/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I wonder if the HSE will be remembered positively by its conclusion?

[All entries of the HSE here in chronological posting order!]
>>46767340 | Part 1-20
>>46869952 | Part 21

[Last thread chapters]
>>46870080 | (Non canon)Cirnoanon ending
>>46870086 |
>>46870091 |
>>46870097 |
>>46880619 | 3-4-Utsuho
>>46880625 |
>>46880633 | 11-Mr. Hieda
>>46885701 | 195-197-Hana
>>46885706 |
>>46885711 |
>>46887487 | (Non canon)Cirnoanon ending
>>46887500 |
>>46887509 |
>>46887514 |
>>46890874 | 55-56-Kosuzu
>>46890910 |
>>46896930 | 5-8-Utsuho
>>46896941 |
>>46896950 |
>>46896954 |
>>46902316 | (Non canon)Cirnoanon ending
>>46902324 |
>>46902339 |
>>46911967 | 45-47-Keine
>>46911976 |
>>46911980 |
>>46912562 | 198-199-Hana
>>46912568 |
>>46924751 | 16-19-Sanae
>>46934751 |
>>46934763 |
>>46934768 |
>>46942283 | 200-Hana (Yippie!!)
>>46942291 | 201-203-Hana
>>46942314 |
>>46942321 |
>>46943732 | (Non canon)Cirnoanon ending
>>46943740 |
>>46943743 |
>>46943757 |
>>46949493 | 21-22-Reimu
>>46949502 |
>>46960246 | 9-Utsuho
>>46965775 | 204-205-Hana
>>46965797 |
>>46976049 | 48-49-Keine
>>46976052 |
>>46990480 | (Non canon)Cirnoending finale
>>46990491 |
>>46990498 |
>>46990510 |
>>46990516 |
>>46990538 |
>>46990549 |
>>46990558 |
>>46992964 | 50-51-Keine
>>46992980 |
>>47012121 | 23-25-Reimu
>>47012129 |
>>47012132 |
>>47016552 | 93-Aya
>>47025107 | 26-27-Reimu
>>47025118 |
>>47033038 | 206-208-Hana
>>47033051 |
>>47033067 |
>>47034916 | 52-54-Keine
>>47034927 |
>>47048492 |
>>47057644 | 209-211-Hana
>>47057664 |
>>47057683 |
(1322 entries)

[for phoneanons that can't access the dead threads, here's the last thread. Link to all others in the 'all entries']:
>>/jp/thread/46869922 | 28th thread

RECAP!
—
“No Keine, you are not reincarnate” said komach.

“I am the reincarnate” Keine said, but did not believe. She cried.

“I want you to be reincarnate now” Komanch said

The yamayabadabado came by, “burn, no power for you. Bad cowe”

Keine seems moon, “powers yes. Give powers”

Komanch and Eiki were stunned by her her resolve.

Everyone cheered. The end.
—
“Wow…” Sagume said, eating frantically from a bucket of popcorn, eyes glued on the TV and notes scattered about with theories, graphs and whatnot about power levels and 'tiers'. “This is cinema.”

last time in the HSE:
>Anon chills;
>Hana plays with Mr. Snowman and his carrot, gets caught by her mother and aunt and gets embarrassed. Cute~ watches as Sanae and Reimu discuss the Solstice and seeing she's being relegated to the sidelines for her protection feels bad. Goes with Sanae to the Moriyan Shrine, where she has sweet times with other mikos in training about her age and experiences luxury for once, also battles the oldest apprentice and easily wins after perving on her a little. Later, coerces Kanako into draping again her idol clothings and give a show! Hell yeaaah!! The happiness lasts little as, later, while perving on Suwako, is caught and gets a pep talk, to the point she ends up crying and Suwako has to calm her down. That leads Hana to vent to the goddess, which spirals into her having a meltdown... Poor Hana;
>Reimu ponders to herself her mental after Hana leaves the shrine, battling her own conviction about giving her everything and promptly dying and living more now that she's somewhat recovered, a battle that brings her immense frustration. Marisa comes and they have sweet moments together, emulating a day in their childhoods, but Marisa notices something is off and confronts Reimu about it, keen in not backing down or letting it slide like she did for most of her life. That tenacity leaves Reimu vulnerable and she opens up about her fears, doubts and anxieties, and mainly the guilt and loathsome feelings of unworthiness because of how much she took from Anon, Hana and others. That gets Marisa pumped up and she leaves for a little, returning with farming equipment and forcing Reimu to go plant sugarcane together, telling the miko all about how she recovered and mended her relationship with Patchy. Conflicted, Reimu ponders some more, but it's unable to overcome her guilt and tells Marisa a half-truth about how she wants to live, while inside she believes she won't. That gets Marisa all happy and crushes Reimu's heart... Fugg :(
>Yukari chills watching the village burn without a care in the world because she's already won (allegedly);
>Sanae battles Mokou and even tries to convince her to stop fighting. Gets close, but her plea is unheard after Mr. Hieda starts shelling the revolutionaries, so has to painstakingly seal Mokou with the help of her apprentices. There's no time to rest as Mr. Hieda and his samurai start shooting at them and, already so worn out from the fighting, Sanae gets hits;
>Aya brings the rest of the Frens but Reimu to her house to, at least, offset some of the most pressing feelings shared during the meeting. Bullies Chen, sealing her funeral;
>Keine appears on the Sanzu and meets Komachi, who tells her that this isn't her first time here. She died during her last stand but got revived somehow; thus, Komachi does everything to get her across the Sanzu before Keine can attempt another ressurrection. Goes poorly and Komachi loses her eye, which Keine quickly repairs, just in time for her to discover she's lost her hakutaku powers. Has a tender moment with Komachi, who comforts her and even finds herself invested in her history, but it's too late as Eiki comes, judges Keine and, upon discovering she used her powers the night before the Festival, orders Komachi to kill her soul so she can't become more of a problem. Keine, absolutely terrified, is 'saved' by Miko, exploding her restraints and making a mad dash to the Sanzu, the place she discovers her powers are sealed. Recovers her powers and unravels the entire story behind her first ressurrection and gain of powers, merging with her hakutaku side and mixing her abilities (eat future, write the past). With Kusanagi in hands and ignoring Eiki's words, ressurrects herself again;
>Kosuzu accepts the mantle of leader of the revolution while Keine is dead, leading it together with Miko;
>Mr. Hieda hallucinates Akyuu and ‘kills’ her, shattering his mental even more and furthering the oni transformation;
>Utsuho and Yuugi go to Eientei, with Okuu becoming pissed at being left out by Satori on all that's been happening around Gensokyo and, after meeting with a tired Orin and Kokoro, visiting Koichi in her room, who holds to her baby boy, Junya. They talk and Koichi manages to soothe Okuu's anxieties and fears. Decides she'll get everyone together so they can have a heart-to-heart, but not before Koichi tells her in detail about human reproduction, gifting Okuu major PTSD...

>>47065334
I have fond and joyous memories of all the time spent here in the past months, so despite its many flaws, I know I will remember the project positively.

>>47065334
I feel It'll heavily depend on if they were writing/heavily invested for it or not

>>47065324
I am shocked that this is still going. Weaponized autism, man...

>>47065334
nobody outside of this general thinks of it in a positive manner as-is, the conclusion is not going to make a difference
>>47065460
do not underestimate the power of pointless filler

>>47065334
It's hard to sum up such a large project with a single opinion, but that's what the eventual author tierlist is for.
But as a whole the HSE is already thought of negatively so that probably won't change, but the writers seem to like it at least.

>>47065334
Only like one or two dudes actively hate it. Everyone else is neutral or is waiting for it to end to read it. Its more infamous rather than famous like the KMS or other light hearted stories you'd found made here

>>47065630
>or other light hearted stories you'd found made here
that's one of the points that makes me love the HSE so much: how visceral its world is without becoming hopeless. The violence of Keine's story, Kasen's enslavement and despair, Yukari and Hana's trauma and their consequences, Eirin's eugenics and the fuck-up that is Sekai's existence are balanced by touching characters and arcs, like Chen's kindness and view on mortality, Patchy and Meiling's promise to Sekai, Patchy’s change and determination to save Meiling and Sekai, Aya's true love to Anon, Marisa straightening her life, mending her relationship with Patchy and casting off her shit past, and Reimu's redemption as a whole.

>>47065742
>Eirin's eugenics
NTA, but I forgot that was even a thing. It's definitely more of wtf weird thing to me instead of a dark thing just because of how ridiculous it is.
Just look at how many children there are already, it's just another joke to me like Son Biten's father but I like that isn't ignored due to how long it's been around.

>>47066261
Shame raisen righter vanished, I was looking forward to seeing her shenanigans

>>47066448
Nothing's stopping you or a writer from picking her up, but I feel missing a writer, but if every Anon pursued their own ideas the HSE would never end.
Honestly I really respect most of those who left the project even and appreciate
what they've written even if they aren't here anymore.

>>47066925
>Nothing's stopping you
Considering I'm already writing as much as I can given i also essentially run a little business, that would be stopping me. Though I wish I could, even if I had the chance though I'd want to write more Tewi.

>>47066942
Well you're always free to talking about the ideas you have for them here if you got any.

>>47066942
thanks for your efforts despite your circumstances~!

>>47065342
I haven't kept up with things since December and this is starting to read less like a Touhou fanfic and more like the plot of a Nioh flavored Wuxia novel (approaching a similar word count). I am all on board to read whatever finale can tie this all together: next December.

>>47067307
SHELL THE CIVILIANS!!

>>47067307
>Nioh flavored Wuxia
The only word I understand here is flavored, can you explain what you mean?

>>47067361
Nioh is a game series by Team Ninja (of Ninja Gaiden fame) set in and around the Sengoku Jidai and is your quintessential Shinto fantasy samurai game where you get to fight lots of Youkai and characters fallen to the temptations of dark powers.
Wuxia (sounds like a sword swipe) is a genre of Chinese novels that has a lot of batshit powerful characters fighting other batshit powerful characters, dying, resurrecting, using forbidden techniques and bullshit powers, and can be overall summarized as "Taoist Dragon Ball."
Elements of this combined with The Silly is how I interpreted the plot summary.

>>47067457
considering sensei's storyline and how fiercely and brutally she pursues her goals, bending reality to her desires and even finding comfort in the symbolic personification of evil in her eyes, I guess she really did became a chinese shunned protagonist that gets power through immense resolve and goes on to commit the most heinous crimes imaginable, which are always painted in a good light...
may the Yama be merciful of the souls of Youkai and humans that won't adhere to Keine's regime or actively try to undermine it, because genocide is always justifiable if it means you can get a cute Youkai wife without any of the risk involved

>>47067549
I still don't know why you keep trying to insist upon schizo Heida and the man eating youkai being the better alternative to Kiene.
Okina and Yukari are also somehow worse options to the above groups as well, but at the end of the day we can all agree it's the fault of the writefag writing them for being american.

>>47067629
Anon I was shitposting in hyperbole, I have no doubts sensei will save the village and inherit Abe's spirit, thus I fully support her endeavors and our incoming Lutheran reformations. I'll even volunteer myself to be part of the program of rehab for unrelenting flesh eaters and WILL get my wife fixed from her unsavory eating habits, all to make our sensei proud!

>>47067707
Well I hope you have fun with that, although the mitosis will be a big problem.

>>47067707
>"I have no doubts sensei will save the village and inherit Abe's spirit, thus I fully support her endeavors and our incoming Lutheran reformations. I'll even volunteer myself to be part of the program of rehab for unrelenting flesh eaters and WILL get my wife fixed from her unsavory eating habits, all to make our sensei proud!"

>>47067629
>I still don't know why you keep trying to insist upon schizo Heida and the man eating youkai being the better alternative to Kiene.
Because the idea that youkai specifically feed off of human fear is well supported in the lore. Its like how gods work, if a God supports themselves off of faith they become God's, but if they support themselves off too much fear they become youkai.
All the stuff about youkai being tied to their legends isn't just fanon, its said several times in canon that youkai are tied to their legends, and them being changed too much is akin to death. Its why in fs lots of youkai play the rep game, too much fear and they'll be outcast, not enough and they'll be weakened by human perception and dominated by other factions.
I shit you not, nothing keine has done will go well according to established canon. I really don't know why there are a few guys that actually think what Keine is doing sustainable or good in any sense but the barest hedonistic sense.

>>47068085
I'd say it's great precisely because it disregards FS and what it did to canon.
Forbidden Scrollery delenda est.

>>47065630
Make that three, because I don't think I like it either. The instant it went to "the building has feelings" is the instant that I decided that this was an equivalent of a literary landfill, where it stopped being anything resembling a real story with any sort of definable progress bar and instead just became "you know what Character X undergoing Y would be a funny" with very little deeper thought.
I don't know how anyone who isn't a writer in this Methuselah is actually going to enjoy it as an actual piece of literature. Which is unfortunate because this thing took up I don't know how many writeanons that could have been used to make more of things like that parsee kidnapping fic that was 1000x more kino than anything featured in here.
I'm glad it's almost over(?) and look forward to all of you taking your misplaced creativity and finishing a real story sometime in the future.

>>47068843
the long term lasting effect of the HSE is probably going to be 'drained all writefags of their desire to create'
like, most of the writers have fallen off by this point, but it's not to go back to the stories they were doing. It's because this literary landfill has burned them out. There's a banki thread up right now, but I doubt you're gonna see that story about banki and the hunter continued there. I doubt you'll see any of the stories that dropped off because this black hole sucked them up come back any time soon. Hell, I doubt the original hanafic will ever make it back because it's now indelibly sucked into this miserable pile.
it started as a crass joke about various 2hus visiting that doormat who got locked up in yukari's rape dungeon and then spiralled into more and more bullshit from there and the sunk cost fallacy has grown so big at this point that the few writers still here won't leave even though it's well beyond being called 'good' in any way.
Maybe, when (if) it does finish, someone could edit it and cut out probably over two or three hundred thousand words to make it a vaguely passable, if poor story based on a bad premise.
But who's going to go to all that effort?

>>47068945
If that reality ends up being true than honestly everyone who ever contributed to this should fucking throw their computer or phone or piece of papyrus into a woodchipper and then rig themselves in a noose, because letting your latent desire to make scenarios waste away like that is dishonorable upon the human race.
even the writing thread in /vt/ is literal galaxies better than what the writefags here have managed to accomplish, and that has a similar "haha Character X doing Y is a funny thought isn't it? lolololol" problem that makes it all but worthless for anyone who cares about a story instead of a fandom.

Really, *that* is the big problem nowadays. Every supposed writefag, here or otherwise is more interested in jerking the fuck off over their pet fantasy and yammering on in their little cool kids corner with the other anons about the most surface-level neuron activation sludge that I think has ever been invented.
For every one anon that has a brand new, fully-formed original thought out comes a month or more wasted by too many other anons in circlejerking about how funny the thought is and piling onto it with the minimum level of tender care and mental juice possible.

The original reimu abuse story was a proper thought. The aya story way back was a proper thought. The parsee fic was a proper thought.
The whole "nephew-kun" idea almost got the chance to be a thought but immediately turned into a shit-pile by /jp/ because, god forbid, for once in any of your brain-liquefied lives, someone form an idea to kick around without every one of your IQ's dropping lower than the average baboon. I hate how this happens to seemingly every single goddamn thing that gets posted out on writeanon hives. It makes me want to retch.

>>47069235
>>47068945
And to me, personally, this is the magnum opus of bag-fumbling and rendering hollow what could have been. Writeanons across the land joining forces to gradually bake a cake with taste so good it could never be outdone, but instead of attempting to follow a recipe you all collectively decided that the best way to make that cake was to just keep throwing ingredients into a giant blender and then putting it on never-ending full speed, because surely that means the cake will be gigantic and wonderful after it's all mixed, right?! But all that was actually created was a mess so large and so demented that the kitchen has become unusuable and everything else is gonna be choked off of air because if it.

This is just my opinion of course, feel free to say that I am the whiniest nigger to ever walk this earth, but I wanted to rant, and now you get to feel my expression of under-fufillment. Hopefully someone out there gets a kick out of it, if anything. (and if you're thinking you've seen this kind of posting before, yes, I'm the guy that wrote the two-part rant in the KMS thread too, hi, see you around, and fuck the 2000 character limit on posts)

>>47065334
Yeah see? Like one to two guys that really have a hate boner, yet choose to stay in thread and prowl it. Autism is scary.
>>47068843
>>47068945
>its drained everyone, banki will never have her story concluded!
I'm literally the bankiwriter, the story will be concluded in time. I also still have a megumu story I promised that'll eventually be made.

>>47068200
Sure we can hate boners for some canon and all, but you see my point then? By all accounts of canon Keine fucked up huge. Her actions will 100% lead to the destruction of the village

>>47069244
>>47069235
>>47068945
>>47068843
you indeed are the whiniest nigga out there and I don't need to or have any desire to read a word of these posts to know it. The limit is 5000 character too.

>>47069341
I do, unfortunately, and I hope that the Keine writefag will ignore it. No offence.

>>47069341
wasn't she always betting on using her powers to write Youkai feeding off something else if things indeed begun looking like they'd get bad? That more or less deletes any chances of things imploding and by the time she dies for real, Miko is more than capable of steering the village alone. Sure, none of that matters if Keine dies prematurely, which happened, but what can you do then if you don't have her uberpowers? Death comes for all and shouldn't be an obstacle to your plans.

>>47069431
it seems like he was ignoring all ramifications from her actions from the start, makes a better story imo. It makes Keine feel like a real person in ignoring the blatantly obvious flaws in her pet project.
Personally I like that lore in context of her story more, Keines thing is just... rather painful to read if there was no underlying risk. From the start everyone treated her as if Keine could do no wrong, and literally everyone around her sucks her off 24-7 for it while pretending there would nothing but some happy families made. If we were to just disregard established canon and fic canon to have a happy after story her revolution it'd just be insultingly bad story telling.
Its like how ridiculous the ran stuff was played off, though I did like how every single yook who advised ran was like 'nope, this is the apex of romance and not manipulative at all to Stockholm a guy'. I wish Hana could've speged at the fox a bit as a reality check

>>47069472
Pretty much, I'm kind of hazy on the details since I had to speed read most of it. It seems reasonable and all, though shes kind of advancing to have the qualifications to be sage at this rate. I'm interested to see what hurdles it'd take to actually accomplish that, her powers are a bit hazy at times.

>>47069486
>From the start everyone treated her as if Keine could do no wrong, and literally everyone around her sucks her off 24-7 for it while pretending there would nothing but some happy families made.
Miko literally came out of nowhere, told her that to her face and said the lack of people to call her off would be the death of her revolution, so it was deemed a problem and Keine appeared to recognize. It gives me hope Miko will actually help Keine develop her plans in more healthy and functional ways rather than just injections of hopium

>>47069570
That was fucking catharsis to read, I like the cowe and having one of the weaknesses ignored thus far adressed was nice. Still, I'd like the elephant in the room to be addressed at some point. One of the most frustrating things of the Heida arcs was how comically incompetent he was during the entire encounter. He's a delusional old man, yes, but he's also written to be extremely intelligent. I have no confidence in Heida thinking his way out of a paper bag without going oni mode anymore.
Like I know Keine has some plans in abusing her powers, but not a single soul seems to ask about it. Not even her detractors like mr.Heida

>>47068085
>I shit you not, nothing keine has done will go well according to established canon. I really don't know why there are a few guys that actually think what Keine is doing sustainable or good in any sense but the barest hedonistic sense.
Because people rightfully think the status quo is shitty?
Even ignoring the HSE the status quo of Gensokyo is shitty, the status quo is the number 1 thing complained about by my recollection and I don't expect that to change anytime soon. It's the status quo that ends up with outsiders being used as food and the humans kept in fear.
I find it hard to even think of it as hedonistic as keine is trying to stop suffering she sees as unnecessary, and I for one like the Kiene story for saying "Nah" to Omelas, then deciding to remake the shitty status quo.

>>47069749
I mean yeah, no one is objecting that things should change. However, its not just philosophy or the current powers that be making youkai run on fear, that is literally just a facet of life; like death and birth. Man needs food, gods need faith, youkai need fear. I'm not entirely sure how she's planning on changing that fact even with her powers. Can the cow rewrite a fundamental aspect of reality, even if just on a local scale like gensokyo? I would actually love to see that happen, probably require a bit(a lot) of divine help or esoteric nonsense.
Hence my criticisms of her actions and why I'm genuinely surprised people think its a good idea. I like the story and all, but I can't ignore that her plan is objectively going to get 90% of all the youkai she intends to save destroyed, or even in the best case turned into humans in a couple of years after they get used to village life(a thing that happens in lore and myth)

>>47069857
>Can the cow rewrite a fundamental aspect of reality
I'd hardly call the workings of youkai biology the fundamental of reality, that's like saying the world rests on the back if an elephant. I joke but the universe being based around the biology of a single race of beings which exists as the byproduct of another sounds pretty disc world.

>>47069342
I think he's claiming to be this >>45925550 >>45925578 guy, but he isn't. I think I've seen this fag pretend to be other people before and this is the most outrageous one yet.
The posts I linked has a character count of 2858 and 4408, both of which are higher than 2000.
Other than that I find the general complaint of internet hobbyists being internet hobbyists being laughable, maybe if this was a webserial of authors were accepting donations I would understand his perspective a bit, but while he's free to dislike it, I also don't get how he expects professional level writing from a bunch of people shooting the shit for fun.
Act 1, while the most complained about act in hind sight, is almost entirely that. People just shooting the shit and fucking around.

>>47070001
Sure the universe doesn't hinge on youkai biology, but I call it a hard fact for a reason. Its a fundamental truth that you need to eat, to consume to live. Shes essentially changing a fundamental part of an entire species biology, like having all cows eat meat and shit grass. Literally rewriting a part of reality and changing how what and how they eat. Until that question can be answered, and the problem of all the youkai she's going to save getting HUMAN'D once they settle in, her plans are only going to blow up in her face. Its as silly any political movement that tries denying biology or some simple fact.

>>47070214
Anon, she can rewrite reality, she'll solve it somehow.

>>47070445
She can rewrite history, and write in fate. Not change the way the sun rises.

>>47070511
Eh, she'll figure it out somehow.

>>47069857
>Can the cow rewrite a fundamental aspect of reality, even if just on a local scale like gensokyo? I would actually love to see that happen, probably require a bit(a lot) of divine help or esoteric nonsense.
>Susano'o's sword of emperors and local goddess seeking a way to atain immortality just within arms reach.
guess she can and will bend reality once more, but following the limitations of her power it shouldn't affect people stronger than her, which is okay, seeing all Youkai that want to join the village are the weak ones that suffer needlessly like Mystia.
>>47070214
>and the problem of all the youkai she's going to save getting HUMAN'D once they settle in
well, we never had this much integration in the canon works, with halflings popping everywhere to form the next generation, the HSE absolutely breaking mystique Youkai might have had and an entire revolution taking place to change the perspective of people in their coexistence, as Keine said to Mr. Hieda before getting JFK'd, so it's doubtful that Youkai becoming humans will be the outcome, as in canon works the divide was still immense and the status quo maintained.
my theory is that a median will start to form between humans and Youkai now that they live together, work together and do their shit together as a functional society, with the former getting a better control and outlook of the magical world and the latter losing some of their powers and perks, like long lives and so on, a worthy sacrifice for better lives.
Youkai are a reflection of humans after all, and if humans sympathize too much with them, it's likely that humans will change too and become generally powerful now that they don't have to live in fear, making Keine's Imperium a successful society.
that'd bother the incredibly strong, but that's what mikos are made for, and religion will keep being fostered with Miko around, so nothing in those lines should change much.
or maybe not and everyone dies in regret, the end!
fuck Omelas, all my brothers hate Omelas and the continuation of suffering to maintain the happiness and contentment of the leeches.
the HSE WILL fall! Yukari WILL get her ass handed to her! Mr. Hieda WON'T play hisoutensoku again with Akyuu for 100 years! The people of the village and the Youkai WILL prosper and the genetic pool WILL broaden.

I've not kept up with all this, I confess
since when could Keine rewrite fate? Her ability in canon is just something like illusions of rewriting history, and in hakutaku form it's basically the same except she can see ALL of history. When did she become like Remi on steroids?

>>47070759
Since last thread, it was also foreshadowed before during the blue moon event but I wasn't really paying attention.

>>47070759
>rewrite fate
not really though, that's just wording. She merged with her hakutaku form and evolved her powers into eating/concealing the future and rewriting the past. Unlike Remi that dictates without limitations how things will play out, Keine has to rewrite manually the past and has the usual limitations, and the only instance so far where she rewrote the past killed her future self due to being too costly, so Remi's manip of fate is much more reliable, easy to use and doesn't require specific circumstances.
all that's to say Remi is still number one since EoSD.

I makea da pizza

>>47068945
>the long term lasting effect of the HSE is probably going to be 'drained all writefags of their desire to create'
For me it's the opposite. I have been writing randomly in other threads for months now.
Don't know if it's the same for others.
>>47069244
>Writeanons across the land joining forces to gradually bake a cake with taste so good it could never be outdone
I won't argue with the constant jumping on every permutation of character/scenario, but I think it was impossible to 'get this right' since this is kind of a first for most of us. In that respect, screwing up harder is beneficial in the long-term, since we know more of the pit falls like 'don't write too much, you'll saturate things' and 'Give characters a clear, obvious motivation and goal to make it easier on other writers'.
>>47069235
You're trying to play curator and saying lots, but it all seems like noise and hyperbole. This is the only insight you actually have:
>The original reimu abuse story was a proper thought. The aya story way back was a proper thought. The parsee fic was a proper thought.
But you don't substantiate it with any meaning. If you can't nail down why, then just say so, otherwise practice what you preach and give us a concise, proper thought.

Archiveanon,

I have read over parts of the archive and finally gotten off my lazy ass to address discussion over whether or not the Gakkuran spin-off should be excised. My considerations:

+ Other non-canon stories are in the archive anyways, such as the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas stories
+ At least one guy seemed to like it
- It's non-canon and doesn't effect the primary story
- Unlike other side-stories, the Gakkuran spin-off is scattered between threads and can be considered as interrupting the flow between main stories

Ultimately, the decision is yours. However, I think it would be best to make the Gakkuran story a linked side-story like I did for some of my specials. It would probably help out in terms pacing and flow for the canon material and the Gakkuran itself, since the endings are also in a different chapter than the meat of the spin-off.

Sincerely yours,
The guy that wrote it. (<- Allergic to productivity)

>>47073063
This guy literally admitted to using /vt/. They're just shitting up threads for the hell of it like any other /vt/umor that metastasizes to /jp/.

>>47073130
I leave it to you, as long as its marked as non-canon it should be fine!

>>47073130
I have a question, what is Gakkuran?
I keep hearing people talk about it, but don't know what it is.

>>47073130
sure mate, will be deleting it in just a sec and will put a hyperlink to the spin-off when you post it.
very eloquent words too, nice.
no worries about having it or not in the archive; the full archive is the collection, after all.

>>47073164
another one of those spinoffs like the christmas/halloween/whatever ones, but one that lasted way too long

>>47073164
'japanese school uniform', so when say Gakkuran we mean the Valentine's school spin off special.

