Unexcused, unabsolved.

I am alone, but unafraid.

Undermined, undercut.

You can't undo what I have made.

Unexplained, unresolved.

Is it worth the price I have paid?

Understand... I'll burn it all.

Touhou-related update. ZUN and Sony are bringing together a collection of fan-made Touhou games for the PS4 and the PSVita. They aren't made by him, and they aren't canon, but they have his approval.

[This is entertainment, not a platform for any views - my apologies.]

Anyways, you didn't come here for that. On with the story.

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

Nerdfish

werewolf2005

Recraptor0

July 15th, 2004

I despised this. Walking up the hill in such weather. I already missed Marisa's broom and Yukari's portals.

I'm sorry - I'm ahead of myself again. You see, I was on my way to school grumbling to myself the very next day, as I had the unfortunate situation of having to return to normal life after going through such an adventure. Save the world, and then go back to school like nothing is amiss. Kinda like those Magical Girl shows, like Sailor Moon. I think I can respect them more. Despite how fun it looks, it's got to be physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing on people who go through such things. I'd probably break down in the first few episodes.

I digress. It wasn't just that. This was already shaping up to be a bad day.

I'm getting way ahead of myself, and losing my train of thought. You see, I had gotten back home from the library, and I did take the Gamecube over to Nagato's. She was so surprised to see me there. We actually kicked some butt, the two of us, at the Four Swords. I had a great time to cap off such an adventure, and so did she.

I had texted Koizumi and Asahina to join us, but Asahina couldn't, as the ordeal was too much for her and she had to lie down, while Koizumi's cell phone was off. I left a message, but he never showed.

And yes, I did tell Nagato about Yukari saying that there was another one of her around. This of course surprised Nagato, who almost instantly regained her cool, and said she'd see what course of action there would be for such a situation, that there really might be someone out there in the shadows making things happen. Of course, what the heck can we do against someone like Yukari, who can manipulate reality, let alone a second one that had invaded our existence, if the demon was to be believed? I had to take anything from Yukari with a grain of salt. Yes, she has been pretty forthcoming with us, and pretty truthful, but isn't she a manipulator? And she's a demon - aren't they by their very nature deceitful? Ah, the Liar's Paradox.

But, barring that, let's assume she's been 100% truthful about another Yukari. Is this new one rogue? Is she friendly? Evil? Who knows - at that point I had no way of knowing. But how can we deal with two of those types of demons, two demons who can't even be killed by instant-death powers - they're too strong to die?

Also, kind of weird that there seems to be a theme of two's, or opposites and whatnot, in my life. Two groups with their own "Gods", and each have their own time traveler, alien, and esper. And now two Yukari's - two demons who can manipulate reality to their whim. From what I could see, our Yukari, despite being an obvious bigot towards Lunarian's, was for the most part friendly and truly wanted to assist us, barring her spiriting away humans for food. As for another one...where would I start? This was multiverse type stuff here, which I kinda dealt with when the other me melded with me, and I saved Haruhi.

I really did lose my train of thought here. Thoughts for another time anyway. Where was I?

Ah, right. Walking up that blasted hill in the middle of July. At least we were a few days away from the start of summer break.

Despite the good time I had at Nagato's, it seems that the balance of the universe must be maintained. As soon as I had gotten back home, it appeared that all my good fortune had gone away. The water heater broke for some reason, so I had to take a cold shower - which was made worse due to the heat causing my body temperature to be higher. I couldn't sleep at all when I went to bed, as it was still hot in my house despite all the windows being open. I was awake mostly due to the memories of Gensokyo filling my head again, and of Nagato's kisses at the library, and the image (and remembering the feeling) of Marisa on top of me. Those two occurences alone would have kept me up all night. I was in my sweaty bed tossing and turning, I stubbed my toe in the bathroom after it was time to get up, my breakfast was burnt, I fell off my bike on the way to the bottom of the hill because I was so tired (it woke me up though), that bike got a flat, I stepped in gum, a fat lady sneezed on my face while passing me on the way up the hill (she didn't even apologize), and I broke a shoelace. Not only that, but I found that I forgot my wallet and my lunch at home, so lunch was going to suck unless I managed to bum a meal. And school hadn't even started.

Could this day get any worse?

"Hey, Kyon!"

It was Koizumi. It got worse.

Perishable Night

Episode 11

["Unexplained"]

=Doll of Hourai=

"Under the full moon, even trees and grasses sleep in the dead of the night.

In the Human and Youkai's 'Gut-Trial', what will scare them?

The victim of the biggest sin.

Where is it?"

-Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Extra Stage

Koizumi hurriedly joined my side, wearing his smile, but looking a bit tired too.

"I had an interesting meeting last night."

"Oh?" I grumbled.

"Yes, my superiors showed up at my home. Along with their superiors. It was quite weird to have them at my house."

"Along with their superiors? Was a mysterious Cigarette-Smoking Man among them or something?" Why did I make an X-Files reference? Dammit, now I want to watch a marathon of the X-Files! Actually one of my favorite American shows from middle school - my cousin got me into it, getting ahold of a pirated-subbed collection. I've seen the entire series.

"Ahahaha. No. Well we had a long discussion of a certain place."

"Gensokyo."

Koizumi stifled a yawn, and still smiled. "Yes. Ah. Forgive me. The meeting went well into the wee hours of the morning. I considered taking today off, but I decided against it."

You know, some of us didn't get any sleep at all. "Decided to tough it out?" I don't think he detected my sarcasm, because he kept talking like nothing was really wrong.

"Yes. I do have to tough it out for Miss Suzumiya. It's my purpose."

"So what did you talk about...if I can ask?"

I saw his smile disappear a bit, before he regained it. "You can ask...I mean, it's only fair. Basically, decisions regarding of where to go from here, our options regarding the existence of Gensokyo. Turns out that most espers don't even know of Gensokyo's existance, which, I suppose makes me special." He let out a big yawn. "Oh. Excuse me. I really didn't get much sleep last night. Or to be more specific, this morning."

"That's why you didn't answer my text."

"Ah, right, forgot about that. I trust you and Nagato had a good time last night?"

I paused for a second, because of the way that statement could have been taken.

"Can I say something, Kyon?"

"Even if I said no, would it stop you?"

"You're a little cranky."

I stopped and turned to him, bluntly telling him how my morning went. He kept smiling throughout the entire thing. At the end of it, he slowly nodded.

"Forgive me. I had no idea. But may I still say my piece?"

We continued walking, with me giving him a shrug. "Go ahead, I guess."

"First off, I want to apologize to you for my organization talking bad about you... no offense..."

I raised an eyebrow at him. Really? Some of them don't like me?

"It's something that I've been hearing through channels lately, that we're in this situation because of you. It's just a few outliers, but I thought I'd address it. Considering that your initial contact almost caused the end of the world, there are those in my organization who thought you talking to Haruhi was a big detriment to our plans. Those outliers pin the whole thing on you, Kyon, according to their so-called 'logic'."

"Hey man, don't blame that on me."

"I personally don't. In fact, I'm glad you did, because now I have a group to call my friends. I'm just letting you know what went on. There are a few espers who are still angry with you because of that, despite everything you have done for us since then."

That's gratitude for you. Save the world, and get hated for it.

"Since we've been a bit more open with each other, I thought I should give you the knowledge of the situation. You deserve it, at least. Secondly, I know you and Nagato are friends. We all are. But you need to be careful. Can you imagine what would happen if someone told Miss Suzumiya that they saw you go to Nagato's house late last night, alone, especially since you and Suzumiya are a couple?" He stopped, dropping his smile. "Or if they saw you two kiss, like yesterday?"

WHAT THE HELL. Again I stopped, feeling a little bit of rage. I turned to him, ready to just start yelling, to let out my frustrations, and to defend myself and Nagato, but the grim look on his face kept me from doing so.

"We weren't spying on you or Nagato. An esper just happened to be there. That's not a lie. He frequents the place a lot." He shrugged. "It would be messy, even before you have the chance to explain things to Suzumiya. I'm just saying that in your circumstance, your actions will always have consequences." Koizumi raised an index finger. "You just need to be careful. I've seen how much damage Suzumiya's closed spaces can be when she experiences some minor depression or anger. To have her heart broken, even via a simple misunderstanding, would be devastating for everybody, and I mean that literally."

He was right. I pressed my palms against my temples, both to get rid of a headache that had appeared, and to keep myself from screaming at the situation I was in. Eventually I let out a long sigh, ending it with a choice juicy curse word.

I stared up to the top of the hill, not wanting to go to school, due to the amount of fatigue and frustration I had in my body. For a few seconds, I actually found myself hating Suzumiya for my predicament.

But I enjoy being with her. Nothing can take that away.

Take the good with the bad, right? 'The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care.' So according to that, there is nobody in the universe that I care for more. After all, I changed existence itself for her, to be with her. If that isn't enough, then I don't know what would be.

"That just...that just kind of happened. Nagato kissed me..."

"I know. It looked like it, according to the report."

My actions are on paper. Great. Damn secret organizations. I shook my head, glancing at Koizumi. "I just wish it was easier to do. All of this."

He smiled at me, returning to his usual self. "Life isn't easy. And it's been incredibly difficult for you, so it's very commendable that you have been able to survive the past year. Same goes for all of us. Like Reisen said, it's not fair to ask kids our age to do what we do, but we perform our duties for the greater good. Reality is, very few people can actually say that they've gotten up and done something great for a greater cause. I don't mean to take away from people who do small things like donate or pitch in to help various causes, mind you. That's important too. It's just that there aren't many people in the world that can do what we do, that can actually make a stand, put our lives on the line, and make a bigger difference."

Can you please not get too philosophical today? I'm too tired to go through that.

He then reached into his book bag, and produced a can of cold coffee. The green and white logo of a woman on it was like seeing a goddess - I was so glad to see it. The water beading off of it already made it look appealing in the July heat. He opened it for me. I stared at it, before letting out a sigh and looking him square in the eye.

"I know the two of us do our dance, of me being philosophical, of you being cranky, but I do value our time together." He blinked, looking tired.

"Yeah...I guess you're right...Sorry about always going off on you."

"Understandable. You get frustrated, and I happen to be the only one who you'll allow yourself to take it out on. You don't allow yourself to take it out on girls, unless under extreme circumstances-"

Low blow, man! Then again, I think I deserve that.

"-And since I'm the only other male of the group, I'm your target. I'd like to avoid it, of course, but again, I do understand your situation. I've sadly taken on the role of your vent." He gave me a shrug. "Nothing I can do about it, except ask you to reconsider. As I've said, it's not fair to ask all of this from you." He lightly shook the can, extending it towards me, bringing my attention to his offering.

"Thanks." I took the can, chugging a good portion of it as he produced another one, for himself. Sweet, sweet mocha-flavored caffeine. As much as I find myself despising Koizumi, I forget that he's a very good friend as well. And he's right. Ultimately, he takes enough abuse and strain as it is. I really didn't need to add to it. Also, as normal a person as I am, I am special. I have to be, to do what I do. To survive everything.

