that offend your moral busybody sensibilities? Maybe you'll team up with them, huh?"

Kasen's mouth tightened and she looked away for a moment. "Stop talking like that. I'm not your enemy, partner. You keep saying that I'm you and you're me." She reached out a hand for the arm's shoulder. "I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have."

That, Suika thought, seemed like progress. "Yuugi! Get involved!" And Suika turned, sprinting for Kasen. Kasen turned her head at Suika's words, but instead of turning her whole body or getting into a fighting stance or anything like that, she reached out her bandaged arm, and her arm shot out. Suika dodged it, only to trip over. She looked back and saw that the hand had wrapped around her, ensnaring her legs as she ran. In annoyance, Suika yanked on the bandages themselves, forcing Kasen to stumble forward. Immediately, Suika pushed against the ground, in Kasen's direction, which increased the slack in the bandages. She managed to grab the bandaged hand before it could swing back around and hit her, intent on slamming it into the ground.

Just before it could hit, the hand deflated into loose bandages, and by the time Suika had looked up, they had wrapped themselves back up into Kasen's full, bandaged arm. Before she could get up and make another run for Kasen, something went flying through the space between them. It was Yuugi, having been thrown over the shoulder by the arm, who was breathing a little harder. "She's way too bulky." The arm muttered, before breaking into a sprint after Yuugi, who was bouncing back to her feet. The two met with punches strong enough to rattle the windows of Kasen's dojo, and Suika wondered how the powers of a hermit worked. She could probably restore all this damage in seconds. And now, Kasen was looking at Suika, her arms crossed as she paced in front of her, looking at the arm's battle with Yuugi. "What, am I not interesting enough for you?" Suika growled, then she whipped her arm forward, the chain dangling from it launching outward. She manipulated the size and density of it just slightly, enough to extend the length of each link in the chair so she could hit with it just a bit further than Kasen expected.

And happily, it connected, knocking Kasen's head back and forcing her attention back to Suika herself. She looked at Suika, frowned, and stalked forward. Her sudden lack of words was a little unnerving, but Suika was more than up to the challenge, so she charged forward and leaped, driving her knee into Kasen's stomach. It forced the taller oni to double over, and Suika spun in mid-air, kicking her in the side of the head. It knocked her to the ground, but she rolled, bounced once, and was immediately back on her feet.

But Suika had been expecting that. So, the second she'd connected, she was on the move for where Kasen had landed, and she was there too fast for the hermit to react. Her fist, already stretching out, was already so close to Kasen's face that she'd never be able to block it in time.
And then, something unexpected happened.

A hole opened up. In reality, right in front of Suika's fist. Too late to stop, so her fist, then her arm too, followed into the hole. She froze, trying to figure out how it had happened, and then she spotted Kasen step back slightly. "Hmm." Suika muttered, staring at Kasen. "You've got a trick up your sleeve." She went to pull her hand back from the hole, but suddenly found that she couldn't. Her arm wasn't budging, and in fact, she could feel something clamped against her wrist. It was sharp, strong, and surprisingly, a little painful.

"Your point being?" Kasen asked lazily. "Here, let's just..." She stepped back another time, leaving a bit of space between them. The pressure on Suika's wrist vanished, and Suika ripped her arm back out of the hole, which winked out of existence. She made to sprint at Kasen, but Kasen raised her hand in the air. Suddenly, Suika had a very bad feeling. Kasen's arm swept down, and another massive hole opened in front of her. And this time, she could see inside.

Just in time to see that massive tiger come flying out of the hole at top speed and crash into her, knocking her back so quickly that she couldn't contain her surprise. Then, the tiger wrapped its jaws around her arm again, and took off, dragging Suika behind it. She was just about able to see Kasen follow behind them sedately, and she tried to call out for Yuugi, but caught a glimpse of her and the arm trading blows hard enough to make them double over in turn. No, there was no way out of this one.

