"Hello Internet!" Kogasa exclaimed in a horse whisper. Her arms lowered away from the camera as she seems to have finished whatever last minute adjustments her droid needed. The view from the camera had Kogasa crouching against some sort of wooden wall.

"Glad you can join me, as you know this stream is a very special one." She said, almost bobbing with excitement. "For today you will bare Witness to…"

She threw her arms up ever so slightly, and whisper cheered. "Kogasa's super sweet Sanae revenge special!"

"... number forty seven." she admitted as an afterthought, looking less pleased, but rallied quickly.

"And here we are, at the Moriya shrine. Where I have on good information, that is to say that I looked on her social media," The last bit being mumbled, "that our target has returned for a home visit. And if you look just over there…"

She peered around the corner, and gestured for the camera droid to do the same. And the camera banked over, sitting not two hundred meters away with her back to them, was Sanae Kochiya, currently watching something on her wrist comp.

The camera panned back to Kogasa. "There she is, former idol and current operative, Sanae Kochiya, for those of you just joining me… Hello! Nice to meet you, always fun to have new viewers, but for those that don't know, back in her shrine maiden days… not that she isn't a shrine maiden now, but regardless, back then, she used to bully me! She used to say such mean things, and beat me up despite having nothing to do with the current incident, I was an innocent bystander! Oh yes she acts all innocent and nice, but it's just a front for her cruel inner self." Kogasa said, heatedly. "And to top it all off, despite all that, and despite not having been an idol in decades... she's still more popular than me!" she was seething now.

She calmed down quickly though. "Ehem, but anyway, for too many years has she gone unpunished, and here, at home without all her fancy gadgets, she will never be more vulnerable then she is now. Perfect for me to perform my vengeance… I am gonna scare the ever loving jeebies out of her!" she cried excitedly.

She stared into the camera, her serious expression coming off as more cute than intimidating. "Now I know the last forty six attempts haven't exactly gone to plan. But this time, I swear my plan is completely foolproof!"

She gestured to a large box full of seemingly random junk that was sitting next to her. "But as she is now a big shot operative type, it's gonna take a lot to spook her, which is why I have brought all this stuff with me.

She started pulling things out. "Now this is an inflatable Kanako, you may be wondering what that is for. Well, I'll get to that in a minute…"

…

"...and then we use this catapult, which we will have setup behind the shrines easten wall…"

…

"...and that's where the sheet comes in, and for this part, timing is absolutely critical…"

…

"...and then to crown it all off, I'll leap out from behind the car, and shout gotcha! And then my revenge will be complete!" Kogasa exclaimed excitedly. "Oops, might have got a bit loud there." She said, dropping back into a whisper. Hopefully she hasn't noticed."

She peered around the corner again, only to find the step Sanae occupied empty. "Eh? Where did she…"

"Oh, well if it isn't Kogasa, It sure has been a while. What brings you up here?" Came a friendly voice from off camera.

Kogasa froze and shivered as if she had ice dropped down her collar, before turning, the camera following her gaze.

Sanae was right beside her, crouching down, bringing the tall girl down to Kogasa's level, smiling disarmingly.

"Oh… H-hey Sanae." Kogasa quivered regardless.

"Well that's a fine hello," Sanae pouted, before grinning again. "I don't see you much these days, how's your website going?"

"Oh, it's fine." Kogasa squeaked, clutching her umbrella. "I'm getting by."

"That's good to hear, it's nice doing what you love for a living huh?" Sanae said, before a thought seemingly struck her. "Hey since you are here, how about you come in for a cup of tea, do a little catching up."

"Oh I couldn't possibly impose." Kogasa's voice somehow reached an even higher squeak. She had started edging away.

"Oh no I insist." Sanae was standing with a hand around Kogasas shoulder in less then a second, and started leading her into the shrine. "It's so hard to keep track of all the old crowd these days, especially one who isn't an operative, we really shouldn't waste this opportunity."

Kogasa turned her head to her camera even as she was being led away, and mouthed "Help me." Before the stream ended, and the words 'we are experiencing technical difficulties' appeared.

"You know, you'd think she'd know better by now." Ishi said, turning back to her book.

"Well, Sanae probably doesn't do much to discourage it, considering that Kogasa is still trying." Desida said, leaning out of the way of a bullet drifting past. "Besides, look at her analytics, these revenge streams are some of her most watched content, even if they tend to be short."

"That makes sense I suppose." Ishi said. "Still, I wonder how Sanae knew she was there…"

Desida leaned again as a much faster bullet whistled past her ear. She turned to Isika, who was sitting behind them, in the process of making another bullet. "Could you knock that off? Some of us are trying to loaf here."

Isika pouted, the half-made bullet still in her hands. "I'll never get the hurty bit right if nobody will let me hit them."

"Ask Ishi then, I'm busy doing nothing." Desida said.

Isika turned to Ishi and opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't even think about it." Ishi said, without looking up from her book..

Isika pouted harder. "Come on, can't one of you do it? I wanna get this right before the end of the break, to surprise Mima."

