Chapter 11: The Most Awkward Dinner in Gensokyo

Tomorrow comes rather quickly in Gensokyo, with everyone back where they needed to be now that Seija had been dealt with thanks to Kokoro's efforts. Of course, the truth about who Kokoro actually defeated was only known by three select people, but that had no bearing on what was going to happen at the Myouren Temple today. In celebration for bringing back the last proof of Myouren Hijiri's existence to Byakuren, a large dinner was going to be held at the temple, with everyone from both the Buddhist and Taoist factions along with Kokoro, Tenshi and Mamizou were going to come together to eat and have a good time.

Of course, since the leaders of both religious factions had planned this event while none of their followers were around, it was up to them to explain things once morning had come around and breakfast had been finished. Naturally, the followers took this information better than anticipated, all things considered.

"WHAT?!" Kyouko, Ichirin and Murasa proclaimed in a tone of utter surprise while they were in the temple kitchen with Byakuren, with Nue just floating above them all while laid atop her UFO as she calmly remarks "I knew this was going to happen, Byakuren…" Byakuren turns away from the counter she was preparing food at, revealing that she is wearing a lotus-pink apron that she only busts out for special occasions like this, and as she wipes her hands clean on a towel she remarks "I know this came out of nowhere everyone…Except for Nue, apparently, but I want us to try and make the best of this."

Byakuren's gentle nature had returned perfectly as she spoke, something the followers welcomed in the midst of their current confusion. "Lady Byakuren, with all due respect, I understand you and that Taoist have been working together to help Kokoro out, but don't you think having the entire Taoist faction coming here for dinner is a little too much of a leap?" Ichirin remarks, trying her hardest to remain respectful in spite of her heavy disagreement of the proposed meeting between both factions.

While Byakuren lays the towel down on the counter behind her, she says to Ichirin "Yes, perhaps we are moving a little too quickly here…But we're doing this for Kokoro after all she did to help out yesterday. Remember what I taught you all about tolerance…" Ichirin, Kyouko and Murasa reluctantly say together while looking embarrassed for their objections "Respect the views of others, even if they greatly go against your own…"

Murasa is the first to look at Byakuren after that and remark "Fine, I guess I really don't have too much of a beef with the Taoists anyways, but you can't be serious when you say the Celestial is also allowed to dinner…" Byakuren then turns back to the counter and begins carefully using a magic rainbow-energy knife extended from her hand to chop up a few leeks into tiny bits, remarking calmly in regards to Murasa's concerns "So long as Kokoro is here, there's no need to worry about Tenshi causing trouble."

"So in other words, Kokoro is a Celestial deterrent." Nue remarks in a joking tone, but Byakuren seriously thinks about that for a moment before poking her head up a bit and saying "I suppose that's accurate from a certain point of view." "Speaking of lil' Kokoro, where is she this morning? …And Shou for that matter, now that I think about it." Murasa asks while looking around in the room.

Byakuren slides the cut up leeks off the cutting board and into a sleek wooden bowl, then goes for some onions while remarking "Kokoro told me that she would help Tenshi bring her food down to the temple, so she's likely in Bhava-agra now. I also asked Shou to go pick up some fruits from the Human Village for another salad I plan on making for tonight." "D-Don't tell me we're just going to have nothing but fruits and vegetables at this dinner…" Kyouko hesitantly groans while already finding herself feeling hunger in her stomach.

Taking pause from her current task, Byakuren remarks "…I'm making an exception just this one night. If you guys want to have meat, then you can have whatever Miko, Mamizou or Tenshi brings." Everyone was surprised by what they just heard Byakuren say, with even Nue dropping her jaw a bit before remarking "Byakuren, are you feeling alright? I mean I could've sworn I just heard you say you're fine with us having meat…"

"Even I'm capable of showing a little lenience now and then, Nue…You can also consider this an apology for the way I behaved yesterday." The sincerest of responses from Byakuren was enough to dispel away the shock in her followers' minds, and after a few seconds of looking at one another it was Kyouko who perked her ears up and smiled before proclaiming "I want to make my own dish for dinner tonight, Lady Byakuren!"

"Then you're more than welcome to, Kyouko. Just come right over and take a pick at whatever ingredients you want." Byakuren remarks while gesturing out to the left of her, and with her tail waggling happily Kyouko runs over to join Byakuren in cooking, putting on her own apron before peeking across the counter for something to use in a meal. Meanwhile, Murasa leans her head towards Nue and remarks quietly "You and I should go fishing out at Misty Lake, we might be able to make something pretty good ourselves."

"Fishing? Sounds like fun…My trident would make a good fishing tool." Nue whispers out, and her and Murasa silently leave the kitchen to go fishing. Ichirin, after watching them head off, folds her hands in front of her and respectfully bows before asking "Anything I can do, Lady Byakuren?" "Yes Ichirin…I'm putting you in charge of setting up tables in the guest room. Grab a pillow for each person coming, and try to make sure the Feng Shui of the room is just right. Oh, and perhaps see if Kogasa would like to join us for dinner first."

