/-/Content Warning: mild gore/-/

(Notes: Phew... I really like how this chapter turned out. I'm really, really proud of it. It might be one of my favourites in the whole story.)

x

gasp. gasp. GASP.

Air suddenly filled Yukari's recently crushed body as she was flung to the ground, gasping and coughing desperately for air. She was barely conscious, but the light of the room and the deafening sound she could swear she had heard brought cognition rushing back into her head.

She clutched at the tatami flooring, letting feeling return to her hands and struggling back onto her knees. She continued to cough, wheeze and splutter blood from her damaged insides onto the mats. Her whole body felt broken, some of her bones definitely didn't feel all there, but either through sheer force of will or simply because she had sustained less damage than she thought, she was able to move. She wiped her mouth with her wrist and darted her out of focus eyes around the room for what had happened.

There were shards of wood, shreds of plaster all over the ground near her. Suika was pinned against the opposite wall. It looked like she had been blasted across the room by... some kind of... bandaged arm.

"YUKARI!" bellowed a powerful voice from behind the wall.

Yukari turned to look, to see that all the shrine's walls from the outside to the main room had been completely blown through - and the perpetrator looked furious.

"K-Kasen...?" Yukari managed to croak, her throat still gasping for air as she scrambled to her feet. Her legs, at least, still worked. Youmu looked stunned from shock. Her sword had been knocked across the room and wedged into the flooring by the force of Kasen's artificial arm, which was still leaking a black smoke as it gripped Suika against the wall.

"Don't just stand there!" Kasen commanded as she flew at breakneck speed into the room, crashing into the still subdued Suika with her other fist. "Get away! Now!"

Yuyuko, finally comprehending the chaos of the last few seconds, dropped her vacant expression. She scowled at Kasen, then at Yukari as an intensifying and thick miasma of death emanated from her ghastly form. "What's going on, Yukarin? Is this your doing? Have you made yet another mistake?"

"Get away from her." Kasen urged Yukari again as she retrieved her arm from Suika and held her down by force instead. "Don't forget how dangerous her power is!" She then whistled loudly into her free hand and yelled "Mukou!", after which a small bolt of electricity jolted into the room and knocked the ghost princess off her feet before she could react.

"Wh-what is this...? S-stop... Y-Yukari..." Yuyuko limped weakly towards Yukari, perplexed, as the jolt of lightning perched comfortably atop Kasen's shoulder.

Mukou, Kasen's companion, was a raijuu; a mammal so rare that it is considered a cryptid in the Outside World. This raijuu, in particular, was a small rodent-like creature with a body that could manipulate electricity. It had diminished the energies and abilities in Yuyuko's body, leaving her lethargic.

Yukari, finally through the worst of her coughing fit and getting some air back, sighed in strained relief and limped towards the hole in the wall. Yuyuko's ability was absolute manipulation of death - if she had wanted to kill Yukari so desperately, she likely would have done so by now if Mukou hadn't debilitated her.

"Th-thank you, Kasen." Yukari wheezed, her hand over her chest, feeling for her heartbeat. Thump thump. Thump thump. There it was. A youkai's animal organ.

She was alive.

"Yukari, seriously!" Kasen yelled again, darting towards the blonde youkai and grabbing her forcefully by the upper arm just barely in time to tug her out of the way of a swipe of Youmu's sword. "If there was any time you needed to be awake, it's now!"

"Forgive me." Yukari limply hurried behind Kasen, who was dragging Yukari towards a young dragon perched in the shrine courtyard. "I haven't eaten in... how long have I been gone?"

"Months." Kasen quickly replied.

"...Months!?" Yukari's shaky voice was able to yell. "Kasen, do you have any idea what's goi-" she stopped short, as an icy, soothing hand gripped her wrist from behind.

"Y-Yukari...!" Yuyuko clung tight to Yukari's wrist as Kasen tried to flee the shrine with her. "Please! Please, Yukari, d-don't go!"

Yukari bit her lip as Yuyuko's voice effortlessly cut to her heart. Against her better judgement, she turned to see Yuyuko's beautiful, agonised eyes and wobbly mouth, both her hands gripping Yukari's as if her life depended on it.

"Y-Yuyuko... I-I..." Yukari muttered, finding it difficult to maintain her composure as Yuyuko's heartbroken expression forced up memories of their happiest and hardest times together.

