And here we are again! Today, we return to our scheduled lighthearted chapters, and a PM answer. He's still preferring to remain unknown, though.
PM: No, her name is definitely not Belmont. That'd be a beautiful plot twist, though. Her name is Sakuya "Izayoi" Helsing, as in legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing. Yeah, that one. Also, a lot of Darius' final boss spell cards cannot be used by him for now. Remember, he was using the power of both Yukari and Tenshi (though definitely not all of it) during that fight for an edge. Some of those spell cards remain usable. Which ones, however, will remain unknown for now... Though he can certainly still cast non-spell card Acerbatus. The spell card form is still much stronger, though. His Arcanum was intentionally left out of the final battle, by the way.
The mystery girl who wanted Byakuren dead, sadly, must also remain unknown. She will play a critical role in the future, so no spoiler for you!
Karin = Jigsaw? Yeah, that's kind of the feel I was going for. Hello, Darius. I want to play a game.
To both Mr PM and everyone else enjoying my story so far: Japanese honorifics. I'll be honest, I suck at them. BAD. Which is why I'd like help from you guys on a certain question: Would it be Kaguya-sama or Kaguya-hime for Eirin and the others at Eintei? And when you think of it, is she really still a princess at all, what with her banishing from the moon? Similarly, what about Miko? Is there any unique honorific necessary for her?
– TOUHOU –
Byakuren slowly opened her eyes, blinking at the lights overhead. Where'd all that light come from? Last she remembered, she'd been in the Dream Mausoleum, and then –
Oh. Right. She got hit with a particularly nasty flashback of… that time.
As she got up in her bed, she wondered… where was she? As far as she could tell, it was her room back at the Myouren Temple. But then how did she even wind up here?
Just then, the door opened, admitting a tiger youkai and a youkai-in-sort-of-denial; Shou and Darius.
"For the last time," Shou hissed as she quietly closed the door behind them. Apparently, she wasn't aware that she was awake yet. "You may not ask her what happened!"
"Seriously, the suspense is all but killing me right now," Darius muttered. "You must know what happened if you're going to deny me from learning it."
"She's long had nightmares of a… particularly bad day." Shou turned away. "That's all I am willing to and allowed to tell you – Byakuren-sama! You're awake?"
The monk smiled tiredly. "Yes, I am. What happened to me?"
"Well," began the gunslinger as he sat on the edge of the monk's bed. "We were talking about how to get into Makai when you froze up and collapsed–"
"Show some tact!"
Whap!
"Ow! What was that one for?"
Shou rolled her eyes. "Boys. Anyway, he brought you up from the Dream Mausoleum and sent Nazrin to fetch me. You've been out for, oh, the afternoon, maybe? It's almost sunset."
Byakuren looked out her window. It was nearing sunset. It looked so much like the view she always had at – no, she decided. She'd best not go on that path, or it might happen again. Aloud, she said, "Where'd Miko-san go?"
"Said she had business to attend to." Darius made a face. "Couldn't even be bothered to even lend a hand carrying you up all those flights of stairs…"
"You brought me all the way up from the Dream Mausoleum?"
"Only because someone," Darius glared at Shou, who was whistling innocently. "Couldn't be bothered to show up until after I got all the way here!"
Byakuren noted her black dress was at the doorway. Wait, putting on the black dress required at least unzipping part of her white dress underneath. Not any particularly personal areas, but still. And didn't that mean…?
Darius followed her line of sight. His face reddened. "Um… well, you see… I, how do you put this… I didn't think it'd exactly be comfortable sleeping in that kind of dress, so I kind of… took it off for you…?"
Before the monk could speak, Shou took a particularly loud deep breath and closed her eyes. "Darius-san, you have ten seconds to run."
Right away, the gunslinger tore off down the halls. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! It wasn't like that! Stop it with those lasers!"
"You sick, twisted man!" Shou sprinted after him, spear out and ready to impale him. "Get back here where I can skewer you to a wall!"
Byakuren remained still and simply watched the door swinging on its hinges as the tiger youkai blew past. Her own face turned a little red as she slowly lay back down on the bed. Maybe it wasn't that big a deal…
– TOUHOU –
You? How in the world did you–
"Stuff it, you insufferable force of nature." Karin glared at the gap she had most certainly not been looking for. For one thing, it wasn't her stitched gap; it was Yukari's ribbon-bound gap. For another, what the fuck was hiding in it? "And get out here where I can see you!"
