Tenth chapter, yay~

Well, Mima has appeared yet again, and this is in all a great chapter. Sanae gets to be a little badass, Mima is being…well, Mima, and in all this is a fun chapter, if a little dark. But again, that's not a bad thing at all.

"Y-Y…You?"

"Yes. Me~"

"B-But…"

"Quit your quivering," the red and green-eyed karakasa said as a green haze engulfed her body, allowing an easy transformation to the form she desired. "I can't help it if a full disguise is impossible, otherwise I would've probably had you fooled for the whole day. I would very much like you to stay quiet about this, though. Some people, including the vast majority of this little GLPC of yours, may get the wrong idea."

"I won't let you have your way!"

"I'm through with that," a blue-clad witch said as the haze dispersed, revealing the true form of the person behind it. A tall green-haired woman, with green eyes not unlike Sanae's own. This person, supposedly exorcised for good some time ago. Mima. "I'm just coming through to say hi is all~"

"I doubt that."

"Oh, I hear Marisa is alive and kicking." How Marisa did that was beyond Mima. If the witch's memory served, Mima's "goodbye present" was taking Marisa's life so she could train to be just as powerful as Mima. Perhaps Marisa had done exactly that, but whatever spell she used to resurrect herself (why she'd do such a thing was beyond Mima) released such a powerful surge of energy that it loosened the barriers between Gensokyo and Hell, allowing for Mima's escape. That made sense.

"Hang on…"

"Mm?"

"Where's Kogasa at?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about~"

"Don't play stupid with me!" Sanae shoved the wicked witch in front of her into the nearest tree, and wasting no time in filling her hands with charms. She may not have been a shrine maiden, but that didn't mean she couldn't deal with some vengeful spirits. "She has to be somewhere, right? Where?"

"I really don't want to fight you, Sanae…"

"…"

"It's nice to see you'll listen to reason."

"Too bad I don't like to," a third voice added to the conversation, from behind Sanae. The other Sanae! "So you are the disturbance. Nice to see you again~"

"Wh…two of you?"

"Yeah. Two of us. The human in front of you is the good girl afraid to embrace her divine heritage. I am the other Sanae; the alleged psychopath who welcomes her hereditary divinity with open arms and an eagerness to use my powers for whatever purpose I see fit. A battle between gods! I challenge you to a divine battle, Mima!"

"…I really don't want to fight you, more so than your good girl counterpart."

"Wa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Giving Mima no time to talk her way out of it, Sanae Moriya made her wind-powered charge toward the ghostly goddess.

Meanwhile, at the GLPC Building…

"…did she already leave?" Kogasa and Sanae had this wonderful plan to go someplace Kogasa picked out to surprise her good friend with, but she dozed off for a little bit between the times that she finished working and the time she was supposed to show up. By the time she woke up, she was a few minutes late, so she ran over here as fast as she could, but when she got here…no Sanae. Did Satori tell her where Kogasa was planning on taking her, and sent her there to meet up with the karakasa? Could that have been why Sanae wasn't here?

Kogasa didn't really have any better conclusions to reach, and Satori said she was trying to not read minds as much, so it was entirely possible. Right, then. Off to the surprise spot!

Back in the wilderness of Gensokyo…

"Ya got me," Sanae the Doll said, curling up on the ground. "You win…"

"I said I didn't want to fight you." Mima did give out a fair warning. Turning to the other Sanae; the good one, Mima said "Now then, what I meant to speak to you about."

"…" Sanae's other half was just beaten! Mima was still powerful, even without faith. What form of goddess was she? Was she even a goddess at all? Sanae couldn't produce the words that she wanted to say. "U-U…uh…I-I…"

"She'll be fine; I just sent her into unconsciousness for the night is all. I presume her little pet there can take good care of her. Now then, about us. I was indeed looking for you, but the intent has changed somewhat. I am not here to try and claim your power; mine is plenty by itself. Instead, I want to know more about this GLPC thing you've started."

"M-M…"

"I don't recall using a mute spell on you. Speak, girl."

"Hey, Sanae," another voice chimed in by surprise. "How come there's two of you?"

"Kogasa!"

"Ah, the karakasa," Mima mused. "Judging by her friendly air toward you, I can only assume she doesn't recall your reign of terror. That, or her kind have poor memories or are lacking in good judgment."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know~" Sanae was starting to look mad. Just the way Mima wanted it. "Your reign of terror? Where you traumatized the little karakasa time and again with that big smile on your face? I got a nice peek at the memories while I was hanging around in your body, so don't bother trying to deny it."

