Chapter 10: Reverse Empathy II: Catch You On the Flip Side!
The hunt for Seija had begun once more. This time, the reason for hunting down the rogue amanojaku was due to her attack on the Myouren Temple, which resulted in some unspecified but very important item of Byakuren's being stolen. In a rather surprising move from the Buddhist priest, she demanded the death of Seija for what she had done, and due to how frightening it was to see the usually docile Byakuren get so angry no one even bothered to try and quell her anger.
Kokoro, after getting a lesson on who Seija was from Tenshi, decided to do things entirely different than what her adopted mother wished and sought out the amanojaku in order to try and befriend her, even though that sounded like an impossible task due to the nature of the Youkai. But as Kokoro flew through Gensokyo in search of Seija, she was quick to realize something very important "…I didn't ask Tenshi what Seija looks like."
Kokoro stops flying for a moment in order to slap herself in the face for her incompetence, but as she slowly draws her hand away from her face she says "I can't hope to get an answer from Tenshi now…And I don't think I should go back to mommy until I've found Seija…" Groaning after realizing how lost she's going to be for the time being, Kokoro nevertheless decides to try looking everywhere she can for Seija, at the very least realizing that she should be able to recognize the Youkai's cloak.
Kokoro gets back to work trying to find Seija afterwards, going for an aerial scan of the land for the time being. Meanwhile, the other Youkai from the Myouren Temple have divided their forces to cover more ground. Murasa and Kyouko work together to find Shou and Nazrin so they can use their abilities to try and find Seija via the treasure she had grabbed. Unfortunately for them, it seems as though Seija had only stolen the precious object from the temple vault, and thus Nazrin and Shou could only look around Gensokyo normally for the amanojaku.
Nue, on the other hand, went to seek out Mamizou, an effort that took about ten minutes due to having to disguise her identity as a Youkai in order to find the tanuki in the Human Village. After dragging Mamizou away from the village, the two go deep into the forest, where Nue turns back to normal and lays herself atop her UFO. While kicking her feet up behind her, Nue watches as Mamizou takes out her smoke pipe and gets it prepared while remarking in a curious tone "And to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing my good friend this afternoon?"
"We got a bit of a problem, Mamizou." Nue says, and Mamizou lifts her eyebrows up after putting her pipe in her mouth for a moment before saying "How much is a 'bit' in this case, Nue?" Raising one hand up and wagging her finger, Nue says to the tanuki rather nonchalantly "Oh I don't know…Seija's shown herself again by pilfering one of Byakuren's most prized possessions from her temple, and Byakuren has asked us to find and kill her."
Mamizou nearly does a double-take from that last bit of news, and she looks up at Nue in order to say to her with her own brand of nonchalance "Hmm, I guess it's not really a small problem then, is it?" Nue lays her head on her arms and remarks "Nope. Anyways, I came to find you since your tracking skills are perfect for helping to find the amanojaku, and quite frankly I think if we teamed up it'd be easier to take her down in a danmaku duel."
Putting her pipe away for the moment, the tanuki remarks "You know Nue, I really don't think danmaku is the way to handle Seija so long as she in possession of all of those strange items. Of course, I get the feeling I'm partially at fault for telling her how to use some of those item more effectively…" Nue widens her eyes and says in disbelief "Why did you do that?!" Mamizou can only offer a shrug before she says with a sly smirk "I suppose my mentor side got the better of me."
"You should've known better than that, Mamizou." Nue remarks in a berating tone, though she merely did so because she was one of the people the amanojaku defeated in battle. Mamizou then glances up at Nue and remarks "That is all in the past now. I'm just surprised to hear Hijiri demanding blood, considering her dedication to Buddhism and all. Whatever Seija stole must be VERY important to her to warrant such a reaction. As such, I will be more than willing to help you find her, Nue." Laying one hand out past her UFO, Nue says to Mamizou happily "Good. You and I really don't hang out enough ever since you arrived in Gensokyo. You're always hanging around the Human Village with that cursed bookstore girl."
Humored, Mamizou puts on a bit of a smug smile and says "Are you jealous, Nue?" Nue grins and says "Not at all, but you better hope things don't backfire on you with that girl. If I lost you, who else could I rely on to have fun with?" The tanuki turns around after that remark, folding her arms into her sleeves before she says "Trust me, it'll be quite a long time before either of us die. We'll have plenty of opportunities to have some fun, Nue, just like we did in the past. But for now, I think an amanojaku hunt will be a refreshing change of pace, yes?"
"So you're seriously going to go through with killing her? Cause I don't see how else Byakuren is going to calm down unless we do that." Nue remarks as she sits herself upright atop her UFO and crosses her legs together. "Oh not at all. I'm not really the killing type anymore…By the way, just how did the amanojaku manage to get into the temple, especially past your watchful eyes?" Mamizou inquires while glancing over her shoulder.
"…You might not like to hear this, but I think Kokoro was tricked into bringing Seija to the temple grounds. The amanojaku also deceived Byakuren and the others for a brief time." Nue remarks, and with a sigh Mamizou remarks while shaking her head "Poor, poor Kokoro…Things just can't go her way lately. Then I'm going to assume that Kokoro is trying to look for Seija as well?" Nue scratches the side of her head before remarking "I can't say for sure since I left while she was still there…But I imagine she didn't stick around."
"Hmmm…In that case, I think we can have a little more fun with this hunt than I originally thought we would." Mamizou says, her usual smirk curling across her face as she faces the way ahead of her and begins to walk. Nue floats behind her, quickly discerning her friend's motives with a coy expression on her face as she says "Now that's the Mamizou I know and love. I'll play my part in your little ploy perfectly, as usual." "I know you will Nue…But first we have to find our rogue little friend and…rough her up quite a bit. I hope your natural fighting abilities haven't diminished, Nue." Mamizou says.
"I haven't let age get to me like you have, Mamizou." Nue makes a playful remark towards her friend, and with a brief laugh Mamizou pulls out her smoke pipe and gives it a shake at Nue before stating "Trust me, this ol' tanuki has kept her fighting style sharp even after all these years. Lets just try and not rough that amanojaku up too much." "I make no promises, Mamizou." Nue says, and the two friends proceed to just enjoy a brisk walk through the forest as they try to find Seija.
An hour later, we find Kokoro still flying through Gensokyo in search of Seija. She has had no luck whatsoever, and she heavily doubted that anyone else was making any progress in this matter. "Oh…Maybe I should go and find Tenshi and ask her what Seija looks like…" Kokoro considers as she glances back and forth down at the trees, realizing that she may have already looked over this part of the forest not too long ago.