Force of nature? The gap trembled as the being within it laughed. Pathetic. But I have not come to fight.
"Well then, out with it. What do you want? My time is restricted as it is. This stupid maid's power barely works after I overclocked it the one time." The new gap youkai was, admittedly, very busy. Her hands were all but buried in overlapping boundaries of countless colours. Yes, she had lied – Yukari's boundary control was perfectly legitimate. What wasn't was how much control she had over them; something Karin had been trying endlessly to extract from her mind.
Don't even bother. I never taught her the full potential of her powers.
"Of course you wouldn't. The world would end instantly if you let her start playing with the most abstract boundaries," muttered Karin.
That's implying you know what you're doing with those boundaries.
"…"
Stop.
Karin scowled, but her hands stopped moving anyways. "What do you want? You're just–"
I am nature itself, not one of its forces like you lowly youkai, I assure you.
"Impossible," Karin spat. "Are you telling me that you're Gaia, legendary embodiment of the Earth itself and everything on it?"
You wouldn't believe me with either yes or no.
Karin chose to remain silent.
I wouldn't dig around in those borders if I were you. One wrong move and she implodes.
Karin narrowed her eyes and moved her fingers more slowly. "Dammit, you're right. How'd you know?"
… Personal experience. I am the one who taught Yakumo-san everything she knows about borders, you know.
"I'm assuming you're here for something besides needling me and trying to look cool. Spit it out, what do you want?" Karin continued sifting through Yukari's memories. Damn, there really was nothing of worth…!
They're coming, you know.
Karin's hands froze. "… What?"
Your former crush. His newest interest. The miko, too. All in all, the works in general. And believe me when I say they are not happy with you.
"They can't." Karin was confident of that much, at least. "There's literally no way for them to enter my dimension between worlds."
For now, there isn't. The gap rippled as something within it shifted. A single vibrant green eye sparked to life in it. But do you really think you can hold this kind of dimension up forever? Yukari was only capable of it with so many years of experience with managing dimensional magic. You, on the other hand, are going to be hard pressed in a week at the latest. And when you leave, you'll be forced out where you came in. Mark my words, Muyoka-san, they will be waiting for you.
"Then let them come." Karin laughed coldly as she withdrew her hands. Raising them, red strings became visible, dancing in her fingertips – which twitched and convulsed as the threads of fate tied themselves tight around her fingers. "What the…?"
Do not underestimate me. I have manipulation over everything natural in this world. A single hand latched onto the edge of the gap, another green eye sparking to life. If you plan to partake in your own game, you are going to play by your own rules. Ever heard the expression 'beat them at their own game'?
"…" Karin wrestled her hands free and watched the threads fade away.
However, I could give you a push in the right direction… for a price.
"And what would an omnipotent one like you want with someone like me?"
Laughter from the gap. Karin couldn't tell if it was genuine or mocking. You amuse me. However, as much as I wish I could, my powers still do not extend to the corners of the world. When Gensokyo was formed, your damnable original saw fit to backstab me and lock down my powers.
"And you're trusting me because…?"
I see your fate, Muyoka-san. I know exactly what is going to happen. I made a mistake with Yakumo-san. I underestimated her; I will not make that mistake twice.
"Fine." Karin turned away, sweeping out a hand and ripping open her dimension. Plucking a bloodshot eye from next to her, she gently rolled it into the rip and sealed it back up. "And how am I to repay you – assuming you actually do something helpful?"
More of that disturbing laughter. Start with how you usurped Yakumo-san's position…
– TOUHOU –
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!
Goukei fumbled for the cell phone he'd swiped off of Yukari several years back. "Dammit, who is it now?" Flipping open the phone, he raised it to his ear. "I didn't even think Verizon services Gensokyo. Who the hell is this?"
"Goukei."
The ex-shinigami nearly dropped the phone right there. "I-is that who I think it is?"
"Gee, let me think. Raspy voice, always wears a skull mask, black robes, scythe made from a human spine, tried to kill you more than once – yes, it's me! Death!"
Goukei raised an eyebrow. "You're on a hair trigger today. What happened?"
A heavy sigh crackled out of the phone. "Komachi-san happened. Seriously, can't you come back a little more often, for her? You were really the only thing motivating her – well, besides the threat of being roasted in Hell, but you get my point."
"And the one who exiled me was…?"
