My episodes are just getting wordier and wordier.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is owned by Nagaru Tanigawa. Touhou Project is owned by ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice. I own neither. This is a fan fiction of those works.

Beta Readers for this Episode:

Another Duck

werewolf2005

The three youkai walked down the pathway, sticking to the shadows; two beast-girls and a woman. The smallest kept looking up at the sky, making sure she was out of the light.

"Chen?" Ran turned around and called out to her, "Is everything okay?"

One of Chen's tails flicked, as she continued to look up.

"We're not supposed to touch the light, right?"

Ran smiled at her, "Well, small exposure is okay for now. It wears off when you aren't getting bathed in it."

Chen slowly nodded, and turned to her master's master, Yukari Yakumo.

"Is everything okay, Lady Yukari?"

Yukari grimaced, looking back at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, which they just left.

"No. Not really. We just missed Yuyuko. I would have liked her to assist us, but..." Yukari looked up at the moon. "All things considered, it could be worse. At least Miss Patchouli knows what's going on now. And hopefully they can save any fairies that seek shelter."

I hope they can. Gensokyo needs its fairies.

"I wish you were able to use your portals again."

"Chen!" Ran exclaimed.

Yukari smiled at the nekomata.

"No, it's okay, Ran. I wish I could use them as well. That damn fake moon has hampered my abilities, after all."

"But I thought it only affects you if you get hit by the light...right?"

"That would be true, Chen. Except that the moon is radiating some sort of power that hampers Lady Yukari."

Chen glanced over at the gap youkai, worried.

"Then we're affected too, right? Since we are her shikigamis. The two of us rely on her power for ours."

"Yes; that's the situation we're in. The Yakumo clan has been weakened."

Chen fidgeted, obviously uncomfortable with this. "So where to now?"

"The next step. According to my calculations, they've beaten the bug and the nightsparrow, on schedule. Next stop should be the human village."

"The what?" Chen scratched her head under her cap. "Where is the human village?"

Yukari looked back at her two servants. They obviously didn't know what she was talking about. Yukari opened her mouth to explain, but she couldn't find the words to describe the human village. There's a blank in my memory. That only means one person. Only one person can do that.

"Damn it. Keine. She's doing it again. That's all we need...even though I don't blame her, with the way the moonlight effects us."

Great. Just great. This throws a wrench into my plans. Everything is not going my way tonight.

Ran shifted a bit. "So...if we can't meet them...wherever that village is, then where do we go?"

Yukari sighed, looking at her two servants. She knew she had to come up with a plan, and quick. To let the Sky Canopy Domain get the upper hand would be bad all around, especially since Yukari knew what was at stake.

"All we can do is wait for them at the step after that. The Bamboo Forest of the Lost."

We're going to have to walk all the way there from here. Around the lake, through the farming fields, around the village, and then go through the damn Bamboo Forest. A third across Gensokyo. Chen's right. I wish I had my portals, because we aren't going to make it until morning.

Yukari let out a sigh, and stopped. I have to try. I have to try something. She held up her hand, tensing her muscles, her whole body, focusing on a point.

Come on...come on...I have to do something. I have Ran and Chen with me. I have some power left in my body for them to be around. I should be able to do this...

Please. Let me be able to do something.

Perishable Night

Episode 6

["Imprecision/Unabsolved"]

=The History-Eater and the Remembered Village=

"At the end of the pass, there was a small village where humans lived.

But when they reached there, the village is nowhere to be found..."

-Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Stage 3

Suika Ibuki was indeed an oni. An oni that could change her density and size at will. She seemed unusually happy, even for Gensokyo, and just reeked of sake. She smelled like she had swam in the stuff, which she may have essentially did - the way she spoke gave off the impression that she was heavily drunk. She even swayed a bit.

That scared me. A being that is supposed to be one of the strongest creatures in folklore just plain drunk. And not to mention that she was said to be able to make black holes. What was to keep her from crushing us while in a drunken stupor?

Come to think of it, what sort of chaos did Haruhi create when she was drunk back on that island? Ah well, thoughts for another time.

Thankfully, the oni appeared to be a rather nice, easy-going drunk. Suika had greeted us essentially at the bottom of the hill that the Hakurei Shrine rested on, and we all spoke to each other on the staircase up.

Turned out that Suika was the friend Yukari spoke of during her encounter with Reimu. And since Reimu was able to defeat Suika, the oni decided to follow Reimu, to become a friend of hers. Oni follow the strong, according to folklore.

It weirded me out to see such a small person be unnaturally strong, even though I hung out with Remilia and Nagato. That boar's body just kept flopping around, as Suika spoke, as she laughed, and as she skipped up the stairs. She acted like it weighed nothing.

Then again, this is Gensokyo. A place where powerful creatures take on humanoid form and usually in the form of young girls. What was up with that anyway? That was actually a good question. Why did all the warriors of Gensokyo consist of girls? I'm not saying anything bad about it - in fact, I've gone on record to saying that I don't mind it, that I'm even grateful for it. Hell - girl power is great. I'm not a feminist or anything, but I can appreciate girl power. It was just something I'd like to know about Gensokyo.

Another thing I'd like to know was where the heck Reimu was. We had reached the top of the stairs, and looked out at the shrine's grounds.

Okay, it's official. I'm worried.

The place was just a mess. Stalls, booths, broken tables, chairs strewn about everywhere. Debris, trash, uneaten food, bottles laying about, and a large rock just laying there. It was as if a riot had occurred during a festival. The only sign of life was a single campfire in the relative middle of the grounds between the stairs and the shrine itself.

"Either this shrine maiden is a very bad groundskeeper, or she hasn't been here for a while."

That was Nagato, surprisingly. What was even more surprising was that she said what I pretty much was going to say. She beat me to the punch there.

Not minding her being more human. Also, it was kind of relieving to hear her voice, especially since she had been silent since her personal discovery. Interesting, however, that she chose to have that as her first words.

"I've heard that Hakurei is lazy at her duties," scoffed Remilia. "But I didn't know she was this lazy."

"Hey, uh, Suika, right? Do you know where-"

Suika pushed past us, not answering me, going to the campfire, and began to cut open the boar, throwing meat on a small grill that was positioned above it. Already the smell of cooked pork wafted around us, and I enjoyed the smell. Suika went about adding small splashes of alcohol to each meat, for flavor.

I noticed something. As Suika walked onto the property of the Hakurei Shrine, she paused for a second, and had to readjust the boar in her hands. She appeared to have some trouble carrying it as she made her way to the campfire.

Remilia, hands on her hips, stared out at the grounds.

"Where is that miko..." She glanced back at us. "I'll see if I can ask that oni. She can be difficult, but she should talk to me. Just...look around or something."

Remilia, with Sakuya by her side, made their way to the oni. Daiyousei and her two youkai friends went off to some of the booths.

And again, like Suika - they all (save for Sakuya) paused for a microsecond as they entered the property of the shrine.

Alice did the same thing.

"What was that?" I asked.

Alice turned to me.

"Hmm?"

"You youkai pausing before entering."

Alice smiled as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"It's because we are youkai." Alice looked over at the shrine, and back to me, as we walked towards the building. She pointed at it. "It's the holy ground. Youkai become weaker here. It's to make them more manageable for the Hakurei, and it keeps out the lesser youkai completely." The puppeteer nodded at Mikuru. "That's why I was bringing Miss Asahina here. It's the safest place for her in Gensokyo right now."

Kind of makes sense, and it's also a good defense. I imagine there are probably a lot of youkai enemies that the Hakurei family have made, and not all of them became allies like Remilia or Yukari did. It's smart to have a safe haven, a place where the protector of Gensokyo could have a peaceful place to rest and live.

Also, I'm going to mention something. During all of this, Shanghai was just floating over Alice's left shoulder, staring at me. It would blink every now and then, which I'm guessing it was made to automatically do, but it just kept its gaze on me. Very unnerving.

"I appreciate that, Miss Alice," said Asahina. "I wish I didn't have to be such a burden on you."

"You aren't a burden."

I called out to the shrine, as we were close.

"Reimu? You in there?"

A moment of silence, with no response.

"Damn."

"Hakurei Shrine." Nagato said that as she was staring out to the east. "That means the edge of the barrier is east of here, correct?"

I nodded, then a thought struck me. I think I know what you're thinking.

"Yeah. Why, are you thinking you might be able to get Mikuru out of here?"

Again, as much as I like Mikuru, she would not be of much use in Gensokyo. Her older self would, but not in her younger form. Also, I'd prefer Mikuru to enjoy Gensokyo during a peaceful time; not during an incident. This is the worst time for her to show up... As it was for me.

Nagato gave me a little shrug.

"It's an option. If you feel that she might be safer back in our world, then I might be able to do it, or at least make the attempt to get her out." Nagato blinked. "Unless you'd like to go back as well."

I let out a sigh, and looked to where the border of Gensokyo was. It was just a stone's throw away from the shrine itself.

"Like I said - I'll see this through." I nodded over to the vampire. "Remilia's right, you know. We're here for a reason."

I had ultimately resigned myself to my fate. There would be a possibility that I wouldn't hear the end of it otherwise from Remilia, or anyone else in Gensokyo.

Nagato nodded.

"I have to agree."

"Is everything all right, Nagato? You're not acting normal."

That was Mikuru. She had timidly stepped up to Nagato, a concerned look on her face. Then, her face reddened. "Ah, not that you were normal to begin with. Ah! I mean-!" Her face got redder and redder. "Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean that at all!"

I couldn't help but smile at this. Poor girl gets flustered so easily. The difference between her and her older self could be jarring, thinking about it now. Sure, she would still get flustered, but she appeared more...'hardened', if I could use the words.

"Asahina," Nagato said, "It's okay. Even I'm put off by my behaviour."

I turned to call out to the shrine again, but then something weird happened. We were next to the rock, and then the rock moved. At first, my brain sent off all kinds of 'what the heck' signals, but then I realized why it was moving. It wasn't a rock - it was a turtle, a large one. About the size of a Galapagos tortoise, and it had a beard. It slowly came out of its shell, and stared up at me. It appeared to size me up.