Or I've just been lucky as all hell. I'll take luck over skill any day. That reminds me. Lottery.

The two of us silently went to school together, enjoying our canned coffees. As we neared it, I asked him about his 'date' with Mokou, as I remembered that he had it.

"She was a nice girl, and it went as well enough as anyone can hope for a date to go, despite the somber mood. I wish I could have had more time but since Miss Ran informed me that my time in Gensokyo would be possibly limited...well, I made do with what time I had. From what I could tell, the town was getting ready for a funeral. I saw Miss Hakurei there as well. As for what we did, well, we ate at a stall - in fact, it was run by that bird youkai from the incident."

I wonder how many customers Mystia gets. Also, how does the Youkai economy fair? I got the feeling that Remilia was rich beyond measure with how she lived, and would be the kind to throw money around just because she could. When I went shopping with Sakuya, the maid didn't have a problem with paying for whatever her master needed, or the mansion needed - her wallet seemed almost limitless. But how do the other youkai in Gensokyo do with money? Huh. Even in a fantasy world, money still impacts society. It really does make the world go 'round. Also, who paid for that date? Speaking of dates and seeing people...

"And Tachibana?"

His smile went to a slight frown. "We've kind of drifted away these past few weeks, sadly. That's why I agreed to such a thing with Mokou."

"Ah," was all I said. I didn't even know they weren't seeing each other. I had assumed that they had been going out, ever since he got her phone number.

When we got to the school, he silently waved at me, wearing his usual smile, as we parted ways to our respective classes. As I tossed the can into a recycle bin, I gave myself a silent prayer that I would be able to get through the day while so tired.

The things I go through for this world. There better be a pot of gold at the end of my journey. I heard the first bell ring. Onwards to normal high school life and classes. How do those magical girls do it? Save the world, go through all that trauma, and still have to attend classes. And they still found time to socialize, do their homework, study, all of that. Ami Mizuno was able to do all that, be a sailor senshi, and she still managed to maintain top grades.

Then again, that's fantasy. Fiction. But considering the world I live in, it might as well be reality.

Thankfully, due to the grace of whatever God is up there in the heavens or in Gensokyo, school went by rather quickly. I guess the bad fortune in the morning was so bad that it quickly re-corrected itself. While the rooms were still hot due to crappy air conditioning, by some sheer luck, all of my classes were of self study that day. In fact, because of the heat, one of my teachers fell asleep during one of said self study classes, so I followed his example. Glorious sleep. While it was a quick nap, I felt refreshed. Taniguchi got sick for some reason right before noon, so I was able to negotiate his lunch, since he was in no mood to eat after throwing up during class. Amusing to watch, too, him puking up his breakfast all over the girl in front of him. Best thing about it: he was flirting with her one minute, and blowing chunks on her the next. My stomach hurt from my suppressed laughter.

I don't think he'll get to date her. It was quite the hilarious scene. The girl looked ready to cry, and slapped Taniguchi. He responded with a quick puke on his desk.

As for his lunch...not delicious, but it was filling. Haruhi was also quite tame, thankfully, if you don't count her numerous requests (i.e. demands) for me to fan her, as the classrooms were only getting warmer as the day went by. Good Lord, what is it, fourty-two degrees celcius? The high that day was actually near fourty-five. That's over a hundred and ten degrees for you Farenheit users out there. Damn heat wave. The following brigade meeting after school was very lax, and I got away with sleeping, mostly because the heat had gotten to Haruhi as well and she napped at her leader's desk. Despite the morning, it was the easiest and best school day I've had in a long time. And there was very little homework, to boot.

Nagato woke me, before waking Haruhi. Our glorious brigade leader seemed ashamed at being caught napping, and quickly left, but not without giving me a quick kiss goodbye.

I nearly lost my footing.

That makes a lot of things worth it. Maybe not everything...well...if she kissed me more, then maybe it would make up for everything. I watched as she left, feeling light on my feet. I had a big grin on my face, which I dropped when I realized that my brigade associates were still in the room. Asahina was beet red, but smiling. Nagato simply nodded at me, and Koizumi approached me, smiling like always.

"Nothing to be ashamed of. I'm happy for the two of you."

"Uh...thanks."

"And on a selfish side, it's good that the two of you are making a good couple. Miss Suzumiya has been very content as of late with you, which makes my job a whole lot easier."

I nodded, and then my mind stuck with what he said, about his job. My train of thought went right for Nagato.

"What about your job, Nagato? Your purpose. You've achieved a bit of evolution, right? So..." I paused, shifting. "What happens now?"

Nagato was in the middle of placing her books into her bag and she stopped, looking to me. "The data isn't much, but it's a start. The Overmind is actually grateful for it, for those that have assisted my kind."

"That isn't what I meant."

She took a deep breath. She knew what I meant.

Would she have to leave? Would it be like a clichéd dramatic anime, where the alien girl comes to Earth to learn humanity, does so, and leaves her friends behind at the end of the series. Something like that. Because that would be very sad. I'm not lying. I think I'd cry over that.

She closed her bag, and picked it up. A small smile formed on her face.

"As it would be difficult for me to just go away in the sense that Haruhi Suzumiya might have a negative reaction to it...I get to stay with you guys." She put the strap over her shoulder. "Besides, there is still much to learn about her powers, about everything. Who knows. We might hit another evolutionary ceiling in the future, even after applying this data, and need to study her in detail again." She gave us a nod. "I'll be here."

I was so relieved. It took a large weight off of my shoulders, and my heart. I wouldn't lose a friend.

"You know, tonight's the night."

"Hmm?"

Koizumi motioned up at the sky as we all walked out of the old building.

"Tonight, in Gensokyo, our past selves are about to embark on an adventure into the Imperishable Night."

Oh wow. He's right. The other me is now at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, taking a nap for a party. Little does my past self know that he's about to witness a slaughter instead.

"I'll never get used to this, no matter how many times it's happened. Knowing that another me is out there, that I could go up to myself. It's just...weird." A thought struck me as I stared up at the lowered, yet still blazing sun. I quickly turned to Nagato. "Uhm, what about Sakuya stopping the moon? Won't we be able to see that out here? Because if I remember, the moon grays out."

"It will be taken care of," said Nagato. "There is no need to worry."

"I can't believe we survived that," said Mikuru. "I still can't."

"Mmm." A thought crossed my mind. "Can't we use time travel to our advantage, you know, to make sure Suou doesn't get away?"

I was surprised when a flash of anger went over Mikuru's eyes, but she quickly went back to her usual self. "What's happened has happened. For us to use time travel for our own gains goes against what I believe in."

"Yeah...but we could just end Suou."

"We'd be no better than they are."

I had reached into my pocket, and was staring at the pumpkin charm. "Right now I'm just in the mood where I don't want to be better than them." Like I said, I'm no hero. I never was.

"We're the good guys in this story, remember?" Koizumi smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "At least, I'd like to think we are."

I gripped the trinkets. "Suou said that she was the hero of this 'story', that we are siding with monsters, that we are complicit in the deaths of any humans at the hands of the Gensokyo youkai." I slowly shook my head.

"I don't think we have truly sided with them. We've just found ourselves a common enemy." Nagato shifted. "If anything, Suou is complicite in the alliance we have found ourselves in."

I put the charm back in my pocket, feeling the nekomata in there as well. "Yeah...yeah you're right." The Spring Snow Incident. "If she didn't do anything, getting Whiterock to do what she did, and picking me by chance, then I wouldn't have become involved with Gensokyo at all. Suou was the one who set things in motion, she set up her own downfall." I took some small comfort in that, as I was realizing it. "She did this to herself. She created this situation. She made her enemies stronger by getting them to unite against her." I scoffed. "And she called me stupid. Dumb little bi-" Whoops! I quickly brought up my hand to my mouth to avoid finishing that.

Asahina gasped at what I almost said, but I think the others kind of agreed with me. What an idiot Suou was for doing that, for only accomplishing that. Uniting Gensokyo. Uniting us. She had a hand in creating an enemy that had embarrassed her and left her with nothing.

I cleared my throat. I then would ask Nagato if anything could be done, to alleviate the damages done by Suou, if we weren't going to interfere via time travel (which I was still adamant about, and would be, for a few weeks - ultimately, those in charge of each respective organization chose not to do anything, which I had an obvious problem with). Again, Nagato said that there might be some aid from her group to Gensokyo, if only as payment to study the Gensokyo effect.

The four of us left each other, going to our respective homes, as we resumed our normal lives after our adventures. Of course, it still weirded me out that, again, there was another me in that time plane. I wonder if Suou knows that we are out here, which means that we survived. I had to clamp down on that line of thought. We may not be using time travel for our advantage, but they would. I need to stop thinking that, because if one of them wises up, they can easily wipe us. Especially since Suou would have all of us in her grasp at around 4 or so in the morning.

I watched as the full moon rose, and this one kind of shimmered. It wasn't the Papier Mache one, I think - it had to be one put up by the data entities to make sure nobody really noticed the fake one. From what I learned, everything that happened that night did happen the way it happened for me. Too many happens in that sentence. Anyway, the night didn't skewer down any alternate paths, so everything went to how it should. I also kind of wanted to wait past midnight to see if I could catch Sakuya's stopping of the moon, but I fell asleep, as I was so tired.

Barring all of that, everything went as normal as it could.

However...

There was a bit of news, regarding that incident - about a certain youkai (that people in my world didn't know was a youkai) that first appeared on a few outlying internet sites and was then partly mentioned in a news segment that actually caught a bit of international attention from the science community.

Apparently a satellite caught glimpse of a certain...something just after 10:30. A certain humanoid figure being launched into deep space from Japan. The image was blurry, and nobody knew what it was. There were debates, yes, but it was written off as space debris, ultimately, and the news faded into obscurity within the week. Soon, it was back to the 'news' of celebrities going into rehab, what sports stars were doing which drugs, and how bratty the local rich girl celebrity daughters were acting. I of course, knew what it was. It wasn't any mere space debris.

Team Rocket! Very impressive, Meiling. Hit him so hard he broke through the Hakurei Border.

Bad thing is, Haruhi became slightly obsessed with that news, and taped up various printouts all over the club room, using different photo enhancers (that are available to a high school student) to get a clearer picture of what it was. Even when she eventually got 'over' it, well past summer break, she still kept a picture taped up right above the doorway. But regarding the time she was obsessed with it, she would stand there, tilting her head, looking over a printout with a different filter, before going over to another. A little annoying, since she would have us stand there with her, trying to get us to see what she thought she saw. She said that it might be proof of an alien, but of course, we couldn't tell her that it was proof of a werewolf-looking youkai. From Germany (I'm assuming he was, if that pack of youkai were from Germany, like the one that spoke to us). That happened to be launched via an uppercut by a youkai that worked for a vampire who had a time-stopping maid etc...

And that happened on a night that I learned that Lunarians sabotaged the Apollo 13 mission and has spies within our governments.

Truth is truly stranger than fiction. And said truth really is out there.

