Kirisame Magic Shop

[Anonymous No.]

Thread 16

Continued over from >>>45488471

[Anonymous No.]

where were you when compileranon died?

[Anonymous No.]

Two days. Two days in which Yamame walked around the house with nothing but the only underwear she had that fit and an unbuttoned shirt that definitely didn't fit on, and two days in which I could not do anything with her. Two days, as she complained, that she couldn't do anything with me. It was infuriating. I was very slowly being driven insane, and I got the sense that she was too. "Soon, I'm sure!" She told me three times on the first day and six times on the second. By the end of the second, she did look just a little bit more comfortable, so I hoped that my - and her - torture was coming to an end, but when the third day dawned looking to be the same as the first two, I just about succumbed to despair. She’d tried to rework her clothes so that they would fit, but apparently her body wasn’t quite up to the task yet. She complained that it was taking a bit of time to get her coordination back in order.

So, when the door suddenly burst open and sent Yamame - Who was in the bedroom at the time - scrambling for the walls, and Kisami came flying through, I was just grateful for the distraction. Even if said distraction ended up being a box launching through the door at speed and hitting me right in the head as I was walking past the couch, sending me, the box, and the couch itself backward. The couch, having no good thoughts about any of this, decided to tip, and down I went with it. "Finally!" I heard a shout, and then the most troublesome of Yamame's sisters launched over the top of the couch and crashed into the top of me, red hair spilling in every direction. "Feels like it's been forever!" She cried, completely unfazed and none the worse for wear from the fall. I, meanwhile, was slightly dazed from my head knocking into the floor, and my limbs had gone off in every direction, so I wasn't able to do much to fend off her assault of kisses and hugs. I also couldn't actually see anything, thanks to all the hair blocking my view. Fortunately, she stopped before long, which was for the best because I was still waiting for the room to stop swaying. I'd recovered a bit from smacking my head against the floor when I'd passed out, but I was still fairly sure that it would take a bit longer, because I got headaches if I was up for too long, though they were slowly subsiding.

"Oh! Shoes, shoes..." Kisami muttered, before rolling over onto her back - A move that ended with me receiving an elbow in the ribs and all of Kisami's weight pressed against my stomach - and unlacing her boots. Finished, she rolled back around to whisper in my ear. "Ring's done." I tried to wheeze her name through laboured lungs, but before I got a chance, she'd jumped to her feet, landing squarely on my stomach. Suddenly, I felt very thankful that I hadn't eaten anything recently, though I didn't feel so thankful considering the difficulty I was now having breathing. It was hard to tell from this angle, but I thought she was wearing a black T-shirt that did, for once, cover her navel, though even from below her, I could tell that it was hugging her hips tremendously. She had a coat, but she'd tied it around her waist, and had it hanging down behind her, over the skirt she was wearing which had the usual pattern of the Kurodani family, though it wasn't brown and gold, but rather a faded turquoise with red stripes.

She hopped over the couch and dropped her shoes by the door, which she pulled shut after barrelling through earlier. Then, I heard her run back across the room while I tried to breathe once more and wait for the aching to stop. "Yams~! I know what that sign on the door meant! Lemme see you right now! I don't care what you're doing, this is more important!" Without a second's pause, she burst through Yamame's bedroom door and slammed it shut behind her, though it didn't stop me from hearing the conversation.

While I tried to force some air back into my lungs after their flattening, I heard Yamame's voice shouting. "Ki! I'm not dressed, don't just barge in here like - Wait, why are you coming closer? Wait, no - Don't-!" Followed by her voice cutting off.

"Aw, my little Yams is growing up! I knew you were moulting soon!" Kisami replied over Yamame's voice. I assumed this was the hugs and kisses part of the greeting, and I was sure that Kisami, as a spider herself, would know how much she could get away with. "Not sure if I will any time soon, though..." I was sort of wondering about that, I thought to myself as I tried to sit up only to find my stomach complaining a lot. "No clothes, huh? It’s awful, isn’t it?" It was a good thing that Kisami hadn't decided to stand any lower, or something bad might have happened. "So, tell me all about it. C'mon! I wanna hear the whole process. Was your boyfriend there for the whole thing?" Though I couldn't see them, I could very easily imagine the way she was probably accosting Yamame, and it involved a lot of hugs and kisses.

[Anonymous No.]

"Hmph!" Yamame's voice sounded a little bit upset. "At least you're not growing every time you moult! Your hair just gets even weirder and you get even more annoying!" She sighed. "Oh, fine..." And for the next few minutes, I heard her explaining the events to Kisami. Some of it had included what I imagined was spider terminology that I definitely didn't understand, like what a moult mat was. After a few more minutes, I finally managed to stagger up, only to have to bend over and breathe deeply for a while. "Now nothing fits and I've not got anything ready!"

"Annoying, Yams? I'm hurt!" Kisami's reply was sharp, but sounded very unhurt. "Here I am, coming to see how my cute little sister is doing, and you throw cruel, hurtful language like that at me? Maybe I won't give you your present after all!" Having finally managed to get the air back into my lungs, I crouched down painfully and lifted the couch back upright. Fortunately, tipping it over didn't seem to have done any damage to either it or the floor, though if it wasn't for the peach, I would probably still be on the floor. Once it was upright, I collapsed on top of it, hoping that my stomach would stop aching soon.

"...Present?" Yamame asked, sounding slightly suspicious. "You - You've brought me a present?"

"Obviously! It's like you don't know me at all, Yams!" Kisami said, and I heard her footsteps. Then, the door banged open, and Kisami stuck her head out. "Oh, lover boy!?" She shouted. I raised my head above the couch weakly and asked if she meant me. "Yes, you! The box, bring it here!" Grumbling, I staggered back around to the box, scooped it up and grumbled some more at its heaviness, then staggered over to Kisami and handed it to her. "Thank you!" She said, taking it and spinning on the tip of one foot. "Oh, Yams~!" She headed over to Yamame, who stood with her arms folded. "Here you go!" She presented the box to Yamame, who took it while frowning mightily.

"Your hair is all over the place." She muttered, though she did crack a tiny smile as she said it. Turning, she placed the box on the bed and took the lid off. Kisami frowned, running her hands through her fiery hair. As expected , it had absolutely no effect, and the second she released her hands, her hair sprang back as if she'd done nothing at all. "What's this?" She asked with a frown. I finally gave up on watching from the door and stepped into the room. Kisami turned to me with a finger pointed at me, but Yamame rolled her eyes. "Oh, lay off, Ki. It's nothing he hasn't seen before!" That, in a very strange way, was both true and not true. Yamame naked, I’d seen plenty of times. Yamame, naked and just after moulting? I couldn’t say I’d seen that many times before.

"That's the problem, little sister. He's going to distract you!" I raised my hands and said that I'd be quiet. "Hmm...Oh, fine. But if you two start going at it, I'm not leaving." I felt a little confused. Didn't she mean to say that she was leaving if we started…Going at it? "That's what I said!" She replied with a nod and a wide smile. I stared at her for a moment, then just sighed and shook my head. "Now, Yams, what do you think?"

Yamame was digging through that box, and she lifted out a lump of cloth that unfurled to reveal...A t-shirt. "Uh...Aren't none of these going to fit...?" She lifted up a pair of shorts. "Wait...Aren't these-?" At that point, Kisami seemed to run out of patients.

"Yep!" She cried, hopping forward and digging through the box. "My old stuff from when I was your size!" I blinked, then peered over the massive amount of Kisami's hair to see for myself. I didn't know what Kisami would have looked like at Yamame's size, though, so it didn't really help much. She was taller than Yamame by a fair amount, and to say that her body was a little bit more on the voluptuous side would have been something of an understatement. I suspected that Kisami could have given a devout monk a crisis of faith, but I found that Yamame accomplished that for me quite handily, though I had never been a monk. "See, I saw that sign on your door, right, so I knew it was gonna be soon, and..." She cast an eye back at me, so I swiped at her hair and she stuck her tongue out in response, "Well, I knew you'd been more than a little distracted lately. So, I figured that you'd have forgotten to work on resizing your clothes." Kisami ruffled her own hair, but it couldn't really get all that much messier than it already was. Yamame's hair was untied today, hanging down her back. It was longer and a little more voluminous than it had been, and I found the prospect of ruffling it to be very enticing, but I'd decided that I'd best wait until she said that she was safe to handle once more. "You always insisted on making me something when we lived together, so..." Kisami scratched her head a little awkwardly, but I could tell that she was serious. Even with all the teasing, it was easy to see how much she loved Yamame.

[Anonymous No.]

Yamame looked like she as lost for words. "I - Um, you..." She trailed off, a little tongue-tied. "Th-Thank you, Ki. This means a lot..." She lifted a shirt out and tried it on. It fit, far better than the clothes she'd been trying. "And, um, sorry about saying that you get more annoying. I was just annoyed." She was mumbling now, but Ki just took it in her stride and gently hugged her again. I thought that it was high time I stopped pretending that I wasn't getting quite fond of the taller redheaded spider, and I'd already used her nickname without thinking already, so I decided that I might as well start thinking of her as Ki, just like Yamame did.

She planted a kiss on Yamame's forehead and brushed her hair back. "It's okay, Yams. Moulting's stressful enough without worrying this lump when you do it. At least you'd already finished when he showed up. Imagine if he'd arrived before you'd fully got the old one off?" Yamame shuddered as Kisami poked me in the chest, and I frowned. "Alright, c'mon, you. Let's let Yams find something to wear. I've gotta talk to you, anyway." Yamame frowned and asked what we were talking about. "Secret project, Yams! Top secret! The secretest!" And then, she dragged me out of the room. Yamame watched us go with a smile and turned back to the box as Ki pulled the door shut behind her. "I wonder if she'll find the-" A sharp yell was elicited from Yamame's bedroom.

"Ki!" Yamame shouted. "What the hell is this supposed to be!? Why's it look like - Like that!" I heard the sound of shifting fabric. "How the bloody hell is that supposed to be underwear!?" Now that, I thought, made me really curious. "Oh, I take back everything I said! You are just the worst!"

I really wondered what exactly Ki had put into the box. She looked at me and shrugged. "Some people just can't take a joke. Poor Yams has always been too easy to tease!" She turned back toward the door. "Just giving you some options, Yams!" She called, then shook her head and beckoned me over to the couch. "Alright, listen up." She whispered. "Finished the ring last morning. Some of my finest work, and I don't say that lightly. Nothing but the best for my little sister." I nodded, understanding the sentiment. "So, I know Nai has said this to you already and...Honestly, I'm a little late, but as her big sister, I've gotta say it." I had a feeling I knew what was coming. "If you ever hurt Yams, I'll kill you slowly and painfully." Message received, I told her while managing to keep my voice steady. I knew that both Kisami and Nai were just being protective, but it was still a threat from a youkai. "Good!" Ki cheerfully clapped her hands together. "So, I've got it, actually..." She reached into a pocket of the coat hanging around her waist, and pulled out a box. Holding it gingerly, she pulled it open, and inside was a smaller box. I didn't really get it, but then Kisami pulled the second box open, and there it was.

The ring. The engagement ring. It was just as Kisami and I had discussed - Thought this meant more that Kisami had discussed and a lot of it had gone over my head, though I had managed to give her several bits of input. Golden, slim and beautifully polished. I felt afraid to hold the box, in case I somehow damaged it. The stone that I'd given Ki - Wakasagihime's gift - Had been shaved down to a beautiful octagonal shape and set in the ring by a tiny golden frame. There was a small bit of silver around the emerald as part of the housing keeping it in place, too. "I thought that Yams might like that, since it's like the way our outfits are with the brown and gold. Well, I say 'our outfits'...Most of our outfits. I like a bit of variety." Kisami cleared her throat. “I thought, just then, that you might be worried that it won’t fit because of the whole moulting business. Don’t worry, though. I know how it works, so I can say with confidence that it’ll fit perfectly.” I nodded absentmindedly, still staring at the ring. "So, er...You like it, I hope?" I tried to say something, but nothing really came out.

[Anonymous No.]

Because it was really hitting me. I was going to ask Yamame Kurodani to marry me. Her sister had made the ring. My sister had put the idea in my head. Multiple people seemed to be pushing me in that direction. I knew it was the right choice. I loved Yamame and I didn't want to leave her. I wanted her to know how much she meant to me. I wanted her to have something that really symbolized how much I loved her. And some day, I wanted to have chi-

"Uh...Are you okay?" Ki asked me quietly. I blinked, finding that my vision had blurred. "It's just - Um, you're crying." I took in a shaky breath and raised a hand to my eyes, then blinking in surprise when my fingers came away wet. I snapped the box shut and breathed in deeply, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment. Fine, I told Ki. Just fine. The ring was beautiful, I told her. She'd really outdone herself, and I slid it into my coat's pocket until I could find the best time to finally ask the question. Suddenly, I got an idea, so I turned back to Kisami and watched her for a moment. "Uh...What, um - Are you sure you're oka-" And then, I dived at her and forced her to experience what she inflicted regularly to both Yamame and I. Lots of hugs and kisses. "Wh-What are you - Wah! Stop - Stop! It's embarrassing - I'm supposed to do this to you, not the other way around!" She cried, trying to push me off and failing miserably. "Yams!" She wailed, like that was supposed to help. "Your stupid boyfriend's stealing my gimmick!"

"Oh, for - What's wrong, Ki?" I heard Yamame's voice and looked over to her bedroom. There she stood, wearing a newly buttoned up shirt that fit nicely and a pair of baggy shorts that looked like the sort of thing she'd worn in the past, though a little older and more well-worn. If it wasn't for how healthy her skin looked, the radiance of her hair, the fresh glow in her eyes, and the way her new shirt hugged her hips just right, I'd probably not know that anything had happened at all. "What are you...Oh." She said, looking between Kisami and I. Kisami was trying to escape, but my arms were wrapped around her waist and I wasn't letting her. Yamame stepped closer, and Kisami stopped struggling for a second to hopefully ask if Yamame was going to save her. "How dare you?" Yamame told me, rather frostily. I opened my mouth to tell her that it was a joke and I hadn't meant anything by it, along with fifteen other apologies, when a wide grin suddenly appeared on her face. "How dare you start this without me!?" She continued, jumping forward and wrapping her arms around Kisami's shoulders. "Ki~! You're so cute~!" She cried, taking her chance to shower the taller girl in kisses and hugs. "I need to thank you properly for giving me all of these clothes!"

"You can't-!" Kisami cried, struggling violently, but to no avail. "No, this is so embarrass- Ah! Let me go, my coat's gonna fall, and - Yams, don't play with my hair like that - Ouch!" She tried calling for help, but clearly none was coming. "I J-Just, trying to - You're squeezing too tight!" Clearly, neither of us felt inclined to take her opinion on the whole thing into account, so we just continued until we'd repaid her for all the times she'd done it to us. "Oh, see if I ever hug you two again!" Kisami wailed. Somehow, I expected that this wouldn't discourage her much.

And while Yamame and I continued to embarrass Kisami for all we were worth, I wondered just how I was going to ask her to marry me.

[Anonymous No.]

Daw, these guys are so cute.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45639033
>how I was going to ask her to marry me
The good ol "hey whats that vehind you" and then get in one knee while she looks behind her

[Anonymous No.]

>>45639207
If you do that, you risk there actually being something behind her that ruins your chance. Considering this guy's luck, he probably can't afford to run that risk.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45639241
I don't know, this anon may be to sentimental to keep it simple

[Anonymous No.]

>>45638142
>>45638854
Previous:
1 >>44121508 >>/data/jp/img/0445/50/1694087896359134.png
2 >>44290289 >>/data/jp/img/0445/50/1694087962441371.png
3 >>44383367
4 >>44437040 (3&4) >>/data/jp/img/0445/50/1694088027969245.png
5 >>44487600
6 >>44550620 (5&6) >>/data/jp/img/0446/22/1694614997949247.png
7 >>44622465 >>/data/jp/img/0447/13/1695377031281683.png
8 >>44713561 >>/data/jp/img/0448/28/1696349152839840.png
9 >>44828419 >>/data/jp/img/0449/36/1697321219911751.png
10 >>44936122
(10 - P1) >>/data/jp/img/0449/36/1698587659569048.png
(10 - P2) >>/data/jp/img/0449/36/1698587725286314.png
11 >>45089529
(11 - P1) >>/data/jp/img/0450/89/1699714714961830.png
(11 - P2) >>/data/jp/img/0450/89/1699714780422589.png
12 >>45217874 >>/data/jp/img/0452/94/1700478578465096.png
13 >>45294792 >>/data/jp/img/0454/00/1701525572592441.png
14 >>45400914 >>/data/jp/img/0454/88/1702387366670567.png
15 >>45488471
(15 - P1) >>/data/jp/img/0454/88/1703841621772705.png
(15 - P2) >>/data/jp/img/0454/88/1703841686330851.png

I'm very alive, blame time zones and unfortunate bump limit timings.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45640506
damn time zones

[Anonymous No.]

I wonder if the wedding will really be the end, because it is getting closer and there is still a lot left to resolve

[Anonymous No.]

>>45639033

[Anonymous No.]

>>45644941
That Ki is pretty good, did you draw this?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45644963
I might be wrong, but I think that's generated with the new paid AI hotness around these parts.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45644941
cute

[Anonymous No.]

"Oh, it's gorgeous..." Reimu breathed, her fingers caressing the engagement ring with such a light touch that I was surprised she was touching it at all. I'd been terrified of somehow damaging it, but Reimu's slender fingers were so graceful that I couldn't imagine how she could ever damage it. "How'd a guy who blundered into dates with youkai that left you hospitalised get taste this good, huh?" I ducked my head bashfully and said that it must have been a side effect of getting my head knocked around so many times. "I guess there can be some benefits, then." Reimu shook her head with a laugh and very delicately closed up the lid of the box. "That stone, too...That's really the one that you showed me?" One and the same, I replied. I didn't know who Kisami had gotten hold of to do it, but they'd definitely done a good job. The gold, too. I couldn't imagine how that lump I'd seen on Kisami's desk had turned into this ring.

Kuro the cat wandered into Reimu's room as I pocketed the ring once more and meowed, hopping up onto Reimu's table. "Yes?" Reimu asked, reached a hand out which Kuro sniffed suspiciously before accepting. "How can I help you?" She stroked the cat, who purred happily and strolled over to sit on Reimu's lap. She'd really taken to the cat, I remarked. "Oh, shut up. She's just a bit entertaining, that's all. I'm hoping that Ran and Chen will show up to take her back to Mayohiga soon." Personally, I had a feeling that Ran had spotted something when she'd looked at Reimu, and had no intention of coming to take the cat away, and I didn't think she should, either. It seemed as if Reimu had brightened up somewhat since being left with Kuro, something that cheered me up greatly.

Even though she'd finally got some clothes that fit so she wasn't teasing me every hour of the day, Yamame had thought that just one more day would do it, and when Kisami had tried to run away after escaping our little hugging session, I decided that I'd rather get out of the house for a while before I well and truly lost my mind. Plus, I'd wanted to come and find out how Marisa was doing anyway, and I think Yamame had felt the same way about the teasing issue, so she hadn't fought against the decision very hard. So, Kisami had done me the favour of smashing through all of the snow at the tunnel entrance before taking her leave since she was still very red-faced and embarrassed about earlier. And off I'd gone in the direction of the Hakurei Shrine. It was looking to be one of the snowiest winters I'd ever seen, since nearly every day since the Solstice - And even before - had involved snowing. Reimu hadn't cleaned the snow from the steps leading up to the Shrine, either, so I had to be extra careful climbing up them to prevent myself falling right the way back down.

Once I'd gotten to the top, I'd found that Reimu hadn't cleared the courtyard either. That was interesting, because I'd seen her do that even after it had snowed, so I assumed that something had gotten in the way. Of course, when I made it through all of the snow and got to her room - Where I found her lying on her side with half of her body under the kotatsu and the other half haphazardly covered by a collection of clothes that had probably come from Hearn's collection - I wondered if she was just being lazy. She'd woken up around then to throw one of her vests at me and tell me that I'd better have brought some snacks. She was then very displeased when it turned out that I had not. "You stupid freeloader!" She'd complained at me, though she had sighed heavily and extracted herself from her makeshift bed with a bit of a smile.

I asked her how Marisa was doing. "Better." Reimu replied, scratching Kuro behind the ears. "She slept for the better part of a day, mumbled a lot about conspiracies, and had an awful headache when she'd woken up, but once she'd eaten and drank some water, she was doing much better. Plenty of apologies once she'd got her head together." Reimu continued, a somewhat despondent look crossing her features. " I felt - I feel...A bit bad." Frowning, I asked Reimu what she meant. "Well, it's just that...I knew about that kappa and yamawaro war, and I let it lie until Marisa and Tenshi escalated things too much. And I let that whole 'not telling Marisa about Yamame' thing escalate too." So had me and Tenshi, I pointed out. "Yeah, but...I'm supposed to be Marisa's friend. Oldest friend, actually. We've known each other long enough that I should have realised how she felt." Now Reimu looked a little more than despondent, so I moved around the table and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her closer. "I, er, appreciate the hug, but...Try not to go too tight, okay?" I nodded and did my best to adjust my strength down.

[Anonymous No.]

Once Reimu seemed to have relaxed a little, I told her that she couldn't have known what Marisa was feeling while she was with the yamawaro, and she'd been with them for a fair while. For all she knew, Marisa was having the time of her life. We'd all teased Marisa about Yamame and myself, and we all shared a bit of the blame.

Kuro the cat took this opportunity to walk across Reimu's lap and onto mine, where she settled back down for another snooze. I looked down at the white cat and sighed, then adjusted my position and began to scratch her behind the ears. Reimu sighed in relief. "Phew, finally. The last time she sat on my lap, she wouldn't move for anything. Clawed me for trying to stand up!" She showed me the underside of her forearm, where there was a long, angry-looking scratch. At least it was just the once, I muttered as I eyed it sympathetically. "Once?" Reimu replied incredulously, lifting her vest and pulling her undershirt from her skirt so she could lift that up too. I drew in a sharp breath at the several extra scratches across her navel. "Starting to think she might not like being moved..." Reimu muttered, dropping her vest and wincing slightly. I now felt very nervous about getting up, so I decided that appeasing the beast on my lap was the best solution and continued to pet Kuro.

"So- Ooh..." Reimu asked as she settled back down with a slightly pained hiss, "When are you going to do it?" Do what? I asked her absentmindedly as I focused on convincing Kuro to move. Reimu frowned and slapped me on the arm. "You know what!" She insisted. "Ask Yamame. You know...The question." Ah. I looked up with a thoughtful look on my face. "You've thought about it, right?" Nodding, I explained that I'd considered some things. Yamame sometimes got a little self-conscious around a lot of people, so I didn't think that I would ask her when we were with a lot of people, like her sisters or anything. I'd probably try and do it when it was just me and her. "Okay..." Reimu nodded, motioning for me to continue. I tried to reach for the tea that I'd left at the other side of the table, but Kuro meowed when I tried to move, and I gingerly moved back. Reimu sighed and leaned forward to grab the cup for me, and I happily took a drink once she'd handed it over. "So, any other ideas? Before I start throwing my own in." Given Reimu's insistence on the marriage option, as well as her declaration of how romantic she'd thought weddings that she'd been involved with as part of the Hakurei Shrine, I was expecting her suggestions to be big, grand romantic gestures that would sweep Yamame off her feet, and I wasn't all too sure that she'd be in for that sort of thing either.

I thought she might be more appreciative of something smaller, but I didn't know if I was going to be able to handle that. I had a feeling that - Considering my luck - Whatever I did try would somehow turn into a bigger thing. It was just the way things seemed to go around me. Plus, I felt like something too simple would seem like it was a little lazy. This was a big question, after all. It was a shift in both of our lives. "You're doing that thinking thing." Reimu suddenly piped up. I frowned. What thinking thing? "That exact frown." Reimu replied lazily, poking my cheek. "You do it when you think too much." I laughed a little. Keine had said the same thing, now that I thought about it. "Oh, you saw her?" Reimu asked, sitting a little closer. "How did that go?"

I sighed and got to explaining the whole situation that had followed me leaving the Shrine after Marisa’s meltdown. I started with finding out that Yamame had closed her home up for a day, then my journey to the village - though I glossed over how I'd been feeling at the time - and how I'd met Keine, who'd slapped me a lot and yelled at me for not seeing her. Then, I explained our strange nighttime meeting with Seiga Kaku and Hata no Kokoro, before finally finishing up by explaining what I'd run into back at Yamame's house. Once I'd finished, Reimu just started at me. "How...Does this much weird stuff happen to you in such a short period of time?" If I ever figured out the answer to that, I would make sure to let Reimu know. "I should probably find that stupid hermit and beat her up for this, actually. Ugh, but she's probably in her senkai. Those Taoists are the worst. And Yamame - She...Um..." Reimu frowned intensely. " I don't get it." She finally complained. "But as long as she's okay, then." She seemed to be okay now, I replied. I imagined that she was probably about back to normal by now, anyway. She'd said something about finally getting to work on her clothes properly just before I'd left, which led me to believe that she was finally dextrous enough again to handle her seamstress work.

[Anonymous No.]

"So..." Reimu began, looking a little awkward about it. "Keine." There was a hint of disapproval in her face. "Did you really leave her thinking you were dead for that long?" I sighed and raised my hands, but Kuro seemed to get mad at that, waking up and standing on her back two legs so she could press the front two against my chest until I started again. I'd already explained it to Keine, so I didn't both trying to conceal things and explained the whole thing to Reimu just as I had to Keine. After I'd finished, Reimu was silent for a few moments. "...Ah." She finally whispered. "Look, um, I know that my advice probably isn't too helpful here, since I never actually did live in the village, but I think people there are more accepting of the unknown than you think they are." I told her that I knew. It was good to have it reaffirmed, though. I thanked her, though I couldn't really go and give her a hug thanks to the cat snoozing on my lap.

Stroking her head, I commented that she was very relaxed despite only being around for a few days. "Ugh...I know! She's practically claimed the place as her own. I woke up to find her sleeping in the covers with me yesterday!" Frowning, I lifted the cat, who opened one eye to watch me curiously. Had Kuro done that? The cat, despite the way I was holding her in the air, responded by licking a paw and watching me some more. "What the...? She'd attack me if I tried to do that!" I shrugged, then tried placing her down next to me. She sat back on her haunches and watched me for a moment, then turned and headed over to Reimu, where she rubbed her head against Reimu's leg. "How can she be so needy, anyway? She's supposed to be a wild cat from Mayohiga." Reimu grumbled. "Nope, I'm not indulging you this time. Go on, go and do something else." Kuro decided to hop up on the kotatsu and curl up right in the centre of it. "Honestly, I can't win with her...Hey, do they have a pet shop in the village? I wonder if I can get this furball something to do." I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. There was an old lady who ran a shop for pets near the northern part of the village. She'd probably know what to do. "Phew...That's good. Maybe something like...An owner's guide?"

After a companionable silence, Reimu clapped her hands together. "End of the year soon!" She said cheerfully. "We always have a major party here, you know." I did know. I'd never gone, but I'd definitely heard about Reimu's big new year party, if only by the lack of activity in the following days. It was a massive blowout, the sort of thing that left no one unscathed, even those who didn't drink. "You'll come, right?" I opened my mouth. "Right?" She said again, a little more sharply. Yes, I said. I would definitely come. I smiled and nodded while I thought about how I had definitely not been given a choice. "Bring Yamame, of course. Her sisters - Ooh..." She trailed off. "There's a lot of them, isn't there...?" Oh yes, I replied. Lots and lots. "Ah...But they haven't said whether or not they were doing anything, right? Okay, so, bring Yamame, Kisami, and whoever, but maybe don't bring everyone." I'd make sure to invite them, I replied, though I wasn't sure if they'd come. Ki might, I supposed, but it seemed like it might be a little more than Yamame wanted...Even if I did want to kiss her at the stroke of midnight.

"So, preparation is about all I'll be doing for the next two full days. Wanna help?" She asked me. I opened my mouth, but no sound really came out at the prospect of all the work that would need to be done for a party like this. "I'll take your horrified silence as a yes!" She said, clapping me on the shoulder and jumping to her feet. Kuro raised her head looked at Reimu for a moment, then hopped up too and brushed between Reimu's legs before rubbing against her left ankle. "Fortunately, I've been doing this so long that it's become tradition, so we don't even need to go and hand out flyers." That was probably a good thing, since I had no idea where we would even get flyers at this time. Reimu led be toward the kitchen. "Let's see..." Through the back, into the pantry, then she pulled open a door at the back of the pantry. Inside, I could see more alcohol than I knew what to do with, along with a large number of jars. The room it was all contained in was big enough to stand in, and wide enough to contain a huge number of bottles. "Every party I have involves more alcohol getting left behind than drunk, so I always end up with more. Plus, I brew plum wine every year, so I started that up in summer. There's still a bunch left over from when I got out the stuff, I started making a year ago, too." I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to take from this apart from the knowledge that Reimu had enough alcohol to put most of the valley out of business.

[Anonymous No.]

"Hello~!?" I heard a call, which made Reimu and I jump. "Anyone home?" Reimu closed up the cupboard and beckoned me back out. "Oh, my...What's your name, you cute little thing?" I recognized the voice, happily. "You say it's Kuro? Are you sure? That's a rather strange...Whoa! Well, if you're sure." Reimu and I emerged back into her room to find Kuro had wandered over to the edge of the kotatsu, where she sat on her haunches and looked very pleased with herself. Bent over with one arm braced against her leg and the other, bandaged arm stroking Kuro's head and scratching behind her ears, was Lady Kasen. "Ah," She said, noticing us and standing up straight. Kuro growled and jumped at her hand, but the whole bandage twisted in a way that a regular arm never could, and the cat fell straight through. She landed, looking very confused, then decided to retain some dignity and walk off proudly, as if she'd just accomplished some great feat. She strutted out onto the veranda and out of sight.

A moment later, I heard another voice. "What's this furball do- Wait, why are you rubbing against my leg? No, stop that, I'm not - Oh..." And I heard Kuro's pleased purring a moment later. That, I could just tell, was Raki, having fallen victim to another animal that she secretly found too cute to not pet. It seemed to be one of her greatest weaknesses, since I'd witnessed the exact same thing happen in Lady Kasen's dojo right after she'd been unsealed, when she should have been at her most ill-tempered. "Does this really feel good to you...?" I heard Raki mutter, sounding slightly bemused.

"Kasen." Reimu said, nodding at the hermit. "It's been ages, you know? I haven't seen you since we were all at your dojo. Where have you been?" Curiously, I noticed that Reimu's posture had changed. She looked just slightly more relaxed than she had a moment ago, and I wasn't sure that it was just because she'd found out that she wasn't being robbed.

"Oh, doing this and that...Hermit lifestyle, Reimu. The training is very important. You should come for another round of ascetic training. Bring your dear brother too! I rather enjoyed having him around." Privately, I wondered if that was because it gave her someone to boss around rather than just talking to her pets all day, but I decided not to mention anything. Instead, I asked her how she and Raki were doing. Lady Kasen smiled, and I was happy to see the way it reached her eyes. "Far better, thank you for asking. That talk you and Miss Yamame had with her seemed to help a lot."

"Wait, talk? When? Oh, hang on...Was it that party? The one you said happened in the Hot Springs Town down in Former Hell?" I nodded. "Really wish someone invited me to that..." She muttered. I patted her on the back and told her that it had been about as last minute as it was possible for something to be, and Yamame and I had been forced to exit via the long way around anyway, so I thought that if I'd even attempted to find Reimu, the whole thing would have already been over by the time I got to the Shrine and back. Reimu seemed to accept that answer, though it was slightly begrudgingly.

[Anonymous No.]

"Now, Reimu, I know full well that you had plenty to do up here. I saw that poor courtyard on the way in, and those steps! Have you been neglecting your duties toward the Shrine again? You should be more diligent about clearing the courtyard of snow, and especially the steps! What if you get a worshipper? They'll make the trip all the way out here only to find that the steps are too dangerous to climb! And - Honestly, you've acquired a cat and didn't think to consult me for advice? I'll have you know that..." She continued, the whole thing being one of her infamous lectures. And yet, as I watched Reimu, it felt like her sighs and requests for Lady Kasen to lay off felt more than a little half-hearted. She seemed somewhat pleased, in fact. She must have missed Lady Kasen, I thought. I could tell that she put more value in what the hermit thought than she let on, especially when it came to her showing concern for Reimu's wellbeing.

I stepped around Lady Kasen, thankful that she didn't try and ensnare me to participate in her lecture, and poked my head out of the door. Raki had fallen victim to Kuro's charms immediately, and the little cat was now hanging from one of the oni's horns. Raki's eyes flicked to me, her face red and looking a touch embarrassed. "If you tell anyone about this, I will-" I raised a hand to my lips and nodded. Raki stopped talking. "Right. Told you before, anyway. What's the deal with the furball?" Reimu had sort of...Unwillingly adopted her, I explained. We still weren’t sure if it was a temporary thing or not. "Uh...Huh. Right. And why's it so insistent on climbing all over me?" She, I corrected without even thinking. "She, then." Raki was being very reasonable today, I thought to myself. I guessed that the talk we'd had in the Hot Springs Town had been of use.

Shrugging, I said that she was turning out to be a very playful and stubborn cat, and trying to remove her now would probably see Raki sliced into little ribbons for her efforts. "What do you think I am?" The arm of Ibaraki-douji asked me incredulously. "A delicate maiden?" I shrugged and scratched my head. Maybe? "May- N-No, I'm a violent and dangerous oni! Not a – A feline's plaything!" She reached a hand up to pluck Kuro from her horn, where she'd been hanging from it and clearly having the time of her life. The cat struggled in her grasp, and Raki looked at it for a moment. Then, she looked at me, her arm alternatively lowering the cat and raising it like she couldn’t make her mind up. Her jaw clenched and unclenched, and an unhappy, conflicted look crossed her face. "Oh...Just..." She mumbled, then placed Kuro on her lap instead. I watched with some amazement at what I was witnessing. "Um...there, there." Raki mumbled, her face going even redder. “Remember, tell anyone and I beat you to death with your dismembered limbs.” She told me, though the effect felt rather lessened thank to the loud purring coming from Kuro and the fact that nearly her entire face was bright red.