"Uh...hi," I said. "Sorry about waking you up."

I know that turtles can't talk. It was just an automatic reaction to say that.

"Hello young man," it responded with the voice you'd expect a grandfather to have - warm, wise-sounding.

Well, damn. It spoke to me. A large turtle with a beard spoke to me.

I love Gensokyo.

It stared at me as I examined it. Even Nagato and Asahina appeared to have taken interest - they joined me in the examination of a giant talking turtle. The turtle nodded to them, greeting them too. Eventually, I asked it if it had a name.

"My name is Genji. I am the Hakurei family pet."

"How come I didn't see you when I was here a few months ago?"

"I was probably asleep, young man. I hibernate."

He slowly moved towards the fire pit Suika had going, speaking. I think he was rambling to himself.

"Honestly, it's the only thing I can do these days. Watching my children raise their children, and watching Lady Hakurei grow not only as a fine young woman, but as an exceptional warrior. I just wish she would take her training more seriously."

"You were the one Reimu rode into battle."

Genji stopped, and his long neck turned to me.

"I was. Lady Hakurei and I have resolved a lot of incidents together. But ever since she learned to fly, I have retired from incident resolving. It puts too much of a strain on my heart, you know?"

The turtle continued its slow advance towards the fire, as Remilia and Sakuya came from there. The two of them stared at the creature for a few seconds (Sakuya doing a double take), before getting to us. Remilia was shaking her head.

"The oni is a bust. Possibly too drunk to know her own name even. Kyon, you and Sakuya look to see if Reimu is here."

"Can't you detect any heartbeat or whatever?" I asked.

"Can't. Not on this 'holy ground'. My abilities are hampered. It's because-"

"I already told him." Alice referenced to the youkai on the grounds. "He noticed it."

Remilia nodded. "Ah. Well, that makes things easier." The vampire looked at the shrine, stroking her chin. "Sakuya, Kyon, search the shrine itself. She might just be asleep or something."

"And if she isn't here?"

The corner of Remilia's mouth turned down. "Then we are going to be lost, because I have no idea where to look next. I never knew incident resolving required such footwork."

Sakuya curtsied, then looked to me. During all that, I had found that I had a flashlight in my satchel, which I turned on.

"Nagato, Asahina, you girls okay out here?"

That was more for concern for Asahina. She appeared to barely be holding it together. A place like this may have been too much for her mind. They gave me a nod, and I went in with the maid.

The shrine was dark - there was no electricity there, no lighting. Using my flashlight, we found the entry to be somewhat of a mess. By mess, I mean that there were a lot of empty bottles laying around. I sniffed one, and the distinct smell of alcohol was there.

The oni must have gotten into Reimu's collection. She's going to be ticked off...

Shining my flashlight around, it fell on Sakuya as she was peering into one of the rooms. I had noticed a small line of blood that had formed on Sakuya's clothes, under her right arm.

"Sakuya, are you okay?"

She turned to me, her eyes like daggars.

"Damn it Kyon, I told you! I don't want to talk about the whole 'I don't believe in God' thing! I swear! If you bring it up again, I'll stab you!"

I wasn't going to say that. Seriously, where the heck did that all come from?

I swallowed hard, and slowly took a breath.

"I...uh...said that because I think you're bleeding."

Sakuya blinked, and her face went red. It seemed like it was half-embarassment and half-anger with herself. She checked her body, and found a small cut on her right arm - she must have gotten nicked by one of the youkai after the fight with Wriggle and Mystia.

"Damn. Didn't even feel that."

I used a barrier to heal her. Expletive, why do these things taste worse every time I drink one?! The taste almost made it not worth being able to heal.

"Thanks." Sakuya said.

We silently searched the rest of the shrine. It appeared that only Suika had been living there for a while, as the theme of empty bottles continued (apparently the notion that oni love to drink is true), and Reimu's room seemed untouched, if a bit disshelved. There was a thin layer of dust over everything. Sakuya ran a finger over a small table.

"Dust...about two weeks worth, which was the last time I saw her. She hasn't been here since that festival."

I guess a maid knows dust better than anyone else.

I for one didn't like this one bit. Reimu not being there just put me at such an unease.

Not finding the miko, we ended the search in the Haiden, the hall of worship. I noticed that there were no statues of any shinto gods or anything at all. I didn't say anything, because it would have broken that uneasy silence I had with Sakuya. I didn't want to offend her, and I was kind of off-put by her earlier threat.

Call me crazy, but I didn't want to be stabbed. I could do without foreign metal objects entering my body, thank you.

She took a few steps, stopping in the center of the room. Sakuya just stood there, in the empty Haiden. All I could hear was the crackling of the fire outside, some muffled conversation between...I think it was Wriggle and Mystia. The maid and I just shared the quiet hall for about a minute.

WIth her back to me, she spoke.

"The Hakurei shrine has no God. There is no God to be worshipped here."

I remained silent, as she continued.

"Reimu serves no God. I don't know why. Maybe the Hakurei Shrine was designed that way, to serve no God. Serve no one God, but protect the land of the Gods. I don't know." Sakuya turned her head to me. There was a sadness in her eyes. "Either way, I kind of like that about her. I respect that about her."

She closed her eyes, her fists clenching. It was as if she had resigned herself to finally talk about it. "Damn you and Meiling. You two don't know what it's like. Having a belief that you put so much faith in...just having it ripped away from you. Everything you counted on doesn't work. Crosses. Holy Water. Scripture. Everything that could defeat a vampire just...that had defeated vampires...just stopped working. It was heartbreaking. I would have become a broken person if it wasn't for milady." She lowered her head, sighing.

I slowly nodded in response. I had kept quiet, and continued to be quiet. Why not? It was obviously working. Speaking only got a negative response.

"Aren't you going to say something, you little bastard? I finally talked about it." She shot a glare at me. "Now what, huh? Now what?"

Being put on the spot, I had to respond. I gave her a shrug.

"I know it's not the same, but I went around thinking that the world was normal. I had clung to that belief because I had lost my belief in the fantastical. My own hope of a fantasy world was lost to me, so I had it replaced by another, and then that one got shattered as the original one came back. That's the way it was for me. I know that sounds too vague, but you already know what I mean, right?"

Sakuya just silently stared at me, her eyes narrowing.

"I'm not the smartest guy in the world," I said. "Far from it. It's just that you're angry at God, and you're an atheist, right? You hate Him so you don't believe in Him?"

The corner of her mouth curled down, but she nodded.

And then I said the following. I don't know why. Maybe because I wanted to strike back at her for her threat against me, like an idiot.

Yeah, insult the warrior maid who not only is an expert with knives, but can also stop time. That's smart. Even after I mentioned that I didn't want to be stabbed.

"How can you be angry at something and not believe in it? I'm sorry, but it just kind of seems...stupid. Stab me if you want," Actually, don't! "But that's the way it seems to me. 'I hate God so I'll get back at Him by not believing in Him?' That not logical. It's just insanity. Especially since you were the one who told me that Gods exist in Gensokyo."

I really wished I had worded that better. Thankfully, Sakuya didn't take me up on my offer to become her personal pincushion. She just stared at me with an unreadable expression on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but didn't. Then her face went from anger, to sadness, to anger again, to holding back tears, and back to anger.

"You...you...idiot..." She turned her back to me, shaking, and hung her head.

"I'll just...leave you alone for now. Every time I've tried to reach out, you just push back. Okay. I understand you now. You just want to be left alone sometimes. All right."

Saying no more, I left her there. The heat of the summer night was my welcome to the outside again. I let out a big sigh to get rid of the tension that had built up in my chest over what just happened.

Man, what the hell am I doing? Seriously. Why am I doing stuff like this? I'm not a person who goes around fixing people's problems, so why do I find myself in these situations?

I didn't like doing such things because they were emotionally taxing for me; they left a heavy burden on the heart, you know?

The summer heat wasn't my only welcome out there. The smell of pork cooking was also my greeting. In automatic response (and I guess in a way to forget what just went on in the shrine) my mouth watered with the prospect of freshly cooked meat. I took a step towards it, then stopped; my body tensed again.

Why? Because I realized that I wasn't alone on the porch. My brain screamed at me that there was someone to my left.

I whipped around, and saw her.

In the darkness of the porch, there was a woman whom I had never seen before, who was staring out at the yard. She wasn't looking directly at anything, just appeared to be lost in thought. She looked to be in her late-thirties: long green hair, green eyes, wearing a blue vest and dress. She had a blue cape, and a some sort of pointy hat sitting next to her, with a yellow sun on it. She was drinking something, looked like a bottle of sake, and didn't notice or didn't care when I approached her.

"Uhm...Hi."

No response from her. She kept staring forward.

She might know where Reimu is. Longshot, but she might. And she didn't seem like any kind of threat. It was tough to really read her.

I went through the formalities of telling her my name, and asking for hers. I then asked where Reimu was. For anything I said, I only got silence as a response. She continued to drink.

Well, that lead nowhere.

A thought crossed my mind. I turned to leave, half-expecting her to finally speak as I did.

"Mima."

Knew it. Good to know that some tropes actually work. I turned back, finding that she still stared forward.

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Mima, human."

Another youkai. Wonder what she is.

Mima took another drink; she was really hammering them down. In fact, her words were a bit slurred. She was getting drunk.

"If you're looking for the Hakurei, she hasn't been here. Hasn't been here for two weeks, ever since she beat down that oni, according to the turtle."

"Yeah, we kind of figured that one out."

"Mmm."

Another quiet moment, as she took another pull.

"If I may ask, Miss Mima, what are you?"

She finally looked at me.

"Does it matter?"

I was taken aback by how blunt she said that. All I could manage was a small unsure shrug.

