Imperfect Cherry Blossom

by Supperdude9

Belief, faith, & fear are funny things. Kyon finds himself in a new world, a world of true fantasy. He will need help to get out of Gensokyo alive. Haruhi/Touhou Crossover! Set after the events of Snow Mountain Syndrome & written as an introduction to Touhou. Rated T. Soundtrack companion available on Youtube. Search episode name for playlists! Meltdown 12.5 is OUT!

38. TMOHS Episode 4 TIO

If you are so inclined, there is a decent collection of Touhou fan games available on Steam.

Tempest of the Heavens and the Earth, which has you play as Tenshi, is quite fun. It's a 2D action game where you take everyone's favorite OP celestial as she goes around challenging people. There is also Scarlet Curiosities, where you play as either Remilia or Sakuya in an overhead adventure. There is also a MetroidVania type game called Luna Nights, which is in early access as of this writing, where you again play as Sakuya and use her time stop mechanics. There is a lot to enjoy out there if you are willing to take a look. There are also the official releases. Touhou 15.5, 16, and 16.5 are available through Steam. I only hope they bring more of the official games.

And of course there are the weird ones, like the Baldi's Basics in Learning and Education clone "Happy Stealing with Marisa Kirisame". So, you know, take what you will.

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 Reader for this episode:

Smooglii

---

Time to kill Kyon! It's going to be so much fun!

The fairy was getting things ready, making sure she was prepared. That meant making sure her equipment was secure, and that she was taking what she needed. She dropped by the old Computer Club room, making sure the electronics were in proper working order.

Just in case I fail, just in case something happens, I can use this to restart and do it over. He doesn't stand a chance. Of course, it wasn't fair, but she didn't care. They didn't come that far by playing fair.

There is the agreement though... but that's bollocks.

It wasn't some sort of deep meaning for her to want Kyon dead. It's that he kept surviving. It bothered her to no end, how a normal human could keep on making it to the end, becoming one of the last living beings in each instance. She knew that some humans became obsessed with a pest if it bothered them too much, that they put in every effort to kill it if it ever got to that level, and she thought it applied to her. Some of her comrades had theorized that he only survived due to the simple fact that he was favored by Haruhi. In every iteration, that appeared to be true.

It still bothered her.

The fairy didn't mind it. She was glad she was this way - it gave her something to look forward to. Otherwise the mind-numbing action of doing this for so long would have broken her, of doing the same action over and over expecting different results. This particular Kyon was an anomaly, of actually having powers. He wasn't able to tap into them by his own will - they appeared to be activated by some other factors. Have enough contact with the cherry blossoms, he gains a healing barrier. Drink a vial, same result. Eat a peach, become superhuman. And that focus mode...

I'm gonna make him squirm. Knock out his friends first, and I'm gonna have some fun peeling the wings off of little butterfly Kyon. He was still human, but the ones with abilities like Reimu, Sakuya, and the like still had a chance against her. Cripple the defense, and go for the objective - that was the plan.

It just bothered her. He shouldn't survive.

It just bothered her.

He was never supposed to survive.

He should know his place, stand aside, and die somewhere. How dare he get in the way of perfect worlds.

---

...So that's it...

The picture was becoming more clear, as she ran a possible scenario in her head after getting a text from Ran. So that's who it has to be... but if it's her... then... No, it was the one that made the most sense. She would have to confirm it, however.

Yukari knew she had to work quick. The person watching their progress wasn't there, so Yukari was free to act. She quickly moved to the kappa. "Nitori, is the package you were working on ready yet? The electrical one?"

The kappa paused in between sips of her tea, a brief showing of confusion showing, before answering. "Uhm, yeah. Should be..." She leaned forward. "Wait, you were the one who ordered that?" After getting confirmation, the kappa slowly nodded. "Okay, yeah, it's ready. Remember that guy who was helping me four years ago? He should have it done by now."

Yukari nodded. "And is it to the specifications?"

"Yep. Range is like it was asked to be."

"Good..." She turned to the rest of them, noticing that they were unsure of what to make of Yukari's sudden energy or request of the kappa. The border youkai bowed, saying that she'd be back in a bit, and disappeared into a portal, ending up in the miner's shack. I know they'll have issues with it, but when I get the chance, I'll lay it all down for them. She didn't tell them this time, since she wasn't sure how long she would have. It would be really awkward to start explaining everything she learned only to drop it all within a few seconds. Yukari told everyone there to stay inside, and to not interfere with the person she was bringing. The yuki-onna made herself scarce, but close enough to see what was going on. Another portal jump, and Yukari ended up at the village, in a dark-purple cloak, putting the hood over her head.

Time to get to work. Yukari frowned, knowing she'd have to be careful. The little girl can't know who I really am. Not yet anyway. She heard of me, but she's never seen me. I kind of need to keep her timeline relatively intact, or at least some semblance of it. Being a person who knew what the future held, Yukari had a lot of responsibility. Not to mention the fact that she got her time travel device from Mikuru, and it wasn't just Yukari's butt on the line when it came to time preservation. The former Brigade member had committed a huge leap of faith for the youkai in giving her access to time travel, and Yukari didn't want to let her down.

Yakumo's thoughts turned to the girl she had to see. A lot of what was to concern her later was for her to not know that people like her or Yuyuko were youkai yet. She'll be instrumental later, and will help many youkai herself. The little girl was more important than she ever thought she'd imagine to be.

Yukari had portaled her way into an alley not too far from the dragon statue, and stepped out. Some people knew what Yukari looked like, so she had to take precautions, like the rabbit did when she delivered the medications.

Akyuu had already amassed quite a gathering, having a dozen people there praying to the statue. Just like we discussed, and like I designed. Yukari had set in motion a chain of events to get a majority of the citizens to come pray for a later plan, and it was slowly working.

Enough of that. I need the girl. "Hello, Akyuu," Yukari spoke in a disguised voice she had used around Akyuu before.

The noble quickly turned to the voice, wide eyed. "...What... what are you doing here?"

Yukari motioned for her to join her, and when Akyuu got up, the youkai also motioned for the girl next to her to join as well. The book lender was confused as she was led away.

In an empty store front out of earshot of those praying, Yukari turned to the two of them. "I actually need your friend here for a while. Her ability, anyway."

Kosuzu took a step back, her face showing shock. "Wait, how do you-"

Yukari cut her off. "I need your ability, and I need it quickly. It's really important. It will be helpful to Reimu right now. It's just for a little while, and you just have to read, so we know what we're dealing with." The youkai looked to Akyuu, who was about to protest. "I wouldn't do this if it wasn't important." Returning her attention to Kosuzu, Yukari knelt down to her, placing her hand on her shoulder. "You do this for me, and I can really help you. I'll owe you." Please don't ask too much. I know we have a lot to discuss, Kosuzu, but you are still years away from being ready to deal with youkai. At least this way, you really can help Reimu, and possibly save our world. But first, I'll have to manipulate the area around the blowhole, making all the symbols visible for you to read them. She knew that she could do that much, at least.

I hope I can do this. I'm looking at every angle of my plan, and it needs to go perfectly here. Nothing can go wrong, or we're all dead. But I need more info. I still don't know who is behind this. I have an idea... but I need to know for certain. She knew that there was at least an amanojaku on the other side. Who else could counter her effectively? And I think I know who else is there... but not the ringleader. I have to be sure. Once I know who it is, I can finally make the proper moves against them. She was sure it was a god, which is why she had the Sword of Hisou become a factor.

Yukari dreaded who it could be. Please don't let it be her. If it comes to that... then I'll have to ask for help.

Help from the other founders of Gensokyo. The other sages. The group already had a sage with them, but...

...The sage that truly helped found Gensokyo. The one who put forth the most in resources to help get Gensokyo founded.

Yukari would have to get help from the sage god.

---

The Meltdown of Haruhi Suzumiya

Episode 4

["The Insanity of..."]

---

"The seed has the power to change shape into something its observer can understand.

In other words, the UFO you saw was just a figment of your imagination."

-Nue Houjuu, Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object

"From this time plane to the future, I'll rewrite the space-time-continuum all at once. It doesn't matter what happens to history along the way. If space and time can be settled in our future, then we'll have the flexibility to look back at the past."

- Fujiwara, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya

---

After Parsee realized we weren't going to hurt her further (Sakuya went ahead and used her knives - thankfully danmaku knives), the youkai went back to her bad attitude, brooding over her loss and the situation she found herself in. Patchouli had announced over the orb that Yukari would be back in a bit, but not to leave Parsee, leaving us to stay at the entrance to the underground realm.

I hope she comes back soon. I think one of us is going to hurt Parsee again out of principle. We still didn't forgive her for what she did.

When she was finished with her small torture of Parsee, Sakuya had brought out a coffee pot, and went about serving us. Upon seeing this, Luna dashed to her, eager for a cup, her eyes sparkling over coffee. Are you a caffeine addict or something? This was one of the biggest reactions I could remember from this fairy. I took a cup myself, thanking Sakuya for it, and spent a moment taking in the fragrance, before drinking. By then, Luna had already finished her cup, looking sated, and finally happy. You really must love your coffee. None of the other fairies partook in that, so I assumed it was just a quirk of that particular fairy.

Fairy reactions aside, I couldn't just stand around staring down at Parsee, however. She was giving me an evil-eye look that was pissing me off more than anything, and I didn't want to go after someone who was essentially tied down. Noticing Koizumi standing away from the group, I went up to him, as he was leaning on a boulder, not drinking his cup. "We okay?"

"Of course we are." Of course he had his fake smile.

"No, I mean-"

"We're okay. I just... I just didn't know you were envious of me."

"Well, you're better looking, and you have actual powers. Just basic envy stuff, I guess." As much as I don't want to admit it. Of course, it was an oversimplification of what Koizumi had over me. All in all, he was his own person, not me. I mean, it's not like I obsess over it. It was just overbearing while under Parsee's ability, just completely magnified, so it was on my mind, that feeling. I don't know how else to explain it, other than letting a problem get so big in your mind that it just overwhelms you. That's the closest thing I can think of for what went through me. Yeah, it was magnified far more than it should have been.

He stared at me for a few moments, before widening his fake smile. "I'm surprised I wasn't chosen to be hit by Parsee's manipulations. Or maybe she would have done so, if the fight continued any longer." He paused for a sip. "I'm not saying I hold anything against you. It's just a minor envy, really, in that regard."

"You're lying." That was Reimu. The others in the group had noticed what we were saying. Reimu, Sanae, and Chiyuri had came over to us, they too finishing their cups at the same time I was.

"Reimu..."

"Sanae, he's lying. I know it."

"You could be a little more tactful."

Sanae, you'd have more luck asking the sun to stop rising.

Koizumi waved his hand slightly, dismissing that. "No, she's right." He made a motion with his hand towards me. "I envy a lot about you, really." His fake smile faded, and he looked tired. "All I have going in my life is being an esper. Before this, I never really connected with people, until I got involved with Suzumiya. Ever since then, that has been who I am. I don't regret it, as it's given me a reason to get up every morning."

"It was the same for a lot of us when we awoke," said Chiyuri, giving a small, but sad smile on her face. She stepped close, and leaned on the boulder next to him. "The Professor and I noticed something when everyone awoke, and we started doing research on our kind. I mean, for the most part, we were separated from each other, trying to find our place in life, and along comes Haruhi, giving us each other."

Of course, you didn't exactly have that problem. You already have a person you have been with, well, assisting with.

"Maybe, but I've never really connected with people. And I can see how he easily connects, and I want to be like that. I guess... I guess I'm glad that he's envious of me. I guess that's why I'm not too torn up about it." Koizumi gave a genuine smile. "I actually am glad about that."

I slowly nodded, eagerly accepting that answer, even if it was weird. Selfishly, I was grateful that he was so quick to overlook what I said, even for him to say he was glad about it. As for you, Chiyuri, you're an exception to that rule though, being an assistant to one of the smartest people on earth, after all. I slowly nodded, as I was understanding Koizumi more. "So that's why you fell in love with Haruhi a bit. You never spent time with people, and all of a sudden you got to spend time with a beautiful girl." I think I'd be overly infatuated with Haruhi if that was my position. Infatuated enough that I would put up with her behavior, or even encourage it, just so I could stay by her side.

Chiyuri smiled at me. "Sometimes you focus so much on a subject that you obsess over it. Happens quite a bit in the world of science."

Koizumi lightly chuckled. "Ah, yes. In a way, it was kind of cruel, but it did save me. She's been my focus, under my watch. I just... I don't know. My life had no meaning before all this, and this is why I'm doing this. Me doing what I'm doing gives my life meaning. So I can continue this world where I have the Brigade."

Maybe you weren't as stable or assured of yourself as I thought you were. You did say you wanted to kill yourself at some time. To be lonely, and all of a sudden to have those weird thoughts of being part of a group of espers tasked with saving the world - some people would have taken that as a sign of cracking.

So, interesting. Even in that Alternate world, Haruhi had been a part of his life. Alternate Haruhi and Alternate Koizumi managed to find each other. ...Or that could have simply been Nagato's design to assign her Brigade members to be happy. So even Nagato, four years ago, realized what Haruhi meant to Koizumi. No, it had to be assigned. She had me all to herself.

"So is that why you give eyes to Mokou when you're around each other? She's the first person you-"

I turned to the miko in red, giving her a light shove. "Reimu!" I know what I thought earlier, but seriously, have some tact! The guy was pouring his heart out to us.

Both Mokou, who had also joined us, and Koizumi were blushing. Mokou was just silent as she heard all of this.

"Ah, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, Miss Fujiwara." He got off the boulder, going to a genuine smile this time. "I know it was just a... probably just a one off thing, but I can't stop thinking about how beautiful you are, or how amazing you are. Such a tragic past, too. I'm not trying to feel sorry for you or anything, I'm just enthralled by you."

Mokou stared at him for a moment, before nodding. "...Same. And... and I guess I get you more now. Spent alotta nights wonderin' what I'm doing with my life too."

Whether you're a mortal, or immortal, that question remains, I suppose. "That's got to be a lot of nights spent not knowing where you are in the world."

[Kaguya:] "Her life is pretty empty. Besides killing me, she has very little going for her. And you know it's true. I heard you got upset when you thought I was leaving Gensokyo."

Mokou clenched her fist and scowled at the orb, but didn't say anything.

[Kaguya:] "I'll take that silence as confirmation."

I was going to ask when Mokou thought as such, but I remembered Emiri telling me that Mokou thought Kaguya was leaving when the news of a rocket to the moon was being built spread around Gensokyo. It was the rocket that Patchouli built, but still - apparently it did upset the immortal.

[Alice:] "I don't think Mokou has absolutely nothing. She still has a small place in the village, even though the elders know what she is and try to shun her. Same with me, really. But the kids look up to us. At least, until they reach a certain age or hear enough prejudice against youkai or youkai-like beings."

"I'm not a youkai," grunted Mokou, before spitting and gritting her teeth.

[Alice:] "I know that. It's just that you're different, and that scares people. Same with me. The little ones like us, until they get to a certain age. Then they'll hate on us. I'm just starting to see it for myself, because people are noticing my lack of aging. I don't blame them - the human village was made for youkai exterminators, and if I were them, I'd be wary of youkai too."

As Seija said. Just like she said. At least Alice was smart enough to realize her position, and didn't have any misconceptions. "Anyone who threatens the balance is killed." The amanojaku's words still ran in my mind.

Mokou sighed, lowering her head. "Just kinda depressin' 'n all when the kids turn on me."

"Oh please." We all turned to the chained hashihime, who scowled at us from the ground. "You think you're special because-"

Mokou's hand went ablaze as she showed it to the youkai. "Bitch, one more word and I'll burn ya to a damn crisp."

That shut up Parsee, who still glared at us. I would ask why she'd still aggravate us when she was in such a position, but a youkai is a youkai. For the most part, they can't deny their nature. Parsee will always be in misery due to envy, Yukari will always be manipulative, Letty will always stay in the cold, those vengeful spirits seem to want to spread negativity, Remilia will have to consume blood, and Seija will be an obnoxious contrarian. I think I can understand Reimu's offense at being a youkai. Besides her obvious objections, she'd just become a rather one-dimensional creature in a way. I wasn't thinking that most youkai were one-dimensional. Some of them were obviously people with their own wants and needs. It's just that seemingly each youkai has some sort of defining trait that they couldn't help but to live by.

If I ever become a youkai, what would it be? What would change about myself, and what would define me? Of course, that would mean I would have to lose part of myself to become such a thing. I'd be shackled to it. I'd actually lose a part of my humanity in order to become such a creature. I mean, heck, even that goddess I saw earlier had one thing defining her. My eyes went down to Parsee again, making me ponder what I had the capability of turning into, and hoping that if it ever did come down to it, I wouldn't end up as a similar creature. I mean, some youkai exist to kill humans the way they died, like Letty. Yuki-onna sought out humans so they could steal away their warmth, and have them join them in an icy demise. And there were also shipwreck ghosts, or drowning ghosts. Just itching to have more people share their watery graves. I don't think I'd like that. Killing people being my defining trait, being what I'm known for. That's just... too much. It would be an effective fear-getter, ensuring survival, but that's about it.

Then again, it's all subjective, I guess. Some people are actually celebrated for being vanquishers. Though most are considered as madmen.

As Sakuya picked up the cups from everyone, I grunted, wondering where the hell was Yukari, as my mind had taken a weird turn and I didn't want to see where this train of thought was going. I did not like pondering what youkai I could turn into, especially if it meant I'd have to turn to Remilia's red trim dishes.

---

Kosuzu had been given a cloak, and told to shut her eyes after putting it on. After a weird sensation, she was told to open them, and found herself a few meters away from a big hole in the ground. That was quite a shock, especially the change in scenery, and she was about to ask questions, but she found she was alone. Noticing a shack with smoke coming out he chimney, she took a step towards it, before remembering the lady in the cloak telling her to ignore the shack and concentrate on the symbols. They hung in the air, semi-transparent, but enough for her to read them. Kosuzu stared at them, the jumbled mess, before she began to understand it.

Youkai, phantoms, ghosts, night sparrows. What kind of seals are these? Kosuzu was off-put by this situation, but the seals intrigued her. If I can help Reimu, then I'll do this. Like some of the other kids in the village, she looked up to Miss Reimu, Miss Mokou, and Miss Marisa, even though some of the adults seemed wary of them all. That didn't make any sense to Kosuzu - ultimately she had chalked it up to a 'grown up thing.' I can help them. I can help them all. She kept telling herself this, because she was scared. She eyed the mountain, understanding that she was much closer to it. I got teleported here... that means... That only meant one person. Yakumo. Akyuu knows Yakumo. Kosuzu had never seen the border demon, only heard of what she did to Miss Mokou years ago, and that Yakumo had teamed up with Reimu on occasion. Yakumo needs my ability... so I guess I'm useful. If the youkai had wanted to hurt Kosuzu, she'd have already done it, right? Kosuzu gulped, realizing the situation. If Yakumo wanted to, she could have ended her life right then and there, and Kosuzu wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. ...But having Yakumo owe me...

Kosuzu stood there, conflicted on how to feel about this. She'd have to have a long talk with Akyuu about this, about how the noble knew such a youkai in the first place. You said you had something special about you. It might have to do with that.

The book lender's eyes wandered back to the seals, and she wondered if she should stop lollygagging. Yakumo brought me here for a purpose, so I'm guessing me not doing it would make her angry, and I wouldn't-

Kosuzu paused, stepping closer. Underneath most of the lettering and symbols of the seals, there was an even more transparent verse. The writing was so grand, and in such a flourish, but in a language she had never come across. She still understood it, but she had never seen this before.

"The true leader"... "She that operates from afar?"

Curious, Kosuzu went about reading the seals.

---

Reimu, with her usual incident-resolving stern look, was eyeing the Stranger, who still did not say anything. "You know what? I shouldn't, but since you helped out Marisa and Kyon, I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and let you join us."

"Uncharacteristic of you there, Reimu." Even I'm not 100% sure of her.