Clearly, even the most violent and deadliest oni around couldn't resist a cute animal that wanted to be pet.

[Anonymous No.]

I thought Marisa would still be there, then again she probably had to check up on her house eventually

[Anonymous No.]

Okayokay i got it, first we need anon to learn slew of hand tricks, then once he's dexterous enough he approaches Yamame and asks her if she wants to see a trick, then he holds one of Yamame's hands and sneakily puts the ring on her finger

[Anonymous No.]

Glad to see Raki again, and that she's getting charisma breaks from playing with cats and getting called a delicate maiden
It's amazing how much arm-chan has grown on me considering she got about two manga chapters

[Anonymous No.]

>>45644963
I trained a LoRA in style of hexenccm, then generated and edited these in AI anon way(he explained how he makes those arts half a year ago in some random thread)
>>45645498
no anon paying money for these shits is retarded

[Anonymous No.]

>I did know. I'd never gone, but I'd definitely heard about Reimu's big new year party, if only by the lack of activity in the following days. It was a massive blowout, the sort of thing that left no one unscathed, even those who didn't drink.

Uh oh.. Knowing what Anon's luck is like, how the last big party full of youkai he attended went and the likelihood of a number of youkai he still hasn't met attending this could be very interesting and maybe not go so to plan for him. Also if she's recovered enough by then is this finally going to be Marisa's chance to meet Yamame?

This is mostly a party at night too and we know who anon hasn't met yet who loves to show up to the Hakurei Shrine for any big party or just to bother Reimu for her own amusement?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648758
>spoiler
r-remilia? oh no

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648723
I paid money for it, and I'm quite happy with it. Getting way better stuff than I ever could out of SD

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648858
Although that said, they do also have their own infamously rowdy late-night parties pretty often so maybe she won't show up at the Hakurei Shrine given there's likely to be an equally lively party on for the end of the year or for NYE at the mansion.

But that said, even if Remi doesn't finally make an appearance this time, it's a major party at the Hakurei Shrine with a lot of drink and more so, a lot of food it makes you wonder who could possibly show up for that alone. Anon has yet to meet and who doesn't normally have big parties beyond flower viewings at her own residence.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648858
I thought he meant Mima

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648919
>spoiler
y-yuyuko? oh no

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648919
Technically he never met Miyoi properly or maybe he did and Miyoi did the thing, i guess Youmu and Yuyuko are likely as well, maybe Nitori and/or Takane shows up through Marisa? It would be fitting considering what transpired recently but i can't think of anyone else that frequents the shrine parties that anon hasn't met yet, most youkai only show up for their game's after party as far as i remember

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648973
We can also expect the buddhists (except byakuren) as it is said that they go to the shrine partys to drink even though it is forbidden

[Anonymous No.]

Considering the amount of snow anon has to deal with it's a small miracle he hasn't ran into Letty yet.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648723
I take it back, then. You did a fine job.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45648016
While the cat seems to help a bit with her loneliness, maybe Marisa can expand her services and help Reimu find someone.

[Anonymous No.]

If Anon and Yamame run into a certain hungry ghost at the party at the shrine maybe they can also get the Prismrivers to play at their wedding party

[Anonymous No.]

>>45650936
But there are no men in gensokyo, you know

[Anonymous No.]

>>45651910
wh-what's anon then?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45651942
Anon and rinnosuke are the only men in gensokyo who are not npc villagers, this is also the explanation why the youkai feel attracted to him, since it is the only option

[Anonymous No.]

>>45651981
So that's why he never had the chance to meet Rinnosuke. Both of them were just too busy living the life.
This would also be one way to explain Alice's cold reaction that one time and her overall lack of presence in this story. Poor clueless Marisa can't catch a break!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45652132
Rinnosuke x alice? you are crazy. I prefer rinnosuke x keine, they are both half-youkai nerds.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45652185
Nah. Keine is built and made for a certain Hourai immortal.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45652132
Shouldn't Marisa be mad at Alice for dating her brother?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45652132
>This would also be one way to explain Alice's cold reaction that one time
You mean when Alice was making a life sized doll of him? Wouldn't call it cold per say

[Anonymous No.]

>>45653888
I don't think alice did that
she was just cold to marisa after she got beaten up by kaguya, but it wasn't really that far from actual canon alice's typical reaction to marisa

[Anonymous No.]

Looking back at the archives, Alice actually tended to Marisa's wounds before kicking her out. It wasn't nearly as bad as I recalled.
>"Now, I've bandaged you up, but you probably have at least a concussion, and you're going to be far too sore to do anything for a while. I fear that your rest would be disturbed if you remained here, so I must recommend that you return home."
>"Trying to get rid of me?" Marisa asked sarcastically.
>"Yes." Alice replied, not at all sarcastically.
>Thus, it was a few minutes later that Alice helped Marisa out of bed, helped her get dressed, and then had Tenshi escort her out of the front door. "Now, you're supposed to heal by resting, so kindly resist the urge to be yourself."
>"You're so cruel to me for absolutely no reason, Alice." Marisa said, trying not to let the pain colour her words.
>"Hm." Alice looked down at the pair from her doorstep. "Well, you did decide to break into the only place that could heal you properly if you got caught. Perhaps the brains were already gone beforehand. At least that would mean that Miss Kaguya didn't do any real damage." Her gaze did soften slightly. "Marisa, I am not your parent, but do take some advice. Stop taking these sorts of risks. They're beneath you." Alice didn't wait for Marisa to respond. "Take care. Pass on my greetings to Reimu." She nodded once, then shut the door, leaving the human and former celestial to stand there in the breeze.
>"So, she's always like that, huh?" Tenshi finally said, as they turned and stepped away from the door.
>"Something like that. But she is good where it counts, so I put up with the rest." Marisa muttered, trying to stumble away from the door despite the pain each step brought her
You could say that Alice's coldness was lore accurate (at least by IN standards, her relationship with Marisa improved in SA), but you'd think she'd be a little kinder given all they've been through.
Surely Rinnosuke wasn't hiding in the cupboard.
>>45653888
You're thinking of another anon's story from the very first threads.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45653888
I think this was another villager but writefag referenced it and sort of included it as happening to another villager and becoming the subject of a rumour in the vilage restaurants and cafe.

Writefag has almost created enough content to have a writefag canon version of Gensokyo and have spinoffs or other stories based in it at this point

[Anonymous No.]

>>45654192
>You're thinking of another anon's story from the very first threads.
>I think this was another villager but writefag referenced
Ah did he make that into a different guy in the end? I figured it was the same person, just rebooted for the KMS storyline. I honestly didn't think to hard about it since the first ones were pretty much just an elaborate prompt

[Anonymous No.]

>>45654241
It was a reference to that i think

[Anonymous No.]

>>45654241
Who is the best character for a spinoff?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656202
Depends how long the spinoff is, there's a couple of fun, short in-universe side stories and spinoffs like a few chapters with Marisa and Tenshi's misadventures. Anything that has a short story involving Yamame's sisters. Meiling going in search of her supposedly missing sister with the help of the Grassroots Youkai Network and Anon and Yamame as side charecters. Maybe one with Chen having a holiday in the underground to learn more about spiders and she goes on an adventure with Nai. A spinoff after the main story ends too where Anon finally follows up on his offer to work for Hecatia and opens a clothes shop selling both Welcome Hell's latest collections and Yamame's tailoring to the Human Village similar to Curiosities of Lotus Asia from the perspective of Anon and his thoughts and conversations with visitors and customers at the shop would be interesting.

But you could also have a full sequel from KMS Reimu's perspective where she decides to finally swallow her pride and seek Marisa's 'romantic fulfilment' services with Anon's help along the way.

Alternatively set in the further future maybe a new anon who accidently ends up crossing the barrier and ends up at the Hakurei Shrine only to end up developing a friendly relationship with Reimu that convinces him to not only stay in Gensokyo, but at the shrine with her in a relationship that becomes a slow burning will-they-won't-they like KMS Anon's crossroads situation.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656446
You forgot the greatest spinoff

[Anonymous No.]

There's also the potential for a completely new but only loosely continued story that's faithful to writefag's KMS canon and maybe cameos a few or overlaps stories in parts. Another story that develops from an advert read in the Bunbunmaru but this story's anon reads it and decides to apply for a job he saw advertised in it. It's anyone's guess how this story goes if it's anon has anything like KMS Anon's luck...

"You're not a fairy but... you seriously want the job Anon?..."

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656446
I want a sequel set 100 years in the future

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656478
the patchouli route...
though I think that dork Hearn needs a route where she tries to impress an anon who she thinks is a villager by taking him to loads of outside world places only to find out that he's actually an outsider and has been to half of them already

[Anonymous No.]

Do you guys think this is HSE? We are too lazy to do spin offs

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656581
no harm in discussing what we would do if we weren't lazy, though
I remember in the first thread a different anon wrote a one shot where he wound up with yachie, which would be a fun route to explore

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656512
A clueless anon from the village either in a similar orphaned background or just a bit dim and bored and looking for a new 'adventure' or a recently arrived anon from the Outside World not liking the village and deciding become a maid at the SDM with little if any clue about the place has all kinds of potential for different routes. Maybe a cute and comedic story, one similar to KMS with a romantic arc with one of the mansion's residents, a mix of all of them and a fun SoL story about daily life working in the SDM from the perspective of someone who knew nothing about the place or it's residents and who slowly learns everything about it and it's history and gets to know all of the residents.

Then there's always the Grimsokyo version that could go full gothic horror as our naive and unaware anon slowly learns the dark truths about the place and realises he had no choice if he wants the 'job' or not and there's no such thing as leaving now he knows too much..

[Anonymous No.]

I wanted one that goes back to that moment in the bathtub with reimu and he decides he chooses her, just to we can see what happens

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656676
Probably not that much changes, Reimu wouldn't be as good with romance as Yams i feel but a lot better at handling people and crowds, Yams would have an easier time getting over it because of her sisters, Marisa would be a lot more likely to find out, Kogasa would have probably been the one to craft the ring, Kasen would have been on a better mood during the arm arc, other than that i can't see that many things going too different.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656726
Maybe, but I wanted to see romance moments with reimu

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656676
I wish I could go back to that one as a self-insert character and choose that path. Hornyposting aside, that's still the one moment in the story I wish had gone differently. I never really cared much about Reimu as a character before I started reading KMS but writefag's version of her really grew on me and made me care about her.

It could always be a strange dream Anon has that provokes some interesting reactions from Doremy depending how far it goes on the scale of touching romantic novel to R18 doujin.

[Anonymous No.]

Reimu, Yams, Marisa, Tenko. Yeah yeah, nice girls and all, I get it. However, hear me out: There is only ONE route that we need to see. Only one singular heroine we need to see come to the forefront and stake her claim in Anon. Thats right? can you guess it? Can you feel it?
that's right!
DARK
HORSE
EIRIN

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656756
this brings back memories

[Anonymous No.]

What about the R18 doujin spin-off where Kisame isn't made aware of what happened to Anon at the cave and Reimu doesn't show up to help while Anon gets to find out just how resilient his peach is to a drunken tengu's sexual advances.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656777
Please do not NTR the yams!
Or she'll be coming for you

[Anonymous No.]

Yamame's family has a particular way of flying

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656884
Yamame is a thunderhu...
she can join Raiko, Tojiko and Iku, but she doesn't have the OL energy that they do

[Anonymous No.]

>>45656884
Every time Yamame flies her hair stands on end

[Anonymous No.]

I'd still kill for a Kasen route. Sadly it wasn't meant to be

[Anonymous No.]

>>45657148
which one?

[Anonymous No.]

"Can you get the thing?" The what? "The thing!" What thing? "The thing in the thi- Oh, it's not there...Where the hell is it!?" Reimu was yelling at me from the kitchen, and I was neck deep in the pantry. I heard her rapidly snapping her fingers before she poked her head out of the kitchen. "The - The other pan! This one's not big enough!" I frowned and looked around. Why wasn't it in the kitchen? "I don't know!" Reimu replied, exasperated. She patted her hands on her cooking apron and then put them on her hips. "But I need the thing- The pan!" She snapped her fingers and pointed at me as she remembered the name. I thought about it, trying to remember where the thing even was. "Try the spare room. I think I smacked Tenshi with it." I stared at her incredulously. That, I said, was probably why she'd said that she thought her brain had been knocked loose. "Yeah, well, she's always going on about how perfect she is as a celestial, so I'm sure she's fine." I frowned mightily, but sighed and slipped past Reimu as she spun around her kitchen, cutting, slicing, and dicing so many things that I could hardly keep up.

"Hey!" I heard Raki shout as I stepped out onto the veranda. I looked over and saw her heft a huge number of lanterns singlehandedly. "Why the hell am I doing this!?" She shouted at me. Shrugging, I shouted back that Lady Kasen had been sent to tell everyone when to show up and what to bring, so Raki had to put the lanterns leading from the village to the Shrine up and I had to assist with the alcohol and whatever odd jobs that Reimu needed done. "Yeah, but - No, I mean, why do I have to do - Do - This!?" She lifted her other hand. From it dangled Kuro by the scruff of her neck. "I'm not your cat sitter!" The cat didn't seem entirely bothered by the circumstances she had ended up in. I looked between Reimu, who I could still see moving around in the kitchen, and Raki, who was looking rather upset about the whole thing. I rubbed my chin in thought, then said that Lady Kasen's pets all loved Raki, so maybe she just had a natural talent with animals? "But - That's not - You-" She was spluttering now, and not making much sense. Now that I felt a little less afraid of her, I was finding that she was actually quite fun to tease. "Am I being punished?" She asked sharply, her eyes flashing. "Because I know I apologised for, uh...Well, you know."

I did know, and I assured her that she wasn't being punished for anything. But Reimu was busy in the kitchen and it could be dangerous for Kuro if something hot fell on her. "Yeah, but..." And, I continued, I was rushing back and forth finding things for Reimu and thus, was in danger of stepping on Kuro. Therefore, Raki, who would be heading floating down from the top of the Shrine and placing all of the lanterns for the part, was best qualified to keep Kuro safe. Plus, the cat seemed to like her. Also, privately, I thought it was rather adorable how Raki got so embarrassed about petting Kuro, so I was secretly looking for opportunities to make it happen some more. "Right..." Raki didn't look entirely sold on the idea, but- "Don't want to let anyone down..." I heard her mutter to herself, so I just stopped and watched her. "Fine! But you better not let this become a habit!" She placed the cat on her shoulder, and Kuro clung on in what looked to be a secure way, so I thought that things would probably be fine from there. "So, er, every lantern?" Raki asked me. I hadn't seen how it should look, since I'd not come to any of Reimu's big New Year parties before, but I assumed that was correct. All the way to the outskirts of the Human Village, apparently. "Never would have seen this before I got sealed..." Raki muttered, scratching her head with her free hand, the one with the very long and sharp nails. "Er...Okay, well, I'll get going, then." I thanked her on Reimu's behalf before she took to the air just above the snow and floated in the direction of the torii gate, presumably to work her way down.

I, meanwhile, finally located Reimu's bigger pan. It was in the corner of the spare room, against the wall, and looked like it had seen some heavy usage in the recent past. How many times had Reimu beaten Tenshi with it? Frowning, I picked it up and carried it back through to Reimu in the main room. "Finally!" She cried, rushing out of the kitchen and grabbing it off my hands. Frowning, I followed her back to the kitchen door, though I dared not enter unless she decided that I was in the way and the new pan I'd just given her was a tool to make me move. There was a lot of activity inside. A pot of something with the lid on was cooking, there was already something frying in oil, and Reimu was currently slicing an onion into thin strips to toss into the new pan, which she'd already dropped down and started heating. Frankly, I couldn't believe she was managing it all.

[Anonymous No.]

"Right, so..." Reimu said, tossing the chopped onion into the pan where it started sizzling immediately. "Marisa will already be out talking the whole thing up. Does it every year; That's why we don't need flyers. And she'll have Tenshi doing it too. Most everyone else already knows anyway, since it's a yearly tradition, but still...Who doesn't love a big party?" Reimu asked, gesturing toward me with the knife. Feeling vaguely threatened, I raised my hands and replied with 'Losers who don't donate.' "When have you ever donated?" Reimu asked me, a smirk on her face. I frowned, and she waved the knife in a dismissive gesture and finally put it back on the counter. "Right, whatever. Anyway, I've also always had another stipulation. Every group brings one thing to eat." I blinked, then stared at all of the food that Reimu was already cooking. "Trust me, it's a big party. This was, we get food from everywhere and I don't have to exhaust all of my supplies...Just a lot of them." Most of that being the alcohol, I presumed. "Pfft. Nah, everyone will bring more without me even having to ask. Trust me, tomorrow night, there'll be so much booze here that even an oni would be frightened. Oh, and Suika will probably be here, so that's even more alcohol from that gourd of hers."

I nodded slowly. It was shaping up to be something rather ridiculous. Just who would be there, I wondered. "Er...Let's see. Well, Tenshi will probably tell Yamame, since she knows where she lives." When exactly had Reimu massed all of these commands onto Tenshi, I interrupted to ask. "Oh, er...So, Marisa and Tenshi left this morning." I'd been wondering when they'd gone but hadn't found a chance to ask. "I gave them some instructions just before they went. Told Tenshi quietly to fetch Yamame, though I - Argh! I didn't tell her to invite her sisters!" I had a feeling that Kisami would somehow find out regardless. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd already planned to come, or if she'd actually been to a previous one. "Anyway, most people know already. We'll definitely get Yuyuko and Youmu, since Yuyuko would never miss out on a feast like this." I didn't think I'd met them. "Hmm...No, you wouldn't have. They're from the Netherworld. Hakugyokurou." That got me to raise my eyebrows. "Yuyuko's princess of the underworld or something equally flowery. She's a ghost, and Youmu is a half-phantom." A...Half-phantom. "Yeah, I don't get it either. She's a bit of a mean drunk, too, so stay away from her after a bit of time."

"Then, there's...Probably the Prismrivers. They love showing up to this sort of thing because it's a chance for them to show off and try to get some new work booked. There's another group, these two tsukumogami sisters, but I don't know if they're going to show up or not. They're a little quieter." I wondered who they were. I didn't think I'd met many tsukumogami, apart from when Yamame had accidentally misidentified herself as one because she was hungry. Or I was just bad at listening. We'd never really worked out which of us had made the mistake. I knew Kogasa, though it would be a lie to say we were on speaking terms. More...Run-and-hide terms. Wait, wasn't there..."Oh, yeah. there's...Raiko. Raiko Horikawa." She was the fourth member of the Prismrivers, wasn't she? "That's right. Think they changed their name then, too. Uh...Horismriver...?" I thought that was right. I'd not exactly run into them, but I had them to thank for a lot of internal injuries after Miss Narumi had fallen on top of me due to a lightning strike inside their mansion. I wondered if they remembered me. “Raiko’s quite a confident sort of person. She’s easy to get along with.” Coming from Reimu, I reflected, that was high praise.

Reimu had gotten back to work while I was thinking, and a steady stream of snacks were being prepared. Wasn't all of this going to be cold by the time the party started? "Have you never done prep work before? None of this is actually finished today. That'll be most of tomorrow's job while I make you go and do everything I can't do because I'm doing this!" She looked pretty cheerful about the fact, too. "Usually, I make Marisa do it. Or Sanae, or Kasen - Whoever's shown up and isn't doing anything. There's always someone. This year, it's you!" I was overjoyed, I replied dryly. Yamame would probably be fine with the whole thing. I hadn't heard her mention anything about any sort of New Year party that the Kurodani family would be throwing in the days of torture I'd just spent with her. That made me wonder if it was because of her reputation on the surface, as well as the fact that every day in Former Hell was a party anyway. She'd probably stayed away from the surface so that the villagers up here - Or Reimu, before they'd gotten to know each other - had gotten mad.

[Anonymous No.]

That thought made me feel a little sad, so I changed the subject and asked who else was likely to be on the guest list. "Bunch of fairies, definitely. They show up every time, without fail. Usually with some dumb scheme in mind, like selling animal bones. Sometimes it's something good like shaved ice, but it's Winter, so that'll be dumb too. There's three who live behind the Shrine, one who lives under the Shrine, and some more who come all the way to the Shrine. It's...almost annoying, but the weather's been keeping them away for the most part." I was about to ask why I hadn't seen any of them during the time I'd spent here. "Don't worry, it looks like we might have a day or two off from the snow, which is good. Oh, we're going to need to clear a lot more of the grounds, too...Hmm. That might be your job as well." My list of jobs seemed to be getting longer and longer and I wasn't sure how much I was looking forward to it anymore. There was only so far I could stretch the false positivity. "Oh, don't be a baby. I'm sure another freeloader will be around to help. There's always Aunn." Reimu told me, though she was still waving that knife around, so it came off a bit more threatening than I thought - Hoped - she'd intended.

Speaking of Aunn, I hadn't seen her in a while. "Oh, she's, uh..." Reimu paused with an uncertain look. "I think she's trying to make a snow sculpture of me. You saw the komainu ones she was doing before, right?" I nodded. "Yeah, I think she's taken it as a challenge, so she started doing one that she said would look like me. It, uh, doesn't. At least, not yet." I had thought the komainu she'd made had been fairly impressive, so maybe Aunn's work would turn out better than I'd anticipated. "Yeah, I would have her helping, but..." She trailed off, so I called her name in that insistent tone. "She looks really cute, alright!?" Reimu snapped. "And I didn't want to disturb her while she's having fun!" She looked somewhat vexed at having said it, and turned back to her chopping board. I asked her to please put the knife down. "...Why?" She asked me suspiciously. I repeated the request, and she sighed and did so. Then, I rushed in to hug the life out of her. "Gah! D-Don't - What are you- Ouch! I heard something pop! Too tight, too tight!" I'd trapped her arms behind me, and I could feel her waving them around frantically, but I didn't want to stop yet. Reimu was incredibly cute when she stopped pretending she was emotionally distant.

Eventually she started hitting me in the back, so I was forced to let her go. "What the hell was that for!?" She asked testily. "I don't mind you hugging me, but at least give me some warning!" I shook my head and apologised, then said that I'd just been very pleased to have Reimu in my life. "...Right." Reimu replied, the confusion evident in her voice. "Um, can you start clearing the alcohol out, now? Things are going to burn in here if you don't." I nodded and trundled past her and back to the pantry, where I pulled upon the door into the room where Reimu kept the alcohol that she got with all her parties, as well as all the jars that she was using for plum wine. Sighing, I began to pull bottles out, both traditional sake bottles and a number of glass bottles that looked like they had either held wine, or some western drinks. That, I couldn't imagine ending well, since the alcohol I'd tried in the outside world had been very strong. Especially with some of the more lightweight individuals I knew. Either way, I pulled it out regardless, since at least the tengu were heavy drinkers and Shameimaru was almost certainly going to show up.

The whole process took a while, and my back ached a little from all of the crouching down and standing back up at awkward angles, but finally, I had a large number of bottles from the collection, as well as a jar or two of the plum wine that Reimu had already made laid out upon her table. When the table creaked, I cursed under my breath and moved half of it to the floor. I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to do with the whole thing, so I just left it there for the moment and returned to the kitchen. "Oh! There's probably a Buddhist or two who'll...Actually, no. That head monk of theirs would never let them sneak off on New Years Eve. The Taoists, though...Maybe not Seiga, but I don't think you'd want to see her anyway." No, I rather thought I didn't. "Er...Who else, who else...Moriya lot won't come...They do their own little gathering at their Shrine. Some kind of quiet and relaxed thing. Sounded a bit boring if you ask me, but Sanae's always been a stick in the mud when it comes to alcohol. Beer pressure or something." I had no idea what that meant, but I didn't think Reimu did either if the way she said it was any indication. "Well, Sanae always shows up on the morning of New Years Eve, so we'll see her then, anyway."

[Anonymous No.]

All of this seemed to be going with the assumption that I would be staying here tonight, even though I hadn't mentioned any of it to Yamame. "Huh? Oh, er..." Reimu trailed off. "Sorry, I got, um, a bit carried away." I told her it was alright, but I'd probably have to go back to Yamame tonight. I'd try and be at the Shrine early tomorrow morning, though. That way, I'd be back early enough to help with the preparations for the day itself. "Right. Um, thanks, by the way." Anything for my big sister, I replied with a smile.

The sun was starting to go down when Reimu finished her cooking spree. "And...Done!" She said, letting the knife clatter to the counter. "I'll easily have it done in time tomorrow!" She stretched her arms and back, then sighed in relief as a couple more popping sounds emitted from her spine. "Alright, let's see that alcohol." She brushed past me and returned to her room. "Whoa! I didn't realise there was so much." I followed her in and found her taking a seat at the section of the table that I'd had to clear for fear of the whole thing collapsing. She picked up a bottle of sake and gently shook it. "Could you fetch a cup?" I nodded but fetched two instead. Reimu took one, filled it, then took a drink. "Oh, this'll do nicely." She sighed happily, but her mood didn't last. A moment of silence later, she told me to sit down and listen.

"I didn't want to tell you this one, but you need to know." She said, her voice suddenly a lot quieter. I moved closer and asked her if she was okay, pouring a drink for myself too as I did so. It did taste good, I found. "I'm fine. It's...It's you I'm worried about. There's one more party that'll show up. The Scarlet Devil Mansion." Okay? I wasn't sure what the issue was. I didn't particularly like Sakuya Izayoi, but I liked Meiling from what little I knew of her, and I liked Lady Patchouli too. "It's...not them." Then...Who? "It'll be Sakuya and Remilia Scarlet." I probably looked about as confused as I felt. "You've never met Remilia Scarlet before." No, I didn't think I had. "I...Okay, there's no point trying to be gentle about this. Listen. Remilia Scarlet orchestrated the Vampire Incident."

Reimu had turned to me when she'd said that. She'd taken my hands, or something. I wasn't really sure. I could hear a sort of ringing in my ears. She wouldn't lie about that. "She - She didn't know what she was doing. Didn't know the rules. Ever since then, she's been under an agreement to not attack anyone. Can - Can you hear me?" Reimu was asking me things. I was struggling to hear them. That meant - Remilia Scarlet was essentially the reason my parents were dead. The reason Kotohime had nearly lost her mind. The reason- "Listen!" Reimu shouted at me, and I snapped out of whatever had just been consuming me. She was gripping my hands tight. I faintly asked her why she was still alive. "The rules start with the troublemakers." Reimu told me seriously. "If Remilia had been killed in repayment for the incident, it would have been the end of the Spell Card Rules there and then. She's essentially an extremely powerful child, even if she tries to pretend otherwise. Look, I'm not telling you this to hurt you. We keep an eye on her. She thinks I'm interesting." I breathed in deeply and held it, then forced myself to release it. "Look, just...I'm telling you because you deserve to know. I shouldn't have kept quiet about it for so long." Another deep breath...

[Anonymous No.]

"So...Are we good?" I squeezed my eyes shut for several moments. I wasn't sure I'd be able to look at her. Remilia Scarlet. The person responsible for the death of my parents. "Hey..." Reimu was squeezing my hands tighter. "Are - We - Good?" I breathed in sharply and nodded. Yes, I said. We were good.

Because another thought, a blasphemous, guilty thought, had crossed my mind. If it hadn't been for that incident, and if my parents hadn't died in the way they did, my life would have been different. I would have still been one of the villagers, living my quiet life working the fields. Being terrified of youkai catching me after dark and still thinking that the Hakurei Shrine Maiden was a little bit scary. I'd never have been in the pub that night, and I'd never have overhead Marisa tell Reimu about her plan to offer romantic fulfilment services. I'd have never been half eaten by Rumia or crushed by Miss Narumi, or nearly enthralled by Seiga. I'd never have met Lady Hecatia or Lady Kasen. I'd never have met Tenshi or gotten that peach.

I'd never have met Yamame.

And for a split second, I thought that I was glad that it had happened. And that made me feel the guiltiest of all. "I - I'm sorry for not telling you." I opened my eyes again and nodded. I understood, I said. It wasn't...Good, but I understood why she'd elected to not bring it up. I...probably needed to speak to Eirin again. Tomorrow morning, maybe, before I came to the Shrine. "Right. Yeah, okay. Should - Um, should I come with you?" I shook my head. She was busy. Yamame would probably be happy to come with me after being in the house for so long. "Okay..." She mumbled, looking slightly despondent. I pulled her into a hug and told her that I was really okay. Slightly less okay than I had been, but I would be fine. "Right." Reimu nodded, but I could see that she was still feeling down. I hugged her again, but decided that I probably wasn't in the right mood to offer any real support. I decided that I should leave before the sun went down entirely. I promised Reimu that I would be back tomorrow, as soon as I could. She nodded, letting me step outside quietly. I felt like my head was spinning.

"Hey, I finished that-" Raki was stood knee-deep in the snow at the torii gate. Kuro had, at some point, managed to climb back onto one of her horns and sat there, licking her paw. I headed over and Raki met me at the edge of the veranda, down enough from Reimu's room that she couldn't see us anymore. "Oh, er...Are you, uh, okay?" She asked awkwardly. "You, uh, look a little..." I nodded and said that I was fine. "Is that, er, weird human language for 'not fine at all'?" She asked, looked me up and down. I blinked, then asked her why she was asking that. "Because, not that long ago...I was fine, too." She said quietly. in the Hot Springs Town, I thought. Kuro hopped down from her horn and padded into Reimu's room, where I heard the Shrine Maiden greet her. "Listen, um...I'm not very good at this, but You and Yamame did it for me, so, um..." She awkwardly spread her arms. "Do you - I mean, I'm offering - Hug?" She finally forced out, her face already slipping back into the embarrassment I'd seen on it earlier. I thought about saying that I was fine, but a moment later, I decided that it wasn't the case. I stepped forward and felt the inhuman oni wrap her arms around me. She had gotten a handle on the idea, because she squeezed tightly, but not so tight that it hurt. She smelt like roses. I remembered Lady Kasen telling me that she'd introduced herself to Reimu when they'd first met as Ibarakasen. Rose-flower hermit. "It, um, made me feel better." She whispered. I nodded and wrapped my arms around her in return, burying my face in her collar.

Sometimes, even an oni fighting her instincts could just be kind.

[Anonymous No.]

Oh man, it's going to be awkward knowing what Remilia did while she acts like a Saturday morning villain

[Anonymous No.]

>>45657319
>I didn't think I'd met many tsukumogami, apart from when Yamame had accidentally misidentified herself as one because she was hungry
kek
>>45657326
>The Taoists, though...
FUTO
i want futo futo futo futo futo futo

[Anonymous No.]

Are you going to update tomorrow?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45657555
Futo and Kokoro having a fight because Futo is the Joker to Kokoros Batman.
Except they aren't allowed to fight because their dad (Miko) told them not to.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45657217
>"You, uh, look a little..." I nodded and said that I was fine. "Is that, er, weird human language for 'not fine at all'?" She asked, looked me up and down. I blinked, then asked her why she was asking that. "Because, not that long ago...I was fine, too." She said quietly. in the Hot Springs Town, I thought. Kuro hopped down from her horn and padded into Reimu's room, where I heard the Shrine Maiden greet her. "Listen, um...I'm not very good at this, but You and Yamame did it for me, so, um..." She awkwardly spread her arms. "Do you - I mean, I'm offering - Hug?" She finally forced out, her face already slipping back into the embarrassment I'd seen on it earlier. I thought about saying that I was fine, but a moment later, I decided that it wasn't the case. I stepped forward and felt the inhuman oni wrap her arms around me. She had gotten a handle on the idea, because she squeezed tightly, but not so tight that it hurt. She smelt like roses. I remembered Lady Kasen telling me that she'd introduced herself to Reimu when they'd first met as Ibarakasen. Rose-flower hermit. "It, um, made me feel better." She whispered. I nodded and wrapped my arms around her in return, burying my face in her collar.
This one. Her awkwardly trying to comfort anon the way he and yams comforted her is adorable. Raki needs love.

[Anonymous No.]

>Multiple drunken oni expected
>Yuyuko and Youmu attending
>Clownpiece attending
>Cirno attending
>Aya attending after -that- day at her home
>SDM gang attending

So many of these could have some potentially chaotic and equally chaotic outcomes. Although I still suspect as Reimu fears the last one of the above is what really ends up making this a night to remember for either better or worse given both the historical context and the usual potential for mayhem around Remi.

>After brief tense moment clearing a space at the table for Remi and a few cold looks exchanged between Anon and Sakuya to the surprise of Reimu, Meiling jumps over to Anon and greets him with a massive hug, nearly rolling the pair of them on top of Reimu before doing the same with Yamame nearly causing her to jump out the tall gatekeepers arms and onto the ceiling. "Huh... You two know each other, how on earth?..", "Long story, I'll tell you more about it another day". Meiling takes a seat next to Yamame and the party continues on, Lady Patchouli also now taking a seat near the space Sakuya just cleared making a very slight smile at Anon and acknowledging him from the other side of the table. Just as it seemed after all both Anon and Reimu's concerns about that group turning up had began to subside, that was until Remilia slid open the a door into the hall, with devilish smirk. "I promised last year I'd bring some fireworks to send this year off with a bang and I didn't lie!" Remilia paused, the smirk growing as she put her fingers together and began to slide open the other door next to her. "I told her this was a bad idea, you have no idea what she'll be like around so many people..", the slight smile that had been on Lady Patchouli's face was immediately replaced by a bleak stare into the table as her head sunk in gloomy resignation. "Oh siiiiiiiis..." Remilia called out. "...kyu?....." A slightly smaller, but similarly dressed girl in red walked in through the door Remilia had just slid open. I was captivated slightly by the glittering, rainbow hued gems hanging from what looked like a strange pair of wings as she stopped, staring around the room with a look of confusion. But at the same time the entire room very abruptly fell silent, broken by the shattering noise of Reimu dropping her sake cup on the floor with a look as if she'd just seen a ghost other than the hungry one at the main food table.