As for why I'd like to know, it's just that it was something that...that I just would like to know. Despite the dangers Gensokyo presented, it did stir the imagination of those who came in contact with it: me included. There were so many different things in this wonderful place.

And again, as I turned to leave, she responded with one line, before she went back to drinking.

"I used to be the terror of Gensokyo, you know."

She said that rather despondently, and had a bit of a self-pitying look on her face.

"I'm sure you were."

She glared at me, spilling a bit of her drink on her. "You saying you don't fear me, human?"

"No disrespect, but I don't even know who you are."

She didn't say anything else, so I left her. I made my way to Remilia, Nagato, and Asahina. The vampire crossed her arms as I approached.

"Well? Anything?"

I glanced back at the shrine, seeing Sakuya walk out of it.

"We didn't find her. Reimu hasn't been here since some festival - two weeks ago."

"Great." Remilia rolled her eyes. "Well, anyone have any ideas?" She then turned to me.

I don't know why she did, as she was looking at me like I had an idea.

"No clue," I responded, lightly raising my hands. "We don't have the cherry blossoms to follow this time."

The vampire slowly nodded, before nodding at Nagato.

"How about you, Nagato? Think you can detect anything amiss?"

"Shouldn't be too hard."

Nagato's voice isn't so 'stiff' anymore. It's coming out more and more natural. She really is changing.

Remilia pursed her lips, and then raised an eyebrow.

"You're not acting...normal, Miss Nagato. Not from the way I've seen you act."

"Something is happening to me. Ever since I have arrived in Gensokyo, I've been experiencing some interesting...'quirks' I think is the word."

"Hey, Kyon." That was Alice, "Do you think it has something to do with that Gensokyo effect Yukari talked about?"

"You mean the one where my blood is 'spicy', and giving me this barrier?"

"Yeah."

I scratched my head. "I don't really know, but now that you mention it...that could be it. I mean, Yukari said that Haruhi wanted me to be more than I already am. Obviously that has applied to the other Brigade members, who were more than they appeared to be in the first place."

It hit me as I said it. Is that it? That so-called Gensokyo effect? It had made my barrier have healing properties, which I was grateful for. It had also made me tastier for Remilia's pallete (which I'm not grateful for).

It was the only thing I could think of.

"I don't know about that, but I'll see what I can do about this incident." Nagato went to the top of the staircase at the edge of the shrine's property that overlooked Gensokyo. She took a deep breath, and stared out at the land.

"The hell is she doing?"

That was Wriggle. She was at one of the stalls, a handful of stale rice in her hand. Ew. Two week old rice. Then again, she's a bug, so I guess she was used to such things. Mystia was just leaning against said stall, staring at Nagato, a confused look on her face.

Personally, I was still a little uneasy about being near Wriggle and Mystia. After all, they were youkai. Youkai that expressed interest in eating me, no less.

"She's...well, I think she's scanning...or something."

"Or something?" Mystia scratched her head under her cap. "Isn't she your friend? Don't you know what she's doing?"

"I don't know how she does what she does, but she just does it."

As vague as that sounded coming out of my mouth, it was actually true. I myself don't know the intricacies of what goes on when Nagato performs her tasks. I had an idea of it being like a computer or something, but other than that, I couldn't begin to fathom how it was to be Nagato.

Mystia just slowly nodded. "Ooookay then." Mystia drummed her fingers on the stall, before turning her head to me. "Hey, uh, human. Really...sorry about earlier. Like Wriggle said: Girl's gotta eat, you know?"

"I'd just appreciate if it wasn't me."

Mystia smirked, narrowing her eyes.

"Then you shouldn't be out at this time of night on a full moon. It's our night. A delicious looking specimen like yourself would be snatched up right away."

"That did happen to me," I said as I looked over at the bug.

Wriggle still glared at me, however, not offering an apology that wasn't being forced by Remilia.

"So what's going on with a...'Haruhi' or whoever?" Mystia tilted her head. "I've been hearing you guys talk about her. Who is she?"

"It would take too long to explain everything to you so you can understand it."

Mystia raised an eyebrow at me.

I held up my hand, because I sensed I offended her.

"I don't mean that in any bad way. It's just that it's very complicated. Believe me. Really complicated. Even I'm not completely sure of everthing, and I'm in the middle of it all."

I don't know if Mystia really believed me or not, because she appeared to search my eyes for an answer. After a few seconds, she just shrugged, and went back to speaking to Wriggle about something.

I noticed the sheen of sweat on her...and on Wriggle too. Why are these two sweating so much? I took a few seconds to look at everyone. Suika, Remilia, Wriggle, Mystia, and Alice all looked like they were sweating heavily. Meanwhile, Nagato, Sakuya, Asahina, Daiyousei, and myself were just fine. Besides, it wasn't that hot a night.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Are you two all right? You're...sweating."

Mystia rubbed her forehead, and looked into her hand. Her brow furrowed. "Damn. I don't know what's causing that. It isn't that hot. It's been like that for me for a while."

Before we could continue with that, Nagato turned to us.

"It's difficult to detect much here in Gensokyo."

Remilia crossed her arms, scoffing.

"What's so difficult about it? You can do anything, right?"

For a brief second, I saw that Nagato didn't like hearing that. Her lips pursed, before she quickly went back to normal.

"There are some limits to what I can do, Remilia. To put it in a way you can understand, I'm not 'calibrated' to sift through all the magic within Gensokyo. It's hindering me."

Remilia scoffed. "Then what use are you?"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I blurted out. "Remilia, that's uncalled for!"

Who do you think you are to talk to Nagato like that?! Sad part is, that Remilia reminded me of a Haruhi at the beginning of freshman year right then. But seriously, why would she say something like that?

Arms still crossed, Remilia shook her head with disappointment at Nagato, ignoring me.

Nagato's eyes narrowed a bit, a small glare forming on her face, before she pointed out to the land. "However, I did detect something interesting. Right...there. There is a void of information in that direction."

I moved up to her, looking out.

"A void?"

Nagato gave a single nod. "Each place in Gensokyo seems to have some sort of energy signature, which is interfering with me, except right there. There is nothing there. It's as if it doesn't exist."

I looked to where she pointed. Sure enough, there was...blackness. A black...dome? Under the light of the full moon, one could see pretty much all of Gensokyo from the Hakurei shrine, but there was a space near the shrine that appeared to not exist. That was the best way I could describe it. No light shone on a dome of darkness.

That's peculiar. I dare say it may look like the outside of a closed space, if I were to actually see such a thing.

"But isn't that the..." I stopped. It was as if there was a void in my mind. I tried hard to fill it, but I couldn't. "...Wasn't there something there?"

At that time, my mind set off all kinds of flags. I realized that there should have been something there, but I couldn't remember what it was.

Remilia stepped up, staring out at it.

"...Yeah, the..." She too trailed off, as if trying to remember something forgotten. We all were.

Okay, this is freaky.

We then heard bells, signalling it was midnight, I suppose. And it came directly from that "void" that Nagato pointed to.

July 16th, 2004

I saw Remilia's eyes widen. "What in the world..."

Nagato turned her head to the vampire. "If we are looking for something unusual, then I think it's safe to say that we know where to look next."

I couldn't disagree with Nagato. However, investigating that would have to wait - we noticed that a crowd of those lesser youkai were coming up the stairs to the property of the Hakurei Shrine. They slowly climbed the stairs, snarling and growling.

My body tensed as I immediately backed up. Maybe I am a coward. I turned my head to Asahina. "Find a safe spot!"

Remilia and Nagato slowly backed up as well, and the youkai got up to the top of the stairs.

And the lesser youkai stayed there. Alice was right. They couldn't get in. One tried to, and ended up burning ashes.

Now that is one effective defense measure Reimu has. Something like that would make me sleep better at night. Had to help her sleep better at night.

The thing was, they started to surround the property. They didn't enter, but they just surrounded it. There were so many of them. Their snarling was getting louder and louder. Already Mikuru was already behind me, shaking, and Daiyousei joined her.

Remilia brought out her spear; Sakuya brought out her knives; Alice, her dolls, with Mystia and Nagato joining them. Wriggle just hung back eating stale rice.

The vampire tapped her spear in her hand.

"This night just gets better and better. A mystery going on, Reimu is missing, and I get to kill so many idiots who want to test me."

Before Remilia could even ready to attack, the youkai at the staircase were cut in half, and the rest in that area were blasted by music - a loud combination of a keyboard, a trumpet, and a violin.

Yes! I knew who it had to be. And of course, those four came walking up the stairs. Youmu Konpaku and the three Prismriver sisters. Merlin grinned at us, spinning her trumpet by one finger.

"Hakugyokorou is here! Hold your applause!"

I wouldn't applaud. A thank you is in order, though.

The rest of the youkai turned towards the ghosts, and began to dash towards them - still not able to cross into the shrine's grounds.

I first thought the ghosts were going to attack, but then Youmu casually sheathed her blade. The Prismrivers didn't even bring up their instruments. What are they doing?! They'll be torn apart! They'll be-

And then the lesser youkai dropped dead. All of them. They were running at full speed, then just dropped.

Now, of course, there was only one person who could have done something like this. From behind the ghosts, came Yuyuko Saigyouji, floating up the staircase, smiling.

"Good evening to you all." She tapped her chin, and her eyes widened, as if she realized something. "Actually, it's morning now, isn't it? It's allready past midnight." The ghost went back to her trademark smile. "Then good morning to you all."

"Yeah, good morning. You know, I never thought I'd be so glad to see a ghost who can kill someone with just a thought." I said.

Yuyuko gave me a wider smile as Remilia sagged her shoulders, and holstered her spear. Everyone else put away their weapons as well.

"Really, Miss Yuyuko? You deprive me of my entertainment by stealing my kills?"

"They were threatening my servants, Miss Scarlet. I know you would do the same for yours."

Yuyuko's eyes then fell on Suika, cooking the pig. Wait, the oni was still cooking during all of that? What the heck? Why didn't she at least make the attempt to assist us? Of course I didn't think of Genji or that drunk woman, because they didn't seem to want to have much to do with anything. Anyways, Yuyuko's eyes lit up as she clasped her hands.

