(MATTJORA'S MASK: THE LEGEND OF ZOOL)

It's the dead of dusk. The sun sets in the background, as the holy white overcast gives away to a gentle snowfall.

It's sunny and snowfall. How apt.

Here we stand. We're along the flank of Eientei.

Vanilla swallows. She has a bulletproof chest-piece on, which is her only actual piece of clothing aside from her panties and cape.

Cr- cra- crack- crack. Shimokoa cracks her neck by leaning it to the right, and it snaps four times. "...Sheesh. y'really gotta stretch more." Mima is inside her, for now.

Suspiciously, I'm going to the basement to find Shikome proper, while Mima plans to 'distract' the guards by fighting them herself and going up, using Shimokoa to do so.

Vanilla? Her job's to keep Sanjir- I mean, Pearl, alive. Basically, they're going to hold up Reisen specifically at the front counter, with stupid questions. And since Sanjiro's a girl now, Reisen wouldn't immediately call him on bullshit. It's actually almost artistic how that's going to play out.

"I'm ready!" Pearl announces, bouncing from around back of a tree. She has a warm winter coat on- her one solace after everything we've done to her, and everything she's gone through.

"Good, good." Mima nods Shimokoa's head, facing him- her- whatever. "Remember, if ya fuck this all up, you're gonna be the prison bitch."

"Oo- okay." Pearl withers under the perhaps unnecessary reinforcement.

"I like how you're obviously barely going to help me." I detect illicit intent.

Mima makes Shimokoa smirk at me. "Aawh? Well, unless you wanna rambo with us, but far as I'm aware, we'd be goin' the entire damn wrong way. You got enough shit now to at least slink an' slip your way on down there. Once she's on the loose, I should be able ta get away too. Capiche?"

Hearing 'capiche' coming out of Shimokoa's mouth is strange. "If you say so."

I'm somewhat glad she's leaving me to do it, actually. It might be a show of ill-intent on her part, but this was something I wanted to do with or without her. I think I prefer without her.

"Alright." Mima floated into the air, panning her emerald gaze to me through Shimokoa's eyes. "We'll go in through this side access. Vanilly, Pearlie, you two'll go around to the front- obviously. Just restatin' it to be clear. When we get to the shitty stairwell, we'll split paths. You go down- y'might have to unlock some shit if they got the cellar with her in it tight."

"Aren't I using the vents?" I shouldn't have any unlocking to do.

Mima snorted. "Ah, yes, 'cause Shikome wouldn't be using the vents too. If she's free, that is- or if she broke free. They probably got her circuit air-tight. So don't think you don't gotta smash buttons or collect a keycard at some point."

Great. "And I thought that would be where you come in?"

"What'm I, your mom?" Mima shook her head. "The distraction should be enough. Lowkey, I think Eirin expects us."

Well, of course. She has absolutely no reason to expect us, therefore she will. Regardless, the moment Mima uses magic on someone, she's going to know roughly what's going on.

Therefore, it's imperative that I don't even come close to getting caught. Although, if we're following Mima's train of logic, the moment we step inside Eirin's just going to be at the door. She'll grab us both by the neck within the first second, and then choke us to death the very next. How genius and witty of her. It's just what I'd expect a scientist to do.

"Anyway, enough bitchin'." Mima crept up to the crappy, metal door we were huddled around. It's so forgotten the blue paint on it is peeling off. We're along the left flank of Eientei, if that weren't obvious. "Let's go make some noise."

Ah, yes. Some noise. I'm sure that took you all of about half a second to blurt out, because I've heard that line too often to count.

Creaa~k. Mima tilts the door open with Shimokoa's arm, and drifts inside.

At least there won't be wind inside. Cold? Probably. But the real ass in winter is the wind- that's what amplifies the cold. Fuck wind.

I keep low, moving in her footsteps a minute after. I'm just not going to be directly behind her; it's not like we have far to the point of deviation anyway.

Inside the wood and shingle outer wall of Eientei, I come up to a brick-and-plaster hallway.

This is the garage sector- and aptly, it's rundown, shitty, and dim. A doomed blue horizon glows through tiny windows on the upper edges of the hall. At the end of this hall, Mima creeps around the corner, heading down a turn.

Catching up with her, I follow that turn.

Despite this central hall seeming like a junction of many different halls, it's as quiet as a ghost. Nearly black, partially blue- but well-illuminated by my youkai-enhanced vision.

Bikes, wheels, strange belts and parts- various small but futuristic hovercraft- they all hang on the walls around me, fixed into place by thick black metal frames. The air space above stretches to the shingle roof, not insulated. Vents and loose cables and other modern building parts run along said ceiling, not hidden by any kind of ceiling tile or anything.

Makes you wonder what most of that even does. Maybe it's all ventilation and room conditioning. Yet, this junction of dead-end halls smells like metal, rubber and trapped air.

In the time I spent surveying it, Mima is already gone.

At the far end of this junction, I move down the center hall, into a large workshop room on the left. Passing by a series of wood tables- workbenches- that remind me of a school's art room- I press into a stairwell in the back, the only way out of this isolated sector.

Here is the crappy stairwell. From here, Mima goes up and onto a great icy bridge, to attract the attention of snipers, scouts, and everything under the sun.

Me? I go down. There's a healthy layer of complex nonsense all under Eientei.

Let's put it this way. I am a floor above ground level, within this garage place. One floor down is most of the typical pharmacy and hospital rooms, and most dorms. Even stairways within this sprawling layer of halls only teleport you around within that circuit of hallways, like the entire blueprint for this place is an Escher work.

Two floors down? The basement level is actually secretive. It's corridors of Lunarian tech hallways, both old and modern.

Then, somewhere amidst that is the neo-Lunarian technology suites, designed by Eirin in the past so-and-so years. One of those is where Shikome is being contained.

Where Eirin is? That's quite simple, actually. She's busy doing work and shit. She doesn't really make what she's doing a secret. Reisen serving pharmaceutical work and sales is awfully ironic, considering she's one of the big heads of military.

Mima supposed that was the nature of Gensokyo. I think it's just random.

I reach the bottom of the stairwell, to the second floor.

There's just a wall down here. Thankfully, I brought the keycard we obtained in trading.

Beep! I press it against a suspiciously fake-looking brick, and it beeps and glows.

CHUGGACHUGGACHUGGA- PRA- PRAM. A big, hexagonal doorway positively booms open. What the fuck. That was way louder than I anticipated.

...I look around, the hairs on the back of my neck on edge, but since no one has come to blow my head off my shoulders, I sprint inside.

==== SHIMOKOA'S PERSPECTIVE ====

BAM. I punch the thick metal door open, and it swings open on its hinges, into the snowy air.

Under the dying sunlight, as cold snaps the air and the Earth, I march onto the snowy walkway that frames all of Eientei.

This is a path walked by their guards, snipers and military personnel. Long used as a simple path during times of peace to move recon amidst the inner walls. It goes relatively unused because it's very easy to get shot by invaders up here; though in this time of peace, it typically doesn't matter.

I gaze upon taller towers, spires of control, shoji and brick stretching like castle columns and towers into the air. You can't see it from the ground; but once you're in the air space within the walls, there's a huge amount of control towers and vertical variation amidst Eientei's roofs.

Blinding, beautiful white fluorescent fog lights light up Eientei's rooftops amidst the black and blue, and the setting sun.

Beaming into the sky, I see the moon above. Behind me, around me and before me- crescent-shaped lights perched on great mounts aim up at the moon, for some unknown purpose.

But this all does not pierce the sky, or pollute the air with light. Eientei has a field about it, be it by the bamboo or a barrier- an energy that keeps the light contained, cancels it out and stops it from being visible. Such is why Eientei always seems cast in shade from afar, or vague at day.

Mima's words lick around my neck. "Thinkin' 'bout a lot, huh?"

"Nn- hehehe…" I don't know why I'm so giddy. I'm nervous. I'm afraid. Why do I smile?

This stillness is respite. A moment framed in time; me before the beautiful, technological domain. Society, soul, and life. A community of non-human people.

