First Words:
JYsven - For the purposes of this crossover, I had to also think of how these different powers interact with each other, so that's a yes to your second question; I've basically already planned out all the differences between Nen and the other powers in Gensokyo. However, these differences will end up being pretty big plot points later on, so I don't want to disclose them all yet. As such, I'll answer your first question, which is something that's already been established in-universe. The same way the Touhou characters can actually see Nen, unlike the common person in the Hunter x Hunter universe, a Nen-user can sense spiritual power and all sorts of magic: there are a few nuances here like the eventuality a Nen-user uses Zetsu, but that's the general gist of it. Hisoka's noted in narration to sense their powers, and I think right on the first chapter Reimu can see the intruder's Ten so if the story's set it up, you can safely assume that's how it will be. Regardless, thank you very much for reviewing, as always!
somemadao - It's okay! I wouldn't want you to feel pressured to review, either way! As for the chapter, well, I'm hoping I don't disappoint but on the basis of meaning story-wise, I might not make the wildest choices here. Though, I made a pretty big effort for everything to go sort of full circle here, and for the presence of Reimu and Marisa have made an impact enough that different events happen because they were there. So, I guess the chapter'll speak for itself, hopefully, since I'm being vague here, hahaha. Regardless, thank you very much for reviewing, as always!
NekoShinji - How I saw it, it was convenient to make it so everyone spoke the same language seeing as Hunter x Hunter has a bunch of characters from different nationalities who speak the same language anyway (except Feitan just because), and since it's coded as Japanese I figured I wouldn't put any language barrier by having it so the language is the same but the writing system is different. In other words, Touhou characters can understand Hunter x Hunter characters but can't read the letters, yes. Reimu had to get help from like two OCs to read and write forms for both Heavens Arena and the Hunter Exam, so the talk with Hisoka was basically just as a way to confirm that the language barrier is only applicable to the writing system. Anyway, thank you very much for reviewing!
Since the last chapter, this story got 8 favorites and 11 followers, likely because you all are chill, patient individuals who I love (thank you)! So, the mini-hiatus was more or less circumstancial in terms of real life so no writer's block yet, and I even got the backlog updated so I guess my New Year's resolution is gonna be to actually try to at least upload bi-monthly, hahaha. Also, I stan chairwheel Okina, and am all for the new Touhou manga, the Touhou 17.5 looks amazing and Touhou 17 has really great music and the plot is interesting but omg sometimes you just can't see the projectiles!
Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 13: Being Hunted and Duelling in Otherworldly Minds
The early morning began with cold wind from the Youkai Mountain, as the Sun was only barely visible from the side of the mountain Kasen was exploring. She could not feel the breeze. Rather, while she felt the cold, it was to her irrelevant; almost non-existent. Her own presence was perhaps colder than the Autumn weather itself as needlessly focused eyes surveyed the rocky premises. I was sure I felt it around here... An energy, only faint; as if in hiding. It had lasted only the fewest seconds, and marked the moment the mastermind had likely let their guard down, Kasen noted.
Then, her balance swayed lightly from an unfamiliar texture contacting her feet; it was not as solid as the rocks. Ill-fitting to the terrain, Kasen was sure it was pertinent to cast her gaze downwards, and take sight of a hopeful discovery. She stepped back, removing her foot from the form of the youkai sleeping in between the cracks of a mound of simple rock; it was hardly a hiding place. Conversely, had she not stepped over the youkai's body to begin with, Kasen would have never discovered it. She had hardly noticed its presence below her, a testament to the mastermind's abilities to hide. There you are...
Her expression suffered almost no changes upon finding her target. Her eyes narrowed, only slightly, but nothing else truly attested to the surprise she felt when she processed the unorthodox way she had found the youkai that had attacked her; a pawn of the mastermind, to be exact. Kasen recognized the beastly features, starting from the ears of a dog and the softly swaying tail. A young beast youkai, nothing to fear as far as Kasen could see. It's laughable they thought they could go head-to-head against me in this kind of form, she inwardly remarked, but no amusement gushed forth from it; Kasen's mood was not entirely jolly for the occasion. However, she could at least note the faint traces of the foreign energy she had chased after.
Just barely, as the Nen seemed almost draped over the youkai, rather than within him. Otherwise, Kasen would have never been able to see it, and she would have been at a loss as to how the mastermind had been able to control the youkai without ridding him of his identity. Naturally, the moment she realized the position of the shrouded Nen, though it was currently only subtly clouding the youkai's form, Kasen knew that the youkai had not been possessed. As it stood, the youkai retained his sense of self; it just so happened said sense of self was being used by another person. It was that kind of a tasteless, vile power. Now, whether there was an easy method to dispel such a power or not, Kasen was not entirely sure, especially as Nen was foreign to Gensokyo and all arts that encompass it by nature.
However, on the other hand, Kasen was not especially fond of leaving a moving pawn to continue roaming free and upsetting the progress of those trying to solve the incident. Furthermore, she disdained another attack; it brought a grimace to her face, while her gaze remained unfeeling in light of the unconscious youkai. He appeared asleep, but alive nonetheless; unscathed. Were he to be set free, he would live the easygoing life he had set out for him in Gensokyo. HE was certainly not the only one.
Even so, Kasen was uncaring of such facts. In a single blow, Nen and spiritual power scattered from the area, from the youkai that was no more. Kasen's hand carried no blood, and no sort of filth associated with her deeds, while the cracks in between the rocks carried nothing but the fewest squashed plant life. Kasen's expression did not shift, and she simply stood from her position, only to stare towards the sky. The Sun rose slowly, as expected; the hue of the sky was not quite as vivid as it would become during midday.
Regardless, Kasen continued gazing, and spent the rest of the early morning sat on one of the rocks pondering on the incident. The incident, and what course of action she would take next...
. . .
"Think we're gonna get attacked any time soon?" Marisa asked from beside Reimu as unenthusiastic eyes surveyed the dense forest. The sight was already beginning to sicken Marisa, who longed for a change of pace from the constant meaningless wildlife and null sense of danger. She and Reimu would have flown above the ground now that they possessed all tags, but even the sky was starting to bore them after hours of meaningless flight, so there was nowhere to escape to, truly.
"With how boring this whole day is becoming, I almost wish I could say yes to that," Reimu responded with a grimace. She, too, was inspecting her surroundings in vain, hoping that perhaps someone would come to challenge her out of nowhere like the last time. "Seriously, how many days do we still have until we're done with this place?"
"Four," Marisa plainly stated, "and that's not countin' this one."
Reimu sighed. "I should have just let the bald guy go and chase him throughout the week if this phase was going to be so dull."
"But it'd have been a pain just findin' the guy if you let him go," Marisa said, "and your plan would've failed, anyway. If there's anything I'm blaming here, it's your luck."
Reimu tilted her head aside, watching Marisa frown with an unexpected amount of resentment. "My luck? What did my luck ever do wrong?" Reimu innocently questioned, and Marisa rolled her eyes.
"We're always way too early clearing these damn phases," Marisa asserted, "Even this one, we just coincidentally ran into the guy targeting me, the guy targeting you and the creepy guy who happened to have my target's tag on hand. And his target was the guy you coincidentally beat up!" She kept gesturing back in forth to illustrate all the parties involved, to the point Reimu had stopped listening midway trying to understand what exactly was what in her sentence.
As such, Reimu simply smiled, though without as much confidence as usual, before commenting idly, "I'm pretty amazing, huh?"
"I wasn't complimenting you," Marisa shot back. "In a way, your luck's bringin' us the misfortune of being freaking bored, so it's just a pain in the ass."
Reimu looked up absent-mindedly, as she finally processed the actual content of Marisa's words. "When you put it that way..."
"You're not that amazing after all," Marisa snidely added so as to complete Reimu's sentence, only to jump back from Reimu upon taking in a glimpse of her weapon moving about.
"Hey!" Reimu had just brandished her weapon, lacking the true intent of attacking Marisa, but her eyes widened in shock as she turned to the side.
"Woah!" Marisa felt something beneath her foot of a texture different from dirt or tree roots, slippery enough for Marisa to lose her balance. Marisa tried to grab her broom, but was too late in her action and ultimately fell with her backpack pressing against the ground. It had cushioned her fall, and Marisa's fingers brushed against her hat, which was a small distance away from her head. Marisa then groaned after realizing she had slipped on something, and looked up to take in Reimu's reaction.
"Geez, Marisa! Don't you know this forest has all these roots sticking out from the ground?" Reimu glanced to her left and right, noting the trees in her surroundings, from them coursing large, sturdy roots, the likes Reimu herself had almost tripped on enough times to glare at. "You should be watching your step! Here." Reimu stretched out her hand in Marisa's direction, which Marisa groggily took if only to stop laying on the ground and listening to Reimu.
"I didn't even trip on a tree root, though," Marisa said just as she was in the process of standing. She then took a deep breath, and dusted herself off, pondering her luck because it had not rained and there was no mud to considerably dirty her outfit. "I just slipped on something and lost my balance."
"Slipped? But what could make you slip in a place like..." Reimu directed her gaze to the ground in order to search for her answers, and was rendered momentarily silent by the whiteness of a single spot of the ground. "A tag? What's something like this doing on the ground?!"
Marisa blinked before stepping back when Reimu started to crouch. "Huh?" Then, she looked down, but was only able to see Reimu stand and stare at the number on the object Marisa could identify as a number tag from its back alone. "That's what I slipped on?"
"It looks like it," Reimu said, "This was right in front of your feet." Reimu flipped the number tag so the number would face Marisa and held it up to her line of sight. "It says '199'. Doesn't that sound familiar to you somehow?"
Marisa pondered for a bit, hand over her chin as she did so. "That's the number tag that was on one of those three brothers," Marisa said, lightly pointing at the tag in face of her quick memory, "I remember pointin' that out to Killua. Also, wasn't this the bald guy's target or anything?"
"Now that you mention it, the bald guy did scream something about number a hundred and ninety nine being his target," Reimu said as she nodded to herself, only to smile. " We left that bee girl with her tag, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt keeping this one around to follow that creepy thing's advice."
Marisa scowled as she stared at Reimu, who gave her the tag. "Why'd your luck have to make me slip and fall, though?"
Reimu winked. "I'm pretty amazing, huh?"
. . .
"When do you think Lady Okina will be coming over?" It was the third time he asked that precise question, but the amount of times he had expressed the same content in different words was uncountable, whether as a question or as a comment. Sakichi was, presently, idling as he always would have to in the Land of the Rear Door, while Satono and Mai loomed ominously behind him. At some point, he did know that was simply their default stance, and they appeared to be at least trying not to let him be too depressed in Okina's abode by taking him places he deemed beyond his imagination, but they had just as well reached their limit.
Satono sighed, and Mai was scowling, placing herself in front of him while lightly waving her bamboo stick. "Knock that off already," she admonished loosely, glancing at Satono for support, "The master will show up when she wants to show up."
"The only thing your questions are doing is giving us bad vibes."
Seeing Satono theatrically shudder in light of the 'bad vibes' Sakichi was supposedly releasing, Sakichi was quick to sharply say, "But I just really need to talk to her. I mean, my best friend's being controlled by something! I can't leave this hanging!" He grabbed at his own chest area, staring more at the mental image of his friend being asleep than at Satono's grimace.
"Geez, it's not even like your friend's just now been like that," Satono said, "The mastermind has been in Gensokyo for at least four months already."
"That's even more of a reason to be panicking, Ms. Satono!" Sakichi snapped, the impulse brought forth by Satono and Mai's remarkably cold approach to the subject. "If I got into a coma after being controlled for less time than that, I don't even want to image how long his coma will last!"
"It's gonna happen anyway, though," Mai said while shrugging. "There's nothing you can do about that, at this point."
"But your master can!"
"She can, but it's not like she will," Satono retorted.
"You might've been lucky, but you shouldn't be expecting your friend to be treated the same way," Mai added, looking vacantly at the vastness of the area more than at Sakichi, implying she was not fully focused while speaking, "Our master doesn't do any charity service."
"If you hadn't been beaten up by the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, you probably wouldn't even be here to begin with— Hold on, Sakichi." Satono and Mai did not move, but Sakichi had complied with the order, because he was familiar with the regular method of communication between Okina and her servants. As such, he was similarly not surprised, though he was still unnerved, seeing Mai and Satono nod in unison, their gazes nothing more than pinpoint; a sharp contrast from when they spoke to Sakichi. "Understood," they stated, but not to Sakichi.
All the tension built up from that moment disappeared in a mere second, and Mai was the first to take a step forward as though to mark that she was still within the conversation. "The Master said she's coming over right now."
"See? You should have just been patient instead of asking us the whole time," Satono admonished with a wry frown, and Sakichi's mind had no time to ponder an answer, for the surging anger relinquished its control.
"I was asking because you wouldn't tell me when she would arrive!" Sakichi argued, because, effectively, his nagging of Mai and Satono was nothing in comparison to what he was being subjected to. He glared them down, watching their expressions shift from casual to offended just as easily as his had. "Besides, I know you could have called her earlier."
"If we did, we'd be the ones getting scolded when the Master was gonna show up anyway," Mai said.
"You're so self-absorbed," Satono said, placing a hand on her waist as stared condescendingly. "It's not like you're the only one with a life here."
"Sort of a life," Mai added, though she was frowning, "but still."
"Not helping, Mai." Satono rolled her eyes, and Mai only shrugged her shoulders as though not meaning to apologize. "Anyway, your problems aren't our problems, so that's that!"
"Well, they became your problems the moment you had to watch over me and I had no choice but to stay in this creepy place!"
"You seem rather lively over there." The familiar, domineering voice had Sakichi flinch, while Satono and Mai had only turned in Okina's direction as if entirely expecting her to arrive that very second. Sakichi slowly attempted the same, and, despite the fact he knew Okina was to be there, walking as confidently as ever, but she barely missed his line of sight. Mai and Satono bowed without any signs of an abnormal situation occurring, but, when Sakichi lowered his gaze and noted Okina was seated on a chair with weels, approaching, he blinked in surprise. The last few times he had seen her, she had been in no such arrangement; was she not a god? "If you have this much energy now, I'm sure to finally see results today."
Okina, meanwhile, was smirking as the grandness of her status would allow her, and Sakichi supposed it was only natural that Okina would sometimes not walk; immediately, he resolved never to bring the matter up. After all, what in a human would be a point of interest was meaningless before the power implied in having your own dimension decorated with doors leading to any place the world could offer, and the sheer fact that she could probably erase Sakichi even if she were crawling upon the ground. If it happened to be a sensitive topic, tha truth would be further proven by her reaction to his insolence. Instead, he gulped, reminding himself of the real business he had with Okina. He shut his eyes to gain focus, and said with as least hesitation as he could muster: "I've thought this through already, and I'm willing to cooperate with you. If anything, I wouldn't want to go back to the mastermind's side after knowing they've been possessing my friend and I. Still, I can't stand the thought of Seijirou having been controlled by the mastermind! I'd like to save him as fast as possible!"
"Hm?" Surprisingly enough, Okina had quickly dropped that smirk as she slowly blinked, but she was still calm in asking, although bluntly, "What's this, all of a sudden? You want to save the human the mastermind is controlling? And how do you think you would go about doing that when I've explicitly forbidden you from returning to Gensokyo?"
"I'd like your help, Lady Okina!" Sakichi crouched to the ground, and proceeded to grovel before her, much to the surprise of Mai and Satono, who took a step back from Sakichi by reflex. "I beg of you! Please help my friend, just like you helped me!"
In his current position, Sakichi could not see Okina's expression, and he scarcely knew how she would react. Regardless, he was firmly over the strangely stable and hard surface of the Land of the Rear Door, trying to ignore whatever hypotheses he could think of for Okina's first reaction. "Just stand already. You're only making a fool out of yourself," she sternly ordered, but he did not find traces of anger in her voice; it seemed as though Okina was still just as calm as before. Sakichi slowly stood, the tension not allowing any other speed, and saw Okina with her arms crossed, facing him with the calm dignity his request deserved. "Firstly, I will not wake your friend from his coma."
