Steward Of Paradise At Work

by Tall-Gothic-Guy

I didn't come here to meet shrine maidens or monsters. I didn't come here to erect a cross. No one even told me about magic being a thing here. Actually, I didn't expect myself to be here at all. I was simply chasing a woman who created eye portals. But it beats being a runaway thief. I just wish I knew sooner, that this place will never give me a break, not even God...Bring it on.

29. The Sickly Outsider Incident

Daichi carefully eyed anything that looked out of place in the passage he took to his destination. Nothing more than a forest path that's been slowly wearing down from his weekly treks through them. As it is outside the safety of the village, he is putting his own life into his own hands as there are still Youkai abound even in daytime. He may have a bit of a belly and maybe a little slow in times of a pursuit, including the fact that he had little combat experience but that barely stopped him from being capable of handling himself. He wouldn't be able to do these regular forest journeys for the last 3 years if he couldn't.

Being able to manipulate the temperature of liquid, not water as others are led to believe, has its merits in a tight spot.

Finding the familiar rock that lied next to a tree, he took out another nagashi-bina doll from his pouch, slapped a talisman of Misfortune into the face like an oversized Jiangshi tag and threw it over his shoulder, leaving it behind on the grass. He hasn't heard any kind of mishap of anyone that's possibly tailing him yet so it seems he can continue on to the original path instead of the decoy path.

Just to be sure, he looked over his shoulder: nothing but the path he walked through with the doll somehow standing up on the soil when he didn't intend to have it in that position.

"Hm." He was mildly impressed with himself for the small but rare feat. Looking up and surveying around him once again for a few moments, he then decided with a whisper, "No one." He turned back to continue walking forward—

And he hit his toe on a rock.

"Ow! FUCK!" He keeled over, barely suppressing himself from grabbing his foot that would have made him spill the contents of the backpack he was carrying for bending forward.

He should not have looked at the doll. She won't be impressed if she ends up asking about it.

Shouldn't have worn my sandals for this…..!

Grumbling and cursing in ways that would have been inventive, he continued to tread on forward, keeping his temper in check lest he failed to notice any traps that Nature put out for him in his annoyance.

After several turns, dozens of looking over the shoulder, a few more mishaps of unlucky blows with his environment, and more than a couple of dolls being thrown behind him just to make his phantom stalker expose themselves accidently, he was able to arrive not more than 2 and a half hours later in a long walk through numerous forests and following the second river after jumping over the first one.

It was the most unassuming sight ever, something that would've received the very disregard of anybody that looks at it: a very small house, standard design with a triangular-shaped roof placed atop a small cube. In some point of view, it looked like a very small shrine, its significance in terms of design even below the Hakurei Shrine. Its surroundings will be the only thing it can't hold a candle to, surrounded by fruit-bearing trees that will soon give its yield. The dirt ground surrounding the house elevated by wooden stilts had little grass or weeds found and despite the summer season, the location is pleasantly cool, with fresh air and wind passing by at the best of times.

All in all, it was a sight not worth looking at.

Not to Daichi, however. He takes a single look at this place and he was nothing short of delighted. The tiny building would look like a doghouse compared to his two-storied residence complete with a spacious and accessible attic but whoever lives in it incited his eagerness and ultimate motive to come here.

Suppressing his urge to run towards the sliding door with practiced ease, he looked around him carefully before taking another step forward, watching out for snakes, rocks, planks of wood, bottles, knives, seafood he has never seen in his life, other improbable objects that would definitely make him slip on his foot and arrive to the occupant with a batch of crushed snacks.

The occupant is notorious for making the most improbable accidents happen to people without even meaning to. He had a firsthand experience in such a case after all. The worst kind.

Clenching his fist, he took a deep breath before taking one step forward. Swiveling his head towards numerous directions, he carefully eyed the environment once again. Seeing no catalyst of an accident, he took another.

He flinched, hearing a snapping twig and founding out it came from underneath his foot. Seeing the dead piece of wood bent in half underneath his left sandal, almost invisible on the first glance as it blended so well in the dirt ground, he looked around him frantically, suppressing his momentary panic with his iron will, leaving an unflappable composure on his body language and facial expression.

Daring two steps forward, he was very fortunate to see the straps of his sandals not snapping. It happened once, and he wasn't lucky enough to fix it as his extra strings of straw rope somehow got lost at some point.

Huffing out a short breath, he took out his last nagashi-bina doll and beseeched it to take all of his misfortune before throwing it to the side, doing the task asked of it. This time, he took four steps forward without any incident, reaching the porch of the small house and laying his foot on the first step of the stairs.

Letting out a sharp breath, he placed hands at the wooden rails of the stairs, preparing for his foot to cave in on the wooden step as soon as he places even the slightest pressure. From the trek to the passage across the yard, this was the hardest part of the journey. Ridiculous as it sounds, especially to him, but this was natural considering the person living inside the little house. Steeling himself, he lifted up his other foot—

He gritted his teeth, a moment of panic crossing his composed features.

—and laid it on the second step.

He was very fortunate to only hear it crack on his weight. Controlling his paced breathing, keeping himself held up by the rails he held on to, he took a long stride and laid his right foot on the fourth step next to the porch, skipping the third as he noticed its weathered state. Releasing one hand to lay it on the veranda, he lifted up his right foot and immediately laid it on the wooden space before the sliding door.

He's secure. What a surprise.

Did she notice I was here? Did she take it all away before I even reached the stairs? He was curious.

Straightening his posture and adjusting the straps of his back around his shoulders, he lightly knocked on the wooden portal. Once again, his iron will allowed him to suppress the urge to simply slide it open instead due to his own eagerness. He might suffer a concussion from a lone piece of wood falling on his head as an act of fate enacting punishment for such a rude action.

"Oh!" A muffled surprised yelp erupted behind it.

He wore an amused smile. Guess not.

At first, there was footsteps that treaded closer, the pace leaving him with the impression that there was eagerness in them, almost at the same level as him, then the door was finally slid open by the occupant.

And there she is, the most valuable wealth he ever earned in a life that was ever so dull and joyless to him, granting him the light that made him appreciate ever coming this far after everything he went through.

The first thing to grace his eyes every time was the elaborate bow resting atop the silky aquamarine green hair he commonly ran his fingers through. The frilly sash that comprised it was so long it nearly touched the ground even if she stood with boots worn. Following the end of those beautiful locks presented an unusual tie that brought all her hair from both sides of her head together in an odd ponytail below her delicate chin with a simple bow from the same material as the one on her head.

Her face was classical beauty itself, amplified by pale white skin that nearly resembled porcelain comprising expensive china. He knows that very little people could ever get to see it, and he was the most fortunate among all of the Human Village as he could get to see it more than anyone in Gensokyo could. Her dress was part of the rare sights, a red delicate attire of foreign design that darkens from the top and lightens near the frilly end of the skirt.

The god of Misfortune herself, Kagiyama Hina.

"Ah, my dear!" Her dulcet voice was like honey, sweet and soft, like the aria of a beautiful siren in the Misty Lake, absolutely pleasing to the ears and it easily made Daichi's heart perk up happily. Every time.

"Did you miss me already, Love?" He asked, his tone far more colored and amorous than anyone in the village or his Outsider employee could've known.

"I didn't expect you to come visit so soon!" She leaped into his beefy arms and kissed him passionately, which Daichi accepted very eagerly and felt complete bliss for receiving the one thing he had been looking forward to every time he comes here.

He knows it, he already knew what he was getting into when he decided to take her for himself. In other words, he married her. There was no priest, no wedding dress or robes, not even people to confirm them, all except for vows exchanged and a cup of sake shared.

To marry a God of all people, it was never simple. And he's not surprised in the least. Disregard the possible thoughts of the woman herself in regards to being with a mortal, there's the fact that she was a Misfortune God. To be with her means to suffer, probably everyday, and they both know it. The first time he managed to find her home once again after reading about her once again from the Chronicles, he suffered a large laceration on his arm thanks to a bear. The second time, he nearly got attacked by a wild Youkai, out of luck he survived thanks to an Ice Fairy wailing on the bastard.

Essentially, being involved with the Misfortune God led to nothing but trouble, even thinking about her will grant an accident to happen to him. Despite so, he never quit. He was simply drawn to her, even he couldn't explain why it's that way. Was it love? Or was it simply appreciation? Or maybe a whim of compassion he never knew he had for a loner staying out of social contact by benevolent choices? For any reason, whether to see her or to talk to her, he would dare to go through dangerous woods and Youkai-infested territory just to see her.

Hina herself was more than worried. She was outraged. She knew firsthand what will happen to him if he gets too involved with her. Other than the fact that he could get crippled or suddenly die thanks to the amount of misfortune he could accumulate from her, he might get scandalized, affecting her in the process and likely branding him a heretic. Moreover, it's entirely for his sake. She didn't want him to suffer even more, she didn't want him to join his parents' fate. She emphasized the fact that she was the sole reason of all the bad things of his life for her lack of vigilance, she won't accept him asking for more. She doesn't deserve someone like him, she said.

He told her many times already before she even ranted it: he will not stop. If anything, he owes her. Yes, she might be the cause of the Hell he went through. Yes, it can be her fault that his parents fell to sickness. Yes, it must be her fault. But did he care? Apparently, he loved her too much to actually do so.

His confession was out of nowhere, and he amazed himself for how calm he was despite all possibilities of rejection and improbabilities of acceptance. When he said it, he realized why he bothered going through so much just to see her. It was because he loved the God of Misfortune that was Kagiyama Hina. She helped him move on. She allowed him to accept it. She cracked him open, destroying his destructive, drunk episode to bring out the man he was supposed to be.

He then settled his heart to it, and he won't accept anything that will make him become distant from her. If she tries to run away, he will chase her down and make sure she doesn't leave his sight, even abandon the village if he must. She tries to attack him, he'll take it so he could join his parents. If he has to prove himself, then he'll even go through the tunnels of Hell if he has to. So long as he gets to see her again, that's good enough for him.

Apparently, that was all she needed to hear to leave her struck and incapable of shutting him off anymore. She apparently has never seen a human show devotion as much as this, much less love her as much as he did. He figured it wasn't a surprise, nobody would want to get involved with her and she gets it. After moments of her being tearing over his words, she approached him meekly, held his face with both delicate hands and asked that he'd never leave her.

He swore to the heavens that he will never think of doing so, and he will make anybody that wants to separate them regret it.

From there on out, his trysts became an official habit in the coming weeks. He studied as much as he could to negate as much misfortune as possible, one of them involves dwelling into supernatural arts and giving donations to the Hakurei Shrine and pray for protection from the Hakurei God despite the Youkai-infested shrine rumors. He already figured it was a load of bullshit before he found out the real reason behind such a thing.

Not that he'd share the truth to the villagers. The Hakurei girl deserved her comeuppance for having a poor sense of duty that denied her any kind of publicity and exposure.

A year and a half later, with a perfect streak of visits that left every weekend meet-up with being unattended, they finally decided to marry. The first day of New Year has never been sweetest or the greatest day of their lives.

Taboo or not is a matter of debate even for the Human Village but they certainly won't take this lightly like a simple union between a man and a woman, especially when she was a God of Misfortune. It might as well be as reprehensible as a union between a Youkai and a human. But he knew the risks. He will accept whatever consequence this will get him, because that's what he wanted and he'll stick by it. And the Hirabayashi family do not back down on vows.

Another year and a half later after their first night, their meetings are still the same. He would come to her with snacks in his pack, she would greet him hello with a kiss, and spend the entire day together without a single interruption. He loved every moment of it, it seems as if every time they see each other feels like meeting for the first time and falling in love on first sight, especially Hina. Especially Hina. She was such a loving wife, no other woman in Gensokyo could ever hope to hold a candle to the kind of worth she is to his life. With such a Fortune into his life, he got the feeling that he was starting to become immune to misfortune but that's just wishful. Still, he was happy, and that's good enough for him.

He couldn't count how long she kissed him, whether a single minute or an eternity frozen in time, he felt as if he entered Heaven and was brought back to earth when she parted, leaving him in the same presence with his beloved wife. "I love you, Hina."

She giggled, blushing as she looked away. "You're still saying it."

"But it's true." He retorted warmly, then knelt before her and kissed her abdomen, the familiar scent of fresh grass and river water tickling his nose before rubbing his temple against the area that's soon to swell up. "Besides, our greatest treasure is coming over."

He gave her something even more valuable when he thought she deserved something greater than himself 2 months ago, and he's sure she will appreciate it very much.

Taking in the moment between him and his wife that's soon to be with child for a few more moments, with Hina's hand softly stroking his head, he rose up and asked, "Do you want to have a little something? It's in my pack, and it's very tasty. Yagura-san got generous enough to sell it to me half-priced."

Aquamarine eyes sparkled upon hearing it, "Is it those fruit pies again?" She asked eagerly.

"That's right." He smiled warmly, "Come on down, we'll eat it in the usual spot—"

The first step on the staircase caved in on his foot, yet again ruining another piece of the house like many times before. That's a new record. The same one after I broke the first one.

A brief silence awkwardly passed by, until Daichi managed to say "Well, shit."

"Sorry…" Meekly, Hina apologized as always.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"I wonder: why did you come visit so soon? What happened to every Friday night?" Hina asked, knelt seiza-style on the sheet that's spread out next to the river where Nagashi-bina dolls would drift by at a certain month. Daichi sat lotus-style just beside her, a nikuman in his left hand.

"Well…" He picked up a pebble lying next to the sheet and threw it to the waters, making a slight plink sound. "….things just got….crazy. Somewhere in Gensokyo, a kid's going through hell. And not from his own doing. I felt like coming here just to get away from it."

"Why do you say that? Did something happen at the shop?"

A grouchy expression crossed his features, "More like someone happened at the store. Someone everybody in the village knows very well."

Hina peeked at his face that faced forward, humming in thought as she deduced something from his expression. "Sounds like it's somebody you knew as an unpleasant person."

"Unpleasant is too kind a word for you to use, love." He took a large bite from his nikuman, chewing a few times before swallowing everything whole without choking. "More like 'Unhinged' would do nicely. Or maybe cracked? Or just straight-up crazy—I don't know! Just some word you'd use for somebody that's literally out of her mind!"

"Talking about a person like that isn't nice, Dear." She gently chided, then began to ponder, allowing herself to humor her husband just for a bit. "How about insane?" She offered.

He scoffed. "That's like calling an eagle a bird. She's already nuts since I knew the woman, and right now she's in one of her episodes."

"Episodes?" She parroted questioningly, "It was a woman?"

"I was just in my store doing my job, serving dango to a family with two kids and then suddenly she comes in my store yelling 'I'm here to help!', scaring the bajeezus out of everybody."

"Seems like an innocent—"

"She scared all my customers out!" He shouted indignantly, red filling his face. "Thanks to nobody wanting to get involved, they just ran away and made my place look like a haunted house because she's around! Now I haven't got a single customer for the whole fucking half of the day because nobody saw her come out of it since she used the fucking window!"

"Dear, you're fuming." A cup of green tea is held before him, "Here, drink this to calm your nerves."

"Oh," Slightly sheepish for acting out of line in front of her, he accepted it. "Sorry about that." Taking a long pull from the tea, emptying the cup to the bottom, he relished the warmth spreading from his throat and innards. Her tea is usually the best. He placed the cup down, "Thanks. Anyway, what she did is that she simply asked me some questions."

"It doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way." She quipped innocently.

"When you manage a store, the customers are like gods. Without them around, there's nothing making my business alive." He retorted, biting into what remained of his nikuman and swallowed after a few bites. "Not that they hold a candle to you, of course. You're still my favorite goddess. I'd pick you over them anytime." He affectionately added.

"Aw." She cupped both his cheeks and drew him close for a brief kiss, once again reminding him that he was so lucky to have someone like her. "You always say the sweetest things."

Every single time, her smile always looked new and right now it made his heart perk up, urging him to pick her up and carry her to the bedroom for an endless time of lovemaking. His iron will allowed him to suppress it. For now, that is. Maybe later. "What? No, I'm just saying what's true. You're my wife, so I love you and I'd pick you over anything."

She giggled, a beautiful song to his ears. "That makes me love you even more." And she kissed him again, deeply this time. She carried the taste of apples, grapes, and pineapples in the kiss, probably from the fruit pie she ate. He called it a joke mixture for having so many flavors when a human tongue could only identify so much food in one thing, but he never minded tasting it like this.

Parting minutes after their moment, he was unfortunately free from her magic and had to continue with his story without going for more. "As I were saying: what she asked was kinda normal at first. How was Eman feeling at the time before he went home? Was he acting unusual? Was he more like himself? At what time did he start coughing and all that…."

"For what reason was that person there for?"

Realization flashed in Daichi's eyes, "Oh yeah, I never told you. My Helping Hand got sick, coughing like no tomorrow. Couldn't even mush the dough because he couldn't stop coughing to do anything. Had to send him home cuz it might spread on the dango. It's been three days already, he still isn't back. I would've checked up on him but I don't know where the hell he lives outside the Village." He furrowed his brow in concern. "I'm getting worried, and now with that crazy woman getting in what's going on, I'm getting paranoid on what's gonna happen when she finds him. And when I tried to tell her that Eman's only getting sick and there was no need for her of all people to get involved, she didn't even listen to me and just started ranting about shit like he was cursed by some fucking anti-kris-chan-whatsit guy and wanted him out of the picture. Who the hell is Kris-chan? And when I tried telling her that he wouldn't want any enemies when she asked if he had, she started saying that I'll become a target too! She didn't listen to a half of a goddamn thing I said!"

"Dear." Hina looked at him pointedly.

A twinge of guilt and horror struck him over the words he used while he was right next to her, "Sorry, Love. I mean, she didn't listen to a half of a damned thing I said. Seriously, that woman is out of her mind. How many times did I say that already?" He shook his head, scratching his head out of frustration. "She got a point when the coughing was unusual though. Nobody coughs that badly without a reason, kid even told me that he was fine for the last few weeks. But then she started saying that someone had a grudge on me and held Eman's life hostage so I could end up in their control! Whose control!? How does that woman's mind work? Like, seriously, how!? I wanna know! Before I could tell her that she's getting worried over nothing and that she should just knock it off, she just went 'Don't worry, I'll get to the bottom of this' and then flew out my fucking window!"

Hina's left eye twitched, unsure how to take the story of what he just experienced literally hours ago. "Such an…interesting encounter. Do you know her name, Dear?"

"Lemme tell you," He warned grimly, "No one in the Village doesn't know her name, I even told the kid about her for his sakes. Considering the shit she does, I'm pretty sure the entire whole of Gensokyo knows her name by now." He turned to his wife, hoping that when she meets this woman, she would pump every misfortune she's stocked up on straight into the nutcase to make sure she doesn't involve Hina in whatever scheme the former was into. "Her name is Kotohime."

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

The armored guard saw the hour of 11 in the morning arrive by the position of a certain tree's shadow landing next to the worn road. The Swordsman didn't notice the sign like his partner and instead released another sigh.

"Hey, Akira." Guardsman Mirino turning away from the scenery of the forest to look at his partner.

"Hm?" Guardsman Akira turned to his friend.

"Do you think….do you think Eman-kun's doing alright?" The Swordsman asked, concerned. "It's been three days already, and we haven't seen him come back yet."

The foot soldier let out a sigh, showing no indication that he was uncomfortable in his armor despite the heat of the summer. "I'm concerned as well but I can only say that there is nothing we could do for him at this moment. We can only pray that he's doing well. Did you ask Hirabayashi-san?"

