I woke up at about ten the next morning. My mind was blank, and I was still rather foggy from having just awakened. Kaguya was standing next to me.

"Oh, you're awake!" She welcomed me back into reality.

"Ugh..." I groaned, not able to do much else. Kaguya patiently waited while I came to my senses. "Where… Where is she?"

"What?"

"The werewolf..." I still was slurring my speech a bit, not completely awake.

"Oh, she woke up earlier and left. Her name is Kagerou Imaizumi. She wanders about the bamboo forest. I probably should have warned you that there was a chance she would appear, but usually she stays farther away, but she's never been so aggressive before. As to where she is, she left a little bit ago. We've dealt with this kind of thing before."

"She was hypnotized, someone manipulated her mind so that she would attack me. I don't know… Satori wouldn't do that, but… Who else can manipulate minds?"

"I don't know."

"I should go to check on her anyway, so that I know whether or not she

"The attack I used to stun her. I just wanted to make sure I didn't kill her or anything."

"Kill? You didn't even wound her. Don't worry."

"Also good to hear." She didn't realize that I was further on the path to defeating the monster, and that it was the same path to my destruction. I knew that if she knew of my plan, she would certainly try to convince me not to take such a dangerous approach to defeating the monster, but it was the only approach I saw any chance of success in. I wasn't going to senselessly extend the conflict that threatened those I cared about. I was going to end it as soon as I could. "Any idea where she went?"

"No, not really, she's a werewolf who roams the bamboo forest, she's pretty elusive when she wants to be.."

"I'd bet. Regardless, we probably should go to check on her, and see if she has any idea what happened."

"Well, if you want to go into the bamboo forest, I should go with you, so you don't end up getting lost. If you fly over the forest like you normally do, you probably won't find her, and if you go on foot, then you could get lost."

"Good point. Should we head out now?"

"Sure."

"Hopefully once the monster is dead, I'll be able explore without the risk of getting shot to pieces. It'd be nice to be able to have a clear mind, and have no worries of any enemies."

"I hope that's not all you're looking forward to." Kaguya smiled, leaning towards me a bit. I smiled back at her.

"I'm looking forward to a lot of things." I patted her on the shoulder. "We still have a long time to be together, don't we?"

"That we do."

"I much look forward to it."

"So do I. Shall we be off?"

"Lead the way." With that, the two of us headed out into the forest. We were exploring for quite some time, not finding anyone, but I would hear an occasional rustling in the foliage, investigate it, but not find anything. From boredom, I extended a blade from my left arm and started to cut a small trail of bamboo. "If you're wondering, that might grow back by the time we find her. Making a path probably won't work."

"Oh, I'm just a bit bored. I've always been fascinated with this attack. The blade cuts through seemingly everything with no resistance."

"Magic can be quite amazing."

"Yeah, I think this is cool, but you said the lunarians have a spell to extend the Sun's lifespan, right?"

"Indeed."

"As an astronomy nerd, that is amazing."

"Could you elaborate on the term nerd?"

"Oh. Thinking about it, it's hard to describe what a nerd is. It's just, I like things that are usually associated with someone who is smart and has no social life, but after all, that's what I've been for practically my entire life, a smart person with little to no social experience."

"Is it socially unaccepted to be intelligent in your society?"

"No, but the way bullying works, you'd think that. If you don't remember what a bully is, I compared them to, no, blatantly referred to them as parasites. The way I see it, they serve no purpose other than to belittle those they think are inferior to themselves. I've had to deal with them for as long as I've been in school. The only reason I didn't just lose my sanity completely was that I had eventually made it so those people were afraid of me. It's not a fun way to live, knowing you're only safe due to the fear of others. I've never had too much of a good time dealing with people in the outside world. Here, I can't think of anyone with a reason to be afraid of me, save for Seiga. Despite our last skirmish, I doubt she's going to hold anything against me. I could have killed her, and she knew it, but I let her go."

"Well, that was the honorable thing, so it doesn't surprise me that you chose not to kill her."

"When it comes down to it, even the people in the outside world that I used to utterly despise, I couldn't drive myself to bring harm to them without it being necessary. Several times, I had to defend Patchouli in the outside world. In the outside world, two thugs were pestering Patchouli, and they obviously intended to cause harm to her in some way. During the last encounter with them, if I wanted to, I could have killed them. Instead, I just let the authorities do their job."