"That was her reign of terror," the good girl retorted, pointing to the unconscious doll on the ground. "And if I remember, you weren't exactly a righteous queen-type yourself."

"Yes, yes, 'benevolent' is one of the worst words to describe my past actions. But as I said, I'm through with that. My only interest right now is in your GLPC, and since you appear to have the usage of your mouth restored, I'd very much like some information."

"…"

Good girls are explaining…

"Intriguing. And you say Yuka is a member as well?"

"Yes, but she's changed a little bit since last time you saw her. I dunno why, but Yuka's image seems to change a bit when you take away the sadism."

"Oh, my." For Sanae to be able to get Yuka to renounce her sadistic ways…even Mima was unable to accomplish that monumental task. Whatever Sanae was doing, she was clearly doing at least part of it right. "So, you said that you accept any humans or youkai with little to no people to turn to, correct?"

"…what are you getting at?"

"Good Me-sama, Sanae, do I have to sing it for you? I. Want. To. Join."

"!"

"With only two people in the world for me to turn to - a number even smaller than your own - denying me membership would go against the very reason you founded this little committee, right? I've only got Marisa and Yuka, and inversely, Yuka has only me to turn to. You could even ask those mind-reading sisters of Former Hell if you so desire; my intentions are not evil." Time flowed differently from Gensokyo to Hell, and what seemed to be only a few months here was at least a thousand years in Hell, all of which Mima spent with zero powers and daily torture. Even the great and powerful Mima could realize that it was time to call off the business of world conquest if she was going to end up there again, especially when her recent escape was only possible because of the most unlikely of spells being cast.

"…"

"Let her join," Kogasa said with the usual smile on her face. "I don't remember Mima, so I won't lean one way or the other about this; it's a judgment from a total stranger. She put it out there pretty plain herself, that she qualifies for the GLPC, and that she isn't going to try any more evil things anymore, so there's not any harm in letting Mima in, I think. If she does something bad, the least we do it lock her out of the next meeting or two, and if she gets really bad…well, you beat her once already, right?"

"…you're right," Sanae said, even if she sounded a bit like she was going to regret doing this. "Mima, it's my pleasure…to welcome you to the…GLPC. Our next meeting will be tomorrow, and I'm sure if you asked her, Yuka would be glad to bring you along."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow," the green-haired ghost said, stepping into the thick of the woods. "Until then, good girl. Until then."

"…"

"Hey, you never explained the Sanae doll," Kogasa said in her effort to try and distract Sanae from the apparent near-regret she was feeling. "Care to fill me in?"

"Sure. You know how I've talked about my short reign of terror, where I almost destroyed Gensokyo? Well…"

Good girls are explaining some more…

"Satori said it was a bad idea, but she hasn't done anything especially bad yet. The worst thing she's done so far was kidnap the youkai you see chained to her wrist. Even that isn't too malevolent, right?"

"I think it's pretty neat that you let her go free. I'll bet she wasn't lying at all; she was just lonely probably. You used to be real lonely too, right? What if she's just picking up on the bad emotions you used to have, and that was why she did all the rotten things everybody says she did? Yep, setting her free was definitely the right thing to do, because now she's free to do whatever she wants, and if she starts acting bad, she knows you'll be right there to seal her back up again!"

"Optimistic as always, I see~"

"Oh! Do you still wanna go to that surprise place? The monk at the temple…what was her name again? Byakuren? Yeah, Byakuren. She showed it to me the other day, and I was like this place is so beautiful, I HAVE to show it to Sanae! And that's the story of it~"

"Sure. I'd love to go."

"U-Um, excuse me…" Adding to the conversation was the youkai of darkness, Rumia, still chained by a red collar to Sanae's counterpart. "What should I do? I don't wanna be stuck here all night, and I'm not really weak, but I don't think I'm strong enough to lift up a person."

"She's a doll. Just carry her home."

"Oh. Hey, she is light!"

"I'm sure she'll love you all the more for it."

"Now I don't know if this is a good idea or not!"

I wanted to end the chapter on a sort of funny note, and Rumia helped me do exactly that. If I were her, I'd start trying to break the chains, but if Sanae Moriya woke up in the midst of the attempt, I can only imagine that things would end poorly for the cute youkai of darkness, so instead, I went with her carrying her newfound master home.

Also, some of you aren't going to like this (once again, looking at YOU, Azure) but when I said last chapter that Rumia was probably going to get subjugated in at least twenty different ways, all of the crazed doll's "fun time" is going to happen off-screen, but in its own way, that is a good thing as well.

It means you can leave the subjugation up to your imagination~