"YU-KA-RI!" Kasen shouted irritably again in Yukari's ear. "For goodness sake! Don't be a fool, you know you can't trust her as she is now! Kanda!" she called for her eagle companion, who swooped in and batted sharp talons at Yuyuko to pressure her to let go of Yukari's hand.

Kasen's voice was certainly powerful - Yukari had forgotten just how frighteningly powerful a presence the usually well-mannered wannabe hermit could present when she wanted to. The blonde youkai hesitantly tugged away from Yuyuko's pleading grip and held tighter onto Kasen.

"N-NO!" Yuyuko screamed. "NO, NO NO NO!" tears streamed down her cheeks as she struggled to hold on amid the eagle's swipes. "Yukari! Yukari don't leave me, y-you can't leave me alone again! D-don't you dare! I'm s-so worried about you...! So lonely without y-you...!"

Yukari refused to look back, hiding her own tear-soaked face as her hand finally slipped free of Yuyuko's chilling grip. "You and Youmu need to work a little on hospitality... maybe I'll come back someday if you can do that for me, hm?" she chuckled weakly to herself, though her attempts at laughter were smothered in choked whimpers.

Kasen hoisted Yukari onto her dragon, Koutei, and gave the beast a gentle tap on the side of his neck.

"NO! D-don't! Don't go! NOOOOO!" Yuyuko's cracked voice screamed out, shaking fists clenched by her sides, as the dragon began to take off, taking her best friend away from her. Due to the raijuu's poison, Yuyuko was unable to fly after them.

Finally feeling a safe distance away, Yukari turned to look towards Yuyuko and Hakugyokurou. Yuyuko had collapsed to her knees, her face buried in her hands, wailing in mourning as Youmu focused on attending to her master rather than chasing after them. Suika hadn't moved, remaining unconscious from the force of Kasen's attacks.

Suika still loved a brawl. Youmu still loved her master. Yuyuko... still loved her best friend.

Yukari shook her head... she had no idea what the hell had happened at that ghost shrine, but somewhere, deep down, these were still the women she knew so well.

Yukari wistfully stared at her mourning friend, and in a brief moment their eyes locked from across the courtyard.

"Yuyuko! I love you, I promise!" Yukari called out, her weak voice still cracking. "I always have, I always will. Please, trust me!"

Yuyuko didn't say anything, merely nodding meekly as tears streamed down her bright pink cheeks, her caring gardener holding her lovingly. While uncertainty and fear still gripped Yukari's guts, a distant feeling of warmth made Yukari wonder if there really was much difference at all between ghost youkai and living humans.

'I'll help you, I'll help Gensokyo, because that's the purpose of my existence. Passion for youkai is the reason I'm a youkai at all.'

"I know you're weakened, but don't fall off." Kasen instructed, as Koutei soared away from the Netherworld. "I'm taking you to my home, for now. None of them know where it is."

Now that things had calmed down and Yukari's cognition was improving, she took another look at Kasen. While she still wore a flowing Chinese dress, her pink hair had grown much longer and wilder, fading into a fiery orange at the ends. Of course, the most notable differences were those large, intimidating horns protruding from her head - much too big to hide anymore, it seemed.

"I don't suppose you spend much time at Hakurei Shrine anymore." Yukari chuckled to herself, remembering how eager Kasen was to hide her identity as an oni from Reimu and Marisa.

Kasen turned back towards her with a sheepish smile. "You've still got that dull sense of humour, I see." but she had to double take, noticing that Yukari's head was suddenly laid limply against her back.

"Dammit." she slowed Koutei slightly and quickly checked Yukari's body for a pulse - but she had merely fallen unconscious - likely from exhaustion or the considerable damage to her body.

Kasen sighed in relief, and continued on home.

When Yukari regained consciousness, she was laid in a rather impressive looking room. Kasen was sat next to the futon, mixing something in a bowl with a pestle.

"Are you going to try and kill me too?" Yukari weakly grinned as she forced herself to sit up.

"I'm glad you're conscious." Kasen smiled in relief. "There's a lot to talk about, and I fear we're running out of time. Quick, drink this." she handed Yukari the bowl - it stunk something awful.

Yukari raised an eyebrow at Kasen, to which the oni chuckled to herself before explaining. "It's a panacea from Eientei Pharmacy. It should help your strength to restore a little faster, as well as counteract the poison they were giving you at Hakugyokurou."

"...Poison." Yukari looked at her frail hands, clenching a few times to check her motor skills.