In time, I have realized. Even in idealized societies such as these, ruin and disaster occur. Thousands of years in the future, people work to the bone, families fall to ruin, forgotten by the systems and people that be, and all see the futility in bonding with one another; yet, they still connect.

Not out of hope. Not for friendship, not for fun- those are easy answers. Certainly not the light in our hearts and souls, or anything so pretentious.

They bond because the human instinct we are born from dictates we be social creatures. When in reality, the bonds make us weaker. They become chains.

"C'mon." Mima tries to move me, but I am still as ice.

I move myself. "...Mima?"

"Hmm?"

"I ask you this for fun."

Mima snorts through my nose. "Ahah? Yeah?"

"Will you let me die here?" It'd be a mercy of some sort, I'm sure.

"That what yer scared of?" Mima thinks it's funny. She thinks everything is funny. Lunatic spirit. "...Well, not intentionally. Just don't do anythin' stupid. If ya do- gimme time to run first!"

How suspicious. It's in the lack of ill intent that she often shows her fangs. Unpredictable, vindictive and petty. Lunatic, vengeful spirit.

SHIFF. I draw my huge, iron paddle from my back.

...From behind my back, an alloy staff creeps into my vision. "Don't worry too hard, though. Not yet, anyway." Mima chuckles. "Heheh… I got yer back, kid. 'Cause lemme tell ya: dyin' is wack!"

The alloy staff drifts before me, its metal crescent framing the all-but-full moon above.

That beautiful moon. It won't be full for the next day or two.

It is the perfect time to claim the false moon's power. In its imitation of the moon- it holds an attainable image. After all, as a replica, it is an image, a model. I can take it.

The crescent tip of Mima's staff becomes a yin-yang instead, the metal shifting and folding. I suppose this is her idea of keeping a low profile.

Skri~k. I drag my big iron paddle along the wood walkway, drawing a line in the gentle snow behind me.

Snow, crest me. Moon, embrace me. Dark, consume me.

Every sister I've lost… make way in hell for me.

KABOOM! I paddle the iron door into the next tower down. Mima's staff's orb tip thrust forward at the same time, turning the door into an explosion of metal with my strike.

Marching in, I behold.

"Wh-..." A blue-haired man rabbit took pause, sighting me.

"Ah!?" A cyan-haired girl is up here, too. "Who the hell's she!?"

"I- I don't know…"

"Uuh. She's- got some big ass weapons-"

Some aim their sniper guns at me. Some aim standard rifles, or pistols. Others have knives.

If I fall now, any one of these youkai could do anything to me. Death, or worse.

Under that threat- I grow angry. My mouth opens.

"I'm sending every- single- last one of you…!" Inhale… "Straight down to he~ll!"

==== VANILLA'S PERSPECTIVE ====

This metal vest's heavy. Cold, too. Why'd they give me it, anyway…?

Um. Like- we slid down the rock we started on, and went around the front, and went inside. So we're here now…

"Now look here." Pearl's voice-... I can't unhear Sanjiro's mannerisms in it. "See, the soda can. The part of metal removed. How does the flap piece do that?"

...Resien's slouched over the desk, giving the soda can a disappointed look. "It's made to be opened with enough pressure. It's just a fragile layer of metal."

Still suspicious, Pearl sets it down. "It's not some youkai magic?"

"Not everything you don't know anything about is magic…!" Reisen gently snips back at him. "Just like you said about the lights. And my counter. And the vending machine you got that soda out of. You didn't even know what a soda can was."

"And I still don't." Pearl tried her best to make a long, Sanjiro-like face, but it came out just… mashed, instead. "You didn't do a very good job, I don't think."

Reisen flicked her eyes up. "It's a tin can. It holds drinks. That's it."

Pearl smirked. "Wrong."

Reisen blinked, becoming even more jaded…

"It is a-" Pearl squinted, and looked closely at the can. "Inaba Cola." Huh. "Clearly, it's surely not what you say it is."

"But-" Reisen looks somewhere between disbelieving and constipated. "You-... alright. Okay. Do you know what, like, brands are?"

"...The heated metal?" Pearl held her stomach, adopting Sanjiro's strangely old man-esque posture. It just doesn't fit her stouter physique at all…

"No. Like-" Reisen was trying to find a way to describe it with words… "Oka~y… let's say two people made tables. One was a Satoshi table, and the other was a Nanashi table. People would call them by brand name, right?"

"...Oh!" Pearl gets it. "Oh, I see. This can was crafted by Inaba Cola, then? This is their signature?" The scary part is that it's really hard for me to tell if Pearl is faking it or not.

Reisen sighed. "I- wh- yeah, that's-... good enough. Yep. That's exactly it."

"Excellent…" Pearl nodded, looking around contemplatively… "That's pretty interesting."

Reisen snorts. "Is- is it…"

With that, Pearl's out of things to talk about.

click. Clicking her pen, Reisen gets back to her work with her files. I'm only able to see comfortably because I'm standing on a cushion we stole from a nearby lounge couch.

Pearl smells blood, however. "What kind of device is that?"

"Oh- come the fuck-" Woah. Reisen's getting annoyed… "Do you have eyes? Do you ever use them…?"

"Well- I never!" Pearl glares back, offended… and, um… "It was a simple question. What? You can't answer it?"

"It's a- it's a pen!" Reisen waves it Pearl's face…! "Do you know what a pen is!?"

"Wh- gh- I-" Pearl waves her arms at Reisen's- making Reisen jerk her's back! "Nnh…!" Somehow, Pearl winded herself in the process…

...Looking more guilty, her ears now hanging lower, Reisen exhales. "Sorry. That-... that was immature of me."

"I'll say." Pearl is less mature in return… "That's no pen I know. And you've demonstrated your youkai pride thoroughly enough. I need not take it from you, or any one of your hare cohorts."

"Look, I'm sorry." Reisen's trying. "I-"

"Don't be sorry." Pearl snips back. "If you were sorry, you'd have been a better person. A more intelligent person."

And um, promptly, Reisen's done being sorry. "Alright, come on. You don't have to be a dick about it."

...Promptly, Pearl shakes her head, looking away. "Foolish. Foolish, foolish, foolish. And what of you, Vanilla-chan? What do you make of this folley?"

"Leave me out of it." Shut up. Just- no. I'm happy keeping watch, thanks.

Reisen gives me a puzzled look, before returning to Pearl. "Want me to tell you what this pen does? Or can you guess?"

"Guess? Now- just who do you take me for!?"

While they bicker about pens, I gaze around the dim, white lobby.

It's bleak, but cozy. Cold, and quiet. Y- you know, besides for right now.

"I-" Reisen dipped her head down, and raised it back up, seething through her teeth. "Someone smart and intelligent and able to make clear observations of their environment."

...Pearl nods once. "Yes, true. I didn't ask to be flattered, I asked for an- an item description, if that makes any sense to your hare-brained head."

CRACK. Reisen gripped the pen until it snapped. Blue Ink dripped down her hand, and onto the desk- where she'd cleverly slid her work away before she'd broken the pen.

Pearl, of course, knows how to just turn off her instinct to be afraid. "Your display of muscle won't vindicate you in my eyes, youkai. You, kai. Is violence the only method you can use to solve problems? Back where I was raised, I was taught to use a quill and parchment, you-"

"Alright. Look." Umh- oh no-

Reisen grips Pearl by the collar, and tugs her almost onto the counter with both arms.

Pearl tries to grip Reisen's wrists back, but of course, it doesn't work. "You wanna take this outside? I'm game. Oh- I am game. I'll show you-..." Then, she met my gaze.

I shake my head. "Please don't. I know she's mental, but please, don't hurt her. Um. Unless you'll pay for the bills."

Pearl gives me a glare. Yeah- well, deal with it! You got yourself into this mess!

"...Ff- fine." Reisen lets go of Pearl, who melodramatically scrambles back, clutching her ribs, for… some reason. "I-... don't take this the wrong way, alright? Just- it's been a long day, a long week, and holiday break is almost coming up and-"

"I- I understand." It's been a long bunch of days for me, too. Maybe more than a week. Maybe like a month. "But, you'll find peace after it all." I give her a nod. "I know we both will."

...Reisen swallows, and just stares down at me with this implacable level of tired awe.

