(WELCOME BACK TO TOONAMI, with your host, MATTMAN THE ASSASSINMAN man) (it's a MATT CHAPTER SON)
The manor's gates loudly clattered shut behind us.
Out here, Meiling was lazily leaning against the wall next to it again. Seems she didn't have trouble recovering from being assaulted by that small army at all…
The prisms around me silently disappeared, as did the depressing mixture of status ailments. Apparently that only takes effect on mansion grounds.
…
I turned to Meiling. "Thanks for the generous hospitality."
She glanced over at me, before rolling her eyes. "Huh. Honestly, I thought those status effects might give you more trouble. They'll probably get revised or something, then..."
"Make sure it includes instant death next time." I request.
With that, I begin trekking down the path. Shikome idly follows behind me, eying the gatekeeper as we go.
…
After some moments of walking, we begin to near the lake. By the way, by the time we were plopped outside the manor, it was already night. As such, it is now even more night than it was before.
The rightmost path around the lake had a large glow stick party going on or something, so it'd probably be a good idea to not go there. It's bright, it's blue, and it's got structures of some kind which would probably be hazardous to our overall health.
Taking the left way around the lake, Shikome seems to share my disinterest in the unnaturally blue lights.
As we march around the left lakeside, we have little trouble because of the light produced by the glow stick fortification across the lake…
Some figures are positioned at the side of the lake we intend to pass, however.
Nearing, it becomes easier to make them out...
Two of them seem to be rather poofily dressed night fairies. I have to wonder where they get those stout gowns from.
On the shore, there seems to be some kind of insect girl. I can't quite make out her features, but she has a rear pod and is not a spider girl.
...I glance at Shikome, who seems to have no qualms about approaching them.
"Can I eat them?" She gives me a dry look, pointing at the fairies and the insect.
Before I can say anything, she walks towards them anyway, likely intent on eating them-
Shi-shi-shink!
Abruptly, the insect girl fell into three clean parts.
"Aa-aaah!?" One of the fairies screeched, flying back-
Pi~chun! She was killed by something.
The remaining fairy sent a spread shot of danmaku out, which seems to have pattered against something.
Pi~chun! The final fairy was killed, creating a flash as she becomes one with nature again.
…
In the next moment, the something made itself visible.
Splash! The thing dunks its head into the water, on all four limbs before the lake's shallows.
...The torso is feminine. Feminine as in, it has medium breasts, and pale- if abraded- skin.
The rest of the creature is inhuman, however. Below 'her' waist and navel, the legs are replaced by thick, bamboo-like appendages. At first they're similar in width to legs, but around the kneecap area they jut forward at sharp angles, creating a stick-thin, walker-esque impression. Instead of feet, the creature had small, metal parts which had four smaller, tiny bamboo shafts that pointed down.
Its arms are flayed flesh, the hands replaced with awkwardly angled sickles. The strands of flesh were unlike anything that could come from a human arm, and also ended in sickles. Good arms.
…
It looks like a something, alright.
Splash! It brought its head out of the water. Ironically, the head looked fully human, bearing stock brown hair that you might expect on a human girl.
Smoothly, without noise, it rose back onto its leg-like appendages, and turned its wide, emerald eyes in our direction. The eyes glowed softly in the evening's darkness.
…From here, it refused to make any movements, watching us.
"You can eat that, if you want." I decide.
"No." Shikome declines. "It looks like it'll give me indigestion..."
…
"Hua-a-aa~h…" The thing spoke to us. "Hua-hnh. Hua-a-aa~h…" It seemed to not move a muscle as it did so.
…
"So, then I was like…" Two wolfmen came from the brush behind the creature. "Why not, like… eat the armor too?"
"Damn…" The other wolfman shook his head. "Wish I~ like… thought of-..." Abruptly, he stopped.
Stopping as well, the first wolfman eyed the creature.
…
"That's, like…" Scratching his head, the other wolfman searched for descriptive words. "One of those bamboo things, right?"
"First time I've seen one…" The first wolfman grins widely. "I bet they snap like bamboo!"
With all the grace capable of a wolfman, he barreled forward with his arms outstretched, ready to grapple the creature.
Shikome and I watch him slowly approach it…
Eventually, he reaches it, and wraps his arms around it-
"Hua-aaaa-" My ears start ringing from the noise it makes.
In a blur of sudden movements, the wolfman becomes multiple large chunks, collapsing. Then, the creature is gone.
…
"Where the fuck are you!?" Looking around wildly, the other wolfman smacks his fists together. "What was that!? Did you eat him!?"
...After a moment's hesitation, he moved forward-
Shink!
Thu-thud. His torso fell forward, cleanly removed from his lower body.
…
Splash! Once again, the creature was on all fours, dunking its head- and shoulders, this time- into the mud at the lake's shallows.
ZaZaZap!
Tiny streams of electricity came from a few feet above, stretching down into the lake's water, for some reason.
ZaZap! A few more rain down where the two wolfman used to be, striking nothing but decaying flesh.
I turn to Shikome- oh. She's not here.
...Looking back at the thing, I see Shikome approach it.
Splash! The creature brings its head back out of the water, quickly propping itself up on its legs without any sort of concentrated effort.
Like this, it almost rotates on its pelvis one-eighty degrees to look at Shikome.
"Hey, how do you do that?" She points at the creature.
…
After a moment, it replies. "Huaa-oa-aah…"
"What? Speak in a way that makes sense, wretched imp." Shikome does her best to make it understand her intentions.
…
…
Finally, it replies. "Huaa-aanh-aoh…" Albeit, not intelligently.
…
Holding up her hand, Shikome promptly sent a tendril zipping into the youkai's chest-
Shink! "Huaa-aaaa-" There's that insufferable noise again…
In under a second, the youkai is somehow not only ten feet in the air from where it started, but Shikome's tendril is still in it.
It flails its limbs with inhuman speed, seemingly attempting to slide down the tentacle to reach Shikome faster, only for her to extend it until she couldn't continue to extend it.
As the youkai slid down it, Shikome simply created another tendril to halt its progress, this time entering it at an odd angle so that it couldn't keep moving towards her.
"Hua-hunh-gngh!" The creature was now partially invisible, the air rippling in a disorienting manner as it tried to go fully invisible while still pierced by two tendrils. The way it flailed its limbs made the air blur and ripple violently.
After awhile of the creature flailing, I began to notice the fact it was slowly riding up her tendrils this time, its flesh and probably inner organs abrading hastily as it did so.
This continued for awhile, and I realized Shikome's tendrils had a max length. Creating two more tendrils, Shikome had them ready at her sides, but unextended.
The creature escaped from the top of Shikome's tendrils, vanishing into the night. Red and orange liquid dripped on the floor moments afterward, hinting where it was moving, only for the blood itself to vanish as well.
…
Shink!
In the next moment, one of Shikome's arms came clean off.
However, her right arm lunged forward, tendrils assisting her by roaring out of her body in the general direction of her assaulter.
Cr-crack! Something cracked.
"Huaa-aaaa-" Kill it already. Make the pain stop.
ZaZap! Zap! Three weak streams of electricity touched down approximately where Shikome was. Despite two of them connecting, the magic didn't really faze her.
With her hold on the leg, and her tentacles likely pushing the creature back, she tugged-
Crack!
The leg she rended from the youkai became visible, curiously rigid flesh still pointing upward from the top of the bamboo-esque part of the creature's leg.
After a moment, the creature itself also became visible twenty feet away from Shikome. It was now on all three limbs, occasionally dipping where its former leg used to be as if it keeps briefly forgetting it was gone.
In the next moment, the creature moved towards Shikome again, although this time it failed to account for its missing leg. As such, when it sprung forward, it ended up sliding awkwardly on its side across the ground towards her instead.
Shi-shink! Shikome pinned it down with six tendrils.
"Hu-huaa~h-h-h-h…" The creature's noise trailed off, becoming more guttural than it was before.
Shink! Another tendril pierced one of its arms, keeping it from flailing wildly.
Shink! Shikome did the same with the other arm just so it'd stop being annoying, too.
Grabbing the creature's right arm with her only arm, Shikome slowly released the tendril, keeping her hold on the creature's sickle-ended, red and flayed arm.
...Bringing it up, and angling it by twisting her wrist a little, Shikome abruptly thrust the arm down, bringing the scythe into the creature's throat.
Shink! "Gngh-h-ngh…" The creature gurgled quietly, before it stopped.
…
After a moment of Shikome holding the sickle arm in place, the creature's emerald eyes slowly darken.
"Damn." Standing up, removing her tendrils from the now limp corpse, she briefly brushed her arm stub with her remaining arm. "I was just asking it something."
...Crouching down, she claimed her fallen arm from nearby. Dark miasma flowed out from both points of severance, but only like a slow fog rolling out of a cold freezer.
Taking the limb, she held it back over where it would normally attach.
...Dark, black strands began connecting between the two. In a couple of seconds, the strands connected faster and faster, until her arm was connected to her shoulder again by a large black spot.
A couple more seconds later, and the black spot was gone, her left arm back on good as new. Taking a moment, she articulated it, before leaving it be.
Huh. That was quite similar to how that tree treated its severed roots. Not quite as automagically, though. I'd like to know how to do that.
"Can you reconnect my limbs, too?" No reason, just asking.
Shikome glances over at me. "...Wanna see?"
In retrospect, that was a dumb question. "...No."
/ / / / LINEBREAKS A~RE ONE O~F A KI~ND / / / /
Holding these lightning scissors in my right hand all the time is vaguely annoying. I better find something to hold them soon, or I might accidentally murder myself, which I'm sure no one would want.
We are now back on the Hakurei Path, heading in the direction of the village.
Since we look like youkai- and Shikome likely adds to the whole youkai appearance- we're essentially left alone by all the passing youkai.
"Hahaha~!"
All of a sudden, we stop as Rumia barrels out of the brush, crosses our path, and charges into the opposing brush.
...Shikome stares off in the direction the darkness youkai went.
With that out of the way, I begin walking down the path-...
Shikome seems to be walking after the darkness youkai. Hmm.
Suddenly, the brush further down the path shimmers, causing Shikome to pause.
"C'mo~n Wriggle!" Rumia emerged from it, calling to someone further in the woods. "It's hide and seek! Hide and seek!" ...I'm not sure that's how you play hide and seek. Also, who is named Wriggle?
Approaching her, Shikome gets Rumia's attention. "Hey."
...Pausing her festivities, Rumia turns to her. "Oh, hello!"
...Stepping up to Rumia, Shikome gives her a good sniff.
"Hello?" Rumia looks her over curiously. "He~y. That's what I do…" Leaning forward, Rumia sniffs back. "You don't smell like a human, though…"
"You smell very… delectable." Shikome makes her intent known. Oh, here we go again.
Rumia smiles back. "Is that so~?"
"Very…" Licking her lips, Shikome shifts closer.
"I tell humans that all the time." Rumia states plainly. "They don't really like it when I do, though. 'Cause I usually..." Trailing off, Rumia has come to a realization. "Oh."
Due to her proximity, Shikome grabbed Rumia in a hug.
"A-ah, no!" Rumia wiggled. "I don't taste good! I taste like, uhm…" She looks around. "Rocks! Youkai?"