"It'll take me and Sanae time to exorcise any more of those vengeful spirits we come across, if we come across more, and if Youmu gets knocked out or something, we'll be kinda screwed in dealing with those things. That spirit crusher of hers would come in handy."

I get you. You're thinking ahead. Also it would be less work for the miko. That sounded more like Reimu.

If the Stranger was offended by any of this, she wasn't showing it. She just simply nodded, before finishing her cup of coffee and handing her cup to Sakuya.

[Yukari:] "I'm back, and I would like to make a deal with you, Miss Mizuhashi."

Reimu just rolled her eyes. "Wonderful."

We just took her on in a pretty big fight, and if Reimu didn't chain down the hashihime, she'd still be getting back up. Yakumo, what the hell.

[Yukari:] "We may have other people coming down, so I'd like for you to not give them any trouble by letting them pass."

"You know I can't do that." Parsee growled to the orb. "My purpose is to guard this bridge."

[Yukari:] "And you have done a wonderful job at it. I would just like to make it worth your while. I'm giving you the option here to either stay chained up, and be fair game to what you've been keeping in, or you can be free to move about. I know you are different than most youkai, but even you must have heard my name."

I heard Mima chuckle a little, and she had crossed her arms with a wry smile. "Ah, making more of your deals again when we're down and out, I see."

[Yukari:] "It does move things along, as you're not really in a position to turn me down."

At least you're honest about it.

Parsee angrily stared at the orb. "...Who are you, again?"

[Yukari:] "Yukari Yakumo."

Parsee blinked a few times, and it seemed she had calmed down. She didn't say anything else.

[Yukari:] "I'll take your silence as understanding, and an agreement to my terms."

Portals opened up, breaking away the chains Reimu had put on Parsee's body, and the hashihime was free to move again. Of course, there was a round of protests, especially with how hard it was to even put her down. The hashihime sat up, rubbing the areas of her body where the chains had held her. She took in a deep breath, before letting it out in a sigh of acceptance.

"Whatever."

That's it? Truth be told, I'd probably agree with Yukari as well for that. I wouldn't like to be locked up like that.

Parsee stood up, giving everyone a glare while her face just read pure disgust, before she scoffed and went to her bridge, leaning against the railing and staring into the darkness. "You're all just gonna die anyway. Not my concern anymore."

If we can't get away from her, it'll be too soon. "Let's go," Seriously that youkai just rubbed me the wrong way. What a miserable piece of work she was. I finally found someone who was more easily despised than Seija herself. "Before she starts to do anything funny again."

We all stood in front of the way into the underground closed space. It was just pitch black, but I was assuming that when we stepped into it, we'd find ourselves in someplace entirely different.

"I've never been to the underground realm before," mused Yuka, eyeing the realm's border. "But I've heard some interesting things."

"Like what?"

"Some youkai get banished down here because some humans think that's where we belong." Mima sighed, her eyes going to Reimu for a second, before returning to the border. "But it's a punishment place for humans, not youkai. From what I heard, we made it ours."

[Suika:] "That's kinda correct. We made it into our own paradise. In fact, some of the human souls down there that have a more physical 'body' are great cheap labor."

Oh great. Not only are you damned, but you are possibly stuck working a minimum wage job for the rest of eternity.

"Parsee said this was... former?" Youmu looked up to the orb.

[Suika:] "Yeah, former Hell."

...Former?

[Suika:] "You... you didn't tell them?"

[Yukari:] "It's a nice surprise. It really doesn't make much of a difference any more."

[Yuyuko:] "I think it does."

[Yukari:] "Not really. And if it did, you'd have told your Youmu about it. Amazing even she doesn't know about it, given her afterlife heritage." There was a pause, and I assume the two were staring at each other for a bit, before Yukari spoke to us. "All of you were training and preparing for something really bad, but it's not as bad. ...Sorry, wrong analogy. It's still bad. Make no mistake, this is still a place that is stained with evil and suffering, so do be careful. But it's no longer the actual Hell used by those in charge of the afterlife."

"That's a relief, I guess. A small relief, but a relief nonetheless." Okay, so this isn't Haruhi's Hell. It's just... old Hell. Former Hell. However that works.

No, really, that was a relief. To be preparing for the worst only to find out that it isn't that bad. Kind of like over-preparing for a test, I suppose, to lightly put it. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, that we wouldn't be going to actual Hell, but just a shadow of its former self. Now if only the rest of todays fights can be like this.

Still, that was a pretty important piece of information to hold back on us. I should have gotten more upset, but I decided against it. In actuality, it was a nice surprise. I'll take it.

[Suika:] "Like I said, this became a paradise for us. Most were sent there, but some, like us oni, had to retreat here. The human world had just changed, and... we had to make our own world."

"But," Chiyuri raised an eyebrow at the orb. "You have Gensokyo."

[Yukari:] "Ah, not a lot of people agree with me, or trust me. While I can be diplomatic, I have made quite a few enemies because of my nature. Even though it wasn't just me they had issue with..."

"Oh gee, I wonder what gave most youkai the idea that you aren't trustworthy." Reimu grunted, frowning.

Took the words right out of my mouth there.

[Suika:] "...That's was kinda it. We oni didn't like Yukari, or the others, so even though I'm friends with her, I had to go underground, as my kind all did as such."

Others?

[Aya:] "Before then, the oni ruled youkai mountain."

[Nitori:] "Ruled over most youkai. Then the tengu took over when they left."

[Alice:] "I've heard of that. There were four main oni - the 'Four Devas of the Mountain.' You were one such Deva, weren't you, Ibuki?"

[Suika:] "Yeah."

You were a ruler of some sorts, Suika? Or just respected? How far you've come, ending up as a freeloader at a Shinto shrine. What a fall from grace. Speaking of... "So the underground is full of oni then. Great." One of the things I was grateful for was that I didn't directly go up against Suika or witness her full power. But if there were even more of her kind, and I was going to where they resided... Stop focusing on the bad things, man. You're just going to drop your own morale. Still, what did Yukari mean by "not just her?

I wouldn't get an answer to that, no matter how much I asked Suika. She clammed up over that information. Hopefully the rest of the devas are as friendly as you. Of course, that would mean that we would have to defeat them to earn their respect, but that's kind of par for the course.

So there we were in front of the 'portal'. I heard Sakuya slowly let out her breath. "I think I'm almost as nervous as when I entered Hakugyokorou."

Youmu smiled. "You were nervous?"

Sakuya turned her head to the gardener, grinning. "We did hear about Yuyuko's powers before we went in. So you tell me."

Man, four years ago. Almost five at this point. Just a few months away from the fifth anniversary... Where the hell did the time go?

[Yuyuko:] "I'll tell you right now, I do not believe they have as good as food as we do."

"I'll be the judge of that," snarked Reimu.

Tenshi nudged her in the ribs. "Uh, remember what we said?"

My eyes wandered to our two newest companions. Kazami was standing still, eyes closed, like she was meditating. "I'm glad you're here."

She opened her eyes, and turned them to me. Even though it was such a simple act, I felt slight intimidation, especially with that look she gave me. I don't think you're angry with me, it's just that you always look intimidating. She gave a simple nod, before closing her eyes again. Okay, not much for words right now. Still... how did she die? I mean, she wasn't in the future, and Seija was surprised when she suddenly popped back up after the amanojaku changed things. Maybe you're overconfident in your abilities, or you get overwhelmed. Something happens to you, and whatever Seija did helps prevent it, same as Youmu. And same as Mima.

The other person who had just joined us was off by herself, just giving each of us the evil eye. She looked so upset, like she resented being here. Mima noticed me looking at her, and before I could look away, she spoke up. "Something wrong, human?"

"No, just surprised you're here."

Mima scoffed. "I'm earning my freedom from Hakurei. Nothing more, nothing less, so don't get any wrong ideas like we're allies or something."

"But we are allies, ze." Marisa shrugged. "At least for today, Lady Mima."

Mima sneered, looking away from us. "Makes me sick to be on the same side as the miko."

"If I remember correctly, you guys went into Makai together." And also, you tried multiple times to take down Reimu, and failed. Maybe you really should reconsider joining her, because you can't beat her. I mean, the first real incident, then the one with Marisa, then the one with Chiyuri. At the very least, only recently had Remilia tied with Mima's 0-3 record against Reimu during official incidents. Though Marisa has an even higher loss record, I believe.

[Alice:] "Correct, Kyon. It was Reimu, Marisa, Yuka, and Mima, joining together and going up against the god of Makai."

"And also taking you down." said Yuka, eyes still closed.

[Alice:] "...Right. That too." Of course Alice didn't sound happy saying that.

Mima grinned evilly. "It was so much fun to do the Trinity on you, Margatroid."

I noticed Shanghai and Hourai, especially Hourai, move from over my shoulder, and just glared at the ghost. Well, as much as a doll can glare at anyone, I suppose.

"Are you done?" Reimu eyed everyone, especially the orb. After getting confirmation, she led the way, disappearing into the closed space - when she did, she left that familiar ripple effect in the air.

No time like the present. I gave Marisa a pat on the shoulder, indicating that I was good to go. I had already forgotten my previous thoughts.

The wall of the closed space enveloped us, almost feeling like a warm liquid as we passed through it, and when we ended up on the other side-

---

We had entered a huge hallway, with large obsidian pillars extending up to the ceiling that was over five stories up, so about twenty meters. Again, it was a stone tiled floor, though the stone looked to be made of obsidian. It was black, and polished, but not slippery. There were designs on the pillars and the walls, and they were of... reminded me of Dante's Inferno. On one pillar, it depicted many humans suffering in a blaze of fire. On one wall, there was a collage of blazes, torture, and other things before I decided not to look any more. I looked back the way we came, and the 'wall' was just blackness.

It was also cold. The warm air that was around the bridge was gone, and it felt like we were back up top.

"Why's it so cold down here?" Sakuya shivered a bit. "I thought this was supposed to be Hell."

"Fine for me!" exclaimed Cirno.

"Heard that most afterlife realms make the attempt to simulate the seasons of the earth." Youmu rubbed her exposed arms, a little off put by the change in temperature as well. "I know it's the case in mine."

"Yes, otherwise it'd just be a constant season all year long," said Tenshi, her eye twitching, and her voice got rougher. "When it doesn't change, you lose track of how many decades you've lost day in and day out and you do the same things over and over and before you know it a century has passed and-" Tenshi blinked, catching herself, and I saw her blush. Her voice returned to normal. "Well, it's bad."

I'd bet. Tenshi appeared to have some glaringly obvious deep rooted issues with tedium in general. How have you not gone completely insane by now? Just bouncing around in a straight jacket crazy level? One time after Tenshi's visit to my campus, I had sat down during a Brigade 'meeting' (we hung out in the room and did our usual thing), and tried my hardest to comprehend what Tenshi had to go through. Just think about it - same thing to eat, same place every day, same parties to go to, for many, many decades or centuries. Giving it thought, it sounds more like a personal Hell than Heaven, to be honest. Of course, it was mostly because she still had her desires. If she was without them, she'd just mindlessly accept it.

So I guess in order to enjoy the particular Heaven that Tenshi was from, you'd have to give up a part of yourself in order to fit in and be blissfully ignorant of the tedium you find yourself in. When put like that, Tenshi's Heaven does not sound appealing at all. However, lots of religions do require you to give up part of yourself in order to attain the highest levels of their Nirvanas. I mean, in Catholicism, purgatory exists for you to cast off your sins and unsavory parts of yourself so you could be pure enough to enter Heaven. So the notion of losing parts of yourself to go to Nirvana aren't foreign to most religions. Judaism even has after-death purification. So the notion is understandable, but I guess Tenshi and her family missed out on being purified for some reason.

Still... if she was purified, she wouldn't be before us right then and there, backing us up. I'm sorry for her situation, but yet at the same time grateful for it being used to my advantage.

"Simulated winter or not, it's safe to say we're in Hell, or at least former Hell," mused Reimu.

I was grateful that Marisa was flying me, and that I could afford to avert my eyes from the 'art', if you could call it that. I noticed that the three fairies were huddling together, while at the same time putting a little distance between them and Cirno. Those three fairies are kinda cute. The way they act with each other, one could mistake them for being sisters.

[Nitori:] "Mokou, it should be safe to smoke down there."

"Ah thank God." Mokou immediately went to her cigarettes, lighting one up. She took a long draw, looking relieved.

You gotta be addicted to cigarettes. There's no other explanation. Even immortals had their vices.

Chiyuri eyed the 'artwork', unnerved by what it depicted. "What is this place?"

"Definitely not artwork I care for," remarked Youmu. "Whatever this is."

"Looks to be like it's some literal entryway," Tenshi slowly swept her flashlight around. "Or entry hall." She put her hands on her hips, chewing on her lip. "Yeah, looks like a grand hall. Celestials have halls like this for their homes in my Heaven. Not the stuff it's showing, but... yeah."

So there are similarities then? So, what, did we enter this closed space into someone's home?

[Suika:] "Old reception area. This place used to be buzzing with activity back in the day. New souls coming down, youkai moving in and out. Times change, and now it's kind of empty. Nobody comes down here any more."

Not kind of empty. It's devoid of anything. The emptiness of the hall was almost as unnerving as what was on the walls. It was like discovering the well-preserved ruins of a lost, ruthless civilization that liked to show various sins, which I guess was accurate.

[Aya:] "Okay, what you're looking for is the Ancient City. If you continue on the path you are on, it'll lead you straight to it. You'll have to exit that hall first, and you'll be in the underground proper. It shouldn't be a long trip."

[Remilia:] "'Ancient City?' Again, not too creative with the naming, huh?"

[Koakuma:] "Residents call it the Former Capital. You should have seen it in its heyday."

"In it's heyday" would mean it was actual Hell. So I'd rather have not seen it. Also, hey, Koakuma. I had forgotten she was there. Makes sense she would be a part of this. I mean, wasn't she said to be a summoned lesser devil?

[Kaguya:] "It doesn't matter if it isn't creative. That's the Japanese language. 'Tokyo' literally translates to 'Eastern Capital' in English, after all."

The orb flew up to one of the walls, inspecting it, before coming back to the group.

[Remilia:] "Fascinating craftsmanship, I have to say. I'm impressed."

Of course you'd like the artwork. Now you're gonna try to get Sakuya to get similar artwork for your hallways, aren't you?

[Patchouli:] "Like it's something out of Dante's Inferno. Very similar to Gustave Dore's art style." She paused, and the orb once again went to inspect the walls, stopping at a particular section, depicting a winged angel waving some sort of sword or wand around, and to which their light was hurting the people around them. "...In fact, I dare say this could be - yes, this has to be a recreation of his work. That's Gustave's 'Celestial Messenger'."

"Amazing," Koizumi said as he went to the carving. "It's just like I remember it." He brought his hand near the carvings, but kept himself from actually touching them. "...Wow... Someone took the time to carve all this into obsidian?"

You know this guy's work? I didn't know you were into this stuff.

"You know I've done a bit of research on theology." He gave me a smile. "And besides, a literature teacher I had assigned my class Dante's Inferno and brought up Gustave."

That is very dark material and artwork for a class to be going over.

[Kaguya:] "I'm actually fond of the artwork. Not the content of course, but someone put forth the effort for these obsidian carvings. It's actually beautiful - exquisite. The detail really is astonishing."

I afforded a look to what we were passing, and regretted it. Yeah, if you could call a guy being nailed to the floor 'beautiful'. ...Regardless, Kaguya was right - someone put forth the effort to do these. I could see Reisen shoot a look to the orb, making me wonder if she should worry about the princess wanting obsidian carvings all over Eientei.

Koizumi looked at the engraving, saying it was Gustave's 'Caiaphas'.

Sakuya stopped, and went to the carving - the maid narrowing her eyes as she inspected the artwork. "Caiaphas, as in the guy who made the plot to kill Jesus?"

Koizumi nodded. "According to Dante's Inferno, Caiaphas got nailed, or crucified, to a path in the eighth circle of Hell, so everyone taking that path would step on him for all eternity."

That's a pretty fitting punishment, I suppose.

"Hmph." Kazami looked disappointed. "Where's the potted plants? The foliage? How can you call this place beautiful when there aren't any flowers?"

"I don't think growing flowers is a top priority here," said Koizumi as he still looked over the walls. "Miss Kazami. Just a guess."

"Hey, can we get this over with?" I was still unnerved by the empty hall. "I'd rather not be in here. Gives me the creeps." Famous artist recreations or not, I want to spend as little time as possible in this hallway.

---

Kaguya was enjoying the Portuguese lunch that was being served. It was astonishingly simple, but that's what made it so appealing. The soup was served first - the caldo verde. Potatoes, collard greens, olive oil, salt, and onion. Simple, but delicious. It has to do with the preparation. The head maid Remilia has must have given instructions on how to make this. She had to, as the fairies had to be the ones making this. Kaguya has had caldo verde before, but that was with garlic. Shame I can't get garlic in a vampire's home.

She tapped her napkin on the corners of her mouth midway, and she looked around the table, instantly regretting it when her eyes fell on Yuyuko. I appreciate the ghost's love of food, but... that's just overkill. Kaguya wasn't even halfway through her bowl and Yuyuko was already on her third bowl. A lady like you who is in charge of an afterlife realm should carry herself with some dignity and restraint!

Filled with disgust for a moment, her eyes then fell on Yukari, who was deep in thought over something. She hadn't even touched her soup. "Is something wrong, Miss Yakumo?"

The youkai looked up, blinking, before shaking her head. "Something just occurred to me. I thought I missed something-"

Kaguya reached under the table and pinched Eirin before she could make a remark.

"-But I need to be certain." Yukari stood up. "Please excuse me for a moment." The youkai moved to the stacks in the library, bringing out her cell phone thing, until she was out of sight, but not out of earshot.

"Yes, Ran?" There was a pause. "No, we're doing fine over here. Anything new? ...No, I understand. You're doing your best. ...Of course. ...Yes, they know. I had to tell them. ...They deserved to know the truth. ...No. ...I don't blame you or Chen. She was gone before we even went to get them. ...No. ...Okay, listen, Ran, what was it that Yasumi said to me when I met her? ...I told you. It was word for word. ...Yes, that's it. Something is bothering me about what she said. ...No. ...No, look. It's just a feeling. She told me something with what she said. Not what she said, but there was something else. Get it? ...Maybe if you said it back to me, I'll hear it again. ...Yes, that's it. ...Hmm? ...English? ...But..." Yukari went silent for several moments. "I'm still here. She said it. Yasumi told me. I was wondering how these other people have been a step ahead of us and doing what they're doing, but that was it. Yasumi told me, but not in Japanese. Translating it to English... ...No, you've been a big help, Ran. I finally understand another piece of the puzzle. Okay, thank you. Keep searching."

When Yukari came back out, everyone was staring at her. "Is everything all right, Yukari?" asked Yuyuko. She appeared concerned. "We heard that."

Yakumo lowered her head, but smiling a bit. "Everything is fine. Things are becoming more clear now, which means I can take proper steps."

"I know that look," said the happy oni. "That I know how to beat my opponent look."

"You spoke with Yasumi. You never told us." Alice furrowed her brow. "And she told you something?"

Yukari sat back down, letting out a sigh. "Happened once in the past. The way she worded her first few sentences to me had me a little confused. Now I know why. She knew."

"Knew what?" Kaguya's interest was piqued. "Pray tell."

Yukari held up her hand. "In due time, Princess. When I'm sure the time is right, I'll let the truth out. I give you my word. But I'm beginning to understand what is going on now."

You'd better deliver. I don't like getting my hopes up after you get me this interested. Kaguya wiggled in joy. This was such an interesting day! She got to watch danmaku fights, an adventure, and enjoy good food while doing it.

---

We continued for a while, at a relatively slow pace. Star said she wasn't detecting anyone in the immediate area, but we decided to be cautious. We could hear something coming from the orb, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"Oh man... The heck is this?!" Mokou didn't say 'heck', nor 'hell', but another four-letter word. The immortal appeared unnerved by whatever she was looking at.