"In the outside world, if you didn't have magic, how could you have killed them?"

"Oh, there's a lot of ways, but I'm not going to list them, because I'd sound psychotic. Just know that I'm not in fact psychotic, I'm just familiar with human anatomy. Remember, I've been studying into the medical field."

"Wait, I don't think you've mentioned that before."

"Oh, well… Surprise, I used to want to be a doctor or a veterinarian. It'll take me a while to get back to that career path though, since I practically dropped out of school to come here, but really, I have a life here. Not to mention, if I'm not here, I could be responsible for, well... There's over seven billion people living in the outside world..." Kaguya looked back at me, shocked at my statement. "Yeah, I'm not going to let that much be destroyed. That's why I'm still here."

"So, there's even more weight on your shoulders than even I had guessed…"

"Yeah, that's true, but I have a plan. Maybe not too good of a plan, but it's going to have to work."

"What's that?" I silently cursed myself for mentioning the plan to destroy my own consciousness.

"Really, I haven't worked the whole thing out. That's how bad of a plan it is…"

"Oh, I see." I breathed out a long exhale in relief, having alleviated her curiosity. "Hm?" Kaguya had heard me. I cursed myself again for being too loud.

"Nothing, still just the morning drowsiness."

"You're quite the sleepy one, aren't you?"

"Always have been, always will be."

"Have you ever slept for more than four days straight? That's your record, isn't it?"

"Four is my record, yes. I don't believe I've slept longer than four consecutive days."

"I would be surprised if you slept for longer than that. It was odd how you woke up just as you had finished recovering…"

"That was quite convenient for me, but I apologize again for being asleep for four days straight."

"You had broken ribs, and a hole all the way through your torso. You were entitled to a nap."

"Well, if you look at it that way…" We continued on our search.

"So, you're not still worried about this whole conflict with that monster right? I hate to see you suffer…"

"Well, thanks for feeling that way, but no, I'm not worried about it so much, but I can't help but feel a bit nervous, knowing what all is to be lost." A sudden gust of wind set an uneasy atmosphere. "So… You mentioned that someone was at odds with you, to say. You said her name was Mokou Fujiwara if I remember. Should I be worried about that?"

"Well, she does live somewhere in the forest here."

"Okay, now I'm a bit worried about it. Let's just see if we can find anything worth staying around to look at, then get out of here. I'm not about to let you get gutted alive, that's my job. Well, at least, that's what it's seemed like." Kaguya looked back at me again, her expression showed that she was confused a bit by my absurd comment. "Okay, in hindsight, that sounds utterly ridiculous… I'm still just being silly. I should wake up." I promptly slapped myself in the face to get my brain to work normally. Kaguya laughed a little bit.

"Why did you do that, silly?"

"That's how I wake myself up sometimes. It works, as dumb as that may sound."

"I can definitely tell you're from Earth."

"Why's that?"

"Oh, it's just that normally, getting slapped is a humiliating thing. Here you are, slapping yourself without a second thought to it."

"Ha. That's not even close to the extent of how silly I can act."

"The good thing about you, is that you can also be serious about things."

"As unrealistic as it sounds, that's true. Have I much evidenced that part?"

"You have, several times. Such as when you vowed to restore Yoshika, and to rescue Utsuho. Even a few days ago when you faced down the monster, you were very serious."

"When it comes down to it, I do serious up. From a few days ago, I wouldn't so much consider that seriousness, as much as borderline sadism… I can get to that level if I'm pushed too far, I really don't like when I get there either… I don't like to kill things, but when I actually feel good causing pain to something, you know I'm past my limit."

"Does anyone like to kill things, really?"

"Well, some people in the outside world enjoy hunting animals. Personally, I don't enjoy killing, and dislike practice such as hunting. That is why I became a vegetarian, so that an animal wouldn't have to die for my sustenance. Anyway, so about how far does Mokou live away from Eientei? I want to know when I should have my guard up."

"Not too far away, but not close enough to cause trouble regularly."

"Well, at least the last part is a bit reassuring."

"I wouldn't worry about her too much. Recently, she seems to have calmed down a bit, and hasn't been too outwardly hostile."

"That's good to hear. Why is she even hostile toward you, may I ask?"

