(in which we strike the earth for loots)
…
I don't wanna wake up…
...Eyes closed, I… find my current spot really comfy, wherever I am. I'm on top of something soft, which would normally be vaguely uncomfy, but… I'm positioned just right, and this warmth is filling me. I almost want to fidget because this is too much, but… there's a weight on me too.
So I don't ruin this orientation by shifting about like I usually like to. I don't even know what's on or under me. But, maybe I'll fidget-... nope. I'm trapped, and it feels good.
My arms are naturally lying around something beneath me. I'm on someone. My eyes are still so heavy, that I don't… particularly want to open them.
I'm sure this is fine. O- ah. That confirms my suspicion. Not one, but two, but in fact multiple heartbeats; one belonging to me, one coming from past my back, and one coming from below.
This… this is so…
Nuzzling my head into the the chest of the person below me, I find my face pressed against something soft and good smelling. Whelp…
I give up again, letting the warmth and softness take me...
…
...Just- so soft, so warm. I think time's passed. I'm definitely dozing, but I'm not sure how much...
I know it's… kind of sappy to dabble upon heartbeats- especially twice- but, I'd thought my own against pillows or Ha-chan's was kind of sedating. Two in addition to my own is… oh my god.
As far as I can remember- which is, not that well right now- I haven't really been this comfy since I've come to Genoskyo. Just, like-... totally safe. Contained.
Stark contrast to yesterday, I guess. Late yesterday. The last part of that encounter was just a blur of action, but from the moment that tinge of empty pain had hit me- when I was probably freakin' gutted- everything was so slow. The uneven digits of the spattered claw that would've done me in, the disbelieving look of the person who'd nearly killed me…
In retrospect, that feels like a big part of yesterday, now. Of course- the pain after was a fuckin' rollercoaster, but I think I've just kind of blocked that out, even now. That was bad.
But, my mind feels so slow, right now. And, that's good…
...All this thinking's kind of woken me up, but that doesn't make this position any less comfy. I wonder if I can slip back to sleep.
Safe and helpless at the same time. It's… amazing.
Seemingly sinking back into the body I'm lying on, I let out a breath. Maybe I should hug tighter- no, I will hug tighter, because I want to feel better.
That's… not bed, that my hands slip under. That's… powder? I don't know…
This anomaly justifies briefly snapping open my tired eyes. I do so… kind of. Okay, now I really-
Oh. Well, that…
My face is near the pale skin of Genkan's left breast, the porcelain skin jogging my memory. This is her room, and she's… those are her arms, around me and pressed into me, just beneath another weight pressing into me.
Oh my god, I'm in her bust. There was no way I just rolled into this position- she totally turned me into a body pillow. Woah…
"Mnh…" I don't even know how Ha-chan got in here, but she's on my back. Her arms are kinda clinging awkwardly to Genkan's sides, below me. Me and Genkan are stomach to stomach, and for some reason my kimono's a little looser than usual… as is hers, considering flesh is exposed.
So… Ha-chan's softness is weighing down onto me, and that's squishing me into Genkan's soft body.
...I think it's back to sleep. This is where someone who isn't self-aware goes 'hurr what are these emotions I feel', but I know what I'm feeling. This has to be love- or something close. This comfort can't be anything but some kind of love, and I honestly don't really care about the logic behind it right now. I feel loved; that's all that matters right now.
I can... think about what this means later. I wanna sink… and being enveloped in Genkan's bosom is kind of… detracting from my brain stuff…
…
…
"Brad." A- ah, whah…
S'Genkan's voice. "Wake up." I am well rested, dude. And- I'm still laying in an embrace. Holy shit…
"I'm ah…" Why am I staring into one of 'er boobs, anyway. "I'm… up…?"
"It's time to snuggle…" Ha-chan's smug voice comes from behind- above, somewhere near me. My back. Also, I can hear the crinkling of a cheap winter coat. She's prepared for winter, dude. "Brad-kun's really snuggly right now…!"
Aw frik. Here comes the anxiety, son! I've never been in this situation before, son! What do do~, son…!?
I push against the snow- oh, no-
Crunch. -only for my hands to sink in, and it feels warm for some reason. Freakin'... as a result, my face ends up against Genkan's chest flesh. Like, that upper chest part above the boobs but before the neck. Wow… I'm so trapped. I've… been captured...
"...So he is." Genkan, why is your kimono loose. I'm pretty much kissing your collar, like this. Also, this is doing no good for my hormones. I don't think that even needs to be said. Does- is there a bathroom in this cave!? Hnngh...
"...Morn' 'n'..." I let out an awkward good morning, Ha-chan's weight awkwardly smooshing me into Genkan and making talking hard. Like, either I lay my cheek on her collar or I talk into her neck. No amount of visualization or pretending's prepared me for being this close to someone. It's… overwhelming. We've… gone too far…!
…
How awkward! Well, back… to sleep-
Woah, energy spike. Why~. "Wake up." Genkan suggests…! No. You're amazing… I just wanna sleep.
Pushing against the snow- with the sides of Genkan's kimono as leverage this time- I look up in spite of Ha-chan pressing my back down into her...
Genkan… looks pretty peaceful. She raises a brow at my nearly asleep expression… "I don't think I've ever seen you this willing to stay settled."
...I dunno what to say. For some reason, I'm… really tired still. Also, this embrace is really distracting. Once I get moving, I'll be business as usual, but for now, I'm freakin'... I'm buried, son. Buried in chicks. No- it's not 'for some reason', I'm tired because this is a heaven-tier level of relaxing.
I should say something before I'm mistaken for a mute. "...Well. I'm just… real comfy." Maybe I shouldn't've said anything…
Genkan snorts, and I feel it.
Closing my eyes, I give up. Too… much stuff...
"Brad-kun sounds really tired…" Ha-chan shifts on top of me weirdly. What the frik're you even doing…? "It's making me sleepy, too…"
"If we sleep any longer…" Genkan kinda sorta protests, looking down at me the entire time. "Soon it will be noon." Nice rhyme…
I rest my head on her upper chest again, 'cause it took effort to hold it up. There we go...
...
Silence, because I'm really not in the mood to interact, which is like, a first right off the bat. "If you need to rest longer…" Whah. Genkan just… wiggles a little, and closes her eyes. "I suppose a few more hours couldn't hurt." Yes.
"Ya~y." Ha-chan- woah face in the back of my neck. "Mrmrm…" I just want to… lay here forever. The day can wait. Everything can wait. I want this...
...I shift a little against Genkan's legs 'cause almighty hormones on fire. Wait no no no, we're not going down that slope. That's okay with my pillow mech, this is different. No lust, only sleep.
Ah, shit. I think I woke myself up…
...Genkan looks down in response to my wiggling, her expression… neutral, if weirdly ignorant of the fact why I'm shifting. Or, maybe not? "I don't think he's going to be able to fall asleep, like this." She totally knows. I think.
"Wha~t…" Ha-chan, don't talk into my neck... "Aw~."
…
"I, ah…" Immediately losing my train of thought, I let myself rest on Genkan again-
Wa~h. She rolls over, and dumps me into the snow-
"Eee~...!" Ha-chan springs up and away, the snow chilling her!
...This leaves me in the… cold snow? Despite my kimono being on- albeit loose- my resistances don't kick in? Or-
Some kind of heat flourishes across my features; a pleasant, aura-y, encompassing warmth. "Woa~ht is this…"
...As it sort of tapers off, I- hey, there's my morning energy, kind of! I'm surprisingly cold, but not chilly, without whatever it was.
"...I shared some heat with you." Why's Genkan informing me so softly? "It began as a way to keep your fairy warm. It happened to course through you. I'm not sure what you would feel."
Apparently good. Is that what Genkan feels when she steals souls? 'Cause if so… I don't think I blame her, yo…!
I probably look half in the bag, 'cause I am. Genkan always does a fucking number on me. Here I thought I was past slow mornings, too…
I wanted to sleep more. I just… wanted to sleep.
She sits up properly, and her kimono folds across her partially exposed features. "I think... that's enough of that. You certainly seem to be feeling better."
I'm pretty sure she's referring to my boner, which I freakin' brushed against her thigh earlier. Fully clothed, mind you, invisible head audience. Still- hnngh. Urges...
"Yeah. I think I'm good…!" Quick, shove erection into the snow! And-... I don't think that helped. Somehow.
"Why's your room so co~ld…!?" Ha-chan hugs herself in the air over us!
...Instead 'a dignifying that question with a response, Genkan drifts onto her legs while I precariously try to get up and not look like I'm hiding a freakin' longsword in my pants.
"Now that we've had our… leisure fix." Drifting towards the door- well, 'door', more like a-... that iceway wasn't shattered before, was it? "...Hmm. The door was forced open."
...Ha-chan gently coasts next to her. "Sorry~. I had to get Cirno-chan, and she dunno much about doors, so…"
Calmer now, I move up next to the friends as they navigate out into the main room. Dah- holy shit. My dried guts are still on the floor! Pfft…
"Hohoho…!" I take a reserved chuckle at them!
...Shooting me a raised brow, Genkan glances at what I'm glancing at, before snorting. "...It's good that you find that funny."
"S'a little surreal, innit…!?" Not sure what those chunks are, and I'm not excited to find out! It just being there s'a little comically extreme…!
...Makes my tummy squeamish, dude. Speaking of which, it feels like I have all my parts now! That's probably good!
Also, I didn't notice it the night before, but there's mana prizes all over the floor now. I need health prizes, not mana prizes. Freakin'...
Fwash. Before we even reach it, Genkan opens the partial remnants of another smashed doorway.
...There's a fireplace in here, but it's frozen. Maria's crouched in front of a small bonfire, that seems to be made from Cirno's clothes.
Cirno herself is lying half-naked beside a derelict looking lamp. Wat.
"...Ah." She looks over at us! "You're up…"
"What happened here?" Genkan, too, is confused.
"Cirno here froze the fire you got going…" Maria gestured to the ice. "...I couldn't melt it, and most of the things here aren't flammable- and you own that chair, so um…"
That is a rather nice, if half-melted from age red chair Genkan's got before the fire.
"You knocked her out and stripped her down." Genkan put it plainly! "...It's only appropriate, I suppose. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"O- oh, it's okay…" Maria stammers, standing next to Cirno's freakin' pyro'd laundry 'n' pursing her arms. "Are you feeling better, Brad?"
...That's a statement I should've expected, but didn't! "Aa~h, ye. Ye ye."
...We all pan our gaze to Cirno's clothes, which're just cinders now.
Ha-chan approaches the fire, holding up hands fitted with little mittens…! "Warm…"
Warm, huh. It looks warm.
That reminds me. I don't got any plans for today…!
...Genkan steps over to her fireplace-
Fwish. -and immediately dispelled the ice that Cirno filled it with, her palm facing the now empty stove.
I think that last fight could've gone better. If only because the pain of being gutted is actually pretty bad, a~nd I'm not eager to try that again! I can't believe I haven't been making more use of Market Gardener, though. Maybe now that we've got, uh…
...Turning, I see Seikatsu just behind us. She's covered in snowy clumps, for some reason. Camouflaged, son.
"We… probably shouldn't stay here awhile." Genkan announced, backing away from the bonfire in the room's midst. "Shimokoa is quite… determined. It's hard to place, but I know she'll pursue us in some way. She feels wronged, and vehemently so."
Yeah, well she can take a freakin' boot to the cunt. "...We should probably do somethin' anyway. Go somewhere, rather..." Weren't we going to go to the human village? That's a, eh… that's an eh idea. So far, that place has been nothing but bad news the past few days! We've probably just been unlucky, though.
"I thought... we were gonna return to the human village." Maria remembers this plan! "It'd keep us safe, I think." A number of places would keep us safe, really… as long as we don't camp in a freakin' tree somewhere or stand still really long.
...Fire crackling, and things, dude. The amber glow of it makes the ice in here a curious like, lime green, when paired with the blue-cyan monotone the ice of this cave normally has. It'd probably look white if things were brighter. Maybe it's just yellow.
"I still can't believe… that she reacted so violently, so quickly." Staring into the flames, Genkan recalled the evening. Or, was it noonish? Hmm. "...It's not-... actually that hard to believe. She was always very resolute, sure of herself and authoritative. Of my sisters… I'd normally say that I trust her as much as I trust Whiterock."
If Letty fights us, I'm just gonna run inside Reimu's room and sleep in her futon until she makes the yuki-horde stop. I won't assume she's hostile, though…!
Anyway, ooh. "...How often didja talk?" Good friends, o~r…?
"Once every few months." Genkan gave a slow nod. "We were quite active friends, I suppose."