>>47073167
Sounds good, I should have it up by tonight.
>>47073164
Gakkuran is a male uniform for DKs. Gakkou is a school.
I fucked up calling it gakkuran instead of gakkou but it refers to the V Day special I wrote in which the HSE turned into a high school full of hags and green-haired girls. Anon and Goro wear gakurans. They walk to the gakkou. If you're curious, it starts at Chapter 20 in the archive and ends in Chapter 21 it peaked at the gymnasium.

>>47073249
>full of hags and green-haired girls
I guess Suwako showed all of them who the real fertility god was.
She sure is one busy woman.

i'll never forgive you faggots for killing the original hana story

>>47073505
our pleasure

>>47073505
just two more threads~

>>46960246
—
Satori-sama being mad is not out of the ordinary.

Maybe one of the servants did their job wrong; perhaps Orin was lazying on the carpets whilst grooming herself or the new batch of uranium hexafluoride I made was of shoddy quality because I got distracted with melting rocks with thermonuclear energy—don't blame me, it's very fun to do so~—, all things that tick her off and garner some reaction, though they're always milquetoast and more on the disappointed side…

Never ebullient rage like what she's displaying right now—the backdoor closing just as that old lady Okina came through, looking something in-between smug and pensive. The sight of her uggy face soured my mood, but I rather focused on Satori-sama as she stomped towards a perplexed Suika-san, Yuugi-san standing up with a frown and matching towards them, towering above the two yet doing nothing to mitigate Satori-sama's rage, a finger pointed at Suika-san's face. “You. You disgrace! Do you have any idea about the things Yukari and that… degenerate daughter of shrine maiden did to Kasen-san?!” Beneath, Koutei rumbles and lifts his resting head, a swiftness to his movements that bore still scary precision. “They desecrated her so thoroughly, it's absolutely ludicrous! They did so much worse than what I had thought at first and they're still planning to do more! And more! I saw it in the kitsune's mind, the child's mind—and what are you doing about this?! You stand around and drink without a care in the world! Kasen relapsed into Douji and you stand around drinking!”

… I… d-don't understand this information.

Douji? Who's—what is—Douji?

Whatever it may be, it drained the color from Suika's face, Kokoro having woken up as did Orin, the hellcat watching with a bewilderment much like mine. Those words had also silenced Yuugi, the giant of a woman now still as a monolith.

And Satori-sama was at the verge of tears, tears of deep-seated rage. “And you…” She turns to Okina, Suika-san unable to speak, her gaze fixed on her gourd. “You repugnant monstrosity… Threatening that child—a victim—, forcing me to have a hand in your vile games… You're no different from Yukari Yakumo.” Her voice was so overpowering that it caused my eyes to dart, my wings to flap, and my words to falter, such writhing rage crushing my train of thought. Satori-sama's fists were so tightly clenched that they were b-bleeding, her hair disheveled, and her third eye wide open…

W-What is happening here?! Why is Satori-sama so mad?

Okina Matara, however, simply chuckles. “My, my~the most hated Youkai alive, pointing fingers; so quick to blame others for things beyond their control and act so high and mighty… So precious, my little fodder~” That word, 'fodder', sparks something in Satori-sama's eyes that makes me recoil, words starting to form… Suddenly, the world weighs a loathsome ten thousand tons and knees tremble, the very air caustic. Satori-sama winces, yet her hatred persists as we all watch Okina slowly stand from her throne, boots hitting Koutei’s scales. She didn't look amused anymore. “Today was full of emotions, I'll confess. I had to reach far and wide in the confines of my patience to not just… Snap, you understand me?” Her steps took her to standing in front of Satori-sama, hands falling as if boulders on her shoulders, prompting inside a nuclear flame, invisible yet destructive, my heart thumping as clear danger showed itself… B-But my body couldn't move! Why couldn't it move?! Why am I here, powerless to stop the looming woman over Satori-sama? “A subjugated dragon, a disrespectful miko, a mafia boss, and now you, poking at my good will and pressing my buttons. I love a good drama, yes, but even I have my limits for ridiculousness.” There was a threat in her words—a threat that made me deaf to her next words, wings sprawling as I forced my body to react.

“… I really hope when Reimu is done doing what she must do, she also kills you for good measure.” Satori-sama replies, her eyes broad.

Okina smiles, unbothered. “My, such a bratty attitude, Satorin… I don't feel like asking anymore~” Whatever the spell was, I broke it at that outrageous moment, clocking and pointing the thermonuclear ultimate weapon at the unnerving hag with furious eyes. The others' gazes were fixed on her. “Heh, just kidding—”

Stronger than I? Than the entire Underground?

… So what?!

Their gaze finally shifts to me when the sun appears in thermonuclear glory, scorching the air into ash, teeth clenched and mind focused on protecting my master.

Frick that hag creep!

The split second before her eyes focused on me and the size difference between her and Satori-sama made for a clear shot, which I took without hesitation, hurling the massive red and white ball of overwhelming force to atomize her brains—

“—Or maybe I'll kill your misbehaving pet to make me feel better.”

The sun is gone.

Snuffed.

Satori-sama looks terrified.

A hand reaches out of a bottomless pit and grabs my face.

And just before she can rip my face off as if a particularly annoying fly deciding it was their turn to get nuked, the world beneath shifts together with a bloodcurdling howl that travels the Underground as if colliding hadrons, the backdoor from which that terrifying hand spawned being ripped apart as if paper by a claw the size of a house, the arm receding before being shredded. Breathless and gaunt, not even realizing that I had just been flung off Koutei's back, I stare at the dragon, who had changed from his resting to an attacking stance, his movements fluid and scarcely impeded by the harsh chains around his long neck. The dragon's sheer bulk was a barrier unto itself, made even more so when, from the gaping, nauseating wound left by the barbaric collar, he withdrew a sword that smothered all other lights, seven-branched and composed of a green material as iridescent as the first rays of sunlight. All those words can be perfectly summarized by Orin's reaction: “Holy shit…”

Okina doesn't look as amused; her eyes narrowed on the dragon acting as shield, hand clutching to her left forearm… The sleeve was gnarly torn.

Koutei hissed lowly, a rumble of death.

A warning.

Below, people watched as if the skies had taken on a life of their own.

— “You idiot.” Satori-sama's voice reaches me, taking me out of my stupor with a jump, eyes bulging and heart loud, wings all ruffed, remembering the pure rage of just now… Thoughts that make her nearly bite her tongue. “Have you already forgotten my words, Reiuji?” The words are… softer, Yuugi-san approaching with clear relief, a tense Orin and a bewildered Kokoro over her shoulders. Suika didn't need protection; her expression not as shaken as before as she watched the stand-off between dragon and sage…

… Wait a moment…

What just happened a moment ago: that hand that clutched my face, the sheer cold of the fingers and the weird sensation…

Those fingers almost ripped my face off.

I blink.

… Oh, man, this sucks…

T-This sucks so bad; it's awful!

It's not nice…

“My, my~what a weird development…” Okina's voice prevails above the creeping silence, looking rather calm as her throne appeared behind her again and she sat down, sighing in relief. “Never enjoyed standing on these legs; makes me feel weird and wrong… But sometimes, the situation calls for a reinforcement of hierarchy.” She shrugs, but I barely register it. “You're limited, Koutei-kun—about half a kilometer, hm~?” She moves her eyes briskly from his chains to me, spine chilling and wings jostling. Okina smiles. “You've amused me, Koutei-kun, so it'll go unpunished today… But next time that hierarchy is defied, I won't be so kind~” Satori-sama groans loudly, the rage of before returning in full force as we stare at the sage hovering to the dragon's side. “And, oh, my Satorin, if I were just like Yukari… I wouldn't stop. One way or another, the moment your pet was even slightly defenseless, I’d have her killed. But I won't, for I am a benevolent goddess!” Her eyes on Satori-sama are full of a joy that feels plainly wrong. Koutei hisses one more time… Before returning the seven-branched sword to the gaping wound in his neck. “Remember these words; these actions next time you find it within yourself to throw care to the wind! There'll come a time when I won't be kidding~” A backdoor appears behind her, framing an imposing figure. “Goodbye for now, beautiful people!”

And so she was gone, the door slamming shut.

I blink…

… I think I'll go 5–13.

“Shut up; you won't, birdbrain.” Satori-sama mumbles, calling my attention before I can start crying, her tired eyes staring at mine… Then she sighs. “Tsk, Koishi can be blunt at times.” Yuugi laughs out loud, Orin purring. Embarrassed from that talk, I try explaining, but a massive claw gently pats me on the head, Koutei staring at me in… D-Disapproval?! “You expected anything else?” That same disapproval reflected in Satori-sama's face; ouch. “… Orin, you and Yuugi go quell the religious fanaticism below before it grows into whispers about surfacing and retaking Youkai Mountain,” her penetrating gaze moves to Suika, a drawn moment of silence…

Suika-san guzzles from her gourd and flies off, landing on Koutei's head. “I'll give our big friend here a pep talk about overkill in protecting a ‘daughter’ he’s had for one day and is already willing to kill for~” She jests without any joy.

Koutei huffs, returning to his resting position.

… Wait, what?

“You come with me, Reiuji.” Without another word, she flies towards the palace, my eyes jumping from her to Yuugi and Orin, both giving me tense thumbs up. Kokoro shrugs… Not able to disrespect orders, I follow Satori-sama, soon getting away from all the fuss, an awkward sil— “No, Reiuji. It's not awkward. I'm considering what punishment to give you.”

… Oh.

As I mull over how to defend myself, Satori-sama suspends her flight. “Also, hold me…”

Huh? What does she me—

—Satori-sama bends forward and starts throwing up.

>>47075960
>>47075953
Satori really has it tough, constantly jobbing and being under threat of the evil hags who torment her.
Well she's basically walking to her death anyways, so it's nor like Okina's going to be a problem when this is all over. Reimu sure as hell won't let her walk free and I don't think anybody else will want her around either.

>Kasen relapsed into Douji
This is a weird sentence, Douji is like a honorific in the context of Ibaraki-Douji, and by itself 童子 or Douji/Tongzi in mandarin just means something like "boy," as ina young masculine child.
Looking up the obsolete, it was also used to refer to a "scholar who has not passed the county level imperial exam." According to wikipedia.
Okuu shouldn't have even registered it as a name, and been wondering about which child they're talking about.
Contextually the Oni and Satori would know who they're talking about, but it doesn't make any sense to refer to Kasen as Douji, even in the context of her acting more Ibaraki-Douji-like.

>“Remember these words; these actions next time you find it within yourself to throw care to the wind! There'll come a time when I won't be kidding~”
What a hypocrite, coming from a careless pedophile god looking to do who knows what.
Eiki, Okina, this story is filled with such shitty hypocritical bitches I hope they all get whats coming towards them and we don't get some cop out ending where only Yukari dies.

>>47075953
>>47075960
You know what, I'm proud of okuu here actually standing up to this shitty hag. Was that move stupid as hell, yes it was, but okina has been the second biggest shit head just behind yukari this entire story and deserves a nuke to the face.

>>47078073
the Douji sentence by Satori can be interpreted as a kirakira name by our dumbass bird since it was spoken as if referring to a person, though it's more amusing to think of Okuu thinking they're talking about Kasen returning to child form as if that's an awful occurrence.
>it doesn't make any sense to refer to Kasen as Douji, even in the context of her acting more Ibaraki-Douji-like
perhaps and I didn't think it at the time, though considering it now I still think I'd use Douji; 'relapsed into oni' is not very subtle and in the context, with the three of them knowing the real meaning, it makes sense.
>What a hypocrite, coming from a careless pedophile god looking to do who knows what.
Gensokyo is controlled by powerful beings that keep other just as powerful beings in check. Those smack-dab in the middle suffer...

>>47079894
>perhaps and I didn't think it at the time, though considering it now I still think I'd use Douji; 'relapsed into oni' is not very subtle and in the context, with the three of them knowing the real meaning, it makes sense.
It's not subtle anyways, and you can always reword the sentence or just remove.
>"Kasen relapsed into Douji and you stand around drinking!"
I don't think relapse is a good choice of word either, as while it does imply falling back into previous harmful behavior, acting like an Oni isn't bad for an Oni.
Nor would I think that Suika and Yuugi would have the automatic assumption that Kasen being more Oni like is bad as they are also Oni. Out of character of the Kasen they know, but not something they'd think of as inherently bad and thus wouldn't be something Satori would bring up.
I'm serious about it not being subtle either, I don't think Satori should be trying to be subtle as she's just venting her frustrations and complaining, so she has no reason to be subtle.
Your writing also isn't subtle, nor do I think writing needs to be subtle unless your trying to hint to something you don't want to put in plain text, convey a hard to describe feeling, or foreshadow something.
If Satori is trying to hide the fact that Kasen is a Oni, I'd question why she's trying to even do it at this point as Yuugi, Suika, and Okina all know while Okuu wouldn't care she's an Oni.
Maybe if Satori was trying to discreetly vent her frustrations and hide information from a third part it'd make sense but as is, it doesn't.

>>47079978
I was speaking ‘subtle’ in the way I personally see the character and her actions, though. Satori, in my eyes, is often less direct and more thoughtful about the things she says and does as to contrast Koishi bluntness, a trait that she'd carry over even in a tense outburst like what she was having; the same thing is why she waited all that time to finally let emotions take over her and threw up, far away from others but with Okuu close by to help her. So saying those words like that passed what she wanted to pass on to the others while keeping Kasen's secret safe—an unconscious action rather than one she considered first. And well, after the chapters of Kasen in the palace where she told Yuugi about how Yukari used her oni lust to enslave her, plus all that she's done to distance herself from being and acting like an Oni, a sudden relapse into acting like one just after Koutei was subjugated would likely be seen as a bad thing in their eyes. And Suika had talked to Koutei too, who didn't tell her that, so it naturally came off as a surprise, though I'm saving that to Suika's planned chapter
so yeah, while I won't be rewording and reposting as I don't deem it necessary unlike the last repost I did (Kasen studying the sword and feeling Makai magic in it) it was an interesting conversation about something that I hadn't paid much attention to, thanks for it~

>>47078484
she may be stupid as hell, but she cares and hates creepy obabas!

>>47080409
I mean, it's not really a secret.
I think the people in Geonsokyo just don't know, Kasen thinks of it as a secret due to her personal bias, but it'd be weird for Kasen's identity to be considered a secret in the underground when it's main residents are her former underlings.
Maybe Koishi and Okuu wouldn't know, but I think Orin being totally ignorant of something like that which is probably common knowledge to the Oni is probably a stretch.

>>47080420
I agree. Issue is Mataraijin classically is not only a secret God, but also an avatar of Shiva, the Hindu high god of destruction. Okina is Mataraijin, and as such even in the big ol 2 v 1 of yukari + kasen vs okina, okina will probably lose due to the bullshit plot sword, but okina is gonna massively fuck both of them up in the process. The finale is gonna be interesting, that's for sure.

>>47081778
Where I was originally going with this post before my ADHD kicked in is okuu had a good thought in head and her heart was in the right place, but this fight was a fucking terrible idea.

>>47081778
You over thinking it, not every god has to be the same person, even if their irl counterparts have massive overlaps or are different incarnations of each other across religon.
If you don't just say stop then eventually everybody ends up being everybody else, I know everybody likes to bring out the Matarajin graph, but that's just autism and for the sake of an actually workable story what makes sense with the facts as established in the work is much more important.
Yeah irl mythology is canon, to a degree, but unless it's brought up in story, it's not important and you shouldn't put too much thought into it.
For fucks sake Tewi is a latin american god turned rabbit, turned youkai rabbit, turned rabbit god, if you want to involve american mythology, and mind you that's not even stretching things as I'm just referencing stories which refer to a form of Moon Rabbit and not other beings that have been conflated with the concept of a moon rabbit.
And while I admit Tewi is probably old enough to have done all of that shit, it's also way too much to bring into a story.
That example got away from me, but I think you get the point.
TLDR: Don't think too much about it, it's fine.

>>47081844
>Tewi latin america
Tewi baião de dois....

>>47081778
>Shiva
Ackshually Matarajin is specifically associated with Mahakala, who is either an aspect of Shiva or one of his retainers depending on what source you use. Same kind deal as Shiva's wife(s) changing depending on if they count Durga and Kali as aspects of Parvati or as separate wives. And that's Mahakala as a diety in Hinduism, whereas in Buddhism he's a wrathful protector with black and white variants and in Japan he's apparently just Daikokuten, which is quite removed from the other interpretations.
Doing that for Okina is all kinds of messy that means either Okina is going to destroy Gensokyo in a dance of death or we just keep her power level at equal to Yukari since that's just about all the information when she can't instantly win in the Extra Stage of HSiFS.

>>47075960
—
There have been nuclear emergencies where I have had to squeeze myself into confined spaces with a toolbox hurriedly strapped to my leg and wings folded around me to make myself as small as possible in order to reach a faulty session deep within the extremely complicated systems of the furnace. There, twisted like a jigsaw piece and possibly even upside down, I calmly and precisely solved the problem.

With Satori-sama's arm around my neck, I feel on the verge of a panic attack.

W-What's even happening anymore?!

It's so much in so little time! It seemed like there’d be no more obstacles in the way after that talk with Koishi-chan and that everything would go smoothly from then on… But Satori-sama's clothes are all messed up and she passed out a couple of minutes ago, mumbling fragmented sentences that rapidly grew into low whimpering, creased brows, and body trembling.

Such sight of the master, usually so imposing despite her stature with an iron demeanor that’d often be cracked by bouts of childishness Orin teases she got from me—a detective? Really?—breaks my heart.

Things shouldn't be like this!

People screaming at each other, pointing fingers and…

Guh, all the emotions shared on top of Koutei's back make me wanna puke! I hate this! I hate this so much— “Stop whining, Reiuji… My head is pounding.” Her eyes are fixed on the ground, and she groans—possibly from the cold dampness of her clothes—as her raspy, yet loaded voice makes me jump, startled. “Take my clothes off and put me in the bathtub, ugh…” I mumble a quick okay, dodging the bed—not a good idea in retrospect; it'd get her bed all dirty… “Indeed it would, you birdbrain.” I giggle, though it's a fleeting joy drained by the sheer toll this day has taken on me. I open the door of the extensive bathroom with my feet and gingerly place Satori-sama on the hinoki, the master of the palace nearly crumbling to the side if I hadn't held her…

And I am not sure why, but seeing her so frail and battered, her eyes wide and appalled, drives me to my breaking point. “What's happening, Satori-sama?!” Her eyes move to me, my trembling hands undoing buttons and taking off the dirty clothes. “I-I don't understand a thing about what's happening! Why is Okina doing these things? What is bringing you to this point—why are you not telling me anything and keeping me in the dark?! It's to protect me? T-That's not cool! Not funny! I am not laughing!” I leave Satori-sama sitting naked on the hinoki, tearing up on my way to the copper bathtub. I try to stop them and clean them, Master is obviously going through some tough times… But I simply can't stop it, my hands gripping the edge of the bathtub as it fills, tears falling down.

I still feel a hand holding onto my face and threatening to rip it off like a scab that had served its purpose…

… T-That's what it’s like to be on the other side of overwhelming power, huh?

The tears that escape—my teeth clench, my body trembles at its very limit—intensify when Satori-sama softly whispers. “Reiuji, look at me.” I swear, if I get one more dismissive answer…

… I think I'll have a goddamn nuclear meltdown.

—I meet her eyes, Satori-sama massaging her temples. “… Koishi has conditioned you in the nature of copulation.” She remarks, throwing me off my simmering anger.

Wha… What does that have anything to—

“A lot.” Strained, she rises from the hinoki, trembling slightly but gesturing for me to stop as I try to support her. The Satori weakly paces and, with a sigh of relief, plunges her exhausted body into the warm, hot spring waters, her third eye closing in lethargic delight. “… Ah, heavens above.” As she enjoys the moment, I swallow my most tense rage and, rather than standing there like a stupid idiot rubbing my forearm, I retrieve the hinoki and take a seat by the copper bathtub, wings folded to protect themselves from the steam. It takes a long moment, but soon Satori-sama opens her eyes, her gaze of a thousand miles staring at nothing in the ceiling. “A brothel is a place for adults to have sex, Reiuji. Koishi already told you how she went there and had her son…” My embarrassment towards the topic shows, but it doesn't stop Satori-sama. “What Koishi hasn't told you is that Yukari's brothel is just a facade. The man inside it suffers every day, as he has no choice in the matter. He’s a prisoner. The people he has sex with mean nothing to him… They’re just monsters exploiting his body and torturing him.”

… W-What…?

But that… T-That doesn't make sense! S-Sex is how a child is made! Junya, the newest member of our family, came to her through copulation according to Koishi-chan—not via a stork!

How can the act that generates life be twisted into this… evil?

“I don’t know, Reiuji…” Satori-sama looks away from me. “Okina threatened to do that to me today and many times before…” Her voice cracks as she swallows nothing, shifting in the tub. “Hana Hakurei, that poor child… This evil act, Reiuji, is called rape.”

Rape.

I can't say I understand sex by itself or baby making; it's weird, nasty and embarrassing to me…

But the words Satori-sama have just said—her explanation—exhaust me and in this cold bathroom, I feel hollow, wings dropping and expression locked in speechless horror. A terror that intensifies as the rest of it begins to make sense and, along with it, comprehension of Okina Matara's behavior, words, and the feeling of wrong in her every action; Satori-sama’s reactions, weariness… She's been dealing with that woman by herself… W-Wait, Koishi-chan raped that man in the HSE?! “Don't blame her, Reiuji. She hadn't recovered her senses yet and wasn't operating as normal.” Satori-sama mumbles, sinking a little more into the bath, her eyes never leaving me and making me feel… Small—a corrupting sensation that made my hands itch for any kind of diversion, my eyes wander, and my veins clog.

With one hand, I grab the shampoo bottle and with my other hand, I scoop up a handful of fragrant water to pour over Satori-sama's hair.

She stared at me, her eyes squinting in quietude… Before softening and turning away without judgement.

With a full heart, I began to scrub her pinkish hair, finding enjoyment in watching bubbles form. Satori-sama continues; “That poor man and his torture called forth people who either wanted to save him; put down Yukari or use the tragedy for their own personal agendas, like Okina… Others fell prey to Yukari's schemes, like Kasen. You weren't here the day Yukari cursed the Underground with that sword, but she defeated Yuugi effortlessly and threatened Kasen using mind control that stems from a mistake of the past. Yukari has violated Kasen, and neither she nor Koutei are free anymore; they're slaves… I detest this.” I nod along, static in my ears and mouth shut as if by cement. “Okina, on other hand, also hasn't any decency and sees all this nightmare as a game to fulfill her whims, and I'm a part of them for Koishi's sake… I loathe the idea of Junya's father and Kasen remaining prisoners to Yukari and I plan to fight so they can be liberated from that freak… But without Okina, it wouldn't be even close; Yukari would mercilessly stomp us.” The bitterness of her words seeps into the walls, the ceiling and the floor, rotting the atmosphere. It seeps into my heart and I don't know if it'll stop hurting someday. “She… hasn't done anything bad to me yet, but the things I've seen her do—her thoughts, her actions—the meeting we were on today, how she stared at that poor shikigami… Ugh, it doesn't matter now.” I finish scrubbing and gather more water to clean the foam, my hands trembling. “That's what's been happening around Gensokyo recently, Reiuji. People suffer and the likes of Okina and Yukari do whatever abominable urges their hearts steer them towards; and why I didn't want you taking part in this depravity… Just the thought of you being taken advantage of makes me sick.” Her eyes turn to me, my hands picking up a towel to the side. “… What you did today—attacking Okina—was incredibly stupid; now she has motives to do harm to you. Never do that again, please…” That's it. Those words: I’m a burden. I cry, inconsolable… But Satori-sama simply smiles, getting off the tub. “… But thanks, Reiuji. For defending me. Knowing that you have remained pure to be that stupid after everything I’ve seen… makes my heart very happy.”

I…

… Now I know what's happening around Gensokyo and what's been happening to Satori-sama.

Why she's been protecting me so thoroughly.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

Yukari, Okina…

For the love of every subatomic particle, I really want to see them nuked.

Trembling, I rise from the hinoki, towel in hands and move behind her, passing the towel around her small body and so my arms, hugging her amidst this cloud of not-so-cool feelings. “… You are going to be okay, right? Nothing bad is gonna happen to you, r-right? You're not going to be r-raped and… You'll forgive Suika-san for being a jerk; Koutei will be freed to return to Kasen-san but will come to visit often. You and Koichi-chan will make amends and become besties again, and we all will take care of little Junya. O-Orin will love playing with him~” I hug tighter and tighter, uncaring for what lies beneath as my wings unfurl and come forward to add another layer to the hug. Satori-sama sighs but doesn't stop me, her third eye staring at me with fondness. “… E-Everything's gonna be alright, right?”

She analyzes my face from below for a moment, but ultimately… Smiles—thin and tired, yet enduring. “Yes, Reiuji. It'll all be alright—if you don't hurl another sun at Okina.”

Good.

… Good…

A little redness comes to me, body and mind cloaked in the darkness of these new discoveries, yet her words warm me. “I won't~”

She then exits the hug, her gaze shifting away from mine. “Ah, and I have determined how you'll be punished.” Her tone is stern again.

It fills me with comfort…

… And an atomic flame burning to protect.

>>47083570
>>47083563
I'm glade Okuu is being setup to be one of the ones that kills Okina, or at least finishes her off if she escapes. I wonder if Koishi will join her in that quest?
Hopefully, now that Okuu is done we'll get back to Kiene soon so her story can finish up.

>>47086493
>Koishi bound to a baby fighting
seems like a tasteless thing for a battle, y'know...? Maybe funny, but that's not enough to include her.
>we'll get back to Kiene soon so her story can finish up.
not really, can't use Keine until after Hanaanon gets the Hana around here and does what he said he would, otherwise I'd likely have already finished Keine by now. The downsides of a community project, but cannot blame him; the guy works his ass off and eventually delivers some good 'Ana, so no hurry~

>>47086637
>Koishi bound to a baby fighting
Didn't she give birth already, I probably skipped something or forgot, but can you clarify.

>>47086652
Satori's in this story are tied to their babies to help them develop a third eye for the first few months, like an external umbilical cord.

>>47086667
Right, my eyes probably skimmed over the satori biology lesson.
Right, well I hope the team to kill Okina get some moire firepower to ensure the hag dies.

>>47086694
>well I hope the team to kill Okina get some moire firepower to ensure the hag dies.
THIRD TIME IS THE FUCKING CHARM!!!!!!

>>47086694
It's ok that was during the koishi birthing mass infodump, I don't blame your brain turning off about that.

>>47083570
>>47083563
glad to see Okuu getting sex ed, it's very important to know that stuff to avoid mishaps

>>47081897
Don't forget, Napoleon lost to rabbits.
USA~ Tewi! Numero uno!

>>47065336
I have a question, if all the writers are planning to write their own endings anyways, what makes an ending "non-canon"?

>>47090989
the endings after the Solstice will be like epilogues, AUs and so on, but all the writers will write the Solstice together, meaning it'll have one actual ending. Cirnoanon wrote his ending apart from the other writers in a community project, so it's non canon.

>>47091007
So they have an ending planned out which they'll all stick to, and then write thos epilogues based on the one ending script they agree on?

>>47091047
>So they have an ending planned out which they'll all stick to
pretty much, we have a pastebin with the four sets of the ending already planned
>and then write thos epilogues based on the one ending script they agree on?
yes and no, everything after the four sets of the finale will be according to the writer's doing it liking, so while some will abide by the ending (I have one planned for example for Shanghai the Doll), others will write epilogues that are also AUs, like a character that doesn't die, a different outcome, Anon leaving Gensokyo and so on.
tl;dr: we'll ball after the hell the Solstice is going to be.