Once again stopping in place, Kokoro's mask of melancholy shows up beside her, and she tried to contemplate some ideas on how to proceed from here. Folding her arms together, Kokoro looked towards the sky and thought "…Didn't Tenshi say something about an inchling being tricked by Seija? And that inchling is currently living at the Hakurei Shrine…" The idea of asking the inchling for help in knowing what Seija looked like seemed like a good one…Until Kokoro thought about it a little more and realized that there were a few problems with going to the Hakurei Shrine.
One, that would mean running into Reimu. Two, Kokoro recalls not having a good experience with Reimu the last time they saw each other, since the shrine maiden was exploiting her Noh plays for money and faith. Three, Reimu would likely get involved in finding Seija, and that would mean Reimu would try and take the precious object just because of her religious rivalry with Byakuren. In general, Reimu was too much of a concern to warrant trying to approach the inchling.
"…But then that means I don't have any good options to try and figure out what Seija looks like." Kokoro murmurs in a disappointed tone, but then she looks down and sees something that she didn't expect to find. On a pathway between the regular and bamboo forests was a wooden food cart with steam coming out of it and a few paper signs attached to the roof that says "lamprey eel" in kanji, and there was even a picture of said eel on the rightmost one just to further emphasize the point.
But the cart itself wasn't the unexpected thing, Kokoro was just noting the appearance of it for the moment. What Kokoro saw was an anchor lying down in the side of the cart and a familiar tail waggling out past the signs. Kokoro immediately flew down behind the cart and found Kyouko and Murasa sitting down on a wooden bench while eating grilled lamprey that was served to them by Mystia, who was currently wearing her normal white and brown clothing patterned with bird-like ornaments.
"What are you two doing here?" Kokoro asks, and the two Buddhist followers flinch in surprise before they turn their heads back to look at the menreiki, with Kyouko's mouth having the skewer from the lamprey eel stuck in it. After Kyouko pulls out the skewer and frantically states "It's not what it looks like Kokoro! We're not goofing off!" Kokoro tilts her head and then waves her hand at Mystia to say "Hi Mystia…Is this that food stand you talked about before?"
As Mystia washes off a skewer behind the counter, she remarks in a polite manner "Yep. You'll never find a better selection of cooked lamprey eels in all of Gensokyo. So do you want to stop and eat something while you're out searching for that amanojaku?" Kokoro shakes her head, but remarks afterwards "Wait, how do you know about that?" Mystia and Murasa both point at Kyouko without hesitation, and the yamabiko nervously chuckles afterwards.
"We just needed something to eat real quick, and we didn't want to go back to the temple empty-handed to get food considering Lady Byakuren's current state of mind…" Kyouko explains, and after Murasa eats another skewer of lamprey eel she smiles and remarks "This is really good though. Considering my connection to ships, I don't really eat that much seafood. But we're going to have to stop enjoying this soon, Kyouko."
"Yeah…I suppose you're right." Kyouko says, her ears sagging in disappointment before she gives Mystia the skewer she just finished off. "Hey, come back anytime, I'm always open for business to a friend and her friends!" Mystia remarks, but before Kyouko and Murasa get off the bench Kokoro gets a brilliant idea and asks "By the way…Do any of you know what Seija looks like? I have no idea what to look for here…"
Everyone was surprised to hear Kokoro say that, but their reaction is more grounded than Tenshi's was as Kyouko asked "Did you not fight Seija or something during those ten days she was being hunted for? …Actually, that sounds really hard to believe." "I was asleep for that whole time…" Kokoro says while hanging her head in shame slightly, and after everyone blinked a few times in disbelief Murasa waves one hand out and says "Eh, at least that explains why you don't know what Seija looks like. Look, if you want to find her, just keep an eye out for a youkai with tiny horns and black hair with red and white highlights. She's not too hard to find."
Kokoro quickly turns around and sprints off into the forest, much to Murasa's surprise. But after a few seconds Kokoro runs back to the food stand and bows her head thankfully towards Murasa, saying to her "Thank you for the advice Murasa." Before she splits from the area again to continue searching for Seija. Kyouko and Murasa share a shrug with one another, and then turn to shrug along with Mystia before they themselves decide to leave the area to get back to work, thanking Mystia for her incredible service before they do.
A couple hours pass after this event, but this time we shall be shifting our focus towards the antagonist of this little arc. Deep within the Forest of Magic, the horned, black-haired amanojaku can be seen resting on a little rock with a bag of unknown origin laying beside her and the long, wrapped up object she stole from the Myouren Temple is grasped in her right hand. As usual, Seija wore her white dress that ends in a series of gray, red and black spades that point both up and down, and her traditional sandals with purple straps were protecting her feet from sores as she walked.
Seija grinned happily as she gently tossed the stolen object up and down, the gleam in her coy expression accompanying the chuckle she had at the expense of those she robbed from. "I thought today was going to be very rotten when that stupid ghost tried to smite me with lightning, but now I've snagged something really valuable from that shitty Buddhist. Heheh, I really wish I could've stuck around to see the look on her face though." After Seija was done gloating to herself, she took the item and stuffed it into the bag, even though the size of said bag didn't seem to suggest that it could house such a long item.
Clapping her hands together, Seija remarks "It was just so damn easy too. That dumbass menreiki actually believed me when I said I wanted help. Heheh…I guess that wasn't really a lie though, even if it was unintentional. I ended up receiving help to break into that temple, after all…Hehehe." Seija then laid one finger against her chin and peered mischievously towards the sky before saying to herself "Now where should I go next? Maybe that ugly little mansion near the lake…Or that shitty little shrine at the top of the mountains…Oh who am I kidding, I can pilfer from any place I want to as I damn well please!"
"My my, it seems you've gotten quite the ego since I last saw you." The familiar voice of the tanuki calls Seija's attention towards her in an instant, and as Mamizou walks across the forest leaves to approach her Seija grins and says "Well if it isn't the know-it-all human pretending to be a tanuki. Did you come to bother me with your 'advice' again or are you just going to stand there and offend me with your smoke scented body?" As Seija waves in front of her nose and glares down at Mamizou in a condescending manner from atop her rock, the tanuki raises her eyebrows and says "And your choice of words is just as repugnant as ever. I'm not surprised at all by that, considering what you are."