...I- wait, that doesn't quite check out… "Active friends and once every few months." I point out the inconsistency…! "Pick one, yo."
...She just gives me a questioning stare, before glancing between me and the flames. Bringing her hands together, she responds. "Well, I suppose to a human, that would be a… drought of communication. Normally, yuki-onna- or… at least I, would not communicate for months or years at a time, beyond small talk in the midst of events."
Y'know. I'd call that lonely, but when it came to me, my school life and the computer… I was about the exact same, lemme tell ya!
"I suppose I would better define communication as engaged conversation." Genkan reaffirmed herself with another nod to the air. Hoh. "We had conversations that would span hours, and stay within contact for multiple days, before formally parting. Her occurrence here was likely abysmal timing…"
Making a pretty 'well shit' kinda face, she just huffs. "...She's not a… bad person. Just… incredibly foolhardy, and… rash. As well as apparently ignorant. And… and…" She seems kinda reluctant to roast this friend of hers! "...Perhaps she doesn't put as much thought into things as she believes she does. Nor as I believed she did."
This whole event's probably put a dent into everyone's ways of thinking!
Looking up at me, Genkan approaches…! "There's nothing that can justify what she did to you, but… the least we could do is continue to extend… peace? No. Neutral relations. It would be sort of- no, it would be hypocritical to attack her… but we shall reserve the right to defend ourselves. I don't want to hurt her, but I will if she continues to act out of line."
...Yeah, a crit hanger to the jaw and about ten million plumes of fire counted as warning shots. We need bigger hangers, dude. Also, bigger fire, bigger… we're gonna need a bigger boat…!
Now that the quiet's rolled in, maybe I should say something. "...I mean. That happened." Havin' second thoughts, son…! "I've just kinda… I dunno, I guess I've just kinda passively processed these uh, events…!"
It's kind of funny how not angry I am about nearly getting killed. That yuki-onna still needs a flaming boot to the cunt, though.
Also, getting snuggled by Genkan and Ha-chan kinda offset the whole nearly dying thing. It's like a parting man's wish, without the parting. A man's wish, son…!
…Snap crackle and pop. This fire's about to stop…!
Ohp, oh, yeah, there it went. Cirno's clothes are now ash.
"Aww~..." Staring at the ash mournfully, Ha-chan claps her mitts together! "The fire went out."
...She looks over at us! "What're you guys talking about…?" Oh, right, she wasn't around to witness me nearly die. Daa~h…!
Genkan just gives her a soft stare. "...It's nothing. We just had an argument with a friend of mine."
"Oh." She blinks. S'not technically lying! And, Ha-chan probably doesn't need to know what happened. I dunno how she'd even take it, and let's not find out.
"Well…" Maria moves past the ash, feeling at the small rips in her undershirt from the small stabs she previously got the other day. Well, small compared to what happened to me.
Speaking of, my kimono's… pretty fine after that, mostly. Plenty of rips, but no big gash; the cloth might've gotten blown out of the way while I was freakin' rocket jumping around.
"We should probably… move, and do stuff." Maria proposes! "I don't know what to think about your friend, Genkan…"
"...Me either." Genkan agrees with her!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
"Seikatsu, cloak." She doesn't really need to be visible the whole time…
Fli- flick. She vanishes for the time being, but she's always watching.
We have escaped the ice cave! My old guts have been left behind in their slowly darkening clump on Genkan's floor. We need to come back later and just see a black mass there. Or even better, nothing 'cause some youkai came up and licked up the black, clotted remains. Aa~h… aa~h!
A~nd… s'a rather sunny day today, dude. It's already almost noon…! We slept like freakin' logs.
Fwa~sh! "Hehehe~!" Someone's freezing things nearby, and it's not us! Nor Cirno; she's still inside sleeping like a log herself.
...Genkan just kinda looks around at the noise idly.
After we take a few steps out into the open, making sure there's no monster house right outside the front door-
"Ta da~!" Oo~h!
...A petite girl with short, pink hair leaps out from around a magic tree to our left! "I~t's me! Ichigo-yuki~!" She looks, uh, kinda like a yuki-onna? She's in a bright pink kimono, fit with snowflake patterns.
I glance over at Genkan, and she just looks bored.
The small girl begins to bound towards us! "Genka~n! I heard everything! I'll save yo~u!" As she nears-
Fwoo~sh! A small, pink blizzard erupts over me, blinding my vision…!
Fwoa~sh! ...Woah. That feels goo~d…! Healing energy runs across my form as a result, dude!
...Once the blizzard fades, I see Genkan before me. She's got her hand on the smaller girl's head, impeding her progress.
The smaller yuki-onna's flailing her limbs against Genkan's sides. "He- hey…! Come on! This is a rescue! Stop picking on me when I'm tryin'a save you!"
"You're still stupid." Hoh, shit. Genkan talks down to her…! "By some anti-miracle, you're also even more annoying now than before."
"Sto~p…" Slowly, 'Ichigo-yuki' stops struggling. "I- I'm just…"
I step around to get a good look 'a her. "She a friend 'a yours, yo…?"
"If you consider the biggest nuisance in my life a friend, then yes." Aw. It's a cuddle friend, dude.
...I grin at 'er! "Ta be fair yo, yer friends wit' me!"
"A- pfft…" Genkan's stoicism slips up! "...Point."
Ha-chan navigates past Genkan, towards the tiny-framed yuki-onna friend…
...Ichigo-yuki just kinda steps back once Genkan preemptively gets outta the way, and looks up at the fairy. "Wo- woah. Tall fairy. Where'd you come from?"
"You're tiny." Ha-chan can hardly contain herself!
...The thin yuki-onna just looks around almost anticipatingly, before turning around and attempting to bolt-
Ha-chan glomps onto her from behind! "Hehehe~!"
"Whah- no~!" Ichigo-yuki flails her limbs! "Genka~n! Re- rescue me rescuing you!"
"If I was in genuine danger, you'd have already failed miserably." Genkan's trying really hard not to smirk at the visual, and it's not working…! "...You've grown since I've last seen you."
"A- ah, shut up…" The pink yuki-onna withers in Ha-chan's embrace… "And what've you been doin'? Reading that book over and over again, while you sit an' float around in circles all day!?"
"...Well, yes." Genkan admits! "However… just recently, I've come to an epiphany. I'm hoping you of all my sisters would bear hearing me out over this. What have you heard?"
...Ichigo-yuki looks placated, while she superficially struggles against Ha-chan's arms. "We- well, Shimo-chan was all like, 'ooh something wicked is going on', like whenever she usually is when she's really mad, and I yelled at her a lot, and then she told me you were in trouble- and-..." She trails off as Ha-chan nuzzles her hair. "He- hey. Well anyway- she cried and stuff and looked really weird, and basically, she said somethin' about you being torn apart, so yeah." She finishes her rant sheepishly. Oh.
…
"But you're not!" She realizes! "...You're in one piece! ...I think it was like… mentally torn apart. So I thought you got exploded. But you didn't."
...Genkan's just facepalming. Maria looks uncertain of the dubious information…! Or jaded. I think I'll go with jaded…!
"If I were to put things in your terms…" Genkan began to explain life to the tiny one. "Basically. Humans are not bad people."
...Ichigo-yuki furrowed her brows. "But, they kill us and stuff. They're stupid."
"Some do. Not all." Genkan puts it simply. It's a lot easier to explain common sense to the childishly simple, especially when they listen! "No more, or any different, than random youkai seem-... than anyone else kills one another." She makes sure to keep it simple, too!
"How do you know, though…?" The yuki-onna frowned at her. "If a human was here, I bet they- he'd try to kill all of you ri~ght now!"
Yeah, dude. If a human was here. Boy am I scared of humans.
"Is… that so." Givin' her a tilted stare, Genkan begins to drift over towards me. Hello, friend…
"Yeah." Ichigo-yuki nodded vigorously… "Like, you." She looks over at Maria! "I got told stories of big mean guys who touch girls like us. And…" Then, she looks over at me! "There's old ladies who touch guys too!"
Furrowing her brows as she reaches me, Genkan looks weirded out…! "Where did you hear that last one."
"..." Aw. Radio silence. "...I made it up. But I think it's true, 'cause some of them are gross, and y'know, one of them has to be evil and gross! And touch people!"
Yukari's an old lady who touches dudes. Except… she is a youkai!
Bringing her arm up behind me, Genkan speaks. "He is a human."
...Her eyes slowly widen! "Wh- ah-"
"She is a human." Genkan gestures to Maria! ...An', in response, Maria waves, dude.
"...No~." Ichigo-yuki shakes her head vigorously, still in freakin'... Ha-chan's embrace. "She's a magician. They're different, I think. And he's hairy and weird so he's probably a human-... or a wolf guy." What, no.
"...If that helps you be at rest." Shakin' her head, Genkan continues to move forward. "She's a non-threat. Let's continue."
"I am too a threat." Despite this retort, she's still stuck in Ha-chan's arms…! "I'm just nice..."
Aw. "You're nuzzleable, dude." Fun-sized yuki-friend. That snow smelled like strawberries. Well, this was a good first bounty hunter to get sent after us, yo. She knew what she was doing. We're all dead now, dude.
So we move forward into the… half 'n' half sorta brush between the noob woods and the magic woods.
"...I'm not nuzzleable." Small yuki-friend looks over at me, from Ha-chan's arms as she follows next to me! "You're nuzzleable. Whatever that means."
...In response, Ha-chan leans towards me to nuzzle! Aa~h…!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
Do we really wanna enter the human village today, though? Like… really really?
Today, the gate to the village is just… open, which seems suspicious. There's an old guy who's not a guard dragging trash cans outside the walls, slowly…
"Why're we here!?" Ichigo-yuki freaks out, trying to thrust out of Ha-chan's arms repeatedly every second! "We're all gonna di~e! No~!"
...Ha-chan looks really stoked about holding onto her for dear life. Aww!
...Almost restlessly, Genkan drifts around the gate to get a better view of the inside of it before we proceed-
Cla- clank! She tipped a garbage can over by accident, making us all jump!
"Eep!" Ichigo-yuki especially, who jumps so hard Ha-chan gets air time.
"He~y…!" Hollering from inside the gate, the old annihilated dude shakes his arm at us, letting go of a trash can! "Dohn' touch my stuff…!"
...Standing still, Genkan watches him with a sort of soft expression, as he hobbles over towards us, his back hunched and age pretty uh, visible…
"A- agh…" Oh, shit, he-
Thud. -fell over, after slipping on the dirt I guess, landing on his arms and legs-
"Ngh…" And then he gave up, just flopping onto his side. What the fuck.
"...Um?" Maria holds her hands to her mouth, confused. Even Ichigo-yuki's just kinda… staring on sorta pityingly.
Walking up to him, I just kinda crouch down, slide my arms on under 'em, and… inhale as I lift-
Hu~p! Up an' up and up…! Hoo- the fact I'm getting this done at all means he's way underweight…!
Oof. There we go, got 'em back on his legs…! He smells like beer and something garbage-y. Euh.
"...Aah." He looks around for a moment, before- "Pftuh!" -spitting at the dirt. Then, he looks over at me! "Thanksh, kid. Yer alright."
"...If I'm not out of place in asking this…" Reluctantly, Genkan nears us with her arms at her sides neutrally. "Why are you… moving all of your 'stuff' outside the village?"
"Thoshe damn Codas…" He seems to not be concerned about my clearly inhuman company. Hobbling forward, he makes for the trash can Genkan accidentally bumped over. I'm not sure if he hobbles 'cause he's drunk or just old. Maybe both! "Bitch up 'n'... sold my house! Af' everythin' I did for 'em, leavin' me hi~gh an' dry! Kaugh- kauf..." Worked up a cough in his anger! "Afer' tha' old fag died… she up 'n' 'came boss 'a everythin'."
"...Ah." I don't think Genkan knows how to process this…! "Even so… could you not, you know, reside in the alleys at best?"
...The hobo just stares at her blankly for a moment, ceasing movement. Then- "Ha~ hahaha!" Clutchin' his gut, he laughs! Ha ha, ha- "I'd take a chance wit' youkai ova' the sh~it's been goingh- kauf, kaugh-... goin' down in here!"
That bad, huh. "...Well." I'm not sure what to tell him! "...Is it really though?" I'm a little skeptical of this bold action of his!
...It takes him like a few seconds to turn to me, but then he beams. "Hell yeah, kid! Haven' sheen shit! Thish place used ta be a' least safe!"
Hoh. Y'know what, yo.
Just to prove him wrong, I take some steps inside, and-
Bam! Ah- what the fuck!? A yin-yang orb slams into the ground before me! "Woah, shit!" I jump on reflex!