>>47091083
It's great to see that you have a clear plan for handling the ending, and don't let some recursive writefaging in the thread discourage you. I'm confident you and the other writers will do great.

>>47065324
FUCKKK SO FAR BEHINDDD reeeeeeeee
the last thread is gold but i'm never gonna catch up also love the stuff guys!

(1/3)
—
The roofs of the HSE, at times so eclectic in their plainness—no, the heart of the HSE are those soft yet strong arms, that intoxicating manly odor and hatred so pure it seeps into the walls—a hatred that’ll, of course, change, as is the unalterable nature of my victory over the hounds that bite on my ankles, always so vicious yet bolstering no damage. Memories of nebula-filled eyes, nose that resembled Anon's, and chin that looked just like mine come and make me smile~—are today occupied, the surroundings made more pleasant with use of the Gap, trees and nature grown on top of the concrete and wood, snow swept away and rays of sunlight having the boundaries between weak and strong manipulated, shining as if a lovely summer day on me, sitting with a quaint smile on my chair, the usual purple dress complemented by a peaceful expression, a tea cup on a hand and the other supporting my chin, eyes on the view that defines this pleasant afternoon: the burning of the Human Village, columns of acrid smoke cloaking the sun and a shimmering shield of golden light the only safe spot those caught in the fires had, the devils down below watching in horror the unfolding massacre.

Seiga, who sat on the chair parallel to mine—a round table with a tea tray and some light snacks between us—smiled fondly. “Ah~this view brings me back.” Her comment makes Ran squirm ever so slightly, the shikigami standing behind me. “The campaigns we had in China—the burning of entire villages to prevent a spreading sickness or, perhaps, just to make a point—it’s all the same. It inspired beautiful pieces of art I fiend to someday add to my collection~”

“Imitations, cheap and safe. They bear no meaning compared to the memories combat itself creates.” Konngara comments on Seiga's remark, standing on the edge of the building with the tip of her sword pressed to the concrete and eyes closed, the wind carrying the stench of death sweeping her hairs—a resting pose.

“My, my~I think war is best experienced both physically and through art. I thirst for the Solstice and bathing in blood, but also long for the aftermath and the many masterpieces I'll carve—heh, the HSE has been such a miracle to my creative mind. Before, depravity in Gensokyo was so unseen… But now it runs rampant, tainting every corner of its world and elevating what already exists. Oh, the many fetishes and fantasies I tasted~” She laughs, carefree and truly happy. “Though I regret losing Yoshika, this lovely vista tempts me to strip her bare and hack at her decaying body. I wonder the results~” Seiga shrugs, hand gesticulating at Ran, who, wordlessly, opens a Gap above the hermit's cup and pours fresh red into it. She shakes the cup around before drinking with gusto.

“You ought to better tend to yours,” remarks Remilia Scarlet, the third lady at my small round table—the impeccable and refined maid holding a parasol over her head. “Zombie or not, an asset is an asset—to lose them is to reveal weakness, though it depends. Greatness is attained by sacrifice, but it pains me to think of losing a powerful knight, a brilliant bishop, a loyal rook, or, heaven forbid, a ruthless queen.” She hums contentedly.

“You're not thinking about that properly, Remilia.” The final voice announces the completion of my forces, Yachie's tail expertly maneuvering a glass of red akin to Seiga's while both hands support her chin and elbows rest on the table. “War, as we see, has neither turns nor a time limit; a general unwilling to throw their troops into the flames will never get results. Chess is a pathetic comparison. War is a brutal realization of acts and a lot—and I say a lot—of luck involved. If you could get a glimpse of the streets of the Netherworld…” Yachie muses, Seiga sharing a concordance with her, to which Remilia rolls her eyes, and the subject fades as many others did in the past. A proper lady, after all, knows when a cause is lost and the headache is not worth it, though the elegant shadow of the vampire seemed more than ready to back her mistress. “Well, Yukari? Did you get us here just to watch the fireworks or…?” All those eyes move to me: Seiga's full of reverie, Konngara's placid as walls, Remi's curious and Yachie's analyzing my expression, exploring it—noteworthy, Ran's was ever so distracted, a clue to the tiredness she's been trying to futilely hide recently.

Still, I wouldn't have gotten them all here without a motive~

Delicious food and wine were provided, a breathtaking view was taken in, and naturally, questions began to arise inside their eyes.

It gave the occasion importance.

“Not really, no—I'll say it's just a happy coincidence~” or maybe not and you wanted to set up the stage, my adorable time traveler~? If so, why, thank you! “With my imminent victory in the Solstice, there’s something I need to tackle. As per contract, I'll be killing Okina.” Remi smiles, interested. “That’ll leave a gap in the seats of Sages… Which I'd love if one of you would fill~!”

>>47091083
>pastebin
https://pastebin.com/zqS1Krp7
this still the one you guys are using?

"Ugh, where is he?" I groaned as I continued to scour the HSE for Goro.
"Hey Yamawaro!" I yelled, pulling aside one of the workers. "You see a broker, blonde, about yay tall, always has this stupid serene expression on his face around here?"
"Miss Seija?! Yes I think I saw him going to the roof." The little girl stammered out, putting up her arms defensively.
"Good, good." I said, calming my voice and gingerly patting her head. "Now, was anyone with him?"
"Uhm... no? Not that I could see."
"Great! Now, why don't you take a break? You seemed a little fidgety and haste makes waste as they say."
"I can't! There's so much to do and Miss Takane, when she gets back from whatever she's doing, she'll have my head if I-" I put a finger to her mouth and point to my Yakumo robes.
"And who does she report to?" I asked pointedly.
"I-I suppose you're right. Thanks Miss Seija." She answered bowing.
"Enjoy!" I said in a sing song tone before leaving her for the roof. Pulling rank wasn't something I was too keen on, what with how much those in power disgusted me, but maybe trying it just once or twice to stir up some 'negligible' trouble wasn't too bad. If only it'd help with the problem at hand...
Making it to the rooftop door, I took a pause and sighed. After Goro stayed our hand against that Makai Granny I'd thrown a fit, pelted him with some choice insults, and left him to stew on that, afterwards I would get involved in 'ladies talk' with Ran and all the other stinking bitches at this little Host club, and it all made me... anxious.
We were about to have twins, yet I was acting like a bratty child. No, the truth was even more biting.
I'm still the same low-class Youkai, biting at the heels of the strong, scourging for scraps, and if that actually got me anywhere but right back where I started then I might be happy. Those days of troubling others without a boon or consequence felt like they ended so suddenly, because if I failed now, there would be three holes punched out of me, happiness and pain I'd never get to have. A family....
'What am I even supposed to say to him?' I thought as I punched the door, right before it swung open, and Goro appeared.
"Ah, Seija!" He said, as he tripped on the lid of the frame, thrusting right into me and pinning me against the wall.
"You know..." I began as I lifted the fool Broker back up without relinquishing my hold on him "...we can go a few hours without seeing each other without immediately cuddling up."
"Yeah, I'm just 'weak' at the moment." He staggered, holding his head. "I saw something, met with someone, you might not like this..."
As Goro explained it all to me, the HSE's emission, him meeting Sekai, and brokering a deal to stand at Yukari's side until the end, I couldn't help but bite my tongue. Leave him alone for just a few hours and he almost falls over dead, meets a terribly powerful Youkai/building/godling makes a binding decision about OUR future, and... ah crap, this is what I get for throwing a tantrum and leaving him alone.
"Sorry, I got kind of swept up in the moment and I probably should've gotten your opinion." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh no! No, no, no, this is actually perfect." I say, pulling his robe so that I'm directly at his side and my head is against his chest.
"We just have to survive the Mother-of-All-Incidents, based upon the words of a child, who slightly exists at this point but also isn't born yet, grab our own children out of non-existence, and act as emotional support for the biggest psychopath in Gensokyo at her tribunal! Frankly, being this far into the shit is an Amanojaku's wet dream!" I said, looking up at him.
Goro sighed, rubbing his eye. "Yeah, but if we take what Sekai said as fact and she's capable of some kind of predestination, we have to assume she's pointing in the best direction, even if the road is windy."
"Hugghh." I exhaled and rub my head against him, poking my horn into his chest. "If she's some percentage of our daughter, does that mean I get to spank her later? Or will the line be too long? Maybe we'll all have to draw lots."
"Maybe, we can worry about it later." Goro said, wincing at the pain, but rubbing my head nonetheless.
"Well, let's talk to Yukari then." I put forward.
Goro raise an eyebrow.
"Don't give me that look. YOU'RE the one who agreed to follow this path I'M just pushing us along it."
>>47094494
Lol, told myself I was going to actually write something today and this gets posted. Damn writer convergence I swear.
What I have planned after this was initially Seija re-swearing fielty to Yukari, after which, as a reward, she lectures the two about the nature of power and high-level Youkai abilities, basically tell the two that they've overcomplicated their approach and that REAL top-class Youkai just 'do', but I'll wait until your done to make sure it fits.

>>47096199
That's a pretty manish Seija, no wonder a submissive homosexual like Goro fell in love with her.

>>47096199
way to go, Goro-san; beating the allegations one submissive act at a time...
>Damn writer convergence I swear.
happens to the best of us~
>but I'll wait until your done to make sure it fits.
sure man! Will get it done by tomorrow

>>47094545
yup, d-did something happen to it?

>>47099155
Just wondering if it was still being used or if another one took it's place since it was last updated in January, but if the plan is unchanged then an update wouldn't be necessary and I'm just being paranoid.

>>47099399
Wait, was it really last edited in January?
I swear, that to the best of my mmeory, the changes to Koishi are more recent than that.

>>47099423
if this is the last edited date then yeah

>>47099441
Anon, hover over the word edited.

>>47099501

>>47099507
>>47099441
Anons are at their cutest when they're nearly retarded

>>47094494
These bitches are awful, I love them.

>>47102911
it'd take seconds for them to solve whatever the fuck is going on in the village, but nah, fuck that, enjoying tea and talk about shitty politics is a much more important matter...
damn, I love evil ladies

>>47057683

Eventually, those tears ran out, the sobs were reduced to whimpers and the vice grip Hana had on the goddess’ skirt ebbed like the sun in the sky. She opened her eyes beyond a squint for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, nothing was changed aside from the light in the sky growing from the last bright dregs of the afternoon to a warm yellow hue that heralded the evening proper.

With the wind whispering to Hana’s ears, she felt a portion of the weight lift off her shoulders. It felt great to finally put into words what she’d been forced to bottle up inside, like a pressure she didn’t know was building emptied itself out. Her body was still wracked with sniffles and her eyes were still wet, but she made to get up nevertheless.

However, Suwako’s hand, which had been resting on Hana’s side, held her firm and kept her from rising. A single word, ‘stay’ kept Hana from putting any more effort into this, the dread from earlier crept back. Along with it came a strange catharsis, here’s where Suwako would admonish her, she’d have to beg forgiveness and maybe she wouldn’t tell Sanae. Of course, she’d made everything worse again… She wondered if she had enough tears left to grovel…

Turning her head to finally face the secret goddess, Hana saw a complex look on her face. She almost didn’t realize it wasn’t disgust when she was to open her mouth to offer an apology. Instead, a sigh washed out some of the built-up emotion, a blink focused her eyes, and a crooked half-smirk painted her face. Most notably, she tossed her other hand on Hana’s scalp, with her a deft massage turning her thoughts into mush; her head and belly rapidly subdued, she wondered if this was what a dog felt like…

Any musings were shortly cut off, after her sniffles stopped and the soft shushes that whispered out of Suwako’s lips ceased. A slightly-tired crass and frank voice took its place, “Hana-chan~ You’re such a troublesome girl!” Pinching the docile mikos cheeks with the determination of monk, Suwako caused the girl to let out a ‘bwuh?!’. Without mercy, she forced an ‘owowow~’ out of Hana’s stretched mouth, “Shuwako-shama, sthap! It hurtsh~!”

After another moment or two the vengeful goddess let go of her cheek, where throbbing discomfort took the place of her stone fingers. Hana moved to rub where it stung, while Suwako looked rather smug as she huffed out, “There, you felt all bad about what happened with that moody girl of an oni? You thought yourself responsible for causing her to stray from her path?! Ha! Hana-chan, you’re a lovely girl and I hope you never stop being a little naïve!”

Confusion filled Hana as she stared up at the squirt of a goddess’ face, d-didn’t she hear a thing Hana said? Was she a little sleepy, or maybe Sanae’s jokes about her needing old people medicine were tru- “Oi, I can tell you’re thinking rude things! It’s all over your face, but… Now that you were punished, I’ll forgive your transgressions!”

Without letting a quiet moment pass, Suwako continued to blab on without the crimson-cheeked miko able to get a word in, “Anyways~, Hana-chan listen up and listen close! Consider this the wise words of this curse goddess~”

A sharper look came over Suwako’s eyes, though the gentle and playful aura never left, “Kasen-sama is not a child, she’s not quite as mature as she likes to taut, but from what I heard she’s been a hermit for a thousand years! Quite a rarity in of itself~ last time I visited with that Miko-kun fellow she told all about her feats, Kasen-sama’s very accomplished as expected. Nearing the top already as far as hermits go without ascending. She’s not some weakling able to be undone so easily~!”

Playing with a lock of Hana’s hair, twiddling it between her fingers and letting it flop about in the breeze, she mulled over her words for a second before she continued, “You’re a squirt, only been alive 17 years and some of that was spent sleeping away in a trap…” She let the hair plop back where it once rested, “You aren’t responsible for what she did, nor do you have some magical spell that makes hermits weak in the knees! It’s just a fact, she was the one that should’ve been responsible for you, she’s a master of mental and physical ki for crying out loud! You were entirely innocent there, and listen to me” she leaned over, letting her eyes meet Hana’s a mere few inches away, “No matter what lead you there, you were lied too by that devil women! You know as well as I do that the Yakumo is cunning and deliberate in what she wants, prey and fools fall in traps Hana-chan. You were prey, don’t linger on it and become a fool!”

>>47104920

Lips wavered, but she kept her silence even under the undiscernible gaze of the goddess that hovered above her. She wanted to rebut her in some way, to convince her that the guilt she felt was legitimate, she realized she was trying be guilty. Unable to speak out in defense or accusation, she was forced to let the words wash over her, along with the strange feeling of wanting to be despised.

Suwako was oblivious to her struggle, or at least she seemed so judging by the way she leans back; letting her hands catch her weight once again. This time Hana was allowed to rise, so she took the option to sit up and distance herself; she was weary with how easily Suwako seemed to read her otherwise.

With her back facing the goddess, and trying not to miss the warmth, the puffy faced miko spoke with the voice of a mouse, “How are you- How are you just not angry with me? Didn’t I do something evil? You’re a god aren’t you, why would you let a villain go unpunished?”

Looking over the valley, now bathed in the yellow hues of the evening proper, she could see how the farmers scurried to finish their business before the cold bit too deeply. How the travelers below dwindled in number, the merchants in particular rushing to double dip today’s sales at the festival far below. Despite everything she was going through, life still went on without a care.

On the onbashira, all was quiet and disconnected from the world below. There wasn’t any stirring from behind her, nor indication of the goddess’ true thoughts. It set Hana on edge, especially with how silent the moment was between them. Before the desire to turn around and plead for an answer consumed her, the placid frog goddess croaked a question, “I’m curious Hana-chan, when you think about what you’ve done all this time, when you remember why you did everything. Do you look back thinking that you’re some kind of mastermind?”

Shaking her head in response, Hana avoided turning around lest she see the goddess’ true thoughts, “Good!”. Turns out Hana didn’t need too. Before Hana could guess at her motives, the goddess lunged forward, and with the speed of a hopping toad crossed the foot between them. It was all Hana could do to register the shoulder that dug into her back, and all she could yell out was a very undignified yelp, all she could feel is a familiar sensation of weightlessness as the ground was pulled out from under her.

Like a bird pushed out from the nest, Hana found her wings quickly and letting the world lines squeeze, she took the shortest route to hover above the goddess. Hearing a ‘Gyahahahaha~!’ a bolt of purple and blonde lasered into where the miko once floundered, Hana could see the confusion on Suwako’s face before she righted herself as well. That confusion quickly turned into what can only be described as child-like mischievousness, before Hana could shout, ‘W-what was that for?!’ another bolt of purple and blonde barreled past her.

Once more, a laughing goddess barreled into the spot she once was, before Hana had time to think she was already moving elsewhere. With a yell of ‘think fast!’ another flash of Suwako shot at Hana with all the fury of a landslide, there was no time to think, only act. Moving to the ‘right’, Hana twisted her body, slipping right past the goddess herself as she traveled behind the living danmaku pellet. Hana was just about ready to restrain the rowdy goddess from the back like a misbehaving child, when the girl’s head dropped back; making eye contact and acting like a counter weight that flung her into a backflip!

Now floating eye to eye to Hana, the horizontal goddess was mere inches away. Her ever-present joyful smile opened slightly; the darkness faded into a gray. That gray turned pink. That pink smacked Hana in the middle of the forehead before she could blink. She closed her eyes a split moment before the tongue retracted fully, and by the time she opened them she was greeted by a rush of purple and blonde as the danmaku hit true.

The sudden weight of the girl almost made Hana herself fall, having to focus and channel her power just to stay afloat. Flailing her limbs to steady herself, the floating duck barely had time to shout, “Suwako-sama, what’s wrong with you right now?!”

A response from the barnacle of a goddess answered her in short order, “Is the cotton outta your ears now?! Can you hear and see me now? Huh?!”

Letting out a trifecta of confused ‘yes’s to the goddess rapid fire questions, it was all Hana could do to get her arms in between them and pry off the deceptively strong girl. Staring into her sharp eyes now, the smile on her face dampened, and the joviality in her voice restrained, Hana could only stare at her, “You can’t take on the world alone, and more than that you’re not some bigshot able to do as you please with a sage of Kasen-sama’s caliber!”

>>47104927

As if she was climbing a tree, the limber girl climbed up Hana’s dress like a kitten till they were eye to eye, “Even if you did do something wrong, even if you were a tool, we’re still here for you! Not a single person here would abandon you for something like that! Hana-chan, you’re my friend, and at this shrine you’re practically family too! No matter what mistake you made we’ll fix it with a miracle~!”

The grip on the goddess’ clothing grew weak, and the hands that held her clammy to boot. She was sure there was dust hitting her eye, though fortunately her tears were already spent, “I did! I r-raped her, I had my way with her and I-“ was all she could get out before another outburst sounded, “Geh! Did the cotton get in your brain too, girl?! I’m a god, a god as old as the islands themselves! Even the kindest god of any age is steeped in enough sin to drown a mortal, its why we can forgive and curse as we see fit! Hana-chan, you didn’t do anything that can’t be forgiven!”

There was just, there was just no way that she could be forgiven just like that… Not after what she’d done, she wasn’t a god, she couldn’t jus-, “There you go thinking too much again with your cotton brain!”

A pout drenched Suwako’s smile, she felt a sharp little sting on her arm that made Hana jump, she pinched her! However, instead of another tirade, Suwako-sighed out and a let some of the energy go with it, “I’ll tell you the truth Hana-chan, your sins aren’t huge and Kasen-sama isn’t a weakling. All that is fact and won’t change no matter what you think, there’s no way you alone would responsible for anything! I know that she must feel terrible, and if there is one thing I can’t do, its mend your relationship, nor can I see into her heart and figure out what she needs…”

Clutching the sides of Suwako’s dress, partially to support her and partially to take out her frustrations somehow, Hana bit back the bitterness in her voice, “I know… That’s the worst part, I want to see her again and apologize, but I don’t know what to say or how! You say that gods do bad all the time, but… It still hurts a lot… What if I go to her again, and… and I find out that she’s even worse, and if I make a wrong move then I’d just hurt her again and-!”

Putting her hands on either of Hana’s cheeks, the goddess squeezed till her mouth had trouble forming words, “Shuwako-shama, I’m being sherous!”

A touch of frustration entered the seemingly younger girl’s voice, “So am I! Listen up, I don’t know this sage over much, we’re just neighboors. I couldn’t tell you anymore about what could make her happy, but there is something I can do. You’re carrying around the figurines at all times, right?”

A nod allowed Suwako to continue with a satisfied huff, “Good! I know Kanako and Sanae-chan told you all about them already, but it’s really quite simple. Simply pray to call us and we’ll use that little bit of us inside create avatars, if you ask we’ll even keep our eyes and ears on to speak with you; like we’re talking on a radio!”

Nodding along with her words, Hana remembered the briefing Sanae gave her on them before she left, “Which means that nobody, not even Yukari-sama would be able to spy on you. The only people that can see you would be us, and even then, you’d have to let us for the items to work!”

>>47104941

Splaying out her arms, and nearly causing Hana to go off balance again, Suwako exclaimed, “That’s why, even if you choose to talk to Kasen-sama alone, or ask us to drag her kicking and screaming to our side of the mountain. Me, Kanako, and Sanae-chan will help you fix this!”

Bringing her arms back together, the froggy goddess embraced Hana with a welcome and gentle warmth, “Now then, if you still don’t understand it I’ll keep shouting it over and over again, I’m your friend and the shrine is your family. We’ll support you no matter if you turn into an oni-miko~! So…”

Clambering off of Hana, and taking a vital warmth that rebuffed the chilled mountain air, Suwako hovered in front of her. The smile on her face restored, and not even the googly eyes of Pyonta could damper it’s brilliance, it seemed as if the sunlight itself beamed from Suwako’s smile. It cracked a smile on Hana’s own face, bringing a calming feeling she’d rarely felt in recent times. As if she could finally see a glimpse of something obvious all along, Hana felt foolish for how flimsy she thought their bond was.

Scooping up her hand, Suwako held it gently like that granny at the bathhouse sometimes did, “Come on now, it’s getting cold and stuff and I want some hot tea! Besides…” a mischievous glint shone in the corner of her eye, “I doubt you’ll want to waste all evening playing cards with me, and I could use a new pair of eyes on something fun… Say, would you want some spending money for the festival? As long as you don’t wonder too close to old man Heida’s nonsense Sanae-chan won’t see you! Besides, I really want some fried chicken dumplings~!”

Still recovering from getting caught up in Suwako’s pace, but happy to be lead around at the moment, Hana followed without much comment besides a quick and decisive nod. She’d have to think about the stuff with Kasen in due time, how to free Kotei among the biggest concerns. She’d have to confront Kasen about her sins and earn her forgiveness, ideally without anyone having to see anything embarrassing… She’d have to ask Sanae and Kanako for advice properly, she’d have to trust them too; it’d be hard, but if everyone was supporting her…

>>47104944
>>47104941
>>47104927
>>47104920
Poor Suwako, trying to get something inside that brain was a goddamn war, but I'm glad she managed to get through Hana's thick skull by the end. The approach wasn't the most orthodox, but it got some goddamn results, and that's what matters~!
>You were prey, don’t linger on it and become a fool!
that's some amazing advice right here that reflects Hana's attitude towards Yukari during the ending of Act 1 and Act 2 very nicely. Very thankful everyone managed to twist her away from that path just in the nick of time, otherwise that'd be ggs, Hana Yakumo wins
kek, this entire segment felt like this.
thanks for the chapters!

>>47105582
Don't worry, Hana won't job at the festival, nor at Kasen's!

>>47107348
>Don't worry, Hana won't job
Sure, and the sun isn't going to rise tomorrow either.

>>47094494 (2/3)
—
That is, of course, a bold-faced lie.

The Sage system will mean nothing after the sword I've been cultivating in that earthly womb reaps the Dragon God's soul and places me above every living organism in the planet and outside of it; Kasen will crumble in failure, broken beyond repair and but a gargoyle against unison of powers that, perhaps, could pose a threat to me.

Simply put, there is no reason to choose the next sage if they are going to become obsolete…

So then why do this?

… All the power in the world didn't stop a small kitchen knife from slashing Yuyuko's neck and forever binding me to a repulsive failure.

By myself, eventually something will be out of my control and threaten my family. My daughter may be capable of time traveling, but something—anything—can happen. What's to say some corner of my vision isn't blind? That my plans are not flawless…?

No, the mere idea is intolerable to me.

Thus, I need sacrificial lambs.

Puppets that're effortlessly maintained, never strong enough to stand on their own, but just strong enough to defend my family and my Gensokyo.

That immediately excludes Remilia and her manipulation of fate, too chaotic to keep under proper control…

… But not that alone, for since my daughter touched my cheek and voiced her undying love—perfection—, I've yearned for more.

I want all.

I want Flandre Scarlet.

Ah, Sekai, the peace of mind you've brought me is unfathomable; knowing love will be there for me no matter what and that you've personally ensured that everything goes according to plan makes me so elated. You'll want that precious little girl by our side too, hm? Your big sister~

A big sister that, as of now, isn't perfect.

She has ties to others, loves too heavily when it was love meant for us—a budding love that came to me that day when Okina decided to commit her greatest mistake. At any moment, I could clean her mind and make it a breeding ground for a mother and father figure in me and Anon, but no. You've shown me differently, Sekai, disregarding any restrictions and bending reality as you wish for the sake of your family, to make sure we'd together pave the way to your existence and that glorious shine in your eyes.

The Gap would provide fake love, and never again I'll feel that.

But that means I need to get rid of Remilia Scarlet and all those poor sods of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in another way, for performing the deed myself or having any true stake in it would end, inevitably, in disaster…

… And what better way to create the perfect set of circumstances that'll leave a child's mind utterly distraught and in dire need of nurture than ruthless infighting~?

These three sad individuals with whom I share wine and tea, eat refined biscuits and bread with spread both with the finest antecedents in the Outside World—Paris and Italy, Russia and Bulgaria—react to my words with either clear interest or confusion; Yachie lifting a brow as Seiga murmurs a simple 'my, my~'; Konngara maintaining her silence yet watching with interest; and last but surely not least, the Lady of the Night appears immensely amused, the behavior of a little girl that'll have adequate entertainment at last—not the same for her shadow, Sakuya Izayoi narrowing her eyes with suspicion.

Hook, line—now, sinker. “Of course, with the seat comes the power, which I’ll steal from Okina’s with my sword… Half I’ll keep, the other goes to whoever takes the seat~”

Seiga will die either in the Solstice or by my hands; that much shouldn't change. Having a baby eater close to my baby Sekai, despite her loyalty, doesn't sit well with me—a backstabber's end to a backstabber. “If even a smidgen of what I hear Okina gets away with is true, I'd love to~!” Her voice is thick with lust.

Konngara will die through Reimu or, again, by my hands. Too unstable that dog is, and as she digests the nightly feast that'll be the Solstice, I'll make sure she's put down. No one will miss that bitter, pitiful collection of regrets and rage anyway~ “… Power to rival Ibaradouji's at her peak. Hm.” Envy, wrathful and uncontrollable.

Remilia, of course, won't die so fast; she hasn't lived so long hinging on her subjects to protect her, and manipulation of fate is tricky… But I doubt it'll be problematic in face of literal time travel—if anything were to fare wrong, you'd have whispered it into your mother's ear, right, my Sekai? “Are you excited, Sakuya? My birthright to rule stays true~” Pride, swelling yet tempered by… something else—something sharp.

