Even more official Touhou games have come out on Steam. You too can now cheat along with Seija, as Impossible Spell Card is available. And the next Touhou game was announced - Touhou 17: Reimu Goes to Hell. Well, not really the title, but it is the goal. Unlike they do so in 11, where they head to former Hell, Reimu, Marisa, and Youmu are going down to Hell in 17 for this incident.

As of this writing, Touhou 13 (Miko's incident) and Touhou 14 (Seija's incident) are slated for Steam release next month, so stay sharp for those as well.

Even more doujin games are out, so go out and enjoy them! More support for Touhou releases means that ZUN knows that he has an audience in the West!

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 (and partial writer) for this episode:

Smooglii

[Yukari]: "Well, it should be all right to tell you now. They're indisposed at the moment, so they won't be listening."

A rustling of paper came from the yin-yang orb as it bobbed and drifted in random directions amongst our group. We were back on the move towards the end of the hall, where stood a set of engraved stone doors, huge enough that our whole group could fly through with ease. Well, and walk in my case. I couldn't see the details yet, but the horned and muscled figures etched into the doors were plain to us even from here, surrounded by spikes and flames and clutching studded clubs in their hands, with long chains dangling from their wrists. There was no mistaking the caricature of an oni, and I spotted Youmu walking slower ahead of me, her knuckles white around the hilt of the Roukanken. We were probably all nervous about it; this was a door that had "Next Stage" written all over it.

Fitting we just encountered a boss character, then. Wouldn't be the first time things played out like that...

[Alice]: "What are those scrolls?"

Alice's question went unanswered for the moment. More rustling noises came from the orb, followed by a smooth sliding sound as if someone were flattening a sheet against a table. I pictured Yukari pulling out some kind of old map or something that might help us.

[Yukari]: "Some of you have met Akyuu, isn't that right?"

I sure hadn't, but I saw Reimu, Marisa, and Mokou nodding ahead, and to my surprise, Koizumi as well. I caught up to him, tapped him on the shoulder, and whispered, "Who?"

"The head of the Hieda household in the village," he replied. "She sought me out once while I was in the village and asked me some questions, mostly about my abilities. I think she was writing some sort of book."

Wait, when were you in the village when I wasn't there? Did you come to Gensokyo by yourself? I mean, I shouldn't have been surprised. A guy like him could probably go in and out however much he likes. Wish he'd have taken me, though...

[Yukari]: "Let's see... Mokou, could you tell me if any of this sounds familiar?"

"Huh?" Mokou looked up with a start, apparently not having been paying much attention. After a bit more crinkling of paper, Yukari spoke again with the cadence of someone reading from a page.

[Yukari]: "'It's said she doesn't mingle with youkai or the humans from the village, but primarily lives hidden in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost.' Does that sound like you?"

What the hell is this? Is someone writing a catalogue of us? And an inaccurate one, at that. I thought Mokou was partners with Keine or something?

Mokou hesitated, then shook her head. "Mingling with youkai right now, aren't I? And I spend lots of time in the village."

[Yuyuko]: "Is there one of me?"

[Yukari]: "That depends. Are you still 'you'?"

Count me lost as usual. I heard some more shuffling – it seemed like Yukari was handing something to Yuyuko – and everyone was as silent and confused as I was afterward... Except Koizumi, whose expression was stern and still, like he was seriously thinking it over.

"I remember Keine mentionin' about somethin' like that," said Mokou. "She's friends with that Hieda girl. Said she needed Keine's help to remember somethin'."

Marisa did a double-take at Mokou's words and said, "Uh, that ain't right. Right?" She looked at Reimu, then at the rest of us.

"Indeed," said Koizumi. "She told me that she lacks the ability to forget. Was that not true?"

[Yukari]: "It's quite true. In fact, you might say she remembers too much; twin memories of our world – and of one very similar."

Yep, this is going to get confusing.

"Like a parallel universe?" asked Sanae with a sparkle in her eyes. It seemed like this turn of events had gotten her interested; meanwhile Reimu's face had pulled into a dark scowl, no doubt predicting that things were about to get unfortunate and complicated. As for me, I barely understood what they were talking about.

All the same, I started to get an inkling. I remembered again what Suou said to me; that Gensokyo had "invaded our world."

[Yukari]: "Not quite. Akyuu has never been outside our own universe. How could she remember something from somewhere entirely separate? How could our Kyon?"

Huh? Me?

I looked at Koizumi, who had apparently taken up the role of Yukari's translator and was hard at work on deciphering this latest riddle. When I caught his eye, he smiled and, after a moment longer, addressed the orb, saying, "In the one you have there, is there anything about me?"

[Yukari]: "Not a word."

Koizumi seemed to expect that answer, and came out with the next one right away. "What about Suzumiya? Nagato?"

I heard Yukari chuckle from behind the orb. It was a dainty, carefree sort of chuckle that you'd never expect to hear whilst approaching the literal gates of Hell.

[Yukari]: "I love talking to you, Itsuki. You always understand."

Oh, come on! I'd understand too if you'd say it plain. Seeing my expression, Koizumi opened his mouth to explain, but was pre-empted by Sanae, who raised her hand into the air and exclaimed, "Universal cycle! Universal cycle!" She was just so excited over this.

"Are you just guessing now?" I replied.

Sanae put on a pompous smirk. "Come on, how much manga have you read? Any time someone has separate memories, it's either brainwashing or some kind of universal reset button. Stuff's been mixed up this whole time, and your memory is of an apocalypse! What else could it be?"

That's... true... I mean, I guess manga is good for something - introducing abstract ideas and notions such as multiverse theory to the general public in an understandable way. Although the way Sanae was enthusiastic about all this made her sound like a certain person from High School.

"Besides that stuff happened all the time in Sailor Moon. Mars for instance had those premonitions, but then again, she always kind of did. Tuxedo Mask especially was sensitive to this stuff, seeing what may or may not happen."

Sanae was one of the few people I told I was a Sailor Moon fan.

The miko in green beamed even more. "Wait. Tuxedo Mask had psychometry and healing abilities..." She eyed me with an expectant look.

No, Sanae. No. "I'm definitely no Tuxedo Mask. He was just kind of useless in the anime anyways." Though that was kind of correct. In the manga, he does heal more - he had more of a presence. It's just that the anime barely scratched those abilities.

...Me, Tuxedo Mask? I don't know about that. Though he did have cool entrances, I don't know about me wearing a mask in a Tuxedo while fighting super natural enemies with roses and an extendable walking stick. Lots of people consider him useless anyway - even the friends of the creator of Sailor Moon called him useless. Some fans consider him more of a liability than actually contributing.

I know I can be useless at times but I'd like to think that I'm not a liability.

Koizumi slowly nodded, noticing that the rest of the group was kind of lost on the references Sanae and I were making. He cleared his throat, ready to get us back on track. "The Gensokyo Chronicle describes our reality. Assuming that this proceeds in linear time, our universe would be the later one, and this 'Shadow Chronicle' depicts the world that came before."

[Yukari]: "Ooh, Shadow Chronicle. That's a good one."

"And it seems as though we aren't part of this separate history," Koizumi continued. "That being the case, that memory of an apocalypse is an important clue. It suggests that there have been at least two versions of our universe before now, and potentially more, just as you said. Putting aside the why for now, our question then becomes: How have there been such substantial changes between iterations of the universe?"

One minute Gensokyo exists without us, and the next, here we are.

...She was right, wasn't she?

I spoke up. "Clownpiece said... something about crossovers. And Suou talked about Gensokyo 'invading' us."

"Which means two things: That our enemy is surely responsible, and that our universe was not simply altered, but combined with another." Koizumi picked up my reasoning without skipping a beat, and presented his conclusion as casually and confidently as if he were demonstrating the health benefits of oranges. I was still skeptical, though.

"Then why's Mokou and... whatever else different? If Gensokyo was part of its own universe, shouldn't it all be the same as it was, just with... extra?"

[Yukari]: "Atoms can't fuse without losing their electrons. In the heat of the Sun, nuclei float freely, combining into new isotopes all the time."

"Wait, slow down. Elec...?" Youmu's eyes were wide, looking as though she'd been trying her best to follow along until Yukari started comparing the scenario to atomic fusion. I almost felt bad that I understood it a little better now, so I tried to explain it in a way she'd understand.

"Um... Basically, our two universes smashed together somehow, and a lot of changes happened to both. Right?"

I wasn't a hundred percent certain what these "two universes" even were. I mean, was it just all of us from the outside world in one universe, and Gensokyo in another? That'd be a convenient way to think of it, at least. We were pretty much aliens to each other from the beginning.

That'd mean the whole Brigade, and... Chiyuri, I guess? She's part of Koizumi's organization, so it'd make sense if she was from our same universe... and Sanae, since I knew her in grade school... Yeah, that makes sense. I think.

Which means Suou was right. The whole time, she'd known that Gensokyo wasn't supposed to be a part of our universe.

[Eirin]: "That's a tidy hypothesis, but it's not the only possibility. Maybe these oddities you speak of are a result of your using that time travel gadget. Where's the proof that this is all as you say?"

[Yukari]: "Kyon and Akyuu aren't the only one with residual memories. Isn't that right, Kaguya?"

[Eirin]: "...What?"

I didn't hear a response from Kaguya, but she must have made some sort of gesture, because the people in the orb kept talking anyway.

[Eirin]: "That would have been pertinent information to let me in on, Princess..."

[Kaguya]: "I'm sorry, Eirin. I thought they were just dreams until now."

"I... I think I might, too." Reisen spoke up, wide-eyed, more startled-looking than anyone over this idea. "I thought it was... I mean... I kept going back and forth, and..."

[Eirin]: "Slowly, Udonge."

Reisen held her breath for a moment, then let it out slowly. "I... I remember my squad being killed on the moon... but I also remember running away. I have a memory, as clear as day, of panicking at the news of an invasion and just abandoning everyone else. I couldn't even tell which memory was real." Another deep breath, and another slow sigh. "I kept having repeated memories of me running at the first sign of trouble, of being a coward, of me... leaving them to die without doing anything. I just thought it was... survivor's guilt, maybe; my mind punishing me for surviving when everyone else died."

You've lived with that? Man... I didn't know what to say to that. Everyone here seemed so much stronger than me, in so many ways.

[Yukari]: "I also remember the true Gensokyo – the one the matches the Shadow Chronicle. If you like, I could name each and every difference from our universe... Starting with those Earthling weapons your Lunar Capital seems to be using. Aren't they a bit primitive for such a mighty, advanced culture?"

The eyes in our group went to the rifle Reisen was holding. To the people of Gensokyo, it was a futuristic weapon, but... Well, she had a point. You'd think space aliens would come with ray guns or something.

[Eirin]: "You're implying the Lunar Capital is stronger in your memory."

[Yukari]: "Almost as if someone wanted to weaken them, no?"

There was a tense silence after that as we digested the new information she'd given us. Sanae put her fingers to her temples and broke it by saying, "So, multiverse invaders. That... combined two universes?"

"And in so doing, created a new one," said Koizumi. "Time travel was involved in this. The course of our universe was altered from early on – thus, our universe is more like a branch of the original, an entirely new entity. A fiction written with care by our elusive opponents." He grinned as he spoke, clearly enjoying all this more than he should have been. Maybe it was just shock. No doubt his "Haruhi created the universe" theory was growing a few extra layers of complexity over this.

[Yukari]: "Hecatia Lapislazuli has power over worlds. She's a goddess of crossroads and crossing-places, among other things. A version of her from a universe where she is suitably powerful might well have the ability to do such a thing."

[Eirin]: "Maybe. But if you asked me who could erase the boundaries between worlds, manipulate fairies to do her bidding, and who had a reason for wanting the Lunarians weakened..."

[Yukari]: "Hmm. Well, I can't deny that."

I never thought I'd find anything as frustrating as time travel, but here it is. Someone can just... show up from another world now, and start wrecking the place? Just like that? Why, even? It made me a little bit mad to think about it.

"So, that fairy from earlier..."

[Yukari]: "Our universe's Clownpiece is in another Hell right now, along with our universe's Hecatia. They've no idea of what's happening here."

At that moment, we finally reached the doors. They were a lot bigger and further away than they'd looked, and we could finally see the details of their engravings. The oni weren't just holding their clubs – they were swinging them with such force as to blast apart the bodies of some unfortunate humans. Other, naked forms ran in terror nearby, some of them on fire, some of them tripping on to needles or falling into a boiling lake. Over the horrific scene, at the very top of the door, stood ten figures holding inscribed shaku and wearing crowns. They were the masters of the oni, directing the carnage from afar; from what I knew about the myths of the Buddhist Hells, I was pretty sure these were supposed to be the Yama.

[Yukari]: "...And you can see why I might want to keep it that way."

No kidding.

The right door was ajar, with enough space for that giant fake Cerberus from earlier to squeeze through. Some of us, by which I mean Youmu and myself, were hesitant to step through and see what was on the other side, but Reimu never stopped. She swung right around the opened door and walked through the gap, not paying the rest of us any mind. We sort of hung there for a few seconds, expecting her to come back or shout at us to hurry up, but no such thing happened. All we could hear was the chatter from the orb as our mission control talked about the picture on the door.

[Alice]: "It must be left over from when this Hell was still run by the Yama."

[Aya]: "It might be troublesome if the true Hell got involved in these proceedings. Speaking as an unbiased observer, naturally."

[Patchouli]: "If the oni heard about this, they would most likely charge into Former Hell en masse and make the situation difficult. They aren't known for reasoned responses."

[Suika]: "Hey! ...That's true."

Mokou was the first to walk in after Reimu, followed by Marisa, who joked about how she couldn't let Reimu be the brave one. Our friendly Stranger was close behind, looking less like she was hesitating and more like she was being polite by stopping with the rest of us. I wanted to go too, but...

Well, really I didn't. Even knowing a little bit about what lay ahead, there was just enough that I didn't know that I found myself imagining all sorts of unlikely horrors behind the door. If the denizens of a Former Hell by themselves weren't bad enough, I had to face the prospect of our enemy having secret weapons that could come out of nowhere. Now that there was a multiverse at play here, anything was possible.

"Afraid of the unknown?" Of all people, Chiyuri's voice sounded next to me. I turned to look, thinking she must have been talking to me, but my eyes fell on the back of her head; Koizumi had drifted slightly further left, and she'd come up between us.

"Yukari has a fine sense of timing," Koizumi replied with a smile. To my shock, his voice carried a hint of nervousness. "I'm afraid our group morale might not survive another revelation like that."

Chiyuri shrugged. "I kind of knew. What she said about things mixed up, and false memories..."

"You have them, too?"

"I had the one about Okuu, but... Well, let's say there've been some inconsistencies in my life. If what Yukari said was true, I probably wasn't meant to be an esper... I probably wasn't part of your universe, even."

Wait, really? There goes my theory. So, is it just the Brigade and Sanae? Or... maybe some of them were from another universe, too. Maybe I could read that Chronicle thing...

"Maybe it isn't so bad, then." Koizumi cracked a grin, regaining his composure. "Since we were able to meet."

"Charmer." Chiyuri rolled her eyes and walked on ahead through the doors, leaving me exchanging glances with Koizumi.

Man. If I said something like that, I'd look like an idiot. Yeah, laugh it up, pretty boy.

Koizumi just gave me a humored shrug and followed after Chiyuri. Not daring to stay chicken after that, I manned up and kept pace with him, and we walked together through the open door.

The Meltdown of Haruhi Suzumiya

Episode 5

["The Pride of Yuugi Hoshiguma"]

The Snowy Forgotten Ancient City

The Former Streets of Hell

-Stage 3, Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism

The space beyond was massive, so much so that it seemed to open up into a void. An immense cavern sprawled before us, the dim far edge of it hardly visible from the soft, filtered light that crept in from cracks in the high ceiling. Instead of the near-pitch darkness of the rest of the cavern, it was as though I was standing over a cityscape at night. Bright artificial lights shone up from Edo period buildings clustered about four kilometers off and down from the cliff on which we stood, a high wall protecting it on all sides. In the center of the city rose a hill, and on that hill sat a cathedral-like building with straight stone walls and stained glass windows, almost Gothic in contrast to its surroundings. A huge riveted metal pipe shot straight up from the back of the building, connecting to the ceiling above. Were it not for the anachronistic building and pipe, I'd have thought we'd found a second human village underground.

Perhaps even more odd than the pipes was the weather – as in, that there was any. Snowflakes were drifting gently from the ceiling, or probably from the cracks in it, and settling on the frost-covered ground. The previous chambers had been drafty, but there was a definite chill down here.

Reimu was standing at the edge of the cliff, taking it in. Mokou was hanging back and watching from afar, ever the loner, while Marisa was coming up to join Reimu from behind.

And I don't think I was supposed to hear this. Those two were speaking in a quiet tone.

"Whoa," breathed Marisa. "Glad I brought my warm clothes." She gave Reimu a tap on the back with one of her mittened hands. Reimu didn't respond, just kept staring forward. Marisa leaned in and said, "Oy, Reimu. What's with the attitude, ze?"

Reimu hardly moved her head, glancing at Marisa out of the corner of her eye. "It's not a joking situation, Marisa."

"Can't beat the enemy if you let 'em get to ya."

"You didn't realize what all that stuff back there meant, did you?"

Marisa threw her hands behind her head and rocked back and forth. "'Bout alternate universes and stuff, ze?"

"About our past being changed." Reimu looked away, back down at the town below. "About our whole universe being rewritten by them like some kind of fiction. I can't stop feeling like, maybe..."

"Like maybe it's all their fault?"

