Another short chapter D:

Well, at least I got it done, right? The delay between this one and the last one has been a long time of trying to get the long words out, and you can also expect the next chapter to be rather short compared to my usual. I'll explain why at the end of the chapter.

Kaguya woke up with a massive hangover. This wasn't something she'd experienced before, and the headache was killing her. "Eirin!"

"Morning, Mokou. You're up early."

"I guess I am," the phoenix-possessed girl said. "Where are we going for today's event?"

"Back to the Netherworld," Keine said. "And it's nice to see that eye's looking better."

"Thanks…wait, we're going there again? Who else could be guest-judging?"

Youmu handed Kaguya and Mokou each one bamboo sword, and said "Just go all-out. You're both immortal, right?"

Kaguya seemed to want to shout protests out at the top of her lungs. At least her leg was at peak condition again; it would have been catastrophic if she were to fall down in this competition. "I don't want to-"

THWACK!

Mokou grinned devilishly at Kaguya, saying "I'm sure you can do it. You play all those martial arts games, right? Surely all that crap you learned playing those can win you this competition."

"Are you mocking me?"

"Probably."

"…alright, let's do this thing."

Kaguya and Mokou stood across from each other in the gardens of Hakugyokurou, each one wearing some training gear and carrying a bamboo sword each. The two also each had a different form of blazing passion to win in their eyes. In Mokou's case, it was reflected by literal fire in her pupils. "Whenever you're ready," the phoenix-possessed girl taunted.

Kaguya looked to the tip of her weapon. Then over to the three judges, who were joined by Yuyuko, who was eating from a massive bowl of popcorn. Just how long would that popcorn last? Wait, this wasn't the time to get-

THWACK!

Perfect shots like that were impossible to resist, especially for Mokou. One solid swing to Kaguya's side had the Lunarian princess stumbling over, so Mokou hit the other side to try and balance her out. THWACK! For somebody immortal, Kaguya was sure weak! Why could this NEET not withstand her attacks? Time for a third-

THWACK!

Mokou flinched in surprise that Kaguya actually landed a hit. It didn't hit that hard, but it was still quite a surprise.

"Well now it's just getting boring," Yuyuko said. The fight had just about turned into a staring contest between Mokou and Kaguya. "Oh, and we're out of popcorn. Youmu, could you fix up another bowl?"

"Already done," Youmu said as a duplicate brought in another large bowl of popcorn and took away Yuyuko's empty bowl. "I was hoping Mokou would settle it early when she had the chance. They've just been staring at each other for an hour now…should we interfere to make them continue? But that's against rules."

"I have an idea," Yuyuko said with an eerie happiness. "We could give them a time limit."

"Yuyuko-sama, that's against the rules."

"You two have to settle it before I finish this bowl of popcorn," Yuyuko shouted to Mokou and Kaguya. "Or else Youmu dies!"

"Y-Y…Yuyuko-sama!"

"Oh, calm down. Have a look." Yuyuko's hauntingly casual death-threat did indeed get the two moving in high gear. Bamboo swords were being swung in just about every direction imaginable, and even a couple that weren't imaginable!

"I have the competition already," Kaguya said to Mokou, swinging her weapon seemingly randomly. "Give up, Mokou!"

"I'd rather die than surrender," Mokou said enthusiastically. She was enjoying the as-of-yet unprecedented chance to be able to assault Kaguya and still be in the rules of the competition. It showed in how rapidly her arms swung, deflecting all of Kaguya's attacks and after one lucky parry that caused the princess to lose her footing for a second, releasing an unrelenting barrage of attacks that continued pushing the Lunarian further and further back. "It's futile," Mokou said in a tone that bordered on sadistic. "Futile, futile, futile, futile futile futile futile futile!" Mokou punctuated her sentence with one final hit, with all of her might, aimed at the side of Kaguya's head. Good thing the protective gear given to the two before the match included helmet's; Mokou had swung so hard she snapped the bamboo sword clean in half! But that did settle the match.