I must apologize right now, for doing another skip. The visit that Yukari would allow did indeed happen, and we did get to hang out with a few of the Gensokyo girls in our world when summer break rolled around, but it didn't really have much to do with anything. No incident happened, no wacky hijinks, nothing too interesting, though I will get to it, for the sake of completion of my contact with Gensokyo, just like I will with my meeting with a Shinigami. That would tie into my next major encounter with Gensokyo, which I will get to at a much later time. Anyways, the visit. It was a relatively normal hangout with friends. We ate, we watched a movie, we killed time at an arcade, sang karaoke...you know, typical stuff for teens on an August summer night. It was done under the guise that the girls were 'cousins' of Koizumi from the 'country', hence, explaining some of their reactions to the technologies of the city, and of the outside world. Marisa...Marisa was tame, thankfully, and not as assertive as she was in my bedroom.

That sounded quite naughty, didn't it? Forgive me.

But I must skip forward, you see. There is only one thing that would take precedent over a visit from Gensokyo.

A rather...minor trip back. Less than a day, even.

Why would I have this take precedent? Well you see, it regarded the Hourai Elixir.

Yes, that Hourai Elixir.

August 12th, 2004

For starters, I did have a few dreams regarding Gensokyo, but they were nothing major, and don't have much to do with anything. They led up to two days, becoming frequent before I came back into contact with Gensokyo. One was the day of the visit, the other was this day, so I had somewhat of an early warning for both occurences. I wonder if this counts as some sort of mind power - having dreams be some sort of early warning system for paranormal contact.

It wasn't even a month later - the moon cycle had happened, and we were approaching another full moon. Since I had noticed it, my mind was going back to what happened on that day, and night, in the middle of July. The heat wave had finally dispersed by the beginning of August, though it was still hot. Summer, after all. Barring the visit from the girls, life had returned to relative normal. At least summer break was going great. It was a typical summer, of going out with friends, lazing around the house, visiting family, going to water parks and stuff. You know, things that help you make memories of your high school life.

I had gotten back from a day of the pool, a little light-headed. Not really because of the heat, or because of all the beautiful girls in swimsuits. It's because Haruhi had gotten a bit bold - she took me behind the pool's changing rooms and we actually started to make out. I was surprised by this, as it seemingly came out of nowhere, but I didn't complain. A positive about dating a girl. It was heaven for that small amount of time we did that. I don't know how far we might have gone (my imagination will probably fill in those gaps, as we started to hold each other closer as time went on, and our hands started to...well...explore, for the lack of a better term) because we got caught by one of the pool workers. Haruhi got really mad at him, nearly getting us banned from the pool due to her shouting. Then she got a little angry at me because I didn't argue enough with the pool worker. And then she stormed off, leaving the two of us rather breathless due to the length of her rant. The guy was just doing his job, and it was somewhat of a family pool, even though most of its customers were of our age anyway.

I was more than a bit disappointed, because that was the most aggressive Haruhi had gotten in our relationship. We hadn't done anything, or gone that far, if you're thinking that. So essentially I got...well...blocked, which is a nicer way to put it.

That's not to say that I don't try to step up the relationship myself. I mean, I'm a teenage male with all of my hormones and a girlfriend - one of the prettiest girls in school for that matter. I'd be remiss to not admit my own needs or at least attempt to act on them, to initiate certain things. It's just that Haruhi has kind of established herself as the dominant one. Every time I tried to be dominant (and admittedly, I tried a lot), I'd get shot down cold. It's basically her show to run in that department, and that was the furthest we've gone up to that point. And truthfully, it was a somewhat frustrating relationship because of that.

Take the good with the bad. At least we would get to make out now and then, so there's some physical contact.

Tangent.

Anyways, it was past five when I had enough of the blazing sun. Haruhi wasn't returning my calls (she was angry about that ordeal at the pool), so I called it quits. I had gotten home and flopped on the couch next to my dad, who had gotten home just as I did and the two of us began watching a sports show. We made father/son small-talk about our favorite baseball team as we watched highlights for half an hour, and when mom and my sister showed up, we went out to eat. Korean Barbeque, and it was fantastic of course. Thankfully the Thursday crowd wasn't big, so we got sat right away. The ensuing dinner conversation was dominated by my sister, of her telling us every little thing she did that day, including shopping with mom. When we got home with some takeout, Shamisan was there asking for scraps and rubbing against our legs to try to get attention. All in all, it was a seemingly ordinary day in my life. The type that you cherish but can easily forget.

Weirdly enough, Emiri was there at the restaurant, by herself. I saw her eating, seemingly not paying attention to me, but as my family left, Emiri brushed up against me, but never looked in my direction. She had to have known I was there, but I didn't know what the heck that was all about until later.

Regardless, when I got to my room, I again remembered that it was a full moon night. I brought out both the pumpkin and nekomata trinkets, staring at them, wondering if Remilia would be able to get a decent party going this time. For a second, I forgot where I put the Icicle Fall, but then I remembered that I placed it under my pillow to keep it cool on these hot nights. Hey, it works. I gathered all three items from Gensokyo, and sat there at my desk, staring at them.

What happened in April, what happened in July. Both seemed so far away, even though they happened recently. Amazing how quickly time passes, you know. There I was, already a moon cycle away from that Imperishable Night. Where I dared (was convinced by Remilia) to go out during the full moon, where youkai were supposedly stronger...though I guess they were weaker, weren't they? No wonder I was able to survive. Also, one would think that such an event would be completely unforgettable, but some small details were fading from my mind already.

Ah, the limitations of the human mind. Hell - limitations of humans, period. One other nice thing that I had kept from Gensokyo was some magical power, if you can believe that. I did eat some of those mushroom things after all, and I hadn't used up all of the magic they gave me. I know I still had some magic in my body, because sometimes I'd read the Icicle Fall incantation halfway, to see if the letters would light up. They did, so I had to have some power. Problem is, I don't know how to use such a power, other than reading a spell card. I remember that Patchouli once told me during a conversation with her that flight actually took little magic if one knew how to be efficient with it. Her wording, not mine. And I'll stress it here again - I'd never learn or be able to fly in my entire life.

Regardless, I of course asked Nagato a week prior how I could use it up, with small things. Like, say, a telekinesis spell or something. Nothing major, but just something to finally move a pencil with my mind. Nagato couldn't help, as she was still trying to stay on the good side of her superiors. They didn't want me to have powers, it seemed. At least Nagato didn't take my magic away or anything. Still, it was frustrating to know that I had magic but I couldn't use it.

I read through the spell card halfway, watching the lettering light up, and then fading when I stopped. I placed all of the items in my jeans, patting them, a sense of nostalgia (for some weird reason) forming in my mind. It was of Gensokyo, of course. I leaned back in my chair, wondering what I would do with myself for the rest of the day, for something to distract myself from the road my mind was going down. My eyes drifted to the Gamecube, the feeling of running around with Mario becoming prominent.

You know, Mario is actually quite the badass, when you think about it. He rode in a tornado, killed the sun, wields a hammer that if it weighs like it's proportioned, would weigh like over a ton. Hell, he can swing around a giant turtle king by the tail. He also jumps multiple stories, can long jump insane distances. He can smash brick constructs with his head and fists, and can survive long falls. He can run at such speeds that he can take off into the air if he has the right equipment. He has a doctorate, and has competed and won in multiple sports. In one game, he has stomped a castle into rubble, and later picked up and tossed away another castle. Some games he can hold his breath for an inhuman amount of time, and some games he can hold an indefinite amount of air.

Maybe I'm over thinking the abilities of a freaking video game character. But again, not bad for an Italian plumber who is loosely based on the John Carter character. Seriously though, Mario is quite powerful. Just a normal plumber from Brooklyn who happens to become a super hero when he goes to the Mushroom Kingdom. I envied him - he goes to a fantasy land and becomes their savior with his abilities. At most, I only healed.

But we both get our powers from mushrooms, it seems. We have that in common. Oh, and he can throw fireballs too. I'd like to be Fire Mario. Tossing around fire at will. Of course, I don't know how I'd look in a white shirt with red overalls. Or, red shirt with white overalls, depending on the game - I think part one. Wasn't there also red shirt with orange overalls in part three before they stuck with white shirt and red overalls?

Nevertheless, I was right about to play, when I got a text. It was from Nagato.

"Park Bench. As soon as possible."

I was on my bike within a matter of minutes. While the message didn't seem too urgent, I wasn't about to ignore an invitation from my friend. I was also kind of expecting this. As I said, I had been having dreams leading up to that day, so I kind of knew in the back of my mind that something was up, and it had to be Gensokyo related. I suppose it's a handy thing, to have some advance 'warning' of this stuff.

Knowing which park bench Nagato was talking about, I got to the park and went straight for it. There sat Nagato and Asahina, the alien reading in a black shirt and black jeans, with the time traveler nervously fidgeting in a white sun dress. Asahina's eyes lit up when she saw me, but Nagato simply nodded at my arrival, before going back to reading.

"What's all this about?" I asked.

"I don't know." Mikuru looked back to Nagato. "She texted me a while ago, asking to meet here, but she hasn't said anything."

I was about to ask Nagato what was up, but Koizumi came jogging down the path. "Ah, I'm the last one here." He was wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt and black vest combo. He had an apologetic smile. "Forgive me." He then looked towards Nagato. "So, what's all this about?"

Nagato then closed the book, like she did in school. When she knew she had our attention, she gave another nod. "We're all here then." Nagato then stood up, and pointed down the path. Our eyes followed it to a girl.

I wasn't expecting who it was. It took me a few seconds to recognize her.

I paused, staring at the little girl in a red shirt and red dress. Brown hair, brown eyes, a familiar face... I would have recognized her instantly if she had her two tails and cat ears.

"...Chen?"

The servant of Ran Yakumo bowed, smiling. It was Chen, but in a complete human form. While I'll admit that her having her two tails and cat ears made her impossibly adorable, she was still a cute girl without them.

"Greetings from the Yakumo's, and from Gensokyo."

She then hugged me, and while I was glad to see her, of course, my mind was sending off all kinds of alarms. Why the hell is she here? Well, I can't think it. I might as well ask her. "What are you doing here?"

Before she answered me, she greeted the others. "I asked Miss Nagato to gather all of you here, as I came to deliver a message, and an invitation, actually." She cleared her throat, obviously proud that she was delivering us this message. "The Lunarian Princess Kaguya Houraisan is requesting an audience tonight with everyone who was involved in the Endless Night Incident. Those from Gensokyo have already accepted. However, the invitation has also been extended to the S.O.S. Brigade, sans Miss Suzumiya, of course."

"Us?"

She gave a single nod. "If you accept, Lady Yukari will transport you right now. If you don't, then it is understandable. We are not forcing you."

Holy cow. We get to go back...but go back to what? Another incident? That was my track record. And I think the others kind of felt the same way.

"Give us a second," said Koizumi, getting up and motioning us to gather around. We did as such, silently.

"Should we?" timidly asked Mikuru.