"I asked yesterday. He's getting worried too, he's having a bit of a problem without Eman-kun helping around." He remarked. "Did anybody live with him? Can he even take care of himself right now?"

"I wouldn't think so. Other than Visente, he has never mentioned anyone capable of nursing a sick man living under the same roof as him." His hand clenched into a fist, "I'm not sure if he's managing without any trouble. I hope he's as independent as he appears in his predicament."

An uncomfortable silence then settled, letting the grim thought linger in their minds for a while as they stared emptily in the woods. It hung until Mirino had a thought, "What if this was that Scarlet kid's doing?"

The other guardsman widened his orange eyes, the implication settling in on the possible causes of the Outsider's sudden ailment. He gripped his spear tightly. "I fear the worst, friend. If his coughing is a result of his outings in the Scarlet Devil Mansion every weekend, then what's happening to him is definitely not normal. What it is, I wouldn't know."

"Well, you're just in luck!"

Horror dawned over the faces of both hardened and trained Guardsmen, recognizing the voice fully well and expecting the worst the sooner they address the woman stood in the middle of the gate, filling the side of their peripheral vision with a shade of crimson thanks to the iconic kimono they familiarized her with. A sigh of resignation that belonged to a second person they didn't notice was recognizable as well, allowing the men to release a sigh of relief for who it was.

Akira wore an unreadable mask, Mirino scowled deeply, they turned towards the representational image of everything wrong and crazy in Gensokyo, slightly negated by the only sane person accompanying her, likely against the latter's will this time around like always.

"Good day, Meira-dono." Mirino nodded in greetings to the fellow samurai and former student of his, then turned to the self-proclaimed Policewoman of Gensokyo, acknowledging her presence with a dry tone. "Kotohime."

"Greetings." Akira offered simply, his guard up.

The extravagant purple kimono's lavish designs of butterflies and flowers might be eye-catching, especially when the woman herself is beautiful, with full lips, a charming smile followed with wide red eyes accompanied by shining red hair that was done in a ponytail, but the two guardsmen knew better now. They knew better than to fall to the charms of the Madwoman before them. They long learned that once they see her, there's going to be a lot of wrong in Gensokyo about to happen in less than an hour, and that's only merciful.

The Maniacal Princess, Kotohime.

"I see you two are doing very well as always, keep this up and I just might promote you both into—"

"Denied." Sir Mirino was quick to reply. "Firstly, go home. For the last time, we're not part of your 'Police Force'. You started calling us that because you ordered us around one time. Mainly, you barely even talked to us! The last time ya did, the village's furniture were growing legs! We were dealing with it, somewhat with you telling us to do what we're already doing! Why'd that warrant you into promoting us!?"

"And lastly, do you even know our names?" Sir Akira calmly asked with a neutral expression, though his tight grip on his spear said otherwise.

"Of course I do!" Kotohime cheerfully answered, not at all provoked by the Swordsman's point and likely ignoring the first question. "Your name is Terizawa Akira, the Human Village's Obsessive-Compulsive foot soldier who likes order and has the ability to perceive the unusual and the definite. Skilled in the yumi, katana, wakizashi, hand-to-hand combat, but shows more favor to the spear." She turned to the other guard, "And you are Tanaka Mirino, the Human Village's boisterous Swordsman despite his slightly tacky choice of attire. Nicknamed 'Mirino-chan', can hit a bullseye with just a coin, and a sword skill level second only to—"

Kotohime's companion, Meira, quickly stepped up and spoke before any further damage to Mirino's pride, and likely throwing extra oil in the fire, could be done. "We would like to know if you two have any information regarding the unusual sickness Hirabayashi-san's Helping Hand, Eman-san, was having."

The Swordsman had his weapon nearly drawn out, the steel showing but not fully, red-faced and glaring, and if it weren't for Meira speaking up and getting straight to the point, there would have been a bloody confrontation, and Akira would not be standing back to let his friend have the conflict all to himself.

Mentioning the level of his skill while comparing it to someone else better is one among many things to never do, unless inclined to face a raging soldier trained in many ways.

Mirino glared for a few seconds, with the princess not showing any reaction to his antagonistic gaze, then he sheathed his weapon. Akira followed suit by relaxing in his seat against the gate post, resting his spear beside him. "If ya wanna know," The Swordsman replied placidly, attention solely to the fellow samurai and ignoring the princess. "Besides coughing out of nowhere and not coming back for three days, we think the vampire in that Scarlet Mansion is behind this."

"He brawls with the residents of that place every weekend." Supplied Akira. "We are not sure why but there is animosity between them. This is actually the first time it happened. Other times he always come back without any sour features, even tells us of his adventures there, but never about how he felt. I'm starting to think the vampire's stepping up the level of Eman-chan's suffering when he already does. I'm not really sure why he still goes there but my theory that if he does not visit, something terrible might happen to him. We tried to offer our help but he always refused, saying that he accepts his situation."

A heavy sigh escaped Mirino, "It's probably taking a toll on him, doesn't even know it."

"And you didn't tell Reimu-san or Marisa-san about this?" Meira asked, frowning.

"Kirisame's with him sometimes, doesn't even want her help either." The Swordsman answered, "And it's something when she listens to him."

"What about Reimu?" The princess inquired.

"He told her about it too. And he said she's fine with it." Mirino shook his distastefully, "What's wrong with that shrine maiden? 'Fine with it', the hell does that mean?"

"So it could only mean that Remilia's prejudice against a Christian who hunt her kind has finally grown to increase the level of pain the boy will have to go through."

Akira felt his left eye twitch, "The first part hasn't crossed my mind and I believe I have already—"

"It must be that the boy's prejudice against a satanic species has got him his due via an incurable cough."

"Were you even listening to us!?" Mirino questioned heatedly.

"Or it's entirely due to Remilia Scarlet's prejudice that got to him first. Whatever," Kotohime's smile began to widen, a sight that immediately made the guard's faces pale due to what's about to come next. "It sounds like a mission to free him from her tiny claws! And as much as I like to keep my operations exclusive and not risk the lives of local guardsmen, expendable as they are—"

"HEY!"
"HEY!"

"—but as reason dictates, I cannot raid the lair of a Vampire Mistress all on my own so I am in need of my temporary deputies in my posse."

Both men gulped, practically facing the Yama's judgment through the woman's presence. Meira merely shook her head silently, kneading her forehead.

"So I hereby deputize the both of you—

"NOooo—"

"—into my posse until the matter is settled!"

"No! Dammit!" Mirino rounded on the foot soldier. "And fucking hell, Akira, say something!"

Akira was awkwardly facing away from the three, his face was calm but the flush on his cheeks implied something.

"Akira…" Mirino warned, a heavy scowl on his face. "….Akira, don't you even think about it."

"Would you mind if I say it was tempting?"

A deep groan escaped the Swordsman as he gripped his hair frustratingly, feeling a headache about to come over. Meira solemnly wished him well, knowing the suffering firsthand before he did. "You really need to be put on a leash, you bloodthirsty fuck."

Akira frowned indignantly, "That's hurtful, even for you to call your friend that."

"You don't do this, you'll lose your delivery boy." Kotohime interjected before Mirino could say something about his friend's fight-hungry tendencies and instead rounded on the princess heatedly.

"He's our friend, dammit!"

"All the more reason for you to take part in."

He was struck and grumbled begrudgingly at the fact that, yep, she had a point.

"Great! Now that I have your approval, we shall go!" Kotohime pumped her fist in the air, then began to float, eyes shining excitedly. "It's gonna be awesome! We go in, attack with rage and righteous fury fuelling our hearts, then we'll be impeded by the minions, fights in different areas, a noble man sacrifices his life to buy the heroines time when we need to hurry, confront the demon mistress, demand her to release the boy from her magic and begin an epic battle once she refuses that'll shake the mansion and when we defeat her the mansion will fall—"

"Are you done?" Akira interrupted, his voice having more bite than usual.

"—and when we go to the home of the boy, we'll find him dying and say a few last words before passing away."

"WHAT!?" Mirino wondered if he actually heard the woman say that the mission was doomed from the start.

"But I shouldn't go on too far and spoil the outcome. Come on, people, let us make haste!" And then she was off like a danmaku bullet before the Swordsman was able to question where the hell she was going with whatever she's saying. Meira offered him an apologetic nod before flying after the 'Chief'.

As the two became dots in the air, Mirino turned an icy glare to the foot soldier. "What have you gotten ourselves into, Akira?"

"Besides a trip to hell with the Maniacal Princess as our tour guide, it's safe to say that we're having a break from our tedious routine as Guards standing at the Gate every 4 hours and 45 to 53 minutes." Akira turned to him with a smirk, "I can say that we're being Youkai Exterminators once again. Remember our first hunt? You fell to a fox-Youkai's charms and had me track her down because she—"

"Shut up!" Mirino's indignant shout only elicited a chuckle from the foot soldier. "That was one time! No Youkai ain't ever gonna swindle me again!"

"Of course not." A perceptively condescending chuckle escaped Akira's lips as he stretched his arms before picking up his spear. "Do you remember how to fly?"

Mirino sighed heavily. He can't believe they were actually going along with this insanity. He rose up to his feet, feeling the bones in his knees crackle from the motion after hours of immobility. "Sorta, it's been years. You?"

Sir Akira had been known to show less emotion, but the Swordsman had learned to always catch on if he was looking down on someone. One look at the foot soldier's orange orbs has given it away as he began to drift sideways like a ghost, feet a few inches off the ground. "Unlike you, I keep my skills polished like my weapons everyday." He gained altitude and, before going after the speeding pair, said, "Come on, we can't afford to let them have all the battle to themselves."

"More like you can't afford to let them have all the battle." Mirino jumped once and his form never went back down. As he trailed after his armored friend, he finished with a booming voice. "I JUST WANTED TO RELAX!"

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Visente power-barked at Makita again and the latter actually groans in defeat before going back to her corner, this time no longer staring at me with a hint of a pout.

[Heh.] I wrapped my arms around my boy and scratched his chin until he flopped back down on the bed instead of sitting up all day, eyeing the big cat with suspicion of attempted murder. The tiger's been trying to come close, clearly without any ill-intent and probably to get familiar with me, either by scent or maybe facial recognition to go with her intelligence but Visente's protectiveness of me gets in the way.

And honestly, while I appreciate his efforts, I wanna meet her too. I wanna get acquainted with the creature besides her being an intelligent tiger still stuck with instinct. I'm not trying to favor anybody here but come on, I'm officially adopting her as my sister. I even have Kasen's blessing!

Starting from the day I came back to life, I am finally rejecting the term of 'Pet'. I'm done with using it. I'm not treating Visente as somebody who's just another entity in the building eating my leftovers and grabbing my attention at times, he's now my brother. My very overprotective brother who's sophisticated as FUCK. Everything he says, just full of….aw, man. He really knows how to say a good 'Fuck Off'.

I'm still out for mobility so I can't just go over to her and shake her paw normally. While I'm here still on my bed, I'll be figuring out a way for him to accept the new addition to my family. I know very well she's wanting to see the Holy Spirit….or maybe….

He's not seeing a rival for my affections, he's seeing a rival for the Holy Spirit's affections!

[Ha!]

I only received odd stares from the both of them.

I think I've figured out one solution: I might have to do this the Christian way. With their shared interest in the Holy Spirit, I can make them bypass their differences by letting them share in the same warmth and love. The ensuing grooming and bonding will ensure their friendship. There has been many odd friendships between different species of animals back Outside, why not Gensokyo?

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"How are we gonna go about this? Besides busting through the front door and screaming 'hey, some humans are coming over to exterminate ya, please don't prepare for us'?" Mirino dryly asked, his robes bellowing behind him as he flew behind his friend who was beside Kotohime.

"Well, there's the easy tactic. We use the men as bait, me and Meira will go around, then head in towards the—"

"Excluding that!" He shouted amidst the whooshing wind. "We were once Youkai exterminators, you know!"

"The both of us are rather ill-prepared in case you haven't noticed, princess." Akira pointed out, not facing away from the view he rarely saw passing by below him without going too far from the box formation of the flight. "Besides our own individual spiritual power and these weapons, we lack any other tools to handle Youkai, to say less of vampires."

Kotohime gasped and suddenly ordered, "Hold up!"

The other woman (man?) was quick to catch the order and suddenly halt in midair. The men, however, was caught by surprise and flew several meters ahead before Akira flew downwards, preventing Mirino, who was flying sporadically due to the sudden halt, from slamming into his former position. When finally righted, the Swordsman turned an annoyed glare at Kotohime, "What!?"

"I forgot my vampire-hunting kit!" A loud groan exploded out of Mirino, shared by Akira and Meira let out a deep sigh. "Can we go back to the village? I just finished making the auto-crossbow and I've been dying to use it, and there's also the solar-bomb and the silver stake and the salt and the dust in case we meet the sorceress—"

"Forget it already!" Mirino shouted. "You're as underprepared as me and Akira so let's just keep going!"

"I agree with him." Meira supported. "We've spent 13 minutes flying already and we're almost close to the Scarlet Mansion."

"Ah, I see." Kotohime crossed her arms, frowning in consideration. "Coming all the way to the destination only to head back would be very tedious, and will only cost us time. Come on, chop-chop! Can't have you depleting precious time before we could get that moment with the boy in his deathbed!"

Mirino stared incredulously as the princess flew past him before sharing a glance with Akira, who seemed to look like he was starting to regret his decision of coming. Meira gave them another apologetic bow that they could see before flying after her.

"Let's go." The Spearman softly suggested, flying ahead. Mirino grudgingly followed after, wondering why he even agreed to this.

While he does feel more than annoyed and horribly vexed, he can see Akira's point. This was a nice change of pace from the usual guarding routine at the gate. Besides being in the proactive approach in Youkai matters instead of the reactive as befitting a guard, he was glad to see the sights below him again.

As a guard of the village, his domain is the Human Village and its inhabitants and nowhere else, therefore making him bound to the place out of duty and necessity. He won't be able to get out much, and that includes not being able to talk to a lot of people without it being professional very often. Now that his routine's broken, he actually finds himself pleased with it. He could see much of Gensokyo again, and to think so much of the land has changed since he settled to being a guard after the implementation of the Spell Card System that kept Youkai-induced casualties very minimal only to accidents, natural or manmade.

The trees seemed to have grown even taller, and much of the ground isn't visible due to the size of the shrubs that were much smaller last he had seen them. If he was to have a break and explore around, he wouldn't be able to find the original path he always took whenever he would search for anyone in need of help outside the village, including Outsiders. 10 odd years out of the Youkai Extermination business sure made him miss the old days where things were a little…hectic. Today is peaceful and preferable, yes, but at least years ago he gets to do something proactively instead of standing around waiting for something to happen and then do something.

He tightened his grip on his katana, smiling lightly. This little adventure with the crazy woman might be worth it. If he relived the old days in the process, performing what he formerly mastered, reminisce the danger of the dangerous profession, then it's a day to—

"Hold up!"

Old instincts flooded in. While Akira was able to execute Kotohime's command immediately, Mirino didn't, but the former was prepared for that and held out a free hand for him. Old formations came to mind, taking ahold of his movements and he let his body go: he grabbed the Spearman's free hand, spun around like a human bola before being thrown back to his original placement of the flying box formation.

The old rush he thought forgotten was invigorating, but his annoyance overpowered it. "Oh for fuck's sa—"

"No, wait. I have it." She said in realization, pulling out a leather bag from her sleeve before stashing it back inside. "False alarm. Never mind. Let's go!" And she flew forward once again.

Mirino seriously considered the simple option of shooting the insane woman out of the air and see if it could actually repair her brains.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"Closed? Aw, too bad." Kasen frowned disappointedly as she noticed the shutters held up around the Hirabayashi-ya Dango. She could've told the Master how his helping hand was doing. "But why would he close now? It's not even Friday. "

She then remembered a certain detail when she passed the gate, "Wait, where were the two guards?"

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Okay…that was a failure. Instead of getting them to hookup after making the Holy Spirit slowly disappear when they were just sharing the same warmth, it ended up with Visente recovering his senses, unable to acknowledge the tiger as a friend like he did with me in Eintei and spooked her off. She bolted out through the open window above my head…which was painful because she slammed her paws right at my gut before bounding out. Makita's 239 lbs in my NDE discoveries, and in my state that's weakened and about to have a fever, that hurt like a fucking bitch.

Probably should'a left the bonding thing to Kasen, she's the animal expert here. She's got a lot of rare species living in the same space in her secret home. I just hope the tiger didn't run too far, girl needs to settle down, and I can feel the Holy Spirit's desire to pacify her needs.

I coughed, then felt my neck before the forehead. Yep, I'm really heating up. What's funny is that I feel cold underneath my blanket. Long time since I had this kind of fever that mixed a shivering body and a heating exterior. Last time I did, it was during P.E in my last high school year under the boiling heat. I was freezing under the sun.

I was under a tent along with the dudes and it was really windy but still, can't believe this condition's actually a thing.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"Okay, people, here we are." Kotohime remarked, sitting on a branch overlooking the clear Misty Lake that reflected the clear sky and the Scarlet Devil Mansion sitting on a ridge on its surface.

The Swordsman rolled his eyes, "Yes, as if we couldn't see the Mansion obviously sticking out of that ridge because it's so red compared to every other color around it."

"You're welcome." Mirino sent her a venomous glare, which she either didn't notice or ignored. "Now, if we're gonna have any success in this operation, you all will have to follow my lead. In case you didn't know, I raided the place, twice in fact!" The princess added proudly, "Even encountered the younger Scarlet and lived to tell about it!"

"Don't know how the hell ya survived breaking in the place, if it's even true but if things go wrong, I'm leaving ya behind." Mirino derisively pointed out, "Can't we just do this like civil people? You know, talk things over peacefully with 'em and avoid a fight?"

"You're so behind the times, Tanaka." Kotohime sighed condescendingly as she looked down on him from her perch.

"May I add the presumption that they wouldn't easily listen to any of our demands, friend?" Akira guiltily added, trying to avoid hinting out that he's inclined to fight instead of talk.

"Shut up, Akira." Mirino snapped, already accepting the fact that it's gonna end horribly no matter what he does. Turning in his heels, he walked up to the tree his friend was perched on, placed a foot on the bark, then another, radically violating the laws of gravity as he walked on the vertical surface with his form perfectly straight. As he reached a sizable branch that wouldn't break on his weight, he placed his foot on the horizontal surface and was now positioned upright. He asked Kotohime, "Can we at least not do anything with the gatekeeper of the place? I know her, a-at least a little bit but she's friendly and I kinda—"

"Were you flying or were you using chakra to stick your soles to the vertical surface?" Kotohime suddenly asked, eyes glittering at the display he had done. Meira was intrigued as well.

It was irking to be interrupted but he held his temper and answered. "No. None of what you said happened."

"Lizard soles then?"

Mirino was taken aback, "No."

"Outside World technology?"

"No."

"Futuristic sticky soles?"

"No."

"Are you a Lizard Youkai then?"

"NO!" The Swordsman shouted, spooking a few birds from nearby trees. He managed to hear Akira snickering amidst the squawks of the fleeing animals. "It's my gift. I can walk on any surface, and I mean anything that I can step on. A lake, the side of a mountain, even the wind. Gravity won't affect me either. Works on my clothes too, which is good so I don't have to hold 'em down every time I'm upside-down. Not that it's any useful, flying's much easier. Takes less energy instead of running in the air just to go somewhere."

"He could even walk on a tightrope or a pole if he can get his feet on it." Akira supplied helpfully. "I especially love the human flag."

"I'm not doing that again." Mirino dryly retorted, remembering how embarrassing that incident was.