"Don't look at me! It was a unanimous decision I had no say in. And I know you're glaring at the phone, never mind the fact I'm partly in another dimension and thousands of miles away, so drop it."
The oni simply stared at the phone.
"And now you're staring, aren't you."
"Every time," he spluttered. "How do you do that every damn time!?"
"Sorcery. Now, I've got Shiki-sama here with me–"
Beep… Beep… Beep…
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!
"I know she's going to reach through the phone and whack me upside the head. She's done it before."
"Ve-ry funny, Goukei. You haven't seen the roaming charges on my bill, so I'd like to keep this short. Get serious."
Goukei sighed and leaned on the wall outside the underground pub – and easily stepped out of the way as a pot was hurled through the window next to him. Unstrapping his scythe, he muttered, "Can't even have a phone call in peace…"
On the banks of the Sanzu River, Eiki Shiki and the Grim Reaper stared at the phone in slight disbelief as the sounds of extreme violence reverberated out of the little bundle of technology. The Yama turned to him. "Every time?"
"Every time," he confirmed.
"MY BLOOD! HE PUNCHED OUT ALL MY BLOOD!"
WHAM!
"AAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!"
Eiki raised an eyebrow. "You're quite sure this happens every time."
"Yes." Death's tone was flat and carefully levelled.
"Ah…" Just then, an immensely satisfied Goukei came back to his phone. "Much better. They've all quieted down now, so we can finish our little conversation."
"You didn't kill all of them, did you?"
Death's concern was laughed off by the ex-shinigami. "What? Of course not! Half of them. I killed half of them."
"…" Death silently facepalmed. "See, this is one of the reasons you're not an official death god anymore."
"Now, what were we talking about?"
"Remember that strange lady who killed the gap youkai? Looked almost identical, wore a yellow dress/coat, purple blouse?"
"Hmm, yeah, I think so. What about her?"
"You're going to like this news."
"… Kill her?"
"Fully authorized," Eiki muttered into the phone. "Against my better judgment. Also, you need to know that – hey! Hey!" She looked at the much taller reaper, a pained expression on her face. "He hung up."
Death closed the phone and stowed it away in the folds of his robes. "Well, knowing him, he's probably already trying to figure out how to slice reality in half to get a crack at the girl, so no point in calling again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to see how much my phone bill has just siphoned off of our budget."
"Hold on," a new voice said. "Is this… is this Goukei you were talking about?"
Death sighed and didn't even need to turn to know who it was. "Yes, Komachi-san, it was. He said he was busy (punching someone's lights out) and so couldn't talk to you, but he asked you to keep working hard. Else, he's not coming back for a visit this year."
"Eek!" A frenetic sound of whirling cloth, what sounded suspiciously like a certain shinigami dropping her scythe in the Sanzu, and a boat ripping through the water. "Come on, come on, come on! We haven't got all day, you lazy souls!"
"That was black," murmured the Yama as they left.
"The ends justify the means. White." Death boarded his own small boat and gestured for Eiki to follow. "Besides, it wasn't that big of a deal."
"Not that big of a deal?" Eiki gestured wildly in Komachi's direction, who had already passed them three times back and forth across the Sanzu River. "Look at her! She already works just enough to pressure me, and now I'll be up to my neck with dealing out judgment this week!"
"Don't let her hear you saying that," laughed the not-so-grim reaper.
– TOUHOU –
"Makai."
"Makai."
"You want me to unseal the gateway to Makai for you."
"Yup."
"Never mind the fact the air itself is poisonous and alone can kill you."
"Meh."
"Never mind the fact that it's crawling with bloodthirsty demons."
"Mm-hmm."
"Never mind the fact that it's worse than Australia in terms of things trying to kill you."
"Uh-huh."
"… You'll probably just smash open the gate on your own if I say no."
"Yeah."
Reimu slammed her head against the table. "… I hate you so much right now."
Darius simply sipped his tea. "I love you too, Reimu-san. Now, can we get going?"
"There. Are. Preparations to be made!" The miko vehemently hissed into his face. "I can't just Fantasy Heaven the gate to Makai and send you on your way–"
Clink!
Darius tossed several hundred yen into the shrine's donation box.