Reimu nodded slowly. I could only imagine the look on her face now. I didn't know if she knew I could hear her, and maybe it was rude to eavesdrop, but I couldn't exactly go anywhere else with the rest of the group coming up behind us.

Marisa shrugged, stayed quiet for a moment, and said, "Yeah. Probably for me, too. The, uh... The fire that killed my mom. I thought I'd left some magic ingredients lying around, maybe, and I blamed myself for it... But I never figured out what chemicals coulda made a color like that. Always wondered, ze. Tried to recreate it, even."

"You never said what color it was," said Reimu.

Marisa turned her head forward so I couldn't see her expression. "Red, white, 'n' blue."

A slight chill ran up my spine, my thoughts immediately going to the enemy I just faced.

"So..." Reimu hesitated. "You knew."

"Kinda."

"And you're not angry?"

"Oh, I'm angry." Marisa lowered her hands and started swinging them in a casual way, with only the merest hint of stress in her body and her voice. "They changed something in my past, ze. I... I can remember mom clearly. I've had dreams that she was still alive - and it was so vivid. Just thought, you know, wishful thinking. Now? I dunno. They probably did somethin' like that to everyone who might fight 'em, like they did to the Lunar Capital. But ya know what? They screwed up. Now I got someone to blame besides me."

"...Yeah. Me too, I guess."

"We've both of us had time to process our pasts, put it all behind us. Gettin' so mad we can't think won't help us, ze. Goin' wild after revenge ain't gonna help anybody. Besides, it ain't just for our own sake we're doin' this."

The two of them stared off into the distance in silence for the next few moments, and at that point, I knew they didn't know I was hearing them. I turned to the group as my own thoughts took over.

Hearing those words from Marisa was almost as shocking as the revelation itself. I was so used to seeing her as the immature one next to Reimu. If it were me, if my history had been changed like that, I'd probably...

Flashes of the time I'd tried to kill Suou played out in my head.

I have grown since then. Right?

I remembered the moment I had Seija on the ground in front of me, deciding her life or death, and Yukari's words about the cycle of justice and revenge. That time, I'd managed to hold myself back. Could I keep doing that? Even in a case like this?

...I was right. Without question, these girls are stronger than me.

[Yukari]: "Oh, it's the access lift. That isn't meant to be built yet."

The rest of our group had caught up, and was taking in the sight of the city ahead. No one else made any indication that they'd heard Reimu and Marisa's conversation (including Koizumi, who clearly had), and Reimu herself had gone quiet. She put a hand on Marisa's shoulder for a moment, whispered something I couldn't hear, and stepped off the edge of the cliff, floating ahead of the group towards the city.

A lift? Is that what that big, metal pipe is supposed to be? It was certainly wide enough to hold a lot of people.

[Aya]: "Not meant to be built? So there are plans to build it in the future?"

[Yukari]: "I wonder why you got more excited about that than about invaders from another universe..."

[Aya]: "Of course that's exciting! Front page! But growing industrialization is still relevant to the people. Can I take a statement on whether this construction will affect Gensokyo?"

[Yukari]: "My concerns are a little bit wider than Gensokyo at the moment, Miss Shameimaru."

[Aya]: "I see..."

Even from through the orb, I heard the sounds of a quill pen scratching furiously against paper. I suppose I should have been thankful that so many of us were still acting like our usual selves in this situation – Sanae was pointing out details on the ceiling like a tourist, and even Sakuya had lapsed into a ditzy attitude, "oohing" and "aahing" along with her and Youmu. Our fairies, naturally, were playing amidst the snowflakes. For the moment, it was almost like Gensokyo as usual, with only Reimu, Reisen, Mokou, Mima, Yuka, Nue, our Stranger, and our new Buddhist friends remaining serious and collected.

Unzan, the giant pink cloud youkai, had formed up behind Ichirin and was frowning at our group's shenanigans. I felt a bit self-conscious under his disapproving stare, so I started towards the edge of the cliff, and gradually our group began to rise into the air around me. Marisa was waiting for me with a spot on her broom, her expression as cheerful as if she hadn't just worked out the truth of her family situation.

I felt like I should say something to her. Like, was she actually feeling all right, or was this putting on a brave face? Marisa wasn't one to get depressed easily, so I could kind of buy her just brushing that off like she seemed to.

"What? I'm gonna leave ya behind if ya just stand there starin' at me, ze." She grinned, showing no sign that she might be faking it. Whatever the case, I decided, she didn't need my help with it.

"Oh yeah, sorry," I said as I mounted up on the broom with her. This was a natural thing for the both of us by now, and I expected her to make her usual suggestive comment about it, but she just urged me to keep my balance as we lifted off and joined the pack.

Why do I feel so off right now?

Maybe it was just the stress of the stakes that had just been revealed to us. I mean, I was used to the absurd, so I felt like I could just accept it like, "Yeah, multiverse. Alternate people." It's not like it was much crazier than time travel, and it's not like I haven't dealt with it before. But maybe it still got to me, on some level.

Or maybe it was just that I felt like Marisa should be reacting to that news more. It didn't feel wrong that she wasn't. Just... different. Just like she'd said though, it wouldn't help anybody to dwell on bad feelings, so I put out of my mind and tried to focus on what we were doing.

Shou Toramaru and Nazrin had taken the lead, and our group was veering off to the left side of the cavern. There were a full ten minutes of uneasy chatter amongst our group, mostly about the surroundings or what parts of their lives and memories they thought might have been changed from Yukari's "true" Gensokyo. Cirno seemed to have picked up on the idea and was now using it as an excuse to say that the times she was defeated by Reimu, Marisa, and Sakuya never happened in reality. Meanwhile, I had my own memories to think about.

It seemed as though the world described by the people with double memories was relatively consistent. Not nearly as many disasters, so it was more laid-back. But my second memory was of a nuclear annihilation, meaning it couldn't have been from that same universe. When I brought it up to Yukari, her answer was short and sweet.

[Yukari]: "There are many atoms in the Sun."

"And many fusions," added Koizumi, still quick on the draw. "If our universe is a collection of protons and neutrons, then who is to say that those particles have never been components of a different atom? A different incarnation of our universe?"

"So, I'm actually from a universe that did get destroyed?"

"Maybe we all are." He shrugged. "Or maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves."

Marisa just blew air and shook her head. "You guys talk about some crazy stuff, ze. Makes me feel like you're magicians or somethin'..."

The way that Koizumi and Yukari were framing it, it did make sense. Atoms lose their bonds in a plasma, then collide and merge with other atoms, sometimes forming multiple new ones instead of just one. In that light, it was like... worlds being created and fused and split apart again, like some kind of chemistry experiment. Or combining items in a game to try and get the best weapon. And apparently, we still had no idea why any of this was taking place. Koizumi, Chiyuri, Yukari, Eirin, and Patchouli all started bouncing hypotheses off of each other, getting more and more into their own reasoning until it felt like we'd wandered down a logical maze and couldn't remember where the entrance was. By the time we'd reached our destination, I no longer felt like I understood anything at all.

Our destination, as it turned out, was still there: A massive wooden ship, tucked away in a crevice such that it was invisible to the outside, lay covered in who knows how many years of dirt and dust, yet seemingly altogether in one piece. The rock surrounding its top looked as if it had once covered it entirely, but had been mined and chiseled away over a long time. If I didn't already know, I'd have questioned what it was doing here, away from both water and a sizable enough exit for it fly through. The ship didn't have any serious apparent damage, but violet crystals seemed to have grown out from the cavern walls, sticking to the deck, and a particularly large one jutted up in the middle of the deck. Shou was the first to land, and it was this crystal that she approached at once.

"You will be with us soon," she said, touching her hand to the crystal. I was confused until Marisa swung us both down over the deck, and I made out a figure encased inside.

It was another girl, this one wearing a sailor's uniform and clutching a bamboo ladle in her right hand. Her left was curled around the bottom of a massive anchor that was just behind her, either hovering by itself or being held up by her fingers alone. Well, or so it would have been if it wasn't also in the crystal. Her expression was one of defiant resolve, as though she were staring down someone or something when she was flash-frozen in that hunk of rock.

The sailor's uniform was one thing, but the ladle was what really caught my eye. A ladle's a strange thing for a ship captain to be holding while getting sealed away, but it's the favored tool of ghosts who drown ships at sea by filling them up with ocean water. My suspicions were confirmed when I dismounted Marisa's broom and wandered up to the crystal for a better look; the ladle was missing its bottom, which was a popular trick for making these ghosts powerless. If you prepared a bottomless ladle and tricked them into using it, it wouldn't matter how much water they tried to dredge up.

A youkai like the rest of these guys, huh? I eyed Shou, who had closed her eyes and was standing completely still.

"Captain's lucky," said Nazrin, perched on top of the crystal, her cheek on her hand and her elbow on one knee. "She hasn't been here this whole time, really. Well, she's been here. Hasn't seen Former Hell or the Altered or nothing."

"Even the horrors of Hell are not real," spoke Shou in a soft voice.

"Did... Did she drown people?" I asked. It hadn't gone over my head that perhaps these youkai had been sealed for a good reason.

"Once." Shou's yellow eyes opened again and drifted to the ladle in her hand. "But when she sank Hijiri's ship, she found no satisfaction. Hijiri did not fight back." She raised her arms, and her spear, as if to embrace the figure inside. "And at her realization, a new ship rose, created by Hijiri's power. Hijiri gave the ship freely to Murasa, and in so doing freed Murasa from her phantom's curse."

...Wow. That was a more interesting explanation than I'd expected. The reverence in Shou's voice was almost palpable. It left no doubt that Byakuren Hijiri was some kind of divine savior to these youkai.

"Then why's she like that now?" Reimu had landed on the deck, and was coming to join us in front of the crystal.

"The monks who captured Hijiri did not stop with her. Anything related to her, they hunted down and sealed away. The Palanquin is a powerful ship, with the potential to become a symbol for her followers, but it can only be captained by Murasa. She had to be sealed down here with it. A really strong seal, too."

Reimu stopped in front of the crystal, fixing the phantom inside with a slightly bored glare.

"Huh."

That was all she said before she reached out to the crystal, did a looping gesture with her hand—

CRACK.

—And the whole dang rock fractured right down the middle. Not only that, but so did the crystal and hard stones trapping the ship – everything shattered in an instant, creating an ear-splitting noise and a shockwave that just about knocked me off my feet. Nazrin tumbled down the tall crystal as it shifted underneath her, Ichirin jumped up into the air and stayed there, and Marisa took a tumble with me as the whole ship rocked under our feet. Only Reimu and Shou remained standing, the latter displaying remarkable balance even as her eyes grew wide in astonishment at what Reimu had just done.

Me, I was just as shocked. Not only at the abruptness off it, but the fact that Reimu had done a favor to a bunch of youkai at all. The two halves of the crystal began to fall away from one another, and Reimu took to the air, not even bothering to look.

"That makes us even," she shot back as she joined the rest of our group in the air.

...Ah, dang it, Reimu. You just wanted to look cool, didn't you? I mean, it worked. That was pretty cool. I met Marisa's eyes after we'd both watched her go, and she smirked with her eyebrows up, as if to say, "Wow, that Reimu, huh?" I nodded in response, unable to stop myself from smirking back.

I thought I heard Remilia start to tease Reimu, but the orb went silent right away, like someone had cut the volume. Someone on the other side must have decided not to ruin it for her. That didn't stop Mima though, who scoffed and complained off to the side.

The girl who was inside lay stunned on the deck beneath her own fallen anchor, apparently not fully aware of herself. If she hadn't been aware that whole time, it must have been like getting punched out and waking up a thousand years later. Only she was a phantom, so she probably didn't get punched too often.

"What..." I heard her voice from behind the Buddhists, who crowded around her immediately. Even Unzan was there, huddled in with the rest of them with a strange expression and misty eyes. Literally, his eyes turned a dark color as though about to rain, but he kept it together. Nazrin took her time getting there, as she'd been knocked silly herself by her fall, and had to scramble to pick her dowsing rods off the deck.

"We finally found you."

"You... You what? Where is this?"

Marisa put a hand on my back and steered me away from the Buddhists' reunion, saving me from standing around like an awkward fool. "You like to hang around and listen, dont'cha?" she asked me with a knowing glance. I think she was aware of my earlier eavesdropping.

"Not on purpose..."

"Nosy humans don't last long, ya know."

"You've lasted, haven't you?"

Marisa cracked a grin and shoved me on to her broom. The two of us lifted off and went back to the others, who had apparently not seen fit to join us on the ship in the first place.

[Nitori]: "—I'm saying is, a treasure youkai could have paid us to do that. You never work for free."

As we did so, the volume on the orb returned. Apparently there had been plenty of opinions on the other side about Reimu's act of mercy.

"They're monks," I said. "Aren't they supposed to abstain from carrying riches? And, like, meat and alcohol and love and all that stuff?"

[Nitori]: "Why's that one humping the ship, then?"

What?

I whirled my head around. The ship phantom Murasa had indeed broken off from the other Buddhists and was enveloping the wheel of the ship in a... hug. She was hugging it. There was no thrusting involved of any kind.

I... Oh. That's still weird. She couldn't have had more than a minute with the other monks, but apparently, she couldn't wait to embrace the ship. I heard some playful remarks and laughter directed at the ship from our group. Naturally, Cirno thought this was hilarious.

Anyway, it turned out they needed another few minutes to get re-acquainted, so we all settled around the rocks and the ship in the mean time. This was more of a reunion for these Buddhists, something personal for all of them. Marisa was right - they kinda needed their own thing for the time being. Part of me wanted to experience the drama of a thousand-year reunion between allies, as the Buddhists appeared overjoyed with finally getting that shipwreck ghost out of that crystal.

Even though I couldn't hear it, I could tell it was just such a positive emotion and energy that was coming out of all of them.

The kind of energy I'm sure I'd have if I reunited with Nagato.

I was up on a rock, resting my legs and looking out over the snowy city in the distance. Everyone was still eager to chat about the multiverse issue; I assumed that wouldn't go away any time soon. Me, I was still thinking about Clownpiece. I wanted to get my mind off of her, to think more about the multiverse as well, but...

That fairy was just troubling me.

I mean, I have no confirmation, but it sounded like this Clownpiece did in Marisa's mom, right? Even if she wasn't letting that get to her, it kind of got to me. We'd been able to come to terms with most of our enemies up to this point; Reimu, Mima, Remilia, Yuyuko, Kaguya, and Sanae were all on the same side now. The only big exceptions were Suou and her people, Seija, and the Saigyou Ayakashi. I mean, most of the ones I faced were under Suou's influence, but supposedly those fights would have happened with or without her interference. So, what happens if we can't come to terms?

Can we ever come to terms with someone like that?

I tried to imagine Marisa reaching out to that Clownpiece. The two of them getting along, being friends.

It... wasn't a realistic image. Maybe with our Clownpiece, but that Clownpiece?

The line had been crossed, and crossed again. Even a Buddhist monk couldn't forgive that, could they?

I know I couldn't.

Damn it all I could never...

"What are you moping about?"

I startled and looked up. Reimu was standing over me, eyebrow cocked and expression neutral. She didn't have any of her severity from earlier left.

And then there's her. Did she really get over it too?

"Just the usual hopelessness," I said. "That fairy, Clownpiece..."

Reimu shrugged. "You beat her. She's just a fairy."

"Yeah, but how's a fairy get that strong?"

Reimu rolled her eyes, as if to say I was thinking too much. "She's a Hell fairy. Hell's big and scary. Of course she'd be stronger than the soft fairies in Gensokyo."

Fair point. Living in Hell must mean a lot of adversity. It'd definitely make someone mean-spirited. And if the size of Hell is a factor, then...

Usually, you hear about eighteen Hells. The mountain of needles, hill of ice, lake of blood, and so on, all the way to the worst one: Avici, the so-called Infinite Hell. Each one is said to be unfathomably huge, and if we're talking about pure, unfiltered Buddhism, then there are actually even more Hells than that. The one constant of Buddhism is its ridiculous sense of scale; everything is huge in both size and number, and every measure of time is longer than imagination. I had no idea what the reality was, or if there was even such a thing as objective reality at all at this point, but one thing was for sure: If fairies were the embodiment of nature, then the nature that Clownpiece embodied was nothing to sneeze at.

Which meant... in the extremely likely event that we couldn't just leave her alone, that we had to eliminate her... We'd basically have to destroy all of Hell, huh? Maybe even across the multiverse.

Yeah, that's never happening. That's way beyond me.

Not that I really wanted to contemplate the best way to kill someone, but at this point, it seemed like we didn't have much of a choice.

"By the way, you said you were part of an incident? That you're going to be on their side?"

I pursed my lips, not wanting to go down this road. "I said-"

Reimu gave a smirk, allowing me to see she wasn't serious. "That an enemy cheats and goes back to use you." The miko stretched a bit, letting out a grunt. "Figures. I knew one of these days there would be some people within incidents who will try to use stuff from the Brigade. Kinda surprised it's taking this long, really."

"You knew this was going to happen?"

"Sooner or later - turns out it'll be later. There is already some info floating about. People who can change reality. Time travel. Espers. That sort of stuff is heard in Gensokyo." She shrugged, before returning her attention to me. "Still, you're going to be on the side of the incident causers. Do I get you?"

"Do you really want to know that? I thought you understood some of this time travel stuff."

She stared at me, before her shoulders went slightly up and down, indicating a silent sigh. "I don't get you." The miko grinned. "You get away with causing an incident. You're lucky."