Ichirin remarks respectfully "I will do my job perfectly. Thank you, Lady Byakuren." She and Unzan then leave the kitchen to take care of their duties. So at the very least, despite their earlier concerns, the Buddhist faction is handling the preparations for dinner rather well. But what about the Taoists? With as few people as there are in the Mausoleum, how are they managing to deal with the preparations for tonight's dinner?

Well as we head over to the Mausoleum, we find Futo, Tojiko and Miko all working together inside of their stone-walled kitchen, with Futo handling the cooking on the stove due to her ability to control fire, Tojiko working on dessert, and Miko checking her recipe book for something particularly special to make. While she cooked some thin strips of steak in a steel wok, Futo looked somewhat nervous about tonight, which caused her to shake and nearly make some of the meat slip from her wok.

Tojiko glanced back while stirring some strawberries, sugar and lemon juice together in a wooden bowl, saying in a concerned tone "Futo, you feeling ok?" "Q-Quite so, Tojiko…I am calm and focused." Futo says with her teeth clattering together a bit afterwards. With the bowl wrapped in her arms, Tojiko turned around all the way and floated over to Futo, where the nervousness on her body was so clear thanks to the perspiration trickling across her arms. With a disapproving look, Tojiko said "Futo, lying is never going to work on me."

"I-I swear-eth, I am not nervous!" Futo exclaims while jerking her head to look at Tojiko, but the ghost girl's eyelids just narrow further in response, with her briefly sending a jolt of lightning into Futo's body as punishment for her lies. Being shocked causes Futo to jerk the wok up just enough to launch the meat into the air, though thankfully every piece lands back in perfectly. "Now tell the truth, Futo…" Tojiko says in a reprimanding manner before going back to stirring her fruit mixture up. Laying the wok down on the stove and dulling the flame cooking the meat, Futo sighs and turns around, remarking in a objecting manner to Miko after a bow of respect "Crown Prince…Do I really have to go to this dinner?"

With a smile on her face, Miko glances at Futo and says "Futo, it would be quite rude if you didn't show up. But if there's something you're concerned about, I am more than willing to listen so I can help you out." Futo awkwardly glances to the side and remarks in the face of her prince's kindness "I-I am only concerned that we are being led into a trap-eth." "Hohoho! Is that all? Futo, I was the one who offered the dinner be had in the first place…If anyone were to be planning a trap, it would be me, not Hijiri." Miko says in a humored tone while laying one hand against her chest.

"…Now what's really bothering you, Futo?" Miko says slyly, exposing the fact that Futo was hiding a deeper reasoning behind her first concern, something that didn't really take Futo by surprise considering the years she's spent with her Crown Prince. With head hung low and a sigh of melancholy, Futo remarks "I feel as though I am going to be the odd one out-eth. Nobody likes me there, after all-eth…"

"And you know that is all your fault, right?" Tojiko bluntly points out, and Futo puts her sleeves in front of her embarrassed face before saying "I-It's not all my fault! Those Buddhists just are frightened of my experience and might!" Miko gets a laugh out of this, but she quickly looks at her comrade and says "Regardless of whose fault it is, Futo, a peaceful dinner between both parties would certainly be the perfect time to mend any broken bridges with Hijiri and her followers."

"…" Futo lifts her head up past her sleeves and remarks "Are you sure?" "Cross my heart and hope to die…As the saying goes, anyways." Miko remarks while making the proper finger motions in front of her chest while having a smile on her face, followed by Futo reluctantly saying "T-Then I suppose I can give it a try-eth. It will be comforting knowing that you'll be there, Crown Prince."

"That is good to hear…But you know, it won't be a very good dinner if the meat is overcooked." Miko remarks in a humored manner before turning back to her recipe book, while Futo turns around and notices some light smoke coming from the meat, and quickly she turns the meat around with a quick lift of the wok. Once the meat had been saved, Futo focuses back on making the meal, while Miko merrily flips through the recipe book, landing her pointer finger down onto a particular page and saying with a grin "Hmm…This will be perfect for tonight!"

Meanwhile, all the way up in Bhava-agra, we find Kokoro entering the heavenly land in search of Tenshi. To her surprise, she didn't have to go far at all to reach her. The Celestial was currently in the middle of walking to the entrance of Bhava-agra, carrying about four covered, circular items in the palm of her hands that are balanced almost perfectly in two separate stacks. Once Tenshi notices Kokoro, she quickly asks "Hey Kokoro, help me with two of these pies."

Kokoro quickly runs over and floats up off the ground a bit to have an easy time picking up a pie off of each stack, and once on the ground Kokoro cups both pies in her arms and looks up at her friend with a puzzled tilt of the head. "Let me guess…Peach Pies?" Kokoro inquires, and with a single "Pffft" Tenshi rolls her eyes and says "Am I really that predictable, Kokoro? Only TWO of these pies were made with peaches."

Tenshi sounded a little too proud about something that didn't make that much of a difference, logic-wise, and Kokoro quickly hummed out "Ummm…" before Tenshi shook her head and said "Never mind. The other two pies were made with Pecans." Kokoro asked "And you made these pies on your own?"