Getting her face closer to Rumia's, Shikome remains unconvinced. "Oh, you'll taste fine…"
Bringing her hand up, Shikome used it to secure Rumia's head, so she could lean in for a kiss.
"Mmm…!?" Rumia's eyes widen at the sensation, and she continues wiggling, flailing her outstretched arms idly.
...For a moment, Shikome breaks the kiss, only to push Rumia back.
"Ah!?" Rumia lands on her rear. "What're- oof!" Shikome pounces on her, making her flatten out. "He-hey-"
She's cut off as Shikome locks lips with her again. "Mmm!?"
...Rumia pushes against the dirt, but only succeeds in making her limbs kick up dust.
Shikome's hand slides along Rumia's flat chest, as she continues the kiss.
"Mnh!?" Rumia is still confused, moving her limbs in a disorganized manner.
Well, then.
...I hear the bushes rustle beside me.
That one green-haired fop with bug antennae reluctantly steps out, eying the scene.
...Looking back at the scene, I see Shikome break the kiss, rubbing Rumia's flat chest with both hands.
"A-ah…" Rumia stares up at her. "What is…?"
...I turn back to the fop.
He's just staring at me with wide eyes and a raised brow. He gestures towards the scene with his thumb, and mouths 'do you know what's going on'.
I shake my head.
He rolls his eyes.
Weakly- or perhaps strongly, by human standards- Rumia reaches her arms up to Shikome's shoulders to try and push her off. "Sto-stop. I feel weird…"
Shikome promptly lunges back in for a kiss, causing Rumia's hands to break from her shoulder, and her fingers to spread out. "Mnn…!"
I turn to the fop. "So how was your day? Also, are you Wriggle?"
He jumped. "Yo-you can talk? I mean…" Hastily, he looked back at the scene before us, but when Shikome didn't react to his presence, he relaxed. "Masks can't normally hold a conversation, so… and yes, actually." He confidently smiled at me. "Wriggle Nightbug. I fought a vampire once, you know."
Oh, right. He doesn't recognize this new outfit of mine. "I see. Anyway, it's different for me. I am the new generation of mask. We shall take over this land and build a greater mask kingdom."
...Nodding and rolling his eyes again, Wriggle is skeptical. "Right. So-"
Rumia lets her arms fall to her sides. "…"
Wriggle just blinks at the scene.
...After a still moment, Shikome begins to get off of her.
Once she's off, Rumia continues to lie there, staring into the sky with uneven eyes and a dazed expression.
Wriggle lets out a sigh of relief. "Oo~h, thank goodness. I thought that was gonna go farther…"
Unfortunately, this fiction is rated T, for teenagers. Heads would surely explode and lives would be ruined if the average teenager learned that intimacy was indeed something that exists. It's fine if they blow people's heads off in Call of Duty, however.
"Are you done, now?" I question.
"No." Shikome looks over at me. "Yes… yeah."
Wriggle has questions of his own. "Why'd you do this?"
Shikome blinked. "Do what?"
"Just, like…" Pausing, Wriggle took a moment to find tactful words. "You molested Rumia. She's my friend, you know…"
"What's a friend?" Shikome tilted her head.
...Wriggle's eyebrows just rise, and he slouches. "Okay. Alright. Well…" He rubs the back of his neck. "Y'see… it's like… when two people are cool with each other, but not like in love. But they don't hate each other. Basically."
"You forgot friends with benefits." I criticize.
Wriggle gives me a dry half-glare. "Shut up, mask."
I gesture to him loosely. "Hey, can you eat him for me?"
"Okay." Shikome starts walking towards him.
"Oo~h no no no." Wriggle begins floating away, holding his arms up diplomatically. "Sorry- no, not happening. I like being innocent."
Shikome notices Wriggle's bug-like wings and antennae, and stops proceeding towards him, suddenly becoming uninterested.
"Anyway, uhm…" Wriggle slows down, noticing Shikome stopped. "Uhm…! Sorry Rumia! I'll come back for you!"
With that, Wriggle flew off into the night.
...A myriad of tiny fireflies came from the nearby woods, brushing past us.
Well, then.
Oh, right. I wanted to go to Alice's for some things. We probably should've taken the turn onto the magic forest's path earlier. Although, as we are, we could probably cut straight through the woods…
"Let us go." I begin walking into the brush.
...Shikome bends down and picks up Rumia bridal style, and quickly jogs to catch up with me.
/ / / / WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE, LIKE A BIG PIZZA PIE / / / /
Why did we bring Rumia with us?
I was now lugging Rumia, in an effort to keep Shikome from draining her dry. To do so, I had to stuff the electric scissors into the rubber glove I carried them in previously. They're now in my backpack, and hopefully won't fall out and cause a miniature fire disaster.
Rumia, surprisingly, is vaguely conscious. "My~ favorite letter is seven…" Vaguely.
I forget the way to Alice's place. It's been awhile. Thankfully, we seem to be getting the utmost minimal attention.
...Although, we could use some directions.
"Hello~?" I request assistance from the local youkai. "Is anyone there?"
"U~fufufu~..."
Apparently so.
...Following the source of the noise in the dark forest, I eventually come across a slightly illuminant puddle.
Once I set my sight on it, it begins rising. "O~h, hello~..." It was no average puddle; it was a slime puddle. "Hi~..."
As it rose, it eventually took the shape of a buxom green slime girl with short 'hair'. "I'm still slee~py~..."
"How do you do, fellow youkai people." I get hip with the kids. "Do you know the whereabouts of a certain doll magi?"
...The goo girl stares at me for a moment, before pointing to my left. "Thatta way."
Okay.
"Sa~y…" The goo girl smiles at me. "Could you do~ me… a fa~vor?"
"No." I start walking away.
...She huffs. "Oka~y…"
"Sure." I turn back around.
"Uwa~h…?" She has been confused.
"What can I do for you, fellow youkai person?" I inquire on her troubles.
...She wobbles about somewhat unsteadily. "Do you kno~w… any roaming kappa~?"
...No. "Nope."
She nodded. "A~h. I hea~rd about them the other da~y… one of them go~es abou~t… making traps." She brought a hand to her chin, the two merging with each other. "I wa~nted him- or he~r- to make me and so~me sisters a trap hot spring…"
A what. "A… trap hot spring?"
"Yeah. You know?" She smiles at me. "Hot spri~ng, except instead of wa~ter, it's me and my sisters…" She grins at me. "We plan to eat people like that… 'cause we don't get a lotta people out here, a~nd the people we do get jus' blow us right up."
Kinky. "I am sorry to say, miss slime, but I do not, in fact, know of any nearby kappa."
"Oo~h…" She nods, slinking back into her puddle. "Al~ri~ght… you know where I a~m, though..."
Featureless puddle in the middle of featureless, complex forestry. Certainly.
I begin moving in the direction the slime girl pointed. In the meantime, it seems that Shikome has assassinated half of a tree's bark behind my back. It was now visibly cracking and decaying.
/ / / / POISON MIND / / / /
We approach Alice's door in the dead of evening. I'm unsure of how late it is, by this point.
Knock knock.
…
Knock knock.
…
Alice seems to be sleeping.
Knock knock.
I hear footsteps.
...After a moment, the door creaks open. "Wha~t…?"
She sees me standing there, holding Rumia in my arms, with Shikome at my side. "You have company."
…
Alice sighs. "I suppose I should talk. If you want anything, you better just have money. I'm not in the mood to be cutting deals."
Opening the door wider, she lets us in. "I don't know who your friend there is, but tell her not to break anything. Or- actually, I could just tell her. Don't break anything."
...Shikome just stares back at her.
...Alice slouches. "My apologies. I'm just… tired."
Good.
I move for the central table, and Shikome follows suit. As Alice moves around it to sit, I plop Rumia on the table.
"Hehehe~..." Rumia giggles. "Where do the birds go~ in the winter…?"
...Alice glances down at Rumia. "South. They go south."
Does Gensokyo even have a south for the birds to go to?
Anyway, let us get down to business…
Alice blinks at me. "I forget why I invited you in."
"How good of a teacher are you?" I question Alice's capabilities.
...Tilting her head to the side, Alice takes a moment to reply. "Depends on the subject…"
Taking my mask off, I give her a solid look. "I need you… to teach someone danmaku."
Scanning my face, Alice seems to recognize who I am. "Oh- right, right."
...Slowly, the shelf dolls silently arm themselves, moving gradually but soundlessly.
"What do you want to know?" Alice seems marginally more awake now, sitting up. "...Also, how did those scissors I make you turn out?"
Hmm.
"It did everything I'd ever hoped for." I inform her. "But was also more than I ever bargained for."
Glancing at Shikome, I see her just give me a stare.
"Hmm. Quite an experience for a pair of scissors." Alice looks me and Shikome over… "Do you treat all your handheld utilities similarly? I want to know how much of a trip to enlightenment your spoons are to you."
Spoons. What?
"I have not used a spoon in ages." I confess. "I feel deep sorrow."
"As you should." Alice smirks. "...I'm sure you didn't come here to banter, though, and I'd much like to go back to bed."
"I just wanted you to teach a friend how to do danmaku." I make my intent known. "Friend." I gesture to Shikome. "She's been interested for a while, but I couldn't find a good teacher. So I remembered you, and how there's no teacher better than you."
...For a few moments, all I receive from Alice is a long, dry stare. "Was that an actual request, or are you just insulting me?"
"Actual request." This time I speak with a lot less sweetener.
"There we go." Alice processes the request, staring at nothing in particular for a moment. "...I should make some tea. In any case, if you mean the basics, then sure. As for anything advanced… we could talk about that later."
Good, good…
…
Before Alice gets up, she looks down at Rumia. After a moment of staring, she decides to ignore her presence entirely.
Guess Alice is just going to… not ask about Rumia. That, or she's planning on it later.
…
/ / / / ONNNNGGHH / / / /
We all now have tea.
Except Rumia. Rumia's just lying on the table, still. "He~y… you know why~ the saint was cru-seefed…?"
"I'll bite." Alice looked down at Rumia skeptically. "Is she drunk?"
"Yes. Maybe." Easier to explain…
"Maybe." Alice looks up at my gaze. "So you don't know."
"Nope, nope." I shake my head. "Not a single clue."
"Splendid." Raising her tea, Alice sips from it…
…
"She got raped so hard she can't function properly." I spill the beans.
...Alice just slowly lowers her teacup, eyebrows raised.
It takes her a moment, but she replies to that. "Okay. I'm… going to assume you were joking. She's still clothed, too..." After eying Rumia for a moment, Alice nods. "Now I feel silly."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not joking." I attempt to discomfort her further.
"Right." Alice is unaffected, unfortunately. "Well-"
"Actually, I am joking." I admit. "Since there wasn't any penetration, it doesn't count as rape."
"Alright." Alice stares me down. "That's nice. Which one of you wanted to learn danmaku, now?"
I gesture to Shikome, who waves.
"I see." Standing up and setting her tea down, Alice begins moving… "Do you need any rest, first? It is rather late, for the both of us."
...It has been night for awhile.
Shikome looks at me, completely indifferent.
Alice would be better at her job when rested.
"I suppose we'll rest." I decide.
Taking this opportunity to go to bed, Alice quickly retreats. "Cool. Do whatever you want with Rumia, but if someone opens my door or the front door in the middle of the night, heads will roll. Same for the windows."