You're kind of like Miko right now when it comes to reading me, though that's just your intuition. I also didn't like where this was going, so I had to change the subject. "Anyway, that Clownpiece, she was just mean as, well, Hell. Even malicious. Nothing like the fairies of Gensokyo. It was like she was taking pleasure in the violence." I glanced to our fairy companions who were still playing around. "I mean these guys are at most children with the way they act. This Clownpiece..."

Reimu raised her eyebrow at me, silently reiterating what she said earlier about Hell being big and scary.

"She's nothing to be afraid of," said Reimu dismissively. I think she was trying to console me. "I've dealt with worse than her. Anyway, you've still got Nagato's spell cards, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course." I fished out my deck from my pocket, still with Nagato's cards on top. The whole time we were down here, I'd made sure to confirm they still existed – if they didn't, it would mean that Nagato was gone. They were tied to her, made of the same kind of data. It was something like a warning system in case the Overmind ever deleted her, supposed to let me know just in case someone was trying to be sneaky.

Nagato was the one who came up with that idea out of the blue one day. It was a day when I was feeling hopeless, one of the bad days in the past four years. Her saying that, her putting that much trust in me lifted my spirits. I didn't want to lose anybody, and she made sure I could...

I didn't want to dwell on it any longer than I had to.

"Check them," Reimu commanded. I obliged, flipping through each card. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, though it did sting a bit to see each one. Spell cards always had descriptions of their effects written on them, but in Nagato's case, she wrote haiku.

Wait a second...

There was one haiku I remembered seeing from before, during one of our training exercises. It was the one on Ukichiro's card. That card wasn't in the deck. I checked my pockets again, but it wasn't anywhere.

"One's missing."

Reimu's eyes narrowed. "I knew it."

Knew it? How? I looked up at Reimu, who said, "Nagato always leaves a clue behind. It seemed weird that she wouldn't this time, that's all." She turned her head as if to address someone else. "You can use that, right?"

Nazrin poked her head out from behind Reimu. Her mouse ears twitched on top of her head, and she glared at the deck of cards as if appraising them, then reached up and grabbed one out of my hand. Her tiny nostrils flared out rapidly for a few moments, then she looked between the two of us and said, "Maybe. It's not that simple, though."

Uh... I gave Reimu another quizzical look, now quite lost as to what she was planning.

"I find things," declared Nazrin, punching the card between her middle and ring fingers and flapping it up and down. "Not people. And it's gotta be something that someone wants. You're looking for the girl, right? Not really her card. Plus, I gotta know exactly what it looks like, or no dice."

Oh.

...Oh. She can do that, huh? That's what the dowsing rods are for...

"That's easy," said Reimu. "We've already got someone who wants that card." She turned her head to me. "You know what it looks like, right?"

"Um... Yeah," I said. "But who'd want her card?"

Reimu smirked. "Who d'you know that goes around stealing well-made spell cards, Kyon?"

Ah.

My eyes drifted down to the ship, where a certain ordinary magician was in the process of asking Shou exactly what being a "treasure youkai" entailed. I wasn't sure where the idea had come from that she was one – I thought she was a tiger – but it seemed to have stuck.

I tried to remember the card in question. It was a while ago, but it stuck in my memory. Maybe that was the real reason it was written in haiku.

It was by Bashou.

"Winter solitude-

In a world of one color

The sound of wind."

The nice thing about these spell cards being near-identical is that Nazrin could get a good idea of what it looked like just from that. I'm not sure if she was even listening to me recite the poem, but after I'd finished describing the colors and patterns of the card itself, I heard a squeaking noise – not from Nazrin herself, but the tiny mouse that was riding in the basket dangling from her tail. The mouse ran up Nazrin's back and perched on her shoulder, then did circles around her neck, caterwauling all the while. It was a bizarre sight, and Reimu and me both leaned back away from it. Actually, Reimu looked more like she wanted to run or shoot the mouse, with the look she was giving it. Nazrin herself hardly moved, and when the mouse settled down, she touched its neck with two gentle fingers like this was business as usual. Her eyes moved to the city below us.

"It's down there. Definitely down there."

The mouse chirped in response, and clung to her neck. I hardly knew what to make of it.

"Wait," I said. "Are you sure? How do you..."

"Sure, I'm sure!" Nazrin flashed me an indignant glower, puffing herself up. "Do I question you when you do your job? Whatever that is?"

"N-no, but..."

Nazrin turned her back on me and walked across the rock we were on. She pointed one of her dowsing rods down at the city. "I've been down here for so long, my mice know every corner of this place. Even now, they're scouting the lower levels. They can't read, but they did see a spell card just like that recently – and you can bet on it!"

As Nazrin spoke, the end of the dowsing rod quivered a bit. Nazrin's expression turned smug.

"See? I'm getting a reading."

It was faint, almost imperceptible, but it was vibrating for sure. Nazrin shifted the direction ever so slightly, and it stopped; wherever she pointed, it would only start up again when she aimed it square at the middle of the city.

Not back, not behind it, not anywhere else in Former Hell. Nagato was there.

I could hardly believe it. I mean, I pretty much knew because of her cards still being here, but this drove it home: She was alive, and she had been taken. By Clownpiece, and the one above her. Hecatia.

They'd used danmaku, but they took her in alive.

Nagato is alive. Nagato is alive for sure.

Chills went through my body, and a mix of emotions swirled around my head. She was really down there right now. There was a chance to get her back.

I had to keep it under control. Don't let them get to you, right?

I didn't know if I could really do that, really keep my emotions from getting the better of me. I was ready to swear vengeance against them for taking her, and for doing what they did to Marisa and Reimu and everybody else. If I was really tested, I felt like I might forget all that self-control.

Forgiveness wasn't on the table. Mercy? I'd know that when the time came.

But one thing I could swear to myself and anyone else who'd listen: I was going to get her back. I was determined to get her back. I was going to save the world, and I was going to save my friend.

Nobody was going to stand in my way for that.

I looked Reimu in the eye. She felt the same as me.

We shared a nod of affirmation, thanked Nazrin for her help, and rallied the crew to head for the city.

"I still ponder why your master acts like this."

Ran had her hands in her long sleeves to protect herself from the cold of the air as they looked out on the campus. Both she and Emiri were outside the dorm, after sending Yukari the evidence they had found. "So do I, but I've learned to accept it. Otherwise she becomes infuriating. But it's nice to know that you're on the winning side with her."

"Manipulating data and observing is our thing-"

"So you should at least have that in common."

"But if she's going up against another her-"

Ran shook her head. "Not her, but a Greek god her. Hecatia is one who moves in the shadows, manipulating others, not unlike my master. She's very difficult to deal with because she's not only manipulative, but vastly powerful. That comes with being the god of magic itself."

"I'd ask why we couldn't get our Hecatia, but we already know what happens when you meet with another version of yourself - Yasumi did that with the two boys."

"We'd risk combining two Hecatias. She's already exceedingly powerful, so we don't need that."

"Obviously not. Still, interesting, that."

"What is?"

"When one comes into contact with an alternate self, they meld."

"...Maybe not."

Emiri blinked. "Oh?"

"It's possible that they melded due to Yasumi's influences. I mean, think about it. When Kyon went to the past with Asahina, adult Asahina came into contact with her younger self. There was no melding there. I'm thinking it was only possible because of Yasumi's, or Haruhi's design."

The interface was silent for a minute, a look of genuine interest on her face. "Interesting theory."

"One that we sadly can't test. Still, if one is bound to the rules of our world, it does seem that Yasumi can pull that off, at least."

The two stood in silence for a moment before the fox broke it.

"So the nanomachines..."

"Increased his effectiveness. Creating and diverting oxygen to where his body needed it so he wouldn't feel fatigue. Synthesizing nutrients so he could operate at peak performance. The nanomachines both 'overclocked' him and supplied the resources for him to keep going in that state. However, Nagato would be far better suited to control them... and him in general." The fox raised her eyebrow, to which Emiri responded: "In emergencies, Nagato planned to take some control over Kyon's body, using her own reflexes to boost his response time, or to respond to threats quicker than his human mind could comprehend. Even though he is superhuman because of the peaches, he still has a human body, and human bodies are limited. But she made it so that only she could do that to him."

Ran nodded, understanding. "Because you aren't her, you couldn't make Kyon move as fast as planned. Some sort of user lock... limiter? Something like that. Smart of Nagato to prevent you from having her level of control. If you could take full control, you'd be able to relieve your kind of the blackmail Kyon has over you." The fox smiled. "Makes sense. She'd just be giving anyone who'd want to break free of that the means to erase her and him, should they choose to."

"We've come to an agreement that we won't erase Nagato."

Ran eyed the interface. "Agreements can be broken. Politics move as fluidly as water."

"I know. I..." Emiri slightly shifted, making sure her body was better covered from the cold, even though she didn't have to. "I personally don't see the benefit of erasing Nagato now. The cost ratio would be too high. For one, she has already proven her worth by giving our kind what it wanted, and two, there is too much trouble in going after her. She had an administrator who was giving her grief because they held a grudge against her, but we had no room for such behavior. It wasn't efficient, which is what I don't allow." She let out a breath. "It's been decided long ago that it's better to leave her alone, and I agree. She's helped us break out of our evolutionary ceiling, so I personally consider that enough to make up for what she did."

"But have you forgiven her personally?"

"Not really. I'll still work with her, but it's difficult to forgive someone who deletes you for her own benefit. She deleted her own kind so she could spend her time alone with a boy in a literature club. What kind of selfish person does that? How can you forgive that?"

"I guess that was why she was ready to accept her own deletion. And it wasn't like she fully deleted all of you. Asakura was there, and if I remember, so were you, as humans."

"...Fair point. She didn't ask to be saved. So I suppose she did feel guilty about it... Yes. She at least gave the option of going back on what she did. If she was a monster, she wouldn't have openly given such an option at all."

The two shared another moment of silence. "I don't always understand my lady's manipulations, but she turns out right. It just takes some time to understand them."

Emiri gave a nod. "I'm starting to trust Yukari here. If these Alternates have time travel abilities, then Yukari using an EMP on wherever they came from was smart. I doubt that they have the implants that the time travelers do, so they would have to have physical devices. If they shared the same weakness to EMP like Yukari's did, then yes, it was the right play to make."

Ran smiled. "If there's one thing Lady Yukari does best when she's directly attacking someone, it's taking away their ability to automatically win and leveling the playing field. A lot of the creatures and people she goes up against have their abilities that they rely on. She loves crippling those abilities and forcing an actual fight on equal terms."

"She's big on that, isn't she?"

"Lady Yukari always lowers herself to match the power of whoever she's facing in a fight if she's fighting someone weaker. And she'll cripple whoever is stronger than her until the field is even." Ran's smile became a smirk. "Above all else, Yukari relishes equal fights. The only victor is whomever is more clever and skilled."

We had left the Buddhists to their ship, as they said they had to make preparations and to make sure it was air-worthy. It was sealed up for a thousand years, after all. Nue stayed with the Buddhists, I guess as an apology for attacking them, but not before giving us a warning that there were a lot of Altered on the way to the city. After thanking them, and them thanking us, we were on our way to the Ancient City. In this massively large cavern, we followed an old stone path that had led from the hall we exited, moving along at a decent enough speed.

"Can caves really get this big?" asked Sanae as she stared up at how expansive this place was.

[Aya:] "It's not really a cave, but an underground closed space. Remember that."

"I've never seen an underground closed space before." Koizumi was giving one of his fake smiles. "I've seen them in buildings, yes, but never in the Earth. We're being treated to a unique occurrence, Miss Chiyuri."

"You don't have to add the 'Miss' to that."

"Sorry, force of habit. Years of being overly polite to people. Forgive me."

I glanced to him, raising an eyebrow. "Did you just admit to being overly polite?" He just smiled wider in response.

[Suika:] "But see that? The sunlight you see from the cracks above are from our world. That's what gives the underground a day/night cycle."

Yuka looked up at the rays. "How's that work?"

[Nitori:] "Another feat of kappa engineering, even though it's simple. Lots of polished surfaces within those cracks. Basically mirrors bouncing around the sunlight until it reaches down there. They should be able to use that sunlight for growing crops where the rays touch, even."

So they even farm down here. That's so neat.

[Remilia:] "Huh. And I thought I would be free from the sun should I ever go down there and conquer it."

Remilia, no.

"Now that is one epic feat of engineering." Chiyuri was smiling as she stared up at the lights of the sun. "Too bad the human underground cities like Derinkuyu don't hold a candle to something like this."

Marisa's head perked up. "There are underground cities built by humans?"

"Settled cave systems, carved out areas. Places taken advantage of, but they saved a lot of lives. Places like Derinkuyu were great hiding spots for refugees who wanted to avoid wars. The Greeks named it Malakopea, and it was still settled less than a hundred years ago." Chiyuri crossed her arms, leaning back a bit, as she was doing all this lecturing. "They were simple places, but able to hold thousands and accommodate them. Even able to hold animals. Schools, wells, churches, you name it for a basic community, Derinkuyu had it. To think that youkai would do this better. I mean, living in caves seems like a normal thing for youkai to do, but a city like this? Puts Derinkuyu to shame. And it was basic: stone for doors, cut paths, digging staircases. Still, people were able to live there for years. That settlement lasted since the fourth century, and it's a tourist location now."

After coming across a damn biohazard spider, I don't think I'd like to live underground.

[Remilia:] "You know, I heard of that place. I always wanted to check it out, but I never found the time."

Interesting that we've had multiverse invaders revealed to us, yet we were talking about underground cities instead. I guess I missed out when it was a hot topic with the group when I was preoccupied with my own thoughts.

"Vampire like you would probably love it. Very cramped though." Chiyuri shook her head. "Nothing like this. This is like trying to compare some billionaire's mansion to my first apartment."

"How'd they handle the air?" Mokou was pondering this. "I mean, you mentioned the natural gas and all."

"I assume they dug ventilation. Otherwise they'd suffocate." I pointed up to the cracks giving out light. "Those would handle ventilation as well, right?" A nice dual purpose.

[Aya:] "Quite interesting stuff. You know, that could be a great followup article after I write about this incident."

"I wonder how the residents handled sunlight. Here, they solved that problem." Koizumi let out a low whistle, his eyebrows raised as he was taking it all in. "And it's the sun from Gensokyo, right? So... it's the sun from a closed space that's lighting up this underground closed space. That is really something."

We had decided to stay on the path instead of going through the other parts of the caves. There were craters, boulders, and stalactites... or wait, the ones on the ground are stalactites and the ones on the ceiling are stalagmites, right?

...No, I got that wrong. It's the other way around. Stalagmites on the floor, stalactites on the ceiling. I always confuse the two.

My failure of geology aside, there was just so much stuff around us that wasn't on the path, so, you know, it would have been easy to be picked off while flying/walking through that terrain. The path was exposed, sure, but that worked two ways.

I still couldn't get over the fact that it was snowing underground. It's really weird what gets to me, even at this point, isn't it? Is that a good thing or a bad thing that I can still be bothered by relatively mundane things? I certainly don't know; I may simply have cracked long ago. Maybe I'm just broken to the point where I'm bothered by snow in former Hell more than multiverse interference. It's snowing in Hell?! Really?! Former, maybe, but still! Again, talk about curve balls. And I might as well get rid of that idiom of 'snowball's chance in Hell.' Already there was enough on the ground to make a small snowball.

Which I know, by the way, since Tenshi threw one at me.

"You're way too serious right now, Kyon."

"You're not bothered by everything?" I asked as I brushed the crumbled snow from my shoulder. "Everything that's been going on?"

The celestial shrugged. "I'm just happy for the new experiences. I know this could be bad for you, as it's a possible outcome, but at least enjoy what's in front of you."

"She is kind of right," said Reisen over her shoulder. "Even I can tell you're really tense. Like, more so than one should be."

"Aren't we in enemy territory? Isn't this the place to be tense?"

The corner of the soldier's mouth frowned as she returned her attention to the front. "You're not wrong..."

"I think we're all a little weirded out by what's going on." That was Reimu. "We just... somebody went and changed the world on us." She looked to the orb. "After all this is done, I want to know the differences in the Chronicles, okay?" After she got confirmation, the miko continued. "Not fair, you know? Somebody changed the world and we couldn't do anything about it. Everybody's just dealing with it their own way, I guess. Nothing we can do."

[Alice:] "Is that's what's weirding you out?"

"A lot is weirding me out. A lot is just so uncertain now."

[Suika:] "...Very eerie that there's nobody out here. I mean, yeah, the Ancient City is the place to be in the underground, but there's at least people coming and going."

[Yukari:] "Stay sharp."

"Since we got the time," muttered Reimu, "Who's the next obstacle?"

[Yukari:] "Her name is Yuugi Hoshiguma."

I heard an exclamation from Suika.

[Suika:] "Whoa whoa whoa whoa what?!"

Before Suika could say anything or get an answer, Yukari continued.

[Yukari:] "You'll know when you see her, as she's kind of hard to miss. She's... she's an oni deva."

Oh you're kidding me. An oni head honcho like Suika?! Wait a second... "Hold on, Hoshiguma? As in the Hoshiguma from the Shuten Douji legend?!"

[Yukari:] "...Yes. Based off her."

That's one of the most vicious oni in legend! Seriously?! We have to take on an oni legend?!

Reimu stopped in her tracks, her head lowering, and I could see a massive frown form on her face. She looked like she wanted to start going off, but after taking a moment, she recomposed herself. "You have any idea how annoying it was for me to take on Suika?"

[Suika:] "Except that Yuugi is way stronger than me." It sounded like Suika recovered from her earlier shock. "Physically, she's like, invincible. I ain't gonna lie here - she's the absolute strongest youkai I know, in the physical sense, and they have to fight her?!"