Kasen raised an eyebrow in concern. "You didn't lose your gap abilities through natural causes, Yukari. Yuyuko was somehow poisoning you with a medicine that causes insomnia, to make it harder for you to escape."

"Insomnia? But that doesn't..."

"Yeah, it doesn't make sense." Kasen frowned. "But medicine that causes insomnia was the medicine Suika and Youmu had been taking from Eientei, I confirmed as much with Eirin."

The blonde youkai's eyes lidded wistfully, her heart still aching for answers. "I just don't understand... that wasn't the Yuyuko I've known for centuries. The Yuyuko I knew despised and resented death more than almost anything. Death was her curse, she would never, ever speak of it so lightly."

Kasen watched Yukari speak with passion about her friend and smiled sadly. Kasen stared up at the ceiling. "I could say the same for Suika... sure I don't get along with her that well, but from one oni to another... she would never do something so dishonourable as try to kill someone unfairly. It's just not in us to do that."

"So this putrid liquid isn't going to kill me." Yukari grinned at Kasen, who sighed irritably.

"I can't afford for you to die, Yukari... As a sage of Gensokyo, the problems plaguing this land are myriad and great, that's why I saved you. Drink, and I will explain everything."

Holding the bowl in her hand, Yukari frowned. She did dearly wish to have her abilities back... maybe then she'd finally feel more youkai again. Not so vulnerable. Not so... human. She scrunched her eyes shut and downed the putrid liquid in one gulp.

Colour returned to her cheeks, she could feel her insides rearranging themselves in a way that would have made her throw up if it wasn't so mysteriously satisfying. Within moments, Yukari pinched the air neck to her and made a gap.

"If you leave, you'll regret it." Kasen frowned.

Yukari winked and dipped her hand into the gap, then shoved her other arm and head in there too, before pulling back out again and fanning herself mischievously. "I merely wished to get my hand fan back, and ruffle my dear ghost friend's soft pink hair." Yukari chuckled, as she plopped a few of the rice snacks she had just stolen from Yuyuko into her mouth. Payback.

"Honestly..." Kasen shook her head and rubbed her temple. "You're going to give me a migraine. Were you always this immature?"

"Enough." Yukari flicked her hand dismissively towards Kasen, closing her gap dexterously with her other hand. Finally. Finally she felt a little more like herself again. A youkai. "You said we were short on time and I believe you. Explain." she expertly avoided Kasen's question on her maturity.

"Right, right." Kasen sighed. She sat next to Yukari on the futon and stared her earnestly in the eyes. "First, I should explain that yes, you had been trapped inside Hakugyokurou for months. It's been... around a year now, since you woke up."

Yukari gripped her knees under the bed sheets. Her concept of time had been significantly blurred and undermined. "I had only been given two, maybe three meals while I was in that room. Breakfast, lunch, I don't know if I ever got dinner. You mean to tell me that was not a single day, but in fact several months?"

"I don't know anything about what happened to you in that room." Kasen frowned with concern. "But yes, I had Kanda keep tabs on you at Hakugyokurou - and one day you suddenly stopped going outside. That was around the time Aya stopped seeing you outside awaiting the newspaper too.

We had initially hypothesised you had holed yourself up in a room, studying the incident currently gripping Gensokyo, but a little reconnaissance from my animals made it evident that there was some kind of barrier around the shrine's main living room. Anyway, that's that."

Yukari nodded slowly, as she digested the disconnect between time as she experienced it and reality. Once again. This was becoming a recurring theme. "And why did you, of all people, choose to save me?"

Kasen grinned as if to say 'why, should I take you back?' before continuing. "It's not that complicated. When a sage who has been asleep for a long time suddenly comes back, I want to keep an eye on her. Especially when Gensokyo is as... volatile, as it is right now."

"Volatile." Yukari put her fan to her chin in thought. "Yes, no one has given me a straight answer on anything since I woke up. I don't suppose you can?"

"I can." Kasen nodded. "Since Reimu died, the mourning of youkai began to have some... unforeseen consequences. Without the beloved human that most youkai associated humans as a species with, youkai began to revert to more animalistic and monstrous forms."

"I see..." Yukari's eyes lit up in realisation. Aya's wings. Suika's claws. Yuyuko's miasma. Kasen's horns. It all made sense. "So that's why... how fascinating. Youkai truly are incredible creatures!"

"Yes." Kasen continued. "I'm afraid it's quite serious, though. Marisa's death merely exacerbated this and many youkai began to exhibit levels of violence not seen in centuries. Many humans in the village have been... killed."

