Disclaimer: Touhou belongs to Zun, and the only things that belong to myself would be Usagi the mimic, and Moegi the japanese beetle. Everything else belongs to their rightful owner.
A/N: ...Please stop looking at me like that.
Y/N: ...
A/N: Please stop.
Y/N: You've done it again...
A/N: Ehehe...
Y/N: You took over a week to produce a chapter the size of only three...
A/N: W-well, that adds up to about the nor-
Y/N: Were you not trying to update daily again?
A/N: Well, erm...
Y/N: And yet still you don't.
A/N: ...
Y/N: You really need to start shaping up.
A/N: W-well, umm... It would have been impossible to write that much in a single day!
Y/N: Hardly. You-know-who managed to write 3,000 words just last night.
A/N: ...
Y/N: So, what are you going to do about it?
A/N: I... 3,000 words in a day is beyond me - that would take around 6 hours by my estimates.
Y/N: Then write 1,000 a day. That is merely 2 hours of effort, if that.
A/N: If I manage to get in a groove, sure...
Y/N: Did you not manage to write this entire A/N section in eight minutes? You can do it.
A/N: ...You're right. If I kept this pace, I would write 1,000 words in only 50 minutes.
Y/N: Too bad you have been having trouble of late.
A/N: I... I will try to write more. I will...
Y/N: Louder.
A/N: I... I will write more!
Y/N: Good. Now keep to your word.
Night, Scarlet Devil Mansion Basement, Rengeteki's PoV:
Having woken a bit before Flandre would, I decided to grab a quick snack of honey. I looked about the kitchen stealthily, and proceeded to sneak over to the barrel of honey. Why was I sneaking? That's honestly a good question, as the sooner I was done in the kitchen the less chance I would have of getting caught. So long as one acts normal about what one is doing, the fae think nothing of you.
Smiling as I filled my glass with honey, my mouth began to try and unfurl to get at it, but I kept my false mouth shut so as to prevent it from doing so. It's better to wait until it's full. That way I know how much I've had, and can keep myself from overeating. The glass finally full, I put the ladle back where it goes, and let my tongue-like mouth unfurl, the tip of which going into the glass to rapidly drain the honey away until there was nothing left but a layer of honey on the inner walls of the glass, as well as a small amount on the bottom of the inside.
Making somewhat quick work of the last of it, I then proceeded to clean the glass in the sink. When it was finally it was clean of the sticky residue, I put it away, and proceeded to head back to Flan's room, where we typically slept. I say typically because we have once ended up falling asleep while playing hide and seek in the short time we have been playmates. We managed to corral a fairy maid into seeking. Well, while I say we I mean more that Flandre did it. In the end, I think the idiot ended up forgetting that she was seeking, and the two of us ended up sleeping where we were hidden. Well, or so I assumed. All I know is that Flan ended up finding me in the morning, and we proceeded to have a rather awkward day, what with it even being day.
Needless to say, Flan wasn't sure what to do with herself, and ended up chasing me about out of boredom. She shouted 'tag' with the most manic of grins on her face, which was enough to get me to skedaddle. Sometimes I wish that I had never been chosen as her playmate. So what if I'm the most qualified...? Just because I can easily be mistaken for a fae doesn't mean I'm as immortal as one... Not that I've ever died to test what most of the others in the mansion think of me, but still.
As I crept through the mansion, I noticed an odd lack of activity. Eventually I came upon... ohh, what was her name? Whoever she was, she was carrying a basket of laundry, and asked with a bit of cheer to her voice, "Good evening miss, erm... Regneteki...?"
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the mistake. It was a common enough mistake to make when unused to my name, switching parts of it around. Seeing as she was new, I simply corrected, "Rengeteki."
Grimacing at her own mistake, the bearer of a scarlet mane replied, "Ohh! I'm so sorry, Miss Rengeteki! I didn't mean to say it wrong..."
Making up a quick excuse for my own lack of knowledge, I asked, "And, if you don't mind my asking, you are...? I'm afraid I've yet to catch your name..."