Reimu's form roars by me in a blur of motion, a spray of needles forming a stream in her wake.
...In her wake, an awkwardly oversized, solid and reflective steel replica of her floats after the real one a good margin slower, bands of luminescent runes revolving around it, its arms outstretched.
...I just kinda... turn back. "Ah." Within the moment, the giant metal Reimu clone was out of sight.
"Shee~!?" He throws his arm at the spectacle after it's passed! "What the fuck wa' that!?"
So I was right about the giant magnetic metal Reimu. Good.
...Turning back to my party, I give 'em a grin as I look around…! Yeah, Genkan looks about as done as I feel. Ichigo-yuki just looks apprehensive, and Ha-chan's grinning with me!
Someone's behind Maria, what the fuck. Standing right behind her. I point! "Who the frik're you…!?"
...Maria blinks, and I thrust my finger up into the air! "Turn a'round…!"
She does- and then she leaps back, almost fumbling for her staff. "Woa- hey, hey…!"
"Who are you?" Genkan floats over to her, with static posture as she likes to adopt in the air…
The girl behind Maria was some kinda cat girl, with tiny red ears in her scruffy red hair. She's pretty tall, too. Got a white suit on, her thin red tail exposed through the back of it.
...She just kind of glances around at us. After an awkward pause, she speaks bluntly. "Have any of you seen the village guard?" For some reason, she looks kinda tired!
I almost jump, 'cause the hobo began sliding a heavy-sounding trashcan full of his stuff across the front of the gate! "Ha~h. Lazy bashtards're gettin' a new brief today. Makesh it a good time ta get out!"
...Staring at the hobo for another awkwardly long period of time, she replies to that. "Or, a good time to get in."
"Yeah, if yer shtupid! Hahaha~h! Ha- kauf- ugh..." Oof, yo. This guy's gonna freakin' cough his lungs out.
Ignoring the rest of us, the cat girl speed walks with the stride of the gods, almost whirling past us with a freakin' efficient gait. Then, she stops in the gate, almost contemplative.
...Maybe we should do something, because she's kinda weird. I dunno.
Cla- clank! Who knocked his stuff over this time!?
We all freakin' turn to the noise. It's another new noob! Clad in a plaid vest- that's Yuuka Kazami.
...The hobo just kinda hobbles backwards from her, as she displaces the trash can that was in her way to the front gate!
Coming to a stop, she too idles in the midst of the gate. Except, she speaks! "You really shouldn't leave all this trash here. It's not good for the plants."
This gate must have bad DSL today. Everyone's lagging!
...The hobo just says nothing, continuing back until he almost bumps into me. Oh, he's shaking too.
Pivoting around, the cat girl leans past the Yuuka before her to view the tipped over trash can. Upon seeing the contents- which seem to be bottles, rags and bricks from over here, among some weird debris crap- her flat, dry expression doesn't change.
...Yuuka just stares at the cat in her way.
"...Is that beer?" The cat girl observes the bottles splaying out on the ground curiously, as she reinforces her lean past Yuuka!
"Excuse me." Yuuka's trying to move forward, yo.
Fwish. The cat girl almost slides back from her…! "There's more than enough room to move around me."
"Enough room for you to move." Yuuka counter-logics! Then, she slowly proceeds forward again. "Not that I expect a stray cat to know decency."
This response makes the cat pause in thought for a moment, as Yuuka steps up to her…
"That's awful rude of you." Propping her arms on her hips, the cat girl seems to be intentionally trying to piss her off. "I thought the elderly were supposed to be civil."
...Yuuka smiles. It's a soft smile.
...Holding up her hand before the cat, an orange, bulbous flower grows from her palm. "My mistake. Here."
Once again, the cat does one of her long, awkward stares! She seems to be fond of those. Maybe she really likes thinking. "...You know, I'm not-"
Boom! The flower in Yuuka's palm just explodes into a flash of amber!
The tuft of smoke clears, and the cat's left standing there with her hair blown back and charred. Her dry expression's somehow drier than before. "...I wish you hadn't done that."
Yuuka proceeds a step-
Fwish. The cat pivots in a blur, sprinting down the road, before doing another bullet pivot into an alleyway.
...We all just watch as Yuuka continues to walk down the main village road, the ambient villagers inside getting the hell out of the way.
…
I turn to Genkan. "You know what, yo. How about we don't go to the village today, and say we did?" It looks like hot shit in there right now! Giant flying magnetic metal Reimu, a freakin' weird cat, and Yuuka Kazami.
"Hoo~h…" The old hobo man lets out the biggest exhale ever. "Hahahaha~h! Yeah, boy- even that fuckin' vampire mansion sounds li' a slice 'a heaven now!" Little does he know, yo!
...I grin at Genkan! I think she gets the memo!
"Um…" Stepping out from around Genkan, after retreating due to seeing Yuuka, Maria finds herself… "Where will you live?" She questions the hobo on his life decisions. "It's not safe out here either, you know…"
He waves her concern off. "Aah. Me I think I'll head t' tha' temple… saw them sexy monk ladies goin' 'bout with their karate and their genies… s'prolly better than the shitty boys we got in the barracks!"
Hobbling forward, he tries to bend down to lift up the tipped over trash can… "Hnn- nngh… gah!" He springs back from it, sort of staggered!
...A mouse pops out of the trash can, and scurries off! This gives 'em a chuckle. "Ah- heheheh. Looksh like I ha' a lil buddy!"
"...I don't think we should just leave him here." Hoh, shit, Genkan speaks into my ear in quiet…! "If unattended, I extremely doubt he would survive." Yeah, that's pretty… blatant.
But, escorting him and carrying his stuff for him seems like… a lotta' freakin'-
More mice arrive! They just kinda scurry past us, marching ahead and like… circling the gatefront clearing around us, as if scouting the area. Holy shit, they're strategic mice! We must defend the stuff!
"Strategy mice!" I warn our friends of the predicament! "The worst kind of mice…!"
"A- ah, mice…!?" Ichigo-yuki starts struggling again for the first time in awhile! "Ew, ew, ew…!" It seems that Ha-chan's settled into nuzzling her hair, looking peaceful…
...Just kinda ignoring them, the hobo returns to looming over the tipped over trash can. "Ah, shit… gonna hafta… take it all out 'n' put it back in, and nngh, what I'd do fer…" Grumbling, he starts to position himself around the top of the tipped can…
Well. I guess we should, uh, extend an offer to-
"Hey, mister guy." Oh, woah, another noob. We gotta get away from this gate before we aggro more assholes!
Wait, it's just Nazrin, that's fine. Aw, yo…
...The old hobo turns to her, brows furrowed. "Anotha' kid. You ditchin' this dump, too?"
Making a focused expression, she weighs how to respond. "...Sure." She's the big mouse that makes all of the rules!
Gesturing to us, he stumbles back a few steps and starts talking! "I just tol' theshe kids ta get the hell out, and they are. It's a great time ta leave this broken down place, y'hear? Never look back!" He's pretty determined to get the hell out of here!
"I'll help you move your stuff to the temple." Nazrin offers before we do! "I heard you wanted to go there, and I… work there, so yeah."
...After staring at her for a moment, the hobo's lips curved to smile! "Oo~h! I- I know you!"
Nazrin blinks! "...You do?"
"You mush' be the lil mousey!" He spreads his arms, regarding her highly! "Al~righ'! At least shomeonesh grateful fer wha' I' done fer 'em!" Thrusting his arms into the air, he does a slow celebration!
...Not willing to dispute this, Nazrin just compromisingly nods! "Something like that. He did put in a good word for you…"
Turning around, she scans the village interior, before bringing her fingers to her mouth and whistling. I don't know how to type out the onomatopoeia of a whistle!
...Slowly but surely, a small squad of mice round an alley corner, and within their ranks are like… woah.
Capybaras, dude! The not-mice the size of dogs! They're coming around the corner ten-twenty strong or so…!
Well, kind of. They're sort of liberal about beelining ahead, but the mice seem to be encapsulating the few leaders so that they don't wander off. The rest seem to just kind of always hang onto the formation, despite grievously going off track or stopping at points.
"Oo~h…!" The hobo gapes at the capybara herd! "Hahahahaa~h! Ha- kaugh, kauf…!" Freakin'... "Kh- hahaha! An' that bitch shaid I'd di~e out here, an' look at me no~w!"
...Nazrin's just giving him a smile. It's a sort of awkward one!
Dude, here comes the capybara herd. Man, they're nuzzleable looking.
"Oh my god they're so big…" Ichigo-yuki stares at the herd apprehensively…!
Genkan looks perplexed, for some reason. I'm not sure if it's the capybara, or the fact they're in a herd, or the fact they're in a herd to carry a hobo's trash cans.
...When the tubby friends slow down, Nazrin puts her hands on the tipped over trash. "Alright, I need our mages to help lift this thing…" Mages? Wait…
Some of the smaller, white-furred mice navigate around the trash can on the opposite side of her. After they form a line, Nazrin's hands glow and the mice glow too, as the can is lifted into the air, a telekinetic aura enveloping it.
"Ho ho ho~ly shit!" The hobo marvels at the magic…! I don't know how to feel about him going ho ho ho too…!
The can is placed on a capybara's back. Then-
Fwi- fwish. Some brown-colored mice move up along the capybara's sides from just around the village walls, and once they get near, yellow, runic bands surround the big rodent, as well as the can.
Then, the telekinetic glow stops. The can stays in place, and the capybara continues to wander around slowly and peacefully, as if it didn't even have a load on its back.
Wow. Nazrin has a system to this shit, dude.
"Wo~w…" Maria marvels similarly. "Reinforcement magic… for mice." Mice buffs. Holy shit.
...I step up to Nazrin! "So you can lead capybara…!"
"Huh?" She looks up at me from her commanding and things. "...Oh, yeah. Well, no. They just kind of do whatever, but you can move 'em around in groups, and they're big, so they're useful tanks and carriers. More as carriers, 'cause they're rarer than most mice."
...One of the capybara walks up to me, and boops my ankle with its big mousey muzzle, before turning off from me gradually… they're like mice except the opposite of fast. I guess that's what happens when you take a small build and just scale it up by ten. Image upscaling artifacts everywhere!
"They're so slow…" Genkan crouches just a little to get a better look at them…! "Are they really mice?"
"...They're capybara." Nazrin corrects her! "Which are… related to mice. They're rodents too. They don't really care about a lot, and they don't listen to orders. They go pretty fast when threatened, so they're more useful as carriers than you'd think. But, only when threatened."
Man, they're tubby. While Nazrin's been plainly explaining capybara to us, more trash cans have been getting set up onto the animal's backs in the background. The hobo only had like six or seven cans out here, so there's well more than enough capybara to carry them.
In this time, the capybara have ceased slowly wandering around, and are almost all just… standing around. They look really satisfied with existing, though.
Before long, we'd watched all the trash cans get loaded on. As for the remaining capybara…
"Ranged artillery and A-A…" Nazrin claps her hands together. "Sit on the wings."
...All of a sudden, mice come from all directions, scurrying towards the most derivative capybara of the posse, climbing on and resting on their backs. The big lugs just don't care, yo. The speed difference between the tinier mice and rats and the big boys is jarring.
Wait, holy shit. Those tiny mice- they have actual little artillery and tiny paw-held cannons. Holy shit.
"Oh, yeah." She turns to us and smirks! "They're strong swimmers, too. Not that we can do a lot with that, 'cause they dive and stuff. They can ford rivers." Holy shit, dude. Technical strats…!
...Once all the mice and cans were positioned and set up respectively, Nazrin began to move. "Okay, alright…" Moving ahead, she clapped her hands a few times, before facing the capybara as she backed away.
Whistling, she marches backwards. Some of the ground mice rush about, but the capybara as a whole are very reluctant to do anything.
...The good thing about this slow speed is that the hobo can probably keep up with them.
Speaking of the hobo, he's kinda cautiously remaining at the side of them-
"Hey, mister guy!" Nazrin calls out to him! "...Walk with me up here or in front of the capybara. Or else they might follow you off to the side and split up the group, or you could get jumped by passing youkai."
"Ah, right, shure…" He does as she says, moving forward to get between her and the herd…
...As he did that, she held a hand up. "You know what, on second thought, I got a better idea. Walk around among the capies, don't stray."
Grumbling idly, he complies again. "Make up yer mind…"
...Moving into the center of the idle herd, Nazrin moves for what I think was the leader from earlier.
"Hup!" She hops onto his back! "...I wanna go for a ride." She seems to be talking to it, looking down at it. "It'll be fun. Please?"