After a momentary pause due to how unexpected Mamizou's reaction was, Seija held her right hand out and smirked without looking over at the tanuki before she said "Whatever grandma. So what the hell do you want? I'm a busy Youkai after all." Mamizou glances at her and says with a natural smile "Ah yes, I've heard all about your exploits lately. Tricking a young Youkai and pilfering from a Buddhist temple…Truly time well spent by the great Seija Kijin, I would say."
This next comment caused Seija to glare at Mamizou before saying to her "I know you're mocking me, but I personally don't give a shit. You idiots make it way too easy to get away with this stuff. But man oh man, that menreiki is the biggest goddamn idiot of them all. She didn't even QUESTION who I was and just let me trick her into taking her into the temple, all under the pretense of her restricting 'good intentions'. Dumb girl can't even form any proper emotions, so the worst part about me tricking her is that I'll never get to see the bitter look on her face."
"Oh, I can assure you that the only one truly pissed off is Byakuren. I'm giving you a chance to let me take back her precious object, and I won't be forced to take action." Mamizou remarks, giving a fair warning to the amanojaku, only to be met with Seija pulling her head back in laughter and exclaiming "Oh that is really great! Holy crap I can't believe I didn't stick around to see that shitty Buddhist get pissed off! That would've been some Grade-A hatred right there!" After that little display of delight, Seija wipes the bits of tears forming from her face and then address Mamizou's other remark by grinning and telling her "Hahaha…That's a good one though. You'll take that item back from me? I'd honestly really, REALLY love to see you try."
Seija then picks up the bag beside her and lifts it up, pointing inside of it to show off the rather black void within. "See this? This bag here can store anything I want without running out of space. If you want that precious item, you'd have to knock me out and then spend a few minutes reaching into that bag to grab it out. But you know what else is in here? All those precious little items of mine that allows me to completely dominate ANYONE in a danmaku battle. And of course, it's all thanks to your advice that I know how to use them as well as I can."
With a coy expression as she sticks her tongue out and pulls the skin below her right eye down a bit, Seija says "So if you want to step right up and face the invincible Seija in a danmaku duel, I'm more than ready to kick your wrinkled old ass once more, tanuki! I'll dodge all of your impossible danmaku and leave you battered and humiliated in this forest!" At this point, the tanuki lowered her head slightly and smirked, hiding the look in her eyes as she said in a rather serious tone "How cute…This young upstart thinks I want to play a game of danmaku with her."
Seija was greatly puzzled by this response, and as she lowered the bag a bit she remarked "The hell are you talking about? Of course you want to fight a danmaku duel! You HAVE to fight with danmaku!" Mamizou lifts her head up and reveals a rather cold stare before she says to the amanojaku "Ah, I remember when I was once as ignorant as you are now. No no no Seija…The spell card rules exist to prevent rogue Youkai and such from causing great harm to the humans. Disputes and the like can thus be solved with little issue…"
Mamizou then reaches for her glasses, pulling them off slowly as she continues to explain "Everyone just has no problem agreeing to the spell card rules…There's no concrete rule set in place that prevents people from fighting any other way they please. And since you have proven too tricky to deal with using danmaku, you've left me with no other choice…" After the tanuki pockets her glasses within her clothes, she pulls out her smoke pipe and gives a bit of a shake to remove some of the ashes from it.
"S-So what? Are you just going to attack me with that smoke pipe, grandma? You're full of shit, that old body of yours doesn't stand a chance against me!" Seija exclaims, showing the slightest hint of nervousness due to how the tanuki was currently behaving. Glancing at the amanojaku while widening her grin, Mamizou says to her "Then this will be a good warm-up for these old bones of my mine. Hehehe, now how quickly will I defeat you? I'd say five minutes is a good estimate…" As Seija's heart pounds, a purple and gold flash suddenly appears behind her, suggesting that the battle was about to begin…
A few minutes later, in a part of Gensokyo not far from where Mamizou and Seija were, we find Kokoro now back in the air over the forest, only this time she had found new vigor in her desire to seek out the amanojaku now that she knew what she looked like. It didn't take very long though for Kokoro to stop flying as she saw something rather curious in the distance. A bunch of birds flew out from the tree tops, and some leaves launched out as a sign of commotion in the area.
Curiosity got the better of Kokoro, and she remarked as she flew towards the location of the commotion "Maybe someone has found Seija…I need to get there before they kill her!" It didn't take long for Kokoro to make it to the part of the forest she needed to be, and in keeping a cautious mind she descends to the ground to see what was happening. Upon landing, the immediate thing that grabbed Kokoro's attention and caused her to flinch in shock was that Seija was standing and panting over Mamizou, who was face-first on the ground in an unconscious state.
"Not bad, you old tanuki…But once again the invincible Seija triumphs!" Seija says with overjoyed arrogance in her voice, but upon hearing the footsteps Kokoro made Seija turns around and gestures out with her right hand with a grin on her face before she remarks "Oh? Yet another victim has come to get their butt kicked? …Heheh, oh wait, you're that menreiki that I tricked just a while ago. Hata no Kokoro, right?"
Kokoro ignores Seija for a moment and looks at Mamizou, saddened greatly to see her fallen like that, which made her inquire to the amanojaku "…You're Seija Kijin, right?" Seija smirks and points at herself with her right thumb before remarking bluntly "No shit. What, you seriously have to ask something like? Surely you haven't heard of me before now?" Kokoro says to her afterwards without a single change in her emotions "What did you do to Mamizou-san?"
Seija gestures behind herself before stating "What, that old wrinkled thing? I kicked her butt, what else? She thought she could snatch that treasure back from me, but I showed her what-for just like I have for anyone else stupid enough to try and defeat me? What, does seeing her on the ground rile you up? Make you mad?" As the amanojaku tried to entice Kokoro into anger, the menreiki surprised her by instead shaking her head in response.
Seija lifts her eyelids up and remarks "What, seriously? You seem to hold that old tanuki in high regards, so why aren't you getting mad?" Kokoro glares at Seija and tells her gently "I should be mad…But I know that's just what you want from me, Seija." "Pffft, whatever…So what, are you going to fight me just like that tanuki tried to do? Cause honestly, even though I haven't faced you before, I'm pretty certain I'd dominate you like I did everyone else! And then you'll never see that precious treasure again…Boo-hoo!" Seija continues to try and rile Kokoro up by mentioning the treasure.
Once more, Seija is surprised when Kokoro suddenly extends her right hand out and says "I didn't come here to fight…" Seija blinks a couple times and says dryly "…What?" Before Kokoro can explain to her "I know that everyone has turned against you…That you've caused trouble left and right in order to get people angry and make yourself happy…But that doesn't have to be the only way to find happiness in life. I want to help you find happiness…I want to be your friend, Seija."