"That's so cool." The Swordsman nearly fell off the branch he stood on when he realized Kotohime was really close to his face, the shiny glint in her eyes outright unnerving him. "If you're gonna fight the Elder Scarlet and she starts standing on the walls, you could fight her on even grounds. Thank the gods I brought my camera cuz I wanna look at it while upright and watch it again while rotating the frames so it'd look like it's a normal fight on the ground—"

When she was halfway, Mirino was already walking backwards as she kept getting nearer, his feet stepping on thin air as he tried to maintain distance from the woman saying things that's basically another dialect in the Japanese language.

"I'd hate to break your fun, Princess, but we do have a raid to do, don't we?" Akira thankfully interjected, stopping Kotohime from continuing on about editing background music as he pointed his spear towards the mansion. "While you are sharing your intrigue with him, Meira and I have already discussed a battle plan, do please hear it out."

"Hey!" Kotohime was indignant for having her role's authority taken over. "I'm supposed the head of this operation!"

"Which does not mean you should handle everything." Meira pointed out, a ghost of a smile playing on her (his?) lips. "Let your deputies have a moment to shine once in a while."

Mirino released a sigh of thankful relief, nodding gratefully in the fellow Swordsman's (Swordswoman's?) direction, "Thank you."

Akira tapped the bottom of his spear on the branch he stood on to call attention. Meira perched atop another branch below him crossed her (his?) arms. "I've memorized the details about the residents of the Mansion from Heida-sama's Chronicles so I have set up parameters on who should face who and what to do in case of failures and miscalculations. If you all have any information on the residents that I don't know, please speak up so I can reconfigure the strategy."

Mirino felt pride for his friend surge up. The man's been known to win many shogi games and practically got rich from high wagers. With the use of his ability to see the definite and unusual, along with his OCD, he's the perfect person to turn to if one needs a strategy.

"And to think I didn't recruit you as captain..." Kotohime said distantly.

"And you'll never will. I'm happy being a village guard." Akira smirked, "Now, here's how we do it…"

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Everything was falling into chaos. Metal was ringing everywhere, bullets were flying from all directions, bright lights from glitter and danmaku was creating many sorts of colors in the dim hallway, and Mirino was verbally spitting fire in all directions for everything going to hell, slashing his glowing sword unprofessionally, sending waves of wave-like danmaku in all directions, trying his hardest not to aim at his friend's direction.

"You think it was a GOOD IDEA to involve that crazy woman in that plan of yours!? You think she will actually follow the plan when you let her leave our sights and follow the steps!? You think your fucking gift would allow you to figure out what's gonna happen but nooooo! You made a fucking mistake of trying to guess what's Kotohime's next move! SHE'S A FUCKING LOOSE CANNON! YOU CAN'T PREDICT HOW THAT WOMAN THINKS! NOBODY CAN PREDICT HOW SHE THINKS! WHAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD PREDICT HER IN ANY POSSIBILITY!?"

"You have all the rights to scream at me to your heart's content but I don't think now is the time!" He spun his spear burning in spectral fires of blue, swatting aside a spread shot of danmaku that came from one side. "I'm trying to not get ourselves overwhelmed and any assistance on your part will be most appreciated!"

A vicious diagonal swipe sent a gargantuan wave of razor sharp air to fly forward and carved a long line on the concrete wall, as well as leave a cloud of glitter from the fairies who were in the way. "They're just fairies!"

"I get your point but their numbers are the concern, not the species!" Spinning his spear above him, he twirled and swung his weapon diagonally upwards, sending a wave of danmaku that easily annihilated 6 fairies that stood in a line at the right timing. "You handle the front! I'll handle the stragglers behind us!"

Mirino said no reply, only screaming in a furious rage as he ran on a nonexistent ramp, closing the distance between him and a mob of fairies. With just a blink of an eye, he was already behind them with his glowing sword in a post-slash angle. A second lapses by, and the group of fey exploded in a cloud of fairy dust. A danmaku bullet that was inches short of hitting his head denied him any moment to revel in the fact that he still got it after such a long time. Jumping off a nonexistent platform and ending in an upside-down hang like a bat on a nonexistent narrow ceiling, he dashed forward to a lone fairy and continued slashing, screaming kiai phrases he haven't uttered for more than a decade.

Akira remained methodic in his movements, every effort not wasted and well-timed. Eyeing every single danmaku bullet heading his way, filtering the ones that are likely to hit him and the ones he shouldn't pay mind to, as well as minding the positions of the stragglers shooting at him while figuring out the moment to strike, he kept his hands and spear working. Left, right and center, his spun his spear like an elongated baton with a sharp end, batting aside bullets to another direction (as well as other fairies) as they came at him like a rainstorm. The reflection of a danmaku orb from the blade of his spear coming to strike his back made him spun around without thinking and swatted it aside to hit a nearby fairy instead.

Now in the center of the mob floating above him, their placements exactly where he wanted them, and a plan of attack finally formulated, he infused extra spiritual power into his spear, just enough for this one attack. Blue spectral flames now coating his entire weapon, increasing the speed of its spin with both hands and forming a round shield of blue light in his grasp from the afterimages, he boosted 19 meters upwards to the air and swung his weapon like a flail, sending waves of blue fire in accurate directions without a miss, nailing every fairy that surrounded him until there was nothing but sparkling powder.

Deeming the coast clear, he fell like a stone and slammed one armored knee to the carpeted floor, the bottom of his spear creating a loud thud before rising to his feet. Turning around, he met Mirino's impressed look. "You still got it, Akira."

Smirking as the air around him sparkled, he replied, "You as well, friend. It seems the years hasn't rusted your edge in a bit."

"Got that right." Sheathing his weapon, the Swordsman turned and began running onwards to the hallway before taking flight. "Come on. This amount of noise's gotta draw attention. That maid'll be here any minute…"

Pacing after him, the Spearman flew just above him as he replied, "If Izayoi-san decides to deal with us instead of Kotohime, who is very likely lobbing explosives as if they were candy. I could hear the explosions from here."

"Pfft. If that maid ain't here dealing with us, I wouldn't be surprised." Mirino commented. "That nutcase's really lethal if you gave her a reason to be."

"Which is a concern to me." Akira frowned as he thought about it. "If Izayoi-san could manipulate the laws of time as per the Chronicles say, then couldn't she have dealt with us by now? Or was that a mere exaggeration of her power?"

"Either way, let's not drop our guard. It's the younger Scarlet I'm worried about." Mirino ran on a nonexistent wall that curved to the right to turn on a corner of the hallway before taking flight again. "You said she can destroy anything, don't know how that works but I'm not taking chances. I wanna come outta this alive."

"If she complies to the Spell Card Rules then your worries can be pacified. The worst you can get are bruises or broken bones, maybe anemia."

"Why am I the one to deal with her?" He asked with a frown.

"Because I'm the person best fit to deal with Izayoi-san." Akira not-answered. "You don't have armor to stop those knives from fatally hitting you, and any bleeding coming from on you will likely drive any vampire we encounter into a frenzy, which would be problematic for the both of us. And that's terrible."

"Still doesn't explain why me." And he's certain that he's gonna bleed either way, considering who he's dealing with. The Spearman's very lucky to be born with something that'll make him come out squeaky clean from a fair fight.

"Vampires are considered polite, according to Heida-sama's Chronicles. Exploit that by suggesting fair play in a sword fight, if she uses that wiggly staff of hers as a weapon." Akira glanced behind him, wondering if there was somebody following behind. After a few seconds, he faced forward and continued, "Your chances of winning will be greater with that in mind. I will not say it is guaranteed but it will certainly help you last long enough for either me or Kotohime to come and provide backup."

It sounds like a good plan, he's confident with his sword skills but Mirino scoffed at the thought of the Maniacal Princess saving him. "She might as well blow me and the vampire up with a fucking bomb."

"That's a faraway concern, I assure you." While his assurance was genuine, he still couldn't hold down his smirk from the thought of explosive assistance from a trigger-happy princess that's bound to go wrong. "Listen closely, you can still hear the explosions. If possible, she might deplete her supply of explosives."

The Swordsman rolled his eyes, "Yeah, like that's ever gonna—watch out!"

Two knives flew straight at their foreheads from the darkness ahead. While Akira caught the knife in his hand, Mirino flipped backwards, the second knife flying past his raised chin till he was feet-first and bent his legs against a nonexistent wall, grabbing his friend's spear near the bladed point with both hands to stop him from flying out of reach before pulling him overhead with a grunt and throwing him to the floor. Kicking off the nonexistent wall, he backflipped and landed next to his friend, who was down on one knee as him with his spear held up.

Rising up to their feet, they huddled back to back with weapons pointed forward, Akira half-crouched with his spear held below him and Mirino with his sword at the ready, glowing yellow. Eyes narrowed and sharpened, they eyed every direction that can deliver concealment, especially the shadowed ceiling.

Procedure was simple that they remembered how to do the executions despite the years: always have the man with the longest weapon and the sharpest eyes at the front and remain firmly pressed against each other. Nostalgia hit them both pleasantly but morbidly, this situation seemed too familiar. There was a body of a young boy being devoured last time.

"Step." Akira prompted. Mirino moved his left foot back and the former moved his right foot forward, moving in unison like mirror images that only matched footwork and nothing else. "Step." They took another. "5 steps." They took 5 extra steps, bodies stiff and tense in preparation for a surprise attack to come from anywhere.

Weapons held in a white-knuckle grip, Mirino remembered the trick he made up in times of fighting in the dark, "Light?"

"Go."

Without looking away from their designated directions, the Spearman ducked as Mirino threw a bright danmaku talisman above his head into the hallway ahead of them before returning to position, the glowing projectile illuminating the dark corridor and allowing Akira to see as it flew like an arrow.

"There, exactly seven jo ahead, hiding in the shadows on the left. Izayoi Sakuya. Fine aim and night-vision she has, don't you think?" The Spearman asked, his voice showing no concern for the deadly quarry arriving.

"Great." Mirino clicked his tongue, swerving to stand a meter away by his friend's side.

The Perfect and Elegant Maid flashed to existence in the limited luminescence created by Akira's spectral flames, prim and proper in her blue maid uniform, hair of silver glinting in the light sources present and framing the beautiful face of Izayoi Sakuya. The knives held in-between her fingertips told that she isn't here to welcome them as guests, however.

"Well spotted, my good sir." Her voice was soft and polite, hiding very well the hostile demeanor that only Akira saw. "Very few humans could see me, not even the Hakurei Shrine Maiden."

"Contribute that to my specialty, Miss Maid." Akira replied, tone equal in inflexion as her. "I pay attention to detail, very close attention."

"Allow me to introduce myself," She placed a gloved fist that held the knives to her chest in an elegant flourish, ice-blue eyes never leaving the two of them as she bowed with a slight lift of her skirt with the other hand. "My name is Izayoi Sakuya, servant of the Scarlet Devil, Remilia Scarlet. On her behalf, I bid you welcome to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I beg your pardon for my late arrival, I was attending the Mistress while there were intruders about."

The indirect mention of their presence made Mirino shuffle just slightly, adjusting his footing to hide his apprehension.

"Well met, Izayoi-san." Akira gave a slight nod, an expressionless mask coating his features. "My name is Terizawa Akira, and beside me is my friend, Tanaka Mirino. We are here to—"

"To save a young man named Eman Letitia that my Mistress has been joyfully causing unrest to, yes?" Sakuya interrupted, "The Mistress had expected such an intervention as she knew the boy would tell others of his weekly scuffles here, but she wondered when. It has been weeks till humans like you decided to take action."

"Blame the nutcase that's leading this damn thing in the first place." Mirino pointed out, noting the explosions that's still happening in some other part of the mansion. "And you people are gonna start buggering off Eman-kun when we're done here. He's coughing one day and he hasn't been coming back for three days since you people won't leave him alone." He spatted.

Akira noticed the slightest raise of a silver brow above Sakuya's left eye, "Is that so? I see…." She looked downwards in thought, then immediately raised up and stared straight into the Spearman's orange orbs. The chill that went down his spine was not a good sign. "No matter, it's unlikely that my Mistress would leave him be even if you win."

"Then we'll make sure she won't." Mirino replied, glaring darkly at the Maid. "We've exterminated one of the worst Youkai before. We're not at Hakurei-san's level but we can still take ya!"

"We made him suffer far worse things before he even met the two of you. Besides, he comes of his own volition, and he is the one to cause a ruckus. My Mistress is merely answering in turn whenever he does every weekend. Simply put, it's his own fault that he suffers whatever condition you are talking about."

"You lie." Mirino growled.

She brought the knives in her knuckles to bear, "My good sir, I don't lie. It would be unbecoming of a lowly Maid like me to be deceitful." She threw the knives in her hand, sharp silver glinting in flight as they aimed at two pairs of eyes before they were swatted aside by a single motion from Akira's spear. "Your presence here is wasted, likely due to Eman-sama's lack of context in the stories he tells you, but the Young Mistress is expecting one of you." She turned her eyes towards Mirino, earning him a chill on his spine. "Tanaka-sama…."

He flinched, fighting to not show his stiffness.

She gestured to a wide open space beside her, "Please step forward and see to the Young Mistress Flandre. Terizawa-sama will remain here, I will….entertain him." The knives on the floor disappeared, only to appear in her hands again.

The difference in power is obvious, and despite Akira's presumptions the Swordsman had doubts of success against the Maid who could control time. The Spearman can plan but that doesn't mean he'll win with it. It doesn't always work.

"No tricks, I assure you." The Maid added.

Mirino narrowed his eyes in suspicion, turning to his friend for confirmation. In the presence of a person with an ability like his, there are no lies and secrets.

"No tricks." Akira confirmed, unmoving. "Go."

His grip on his sword tightened, unbelieving of the fact that they are now about to be by themselves at this point once he goes ahead. It seems he got too used to working with a partner, it's practically the strength that allowed them both to survive everything that happened before the Spell Card System was implemented.

"Fight well." Mirino told, sheathing his sword.

"You as well."

He shot up to the air by flight, kicked a nonexistent wall behind him and he blasted forward like a missile, rivaling Kotohime with a motivational drive, who was considered one of the fastest fliers in Gensokyo. He quickly disappeared into the dark hallway behind Sakuya.

Akira drew out the silver knife he caught earlier and flicked it towards the Maid's direction, aimed to fly past the latter's ear before it was caught in her hand. "Your move." He prompted, his spear's fire intensified, creating a small bonfire on the bladed tip and extending the circle of illumination around him.

With a fingersnap, a spell card arrives in Sakuya's hands and she declared the first blow, "«Illusion Sign—Killing Doll»"

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"Well fought, Meiling-san." Meira nobly bowed to the gatekeeper, sat against the pillar of the gate while placing a hand against her abdomen, revealing bare skin through a slit on her clothing, indicating the place the sword struck.

"You too, Meira-dono." Despite being in obvious pain, the Chinese Youkai never stopped smiling warmly, not even a strain in her voice. "I'd be asking if you're trying to take after Reimu-san's orbs when you casted that."

A deep sigh went past the Swordswoman's lips, "Please, don't compare me to her. Ever." She added as she wiped the blood off her sword, noting the explosions that were going off inside the ominous manor. She must be having fun, considering the intensity.

"Do tell: why are you people here again?" Meiling asked. "I can probably tell why but I need some confirmation."

"To save an Outsider from the grasps of the Scarlet Devil, or so Kotohime said." Meira quoted, a grim smirk crossed her lips. "Do you know of a man named Eman?"

"Oh yes I do." Meiling answered with a smile.

Meira's suspicions regarding a complete misunderstanding in this entire farce was starting to come true. That smile doesn't imply any malice in regards to the name. "If I may ask, does this Eman frequent here every weekend?"

"Indeed."

"To do what?" The Swordswoman asked neutrally, sheathing her sword.

"Well, to make a mess, and I mean attacking the Mistress." An amused chuckle escaped Meiling's lips. "The times he does so often makes it look like he's coming over to play with her."

That doesn't imply any devious blackmail or manipulation on the vampire's part at all. More like the 'victim' was the mastermind of all this. "Eman-san was reported to have fallen under sickness and has not been present on his workplace for three days now. From the two men with us, they assumed that you and the people within are responsible."

Meiling suddenly fell into a hearty laugh, slapping her knees with a hand that once held on to her belly. Meira looked to realize that the wound has already healed. The Chinese Youkai rose to her feet without a struggle, easily towering over the human as she stretched her arms above her. "We expected this to happen but that one was not related to the Mistress's prediction!" She laughed even more.

Meira's left eye twitched, "So….your people are not responsible?"

"If Eman-dono is telling other people of his visits here, then he has deliberately omitted certain details to protect himself, and us." She answered, crossing her arms. "He would come here just to kill time, and to make sure the Mistress doesn't give him a hard time. She seems to be fond of him in a certain way that she would endlessly tease him or make him miserable for her own amusement. I don't know how they see each other, honestly. Sometimes they act like friends, some other times they will start trying to kill each other until one falls to the ground. I guess you can say it's a love-hate form of relationship."

….Meira wasn't sure anymore. Everything she heard is mixed of both friendly interactions and unjust treatment. The Mistress of the Mansion's actions are completely ambiguous, and the Outsider's reactions do not indicate any grief of sort. There was retaliation but it was worded in the sense of a returned verbal jab rather than any blood-fueled vengeance.

"And…." She wasn't sure what to ask. None of it made any sense, and certainly justifies their presence here by half. "…is Eman-san okay with what he suffers whenever he comes here?"

He shrugged, "He wouldn't come here if he doesn't. Broken bones, bruises, a few pints of blood lost, even stab wounds from Sakuya's knives, no matter what he gets every time, he'll come back next Saturday. " Meiling commented. "He even told me that he enjoys it most times. I think he's starting to develop a glutton for punishment, now I'm getting a little worried if all that pain is doing something to his mind. Even Jergo's healing has limits."

"So….his coughing condition is none of your people's doing?" Meira asked again.

The gatekeeper looked at the Swordswoman squarely in the eye, still smiling. "If the Mistress wanted to give him a hard time, she'd do more than leave him with a cough."

She forced back the thought that Meiling was avoiding the issue when the implications were clear. "So….no?" She asked for confirmation.

"No."

Meira sighed as she felt the headache coming in, kneading her forehead. Yep, they certainly wasted their time coming here. Kotohime's overreacting again, the boy is just getting ill. Even if it was something else sinister, it's clear that the Scarlet Devil Mansion isn't involved, despite the Outsider's frequent involvement with them.

The ending she'd expect from this is either the Outsider's merely lying down on a bed recuperating from a simple illness that anyone could recover from while they have raided a Youkai's manor for no reason, or he's already dead.

She pursed her lips at the thought of it. Outsiders die too often, being an acceptable target for all Youkai to kill and eat without any consequences. Despite his employment at the frequently-visited dango shop that the village was fond of, Eman still lives outside the Village, leaving him faraway from any protection or help in case of emergencies.

She hoped the boy is merely ill.

"I will be leaving you, Meiling-san. Thank you for your information." Meira told, giving a polite bow before turning around. "I should at least tell Kotohime about this."

Meiling's voice called out behind her, "If you fail to convince her, would you tell her to not disappoint the Mistress for me? She is expected, of course."

