Last chapter, Keima and his conqueree (Is that even a word?) were headed toward the Human Village on what Keima wants to make their last date. Will it be a happy end for Mamizou?

"Well, here we are." Keima said. The look of the Human Village was the same as always. Bustling, with everyone running left and right and people peddling their goods. Men walked with wheelbarrows behind them full of grains. Women sat under the shade of their patio spinning silks and crafting wooden parasols. As Keima and Mamizou walked through the marketplace, Keima could have sworn he was called by at least 10 people to check out their wares. It seemed Mamizou was hell bent on making her way to the restaurant she wanted to go. She was rushing like an impatient child. "Calm down. We have plenty of time to get there."

"Geez, you're so slow!" Mamizou puffed her cheeks. "C'mon!"

Keima was sure he noticed before, but along with her growing younger her behavior changed from the lady she was when they first met to a child. She shortened her verbs more often and spoke in familiar Japanese rather than the polite she spoke with before. "Alright, alright. How far is this place?"

"It's right here." Mamizou pointed to a small building with the same curtains the bar had. TAKOYAKI AND RAMEN BAR was plastered on the curtain in big kana. Keima couldn't believe he missed it. The two opened the curtains and walked in, smelling the deet on the curtains to keep bugs out which was quickly overtaken by the smell of delicious takoyaki, beef, chicken, and other smells that were foreign to Keima's nose. Men of all sizes sat stuffing their faces after a hard day of work. It was midday and this was probably Gensokyo's version of rush hour. He saw that there were booths in the back that sat mothers in yukata feeding their children with spoonfuls of octopus ramen. It got Keima's stomach growling. He then noticed two girls sitting in the booths staring at him. It was Shou and Murasa. They gave him a thumbs up and sank their heads back behind their menus.

Mamizou tried to hoist herself up on top of one of the bar seats. Her tail twitched when she tried and hit a man on the arm. "Hey, what the hell?!" The man turned around and leered at Mamizou "Watch it!"

"My apologies!" Mamizou quickly stopped trying to hoist herself up, hugging her tail.

"Stupid youkai. All you do is..." The man walked away toward a booth, grumbling.

"Don't pay him any mind. He was a jerk." Keima walked to Mamizou's side.

"Yeah..." Mamizou sulked. "Stupid tail."

"Need some help getting up?" Keima asked.

"Yes, if you would be so kind." Mamizou raised her hands so she could be picked up. Keima thought she was still old enough to get strange looks from others after he helped her up. Keima knew she would have been more than capable of getting up the seat by herself if she didn't have a tail. He slid his hands under her arms and lifted her up. She was still pretty heavy. He set her on the seat and, thankfully, didn't get as many looks as he had thought he would. He sat down next to her. 'Thank you." Mamizou said.

...

After the two had a lunch-dinner of beef udon and octopus ramen, they left the bar and walked down the way they came. If it was possible to be drunk on ramen, they were. The two walked with their legs almost tripping on one another, taking care not to make the food go out the way it came in. The bowls served were about the size of American bowls. Maybe even bigger, Keima thought to himself. The sun was just dipping behind the mountains and it was slowly getting dark. The stars were barely visible.

"Wanna take a break? I can't walk too much right now." Keima asked in hopes of getting some alone time to talk to her.

"Yes, I can't either." Mamizou said, sitting down. The two stopped on top of a hill to sit down. After a deep breath, Mamizou sprawled out on the grass.

"That bad, huh?" Keima asked.

"Yeah, you bet." Mamizou said in her familiar Japanese.

Keima saw blonde hair behind a bush. It was obviously the only blonde in the temple : Shou. At this point, Keima didn't even need to look for any of the girls, as it became obvious where they were. He almost couldn't believe that Mamizou hadn't seen them yet.

"So, Satoshi. Tell me about more where you live. You never did tell me." Mamizou leaned toward him.

"Where I live? It's a small place. You wouldn't know it." Keima said, hoping to change the subject.

"Try me. I know all of Gensokyo." Mamizou said.

"That's just it. I don't live in Gensokyo." Keima said.

"You don't? Where-"

"I live in the Outside World. It's a city called Maijima. A nice picturesque city." Keima said, remembering the times he would camp out on the sidewalks of stores in the Wai Wai Road for a midnight release of a new galge.

"Maijima? That has the kanji for dance, island, and... uh..." Mamizou's age showed as she was trying hard to remember her kanji from middle school.