She was staring at what looked to be several people running through a forest, but upon closer inspection, the trees were people - their limbs stretched out to root and to branch out into the sky with their bodies serving as the trunks.

"Ah, the Wood of the Suicides." Koizumi hurriedly joined Mokou. "The souls of the people who commit suicide are twisted into thorny trees." He let out a nervous chuckle. "Be grateful that you can't die, Mokou."

"Might end up as a tree?"

"You do need to do something about killing yourself over and over. It's not right to have suicidal attacks be a normal attack for you."

Mokou shrugged. "Works for me. And I can afford it."

He let out a sigh. "Just wish you wouldn't throw your life away so easily."

"Again... I can afford it."

"Hey."

Sanae had come to our side, Marisa and I, and kept pace with us, bringing me out of the conversation that Mokou and Koizumi were having.

"...Hey."

"We haven't really had a chance to talk, you know?" Sanae kept her eyes forward, watching where we were going. "I mean, really talk."

"Yeah. We got back together, and we're thrust into these situations." I took a sip from my canteen. "Reality is, though, what can we talk about?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think he means that you both know what happened to each other, ze."

Marisa, I know you're my ride, but come on. She wasn't wrong, though. "...No, Marisa is right. Kind of difficult to catch up with each other when we already know the major changes in each other's lives."

Sanae let out a small chuckle. "I suppose that's right. You have your Brigade, I had my role as a shrine maiden and I came here. That's what our lives have been."

I stared at her, feeling my heart flutter a bit. She really was such a beautiful woman.

Sanae nodded, turning her attention back to the front. "Though I don't envy you about having to go out of your way to make sure she's stable. I live in a world where youkai eat people, and I wonder if you have it harder than me."

We both shared a laugh over that. "What's it like there on the mountain?"

"Beautiful." Her eyes shone with bliss. "Waking up every morning to that view... I don't think I could ever get tired of it."

"I think I'd like to see that."

"Oh!" She turned to me, obviously excited. "I hunted a deer on my own for the first time back in April! I never thought I'd be able to kill an animal before, but I managed to do it. Of course, I prayed for my quarry, and I had to cool the innards before the body heat could do any real damage to it, clean them, boiled them, and all that all by myself! I used every bit of that deer, and it was the most delicious meal I ever had! Deer heart is pretty good when you prepare it correctly!"

I just stared at her, unsure of what to make of what I heard. This girl, this girl that I knew to be so timid had just proudly declared she hunted and butchered a deer all on her own. Are you even the same person I knew... no. No, wait. You weren't even the person I thought I knew. You were a god all along, after all. Well, part god.

Sanae was unsure of my reaction. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, and I couldn't help but smile. "Nothing. It's just that you really have grown up. I don't know if I'd be ready to hunt, kill, skin, and prepare an animal on my own." I rubbed my chin. "However... April...?"

"Ah, yes, the Ontousai festival! I decided to do that on my own in honor of that festival!"

Right. Deer are offered as sacrifice for the Ontousai. "But that was just one. It certainly isn't seventy-five."

"Exactly, but I thought it was a nice gesture. Lady Suwako and Lady Kanako both appreciated it, as well as the meal." Sanae was beaming, still proud of herself, and seeing her beauty this close made my heart flutter.

Again, my mind wanted to go down a 'what if' path, but I shut it down. It was getting old for me. During that mental shutdown, I didn't notice Sanae had gotten even closer. I looked up with a slight start, as she looked like she had something to ask.

"Kyon? Uhm, I've been meaning to ask. I haven't had the chance to ask anyone this."

My mind went a million different directions for a second, before I composed myself. "Okay, shoot," I said, the confidence in my voice gone.

"Did they do Death Note justice?"

I just stared at her. Of all the things she could have asked me... actually, no, this was in line with her. Of course she'd like it.

"The manga ended in 2006, but when I left for Gensokyo, the anime was in the middle of its run. Did they do it justice?" The way she was asking me sounded like it was a life or death question she sorely needed the answer to.

That's right. The anime started in late 2006 and ended in the summer of 2007. You missed so much of it by going into Gensokyo at the beginning of 2007. A big smile formed on my face, as this was clearly the girl I remembered - making stuff like this a priority. At least, I hope I remembered it. That thing with Tenshi shook my memory confidence.

Enough thinking. Sanae was obviously waiting an answer, and the looks from the others were telling me to hurry up and get this thing over with.

"Ah, you sure about that? They kinda did change things around from the manga, but you sure you want me to spoil it?"

Sanae paused, actually stopping in the air, before she realized she was lagging behind. Letting out a sigh, she nodded. "No, you're right..." I could see it in her eyes - she still wanted some information.

A warmth spread through my body, as again, this felt familiar. Talking about anime, manga, and the paranormal with this girl. "To put it bluntly, they sped it up in the anime after about the halfway point in the manga. At least that's what it felt like to me. But other than that, it was pretty faithful, besides the liberties and changes that anime directors sometimes take." Again, memory, don't be failing me.

Sanae processed this for a few seconds, before nodding, seemingly satisfied. "Yeah, the manga did kinda slow down after the middle. I guess the creators did have to take liberties with the content in order to adapt a hundred and eight chapter long manga into an anime that ran for less than a year, as is always the case when they condense long series into a season like that." She smiled. "But I kinda like it like that. It's like the manga and the anime are slightly alternate universes, and you can enjoy both for what they are. They stand on their own, and you can enjoy the story more than once with each media. Kinda like how Chibi-Vampire is. Three different media at the same time - manga, light novels, and anime. All taking a different direction, I think... shoot. I left before the manga was done." She searched my eyes, expecting an answer.

"Ah, sorry. I don't know what happened." I've read a few chapters and watched a few episodes, but I never stuck with it. I didn't even know there was a light novel as well. Does a series really need that many media?

Sanae appeared a bit disappointed, but recovered. "Well, in Death Note, was Light's speech at the end worth it?"

I smiled again too, relieved that I could tell her that. Seeing her disappointment actually felt like a defeat for me, part of me wanting to go see how the Chibi-Vampire series ended so I could tell her. "Totally. The whole 'I'm God of this new world' confession speech suited him. It wasn't over the top."

[Eirin:] "Keep on your toes. Udonge, remember-"

"Right. The static." Reisen was still leading the way along with Mokou. "Just got to hit them with enough danmaku to knock that out of them."

With our conversation interrupted by the chatter (and from the looks of the others, thankfully interrupted), Sanae gave me another nod with a smile that made my heart skip a beat, and went back to alongside Reimu. Tenshi moved in closer to me.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?"

"Too fast." I kept my eyes on Sanae for a bit longer. Look at you. Being able to take care of yourself on a mountain. I didn't need Parsee around to envy Sanae's strength.

"It's not healthy to think about what-if's all the time." I looked to Tenshi, and she was making sure I heard her. "Okay?"

"I know." My eyes went to Sanae again. "Doesn't stop them from happening." She's different, yet the same. Stronger, yet she still has those childhood concerns. I sighed.

"By the way," said Tenshi. "Chibi-Vampire series went in three different directions in each media."

I raised an eyebrow at her, watching as she gave me a smirk and went back to her position. Marisa slowly shook her head. "Man, I'm missing out on a lot of stuff from the outside world, aren't I, ze?"

"It's not really too important, Marisa."

"Still sounds interesting, though."

[Patchouli:] "I think I remember that lazy shinigami talking about that series. I met with her a while ago, and I'm talking about that Death Note thing. She mentioned it when she said 'A book that kills the person whose name is written on it' would be 'a convenient thing to have'. I had to ask what in the world she was talking about, and that's when she told me about Death Note. Actually sounds like an interesting story."

Komachi is a Death Note fan? That's so fitting! Sanae and I exchanged glances at each other over hearing that. She had to be thinking the same thing.

"Seriously, ze, I wanna know what this series is. Please tell me you have it in your library."

[Patchouli:] "I don't really deal in manga, though I think we have some because of Meiling. You'd have to talk to her about that and her collection."

"With the way that youkai was talking," said Luna, "You'd think that there would be a whole lot of those Altered things waiting just inside."

Please don't bring that up. We just got through one ambush, and I don't want another. Though we needed to get back on track. Already too much time talking about Death Note.

"You're gonna complain about that?" asked Sunny.

"Let them come." Mima jutted her jaw, and I could see the annoyance in her eyes. "I'd rather they present themselves to be taken down other than us having to trek through a whole other realm."

"Reminds you too much of Makai, Lady Mima?"

"That was just annoying. But this?" The ghost let out a grunt/sigh. "It's even worse." She eyed the group. "Too many people around. I'm traveling with fairies, for crying out loud."

In the corner of my eye, I saw Cirno stick her tongue out at the ghost. I don't know if Mima noticed that.

"All these years," said a smirking Reimu as she looked over her shoulder. "I always wondered why you helped us out. I never understood it."

"It's because too many Makai beings came to the human world."

"And why was that your problem?"

"Because the human world is my possession."

Reimu broke out laughing, while the rest of us just quizzically stared at Mima. Yuka just shook her head. "You always thought too highly of yourself."

"Of course I do. I'm the-"

"Can you stop with that 'Terror of Gensokyo' bull?" I blinked, as I realized after that I had said that out loud. Mima had stopped, and turned to me, a slow, smoldering rage in her eyes that said 'first chance I get, I'm hurting you.' Please tell me I didn't just screw myself over down the line.

I could feel Marisa tense up, her free hand on the mini-Hakkero. "Lady Mima..."

Reimu finished her laugh. "Ah, Kyon, pay her no mind. When we met the god of Makai, Mima introduced herself as the 'god of the human world.' The ghost likes to run her mouth." Mima glared at the miko, the grip on the ghost's staff tightening. Reimu saw this and looked amused.

[Alice:] "I've seen her power first hand. She can mostly back up that talk. Mostly."

Despite all that conversation, we were still in the hallway, before Reisen, who had not joined in for this comedy routine, suddenly stopped. "Shhh."

Crap. What is it?! And did we just get jinxed again?! Also, how long is this damn entry hall anyway?

Reisen had raised her gun, aiming it towards a particular pillar. She pointed to her ear, and pointed to the pillar - she heard something.

Reimu silently pointed to Marisa and Youmu to go around the pillar's row, so they'd end up blocking the route around the right side. Sakuya and Mokou were sent to a wide berth in case they tried to run the other way. Reimu nodded at Reisen, and the two of them quietly moved towards it. Since Marisa went, I was left on the ground, my heart pounding in my chest. So who's it going to be? We going to run into an oni first thing down here, or some other denizen of former hell?

"I'm detecting..." Star paused, sounding shaken, even though she was speaking above a whisper. "Uhm, several individuals besides us."

I whisper-shouted at her. "I thought you said there wasn't anyone!"

Star apologetically looked to me. "They just showed up!"

And truthfully, we were kinda distracted.

Reisen shot the fairy a quick glance, slight concern on the face of the soldier, as she mouthed out "I only heard the one!"

The soldier continued moving, silently using the pillars and the darkness to move around, pausing to hear anybody else. I couldn't even hear the rabbit's footsteps, and soon we lost sight of her and Reimu.

The rest of us took cover around some of the pillars, and I almost held my breath, awaiting what was going to happen. I had peeked out, watching for signs of life, but everyone was gone besides those with me.

"Freeze!"

Reisen had shouted, and then fast footsteps were heard. Whatever it was, it attempted to run away - into the path of Marisa and Youmu. The creature exclaimed something, before running the other way, almost right smack into the path of Sakuya and Mokou. The creature then ran out into the open, before dropping something.

A minature pagoda? It was a little orb with a pagoda roof on top.

She again exclaimed something, going back for it. I shone my flashlight on her, and... A tiger woman youkai. Cat ears, a long tiger tail, with short blonde/orange hair with black stripes. She was wearing a red and orange dress, and had some sort of red leaf thing on the top of her head, and what looked like a tiger pattern short apron around her waist. Whereas Chen was a cute cat girl, this was an elegant cat woman. Oh, and she carried a spear. Affording a glance to me, she quickly snatched up the mini pagoda and was about to run away, when Reimu had rushed forward, bringing forth her gohei and had already thrown a number of amulets.

This woman, this... tiger youkai - she swung her spear, parrying the gohei attack, and using the business end of the spear to, well, spear the amulets as they came to her. She didn't seem to be very good at handling the weapon, so the mini pagoda was shooting out lasers, blasting the amulets. Reimu would strike, but this tiger would flip her spear around to attempt to parry. Really, the lasers were the main defense of this tiger. It wasn't long before all the amulets were gone. Upon seeing that, Reimu backed off, looking bewildered as I was as to what just occurred.

"It's been a while since someone made Hakurei pause like that." Mima had enjoyed that show of skill, as it left the miko breathless. "Last time I saw that..." Mima trailed off, as she appeared to remember what she was going to say, and decided not to.

"Was when the god of Makai shrugged off your Trinity Spark and knocked you out." Reimu didn't take her eyes off the tiger when she said that, her face focused - eyes in that steel gaze. It was obvious that Reimu had found a worthy opponent.

I just stared at this tiger youkai woman, as I remembered her back from when I entered the future. She was one of the youkai at the Myouren temple. Holy crap. That's one of the Buddhists. She's part of Byakuren's crew. "Buddhist tiger..." I didn't even realize until later that I had said that. Wait... not that tiger youkai from the dream?!

The woman stopped when I said that, confused, and staring at me. Everyone had come out and surrounded her.

"Wait, hold up!" I stepped forward, raising my hands at my companions. "Whoa! She doesn't have static!"

The woman clutched her spear, and the mini pagoda was lit up, ready for a fight in case someone moved on her, baring her fangs, and I could hear a slight growling emitting from her throat. Upon seeing that she wasn't under any influence, the group eased their aggressive stances. The tiger slowly eased as well when she saw that we weren't going to attack her right away, but kept her eyes on me. "...Who are you?"

"I should be asking that question." Even though I know what religion you belong to.

"How do you know what-"

[Yukari:] "By the gods..."

Upon hearing that voice, the woman's face perked up, her eyes widening. "Yukari?" The orb had come out, and got closer to the tiger.

[Yukari:] "By the gods. Shou Toramaru. I haven't seen you in ages."

She is the tiger youkai from Byakuren's crew! She has to be. And it turned out to be true.

The tiger had completely dropped her fighting stance, staring at the orb. "Yukari, what-"

[Yukari:] "This orb transmits sight and sound. It's nothing silly like me getting banished into this thing."

Shou blinked, before cracking a small smile. "Actually that was my first thought."

In this type of world, I suppose that kind of thing is plausible. The orb swung around to us, before settling on me and Reimu.

[Yukari:] "I'm sorry. This is... this is the right hand of an old friend. Her name is Shou. I haven't seen her since she got banished."

So she's Byakuren's right hand. The second in command of the Gensokyo Buddhists.

[Yukari:] "Dammit... this wasn't supposed to happen. She's involved later, but... screw it."

Everyone eased off their stances, as it was obvious we weren't enemies here. Again the orb turned back to the tiger.

[Yukari:] "Sorry. Things are happening, Shou, but it really is good to see you again."

"Wish I could say the same. Why are you talking through that thing?"

[Yukari:] "The situation calls for it." Yukari paused, the orb going to the object in Shou's hand that wasn't the spear. "Is that the pagoda?"

Shou gladly held up the object. "That's right. It took us a long time, but we finally found it down here." Shou beamed. "We can finally break the seal with this - I just need a few more incantations and we can free sister for good."

Are you talking about Byakuren? You're talking about the incident that frees her, right? This could be getting dangerous, as this was obviously going against the timelines.

[Yukari:] "You'll only get those incantations up here. And you'll need Nazrin to find them, or anything for that matter."

"Who's Nazrin?" asked Reimu, still not trusting this youkai, also being lost in this conversation. She was confused.

"My servant. She's uh, she's a dowser, and can find anything. She's a mouse youkai." Shou seemed happy enough to tell us what was going on. In fact, she seemed to be in a good mood. Which was good, after all. I'd rather not find out what a cranky tiger youkai was like, thank you very much.

Buddhism was a religion of peace, or supposed to be. I knew the Buddhists would be instrumental at keeping my side in check during the rebellion, mostly the Taoists. Ugh. What a dilemma. If I didn't already know how it would turn out, I'd be worried sick over the outcome, of making sure that neither side could overpower the other before I got my chance to save my family and depower the mallet. That thought made me pause, as I hadn't given it that much stock in the past four years. ...Kinda funny that it was balanced like that already... almost like it was designed...

...

The Buddhists and the Taoists took care of each other, leaving Yoshika by herself. In fact, she was left to help take on Seija. If either group disappeared, the opposing side would have overwhelmed the other due to those groups. And of course the Buddhists would have gone up against Seija. Bishamonten, a Buddhist deity, is usually depicted standing over a defeated amanojaku. It was a stretch, but it was the only thing I could think of. Well, no. What Seija was doing obviously brought peril to the village, so of course the Myouren temple would have joined Reimu regardless to quell it, if what Yukari told me in the limo was true.

Things started to fall in place. The feeling of unease of me missing something began to ebb away, as I started to see things the way they were. I numbly heard Shou talk to Yukari about something, as a new feeling began to overwhelm me, of being played.

Either way, there would have been a good chance Buddhists would have naturally gone against Seija. And even if there wasn't, she'd force them to, as they had power. Seija would have gone out of her way to take on those established Buddhists sooner or later. Yet they acted at a specific time, backing up Reimu when she needed it. No wonder Seija avoided going into the village in the first place - besides the bounty, she would have had to have pass by the Buddhist temple and risk a confrontation. I mean, after all, Seija was probably still known to be a massive troublemaker, so they'd keep her out of the village if they could have helped it. The "bounty" alone made it risky to be there, and it turned out to be true in the end when she showed her face.

Miko's words also rang in my mind following that thought, of that if the Buddhists took a side, the Taoists would have to naturally take the other.

It really was balanced. The Taoists and the Buddhists were there to take each other down, leaving the jiangshi to take the brunt of Seija's abuse. The Taoists had to be there for Yoshika to be that punching bag, otherwise the Miracle Mallet-powered Seija might have overrun the shrine. If one side didn't show up, then the side with the ones that did would have won outright, and either Seija wouldn't have gotten the Miracle Mallet, or she would have won.

My thoughts started going down a path, and I shut it down. Or at least, part of me desperately not wanting that to be true was clinging to that notion. No. I mean, Yukari... No. No. That's just not...

Did she?

No, she wouldn't have. Because there is one fatal flaw. If she did plan that, then Yukari would have been read by Miko with her desire reading. Easily read. Yukari is a manipulator, but Miko...

Wait.

...But Miko took advantage of it, didn't she? She turned with me. And she explained that she should have been rewarded...

Miko declared Yukari would fall before her. She must have read Yukari's plan to fall.

I gulped, my throat feeling dry in that instant. I took in some deep breaths, as what I was thinking might actually be true.

No. I can't right now. I can't think of this right now. I've already got too much on my plate. At the rate I was going, I'd simply burn myself out thinking about such things. I looked to the Buddhist. The tiger, the mouse. Now all we need is the others. Also, a servant who can find anything sounded extremely useful. Though why does a tiger have a mouse as a servant? Isn't that kind of weird?

Shou paused, as if realizing something. "Oh, right, they're still hidden!" She whistled, looking deeper in the hall. "It's okay! They're not hostile!"

A mouse youkai. Short gray hair with two mouse ears sticking out, a small girl with a brown one piece dress with pink sleeves with a gray capelet. She carried two dowsing rods on her back, and there was a small basket hanging on the end of her mouse tail. In the basket was a regular sized mouse. This was Nazrin, and she stepped out from behind a pillar, eyeing us with suspicion.

A woman in a blue Buddhist robe, almost like a Buddhist nun's. She even had a nun's headdress, much like a hoodie. Her dress under her robe was white with blue trim. She had short, light wavy purple hair, and stared at us with her dark purple eyes. I did a double take, because she seemed kind of unassuming and normal, but she also carried two large rings. But the most notable thing was this pink mist that was following her around, and I swear I could see some heavily muscled male figure in the mist. This woman's name was Ichirin Kumoi, and she tentatively joined with her ally.