There was a rather prolonged pause between the two Youkai after what Kokoro just said, with Seija staring wide-eyed at the menreiki for a good while before she lets out a snide snicker that leads into a burst of laughter that has her reeling forward in delight. "Hahaha…Oh my god…You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're joking…" Seija remarks, but looks up to see Kokoro still holding her hand out in earnest with the only change being her head tilted slightly to the right.
"…You're actually serious?" Seija says as she regains control of herself and stands upright, a smirk present on her face before she proudly states "I'm an amanojaku! I don't need anything like friends to be happy!" "Have you even tried to make friends with someone? Please…I'm asking you to consider giving friendship a chance." Kokoro says, and Seija starts picking at her right ear with her pinky while remarking "Man, aren't you persistent? Haven't you forgotten that I not only tricked you, but I stole from that stinking temple you love to hang around so much? Plus I'm a wanted criminal, and damn near everyone hates me. You seriously want to be friends with someone like me?"
Laying her other hand against her chest and looking the slightest bit pitying towards Seija, Kokoro says "Everyone hated Tenshi too…But I still chose to be her friend because I could see some good in her. Seija, you haven't tried to kill anyone…I'm sure you could be forgiven if you just return mommy's item to her and apologized. You don't have to follow your nature as an amanojaku, you know…" "Of course I do! An amanojaku exists to defy expectations so they can be happy!" Seija proclaims while swinging her arms out proudly.
"Then you would be happy with a friend, because you'd be defying the expectation everyone has that you want to be alone." Kokoro says in a surprising reversal of Seija's own logic, which causes the amanojaku to freeze up in shock before gritting her teeth and looking at Kokoro, saying to her to divert the subject while gesturing beside her head with her two hands "You're just gonna bore me to death at this rate with your talks of friendship and shit…The only way you're ever getting that so-called 'precious treasure' off of me is by defeating me in a danmaku duel!"
"I don't want to fight you, Seija." Kokoro says in a gentle tone, and with her hands raised out beside her the amanojaku remarks "I don't care what you want! You aren't getting that item back unless you defeat me! I'm not going to bend to your silly desire for friendship, regardless of how much you persist!" "…If fighting is the only way you want to handle this…" After a momentary pause, Kokoro holds her hands out and summons forth her two fans in her grasp, then points one at Seija and remarks "Then by defeating you, we will become friends that way!"
"If that's seriously what you think, then you're crazy. But at least you're in the fighting spirit now! But you won't win against me, even though I won't be using any of those items of mine in our duel!" Seija proclaims arrogantly, and Kokoro asks her hesitantly "…How many spell cards do you want to use?" Raising one finger up, Seija says to the young menreiki "One. One card is all I'm going to need to take you down. But on the very, very slim chance you beat me, I'll give you back that 'precious' item."
"And then we can also be friends?" Kokoro inquires, and Seija bluntly remarks as she begins to rise up into the air "Just get your spell card out and prepare to duel!" The amanojaku can be seen summoning a spell card into her hand as she passes through the leaves and branches above, and Kokoro follows her while summoning forth her own spell card of choice above one of her fans. The two duelists face each other in the skies of Gensokyo, moving a few feet further apart as Seija says to the menreiki "You better put your all into this. It won't be satisfying to CRUSH you otherwise!"
Kokoro takes both of her fans beside her spell card and says "Seija…Is there really no other way to go about this? If you want to go against the norm, why would you choose to solve things with spell cards?" Once more Kokoro's logical deduction caused Seija to grimace before she said "You're really getting on my nerves with all these questions. I'm a Youkai, of course I want to fight! Shouldn't you want to do the same? You're supposed to hate me after all I've done!" Seija arrogantly smirked as he placed her fingernails atop her chest for a moment.
"I don't want to solve problems by fighting…Even if I'm a Youkai, I don't find myself excited when battles occur…But you're leaving me no other choice here, Seija." Kokoro says with the utmost honesty, and with neither side budging in their resolve the amanojaku remarks "Fine then…Lets duel!" While sticking her tongue out, Seija uses the nail of her middle finger to flip the spell card around while slicing through the center of it before proclaiming "Deceit Sign 'Reverse Needle Attack'!" Kokoro meanwhile presses her spell card between two fans while stating "Idiom of Emotion 'The Endless Dance of Night'!"
Kokoro summons forth the two masks necessary for her spell card and surrounds herself in a pale aura of blue fire. She then waves one fan forward to send out a wave of blue fireballs roughly the size of her body at Seija. Simultaneously, her two masks sends out swift violet lasers that split into hundreds of tiny bullets after a momentary pause. Seija, meanwhile, sends out a series of red triangles in two diagonals behind herself while moving around to avoid Kokoro's attacks.
The menreiki was puzzled as Seija's danmaku vanishes after it goes a certain distance behind her, and decided to pay close attention just in case the amanojaku tried some sort of trick with her spell card. Kokoro alternated the use of her fans to send out the fireballs, keeping a very steady rhythm alongside her mask lasers so she would be able to apply plenty of pressure to the evasive Seija.
Seija glide left and right, then went up and down while firing off more of those strange triangles. It was at that point the amanojaku smirked even though a few of Kokoro's tiny bullets hit her body. Kokoro failed to notice that some of the red triangular danmaku reappeared behind her, flying out in multiple diagonal rows on both sides of Kokoro's body, thus restricting her movement quite a bit. Some of the bullets strike Kokoro in the back, and the menreiki has to move forward while glancing behind herself to see the bullets and where they move.
"I should've expected this…" Kokoro says in regards to the trickery of Seija's danmaku, but then she focuses back on her opponent while paying attention to which way the danmaku was flowing so she could determine when to graze or outright avoid the bullets. The fact that the pattern started with them at the farthest point and restarted once they went in closer was quickly figured out by Kokoro, and it wasn't long after that before Kokoro was able to graze the bullets almost perfectly while recognizing just when to launch her own attacks at Seija.
Seija was surprised as she found herself being struck with plenty of bullets both large and small, as her pattern forced her to pause momentarily to fire off her own attack to no avail now, as Kokoro refused to be hit as frequently as she was when she started out with the spell card. "I thought you said you didn't care to fight?! Then why are you so good at dodging my danmaku?!" Seija proclaims in a frustrated tone, her arrogance now working against her as she finds herself on the losing end of this battle.