…
Slowly, it turns at all, which it hasn't done since it got out here. It seems to go the opposite direction of where Nazrin wanted to direct it earlier, walking off into the direction of the magic forest. "Ah, hey…" She tries to talk to it more as it moves away! "But it's bright and nice the other way. Big forest is hard."
...This seems to convince it, and instead it moves to the right of the village gate, which is actually the exact opposite of Nazrin's desire to go to the left of the gate. Still, it'll probably get them there anyway, since they're moving around the village as it is.
Nazrin realizes this herself, and says nothing to interfere with the capybara's slow progression!
Once it gets far enough away from the herd, a few begin to follow, proceeded by more and more, until all of them are at least moving in some direction.
A few walk past Maria, and she just seems to marvel at them…! "...I didn't know capybara existed."
"You do now…!" I grin over at her! "Aren't they cuddly, dude."
"...Yeah. I think so." She thinks so, dude!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
We're almost to the mansion, dude. I have taken his advice! Of all the places that have ripped me a new one in the past couple days, the mansion should be a nice place to relax. The only rape I have to worry about there is fairy rape, and that's a mild embarrassment at worst.
"Hwaa~..." Ichigo-yuki yawns, now mounted on Ha-chan's back since we worked our way around the Misty Lake. She rubs an eye with a pink sleeve… "Mmn."
"We're almost there." Genkan regards her… before regarding me! "I'm counting on this being a relatively leisurely stay."
"I'm sure the biggest problem we'll have is fairies." Satiatin' her worries, I stare ahead at the big gate of destiny. "The worst they'll do is grab our genitals and shout rude things at us." Not the rude things, son. Anything but the rude things, son…!
"Wha- ah…?" Ichigo-yuki sorta wakes up at my description of our anticipated experience! "What about genitals…? What the heck're you talking about..." What the heck, man. Heck.
"Heck." I'm a heckler. "We're gonna get heckled by the hecking hecklers."
"...Heck." She agrees with me!
"He~ck." Ha-chan echoes us as she follows, walkin' along instead 'a floating. Not that she remembers she can fly half the time as it is, but Ichigo-yuki probably makes that hard right now. Hoh…
Meiling's sawing logs at the gate, dude.
...That fluffle stand is to the left as always. It's a pretty stand up place.
...I think I'll commit mental suicide for that last joke! Find a room of nice-looking fairies, strip down, and let them eat me alive. There's also Koakuma, but that'd be actual suicide which is a no-no.
Once we get to Meiling, I- yeah, hold on. Holdin' a hand up, I motion for my party to wait. "Gimme a sec, yo…"
...They gimme a second! A whole one second, yo.
But anyway, I walk up to the fluffle stand.
"hi" This boy.
"...Hi." This boy.
"im a rollover accordion"
…
I just- I just kinda climb onto the desk. Like, yep, there we go, I'm on the desk now.
...Reaching into my bag, I draw Bee-Sheventeen Bawmber!
Crouching down, so I can see the fluffle just before me, I raise the hanger above my head! "Sing me~ the so~ng, of the piano ma~n!" A~nd slam it the fuck down-
Boom!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
There is one less fluffle stand in the world, son. Seikatsu's healing energy slowly restores my aching back, 'cause I flew from the stand and landed hard on the dirt with it! The interesting part is that she's still invisible, so it's just kind of coming out of fucking nowhere. Our new yuki-friend doesn't seem to notice this act of god that's healing me!
"Why." Genkan gives me a blunt question, staring on dryly. Well, so is everyone else. Also, that woke up Meiling!
"...I wanted to tell it a good joke." I nod at her warmly. "And to light up its smoke." With bombs. Can you light a cigarette with explosives? Mokou needs to do that. Make a boom, and light the cigarette with the like tip of the flame radius. That's some super cheesy action flick shit.
"Tell me the next time you do that…" Ichigo-yuki is just starting to settle down again…! "You made me freak out."
Ha-chan's head is now in a block of ice. She's looking around idly, and I can see her move her eyes inside the ice…!
"You guys goin' on in?" Meiling's still leaning against the brick wall.
"Ye." I nod at her. "We's gonna wines 'n' dines, yo." ...Also. "Here's our membership card, dude." I gesture to Ha-chan, who turns to me with her blockhead.
"Mmm…" Still blinking the sleepies from her eyes, Meiling hums at us idly.
...Then, after a moment of being a loaf, she parts from the wall and half-stumbles over to the gate.
Crea~k. It groans as she pushes it open! "Go on insi~de. Don't cause trouble, now…"
...I point at her! "Don't cause trouble yourself, yo! I know how you get up here in fronta' the gate!" Crazy go-fish parties, dude. With hookers!
"I won't snore too loud." She plays along, and waves us off as she props herself back against the wall! "As long as you don't blow the walls up, or something stupid…"
I'd make that a to-do if I knew how to do that without heavy dynamite or satchel charges. "Alright, yo."
...Once we all meander inside the gate-
Clank! It slams shut behind us!
"Wa- wait, I just realized…" Becoming more wakeful herself, Ichigo-yuki bat her eyes… "Why're we going in here!? That vampire lives he~re!"
...Casually glancing over at her as we reach the front door, Genkan replies. "But, there won't be any humans here. What's the problem."
"There's a scary vampire here who eats people!" The little yuki-onna yelled! "Are we stupid or something!?"
"Yes." I reply without hesitation…! "Very. Brave enough, or foolish enough… to travel to the lost land! Our goal, to reclaim it from the malevolent dominion… of the machines…!"
...I get some good stares from the friends as the front door to the mansion swings open! It seems that horrible oil ice inferno we created the other day was erased from reality. Oh, yeah, and all the snow's gone.
"Where do you come up with some of this stuff…?" Staring at me with faux-apprehension, Maria trots along with us as we transition to the midst of the foyer…
Thoom. The door shuts on its own behind us, like all good doors should.
Despite this probably happening before, Maria jumps anyway! "A- ah…"
That was the opening monologue to Forsaken 64, by the way. Part of it! It just kinda popped into my head. I wonder if Kaguya or Sanae have N64 games, dude… or, if not that, emulators.
"Oh, gods…" Ichigo-yuki withers at the gloom of the mansion interior…! "I- I'm gonna get eated…" Wat.
...Genkan's resisting a grin at that. Eated, dude.
Anyway, this is a nice big place to be both big and small in. There's only a couple fairies milling about in the foyer at the moment…
"Gravity-chan…" Oh, hey, I think that's Dial-chan, the one whose shoes I stole or something to that effect. "How do you get big boobs?" Freakin'...
"...I don't know." Gravity-chan's a thinker of our time, dude.
It's time to call for some help before we just wander into the halls like assholes. "Sakuya~hahaha~!" ...I wanted to do a Tarzan yell, but it came more out like demented laughter instead.
...But, no Sakuya. How weird! Usually she turns up on a dime… unless she's playing eat or get eated with Remilia, dude!
Or something. "Oof." I turn to the party leisurely…
...At the party's stares, I clarify! "I was callin' for the chief maid, yo…! Speakin' of- Sakuya~hoo~!" Sakuya- yakuya, where are ya? We've got some work ta do now…! Maybe we need some Sakuya snacks.
"Whah…" Ichigo-yuki fluffs up on Ha-chan's back, for some reason. "What the heck…" Aw. Heck, dude- okay, let's not start that again…!
"Hi." I turn to her.
She looks up from her wrist, a little diamond shape on it ceasing to glow. "...Hi!"
...I narrow my eyes at her.
Blinking at me, she knows, dude. She knows I know. "...U- um, what's up?"
...After a silent moment, I bear my teeth, and ask it. "Is today a Saturday?" A~nd then I drop the tense posture, yo.
She slouches. "...Wh- no. I dunno what day it is." Hahaha~nh.
"Why'd your wrist glow…?" Maria's gotten closer to her while she wasn't looking, dude-
"Whah!?" The yuki-girl almost falls off of Ha-chan from flailing! Then, she stabilizes… "No- nothing! No reason!"
"What…?" Genkan drifted up to her-
Leaping from Ha-chan's shoulders, the yuki-girl landed a couple feet away! "I just, um, got ice on my… hand? Ah- wha- ooa, hey!" Whirling up to her, Genkan grappled her wrist, and brought it closer to her face…!
...Then, Genkan let go and drift back a little. "Scrying, of our sort. That's for Shimokoa, isn't it?"
Ichigo-yuki just sighs, lookin' defeated. "...Well, yeah. It wasn't my decision, y'know. But, she should know you're fine now and stuff. I dunno why she keeps pinging me every now an' then…"
Pinging, huh.
...The cyan diamond on her wrist lights up again!
Holding it up, Ichigo-yuki yells into it! "He~y! They found out!"
...The diamond just dims again, as it did last time. Ha-chan's looking around cluelessly, her head still blockified!
"No respo~nse." The strawberry yuki-onna pouted. "I thought she really liked me, too~... he~y." She begins to call out into it in a lower voice now… "He~y. Hee~y."
Fwish. The diamond lights up yellow-
Cli- cli- clink! I hear the clattering of things on the other end!
"Freeze!" Somewhere on the other end, Shimokoa's yelling out a spell…
"Conjuring!" And that's Sakuya…! "Misdirection!"
Fwish. The diamond flickered out again.
"Wha- hey!" Slapping her wrist, the yuki-onna furrowed her brows! "What're you doing!? C'mo~n…!"
So I guess that's why Sakuya's busy. That yuki-onna tried to break into here, for some reason. Aw, dude, maybe if we scour the halls we can find them…!
Or not. I don't think it's our decision if we do!
"...So she's in here." Genkan considered. She was still pretty relaxed, though. "It sounds as if she simply snuck in."
"I guess that maid's fighting her…" Stepping forward, Maria almost seems to want to move, but pauses when she doesn't know where to go. "Do you think she'll win?" Whah.
"...Who?" Your subject was unclear! "'Cause the maid's gonna win, no questions asked!"
She blinked at me, before looking around and focusing on me again. "But… hmm. She did seem pretty strong looking…"
There's no contest, yo. Sakuya eats mid-tier youkai for breakfast. And she actually broke out a spell card? S'all over, yo! Curbstomp battle…! It's actually hard to think who could fight Sakuya on a realistic middle-ground without danmaku. Probably Remi, maybe.
Well, whatever's going on, we probably don't have to worry about it. "Let's become journeymans." I lead us on our quest to become journeymans down the rightmost hallway…
"Where are you taking us?" Genkan inquires, as Ha-chan and Maria just sorta follow me outta habit! "...If you know."
"To journeyland, yo." I don't know! "We're gonna go relax and walk around like peaceful people." Like town NPCs.
...She seems to agree with this idea, 'cause she tags along with us! "We should find somewhere with atmosphere. Or, if not that, books."
Books, huh. Yeah. This place has books alright.
…
"He- hey! Don't leave me behind…!" Ichigo-yuki romps after us!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
As expected, we have yet to find the library or the Sakuyamania!
Instead, we've found a room I've never really seen before. It's big and long, like Sakuya's twelve inch futa dick. Well anyway- it's like a huge, weirdly oblong room with three fountains in a row in the middle.
"...I've never been here before." I communicate to the friends. "What the frik." What's this room layout.
The two fountains on the left bear identical Remi-styled statues, while the one to the right of them has nothing emblematic or unique, it's just a fountain.
...Stepping up to one of the fountains, Maria stares in. "Wow. There's even water, in here. That's kind of cool…"
...You know, she's kinda right! Water is a unique terrain dynamic in here, even if it's inside of a fountain!
"This is new!" Ha-chan runs up to the fountain, too! "And good!" New and good and cool!
While Genkan, Ichigo-yuki and the now-thawed Ha-chan gather around the fountain, I climb onto the rim-
Splash! -and roll on in!
"Okay, why…?" Genkan's mystified!
"I'm looking for secrets!" It's like a fuckin' DOOM map in here, dude!
"In a fountain?" She rounds the fountain to examine me as I slosh through the water like a freakin' loon…! "...I know you have moments of enlightenment through your goofiness, but this is… a stretch."
Yeah, I just wanted an excuse to splash around in the fountain, honestly. The water looked good! Also, ice elemental, so this cold water's actually really good.
"...Yeah, probably." I agree with Genkan this time, yo. "Freakin'..."
Splish- splash, splash! I kick water around while I search! "Doo. Doo. Doo. Whe~re i~s it…?"
Splash! Ha-chan leaps into the other fountain nearby! "Hehe- eee~!" She leaps out! "Co~ld!" Aww.
...I round the fountain again, and find Ichigo-yuki staring at me with no words. She's just puzzled dude, watching my speedrun strats unfurl and unfold before her very eyes.
...Splash! I lob some water at her!
"Wha- eea~!" She freaks the fuck out, and flails her limbs! "No!"