"Ah! I knew I smelled something delicious!"

The ghost mistress went towards the fire, while the other ghosts approached us. Youmu nodded at us. I noticed there were a few slash marks on her dress.

"You look like you've seen a battle or two, Youmu."

The gardener gave me a nod.

"Yes. It's been quite the interesting night. While it is good to see you again, it appears we have an inci-" Youmu paused, as she noticed Asahina. "Ah. Excuse me." Youmu did a little bow towards the time traveler. "I am Youmu Konpaku, servant to Lady Yuyuko Saigyouji. And you are Mikuru Asahina, correct?"

Marisa Kirisame let out a slow breath, watching the youkai fall to the ground.

Damn idiots. They should know better.

She had set up a few seals around her property a few years back, not as strong as the ones around the Hakurei Shrine, but enough to let her feel safe. The witch counted all the youkai that were down, giving up when it reached somewhere in the thirties.

Incident. Someone caused an incident.

Heading back into her home for her broom, Marisa couldn't believe her bad luck. First, she had napped longer than she wanted to, making her late to the party at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She woke up at midnight, cursing at herself as she quickly got dressed. And then when she got outside, she found bodies of knocked out youkai, way more than usual.

Someone had to go and do this, didn't they? Ruin my night by doing something stupid: getting all those youkai in a hissy fit.

She wasn't obligated to resolve incidents, but she felt that she had to. Reimu hadn't been at the shrine since...since she beat me.

Marisa had been in a bad mood ever since that day. Zero and four, and Reimu had made it look easy. Not only that, but Reimu got herself an oni "servant". More like a moocher, but she still had a friggin' oni at her home now!

After grabbing her broom and putting on her hat, Marisa went up into the air.

Okay, without Reimu's intuition, I'll just have to get lucky to solve this incident. Let's see what I can do by myself. Yeah...that'll show her.

Asahina reacted as well as I could hope for meeting a group of actual ghosts. Well, a full ghost, a half-ghost/half-human, and three musical phantom copies. Yeah, it's confusing, so it's just easier to refer to them as simply ghosts. The time traveler was just silent, sitting on the porch of the shrine. Eventually she looked up at me, saying that Gensokyo was a strange place.

Suika was done with her cooking (and thereafter passed out inside the shrine), and Yuyuko happily ate most of it. As she ate, we explained what was going on - youkai attacks, Reimu missing, and that void. Yuyuko just nodded along. Eventually, she sighed.

"Ah, yes. Something peculiar is going on right now." She glanced at her servants. "Normally, I would advise against getting involved with the events of the living...but..." She turned back to us. She became serious, bowing at me. "Seeing as how I still need to make reperations for my actions a few months ago, I will say this: Hakugyokorou will assist you in any way you need. We will stand with you until we resolve this."

That's actually pretty awesome; the dead helping out, especially someone who can kill with a thought. As morbid and scary as that sounded. It would also kind of make it even between us, you know, with her trying to kill me off last time and all.

"We appreciate it, but we're actually going to leave Asahina here at the shrine for protection." I looked over the Prismrivers. "Maybe someone can help watch over her?"

Truth is, I couldn't count on a turtle to protect Asahina, nor that drunk woman, who was still there on the porch as well. And Suika had just gone to sleep inside the shrine (more like passed out), so no help there.

Yuyuko nodded. "Of course. Youmu and I will suffice for the excursion. Prismrivers, could you please watch over the Hakurei Shrine and Miss Asahina there?"

Lunasa tipped her hat.

"Not a problem, Lady Yuyuko."

"Look - Daiyousei is safe here, right?" That was Mystia, along with Wriggle. "Is it okay if she stays here too? Also, can we stay here?"

Remilia put her hands on her hips.

"I'm not the one who owns this property, but I don't see why the fairy can't stay. However, you two are coming with us." Before they could protest, Remilia moved quickly, getting the two in a headlock again. The vampire grinned at her captives. "No, no no. The two of you are coming with us. You still need to pay for attacking a servant of mine, so you don't really have a choice."

Both Mystia and Wriggle looked to me. I gave them a shrug; it was the only thing I could do.

"Might as well go with it. That's what I'm doing."

Mystia didn't look angry, just a bit upset. However, Wriggle just glared at me, like it was all my fault. You got yourself involved, Wriggle, by attacking me. It's only fair. Of course, I didn't say that aloud. I didn't want her to have any real reason to be hostile to me. I could do without a youkai wanting to kill me, thank you. Remilia released the two, who rubbed their necks.

Yuyuko smiled at us all, as she finished eating. "Ah, that was good. Now..." She turned towards the dark dome. "Shall we get going?"

Before I took a step, I felt a tug on my shirt. It was Asahina. She stared up at me with worry.

"Kyon...be careful."

"It should be fine. We got two ghosts, Alice, a vampire, a vampire hunter, and Nagato." Seriously, who can stop this group? "We'll be alright-"

"No. Really. Be careful. Tonight is just..." Mikuru stopped, mid-sentence, like she had a mental shock. Her eyes widened, and then welled with tears. "I'm sorry. I can't. It's classified. Just be careful. This..." She paused, as if she was searching for words. I think she was working on what she could say to me. "This night is too vague. Too new." She then embraced me, shaking. "That's all I can give you. I don't want to see you..." Again, another pause. "I'm sorry. There is too much classified information that I can't tell you. It makes it really difficult for me to speak to you about all of this. I just don't want to see either you or Nagtato end up..." She covered her eyes, tears rolling down her face.

Seeing her this distraught is really worrying me... I'm not going to lie. I could feel a dread build up in my body. Having the ability to know what will happen in the future, she got worried over the night.

The two teenagers flew in the night sky, stopping when they saw another group of youkai surround three fairies. The boy went down to make an attack run. The girl stayed up in the air for a while, before shaking her head and joining the fight.

It didn't take long for Reimu Hakurei and Itsuki Koizumi to put down the various youkai.

The miko crossed her arms, staring at the esper.

"You know, if we keep on doing this, we'll never resolve this incident."

"With all due respect, Miss Reimu, I'd rather not have the death of fairies on my conscience. They needed help." He turned his head, to watch the three fairies fly off.

Reimu called out to them. "And you're welcome!" The two silently watched as the fairies left them behind, before going back up into the air. "Koizumi, we need to meet up with Yukari outside of the bamboo forest. We can't stop now!"

"I'm sorry, but if it bothers you, then you go on ahead without me. These fairies are creations of Haruhi Suzumiya. I won't allow them to die."

"You keep on saying that. That the fairies are the creations of her, and that I am her creation, even before we told you what was going on."

"I just know. Just arriving here has put memories in my head."

Reimu crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"What, like how you ended up knowing that Haruhi is the creator and all of that?"

Koizumi nodded.

"Exactly like that."

Reimu reeled back a bit, in surprise. "Really? That's what happened?"

Koizumi gave Reimu his trademark smile.

"Yes, Miss Reimu. I know that this is Haruhi Suzumiya's creation. Now, let's get going."

There was the void. There was no other way to explain it. Just a void. Not even a ground. Just a dark emptiness was there. It felt like we were at the end of the world. Alice went close to it, inspecting it.

"Amazing. Just plain amazing. It's just a big nothing. I've never seen anything like it."

The rest of us were in a kind of awe to what was before us. I mean, who wouldn't be? It was non-existance.

"So, uh..." said Mystia. "So what do we do?"

That was actually a good question. We had left Asahina and Daiyousei at the shrine with its residents and the Prismrivers, and found the void just a ways from the shrine, down an obvious path. Only we found that the path ended, along with the rest of the land. It wasn't like the end of Gensokyo at the border, that was like a closed space where you could see what was outside of it. What was in front of us was just different.

Wriggle had her hands in her pockets, staring at the dome. "I don't like this one bit." She turned to the vampire. "Can we go now? This is obviously nothing. Like, literally."

Remilia looked up at the bug. "No, you're not done until I say you're done." A smile then formed on the vampire's face. "How about we throw you in. You know, to see if it's safe?"

Wriggle's jaw just dropped. And again, Wriggle glared at me. She can't take her frustrations out on the vampire, so she just transfers that anger to me. Great. Just great. I hoped that the bug wouldn't do something so drastic as to seek revenge should she snap.

Alice turned her head to us. "Let's not be so hasty. Let's make sure it's safe to touch first." Picking up a stick on the side of the road, the puppeteer slowly pushed it into the dome. It appeared to go in without any resistence. Pulling it back out, and finding that the stick was still intact, she flung it in. We could hear it land on the ground from within.

I don't know whether to be impressed, or...

Wait...what did Alice throw in?

All of us must have thought the same thought, as we crowded around Alice, who was staring into her hand, confused.

"Didn't I just throw something in? What just happened?"

I distinctly remembered Alice throwing in something, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.

Without saying anything. Nagato went in, disappearing-

"Wait! Nag-..."

...somebody went in, disappearing...

...who just went in? Where?

"Wait wait. What just happened?" I scratched my head. "Did someone just go in?"

"Who was it?" Sakuya asked.

"I don't know..."

I searched my memories, as I sensed that someone important to me just went in.

Thankfully Nagato came back out within a matter of seconds, which restored my memories of her. Thank God it wasn't a permament effect. She was also carrying a stick, the stick Alice threw in.

Yes, what I'm implying happened really did happen. I had forgotten about Nagato at that point when she entered, and when she came back out, I remembered her. It was a little overwhelming for me, however. Those memories came flooding back, almost making me lose my footing.

"Nagato! That was..."

She tilted her head, showing a little confusion.

"I forgot you, Nagato. You went in that place and I forgot you."

"Interesting." Was all she could say.

"Interesting? That's frightening!"

"But the..." Nagato paused, and then looked back. She was silent for a few seconds. "Very interesting. I forgot it as well. I entered the place, picked up the stick, and I forgot about what's in there when I came back out. How unique."