"Thank you for your donations to the Hakurei Shrine!" Reimu straightened in her seat and got up quickly. "If you'll follow me, we can begin setting up for the trip to the land of the demons! It's an excellent place, filled with monsters who want to feast on your soul, nights that last for months, a cranky old demon goddess; you will simply adore our visit! Plus, if we hurry, we might…"
The miko's voice faded away as she rushed off to the smaller building beside the shrine and began rifling through its contents. Darius sidled over to Byakuren and whispered, "Does she always get like this if you give her money?"
Byakuren giggled. "They say money can't buy happiness. Except you can certainly buy over Reimu-san, which is plenty enough happiness here, where most youkai will try to eat you and then be mercilessly destroyed by a greedy miko, which is close enough."
"That girl needs more motivation besides money and death threats." Miko calmly drank her tea beside them. "Though she does know how to make a mean brew."
"Just wondering, who else is coming?" Darius ran off the mental list of people who were usually involved – and people they'd want involved this time. "Obviously, we three are here. The others at the Myouren Temple couldn't come for one reason or another. Reimu was banned from ever entering Makai again, or so she says. Miko-san, you have someone coming to join us, right?"
"Her name is Mononobe no Futo," confirmed the Crown Prince. "We'll meet her at the gateway. However, her way of speaking is rather… archaic."
Darius raised an eyebrow at that, but went on anyways. "Marisa's a bust, since no one's seen her since the… Kourin Extraction." Everyone shuddered. "Alice-san is coming, right? Yeah. Those conspiracy-makers on Youkai Mountain collapsed their shrine again, so they can't help. Oh man, we're going to be seriously short-handed on this one against what might as well be Yukari on steroids…"
"Actually, we'll be having one other joining us." Miko smirked slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"She's a menreiki. Born from a set of sixty-six masks. Shockingly powerful for such a young little youkai."
Byakuren narrowed her eyes. "You're talking about her, aren't you?"
Miko snickered. "Who else? You can come out… Hata no Kokoro."
The sliding door at the front of the shrine shifted, letting in a pink-haired girl with a blue blouse, orbited by a set of glowing masks. Currently, she was holding one up to her face – a classic bland happy/sad mask, one that was almost synonymous with theatre.
Miko smiled. "Funny, Kokoro."
The menreiki quietly pocketed the mask, her face partially hidden behind another mask, one that seemed to be frozen in laughter. Clearly a mask of humour. Her voice quiet and indifferent, she whispered. "How did you know I was here."
"I can sense desires, in a manner of speaking; and you want to come with us. Remember?" Miko gently hugged the girl. The mask of her face wavered as if seen through hot air, along with one of the glowing masks orbiting her. A simplistic happy mask now adorned her face, the mask of laughter having swapped places with the mask of happiness. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Darius watched the two of them and muttered to the monk next to him, "Who is she?"
"Another one who was the host of an incident," explained Byakuren as she watched the two of them. "In a funny sort of way, she's Miko-san's child. She crafted the masks that became Kokoro-san, giving them an interesting sort of parent-child relationship. She once lost her Mask of Hope (See it? The one that looks like Miko-san) and her control of emotions of both herself and others went wild. That was what we called the 'Hopeless Masquerade'."
"Now, she's a wanderer, in a way." Miko released the young youkai. "Travels from place to place; she once stayed at the human village. Surprisingly, they let her in, though that might've been her power at work. Even so, they've genuinely accepted her, as a person and, well, because she frequently performs theatre."
"No prizes for guessing why," laughed the monk.
"Who are you." Strangely, Kokoro's question wasn't exactly a question; it was simply flat and monotone, though with the slightest hint of emotion behind it. Her mask wavered again, becoming a guarded-looking mask. Likely one of distrust or doubt. "Are you the youkai outsider."
Darius shifted. "Still not used to being called a youkai, but yeah, that's me. Darius L-Loyhrs." He stuttered slightly on his surname, as usual. He extended a hand to her. "Nice to meet you, Kokoro-san."
She stared at him blankly for a moment – then reached out and took the offered hand, shaking it softly. "A likewise pleasure," she murmured. The mask shifted, but she reached up and grabbed it before it could change. With what seemed to be a fair amount of effort, she tugged it free of her face, revealing two clear blue eyes. Interestingly, even her eyes seemed liked masks; at first glance, they were dull and glazed over, but a closer look showed they were sharp, very sharp. Both tranquil and menacing. "Mamizou-san said… I should learn to express myself without masks… so did Miko…" The corners of her mouth twitched upwards.