Yachie is the least threatening of the bunch; her connection is so far below the earth, to the shithole that is Great Hell, and her death or lack thereof concerns me not. Should she survive, however, I'd gladly make her my gargoyle~ “Ho, ho… That'll be more than enough to gut Toutetsu's and Saki's necks. The Animal Hell, free for the taking~” Greed, beaming like a diamond.

Three of them marked for death by their own ambitions…

I almost laugh. Almost~

>>47107603
>the sun isn't going to rise tomorrow either.
don't blame Okuu, she needed the whole sun to warm Satorin out of her PTSD!

>>47107827
It's nice that Yukari is thinking of them in order of most to least expendable.

>>47107827
Interesting choice that is Yachie. Frankly I don't think yukari at her best could take down the SDM, there's a reason why spellcard rules came into effect specifically after EOSD, unhinged SDM is some actual shit. I roughly agree with yukari's choice here but remi and co are probably gonna pull some shit and fuck things up.

>>47111072
>>47107827
>"[...]But I doubt it'll be problematic in face of literal time trave[...]l"
she sees herself as some chinese emperor type of shit and that she's destined to greatness, so probably thinks she'll beat the bullshit the SDM could pull with her own flavor of bullshit. Evil women, amirite?

>>47111282
Evil women are hotter the more they delude themselves into thinking their plan would succeed

flowchart coming through! You may notice right away why I took a little longer this time...
https://files.catbox.moe/f1wc1q.png
for writeanons to guide themselves and readeranons to finally muster the courage to read the Horus Heresy.

>>47111944
Ha, it breaks my browser just to look at it on my shitbox machine or even my crappy phone, I have to dl it first and open it in a viewer.
Thanks for your effort, love the little side stories

>>47113125
>Ha, it breaks my browser just to look at it on my shitbox machine or even my crappy phone, I have to dl it first and open it in a viewer.
autismo too powerful it almost spontaneously combusted Anon's phone, Jesus Christ...
happy you enjoy it, always glad to provide!

>>47111008
kek, this reminded me of this scene
https://files.catbox.moe/971y44.webm

>>47107827
>Yachie is the least threatening of the bunch; her connection is so far below the earth, to the shithole that is Great Hell, and her death or lack thereof concerns me not. Should she survive, however, I'd gladly make her my gargoyle~
I love how the Yachie and Yukari interactions have gone from the start, from the silly recruitment, to her rampant bullying in literally every chapter she cameos in. Her and the silly monkey are simply my favorites and it's obvious she's Yukari's as well.

>>47113665
I love the little musical snippets, sweet home Alabama and Paint it black were good touches.

>>47113693
>Paint it black
Anon...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmix0phrCVU

>>47113707
I am not embarrassed, those three notes in the webm could easily sound like the opening to paint it black and it fits early Hana 100%. I am not deflecting, shut up
https://youtu.be/EBUFtoC2oj4?si=snSk7pkN5GXrIUvv

>>47113707
I can't blame that Anon since Hana does have a bunch of inner and outer loathing and her childhood is arguably not that much better than her adulthood.

>>47113754
>>47113761
Hana has two wolves inside of her.

>>47107827
—
After all, there's only one seat, and they know it. They don't need to look at each other and realize, nor turn and bite like hounds. No… These are women of cunning that understand the sheer amount of power that was put on a silver plate in front of them, heightening a situation they once thought couldn't get better in any shape or form: her sister is protected and loved; her enemies will come barreling towards her; the newborns covered in blood and their placentas will find their way to her plate; and God knows that that annoying goat will finally be sacrificed and her ungodly big kitchen utensil melted to make a crooked cross. They all know that—perhaps with less prose—and behind curtains they'll outline their plans… Plans to which I will gladly add flavor; the purpose of my next words: “My, my~I love the eagerness! But as you are aware, ladies, when it comes to the Secret Sage's role of protection of Gensokyo—which will become even more crucial once my sword completes its development. Although you aren’t fully aware of its capabilities beyond reaping souls just yet, I believe you understand that alone makes for a desirable possession—favoritism and nepotism are the keys to an egregious downfall.” Stroking a tad their egos, remembering them of their place but never closing the pearly gates of recompense.

It's rather amusing how my words about nepotism shift their eyes to Ran, and I smile at the sheer cold that erupts from behind me, Sakuya's hand twitching around one of many hidden knives and Konngara softly placing her hand on the katana's handle. Remi and Yachie barely budge, and Seiga winks at Ran.

The joys of a proper hierarchy~

“So, the Solstice will serve as a testing ground for me to decide which of you to entrust to mine and Kasen's sides!” I merrily clap, eyes closed and joyous. The sounds of heavy artillery in the background, coupled with the screams of the damned, of those that'll bear nightmares forever, elate me into these next words. “How fun, don't you believe, ladies? You get to fight to protect our little group and might even get a greater payout by the end! And the entirety of the test will be, of course, based on performance~!” The reactions are rapid, with huffs and small words of approval and exultation, conversations sprouting over the nice tea and wine, biscuits of equal prestige—enough that even the taciturn Konngara decided to stop longingly marveling at the destruction to join us, the Gap pulling forth a spare chair—peeks shared with me as I elaborated on any doubts they had.

How will you be keeping tabs on performance? The Gap.

Can you tell us more about that sword? Of course~!

What's Kasen's view on this method of selection? Oh, sweet Yachie~such naïveté.

Meticulous minds, as cunning as one could be with their types, bonded and exchanged tactics, methods on how to deal with the enemy and position while also sharing personal powers, attributes, and so forth. To the spectator's eye, this is a show of strength.

Lies, lies, facades.

The quintessential alliance between noblewomen~

The first to excuse themselves, muttering something about her pathetic magician, were Remilia and her frowning shadow. Next was Yachie, who had to go make sure her monkey wasn't eating rocks. Seiga gave no explanation at all, just a quick look at Ran before she grinned and excused herself to go have sex. Konngara left without words after bowing slightly.

Just like that, Ran and I were alone on the rooftops, cloaked by nature, watching as the Human Village crumbled…

“… They'll kill each other.” I muse, and Ran stares for a moment before nodding serenely. “Acting so courteous yet intending on using the Solstice as a veil to violence~” Sipping the last of my aromatic tea, I remember Anon and our intensely personal, intimate feelings and how glaringly false they had been before our daughter.

How pungent the difference was felt.

The information was delivered gradually with the goal of ensuring that, in the heat of combat, when minds are at their strongest and weakest, they would maximize hostility rather than cooperation. Allies aren't allies anymore, just another set of foes between them and a fancy title and reality-bending powers.

Though Remilia poses a problem…

I didn't expect her to bite the bait fully, not with her commitment to keeping Flandre all to herself and our strange history, but that sharp gleam in her eyes might be what stands between me and my perfect future…

… Hm, that doesn't matter to you, Sekai~

Remilia will battle my enemies and my allies, and all but Flandre's death in the Solstice can be guaranteed.

If something unexpected happens, you’ll be there to fix it, right, my adorable time traveler~?

I gently stroked my belly, opening a Gap in my purple dress to allow tender golden light to touch the skin, cradling my arms around my unborn child.

My true family, at arm's reach…

Sekai, Anon, Flandre and me.

… Just a little more.

And everything will be perfect.

>>47115699
this is it for the 'evil women talking in a Machiavellian way about evil deeds' mini-arc!
>>47096199
sorry for the day late, you're good to go~
>>47113675
I feel the same way, she and Biten are like the jesters of the group that are there to offset every attempt at a cutthroat atmosphere. And the jester always survives when the kingdom crumbles, though, but not dwelling on that~

>>47115699
>My true family, at arm's reach…
>Sekai, Anon, Flandre and me.
Women loses her autistic daughter for five seconds and ditches her... Hana, this is the women you thought loved you!

>>47118712
kek, Hana was fighting a lost battle from the start

>>47118862
This is simply why Hana needs to take the gloves off and rehabilitate this evil women personally!
Damn evil sage, needs miko correction!

>>47120891
As a self-confessed expert on evil women, I must admit that I do not think Yukari can be rehabilitated and that anyone who attempts to do so will eventually meet their demise…
it's just a wild guess, not sure about it yet

>>47121325
t.

>>47121325
Unironically i fucking love the evil women trope and have some thoughts about it, number one is that it IS possible. The methods to get there? Usually illegal and highly immoral and always involve mind rape of some kind and the kind of kicking and screaming therapy that normally causes a grown man to turn to did to cope. You know, assuming they don't want to change(they don't)

>>47121325
OUT!

>>47120891
Don't worry, everybody's favorite super hero Cirno will save the day!
The hero who defeated the power of the moon, the Nightmare Miko, and the vampires of the Scarlet Devil Mansion can't be beat!

>>47123640
Oh yeah, Cirno and the fairies.
Since cirnoanon went off to do his own ending what's the plan for them in "mainline" Canon?
Just a swarm of fairies and a cirno bomb to presumably kill off konngara and screw with the Makai plan?

>>47123890
Completely non-canon unless a writer wants to toss in cirno doing the strongest shit for some reason. Same with the Myouren pregnancy thing and nazarin being missing

>>47123964
>Completely non-canon
seems about right, their existence never developed very well in the general story and the Solstice should be grounds for the developing of much more interesting characters that were present in Arc 1 and 2 but didn't get a lot of screentime to work with, like Alice, Yuuka, Remilia and Kanako, all that'll be essential to support the main cast.

>>47123964
I mean it'd feel out of character if Cirno just sat back and did nothing. Even after being groomed, she's still got that dog in her.

>>47124025
Up to the writers to flesh out a why and how, the entire cirno story can be retconned due to how entirely disconnected it was
If a writer would take her up and use her, it'd be up to him to determine how many elements of that strange story he wanted to use

>>47124032
Honestly the one really nice thing about the cirno story is it emphasized exactly how fucked up okina is and why she really should by all rights due.

>>47124054
*die

>>47124032
>>47123964
>>47124016
There is an actual problem with that, while Cirno disconnected and widely disliked, is an actual problem that can't just be totally ignored.
She casually crosses over, and is fairly prominent early on, even being mentioned in other stories, same goes for other things written by the most problematic anon here.
If a person reads the HSE like it is archived, they might question where she is or find her absence notable.
So the question isn't "is the cirno story noncanon?" or "should the cirno story be removed?" What the writers should actually asks themselves is "What do we want to do?" and "If Cirno = no, what requires the least amount of effort?"

>>47124285
It's honestly not a problem, just mark it as non canon or something and call it a day. It was agreed upon that it should be marked down and there is honestly no reason it should be reversed. Again, all up to each writer of how much they want to bring up. Cirno had zero connection to any other story aside from Satori and a few mentions in Hana and Ran's chapters

>>47124285
not really, her writer dropped out of the community side of the project and therefore she won't have a presence, that's it. It says on the second bullet point in chapter 1 of the archive about how that, a character's plotline dropping, can happen at any time. If someone wants to have her do something during the finale without harming the overall story then it's okay, but aside from that there's no motivation, desire or time (in Hanaanon's case, who wrote the fairy wars) to have her around. The focus will be on characters that matter for the Solstice plotline and secondaries of big importance, not someone else's character that doesn't have much presence in the conflict.
>"What do we want to do?"
can't speak for everyone, but: write about my characters and finish the main storyline
>"If Cirno = no, what requires the least amount of effort?"
ignoring her existence. It's the best for the health and pacing of the Winter Solstice. I'll be busy with Reimu, Yukari and Kasen mainly; Hanaanon with Hana; Mimaanon with Mima and the Jobbers; Ayaanon with Aya and Takaneanon with Goro/Seija and Takane; Patchyanon maybe with Patchy and Meiling if he's still around and Kosuzuanon never wrote for fairies to my knowledge. There's really no justification to ignore all the characters already involved to stop and do something with Cirno.
Sure, someone may include her in someway that doesn't harm the story, and if so cool; but otherwise it's a non issue.
That's my take as one of the writers

>>47124025
Cirnoanon already wrote an ending, if you want a cirnocentric read that and stop bothering people about a thing they do not care about and does not matter.

>>47096199
"Found her." Goro declared as his eyes snapped opened.
"Great, took you long enough. Now let's teleport to her." I said, snatching his hand.
"Wait Seija, she's in-" I ignored Goro's pleas and snapped my fingers, sinking us into non-existence. Wait, was 'sink' the right way to think about it? I suppose it is since we'll be 'floated back' up into existence, but it's not like a force had pushed us down and, ughhh, I'll leave this philosophical nonsense to someone else more annoying.
"What are you two doing here?" Yukari, who laid naked in a bubble bath before us, asked.
See, this what happens when you start 'musing', you fail to notice when you end up in the white-walled bathroom where your boss is currently bathing. Well, who cares about modesty anyway?
"Yukari..." I began, taking a step forward, before falling to my knees and prostrating. "Please! Forgive my impudence!" I yelled.
Goro was quiet, Yukari was quiet, I was holding back vomit, but this was for the kids and I was no stranger to eating my pride if it got me somewhere I wanted to go. "I've not served you faithfully in the slightest! It was Goro who made his deal with you, despite my misgivings, and he who saw fit to follow your plans! Plans that will overturn the current order of Gensokyou, plans that, as an Amanojaku, I should've seen the true wisdom in! Pray, forgive me this error and you'll never find a servant so loyal, so willing, as I!" I pleaded.
"Seija what are you plotting?" Yukari sighed, resting her head on her knuckles. "Goro, did you put her up to this? You know it's already quite difficult understanding the power dynamic of your relationship..."
"No Yukari, it was Sekai. She called to us." I said. Her expression changed at this, just ever so slightly.
"It's true Yukari-sama." Goro said, holding out his hand, a lock of chromatic hair resting in it.
At this, Yukari got up in the tub, wide-eyed, in all her naked glory. Goro covered his eyes, but I did not avert my gaze from those sacks of flesh that drooped from her chest. "What did she tell you?" she asked.
"That we're to remain by your side until the end." I repeated, seeding a little truth in the lie.
Yukari let herself sink back into the tub and closed her eyes, recalculating her plans no doubt. It makes me wonder what she had planned for us before? Maybe throw us under one of her enemies? Wait until we're exhausted to lop off our heads? Or, perhaps ACTUALLY reward us for our service? Eh, stranger things have happened.
"Let's have a talk then." Yukari said, snapping her fingers.
The white-walled room slid away, leaving us and a naked Yukari unmoved until a strange room with metal cabinets slid in. Yukari, further utilizing the gap, donned a strange, tight-fitting outfit, heels, and spectacles. From her sleeve, a metal beton extended which she slapped what looked like a black board, but it was white instead. "Yukari's Special Lesson Time! Today's lesson: How to make one plus one equal anything!"
"What is that outfit? And this place?" I had to ask.
"A locker room! And this is a pencil skirt! I just had to take the excuse to wear one before I started showing." Yukari said, looking herself over, satisfied.
"It's perfectly fine Yukari-Sama, It's no trouble at all really, rather charming in fact." Goro said, not an ounce of disgust on his face.
One day I'll tell him how much I appreciate his ability to keep a straight face in times like these, but it would be well after I've clobbered him for complimenting another woman.
"How kind of you! Now take a seat so I can start the lesson." She ordered, pointing to benches behind us. "Now, between the two of you, what is your greatest weakness?"
"That would be-" Goro started, before a firm slap of Yukari's metal baton on Goro's hand silenced him. "Seija?" Yukari asked.
"We don't have any powerful, or I guess, lethal attacks?" I guessed.
Yukari, to my surprise, didn't chastise me immediately, but tapped her chin with the metal baton instead. "You're not too far off. Both of your abilities are quite feeble after all, even if you do have some unique capabilities. However, the question remains as to the source of that feebleness."
The Gap Woman walked to a door and opened it, revealing a banal looking storeroom filled with all manner of brightly colored balls. "Tell me, what do you see?"
"A storeroom?" I answered.
Yukari nodded and snapped her fingers, a gap opening in the doorway, filling it.
"And now, what do you see?"
"A gap." I answered, resting my head on my fist.
With another a snap of her fingers the gap dissipated. "What about now?"
"It's the storeroom again..." I answered.
Goro's eye shot open with a realization "Seija it's-" But a slap of the metal baton into Yukari's hand warned him to stop.

>>47125056
I huffed, deprived of the easy answer. She showed us the room, then the gap filling the doorway, then the room again, what did it mean? Did the room change somehow? No, looked like the same collection of weird objects. If nothing changed then was there something the gap was supposed to help us to see?
"The doorway?" I asked.
"Correct! Your quite clever aren't you Seija? Yes, the doorway is there, four lovely sides comprising a threshold, a 'boundary' if you will, between these two rooms. Now, how about you flip that boundary?" She asked.
"Isn't manipulating boundaries your technique?" I wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you think you're doing when you close my gaps? This isn't so different, so go ahead, give it a try."
Skeptically I looked at the doorway and squinted, thinking about the gap she'd opened there once before, and reached out with my hand, huffed a bit, and snapped my fingers. Suddenly the doorway was no more, instead, it was like a mirror, reflecting the room we were in back at us.
"Marvelous." Yukari said, tossing an orange ball toward the doorway. The thing bounced and sailed into the mirror, but didn't disappear, instead it reappeared on the other side of the mirror, bouncing with the same momentum as before.
"You reversed a doorway, now let's see you do it again." She asked, opening a door to another store room.
Again, I reached out my hand, looked at the doorway before me, snapped my fingers, and...nothing.
"Did you do something to the other door with that gap?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Not a thing, the doorway didn't change in the slightest, aside from your perception of it." She said with a smile.
I tilted my head, confused.
"Goro, if you wanted to tell Seija how to invert a doorway, what would you do? Spare no detail." Yukari asked.
"Well alright then." Goro started, rubbing his chin. "First I'd conceptualize the volume as a single point and the three distances, length, width, height. With that done we can consider how to pull out the faces in several operations-"
"And that's enough." Yukari said, holding up a hand. "Now do you see the problem?"
"I'm blind and Goro's over complicating shit?" I asked, a little annoyed.
"That's right." Yukari smiled fully, clearly have enjoyed me saying that. "Seija, your ability is to turn over anything, ANYTHING right? Well what about allegiances, the weather, and time?" She asked.
I shook my head. "I can't just flip something that I can't wrap my head around and it's not like I have the power to brute force it."
"That's right. So you steal, deceive, manipulate, and acquire tools to use to their fullest extent." She looked at Goro. "I rather admire that side of you actually, It's quite endearing to see, ultimately however, you developed such abilities out of need didn't you? Because you're a weak Youkai." She declared.
"And Goro, that bracelet of yours, The Root, it has the power to curse anything right?" Yukari asked.
Goro smiled and twirled a finger in the air. "But only if I can wrap my head around it with methods I learned from you, Ran, and my own study."
"Interesting. Well you're a hair better at it then Seija perhaps, but far inferior to myself and many others. On top of that, you have no combat prowess as a weak Human. And what about your Absolute Deals? Do they require such conceptualization? Such 'allowances'?"
He shook his head. "No, as long as a handshake or something like it has taken place and the deal's in everyone's best interest nothing else is needed."
"Have you ever thought as to why that's the case? Or been asked how you make such deals?"
"I have, but nobodies ever asked how I do it." He remarked with a shrug.
"And that." Yukari began, tapping the metal baton to my nose "It why you two are weak." With a wave of her hand, Yukari walked to the other edge of the room and tapped a wall, upon which it and the ceiling fell away to reveal specters, ghostly looking things that almost had the likeness of Kasen, Reimu, Okina, Yuugi, and many others.
"Look at those before you, strong, proud, and most importantly, self-evident. They don't justify their power, they merely cast it out into the world and let others observe in awe. How could you possibly stand a chance against even one of these opponents, while the both of you are still mired in the frail confines of your calculations and schemes? You won't, all you'll do, all you can hope for, is to steal such strength for yourselves, yes, rob what you may and cobble whatever strategy you can from your limited reserves, but the reflection will always be weaker, always inferior." She lectured.
"Then what's the point?" I asked, gritting my teeth. "Why tell us all this? Are we supposed to give up? We turned over the Sanzu! We can close your gaps! Even existence itself is within our reach! What exactly is that a 'reflection' of?"

>>47125062
Goro placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. I wanted to fire off a few more lines, but instead I exhaled and bowed my head. "Forgive me Yukari, I'm just.... so tired of being called weak."
"Then you'll be relieved to hear that I have a solution for the both of you." She continued, not skipping a beat as the walls of the 'locker room' fell back in place. Quickly Yukari took out a pen and wrote on the board two lines 'A Youkai that can flip over some things', 'a Human who can curse a few things', and a third line that was censored with a black gap as she wrote it.
"It's true the partnership between you two is remarkable, rare is it that a Youkai and a Human form such a symbiotic relationship, and yet, I wonder if you two are still really a pair? One atomic thing instead of two weak people, hobbling together." With a wave of her hand, the censor disappeared and the previous two lines were erased.
The new text read: 'A Curse That Can Turn Over All Things'
"I don't get it." Goro said, crossing his arms. "Fantastic, finally we can be bewildered by the same thing!" I say, crossing my legs, arms, and leaning on him, jabbing his shoulder with my horn.
"Honestly you two." Yukari sighed, placing her hand on her head. "If you can't understand how a man and a woman become one, then I worry for your future. And yes, I know you two have share a chamber, no need to bring crudeness into this matter, what I mean to say is-"
"Were just adding our strength together, not creating something new, so Seija plus Goro doesn't necessarily equal Seija & Goro, but a new thing entirely which isn't beholden to the weaknesses of either, but has the pure strength of both." Goro fired off. "Hence, 'one plus one can equal anything'"
"Quite right." The Gap Woman affirmed, happy someone had remembered her cheesy line.
"But how exactly do we do that?" I asked. "You said you had a solution right? What is it?"
With a finger, Yukari traced a line over the wall, upon which another gap opened, but no eyes looked out from it, only a lightless void stared back. "I've prepared a sort of 'sensory deprivation chamber' for you two, deprived of as much stimulus I could manage while still being habitable. If you two meditate within it, then you might discover what you share between yourselves and forsake your overly complex solutions your inferiority complexes."
I stared at the black hole and pondered. Could this be a trap? A convenient and comic way to get rid of us? Maybe when she shuts the door on that thing she locks it up so we can never get out?
'No', I decided, looking up at the tall, prideful blonde woman in her slutty getup. She wouldn't just gap us with proof we were part of her imaginary future child's master plan, but was that enough for her to see us as something other then tools?
I looked to Goro, who was peering out into the void. Once-upon-a-time, I saw him as prey, an obstacle, a tool, and at some point he became my soul mate. How did that happen? What kind of faces did I make back then? It didn't take a baby for us to get close, just the happenstance of us being together, was Yukari the same way?
"Does it make you nervous? Letting go of what you once where?" Yukari asked, stepping toward me. She put a hand on my chin and lifted it up so my eyes met hers. "It must be terrifying right? All this time, you've been content to make trouble because you haven't had anything to lose, now though, there's someone you want to hold onto right?" She sighed. "Don't make the same mistake I made, no matter how much you do after a loss, it'll always be better if you had never lost at all."
I thought about the emptiness I experienced in Sekai's visions, the dreams I've had, the shit storm this has all become and I, I gave up.
Taking Goro's arm I stood with him and walked to the gap. "The space will eject you periodically for you two to take breaks, a sort of marathon for you two." Yukari informed.
"What if the HSE is threatened?" Goro asked.
"Don't worry, that's the other trigger for you two to exit. Otherwise, a bomb could go off in the other side of the village and so long as the HSE remains untouched you two would not feel so much as a rumble."
Goro closed his eyes and breathed in and out. "I'm ready." He told me.
As we walked into the gap, Yukari said one last thing: "Trust in my child, Sekai, and a bright future awaits you both."
If only she knew.

>>47125072
Finally this austimal mess is done. I don't feel like it's the best work, but lord does it feel cathartic to finally be done with it.
The basic premise was to simplify Seija/Goro's abilities for the solstice, but then I started to think about the nature of Youkai powers, Seija's inferiority complex, Goro's more rational mindset, and Yukari having an unspoken desire to raise people and this happened.
The short version is come Solstice, the two's shared power will be 'A curse that can turn over anything' and I'll leave it up to whoever's writing it at the time to decide what that means, like how it works for Yuugi or Yukari's ability. also I had this deprivation chamber idea in mind prior and it seemed useful to explain why they aren't present for the revolution scenes.
Will probably do some more byte stuff with Seija and Yukari, but Takane has been walking to her marriage proposal for more then a month now so I should finish that...

>>47125098
>come Solstice, the two's shared power will be 'A curse that can turn over anything' and I'll leave it up to whoever's writing it at the time to decide what that means, like how it works for Yuugi
she's too dumb to understand it, so may they not shit themselves when Yuugi walks towards them completely unfazed[/spoiler and then pats them on the head for the effort before doing the good ol' punch you enemy to the other side of the battlefield

>>47125072
>>47125062
>>47125056
cannot believe Yukari threw them into the hyperbolic time chamber... Now Sagume is gonna flood the forums with theories and tier lists about other characters powering up by going in there for one, two a hundred fucking years, god fucking dammit!
thanks for the chapters and Yukari canonically in a tight skirt

>>47124470
>Irrelevant time and wasting, not involved in the story.
But enough about Takanae, Satori, Koishi, and Okuu, Keine, and Mokou.
Wait those traits apply to Cirno anyways.

>>47127434
Difference is, they have writers that didn't try derailing thr story with their autism and jump the gun

>>47127471
The Kiene and Mokou story is literally delaying the ending, if it wasn't for the festively Hana and Kasen would've already confronted each other and the ending would have started.

>>47127492
their story is also being developed for months and would've finished already if not for Hana being a part of it, though, and I bet that even then the finale wouldn't have started. Stop clogging the thread with your bitching, that's more unnecessary than any story you quoted and a thousand times less enjoyable to read.

>>47127492
And there it is, you literally cannot stop hating on authors because you legitimately hate this story. Every fucking thread without fail.

>>47128191
I'm grateful most authors never take the bait or let this bullshit get to them, love those fuckers

>>47104944

Night was inches away; the sky was a deep red as the sun crested the mountains, the shadows were dark and deep to the delight of all youkai. The clouds that remained high in the sky promised a cold night, on the other hand, the beauty of the stars promised to be in full bloom. It was the kind of light-hearted, energetic evening that promised fulfill the wishes of those that danced under them. It was as if the village square and the surrounding streets thrummed with life that not even the largest holidays could draw out.

Lanterns and banners streamed between poles that normally hung laundry, casting colorful light and deliberately made shadows of festive animals, jovial tools, and men dancing together. It made a wondrous and eye-catching mood that one couldn’t help but walk among the spectral revelers, nor did they as flooded as the streets are. Incense even burned among the poles upon little burners installed that had never been there before, the scents reminded the keen nosed of the atmosphere of old hell and the unique lively and fiery fragrance that saturated the rare trade good that wound up in market.

The masses filled the streets, even the thick branches that were the four main routes were buzzing with excitement as visitors flooded in. Smiling faces and chattering heads filled the streets and congested the square itself, the adults sauntered around in relaxed groups while the children ran about in energetic packs. The stalls thronged the masses in the streets and they broke the hordes into gawking mobs in the square itself. A festive chaos filled the square provoking a sense of mystery and good cheer on a level not felt since the last of the big incidents years ago.