"Oh, it's because a long time ago, her father was one of those people who wanted to marry me, and I rejected him. Since then, she's always hated me. She ended up stealing some of the Hourai Elixir, and drank it, so she also is immortal."

"Well… It's a good thing she's calmed down…"

"Indeed."

"I would very much hate it if today were a repeat performance of last night, where I had to fight out of nowhere."

"I'm sorry I didn't help you there…"

"It's okay. Remember, I told you to run You know I'd gladly put myself at risk to keep you safe."

"You don't always have to think that way if you don't want to."

"Why would I not want to? It wouldn't make me a very good person if I had just left you there to get clawed apart. Besides, I came out of that fight with not a scratch on me."

"That's a good point, but I didn't feel good about leaving you. You've been through a lot a lot of suffering already..."

"It's better off this way, as I can handle it, for the most part at least."

"I know, but you've already done more, and suffered more than any person should have to."

"I guess that's just fate. It's never been too much in my favor. With a few exceptions, of course."

"Such as?"

"Meeting you was one such exception."

"Well, I'm sure you probably would have had plenty of luck meeting other people who would have been willing to spend I'm just lucky to have you."

"Actually, I didn't even care about that aspect of life in the outside world. I was too awkward. Plus, a lot of the girls I had to deal with were very ill-mannered. You're not like that. When it comes to us being together, I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm very lucky that I have someone like you."

"I'm glad that you feel that way about me."

"I'm glad that you give me reason to feel that way. If I couldn't say that for you, I definitely wouldn't have been able to say that for anyone from the outside world. I had basically given up on finding love, but then I was pleasantly surprised when you told me that you wanted me to be with you. Not to mention, even with some of those people who focus on their appearance, you're still more beautiful than anyone I've ever met."

"Why thank you."

"You're welcome. I'd be lying if I told you otherwise." Another few moments of silence passed as we continued our search. "I'm going to try something while we're looking for Kagerou." I tried to conjure a blank spellcard like Patchouli had suggested. I repeatedly tried to do so, each time becoming frustrated when I only was able to materialize part of a card. "Oh come on..." I muttered after the fifth try.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm trying to make a blank spellcard, but it won't work..." I tried again, and luckily, the spellcard was complete. The only problem was that it seemed to have a small tear in it. I growled in frustration as I threw it down and stomped on it. Surprisingly, the stomp had a lot more power in it than I had predicted. The ground shook, and multiple nearby bamboo stalks broke off. Dirt and small rocks were also sent upward in the blast. None of the expelled material fell to the ground. It seemed as if gravity had been suspended in my immediate area. Kaguya had to fly to regain stability. A few seconds later, gravity returned to normal. Kaguya stared at me as she landed.

"Since when could you do that?" She spoke with a tone of confusion mixed with relief from having landed.

"Since just now I guess. Let's get moving. We still have to find Kagerou."

"What was that?"

"I don't know..." I lifted my foot, and saw the spellcard had survived. I picked it up. The rip was still there. "I... Uh... I didn't scare you, did I?"

"Well, just a little bit..."

"Sorry about that. I still need to try to control my anger better... I really don't like to be intimidating. Unfortunately, I've had to be intimidating throughout most of my life... I just want to go back to when everything was peaceful. Don't you? I mean... I don't want to make people be afraid of me. I don't want fear to rule over anyone. I need to find a way to defeat the monster, and soon, otherwise Gensokyo could fall into chaos. Our little alliance is well able to defend against that monster, but now, I must take it upon myself to destroy it... I must overcome it before it can overcome me. I'm getting close now."

"I know, hopefully this will all be over soon enough. Then you'll be able to enjoy Gensokyo without having to deal with all of your stress."

"It'll be so nice to be like most people were in childhood, carefree and without stress. I didn't get that in the past, so maybe the future will make it all worthwhile. As a child, I had to mature quickly, and adjust to hostile society. Once this is all over, I can savor every moment as I get to live the slow and peaceful life I've always wanted."

"That would be nice."

"Yeah. That's all going to have to wait though..." I realized that I was stalling. I also thought about other things I needed to do. One thing was that I needed to get stronger, so that I could actually force enough energy through a target's nervous system to backfire to the point of putting myself into a coma, and thus depriving the monster of the psychological scar tissue that was my hateful past. Kaguya and I turned back towards Eientei, and began our return trip.