"But—!"
"That will be the job for someone else," Okina asserted simply through her lack of hesitation in continuing to speak despite Sakichi's forming protest. Sakichi eyed Okina expectantly after hearing that, if only due to its hopeful implications, and bit his lip so as to not have his mouth agape before someone such as Okina. Likely noting that, Okina began to smirk once more, and spoke further: "Someone who will have researched this condition, and found a truly Gensokyo-like way to solve the problem. In other words, this isn't a matter that concerns me, or you right now. All you have to do is serve my interests."
Assailed by the vague and authoritative nature of Okina's words (predictable though it was that she would say them in such a way), Sakichi took a few more seconds to speak than normal, and, perhaps to avoid the different interpretations of what Okina's 'interests' could be, he said, "In other words, Seijirou will be saved?" Okina nodded sharply by contrast, displaying recurring confidence.
"Why would he not be? It would be for the best if all villagers were awake. Your friend would need to be saved for that," she said, "Besides, assuming anyone would be looking for the mastermind, waking your friend and asking what happened before his possession would have you know right away which body the mastermind was using before that Seijirou fellow's."
"That's... Sound, I suppose," Sakichi said without much thought beyond how little he did come to know of Seijirou's circumstances; almost as if Okina could be hiding something from him. She had stated before that she had nothing to omit from Sakichi, but he knew it was not that simple, and that someone of her level would have her share of secrets. Were they related with Seijirou? And, if so, what was her motive for being involved? Rather, now that he thought about it, what had Okina have any obligation towards the incident, or Gensokyo itself?
Perhaps because she had noticed the palpable doubt and confusion in Sakichi's unfocused gaze, Okinasai, though in a strikingly conversational manner, belying a carefree sort of certainty that differed slightly from Okina's seemingly default dignified status, "Sakichi, you need only trust my judgment. As the incident comes to an end, everything will return to how it once was; and that includes you and the people you know."
It was only when Okina spoke that Sakichi found that she had been nearly at arm's length. He stared uncomfortably, weighing his options on how to react to a being inherently superior to him. "Uh..."
"Or, let me see," Okina said, "Is there any room for doubt in what I told you, somehow?
"N-no? I suppose?" Sakichi uttered, uncertain of whether he was being intimidated or if it was just his imagination. Okina shook her head with a wry smile, as if laying eyes on something pitiful; Sakichi himself could not protest against that implication, seeing as he really was pitiful in his uncertainty. Regardless, Okina's statement about Seijirou's safety led him to believe there would be no point arguing further, because, at the very least, it did not seem she was lying to him.
"I can only expect that you don't display the same amount of doubt in your knowledge of Nen," Okina remarked, "which brings me to the main reason you and I are here."
"Ah, now that you mention it," Sakichi said, eyebrows furrowed in in thought of his last memories of Gensokyo: he had been defeated by the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, and he was now on this strange realm. He had always assumed the reason for the necessity of his presence would be related to that, but he was not yet able to fathom how. "I was never told what I'd be doing here..."
"You always seemed too mentally unstable to be told," Okina said, "Putting aside your apparently fidgety personality, I'm assuming you're well enough so that we can make progress once and for all."
"I'd say I'm rather normal..."
"Hm?"
"It was nothing!" The exclamation came suddenly even to Sakichi, who had made it in the first place, but it was for the best when it came to averting Okina's attention to his unruly mumbling (albeit he was not planning it in the slightest). It also proved how entirely on edge he was only due to the strangely knowing smirk and straightforward gaze Okina was directing his way, rather relentlessly, as if perhaps expecting something out of him that he could not answer to. However, as the silence settled in, and Okina's eyes narrowed slyly in face of Sakichi's dumbfounded expression, and Sakichi himself could not help but scratch his own cheek, frowning. "I, I mean, you are a god..."
"Shall you prostrate before me again, then?" she offered lightly enough that Sakichi was at first confused, and took about three seconds to even start to awkwardly gesticulate.
Caught between wanting to argue back and actually feeling as though it was a reasonable proposal from Okina, he was yet unsure of which course of action to take, and how seriously he had to take Okina's words. "Again— Well— I wouldn't exactly—" Hearing Okina snicker was the sign needed for Sakich to realize she was merely joking, but though he wanted to find another statement to make if only to look better than he was stuttering through his confusion, nothing surged in his mind before Okina was already loosely waving her hand.
"I suppose I've had enough of your antics," Okina said, only to use that hand she had waved to pull back stray strands of hair. "We've more important things to talk about."
"You were the one who started—"
"Hush, now, Sakichi," Okina said, "Let us get to the heart of the matter." Sakichi grimaced in frustration, but, as he, too, was curious, he remained silent. "The reason you've been brought here is, quite simply, is so I can gather information about Nen. More specifically, I'm looking to use you as the guinea pig to a number of experiments related with managing Nen." Seeing Sakichi flinch as though immediately afflicted by frightening mental images, Okina continued: "Naturally, I wouldn't let my only sample lose his life in the process. All the experiments entail is shift your mental energy and vitality in different ways and see the correlation between that and the fluctuations of your Nen, as well as see how far Nen can be transformed under the effects of—"
"I-I'll be safe, right?" Sakichi asked quickly, as all words were starting to sound the same to him, and none of it implied concrete consequences to his health. Naturally, it had been equally not planned that he would interrupt Okina, but he atopped himself from further averting his gaze, and saw Okina simply smile his way.
"Within reason, yes," Okina said, "Regardless, if you can't understand the details, you have no need to hear them. The experiments themselves will require nothing more than displays of Nen, or even nothing at all from your part."
Sakichi pondered, taking as his first conclusion the fact that Okina's first answer was also vague on purpose, and not indicative of what seemed to be the lacking danger in the experiments themselves. Knowing at least that, completing his vision of why he was in the Land of the Rear Door at all, had Sakichi smile despite himself, for hope was finally upon him. "Well, that's good," he said, "And after that, I'll be let out of here..."
"Oh? How presumptuous of you," Okina uttered, eyebrows raised in mild curiosity. Sakichi froze before her genuine expression.
"Huh?"
"Even after the experiments themselves, you would be in danger if you returned to Gensokyo," Okina calmly explained, "As such, you can only return after the incident is solved, and the mastermind taken care of."
"R-really?" was Sakichi's only possible response, after only now understanding that she had indeed told him that he was in danger. Though, after he were to cooperate, why would she care about his safety? Could he not simply take the risk, or was he already thinking too recklessly?
"Of course," Okina answered, "Now, before we can proceed to any kind of experiment, I'd like you to tell me about Nen. You do know about it, no?"
Certainly, she could notice his distraught gaze, seeing as she was staring at him directly, without any signs of wavering. It was perhaps that which she chose as her method to handle his precarious emotional state; simply putting it aside, as though it were not there at all. He could not argue against someone unwilling and more powerful, so he said, albeit dejectedly, "I was the second person to know Nen in the village, so I am more experienced than the other members..." Sakichi sighed afterwards, thinking, Until the incident is solved? And how long will that take?
"Tell me, then," Okina said, "You have no time to waste despairing about a situation which you contributed to cause."
Sakichi's shoulders drooped, as he smiled wryly. He was a criminal of Gensokyo, and Okina had perhaps still kept that in mind while speaking, for her only words of support about his decaying mood were reminders of his rash actions. "Point taken," he said, "pitifully enough." He resigned to talking about the very first moment he was introduced to Nen, unsure where he would continue going with the topic as Okina was silent throughout, seemingly focused on his improvised rambling. She would suitably ask questions every now and then, not enunciating the source of the doubt and demanding an answer, which Sakichi was starting to give rather easily. In fact, the more he spoke, and saw himself now not underestimated, he was less tense, to the point he barely noticed when Satono and Mai had prepared a seat for him, making him match Okina's line of sight nigh perfectly.
There was no method to discern time in a realm permanently bleak and sinister, and the hours passed by quickly as a result, until Okina quite suddenly announced she had enough and left for whatever activity she would do when she was not there, likely beyond his comprehension. In truth, he knew nothing about Okina, or what she really thought or felt. It struck at him when she was outside of his sight, as he considered her attitude from the very beginning until now, all for the sake of accomplishing her purpose, and, strangely enough, for her amusement. He talked to Satono and Mai afterwards, but the anxious feeling never did disappear. For how straightforward her remarks were, she was as mysterious as what her identity would imply, and that had him nowhere close to home.
. . .
Byakuren Hijiri had not been conducting her investigations on these youkai exterminations for nothing: one of the victims had frequented the Myouren Temple, and none of these youkai had been talked about throughout the village as having been the cause of any recent danger. In other words, these deaths had not ocurred out of a need to carry out a specific kind of justice, but likely as an intimidation tactic. However, the ones to be intimidated by the fall of youkai are, sad though the truth was to Byakuren, other youkai only, and the general emptiness of the late evening scenery of the Human Village was not due to the exterminations of youkai, but due to the disappearance of one Sakichi Shirato, who from the very start had been a suspicious fellow.
In total, three people were known to have been acting strange ever since Nen was known throughout Gensokyo, and concerned parties (usually relatives) would not hesitate to speak to the resident Buddhist nun about the matter, if only to seek advice in case of a possession. Assuming the three were behind the exterminations was more than plausible, despite claims of said concerned parties about the revenge involved in the unusual cases of sleep, and had Byakuren ever so closer to completing her list of suspicious individuals, likely to be part of the group of Nen-users, based on who were acquainted with the prime suspects and those said to have first spread the rumors around the village. In that sense, it had been very easy to reach the culprits behind the uproar, to the point her last trip to the Human Village had been to confirm the usual locations of all suspects.
This would now come in handy for the night time visit she had planned for one Seijirou Shinzaki, someone she had her eye on before even Mamizou had directed her to the young man. From what she had gathered from other villagers, Seijirou, when active (which was normally at night), would frequent one of the most popular bars to talk with the others, and leave afterwards on unspecified business, hardly partaking in the drinks themselves. Byakuren had, in fact, spotted him before and witnessed the very testimony she was given, only to gather nothing on the conversation; right now, however, she had stood by the entrance. Seijirou left calmly, without even looking back as she trailed silently behind him on the nigh empty streets, while Byakuren noted the little time he had spent in the bar comparatively to the last time. She had not observed entirely what he was doing there, but he was certain there were barely any customers, justifying the duration of his visit.
From the very start, Byakuren knew that Seijirou was aware he was being followed, if only because he was heading to no concrete location, instead walking in circles around one street. At some point, he finally turned for a path Byakuren recognized as leading to the outskirts, near the gate leading to the path to the Forest of Magic; perhaps because he was unable to shake off the one pursuing him. Seijirou yawned unceremoniously once he reached the other side of the gate, and Byakuren was hiding behind one of the houses nearby, awaiting his next move. As a Nen-user, he could easily erase his presence and proceed for an assault, but he had so far not used any of his powers. Considering the dark circles under his eyes, and drowsy posture, it was just as natural to figure he had slept little, for reasons unknown.
"... Byakuren Hijiri, I take it?" a voice uttered from lightly afar, loudly as though purposefully projecting itself, but not quite reaching the intensity of a shout. Byakuren knew instantly, for she had been watching Seijirou without fail, that he had been the source of the dull-seeming voice, but decided still not to leave her hiding spot, in order to ascertain how he would act. "Not much of an ambush you can do when you've been busted."
Byakuren took a deep breath, and, in having verified one of her magic scrolls had already finished its quick sutra incantation, Byakuren stepped outside of her hiding place, and proudly walked for the gate of the village, where Seijirou had apparently taken her expecting a fight. She did not speak as she approached, only carrying herself with the composure fitting someone who did not perceive danger. Even so, Byakuren knew well that he could be the one to ambush her, instead; but, now, she trusted something more primal than logic. Seeing that blank gaze from afar, and the equally as calm stance with a foreign aura lacking in intensity or instability, Byakuren relied on her intuition to understand that Seijirou, himself, did not wish for trouble.
As such, once she was within arm's length of Seijirou, she said, "I had no intention of attacking you— Whoever you happen to be. I came wanting to speak to you in private."
The one taking Seijirou as his vessel huffed haughtily perhaps a second too late after Byakuren's striking remark, smiling faintly with nothing but amusement implied on his pale features. He hummed pensively, and proceeded to step back, towards the nearest tree, and groggily stretch a hand for it so as to find support in that tree. "How about I make this easy on you and just say I'm the 'mastermind' the hermit saint told my grandmother about? That sound good enough a private chat for you?"
"Hardly," Byakuren answered, narrowing her eyes as she regarded his flippant attitude with a hard frown. "Though, you've confessed rather quickly. Would that be because there is nothing I would be able to discover even if you did admit to your true nature?"
Seijirou's other hand moved from the default position of the back of his neck to his head, and he scratched it while staring at Byakuren. His dark hair swayed lightly with the action, bringing attention to its extremely unkempt nature; as though he had only recently woken up, but Byakuren was certain that was not the case. "It's more like it'd be pointless not admitting it," he flatly answered, "Too much beating around the bush for no reason. After all, it's pretty obvious you're already onto me."
"How very cooperative of you," Byakuren remarked, staring straight at Seijirou's unfocused, uncaring gaze. "Were it not the truth, I wouldn't have associated you with such a roundabout string of exterminations." The clear disinterest in Seijirou's expression appeared to be nigh permanent, if not for the slightest shifts according to Byakuren's words, for he was truly listening to her despite appearances; and he raised a single eyebrow in a show of doubt.
"Roundabout? There's nothing roundabout about humans killing predators they resent," Seijirou said, holding out the arm not reaching for support with a tree to the large gate of the Human Village, "These are people afflicted by the ambition to rise above any other living being."
"You speak as though you weren't one of them," Byakuren said quickly, and Seijirou shrugged only with his shoulders, without regard for the position that left the gesture hard to note or execute.
"I'm a different caged animal," Seijirou claimed, hunching lightly forward not only from his general fatigue, but likely with swelling pride, as far as Byakuren was considered. "I actually don't mind youkai." Surprisingly enough, Seijirou could not help but frown then, casting a glance to the gate he had already endeavored to point at. "I don't pity those ambitious people, but the ignorant people of the village definitely have a lot to lose in this prison you call Gensokyo. I planted the seeds for something to happen, so now it's up to them to take the chance."
"All things considered, I find it hard to believe you, the leader of this group, don't have any involvement with the extermination of youkai," Byakuren said, the argument barely needing deep thought to effectively force an explanation out of Seijirou.
Even so, he blinked, tilting his head aside likely without noticing, only to slowly answer, as if improvising, "Oh, I killed the first one. Couldn't be the leader without setting the example. I trained the villagers who were interested in overcoming themselves, and, talented as the people of Gensokyo are, they caught on quickly. Well, except for the part where they technically shouldn't actually be able to learn Nen but then this whole Urban Legend thing made it moot or maybe it wasn't even the legends— Either way, they don't need me now is I'm trying to get at here..."
"Are you saying you quit the group, then?" Byakuren asked, as Seijirou yawned and covered his mouth faintly with his hand.
"I just sleep too much to actually lead those folk," Seijirou responded, smiling wryly in contrast to Byakuren's unwavering serious expression and frown. "There's a surrogate who isn't possessed, and I'm sure he's more than glad I'm not there to question his decisions. Ambitious people only gather for self-interest, after all. They exterminate the youkai because they know they're the ones in power."