Not the word I'd use. I'd say that it was a horrifying thing. Being able to make people forget.

Nagato turned back to us. "Whatever is in there, it's safe. I made it through all right."

"Look, Nagato, I don't want to forget you." I looked at the rest of the girls. "Nor any of you. If we're going to go in there, we all go in together, all right?"

Alice audibly gulped. "Should we go in?"

Part of me doesn't want to, either.

"Considering it's our best lead right now, yes." Yuyuko glanced at everyone else. "Unless you have something else in mind. I'm open to suggestions."

Alice merely shook her head.

The nine of us glanced at one another, and slowly approached the void. We got one step away from it, and I timidly moved my hand into it. My hand disappeared, and I actually forgot I had a hand. I know that such a concept doesn't make sense on paper, but it happened to me. I yanked my hand back, staring at it. Thankfully, there wasn't any damage.

What the hell is this? Of course, the only way to find out would be to go inside of the dome. As scared as I was, I was a bit curious myself on finding out what was causing it.

"Man this is scary," remarked Wriggle.

"On three?" Remilia suggested.

A round of acknowledgements (and another protest from the bug youkai), and we were good to go.

One.

Two.

Three.

We all took a step into the void. Again, I had to make sure I didn't topple over by what washed over me.

Good Lord.

The human village. The memories of it existing came back to me. Everything was as it was when Sakuya, Nagato, and I went there the previous day. I looked back to where we came from, and nothing had changed - there was no void behind us, just the path we took to get there. We were at the entryway to the marketplace, and a few of the lights were on in some of the shops.

Gensokyo can still surprise me. It can still throw me curveballs. Even Makoto Imaoka would have trouble with such pitching.

"By the Gods!" exclaimed Youmu, who was wide-eyed. "What a defense mechanism. Being able to just hide yourself out of memory and existence."

Remilia just shook her head. "No wonder the Human Village has lasted this long. I've heard of some rogue youkai attempting to wipe out the Human Village on different occasions, but they've all failed." Remilia took a few steps forward, her gaze on the buildings. "But still...how terrifying. Being able to just make someone forget."

An idea popped into my head.

"Hey, Sakuya, think that can kill off a youkai?"

She appeared to mull that over.

"Maybe. If they were in something like this long enough, then maybe."

So it may not just be for defense then. If youkai run on fear and rememberance, and there is no one to remember them, then wouldn't they just fade away or something? Of course, the same thing could be said about the Gods and faith, according to that conversation I had with Meiling and Sakuya.

Mystia shook a little, rubbing her left arm. "How frightening. I never knew that the village could do this."

Nagato inspected the edge of the dome.

"This dome is almost like a closed space, but without the traditional boundaries. It's very impressive. However, it may not have anything to do with the current incident." She continued to speak as she kept at her inspection. "It could simply be the way this village defends itself."

"Great." Remilia scoffed, quickly losing patience. "So, what now?"

"Well, some of the shops are open," Yuyuko cheerfully said. "How about we get something to eat? I'm a little peckish right now."

I stared at her like she was crazy.

You just ate most of a boar. Pounds of pork. "How can you eat so much, Yuyuko?"

She flashed me another one of her smiles. "It's one of the few pleasures one can have after dying, young man. It's pretty much the only one I can afford myself."

My eyes went to Youmu, who just shrugged. She didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation.

I for one, however, wanted to leave. Another thought had crossed my mind. If everything in here was forgotten, then it meant that I was forgotten. Nagato and I would not be remembered by anyone not inside the village.

Which also included Haruhi. Yeah, as if me not being out there isn't going to cause trouble, her forgetting about me might. Same thing with my family.

My family.

That actually stung me, emotionally. As of that moment, I was forgotten by everyone I ever knew. Mom, Dad, my sister, my aunt, the rest of my relatives. My classmates, my friends. Everyone. I did not exist in anyone's mind.

I expressed my concerns and thoughts about that to the girls there, and they all seemed to agree that it would be better for us to get out of there.

By then, a few of the residents and shopkeepers were watching us from the windows. Some just outright closed them up when they saw us. Alice, who had taken more steps into the market place to look around, turned back to us.

"I can't disagree with that. Let's go."

"Who are you? Trying to attack the village so late at night."

That was a voice from one of the alleyways. It was a woman's. From the direction of the voice, I saw the outline of a woman in the shadows.

Attack? At most, Yuyuko wants a midnight snack. Also, I had a feeling of what was going to happen. We were going to get kicked out of the village.

"It's quite rare that youkai would directly attack this village. Is it due to that corrupted moon? Everything has been messed up since it appeared."

And out she stepped: a woman, mid-thirties. Brown eyes, long silver hair, dark blue dress with short white sleeves. And wearing a weird square blue hat that had a red ribbon on top. I won't even try to describe that hat, because it was so unusual.

Again, another beautiful woman. Japanese, at that.

And yes, thumbs up.

"Keine."

That was Remilia. I looked over at her.

"Hmm?"

"Keine Kamishirasawa." Remilia took a step forward, hands on her hips. "The school teacher, and the primary guardian of the human village."

School teacher? This gorgeous woman is the school teacher? Double thumbs up. But the primary guardian? Interesting job she has: educate and protect.

Nagato tugged on my shirt sleeve. I looked down to her.

"What is it?"

"The unusual properties that surround the human village are exuding from her." Nagato pointed at Keine. "She's doing it. She's making the dome."

I stared a the school teacher in disbelief. But why do I keep getting surprised over abilities? Most everyone in here has something special about them. I need to stop being so surprised by everything.

Keine took steps into the "street" we were on, stopping in the middle like a sheriff in a western movie, ready to duel with the bad guy at high noon. She spoke as she did as such.

"Miss Scarlet. I thought I met with you. You know that youkai are welcome in the village as long as they don't start up any trouble, and only visit the marketplace. However, coming on a full moon is against the rules."

"Only because this is when we achieve maximum power. You wouldn't be able to handle us on such a night." Remilia glanced back at the edge of the village. "Quite the nifty parlor trick you got, making the youkai forget the village even exists. I'm impressed."

Keine narrowed her eyes at the vampire.

"Its necessary, against things like you."

We need to get out of here. The way things are going, we'll only get into a fight at this rate.

Wriggle raised up her hands. "Hey, we're leaving. We're leaving. No need to do anything to us, right?"

"Sensei?"

That was Alice, who was closest to Keine. The schoolteacher's eyes fell on the puppeteer, and they saddened.

"Ah...Alice." Keine sighed. "It always hurts me to see you this way. To give up your humanity like that. You were my brightest student. You had a future."

I saw Alice lower her head, but then she brought it back up.

"Funny you should say that, sensei...especially now that I can sense things better. Because...you never told me."

"Hmm?"

"You never told me that you were one of us."

What?

"You sense it too, Alice?" Yuyuko cheerfully said. "Not bad."

I guess Youmu was as confused as I was, as she said: "Lady Yuyuko...sense what?

Remilia spoke up, nodding at the school teacher. "Youmu, Keine hasn't aged much since I got here in Gensokyo."

Wait...that means...

As if to answer us, Keine went up into the air.

I think the action startled Youmu, because she put her hand on her katana. It had to be a reflex. To tell the truth, it startled me as well. I don't know how I managed to stutter out what I said, but I did.

"The defender of the human village is a youkai?!"

Another curveball. I'd have struck out ten times over by the events of that night alone. But for the human village to have a youkai guardian? That just blew my mind. A village initially set up to rid the area of youkai ends up with one of them guarding it. Wow. I really don't know what to say about that. It's ironic, yes, but still...wow.

"No. Not youkai. She's different." Remilia was looking at Keine with blatant disdain. "She's a filthy half-breed. Half-youkai. To be more specific, a dirty were-beast. And you know how I feel about were-beasts."

I think it's safe to say that Remilia is a bigot when it comes to were-beasts. That's kind of a big thing, though, to find her hatred out like that. She didn't even make it a big deal.

Remilia paused, and then glanced at Youmu with a sly smile.

"No offense, Konpaku. On the 'filthy half-breed' thing."

Youmu, in her metaphorical samurai mask, unemotionally stared at the vampire for a few seconds, arms crossed.

"None taken."

I think Youmu did take offense to it, because Myon then went and bopped Remilia in the face. The vampire glared at the ghost half of Youmu. Myon bounced around in the air for a few seconds, circling Remilia, as if taunting her, before returning to Youmu. Youmu just stood there, showing no expression, until a small corner of her mouth upturned for a smile. I smiled as well.

Maybe there was something to the thought of Myon being a very emotional side of Youmu.

But for the defender of the village to be a were-beast? But the moon is full right...oh wait, that's right. The moon is fake. You see, I had forgotten about what Nagato said earlier, about the moon being made out of papier mache. I had forgotten about it, because the attack happened right after she said that. So, yeah. It wasn't a high priority in my mind, you know? You could be told about something astonishing, but if something even more captivating happens before you, it can be forgotten.

Remilia, still glaring at Youmu, said the following:

"Alice, be a dear and defeat Keine."

Alice's eyes widened for a bit, her grip on her grimoire tightening.

"Uhm, excuse me? Look, we aren't here to harass or attack this place. There is no need for hostilities-"

A laser shot near us, obviously from Keine's direction. It made me jump back, to tell the truth. Jump back as I let slip an expletive. The expletive. Anyways, the school teacher was still up in the air, staring at us.

"I already told you. You aren't welcome tonight. Please leave."

The laser was closest to Alice, who had her eyes on the burn mark on the ground, biting into her lower lip. Shanghai, in some sort of reaction to the attack, had gotten out a small, doll-sized shield from Alice's backpack, and was staring right at Keine.

"Sensei..." Alice said. "Was that necessary?"

"I already told you. You have to leave."

Alice slowly nodded, here eyes still on the ground.

"Me."

"Yes."

"Just because I am what I am now, I'm no longer welcome at certain times."