The light smile on the gunslinger's face wavered. "You can't… express yourself? Not without masks?"
"No. It's… who I am." The air seemed to thicken as the silence dragged on. Then again, in a way, words didn't have to be said.
Just then, Reimu burst through the back door of the shrine. "Alrighty, ladies and gentleman! Everything's set up, and we'll be on our way in–"
"We were just having a moment!" Byakuren exclaimed at the miko. "You came in at what was probably the worst time…"
Miko sighed and facepalmed. "You don't exactly need to be able to read the mood to tell when not to barge in, Reimu-san."
Kokoro faltered, her mask returning to her in a flash. She got up and walked to Reimu. And in one fluid move, raised her arm and slapped her, the red mask of anger appearing for an instant. Then, as the miko backed away cursing in pain, Kokoro sat back down with the others, the mask of happiness back on her face. "Better."
Miko couldn't stand it. She burst out laughing. So did Byakuren and Darius. Even Kokoro had a tiny giggle at herself.
Reimu held her bruised cheek as she watched them. "Um, guys, we have a portal to catch! Guys? Is anyone listening to me today!?"
Eventually, they calmed down and allowed the shrine maiden to show them to the sealed gate. It seemed to be a massive cave entrance jutting out of the ground at an angle. All around the circumference of the semicircle gate, thousands of sealing amulets glowed with power. Reimu laid a hand on it, the amulets glowing more brightly – and dimming. The amulets peeled away from the gate, everyone watching as it slowly ground open with an ear-splitting shriek of metal against metal, opening not deeper into the cave, but rather into a hellish wasteland. Everyone backed away as a blast of hot air roared out like it was fire from opening a furnace.
"Alright," she began seriously. "I can't go into Makai with you, or Shinki-san would skin me alive. As soon as you step through, it's up to you. But let me warn you; in Makai, you don't breathe air, you breathe poison. I'll wait for you and give you exactly two hours. If any one of you isn't out by then, I'm assuming you died a horrible death and I'm sealing the gate back up."
Darius raised his hand. "Why two hours?"
"Because unless you adapt really quickly or have some sort of power to counteract the toxins, you die in two hours." Reimu glared pointedly at him. "And Eirin-san's already tried making an antidote to the air in there. There are literally so many poisons it is literally impossible to counteract them all. The only ones who have gone in there for a whole day and come out alive were Y-Yukari," she stumbled over the gap youkai's name. "Who just had straight-up gap hacks, Alice Margatroid because she's a native to it, the immortals (though they didn't like it), and that creepy poison doll."
"On top of that," Reimu added before anyone could speak. "This one's very important. You all know the spell card rules, right?"
A collective nod.
"Well, the spell card system is a Gensokyo-exclusive setup. As in, Makai does not use it."
A collective exchange of worried looks.
"Alright, so two hours to collect the artifact Miko-san's looking for and, if we can, figure out where Karin went, because she's definitely not in Gensokyo. Assuming she's in Makai, we also beat the crap out of her and drag her back with us. As in, the girl who literally backstabbed Yukari and stole her powers along with a bunch of other people's. Also, she's only pulling us around on a leash because stumbling around in her game amuses her. In a land where they are perfectly capable of killing us. All that, in only two hours." Darius took a deep breath. "Yeah, this is possible, this is possible…"
"You'd damn well believe it is," another voice said. A male voice.
"Goukei-san, you're… here…" Darius turned and began to take several steps back, reaching into his pocket. "Rinnosuke!? What the fuck are you doing back in town!?"
"I thought that instead of simply ending with a bang, we start off with one too." Mannosuke reached behind him and brought out an unconscious figure.
Darius' eyes went wide. "Goukei-san?"
"That's right," laughed Mannosuke. He tossed aside the oni and cracked his knuckles. "Now, are we gonna pussyfoot around or are we gonna fight?"
– TOUHOU –
OH DAYUM MANNOSUKE'S BACK IN IT
I am so sorry for this, everyone.
By the way, when I dug around, the amount of canon information on Makai is next to none, so I took a few liberties and upped it a little to make Makai a more dangerous place. And when I say it's worse than Australia... well.
For those of you confused by Death coming in out of nowhere, that Death is the same Death as the one in Heir to the Reaper, another sidefic to this one. Like the Noodle Incident Collection, it will be very slow in updating, because I'm investing most of my time in this one.
In other news, holy shit Kokoro is so moe I think I'm gonna die