Meira gulped before taking flight; at least the Mistress won't let their presence be wasted here.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"How long does this damn hallway go?" Mirino complained, letting go of his sword's grip and relax his left hand. He had been flying forever, likely for as long as 13 minutes, and it looked like he has been walking in circles. The time he noticed, he settled to simply walking the way he came from, only to turn around and reconsider as he decided to blow a hole in the wall and go through there. While going through rooms of foreign arrangement, creating more holes through other rooms just to see where he'll end up, he found himself in another hallway. As of now, he has been flying for five minutes. It did not feel like he was running in circles but he was starting to lose his patience for the lack of someone to fight, particularly the younger Scarlet. "If it's this long, then how are people gonna get to the dinner table quickly?"

It would have been easy to simply charge forward and go for the elder Scarlet but he knows what that'll lead to. He may had a hand in defending the village during the Vampire Incident more than two decades ago but that didn't mean he was tough enough to handle the perpetrator. While it's no secret that Youkai were the ones to put the culprit to their place, rumor has it that a band of wolfmen were the ones responsible. He is no wolfman or whatever but he can hold his own.

But right now, he's having slight doubts. It has been years since people like him and Akira were important in the Village's survival. Can he still put up a good fight against something that's beyond the rank of an average Youkai? He felt out of practice, despite his feats earlier, and that was from a bunch of fairies not worthy of any effort. He will admit that he's strong, even more with his spear-wielding friend at his side, but he can't take chances.

He learned years ago that cockiness in a fight, especially against a Youkai, is nothing short of suicidal. The memory of his fallen comrades that fell to it kept that thought firmly planted to his consciousness.

He sighed deeply, "I'm tired."

He descended to the floors, landing with a light thump as he wiped the sweat from his eyebrow, looked forward to see how much further till the next turn of the—

He was eye-to-eye with cherry red eyes and a whole lot of colors.

"WHUAGH!" As if he was blasted from Kotohime's explosives, he jumped backwards and fell on his backside, completely un-soldier-like conduct exposed to the Youkai looking at him.

"The hell!?"

"Good morning, Intruder!" The young vampire cheerily waved with a smile that showed sharp fangs. She spun around, skirt flaring before dipping to a curtsy. "I'm Flandre Scarlet! I was expecting you to come by but you were taking so long so I looked for you instead!"

Taking a moment to acknowledge the greetings amidst his shock, Mirino realized that the polychromatic glows were coming from the gems of her 'wings'. Compared to the sketches in the Chronicles, this vampire was a lot smaller, nearly at the age of 12 or younger. The clothes were wrong, or maybe she changed them. The odd hat was there but now with roses at the left and right side. The dress is red and don with more frills than he remembered in the log and the skirt was reaching her knees instead of the thighs. The ascot was accurate, but the shoes aren't. He was lucky enough to know that they were called Mary Janes, but with small roses near the ankles.

The vampire's face was childlike, cuter than he admittedly expected with wide eyes, a small nose, and a delightful grin, but personal experience taught him to never fall for it. It was a mistake many first recruits and Outsiders suffered, and he considered himself lucky to learn not to do the same the hard way.

Setting his face into a stone mask, he rose up to his feet, leveled his breathing and bowed courteously, appealing to the politeness of the child's species. "Greetings, Flandre-san. My name's Tanaka Mirino."

She giggled, then was suddenly at his face, which made him shot his body back upright, looking up to him with a fanged smile. It took most of him to not yelp. "So, what are you doing here? Are you gonna exterminate us?"

They just went past the formalities and she's already addressing the brutal truth of this ordeal. Mirino gulped, "Tha-that would be the case, yes."

"That's amazing!" Flandre threw her hands up happily. "It's been a while since somebody did it! Last time it was…hmm…a decade ago? 2 decades ago? Less than two decades ago? I can't remember. I was just downstairs listening while Reimu-san and Marisa-san attacked everybody."

The Red Mist Incident, Mirino remembered. He knew afterwards that the Scarlets were responsible and he was right to assume the Hakurei resolving it. He wasn't aware of Kirisame's kid being involved, however. "I see."

"But now, I get to join in! I can fight people and defend the Manor!" Cherry eyes glowed red, and they stared deep into Mirino's soul, the smile on Flandre's face becoming wider and more unsettling than it already had. "And I get to have a snack when I'm done…." She hissed, licking her lips.

An aura was permeating out of the vampire's body, and it was overwhelming. The difference in power was staring to become clear, and it's nigh inconceivable. This Youkai was strong, and he found that very oversimplifying or understating. It wasn't like facing an oni, not at all. This was somebody who carried the flare of a Death God. One flick of a wrist and he would be gone, a quick and immediate death that emphasized the insignificance of his existence compared to the one before him. But to this vampire, he had doubts that he'll be let off with a quick and painless death and that horrified him.

If this is what Hakurei, Kirisame, or even Eman faces every time they come here, then they deserved his newfound respect.

Sweat ran down his brow and fear grasped his heart like a cold claw. He fought to remain composed outwardly and proceed to the formality of combat without giving it away. "Le-let's not get ahead of ourselves. First of all, why don't we—"

"You're panicking." Flandre interrupted, her tone monotonous. "I can hear it in your heart. You smell scared too. What's wrong, Onii-san?"

If he thought he wasn't giving it away, now he is. He was struggling to control his breathing, maintaining the bravado of a hardened soldier or an experienced Youkai Exterminator as he truly was became a difficult task. Any other Youkai and he would rival Akira's stone cold mask, but not her. Not to this…monster. He has lost all power to speak, the grip on his sheathed sword could not get any tighter and his knuckles any more whiter.

"I didn't even do anything." Flandre continued, her dead tone loud and reverberating around the dark and silent hallway. "Do I look scary? Was it something I said? Hey, Onii-san, answer."

The floor below him rumbled and shattered in a spiderweb pattern, the walls developing cracks like a reverse thunder strike. He was already having trouble trying to appear confident, and trying to think up a reply was already wearing him down. He cannot do both at once without cracking at the other. "N-no! No way! It's just that—"

"You're lying." She pointed the wiggly weapon that he didn't see her hold seconds ago at him, taking one step forward as he took one step back. "It's bad to lie, Onii-san. Onee-sama said that if people lie, bad things happen to them. You don't want that, do you?"

Mirino nearly lost his footing when the rumbling got worse, becoming an earthquake that literally shattered the ceiling and allowed debris to fall a few meters behind him. A nearby vase had exploded for no reason, spilling the red flowers and the water. A loud crack on his right side drew his attention and he watched a cracked wall fall apart, a large slab of concrete wall descending down on him.

Instincts flared and he drew his sword out, stepping on nonexistent ground that's elevated one inch from the floor to avoid getting off-balanced from the shaking, then raised his weapon in preparation for a downward slash. Infusing copious amounts of spiritual power flowed from his core, through his hands, and into the blade, creating a bright light to shine on the steel. It vibrated against his grip, begging to be released, and he complied with its wishes.

With a kiai shout, he swung and a gigantic wave of yellow light flew to meet the descending wall, bisecting the debris in half and reducing the rest nearby it into harmless dust, which swirled aside to left and right to avoid landing on him.

He was glad he didn't feel any twinge of exhaustion from performing that. Any amount of energy reserves he had will be very vital in dealing with the Youkai in front of him who simply did that by standing and talking, not even hit by a single debris. Acknowledging that the rumbling had stopped and no more walls or ceiling were about to come down on him, he snapped into the ready, his sword raised and held up in front of him defensively.

"But it's okay!" Flandre assured happily in continuation, as if she had not nearly caused the entire section of their location crumbling to dust and would have killed the only human present if he wasn't capable of dealing with falling concrete. "If you're so scared, then I can help you! A friend once told me that if you're ever scared, then you just need to get hurt! He said that pain's more powerful than fear if you try hard enough!" He jumped when she decimated the floors beneath her by smashing her wiggly weapon to the ground, sending loose stones flying but miraculously didn't hit him.

The prospect of moving his body and exercising his skills earned him just a small dose of courage, but getting hit in any way by the vampire only overpowered that moment of resolve. One hit might reduce a single bone in his body to pieces, and he was far more adept to close-combat swordplay than danmaku.

He could only hope that fortune would be merciful and allow him to last a lot longer than he would expect.

He managed to keep his tone leveled this time, "Let us fight with honor, Flandre-san." Mirino shifted positions, holding the sword horizontally next to his temple and aiming the sharp point towards his enemy.

"Yay! Danmaku fighting!" The vampire cheered, then flew upwards to the air, spinning like a bright chandelier before swinging her arm and flinging red danmaku orbs towards him.

Counting the shots at a glance, he swung his sword at an equal number of times to fling yellow waves, collisions resulting in loud clusters of explosion. Cackling raucously, she dashed forward with her weapon drawn back for a swing. Mirino shot up from the floor, sword glowing bright and leaving a trail of light in his flight, he swung his weapon and it clashed against hers.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Oh, this pretty girl's so soft….! And it looks like she's loving the attention too! She melted from a white mean machine into a spoiled housecat now when her eyes are half-lidded and the tip of her tongue is poking out while I scratch her cheeks and mush her squishy face.

Oh wow, there's a natural arrow-shaped marking in the middle of her forehead. That's awesome! "Have you seen this marking, Kasen?" I asked her, scratching the edges of it.

"I have." Answers the person who led her back inside and pacified my wolf boy while Makita gets to come close to me for proper acquaintanceship. "Quite a beautiful quirk aside from her silver coating."

I held both her cheeks, slightly grunting as I raised her chin up until I was able to be nose-to-nose with her. She opened her beautiful blue eyes, wondering why the cheek-kneading stopped, then gazed back at me. Her eyes, man, really distinct. Not like Visente at all. Her eyes are like the typical circles of any tiger, but the flair of intelligence she uniquely had in them is just….obvious. It's like staring back at human eyes.

Whoa! She tried to play 'got your nose' with her mouth.

[Oh, you cheeky tiger, you! Mhm!] I booped her nose and wrapped my arms around her thick fuzzy neck. She squirmed a little till her snout is aimed at my face and she began lick—oh! Ow. Okay, that really hurt. I forgot that all cats have really rough tongues, even the big ones! Ow! Really rough sandpaper this one got in her mouth….! Ow, okay! She's pinning me down to my bed while kissing me! Agh! Get off! [Ow! Stop it, Makita!]

"Eman-san, I think Visente-kun's getting jealous." Kasen pointed, gesturing to the boy sitting on his haunches on the floor next to the bed looking a little dejected.

….well, that's funny. Because Makita had understood what was said, stopping the licks and giving the hermit a brief glance before flopping down atop of me (so heavy!) while staring Visente down. Oh wow, the kitty's doing this on purpose, isn't she?

[Hahaha!] I can't believe the personality of this kitty! [Oh, I like you pretty girl!] Lemme scratch your forehead for that. Mmm….!

"She's doing it on purpose, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is." I grinned. "Come on, off, I need to get up." I told to the tiger while patting her arms and she obediently gets off! An animal that literally understands what you're saying, any pet lover would die to have an animal like this! She instead settled atop my legs though. Heavy stuff. Could give me paresthesia later.

I turned to Visente, snapping my fingers. [C'mere, boy.]

And he quickly bounces up to the bed in a heartbeat, licking my face and setting his big body down beside my own while swatting Makita's face with his fat tail. I chuckled, scratching his neck vigorously until he fell asleep while Kasen chats a little with the Mean White Kitty. Sooner or later, these two will share the same bed, keeping each other warm in the cold and sharing the kill after a good hunt. Family shouldn't be divided, even a lion can lose to them only if they work as one. And that applies to every living thing, human or not.

A stone-crushing bite accompanied by a wolf's determination and a human level of intelligence accompanied by a tiger's natural strength, I think it's a powerful combination. One thing I gotta figure out is can the two of them understand each other's body language? Its obvious animals don't speak, that's why they use their bodies, even their tails, to send messages to each other, but I'm not really sure if they have the same pattern. Lion's only understand lions. They will only understand another species if they grew up with it without killing it. Hmm….

Both were already qualified to kill the average Youkai on their own, as proven in my NDE, but their unity is the most vital asset to being the top dog in Gensokyo's Animal Kingdom. They develop a sense of teamwork, they will level up to become a pair of Unstoppable Badasses. With them around, I won't have a worry in the world, the fucks who wants a slice of Eman-Burgers will really be disemboweled in more ways than one now that Visente has a partner.

Just gotta discuss this with Kasen once she's done talking to Makita about proper defecation…

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Among all the things that Akira couldn't believe in feeling, it was the fact that he was sweating. He felt indignant at such a sensation that he was starting to question his own sanity. Was he too far relaxed in his job as a village guard? Did he get too used to the comforts of the flesh? Was he losing his mark as a proper warrior that must accept the hardships that comes with his skills?

If only the knife-throwing Maid would allow him to think the answers through. She doesn't seem to stop throwing such sharp kitchen implements at him nor does she seem to be exhausted. With so much silver thrown his way, it sure reflects the wealth of the Scarlet Family. Silver isn't entirely expensive in Gensokyo if your money is above-average but to have this many is just absurd, and he worked himself through many shogi games just to have each of his blades alloyed to them. One of the many better materials to exterminate Youkai with besides iron and hihi'irokane.

He had surrendered to the notion of letting his armor be nicked as Sakuya had remarkable throwing ability with her knives, as much as he hated doing so. Anytime he couldn't deflect cutlery in time, he let the curving surface of his armor bounce them off, leaving a glaring scratch in the process. He hated the sight of them but this was a battle and it came with risks. He must accept that.

He never attempted any form of return-fire, instead trying to time-out as many spell cards as possible and end the fight in one decisive blow as soon as she slips. His preferred method in every fight. Difficult but straightforward, not to mention satisfying.

Whipping the point of his spear side-to-side like a rattlesnake tail, swatting the incoming knives aside with impeccable ease, creating resounding clangs of steel, he jumped up as a knife was about to stab him in the back, the Maid missing his sandals by an inch and side-stepping away as Akira half-heartedly jabbed his weapon to her head's last position. As soon as the bladed point stabbed the floors, the spectral fires coating the point came to life and nearly stabbed Sakuya's neck with a spear-shaped flame.

With a single backflip, the Maid was well-away from the hostile flame's reach and a knife ready in her hand, though unthrown. Landing his feet back to the ground and wrenching the spear off the floors, he aimed the sharp point directly at her heart, the spectral flames glowing bright in preparation. Compared to the Spearman, Sakuya was barely the worse for wear, not a single cut or shred in her clothing. Akira's ability, however, allowed him to notice signs of exhaustion that people commonly fail to conceal besides their face and other obvious signs.

This battle has been going on for too long, and likely even longer to Sakuya, he assumed.

Tilting his neck to elicit a crackle, he shook the sharp point and goaded her to continue. Sakuya didn't fell for it, however. "Your impeccable repelling ability impresses me, Terizawa-sama."

He blinked in acknowledgement, barely moving from his position. "I will take that as high praise, considering your cold-heartedness to humans like me." He answered politely.

"It will do more than that to change the way I'll act around you outside of conflict." She lowered her hands to beside her waist, knives in an inverted grip. "But I ask you to please take action and not remain in the defensive the entire time."

"Tempting," He honestly said, removing the spectral flames from his weapon to illustrate his point. "But I will have to say no." He never stuck to any other fighting strategy besides wearing the opponent's stamina down till a killer blow presents itself. Its Mirino's style to be aggressive and lay as many hits as possible, forcing the opponent into the defensive until it breaks.

"No?" Sakuya parroted questioningly, then her eyes narrowed, sending a chill down his spine. "Then I will have no choice but to force you."

A handheld knife suddenly appeared in front of him and was flying straight for his eye. He saw it coming, but his body was unable to react fast enough. While the sharp edge missed his cheek by an inch as he leaned away, the length of his spear failed to reach the Maid's midsection in time in order to shove her back. Sakuya's knee forced his spear upwards and an elbow from above bent the hardwood in a sharp snap.

Akira's eyes went wide in shock, from the destruction of his only available weapon and when Sakuya finally landed a hit on his midsection, kicking him to the wall and slightly crumpling his armor at the impact. Parallel to the ground, the Maid laid one foot to the floor and righted herself, in the grace of perfect elegance.

"Without your spear, what will you do now?" Sakuya asked, noting that despite being knocked with enough force to leave an average person heaving their stomach contents out, he didn't let go of both halves of his bent spear while breathing deeply and inhaling slowly. The Maid was mentally taken aback at the intensity of the look he gave her, considering the Spearman remained calculatingly calm until then.

"Now you have done it." With a glare full of ice that overmatched Sakuya's chilly gaze, he stabbed the half of the spear bearing the sharp point into the wall behind him, a spiderweb crack on the concrete widening as he lifted his weight up to his feet, the other half of the spear (now a baton) in his left hand in a tight grip. "Coming to this mission in such an underprepared state already angers me, and now you broke my favorite spear." His voice remained leveled, contradicting his current emotional state that's as chaotic as a conflagration in a dry forest.

"I fail to realize why I should care." The Maid replied politely, though the coldness behind it did not escape Akira's notice, stoking the fires further.

"You'll see." Everything within his core was seething with rage, heartbeat pulsing faster than it already had, breathing struggling to quicken against his even pace and hands struggled to shake freely even as he held his new weapons tightly. The icy glare in his orange orbs couldn't be anymore brighter. Every lick of molten fire within him is professionally concealed, hidden behind the façade of a Samurai that does not frown or growl, speaking only in the most formal of tones and never above a polite volume. "Magician or not, you'll finally realize why you should always play fair with me."

"So that means you will fight back."

"You asked for it…." Spectral flames glowed on the sharp half of the spear, coating the entire weapon and his whole right arm. "I would be merciful in virtue of you being a woman..." After placing his left foot forward, his body was suddenly propelled forward like a bullet and the baton in his right hand swung instead, the burning half-spear merely a distraction. He hit nothing but was not surprised. He predicted her to stop time and move out of the way. "…but Youkai these days are sometimes as beautiful as you. Holding back just because you're a woman will be a rookie mistake."

Without even turning around, he inverted the grip on his half-spear and narrowly skewered Sakuya's side behind him. Spinning to face the side, he spun the weapon in his hand, the blue flames morphing into four talons and nearly raking Sakuya's front as she back-stepped out of the way. The baton held tight in the other hand, he spun suddenly and released the other weapon, the half-spear left spinning in the air as he twisted around to swing his club at the Maid's head and grabbed it back.

As she ducked under the attack, the spear back into the Spearman's grip without missing a beat, she leapt away gracefully as he advanced her with swings of his club and unconventional attacks using his morphing left-handed weapon. She attempted to throw knives and they ended up being deflected, steel clanging against hardwood without any visible effort from Akira's movements. In a desperate whim, she froze time, circled around till she was behind him, and struck with a silver knife glinting against the blue flames' light as time moved again.

Without any loss of the Spearman's rhythm, the knife was batted aside with the spear as he spun and the blunt head of a baton jabbed viciously into her gut, giving her a taste of what she gave him when she sent him to the wall.

All without looking at her, eyes closed and his features focused.

A pained grunt escaped the Maid's throat, curling as she staggered backwards from the blow before falling to one knee, holding her abdomen with a free hand while the other grips a silver knife. "Impressive." Sakuya complimented, her tone strained against the pain.

Akira gave no reply, instead giving her no time to recover as he whipped the burning spear in her direction, spectral flames morphing into arrows and hailing down on the Maid. Built like iron from past battles, Sakuya quickly rose to her feet and took to the air before she was struck—

She immediately held up her arm as a baton suddenly came slamming down towards her head, letting her wrist take the blow and forced her to drop her knife as Akira was suddenly floating in front of her, axe-kicking her in the shoulder back down to the ground on her backside. Hissing in pain at the throbbing bruise, she looked up to glare at him.