[Anonymous No.]

Yuyuko already knows anon as "the man that can't resist yu-hearn chan's womanly charms"

[Anonymous No.]

>>45658076
I can see Yuyuko taking a liking to Anon and being very friendly with him, although that's as long as he doesn't try taking any food she has her eye on like his first encounter with Suwako. He's definitely in for a fun ride with her if Mystia also attends the party.

[Anonymous No.]

The end of year arc will take days until we can extract all the potential content

[Anonymous No.]

So when is Reimu going to have that awkward conversation with Anon about how she huffs Remillia for those sweet sweet rejuvenating vampire fumes?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45657959
Poor anons have been trying to introduce flan into the story for months and she continues to not appear

[Anonymous No.]

>>45667841
There's only so much the scarlet sisters can do with so many people that are friends with anon there, hell Remilia may help out with stopping Flan to not ruin the party

[Anonymous No.]

>>45667867
Flan would never even leave the basement even if she knew everyone else was going, even with her slightly more curious nature since EoSD. Although that in it's own right is a sidearc, what happens when Remilia, Patchouli, Sakuya and Meiling are all away at the party at the shrine leaving the SDM to only the fairies and Flan?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45668017
Flan has been going out a ton recently, mostly because of Okina and Hearn but still.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45668017
Hang out with Yuuma i guess

[Anonymous No.]

>>45668017
Given Sakuya's general temperament toward Meiling both in canon and in this, she'd probably say that Meiling had to stay at the gate, and Patchouli probably doesn't give half a shut about a party when she could be studying the orb

[Anonymous No.]

The true alternate reality
Anon, lives with the chupacabra NEET and slowly they fall in love with each other, eventually anon finds himself involved with all sorts of Yakuza escapades and only meets Yuuma who is mourning the supposed death of her friend near the end of the story

[Anonymous No.]

Keine rushed towards anons home when she heard the bad news, she began banging on the front door asking for him, to her relief after doing this for a while she heard foot steps coming from inside, her relief was short lived however, for the person who opened the door was not anon and instead some purple haired girl with a horn coming out of her forehead.

"Yeah?" she asked
"W-who are you? Where is anon?!" Keine was becoming frantic now
"Who?"
"The young man that lived in this house! Where is he?!"
The girl scratched her belly "this house was empty when i came in"
Keine grabbed her shoulders "how long?!"
"Uuuuuuuuuh two years? What day is it?"
"Ugh" Keine let go of the girl and began massaging her temples "has anyone else been in this house?"
The girl look at the ceiling "oh yeah, there was the green girl, i think she took something, some pants i think"
Keine got the girl to show her the drawer where the clothes have been taken from hoping to find some clues, sadly nothing was found "was anyone else here? Anyone?"
The girl looked at Keine, mouth hung open and a despondent stare "wait...hold on...the guy"
The guy?
"this guy came in and took some money, he said the house was his i think"
Keine was one word away from headbutting this girl into the ground like a nail
"Did he tell you where he was going?"
The girl stared blankly again
"Nevermind, just tell him Keine is looking for him if he comes back" the teacher walked back home, frustrated and worried.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45668532
stop making me feel even worse for keine, anon ;_;

[Anonymous No.]

damn that stupid arm is so cute

[Anonymous No.]

>>45668871
my former rapist can't be this cute!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45669204
yes she is

[Anonymous No.]

"You feel as if you had just gotten your balance, only for someone to set whatever you were standing on wobbling." Eirin said, looking up from her clipboard. I stared up at the ceiling and sighed. I supposed that was one way of putting it. "But - At the same time, you feel guilty." She continued. It wasn't a question, but a statement. I tried to find a way to respond but failed. "You said that you felt guilty because - On some level - you felt thankful that the events that happened did indeed occur, because it led to the current situation you are in today." I snapped slightly at this point and asked her if she was planning to just repeat everything I said. "If that is what it takes to make you understand it." She replied sharply. "Remember, I am not here to solve your problems. I am here for you to talk about them." Sitting on the chair behind the couch that I was lying on, I felt Yamame squeeze my hand. "Have I been accurate in my summary?"

Gritting my teeth, I told her that she had been. "Good. Now, let's discuss your feelings of guilt. What happened to your parents was not your fault." I knew that, I muttered. "Do you?" Was Eirin's measured reply. "Have you ever heard of survivor's guilt? It is a mindset where an individual feels guilt for surviving an event where others did not. It is not entirely relevant, but I think it lies adjacent to your problem. Do you believe that your parents would be upset with you for being thankful for things that have happened to you since they died, simply because they did not get to live to see it?" I mumbled something...But I didn't really have an answer. "The typical parent does not wish ill upon their children. They love and care for them in the hopes that they will live the best they possibly can." Eirin peered at me with her cold, grey eyes. "Even if they may not be there to see it."

I looked over at her. "Can you honestly tell me that you believe your parents would rather you had died with them? Or that they would rather the incident had never happened, even if it meant you ended up living a quiet, mundane life, just waiting for the flame of life to burn out? Would they prefer that rather than seeing you happy as you are now?" In the end, I supposed that I couldn't really know. I'd been young when they died. Honestly, I hadn't actually known them that well, when I thought about it. It was another one of those regrets. I’d never really gotten to know their pasts. "You feel guilty for almost feeling glad that the attack happened, because it led you to being the person you are now." I nodded silently, and Yamame squeezed my hand tighter. "You had no part in causing those events or your role in surviving them. Therefore, you have nothing to feel guilty about. If those events had any positive outcomes, then you should be thankful for them. It doesn't mean that you are celebrating the event as a whole." Eirin nodded and placed the clipboard to one side. "Now that we are at the end of this session, I have a question to ask you."

I sat up and looked at her, curious. She'd changed her outfit slightly. She was wearing a long, white coat. It looked thin, like it would be no good at all outside. In the breast pocket sat two pens and a pair of glasses, which were hooked into the pocket by one of the arms. I wouldn't have thought someone like Eirin needed them. "I do not need them." Eirin said, seeing where I was looking. "However, there are times when they are useful." She got to her feet and placed her hands behind her back. "When we started these sessions, we had a discussion about certain services that I believed you could offer me." Eirin watched me like I was a specimen. "I want to know if you are still willing to assist me with my experiments." Eirin asked, her eyes boring into mine. "These sessions are my repayment to you for your pain and suffering, so I will not attempt to force you into an agreement that assisting me is payment for your sessions. However, I would be tremendously appreciative." I told her that I was still willing to consider it, as long as it was clear that I was not suddenly going to wake up tied to a bed with more strange drugs coursing through my veins than blood and my brain leaking out of my ears from constant memory wipes.

[Anonymous No.]

"If it would please you, I may show you my bedroom so that you can confirm that I have indeed been sleeping in it." Eirin's voice had no humorous inflections, nor did it sound like it was suggestive in the slightest, so when I coughed harshly, she merely tilted her head. "Do you not wish to see my bedroom? It is important to me that you believe me, and if showing you my nightwear would help-" No, I choked out through the spit I'd swallowed wrong. I believed her, though I privately wondered if she was just messing with me or if she genuinely didn't understand what she was proposing. Eirin Yagokoro did seem, despite her more than adequate services for my sessions, like the sort of person who didn't really understand what human beings did. I was also fairly certain that Reisen, and especially Tewi, would be keeping an eye on Eirin in the future to ensure a situation like hers didn't happen again. Tewi would probably have a mallet trained on her, actually. Plus, Yamame would probably inflict every disease under the sun on me if I said yes. And I'd probably ask her to.

Either way, I told her that I was happy to help, as long as she didn't try and dissect me. "I will not be trying to dissect you." Eirin repeated slightly lazily. Then, I replied, I was happy to help. "Excellent. I presume that you will be continuing these sessions into the new year?" I nodded. "Good. I will discuss with you further then. I still believe that we have a chance at success, especially now that my mindset has cleared." We all stood, ready to leave, when Yamame suddenly piped up. She'd been sitting behind me for most of the meeting and hadn't said much of anything. I'd assumed it was just because she didn't think it was the sort of thing she should be offering her opinion on, but now I was wondered if it was because she'd been deep in thought about something of her own.

"Oh, um, Miss Yagokoro? Can I, er, ask you a question?" Eirin's watery grey eyes switched from me to my spider. "It's, um, a private issue. I think. Sort of." I turned to her and asked her quietly if she was okay. "Yes, yes..." She whispered back. "It's nothing for you to worry about. Didn't you want to get to the Shrine, too?" I did, but I was hoping that Yamame would be with me. "I'll join you after." She insisted, nodding along. "Come on, shift. You don't need to - Hover. I'll be fine."

"Miss Kurodani, if you have a private issue to discuss, then let us deal with it now." Eirin's sharp gaze switched back to me. "In private, if the patient so wishes." She told me, so I raised my hands and told her that I took the point. Giving Yamame a quick hug and a kiss, I left her to Eirin's tender ministrations. I wondered if I should have been more worried, but I knew that Yamame could take care of herself far more than I could against someone like Eirin. Still, I shot Eirin a look before I stepped out of the room, and she stared back without any sign of being phased. Yamame smiled at me and nodded, and I reluctantly allowed the door to shut in front of me. I almost considered pressing my ear against the door to try and listen in, but I knew that Eirin would probably know, and it would be a betrayal of Yamame's trust.

So, I left Eientei, navigated the Bamboo Forest and all of the snow carpeting the floor, traipsed through the village and wished Oseki and the old man who ran the café a happy new year, doubled back to Keine's home to wish her a happy new year too, only to find out that she was already planning to come to the party at the Shrine because she knew that I would be there, and then finally got out of the village and onto the path toward the Shrine.

Raki had done her job excellently, and lanterns guided the way to the Shrine at perfect intervals. I couldn't imagine anyone getting lost like this. The lanterns weren't actually lit, so someone would be coming back down here when it started to go dark, but I was reasonably hopeful that it wouldn't be me. Then again, Reimu did seem to enjoy sending me on these sorts of tasks. Thinking about Reimu made me feel a little nervous. I hadn't exactly left things in a good spot yesterday. Not necessarily because I was angry at her, but because I'd been struggling to process what she'd told me and as a result, I'd felt like I needed to get out of there before I did something bad. But as a result, I'd left Reimu feeling down, and I wanted to apologise for it. I didn't know how I would handle seeing Remilia Scarlet tonight. I'd never seen her before, but I'd heard about her. Reimu had been insistent that she was essentially a child, and I wondered if I'd be able to reconcile the image of her with the person who had started the incident that had gotten my parents, and several others killed.

[Anonymous No.]

In the end, all I could do was try to keep my cool. No matter how hard it became. I wondered who else would be there. Reimu had mentioned Remilia and Sakuya, but hadn't mentioned Meiling, Patchouli, or the mysterious sister of Remilia Scarlet, who I'd only heard mentioned offhand once or twice. Reimu had once exclaimed that she wished that the sister had blown up the moon for her. I still wasn't entirely sure if she was joking. Plenty of the people I had met, but it sounded like there would also be a number that I hadn't met. Yuyuko and Youmu, for one. I'd never actually met the Prismrivers or Raiko Horikawa, even if I knew of them all by way of the accidental crushing they had sort of been responsible for. The only Taoist I'd met hadn't left much of a good impression. There had been some other names, but honestly, I knew a rather eclectic group of people and there were still plenty of people that Reimu had fought over the years that I hadn't met. I wondered if Hearn would be there. Everyone had spoken about her hibernation thing as if it was an absolute, and she wouldn't show up until Spring. I wondered if that was really true. She didn't even want to celebrate the new year with Reimu? Well, I thought as the uncleared steps of the Hakurei Shrine came into view - Apart from where I could see the footprints of me trudging down the stairs yesterday.

Deciding that I'd best just start now, I brushed the snow off to the sides of the steps as I headed up them. It made the journey much longer and more strenuous, but it was still fairly early morning when I made it to the top, panting for breath. The Shrine's courtyard was also not cleared, and I groaned as I bent over and rested against my knees. That, it seemed, would be my entire day. Hopefully it'd keep Reimu from making me do anything that involved running up and down the steps.

Speaking of Reimu, I could see her already, walking down the veranda. Next to her, dressed in her usual Shrine Maiden outfit with the addition of a thick scarf and a big coat, was Miss Sanae. I could hear a clacking sort of sound, which I soon saw was the addition of kanjiki on her feet. I wondered if the Moriya had made them on their own or if they'd bought them. They looked to be made out of some sort of pliant branch, and while they were tied with string, it didn't look like the sort of string I saw in use in the village. It still seemed to serve its purpose and keep secured to Miss Sanae's boots. I really should have invested in some of those at some point. Wading through the snow was exhausting. I wondered why she hadn't taken them off, but I figured that perhaps she'd not been planning to come inside the Shrine properly, and as such, hadn't bothered to remove them. Or, maybe she had been in the Shrine, and was only just now getting ready to leave. Either way, I trudged over, bemoaning the snow. Miss Sanae had a shovel slung over her back. That, I thought, would have been handier.

"-Still don't know why you don't clear it, Reimu! It's just a tiny bit more work, and it would save me having to come all the way down here on New Year's Eve!" Miss Sanae was complaining to Reimu, who looked like she'd heard this lecture more than once. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something that Reimu neglected to do. A lot of Lady Kasen's stories in the summer had involved Reimu either being too lazy to do something or getting too fixated on the wrong thing. "You know how much Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako like to spend the last day of the year together!"

"Do I?" Reimu asked, scratching her ear like it was starting to ache. "I think I'd remember something like that. I guess I had to forget that in exchange for fitting another one of your rants in. It's still not my job, Sanae. It's your branch shrine. Why would I spend time clearing my competitor's branch shrine when I've already got so much work to do setting up the party? That i- My dear brother hasn't shown up yet, so the courtyard's not clear, and-" At that point, Reimu caught sight of me. Her eyes lit up for a moment, before becoming more subdued. She was probably thinking about how poorly we'd left things yesterday, too. "Ah. There he is." She spoke. Miss Sanae looked over at me but managed to keep her cool. The last time I saw her, she'd very loudly proclaimed me to be the 'freaky t-shirt weirdo's freaky t-shirt buyer', so I was hoping not to get a repeat of that. I headed over to the veranda and kicked my boots free of the snow. "Hey." Reimu said, nodding toward me. "You've met Sanae before, right?" I turned to Miss Sanae, who seemed much calmer than the last time I'd seen her. I nodded and said hello politely.

[Anonymous No.]

"Er, yes. Um, hello, Mister...Reimu's brother." Miss Sanae looked at me, then turned back to Reimu and mouthed "Him?" Reimu's eyes narrowed, and she slapped Sanae on the back of the head, the way that Kanako Yasaka had done to her in the Hot Springs Town. "Ouch!" Sanae cried, her palm going to the back of her head. "What was that for?" Reimu just gave her a significant look. "U-Um, right. How do you do?" She asked me, bowing lightly. After a bit of small talk following those lines, I asked her what she'd been talking to Reimu about when I'd got here. "Oh, um...Well, have you seen the branch shrine for the Moriya Shrine over there?" She pointed back toward the courtyard, just off on the far side. I could see the branch shrine from here, a tiny thing that had been completely buried in snow yesterday, which was why I'd completely missed it. I'd probably noticed it before the snow had hit, but once it had, I'd almost forgotten its existence. "That was a branch shrine we established before the ropeway to the Moriya Shrine was finished, so I still come out on New Year's Eve to see if there's any offerings. There's a couple more small shrines in the village, too." I had definitely seen some of those. "But, Reimu here-!"

Another slap to the head. Miss Sanae actually had a tear or two in the corners of her eyes now. While she exclaimed in pain and rubbed her head, Reimu continued the explanation. "Reimu here," She began, glaring at Sanae, "Does not have any obligation to clean her competitor's branch shrine. In fact, Reimu here," She poked a thumb against her chest, "Is entirely concerned about the preparations for tonight's party. Sanae here," She poked the green-haired Shrine Maiden in the forehead, "Is spending an awful lot of time complaining at me after drinking my tea and refusing my alcohol, and she's not even planning to come to the party tonight." Miss Sanae, to her credit, didn't look all that chastised. "Anything else you want to complain about, Sanae? Clothes? Hair?" Reimu leaned in a little closer. "Boys?"

"Reimu!" Miss Sanae cried. "Stop teasing me!" She yelped and ducked just in time to miss Reimu's next swing for her head. "Not this time! Ha!" Reimu then smacked her arm while she was mid-sentence. "Never aga- Ouch!" She cried. This was starting to feel like some sort of comedy routine. After a moment's standoff, things seemed to calm down slightly, and Miss Sanae edged closer to me. "Hey, um, I was wondering...You're with that spider, Yamame, right?" I nodded. "Well...Did Lady Kanako really...Er, play matchmaker with you and her?" I breathed out deeply. Since Miss Sanae was a Shrine Maiden, I double checked by asking if her gods could hear me at the moment. "Oh, er, no. They're usually really good about my privacy." Second, I asked her if she thought that Kanako had done it. "Um...No? I don't think so, anyway. But, um, did she?" Silently, I shook my head. She'd come closer to doing the exact opposite. Personally, I thought she probably wasn't quite cut out to be a matchmaker.

"You think so too!?" She asked, hopping slightly closer. For a moment, I wondered if I'd actually seen stars in her eyes, or if it had just been my imagination. "I didn't want to say anything because she seemed really happy about it, but I know I saw you and that spider's face when she said that you were her finest work, and it was definitely not the face of someone who was pleased with what she said! I mean, you both looked really hungover, so maybe it was just that...Why was Lady Suwako at that party, anyway? I don't like getting caught up in all that stuff, so I didn't go when she asked me, but-" At that point, it seemed like she was rambling, and Reimu was clearly sick of it because she smacked Sanae in the back of the head again. "-But then I thought that maybe I was just being a stick in the mud, and I should have actually gone. Oh! Was there any non-alcoholic drinks there? I used to really like - Ouch!" This time, both hands went to the back of her head. "Reimu, please stop hitting me!" She cried at the red-and-white Shrine Maiden, who eyed her lazily.

"I can start kicking you instead, if you'd prefer." Reimu replied.

[Anonymous No.]

Miss Sanae jumped. "N-No, um, Reimu! That's fine. Thank you for allowing the branch shrine to stay here!" She nodded a lot to go with her rushed words. "Um, Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako are thankful too! In fact, I think I hear them calling for me!" She tapped her head and nodded somewhat excessively. "I'm sorry I can't come to your party tonight, Reimu. And, um, I'm sorry for calling you a freaky T-shirt buyer." The last part was directed toward me, and I felt grateful that I was wearing a sweater over any incriminating T-shirts I might have been wearing. She moved out of Reimu's reach, then paused and turned back to me. "Um, by the way..." She looked at me again, or rather, at my coat. "Where did you get that coat?" She asked me, frowning. I frowned right back and told her that Yamame had made it for me. "R-Really? So, um, it's not from the Outside World or something?" I shook my head, feeling a little confused. I asked Miss Sanae why she was curious. "It's just - Um, it looks familiar. I'm certain I saw something that looked like it before I came to Gensokyo." She was rubbing her head. "Can't remember..." She snapped her fingers a few times, then, curiously, she turned to Reimu. "Um, I know this is probably a mistake, but can you smack me in the back of the head once more?"

"Once...more?" Reimu repeated blankly, staring at Miss Sanae like she'd grown another head. "Sounds like the last hit knocked any intelligence you had left out. Uh, sure, whatever. Definitely not complaining." So, with Miss Sanae squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her fists, Reimu whacked her once more.

"Ouch!" She cried, clamping her hands over the back of her head. "Ah-ha!" She followed up with, pointing a finger at me. "Dante!" ...Who? "I was never allowed to play that video games like that, you see! "Oh, it's too violent, Sanae! It'll corrupt your mind! Video games are for children!" That's what my mother and father always said, but I had a friend who had a PlayStation Two and she bought this game called-" Absolutely none of this was making any sense. I didn't even know what a play-stay-shun was, or what a video game was.

Reimu looked almost used to it, and she stepped forward and wrapped a hand around Miss Sanae's mouth. "Alright, that's enough out of you. C'mon, get going. We've got a lot of work to do for tonight." Reimu began pushing Miss Sanae off in the direction of the torii gate, looking over her shoulder and me and mouthing "She speaks a lot of nonsense." At me. I couldn't say she was wrong.

"Wait, Reimu – But - he's wearing - Those clothes are definitely-" Sanae was trying to protest while Reimu shoved her off away from the Shrine. Finally, she tripped and was forced to take to the air before she fell headfirst down the steps. "Oh, fine! I'll find out later, I swear! Happy New Year, by the way!" She shouted at us, before turning and shooting off into the sky.

Reimu stomped back over to me, looking quite put out. "She was even more nonsensical than usual this year. Who asks someone to slap them?" I was more confused about what half the things she'd said had meant. "No one knows. No one ever knows. No one will ever know. If I have to hear her tell me how good Dragon Quest is one more time..." She shook her head. "How was Eirin?" She asked me. Fine, I replied. Well, mostly fine. She offered to show me to her bedroom. "She - She what!?" Reimu all but screeched. "Alright, I've got to hear this. Come on, the courtyard can wait." No words were said about yesterday, or about what would happen with Remilia Scarlet tonight. Instead, we were going to gossip about a doctor.

And there we were. Just like normal people.

[Anonymous No.]

Happy new year writefriend

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671149
Well now i'm picturing Kronk dressed like Dante

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671196
Happy new year to you and everyone else reading this.
I only wish I'd thought of the new years party a day or two earlier and I could have actually had it finish by tonight. Alas, here we are.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671655
It's okay man, take it easy, it's still gonna be the 1st when you wake up.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671262
Who is? send a pic

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671655
Happy new year, dude! Strangely enough your little story has warped the last 5 months of my life in ways I couldn't have anticipated. But I'm not complaining ヽ(´∇`)ノ

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671149
Sanae is such a cute dork going on about DQ and other ps2 classics

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671655
Happy year of the Dragon you crazy bastard.
at least now you don't have to rush things for the next real world event and can take your time with the new years party chapter.
Any plans to include the animal spirits that were revealed to still be hanging about in Gensokyo?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671149
>That's what my mother and father always said
Y'know, I gotta wonder, how are her parents doing? How did they react to their daughter getting a job offer from ancient goddess grandma requiring her to permanently relocate to a sealed off part of the country no one has ever heard of?
Anyway, Sanae is a fun character. It would be cool to see more of her at some point.

>>45671655
Happy new year buddy.
Also, thanks for featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series as a visual for Anon's coat. I could never picture how his outfit looked in my head until now.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45671113
>"If it would please you, I may show you my bedroom so that you can confirm that I have indeed been sleeping in it." Eirin's voice had no humorous inflections, nor did it sound like it was suggestive in the slightest, so when I coughed harshly, she merely tilted her head. "Do you not wish to see my bedroom? It is important to me that you believe me, and if showing you my nightwear would help-"
where's dark horse eirin anon
it's his time

[Anonymous No.]

>>45675351
Probably already dead
>>45675411
After so long writeanon gave him a new year gift

[Anonymous No.]

>at party
>Remilia is curious about this so called brother of Reimu
>Yamame and Reimu are nervous
>Anon's experiance in dealing with Tenshi kicks in and humors her
>Remilia finds anon interesting
>surprisingly anon seems to fare well and be okay
>other youkais start talking with anon
>Remilia finds a random human being the center of party unpleasant
>Remilia starts flaunting about how the peace that villagers and whole Gensoukyo enjoy nowadays is thanks to her "masterful and charismatic" plan and anon should feel thankful to her that this was achieved with few "trivial and insignificant" human sacrifice
>everyone is feeling awkward and anon is shifting between panic attack and rage mode
>picrel
I hereby officially request dork Sakuya from writeanon and if my demands are not met in 72 hours I will commit sudoku

[Anonymous No.]

>>45676039
Anon will come prepared
>spoiler
It would be funny but I don't know if sakuya from writeanon fits into this

[Anonymous No.]

After drinking for hours, feeling too hot and a bit off from being surrounded by so many youkai inside the main hall, Anon takes a few minutes to go stand out on the veranda and cool off in the night air for a bit. Thinking he's alone and starting to lose himself in his thoughts he's startled when something grabs his sleeve from out of view.

"Hey mister, do you want to see New Year fireworks together?"

Startled and without thinking anon reflex punches the small youkai square in the face before coming to his senses and realising who he just punched. Fearing the worst retaliation possible he braces and fearfully looks down at Remilia Scarlet only to see *pic related*. Anon just stands there confused, this was the terrifying youkai that caused the Vampire Incident and had half the party on edge after she arrived?

Some more moments passed and then anon heard a call from out of view.

"Mistre-..."

Sakuya Izayoi walked through the doors out onto the veranda and paused, looked down at the still cowering bat girl and then makes direct eye contact with the most murderous look Anon has ever seen in his life, sliding a watch out of her pocket..

TO BE CONTINUED

[Anonymous No.]

I like the idea of Sakuya throwing knives at him but they just kinda bounce off his skin like Yamame's fangs. Also, I hope Raki properly apologizes for putting her teeth on Yamame's man because that was def not cool

[Anonymous No.]

Will the tengu get drunk again?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45677365
It's the last party at the shrine all over again, the question is not if but who will she try and corner after enough tengu sake

[Anonymous No.]

Hey Keine is invited right? This is the perfect time for her to meet her daughter in law

[Anonymous No.]

I considered it a testament to how much the arm of Ibaraki-douji had changed as I watched Reimu boss both her and Lady Kasen around as preparations for the party shot into overdrive. I couldn't imagine the oni who'd been described to me readily agreeing when Reimu yelled from the kitchen for her to go and light the candles on all of the lanterns leading toward the Shrine from the village. I was stuck shovelling the courtyard and hoping that the ache in my back wasn't permanent, but that did mean I got to hear Reimu's stress spill over and listen as she ordered Lady Kasen out of the kitchen to help me, which was nice. "Consider this," She said, patting me on the shoulder, "As training, since you never managed to come up and visit me." I tried protesting and saying that I'd been busy, but the teasing glint in her eye let me know that she'd been joking as her bandaged hand shot over to the other side of the Shrine and picked up a second shovel.

The shovelling took a lot of energy, and once we were finished, even Lady Kasen looked a little bit out of breath. Together, we both staggered back to the veranda and fell against the wall, panting and trying to get some air in our lungs. Fortunately, Reimu was busy cooking four things at once, so she didn't have the time to come out and yell at us to do anything more. Personally, I thought that things looked prepared, anyway. It seemed like Reimu was just stressing for the sake of it, and I wasn't sure if trying to go and talk to her would get me a knife, needle or gohei thrown at my head...Or worse. I decided that she was probably doing fine, so I just let my head rest against the wall of the Shrine. "Phew..." I heard another panting voice say, and I looked up to see Raki staggering across the courtyard. She collapsed onto the veranda, breathing even harder than Lady Kasen and I were. After a moment, she tried to get up, only to fall back against my shoulder. Almost immediately, her body relaxed, and I could tell that she'd fallen asleep. A moment after that, I felt her unconsciously wrap her hands around my arm and snuggle closer, and I resigned myself to not being able to move any time soon. It was...Just slightly adorable. Another plus was that she was too close to accidentally stab me with her horns if she turned her head.

"Ah..." Lady Kasen murmured. "I was wondering when she'd pass out." Carefully turning my head so I wouldn't wake the sleeping oni, I asked her what she meant. "Well, I think..." She trailed off, looking around, then shifted slightly closer so she could whisper to me. "Don't tell anyone?" I nodded immediately. "Even Yamame, if you wouldn't mind. It's not that I don't trust her, but it isn't my news to spread like wildfire." Slightly less immediate, but I nodded again. I could handle keeping this a secret, if it was important to Lady Kasen and Raki. "Thank you. She's...been having nightmares. It only started recently, about when we came back from Former Hell." I looked down at Raki, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully at the moment. "She won't tell me what she's having nightmares about, but...Well, we're still one and the same. I know what it probably is."

Lady Kasen moved around to Raki's other side. She'd fallen asleep sitting against me and with her legs sticking out across the veranda. I didn't expect that Lady Kasen would tell me what the nightmares were about, so instead, I asked her how Raki was doing in general. "She's not been sleeping very much." Lady Kasen told me with an intense frown. "Denies it if I ask, but she's exhausted. That's why she's crashed just now. “Lady Kasen reached over and very gently brushed a few strands of hair from Raki's face. "I guess...It's progress, in a way. She's doing so much better in terms of fighting her instincts now. I just wish it didn't have to come at the cost of her own well-being. I've been trying to get her to sleep more, but..." But what? I was starting to wonder what could make an oni like Raki feel uncomfortable enough to have nightmares. "I think..." Lady Kasen lowered her voice even further. "I think because she spent so long sealed in the darkness of Avici, she, um, doesn't like sleeping alone." Lady Kasen mumbled, looking rather guilty about it. "I guess that's my fault, huh? I left her sealed away again." I shook my head. From what I'd learnt, Lady Kasen had been looking for her arm for a long time. She'd already beaten herself up enough about the period after Reimu and Tenshi had fought her in Former Hell, when she'd sealed Raki again, but she had no business beating herself up about the time before that. Lady Kasen watched me silently for a moment before smiling. "I've been a bad influence on you, I think. I'm supposed to lecture you, not the other way around." That got me to laugh a little.

[Anonymous No.]

I idly wondered if Raki could grip tight enough in her sleep to shatter my arm, but then decided that it probably wasn't worth thinking about. I certainly wasn't getting that arm back easily now. Quietly, I asked Lady Kasen if she'd given any thought to the idea of merging. She got a little more subdued then. "I don't know." She finally said. "I thought it was a simple question, but since she's been out, I'm not so sure anymore. She deserves her own happiness." So did Lady Kasen, I replied. Was it impossible to separate again after merging? I knew it was possible with the blade that Lady Kasen had given Reimu a fragment of before she had freed Raki, but... "It's...Well, I can't say I know for sure. It's not an exact science, after all. I doubt there's many cases like ours. In fact, I'd be surprised if there was another case like ours at all. I...Suppose it might be possible? But what would be the point in merging at all in that case?" Privately, I was absolutely dying to know what Ibaraki-douji was like, but it wasn't my place. Lady Kasen and Raki had to make this decision themselves.

I had a different question to ask, anyway. Lady Kasen had got to great lengths to keep her oni nature a secret, but since Raki had been around, she'd been down to Former Hell and just before now, Raki had been off near the village lighting the lanterns. What had changed? "Oh, well, we came up with a plan!" Lady Kasen looked very pleased with herself. I wondered what she'd come up with. Surely it was something elegant and thought out which couldn't possibly- "We're just going to act really annoyed and exasperated whenever anyone points out that we look the same! Eventually, they'll stop asking and it'll seem like we're just really sick of the question!" I stared blankly. Then, I stared slightly less blankly. Then, I wondered if I should re-evaluate every interaction I'd had with Lady Kasen. Faintly, I asked her if that was really going to work. "Yes, trust me. Look, if there's one thing that everyone in Gensokyo lacks, it's common sense. It's like...Imagine someone sees up both and says "Oh no! Kasen and that oni are the same person!" And Raki replied "That can't be true, because Kasen doesn't have horns and I do, so she can't be me." Honestly? They'd probably believe it." I felt my jaw drop and I shook my head slightly. This sounded like something out of those weird tengu comedy manga that I'd found hidden on a shelf in Suzunaan once. "What?" Lady Kasen asked me. "You shouldn't doubt me, you know. I've been training you for all this time."

Faintly, I asked her if we could come up with an alternative plan, just...In case. Through the whole thing, Raki slept away, looking quite peaceful. I almost felt like patting her on the head. "What are you lot doing out- Oh." Reimu's head poked out of the Shrine's doors. "What - Er, is everything okay?" I looked over at her with a silent plea, then explained what Lady Kasen's plan was. Reimu's reaction was worse than mine, and she burst into laughter almost immediately, which made Raki tighten her grip. I thought I felt my bones creak, so I frantically waved my free hand to make Reimu calm down, then asked for her opinion. She rubbed her chin for a moment. "Change her hairstyle. I think I've got some of that makeup stuff that Sanae used to mention from time to time. Shouldn't be too hard to make her look just a little different to you, enough to sell the lie." Would that...Really work? "Probably. Everyone seems pretty convinced that Kasen the hermit isn't an oni, so she must have been doing something right. I did it to Suika once, too. She sat around the human village for a while looking pretty silly, but no one was shouting about oni." I didn't believe her. Surely someone would have noticed. "Never underestimate how happy people are to look past something that might be dangerous to them." Reimu told me somewhat ominously.

After we'd extracted my arm from Raki's grip, which had involved Lady Kasen and some secret weak points that she forced Reimu and I to close our eyes for which had made Raki go slack, we moved Raki into a spare bedroom so she could get some rest without being disturbed. I wondered if she was going to start getting nightmares, but Lady Kasen promised to stay with her. It seemed that despite what I'd said, Lady Kasen still was beating herself up about sealing Raki again. I hoped that she'd be able to work past it in the future. "So, where's Yamame, anyway?" Reimu asked me. I'd told her when I'd arrived, but she had been gone for an awfully long time. The sky was just starting to darken, though I imagined that the party itself wouldn't really get going until some time after that. Midnight was still plenty of hours away, so there was no reason for... "Uh." Reimu eloquently said.