Faced with a surprising amount of honest information, Byakuren saw it fit to ponder on it, glancing briefly at the ground, nothing more than dry dirt. Seijirou's flimsy investment in the group's whereabouts corroborated her conjecture that it was nothing more than a method to intimidate youkai, though, naturally, Seijirou himself had not admitted to his motivations. Rather, he made a point of being blunt about everything else only because it was something that would no longer inconvenience him were it known at large. Considering it was difficult to hide information from the youkai that would spy on the village, perhaps all he told her was nothing someone like Yukari would not know. As such, all she could keep in mind was the way he would betray those who joined him, disassociating with the struggles of his peers; foreigner though he was. "I see," she said, "In other words, even if I did come here to convince you to stop these individuals from exterminating the youkai, they wouldn't listen to you."
"Yup," Seijirou said, "It's nice knowing you're a sharp one. Makes it faster for me to get to the point."
"And what would that be?"
Seijirou let go of the tree he was using, and the smile he wore now was of a shade darker than plain nonchalance. "Confronting me is meaningless," Seijirou said, as he stumbled on his own feet while supposedly dizzy. He clutched his head, and stared Byakuren's way with only one eye not covered by that gesture. He sighed then, while Byakuren noted his deteriorating state, not fitting of an entity who was in the process of making enemies left and right in Gensokyo. "You know, since I won't die if this body dies."
Byakuren did not immediately respond, because she was determining exactly what his intent was behind that specific wording: Seijirou was not that person's true identity, and it appeared he was still under the assumption that Byakuren would take Seijirou's life. However, 'confronting' someone did not entirely mean a physical confrontation. In that sense, the first hypothesis would only be a surface-level conclusion before Byakuren's ultimate reasoning that inferred he was not simply thinking of her as a fighter, but as someone attempting to sway him with words. To him, words were meaningless, for he was never in any proximity to where he appeared to be; he was a mere neutral party. "Well, I never planned to kill that villager to begin with," Byakuren said slowly, even cautiously in light of the way she was currently perceiving Seijirou. "My purpose here was to talk to you, but if you refuse to cooperate, I can simply use force."
"You got more things to talk about than exterminating youkai?" Seijirou asked, voice lightly higher in pitch than normal as though he were genuinely surprised, but Byakuren herself did not see his honesty being such he could not have faked that instance. "Shoot, then. I'm curious."
He still looks wholly confident in himself, Byakuren thought, instead, as she wondered if that attitude was a byproduct of the invincible nature of being untraceable, taking only the lives of others. Keeping the same calm composure, though making sure to leave her hands vacant, ready for any situation, she said, "Then, I'll ask you this: will you not get out of that young man's body?"
"Here's a better question: can you make me?"
"I can," Byakuren responded just as quickly as Seijirou had, taking his direct gaze in kind, "Barring the lack of a method to remove you from another's body, it's absolutely possible to make a situation in which you'd rather do that than to stay in there."
"True," Seijirou said, "It's not like I have anything to lose by dumping Seijirou. If I never wake up, the rest of the group can just start claiming leadership." He shrugged, as if unrelated to the matter he just spoke of. "Then again, is there anything in it for you if I do that?"
Byakuren nodded serenely, contrasting with the way she was certain he was not simply being casual about the conversation, but already expecting some form of adversity, to which she was already wondering where he would start to incorporate the Nen techniques she heard from Miko. "There is," she said simply, letting that hang for a second of silence, "And that's all I'll say about it. Instead, I'd like to ask you another question."
"What is it?"
"Where were you planning to do before you noticed I was tailing you?" Byakuren asked, and watched as Seijirou began to smile gently, in what seemed to be a polite gesture. Regardless, Byakuren knew that gaze did not reflect the rest of his expression, for he was more focused than ever, and she could see his groggy movement become more precise.
He stepped closer to Byakuren afterwards, while answering plaintly, "Nothing you need to know about, but I can definitely tell you what I'm gonna do now."
"Do tell," Byakuren said, pulling a scroll behind her back.
"It's either me or you, Byakuren," Seijirou said, "and if I'm given the chance, I sure wouldn't mind you in my arsenal…!" Seijirou charged for Byakuren, whose scroll already floated above her, shining from the power of her sutras. She threw a knife, its blade a mere light and its handle an equally dignified gold, in an attempt to force Seijirou to move back from sheer instinct, but Seijirou, while having retracted outstretched arms, he did not stop running and instead allowed the magical knife to course through his leg, until the handle dully contacted the burnt skin and fell. Byakuren's opening to fly for the very tree Seijirou had been holding onto previously was in the fact that the pain of the burning cut was enough for him to falter, as his leg twitched unnaturally under the pain.
"How despicable you are," Byakuren remarked as she watched Seijirou turn around with a smirk, as though he were enjoying the situation, "To take advantage of that vessel so I don't use my full strength on you. Just like that, you've been manipulating everyone you could take for yourself." She was above a particularly sturdy branch, looking down on Seijirou with a frown deeper than the one that had come before it, composed for the sake of her decision to have a civil discussion. In turn, she had to concede to the fact that she could not use scrolls that would increase her physical strength, and was glad she had prioritized her resistance.
"Might makes right's the rule of the world," Seijiirou said, white aura leaking smoothly from his form as he approached Byakuren's position, "Of any world. People who succumb to the influence of another soul have every right to become tools!"
"Denying a right to one is the same as denying a right for all," Byakuren said, "The only might that makes right is the might of those who establish order."
"You mean the youkai oppressing the people's rights to begin with?" Seijirou retorted, and huffed indignantly. "Humanity without freedom might as well not even be Humanity! Order is nothing but the face of the victor!" Easily reaching the distance necessary not to fail, he jumped without warning for the branch Byakuren was on, and had her touch the beads around her neck, which shone right as Seijirou's fist was flying for her face. The beads spread around her, and Seijirou was sent back while the beads quickly reassembled to Byakuren's neck, but, as Seijirou fell back to the ground, his arm was as if flung back and forth, and Byakuren had been in the middle of taking another magical scroll before she was suddenly impacted by something stabbing through the skin near her right clavicula. She was pushed back by the sudden blow, enough to barely fall off the branch if not for her magically enhanced reflexes allowing a hand to be placed over the tree's surface, and her eyes were wide in pure shock as a hand instinctively reached for the wound. Before Byakuren could register that, she kept her eyes on Seijirou, who pointed at Byakuren, with all fingers over the palm except the index finger and thumb, mimicking a gun. He landed while shooting from it a projectile as white as the aura that he exuded, leading Byakuren to immediately abandon the branch she stood upon to one from the tree next to it, squarely avoiding the attack.
As she settled on her next branch, noting Seijirou standing up, she could not help but see exactly the cause of her wound, as it revealed itself from its invisible state: a single hoe, free of any rust or signs of having been frequently used. A farming tool of the sort would normally not even hurt Byakuren, let alone puncture her skin, allowing blood to flow. It disappeared then from sight, and Byakuren reached out to see if it was there, only to feel nothing, and noting instead her bleeding wound, aching enough that she was grimacing, bitting her lip in an act of resilience. She looked towards Seijirou, and pulled another scroll before flying back, away from the village and further into the path to the Forest of Magic, attempting to buy time for the sutra to take effect. Just now, that hoe was hidden with zetsu...! I thought the user would have to make it visible beforehand, but that definitely wasn't the case taking this instance into account. In other words, if Miko gave me the correct information, that object was made of Nen, and for it to have hurt me this badly, there must be some kind of condition placed on it. Though, if he'll keep hiding his weapon, I may have a hard time approaching him from the front, because I don't have the Gyo technique she mentioned to me. I could invest on enhancing my senses, but there's no guarantee this would allow me to see a foreign power like Nen...
Byakuren's bleeding had stopped at that point, and she could already spot a modest building corresponding to Kourindou to her right, but she was most focused on what was below her. Namely, Seijirou, who was running at impressive speeds to catch up, but he fell still behind her. 'Considering I don't know what exactly the condition and restriction he has on that hoe, it would be for the best if I ended this quickly.' Byakuren turned around, and flew over Seijirou, who was just endeavoring to stop, and was noticeably panting despite the Nen over his body. as though exhausted. Byakuren allowed herself to simply fall to the ground behind Seijirou, using the momentum of the impact of her landing, having used her two feet without consequence as fit for the results of her magical research, to propel herself forward, towards Seijirou's back. She was, in fact, running, and Seijirou's face had seemingly stopped, in her perspective, when he could already see Byakuren from the corner of his eye. She grabbed at Seijirou's soulder and back, and pushed him down on the ground using, as well, the remnants of the force of her speed, which she slowed when she was about to grasp Seijirou; her wound hurting only faintly, closed already and in the process of healing.
Seijirou's face hit the ground as she kick the back of his knees as well, her strength having suffered no enhancement and, as such, causing no great injury. She sat on the lower end of his back and proceeded to quickly grab at his other arm, pushing them in a surprisingly effortless fashion not behind Seijirou's back, but forward, with each hand next to his head, fingers pointing in her opposite direction as a reminder of one of the abilities he had revealed to her. Byakuren could only see half of his face, and he seemed to be blinking frantically, only to wince as he went as far as to truly bite at the inside of his mouth. Byakuren stared at that without knowing how to react, but she frowned thinly, only to utter, "Are you willing to give up now?"
Seijirou did not bother to look at her with the only eye vacant, but he did smile despite himself. "You know," Seijirou said, "I could just stay here all night, instead. Nothing's stopping me."
"Do you feel the need to torment this young man further?" Byakuren asked, and Seijirou continued to simply blink, frowning in displeasure as he heard Byakuren, but apparently not due to her words. "After all, it isn't like you needed to fight in the first place."
"You're right about that…" he muttered, drawling over his words, "Someone as weak as this wouldn't stand a chance, anyway..."
"Why, then?" Byakuren asked, insistent, spotting in him no signs of resistance. As if there was no point; no cause or purpose for all he had done so far, and that was not something Byakuren was pleased to infer from the one taking Seijirou's body. "Why did you not simply focus on trying to possess me?"
"Why? Why not...? I'm stuck here, anyway..." Seijirou answered, "Might as well enjoy it; though... If I'd just taken you then... Just when you were..." Seijirou briefly closed his eyes, but seemingly forced them open, scowling. "Talking..."
"You said you could stay here all night, but you can't even stay awake," Byakuren commented, as it was the first fact that occurred to her, and a point of interest considering Seijirou, along with the other suspects, were reported to sleep often. If so, why was Seijirou already exhausted when not even a quarter of an hour had passed since he attacked, and why did he seem so sleepy?
"Caught me, huh?" Seijirou remarked with a wry smile he could only keep for a second, both from his souring mood and blatant tiredness. "What a useless… Puny man, Seijirou is..." That exceedingly quiet mumbling marked his last words before he only breathed faintly, as if asleep despite the dangerous position he was in with Byakuren restraining him. Byakuren would have been more cautious if not for Mamizou's account of the suspects' sleeping conditions, which had her believe that they would not awaken unless the mastermind were to possess them again. With that in mind, Byakuren slowly let go of Seijirou's arms, and stood while keeping an eye on Seijirou, who remained in place, harmed only on his leg from the attack the mastermind did not bother to dodge.
She looked down at Seijirou— the real Seijirou— eyes humid with nothing more than pity, as she muttered prayers. Then, she gazed at the horizon, and the stars in the sky. "You're the puny one, whoever you are," Byakuren remarked before she turned back to Seijirou, and, using another magic scroll to finally enhance her physical strength, easily retrieved his unconscious body from the ground. As only promised, she began to fly for the Myouren Temple, and only glanced back thinking about the families that would have to be deceived for the greater good: the order established by the youkai.
On the next day, Byakuren would proceed boldly to the quiet Human Village, offering her services to an old lady as per the recommendation of one Miko Toyosatomimi. Seijirou Shinzaki, however, would not return to the village, and rumors of his disappearance would spread therein.
. . .
"Hey, Reimu," Marisa called out to the shrine maiden beside her for no real reason, but not even she was especially attentive to such details. Her gaze was unfocused, since she knew that her surroundings would be constituted of trees, roots, and more trees and roots that she was frankly exhausted from seeing at that point, and her feet were no longer on the ground as she had tired of senseless walking. Her broom steadily kept her in the air, and Marisa proceeded to inquire: "Think we're gonna get attacked any time soon?"
Reimu briefly glanced in Marisa's direction, noting that Marisa had finally started a conversation, only to sigh. "You asked that yesterday, you know?" Reimu bitterly grimaced as she recalled the previous day, in which nothing but a ludicrous amount of walking had occurred to the point her feet were relatively sore. "And my answer hasn't changed, by the way."
"Maybe that snake guy'll come back for revenge," Marisa vacantly suggested as she decided to gaze up at the sky, for a change. Unfortunately, the extensive branches and leaves of the forest blocked most of the sight, and offered to Marisa nothing but considerable shade. Additionally, it gave her only the faintest sight of the sun, and no chances of noting any interesting-looking cloud.
"Him, of all people? I don't feel like dealing with snakes in the middle of the night again," Reimu said as she scowled, for she had already found a pattern in lack of sleep originating from the absurd demands the Hunter Exam would make out of them. However, even beyond the lacking rooms offered to sleep on and the hours required of physical exercise, the additional presence of someone meant to further sabotage her comfort was particularly despised, to the point Reimu would tear holes into the trees she was vacantly spotting with her death-glare if she held such a power. "Besides, because of him, we've got to pay even more attention to our shifts in case someone decides to attack us the same way. That guy was the worst."
"What, you still got standards?" Marisa retorted, blinking in surprise from the intensity of Reimu's glare in a time where she had thought they were already unable to produce intense emotion due to the boredom. "I thought we were so desperate we got ourselves walking through the whole island just so we can find somebody to fight."
"Well, yeah, but I don't want to fight someone I can take down in seconds," Reimu said, "Otherwise, we'd just go back to this horrible boredom again."
"Someone you can't take down in seconds, huh?" Marisa did not hesitate to take the chance to busy herself with thinking, the only activity left for the two beyond conversing. Truthfully, she remembered some of the applicants, but others slipped from her mind entirely, leading her to conclude that they likely had never acted out of order or stood out in any way; a classification not suited to be matched with Reimu. When thinking about the applicants she did remember one by one, however, staring at nothing as she did so for she was too distracted, her grimace eventually faded. She looked back at Reimu, and offered, "Like the guy with the needles, or something? He seemed kinda creepy, at least."
"Oh, if I found him again, I'd happily take him down," Reimu said, "Though, considering how we haven't met anyone, I really doubt he'd just show up again." Reimu's stance, already relaxed as though expecting nothing that could possibly harm her, was even more hindered by her drooping shoulders, as dry eyes surveyed the area for no reason, as only expected. Feeling the burning anger from the uselessness of every action so far, she scowled, bringing forth a weapon that rared to be used. "If anything, where's Hisoka when you actually need him? For all the talk he does, he's sure never conveniently there to fight me!"
"True," Marisa said, "Now'd be a great time to beat Hisoka, but if he didn't show up after hearing that, I'm guessin' he's not stalking us this time around." Marisa looked behind her sharply for good measure, squinting profusely to no avail.
"And it sucks I'm not happy about that now," Reimu asserted as Marisa was turning back to her nonchalantly, "Where is everyone, even? The girl who was following us didn't say anything, and she's the last person we saw at all."
"Flying over the island didn't help with how dense the forest was, either," Marisa said, if only to continue filling for the silence that would come out of the lack of topics they had to share with each other. When Marisa visited the Hakurei Shrine, which was often, they would sometimes spend moments without speaking to one another, and it was not particularly awkward; matters differed when whole days passed of no news for Marisa to tell the clueless Reimu about. As such, Marisa continued explaining the obvious: "Then again, we also didn't see anyone at the spots we could've noticed them, so they're probably sneaking around. You know, since they still gotta hunt for tags."
"Unlike us," Reimu said, playing along exactly with the same logic of stopping awkward silence at all costs. Then, for the second time, she sighed, looking forward but knowing that would bring her nothing than the recollection that she had already traversed the path she and Marisa were currently on. "If we just knew where Gon or his friends were, we could've been helping them out to stave off the boredom..."