Many of the adults mixed and mingled, forming pairs as the afternoon dragged on and the allure of night expressed itself in full. All smiling and chattering, holding small cups of sake to loosen the lips and embolden the spirit; rumor was that some vendors were giving it away to couples. Live music played in the square, a motely collection of musical talent from across Gensokyo played: popular headliners from the human village, singers and musicians proper, but as well Youkai musicians and dancers aplenty took stage and sang whatever they knew. It was said that in time a special show from the Prismriver band would take place, during the height of the night.

It was by all metrics, a good festival. Every effort was spared it seemed, the stalls were high quality, with certain shops’ stands, like the Suzunaan, being more individualized than others; how they were chosen was a mystery. The foods smelled great, it seemed every other shop was selling something grilled, fried, or candied. Among them were signs advertising more exotic foods, fare that was novel even to the foodies among the patrons and stimulated the palates of the adventurous. Even the knick-knacks, the usual line ups for festivals; but also including novel Kappa tech sitting alongside handmade figures, toys, and clothing.

There was a glaring flaw in this festival however, one that stuck out like a sore thumb to any outside observer. Along the northside of the square, normally lined by high-end shops and accessed by a wide northern road where the well-to-do lived, sat a large, heavy, and hastily erected wooden wall.

The wall was unadorned by any decoration, spikes lined the bottom in jagged traps meant to block anyone from scaling the nearly 13ft tall wall. The very material of the buildings cannibalized to create this stronghold; it looked as awkward as the barricades that prevented travel through the gates of Heida complex. Made of wire with bits of metal as sharp as a hawks’ talons, reinforced with wooden or earthen barricades and berms, and lined with clusters of fully armored samurai; they hefted traditional and exotic outsider weapons in mixed groups.

The severity of the oni portrayed upon their masks was fearsome, and the large emplacements they clustered around only added to the imposing nature the Heida estate had taken practically overnight. That was nothing to say of the lesser warriors and household staff that buzzed around with deadly weapons of their owns, or the ominous supplies they brought to and fro.

Among all that chaos, in the corner of that hastily constructed fortress, stood a portion of the wall cleared of any concealing barricades, fiery braziers, or weapon emplacements. In fact, it stood neatly and proper, as if the cornerstone and epitome of the resolve of those that manned the walls. Particularly, it seemed to be the will of the man who stood stock still on the illuminated observation platform that jutted out from the wall, the Patriarch of the Heida household himself.

>>47128467

Even with the imposing might of the tall walls and the men prepped for war, the revelers ignored them with a mix of spite and willful ignorance. It was as if the festival was propped up in retaliation to, at least one, of the cancers growing in the village; like a snapshot of the immune system trying to bite at a tumor. One side color and life, the other was duller and promised death to all those that opposed them; if it wasn’t for the yearning looks some of the men who crawled the wall gazed at the catcalling women, or the food stalls, with; one could easily mistake them for terracotta soldiers.

If one had an eagle eye, or a gift of flight, they might even spot a contrasting school of girls dressed as mikos and lacking any sense of danger, traveling among the walls in troupes. Their colorful ornaments and stylish hakamas were a huge contrast to the muted colors of the samurai or the grubbier clothing of the workers and lesser warriors. They seemed to spread smiles where they went, performing blessings and prayers and consecrating weapons and armor despite their youth and clumsiness. At the head of this group of shrine maidens, and standing in the shadows of the observation platform with a sour look in her eyes, stood Sanae Kochiya.

>>47128481

Hana had found the novelty of such a large festival wore off quickly once she had finished scooping things out with a low pass around the outskirts of the village. Even ignoring that damned brothel, it felt like another strange thing had befallen her home that she wanted little to do with. Even though Sanae and Kanako explained the situation with Keine and Heida, and Suwako could explain some of what was going on with the surprise festival, Hana had still looked forward to some unwinding.

Sure, she’d been disappointed to find Aunn absent from their home, and normally she wouldn’t justify spending money like this alone, but it looked like a nice diversion and it would be fun chatting with the surprisingly co-operative Kanako and Suwako while she walked about. With any luck she’d spot Marisa, she’d just have to get her to keep her silence that she was there until Sanae learned from her…

A sour mood didn’t befall her even after she left the rest of her gifts at home and packed a day bag for her return to the shrine in silence. It didn’t befall her even as she played with the figurines in her hands, slightly nervous from being alone again in her old house. Nor did anything but the promise of a good time suggest itself as she literally read the writing on the walls as she passed through an alley, graffiti scrawled in cheap paint by a particularly loathsome kind of guy that read: ‘Keine-sensei’s 1# lesson: Youkai girls give the best -----!’.

Leaving the alley while ignoring that last word before her face went as red as her hakama, Hana’s mood wasn’t soured till she ventured onto the main south road, closer to the village square and into the thick crowds that clustered around the open restaurants and bars. She had tried visiting Geidontei, to see how Miyoi was coping and patron them since it’d been a while. They were a bit of a ways in the alleys closer to the canal, so she’d hoped that they were lacking in customer base.

Hana was wrong, as it turned out the canal had become a popular romance spot for a reason that entirely eluded her. Did some tengu rag blab about a magical something-or-other able to keep couples together? Well, it didn’t matter, the foot traffic on the access road of the canal ensured that the bar was crawling with people stopping off for dinner and a drink. Miyoi would be pressed in there and working without a break, fat chance of a nice chat…

It was as she was sighing out, leaning against the buildings and wondering what to see next that she noticed it. Something out of place and not there just a week or so prior, the graffiti along the alleys, and the posters and flyers scattered about and glued to walls or hanging loosely on lantern poles. Some of these… were even youma books! They had to have been written by youkai!

Hana was shocked… for about a second until she remembered the little primer she was given, Keine had been trying let the weakling youkai in for some stupid reason. Actual youkai, magical and man eating and all! Crazy, but even if she wasn’t a shrine maiden she had bigger fish to fry and she’d just have to deal with it some other time. Sanae would surely talk some sense into Keine and make sure this gross baby-wave nonsense doesn’t shake things up too much. Hana was sure that by time she came back home she’d never have to watch some dirty mouse youkai she personally chased off a farmhouse, for stealing and harassing the family, getting all kissy with the son of the same farmer!

Still, what did sour her mood considerably was seeing how many village men seemed so taken with these monsters. It was something the miko chosen to maintain the balance couldn’t understand, despite all the nonsense, her mother was the best authority on this sort of thing. Youkai that mated with humans only did so through coercion of some kind, in the nicest cases it ended up in the wife leaving the man peaceably; at the worst… well, it didn’t need saying that at best either the wife sacrifices her nature to become a human or she maintains her form and leaves after ruining him. What’s the point of an unfaithful wife? I mean if it was Hana with her-

Clearing her throat of an imagined obstruction, Hana considered the opposite with some grim ideas unsuited for the levity of the festival. Humans becoming youkai… the reason didn’t matter, it just made things worse! Ascending, Taoism, Enlightenment; all good practices and fine by her, if you wanted to waste a life breathing mist or starving yourself to death to achieve nirvana? Well good on you, waste of time, and not worth it, Hana would rather live her life according to her virtues and live normally; thank you very much!

>>47128493

The idea of a human turning youkai, much less one that she knew personally; like the uncles from the market, or the gossiping old ladies that hung around her mini-shrine in the mornings. Made her ill beyond belief, knowing what she’d have to do… Not even father had much good to say about one that abandoned their humanity for such selfish reasons! Sure, he never took as much issue as mother did, but still, Hana was sure he’d see it her way. Even if it was for romance, rejecting your humanity and destroying the thing that made Gensokyo work? It could only be answered harshly.

It was part of why Hana tried to ignore most of the posters, knowing that Keine was doing this… Keine was her first teacher in her early years, protected her from bullies and gave her honest advice aplenty! However, even Keine was run off by mother when she tried delivering homework and materials to the shrine like the rest; How much could a spineless woman really be trusted to make the correct decision for everyone? Could she corral the problems that’d come from everyone deciding to become a youkai all willy-nilly? Hana had doubted that her resolve to deal with such matters would stand for long, she just didn’t have the drive.

It troubled her, it troubled the Hakurei miko-in-training deeply. The current status quo was rotten, something she knew, but at the same time this solution wasn’t any better! Hana knew that this would only make the youkai sheltering among humans lose their identity over the years, it was well known that all youkai had to choose at some point. Something that made her happy in a way as that was akin to death for them, but at the same time it was disgusting to think they’d be her neighbors till her and father moved out on their own somewhere.

Ignoring the strangely high ratio of mixed youkai/human pairs around these parts, she turned into an alley before she made a headache for Miyoi, last thing the poor girl needed was some brawl starting. All Hana wanted at this moment was a nice skewer and maybe listen to the pleasant music that echoed through the alleyways. A small shop, a hole in the wall she’d never seen before was along the alley and stretched into the distance, it hung a single red lantern above its hanging sign and small narrow door. Hana didn’t need to look at its sign, nor peek in through the door to realize what it was.

These kinds of small redlight establishments had been flourishing thanks to the recent unrest, this one was unusually distant from the first menace that plagued the village. Still, the scent of youkai magic that masked its presence was obvious to all that could tell… or sought their services… Hana didn’t have time for this, she passed by and ignored the soft sounds from inside, letting her eyes drift to the far wall of the alley.

Placed upon a wall and tacked on with cheap starchy glue, sat a poster with a nearly comical depiction of Keine. She stood upon a small hill with the broad red rays of the sun behind her back, her face looked a little… easy going… but the determination still burned in her eyes. Her arm was locked in a fist pump and behind her were many other youkai and humans holding hands with very generic faces, all smiling and taking it just as easy. The caption on the top read, “Keine-sensei brings forth the era of love and peace, let youkai and man live as friends!”

Blinking her eyes once or twice, she tried clearing the hallucination from her mind via meditation practices only to realize that it was no trick. The poster was real, the glue was real, the message was real; disturbingly, it had no youma energy that radiated from it. Not even a hint of being written by a youkai for human eyes, it was clean as the old lady from the bathhouse was, it had to have been written by a villager!

She pushed passed the alley without incident, scowling at the few men and youkai that dared wonder down that alley and bump her shoulders. It was disgusting! I mean really, had she really been so busy she didn’t notice the winds changing this much?! Sure, there were always youkai prowling the shadows, and there were always a few hidden marriages she ignored as matter of policy, but had this really been simmering so intensely? She couldn’t wait to get a meaty skewer, and maybe she’d get a cup of sweet sake too; she deserved that much!

>>47128508

Happy that Suwako and Kanako weren’t watching, she left behind the maze of suspicious alley shops and busy back-road businesses that dotted this corner of the village. Sure, this side of the village was never the most wholesome, but really now? She was sure Suwako would tease her if she saw her reaction to that shop…

Nearly having to push through the amounts of revelers and party-goers, Hana decided that she had enough of these busy narrow roads. To make matters worse, it didn’t take much more than a few good checks with her powers when heard soft moans coming from particularly secluded alleys, judging from the amount of youkai she saw carting around men and vice versa... Well, who could blame her for mulling over the thought of throwing a few danmaku pellets into there, as a joke, till she came out into the village square.

The square was just as congested as it looked from the sky, the only saving grace was the edges where the Kurodanis had set up seating. They were supposedly a massive clan of earth spiders Hana hasn’t had the displeasure of interacting with overmuch, but at least they could be useful judging by how the resting areas and food courts were arranged in an impressively practical manner.

The phantom choir of foodstuff in the air excited Hana’s stomach too much for her brain to care for long, the sights, the sounds, the smells. It all washed the idiocy of the last few minutes away; she’d worry about youkai infiltration and Kurodanis well after she’d secured her own food. Following her nose, one smell in particular stood out, it wasn’t as hearty as the others, nor as sweet and fragrant like those meats slathered in sauce. However, it had a subtle appeal all its own that promised a punch of refreshing flavor; Hana had no idea what it was, no idea what the crowd around this small izakaya was pressing for, but she had to have it.

Hana queued at the back of the line, where couples and families formed small groups in a relatively orderly line. The line was about 20 groups thick, all in line, all with big appetites and orders… Hana tried waiting, she waited and while the line was moving fast, her stomach was growling! If it wasn’t for the chatter and music making it inaudible, she’d be embarrassed! This could not stand, she had to figure something out!

She stood behind a small family, a man and two kids that were vaguely familiar. He seemed middle aged and was holding the hand of one boy while the other chatted happily with the other. Both of the boys had rather familiar faces, the youngest one’s hair color was very familiar shade of red as well… It didn’t matter. Her objective was clear.

The kids weren’t an issue, they were young enough to not raise much of a fuss if at all. The father? A threat if any she saw one, if he spotted her. The Hakurei miko of all people cutting in line, well that wouldn’t do! She used her powers and let the world lines constrict, watching his eyes, watching for the momen- Now!

With a sharp yank, little brat on his hand tugged him hard enough to almost take him off balance, causing him to look down and ignore the group moving up in front of them! Taking a step ‘back’ she moved into the ground and took the shortest path to naturally step in front of them and seem as if she was part of the group ahead of them the entire time, she was a genus!

As she righted herself, she was satisfied it was fast enough that nobody could’ve caught it unless they were looking. The man behind her didn’t raise a fuss either, likely not even noticing her, It was a fool proof plan. One that got her just a step closer to whatever food this cart was slinging!

The next group… it was a guy with two girls on his arms! Shesh, some people were just weird like that, I mean, what made this guy so great? Only someone like father had enough natural pull to- She shook her head as she contemplated her approach, it didn’t matter who it was, she had a purse full of change from her dear friends and she was determined to see food before her stomach twisted into a hole!

Still, she couldn’t get over this nearly slovenly guy, all slouched and flushed in the face like mother would get, completely enamored by his cooing escorts who bragged about the lamprey sold here. She made effort to shut out their words, too much ‘lover~’s and ‘handsome~’s as these two clung to him like a spider did to his web on a windy day. God, beast youkai are just so… it was mating season for some of them on top of that, right? It was just gross how desperate they were for this man, what are they? Foxes? She’ll probably be the one officiating their divorce once these tube foxes drain his wallet and health.

>>47128554


Either way, she couldn’t wait till she got to gohei their faces in, so she didn’t. Using her powers, she embedded a needle into the ground where one of those harlot foxes would step next, it didn’t take long till the sake ridden trio rubbed into each other enough for one of the girls to step on the small spike sticking out of the ground. It wasn’t much, just a prank and besides, for a youkai this was just a little sting! She didn’t even channel her power into it, and not just because it’d give her prank away…

With a yelp one of the red foxes on his arms jumped up onto him, knocking the man slightly off balance. He collided into the other woman, a gray fox by the looks of her fur, who caught his weight, quickly he righted himself while clinging to his companion. She looked up at him as she worriedly asked her what was wrong, Hana couldn’t believe her ears as the fox recited, straight out of some cheesy romance novel, “I was so scared~ but I’m fine now that you’re holding me!”

She nuzzled him, the desperate bitch nuzzled him and acted all cutesy! Then the second fox joined in, acting all jealous and pouting! She just couldn’t win, or so she thought as she used her powers to slip past the idiots and retrieve her needle, in case the kid got hurt or something. It was enough to make her sick, she’d have a stern word with Keine herself after this all blew over. Honestly, what idiocy this was!

Sadly, much of the groups went the same way as they advanced, the dutiful cooks working away at the multitude of hungry bellies with gusto. Some families, some newly formed couples of various levels of idiocy, and some clearly bumpkin tanuki and other beasts that had never seen something of this scale before. At the very least, it didn’t take long till Hana was on the front of the line and in the small crowd of people being serviced.

Hana pushed through into her spot in the crowd, not willing to wait much longer and called out her order as soon as she saw it, lamprey, lots and lots of lamprey. Guess those foxes weren’t just saying whatever, she was just hoping that it tasted as good as it smelled.

>>47128554
>like a spider

Imagine Hana's face when she realises she's too late to prevent race mixing and there's already a whole horde of half-human half-youkai spiders in the village (whose dad apparently looks similar to Hana's dad)

Before I knew it three days passed, time flies when you're writing doesn't it?
Anyways, next is the encounter with Mystia, random run-ins, the fireworks show, and chatting around and whining to her two god moms!
Lets see if Hana can avoid the fated sperg-out I have cooking, after the build up to the Heida stuff I'll be in the clear to do the Kasen confrontation in about two more chapters. Please wait warmly~

>>47128566
I just want to see hana's reaction for when this whole festival goes straight to hell with keine getting shot.

>>47128560
>>47128554
>>47128508
>>47128493
>>47128481
>>47128467
hell yeah, we eating good today
my favorite racist being racist, what a great day to be alive~! Wasn't expecting the graffiti and posters, made me kek hard here.
Never ask a racist the race of her sisterwife.
At least the men of the village are smart enough to not only fuck the people that for so long filled them with fear, this fucking will also decrease the number of monsters trying to eat them in the long run. Literally fuck them into pacifism~
thanks for the chapters!
>>47128606
waiting and eager!

>>47126651
Who would win Shitty Amanojaku versus "レベルを上げて、物理で殴ればいい"
I think you know who's really worth betting on.

>>47129974
>>47126651
I think we're forgetting Yuugi greatest strength.

>>47130693
Being a mentally sound adult who can hold down a job and be responsible, probably one of the more if not the most sane people in this story.
Despite not even knowing what sex is.

>>47130772
She knows what sex is, she just doesn't want to tell you about it. As a test to see if you know or not!

>>47131119
she'll tell us what sex is after we learn how to do our taxes...

(1/6)
—
What evokes life…

Life is life. Life is eating tasty food, drinking a lot, having fun with friends and supporting them in their lowest moments, laughing with them at the highest—life is guarding these gates, making sure those behind me can go about their days without a worry in the world.

That's what I told Patchy yesterday—my very own piece to the puzzle that is Sekai's resurrection ritual… But that was also not the whole truth, because that pacific monastery also served as a stage for unspeakable cruelty, as did every inch of China at one point in her long history.

Eyes narrowed, I let my Ki fade, allowing the misty water pillar that towered over the mansion and the treeline to collapse over me. My hair flailed wildly, but I remained immovable, a bulwark facing the sheer force of mother nature, my feet rooted and my expression contemplative as the tsunami raged, then subsides into a gentle downpour…

My inner Ki flares, drying me fully as one hand slowly fixed my loose red strands back into braids, and I walked back to the gates, my eyes focused on the mansion, but with my mind elsewhere, in the distant past…

Watching countless dynasties declare themselves invincible and above all others; battling the Mongol horde as they mercilessly pillaged the countryside using strategies that’d radically change what is warfare.

Disease, famine and so much more…

That's also life, right…?

… That's not the life I want for Sekai—for a child…

But it'll come. As it always does, it'll come. Those familiar clouds of darkness rising from the village yesterday just made it much more noticeable: war will come to Sekai's life—to Gensokyo; war beyond the planned Solstice Yukari talked so much about…

And given Sekai's immense power, she might even be the root of those wars' beginning, middle, and end…

That horrifies me beyond belief: will she survive her version of the Mongols? Of the black pest and so many more unpredictable constants that just trying to parse everything gives me a headache? Patchy would fare much better than me…

… I don't want this to be Sekai’s life—

“—Sleeping with your eyes open now? Have your Ki weakened in the slightest?” Sakuya's voice snaps me out of my thoughts violently—literally, the sharp knife caught by my hand before it lodged itself between my eyes—and I blink frantically. My back was to the brick wall of the mansion and in front of me stood the maid, hands closed and pressed on each side of her hips, glare as razorlike as the knife that suddenly vanished from my hand and reappeared on hers. “I'll take that as a no.”

“H-Heh, sorry, Sakuya-san~” I try rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment, those thoughts of just now refusing to fade away from my mind, likely affecting my expression as the maid's brows frown and her arms cross before she takes a step forward to have a better look at my face. The agonizing invasion of my personal space reminds me of the more disturbing guests of the HSE that’d refuse to stay put and had to go all around the area doing the, ugh…

“You don't seem optimal, and it shows in your inattention just now… Hm, guess it should be expected considering whatever happened to you and Lady Patchouli—by the way, she's calling you into the Voilé.” Oh, yes, I need to take a look into the state of the library and the book! Don't really know what I could get from it; Sekai's words were straightforward enough, but if Patchy thinks there's something in it for me… Well, she's allergic to being wrong, and Sekai knows that too after our whole year together~

… A whole year, huh?

“Consider stabilizing yourself before resuming your duties, Meiling. I'll be punishing you next time I catch you neglecting them.” The visceral venom of those words usually sends shivers up my spine, but I just nod without paying much attention. Sakuya promptly fishes her silver pocket watch, about to disappear amidst time and space—

—But something compels me: perhaps the tasteless thoughts and anxiety that remained from Patchy's question, or maybe the way Sakuya holds herself with confidence and smarts unlike any other—a mind that, if she had my level of Ki, could've discovered Sekai's plan much earlier…

… Someone who seems to know what they’re doing and doesn't waste their energy with anxieties and fears of a faraway future.

“Say, Sakuya…”

“Hm? Didn't you hear me, Meiling? Lady P—”

“Y-Yeah, I know, I know—I'll go in a moment, just…” I kick the ground, hands joining, one playing with the others' fingers. Man, the question those weird feelings form is embarrassing! But Sakuya isn't like that, right? She'd just answer it and that's it, of course! Our eyes meet, the perfect and elegant maid scrutinizing me up and down for a long moment before, with a short nod, gesturing me to continue. The words threaten to get stuck in my throat as sweat pours down my nape, and it's a fierce test of strength to babble them out: “D-Do you… u-ugh… Have plans of becoming a m-mother someday?!”

Sakuya blinks.

(2/6)
—
… And I internally groan, regretting the question immediately.

What the hell was I thinking?! Has the isolation of the HSE really done that bad of a number on my mind…?

Yeah, probably that.

But it doesn't matter! I need to apologize and find a way of getting out of this situation fast—knowing Sekai's powers, she must've seen this and is absolutely laughing so badly at me right now… Though, before I can utter one word, Sakuya speaks in her very characteristic deadpan: “Are you or Lady Patchiouli pregnant, Meiling?” Hands neatly folded in front of her apron, eyes curious and incisive, her winter uniform flawlessly symmetrical and well-kept—

Ah, I just processed her question, oh no…

“No! No, no, no—I'm not, Pat—Lady Patchouli is not—n-no one is pregnant!” I exclaim with vigor and blushed cheeks, body itching in discomfort as hands pump up and down, attempting to mitigate the embarrassment. “I-It's just that…”

“You are seeking to be with baby?”

“No!”

“Then stop wasting our time and be straightforward.” The sharp intonation of those words, indeed, brought back the chills. Ugh…

“You see, it's just that I…” I stop, nearly folding under her glare. Patchy would've done much better than me… “I can't tell you why just yet—y'know, part of that secret thing me and—”

“Oh, I see. You could've started with that.” She gestures disapprovingly. “The mistress adheres by it; hence do I.” Just like that, coupled with a sigh, her violent demeanor disappears and her arms uncross, a hand rising to softly caress her chin. I watch with wide eyes, utterly perplexed… Huh, sometimes things are easy like that with Sakuya. I had forgotten this most practical side of hers in the past year, just recalling the ruthlessness and strictness amidst our bouts of camaraderie and friendship. “I already live the life I want by the mistress' side, and I have no desire to build a family or anything of the sort… But I understand that may not be the answer that’ll help you, so let's assume I do have plans to have children—what's about it?”

I moist my lips, hands untangling as the thoughts stir inside; guess it makes sense for Sakuya to be so… content with such a strict lifestyle, and it comforts me a little knowing her answer will be unbiased. “What… life would you want for your child?”

“This one. A life of servitude, thus fulfillment and contentment. Better than any other I know.” Her eyes narrow, small fluctuations in her expression and visible points of pressure indicating a certain… relief, one with a background that sobers me. Vampire hunting is more often than not a vocation, not a choice.

Leaving those thoughts aside, I sternly nodded. Sakuya is clearly anxious to end this conversation and resume her duties, likely antsy too as Patchy's orders have been on hold for a while now. Curious, too, but the ever-perfect maid would never show that… Better not stretch this too much. “H-How do you think you would be able to, y'know… Maintain that life?” Sakuya stares, her overwhelming gaze demanding more details, but I couldn't; that'd beg the reveal of Sekai's nature, which'd surely mess with her manipulation of fate, so I try to be as vague as possible. “A-Against suffering, a bunch of bad stuff…?” Mongols, plagues, famine, people desiring power, corruption by having great powers and—

“You're being nonsensical, Meiling.” She says it deftly.

B-Bwuah?! “Nonsensical…?”

“Maintaining a hypothetical person's life against that 'bad stuff'. If you mean 'protecting them', it's understandable; it's instinctive. I doubt you of all people would fail at that,” a rare smirk paints her face, small and tender. “But there are limits to that. The young mistress, you see: The mistress has recognized the mistake that was conditioning the young mistress into assuming that life in the basement was all she'd ever have—isolation and believing herself to be a danger to others and herself. That it was for her protection—and now the young mistress has an odd assortment of friends, even if unsavory, and manages to live a reasonably worry-free life as she understands how to control herself—a trait she'd never have honed without experiencing life outside the basement.” She scowls. “I will be honest: the mere thought of my made-up kids defying the mistress's wishes and forsaking the mansion, for example, makes me unreasonably angry and anxious… Yet I don't feel like I'd clash with their wishes and try stopping them without explicit orders. It’s their lives, after all…” She shakes her head, apparently wanting to say more but refraining. “Is this sufficient dialogue about fictional kids for you?” Her tone returns to its usual razor-sharpness.

I did not expect her to think so deeply about it and then give me such advice, especially given all the vague info. “I think so…? Thanks, Sakuya!” I grinned softly and nodded; it was sound advice anyway~

She stares for a long moment, curiosity latent…

“Go see Lady Patchouli right now.” And just like that, Sakuya was gone.

(3/6)
—
These dimly lit halls, the occasional fairy maid or just one of the goblins hurriedly going about—nothing distracted me from Sakuya's words and what they may mean for Sekai's life, mainly the example she made of Flandre and how good these last three decades have been for the little reclusive vampire… But Sekai's case is as special as it gets—trying to understand the specifics is a nightmare, sheesh—not even out of the womb and already masterminding her suicide as to revive without the shackle that is the HSE! This is just not right in the slightest!

'That's the way it is', hell no!

Not while I am here and can do something about it…

Well, me and Patchy~the double doors of the Voilé enter my field of view, heavy damages already visible in the once pristine handles looking as if about to fall off—

—which happens the moment I try to open the right door, still not entirely used to the sheer power of this body after spending a whole year just phasing through obstacles, hand clasping the door by its knob as if a sheet of paper. I-It was so weak! Where's all that fancy magic Patchy and Sakuya talk so much about that makes everything practically— “Hm, that's one way to assassinate dramatics.” Wide-eyed, I look towards Patchy, the magician staring at me with tired eyes and two books floating around her—one was Sekai's, the other brand-new, its pages fresh and cover flawless. “Just look up and be amazed so we can move on.” She speaks in the usual monotone.

W-What…? What the hell is she—

… I stare at the entire universe, just floating above my head.

Suns and nebulas, turning and uncharted cosmos with stars exploding and being born out of cosmic magic or science stuff, my eyes growing wide with the infinitum of colors, shapes and even motions, objects sometimes appearing 3D, others 2D and, confusingly, one-dimensional.

All a peaceful coexistence of chaotic energies bound by magic so strong that my senses had to refuse it lest I pass out.