"She'll find peace, alright." Pearl, sometimes, I just wanna leave you to get run over by life. It's bad of me to feel this way- but I think if there was ever a person I just could not defend or anything… it's her. "In the back of a brothel, I'm sure." That's mean!

Reisen seems to have stopped caring, however. "Wow. So, are you actually here for a reason, or did you come to waste my time?"

"I did not originally come to waste your time- but waste it I shall!" Pearl, what- why.

"Cool it." I outright command her. "You're gonna get kicked out and beat up."

"...Well, fine." Pearl holds her hands up. "Fine! Say no more. Say absolutely no more. ...I can tell when I'm not welcomed here."

Don't be a baby, Pearl. Hey- where're you going. Hold on…

==== MATT'S PERSPECTIVE ====

Two rabbit men- or women- in helmets walk by. Only their ears are exposed, which seem like a tactical weak point, but what do I know.

Unknown to them, two completely still cat eyes peer out in the darkness upon them, as they browse down the white-chrome hallway.

I've escaped the hard metal halls and passes- a thankful mercy, because there was fuckall for hiding furniture in those. Just really big closets and occasional lab rooms, but most doors were locked open, and being locked into those rooms was just as much worry as being locked out.

Those were halls of blurry LED lights under glazed panels, and shitty gridded metal walkways. These are halls of pseudo-future 'everything is featureless and white syndrome' furniture. Unless you count being overly-beveled as a feature.

Lunar rabbits here are still in business suits, but some have complicated, face-masking helmets with strange lights on them, and bigger guns than usual.

A pair of fluffle eyes appear in the dark next to me. "majestic beast"

I hardly focus on it. I don't have time to, nor do I want to make so much noise.

Thankfully, it seems like the rabbits have the same opinion, because despite the fluffle breaking the silence, they ignore it.

"i am magic fluff"

It bounds out into the midst of the hallway and poses with its fins tucked back, attempting to appear majestic.

"dragon fluff"

whump. I punt it when I come out of cover. I couldn't resist.

fli- flick. My cloaking flicks slightly due to my violence. Not that it particularly helps, but if people glance at me, they won't instantly know I'm there.

You see, lunar rabbits can see certain wavelengths. As it turns out, cloaking manipulates light wavelengths, and they can typically just see that sort of thing. At the same time, it's better than just sitting naked in the darkness, because they've also got improved night vision. You know- rabbits and their carrots, the whole nine yards of a rabbit's eyesight, besides them being youkai.

But, as it turns out, if you cloak in the darkness and stand perfectly still, they don't see you. I didn't intend on finding this out. Don't tell anybody.

"no!" The fluffle is angry. "you ruined it!"

But then, I'm gone… as fast as I can be gone, anyway. I can't sprint or bound- that's loud.

I'm wearing my programmer socks. ...That's somewhat disingenuous of me. I'm wearing black stockings without shoes. You see, if I'm ever captured by the rabbits, I may be able to seduce one.

...No, that's not right either. Socks are quieter than shoes. That's why.

The fluffle tries to follow me, but it's not as good at detecting optic camouflage as the rabbits, and quickly turns to a wall instead, before trying to headbutt it, blaming the plight on it.

Soon, I come to a three-way. Darting across the empty hall, keeping to the right wall, I peek my head around the corner…

Click, click. Thankfully, rabbit soldiers walking is quite loud. Dress shoes on white 'plastic'- or perhaps metal- floors, you see.

There's one idly, lazily patrolling this hall. They take pause, sighting an anomaly.

One of the potted plants in this hall has a fluffle roosting in it.

Radio-like static comes out of his helmet as he speaks. "You little shits." He aims his rifle at it. "Get out of there."

The fluffle doesn't even notice. It's too comfortable in there.

"...Fine." Not sure if he's- "No- I wasn't talking to you. No, there's no intruder. ...I'll make sure to turn the intercom off next time. Just, you know. Dust mites."

In the time he was talking about it, I moved behind the couch behind him.

"hoh" I find another nightmarish entity. "slayer" It becomes incredibly munted as it exposes its forehead at me in an attempt to look smug.

...Picking it up, looking over the couch, I toss it at the man.

boof. The fluffle impacts his head, and clings to the side of his helmet. "Wha- fuck! Aa-..." He realizes it's just a fluffle. "Fuck, you… no- not you. I got- nngh."

"slayer" The fluffle announced.

With that, I was able to move down the entire hallway.

This should be where the security room is. This sector's separated from the one Shikome should be contained in. Naturally, the controls for her sector's locks are kept in a room here.

The only problem is probably going to be that the room has people in it. They're also lunar rabbits, so the probability of me killing them even with my improved agility- before they kill me- is pretty much none.

shoof. Aah. I step near the white plate door, and it slides open.

"Hmm?" A girl's voice is heard inside. "Who's there?"

"...Y'think one of those mites activated the door, again?"

"I swear, we need a dusting bot."

...One of them calls out. "Hee~y! Keizoro! Is that you!?"

Hmm. Nothing.

I may have to attempt a diplomatic approach. At the moment, I don't have anything easy to either dispatch or avoid them. Though these particular halls are somewhat dark and grey, the room they're in is more grates and hard metal, dimly lit by LEDs and lit largely by the light of machines and monitors.

shiff- shoof. I dash in while the door attempts closing, and it opens again.

The girls look back at it a little too late to spot me. "Whah. Aw, damn. Maybe the sensor's fucked again." A bunny in a scientist's coat with long, blonde hair beholds the open door.

...This other petite bunny with bobby, blonde hair hugs herself. "I know I wanna be fucked again."

"Shut up." The long-haired scientist gives her a stern look. "Horny rabbits are disgusting."

"You're disgusting." The petite one grinned.

"...We're not fighting about this again." Scientist girl shook her head.

"Not like we've got anything to do. Besides watch monitors."

"We shouldn't underestimate that thing." Scientist girl advised her. "It's loose in that sector, after all. I'm really glad Eirin was on the ball, and put up countermeasures."

Loose? ...How do you mean?

I really should have pulled a Hitman and disguised myself as a rabbit. Provided, the actual probability of accomplishing that and succeeding would be quite low. Lunar rabbits just suck to deal with.

"Whatever." The petite, blonde bunny leaned back, folding her arms behind her head. "Countermeasures… y'know. What's even the chance of something bad happening? Nothing bad ever happens… 'sides from when we, y'know, do it to each other."

"This thing isn't a joke, though." Scientist girl affirms. "It's already killed a lot of bunnies, and that was just capturing it. I don't know why we don't just kill it."

"Oh- you know fully why we don't just kill it." Bobbie bunny retorts. Then, she flares her arms into the air. "Sci~ence. Woo."

"...Well, it's a bit more than that." Scientist girl pouted back at her. "I mean- I feel as though study would work just fine if it were dead. We do so with so many other specimens. I don't see why this one is that different. But…"

"Don't worry." Bobbie bunny held up her rifle; she had a suit on, indicating she was security. "If that thing walks in here, I'll blow its brains out."

Not a good moment to be me, certainly. This is why I want a suit. A disguise would have been really nice.

...With nothing better to do, we all wait for some moments.

"Not like it'd walk in here." After returning to the monitors and beepy, blinky buttons, the scientist bunny spoke idly. "We're pretty far away from it. We'd have to be pretty unlucky."

The bobbie bunny hummed. "Mmm. Hey- I'mma take a leak. Want anything?"

"...Some Twix." Wait, right. This kind of thing just happens, doesn't it.

"Be back."

Although, my expectations are promptly diverted when the bobbie bunny does a U-turn, into what seems to be a bathroom built into the room itself.

The only implication is that there is a vending machine for specifically these two bunnies. That, or there's some kind of hyper-advanced vending machine network that makes the positioning of these machines absolutely trivial. I hadn't seen anything that looked like a vending machine to me in the halls, so…

Regardless, this is as much of a chance as I'm getting. Let's make it count.

Even if I stole a gun from them or something, I wouldn't know how to use it. Their big, chrome- or otherwise featureless- weapons are probably clunky enough to fuck me over if I tried.

Drawing my frost scissors, I creep up behind the scientist girl as she beholds the many monitors.