And suddenly, she was in the air. Her eyes widened as she spotted the cliff side and realised that Kasen's tiger had just leaped straight off the side of the cliff without any hesitation. Didn’t it have any survival instincts? Suddenly, it let go of her, and she was falling. She spotted it then, another hole opening up, and Kasen's tiger disappeared into it. It closed immediately, leaving Suika falling alone.

She could have taken to the air, but she was too busy laughing at how she'd been beaten. And she was still laughing when she crashed into the mountainside, bounced twice, and smashed into the water again.


"Oi, Yuugi." Suika lazily called from where she was sitting against the wall.

"What?"

"Now that the lightweights are tired out," She cast a glance at Yamame, Reimu and I, "Why don't us four," Indicating the four oni, "Go and have a real party?"

"You're not satisfied yet?" Lady Kasen asked. "Thought you'd gone soft in your old age for a moment."

"Ha! You're one to talk!" Raki laughed, elbowing Lady Kasen in the side. She flinched slightly from the hit and tried to hit the arm in the stomach in retaliation. "Never heard someone lecture so much in my life! We were never that bad before."

"That's what being an ally to humans is about." Lady Kasen defended, raising her bandaged hand in what I knew well as her lecturing pose. "Learning about your weaknesses and where your biggest failings are, and how you can work toward correcting them to ensure you live well. Reimu's habits are a constant worry, after all. And despite my hopes that someone," I worked very hard to not notice the way that Lady Kasen was pointedly not looking at me, "would stay by her side to look after her, it remains my duty to prevent her from falling further into squalor than she already has. In fact-" At this point, Yuugi apparently got bored.

"Oh, spare us, Kasen." Yuugi wrapped an arm around Lady Kasen's neck and began to drag her from the room despite her ineffectual protests. "At least until I'm drunk enough to ignore it."

But then, the party stopped at the doorway. "...Huh." I heard Yuugi say. "What's..."

"Uh-oh." I heard Lady Kasen mutter under her breath. "Ko-!"

In an instant, I saw all of the oni go flying past the doorway and down the corridor. Then, Komachi Onozuka burst through the doorway, still dressed in her work clothes. "Oh, good! You're all here!" She rushed toward Reimu and I, sparing only the slightest pause to glance confusedly at Yamame, who was still very drunk and didn't seem up to much but looking back blearily. "Why are there a bunch of oni in Kasen's house!? Is she being attacked!? Is the arm staging a rebellion!? Do we need to defend her!?"

"Uh, we were having a party." Reimu said, scratching her head. "They're all friends. I think. Did you just...?" I heard stomping down the hallways.

"A party..." Komachi trailed off, then looked behind her. "Oh. I may have...jumped ahead slightly."

"Here I am, having a nice time, and some idiot Shinigami decides to hurl us all down a corridor!" I heard Yuugi stomping back down the hallway toward us. "Maybe she needs to be hurled somewhere." She stood in the doorway, a murderous look on her face. "How about off a cliff!?"

"Uh." Komachi raised her hands, one holding her scythe, in self-defence. "I may...have jumped to conclusions. Let's just..."

"Shinigami!" Lady Kasen yelled from outside the room. "You're an idiot and you deserve whatever's coming to you!"

"Partner, don't call her an idiot." Oh, that had been Raki shouting that, not Lady Kasen. "Komachi, you're intellectually challenged!" That, I was fairly certain had been Lady Kasen.

"Kotohime, or whatever your fucking name is, I'm coming back in there, and you're not coming out of there except in enough pieces to fill a hundred boxes!" That had been Suika. "Which Yuugi can then hurl off a cliff!"

Suddenly, this room was seeming like it wasn't the place to be. I turned to Reimu and Yamame, and suggested that it was time for bed. Yamame, who was drunk enough to barely be able to stand, clung onto my neck as I helped Reimu to her feet, then I wrapped a hand around her back to keep her from toppling back over. Slowly, we made our way to the door, where Yuugi looked down at us. "Well, I can't exactly say you had anything to do with it. Get out of here and leave that one to us." She shifted enough to let us pass.