Tenshi didn't feel like lying to Kokoro in this instance, and after placing one pie atop the other to free up her hand the Celestial rubs the back of her head and admits "Truth be told, I had to ask Iku for help in cooking the pies, since I honestly never cooked anything before. She even brought in some pecans for the pies…" "Well I hope the pies taste good…" Kokoro says as she looks down at the two she held, curiosity urging her to lift one of the cloths up to see how the pie looked, but Tenshi quickly brought her hand down atop the cloth to weigh it down while remarking "Not yet Kokoro, you'll see the results once dinner comes."

Tenshi lifts her hand up and waggles her pointer finger in a berating manner, but Kokoro then says "Tenshi, I really hope you aren't planning a practical joke with these pies…" Rolling her eyes again, the Celestial has a brief laugh before remarking "Kokoro, throwing a pie into someone's face is way too low-key of a prank for someone like me. I'm not going to cause any trouble…But I'm going to try and be witty if there are any quiet moments, alright?"

"…I think we'd be better off with the pie-throwing in that case." Kokoro says dryly, and without feeling insulted Tenshi smiles and remarks "Glad to see you're back to normal now, Kokoro. Well, let's not waste any time around here, let's go down to the temple." "But it's not even noon…" Kokoro remarks with a tilt of her head, to which Tenshi responds by using her free hand to forcibly turn Kokoro around and gently push her towards the entrance of Bhava-agra while remarking "That's plenty of time for me to talk to your mother before dinner!"

"Now you want to talk to mommy?" Kokoro remarks while glancing over her shoulder, and Tenshi shrugs and remarks "Hey, if things worked out perfectly well with your dad, then maybe I'll enjoy talking to your mom, especially now that she's calmed down. I'll pull out the good ol' Tenshi charm." After a few seconds of pause, Kokoro says dryly and quietly "…Maybe you should've made more pies, Tenshi…"

"Did you say something?" Tenshi remarks before she lets go of Kokoro and steps beside her, and Kokoro shakes her head and quickly saves face by mentioning "Lets just get moving…" "Alright then! Just be careful with the pies, I had to put them in mosaic pans for safe-keeping, and if they break I'm going to be in BIG trouble…No pressure as usual, of course." Tenshi then summons a keystone to ride on and falls down through the clouds, with Kokoro remarking in a quiet, disbelieving manner "…You wouldn't be Tenshi otherwise, I guess…" before she falls down after her friend.

While balancing their pies in their hands and arms, Kokoro and Tenshi fly towards the Myouren Temple after descending past the sides of the Youkai Mountain. Once Kokoro flies beside Tenshi, the Celestial lifts her head up and remarks "You know, I wonder what's going to happen to that amanojaku now that you defeated her." "What do you mean?" Kokoro asks while looking at her friend, and Tenshi answers with "Well word is going to spread fast that you defeated Seija, so anyone who lost to her before is going to try and stop her again…By the way, did you end up destroying those strange items of hers?"

"…Strange items?" Kokoro remarks with a tilt of her head. "Yeah, you know…The replica of the gap hag's parasol, a statue, a tiny yellow hammer? …Did she not use those items against you?" Tenshi inquires further, and Kokoro's head shake only puzzles the Celestial greatly. "That doesn't make any sense…But I guess that means she might have lost those items before you fought her. Well, guess the amanojaku's not either of our problems right now, so sorry if I brought her up." Tenshi quickly ends the discussion with a shrug of her shoulders, and Kokor just looks away while lowering her eyebrows a bit in concern towards Seija.

"No items…That makes no sense at all…I get the feeling Kokoro didn't actually fight Seija at this point, but why would the tanuki or that alien-like Youkai deceive Kokoro like that?" Tenshi finds herself deep in thought about this rather suspicious matter, but decided that she would only confront Mamizou or Nue about this once dinner had passed. A few seconds later, the Myouren Temple comes into view, and Tenshi and Kokoro descend towards the entrance.

At the entrance of the temple grounds, the two find a rather rare sight, especially in regards to the context of these stories. Walking towards the temple itself while carrying baskets filled with multiple fruits are two figures. One was a small, mouse-eared Youkai with grey hair, red eyes, and a brownish-black one-piece with pink sleeves and a gray capelet. The other was a tiger-like Youkai with orange-yellow hair complete with black stripes, golden yellow eyes, and a lotus-shaped ornament on her head. On this tiger Youkai's back was a giant cloth circle, and her clothes consisted of an orange/white dress with a tiger pattern around the abdomen along with white, frilly pants under her dress and black shoes on her feet.

Before those two Youkai made it to the staircase, Kokoro goes ahead of Tenshi and lands in front of them, saying in a surprised tone while respectfully bowing towards the tiger Youkai "It's been a while, Shou." The Youkai, Shou Toramaru, says calmly towards Kokoro with a smile on her face "Good morning, Kokoro." Tenshi then lands on the ground beside Kokoro, and after stepping off of her keystone she only had to make a brief glance towards Shou before she bowed forward, laying one hand against her chest while saying "It's a pleasure to meet you, avatar of Bishamonten."