Desida groaned. "Don't you ever get tired of being so diligent? Seriously, its exhausting just being near you sometimes."

"Don't listen to her. Nothing wrong with working hard." Ishi said. "Besides, she's technically obligated to help you, as per the headmasters agreement."

Desida gave her an irritated deadpan. "You sure love milking that don't you?" she sighed. "Fine, hit me. I promise I won't dodge."

Isika perked up, and finished the bullet in her hands, before launching it at Desida.

Desida then caught it between thumb and forefinger.

"Wha?" Isika said.

Desida then flicked it at Ishi, who yelped.

"Ow-hey! What the hell!?" she exclaimed indignantly.

"I technically am still helping." Desida said. "I just elected someone else to be the target."

Ishi then socked her in the face.

With a loud boom, Desida flew across the room, tumbled across the carpet, and landed ass up against the opposite wall with a ringing clang. Her oversized hoodie sliding down over her head revealing she wore nothing but a plain pair of white underwear beneath.

"Yeah, I probably deserved that." was Desida's muffled response, as Isika rushed to help her up.

Ishi huffs irritably, and turns back to her book. "...You made it a bit too intense, you might have to fine tune that for it to be completely spell card legal." she added as an afterthought.

"Right… I'll work on that." Isika said sheepishly, as Desida floated back to the couch, wobbling slightly.

Isika wonders if such monstrous strength is a kappa thing.

Ajū: No, not really. While Kappa enjoy some enhanced strength, it is more for lugging around large amounts of equipment, rather than displays of brute strength. Kappa usually shy away from direct conflict, preferring ambush, or hiding behind a wall of weapons and gadgets.

Isika: Weird, I wonder how Ishi does it then.

Ajū: Well, she is studying magic. Perhaps she is learning physical reinforcement magic.

Ajū: That is just a guess though, perhaps you are better off asking her.

Isika: I know, it's just that I feel so clueless about all this stuff, I never know if what I am asking is just some Alliance common sense.

Isika: I honestly don't know what I would do without you as a friend.

Ajū: Oh I'm sure you would find someone else to pester.

Isika: So mean!

Ajū: Haha

Ajū: But in all seriousness, I am happy to answer any questions you might ask.

Isika: thanks Ajū

Ajū: But I do wonder if you would be interested in helping me test a new Wrist comp app, that might help with your little problem.

Isika: What's it do?

Ajū: Its a digital version of my youkai encyclopedia, The Chronicles of Gensokyo, my elder brother feels that for whatever reason the printed media has fallen out of fashion somewhat in recent years, and that a digital version would make it more accessible.

Ajū: and while I'm not sure I like the way he said it, I do concede that with all the new youkai about, it will probably be easier for the modern citizen having an app or webpage rather than lugging around a bunch of heavy books or scrolls... I guess.

Isika: You really aren't good with computers are you?

Ajū: My brother says its because I'm an old lady at heart, so I can't deal with new technology.

Ajū: He's rude like that.

Isika: Haha

Ajū: Shows what he knows though, I've never been older than 30, I've never been an old lady.

Isika: that still sounds so sad. I mean, I can't imagine living for so little time.

Ajū: Time is what you make of it, and it's not as if I'll be gone for good, about a hundred years later and I'll be back again.

Ajū: Considering your species long lives, You'll probably be there to welcome me back.

Isika: I guess so.

Ajū: But I feel we got sidetracked, we were talking about the app right?

Isika: oh, right.

Isika: so you want me to help test it?

Ajū: Well I've been talking to Yukari, and while I can't give away details, it seems there might be more aliens joining the Alliance sometime in the future. Those aliens will probably have the same issues you are having now.

Ajū: So my chronicles might be very useful to them, even in app form. But I feel it might be good to get an aliens feedback on the system so as to make sure its intuitive to non-alliance.

Ajū: As a plus you get on demand youkai information. Non-sensored too, myself and Yukari are still debating how much information should be made available on the app, so for now, I've just filled the app with my drafts for testing purposes.

Isika: Wow, that would be pretty awesome actually.

Isika: Wait, you know Yukari? As in the Yukari? As in the Youkai head of the Alliance?

Ajū: For centuries, one of my oldest living friends.

Isika: Wow

Isika: so why are you arguing?

Ajū: A slight disconnect between the Chronicles original purpose, and modern society. The Chronicles of Gensokyo were originally intended to be a way of educating humans about youkai, in order to teach them the proper fear and respect, as well as ways of dealing with them should you get stuck in an altercation. To that end, I tend to talk up the dangers of certain youkai, and talk about avoidance tactics, while others I lay out their weaknesses, if any are readily available.

Ajū: Yukari feels that this view and presentation is out of date with the current joint human/youkai society, and that considering that youkai make up a majority of our special forces, it wouldn't be prudent to publish their weakness in this day and age, at least not in such a readily available format. To an extent I agree with her, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable leaving the information out.

Ajū: Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I still feel that the modern human needs to be informed of the dangers of youkai and to know how to deal with a youkai attack.

Ajū: regardless, it's an ongoing debate, not that you need to worry about that.