[Anonymous No.]

We'd walked into the largest room of the Shrine. Here was where Reimu had laid out all of the surfaces she had to place food and drinks on. There was a silly amount of food. If I'd been worried that all of the alcohol would destroy the table, then the food surely wood. Plates, trays and platters of every kind were spread across the surface. It'd probably have fed an army. Probably. Except, some of it was already gone.

At the end of the table was a girl. She looked graceful and fairly young. No later than her late teenage years, if I had to guess. Her hair was a pleasing shade of pink, a little lighter than Lady Kasen's. Atop her head was a light blue cap, which hung down the back of her head and had a hitaikakushi attached to the top of it. On said hitaikakushi was a symbol I recognized as a swirling red ghost insignia. She wore a kimono which was a similarly light blue with patterns sewn into it that seemed to represent flowers. The kimono was tied with blue ribbons that were a deeper colour than that of the kimono itself, almost getting close to the purple of a late evening. She'd taken her shoes off when she'd entered, because I could see them by the door, complete with big bows on them at the top of the foot. Her socks were complete with strings tied into the top of them which were the same colour as the ribbons. More frills adorned her arms and the collars, and a black string was tied in a much looser bow at her collarbone. In her hand was a pair of chopsticks. I'd estimate that about a fifth of what Reimu had prepared was already in her stomach.

"Yuyuko! Stop eating all the food, you stupid ghost!" Reimu roared. "That's it! You're paying me back for that!" Her gohei, which I hadn't even noticed leaning against the door, was suddenly in her hand as she dived forward and over the table, completely missing any of the food itself.

"Wah!" The ghost, who must have been the Yuyuko that Reimu had mentioned from Hakugyokurou, cried before scrambling to the side and out of the way of Reimu's gohei. She half took to the air to get some momentum and continued to scramble around the room, just barely staying ahead of Reimu's swings. "Kyah!" She squealed as the gohei came very close to her back. "I thought this was a party, Reimu..." Her voice was the vocal equivalent of mochi. The best way I could think to describe it was that it sounded like it would taste sweet, if you could eat a voice, which was in itself a very strange thing to say. As I was thinking about this, I almost missed the next development in the saga unfolding before me. "Youmu~! Reimu's being mean to me!" Yuyuko called, diving to the side once more as Reimu brought the gohei down toward her head.

And then, there was a sound. Like the scraping of steel against wood, for a split second. Following it was a louder sound, this one sounding like the gohei hitting metal. I blinked, but everything felt slow and sluggish. In the path of Reimu's gohei was a sword. A very large, very sharp katana, the blade pointed away from the gohei and into the ground. There was someone holding it. My mind whirled, seeming a thousand times faster than my brain, but suddenly, the effect ended and everything seemed to be moving at a normal speed. Reimu's gohei had been blocked. The katana hadn't moved in the slightest, despite the weight pressing on it. Holding it was a girl. White hair, a black bow. She was facing away from me, but her outfit was green, deep in colour with a pattern going around the hem of her skirt in the shape of a ghost. Her saya, the traditional katana sheath, was strapped to her back, running from her shoulder down and diagonal, though she was currently crouched at an angle with her feet spread to absorb the impact of the gohei. On her lower back, horizontal, was a smaller saya. This, I thought, was probably a washizaki. The girl's foot shifted, and she suddenly forced Reimu's gohei upward, making Reimu stumble back slightly and sending the arm which was gripping the gohei backward and off balance. The girl spun, and I caught a glance at her piercing blue eyes before she had readied the katana again.

"I must insist that you desist from attacking my lady." Her voice, unlike Yuyuko's, was a bit huskier. Slightly rough and awkward sounding, like she was caught somewhere between gravelly and smoothly. "Regardless of any offenses she may have committed." Her eyes shifted toward Yuyuko, who was steadying her hat on her head. Now that I looked a little closer at she who must have been Youmu, her jaw was clenched and there was annoyance in her eyes.

[Anonymous No.]

"Right..." Reimu muttered, slamming the butt of the gohei against the floor. "Tell her to apologise and I'll consider it even." She looked more than annoyed with the events as she placed the gohei back against the wall and come over to me. "Let me introduce you." She said, turning and raising a hand toward Youmu, who'd moved over to Yuyuko and was checking on her. Or possibly convincing her to apologise. While she did so, she slid her katana back into the sheathe, an act which seemed to take some creative positioning given that the sword was about as long as she was tall. "Youmu Konpaku," Her hand shifted to the ghost, "And Yuyuko Saigyouji. They're the ones from Hakugyokurou." She got in closer to whisper. "And a pair of troublemakers, too. Youmu's a mean drunk and Yuyuko tried to steal Spring. Plus, she's a massive eater." I frowned and looked back down at her, but my attention was stolen.

"Reimu~" Yuyuko cried, rushing forward and throwing her arms - Completely enveloped by her kimono's sleeves - around the Shrine Maiden. "I'm sorry!" She continued, calling over Reimu's insistence that she stop. "I really did think this was free to take!" She sounded just as airy and light as she had before, which I found quite impressive. "Oh, but it's mean to call me a massive eater...I just like to eat a little, that's all!" Reimu finally shoved Yuyuko off and she fell to the floor with a slight cry. I saw Youmu's hand go back to the katana that she'd just sheathed, though she relaxed after a second when Yuyuko got back to her feet and bowed in apology. "So...We're too early, aren't we?" Yuyuko asked. Her voice was really perfect for positive emotions, because even the simple question sounded full of wonder. “Oh…I was certain I’d gotten it right this time! Youmu~ You didn’t tell me!”

"I told you that before practice this morning, and before we left, Lady Yuyuko..." I heard Youmu say as she walked over. Now that the fight had stopped, I had a new word to describe her. Stiff. Everything about Youmu Konpaku seemed stiff. Her posture was stiff. Her walk was stiff. Even her words were stiff, like she was measuring them carefully. Even when she turned her head, it seemed stiff. Given her skill with the katana, I wondered if she'd had an especially strict teacher. "You said that you didn't want to be late." She sighed the heavy sigh of a servant. "This happened last year..."

"Oh, but Youmu~" Yuyuko replied slowly. "I was excited to see Reimu's new brother!" She suddenly turned to me. I'd sort of blended into the background at that point, so I jumped slightly when I realised that there were eyes on me. "Hello~" She exclaimed in a sort of breathy voice to me, suddenly getting closer. "My dear friend told me all about you." Her...Dear friend? I awkwardly introduced myself and asked her who this friend was. "Um...You call her Hearn. She said that I shouldn't tell you her real name. Oh, it's quite bothersome..." I definitely understood that. Every time I met Hearn, she had to do something else to keep her real name from getting out. I assumed it was probably Y.Y, since that had been the initials that Yamame and I had seen on the nightwear that Hearn was wearing when she'd accidentally sleep-kidnapped us. "So...You're the one who charmed my dear friend!" Yuyuko asked me cheerfully. "She told me that you were in her bedroom, doing amorous things~"

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt a headache forming.

While I tried to fight back the oncoming headache, I heard Reimu and Youmu talking. "I, er, apologise, Reimu." Youmu was saying. "Lady Yuyuko insisted." She bowed deeply. "I hope that this will not cause any problems." Still stiff, I thought as Yuyuko tried to press me for more details concerning Hearn and I. Since there really weren't any, I didn't have much to say on the subject. I wondered if I should just loudly proclaim that I was in a relationship with Yamame already.

[Anonymous No.]

"Yeah, no, it's..." Reimu was replying, nodding lazily. "Kind of expected it, actually. That's why I made so much food. Figured I’d head her off. Did you guys, er..." She motioned vaguely with her hands.

"Ah. Yes. Allow me to just..." Youmu moved off somewhere out of sight. Yuyuko was trying to attract my attention for an answer on whether I'd seen 'that mole on Hearn's chest', which I was electing not to answer. Yuyuko seemed like a bit of an airhead to me. Not in a bad way, I didn't think, but the kind of person who could just accidentally reveal some big secret without thinking about it. I was surprised that she hadn't revealed Hearn's real name from the start. Still, I wondered if this was something she was exaggerating or not. I heard footsteps, and then Youmu's voice. "Yes, er, here you go, Reimu. Thank you for having us." At this point, I was forced to back away from Yuyuko, who seemed to keep getting closer, and escape toward Reimu, who was holding a stack of covered bowls, which seemed to be both meat and rice. It looked somewhat like the food I had made Yamame once upon a time. "It's not much, but I hope that I've made enough." Youmu continued. It seemed like she felt that she needed to keep justifying the food she'd brought.

"It'll be fine..." Reimu said, nodding. She turned her head toward Yuyuko. "You!" Yuyuko, who'd apparently been sneaking up on me, turned her head toward Reimu. "Do not eat this. Not until the party starts! No matter how big your appetite is." She placed the bowls on the table, filling the space that had been created by Yuyuko starting to eat. "Alright, that's one lot...Who's gonna be next...?" She muttered to herself.

"Reimu~ I don't have a big appetite~!" Yuyuko cried, her face looking a little red. "You're being so mean to me today!" Reimu's arm reached toward her gohei and Yuyuko shrunk back. "Eek! Reimu's scaring me, Youmu!"

Youmu just looked confused. "Lady Yuyuko, you've never been scared of Reimu before. "

"But she's threatening me, Youmu...Can't you defend me?" Yuyuko looked at Youmu with an exaggerated pitiful look. Youmu's eye twitched. Then, sighing all the while, she stepped over to Yuyuko's side. "Yay~" She cheered. "Thank you, Youmu!" I was already fairly certain that I’d worked out the dynamic between the two. The devoted servant who was constantly annoyed by her master’s whims, and the bubbly, airheaded master who asked unreasonable things of her servant.

Reimu and I looked at each other, then Reimu sighed. "Well, you're already here, so...Do you want a drink?" That got Yuyuko to cheer again, and before long, the pair were sat down, with Youmu pouring Yuyuko a drink from one of the bottles of sake that she'd deemed acceptable. Reimu stepped back over to me. "Wouldn't buy Yuyuko's airhead act if I were you." She breathed in my ear, quiet enough that Yuyuko shouldn't have been able to hear. "If these are the first two, how the hell are we going to make it through the rest of the night?" That, I replied, was a very good question. "And where's Yamame got to? Seriously, she'll miss midnight at this right."

That was a very good question too.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45680477
>At this point, I was forced to back away from Yuyuko, who seemed to keep getting closer
oh no

[Anonymous No.]

>>45680813
The Christmas cake sisters...

[Anonymous No.]

>>45680468
>"She told me that you were in her bedroom, doing amorous things~"
damn yukari

[Anonymous No.]

Why is Miyoi bullying Raki?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45681019
>Why is Miyoi bullying Raki?
Raki's past is bullying Raki, Miyoi had to actually hang around with you to fuck with your dreams.
Raki gets more huggable by the day. I want to stroke her hair

[Anonymous No.]

>>45681358
But Miyoi was there, did you forget?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45680813
At least Anon said nothing about the heavenly peach before Yuyuko started having thoughts about what he tastes like, or more what happens if she tries to take a bite.

[Anonymous No.]

Hrrrnghhhhh where is our route where we can sleep with Raki and tell her everything's gonna be okay

[Anonymous No.]

>>45681672
That would have been a part of the Kasen route, if it existed. Every chapter with this wild and horny hermit and her serial murderapist arm intensifies my desire for a spinoff.

[Anonymous No.]

The monthly H.A.G. meetings took a weird turn after Eirin stopped attending them.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45680884
Who is this Yukari? I only know of Hearn.

[Anonymous No.]

It's been a few months after the wedding, anon and Yamame are walking through the village, she wanted to visit Kozusu for a couple of books on raising children, the lump on her stomach was quite noticeable now.
Anon decided to wait outside the building, he was lugging around quite a number of goods ranging from baby food to a crib and would rather not enter such a small building with all of that, he set it all on top of a bench and took a look around the village, it was nice to see it full of life.
As he looked around he noticed a peculiar looking girl, she had a sizeable backpack and a big hat was covering most of the top of her head, similar to Yamame she had a familiar lump on her, anon cold have sworn she saw a girl like that not long ago during the first Hakurei party he ever attended, similarly a girl walking with her with brown hair and what seemed like mountain hag clothes also looked like one of the girls he saw passed out on the same party, just as they were about to enter a shop the first girl turned around to what looked like a moving tower of boxes, she gave whoever was behind it some instructions and then walked inside along with the other girl, the tower of boxes approached a bench and was placed on top of it by a man with white hair and glasses.
His physique was...similar to anon's, as the man looked around he and anon suddenly looked eyes.
They both stood there staring at each other, as still as statues for what seemed like minutes.
Finally the man broke the silence
"Yo ANON CHAN!"

[Anonymous No.]

"I just don't get what was wrong with our ide- Ouch!" Raki was complaining as Reimu brushed back her hair. "You're really lucky I haven't drunk anything yet. I should punch your lights out for - Gah! Stop - Pulling - So - Hard!" It didn't seem to be going well.

"It's not my fault you never brush your hair!" Reimu replied sharply. "I don't know why it sticks out like it does, but we're trying to make you," She yanked slightly harder and Raki cried out again, "Not look like her!" She pointed over Raki's shoulder at Lady Kasen, who was watching the whole thing and looking very sympathetic. "Still, you're a lot more reasonable now then you were before." Reimu couldn't see it from where she was kneeling behind Raki, but I caught the pleased expression that crossed her face for a split second. "Now - If only - This - Was - Reasonable!" Each word was punctuated with another yank of the brush and another pained yelp from Raki. I was starting to feel a little sorry for her now, but also quite proud that she was willing to withstand it rather than let her temper get the better of her. IT was nice to see.

It seemed that, fortunately for the partygoers who had yet to arrive, Yuyuko's appetite was far larger than her drinking habits, and once she and Youmu had been redirected away from the food and toward the alcohol, we seemed to be safe from sudden food shortages. The sun had more or less set by now, and the sky was a deep, dark blue, bordering on black. We were in the back room of the Shrine, where we'd carried Raki to sleep after she'd passed out on my arm earlier. Lady Kasen had been watching over her, which was also nice to see considering how fractured their relationship had been right after Raki had been unsealed. I was stood by the door, from which I could see out across the veranda and to the torii gate, which was now cast in flickering and jumping shadows from the lanterns that Raki had lit earlier. "Reimu, maybe you should let me-" Lady Kasen tried to speak, but Reimu, who was now gritting her teeth and had a hand on Raki's shoulder as a brace, wasn't hearing it.

"I've - Got - This." She growled. After I spotted a tear in the corner of Raki's eye, I decided that she did not, in fact, have this. Sighing, I unfolded my arms and strode over to Reimu, who'd gotten the brush tangled in a particularly stubborn knot in Raki's hair. I crouched down, then used a moment of opportunity to wrap my arms around Reimu and lift her up. "Wh-What the!? Hey, put me down!" Reimu tried to both punch and kick me at the same time, which fortunately meant that she missed both times. After a moment, Reimu finally managed to get her feet back on the ground and let me pull her over to the side, though she didn't look very happy about it. "What was that for?" She asked me grouchily. I pointedly looked at her, then at Raki's hair. "What? Do you agree with Kasen?" That, she seemed very displeased about, so I raised my hands and said that I just thought she might be better off making sure Yuyuko wasn't eating all of the food. "You're lying," She told me with a mutinous look, "But clearly I'm not trusted here, so I'll just let you get on with it." She turned and stormed out of the room before I could get another word in.

We watched her go. I'd upset her, I muttered ruefully. "Yes, well..." Lady Kasen said, stepping over to me and putting a hand on my shoulder. "She'll be fine. She's always like this until people start arriving for the party. Once she's had some sake, she'll forget it ever happened." I hoped so.

"Er, can we not just leave me like this?" Raki asked impatiently. "Now I've got a brush stuck in my hair." I stepped over and sat down behind her, then very gently coaxed the brush back out by delicately untangling her pink locks. I'd done Reimu's hair before during the storm, and I'd been made to do Yamame's more than once, usually when we'd had to take a bath following our...time in the bedroom. Not to mention, I'd been forced to do Lady Kasen's once or twice as part of my training, though I suspected it was more to do with her attempts to get Reimu and I into a relationship. As a result, I felt like I'd gotten a little better at handling a girl's hair, especially since Yamame's hair was so voluminous already. With the brush freed, I took a gentler approach, very slowly running the brush through Raki's hair and using my fingers to pull the knots free with as little pain as I could. It probably still hurt, though. "Oh, that's...Much better." Raki mumbled. "Why's Reimu got to yank like she's trying to pull my hair out?" I frowned too, because I'd had my hair brushed by Reimu once before and it had been quite a pleasant experience. Maybe she was more stressed than I thought.

[Anonymous No.]

Reimu had been attempting to comb her hair back. I thought the plan might have been to tie it up so that she looked a little less like Lady Kasen, so while I was brushing Raki's hair back, Lady Kasen went to talk Reimu back into helping. "You're, um, quite good at this." Raki told me. I laughed lightly and said that I'd been somewhat forced into having lots of practice. "It's nice..." She mumbled. "Kasen did it once or twice, but it's not like having someone else do it for you. Can hardly remember the last time..." She seemed to draw her arms in a little closer at that point. Things were silent for a few moments while I tried to wrestle her bangs back and draw the hair away from her face. "Hey...Do you...Um, like me?" I paused, then asked her what she meant. "Just...As a person. Do you like me?" Raki seemed to have frozen, and when I put my hand on her shoulder, she both jumped, and felt incredibly tense. I thought for a moment. Yes, I did. More than I'd realised. She was a little bit scary, and I hadn't quite forgotten the time she'd bitten me straight through my clothing, but I found her desire to grow as a person very admirable, as well as her determination to not do anything that'd lose Lady Kasen's trust. I'd been quite happy to hear her apologise to me after she'd almost tried to come onto me in Former Hell, since I had thought that it was probably one of the biggest markers of her progress yet.

Finally replying, I said that I did quite like her. I thought that Reimu did too, even if she wasn't very good at showing it. And despite our initial worries about the whole thing before Raki had been unsealed, I was at least very proud of her for her work. "...Huh." Raki muttered. I wished I could see her face right now, but I settled for continuing to gently brush her hair back. "That feels...Nice. All warm in my chest..." Curious, I asked her what had brought the question on. "It's just...I never really had a human friend. Before I was sealed, oni were feared and hated, and then...Well, yeah." She didn't seem to like talking about when she was sealed. I couldn't say I blamed her. "Thank you. For being my friend." She said quietly. I felt like hugging her them, but I managed to restrain myself and instead said thank you in return for working so hard to change.

"Oh, am I allowed to be involved now?" I looked up to see Reimu, her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed. Lady Kasen had a hand on her shoulder, which she was squeezing quite hard. "I see you've managed to get her hair back." I nodded and stepped back. Reimu stalked forward, though she stopped beside me. "Sorry." She muttered. "I just got a bit-" I shook my head and cut her off to tell her that it was okay. I wasn't upset. "...Thanks." She said with a thin smile. I smiled back as she knelt down behind Raki. Curious, I asked her if Yuyuko and Youmu were doing okay. "Oh, them? Yeah, they're fine. Youmu's fine as long as Yuyuko's fine, and Yuyuko's got plenty of food and drink to distract her, so she's fine too." That was good, I supposed. Had anyone else arrived? "Yeah. The Prismrivers have shown up, along with Raiko. I think they're setting up outside. Also...A certain slacker from the Sanzu River. I'm fairly sure she's supposed to be working, but..." Komachi had arrived too? That was nice. I hadn't seen her since she'd been beaten up by all of the oni in Lady Kasen's dojo. "Anyway, let's see what we're working with here." Reimu ran her hands through Raki's hair, as if testing the flexibility of it.

While she got started, I ambled back to the door. I was looking out over the veranda when I caught a flash of something over at the steps. At first, I wasn't entirely sure what it was. It looked like a walking pile of cloth. But at the top was blonde hair. Frowning, I stepped away from the room, then off of the veranda and got a little closer. At that point, I realised that it was not a walking pile of cloth. It was, in fact, Yamame Kurodani, bundled into so many clothes that I was amazed she could walk at all. Next to her, beaming and looking entirely too pleased with herself, was Kisami. She was not dressed like Yamame. Instead, she'd decided that she wanted to impress, because she'd decided to wear a suit. Exactly like the ones that I'd seen Ran wear in Australia and Finland, and Doremy wear in my dreams. I wasn't sure how she'd got hold of it, or even learnt about it, but I was sure that it fit her body very well. Her hair, just like always, stuck out in every direction, both hanging down her back and coming over her front in two long bunches that curled at the end. I rushed out to meet them, since I'd been starting to get a little worried about Yamame. She was sweating, I realised as I got closer, and looked absolutely murderous. "Oh, thank goodness!" Kisami cried, rushing forward and grabbing me by the shoulders. "Do you have a warm blanket!? I fear this poor girl might catch the chills!" I stared at her speechlessly, then looked over at Yamame.

[Anonymous No.]

Before I could help myself, I blurted out that she looked like a ball. She glared at me with murder in her eyes. "You are so lucky that I can't bite you." She growled. In my defence, she really did look like a ball. It seemed like she'd been shoved into every single coat she owned to the point that her arms were sticking out since all the cloth in the way meant she couldn't lower them, and the increasing number of coats had made her look wider and wider. "Can you please call Reimu to beat my dear sister to death? I'd ask you to do it, but you love her too much." I eyed Kisami, who waved at me cheerfully, then asked Yamame if she didn't love her too much as well. "Not right now, I don't !" She exclaimed. She did sound very upset, so I sighed and helped her over to the veranda , where I sat her down. Kisami followed us over, looking very casual about her extremely upset little sister. I began to help Yamame pull all of the layers off as she couldn't do it herself thanks to her arms being all but stuck. While I did so, I explained to her that Reimu was busy with something, so she couldn't kill Kisami for her.

"Ooh, that's a shame." Kisami said lazily, taking a seat on the other side of Yamame, who tried to smack her with her stuck out arm. "Don't worry, Yams. You'll thank me in the end. I'm just keeping you safe. You'll be too cold since you've just moulted." I asked Kisami why she was fine, then. "Haven't moulted! Not sure when that'll be. But I've gotta do my part as an overprotective big sister."

"You'll be an overprotective dead big sister when I'm through with you." Yamame muttered. "So dead, that I'll - Ouch - Ouch!" She cried. "Are you trying to break my arms?" Sharply, she directed that question toward me. I frowned and apologised, but pointed out that I couldn't pull the sleeves off of her arms without some awkward positioning. With Yamame watching me closely, I pulled her arm back just enough that the sleeve came free, and I decided that I'd best pull as many sleeves off as I could before her arm fell off. She griped the entire time about how much it ached, and I was certain that I'd gone into the double digits in terms of layers, but finally, I got down to her bare arm. "Ooh..." She moaned painfully, massaging her shoulder. "See, you had to almost hurt me to get those off. Surely that's worth smacking Ki around a few times, right?" I rolled my eyes and pulled all of the layers off from the other side.

Immediately, Yamame spun and thumped Kisami in the stomach, and she doubled over as the breath was forced out of her lungs. I lunged forward and dragged her back before she could try a second time. "Ooh..." Kisami groaned. "No, it's fine...She's fine. Aren't you, Yams?" Yamame didn't look like she was about to attack again, so I released her. "She'll moan, but she knows I'm just doing what's best for her." With a wide smile, Kisami hopped to her feet. "So, the big Hakurei New Years Party, huh? I've been before, but I don't remember a single thing that happened, so I might as well be here for the first time." I wondered if that should be something I was worried about. Shrugging, I mentioned that some people were already here. "The Pri- Wait, The Prismrivers? Like, Horismriver!?" I found myself backing up slightly on the veranda when Kisami suddenly shot back around to me. "They're here!? Are they gonna play!?" I...Thought so? They were probably around the back, setting up their instruments or whatever it was musicians did before they started playing. "Oh, I gotta go and see! Bye, Yams! If you get cold, I'll come and put all those layers back on for you!" And with that, Kisami was off, disappearing around the corner of the Shrine at speeds I had yet to see her move at.

"She really likes the Prismrivers." Yamame muttered dryly. "So do Reiko and Ruka, though Reiko will do her best to convince you otherwise. Nai's not heard them yet, but it seems like the sort of thing she'd be into." She fell back into the pile of coats that she'd built up, breathing heavily. "Heavy with all of those..." She whined, squeezing her eyes shut. "And way too hot. Ugh, I'm all sweaty." I helped her sit back up and gave her a kiss, then said that I didn't mind all that much. "Cute." She replied, smiling. "But considering we've still got hours before midnight, it's a little uncomfortable. What do you think of the outfit?"

[Anonymous No.]

I hadn't even noticed, but she'd elected to wear something that I hadn't seen before. It was a dress that left her shoulders bare, a dark black in colour with golden bands crossing her navel. The outfit just barely dodged showing any cleavage, and on the sleeves, I could see a blood-red pattern encircling the cloth. It wasn't like a blood stain, but more like a few delicately placed droplets. Something...Was looking familiar. Yamame must have noticed because she directed me toward her back. In small calligraphy, also blood-red, 'Hell's Finest' was written right at the top of the dress. The back of the outfit was tight and hugged the arch of Yamame's back, and it was cut so that a portion of her back was visible. I assumed this was just about where her spider limbs would be if she were to manifest them. Her bow was still black with gold patterns, but instead of the usual bun, she'd tied it into a single, long ponytail. Unlike Kisami, her hair was still capable of being marshalled into shape, and not a strand seemed out of place.

All in all, I thought it - And she - were absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. "I, um, had some help. Miss Hecatia and I worked on it while you were out. There's a scarf if it gets too cold." I nodded as I gently ran my fingers down the exposed part of her back. Yamame's back arched even more at that, and she let out a shaky breath. "S-She said she'll try and be here tonight, but she didn't know when..." Her eyes looked a little wild. "M-Maybe don't do that...It's a bit too...Stimulating." Forcing my hand away, I nodded. "I'll, er, go and put all of these coats somewhere." She hopped up, then turned and gathered up all of the coats, which sent her staggering backward. I rushed over to steady her, which meant that my hand touched her back again, and she shivered with her full body. "N-No, it's fine. Don't worry, I'll just put them...In Reimu's room. She'll understand, right?" Right, I replied, letting her float up to the veranda and stagger into Reimu's room.

Speaking of, I suddenly saw Reimu burst out of the room she'd been with Raki in. "So, apparently I can't brush hair or apply that makeup stuff! "Sorry, Reimu, but I think I should do this bit!" Who does she think she is!?" She stomped over to me, and I opened my mouth to ask her what she'd been doing. "Don't start! I'm not in the mood. Ugh, I need a drink. Where the hell is everyone!? It has to be nearly time by now." I decided to keep my mouth shut, but silently reflected that Lady Kasen was right and Reimu did seem to be rather high-strung. I decided that I'd rather deal with that now, so I asked her what had her so stressed. I got being stressed because she was the host, but she seemed a little beyond that. "I'm not stressed!" She replied in the way a very stressed person would. Silently, I went and offered her one of the bottles. Not the sake, but one of the fancier outside world bottles. She glared at me for a moment, but took it and had a drink. "Ah-" She began, before coughing harshly. "Oh, that's strong." She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut before looking at me. "Look, I'm just - Worried about Remi and Sakuya." I slowly nodded. I was a little worried too, but I was determined to treat them normally. "Yeah, but-" And suddenly, we weren't alone in the room.

Sakuya Izayoi's cold eyes gazed at us both. "Reimu. I need fourteen-and-a-half napkins." She stated, her voice just as devoid of emotion as it had been the last time I'd met her. "My mistress was very specific." Reimu, it seemed, did not take well to the sudden appearance, because she shouted and dropped the bottle. At least, that was what it looked like, because one instant, it was falling, and the next, it was in Sakuya's hand.

"Ugh, you have to stop doing that." Reimu grumbled, snatching the bottle back from the maid. "I don't care if it's convenient. And - Where the hell is all my food?" She said, pointing at the table, which was now completely empty. "I swear, if Yuyuko ate-"

"Outside." Was the reply. "Where my mistress requested it to be." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I see you haven't been eaten yet." She suddenly said to me. "Perhaps a round of congratulations is in order." Sharply, I told her that it wouldn't be necessary. "Reimu, the napkins. I need to fulfil my mistress's request."

[Anonymous No.]

"Uh, there." Reimu said blankly, pointing out a stack. "You know, you shouldn't really be moving all of my food around without even asking me. How am I supposed to-" And then, Sakuya disappeared. "...Keep track of everything..." Reimu muttered to the thin air. "Typical. She's got no sense at all. Just does whatever she wants because she thinks Remi's word supersedes everything else." I was a little confused. Where'd she taken it all? "Outside. The back, which is where I assume everyone else is. Where's Yamame? I'm sure I saw her sister run past the room I was in." Kisami was looking for the Prismrivers and Yamame was putting away the eleven different coats she'd somehow been forced to put on. "Eleven...What?" I was not joking. "Uh...Right. Well, I guess we'd better get out around the back." I followed Reimu out and around the veranda. Lady Kasen had shut the door to the room that she and Raki were in, so I assumed they'd be out later. I was starting to hear noise, a lot of talking and laughing. And some music, though it didn't sound like a full song yet. We finally reached the back of the Shrine properly.

There was a large open space near the pond, which was where the snow had been cleared and a massive blanket had been set out. Already, there were a lot of people around. I saw Miss Narumi, talking to Marisa and Tenshi, and Miss Kosuzu from Suzunaan was talking animatedly to Shameimaru, who looked far more put together than the last time I'd seen her. There was Kisami, over by a tall, redheaded girl in a white suit jacket and a skirt. Her shoes looked strange, with stick-things build into the heels that ended in big circular objects. Given that she was sitting on a large drum, I thought that this was probably Raiko Horikawa. There were plenty more people, both youkai and what I recognized to be humans from the village, including a man I'd seen handing out flyers in the village for a festival at the Shrine once. "They'll probably move to the front of the Shrine before long. It's usually the way it goes. I guess Remi wants to eat in secret and Sakuya just moved everything and everyone for it. Typical."

I could already see her. Sat in the centre of the blanket with Sakuya Izayoi sat beside her. Tiny, the size of a child no older than ten, her hair a periwinkle shade underneath the massive mob cap on her head. Her clothes a faded pink with a large, red jewel at the collar. But it was the wide, leathery bat wings that I could see on her back that defined her. A vampire. The vampire. Remilia Scarlet.

[Anonymous No.]

Then, she started coughing. A high-pitched, childish sound. "Sakuya!" She cried. "It's too hot!" Her voice, too. Was this really someone who could have brought together the incident that killed my parents?

"Are you quite certain, Mistress? The temperature should be-" Sakuya's voice sounded a little confused.

"Not the temperature, Sakuya! The spice!" Remilia Scarlet was whining. "It's too spicy!" She grabbed one of the napkins and gave it to Sakuya, who...Took care of it, somehow. I didn't really want to know. "Why did you bring me this half of a napkin? What am I supposed to do with half a napkin?"

"You said to bring you fourteen and a half napkins. I arranged them, look." Sakuya indicated the remaining napkins, which had apparently folded themselves into very complex shapes in the space of a split second.

"That's - Very...Interesting, Sakuya, but how am I supposed to use them for their intended purpose when they're all supporting each other's weight? I was exaggerating, you know?" Now, she just sounded confused. Probably about as confused as I felt, watching the whole exchange. "It's not a very useful design, is it?"

"Rather, mistress, I think it's a rather avant-garde design." I didn't know what that meant, but it looked like Reimu was getting sick of standing around.

"So, you snuck all of my food out just so you could complain about it?" She asked, stalking forward with her arms crossed. "And you didn't even bother with the alcohol? What kind of maid are you?" Remilia and Sakuya turned to look at Reimu.

"Ah, Reimu!" Remilia exclaimed, hopping to her feet. As I'd thought, she was tiny. Barely up to Reimu's waist, I thought. "I'm sure you're glad that I've graced your party tonight. It's quite the honour, is it not?" She had dropped her voice lower, something which I could approximate to a child's concept of a charismatic and charming voice. "I do apologize, but it seems that Sakuya here was unable to locate any wine amongst your collection. As such, I've brought my own." She raised a glass which contained a dark red liquid. "Now, you've been avoiding me, haven't you?"

"Didn't see you making any effort either." Reimu muttered in response. "It didn't rain every day."

"Wh- Yes, but-" Ah, there it was. I knew it couldn't last forever. "You were - I mean, there was a human, and - Wait, it's him!" She cried, pointing at me. Now, I felt put on the spot. "Hello, you interesting little human. I am the Eternally Young Scarlet Devil, Remilia Scarlet." I think I was supposed to be impressed, but I managed to keep myself calm and introduce myself in turn. "You have been keeping my favourite Shrine Maiden from me. Tell me, are you the one she calls her brother now?"

"Wait, how do you-?" Reimu tried to ask.

"There's nothing you know that I don't know, Reimu." Remilia told her haughtily.

"How do you perform a Cogon Grass Ring ritual?" Reimu asked dryly and without a moment's hesitation. I got the feeling that it was the sort of thing that she'd failed to respond to in the past and was determined to bite back with tonight.

Remilia stared at her with a smug smile. Then continued staring. The moment stretched into two which collected into a third. "Sakuya?" She suddenly asked casually.

The maid, who'd been re-arranging the napkins a second time, suddenly jumped. It was about the most emotion I'd ever seen her display. She muttered something under her breath, then looked between everyone. "U-Um, Reimu, why don't you tell us more about this brother of yours?" Everyone involved knew that Reimu had won that little exchange.

As I sat down opposite Remilia Scarlet, I thought that she was nothing like I'd expected.

It looked like it was going to be a long night.

[Anonymous No.]

Charming as usual

[Anonymous No.]