Kokoro did not respond at first to Seija's remark, instead choosing to keep herself focused on the duel as she waved her fans out to send more fireballs at the amanojaku. Seija then looked at how serious Kokoro seemed to be despite her stoic expression, and exclaimed in a moment of rage "You really piss me off! I can't tell what I'm supposed to do to get you to hate me because of how emotionless you are!" Seija then began pulling at her hair with both hands while still firing off danmaku, and it was at this point that Kokoro felt the need to acknowledge her opponent's words.
"Then don't try and get me to hate you…Seija, I don't want you to die just because you feel you have to listen to your nature as an amanojaku. If you and I became friends, then you could be happy that way…Is it really that hard for you to fight back against that urge to make others hate you?" Kokoro asks while continuing to attack with danmaku, and Seija proclaims "Stop trying to get me to change! I'm happy just the way I am! Not everyone can change as easily as you assume they can! GAH!" With her lack of focus on the battle, Seija is hit with a rather blunt wave of danmaku from Kokoro, and as a shockwave erupts from the amanojaku's body and her danmaku disintegrates it was clear that Kokoro had won the duel with that final move.
The loss to Kokoro leaves Seija's body battered and her clothes tattered as she promptly drops from the sky and crashes through the trees below, with Kokoro taking a pitying look at her before she was out of sight, at which point Kokoro dispels the effects of her spell card and descends to pursue the amanojaku. Once back on the ground, Kokoro quickly notices that Mamizou's body has disappeared from sight, meaning that the tanuki had likely made a recovery and had gone off somewhere else for now.
Relieved to known that Mamizou was ok, Kokoro directed her attention back to Seija, who was lying on her stomach with her hands grabbing at the grass in front of her to show that she was struggling to get up after her defeat. Lying beside her was the long, clothed object that she had stolen from the Myouren Temple, and after looking at Seija in pity for a couple seconds Kokoro walks forward and bends down to pick up her mother's precious treasure.
Holding the object in both arms due to it's size, Kokoro turns around and prepares to walk off when all of a sudden Seija lifts her head up with a furious look in her eyes while stating "Y-You…Give that back to me! I rightfully took it! You had to have cheated in that duel!" Kokoro glances back at Seija and remarks "…Seija, I won fair and square. Please, just lie there and rest…" Even now Kokoro held no contempt towards the amanojaku, which only served to infuriate her further.
Seija slammed one fist against the ground and proclaimed "Why?! Why won't you hate me?! What do I have to do to tick you off?!" Kokoro turns her head away from Seija and said "There's nothing you can do to make me hate you, Seija…Especially since you and I both know you don't have it in you to kill anyone I care for. When you finally realize that you can find happiness by being my friend…Then I'll be waiting to see you again, Seija. But for now I need to return this object to my mommy…"
With nails digging into the ground, Seija remarks "I will NEVER be your friend! You'll waste your life away before that ever happens!" This remark makes Kokoro's heart feel heavy, and she lowers her eyelids a bit out of pity towards the amanojaku before she slowly begins to walk away from her, taking off into the sky to head back to the Myouren Temple moments later. Seija spends a few more seconds glaring at the menreiki in contempt before her body simply gives out and she collapses against the ground in pain.
In the skies above, Kokoro keeps the object held close to her chest as she flies. Her head was hung low slightly due to being unsuccessful in making Seija her friend, which caused her to wonder if Tenshi was right or if it was simply not the right time to try and convert the amanojaku into being her friend. As coincidence would have it, while thinking about Tenshi's remarks Kokoro is spoken to by said Celestial from afar. "Hey Kokoro, what are you still doing flying around?" Tenshi inquires as she flies closer to the menreiki while still standing on her keystone, her arms held behind her head as her Hisou no Tsurugi seems to have been put away.
Kokoro glances to the right at Tenshi, and the Celestial notices that she is holding on to a clothed object when she swerves. "…Is that the item that amanojaku stole?" Tenshi asked while pointing down at it, and Kokoro nodded her head in response. Tenshi, after all of her warnings about Seija, was naturally surprised enough to have her eyes widen before she proclaimed "You beat Seija?! H-How?!"
"I just faced her in a danmaku duel and won…It didn't seem too hard to defeat her." Kokoro remarks in a nonchalant tone, and that response did nothing to get rid of the surprised look on Tenshi's face. "…I wonder if Kokoro used the same level of power she did against me to defeat Seija…" The Celestial thinks, which then led to her inquiring "So Kokoro, what did you do about Seija?"
"I left her be…I was never going to kill her, Tenshi. But I failed to befriend her…" Kokoro sounded somewhat melancholy, and in the most gentle way she could manage in this situation Tenshi patted Kokoro on the shoulder and said "I'm just glad you didn't lose to her like the rest of us." The Celestial then pulled back and remarked "Well, since you're going to settle things with your mother, I'll just be heading off for now. Perhaps I'll see you again tomorrow, Kokoro…"
Before Tenshi leaves, Kokoro looks at her and says "Don't go yet Tenshi. I need you with me until I've given this back to mommy…" "Huh? You sure about that?" Tenshi inquires with a surprised look in her eyes, and Kokoro's affirmative nod makes Tenshi stay where she's at and remark with a neutral expression "Well I guess I'm not in a rush to head back, but I'll try not to talk so I don't say anything to tick your mother off further."
Kokoro was pleased by this, and the two of them went through the remainder of Gensokyo's skies towards the Myouren Temple. Along the way though, Tenshi couldn't help but feel that something was very off about Kokoro defeating Seija, but as the Celestial rubbed the bottom of her chin in thought she whispered "Maybe I'm just jealous that I didn't get to defeat Seija myself…" and decided to forget about further pursuing the matter, especially since the temple was just below the two of them and Kokoro had already gone ahead and descended towards the ground.
Tenshi followed close behind as usual, and once the two of them landed they found Byakuren standing in wait for them at the bottom of the staircase into the temple. She still had a cold atmosphere about her, but her anger seemed to now be subdued instead of prominent as it was before. That is, until she saw Tenshi walking onto her temple grounds, at which point she growled slightly without even noticing that Kokoro had gotten her item back. The menreiki quickly had to apply damage control by stating "Mommy…Tenshi was helping me get your item back from Seija…"
Byakuren then stopped growling and merely glared at Tenshi, saying in a quiet tone "Yes…I suppose that's fair enough." Byakuren then glanced down at Kokoro and noticed that her item had been recovered, and with a half-effort smile she bends down to look at Kokoro, remarking as she extends her right hand out "I knew I could trust you to get this back, Kokoro…Now where is that amanojaku's corpse?" At first coming off as appreciative, Byakuren shows that she had not gotten rid of her bloodlust against Seija yet with that simple inquiry.