I knew exactly what I was looking at, yet I still asked. “What is this…?”

“Sekai.” Patchy motioned for me to approach, and I strode with a sense of impossibility, much akin to watching as the desolated battlefield of our war turned into greenish and idyllic plains. What the hell was I even thinking? Fearing for Sekai getting caught between the web that is pestilence, Mongols and whatever else I was thinking of…

A pill hard to swallow echoed in my mind, one I knew of but chose to ignore earlier: she is no simple little girl. She is a fucking god above gods—

“Language, please!”

—I read the passage on Sekai's book as it floated in front of me…

H-Huh?

“Yes, she's still communicating. No, not in real time…” Patchy pauses, the pages flipping wildly as the massive book floated to rest by her. “And yes, maddeningly infantile more often than not.” I… I cannot process all of this! It's too much, too quickly! “Indeed, it can be overwhelming. Take your time, Meiling.” Patchy mutters, her eyes diverting from me to the thing she was meddling with before, words and symbols appearing on the fresh tome by her…

Yeah, better take her advice.

Strained, I sat on the carpeted floor of the Voilé, looking around and soaking the state of the library—trying my hardest not to be entranced by the moving universe, its machinations and movements like that of oiled machinery—and sheesh; destroyed doesn't start to explain it, mind focusing on loose parts of the roof that may fall soon and, though not likely, on Patchy… She should be able to defend herself, but I still worry.

My gaze falls on her back, the long purple hair free to move around without her frankly oversized hat getting in the way—Patchy groans, then turns to me— “Oversized is a stupid thought. Become a better person.” She returns to working without another word.

… Ah, I guess it has finally clicked.

I try to stop it, but the laughter comes out, growing when Patchy sighs and nods negatively to herself. “D-Did she tell you?! That little snitch! Oh, man! Oh, man~!” I jump back on my foot, energized beyond belief and approach Patchy, keeping a respectful distance—perhaps I need to apologize someday for being too pushy recently… The drawbacks of being touch-friendly—and peer into the words of the gargantuan book, Patchy humming before letting the pages wildly flip back and forth without clear pattern, my browns frowning… Yet, when they stopped and the message was in full display for me to see, a smile came naturally:

“I'm no snitch, Mother, just an advocate of transparency~”

“Tell us for how long are you grounded, then.” Patchy demands harshly, allowing the pages to turn again and again before choosing one at random. In the lower left corner of the page, three ellipses welcome us. “… Typical brat.”

“Bleh, don't be like that, Lady Patchouli~!”

“Don't justify behavior that is obviously wrong.”

I laugh and, oh, I laugh.

Patchy doesn't seem amused in the slightest. At first, that is.

The cosmos above rumbles, as if laughing too~

>>47134960
>>47134949
>>47134937
just some chapters since I forgot I hadn't written the chapters of Meiling going to the Voilé and the conclusion of Sekai's resurrection ritual; got it mixed up with the Marisa chapters in the Voilé... fugg.
finishing today or tomorrow~

>>47134968
Welcome back patchanon, thanks for the wrap up. I was little confused when the story never actually concluded!

Anons...
I don't think the finale is going to start by the summer solstice.

>>47135570
shame, but what can you do? The writers have lives to attend before the project, keep praying a piano doesn't smash them out of the blue and eventually the solstice will be real.
And just two more threads, I guess

>>47134968
Oh.
I guess I'll just, uh...delete the half-finished chapter I was doing when I had the time.

>>47135732
Moments like these are what keep me awake during nights...
I'll be scrapping what I wrote and switch focus from Meiling and Patchy so you can do what you were planning and focus on Sakuya and Remi, as I wanted to write a little of them after the Yukari's chapters. No need to scrap yours, and it shouldn't be too much work employed considering all Meiling did was arrive at the Voilé, talk a little with Patchy and understand Sekai is still communicating. Gladly kept the way Patchy has to use the book to help Meiling during the solstice + the ritual vague, so you shouldn't have much creative restrains. Good writing for you, mate!

>>47135827
> No need to scrap yours, and it shouldn't be too much work employed considering all Meiling did was arrive at the Voilé, talk a little with Patchy and understand Sekai is still communicating.
I mean, that WAS what I had finished already. I've got no choice but to scrap all of that now. I'll give it a fair shake, but, to be blunt, I'll be forced to more or less start from scratch. My version started with a visit from a Kurodani to talk about the library remodelling and the aftermath of the festival (kept vague), then her bumping into Meiling on her way in, then going into Meiling's reaction to the library, then onto Sekai and her body. With that chapter, I can't use that setup anymore.
I was mostly delayed due to other writing obligations that came higher on the priority list.

>>47135903
>spoiler
I see, so if I'd to delete the last chapter (>>47134960), that is Meiling leaving the gates and going to the library, she would still be at the gates and could bump into the Kurodani before leaving to Patchy, likely sensing someone approaching just as Sakuya leaves and therefore waiting a tad more.
You think you could work with that more easily?

not a 2hu fan but ive started reading the abusive reimu story out of curiosity, very interesting even though i dont know any of the characters aside from through cultural osmosis

>>47136829
take it easy if you decide to stick around the 2huverse, it can feel very overwhelming at times, though it becomes a lot of good fun when you find your niche.

>>47136941
from what i know it seems to be a massive overarching franchise with games, music, books, etc and i probably wont be getting into it fully unless i have a month to spend not doing anything, i tend to enjoy fully diving into the series i enjoy and im not sure where id even start with touhou. i also have no clue what the themes of the setting are desu, the immortal murder lesbian art is cool though

>>47137004
The themes of the games are bitches doing things and beating people up on their way to stopping some sort of incident, for the print works it varies.
Start with Perfect Cherry Blossom, you can buy an untranslated copy on steam or torrent a translated one bu going to the Moirya shrine webstie.
Also check the gameplay thread for a good place to start.

>>47136829
As a disclaimer, some characters are very ooc in that story and this project in general. Take everything with a massive grain of salt!

>>47137004
>the immortal murder lesbian art is cool though
stop shitposting and resurrect already, sensei!!

>>47136829
Here's what you do. Go read some of the official works and cut your teeth on primary stuff, then when you're finally done binge reading all that manga, you'll have the foundation built and the HSE will be 1/3 of the way done with the prelude's prelude of the finale, just in time for the 2025 winter solstice.

>>47135965
Yes, if it ends with Sakuya saying 'go see Patchouli,' then I'm fine
I mean, sorry about all this. I didn't expect to get delayed for as long as I have, and several other things ended up higher on my priority list so I'm still not certain when I'll get my bits finished, but I'm hoping to wrap up the Patchouli minutiae with this one.

>>47138553
we're getting into the double digits until the one-year anniversary, just noticed it.

>>47138431
newfren anon here, what does this mean

>>47138622
>I mean, sorry about all this.
nah, it's fine, mistakes like this happen. Though I cannot delete the post, so we're saying it's noncanon in the archives~
>>47134960
I deem you non canon!
... guess that's it.
Waiting eager for your chapters, patchyanon!

>>47138710
Keine Kamisharasawa (a teacher/sensei) and Mokou (the immortal murder lesbian) fuck in the project and Keine just had an Attack on Titan moment, there's a bunch of those in the HSE, and resurrected recently. Pretty much that.

A thought I want to throw into the ether for writers to think about. I don't expect a proper
Would sekai receive any nerfs post resurrection due to having a physical body/ground to reality? Or is patchy simply that good at constructing vessels and she's as strong as she is pre birth?
Or would any nerfs be self imposed? Such as purposefully sabotaged vessel instructions or just holding back.

>>47138898
cute Senkai!

>>47143966
>senkai

>>47094545
>Pastebin
Shouldn't the Myouren temple be removed from the finale plans since nobody is writing for them and the temple has a grand total of one thing written about it?

>>47146652
Probably, anything by this point for them but the shou's day off, the Mima thing, goro, and the mentioned orphanage in other's chapters is up in the air.
The actual plans for what they'll do, if anything should be left up to whoever wishes to include elements

>>47146652
Byakuren was in that reunion with Okina, so she'll probably have some importance during the Solstice though likely minor as indeed they lack chapter under their belts.
Betting on Goro keeping their attention, as it seems the perfect way to keep both parties busy.
>Goro and Seija will have someone they know personally to butt heads with; the insanely overpowered aspect of their abilities should be challenged by the whole temple.
not takaneanon, so can't say for sure, but feels right such progression.

>>47146712
The shou thing was also written by Cirnoanon so it's not canon like everything else they wrote.

>>47146741
Makes sense, Goro and Seija either end up jobbing to end getting lectured by centuries old Youkai or they end up making the Myouren temple job.
I still don't really understand why Goro wants to work for Yukari so bad, with how hard he's thrown himself behind her, even to the point of opposing his entire friends and family it doesn't seem like he and Seija could switch sides successfully.
But he's submissive so it makes sense he'd fall in line until it came time to retreat with his tail between his legs, although the survivors might want to wipe him and Seija out depending on the circumstances.

We could've got shou as a main character if she hadn't got pregnant...

>>47146871
There's a reason nobody like Cirnoanon.

>>47146881
but did cirnoanon wrote the myouren temple side story? if so we can always make it not canon

>>47143966
>>47144780
get her name right, please!

>>47146997
It's already not canon since they wrote it, everything they wrote isn't even non-canon, it's not even parts of the HSE.
Sadly no writer is interested in writing for them.

>>47147027
Its more like too little too late
The anon who spoke about his idea for shou said that he would have had her not get pregnant during the myouren fuck fest and, in a moment of feeling disillusioned with the temple, bonded with Reiku and started her on the path to getting better
Not much to do with her now

>>47147050
what a waste of potential, should have kicked cirnoanon sooner

>>47147058
Good riddance to bad garbage

>>47147115
honestly i hope that someday in the future the HSE will have some sort of rewrite maybe some of the ideas that never came to fruition will be explore there, of course with a lot more cordination.

>>47147140
Anything made without Cirnoanon is sure to be an improvement, but I don't think the writers have it in them sadly.
The guy who manages the archive hasn't even removed anything written by Cirnoanon yet, but I guess they're busy as is so we shouldn't push them too hard.

>>47147170
well thats why i said in the future, like in a few years, hopefully with a lot more planning and cordination, but yeah anything without cirnoanon in them is gonna be a lot better

>>47147140
>someday in the future the HSE will have some sort of rewrite
I can feel years of my life draining away just thinking about rewriting something amidst a million words, Jesus Christ. I'm intending on making a curated version of the main story after it's done, but changing it grays me hairs
>>47147170
will see to remove them eventually and link back to his separated stories, indeed busy atm playing elden ring

>>47147261
take care archiveanon you are doing a great service to us all. and yeah i can see why my request for a rewrite would be very taxing but hey a anon can always dream

>>47147261
>link back to his separated stories
There is no reason to do that, he's done nothing but harm the project and his stories shouldn't even be associated with the HSE.

>>47147330
Why you are you acting like a schizophrenic vtuber anti?
I get that cirnoanon is an acceptable punching bag right now this is excessive.

>>47147616
There's nothing wrong with refusing to humor him, he still has his thing which is barely even the HSE and then there's the HSE.
He's the one who chose to write his own thing disconnected from the other Anons while writing for a COMMUNITY project.
When he doesn't act part of that community and harms it he gets what he gets.

>>47147788
You literally bullied cirnofag out of the story and made his shit non canon and have been sperging your dick off ever since and you have the audacity to post this retarded shit after the fact? Holy fuck. I'm not even a writer of this mess, just a reader, and you have been the single most insufferable shitstain on this entire project.

>>47146741
>Betting on Goro keeping their attention, as it seems the perfect way to keep both parties busy.
That sounds about right, I wrote about how I envision the temple force fighting before and I can callback to that.
>>47146859
Late night brain dump, please bear with me.

>I still don't really understand why Goro wants to work for Yukari so bad
Yeah I fumbled and put forth that bit too quickly and then muddled it with the pregnancy.
The initial reason was to learn more about Yukari and her motivations, since he saw how intricate the HSE construction was with the cursed braceletI remember I used a Dark Tower book cover in that thread and hinted at otherworldly forces helping him, can't remember if that was pre or post Sekai though., and thought it was too much for a simple punishment. So, under the pretense of wanting to learn more about the HSE that he saw and Seija's bolstered ability, he brokered a deal with Yukari.
That's still a motivation, but now there's also the pregnancy caused by Yukari's meddling.
>even to the point of opposing his entire friends and family
He's a supportive, but eccentric and self-assured person. Being raised in part at Myouren temple, it makes sense he'd adopt methods similar to Hijri(compare "Youkai deserve love" to "We should understand what lead to Yukari doing this") and be a little screwy due to Youkai influence. Due to practicing commerce, he also understands wealth and takes action based on speculation and risk, which can put you in questionable positions even if it's done with the best of intentions.
>it doesn't seem like he and Seija could switch sides successfully.
Depends on how the final battle plays out. Most of the Jaku Duo's notoriety is from association with Yukari and outside the Myouren's, Chen, Reimu, Yuuka, Yuugi, and Satori have all had friendly-ish interactions with them. Although in battle they share a line with some pretty villainous people so a lot can happen, Reimu remarked she'd kill them if it came to it afterall.
>But he's submissive so it makes sense he'd fall in line until it came time to retreat with his tail between his legs, although the survivors might want to wipe him and Seija out depending on the circumstances.
Memes aside, I don't see him that way. He's not directly confrontational, but he has lectured Hana about her relationship with her father, has been involved in the most fights(with Seija), and siding with Yukari was a rebellious act in itself. I'd equate it to how business is actually done, things like 'Don't tell the boss 'no', instead, give him a feasibility report or let him forget', this seems submissive, but the reality is that you're just managing someone else's ego.

There is a level of sympathy he has for Yukari, since she earnestly taught him about the HSE and it's because of her that he's going to be a father, but it hasn't left his mind that she's a monster and he'll get a cruel reminder of that when he see's the results of the revolution that'll probably lead nicely into the Duo seeing Kasan again.
It's also been a running theme with Yukari that she can't appreciate the love and opportunities she has and spoils them, like Ran, Chen, Anon, Hana, and Sekai. Consciously, I don't think she's changed how she regards the two since they first met, even though both of them have come to regard Yukari as more of a person and less of a complete monster.

>>47150061
>he has lectured Hana about her relationship with her fathe
When did that happen? I can't imagine Hana letting him live, nor how he would learn it aside through sekai

>>47150860
that time Hana saw them walking up the streets and decided to get all pissy about a human/youkai relationship; then she beat their asses and got Seija to flash her her panties, while also receive a pep talk about relationships and their nature. Also, what spawned this edit:

Just a quick fix-it of a mistake I noticed:

[All entries of the HSE here in chronological posting order!]
>>45324110 | Part 1
>>45324120 | Part 2
>>45324127 | Part 3
>>45324134 | Part 4
>>45324150 | Part 5
>>45324163 | Part 6
>>45407358 | Part 7
>>45442424 | Part 8
>>45515189 | Part 9
>>45587647 | Part 10
>>45678494 | Part 11
>>45774613 | Part 12
>>45888588 | Part 14
>>46097700 | Part 15
>>46241111 | Part 16
>>46406705 | Part 17
>>46529625 | Part 18
>>46654111 | Part 19
>>46660119 | Part 20
>>46767340 | Part 21
>>46869952 | Part 22

can't believe I didn't see a whole fucking thread (>>46654111 | Part 19) missing...

>>47150860
>I can't imagine Hana letting him live, nor how he would learn it aside through sekai
It wasn't with regards to the unspeakable acts, rather it was directed at her perspective of her father being a faultless victim. IIRC, I wrote it as Goro telling her that she had to recognize Anon's culpability in her abuse and that he might not be around forever for her to recognize and forgive him for it, basically relating back to the fact that Goro's Dad kicked the bucket early and he spent years processing those emotions.

>>47156054
Ah naruhodo, I thought it was a little more in depth from how it was said. I was worried I missed too many chapters lmao.
Goro has an interesting perspective, I remember the discussion about that back in the old Reimu abuse threads. Anon was indeed too selfless, so much so that it almost killed him. I can't say that he was culpable to Hana's abuse though, that implies he was at fault for Reimu's abuse of both him and Hana when that simply isn't the case.

>>47155400
thank you very much Anon, very happy to see you organizing things still. I can't believe I missed it as well!

>>47156741
>Goro has an interesting perspective
Yeah, this is also a big reason he is where he is in the narrative.
>I can't say that he was culpable to Hana's abuse though, that implies he was at fault for Reimu's abuse of both him and Hana when that simply isn't the case.
Anon was probably of the mind "if I just bear with it, Hana can get married and live a normal life" which is wrong because Hana was miserable watching her Father suffer and he should of broken his promise much sooner or at the very least begged for help rather then let the troubles go on.
It's something Goro recognizes because he was a little resentful after his father died and left him alone. Eventually he came to forgive the fact that, despite being a single parent, his Dad kept doing a dangerous job which he knew could get him killed, but the realization only came to him once he accepted his Father was flawed.

Essentially the lesson is that it's not fair to your favorite parent or yourself to put them on a pedestal because they're also capable of making mistakes.

>>47156877
Ah I see, more that he was attacking what he viewed as idolization of her father in his victimhood instead of viewing him as a normal person. I can't say Anon was wrong for not trying to steal Hana away in the dead of night, as I can't image him nor anyone who'd shelter him would live a long life. He'd have to find a way to leave gensokyo or shelter in a pocket dimension or something

>>47156996
he didn't had the vision at the time...

hello, just apologizing for the lack of chapters recently. Got Elden ring's dlc yesterday and am pouring all my free time there. Should manage 3 Marisa/Reimu/Aunn chapters tomorrow though.
Please do wait warmly~

>>47163094
Just finishing up some mystia bullying as well, don't worry! The bird will do just fine!

>>47163896
please, 'Ana, be gentle to your second bird-mother...

Elden Ring

>>47169135
the greatest enemy of the HSE...

“Hey, Mother…” 'Twas one of many written on the pages of the book, yet it always caught my undivided attention. I adjust my reading glasses, raise an eyebrow, and let the spiky, round, greenish sigil rise to join the cluster that is Sekai. Then I read what was on her mind: “…I’m sleepy.” Oh. Interesting. So she does tire out eventually. “I've been writing non-stop for two hundred hours—” That measly invested amount of time, but enough to shape the universe above my head. Alas, godhood... “—and worked so much magic into these pages. Yeah, I am tired!” This specific set of astral ink has the same articulation as seeing a small child cross her arms and pout. It is humorous.

“That doesn't affect the book, Sekai. You may go rest and return in twelve hours, and I'll perceive your book all the same.”

“I know, but…” My frown softens at the words that follow. “… But could you tell me a bedtime story? Please?”

A bedtime story, hm? Rubbing my tired eyes, I take out my reading glasses and put them by the unlit candle on top of my table. The cosmos above make for a perfect light source. “A proper request for your perceivable age… However, with your ability to see into the future, if I were to indeed tell you one, wouldn't that mean you'd already know everything about it?” Reading her sentences deliberately and pacing them with my own to create a real dialogue is a difficult struggle; this style of reading is different from how I usually read books.

“Does that matter? I only want to hear your voice, Mother.”

… A smile, tender and kind, is half the answer. “You do have a point. Okay, then, hold on a second.” I ponder the Voilé, lonely and twisted, with dark recesses where a million stars' light does not shine through and between its cracks and crevices I seek a children’s bedtime story, which might as well be the greatest task I've ever faced in terms of finding books… But eventually I find something suitable enough—quintessential, even, coming from the massive golden tree that layers its face as it makes its way from a short flight from the towering shelves to my hands, Sekai's book floating to my other side, and I read its title out loud for her: “… The Elden Ring.”

Sekai writes, “Oooh~,” as I bookmark the page and its sigil for later. “My tree is bigger.”

“Indeed… Are you tucked in bed?” Yearning comes and goes, one that'd be soothed if I could myself fix sheets of a comfy bed, fluff a pillow and softly caress a small forehead.

But I cannot… for now, at least.

“Yup. Father is already sleeping, too.” The words bring me this peculiar nostalgia, one spawned from the remnant who lived in the HSE for a year and could never see that little girl huddled in bed to her father's side when night fell, forever out of reach, yet serene nonetheless.

Koa is resting, and Remi must be having her dramatic tea drinking session under the moon, so this means this peaceful lonesomeness should continue for a few more hours… Fixing a loose strand of purple—I need another hat to hold back this wild and long hair… Hm, no, perhaps not—I soon open the dusty book perched on my lap, forgotten in its meaning and yet presenting a rich world that could be linked to no particular author and, to a child that may as well one day be revered as a God above Gods, I begin reading it as a bedtime story.

It's gory and unforgiven as highly detailed worlds tend to be—but, carefully, I hide its grisly nature from Sekai's ears since she expressed earlier with Marisa an aversion to the unpleasantness of blood and guts—not entirely can I hide it, of course, but I downplay it just enough to not revolt the child—and we talk about a God that in more than one sense reads as Yukari, of heroes and villains scrambling for power in a civil war, lusting after the power the tree and its embers provide.

Every bedtime story needs a protagonist, obviously. “… And one day, a girl woke up in the ravaged land. Her name was Sekai.” I feel my gaze being drawn to the book.

“Heh~it was not!” Such words sound drowsy to me.

“It is now.” With a gentle smile, I carried on by recounting the adventures of an excessively inquisitive girl who bravely fought and assisted everyone in need, jumping off cliffs and into dark pits at the command of messages found on the ground. An excruciatingly clichéd good-two-shoes brat she was, but Sekai never worded a complaint, her sporadic remarks full of curiosity and marvel about well-staged battles with light shows that occasionally rivaled Danmaku. The further we got into the story, the fewer comments there were, until our protagonist stood there in amazement at the shimmering stones of a plethora of colors that scattered across the massive cave roof. A starry sky for those who had neither.

“A fake sky is still pretty.”

She would know…

… One day, she’ll know a real starry sky. I’ll ensure that.

Minutes went by. “Brat?” Nothing… Lightly, I closed the storybook and put it aside, turning back to the bookmarked sigil. “… Sleep well, Sekai.”

>>47170675
just a silly little fluff piece I wrote in my break at work, of course not canon! Wrote it more because I was kind sad I couldn't write more Sekai and Elden Ring has consumed my life… Again.
Will be editing Aunn's chapters and posting tonight, though~

Is anyone doing/planning anything with Okina and her slaves currently? I was thinking of doing something but didn't want to interrupt Okuu's storyline.

>>47172378
I was done with Okina after she brought Satori back to the Underground, and have no intentions of using her; so that's a clear from me! Good writing!

Dude…

… I’m so damn sexy~

I laugh at the thought, my eyes fixed on the mirror while I put on my old fingerless black gloves after dusting them—they still fit~—, fluff the golden curls on my head, place the witch' hat neatly on my head, and make sure my makeup was flawless. All charming and nice, Marisa Kirisame smiled at what she saw in the mirror, as she did yesterday and the day prior. “Ya guys ready for today? We’re visiting Reimu again~” I sing in tune, and even though the jar of souls resting on the bedsheets does not respond, I continue to smile broadly at the mirror. “Ah, could’ve had you three decades ago if I was rocking confidence like this back then-ze…” Climbing onto bed by the lovely jar containing my lovely children, I snagged the broom leaning to the side and began inspecting it for any imperfections, a routine common in the past but forgotten until recently—falling more than half a kilometer from the skies does that to you—, box of tools I, in fact, borrowed from Alice’s dolls serving as a big help in testing the tension of the leather and how well was it welded onto the enchanted wood; overall strength of the material and, pulling out from one of the many pockets of my apron one of the many little trinkets I carry around, glasses I put on to follow each magical inscription in the wood, some as old as myself, I carefully repair severed connections two-thirds the size of a mite, all leftover damage from tanking a full-fledged Master Spark.

My muscles naturally ache with the prolonged bending of my back; surgical precision imperative as to not fuck up the lines of woven magic, goggles taken to their fifth lens of magnitude and still slightly blurred everything was—work I’ve denied for decades unbearably accumulated and, though barely noticeable, someday may be the difference between life and death.

… Can’t risk this shit nowadays, can I~?

It takes no time at all, not for hands this skilled, but as I set the broom aside and clear away sweat on my forehead and groan from the unbearable back pain—ugh, pregnancy all over again—there is a strange gleam of satisfaction that follows as I allow myself to land on my back on the bed, arms outstretched, hands holding the jar of effervescent light shining in the early morning sunlight, and smile broadly.

Reimu and I, friends again and planting sugarcane like two crazy grandmas.

Hana, a fully grown adult, responsible and capable.

Anon, a man living, for once, his life.

Yukari, buried seven feet under—maybe deeper to not pollute the soil.

… Me and you three~

I put the jar on my shoulder and grabbed the broom, energized and grinning wholeheartedly as I dashed outside into the freezing weather. Alice and her dolls are busy constructing sensei's shrine, Yuuka is presumably tending to her dormant garden, and sensei is probably seeing into her apotheosis—or maybe she's playing gomoku like the geezer she is. Suzu is just being good ol’ Suzu.

… Which still leaves one very unhappy komainu, curled up beneath the customary table Alice has out in her garden. The snow-covered wood and surrounding dirt didn’t seem to bother her; her large, fluffy and slowly wagging green tail shielded her from the bitter cold, same was true for her green mane. Lying on her stomach, Aunn gazed longingly towards the Human Village, her hands covering most of her lower face, leaving only her large, melancholic eyes and horn visible.

Oh, not this again…

It brings back memories of the past, seeing Aunn depressed like this, this feeling of discomfort almost subjugating my good humor. Almost. Past’s gone, and to dwell in it for the sake of it brings nothing but lament.

But that doesn’t change the absence of Hana and Anon in Aunn’s life.

Tossing the broom over my free shoulder, I approach the Komainu, her tail stiffening for a moment as she hears the stomping of snow before returning to wag gingerly, a disappointment more than tangible in the simple motion. “Hey, Aunn!” She stares at me with barely concealed disinterest and a hint of anger as I kneel down, careful not to bash my head on the wooden table’s edge, before meeting her gaze with some playfulness. It's not shared. “Whatcha doing there all by yourself?”

“… I want to see Hana and Anon…” She whimpers, voice muffled by the snow and her hands, but just loud enough to crush my heart. Poor Aunn, always left behind by the call of the situation; Hana fleeing the shrine with Anon; the HSE; and everything in between after and prior to that godforsaken party. Unfair considering her wishes are always on the humble side, but what can you do? “I wish you'd left me at the shrine—I'd have protected Hana!”

“Hana and Reimu needed alone time to talk about themselves, Aunn,” she scowls, clearly skeptic. “And we can't go to the HSE anymore-ze…” I scratch my nape, the frigid air teething at the enchantments that keep me warm.

What can I even do in this situation…?

… A komainu missing her family.

“Say, Aunn… Wanna go visit Reimu with me?”

Reimu is synonymous with bad person.

She broke Anon and Hana's hearts, never showed them any kindness, and made them cry a lot. The worst years of my short life happened because of Reimu… But also the best, before she became a person whose sole existence breathed misery into her family's lives. Reimu used to be cool, collected, and pleasant, but occasionally tense and cold, buried in pleasant memories of happier times.

And because of those good days, I hate all the more what she did to all of our lives.

I recall something Anon once mused in passing as he read one of those poems that smelled like the ill girl of the village, something that stuck to me as later I'd listen to his pain: 'What hurts more? To be happy and lose that happiness, or to never have had met happiness?'