"Yes."

The puppeteer slowly nodded, and was silent for a few seconds. Her shoulders sagged for a while, before the girl took a deep breath. Alice's free hand balled up into a fist as she turned to the vampire.

"I'm not doing this for you, Miss Scarlet."

Alice then went up into the air, glaring at Keine.

Great. We're getting into another fight. This is just the norm in Gensokyo, isn't it?

"You're going to have to force me to leave, Sensei. I made a mistake by becoming what I am. Don't punish me for it."

Keine whipped out a spell card. "You know the rules, Alice. No youkai during the full moon. And now I have to enforce this rule."

As they were speaking above the marketplace, I moved to position a stall between them and myself. I did not want to get hit by any stray danmaku.

Keine was the first to attack.

[SPELL CARD: SPIRITUAL BIRTH "FIRST PYRAMID"]

This spell card was very symmetrical. There were six glowing balls of danmaku that circled Keine - three clockwise, three counter-clockwise, and they shot inwards at her. Not directly at her, but they left a safe zone for her to be in. Meanwhile, the danmaku that had circled from behind her was shooting forward, towards Alice. Keine also shot three large pillars of danmaku circles every now and then. It was a hectic spell card.

The puppeteer appeared to study the pattern for a few seconds, before really doing anything. She had that same look of when she studied Marisa's spell card during that endless winter. Alice was then using her dolls (mostly Shanghai) to shoot lasers as well. So Shanghai is not just a servant. She's a means of defense. Keine, of course, dodged them too.

Already, a few of the citizens of the village had come out to the street to watch their defender take on a youkai. They kept their distance from our group, however. I don't blame them. Keine looked at them and told them to take cover, as she activated another spell card, finding that her first one wasn't getting the job done.

[SPELL CARD: ORIGIN SIGN "EPHEMERALITY 137"]

This was...actually quite intense. Keine just threw a few balls of danmaku. Not at Alice, but against one of the walls of the buildings. The magical shots shattered on impact, splitting and ricocheting towards Alice. Keine did this twice - once to the left, and once to the right. And then she did a random-shooter. Keine repeated that. Left, right, random. Left, right, random. Pattern seemed simple, but the spell card was anything but. Also, if I remember correctly, "137" had something to do with Japan's first emperor, Emperor Jinmu.

Keine played handball danmaku for a while, trying to get Alice caught in it. The puppeteer moved up, closer to Keine, spell card in hand.

[SPELL CARD: WAR SIGN "LITTLE LEGION"]

Alice used this spell card, and six dolls quickly climbed out of Alice's backpack. Armed with lances, swords, and other weapons, the dolls, in a circle, were swiping their weapons. They weren't going for Keine, but just swiping around them. Alice moved her free hand, using the strings to direct her dolls' general location. The puppeteer was trying to get Keine caught in the attack. The school teacher moved, quickly, to get away from it. It seemed that the spinning attack had some momentum to it, and Alice struggled to try to hit Keine with the dolls. Keine did manage to fry one of the dolls with a laser, and it fell to the ground, broken and burned.

The school teacher brought out another spell card.

[SPELL CARD: AMBITION SIGN "MASAKADO CRISIS"]

Again, like with the First Pyramid, there were six balls spewing and rotating. But this time, they were at Keine's sides. Three on the left, three on the right. And there was another set, this time of four, in front of Keine, adding to the chaos.

Alice was actually able to destroy the balls in front of Keine, and it made it a lot easier for the puppeteer.

Masakado? The samurai who plotted treason in the 10th century? This teacher is using a lot of historical references for the naming of her cards. Meiling was right. The spell cards are meaningful, and speak the heart of the user.

Alice kept moving, using Shanghai's shield to protect herself. I'd say it was an unfair advantage, but considering that I give people shields, I can't say anything.

Keine must have gotten desperate - she whipped out a Lunatic Card.

"Alice!" I shouted.

"Yeah, I see it!"

[SPELL CARD: LAND SCHEME "THREE SACRED TREASURES - COUNTRY"]

As soon as Keine called that one out, it appeared that a light bulb went off in Alice's head. She quickly moved as the attack came, and what an attack. It was the definition of chaos - danmaku going everywhere. Keine would go to a location, make a motion with her hands, and a vortex of danmaku appeared, just firing almost everywhere. She continued this pattern for a while.

But Alice didn't move to avoid it. She waited for the spell card to start, let it go for a few seconds, then moved towards Keine, and ended up behind her. Remember that I said the vortex fired almost everywhere, because it didn't appear to work behind Keine - it left a lot of openings back there.

The spell card was useless against those who got behind Keine. It was a lunatic card with a massive flaw.

What happened next happened quickly, as Alice took full advantage of the situation.

"I've seen you use this card before, sensei!"

Alice brought out a spell card, as Keine helplessly looked back. Keine appeared to try cancel the spell card. She knew she was in trouble.

[SPELL CARD: CURSE SIGN "SHANGHAI DOLL"]

Shanghai moved before Alice, and a spark appeared in front of the doll, which in turn became some sort of a mini-Master Spark. It hit its target, who didn't get out of the way in time. Keine went down, landing on her feet, but breaking through one of the stalls in the marketplace. Well, not really a stall. More of a kiosk, for umbrellas and parasols, which scattered everywhere. Who leaves their products in the stands overnight?! The teacher shook, grit her teeth, fists clenched, as she obviously was fighting to stay standing. Her whole body shook. She groaned through her clenched jaw, her face reddening.

"No..." she gasped. "...no...I won't...go down that easy..."

Keine then took a deep breath, and slowly went back up into the air.

Damn. She just took a blast of danmaku, and can still go. Tough like Youmu. I knew this from experience, after all. Getting hit squarely by Danmaku hurt, and kept you on the ground. For people like Youmu or Keine to stay standing meant that they were exceptionally tough.

I'll admit that girls are tougher than me. Granted, they have abilities far above my own, so that doesn't sound as bad as it initially does. They're super human (or not even human at all) magical girls.

"Sensei," Alice said as the school teacher reached her level. Alice looked a bit sad. "Sensei...please. Don't make me do this."

Keine must have been angry, because she stuck with Lunatic cards. She used one, not responding to Alice.

[SPELL CARD: PSEUDO-HISTORY "LEGEND OF GENSOKYO"]

There was no safe spot for this one. Keine...well, it's hard for me to describe this one, mostly because I myself had to take full cover behind a stall, not wanting to afford a peek. It was that bad. Lasers and spread shots just went everywhere. From what Nagato would later tell me, it started off like the Masakado Crisis (with the balls that shot stuff out), but instead of the balls shooting danmaku, they shot lasers everywhere, with Keine throwing a massive amount of spread shots.

I had noticed some heavy breathing. It was Wriggle, Mystia, and Remilia. They were sweating like crazy, too. The bug youkai was doubled over. She turned her head to me, her eyes looking a bit...crazed.

"Hey...you girls all right? Is everything ok-"

Wriggle pounced on me, snarling. She was pushing to have her mouth come down right on my face, I guess to bite it off, and I fruitlessly struggled to push her off, until Nagato flung the bug off of me. Wriggle crashed through a storefront.

"Milady! What are you doing?! What's gotten into you?!"

Sakuya was fending off Remilia, who was trying to bite her neck. Mystia was doing the same to Youmu. The gardener slammed Mystia into a stand, and then went to help Sakuya.

What the hell?! There was no provocation. Nothing to get them to attack us like this. It just happened.

I heard Wriggle start to move from the storefront. From inside, she held her head, grimacing. Nagato moved to get between me and the bug, and then stopped. I noticed that Wriggle no longer had the crazed look in her eyes. She stared at me, confused.

"What did I just do?"

"What did you just do? You attacked me!"

"I know, but...what..." she stuttered, showing bewilderment. She appeared dazed. "I didn't...I mean..." She slowly got up, and out of the store. "I just...I wasn't in control. I just attacked you-" She stepped out into the moonlight. She shuddered, and that crazed look came back in her eyes. She bore her teeth at me, snarling again.

It was as if a haze lifted from my mind. It hit me - what had to be going on. It hit me. I quickly looked at Nagato, who had also turned to me. Then our gaze went up to the moon. It was as if we both knew what was going on.

The moonlight. It was making the youkai crazed.

It made sense, in my mind. That werewolf-thing that pounced on me in the SDM's entryway was quite wild, until it had spent some time inside, away from the moonlight. Then it actually spoke, able to carry out a conversation with us.

Jeez. So that's what's happening. That's why youkai are attacking. This was indeed an incident. A real pressing matter.

What was more pressing was the fact that Wriggle was already in the air, going after me. Thankfully, Nagato sped forward, grabbed the youkai by the ankle, and slammed her into the shade one of the stalls afforded. The youkai struggled, growling, for a few seconds. Nagato just held her down. Then the crazed look faded away. Wriggle stared up at us, bewildered.

"I...I...what's going on?" She had fear in her eyes. "What's wrong with me?"

Nagato let go of Wriggle, telling her to stay put. The data interface then went to help out with a feral Remilia. Mystia was watching us from the shade from the stall she was put in by Youmu. The bird youkai also had fear on her face.

"That's it, isn't it? That's why youkai are attacking. It's the moonlight." Mystia looked up to the sky, unable to see the moon. "My God. That's the reason."

[SPELL CARD: FUTURE "GOD'S REALM"]

During all of this, Keine used another spell card. Just like the last card - the Masakado balls with lasers. Much more lasers. And there appeared to be a "beat" to it, like a second's hand on a wristwatch. There was a some sort of pattern to the lasers, moving about, and they existed for a second before moving. It was actually nice to look at.

And I would have appreciated it, if I didn't notice that Alice was breathing heavily as well, sweat just beading on her skin.

[SPELL CARD: WAR COMMAND "DOLL'S WAR"]

"I'm sorry."