Koizumi gave her a smile. "I don't see why we can't. As long as we can be back before Miss Suzumiya finds out, I don't have any objections." His smile widened. "Who knows. It might be fun."

Considering how angry she is, I doubt she'll want anything to do with anyone for the rest of the night. So we should be safe in that regard.

"Nagato?" I asked.

"It is the same for me. No objections."

They turned to me. I remained silent for a moment, going over it in my head. I mean, I had to. I couldn't do this on a spur of the moment thing. While it was an appealing idea to return to Gensokyo, again, I had to look at my track record. Both times. Two incidents. Saving the world with my life in jeopardy while taking on beings that could essentially be Gods with the powers that they had.

...But that track record had me come out alive. I'd get hurt pretty good, yes, but I wouldn't have any scars or lasting injuries, thanks to the healing ability. There would be times I was scared out of my mind, times I was sure I'd die, times where I should have died...Still walking around breathing though.

Ultimately, I agreed with Koizumi, as I couldn't think of any major drawbacks besides the obvious ones. As long as Haruhi didn't find out, then there would be no harm done. I told them as such. I mean, we're being invited by an actual legendary princess, and I'll be with powerful friends. What could possibly go wro-I just jinxed it didn't I? I had to keep myself from slapping...well...myself.

Sadly, the idiot part of me that didn't listen to the 'you're going back to that violent fantasy world?' was coming up with reasons why I could and should go back. Lucky. I'm lucky. That, or the grace of Haruhi making sure I'll survive whatever is thrown my way just because she likes me is in play. Another positive. A really big one. Even if something goes bad, I'll survive. I always do. I think I got this.

I need to stop listening to you. Don't deny you have fun. I don't deny it, but- So what's the problem? Well, the pain, the fear, and the fact that I got shot last time. Quit complaining. You complain too much. Because I get hurt. I don't like pain. You know this. You have an ability to heal, and you can heal other people. You're better than an emergency room. Others would kill for your ability. But every time I've gone into Gensokyo, it seems someone or something wants to kill me, either for food or for their own purposes. Yet you still walk and breathe. You got this. Maybe so... Maybe you can see her again. That shouldn't even be on the list of why I should go back. See her as a friend. And maybe we can get another dinner party going. Who knows what kind of day it is for cooking. Maybe French? English? Spanish? Italian?

...Even though I just ate...the prospect of a European feast...

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

"I'm in." I'm so wishy-washy.

"And what about Asahina?" We turned our attention to her. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to."

She nodded, a small look of conviction in her eyes. "I can go. I just can't be involved in any fighting. Besides, I'd like to see Alice's dolls again."

Still can't believe that she actually likes those creepy things.

"I'll understand if you back out now," Chen called out to us. "And I think I should tell you - Lady Yukari knows something, but she isn't telling." We all looked to her, and her brow was furrowed. "Lady Yukari appears to have been expecting this night. I don't know what is going on, but she's up to something. I thought you all deserve to know."

"She doesn't tell you?" Shouldn't be surprised, though. This is Yukari, after all. In my small dealings with her, she always had an air of 'I know more than you'll ever know' about her. It wasn't like she flaunted it - she just had that about her.

Chen shook her head. "She keeps us in the dark for a lot of her plans, unless we need to know. It's just the way she is. I'm not complaining or anything, but it's just the way she works." The nekomata then smiled. "But don't worry. I think we'll be able to handle this. She always takes steps to ensure the outcome is in her favor."

"What about that Endless Night?" Nagato shifted, slightly tilting her head. "We would have been done for if it wasn't for Mima."

It was one of the things that had been bothering me from that night. Oh, sure, I took the win and surviving such an incident. I'd be stupid not to. But in the twenty-plus days since then, I had time to think it over. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that it was designed somewhat to go that way.

Chen's smile slowly dropped, her face becoming passive. "I know. That's one of the things I'm personally confused about."

"Then again," I said. "Then again she apparently has no qualms about appearing to being defeated."

Chen slowly nodded, and looked up to the full moon. "Yes...yes that's true. Even on the battlefield, Lady Yukari has a flair for the theatrical." Chen's voice lowered to a whisper, as she neared us. "To tell the truth, I think she does it for her own amusement."

"Oh, Chen, you shouldn't think it." Chen's eyes widened, as we all recognized that voice. It continued. "You should know it."

That was, of course, Yukari, wearing a purple business suit with a dress. She looked like a CEO, to tell the truth, a very important person. Which, I guess, she is. The demon was smirking at her servant's servant, who went red in the face and wildly apologized for saying such a thing. Ran was also there, in a white version of what Yukari was wearing. Like Chen, Ran was missing the animalistic parts of her body. The demon was amused with what Chen was saying, while Ran looked a bit disappointed with her servant.

At the end of it, Chen looked like she was about to cry, but Yukari silently walked up to her and scratched her head. "It's okay, child." She looked back to Ran. "Please don't punish her for this. I'm okay with it." Ran simply nodded, still disappointed.

The demon then walked up to us, stopping, while keeping her smile. Asahina, being intimidated, ducked behind Koizumi. Yukari eyed us for a few seconds, still smiling.

"What Chen has said is correct. You have been invited to Gensokyo. It is your choice, for once, on whether you want to go or not. I will understand your decision." Yukari looked back to Chen. "As for hiding something, yes, tonight will be an extension of the Endless Night incident. An extra, if you will. There will be fighting." She paused, making sure we understood her. When it was obvious that it was sinking in with us, she continued, her voice so mellow. "I'll do my best to minimize any danger to your person, but I can't guarantee it."

Nagato was the first to break the silence of the brigade. "Is the Sky Canopy Domain involved?"

The demon shook her head. "No. It's just an event that's supposed to happen on the timeline. Something on schedule." She rubbed her chin. "Though...you being invited wasn't supposed to happen."

"New timeline, right?" It's what you told me in that unnecessarily long explanation before I went back to January.

Yukari chuckled. "Ah, yes. We're pioneers, going into uncharted waters in a way. A fresh timeline." Yukari looked up to the sky, her smile softening. "While it is exciting to be going down a new road, it does raise some concerns. It will bring new challenges for my Gensokyo. I just hope I can do what I can to keep it alive."

"So...what exactly is going to happen tonight?"

Yukari turned to me, her amused smile coming back, as she spread out her arms. "No, Kyon. I can't tell you that. Not only would that spoil the surprise if you do come into Gensokyo, but..." She wagged her finger. "That would be ruining the theatrics of what's going to happen tonight. It's going to be so much fun!" She then paused, thinking that over. "Well, fun for me. Not fun for the other party." A grin crossed her face, a perverse maniacal grin that actually scared me, as her eyes went youkai, inhuman. Her voice lowered, and it became slightly demonic. "You see...I'm going to be able to let loose on my opponent tonight. I don't get to do that too many times these days, mind you, and have them linger." Asahina squealed at this sound, and I couldn't help but take a step back from Yukari - she was that intimidating. Yukari's eyes became black as the night sky; they were empty, soulless. "But it's going to be so much fun for me to break that woman's will and resolve. It's been too long since I've left an opponent broken, nearly dead, and essentially without a soul."

Yukari's face then reverted back to her calm one, her features returning to human form. I gulped at what she said, and the way she said it. Like I said, it was intimidating. I know Yukari is a demon, but she doesn't usually act the part, at least, not in the time I've been with her.

Jeez...I feel sorry for whoever is going to be on the receiving end of that. But...an opponent that can linger when Yukari uses her full strength? Who in the world can do that? Not the Lunarians, right? Well...isn't Yagokoro immortal? I hope you don't cause something tonight, Yukari.

"Well now." Yukari clasped her hands, acting like her inhuman transformation just seconds before never happened. "If you do not wish to go to Gensokyo, then I won't hold it against you. If you do accept, just realize that there may be some level of danger, especially since it is a full moon night, so don't take it lightly."

I answered her. "We'll go."

Truth is, I was getting curious as to what was going to happen. And part of me wanted to find out how powerful Yukari really was. I mentioned that she was possibly over powered, but I really wanted to see the extension of that power.

Yukari blinked, her eyes widening. She was obviously not expecting that. She quickly recovered, and nodded. "Very well. We will do our best to protect you." The demon winked at me. "Be sure to enjoy the show. Because I know I will."

I let out a breath, looking to my associates. They seemed adamant about it too, about going back, as Yukari opened up a portal to her realm.

"And one more thing, humans...and interface." Yakumo twirled, ending up facing us with a wink and her index finger in a shush. "Keep this a secret, okay? Nobody else but us knows that we're in for a fight. Our paranormal allies will sense that there is something going on, but they don't know what. They'll go along with it simply because they're bored. But what they don't know is that this scheduled fight is going to be tough." We stepped into the realm of the purple eyes as she kept going. Yukari was obviously enjoying this too much. "Some of them will get knocked out, so don't fret too much. Like I said, what is going to happen is supposed to happen. Nobody you know will die tonight...and stay dead."

My curiosity was getting the better of me - I was in the grasp of wanting to go back simply to understand what was going on.

As the portal closed up, I realized it.

I was going back. Willingly going back just to sate my curiosity and find out what Yukari was so happy about.

Mystia was busy cleaning her grill, knowing that there would be no more customers that night in fear of the full moon. She sang a song to herself, one that she had learned. After the last incident, the poltergeists she fought alongside had taken to her voice, and wanted to play with her. They actually had a few practice sessions, where they taught the bird a song - 'God Bless', or something like that. It was a catchy song, and Mystia loved it, but when they asked her to sing live, she got cold feet. The Prismrivers wanted her to sing at that Vampire's gathering that night.

Why am I so embarrassed? I'm okay with singing, and singing to others...just...I don't know if I can sing in front of that many people. They said that there would be a lot of listeners. It was the first time where she was flustered at the prospect of singing. It would also be the first time where she'd be on stage. She always sang on her terms: in the forest to lure customers (and the occasional human for a quick snack), by herself, or at her stall. Actually performing put butterflies in her stomach. Mmm. Butterflies. That reminds me-

"Mysti!"

Mystia looked up, seeing Wriggle there in front of the stall. The firefly had two large bottles of ale.

"What the hell, Mysti? I'm calling out to you, and you're just ignoring me, just slogging away at that thing!" Wriggle's eyes went down to it, before widening. "And I think you overdid it."

Mystia looked down, and saw that with her strength, she had grinded down the steel wool she was using to a mere nub. In fact, her fingers were bleeding a bit. She blinked, feeling stupid, angry, and a multitude of other emotions at the same time. "Ah...Wriggle. I was just thinking."

"Something wrong?"

"...Not really."

"You're lying."

The two stared at each other, before Mystia sighed, putting away her cleaning supplies and tending to her wounds. "I've been asked to sing tonight and play with the Prismrivers."

Wriggle's eyes lit up. "Then what the hell are you doing here? Go! Go sing! Your voice is awesome and they'll love it!"

"It's for the Scarlet Devil and her full moon party."

Wriggle instantly frowned, her antennae flattening. "Ah. Well, screw that then." Mystia smiled at this.