What will I have to do to release the locks? There are so many switches and buttons. It's like I'm observing an airplane's cockpit. I'll just have to guess, and hope I don't press an alarm, or-

BRAAR! BRAAR! BRAAR!

Speaking of alarms. Fuck it- back into the room corner I go- I was never here.

"Wh- what!?" After the three loud beeps, the scientist girl seemed to lock up. "...Oh. Some intruder somewhere else, getting violent. How strange… and- it's not the dust mites again…"

A toilet flushing noise is heard, as the bobbie-haired one charges back out. "What's going on…?"

"Some vandal broke into the armory towers, again." Scientist girl shook her head. "...Oh. You're on patrol now 'cause of it, though."

"Ah, fuck." Bobbie-hair leans her head around. "...Great. Whelp. Say hi to Keizoro fer me. And- here's yer Twix."

The scientist caught it after a toss. "Thank you~."

Shoof. With that, the door outside opened, the guard bunny heading out.

Shiff. It shuts. This left us alone, for now. Perfect.

The crackling of the candy wrapper masks my silent approach. Scissors poised like a knife again, I creep up behind the girl.

One stab should freeze the neck. That alone should keep her at bay long enough for me to let loose and beat the shit out of her relentlessly. She's tougher than a human, so… a stab to the neck might just not kill her.

"Mmh…" She begins to eat her Twix. I should wait for her to swallow. That'd be the most evil way of doing it. "Nn-"

Now.

SHUNK! I insert it just to the side of the spinal cord-

FWASH! Her neck freezes, a chunk of ice locking it down-

WHAM! Then, in a blink, she elbows me in the face.

BAM! The blow is so unexpectedly fierce I'm tossed into a backward roll along the floor. Despite being a scientist, just the virtue of being a rabbit gave this bunny remarkable power.

"hh-" Her mouth emits a hissy sound as she pans around, gaze intense.

CRACK! Then, she begins to break the ice around her throat, clawing it apart with her bare, pale white hands- chilled beyond pale by how cold the ice was.

"Nnh-" Leaping up off the floor- I come at her in a near-instant. "Fatal-"

Woosh! I lean out of the way of two claw-like swipes of her colored nails-

CRACK! She punches herself in the throat, and swallows. "Hh- haah!" Blood spritzes out of her stab wound, but she seems honestly too fine for someone who got stabbed in the throat. "Yh- yh- ou-"

"-blizzard!" I finish reciting my spell-

Woosh! And, I leap overhead.

The scientist turns- seeing an energy pistol nearby- before flicking her gaze to me trying to point her fingers up instead-

SHUNK- SPLA- SPLA- SPLACK- CHOOM! I connect my scissors with the top of her skull. She connects an airy, strange blue bullet with my stomach.

"Kh- achk-" I cough up blood immediately.

Thu- thud. Despite my stab to the top of her skull, the incision was weak enough to not even split anything. But, it looks like she's down for now.

Kneeling down-

Chunk. I claim my scissors from her blonde hair. Admittedly, the stab was somehow deep enough to leave a positively disgusting gash. It's enough to make even me feel strange looking at it.

Ignoring that, I turn my attention to the controls. I probably don't have long, so- wait.

Claiming the blonde bunny by the shoulders and underarms, I drag her towards the bathroom.

Bam! I slam the door open, and take her next to the toilet. Stealing her coat- and her black dress shoes- I put them on.

Taking off my own black outer dress suit- part of my nazi attire that seemed fit for this stealth mission- I put on the lab coat over my white undershirt.

I am now Sabrina DeVris, cat scientist. A rising anomaly in the Eientei thinkspace.

Browsing back out, I come up to the panels again. I'm holding onto my suit still; I'll just say it's for someone. I was supposed to drop it off earlier today, and forgot, and am just carrying it around so I don't misplace it myself.

All of the cameras don't detect anything. None of the sector that contains Shimoke has people moving around. Wait-... ah. I lied.

There does seem to be people just browsing around. ...I watch them move around for some time, before I notice the obvious. They're flickering holograms. Decoy people.

Under every camera, there are different twist switches. The middle one for each is-

cr- cr- crik. Oh. Position and orientation. The red buttons are-

Choom! Oh. They shoot blue lasers. Quaint.

ti- tick, tick tick. I flip some tiny but stiff flip-switches that are hard on the hands, but nothing visibly seems to happen. Great.

Some cameras- particularly those in dark places or certain lit ones- seem to have more buttons…

I press an orange button-

"Sector EID lock A-2 disengaged." Well. That's convenient. "Please confirm authorization. Your last action was deemed not recommended by your peers." My who. I have peers? "Five of twelve have voted to lock your authorization." What is this multiplayer server bullshit.

Quickly, I begin pressing as many orange buttons as possible before it's too late.

"Sector- Sector- Sector- EID- Sector- Sector EID ventilation lock G-12 disengaged."

flick. The room turns red, a tiny klaxon light quietly going off overhead.

"Eleven of twelve peers have voted to lock your authorization. Please contact Yagokoro. When you receive your password, please input it in the number pad." ...Who was the twelfth.

I hope a door at least stays unlocked after this. Maybe they need authorization to close one.

Shoof. Oh, shit. The door opens behind me.

A guy walks in, taking off his helmet. "Aa~h. ...Oo- oh. You're not Ruru…"

"I'm Sabrina. Cat scientist. I'm standing in for her."

"Ah." He closes his eyes, and leans his head back. I think he was the guy I chucked an overgrown dust mite at earlier. "Cat scientist, huh…" He looked up at the spinning, red klaxon light. "That thing not go off? From earlier?"

I snort. "...Apparently not."

He grinned. "Weird. These security rooms're kinda shit, aren't they?"

His hair was earth green, and so were his eyes. He didn't have much hair either, and I swear I'd seen his haircut on a lunar bunny before. I'm going to bet all the men use the same catalogue at the barbers.

"Kinda." I admit, taking a wayward look at the screens. I should probably hurry out of here. I don't think I have anything left I can do at the console, here, and contacting Eirin is just a bad idea.

Wordlessly, I move to pass him-

He held an arm in my way. "You see Emio today? Or, uh…" He clicked his tongue. "Blondie. Short hair, kinda-..." He gestured to his cheeks; he must've meant the bobby-haired girl's… hair.

"She's outside." I nod. "On patrol."

"Already? Shit." He shook his head. "She's a hottie…" Idly, he looked at the screens, then back at me.

As I move for the door, he holds up a hand, but lets it drop, since I'm just about to get going. Actually…

I turn and look at him. "What is it?"

"Aah- nothing." He shook his head. "Where're you going, actually?"

Ah, shit. Uuh. "I- I have to-... communicate my findings- to a different computer. Weird machine, you see."

"Aah?" He loomed closer. "I see. Well, I'll hold the fort here."

Leaning against the wall next to me, he gave me a big smile. "You look fuckin' cute yourself, yaknow?" Am I being hit on.

"I know." Let's not. I move for the door-

shoof. I almost push it open, but it just slides open, throwing me off-guard for a moment.

"You know, huh?" His presence is felt behind me, and he leans over my shoulder, quite taller than me. "Hey. Wanna go fuck in the bathroom?"

That's awfully forthright. I guess they are rabbits. "No."

"...Ah. Later, maybe?"

"No." I move to leave.

"...Ah." He seems disappointed. "Shit. Is- is it 'cause I smell bad?"

"Yes."

==== SHIMOKOA'S PERSPECTIVE ====

The fake moon isn't held where one would expect. It's not treated as a technological secret or weapon- because it isn't one. ...It somewhat is, but as it is a more symbolic entity, it's treated more like a priceless relic. As more of a knickknack now, than anything else.

Yet, it holds so much power. To hold the lunar rage in the palm of your hand…

Mima hypothesized that Yagokoro considered it 'a failed experiment'. After all, if they were to well and truly hide from the supposed lunar society, they'd have to convince us of this replica moon. Almost from the onset, that was not the case.