"Now, though, we just gotta expect them to only get their tags at the last minute like they've also always been doing," Marisa said, "If you got luck on your side, they sure don't—"
"Marisa, go up!" Just as she exclaimed that, Reimu suddenly dashed for Marisa's back and whacked the only kunai that would have directly hit her, while she let the others fly by. She glanced behind her and saw Marisa's figure already above the trees, so she cast her gaze to the origin of the kunai, who she assumed to be hiding within the tree branches. "Who's there?!" Additional rows of kunai flew not only up, towards Marisa, but for Reimu at the same time, warranting slight admiration for the skill involved in the feat that she associated mainly with her homeland rather than a different world. With only a jump to the side and a step within the gap between two kunai, Reimu had managed to almost too perfectly dodge the weapons, leading her to smirk. "Whoever you are, you can't catch us like that! I could dodge those kunai in my sleep!"
Reimu assumed Marisa had been just as successful in dodging the attack, so she did not even bother to look up again, especially when the kunai clearly did not come from above her. "If you want to have any chance at me, you're better off fighting me directly!" Reimu shouted before brandishing her weapon. "Though, I'm not that easy a target no matter what you do!" She surveyed her surroundings, hoping to be able to find her enemy, but she had no such luck; it seemed as though they were well camouflaged within the dense forest. Deciding that she would have a bigger advantage if she flew, Reimu began to float, only to be forced down by shuriken coming from an angle higher than the small altitude she had reached so as to dodge. The five consecutive rows had Reimu frown before attempting to ascend from the generic spread pattern, but she was distracted by the sound of rustling leaves from her right.
Before she knew it, a flash of black and red was upon her and glinting silver was dangerously approaching her throat. Her eyes widened in shock, as she had been unable to process the speed of her opponent before he had already rushed past her seemingly by accident. Rather, Reimu herself had floated only a few centimeters to the side out of sheer reflex, but her opponent had quickly stretched his weapon towards Reimu while turning around to face her. Reimu ducked before flying upwards as fast as she could, whacking the two shuriken that were aimed in her direction. She was able to process the sense of familiarity she felt from her opponent now that he was clicking his tongue in composed irritation, and she found herself surprised yet again by the fact that it was the bald applicant. "Wait, it's the bald guy!"
"The bald guy?!" Reimu heard Marisa's voice from afar, but did not attempt to look behind her so as to locate Marisa's position. She had known Marisa was above the trees, and it was likely that she had heard Reimu from that distance considering Reimu was floating at the moment. As such, devoid of surprise, she directed a straightforward gaze at the bald applicant even as she caught a glimpse of Marisa's hat by her side. "Damn, if it's the bald guy, things could get pretty bad. I mean, it's the bald guy, after all."
Said bald applicant creased his eyebrows in pure fury. "Hey, don't call me 'the bald guy'! I've got a cool name, and it's Hanzo, you hear me?!" he ardently protested while pointing a bandaged hand towards Reimu. Reimu stared at that in a mix of wonder and slight anger, feeling as though the applicant, Hanzo, was being needlessly loud towards her; but also noting vacantly that she had likely been the one to burn his hand.
"See, Reimu? If you'd just let the guy introduce himself, he wouldn't be hatin' your guts," Marisa said.
"I'm pretty sure he hates both our guts right now," Reimu retorted, glancing at Marisa now just to see her wryly frowning, as if having mixed feelings about the current situation. To Reimu, it was no wonder, considering Marisa would not be able to fight, but she thought little of that and was focused on Hanzo's simple anger, which was further expressed with gestures of haphard pointing in Reimu's direction.
"Oh, you bet I do! If you think you're safe just because you're flying in the air, you've got another thing coming! I've been through Hell because of you! If I don't pay you back once and for all in this phase, I'll regret it forever!"
"That sucks," Marisa dryly commented.
"In the end, you're here to take your tag back, aren't you? But as long as you can't get to Marisa, you can't get it back, so you're at a standstill," Reimu casually informed as she looked down at Hanzo with neutral eyes, as if she held little to no resentment towards his presence. "You might as well give up." If anything, she spoke like her every word was nothing more than fact, but Hanzo was quick to take offense to the supposed condescending tone.
"Do you think I'd give up just because you said so?! I'm only three points away from passing the Hunter Exam and failure is not an option for me!"
"Oh, you got three more tags? Nice going," Marisa remarked just as dryly as she had before. "Makes it really convenient for us, too, since we got your target's tag."
"... What?"
"Oh yeah, I did pick up that tag yesterday," Reimu said, "It's been so useless to us so far I was almost going to forget about it. Do you want it? We could give it to you, if you want." Just as Reimu was speaking, Marisa was rummaging through her bag, and Reimu was keeping watch on that so as to prevent a sudden attack from Hanzo. Marisa took a number tag out of it and showed its front to Hanzo, holding her hand down to him. The number tag clearly spelled out the number '199', which Hanzo took intense note of as he stared at the tag. Then, he slowly looked up at Reimu and Marisa's casual, honest faces, and grimaced in calm displeasure, mild only due to the sheer disbelief he felt towards the situation, as he would have been purely furious otherwise.
"... Let me get this straight: you coincidentally picked up the tag I need to pass this phase yesterday before conveniently meeting me, and to rub salt on the humiliation you already gave me by taking my tag so early in front of everybody, you're now just going to give me the tag without a struggle?"
"When you put it like that, you do sound really pitiful." Reimu smiled nervously, split between feeling guilty and actually being amused by his plight.
"Well, whose fault do you think that is?!" Hanzo countered fiercely as he had been ever since he started speaking to Reimu and Marisa, glaring pointedly at an absentminded Reimu vacantly scratching the back of her head. "Didn't you hear me when I just said I'd regret it forever if I didn't take you down?! There's no way I'd ever be satisfied with having you give me the tag for no reason!"
Reimu stared surprisingly vacantly at that statement, and crossed her arms. Marisa, meanwhile, tapped Reimu's shoulder, and muttered her way, "Wait, though. If you think about it, this is a good chance for us, too. No way I'd wanna try my hand at beating this guy in real combat when my arm's bust, but you can go fight the guy and not be bored for once; all I gotta do is watch and give him the tag afterwards."
While Hanzo scowled at what he perceived to be Marisa's needless secrecy, Reimu tilted her head slightly aside as she pondered, only smile more genuinely now as she nodded to Marisa. "Good point," she said, "Since he already hates our guts, it's not like I have to rile him up either! We've got a good time-killer now!"
Noting Reimu's cheerful reaction, followed by the two women executing a perfectly synchronized high-five, Hanzo's eyebrows raised in confusion, perhaps as if to wonder if he was being deceived. "So, what? You want me to fight for the tag now?" Hanzo then quickly pointed to himself using his thumb, a winning smirk surging on his features, for Reimu's look was no longer nonchalant, but focused. "That was the whole point, so you can count me in on that idea! Just don't go regretting having called me a time-killer baldy when I get to you! If it's to pass this phase, there's no way I'll lose!"
"Oh, but we'll still give you the tag when you lose, so it's alright," Reimu said with a loose shrug, "Take it as a thanks for not making us bored for the whole day."
Hanzo's smirk faded, and he was quick to exclaim, "You mean when I win, damn it! And even if I get the tag anyway, I'm making sure I don't lose against you, that's for sure! You'll regret messing with me!"
"Don't think it'll be that easy!" Reimu flew for the ground without hesitation as she retorted that, and brandished her weapon upon landing. "You might have hurt my arm, but I can hold my ground just fine anyway!" She moved her injured arm, and blinked strongly from the remaining pain, but the arm was otherwise functional; she then briefly faced Marisa to say, "You'll be the judge, Marisa!"
"Sure thing, Reimu! I was gonna be watchin' it, anyway," Marisa said, looking down at the two with a smirk, noting she had been given great power as the judge. "The rules are simple: no killing the opponent; no taking number tags mid-battle; no attacking the judge and last but not least, no sneaking around! Fight's gonna be here, and only here where I can see ya! Can't imagine this Hanzo guy wants to bother with making spellcards, so I guess whoever knocks the other down to the ground wins and that's that! Also, rematches are allowed, so fight, fight and fight some more! It's not like you got much else to do outta your lives right now, anyway! I sure don't, at least! Now, get ready..." Reimu and Hanzo assumed battle stances immediately, their sharp gazes peering into each other so as to predict their movement. "Set..." Hanzo was thinly frowning, seemingly displeased, but he found that even that was fading in reaction to Reimu's clearly carefree expression and smile; one without the slightest hint of malice. He briefly closed his eyes as he reflected on that before smirking her way. "Go!"
Hanzo charged at Reimu, who sent four quickly conjured ying-yang orbs to collide against him and summoned sizable orbs of light before jumping back in fear of seeing an unscathed Hanzo reach her so early. "Fantasy Seal!" Just as the orbs of light circled Reimu, preparing to aim at Hanzo, she saw the sole of his foot almost connecting with her face and ducked while sending her own attack upwards. However, the orbs of light phased through that momentary mirage, and Reimu's eyes followed the orbs' flight for her back with considerable surprise. An illusion...?! Reimu rose her Purification Rod in order to preemptively block an attack, as the orbs of light were still in the process of attempting to hit Hanzo. Though, upon finding that he was effortlessly misdirecting the orbs by dashing in one direction and another in astoundingly quick succession, Reimu immediately tossed her weapon to her left hand and took a mound of red paper charms, which straightened when they contacted her spiritual power. She threw the paper charms just as Hanzo was avoiding the very last orbs of light and ran to the side so as to change her position.
In an attempt to cut through the paper charm coming directly for him, Hanzo simply knocked it away with the hit, and it only crumpled like paper after falling to the ground. He quickly faced Reimu, who was already taking out more paper charms, and lunged at her without hesitation, while Reimu simply threw the paper charms in reaction to the movement. One of them inevitably hit Hanzo, whose burst of speed had stopped him from being able to whack the paper charm away without reaching it first. Reimu tossed the Purification Rod back to her right hand and dashed for Hanzo while he was paralyzed for only two seconds, but it was enough time for Reimu to swing her weapon towards his waist. The attack failed to connect, however, as Hanzo ducked just in time before grabbing at Reimu's right arm and standing so as to reach behind her while still gripping it. Reimu's eyes almost closed from the sensation of the arm being forced so far onto her back, but she endured the pain in order to give herself enough time to conjure a barrier behind her and pushing it towards Hanzo, who was going to retaliate by breaking her arm if not for the sudden explosion that had occurred from the barrier, which disappeared after the act.
He had let go of Reimu's arm so as to escape the explosion, while Reimu flew from it just as fast. She noted the Purification Rod was gone, and that Hanzo had probably taken it. Kunai appeared from the smoke caused by the explosion, but Reimu had floated to the side so as to dodge and sent two newly-surged ying-yang orbs towards Hanzo in response. Then, she threw four rows of paper charms, all of which converged in their position so as to specifically target Hanzo. The clearing smoke revealed Hanzo only mildly distracted by the paper charms, which Reimu had expected since their amount was not especially intimidating. She decided to change her approach, and charge Hanzo once more while she conjured a multitude of ying-yang orbs behind her.
As though an avalanche, the orbs flowed onto Hanzo at the same pace as Reimu, who stepped aside and readied a kick to his back. She had left herself on the side holding the Purification Rod, which happened to be the one most bandaged. Hanzo breathed in and out, only to jump backwards, flying above Reimu's leg and consequentially avoiding all of the projectiles aimed his way. Mid-air, Hanzo threw a shuriken towards one of the ying-yang orbs as a test, and watched as the shuriken flew by the orbs: they did not seem substantial, he noted, but they were likely to either burn him, or paralyze him temporarily. As he was about to land after a backflip, Reimu had launched herself to his position and set her leg on his stomach, which Hanzo flimsily blocked with her own weapon. Reimu's smile widened before three paper charms were thrown in his direction and she swung her left leg back so as to give it the propulsion to fly forward and hit Hanzo, who had been unable to similarly block the paper charms from the angle they had been thrown and without having seen Reimu's movements in throwing them either.
The moment he set his feet on the ground, he already could not move, and Reimu's third attempt at a kick soundly connected to his abdomen. He was knocked back, and Reimu scrambled to grab her fallen weapon at the same time she was approaching Hanzo, who started to move already. She was hoping that his reaction time had at least been slowed due to the pain, but he was quick to launch a low kick for her running legs as she charged, its strength enough to force them out of their positions in the ground as Reimu almost fell, but she took advantage of the momentum to jump back and threw another paper charm, settling on a perfect standing stance. She proceeded to step aside and saw Hanzo passing by her with his staggering speed, taking the chance to swing at him with her Purification Rod from his side only for the attempt to be just as swiftly blocked with Hanzo's arm...
. . .
... Moving back from Hanzo so as to give herself time for an attack, Reimu was surrounded by orbs of light of varied colours, and with them surged paper charms of a golden color, as Reimu knew by now that she could not go easy on her opponent. She panted lightly, tired, but she smiled as though refreshed by the straightforward exchange before launching the multitude of aimed projectiles. Then, she stepped further back and afforded a glance behind her, just in case Hanzo had somehow been able to reach such a compromising position. There was no one there, but she briefly noted trees filled with holes, some of them singed; it was undoubtedly the result of her ongoing duel with Hanzo.
In truth, Marisa blandly concluded from above the battlefield, Reimu had already won about four duels ago, but Hanzo, who, in fact, had also already won, was intent on securing the final victory, therefore prolonging the fight with numerous rematches. Each one lasted longer and longer, and the sun that used to be so high up in the sky was now barely visible within the forest, bringing an orange hue to the heavens. Naturally, as the judge of the duels, Marisa had been hard at work spectating what she could only presently see as a friendly match between two hot-headed, reckless knuckleheads, and the victory score swayed Reimu's way due to her tendency to effortlessly dodge attacks combined with the increasing fatigue of Hanzo, which affected him more than Reimu's own tiredness affected her. Even so, Marisa had definitely been surprised by Hanzo's performance, which had Reimu actually struggle to land a hit on him, as well.
Regardless, now that all of these factors had lost their novelty and the evening was nearing the forest, Marisa was yawning in light of the repetitive duels and grimaced knowing they would be neverending no matter who won, as either party would request a rematch immediately afterwards. Should've thought ahead before givin' Reimu any ideas, Marisa thought, It was interesting at first, sure, but now I'm bored all over again. Why'd the bald guy have to be so stubborn, anyway? Marisa allowed herself to glance towards a few collapsing trees before directing her gaze to Reimu and Hanzo in order to check if she had managed to hit him. As far as she had been able to see, Hanzo had failed to completely avoid the Fantasy Seal, likely due to the fact that Reimu was no longer using an easy version at that point. She consequentially remarked on the monotonous nature of seeing that happen again as she watched Reimu and Hanzo transition into close-quarters combat instead, which had been where Hanzo would be most at an advantage.
However, Reimu herself was no longer giving much thought to the match. Conversely, Hanzo was much the same, but Reimu's lack of thought was one of a kind, and Marisa knew that best. Reimu appeared to only tilt herself slightly to each side, as if naturally swaying in accordance to the opposition, dodging each punch with ease. Hanzo had probably known Reimu would have been able to do that, leading him to fake a punch in order to grab at her arm and restraining Reimu's movement; a decent technique, in Marisa's eyes. In return, Reimu floated upwards, and Hanzo lightly hung off of her arm before propelling a kick up to Reimu's position. Her wounded arm stretched for Hanzo's hand with a paper charm in hand, which then split its spiritual power into four corners of a regular barrier, which Reimu pushed forward.