Good.
Bam. Alice's door slams shut.
…
Idly, I move towards the guest room to check how much fluffle retardation has taken it over this time.
Crea~k…
After swinging the door open, I check the inside of the guest room.
The entire room's space is currently occupied by one big fluffle, which is trying to jump but can't because its back keeps hitting the ceiling.
"skedar ruins: battle shrine" It annotates. "brutal packaging peanuts"
…
I'll deal with that in a moment.
I look over at Shikome, who is currently looming over Rumia…
Knowing her, I give her some instructions. "You can play with her if you want, but just don't kill her."
Shikome smiles widely.
...I turn back into the guest room, and try to enter.
The fluffle's staring at me.
I walk in-
It bumps me with its shell nose, which is the same size as me, causing me to fall back onto my rear.
"im the boss" The fluffle declares, still trying to jump, and still hitting its back against the ceiling inaudibly.
Cracking my knuckles, I prepare to enter the room again. "This is gonna be a long night…"
/ / / / FLOONEY CALOONEY / / / /
The guest room is actually partially usable. The beds have tall posts, and the fluffle is restricted by them for some reason. This does confirm that, indeed, I failed to do anything productive about the giant fluffle. However, if you were to crawl along the edges of the room, you'd be safe.
Stretching- and appreciating a night in an actual bed, despite the looming fluffy giant- I begin to wake up…
Shikome is currently using Rumia as a body pillow in the other guest bed.
…
The only way out is to get across Shikome's bed. Therefore, I am stuck like this.
…
"Nn~h…" Slowly, Shikome starts to stir.
...Patiently, I wait for her to do her stirring.
Rising out of the bed- for some reason fully clothed- Shikome begins to walk for the main room, still holding Rumia close to herself.
The fluffle shifted to face her. "do not pass go"
Shikome continued to walk into it, her body slowly pushing the fluffle's tubby head towards the opposite wall.
"wait friend" It senses doom. "help im being sqooshed"
After enough of Shikome's unimpeded walking forward-
Fwoof. The fluffle's head was crushed, reducing the entire thing into a miniature sandstorm, which quickly engulfed the room.
Good wakeup.
With little other choice, I clamber out of the bed and make a mad dash for the door. Provided, I too am fully clothed, but for some reason I don't expect it so much from others when waking up.
I slam the door behind me, keeping the dust storm sealed away…
At the main table, Shikome is seated, still holding Rumia like a body pillow.
Alice is yet again sipping tea, seated across from her.
"...Good morning." Looking over at me, Alice raised her tea cup.
"...Good morning." I reply back with equal vigor.
Taking my seat next to Shikome, I begin to become more awake…
"So…" Panning her gaze over Shikome, Alice begins to converse with her. "Does anyone want breakfast?"
...Silence.
Perhaps I should eat, however. "I suppose."
With a snort, Alice raises a hand, articulating her fingers.
Dolls begin to move over the countertops in the rear of the room.
"Pancakes." Alice clarifies what I'll be having. "For her, too?"
...I turn to Shikome, who is currently nuzzling Rumia's neck.
"Probably not." I have no idea, but she likely gets her fill from people's flesh.
...Alice looks over her for a moment, seeking confirmation. Receiving none, she simply drops the matter.
"Pardon my manners…" Composing herself, Alice begins speaking to Shikome. "I don't believe I've introduced myself to you."
Shikome glances over at her, but doesn't reply before returning to cuddling Rumia.
Dryly, the puppeteer finishes her introduction prematurely. "...I'm Alice, a magician. What's your name?"
"I don't-... Shikome..." It seems Shikome has remembered the name I gave her.
With that out of the way, Alice begins to sate her own curiosity. "Forgive me for asking, but…" She eyes Shikome further, leaning forward slightly. "Your kimono seems to carry a… variety of substances in its fabric… almost enough so to have me mistake it for a curious new material, or perhaps some kind of clay. Is it all various types of blood?"
Shikome looks over at Alice, before returning to snuggling Rumia.
"...Okay." Alice's expression goes from curious to dry again. "I suppose we'll get down to business. It was you who wanted to learn danmaku, was it?"
Shikome looks over at me idly. "Yeah…"
...This causes Alice to also look over at me, before looking back at her. "Alright, then."
Soundlessly, two red-clad dolls creep up on my flank to deliver a plate of pancakes before me. A blue doll drops down from above to plop down assorted silverware: a knife, a fork, and a spoon. I recommend eating pancakes with the last one.
"Let's go out back." Alice declares, standing up. "We'll have more room to practice than in here."
...Shikome stands up, as well. Alice moves for the front door, apparently not having a back door for some odd reason. It also seems that Alice's neck is being guarded by a grey-dressed doll, who is armed with, in fact, multiple shields.
The two move out the front door. I suppose I'll follow them to watch, and eat my pancakes in the background…
/ / / / THE WALL DOLL: NO MAN ON EARTH CAN MAKE HER FALL / / / /
Fortunately, Alice has tree stumps in her backyard, so I was able to precariously position myself on one and begin consuming pancakes…
You know what? I should ask Alice for a really good rubber pouch to hold my electric scissors later. Soley so that I don't die in a fire one of these days.
"Now…" Alice was standing across from Shikome. To their side was a cluster of dolls clad in little but light-grey felt clothes, their faces featureless.
However, I noticed something was missing. "Hey! I need syrup! Who eats pancakes without syrup!?"
...One of the featureless dolls floated up to me, and punched me with its tiny arm. I didn't feel anything, except for disappointment.
Putting down my fork, I grab the doll by the torso.
...Pre-emptive of my actions, another featureless doll materializes behind Alice, moving to meet the twenty-nine-strong cluster of its sisters in the midst of the backyard.
"Now…" Alice begins again. "Do you know how to channel your mana?"
Shikome still has Rumia in her arms. "...What's mana?"
Alice just blinks at her. "...Okay. Mana is... the common term for the potential magic power a person has within their body. It is commonly associated with willpower, which it both is and isn't. Depleting one's mana pool severely typically results in exhaustion, or in the case of the particularly magically challenged, death. However, that's only if they're using a spell too great for their mana pool to handle many times over, anyway. Even then, numerous spells have fail-safes or taper off without adequate power."
Shikome is just idly staring at her at this point. "...Is it the stuff that comes out of things when they die?"
Alice exhales. "Well, it does come out of people when they die, I suppose. It's not blood or soul, however. Well..." Pausing, Alice reconsiders her words. "You could consider mana a part of soul, I guess. It's different from life force, though."
...Shikome tilts her head.
"In short, sure." Alice gives up on explaining it to her. "Just remember that it's not exactly life power. You can't- most of the time- kill someone just by draining their mana."
"So you can't eat it…?" Shikome concludes.
"Probably not, no." Alice flatly agrees with this conclusion. "...Do you know what a danmaku bullet is?"
Shikome simply blinks at her.
"O~kay…" Alice is finally starting to realize the gravity of this tutorial segment. "In that case… it's something like this."
Pointing her hand at the cluster of grey dolls, Alice fires thick clumps of yellow, diamond-shaped bullets at them.
Pa-pa-pa-pap! In short order, all but six of the dolls are wiped out by the shotgun spread of glowing bullets.
"...Oh." Shikome is still looking in the direction the bullets went.
"Further…" Floating into the air, Alice looms over the light grey doll cluster.
Translucent copies of the remaining six dolls spread out from their original, solid bases. After a moment, these copies all become fully opaque, restoring their numbers back up to thirty.
A spiral of yellow bullets slowly gravitated outward from Alice, creating four streams. The tips of these streams all shot a single bullet at a time at the doll cluster, creating a simple yellow light show.
"O~h…" Shikome observes this.
"Finally…" Alice allows herself to fall back down, before springboarding off the floor and back into the air for no particular reason.
The light grey-dressed dolls replicate back to thirty, and also float up into the air, horizontally level with Alice's position.
"Curse Sign!" It seems Alice is using a spell card. "Shanghai Doll!"
Casting both her hands forward, a blue-clad doll with a spear emerges from behind her back, and positions itself in her hands-
Fwa-Vrrrr~!
A person-sized, pulsating red laser is fired from the doll, annihilating the cluster of featureless dolls instantly.
"Aa~h…" Shikome gazed at the giant doom laser.
Just as quickly as it began, it was over, the red glow produced by the laser dying out with it. Alice allowed herself to drop to her feet. "Ha~h…"
...Turning to Shikome, she smiled. "That is danmaku. Generally, anyway. Danmaku bullets are the basic parts, and the thing at the end there I did was a spell card."
"Yes. I want to learn that." Shikome confirmed her interest.
Nodding at that, Alice continued. "In order to properly start learning, I'll have to teach you basic magical practice. By that, I mean how to detect and manipulate mana."
…
Alice dryly stares down at Rumia. "You'll probably have to put down your friend for a moment, though."
...Shikome does a brief jog over towards my tree stump to set Rumia down, making sure she was propped up against it. Then, she jogs back towards Alice.
"First, detecting mana…" Alice contemplates how to best start things off. "Partially, such a skill is learned through trial and error. The most observable way is to will a simple spell or mana movement into action. I want you to imagine mana as a sort of force that's ever present in your body. Imagine you can detect it."
...Shikome gives her a blank stare.
"Now, focus what you feel inside you into your hand…" Alice holds up her left hand, pointing it into the woods.
Shikome is still staring at her blankly.
"Then, try this." Alice closes her eyes. Taking her other arm, she runs a hand along her left arm in a rigid manner-
A soft, yellow speck of light comes out, glowing softly, before quickly dissipating.
"That's how I first learned." Alice informed us. "Somewhere with such ambient mana as Gensokyo, it's not difficult to will simple spells into being. Eventually, after imagining your mana enough, you'll get a real feel for it, and it won't be so imaginary. You…" Alice pauses, turning to Shikome. "You've got a reasonable mana pool, so surely you already have felt something."
The stare is still blank.
"I mean, mana-wise. Regardless..." Alice moved on, noticing the disinterest. "Make some motions with your body, if you must. Since mana motion is in part will, without belief one might find themselves lost more often than not, even with the largest mana pool."
Bringing her arms up, Alice pointed her hands towards her own body and slowly ran them down the air around herself. "Imagine yourself moving your own mana when doing these motions. It's not a manner dissimilar to other muscles or bodily functions, despite it not being necessarily physical."
...After some awkward moments of Alice repeating those curious motions, Shikome begins to replicate them, running her hands near her own body.
"When you think you're ready…" Alice holds her left arm out again, pointing it at the woods. Running her right arm along it, she fires out another small speck of light. "Expel a little of it. That's essentially what that 'spell' is."
...Shikome repeats the motion, holding her left arm out and running her right arm along it-
The projectile emitted makes a low howl, the pink energy leaving a smoky, wistful trail in its wake. The oblong, neon projectile fizzled out a moment later, pink smoke still swirling in the air around where it died.
...Alice slowly nodded. "That's… a curiously volatile reaction. In fact- that's not even a spell reaction, that's just your mana's reaction with the air."
Bringing her hand to her face, Shikome looks it over, examining it and articulating it.
"...Well, if you feel fine, we'll continue." Alice decides. "Do you feel your mana, now?"
Still staring at her hand, Shikome confirms it. "It seems so..."