I actually heard Alice say that as she used that card. I wondered why, until I saw the reason. The card itself was an upgraded Little Legion, with twelve dolls instead of six. She had brought a battalion of dolls to protect herself. The dolls were getting wasted by the lasers, but they were protecting Alice, acting as bullet sponges.

That had to be a tough decision for the puppeteer. She made each and every one of those dolls by hand. But Alice is going to turn feral. She's going to straight up attack and kill Keine, or some other human around here.

I couldn't let that happen. I didn't want to see Alice like that. I looked around, trying to think of something, when I noticed the broken kiosk. The umbrellas! I ran to it, picking up four. I then made my way near Alice.

"Alice!"

She looked down to me, already her eyes going a bit wild. I actually saw fangs in her mouth.

Oh good Lord. Again, seeing these girls as humans kind of dulls you to what they really were, especially Alice. Save for her multi-colored eyes, she looked like an ordinary girl. Yet...she wasn't human.

Then again, I'm used to such a thing.

"Kyon...what's...what's happening to me?"

I shouted at her as I tossed up an umbrella.

"It's the moonlight! It's turning you youkai wild! You need to stay out of the light!"

Alice reached out to the umbrella, missing, but Shanghai grabbed it. The doll went above Alice, opening up the umbrella, giving the puppeteer the shade she needed.

Within seconds Alice seemed to calm down - her breathing went back to normal, as did her eyes. She didn't have time to thank me, as Keine kept up her laser attack. I turned to the rest of my group, finding Remilia being held down by Nagato and Youmu in the shade of one of the buildings, blubbering about being "sorry".

Remilia had blood all over her face, and her dress.

What in the world...

"Kyon!" Shouted Yuyuko, sounding terrified. "Get over here!"

I saw why she shouted that. Sakuya was holding onto her neck, bleeding everywhere.

In the vampire's crazed state, Remilia had ripped open Sakuya's throat.

For a split second, my body froze when I saw the puddle of blood already under her. Then I snapped out of it, running for the maid, downing another vial. I didn't even notice the taste of that one.

No no no! Sakuya! Not like this!

Thankfully, I did reach her. Sakuya's eyes were closed, tears streaming down, jaw clenched. As she healed up, she looked at me.

"Kyon...Milady just..."

"It's the moonlight." I turned to Remilia. "The moonlight made you do that. The youkai attacking the mansion, the shrine, us. It's like it's turning you guys feral."

Remilia's eyes, filled with guilt, had turned to rage in response. She stared up at the sky, her eyes just burning with hatred. She shrieked up at the night sky.

"Whoever did this to me and made me attack Sakuya is dead! Deeeeaaaad!"

Nagato stared up at the moon directly, studying it, as I quickly passed around the umbrellas I had to the affected youkai. I watched Alice and Keine still duke it out, until Nagato spoke.

"I hadn't noticed it."

"What is it?"

"The moonlight. There is some hidden coding in the light itself." She paused, as if searching for the words to use. "Think of it akin to a trojan virus; a malicious code hidden within something else. A file, a program, anything. If you don't know where to look, or how to look for it, you won't find it, and the malicious code will perform its action, with you none the wiser. All I can say right now is that as time goes on, the code appears to be getting stronger."

"So somebody is causing all the chaos here."

Nagato gave me a single nod.

"And whatever this code does," I turned to Mystia, who was out of her stall with the umbrella. "Whatever it does, it wears off when they are not in the light."

Another nod. I have to say, I'm understanding and figuring this out pretty quickly. Then again, I had seen how it worked first hand. Wriggle in the light made her go crazy, and out of the light, she went back to normal...as normal as a bug youkai can be, I suppose.

I bit into my lower lip, because I had to ask the next question. I almost didn't want to. But I just had to, especially since she said that there was coding in the light.

"Nagato...this coding isn't from the Integrated Data Society, is it?"

She shook her head.

"Looks to be Sky Canopy Domain."

Already Remilia was breaking stalls in a rage, screaming obscenities. Kind of tough to do while holding an open umbrella up, mind you. Sakuya went up to her, grabbing both of the vampire's shoulders.

"Milady! Please calm down!"

Upon looking at Sakuya's face, Remilia started to cry again.

"Sa...Sakuya...I almost killed you..."

"But I'm fine now. You aren't to blame. You know I won't hold it against you, milady. I will always stand by your side."

Remilia's face scrunched up, and then she embraced her maid. I could hear her muffled sobbing. Sakuya patted her mistress' head.

Good thing Sakuya is okay. But...in a way, I feel sorry for whoever is behind this. Remilia is going to gut them like a fish. I thought the way she dealt with that werewolf-thing was bad...she's going to go ballistic on the person responsible. Flan is getting another playmate.

Yuyuko and Youmu had joined me and Nagato. The ghost mistress stared at the moon for a few seconds.

"So what now?"

"What now?"

That was Remilia. She wiped her eyes as she joined us. "I'll tell you what now." Remilia motioned to Nagato. "She said that this thing gets stronger as time goes on, right? The light makes us go crazy as time goes on?"

Another nod from Nagato. Remilia then snapped her fingers.

"Sakuya. Stop the time of the night."

"Yes, Milady."

She can do that?!

I'm guessing she could, because in response, Sakuya brought out her pocket watch. She opened it up, and appeared to aim it directly at the moon itself. Sakuya pressed one of the buttons, or pins, on the watch.

What happened next was kind of unusual, even for me. A wave of grayness emitted from her watch, washing over everything, before shooting up to the moon in the sky. The color returned to our world, save for the moon. The moon was just gray.

Sakuya had stopped the night. Even now I still don't know what to say about that.

The interface blinked, her eyes a bit wide. "That was unique." She then returned her gaze to the moon. After a few seconds, Nagato nodded. "That did it. It halted the coding. It should not get stronger as long as Sakuya holds it."

I raised an eyebrow at the maid.

"You can do that? You can control time for things?

She slowly nodded. Her face appeared to be a bit strained, and she carefully breathed in and out. She struggled to smile at me.

"Yeah...but...it's like...tensing a muscle. It...just takes up...quite a bit of...my power..."

She was struggling to even say that. Interesting. I knew she could stop time, but to control time for something else? Sakuya's more powerful than even I imagined. Another thought struck me. And yet she's still a servant. She still loses battles. Gensokyo has to be full of really powerful people. Sakuya gave Remilia a small smile.

"I...won't be...as useful from...here on out...my power...is being used up to...do this..."

Remilia nodded. "It's okay. I won't ask you to kill yourself over this."

A stray laser almost hit us, getting me to whip around. Keine and Alice were still fighting.

Oh right. There's a battle going on. Wow did we get sidetracked here.

Then again, a friend of yours getting their throat torn open does take precedent. As morbid as that sounds.

Shanghai was still above Alice, holding the umbrella. One of her sleeves was burned off from the lasers, and various burns were on her dress. Keine was in worse shape, with a good quarter of her dress just gone, and her skin red at several places, due to grazes, I assume.

Keine was breathing heavily, her eyes went to the crowd of villagers that had gathered to witness the fight, and to witness what was going on with our group. People watching from the window, from the alleys, and doorways. Watching their defender take on a single youkai, and having trouble doing so.

Keine, however, wasn't sweating. Looking over at Youmu and Yuyuko, I found that they were lacking perspiration as well, so I guessed that the light didn't affect all youkai. I guess ghosts and half-youkai aren't affected?

For a brief second, I wondered why Keine was doing this, until I noticed her glancing at all the citizens that had gathered. Keine's face was red, and not from being fatigued. I understood what was going on. Keine didn't want to lose the faith her village put in her. Otherwise, I think she would have accepted defeat when Alice hit her with the Shanghai blast. Keine did not want to lose to a youkai in front of the village.

I understood, because Keine went full power.

That's right. She brought out a Taboo card.

Time to take cover again.

[SpElL cArD: "eMpErOr Of ThE eAsT"]

Holy Hell where do I even begin with this one. Just watching Keine perform it scared me to no end.

In a second, Keine had done a counter-clockwise spin in the air, and thin, transparent blue lines appeared. She then did a clockwise spin in another second, leaving thin, transparent red lines. As soon as she was done, in half a second the blue lines filled to become lasers, and as soon as that half second was done, the same went for the red lasers. And these were very tight lines. Alice had to turn her body to even avoid getting fried - her clothes getting singed. There was barely enough room for her to fit. Meanwhile, Shanghai was also doing amazingly well; being able to hold the parasol over Alice's head and not get hit itself. The lasers disappeared as quickly as they came.

And then the Masakado came back, but in Danmaku form. So, not only did Alice have to contend with the insanity of the laser show, but also the Masakado pattern again, and the time for the lasers to fill out went by quicker and quicker as it went on.

This has got to be the nastiest spell card I have ever seen, and I hope ever will see.

Keine, however, looked just plain exhausted. She was breathing heavily, her shoulders moving up and down as she fought to get oxygen into her body. The blast from earlier had to have affected her, but she still fought through.

"As expected from the defender," remarked Remilia. "Stays up until the bitter end."

[SPELL CARD: MAGIPULATION "RETURN INANIMATENESS"]

Alice brought out a single doll, putting the spell card inside of its clothing. During a brief period of time that the lasers let up, Alice did a wind-up like a major league pitcher does, then threw the doll directly at Keine. Wow. Alice has got quite the arm. That was a direct hit. No curve at all, either - just a straight fastball. The doll exploded when it made contact with its target. Alice simply used a doll like a grenade. A danmaku grenade, thankfully. It didn't kill Keine.

Barring all of the interruptions, that was such a good battle. There really should be an anime of this. Someone needs to make something like this. I'd watch the hell out of it. I for one never really was into the Magical Girl genre, although there were a good ones I enjoyed as a kid. But I would watch something like this.

The defender of the human village didn't even let out a sound as she fell out of the sky. We did hear various gasps from the residents around us, as they watched Keine fall. She crashed through an empty kiosk, shattering it. But I guess she got lucky, as it broke her fall.