The two were silent as Wriggle patiently waited for Mystia to put everything away. She closed up her stall, making sure it was secure. Taking one of the bottles, Mystia nodded to Wriggle, who appeared to be thinking.

"What is it?"

"...Ah...well, even though it's the Scarlet Devil, I think you should go for it anyway." Wriggle shrugged. "If it were me, I wouldn't do it, but you need to get your voice out there. It's too beautiful to waste on small numbers, you know."

Mystia dismissively waved her hand. "No...I'm just...I'm just too scared." The bird blushed. Wriggle looked like she was about to say something else, so Mystia kept talking, not wanting to go down that route of conversation. "Never mind. Just never mind it. So, uhm..." Mystia looked around. "So where are Cirno, Daiyousei, and Rumia?" Actually, Rumia...

"Cirno said she was needed by that Yuki-Onna. Dai has something to do, but she'll show up later...and of course, nobody has seen Rumia since she went ballistic during the last full moon."

Mystia opened her bottle, staring into it, feeling sad. "I hope she's all right. She saved us all, but...it wasn't her, Wriggle." The bird looked to the firefly. "That thing that ate the youkai wasn't the Rumia we know."

Within a matter of seconds, we were in front of Eintei. Somewhere in that small timeframe, the Yakumos changed back to their usual clothing, with Ran and Chen regaining their animal parts.

Already there were the girls who saved Gensokyo. Reimu, Marisa, Alice, Youmu, Yuyuko, Sakuya, and Remilia. I didn't notice them until a bit later, but Cirno and Letty were there as well, the yuki-onna still needing the ice fairy to even survive the heat. Marisa was obviously happy to see me, as she jumped into my arms, hugging me.

"Ha! I knew you'd come!"

"I'm only here to find out what's going on. And maybe..." My eyes went to Sakuya, as I silently asked her...

I think Sakuya understood. She smirked. "We're having German tonight."

I've never had German food. Should be interesting.

Remilia lightly shoved away Marisa, pleased to see me. "Ah, the pinnacle of cynical returns!" The vampire wore a huge grin.

What the hell kind of nickname is that?! I mean, I'm not that bad, am I? Even if I was, I thought I mostly kept it to myself enough so others wouldn't really see it. Then again, I mostly whine and complain about the situations I'm in, so it would be natural for someone to think that.

Regardless, I greeted her. "Good to see you again, mistress." I looked to the others. "And it's good to see you girls again."

One new addition caught my eye - of a new doll hovering over Alice's right shoulder. Shanghai was over the left, but this new one, who had a red variation of what Shanghai was wearing...it looked somewhat intimidating. It looked angry. Shanghai had a shield, and this new one carried a lance. When I greeted Alice, the new doll was glaring at me. Approaching the puppeteer, the doll got in between us, lance raised and ready. I seriously got the impression that it wanted to impale me, so I stopped cold. Everyone was looking at this, and Alice blushed from embarrassment.

It would be a pretty anticlimactic way for my life to end, wouldn't it? Getting killed by a doll? It would be pathetic, really.

"Hourai, calm down. He's a friend." Alice then grabbed the doll and gently pushed her out of the way. Alice bowed a bit. "I'm sorry about that. My new creation is a bit...overzealous in protecting me."

Clearing my throat, I raised an eyebrow. "'Hourai'?" You named her after the Princess?

"I've actually had that name in mind even before we met Houraisan. Remember? My Hourai Curse spell card? I name my dolls after locations. This child is different from Shanghai, however. Whereas Shanghai is my servant and acts as an attendant, Hourai acts the role of a body guard. She's built for battle." Shanghai curtsied, floating up to me in a greeting, while Hourai just kept glaring at me from the proximity of Alice.

I greeted the blue-clad semi-intelligent doll, patting her on the head. Asahina joined in, giving the doll a hug. "Ah, Shanghai, you're just so cute! I missed you!"

Speaking of built for battle, I noticed the backpack of dolls next to Alice. After doing some more greetings, I had to bring up the question: "Anybody really know what's going on?" I pointed to the backpack. "I mean, if you're expecting real trouble..."

Yuyuko titled her head, wearing her smile, which was slightly apologetic. "Well, Yukari said that we'll have a task tonight, and should be ready. As for what, we don't know."

Reimu, hands on her hips, stated matter-of-factly: "It always pays to be prepared, especially in Gensokyo." She then pointed up to the full moon, referencing it. "And especially on this type of night."

Couldn't argue with that. When I greeted Youmu, I raised my eyebrow at her. She blinked, before she appeared to understand what I was referencing. She gave me a slight sad look, and shook her head. "I still can't bring myself to say it," she whispered. "I just...can't."

I was slightly disappointed, but then again, it's regarding love. It can't be an easy decision.

Before I could get around to greeting our cold allies, we heard the door open. Reisen came out of the door, visibly armed with the M16 hanging off of her. She nodded to us, before looking around - she was making sure it was safe for the Princess to come out, I guess...but there was something about her. In her eyes, she looked...I don't know. Guilty? Something was bothering her.

When it was obviously safe, the soldier headed back in, and it wasn't long before they all came out. Reisen bowed, before going to an at ease stance, but her head was slightly lowered. She didn't even greet us. Yagokoro, who had a bow and a quiver full of arrows, was also looking around. Tewi sat there on the porch, smirking at us. The scene made me uncomfortable.

However, the Princess was obviously happy to see us.

"Ah, I'm so grateful that all of you have made it." She clasped her hands. "It feels like it's been too long since we've spoken," she said as she looked to the Brigade. "But I'm happy that our time wasn't limited, that we actually have another chance to meet. However, I digress." Her smile dropped. "I didn't invite you for pleasantries."

During this, some of the rabbit youkai of Eintei went about setting up a mat for the princess to kneel on, and went about preparing some tea for her. The Princess did as such, her eyes going from person to person, making sure she was heard and understood.

My gut was screaming at me that something was amiss. I think Reimu felt the same way, as she had that steel gaze.

"Now, yesterday, I visited the Hakurei Shrine, where Miss Hakurei, Miss Kirisame, Miss Izayoi, and Miss Konpaku were...as you kids these days call it, 'hanging out' together. They were verbally complaining about having nothing to do, so I have something to do." Kaguya clasped her hands, regaining that smile. "I'll call it a trial of guts." Kaguya's smile began to fade, her tone suddenly becoming serious. "Well, it was. Unfortunately, we have had something happen which will put that on hold." The princess got a somber look on her face. "I'll get right to it. It appears that Gensokyo could be in for another incident. We've had a break in. Someone has stolen something from me, from us, the Lunarians. The Hourai Elixir."

A few of us gasped, including me. I realized the threat level of this situation. Immortality. Someone has the means of achieving immortality. What the hell.

"The Hourai Elixir is out there, ladies and gentlemen. I don't think I need to tell you what would happen if those..." Kaguya brought up her finger to her chin. "What are they called...SCD? Yes, SCD members. I don't think I need to tell you what would happen if those SCD members got their hands on it. I was thinking of personally getting it back myself, but then I had an idea."

Kaguya had addressed my concerns, what I was thinking. If our enemies get a hold of it...that's it. Game over. We wouldn't be able to win.

"Why are you telling us this?" asked Koizumi. "Why not send your soldier to get it back?"

Reisen still didn't look at us, but her left ear slightly perked. Why does she look...down? Reisen looked so sad, from what I could see of the limited view of her face.

Kaguya spread out her arms, smirking. "What better way than to reward my new allies than with immortality?" She then waved her hand. "Here is the deal: if you can get it back, and punish the person who did it, as well as make sure it doesn't fall into enemy hands, it's yours. You can have the Hourai Elixir for yourselves, and divide it accordingly."

One could hear a pin drop. The silence of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost along with our own was unnerving, as we all must have realized the potential for this.

We could become immortal, just like her. Just like the doctor. Being able to live forever. Isn't this what most of mankind has strived for? Immortality? To live forever?

I had given it some thought. Would I like to be immortal? Well, I thought I did. When I was younger, I did want to live forever, be reckless, stuff like that. But two things have happened. One, I grew up. Two, finding out that there really was an afterlife kind of skewed that way of thinking. I mean, I'd like to live a long time, but endlessly? No. Not anymore. I could live on in the afterlife, and if Yuyuko's offer was still good, I'd be hanging out with her and Youmu. Not a bad way to spend the afterlife - in a realm with artists. I'd never be bored, I'd enjoy the gardens, and I'd be able to hear the Prismrivers play, as well as enjoy whatever works the artists up there could or have come up with after their deaths. On top of that, I would have access to Gensokyo through the doorway into the realm of the living, so I'd be with friends. However long Remilia and Patchouli would live, I could visit them. Of course as a ghost, I'd be a youkai, so I'd have to be wary of any youkai exterminators...

As you can see, I've had some time to think it over. Basically, I don't think I would like to live forever. Isn't there a Queen song like that? 'Who Wants to Live Forever?' But who knows - maybe in time my opinion could change back to wanting immortality. I'm just a normal human after all, and I need to have a set story. An endless one doesn't seem like it would fit me.

I digress. Back to our silence. Youmu was the first to break it. "Whom are we talking about? Who stole it?'

"I do not know if you've met her, but she's from the Human Village." Kaguya took a sip of tea. "One of the defenders, in fact. Her name is Mokou Fujiwara."

Smoker girl?! Of course, this made Koizumi's jaw drop slightly. Also...'Fujiwara'? No...there can't be a relation, right? It's a common enough surname.

"No...no." Marisa scratched her head under her hat. "She's a defender of the human village, ze. She leads sick and ailing humans to the doctor. She's a good person. Why would she do such a thing?"

The princess shrugged, wearing a mask of no emotion. "The prospect of immortality is too big a temptation, it seems."

I had noticed that neither Yagokoro or Tewi were contributing to this conversation, like with Reisen. It was all Kaguya. Yagokoro kept her calm expression, while Tewi appeared to not care about the conversation. Reisen still wasn't making eye contact with us...she started to look troubled. A feeling in my gut started to form, that what was being said was a lie. Yet...some of it appeared to be truth. It was just uneasy.

"She is a filthy thief, and criminals need to receive their punishment."

Reimu slightly raised her index finger. "Give us a minute."

Kaguya paused, then gave a nod. "Very well, but time is of the essence."

We crowded around the miko some distance from Eintei, so we couldn't be heard. Reimu looked over us. Her brow was furrowed. "Something's not right. Kaguya is lying, but she's also telling the truth in some respects. I just can't tell what is what. But I know she's lying to us on something."

"I think so too." I looked again to the soldier. "Reisen kind of looks guilty, just by being here. But again, yeah, I agree with you, Reimu. I get the feeling that Kaguya is lying."

"She is lying." Nagato stared right at the Princess. "Heartbeat was increasing, but I can't tell what she's lying about. It's difficult - erratic. I think it's because she's essentially on Eintei grounds that I can't get a clear sense of it or not." Nagato lowered her head. "Regardless, I think she's telling the truth of the Hourai Elixir. If it is out there, then I don't want it in enemy hands."