Kokoro hung her head low and held the clothed object close to her body while hesitantly saying "…I didn't kill Seija, mommy. I defeated her in the forest and left her be…All that matters is that you have this treasure back, right?" Byakuren then chuckled callously at that remark and lifted her hands up, placing them both on Kokoro's shoulders without any of the warmth that would usually be expected from this action. Lifting her eyelids up slightly to glare at Kokoro, Byakuren said to her "Tell me where exactly you left that amanojaku, Kokoro, and I will finish the job myself."
As her heart felt heavy in regards to what she was about to do, Kokoro took a gulp of saliva and then said "…I'm not going to tell you, mommy." It was at that point that Kokoro felt Byakuren's grip on her shoulders tighten, and Byakuren said in a firmer tone "That wasn't a request, Kokoro. Tell me where Seija is, now." Kokoro shakes her head and states "I'm not going to let you kill her. She didn't do anything to deserve death."
Byakuren tightened her grip further, a light crunch being heard from Kokoro's bones as the Buddhist stated in a louder voice "She broke into MY temple and stole the most precious item I have! Now tell me where she is so I can deal with that ignorant child once and for all!" Tenshi could tell that the situation was going to get worse quickly if she didn't hurry up and step in, and as she looked ready to draw her Hisou no Tsurugi in defense of Kokoro Byakuren stated "There's no reason to keep her alive, Kokoro, she is better off de-"
It was then that the tension was broken by a sharp sound, one that naturally surprised both Tenshi and Byakuren. Using what strength she could muster, Kokoro had managed to free her right arm from her mother's grasp and quickly raised her hand up to slap Byakuren across the side of her face while the mask of melancholy appeared beside Kokoro's own face as she does this. There was then nothing but silence from all involved, and Byakuren kept her head held to the side for a moment before turning to look at Kokoro with the imprint the slap made visible on her cheek.
Byakuren seems to have been temporarily snapped out of her anger, as her grip was loosened on Kokoro's shoulders and her mouth was agape to match her frozen look of shock. Kokoro then stepped back a moment, watching as Byakuren's hands dropped to the ground before she said "Mommy…This isn't like you at all. You're the one who taught me to respect all forms of life, and that killing is not the way to go…Seija wronged you, I understand that, but she has never taken a life herself…If you went and killed her, that would make you much worse than she ever was. I defeated her and brought back what she stolen…So please, can you go back to being the kind, loving mother that I remember?"
As Kokoro finished, she held her hands out to put the clothed object in front of her body. Unbeknownst to everyone at the temple, Miko was currently observing the event from the entrance with an intrigued look in her eyes. Byakuren, listening to the words of her adopted daughter, finds herself trembling in realization of what she was considering doing to Seiga. "I…I was seriously going to…" Byakuren mutters out before she slowly raises her hands up to take the clothed object from Kokoro's hands.
Pulling her body back afterwards, Byakuren holds the object against her chest while her arms are wrapped around it, kneeling upright and looking at Kokoro with a devastated expression on her face before she says quietly "…Kokoro…I-I'm so sorry…I was seriously going to go that far…I truly considered taking another life…And I was hurting you as well…" Trembling still, Byakuren lowered her head a bit and looked ready to cry for what she had done, but Kokoro quickly says to her "You're back to normal now, mommy…That's all I wanted to happen."
Before any tears flowed out, Kokoro sniffled and lifted her head up, putting in her best effort to smile at her adopted daughter before saying "Y-You're right…I am back to normal…And it's all thanks to your efforts, my daughter…I don't know what I can do to thank you for returning this item to me…" It was then that Miko stepped forward from the entrance, remarking in a rather quiet tone of voice "How about a celebratory dinner then, Hijiri?"
Byakuren looks up at Miko, surprised to see that she was there, a reaction shared by both Tenshi and Kokoro as they turn to face her. "A-A celebratory dinner?" Byakuren murmured out, and Miko waved her right arm out and said with a great deal of joy in her tone "Yes. It shall be a grand and wonderful dinner, acting as a temporary unison of both of our factions so we can allow Kokoro to experience perfectly the feeling of pride over the great deed she has accomplished for you today, Hijiri. After all, she did what no one else could and stopped the rogue amanojaku. Of course, we will only have this dinner if you are willing to host it at your temple, Hijiri."
Byakuren didn't hesitate to nod her head, saying in a quiet tone "I think that would be fine…We will have a celebration of this event at my temple tomorrow night." Tenshi, who had been silent the whole time so far, folded her arms behind her head and licked her lips at the prospect of a grand dinner made by the two religious leaders, and with a glance at Miko the Celestial asked "I hope you have room at this dinner for me, seeing how I'm Kokoro's surrogate older sister and all."
Miko pulled her head back slightly and laughed merrily, saying afterwards "I'd be delighted to have your company again, Tenshi…But it is up to Hijiri to decide whether you should be allowed to come or not." Byakuren and Tenshi shared a glance at one another, with Kokoro looking at her mother with a slight pout on her face, and in her current state Byakuren crumbled easily and said "…I will allow it just this once. After all, you did help Kokoro get this back for me…"
"Sweet! I'll definitely try and bring my own food down for the dinner. We got plenty of peaches up in Bhava-agra, so maybe I'll make a dessert out of them!" Tenshi proclaims excitedly while rubbing her hands in front of her chest and continuing to lick her lips in delight. Miko finds herself once more humored by the Celestial's actions, and then she said to Byakuren "Then I shall return to my Mausoleum and spend the next twenty-four hours preparing food for this event…Well, and I should probably go find your followers and tell them that it's safe to return. Rest well, Hijiri, there is no reason to feel stress anymore…"
With her reassuring remark, Miko turned around and walked off the temple grounds, and Tenshi afterwards glanced at both Kokoro and Byakuren and said "Yeah, I'm going to need a lot of time to get the food ready, so I should probably get going now. Catch you tomorrow, Kokoro!" With a wave of her hand to say goodbye to Kokoro, Tenshi runs past the temple entrance and leaps onto her keystone, taking off a moment later as Kokoro watches from below.