[Remilia:] "But you know me."

"And me." added Yuka.

[Suika:] "Doesn't matter! Yuugi is beyond either of you combined! Seriously?! They have to fight Yuugi?!"

I heard Reimu let out a grunt of annoyance, and I shared in it. You know, I was wondering why Yukari wasn't letting us know everything right from the beginning, but now I kinda know. If I knew Yamame, Parsee, and Yuugi, along my knowledge of Satori, Koishi, and Okuu, I might have felt overwhelmed. I guess I gotta be like Reimu - take it as it comes.

"Danmaku should still work, right?"

[Suika:] "...Worked against me, so it should... technically work against her."

[Aya:] "She'll just be more resistant to it. Like, way more resistant."

Reimu again grunted. "Ugh, Suika took way too many hits to down! There'd better be a better way to take her down!"

Don't be losing confidence, Reimu. Out of everyone here, I'd want you to be the rock for us all.

[Yukari:] "Look. Yuugi is kind of the head honcho down there, being a deva. While technically Komeiji owns the Ancient City, everyone in the streets look up to Yuugi as sort of the alpha amongst them. She parties, guards, settles disputes, that sort of thing. Everyone looks up to her, and will listen to her. So if you beat her-"

"-We'd get the respect of the entire city of youkai in one go." There is that positive.

[Kaguya:] "Sounds like it would be smart to challenge this Yuugi regardless of timeline plans."

[Eirin:] "Unless you want to fight your way through the city all the way to the Palace of the Earth Spirits." The orb floated up, looking to the city. "And it looks to be right in the center."

"Nah, I get you." Tenshi was nodding. "Earn their respect and get easy passage. Simple." She smirked. "Well, as simple as it can be to take down an oni."

And judging from Reimu's response, it's not going to be a good time.

[Patchouli:] "Most of you know how to deal with an oni - some of you even drink with her and fight her on occasion. Uh... Okay, time for the lore according to the books. They're generally large creatures, and let's face it, we all know how big Suika can grow. Uh, horns, great strength, constitution... supposed to be strong in magic. Yes, most of you know this by now. Even those from the outside world know how oni work - they're that famous in Japanese culture." We heard the turning of pages come from the orb. "According to folklore, oni are born when wicked people die, and they serve the Yama in Hell, dishing out torture, punishment, and the like. If a human is truly wicked while still alive, they'll become an oni during life, and wreak havoc. The oni that are formed this way are the ones that remain with humanity, and the ones you read about in stories."

[Suika:] "But you know I'm not like that. I'm the fun loving top drinking buddy for Gensokyo. You know I'm not wicked."

"Well it's not really like that any more." I shrugged. "Somewhat. Modern times have even romanticized the oni. They're accepted. People will dress up as oni or use oni visages on buildings to ward off bad luck. There are even festivals with you guys."

[Suika:] "...Wait... wait really?"

"You guys aren't universally hated any more. I mean, you're still portrayed as mean, and proverbs still paint your kind in a negative light a bit, but yeah, oni are more accepted these days. There is sort of some romanticization of youkai and folklore figures going on in Japan right now."

It got silent for a few moments from the other side of the orb. I could only imagine the look on Suika's face.

[Yukari:] "It's like I told you, Suika. Like I told the other devas. Times are changing."

[Suika:] "...Yeah... yeah you did say that."

And I'm sure such a party animal like you would be really popular in the outside world. She'd also be able to provide infinite sake, though I'd personally advise her to refrain from telling people where it's coming from.

[Patchouli:] "That being said, beans do work."

"Wait," I turned my head to the orb, not being able to contain my smile. "The bean thing works?"

"I've always wondered about that," said Tenshi, who looked confused. "Why? Why are you guys who are so strong just weak against beans?"

[Suika:] "Well, we set up that weakness ourselves."

You guys gave yourself a weakness?! "...Why?"

[Patchouli:] "Because oni didn't have any weaknesses against humanity, and humanity was getting desperate."

Chiyuri nodded, understanding this. "And nothing drives humanity's creation of weapons more than being desperate against an enemy. I get you. Spears, bows and arrows, cannons, guns, missiles, nukes... man will find a way to take on whatever threatens it."

That actually makes some sense.

[Patchouli:] "Correct. From what I understand from my tomes, humanity was close to finding out a fatal and permanent weakness to the oni, but then the oni gave them the beans thing. Belief in it started, and the oni actually became weak to it. Beans aren't fatal to oni, but are enough to drive them off. Plentiful even, so even the poorest weakest human stood a chance. That's why it caught on. The way to really kill an oni has been lost to time, just like they wanted it to."

[Yukari:] "It's like what I do. If you make yourself look weak, you can generally get your opponent to do what you want them to. From water, to electricity, to humanity, to warfare - if you give a path of least resistance, it'll flow, and you can control it."

I had to think this over. That was actually quite clever of the oni. I mean, yeah, if someone wanted to find out how to finally exterminate the oni, and was instead given an easier and more readily available solution, they'd stop. I crossed my arms, pondering it, and also what Yukari said - I mean, that's what she did with Eirin. Eirin went and compiled the weaknesses of the youkai in Gensokyo just in case they ever invaded Luna, and Yukari forced Eirin's hand under her controlled circumstance. In the end, Yukari had pretty much slapped Eirin in the face over the whole thing.

[Suika:] "I'd rather be weak against beans than be killed, you know?"

I heard Sanae sigh. "What's up?"

"Ah, nothing." She looked over to Reimu. "It's just... All this talk of oni. The Hakurei shrine, for all its slacking-"

"Bite me."

Sanae ignored Reimu's response. "-It has a claim that the Moriya shrine can't make. We never beat an oni. I keep on hearing the argument in the village, both human and tengu, that even though people like the Moriya shrine, people still bring up the Mesmeric Mist incident."

I slowly nodded, understanding her situation. I get it. You still have to build up the reputation of your shrine while combating the established reputation of the Hakurei. They were still rivals, despite being of the same religion. Though Sanae has something at stake here. Her shrine is for her ancestor god - named after, even. So of course she'd put forth the effort for family.

"Hey how about I let you fight that Yuugi then?"

I half expected Sanae to turn it down, but she just got really quiet, looking down. Are you seriously considering this? Didn't you hear Suika? Yuugi may be the strongest youkai out there. She said she's invincible.

I don't know if Reimu was going to take that back, but everyone just fell silent after that, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I also thought Tenshi would be the one to offer herself to fight, but she didn't. You'd think a bored celestial would want to take on that fight.

So, okay. We got some wild insane fairy that overwhelms, the god of freaking magic, a nuclear youkai, an oni who is invincible, and two satoris - one who can induce previous traumas and one who can control the subconscious. What the hell am I even doing here? The hell are we doing here? I grimaced, realizing that I was losing confidence. I quickly shook my head. Come on, man. We got some powerful people on our side. We have to get this. We have to.

I had to, if I wanted to survive that day.

We remained silent for a while, until Youmu broke it. You see, we still remembered Parsee's and Nue's warning, of the Altered, so we remained vigilant for any threats.

"Uh, Sakuya, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Why now?"

Youmu shot me a glance before returning her attention to Sakuya. "Just in case. I may not get a chance after, and I was planning on asking after this incident anyway."

Sakuya gave me a look, before giving Youmu a polite smile. "All right."

"How in the heck do you make your pancakes so fluffy?"

I blinked, before giving Youmu a raised eyebrow. Really? This is what you're gonna ask? You learn you may not survive this incident, who we're going up against, and that's what's on your mind?

Youmu noticed my reaction, and she frowned. "It's just been bugging me! Lady Yuyuko really enjoys the pancakes at the SDM, and I just wanted to know how to make them like Sakuya does!"

Nobody said anything in response to that, as we kept going. Sakuya let out a little sigh. "Okay, okay. So how do you go about making them? Tell me."

"Well first I heat up-"

Sakuya smiled a sure smile. She was enjoying this, giving cooking tips. "That's the first mistake. You don't do anything before making the mix itself."

"Why's that?"

"Because the mix needs to stand for a while. Mix first, let sit, and then start heating up your griddle. But don't mix it until it's smooth. That's too much."

"Reimu..." That was Reisen. Her ears had perked up, and she was looking to the left. There, behind a boulder, was a figure. It wasn't in one of the sunlight rays, so we couldn't get a good look at it.

Is that a youkai?!

"I see it. It's not attacking, so leave it alone..." Reimu ushered us to continue on our way.

The group began to speed up a bit. I kept my eye on the figure, my mind doing battles over what to think about it - to either let it go, or to let my imagination run wild over what horrible creature it could be in Former Hell. Whatever it was, it just stood there, not moving until we completely passed it - at which point it disappeared behind the boulder.

"Basically," Sakuya's voice volume lowered as she talked a bit faster. "Basically you want to wait until the mix settles enough and starts to get a good number of bubbles in it and start to rise. Then you know it-"

"Another one..." Mokou was looking to the right, clenching her jaw. Her right arm slowly went ablaze. "Reimu-"

"Keep going." Reimu had brought out some amulets, as the snow was starting to really come down around us. While the lights lit up specific areas, the snow looked like it was spread around. I don't know how that worked. "If they're not attacking right away, don't give them a reason to."

"Aren't they Altered?"

"We'd be seeing the static in their eyes. Just go." The miko looked back to us, her face in that steel gaze again, her breath becoming visible as the snow also brought even lowered temperature. "Just keep moving. Don't give them the fear."

There were several nods between our companions. I took in a few deep breaths, not wanting to let the fear build. No, Reimu is right. Don't give them fear. And if they were Altered, they'd attack us right away, right? I blinked again. "Wait, 'them?'"

I looked around, and the pit of my stomach lowered. There were so many figures in the darkness. Oh God. Oh jeez.

You see, the light afforded to us mostly shone down on the road and the city, with some light incrementally shining down on the darker patches of the underground. I assume for settlements and other places down here.

And I could just see so many.

"Kyon," Marisa used a free hand to squeeze mine, as she looked forward. "Don't."

Right, right. Calm down. They're not-

They opened their eyes. I let out a small moan when I saw the static light up in countless eyes, and I could feel my heart sink into my stomach. "Reimu?!"

"Just gotta be patient, Youmu." Sakuya had brought out her knives, gritting her teeth at what was around us. "Just gotta be patient and let the mix rise a bit before you do anything. In cooking, you have to be able to multitask, and use the time waiting for one thing for doing another. Mix the mix, start heating up the griddle, wait for the griddle to be hot enough to steam water, then by that time the mix should be decent enough to give the right amount of fluffiness. Pour the mix, count to fifty, and it should be a perfect golden brown for that side. Never cook a side twice - makes it too stiff. Get it right the first time, and you'll have perfect pancakes."

"Are you two idiots really talking about pancakes in a time like this?!" Mima was getting upset with this, as she had her crescent staff light up, looking out to the crowd of figures along the road. "This is why I hate working with other people!"

Talking about pancakes was what was keeping us calm.

"Reimu!" shouted Tenshi, who was looking behind us. Already there were so many figures in the darkness down here who had cut off the road behind us - we couldn't go back the way we came.

And they all had the static. There's so many youkai!

"Run or shoot?" Reisen was aiming down her rifle, slight panic setting on her face. Reimu didn't answer right away, so the soldier asked again. "Run or shoot?!"

Reimu had already tossed out a few amulets, speeding up to the city. "Both!"

"Left side! Left side!"

Bullets, real and magical, were flying through the air towards our aggressors. All of us went as fast as we could down the road while still shooting.

"Don't stop shooting!"

[SPELL CARD: PRAYER "CHARM OF GOOD COMMERCE"]

This was one of Sanae's. A seal appeared behind the miko in blue, and out poured a barrage of amulet danmaku. It gave us much needed breathing space, as the Altered were getting way too close for comfort. Interesting name, and I don't see how it relates to commerce. At least, that would be the thought I'd have if I wasn't so busy trying to stay alive.

"I'm reloading!"

Nue was right - there were a lot of Altered on the way to the Ancient City - too much to handle. We had to take it slow as we fought, but it was pretty much futile. Every time we would rid some youkai of the alteration, the Altered around it would immediately jump on it, altering it again. It was a grind. We fought for an hour just to go the kilometer we were from the city gates.

A straight hour of fighting. It felt like a week.

We would have simply run, but they were way faster than most of us, and since we couldn't fly, we had to rely on our legs. Yes, we lost flight as we neared the city, I'm assuming for defense so no Altered could go over the wall around it. The only grace we had was that we were on the road, so nobody could sneak up on us or use anything for cover - they were in the open and ripe for our shots. Well, the shots of my companions. I stayed in the center of the group, calling out any youkai that I saw. So it was a fight, run, fight, run type deal. And this was constant fighting. There were no breaks. It was like some sort of crazy zombie apocalypse, where we were shooting cure bullets, only for the cured to be set upon by the zombies almost instantly. And then being re-turned, making the "cure" moot. The danmaku was doing what it did - knock them out of their Altered state, only for them to converge on that youkai so they could keep their numbers.

Constant shooting, constant yells, and screeches from the youkai. The girls used up most of their spell cards, and the worst of all, the peach effects were starting to run out. It had been a few hours since we ate them, so the superhuman effects wore off. We were starting to wear down. As I was free from the fighting, I was constantly, and poorly, using Reisen's medkit to patch up the girls. I was also giving them peaches, because we were burning through them. Near the gate, the youkai would slash at them, and they would be cut, so we just had to pass out those peaches mid battle. It made them strong again, yes, but I couldn't heal them just then. Not in that chaos.

My hands were dried in the blood of the girls, from all the cuts and injuries that I patched up by the time we reached the gate. In no way was this pleasant.

Koizumi used up all of the dolls he had, and thank God for them. The numbers of the youkai was working against them. I am grateful that they aren't using magic shots or whatever against us. They were mindlessly concerned with melee attacks. It made them scarier, yes, but more manageable.

It was a whirlwind for me, personally. I was going from nearly having panic attacks from the initial fight, to having to suck it up and deal with it, for the sake of the girls, especially when they started to get injured. I had to - I would never forgive myself if I let any of them die. This was just a blur. A blur in my memory, that even now, I can't focus on what was going on.

I'm told that some soldiers in fights have a fuzzy memory of a battle after they come out of it, and some can remember every detail in absolute clarity. I was the former in this case. I know I've been pretty good at my memory in other situations, but not for this one. It was just too stressful for me, and I think that's why I can't. I just can't give many details on these things, a complete blur of snarls, claws, teeth, blood, yelling and yelling and yelling and shooting and...

My adrenal gland must have been getting a complete and total workout. It was just so intense.

That being said, I can remember bits and pieces. I remember seeing Youmu use her belt, but in a way that if someone tried to dodge out of the way of one of her slashes, she'd simply pull them back into sword range. Sanae's stealth disrupted magic if it went off, so she didn't use that at all. Tenshi was having a grand old time laying waste to the swarm of enemies, using the Hisou to just mow down mobs, though even by the end of it I could see she was getting physically tired. Reisen was doing her job as a soldier, keeping the enemy at bay, resorting to a hunting knife if enemies got close. Her fighting style was just so unusual, her movements. I've never seen anything like it - fitting for an alien soldier, I guess. That's how she was trained to fight. Aiming for joints, ligaments, weak points in the body.

All throughout, the orb kept watch, making sure we were covering each other, telling when an enemy was getting too close. It was just chaos. Thankfully the Stranger kept close to me, using her bandaged arm to shoot and swat away any youkai, so I didn't have to rely on Shanghai or Hourai all that much.

Yuka was down on one knee, still blasting away at youkai. She was holding her side, which had gotten clawed. A trickle of blood was seeping from her body.

"Get me up...I can...I can still fight..."

As I wasn't a shooter, I went to her, wrapping her free hand around my neck as I pulled her to her feet. "Come on, we're almost there! I'll heal everyone when we get inside!"

"Hold my side..." I did, and Yuka used her bloody hand to produce her third of the Trinity Spark. "Mima! Marisa!"

The two magicians joined her, with their parts of the card.

[SPELL CARD: "TRINITY SPARK"]

They used this to sweep the area around us, turning the spark to clear a path. Using the space afforded us by the spell card, we had finally made it to the main gate. The iron bars over the large wooden door looked sturdy, if worn. It would have given comfort...if we weren't on the other side of it!

Propping Yuka on the wall next to it, I banged on the door in between the iron bars. "Hey! Hey open up! We need to get in!"

There was no answer. No matter how much noise I made. Well, they should have known we were outside with the noise of the battle.

But there was still no answer.

"Yukari! Portal!"

A portal opened up, and a second opened up as well.

[Yukari:] "What?!"

"Yukari put the portal on the other side!"

The portals closed, and then both reappeared.

[Yukari:] "I can't open a portal to the other side! It's just opening on this side!"

"You are so useless!" screamed Reimu as she put her arms over her chest - her body blinked out of existence for a beat, and reappeared in the same place. Her eyes were wide. "Oh crap!"

Someone really was countering us. We couldn't teleport to safety.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me! We are not gonna die out here!"

I was beginning to wonder if there was even anybody in the city, until some of the Altered youkai began to climb up the walls - and were met with spears, arrows, and magical blasts as they scaled them. So somebody was defending the city.

That also meant they were possibly not going to open the door to risk saving us. The thought of that made my heart sink. Dammit no! I did not come this far just to die here!

[SPELL CARD: WEATHER "SCARLET WEATHER PRESSURE"]

Tenshi raised both arms in a hadouken motion, a red mist shooting forth along with red danmaku. Like a bowling ball, it knocked away the youkai it came in contact with it. When she was done with that, she moved to the door, banging the Hisou on it.