Hana was never happy, despite my attempts; Anon and I were. In the end, despite the disparity in our pains, it all hurt anyway, which abated at that house in the village where Hana and I would dice vegetables together or in the shrine where Anon would sacrifice an hour of his busy day to brush me.

Despite our pain, life could be good.

Then another bad person who once was good came and ruined everything—again.

Huddled on the cold snow as if deserved for not seeing that coming, I turn away from Marisa's expectant eyes and even more ignore the seething rage inside—the one that didn't want to leave Hana's side or Anon's, that wanted to do her duty to protect and so spectacularly failed—frown loud and a bad taste spreading atop my tongue: Reimu is synonymous of bad people, as Yukari is… However, it was Yukari who made Hana cry so hard that day she broke; it was Yukari who humiliated her and threatened everyone, acting so high and mighty while holding Hana as if prize. My blood boils just at the thought, and a primal flame yearns to chew her bones and marrow, a delight denied by both the situation and…

… And the fact I'm so very weak. “Aunn?” Marisa calls.

“Reimu is a bad person.” I mumble, trying to ignore the stirring memories.

Yet it was she who moved and tenderly held Hana, who implored forgiveness and, when we called Hana here for her protection, Reimu looked nothing like what a 'synonym' should mean—such a nice word that Anon taught me~—, as her smell was not of cheap booze and her eyes hadn't that madness she could never hide and never, ever, could be defied. She looked as if someone new, acted as one too.

Of course, that's all smell, I could barely talk to her or think that day, emotions so high and Hana had just had a panic attack and…

“I've been talking to Reimu since that day of the party, y'know?” I turn back to Marisa, cocking my head slightly and stopping my tail wag. She chuckles as she sits on the chilly ground and places her litter jar on the snow—though they have no distinct scent, they’re fascinating to look at. “When I took you from the shrine, Aunn, I knew she wouldn't hurt Hana. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking, sympathy for her behavior or Yukari's, that made me so fucking mad I’d go full contrarian and claim Reimu of all people was now a saint… She isn't. Pretending she is would be a disservice to what she's trying to do—change.” I narrow my eyes; where's the 'da-ze' she always grafts to the end of her words like a moron…? It used to be easier to ignore her that way, my heart beating fast and eyebrows furrowing. Reimu is synonymous with bad, but it wasn't like that in the past. “Coming to terms with that helped me, y'know? I looked her in the eyes and… Told her so many things I always wanted to tell her, which I never did out of fear… Mainly, my failure to Hana and Anon. It felt good, Aunn. Like killing a parasite.” She pauses, and I watch as her hand taps the top of her children's jar. “I changed for the better, like she did.” That hand recedes and, gingerly, heads beneath the table. “… And it'd be nice if you could also do that—say all the pent-up things you never could; to have some answers.”

“I-I don't need answers! Reimu is a bad person!” There was a time she wasn't; a time we all sat on the veranda, enjoying the late summer and her hand would pat my head and it was so very nice—a hand reaches me, smaller yet strong anyway, and fondly pats the top of my head… It feels so, so nice. “… She hurt me… I loved her, and she hurt me and the people I l-loved too!” I whispered lowly words I didn't want anyone to see—that gentle librarian; the people who are helping Hana and Anon… “She hurt everyone, Marisa…”

“She did.” Marisa echoes.

I didn’t protect Anon and Hana; I didn't stop Reimu from turning bad.

The snow beneath is strewn with salty tears; my limbs tremble, and Marisa's hand continues there, patting my head. “W-Why…? Why did she do a-all that to us? To herself? I thought things'd become better eventually, but they never did…”

“Only she knows, Aunn.”

A long, long moment of silence passes.

“… Wanna go see her?”

Another one…

I nod.

Marisa smiles. “Okay. Let’s go make Reimu a surprise then, Aunn~”

>>47173535
>>47173529
decided to cut short on third and fourth because first and second made for a nice 1-2 gut punch, at least personally~
just giving best dog some love, next chapters should exemplify that a lot! Celebrate THE Komainu!

>>47173545
can't wait!

Aunn WILL be happy next time she and Hana are left alone

>>47128560

Hana’s hopes of a delicious meal were disturbed once she saw who exactly it was at the grill, there was a man helping, the one she first called out her order to. However, he had turfed it to his companion, a particularly pink-haired night sparrow with embarrassingly tiny wings. With a meal in sight Hana had barely seen the fireworks in the distance switch from the usual white to a crimson and pink color; aside from the festive sparks that danced in the corner of her eye Hana paid little attention to it.

The youkai in question seemed to have recognized her, as for the second she locked eyes with Hana the night sparrow froze. As if she had to kick herself in the pants, the hardworking youkai jumped before returning to using her narrow and nimble claws to pinch the skewers and fling out orders of often dozens or more. Hana held a finger to the slightly confused looking man, the one taking orders nodded as he confirmed it and called it off to the chicken who let out a ‘r-right!’.

He seemed to notice something was wrong, as did the other guys… guy…? Wait, why did all these people have the same face? Triplets? Did this damn bird find a way to court some triplets? Wait, why hadn’t she ever heard of triplets living in the village before? Well, whatever, it hardly mattered that they shared the same glance of concern; apparently noticing their floozies’ distress.

The crowd shifted, the izakaya proprietress and her goons kept the crowds moving without issue. A few took notice, namely the youkai who seemed to suddenly realize they were standing right next to the next Hakurei miko, and shifted a step or so away. Amusingly, Hana noticed that they seemed to drag their prey with them that step, it might have even been cute how one wrapped her tail around her partner a little tighter… if she couldn’t see how outrightly starved these sluts were!

Honestly, the more she looked at the workers the most disgusting it was. How easily they worked together, how anyone of the triplets would brush their hands against hers when handing things off. How they seemed to linger in each other’s eyes when they made contact, it was like watching the gears on a piece Kappa tech spin in chaotic efficiency. It could’ve been mesmerizing and heartwarming, but it failed to do more than tamp down Hana’s hungers pangs.

Instead, she couldn’t help but scrutinize the bird, especially now that the pair to the side of her scooted over after being handed their skewers and sake. Leaving Hana face to face with the bird she’d been observing, she couldn’t help but notice how she seemed to avoid looking into Hana’s face. Staring down as if the eels and coal fired grill were all was real, she flipped, sauced, and reflipped the eel as the natural sugars of the sauce caramelized the batch in front of her and drove the crowds to her.

The moment didn’t last too long, in reality Hana had only watched the bird brain a handful of moments. One of those mesmerizing lampreys soon found itself pinched between two equally pink fingernails, and with superhuman grace found itself lofted above the small partition that separated the grill and the customers. It seemed that even a comically idiotic night sparrow knew how to run a business, because her smile was perfect as she exclaimed, “One skewer for miko-san! Thank you very much~”

Two things happened at once, Hana realized something… this bird… this voice, she’s met her before! Not only that, she was that bird! The bird, the only night sparrow Hana knew of personally, and not merely as a crying lump of welts like she often knew their kin as!

Simultaneously, she swiped the skewer like a thief, flipped a coin over the partition, and without thinking took a nibble, delicious as she expected~ The skewer sizzled pleasantly in her hand and melted wonderfully on her tongue, the coin fall according to the constrained worldlines and she enjoyed how that walking scammer had to nearly dance for it, her own tone carried a genuine surprise in it, “Ah, I didn’t recognize you at first! Lotei-san wasn’t it?”

The coin fell into the dirt below, where one of the triplets grabbed it with an ‘I got it!’. Hana did feel a little bad about making the man pick it up when she was just trying to bully the dodo, though not that much in all honestly; she did give a, “sorry, misjudged my strength!” in apology which convinced no one.

>>47178984

Seemingly non-plussed, the business minded bird was able to keep her smile and respond in kind, “You can call me Mystia-san, like it says on the sign!” she sweeps an arm up while handing the next group their skewers, who take it gratefully and pay normally. This one being a human family, Hana stepped aside and leaned on the partition like one of those old ladies who gossiped outside the branch shrine in the mornings.

Letting the skewer glisten deliciously in her hand, she abstained from biting in order to let whatever feeling she felt make it’s point. She considered what to say next, with a fell feeling guiding Hana, she felt the need to state, “It’s real amazing seeing this festival and all, such a fun time just sprouted up overnight and all!”

A new batch of freshly skewered lamprey arrived, carried by one of the mooks and replaced a small tray that once carried the same fare. Mystia went to work at once, laying on the new Lamprey and handing out the last of the finished skewers; a small smirk seemed to crest her lips and her posture relaxed a tad. Did this birdbrain think Hana was complimenting her? Like she had anything to do with tonight? Like she arranged for any of this?

Hana was just probing, letting the darker side of her mood directed her, but now? She just wanted to throw some egg in her face, make her squirm a bit in front of her supposed ‘lover’. Bemused, and letting out a small huff, she could feel a bit of pettiness enter into her throat, “So have you had lots of customers? I bet it’s rare to get so much traffic outside of parties, huh?”

If she heard the snub in the comment, which she doubted as the Night Sparrows were never known as an intelligent bunch, the walking dinner responded with that trademark energetic saleswomen voice, “That’s right! All our grilled lamprey is in limited supply and all, but we have plenty to go around for at least another couple hours! It’s hard to keep up but the Kurodanis really pulled through!”

Letting out a ‘wow~’ the mean-spirited miko weighed her next punch as the bird kept chirping, “I never thought I’d get a chance to sell in the village, if it’s this prosperous it’d be no problem helping everyone end the hardships of the recent years!”

The two girls seemed to share a smile as if on instinct, the muttering chicken looked over her shoulder to one of the triplets, this one running in a box of skewers to the other guy, and they shared an affectionate gaze for a moment. Ugh, did they really have to? Gods, did everyone believe that nonsense Keine spouted 100%? Did old man Heida really make himself that much of an ass that all the fear of youkai was forgotten? It was insane to think about.

Letting genuine concern infect her mouth, she just couldn’t help but go with the nastier punch she had in mind, “Wow, yeah, I heard some about it. Its terrible to think about how it was going on all the time!” the idiotic bird nodded along with a soft smile, “It’s amazing how much support everyone’s given you guys, as a shrine maiden it’s a bit of a shock honestly; but still, if the humans of the village want to help. Well, then it’s a human matter and not mine, right?”

Still nodding, the idiot chick dared thought she was having a real conversation and interjected, “I know how amazing it’s been, but Keine-sensei has done her best and I’m happy I got to be part of it even if it’s been hard! Everyone’s been super nice and there hasn’t been any problems with that! Once she convinces Heida-san it’s just a matter of proving we can do it!”

Hana blinked, by the gods she really believed that drivel, didn’t she? The smile on the chicken’s face, the confidence and determination in her, now genuine, smile infected her voice and she couldn’t help but raise it. Those guys in the back even nodded, all in unison, and raised bumps on Hana’s skin at how creepy it was.

Recovering, she raised her own voice and reminded herself of her plan; raising her voice as well, she said through her own easygoing smile, “Right? Heida-sama is just a hardass, I’m surprised he was dumb enough to blow things up this much, but there’s no way Keine-sensei won’t be able to handle it! After that, I’m sure you can convince the rest if you already got past the hardest part!”

Taking the bait, the simple-minded sky rat, along but with a note of confusion entering her face, kept nodding along with Hana’s words until that last bit. Curiosity got the better of her, prompting her to ask, “Hm? The hardest part… Ah, you mean the march through the village? You heard about that?”

>>47178989

A tad bit of embarrassment entered the eel-hawing youkai’s voice, she spoke of Keine like she knew her personally or something. However, Hana quickly realized that she didn’t care much to learn the bird’s involvement in this little invasion, instead of asking about it she shook her head, “no-no, I mean yeah. I heard about it, but I mean when you met your boyfriend and all!”

A full blush swept over her face, and she’d be damned if all the triplets didn’t get one too. Hana supposed she’d be a little embarrassed too if she got jeered at by the sake breathed buffoons who whistled at them. The fluttering night sparrow was quick to raise her hands, skewers and all, and exclaim, “I-it’s not like were like that you know, we just met and you shouldn’t go pretending your dating that quickly! Y-you have to get to know the guy a bit more a-and-“

Realizing she was about to mess up her flow, the pink chicken quickly slammed the skewers back down on the grill with a hunger inducing sizzle. She cleared her throat and regained her calm, though the blush was still there on her sweat slick skin, “W-well we actually met at one of Keine-sensei’s meetings, I didn’t think much of it but it he was real persistent and-“

Not wanting to hear some weakling youkai’s romantic adventures, she interrupted with a happy and polite voice, “That’s not what I meant either, I was talking about the other thing!”

With an ‘Hmm~?’ the sing-songy avian couldn’t help but let her curiosity show with a slight tilt to her head as Hana continued, “Other thing, I mean when you told him about how many people you’ve blinded and driven mad with your voice. It must have been a super romantic date if he was able to ignore the fact that you’re only a youkai because you feast on humans!”

Like a drain being pulled, the blushing girl’s smile leaked out as slowly as her tiny brain could process Hana’s words. Even as Hana spoke, she could feel the adrenaline of anticipated conflict course through her veins and make her jittery, she could feel the eyes turning to her. Bystanders, both youkai and human, who were pretending to not listen in on their conversation or minding their own business, stopped for a moment as they heard her loud words.

Hana was ready, she was so ready for any of them make themselves a target! She had her gohei tucked away in her sleeve and it was itching to come out. She couldn’t just bash in a human’s skull without good reason, and normally she wouldn’t enjoy the idea of it at all, but tonight she was just a little sick of how smug all these sluts were. The dumb faces of infatuated men and women enjoying some stupid carefree romance just set her off, even the numerically less but equally enraging pairs consisting of human women with their new flings pissed her off!

A part of her mind felt for ill intent, rolling eyes watching her exposed back, and muscles were ready to dodge at a moment’s notice or draw her gohei; the focused miko kept up the friendly tone while she spoke, “I just have to know how Keine-sensei and all you man-eating youkai were able to convince your new prey that marrying cold blooded murders is a good idea! I never knew youkai to have such silver tongues~” Taking a moment to look at the bird properly as well as her surroundings with a tad bit of faux embarrassment, she paused, “Ah, did you not bring that up yet?! Sorry, Sorry… I just figured that was the first thing you’d get out of the way~”

The fake friendliness couldn’t be veiled more thinly, but she kept up her business miko smile while her hand was ready to reach ‘down’ into her pouch and launch a needle into the heart of the first youkai that so much as growled at her too hard. She’d be right to do it too, nor she wouldn’t regret it either; the humans would have to endure an unpleasant smack to the side with her gohei under their ribs, but it was no more to stun and bring them low… the irony that this was something she had to learn from watching her mother at her worst wasn’t lost on her.

Those memories, loosed from the bottom of her mind like the loose dirt at the bottom of a small river, darkened her mood but she didn’t let the practiced smile fade from her face. Instead, she waited, the triplets’ faces soured at what they thought was a slight she uttered so openly. That damn pink chicken wasn’t as phased as Hana wished, she was still able to break out of that stupor that overcame her for a second in order to keep an eye on the lamprey sizzling below her.

With curved light being carried to her eyes via constrained world lines, she saw how the youkai around her shuffled and tried carrying on conversation with their human dupes. A few had the good graces to simply say nothing and drag their prey off to darker corners, a liaison the village would find in an iron-smelling stain tomorrow, no doubt…

>>47178997

Panic and anger flashing through the eyes of the scam artist, she hitched her breath. A look of horror and venom flashed through her eyes, before they softened and dared a glance at her prey. She almost looked worried, as if this monster wouldn’t just find another fool to coerce in due time!

Speaking aloud, wanting the surrounding youkai to hear her as well as their future dinners, Hana was all too happy to exclaim, “Well, in any case I’m sure you’d never hurt your boyfriend! It’s not like a youkai has ever~ eaten their lover!”

She was nearly spinning on her heels by this point, the potent shock she could see on the faces of the villagers was amazing. She couldn’t help but let a sloppy smirk overtake her practiced business smile, this insult simply made her too happy to suppress her emotions entirely!

To the bird’s credit, she didn’t stop the automatic movements her arms made to flip and serve the current skewers to her guests and keep them from burning. Her customers seemed less than inclined to act on the miko’s words, as if an overriding sense drove them. It was honestly a bit of a bummer to see how the youkai around her failed to even rebut her, insane to think of how every youkai around her was able to take the wound to their oh-so-sensitive ego.

As if she was a fish youkai, the lamprey-seller’s jaw flapped open and closed as if trying to drink in the air. It almost made Hana laugh out loud, especially when she glanced at the others only to see them quickly pretend they weren’t keenly paying attention. The triplets didn’t say anything at first, their eyes quickly rolling away from Hana and boring into the back of their fatal lover. Hana paid about as much attention to them as they did her, but she was sure that whatever sane part of their brain was intact must be screaming at them to see the truth.

Adding on one last little addition, a plot to get at least one of these youkai snarling, Hana found a way to somehow lean even more casually onto the counter of izakaya, “Oh, but don’t worry” She glanced at the triplets, glanced at the uneasy villagers who all stared at her in disbelief, “Even if she gets a little bitey, the Hakurei shrine specializes in expediting break ups as quickly as those buddahists can marry you~!”

Hana could see the sparrow tremble, a notable apprehension took over her hands as she solidified a thought in her small, small skull. Of the agitated youkai that remained around the cart, they seemed to look to the bird as if she had anything of interest to say. They seemed to grasp onto their partner’s and pull them to safety behind themselves, or the idiots seemed to stay firmly at their sides while they gawked; these fools had no sense of danger…

She didn’t have to wait long for something to happen, sadly it wasn’t anything violent and instead the idiot bird spoke up with something equating a nervous child confessing their wrongdoings, “It isn’t like that, that is exactly what we want to change!” Oh? Hana had never heard their position explained by one of the fools themselves, “I-I hate the way we’re forced to live, we’re forced to do horrible things to survive when it doesn’t have to be like this at all!”

The trembling continued, but strangely enough resolve shone in her eyes, “Everyone here wants it to end as much as Keine does! So never again will we have to kill, o-or have to sacrifice those we love just to keep going!”

That last note was given with something that surprised Hana, she saw something approximating guilt in her face… like this wasn’t the bird that sang about murdering all humans in between nights of scamming fools out of their money and lives. One of the triplets draped his hand on her shoulder, they shared a glance as if sharing some insidious conspiracy, “I like Yuu, and I want this to work no matter what. I want to be able to introduce him to all my friends without worry! A-and if it comes to it, I never again want to have to choose again between which of my children will eat or not!”

Ohoh~ Hana was practically on cloud nine as she listened to the emotional outburst with what was hopefully, a mocking look down her nose. Oh~ this was even better; this was one of the savages that found some poor bastard to eat and took him for everything he was worth; Hana would feel sick if she wasn’t so close to getting what she wanted. As the bird stumbled through another line in her defense, something about her hideous spawn for sure, but it didn’t matter as Hana opened her loud mouth to cut off her next thought, “Oh wait, you had kids. And just recently? But you don’t even have a husband, how disgusting~! What, do you even remember his face, did you even see it before spreading your legs? I wonder how long it took for you to turn him into skewers after!”

>>47178999

Just to make a point, she took a large bite of the hot lamprey, it was just cooled enough to fully enjoy it. Ah~ this was well worth the coin she spent, and the lamprey was delicious too~ Chewing with relish, she enjoyed how the trembling bird seemed to already be on edge, there was no way some filthy youkai could take so much slander and let it stand. In front of everyone on top of that, these idiots loved their reputation too much to let it sta-

It wasn’t the shaking bird with tears in her eyes and flushed face, fists in balls and ignoring the few overcooked skewers on the grill. It wasn’t another youkai in the crowd leaping to her defense, nor was it a sudden explosion of violence like she so hoped. Instead, one of those fools clutched her to his chest, to the shock of the bird who was thrown off balance with a sudden tug. The other stepped in front of her, determination on his face solid, yet another stepped forward, the third one swiped the small cloth hair covering off of his head and clutched it in an iron grip; as a group they were almost able to cut off her sight from the smaller youkai. However, Hana kept steady use of her powers to watch the bird, she knew she’d strike at anytime now that she’d been emboldened by this idiot.

The one in front, clutching that little cloth like he was forced to cling to the edge of a cliff, spoke up with an iron desperation in his voice, “No! Mystia-chan isn’t like that at all! You don’t know her like I do and you never could! Even though she’s had to do bad things in the past it doesn’t define the girl I love!”

Like it was a comedy skit, the second brother came up to the forefront as the one in front receded, gods they even moved like a set… He nearly shouted, “Mystia-chan is wonderful girl, I’ve seen her devote her entire energy to helping the village, helping her family and those in worse places even though no one helped her! I don’t care what her past was, we’re working to build a future better than what we had!”

By the grace of the gods the third one didn’t come to the front like some kind of carousel, Hana wasn’t sure she could hold back the laugh in her throat otherwise. Instead, the two of the triplets stood side by side, at least as far as they could in that cramped izakaya, and opened their mouths in unison, “Hakurei-san, please leave this stand and do not come again. We have no need of your presence here nor do we want your business!”

Hana blinked once, twice, thrice; at the display of unison in front of her, twin synchronicity was scary~ Still, she saw how during that speech the rage seemed to fade from the chicken’s grip of his jinbei, how his stroking of her back and head calmed her, how she melted into his arms and sobbed. Great, all her work and for what?!

The words finally ran through her brain, so she was getting kicked out? Well, sad ending, but whatever. She shrugged, rolling her shoulders and with a face of resignation she sighed out. Letting the partially bitten lamprey dangle between her index and middle finger she couldn’t help but let some of the exasperation show on her face openly. She could feel the adrenaline stop pumping out, she still was on edge with excitement physically, but mentally she knew this was a wash, “Is that how you feel? How sad, I was hoping for more common sense… Honestly, marrying a youkai like this just because you got caught up in a pretty face? It’s disgusting how easily you’re swayed by monsters”

She didn’t bother putting up a front anymore, merely letting her words roll off her tongue as they pleased. She let her eyes drift over the crowd around her, truly looking at their faces for the first time; seeing men and women of various class and station being so taken with their lovers they regarded her as a madman. Hana even felt a bit like a fool, knowing that she’d been trying save idiots that refuse to be saved even as death dangles in front of their eyes.

It was kind of sad, but she knew that she a duty to upkeep even now, as much as she would’ve loved a fight it seemed that all she’d be able to accomplish for now would be an honest warning. Her face shifted into her business miko face, glare number three, and without any pretense or levity she let her eyes meet the humans’ around hers, “One day, you’ll wake and realize that living under the thumb of a bunch of monsters that go out of their way to feed off of your fear and flesh was a bad idea. You’ll realize that you can’t actually protect yourself, you’ll realize that only another youkai or hunter can help you. You’ll realize that you’ve become powerless in your own homes and beg for help.”

She breathed in, clearing whatever emotion she had with ingrained meditation practices, letting the warmth in her voice drop to a temperature fit for the winter they were in, “when you all wake up, and realize that simple truth I won’t turn you away. You’ll simply have to ask and I’ll be happy to restore the balance, it’s my duty after all.”

>>47179007

She upgraded the glare, from a business glare to one more appropriate for an exterminator, she let her voice carry her thoughts. Dragging her eyes between triplet’s own and the crowd of the izakaya, she let her voice become ice as remembered her duty, “But, if you reach the end of your life, if you start getting sick and realizing it’s the end, when you realize that a human and youkai can never live in the same world for long. You’ll be tempted to listen their little secrets”

Without tact, she went ahead and simply said, “On that day you and your family fall to temptation, I’ll kill you and your lover without hesitation. I’ll do everything in my power to show everyone exactly the fate of those that reject their humanity, as well will my clan. I will hunt you into hell if I have to and drop whatever remains into the square. I don’t care how many members of your clan fall, nor their situation”

Now, even the remaining youkai scampered off with their lovers in tow, apparently deciding that the festival was much more entertaining somewhere else. The line itself seemed to clear off as well, all those eavesdroppers seemed to have gotten the message. In fact, the message seemed to have already spread judging by how no one else seemed to approach the izakaya despite it being sandwiched between other stalls of pouplar fare.

The eyes of the triplets grew cold, distant in equal measure to the fear she could see trickling into his eyes, “Please leave Hakurei-san, you are not welcome at this izakaya…”

With nothing left to be said, she shrugged again, flicking the lamprey in her hands back over the partition and letting it fall into the dirt at his feet. She turned from the izakaya, walking away without saying anything more, giving one last look at Mystia, she could see how she seemed to poke her head out from the crook in his arms and stare in her direction; though she didn’t give it much thought, she did wonder why Mystia seemed to have guilt on her face… never knew a night sparrow to think that hard.

Either way, with a lighter heart she left the izakaya behind, happy in her words despite not getting the fight she wanted. She was sure that her warning was known, she knew the tengu could hear their conversation, a fox could pick it up, most beast could in general. Judging by how plenty of the youkai seemed to be steering themselves and their lovers away from her as quickly as they could, nearly to the point of parting the crowds she walks through. Hana was sure her message was clear.

Happy enough, she wondered what over stall would have a good bite to eat. One she’d have to make sure was staffed by only humans of course. With the weight of her purse a reassurance, and joy in her heart at letting out a bit of her disgust, she nearly skipped off. If Hana had been paying attention, she might have noticed the fireworks launch out a splay of crimson along with a deep and ominous orange that showered the sky in sparks reminiscent of a fire washing the sky.

Thats it for Mystia bullying today! Poor bird will be just fine and they'll get together later and laugh about it, trust me.
Next on the list:
bullying JP and Kanako!
The climax featuring total Heida death!
Yet another bird gets bullied?
Hana molest Sekai!

>>47173535
>>47173529
Poor Aunn... I was hoping she'd be busying herself doing something productive. Hana was hoping to find her at home as well, shame she didn't wait there for her... it would've kept the worst of her trolling in check as her big sister forced her to be nice.

>>47179011
>>47179007
>>47178999
>>47178997
>>47178989
>>47178984
Mokou just waiting to tear Hana's face apart the moment she lifts a finger makes of harm towards Mystia is only one of the many tangents of this second-hand embarrassment art depo. God, it was amazing just how insanely Hana shot herself in the foot; even Reimu would be avoiding to be seen with her after this one, Anon would have THE TALK with Hana, Yukari is pondering never letting Hana see Sekai/Renko and Marisa would likely keep her and Aunn separated for a while. It'll make an interesting story too at the family holidays in the future.
Mystia kept strong despite being faced with the literal Exterminator and her man, or the three of them, defended their establishment, hell yeah!
Thanks for the chapters and Hana's very own Walter White school auditorium moment
>>47179048
Nice, so now that Mystia and Hana had their confrontation I can write the remaining festival; have Hana react to Hieda gunning Sanae (not from Hana's POV so you can write the emotional turmoil) and Act 3?
>Hana molest Sekai!
Perhaps Sekai should Tree Nuke all of Gensokyo and go live in Hawaii with Meiling, Patchy and Anon and be one big family where the two mothers and one father never have either hetero or lesbian sex.

>>47179468
This is happening a day before the festival though
>Hana leaves Shrine/Reimu and Marisa moment
>Hana enjoys the Moriyan shrine for a day/Marisa talks to Aunn now
>Hana goes to the festival next day/???
She could indeed be around and knock some sense into the retard, but understandably it could quickly become messy, so best to stick with the characters that are already on the fray.