"No... That can't be possible. Why wouldn't Kanako have told me about this?"

"She put your right to mourn before Gensokyo in that moment, I suppose." Kasen smiled weakly. "Besides, how was she to know you would be kidnapped?"

Yukari clutched her fan, biting her lip as sweat beaded on her face. "If youkai kill too many humans, then the balance of Gensokyo will... what are the shrine maidens doing about this!?"

"What they can." Kasen guiltily avoided eye-contact with Yukari. "Sanae didn't want Reimu's successor to face the same pressures and loneliness that Reimu had suffered as a young girl, so she had been trying to persuade the young girl that everything is fine, that everything is normal. Things... have only gotten worse since you woke up, though."

"You mean like what's been going on with Tenshi?" Yukari asked, remembering the incident the her friends were supposed to be looking into.

"Y-yes... That split in time Tenshi has experienced..." Kasen breathed in sharply through her teeth, evidently stressed.

"Tell me." Yukari ordered, anxiety welling up inside her. "What have I missed."

Kasen's eyes flickered, she struggled to look the blonde youkai in the eyes. "R-Reimu's successor has... disappeared. No one can find her."

"Wh... WHAT!?" Yukari howled, shooting up to a stand on the futon and clenching Kasen's top in her fists threateningly. "How could you let this happen!? How could Sanae!? She's a god!"

"If I knew any of that, I would have solved this incident by myself." Kasen bitterly retorted, scowling up at Yukari. "One day she was training with Sanae like always, and Tenshi made one of her regular visits. Nothing strange there, right?"

Yukari nodded, eyes still alight with fury as she stared down Kasen.

"But before Sanae could even react, Tenshi suddenly grips her head and lets out a blood-curdling scream, completely shattering the earth around Hakurei Shrine. When the dust had settled, the shrine was untouched... but its shrine maiden was gone."

The blonde youkai's eyes widened in fear. She let go of Kasen, who slumped back down onto the futon and brushed down her clothes. Kasen went on. "Tenshi continues to reappear at Hakurei Shrine, increasingly violent. And when I say reappear, I mean reappear. Like some kind of apparition who has fallen out of reality. Attempts to follow her home end in failure, because she just vanishes. On top of that, no one can find the Hakurei girl, no one can find Shion. It's like they've both phased out of existence."

"Who's watching Hakurei Shrine now? Sanae?" Yukari asked, her eyes now aflame with something between fascination and dread. Something more like... awe.

"If only. For now it's just myself, Aunn, and occasionally Moriya Shrine's senior gods. No humans dare to go near there anymore." Kasen laughed awkwardly. "We thought Sanae was okay at first, but she's been bedridden with grief ever since her apprentice vanished. She seems to become more and more sick the more time passes with no hope or answers."

Kasen shot Yukari a saddened look, "She's completely heartbroken... not only was that girl one of the only things Reimu left behind in this world, but she's everything to Sanae. She's Sanae's pride and joy."

Yukari mirrored Kasen's sorrowful expression. She could hardly blame Sanae, after how she had been herself in recent months.

"But that's just half of it." Kasen went on. "The intensity of Sanae's grief is almost... supernatural. She has night terrors and wakes saying she saw her protege die right in her arms, or remembers things that haven't even happened like Reimu still being alive. It's as if time is split in two for her."

"Isn't that..." Yukari clutched her elbow in realisation.

"Yes, it's like what Tenshi has been experiencing. Almost as if the shock of Tenshi's attack and the girl's disappearance infected her with something."

"So who is working on this?" Yukari tried to stay calm, but was anxiously running her fingers along her elbow and pacing back and forth.

"Only myself and a few trustworthy gods. Many youkai have become too unreliable since Reimu died. I think I'm only okay because I'm a sage, ultimately Gensokyo's existence is something I'm passionate about. It helps keep me focused."

"I-I see..." Yukari nodded and breathed in deeply, trying to process everything she was hearing. "You make it sound as if Gensokyo has been falling apart since Reimu died."

Kasen turned away and grimaced, clutching her fist to her chest. "Haha... It really does seem like it, doesn't it?" her voice cracked slightly. She moved towards the room's door. "Anyway... I don't mind giving you refuge here. The hermit realm is difficult to find for most normal humans and youkai so your friends shouldn't be able to find you. You can safely rest and prepare." she paused. "That said, this doesn't mean we'll be working together on the incident."