"What's going on again?" I had forgotten that Cirno was with us. The little ice fairy was wide-eyed. It was obvious she was in over her head by just being here. The rest of us ignored her, to which she complained about for a while.

Youmu had her arms crossed, brow furrowed, all serious. "Do you think it would work on Data Entities?"

"I do not know. I would rather not find out, either for my kind or for SCD kind"

Youmu slowly nodded, her index finger tapping on her chin. "Hmm. If it doesn't, then what of the enemy time travelers or espers?"

And would it work on Youmu? She's only half alive, so what would happen if she took it? Would her dead half disappear or something while her human half lived on, or would both be immortal?

"It has to work, right?" Mikuru scratched her head, her face deep in thought. "I mean, in the folktale, it was given to the Japanese Emperor as a gift, so it has to be usable by humans as well, not just Lunarians."

"Someone tell me what's going on!" Cirno was getting angry.

But we never found out about it - according to the tale, it was destroyed by the Emperor when he couldn't have Kaguya; it got thrown into Mount Fuji. It should work on humans, though. The prospect of it being consumed by an enemy however...ugh. I hated Fujiwara already, but if that sneering bastard became immortal and went after Haruhi again, we wouldn't be able to stop him. No one would, not even Nagato. And if it worked on SCD members, then I would really have no way to combat Suou.

"You gotta admit, ze..." Marisa was rubbing her chin, a thoughtful look on her face. "Getting the Hourai Elixir as a reward? That sounds awesome."

"It sounds scary." Sakuya had a worried look on her face. "Living forever sounds scary."

I nodded, agreeing with her. "But enemies wielding it sounds even scarier."

"It is a tantilizing incentive, however you look at it." Koizumi beamed a bit, hands on his hips. "Heck, even just getting it might be a great boon - using it as a deterrent." We all stared at him, and he raised an index finger, obviously sensing that we didn't understand his reasoning for such a statement. "Think about it. If our enemies try to make a move against us, we can threaten the use of the Hourai Elixir on a few of our guys. Our enemy would then have to contend with unkillable warriors. Just threatening that would keep them in line. I'd like to avoid condemning a few espers to immortality though, which is why it would merely be a deterrent."

It would be cold war type stuff. 'You do anything, we'll unleash something terrible upon your world.' United States vs. Russia. Nuclear Bomb deterrant. Of course, if that esper ever decided that they wanted to take over the world after becoming immortal, they could do a lot of damage, if not outright win. So such a thing would have to be decided with great care, or not done at all. It's so risky, really.

"Immortals? De...deturrant? What?" Cirno scratched her head. She looked so lost in the conversation. "Eye...don't know...what?"

I had noticed that our paranormal allies weren't saying anything. Letty, Remilia, Yuyuko, Alice, nor Yukari were bringing anything to this conversation.

"You do not believe me." We all turned, Kaguya staring at us. She then motioned for Reimu to go to her. "Come. Look in my eyes, miko, as I tell you it."

Reimu was face-to-face with the princess in a few moments. The princess had a serious look on her face. "That thief stole the Hourai Elixir. It wasn't hers to take, but she took it. That's the honest truth. Get it back, and it's yours. That is the situation that is laid out before you."

From the way Kaguya said that, I believed her - I couldn't help but to do so. And after a few moments, Reimu turned her head to us, giving a nod.

Kaguya was telling the truth.

The Hourai Elixir was out there, and would be ours if we could get it back.

They watched as they left into the portal of the sukima. Reisen wanted to say something, but knew she couldn't. It left a bad taste in her mouth to be a part of this, and she wondered if any of them would seek revenge for this later. If I were in their position, I think I would. She hadn't expected the Brigade to show up though. For them to get involved... They're just kids. And they're going up against that girl.

The sukima had given them further information regarding the Haruhi-stuff going on out there, to supplement what they've learned less than a month ago. The Princess had loved it, becoming somewhat enchanted by the notion of two normal little girls that had the powers of gods, powers that went beyond everyone in Gensokyo. That even unconsciously, they were able to create creatures and worlds. That, and there was the notion that even the Lunarians were created by those two girls. It was ludicrous, in Reisen's opinion, and Master had the same opinion. The Princess, however, appeared to believe in it.

Why send the Brigade to such a fate if you like them so much though? Why do this?

Kaguya slowly turned to the soldier. "Do you have something to say, Udonge?"

Reisen did her best to not reel back from the shock of being spoken to. The Princess must have sensed Reisen's displeasure with the whole charade. The soldier took a while to respond, not sure if she should at all, but eventually she did. Reisen didn't want to keep the Princess waiting for an answer. "...Permission to speak freely?"

"You should know better than to be impudent, Udonge." Yagokoro glared at her.

Reisen felt herself shrink under her master's glare, the soldier's ears flattening. "...Then no...I don't have anything to say."

"You have my permission, Reisen." Kaguya sipped her tea, obviously amused by this. Before Yagokoro could protest, Kaguya raised a finger at her. "It's okay, Eirin." Kaguya then returned her attention to the soldier. She patted on the mat next to her. "Come."

Reisen then knelt down, still afraid to speak her mind. "It's just that...Mokou is a good person...I just can't understand why-"

Kaguya placed her index finger on the soldier's lips, shushing her.

"Reisen...it's because I'm bored. That's all." The princess smiled at her. "This will make things quite interesting, don't you think? Sic'ing them, the ones who defeated me, us, on her?"

"But if they all fall..." Reisen realized it, her eyes widening, before she even finished that sentence. She felt really guilty.

Nobody said anything for a while as the princess finished her tea. When she did, she stood up, and Kaguya slowly made her way back inside, smirking. "Then the ones who defeated us will taste defeat, and will be beaten to within an inch of their lives. Or, they'll end up killing her multiple times." Kaguya grinned, looking up to the moon. "Either way, I get something out of this, Reisen. I win."

We had teleported to the outskirts of the Human Village, on the path in between the Shrine and the Village. Of course, it being the full moon, the void was up and running, so we were staring at that dome. Mikuru was to sit this one out at the SDM, so she was sent there via portals. I wanted to see this for myself. Most of the group circled around Reimu, discussing what was going to happen. Letty and Cirno stayed near us, as did Youmu.

"Hey Letty."

Her one good eye turned to me. "Hmm?'

"You think it would work on you?"

Whiterock blinked a few times, thinking it over. "It would be interesting to find out. If so...then maybe I won't have to worry about heat anymore. But seeing as I'm already dead, and am a creature of the cold...it could be moot." She closed her eye. "Still...if I can just overcome my own weakness of the heat, if immortality can do that for me, then I'd like to find out." She sighed. "If I wasn't so weak to it, then..." She looked to me, not finishing that sentence.

"Spring Snow."

She nodded.

Yuyuko, a concered look on her face, grabbed Yukari and took her aside. As our group was close, we heard their conversation.

"What is going on? You know the Princess is lying to the humans. Why allow this?"

"Why are you allowing this?" Yukari smirked.

Yuyuko blinked for a few seconds, before sheepishly replying. "Because I'm bored."

Then why are you complaining in the first place? Also, Yukari really was right - this is supposed to happen. Isn't it cheating to do this? To use the knowledge of the future to your advantage?

"And so am I." Yukari beamed. "The Princess thinks she has manipulated me - she is sorely wrong. It's impossible for her to manipulate the manipulator. I just want something to do." Yukari's eyes fell on Youmu. "At least I'm not putting my servants in such danger to alleviate my boredom."

Damn, Yukari. Low blow to your friend there.

Yuyuko's eyes darted to her servant, a worrying look on the ghost mistress' face. "Should we withdraw?"

"There is nothing to worry about. What is transpiring right now is supposed to happen. The events are unfolding like they should... though the presence of the S.O.S. Brigade is new."

"So why let them into Gensokyo if it bothers you so much?"

"The princess requested it. I don't want to strain my Lunarian relations too much. Just enough, mind you, but not too much. So I honored the request of the princess, of passing the invitation on to them. I didn't think they'd accept." Yukari dismissively waved her hand. "No matter. I'll take measures to see that no harm will come to you, Youmu, or the Brigade. Just do as I say, and you should be all right. This is going to be a fight. A massive fight. It's supposed to happen, and some of us will fall in the upcoming danmaku battles." Yukari looked to Yuyuko and Youmu, but keeping eye contact with the ghost mistress. "In fact...I recommend you two don't fight. I don't want anything bad to happen to either of you."

I looked to Nagato, asking if she would be ready for anything. Of course, she confirmed that she was. As was Koizumi.

"You think we're in over our heads?" I asked.

"When aren't we?" That was actually Nagato. She had a sly smile about that remark. I couldn't help but smile as well.

Koizumi let out a chuckle. "Ah, yes, we always find a way to overcome our situations."

"Yeah..." I let out a sigh. "I just wonder how long our luck can hold out."

"Luck of the Gods, or maybe more." That was Youmu, who walked past us, giving us that remark. She made her way to the ghost and the demon. Youmu was obviously confused, her brow furrowed. She couldn't take being spoken about in secret and butted in. "Forgive me for intruding, Lady Yuyuko and Lady Yukari, but what is going on tonight, if I may ask?"

Yukari grinned that same maniacal grin. "I don't want to spoil the surprise."

Youmu looked like she was going to say more, but Yuyuko put her hand on her gardener's arm, shaking her head no. Youmu kept silent.

"Just...trust me here, okay?" Yukari nodded to Letty. "In fact, remember: the girl we're going after has control of fire. I don't recommend you or that ice fairy to be here. Neither of you won't last."

Cirno puffed out her chest. "Eye'll beat her down myself! No fire can beat my Perfect Freeze!"

Well, I've seen firsthand the effect of the Perfect Freeze...but it can beat fire?

Regardless, I think the demon ignored the bravado of the ice fairy. Yukari turned around to join the group again, but there stood Remilia, arms crossed with a raised eyebrow. The two didn't say anything to each other for a few seconds, but Remilia had obviously heard the demon and moved closer.

"I refuse to be knocked out, sukima."

Yukari twirled the unopened parasol in her hand like she was twirling a walking cane. "That isn't your fate to decide." She circled the vampire. "Hell, look at the chains of your fate for tonight. They all say 'knocked out', don't they?"

Remilia looked pissed, but she didn't reply.

What the hell is going to happen tonight? I was more curious then ever about this 'Extra'.

Letty and Cirno would watch from afar, more for the safety of the yuki-onna than anything else. She was so limited in summer, needing that ice fairy to even be there. Whenever Cirno strayed from the side of Letty, I could see that it was painful for the ghost.

Anyways, we didn't really know what to do. Reimu was against going into the dome and into the human village to hunt for one of its defenders, as were some of them. Remilia wanted to go full-on assault, but that wasn't going to happen, not unless she wanted a war.

By the way, we remembered what was in the dome because of Yukari's manipulation - she altered the history-hiding effect for just us, so that's why we knew the Human Village was in there.