"Open the damn gate! Open! We are not Altered! Open! Open or I'm gonna break down the door!"

Someone with a rough male voice answered from behind it. "No way in Hell are we opening the gate!"

We would have flied over the wall, but again, at around the half kilometer part, I'm guessing someone else initiated that 'no fly' thing. Flight wasn't working near the outside of the city. We couldn't fly over, but...

"Fairies!"

"What's up?"

I pointed to the top, bringing them close so whoever was behind the door couldn't hear us. "Get over this wall and open the damn gate! Go or we're all dead!"

The fairies nodded and cloaked, leaving us to buy ourselves the time. I gave a look around, seeing how exhausted everyone was. Even their own shots were weaker. Reisen had to resort to actual bullets, in fact. Doesn't anybody have any magic left?! Marisa was busy fumbling with her magic blocks, trying to bring out more to pass around, but we needed more time. We needed a spell card, we needed-

Wait. I do have a spell card.

For a second, I inwardly debated on whether to use it or not, then I slapped myself. Of course I have to use it here! What am I, some idiot character from a slasher pic who doesn't do the logical thing?

Enough of that. I brought out the spell card and quickly read the incantation.

[SPELL CARD: "DELETED ONE"]

"Ryoko! We need your help!"

In a whirlwind of sand, the former backup human interface for Nagato appeared, forming, still in her high school uniform. It was weird. She had not aged, and yet I have. We all have. Yet she was stuck as a high school girl, stuck as a spell card.

Regardless, it was good to see her. Good to see Ryoko Asakura.

Ryoko smiled at me, then brought out her knives. She turned towards the oncoming horde of Altered, and rushed forward, danmaku emanating from her body, hitting those that got near.

Koizumi just glanced, and gave me a raised eyebrow. Yeah, we've all changed, Koizumi. I'm relying on her.

All I could do was wait for the fairies to open the door, otherwise my story would end here, torn to pieces by mindless killing machines.

Come on, girls. Hurry up.

He closed his fist, letting out an exasperated sigh. He knew that he was ordered to let in unaltered survivors, but there were just too many Altered out there. He couldn't risk the chance of letting the city get it just to save a few people.

They were banging on the door, and he wanted to cover his ears, but he couldn't, not while wearing his armor. He backed away, not wanting to hear their pleas. Stop begging for help. This is already a tough decision-

What was that noise?

Something wasn't right. He looked around, feeling he wasn't alone. Everyone else were up on the battlements, firing at anybody or thing that would attempt to scale, and he was supposed to man the gate. But he thought he heard something else behind him.

He could feel a drop in temperature, or so he thought. He popped off his helmet, wondering if he was starting to crack from the guard duty and not letting people in.

He paused, looking down. There was a puddle of water on the cobblestone courtyard that separated the gate from the city, and there appeared to be tiny footprints coming from it, towards him. In fact, the puddle was frozen for some reason.

"Whose footprints are thes-!"

He felt a chill at his back, his spine tingling that he wasn't alone. He whipped around, seeing three figures. Fairies?! Each wearing a different color, and they were instantly afraid of him, raising their arms to defend themselves. He placed his hand over his katana. "Who are-"

The chill was still at his back. With a clang, something attached to him, his armor becoming cold, and he heard a girls voice. "Eye got you! Now stay still and - whoa!"

The youkai flailed around, trying to get the girl off of him. "Ah, get off! Guards! Gua-!" A cold, small hand tried to go over his mouth, but he pushed it away. "Someone! Get down here!"

It was a bit too noisy for anyone to hear him, mostly due to the commotion outside. The three fairies began to shoot at him, and he spun around, trying to get them to shoot at the person on his back. It didn't work, as they let go, and the shots hit the armor. He whipped around, ready to fight, but felt his footing leave him. In all his flailing around, he had reached the ice, and the next thing he saw, save for a blurry image of four fairies and the ceiling of the underground, was stars as his head hit the floor.

Cirno couldn't help but laugh. The guard was making a scene, waving around his hands like he could do something, and when he tried to face them, he slipped on the ice. The ice was totally an accident, but the other fairies didn't have to know that. Cirno pounded on her chest, feeling satisfied. Stupid guard! Nobody can stand up to the strongest! They had landed in the courtyard, Cirno landing in the water. It was lucky, now that she saw what happened.

"Cirno! We gotta get this open!" Sunny was at the door, while Luna and Star went to the gate controls - one of those wheel things with... spokes, right? That's what they were called? "Cirno!"

Sunny's outburst shook Cirno out of her thoughts. They went to the door, to open it up, while the gate outside could be heard moving already.

After about a minute, I was starting to worry, until the metal gate began to be raised, and I could hear a commotion come from within. The fairies must have found the mechanisms. Oh thank God they were smart enough to know how to open a gate! That was one of the things that I realized that could go bad - that they didn't know how to do so. Not too long after, we heard a shifting from behind the wooden door, and it started to open up.

These fairies are lifesavers!

Sunny poked her head out. "Kept you waiting, huh?"

"Go! Go! Get inside!" I grabbed Yuka, and brought her in, already ducking underneath the rising gate. The four fairies were holding the door open for us. "Remilia, invite these fairies to Christmas dinner! Throw a damn party in their honor!"

The door opened to some square courtyard covered in cobblestone, with another set of doors across it, which I assumed opened to the city proper. There were staircases that led up to the walls, and a downed youkai, alongside a patch of frozen water on the ground. Whatever you fairies did, thank you! I knew it would get us into trouble later, but at that point, I didn't care. I turned to grab the others and pull them in, starting with the injured first. "Come on! We're good! Get in!" They had their backs to the gate, so I was the one in charge of pulling them in, and lowering their heads so they didn't have to take their eyes off the battle.

The iron bars made it halfway up, but then stopped. Then they slowly lowered. Looking, I could see that the knocked out person was now at the controls for the gate; a short, stocky individual with horns protruding from his unhelemeted face. I'm assuming he was male. Certainly didn't have a female figure. It had to be one of the city guards. Man you got up quick. I thought that guy was going to be down for good, with him just lying still there.

"You fools! What are you-" His voice was definitely male, as he turned to us. His skin was red, his horns yellow. Like some stereotypical demon-thing person you'd expect from Hell. Or something. I don't know.

"We're not Altered! Look at our eyes!"

He paused, grimacing, and I could see some fangs from his mouth. He paused for a second, before answering. "Get inside get inside!" He pushed for the closing of the gate. "If your group isn't in by the time this closes, they're being left out there!"

Fair enough. I turned, helping the rest of my comrades inside.

"I'm out!" Reisen slid under the slowly lowering iron bars, smoke coming out both her M16 and Luger, and turned to helping the others. Like I said, Reisen had to switch to live ammo, and had used it all up by then. At this point, some of the other guards were starting to come down to us. The guy at the controls was telling them that we weren't Altered, thank God, so we weren't immediately attacked.

The guards were wearing what looked to be obsidian armor - as black as the night itself, and shiny. Looked a lot like old samurai armor with face masks, though more pointy. The guards were of various shapes and sizes, ranging from small female to large male and everything in between. We were definitely outnumbered by the small contingency that had made their way to the courtyard, but I assume that there were still enough on the battlements, as shots still came from up there.

Who's left out there? I quickly looked over who was in the courtyard. Chiyuri, Ryoko, and the Stranger were still out there. The gate was a few seconds from closing, and the female esper dove under after emptying her gun, and I quickly pulled her through. Ryoko was next, but not before unleashing a barrage of knives. The Stranger did something, like bandages were coming from her hand and knocked away the Altered youkai. The woman in the cloak slid under, her arm -

One of the creatures grabbed her arm, and was trying to pull her back out. I pulled on her, trying to bring her in. The rest of the group pulled as well, and the metal gate was shutting.

The gate came down on her arm. She pulled, and the Altered youkai pulled away, the empty bandages flailing from beyond the gate.

I had to do a double take at what I just witnessed. I was about to start screaming, but... but there wasn't any blood from the Stranger.

But.. you lost your arm. Where... what, who...

I caught a glimpse of the woman - she had pink hair, and was wearing some sort of Chinese dress with a rose pattern on it, but something immediately caught my attention.

Her right arm wasn't there. Her short sleeve for her right arm was kind of deflated, as if... yeah, she didn't have a right arm.

What? What happened? There wasn't any blood - her arm was gone. It wasn't like it was ripped off - no, there wasn't any... But... she had a working arm? What?! How?! She... she was able to use...

The woman let out a sigh of annoyance, before she reached into her cloak, producing a roll of bandages. As the guards of the city began to close the door so the snarling youkai on the other side could stop reaching for us, the Stranger used her working arm, placing one end of the bandage up into the deflated sleeve. She then looked to me. "Can you help me here? Just hold it?"

I stared at her, my mind filled with so many questions, but I simply nodded and held the bandage as she asked. Also, everyone in my group was watching this as intently as I was. This woman then began wrapping...

Good Lord.

She was wrapping herself a new arm out of the bandage, and it looked like she was simply covering up what was already there. She got down to the wrist, and began to form the hand - fingers and all. The process took less than a minute, and I could not take my eyes off of it. This had to be one of the most disturbing yet fascinating things I have ever seen in my entire life.

When she was done, she moved around her fingers, opening and closing her hand, and moved around her new arm. It moved like a regular one would.

What in the absolute hell?!

I wanted to say something. So many things went through my mind upon the completion. The woman then nodded at me, giving thanks, before she readjusted the cloak back on and stepped away from us.

The group just stared at her, as interested and blown away by this as I was.

"...A phantom limb?" Reisen appeared floored. "No wonder you were knocking away danmaku with your arm! It wasn't there!"

Holy crap that explained why she didn't get hit. Danmaku didn't touch her body, just her phantom limb. That's... that's awesome and... I don't know what else to think about this! It was just kind of shocking. I mean, I thought for a second she lost her arm to youkai, and find out she already lost it and just made a new one right in front of me! How the hell am I supposed to react to that?!

The Stranger didn't respond.

Chiyuri's jaw was agape. "That's... genius. Way better than prosthetics. Doctor Yagokoro, have you ever-"

[Eirin:] "Of course I have. But there is a problem when you use magic to do something like that. If you lose a limb and use magic to give yourself a new one, you have to watch out for any dispelling. It's not viable in a society of magic users, unless you have no other choice."

[Yukari:] "Exactly. For instance, Reimu could easily dispel that thing. Maybe even by using her yin yang orbs, she can just blow it away."

"I see." Either way, that's pretty awesome. She can just make herself a new limb. Again so many questions ran through my mind - how did she lose the arm in the first place, how did she do that (because I seriously wanted to know how to do this), and most importantly, who was this woman? The brief glimpse I got of her... she's beautiful.

"Some don't have a choice, I guess. But man, that was crazy to see, ze." Marisa gave a grin. "I gotta learn how to do that, just in case."

[Alice:] "With the way you live, I'm surprised you haven't lost a limb or something already."

[Suika:] "...Huh..."

Upon hearing the oni's voice, the Stranger's head lifted just a little bit. It was enough for me to notice her response.

The orb just stared at the Stranger, who shifted away from facing the orb.

[Suika:] "...Ah... hey, uh, whoever you are?"

The Stranger didn't say anything.

[Suika:] "Thanks."

Still no response.

Ryoko cleared her throat, getting my attention, and bowed to me, as she had begun to dissipate into sand. The spell card had run out of time. She smiled a rather sad smile. "Thank you for allowing me to assist you. I hope I can be of further use in-"

She had disappeared, back into the spell card, before she could finish her sentence. I picked it up, and stared at it for a while. Sad. She's stuck in this thing - her only purpose now is to be an attack. But I'm grateful I have her. She helped us when we needed it.

I breathed a sigh of relief, letting the adrenaline finally flush out of my system, and I felt tired. Of course, there wasn't a time for resting - the guards were not happy with us. I quickly passed around peaches and healed. I think I was down to six vials. Yeah, six. Not enough. This won't be enough, as I don't think we're anywhere close to Okuu.

The sounds of the Altered youkai outside were calming down, and I think they were retreating. That's strange. But I guess if they are Altered, then something is controlling them. No sense in losing them against a well defended structure.

[Alice:] "Everyone okay?!"

I looked around. Despite the Stranger losing her bandaged arm, we didn't suffer any real casualties. I said as such. "Yeah, we're good. Just... couple of open wounds and some bleeding, but mostly just a little tired. We're okay." I let my body collapse to the floor, sheer exhaustion taking over before the effect of the peaches started to take hold in my own body. Even though I got that energy boost, it still felt good to just lay there after such an experience. Now I know how a field medic feels in a battle. I don't know how they do that.

But I didn't lose anybody. We didn't lose anybody, and that was just such an accomplished feeling. Someone made sure we couldn't teleport in, but we still got in. If this is you, Hecatia... screw you. We got past it.

Tenshi was smiling over me. "Man, if I knew how fun today was gonna get, I'd have messed with the Underground instead of messing with you guys," she said as she helped me to my feet.

Gee thanks. Also, can't I get a rest? I've earned it since I kept you girls patched up.

The guy without the helmet came to us, but not before locking the door closed, and he was enraged. "You idiots! You thoughtless worthless sons of bitches!" After locking, he turned to us brandishing his katana. "You nearly got the city infected with that crap! What were you doing?!"

"Hey!" Yuka slowly stood up, giving him a death glare. "If you had simply let us in, we wouldn't have had to resort to such tactics!"

"If you had opened," shouted Cirno, "Eye wouldn't have had to knock you out!"

Why'd you have to admit that?

The helmet-less youkai bared his fangs, his eyes becoming a deep red, redder than his skin. He raised his katana, and our group surrounded Cirno. The ice fairy didn't like it, and I think she would have liked to take him on herself.

There was a single rumble, then another. And more. Accompanied by a deep thud. Upon hearing and feeling that, the guard blinked, his anger fading. Sheathing his katana, he smirked at us. "Oh, you're gonna get it now."

These are footsteps.

The way he said that made my blood run cold, as the footsteps came closer. I could feel the steps reverberate down to my heart even.

From one of the stairs, she came.

I know I've mentioned that Yuka is a tall woman. That's because she's about 6'1". But this new person... she towered over Yuka. This was a giant of a woman. I'd later find out that she was 6'8". And she was ripped, too. Her muscles were clearly visible on her body, more so than Meiling or Reisen. Wearing a long blue skirt that was semi-transparent with red trim, and a white t-shirt with red trim. Long blonde hair, and a red horn protruding from her forehead that had a yellow star on it.

While she was ripped, there were... two aspects of her...

"What did this girl do, shoplift two beach balls, ze?"

...Yeah. Like what Marisa said. Well, not that big. But big enough.

[Remilia:] "...That's... almost comical. Almost."

Still looks good enough for a male's eyes. Of course I didn't say that aloud.

"That..." Koizumi just stared at her. "That is one big oni."

She was also carrying what looked like some red plate with her left hand. This woman towered over everyone. She stared at us with narrowed eyes, before her attention went to the guard.

"Hey, boss! These guys were trying to get in! I was trying to stop them-"

Upon saying that, the woman scowled as she stepped toward him and smacked him on the top of his head with her free hand. The force put him in the ground like a post up to his chest.

Geez! I could already tell she was powerful, but she did that with such ease, and through cobblestone no less!

"Idiot! Goeiki, you know the rules of the Ancient City! We accept all visitors!"

The helmet-less youkai, Goeiki, merely let out a small grunt of pain. The woman bent over, and picked him up, still not pleased with him. She plucked him out of the ground like someone would pull a weak weed. She then flung him to a corner of the courtyard, the impact leaving a dent on the stone.

[Suika:] "Aaaand that's Yuugi."

I figured that out. Taking into account how some youkai humanize themselves, this is how I envisioned an oni variant. One that looks strong in every sense of the word. Suika kind of dispelled my own envisioning of how an oni would look like, but then again, she could make herself as big as she wanted. This one...

Actually she's attractive in that big sporty girl way. While she had more muscles than Meiling did and looked rough, she still had an aire of femininity about her that made her attractive.

And of course, you know... beach balls.

I had to refrain from staring. I didn't want to be caught gawking at someone so obviously powerful.

Yuugi was staring at us, before scowling again, but not at us. "Goeiki, they're not affected by the alteration at all! Why'd you not let them in?"

Just another whimper from Goeiki.

Yuugi let out a sigh of annoyance, before turning to us, smiling. She then took a drink from her plate - apparently she was drinking sake from it. Oh wait, it's not a plate, it's a sakazaki - a sake dish. The waft of alcohol that was coming from her finally reached us, and it was as strong as the smell that surrounded Suika, from my memory.

"Ah, so, you managed to take down Goeiki, eh? And fight your way to our fine city. That's quite impressive for someone to fight their way through everything out there." She then cracked her knuckles on her free hand by roughly closing them, her face breaking into a grin. "...And rowdy. To do all that? You're pretty good. Dunno who you are, but they say a rowdy welcome is best for a rowdy guest!" She paused, looking us over. "Huh. Humans, eh?"

Upon saying that, the other guards began to murmur.

"Impressive that humans were able to deal with all those Altered! Really!" She beamed, using her thumb to point at the guards around us. "These guys couldn't do jack!" That earned us some looks from the guards. "I like you guys! Takes real guts, power, and determination! Not bad for overworlders!"

[Aya:] "Great. This is going to get out of hand fast."

Before I could ask what that meant, I noticed Yuugi narrowing her eyes as she looked over each and every one of us. Please don't tell me you're sizing us up. Of course, that was wishful thinking. Of course she was.