Alice smiles at her. "Good. I had figured a youkai such as yourself would catch on quickly. Now…"
From the air, a featureless tan doll with a light grey dress materialized in front of Shikome, floating in from nonexistence.
"Try searching through that doll's mana." Alice suggested, bringing her hands behind her back idly. "You could move it outside of it, or try to move it into yourself, if you'd like."
Reaching her hand out, Shikome grabs onto the doll. After a moment, the doll begins to glow pink…
Bwo~m. A black and pink orb expanded messily, before vanishing completely, leaving the doll gone.
"I see…" Alice nods. "You overcharged it with mana. Certain objects can only hold so much mana before it reacts violently and overflows, often destructively."
From behind Alice's back, four more featureless light grey dressed dolls came, floating in a revolving ring. In the middle of the ring was a doll dressed in a bland red felt dress, with a small smile knitted onto its face.
"Try manipulating these ones from a distance." Alice makes another suggestion. "If it gets too hard, you can touch them, but do try distance manipulation."
...Holding her hand out, Shikome points it at one of the revolving generic dolls.
...Bwo~m. It took a few more seconds than it did before, but Shikome vaporized the doll she desired.
Next, Shikome pointed her hand at the red doll in the middle.
Cli~ng! The doll glows a brilliant yellow, runes all along its previously featureless dress lighting up and two yellow eyes flaring to life.
"Some objects are specifically enchanted to resist mana manipulation, and some are simply naturally resistant to being fooled with." Alice explains what's going on. "In this scenario, I made it obvious what was going on, and harmlessly so. However, more experienced magi would likely booby trap anything they didn't want toyed with. It's-"
Pap! The red doll explodes, a bright flash coming from it. Shikome half-grins at this result.
...Alice sighs. "Well, that's one way around security wards. I was about to say they're similar to combination locks. I also advise against trying to manipulate the mana of living beings. Not because it's unethical; it simply takes absurd precision to actually do, and even more to maintain it for a useful period of time. You'd be better off throwing fireballs at them."
Shikome was intrigued by the notion. "How do you create a… fireball?"
...Alice folds her arms. "Well, there's a few options for that. There's the simple, wasteful prefabricated spells like Fire, Fira, and Firaga, so forth. Then there's actual fire manipulation, the other prefabs, a combination of both, and then there's magical theory."
Unsure of what to pick, Shikome picked anyway. "Magical theory?"
Alice snorted. "Are you sure about that? It's math, basically. I mean, it's very good if you actually sat down and decided to learn it, but it'd mean pulling open a tome and spending a good few days reading. I'd definitely advise it, but you came here to learn how to shoot danmaku, did you not?"
"I want to make a fireball." Shikome reasserts her desire.
...Generating another red doll, Alice sent it forward. "I don't have many prefabs on myself, honestly, but I do have some basic elemental ones. So, here. This one's a basic fire cast."
This red doll wasn't nearly as featureless as the last few dolls, complete with an ornate fire-themed dress. It still lacked the details Alice's typical doll soldiers had, however.
...Shikome put her hand on the fire-themed doll-
Ti~ng! It vanished with a bright orange flash.
...Shikome looked at her hand, creating a small fireball in it.
"That was quick." Alice observes, bringing a hand to her chin. "You didn't even have to shout 'fire' either, although that'd probably help."
...Looking over the fireball, Shikome tried to charge it further-
Fwi~sh. It died.
Alice shook her head. "That's the problem with such basic prefab spells. It's all in the moment of creation, all rigidly designed, and very non-dynamic. On the upside, even an idiot or generic human could use it."
I should be learning too, but I have pancakes. I already have that saw blade thing, anyway, and those fire scissors.
"Danmaku is actually not terribly dissimilar from such prefabricated spells." Alice declares, bringing her hands to her sides again. "At the same time, Reimu did a good job making it very dynamic for what it is. Somehow."
Aiming her hand out at the woods again, Alice gave instructions. "Firing danmaku requires you to be able to use small increments of mana, or else you'll very quickly run into bullet cooldowns which will render you helpless in a danmaku duel. On the upside, danmaku's method of stopping people is almost universal, and translates well to many strong and weak targets, with only a few exceptions."
Holding her hand facing the woods, Shikome awaited further meaningful instruction.
"I'd like you to bring your mana to your hand again." Alice gives the meaningful instruction. "Firing a danmaku bullet is very similar to the process of making that fireball. Once you fire your first, Genskoyo's ambient mana will sort of fill you in on how to do it more naturally, as well as do it wherever Gensokyo's ambient mana can't reach you."
Shikome points her hand at a tree…
A single, oblong pink bullet whirls out and hits the tree-
Thwack! The tree was injured.
…
Shikome furrowed her brows, bringing her hand back to stare at it.
"You put too much power into that last bullet." Alice states plainly. "The barrier automatically puts you on cooldown for overcharging a bullet, as well as regulates power of the bullets you do charge. As such, without external amplifiers, charging danmaku is pretty much useless and completely counter-intuitive."
Shikome flexes her hand. "Annoying…"
Yeah. That sounds annoying.
Alice tilts her head. "Is it, really? A little tact and discipline never hurt anyone, I'd think."
Stepping forward idly, Alice folds her arms. "In any case, that's the basics of danmaku. With restraint and some imagination, you can make basic bullets like that move any way you want. You do, however, have to keep track of them and the fact your mana is in them. If you don't, they go something like this…"
Aiming her hand at the trees again, Alice fires the same shotgun spread of yellow bullets as before-
...Except, this time they all slowly accelerated forward, before pitifully dropping into the floor and dying.
"Spell cards…" Alice furrows her brows. "Those are a different story. I'm not concrete on many of the specifics, though I'm pretty confident in my ability to make them readily. Once you're familiar enough with the danmaku system, you can have complex patterns generated for you, akin to prefabricated spells. Gensokyo's mana does it for you automatically; however, it doesn't give you anything useful, most of the time. Programming a spell card is essentially a trial and error process, but it gets easier the more you do it. This way, even the stupidest wolfman may one day get one spell card… implying they actually used danmaku."
...With that, Alice sighs. "I've been talking too long. If you want more concrete information on spell cards, you'll have to talk to Reimu. She lives in that shrine on the hill, in the middle of everything. There's also some rules of playing danmaku, but you'll le-learn them…"
Alice puts a hand to her upper chest, and begins walking away. "I-I really need a glass of water, now…"
/ / / / NUGGET FEVER / / / /
A few moments later, Alice returned with a glass of water.
...I've also finished my pancakes, it seems.
"There…" Alice finishes her fifth swig from the glass. "Much better."
Once again, Shikome had her arms around Rumia, rubbing cheeks with the darkness youkai. I can't tell if Shikome meeting Rumia was a mistake, or just a happy accident.
...Pausing, Alice realizes something. "Oh, I'm sorry, Shikome. Would you like a glass of water, too?"
She glances up at Alice, before returning to nuzzling Rumia.
...Promptly, a blue-clad doll floats up with an extra glass of water by Shikome's side.
"Right." Alice should expect these reactions, by now. "I was going to give you some targets to practice on, but this has gone on rather long. What do you say we call it here, for today?"
I didn't learn a single thing this entire time.
Shikome responds by not responding, still engrossed in Rumia's loli-ness. Is she even still alive at this point? Her skin's a healthy color, if flushed, so probably…
"I'll take that as a yes." Alice rolls with it. "Do come back later if you're still interested. There's not much more to teach other than tips and such, though."
Before Alice drifts back inside, I raise a hand, approaching the two.
She takes notice, looking over at me inquisitively. "Yes?"
"I would like you to design me something." I preface my request. "A reasonably thick rubber pouch, for handling electrical artifacts. Sealable, if you could."
...Alice processes this. "Alright. How large do you want it?"
Let's see… actually, I know this answer. "Large enough to fit a pair of scissors."
"Of course." Alice allows herself a tiny smirk. "It will be ready momentarily. Allow me a moment; you may follow me inside."
That sounds curiously like a threat. It'd be weird to wait this long to jump me, though.
With that, Alice drifts around the house. Some dolls soundlessly whirl out from around the house's edges to confiscate the plate and silverware I left behind when I finished my pancakes.
I move around the house, Shikome trailing behind me as I do so. Within moments, I reach the front door and graze back inside…
Over her back counters, she articulated her arms, a beige-yellowish rubber rectangle being brought in from her room's open door by another blue-clad doll. Once it was before her, it was only on the counter a moment, before the doll retracted it again. In its wake were reasonably thick sheets of rubber.
Moving her arms outward, Alice brought the sheets into the air by themselves, folding them without direct hand contact. "Now…" After rotating them slightly, she actually took an arm and opened a nearby, tiny drawer.
From this drawer, Alice took a thin needle, and began practically waving her hand through the small rubber sheets. After a few seconds, it seems the pouch itself was sewn together.
"I'm making sure to use non-conductive thread, since this is for electrical purposes." Alice annotates, grabbing the design with her own hands for the first time. "I'll doing similar for-... actually…"
Reaching into the same drawer, Alice took out two simple parts. They seem to be the clip-on seal type of parts.
"If I~..." Folding the pouch in a tube shape- and taking her hands off of it, only for it to somehow retain shape- she takes the two parts and holds them over sections of it. "I see."
Swip! With one quick movement of her needle, she made an incision in her sewing, before quickly adding the easy-clip button parts. The parts glowed as she held them over the rubber, being pressed into place by her.
"There…" Running her hand along the opening seam- making it glow briefly as well- she drifts over to me with the new rubber bag. "It's done. It's enchanted to stay closed when it's supposed to be closed, as well. Even if that didn't work, the way I folded it should prevent objects from unduly sliding out."
I see. "...How much will this cost?"
"Five thousand yen." Alice smiles at my business sense. "That's typically what the kappa charge for a good two-by-two block of rubber."
Oo~h, my wallet. "...Very well." She seems helpful enough. Actually… "Three thousand?"
"Five thousand, take it or leave it." Alice stares at me evenly. "Supply and demand. You're hard-pressed to find someone else who can instantly make enchanted, electric-proof pouches from blocks of rubber."
...Good point, and well-made. Oh well. "As you wish." Thumbing through my bag, I take out the applicable yen. Now down to seventy thousand… "Here you go."
Alice hands over the pouch as she grabs the money. "Thank yo~u. I promise I won't waste this money, if that's any solace to you."
It doesn't matter to me what you do with your money.
Promptly, I plop my backpack on the main table, and flip it open. The electric scissors are still curled up in that glove inside…
Click. The rubber pouch opens nicely.
...I put the gloved scissors inside, before unfurling it and awkwardly shaking it, making the scissors fall out.
Once the electric scissors are securely inside, I close the pouch-
Click.
...The glove is now free.
Idly, I put it back on. Fun equips.
"Have a good day." Alice gives me a wave, turning back to her rear counter. "Your purchases are welcomed here."
Indeed. So it seems, anyway.
Moving for the door, I slip my mask back on...
Shikome is standing in the door, holding Rumia.
…
"I need to progress." I remind her.
Shikome idly sidesteps out of the way.
...Out of this magician's household at last, I begin my trek back to the human village area. Hmm…
/ / / / NEW YORK CITY COMBAT YO / / / /
We are now some distance in the woods…
I'm also now carrying Rumia again, for obvious reasons. It's indeed possible to have too much of a good thing.