It was definitely them - the Buddhists. I had seen them at the temple, and at the revolution, even though that one in the sailor uniform was missing, as well as the one who had the dog ears. And they'll also become the sworn enemies of Miko, Futo, and the rest of the Taoists.

"Master," spoke the mouse, still eyeing us with suspicion. "Everything okay?"

We had stopped encircling Shou, and she went back to her crew. "Ah, yes, just a misunderstanding. They're allies of Yakumo." Upon hearing that, the Buddhists eased their tension. Shou turned to us and bowed. "Sorry for that. We heard people and we didn't know what to think."

Even though she was a tiger youkai, Shou didn't seem threatening at all. She seemed rather kind, to be honest. Nazrin looked annoyed by us, and she was still apprehensive about this situation - I guess she's cautious like a mouse. Ichirin... there was a gentleness in her eyes.

Still, I don't think I can take Byakuren's crew lightly. If I remember correctly from that dream, didn't Yukari bring up the fact that Byakuren pretended to be a youkai exterminator and instead saved them? So that would mean that these youkai were marked for extermination way back then, or had some sort of bounty on them, until Byakuren saved them.

[Yukari:] "So you all got banished down here. I knew you were banished somewhere, but if I had known where your exact locations were-"

So, apparently there are some things you aren't aware of, even with your future knowledge.

Shou held up her hand. "It's okay. The seals keeping us in are starting to wear off, so we should be able to get out soon."

As they continued with their catching up, Tenshi nudged me, pulling me and Koizumi off to the side. She had slight concern on her face. "Hey, should we be doing this? I mean, they're going to be involved in an upcoming incident. What if this-"

I understood what she meant. "No, I get you, but Yukari would know best, wouldn't she?"

Tenshi crossed her arms, frowning. "...I guess so. But... still." She shook her head. "It might make things more interesting, but... I don't know." She was understandably apprehensive.

"I agree," said Koizumi, furrowing his brow in thought and crossing his arms as well. "But it's not like anybody is saying that they'll be involved in an incident later. It's only us who know."

"We can probably work with that." I shot a look to Reimu. "I mean, as long as Reimu doesn't know, right? It should be good then?" I hope. Yukari, I really am putting my trust in you to be doing the right thing here. You'd better be living up to that.

"Besides, this would be on Yakumo, not anybody else." Koizumi noticed Reimu's curious gaze on us. "Miss Hakurei is getting suspicious. Let's get back to the group."

It wasn't until that point that we realized that the Stranger was right there with us, and we let that all out in front of her. To be honest, she'd been so quiet that I forgot she was even with us at all. I gulped, before speaking to her. "Ah, can you keep all that a secret?"

A brief moment passed before the Stranger gave a single nod. Thank you. I know I'm asking a lot from you over this.

We rejoined the group, and got caught in the middle of a conversation already going on between the Buddhists and the orb.

"Look - we thought we'd try for the exit," said Nazrin, her arms around herself. She looked tired, like she had been running around all day. "Things are bad down here, Yakumo."

[Yukari:] "You'll need the Palanquin to even make it through Makai."

"Yeah, about that. We found the Palanquin, buried under rock, and just cleared it out, but it still can't fly." That was the Buddhist nun - Ichirin. I was guessing that since she was sealed up for a thousand years, she too was a youkai, despite looking like a perfectly normal, albeit pretty woman. "It's simply sealed up even more than us. We just need to break the seal, and we can power out of here. Murasa's sealed up with the ship as well."

The Palanquin is here. Byakuren's ship. Actually, that brought up a question. If the ship gets out of here, then where the hell was it in the future? I mean, if the Buddhists were around, wouldn't they have the ship right next to the village? Something like that would have been noticeable, even on the lake if they simply put it there. Or hell, even if it was just floating in the sky above the temple, I would have seen it. So what becomes of it? And who is Murasa?

I was probably just overthinking this, like I did just now thinking Yukari had anything to do with Seija.

"Yeah, the power of the Palanquin can allow us to break free of our banishment." Ichirin pointed down the hallway. "It's just out there, has been at the entrance for a thousand years and it took us this long to finally find it. We'll finally be able to break out of this realm, and go look for sister. But we need to-"

"The Palanquin is that Byakuren's ship, isn't it?" That was Reimu.

Crap.

Tenshi just rolled her eyes at us. So much for that. The details of my dream had to have gotten out somehow.

[Yukari:] "...Byakuren's crew is part of the next incident. I...this wasn't supposed to happen. Reimu and Marisa weren't supposed to meet any of them yet."

Don't make me regret trusting you, Yukari!

"What incident?" asked Shou, looking confused.

[Yukari:] "...Never mind that for now."

[Patchouli:] "This is getting really dangerous, if we are dealing with potential paradoxes."

[Yukari:] "I know. Even though I checked the future, I tried to limit my knowledge of it to prevent a paradox."

Reimu eyed the Buddhists with slight interest. "So you guys cause the next incident?"

Reimu...

[Yukari:] "The next incident is tricky, as it's not necessarily an actual incident. But it looks like I'll have to make it happen, to tell you how it'll have to go down when the time is right. I hope I can fix this..."

[Eirin:] "You certainly could have handled this better."

[Yuyuko:] "Yukari tends to get a little more lax in that regard when it comes to old friends, it seems. She doesn't have many of us left."

The religious wars are going to continue with the next incident then. Shinto versus Buddhism, then against Taoism. I should have asked for more info. There was something that happened between the three religions. What was it that Yukari said? That there would be a threat that required all three of them to unite against? That had to be the end of the religious wars, because by the time I was there, there seemed to be some sort of relative peace. So at the very least, at the end of the day, these Buddhists would be useful.

"I don't know of anything we'd do, Yakumo." Shou shrugged. "We try to follow sister's teachings of peace and-"

I saw the mist around Ichirin move around, and it appeared to 'tap' her on the shoulder. The nun whipped around, getting into a stance with rings in both her hands. "Sisters! It followed us!"

And we heard a deep, heavy footstep down the hall. The hairs on my neck stood up.

"There there there!" Tenshi grabbed me, apparently alarmed, and led me and Koizumi to the right side of the hall, behind pillars. Half the group went one way, the other half the other.

"Did you see that?!"

"Crap!" Mokou ducked behind a pillar, wide-eyed. "Didjya see that?!"

What's going on?! What is following- Then I saw it. For a few seconds, I thought I was losing my mind, but I saw something from what could only be described as the Cerberus - the three headed guard dog of Hades. A large black dog, with fire-red eyes, and long fangs that just dripped drool - the bigger fangs as big as me. And seeing that put immense fear in my body, as it looked like how I imagined it should have looked.

Every single curse word went through my mind. Twice.

---

"I don't know what more we can do here." Ran sighed, after cleaning away the danmaku scarring, making sure it was gone just in case someone else might see it. They had tried, in vain, to search for more clues as to what had happened to Nagato, and save for what she had texted to Yukari, they hadn't found anything else.

Emiri simply nodded, doing the finishing touches to putting the room back together. They had searched everywhere, moving things, upturning things, in the hope that there was something, but besides the room being cleaned, the paint, the scar, and the only clue, that was it. It was quite efficient, whatever had happened here.

After they had finished, Ran brought it out again - a single long strand of blonde hair. "This obviously has some sort of power. I'm guessing fairy."

"A fairy got the drop on Nagato?"

Ran shrugged. "That's the trace energy on this hair. So either whoever did this hangs out with fairies enough that their energy rubbed of on them, or it was a fairy." Fairies can get the drop on you if you're completely careless.

Emiri silently stared at the strand, still not sure of Ran's hypothesis. "You're trying to tell me that a data entity could be taken down by a fairy."

Ran shook her head. "You're missing the point. Danmaku was used, and that's the great equalizer, especially on data entities." Ran put it in a little plastic bag, ready to take it back. "I'll bring it to my lady, and hopefully our group can identify it."

"My society might be more useful."

"Does your society have experience with fairies?"

"...No, but-"

Ran slightly held up her hand. "I'm not insulting you or your kind here, Emiri. This just may be a job better suited for those in Gensokyo, is all I'm saying." You may have categorized Gensokyo, but that's still a work in progress, last I heard. I don't think you categorized all the fairies.

Emiri just nodded, before suddenly perking up her head, the eyes of the interface widening just a bit, staring out the window.

"What's wrong?"

Emiri kept staring for a moment. "I see..." The interface finally blinked, looking to Ran. "He is facing a dangerous enemy right now. His adrenaline levels have increased drastically - something has him really scared."

Ran slightly frowned, unsure of how this came to be. "...How do you know? And who?"

Emiri pointed her index finger to her mouth. "Nanomachines, Miss Ran. The ones that were constantly injected by Nagato."

It took several seconds for Ran to understand it, stepping closer to the interface. "So that's it. I know they were doing that, but..." Ran paused. Hold on. "Wait, but wouldn't that mean that Nagato-"

"Nagato had me as backup in case something happened to her, so something wouldn't happen to him."

"What does that mean?"

Emiri looked out the window. "It means either Nagato or I can regulate him, make his body more efficient. Now, please." Emiri's face slowly became more focused. "I need to concentrate to make sure all this works more smoothly."

So basically he's so full of nanomachines that you can control him or something? That sounded terrifying. However, something like that wouldn't have gone unnoticed unless... "...You haven't tested this, have you?"

"No." Emiri shook her head. "Nagato was to be the one to do this. I am merely the backup."

I'm not sure how Kyon is going to feel about this.

---

Sweat dripped down my forehead, as we had all taken cover. Some of us had made a lot of noise in doing so, but the creature hadn't heard it - I assumed that Luna had killed the sound around us in a pocket, which turned out to be true. The little fairy was bunched up, shaking in fear, with the others the same, except for Cirno. She just stared in awe of this new creature.

Youmu, Tenshi, Koizumi, Reisen, and Chiyuri were with me, along with the obvious fairies and of course the dolls. Oh, right, and the Stranger.

"What are we gonna do?" Youmu shakingly had her hand on her katana, staring at it. "That thing's huge!"

It was searching for the others, who were in the process of moving from pillar to pillar, as it could hear them. Mother of God. A Cerberus. The Greek dog demon thing that keeps the dead in the underworld. So fitting, I guess, concerning the Buddhists who were trying to escape.

Reisen's brow was furrowed, as she stared at the creature through her guns sight. "Something's wrong."

"What?"

"There's an illusion surrounding this thing. I'm sensing different scales, but it's also on the brain wave scale." Reisen pursed her lips, before letting out a low breath. "Fine." She stood up, turning to Youmu. "Cleave."

Youmu did as such, and Reisen looked to the creature, her mouth slightly opening, before cracking a smirk. "Thought so." The soldier nodded to the rest of us. "Do it."

I was still a little iffy on being 'stabbed', but I took it, along with the rest of us. It wasn't a beast at all. A slim, slender late-teens looking girl, wearing a one piece, short dress, black. It was really tight on her, accentuating her...features. It really left little to the imagination. She also had knee high black socks.

Yeah, left really little to the imagination. Just my first glance at her was raising my passion through the roof.

"Oh, it's just a youkai." Luna looked relieved. "Man, I hate how some youkai are able to change their form!"

"Then again, we manipulate light and sound to do stuff like that," said Sunny, grinning.

Luna frowned at her friend. "That's different. Those are pranks."

In the midst of the fairy prattling, the new girl had something else that caught my full attention, making dread go through my body. Not anything life threatening, but... well, actually, it was life threatening.

For the past me.

The seed of non-identification that was wrapped around her arm. That damn blue snake thing. Also, she was carrying a trident, and the snake-seed had also wrapped around that. I could faintly see the outline of the 'beast' return as the illusion began to reestablish itself despite our cleaving, and when it pawed around, the girl was using her trident in place of the claws.

So that's how it is. This brought up a problem as well - if we destroyed this girl, and the seed, I wouldn't have it. It was the exact same snake thing I was given by Seija. It had to be. But if it turns out that there are more, then I'll find that stash.

"Who's that?" Tenshi had come up from behind me, peeking around my shoulder. She too partook in the confusion cleaving, as did Koizumi.

"I don't know, but she's wearing the seed."

"What seed?" asked Youmu.

Oh, yeah, idiot. Chastise Yukari for mishandling future information and then do it yourself not five minutes later. Somebody slap me.

"That thing on her arm, right? You said it was a snake," said Koizumi. "I'm seeing a slug."

That's not too different a stretch, but I guess everyone sees something different of that thing.

Youmu looked lost. "Uhm, what?'

"I'll tell you later, Youmu. Now's not the time."

Reisen eyed me, seemingly deciding if she should pursue it, but I guess she didn't as she returned her attention to the creature.

Tenshi gave me a slight sneer. "When will be the time?"

"Seriously, not the time!"

Tenshi looked like she was going to say something else, but thought better of it. She shook her head. "Whatever. But I guess this means-"

"We can't kill this thing." Koizumi slowly nodded. "Unless we want to paradox."

Already the cleaving was wearing off, and the beast form was taking over. The celestial sighed, ducking back behind the pillar with the rest of us when the beast looked over in our direction. Everybody else was doing well in staying away from the creature, and I guess they had to - the seed made them see some horrible creature to their expectations, so it had to have struck fear into each of them. "So what's the play?"

"Knock her out, and don't destroy the seed. Otherwise I might disappear, or my family auto-dies if she makes good on her threat."

"Is someone threatening you?" Youmu was still as lost as ever.

Reisen was staring at me, a thoughtful look on her face. She was slowly becoming more and more curious.

I waited until the beast changed its attention away from us. Now's a good a time as any. I knelt down before Youmu, shooting Tenshi and Koizumi a worried gaze, before returning my attention to the gardener. "Something happened, okay? I'm just gonna say that..." Again, I looked to Tenshi, who simply nodded. Fine. You win. I looked back to Youmu and Reisen. "I'm just gonna say this once. I was kidnapped, brought into the future against my will, and given a disguise that requires what that girl is wearing. My family was threatened, but I managed to save them with the help of you girls. We won in the future."

Youmu's jaw slightly dropped as she processed this. "But... why haven't you told anyone?" She saw Tenshi's reaction. "You told her-?"

I vigorously shook my head. "No, she's just a stalker and found out by being nosy."

"Bite me," scoffed Tenshi.

You first.

"But if you were in the future, then we won, right?"

I felt the pain rising in my chest. "...Not necessarily."

"Huh?"

I looked into Youmu's eyes, and realized I would have to say it.

"I don't make it." And before she could say something- "And neither did you, or some others, in one of those timelines."

Four years. Four years of holding that in. You'd think there would be some sort of relief in doing that, but... I don't know. It was just unsatisfying.

The gardener searched my eyes, trying to make sense of what I just told her. When she finally saw I was telling her the truth, her shoulders slightly sagged. "Oh," was all she could say.

"Geez." Chiyuri looked lost over this. "You've known this for four years and never told anyone? Why?"

"It was just one timeline. Something changed, and Youmu came back, okay?" I had to reassure her. I saw the gardener's confidence instantly disappear, and neither of us needed that. Standing up, I turned to the soldier, who was the closest to me besides Youmu. "I don't need you guys to give me any special treatment at the cost of your own lives. I'm not strong enough to live with that."

Reisen slowly nodded, then came up to me and slapped me in the face, hard. Holding onto my cheek, I just stared at her, and she looked so disappointed. "That's not for you to decide. A soldier does what they are supposed to do. We all came into this to save the world, so we all knew there is a chance we won't make it."

"I think I'd slap you too over that." It took me a second to realize that was the Stranger that spoke. I stared at her for a moment, before-

There was a massive crash that stopped any rebuttal that I was trying to come up with on the fly and any mental dealings of realizing that the Stranger finally spoke - one of the massive pillars had toppled over, exposing the Buddhists to the creature. We didn't hear it, because of Luna's sound barrier, but we felt it. By then, the illusion was back, and I placed my hands on Youmu's shoulders - she was apparently in some form of shock. "Youmu!" I lightly shook her. "Youmu!"

She blinked, coming back, and shot a look at the creature. "...Okay!" Cleaving us, she got into position next to Reisen.

Reisen was aiming down her sights. "So I take it these Buddhists are important to the future?"

"You could say that." I rubbed my cheek again - Reisen's slap still stung. "But so is the creature, as well as that thing around her arm. I need it to survive." Isn't that ironic? I actually do need special treatment here.

The Buddhists had taken a defensive stance, Shou with her spear, Nazrin with her dowsing rods... but Ichirin was different. She stood in front of everyone, and extended her arms, which each held a large ring. The pink mist that was surrounding her began to form, and...

I thought I wouldn't be in awe, even at that point in my life. After everything I had experienced, I thought I could be ultimately jaded to youkai, the supernatural, and the like.

But the mist had formed into a towering bald, muscular man with a large beard. You could only see from his waist up, the rest of his body that undefined mist.

"A nyuudou cloud?!" said Tenshi, her eyes widening. "She has a nyuudou cloud?!"

First off, a nyuudou cloud is just a term for a cumulonimbus cloud - or a thunderhead. Or so I thought. Apparently it's a type of youkai. A nyuudou by itself is something masquerading as a Buddhist monk, and if you don't know the words to repel them, they decapitate you when they approach you. But I guess there are cloud variants to this type of youkai.

This man took the exact same pose that Ichirin did, and when Ichirin cocked back her fist, so did the man - they were in sync with their movements. Of course, it being an illusion, the punch went through the creature, much to the surprise of those who didn't know about it. Youmu cleaved us during that time, so we saw where the girl was. She swung back her trident in response, and the 'slash' was blocked by the man as he made his hands even bigger to cover Ichirin, deflecting the slash.

They're a team. They're symbiotic. I wasn't sure what kind of youkai Ichirin was (she had to be a youkai), but she had backup. Not too shabby.

The other Buddhists were confused as to the miss of the cloud person's strike, but they began to defend themselves. I gotta hurry. If they kill off this girl, I might not be able to get the seed for myself.

"Luna, on us. Let's sneak up on this thing." The fairy of sound stared at me like I was crazy, but complied. Our group silently snuck up on the girl -

I don't know how, but it then turned to us, already swinging the trident around, and it had scary range. We had to retreat, as she chased after us, my mind recognizing that she had static in her eyes. Wildly flailing her weapon around, I could feel the air displacement as she chased after us. I saw Reimu peer out from behind a pillar, amulets in hand. Launching them, the homing amulets instead went for the illusion of the creature, not the girl herself. Damn! This illusion thing really takes, doesn't it? I guess it had to, if it worked on me.

What now what now?! Reisen and Chiyuri were shooting back at the girl, aiming right for her. The illusion was slowly retaking, so we would have to find a place for Youmu to re-cleave. Youmu was also 'firing' her sword slashes as she ran, trying to slow down the girl. Nothing was working - she just kept using her trident to knock everything away with such speed.

This illusion was still frightening - as Cerberus, it was snarling, barking, and striking fear at such a primal level, you know? I could even feel the breath coming down on us from above. This was really a complete disguise.

"Kyon!" That was Sakuya shouting at us. "Lead it back over here!"

They were a few pillars ahead after we had turned back to where we were - we didn't want to go to the end of the hallway in case there was a door closed or something. Anyway, I saw Marisa's arm waving, and as we neared, out stepped Sakuya.

[SPELL CARD: Illusion Sign "Killing Doll"]

"Aim low! It's an illusion!" Get this thing off of us!

In the moment before the spell card fully activated, the maid complied.

The creature paused as it got hit, the large head writing back and forth, and I could no longer see the girl. The knives are hitting, right? So why isn't the illusion going down? Why is it still up?

I don't know how, but the trident had blocked it all. Another cleaving for us, and the girl stood there, her trident in front of her. Youmu had run off to do the same for the rest of the group.

"The hell kind of youkai is this?!" Mokou's jaw had dropped in disbelief.