Kokoro, Shou and the mouse Youkai didn't know what was more surprising, the fact that Tenshi was sincere in her respect towards Shou's status or that she could tell that she was an avatar right away. Kokoro thus quickly tugged at Tenshi left sleeve while holding the pies close to her chest before whispering "Tenshi, you don't have to try so hard to be nice…" Tenshi didn't make an effort to hide what Kokoro said as she lifted her head up and remarked "What? I'm not trying hard at all. I know who Bishamonten is, and so I can respect the person who he decided to make his avatar."

"I'm honored by your praise, Celestial…It is your connection to the Hisou no Tsurugi that allows you to identify me as Bishamonten's avatar, correct?" Shou remarks in a humbled tone before asking this question, and Tenshi nods her head in response to affirm the truth. Tenshi then looked at the mouse Youkai and remarked in a somewhat belittling manner "And who's the little mousy here?" With a flustered look on her face, the mouse proclaims "I'm not some lowly Youkai! I'm a chosen disciple of Bishamonten himself! You shall treat me with respect!"

Shou glances at the mouse and says in a firm, reprimanding tone "Nazrin, you will be more respectful towards our guest today." She then turned towards Tenshi and remarked in the same tone "And I would hope that you will not make a habit of causing trouble, Celestial. Regardless of any respect you hold towards me because of my status, I will not have you make things difficult for Lady Hijiri, especially after all she had to deal with yesterday."

Quickly, Shou then looked at Kokoro and said "Speaking of which, I wish to thank you for helping Lady Hijiri through her difficult time. I wanted to do more to help her, but Nazrin could not find the treasure and by extension the amanojaku no matter how hard she tried." "Hmph…" Nazrin says in a bothered tone while puffing her cheeks and looking away. Tenshi says to Shou afterwards "I'm not going to cause any trouble. We'll have a nice dinner without any problems whatsoever. By the way, I hope you are a fan of pies, cause I brought four of the-"

"Oh! I love pies! I haven't had one in forever!" Shou proclaims in a delighted, almost child-like tone with her eyes widening a bit. With everyone looking at her in an awkward manner, Shou quickly composed herself and said after momentarily coughing "Umm…Yes, I suppose I'll have a piece of pie tonight. Anyways, I need to get these baskets to Lady Hijiri, and then take care of a couple more tasks before I can eat. I shall see you two again later…" Shou and Nazrin then walk past Tenshi and Kokoro to ascend the temple stairs.

"We better get these pies to the dining area, speaking of that. I'm honestly getting tired of carrying them around." Tenshi remarks with a sigh, and Kokoro tilts her head before saying "Let me show you to the guest room." While continuing to perfectly carry the pies with them, Tenshi and Kokoro head into the temple, where with Kokoro's guidance they are able to make it to the guest room, where they find Ichirin and Unzan hard at work setting up the table for tonight's dinner.

Unzan was doing all the heavy lifting, of course, and Ichirin had spread out a multitude of patterned pillows for everyone to sit atop of. Tenshi and Kokoro placed their pies down at the end of the table at Ichirin's behest, and then were told that Byakuren was quite busy cooking and wouldn't be available until dinner time when Tenshi asked about whether she could talk to her at the moment. There was a bit of disdain in Ichirin's voice regarding Tenshi's presence, but nothing more than that was brought up regarding the matter.

Saddened by the fact that she couldn't speak with Byakuren, Tenshi reluctantly decided to just sit around in another room with Kokoro and chat until it was time for dinner. During that time, the two of them watch Murasa and Nue carry in some fish that they clearly ended up buying from the Human Village, and considering the two goofballs were being pretty evasive about how the fishing trip at Misty Lake went it was obvious that they really messed up something fierce.

After an hour or so of sitting around, Mamizou shows up with her food, which consisted of a pumpkin spice bread with three types of nuts inside and a large barrel of apple cider being kept warm by insulation inside. Kokoro offered to help carry the cider, but found that her strength wasn't enough to lug it even an inch away, which causes Tenshi to intervene and take the barrel off her hands before the barrel could be broken by accident.

Once Tenshi and Mamizou were done taking the cider and bread into the guest room, Ichirin reveals that everything was all set up, but they still needed to wait a couple of hours to eat, especially since the Taoists hadn't shown up yet. As such, Mamizou decided to go see how Byakuren was handling her dishes, while Tenshi went for a brief walk around the temple grounds to stretch her legs. After Ichirin revealed that Kogasa declined the invite to dinner, Kokoro decided to head to the graveyard to see if maybe she could change her mind.

Sadly, even Kokoro couldn't convince Kogasa to come to dinner, with the living umbrella politely explaining that she would feel incredibly out of place in such a celebratory feast. Kokoro nonetheless offered to bring out some dessert, something Kogasa did not have a problem accepting. After that, Kokoro went back to the temple and waited around for her adopted father and her followers to show up, something that didn't feel like it took long to come to pass as a knock on the front door echoed through the hallways a couple hours later.