Once Tenshi and Miko were gone, Byakuren curls her body around her clothed object and finally stops holding back her emotions, letting out a few muffled breathes as tears of joy and relief pour out from her eyes and onto the cloth below. Kokoro turns around immediately and calls out to her mother in a slow, puzzled manner, and after crying for a few more seconds Byakuren replies amidst her tearfulness "I…I honestly thought I'd never reclaim this…"
Kokoro waits a moment before kneeling down in front of her mother, laying both of her hands atop her knees before she asks "Mommy…I hope I'm not stepping out of line by asking you this, but…Just what is this precious treasure of yours?" Lifting her head up right away, Byakuren wipes some of the tears from her face with one hand before laying it down atop the clothed object and answering Kokoro's question with "This…This is my brother's monk staff…And the last possession of his that exists in this world."
Kokoro reacted with surprise, saying in a stoic tone "I…I didn't know you had a brother." Byakuren nodded her head in response, explaining in a quiet voice "Myouren Hijiri was my younger brother…He taught me everything he knew about Buddhist magic, and the two of us spent our days reciting sutras and helping whoever needed guidance…But both of us got old eventually, and Myouren was the one unfortunate enough to have his life claimed by death first. I mourned his death, but at the same time I began to fear dying as well…"
"I searched desperately for a way to prolong my life, seeking black magic to maintain my youth and originally using a goal of aiding Youkai to help retain that youth…But then I truly wanted to help Youkai out, which combined with my unnatural looks, led to me being sealed away in Makai by humans a long time ago until the day I was freed by my trusted allies…I then made this temple in my brother's name, and with Shou's help I found my brother's staff buried deep within the ground where his grave once was…I cleaned it up and wrapped it in a cloth filled with charms to ward off impurity, and the put it in our vault for safe keeping."
As Byakuren remembered her brother, she began to cry again, her voice dealing with the occasional whimper as she held her brother's staff closer to her body and said "My brother…was such a selfless and kind person…I always tried to act exactly like him, and strived to live up his standards no matter what…But look at me Kokoro…I'm a thousand-so year old human using dark magic to make herself look young, I'm trying to make Youkai into Buddhists, and I almost took someone else's life…"
Opening her mouth wide, Byakuren exclaimed in a horrified tone "I'm a horrible person Kokoro! You'd be better off with anyone else as your mother besides a hypocrite like me!" The genuine anguish in Byakuren's voice could be heard clearly, but Kokoro did not feel the need to hate her mother for anything she had just admitted to. Instead, Kokoro took a page from her mother's own book and leaned forward, wrapping both of her arms around Byakuren's neck and holding her over atop her right shoulder while the mask of joy was beside her face. Byakuren gasped as Kokoro did this, her eyes widening for a moment in shock before Kokoro remarked "You're human mommy…Of course you're going to make mistakes. You've done nothing wrong in my eyes though, I can assure you that…"
Byakuren froze for a few seconds, but sniffled and said out of sheer joy towards the menreiki "Kokoro…I-I really taught you well…Didn't I?" Kokoro nodded her head and said "Yes you did mom…Yes you did…" With that, Byakuren knew she could continue to cry while Kokoro embraced her in this hug, and the two of them would be on the ground of the Myouren Temple for the next few minutes until Byakuren was finished…
Back in the forest, however, we find Mamizou and Seija's unconscious bodies lying on the ground in a different part of the forest than where Kokoro fought the amanojaku. A black trident was poking at the back of Mamizou's body, and who else but Nue could be responsible for holding the trident. She had it grasped lazily in her right hand while she laid down atop her UFO, letting out a yawn as she looked towards the sky and said "Man…When is that Taoist going to get back here?"
"Right now should suffice, yes?" Miko's voice answers Nue's question as she walks past some bushes to reach this area, and promptly Nue sits upright and proclaims in a blunt tone "Sheesh, I thought you'd NEVER make it back. Hey Mamizou, you can finally get up now!" When Nue calls out for the tanuki, it's surprisingly not her body that rises up to their feet, but rather that of Seija's. "Hehe…It seems everything went as well as we had hoped, for the most part." Seija? Remarks before a puff of smoke covers her body, transforming her back into Mamizou's human guise.
The tanuki reached into her pockets and pulled out her glasses, putting them back on while remarking to Nue "You can stop using your powers on her now, Nue." "Bummer, it was kind of fun poking at someone that looked like you. It was just like the first time we ever met." Nue says in a snide voice before she snaps her fingers, causing Mamizou's? body to be covered in an alien static, which fades away to reveal a battered and unconscious Seija in it's place.
Miko stares at Seija's body and says "Forgive me for intruding on your battle with Seija earlier, Mamizou…But I saw my chance to deal with her and decided to take it." Mamizou merely shrugged as she reached for her smoke pipe, saying with a mischievous smile on her face "The plan was to knock her unconscious anyways, so I can't say I'm too disappointed." "Though I will admit, it would've been quite interesting to see how you were planning to defeat Seija with just a smoke pipe." Miko remarks with a wink and a smirk.
"Maybe another time, Crown Prince." Mamizou says before she places the pipe in her mouth to take a smoke. Miko folds her arms together and lays one hand under her chin before asking "Now since I've gone through with it all, shall you tell me just why you went through with this plan?" Mamizou pulls her pipe out and holds it off to the side before saying "I suppose I owe you that much. Nue, you have your part to play in the explanation, so pay attention."
Nue can be seen kicking her feet behind her playfully as she lies on her stomach atop her UFO, and she says with a smile "Sure thing Mamizou." Mamizou then explained to Miko "Once I found out that Kokoro was going after Seija, I figured that perhaps now would've been the moment where Kokoro would've used her anger to fight an opponent again…But considering how weak Seija was, I knew Kokoro would've actually killed her had they fought under those conditions, and I did not need Kokoro feeling guilt over that."
"So the plan was to knock Seija unconscious and use Nue's power to disguise Seija's identity as myself, and I would disguise myself as Seija." "AND I made sure to hide their emotional spectrums so Kokoro wouldn't figure anything out." Nue remarks quickly, and then Mamizou continues on by mentioning "Afterwards we'd direct Kokoro's attention to us by sending leaves into the sky to simulate action, and Kokoro would find 'my' body on the ground and try to fight Seija with all of her strength. With Nue's help to fire and disguise danmaku to make it look like Seija's own along with a perfect performance from me, Kokoro would be none the wiser…"
"Then, once I was defeated, Nue would quickly use her powers to make Byakuren's precious treasure become visible after hiding it earlier, and then hide Seija's body away while I endured enough to see Kokoro calm down and take the item back, thus undoing all of her prior mistakes in Byakuren's eyes and allowing a cheerful reunion to take hold…" Once Mamizou's explanation was at an end, Miko remarked "Yes, after Kokoro slapped Hijiri across the face to help calm her down, it seemed as though things went peacefully between the two of them…The Celestial was also helping out in finding the treasure, so kudos to her, I must say."