Alice landed near the school teacher, as the rest of the dolls crawled out of the backpack. At first, I didn't know what they were doing, until they started to pick up the pieces of their fallen comrades. They were cleaning up the remains of the dolls. And yes, Alice was the one controlling them; I could see her fingers move. It didn't take long for her to salvage the pieces, getting her dolls to return them to the backpack.

"Sensei, I'll have you know that I took no pleasure in doing such a thing. I am not your enemy."

Keine was still on the ground, breathing heavily, staring up at the sky.

"I had a feeling something bad was approaching. Seems I was right to seal the village. If...if it was a full moon tonight...I'd be able to rip you all apart...You don't know what you've done, Alice."

"We have a problem. A really big problem."

That was Nagato, out of nowhere. We all looked to her, to find her staring to the edge of the dome. She was backing away from it. As were the others who were near it. I did as well.

You see, bringing Keine down appeared to have a negative consequence. That forgetting mechanism or whatever it was wasn't there anymore. The dome was off, and that wasn't the worst part.

I think you know where I'm going with this. But what you don't know is how many lesser youkai there were. I gave up counting somewhere around fifty, even though there had to be way more than fifty. Their snarling just kept getting louder. The light of the moon was effecting them, badly. And I wanted to get away from all of this.

Youmu, hands on her katanas, looked to her master.

"Lady Yuyuko?"

Yuyuko narrowed her eyes at the advancing youkai. A few crimson butterflies were beginning to circle the ghost mistress. She looked back to Keine, and the humans. "It was not our intention to bring harm to you." Yuyuko turned back to the army of youkai that had gathered. "Youmu, we will defend this village. You may kill." Yuyuko then looked to the rest of us. "Will any of you assist?"

Nagato was the first to nod. And surprisingly, Remilia did as well. Sakuya, Alice...and even Mystia? Wriggle didn't respond.

I nodded as well.

Considering that I could be a target as well, I had to. I would need to defend myself.

Remilia, of course, smiled. Until she apparently realized that it would be difficult for her to fight with a parasol open, and above her. I heard her utter a curse under her breath, and she stared at the youkai that had begun to advance. Already, the citizens who had gathered to see the fight between Keine and Alice were screaming, running deeper into the village. I heard the slamming of doors, windows, and all of that. And that was just for this entrance of the village. The scene must have been the same for all the others.

I realized it. People were going to die. I assessed the situation. The youkai, save for Yuyuko and Youmu, are rather limited in their mobility, unless they want to join the mindless lesser youkai. So, Remilia, Alice, Mystia, and Wriggle aren't going to be of much use in that regard, except for long range attacks. Youmu, of course, might handle things with her katanas. Yuyuko, well, she'll kick butt in this situation. Sakuya is really hindered right now while using her power. Nagato? Yeah, she can handle herself. Me? Not really. All I can do is toss a few of those vials and hope to knock some of those things out.

And that was just for the marketplace entrance. Again, the other ways into the village had to have youkai coming in.

Already some of the youkai had begun to drop, I'm assuming thanks to Yuyuko, but as they did, more poured in. Youmu rushed forward, katanas in hand, slicing up the ones that didn't drop. She then ran up a building, taking down the youkai that were up there. Remilia was throwing her spear, finding her mark every time. Nagato...I don't know exactly what Nagato was doing, but she appeared to be vaporizing the youkai.

I would put down what the others were doing (I think Mystia had begun to sing again, to confuse and blind the youkai), but I saw a peculiar thing. A red dot up in the sky. Just a red light. It was very familiar to me, for some reason. The red dot came closer and closer, and I could see a figure within the light. Male. A smiling male in a North High uniform.

Oh my God. Koizumi?!

And he wasn't alone. Reimu Hakurei was with him. The beautiful miko.

[SPELL CARD: DREAM SIGN "EVIL SEALING CIRCLE"]

Reimu used her barrier spell card as she got over to where most of the youkai were, and the red barrier just knocked out all of them. I couldn't help but notice that the barrier was a lot bigger than I remembered, and it appeared to be more powerful.

Same thing went for Koizumi. Using the red aura around him, he began to just zip around, flying into the other youkai, and tossing red balls of energy at the ones out of his reach.

These two made the difference. They were just wasting the youkai.

Reimu turned to me, shouting. "Kyon! Heal up Keine! She needs to be up for her defense to work!"

I stared up at her, dumbfounded, before I ran to the school teacher.

Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?! She's down, so the logical thing to do would be to help her get that defense up! Damn. I'm an idiot.

I accepted the bad taste of the next vial as punishment for my stupidity.

The darkness gave way to blurriness. Reisen tried to rub her eyes, but couldn't. Her eyes took a few minutes to focus, drifting back into darkness every now and then.

...what's going on...?

Reisen tried to think. Got to the...entryway...books...made my way out...unable...got...'

I got caught.

Reisen's vision corrected itself. She found herself outside, just standing there. The soldier tried to move, but she couldn't. Not even a muscle. The girl with the black hair was staring up at the fake moon Eintei created. Reisen tried to move again, tried to attack, but there was nothing.

Can't...get her...

Reisen tried not to give in to hatred, but she felt a lot of rage upon seeing that girl again. She wanted to hurt her. The girl turned to Reisen, her face as unemotional as ever.

"We have a problem, it seems."

Reisen felt her head tilt up.

She's controlling my body?!

Dread shot through the soldier's body, but then confusion. The fake moon she and Tewi made was gray. Then she felt her head go back to see the girl. The girl had some object in her hand, and put it into Reisen's hands.

"They're interfering. They'll be coming soon. Kill them all before they reach here." The girl paused, as if thinking something. "Actually..." The girl smiled at Reisen. "Make sure you kill the boy first. A single bullet between the eyes. He's been detrimental to my plans for far too long. I'm done dealing with him. He always finds a way to ruin everything."

Wait wait what?! You want me to kill a kid?!

Reisen felt her body take the object, and then turn, going into the bamboo forest.

The soldier then realized that she had been given a sniper rifle.

-entities encountered-

-Genji, Turtle Youkai

-Mima, Ghost

-Keine Kamishirasawa, Were-Beast (Unknown type)

-Reimu Hakurei, Human

-Various Humans

-Various Youkai

-Batttle data recorded and sent.

-Gensokyo is under attack. Data signatures indicate the Sky Canopy Domains influence.

-Requesting assistance.

"Incident One" (unofficial name)

- Summer, 1998. After the Hakurei clan was wiped out by a group of renegade youkai, the sole survivor, Reimu Hakurei, was left to defend herself. She could not fly, her amulets did nothing, and she had not yet invented Danmaku. All she had to defend herself with were the Hakurei Yin-Yang orbs, which she was able to use to defeat the youkai. Taking them all by herself, she pushed them all the way back to their source - she ventured into the spirit world Makai and ended the threat. This was also the first incident where Mima and Reimu Hakurei fought, though Mima did not instigate it.

- Reportedly Yukari Yakumo herself was about to deal with the youkai who caused the deaths of the Hakurei clan, but she saw Reimu Hakurei accomplish it - at ten years old. Yukari Yakumo was pleased with the potential of the young miko.

=RESOLVED=

-File catalogued by: Emiri Kimidori

-[ADMIN 612:] You are on your own. Your actions and insubordination will be noted, and you will face punishment for them.

-Response: Very well. This individual entity will resolve this incident, along with the beings encountered within Gensokyo.

-Additional note: No assistance, no data for the Overmind regarding my detected "Unknown Status". Deal with it.

-[ADMIN 612:] You are in no position to make demands.

-Repeat: Deal with it.

-N. Yuki

-end entry-

-logoff-

Incoming long thing-whatever.

I sit here sometimes and wonder if I should have just stopped with ICB. I keep worrying that I'll end up disappointing everyone. This isn't some book that I can just do, send to an editor, and send it out to the public without regard. This is a work in progress. You guys are responding. I am hearing your feedback, and I do appreciate it.

Ultimately, what does it matter in the long run? For all of us on here? Reality is, we are some fans of certain works of fiction that sit down, and think we have what it takes to take other people's work and apply our own stories.

But what is it we do? Thousands of words put into a story so that maybe someone may chance on all of this and read it. Sometimes, well, most of the time, the stories are just thrown together by people who think they are writers. I remember reading a Halo fanfic that was just a few paragraphs long, where a black hole occurred, Master Chief was called in, he threw a grenade in it, and stopped it. And then he was labeled a hero. That was the fanfic. To be blunt, reading it hurt me, to think that someone could actually try to pass that off as a story. But...the kid still wrote it. Wrote it because they loved Halo. Yet...if I remember correctly, a lot of people blasted their story.

I'm not saying I'm a great writer who is judging another's work. I'm not the best. Ask my beta readers - I make a lot of mistakes, and they slap me upside the head to get me to get it right. Well, not exactly, but you get the idea.

But what am I doing? At the end of the day, what am I doing? Writing a story where two japanese series come together in a crossover. Spending hours upon hours writing this stuff. Hell, before I even post this episode up, I have written over 200,000 words for this story. According to wikipedia, the average professional typists can write at 50-80 wpm. Let's say I was at max there. 200,000/80. 2,500 minutes. Over 41 hours doing this. And that is at max. That's not counting going back and correcting mistakes, editing, planning, all that. I have spent all this time writing up this story, for no pay.

I think of all of this, yet I keep doing it. I keep writing this. Because I enjoy it. I enjoy the feedback. I enjoyed the responses I got from everyone when ICB ended. That's why I continued.

I guess I like to entertain, and because I love both respective series.

You see, I can't speak well due to massive stuttering issues and slurring of my words, despite having to take speech therapy during elementary, middle, and high school, so I have to rely on other means of expression - the written word being one of them.

Sorry for taking up your time. I'm just getting a little philosophical. Maybe I'm thinking too much like Koizumi. It helps to think like the character when you write like them, you see. I've tried to do that for every single character.

Maybe that's why I love writing for the crazy ones so much.

Read and Review! Lady Yukari demands it!