WHAM- FWASH! My iron paddle breaks the shield of an energy scattergun-wielding male youkai. "Nngh- damn-"

SHUNK! Mima's staff shoots its tip into his gut, under his ribs. The yin-yang disc spins wildly, boring deep into his gut-

CLANK! I bring the hilt of my paddle into his skull, sending him straight onto his side. "Nnh…"

POW- SPLACK! From afar, a sniper's laser pierces my gut, a cone of my insides splaying across the ground behind me.

"Moonlight Healing!" Mima speaks through my mouth, and her staff spins into the air over my head as I defend myself from more oncoming lasers-

CHOOM! CHI- WOOSH! I deflect two with my iron paddle; which is broad enough to catch most of each incoming shot.

I am inside the inner halls of upper Eientei, where princess Houraisan rests in eternal vigil. Princess Houraisan…

Recollection of the time I met her previously is hazy. Perhaps it's because I'm in the middle of fighting, and getting actively shot.

The moon outside is nearly full- and these halls reek of lunar energy.

Spirals of pale light curl up my form, fill my eyes- and my wounds burn away under the soothing warmth of the moon's pale, teal blue flames. It's cold fire- spiritual fire- and it's just some of the mythological energy that drives us youkai.

As such, using it to restore my flesh and blood is all too easy.

KRA- BOOM! I blow a sliding, paper-wood door into splinters with one slam of my paddle, and move into the nearby room it hid.

These upper levels are largely tea rooms, caked with dust. That, or pantries, not-so caked with dust. ...Perhaps 'caked with dust' is hyperbolic, but they're distinctly pristine and unused.

"Yo- take it easy." Mima spoke to me internally. "Those sharpshooters are fuckin' you bad."

The pain is numb. I can't feel anything but the snap of frost, and the soothing licks of lunar flame.

Even this room is cast in a blue fog of sorts, like the hallways amidst this seemingly ethereal layer of Eientei.

It's a beautiful, deadly realm. Deadly because of all the bunnies with guns who want to kill me, mostly.

Charging across the room, past the ceremonial tea sets and tables, I come to a sliding door at the edge-

SHOOF! It slides open before I can attack it-

CHU- CHU- SPLACK- CHU! Blue, pale bullets shoot through my gut, ripping up my kimono.

"He- hahaha~h!" I snap up to her, leaping off my legs, against the bullets as I am disemboweled.

CRUSH- BOOM! My icy claymore becomes aglow with frost as it plows into the wood boards, breaking them all.

KRING! KRING! KRING! Great blades of frost all erupt in the doorway before me.

Fwash! Wedged between them, the yellow-haired bunny girl looks at me like a trapped deer. Her energy shield gives to the impacts of their eruptions, leaving her all but naked.

Mima and I speak as one. "Flash Kill."

WOOSH. We snap forward. I appear in frost and snow on the other side of the glacial blades, my paddle having carved though all three.

SPLAAA~SH! A fountain of blood erupts behind me, as the blades slide in two.

"Hup!" I leap, the bunnies in this room taking aim-

BOOM! When my sandals crush the floor- blood erupting from my legs as I do so- the whole room vibrates-

KRING- KRING- KRING! Spikes of ice bloom around me, tilling the wood floors and turning the room into a bed of wood chips.

Fwash! Fwash! Energy shields give away around me. "Shoot her- damn it! Shoot-"

Chu! Chu! Chu! The deadly blasts of sound ring out across this tea room, as I stumble and trip my way across the uneven floor, towards one of the shallower-looking paper walls.

BOOM! With an almighty swing, I carve through the architecture, and into this next room. We're clear- for now.

"Don't get comfy." Mima chastises me. Yes- she's right. "Yer never safe around these things. Bunnies are crafty, fast- and- strong."

We're in a kitchen of sorts, now. A bowl of mandarins sits upon a dust-lined table, as if preserved in time.

shoof- clack. I push the mandarin bowl off the table telekinetically, to spite it.

BAM! A cupboard nearby blows open-

WooWooWoosh! Doing flips out of it, a black-clad bunny warrior emerges.

"Nnh…" She lands on the table before me, a black-teal visor obscuring her eyes. She draws a short dagger, crackling with cyan electricity.

"Looks like a CQC fighter of some kind." Mima advises me. I don't know what CQC means, but I'm sure it won't matter.

WOOSH! I swing wide for her. "Hraah-"

Whiwhiwhish! She leaps over me-

SHINK- SWISH- ZAZAZAP! She draws an X in my back, and the energy blooms up my body. "Ngh- haa- aa-"

Crouching down as if weakened, I brace my teeth-

WOOWOOWOOWOOSH! I spin around on the floor, unleashing my claymore along it with one arm. A massive hurricane of frost is created over me by my velocity, and the spinning yin-yang staff over my head.

Then, as the world turns to white amidst the black room, I creep up behind the bunny, as frost creeps onto the immune system.

"I'm the hand of gods."

WOOSH! The bunny spins around, lashing out at where I was.

SHINK- SHINK! Two shards of ice appear from the air, and pierce her shielding, meeting flesh.

Behind her again, amidst the misty snow, I bring my claymore along the floor.

SKRIK- WOOSH! "Blast." Mima speaks through my lips. But, I miss when I flick my blade into the air.

whish. I'm mist among the snow as the bunny thrusts her dagger for me.

WOOSH! Appearing along her side- I attempt to clothesline her with the blade-

She crouches down, repeating my spin attack, except with an outstretched leg. "Hyah!"

Whap! It catches me- but I simply phase out into the misty snow, failing to hit the floor.

Then, I appear right before her.

KABOOM! I fire my shotgun of ice straight into her visor.

SPLACK- KR- KRACK! Sparks explode out of it as the light flickers out, and she braces her teeth, stumbling back. "Fh- haah- aagh-"

"I'm a DARK MESSIAH-"

FWOAASH! As she stumbles back, I destroy my icy shotgun by unleashing a cosmic laser from the palm of my hand.

BOOM- BOOM- BOOM- BOOM! The bunny's sent roaring through four walls- wood and paper exploding hilariously out of the way as she's sent flailing and broken into the evening sky.

CRUNCH- SPLAA~SH! A firework-like explosion of icy claymores implodes on her body, mincing her body and limbs into a shower of gore outside Eientei's rooftops.

Chu- Chu! Splack! Ugh- I was shot from behind-

Appearing along a door-

crunch! I barrel through it, bracing my teeth. There's no snowy mist in these other rooms- so my 'teleporting' trick won't work...

"Moonlight Healing!" Mima announces again, her staff spinning overhead, centralizing lunar energy on my form.

"At this rate- we're gonna chew through our damn mana pools, you're so damn reckless." Mima chastises me again. "We don't hafta glory kill every damn thing we see!"

Weakling. "No forgiveness. If they fight- they should expect to be killed."

"Anyway- the moon room should be to the left, up, and right. Go up at the cylindrical tower; if it ain't a fancy octagon design, don't go up. Got it?"

In the blackest moment, of this dying world…

fli- flick. A short lunar bunny uncloaks to my left, as I contemplate exiting this particular storage room.

FLASH! When I think of attacking- a bright white flash blinds my vision. "Rrgh-"

BOOM- BAM! My blade of death parts the door, and I spin through, barreling through the air like a missile.

CHUCHUCHUCHUCHUCHU! I weave inadvertently through a barricade of surprised bunnies who unleash hell in my direction- but fortune is on my side, because the method I used to dart towards them left me difficult to hit.

TING- CLING- TING! Mima's staff buffers the few bullets that'd deliver my sure death. While my profile is low like this- the one point of me that would be hit is my head.

"Galvanic Ray!" Mima yells through my mouth-

FWAAASH! Before me, from the spinning staff, an unholy clump of topaz, lime and thunder descends in clumps upon the firing line of bunnies; in the form of electricity wrapped in itself, falling like a blanket of arcs in the air upon them.

KAZAP- FWAASH- ZAAAP- ZAZAZAP- KAZAP! It was all dissipating rapidly, trying to find anything to stick to.

"Nngh- aaah-"

"Fuu~ck! Rgh- haaaa~!"

"Ebab- hnna- a- a- a- a-"

This included their shields, and their metal guns, and they were all electrified into paralysis.

Woosh! Snapping above them, bounding from my spin over their ranks, I coast across the hallway in the air.