After Yamame joined us the conversation quickly turned to outfits and fashion. Remilia could barely hide her fascination in Yamame's dress and asked if it was from the Outside World because it looked more stylish than anything normally found in Gensokyo. Yamame blushed slightly but before she could so more, Remilia cut in.

"For a maid, Sakuya actually has some interest in fashion you know. She has these Outside World things she likes to wear when we go to parties or have them at my mansion. But she gets angry with the other maids or the gatekeeper whenever they mention it, so it must be because they're very good and she wants no-one else to copy her!"

Yamame and I humored her a little with a slgihtyl confused smile, not knowing what exactly the vampire had just gone on a tangent about. Reimu tried to hide a slight giggle as I now wondered if this was an in-joke I somehow missed the punchline of.

"Sakuyaaaa!"
"Mistress yes? Show our new friends here the Outside World clothes like to wear for parties like tonight!"

Unexpectedly and starling Yamame, the little vampire girl jumped to her feet, sailing through the air onto Sakuya's back, but grabbing her waistcoat too hard and ripping it along with her shirt open for the entire group of us sitting on the blanket, revealing both her bra and some strange spongy things stuffed inside.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"

The maid let out a panicked cry, showing more emotion than I think any of us had ever seen from her before and dropping an entire tray of drinks as Reimu snorted most of a cup of sake in laughter. Yamame almost went as red in the face as Sakuya as before I could speak I was interrupted by a swoosh of wind and a flurry of bright flashes shooting across me and blinding me momentarily.

My eyes came around again and the maid had vanished as someway further across the grass at the back of the shrine, only appearing some distance away in a cloud of snow as I heard the ear piecing screech of some kind of bird-like youkai scream. As more powdered snow cleared in a small drift I saw a furious Sakuya, standing one foot on top of a shrieking Shameimaru with the latter's camera over one arm who'd had a trail of daggers peppered across her back. Reimu was still both choking and laughing herself to death next to me as Remilia stood there with an awkward grin, having almost as little idea what just happened as I...

[Anonymous No.]

hnggggh <3

also poor Anon. imagine having your family die but you can't even be mad at the killer because she's too retarded. they made an Ace Attorney case like that

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690757
It's on the same level as a drunk driver

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690757
It's fine, Seija was the real bad guy in anons spesific case anyway.
Remi is allowed to be charismatic and cute, honestly Yamame should keep her man close or he might fall for her charms by accident.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690418
>While she got started, I ambled back to the door. I was looking out over the veranda when I caught a flash of something over at the steps. At first, I wasn't entirely sure what it was. It looked like a walking pile of cloth.
I thought that you were to introduce Remilia like this for a second. All in all, it would have been an accurate way to describe her attire.
>>45690444
>"Not the temperature, Sakuya! The spice!" Remilia Scarlet was whining. "It's too spicy!"
Reimu needs to pour something bitter into Remilia's glass so her charisma breaks even further.
>It looked like it was going to be a long night.
Nice.
The next few updates should be very interesting.

[Anonymous No.]

What do you guys think yamame was talking to eirin about?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45693829
She was asking how many human babies fit in a sack and how many she should weave.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45693829
"Are they going to come out as eggs or babies?"

[Anonymous No.]

I hate Remilia, and in the one page she's appeared so far, Writefriend managed to capture everything about her attitude in canon that annoys me. Let's see how this goes.

>>45690757
Which game? I have never played Ace Attorney and now I'm curious as to how that was handled.

>>45691051
It's too soon to tell exactly what was going through her head during the incident, but if it pans out that way, I disagree. Harm done through negligence is still harm.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695756
I hate remilia too but her appearance here was cool

[Anonymous No.]

I like Remillia even if she is a meme and was satisfied with her appearance here, though I didn't care much for Youmu and Sakyua's they seemed rather more stiff than they should've been.
That said I am satisfied with how air-headed she is with the whole napkin thing.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695832
Sake will fix this. Soon Anon will be having fun scaring Youmu with some stories and trying to confuse Sakuya because he found someone dumber than him

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695756
spoilers for Ace Attorney 2 as I try to remember the case as best as I can:
One of the most infamously long and strange cases of the series takes place in a circus. It's supremely confusing and more than a bit annoying, and it's filled to the brim with eccentric characters. Six months before the murder, the lion tamer, the ringmaster's young daughter (who is legitimately so stupid and naive that it's implied she's practically mentally-disabled), had her lion accidentally bite down on the head of an acrobat boy who had a crush on her (she had put pepper on his scarf to make him sneeze, but the lion was the one who ended up sneezing when he put his head in the lion's mouth as a dare). His older brother, another acrobat, fought fiercely with the lion, but the boy was put into a coma and the brother was paralyzed below the waist. The lion tamer girl legitimately cannot grasp the gravity of the situation, thinking that the boy in a coma has just been asleep for a very long time. The lion himself was put down by the ringmaster to try to smooth it over as best he can, though everyone thinks that the beast had just snapped instead of being forced to sneeze. The fact that his brother's (kind of) killer doesn't even recognize what she did eats away at the crippled acrobat, and he concocts an elaborate plan to make her understand the weight of what she did and the pain she's caused him and his brother so that he can finally take out his anger on her. But when he sets his plan in motion, she misinterprets his threatening notes and doesn't step into his trap because she is legitimately too stupid. Instead, the one who gets killed is her father, the ringmaster, the kindly man who had taken in the two acrobat brothers when they had no one. The acrobat is devastated, but he tries to pin it on someone else so that he can at least remain out of prison for the slim chance that his brother ever wakes up. Of course, he is eventually found out, breaks down into tears, and is imprisoned, though it is a somber affair for everyone involved. At least, at the very end the lion tamer girl is finally forced to realize what she did and feel horrible for it.

I left out a lot of stupid details about a clown and a ventriloquist, but that's the core of the conflict. It's a unique type of pain where you can't even have an outlet for indignant pain and frustration.

[Anonymous No.]

Those who hate Remilia are boring and just base their opinion on the over saturation of doujins that feature her and focus on the bad ones.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45696145

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695794
Oh no, as backhanded as it sounds, that was meant to be a compliment. Hats off to Writefriend for getting her character down pat. And I'll admit that the napkins gag got a chuckle out of me.

>>45696007
I'm sorry, I didn't read any of that since I would like to experience it for myself. But thanks for the information. I respect such a detailed writeup.

>>45696145
It started out that way, but the more canon works I got into, the more I found her antics aggravating rather than amusing. She's like what Eric Cartman would be if he wasn't funny and lacked any "straight man" characters to check his awfulness.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45693829
Is it possible for all youkai to have children with humans or only certain types and would the children be full or half youkai? If it turns out humans can't produce half-spider youkai offspring this might be a future problem for Anon.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695949
Youmu can be a loveable person, she just needs to lose a lot of her thick shell. Sakuya less so and for reasons maybe outside her own control will likely always be cold and almost robotic in nature. Something definitely happened in her past that is likely irreversible, even if she can slowly adjust to being around humans to an extent.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698105
Tsuchigumo are like Gerudo

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698105
This is gensokyo, throw common sense out the window!
Just don't become like Sanny...

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698291
SANNY?!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698310
SANNY!!!

[Anonymous No.]

So, was Sanny a DMC 1 or a DMC 3 player? Surely it wasn't DMC 2
too bad AIanon's gone or I'd ask for sanny dressed up as dante

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698127
Sakuya is too retarded to feel emotions

[Anonymous No.]

I didn't really realise what an absolutely awful question Sakuya had picked to ask until I'd been sat across from Remilia Scarlet for the past several minutes while Reimu and I attempted to come up with an explanation that didn't require us to say 'Oh, we first met on that night where you instigated an incident that cost my parents their lives, don't you remember?' which seemed like it would put a damper on everyone's moods. At the very least, it seemed like we'd been left more or less alone, since I could hear Komachi talking very excitedly somewhere in the background. I finally looked over my shoulder to see that she'd managed to intercept Yamame on her way from putting all except one of the coats away, which she was holding like she'd been about to put it on. Given Komachi's reaction to the Hell T-shirts, I imagined that the dress Yamame wore was probably more than enough to drive Komachi into an interrogation on how she could get one for herself.

"He's - Er..." Reimu was struggling. I couldn't blame her, since I was struggling too, but with very different things. I just couldn't seem to connect the two in my head. The Remilia Scarlet I had been imagining, and the one who was sat in front of me, trying to look regal and impressive even though I could see her fidgeting and clearly too uncomfortable with the position she was trying to sit in to maintain it for very long. She really did seem to be a child, even if she had better speech skills than I imagined most at her - Apparent - age would have. "He's a bit of a troublemaker." Reimu suddenly said. She looked a little more put together, like she'd finally come up with an answer that would work. "Always in and out of Eientei. Seems like I just can't leave him alone." I laughed, though it felt slightly strained as Reimu relayed a couple of my more embarrassing admittances to Eientei. I supposed she was friendly enough with Remilia to talk more comfortably, especially since we'd yet to get at each other's throats.

"My, how interesting." Remilia was looking at me like she was evaluating me. "Another strange one, Reimu?" Reimu was not afforded the courtesy of responding. "You've met Patchouli Knowledge, haven't you? Sakuya here has told me about it. What, pray tell, possesses a man from the village to meet so many youkai?" I laughed, except it was even more strained. Finally managing to get my voice to remain steady, I explained the circumstances that had led to me overhearing Marisa and Reimu's conversation about an ad that Marisa was placing in what had ended up being a cancelled publication by Shameimaru. "That crow?" Remilia tutted and shook her head. "Sakuya keeps her from reaching the mansion. Sometimes, I let her in, just so she can see what real opulence is like before she goes back to scrabbling for stories on the street with the others from the mountain." Given that Lady Kasen lived on the mountain, I felt a little offended on her behalf. She looked back at Sakuya lazily. "Isn't that right, Sakuya?"

I looked over to see that the maid was pouring a cup of sake. "Yes, Mistress. I keep that crow tengu away as per your instructions. On her last attempt, I pinned her against a wall by using my knives." I supposed it was the sort of precision thing that a maid would do, but I already expected that sort of answer from her. I blinked then, because I'd suddenly realised that there was a lot more alcohol surrounding us on the blanket than there had been previously. "As Reimu requested, Mistress."

"Ah, very good." Remilia nodded regally, but I was still failing to get past the fact that she was a child physically, and it just meant that the gesture looked a little bit ridiculous. She took one of the sake cups that Sakuya was offering around and took a sip. Curiously, I watched her try and keep her face steady, but I still caught that slight face that someone who's taste buds aren't suited to alcohol makes. I supposed that being a vampire, it was possible that her taste buds were stuck at her physical age. It'd explain the spiciness comment earlier too, since I'd tried the same thing that she'd been complaining about and found that it was rather mild. "Ah, delicious." She said. I decided not to comment on it. "Tell me your history." She suddenly said to me. "Tell me the path you took to reach this moment, here and now, and I'll tell you your fate."

Sakuya had been conversing with Reimu about something, but suddenly looked up. "Um, Mistr-"

[Anonymous No.]

Remilia raised a hand in her direction. "Hush, Sakuya. This is important. More important than you realise. Why don't you have a bottle or three of whiskey?" The maid didn't look pleased about it, but she fell silent anyway, her mouth in a slightly downturned line. Remilia continued to watch me, her eyes boring into mine. Suddenly, I didn't feel like I was sitting in front of a child. "I am physically a child. My mind is over five hundred years old, and I know when someone is humouring me. Remember this. You sit in front of Remilia Scarlet, the direct descendant of Vlad Tepes - Count Dracula of Wallachia." I didn't know who that was, but she seemed very serious about it.

"Isn't that false?" I heard Reimu mutter to Sakuya. "I've heard her say that one before. I think on the last occasion, she got shown his family tree." I looked over toward Reimu, then back at Remilia.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about." Remilia insisted. I was starting to think that she might not be related to whoever this Count Dracula was. Still, I'd heard stranger things, so I decided to humour her and asked if I should call her 'Milady'. "You aren't under my employ." She replied. "Now, do tell me more about these dates of yours. I do find myself rather impressed that a human from the village would be so...Open minded." I shrugged a little and said that I had been reassured by Marisa before starting that the girls I was going to meet where definitely safe for humans. "But you ended up in Eientei over and over?" I scratched my head and nodded, then continued on a bit further. I felt like the world was spinning slightly. Here I was, talking to the person who had caused me so much tragedy. And the worst part was, I still couldn't get my mind together after my talk with Eirin in the morning. She'd gotten my parents killed, but she'd essentially, thought all the knock-on effects, brought me together with Yamame. How was I supposed to reconcile that?

"Why did she keep setting you up with these people?" Remilia asked me, taking another - Very small, I noticed - sip of her sake. "This story has a lot of plot holes." She complained. I frowned and said that I didn't think it had that many. "That...Celestial Messenger. Iku Nagae. I've met her. She broke into the mansion to warn us of an earthquake once, but failed to tell us when or where it would strike. Called me self-centred. The nerve..." Remilia shook her head. I personally thought that Miss Iku had a point. She did seem like that sort of person. "Anyway, why hasn't she reappeared in the story?" I shrugged, not really sure what to say other than 'I hadn't met her again'. "See? Holes." I frowned intensely.

"However, it does seem that you've had quite the interesting experience. So, when you first met Patchy inside my mansion...That was one of your dates?" I went to nod, then thought about it some more. Technically, it was, but in reality it had been Marisa using me as a distraction so she could try and steal from Patchouli, so I wasn't sure it really counted. "That black-and-white rat, as she is known in my mansion, does seem the sort to try and use you as a distraction so she could make off with more of Patchy's stock." Remilia laughed regally, though it sounded mostly like a child trying to be regal.

"Ah," She said, looking up at the sky. "It is rather good that you can pursue something so odd as a date with a youkai, is it not? You may thank me for this privilege at your leisure." I looked up then, slowly and measured. My voice was much more controlled as I asked her what exactly she was referring to. "Oh, did you not know? Those fancy spell card rules and the freedom you enjoy to venture forth out of the village...They're all because of me." I felt suddenly aware of my heartbeat. Here it was, then. I'd been slightly hopeful that she would manage to dodge the topic all night, but if my luck had a say in anything, it was putting me into bad situations just like this. "I came into this land expecting so many things, only to find that everything and everyone was lethargic. So..." She gave me a smug smile that showed off her two sharp fangs. I really wanted her to stop talking. I'd been doing so well at keeping my temper. "I stirred things up a little. And suddenly, things were much more fun!" She spread her arms as if to say, 'How was that!?'. But I didn't reply. I wasn't sure I could. I knew for certain that if I opened my mouth, I would probably say something that couldn't be taken back.

[Anonymous No.]

But suddenly, Remilia looked a bit less sure of herself. "Um..." She began. "Are you well?" She asked. I looked up at her, and I supposed that the look in my eyes much have made it quite clear as to how I was doing. I tried to look at my arms and found that my hands had become clenched at some point. They were shaking. "Uh..." She mumbled. I wondered how I was supposed to respond. "Sakuya~" She called for her maid. "I think he's mad at me..." I was gritting my teeth very tightly. "What did I say?" She asked me. "Tell me. I know a lot of things, but I don't know that."

Fortunately, someone was much more attentive to how I was feeling, and suddenly, I felt an arm on my back. "Hey, hey..." Yamame Kurodani knelt beside me, putting her mouth by me eye as she rubbed on my back. "It's okay. I'm here. You're alright." She'd been present for the meeting this morning, so I wasn't surprised that she'd clearly taken it to heart. I grasped her arm and held on tightly. "I saw you from over there. Listen to my voice." She was still whispering to me, and I found that it was calming me down a little bit. Remilia looked...Nervous. Like a child who'd just been shouted at. "Do you want to leave?" Yamame whispered to me. I shook my head, and managed to say that I think I just needed a moment. Then, I forced out a strangled thank you to her for coming over to comfort me. "It's fine. I take care of you and you take care of me. That's what we said, isn't it?"

A few minutes more, and I felt much calmer. I looked up, and found that Remilia was watching me with a slightly nervous expression. "May I make a request of you?" She asked me, though she was still trying to sound like someone much more regal in spite of the uncertainty in her eyes. "I believe that we need to have a conversation. In private." I blinked, then looked over at the other partygoers, just to make sure no one else was listening in. Having a child ask me for a conversation in private was a weird experience.

Plus, I knew that I couldn't do it alone. "I'm coming with him." Yamame said sharply. "Or it's not happening." I nodded, and we stood.

Reimu stood too, and came around to my other side. "I knew something would happen." She muttered. "It's why I was so worried. Are you okay? I'm sorry." I told her that it was okay. "I'll come with you. I-" Then, there was a shout from the other side of the Shrine, where I could see Aunn and Aunn fighting with a group of fairies. There was one in a strange outfit in red, white, and blue who seemed to be winning. It also looked like it was about to turn into a much wider affair, because I could already see the signs of danmaku duels about to start. "Oh, for - Now?" Reimu groaned. "There's not even that many people here yet. Alright, er...I've got to go and calm that down, so I..." She sighed and looked at Yamame. "You've got him, right?" She nodded seriously. "Thank you." She told her quietly, then spun and took off for the group who were starting to get annoyed. "Use my room." She called back as she moved off to break up the fight.

Remilia waved off Sakuya, despite her complaints, then told her to "Go and drink some whiskey like I told you to." I had a feeling that there would be some unintended repercussions from that, but I wasn't in the mood to think about them. We moved back around the Shrine to Reimu's room, where Yamame had piled up the eleven coats that she'd been forced to put on. "Well now, I haven't been in here for months." Remilia announced. "My, Reimu finally replaced that kotatsu. Ah, and the floor looks new. Well, it's not my style, but at least it doesn't look quite so run-down." She turned to look at me. "I've upset you." She said. "It doesn't happen often to someone as charismatic as me." I breathed in deeply and exhaled. Then, I decided that it was best to get everything out into the open now. So, bluntly, I told her that 'stirring things up', as she'd put it, had led to the death of my parents and traumatised me enough that I'd eventually blocked the whole thing from my memory. It had led to Kotohime, who I'd met in the village, losing her parents and almost losing her mind. It had scarred me so deeply that it had taken a mind reader's hypnosis to get to the bottom of it. To hear it described as 'stirring things up a little' had gotten to me. "That's..." Remilia scratched at her arm awkwardly. "But...I didn't kill them?" She asked, looking confused. "So...So why are you mad at me?" She stared at me blankly.

"You stirred all the youkai up!" Yamame replied for me, very sharply. "If you hadn't, then nothing would have happened. No one would have died." She was gripping my hand very tightly. "His parents would still be here." I was very happy that Yamame was here. She really was perfect. "You can't even understand why he's upset? You really are a child, aren't you?" She looked almost as upset as I felt, even though it hadn't happened to her.

[Anonymous No.]

"What? No, I'm not a child. I may have the body of one, but my mind is far older." Remilia crossed her arms. "I can't control the ramifications of every little action, Miss Spider. I riled a lot of youkai up. It was my incident - The Vampire Incident, I believe they called it - That led to the Spell Card Rules. I'll admit to that. I, however, cannot be held accountable for what they chose to do by themselves!" She snapped back. "I stirred things up by riling the youkai up, but what happened after that was out of my control! Still, if it will smoothen things out..." She looked defensive. Hearing a child - No, not a child - Tell Yamame off for what she'd said was a strange feeling after the number of times I'd seen her talk to Nai. Remilia turned to me. "I apologise." She told me. "My actions have led to a most undesirable outcome. You lost your parents. I understand." I looked at her with a frown. "My sister - Flandre - And I, we have been vampires since we were children. I'm...Sure you can imagine what that means." I supposed I could. How did a vampire get the chance to bite two children? "So..." Remilia stepped closer. "You'll forgive me, right?"

Yamame looked ready to start shouting at her, but I put a hand on her arm to stop her. I had to say something. The same thing I'd been thinking of since my talk with Eirin this morning. It had taken me a while since to figure out what I was trying to say. I stepped forward, but it seemed like Remilia hadn’t been expecting it, because suddenly she hopped back and crouched down, using her hands to hold her hat in place. I wondered if I’d startled her. Once it became clear that I wasn’t doing it because I was about to attack her, she relaxed slightly. In the end, I asked Remilia a question. I asked her if she was happy that she'd been bitten and turned into a vampire. "...That's an interesting question. Yes, I suppose I am. I have so many more interests now than I would have otherwise. I get to see my little sister. I get to experience the world of today and I'll get to experience the world in the future. It may have been a difficult route to get here, but I would not change it. Does that answer your question?"

Slowly, I nodded. It did, in a way. I'd had a difficult road to get here. I would probably always wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn't lost my parents. I needed to speak. I had hated her. Loathed her, with all of my being. Remilia looked like she was already trying to think of ways to get me to forgive her. It was the sort of thing a child did. Try to get forgiveness because it wasn't right that some people could hate them. But, I continued, raising a hand. I'd not known her. I'd barely known anything about her. She'd explained a little bit here, and it was helping me to understand. But somewhere along the line, I'd started to have a thought stuck in the back of my mind.

Yamame. I'd been thinking about Yamame. As Remilia had put it, despite the difficult route and the pain that had brought me to where I was today, I couldn't bear the thought of changing it. Not if it meant there was a chance that I'd never have met Yamame. I loved her too much for that. My parents, I hoped, would have understood. I hoped that they were in the afterlife somewhere, at peace and happy for me. I wouldn't know, but I could hope. They'd died, but it wasn't Remilia who'd killed them. An amanojaku had led us to that clearing. She held responsibility for the event as a whole, but she hadn't committed the deed, so I didn't see the point in hating her anymore. Not when most of the good in my life today had only come about from that event. Gripping Yamame's hand tighter, I mused that I hoped it would only get better.

Remilia watched me, one hand supporting her elbow as she idly stroked her chin with the other hand. "If Sakuya was here, she'd complain about what you just said for not making any logical sense. But then, she's always been a bit of a letdown when it came to the emotional." Remilia nodded. "Sometimes, the best things in life come from the worst. I suspect that the world you live in would be very different if I had not done what I did, but it has hurt you. And…Perhaps I was callous in how I approached the topic earlier." And here, Remilia Scarlet did something that I couldn't have ever expected her to do. "Tell no one of what I'm about to do." She knelt down, placed her hands on either side of the tatami mat, and bowed down until her forehead was against the floor. "I apologize. I apologize for the pain I have caused you. I apologize for the pain I have caused to others due to the events of that night. I hope you can accept my apology and forgive me, even if you may not forget." I looked over at Yamame to find that she looked just as stunned as I felt. "Do you accept my apology?"

[Anonymous No.]

Slowly, I replied by saying that I did. I wasn't sure if I truly did, but I also didn't much want to try and work through any more complex feelings tonight. "Thank you." Remilia said as she rose to her feet. "Of course, I will kill you if you reveal that I just did that to anyone else. Spell Card Rules be damned. My charisma and reputation is at stake." I'd do my best to keep it a secret, I muttered. "Shall we return? I'd wager that Sakuya is getting rather worried, and I imagine that Reimu is too." I nodded. "I'll wait outside. It would be good if we returned together." She turned and left, heading a ways down the veranda.

I turned to Yamame, who pulled me into a tight hug and gave me a tender kiss. "Are you okay?" She whispered. I wasn't really sure. I'd expected...I didn't know. Something more? "Maybe it's better that it was like this, though. Seems like much less strife. Do you want to talk about it?" Later, I murmured. I thought that I probably needed something to drink. This was supposed to be a party, after all. "Alright." She whispered. "Later." And with another hug, we re-joined Remilia and headed back to the party.

It felt like we'd been gone for a while, but It seemed like it hadn't been that long at all. There were more people around, some of whom I recognized from the village, and some that I didn't. "I expect that It's going to be a fun night." Remilia said cheerfully, returning to the blanket that we'd been sitting on before. "Isn't that right, Sakuya?" Remilia turned to her maid, then stopped and stared. "Er..." She blinked twice. "Sakuya...?"

Reimu had backed away slightly. "I told you she thinks she has to do whatever Remilia tells her." She muttered to me. In front of me, Sakuya Izayoi had a bottle. A full bottle, one of those Outside World ones that had ended up at the Shrine thanks to what I assumed was probably Hearn's presence. The bottle was rapidly becoming less than full, because she had held it by the neck and was currently upending the whole thing into her mouth. Still, she seemed to be handing it quite well, because she hadn't coughed or choked, even though I knew that the Outside World alcohol was far stronger than what we usually had in the valley. At least, I thought that until I noticed the two other empty bottles next to her. She drained the bottle, gasped for air, then hiccupped.

"Feeling better?" Reimu asked her sarcastically. "Can you understand what I'm saying at all? Can you even hear me?" Frowning, I asked Reimu if it was even possible to survive drinking that much alcohol at once. "Er...I can't say I've ever seen someone do three bottles of Outside World stuff like that. She might die for all I know."

"She - What!?" Remilia suddenly exclaimed. "Sakuya, are you - Are you okay?" She seemed a little frantic. "You can't die from drinking too much! It's so - So uncool!" She pulled the empty bottle from Sakuya's hand, then started fussing over the maid. "Reimu, what if she passes out!? Can we take her to Eientei or-?"

"Mistress, I did what you told me." Sakuya suddenly said, looking confused. "Why are you upset?" Her eyes were starting to look a little hazy, and I had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before the alcohol really hit her. "Did you want me to drink more?"

"No, no, that's fine..." Remilia sighed. "I didn't expect you to actually do it..." She shook her head. "Reimu, can we, um, do something about this?" I blinked, then reminded Reimu of the time Marisa had been in a similarly poor state. "Huh? What does - Wait, Reimu, where are you - No, don't drag her..." Reimu had nodded, then gotten up, grabbed Sakuya by the arm, and begun dragging her around a corner.

"Alcohol's not going out of the system fast though. She'll be madly drunk for the rest of the night." Reimu told me as she dragged Sakuya along. "So, er, don't upset her or she might stop time and do something weird." I'd try my best, I replied tentatively.

It was seeming to me like it was going to be an exhausting night, too.

[Anonymous No.]

This one fought me every step of the way and I'm still not certain about it.
also I was just looking at my word document and I realised that Eientei was over half of the story ago, and we're at 490,000 words

[Anonymous No.]

Yamame was exuding some "excuse me, he asked for no pickles" energy this time

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698964
It's a nice resolution to that issue, maybe could have used another paragraph before Remilia's apology but it was ultimately going to lead to that, Remilia's a child but she still was forced to learn how to adult considering her situation, of course she was going to apologize in the end.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699151
Okay i got it, you could have gone a little further with Remilia's past.

[Anonymous No.]

"Hey Auuns... IT'S LUNATIC TI-"

"NO IT ISN'T."

Reimu stomped over, swinging her her gohei out and within an inch of Clownpiece's face while giving Auun a look of pure thunder in her eyes

"Bah... you're no fun.."

The strangely dressed fairy stepped back as another fairy in the group stuck a tongue out at Reimu and the group left for the food table. Both Auuns slunk back to the other side of the huge blanket like a dog, tail between legs. Reimu, somewhat relieved at how quickly that'd been defused walked back, amused by the sight of an awkward and intoxicated Sakuya, swigging away at a large Outside World bottle of whiskey.

"Where did my brother and his spider go... they're still not back yet? Or the vampire for that like? I really can't be bothered with exterminating her again tonight too, I just want to sit down and have a drink.."

[Anonymous No.]

I liked the Remilia confrontation. It's certainly not an easy situation for anyone involved.

And also, seeing Yamame being protective of her beloved human never gets old.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698939
>Anyway, why hasn't she reappeared in the story?" I shrugged, not really sure what to say other than 'I hadn't met her again'. "See? Holes." I frowned intensely.
Is Writeanon criticizing his own story here? kek

>>45699151
Yes, I think that was a good way to solve it

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699299
I mean, Iku's not really going to add much beyond an apology and maybe a sassy exchange with Tenshi.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699304
A while ago it was mentioned that Tenshi was upset that her family hated her, maybe Iku can help them reconcile or become her big sister

[Anonymous No.]

The fairies having only just arrived doesn't bode well considering the mess Sakuya will likely be by the end of the next chapter. If there's one thing Anon has mostly been spared so far it's having to deal with troublesome fairies. Clownpiece isn't a great one to start with and that's not even getting started on if another certain idiot shows up and starts trying to sell snowcones... in the middle of winter.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699151
I like it and I think it works well with Anon's uncanny ability and luck at healing rifts and past trauma even when it affects him directly. While I don't think even he could ever forgive Seija for what she did and caused to other people, that was a huge first step towards someday even befriending Remi. It would be the strangest friendship in a way but even Remi too has a similar ability like her fascination with Reimu that almost bordered on a desire for friendship with her in some of the EoSD endings.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699324
I believe Iku isn't really that invested on Tenshi beyond work

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699396
And this is where anon appears

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698949
>I can't control the ramifications of every little action
Remilia Scarlet, the one who controls fate itself everyone. Please form an orderly line.

Great stuff writefriend, I think you struck the perfect sweet spot for Remi.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699098
Like any good future wife should.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45699098
"Excuse me, ma'am? My husband specifically asked for no trauma at this party!!"

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698949
I think that rather than having Remi bow to Anon, I'd have preferred for her to hug him à la EoSD ending, but this works too.
There is a great balance between her usual impudence and desire to be liked, so one could say that her behavior in Writeanon's story still falls within the realm of possibility when it comes to canon.
>>45698956
>"Alcohol's not going out of the system fast though. She'll be madly drunk for the rest of the night." Reimu told me as she dragged Sakuya along. "So, er, don't upset her or she might stop time and do something weird."
Watch Sakuya heed Eiki's advice in her own way and go to Hell for an even worse sin.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45700534
kek
speaking of which, hadn't she tried to improve in her ending? but I don't see any change after that..

[Anonymous No.]

>>45701807
PoFV was really meant to be the final game iirc
Technically IN was, and before that both LLS and MS were too, but PoFV fits very nicely if you understand it as an epilogue to the games, a final development and a farewell.

[Anonymous No.]

she died for remilia's sins

[Anonymous No.]

Surprised Remi didn't bring her big girl chair

[Anonymous No.]

guys I don't think I've gotten over the fantasy of schoolteacher doremy disciplining me for getting her questions wrong
I wonder if she'll be invited to the wedding too

[Anonymous No.]

>>45702664
She'll pay her respects after the wedding night concludes.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698956
UOOOH I'm feeling it in my bones.
DORK SAKUYA

[Anonymous No.]

>>45703382
Sakuya is going to use her powers to open a black hole

[Anonymous No.]

The party was in full swing now. Once Reimu had led the significantly more loosened up Sakuya back from whatever she'd been doing, there were so many people around that the back of the Shrine was starting to feel rather cramped. I'd never seen so many strange articles of clothing in one place before. That fairy that I'd seen fighting with Aunn and Aunn had a very strange, very large hat on which seemed to break off into smaller offshoots to either side and spiralled upward to a large circular thing at the top. It looked floppy, and I'd seen it bouncing around as she ran around after the Aunns, who leaped and bounded around her at a speed that I almost lost track of. Over by the veranda, I could see Hata no Kokoro, who's masks were rapidly floating around her, wreathed in blue flame. As I watched, she seemed to acquire her flair for the dramatic that I'd seen before and suddenly whipped out a massive lion dancer mask, which for a moment looked like it was about to shoot a massive laser, but before she got a chance, a person I hadn't met before slapped her on the back of the head with a golden stick. She had strange hair, sticking up in two long tufts behind her in a way that made them look like animal ears. Hanging from her shoulders was a long, purple cape while made her look effortlessly intriguing.

Speaking of animal ears, I could see Kagerou hovering over by the food, looking like she was full of indecision about whether or not she should eat. As I watched, she placed down a plate of what looked like the youkan that Oseki's café served, then hurriedly stepped back. I wondered if the other Grassroots Youkai Network members were around, but I couldn't see them. I wasn't sure how Wakasagihime would get here, either. Maybe she could fly? She'd have to fly for the whole night, though. Or ask Genji if she could rent his pond for the night. There was no sign of the mysterious Sekibanki, but maybe she just didn't like big gatherings. She seemed that sort of person.

"But - How did you get it?" Komachi whined. She'd immediately kidnapped Yamame again as soon as we'd gotten back from Reimu's room, but I'd sighed and followed after them to see if I could listen in on their conversation. "This is - It's personal! Handmade! From the goddess of Hell herself! People would kill on the other side of the Sanzu for something half as pretty as this, and they're already dead!" She kept motioning with her hands like her mouth wasn't quite able to match the emotion of what she was trying to say.

"Um...Yeah, but I was already working with Miss Hecatia, so..." Yamame just looked confused. "Um, what was your name, again?" I blinked. They'd met, hadn't they? "Well...Not really? I mean, I saw her at Miss Ibaraki's house, but...Er, I was very drunk at the time, and I think you told me her name when..." She trailed off, and I spotted the process of realization in her eyes. Then, there was a frown. "Oh, she's the one who..." She touched a finger against her lips in a way that could almost be mistaken for casual. Suddenly, I felt a chill roll through me. Now I remembered. Komachi had stolen a kiss the morning after she'd been beaten up by a procession of angry oni. And Yamame, once I'd told her about it, then threatened to...

"O-Oh, um, Komachi. Komachi Onozuka." Komachi replied awkwardly, since she'd been talking Yamame's ear off for however long they'd been going before Yamame had noticed my distress and stepped in between Remilia and I. "Um, you're a tsuchigumo, right? Kurokami?"