Byakuren and Kokoro went together to answer the door, where they find Miko, Tojiko and Futo carrying their own food dishes, though Futo had a majority of them balanced on her plates floating beside her body. Miko had her formal cape on, and with a polite nod of her head she remarked "Forgive me for being a little late. I had to add a finishing touch to my special dish before we could leave." Miko then lifts up a plate covered by a large, silver domed lid and says "Hijiri, would it be ok if I put this in your kitchen until later?"

"Is it not going to be part of dinner?" Byakuren remarks in a surprised tone as she looks down at the plate and tries to guess what's hiding behind the lid, rubbing her chin all the while. "It'll be an after dinner dessert…I made it specifically for this event." "Hmmm…" Byakuren then began to assume that said dessert is going to be something incredibly over-the-top, considering Miko's usual way of handling things, but the Taoist quickly smiled and remarked "Do not worry, I have no intention of upstaging you. So, has everyone arrived?"

Byakuren nodded her head, and merrily Miko said "Excellent! Then we shall have a wondrous, celebratory feast! Are you excited, Kokoro?" Kokoro looked up at her father's earnest smile and with all of her might she tried to move the muscles to make a smile herself, but only manages a light budge before the mask of joy appears beside her. "Y-Yes…I am ready to eat." Kokoro remarks, laying one hand on her growling belly immediately afterwards. "Then you, Futo and Tojiko should tell the others to head to the guest room and seat thyselves. Me and Hijiri shall be there shortly." Miko says after noting the effort Kokoro made to smile on her own.

Miko and Byakuren go for the kitchen, while the other three head straight for the guest room, with Kokoro and Tojiko doing their best to get everyone there while Futo nervously looks around the hallways, not knowing what to say at all in this situation. But she tried to remain calm, especially since there weren't any frightening Buddha statues inside of the building. It doesn't take very long for everyone to be brought to the guest room, where the table can now be seen covered with a white cloth, and utensils were spread out in front of every possible seat in an organized manner. For added atmosphere, Ichirin and Unzan had set up a glass window in the ceiling that allowed the residents to gaze up at the stars or sunny sky while eating.

Everyone then sat down around the table, and from the top of the right side clockwise to the top of the left the order of people sitting was Mamizou, Ichirin, Murasa, Kokoro, Tenshi, Tojiko, Nue, Kyouko, Futo, Nazrin and Shou, with two empty seats left at the end for Byakuren and Miko to sit across from one another once they got there. All the food had been set up, and there was a candle lit in the center of the table with a wreath surrounding it, a gift courtesy of Mamizou. The scent of a lotus flower filled the air, relaxing everyone to the point that they were able to resist going at the food prematurely.

A few seconds later, Byakuren and Miko enter the room and seat themselves in the last available spots, kneeling down before looking at one another as Byakuren asks quietly "So what shall we do about our pre-dinner prayers?" Miko suggests politely "I would not want to impede on that…So how about we all use our thoughts to pray? The divine presences in the afterlife will hear us regardless of how we go about this." Byakuren found herself agreeing with the idea, and with a nod of her head she and Miko then turned towards everyone gathered.

"All right everyone, it's time to pray. Raise your hands up in front of your chest and think out your prayers, and then we can eat." Byakuren says, and in near-unison everyone raises their hands up in prayer. The Buddhist priests, her followers, Tenshi and Kokoro shared the same prayer, while Miko, Futo and Tojiko did their own. Mamizou was the odd one out, as she had a prayer of her own to give that was related to neither Buddhism or Taoism. But nevertheless, once everyone was done with their prayers, Byakuren and Miko stated happily "Let us enjoy a wonderful feast!"

With that, the scramble for food began for all parties involved. There was many options to choose from, like the fruit and leek salads from Byakuren, the pies from Tenshi, the not-freshly caught fish Murasa and Nue brought and cooked, the bread Mamizou made, the stir-fry Futo created, and the tart strawberry pie Tojiko put together. Each plate on the table was surrounded by the proper silverware and cloths, and there was a cup of Mamizou's hot apple cider in front of each plate. The tanuki kept the barrel of cider open behind her, and would pass out more servings of cider if necessary with the help of the wooden ladle she had on her lap.

Once everyone had food on their plates they began to eat, though the act of it was done rather quietly. Besides Tenshi/Kokoro and Byakuren/Miko, no one was really trying to converse with one another, even those of the same religion didn't want to speak to each other. Byakuren glanced at Miko and remarked quietly "We should have seen this coming…" Miko lays one finger against her lips and says "We did, but it's not our right to force them to converse. We can only intervene if things get out of hand. Just observe and let them open up on their own."