The sides of this hallway I coast through- they're open-air, exposed to wind, snow, and-

POW! Snipers.

CHINK! Mima's staff flinks by me in the air. "Hoh- shit!"

POW! Snapping into a forward flip!

THUNK! "Uhn!" That- hit my gut-

BAM! Bouncing off the wall, after a solid bullet went through my abdomen, I make it out of the open-air section, a hole straight through me and openly bleeding.

My mint-colored kimono is now speckled red, blood of my own and different creatures all over it; some dried black, some dried brown, some red, and some a fresh, magically-accented neon red.

I reach the door at the end of the hall- leading to a curiously rare ending to an Eientei hallway. Am I there…?

BOOM! Someone else cleaves the wood door ahead of me open.

KRAKA- FWOOM! The door ejects from its sliding hinges, roaring past me with deadly velocity, the wall itself caving to the force with which it was struck.

"You thought I'd let you get away, huh?" A lunar bunny saunters out, her voice echoing. She has modules built into her neck, and a glowing metal frame that made a chrome mesh around her whole skull.

She wields a huge, moon magic-accented claymore, gleaming neon-blue in the evening's light. I glance at my own icy claymore- which technically isn't an actual claymore, just a huge frozen steel paddle.

"Hori- YAH!" She snaps towards me in an instant- impossible to track, her form leaving bright, flashing blurs as she roars up to me.

KABOO~M! Neon blue energy explodes from my side, blood exploding out of my skin and kimono as I'm struck with the mighty blade.

SPLACK- SPLASH- SPLACK! My blood coats the wall behind me-

"HAA~H!" With both arms, I reel my own claymore overhead-

BAM- FWASH! I crush it down, breaking her shield- but the raw impact only staggered the bunny, despite the floor under her cracking and caving.

Shi- shi- shink! Mima's staff stabs into her side-

BOOM! Then, the bunny hooks me in the face.

"Nhn- nnh!" My body grunts unhealthily. Everything feels… warm.

"I'll skullfuck yo~u!" The bunny roars, grabbing my by the scalp- and-

CRUNCH! She knees me in the face- and blood explodes from my nose, and my vision goes blurry. "Nngh-"

Mima's staff spins behind her- and-

SHUNK! "Rr- rhrrhhr-" The bunny growls, as the spinning yin-yang disc digs into her spine, pushing her towards me-

I grab onto her- pull with all my might-...

I pull, but she resists. I pull- and Mima's staff attacks her, more blood pooling up under us- but she resists, resists- and-

I lunge forward, and clamp my icy maw onto her neck.

CRUNCH! I tear out a chunk.

THUD! Tossing the bunny aside, sending her spinning onto the floor, I leer over her.

"Of all the yuki-onna-" I swallow.

Raising a leg into the air, I stare into her glaring eyes, as her body collects teal energy- similar to how I heal.

"I'm the hand of gods. I'm the dark messiah."

Mima's staff spins around me- and I feel my force magnified a hundredfold.

"I- AM REVENGE-" I growl out my words- hardly able to control my voice.

Fwash! Red light blooms from my body. "And- you are DEAD."

BOOM. I stomp the bunny's face.

BOOM! The floor caves in slightly, a ring of impact made around us.

Then-

KRAK- FWAAASH! A cosmic blast erupts under me, the force spread out across the entire floor of this half of the hallway. The force I smited her with- it was made of stars, space, and raw power.

When the black and navy blue of my prismatic attack fades, the floor is gone, and so is the bunny- save for a sprinkling of blood one floor down, in some dark tea room.

"Moonlight Healing." I shudder, curl up in the air, and proceed down the hallway, Mima's staff and my claymore both spinning wildly at either side of me. The blood all over my kimono seemingly burns as red heat.

"We're almost there, now." Mima echoes in my head. "If you see any robots, run. The big dick ones'll literally kill you instantly, even like this."

Thankfully we've seen none of those. As Mima described to me earlier, this is not such a highly-protected sector. Mostly because the princess can hold her own, and even were she assassinated, she's flat-out immortal, making her a complete non-target. Unless, of course, I were some kind of lunar retainer. I have a feeling my reception would be different in that scenario.

We're in a short three-way. Ahead of me is another broken door, and to my right- an open entrance into somewhere that looks mystical.

...Allowing my instincts to take the wheel, I drift through the strangely prismatic hall, into an open space.

I've found it. The final corridor.

Up above me is an octagonal shaft of sliding shoji doors, brilliant rainbow colors, and doors that seemingly lead to the stars, and the cosmos.

I ascend in the quiet space. There is no one here yet to oppose me.

==== VANILLA'S PERSPECTIVE ====

"Hey there, short friend." What? Oh. A fluffy bunny girl romps up to me in the midst of the evening. "Why're you so short?" What…?

Reisen focuses dryly upon her. "Tewi-..."

"...'Cause I'm short." My reply is huffier than I wanted it to be…

Pearl pans to behold 'Tewi', apparently. "...Huh. I was expecting something horrid when I turned around- but you're actually rather cute."

"What tha' fuck." Tewi gave him a sideways grin. "Excuse you? What the hell'd I sound like in your head, an oni?"

Pearl folded her arms. "Pardon your language."

"What're you, a nun!?" Tewi beamed wider. "I was wonderin' who the fuck you were chattin' up for a good hour, Reese. Ya havin' fun?"

"Please, do anything." Reisen begged her. "I'm dying."

Tewi snorted. "Aw, man. Big bad Reese, brought to her knees by a very flippant potential customer."

"Hey- sales are a shit environment." Reisen returned. "It's a real dichotomy! When you sell common goods for a business- you kinda gotta be a little bitch. But when you lead people and do military drills, you've gotta be the opposite."

Pearl chimes in. "All of what you said is untrue. Patently false."

"Pfft- nnh…" Tewi just marches up next to me, and observes with me. "Yo- popcorn?" Wha- where'd you get that from? "Always keep some handy. S'like, lesson six." Si- six of what?

...I start to munch on the popcorn with her.

"No. Go away." Reisen tries to shoo Pearl. "Honestly. I don't care what you want. I'm denying you service."

"Oh- be reasonable!" If there's anything Pearl's good at, it's arguing with people unnecessarily. "...Hmph. Well, fine. Fine, then. Perfectly fine."

...I climb up onto the counter, and take a seat. Reisen almost speaks up, but Tewi does it with me.

"Maybe we could just talk." I propose. I kinda wanna talk to this Reisen person.

...Everyone gives me idle looks. Um… now I feel nervous… really nervous.

"We have been talking." Pearl adds an upset edge to her voice. "But that is not good enough. These people cannot comprehend common sense. It truly is a lunatic forest, indeed."

...Tewi faces me. "I think she's just high." Huh?

Aa- anyway… since it's all on me to continue the conversation- and everyone's counting on us- I do. I don't even know why they're all scared of this Reisen person, but she seems like a nice person, so I'm kinda glad Shimokoa or Matt aren't gonna kill her.

"What's um… your typical day like?" I ask Reisen.

...Tewi gives me a flat look. "You hittin' on her?" What?

Um? "No?" I don't… "Wait- what do y- you mean?"

Reisen's stare back is somewhat vague. "...You know, I don't get asked that in a serious way often."

Tewi beams. "People always ask, 'where is Reisen?' an' never, 'how is Reisen?'!"

"But, um, my typical day…" Reisen pursed her lips. "These days, I do a lot of sales for Eientei. I kinda wanted to do something other than military for a little while…"

"An' by a little while, y'mean a few years!" Tewi interjected.

"We- well, yeah." Reisen's gaze shifted around. "I still do some core principle drills now and then. My knowledge and technique is sometimes needed still- but… you know, I like weapons as a hobby, but I got tired of actual service and practices. It's already consumed decades of my life, and as the princess said… you know, there's more to life than that."

Tewi's gaze became sardonic. "Oo~h, as if you don't enjoy playin' soldier again every once in awhile."

"Shush." Reisen smiled. "Um… but you probably don't care about any of that. I wake up, either man this desk for a few shifts, go sale goods around Gensokyo or in the village, or I just… go chill. Maybe do something around Eientei itself. This place is like a little city."