"Kurodani." Yamame corrected. Her voice had dropped from 'pleasant afternoon' to 'frigid wasteland' on the warmness scale, and I was a little worried now. "Yamame Kurodani." She reached out to grasp my hand tightly. "I'm pleased to meet you properly." Yamame said, reaching a handout toward Komachi. I suddenly felt rather nervous, and I muttered Yamame's name. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to stop the laid-back Ferryman from taking Yamame's hand. Yamame smiled, very warmly, and I wondered if I needed to somehow report and attempted murder of a Shinigami to Komachi's bosses. Hurriedly, I asked Komachi to excuse us for a moment and pulled Yamame off and around the side of the Shrine again so we could have a quick talk in private. "Okay, I know what you're thinking, and the answer may surprise you-" I said her name very insistently. "No, really, it's just..." I stared at her and crossed my arms. "...I'm not that vindictive." She muttered petulantly. "Oh, come on! I had to pay her back a little bit." I raised an eyebrow and asked her just what she had done. "...Just a little fever, that's all. Sore throat and the like. Runny nose. It'll last a week or so, and then she'll be fine." I shook my head and sighed. I supposed I had been somewhat responsible for this since I'd not made more effort to resolve the situation when it had happened.

[Anonymous No.]

Komachi already looked a little bit peaky when we came back around. I thought she looked a bit cold, too, and I felt a little sorry for her. "Um, Miss Yamame?" She said, quietly. "I - Um, Sorry." She finally said, shivering. "I got a bit over-excited." She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "And...There's something else. When I first saw you, I saw the way you and him look at each other." Komachi nodded toward me. "And...The next morning, I kissed him. Just a little, and I didn't want to go any further while you were with him because you seemed nice. So...I'm really sorry..." I really wondered what had brought all of this on. Maybe she got easily emotional when she was sick?

"Uh..." And now Yamame was on the back foot. She'd just infected Komachi with something only to find out that she wanted to apologize for things. "That's - Uh...I, er, accept?" She looked over at me with pleading eyes. Somehow, I thought that her grand revenge plan seemed to be falling apart. I watched her for a moment, then gave her a grin and told her that I could hear someone calling for me, so I'd have to leave her to it. "You - What? No, you can't leave me like this, that's not- Where are you going? Oh, I hate you!" I backed away and left the increasingly flustered Yamame with Komachi, who already looked like she needed to go home and have a warm drink while sitting under a blanket. Still, I knew that she could be much better with people than she thought she could, as her conversation with Tenshi atop the Shrine and her conversation with Raki in Former Hell had shown. Plus, I still did think that Komachi had been a bit over the line in that kiss, so I wanted her and Yamame to talk it out properly.

Also, someone really had been calling me. I looked over to see Reimu, who was trying to pin down Sakuya, except every time she tried, the drunken maid would freeze time and appear somewhere else. Reimu looked absolutely furious, so I decided that I'd best get over there before something really bad happened. Remilia, it seemed, was still looking far more panicked about the whole thing than she was charismatic and aloof, so I assumed that she hadn't calmed down yet. Except, on my way, Sakuya suddenly appeared in front of me. "Future Food Source!" She called, pointing a wobbling finger at me. She raised a very red and probably freezing hand. "Lady Patchouli told me that this is water. How is that possible?" In her hand was a pile of snow. I blinked, then stared at it for a few seconds before looking at her. She looked very serious about the question, even though she was swaying slightly and looked very flushed. Even I knew that snow was what happened to rain when it got too cold. "When water gets too cold, it becomes ice!" She told me sharply, pointing her finger at me even harder. "So how can this be water too!?" I really hoped that this was just because she was drunk and not because she genuinely didn't know but given her tendency to take Remilia's comments as direct orders, I wasn't too sure.

"Sakuya! Get the hell back here!" This time, I heard Marisa yell. She'd joined Reimu and the pair were now enclosing on the errant maid from two directions. "Sit down, will you!?"

Sakuya was still staring at the snow in her hand. Slowly, I asked if it was cold. "Cold...?" She muttered in response. "Cold. Yes. Would you like it?" She held her hand out, then frowned. "Oh, I could just-" And then she was not in front of me. Then, I was on the ground, and she was sprawled on top of me. "Ooh~" She moaned. "Everything's spinning..." I frowned. My head hurt a bit and I wasn't sure how I'd ended up here. The snow had landed on my face. I blinked as Sakuya tried to get up, then instantly was on her side on the floor next to me, and my stomach hurt like something had fallen into it. "S'Fine..." She mumbled.

"Oh, for - Remi!" Reimu yelled. "Tell her to sit down and stay there! I'm going to go insane if she keeps this up!"

Remilia gave the order, and Sakuya blinked a few times before shifting her head up to look at her Mistress. "Ah...My Mistress ordered me..." She mumbled, Pulling herself up into a seated position. At least we'd fallen on the blanket. "Mistress~!" She called. "There's three of you.." She was staring at Remilia in confusion. "I thought only the Young Mistress could do that..." She scratched her head, knocking her headdress askew. She looked back. "But you're doing it too...Ah! You must be a dangerous youkai!" She was instantly on her feet as I scrambled up too. "I'll save you, Mistress!" She yelled, and suddenly a razor-sharp knife was racing in my direction. I heard Reimu scream, and I heard Marisa's Mini Hakkero charging up. Yamame, too, was coming in my direction, but they'd all be too slow. I swallowed nervously and hoped that her aim was off enough to prevent it doing any serious damage.

[Anonymous No.]

And then it hit my stomach and bounced off before falling on the floor. I mumbled an 'ouch' and rubbed the spot where it had hit. At that point, several things happened to Sakuya, and most of them seemed a little undeserved. First, Three of Reimu's needles slammed into her arm. Then, What looked to be webbing from Yamame covered her entire face. And a moment later, her entire body was engulfed in the light of a Master Spark. The second it ended, a large rock fell on her head, courtesy of Tenshi and just to cap the whole thing off. Sakuya remained standing for a moment, her body smoking, three needles sticking out of her arm, and webbing covering her face. It seemed a little like overkill. She began to tilt to the side, then began to fall. I reached an arm out, but I wasn't quite quick enough before she slammed into the ground, unconscious. "Sakuya!" Remilia cried, rushing to her side. "Is she - Reimu, Eientei, we can-"

"Oh, shut up, Remi." Reimu muttered. "She'll be fine. It's hardly the worst that's happened to her." She stalked over to me. "Lift." She told me sharply, poking my stomach where the knife had hit me. I did as she said, lifting my sweater. "Hmm...It did leave a mark, but barely. I think you'll be just fine, unless you need to go cuddle Yamame and have a little cry." I dryly replied and told her that I thought I would be fine. Looking over at Yamame, I saw that she was still stuck with Komachi, who definitely looked ill now. She was halfway toward leaping off of the veranda and back over to me, but I raised my hands and called out that I was fine. She looked a little unconvinced, but slowly nodded and remained where she was. "Honestly, there's always something with you. We'd be carrying you to Eientei with a knife sticking out your stomach if it wasn't for that peach." She turned and headed over to Tenshi, who was approaching and straightening her hat. Reimu slapped her on the back. "Good job with that!"

"Yeah, well..." Tenshi was fairly weak to compliments, but also had a tendency to bite back, so I wasn't all too surprised at what she said after that. "It's a good thing you weren't doing a great job at keeping him safe, or I wouldn't have had the idea in the first place." Reimu scowled and slapped her on the back again, a little harder.

Fortunately, with the entertainment over for now, the party seemed to go back to normal, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned and headed back to Yamame, wondering if she'd managed to straighten things out with Komachi. "I...Should probably confess that I was a little mad at you earlier." Yamame was mumbling. "So, um...I may have given you...Just a little bit of a fever." She told Komachi while looking firmly at her shoes. "S-So, um...Sorry. I didn't know that you were going to apologize."

"W-Wait, so that's why I suddenly feel even more like death than I already am?" Komachi asked, which was a very strange sentence if you didn't know that she was a Shinigami. "Um...The Ministry of Right and Wrong are a bit underfunded, but..." She was mumbling to herself and counting things off on her hands. "They might have to give me time off for this!" She suddenly said cheerfully. "Shinigami aren't really supposed to get sick, you see, but I guess you've got a bit more strength than most normal colds. Nice! A little fever's nothing for a few days of relaxation! Hey, maybe I can stay with Kasen?" I was surprised at how well she was taking it, but then again, she was a bit of a slacker from what I'd heard. Maybe she'd been hoping for this for a while. "You're totally forgiven!" She told Yamame cheerfully. My poor spider just looked a bit bemused by the whole thing.

I wondered if things were getting just a little too confusing for me when I heard footsteps coming around the veranda. I turned to look curiously, then stopped and stared. I absent-mindedly poked Yamame - Apparently hitting somewhere sensitive - until she looked as well.

[Anonymous No.]

Coming around the corner was a woman. Her hair, curiously, still fell in diagonal strands across her eyes and with a small bit sticking out at the top. Her eyes looked a little nervous and slightly embarrassed, with the slight flush in her cheeks and a the just barely noticeable rose-coloured shadows surrounding her eyes to change the way they looked. Her hair was pink. Her horns were not. That, looking absolutely nothing like her, was the arm of Ibaraki-douji. Her outfit had changed entirely. In fact, it looked very familiar. Like I'd seen it very recently. A black suit, with a crisp, white shirt. She'd kept the chains, and the iron balls connected to her feet.

"Phew..." I heard, and Kisami walked out from behind the Ibaraki pair. "Dunno how you put all this on every day." She said cheerfully. She, clearly, was not wearing the clothes she had arrived in. Instead, she was wearing the entirety of Raki's outfit, from the tabard to the tights. "Oh, hey!" She exclaimed, jumping forward to hug me. "So, funny story, right? I was coming around the front of the Shrine, just minding my own business - Well, I got the Horismriver Ensemble to give me their autographs and I even got to shake Raiko's hand, which was - Amazing - But then I heard a voice calling me, so I turned to look, and there were these two real pretty girls." She indicted Lady Kasen and Raki, who was blushing madly. "So, I went to talk to them, and I asked if they were sisters, but they got a bit weird about answering, but hey, who am I to judge? I've got so many sisters that I lose count. Anyway, Miss Raki here seemed to be struggling with this makeup stuff, but I'm no slouch when it comes to that sort of thing, so I helped them out! Then, they were worried about looking too similar, but I'm, like, right there compared to the oni in body shape, so we swapped clothes! Though, I'm a little shorter, so it might be slightly tight, but...Hmm, I think it's rather fetching, don't you?" That whole speech had me a little lost, so I slowly asked if she'd had anything to drink. "Me?" I sighed heavily. "Huh?" Kisami asked a second time, so I clarified the question. "Oh, nah. Not yet, anyway. Starting now, though!" She was very pleased with herself. "Where's Yams? I gotta see her outfit in its natural environment." I pointed a thumb behind me, toward Yamame who was coming up from behind. "Yams~!" Kisami cried, jumping at her.

That left me with Lady Kasen, who looked rather pleased with herself. Fortunately, the appearance of one more youkai hadn't caused any massive intrigue, though I did spot one or two people curiously watching. I stepped forward and saw Reimu coming to join me. "So..." Reimu said. "All that work, and you kept the same hair." She laughed a little, though. "You look good." She finally said after casting an eye up and down Raki. "Never would have expected that Kisami's outfit would have fit."

"I look like an idiot. What's up with this outfit, anyway?" The embarrassed arm growled. "And my face feels heavy from all this...Stuff on it." I thought that she pulled off the outfit rather spectacularly, actually. Even if certain parts were...Straining. "You - It's not...I haven't worn anything different in over a thousand years." She muttered. "That sister of Yamame's is...Nice." She continued. "It's all...Tight." She mumbled, pulling at the suit jacket slightly. "Well...I guess it'll have to do." She finally said. "Can I get good and drunk now?"

"You and me both!" Lady Kasen cheerfully agreed. "That was quite fun, actually! We should do it more often. Maybe we'll do Reimu next." She looked the Shrine Maiden up and down. Reimu shrank back slightly. "I wonder if she'd suit a different hairstyle..."

"Touch my hair and I'll remove all of yours." Reimu growled. "And That's not a warning, it's a threat." She crossed her arms. "Well, now that you're not quite so easily recognizable as Kasen, you can do whatever you want. Did you tell the other oni, too?"

"Oh, I did. Suika said she'll show up later, but Yuugi wasn't sure if she could spare the time from the Hot Spring Town. With the reconstruction project coming to an end, things are a little hectic." I wondered how much worse it could be since the party. "Now, let's get something to eat, too! Any sweet things, Reimu?" Lady Kasen and Raki began to head off in the direction of the blanket, leaving Reimu and I stood there.

I turned my head to the side and saw that Kisami had now replaced Komachi in fussing over Yamame's outfit. Over on the blanket, Sakuya was still unconscious, and Remilia was still fussing. "I should tell Remi to put Sakuya in the room that Kasen and Raki were using." She muttered to herself. "Save some space and she won't wake up and chuck a knife in someone with less indestructible skin. C'mon, let's do that now. She'll startle at midnight otherwise." I frowned. What was planned for midnight after from cheering and welcoming in the new year? "Well...You'll see. It'll be fun, though."

[Anonymous No.]

I looked back over the party once more. Over on the edge of the blanket, I saw Yuyuko and Youmu. Youmu was distracted, looking at a flickering light in the distance. She got up and stepped slightly closer as Reimu and I reached the blanket and told Remilia what we were planning. I watched in confusion as Youmu reached the light and stared at it, before turning around and marching in our direction. Behind her, I suddenly saw four fairies becoming visible, laughing with each other. The one with the funny hat was holding the torch. "Oh, here we go." Reimu muttered, looking up from Remilia. "She's a mean drunk, like I said." I wondered if she'd missed the thing with the fairies. I felt a little bit more panic when she reached up and unsheathed her very long, very sharp katana. "Fortunately," Reimu continued, "Her swordsmanship sucks when she's drunk. Listen, I've got to get Sakuya out of here. Just dodge her for a minute or two and she'll probably pass out." I looked back to ask her what exactly she was getting at, but she waved me away and hefted Sakuya up and over her shoulder.

Looking back, I realised that Youmu was holding the sword in front of her now. Her eyes looked very blank. Then, she grit her teeth and swung it at me. Lady Kasen had been very clear about keeping my cool during situations like these, so I hopped back just enough to get out of range. The swing threw Youmu entirely off-balance, and she stumbled forward before trying to swing upward. I jumped to the side then, and shoved against her back as she stumbled again. "Oh, Youmu..." I heard Yuyuko mutter. "Is my girl being a bother?" She asked me. I was forced to leap back again when Youmu swung diagonally at me, though the motion sent her into a spin. "She doesn't hold her drink very well, I'm afraid. Youmu~ Do your best~!" I looked back at her, my mouth hanging open, then turned back just in time to see the katana coming down on top of me. Realising that I couldn't possibly move out of the way, I did the only thing I could. I dove forward and caught Youmu's hands. Since she was so drunk and-slash-or mind-controlled, she didn't provide much resistance.

And a moment later, her eyes fluttered and she pitched forward, landing against my shoulder. "Ah, well..." Yuyuko hummed. "She'll only get better with practice, after all." I lifted the girl up and carefully pulled the katana from her limp fingers and laid it down, then laid her down next to it. I looked up at Yuyuko, who regarded me curiously and sipped from her sake dish. "She'll wake up soon enough, don't you worry." She said with a smile. "Sit down. Drink?" She offered me a cup and I gratefully accepted it. After a few moments of her watching me, she smiled slightly.

[Anonymous No.]

"What's in your pocket?" I hadn't expected the question and asked her what she was talking about. "That pocket, there. Left side, inside." She pointed at my coat. "You were protecting that side very carefully just then..." I stared at her for a few seconds, then looked over my shoulder to confirm that Yamame was busy with Ki and not looking in my direction at all. "Now, don't be shy. I don't bite. Well...Perhaps I do, but I only bite food. Sometimes birds. But only when they deserve it." That was a...Strange way of putting it. "We're all strange around here." Yuyuko replied with a light smile. "I'm strange. Youmu's strange. You're strange." I didn't think I was that strange. "You must be." She told me, her smile widening. "Or you wouldn't be here." She held the smile for a moment longer. "Ah...My dear friend told me that was an important quote from a book that she'd never gotten the opportunity to use. She'll be upset when she learns that I got to use it first." Yuyuko giggled. "Now, what is in your pocket that you're protecting so well?"

There was no way out of conversation with her, I realised, so with one final check, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the box. Then, I very gently pulled it open. Yuyuko took in a sharp breath. "Oh my..." She murmured. "That girl you're looking at..." I nodded. "How lovely..." She sighed. "And she's desperate for you to ask." Yuyuko said. "Well, I certainly see why you protected it. Quick, put it away before she sees." I gingerly slipped the box back into my pocket. "I've not seen something like this for many years. Youmu~" She looked down. "Oh. Hmm...Youmu usually remembers these things for me. It seems I'll have to shake some of the cobwebs from my brain. Please come and tell me the story after you've asked." I wondered if she'd never considered such a thing herself. "It's rather hard to form lasting relationships as a ghost, I find, especially romantic ones. We tend to be just a little too transient, I'm afraid. I'm only different because I'm in charge of the Netherworld, but even then..." She shook her head. "So, I enjoy the stories of others."

I nodded slowly. She'd shown a very different side here compared to the ghost who'd been eating all of the food inside. I'd wondered if she'd been keeping a side of herself secret. "Now, I imagine that you've not come to this party to spend all of your time conversing with an old ghost like me." I asked her if she was feeling okay. It seemed to be something worth asking of everyone I spoke to. "Hm. You're rather sweet. I'm fine, though I always find myself a little down in the Winter, when my dear friend - Your Hearn - disappears." I could understand. It was always a little sad when you couldn't see someone you wanted to. Of course, I felt like I'd developed at least one good response to this sort of issue.

So, I asked her if she wanted a hug.

[Anonymous No.]

ANON NO! THAT HAG IS THE ACTUALLY DANGEROUS ONE!

[Anonymous No.]

After all these tried and failed attempts by the other members of the hag cabal, on the first attempt Yuyuko has have Anon exactly where she wants him. Truly, the finest and most skilful hag in Gensokyo.

Yamame better watch out, the true dark horse has finally revealed itself.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707274
GET OUT OF THERE QUICK! SHE'S JUST PRETENDING TO BE RETARDED!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707363
I bet she got Youmu drunk enough to pass out too just so she wouldn't be in the way of her master plan with the handsome young brother Reimu has recently embraced. Reimu is distracted, Yamame is distracted, Youmu is out for the night, Eirin is all the way in Eientei and Yukari is in the Outside World.

[Anonymous No.]

It also occurred to me too, while they were worrying about a blind drunk Sakuya trying to use Anon for target practice, Marisa completely forgot to ask who the spider girl was...

[Anonymous No.]

I was hoping Ki and Komachi would get to meet and hit it off as fellow giga titty carefree girls

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707447
>giga titty
>carefree
>redheads
There's a buddy cop spinoff in here somewhere
>kisami dressed up as kasen and raki dressed up in a suit
I need art of both of these

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707515
not the usual AI anon, but...

upscaled vers: https://files.catbox.moe/8qo4pe.png

[Anonymous No.]

I guess Keine isn't meeting Yamame this time

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707706
It’s pretty cute but if it's supposed to be Raki then the horns need to be bigger

[Anonymous No.]

>>45708144
made em a bit longer, but I think short horns are pretty cute. I like to imagine that the horns are actually pleasure zones, but Raki (and to a lesser extent, Kasen) are so touch-starved that they actually don't know it. in the best case scenario, they lean into it like a cat when you stroke them. worst case scenario, they go limp as it melts their nervous system. maybe that's what Kasen did to get Raki to let go of Anon's arm? also, cheers to writefriend for humoring my suggestions these last couple days. I've really enjoyed the last couple days

https://files.catbox.moe/0vore8.png

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707130
>So, I asked her if she wanted a hug.
Holy crap, I can't believe the end for Yammy and Anons relationship didn't come from Yukari, Reimu, Komachi, Raki, or any other contender for the anonbowl. It came the ghost who was only pretending to be retarded.

[Anonymous No.]

Oh no! Anon is bewitched by the ghost! Quick, someone call princess Shinmyoumaru Sukuna to rescue this fool!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707113
>Sakuya remained standing for a moment, her body smoking, three needles sticking out of her arm, and webbing covering her face
wait, shouldn't Marisa has seen Yamame's web?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45710071
considering her whole meltdown about it, I think they're just not really hiding it anymore, but she probably didn't really think about it

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707130
>"Now, don't be shy. I don't bite. Well...Perhaps I do.
>"It's rather hard to form lasting relationships as a ghost, I find, especially romantic ones. We tend to be just a little too transient, I'm afraid.
>"Now, I imagine that you've not come to this party to spend all of your time conversing with an old ghost like me."
>"Hm. You're rather sweet."
Yuyuko is too cute to be left alone with a strapping young man. If Yamame doesn't intervene ASAP, it's officially over for her (and consequently Anon).

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707389
and so starts the anon incident, with yuyuko kidnapping anon so that he can marry her. will our heroines be capable enough to save anon and stop the incident?

[Anonymous No.]

anon...

[Anonymous No.]

>>45711889
999 daughters 1 son

[Anonymous No.]

>>45708237
cute

[Anonymous No.]

where is keineee

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707515
>>45707706
Geez, fine, then I'll do my wife.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45710410
Come to think of it, this is even more terrifying than it looks at first because a ghost can't die or get ill so no matter how powerful she makes any disease, Yamame's powers will have no effect on Yuyuko. Not to mention even if she used danmaku, Yuyuko's abilities well beyond anything Yamame could handle or hope to win no matter how hard she fights for her human.

But it doesn't matter anyway because the inchling will be the hero who comes to rescue Anon from the final stage boss of lust-filled predatory hags.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45714210
anon, shinmyoumaru is literally best friends with seija
she can never appear

[Anonymous No.]

Realistically Yuyuko may just toy with him a bit at most, because she's an actual minx she's not going to be desperate like the other hags.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45713873
damn, look at those tits, I wanted to be hugged and kissed by her like she does with anon and yameme

[Anonymous No.]

>>45714224
Friendship of convenience and she's broken it off before like at the end of DDC even they always seem to end up coming back together again. Maybe Anon will finally convince her to stop talking to her for good and never to trust Seija again once he tells her about what she did to his parents. Shinmyoumaru believes in her own black and white sense of heroic virtue and right and wrong, she would never forgive Seija if she knew she likely hid or lied about the Vampire Incident and killing a number of humans in cold blood. Shinmyoumaru only goes back anyway because no-one else will be her friend or cares about the inchilings and we all know what Anon is like with befriending or adopting youkai...

[Anonymous No.]

The only bit of the party I was a little sad about is that Meiling didn't get to see Sakuya make such a fool of herself. It would have restored her smile after her earlier treatment by the head maid. Although she'll hear about it later and get the full, uncut version of what really happened and how bad next time she meets anon, Yamame and Kagerou at the next Grassroots Youkai Network meeting.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45714484
Meiling, Seki and Waka arein the middle of a journey to the palace of the sun in search of Orange.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45713873
lovely Ki, anon
>my wife
you cannot handle the red spider
you are not strong enough

[Anonymous No.]

>>45713873
sorry, I couldn't dare to do another man's wife; that'd just be wrong. but I'll gladly do my wife

[Anonymous No.]

Yuyuko was soft and cool to the touch. I had sort of expected it, because ghosts always did have a sort of cold association, but it had occurred to me that I wasn't really sure what I would be getting myself into when she'd watched me curiously and said that she would never turn down a hug, "Especially from a pretty boy." I wasn't sure how to feel about that, but I hoped that the hug would make her feel better. But then, she suddenly didn't seem to want to release me. "Hmm, your body is hot. Youmu's only half-warm, you see. Nothing like a man." I suddenly felt like I was in danger, so I very gently started to pull away. There was just something about that particular phrasing... "Hmm...Should I let you go? I might just have to take you home with me. Youmu can look after you." I pulled back slightly harder, and managed to break free this time. I tapped my pocket and told her that for very obvious reasons, I could not become her new pillow. "Oh, but do you have to? This is such a rare opportunity for me. There's only ghosts in Hakugyokurou and Youki left so long ago, so..." I now felt like I needed an escape. Slowly, I asked Yuyuko if she was susceptible to illnesses. "You'd think that ghosts were not capable, wouldn't you? But I can definitely get a stomach-ache. As for a cold, Well...I'm not quite sure. I've never had the occasion to check, but I've yet to suffer anything that living humans would call an illness. Why do you ask?" I cast a glance over at Komachi, who happened to sneeze. Kisami had found her way over there, and the two were talking animatedly. Yamame was trying to interject every now and then, but I got the impression that she wasn't making very much progress. I turned back. No reason, I replied innocently. If Yamame could affect a Shinigami, then perhaps she could affect a ghost.

Yuyuko watched me closely. "Oh, I suppose I'll have to put aside my plans for taking you home with me. Maybe another strapping young lad will work up the confidence to approach me one of these days." She smiled at me amusedly. "Sadly, I doubt it. Ah, how much longer until spring...?" I wasn't really sure how to take that description of me, but it didn't seem to matter much when I spotted Yamame huff and stomp off around the corner. "Good luck~!" Yuyuko told me, waving me off as I went to catch her, wondering what was wrong. She looked more than a little upset. First, I headed over to Kisami and Komachi, wondering if they'd have any idea.

"-The lectures!" Komachi was saying. "Yeah, it's every day with her. Doesn't even matter if no one's died, she still tells me off for slacking." I wondered if her mysterious boss was the one she was talking about. "Ah, there you are!" The Shinigami said to me, though she sneezed right after, and I wondered if she should go and get some rest. "No, no, I'll be fine...Or rather, I will be once Lady Eiki has to give me a few days off to recover." Was that her boss's name? "Huh? Oh, er, yeah. Eiki Shini, Yamaxanadu. She's the Yama of Gensokyo." Komachi coughed a little. "Asked her if she wanted to come and she spent the next three hours lecturing me on the morality of attending parties instead of working, as if I'm supposed to do something about it. It's not my party!" I opened my mouth to say something, but didn't get a chance.

"Wow, she sounds like Reiko." Kisami said, idly playing with Raki's tabard, since she was still wearing her outfit. "She's always ready to lecture someone about something. Usually it's Yura - One of my little sisters." She said for Komachi's benefit. "She tries to do it to me, but it loses the effect when you've seen her burst into tears because she couldn't find her favourite ribbon when she was little, so..." Ki poked at the rose on the tabard. "Hey, does your boss do that thing when she's lecturing where she forgets to take a breath and her face starts getting redder and redder, but you can't interrupt her because it'll just make her carry on even harder? Reiko does that. I don't know what she's talking about, though, since I stop listening pretty quickly. It's all 'Oh, stop riling up the oni and challenging them to drinking competitions, Ki!', or 'Ki, stop threatening to do horrifying things to Hoshiguma every time a rowdy oni attacks one of the girls!' Stuff like that." I wondered if Ki really did keep threatening Yuugi, but I didn't get a chance to ask.

[Anonymous No.]

"Huh?" Komachi asked, looking closer at the rose. "Oh, yeah, I just sort of accept it. Lady Eiki's lectures are all 'Don't artificially extend the length of the Sanzu River to hear the end of stories that the spirits you ferry are telling!' and 'If you didn't want to wind up halfway to the Styx instead of the Sanzu, you shouldn't have fallen asleep in your boat without mooring it first!' You know, stuff like that. Actually, that last one tends to spend the first half about how to properly moor my Titanic, then the second half is about how I shouldn't have been sleeping in there to begin with. It's a nice change of pace. She's got an impressive set of lungs, so it doesn't really matter in the end because she could probably yell for hours before getting out of breath. Couldn't be the Yama if she didn't." I tried once more to get into the conversation and ask why Yamame had been upset, but once again, I didn't get a chance. This time, Komachi reached out and poked the rose on Raki's outfit. "You know, I never get to look at Kasen's outfit close up because she always pushes me away. The quality is...Really good." she lifted the tabard slightly and rubbed it between her fingers. "Does it really fit that well?"

"Yep, it totally does!" Kisami spun, the tabard and the skirt blooming outward. "Well, maybe it's a little bit looser...Miss Raki's taller than me, after all. I was more surprised that my clothes fit her!"

I looked over to see where Raki had ended up. She was thankfully not too hard to pick out, since Ki's outfit was dark in colour against the white snow thanks to the lanterns lighting up the place. There she was, over right next to Lady Kasen, who was having a spirited conversation with a girl who was in the middle of seemingly setting up a stall of some sort. She had blue hair that fell down some way at her back, tied on either side by two red bands, and sprouting on the top of her head were two large rabbit ears, just like Reisen had. She stood up straight to wipe her brow, and I caught a glint of something golden on one of her ears. Her outfit was a faded blue with a pattern of the moon and stars, and as she turned in Lady Kasen's direction, I caught her strikingly red eyes. They weren't like Reisen's, though. There was far less of an unsettling feeling coming from this girl. She was lifting a box and placing it on the counter as I watched, and she began to pull what looked like cooking equipment out.

I wondered if Raki was nervous. Now that I thought about it, she probably didn't have all that much recent experience in interacting with lots of people at once. Even when she'd been in the Hot Springs Town, she'd mostly stuck with Lady Kasen. Still, I hoped she'd be alright in the end.

Komachi and Kisami were still talking, and I was beginning to see what had upset my spider. The two seemed to have the conversation entirely figured out, and I didn't seem to fit into it. I...Wondered if Kisami and Komachi might not be a little too quick to make friends. They were talking like they'd known each other for years. When I heard Kisami double check what Komachi's name was, I decided that I definitely wasn't going to get anywhere with those two. They'd been talking for all that time without even being sure what their names were? So, I announced that I was going to look for Yamame. That, at the very least, caught Ki's attention slightly. "Huh? Oh, she's not - Where'd she go?" I dryly asked her if she shouldn't ask Komachi. "What're you talking about?" She asked blankly. "Well, um, tell her that she's getting another massive hug from me the next time I see her." I nodded, aware that Ki really did love her to bits, and she'd not meant anything by her actions, then moved off to check the Shrine.

"Oh - Actually, wait." Ki suddenly said, coming over to stand by me on her own. "Um, I upset her, didn't I?" I thought, then nodded. Kisami's face fell slightly, and she started to look a bit upset. "Oh, I hate upsetting any of my sisters, but especially Yams..." Awkwardly, I reached out to hug her before she burst into tears. I'd not expected an emotional response like this. "Um, can you tell her that I'm really sorry, too? I just got excited about meeting Komachi, but I think I ignored her..." I nodded and told her that I would make sure she knew, and I was sure that she'd forgive Ki before long. "Also, um..." She looked away slightly and mumbled something, so I asked her to repeat it. That made her sigh and start fidgeting with the tabard again. "I, um, really like that you and Yams both use that nickname for me." She said in a very quiet voice. "It - It makes me feel like we're already family." That made me feel all warm inside, and I couldn't resist reaching out and ruffling Kisami's hair. "Ah - No, don't..." She complained, reaching up to try and stop me. "Oh, just get going, will you?" She finally said once she'd gotten my hands away. She sounded exactly like Yamame when she said that. It was almost uncanny.

[Anonymous No.]

Finally, I nodded and stepped away so I could go and find my spider.

It was an excellent plan, which meant I only made it around to the front of the Shrine before things began to go wrong. First, I hadn't found Yamame yet. I'd been wondering if she was in Reimu's room, but she didn't seem to be. I hoped she was alright. She'd seemed a little upset when she stormed off, and I didn't want her to go and sit on her own somewhere at what was supposed to be a fun party. I imagined that Reimu would have come and helped if I'd asked, but she seemed busy enough keeping the other partygoers from fighting each other. Then, I was suddenly falling over. "Gyah!" I heard a voice exclaim, followed by the sound of something hitting the veranda, much like I was about to do. I tripped forward and fell into the veranda painfully on my shoulder. A moment later, I groaned and rolled over, wondering just what I'd hit. When I raised my head, I wished I hadn't.

It was a girl. Of course it was; It was always a strange girl with me. If I got lucky, it was a strange girl like Yamame, and if I got unlucky, it was a strange girl like Seiga. And from my first view, I was already thinking that she probably wasn't like Yamame. There was a lot of white involved in her looks. Her hair was a deep grey, as were her eyes. She wore clothes that looked like what Keine had described as Heian era wear during my time in the Temple School. It looked like it was possible a suikan, or a kariginu. Her sleeves were detached from her vest, and I caught the slightest glimpse of her bare side which I looked away from quickly. Was she not cold? There seemed to be multiple layers to the whole outfit, and I saw white on the outer layer, then a layer of turquoise, followed by an innermost layer of orange. On her head was yet another strange hat. The upper layer, at least, looked like something from the Heian era. She wore a strange purple skirt which the bottom of her upper clothing hung over, with a small pattern on the side. There was a layer of transparent frills underneath the skirt, and...I did my best not to notice, but it did look more than a little...Short.

On her head was a large, round cap that I was sure was an eboshi. It was wrapped in criss-crossing white string, which hung off to the side in a spiral-like pattern. Attached to each part of the clothing on each limb was a coloured bow with very long strings. On her left arm, a red string. Her right, green. Both of her shoes had yellow wrapped around them, and at her neck was a deep purple. Complete with the one hanging from her hat, and it all clicked into place. They represented the colours of feng shui. Which, I thought, was rather interesting. Who was she? I definitely hadn't seen her before. She was rubbing her head and I hoped she hadn't hit it. I'd had more than enough head pain in my time to know that I didn't want it happening to anyone else. I thought that there was something slightly...Shrine Maiden-like about her outfit.