"But first off, that was rude of Goeiki to keep you out there. So how 'bout it I give you a drink of apology?"

"But I don't want to go drinking with you. And besides, you're in the way."

Stop antagonizing youkai, Reimu! This is the worst possible time for you to do this! Son of a-

"Heh." Yuugi's lips curled, but she didn't drop her smile. "So cold. Pity too. People from above almost never come down here, and I take pride that we're more inclusive than that damn Gensokyo."

[Yukari:] "Reimu, why can't you listen to what a youkai has to say?"

"You know why."

"What's that?" Yuugi finally dropped her smile, stepping closer. Her attention was on the orb. "I thought you guys were talking among yourselves, but it's really that orb, huh?"

[Suika:] "Been a while, man! What, four years already?"

The oni blinked, before she went back to grinning. "That drunken voice... Oh, crap, Suika?!"

[Suika:] "You have no idea how good it is to hear and see you again!"

"So, what, did you turn into an orb? Get sealed in there?"

I looked to Marisa. "Is that really a problem? People getting sealed in items?"

She shrugged. "Sealed youkai are kinda rare, but it does happen, ze."

Then I better be grateful that nobody has sealed me up inside something.

[Suika:] "Man, after this, I wanna go mountain climbing with us four again! Hell, I'll show you my new house!"

"Uhm..." Tenshi appeared to go white a bit. "Can you..." She moved closer to the orb. "I'm kinda already in enough trouble for letting you up there, okay?"

[Suika:] "What, they don't like me?"

"The pure celestials have a real big problem with you. My family has been getting a lot of grief for it, so..."

[Suika:] "Damn pure celestials."

You know, hearing about this stuff and politics in Heaven kind of makes me want to shy away from it. I had hoped that at least the land behind the pearly gates was free of human political BS, but from what I was hearing, it was simply more of the same. One side thinking it was better than the other.

"So, you're Yuugi Hoshiguma." Yuka stepped up, cracking her knuckles. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Ah." Yuugi moved closer. "Yes, of course. I was one of the Big Four of the Mountain with Suika. I'm Yuugi the Strong! And you are...?"

"Yuka Kazami."

That got a response from the guards, some even backing away.

Yuugi's face went serious. "Really now." She took a slow sip from her sakazaki, her muscles tensing. "Heard about you. Supposed to be one of the strongest that Gensokyo has to offer-"

Yuka drew back her fist, to which Yuugi responded. The two threw a punch, their fists meeting in the air, and the border around Kazami broke, knocking them both back. They tried again, undeterred-

It sounded like an explosion happened, and felt like one too. The impact of their bare fists hitting each other just let out a crack, actually knocking everyone back. You gotta be kidding me! Stuff like this only happens in anime and manga!

When I looked, Yuugi was knocked back about half a meter, opening and closing her hand slowly. As for Yuka...

She was knocked back all the way to the door, her hand bleeding, and her fingers... her fingers were in odd positions. Did Yuugi just shatter your fist?!

She was wide eyed in surprise, her face in pain, clenching her teeth. "W-what? Im... Impossible..."

Yuugi looked down, and then at Yuka, smirking. "Huh. You knocked me back a bit. You're actually stronger than I thought you were."

By the grace of whatever god, I still had my barrier up, so I healed Yuka. The flower youkai just stared at Yuugi in complete disbelief. Man, what the hell? Yuka was supposed to be our tank! And she just got vastly out powered! We heard some light cheers come from the guards, clapping that their alpha just asserted dominance.

[Alice:] "Huh. Well I guess there always is somebody stronger..."

"That was a nice little show of strength." Yuugi slowly shook her hand with a slight frown. "But I get the feeling you aren't after me or anyone else here. Just whose tail are you after anyway?"

"Something tells me that we have a mutual enemy." Reimu looked back to the door, referencing it. "I'm guessing they're controlling those Altered out there."

"So you came all the way down here to save us, is that it?"

"Not my intention."

"You really are cold, aren't you?"

Only when she's out on an incident. Otherwise she's pretty good to hang out with when lazing around.

[Yukari:] "May I? Miss... Yuugi? Look, I promised not to let any youkai from above down here. And I'll be frank - I am amazed with the city that you've built for yourselves. However, Komeiji agreed with me, that I would really stay away if you guys pacified the evil spirits the underground evil spirits. You have not held up your end of the bargain. I know I'm banned, but I had no choice, with the failures on your end."

"...How do you know that deal? And who are you? What do you mean you're banned?"

[Yukari:] "My name is Yukari Yakumo."

Yuugi's eyes widened before her face showed slight disgust, which was shared by the tone of the quiet chatter of the guards around us. "Oh. I haven't heard that name in a long time."

[Yukari:] "Names aside, the underground hasn't kept their word." The orb moved closer to Yuugi. "When that geyser erupted, it let out a lot of evil spirits. I had to pacify them all, and it broke that agreement. I'm free to do this, sending people to deal with this, okay?"

"Huh." Yuugi rubbed the back of her neck, giving a slight grimace. "Really? They're pouring out?"

[Suika:] "Been so for a while you drunk bastard. Have things really been that bad that you haven't been able to do anything?"

"Well, we've been guarding this place. People need to feel safe in order to live out their lives and party, you know? The strong have an obligation to help the weaker sleep better at night."

[Nitori:] "And as a oni, you like to party."

I think I'm liking this Yuugi. She's strong, but she doesn't seem like a bully like Yuka kind of acts like. I mean, it's one thing for a physically invincible person to exist, but another for them to be jerks about it. I just wasn't getting that bully vibe from this oni, and I've dealt with bullies before. I wonder if oni being more accepted and romanticized in our society affected them, because oni are supposed to be horrible monsters. Huh. Thoughts for another time, I suppose.

"Hey, setting that aside," Yuugi furrowed her brow as she stared at Reimu. "Why are you with this human?"

[Suika:] "Cause she beat me in a fight. That's the only reason."

"The only reason?"

[Suika:] "And I like hanging out at her shrine. And eating her food. And drinking her alcohol."

Reimu grunted. "I am so glad you moved out."

Suika, Reimu, please. Not the time for you comedy act.

[Aya:] "Look, whatever past aside, we do have a goal that is attached to the evil spirits, and we have to, uh, investigate them."

Yuugi was taking another sip, forgetting what was being said by the orb. "Really then? This red white beat down Suika? This teeny human?" Yuugi's eyes began to show interest as she stared at the miko in red. "If anyone can beat a deva..."

Ah boy it's boss time.

[Nitori:] "Hey remember, beat an oni, you have their respect for life."

[Patchouli:] "And it's obvious that the civilians and the soldiers here respect this oni."

"Right." I sighed. "So, the usual. Beat the respect out of them by taking on their strongest."

Yuugi cocked her head, taking the time to decide something. "You know what? Fine. You've proven some strength by getting here, but I wanna test you further. Tell you what - one of you challenges me, and I'll give you free reign to do what you wanna do down here."

[Remilia:] "Sounds like a good deal. All right, so who's gonna-"

"May I?"

Sanae?

The miko in blue stepped forward, determination on her face. "Miss Yuugi? Reimu can lay claim to the fact that she beat an oni, a deva. That's an accomplishment I can't say I've done, and I live on the mountain." The shrine maiden pointed at Yuugi. "I'll challenge you. The Moriya Shrine should at least meet the accomplishments of the Hakurei Shrine. Otherwise I have no right to declare myself a rival of hers or try to take away her worshipers!"

"I'd rather you don't take my worshipers at all and just stick to gathering tengu faith."

Yuugi looked like she was about to say something, but paused upon staring at Sanae. Then this weird smile crept on the oni's face. "...You know what? This might be fun. Been a while since I've faced off against a god."

What?!

Sanae blinked, before giving a nervous smile and shaking her hands in front of her. "Ah, no. No. I uh, I'm descended from a god. But I'm not a god."

Yuugi smirked. "I know a god when I see one. And I'm not talking 'part-god' either."

It looked like Sanae froze up for a while - she was just perfectly still.

"...Sanae, is there something you're not telling us?"

She shook her head. "Ah, no. I... I'm not..." Sanae stood there dumbfounded, as Yuugi motioned for us to follow her. The guards opened the doors on the other side of the courtyard, letting us into the city proper.

It was then that we noticed another care package. That certainly wasn't there when we first entered the courtyard. I called it out, and our group opened it up before we followed the guards into the city. More ammo to replenish what Reisen and Chiyuri lost, more flash bangs (we used them all up), water, medical supplies and extra dolls to, again, replenish what we lost. I am so glad I have an ally in the future. The note, however, was a simple index card. It was still Asahina's writing, but it read one word - "Mima."

"Me?" The ghost frowned. "What do I have to do with anything?"

"Maybe if I beat you down, more supplies will be on the way?"

Mima glared at Reimu. "I have no problem going right now. You and me."

"I'd rather we didn't." Reimu shrugged as she made her way to the open door. "Waste of energy." The ghost tightly gripped her staff, like she was strangling it.

I'd tell Reimu to knock it off, but these two had been going at it for years. I'm just an outsider to their long-running grudge.

"Can you two please stop this?" That was Sakuya. She didn't care about what I was thinking. The maid received a glare from the miko and the ghost, to which Sakuya returned.

As for the city... Wow. It was very Japanese. Red hanging lanterns, and, yeah, upon closer inspection, the buildings did look like they were from the Edo period, much like how the Human Village was. In fact, it looked like the human village, but darker. By that I mean the color scheme and of course the lighting; you know, with it being underground and all. The area we opened up into appeared to be a large open marketplace, but unlike the human village, this was strictly youkai. Youkai everywhere. Horns, wings, fangs, some looking like creatures, while most with human characteristics. As soon as we stepped out of the entry courtyard, we got everyone's attention. Their shopping, eating, whatever they were doing, they stopped and were watching us.

"You told me you were a god when you faced me," said a scowling Reimu as she caught up to Sanae, who had her arms crossed and an unsure look on her face. "When you came to demand my shrine from me."

"That was bravado!" Sanae wasn't able to shake the nervousness from her. "I was trying to intimidate you!"

Really, Sanae?! Really?! You went around telling people you were a god?! I guess being able to publicly show off her powers went to her head a bit. "But what is this oni saying, Sanae? Are you-"

Reimu let out a single chuckle as she cut me off. "Well, looks like it's gonna bite you in the ass."

All the murmurs around us were beginning to pick up. I was hearing things like "Are those humans?" and "It's been a while since I've had human!"

Can we not do this? I mean, are we going to be slaughtered by all these youkai? I put my hand on Sanae's arm, turning her to me. "Sanae, are you?" I searched her eyes, and she obviously didn't know.

"I'm not a god! At least..." She blinked, and I could see she was considering the possibility. "Right? I mean, I can't be, right?"

"If it was possible, then how?"

Sanae pursed her lips. "Ah, well, I've been the one gathering faith for Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako. I've heard that-"

"What, that since you gathered faith, some of it attached to you?"

She simply nodded. I had to let out an exasperated sigh, because that makes it three. Haruhi, Sasaki, and now Sanae.

[Patchouli:] "Certainly possible. Not unheard of for human prophets themselves to ascend due to the faith they gain for their god. That's kind of how sainthood works for the Christian faith. One miracle alive, and two attributed after death. People put a lot of faith into certain people because of the work they do for their god, and it can put them on a pedestal."

[Yuyuko:] "So you're thinking it happened with Sanae there?"

[Patchouli:] "As I said, a possibility. Could also be possible that due to the god blood in her, she was more sensitive to it."

During that, I noticed that group of youkai began to move closer to us, but stopped when Yuugi gave them a death glare. "No." Was all she said, and they retreated behind some stalls.

Yuugi really does have the respect of everyone here. So it looks like we really need to do this. One of us has to challenge her. I looked to the miko in blue again. She still didn't know how to deal with this information. I hope you can do this, Sanae. Otherwise we might be torn apart and served as yakitori. It was like Eirin said, and I'd rather we deal with one youkai than a city full of them.

Seriously, this city was a reflection of the human village, but just with youkai. I was also able to get a better look at the Palace of the Earth Spirits, sitting up on a hill in the middle. It was a large Gothic structure, reminding me of a cathedral, and looked out of place compared to all the Edo buildings surrounding it. It felt so ominous, so intimidating, which I guess was the intention.

Still, first, someone has to deal with Yuugi. Otherwise we'll never make it there. Hope you know what you're doing, Sanae.

"So how you wanna do this?"

Sanae responded by merely holding out a spell card.

The oni nodded. "Okay, okay, I can do that. Not a problem. So... this is how this fight is going to go down, goddess." Yuugi reached a stand, and grabbed a bottle of sake, pouring its contents onto her sakazaki. "All you have to do to win is make me spill even just a single drop of my sake before I can drink it all, and I will yield to you." The oni's smile dropped. "Don't... and uh..." Yuugi's eyes went youkai, glowing a deep, crimson red. "We are kinda running out of food down here. Your little group will solve that problem in an instant."

[Nitori:] "Oh I am really glad I'm not down there!"

You better know what you're doing, Sanae! The crowd around us started to get giddy with excitement. Dammit, I just got out of a situation where youkai wanted to tear me apart. Don't tell me I simply traded that for this!

Youmu simply buried her face in her hands and let out a grunt of frustration. I feel you, Youmu.

"Why am I always surrounded by people like this in my life?" snarked Reimu.

What, people who seemingly make life difficult, or just people wanting to eat you in general? Because I can empathize with you on the former, not the latter. You know, despite how many times I've experienced the latter.

"But I'm a celestial," remarked Tenshi. "My body is poison for youkai."

"You'd be surprised how desperate a hungry youkai is then, celestial." Yuugi then stepped to the center of the market, expecting Sanae to do the same. "Hey, we gonna do this or what?"

"Yeah, gee, no pressure here." Sanae rolled her eyes. "I'm told I actually achieved godhood and then everyone's lives here are on my shoulder. No biggie."

"Sanae."

She turned to me. Everyone in our group could see the lack of confidence on her. "Hmm?"

"Whatever happens, I did consider you a friend in middle school. And none of us could have even reached this point if we didn't work together." I gave an unsure nod, despite my best efforts not to lead on how scared I was over this situation. "You got this, god or not. We wouldn't be here without you, and I mean that."

She stared at me for a bit, before giving a nod too, and a small smile. "Thank you." She then turned and made her way to her oni opponent.

"Do you really think she has this?" Koizumi had made his way next to me, and asked that in a quiet voice.

I really wanted to answer in the positive, but I'd just be lying to myself. So instead I lied to him. "...I think so."

He responded with a light "Hmm," and a nod. He looked around, and I could see genuine worry on his face. "We just-"

"I know."

"It wouldn't be fair if-"

"I know."

The size difference was on display. Yuugi just towered over Sanae, making Yuugi seem like a big sister and Sanae, who was a grown woman, look like an elementary schooler in comparison. The crowd of youkai surrounding the marketplace just kept a constant buzz of conversation, like this was some prelude to a combat sport. Which I suppose was true.

Yuugi grinned at Sanae. "So, goddess, you ready?" The oni cocked her head. "So, Moriya shrine? Where's that?"

"Near the summit of the mountain."

Yuugi's smile faltered a bit, and the crowd murmured again. "...The top of my mountain? The mountain of the four devas?"

Uh oh. This gonna be a problem?

Sanae gave a quick bow. "Ah, sorry. When we moved, I was told the top of the mountain was empty. Yakumo helped us with the location."

"So that makes you a mountain girl."

Sanae looked back to us, confused. "Ah, yes. I guess?"

Yuugi grinned again. "That means you're used to living in tough conditions. Everything I hear or learn about you makes me like you more!"

I suppose that's true. After all, Sanae admitted that she can hunt on her own now.

"Barriers up! This is gonna get messy!"

On command, some of the guards who were still with us raised their hands, and just like how Patchouli would do, a barrier formed around the empty marketplace.

The two rose in the air, so I guess flight was on inside the city. "Now then, goddess! Dance with me!"

Yuugi swept her free hand, causing orbs to appear around her, and they acted as turrets, shooting spiraling spread shots. Such standard shots were easily weaved through by Sanae, who kept her eyes on the oni. The miko, however, didn't shoot.

The way Yuugi was holding her sakazaki was slightly behind her, like she was delivering a pizza box. Right hand slightly above her shoulder.

Reimu was intently staring at what was transpiring, her face neutral.

Making sure I was out of Koizumi's earshot, I asked the miko in red: "You think she has a real chance?"

Reimu's jaw jutted a bit. "Bit too early to tell, but at least she didn't make the rookie mistake of going right after the sakazaki."

"How would that be a rookie mistake?"

"You don't immediately agree and play into a youkai's game." Reimu tilted her head towards me while still keeping her eyes on the fight. "Usually they have it set up to their advantage, and it's your smarts that'll get you the win. You don't do something stupid like instantly accepting a swimming contest against a kappa when you know it's a kappa." She gave me a nod. "I've told you before, Kyon-"

"Find their weakness, cripple them, and even the playing field." Yeah, as much as I find myself liking the kappa of Gensokyo due to Nitori, I don't think I'd readily accept a swimming match against one of them either. You know, besides it being in their favored environment and the fact that they drown people.

"Exactly. I wouldn't have charged for the oni either." Reimu's body tensed as a danmaku shot came a little too close to Sanae, but it missed. "Never, under any circumstance, ever do you go on their terms. When I get in those situations, yeah, even I panic, because I know."