Kaguya was face-down on the ground, angrily screaming something that was muffled by the ground. And before long, Eirin pulled her back up to her feet to make her stream of angry words perfectly audible. "-cking little bird-brained bitch! Enjoy this victory, Fujiwara no Mokou, because I intend to absolutely destroy you in the next event!" And much like the last time the two had gone to Hakugyokurou, Kaguya stormed off absolutely enraged and red as a beet.

"Did you really have to swing that hard," Eirin asked. "I hope you didn't hurt Kaguya, Mokou."

"She used to get killed daily," Mokou replied casually. "She'll be fine."

"If you say so…"

Keine was making an exception on her no-smoking rule tonight; Mokou earned it for her three-event winning streak that put her up in the lead ahead of Kaguya. Across the room from the front door was a blackboard, and Keine had tally marks for Kaguya's and Mokou's victories. The score now was two wins for Kaguya, and three for Mokou. "Well done," Keine applauded.

"I guess that's just the power of determination." After a triumphant drag on her cigarette, Mokou helped herself to a swig from a bottle of beer Keine had bought specially to celebrate this event.

"Strange…"

"Huh?"

"If I recall, you said something awfully similar about two months ago; you'd been able to kill Kaguya five or six times a day for a week straight without even getting hurt. When that happened, you said it was the power of your hatred for Kaguya, not determination. I think things are changing between you two~"

And cue spit take. Beer shot out of Mokou's mouth like shrapnel, and not a split second later did Mokou shout, with a deep red face that made her white hair seem even whiter, "You're crazy!"

"Why do you think I lost, Reisen?" Kaguya walked through the halls of Eientei in her usual NEET tracksuit, trying to not look at Reisen's new (and rather horrifying) mutation; a face absolutely covered in bulging red eyes.

"Oh, um…I don't mean to offend, Princess, but Mokou is brash and has a high capacity for aggression in combat. And you…well, to be frank, you couldn't fight if your immortal life depended on it."

"…thanks," Kaguya said sarcastically. "I feel way better."

"I'm sorry that it had to be that way, but…"

"No, it's okay," Kaguya said, exhaling from a deep breath to help calm her down. "You're just being honest is all. I shouldn't be mad at you, I should be mad at Mokou instead. So why aren't I?"

"Did you ever consider…that it might be, well…love?"

"L-L…Love? Ha…ha…" And cue laughter. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! As if! That girl's just like her father; none of those Fujiwara folks seem to know when to give up!" Sliding open the door to her room, she took a look at her thing. Her computer, on top of which rested…it was gone! Kaguya nearly had a heart attack; the Jeweled Branch of Hourai had been stolen! And where once the Stone Begging Bowl of Buddha rested, more empty space! Kaguya darted around every corner of her room, hyperventilating something fierce. But…at least they left that, didn't they? Almost afraid to check, Kaguya opened her closet.

And the next thing anybody in Eientei, the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, or anywhere within a half mile of that place heard was Kaguya shrieking at the top of her lungs "Eirin, the Five Impossible Requests have been stolen!"

First off, Kaguya's things getting stolen had been planned out about five or six chapters ago; you'll see why in a couple of chapters. It was also not Mokou who stole them, nor will Kaguya ask Mokou to retrieve them (sorry, Azure, but your princess is in another castle)

As for the short chapter thing, the last chapter came out as 3 pages on my computer as opposed to the usual 4, as did this one. The next one will be about half the size of my usual chapters so I can hopefully get back on my usual 4-chapter streak in time for the final four events. Because three plus three plus two equals eight :D

And while we're on the topic of math…the next chapter happens to be the ninth event, and (SPOILER ALERT) it involves math a lot.

Care to guess who the guest judge is? I doubt you'll guess correctly, in all honesty. You'll be rather surprised…don't let that make you think it's Kogasa, because I swear on my as-of-yet-not-mine Mima plushie that it's not her.