[Yukari:] "Who is it? What is it?!"

I was getting ready to tell Yukari, but the girl just stared right at me, and I understood it was going to target me. Shoot. What now? What do I do?

Tenshi rushed forward, swinging around her sword, but was parried by the trident. Obviously, that's something very powerful, and she's just about as quick as anything I could imagine.

The creature continued to thrash about, some of the swings striking the obsidian pillars, and one such pillar began to topple over, right at-

My blood ran cold. "Koizumi watch out!"

Koizumi, who had dodged the same swipe that toppled the pillar, was on his knees, watching the creature. His attention wasn't on what was coming down on him.

No... NO! I said I wasn't gonna lose anybody dammit!

Before I could scream, I saw a flash of red and white - Mokou shoved Koizumi away with all her strength.

Then there was red. Just... Red.

[Nitori:] "Geez! Mokou just-"

Koizumi laid on the ground, wide eyed, staring back where he had been. He began to choke out some sounds, but couldn't speak.

[Remilia:] "Get up and move!"

Mokou... We didn't have time to think or anything. The creature brought down its claws at Koizumi, who saw them coming and rolled out of the way. He was white as a sheet over the experience.

We had to finish this now before we lost anyone who couldn't come back. I looked to Sunny. "You can take in an extra person in your stealth field, right?"

She nodded, and I quickly bit into another peach.

I guess Reimu understood what I was going to do, as she yelled to the others. "Tenshi! Sword of Hisou to Kyon! Everyone, cover Kyon!"

---

Please let this work.

Regulations beginning now.

---

Tenshi hopped back away from the girl, giving me the sword, and I went right for the fairies, I guess disappearing as the girl paused for a second while tracking me. This thing was able to detect us when we tried to sneak up on it, so I just simply need to be quicker than its reactions.

The creature looked intent on focusing on me, but Ichirin and her cloud body guard person went up to it, and the cloud began to grapple with the creature, missing, of course, but then finding the trident, blocking the swipes. If it caused the cloud guy any pain, he wasn't showing it.

I looked back to the fairies, nodding to them. "Here I go!" I then 'unsheathed' the sword of Hisou.

I was again faster than anybody could hope to be, but the girl had still managed to begin turning to me when I approached it, again bringing the trident around. Even if I had the sword, I don't know if I would have been able to save Koizumi and keep Mokou from doing that. I was kind of winging it, knowing that all I had to do was to pluck off the seed, and hopefully knock away the weapon. I gotta do this quickly, before anyone else gets hurt.

Eventually the turn had slowed down to a crawl, and the world was in that time stop phase. With my free hand, I unraveled the seed from around her arm, taking it off. I could see that the creature disappeared the instant I did that, leaving only the girl. Swinging the sword at the trident from her direction, the hit yanked it out of her hand, which I grabbed and began to run back to the fairies as I sheathed the sword. Time had resumed, and the girl was left standing there, weaponless, and bewildered, even in that static eye state.

I couldn't believe that had worked, or that I had the bravery to even do that. I had gone up to a youkai and disarmed it. I actually felt elation at that act, a sense of pure euphoria due to the adrenaline.

"Now!'

The group opened fire on the girl as soon as I was clear, with the three Spark users bringing out the Trinity.

[Yukari:] "That girl-!"

[SPELL CARD: TRINITY SPARK]

Hey, the girl didn't have the seed any more, so they were free to do what they wanted. Without the trident or the illusions, she was easy prey. It was the same strategy that had been carrying us. Cripple the enemy, strip them of defenses, and then attack. Tried and true. I had paused, wondering what Yukari was going to say. Well, whatever it is, she'll have a long winded explanation for us later.

Weirdly enough, I didn't feel hungry or tired. I guessed that I didn't use up all the power of the peaches for that Focus Mode.

The hallway became silent after the use of the Trinity, the Buddhists wide eyed at this show of power.

"Geez..." Nazrin lightly rubbed the back of her neck, a troubled look on her face. "I'm kinda glad we aren't enemies then."

As long as you don't tick off those three, you don't have to worry about that Spark.

Upon seeing the girl down, Ichirin patted the hand of the cloud person, satisfied. "Good work, Unzan. That was a lot scarier than I thought it would be." The cloud, Unzan, silently nodded before dispersing to the pink mist surrounding the nun.

It's got to be useful to have a strong person like that backing you up in that way. I'd like that, I think.

Shou sighed, looking at our downed enemy, before turning her attention to our fallen comrade, her face saddening. "I'm... I'm sorry... If-"

"Don't worry about it," said Reimu, matter-of-factly. The miko directed Yuka to move the pillar off. The flower youkai complied, rolling it towards us off of... what was left of Mokou, so most of the... red was behind the view.

Don't think about it. Just don't think about it.

I couldn't help myself - I shivered, both imagining what Mokou went through and what it looked like under the pillar. It was more morbid curiosity than anything. I mean, I can watch stuff like the Saw movies, yeah, but I'm not into that stuff, you know? I just saw blood, nothing else. So most of it... most of Mokou has to be on the other side. Even though I've seen her die before, I wasn't used to it. If I did get used to it, what would that say about me and my state of mind? Yuka didn't react much to what was there, so she had to be used to such things.

Chiyuri's morbid curiosity was bigger than mine, as she made her way to see it. She paused, and had to look away for a second, before her eyes widened. "...She's already..."

Koizumi started to run over there, but Chiyuri held up her hand. "Ah, not yet. She's not... You don't want to see this part." The female esper continued to watch what I assumed to be Mokou's body regenerating. The woman knelt over, getting a closer look, obviously fascinated. "I've studied cadavers before, and seen autopsy footage, but to see a human body be put back together...?"

The Buddhists were really confused over this. "What's going on? I thought - Is she still alive?!" Shou didn't know what to make of this.

"She's... she's immortal." Koizumi was shaking, not taking his eyes off the pillar. "If she dies, her body will put itself back together and she'll come back to life." He took a deep breath, both over her sacrifice for him and his own brush with death.

[Yukari:] "Nue."

Wait a second! My thoughts of the Buddhists were gone, as I looked to the down girl. Nue?! The nue?!

[Alice:] "The nue?"

[Yukari:] "Yes, the one who was in all those tales."

[Remilia:] "The Japanese chimera..."

I gulped, staring down at the girl, as we had all crowded around. "I just went up against the nue and survived?!" One of the most feared youkai in mythology, and considering that the effect the seed had on us, I could see why. Able to make you see what you expected. If you expect a frightful monster, then you'll see one. And the one I was expecting at the entrance to Hell was of course, a Cerberus.

I had just helped take down a legendary youkai who took down one of us, for, well, a moment.

We heard Mokou cough and gasp for air. A few moments later, she stood up from behind the pillar, rearranging her clothes like nothing happened to her, or doing her best to. One of her suspenders was snapped off and several buttons on her shirt were just smashed useless, revealing her heat-protected tank top underneath. But what really seemed to upset her was when she held up her flattened cigarette pack with a disappointed look on her face. She let out a curse under her breath before her eyes went to Koizumi, and frowned. "Pay attention, dammit. I told ya - I can afford to die. You can't."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and didn't know if I should be appalled or amused by the fact she seemed more upset she lost her cigs over her dying in a horrible way. I'd ask if it was okay if someone was so casual about death, but for her, that's probably just a weekly experience. It didn't seem to faze most of our companions, just us from the outside world and the Buddhists. That was quite the scare, however. We almost lost Koizumi for good.

And yes, even though I know Mokou can't stay dead, it was still quite a shock to experience that. I don't see people getting killed in front of me every day, you know?

He nodded to what she said, and took a few steps towards her. She waved him off. "This is nothing, man. I'm fine. Just don't make this a habit, 'kay?"

I felt a bit guilty about us using Mokou's ability like this, but it was kind of countered by the relief that we didn't lose anyone for real.

This was a conflicting feeling, to tell the truth.

---

"Uhm, hello? Miss... Miss Yakumo?"

Kosuzu stared at the house, as she knew she was being watched. She had considered going in, but she just got a bad feeling about it. Please don't have just left me. I'm in the middle of nowhere, and the youkai around the mountain are stronger than the ones around the village.

She heard the soft crunch of the light snow behind her, and there was the woman in the cloak again. "Yes?"

Kosuzu stood there, a little shaken up, but steeled her fear back. "I ah, I think I figured out some of these." The girl went up to the seals. "These concern a night sparrow, these poltergeists, and-" Kosuzu explained the seals to the cloaked youkai. "I think that's it. But these other ones are astounding." She allowed herself to show some sort of happiness, as it did interest her. Moving to the seals, she pointed right at them. "This right there." It covers some real powerful youkai."

"This one seems oddly familiar to me, but it's also the ones set for us."

"These are the ones keeping you out, the ones affecting you. But..." Kosuzu paused, pursing her lips, and finding them a bit chapped. I need some aloe or something. "I don't get it. I understand the language, but I don't understand these words. That's what's been bugging me."

"What is it?"

"Uhm... it's... Okay, this part concerns... certain creatures... which leads to this part that denies powers entry, and... this part." Kosuzu had picked up a stick and was waving it in front of the seals. "This one? It's like a signature. By order of 'she that operates from afar?' That's how I'm translating it."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I know. It... Hmm. Actually, it might not be saying that. It might be a name." Kosuzu moved to the seal, hovering her hand over one part of it. It was a series of what looked like scribbles, but it was still elegant "See this? This right here directly translates to 'she who operates from afar'. But I don't know how to translate it to you any further. My ability allows me to read it directly, but sometimes I don't understand it. It has to be a name - that's the only explanation for me reading it like that."

"Interesting."

Kosuzu tilted her head, blinking. "Greek?"

The cloaked woman's head perked up, and Kosuzu almost saw her face. "What?"

The girl fearfully stared at the youkai for a bit, before returning her attention to the task she was brought there for. "I see Greek influences in that language. I've read some Greek before, and I've studied the Greek alphabet a bit, but nothing like this. It's similar enough, but not quite Greek. I think it's taken from the ancient Greek dialect. Maybe an offshoot. See?" Again she waved the stick around on the opposite side of the seals. "Oh, wait, we have some ancient Greek over here. It's got... Epsilon, kappa, alpha, tau, and epsilon again. Over and over." That's weird. Why didn't I notice that before? "Any idea what that means? I'm not familiar with... 'Ekate'? Is that what it's spelling?"

Kosuzu waited for a response, but when she didn't get one, she turned to her. "Uhm..." Even with the cloak, from the exposed skin, the woman's skin had turned white. "Is everything okay? Did I do something bad?"

---

A feeling of utmost dread came over Yukari, as she realized what it was. The language that the seal was in, and the implications of it, and the name the girl had spelled out. Oh no...! It really is her!

Yukari quickly grabbed the bewildered Kosuzu, bringing her back to the village, before teleporting to the Great Library. She bolted out of the portal, grabbing her headset.

"Get out of there! Now! Fall back to the entrance!"

---

Yukari had gone off somewhere again, leaving us with the Nue, who had woken up already from her Spark induced nap. Turns out she was the one who was chasing the Buddhists. Oh, and by the way, that really is her name. Nue Houjuu. They don't really get creative down here, do they?

Youmu and Reisen were having a conversation with Tenshi and Koizumi, off a ways, looking back to me every now and then, especially Youmu. She just stared at me, looking like she was broken-hearted or something. I really am sorry, Youmu. I never meant to hurt you. I just... you wanted to protect me, and I wanted to return it. I guess I just did it wrong. You deserve to be happy with Yuyuko. I really did feel like I screwed up there - I definitely could have handled it better.

We found out that this nue was not the one who went to the moon, as she was only 800 years old. Her mother was the one who went. Another interesting thing - the story of the nue, which was the Tale of Heike, actually formed the nue. At least according to Nue. It's difficult. Basically the Emperor hunted down a youkai chimera, and the image of it was attributed to the nue. Even though this creature in front of us certainly didn't have any of the characteristics that a nue was supposed to have. Head of a monkey, tail of a snake, body of a tanuki, and limbs of a tiger.

Difficult, yeah. Belief is wonky that way, isn't it? I mean, we saw Yamame and she wasn't as chimera like as a tsuchigumo was supposed to be. Face of an oni, body of a tiger, legs of a spider. Kappas are supposed to be green little goblins with turtle shells, but the one I've met is a cute girl who is an engineering whiz. Even though Gensokyo is a place of belief, there are limits to even belief, it seems.

Nue didn't want to talk until she got her seed back, which I cautiously gave her. Chiyuri was studying the trident until Reimu felt comfortable enough to give this youkai her weapon back. Which of course meant that the nue was unarmed.

Nue was rubbing her head, griping about how the spark was overkill. "C'mon, you serious? That was a bit much, man."

"You were knocking down pillars, and were about to kill us all," said Reimu, arms crossed, and obviously not having any of it with the youkai. "In fact, you should be thanking us for getting you out of that state."

Nue frowned, and the look on her face sort of reminded me of Seija for a bit. In fact, she did kinda look just like Seija, save for the messier hair, highlights, and horns. I don't know if that was due to the seed's influence or something, but that's who she reminded me of. The nue looked to the Buddhists, her frown softening. "Hey, uh, sorry about that."

Shou gave a warm smile, slightly raising her hand. "Not a problem. You weren't yourself, Miss... Houjuu, was it? I'll have to remember that for when we get out. You are quite powerful, and I think I'd like to have you with us for when we-"

An annoyed Nazrin lightly elbowed Shou in the ribs. "Not the time, master. Let's get out of here first before we recruit more, 'kay?"

Nue just tried to kill you and the first thing you do is try to convert her to your religion? Even Futo wasn't that fanatic.

[Yukari:] "Get out of-"

"Sonova!" Reisen covered her ears, right before the orb emitted a loud garbled mess of a sound. It was worse than nails being scraped across a chalk board. Then it just emitted a sort of soft static.

"Guys? What's with the orb?"

Before anyone could answer me, I heard Nazrin exclaim something. "What the heck is-?!" She was silenced.

Some sort of fireball had knocked her to the ground, knocking her out. It came so fast. The weird part was that the fire was tri-colored. Red, white, and blue fire.

It wasn't the time to be gawking at fire - someone attacked us. Reisen called for us to take cover, to which we complied - we ducked behind the pillars, though some weren't fast enough. Unzan materialized, his large hands covering Ichirin, but the barrage proved too much for him - he just got enveloped by shots, and soon Ichirin followed, both falling to the ground. The Stranger stayed with me and Youmu, blocking the shots with her bandaged arm. I'm really liking you for your immunity here!

"Great, now what?!" Mima tried to look around the pillar, and was met with a fireball almost instantly - she whipped back from the impact, collapsing on the ground.

Who is this?! What's going on?! We had just finished with Nue, but we got ambushed. After seeing a number of them get knocked down, I didn't dare to look out myself. Youmu, the Stranger, and Cirno were with me behind the pillar - the gardener understood the situation as well. Showing any part of your body would only result in a fireball, and we had to hold Cirno there, lest she go out into the open like an idiot. Which she was trying to do. Stay with us, you dummy! Chiyuri's leg was sticking out from cover, and it got hit - it caused her to crumple, exposing more of herself. The esper grunted, bringing up her gun. Making a movement with her hands, the red 'bullets' she shot began to explode a bit after leaving the gun, absorbing the overwhelming shots from the fairy. Chiyuri retreated where Reisen was, throwing herself behind the pillar and grabbing for her leg. This is insane! Someone needs to do something!

When the fire and the stars stopped, it was quiet for a moment.

"Everyone okay?" I saw Reisen across the way from us, clutching her M16. Tenshi was also with her. I gave them a nod.

"Dammit, where'd that come from?!" I heard Reimu shout that. "Did anybody see who did that?!"

Before anyone could say anything, we began to hear a small giggle of enjoyment. It sounded rather immature, like a child's, and definitely female. It slowly got louder and louder, making my skin crawl.

"It's lunatic time! Welcome to the world of madness!"

What?

"Something real interesting is going on! Let's crank up the speed!"

She really sounded giddy at this, whoever it was. That voice was also much closer. Still not daring to stick my head out, I whispered. "Psst. Fairies. You there?"

"Eye'm right here."

"No, not you!" Stupid ice fairy.

The fairies of light appeared with us. Sunny gave a quick nod, as she was flustered by what just happened - in fact the other two shared her sentiment. "Did you see who it was?"

Star nodded. "Yeah, I saw her!"

Of course it's another girl. Why are pretty much all the youkai I've come across girls? "What is it? Oni, goblin, a devil?"

"You're not gonna believe me. It's a fairy."

That made me pause, actually. Across the way, Reisen must have heard us. "Are you kidding? A fairy has us suppressed?"

"I saw what I saw. It's a fairy." The trio went back to being invisible, but not before -

"Oh, Star, it's not nice to tattle." The voice did not lose it's tone of amusement. "But I'll enjoy hunting you down." The voice began humming some song I've never heard of.

That made the life detector fairy gulp. The three fairies went totally invisible, leaving the three of us there. We looked to each other. "What kind of fairy is this?" Youmu kept her hand on her blade, and she was unsure of how to handle this situation. We both were. "What fairy does this? If this thing was at the Great Fairy War, it would have been a whole lot worse!"

"If it's another fairy, Eye'll take them down easy! Just-"

I had to hold her back again, grabbing her cold arm. "No! We don't know what kind of fairy this is!"

Cirno pouted angrily. "Whatever fairy it is, it doesn't matter! Eye'm the strongest!"

You get your butt kicked repeatedly. You obviously over reach yourself, despite your strength having some merit.

"Oh... that's where you're wrong, Cirno. You've never come across a fairy like me." Some more giggling, and then: "Lunatic asylum from Hell la la la la la..." The fairy was getting closer, singing her weird little song. We could hear her footsteps, and she stopped both them and her song. "This is gonna be nice and quick, ladies and gents. It'll be much easier if you just step out and get knocked out. Otherwise I'm gonna make it hurt. Well it'll hurt regardless. It's just danmaku though, so don't try to fight like your lives depend on it." She paused. "Well... your lives do depend on it. But there's nothing you can do about it. I just want... him."

This person sounded so sure of herself, so confident, like there was nothing we could do about the situation. The way she said that last sentence sent chills up my spine.

She continued her walk towards us. I saw Mokou light herself up and try to fire as soon as she turned the pillar, but she was met with one of those multi colored star barrages to her face, knocking her out. For a second, I mused to myself that it was easier in the long run to knock out Mokou instead of killing her. She stays down longer when she gets KO'ed.

There really wasn't anything we could do, it seemed. Aren't we supposed to be superhuman? What power does this fairy have to take us down even at this level that easily?! Even Tenshi had to use very powerful or two spell cards in quick succession to take us down.

"Mmm. Now, you see, that's what I need you to do. You need to step out and take it. Otherwise I'll come over there and make it worse." She cleared her throat. "Oh, and uh, don't bother trying to call for help. I mean, you can scream all you'd like. I won't lie that I wouldn't enjoy it, but don't bother trying that orb. They shouldn't be able to hear you for a while." She giggled again. "You get that? No~body is coming to save you!"

Youmu softly nudged me in the ribs. "Hey," she whispered. "Bamboo clearing?"

It took me a moment to understand what she meant. Doesn't sound too bad, and we need a distraction. Funny, isn't it? I hated doing that four years prior, and there I was, willingly going to go through with it. I turned to Reisen, and mouthed out 'Bamboo clearing'. She understood, and whispered something to Tenshi and Chiyuri, who gave a nod. Chiyuri was still rubbing her leg, trying to get some feeling back into it, but she nodded too.

I turned to Cirno, patting my left arm. "Stay behind me, okay?"

"Fine. But Eye want a shot at her!"

"You'll get it! Just stay behind me." I turned to the Stranger. "Stay here, just in case. See if you can sneak around if you get the chance." She gave a nod.

I downed the vial, and ran out into the open space, putting myself in between this fairy and Cirno as she ran out as well, looking to where the voice was coming from, with the doll shielding as well. I was ready for it.