"As expected, more wisdom from the mind of the great Crown Prince." Mamizou says while taking a sip of her cider cup, and Miko glanced at her and said "I hope you are enjoying the food, tanuki." Mamizou lowered her cider and said "I have not taken part in a banquet in quite a long time. The variety of foods is quite good, and the choices reflect upon the nature of the people who made it. Would you like to hear me talk about this for a bit?" Byakuren and Miko, showing interest in this subject, both nodded their heads. Mamizou then picked up the stir-fried steak from her plate with a fork and said "Let's start with this one then…"

While the three elders had a discussion about foods and natures, Tenshi could be seen chewing a barely fitting amount of the stir-fry in her mouth, some of the juices leaking down onto her chin as she seemed to be in a state of bliss. "Mmm…It's a bit spicy, but the flavor is really good…" Her voice was muffled by the amount of food in her mouth that wasn't yet swallowed, and as Kokoro can be seen rapidly chowing down on the food on her plate she remarks dryly but in an equally muffled tone "I didn't know you were a connoisseur, Tenshi…"

Tenshi glances aside at Kokoro while wiping her chin off, saying to her "And I didn't know you were such a gourmet. You're stuffing that food down like a hungry puppy…" As Kokoro uses her utensils to pile in a large serving of Byakuren's fruit salad into her mouth, she remarks "I haven't eaten since yesterday morning…" "Geez, seriously? You're never going to grow-up if you neglect to eat so often, Kokoro…" Tenshi says, playfully patting Kokoro atop her head even though the menreiki seemed a bit annoyed at the remark regarding her size.

After backing her arm away, Tenshi then looked to the right and gestured her fork out with a piece of steak on the prongs while mentioning "Hey, Futo was it? I get the feeling you made this stir-fry, so I just want to say it's pretty amazing!" Futo quickly paid attention to what Tenshi said, then shifted her glance back down to her plate while twitching a bit in nervousness. Tenshi lifted her eyebrows out and then ate the piece of steak, saying in the midst of chewing "Boy, that shikaisen acts more awkwardly than you do sometimes, Kokoro." Kokoro was too busy eating to respond to that.

With Futo, she was busy awkwardly glancing around at everyone in the room, having not even touched a single piece of food on her plate due to the pressure of the situation. She tried to steadily breathe in and out, listening to the words of her Crown Prince so she would not ruin things for her sake. "Relax-eth, Futo…You can do this…You can strike up a conversation with someone…" Futo thinks to herself before looking to the right of her. She found Kyouko merrily lifting her cider glass up with a blush in her cheeks, and she appeared to be trying to speak with the menreiki.

Futo then looked ahead of her and saw Murasa, but shivered in fear because of the Youkai's ability to control water being a natural enemy of her ability to use fire. With the commotion in the room, Futo would have to be quite loud to speak to anyone not right next to or in front of her, and thus that limited the options quite immensely. Right as Futo was to look at her left to see what she could do, she found a fork gripped by a tail plucking a piece of Mamizou's bread from her plate.

Futo then glanced to the left all the way and saw the culprit, Nazrin, lifting the bread towards her mouth and taking a bite from it without hesitation. Annoyed by this, Futo's face turned a brief shade of red before she awkwardly stated "G-Give that back, you little mouse!" As Nazrin happily chews away at the bread with her eyelids shut, she remarks "You weren't eating it, so why let it go to waste? If you want another slice so badly, just pull one from the table and quit whining."

"You will be wise-eth to address me with more respect. I am the Crown Prince's most trusted confidant!" Futo proclaims, but Nazrin lifts one eyelid up and says "So what? I'm Bishamonten's most trusted disciple, and thus makes me far more important than your little claim can ever hope to be." "Ha! The Crown Prince is far more important than some make-believe god!" Futo proclaims arrogantly, but Nazrin quickly smirks and says "That's funny, I recall your Crown Prince requiring Bishamonten's help at one point. And who did she use Bishamonten against? Perhaps my memories are escaping me, but I think it was the Mononobe clan…"

Nazrin knew the right buttons to hit, and Futo was quite peeved at that point to be reminded of such an event by some little mouse. But before the battle of egos could escalate any further, Shou quickly turned towards the two with cider in hand and with a firm glare on her face said "Nazrin, behave yourself, do not try and incite the Taoist." Nazrin quickly crumbled under Shou's authority, looking rather meek in turn before she focused back on her plate and dumps the rest of Futo's bread slice back onto her plate.

Futo then blinks a few times and looks at Nazrin, who appeared to be grumbling a bit to herself in annoyance. With an assumption guiding her, Futo inquired "You do not really want to be here-eth, do you?" Nazrin said quietly in response "I'm only here because Shou is…" Futo grinned and said "It seems we share a common problem then. I'm only here because my Crown Prince asked me to, after all."

"…Then what would you be doing if you didn't come here?" Nazrin inquires after a moment of hesitantly glancing at the Taoist. "Hah, I'd probably be relaxing in the Mausoleum." Futo remarks, and Nazrin says bluntly in turn "That sounds rather boring." "Oh? And just what would you be doing that would be so fun, lowly Youkai?" Futo says with a smirk, putting in a quick remark towards the mouse's status in the process.

"I'd be out hunting for treasure, of course." Nazrin says with the utmost nonchalance, which leads to Futo raising her eyebrows in intrigue before stating "Ah, you're a treasure hunter? Fufufu, and do you actually find anything worthwhile during your hunts?" "Of course I do, I'm the best treasure hunter this side of Gensokyo." Nazrin states, having a haughty air around her as she does so, but Futo matches her egotistical behavior by claiming "Ha! My power to manipulate the feng shui of an area means that I could gather more treasures than you could ever manage."