Thinking a moment, as if unsure what to say about that, she soon realized that she should probably answer me, saying, "Ohh, I'm Orange! I'm Meiling's little sister."
Ohh? The guard of the gate has a sister? Well, I suppose she is the spitting image of her. If not for her lack of curves, I honestly would have mistaken her for Meiling. I wonder if she is as good at unarmed combat as her? Smiling, I answered, "I see. It is quite nice to meet you, Orange. It's nice to not be the only non-fae ordinary maid around here anymore."
Tilting her head curiously at the admittance of myself not being as I seem, the new maid asked, "You... aren't a fairy?"
I couldn't help but let by brow twitch a little in irritation at the assumption. As always I am assumed to be a fae! Sure, I once lived among fae, and sure, fae seem to think I have a dust cloud, but I'm not a fae! I plastered on a slightly twitching smile, so as to avoid outright frowning, and said, "No, I'm not. I'm a butterfly."
As if seeing through my façade like it wasn't even there, she replied, "Ohh! I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Shaking my head a bit, I replied, "No, it's not your fault. Even fae think me to be one of them... I have... grown used to it."
Looking a bit concerned, my fellow maid replied, "Still, I shouldn't have assumed... I'm really sorry."
Smiling a bit at her honesty, I let out a small sigh. "No, really. It's fine, kid." Trying to change the subject, or at least find out why the halls were curiously empty, I asked, "So, why have I seen no maids recently? You were the first one I've seen since I woke up..."
Blinking in surprise at the question, the girl answered, "Well, they're getting ready for the party!"
It was my turn to blink in surprise, and I hadn't expected such an answer. "...Party?" Why wasn't I informed of there being a party? Seeing as the party for the resolved incident was already over and done with, I know it had to be something else.
As she was about to answer my question, we suddenly found the floor beneath us decide to give way to a hole filled with eyes that seemed to be amused by something. I fluttered my wings to prevent my fall, but the tattered things did nothing but flail back and forth to no avail, as if the air they used to make me climb to the skys was simply gone. I could breathe fine as we fell, but it was still as if the air was simply gone.
Eventually I landed in a crouch beside Orange, who also landed much the same, save for rolling to prevent getting hurt. Seems that she at least has some form of training if she can land well from such a fall. I looked about carefully, and found us to be on the outskirts of a field of pumpkins, and the laundry had vanished. Muttering to myself, I said, "Looks like we aren't in Kansas anymore..."
I pulled myself from my kneeling position, and my eyes landed on something that wasn't there a moment ago. With a grin on her face, the maid before us said, "Ohh! More maids? How quant!"
Before I could ask the obvious question, Orange asked, "Where are we...?"
Suddenly holding a foreign flag of red and white stripes with a blue box in the corner covered in many stars, and waving it about, the maid replied, "The good ol' U.S. of A.!"
I rose a brow at the statement, and asked, "We're in America?"
Nodding, our fellow maid replied, "Yup! North America, to be exact! Now, I'm gonna have to ask you to take your true forms!
Flinching at the request, Orange asked shakily, "T-true form? Why would we have to take our true forms...?" I wonder why she is so nervous?
Grinning, the blonde before us answered, "Party rules!"
Making an obvious lie, the redhead said, "Erm... I... I don't have one..." I wonder why she's so desperate not to show her true form?
Smirking, the maid waved her index finger from side to side. "I don't believe that one bit. If you don't take it, I won't be able to allow you inside Miss Dragonfly." A dragonfly? ...But if that's true, why is she so nervous about showing her form?
The maid I was slightly more familiar with stiffened in surprise, before blinking in momentary confusion. After the moment passed, the girl suddenly nodded, and quickly morphed into a rather large chitinous woman. Her chest stayed small, and her her outfit curiously changed size to fit her. On her back were four wings, much like those of a dragonfly, but thicker and black. Her eight fingers fused together into four, and her thumb thickened as chitin layered over it. In the end, her fingers were long, thick, and had a tapered point to the tips. Her body was black, and hard, while and her feet strangely still fit within her shoes, which had taken a longer, and wider, more accommodating size. I have to wonder just why she isn't bursting out of her clothes... Normally, when one takes on ones true form, clothes stay the same size, and are ruined for it. This would be one reason why young youkai tend to wear naught but the skin on their backs. But her, her clothes grew with her. She must be at least three metres tall...