But not this.

It was a fairy.

A blonde, long haired fairy who was slightly bigger than the other fairies I've come across. Whereas the fairies looked like kids, this one looked like she was about to be a teenager, if not a small teenager already.

But her getup...

Why are you wearing the American flag? It shouldn't have been my thought on the matter, considering she took out a number of us, but the situation was just so surreal.

She was wearing a long shirt with leggings, with the American flag design. The shirt had the stars on the left side, with the stripes on the right. And the leggings were reversed in design. She also had a frilled collar and a purple with white polka dot jester hat. She carrying a torch that burned in red, white, and blue.

What are you, the freedom fairy? American fairy? America-chan? What the hell is this?

This... fairy didn't do anything when I came out. She just stared at me with her pink eyes. She simply smiled, and shook her head, before aiming at the pillar I came from.

I turned to wave Youmu off, but the gardener had already committed her act - and she ate a barrage of danmaku that just whizzed right for her - Youmu couldn't block it all. Materializing a keystone, Tenshi came out too with a shield, covering her and Reisen. Chiyuri stayed behind the pillar, taking shots with her weapon. The keystones absorbed the fireballs for a few hits before shattering - they were shattering as fast as Tenshi was putting them up. And they took so much damage when we faced her - this fairy is just breaking through so easily... Before the celestial could use her lasers or the soldier could get a real shot in, the fairy moved, using the pillars as cover too.

Jeez she's fast! I shook myself out of my state of slight shock, as I went over to Youmu to heal her. I was met with a barrage of stars placed in between us, forcing me to stay out in the center of the hallway. I turned back, and there was the fairy again, wagging her finger at me.

"Nuh-uh." She clicked her tongue, wagging her free hand at me, moving from pillar to pillar for cover. "You don't get to do that. They're staying down, 'kay? They all are."

Who are you?! Again, she moved, this time beginning to clear out those who were behind the pillars. I heard Koizumi and the others, one by one, fall to her. Reimu, with Sanae and Marisa quickly made their way to us, the miko using a barrier spell card to cover them. Seeing as how if I tried for one of the knocked out girls I'd get targeted, I instead tagged Tenshi, Reisen, Sanae, Marisa, and Reimu (when she called off her barrier), so they could share in the Border. I didn't tag Cirno, because the warmth would only damage her. Yuka, who was slow, made her way to us, withstanding a barrage of the attacks - it did appear to have some effect, as Kazami dropped to a knee upon reaching us. This fairy is too much even for Yuka?!

I noticed something about the flower youkai. She was really slow. It was the glaring weakness she had, and I assume the only weakness. Anybody really speedy could easily overwhelm her, even if she was a tank. To be fair, even Tenshi's keystones were getting obliterated by the barrage of the fairy. Are you kidding me?! It took so much firepower from us to break even one of those! Tagging the flower youkai, getting her back to her feet, I returned my attention to the enemy fairy.

This mere fairy just nearly wiped us out. She landed several meters away from us, twirling her torch, and still with that smile.

"Hiya. It's always great to meet you guys again!"

Again?

"Did Eye meet you? Eye don't remember." Cirno showed sheer confusion over this.

"No, we haven't yet, but now we have." The fairy sighed. "It's always disappointing that you don't-" The fairy let loose a barrage to her left, and I saw the Stranger dive behind a pillar.

So much for sneaking around.

"Ahem. Like I was saying, it's always disappointing that you don't last against us. Doesn't matter. Never does."

Why are you talking like you know us? Who-

A thought crossed my mind. Does this fairy time travel? She's obviously stronger than most youkai - she took down the Buddhists. A million different questions were going through my head over this new individual.

"Oh, you guys have been advancing too quickly for our tastes, you know. And Kyon... Kyon, Kyon, Kyon..." She slowly shook her head. "You've been very naughty, getting access to a celestial weapon, and surviving." The fairy's smile dropped, turning to a sneer. "That wasn't supposed to happen." She shrugged, regaining her smile. "Buuuuut I guess when the sukima and Yasumi got involved together, there was bound to be some shenanigans going on. We can't afford to take chances now, especially with that variant of Reimu being active in this world."

You're acting like it was my fault somehow. Seriously, that hostility she showed made my blood run cold. Like she was going to really hurt me for that. Also, what the hell-

"Variant of... me?" The miko showed sheer confusion. "Fairy, I don't know who you are," glared Reimu, "But you're in massive trouble."

I was also ready to move again, as my barrier wore off. I began to back up, and I bumped into Cirno, and I think the other three fairies.

"Oh, actually we do know each other. Well, I know you. You won't know me for a long while. But that's not important." She raised her torch above her head. "What is important is that your journey ends here, now. But first-" She eyed me, losing her smile again. "I gotta take down your stupid healer." The enemy fairy raised her left arm into the air, and I felt a sensation, not unlike what I felt upon entering former Hell.

I tensed my body, ready to move with wherever Reimu and Tenshi were going, but they weren't there. Wait a second... It was just me and the fairy in an empty hallway. No, wait. Cirno was with me. Oh you're kidding me. You're freaking kidding me. This fairy there put us in a closed space. Thankfully I had the dolls there backing me up. And... Cirno.

I won't deny she's proven useful sometimes, but I definitely wanted someone better than her. No, wait, you idiot. Cirno keeps surprising you. If she can take down the collective fairies of Gensokyo, then she has to be skilled enough to take on one.

Thing is, this Freedom Fairy or whoever she was, she seemed to be on a whole other level. It took the Taoists to take down the Buddhists, all together. But for one fairy...

"Eye got this." She moved from behind me, taking a step forward. Her fist was clenched, and I could see the cold forming in her hand.

I eyed Cirno. I hope you do.

"Ah, Cirno. I brought you in here too?" The enemy fairy tilted her head. "No matter. I'll just deal with you after I deal with him. But I always find it funny that you consider yourself the strongest fairy in this universe, when you actually aren't." The fairy twirled her torch, some of the red, white, and blue flames spilling out to the ground, and surrounding her. "I am." The flames spread, going to the walls, behind her, and behind us. It was enclosing, and keeping us contained in a partition of the hallway. Our own little boss battle grounds.

This might be troublesome. This looks to be an age old battle - fire versus ice.

"So what do we call you?"

"You think I'll give you my name that easily?"

"If you're confident enough to beat us, then what does it matter?" I know I shouldn't be antagonizing her, but...

Again, that smile drop made me shiver. There was something behind her eyes, like pure unadulterated power, willing to focus squarely on me.

The flames began to intensify, climbing up the walls, and running up the pillars. Again, Alice, thank you for the vest! The flames flickering and lighting up the artwork just made it even more horrific. As if those carvings weren't creepy enough.

The fairy looked to internally debate on whether she should tell me, and I had to hold Cirno back from impulsively attacking - she was willing to. I whispered to her: "We need to come up with a plan. She took down so many." Please listen to me for once. Please don't just react. Once in your life be smart.

Cirno stared up at me, and I could see the uncertainty underlying the bravado she was trying to put up, before she looked over to this new fairy. Again the ice fairy appeared ready to just charge in.

"Cirno, please. This is a matter of life and death." Namely mine, for both. I hope this fairy isn't the one who kills me, nor Cirno's stupidity that what gets me killed.

Cirno kept standing there, before the tension slowly drained from her body. Taking a step back, Cirno silently got behind me, I guess conceding to my viewpoint. Thank you. You had no reason to do what I asked, so thank you so much.

The new fairy began to smile again. She flipped the torch into the air, and did a spinning bow, before catching it again at the end of said bow, like a circus performer. "Very well, I do suppose some introductions are in order. It would be rude otherwise. My name is Clownpiece. I am the fairy of insanity."

That explains your nonsense talk then, but your saying that we've met before unnerves me.

"So... do you make people insane?"

"Why yes, yes I do. My strength was given to me by the gods. I'm able to wipe out the Lu..." The fairy paused, before her grin widened, and she shook her finger at me. "Oh you, Kyon... you always make me slip up. Always getting me to start confessing things."

"Why are you acting like you know me? What's with this 'we've done this before' nonsense?" It's obvious, but I would remember a powerful fairy like you, especially because of what you're wearing.

"Because we've done this before, you and I. But never to this extent. You've never come this far, Kyon, in abilities. That's why I've been given the order to interfere. We can't have you showing up with that nasty weapon of yours. And you had to involve a celestial in this?" She knowingly shook her head, a tired look on her face passing before she went back to her cheerful smile. "No. I've been ordered to stop you. You are going to die here."

She said that with utmost seriousness, and it made me take a step back. Wait, what did I do to you?! What did I do to get an insane overpowered fairy on my case?! And is this how I die?! At the hands of a fairy?!

"It's too bad - we usually let you witness the attempt. But not this time, I guess." She shrugged. "It's the price you pay for getting too strong, but it's what we were after anyway, so I suppose I can't complain? I dunno."

You're speaking in circles. A pang of fear shot through me, as again the thought of her being able to travel through time went through my mind. But what kind of fairy is able to have time travel?!

"But it doesn't matter." Clownpiece grinned, moving around her arm as she was getting ready for a fight. "Time for your worthless life to end!"

Again I backed away, and when I did, I felt numerous hands on my back, and for a brief second, I freaked out, until I realized something - Cirno wasn't the only fairy to be brought in with me.

I whispered. "You three are there?"

I got a pat on the back as a response. Cirno didn't appear to hear me, she was too busy glaring at Clownpiece.

I have some of the more important fairies of the rebellion with me. With the three fairies of light, we might stand a chance. Their stealth fields might turn this around, and there is enough cover in this closed space to protect us from barrages. I don't know if Cirno can take on the flames of this Clownpiece, but she's gotta try. She's able to freeze fire itself after all. And add in the fact that the three fairies are stealth masters...

"All right. I don't think she knows she brought you in with me. Let's have some fun with her, okay?" Another pat, and the hands left my back. We might pull this off. And how about that - we got to start up Seija's fairy rebellion group early.

I had to use what was available. Clownpiece had separated me from the other girls, leaving me with the four fairies and the dolls.

I had to do this.

---

Prior efficiency programs proved successful.

Nanomachine injections are working as intended.

Increasing workload and efficiency.

Nagato gave you these. Please do not disappoint her, wherever she is.

---

"What's going on? What's going on?" Remilia was in disbelief at what she had seen from the television. An insanely powerful fairy had almost wiped out everybody, and then she and Kyon disappeared. "What did she do?!"

The worst part is that the sukima had disappeared after trying to tell them to get out of there, saying she had something to do. Who is she to abandon them?! The vampire frantically pressed the button on her headset to speak, trying to reach them, but it didn't seem to be working. Please, Sakuya, Kyon, be safe! Please! She realized she was showing vulnerability in front of the others, but she didn't care. She kept trying to raise them, trying to get a message out.

"Easy!" The kappa had come up to her, gently placing her hand on the headset. "This stuff is delicate!"

Remilia grabbed Nitori by the collar, and growled at her. "Don't you dare put your technology above my servants!"

"Lady Remilia, enough."

Remilia released the kappa, turning to who spoke to her - Princess Kaguya. She sat at the table, her hands clasped, and her face calm. "I understand your frustration. You are not the only one with servants down there."

"Yakumo just left!" Remilia angrily pointed at Yuyuko. "Your friend just keeps abandoning us like she can afford to! She's not the one who has servants in this fight!"

"She has recognized their importance, and she has promised us that she will get them all out alive. If you didn't trust her in the first place, why allow them to go?" Kaguya referenced to herself and Eirin. "Neither of us trust Yakumo, yet we are entrusting Reisen's life to her command."

"We all have something to lose if the group underground loses," said Alice, unnerved by this outburst from the vampire. "Some more than others, but we're all in this, ultimately."

Remilia was about to say something, when Yukari showed up again, carrying a metal briefcase. "You!" The vampire went up to her. "If I didn't-"

"It's under control."

"Don't you dare say that to me, you-"

Yukari smiled at her, and placed her index finger over the vampire's mouth. "Don't worry."

Without saying another word, Yukari went to the table, and began to open up her package. Remilia desperately wanted to scream at Yakumo until she took her seriously, but Patchouli had come up to her, placing her arm on her best friend. "Remi?"

The contact immediately calmed down Remilia, who looked down at the floor. "This isn't right. This isn't what I expected. I mean, what the hell was that fairy?"

"Sheer, overwhelming power," said Suika, "From what I saw." The oni took a drink. "Never seen a barrage like that before. Rivals the Fantasy Nature."

"Then you know why I'm upset." Remilia went to the table, and paused when she saw what Yakumo had.

Nitori was already there, looking it over. "Looks to be good."

Yakumo gently placed it down. "So this should work with the M16, right?"

"Bullet-trap rifle EMP grenade. Just gotta activate the EMP, but like a regular rifle grenade, place it over the muzzle, and firing the bullet will launch it."

Yukari smiled even wider. "Excellent. You outdid yourself again, Kawashiro." The demon looked back to Remilia. "It's as I said, this is under control." She grabbed a sheet of paper, and began to write on it. "This is just another puzzle piece against those who are doing this, so don't worry."

Remilia read the writing - Reisen, this is a rifle grenade, but you have to turn it on. Shoot the fairy with it when she's about to escape in her portal.

Yakumo then accessed the controls of the orb, making it go away from the action. There were some slight protests, but then they had exited to where Parsee was.

"Miss Parsee."

The hashihime turned to them, a bit confused, but then angry with the orb. "What do you want?"

"How about another favor?"

Remilia stood there dumbfounded as Yakumo gave the hashihime specific instructions on what to do next. All of her anger was fading away, and she began to respect Yukari a little.

Koakuma was beaming. "See, Lady Remilia? It's as Lady Patchouli said, there isn't need to worry."

"Well, I know I said don't worry," Yukari sat back in her chair, slouching like she was tired. "But the next part depends on Kyon's ability to survive the fairy. It's up to him to survive with what he has been given." Yukari looked down to the rifle grenade. "If he can, however, then we're golden for the next while."

...I'm going to trust you here. But if you get either Sakuya or Kyon killed, there'll be hell to pay, Yakumo!

---

Clownpiece (what kind of name is that?) opened up by swinging her torch - every swing sent out lasers and stars in, yes, red white and blue. It looked like we were getting attacked by the American flag.

It was fighting time.

"Move!" I grabbed Cirno by the arm, and led her through these spread shots. Thanks to my footwork and the peaches, I was fast enough to weave through the simple pattern. Come on, I captured a Taboo. A basic spread should be cake for me.

Since Clownpiece here was using danmaku, I was guessing she was going to go through with her threat if I was knocked out. But...no. If you're going to kill me, if your goal is to kill me, why start with non-lethal attacks?

That wasn't the time.

[SPELL CARD: HELL SIGN "STAR AND STRIPE"]

Way behind us, a wall of danmaku formed. Red and white lasers formed, and moved toward us - but they weren't following. It was essentially a moving containment, pushing us back to the wall. They would occasionally fade out, charging again, and then resume their push. When they faded, it afforded us the chance to move up again, lest we get pushed all the way back to a knockout. But that wasn't the only part of this. Blue stars were also raining down, making it very difficult to keep moving.

"Just stop moving, take the hit, and make it easier for the both of us!" Clownpiece was smiling again, obviously taking joy in firing away. "It doesn't matter if you struggle - you'll die for it all just the same!"

Die for what? I have so many questions. Why aren't you directly attacking? If you are going to kill me, then come for me. Why target me with nonlethal attacks? If you meant to kill us, you could have easily already done that to the ones you already knocked out. What's your play here?

I mean, it wasn't like I had anything special about me for her to be afraid-

I still have the Hisou.

The fairy was afraid of the sword. She had to be - it was the only logical explanation as to why someone who declared that they would kill me wouldn't move in instantly. No, really, that had to be it - otherwise she would have charged me like she did the others. Thank you, Tenshi! Thank you celestials and your weapons!

As soon as the spell card ended, I let go of the ice fairy's hand, and charged right for the insane fairy, drawing the blade. Clownpiece, upon seeing me charge her, was already flying away. Even when time slowed down, she was still quick, her eyes widening as I neared. I eyed her, trying to find the best way to attack her, or looking for a weakness - she was going to be out of my reach by the time I got to her.

My eyes were drawn to the object she held in her hand. The torch was outlined in red. Not the fire part, but the handle of the torch, and the outline only happened when I drew the sword. I didn't understand until I gave it some thought.

...attack using the weakness of that person. It actively counters the specific person it's fighting against. ...The worse thing it can do is draw out the ki, the soul of a living or non-living thing, and destroy it. It can erase beings. Even gods.

The Hisou was telling me her weakness was the torch. It had to be, even though I had no precedent for this. I ended the blade, backing up to Cirno's side. Clownpiece had put distance between us, confirming my previous assumption - she was scared of the Hisou, or at the very least was really wary of it.

Clownpiece got really angry that she had just flinched in front of me, and drew another card. "You think you can actually take me on?"

"Drop those spell cards and we'll both find out!" Just like Reimu said. Find the weakness of a youkai, and counter. That's all you have to do. Just like we did with Tenshi. Just like with Seija. Just like I did with Suou. Just like we did with Yuyuko in having her forget us and attempt to protect the tree. Find a way to cripple the enemy and then finish the fight. Youkai had abilities and power that put them over a human. Take that away from them, and they're mortal like anyone else. Everyone falls to the floor at the same speed when the playing field is even.

[SPELL CARD: INFERNO "STRIPED ABYSS"]

Clownpiece didn't stop with the cards. The red and white lasers came back, this time from both sides, and moving in different directions. Ever play Rockman 2? This spell card reminded me of Flash Man's stage. Thankfully these beams retracted after a few seconds, meaning we had to move back and forth, and not be boxed in. My instincts kept telling me to just go full sprint, but no. I had to remind myself to move back and forth, not let myself get boxed in. Some of the pillars got hit by the overwhelming shots of the fairy, some even falling down. I had to stay extra light on my feet to avoid all the carnage taking place around me. Parkour, please don't fail me now!

Come on, there has got to be some opening.

"You can't avoid it, Kyon! You die today!"

Stop saying that! I've taken precautions!

Cirno was not one to do nothing. She would occasionally freeze the shots, and that would cause a buildup - if another shot hit it, that shot would freeze, and so on and so forth. It didn't last long, as they would eventually shatter, but they shattered into nothingness, being taken out of the equation. She was giving us breathing room when it mattered. "Keep doing what you're doing, Cirno!"

"That's what she did against us," remarked Star. I guess Luna had extended her protection so Star wouldn't be heard - Clownpiece still appeared to have no clue that the three fairies of light were brought in as well.

Like I said, keep doing what you're doing! It works!

The card ended after a full minute of dodging, Clownpiece dropping her smile again, her face a mask of inner rage.

"You're not supposed to be doing this. You don't understand! By showing strength, you're just dooming yourself and those you care about!"

You really must be insane! You're the one who is attacking me, and you're surprised I'm taking steps to protect myself?! Are you just plain stupid?!

Clownpiece put both hands on her torch, and extended her left hand from it like I did. And like the Hisou, a flame blade appeared. She then raised it into the air, and some of the flames came down on her, covering her like armor. She didn't burn - she was covered in red, white, and blue fire armor.

When her spell card ended, Cirno tried attacking her. However, the ice did nothing against this armor, which is how I knew it was armor. Cirno got visibly upset by this, until Clownpiece dashed for us.

I slightly turned my head. "NOW!"

I felt the hands of the fairies grab me, and I saw that Cirno got grabbed as well, as we were quickly led to the right. You see, we went into the stealth field of the three fairies of light.

Clownpiece quickly stopped, angrily looking around. She couldn't see us, hear us, or detect us. "Wait! You three?!" Clownpiece groaned, rolling her eyes. "Dammit, you were near him when I brought him here! Just like with the stupid ice fairy!"