Akira's finally eyes opened, looking down at her furiously while the rest of his features remained composed. "You're so predictable, Izayoi-SAN!" The last syllable came out as an improvised kiai, taking from Mirino's book as he whipped his spear again to rain down a storm of spectral ballista bolts.

The Spearman knew he would have been graced with a dance, an enchanting display he could have witnessed when the Maid rises to her feet despite her accumulated injuries and execute an impromptu routine that let projectiles fly past her, a testament to her strengthened constitution in virtue of being the Scarlet Devil's Maidservant. But he was too mad to care, so he imbued the rain of enlarged crossbow bolts to explode upon impact, creating a water-like burst of fire and enshrouding Sakuya in the process.

There won't be pain, such is the case of his spiritual power when it comes to humans, but it will humble her completely.

As the attack ceased, the spectral flames disappearing and revealing Sakuya with her arms crossed over her ducked head with knees slightly bent, unharmed aside from Akira's recent strikes, the Spearman slammed his sandals on the floor to deliberately announce his position and charged, baton and short spear ready.

The spear was thrown—

And Sakuya looked on in shock as it impaled the floor before her feet, narrowly avoiding the baton that could have struck her forehead had she not bent her body backwards inelegantly before executing a one-handed backhand spring away with the aid of flight to reach a far distance.

The disbelief remained on her face and Akira silently relished at the sight, "What have you done?" Sakuya asked accusingly as she knelt on one knee, massaging her kicked shoulder.

The Spearman's spectral flames blocked any access she has to her temporal powers.

"A mutual detriment." Akira not-answered, his polite tone hung on. "You forced me to fight back, I will return the courtesy by forcing you to fight like a normal."

"Your attacks….it's as if you knew my next move."

He wrenched his spear from the ground with ease, glowing in blue fires whenever he waved it. "I believe I already told you, I pay close attention. The more you fight, the more you expose the intervals in your actions. And as you become desperate, you become twice as predictable. Continue this farce and you are nothing but a book to me, written in the simplest vocabulary that even an infant could read it."

Sakuya's features suddenly morphed into an expression of realization, then softened into an emotionless mask. Akira noticed the purpose hidden in her ice blue orbs. "Is that so? Then I will have to improvise."

So she threw a knife aimed to the Spearman's eye, which was easily dodged as Akira leaned his head sideways to let the displaced wind caress his temple. "Count your ammunition, Izayoi-san. Without your powers, they are not bott—"

He fell silent as Sakuya suddenly drew all of her knives and sent them flying into his general direction, a storm of arrows in the shape of silver cutlery hailing down on him from a horizontal direction. Panicking, instinct took over as he utilized both weapons to deflect the incoming glinting projectiles, innate ability and trained eyesight applied to the limit as they pinpointed the trajectory of which would likely hit him.

I did not see this coming! He mentally remarked amidst his struggle. Why is she throwing away all her ammunition at once!? He wasn't able to deflect everything. Knives flew past him, bounced off his armor, some even imbedding to the protective steel and effectively puncturing his flesh beneath. His exposed skin was not saved as well. Small cuts began to appear on the sides of his face, one on his left temple and another on his cheek, constant movement forcing them to bleed.

Nearing the last of the silver projectiles, he smacked the last knife to the side—

Splinters of wood erupted as Sakuya's swipe attack would have slashed Akira's throat had he not brought his baton quickly enough to block it. While he recovered from her surprise attack, he didn't predict her next move and wasn't fast enough to block the womanly fist from slamming against his chest. The kinetic force alone was painful despite the armor plating and it sent him flying backwards on his back.

A Maid that punches as hard as a burly man….when did somebody like that exist…!? He gritted his teeth as he rose to his feet, biting back the ache on his chest. Spinning like a spin top tilting sideways with her arms spread out, the Maid picked up knives off the ground and Akira rolled to the side before the first knife of the stream was thrown in his direction, quickly rising to his feet as soon as he was getting near the wall, faking a wall-run using his flight before ejecting in a backflipping and slapped aside a knife aimed at his eye as soon as his feet touched the ground—

"ARGH!" He collapsed to one knee, dropping his baton hand as a sharp pang of pain shot him somewhere on his left—

His left ankle earned itself a knife imbedded into the flesh, buried to the hilt through the armor plating, into the skin and narrowly missing the bone underneath. There were two knives thrown and he failed to notice both coming. Another attack came his way and, due to his pain, failed to intercept it.

A knee rocketed to his forehead and slammed the back of his head to the floor, throwing him into disorientation and multiple sensations of lost balance and cognitive displacement now coming back to meet him like a long-time friend. It felt so long since he had been stunned like this. It was nostalgic, and seriously painful.

Down on his back and unable to see well, he swung his right leg and struck Sakuya's knee from the side, likely sending her back to her backside or on one knee. Either way, he imaged both positions in his mind and kicked in a place that's unlikely to be shielded.

Since he heard a sharp yelp amidst his stupefied state and judging from the feeling from the soles of his sandal, he got her in the face. He made sure to kick hard enough to leave her holding her struck countenance in pain and rendering her unable to fight long enough to allow him to get up and recover.

Rolling to his front without aggravating his stabbed ankle, he kneaded the back of his head as he struggled to his feet while Sakuya groaned, holding her face. Stumbling back to the ground due to a ruined balance and having only one functional foot, he instead crawled as far away as possible. Quickly, he did, two elbows and one knee sending his prone form further away from the Maid that looked like she was recovering faster from a kick to the face than him from head-trauma.

Resorting to applying a different tactic, he took to the air, flight taking over his mobility as soon as he retained enough cognition to think clearly and sent an arching rain of spear danmaku. He aimed too far and the attack passed over Sakuya's head, turning the hallway behind her into a pincushion of green oversized needles. He gritted his teeth bitterly. Damn this headache.

Shaking his head lightly, he motioned a spear throw with a free hand, a fresh danmaku spear conjuring into his grasp and he threw, the spectral projectile flying in a straight line. It struck the floor beside Sakuya, creating a small explosion of dust and spiritual energy that left a tiny crater on the concrete underneath the shredded carpet. The Maid did not flinch an inch even as tiny pieces of rubble hit her form.

She's got her guard up, I see. If only she dodged like he expected, he would have known her next move and acted accordingly.

Shaking his head again, earning 70% of his cognition back, he threw another spear, aiming directly for her neck.

Sakuya neatly leaned to the side, barely an inch of distance between her soft neck and the lethal spiritual projectile before it passed by her and allowed her to return into a stance: stood with her hands hanging below her waist, heels together and back straight. Just like a proper Maid. The knives in hand indicated that she will fight back given the chance.

Narrowing his eyes, he threw two, his left hand holding the short spear flinging a second danmaku spear like a sling.

Sakuya turned her head to the right and a spear passes next to the back of her head. Turning her body to the same direction, another passes by her waist. She pivoted back to the same stance afterwards, practically taunting the Spearman with a cold stare.

Danmaku's out of the question, then. He deduced before flinging a horizontal line of spears before advancing with his short spear reared back.

Raising her left hand 30 degrees upwards and moving her left foot one step back, all 8 projectiles completely miss the Maid before she flew forward. Akira swung his spear, Sakuya blocked the attack with her left knife, shredding a large piece of wood from the short weapon before passing by each other.

Reaching the ground, Akira grabbed his fallen baton before rolling on the floor without aggravating his ankle. Rising up to his one able foot, he flung more danmaku at the floating Maid. She dived downwards close to the ground before bolting forward, one knife ready to swing, not even bothering to throw. Wise, Akira remarked mentally. She only had her two knives as her remaining weapons and she's well-aware that she can't hit him. He could just deflect it aside like nothing.

She threw both knives at him.

WHAT!?

As he deflected aside the knives with one swing in his panic, his efforts were rewarded with a rough punch to the face. Down on the ground and easily rolling back to his feet with slight difficulty due to his ankle, he parried a roundhouse kick before countering with a swing of his baton to her shoulder. It was a hit, but Sakuya got him back at the same time, kneeing his left kidney area.

Both of them were down on the ground, cradling their struck places. Akira was completely in shock, she had roundhouse kicked and kneed him at the same time. An extremely wild move that's going to end up with the attacker open and falling to the ground and he didn't see it coming.

Rising to his feet shakily as he let go of his baton to hold his side, he was quickly kicked in the face and sent to the ground on his back again. A kick that was coming for his kidney again was blocked by his elbow, as predicted, and he punched the nearest knee, sending Sakuya down on one knee, only for her to send a straight kick into his face with her free leg.

Yet another wild move. Completely contradicting her elegant poise.

Shrugging off the pain on his face, he rolled to his front and rose up to his one foot before taking flight, replacing the movement of his legs with his flight and flung himself forward. The middle of his short spear blocked by an elbow, he let his back take the countering kick before swinging his able leg in a spin towards her head.

She caught it in her hand—

And she was dragged along to the floor as Akira dispelled flight, fell to the ground like a rock and he drove his spear in an inverted grip to her neck. She rolled away, grabbing a nearby knife in the process and Akira was back into the air again before it was thrown to where his other ankle is. Grabbing another nearby knife before picking up the thrown one, she attacked again.

Akira was completely baffled. The whole time since it started, she fought like a dancer, graceful and elegant. She fought with such movements for too long that he already figured her out. And now this alteration in her stance was ridiculous, the usual pattern lost and nowhere to be found. Her elegance was still pronounced, but she was fighting like a greenhorn. Movements and attacks scrambled and unstructured, hard-hitting but completely impractical.

She was impossible to read.

If she goes on like this, his loss is guaranteed. The Maid's actually very good at being unpredictable when it matters, if that's the Scarlet Devil's influence or by Sakuya's personal talent, it deserves credit for all its worth. He's already exhausted from playing his usual tactic and trying to read this ridiculous scribble of movements is much worse. This fight must end, and his pride will not stand him losing to his very first fight in a long time.

Blocking both hands holding knives from stabbing down into both his shoulders, he kicked her in the midsection and quickly swung his hands downwards afterwards to deflect the knives thrown. In the same motion, two danmaku spears came to be and flew at his arms' motions.

As someone who fought with danmaku for more than two decades, she was saved by her reflexes, done almost without thinking. She didn't, however, predict that they would explode unlike when they have to hit the ground first. One exploded next to her right ear and the other next to a recently struck kidney. Any natural complications that come afterwards is held back safely due to fighting in the limits of the Spell Card System.

But Akira knows that it will hurt regardless, so he made sure she doesn't recover while the ringing in her ears and excruciating pain lasts. Three in a cluster struck the area below Sakuya's feet, sending her further upwards into the air. Two collided together below her, raising her as high as 21 meters. For good measure, he sent one straight at her exposed back, sending her to 39 meters in the air.

A perfect placement.

Flicking a Spell Card out and letting it float in midair, he stabbed the card with his short spear into the ground before flinging a long danmaku spear, intentionally missing as it passed by between her arm and side, but instead of exploding it created a sphere of hundreds of danmaku spears pointed inwards, imprisoning the Maid in an impaling cage.

Decisive blow.

"«Stake to the Heart—Death of a Thousand Skewers»!"

With a prompting slam of his baton against the floors, Sakuya's defeat is brought home as every space possible in her body is run through from all directions.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

I suddenly faced at the general direction of the Mansion.

…..strange…

It's just like in my NDE: I can feel it when there's too much disturbance in the natural energy of the world, even if they're as far away as several thousand kilometers away, especially Outside. Violence, wars, disasters, or just utter chaos is enough to make a ruckus of that magnitude for Spirit Me to feel it.

Yet how come I felt it again? I'm still alive, and my psyche felt the sensation of something heavy falling over and crashing down despite the lack of vibration on the floors or the sounds that indicate it.

Did an accident happen in the Scarlet Devil Mansion again? If it's Patchouli, then it's sensible. From what I've learned, she's both the problem solver and sometimes the cause of most troubles that regularly happen inside the place besides Marisa. Last year, she…um, 'accidently' released a rather gangly monster into the library and started wreaking havoc until she caged it again with the help of the others.

If that's the case then I shouldn't worry.

That Remilia, so bored she is that she doesn't really care about any magical accidents happening inside her home so long as she gets a kick out of the mess. Poor Sakuya who has to clean up after them. Thankfully, there's more than enough goblins to provide a helping hand. Love to be around myself when the next accident happens and see if I could help around with Flandre as a partner.

*Chuf-fu-fu-fu*

Oh, Makita just arrived from the door of my room, sending me a 'hello again' chuff. Looks like she's done eating.

I replied the chuff as I beckoned her over, "Hey there." I greeted warmly, "Finished eating?" Your chin's kinda wet, I can already tell Kasen washed the blood off them.

She did some kind of nod that she learned after looking at me do it a lot while talking to Kasen before jumping up on the bed, shifting its weight as she nestled beside me with one arm splayed across my legs, placing her massive head on my lap.

I hold her paw and caress the smooth white fur across her forearm while my other hand scratches her forehead where the arrow-marking is found. She's sticking her tongue out again, hehe. So fucking cute, this kitty is.

I thought to myself this many times already but the size of this girl is just amazing, especially her head. Not a lot of people are ever close-up to tigers like this, where you are safely interacting with a living weapon carrying 900 pounds of muscle (she's not really) without getting mauled and eaten. I could feel her fur, her body warmth, her heartbeat, the small sounds she makes that you couldn't hear from outside the enclosure and even her physical affections. This is something worth bragging about in the future.

I pinch her index digit and a wicked claw pokes out, clean and deadly looking as always. I instantly grimace.

I look past her loving touches and softie tendencies and I get reminded that this girl is still one of the toughest big cats in the world, aggressive and absolutely deadly. She can tear my head off with barely any effort and it could happen any time. The reason she's so docile right now is because of Kasen's influence, and even with her intelligence, she's still an animal with inbred killer instincts. If the Hermit's gone, I doubt Makita will stay civil, especially around Visente who despises her.

Trying to wean the instincts is out of the question. You can't take away something that's natural from somebody. It's like telling me not to punch a jackass in the face; it just can't be helped.

I really need to think hard on this if I'm ever going to have Makita as a permanent resident….

"Eman?" Oh look, Kasen's here with a plateful of food in her hands. "Lunch is served."

I nodded gratefully, "Thank you kindly." As I take the plate and hover it over Makita's head, who strangely ignored the smell of food right above her (she's probably full), I ask the Hermit, "Where's Visente?"

"Hunting." She answered, an amused smirk playing on her lips. "He threw a tantrum when I told him to hand over his game to Dear Makita."

I snickered, smirking. "You made him sacrifice the prey he personally caught to somebody he hates?"

Kasen said nothing, only scratching Makita's cheek with a finger while smiling. Is it me or is the tiger smirking as well?

It's probably in my imagination (not), "Is he hunting again?" I asked, but I think I already knew the answer.

"Yes, he is." She nodded. "I helped him catch a deer so it will be fair. There is so much prey in this forest and outside of it, did you know?"

That's because of the Holy Magic experiments I do every night, I didn't even realize they're all there till I died. The only thing is that I hardly see them, they hide really well from sight. "Indeed, they provide such a nice ambience along with the rustling leaves in the silence." I did the sign of the cross, prayed, and then began eating, this time with a spoon.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

A horrible cackle echoed in the dark hallway, mixing with the sounds of steel colliding against iron and the jingle of Flandre's wings. A few seconds passes and the sound of a wall exploding occurred, bringing parts of the ceiling down with it.

And Mirino wasn't sure which one to worry about the most: the ridiculously strong vampire who's seriously wailing on him with a smile on her face? Or the sparks that keep flaring out every time their weapons meet?

Sparks are an indication of damage to the weapon and implies the risk of breaking it, and having no weapon is much worse than facing a high-class Youkai like Flandre—especially someone as manic as Flandre without any proper Youkai extermination equipment. He isn't sure if the wiggly staff in the child's hand is even iron but he's very certain that it's not falling apart anytime.

Stand a chance, my fucking ass! Hold out longer than expected, my fucking ass! A fair match, my stinking fucking ASS! THIS KID'S FUCKING TERRIFYING! He screamed in his mind, exhausted and unable to measure the amount of destruction his fight with the kid had brought on every area they've been through.

Credited more to the Vampire than to himself, every action made, whether by simply placing a foot on the floors or waving a weapon at a certain direction, something either literally explodes or falls apart. The walls, most prominently. Any attempt Mirino had at making distance only led to more structural damage and he's getting worried about the entire first floor caving in on everyone's heads. He can't risk his allies getting caught in the rubble, even if one of them deserved it. Unless he knows they're as proficient in getting out of it such as the Hakurei Priestess or Kirisame's kid, he will not cause that cave-in.

He already led the fight to the third floors, lessening the risk of the entire building falling on anyone's heads but the fight is still the same: he's still in the defensive. His arms were already hurting from blocking every attack and he barely had a chance to hit back. Even if he tried, the kid was very good at dodging both danmaku and sword slashes.

She doesn't seem to be getting exhausted nor did she ever seem to be running out of breath. She's been cackling for 3 minutes straight.

"Come on, Onii-san! Stop being a chicken and hold still!" His entire skeleton shook as he blocked a strike from the staff, straining his wrists even further. "I know you're still scared! Come on! Let me hurt you! I'm telling the truth, it really works! I promise it'll all go away!"

He kicked off a nonexistent wall beside him to propel to the side and escape a destructive blow from the staff that left a large hole on the floor exposing the second level of the mansion. He didn't fall straight through thanks to his innate gift.

Flandre didn't strike after him, merely floating in place to continue her story with a distant look, recalling the horrid event. "You know, my friend was scared once, so scared he couldn't even move or stay quiet. So I kept hitting him till he was not scared anymore! He got very quiet when I was done! He still hasn't woke up but I'm sure he will someday!"

"That's because you killed him!" He answered in a panicked shout, unable to get the image of spilled entrails, crushed bones, a frozen death scream on the face, and a disfigured body lying on a heap somewhere in this Devil House because of Flandre helping him. She already told him the race of that friend amidst the combat: male, teenaged, and a human. An Outsider at that. He has seen much horrible sights, the worst of them all a mutilated child with all its organs, eyes and tongue missing, and a horrible implication found in-between the legs, but it has been years since his last sight of gore.

He really got complacent thanks to the Spell Card System. Outside the Village, horrible things are still happening to Outsiders.

"No I didn't! He's okay!" Flandre defiantly said, swinging her weapon petulantly, causing the ceiling behind her to collapse. "He still got blood inside him! He's still leaking but I'm sure he's alright!"

"No he's no—"

"SHUT UP!" She threw herself right at him, and Mirino saw a split-second image of her face morphing into something absolutely terrifying.

Terror caught the Swordsman's heart in a vice grip, but his body acted on its own and quickly flew down the hole to the second floor. Instead of touching the ground, he bounced upwards and stood on the ceiling instead, fighting to keep his breathing leveled amidst his panic.

"Onii-san!" The childish voice that held a playful tone even as the Vampire tried to mangle him beyond repair has now altered to something completely demonic. Raspy, high-pitched, and grating. So horribly grating that it threatened to break his eardrums. "No running! You're supposed to be hurt! AAAAAGGGHHH!"

He watched as a multicolored blur slammed against floors from the hole, creating chaotic jingles upon impact and flying forward into a hallway. Mirino didn't leave the ceiling, didn't move a single muscle as he watched her tiny form disappear into the distance. He remained still even as she was no longer in sight, waiting for as long as possible until he was very sure the demon child was gone.

Only when he realized he had held his breath for so long that he was suffocating did he ever let go of the ceiling and land silently on the floors, making sure that not even a single sound was made.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from collapsing on his knees and hands, thanking that the floors are carpeted that it muffled the impact of his sword. With the adrenaline leaving him, he was unbelievably exhausted than he already had and his joints ached a lot more than he realized, his wrists more so.