"Aha~h…" Rumia is now drowsy again. "Ahaha~h… whe~n the sun goes out, who turns it back o~n…?"
Shikome is staring at me like I need to be publicly executed. I simply shrug in response.
Bushes ahead of us rustle, again. This entire walk's been accented by energetic fairies, though none have bothered to potshot us yet.
Instead of fairies, some naked youkai meanders out. She's tall, with light pink hair, and empty eyes.
…We exchange stares.
After looking at us for a moment, she drops to the floor, revealing a large, oblong shell. She proceeds to scuttle along the floor like an oversized insect, moving into the opposing bushes.
Okay. They seem to have a girl for everything, here.
Moving down the dirt path further, we eventually come to a sight…
There seems to be a large, red flower on the side of the path that wasn't there before. It has thick petals, reminiscent but not identical to a rafflesia. It also has a pleasant scent that's emitted even from afar, rather than a grotesque one.
I don't feel like getting close to it. Chances are, it's some kind of Piranha Plant.
...However, as we pass by it-
It rustles loudly. Moments later, a green-skinned girl emerges from it, with bright red hair. "Ooo~h…" She stretches, though her legs seem to be parts of the plant itself, stretching down into the plant's gooey core. "New scents…"
Turning towards us, she smiles. "Ooh? Youkai…? Or…" She sniffs the air again, and smiles, her eyes narrowing. "I smell some human blood, too. Some old, some new…"
"I am the new generation of mask." I reassert my identity.
She snorts, her medium breasts jiggling. "Hmm. You'll do. I'm not picky..."
...Shikome looks over at her, expression dry.
"And who's this?" The alraune gives a brilliant grin towards the loli, then towards the loli in my arms. "Oo~h. Two little youkai, lost in the woods, hrm? Well…" The alraune raises her brow at Rumia. "Hmm. Yes, this will do quite nicely."
Shikome begins to step towards the plant at a leisurely pace.
Beaming, the alraune leans out of her flower, opening her leaf-like arms. "Ooh? Do you want a hug, girl? Come he~re…"
Stopping before a leaf arm's distance, Shikome stands on the grass off the side of the path.
...The alraune huffs. "Come closer. I smell good, you know…" She waves her arms, noticing they're just short of reaching Shikome. "Really, now."
"You smell like a wet bitch." Shikome corrects the alraune's previous comment. The grass she's standing on has started to turn black, and some of the grass in a line before her has begun to turn black as well...
Frowning, the alraune glowers at her. "Well, I could just cut your head off and eat you that way, but that's no fun."
Shikome's expression is one of vague disdain. "You're not even worth eating."
"Well, aren't you a little…!" Grimacing, the alraune raised in her flower pod in an attempt to look intimidating. Then, she smiled widely. "Hehehe~! Die!"
She lunges forward, in an attempt to use both her leaf arms like a dual-bladed guillotine.
Shikome ducks out of the way.
By now, the grass had formed a janky line towards the alraune, the corrupted trail reaching the flower's base…
"Oo~h, the newborn thinks she's smart?" Leaning back and forth after her miss, the alraune chuckles. "Hehehe~! I'll skewer you."
Shikome steps to the left-
Crack! A bright, green vine erects from the soil where Shikome was previously.
The taint that had infected the grass was now on the flower's base, spreading up the roots…
Quickly, the vine receded into the soil.
"Alright…" The alraune's smile became normal. "How about this?"
Cr-cr-crack…!
Before our very eyes, the alraune's flower pod and roots began rising from the soil, a few of the more solid-looking roots snapping away.
The flower's petals began to touch the ground like little legs. At this point, however, the taint was already spreading up the bulk of the central pod the flower girl resided in…
"Hrm?" Taking notice, the flower girl began to look down at herself. "That's weird…"
Very quickly, all the grass around Shikome and a nearby bush start to lose color...
The alraune notices the trail on the ground, and the corruption moving from her pod to her goo, and her petals. "What?"
"Weeds should submit obediently, or they may rot eternally." Shikome presents a compromise, seemingly.
"...Really..." Still confused, the alraune looks down again, watching herself slowly rot and decay. "You mean- this… this is supposed to be you?"
Staring at her, Shikome does little more than watch the plant girl die slowly.
"Get real…" Stumbling to the side, the alraune begins to grin. "Ho-how could a little- ngh- youkai like you… d-do something like- kaugh…" I'm not sure what causes a plant girl to cough, but this plant girl is coughing.
The alraune's leftmost petals begin to curl up and blacken, dropping her onto her side. Her gel flows out of her pod not like gel, but like a mixture of crystallized chunks and water, only some yellowish clumps remaining gel-like.
"Gh-ngh…" The alraune begins crying. "Wh-what did you- you mean by 'submit'? A-aah- I could- kaugh, kaugh- I could-"
The flower's pod is rested upright again when the other side of petals curl up, refusing to hold her body.
"Pl-please…" The woman's temperate red eyes begin to dim. "I-I'm…"
At this point, the alraune's humanoid body was beginning to wrinkle, brown, and compress. "Mghn… Aa~h…"
"You… you shall rot until forevermore." Shikome declares.
"Nn~h…!" Jerking her body, the alraune achieves little productive. Her face was beginning to wrinkle, straw flesh now darkening to the color of grounded-up autumn leaves. "Aoh…"
Instead of the shifting sounds of petal on vine, whenever the alraune hobbled it produced crinkling sounds, similar to the results of playing with really dry leaves.
Soon after this, the already diseased petal legs stopped trying to move, and the alraune receded into her nasty, deformed flower pot, returning to rest.
…
"Hello~." Rumia waves at no one in particular. That was a reaction so delayed that I'm sure it's not actually connected to the youkai we just met.
After a few moments of me idly watching the fiasco, the alraune begins to stir again. Really, now. I know plants can be tenacious, but this is a slight-
"Ouh…"
Gradually, the alraune used its stick-like arms to shakily stand its torso back up. The eyes are now hollow sockets, the only details inside voids of darkened material. Her jaw was locked open, in a position reminiscent of screaming.
Stepping up to it, Shikome runs her hand along the bottom of its chin…
"This is a better look, befitting a worm such as yourself…"
"Uo~h…" The undead alraune hobbles slightly, attempting to keep upright. "Ngh."
She went from eye candy to an eyesore in under two minutes.
...Also, since I'm getting tired of referring to it as 'the alraune', I'm going to call her 'Zombirune' from now on.
"So-something sme~lls…" Rumia squirms in my arms. "Enh…"
...Shikome glances over at Rumia, before looking back over Zombirune. Taking a few steps back, she looks over the undead being…
…
Zombirune slowly articulates her dead petal legs-
Shi-shi-shi-shi-shi-shink. The petals split and divide, revealing furry black fibers between each. Like this, the alraune skitters along on what seems to be sixteen small, decayed petal slices…
That is indeed a zombie. I didn't know plants could become zombies.
"Didn't know you were into that sort of thing." I state plainly.
...Shikome gives me a dry look.
I begin to move down the path, since we've spent a good sum of time simply necromancing this plant girl.
"Wha~t time is it…?" Rumia is still in my arms, and has been staring up into the sky this entire time.
...The sky's blue. Day. Not night.
Following behind me, Shikome pauses at first to make sure Zombirune is still trailing her. Once she's confident it does so consistently, her trailing becomes more natural.
/ / / / JUST ONE MORE OF THESE VIOLENT BEATINGS / / / /
Instead of heading to the village, I've decided to take Shikome somewhere else…
We approach the steps of the Myouren Temple. I've never actually given it a visit yet, but from what I know, they're quite accepting of youkai, so my getup and companionship should not be completely unwelcome. I also hope there are body enchantment learning opportunities, here. Bettering Shikome's magic game seems like it could only end well, especially when her aptitude for it seems superior to mine.
...The Zombirune scuttles up to the steps, and is impeded.
Frowning at it, looking away from Rumia- whom she was holding in her arms again- Shikome waves her hand at the zombie.
...The alraune flops onto the steps. Then, it begins using both its stick arms and its sixteen 'legs' to slowly crawl up the stairs...
Good zombie. Who else is intimidated? I sure am.
We proceed up the shrine's steps. It seems to be roughly midday, now…
Winter's becoming quite evident in the surrounding foliage, most signs of green gone, barring the occasional pine tree. Today feels rather temperate as a whole, however.
Sunlight brightly splays along the temple steps and surrounding hillside, warming us.
Reaching the top of the steps, we begin to approach the temple.
There's a girl outside, sweeping the path before us. She's short, and has dog-like ears and green hair.
"Um…" She watches our band of marauders meander towards the temple. "Hi…?"
Shikome and I glance at her, although she only locks eyes with Shikome due to my mask impeding my face.
Then, she looks at the zombie. "Wh- ah- what- what happened…!?" She promptly fluffs up, holding up her broom defensively. "Is- is she okay?"
You tell me. Does it look okay?
"He~y, Kyouko~!" A slightly dry voice comes from within the temple. Moments later, a face emerges to pair the voice to.
It's some guy wearing monk robes, with what looks like dark red hair. He's also got a large, metal device slung over his shoulder. "You wouldn't believe it. All I had to do was meld a bucket to the-..."
His pacing stops once his eyes meet us. "Who~ the hell…?"
"Hello." I think it's time to make the fact we can talk known. "...I was wondering if a Byakuren was here?"
...The red-haired man seems to relax. "Ah, so that's what this is about. Right, well, I'll just be-"
"You- you keep them company!" Kyouko squeaks out, running from her position near us towards him. "I-I'll go get Byakuren!"
"Oh- well…!" The man steps back as Kyouko rushes past, brushing him out of the way as she flees inside.
…
He awkwardly stands in the doorway as we approach the temple's front proper.
Running his eyes over us, only briefly passing over the zombie, he notes Shikome. "...Is that Rumia in your arms?"
Shikome shifts slightly, nuzzling Rumia from a different angle.
"...Mmm." He takes the non-response as a response. "And… a zombie. Not the sort I recognize, but..." Pausing, he sniffs the air. "Sure as hell ain't alive."
"Nu~h…" Zombirune responds aptly, changing its leaning posture.
...Having had enough of a glance at the zombie's details, he turns his attention to me. "I don't know what the hell you're supposed to be, though. A mime?"
"Who talks." I immediately refute his perception.
He responds without losing a beat. "A mime who's bad at his job, then."
Good conversation.
"No~h…!" For no reason, Zombirune begins hobbling towards the man slowly.
"The hell're you…?" He just watches it approach for a few moments, before backing up towards the temple's left entrance slowly. "No. Back, back, now. I have a gun, and you don't."
"Au~h…" Zombirune flops onto the steps of the temple's porch, climbing them. However, at this point, it was quite far from Shikome…
Backing up further, the man began to fiddle with the device on his shoulder. "I mean it, piss off. God, I hate zombies…"
As it stands itself upright, the zombie begins to flake and crumble. "Hoo~h…" The diseased flower pod sits down, the alraune dropping to sit inside of its decaying prison again…
…
The man stops fiddling with his shoulder-mounted weapon. "...What? Did it just die?"
...Silence sets in, as I stare at him and Shikome nuzzles Rumia idly next to me.
He looks between us and the zombie's rotten remains. "I mean… I'm actually slightly disappointed. This is fine, though..."