Looking to me, the maid said, "And you? I'll have you know that I'm waiting~"
Stiffening at the request, I asked, "Erm... May I have somewhere to change?" Before my very eyes, a large dressing booth appeared. Large enough to fit most things in their natural forms. Most, but not all. "Could you... make it twice that size, please?"
The booth grew to double that size, and I slipped into the cylindrical curtain held up by nothing at all. I began to swiftly undress down to nothing, and had the same slight trouble to undoing the wing buttons as always, but eventually I had finished undressing, and my clothes were in a neat little pile beside me, folded perfectly. Letting myself transform, my skin began to feel hot, and itchy, as what appeared to be white fur sprouted from all over my body, and my hair turned into fur on my back, leaving a purple patch of fur running down my back which soon began to morph into a thorax and my rear formed into an abdomen. my ghostly white wings multiplied in size to match my now truly massive body, and my face began to grow much like that of an insect, while still leaving behind human-like features. From my forehead sprouted a pair of feather-like white antennae, while my mouth became much like a very short beak. My hand changed much like my fellow maid, save for being white and furry, and my legs began to split apart, forming into six in total, before the positioning of my hips changed so that my legs were now beside me. I used my mighty wings to keep myself aloft as my legs could no longer keep me from seeing the ground up close and painfully.
The beating of my massive wings blew the curtain up, and away, revealing myself to the world as quite the large insect that looked not unlike something from one of those outside movies with the giant green lizard that fired lasers to rival the Black-white.
Giggling, the blonde asked while holding her finger in a pinching motion, "A little smaller, please? It isn't all that easy to fit all the youkai in one place, you know. You must be at least twenty metres tall! Maybe even thirty..."
Sighing to myself as only a butterfly could, I worked on making myself smaller and smaller. Eventually I was only four metres tall, and felt a bit stiff from the pair of massive changes in my size. From small, to large, to small again I went.
Grinning, the maid said, "Good! Now you can go into the party~" ...Now that I think about it, why didn't I just say I'd stay out here...? I hate parties!
Letting out another sigh, I began to speak in the chirpy tongue we insects use. "Fine, fine."
Giggling once more, the blonde maid said, "I can't understand bugs, you know."
With yet another sigh, I began to warp my throat to work more like a human's. In a clicky, clacky voice, I tested it by saying, "Fine... I'll... I'll do that." Noting that my voice, while a bit annoying in how it was a combination of insect jibberish and human tongue, came out fine, my stubby beak-like mouth didn't smile as I wanted it to, but my antennae rose a bit.
Sounding exactly as she did in her human shape, the dragonfly said as she began to walk, "Alright, let's go in." Curiouser and curiouser...
Nodding my affirmation, I followed after the dragonfly. As we made for the small grey mansion, I began to think about things. Thus far, from what I know about Orange she was...
Afraid and evasive of taking her true form.
Curiously suddenly not afraid of taking her true form.
Supposedly related to an oni.
Not an oni.
Seemingly shocked by something the ghostly maid said.
Seemingly perfectly able to imitate human speech, regardless of having such a tiny and strange form. I mean, save for the wings, I could easily believe her to be any sort of insect. It feels... somehow fake. As if it's simply there to fill a void.
The question is, what is that void?
Why was she afraid of showing her true form, but suddenly fine with it after being talked to?
What about what the maid said shocked Orange?
...If my estimations are correct, she flinched exactly when she said dragonfly...
Did she perhaps forget what she is?
From beside me, the dragonfly let out a sigh of relief now that we were away from the maid.
Dragonfly...
The redhead asked from beside me as we continued along, "Are you okay, Miss Rengeteki?"
Dragon... fly...