"Is that so?" Nazrin sounded rather unimpressed by the boast as she took a sip of her apple cider, and quickly Futo remarked "If you would like me to prove-eth you wrong, then I would suggest a challenge to settle this matter-eth." "Perhaps in a few days then…" Nazrin remarks before turning and holding her hand out so the two of them could agree on the challenge honorably. Futo grabs onto her hand and shakes, and with a sly smirk she says "You will soon remember the name of Mononobe no Futo, for she is the one who will defeat you in this treasure hunt, little mouse."

"And when I'm done showing you how wrong you are, you'll learn some respect towards your superior, Nazrin." Nazrin says with the utmost smugness on her face. With Futo now looking forward to something, she is able to go on eating and enjoying her dinner. Tojiko had observed the conversation unfold while in the midst of her meal and remarked afterwards "It's nice to see that Futo is enjoying herself…Though it seems she found someone with an ego just as big as hers."

"Eh, Nazrin's ego deflates pretty quickly if you are firm with her or prove her wrong. So long as Futo wins their treasure hunting duel, it'll be fine." Nue remarks, and Tojiko lays one hand against her chin and says in a worried tone "But then that means Futo will be bragging for days on end…Is there really a winner here, as far as the rest of us are concerned?" "Well I'm pretty sure your Crown Prince will keep Futo in line, right?" Nue points out in an unconcerned tone of voice.

"Yes, yes I suppose she will probably have to…" Tojiko says as though it was inevitable and sighs. Nue, a few seconds after that conversation ends, decides to bring up a different subject by saying to Tojiko "Say, you're a ghost, right? Like a true-blue wandering spirit?" Tojiko says while looking down at the food she was eating "Why yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

Nue smiled mischievously and leaned herself back a bit before mentioning "I was just thinking…I'm considered an alien, you're a ghost…If I could find a vampire, a zombie, and a werewolf, then maybe I could set up a haunted house in the human village to have fun spooking the humans during Halloween. Whatcha say? Would you be interested in taking part in this little escapade?" Tojiko looks at Nue with disinterest on her face before remarking "Can't say I am, really. Though if you need a zombie, I know someone who has one in their possession."

"Awww, really? But a ghost is a classic haunted house cliché. Without someone like you the whole thing would just not be as good. Could you at least consider my offer a little more?" Nue pleads with an honest pressing of her hands in front of her body, and after being surprised by the Youkai's determination to get her on her side Tojiko smiles and remarks "You will be persistent unless I say yes, won't you? You silly little nue…"

Nue quickly and enthusiastically nods, and Tojiko then says to her after finding humor in her determination "Verily well…If you can manage to recruit the vampire, werewolf and zombie to your cause, then I will offer my services to you as well." "Heh, I'm holding you to that promise, Taoist." Nue says with a gesture of her pointer finger at Tojiko, and with her mission accomplished for the time being Nue goes back to eating while Tojiko takes a sip of her tea and quietly remarks "Hmmm…That should keep her busy for a few months…"

Meanwhile, Ichirin and Murasa could be seen having a good time together, with the two laying one arm on the other's back and clinging their cider cups together before they pull back and sip into it. Both of them had blushes on their faces from the warmth of the cider, and even Unzan could be seen drinking cider behind Ichirin. After Ichirin places her cup down, she sighs and says in a blissful tone "Following the teachings of the Buddha is nice…But unwinding every now and then feels just as great."

Murasa grabs her hat by the front and lifts it up, remarking in response to Ichirin "I'll lift my hat to that one, Ichirin! Everyone brought their A-game for this dinner. The salads are great with the meats, Mamizou made amazing bread and cider, and the pies are fantastic…I'm going to be seeing my bloated mid-riff for quite a while after tonight, and I just don't care!" Murasa then drops her cider cup and immediately swipes up a piece of Tojiko's pie, taking a deep bite that leaves her feeling a sour tingle through her taste buds before she can swallow it down.

Ichirin smiles and says "You know Murasa, I saw you brought some fish in for tonight's dinner. How did things go at Misty Lake?" Murasa quickly and awkwardly remarks while waving one hand in front of her face "There's no need to talk about that, really." Ichirin quickly deduces why Murasa is acting so awkward and remarks "You didn't end up catching anything, did you?"

Murasa hangs her head in shame and says "I can't hide anything from you, can I?" "And those fish you brought in were bought in the Human Village, weren't they?" Ichirin just figures things out further, and Murasa quietly remarks "…I-It was a really horrible time down at the lake…Nue and I got defeated by a mermaid in a danmaku duel when we tried to go fishing, and both of us ended up soaking wet since the duel caused our boat to capsize. Then we had to hide our identities in the Human Village in order to purchase fish, but the smell of salt water on our bodies nearly got us mauled by a couple of cats…"

"…But hey! At least you did manage to bring some fish here!" Ichirin tries to look on the brighter side of things before she goes and takes a bite from the cooked fish on her plate, and Murasa says to her right away as she lifts her head up "That's what you choose to take away from all that?" Ichirin nods her head while humming in delight over the taste of the fish, and in appreciation Murasa takes one hand and places it on Ichirin's left shoulder while remarking "Thanks a lot Ichirin…It's nice to have a friend that won't go rubbing something embarrassing in my face."