"Hoho, then everything seems to have gone well there. But Crown Prince, there is something that went entirely against my plan from the very beginning of Kokoro's arrival…You saw that, right?" Mamizou thus goes for another puff from her pipe, and Miko remarks "Yes…Kokoro did not react with anger towards Seija. Instead she wished to do the impossible and become friends with her. I must admit, I don't know whether I should be concerned about that or not…"
Raising her eyes up a bit from her smoke, Mamizou says "My plan was to have Kokoro gain some control over her emotions, but I didn't expect it to work out this well that she was even able to control herself against someone as hated as Seija. I had to really put on a good act to try and convince her to stop, but Kokoro did not give up on her goal, and I doubt she will even later…" "Speaking of the amanojaku, I hope you weren't planning on finishing her off now that she served her purpose?" Miko inquires with a glare in the direction of the unconscious Seija.
Mamizou laughed at this suggestion before admitting "I think Seija won't be causing as much trouble now that she was defeated so easily outside of a danmaku duel. That upstart child has been taught a lesson she'll never forget, and just to be safe I will leave those mysterious items of hers in your care." Mamizou enjoyed a smirk at Seija's expense, but then had to direct her attention back at Miko as she found herself being asked "Just WHERE did those items even come from?"
"I got to check some of them closely, but all I could find was a worn out engraving that said 'Dy-t-s'…I'll try and find out more about that later, but for now it's no concern of mine." Mamizou says before putting her pipe away and folding her arms into her sleeves. Miko says "Well, I guess now that we have dealt with this issue, I suppose it would be the best time to tell you that Hijiri and I shall be hosting a celebratory dinner at the Myouren temple tomorrow night. If you wish to come, Mamizou, then you are more than welcome to."
Mamizou gave Miko a wide smile and said "I will be sure to show up. You youngins need to learn a thing or two about the old time recipes of the outside world, after all." "What Mamizou meant to say is that you better brace your taste buds, because you're going to taste some pretty disgusting food." Nue says in a harmlessly teasing tone, and Mamizou glances back and remarks nonchalantly "Now Nue, you know your taste in food is quite different than the rest of us. Remember that recipe you dubbed Mysterious Food X?"
"…You promised not to mention that story to anyone." Nue says in a horrified tone, and Mamizou remarks "And I still won't" before she turns back to the Crown Prince and bows her head, remarking in an appreciative tone "Thank you for keeping things a secret today, and I will see you again tomorrow, Crown Prince." With her meeting here done, Mamizou turned and began to walk out of the forest, with Nue waving goodbye while remarking "It was definitely a lot of fun messing around with you once more, Mamizou! We should do this again sometime!"
Nue then looked at Miko and said "Well your highness, I better go grab everyone else and get them back to the temple…Knowing Kyouko, she and Murasa probably went and fooled around for a bit at that one food stand." "I wish you luck, Nue." Miko says in a polite manner and after sitting upright on her UFO Nue flies off to take of this remaining task for the day. Miko herself took one last glance at Seija before leaving her still lying on the ground and heading off to find an entrance back to Senkai. Everything was going smoothly for tomorrow, and a celebratory dinner was just on the horizon with nothing bad on the menu…
…But then you find yourself being forced to remember that the Scarlet Devil Mansion folk are a part of this story, and there is definitely something Kokoro forgot to take care of today due to Seija's shenanigans, so let's go see just how well everyone is handling things there for a moment, shall we?
With a quick jump to the inside of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, we find Remilia spitting out half a cup of blood wine on the red carpet in front of her as she sits atop her throne. Even though the colors matched, Sakuya felt the need to immediately grab some cleaning supplies and get to work scrubbing the mess up. The reason for Remilia's reaction would become clear as she licked the wine that was on her chin and said in a disbelieving tone towards Patchouli, who was currently standing beside her throne "…You're going to have to repeat that to me, Patchouli."
With a book held under her right arm, Patchouli gave Remilia a firm glare and told her "Hata no Kokoro did not show up today to meet with Lady Flandre. She is handling things well in the basement at the moment, but her view on the situation does not matter in the slightest at the moment." Remilia glanced at Patchouli and said in a semi-offended manner "That is my sister you are talking about there, Patchouli…But still, the fact that the menreiki did not show up today is quite unacceptable, especially after I allowed her to have the Celestial in my own mansion!"
Sakuya glances up and says in a refined but subtly bothered tone "The Celestial was here? This is the first I'm hearing of this…" "I made certain that she exited the premises quickly, I can assure you that much, Sakuya." Patchouli says, and then the sound of glass shattering can be heard coming from Remilia, with the glass cup she held being nothing but shards that falls to the ground in front of the throne moments later. Sakuya shrugs and goes to clean those up without saying a word while Remilia said with an irritated look on her face "To think that the menreiki would try and defy me after signing that contract. She is either really foolish or really brave to incur my wrath!"
"I'd push more towards the former, Remilia." Patchouli says coldly, but then raises her eyebrows a bit and says "So are we going to deal with her like I originally wanted?" Remilia shook her head and smirked, her haughtiness increasing tenfold as she gripped the arms of her throne and leaned forward before saying "Far from it, Patchouli…It would be such a waste to get rid of her, especially when she has been helping Flandre so much. No, I personally intend to find the menreiki at her homestead and drag her back here forever!"
"You do realize that attacking her at her homestead means launching an assault on that Buddhist temple or the Taoist Mausoleum, right? You would need the help of everyone in the mansion besides Lady Flandre in order to successfully get the menreiki here…" Patchouli explains, and after pulling herself off of her throne Remilia flaps her wings to suspend herself in mid-air while glancing back at her friend and saying with a fanged grin "Oh I understand that quite well. Locking heads with that hypocrite priest and make-believe prince is all too inevitable…"
Remilia then swung her arms out and embraced the glow coming through the stained-glass windows behind her, proclaiming with immense bluster "But I am Remilia Scarlet, the Lord of the Night! I do not give-way to any in this world of fantasy…If I want something, I will take it no matter who I must crush in the process!" Remilia then straightened herself and landed on the ground, saying to those standing close to her "Sakuya, prepare the Fairy Maids. Patchouli, make sure Mei Ling and yourself are at the top of your games…Tomorrow night, we shall march out to reclaim our newest servant, no matter how much she and her allies wish to struggle, for that is the fortune that fate has dictated in my favor!"
Next Time: …Umm, Ignore those last few paragraphs for now, it's dinner time!