"So. Once the monster is defeated, do you have any specific plans?"

"Well, I don't really have any that I was thinking about. I guess I'll have to make plans as they're needed. I hate having to focus strictly on how to defeat the monster, but I don't have a choice. I'm not certain what the future holds," I reached over and grabbed one of Kaguya's hands. "But whatever happens, we're going through it together, right?"

"I wouldn't abandon you now, Jacob." She smiled in response. Her presence truly had an effect on me. I was a lot more powerful when motivated by the need to protect her. In addition to that, when I wasn't in combat, I was always a lot more calm when she was with me. I had long dismissed trying to find someone to spend my time with, as I found it pointless. Kaguya's mere presence let me stay happier than I was at most times in the outside world. We continued to search. It took a while for me to calm down entirely, as I still was somewhat agitated from the narrowly avoided conflict. I guessed that Kaguya wasn't eager to stay out in the forest too much longer, so I set a deadline.

"If we don't find her pretty soon, then I guess we may want to turn back." I announced.

"Didn't you say she was hypnotized?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's a pretty big deal if someone set her up to kill you. We probably should get to the bottom of this."

"You've got a point. Do you want to stay out to look for a while longer?"

"As long as you're out here, I'll stay with you."

"Thanks. So, do we have any ideas where she may be?"

"Well, not really..."

"Alright. I'm not going to suggest we split up, because then I'd probably get lost as you said, and have to fly back to Eientei to start up my search again."

"That may be a consequence of searching separately. I think it's advisable that we stay together."

"I agree. Let's keep moving." The two of us continued our search. "I wonder what responsibilities I'll have once this is all over... I wonder if I'll still be a protector of Gensokyo, or if I'll be forgotten..."

"Jacob, you'll never be forgotten. Not by me, not by anyone you've met during your time in Gensokyo."

"I really hope that will be the case."

"You're probably one of the reasons we're all still alive. Reimu may be strong, but I remembered something from a few days ago. When you were defending the Moriya Shrine from the monster, and it managed to fly around you, like the rest of us, she was scared. It probably could have killed us, but you didn't let that happen. For that alone, you deserve to be remembered, and respected."

"I like to think that... Maybe some day, I'll be seen as a leader..."

"Jacob, you already are a leader."

"How so?"

"Most of the people that are now working together normally wouldn't do so. You're a rallying force that's uniting Gensokyo against a common enemy. If that isn't enough reason to say you're a leader, then I don't know what is."

"Kaguya, you always know what to say to cheer me up, don't you?"

"I'm just telling the truth, that's all." I couldn't help but smile.

"Well, thanks for reminding me."

"You're welcome."

"So, now that I have all of the frustration out of my system, shall we continue?"

"Of course." We continued. A few moments later, I heard another rustling in the foliage nearby.

"Hey, is someone there?"

"Huh?" Someone responded. It sounded like Kagerou, but I wasn't entirely certain, as her voice from the night before was rather frantic, and I didn't know what it normally sounded like. I approached, and I saw that it was her. In the light of day, and out of the heat of battle, I was able to make out her appearance. She retained the long dark hair she had from the night before, but her eyes were simply a matching brown, rather than being a piercing red. Her fingernails reverted to normal from being usable as claws. She also didn't have protruding canine ears. Her white and red dress was the same. Luckily, her reasoning was inhibited by neither her werewolf state, nor by hypnosis.

"Hey, something happened yesterday I think. I need to ask you a few questions." I informed her.

"I... I don't have any memory from yesterday." She spoke, anxiety present in her tone of voice.

"I think part of that may be that something decided to play games with your mind. Do you know who or what that was?"

"No. I don't have any recollection of such a thing." I scratched my chin, not sure what else there was to ask.

"Okay. I suppose that's all."

"Goodbye." With her farewell, Kaguya and I turned and left. I shook my head in disappointment as we were walking back.

"Jacob, what's wrong?" Kaguya spoke in a consoling manner.

"It's just that this could have helped out, but it's all been a wasted day... Well, it doesn't matter, I already can guess what set her up to it, I just didn't want to believe it..."

"What's that?"

"That disgusting creature can absorb the abilities of others, just as I can. Somehow, in our last conflict, it gained the ability to manipulate minds. I need to bring this conflict to a close soon..."