Really… a city? Wow. I've never been to a city before. ...I don't imagine it looking like this place, though. And all the indoors… I don't know how to feel about these halls.

It reminds me of when I first arrived in Gensokyo. In the halls of that other vampire's mansion… with just Matt there, and Shikome.

It's more eventful than my previous life… and there's probably no going back, but I still kinda miss it, you know?

These bleak white lights are a contrast to the mansions warm candles, though. Reisen reads my gaze as I just pan it around. "What do you do? I can tell by eye you're a vampire, if a young one. We don't get a lotta those around here."

"Aa- ah…" I'm caught off-guard.

Pearl speaks up on my behalf. "Vanilla here is an upstanding, albeit youkai, member of my merry element-braving party-"

Shut up. "Party of yourself, more like. I- I'm-..." Um. "Let me introduce myself."

Pearl swallows, and gives me a cynical look. "Pftah. But- I am the one to-"

"Shut up." No~. "Show me some respect, Pearl."

...Pearl looks at the floor, obeying my command. Phew.

"...I'm Vanilla." I start. "I am a vampire. As for what I do..."

What do I do? Wait… wait, I know.

"I'm… a bartender." Yeah. I am. "I-... I don't really know how to mix drinks. In- in truth, the bar we run is kind of a sham, but-"

"Oh- don't start with that self-deprecating shit." Reisen immediately interrupted me. "...Sorry. It's just-... you know, the road to improvement starts from nothin'. You, a vision, and some cheap sake."

Um. The way she puts it kinda sounds cool. But… actually, I won't argue with her. Too awkward. But… "I- I guess I would be into actually learning to mix drinks…"

...At my small expression, Reisen has an idea. "Maybe I could introduce you to someone who'd teach you."

Tewi had a smirk. "You ask me, she looks a li'l young ta be drinkin', let alone…"

You know what? "I- I… don't actually drink any beer."

Reisen sighed. "Well… I think that'd be your first mistake as a bartender. Know how what you serve tastes. Serving drinks can be kinda complicated, y'know? And different people have different tastes. What do you do when someone asks for something specifically?"

...I- I smile sheepishly. "We- we just give them the tried and true…?"

Reisen slowly palmed her own face, brushing it over. "Nnh."

Tewi giggled. "Aa- aw, yeah. Wait- do ya make 'em pay differently for different drinks?"

"No." At least, we don't do that. "Usually? I- I'm not always the bartender, so…"

Tewi's eyes slightly widened. "...Hey, Reese- I think her bar might actually be a sham!"

"Stop calling me Reese…" Reisen plainly chastises Tewi. "And-... maybe. Do you run it, or just work there?"

"I just work there."

Reisen nodded. "You should probably go work literally anywhere else. I can't think of a bar that bad. Is it in the human village?"

Hold on. I think I remember something. "...You've been to the bar once, haven't you? Small Packages."

...Reisen had a vague look on her face, before the recollection came to her. "Oo- oh… that place? I think I drank there… like, a month ago? We all got so shitfaced, it's kinda hard to remember… and I mean, when we went, I'm pretty sure we just ordered trash. Probably why we didn't notice."

She, Reimu, Marisa, and some other people went and got really drunk at the bar. They all only visited once, but they seemed really powerful. They were a rare kind of-... well, they were rare people.

She had a look of some kind of realization. "...Oh. Now the business model makes sense. Especially in the human village."

I mean, Matt kinda did set it up for a reason. And it continued to work for a reason, I'm sure.

Tewi had a flat gaze and a grin again. "If you ask me, 'Small Packages' sounds like a euphemism."

"That's because-" Oops. Um. That's because it was. I can't quite just say that, though. I- I'm not really proud of that name either!

"...For her sake, I hope not." Reisen shook her head. "Maybe 'cause everyone there was kinda small? Um…" She didn't seem confident in the explanation, but she doesn't know how right she actually is.

"Anyway." Reisen pulls a sheet of paper from her binder. "You know how to read? Any languages?"

Um. "...Not Japanese, really. Some um… well, one that you wouldn't know…"

Reisen snorted. "Try me."

"The language of Makai?"

"O~h!" Reisen tilted her head back, as if satisfied. "So that's where you were from. No wonder I couldn't place you. It's also no wonder you're going around half-naked and in a ballistic vest. Kinda people I see in those vests don't typically mean to wear them to the doctor's."

...I have to think about her joke for a moment, but I quickly get it. "Nnh. We- well… we didn't have much else to wear." A small lie, but half-true nonetheless. I'm wearing it for a reason, but I also never wear anything else. I like being almost naked.

"I could get you some clothes." Reisen put her arms onto her hips. "Isn't it cold?"

"...Yeah, but, I'm used to it." I really am. It's inconvenient when your limbs stop working, and it kinda hurts, but I won't die from it.

"Don't act tough…" Reisen doesn't buy my comfort though. "You might not die from it, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve a little human decency. I mean-... you're a vampire. Don't your kind generally hold yourselves above humans?"

...I mean, I've heard that before. I'm not exactly all about that superiority stuff.

Too much, at least. I give Pearl an idle look, for just a second.

"I- I hear that, but…" Still. "I don't wanna be a bad person. I feel like… recently, I've just been surrounded by really bad people."

That's when Tewi pat me on the back.

I look her in the eyes. They're level, and reflect age that I seldom see from others. After giving me a solid expression, she speaks. "...Well that ain't about to change!" Wh- oh. "Hehahah! What- y'thought I was gonna say somethin' serious?"

Leaning against the counter, Reisen gives us a half-smirk. "We probably at least try to be good people. More often than those she knows, maybe. ...Alright- I might, at least. Don't know about you."

"Oo- ouch, ow, my feelings… Reese~..."

Well, um, you guys don't outwardly seem like serial murderers, which kinda puts you a leg further in the race. And- neither of you are Pearl, either.

I yawn. "Haa- aau…"

...After a moment, Reisen came to a decision. "I could book you a room here, if you have nowhere else to stay. It's gonna be a long night."

"Except for this fop." Reisen pointed at Pearl. "She gets to sleep on the seats right here."

Pearl pointed at Reisen in turn. "I'll have you arrested." Do you really think that will work.

Reisen raises her brows in plain confusion. "Aa- arrested. By who."

It was a really good question too apparently, because Pearl really had to think about that one. "...Eientei police?" Uh huh.

Reisen let her head tilt back. "I'm literally a rank all my own in the military here. Shut the fuck up."

"Ge- geez!" Tewi was beaming. "Yer never that forthright about it…!"

"I'm sick of dealing with this borderline schizophrenic." She really looked like it, too. "But my shift doesn't end here in another two hours…"

Well… "Look on the bright side." I suggest. "...It's at least something more than staring at the wall."

Reisen blinked tiredly at the air. "Wh-"

"How do you think I feel?" Pearl is just… "I have been here an entire hour. Yet, I have not been accomodated. Eientei is a farce!"

Reisen grabbed onto her own ears. "Nngh- aaa~h…" Uh oh?

...Behind her- I've noticed this for awhile now- but ever since like forty minutes ago, a red light has been violently flashing on some device behind her. I don't know if it's some kind of alarm for her, so… I won't say anything.

==== MATT'S PERSPECTIVE ====

I wander into the open sector.

Instead of there being a big, Apple-styled locked door like I expected, the white and hyper-beveled double doors were blown open. ...By 'Apple-styled', I meant the computers, not actual apples.

As I'd seen only briefly on the cameras, the potted plants had long since wilted and become hostile-looking. It was as if they'd long since blackened and essentially decomposed where they stood. Particles of dirt had scattered from their broken pots, making fine stains of brown on the otherwise porcelain white all around it.

I didn't see any disturbance outside of those blown-away double doors, however. I'm just glad they weren't locked.

Though, now that I'm inside the containment area… what now?

I expected more resistance, to be honest. ...I suspect there was something special about those locked doors, for them to be dead now. I don't think Shikome would have a problem with normal locked doors.

...Since I have little better to do, I look back at the fallen double doors.

They're certainly thick. There's technology amidst its edges I don't recognize. Some kind of grey-blue metal or crystal.