He remained still, regaining as much energy as he can without falling flat until he had enough energy to rise up to his feet, ignoring the numerous spikes of pain on his knees and fought not to drag his feet on the floor as he reached for a guest room door's knob. Using his ability would have made it easy but his mental exhaustion would only lead to standing on a nonexistent ramp, which would trip him and alert the demon child to his presence. And he doubts he has all the energy to continue fighting her, and Akira still hasn't arrived to his rescue.

I swear if he's stretching the fight, I'm kicking his ass and poisoning his lunch. It was a chronic problem the Spearman had, milking the combat as much as he can before he gets bored and ends it with a single decisive blow. Annoying as all hell that he had to be with him at all times just so his essential skills could be used elsewhere. Now without anyone monitoring Akira's actions, Mirino's assistance might not arrive any sooner.

He gritted his teeth, his apprehension rising at his predicament. Shiiiit…! Should'a fucking known! He was trying to keep me away! Real clever, you fucking bastard! Meira-dono, you better get here quickly!

After carefully turning the knob and opening the door without causing a creak in the hinges, he silently closed it and sat on the bed, the tiny fragments of cement on his form landing on the sheets. After feeling the softness of the mattress, he was so tempted to remove his tattered attire and surrender to sleep.

If only it did not risk being attacked in his sleep. Vampires are polite, he remembered, but he can't take chances. Absolutely not, not to that little girl.

I should just clear out. See if I could help Akira instead, idiot really needs to get a move on. He took a few deep breaths, trying to regain his energy as quickly as possible, relaxing his nerves and gaining control over a few autonomous functions in his body. He hasn't done this in a while, and while he isn't great at it as Akira, it's still decent by his judgment.

After likely passing 2 minutes, his body returned to a state that indicated that it was in the middle of battle, sweating, adrenaline coursing through and senses sharpened. It will wear off if he doesn't get going, so he did, rising off the bed, swiping the sword he left lying on the bed—

It knocked over a vase on the nightstand and his entire body stiffened as it shattered on the floor, spilling the flower and water, creating a loud sound that passed as a gunshot in the enforced silence.

He did not move an inch, staring in horror at the mess he left and mind reeling to a complete halt for the fact that he exposed himself. Not a sound was heard except for the pounding in his ears that practically sounded like it was a death knell. I'm so fucked. I'm so fucked. I'm so fucked. I'm so fucked.

A muffled explosion sounded somewhere, past many walls of concrete away from him. A second one arrived, Mirino thought he felt the ground shake just a bit. He felt the shake increasing at the third. The fourth had an increase in volume, the shaking rising even further. The next one was louder, closer.

The horror couldn't be anymore clearer in Mirino's face even as he held his sword at the ready, eyeing the last line of defense that was the wall in front of him. The room was beginning to quake in the seismic shock of the explosions as it came closer and closer that he could hear the cement fragments scatter on the floors.

Coming closer.

If he can't see her, likewise she can't too. Then he will have to pull something out of Akira's book that might actually fit this situation: end it all in one hit.

One quick iaijitsu will do the trick. He decided, steeling his heart amidst his panic and focused, surrendering all of his physical senses to his inner self, being one with the world for just a few moments. His emotions are slowly silenced, the physical world slowly eroding from his perception and the locations of numerous objects came to his consciousness, including sentient beings. Once he senses the organism that was the Younger Scarlet come close at a certain distance, he will execute iaijitsu, aiming precisely for the neck and put the battle to a stop. It doesn't matter whether there was something in the way or not, he will just brute-force through it.

Coming closer. There were only 3 walls left separating him from the child, including his own.

One wall explodes into millions of pieces, his grip on his sword tightened and infused his spiritual energy into the blade, molding it into pure offensive power.

The second wall fell next, the space between the hilt of the sword and the scabbard beginning to shine bright in blinding light. The demon child is just right next to the wall in front of him, he could see it in his mind's eye that she's aware of his presence behind the wall in front of her. It was now or never, one strike will determine the outcome. He misses and it's all over.

Then he felt incredible amounts of power surge into the wall, breaking a tear into reality. The image he saw in his mind's eye nearly forced him back into the physical world at how incomprehensible it was. It was almost impossible to ignore when he could see it all in its entirety, the middle of the wall being forced inside the rift with powerful suction like air seeping into the opening of a long abandoned and sealed ruin that was freshly open after many years. The hard concrete held little resistance like it was dust, its essence disappearing into the rift at lightning speeds.

It took so much of him to ignore the horrifying spectacle and focus on the moment to strike. Once the wall is essentially erased from existence, he will dash forward with the fastest speed he could muster and behead the vampire before she sees it coming. In this fashion, there would be no more.

The rift was closed.

Whatever was left of the wall exploded for no apparent reason, sending millions of fragments to his direction. He was already gone before the eruption happened, flying through the wide opening, sword primed and ready, and he struck.

The sensation of flesh being bisected coursed from the vibration of his sword to his entire right hand. But he didn't stop there. Flipping his form around, his feet meeting an invisible wall, he bounced back to the vampire, swinging his sword diagonally from shoulder to waist. Landing on a phantom ramp, he rebounded up to the ceiling, down to another ramp and bolted onwards for two slashes, severing the arm and entire midsection.

For the final touch, he flew forward to the numerous holes across 5 guest rooms left by the vampire's charge, throwing one explosive talisman behind him.

He shot through 8 rooms before the telltale explosion behind him signified the detonation of his rarely-used spiritual projectile. With the sound as a cue, he forced himself through one more flip and prevented himself from splatting against the hard surface coming his way. His exhaustion, however, left him unable to flip one more time to land his feet on the floor and instead land directly on top of a nightstand, crushing the wooden furniture and the ceramic vase holding roses.

Surprisingly, even to himself, it didn't hurt a least bit.

3 seconds pass by….

"Aaargh..!" Too soon…! Must've been the adrenaline….!

Rolling to his front, exposing the fragments piercing through his hakama and embedding into his back, a blotch of blood on the fabric widening from each, he grunted as he struggled to rise up to his knees.

"Bloody hell…." That was the most active he has ever been, not even on Incidents he ever did something this much. Looks like even if the Spell Card System held the old ways back, the amount of effort exerted is still the same.

He grinned lightly. I might just take up Youkai Extermination again if I feel like it. Dammit, I'm no different than that bloodthirsty fucker. He wondered how long this little spark for battle will last before his desire for rest sets in.

Placing the point of his sword against the ground, he forced himself up to his feet, grunting as the pain from his back horribly ached from the movement. I really gotta get outta here. I've had enough of this fucking Manor.

One step towards the door. Another. And then a third.

A fourth passed.

"Found you~~"

Color disappeared from his face as that familiar voice broke the silence.

"You made a sound so it was easy to find you."

She…..she's….still up….!? Pain, stings, exhaustions, each of them blatantly forgotten as the presence of something even worse than bodily detriments. His wrists ached, his hands shook, and his ankles are in the worst shape. He struggled to even speak, and now he found himself in the worst possible situation. "Ho….how….."

"Oh, you thought you killed me? Oh no!" The vampire said in mock horror, "That was just another me. The other two are somewhere but it's good that I got to you first! They'll drink you dry before I—!"

She was silenced as the sound of something fragile and ceramic cracked, likely into tiny pieces underfoot. "Ah, did you break this, Onii-san? Oh no…..Sakuya isn't gonna be happy~~" She singsonged, as if she was warning a sibling who broke something valuable. "But don't worry, I won't tell! Even if she finds out, I'll make sure she won't get you."

A loud jingling erupted behind him, and at his current state, he couldn't even flinch at how close she was behind him. He could hear a nose taking deep inhales, taking in the scent of copper that's emanating from his back. He couldn't move, even as a cold pair of small little arms wrapped around his neck fondly but tightly, as if to keep him from resisting, a nose taking in the scent near the part of his neck that hid the carotid artery.

A dark hiss heralded his defeat, "I'll make sure she'll never find a single piece of you."

Drained, exhausted, crippled, and at a disadvantage, there was nothing else he could do.

I'm done for. He realized.

"Bye-bye, Onii-san….!" He stiffened as a cold breath washed across his neck, feeling the sharp needles about to pierce into his flesh.

In a swift flash, blood was drawn.

….

…..

…..

"Uuuuuhhh…?" A confused droll that escaped Flandre's mouth suddenly turned into a sharp yelp, something blunt meeting flesh resounding behind Mirino before the sound of a small body hitting a hard surface erupted, accompanied by the sound of little bells clanking chaotically.

A hand that held his shoulder was enough to send him on his knees again, making break out heaving as he held his breath again throughout that bloodcurdling moment. "Are you alright, Mirino-san?"

The Swordsman turned and saw a handsome face meeting his wide-eyed stare, "Meira-dono!? Wh-whe-where'd you come from!?"

"That's not important! We gotta get you—"

Before the Swordswoman (swordsman?) could finish, the entire section of the wall that held the door exploded, every piece of concrete reduced to nothing but literal dust. Half a second passes and the dust in the air disappeared into nothing.

The two humans turned behind them and beheld a sight that will forever haunt them in their dreams till they can properly forget everything about it: a wide smile, a sharp and toothy grin that held more teeth than a human could hope to have, bloody red eyes burning bright amidst the dead-white complexion, traces of blood dripping from a small chin and staining an already red dress.

A deep cut from Meira's sword that stabbed through both Flandre's cheeks granted her a mouth that can smile a bloody smile from ear to ear, literally.

"Ne, Onii-san, Onee-san…Do I look pretty?" The Younger Scarlet spoke clearly without trouble, even as she hooked both her index fingers at the shredded edges of her large bleeding mouth, widening and emphasizing a forced but horrifying smile that was already there. "Is this smile pretty? Do I look beautiful?" The blood continued to leak from the sliced cheeks, flowing like a vessel with a large laceration, staining her small hands down to her elbows. The teeth within were sharp and the bloodstains coating them made them far beyond unsettling. The contrasts of the brightening jewels on her wings to the horror that it belonged to burned an image into the minds of both humans.

"Hey….I'm asking. Am I a pretty girl? Does my smile look good? HEY!" The monotone abruptly shifted into a shrill scream, creating cracks on every surface of the room they occupied in and rattling the insides of Meira's and Mirino's ribcages, prompting them to move it. "TELL ME! DO I LOOK PRETTY!? HEEEEY!"

Before she was finished asking, the two humans were already gone. The telltale sign of a wall exploding indicated that they took the easy way out: they punched through the wall separating the garden outside and the hallway.

A few seconds of silences passes and a raucous giggle erupts from Flandre's mouth, clapping her hands at the fun she just had. She never knew that defending her home would be this exciting, especially when she could get to scare some humans in the process.

The blooding already stopped, she felt the edges of her Glasgow smile just to get a feel of what it's like to have such a wider extension. Admittedly, she kind of liked it. She felt like trying to eat with a mouth like this. She giggled again, a blush brightening underneath her bloodstained hands as she held her split cheeks, "I wonder if Eman will like it~!"

Dusting her dress daintily, ignoring the fact that she was more wet with her own blood rather than dusty, she skipped towards the source of explosions that no doubt belonged to the ringleader of this raid, her hands waving girlishly beside her in each motion as her wings jingled in a beat. Her iconic smile that Eman was fond of was set on her face again, only this time even more unsettling.

[~Hey, my name is Jim, where did I go wrong~? My life's bargain basement, all the good stuff's gone~] She happily sang the song Eman played to her last Saturday, uncaring if she got the melody wrong or not. It was such a nice Outsider song that she couldn't help but enjoy. She might surprise him when she'll ask him to play it again next weekend. She can't wait to see the look on his face she shows him that she managed to memorize the entire song despite him playing it once to her. [~My foster daddy went, took my innocence away~ The street life ain't much better but at least I get paid~!]

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"Where are you going again?" I asked politely, adjusting the blanket covering my legs and leaving my upper body shivering just a bit.

"I am just going back to my home." She answered reassuringly, "A certain Ferrywoman is waiting for me to explain things. Someone dying in Gensokyo and coming back to life 3 hours later is a lot more concerning to them than you think."

Oh. "I understand." I remember in my NDE that Reimu actually died eating rotten food only to come back to life later, which got Komachi suspicious as a deceased soul disappearing out of nowhere is very unusual and fingered Tenshi as the person responsible for the anomaly, who did the same kind of bullshit years ago. It was quite a laugh at how two unrelated things ended up creating that kind of situation. "Be careful on the way back."

"Rather than me, are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" She asked, concerned.

I nodded, noting how my eyes are drooping. "I will be alright. That stick you made for me will be helpful in case I need to stand up and head to the bathroom or eat." I gestured to the crutch placed near my bed. It's actually a really long wooden cane but the upside-down L at the top is a good place to rest my armpit and I could just hold the length in case I want to move with it. It's amazing that she made it out of raw wood outside my home without even taking my measurements. "Where are the two?"

"Oh. Makita will keep watch outside and Visente will be close by outside your door." Kasen gestured to the open door, "Keep it open while you can, he gets paranoid when he can't find a way to reach you."

I chuckled; he might start whining loudly and scratch endlessly at my door. That won't let me sleep easily. "And Makita does not mind her placement?" You did kinda force her out of my bed.

"She has no complaints. She's been staying too long in this house and she needs some fresh air." I love the fact that you're minding her welfare as if she was another human. "She might need a bath too, an Outsider like you would know how her species love water."

"I'm aware." I shifted a little so I provided some space beside me on the bed before I looked up to her, "Kasen?"

"Yes?"

"Would you come here for a moment?" I beckoned her over, my arms slightly spread open.

She let out a sigh, shaking her head with a smile, but she did as asked anyway and sat next to me on the bed, wrapping her arms around my head and hugging me to her chest. I wrapped my arms around her midsection, patting her back while I made a pleased hum inside my throat. "Thank you for everything."

"Think nothing of it, Eman." She warmly replied, stroking and pulling on my silky strands. "I'm just doing what should be done."

I really hate that response, even if it's part of the Japanese etiquette. 'You're welcome' would've been nice to hear, assures me that people helping me are aware that their work is appreciated.

I parted and then shifted till I was now lying down, facing away from Kasen as I hugged my second biggest pillow to my chest. I felt a hand grab the edge of the blanket and pulled it up to my shoulder before ruffling my head softly. "Sweet dreams now."

[Mm.] I replied, my eyes closed and my trip back to the so-called Dream World that Gensokyo had will be guaranteed thanks to this soft hand kneading my head.

Doremy….! Doremy-Fucking-Sweet….! That motherfucking Baku…..!

I'm going to fuck you so hard you'd die from the intensity of it when I get my hands on you again….! My dreams are MINE and MINE ALONE! IT DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU! You were lucky that Yukari woke me up but not this time! You're fucking DEAD!

"See you tomorrow." Her hand parts from my head and I look into the world without the use of my physical eyes, 'watching' Kasen's presence walk further and further away, essence beginning to wane at her increasing distance till she walked past the door and closed it behind her, the knob shaking to test if its locked before flying away.

Since coming back from the dead, I have retained my ability to 'Spiritually' see the world, but due to my physical body, it has been downgraded. But still, it's a rather profound thing to have. It's basically my awakened 6th sense.

It's like being inside a ball-like room and I floated in the center like a core. The walls everywhere is painted with a scenery, it could be anything from a beautiful garden to something desolate like a wasteland, and I have a photographic memory of what every picture around me looks like that I could spot even the slightest smudge or foreign element that doesn't belong there.

And the smudges are the living things around me that I'm not used to, especially Kasen before she left. She was like a smudge on the painting, easy to notice because she was out of place in the setting, like my home. That includes Makita too, she's a foreign element because I'm not used to her yet. Visente, however, is part of this scenery, belonging to the painting because he's been around for too long that it's now a norm, hence why his presence doesn't feel off to me.

There is the possibility that once I'm able to move perfectly and go out anywhere in Gensokyo, I would know the right path to wherever I want to go; I could even feel the shape of the environment just by closing my eyes and feeling the prickles on my body or listening to my instincts. I could even perfectly see the layout of my house's interior while I'm lying here on my bed trying to go to sleep, could even do my chores blind once I can.

All because I already familiarized what it looks like just like on the wall-paintings—I already seen it in my NDE. It's not like remembering through memory, more like relying on my spiritual senses (outside the normal 5 senses) to know the right direction.

Feel, not think.

I would also be able to sense any living being's presence at a limited radius, including their real forms (whether animal, Youkai, human, god, etc.), even if I don't see them, just like with Kasen minutes ago. They're like figures on the wall-paintings drawn in a different art style compared to everything else around it or an object that contradicted the scene behind it, like a dirty trash can in the middle of a lush forest or a stickman standing around in a group of realistically drawn people; I would easily notice them due to their 'misplacement'.

With this ability, no one will be able to sneak up on me or even hide.

At the same time, I would notice what's wrong around me, environmental illusions like mirages might not work on me anymore. I wonder if this relates to why I felt the strong disturbance on the direction of Remilia's house.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"….." Mirino glared dangerously at his friend knelt against the pillar of the gate across him.

"….." Akira awkwardly met his angry stare, wondering why his friend was looking at him like that. "Is…is there something wrong, friend?"

He practically watched the aura around the Swordsman's form begin to thicken in hostility, "Where the hell were you?" Mirino hissed.

The Spearman scoffed incredulously, "Fighting, obviously. I had planned to come to your help but this detriment held me back." He explained, gesturing to his bandaged ankle, the knife already removed and the wound closed with a help of a technique that's beyond magic. "Izayoi-san was quite the opponent."

"Or maybe you dragged the fight?" Mirino asked rhetorically, vitriol very apparent in his tone, "Oh, wait. Maybe you spent too much time slapping knives with that Maid instead of just going for the kill while I was running for my fucking life! If it wasn't for Meira-dono, I'd be a fucking husk because of your fucking bloodlust!"

"Hey, now!" Akira frowned defiantly, "I wasn't prolonging the fight, I was being tactical in my approach against Izayoi-san! An opponent like her along with the ability to warp time is something I shouldn't take lightly unlike a fairy!"

"Yeah, like I didn't hear that excuse every time you always come late for a regroup." Sarcasm dripped like a faucet from Mirino's mouth, "Someday, I'm going to fucking die because of you!"

"Oh, so you doubt me as a friend now!?" Akira sounded genuinely offended, "For shame! You should understand that I would never send you to the midst of danger unless I'm absolutely assured and guaranteed that you can handle it and come back alive, even if you are grievously injured."

"I NEARLY FUCKING DIED BECAUSE OF YOUR PLANNING!"

"You were fighting under the Spell Card System!" Akira had finally snapped, his composed features breaking open to reveal an image of rage. "You were never going to die in the first place because you abided by them anyway!" The Spearman immediately recoiled, as if realizing his outburst and caught himself from acting out of line any further.

Mirino still gave Akira a baleful stare but internally he was flabbergasted that the normally stoic and professional Village Guard had raised his voice on him. He never does, not on him.

"We're not discussing this any further, Mirino." The Spearman's stone cold persona took over, eyeing Mirino emotionlessly. "You're back safe and that's all I cared about. If you're still mad at me, then fine. Act however you like around me but I will not change my mind: I did not prolong the fight just to sate my bloodlust, I chose the best tactic possible to preserve as much spiritual power possible to quickly end the fight between you and the Younger Scarlet once I was done with Izayoi-san."