Looking a bit concerned as I was lost in thought, the monsterous girl asked as her antennae rubbed together nervously, "Miss Regeteki?"
Dragonfly.
As I fluttered along with powerful strokes of my wings, the girl hopped up and gave my thorax a single strong pat, the force of which just short of knocking me out of the air, and I suddenly panic a bit, righting myself as I fluttered along as my antennae twitched about in a show of panic. From beside me the maid asked, "Miss Rengeteki? Are you there...? You're fl-"
As I finally righted myself, I shrieked in my native tongue, my antennae low and wide, "Are you mad?! You nearly knocked me out of the air!"
Looking as if she would blink if as had eyelids, my fellow bug asked while her antennae continues to rub together nervously, "Erm... what was that?"
At having one last clue handed to me, I too would have blinked if I were able, but not for the same reason. While she seemed confused, I was not - I was surprised, and my antennae showed it by shooting up. Surprised that she couldn't understand what all insects are able to understand.
With that final clue in place, I easily deduced that this bug was no bug. She was an imposter, or some strange bug that makes no sense. But, for now, I would stick to thinking her an imposter. It seemed more likely, for one.
Realizing she was waiting for my reply, I said, "O-ohh, it was nothing of any import." Changing the subject in one fluid motion, I asked, "So, you wanted somethi-" As I spoke, I suddenly learned exactly what she wanted to warn me about as I flew strait into the green fire of a street lantern. I thought I had gotten better at being drawn to flames, but I suppose that isn't the case, now is it?
Sighing, she said as her antennae drooped, "I tried to warn you..."
Twitching on the ground a bit, quite stunned by the blow of my head connecting with the hard glass and steel of the lantern, I failed to reply to her with any sort of cohesion, and ended up muttering gibberish, not that my audience would be able to understand me.
Raising an antenna at what was likely just chirpy little clicks and clacks to her, the imposter answered what she though I said, saying, "Sorry..."
I lay there stunned for a few seconds more, before finally flipping myself off of my back, leaving a layer of dust on the grass from my wings. Flapping my wings, I took to the air once more, before sighing once more. "It's fine, Orange."
Rubbing her antennae together nervously, Orange replied, "Well, if you say so..."
As we headed towards the building, I saw a pair of oaken double doors come into view, much larger than any ordinary doors. Perhaps they are so large so as to allow for large youkai to make their way through? Disregarding that thought for a moment, now that we were nearing the doors, I flapped my wings mightily, and sped towards them. They were too narrow for my impressive wing span, so I had to improvise. And improvise I did, as I did a barrel roll just as I was about to damage my wings on the open doors, and killed my speed in a single mighty flap of my wings. Sighing in relief, I said more to myself than anyone else, "Clear..."
Running to catch up, Orange was soon through the doors and joining me. As she ran, she shouted, "Wait for me!"
Spinning about with a single flap of my wings, I faced the door, watching her bound through the doorway. She skidded to a halt as soon as she had caught up, thus showing that she had an impressive control over that body of hers for an imposter. Finding flying bothersome around such a crowd, I proceeded to mutate my lowest pair of legs to set below me, thus allowing me to land even in my true form. Ahh, the perks of having complete control over one's body. Long, long ago I would only land to rest, but now... even standing upright was an option.
Turning around to face away from Orange, I spotted a familiar face in the crowd. With a smile on my face, I began to head towards said person who was chatting with what seemed to be a tengu in her true form.
Before me was Lady Wriggle, the current crowned queen of the insects, in all her glory. Her carapace had a deep brown to it, and she was wasn't quite as tall as I, but still quite tall. I can only imagine how tall she was when she first transformed into her true form, as I hardly know how strong she is. Her form was both masculine, while also having gentle female traits, much like her human-like form. Atop her head was a strange iridescent green crown of sorts. Behind her, a pair of hard plates made up her forewings, which a black cape covered. Honestly, I hardly even know her... Perhaps being sent to this party wasn't such a waste of time after all.