Ultimately, Yukari was the one who decided to simply call out into the dome without going into it, for Mokou to come out and face the music, so to speak. Which the demon then proceeded to do. And then to appease Remilia, in a way, she ever-so-casually lightly threatened the safety of the village by way of opening a portal into space and sucking some of the residents into it if Mokou didn't show herself.

What the hell?! I stared at her like she was crazy.

Reimu was livid after that, screaming at the demon, and understandably so. Hell, I was uncomfortable being a part of that, and wanted to shrink behind someone.

However, a familiar snarling figure darted out of the dome, going right for Yukari. The demon quickly used one of her portals (she made one under her and dropped into it, dropping out of a portal a few meters away and landing on the ground) to avoid the attack.

Geez. Using her portals, if Yukari is serious, one can't hit her. She can just teleport any... My thoughts trailed off as I stared at who stood before us.

It took me a few seconds to recognize this...youkai. Good Lord. So this is her when it's a full moon. It was her. But a green variant. Her clothes were green, her hair had a green tint. It was as if someone did a color pallete swap on her from her blue scheme.

What was also noticable was that her clothes were torn in places, she had fangs, her eyes were glowing read, and her nails were long like claws. The most prominent thing? She had two horns on her head, one with a ribbon tied to it. Upon looking at it, it was an amulet of some kind. I'd later learn it was an oblivion charm, which is a youkai inhibitor of sorts, for those that don't know. It lessens their power, if you can manage to get one onto a youkai.

I would also later learn that it was there to allow her to maintain a human-like form, otherwise she'd turn into a full-beast.

But it was Keine Kamishirasawa, in her youkai form, or were-youkai form, whatever it really was. It wasn't the defender we were looking for - it was the other one.

"By the Gods..." Youmu said under her breath, stunned like some of us were at Keine's form.

Alice let out a low whistle. "You've really let yourself go, Keine." The puppeteer smirked. "Not that I'm complaining. I just love what you've done with yourself."

Didn't Yuka say that to Alice? As for me, well, Keine still looked beautiful. It was just that she was now extremely intimidating with youkai characteristics.

"Damn, Keine." Marisa rubbed the back of her neck. She was blatantly trying to not show how unnerved she was about seeing the teacher like this. "I've heard about it, but I've never actually seen it for myself. You really are a youkai..."

"Wow," gasped Sakuya. "You've changed so much."

The teacher emitted a low growl, scowling at us. "I've been waiting for you."

Remilia stepped forward, obviously wanting to be the one to challenge Keine. Remilia, what are you doing?! Isn't Keine at her strongest now? I've seen her take danmaku shots and still stand while she was in her mere human form! How strong is she as a full youkai?

Also, looked like we were going to get the old as time battle between were-beast and vampire.

"And I've been waiting for an excuse to put down a were-beast."

Well, to hell with trying to do this any other way but Remilia's way.

"Are you seriously challenging me on the night of the full moon? You've got guts, Scarlet Devil."

"Yes I do. But I'll be spilling yours all over the place...unless you want to use danmaku."

We could see that Keine had a few cards in her left hand, so I guess that answered that.

"You may not lay a single finger on that human!"

Remilia cocked her head to a side. "Ah, so you already know of the treachery she committed."

"I'm not letting a group of youkai threaten the village just to get at one person." Keine snarled, baring her fangs. "You'll have to get through me!"

For a few seconds, Remilia silently stared at her soon-to-be opponent. She then turned her head to us. "Kyon? Yukari?"

"...Yes, Mistress?"

"What exactly is she? She's obviously not a filthy werewolf, so what is she?"

Well, I couldn't tell just by looking. The weird thing about this place is that most youkai were in human form. There were obvious things like the fairies, and wings, antennae, etc. But I couldn't fathom to guess what Keine was. Maybe...like Suika? Oni? Were-oni?

"A hakutaku." Yukari playfully twirled her unopen parasol. "A were-hakutaku, to be specific."

Good Lord...a Hakutaku. Well, that answers that.

Remilia had an incredulous look on her face, silently asking 'what?' "I...ah...you have to realize that my knowledge extends to mostly western youkai and folklore. Eastern youkai aren't exactly my forte."

I slightly raised my hand. "I can answer that. Hakutaku. According to folklore, a hakutaku was a youkai that approached the emperor of Japan, bearing a book that had information and weaknesses of all the youkai of the world. Basically, hakutaku's are allies of humans."

It was an unnamed emperor, just for the sake of the story, but yeah, hakutakus are allies to humans. Always have been.

Then I realized what I just did. The information I just gave to Remilia would spell doom for Keine there. Oh I'm so sorry Keine.

Remila's eyes widened. "Information and weaknesses?" She slowly turned to her opponent. "So...you're a traitor. Your kind gave up our weaknesses?" Remilia bared her fangs, an anger rising in her face. "You're a traitor and a filthy were-beast! I am so going to hurt you!"

"We're the first ones who realized that we need humanity to survive, not unlike that demon."

"I'll put you down, traitor!"

Defiant, Keine smirked. "This coming from a girl who was born human? 'Half-breed' this, and 'half-breed' that. You're one to talk. You weren't born the way you are now - I can see the fang marks on your neck. Those are the only scars that never heal for turned vampires. You're not a pure blood." Keine placed her hand over her heart. "Me? I was born with this curse. I'm more pure blood than you, little vampire."

I think that angered Remilia even further. Her fists clenched, she bored her fangs and hissed. Keine snarled as well, before she read a spell card.

[SPELL CARD: PAST "ANCIENT HISTORY"]

Keine was vastly stronger than she was on that night - her patterns were far more dense, and that's saying something. Four points appeared around the hakutaku, emitting a cross wave of danmaku, before turning, spreading around the shots. Before they were done, Keine did a massive spread shot of red danmaku. When they were done, there was a slight lull, and it went back to the four crosses.

Remilia just watched and waited. It didn't take her long to figure out the pattern.

And then she did something unusual in a danmaku fight.

"Gungnir!"

The spear - the real one - appeared in Remilia's outstretched hand, while she pointed at Keine with the other one.

Oh my God oh my God oh my God.

"What the hell are you doing Remilia?!" screamed Reimu.

The vampire tensed her arm, getting ready to throw. Keine had seen this, her eyes going wide.

"Remilia! Don't do it!"

Ignoring me, Remilia threw the spear.

Keine dropped out of the air, landing on the ground to try to avoid the throw, but the spear redirected itself. Keine moved fast, but the spear kept homing in. She shielded herself with her arms...and the spear pierced the ground next to her.

What?!

I breathed a sigh of relief, until I saw what Remilia had done. Keine was distracted for a microsecond, which Remilia used to get close to the teacher.

[SPELL CARD: SCARLET SIGN "RED THE NIGHTLESS CASTLE"]

Remilia's cross of red danmaku light. Point blank. Keine didn't have a chance - she took the entirety of the spell card of the vampire.

The battle hadn't even lasted a minute. Remilia threw back her head and laughed at what just happened.

Reimu, angry, went up to Remilia, shoving her a bit. "Do I need to remind you what the rules are there for?!"

The vampire merely shrugged. "If I had thrown for Keine with Gungnir, she'd have it pierced through her head right now. I didn't intend for her to die." Remilia dismissively waved her hand. "I'm within the confines of your precious rules, miko."

"...So you used a lethal threat to win a non-lethal battle. That's low, even for you vampire. There's no honor in that at all."

I thought I heard Yukari giggle, but I wasn't sure. She's finding enjoyment out of the weirdest things.

The vampire smirked, hands on her hips as she made her way to her downed foe. "I fought you non-lethally, out of respect. And I got a damn good fight out of it. For this..." Remilia tapped her foot on Keine's leg, weakly kicking the downed hakutaku. "This filthy were-beast doesn't deserve anything. Not even the dirt off my shoes."

Stop being so blatantly bigoted, Remilia! It's uncomfortable!

Remilia knelt, grabbing Keine by the hair to make the were-beast face her. The teacher made a gasping noise in response to the hair pull. Remilia smiled at this. "All right then, traitor. Are we going to do this the fun way, or are you going to be a good little girl and bring us this Mokou person...and then I do this the fun way with her?"

"Milady move!"

I had seen it at the same time as Sakuya. From beyond the dome, there was a light emitting, a red light...and I could feel the heat seeping from the dome. Remilia and Reimu jumped back, as a gigantic fireball was launched in their direction. We all stared at it, the ball of fire, and it began to die out.

And somebody happened to be in it.

Mokou Fujiwara. She looked enraged. Her shoulders were shaking, fists clenched, teeth grit. She was still on fire though.

That was actually a pretty cool entrance.

"Ah...Miss Mokou..." Koizumi appeared to be saddened by this, by what he knew was in store for the smoker girl.

Mokou approached Keine, her arms still ablaze. When she got to the were-hakutaku, the flames went out, and Mokou went about helping up Keine.

"You okay?"

Keine slowly nodded.

"Ai'ight." Mokou glared at us. "Just get back into the village. I'll take care of them."

Keine, of course, protested, but Mokou didn't listen. Eventually, the teacher did go back into the dome, leaving Mokou to us.

Mokou appeared to calm down, assessing the situation. She casually lit another cigarette. "Hmph. I guess I'm grateful that ya didn't kill Keine over me..." She narrowed her eyes. "Nights like these are brutal." She took a long draw, holding in the smoke. "For mere youkai to exercise mercy to a human on a full moon is quite...weird. Unusual."

"Don't treat me like a mere youkai," Remilia angrily said. "I'm proud and noble."

You weren't proud and noble with Keine, you hypocrite.

Mokou allowed herself to smile, though she still kept her glare. "So...what could a bunch'a human and youkai be doing here?"

"Would you believe a trial of guts, ze?"

Youmu drummed her fingers on the hilt of her katana. "And getting something back that you stole, defender."

Something, again, was not right. If I were in Mokou's position, even with her flame powers, I think I'd be scared to go up against such a group. There was a calmness about Mokou...a confidence.

"That look in your eyes...it sickens me." Remilia's wings spread out, as she stepped forward from the rest of us. "You're showing no fear. You saw how I put down your friend there. Why do you have no fear of youkai, of me? Why do you not tremble with fear in my presence?"

Mokou had kept doing long draws of her cigarette, and it was ashes at that point. She snuffed it out under her sneaker. Raising a finger as she brought out another one, she spoke. "Uh...just a question? What did I steal, again?"

"Don't play dumb, human." Remilia extended her hand. "The Hourai Elixir. Now."

Mokou paused, stopping all movement for a few seconds, and dropping her glare. It was as if she became a statue. Then...she laughed.

"Okay. All right. I get it. More assassins." Mokou rolled her eyes. "She never stops. What a bitch." Mokou shook her head. "Kaguya's playin' you."

I knew it! She was lying to us!

"We know," Yukari chimed. "Well...I know."

Mokou kept shaking her head. "All right all right. If we're going to do this, then let's make it interesting." She stared at us, her eyes brightening as she brought out a cigarette. "Actually...How 'bout this? It took all of you to do that assault on Eintei last month, right? To beat them? Right?"