Smiling, Shikome steps forward.
The remains begin to stir again. "Nn-ngh…"
"Oh- holy shit…!" He jumps, backing further away from the zombie. "Oo~h, I see. Zombie pets. At least I don't have to worry about this one trying to bite me…"
...On cue, Zombirune starts to hobble towards him again.
"I'm actually going to shoot it if it keeps this up, you know." The man props the weapon higher on his shoulder forebodingly, taking a single step back…
...Promptly, Byakuren walks out from the right doorway, smiling.
...Noticing her, the man begins to navigate around the zombie to get to her-
Zombirune swings a stick-like arm at him as he passes, causing him to flinch to the side and move faster. "Ah- Jesus! Fuck…!"
"I was told someone wanted to see me…?" Byakuren pans her head around, looking over the four of us.
At first, none of us respond.
"Nao~..." Except for the zombie, who is slowly turning around…
"Indeed." I have found words to say. "I was wondering if you could pass on some knowledge to my friend here." I gesture to Shikome.
...After a moment, Byakuren smiles widely. "Why, I would be delighted."
...Actually, considering who she is, I clarify. "About body enchantment, if you could."
Her smile deflates slightly. "...Oh. Right. Well, do come in. I suppose I could show you a thing or two…"
With that, she turns around and moves inside, the man following closely behind her. I move up the steps to follow her, and Shikome trails behind me. The zombie trails behind Shikome, and as such we have this conga line of people following different people. Barring Rumia, unfortunately. She's cuddly, apparently.
Inside the temple, I notice the lack of things in the hallways.
Quickly, Byakuren stops before a door and moves to open it, only for it to appear locked. "Oh…? How strange."
To deal with this situation, she knocks on the door.
…
After a few moments of no response, she knocks again.
"That's one of the conversation rooms, isn't it?" The man observes. "The he- erm, the heck's it locked for?"
Byakuren glances at him. "That is a good question."
…
She knocks again-
The door swings open partially. Seija hangs out of it for some reason, looking up at Byakuren. "Get the hell out of here. Will you get the hell out of here if I give you five hundred yen?" Pulling the coins out, she tosses them at Byakuren's face. "'Kay, thanks, bye."
The door slams shut. The coins that had collided with Byakuren's face are now clattering on the ground, although a few ended up in her bust.
…
The man awkwardly turns to her. "Uhm… you know, you have a few in your-"
Bam! Byakuren's arm lunges forwards, smashing the door open. It violently swings inward on its hinges and hits the wall, only to fall off of the hinges and onto the floor.
Inside, Seija, some cream-haired girl in monk robes, and some fluffles were around a large rock. Seija turned to the door- or at least where it was- irate. "I thought I gave you money! Piss off!"
Calmly, Byakuren steps forward…
Seija gets in her way. "Bitch, I'm going to- woah, hey!" Byakuren simply walks into her, placing her arms between herself and Seija to push her along.
The cream-haired monk stood between the two and the rock. "I-I'm so sorry, Hijiri! I have to do this! Forgi- waah!" Seija was pushed into her, and Byakuren proceeded to push the two along.
Rushing to protect the rock, the fluffles start stacking ontop of one another in the way of Byakuren. "honh honh honh honh…"
The girls were pushed into them, tipping them over. "Waaa~l!"
Finally, they were all pushed into the large rock. Even after this, Byakuren kept pushing them along, the rock scraping against the floor as it was pushed as well...
"You- you don't know what you're- aah…!" Seija struggled to fight Byakuren's arms. "Get your hand off my boob!"
Byakuren proceeded to push Seija, the monk, the fluffles, and the rock all out of an open door at the other end of the room. Once they were out, she stepped back inside and closed the door.
…
Turning back around, she smiled at us. "We seem to be short a table, at the moment. I don't believe we'll need it."
I don't even know what was supposed to be going on, but it all seems to be sorted out, now.
Taking a few steps forward towards the middle of the room, Byakuren sits down on her legs. "Why don't you all take a seat?"
Shikome steps into the room first, followed by her zombie.
"Nghn-nnnh…" The zombie grunts, for some reason-
Cr-crack…
Awkwardly, the zombie alraune's pod contorts, and it makes its torso rigid.
Smiling, Shikome takes a seat on the new platform provided by the zombie's contortions. That's an interesting way of doing that…
...I think I will stand, for now.
For some reason, that guy is still here with us, and he takes a seat to the right of me, crossing his legs. Curiously, I see he's got boots on.
...Byakuren looks up at me. "Don't be shy, now. Take a seat."
For some reason that sounds more like a threat than a suggestion.
Taking the hint, I sit down on my legs, as well…
"Before we begin…" Byakuren leisurely runs her gaze over us. "Why don't we introduce ourselves?" To kick things off, she introduces herself. "I am Byakuren Hijiri… although I'm sure you already knew that."
Is that so. In any case… my name. Hmm.
"You may know me as Shikome." Shikome suddenly speaks up.
Byakuren gives her a nod.
"Xavier Abaddon Bloodworth." I make myself known, to some extent.
...After a moment's hesitation, Byakuren nods at that. Then, she turns to the man…
...He blinks. "What, me too?"
Byakuren snorts. "Yes, you too."
Rolling his eyes, he reciprocates. "Alri~ght. Call me Stormy, that's what everyone calls me. It works."
"Alright…" Byakuren nods twice. "I'm sure we all know who Rumia is, though it seems she's not here right now."
She's not wrong. Rumia is currently in some form of comatose, which she enters whenever Shikome uses her as a plush doll, or fuckdoll.
"Before we begin…" Byakuren looks at Shikome. "Who's your other friend?"
...Shikome shrugs.
"The one who shifted into a seat, for you." Byakuren specified, still smiling.
"Something from the woods." Shikome shrugs off the zombie's existence.
"I see." Byakuren looks over me and Stormy for a moment, before returning her gaze to Shikome. "Is she yours?"
"It is forever mine." Shikome states plainly.
...Byakuren seems to process this for a moment, running her gaze along the zombie as well as Shikome.
"When did you kill her?" Byakuren asks equally plainly. "Her magic signatures are indeed unlike any stage of death… though something tells me she didn't die naturally."
Shikome tilts her head. "It isn't dead?"
...This seems to slow Byakuren's momentum. "...Ah?"
...Silence. 'Tis a great conversation.
"Where-..." Pausing, Byakuren shakes her head. "Forgive my manners. I can't help but pry, sometimes."
Looking over at me, Byakuren speaks, her face still unexpressively happy. "What did you wish to ask me, again?"
"I wish you to teach her," I gesture to Shikome, "body enchantment magic."
...Byakuren looks back over at Shikome. "Shikome, where did you find your friend?" Instantly, she returns to prying. "The plant one, I mean."
"In the woods." Shikome replies aptly.
…
Stormy chuckles under his breath. "What's gotten into her…?"
Taking a deep breath, Byakuren asks another question. "Did you make her as she is now?"
Shikome exhaled. "The imp failed to yield, and suffering befell it. That is all."
…
"Alright." Byakuren nods at that. "I'll keep that in mind. Sorry for annoying you, I was just… concerned, is all." Shifting slightly, she continues. "What would you like to know about body enchantment?"
"How?" Shikome makes it pretty direct.
Byakuren snorts. "I see. Stormy, would you get…" She brings a hand to her chin. "We'll need the cyan-teal stone, and the holy one. Nothing fancy, just the simple stone fragments will do."
...Stormy blinks at her- almost smiling, but restraining himself- before getting up. "Yeah, thanks. Just what I wanted to do. Fetch stones."
Stumbling to his feet, Stormy began marching out of the room.
…
We all just stare at one another uncomfortably in his absence. We're all friends here.
I decide to question this stone situation. "What do stones have to do with body enchantment?"
Byakuren tilts her head towards me. "What do you know of body enchantment?"
That it involves the body.
Before I can say anything, Byakuren continues. "While body enchantment is, well, body-based, enchantment in and of itself can require reagents. You will find this in any enchantment endeavor, and while it is not so common in body enchanting, it is still present."
"OBJECTION!"
Bam! I slam my arms against the floor before myself.
...Byakuren blinks at me, her expression quizzical instead of neutrally happy, for a change.
"...That statement was objectionable." I point at Byakuren meaningfully, shaking my finger.
She exhales, smiling again.
"I'm pretty sure you shouldn't use a holy stone on a youkai, though." I suggest. "Just an idea."
Snorting, Byakuren holds a finger up. "That is actually a common misconception often made by those outside of the field of enchanting. While on some levels holy magic is harmful to youkai- particularly offensive magic- it can be used for a number of utilitarian non-elemental effects. A holy stone doesn't necessarily need to create holy in and of itself, either. You see…" She stretches a little. "Holy and darkness are very charged elements, but of the two, holy has a lot of raw energy. Therefore, it can be used moreso as a battery or catalyst than an actual ingredient."
...I really cannot reasonably argue against knowledge-based logic, be it bullshit or otherwise.
Stormy walks back into the room, holding two small rocks. "I~'m back! Did anyone bite each other's dicks off while I was gone?"
Shikome stares at the holy stone.
...Byakuren just stares at him. I stare at him too.
"Apparently so." Raising his eyebrows and glancing away, he proceeds towards Byakuren. "He~re you are…"
She accepts the stones. "Thank you, Stormy."
"No~ problem." He promptly sits down next to me, again.
...Standing up, Byakuren takes another deep breath.
"To begin…" Byakuren faces Shikome. "Do you know how to detect your own mana?"
"Obviously." Shikome states this, but did not know how to detect her own mana until this morning.
"Excellent." Propping arms at her sides, Byakuren begins instruction. "Body enchantment- as one might expect- deals with the body. Enchantment, however, is the application of magical effects to objects. In some cases, it's the simple placement of mana into external objects. However, that's not what we'll be talking about today. We'll be talking about how one can use their own mana to distribute new magical effects to their body."
Nothing about stones, huh. Also, what she just said implies stones are unnecessary, for now.
"It's not too different from using spells, at its most basic." Byakuren states. A moment later, she glows a pale cyan. "In fact, I would even say the most basic body enchantment magic and wards are even easier than normal casting concepts. This is partly because body enchantment is a subsection of casting as a whole."
Gesturing to herself, her lecture continues. "This enchantment I cast on myself is nothing special. All I've done is simply made my mana glow, resulting in illumination. This is done by, in a sense, feeding your mana to yourself. Or, in different terms, putting your mana into yourself like you were putting it into an external object."
She holds up one of the stones, the teal one that Stormy brought her. "There's two ways to go about doing this, actually. It would do one well to experiment with both."
Stepping towards Shikome, she holds out the teal stone. "This way was one used in Japan before greater control of magic was documented. The magicians of old would partially filter their mana through mana-saturated stones to achieve the glowing effect."
...Shikome focuses on the stone.
After a couple seconds, it dissolves, leaving behind some cyan sparkles.
…
Byakuren nods at that, smiling. "Oh, dear. It seems it wasn't set up, properly."
Stormy holds his arms up. "Oh no~."
Byakuren jerks her head towards him.
"I- what do you mean?" Stormy is suddenly upset about the prospect. "I worked hard to find that common magical stone from that well categorized room of common magical stones!"