This might just be me being on and off with the HSE but I'm having trouble keeping track of this timeline. How many days does everything place over? IIRC they're currently in December but for how long? Is every thread a new day? Have all the storybeats happened over like only 2 weeks?

>>47179983
I'm pretty sure it's barely been a week since hana's birthday party

>>47179983
it's been roughly five days since the party, and in these five days we've had:
>Yukari gets pregnant, enslaves Koutei, talks to Anon and sees Sekai for the first time; Sekai comes to life after having a war for funnies with her mothers; Patchy homebrews an universe; Aya has her murder of four; Marisa becomes a better herself, starts a scheme to introduce a sugarcane black market with Reimu; Keine starts the revolution, completes her fursona's gorillon year-long keikaku, then revives; Hana massively spergs in all fronts with Reimu, then goes to the Moriyan Shrine; Anon gets his doll back; Okuu makes friends with Koutei after nuking him; Goro and Seija go bye bye and Aunn cries underneath a table
Busy weak in Gensokyo, innit?

>>47179629
It's not the 'ana's fault! She was stressed, super hungry, lacking her emotional support Aunn! I'm sure that once Sanae gets merc'd she'll carry herself well and compassionately and... well I'm sure she'll act like a teen raised under the worst version of the crimson slasher who raised her on stories of FT and beat her when she failed to internalize the blatantly shitty lessons...
Hmm, well i'm sure the cowe will retcon something at some point, probably...
It was a lot of fun dancing around the issue of Mystia starting off her character arc killing Hana's half-sibiling rape babies. Since that underlying guilt and the fact that Hana didn't really say any lies, even if she was hyperbolic to all hell, kept Mystia from forming a more effective defense in my mind.
Maybe in act three they'll be able to make peace of some kind...

>Nice, so now that Mystia and Hana had their confrontation...
So you want to write Hana's first reaction to Sanae getting gunned? fine with me and all that. I was leaning on Hana trying to follow through on her words and attacking Heida for obvious reasons. The outcome I'm not sure about, but at least the lead in should be solid. Something like Keine die -> Hana watches the battle and with Suwako's advice she'd keep her distance(mostly commentary and maybe some greater lesson on choosing violence) -> Sanae die -> Hana goes Banana's -> Confrontation with Heida -> Hana gets defeated/escapes death/pulls through with god mom help -> Whatever silly cowe magic is planned
>Perhaps Sekai should Tree Nuke all of Gensokyo
I was actually wondering I should include Sekai being the dues ex machina that helps Hana in some way, I figured Heida would be a powerful challenge to overcome to a girl without experience fighting the big named monsters. However, I don't want to steal thunder in ruining some big showdown with the cowe and the oni I'll follow your lead and simply make her react appropriately!

>>47179999
>>47180081
The hell? I thought it'd had been around 2 weeks or even a month.
In my mind the HSE was in operation for 5 months but I guess it's actually been around for 2.

>>47180287
The hse got started sometime in the early summer, time skip to Hana popping out at the start of autumn. To now in December.
It has indeed been about 6 months, to the reader its been about 4 months or so

>>47179629
You say all of this blatantly ignoring the fact nearly all these creatures throwing a party are creatures that both raped her dad and really don't care as long as they get what they want because apparently all of gensokyo is sex starved as fuck. Hana has done stupid shitty things too under coercion and generally getting raised wrong as a joke, but god damn. Also the whole mystia raping her dad and trying to kill the evidence which only didn't occur because keine.

>>47180287
Anon... The HSE has been up for about a year~ in universe. 6 months to construct it (time Hana was inside Yukari's Gap), 5-6 since it started, meaning we got the last remaining months of summer, the entirety of fall and are entering the cold first 20 days of December before the Solstice at the 21. That means Anon was there for about 3 entire years

>>47180333
Slightly off, the hse was constructed quickly in the span of a few weeks as it was built by kappa and eathspiders. Hana was indeed in the gap for 6m though, during that six months she built the place, gaslight Gensokyo, and let reimu deteriorate till we saw her in canon.

>>47180323
Anon, I said all that as a joke; even has a bit regarding Sekai and it talks about Hawaii. I know why Hana felt the need to do what she did, the way she did too, and understand beneath the facade she's deeply troubled by seeing all this and how it clashes with her upbringing; her own weakness facing Yukari; the b-party and how ludicrous it is to her Reimu's redemption. But God was it incredibly embarrassing her actions at surface level, which might even be the point Hanaanon was trying to achieve, even sprinkling about how Hana compares this to Reimu's actions and how may she be making a fool of herself. It wasn't a critique of Hana's actions, as to us it's understandable, just a joke at her sperging hard at people who do not understand her.

>>47179983
Believe it or not, the entirety of the Hakurei Shrine Experience takes place over three days. The pregnancies in gensokyo are just really fast compared to the outside world.

>>47180791
No dummy, that's the 1000yr future arc after lunarian tech powers its fertility spells off of Anon's divinity in a last ditch attempt to mass produce moon rabbits for the war with humanity

>>47179629
>one big family where the two mothers and one father never have either hetero or lesbian sex.
not even chuus?

>>47181329
No one in the hse storyline is a lesbo, don't need silly. A comfy platonic relationship between best friends as they raise their eldritch god-daughter in a sitcom style manner in makai, of in the outside world would be grand. Chart anon needs to add this in...

>>47180355
I don't think the earth spiders were involved in the building of the place

>>47180123
>Hmm, well, I'm sure the cowe will retcon something at some point, probably...
sensei doesn't do miracles; we'll need a fucking blue eclipse for her powers to even be on par with Hana's power level (autism)! It is just too strong!
>It was a lot of fun dancing around the issue of Mystia starting off her character arc by killing Hana's half-sibiling rape babies. Since that underlying guilt and the fact that Hana didn't really say any lies, even if she was hyperbolic to all hell, kept Mystia from forming a more effective defense in my mind.
It's understandable; unlike with Hieda at Keine's house, she was mostly by herself and had no proper safe net in Mokou or iron-willed support in the cause with Keine and the Suzu. (Yuu) got her back though, and that's what matters!
>So you want to write Hana's first reaction to Sanae getting gunned? fine with me and all that. I was leaning on Hana, trying to follow through on her words and attacking Heida for obvious reasons + spoiler
seems good to me and this guidance is greatly appreciated (though I may have some surprises~)! Should post the batch tomorrow or after tomorrow, depending on how long I want it to be
> 2nd spoiler
not a good idea, that could put Sekai in a bad spot and develop bad habits in the project of always having a safe net in Sekai, meaning many things will lose their stakes and her character will be soured as she'll become this glorify fix-it button. With Patchy, Meiling, Yukari and Anon, it's understandable she can manipulate the fate around them because they were there when she finally came to life, and Goro came after, but those are the characters she has a deep connection with for now.
I trust Hana as a character to stand on her own strengths and be able to deal with what's to come with Mr. Hieda, even if that's defeat; inserting Sekai into the scenario would take off more than add.
Though, as a passive watcher/in passing, I could write a situation where 'Ana's powers clashes with Mr. Hieda's (just wait a little more~) and thus she sees, even briefly, Sekai's tree, where the HSE stood and maybe talks to her, depends on you, as I'd stop there to let you write that. It'd be left implied whether she interfered or not, and such mysterious passivity is a nice way to portray a sheer force of nature like Sekai.
That's how I'd handle it, at least, and I'd love to hear your thoughts should you decide that'd be a worthy part of Hana's character in the festival (you write Hana best, after all)
sorry for the long read...

>>47183484
Its gone back and forth, earth spiders have been mentioned building the place and going im often enough among various povs
This was before the yammy stuff of the festival though, which specified that yammy and her immediate family had nothing to do with it. I just think they're different earth spiders, the good thing about the kurodanis is that you'll never run out of them!

>>47184175
yeah, looks like the latest retcon is 'no, absolutely not'
from Sekai in the Book of Patchouli:
>The only spiders I see are the ones that live in the HSE. I hope...I hope that they'll survive whatever comes during the Solstice. There's never been an earth spider in these walls. Not a Kurodani.

>>47184208
Ah I see, so the little spoods as of now are innocent. Guess I'll try avoid mentioning them if it comes up again in story

>>47183956
>not a good idea
I was thinking the same thing, I was already considering how i'd write out Kanako and Suwako during her fight in order to make Sekai even a thing. The idea I was floating was having her use one of her mom's abilities to have her avoid that half moon slash or something, having Hana realize something's fucky and maybe catching a glimpse of her or the tree as an off-hand thing. That just wouldn't really add much at this juncture though and your right in that it would take away more than it adds. If i do include anything of Sekai it'll probably be in act 3 and during an excursion to the HSE or somewhere associated with her.
At the moment the current flow of the fight would be something like: Hana Banana moment -> Kanako and Suwako forced to tap out to keep Sanae on life support and work overtime on miracles for the squirts -> Hana buying time with Heida/mokou and possibly mercing the gunners, really intense and horrible moment for 'Ana all around(pretty much first blood as far as humans go) -> Proper showdown(?) -> defeat/victory -> whatever you have planned.

>>47183956
>>47184858
NTA, but I do think it's best that Hana, Reimu, and most of the other characters are kept in the dark about Sekai till the end. It'll be more impactful that way.

>>47179011
Hana talks big game for someone who shares more blood with youkai than anyone in the village. Anon already has more bird children than pure-human children at this point, and the rabbit population will vastly outnumber all of them.

>>47186579
My favorite meme was her going to eientei and never figuring out why even the mob characters of both Inaba and the ladies there were strangely friendly

>>47186627
Mine is the fact that pretty much every kid that will happen in the village is her sibling but the only ones she really acknowledges are marisa's kids.

>>47188394
I still chuckle at Alice forgetting her shanghai on, such a silly meme

>>47150061
Psst~ So i'm wondering what the little green buisness squirt is doing in the festival? Perhaps a date with her boytoy? Just wondering for no reason at all.
Certainly not to lightly bully her in a short flashback before bullying the porn bird, if it's fine with you.

>>47184858
>At the moment the current flow of the fight would be something like
seems pretty right, though I have some surprises; nothing too drastic, but should keep us on edge~

>>47190930
The maribully is always fun

>>47195421
For me it's Patchouli bullying Sekai through the book

>>47188394
>>47186627
So Hana finding out her dad got half of Gensokyo knocked up has got to be one of the bombs dropped on her during the solstice right?

>>47195467
I can already see an EoE ending where all her moms gather around and clap once she accepts her father has sired more demi-humans than Zeus

Time and time again, you come across people who don't see you as you see them; they see you as inferior, beneath their feet and will do everything in their power to put you down… worst of all is when such people are right. I've blinded and eaten humans; I know others have done the same and despite our revolution aiming to change the need for that, to strike balance between us so no human gets ever eaten again and no weak Youkai suffer like I did, the past still exists and trying to cover it—act as if it never existed—is nothing but a coward's way of living. Holding Aki Kamishirasawa in my arms, alive and giggling, I promised myself never to be a coward again.

But here I am, on the back of the Izakaya, far from curious onlookers and worried revolutionaries, leaning against the big wheel and gazing at Mokou's fireworks, the music a little muffled, my hands shaking and my feet firmly planted, tense with every dancing shadow in the corner of my eye, waiting for Her to leap out of it and…

… End the life of Gensokyo's weakest Youkai.

Except that wouldn't happen. Even if she came to me, gohei in hand, Mokou's burning ember in my heart would flare up and the immortal would smite whatever attempt of the girl…

Fear still lurks inside, as if a nightmare, for words cannot be combated with violence.

Words that ruminated inside my head as if scurrying ants, whispering and crushing each attempt at rationalization—“I don't want to eat humans; what says it'll be like this forever?”, “Our revolution is a way to bond everyone together; not all Youkai would take it as that, they may be using the revolution as a cover”, “Keine-sensei would know if that's true; she's only one person…”, “I want my children to grow up well-fed, without losing any siblings to cold or plague; not everyone cares about children. Exploitation of the weak is universal”, “I want to live a good life; she does not—”

“Mystia?” A voice snaps me from thought, eyes wide and razor-sharp nails in full view. A beast under the colorful bonfires of fireworks above. Yuu-kun doesn't budge, standing by the Izakaya's back door. “… The other two are holding the fort.” His words are calm as he hops off the door and comes towards me, ignoring talons that could maul a man whole and teeth that once upon a time shredded bones. Such a weird, weird man. Some may think the other two—I need to ask their names; Yuu had left for ten minutes after the opening rush and returned with both in tow and they just… begun helping. Humans can be so very weird—, and Yuu are indistinguishable triplets by looks and preposterous behavior… But there were differences.

The other two don't have that small mole by the collar; their hair shade is a little off and… Something in his eyes as he sits by me on the Izakaya's back wheel, huffing with his apron on his shoulder—there's a profound light there that the others do not have.

A very human light.

A light that, by all accounts, should be terrified.

“Costumer service is messed up, huh? Always have to deal with one or two nutjobs—that brat was worth for three in my opinion.” He laughs, but I can only watch, stupefied. W-What even is this man?! After all that he heard, those truths and— “But I'm happy I was there to protect my bride! My blood boils at the thought of you dealing with that goblin alone!” He ignores nails still on display, teeth still as sharp as ever, and pats me on the head, his laughter booming.

I…

… I can't take this anymore! “S-She was right!” I yell-whisper, teeth clenching and hands turning into fists, a rage from within as colorful as the one towards the day I'd have killed two of my precious little babies, tears sprouting at the edges of my vision. “The things Youkai have done to humans… We thrive off fear! I thrived off your fear!” Fear coats my bone, thinking of a bloody gohei coming from the shadow… A terror made greater by the thought that she wouldn’t spare him. “O-Our revolution claims change to the better, yet… E-Everything she said—”

“—was wrong!” He cuts me off like a knife. I gulp my words, eyes wide, gawking at him. What— “Not the facts—those remain what they are; a past that'll never change,” he echoes my thoughts, and I'm ready to intervene with fierce remarks and frenzied tears, bolstered by the dark, hard truth—

Then his hand clutches mine, disregarding long and vicious nails, pulling me towards him—

In the skies, fireworks crackle like stars.

And under them, we share a kiss.

A predator's mouth and a human's; chaste and simple that, five dazed seconds later, ends.

For five whole seconds, the world and its problems didn't exist.

… It was weird.

“You may kiss the bride~” He whispers on my lips as we break apart.

I mumble, “W-What?!” Red like blood.

What was that?! What were those words?! For what purpose did he do that—

His answer comes simply: “She’s wrong because she doesn't know you. To her, you're not a person…” He snickers. “I wanna see that jackass explain why you blush so cutely, then~!”

Then it clicks.

And it clicks embarrassingly: “B-Bwuah?!” H-He kissed me! It… It was my first kiss ever. His laughter—… Ah, shit, I said that out loud—heightens my blush to a degree I thought impossible.

But what a shock his next words are: “Look at that! It was my first too~!” W-Was it?! Oh… That is strangely pleasant to know—my long, sharp nail unintentionally brushing against my lips. His laughter faded with the fireworks yet the warmth remained, the last embers beaming brightest, revealing his determined frown—the kind of frown that drew people to Keine's doors. “She doesn't know you were illiterate until just recently—how much you've been struggling to learn to live like we humans do; how much you've given of yourself to the cause; what you had to do in your lowest, nor how you've climbed out of that sinkhole.” The iron in his words is guttural. Almost understanding on a deeper level. “She doesn't know you, Mystia Lorelei. Everything she knows comes from her… job—I guess?—, and her job is to kill. It's unfair with the girl to expect her to act any differently without context or invested time… But that is why we are having this revolution! To show Hieda; to show the Hakurei Miko that there can be more to us than prey and monster: friends, family, buddies—” there's joy inside his eyes, as if those words extend past this tender moment that shudders my heart like earthquakes. Her voice, venomous and acidic, continues to hammer my mind, screaming about the truths of this and that, all of which are dulled by a rough, yet caring, hand clasping mine. “—groom and bride.”

… I…

“W-Why?! I don't understand!” My mind is racing and my wings are flapping up and down as I try to hold back a laugh that seems like it might burst out at any moment. W-What's happening?! What is this goddamn man?! “Why are you so—” I laugh in incredulity, embarrassment creeping newer shades of red to my face. “—s-smitten with me! You barely know me!”

“Indeed! I know nothing of you, Mystia-chan! Your likings and dislikes; the little things of your composition; neither what massively ticks you or soothes you—like this bridge we're trying to establish between humans and Youkai, we're unknown to each other… Yet I learn every day I stay by you; that I help our little Zephyr, energetic Utz or quiet Nat!” The names of my children bring an immense, goofy smile to my face, though it's a cheerfulness tarnished by Her words and the creeping guilt of how they came unto this world…

If I had known at the time what was happening—Anon's true feelings in that cursed place—

My chin is lifted by a hand, and these predatory eyes reunite with his. “Past is in the past, Mystia. We cannot change that… But we can do better—for the future of our children… and maybe others', even though they aren't as cute as our lil' champs~”

I snicker carefree, as if flying, though I’m still bound to this dark alley illuminated solely by lamps and fireworks, the chattering muffled. “Geez, stop that, you~!”

“It's 'Yuu'.”

The man withdrew his hand with a satisfied smile as I slapped his wrist away, my heart leaping. “… T-Thanks; I needed that talk.” The understatement of the century—and though still my heart stirs in fear, my arms and legs clutch in anticipation for a bloody gohei… My heart pounds wildly and electricity courses through my lips, both excellent ways to concoct a smile. Bird-brain aside, it's wonderful to have an equal with whom you can share fears and doubts and, in turn, get support that inflates the heart with joy—I wonder what humans call that. “You could've delivered it without the kiss! Isn't the first supposed to be a special occasion?”

“It was a special occasion!”

I squinted, “Really? The back of my Izakaya, sitting on the dirty ground with the smell of booze right around the corner, wouldn't be something I'd call special.”

… He laughs—because of course he laughs. “Ho, aren't you the smooth talker? You sound like a princess~” Amidst the chuckles, he gets up and extends one hand towards me, a conflagration of fireworks and starlight lining up his silhouette in the dimness. I squirm in my redness. “C'mon, let's get back inside! The other two must be drowning in orders~!”

I extend my hand to his almost absentmindedly, yet hesitate just before holding it, frowning… Fear roars, doubts drum and, inwardly, a surety that what happened with He—Hana Hakurei isn’t an isolated event. It'll happen again and again, sometimes in more mild ways, others in utter violence…

I stare at Yuu's hand—a human's hand—then mine, its jagged, sharp nails coiled in anxiety… Worlds so different; perspectives so skewed by centuries of fear, hate and death; by famine, plague and watching helplessly as your parents saved the nest the cruelest way possible…

For all of Yuu's bluntness, he doesn't forcefully take my hand; his just stood there, steadfast and inflexible, waiting patiently mine.

… One step at a time~

With no hesitance, I took his hand, and in his grip, I felt safe.

A little giggle snaps me back to reality: the sulfur-laden reality, with tall flames dancing on the borders of Miko-san's shield, dull smoke hiding the sun and the acid rain drenching down the cadavers just outside the golden walls; moaning and groaning, wails of torment and lowly whimpering of despondency side by side with the burning hope in the nurses' eyes, a regal—but torn and bloody—cloak winding between stations with stuttered orders of someone who's trying her best faced hell itself. A devil watched from within his smoldering court; two gods of fire and magic spiraled across the horizon, and Toyosatomimi no Miko stood between us and obliteration. The one who started it all laid with the other corpses, another face in the bunch, and again I held back the tears. My eyes droopy and wings restless, yet my hands work nevertheless, and Yamame-san yelps in the midst of her giggling. “S-Sorry…” I mutter, but the mother of hundreds lightly gestures, one of her children holding her good hand. She stared at the bloody gash from a “762 bullet,” or whatever they called it, with haunted eyes, which I stitched up while the few Inaba and one human doctor dealt with other, more critical cases.

“Don't worry, don't worry, ah… Are you really this unaware, Mystia-chan~?” She plays, hair disheveled and looking as if barely keeping it together, her spider limbs thrown on the ground, fatigued. As a means to help ease her mind during the procedure without anesthesia, I'd told her a bunch of stories about myself, daring to tell mine and Yuu's as I thought it'd resonate with the Tsuchigumo.

I wince before I can answer, every nerve in my body flaring up as another burst of explosions happens just above my head. I longed to hold Yuu's hand again, but he was helping with lifting heavy people and things… He and his other two selves.

That still hasn't sunk in.

“I-I dunno? It wasn't special, such a place…” It is time for her child to laugh, but her worried expression never goes away. In the end, Yamame is the one who soothes her child with a smile before laughing too. Why?! Scrambling to change subjects, I mumbled: “I noticed s-something, Yamame-san; why are your children so, ugh… Not of the same age?” The child—she looks as old as Hana Hakurei, maybe a few years older—gives me a weird look, but Yamame ignores and, as I too ignored the blood smothering my hands as I closed the wound, a patch of gaze; alcohol and cloth by the side, answered:

“… It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? They all came from the same bunch, yet are all equally unique,” her hand rises and caresses the girl's cheek, her eyes staring past here and onto something else far away—someone, maybe. “Some age as if human, others as if Tsuchigumo. Some are in-between~most I had to send home when I noticed the… spiciness of this festival.” Cheeks go red. Ugh, yeah, by what I heard, the areas away from the main stalls weren't safe for the children. “Guess that saved my kids, but the ones I've lost today—family…” The child gulps down and, perhaps to appear strong before her mother, fights off the tears. “It won't be forgiven. Not in this life.” A determination as cold and steely as the needles I hold makes home of her eyes directed towards the Hieda State, and I doubt it'll be evicted anytime soon—

—but before I can speak, the golden walls terrifyingly vibrate, a silence of trepidation growing as gazes from all facets of life—human, Youkai, man and woman, lost child and old person—watched as gold dust cascaded from above, ruptures rumbling along the auric lining. At the center of it, Toyosatomimi no Miko almost crumbles, people too absorbed on the walls to notice as those trying to get into the pristine haven were evaporated into molten grime and a plume of sickly green-yellowish pigment stole the air off their lungs and mercilessly erupted their eyes and skin…

Good and evil.

… It's not always a simple matter. It depends on perspective, and most of the time, not only yours is at play.

But to dare think pure evil doesn't exist would be insanity.

After this, it'd be insanity.

As panic arises, Kosuzu does her best to abate it, and Miko has to infuse immeasurable amounts of energy into the golden walls to have them move as if alive to protect those lucky enough to not be caught upon the clouds of death—it didn't work fully, for in full display was a saint bleeding from unrelenting effort, her eyes strained and wide.

Yet, there was no way to escape, not with the flames engulfing the walls, the bombs falling from the skies or the storm of disease.

And then the sun eclipsed the skies.

Mokou's ire threatened to consume the Human Village whole if not for Sanae's effort, a dance of legends that everyone could only watch.

We watched as her wrath was her demise.

We watched as she was sealed by Sanae Kochiya…

… We watched as they—a woman and several children—were pelted by bullets.

And we watched as the Hakurei daughter appeared out of nowhere.

We watched as she cried.

We couldn't see her face, the Hakurei girl having sprouted out of nothingness to float a little above the upward slopes that formed the gilded roof, rain pouring onto her as, much like us, she could only watch as Sanae—weak as she was after fighting an immortal—created starry defenses for her apprentices, all of which broke apart easily in futile attempt as the girls, appalled by what was happening, couldn't do anything but dodge the inverted rainfall of lead as if Danmaku. Hana's cry was imperceptible to non-Youkai, yet the language of her body told the truth: “S-Sanae-san…?” As those words escaped her, she looked as if awakening from stupor and prepared herself in despair to blaze her way towards the Moriyans—

—Just for another sun, this time of heavenly blue, to engulf all of them. Each child and Sanae, reduced to ash as the colossal, jagged sphere of flames hanged on the skies as if held by cosmic thread.

Hana's second cry was guttural—heartbreaking, despite our history—and this time her tears weren't lost in the rain: “SANAE-SAN!” Loud and terrified, yet reaching no one. Her head moved sluggishly as, above, the sea of blue incinerated all vestiges of human bodies, the Hakurei daughter's eyes centering on the source of the bullets. Again, her body spoke for her, shivering and frenzied, a moment of numbness before her gohei materialized in her hand and the plumes of fire and illness below were swept by the shifting currents of air left by Hana’s impossible-to-follow speed—not for Miko-san, who watched intently between gulps of air.

We watched as Hana Hakurei flew towards the Hieda State, more than intent on violence.

—

Seeing Sanae and her poor, poor maidens perish in the devil's final flames before its seal was complete was a source of great sadness for me. But the reason was justifiable. Sanae was plotting with the witch; she attempted to stop me at that crucial moment; she had abandoned her role as a shrine maiden and became just another dupe drawn into the witch's deceitful web. I attempt to avert my eyes from the incineration, but am unable to even blink. In this sadness, I am reminded of a tender past in which Sanae had only recently moved here and was frequently contrasted with the more powerful and skilled Hakurei miko. Akyuu didn't see it that way. It filled my heart with joy to watch as she helped the Moriyan miko, informed her of the culture of Gensokyo and so on.

Ah, what a good past…

You were so happy back then, Akyuu, recording history and writing your haikais, your novellas; aiding the untarnished people of this village.

… To be able to live in it forever would be heaven—

—A mere swerve of the head is enough, the young Hakurei miko whizzing by my side, her weapon meeting nothing but air; my samurai—or those that hadn't found themselves ensnared in the clutches of hopelessness—reacted by lifting their weapons, confused and mistaking the girl that slid on the wood for a Youkai, Danmaku shining around her as one hand held a long needle and the other the sacred gohei. Before my men could shoot, I gestured with simple words, the sound of my own voice barely reaching me—a small price to pay for so much unregulated bullet fire.

It was sufficient to hear the quivering girl, her intense scowl of pure anger aimed at me. “You… You k-killed Sanae-san!”

Naturally, I bow to her before responding; her furrowed brow deepens. “Hakurei-sama, good evening.” The men held stoutly to their rifles, sweat riveting down their faces. “Yes, Sanae was conspiring with the Youkai to take me down—this village's last hope—so I exterminated her.” It was said with a placid tone, and Akyuu huffed, sitting on the veranda, watching, eager to see her father resume his katas. Such a petulant child sometimes; I need to get this straight with Minako-sama…

Oh, maybe I can get her to bring little Reimu to play with Akyuu the next time?

“W-What?! That's untrue! Sanae-san… She was fighting the Y-Youkai; you just killed her! You killed her! You—”

“It is true, Hakurei-sama. She was intending on destroying my clan when all I've done is fight for this village. Isn't that true, Aky—” Huh… I look straight at her face, yet it's blurred. Trying to recall the beautiful expressions and traits behind that jumbled mess is fruitless, and I come to the conclusion that, at my age, forgetting things is not all that out of the ordinary.

“We don't kill people! SANAE-SAN WAS A PERSON!” There are immense tears in Minako-sama's face. I hope no one but me sees this; people can be wrongly mean towards such shows of intense emotion.

“We do, Hakurei-sama. It's our job to protect the village of monsters, you should know… Ha! Me, a shrine maiden! No, no—liquidation of abominations, however, is our pride.” I approach her, the woman taking a step back. Nervous? Hm, I should take off my mask to appease her, which, despite some resistance, I do… and Minako-sama can only stare, wide-eyed and pale. “We are much the same in that regard, Hakurei-sama.”