As for the tengu she was chatting with, she seemed to be a crow, what with the black feathers of varying size coating her whole body from head to knee. She wore a traditional black crow tengu mask on her face to mark her as one of the better-than-you tengu, thus confirming what I thought her to be. Not her specifically, but in general, that is how the tengu are I find. She was only about the size of a particularly tall man, and was dwarfed a bit by the queen's size, while her hands, forearms, lower legs, and feet had that dry leathery look to them that birds tend to have, the flesh of which being black as one would imagine it to be. Her toes and fingers ended in short black talons. Her legs had the typical reversed knee one would expect of a bird, and while her thighs were as thick as that of a human, the rest of her legs were stick-like from the knee down.
Now having arrived at them, I began to overhear them talking, neither of them yet noticing me. The armored form of the queen said, "I know... I can't really help how many come to say hello."
Sighing from behind her mask, the crow replied, "I wish less of them were so rude to me~ It's rather annoying! That's the fifth one now. ...Or was it the sixth...?"
Sighing, my queen replied, "I know, I know. Sorry, Aya." ...Where have I heard that name before...?
Finally noticing me, the crow let out a chuckle, saying, "Looks like we have more company..."
Forcing her antennae to stop drooping, Wriggle faced me, and asked, "Yes?" After a moment of looking upon me, her antennae shot up. "Rengeteki? Is that you?" If she could smile, she likely would be going by how she sounded.
Nodding, my antennae went up a bit with joy, and I replied, "I am she, your highness." I went on one knee, and bowed my head to her.
At this, she hugged my now lower form. "It's good to see you... It's been too long! The last time I saw you, I was still just a bug in service of her highness, the prior queen! How have you been? And rise, please... You needn't lower yourself to me. I consider you a friend, you know."
Rising from my position on the ground, my antennae rose just a bit more at being considered a friend by the new queen. With our version of a smile on my head, I began to regale the tale of my exploits, saying, "Well... Where do I start..." I tapped my beak-like mouth in thought at this a moment, before saying, "Well, for starters, do you know of Kazami Yuuka?"
At the mention of my old mistress, the two of them stiffened, and the queen's antennae lowered. Gulping, she replied, "We... know her well enough." Beside her, the tengu merely nodded, eyes full of fear behind her mask.
I would have risen a brow at this behavior, but I rose an antennae alone due to my lack of such things, but chose to ignore it for now. "Well, I worked for her as a maid for years."
Antennae shooting up in surprise, the royalty before me asked, "And she never punished you?"
Once more ignoring the question that begged to be asked, I answered, "No, I'm very good at my job. I was the head maid for her, back when she actually lived in her own home. Before I was sadly laid off. After that, I worked as a maid in the daemon world Makai, in the crystal palace in the city of Pandaemonium."
Eyes widening, the crow asked, "You went through the gate before it was sealed off?"
Raising an antennae at the question, I replied, "And I barely escaped before it was sealed off, too."
Stroking the chin of her mask, Aya asked, "I see, I see~ Would you mind if I get an interview on that some time?"
Finally able to place who she was, I asked, ignoring her question, "...You're that annoying reporter, aren't you...?"
Likely grinning from behind her mask, Aya replied, "That pure and honest reporter."
Sighing, the queen asked, "Rengeteki, I like you as a friend, but please don't be rude to Aya. She's, erm... She's my mate."
At the admittance of such a ludicrous thing, both of my antennae shot up, and I asked, "Your highness, if I might speak freely... Isn't it a bit unorthodox to take a bird as a mate...? We're natural enemies after all..."
Laughing awkwardly at that, my queen replied, "Well... we met through extenuating circumstances, you could say."
Likely smirking behind her mask, the crow added, "I think calling her that would make Yuuka unhappy with you~"
As I was about to ask what the bird meant by that, Orange decided to let her presence be known by asking, "Erm... Miss Rengeteki, who are you talking to...?" ...Well, this likely won't end well...
Turning to the dragonfly that had just made herself the center of attention, my left antenna twitching in irritation, I answered, "This... would be the queen of all insects and her mate."