Fwash! Um…
She froze me solid. I'm in ice, boy.
And fuck does it feel good to be frozen in water. I feel like I just woke up again!
Cra- crack. The ice shatters a moment later. Now some of the fountain is frozen…
...I glance over at Genkan, who's got one of those 'I don't know what to make of this' expressions. Since this fountain's on ice, I might leap about in Ha-chan's fountain in the middle of the fountain saga.
Spla- splash! Leaping across the fountains, I end up in the one Ha-chan was trying to explore! "I'm a fountain explorer!"
...At this point, Maria's used to my tomfoolery, so she actually makes an observation! "That feels good with ice resistance, doesn't it?"
"...Ye." I give her a nod of my head as I crawl around in my new home dude. "Imagine if I had water and ice resistance. I'd like live in this fountain, dude."
The rock looks kinda weird in this one spot of the fountain. I kinda trace my fingers along this line, and step on the smooth interior stone past it with my hand-
Zi~p! Wha- woah, shit!
Splash. I almost fall into the new opening, my upper body actually falling in before I frantically double jump back-
Thud. Ow. Landing outside the fountain, on my ass, I freakin'... slowly get back up. "Ho- holy shit." Face soaked. Oof...
Did- did we actually find a Duke Nukem secret in this fountain. What the fuck.
...Peering over the edge, the fountain's interior shows me a square shaft filled with water. I~... can't see how deep it is, there's no light from here. A deep black abyss in the water. Uuh.
"I found a secret." I state in abject disbelief.
"So you have." Genkan starts to round the fountains to observe, too…!
"Ooo~!" Ha-chan tries to leap into the secret!
Splash! She sinks into the water-
Spla- spla- splash! "Eee- aah!" Instantly she begins flailing wildly, freaked the fuck out by how cold the water is-
Za- zap! She shocks the water on the way out! By doing so, she illuminated the stone way in the dark path beneath. It was like a person-sized shaft that stopped at like seven feet in- or less 'cause water visual physics, and then it went under the fountain.
...In the air above us, she shivers, holding herself. "Br- brr…"
The easy way to investigate would be my space suit, but I don't wanna get all dressed up. Even so, it's a watery abyss and that scares the everloving shit out of me. Wait, idea!
Taking out Youkai Inconveniencer, I dip it on into the water and channel mana into it…!
The~re we go. Yeah, that's a like… person-sized crawlspace, and it goes out into the water. Ee~h…
Wait. Idea…
...I grin at Genkan and her tiny friend! "Someone freeze a bowl onto my head, and make sure it's like air tight yo." When I need air I'll come back and smash it to pieces. If the crawl way's big as fuck, I'll just pussy out and run back up early.
"I'll come down with you." Genkan decides! "...I can at least navigate geometry freely, with my flight. You might run the risk of getting stuck otherwise."
...This is a pretty small crawl space, though. Not like some of these other noobs can do anything, but it's going to be freakin' weird…! Man, if I was Duke Nukem, water logistics would be literally nonexistent…!
Wait. "Seikatsu. Underwater mode!"
"Unrecognized command." Yeah, that was super pushing it. Well, anyway…
"Wha- whah…?" Looking around, Ichigo-yuki tries to find the voice of the invisible robot girl! "Who the heck- where?"
Let's just not tell her until I decide to make the girl visible again. "Seikatsu, stay." If you try to follow me in and fuck the escape up, I'll shove fluffles into your circuits.
"Stationary mode. Mana supplementary systems online." Whah? She gives mana too? But… only when stationary. So you can turn her into a dispenser, basically.
Fwa~sh! Ooo~h…! One of the girls makes a little bowl around my head! It's kinda jagged, and restricts my head movement a little, but I can breathe, so it's cool.
...Shakin' my head- and resisting the urge to take a deep breath- I let myself fall into the drink!
Sploosh…
...Holding out Youkai Inconveniencer, I power it on, holdin' onto both the whip handle and the actual thing as I march unevenly through the like just six feet of water down here.
On the outside of my ice bowl- which isn't leaking thank Christ, at least it don't seem to be- I can see the shifting liquid around me, and the uneven, ill-defined forms of the walls around me. Even though Youkai Inconveniencer is lit up, it's kinda dim down here with all this water in the way…
The shaft comes to an end, a dark void past it. In this open space, I can make out the dim glow of some weird blue boxes, their sapphire glow emanating out into the void, giving it a sort of ominous black and blue haze instead 'a just black abyss. I'm not sure which is scarier- being in all this liquid's weird shit dude.
Oh my god someone's behind me! I turn my head back-
Spaceman from hell! No, wait, that's Genkan, with a fish bowl on too. She's crouched 'cause of the crawlway, even if she's technically shorter than me. Her kimono's all flowy and I can hardly make out her expression between these bowls and the light…
...Turning ahead, I make a leap out into the great unknown. If there's a blender at the bottom or spikes, I'm going to wring Eiki's throat in the afterlife.
My leap takes me across the crystalline blue abyss, and I have no idea where the hell I'm going other than from these blue lights around me.
...Then, I fall through the liquid. I can't swim for beans, so-
Oh. I landed on a rocky bottom, black rock mixed with weird shards of wood and stuff down here…
Progressing towards one of the walls with the blue, I wave my light about. Man, this thing does fuck and all down here!
Oh shit who is that hey there Genkan. Whenever she comes out of the darkness, I jump! Water freaks me the fuck out, du~de…!
...We come up to some freakin' stone. After walking along the wall-
Is that a bookshelf. Wha- what, why…? What the fuck!? There's a bookshelf along the wall here! With books!
...As we walk past it, me gaining some distance from it-
Some books begin to glow a deep sapphire, and emerge from their spots on the shelves. Oh, hey there…
They're so bright they're hard to look at, illuminating the entire cave section we're in. As it turns out, this entire room is boxy. Up ahead there's a ladder out, but to the immediate right there's a hall of more shelves and shit, I think.
I have no idea how long our air lasts, so let's take that ladder up ahead.
...The books are friendly, apparently, because after they left the shelf, they just kinda hung in the water before us and didn't do anything. We've bonded, dude. That's okay; I really don't feel like freakin'... having stupid underwater battles where my helmet explodes and I drown in a million gallons of crappy cave water.
I'd probably survive if I was frozen solid, but I have freezing resistance so that might be weird. Or if I got healed constantly, which could happen but I don't really want to find out what happens when you mix instant death converted to instant life with constant drowning. Eheheh…
Once we were far enough away from the shelves, the books went out and slid back into their spots. The ladder up ahead is illuminated by a hole of cyan, phantasmal light from above; probably the hole out.
...Reaching the ladder, I put away Youkai Inconveniencer, and start-
Genkan just tugged me up holy shit-
Spla~sh!
We're outside the water on this side!
Kra- krack. Once we escape, the bowls on our heads shatter, allowing us to breathe free. Hoh…
...This room's dark, and the floor is covered with water; not sure if that was our fault. Some old looking bookshelves fit with really aged looking books line some nearby walls…
Even so, it's not totally dark. Weird, small tiles on the floor provide the alien blue, phantasmal essence that keeps the room a dim tint.
...Turning around, I see a fixture for what looks like a balcony beyond the water hole, except it's all boarded up. Walking around, and onto the deck of it, I can see a shallow pool of water amongst the lower boards. This place is fucking weird.
"Don't touch the shelves." Genkan immediately advises! "They're giving off… profound magical signatures." Those are the best kind!
Well, whatever, yo. Moving away from the deck, and past the small area with the most wet floor bits, I walk towards the more front part of the square room…
There's a door to the next room. Also, these are like, not Scarlet Devil Mansion-esque rooms. This room has like, royal green walls with blue trim.
Crea~k. Swinging open the rich brown door, I come to a room with maroon walls, and similar blue trim along the top and bottom bits.
To the left, there's a really crappy-looking bed. It's seen way better days, holy shit. There's another door next to it, but it's boarded shut. We can fix that!
Next to the boarded up door is like, a desk. Some books lay on it, as well as writing utensils and stuff.
...To the very right of the room, hung over a large window to nowhere is… a picture. Who the hell's thi-...
That moon crescent, yo. This is a portrait of Patchy! And… wow, that's a lot of table cloths she's wearing. Too many, in fact! What an old ass portrait. I say this 'cause like… she's got her hair up classic victorian style, which makes her hair give her head the shape of the alien from Alien.
Also, those tiny circle glasses! Who's she, Ben Franklin!? Ho ho ho! Also, this realistic facial expression compared to anime land we've got going on over here. Early installment weirdness, dude.
...She still looks bored, so I guess that hasn't changed. She's trying to do some kinda savvy hand pose with her quill she's holding in it, and it makes her look pretty young. That's like something I'd do.
While I've been staring at this picture for ten thousand years, Genkan's been looking around the room. Water's flooded the lower portion of it, but after surveying the area near the picture…
We both look down at a treasure chest!
...I look at 'er! "You think it's booby trapped!?"
"I've never just happened upon a convenient treasure chest before." Genkan gives me a dry response. "Probably."
...Stepping around the side of it, she crouches.
...Then, she slides back on a dime! "O- oh."
Uh. "What's up?" It's booby trapped, innit…
"...It's not trapped." Genkan informs me. "It's alive." What. Oh, shit.
...So. What do do, yo.
Taking out Youkai Inconveniencer, I just kinda… hang back. I flare it to life to bring light to the room, but that's beside the point. "Should we, a~h…"
"It's wet." Genkan observed, since there was a pool of water along the bottom of the room. "I could freeze it."
"Lemme wet it more." If this is Patchy we're talking, we might as well overkill it if we're going to like… fight it, or try to get in.
...Taking out Deep Blue, I turn the valve-
Fwi~sh! A spritz of water splashes out, hitting me and everything around me! Hoh…!
...After swinging it around in the air a little, I get water all over the living chest from afar. Freakin'... mimics. Spooky shit!
"I'm gonna try geyser." I inform Genkan…! "Once it gets geysered, freeze its shit, yo."
"Mmm." She holds her hands up and ready…!
...Kneeling down, I channel my mana for a good moment, feeling the hanger power up with my energy, and I thrust Deep Blue into the wood below-
Fwuu~sh! The small geyser erupts under the chest, super soaking it-
"VREA~R" Holy shit!
A purple eye insignia flares to life on the top of the chest, and the 'mouth' snaps open! Flickering black jagged somethings make up the mouth of it, and it begins floating into the air-
Fwa~sh! Genkan's hands flash with blinding light!
Thunk. ...We've frozen the chest solid. This does not help us get what was inside the chest, how-
Krack! Oh holy shit it broke free-
The eye on its top flashes red for a moment-
FWAM- FWAM- FWAM- FWAM! Oh my god swaths of flame holy shit holy fuck-
Fwa~sh! It's frozen but who cares fire fire holy fucking fire bombs fuck me fuck
I flop into the water and start rolling around oh my god oh my god
Fwa- fwash! More freezing but not on me…! "Nn- hnngh…" Genkan whines in the background, her kimono smouldering…
I- I'm not on fire anymore, but fuck…
I can't stand up. It's like being on fire just… sucked everything out of me, even for a moment. Holy shit…
Sploosh. I flop into the water- actually I'm alive enough to not drown in an inch of water thank you very much, but fuck…
Krack! The thing frees itself-
Fwa- fwash, fwash! Genkan messily freezes it again! "N- no! Not aga- again!"
Kri~ng! She thrusts a big ice blade from the floor-
KRA~CK! The ice shatters with great volume, the mimic reeling back in the air! "HRANHK" What is that noise…
The top rigid, the chest sags in the air as the eye glows cyan for a moment-
Ti- ti~ng! Then, it flashes a blinding white.
Fwa~sh! Genkan freezes it again. "Ju- just…!" She's shaking. Fire really freaked her out…
woa~sh…
The mimic begins glowing, and a big, blue and white magical circle lights up under us, the circle itself bigger than the bedroom we're in…
Fwoa~sh…
Snowflakes billow up from below us. I start to get raised off the ground by the circle beneath us-
FWASH
…
…
…
Kra~ck! Oh- holy shit, what happened…!? I'm lying in a pile of ice! What the hell happened there!?
...Standing up shakily from my ice chair, I sta- Genkan's frozen, somehow-
Kra~ck. Not for long, apparently.
Kra~ck. Oh shit the mimic is free again-
Kri~ng! An ice blade erupts from the floor-
SPLATCH! Black, flickering energy splashes from the chest as the top is blown off-
FWA~M! The room shakes as more black energy billows from it…! It like exploded in a fountain of black miasma and flickery shit.