[SPELL CARD: SHACKLES SIGN "SHACKLES A CRIMINAL CAN'T REMOVE"]

What kind of name is that? Six large blue slow moving rings appeared around Yuugi, spreading out, but they were some sort of solid danmaku - Sanae's shots were breaking them up. Okay, what's the meaning behind this one? After the six rings left, the oni produced another ring, which slowly moved towards Sanae and was avoidable. Then, Yuugi began to rain danmaku everywhere... except in front of her, the path of the large blue rings. Oh okay I get it. It's a psuedo-containment. Keep the opponent right in front of you. Also went with the shackles theme - a perfect name for a containment.

This was actually quite a weak spell card, it seemed. Way too many openings. I say that, but even though some of the danmaku Sanae was shooting was landing on Yuugi, the oni didn't even seem phased by it. She didn't even flinch from any of the shots.

Sanae wasn't doing much. She only started shooting against the rings to give her breathing space, and like I said, the shots that hit Yuugi were by pure chance.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Reimu blinked, furrowing her brow. "How Yuugi moves?"

"Yeah, she's moving all over the place, ze."

Youmu squinted at the oni. "What am I looking for?"

Reimu slightly lifted her gohei to the fight. "Watch closer."

I didn't understand what Reimu was implying, until my eyes were drawn to the sakazaki. The level had not moved. What I mean by that, is that despite Yuugi's movements, her waving, flying, and moving her body around, her hand kept the dish perfectly still and level, even when getting hit.

Upon seeing that, understanding that, I felt like I got punched in the gut. Some part of me had taken one look at Yuugi and assumed she'd be some lumbering stereotype.

"What control..." Sakuya was wide eyed. "She'd make a great servant if she held up dishes or trays."

Koizumi lowered his head a bit. "No wonder Miss Sanae didn't attack right away. I was wondering about that."

"Yeah." Marisa crossed her arms. "I would have attacked the first chance I saw the dish move, ze."

"Should, uh," Mokou was gritting her teeth. "Should we start worryin'?"

"You're not taking this seriously, goddess! I told you to make me spill my sake!"

That was right - Sanae wasn't aiming for the sakazaki, just the rings. The shots that broke through the rings were some of the ones that had hit Yuugi, but Sanae wasn't doing anything.

Yuugi paused, staring at the miko, before raising her sakazaki to her lips-

[SPELL CARD: OMIKUJI "RANDOM OMIKUJI BARRAGE"]

Sanae's launcher attack, aimed right at the sakazaki.

It was Sanae's best chance - make the sake spill while it was at its fullest, and while the liquid was moving in the dish under the power of the wielder. If Yuugi took any sips, it would be that much harder to make it spill. After giving it thought, yeah, I understood the logic behind Reimu and Sanae there. The best chance for any liquid to spill was when it was in a full container.

Yuugi was again grinning as she moved out of the way of the incoming omikuji shots. "Huh. Thought I was gonna be disappointed in you, but you did the smart thing there."

Sanae gave a small smile in return - one of disappointment. "Ah, it was my best shot."

"You'll have more. Just with less liquid." After taking a small sip, Yuugi went back to holding the dish perfectly still, moving out of the way of more shots from Sanae.

Just like earlier, Yuugi swept her hand, and orbs appeared. This time, they shot lasers all over the place. Geez! That's not a spell card?!

"Kyon..."

I looked to Chiyuri. "What?"

She was in deep thought again. "...Sanae's ability... what was it?"

"Well, when she was in our world, she could pray for weather changes, according to the reports on her." I've never seen it myself, so all I had to go on was accounts on her.

Chiyuri slowly nodded, and looked to me, as if expecting an answer for a rhetorical question. "And what kind of shrine maiden was she?"

"A wind priestess-" I caught myself, realizing what this had to mean. Well, what it could mean. I myself never saw a human become a god, so this was obviously a new experience for me. But logic in this illogical world was telling me that this had to be what had happened. If she was able to be a wind priestess as a human, then as a god... "Sanae! You're a wind priestess! If you're a god, then you should have that ability!" Again, if logical progression applied.

Sanae slightly paused, giving me a quick look, before returning her attention to the oni. Waving around her onusa around with quick motions, I could see Sanae's lips moving as she weaved through the shots.

"Hey, back off!"

I turned my head, as several of the crowd had made a move towards our group. Sakuya and Youmu had brandished their blades to defend us.

"NOW CUT THAT OUT!"

The shots stopped, and the crowd fell silent. Yuugi was glaring at the youkai that caused the commotion. "Time out." The oni set the sakazaki on a stall, and made her way to us. She bowed. "I apologize for the behavior of these guys who'll be missing teeth soon." She then made her way to the rowdy youkai, who were scared so much they couldn't move.

Yuugi kept her word - she knocked out their teeth. And I think shattered their jaws too. The oni stood over them, cracking her knuckles and obviously peeved. "Anybody else? If you're gonna jump the gun before anything's decided, then see me right now."

Nobody answered her. And again I found myself liking this oni. After a few moments of silence, the oni once again made her way to us, bowed her head and apologized, before returning to her sakazaki. She paused upon reaching it, looking back to Sanae. "You know, if you knocked it out right when I was busy, I would have accepted it."

Sanae shook her head. "You called for time out."

Are there time outs in danmaku? Not really.

Yuugi stared at her, before breaking out into an even wider grin than before. "Ah, geez. If I were a man, I'd have a massive hard on for you right now." She picked up the sakazaki. "You're so much fun!"

You know, I doubt I could ever get away saying something like that to someone I'd face in danmaku, if I ever liberally faced people in danmaku.

"Guys..." Reimu gave a small smirk. "Sanae didn't stop."

What she meant by that was that Sanae didn't stop with her motions. With a thrust of her arm, and pointing her onusa at the oni, the miko let out a small noise.

I felt it. The cold winter wind coming sweeping through our group and the crowd, strong enough to make the stalls shudder. Upon seeing the stalls move, the oni positioned her body so that the sakazaki wouldn't be hit by the wind. It really was a strong gust - the oni's hair flowing nearly sideways.

Sanae did that?! She told me it took a long time to perform such things.

Sanae herself looked surprised over what just happened. "You've... you're kidding me. But that... I'm a..."

A wind god.

"Wind god, eh?" Yuugi grinned. "Huh. Shouldn't have relied on liquid then. Then I got just the spell card for you!"

[SPELL CARD: FEAT OF STRENGTH "WIND BLOWING DOWN FROM MT. OOE"]

Oh you are cheeky. Yuugi pointed to her upper right, and like some torrential downpour, large danmaku orbs rained down from where she pointed. She did this to the other side, and the same thing happened. She kept alternating, trying to get Sanae in a crossfire.

Sanae didn't stop with her motions, swinging around her onusa while continuing to silently say things. What she was doing was praying.

"I see..." That was Yuka, who had remained in a silent rage ever since she went up against Yuugi. "So she doesn't command the wind with her body - she has to pray and ask it."

[Yukari:] "You're exactly correct. She has to ask the winds, and the winds will oblige."

Every now and then, strong gusts of wind would come through, strong enough to cause the danmaku to veer off course. Sanae's target was still the sakazaki, however. Yuugi was the one who had to reposition her body for the oncoming gusts.

The spell card over, Yuugi began firing rather sporadic spread shots, but they began to ricochet as well off the stalls.

[SPELL CARD: MIRACLE "MID-DAY SUPERNOVA"]

The sparks of danmaku that rained down. This was during a gust of wind, and the sparks appeared above Yuugi. The oni leapt back, still keeping her body in position to block the wind while trying not to get hit - not that it appeared to matter. Yuugi kept shrugging off anything that came into contact with her body.

"You're troublesome, aren't you? I thought I'd be getting more sips in, but you..." Yuugi chuckled. "Massive! Massive hard on!"

Sanae didn't have time for banter - she was busy setting up prayers for her next gust.

"Isn't this kind of limited?" Tenshi had her arms crossed, and she frowned. "I mean, there can't be that much wind down here, right?"

[Eirin:] "Besides geothermal pressuring air? Not really."

[Yuyuko:] "That puts her at a severe disadvantage, even though she's making the most of it."

[Suika:] "I know! She's really making Yuugi go into defense for her sake!"

I looked to the group. "Isn't there any-" My eyes had landed right on our ghost companion, and I paused, before realizing it. ...Mima! "Tenshi!"

"Huh?"

"Bring out Mima's weather!"

"Wait what?" The ghost was lost on what that meant.

The celestial blinked, before breaking into a smile. She brought out the sword of Hisou, and several seconds later, forming above the city, was the Super Cell. The crowd of youkai started to get into an uproar, as something like this underground had to be unheard of.

I mean who the hell expects tornado weather when they're over two kilometers underground?

[Yukari:] "There you go, Sanae. Now you have more to work with."

Is this why you had Mima join us? If that was your plan, then really smart play, Yukari!

The crowd and the group had to seek solace against the actual buildings as it was way too gusty out in the open. Sanae was just blasting away with the weather, and all the stalls were rolling or sliding away.

Sanae, if you don't win this, these youkai are going to take their time with us for messing up their marketplace.

Yuugi was grunting, surprised by this sudden change in weather, and doing all she could against the super-powerful gusts that were coming right for her. I mean, she was taking it like it was nothing - she just had to protect her sakazaki from spilling. Sanae was more frequent with the gusts, changing direction every so often in her attempts to get to the sake dish.

"Man this ain't even fair, ze! Giving a wind god tornado weather to play with?!"

[SPELL CARD: FOUR DEVAS ARCANUM "KNOCK OUT IN THREE STEPS"]

Yuugi tensed her body, sharply drawing in breath. The air was visibly going towards her, and a bloom of danmaku surrounded her - then another - then another, this last bloom to where Sanae was, and she had little room. Each waves of danmaku came with a step Yuugi made in the air. The first and third waves then spread out, with the second stalling before moving as well. Yuugi did this again, the first wave tighter, the second one with lots of holes, and the third... We lost sight of what went on - the danmaku was that big as it swallowed up both Sanae and Yuugi. I didn't know if she got hit or what, but when the spread shots moved, I could see Sanae zig zagging in the second wave. This was a two phase spell card, the first set like that, and the second, then back to the first. Each wave was actually fighting against the gusts, holding them at bay.

The worst part was that in between each phase, Yuugi took the time to take a sip. This was going to end soon.

[Suika:] "Sanae! She's stationary!"

The miko was moving through the shots, trying to find the best place to send the winds, but to no avail. Sanae kept the wind going, as she was keeping her eyes on Yuugi's actions within the center of the card. The oni took a sip, and once again held it behind her. She smirked.

"There's got to be some sort of opening!" Danmaku isn't working, and the wind was neutralized! Sanae has to be able to do something!

Sanae quickly turned her head to me. "'Opening'?" She appeared to get an idea, and brought out a spell card.

"Ah, looks like it's going to be my win." Yuugi grinned with narrow eyes during a phase where there was no danmaku immediately around her. " It was fun while-"

Sanae pressed a button on the Stealth device she had, and she disappeared.

[SPELL CARD: SEA OPENING "MOSES' MIRACLE"]

And right from above Yuugi, she dropped, the barrier absorbing the shots, while she was using her onusa to outright smack the sakazaki. It clattered to the ground.

Sanae can teleport too?! That's what this was. She disappeared, and landed on the opponent (in this case behind them) with a hit that did some 'splash' of danmaku, like water. The barrier afforded by the Stealth device allowed her to plow through the danmaku waves.

"Eh?!" Yuugi's eyes widened, her hand still in the pose she had when she was holding the dish. She was completely surprised by that - so surprised that her smile didn't even go away. The oni stared down, watching the sakazaki do that little dish roll that dishes do when hitting the ground upside down. You know what I'm talking about.

The crowd went silent, but our group was elated, giving out praises for the new god of the wind. Speaking of, Sanae held that pose of when she hit the dish, her right arm near the ground - she put so much force into that hit.

"Okay, Sanae, stop being dramatic."

Sanae chuckled as she stood up. "Ah, maybe, but was it as cool looking as I hoped it was?"

Very. Though points deducted for holding the pose for too long. Yuugi was still staring down at her dish, so Sanae left the oni, making her way to us. Tenshi had already ended the Super Cell, and the underground returned to normal.

The miko in blue was wearing a nervous smile again, opening and closing her left hand. "Ah... yeah."

"So how's it feel to be a god, ze?"

"...Not too much different?" She made a fist. "I just don't feel too different. I'm just me, but that was very quick. It... stuff like that takes weeks. Took weeks. And now it was like I had to simply ask the wind to do what I wanted." Sanae gave Tenshi a nod. "Ah, thanks for the Super Cell. I was having trouble finding wind down here."

"Hey, it was Kyon's idea."

Before Sanae could thank me, I slightly raised my hands. "Don't thank me, thank Asahina."

"So that's what that note was!" exclaimed Reisen. "I have to say, having her leave us messages almost feels like cheating."

"Not really. The weakest part of Yuugi was the sake. Danmaku was bouncing off her, so the only way to put her on her heels was to make the sake move, or threaten it." Reimu had her arms crossed and was slowly nodding. "Strong winds will move water, so yeah, that was the major advantage you had." The miko in red frowned at the miko in blue. "But if you think that this means I'm going to start worshiping you or something, you're out of your damn mind."

Sanae laughed at this. "Ah, no..." Her eyes widened. "Wait a second, that's right. I mean, if I really am a full god now-"

[Yukari:] "A living god. You're a living god."

[Remilia:] "Is there a difference? I'm not clear on the difference between a god and a 'living god'."

[Yukari:] "A living god is someone who attained deity status while still living their human lives. Sanae here is by all means still human, who has the abilities of a minor god. The difference is that she can lose all her faith that gives her power, but can still live as a human. If she was a true god like her ancestor Suwako, and lost all her faith, she'd disappear. But not like this. Of course, there are complications - as she still has a human body, she has limitations to her power."

Sanae was nodding, following this. "But it means I can't disappear. That's what Lady Suwako and Lady Kanako were afraid of the most."

[Patchouli:] "Sounds like a pretty good trade-off to me. So I assume, when her human body expires, she'll ascend to a true god?"

[Yukari:] "Something like that, Miss Knowledge. More specifically, divine spirit. But only if she maintains the faith that gives her power."

Sanae and I met eyes, and I couldn't help but smile. One of my classmates was now a bona fide god. Again, what can I say about this? What would be appropriate to say?

A meager high five wouldn't have sufficed. Just saying.

"Guys?" Mokou lit herself up as she angrily glanced around.

The crowd was, to put it lightly, pissed off that Yuugi lost. Some were even saying that we outright cheated by using the Super Cell.

"You had to get outside help to even beat Yuugi in a one on one fight!" That was Goeiki, who had recovered from his whooping earlier. He brandished his katana at us. "You think you can come in and-"

Yuugi was right behind him, giving him a death glare. He immediately shut up, as if sensing her, and when he turned, she backhanded him, sending him flying to where the stalls had rolled/slid to. Crunched wood flew everywhere, as well as whatever products they contained.

The oni dusted off herself, before putting her hands on her hips. "Well, you got me, fair and square."

"But what about their interfer-"

Yuugi raised a closed fist in the direction of where that voice came from. "It was because of you idiots that it had to be allowed in! You interfered, so they had to be allowed one of their own! It was only fair!" She cracked her knuckles, looking over the crowd. "Now, you know the deal. Let them pass. Anyone who gives them trouble answers to me, got it?!"

Okay, I've decided it. I really do like this oni. Forceful, honorable, and she just exuded strength.

The crowd continued to linger for a moment, before they began to disperse, going to clean up the marketplace. Yuugi turned back to us, grinning. "Ah, don't worry about them any more. And like I said, any of them gives you crap, I'll stomp a mudhole in them, 'kay?"

[Suika:] "Have fun with them?"

"Oh, a blast! The goddess appeared to channel a power because of our fight!"

"My name's Sanae." The miko gave a bow to the oni. "Sanae Kochiya, descendant of the great Suwako Moriya."

Yuugi's eyes widened a bit. "Oh, that Moriya? I knew that name sounded familiar!"

"You knew her?"

"Only by name. She ruled quite a few lands back in the day, if I recall." Yuugi put her arm around Sanae, the oni beaming. "So, goddess, how 'bout you and I drink it up? Our fight got me really thirsty!"

But you were drinking during the damn fight! Your objective in the fight was drinking in the first place, which you were doing pretty well I might add!

Sanae acted like she got shocked by electricity. "Ah! No! Sorry! I, uh, I don't hold alcohol that well!"

Yuugi's smile dropped, looking confused. "Eh? What? A god that doesn't drink? Did everything topside turn wussy on me since I was gone?" She looked to the ceiling of the underground. "Looks like I'll have to back go up there and remind the world how things should be; how hard everyone needs to party!"

"Please don't," said Reimu quickly. "Gensokyo can barely handle one oni."

Even though she lives in Heaven now?

"At least let me treat you to something!" She spread out her free arm. "All of you!" She then let her arms slowly lower. "Ah... even though we really are running out of food. I wasn't lying about that." Yuugi made her way to her sakazaki, and picked it up, before coming back to us. "Ah, look. If things were different, I really would invite you to a feast, and not to be the main course. You already proved your strength to everyone here. Only so much food and money to be going around in this city now that it's cut off. A few people are starving."

"So it's that bad?"

"Not that bad. But it's getting there. It's more like, people are starting to starve." She scratched her head. "Yeah, that's more like it. We've been lucky so far, but, man, those Altered got the last of our farms this past month."

"By the way Parsee was saying, it-"

Yuugi frowned. "Wait, the hashihime? You listened to her?"

I paused. "Uhm, were we not supposed to?"