As Akira closed his eyes, his hands resting on his lap as if in meditation, the Swordsman quickly learned that any more arguments will just be ignored. With a pang of guilt gnawing at him, he clenched his fist at his lap, hating himself for admitting internally that his friend had a point.

He's been behind the times for too long, too long that he forgot that the Spell Card System has been implemented in order to enforce nonlethal combat between two people, whether man, Youkai, or even god, ensuring that even the weakest could win.

"Your friend's assumption was correct." A feminine voice pointed out, drawing Mirino's stare up to meet Meiling's aquamarine gaze, "Flan-sama always plays by the rules, especially under the Spell Card System. Your death was never guaranteed to begin with. No matter how much damage you do to her out of self-defense, she would just laugh it off instead of retaliating. She knew the risks if she pushes her enemies too far."

Mirino frowned, considering the Youkai's words before aligning the impression he had from the demon child with it. "So you're saying…"

"You were worried for no reason." Meiling finished, slightly looking over him pitifully. "But that's part of the fun. The more you feel like your life is in danger, the better you'll fight. It's a matter of effort and willpower that helps you win instead of raw strength. Even an Outsider like Eman-dono knows."

He pursed his lips further, gripping the fabric of his hakama. He then realized what the Chinese Youkai said, remembering the explanation Meira told him earlier. "So we actually came here for nothing?"

"Kotohime is the only one who thinks otherwise." Meira replied, giving the Mansion a tired look. "Whatever she's doing now, she's putting her all into this 'Rescue Operation'."

"Nothing but a regular illness, correct?" Akira asked, his cold mask subsiding and returning his locally-known stoic demeanor. As the Swordswoman gave him a nod, he turned to his friend, surprising the Swordsman by giving him an amused smile, "At least we relived the Old Days, haven't we, Mirino-chan?"

A vein twitched on Mirino's temple, but he was quick to ignore it as he was glad that his friendship with the Spearman has mended, as true brothers-in-arms should. He nodded in agreement, smiling, "Yeah. The Bad Old Days. If only we had better equipment ready, like my second katana and my kodachi."

"I miss my katana. I haven't wielded that thing for more than a decade." Akira supplied. "And that nodachi…I really should give that giant blade to you."

"Or my bow and arrow…."

"Mine too. It has been a while since my last accurate shot with the yumi."

"My charms too. Oh, boy, they would've been so useful. The demon-trapper talisman I got from the Hakurei years ago could've…."

Meira took a deep breath and released a sigh of relief, liking the atmosphere created by the two recurring Youkai Exterminators. She had acknowledged it hours ago but it's still quite jarring to see full-blooded men partake in the business that a HEAVY majority of women had handled since the Spell Card System's implementation. It's embarrassing to admit but she saw them as out-of-placed, especially when they fought against well-skilled figures of the Devil Manor and won against one of them.

It seems she has forgotten that she had trained under Mirino once to improve her sword skill, months after her scuffle with a young and gangly little Hakurei, which allowed her to go toe-to-toe against even the above-average Youkai. How could such skills go unnoticed when it could do so much than simply guard a gate?

Meira huffed, she supposed it's their calling. She remembers them as veteran Youkai hunters years ago, retaining their ancestors' powerful skill in protecting the village unlike the rest of the village guards who are merely militia with minimal exorcism expertise. She remembered the Spearman's mentioned delight in his own position in the village as a gate guard during in their planning session. She figures they are happy where they are, she'll respect whatever reason they had.

"How was the venture, Meira-dono?" Meiling asked.

"Hmm?" The Swordswoman looked up, slightly surprised from being broken out of her thoughts.

"How was it, raiding a local vampire's territory?" The Youkai asked again, wearing an easy smile.

Meira was slightly off-put by how casually it was asked. She was a Gate Guard, isn't she? "Hectic." She answered simply, wincing at the memory of so many spells of every element in the calendar used against her. It was a miracle she managed through them. "There were too many goblins, and they know too many spells. How did they gain such aptitude of magickry? They weren't like that when they were employed in the village."

"That's by their own knack to learn things very quickly. They wanted to know quicker and better ways to clean after the Mistress's mess on a very large building." Meiling smiled as she shifted her footing, crossing her arms. "You want to know something funny and amazing? When they learned their spells, they didn't actually realize they could be used for fighting as other people usually do! Even the spells that were commonly used for combat is used for something simple, like a fireball to heat up the furnace or a water jet to water the plants." She chuckled, smiling brightly. "They're an amazing bunch, no? Fighting is actually the last thing on their minds, their purpose is to serve and that's what they do most. You give them a sword, they will think it's a large knife instead of something to fight someone with. Tell, why did the village not want them?"

Meira didn't actually have a Zashiki-Warashi to be replaced by the western gremlins but she felt guilty on the behalf of the village. As a human before a Youkai inquiring the way of thinking of her race, she represented them. "The village couldn't get over their appearance." She didn't mention, however, that she wasn't any different. "Whatever good the gremlins did, they were too…unappealing to get the good graces of the village."

If only the villagers gave the small beings a chance, they would've benefited a lot of good done to the village from them than they think. How unfortunate for the red-skinned things. At least in the service of the Scarlet Devil who isn't picky in regards to her servant's race, they found their proper calling. As most humans are very judgmental, it's an improvement.

If anything, she wished she had a gremlin servant for herself just to see the kind of knack they had for serving their masters. She'd consider it a friend if It's possible.

"If only you gave them a chance, the village would have so many hardworking and skillful workers to serve as protectors besides making your life a bit easier." Meiling wore a grim smile, "I would know, they're very protective of their master and they value friendship or bonds above all else as if it were sacred. They would even worship you if you were kind to them."

Meira gripped her sword's handle tightly. "Yes." If only the village had….

A loud explosion from the Manor rendered the entire entrance gate into a million splinters. The four people at the gate were already in position before any of the wood landed on the pavement. From the smoke and flying wood, a figure of deep purple and a bit of crimson near the head emerged, covered in soot and holding what looks like a book covered in grey steel instead of leather.

"Princess?" Looks like another escape from the Mansion by Kotohime, Meiling noted.

"She lived." There was genuine bewilderment in Akira's voice.

"Great…" Sarcasm dripped from Mirino's words.

"Should we help her?" Before Meira's halfhearted question could be answered by anything snarky or a direct no, Kotohime was already flying over their heads at breakneck speeds.

Something incomprehensible was said as she passed by, to Meiling's supersonic ears it came off as something like: "IgotnotimetoexplainjustgetawayfromthisplacebeforethemagicianRoyalFlarestheentiregarden!"

Confused faces were shared amongst the humans but they got the hint that they should be leaving before the Manor Owner's wrath befalls them. "We'll be leaving now, Meiling-san." Meira informed, helping Mirino lift the wounded Akira back to his feet before taking off together, chasing after the fleeing Princess.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

The two men have requested to retire early and head to Eintei in order to heal their wounds, leaving the two women of the group to discuss over the results, especially with Kotohime's 'victory'.

The revelation left Meira dumbstruck.

"You never actually attacked Remilia-san?"

"Yep!" Kotohime's all-too familiar bright but vexing smile shined from her face. "I used the tactic of 'Deceive your ally in order to deceive the enemy' because the Mistress of the Mansion was expecting me. Due to her love for theatrics, she might've prepared some kinda speech or somewhat like 'I've been expecting you' or 'I'm impressed you made it this far' once I enter her Throne Room Boss Stage but I did the exact opposite by not confronting her, leaving her without any satisfaction of facing me and actually headed to the Library."

Meira frowned, finding a lot of sense in the first half and finding none of it in the second, "Why?"

"I believed that despite the Vampire's immense power, she would not be able to do something as insignificant as sending a disease on someone. Summoning demons could be an exaggeration or actually true but the only one in that Mansion with capabilities of disease is their resident Sorceress, Patchouli Knowledge. So, I fought her instead."

"…." Meira was surprised at how it made so much sense, "But what do you need that book for?"

"Oh, it looked interesting so I took it with me after I beat her."

Cue a sigh, "Of course." Meira said flatly, shaking her head. Even in the times of saving someone (even if the entire thing was pointless), Kotohime is still doing her usual habit. It would be a time to tell the Princess of the real truth behind the illness but she was reluctant in taking away her fun, especially after a likely grueling effort of fighting a strong opponent.

"So what do we do now?" Meira asked, wanting to go home and rest the fight off but she's still eager to see the 'outcome' of this faux Rescue Mission first.

Reading a few text in the metal book, Kotohime stashed it in her voluminous sleeve before answering, "The last mission is to visit the inflicted. Let's go to the Outsider's home in the woods."

"Do you know where it is?" Meira asked, "He doesn't exactly live in the Village."

"Luckily, I knew." Kotohime said triumphantly, raising a finger. "As the Princess of Gensokyo, it's a must to know where all my subjects live."

Considering Kotohime's weird habits, how she knew is likely related to acting like a criminally-unhinged stalker with branches for a headdress and a floral pattern on a severely colorful kimono to 'increase' camouflage lurking after the young man's footsteps as he went home.

"Lead the way." The Samurai prompted uneasily.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Meira expected just as much when she set foot to the grassy clearing and saw the Outsider's home sitting in the middle but it was quite unique in design than she expected. Almost in the shape of a warehouse, with shingled rooftops that looked sturdy enough to hold 10 people standing on it, four windows on each side, closed for now, a small faucet leaning against the back-left corner of the building, and a simple mahogany door. Ordinary, simple, but unique. Quite distinct from Alice Margatroid's western house.

A few places around the yard held two laundry posts, currently unused and occupied by small birds of five different species she didn't know about and one crow with white feathers (the biggest bird among them) eyeing the two people in an almost-humanlike suspicion. There was also a large white snake with black markings across its body hanging from a branch at the edge of the tree line, glaring with malicious yellow eyes at Kotohime who was fiddling with—

"What are you doing?" Meira asked in an accusing tone.

"Lockpicking. What else am I doing?" Kotohime answered, as if what she was doing was as normal as knocking.

The Swordswoman sputtered for a moment, "W-why? Why would you need to do that?"

"I told you before. I need to keep my skills sharp, you'll never know when you need it." Then there was a click. The Princess wore a satisfied smile. Facing Meira, not noticing or ignoring her incredulous expression, she said, "Shall we?"

I'd rather not. Meira thought.

With a twist of a knob, Kotohime pushed the door wide open, "And now we enter the abode of…" She trailed off, staring intently at what was inside. Was it her or did she hear growling?

Meira frowned in concern, looking over the Princess's shoulder, "What is it, Koto…."

A large grey wolf was inside, hackles raised as it eyed them both with malicious intent and released a powerful bark that left Meira's ears ringing and forced Kotohime to back one step, bumping into the Samurai behind her. Growling and barking fiercely, it forced the Princess even further away from the door as it stepped outside without looking away from the two humans.

A powerful roar forced Meira to twist around, draw out her sword, and point it towards a screaming white beast. It was as bulky as a juvenile cow, stripped with black markings all over is body and its mouth was lined with enough teeth to shred an entire human body into pieces in one chomp.

"A tiger." She deduced silently. A beast from foreign lands, renowned for its strength and size, allowing it to stand above many animals. If she could remember from the books she read, any confrontation with one never ended well, even when you're grouped unless you knew how to fly or had better weapons.

Strangely, she remembered the beasts as orange-coated with stripes of black, not white.

"What?" Kotohime was genuinely surprised, "I thought we only had one tiger living in the Myouren Temple."

Meira didn't reply, keeping her eyes firmly planted on the large white creature, noting the hostility in its blue eyes and the drool leaking out from its open maw. She noted there was cawing in the air, the crow from the clothesline likely circling them to herald a violent confrontation between women and beasts. The barking was intensifying, getting hoarser and louder, the snapping sounds indicating a powerful set of jaws it had.

She feared the worst at the presence of these animals near the Outsider's home. Were they the reason Eman was not coming to work?

"Meira, when I say go: fly to the air, close your eyes, and strike without hesitation. We gotta make this quick and clean, you got me?" Kotohime asked grimly, a hand reaching into her sleeves.

"Right." Compared to many beings in Gensokyo that they both fought, they will not allow any suffering done to an innocent animal who only killed out of necessity. "We will grant them a painless death."

The Princess pressed herself further against Meira's back, which the latter returned and readied their stances. "One—"

A thunderous roar exploded as the white tiger charged forward, claws and teeth bare as it pounced with arms stretched out. Both women were up in the air before they were caught, the beast passing under their feet as they brought it up to their chests before it fell into a tumble on the ground. The wolf swerved from the feline's trajectory and executed a powerful leap 10 meters into the air that nearly got Kotohime's arm by its jaws. Her left sleeve was shredded instead to reveal her elbow.

"Tch." Gritting her teeth, she felt her bare and immaculate skin to check for any nicks from teeth. "Okay, that plan's out."

"What do we do!?" Meira raised her voice over the deafening barks and the booming roars of the two beasts below. They followed after the humans drifting away from them, leaping upwards to take a swipe at them when they were at a certain height.

"Well, good thing I got my anti-personnel sleep bomb in my other sleeve." Kotohime fished out the pill-shaped explosive from her surviving sleeve. "Now that we're out of their reach, we should be….." She trailed off as the tiger made a strange sound to the wolf before running into a separate side of the clearing. The large canine did the same on the opposite side. It's almost as if they were preventing the Princess from incapacitating them both at once.

Meira stared in wonder at what happened, then realized that when two different predators are in the same space together, they end up fighting and either one or both dies. These two creatures were conspiring together. "What on earth?"

"They're not ordinary animals." Kotohime deduced, clenching her fist as her face contorted into stone at the revelation, "They're not killing each other and they understand what I'm saying. They heard what I said and they're acting accordingly."

"Youkai?" Meira deduced, realizing that they won't be able to get into the house that easily.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure." Kotohime must be noticing something she didn't, the Samurai guessed. "We need a new plan, and I can't make one here where they can hear me."

"Why not whisper?"

"Tigers have powerful hearing," Meira was not surprised that the Princess would know something like that, considering the things she does out of sight. "Buuut I got a notepad." She fished said object out of her sleeve again, complete with a pen of foreign design. Clicking the top with her thumb, she scribbled the first step, "First step we must—WATCH OUT!" She screamed as soon as a shadow fell over her before swerving away. Meira quickly did the same, spinning away from each other and a gargantuan snake's maw snapped at lightning speeds where Kotohime formerly was. Instead, it met an explosive to the face left behind milliseconds before evasive action, courtesy of the Princess.

A powerful boom erupts along with smoke and bits of sparks, sending the titanic serpent writhing and twisting on the ground, hissing loudly and shrilly like steel scraping against smooth stone. It was horribly grating, reminding Meira of Flandre's screams.

"Okay! We got a Beastmaster on our midst!" Kotohime announced excitedly.

"A what!?" Meira quickly blocked an incoming swipe from a raven with her sword, cawing wildly as it flew away, swerving around in the air for a second attack. "Now the ravens are conspiring as well!?"

"YEP! Oh look, an hawk!" The Princess pointed to the sky. The Samurai had to squint to see the raptor descending down on Kotohime with wicked talons at the ready, nonchalantly dodging the raven that swiped at her neck.

"Now's not the time to—Kotohime, the snake!" Even though she said that, Meira was the one to move out of the serpent's strike, fangs exposed before a snapping sound occurred in her last position. Before she could say something, she looked on in shock as the white tiger ran across the snake's thick white scaled body all the way to its head before leaping off, claws aimed towards her.

She was snagged by the back of her collar before she was brought down to the ground where the barking wolf waited to finish her off. Meira had to gag, she choked out of her collar because of that save. "Th-thanks…!" She rasped, coughing.

"Focus and defend yourself!" Kotohime threw her upwards, away from the snake's reach and into the attention of two vicious birds of prey. "We gotta split up! We can't take them all by ourselves! One of us gotta seek out the Beastmaster while the other deals with the critters!"

"I'll seek the bastard out!" Meira quickly suggested, unable to stand the screams, caterwauls, cawing, and barking of every animal around her. It was too chaotic, "You deal with these things!"

"Ooh! Spunky enough to order me around!?" Kotohime smirked at her before bringing her jitte to her grasp, the sleep bomb in her other hand. "Sounds like a plan! Be careful! There could be more of them—"

{SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!‼!‼!‼!}

Every mammal, reptile, avian, and human fell silent. Not even the winds dared to speak. The suddenness of the silence was jarring, especially when their ears rung. 7 heads turned to the owner of the deep howl and witnessed a topless young man, pale skin bare for all to see, black pants covering the rest of him, standing outside the door of the house with a long cane held against his side like a crutch.

Impossibly pale skin, chin-length black hair, and a height that more than most people in the village considered very towering: the descriptions matched, it's Eman the Outsider. He was actually fine.

And he looked absolutely aggravated.

Glaring with hellfire in his eyes through silky bangs at the two humans, he looked over the animals present (especially the crow and hawk perched on the clothesline), giving the tiger and the wolf short glances before doing a double-take on the giant snake that was staring him down with an intense yellow slit-gaze.

Shaking off his wide-eyed look, he screamed once again in a foreign phrase, his tone guttural and hoarse, {DAPA! TANAN DAPA!}

Every animal present dropped to the floor, lying flat on their underbellies as if being reproached or disciplined, including the snake who was shrinking into the size of a normal snake before lying flat on the grass like strewn rope. The hawk and crow were the only ones who didn't move.

Aside from the red-feathered raptor, Meira realized that it was the same snake that hung from the tree and the same crow as before.

To see the creatures that were trying to kill the both of them literally seconds ago obeying him without question left the Samurai uneasy.

"You two….!" Eman shouted in a strained voice, likely unable to raise his volume for too long. "Down on the ground! You better explain why you're both here and how'd you find my home!?"

Kotohime flew to the ground as instructed without a care, laying her sandals to the grass while Meira remained in the air, still uneasy thanks to the presence of the once-vicious animals. Since none of them moved despite the Princess's presence, she reluctantly obliged, still wary.

The Outsider hobbled over to them hastily, breathing through his teeth with his nose flaring. Stopping at a distance where he could reach them with his cane, he scanned both Meira and Kotohime carefully from top to bottom. Clearing his throat, sounding like a wet growl more than anything, he asked in a guttural voice, "What the hell are you two doing here….!?"

Steeling herself, Meira spoke, "We came here in order to—"

"We came to check up on you!" Kotohime answered cheerfully, "We just defeated the person poisoning your health so now you can rest easy."

Confusion fell over the Outsider, [Huh?]

"We heard you were sick so we came to check." Meira hurriedly explained.

Eman's brow furrowed underneath his bangs, mixing with his confusion. Snapping to look behind him to where the door of his home was located, which was supposed to be locked minutes ago.

Meira gulped, she felt that this is not going to end well.

He slowly turned to face them again, his hazel orbs eyeing them suspiciously but more on Kotohime. "That door was locked. I checked it before I went back to sleep. How is it unlocked?"

Clenching her fist before unclenching it, Meira carefully thought up her words, a diplomatic explanation hoping to not antagonize him—

"We couldn't expect you to open it so I lockpicked it." Meira stared at Kotohime in shock. That was supposed to be the explanation she had in mind but now it came off like a proud admittance of being guilty of breaking and entering.

A shade of red flashed over Eman's face, the intensity in his gaze against Kotohime slowly morphing into a glare. Was it her or was the air getting hot? "You lockpicked it….!?" He hissed dangerously.