"Yeah..." Reimu confirmed, but she looked back to us. Like everybody else, she knew something was up.

"Nice. Well, okay. Since it took all of ya to take on the Lunarians, how's this?"

She put the cigarette to her lips, clamping down on it, and that flame from her thumb lit it up. She took a few puffs to make sure it stayed lit, and then took a long draw.

But the flame. The flame from her thumb didn't go out.

"How's this?"

The flames engulfed her hand.

"Since it took most of ya to put down Kaguya-"

The flames engulfed her arm.

"-And since she decided to send you at me-"

The flames engulfed her torso.

"How about I kick all of your asses right here, right now, and do what she couldn't do?"

Her entire body was on fire, but nothing was burning. Not flesh, hair, or her clothes. She was covered in flames. The fire spread, encircling us on the road for a fifty meter circle.

Ah great, now I can't even run if I wanted to!

Everybody tensed, seeing that we couldn't escape on ground. Which would be moot. Yukari had her portals, and everyone but me could fly. I'd be the only one who would be screwed if I didn't get help. Hope that doesn't happen. I don't think I'd last long against Mokou.

"She wants to send me a message? I'll send her a message with your broken bodies: 'Don't fool with me'."

She didn't say "fool".

I have to say that the situation was pretty scary. I was surrounded by fire. Fire. And there was a girl on fire who could control fire. Scary on a primal level, you know.

Remilia put her hands on her hips, obviously amused. "Really. You're challenging me, you little firebug?"

Mokou pointed at the vampire. "Put down that spear and I'll kick your ass. Fight me."

Remilia, wide eyed at the impudence of our opponent, impaled the spear into the ground, and made her way to the defender. "You shouldn't have said that, defender." Mokou tensed, getting ready in a brawler-type fighting stance.

...Are you going to try to punch Remilia? Really? Are you suicidal?

"Milady, do you want me to take care of her in your honor?"

Remilia didn't take her eyes off of Mokou. "No. I got this. Now, defender...saying things like that will make me lose respect for you as a fighter." Remilia grinned. "And I just showed Keine what happens to those whom I have no respect for."

Mokou's eyes widened, as she realized it. Remilia had called for Gungnir, regaining the spear.

What happened was so quick. Mokou tried to use her flames against the vampire, but Remilia impaled Mokou in the leg, the spearhead piercing into the ground, pinning her.

"Mokou!" shouted Koizumi. He was obviously agitated at seeing this.

Come on, she didn't deserve that! Just knock her out and be done with it. There's no need for this, Remilia! I thought and yelled that at the same time. There were other protests, mostly from Marisa and Reimu, but Remilia ignored us.

"I don't fight clean against those who don't deserve it."

Mokou was gritting her teeth, breathing heavily as she stared at the wound. The fires around us and on Mokou began to die down. Remilia grabbed Mokou by the throat, slightly lifting her up, causing stress on the pinned leg. Mokou grunted in pain.

"All right then, defender. While I had an idea that Kaguya was trying to...as you said it...'play me', I went along with it because I had nothing to do before my party. However, the impudence of you and your friend there have put me in a sour mood. I'd like for this to be over, so I can go back to a civilized setting. Just give us the..."

Remilia had trailed off, staring down. We couldn't see what she was looking at.

"...What in the world..."

Whatever it was, it had Remilia's full attention. She didn't see Mokou ball up her fist. Mokou swung her fist at Remilia. I noticed that during the windup of the punch, fire formed in the immortal's hand, but it glowed differently.

Danmaku?

It connected with the vampire. Remilia's body stiffened and then went relaxed as she was knocked back about a meter. Mokou just knocked out Remilia with a single danmaku-powered punch. The smoker stood there, cracking her knuckles while staring down at the vampire.

Remilia!

"Oh dear," said Yukari rather mockingly. She was very amused by this. "The little vampire went and got herself knocked out." I saw Reimu slowly shaking her head at this display.

I, of course, was horrified. Despite my differences with Remilia, she was my friend. There was one person, however, who took extreme exception to what just happened.

An enraged Sakuya rushed forward, real knives in hand. I think you know where this was going. Mokou couldn't move in a fight with a time-stopping maid.

No matter how much I called out to Sakuya to calm down, she didn't listen. She kept disappearing, reappearing, slashing at Mokou, and disappeared again. They weren't lethal slashes, just slashes to maximize pain.

During this, Nagato and I dragged Remilia away from this. The vampire was out cold. This was a girl who withstood a tremendous amount of pain during the assault on Eintei, and could stand despite such pain...yet there she was. Knocked out. Her wings were shaking every now and then, and her jaw would tense, but she wasn't there.

"Sakuya! Don't!" That was Koizumi.

You see, Sakuya had enough of merely slashing, and was up against Mokou, knife pointed directly at the throat. Sakuya kept pushing down, trying to plunge the knife into the flesh.

I had seen Sakuya kill data entities. I had seen Sakuya kill youkai. And I've heard of her killing humans.

But I saw her do it.

I'm not going to describe it, because it was horrifying. Mokou's reaction when it happened. And the blood...

Sakuya lowered her head, falling to her knees, her shoulders showing that she was breathing heavily, as she stared at what she had done.

"Sakuya..." I finally gasped. Standing there, I couldn't believe what I had just seen. The end of a human life by another human.

I had never hoped to be in the presence of such a thing. Ever. I didn't even know what to think. I was in a state of shock, that the whole thing felt surreal, like some bad dream.

"Damn, man." Marisa slowly shook her head. "What the hell."

"Kaguya planned this." Alice let out a sigh. "She wanted this to happen."

I could see that Reimu was burning with anger. She went up to Yukari. "You allowed this to happen?! You knew we were being set up and you went along with it?!" Reimu pointed at Mokou. "That's on you! Her death is on you!"

Yukari just kept...smiling?

What was there to smile about? You said that tonight would be amusing! I wanted to scream at the demon for doing this, for allowing this, until Yuyuko caught my eye.

Yuyuko, was wide-eyed. "No...she...what?" She had everyone's attention, as she pointed to Mokou. "Look..."

"Surprise..." Yukari whispered that.

The blood on the floor, and on Sakuya, had turned green and gave off a slight glow. The blood...traveled off of the floor, and off of the maid, congealing together, and moving to the body of Mokou. It went back to the wounds of the defender, going inside the body.

What in the world...

To my (and most of my companions') complete surprise, Mokou grunted, slowly getting up. Her eyes glowed green during this. She pulled the spear out of the ground, and then pushed it through her so it wasn't in her leg. Tossing it away, the green blood on the spear did the same - it traveled back to the defender. We could see the blood still going back into her neck, and when it all went in, the wound glowed green for a second, before it and the eye color faded. Mokou's eyes were back to normal, and there was no wounds on the neck or the leg of the smoker, and all of the slash marks on the flesh were gone.

She glared at Sakuya. "Do you realize how much that hurts?"

What the f- Yeah, that was a gimme on my reaction, wasn't it?

Sakuya took a step back. All of us did. I understood what this was after a few seconds.

Mokou had already drank the Hourai Elixir. She was an immortal.

It kept happening. Mokou had reignited the flames, so Sakuya had to defend herself. Sakuya would disappear, reappear, stab, and the cycle would start over. Every time, the blood fell from the maids opponent. Every time, the blood turned green and returned to the body. During one cycle, Mokou had timed it just right, and grabbed the hand of Sakuya.

Sakuya had gotten caught - Mokou grasped the maid by the arm, and grinned. Flames were covering the overall-wearing girl again. Sakuya desperately tried to shake her off, but couldn't.

Within seconds the flames overtook Sakuya as well.

I heard Sakuya scream.

It was danmaku fire, thankfully, knocking out Sakuya, flinging her to us. But some of that fire was still on her dress, which Koizumi, Nagato, and myself snuffed out.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of the smoker girl. I couldn't believe what she was, and what she did. Oh man...oh man. She just took out both Sakuya and Remilia!

The fire around us intensified as Mokou stood there, hands on her hips. "What did she tell you, that I stole it? And you were led to believe that this 'theft' was recent?"

The flames reached heights above our heads, a proverbial wall. The heat was becoming unbearable, and I could only wonder how it was for Letty and Cirno who were outside of it. Inside the ring of fire, the heat was intense.

"Thirteen hundred years! Thirteen hundred years ago, I drank it! And I've regretted it ever since!"

...Fujiwara...No...you're not...

Ever get that flash of insight, where everything just aligns perfectly? No matter how farfetched the idea is, it happens to be right? One of those one-in-a-thousand guesses. My mind did that. I don't know how I came up with it, how I put it together, but it aligned.

In my mind, I made the connection. Thirteen hundred years ago, there was an important Fujiwara. Fujiwara no Fuhito, the aide to the emperor of Japan, and founder of the Fujiwara families that would be by the side of the coming emperors. He had many children, some by different wives or women. The Fujiwara clans are quite famous, with him being the father of it all.

"...Fujiwara...no Fuhito?"

Mokou blinked, pausing, as she got out another cigarette. She then scoffed. "Ah...you're quick." A soft smile formed on her face. "You know yer history. That's good." She casually lit it, taking long puffs. "Usually, when people hear my name, and learn how long I've lived, they don't think I'm attached to him in any way." Mokou grinned, the cigarette in the corner of her mouth. "Then again, they usually know me as 'Mokou Fujiwara'. They don't know I'm 'Fujiwara no Mokou'."

Oh Good Lord...a daughter of Fuhito himself... And for those who don't know, the 'no' part in the name indicated nobility. If I were to put Remilia's name into Japanese, it would be 'Scarlet no Remilia', or something along those lines.

The flames around us kept intensifying, as she caught on fire again - the cigarette burning out. "But...enough about me. We're talking about beating you guys down, right?"

Mokou smirked at us, blowing out the rest of the smoke in her lungs.

How the hell could we stop her? She was an immortal...an immortal that could still die, but would just jump back up and fight again. What a perfect situation for a defender of the village - the village can't lose with her on their side. Interesting how that works as well. So...the green light was the Hourai Elixir activating, I guess? I'd later find out that's how it worked - the Hourai Elixir repairs the body, constantly regenerating, keeping the ingestor locked at the exact age of ingestion. Even if the body was completely destroyed along with the Elixir, the Elixir would just recreate the body even from nothing and continue to have its host living. And when the body died, the Hourai Elixir would make the person more resistant to that way of dying. In other words, what kills them makes them stronger the next time around. Poisons, weapons, diseases...they become stronger against it. Like an immune system.

...And it does work on humans.

"Who's next?" Mokou's gaze went to Yuyuko. "How about you, you stupid ghost? Ya know, your incident cost us many lives. I think it's time I put you down."

Enraged, Youmu dashed forward, drawing out her katana.

"Youmu!"

[ENTIRE UPLOAD EXPUNGED]

Why are villain Yukari and Remilia so much fun to write for?

Read and Review! Lady Yukari demands it!