Marisa did not count that as any kind of knockdown (or Reimu would have already won far too many times), though Hanzo was practically helpless in face of powers he could not counter with physical prowess alone. He retracted his leg and landed while moving his arm for his pocket, his gaze on Reimu, who was already readying more paper charms of her own. Marisa sighed, feeling an intense sense of deja vu from the ensuing two. Must be fun for them, fightin' and all... But it's not fun for me anymore, and that's what matters! Reimu and Hanzo were both smiling, but not even that would sway Marisa anymore; she threw the number tag in her hand, aiming for the space between Hanzo and Reimu. "Time's up!" Marisa shouted as she neared herself to Reimu's position mid-air. Meanwhile, Hanzo quickly caught the number tag before looking up at Marisa with a frown. "Fight's over, so stop what you're doing and start thinkin' about where we'll sleep for the night!"
"What do you mean, 'time's up'? We were just getting started on this match!" Hanzo protested while Reimu crossed her arms and nodded in acknowledgement of Hanzo's words.
"Besides, you never said anything about a time limit! If you're the judge, you shouldn't be making up rules as you please mid-duel!" Reimu added with just as much intensity, and Hanzo nodded in reaction to her words as well. To Marisa, the synchronized behavior was needlessly unsettling.
"You wanna keep fighting the whole night? 'Cause I sure don't wanna be countin' hits without having a wink of sleep," Marisa said.
Reimu could not help but mirror Marisa's bitter frown as she glanced at the darkening sky, only now noting its color. "Well, I wouldn't want to stay awake all night, for one," Reimu said, reminding herself keenly of her dark circles, "so you've got a point there, I suppose. Let's just cut the duel off." It was my win last time, anyway.
Hanzo looked down at the tag; number 199, just as he desired. With Marisa's simple gesture, he had passed the phase, but he found himself wryly smiling, as though masking the fact that he was troubled by the circumstances. "I'd stay up the whole night if the fight demanded it, but I guess you don't have the same kind of training I do," he remarked before pocketing the number tag and scratching his bald head, only to grimace. "Still, I can't help feeling like the duel was cut off way too abruptly..."
"Not my fault you two kept askin' for rematches," Marisa said, "Least you can settle on a tie now." Marisa lowered herself to Reimu and Hanzo's level then, endeavoring to land. With her feet firmly on the ground for once, Marisa looked down as she accounted for her somewhat numb legs.
"Not that a tie makes it any better," Hanzo begrudgingly commented before sighing. "But, well, I can't say I don't understand your need for sleep. I'll settle for a tie, if only because my opponent actually put up a good fight." Besides, I won the first time around, Hanzo thought, but could not sustain the smirk that had come from the fact seeing as he was aware he had lost before. He instead frowned thinly, considering, finally the serious implications of having been up against Reimu. "Shouldn't have expected much less from the women hanging around number 44 like it's nothing, really. Frustrating as it is to say, you'd have given me trouble even in a real fighting scenario."
"It's only natural I'd be strong, but who's number 44 again?" Reimu asked quickly and blanky, as if she had put no thought to the question.
"Hisoka," Marisa promptly responded. "The serial killer guy, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Reimu uttered before scowling. "Though, I don't want to have my strength being associated with that guy..."
"We haven't even been hanging around Hisoka that much, too," Marisa said, "It's kinda frustrating having our reputation rely on how much of a creep he is."
"Didn't you hang around Hisoka back at the Trick Tower? I saw you playing cards and everything."
"That's because we didn't have anything better to do in that boring tower," Reimu responded. "If anything, he's just a nuisance."
"Well, I did overhear you talking about the guy as if you were just being nagged by him one-sidedly," Hanzo said, crossing his arms as he pondered, "but my point wasn't that you were strong because you were friends with Hisoka. What I was saying was that people usually hang around others on their level: most applicants avoid Hisoka because they can tell he's way out of their league just by looking at him. If you don't, it's gotta mean that you either don't have any sense of danger, or that you're confident you could stand a chance against him. Basically, you're the latter, as far as I can tell."
Marisa did not immediately respond, because she was understanding the common standard used for measuring strength. In fact, it also had some bearing on the acquaintanceship of Gensokyo, but while it was possible to ascertain that Hisoka and other strong-seeming people were a threat, in a world of foreign powers, it was difficult to see exactly how threatening they would be; especially as Marisa had yet to figure how Hisoka controlled those cards. She missed her chance for a cynical remark when Reimu waved her hand carelessly, with a smug smile to match the condescending stance. "Well, of course. There's no way I'd ever lose to that guy," Reimu claimed, "That's just how it is."
"... Then again, maybe you don't have a sense of danger, either," Hanzo wryly remarked. 'If anything, she's wide open right now; the complete opposite of when she was fighting me. How's she supposed to last like that?' he dryly thought as stared at Reimu, who frowned as though mildly offended.
"If I say I can beat him, I can beat him," Reimu asserted, "No questions asked!"
"I'll just leave it at that, then," Hanzo said, "but I'd be more careful, if I were you. Letting your guard down even once could be fatal depending on the situation."
"I know that much by now," Reimu said, "so I don't need you giving me that kind of advice. I've been through enough to keep that sort of thing in mind." Hanzo raised an eyebrow in reaction to those words, skeptic of their veracity, but he refrained from arguing against Reimu, knowing she was not lying. If so, she was simply ignorant of her own lack of a sense of danger, he noted. "Anyway, now that you've got your target's tag, you don't have any more business with us, do you? I mean, you did just pass the phase."
"With my target's tag and three others, I got six, yeah," Hanzo responded.
"We've also got our own tags, so all we're gonna do is go to sleep and bore ourselves for the rest of the week," Marisa said.
"Aren't you gonna wait by the starting point?" Hanzo asked.
"Why would we do that? It's not like it's the last day or anything," Reimu responded, having stepped closer to Hanzo if only to further impose her confusion, seeing as his reasoning was beyond her.
"Besides, that also sounds freaking boring, and we wanna avoid that at all costs." Marisa stretched her arm and legs, reflecting on that being the only action she was able to take the whole day besides observing familiar scenery.
"Everybody else with a tag is probably over there, but I can see where you're coming from with that one," Hanzo said, "Without anybody to hunt or anyone I can talk to, I'm betting the rest of the week's gonna be dull for me."
"Tell me about it," Reimu said, only to roll her eyes, "I wonder how the examiner even thought we'd take as long as one week to get our tags."
"And since it's just an island, we've already scouted the whole place from the air," Marisa added, looking towards Reimu directing a glare at a nearby singed tree, "so there's no worth exploring it. There's nothing to do in here no matter how you slice it."
Hanzo nodded sharply to himself rather than Reimu and Marisa, reminiscing. "I can also understand that one, having scouted the entire island myself; I know the forest like the palm of my hand," he said, "but because of that, there's no sense on wonder no matter how I go, so it's backfired on me. Wish I had something to do, that's for sure..."
"So do I," Reimu said after sighing helplessly.
"Oh, but speaking of the forest, you know some good trees to sleep on?" Marisa asked to Hanzo, smiling conversationally, but also with rekindling hope. "It'd save us the trouble havin' ya just recommend us some spots if you know all about the island."
"Now that you mention it, you were planning on finding somewhere to settle in for the night, right?" Hanzo asked, just in case, but he inwardly already knew the answer to his own question. He proudly smirked. "If that's all you need, you can count on me! I've got this whole island figured out, including all the best hiding spots, of course. I'll take you to the closest one, no problem!"
"It's definitely more convenient taking us than telling us some directions we can get wrong," Reimu said, "so I don't mind."
"Cool," Marisa said. "Thanks, Hanzo."
Hanzo puffed his chest up in pride and flashed a friendly grin, a complete far cry from his attitude when he had faced Reimu before. "This much is nothing! Just you wait until we get there; that's when you'll really wanna thank me! Anyway, just follow me!" Hanzo turned around and began to step forward before gesturing for Reimu and Marisa to follow suit. So as to match his pace, Reimu and Marisa refrained from flying, while Reimu helped Marisa place her broom on her backpack. Meanwhile, Hanzo continued to speak, excitedly so: "I can also talk to you while I'm getting you there, so it's actually just as convenient for me as it is for you. There's no better time-killer than conversation! As long as I can get someone else to listen to me, I'm not as bored in these kinds of situations. But now that I'm talking about situations, don't tell this to anyone else, but I'm actually a..."
Against Reimu and Marisa's expectations, the entire path towards another small cave hidden near the ravine of a coast to the edge of the island was filled not with their voices, but Hanzo's. While that fact was already strange enough for the two, who had not been expecting to get to know everything entailing Hanzo's secret ninja mission (though he spoke of it rather openly), it came as even more of a surprise for them that he did not leave the two to their own devices after guiding them, instead staying to continue the conversation. Eventually, Reimu and Marisa simultaneously snapped at the ninja so he could finally let them have their sleep, and he offered to take over most of their shifts watching out for an ambush as an apology. That honesty, at least, was very much appreciated by the two, who ultimately slept better due to the increased hours.
As such, neither of the two questioned his overdue presence at all, even though he was already choosing the same spot to sleep in.
. . .
Even when he awoke practically next to them (though he did apologize), Reimu and Marisa took to not questioning Hanzo's presence. They had begun to more or less assume he was going to join them until the phase was over out of boredom, a motivation which was heavily understandable in their perspective. Not only that, but his continuous stream of conversation topics, while difficult to keep up with or answer to, offered Reimu and Marisa enough to make them think, but not to truly make an effort participating in the conversation. To them, the prospect was relaxing, especially as they could simply interrupt him whenever they wished if the situation did call for it.
Now, Reimu, Marisa and Hanzo walked through another forest, but Marisa was floating by with her broom instead of walking, having tired herself of moving her feet after a few hours of listening to Hanzo in the morning. Reimu, on the other hand, had already rested her own after floating as well, and she took Hanzo's talking as a chance to distract herself from her surroundings and only listen in as she pleased, knowing she would miss little if she did so. "So this is why the Hermit Scroll is such an essential item that a ninja'd have to be placed on a mission to retrieve it! However, as I've said before, the Hermit Scroll is obscure and unique! Just being able to narrow down its location was already tough enough, even for a ninja like me, and it's no wonder; countries with restricted access have just as limited sources of information. Still, I was in no rush to complete the mission, since there's no time limit involved. Otherwise, I wouldn't be taking the Hunter Exam at all. Besides, you know what they say: haste makes waste. If I'm going to execute a secret mission, I should do it at the perfect pace..."
Marisa would sometimes vacantly nod along Hanzo's words, as if pretending to be interested. Whether Hanzo knew that she was faking it or not, Marisa had no idea, but he always seemed the slightest bit satisfied every time she did so. Regardless, she assumed he simply liked the fact that she at least made an effort to appear invested, unlike the absent-minded Reimu who would only sometimes show herself attentive to his extensive explanations on the island's layout and the meaning of being a ninja. "When I got to Dolle Harbor, I was already one day away from the exam's date, so I took the time to polish my weapons and buy some supplies just in case before I avoided most of the preliminaries. There's supposed to be a bus that takes you directly to Zaban city, but it was a trap when I got there! Luckily, I could just jump out the window and follow the same path jumping through the buildings. As a ninja, I was trained to swiftly tread through any kind of surface, so it's a no brainer that I can also do parkour. Speaking of, you two were flying through the wetlands, but for everyone else, the terrain was..."
Guess nothing'll happen at this point, Marisa thought as she nodded, only to glance Reimu's way. Reimu's got her tag, I've got my tag... Then, she looked back at Hanzo, who smirked proudly in light of his outstanding stamina in regards to running through the terrain of the Numere Wetlands. Hell, even this guy's got his tag. And now that we're all together in broad daylight, there's nobody suicidal enough to try facin' the three of us. Not unless the guy with the needles starts feeling like killing us for no reason. Then again, there's also Hisoka. But screw Hisoka. Nobody likes him, anyway. "I also noticed you two knew about sushi, just like I did. The moment that hellish phase started, you ran right for the woods as if you knew exactly what you had to do. There's no mistaking it: you two are from Jappon! You gotta be! You might've known sushi some other way, but my gut tells me you couldn't be from anywhere else. After all, the way you..."
Marisa nodded, though she was already lost as to what topic Hanzo was focusing on. Where the hell're those four, though? They always manage to get separated from us some way or another. I'm hoping they get their tags early this time around, but they don't have a good track record on timeliness. Talk about fashionably late, am I right? "I'm guessing you don't know about that shrine. The region's pretty remote, and only ninja like me tend to pass by because our village is nearby. Oh, but I can't tell you where that is! No visitors are allowed into the secret ninja village! I'd give you a tour if I could, but this is the kind of thing nothing can be done about so the most I can do is give a description; not with all the details, though. Since you're from Jappon, you could actually recognize some landmarks, so I'd be in deep trouble if I ever revealed something like that. There's this myth that ninja villages are—"
For once, Hanzo silenced himself, garnering the full attention of Reimu and Marisa from the unexpected development. "Somethin' wrong?" Marisa asked the moment she saw and processed the exceedingly wary expression worn by Hanzo, whose gaze was unbelievably sharp as it coursed through the left and right without his head turning. Instead, he was frozen in place, forcing Reimu and Marisa to stop in their tracks as well.
Then, at blinding speeds, a flash of white constituting his bandaged right hand moved for his pocket and threw a shuriken into the bushes on Marisa's side. "Woah! The hell, man?!" Marisa had been able to dodge that shuriken without much of a hassle, having perceived the movement and reacted reflexively, though it truthfully had not been aimed in such a way that it would cut through her (at most, it would graze her clothing). However, the very attempt had her scowl in pure anger as she noted Hanzo's left hand leaving his face and revealing the same consistently cool expression as before.
He was looking towards the bushes, leading Reimu to follow his gaze and spot leaves rustling. "Something's moving over there!" she exclaimed while pointing her finger in that direction, steering Marisa's focus there as well. From the bushes then came multiple slithering snakes of a damp brown color, which had Marisa immediately take her broom and fly up. Meanwhile, Hanzo had remained on the ground, and Reimu had decided to float so as to avoid the snakes coming for her, only to continue speaking: "This must be the snake guy's doing again! He's probably come for revenge after I beat him and stole his tag!"
Just as Reimu conjured large orbs of light, Hanzo snapped his head in her direction. "Oh, and you're only now noticing that?! He's been here for five minutes now! I only acted because he actually believe we weren't catching on!" He threw more shuriken now towards his left, having detected the slightest hint of movement from those bushes.
"Well, he would have come at me either way, so it's not like I had to find him at all!" The orbs began to fly away from Reimu, and she looked in the same direction Hanzo had thrown the shuriken after finding that her orbs were similarly heading there.
"You think the guy would show himself without launching a surprise attack first?! I told you to watch out for your surroundings!" With that, Hanzo was gone from Reimu's sight.
"Wha..." He had run off to the direction of Reimu's Fantasy Seal, while Marisa flew over that part of the forest in an attempt to witness Hanzo's movement. Reimu followed suit and floated there while dodging snakes attempting to jump so as to lunge at her, grimacing in reaction to having been unceremoniously left behind. "Geez, I'm plenty careful already!"
Unbeknownst to her, the snakes behind Reimu were dispersing, and Marisa was taking note of that from the sky. "Huh..." Then, she looked downwards in search of a dark figure amidst the trees, and was able to spot a bright red color corresponding to Hanzo's scarf instead. Against her expectations, Hanzo was not moving, leading Marisa to lower herself in order to understand what exactly he was up to. "Where's the snake guy, Hanzo? You lost him or something?"
Hanzo glanced behind him before standing up. "Take a look at the ground," he said before turning around to see Reimu flying in his direction. "There's a blood trail all the way until there. The snake guy or whatever he was is probably gone now." Hanzo motioned to the ground, dry and covered with tree roots, but stained faintly with a crimson red ending only a few centimeters in front of Hanzo.
Seemingly in disbelief, Marisa looked behind her and took note of similar small drops of blood, only to scowl."Gone? How'd he do that?" she asked.
"Wait, who's gone? The snake guy? Already?" Reimu asked further, thoroughly confused now that she arrived.