Tilting her head to the side a bit while looking to the two of them, Orange asked, "But... aren't they different species? How would that work?"
I let out a sigh at her bluntness, and answered, "They'll find a way, I'm sure."
With a fair amount of astonishment to her voice, the queen asked, "How on earth do you make your voice so... perfect?"
Flinching at the question, her antennae lowering quite a bit, my fellow maid replied, "W-w-well, umm... I..." Her voice trailed off a bit, as if she were unsure what to say.
Letting out a sigh, I decided something technically true would be best to avert a situation, and said, "She's... special."
Orange seemed to stiffen a bit at being called special, but otherwise seemed to calm down in general.
At this, the queen said in her same clicky voice as always, "I... see. So there's no way to imitate it then, is there?"
Shaking my head, I replied, "I'm afraid not, no."
Obviously curious to find out more, the tengu asked, "So, about those places you've worked at before..."
Letting out a sigh of slight irritation, I continued. "Well, I haven't worked anywhere else between then and my current job."
This time, it was the queen's turn to show her curiosity, and she did so by asking, "So, where do you work now, if you don't mind my asking?"
My antennae perked up a bit at the question from the queen herself, and I answered, "Well, your highness, I work at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and have worked there for about ten years now. Ever since I left Makai, to be exact."
Her own antennae perking up at the mention of the mansion, her highness asked, "Really? What do you do?"
After thinking for a moment, I decided full disclosure to be fine, and said, "Well, I was just a regular maid for most of my time there, but recently I have been relegated to be the playmate of the younger sister." Noticing an odd silence settling in, and that the tengu was looking at me funny, while the queen had risen an antennae, I asked, "If I may be so bold, your majesty, did I say something strange...?"
Flinching in realization that she had been quite obvious about thinking strangely of me, the queen replied, "Well... Which younger sister...?"
Not finding anything off about the question, I began to answer, "Well, I am the playmate of lady Flandr-" After a momentary silence, I asked, "Wait, how do you know of the youngest mistress?"
Chuckling awkwardly, the queen replied, "Well, we kind of... know the one she stays with. The two of us are a part of their group of friends, you see."
If I had eyelids, I would have blinked in surprise at hearing that, but as I didn't, my antennae simply rose a bit in shock. "You two are friends of Lady Usagi?"
Pressing her index fingers together, the queen proceeded to say, "Well, it's a bit soon to say that we're her friends, as we only met a few weeks ago, but I am not particularly bothered by the idea of becoming friends with the girl. With time, I'm sure we'll become friends, we just aren't friends yet. Right, Aya?"
Nodding at this, Aya added, "I don't make friends quickly, if at all."
Giggling, the queen teased, "Isn't that because everyone gets sick of you pretty quickly, Aya?"
The answer she received was silence. And this silence soon grew awkward, until Orange asked, "So, what was this about someone named... Yuuka?" She looked towards the queen and her mate from behind me.
I too was curious as to how the two of them knew Lady Yuuka, but sadly her highness said, "W-well, it's about time we get going, right Aya?"
Nodding rapidly, Aya replied, "Right! We've got so many things to do~"
Tilting her head, Orange asked, "Such as?"
The two of them had no answer from the look of things, so I simply said, "Farewell your highness. I hope to see you again before your successor has been decided. On that note, do you have anyone in mind?"
Suddenly her highness' hat came to life, and said in clicks and clacks, "At the rate things are going, I'm apparently next in line."
As the two of them left, ignoring the new conversation, the two of us shared a glance. Asking with innocent curiosity, Orange asked, "Did... her hat just talk like you did...?"
In response, I nodded and muttered under my breath in the clicking language of insects, "I never saw her highness as the type to wear her subjects as clothing..."
Tilting her head, Orange asked, "What was that?"
Shaking my head, I replied, "It's nothing you need concern yourself with, really. Just speaking out loud is all." Deciding to change the subject, I asked, "So, about how you aren't using your actual true form..."
At the subject being brought up, Orange paled a bit, and froze up.