Thu- thunk. The partially frozen chest exterior plops down into the few inches of water below it, the top flopping alongside it.
…
"We- wha…" Genkan's still shaking. "...Ok- okay."
I feel great, but I'm also scared as fuck. I think I'm shaking too, from all of that. "...I- I'd whistle if I knew how ta! Holy shit…"
"This was a mistake…" Genkan stomps over to the chest, shaking her head. "We may as well loot this. Damages." Yeah, whatever. We fought for it, so it's ours now. Fuck it…!
My body shudders from an unnatural cold, as if where the fire licked me was like… weak, for some reason. Damn. Fire really fucks me over.
Alright. What could possibly be in this chest.
Looming over it, me and Genkan peer inside…
There's a key, an old book, that big dumb cloth hat, one of Patchy's crescents, and…
There's also a star-shaped sea shell in here. Also, some of that black matter from the mimic's fuckery is left over as a shard in here. Picking it up- oh my god, my hand tingles. We~ird…
It took like three-four instant freezes, and two or three of Genkan's asshole caving ice blade eruptions to kill this thing. This motherfucker was made to last.
What's this book. I flip it open.
...French. Handwritten french. I'll get Ha-chan to read it for me later…
"Old belongings." Genkan looks drained. "...Some magically attuned, but still simply knickknacks. Ugh…"
I pick up this key, yo… "It's a ke~y…" I have no more wit to spare. Getting fried fucked my brains out…!
...Genkan hugs herself. "At least that ice spell took care of my dampness. Nothing's more annoying than water… except for fire, obviously." You don't freakin' say, yo…
...I walk up to this uncovered door in the back of the room just past the mimic. While I pocket some of this stuff of Patchy's, I try to open the door.
Wiggle wiggle. The handle knows the wiggle, but it doesn't know open sesame. There's a big dumb keyhole-... wait, no.
No~.
Taking the key from the mimic, I bring it up to the door… and insert it. Twisting it-
Cli- click. Unlocked.
Crea~k. I swing it open, a~nd…!
Omf!
...Ha-chan barges in from the other side and glomps me! "I heard booms, and I was worri~ed!"
The door lead right back to the clearing where we started. The door was locked from the inside. Literally just an unassuming door along the wall that was probably unopenable from the outside, but we never even thought anything of passing it.
Ichigo-yuki roars in next, and leaps at Genkan! "Don't di~e!"
"Nnh…" Genkan catches her awkwardly. "Yo- you're a little late…"
So. To recap, I got a poofy hat, a moon crescent and a sea shell, an old book… that worthless key to what is likely only this room, and a black mimic fragment. I'll hold onto that key, though…
"Wha- what happened in here…!?" Maria walks in, and notices the freakin'... actually, this place wasn't damaged much at all by the shitstorm. Ironically, everything in this room was like, more elementally attuned than us or the mimic. Except for the bed, it's literally gone now…! There's also some holes where Genkan's ice blades came out of…
"...We went swimming." I nod at her eagerly. "We found pirate doubloons and buried treasure."
"I changed my mind." Genkan steps up to us… "Find a lounge. So we can sleep." S'a little early to be sleeping, innit…!? Although, if Genkan lets me lie on her like last time, I'm pretty sure I'd be game to pass the fuck out. Her embrace is love.
"I slept on the way here." Ichigo-yuki springs off of her, and shakes her head as she floats before the floor. "You can't go to bed now! We're in vampire territory…" Bat country, son.
"We're owed a nap for whatever just happened." Genkan begins to drift from the Patchy room.
"I've got an infinite naps card." I inform the friends. I'm pretty sure so, anyway! Remilia lets me fuck around 'cause I'm a weirdo!
...As I try to move forward, Ha-chan gets in my way…! "I'd like to snuggle…" Aa~h!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
Aa~h. Speakin' of 'aah', we're still in the halls after all of that…!
...Walking up to a wall, I fuck with it by pressing my hands against it repeatedly. "Doo. Come on. Doo. Doo. Where i~s it…?"
"No more secrets." Genkan commands! "No. Not for awhile. We've come here to relax, not loot at our own peril."
She's ri~ght… I probably shoulda considered that sooner, but we all got wrapped up in the freakin' water exploration, yo.
...Getting away from the wall, I hold up that book! "Who~ here can read Fre~nch!?"
"Ooo ooo, ooo!" Ha-chan snaps up to my side! "Me, me, me!"
I hand her the book. "Read 'em and weep!"
"...I don't wanna weep." She gives the book a hard grin as she flips it open. "...Page one! I think. Umm… dear… ste-... ster~..." Ha-cha~n…!
Ster? "Star underscore?" Did Patchy watch Youtube, my boys!?
"No~..." Furrowing her brows, Ha-chan leaned in… "Dear stenun… reo… stenunreo…"
What in the nine fucks. "Stereotypical…?" I suggest?
"Yeah!" Ha-chan nods eagerly! "Dear stereotypical diary!" Oh shit. "...I don't… not? Do not understand daily… main-... something of diaries! As such, I suppose I will update… inside frequently! Or, frequently…? Infrequently?" Ha-chan, you're freakin' illiterate…!
Thinking about these little shells and things I got, I feel like something like the Sun Badge would do better thrown on a weapon than sitting in my inventory for me to never use. That, or just randomly gifted to a friend. Fifteen percent sun resistance, man. The best thing ever. Or I could get it woven into my clothes or something…
"I guess I'll…" Ha-chan continued to read the good book. "Talk about the paper I've submitted, to the college!" The college of Flufflehold. Patchy wrote papers, dude! How scandalous! "People don't write about magic a lot!" Aw. Yeah, I don't think so. "...So I am! I wanna show magic to the world!" I think Ha-chan's getting liberal with the tone, but the sentiment's there.
"Who's this thing supposed to belong to?" Genkan regards the diary disdainfully…!
"Patchy knowy, dude." Patchwork novels.
"Truth be to~ld…" Ha-chan tilts to the side as she delves into the wonderful world of personal information brokering! "I'm actually pretty nervo-"
Thunk! "Etaht!" Oh, shit Ha-chan hunches forward, a big tome hitting her atop the head!
"It's rude to go through another's belongings."
Patchy drifts up past Ha-chan and swiftly reclaims the diary! "Although, I suppose I must… either thank or curse you, depending. I'd forgotten about that recluse of mine."
As she drifts past us to gaze us down, I wave at 'er! "Yo ho ho~! You can't hide secrets from me, dude! I'm a- I'm a secret seeker." I like how the one book she straight up locks up in a mimic is her diary…! Probably her old diary, too.
"Apparently not." After giving my party a once-over, she gives me a stare. "I have no idea how you found it, or who told you, but I would like answers."
...I gesture down to my still soggy kimono. "I jumped into those fountains to look for secrets, dude." Also, I kinda toss my arm back at the hall we came from. I don't think that helps, considering these halls! "I was trying to go for one hundred percent completion…"
...Patchy doesn't look like she gets it! "You were looking for secrets. You simply jumped into a fountain, and swam all that way through the darkness to… find a secret."
Genkan builds upon this information! "I've learned to not ask questions, at this point."
I mean, yo. I did find a secret! "...I wasn't expecting to find a secret, but when I found that pad in the fountain, I couldn't resist goin' for a swim!"
"Not even fairies are that dementedly curious." Patchy just brings a hand to her face, baffled…! "The water was chilled and treated to be discomforting, as well. How did you not drown?" As her eyes scan my form, she makes anotha' deduction. "I can tell how you didn't freeze. For some reason, you and your friends are all ice elemental…"
Steppin' up to her with a jazzy strut, I nod comfortably… "We made fish bowls, and put them on our heads. With ice!"
"So you jumped into a big dark hole full of water." Patchy reassesses, for some reason…!
"Ye." Noddin' again, I take that big dumb royal red satin hat thing from my bag. "Dude- you should do your hair like that again. You looked like the alien from Alien!"
"Oh, no…" She grimaces at the hat! "The mimic. Did it not trigger, or did it just break when you tried to open it? I knew I should've redone the magic, some years ago…"
Oh, it worked alright. It was good as freakin' new. "Daa~h. It was fine." Freakin'... "More than fine. Never make that again…!"
"So you made that." Genkan locks her gaze on Patchy!
...Lazily giving the yuki-onna a surveilling scan, Patchy seemed to calm a little. "Ah. I suppose it was serviceable, then. I see how you got past it now."
Drifting up to her, Genkan frowns! "I didn't take kindly to such a volatile trap."
"I don't take kindly to people touching my things." Patchy counters plainly…! "It was obviously out of the way. Anything that imperils you after you indulge yourself to such an extent is your fault."
...At that, Genkan looks away, dissatisfied. "I suppose. Even so-"
"I'd constructed it in a different time." With her diary between her arms, Patchy begins to drift away, slowly… "Whoever was to open it was meant to die. I'd only created it to appall and smite the petty thief or witch hunter, so it's no wonder that it'd fold to a yuki-onna. I apologize for the firestorm spell, if you saw it."
...With these things said, Genkan relaxes. "Hrm. It was… out of line for us to loot out-of-the-way quarters, as it was."
I floofle Patchy's big dumb satin table cloth abomination in my hands. "Don'cha want yer hat, yo?"
"No." Patchy hates it! "Feel free to make it a part of your demented ensemble. The less it's associated with me, the better."
...Realizing something, she twitches in the air, before floating up to me. "I'd like that key back, however."
Oh, yeah. That works, yo…
Taking out the key-
It snaps from my hand, and she claims it in hers. "Thank you."
Freakin'... "It's the key to my heart, dude."
"It can stay locked." She slides the key up her sleeve. "It was foolhardy of me to store such a key in a careless place like that. Anyway…" Looking us all over again, she gives us a nod. "That will be all." She begins to float off, turning away from us…
Actually! "Yo- hold up!" I bolt up ta her a little!
...She half-turns to me, and awaits words.
"Take us to the library, yo." I've got some ideas, yo. "And-..."
Looking back at our party, I, uh… where's Ichigo-yuki? Oh boy oh boy, yo. "Yeah." I just kinda look back at her awkwardly…!
...Wordlessly, she begins floating ahead again. I guess we're following her! I gesture for the nugget friends to come with! "C'mon, yo…!"
…
Genkan speaks to me once she catches up to me. "Have you seen Ichigo-yuki…?"
"I was gonna ask you!" I haven't! Freakin'...!
...Patchy gives us a brief look from ahead, before making a very ginger face of realization. "Aah. Sakuya abducted her while you weren't looking."
Oh. We'll go pull her from the lost and found later, then. Wonder why she did that…
"...That's one way to get her out of my hair." Genkan seems to be okay with this, too!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
Library land. The land where dinosaurs roam the earth…!
Following behind the slowly drifting Patchy, we eventually reach a clearing of books pretty promptly. When following her, we got to the library in one deviating turn, and got to this clearing from one awkward right turn in the library. Freakin'...
This was the first time Genkan's seen the Voile! She's just kinda agape, following us loosely as she runs her gaze over all the tomes as we pass them.
Oh, and Maria too. Her eyes are wide, and she looks a little excited!
...Coming to one of her many desks of fun, Patchy turns to us. "...Your party members are enthused."
"Ye." Apparently! "They really like books, I think."
Patchy snorts, as she starts to find her way into her desk. "Picture books, I take it?"
"Picture boo~ks!" Ha-chan flings her arms into the air next to us!
"We're not so simple." Genkan objects to being compared to Ha-chan! "Give us something to read, then. I'm well read, I'll have you know."
...Patchy's lips curve a little! "Are you…"
Three books float down from above. They're all unmarked, except for the rightmost one, which is black with some faint, glowing blue lines drawn on the top cover in a creepy lookin' circle.
"Take your pick." Patchy offers. "I quite prefer the one on the right." Ahah…
...Brows furrowed, Genkan takes the red book in the center instead. "What's this one called?"
"Open it and find out." Patchy's playin' tricks…!
...Glancing up at her uncertainly, for just a moment, Genkan folds the book open.
...After flipping a few pages, she allows herself a small smile. "Ah. Clever. I don't know what language this is."
Patchy snorts. "Mmm. What languages are you able in?"
Yuki-onnanese, dude. Letting the book drift back into the air, Genkan moves for the black and blue one. "Well… Japanese. We're speaking it right now. You'd think you would intuit my preference…"
Genkan folds the book open to the first page-
fwoash
Holy shit black pours out of the book-
Genkan thrusts it away-
FWAM
The black envelops my vision, lashing out-
"FVREER" What the fuck is tha~t!?
Curves of teeth and an uneven spatter of pink, inhuman eyes flash into existence right in my vision like still images fuck fuck what the fuck is won't go away-
S'gone. No more black, no more eyes. What the fuck…!?