"I know." Yukari smiled weakly at the oni. "Thank you, Kasen. Even if I've been completely undermined since I woke up, saving that young shrine maiden is one thing I won't let anything stop me from doing.

The Hakurei Shrine... and Reimu's legacy... are two of my greatest treasures."

Kasen looked back at Yukari and smiled wistfully. "You know... you're much harder to hate when you're actually passionate about things like this."

Yukari almost grinned herself, but frowned as she took another look at Kasen's fearsome mane and horns from the back. "Incidentally, Kasen... Hakurei Shrine has been lacking my protection all these years, and Ran's power grew weaker and weaker... yet, you never acted upon it. Didn't you always say you wanted more influence over that place yourself? Isn't that a little suspicious?"

Kasen turned to face Yukari, raising an eyebrow as if Yukari had said something ridiculous. "What? Ran's power was weakening? This is the first I've heard of that." she chuckled to herself. "The whole time you were asleep, Ran filled your role for you perfectly - as she always did whenever you slept for long periods of time before."

"Wh-what?" Yukari held her chin in her hand in bewilderment, thinking deeply. "B-but she... died. Her power became depleted the moment I woke up."

"You've trusted her to be an avatar of your will for centuries at a time before, why would this time be any different?" Kasen frowned at Yukari with pity. "75 years isn't long. I know you're still in mourning, but figuring out that something else caused Ran's death should be common sense, Yukari."

Yukari was dumb-founded. Her eyes widened and her jaw hung agape as Kasen's simple logic completely undermined months of emotional shock at Ran's 'death'. How... just how could Yukari have been so convinced by a false truth for so long? What the hell was going on!?

While Yukari stood there, Kasen spun around and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Listen... I took the liberty of bringing you some clean clothes, there's hot food and a bath already prepared... just... rest up." she edged her way out of the door. "Take as much time as you need to get ready. I can't protect you forever, but I can at least stand watch for a while and make sure we weren't followed."

Yukari didn't say anything, still fixed on the spot in shock. She slowly nodded and smiled weakly at Kasen, who took the signal to leave Yukari in peace for a few hours.

Kasen's mansion was certainly a relaxing place. It was large and clean, and there was radiant plant-life everywhere. It was always hard to believe such a place had been hidden on Youkai Mountain all these centuries.

The atmosphere had an almost heavenly quality to it. Yukari supposed it was appropriate for a hermit to be the closest living thing to celestials.

Even if Kasen wasn't much of a 'hermit'.

Yukari had thoroughly bathed, indulged in wonderful food, and buried herself in the pleasantly tranquil darkness of the bedroom Kasen had prepared for her. She was finally able to lie down to relax her muscles and bones, which had healed remarkably quickly thanks to Eientei's convenient-as-always miracle medicines.

If this had been like any other period of relief and relaxation since she woke up last year, it would be just about time for something to go horribly, horribly wrong.

Yukari laid in the dark, her ever-busy thoughts blurring the line between dreams and reality. Despite the tranquil peace of Kasen's realm, Yukari still found herself fearing sleep.

She was once again quite unsure if she was genuinely struggling to sleep, or if she had actually fallen asleep at multiple points already. Perhaps she had had plenty of sleep already and was well-rested, merely feeling exhausted from the stress? Or maybe she had only been lying down for an hour or so already, and it had just felt like much longer.

Tossing and turning for a little while, she felt her hand to her heart. Still there. Still thumping. Loudly.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thud thud. Thud thud. Thud thud.

The louder her heartbeat became, the more it sounded like it was coming from somewhere else.

Thud thud thud. Creak.

Was that the sound of footsteps crossing the room? Was there someone there? Kasen?

The room was completely dark, but no... there was no scent of youkai anywhere near. Certainly no oni scent.

Creak.

Nonetheless, there was that creaking sound... it sounded like... there was someone else in the room... just barely feet away from her...

As Yukari sat up as quietly as possible... and slinked her hand through a gap to get the light switch... she heard a familiar young voice struggling to hide its enthusiasm through hushed tones.

"-ah... this is fantastic... Gensokyo... is... fantastic...!"

As Yukari switched on the light, she spotted the overly excitable young girl in the corner of the room, hunched over by the bookcase. She wore a black hat with a contrasting white ribbon in it. She had dark, medium-length brown hair and a long... black... cape...?

Sweat quickly built on Yukari's face. Impossible. It just wasn't possible.