"Yeah, I think I'm pretty tired too, I'll just-" Komachi had apparently tried to walk out right behind us.

"I," Yuugi pushed Komachi back. "Think not." I looked back at Komachi, who seemed to be silently begging me not to leave her. We emerged into the hallway, where there was already a line to beat up Komachi forming. Suika was next, then Raki and then Lady Kasen at the end. Happily, my room was down the end of the corridor.

Lady Kasen caught my arm on the way past them. "Don't worry. She'll be fine. I wouldn't let them go that far even if they wanted to, which they don't." I nodded in relief, because I hadn't wanted to leave Komachi to her fate if she was in actual, real danger. "Take Reimu to bed. And...Well, I'm sure you'll all be fine." I didn't know what she was trying to say by that, but I nodded anyway and bade them good night.

Once we were back to my room, Reimu immediately went and collapsed on my bed, humming appreciatively. Yamame, meanwhile, seemed barely functioning, which I supposed was the effect of oni sake on someone who wasn't used to it. I couldn't very well send her off to a different room, nor did I want to leave Reimu alone, so I simply supported Yamame over to the bed, rolled Reimu over despite her complaints so I could fit in the middle, then let Yamame wrap herself around my arm. It was a tight squeeze, but Yamame fell asleep instantly, and Reimu didn't seem far off. "Hey." She murmured. After a moment's silence, I asked her why she had been pushing herself so hard lately. She didn't reply for some time, and I wondered if she'd already fallen asleep. "Just...didn't have much else." She breathed. I looked over and saw that her eyes were shut already. "Guess I was just lonely..." I tried to say that she didn't have to be lonely, but she'd already fallen asleep.

I followed shortly thereafter, just barely able to hear Komachi's yelps through the walls of the dojo.

nooooooo

>>45083513
>"Kotohime, or whatever your fucking name is,
kek

I hope they don't hurt Komachi's komachis

>>45084133
They are just slapping them around a little bit...

>>45083513
If this was a different type of fic they would hold her down and have Anon "punish" her aswell.

>>45084282
Komachi has established that it wouldn't be punishment

>>45084288
I think none of them would mind being "punished" by anon.
He's just too endearing.

>>45084288
The oni dont know though.

>>45083513
Harembros, we fucking won.

I know that Komachi is this hot amazonian and all, but she's one of the few hus that makes my paternal instincts kick in when she gets bullied by other characters. I don't know if it's her hairstyle, personality or what, but I want to protect her.

>>45084282
there's been an impressive number of situations in this story that could have gone in that direction already
I wonder if anything would have changed specifically if anon had taken komachi up on her offer for no commitment sex, since it was before he actually slept with yamame
we could have gotten the komachi route where anon dies after they try and have boat sex and fall in the sanzu

Does anyone mind if the PNG thread recap has very low quality thumbnails? Might as well ask even though I doubt it. I also saved the higher quality PSD fwiw.
Hate this ancient 4MB limit with a passion, really. If it were 5-6MB it would save so many headaches.

>>45087251
As long as it's not visibly bad, like with the one time someone made it a jpg.

>>45087259
Text is mostly fine, images are not. This is the biggest version I can upload.

>>45087279
That is a lot, maybe it'd just be best to split it into two?

>>45087315
Sure, I can do that.

>>45087279
This is by far the most updates in one thread, wow
What a workhorse

Its fine to take breaks if you ever feel overwhelmed writeanon! Fucking department of labor

>>45087479
Posting them here so I can just link the archive URL in the next thread.

>>45088070

>>45087279
This one is good

>>45088280
Are you our lord and savior writeanon? It's his work so I'm fine with whatever he decides.

>>45088996
No, but I'm your predecessor who made the first pic

>>45089077
My ancestor...

Next thread:
>>45089529
I'm going to err on the side of caution and link the two cleaner collages below the OP.