"Ooh..." She groaned, still rubbing her head. "Art thou robbed of thy senses?" Oh, that sounded bad. I'd knocked her head so bad that she'd reverted to a nearly unintelligible and archaic-sounding form of speaking. "'Tis no great task to remain betwixt yon edge of this porch and mine own body." Blankly, I asked her if she was okay, because I wasn't entirely sure what she'd said at all. I wondered if I would need to rush to Eientei now that I'd apparently caused someone brain damage. "Aye, my body is not weak." That was halfway understandable. "Doth thou think me afflicted with caducity? Nay, 'tis not true. Thine mind doth not comprehend my tongue." The girl hopped to her feet, landing on the tip of one foot and balancing there. I was very confused, so I started by introducing myself. "'Tis only proper to respond in kind. Mine own name is Mononobe no Futo. Student of the Tao am I." The Tao? She was a Taoist? I had heard Reimu speculate that a Taoist or two might show up tonight, but I wasn't really expecting to trip over one in the dark. "Prithee tell me, for what purpose art thee sneaking around at night? A larcener art thou?" And she'd gone straight back to being incomprehensible.

I wasn't really sure how to deal with this, and I especially wasn't sure what she was saying. I said that I was looking for someone, because I was fairly sure that she'd asked me what I was doing. Then, I asked her the same question. "Ah, 'tis a noble task indeed. Come hither." She motioned me to follow her. Not really sure what I was getting myself into, but fairly confident that I was safe since I was still on the Shrine grounds, I cautiously followed her as she led me around to the other side of the Hall of Worship. "Halt." She whispered, raising a hand. "And look yonder." She indicated the stretch between the Shrine and the back of the grounds, where the party was. Feeling very confused, I looked out cautiously.

[Anonymous No.]

Out there were two girls. One had blue, messy hair that stuck up in every direction in thick curls. She wore a hood, but it was down right now. A large kesa in black and gold covered most of her body from where it hung off of her shoulder, and underneath it, I could see the robes of a Buddhist nun. In her hand was a bottle of sake, and I could tell that she was holding something in her other arm, but I couldn't see it from the angle I was looking at. I knew her, not so much by name, but I'd seen her face before. I looked back at Futo, frowning. Then, I looked again. There was another girl. Her hair was black, though it was hard to see. She wore what looked like the uniform of a sailor. I'd once seen such a thing in a book at Suzunaan, although we didn't have an ocean in the valley, nor any ships that would need one. Her shorts were big and baggy, and I wondered if she was cold. She wore a cap on her head with a small anchor on it. The whole outfit was white and light green, or perhaps a light turquoise. The light really wasn't helping.

Wasn't the blue-haired girl a Buddhist from Myouren Temple? "Aye, 'tis a loathsome baseborn. From yon fane of Myouren." So...Someone that Futo didn't like, from the Myouren Temple. I asked if she knew her name. "Yon witch's name...Ichirin Kumoi." Futo didn't look all too pleased at giving the name. "A beastly youkai is she. Everything I despise." I decided that I'd keep the name of the particular youkai I was looking for private. And try to get away from this surreal encounter. "That quean over yonder hath the precepts of Buddhism failed to obey. T'would my mood improve were she return to her fane the smell of a drab drunkard bearing." I'd not understood that one, and I asked her to repeat herself. She did, and I missed it again. Futo must have seen the look on my face, because she growled and then took on a very concentrated look. "I...Want to - To spill alcohol...On Ichirin Kumoi's clothes." She finally managed to say, though it took a lot of work. I breathed a sigh of relief. She could, thankfully, speak normally, even if she didn't seem very used to it. "Prithee, Wouldst thou partake in mine scheme?" It didn't entirely seem like I had a choice, so I supposed that I would have to... "Excellent." Futo said with a smug smile. "'Tis for the glory of the Tao." I just wanted to go and look for Yamame, so I didn't really respond.

I looked back out at the pair. "Okay, yeah..." The black-haired girl was saying. "Pass it back." She had been fixing something on her shorts, but at her words, Ichirin revealed what was in her other arm as she passed over a massive coat, about as long as my own. It was dark, but with lots of gold trimming, and she throw it over her shoulders dramatically so that the whole thing flared out behind her. "Yeah, that's better. Damn shorts need sewing. Swear they're going to fall down one of these days."

"Try not to make that your first New Year experience, Minamitsu." Ichirin replied dryly. "Wouldn't be a good look. No matter what old Futatsuiwa says." She shifted the bottle in her arm. "Want some? Careful, though. Spill that on your clothes and Hijiri will smell you from halfway across the village. That, especially, wouldn't be a good way to start the year."

"Yeah, yeah..." Minamitsu muttered, taking the bottle. "Too bad Shou couldn't come. Naz said that Bishamonten wanted her to take Hijiri's all-night Buddhist Sutra reading seriously." She took a drink. "Ah, that's good. Hey, when's midnight, anyway?"

"Er..." Ichirin paused. "I'm sure Reimu knows. Someone will, anyway. It's a good thing that Hijiri thinks we're too busy to come back until the morning.

At this point, Futo pushed me out into the open. I was not entirely on board with this, but the two girls were staring at me now, so I didn't really have a choice. She'd told me - Or at least, I thought she did - to act natural. Considering I was looking for Yamame anyway, I scratched my head and asked them if they'd seen a blonde girl in a pretty dress around. "Uh..." Ichirin began. "Blonde? There's a lot of blondes here, you know." I supposed that was true, but I hadn't really thought of it. "No, wait, actually...I think I did see someone. Uh..." She poked Minamitsu in the arm. "Did you see her?"

[Anonymous No.]

"Huh? Er...Pretty hair, pretty dress, all of that? Thought I saw her around the back?" That sounded like Yamame, certainly, but I hadn't seen her unless she'd gone back around while I was tripping over incomprehensible Taoists in the dark. "No, that was earlier. Around the front? Sorry, not really paid attention." I sighed and thanked her regardless. "Hey, you're that guy, right? The one that they were all saying had died down in the village?"

"Oh, he does look familiar, yeah." Ichirin added. I forced down a groan at hearing it again, then shrugged and said that people had been wrong about that. "Probably for the best. You could have actually died." Yeah, I replied. Probably for the best. I looked at the bottle in her hand. I'd thought that Buddhists weren't allowed to drink. "Well...It's not quite your business, but..." Ichirin took the bottle back from Minamitsu and examined it. "Er, let's just say that we've got a ways to go to achieve enlightenment." So, I thought to myself, they weren't very good Buddhists. I supposed that it was a very hard discipline from what I knew.
Right when I was running out of things to say, Futo made her move and shot forward from the darkness somewhere above us. Something dropped down, looking like a spinning plate, and several more dropped to varying places in the sky. "Behold, vile wrenches! 'Tis I, Mononobe no Futo! Thou art not long for this world, for I have come to-"

"Hey!" Ichirin shouted. "Shut the hell up!" I was amazed that it seemed to have actually stunned Futo into silence. "Sorry, er, I think I have to deal with this." She said to me. "Can't you see we're busy!?" She yelled up at Futo. "What's a Taoist like you doing here, anyway? Surprised you're not out raising corpses from the dead with your buddy Seiga!" Ah. I'd forgotten that Seiga was a Taoist too. They probably knew each other. "Now, what-" But then, Futo suddenly shifted her arm, and the various spinning plates converged on Ichirin. She tried to jump back, but crashed into me, and just like that, it was over. The sake bottle she'd been holding was hit by multiple plates in a row, cracking it first, then shattering it entirely and spilling what was left all over Ichirin's outfit. She stared at the broken bottle.

"Ha!" Futo shouted. "Now the whole of yon fane shalt know that you are no more than a-"

But at that point, something else happened. Something that I supposed was expected. I saw a shape moving in the darkness, and then a giant fist made out of pink cloud suddenly manifested and smashed into Futo's back. "Nice! Good job, Unzan!" Ichirin shouted. I saw the cloud coalesce into a figure that looked like an old man giving a thumbs up, before going back to attacking.

But then, another moment later, a rapidly spinning gohei made contact with the back of Futo's head hard enough to immediately send her falling to the ground. A moment later, she crashed headfirst into the snow, and Reimu caught the gohei in mid-air. "Hey! She roared. "Both of you, shut the hell up! You're pissing everyone off!" I saw the cloud thing - Unzan, apparently - look ready to attack, but Reimu gave him a sharp glare that stopped him in his tracks. She glared at me. "Don't get caught up with these lot." She told me, then turned and made for the party once more.

"You know," Minamitsu said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see her examining her fingernails. "That's a real nice coat." She said, looking at me properly. I decided not to bother trying to resist, so I sighed and said that hers was nice too. "Heh. Coat friends." She smirked. "Mine's supposed to be like the sort of thing they wore at sea. Been a long time since I was at sea, though." I lifted the side of mine, then said that the Moriya Shrine Maiden thought that mine was from a video game, whatever that was. "Well, she's a little strange, so maybe it doesn't mean anything. Now, er, I'd better go and sort Ichirin out. Our head monk will kill us if she finds out that we were out at a party." I bid her farewell as she led the silently seething Ichirin away.

Really, I just wanted to find Yamame. It wasn't my fault that things kept getting in the way. 

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716701
before you ask it was this

[Anonymous No.]

Yamame probably spent the last 20 minutes talking with Marisa who is still unaware she's anon's girlfriend

[Anonymous No.]

>There she was, over right next to Lady Kasen, who was having a spirited conversation with a girl who was in the middle of seemingly setting up a stall of some sort. She had blue hair that fell down some way at her back, tied on either side by two red bands, and sprouting on the top of her head were two large rabbit ears, just like Reisen had. She stood up straight to wipe her brow, and I caught a glint of something golden on one of her ears. Her outfit was a faded blue with a pattern of the moon and stars, and as she turned in Lady Kasen's direction, I caught her strikingly red eyes. They weren't like Reisen's, though. There was far less of an unsettling feeling coming from this girl. She was lifting a box and placing it on the counter as I watched, and she began to pull what looked like cooking equipment out.

The rabbit has landed! Mochi for all!

I wonder if Mystia shows up with her cart too, or if the likelihood of Yuyuko being present made her decide against bringing her cart to the party.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716907
Come on man, let Seiran go one night without competition.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716937
Or give us the triple threat cook-off epic between Seiran, Ringo and Mystia

[Anonymous No.]

>I did my best not to notice, but it did look more than a little...Short
She is obscene
>"I...Want to - To spill alcohol...On Ichirin Kumoi's clothes." She finally managed to say
She is funny
>"Excellent." Futo said with a smug smile.
She is cute

I love futo, guys

[Anonymous No.]

>>45717196
It's really difficult to make Futo bland

[Anonymous No.]

I enjoyed how writefriend included some fun Futo-isms.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716707
Quite honestly Komachi kind of deserves some of the lectures.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45717445
what the fuck

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716701
I tapped my pocket and told her that for very obvious reasons, I could not become her new pillow. "Oh, but do you have to?
I pitied Yuyuko in the previous chapter, thinking her situation was similar to Yuugi's and that she deserved a good man, but she's shown her true colors as a thirsty homewrecker. Sad.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45720831
She's just teasing him, anon
Yuyuko isn't desperate like Yu- Hearn or most of the other hags. Plus she seems to want her retarded gappy back since she complains about how long it'll be until spring

[Anonymous No.]

>>45702664
I asked begged in the AI ​​thread

[Anonymous No.]

>>45721652
That poor girl's legs are going to explode trying to fit inside those socks

[Anonymous No.]

>>45720831
It was just a light tease, if Yuyu really wanted him she'd be more subtle about it. Yuyu is an extremely intelligent women and on top of that actually understands people

[Anonymous No.]

>>45721718

[Anonymous No.]

>>45721764
She just gave him a little warning on getting too physical with women outside his family, boys like anon only understand when you give them a demonstration.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45721764
for all that kisami tells anon that yamame is too easy to tease, anon's as dense or even denser than she is, so he's actually even easier to tease but too retarded to understand that he's being teased
fortunately retard moe goes a long way in gensokyo

[Anonymous No.]

>>45721828
Purdy

[Anonymous No.]

So... how come Doremy didn't just let anon know what the issue with Eirin was?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45723686
Eirin didn't sleep so she didn't dream for doremy to know. you got away with it, writeanon

[Anonymous No.]

>>45723686
because it wouldn't be fair for her to ruin all of the drama like that. it'd ruin her own entertainment you know

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716724
>Futo made her move and shot forward from the darkness somewhere above us
futo was lucky it was dark, otherwise anon could see...
https://files.catbox.moe/jkfug9.png

[Anonymous No.]

>>45723686
Doremy was more invested in his love life

[Anonymous No.]

"Well, now." A voice exclaimed. I turned my head from the retreating figures of Ichirin and Minamitsu, who I could hear ranting about stupid Taoists and getting the alcohol smell out of Ichirin's clothes, and looked in the other direction. Upside down in the piled-up snow was Futo, with only her legs sticking out. Her skirt...Was too short, and I looked away before I could be accused of impropriety, or whatever strange and archaic term that Futo might use. Instead, I looked down to the end of the pathway, where I could see a figure in the silhouette of the light from the lanterns surrounding the back of the Shrine where the party was taking place. I couldn't quite make out their features, but I could definitely make out the two long tufts of hair sticking up behind them like animal ears. "It appears that one of my fellow practitioners of the Tao has caused a spot of trouble." She stepped forward and I saw her cape billow behind her. "As is so often the case." She strode forward. Her steps were like those of a well-trained dancer, effortless, without a single wasted movement. She stretched her arm out to the side as she got close enough for me to see, and then used it to sweep some of her hair back.

By that point, she was in the light. Her hair was blonde, but it was light and looked darker toward the roots. The tufts of her hair was voluminous and fell in a large number of curls whilst still retaining the shape that made them look like the ears of a cat, or perhaps an owl. In fact, I thought that I'd seen an owl that had very similar fur once, during the religious wars where I'd seen Reimu fight with the Buddhists and the Taoists in the village. I wasn't sure what relevance that had, but it was a rather pretty owl and I'd never seen it again, so the one memory had sort of stick in my mind for a while, it seemed.

Her cape was a rich purple on the outside, the sort of thing that only nobles wore. The inside was deep red, and had gold trim around the edges. It was connected at her clavicle with a thick strip of purple going between two golden buttons, but the collar of the hood stretched out about halfway up her head. I could see a pattern on the cloak, but not very well from my position in front of her. She wore a sleeveless dress in deep purple underneath a vest that was somewhere between white and pink, with some elaborate frills running underneath the dress. It was connected in the middle with an elaborate pattern that ran down both sides of the vest where it parted at her waist. In fact, elaborate, or perhaps extravagant, seemed to be the word to define her. The gaps in the dress and the vest, I thought, were quite wide, and I could see quite a lot of her bare skin, from her armpit down to the bottom of her ribcage. It was tight, though, so I wasn't at risk of seeing much more.

I needed to find Yamame. I'd already run into too many girls with slightly provocative outfits.

A very dark purple, almost black belt ran around her waist, slightly lower on her left side than her right, and hanging down with more gold adorning it. Around her hips, clinging to her right side and running diagonally, was a golden sort of belt with an interest pattern of diagonal lines on it, and two large flower-like shapes sat toward her left side, from which had two wires running downward to a pair of diamond-shaped hooks. The hooks currently contained a long shape, which, I realised, was a sword. A very fancy sword, if the pattern on the hilt was any indication. I thought the sword looked familiar, perhaps from my lessons on history at the temple school, but I couldn't quite place it. She held in her hand a shaku, which she was passing between her left and right almost absent-mindedly. Gold bangles adorned both of her wrists, and her sandals were covered in more elaborate gold patterns from the top of her foot up to her ankle.

As she swept back her hair, I caught something over her ears. A purple band connected two large earmuffs that covered both of her ears and seemed to be her only concession to the cold, because she wasn't wearing socks and her arms as well as a fair deal of her torso was exposed to the elements. On both sides of the earmuffs were the character meaning 'Harmony'. "-Lo? Can you hear me?" She was speaking, but I'd been so caught up in understanding her extravagant outfit that I'd missed it. Coughing, I nodded. "Ah, good. I was worried that I'd lost you there for a second." She smiled and nodded, then turned to the legs sticking out of the ground. "And...Up we go." She said, grasping hold of Futo's ankle and lifting. The grey-haired Taoist popped free of the snow, though she was still half covered in it. I was quite amazed to see that the blonde-haired Taoist didn't seem to require much exertion to lift Futo, though she did take to the air slightly so she could pull her completely free from the snow. She kept her hanging there, while she regarded her curiously. "Good evening, Futo. How does it find you?"

[Anonymous No.]

"'Tis not mine best..." Futo muttered, her body hanging freely. "I hath immeasurable toil caused to yon handmaidens of Myouren, mine Crown Prince." She addressed the blonde, who nodded slowly. The Crown Prince, I supposed. This really was seeming very familiar. "Prithee release me! We shalt raze yon fane to the ground, cleansed in fervant flame and-"

"Ah, well, you see, I'm going to have to decline your offer, Futo." The Crown Prince said, finally lowering back to the ground and releasing Futo in a heap, though she quickly scrambled to her feet. "It would cause quite a bit of a disturbance, especially on an important night like this one. Perhaps it would be better if you were to return to senkai, Futo." She patted her hands against her cloak. "And...Perhaps you could spend that time meditating on when it is best to consider mischief against Buddhists. "He who conquers himself is mighty." After all." The Crown Prince nodded sagely, though Futo looked rather put out.

"I...But, Mine Crown Prince..." Futo began, then trailed off. It seemed as if they'd forgotten I was here. It was like trying to talk to Komachi and Kisami all over again. "To remain at yon senkai on one's lonesome, it's..."

"Yes, Futo? Is something the matter?" The Crown Prince asked. "Ah, and don't worry," She suddenly cast her eyes over to me with a light smile, "I'll get to you soon enough." I blinked and nodded, not really sure what to say. Belatedly, I wondered why I'd so readily agreed. "You may remain there if it is to your liking, or return to your search for your loved one. I do believe that is what your heart desires, is it not?" Frowning this time, I asked her how she'd possibly known that. "I hear things." She told me mysteriously.

"U-Um!" Futo exclaimed, drawing the Crown Prince's attention back. "If - If it wouldst pleaseth thee, Mine appetency is to greet the New Year with mine Crown Prince!" She said, her hands fidgeting and her gaze downcast. She looked down too, and I saw her try and kick her feet against the ground to dislodge some of the snow currently stuck to her legs and shoes.

The Crown Prince looked away from me and back to Futo with a curious expression. A moment later, she clasped her hands behind her back and underneath the cape, then stepped forward. She reached one hand out, keeping the other behind her back, and lifted Futo's chin with a finger so that the two were looking at each other. "I think we can keep quiet about this little escapade, hmm? Why don't you return to the party? Tojiko should be around. Go on, now. I'll be right along." To my surprise, Futo nodded immediately and took off in the direction of the back of the Shrine. A moment later, I was left with the Taoist, who looked over her shoulder at me. "She's always trying to garner my approval. Since long ago." She turned, sweeping her hair out of her eyes again. "Hello. My name is Toyosatomimi no Miko. And it seems that I owe you a debt of thanks."

I blinked and realised that I'd been staring. She had a sort of effortless charisma. What for, I asked with some confusion. "You tripped over Futo, didn't you? If you hadn't, she might have come up with something a bit more...destructive. I don't think Reimu needs the stress, do you? Hmm, Reimu's little brother?" I frowned, then asked her how she could know that. "I heard it." She told me, tapping the side of one earmuff. She lifted it and cupped a hand around the back of her ear as she leaned forward. "On the wind. In the whispers." She told me in a breathless voice. "Also, because I met Keine Kamishirasawa in the village yesterday and she happened to let it slip. I got the impression that she was rather happy to see you." I stammered some sort of acknowledgement. Miko watched me with a curious expression. "Would you like to know what Reimu has planned for midnight?" I frowned and asked her what she was talking about. "Her surprise. You desire an answer, do you not?" I sort of did, I suppose. "Ah, but you won't ask. You trust that she's right and knowing would ruin the surprise, as it were." I felt like I was talking to Satori Komeiji. I was allowed to get more than a word in edgewise, but Toyosatomimi no Miko also seemed to know all that I was going to say.

"I suppose a true introduction is in order. My name is Toyosatomimi no Miko. I can hear the cry of your desires. I know that you wish to propose marriage to Yamame Kurodani, a tsuchigumo from the underground of Gensokyo. I know that you will believe that what I am saying is true, because it's no more ridiculous than some of the other youkai you have met. I know that you're worried about Miss Kurodani's present location, as well as that of your guardian, Keine Kamishirasawa."

[Anonymous No.]

She watched me for my reaction. I was more or less amazed, and not really sure what to say. But, as she had said, I'd heard plenty of strange things from others that I'd met, so it really wasn't that far from what I'd heard before. "As you surmise." Miko told me with a smile and a nod. It looked strangely familiar.

"Now, I'm not here to take up all of your time. I do have a party to attend, after all, and I should like to keep Futo from attempting to burn down another temple before the sun rises." Was that...Likely? "No, but it wouldn't stop her from trying." She told with a wry smile. "So..." She reached both of her arms up a long - And from the sound of it, pleasant - stretch. "I should take my leave, but - Oh-ho..." She trailed off and lifted one of her earmuffs again. After a moment, she nodded and placed it back. Curious, I asked her what they were for. "Well, I could tell you that they help to restrict my especially sensitive ears so that I can focus on one conversation rather than hear the desires of everyone." She stopped talking. A moment of silence later, I slowly asked if she was planning to tell me that. "No." She replied with an infectious smile. "My ears were cold." I laughed a bit without thinking about it, and she smiled the victorious smile of someone who'd managed to get a laugh out of another person.

Miko bowed deeply, her arm going to her waist. "Happy New Year." She told me. "Why don't you try and start it off on a high note?" Her gaze wasn't on my face. It was somewhere just slightly lower and to the left. "What a romantic desire." She murmured. I blinked, not entirely sure what she was talking about, then tried to check what she was looking at. I was a moment too slow to catch exactly where her eyes had been. "Oh, and - I'd suggest you head to the torii gate." She told me, spinning on the tip of her sandal and beginning to walk back toward the party, her entire body hidden behind her cloak. I thought about calling her again and asking her just what had happened, but before I could, she raised a hand in a farewell wave without turning. Finally, she disappeared around the corner.

Thus, I was left alone. That, I decided, was a very confusing encounter. At the very least, Toyosatomimi no Miko was a bit more approachable than some of the people to show up and speak nonsense to me. I wondered why that was. She seemed to have a certain charisma to her, something that made it easier to listen to what she said. Sighing, I shook my head and turned toward the torii gate and the front of the Shrine. I supposed that I might as well go and check. It was starting to get colder over at the front of the Shrine, where there was no activity aside from the flickering light of the lanterns, so I slowly made my way over to the top of the staircase leading to the Shrine, making sure not to fall.

I got to the top just in time for someone who was trudging up the stairs to look up at me, having not heard my arrival. Typically, I imagined that this scenario would be fine.

This was not a typical situation. This was my luck, and this was just about the only person in the world who I should not have run into at the top of a long and steep staircase. Her eyes met mine. One red and one blue as they widened in shock, horror, and fear. Immediately, I knew that it couldn't end well. I saw her mouth open. I heard the shriek she gave, and I saw her scrabble backward instinctively, completely forgetting where she was. Kogasa Tatara tried to reach out for purchase that was no longer there. I hoped that she'd manage to fly, but I feared that she would fail, for the surprise might have made her temporarily forget that she even could. I reached out as fast as I could and managed to wrap my hand around the shaft of the umbrella she was carrying, but I couldn't reach the girl herself. Steeling myself for what was sure to be a painful view, I watched her begin to fall. She bounced off of the first step with a cry of pain.

...And then, she stopped. I saw two things. A web attached to her back, and a person who'd caught her mid-fall. The web was coming from over my shoulder, and suddenly Kogasa was yanked toward me, then past me, her shrieking taking on a decidedly more confused tone as she was pulled straight up the stairs. Now, she was hanging in the air from a strand of web attached to the back of her vest. I looked up and blinked. There she was, finally. Yamame Kurodani, attaching the web that she'd clearly shot to the top of the torii gate and leaving Kogasa hanging there. She hopped down as I looked back at the steps. Patting her hands against her skirt and looking up in confusion was Keine Kamishirasawa, who seemed slightly out of breath. "Um..." Kogasa said, her eyes squeezed shut. "Am I dying?"

[Anonymous No.]

"Oh, thank you. It's just my usual clothes, but slightly better for Winter. I couldn't afford a more dedicated wardrobe, sadly. Unlike some people, apparently." Keine looked over at me with a teasing smile so that I knew she wasn't being serious, and I jumped, having somewhat faded into the background of the conversation.

"Um, I made his clothes, too." She indicated me, with everything I was currently wearing having been crafted by Yamame. "It was a really nice challenge, since he's so much bigger than most of the girls I usually make clothes for." I frowned. That had almost sounded like an insult. "And a lot wider, too. I had to make so many sketches to properly understand how the clothes would work." That definitely seemed like a bit of an insult.

"I know!" Keine agreed cheerfully. "I hadn't seen him in months, you know!" That had been- "And when I'd last seen him, he was thin as a reed! Then, he showed up last week, looking like a completely different person! He looks so - So much healthier! Well, for the most part." It wasn't like Yamame hadn't seen all of my scars already. Keine looked at Yamame once more. "Your hair...It's lovely. It goes really well with the dark ribbon. And it curls so nicely." Keine was now looking at Yamame's hair. It was very fluffy, and I knew that from experience.

"Oh, um, thank you. You should see my sister, Kisami! She's got the most hair out of anyone I've ever seen." Yamame had gotten past her usual awkwardness very fast, I thought. "Your hair is really pretty too, Miss Keine. The shades go together really well. And I like the length, too." Yamame looked over at me, and I blinked, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. "I wish you'd let me style yours." Yamame said to me. I felt a chill run through me. This was the exact conversation I'd not wanted the two to have.

Keine knew it, too. "Oh, he's always fussing when I try to do anything to his hair! Honestly, it could look so good if he'd just let me do something with it. I heard that Reimu's had better luck, though." I opened my mouth to move us onto a different topic, but got nowhere. "I'll tell you everything that you should do with it, Yamame. That way, you can fix it up for him." Somewhere in the back of my mind, I screamed in terror. I could see it now. Yamame using the opportunity and knowledge to mess with my hair to her heart's content, and me not even allowed to fight back because it was payment for all of the hair ruffling that I'd done to her. "Since I've seen what it was like when he was young, after all." Honestly, I muttered to myself. I'd almost have preferred it if they had started fighting.

"Ooh, okay! I'd love to hear it." Yamame said cheerfully. "I try to style Ki - Um, Kisami, that is - I try to style Ki's hair sometimes. It never works! Just immediately bounces back to what it was like before. It's a good thing his doesn't do that, or I'd have no way to tease him by messing with it." Keine offered Yamame her arm, and the two began to head toward the back of the Shrine without a word to me. Their conversation began to fade with it, and I supposed I should follow them.

"Um..." I heard a voice, and I blinked. "I can't get these webs off..." Oh, Kogasa was still hanging from the torii gate by the back of her vest, and I was still holding her umbrella. As I looked at her and watched Yamame and Keine walk further toward the Shrine, the poor tsukumogami spun lazily as she hung there. "Is someone going to let me down...?"

[Anonymous No.]

Well at least she's wasn't leaving

[Anonymous No.]

Poor umbrella, anon probably won't be able to remove the webs so she will stay like that for a while.
Imagine if they forget her there and she spends all the New Year's eve like that...

[Anonymous No.]

>>45726989
Cut the poor girl some slack man

[Anonymous No.]

>>45726989
Still, could have been worse. Yamame could have left her hanging upside down from the gate.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45726667
>"To remain at yon senkai on one's lonesome, it's..."
How is she so cute?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45727096
She's basically a Japanese templar

[Anonymous No.]

>>45726901
It's not like she was going to leave Anon alone with Remilia and half a dozen other girls that could harm him as well.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45727086
And diseased

[Anonymous No.]

>>45726679
>"Um..." Kogasa said, her eyes squeezed shut. "Am I dying?"
This dumbrella, I love her so much!

[Anonymous No.]

>She was speaking, but I'd been so caught up in understanding her extravagant outfit that I'd missed it.
>"Ah, and don't worry," She suddenly cast her eyes over to me with a light smile, "I'll get to you soon enough." I blinked and nodded, not really sure what to say. Belatedly, I wondered why I'd so readily agreed.
>I blinked and realised that I'd been staring. She had a sort of effortless charisma.
>I stammered some sort of acknowledgement. Miko watched me with a curious expression.
>She watched me for my reaction. I was more or less amazed, and not really sure what to say.
>She reached both of her arms up a long - And from the sound of it, pleasant - stretch.
>I slowly asked if she was planning to tell me that. "No." She replied with an infectious smile. "My ears were cold." I laughed a bit without thinking about it
Miko just added anon to her harem and he doesn't even know it

[Anonymous No.]

>>45730666
tojiko dont want to share

[Anonymous No.]

>>45730666
Calm down, Byak- Satan.
But yes, you're right. Miko radiates so much charisma that Anon may already be pregnant without being aware of it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45730666
ANON NO! THAT ONE IS A MALE! AM I GOING TO HAVE TO FOLLOW YOU AROUND THE WHOLE NIGHT?!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45714652
>you are not strong enough
Pshaw. All you need is to be careful not to get tangled and lost in her hair.

[Anonymous No.]

"W-Wait! Don't come any closer!" Kogasa tried to wave her hands to repel me, but all it really succeeded in doing was making her wobble precariously, which shut her up immediately considering if she fell here, there was a high chance that she'd be going straight down the steps to the Shrine and this time no one would be there to catch her. "W-Wait, it's okay...Ghosts can't touch me!" I poked her back. "Ah!" She cried, trying to simultaneously touch her back and cover her head. "The ghost touched me!" I frowned and asked her to please stop calling me a ghost. "But you're dead!" She replied insistently. "I knocked you down that hole!"

I would have thought that it was obvious that I clearly hadn't died, since I was, you know, here. "No human could survive that!" Kogasa insisted. "You did die, which means..." Even considering all I could see of her was the back of her head since she was still hanging from the web that Yamame had saved her wish, I felt like I could physically see the dots connecting in her mind. "Oh no! You're a ghost who doesn't know you're dead!" At that point, I decided that I wasn't going to be getting anywhere, especially not while she was hanging like this.

I turned my attention to the web that Yamame had saved her with instead. It was surprisingly thin and weak-looking, considering that it was holding an entire person up. I experimentally reached out a hand and prodded at it. It felt sticky, and didn't seem to break too easily. I poking it slightly harder and it bent, but didn't break. That sent Kogasa swinging, and she cried out nervously. "I-I'll call Reimu! She'll exercise you!" I didn't answer, because I knew exactly where her thought process was about to go. "Oh, but...You were with Reimu, so...The Hakurei Shrine's been taken over by a vengeful spirit!" She began flailing, and her arm caught me in the side which sent me precariously close to the edge of the stairs. Sighing in annoyance, I stepped around Kogasa so that I was on the safe side and threatened to find Reimu and let her deal with the tsukumogami if she didn't calm down. "No, um, no." She did manage to keep herself from shouting that bit at least. "Um, please don't get her. She probably wants to kill me for getting you killed..." I opened my mouth to say yet again that I was not dead, but somehow, I didn't think the message would get through.

While I considered the problem, I noticed that Kogasa had quietened down a lot. In fact, I think I heard her sniffling. I blinked, then looked down at her just in time to see a tear hit the ground. Curious, I asked her why she was crying. "U-Um, It's just, I..." She trailed off, but I recognized the signs of a dam about to burst. "I-I'm sorry!" She wailed. "I'm sorry for trying to surprise you and knocking you down that hole! I'm really, really sorry that you died! B-But, I - Um, I can't take much more of this! I can't go outside without looking over my shoulder now, because I just know that The Shrine Maiden is going to kill me for getting a villager killed! I - I thought I could hide until everyone forgot, but then I had to go into the village for supplies one day and I saw your ghost with Reimu, so I knew that you were telling her how you died and that I was to blame, so-" She was babbling now.

I rolled my eyes and sliced the web by holding my hand at an angle to it. I figured that for as strong as it was, it probably couldn't withstand that, so when it did, I exclaimed in surprise. Kogasa, meanwhile, cried out because it sent her swaying again. Now feeling like I was being outwitted by a strand of silk, I stomped off to find one of the shovels that Lady Kasen and I had used to clear the courtyard of snow earlier in the night. "W-Wait! Where are you going!? Um, please don't leave me here! I - Oh no, the umbrella! Where's the umbrella!? Did it fall down the stairs!?"

In my arms, I shouted back over my shoulder. Indeed, I was still holding her umbrella. The giant tongue hanging down from where I had it over my shoulder was a little unnerving, though. It wasn't...The worst umbrella I'd ever seen. At least it looked functional. I'd already made the mistake of going out without an umbrella more than enough times and I'd gotten the cold that had brought Yamame and I back together in one such incident. Sighing, I found the shovels, leaning against the cupboard where Reimu usually kept them and pulled one out. I thought for a moment, then decided that I didn't feel like swinging it one-handed, so I placed the umbrella down in its place. For a moment, I felt like the single red eye design on the umbrella was staring at me disapprovingly. I dismissed it as just a trick of the light and turned back, but then stopped.

[Anonymous No.]

"-Doesn't look good tied up in a topknot, no, no. He tried that when he was a young teenager, but it just made it look like something was nesting on his head, so-" That was Keine's voice. It sounded like they were in Reimu's room in the Shrine, because I was fairly certain that Sakuya was still in the main spare room, unconscious and perhaps still smoking slightly. "So, what did you say about your sisters? You were telling me...Er, about the one with the curly hair, I think."

"Oh, Ruka? Well, she's definitely got curls, but her hair is closer to shoulder length and looks a lot more manageable. Looks, mind you, because it isn't actually. It's unruly and resists nearly all attempts at taming, and-" That was Yamame. It seemed that Keine and my spider had hit it off greater than I could have imagined, something which pleased me, but also filled me with dread since Keine had wasted no time in trying to tell Yamame every little embarrassing thing I'd ever done.