"When I threw the shuriken, it hit the mark. He must've sent the snakes as a distraction so he could run away with the injury," Hanzo calmly explained, stepping aside to allow Reimu to get a better view of the blood, and she glanced awkwardly Hanzo's way seeing that. She then landed and took sight of the same spot Marisa was now looking at, and her eyes narrowed as though she could already imagine the situation Hanzo was still describing: "He probably noticed the blood leaking out, which is why the trail stops here; the rustling of these bushes were more snakes, too, meaning that he was already gone by then. Still, he's probably not gonna try to tail us again any time soon if he's injured and knows I'm with you."
"That was fast," Marisa ultimately commented, if only because she, on the other hand, was struggling to imagine the event in correlation to Hanzo's prowess. "Thought we were gonna have a full-on fight with the snake guy at first, but you just got it over with before we knew it."
"You could have said so beforehand," Reimu said. "You made us get all combat ready for nothing."
"I had to check on the target first," Hanzo said in his defense, glaring at Reimu, "How else would I know it's safe? Besides, if you'd just noticed the guy tailing us, maybe you could've actually contributed something to this situation. You two are just way too carefree!"
"Says the guy chatting with us the whole time," Marisa retorted. "That your idea of being on your guard?"
Hanzo huffed while proudly smirking. "It's only natural I can talk while noting people's presences. What sort of ninja would ever miss the slightest movements in the surroundings? If anything, you're the ones who aren't skilled enough."
"That's a lot of talk for someone who got beaten by me," she shot back, holding up her Purification Rod as if to make sure Hanzo would see it along with her fighting intent. "Are you trying to make me take you down again? Because I definitely wouldn't mind teaching you a lesson!"
"Look, there's a big difference between a formal duel and a life-and-death situation. You might be a formidable fighter, but if you can't perform according to a real scenario, you'll just end up getting yourself hurt." Hanzo then crossed his arms, eyes narrowing at a clearly absentminded Reimu, who blinked curiously despite her previous anger. "Do you get where I'm coming from here? I'm actually worrying about you right now. Act how you want, but don't go throwing your life away by mistakes as tiny as those. If you don't watch out for yourself, you'll eventually..." Before Reimu could even blink, Hanzo was out of sight, and Marisa blinked in shock.
"Reimu, watch out!" However, Hanzo's speed was overwhelming. While Marisa shouted, Reimu's arm was already being grabbed from behind and a blade was nearing Reimu's neck. Reimu's eyes were naturally wide from the sudden action, and she had taken to conjuring a counter-attack, but Hanzo had retracted the hidden sword before she had managed the time to do so.
"... Put your life in serious danger." The event was in such a way fast that not even a minute had passed before Hanzo stated, "In the time you were taking to react and make up a counter-attack, I could have killed you." Then, he released her arm. "Don't forget that." He stepped away from her so as to create a more natural distance from Reimu, his gaze cold and sharp, noting the surroundings in case of an additional attack.
Marisa eyed Reimu for a moment, seeing her silent and thinly frowning, as though something were on her mind. The situation had Marisa shift her gaze to Hanzo with a grimace, considering the sheer speed behind his attacks. He had used such physical prowess on his fights with Reimu, but she had been alert to his movements then. Now, she had been stopped by a surprise attack, practically killed, and Marisa was not entirely sure of how someone like Reimu would process a reality of that sort. "C'mon, aren't you over-doin' it? Reimu's not very uptight, but she's a good fighter."
"That's the whole point, though," Hanzo countered. "Reimu might be a good fighter, but any good fighter can be in danger if they let their guard down." His eyebrows seemingly twitched in a show of surging anger, which was surprising when compared to his cold disposition. He grimaced, eyes briefly closed, and could not help but speak: Yes, even the best of the best can sometimes screw up and get the wrong tag! They can even get serious injuries from one wrong move and end up tag-less! Would you want to see that happening to her?!"
"... You're just hung up on it 'cause you screwed up, huh...?"
"Either way, you should watch out, too," Hanzo added, unaware of the fact that Marisa had even spoken. "It's a good thing that broom's fast, or you'd have been in trouble much sooner."
Marisa scowled, feeling as though underestimated, only to look towards Reimu in wonder as she turned to Hanzo with a glare. "That's it!" she exclaimed, "If you think I wouldn't get you just because you snuck up on me, I'll prove you wrong right here, right now! We're fighting again, you hear me?! And this time, we'll end it for good!" Reimu brandished her Purification Rod. "So you better get ready!"
Hanzo turned towards Reimu with the very same cold expression as before. However, in a second, he sighed, unable to keep it in light of the sheer innocence in Reimu's refreshing smile; as though she truly had not resented him, despite everything. "You really don't learn..." Then, he smirked. "But then again, I've been meaning to secure my victory, so I've got nothing to complain about. I'll take that challenge of yours! We'll see who was right all along when I finally make you lose!"
Meanwhile, watching the two mirror each other's confidence, Marisa shot them a blank look. "This again...?"
. . .
With the enclosing deadline, Leorio and Kurapika had begun to lose hope, even if they refrained from strongly expressing it. The island was of considerable size for two people without a faster means of transportation than their feet, and since their brief encounter with Hisoka, they had seen no one for four days. They assumed most had passed already, and Leorio's target, Ponzu, was of an unknown status to them.
However, the tables had soundly turned with Gon's arrival. Gon's senses were sharp, and he was able to use his sense of smell to track down the scent of strong chemicals, which Ponzu was known to use. At the moment, Leorio and Kurapika followed Gon with a rekindled hope in their gazes, as Gon seemed to assertively make his way through the forest. "We're getting closer," Gon warned before sniffing the air around him.
Leorio and Kurapika nodded in unison, acknowledging his words. Naturally, they did not know what to expect out of finding Ponzu. Was she even alive? Did she have her tag? Either way, they knew they could not let their guard down for the sake of their safety, just in case Ponzu was alive. Rays of sunlight peered through the small gaps left by the dense trees, implying an interval in said density for a landscape that allowed for the sun to brightly shine. Leorio gulped, and Kurapika started to assume Ponzu was likely beyond the forest if Gon had decided to now warn them of their proximity; he meant to warn them to keep their guards up after leaving the forest for good. There was no set path or road to the forest, or any part of the island, so the three had to cross roots and bushes haphazardly grown on the dry-seeming soil, but Gon showed himself entirely unaffected by the uneven land, while Leorio would move branches away as he looked down to watch his step.
When Gon stopped in his tracks, Kurapika immediately halted his movement as well, only to tug at Leorio's sleeve so as to garner his attention. Leorio looked up at Gon, who was in front of him, and grimaced. "What's wrong? Did you find her?" he asked in a low voice, hoping she would be unable to hear him in case she really was nearby.
Gon nodded. "There's a lake after the forest," he whispered as he peeked through the last trees outlining the area. "She's sitting by the shore. Her clothes are a bit dirty, but she looks fine."
"She's just sitting there?" Leorio questioned. "Why'd she just be sitting by the lake? Is this a trap?"
"She may have had her tag stolen already," Kurapika stated, "leading her to have no reason to fear being attacked by an applicant."
Leorio flinched simply imagining Kurapika's hypothesis. "S-seriously...?! That means I'm done for, then...!"
"Well, it's just a theory," Kurapika admonished with a grimace. "The only way we can find out the truth is..."
"To check it ourselves," Gon said so as to finish Kurapika's train of thought. "Let's just go up to her! She doesn't look like she's got her guard up, anyway!" With that, Gon dashed out of the forest, leaving Leorio and Kurapika to widen their eyes in shock.
"W-wait, Gon! Don't just run off to the enemy!" Leorio shouted before following Gon. "Who knows what stuff she's got up her sleeves?!"
Kurapika sighed, only to walk forward in order to take sight of Leorio's target once and for all. He assumed Gon had not made the decision to approach Ponzu lightly: he had notified Kurapika and Leorio of her presence beforehand, and was likely observing her while they were conversing about whether she possessed a tag or not. Regardless, Kurapika could not help but be wary of the situation, so he only walked as far as a few centimeters away from Leorio, who was watching Gon crouching directly by the side of a girl, presumably Ponzu. Parts of her clothing were cut through, and others appeared smeared with dirt, but as Gon had relayed to them beforehand, she had no significant injuries, and she seemed relaxed even as she noticed the presence of strangers around them. The only point of interest in her, in fact, was the fact that she was clutching what appeared to be a yellow hat, tattered and torn beyond any of her clothes as though deliberately targeted. "Who are you?" she asked before glancing behind her to confirm the additional people she had heard from the forest.
"Hello! I'm Gon! Nice to meet you!" Gon cheerfully greeted. "By the way, are you number two hundred and ninety six?"
"If you're asking that, you must be looking for my number tag," Ponzu remarked with a thin frown, as though unconcerned. "Am I supposed to be your target?"
"I'm the one who's targeting you, Ponzu," Leorio interjected and stepped forward, near Gon's position. "So, do you have your tag or not?"
"It's been six days," Ponzu said, "I'm guessing you were too far from my position to find me. Though, this isn't really the showiest of places. Even if I wanted to give my tag away, nobody got here yet, so I just spent the week alone." She smiled bitterly, staring towards the lake's water reflecting the sunlight.
"Are you saying you still hold your tag?" Kurapika asked.
Ponzu nodded. "It's inside my bag. If I had any injury, I'd have wanted to keep it so the examination committee would find me through the tracking device on the tag, but I can just walk to the starting point if need be, so it's pretty much useless now." While Gon was just noting that she did indeed have a bag next to her, Ponzu was looking down at her hat, but her wry expression did not show any weakness. "It's just proof I'm not good enough to be a Hunter yet."
"The tracking device on the tag?" Gon asked, as though he had been faced with a foreign set of words. "The number tags have stuff like that?" He peered at Ponzu's face, frowning as he could at least understand she was not feeling too good, but she was quick to turn to him in surprise.
"You didn't notice? Each number tag has a tracking device so the examiners can locate you. If you're not around by the deadline, the examination committee will come to find you, but since I'm in a good enough condition to move around, I don't actually need the examiners' help to be found. In other words, I don't need the tag anymore."
"Then, you just gave up on the exam...?" Leorio asked despite himself, grimacing because he could almost feel the frustration Ponzu had likely felt under his skin, and he wanted no one he respected to feel similarly. Ponzu kept the smile, but shut her eyes, her grip on the hat tightening slightly, but enough that Leorio noticed.
"Not without a fight, but sure. I'm giving up," Ponzu claimed, even if in a voice too soft to carry an assertive edge. "I've still got a long way to go before I can pass the exam. That's why I was going to give my tag to whoever managed to show up here, but you're the first people I've seen in four days." She shrugged afterwards, eyeing the three with supposed disinterest.
"But it's not like you're in bad shape or anything," Leorio said, "Couldn't you have tried to get your target's tag like that?"
"Is that something you should say to your target, now?" Ponzu snidely retorted. "If I had any shot at getting my target's tag, I would've done so; and I did, while I still had a chance. In the end, I was too late, and now that tag's with someone I can't possibly beat. Even if I tried tailing him, I'd be dead in a second. It's hopeless."
"I see..." Kurapika muttered. "You sensed there was a considerable difference in strength between you and the other applicants, so you've chosen not to risk your life."
"That's right," Ponzu said. "Think what you will, but I don't regret my decision. The only thing I'm not satisfied with is my own lack of foresight."
"... By the way," Gon suddenly interjected, staring Ponzu's way with considerable wonder. He was squat to her left, the opposite side of Kurapika and Leorio's position, as he had immediately perceived Ponzu as a not intending to attack. "Was that someone you couldn't possibly beat tall and full of needles?"
Ponzu turned towards Gon with wide eyes. "You..." She attempted to point at him, but she immediately retracted that arm and scowled, squinting as though to try to remember him. "How do you know that? You weren't there on that day, were you?"
"I wasn't there," Gon responded, "but I saw him afterwards. I wouldn't know where the tag is now, though." He looked aside as he smiled, taking in the sea as he pondered. In truth, though he technically had not lied to Ponzu, he was deceiving her, and the smile was one way to escape that reality, alongside the yet fresh memories of a time he was trying to avoid by being in Leorio and Kurapika's presence. As such, he ignored the possibility of being able to find Hisoka, who he knew had that tag, and did not even attempt to conjure that name in his mind.
"Wait, though," Leorio said, and Gon took to looking at that curiously. He was scowling, frustrated at his own confusion. "By a tall guy with needles, you mean that creepy guy? Uh, what's his name again...?"
"Gittarackur, I think. Though, if it really is him, I can understand what she means then," Kurapika calmly said, but he was frowning in a clear display of displeasure, "It wouldn't be wise approaching that man. He seems greatly dangerous."
"But then again, if Ponzu gave up right away, how's she all beat up?" Leorio asked.
"It must've been Ms. Reimu," Gon offered, but, just as with Ponzu, he did not expand on the matter. He simply knew.
"Reimu?! That injured Reimu?!" Leorio shouted in such a way loudly that Kurapika looked behind him, thinking of any applicant who could have heard that despite not even being close by. Meanwhile, Leorio's fisted hands soared through the air in pure indignation, which was his way of showing concern as well. "What the hell's she doing, picking fights with random people?! Didn't she already get her target's tag?!"
"I was tailing her at the time," Ponzu explained, staring Leorio and Kurapika's way as she figured they were the only ones without context. "On the first day, I was following my target, but his target just happened to be the woman with the flying broom. When he found them resting inside a cave, he laid an ambush and got beaten up. By then, she didn't even know who her target was, so they meant to collect any tag they managed to find. That's when everything turned hopeless for me."
"Reimu and Marisa were too formidable for you to fight them head-on, so you attempted to tail them," Kurapika concluded for Ponzu, "However, this doesn't explain Gittarackur taking the tag."
"After a while of walking around, Reimu and Marisa found someone else; he happened to have Reimu as her target, so the two fought. I was planning on taking back my tag then, but Reimu was too fast in beating the man up. I had to abandon my plan, and before I knew it, Gittarackur was coming up to the two. Apparently, Reimu had just beaten his target and gotten his tag, and it just so happened he had beaten Marisa's target and taken her tag, too, so they traded the tags and avoided a fight. Still, it looked like he was onto me from the beginning, because he offered to keep my target's tag and blew my cover. After that, Reimu and Marisa fought me to make sure I wouldn't follow them again, or so they said. In the end, they didn't take my tag because they already had enough, and I was left here to think over my failure."
No one had the right answer for Ponzu immediately, so seconds passed of awkward silence. Gon, Leorio and Kurapika all were frowning thinly, expressing only a pointed sadness for the turn of events described, but Leorio was also meekly scratching his cheek with his index finger. "Man, you had it rough," Leorio remarked in a low voice, "From Reimu and Marisa to that Gitarackur guy, it just looks like you ran into one unlucky thing after the other."
"Conversely, I think she was lucky."
Taken aback by Kurapika's sudden statement, Leorio stepped back, blinking confusedly. "What? Why?"
"Had her cover been blown in front of anyone other than Reimu and Marisa, she might not have been spared with injuries as light as those," Kurapika said, eyeing Ponzu. "With her tag intact, no less."
"Now that you mention it, it's pretty surprising she got away from Reimu and Marisa without any big injury," Leorio said, staring pointedly at the sky while intensely pondering. "Aren't they usually talking about beating people up? They're as violent as can be."
"What they say and how they act can always differ," Kurapika said, "As of now, I've been given no reason to think of the two as malicious, even if they appear to enjoy fighting. Thus, I assume they are more merciful than someone less carefree."
"Well, you got a point with how easygoing they are. They probably didn't even think about keeping an extra tag just in case."
"Would that kind of person be concerned with making their opponent suffer?" Kurapika asked, looking towards Leorio with the hint of a smile.
Leorio responded to that in kind, having found no need to ponder further. "Guess not..." Then, he turned back to Ponzu, who was staring at them as if to take in their perspectives. "Speaking of, how was Reimu? Did her injury look bad?"