"...Shikome?" I speak, calling out for her. Not like she'll show up if I just call for her, probably.

Nope. Just silence, and the weird creaking, cracking noise from these dead plants.

The lights go out. Thankfully I can see amidst this dark.

Maybe I should… go. I'm getting a feeling in my gut- and it says I should go. It's not often I get a feeling so awkward, either, so perhaps I should listen.

Maybe. ...Actually, yeah.

==== SHIMOKOA'S PERSPECTIVE ====

At the end of the corridor, chrome windows into outer space seemingly walling off both my flanks, I step through the final sliding door.

Amidst a room most beautiful, prism-like, stories-tall shoji frame a huge, pale sphere. It's colored ivory, and it glows with a certain solid emission that makes its white-yellow unmistakable.

Rainbows fluctuate and embrace the paper-wood walls, and I feel my own mana pool shift, churn and twist before the entity. Being in its presence- it's addicting. It's amazing. It's more comforting than the sun- and colder, too.

"So this is the size of a moon." I hold my arms out. "It's beautiful."

"...Uh, yeah." Mima snorts through my nose, and slowly makes me grin. "Let's just say this is a fun-sized version a' the real thing." Hmmh? A sphere could be bigger?

"The real moon must be quite far away, to appear as it does, then." I doubt her validity. "Just behold this."

Mima still found it funny. "Eheh. Yeah, would hafta be quite far, huh."

Quite. But, nevermind that.

I float in the air, twirling along the false moon's sides. As I ascend, the shoji walls give away to false starlight, and the black voids and cosmic colors of space- like the kind I see in my Mima-gifted lasers.

I had thought I would be dead long before this moment. The visual almost makes all the pain and suffering worth it.

"How will we steal it?" It's stories big, and just as dense. Its power feels immeasurable- the culmination of lunar power almost contained all here in a dense, pure-moon ball of solid magic.

"We're teleportin' on outta here." Mima spoke through my mouth, her focus slipping some. "With this in our pocket- we've got a huge edge in power… and incentive. As such- we're teleportin' out with it. Hitchin' a ride, y'see?"

Before this moon's light, I am cleansed. Of the blood on my kimono and skin. Of my wounds, and of my fears.

"I- I see." Mima's words are numb to me, as I take in the full, white glow of the moon. I need to remind myself that it is the false moon. This numbness I feel- it's a symptom of its exposure. "How? Ho- how do you plan to teleport- something so massive?"

Mima cracks a smirk under my icy maw. "Awh? Yer sellin' me short, kiddo."

...For some reason, a thought touches the back of my mind. "What about the others?" I've never considered their safety before, yet-

"None 'a that matters now." Mima decides. "...An' I'm sure they're fine anyhow." If you say so.

"Wasn't this all for that… dark thing? Shi-..." I almost utter my own name, which is beautiful irony, but not what I want.

"Shikome, yeah." Mima nods. "Well, if li'l Sabriney got par anything done, the thing may've broken itself out. That, an' the cat's tenacious as all get-out. Be more impressed if it all went wrong, somehow."

...Vanilla and Pearl aren't even a worry, either. They're not in much danger to begin with.

"Now…" Mima beamed through me. "Fer the real vanishing act!"

"Behold!"

FWII~SH! From my kimono, an endless amount of paper sheets flare into the air.

They spread, expand, and soon the clouds of violent, glowing red-blue paper become absolutely massive.

My sandals touch down on the false moon's edge-

FWAAASH! Ice rockets out from where I land, spreading across the moon's surface. In this moment, the clouds of paper all convene on it at once.

It and the ice mixes. Violent, raw magical energy cracks along its surface, cracking the ice, dancing as sparks over the crystal. Cracks of uneven ice reveal lunar light, some white-pale, others teal and reactive with the paper and cold.

This ball of pure magic power is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I don't know how to capture its beauty- other than, well, capturing it.

"Now this is what I call a magic trick!"

A layer of ice and paper perfectly overlay the entirety of the false moon.

For some reason- not being able to see all of the perfect roundness of this moon's geometry… it disturbs me. On a level I can't understand- it tickles my irritation.

I understand now. This is a dangerous catalyst. Were I still fighting, and not mesmerized by its beauty, I may lose my senses.

"Bet no one's ever done this kinda shit before!" Mima roared, forcing my eyes wide and mouth ajar. "Vanish!"

Click! She snapped her fingers.

woosh.

==== VANILLA'S PERSPECTIVE ====

I'm in a really snug room, with cookies and milk, and a little fireplace that doesn't seem to go out.

Pearl got left behind, and I don't care. I'm on a big, red chair, under a blanket with my legs folded together…

I think I bought everyone enough time. Reisen's left already, and it's almost time for me to go to bed.

I could get used to something like this. When I get back-... I gotta ask Matt to buy me some nice things. Or, take the money to buy some nice things myself. I don't get paid, but… maybe that should change.

Oh, wait, right! Reisen gave me something…

I take a business card out of my ballistic vest, which is on the chair arm next to me.

It's for someone in a club deeper in Eientei. I gotta ask around about how to get there. They're gonna teach me how to actually mix drinks. Which, I kinda wanna learn, since, um… the whole idea of working in a bar is kinda interesting me. I like seeing all the people there.

What I don't like is the amount of stares I get. People can be creepy, too.

I blink slowly.

These cookies are good. The fire's warmth is so good, too.

I wonder if Matt ever found Shikome. I kinda hope so. She was weird, but she was… nice? Yeah. She looked out for all of us. It's kind of nice that Matt's at least looking out for her. He wouldn't do that for anyone else. Or… she, now? Everything's weird.

Wanna sleep…

==== MATT'S PERSPECTIVE ====

Well.

That's that.

"Hu~ffh…" I exhale, as I step outside of the paint-blasted metal door, outside of Eientei's garage sector once again. I'm still in that lab coat, carrying my suit jacket…

The sky is black, and so is the sea of bamboo around me, cast in darkness. It's infinitely cold outside, and the moment I'm out here, all the heat gets punched out of my body by wind and the sheer desire of everything to keep itself still.

I'm really not sure what happened. I didn't find Shikome. But, I couldn't stay there. Eventually my cover would have been blown, and I don't think I wanted to stick around and find out what that would entail.

...When I gaze around at the sky over Eientei however, there are some strange, rippling teal lights. Peculiar.

What now? Mima said she'd teleport me out. That obviously didn't happen. I've not heard a word from her after we parted- as expected.

I gaze around at the woods, as I prepare to slide down the slope that lead up to this doorway, and-

Shikome stood over an earthen rabbit's corpse meters before me, meeting my gaze.

/ / / / FREAKIN HAKUGYOKUROU / / / /

END OF CHAPTER 106.5

author's note:

somewhat short for a matt chapter but relatively eventful

vanilla holds up basically 100% of the actual character interaction this chapter- or maybe more like 80%, with shimokoa and mima's dialogues being the other 20%

matt assisting in shikome's escape is a relatively big moment, but on its own it wouldn't quite fill a CHAPTER- but mima and shimokoa had some other plans of their own…!

and vanilla experiences some cute growth this chapter too

the brilliance that was the potion seller segment couldn't be well and truly replicated for obvious reasons but i like where it ended up

i do like seeing the depths to which shimokoa sinks in her big spankin' grandmaster galaxy quest to obliterate everyone who is not her friend (which is everyone)

i didn't necessarily plan on keeping this short- though i do want short chapters before the HOLIDAY RUSH- but i think where this chapter ended was just the right place to drop it off

it really does feel like a culmination of various events, even if not much of matt's combat training came into play here, and all of shimokoa's did, and vanilla got cookies and milk

though an intellectual- or something similar, social?- revelation fits vanilla better than anything else… yeah, i think social revelation fits

ho0nh

packing things like training and power ascension into FG can be difficult, 'cause FG very much happens entirely in the now and time skips are short and quaint typically, or extremely rare

so making matt undergo a training arc or anything where the more boring parts are summarized or reduced to their most interesting pieces is… difficult, especially considering how his segments largely follow the format of brad's- or at least did for awhile

THAT SAID, still really happy i went with this like nega-evil party idea after all, 'cause it really brings so much more to the table

as always, see you all next time!