"Shi. It means city. That's obvious." Keima said.

"Right. Sorry. I haven't been to school in quite some time. Sorry." Mamizou said, blushing.

"It's fine." Keima stayed quiet. He decided to let her talk and ask questions.

"God, I'm tired." Mamizou pretended to sway.

"Take a nap, then we'll go back." Keima turned his head toward her. "It's fine. I won't be embarrassed."

Mamizou's eyes shot open. "Y-yeah." Then she laid her head on his arm. Her fluffy hair pushed against Keima. He could feel her ears tense as she leaned against him.

"Calm down. You don't have to be so tense. Take a nap." Keima said.

"Okay, sorry." Mamizou eased her head and her furry ears folded back.

Keima sat uncomfortably on the grass, looking up. Everything was according to plan. The girls didn't even help as much as they said they would. Sure, there was Ichirin and her cloud and Nazrin giving him a reassuring thumbs-up, whatever that was worth. Other than that, Keima hadn't received any help. Mamizou took a brief cat-nap that lasted for 10 minutes during which her glasses fell off many times. After the third time, Keima thought to hold them for her until she woke. Mamizou rubbed her eyes.

"How long was I out?" Mamizou asked.

"About 10 minutes, give or take." Keima answered.

"Oh..." Mamizou sounded disappointed.

Keima got up. "Ready to go?"

"Oh..." Mamizou still sat. "Yes."

Keima turned around to walk toward the direction of the temple whose roof showed in the distance. He stopped walking after a few steps when he didn't hear the flip-flopping of Mamizou's somewhat oversized sandals. He didn't say anything, he knew what was going to happen next.

"Don't you want to sit down a little longer?" Mamizou asked.

"No, my time with you is almost up. We'll have to make more progress with your sickness before I go."

"You're going? Wha- How? I mean, why? Are you busy with others?" Mamizou was stuttering her words.

"No, I've just spent a lot of time with you and not enough actually curing you. My time with you has been long enough and yes, I'll have to work on others." Keima said.

"Oh..." Keima thought he could hear Mamizou's voice breaking. "I see... So, this is the last night I have with you?"

"Probably." Keima said.

"Probably?" Mamizou's voice was cracking.

"A doctor's schedule is never definite." Keima said.

"Okay." Mamizou hugged her legs. "Let's just sit here for now. Please."

Keima realized he wasn't going to finish the conquest in the temple, where he would have preferred. That way he wouldn't have to carry her far. He sat down.

"I need to ask you something." Keima said. "The bartender at the Village told me something?"

"Hm?" Mamizou's voice was muffled through her legs.

"He said..." Keima didn't quite know how to word it. "He said you didn't have many friends. Is this true?"

Mamizou sat silent. She didn't answer.

"If you don't want to answer, just sa-"

"Yes, he was telling the truth."

"But all the girls at the temple love you." Keima said.

"That's more of an obligatory love. I'm technically older than most of the girls at the temple."

"No, I spoke with them. Those girls adore you and look up to you." Keima said.

"Yeah, they love me enough to keep us company." Mamizou pointed at Shou's hair sticking out in the brush nearby. Her blonde head tensed and ducked down into the bush

"So you knew. I was wondering why you didn't catch on sooner."

"Of course I knew. I'm not blind." Mamizou's head peeked out of her legs. "Well, sort of." She said as she toyed with her glasses that was given back by Keima.

"Aside from the temple girls, is anyone else giving you trouble?" Keima pressed on.

"I took you for a doctor, not a psychiatrist." Mamizou giggled.

Keima didn't laugh. "Is anyone else giving you trouble?" Keima repeated.

"It's because I'm old fashioned." Mamizou said.

"Huh?"

"People don't like me because I'm old fashioned. I don't keep up with the new trends or the younger kids' jokes. They look at me and think 'Wow! She's old' or 'Man, she's seen some things.' Honestly, it's quite infuriating!" Mamizou started to yell.

Keima didn't say anything. Like himself, Mamizou was thought of as different because of something she couldn't help: her glasses and her scarred body. Indeed she had seen many a fight and has probably seen Gensokyo grow through the years. Keima was reminded of himself and his love of video games. For some reason, that made him weird in the eyes of others. For the first time in a long time, he felt for someone.

"I don't think you're old fashioned." Keima broke the silence. "In fact, you're quite childish when you want to be."