...As I look around, I see Genkan's created multiple slapshod ice spikes around herself. Maria's shaking, waving her staff around in fear, and Ha-chan's just pouting.
"That worked on me the first time…" Shaking her head, Ha-chan was not impressed. "You can get around it if you close your eyes." Whah. I think I did that, and it didn't work!
...Patchy looks pretty damn smug. "Fairies are a peculiarity in comparison to such a basic darkness spell. Not that I would need humane fear to scare you."
Ha-chan blinks. "...I don't understand what that means!"
"Wha- why…!?" Maria yells at her! "Why would you..."
"What a… basic, but effective spell…" Genkan lets out a shaky breath. "I thought you wanted me dead."
"People tell me that a lot." Patchy takes that as a compliment, shifting against her desk all energized and smug. "...If you feel vulnerable, it's because that strips your magic defense, too. Being scared is bad when faced with magical opponents."
"...Is- is it, really?" Maria's instantly more curious than freaked out. "...Wh- why?"
At her questioning, Patchy just kinda takes a moment to consider a response. She's probably surprised she got questioned! "...Magic is, for many intents and purposes, as much of a mental capacity as it is an effort to contort the physical world. While fear of simply being struck is natural and not something which affects processes, irrational fear or overwhelming panic does. Especially that which is dealt from dark ailments. It will reduce one's capability to defend against magical attacks. Holy magic has similar results, except it instills a feeling of hopelessness, reducing your magical offense and abilities."
Huh. That's good to know…!
You know what, the next time we encounter Shimokoa, if she still tries to maul us, I should use Swordbreaker to try and get rid of her physical damage. I don't even know how that works.
...Maria slowly stepped up to her desk. "Do you… know a lot about magic?"
This prompts Patchy ta just giver 'er a blank stare. "...Do you know who I am?"
"I don't think so. No?" Maria shakes her head innocently…!
"...Hah." Sitting upright, Patchy takes a breath, resting her arms on her desk. "I am Patchouli Knowledge. I've been called the Enigmatic Source of Magic… as well as the Unmoving Great Library." Y'know, who does give Touhous their fun names...
"An' some people call you fluffy." I strut up to her and rain on her parade!
"Hush." She waves me off…!
"Aah…" Maria realizes something! "You're… that Patchouli."
"...How many others are named that?" Patchy looks genuinely perplexed!
Her words make Maria snap to her senses! "Well- none, but it's just… I didn't expect to meet you here."
"...I live here." Patchy replies bluntly! "Well, regardless… you seem inquisitive."
"Ah…" At that, Maria fidgets a little. "I guess. Sorry, if that makes you uncomfortable."
"Hmm?" The apology kinda takes Patchy aback…! "Do not be sorry. I'm more than happy to sooth a curious mind, given proper timing and drive on the learner's part…"
Hoh, hoh. Yeah, my party seems to get along with Patchy well. S'ironic, 'cause I'm nothing but trouble for her!
...Genkan's looking up at the third book that was advertised to us, which is floating up in the air and out of reach of us. Stepping up to her casually, I nod warmly. This attracts her attention…!
"I do wonder why the two of you are following him around." Patchy refers to me, bringing her hands together on the desktop…! "Your minds and manners are night and day compared to his."
...Maria gives her an awkward smile! "We follow him around 'cause it's fun, I think. He's also not mean or anything."
"A yuki-onna, though…" Patchy gives Genkan an almost wry stare…! "Your species is typically known to despise humanity, and yet you've chosen the starkest contrasts to the valor you typically seek to follow. Are you not uncomfortable?"
...Genkan furrows her brows and grins! "Your words are very general. And… I've been taking this time to observe the world around me. Brad here is…" She seems to choose words carefully, yo, glancing over at me and my eternal smile. "He's not a bad person. Maria is quite brave, to harsh things with us, as well."
...Ha-chan looks over at her! "And what about me!?"
"You're insane..." Genkan tries to resist grinning…!
"I feel like…" Patchy's speakin' prompts me to look over at her again, and she looks sorta exasperated. "Something, somewhere has gone wrong if Brad is your anchor for sanity."
Genkan snaps her gaze to her. "You should see the human village."
...Shaking her head, Patchy raises a finger and looks placated. "Point. Hmm."
...We're cuddly folk, dude. I wanna nuzzle Patchy's poofy hat.
"What the hell!?" Oh, hey, it's Koakuma.
We turn to her, as she rushes into the clearing holding books! "...It's you!" Looking around hastily, she hobbles up to Patchy's desk with the books, and works to set them down.
"Did you find the dark volumes?" Patchy asks her plainly…
"Ah- yeah, all six…" Relaxing, Koakuma daintily places the books on her desk and backs up a little... before grandly pivoting to us again! "You fuckmuffins. You really think you can show your faces-"
"Koakuma." Patchy interrupts her rant! "Sit."
"Wha- nnh!" Koakuma's forced to sit on her legs! "...Lady Patchouli~..."
"This conversation's actually going well." Patchy explains! "If you ruin it, I'm testing obscure statuses on you again."
...At that, Koakuma gives up and lets herself rest on the floor. "Nn~h. Fine." Hoh.
Shaking off the succubus's presence, Maria focuses on Patchy again. "...I'm wondering if… you could show me some things. Ma- magical things, that is."
Raising her eyebrows, Patchy stares at her for a moment. "...Sure." Hoh!
While the mighty magi gets up, I hear Genkan stifle a yawn behind me… "Before you two… get to any activities, I would like to find rest somewhere."
I'm gonna want something to do, 'cause I'm not tired! And, as nice as getting hugged into oblivion by Genkan is, I feel more apt to get inta some stupid shit today. Start some trouble, y'know what I'm sayin'...!?
...Patchy looks over at her to consider her words. But, before she says anything, I interject! "You got any suggestions for me, yo? I wanna get inta trouble tonight, yo!"
...After a moment of thought, Patchy's dull expression lights up! "...I believe I have something that would help with both."
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
END OF CHAPTER 82
PROTAGONIST: Brad, the Fluffle Slayer, Fairy Slayer, Accidental Human Slayer, Robot Demolisher, Ph. D in Plant Hangers, Scarlet Liberator, Village Liberator, Eientei Crucible, Sinker of the Flufftanic, Factory Disassembler, Assembler of the Legendary Air Ride Machine, Sky Climber, Amateur Espionage Practitioner, Illegal Fairy Harborer, Conscientious Party Member, Winter Warrior, Village Revolutionary, Has Forgotten What Half of These Titles Stood For, Holder of Too Many Titles.
PRIMARY WEAPON: Hard Winter - A earth/ice elemental plant hanger made from sturdy rock; has a flower curved around the big, orange shaft-like hilt.
PRIMARY WEAPON SKILLS:
Jack Hammer - This weapon can be used as a jack hammer!
Attack Up - Attacks can be magically charged for bonus damage.
Generic Buff - The most generic of buffs. Boosts defense and attack moderately.
Gaia Seed - Basic earth magic. May make targets slightly tired. Creates downward push force on targets.
Tundra - Spike of sturdy ice which might throw people off balance. Might shank someone who slips onto it, though!
Ice Shard - Advanced ice magic. May freeze enemies. Creates ice magic in their body, and freezes the air around them.
Combo Plus - User gets an extra hit artificially, if they want to!
Combo Jump - User can easily cancel out of combos.
Frost Trail - User leaves frost in their trail, particularly while jumping.
NON-EQUIP SKILLS:
Lucky Star - Non-elemental attack that does very random damage to one target. Star that drops from abo~ve!
Scent Pillow - A spell taught by Koakuma. Summons a pillow endowed with the user's love fluids… which, for males, is, euh…
World's Wimpiest Fireball - A spell learned from a book given to me by Patchy. Summons a really, genuinely terrible fireball that only ignites the weakest of fairies.
Lumen - Low-grade holy spell that eats all my mana. Requires a source of holy to actually be cast. Homes in on an enemy and deals a burst of mediocre holy damage.
Double Jump - A skill I got somehow! Allows the user to jump twice. Avoid fall damage, maybe!
Perspective Holder - Um…? I am the primary perspective of this story!
INVENTORY:
[Bag of Holding] - A small bag that always seems to be conveniently unaffected by whatever weird crap happens to me. Never enlarges, almost always gives me what I need if I remember it's there. Infinite inventory space. I would like to know where it actually puts all my stuff though…
==o==
WEAPONS:
Swordbreaker - Dark elemental plant hanger. Boosts the power of dark skills. Has a curvy, fancy design that lets it easily counter swords! Provides a weak but passive boost to defense, magical defense, and evade. Lowers the attack of foes as its on-impact effect.
=o=
Youkai Inconveniencer - A holy plant hanger, which works as a flail 'cause of the cross necklaces attached to it! Boosts the power of holy skills.
SKILLS:
Flash - Blinding magic. Works best on dark-elementals, but also works on youkai. Humans too, kinda.
Flashlight - It's a flashlight! Might blind dark youkai, I dunno…
Shine - Basic holy magic. Generates a holy orb in the target's body, which hits 'em with raw holy and stuff...
=o=
Fairy Harp - A sand-red, cast iron plant hanger. It was used to hold a generic potted plant before being utilized as a weapon of mass skull-cracking destruction. Has a grate slapped onto it, and a steel block! Sparkles, too…! Oh, s'also got strings, man…!
SKILLS:
Gust - Basic wind magic. Pushes the feeble…!
Fairy Dust - Weapon status effect replaced with fairy dust. Wind attacks with this weapon get fairy dust all over the enemy, debuffing their sinuses!
Bootiful Instrument - I can play music wit' it, dude!
=o=
Flame Salvo - A red and crimson plant hanger comprised of mysterious ruby red gems and crimson metals. Boosts the power of fire skills. Ignites things on physical attacks!
SKILLS:
Flamethrower Plus - A jet of fire. Freakin'... what do ya want me to say!?
Fume - Makes hot air fume from the earth below. Might sear the feeble.
=o=
Vortex Hanger - Wind elemental plant hanger currently attached to the Yin-Yang flail as a crafting material. Boosts the power of wind skills. Pushes air on swing!
=o=
Deep Blue - A blue and silver plant hanger comprised of mysterious fantastical metals. Boosts the power of water skills.
SKILLS:
Freakin' Leaks! - Can produce limitless fresh hanger water…!
Geyser - Basic water attack. Gush of water erupts from the earth and might fling the feeble…!
Valve - I can control the water flow with this!
=o=
Sharper Than Darkness - A dark, runed plant hanger constructed from dark shards. Glowy red runes on it…! Boosts the power of dark skills. Decreases user's defense and increases attack. Can cut things!
SKILLS:
Revenge - Non-elemental cleaving attack that increases in power when health is lower.
Bloody Mess - User bleeds faster and longer.
=o=
Bee-Sheventeen-Bawmber - A mechanical plant hanger enchanted to make big booms on contact. Made of a lot of weird freakin' parts and stick bits and piston things…
SKILLS:
Boom - Hitting stuff makes booms!
Danmaku Pellet? - Can shoot a yellow pellet, for some reason.
=o=
Million Bucks - A basic green cast-iron plant hanger, from the aged cellar of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It's a gift from Flandre Scarlet! Has an obsolete map of the cellar's maze, etched by Flandre herself, along with some shoddy enchantments! Lowers defense slightly. Slightly electric and holy elemental.
SKILLS:
Panic Attack! - Run faster when health is lower!
Magic Attack - Physical attacks are converted to magic attacks, and fluidly pass through objects.
Combo Jump - Allows the user to transition to jumping while mid-attack.
Aerial Plus - Forced aerial support! It's vaguely easier to hit aerial foes with it!
Air Slide Plus - Lets the user awkwardly air slide.
Glide - Replaces Brad's double jump skill with gliding.
High Jump - Increased jump height while running.
=o=
Fragile Flower - A cute hanger with floral designs and light colors. Aesthetically pleasing!
SKILLS:
Enfeebled - Wielder has halved physical defense and offense.
Cleanse - Basic healing skill which cleanses one target of all debuffs or status problems.
=o=
Yin-yang flail-o-copter - A flail with a standard, maximized Hakurei Yin-yang orb in the sling of it. Unable to have its powers fully activated, as only Reimu can truly harness the power of Yin-yang orbs. Crafted from a Hakurei Yin-Yang orb, a rope of panties, and two bra cups. Ropes were used to attach the Vortex Hanger to the yin-yang orb, allowing the flail to be used as a flying device, although it's a bit straining on the arms.
Market Gardener - Critical hits during blast jumps! Otherwise, it's just a normal, old plant hanger. Named after a very similar shovel…!