"The two must have been carrying a first-aid kit or something, because the cut was already bandaged when I first saw them," Ponzu responded before grimacing, reminiscing. "It at least didn't affect her fighting spirit, if everything I told you is any reference. Still, your friend is right: considering how worse off I could have been, this is actually the best case scenario for me and you alike."
"For us?" Leorio questioned.
"You're practically getting my tag without lifting a finger, so of course it's good for you," Ponzu retorted. "You hung out with Reimu and Marisa a bunch of times, right? You might as well thank them, because even if I wanted to fight you for your tags, most of my weapons got done in by their strange magic, and I don't have any advantage in numbers." Then, she reached for the small bag on the side, opened its loosely strung top, and rummaged through its contents. "So, just take my tag and get where I couldn't." She took the number tag from it, and stood from her position as she re-strapped the bag. With a fast motion, Ponzu stretched her hand with the tag towards Leorio, her expression calm and clear of hesitation. "I'll make sure I pass the next time around."
While Leorio had initially thought to say something further, something along the lines of encouragement for the pitiful sequence of events that had supposedly befallen her, he found that in light of Ponzu's resolute self, such words would only be useless, as she had already committed herself to the sacrifice she was making. He nodded grimly, and took the number tag away from Ponzu, who smiled in return. "Yeah, good luck next time," he said, "and thank you, Ponzu."
"Don't mention it." She turned towards the lake, and eyed the sunlight reflecting on the water again. "Anyway, now that you got my tag, you don't have any more business with me, do you? Then you might as well leave. To be honest, I'd rather be alone right now. I've got a lot on my mind."
"Right," Leorio said, "Sorry for intruding."
"I wish you the best of luck as well," Kurapika added as he watched Leorio step away from Gon and Ponzu, even if slowly, in the process of taking in the situation. Kurapika glanced at Gon, who he noted not to have spoken as much as he was expecting, but turned around to follow Leorio regardless.
"Thank you for the tag! I hope you pass next year!" Gon dashed towards Leorio and Kurapika as he shouted that, waving her way despite the fact she was not even looking at him. When he turned back to his two friends, he was smiling, but he was not the first one to speak.
The three were quick to depart from the open area of the lake, reasonably far enough from Ponzu to speak of her, when Leorio said, "I thought I was ready for a lot, but I wasn't expecting to be handed the tag."
"To be honest, I didn't think that would happen, either," Gon said, noting the frown on Leorio's face; the situation likely did not sit well with him. "I guess she didn't have her guard up because she wasn't gonna fight at all."
"Still, if that guy with the needles can't be good news if she gave up on the exam because of him," Leorio said, grimacing as he pocketed the tag he had been so far simply staring at intently. "Am I glad I never ran into him!"
"Though, if she was in that lake area for most of the week, it was good that Gon arrived to steer us in the right direction," Kurapika commented, "With how extensive the island is, it would have been difficult to pinpoint the location without a lead."
"Tell me about it," Leorio said, "Who knows if I would've found her in time? I really owe you one, Gon, that's for sure!" Leorio, despite slightly bitter as he remembered Ponzu's dejection, grinned Gon's way, and saw him respond in kind, which admittedly lightened up his mood.
"You're welcome! I'm glad I got to help you out on something, at least," Gon said, taking the lead for he walked a bit more enthusiastically, while the other two were not as intense or pressured to return, for they still had hours to do so. The three would make small talk throughout the trip, but nothing significant in light of the many factors that they individually had in their minds to ponder, related with the exam. Leorio thought still of Ponzu, and of her defeat before the gaps in power present in the Hunter Exam: in truth, it stung harder for him because, in the end, he was certain that, if alone, he would have most likely turned out the same way, if not even worse were he to resist and hurt himself in the process, another probable hypothesis. Meanwhile, Kurapika thought of Gon, for he just now was realizing it was not far-fetched to reason something had happened to Gon in the process of getting his target's tag that would cause him to be less talkative than normal.
Gon, by contrast, was focusing on not thinking, having figured that if he were to pass the exam, he could sort his turmoil better, so that he could think of how to manage the problem that Hisoka's unfair actions had imposed upon him. Perhaps the only thing the three had thought in common, in turn, was that Reimu and Marisa appeared to have made an impact on the Phase despite having passed it so quickly...
. . .
"As of now, the Fourth Phase of the Hunter Exam is over."
"Oh, there ya go," Marisa said, "Time to get out of the tree." Though she spoke that, Marisa and Reimu were floating near the tree, while only Hanzo was laying on a thick branch. According to him, that was the most comfortable-seeming tree out of the trees near the starting point, so Reimu and Marisa took to settling down on the tree for Hanzo's sake on the night of the sixth day. Now at the seventh day, Reimu and Marisa had slept through most of the early morning, and Hanzo had watched over the nearby applicants just in case. Marisa and Reimu's awakening had occurred only half an hour ago.
"Finally," Reimu uttered as she stared at the boat visible in the horizon, from which light shimmering on the sea. "I was just about sick of waiting for this phase to end." In truth, they had sto wait a full hour until they could leave the island, since that was the time period set as the limit for all applicants to arrive to shore and present their tags. Regardless, it was prudent to immediately proceed to the starting point proper rather than to stay in the trees until then, if only to assuredly pass.
"Look who's talking," Hanzo quickly retorted with a grimace as he stood from the branch and placed a hand over his forehead to spot the boat, "You weren't the ones watching over the starting point since sunrise."
"Hey, you at least got to do stuff beforehand," Marisa countered. though not with as much intensity as expected. While she was less tired than before due to Hanzo's extremely convenient proficiency in sleeping few hours a day, the boredom had weighed on her as though it were fatigued. "I couldn't even fight anyone. Sure wish my arm would heal as fast as Reimu's cut." She eyed Reimu's left arm, now devoid of bandages. There was a visible scar of considerable size, but Reimu was otherwise in top condition.
"Well, now I have this showy scar," Reimu said, moving her head aside to note it from the corner of her eye, "and it was all because I needed to paralyze Hanzo. I'm not very proud of it, to be honest."
"Speaking of," Hanzo interjected, frowning thinly as he saw Reimu appear somewhat displeased. For someone who did not know Reimu well, it was easy to think she was dejected, but, presently, she was merely neutral towards the matter, and was frowning from boredom much like Marisa. "Sorry for the cut. I thought you'd dodge at the time, but you got the better of me. It at least worked to let my guard down."
Reimu shrugged immediately, gaze shifting to Hanzo's crossed arms. "As far as I'm concerned, we're even," she responded. "Your hand's bandaged because of me, isn't it?"
"I thought he just liked the aesthetic," Marisa remarked with slight wonder.
"Of course not," Hanzo argued as his first instinct, "Why'd I like having only one bandaged hand? It's obviously because of that magic Reimu used against me. I pressed my hand against that orb, and it burned. It was better than taking the full brunt of that attack and risking my whole life, though."
"At the time, I thought you were trying to kill me," Reimu explained, only now carrying any sort of apologetic tint to her mellow voice as she wryly smiled, "so I retaliated. If anything, I'm the one who should be apologizing."
"Damn, that means Reimu humiliated you in front of everyone, stole your tag, beat you in formal duels more than once and even burned your hand while trying to kill yo—"
"I'm really sorry, okay?!" Reimu immediately blurted out, hoping to escape the increasing guilt forced out by Marisa's sharp conclusions. "Anyway, let's get out of this stupid tree and pass this phase once and for all!"
"And then I'm the one who's mean to Reimu," Hanzo snidely commented in low voice for only Marisa to hear, just as Reimu began to float away from the tree.
"Least I don't try to stab her with hidden swords," Marisa retorted, "Weren't you also tryin' to kill her back then?"
"Well, I had that possibility in mind, at least," Hanzo muttered, only to brightly grin. "But now it's all water under the bridge, am I right?! Who are we to keep caring about details like that when death's stared us in the face so many times?!" With that, Hanzo chuckled wholeheartedly as he practically slid down the tall tree unscathed, leading Marisa to fly his way as fast as she could to keep up.
"Thankfully for you, we really don't give a damn about details like that," Marisa said casually, but her gaze was a little more focused than that tone would have one believe, "but I'd be forcin' an apology out of you if only Reimu'd done it. Otherwise even I'd start feelin' bad."
"I guess you're carefree even with this kind of stuff," Hanzo remarked, and could not help but smile as he stood from his resting position on the tree, instead standing without any sort of support to keep balance. "On the plus side, that's what ended up keeping me entertained for the rest of the week, so thanks for the company."
"Hey, what are you two still doing over there? I'm not about to stand around in the open alone for one hour just waiting for the examiners!" Reimu shouted from afar, uncaring of the few applicants already within the open space of the starting point. Hanzo immediately jumped off the branch he was on when he heard Reimu, and landed in such a way perfectly Marisa briefly marvelled at the technique before lowering her broom and jumping from a far lesser distance, and more clumsily by comparison.
However, after the two glanced each other's way knowingly, sharing the same smile, Marisa was the first to walk in Reimu's direction, while Hanzo vacantly followed after her. "Don't worry, Reimu," she said, "As long as we got Hanzo, we can talk for a literal eternity. He can cover for one hour." Marisa gestured behind her in a loose attempt to point at him, and Reimu nodded slowly as if taking in her equivalent opinion to Marisa's.
"I can't tell if that's supposed to be a compliment or not, but I've got a feeling you're making fun of me," Hanzo bitterly stated.
"Well, we definitely can't go fighting again, so I suppose I can settle for that," Reimu said. In the process of turning around to walk further into the area designated for the applicants that had passed, she had noticed rustling from the side, and stopped in her tracks. "Oh, wait, look over there." She pointed to the forest, from which the tall figure of Leorio had first appeared while stretching his arms. Behind him were Kurapika and Gon, both seemingly subdued in relation to the older man. "It looks like they ended up passing without a hassle."
"Hm? Who're you talking about?" Hanzo turned around faster than Marisa, and blinked in confusion as he took in the three applicants. "Is it those three? You did look like you got along with them."
Marisa waved in their direction, garnering their attention immediately. "Hey! Long time no see, you three!" she exclaimed in a friendly tone, smiling their way. Then, she glanced around as if to survey her surroundings, only to look towards the three again. "Where's Killua?! Did he fail or what?!"
"As if." When Marisa heard said casually irritated voice, she immediately faced its origin and looked down to offer the boy a smirk; she somehow was not surprised he was able to appear beside her without making any sound or being remotely visible.
"Knew you'd show up if I said that," Marisa slyly remarked, while Killua grimaced in regards to Marisa's behavior. Beyond that, however, he had both hands over the back of his neck, and he appeared just as carefree as herself.
"Tch, you're low," Killua commented.
"Oh, Marisa, Reimu, even Killua! You're all here!" Leorio exclaimed in response to Reimu's wave of her hand after Marisa's, which served to have him better process their presence. "I heard your injury was alright, but it's good to know it's just a scar now. You had me worried for a second there!"
"In fact, you had Leorio rant about you and your injury for the entire time he was on the boat," Kurapika added with a smile, and erased Leorio's in an instant.
"Sh-shut up, Kurapika! You're not supposed to be saying that!"
"Now I'm really glad I was the first to get out of that ship," Reimu remarked, unable to even imagine having to tolerate that amount of noise. However, the more she thought about Leorio's words, the more curious she became, as she blinked confusedly. "But, you heard that I was alright from someone...?"
"Ah, yeah, well," Leorio said, stumbling on his words because he was faced with the memories of how he got his tag. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and frowned reflexively, despite not having wanted to. "Do you know a girl called Ponzu? She was my target, and when I got there, she apparently couldn't beat me and Kurapika because you beat her and destroyed her weapons."
"Now that you mention it, I suppose I did beat her," Reimu said with contrasting nonchalance, "So, she was your target? If we'd just found each other, I would have taken the tag and handed it to you."
"If it weren't for you, Leorio wouldn't have gotten the tags as easily, anyway," Gon interjected, and both Reimu and Leorio took to focusing on him intently. He was not at the peak of his cheerfulness, but he smiled regardless, staring at Reimu just as pointedly as she was. "So, if anything, she told us to thank you!"
Reimu's hand neared the lower edge of her face as she thought over the situation, and, in concluding practically nothing but the fact that Gon's words were genuine and his disposition innocent, she simply smiled gently their way, and answered in a surprisingly modest fashion, "Well, then you're welcome."
Meanwhile, Killua was loosely pointing at Hanzo, eyeing him curiously. "By the way, isn't that the guy who cut Reimu up?" Hanzo was standing behind Marisa, farther from the Gon, Kurapika and Leorio, who were near Reimu than Killua, who had first appeared next to Marisa. He had technically noticed all of the presences there, but, considering he had no familiarity with Reimu and Marisa's friends, he opted to not speak and first observe the situation, and he was admittedly too focused on the first three to have really thought about Killua. "Is he actually with you somehow?"
Now that Killua himself was diverting everyone's attention to him, however, Hanzo was forced to look his way, and he realized exactly who that was to him. "Sure is," Marisa responded before Reimu, who was just reminding herself of the circumstances behind the fact that Hanzo was there.
While Marisa had been talking, Hanzo's eyes narrowed threateningly, as he stared at Killua only. "You..." he muttered with nothing but resentment, only to accusingly point at him, in turn. "You knew I was there that time, didn't you?"
"Hm?" Killua averted his gaze with a smirk, and shrugged performatively before Hanzo's more than serious attitude. "I don't know what you're talking about. Where were you, even?"
Naturally, Hanzo remained unconvinced. "You so know."
"Did something happen between the two?" Gon asked, looking towards Reimu and Marisa, for they were the only two people who seemed acquainted with Hanzo.
"Who knows?" Reimu retorted, shrugging before what she perceived to be a meaningless argument.
"Wait," Leorio finally uttered, after a full moment of freezing before the remembrance of why he had worried for Reimu so much in the first place; rather, the cause of it. His eyes had been wide after Killua had asked that question, if only because, before, he had not immediately assumed Reimu and Marisa had been with Hanzo, but instead that Hanzo happened to coincidentally be nearby. "More importantly, why're you two with him?! He's the one guy who stabbed your arm, and you gave him a tag?!" Leorio asked loudly to Reimu, who scowled simply from the intensity and the noise and had not immediately taken in the question itself.
Hanzo gulped, meanwhile, upon being reminded, as well, of the circumstances, and how they would reflect on an ordinary person; which Reimu and Marisa were not. "We made up with the guy after we gave him a tag in exchange for a duel, so it's all water under the bridge now," Marisa nonchalantly explained before shooting a glance at Hanzo, knowing she was appropriating his way of putting their relationship. "After that, we hung together to kill time."
"Huh..." Killua uttered, disinterested considering there were no juicy details. He was about to approach Gon in order to talk with him, but now that he had mentioned Hanzo's presence, everyone's eyes were on him, and he would at least expect to end the conversation he himself started. "Shouldn't you be thanking me, then? You got to kill time and everything."
Hanzo did not even try to ponder the retort, and say instead, "No way I'm doing that." However, realizing, too, that Killua likely had more to do than argue and so did he, Hanzo sighed, only to smirk as though proudly. "But then again, I guess it's pointless still being angry at you. I've gotta be the adult here."
"The adult who can't sneak on the kid," Killua added.
"Because I'm the adult, I'm letting that one slip, darn it," Hanzo said between gritted teeth. "And you just admitted you noticed me!"
"Nope, still don't know what you're talking about."
"C'mon, introduce yourself already," Marisa said suddenly while forcefully tapping Hanzo's shoulder. He had noticed the movement beforehand, so he had steeled his muscle in vain for the lacking strength in her left arm, and looked towards Marisa curiously. "Leorio's giving us a bad look right now." She was giving Leorio a stream of wary glances, and in the process of tapping Hanzo's shoulder, she had taken a step closer in his direction.
"It's a look of concern for your recklessness," Leorio said.