...Relaxing, Byakuren turns to Shikome again, and Stormy just drops the whole thing for no reason. Definitely not suspect.
...After a moment of Shikome trying to channel her mana into herself the normal way, she begins to glow pink.
"I see…" Byakuren smiles at her progress. "You're a fast learner."
...What was that stone even for, then?
"That is one of the first steps to body enchantment. It's sort of the template, if you will." Byakuren explains. "There's more to it, but knowing how to allocate one's mana around their body is an important step."
Experimenting, Shikome makes various parts of her body glow, such as her legs and hands individually.
"Do be warned…" Byakuren began cautioning her. "If you simply charge a limb with mana and strike with it, you could very well damage the limb, or in extreme cases, lose it."
...Shikome's limbs promptly glow brighter.
"On that note, I have something to help with the buffering of such mana overcharging, so that accidentally hurting one's self is harder when going by the basic methods." Byakuren reaches into her pocket…
Slipping out the holy stone, she holds it out for Shikome to take.
...Focusing on it, Shikome furrows her brows, and seemingly reaches out for it…
Boom!
It explodes into a quaint white blast in Byakuren's hand. Moments later, the light fades, a small puff of smoke rising into the air from Byakuren's slightly scuffed hand.
...If Byakuren had any opinion about that, she was hiding it pretty well. She's still got that stupid smile on her face.
"That was unexpected." She admits. "...In that case, I suppose that's all I have to teach. At least, when it comes to on-the-spot instruction. I'd have to take some time and think if I wanted to teach you anything advanced."
"Is that so?..." Shikome steals Rumia's catchphrase.
"Indeed." Byakuren doesn't bat an eye at that, turning to leave the room. "Now, if I could ask you two to leave, that would be greatly appreciated. The temple is preparing for a festivity, you see."
Really subtle. She basically told us to get the hell out of here.
...Before Byakuren makes it out of the room, Shikome stands, approaching the wall behind us. Her right arm begins to glow bright pink.
Byakuren opens the door, only for there to still be a rock and some hooligans outside.
...Seija had her arms folded. "You done in there, yet?"
Byakuren takes a step forward, and taps the rock with her fist. It promptly crumbles apart into clumps, causing the fluffles to raise their fins and the monk girl to pout.
...Seija's eyebrows slowly rise. "I am going to kick you in the cunt."
Bam!
...That was not the sound of anyone getting kicked in the cunt. Rather, that was Shikome punching a hole in the wall behind us with her fist.
Bringing her hand up, she looked at its mangled form as it slowly twitched and shifted back to normal…
Byakuren was looking at her neutrally, still smiling like a dope.
Pressing his legs against the floor, Stormy began to fall back to the side wall of the room…
"I understand now… vermin." Rotating herself, Shikome looked at Byakuren.
…
She looked over at Stormy, mouthing something to him.
Stepping forward, Byakuren began approaching Shikome again. This time, she seemed to have more purpose.
Noticing this, Shikome returned her attention to her.
"This is quite more theatrical than it needs to be, isn't it?" Byakuren smiled at her… not that she wasn't already doing that. "...Now, why is that?"
"Speak no more, you worm. We will decide this another time… which may come soon." Shikome seems to be having none of Byakuren's run-around.
Byakuren suppresses a giggle. "...I see. Well, before you go…" She looks Shikome in the eyes. "When you leave here, will you ever intentionally kill someone?"
I don't like the direction this conversation is taking. Pre-emptively, I stand up…
"Now, you see-"
Byakuren holds out an arm. "I would like her to answer in her own words."
Think fast. Items to get us out of this situation…
...Well, I do have those slick running-away scissors. Also, hedge cutters.
I think it's time to run.
Kr-krik. The zombie alraune begins to shift back into non-chair posture…
I begin to move for the door.
Shikome speaks, smiling. "There is no living thing on this plane that does not kill another."
...Byakuren sighs, her smile dropping a little. "Then, I'm afraid I cannot let you leave, today."
Now she's gone and done it. It's a good thing I've mastered the art of running away really fast.
"Let's go." I announce the battle strategy as I head out the door.
Stormy begins to stand, fiddling with his cannon thing. "Oh, man, we're actually fighting!? Fucking-... I didn't calibrate this thing for excess use today, but it'll have to make do!"
Shikome glances over at him.
Drawing a bright, rainbow-colored scroll from somewhere, Byakuren furled it open, and began glowing herself. "It always pains me to do this, you know. But, at the same time, force is sometimes necessary in this world we live in."
...Also, Shikome's still holding Rumia. That might be a problem.
Turning to me- as I was still in the doorway- Shikome props Rumia on her feet, and gives her a curious shove towards me-
Rumia spins across the floor on her shoes, arcing towards me, allowing me to catch her.
...That was some Dr. Seuss shit.
Grabbing Rumia bridal style, I begin to run out of the hall. All it will take is another left to get out of the temple, since we're not very far in to begin with…
...As I'm halfway down the hallway-
Bam! Shikome is launched into the exterior wall, and considering the volume, she's probably beaten me outside.
Running, I quickly reach the temple's front doors, and move outside.
Out here, I do indeed see Shikome. She's back on her feet, six tendrils defensively arced around herself.
Bam, bam!
For some reason, Byakuren plows through an upper portion of the wall with her fists, making another hole in the temple. It does allow her an aerial advantage from the start, however...
"Please, stop this." Byakuren asks of Shikome. "I can help you."
Shikome doesn't reply, maintaining her defensive posture.
After making my way down the front porch stairs, I am now making my way across the courtyard cautiously…
At Shikome's non-response, Byakuren lowers towards the ground… "Superhuman, Byakuren Hijiri."
Shikome watches her-
Woosh! Byakuren whirls right past her, a trail of pastel blue danmaku in her wake. Shikome moves to jump out of the way, anticipating another rush in the opposite direction.
She makes it into the air-
Thwash! Byakuren's next dash clips Shikome's lower body.
As a result, Shikome goes soaring into the sky, over the exterior courtyard walls.
Woo-woo-woo-woosh! Byakuren finished her set of dash attacks, likely as per part of her spell card, weaving a myriad of bright blue and white trails in her zigzag-shaped path.
...The bright trails all promptly shatter into violent curtains of danmaku hell, spreading out across the entire courtyard.
Once Byakuren's set is finished, she thrusts her arm into the air-
Woosh!
Her uppercut allows her accelerated jump speed, soaring high into the sky, a trail of blue light in her wake.
By the way, fuck danmaku. These bullets she left me hurt.
"Ah- shit, shit…!" Stormy, who got outside at some point, seems to appreciate the bullets, too. "Fuck me! Screw this! I didn't sign up for friendly fire…!"
Promptly, he turns around, ducking his head and hobbling into the temple.
I've had to strafe into the grass along the courtyard path to dodge and weave through this danmaku. I've managed to only get hit about twenty times so far, and every bullet makes me want to kick a small animal.
Rumia is also not really helping this situation, right now. She's too tiny to make a good body shield… that, and she's not necessarily light, either.
Booking it as fast as the building, throbbing pain will allow me, I make it to the stairs that lead away from the temple proper.
Instead of taking them, I opt for the adjacent hillside, and begin running down. When the hill's steepness causes my traction to fail, I simply settle for sliding on my rear. Accenting it with an occasional jerk of my body to keep things moving on this unfortunately rough hill, I continue down the hillside at a good pace…
...As for where Shikome and Byakuren are, I think I can tell by the laser light show going on in the forest to my left.
Upon reaching the bottom, I take a moment to stand there and contemplate life, catching my breath…
It's a nice life. At least I have a loli...
I see Shikome dart around in the brush off the path, the trees darkening and the plants getting molested in her wake.
Bam! Byakuren plows straight through a tree with her fist, tipping it aside. Considering the amount of trees, it'd likely be problematic for her to do her rush attack, unless she's really fine with bashing herself right into multiple trees.
...Seemingly realizing this herself, Byakuren's blue glow fades, becoming rainbow colored again.
Dry brambles seem to lurch towards her, the nearby dead plants becoming aggressive.
Byakuren looks like she's about to kick them, but reconsiders, darting higher into the air-
A tree's branches abruptly attempt to clamp into her, only for her to grab the branches and crush them with her bare hands.
Rising higher into the air, she moves to escape the barren canopy.
...Below, Shikome seems to be sprinting about, finding positions with the most trees to sink her tendrils into, so she could maximize the amount of control she had.
Again, Byakuren drew her glowy scroll…
She slowly spins in the air, the midsection of her scroll seeming to expand, becoming longer and exemplifying this by obeying gravity, albeit loosely.
Behind her, a huge, rainbow, luminescent floral pattern began to appear in the air, four smaller flower sigils appearing at the corners of it.
"Great Magic…" Byakuren announces another spell card. "Devil's Recitation!"
She drops towards the tree tops abruptly, as if her flying ability suddenly ceased to be-
Vuu~m…
Shy of the tree's branches below, the four flower sigils light up blindingly bright, casting red light across the nearby, daytime woods.
Vu-Vrrrr~!
From each sigil, a marginally dimmer red laser is fired. Four red beams rain down into the forest, severing a few of the trees below.
Byakuren is seemingly propelled back up into the air by the force of the lasers she fired, emphasizing their firepower.
...Now that I can see, it seems that Shikome is now looking for another spot, her four trees now reduced to two by the laser blast.
A low hum came from the pattern behind Byakuren again, even lower than the one previously. Then, those four flower sigils began firing blue, arrow-shaped danmaku bullets, all in straight machinegun lines. Except, they were all firing ninety degrees away from the battle. Good aim.
….Slowly, the streams of bullets all began to rotate towards Shikome's position-
Fwam, fwam, fwam, fwam! Bright, white orbs began generating randomly in the air around the entire scene, each the size of a person. Slowly, they fell towards the ground-
I had to step out of the way of one. There's a lot, and they just keep spawning.
"He~y! What's going on!?" For some reason, a harpy flaps her way out of the trees somewhere behind me. "Are we having a danmaku fight!?" She's got tan wings, and brown hair.
Also, no. No danmaku here, clearly.
Fwam! Byakuren adds spread shots of huge, scarlet orbs to the mix, which are even bigger than the person-sized white orbs. Between the randomly surging machinegun fire, the orb spread shot, and the rain of white orbs, Byakuren has quickly turned this hillside into a hellzone.
Shikome was currently dancing between the trees in the brush. Fortunately, none of these bullets had the smashing power the lasers did. Even so, the trees were promptly stripped of their branches by all the incoming bullshit.
Darting forward into the storm, the harpy flaps her wings violently. "Wo-wo-woah! Who's shooting!? Where- ah!"
She flies straight into a slowly falling white orb as she dodges the blue arrows. "Ow, ow- ow!"
She ends up flying straight through an arrow stream just a moment later, leaving her already crackling with danmaku energy.
Thwash! One of the huge, scarlet spread shot orbs blindsides her. "Eeaa~h!"
...Noticing the harpy fall, Shikome darts from her hidey hole between four trees to reach it-
Vuu~m… Byakuren's flower sigils glow blindingly bright again, still firing the immense bullshit hellstorm down.
Vrrrrr~!
Shikome leaps back towards- and over- the trees she once took cover behind-
Ba-ba-ba-bam! This time, instead of being one-offs, the four solid lasers persist, remaining in addition to this hellstorm Byakuren unleashed onto the forest.