I had to hold Cirno back, otherwise she would have moved out of the stealth field and given away our position. You are so quick to get angry, aren't you Cirno? I moved, making sure the four fairies were with me, until I realized something. Clownpiece might detect the cold. She uses fire. I asked Sunny to extend her field for Cirno, who nodded, but not before I gave her instructions. Already a plan was forming on how to deal with this Clownpiece. I had to leave Cirno behind a downed pillar as I encircled the insane fairy, and of course making sure she'd stay there.

Clownpiece was making quick turns, eyeing the pillars and debris that littered the area, looking for anything out of place, as she knew that we could pop up at any time. She even resorted to using her torch like a fire breather in a circus would use it. She blew fire into areas she was either guessing we were, as she rounded a downed pillar, or she was doing it at random. The four of us ducked behind such a downed pillar when she turned right towards us and tried to blindly fry us. We were just out of her range, and I could feel the intense heat, even with my fire protection.

"Where are you?!" The insane fairy was visibly upset. "I don't have time for any of this!"

What's the matter? Expected me to just lay down and die for you? Screw that. If your plan is my death, then I'm gonna make it as difficult as I can for you. Just like with Yuyuko.

"This isn't what I signed on for," snarked Luna, her forehead beading with sweat. "You know!"

I was about to say something to her, until I noticed Clownpiece move closer to where we left Cirno.

"You can't hide from me, you stupid ice fairy! I can feel you!"

The enemy fairy had to have picked up on the cold. It was now or never, otherwise she'd get to Cirno, that is, if Cirno didn't just straight up attack. Come on, be smart, Cirno.

I had to go right for her. I bounded over some of the debris of the pillars, silently thanking Nagato yet again for the ease which I moved my body over such obstacles. I ran up behind the fairy in red white and blue, drawing the sword. The torch wasn't outlined this time, as it too was covered in fire. So what do I-

The armor covered everything on her, except for...

Her wings?

The magic armor didn't cover her wings. Kind of a design flaw, whoever gave her that spell or whatever it was.

Already Clownpiece had begun to turn to us, as she had paused for a moment after going towards the cold. I think I had outran Sunny's cloaking field, becoming visible. Clownpiece must have realized what I was doing, so I was forced to play my hand, as she was already swinging her torch blade right at me. Geez, seriously? Even when slowed down, you're fast!

Whatever. It was a weakness, and a chance to cripple her. After Clownpiece reeled back her arm to attack, and thrust forward, I sidestepped, using some more of that focus to make my way behind her. She was slowly moving to meet me, her face scowling, but it slowly turned to realization when she saw where I was trying to aim the blade.

I didn't like this. I knew I was going to hurt her big time - cutting off part of her body. Yes, this would ground her, but it would also piss her off. If she didn't have a good reason to kill me, I was giving one to her right there. But that was it. She was trying to kill me, and I had to fight for my life. The strategy that had carried me this far was to find weak points and exploit them.

Of course, I had apprehensions about doing this to her. I mean, I was going to tear off a part of her body.

You said you'd kill me. I'm simply defending myself by finding your weakness. All's fair...

The flame blade of the Sword of Hisou easily sliced off her wings, and they fell to the ground, burning to nothingness. Already Clownpiece started screaming, as time rolled back in. She staggered forward, using her free hand to try to touch her back, getting to where her wings were cut off. I hurried to where Cirno was.

"You little...!" Clownpiece turned to me, her eyes filled with pain and fury, tears already streaming down her face. "I'll kill you!"

Yeah, a good reason to kill me. At least that crippled her flight, and took away most of her speed.

Clownpiece took in a deep breath, and I knew what she was going to do when she positioned her torch in front of her mouth. I moved Shanghai to block it, as Clownpiece breathed fire at us. The heat must have been unbearable for a normal person without a vest, as even I could feel the scorching heat. Shanghai's shield was white hot at some places, so I guessed Alice really put in a lot of work to make that thing resilient.

Clownpiece did a small jump back, and ended her flame. Taking a large step forward, she struck the torch on the ground like she was lighting a match, reigniting the flame and leaving a flame trail that washed forward. It went up about five meters in height, and twice as long ahead. Geez, what the hell?! The four of us moved around to pick up Cirno again, before disappearing.

"Cirno, next time she covers herself in fire-"

"Perfect Freeze!" The ice fairy grinned. "Got it!"

For once you're showing intelligence. Then again, you were able to take on the three fairies of light in a three on one fight, so you at least have some planning skills. Again I was grateful for Luna's ability to mask our sounds so we could openly discuss our strategy. I told the fairies to keep following me as we weaved a path around the closed space hallway. I had to mix it up, moving around pillars, or quickly jumping over them, because the enemy fairy was getting quicker and quicker with her movements as time went on, like a proper boss.

Clownpiece immediately went to the place we disappeared from view, breathing fire, but we were long gone by that point. Gritting her teeth in pain as some blood trickled down her back, she quickly looked around, before she slightly knelt, putting her hand on the ground. It was where Cirno had been when we got back to her. Yep, Clownpiece is using the difference in temperature to track us. Smart. We kept circling her, not letting her get a bead on us or allowing her to use a random attack, either the match strike or fire breathing to get us. I began to wonder why she wasn't using barrage danmaku, but Cirno could freeze it. But then she'd know where we were...unless she's wary of another sneak attack. That's actually true. I can be a jerk and use Cirno as bait, but Clownpiece must also realize it. But she still only has the ice fairy's low temperature to track us.

"You can't hide from me!" Already Clownpiece was following the path we had taken, zig zagging around.

"How'd a fairy get this powerful?" asked Star. "I've never seen anything like her!"

"Was even able to drop Kazami down to her knee!" Sunny said as she was keeping up with my movements. I was pretty erratic, but that was the point, to not let Clownpiece guess where we were going. Still, these fairies were doing a good job at keeping us cloaked.

I gathered the group behind a pillar, and brought out a flash bang. Might as well use it again - it's been useful. I tossed one behind Clownpiece when she wasn't looking. I relied on Star to tell me where Clownpiece was so I could throw it behind her. After a moment, Star gave me the go ahead - Clownpiece was on the off path I had taken to make her back turn to where I was going to throw it.

"Come out, come out, wherever you..." Clownpiece immediately turned to the sound of the flash bang striking the ground, unleashing a barrage in that direction, giving us a chance when it went off. The insane fairy threw up her free arm over her eyes, gritting her teeth. "Bastards!"

"Three fairies! Now!"

[SPELL CARD: "THREE FAIRIES"]

Luna and Star poured their energy into Sunny, who did her own barrage. Grabbing Cirno, I circled around, as I wanted her to freeze Clownpiece's attacks with that ability she showed me. Clownpiece had already snuffed out her torch, attempting to do a blind match strike as she whipped around to where she guessed the flash bang came from - and Cirno froze the torch.

The torch is the weak point, the source of her power, it seems. I just got to get it out of her hands!

I charged forward, not letting the pillars slow me down as I leapt over them with ease. The insanity fairy, unable to attack, and blindly waving around her torch, leapt back in quick succession, but not as fast as before - I assume she used her wings to really help her speed along, so at least we slowed her down to a speed that I could match with my superhuman 'body'. She was slowly regaining her sight, so that's how she was able to know where she was going. As she was passing by pillars, both using them for cover from the attack, she would also bang her torch on them, to break off the ice. A few strikes, and it was free of the ice. Quickly drawing the blade, she brought it down on me, as I did the same in turn. Both flame blades met each other, hers bouncing off, much to both of our surprise.

I hadn't expected to do that. I had simply reacted, meeting her blade with mine in that slowdown, and a curious thing happened. The flames from my blade had extended to my arm, covering me. It didn't hurt, but after impact with the other flame blade, mine dissipated. Not the sword of Hisou, but the fire that covered me.

Clownpiece recovered quickly, already swinging her blade down at my head-

Time slowed down a bit even further. I didn't think, I reacted, taking advantage. Meeting the blade with my own, Clownpiece again lost the strike, but used the momentum to twist around, this time going for my side.

What's going on? It happened again. The fairy seemed to get faster and faster, but then again, so was I. And the weird thing is that this kept happening. She was slashing her blade again and again, and all I had to do was meet it, blade to blade. Her flame blade couldn't beat a celestial weapon. I'm... I'm actually sword fighting here... Not play sword fighting with toy swords, either plastic or foam. But actual sword fighting, as in defending myself for real.

Already the other fairies had stopped their attack, and were just watching, as they were greyed out. Everyone was, but me and Clownpiece. How is she able to keep up in this?! Is she really this quick?! With every strike, she was greying out more and more, as if she was losing speed and I was leaving her behind. I slowly watched as her face went from anger, to sheer confusion, to absolute panic and desperation. Even during the fight in Heaven, this focus mode didn't last this long.

I watched as she continued her assault, noticing that her muscles would start moving a certain way, the positioning of her feet, the way she held the blade, for each strike. I started to meet them on my own, not relying on time slowing down to let me read her movements.

Was it true? That time spent with magical items, or being around magical sources can grant abilities? Was something noticeable happening to me? Finally developing abilities? I didn't have the answer to that.

Clownpiece broke off her attacks, gasping for air as she put some distance between me and her, and time returned to normal. "...What... what the hell is wrong with you?!" She looked completely lost as to my behavior. "You weren't supposed to get like this!"

"I'm full of surprises, I guess." Even surprised myself. What is going on?!

The funny thing? I didn't feel all that fatigued. Sure, I felt some tiredness in my arms, but not what you'd expect from such actions. I didn't have an answer for Clownpiece, and that seemed to anger her, but she was still cautious. I could see it in her eyes - the confidence in the control she had after taking down the girls was all but gone.

The two of us stared at each other, not saying a word - the only sound was the blaze surrounding us. The other fairies were just awestruck at what I had accomplished. Oh right. I must have been like a blur just now. Too bad I couldn't have done that in front of everybody else - Reimu could be impressed.

"You don't get it, Kyon." She pointed at me with her torch. "That by standing up to me, you're dooming your world, and the others."

"Of course I don't get it! You're spouting nonsense!" Though with my luck, it's going to come true and bite me in the backside later on. I mean, right? I got a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach, because I began to understand that something was very wrong here. Well, no. Something was already wrong to begin with, what with a nuclear youkai all set to destroy the world.

"I'm telling the truth! You're going to lose everything!" She got into another attack position. "You can't escape your fate! It'd be easier for you if you died right now!"

"I'm tired of weirdos coming into my life and spouting cryptic nonsense!"

"Even though that's what you wanted?"

I absentmindedly moved my body into a position like I was about to serve on a tennis court, while letting out an annoyed sigh. "I see you've done your homework on me. Not surprising I guess, but what is it that you mean?"

Clownpiece winced, and moved her eyes to the right, I guess remembering that I had cut off her wings. Her anger returned. "You're in a world of madness, but a world that doesn't matter in of itself. Nor the others. But still a useful world to us."

I stared blankly at her. You really are the fairy of insanity.

I could see blood continue to drip down from her back, and the more we were facing each other, the angrier she got. Then, her emotion went away, as she smiled. "If you don't do the smart thing and lay down and die, you're-"

"Dooming my world. You said that already." This fairy was annoying the absolute hell out of me. "We get it. You're an insane fairy that wants to kill us all but not before uselessly using non-lethal attacks."

Her eyes went to the handle of the Hisou, and then back to my eyes. "Sorry. Orders."

"...Orders?"

"From my master, boy." The corner of her mouth turned up in a smirk. "I was supposed to test you all, but I was also ordered to kill you... to a point."

"How can you kill me to a point?"

"If I fail here, you idiot, it only means the destruction of all the crossovers-" She closed her mouth, going wide-eyed for a second, before recomposing herself to her smile. "Oh, Kyon. You made me reveal something I shouldn't have. But just know a lot of people are going to die if you survive." She narrowed her eyes, before drawing the flame blade again. Pointing the blade at me, she sneered. "This is it, Kyon! It's time to die, right here, right now! Nobody is coming to save you now!"

You're so focused on me, you forget I'm not alone. I have friends here. Also, what the hell did you mean people will die if I survive?! What's going to happen?!

Clownpiece moved her right arm around, and slowly drew back the blade, sneering at me. I held out my own blade, trying to remind myself to breathe here. The two of us stared into each other's eyes, Clownpiece's filled with seemingly deep-rooted hatred.

Her right leg tensed, and she rushed for me, swinging her blade from overhead, and I met it. The sparks that flew from our flame blades showered the area, and for a split second, time seemed to freeze, as we stared at each other. Just the pure hatred in her eyes...

What did I ever do you you?

The impact knocked us away from each other, both of us sliding away about a meter. Clownpiece began to circle me, dragging her sword in a stance where she was letting it hang behind her, her left arm slightly up. I didn't intend on being stationary, so I began to circle as well, my own stance having me hold out my sword in front of me. I wasn't confident enough to hold it like Youmu, who would hold it perpendicular and away from her opponent - I'm guessing that when the phantom gardener swings, she is then able to use the entire swing to strike. No, I had to play defense.

As I was defending, I watched Clownpiece's movements. Her body would tense up at certain points before she attempted a strike. Like, she would tense her right leg before putting her weight on it to dash at me, or dip her shoulders before she brought up her sword. I had to quickly learn her movements, because I had to match her sword with mine. Swinging for my head, my neck, or my body - all I had to do was meet her flames with mine.

Her torch went out again, and I paused for a second so she could commit to what I knew she was going to do - and she did. I rolled well out of the way before the match strike attack engulfed where I was previously. She planted her feet, held her torch in front of her, and took a deep breath - again, I knew what was coming.

I can't do anything stupid right now. The group has to be working on getting me out. Just have to hold on...

Clownpiece dashed for me again, leading to another slowdown fight, with me matching her strikes thanks to that focus. It happened again - I matched her movements, both using the slowdown and the slight movements of her body to anticipate her attacks. Clownpiece's face went from rage, to confusion, to frustrating anger. She backed up, staring at me in disbelief. "How?! Your focus isn't supposed to last that long!"

"Your guess is as good as mine." And again you've done your homework on me.

"But you shouldn't be able to do this!" She used her free hand to pull at her own hair in frustration. "You're not a fighter! You're just a stupid human who-"

"I guess it's because I play tennis." Ah, great, I'm willingly aggravating my opponent. I guess I've really been a part of Gensokyo for far too long. "Or maybe it's just that you're my enemy and you aren't as good as you think you are." I couldn't stop myself from saying that, despite my previous thought.

That set off Clownpiece. The flames surrounding us just shot up and up. "I trained under my master! She taught me how to fight like her! Don't equate your stupid little game to actual sword fighting!"

"If your master fights like you, then you think I could take her on since I'm doing so well here?" Why was I still doing this? I mean, sure, pissing her off would cause her to wildly strike at me and be more careless, but she'd be putting in even more effort to kill me. "Or again, maybe it's just you. Maybe you just plain suck." Stop it, me!

Seriously, I had spent way too much time in Gensokyo. Then again, I don't feel particularly inclined to be nice to people who declare they want to kill me.

Clownpiece looked like she was going to go for another strike, but she instead leapt back, the torch going out. She's gonna match strike again! And as expected, she did, reigniting the torch and bringing up that blaze. Of course, seeing such an obvious action, I was already on the move, long gone from where she brought up the fires. I know boss battle patterns when I see them.

Clownpiece didn't allow me to get a counter hit on her at the end of her match strike - she used the momentum from the motion to twist her body around, meeting my attempt, and then went on the offensive again, to which I met. Playing defense wasn't getting me anything but more tired. All this matching her strikes was starting to tire me out already. I had to take the initiative - I was feeling fatigue, and unless I could sneak in eating a peach, she'd simply wear me down. I took a swing at her head.

Like I said, this was self defense. She was aiming to kill me, after all.

Also, what she was saying, about more worlds, a master, and more of them? An "us"? It was unnerving me. It was like in a video game or long running anime series when you slowly start to understand you're really up against a secret society from behind the curtains.

...behind the curtains...

It couldn't be...

I shook my thoughts out of that as I swiped the sword right for her. She ducked, but it caught her jester hat, setting it ablaze while slicing it in half.

Clownpiece retreated a few steps, quickly taking off her hat before the flames from the Hisou could devour it all. "You son of a bitch that hat was a gift!" She was breathing hard - like she was too tired to be enraged.

I'll tear you apart piece by piece if you insist on trying to kill me. I'll destroy everything you have just so I can make it past this day! I've made up my mind about today! I'm surviving! I simply brought up the sword again, showing that I was ready to take on anything she was going to throw at me.

She raised her torch, and the area behind her began to fill up with balls of fire, increasing in number every second.

Oh great. You're gonna- She did. They lined up and fired away at me. Sure, when I brought up the barrage earlier, you didn't do this, but now you do?!

Bringing out the flame blade again, I had an idea, as the barrage was coming at me. First, let's see if this works. Swinging the blade, I made contact with the first ball, knocking it away. Looks like I can. And the look on Clownpiece's face was priceless when she realized what I was going to do.

Brutalizer time.

Of course, hitting a tennis ball with a racket is totally different than hitting a ball of fire with a blade of fire. For one, that sounds way more awesome an action. For another, again, that sounds just pure metal. The fireballs were going all over the place, luckily not at the other fairies present. As soon as I started to get the timing down, and start redirecting the shots towards Clownpiece, she appeared to cancel the attack - the fireballs disappearing. She had begun to panic again, a look on her face I was looking forward to each time. I will make your life a living hell for going up against me.

The fairy's eyes showed frustration with me, and as she took some steps back, Clownpiece raised her torch into the air, giving herself the armor again. She wasn't about to try that barrage without some insurance. I mean, imagine, if I had knocked her out with her own fireballs after her big speech? I'd be embarrassed if I were her.

Enough of that. I waited for her armor to cover her body, before I shouted out "Cirno!", and from the side, the four fairies had appeared.

Like I thought, you stupid fairy. I have friends here. You don't.

[SPELL CARD: "PERFECT FREEZE"]

Clownpiece was taken off guard, her face back to the mask of panic as the flames around us became ice. "No! No!" Already her bottom half was encased in ice.

I didn't let her use the torch to free herself - I rushed forward, swatting it out of her hand. The instant it happened, the flames died out. The torch clattered somewhere in the room.

The ice crept up her body, as she uselessly moved her arms to where the torch went. "You can't do this to me! You're not supposed to stop me! I can't lose-!" It covered her face, and she stared at me from within her frozen prison.

Stupid fairy. Now that I had her, I could have easily killed her. But again, my other thoughts came back - that I didn't want to kill if I didn't have to. I'll settle for knocking her out, and getting information from her. At the very least, my companions would want a word with this fairy, and wouldn't be as 'gentle' as they were with Parsee. What little Clownpiece had shared was bothering me, yes, and it deserved an explanation. No, I had decided that a proper interrogation, led by Reimu, Sakuya, and... Kazami. Yes, Kazami would do. An interrogation led by them would be good.

I avoided the idea that I was planning the pain and suffering of a young looking girl as I made the diamond sign with my hands, aiming right for Clownpiece's face. First off, you tried to kill me. Second, you seem to know something about what's going on. Third, you definitely have more information. If I learned anything in the past five years, is that the answers get presented to me early on, and I'd know what to do if I just take it into account. I needed to know what Clownpiece was talking about.

The Doll Spark shattered the ice, and upon making contact with the fairy's face, it shattered the closed space we were in, bringing us back to the proper hall, with the girls. Clownpiece was flung several meters from the impact of the Spark, landing on her belly. She grunted, slowly propping herself up with her hands, gritting her teeth at me, before falling to the ground.

Reimu went right for the fairy, putting those chains around Clownpiece, keeping her held down. I looked around, seeing the ones who were knocked down by the fairy were slowly getting up. I passed by the miko, letting out a sigh, as I had somehow-

I felt her nudge her elbow into me, and she smiled when I turned to her. "You surprised me again. You have a knack for surviving one-on-ones."

Exactly what I was going to think. I nodded to the four fairies. "I wasn't exactly alone. I had friends." That was a big difference maker this time.

Star beamed. "Aw, I didn't know you thought of us as friends!"

"Friends buy friends coffee, you know." said Luna.

Fine, I'll owe you a cup.