"Do you have any idea how to beat that creature?"

"Yes, I just need to get stronger, I just have to increase the maximum power I can exert, and I'll be fine."

"Oh, Eirin can probably make a potion to do just that. Of course the effects of such a thing would be only temporary."

"I'd need it for maybe a little over a second. That sounds perfect."

"Only a second? Well... That definitely can work, but what attack will only take a single second?"

"I'm going to destroy the creature's consciousness." I omitted the fact that I'd have to do similarly to myself.

"That's an unusual method of attack."

"It's the only way I've seen to be have a chance."

"If that is the case, then I will notify Eirin when we return."

"That'd be nice, thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Hm... Well, I guess I'd like to talk about one thing. Well, Eirin was saying something about a new medicine she'd like to test, to analyze the abilities of someone. She was thinking you would make a good participant, as you have quite a few abilities."

"Yeah, I could give that a try. I also wondered about something..."

"What's that?"

"I was wondering if there's other places like Gensokyo, where they're separate from the normal world."

"Oh, I'm sure of it. The only unfortunate thing is that they're not always too friendly. The reason I know is that Reimu sometimes has to deal with such things."

"Huh... I guess I can help her with that in the future."

"I wouldn't be too eager if I were you, I've heard that places like that can be somewhat terrifying."

"Someone has to deal with them. You know where I'm going with this."

"Yes... I suppose you're right."

"Anyway, You need not worry about that for now. We still have greater issues that need to be resolved."

"I agree." We continued on toward Eientei. After a considerable amount of walking, we finally arrived. Kaguya led me to the clinic. She went into the back room with Eirin, and soon came back with a small vial of a light blue looking potion. "Can you come back with me for a moment?"

"Alright."

"Oh, take this." She handed me the vial.

"Okay. Do I need to drink this?"

"Not yet." I then followed her into the back room where Eirin was waiting.

"So, you're okay with helping me test this?" Eirin awaited my confirmation.

"Yes. I'd like to know the fullest potential of my strength." I agreed.

"Very well. First, you must drink the potion, then the analysis will be easier."

"Alright." I did as instructed.

"Okay, I'll begin." She reached out one arm towards me, I started to glow, and the light was draining into her hand. She picked up a sheet of paper, and the light flowed over it. She inspected it. It was blank when she took it off of the table, so I didn't know what she was looking at. She set it back on the table. I walked closer and saw that there was writing on it. It was a list consisting of my abilities. The abilities were the usage of immaterial blades, manipulation of minds, manipulation of time, manipulation of gravity, reinforcing body tissues, and copying abilities. There was one more thing on the list, but it did not show clearly on the paper. "I don't understand why the last ability is unreadable. Perhaps it's being suppressed?"

"That seems like it could be." It was a fairly long line, so I assumed the ability to be rather impressive. "What could it be?"

"I really don't know."

"Maybe once I defeat that monster, we can figure it out."

"Perhaps. Also, Kaguya asked me to make a potion for you. Excuse me for one moment." She left the room for a moment, and returned with a dark blue potion in an even smaller vial. "This potion is rather potent, so a large dosage would probably be ill-advised. This will be able to boost your strength to potentially three times your current limit. The problem is, the effects may last from either ten, to twenty seconds, varying based on the user. Kaguya said you had a certain attack in mind to use in tandem with the potion. I recommend drinking it just before commencing the attack, so that the effects last the full duration."

"Thanks Eirin. This will help a lot."

"You're welcome." I was tired from walking, as I hadn't fully awakened at the start of our exploration. I lay down on my bed once more.

"Jacob, if you want, you can move that into my room." Kaguya offered.

"Oh. Okay." I accepted. It practically was a cot, so I was easily able to lift it up. I moved it into Kaguya's room, and lay down. I held the slender vial in front of me. The glass was rather thin, and I assumed it to be fragile. I knew I needed to keep it safe. I took one of my spare shirts from my backpack, which was in Kaguya's room. I took of my shirt, put on the new one, and wrapped the vial in the shirt I had removed. I set the wrapped vial behind my pillow. I changed my pants as well, then lay down. I smiled again, thinking about the potion. With it, my plan came together the best I could have imagined. The next step was going to be confronting the monster, and settling the conflict, at all hazards. I closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep, knowing that the time was coming to finish what I had started.