Fwoam! Fwoam! Fwoam! Portions of the air above explode like fireworks, circular, ring-like spreads comprised of the person-sized white orbs I'd seen before.
At this point, all the audible noise has been reduced to a mishmash of danmaku spawning noises and the sound of those lasers carving through trees like a thousand degree knife through butter.
Shikome was moving in a roundabout way through the woods to reach the grounded harpy, the four lasers following closely behind her every move as she leapt from treeside to treeside.
Fwash! Another ear-piercingly audible noise is heard over the unpleasant ear molesting. It seems that the blue arrow machine guns now have two additional spreads that only fire forty-five degrees to the left and right of the main stream. How useful.
...I was now hiding behind a tree, because fuck all of that. The tree I'm hiding behind is crackling with danmaku energy.
Reaching into my backpack, I begin to draw my makeshift rifle. This seems to be a good time to use it as any. First, I just need my… water scissors, electric scissors, glove- oh, I have it on- and, hmm… this might take me a moment. Especially with this Rumia I have to take care of...
Smaller, red bullets begin to gravitate out from Byakuren in addition to everything else. Yeah, just keep adding more.
Diving through the gap between the four lasers, Shikome makes a mad dash for the harpy, seemingly disregarding the machine gun streams, the huge waves of white orbs, and- oh, she's bothering to dodge the huge scarlet orbs, at least.
It's so bright, I can't see what's going on. Shikome's doing her thing, though.
…
After a moment, I see Shikome dart out of the light, moving towards me with the harpy in her arms. She was also crackling with danmaku energy, which didn't seem to hamper her mobility yet.
Well- I've got the~ water scissors and a nail in my pocket, and I'm currently trying to maneuver the electric scissors out of that rubber pouch…
Shikome exhales, a tendril stabbing into the tree behind me by piercing the spot right next to my head.
The tree's bark begins to grey, and the roots start shifting to lower us into the floor…
Yeah, we might as well just fall into the earth at this point. Go underground and take a nice sit.
...In five seconds, we're about a quarter of a foot down. The path right next to the tree I ducked behind is now unable to be seen through the bright mix of white and red. In five more seconds, we'll probably be dead.
Shikome stomps the dirt beneath us irately as it refuses to move faster.
"Go!" Slipping out my black scissors clumsily, and shoving the rubber pouch I had pulled out into my pocket, I reinforce my grasp on Rumia and just move.
Shikome barrels into the brush ahead of me, the things behind her dying in her wake.
Without any time to think, I move behind her-
Cr-crack! The tree behind us explodes, four thick lasers intersecting on its position at once.
I slide to keep up with Shikome's haste, finding a good system that's somewhere between tripping on my face and saving myself the moment I start to trip. Running with style.
...Bullets all around us, pain smashing my back and traveling up my legs, and hell lasers hot on our heels.
That pretty much describes the next thirty minutes.
/ / / / DIDN'T REALIZE BYAKUREN HAD THAT CARD UNTIL I READ THE WIKI / / / /
It is now sundown. We're in the bamboo forest, which is actually pretty dark around sundown. There are some voices in the distance, but they don't seem like they'll be bothering us, at the very least. Good.
...Shikome's tendency to corrupt plants around her isn't helping brighten the 'dark forest' situation, either.
We're both crackling with danmaku energy, though. Shikome's practically glowing.
"Nngh…" She stumbles around a little.
We're both in some clearing, surrounded by dead bamboo trees at this moment.
...Wow. It actually hurts to stop running.
...Unable to stand anymore, I plop down onto my rear, Rumia's weight making it more unpleasant than it needs to be. "Oof…"
Shikome exhales, looking around somewhat dazed, with the harpy still in her grasp.
I look up at her, grinning. "Welcome to Gensokyo."
...She doesn't look very amused by that.
By the way, where are we?
END OF CHAPTER 61.5
PROTAGONIST: Matthew, the Debatably Sane Outsider, Lord of Edges, Scissor-Slinging Slasher, Insurance Fraud Expert, Used Goods Reseller, Evil Spirit Cultivator, Shrine Maiden Evader, Professional Youkai Developer
PRIMARY WEAPON: Dash Scissors - Succubus training tool. Allows horizontal quick-dashes, for dodging and agility purposes. Doubles as scissors for kinky, cloth-cutting occasions. Or stabbing. Sleek, black design.
OFFHAND ITEMS: [A Single Rubber Glove] - For those moments one needs to touch a live power wire with one hand and fap with the other.
INVENTORY:
[Bag of Holding] - Takes up no inventory space, because it is the inventory space. Has nine slots, and is easily accessible.
Steel Scissors - Sharp, shiny, and to the point!
Quick Scissorang - Non-elemental scissors that are enchanted to return to the owner with ferocity. Not that powerful of a weapon, but combined with strong string it can be used like a powerful grappling hook. Looks like it belongs in a Barbie catalog.
Flame Scissors - Fire-elemental scissors that have an incendiary effect on strike. Boosts fire magic and abilities, as if I had any. Enchanted to grant 20% fire resistance, and reduce discomfort near fire.
Blessed Steel Scissors - Stained lightly with fresh blood from a young human female. Sharp, shiny-ish, and to the point! Also blessed...
Steel-alloy String - An experimental item provided by Alice as part of her testing. She uses these herself to manage her dolls, or so I'm told.
A Tuft of Cloth Strings - Pink, regular cotton string. It's soft, and clean.
(two more spaces remaining)
[Backpack] - Allows extended inventory, of twenty slots. Can hold larger items, but it takes longer to pull them out. Items inside are safer. It's also baby barf green.
Hedge Cutters - Rusty lawn pruning tool used by farmers to keep the vile hedges at bay. They're also sharp, so they've probably been used more than once in self-defense.
Dense Shard - A cloudy, very light grey shard. It's not a rock, however… it's too textureless. Perhaps usable as a reagent.
Teal Stone - Cool and refreshing to hold, exuding power of the wind. It's sort of shiny, too. Perhaps usable as a reagent.
Hackjob Rifle - A pseudo-railgun, made from an AK-47 barrel and a mangled toy gun. Laced with duct tape and wires to function, powered by electrical scissors, and uses small iron pellets as ammunition. Explodes violently if fed anything non-iron as ammo. Outside is coated with vegetable oil and must be wetted regularly to avoid violence upon powering up. Has yet to be fired, so power is unknown...
Water Scissors - Scissors that continuously produce water. How troublesome.
Goldfish Snack Crackers - They're smiling. They might make a good snack...
Modern-ish Surge Protector - Protects against surges. Not very useful without unified electrical practices in housing. Can still be used as a paperweight and a brick, though.
Rubber Pouch - Stores electrical objects safely. Too small to add extra inventory, but doesn't take up any space when it's filled. Currently holding electric scissors.
Electrical Scissors - Must be held by gloves at all times, lest they cause electrical fires. Can cause severe shocking and electricity-induced stunning in individuals susceptible, including myself if I'm stupid. Unable to be turned off.
(twelve more spaces remaining)
==o==
PARTY:
Shikome, the Black Scion of the Saigyou
WEAPON: Dark Tendrils - Able to create tendrils from any part of her body, she can use them for powerful physical attacks.
INVENTORY:
[Defiled Kimono] - Coated in the coagulated blood of numerous unlucky people. Grants pockets.
(two inventory spaces remaining)
==o==
Rumia, Youkai of the Dusk
WEAPON: Unarmed.
INVENTORY:
[Rumia's Outfit] - Some kind of outfit. I'm not sure how Rumia maintains it. Properties unknown. Grants pockets.
Red Ribbon - It's a ribbon in her hair. It's small, too. Takes up no inventory space. Properties unknown.
(two inventory spaces remaining)
==o==
ACTUAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:
oh hey it's you
hi friend
anyway, this chapter…!
had some fights! one with a THING girl, one with a PLANT GIRL (not really that much of a fight innit), one with BYAKUREN
byakuren's card turned out to be a lot more shit than i anticipated! it was cool though
i still have very little idea if people are as interested in reading action as i am writing it but i've saturated my stuff with it and it seems to have gone over well enough so far
shikome kinda captures the bluntness of murder and death i wanted matt to capture a bit more but being in his perspective kinda makes it hard to make his motives too mysterious, although i think his natural personality does a good enough job
maybe it's too much me trying to really paint death as this like conceptual thing whenever matt picks off a target of his, then proceeding to almost ignore its gravity when shikome slaughters people
hmm; it'd be nice if someone gave me words on this matter mmhmm; i mean my proofreaders kinda sorta have and their interest says something but y'know i'd like a wealth of viewpoints to best ascertain my footing, yeah?
also…!
magical exposition with alice! i think that was interesting enough to be a lot of words. byakuren's explanation mighta been kinda pushing it (especailly 'cause she bullshitted a margin of it) but it was immediately contrasted by some action
not sure if all the action and exposition at once is a bad thing i need some voices
oh yeah, to that anon guest reviewer:
when has matt getting beat the fuck up ever made him not double down on his intent - w -
also brad getting robbed is a consideration that could go well, but it wouldn't be overwhelmingly equip-based and be more of just a brief event if it even did happen, otherwise you'd just get my guy being annoyed and all whiny about grinding for crap again and that'd just prolong the already ungodly long progression
not that this long period is a bad thing but we don't need to artificially extend it with externally-suggested filler - w - i guess part of it is that i just don't like the idea but i'll think about it
although that does give me some good enemy ideas
as a whole this fic is really more about the journey than the destination as evidenced by the seventy something chapters of wandering aimlessly and collecting loot :3 so there's almost no such thing as a 'filler chapter' since all this shit's essentially happy crappy filler but at the same time i'm doing my best to make moments count where they may, even if my best sometimes isn't good enough
but, y'know, i'm learnin', yo!
as always, see you all next time!
CO-AUTHOR'S NOTE:
11/10 "Just enough water" - IGN
this was a fun one to make, especially since i could finally give shikome more of her own character instead of a side one-liner to complement my own existence, because she isn't supposed to be at all
shikome is entirely of my own design, including all of her dialogue. i personally think i did well enough and managed to avoid making her seem like a one-dimensional character of just gimmicks and no real personality. if you got any complaints, you can give'em to me… by giving them to the main author in the 'reviews' anyway, help
by the way, it seems it has…
HAPPENED AGAIN
17k more words, except this time at least half of it is exposition and the other half is flailing wildly with a small portion of that flailing wildly involving rumia
do you love reading pure exposition for 10 pages in a row
yeah me too, and it ended up being free. as if alice blabbered on for so long that she just wanted it done and over with already, even if she didn't gain anything from it
also the loli spree killer finally had her first actual fight, woo. i've wanted to do that for a while but never really had the chance too, although i wish it were against someone more FEASIBLE than a flying, enchanting land-nuker. byakuren's not known as one of the hardest touhou bosses for just no reason. this isn't gonna be the only encounter as well, which will be fun.
just a side note, kicking my ass isn't gonna suddenly make me realize that slaying people is morally wrong. if it did that SURE TOOK A WHILE DIDN'T IT. just took butchering like ten people and watching other people slaughter several more for me to realize "wait a moment, i think this isn't a good thing to do." might as well just go back to the temple and live out the rest of my days as a buddhist monk
no seriously, does anyone actually read these