"See what I mean?"
"Hey!"
Marisa motioned him to step forward, and Hanzo complied without hesitation, only glancing back at Marisa casually. "Oh, right," In truth, considering the chaos implied with the dynamics of an already established group, he had almost forgotten to introduce himself, and the wary stances of Reimu and Marisa's friends had not helped the situation. He cleared his throat, and, to lighten up the mood even for himself, he mustered a smile. "Hi there," he greeted with a half-hearted friendly tone under badly-hidden apprehension. "The name's Hanzo. While I did end up slashing Reimu and she ended up giving me a second-degree burn, we're pretty much friends right now, so it's nice meeting you, too!"
"It doesn't sound all that convincing, but that's the general gist of it," Reimu added as if to dissuade Leorio and Kurapika's blank gazes, but her carefree smile and stance only seemed to make the attempt backfire. Leorio sought help from someone else, but noticed Killua and Gon were already speaking amongst themselves, so they were not participating in the situation.
"... Somehow, I'm not surprised," Kurapika stated meanwhile, after seconds of freezing seeing as he struggled to react to the introduction and its implications in their entirety.
Leorio grimaced, noting Kurapika's notions were not the same seeing as Leorio himself had been rather shocked at the turn of events, but, in thinking about it, he could not help but mutter, in his defense, "I mean, yeah, they're carefree, but I didn't think they were that carefree..."
"I don't even know why you still have expectations, Leorio," Kurapika said, closing his eyes as though to escape reality, but he was grimacing in light of it despite the attempt. "You may as well throw them all away when it comes to Reimu and Marisa."
"And from the looks of it, this guy's probably more of the same..."
"'Birds of a feather flock together', as they say..."
Hanzo glanced at Reimu and Marisa, who were somehow deflecting the negativity through confidence alone, but Hanzo was perhaps not detached enough to scowl before the comments he heard. "It doesn't look like I'm being very welcomed here," he bitterly said, fishing for some form of answer.
"Well, you did slash Reimu's arm and tried to kill her." Marisa shrugged, as though unrelated to the matter; which she technically was, so Hanzo could not retaliate in reaction to her neutrality.
"So you actually tried to kill me?" Reimu leaned back as a show of shock, her eyes wide not necessarily from the surprise, but as a complementing factor to her seemingly distraught expression.
"It was only a possibility! It's not my fault you were targeting me!" Hanzo argued helplessly before Reimu, who simply averted her gaze with a frown while crossing her arms.
"Now I feel like it was a waste apologizing to you."
"I'm sorry, alright?!"
"Hey, don't tell anyone, but he's secretly a ninja," Marisa stated to Leorio and Kurapika, having stepped closer to them while the Reimu and Hanzo were arguing. Hanzo turned to that glaring at Marisa, who smiled winningly.
"Don't go stealing my moment! I'm supposed to be the one revealing that!"
"It's actually true, then," Kurapika vacantly concluded out loud, while Marisa snickered. However, feeling as though he would never leave the topic alone were he to think of it, Kurapika shook his head and continued speaking: "Well, regardless, it isn't like we don't welcome you. We were just surprised, if anything. It's nice to meet you, Hanzo." Out of politeness, Kurapika extended his hand, and Hanzo gave his own for a handshake.
"Oh, now we're talking!" he said before offering them an earnest smile. "How about you?" He turned to Leorio, who at first stared at him skeptically as if to scrutinize his nature, only to reluctantly give out his hand. Hanzo had eventually been able to catch the names of the four, even though he had not talked with Gon and Killua. They had already left their general area to chat by themselves, and had stayed that way, with none of the older parties to complain, instead from time to time smiling their way as they checked the two were there. Throughout the rest of the hour, Reimu, Marisa, Kurapika and Hanzo took to passing the time by talking to each other as there was nothing else to do, catching up on their circumstances; unwilling to think of the possibility of them being pitted against each other by the Hunter Exam past the now peaceful fourth phase.
Author's Notes:
To be honest, I chose to end the chapter here because the mood of this ending felt more fitting, while the scene that would come after this seemed much more well-suited for the beginning of a chapter. What's concluded out of this scene? That shit will go down; it felt satisfying enough for me. Though, the conversation itself was cut off. This was because eh, it wouldn't go anywhere concrete anyway. This is very much like other scenes like the one where the five are in the boat going to Zevil Island talking about their tags, where the conversation also wouldn't go anywhere. Besides, in a story like this, I feel like some things just need to be skipped through narration, as not even you would like to be bored with stuff like what I skipped through in the second phase, for example.
Either way, I took a huge while writing this chapter because 1. the chapter was pretty big 2. I didn't really know just how many scenes I wanted to put in 3. I happened to be kind of busy with real life. However, I did have a rather solid plan for this chapter, as it was supposed to be the second half of the previous one. As such, I always knew they were gonna meet Hanzo and they were gonna hang out with him and that there would be a scene with Okina, another with Byakuren and then a scene with Gon, Leorio and Kurapika until it ends... Though, of course, all of my plans end up being thrown away mid-writing, and another chunk of what I wrote was improvisation, as always ^^ My initial plan was to have Reimu and Marisa meet Shishito (and I'm still on the fence about this), but I just couldn't fit him in because it would inconvenience the plot having Reimu and Marisa find a tag they could freely give away to Shishito. Another thing was that I didn't plan Bourbon's counter-attack, along with the ending, which I changed because when I read the manga, it made more sense for things to turn out this way. Also, I knew that Hanzo had to be met and befriended, but setting up how this would go, along with them fighting, was a huge hassle.
Regardless, to rewind on something I wanted to say on the previous chapter, I made some mad calculations just so Reimu and Marisa could pass without Hanzo failing. As you know, Hisoka takes Siper's tag from Gittarackur in canon, and Siper's tag just happens to be Marisa's target because I wanted Marisa's target to be Shishito or Siper and Siper was the most available choice. Not only that, but I wanted Reimu's target to explicitly be Hanzo because of past foreshadowing. As such, I had to make it so Marisa could have Siper's tag without making Hisoka fail the Hunter Exam, and have Reimu keep Hanzo's tag without making Hanzo fail the exam. I could have sacrificed Bodoro or Pokkle or something for Reimu and Marisa to pass alongside Hanzo and Hisoka, but I found that a little too biased for my tastes, so I went to my calculator and saw if it was possible to make everybody pass with Hanzo and Hisoka having three one point tags and everybody else getting their target's. What do you know? It was!
I'd initially thought to make Marisa be the one out of the two to need three one point tags, but it would be mathematically impossible for Marisa to pass when Hanzo needs three one point tags as well, so it was absolutely necessary for Marisa to get Siper's tag. However, Hisoka needs Siper's tag to pass, so I was at one point trying to figure out how I could manage this until I realized that Bourbon's tag was the only one unused by the passing applicants (besides the tag belonging to Hanzo's target). And with good reason, since Gon had used it as a bargaining chip to make Ponzu let them out of the cave, and left it with her after he was gone because he didn't need it. Still, I needed it, because making everybody pass was only mathematically possible if all available tags were used, including Bourbon's. As such, I made Marisa Bourbon's target, got Reimu and Marisa to get his tag and planned out how they could swap it for Siper's and solve everything. The part with Gittarackur was actually not part of the initial plan: instead, I was gonna have them meet Hisoka and have them trade tags. However, I felt like doing so would waste the potential of this chapter to write characters I wouldn't be able to write otherwise, and really, meeting Hisoka was just too predictable, so I went for Gittarackur, got Reimu to beat up his target and voila! Everybody passed, as Reimu happened to find the tag Hanzo needed.
Reimu's pretty amazing, huh? ;D Still, I was planning on starting with Kasen on the next chapter, but I felt like there was no surprise factor to it by that point, so I decided to just make it be here for a colder way to introduce this chapter. This chapter honestly starts out cold and gets progressively warmer just because Hanzo, Reimu and Marisa are a bunch of dorks lol I don't have much to say about Kasen's scene beyond the fact that it really made me ponder about what happens when a youkai's killed. Does it have a corpse? Does it fade away? Just how am I supposed to know this? Touhou doesn't have a whole lot of youkai deaths. Either way, afterwards is another scene with Sakichi, who's really been through a lot lately and has learned to fear the supernatural again, hahaha. I haven't really explored his character much for obvious reasons (he's just an OC), but I do have an grasp on the way he'll progress through the story, and the use he'll have for it; as of now, I mostly had him to add suspense to the narration through his reactions to Okina. After all, the human characters in Touhou are mostly abnormal, so I wanted to bring out Okina's personality by having a normal human from the village really make it clear how OP and dignified she really is: from Sakichi's perspective, Okina is a god and she can kick his ass whenever she wants, and that's if she's being merciful. At the same time, Okina juggles a more conversational self, with a regal and intimidating self, to the point I've really been liking her contributions to Touhou so far because she actually means business with her appearances, she really makes sure people understand that she can kick your ass, but not know entirely in what way.
In that same sense, despite the fact that she's now friendly, Sakichi can't grasp her and that's interesting seeing as she's a secret god for a reason. Of course, the reader knows more about what Okina is thinking than he does because some scenes were in her perspective, but if you put yourself in Sakichi's shoes, there's like a storm of anxiety and fear and wonder: just who is Okina? And is her current granny energy unconscious or part of the plan? Like I said before, she has instances where she's pretty casual so I want her to be as strangely friendly as an imposing figure. There was Mai and Satono, and they weren't exactly having fun just because Sakichi had better things to worry about, and while I wanted them to be getting along, Sakichi is naturally hesitant about that; rather, considering it does seem like they're trying to take down the mastermind, he's getting a little curious. So, it's the beginning of what would be a character arc around this sub-plot? But Sakichi is an OC so the importance of this will only be high if his role as a plot device seamlessly goes along this.
Meanwhile, the scene with Byakuren also had an OC; much sorry, but I had to drop the mastermind in at some point (though I technically already did before this). This decision was mostly the product of me not wanting to twist the Hunter x Hunter characters existent to have a villain motivation about Gensokyo that wouldn't suit them or the themes of the story, and considering the plot is also more what if based you could call this sad shell of an OC man another plot device. He was surprisingly fun to write because he basically acts like a sleepy condescending prick and this contrasted pretty nicely with Byakuren's serene and composed disposition, since Byakuren's the kind of person that doesn't speak out of order. It took me a whole lot of tries to get to the scene we have now, though: at first, I was gonna do Byakuren dirty by having her lose that fight, but my poor heart couldn't take it because I love her and also because there's no way she wouldn't win; then, I had to go tweak where the two would be and the circumstances behind them meeting and that's how the two interact and Byakuren takes Seijirou.
I was gonna include a scene where Byakuren visits his grandmother to basically pretend she doesn't know anything and say she came to check on Seijirou, but I thought it was a bit redundant so I made it implied, instead. There's some stuff pertaining the themes of the story on their dialogue, and Byakuren is an especially good character for this plot because she sides precisely with the youkai, but me having to research Byakuren fighting stuck out to me the most. To be honest, mastermind, my bro, you were already dead because Byakuren is OP as balls: she's basically an Enhancer in Nen terms and probably would've been able to start having something like Gyo if she buffed her senses. She has an long-range arsenal, a bunch of buddhist techniques you can put on her, plus her really strong buffing magic, so, against a mere villager with a Conjurer hoe she would just decimate him; especially when Miko told her all about Nen. She was gonna lose originally because she was gonna get caught off-guard by zetsu and the mastermind would've been really interested in taking Byakuren, but I thought Miko would have to have a death wish on her not to tell her anything so of course, she did. In other words, I managed to restore Byakuren's honor, and that's what matters!
Anyway, Reimu, Marisa and Hanzo. Reimu and Marisa do a lot of waiting around in this story, hahaha. Hanzo shows up pissed off because Killua screwed him over, and not really because he had a real beef with Reimu. I wanted to at first show this through a scene of Killua handling the brothers, but I realized that even despite Marisa having told Killua more or less who his target was, nothing would change. Killua wouldn't be able to know where his target is without doing some serious island scouting, and by then Umori, uh, Amori, uh fuck it would have been tailing HIM instead, leading to everything going the exact same way excepting Killua momentarily thinking that he's found the people he's looking for. It would just be extremely boring, so I had to cut that and assume you'd infer this is what got Hanzo so mad about.
Like I said, stuff gets warmer from here so the encounter's more comedic than anything. I imagine Marisa's just been so bored lately she decided to use her beautiful dry remark skills and fuck around with Hanzo, because that's mostly all that came to mind. At first I was gonna have Marisa be really far from Reimu so she wouldn't be able to talk, but I realized how much of a waste that would be since Marisa's so great and had her stay nearby. Still, I had a very hard time writing Hanzo, more than I thought I would. This is really the biggest reason why I started not being so sure of what I was doing. I actually think Hanzo was harder to write than Killua on that moment. Hanzo is out-there; I hadn't been so frustrated since Mettaton from the other crossover story. So, what's Hanzo all about? Well, imagine Leorio, then make him a ninja plus competent. That's Hanzo lol Seriously though, Hanzo's talkative and a huge blabbermouth despite being a ninja and he's very friendly, but he happens to actually be very competent as a fighter and a ninja... If only he weren't so overconfident sometimes. So, Hanzo's great at being a ninja despite actually sucking at being a ninja personality-wise. My biggest struggle was having Hanzo being angry at Reimu and Marisa since I honestly just wanted to write him in a more friendly fashion, but things ended up going alright once I got the fight going.
Reimu and Hanzo were honestly on the same page when it came to fighting, so they were actually just having fun after a while. I thought it'd make sense for Hanzo to just want somebody to talk to in the time he'd be waiting for the phase to end, though he wouldn't look for one purposefully. To me he's the kind of guy who only blabbers on and on to the willing lol And I just found it also made sense for Reimu and Marisa to just accept him being there without questioning it much. Still, I felt like Bourbon's characterization of holding grudges would be wasted if I didn't make him counter-attack so I made Hanzo have a cool moment and take care of everything because he kind of deserves it after losing to Reimu and whatnot. Did Reimu get schooled...? Maybe a little. But Hanzo's been screwing up a lot so he actually doesn't have much of a right to school Reimu, hahaha.
I was so looking forward to the scene with Gon, Kurapika and Leorio though. It's mostly because I like being able to write about characters beyond Reimu and Marisa acting in accordance to the canon changed by them, and, well, it was alright if only because I especially loved writing Ponzu. Despite not having appeared a whole lot in the series, I had a pretty easy time writing her, and we already know how much I like her. Sucks that a lot of the lines in this scene are just sad because we all know what happens to her in the series. Moreover, while I wanted this result to contrast with the canon's suspenseful one, I would have wanted to include more action, but wasn't able to justify it because Reimu and Marisa surely would've taken down Ponzu's hive at the very least, and at most destroyed other chemicals she used to defend herself so then, while I imagine she isn't bad at close range combat, she couldn't take three people down at the same time, so I settled for the talking and the way that Gittarackur and Reimu crushed Ponzu's chances. It wasn't a very jolly scene, but it needed to happen in this chapter and I'm glad it did because hey, at least Leorio doesn't get bitten by snakes am I right? ^^'
My favorite dialogue (beyond Okina just telling Sakichi 'hush now' like a grandmother admonishing a cheeky kid) was definitely Marisa's, just because she just started saying the whole thing about Hanzo secretly being a ninja and omg YES. I really do write for myself, huh...? Regardless, there were a lot of characters involved in the scene, so I decided to cut out Gon and Killua because it'd make sense for them to get away from the older people and talk among themselves. However, I was rather hesitant in introducing Hanzo to Leorio and Kurapika considering what happens after this. Oh well, it had to happen anyway considering Reimu and Marisa were with Hanzo. I thought of making him go away, but I don't think Hanzo would be against meeting new people so it ended up happening. Whatever the case, look forward to the next chapter? The end of the Hunter Exam's near!