"Huh?" Mamizou turned her head toward Keima and he could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"I mean, yeah sure, you're very ladylike but that doesn't exactly make someone 'old fashioned'." Keima said.

"Satoshi..." Mamizou whispered. "You do understand."

"Of course I understand. It's stupid for anyone to think you're weird for something you can't help." Keima scratched his head, frustrated.

Mamizou stared at Keima in awe. For the first time, she had seen the light in someone. All her years of living, she saw a person who understood her. Not like the girls in the temple who were obliged to understand or console her, but someone who was just like her. The tears from her eyes started to flow. She tried her best to hide it by burying her head in her legs but she started to sob.

Keima let her cry. He didn't want to disrupt the perfect moment. In the back of his head, he almost worried about any of the temple girls coming out and ruining the moment.

"Sa... Satoshi." Mamizou hugged Keima's arm. Her ears were twitching back and forth and her glasses were falling from her face. "You do understand." She looked up at Keima. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes had a tinge of pink, but she still looked like her normal clean self. They stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Mamizou, uh..." Keima started to become embarrassed.

"Satoshi, stay with me. Please don't go." She hugged his neck, almost stopping the flow of air through his esophagus. "I don't want you to go. You're the only real friend I have."

Keima corrected himself so he could breathe. "No, you're wrong."

Mamizou untensed. "Huh?"

"Mamizou, if you can make a friend out of me, you can make a friend out of anyone." Keima stood tall. "Of that, you can be sure."

The dipping sun shined past his silhouette like that of a hindu god. Mamizou stood with him.

"I can?"

"You can."

Mamizou wiped her face. The tears stopped flowing. She started to smile and stare at Keima for a long time. Only the wind could be heard, making the hollow sound it's known all too well of making. "I..."

Keima could see all of the girls behind Mamizou in the bushes. Nazrin, Nue, Shou, Kyoko, Murasa, Ichrin, and Byakuren. Elsie was also in the bushes. They were all cheering silently.

"I love you..." The words rang out and echoed in Keima's ears. Before he could reply or react, Mamizou jumped on his chest and kissed him deeply. She hung from his neck and the kiss lasted the longest out of any of the girls he had conquered. After the kiss broke, Mamizou stared at him for a bit before saying, "You changed me for the better..." Then she slumped on the ground. The beige soul ejected from her small, limp body and wailed into the night sky. Elsie flew up right behind it and it put up little fight against the containment bottle's vacuum. All the girls came out from the same bush, cheering.

"That was amazing! What the hell was that thing that came out of her anyway?" Murasa had a smile on her face.

"That?" Keima pointed at the soul in Elsie's bottle. "That's a loose soul. It's that thing I was talking about."

"Wooooahhh... It's cute." Kyoko whispered.

"So, that's it? She's cured? She looks the same." Nue nudged her head toward the direction of Mamizou's body.

"Come tomorrow she'll be back to normal..." Keima scratched his head. "Give or take."

"Still, it's surprising." Byakuren said, with her trademark smile and closed eyes. "Never would I have thought Mamizou would go for someone as young as yourself. You're quite the charmer, Keima-san."

"Of course. No one can emulate the work of a god such as myself." Keima said, full of himself.

Byakuren giggled and everyone else laughed. "So, who's gonna carry her back? Not it!" Nue shouted.

"Not it!" Shou shouted.

"Not it." Kyoko said.

Everyone said it so fast, the only two left were Elsie and Keima. Keima finished the game with "Not it." Leaving Mamizou's body for Elsie to carry back to the temple.

...

Mamizou's body had grown during the short trip back to the temple. Indeed she would be better come morning. After a brief talk with the girls, Keima and Elsie said goodbye and started toward Reimu's shrine. The trip was windy and cold, as was expected since it was night.
The two didn't say a single word to each other during the flight. Keima was just relieved that the conquest was over with and that he was one step closer to returning home in time for Christmas.

However...

In the back of his mind, he thought about Mamizou and her problems with being 'old-fashioned'. Keima was confident that after she woke, she would be proud of the person she was and try not to mold herself to appeal to others. Mamizou proved that she could be a child as well as a lady while Keima was with her and she did it with ease. He couldn't help but think that, given a few weeks or months, Mamizou would be one of the most popular people in Gensokyo.

...And that put a smile on Keima's face.

Mamizou's conquest is OVAHHHHH~! Such a lengthy conquest that involved a loli raccoon girl with a bushy tail! My favorite! I hope you enjoyed this conquest.

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