Of course, the girl quickly noticed the light had been switched on and got to her feet. "Gensokyo really is incredible! But man, I'm really sorry for waking you Me-"

Shhhluck.

Thhunk.

"-Cough- U-... uugh...! -cough cough-" after a muted exclamation of shock, the girl sunk to her knees, her throat forcing a strained wheezing sound as she desperately tried to breathe in.

"-COUGH COUGH-" her coughing and wheezing became increasingly intense as she gasped desperately for air. "-cough cough- -COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH-" She tried to grapple for her stomach. She tried to pull the gap in her stomach closed. Her innards threatened to tumble out all over her hands. She had to hold it closed somehow.

But inevitably she collapsed with a pathetic splat, into a shallow pool of her own blood.

Yukari grinned.

That's right. It was impossible.

There was no way. Sumireko Usami couldn't be here. She was just a human.

Even if she was alive, she would have aged. Whoever conjured up this latest illusion must have thought Yukari was a fool. Even if Sumireko was here, why would she be in Kasen's house?

Wait... was this Kasen's house? This room was familiar...

"M-Mer-..." the girl gasped, coughed, wheezed, urged her failing body to find the strength to say the words she was so desperate to say.

Yukari approached the girl. She stood in the pool of blood and looked down on her.

The blonde's eyes widened as a dread buried, deep, deep in her soul wormed its way out. Her vision blurred. She held a hand to her forehead as it began to throb in pain.

That wasn't a black cape... that was... that was a shawl... didn't she know someone who wore a black shawl once? A really... really long time ago...?

The most morbid of curiosity compelled her to kneel down into the bloody mess and hold the girl in her arms. To look upon her face.

"M-..." the girl gasped "M-Merry..." the brunette's eyes convulsed in their sockets as she ran out of air. She weakly held out her blood-drenched hand, to gently... lovingly, cup the blonde's face.

"Merry... Wh-why...?"

The blonde girl subconsciously brought her own hand up to tenderly hold the blood-soaked one at her face, her other arm wrapped around the brunette's severed torso.

"... R-Ren...ko-..."

The blonde's mind went blank.

The next thing she knew, she could hear a deafening and ear-piercing scream as the brunette girl fell limp, bleeding out in her arms.

The scream would have threatened to rupture the blonde's eardrums if it weren't for the voice cracking under its own strain and deteriorating into frenzied wails and shrieks.

Actually... her own throat hurt. It hurt a lot. Her head hurt, her eyes ached, her stomach was in agony, but the most excruciating pain was the one in her heart. It was so loud, it was so loud that it threatened to engulf everything.

Somewhere in between noticing the flood of tears dropping from her own cheeks and wrapping herself tightly around the lifeless, bloody body in her arms, the blonde realised that the deafening voice was her own. They were her screams. Her wails.

But why... why? She hadn't even known she was capable of such deeply visceral sounds, she didn't realise her voice could ever be that loud.

No, that wasn't important! That wasn't important at all! Her best friend was dead. She had killed her best friend. She had killed her in her own room.

She buried her nose desperately into the brunette's cold and limp torso, trying to seek out her last remaining signs of warmth, anything, screaming more loudly than her human body should have been capable of. Her face, her arms, her clothes were sodden, completely drenched in blood, but it didn't matter. It's not like anything else mattered.

It was all over, there was nothing left for her after this, nothi-

"Yukari!?" a powerful voice suddenly interjected. "What was that scre-" it paused. "O-oh... oh god... Oh my god!?"

x

(Notes: As we near the climax, things become almost unreasonably chaotic - but hints pile up as to what's really happening. Has anyone figured out what's going on yet? If you have any theories, I'd be really interested to hear them... Comment away!

The chapter title this time is a reference to a Touhou track, but not really a character theme. There's no reference to the track's story either, I simply thought it would be a nice way to tie our favourite sleepy youkai in with "Dr. Latency".)

Glossary:
tatami - a type of mat, made with rice-straw, used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese rooms
raijuu - a legendary creature, usually mammal, with lightning coursing through its body. In Touhou, raijuu are cryptids rather than youkai
Ghost - in Touhou, a ghost is the soul of a deceased human but is more or less physical and has a body.
Oni - an incredibly physically strong youkai, comparable to a demon or ogre. In Touhou, they are quite a rare youkai.
Eientei - a mansion in Gensokyo where refugees from the moon reside
Eirin - Eirin Yagokoro is the head of Eientei, and a genius lunarian sage and goddess capable of creating any medicine or drug