"U-Um, are you coming back!?" I heard Kogasa call nervously. "Mister - Er...Ghost? Mister Vengeful Spirit." I carried the shovel back over, telling her sharply that I was in fact still a perfectly ordinary human. I paused after that, then amended that to a mostly ordinary human. "So, um...Like - Like half a vengeful spirit?" I didn't think that was a thing. Alright, I told Kogasa cheerfully. I told her to stay still so I didn't accidentally hit her instead of the thread. It wasn't actually likely, but it did get her to keep still, which was good. I planted my feet, hefted the shovel, then swung as hard as I could.

Fortunately, Yamame's thread, while clearly durable, couldn't withstand the strength of a large shovel coming in at speed, and snapped immediately, though I did see it then get caught on the shovel and float through the air with it as I pulled it back. Kogasa crashed to the floor and groaned as the breath god knocked out of her. A moment later, she scrambled to her feet. "The umbrella!" She cried, finally spotting it. She took off in a sprint, then tripped and slammed into the ground again, garnering a split lip for her trouble. That didn't stop her from immediately hopping up and rushing to the umbrella, which she snatched up and clutched almost defensively. "Phew...I thought I'd dropped you down the stairs..." She mumbled, looking at the umbrella. Then, she looked back up at me. "Um, please don't haunt me for this, but please don't separate me from my umbrella again. It's like...Like when a human loses a limb? Um, I think, anyway..." I couldn't exact do any haunting regardless, so that was fine by me. "Wow...You're, um, really friendly for a vengeful spirit."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Again, I said, I was not a vengeful spirit. "B-But, isn't that just what a vengeful spirit would say?" Kogasa seemed entirely fixated on this idea that I'd died. Giving up again, I sighed and asked her why she'd even been coming to the Shrine if she was convinced that Reimu was planning to kill her for what she had supposedly done to me. She looked away. "Well, um...Why are you at the Shrine?" She asked. Because Reimu invited me and asked me to help set the whole thing up, I replied pointedly. "She wanted a vengeful spirit to help!?" Kogasa exclaimed, looking a little worried. I watched her for a moment longer. "I...Decided that I should face Reimu head on. The paranoia was too - Too much." That sounded - Suicidal, but I didn't say it out loud. Clearly, I should never have left her thinking I was dead for so long. Much Like Keine and Miss Narumi, it had been cruel and had left them worried. With Kogasa, it had apparently made her so terrified for her life that she'd considered walking into a Shrine where she thought that she wouldn't walk back out.

I needed to fix this, I decided. Kogasa, I said. I was not dead. And I was sorry that I'd let her think it was the case for so long. I sighed and shook my head, then asked her if she wanted me to have a look at her lip. "My - Um, what? But - The fall, and you can't..." I repeated my question again, then asked if it hurt. "Um, a little bit..." She said in a small voice. I offered her a hand, and she slowly took it. "It's - Um, warm. Ghosts aren't supposed to be warm..." I sighed and led her inside Reimu's room, where I stopped and blinked.

Keine was sat toward the door, and Yamame had acquired a comb from somewhere. To the pair's side sat Keine's funny hat. Yamame, it seemed, was combing Keine's hair. "-Or a few long strands, like-" Yamame was saying, but she noticed me right after. "Oh, you're back! I thought you'd gone back to the party." And then she spotted Kogasa. "Oh, Kogasa! I haven't seen you for a while, you know." Yamame looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and I shrugged.

[Anonymous No.]

"Y-Yes, um, hello, Miss Yamame..." Kogasa said quietly. "And Miss Keine." I let go of Kogasa's hand and went to fetch Reimu's first aid supplies as well as a bowl of water.

"Good evening, Miss Tatara." I heard Keine say while I was rooting around in the kitchen for a bowl. "Oh, are you hurt? That looks painful." I called back that I was looking for the first aid supplies for that very reason. "Ah, I see...Oh, don't mind us. I asked Yamame here if she wouldn't mind trying some of her techniques on my hair, and she graciously accepted."

"Oh, um, that's nice. I think it looks pretty." Kogasa replied. I finally located a bowl and filled it with water. Then, balancing it in the crook of my arm, I picked up the box of medical supplies that Reimu kept supplied and brought it back into the main room. At that moment, Keine's hair was all pulled back, which I found to make her look a fair deal more severe than she usually did. Personally, I also thought that it lessened the impact of the way her hair shifted colours, so I hoped that Yamame wasn't planning to keep it that way. I stepped over and sat in front of Kogasa, who half-raised her umbrella like she was going to try and attack me with it. After a second, she lowered it, but clutched it tightly. Now, I finally got a good look at her outfit, though it was a little roughed up from falling on the steps and then falling again on the wet ground when I'd released her from the thread.

It was...Mostly the same, actually. I'd seen her in the Summer wearing a deep blue vest which matched her hair and a lighter blue skirt, which had a wavy pattern along the bottom with circles placed at the intervals where the circle dipped. Back then, her vest was tied over her chest with two diagonal strips that crossed over each other, with another strip at the top. Now, her vest was gone, and her skirt was placed high on her waist, though it was a lot longer than the one I'd seen in the Summer, and she'd replaced the vest with what looked to be a thick capelet which hung down to about her midriff. At the end, it was fur-lined, and I noticed that the same lining was on the edge of her umbrella too. I couldn't believe that she too was just wearing her geta barefoot, though they weren't one-toothed geta like the type that tengu wore. I'd never properly got a look at her eyes given the split second I'd had to see them before I'd been falling down a hole in the ground where I'd met my spider, so I took this opportunity. One, her right - My left - was a blueish green, the same colour as her hair, and the other was a sharp red. With the way that the eye blended into her hair, I supposed it made her look a little bit like she had one eye.

"U-Um, you're staring." Kogasa said, and I blinked. I seemed to have been, just slightly. I shook my head and said that I'd just never gotten a chance to see what she looked like properly, since I'd been knocked down that hole on the first occasion and Kogasa had run away from me screaming on every occasion after that. "You were haunting me!" She was still insisting that.

"Um, Kogasa?" I heard Yamame say. I looked over to see that she'd now bunched Keine's hair up into two buns on the side of her head. It was...Not much better than the swept back look had been. "He's not a ghost. Trust me, I checked." I felt some heat in my cheeks and frowned at her, though she just smiled back innocently. "He landed on my web back then. Broke all of my sister's webs, and they were none too pleased about that, but he definitely walked out of that cave with me." I saw that she'd skipped the part of the story where she'd tried to bite me, only to end up with two chipped teeth and a bit of a grudge, though she'd got past it fairly fast.

"Huh...?" Kogasa asked, frowning. "But...He's a human. No one could survive a fall like that! He must have died! Are you sure you haven't forgotten?" At this point, I was sure that Kogasa was just digging herself in for some reason, because she was even denying Yamame's claim, and it was her who I'd practically fallen on top of. Frowning, I told Kogasa that I was just slightly more tough than the average villager was, and that was probably why I'd survived, though it had still left me feeling fairly sore.

[Anonymous No.]

While Kogasa processed - Or perhaps looked for a way to deny - that, I dug through the first aid box for a small towel, which I dipped in the bowl of water. Sternly, trying to approximate the tone that Yamame took with her sisters and that Keine had taken with me, I told Kogasa to hold still because it would probably sting. Then, I dabbed at her lip with the towel, and Kogasa shrunk back slightly. "Ouch..." She mumbled. I sympathised, since I'd more or less been responsible for why she'd fallen, but told her to just hold still. Then, I went for a second attempt, and she managed to hold still for this one. "S-So, um...Do they teach vengeful spirits how to do first aid...?" She asked, and I sighed. I'd really thought that she was about to accept it.

Then, I heard shuffling, and a moment later, Yamame had knelt down next to me. She whispered in my ear that she had an idea on how to prove that I was really alive. I heard it, thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. It was a strange idea, but it seemed like it might work. "Kogasa?" She said quietly. "Give me your hand." She laid her own hand out, waiting. "Come on, don't be shy. You'll feel better afterward, promise." It was that tone, the one she reserved for Nai when she was feeling down.

"Huh? Um, why?" Kogasa asked blankly, though she reached out even as she did so. Once she had, Yamame brought it over to me. Specifically, to my chest. Even as Kogasa stammered a question about what exactly Yamame was doing, Yamame laid the tsukumogami's hand on my heart. "H-Huh? Um - What..." She trailed off, and I thought I had an idea why. I'd wondered what Yamame had been planning, but I supposed that this was about as good a way as any to prove that I really did still live.

She could probably feel my heart beating. "I'm sure that Keine can attest to the fact that ghosts and vengeful spirits don't have a beating heart. He does." Yamame said quietly and with a light smile. "He's not dead, Kogasa. You never killed him." She took my free hand. "He's doing just fine."

Kogasa stared for a few moments, then seemed to realise where her hand was and pulled it away as if she'd been burnt. "He's...Really not dead?" Yamame and I replied yes, and I ever heard Keine jump in with some exasperation. She breathed in, slowly and slightly shakily, then squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "So...All those months that I spent terrified of retribution, then terrified of being haunted...It wasn't my fault?" That, I said, was sort of my fault. I'd been unable to come back to the village for a long while after, and by then, everyone had seemingly just assumed that I was dead.

"Not everyone!" Keine very sharply replied. "Akyuu never believed it for a second, either!" I looked back at her and smiled. It was a very lovely feeling. "Miss Tatara, I'm dreadfully sorry for what you have been going through. I was in a similar position for those months, too. It's no fun." I felt bad about that, too.

[Anonymous No.]

"And...I was coming up to the Shrine today, feeling like I'd either die at Reimu's hands or be forgiven, when you were actually...Fine?" I was really sorry about that, too, I mumbled while I ducked my head. "No, um, I'm not mad...Actually, I feel really relieved." I looked up hopefully. "It wasn't a very good few months, but I did get more blacksmith work then than usual, since I was staying inside so much." My eyebrows raised. She was a blacksmith? I hadn't even known. All I'd really known was that she was still running and hiding and had probably done a fair bit for spreading the rumour that I'd died, though I couldn't imagine that it was intentional. Actually, come to think of it, I was sure that Reimu had mentioned telling Kogasa that I was fine, which made me wonder just why she'd been so jumpy. "I...Um, it's a little embarrassing, but I thought that Reimu was lying because she was guilty for letting a villager die..." Privately, I imagined that if I did die, Reimu would be little more than just guilty, but I slowly nodded regardless. "But...You're fine." I was fine, I replied. In fact, I was better than fine these days, compared to how I'd been back then.

It was due to Kogasa's actions that I'd met Yamame. If she hadn't knocked me down that hole, I'd probably have completed my walk and just gone home, ready for the next weird date that Marisa set me up on. I'd probably have run and hid myself if I'd had to get to Satori on my own, and almost everything that had happened to me might have changed. Kogasa was responsible for who I was today. So...I asked her to stand up. "What - Why?" She sounded slightly suspicious now, even as I stood up at the same time. "If this is for knocking you down the hole, then-" As soon as she was on her feet, I surged forward and wrapped my arms around her. "Uwah!" She cried. "Wh-What are you doing!? That surprised me - No, I'm supposed to surprise you!" I squeezed even tighter. "Gah! C-Can't breathe...!" She wheezed slightly. "I-Is this an attack?"

"No, dear, I think it's a hug." Keine finally got up, having given up on her hair styling and pulled it all back into its normal look. "And I could never resist a nice hug." She said, suddenly wrapping her arms around the pair of us. "Especially when I think someone needs one." She said with a smile.
"...Hm." Yamame hummed, rubbing her chin. "Yeah, I think you're right." She said, jumping forward and joining in. She laughed slightly, and I felt very happy when she wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "Hugs are very nice, I find."

"B-But...Why...?" Kogasa tried to ask from where she was buried in the middle of the hug. "Why am I being hugged...?" Sometimes, I said, small actions had very far-reaching consequences. Her knocking me down that hole had been one of them, and I hoped that this hug would be the start of another, but for the better. "I don't think it will be if I suffocate!" She cried. Finally, she managed to get her umbrella upright and forced it open suddenly, which knocked all three of us back. She pulled it shut again, breathing heavily. "Oh, that was quite nice, actually..."
Well, I thought. At least she was happier now.

[Anonymous No.]

And that's a wrap for her more or less, i hope they don't forget to invite her.

[Anonymous No.]

Only one loose end left

[Anonymous No.]

Made to be hugged

[Anonymous No.]

Let's all love Kogasa.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45737570
Kogasa is an adorable little retard

[Anonymous No.]

>>45737359
>then seemed to realise where her hand was and pulled it away as if she'd been burnt.
I like to imagine that Kogasa is Yuugi level in these things

[Anonymous No.]

>>45744800
Kogasa doesn't know what a penis is

[Anonymous No.]

>>45744800
Get your mind out of the gutter, the poor girl was traumatized for months.
Kogasa is actually great at getting along with humans, if she ever tried and wasn't goofing off or trying to scare people all the time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45744902
>Cute69.jpg
where the 69

[Anonymous No.]

An imaginary weight seemed to have lifted itself when Kogasa professed her excitement to try and surprise some people at the party. Kogasa and I were stood on the veranda with the door to Reimu's room finally pulled shut. Keine and Yamame had said that they wanted to give Keine's hair another shot, but I thought that Yamame was just looking for more tips from Keine on how to embarrass me. It seemed to have gotten quite a lot of use tonight, which I wondered if Reimu would be all too pleased about. I was fairly sure that Kogasa hadn't dripped any blood on the tatami mats which would surely have never come off, though I wondered if Yamame's attempts at styling Keine's hair had left any loose hairs on the floor. Reimu would probably not be too pleased about that, but I hoped that she'd be willing to ignore it for now, or at the very least, her killer hangover tomorrow morning would make her unable to effectively punish me.

Still, with Kogasa finally accepting that I hadn't died, I felt like a lot less was weighing on my shoulders. Marisa still needed to know about Yamame, but I was hoping to take care of that soon. I wasn't entirely sure what the best way to approach the whole thing would be, but knowing my luck, something would come up without much effort on my part. I turned to look at Kogasa was a frown, then asked her who exactly she was planning to scare, since I got the impression that a lot of the people gathered for the party were the kind who were very strong and wouldn't take kindly to it. "Hey, I'm no pushover myself!" Kogasa replied cheerfully, sticking her tongue out at me. "I'll be fine!"

Really, I wondered just how she managed to maintain that sort of optimism for her scaring career. From what I'd heard and especially all that I'd seen, Kogasa Tatara was not especially scary. With her comforting shades of blue, her strange umbrella that was apparently prone to licking people's faces not unlike a dog would, and her mismatched eyes, she was more endearing and slightly silly than scary. She smiled at me, and I couldn't help myself, so I hugged her again. "Wah!" She cried. "Wh-What's this one for?" For knocking me down that hole, I replied. "But - Um, wasn't that really scary and painful?" It had been, but more importantly, it had led me to Yamame, and it had led to where I was today, so I owed her a great deal regardless. "Really...?" She asked sceptically. "No one's really praised me for scaring them before. I, um, try my best not to hurt anyone, so no one has really praised me for doing that, either. I think that I'm okay with that, though..."

I nodded despite not being entirely sure what I was supposed to take from that, so I just said thank you again, and told her that I owed her. "You do? Um, well, I don't really have anything to ask for..." I shook my head and said that she could save the favour for later. "Oh, well...Thank you? No one's ever thanked me for trying to scare them. They usually just say "Hey, get lost, you stupid umbrella!" or "Who's gonna be scared of you?" Which I thought was a bit mean..." That made me want to hug her again. "B-But, I'm sure they were just having a bad day!" She said quickly, waving her free hand in front of her while the other held her umbrella closer. "So, um, I'm fine!" I decided to leave her unhugged for now. "Sometimes I can surprise someone when they're sleepy, so I'm doing great!"

I wondered just how she sustained herself. Yamame had said that her knocking me down that hole had probably sustained her for months, so I imagined that she didn't need a particularly large quantity of fear - Or surprise? I wasn't really sure - To sustain herself. I wasn't entirely sure how Yamame was managing that, either, and I hadn't asked. I trusted her enough to believe that whatever she was doing was working. Perhaps, and I thought that was a little too much romanticism to be true, my belief in her was helping to sustain her. That would be a rather wonderful thing.

Either way, Kogasa looked like she was edging away from me. "Well, um, I'm really glad that you're not dead. It's a massive relief. So, um, if you ever need any blacksmithing work done, please let me know!" I promised her that I would. In fact, I wondered if she'd been the one that Kisami had gone to in order to get the ore we'd gathered from the mountain refined, but I didn't get a chance to ask before Kogasa had turned and ran off, the clacking of her geta against the wood of the veranda her only real goodbye.

I watched her go, then turned back to Reimu's room where Yamame and Keine were. I thought about going back in, but after a moment, I decided not to. They'd be fine coming up with new ways to tease me, I supposed. So, I poked my head in to tell them that I was going back to the party, then shut the door again and headed down the veranda.

[Anonymous No.]

After a moment, I started to hear more noise, so I knew that things must have picked up steam in the time I'd been dealing with Futo and Kogasa. I wondered how long it was to midnight. It couldn't have been long, since I felt like the Taoist and the tsukumogami had taken a while to deal with, even though both had probably been fairly quick. As I got to the end of the veranda and reached the backyard proper, I paused.

Something was coming at me. Fast. I barely had time to cry out before something reddish launched into me hard enough to send me rocketing backward, where I bounced, rolled, and finally slammed into the ground on the veranda. For a moment, all I could do was wheeze and cough. This was all starting to seem like a practical joke, and I had a feeling that I would have some complaints to raise with the Yama when I eventually died from...I don't know, a comically large fish falling on me.

"Oof..." I heard a pained groan from somewhere near me. An annoying familiar pained groan. Ki... "Eep! Hey - Um, don't be mad, alright?" I was finding that very difficult, I growled as I dragged myself up to me knees. Ki had landed on her side, and as I glared at her, she pulled herself up onto her hands and knees before getting to her feet, where she stretched her back as far as she could, then gasped happily as it clicked a few times. I tried to ignore the way Raki's tabard managed to hang straight downward without touching any other part of her body as she did it. "Ooh, that was rough! Not in a bad way though. Bracing!" She said cheerfully, turning to me and slapping me on the back. Her breath smelled like sake. I sharply asked her how much she'd had to drink as I continued to try and breath in and out deeply. "Huh? Er...Not much? I think? I keep just winding up with more drinks, so...I don't know, really. I think Komachi's a bigger drinker than me." She did look a little tipsy.

We staggered back toward the party, and my breathing finally began to normalise. Once we were back, I got a better look at what was going on. Things seemed to have begun descending into insanity. The group of fairies I'd seen earlier were now balancing on each other's shoulders and had formed a tower tall enough that Miss Yuuka, who I hadn't even realised was here, stood at equal height to the red, white and blue fairy, who was pointing her torch in front of her like a weapon. Miss Yuuka was staring at it, her face impassive and her arms crossed. Remembering Youmu's reaction, I swallowed nervously, but suddenly she broke into raucous laughter before reaching out and grabbing the top fairy in what looked like a bone-crushing hug. I could only hope that things were okay over there.

Speaking of Youmu, she'd woken up, but had clearly drunk a little too much, because I could see her practically rocketing about the place. At one point, she crashed into Marisa's back, sending the magician to the ground. This prompted Marisa to jump back up, turn, and wrap her arms around Youmu before spinning on her foot and jumping, then slamming Youmu into the ground on her back. It didn't seem to deter the half-phantom much. I wondered if she'd just run out of energy and collapse at some point. Reimu, I couldn't see. I wondered where exactly she'd gotten to. Remilia was gone too, but I had a feeling that she was probably still fussing over Sakuya. I could see Miss Narumi chatting to Kagerou, over at the edge of the grounds. She seemed to be talking animatedly about something, and I saw her indicating her hat and her grey overcoat at one point. Kagerou looked fairly interested in the conversation too, which was nice. It pleased me to see Miss Narumi happy, since I still felt a little guilty for not telling her I hadn't died, just like with Keine.

Lady Kasen was looking in our direction, her usual sake box in her hand. She'd been talking to a tall looking girl with long brown hair and a black and white checkered scarf, with some sort of leaf-like accessory on her head. I thought she was wearing glasses, but the pair were just far enough away that I couldn't quite tell. Raki, I couldn't see. When she saw that I was looking, Lady Kasen waved her bandaged hand, and I waved back with all the energy of Chiyari Tenkajin, the girl who might have still been living in my house. Given the painful hit I'd just taken, I was surprised I even had that much energy. I saw the other girl take in a long drag of a large pipe that she was smoking and breathe it out into the night sky.

[Anonymous No.]

Meanwhile, I saw Tenshi running, her hair trailing behind her like a blue kite. A moment later, I spotted something green in her hand, and a moment after that, I saw a red and white blur that I soon identified as Chen, chasing after her, missing her hat. Well, I hoped that it was for fun and not Tenshi being mean, because I would have to talk to her about it if it was. A bit further back, her arms in her sleeves and a bemused, but not particularly angry expression, was Ran. Just as I spotted that strange mob boss from Hell, Yuuma, who was still eating and didn't seem to be slowing down, I heard Kisami exclaim that she'd spotted Komachi.

Komachi was as far from everyone else as she could be, on the absolute other side of the grounds and practically in the trees themselves. I saw her raise a leg, and she placed it down on the veranda right in front of us. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, then reopened them to see that she was indeed here, now. Her power was very strange, and I struggled to understand it. "Whoa, you went flying!" She exclaimed to Kisami, who nodded cheerfully. "No, I get it! It's like...If you hold a band taut at two ends with your fingers, right..." Kisami nodded like she understood. I did not. "And then, you let one finger go, that side snaps forward toward the other one, right?" Oh, I supposed I did get it slightly. Like the bands that Yamame used for her ponytails when she didn't want to use her ribbon. "So, if you do it over a long distance with your feet, and then you lift one foot up, everything sort of...Corrects itself by snapping you toward the other foot, but then you lift your other foot, and all that momentum just sends you flying in that direction!" Nope, she'd lost me again. "How was it?" She asked excitedly.

"Really fun!" Kisami replied. "Well - Until you hit something, and then it's not that fun. Especially if it's a person." She slapped me on the back again and I scowled. It hadn't exactly been pleasant at any point for me. "Well, um, it could be more fun if we could do it at...Like, the Misty Lake or something." I frowned, then said that doing so might endanger Wakasagihime, so they probably shouldn't. "Oh...Hmm." Kisami scratched her head. "Guess we'll have to think about it some more." I supposed that if they warned the mermaid ahead of time, it might turn out okay. I couldn't imagine it being all that fun to smack into water at that speed either, though. Frowning, I asked how they'd even come up with this. "Oh, it's simple, see..." Kisami began cheerfully, then trailed off. "Uh...Komachi?"

"Huh?" Komachi hadn't been paying attention. "Oh, er, it's just - Experimenting. Yeah, that's it. People love experimenting, right?" She nodded a lot to go with what she was saying, and I stared at her some more. Her face twitched, and having an idea of what was coming, I stepped back just in time for her to sneeze. "O-Ooh..." She groaned and sniffed. "Hang on." She turned, stepped forward and appeared by the stack of napkins over at the blanket that had been laid out, then returned in one more step. She blew her nose and groaned. "Ugh...I was excited for this since it meant I'd get time off, but..." I eyed her cautiously, wondering just what Yamame had done to the poor Shinigami. "The sneezing's the worst part. And the blocked nose. I can hardly taste my sake, either..."

"U-Um, M-Miss Kisami...?" I blinked at the unexpected voice and looked down from the veranda. There was a small fairy, who barely came up to the height of the veranda itself, standing there. She had blonde hair and a blue dress, as well as a small blue tie in her hair, and in her clasped hands was a cup of sake. It was shaking terribly, and I wondered if she was okay before I spotted the blush across the fairy's face. "I-I, um, got you some sake." Ah. I think I got it. It was a crush, the kind where you didn't really know why you liked the person, but you wanted to do things for them. I turned to look at Kisami, who was staring blankly. After a moment, I elbowed her in the side and gave her a pointed look.

"O-Oh, um, thanks!" She said, crouching down to take the sake cup. "What's your name?" She asked the fairy, who looked like she was about to pass out from what I presumed to be the sheer shock of Kisami speaking to her. "I like your dress." She whispered quietly.

[Anonymous No.]

While I watched the fairy stammer her answer out, Komachi sidled up to me and elbowed me in the side too. "Third one tonight." She whispered. "First fairy, though. First was a guy from the village. I don't think he'd thought of anything beyond giving her the sake, because I started to wonder if he could actually form coherent words at all." I frowned, wondering what Kisami had done to garner all the free drinks. Komachi stared at me for a moment, then laughed slightly. "Ha! You're not the type to understand that sort of thing, are you? Not with that spider of yours." I knew that Kisami was very attractive, at least. "Well, that's a good start." She was also a little overbearing, and the hugging and kissing was a bit much sometimes, but she was indeed attractive. I mean, I didn't think she was as attractive to me as Yamame was, but I supposed I could see why someone might develop a crush on her.

"Wow." Komachi uttered. "You really do think of her like your sister, don't you?" Komachi leaned in to whisper. "Kisami mentioned her work, and I've definitely noticed the way you keep checking that pocket of yours without thinking about it." Now, it was my turn to stammer and say that I had no idea what she was talking about. "Oh, relax. I think it's cute. Not sure how Lady Eiki will look on it, mind, but if you just give her your usual charm, she'll probably come around." I had no idea what the Shinigami was talking about. "Don't tell her I said this, but she's a total sucker for romance." I'd...Keep that in mind. I had no idea what I was keeping it in mind for, but that didn't seem to matter all that much.

"-And thank you, really!" Kisami was still speaking to the little fairy. "Go on back to your friends, okay?" The tiny fairy was very wide-eyed, and her blush had escalated from covering her cheeks to covering her whole face, but she turned and ran as if something was chasing her. "Well, she was adorable." Kisami commented, sipping the sake that the fairy had given her. "Could barely say a word to me, poor thing. Like Yams when you fluster her enough. Or Yura." I wondered what the man from the village had tried to do, but somehow, I imagined that he was not afforded the same delicacy that Kisami had offered the fairy. "Still, at least she got me another drink. That's always nice." And Kisami drained the entire cup at once and finished with a pleased sigh. "Ooh, that one was a bit fruity."

I looked over at Komachi again. She was shivering slightly, so I told her that she could probably ask Yamame to borrow one of the eleven coats that Kisami had forced her poor sister to come to the Shrine wearing. "O-Oh, um, yeah. I might do that..." Before she did, though, I asked her who the second person to offer Ki a drink had been. "Who? Oh, er..." She looked out over the party. "There." She pointed out a different villager, one that I'd seen handing out flyers for a festival at the Shrine once. "He seemed a little bit more put together, at least. Apparently not good enough, but...You know, at least he didn't come away thinking that he'd bungled it completely." Komachi suddenly sneezed again. "Ugh. You're lucky that I'm so forgiving. Your girlfriend's gotten me miserable on New Year's Eve." To be fair- "Yes, yes, I deserved it. Point taken." Well, as long as she understood that, I supposed.

Kisami turned to me as she messed with her tabard. "Um, how's Yams?" She asked quietly. I replied that she'd seemed fine, but she was probably a little annoyed at Kisami for ignoring her in favour of talking to Komachi earlier. "I know!" Ki cried, looking rather broken up about it. "I didn't mean to! I just - Oh, I don't know...Um, where is she?" Reimu's room, I replied. Before she could run off, I caught her by the arm and told her to start with the apology instead of the hugs and kisses, and she'd probably have a better result. "I know that..." She muttered.

[Anonymous No.]

Taking the opportunity to embarrass her for a change, I ruffled her hair to her weak protests and pulled her in for a hug. Doing so meant that I could see all of the party, and I definitely spotted that tiny fairy who'd been talking to Kisami staring at me, her little fists clenched. Over my that blue-haired rabbit's stall, I also caught the sight of someone else watching me, and I wondered if he was the mysterious second bearer of sake. He caught my eye and raised his cup, then turned back to the rabbit, and carried on his conversation. Finally, I released Kisami, who tried to straighten her hair, failed miserably, and breathed in deeply. "Okay, I'll, um, go and apologise." She looked over at Komachi. "In case I don't make it back, I want you to assume my identity, okay?" I blinked. What?

"Oh, sure. We can work out the details while I ferry you across the Sanzu." Komachi replied with an easy smile. "But if your sister's fever kills me first, you have to assume my identity instead." Kisami laughed, then walked away. "Somehow, I think people would figure it out. No way I can grow my hair as long as hers." I wasn't sure many people could, I replied. "Matter of fact, she probably-"

Here, Komachi was forced to stop and step to the side just in time to avoid Youmu Konpaku, who'd acquired two banners with long poles from somewhere. She held one in each hand and was swinging them as if they were swords, and she'd just barely missed Komachi. Next to her, something transparent and ghost-like was flying in erratic circles. I blinked, struggling to comprehend the scene. "Oh, I'm not doing this while I'm sick..." Komachi muttered, landing a kick square against Youmu's forehead, and knocking her flat on her back. "C'mon, let's go somewhere quieter." She muttered, grabbing my arm. I went to open my mouth, but suddenly the world was enveloped in colour and light, and then I was standing somewhere else.

"Shh." Komachi muttered. "We're just on the roof of the Shrine. I compressed the distance between the bottom and the top." Ah. That made more sense. "Hey, that's how I met you, wasn't it? I sent you up onto the roof of Kasen's house and you fell off." And I wasn't looking to do it again, I replied dryly. "Yeah, well...I think I apologised enough for that. The lecture that Kasen gave me seemed like enough of a punishment too." She probably wasn't wrong. "What was I saying?" She asked with a frown. "Oh, right. Yeah, Kisami probably wouldn't want to cut her hair to match mine, either." Komachi's hair was about the same shade, though, so she potentially could have done it.

And then she sneezed again. "Ooh..." she groaned, long and painfully. "Okay, I need a coat, or something. This is the worst." She looked over at me. "You'll be alright on your own, right?" I nodded. In fact, I thought that it would be nice to have a moment to myself. I told Komachi to take her time, and the Shinigami nodded weakly before turning and disappearing in a single footstep. Suddenly, I seemed to be alone, apart from the noise of the party at the back of the Shrine. I seemed to be on the main building, facing the torii gate and the valley as a whole. Sighing, I lowered myself to the rooftop and sat down.

Then, I heard footsteps. "Hi." A voice said quietly, sitting down next to me. "I thought I was the only one hiding up here." The Arm of Ibaraki-Douji muttered to me. "Want to talk?" She asked me, and I thought I could hear a slightly hopeful note in her voice." Certainly, I replied. "Here. I, uh, brought some of that weird Outside World alcohol from down there." She lifted a square bottle, some dark liquid sloshing inside. “No idea what it is, but I figure it’ll get us drunk all the same.” Raki rubbed at her eyes tiredly. "We can share, if you want." She took a sip, then coughed. "Strong. Not as strong as some of the oni stuff, but still." She offered me the bottle, and I took it since I didn't want to seem rude, though I hadn't had a great experience with the stuff from the Outside World. I took a sip and coughed more than she had. "Heh." She laughed shortly. Her arms were wrapped around the legs of Kisami's suit, but she turned her head to look at me. "Guess neither of us are that good with it, huh?"

I smiled slightly but shook my head as I replied. We'd get there eventually. It just took practice.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45749237
ok

[Anonymous No.]

>>45749252
>had blonde hair and a blue dress, as well as a small blue tie in her hair
I can't believe writeanon just put lemontene in the story
>>45749259
>Oh, relax. I think it's cute. Not sure how Lady Eiki will look on it, mind, but if you just give her your usual charm, she'll probably come around." I had no idea what the Shinigami was talking about. "Don't tell her I said this, but she's a total sucker for romance."
LOL
>>45749285
ok

[Anonymous No.]

cute chapter

[Anonymous No.]

Poor Youmu, she never really gets the chance to ever let her hair down, ever not be on Yuyuko duty or relax and as soon as she does she's too drunk to know what to do any more and as prone to getting herself in trouble as Sakuya.

[Anonymous No.]

Wait Eiki can judge for marrying youkai?

[Anonymous No.]

Nice to see the girls just mildly trying to kill each other for a change, also i'm surprised Aya hasn't showed up, guess she's too embarrassed to face anon after realizing he almost raped him.

[Anonymous No.]

Human-spider relations have never been better in Gensokyo, first Kronk and Yamame and now Flyer guy and Kisami.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45750327
>Flyer guy and Kisami
And now he's shining up to the blue bun. The man is insatiable.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45749866
this pic is disturbing me

[Anonymous No.]

Hungry villager is just living the life...
>>45737588
>Only one loose end left
Two of them, actually.
Fingers crossed for some Heca+Eiki+Anon content.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45749252
>She had blonde hair and a blue dress, as well as a small blue tie in her hair,
Tene detected

[Anonymous No.]

>>45751353
Now that you mention it... isn't Komachi a kinda sorta future co-worker of anon?
I really do hope we soon get to see some more of anon taking the job offer to support his future hundreds of children.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45749614
this seems to be a trend with youmu, what's wrong with her?

[Anonymous No.]

Posting these in advance.

[Anonymous No.]

[Anonymous No.]

>>45751948
>>45751956
I was almost certain this one would fit in just one

[Anonymous No.]

>>45751966
Sadly not, it went over by 1.5MB or so

[Anonymous No.]

>>45751107
Why?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45754624
the touhous look so strange in these clothes, the only ones that looked good are reimu and youmu

[Anonymous No.]

>>45754968
I think you are exaggerating

[Anonymous No.]

>>45754968
Youmu looks a housewife

[Anonymous No.]

Next thread:
>>45755380