"She's so negative, so you tell me." Yuugi looked disappointed in us for several seconds.

I instantly felt like going all the way back to the bridge and giving Parsee a smack for making me worry so much.

You know, if there weren't so many enemies outside the gate, I think I would have actually done that.

[Yukari:] "So would you be above taking aid?"

That's... awfully nice of you to do for a city that banned you from it.

Yuugi shook her head. "Hey, not at all. I don't want to see the people in my city go hungry, you know?"

[Yukari:] "Right now, my powers are limited, so I can't provide anything until we deal with the ones behind all this. Once this is over, I think we can come to an agreement."

Yuugi's face went serious. "Right, right. So, what do you have in mind for all of these Altered?"

[Patchouli:] "Danmaku destroys the influence, so use that."

"The over world game?"

[Patchouli:] "Yes. We still don't fully understand why it affects such things, but it is the solution."

Yuugi gave a slow nod, before letting out a whistle. Out of the wooden heap crawled Goeiki, who slowly made his way to us. He was averting his eyes. "Yes ma'am?"

"Tell the guards to use danmaku. It's what got our guests through the Altered hoard outside."

Goeiki looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. He nodded and went back to the gate.

When he was out of earshot, Yuugi returned her attention to us. "So what do you propose, Yakumo?"

[Yukari:] "You need to let the group have access to the Palace of the Earth Spirits. The one behind this might be there."

The oni let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh, them? Uh, okay." Her smile faltered. "I can get you guys there, but uh, getting through it is on you."

[Yukari:] "That's all I ask."

"Might be too much to ask." Yuugi stared up at the Gothic architecture. "Hope you guys know what you're doing, messing with the Komeijis. They technically run the city, y'know."

By the way, all this time, Yuugi still had her arm around Sanae's shoulder. The hapless miko couldn't really get away from the strength of the oni. Whenever Yuugi moved, so did Sanae, like a rag doll. The poor girl looked like she wanted to cry. I'm glad I'm not you. Sanae's face was even partially pressed up against... well... I'll just say that Sanae knew how I felt at times. Actually, now I'm on the fence on whether I'm glad I'm not you... Such a debacle!

...Beach balls...

"Yeah, I'll get you there." Yuugi looked down to Sanae. "Well, it's lunch time. How 'bout I treat you all to something?"

I could see Reimu's eyes sparkle. "You really are the kindest oni I've come across."

[Suika:] "Hey!"

Oh, sure, now you sing her praises!

Ramen, with some sort of boar meat and a boiled egg. It was spicy, too. It was pretty damn good, despite the spice. It was much more than I would have usually put up with, but I was hungry, and it was free. It was just so rustic, too. Everything about it felt like this should have come from one of the top class ramen shops in all of Japan.

Tenshi was in literal tears over the taste. "I don't care if I get stuck down here as long as I can eat this every day!"

"Damn tasty!" Mokou finished slurping up her bowl, letting out a satisfied sigh. "Better than anything at the village!"

"I am definitely getting the recipe for this." Youmu was savoring the taste, trying to pin it all down. "Spinach? White pepper? Hmm..."

"I have to say, Miss Yuugi," Of course that was Koizumi with his usual politeness. He was looking behind us at the marketplace, as it was already put back together and youkai were going back to their routines (even though we had a few gawkers). "Something to do with Former Hell l isn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Well, technically, this isn't actually Former Hell. You really need to go down a few levels for that. Anyway," Yuugi took a sip from her sakazaki. "We made this place our paradise. Lotta humans banished youkai down here because they thought this is where we belonged. 'Send them back to Hell' and all that bull crap. We made the most of our situation, and we're thriving."

[Suika:] "Yeah I pretty much said the exact same thing to them earlier."

Yuugi turned her head. "And after all, we're-"

Yuka was still glaring at her.

Yuugi took a long sip, and stood up from her seat. "If you wanna go again, I'll sate your lust for battle."

Please don't. I don't have the vials to spare for broken hands.

"My pride won't allow this, oni."

"Gotta swallow your pride sometimes, flower master."

Yuka's eyes went to the person still in Yuugi's grasp. "She isn't involved though."

"Oh!" Yuugi finally released Sanae. "Sorry 'bout that."

The living goddess rubbed her arm, while blushing a deep red. She looked over to Reimu for a moment, before: "You know what? You're totally right. Fighting an oni isn't worth it."

"Told you."

I returned my attention to my bowl, finishing up my lunch. Belly full of hot food, away from the massive fight we just had, and I felt some sort of relief that I thought I lost since fighting Clownpiece.

Alternate universes, time traveling, other people setting things up. In reality, I've dealt with this stuff before, and constantly too. I had gotten a little lost in what was being said, but I understood it too, since I had lived it. I placed my elbows on the stall, leaning on it, my mind going in a million different places at once. So it wasn't even our Clownpiece, as she's still in our Hell. Just one from their own universe. Sadly, Suou was right - we were invaded. And the different memories? I've somewhat experienced that before in that endless summer. We were being countered by a strong being, as that barrier up top and the prevention of the teleportation outside the city showed us. And Nagato. Nagato was still alive, somewhere in this direction. Reimu was right. Nagato left clues for me. Dumb me, trying to play catch up with everyone around him.

Nagato... I'm going to save you, no matter what. I made you a promise. I promised I would always come back for you. I would stand up to the gods themselves to protect you. I even didn't have any qualms about taking down her race if they deleted her. Well... that was the threat. I'd rather not go through with it, but to protect her? I'd gladly throw them all away to keep Nagato with us. Recreating the world as I saw fit so she...

...

I lifted up my head, my blood running cold.

...Recreating the world to how I want it...

This isn't some fiction. The world can and has been rewritten before. I've witnessed this with my own eyes.

I even know some people who can do it.

I didn't lose anybody...

Yukari stared down at the chess set, wanting to express her joy, but she kept herself composed. When teleporting wasn't working at the gate, she was sure they were going to lose somebody to that horde. It was just too chaotic, and she was sure that Kyon was feeling the same way. He struggled so hard to keep the girls up and fighting - she could see the determination on his face as he went around.

The demon sat back in her chair, lost in thought. The others were still going over the Gensokyo Chronicle, so they were busy with that, leaving Yakumo to think. Eirin especially was taking her time learning about this revelation - the Princess was retelling all the differences she remembered. Seems that Eirin hasn't had any of those shadow memories. Interesting. Yukari thought for a second that intellect might be a factor, but...

The Professor certainly remembers it. In fact, she might have the most clear memories besides Akyuu.

That's not important right now. What was important was the next step of the enemy. They certainly tried to get them killed by halting their progress at the gates, but that failed. She stared at the black pawn that was off the board, before gazing at the rest of the pieces. Alternate Clownpiece was going to try again. She knew it. But if I focus on her, I might not see the next move.

...Clownpiece failed. The gate stop failed...

Yukari frowned, a small thought creeping into her consciousness. Sun Tzu's teachings were ringing in her ears, with one quote in particular standing out.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

Hecatia was a lot like her, and she had far more experience; being around since the first human empire kind of gives you such an advantage.

Again though, this isn't even my Hecatia. She may share some similarities, but I don't really know this enemy, do I? It could either be good or bad, the differences between them. Maybe this one isn't as smart, or powerful, or perhaps the reverse is true.

Things were going relatively well, but that's what was making Yukari worried. Things were appearing to go too well.

A previous thought came back, of perhaps the other side being confident in their abilities at the endgame. If that's the case, then it may not matter that I'm keeping everyone alive. They might end up getting wiped at the end.

During the next break, Yukari decided to take another trip to the past to set up a few things. That was what she was doing every now and then, especially since they weren't being watched.

They haven't been watching in a while either. That's worrying.

Yukari couldn't shake something either - a nagging doubt that she had made a mistake. Maybe even several. Having too many wins in a row against someone like Hecatia didn't feel right.

Yukari stared at the black king, the dread building in her body, but a plan beginning to form. The dread was still there, but only because a risky plan had popped into her head.

...Maybe... just maybe...

"My lady, we need to rethink our strategy."

A group was in the darkened club room, as the lights were still out. Clownpiece stood at the table, looking to the head, where her master sat in the shadows. The red sky shone from behind her through the windows, casting even more darkness into the room via her silhouette.

The one talking wasn't Clownpiece, though. It was another associate.

"...I'd like for you to face me. Can you please stop being dramatic and cease talking from the shadows?"

Says the Yama from the shadows.

"You will demand nothing of me."

"I keep telling you, Yama, that you need to calm down." Clownpiece frowned at her associate. "Master has everything under control."

The Yama curled her lips in annoyance at the fairy. "We may have encountered a crossover that's too powerful. This might be the one we were looking for, but they were able to hold you back until you retreated."

Master let out a little sigh. "She didn't retreat. I called her back."

"You know that every time we've done this, Kyon finds a way to survive. The last time we had to wipe this, he ended up being the last one alive against Jinwu there at the Scarlet Devil Mansion's party. And now?" Eiki Shiki stepped from the shadows herself to the edge of the light, her barely visible face awash with concern. "Now he's able to use a celestial weapon! Now he's able to defend himself! You've done your research. Someone like him being able to survive makes him a nuisance. But add in those weapons? He's a threat."

"You do understand The Agreement, right?"

"Yes, but not to the point where it's fruitless suicide!"

"Fruitless?" Master's friend, another god, snorted, before letting out a small chuckle. "How long have we been doing this, Eiki?"

"Lady Jun-"

"How long?"

"...Centuries."

Master straightened up in her chair. "Yes. Centuries. When I found you from your existence, and brought you into this, you partook in The Agreement. You understood it. You helped me draft it, after all. And now that we've found the most suitable crossover instance for our plan, you want to cut and run?"

"They're too powerful-"

"Because we made them powerful. This is still within our control. You are right. I will target Kyon for his threat level, but not any time sooner. When the proper time comes, he will be dealt with personally by me. He has no chance of survival."

"Wait... what?" Clownpiece frowned. "What do you mean we made them? Wasn't Kyon getting all this a fluke?"

Master shook her head. "Possibly, despite our efforts. Probably a residual effect of what we've been doing. Everything in Gensokyo is connected to Haruhi, since she has to be in control of whatever existence she's in. Everything feeds power to her. The stronger Gensokyo and everyone else is, the stronger her own power is. And her influences on him are the strongest."

So... even Kyon... Clownpiece blinked, unsure of what to make of this. She felt betrayed, and stupid, for not knowing this. "Why didn't you tell me this was a possibility?"

"We had to make sure."

"I thought-"

"What, that you screwed up or something?" asked the amanojaku, smirking. "Well you probably did, but-"

"Enough."

"Yes, enough." Eiki frowned. "Look, you made Kyon too powerful. Even by my estimates, after everything you've told me, he and that Yakumo are a legitimate threat to us."

"...Do you question my plans?"

"No. I question your sanity." Eiki looked to everyone in the room, her eyes pleading, wanting everyone to understand. "Every time. Every time, he finds a way to survive to the end, no matter what we've done, even when you get involved. He's a survivor, and now we find out he has celestial abilities! If they got this powerful, then this crossover can actually take us down! I will not take part in a suicide pact!"

"It's not a suicide pact. You wrote the damn thing."

"I know, and I didn't agree to this!" Eiki made a sweeping gesture towards the room where they had the portals. "I mean, I shudder to think how powerful their world's me is! I have to stress this - I did not agree to-"

"You did."

The Yama violently shook her head. "No! No! Not like this! They're too much of a threat! What you need to do is wipe them out now while you can!" Eiki pointed at the third god in the room. "Have her do what she did last time, and wipe out everything with a nuke again!"

"What are you gonna do? Go out there and do it yourself?"

"I just might have to. Someone has to be thinking clearly here." Eiki sighed, looking to everyone in the room. "You don't get it, do you?"

"Yes, we do get it," said Clownpiece. She felt frustration with this holier-than-thou Yama. "But that's just it, we've been doing this far longer than you have! You're the newbie here, y'know!"

The amanojaku standing on the ceiling grinned. "And what're you gonna do if their world's Eiki senses you and decides to do something? That'd be risky, right? You just said yourself that you're afraid."

"Oh, sure, you'd say it." The Yama turned to the infuriating girl. "That world's counterpart of yourself isn't even involved yet, barring that time she showed up outside Kyon's house four years ago and spoke to herself. We didn't even find out what that was all about."

Seija Kijin flicked her hair, grinning. "Relax, Eiki. That world's me is vastly inferior. I doubt she had the knowledge to do something worthwhile anyway. Besides, she didn't do anything. And we continued to watch Kyon for that summer - nothing else happened."

"Something happened. It caused him to get on some sort of drive to survive, despite us trying to break him by getting him to kill that data entity. He's actually been training himself. I mean, he took on and captured a taboo from Tenshi of all people! I don't like it. Before their Nagato became aware of Gensokyo and the powers it gave her, we've been able to closely follow on the Brigade's conversations. Ever since then, we've had to back off - Nagato has been able to detect Clownpiece somewhat."

Someone else in the room shifted in response to that name - the bespectacled girl.

"And we still don't know what happened with that upside down bed."

Master had begun to rub her forehead - she was getting a migraine from the Yama's lecture. "There was no need to watch the house. They were on vacation, and we have a finite amount of people here. You've been going on about this for the past four years. It's getting on my nerves, Eiki."

"It should. Someone has to take responsibility around here." The Yama pounded on her chest. "I'll have to go out there and end this now."

"We can't let you go out there. If you somehow meet with that world's Eiki, you risk a melding. That's the rules of the Haruhi world. And like you said, if this world is more powerful, then there is a chance the melding will let that Eiki take control after the melding. It's a risk we can't take."

"I'll risk it."

"You'll do no such thing."

The Yama turned to the door and began to walk out. "Watch me."

What happened next was almost instantaneous.

Eiki looked down, as she began coughing up blood, at the hand sticking out of her chest, the burning sensation as the arm became engulfed in fire. Choking noises came from the Yama.

Lady Hecatia Lapislazuli scowled at the Yama from behind her. "Like I told you, Eiki. You'll do no such thing. You are a part of The Agreement. And you remember what you agreed would happen if one of us broke it."

The Yama shook, her limbs going limp, but she still managed to choke out a few words. "...Please... ... L-listen... this... is... t-too... dangerous..."

"All you had to do was your part, and you would have gotten final judgement control over the multiverse. But you had to go and break The Agreement."

"H-Hecatia..."

"I'm sorry, Eiki. I really am. I can't risk anything. Not when we're so close after so long. We can finally have that power properly. I can become a perfect god...."

"Y-you're... mad..."

With a quick motion, Hecatia ripped her arm out of the Yama's body, which then turned to crumbling dust. The god held out her hand, which Clownpiece began cleaning.

The room was silent as what was once the Alternate Yama eventually became nothing. Not even Master's friends said anything.

"Seija?"

The amanojaku, who was shaken up by this display of power, looked up with a start. "Yeah?"

"Since... Eiki isn't available to do it..."

"Right..." She trembled a bit at how such a powerful person was snuffed out in an instant. "So... When do you want me to pick up Sasaki and Haruhi?"

"Soon. I'll want Sasaki first, however, to make sure it'll take. Do not be gentle with that Amaya."

"...Yeah...yeah sure."

Hecatia looked to the others, her face calm. "Destroy the other crossovers. This is the one we want. And I don't care how you end them. Nuke, purification, or whatever. But end them. They are no longer needed. This is the one we've been waiting for. This is the one where I'll take Haruhi and Sasaki's powers."

=Information on the Gensokyo Chronicle and Hieda no Akyuu=

-The Gensokyo Chronicle is a long running compilation of information about the Gensokyo area that was created by the noble Hieda family. What is especially interesting about the Chronicle is that it is penned by the same reincarnated soul, who always updates it when they are alive. This is known as the "Child of Miare", and they always possess a perfect memory - total recollection of everything they have seen or experienced. The current author, Hieda no Akyuu, is the Ninth Child of Miare.

-Research suggests that the Child of Miare is actually a further reincarnation of Hieda no Are, who helped compile the Kojiki - the oldest Japanese Chronicle that contains myths, legends, history, songs, Shinto practices, folklore, gods, and other such information.

-The Hieda family in Gensokyo is indeed descended from Hieda no Are.

-Hieda no Akyuu appears to have a perfect memory of not only this world, but of another.

-There are two Gensokyo Chronicles that currently exist - one of this world, with events written down as they have happened, and one of a world that Hieda no Akyuu recalled.

-Both Chronicles are being written, as Hieda no Akyuu's memories are being updated with the second world as time passes.

-We are unsure of how this phenomenon works. Requesting observers to be assigned to Hieda no Akyuu. [ADMIN APPROVAL GRANTED]

-The Gensokyo Chronicle has an interview with Esper Koizumi Itsuki.

-This second "Shadow" Chronicle goes in line with the memories experienced by those in Gensokyo, and it has no information of subject Haruhi Suzumiya, of [Name Redacted] "Kyon" or the Brigade's involvement in any of Gensokyo's history. It does not have an interview with Esper Koizumi Itsuki.

-The events that have happened with the Brigade's involvement in our world played out similar enough in the Shadow Chronicle, with notable changes.

-For instance, in the Shadow Chronicle, the Spring Snow Incident took place earlier, and with less damage to Gensokyo, as was stated by Yukari Yakumo in her speech before she fought Reimu Hakurei.

-We have requested access to the Shadow Chronicle, to which Yukari Yakumo has agreed to do so when the current incident is over.

-There is further information on the Chronicle that will be updated at a later time.

-File catalogued by Emiri Kimidori.

Things are heating up, aren't they?

Read and review. Lady Yukari demands it.