"We were hoping not to disturb you so I took the quietest and quickest way possible, and we thought you couldn't get up so I took—"

"Stop." His voice dropped deep, deeper than any other frequency Meira heard, and the air was getting hotter and hotter. She noticed an outline around him blurring. "I was sleeping in my bed trying to sleep off this heat on my head, then I hear my front door clicking. Now Visente started barking, Makita was screaming, and now there were explosions happening in my yard….! I get headaches just by listening to them. That's how bad I feel right now. You had many warnings, my animals were telling you to leave…yet you're still around. Who do you think you are?"

"Well, then." Kotohime dipped, spreading her arms. It would have been impressive had her left sleeve not been tattered and torn off by a wolf. "I am Kotohime, Gensokyo's Princess, chief of police, master of taekwondo, self-employed yoga instructor, official cartographer and—"

Thunder and fire flew from Eman's lips, "WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT WHO YOU ARE OR THE FUCK KIND OF TITLES YOU HAVE!?" The Outsider entire form was set on red fire for half a second, causing the two women to flinch from the sudden increase of heat, his cane thrown away in the middle of Kotohime's introduction, now standing uneasily on his own two feet. His bare skin was now ridiculously red, as if the color of the blood underneath pierced through the flesh visibly, granting him a new skin color. "YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT I THINK YOU ARE!? SOME DUMB BITCH WHO LOCKPICKED MY FUCKING DOOR WHILE I WAS IN BED TRYING TO SLEEP THIS FUCKING THING OFF! DID IT SLIP YOUR DAMN MIND THAT KNOCKING IS COMMON COURTESY!? I WOULD'VE ANSWERED EVEN IF I'M THIS SICK!"

Meira now realized that the Outsider was not powerless and was more than quite temperamental. She stepped up, "Eman-san, please! We mean no harm! Kotohime is just—"

A heated glare snapped towards her, "AND YOU, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He roughly shoved her back by the shoulder with one hand, almost throwing her down. His hand was like a hand-shaped hot poker. "IF YOU THINK YOU'RE NOT PART OF THIS THING, WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU STOP HER!? IF YOU THINK YOUR BRAIN'S ANY LESS DUMBER THAN THIS BITCH, YOU'RE WRONG! YOUR MIND'S AS FUCKED AS A CHICKEN!"

Then he collapsed to the ground in front of them groaning, cradling his head and kneading it as if it was in pain. The yelling must have done him in. Insulting as his words were, he clearly wasn't in the best condition, not in the best mood, and certainly doesn't take well to intruders while he was recuperating. They both moved to help him up—

"NO!" He barked and a flame-wreathed hand lashed out at them. It wasn't his own. He was still face-down, holding his head. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME! YOU STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" Meira was pulled well-away back by Kotohime before a hulking entity of hellfire erupted from his back, exhuming black smoke like a furnace and swiping at their last positions, burning the grass in the process. "You're dangerous! YOU INTRUDING FUCKS! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY PROPERTY BEFORE I BURN THE FUCK OUTTA YOU BOTH!"

He growled demonically and the smoking entity grew into twice the size of a house, the heat in the air intensifying to boiling limits, causing both of them to sweat and heave profusely. The animals were back on their feet, the snake growing back to gargantuan heights, and the birds were circling above them. They were all set on fire, red flames coating their entirety, traces of fur, scale or feather gone or simply burnt off. Despite their state, they stood like any other animal facing a threat. Their growls, caws and hisses were still heard, mixing with the roaring throat of the Outsider.

Everything was burning, the tongues practically reaching high into the sky. The grass, the trees lining the clearing, even the house was lit in a grand inferno, red fire consuming everything around him. The air was suffocating with ash and flame. The women realized that they were in complete danger and must leave before they'll be next to die from the flames.

Kotohime grabbed Meira's arm, as the floor was starting to scald their soles despite their footwear. "With me!" Throwing little pelts on the floor, smoke erupted from the floor beneath them, obscuring their forms.

"LEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAVE!‼!‼!‼"

When the Wraith brought its smoldering fist down on the cloud of smoke, it hit nothing but bare ground, creating a deep smoking crater into the soil.

….….….

….….….….….

….….….….….….….….

Seconds pass….a single minute…

The Wraith and the heat flashed to nothing, disappearing like an eye-blink, the fires coating the building, the entire clearing and its nonhuman occupants remaining. Slowly, the movements of the flames slowly mellowed, turning into graceful swishes and the colors returned to their beautiful polychromatic appearance enchanted every animal that witnessed it.

With Her part of the play finished, the Holy Spirit released Her hold on the environment and reoriented Herself with Eman, fixing his headache and allowing him to release a pleased sigh, the artificial smell of ash in the air disappearing to allow fresh air into his lungs. Visente and Makita stretched their limbs, the release of the holy fires coating their bodies leaving their muscles a bit loose, as well as their furs looking smooth and soft to the touch. The house was now immaculately clean, free of dust and smudges from inside and outside. The plant-life were adequately nourished, as if fed with water, guaranteeing a quick growth or an early bloom.

[Fuck…..] Eman rasped, rubbing his neck before coughing a few times. [My throat…ow…..] Haven't screamed like that in a while. Fuck, my water's in the room.

The rustling of grass beside him drew his attention. [Hm?] He looked up and beheld the once gigantic-now-normal-sized-snake with its head raised slightly up in eye-level with him. It didn't seem hostile, simply curious. [Hello there….Snakey.]

Colors of red and black from his left peripherals prompted him to turn, greeted with the sight of a red hawk and a large raven standing together, staring at him inquisitively. He was at awe at the magnificent red avian and slightly wary of the gothic bird. From what he remembered, ravens can hold a grudge and make their entire family carry it on, especially the next generation. He'll have to make sure he doesn't piss it off in the future.

He smiled in amusement, straining to sit on his knees. He managed it but his fever left his balance a little off, forcing him to support himself with his hands beside him while slouching, [Good afternoon, neighbors.] He reached for their heads with one hand, fingers lit with holy fires. [Were you taken in by the Holy Spirit too?] He scratched the head of the hawk before doing the same to the crow, glad that they didn't nip his fingers. It would hurt, he can safely assume.

He turned to Snakey, looking over its black body markings across its white skin. Or was it grey? He was very wary this time as he reached for its head, entire hand coated with holy fires. He never saw snakes that often and he has a natural fear of them. Doing this was especially nerve-wracking. [I saw you in my NDE. Looks like I didn't check over your abilities. I didn't know you could resize yourself, that's awesome.] He softly complimented, his hand trembling in apprehension as it eyed the palm with an unblinking gaze.

Snakey then leaned its head into his colorful palm, brushing its smooth scales across the pale skin. He chuckled, almost victoriously as it slightly tickled him. Brushing his thumb across its scaly head, it coiled around his arm, all the way up to his shoulders. And after it circled around his armpit, its neared its head to his face and nudged his cheek before slithering down to the grass, heading back to its tree.

Looks like it acquainted with me. [How sweet of you. I-I'll give you your name soon, okay?] That was actually the scariest thing he ever experienced since coming back alive.

Snakey continued to slither until it reached its tree and coiled upwards the bark.

He turned back to the birds, the hawk idly smoothing its wings while the crow hopped one step forward to peer at the snake. [I guess I gotta give you two names soon too.] He stroked his hands across their smooth feathers, the crow pecked at his palm as repayment. It felt strangely soothing, like thumbs pressing soothingly against the palm.

A powerful bark sent them squawking and hopping away from the approaching (and likely jealous) Visente. Makita was the first to reach him, nudging her forehead against his left side until he lifted up his arm and allowed him to wrap it around her shoulders. She suddenly pressed his hand against her chest with a paw, giving him the implication that he should hold on to her. As he did, he yelped slightly as he was pulled towards his house while Makita walked onwards, his feet dragging behind him. [Oh, thank you.] He had to wrap his other arm around her to keep from slipping, something as strong as her wouldn't mind his weight.

Pressing tightly against her to slip through the door, his feet bumping against the frames, he watched behind him as Visente brought his crutch-cane in his jaws through the doors without trouble. In an amazing display of smarts, he closed the door by kicking it.

He instantly loved the Big Bad Wolfo even more, [Good boy.] He said with pride.

Seconds later, Makita carefully placed her upper body up the bed, pulling Eman up with her until he sat himself down. "Thank you, Makita." He took a drink of water from the waterskin laying in the nightstand before scratching the tiger under the chin and rubbing her cheek, eliciting a hum of content. Afterwards, she bounded up on the bed, swatted away the pillows to the floor before occupying the open space, lifting the uppermost arm and leg up to expose her underbelly to him as if to say, 'come hither'.

"You will be my pillow?" He asked with a light smirk.

She gave a sort of nod.

"Alright, then. Allow me." He scooted backwards until he rested his head and upper body against Makita's warm white coat. He could hear her heartbeat, so soft and steady. He brushed his hands across her smooth fur that raised up and down, moving in tandem with the rhythm of her breathing. Thank goodness the bed's big enough for ya.

The bed shifted again on the area of his feet, gracing him the sight of Visente taking up the space at the bottom as he lied down beside Eman's legs. He didn't even give his rival who was hogging his Master's attention a spare glance and simply looked into space.

Eman frowned questioningly, looking over Makita. She still had her head raised up instead of laying it down but her eyes were closed, completely akin to a cat about to fall asleep. Looking down on Visente, the wolf was simply licking his claws, minding his own business.

He smiled happily, scratching the boy's nose. Clicking his tongue, he patted an open space beside his waist and Visente happily took it, his back facing his master. Placing his leg across his smooth grey fur, hoping the boy doesn't feel uncomfortable with it, he scratched his head and fondly whispered, [You're not fighting each other over me…..thank God.] With the blanket now underneath all their bodies, he would lack anything to warm up with in the nearing evening. His fever will only make it worse.

But he was sure his loving bedmates will serve as a better substitute, [I love you both.]

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

They both landed on the road before the village gate. It took most of them to not tumble over upon landing, since escaping from a fiery death at breakneck speeds had a lot of risks, especially if the one pulling you was one of the fastest fliers in Gensokyo.

Heaving in breath while holding her knees, ignoring the sting on her shoulder, Meira looked up and faced the Princess who easily straightened her posture after merely two heaves of breath. She frowned, unsure of how Kotohime is feeling after the verbal lashing she received from the irate Outsider when she had her back turned towards the Samurai.

Meira grimaced. Should she break it to Kotohime, that the mission was entirely pointless since the start? That all their effort was for nothing and merited nothing in the aftermath except scornful words? That all of Kotohime's righteous efforts was all for naught? For the first time in Meira's life, Kotohime's schemes had actually backfired on her face, struck down with such words meant to destroy the proud and haughty, and she could tell that they struck deep.

"Tch." Meira shook her head. She must. She has to. If it can stop anything like that from happening to her again, then she will, even if it hurts. "Listen, Kotohime…..about the—"

"It's fine." Kotohime interrupted, toneless.

"I understand." She gulped. "But I'm talking about—"

"I get it. I already know." The Princess hastily interrupted.

Meira raised an eyebrow, "Truly?" Was it all on purpose? Did she truly force everyone into this false mission?

The Princess of Gensokyo turned around to face her. There were tears running down her cheeks, but there was a smile on her face. "Sometimes, the act of enacting justice can hurt, sometimes it can make you feel like it's not all worth it in the end. Ungrateful people do exist, some wouldn't even know what you did, but that's the way it is." She nobly said, all without a single crack in her voice. "The greatest deeds are done without witnesses, Meira." She reached forward and patted her shoulder, as if Meira was the one crying. "You'll learn someday."

The Samurai's brain fails to process what on earth is actually happening.

"Right!" Kotohime's expression suddenly turned a 180, the tears on her tears somehow disappeared into thin air as she strutted into the village with a purpose. "Let's go to the bar! This victory needs a good drinking!"

It took an entire minute before Meira was able to break out of it. She sighed heavily, all the things she deals with whenever around Kotohime, its likely going to last forever till the day she dies. And she thought it was going to get easier.

Oh well. She shook her head, a hint of a smile present as she followed after the Princess.

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Remilia wore the sourest face ever on the dinner table, with nothing served, merely nothing but a potted plant in the middle with all the occupants assembled, especially the fairies and hobgoblins. It was by the effort of the butlers and maid's arrangements it was not considered cramped.

Remilia turned to her little sister, which patiently awaited her words as she held her head up and rested her elbows on the table, still wearing the same Glasgow smile she earned from the raid earlier.

Jealousy spiking her head, she decided to address it, "Fix your smile, Flan." She ordered.

Snickering, Flandre replied, "You're just mad because nobody fought you." Her cheeky smirk only became unsettling due to the revealing sharp teeth.

A vein twitched in Remilia's temple, "N-no, I'm nooot. I'm just horribly vexed….becaaaauuse my mansion was attaaacked…." She corrected, droning her dialogue very unconvincingly.

"I should be the one who should be the most vexed." Patchouli pointed out, a facemask worn over her mouth and an inhaler in her hand. "She used dust on me, destroyed a half of my library and ran off with an important tome of conjuring….!" At a much healthier state, she could've exclaimed it in a heated tone.

"Are you okay, Sakuya-san?" Meiling asked in concern, looking over the Maid who was sat (for once) on a chair before the table, holding an ice bag to her bruising head. At some point after being skewered by a hundred spears, she was conscious long enough to see her opponent congratulating her efforts of fighting and then called her a dog before hitting her head with a baton to knock her out. The man clearly has no restraint.

"I'll be okay." She replied, eyes still closed as the goblin stood at the table besides her fixing her bulging head weaved his glowing green hands in an intricate pattern to hasten the recovery. The goblins opted to the better idea of using an ice bag but the Mistress insisted on it so they didn't have a choice. "It could have been worse."

"IT HAS GOTTEN WORSE!" Remilia screamed in the most indignant way possible befitting a lady but still managing to look like a child having a tantrum. The hobgoblins and fairies flinched at her outburst. "I've been waiting for this to happen for so long that I was starting to get bored of beating up Eman every time he comes here! I even got my speech ready! And when a raid does happen, I got ignored! Do they not know who I am!? Am I so insignificant that they would not even give me the challenge I deserve!? I'm the descendant of Dracula for Pete's sake!"

"Um, Onee-sama, I don't think anybody actually knows Dracula in Gensokyo." Flandre supplied, her widened smile exposing the undertone of sass in her words. "I may not have gone out much but we're in Japan. There's no way they could know!"

"They came here because the Christian fell ill and insinuated that you were the cause." Patchouli informed, "But since you're not capable of casting down diseases, the ringleader turned her eyes to me and gave me an asthmatic attack." She told with a hint of rage, "Such an atrocious woman, I would have died if she didn't find me my inhaler." She raised her head up from the book and faced the vampire. "You and I should exchange places, Remy. Maybe then you'll receive the fight you wished for."

"But it was a fun raid!" Flandre announced happily, her hands raised above her. "I even got the Onii-san in a corner, even scared him until he peed himself. Well, he didn't but he looked like he did, especially when I showed him the Smile!" She hooked her fingers at the corners of her mouth and presented the same terrifying smile she managed to make to everyone present, eliciting horrified gasps or disgusted looks. "Shee!?"

"Flan!" Remilia barked, fighting to keep her face from showing any emotion besides noble indignance. "Stop that now! It's creepy! Fix it now!"

"Why?" Flandre's voice rose in pitch as she creepily tilted her head to her elder sister's direction, blood-red eyes unnervingly wide as if she was leering at a piece of meat. "Is it creeping you out, Onee-samaaaa~~~~?"

She opened her mouth, the lower jaw appearing as if it was about to come off, tongue lolling to the side.

Every fairy feinted out of fright. The range she could manage with her mouth baffled even Patchouli aside from the goblins, especially when she could see everything inside her jaws.

"FLAN! FIX IT NOW OR ELSE YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANYMORE ICE CREAM!"

Flandre's head straightened, her mouth closed and her cheeks fully repaired, creamy white skin turning her face from creepy to cute. She felt her smooth cheeks, poking their soft texture with a finger before pouting. "But I liked them…"

Remilia continued to fume, forcing herself from crumpling the mobcap on her head as she clawed it in extreme frustration. "That's it! I'm going to give Eman hell the sooner he comes back! If they did this for his sake then this is his fault!"

"Um, Mistress?" Meiling raised her hand, unsure. "Didn't you tell us that you're making sure the raid happens? Shouldn't that make it your fault?"

"SHUT UP!" Remilia pointed superiorly at Meiling, "MY WORDS ARE FINAL! YOU'RE JUST A LOWLY GATE GUARD SO YOU CAN'T QUESTION ME!"

Meiling pouted, frowning, "That's a mean thing to say, Mistress…."

The Vampire continued to fume, pushing her chair backwards as she rose up to her feet, nearly toppling it to the floor as she headed for the door. "Damn it! I'm so upset! I'm leaving! I'm going to the balcony! I'm so vexed it makes me really hungry! Boys! Get me something to eat! Like ice cream or something! With blood on it!"

The door slammed thunderously as she left. The goblins took the other door that led to the kitchen, hoping to make the bestest ice cream that'll calm the Mistress's nerves the sooner she takes a bite out of it.

"Can I have one too!?" Flandre called out.

"NO! NO ICE CREAM FOR YOU TODAY, FLAN!" Remilia relied from the closed door.

"Aw, why!?"

Meiling smiled helplessly; she'll have to sneak some in her room then. With a hidden hand signal to Jergo, the head goblin saw it and noted it down for later.

Weeks Earlier

"I can't wait for this Raid. We will relive the day we created our first Incident after the Spell Card Rules were enacted. We'll need everyone in good fighting condition when the time comes. I'll need you to do your best too, my dear little sister. This will be the first time you'll play a role in defending our little home."

"Ne, Onee-sama. When somebody is going to fight me, can I go crazy?"

"Hmm…..I don't know, Flan. You are recovering, aren't you? As a Scarlet, you have to leave the best impression, even when they're your enemies."

"But nobody even knows the 'Lady' me yet. Everybody still thinks I'm still crazy! We're just going to fight, right? Even if I go crazy, I'm sure it won't do anything! I wanna surprise them when they see me all acting normal and ladylike when we're not fighting!"

"But Flan…"

"Pleeeeaaaase, with cherry on top?"

"…..the things I do for you….Okay, I'll allow it,"

"YAY!"

"As long as I get a turn of the fun and you don't overshadow me, okay?"

"Okay!"

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

"You….You escaped!?"

Hello, Doremy. Miss me?

COME HERE!

[PREPARE THY BOODYYYYYYYYYYYY!‼!‼!‼!‼!‼!]

~~~~~ « ҉ » ~~~~~

Daichi woke with a start, wondering why the hell did he saw a demonic representation of his Helping Hand chase down a woman with a tail and a really long sleeping cap with the most lascivious look on his face. From what he can gather before he was brought to the waking world, he already pounced her to the ground and was about to have his way with her.

What a fucked up dream.

Looking up to the open window to check the time of day, he met the moon shining down on him and his beautiful wife beside him, her bare form shining like the most priceless crystal in the world that he was lucky to have. Smiling fondly, he snaked an arm across her back and pulled her close for a quick kiss, only to become passionate as she happened to be awake as well, pulling him close with her arms around his neck. His blood boiled madly at the prospect of another hot lovemaking about to commence whenever she kisses him like this in the night.

Looks like it's another night without any sleep.

---

Saba: 'Quiet' or just simply 'Shut up' in Bisaya
Dapa: 'Drop' or 'down on the ground' in Bisaya
Tanan: 'All' or 'Everybody' in Bisaya

Creds to Gaius Cornelius Tacitus for the inspiring story of The Adventures of Kotohime.
I'm not sure if this kind of Kotohime is just like Gaius's portrayal or did I make a Kotohime of my own based on Gaius's portrayal.
You readers decide.