NERF Maverick Blaster - Harmless foam dart gun toy. When I focus with it, I can fire danmaku NERF darts! Upgraded with an eagle feather and Hina's talisman to inflict confusion and bad luck by default. Negligible non-elemental damage.
NERF longsword - 'CAUTION: Do not jab at people or animals'… you know what that means! Maybe one day this will actually come in handy…
==o==
ARMOR:
Camouflage Kimono - This kimono means business, son. Hopefully helps hide me better in the freakin' brush…!
STATS:
One hundred fifty percent ice resistance.
Fifty percent freeze resistance.
Fifty percent dark resistance.
Negative fifty percent fire resistance.
Negative fifty percent burning resistance.
=o=
Kaguya Houraisan Disguise - Wear to become a NEET! Tons of pockets! Voice, face, and height specifications not included!
STATS:
Seventy-five percent time resistance.
=o=
Yellow Racecar Helmet - It's like a really knockoff space marine helmet! It feels like it's got good physical defense, too… at least for my head.
STATS:
Fifty percent sun resistance.
One hundred percent freezing resistance.
One hundred percent blinding resistance.
One hundred percent electrical stunning resistance.
=o=
Lunarian Prototype Space Suit - A suit meant for combat in deep space. So far, it's only got the whole 'exist in deep space' part down…! Has an oxygen tank, but that's only useful if you wear the helmet to go along with it.
STATS:
One hundred percent electricity resistant.
One hundred percent freezing resistant.
Randomly casts Zero Gravity when it feels like it.
Zero Gravity - Area of effect spell which removes gravity from debris and the feeble!
=o=
Lunarian Prototype Deep Space Helmet - It's a freakin' space helmet.
STATS: (alone)
Fifty percent blinding resistant.
STATS: (paired with Lunarian Prototype Space Suit)
One hundred percent electricity resistant. Again, yo!
One hundred percent resistance to burning and poison.
=o=
Testing Oxygen Tank - The oxygen tank used by the Lunarian Prototype Space Suit. Lasts for two and a half minutes! Not meant to actually be used outside of testing, but it's possible. Refills automatically in breathable air.
=o=
MP Prize Pin - A badge that allows the user to drain some of the enemy's mana, forcing it to become mana prizes on the field. For awhile only the user(s) of this badge may pick them up, but after a grace period anyone can.
STATS:
Extends prize grabbing range!
=o=
Sun Badge - A badge that looks like the sun. How interesting, dude.
STATS:
Fifteen percent sun resistant. Wow.
Fifty percent resistance to blinding and electrical stunning.
Replaces the on-impact effect of all weapons with Sunfire Flare.
Sunfire Flare - Flash of light that blinds everyone. Doesn't work on the sun-resistant.
=o=
Stock Outfit - Blue, long-sleeved shirt with a huge V-neck button-up collar. Blue sweatpants. Most balanced outfit.
STATS:
Negative five percent wind resistance.
May make the wearer tired.
=o=
Reimu's Outfit - Shrine maiden clothes, dude. Holy resistant, but I dunno how much! Even comes with the bindings and tubes and ribbon 'n' everything!
Reimu's Ribbon - Man, that's cuddly looking.
Hakurei Arm Sleeves - How do you wear these.
Remilia Scarlet's Mob Cap - Twenty five percent dark resistance. Lets me be a Touhou, too!
Monk Robes - Wear to become a Buddhist! Actually pretty comfy…!
Gravity Boots - Boots that reduce the user's gravity! More like, propels them off the floor a little. Reduces the effectiveness of space statuses on the user. Really weird to control…!
Retro Patchy Hat - A really old hat of Patchy's. Properties unknown, so far!
==o==
CONSUMABLES/OTHER:
Twenty seven thousand, nine hundred Yen - ...Yeah, just in a bag. It's about time I documented how much freakin' money I have!
Four Health Potions - They give you youkai-like regen for like, thirty seconds! No chuggin' these babies to indefinitely survive the cold reaches of outer space. Unless the regen outdoes the asphyxiation, but I think I'd rather die by that point…
Mega Potion - Youkai-like regen for thirty seconds… except for the whole family! Applies to entire party. Good for when we all suck at life!
Four Mana Potions - Restores an average amount of mana, I think. More than enough for someone like me!
Three Panaceas - Cures all status effects. I dunno if it works on debuffs, though...
Akihito's Broadsword - Too big for me to use as a weapon. I wonder if I could use it as like, a tent stake or something.
Butterfly Dream Pills - Makes you dream of being a beautiful butterfly!... now, if only there was a pill for lucid or wet dreams, and then I'd consider Yagokoro the doctor to end all doctors!
Rope of Red Bikinis - Wahaha! Gonna getcha, son!
Some Fancy Key - A key lent to me by Brittany. Wha- why. What's it for…!?
Youkai Exterminator Badge - I still have this, dude! Yo ho ho! Allows me to not be considered a youkai by most guardsmen!
Bone - I got it from a frozen reindeer. Why's there only one…!?
Moon Crescent - A really old moon crescent Patchy used to wear. Properties unknown…!
Star-shaped Sea Shell - A neon yellow sea shell that sounds like the ocean if you hold it close. Gives off humid air, too!
Black Flickering Fragment - Piece of one of Patchy's old mimics, which we gored. Makes my hand numb when I hold it. Weird shit...
==o==
RANDOM CRAP:
Tables and Furniture - Impromptu furnishings!
==o==
PARTY:
London, the Multipurpose Combat Doll - What it lacks in brains it makes up for with a suit of armor and some OP utilitarian spells! Can cast basic fire, lightning, and ice attacks, both the magical and physical variety. Has lance, can shoot danmaku. Variety of attack commands now, including intelligent tracking, trailing, patrolling, and defending. Has mana pool for the stronk commands, though, so those should be used sparingly. I really have to remember to use her, at some point!
PRIMARY WEAPON: Shanghai Lance - Burly lance with jabbing ability. Mostly useful as a blunt object, it seems, and intimidation factor. London really likes it, apparently. London shouldn't have sentience, but I can't help but notice the awkward way which it just pauses before it swings this lance.
==o==
Genkan, the Yuki-onna - A bitter yuki-onna from Gensokyo's wildlands, mostly active in the winter, and on particularly cold days. Heals from ice damage. Commands powerful control over frost, and has a wide variety of ice-affinity attacks. Weak to fire and burning.
SKILLS:
Ice Control - Freely use ice to make stuff. Inherent one hundred percent ice resistance. Negative one hundred fire and burning resistance.
Freeze - Instantly freezes one to two enemies. Low chance of working on stronger foes.
Creaking Freeze - Generates a spinning, magic snowflake in an enemy's body, which instantly freezes them after a moment. High accuracy.
Glacier - Erects a massive blade of ice from the ground, dealing incredible physical ice damage.
Triple Glacier - See above, but on three enemies! As such, costs triple the mana!
Ice Spin - Spins and lashes out with chilling frost. Probably just an extension of her normal frost powers and not an actual skill…
Ice Shard - Advanced ice magic. May freeze enemies. Creates ice magic in their body, and freezes the air around them.
Snow - Make it snow locally. Very minor ambient ice damage to everyone on the battlefield, including allies. Has a low chance to instantly freeze someone for no reason.
Yuki-onna's Embrace - Hug. Binds target close to her. Makes the target tired, severely lowers accuracy and magical defense, and makes them comfortable. Skill may only be performed by yuki-onna. Negative facets reduced by ice and freezing resist. Someone with over a hundred resistance will be buffed and healed by it…!
Yuki-onna's Entombment - Final, optional stage of the hug…! Guaranteed instant death inflicted by the draining of vitality. Heals the user for the heat taken from the target. Does not work well on bosses or the instant death resistant. Instant death proc is nullified if the target's ice or freezing resistance is over fifty percent. Skill may only be performed by yuki-onna.
Other Skills - Probably has more spells, but freakin'... I dunno her like a textbook!
INVENTORY:
Absolute Zero Kimono - A better version of the stock yuki-onna kimono. Has new trims and stuff!
STATS:
Two hundred ice resistance. Genkan only receives one hundred since this is her stock apparel…! Still adds up to two hundred 'cause of her Ice Control skill… and being a yuki-onna and all.
Negative one hundred fire and burning weakness. Doesn't affect Genkan since this weakness is native anyway, but oof.
=o=
Two thousand yen - Her remaining total after spending money on our upgrades.
Bagged Money - Some money Reimu got for us, to pay for our irreversible trauma. She's friendly, dude. We haven't counted it out, yet!
I dunno - What would I~ have if I was a sexy ice woman?
[unknown spaces remaining]
==o==
Maria, the Actually Ordinary Magician - A villager from the human village. Used to run the most impoverished bar ever, but that fell under or something. Really low self-esteem! Resistances and weaknesses depend on equipment. Can cast basic elemental spells!
SKILLS:
Fire - Small, homing fireball of doom. May ignite foes! Doesn't do much damage.
Blizzard - Spread shot of big snowflakes. May chill foes.
Thunder - Random spread of bolts in an area! Zaps people…!
INVENTORY:
Pine Frost Staff - Made with pine wood and an icy reagent. Also good for bonking things! Twenty five percent ice resistance, one hundred percent freezing resistance. Negative fifty percent burning resistance.
SKILLS:
Ice Shard - Advanced ice magic. May freeze enemies. Creates ice magic in their body, and freezes the air around them.
Blizzara - Big spread shot of myriad ice chunks, with magical snowflakes whirling around inside them. May freeze foes!
=o=
Casual Freeze Clothes - Casual, neon villager garb. Bright yellow shirt with a blue snowflake stitched onto the front, a bright blue skirt, and a tan vest. Looks about as garish as your regular Touhou, now!
STATS:
Fifty percent ice resistant.
One hundred percent freezing resistant.
=o=
Wood Staff - Good for bonking things!
Magical Lens - A lens that shoots la~ser bea~ms! ...When you input mana into it, anyway, apparently. Gift from Marcus Kirisame!
[Travel Bag] - Inventory that exists! Does not take up inventory because it is inventory. Eight slots.
Two Mana Potions - Guess wha~t? It heals, except mana!
[four spaces remaining]
==o==
Hana, the Electric Fairy Maid - Hello again, friend! You're fluffy. Healed by electric magic. Immune to electric stunning!
SKILLS:
Little Zap - Basic electric magic. Zaps a target twice with static from above!
Random Electric - When pressured, uses random electric spells that exist.
Electric Control - With true power, she's able to stun opponents into submission by touching them, apparently.
Electric Elemental - Three hundred percent electric resistant. One hundred percent resistance to electrical stunning.
INVENTORY:
Hana's Fairy Maid Uniform - Stock standard uniform from the mansion! Cyan-tinted in places to match her hair color. Honh...
==o==
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
welcome back to the mansion
except this time it actually feels like we GOIN SOMEWHERE YO DOIN' THINGS
maria and genkan really add a lot of human balance to the story which is kinda necessary to brad getting anything done because otherwise he just literally dicks about forever
hell we even got on good terms with patchy which is a first in like forever since maria and genkan aren't about that troll life
also we found a bunch of cool crap in patchy's diary chest and got to glimpse at her past yo
all it took was some seemingly perilous-but-not-really swimming, with maxed ice resistance and fish bowl 2: the sequel
also we got fucked by a mimic
the way i do fire magic, even of the greater forms, is that it just does its damage almost strictly with powerful DoT, as opposed to ice or thunder or most other elements where all of its damage is inflicted instantly
...i do this mostly because it's not only my party that's super fire vulnerable who gets hit by it, but most humans and overworld things would get fucking wrecked if fire was flat damage
it also wouldn't make sense 'cause y'know fire burns it doesn't explodinate
other notable exceptions include wind which just doesn't really do damage most of the time, and water which is about the same- touching wind and water don't typically hurt you, although both directed right can cut you or suffocate you or overwhelm you in some way
that mimic also cast absolute zero, which would've instantly killed me if i had anything but 100% ice resistance on
...150% makes it el grande heal, if not a bit disorienting
oh yeah shimokoa wants to harass us
this would normally be a sort of tense and tension building plotpoint but we went inside the mansion and therefore shimokoa threw herself at the ungodly mansion defense the hard way and probably got apprehended; you don't just walk up and go "hahaha get outta my way sakuya i gotta outflank a boy in blue"
we'll see more of her later though yo don't you worry
oh yeah the patchy stuff at the end of the chapter
she's got her own trolly side when she feels comfortable with life and doesn't just want to right click to delete people from reality l :3
also i've been paying more attention to my equips and things yo
ho ho
post-edit notice: fixed typos and some grammar, added just a few lines. not much to change this time around!
as always, see you all next time!