"Kyon!" Sanae and Marisa had come up to me, hugging me. "We thought she'd killed you!"

"You thought Eye'd let you down?" Cirno had crossed her arms, looking totally arrogant. "You underestimated me in protecting him!"

"You did well, Cirno." Don't let it go to your head. In the back of my mind, I knew I should have gone to heal everyone, but I was just so mentally exhausted from what Clownpiece did, said, and all that.

"You guys should have seen Kyon!" exclaimed Sunny, her eyes filled with excitement. In fact, all three fairies of light shared the same expression. "He was a blur and he was matching that Clownpiece!"

"Clownpiece?" Reimu looked back to the tied down fairy. "That's her name?"

"Yeah, and she was real tough, moving so fast, but Kyon matched her!"

"That a fact?" asked a curious Tenshi. I could see some skepticism in her eyes, but also an understanding. She moved along with me, helping people up to their feet. "...So, what, you reacted to the Hisou?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what the heck that was. That focus mode or whatever lasted far longer than it did in Heaven, and seemed to pick up at opportune times." I moved closer to her, lowering my voice as I held up the handle. "Tenshi, the sword showed me the weaknesses of Clownpiece. It outlined weak points for me."

The celestial grinned. "Cool, isn't it?"

I'm beginning to understand why you're so keen on using it. It makes attacking so much easier.

Nazrin, who had already gotten up, had found the torch, and was looking it over. "Interesting item. I can feel the power within it, but I don't know-"

"Don't mess with it!" I shouted at her, as she was across the room. "That's the source of Clownpiece's power, I think."

Nazrin paused, looked to the torch, and then nodded, realizing the situation. "Ah, okay." She put it in her basket with the small mouse.

So you're cool with hanging a basket off of your tail all day? Okay, fine. You must have some special concentration to keep that up. I brought Ichirin to her feet, and the Unzan gave me a bow for helping her up. Don't mention it. You two obviously care for each other... Though how would a relationship with a cloud person work? I guess since he could take any form... Dammit I'm having weird thoughts again.

I numbly noticed Chiyuri pick up something as Shou gave me a bow, her smile genuine. "Human, you have earned my respect. First the beast, and then this fairy. You are quite skilled for a normal human."

I kept staring at them, my thoughts going back to the future, of them being my opponents, and picking right up where I left off.

It was set up. It was Yukari's fault, because she set it up. It had to be set up.

...son of a bitch. Yukari played Miko and I. But what if...

No. There was still one thing that didn't make sense. Yukari couldn't have been responsible for the whole thing. I know I blamed her, but that was out of anger due to her incompetence. Besides, what would she gain by letting Seija loose like that? No. Yukari might have made moves, I'll give her that. She set up the Taoists to assist me, to make sure we were balanced, and to give me a shot. I'll attribute that to her, but...

It was bothering me. Did Yukari set up that whole thing? It doesn't make any sense. But it did. It explained everything, save for one glaring question. Why allow Seija that power? Why allow her to take me? Why allow her to do all that?

It hit me. The trump card.

I began to slightly shake, as I turned to the orb. I just stared at it, not knowing what to think.

What did you do, Yukari?

I wasn't able to fully understand what was going on. Whatever. I'll figure it out if... no, when I survive today. I brought my attention back to the Buddhists. I think I took too long to respond, as they were giving me a quizzical look. I apologetically raised a hand. "Ah, sorry. Kind of burned out. That fairy was something else. And I'm not that skilled. It was mostly the sword itself." But thanks anyways.

"There's no need to be humble. A normal human being able to handle such powerful creatures requires skill to survive, let alone take them down, even with such an item."

"That, or you have incredible luck," quipped Nazrin.

"...Luck... luck runs out though..." We turned to the voice. It was Clownpiece, speaking from the ground. She was breathing heavily, struggling against the chains. "Depending on luck... only gets you so far. Nobody... nobody is lucky all the time."

"Kyon?!" Chiyuri turned to me, her face white, as she held up the object she found. From where I was standing, it was-

Blue spell cards.

I stared at them, a pang of worry shooting through me. I quickly made my way to Chiyuri to examine the cards.

"...Nobody is lucky." Clownpiece grinned at me. "Not even your little Nagato."

Nagato's spell cards. Her deck. No... what are you doing with them?! What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO?! I felt my breath catch in my throat, and as I stared down at them, something in me was building. A slow, burning rage, that was fueled by all my earlier worry over Nagato. Violent images of what I wanted to do flashed through my mind. I did my best to not look at her, otherwise I would have gone off.

"Kyon..." Sanae softly said, as she gently put her arm on mine, leading me away from the downed fairy. "Calm down." She was concerned not only with my feelings, but also with what I looked like I wanted to do. "Come on... you don't need to listen-"

"Pathetic little artificial girl didn't put up much of a fight."

I lost it.

Red encompassed my sight as I went right for Clownpiece. The voices of those around me were just white noise to me again, my mind, my very soul regretting that I didn't kill that fairy. I remember running towards her... and the next thing I knew was that I was caught.

The fairy had broken from the chains that Reimu had set up, and put her left arm around my neck, holding me like a hostage, which is what I was. I could feel the tightness, the small deprivation of oxygen flow via my blood starting its ebbing pain. The others were in no real position to begin attacking, most of them still weak and not fully healed. Clownpiece began to drag me, pulling me back away from them. The group followed, ready to fire, but looking for an opening.

The worst part was that Clownpiece had my vial pack in her hand. Not all of them, but the major one, the twenty pack - the one I'd been using.

"Give me back my torch!" Clownpiece pointed her free hand at the mouse. "Now! Or the boy dies!"

This fairy was surprisingly strong, even in my state. I tried to speak, to tell them to go ahead and shoot, but I couldn't.

Upon seeing this happen, I noticed Reisen go to the side, disappearing behind the pillars. The others were slowly keeping up with us as Clownpiece slowly backed us away from them.

Reimu just glared at the fairy. "How about you let him go now and I won't make this painful for you?"

"I don't think you heard me." Clownpiece readjusted me, as I had tried to go slack to slow her down. "Torch, or he's dead in five seconds."

Nazrin looked over to Shou, not sure what to do.

"Five."

I struggled against my captor's arm, not wanting to allow this fairy to regain her weapon again.

"Four."

Shou was looking to me, to Reimu, and to Nazrin, gritting her teeth.

"Three."

I managed to make a noise, but Clownpiece re-tightened her grip. I'm gonna pass out!

"Two."

"All right!" Nazrin grimaced as she threw the torch stick towards her. It was slightly to our right, so Clownpiece had to lunge for it.

"She said she'll kill me regardless! Shoot-" She regained her grip, causing her to miss the torch. The stick clattered, and for a second, I could sense she considered going through with killing me, or going for the stick. The next second, she shoved me in front of her, going for her weapon, and as she got it, she whipped around, the torch lighting up-

She then covered her eyes, after a flash of green light swept through the cavern. We looked back, and there was Parsee, her eyes glowing green as well.

Clownpiece acted like she was blinded, as she swung around the torch, random danmaku flying from her. Unable to see, she waved her free hand behind her, a portal opening up. A variation of a Yukari portal, except this looked like it was corrupted. The ribbons were slashed, and the eyes were closed. Seriously? Everyone really can portal!

[Yukari:] "Reisen! Now!"

Reisen had gotten some sort of attachment for her M16 - I'd find out that it was like a rifle grenade attachment. Basically, stick it on the end of the barrel, and fire - it shoots the grenade. But this wasn't a grenade - it was an EMP device. Reisen fired it at Clownpiece, and it hit her in the gut - it didn't penetrate her skin or anything, but it knocked the fairy into the portal. The portal closed after that.

But what was in the portal...

...Was that a North High club room?! I had spent enough time in one that the resemblance was striking enough for me to recognize it, and it just confused me.

What is going on?! Who was that fairy?! Why did Parsee help us?! Where did Reisen get that grenade?! I had more questions than answers, as we stared at where the fairy disappeared into. It was then that I realized that she had taken the vial pack with her. I checked what I had left - seven.

I had only seven vials left.

This wasn't going to be enough.

---

Yukari let out an inner sigh of relief, a feeling of accomplishment washing over her. It was a single victory against a strong opponent, but it looks like the plan was working.

I at least took down their time travel devices. They have to have some. But this... Yukari took off a white pawn, staring at the rest of the white pieces. They're going to respond to me taking away their ability to time travel. The question is, how? She hated not being able to see what they were doing, and she wasn't too sure what their reactions would be. Alternates are so damn tricky to predict. Same basic core, but the slight differences between the alternate universes can shape someone's personality enough that they could respond differently.

The longer she stared at the pieces, the more she was convinced this was going to go down the worst route possible, especially if the enemy took their time to respond. If they take their time, then that means they are confident in their strength. Which means that she herself might be the one to deal with it, not that fairy servant.

Yukari sighed out loud, before she spoke into her headset.

---

[Yukari:] "I'm sorry I haven't been able to speak to many of you as to what is going on. But I have been forced into silence due to our opponent watching us. Like Tenshi did in the summer, I couldn't afford to let this particular enemy know I was really on to her."

"There's a lot of that, going around," said Reisen, eyeing me. "Of not being able to speak about what is going to happen."

Reisen, I'm still upset about losing all those vials. Please don't add to my plight right now.

[Yukari:] "I've been aware of Kyon's trip to the future."

She confirmed it. I pursed my lips, my shoulders sagging, as the weight I had been carrying for the past four years was finally being lifted.

"What..." Reimu raised her eyebrow at me. "What trip?"

I eyed Tenshi, deciding she was right, that it would be better if I was the one who said it. She gave me a nod, and I had to say it.

"Right after the Mokou thing, I got, uh, kidnapped and brought into the future by an enemy you haven't met yet." I sighed, knowing that I had some paradox implications if I wasn't careful. "She wanted me to help her destroy you." I looked to Reimu as I said that. "You helped me defeat her, as she had... threatened me into helping her. But I wasn't there in that time, because... I die today. Which is why she plucked me from the past, in her eyes."

The tightness in my chest just dissolved when I finally said it to them. There was just a sense of relief when I said it, even though there shouldn't have been for such context. Everyone was just staring at me. The negative feeling of carrying such baggage for so long was replaced by a new feeling of shame for holding it in, for keeping it from them. I could hear the faint murmuring over the orb.

"Kyon..." Marisa had moved closer, her face full of confusion. "You... you never told us?"

[Nitori:] "Why? Why keep it from all of us?"

"I thought that by doing this, I wouldn't force you guys to go out of your way to protect me, but..." I glanced at Reisen, who simply nodded. "I really screwed it up. I just... I just saw a world without me, and without some of us. It's not just me."

"Geez man," Mokou was frowning, looking down, unable to comprehend this. "What the hell? What happened?"

[Eirin:] "If this person is going to be a threat to Gensokyo, then shouldn't we-"

"I don't know. I wasn't able to get information on what exactly happens today. But during my time-" I pointed at the ones who looked defeated upon hearing that some of us didn't make it. "During my time, something happened. There was another timeline change, and you all made it back."

[Remilia:] "And you?"

I shook my head in response. "This person who kidnaps me, she does something for this day, I think. Her actions make sure you guys survive. So, yeah, Doctor, she made sure I can't undo her attempt in the future, by essentially holding you hostage. That's kind of the reason why I haven't been able to say anything."

[Patchouli:] "If we try to prevent it, then some of the group won't make it."

"Exactly. It's been so difficult to hold onto this." I eyed the orb again. "How long have you known, Yakumo?"

[Yukari:] "Long enough. I just couldn't act on anything because if the enemy knew, they'd take steps to counter you. As it stands, I've been keeping them busy on my own end." I heard her chuckle. "You know, whenever you or the Brigade discussed it, I had to get really busy in order to make them focus on me. So I guess it's good you didn't discuss it outside of your group."

At least there is a silver lining to my actions.

"You should have told us." Reimu was looking down, and disappointed. "Kyon..."

"I'm telling you now. Four years too late, but I'm telling you now. I've had to live with the fact that this could very well be my last day. Four years of this."

Sanae had come up to me, putting a compassionate hand on my shoulder. "Four years of that? I can't even imagine what that could do to you."

I wanted to tell her how tough it's been, how much sleep I've lost over it, how I pushed my own body just for this one specific day. But all I could say was "Yeah."

[Suika:] "...So who are these guys, anyway? These enemies. That fairy was unbelievable."

[Yukari:] "It got worse. I had hoped I was wrong with who it was, but no, it's Clownpiece. That's the name of the fairy, but it's who she works for that's frightening. Who she works for is the one responsible for that fairy's strength." Yukari paused. "Well, this is the time to come clean. No theatrics. You're going up against the Greek Goddess of Magic."

You could hear a pin drop. Everyone, on both sides of the orb, was silent. It was Parsee who finally broke it. "And that's?"

I had totally forgotten she was still there. But still...

No way...

The goddess of magic.

Mima had taken off her hat, looking as white as, well, a ghost. "Every witch knows who she is."

[Alice:] "Every witch pays tribute to her."

"Every witch has a idol of her, ze."

[Patchouli:] "Even modern day witches in the outside world remember her. She was even in Macbeth, the one who the witches three served."

...Hecate.

[Yukari:] "Her name is Hecatia Lapislazuli. Or, at least, she goes by that. But yes, it's Hecate. She is one of the absolute strongest in existence. She's above everyone, even the Yama. ...I'd call for you to come back, as you are not ready for her, but... the fact that Clownpiece was trying to stall you is bad news. We can't have that. You need to continue now."

We have to go up against the god of magic? The actual god of magic? I thought a nuclear youkai was bad, but the god of magic?!

Was I really going to survive that day? Did I even have a chance? I mean, Gensokyo was there in the future, so there was at least one timeline where we made it past that day, even if some of us didn't make it.

Hecate. No, Hecatia. While she wasn't a 'major' Olympian, that suited her style. She was always a behind the scenes god. She actually was a major one, just one that didn't stand out. And amongst all the Greek gods, who thought nothing of backstabbing each other, they all respected Hecate, especially Zeus. He showed the most respect to her.

Hecate. A first generation god, and a first generation Olympian. The daughter of the titans of destruction and the titan of the stars. Not only the god of magic, but the god of so much else, among being one of the trinity goddesses.

Do I really even stand a chance today? Is there nothing that will prevent my death?

---

She landed against the wall, gasping for air as she had the wind knocked out of her, and then she was thrown to the ground as the vials exploded on her from impact. She had crushed them upon making contact. Clownpiece struggled to remain conscious as she removed the object from her belly, coughing as she felt the stinging pain from the impact. She angrily tossed it away from her, getting ready to go back at them for that as soon as she regained her sight and her faculties, when she looked at the object again. She squinted, unsure of what it was. Whatever it was, it was humming loudly, lights on it flickering, and she didn't understand what it was doing until it went off - the object making a crackling noise and the humming cut off. The lights went out, and didn't come back on.

...EMP?!

Clownpiece got up as fast as she could with an injured midsection and impaired vision. Stumbling in the hallway due to her numb body, she hurried to the room where they kept their devices - the old computer club room.

She had thrown open the doors, and was horrified that the devices they had were fried after checking them. No! No! You bastards! You stranded us! All of their time travel devices were fried. Still clutching her stomach, she threw one device to the side in frustration, trying not to scream as her legs gave out on her. Yakumo you bitch!

"Heh. I see. So your Yakumo outsmarted you, and damaged all of us." Clownpiece dreaded that voice, and squinted to the ceiling, where one of her associates was standing. She smirked, obviously enjoying this, despite the circumstances. "I've never seen a Yakumo defy us to this extent, let alone hurt us like this. Then again you were stupid enough to let them get to this point."

"Why are you so happy about this? We're stranded! We can't-"

The associate dropped from the ceiling, going up to her, still smirking. "I'm happy for two reasons. One, you failed, so you're gonna get it from her. Two, chances are, this Yakumo resisting this much, and them being able to fight you off means that we succeeded, making the whole 'losing the time travel devices' kinda moot. We'll be fine." She flicked her short hair, her red and white bangs flowing with the motion, as her smile dropped as a disappointing look crossed her face. "Actually, that may mean you'd be forgiven for this, since you actually found the crossover we're looking for."

"I didn't find anything. I cultivated it." Clownpiece tapped her chest. "I made it this way. It was to Master's specifications, and it worked, damn it."

"You did minimal work. You watched so much of it."

"Oh?" Clownpiece smirked herself, still wincing in pain. "And how was your crossover? The one where Marisa and Kyon got together, was it? You put in a lot of work for that one."

She grunted. "Ugh. Don't remind me. Things haven't gone right since."

"You only did that to make Haruhi cry, and it lowered her power instead." Clownpiece went right up to her associate's face. "What I did in mine was enough to make them more powerful!"

"Too powerful. They just kicked your ass and hurt all of us because you weren't enough to control it."

"It's what Master wanted! I did my job while you played around in your crossover, doing whatever you wanted to sate your counter-"

The door opened again, this time by their bespectacled associate. The small girl eyed both of them, before speaking. "If you two are done, Master has called for everyone to show."

Clownpiece angrily eyed her amanojaku associate before complying. "You'll see. Master will reward my work. Your crossover will be put down, as it should. You can't do whatever the hell you want in one of those, you know."

Clownpiece, however, was dreading telling her master that she had failed like that. The fairy was made strong, but was put down by a simple human.

How can we rule over every human if we can't put down one?

---

"Great Fairy War" (Also simply called "Fairy Wars" by some)

=Note: This isn't really an incident of note. Few people in Gensokyo even knew this happened. The casualties for the incidents were strictly fairies, save for one.=

-On the first day of 2008, the three Fairies of Light - Sunny Milk, Star Sapphire, and Luna Child, all decided that it was time for the fairies of Gensokyo to cause an incident. Deciding to use force to get the other fairies on their side, the three destroyed the ice fairy Cirno's house, leaving behind a flag with their faces and the words "Our Turn" on it. The three fairies went around to the other fairies, doing similar actions. Cirno, upset that her house got destroyed, took this as a declaration of war from those three, and retaliated with a message of her own: "I'll get you guis" (actual spelling). Taking this as a human seeing their threat, the three fairies began training themselves so they could really start their own incident. Eventually Cirno forgot about the war declaration and went back to her usual tasks. When the flower viewing for 2008 occurred, Cirno found the "war declaration" again, remembering the destruction of her house. By then, the three fairies had amassed quite a fairy army, which began being wiped out by Cirno. Cirno eventually caught up to those three, and defeated them.

-When the flower viewing ended, Cirno, under the advice of Aya Shameimaru for some unknown (to us) reason, went searching for a human in the area - it was Marisa Kirisame. Marisa used weaker versions of her regular spells, but Cirno still defeated her.

=STATUS: RESOLVED?=

-EDIT: As unusual and unique as this "incident" was, and despite being seemingly harmless, the actions of Cirno probably prevented a major disaster. When an accumulation of fairies gather in a concentrated area, strange effects occur, and aren't limited to improving the nature of the area. See file SaBND216.1 for details on noted effects.

-File catalogued by Emiri Kimidori and Yuki Nagato.

-end file-

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Clownpiece is interesting. Because of her spell cards, she's considered to be the toughest boss in the games. And she's just the stage 5 boss in her game. People consider her attacks tougher than everyone else. Yes, her ability is to drive people insane, and some people suggest that she breaks the fourth wall in a way by being the toughest boss. She frustrates a LOT of players, driving them insane when they can't capture her cards. Even though she's a very late character, she's gained a lot of popularity.

Now. Hecatia.

One of the debates that have raged on ever since Touhou gained its fandom was 'who is the strongest character in the series?' Each new installment brought in more people into the debate, usually having the debate boil down to the Yama, and Yukari who has some sort of plan going on.

Then Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom happened.

The debates stopped.

It's Hecatia. She's the strongest in the series. Despite Hecatia's odd choice of clothing, she's the most powerful. And yes, she is based off of Hecate from the Greek gods.

Read and review! Lady Yukari demands it!