"You're quite welcome, Murasa." Ichirin says honestly, and the two of them quickly take up their cider cups and cling them together before Murasa remarks "A toast to my friend Kumoi Ichirin!" "And a toast to my comrade Minamitsu Murasa!" Ichirin follows suit with the toast before the two of them down the rest of the cider in their cups in a single swallow.

As they do this, we find Mamizou reaching an end to her little conversation with Miko and Byakuren. "And that is why Tenshi chose to bring pies to this dinner." Was the last thing she said before Miko raised her hands and clapped, saying in a complimenting tone "If there is one I consider an equal in wisdom, it is most certainly Mrs. Futatsuiwa from Sado." "Your praise is welcomed but unnecessary, Crown Prince, I just said what was on my mind…" Mamizou humbly remarks before a tug on the sleeve by Ichirin has her turning to pour more cider into hers and Murasa's cups.

Byakuren, meanwhile, took some time to look at how the dinner was going for everyone else. Now the participants were bustling with conversation between one another, and no one seemed to be causing even the slightest bit of trouble. "To think this would work out this well…" Byakuren remarks happily with a warm feeling in her cheeks, which causes her to end up remarking to Mamizou "By the way…You didn't put anything alcoholic in this cider, right?"

Mamizou looks at her and admits right away "Of course not. Kokoro should not be getting drunk at such a young age, and I wouldn't want to deny her the right to have this drink. No, I think the reason everyone feels so warm is because they are feeling very happy tonight." Miko then glances at Byakuren and asks "Are you enjoying yourself, Hijiri?" Byakuren drinks some of her cider and admits honestly "I am quite happy with everything…But doesn't it feel like we're ignoring Kokoro quite a bit considering it's a celebration for her?"

Miko says to her right away "While it's true that this is meant for Kokoro, it appears as though Kokoro is really enjoying herself without us having to get involved. Besides, there is still the matter of my special dish…" Miko then looks up towards the window, and Byakuren and Mamizou follow as the Crown Prince says to them "Even the night sky reflects the tranquility of this dinner…The stars are bright, the night is young, and the moon is full and a nice shade of red…"

It takes a moment for Miko to register what she had just said, and when she does she looks at Byakuren in a puzzled manner. Mamizou says quietly to herself "…This does not bode well." Before either Miko or Byakuren could comment on this matter, the temple rumbles as the sound of a blast going off outside can be heard. This causes everyone else to stop what they were currently doing, with Futo and Kyouko falling onto their backs a moment later. Byakuren braces herself and remarks while glancing towards the north end of the room "Don't tell me we're under attack again…"

The answer would become clear soon enough as a familiar voice can be heard from the outside "Denizens of this temple! I demand you bring out the menreiki, Hata no Kokoro!" Tenshi's eyes widen before she turns to Kokoro, who remarked quietly "Isn't that Remi-" Tenshi quickly places one hand over Kokoro's mouth to stop her before whispering into her ear "Kokoro, be quiet, and maybe they won't try anything else…"

Byakuren and Miko rise to their feet and give a nod at each other before they turn to their guests, with Byakuren remarking "Stay here, we're going to see what's going on outside." The two of them quickly dash for the entrance of the temple, and Ichirin looks at Unzan and remarks "Unzan, let's go help Lady Byakuren!" Ichirin then goes after Byakuren without hesitation, and the rest of her loyal followers join one after the other. Futo and Tojiko do the same, and Mamizou sighs before admitting "They are definitely going to need my help on this one…" She then got up and left the room as well, and by this point Tenshi begrudgingly grits her teeth and says "Ok never mind, I guess I'm going to have to get involved as well. Kokoro, let's go!"

Tenshi rises to her feet and readies her Hisou no Tsurugi by swinging her right arm out, and Kokoro nods her head before getting up and making a spring for the front door of the temple. Once there, they find everyone gathered at the top of the steps, with Tenshi quickly placing herself in front of Kokoro at the back of the group once she notices what was going on.

Gathered at the gateway of the Myouren Temple were all the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion sans Flandre. Meiling was on the ground holding a fist in a cupped hand and looking rather serious with some Fairy Maids flying behind her. In the air was Sakuya and Patchouli, with Patchouli being joined by Koakuma to the left of her. There were many more Fairy Maids in the air behind the two of them acting like a small army. And naturally, at the center of this gathering was the famed mistress of the mansion Remilia Scarlet, who flapped her vampiric wings slowly while holding her fingertips together in front of her chest. With a sly smile on her face, Remilia said to all those gathered "Fufufu…Greetings, Youkai and Humans alike…Now then, I do believe you have something that belongs to me, and as the Eternal Mistress of the Night I demand you give her back to me or pay the price."

Next Time: Protect One's Freedom