Isika: I see… Honestly I didn't realise you were that important.

Ajū: Oh hush you. Do you want the App or not?

Isika: Yes please.

Ajū: That's what I want to hear.

"I think you're getting the hang of this."

"Thank… You." Isika said through gritted teeth, as she tried not to lose balance.

It was morning training with Marisa, and as usual, it was proving unorthodox.

Isika stood in the center of the room, on top of her desk. She was blindfolded, standing on one foot, with a pile of books on her head, and a tea-set in her right hand, all while she tried to fire bullets across the room with her left.

In Theory, Isika understood what she was doing: Creating a self maintaining bullet. By splitting her focus to this degree made it easier to sort failure from success, and thus sped up the process. Not only that, but it improved her split focus, multitasking, and her casting under pressure, not to mention her balance.

So yes, in Theory Isika understood what she was doing. But this didn't make this entire exercise feel any less bizarre.

"That was a good one, what do you think Meems?" Came Marisa's voice.

"Well, she is your student, but I think that's as good as we are going to get with this particular exercise." came Mima's response.

"I'd be inclined to agree. Alright Ise, that's enough." Marisa said clapping her hands.

Dropping her foot down. Isika sagged with relief, books tumbling off her head, before having to pitch forward to save the tea set.

Feeling the tea set float out of her hands, she lifted her blindfold off her eyes, and sat down on the edge of the desk. "So what's next Marisa Sensei?"

"Well I think you have sufficiently mastered single bullets, so now I think you are ready for something a little harder." Marisa said, cocking her hip.

"Ohh what!?" Isika asked excitedly.

"Multiple bullets!" Marisa exclaimed cheerfully.

"Oh."

If she was being perfectly honest, Isika was getting tired of all the bullet exercises. It just felt like a lot of time and effort for what was a small stinging projectile, and after the initial excitement of casting magic had worn off, it had started to prove tedious.

Nevertheless, Isika felt she was mature enough to understand the importance of foundational skills, so she just placated herself with remembering Marisas bullet fountain, reminding herself that eventually she could do something like that if she keeps up this training.

Marisa just smirked at Isika, and the Asari realised that her entire inner monolog had played out on her face.

"Yeah, I know how it is, I was there once too, hell probably most 'non-gifted' kids were where you are. Nothing you can do about it but keep a stiff upper lip and keep on moving." Marisa said.

"Yes Marisa Sensei." Isika said, blushing with embarrassment.

"Alrighty!" Marisa said clapping her hands. "Now this will be very similar to what you have done before, but instead of one construct, you are making two. Now this might seem like a small difference, but you might find it a little tricky."

"And that's a good thing." Continued Marisa. "For most of these exercises, you have been just pushing out your magic, and willing it into form and function. Which is perfectly fine, But this time, you have to to be a lil' more precise."

She lifted her hands to either side, and a single glowing ball appeared in each. "These are each their own construct, completely independent from the other, yet created at the same time. This is what you need to do, two completely identical yet independant bullets."

"That sounds... challenging." Isika said, choosing the word over her first thought of 'difficult'. She doesn't think a single one of her bullets have been the same so far, now she has to make two at once.

"Yeah, it should be, because in order to succeed, you actually have to standardise your casting. Or in layman's terms, make an actual spell."

Isika gasped, suddenly hooked.

"Yup, that's right, after this exercise, we are upgrading to actual spellwork." Marisa said. "Provided that is, you can master this first one. Spells usually have multiple components layered on top of one another, so this kind of parallel casting is an excellent introduction into that."

"Okay!" Isika exclaimed, suddenly hyped up. "Where do I start?"

Marisa just grinned down at her.

"You're… not going to tell me are you?" Isika said, her enthusiasm deflating a little bit.

"Lets see how well you do on your own first." Marisa said, patting her on the head. "There's some books in the corner, and Mima if you get stuck, now if you excuse me, I gotta go, I was supposed to be on the Philosophe about five minutes ago."

"Can I have a hint please?" Isika pleaded, as Marisa walked to the door.

"You already know where to start, just build from there, and I'll see how well you did when I get back this evening." Marisa said over her shoulder as she exited the room. "Good luck, my adorable student~"

Isika pouted at the now closed door. This wasn't the first time Marisa had done this, just give her a task and then fail to tell her how to accomplish it. Isika wondered if it was some sort of test, or Merely Marisas sense of humour.

Isika turned to her hands, and turned her pout into a determined frown. Test or no, she wasn't going to let Marisa down. Marisa said she already knew where to start, so she started with making a bullet, and tried to work out where to go from there.

From her vantage point, Mima watched, amused at the antics of her former student and her students student.

"You know, for all the complaining she did when I did it, you'd think she'd be less keen on inflicting it on others." Mima mused quietly to herself.

Bonus:

"Now this is an inflatable Kanako, you may be wondering what that is for. Well, I'll get to that in a minute…"

'You know, Kogasa. Your revenge would be a lot easier if you stopped streaming these things.' Sanae thought ruefully, withholding amusement.

Chapter notes:

Hey guys, new chapter out. A rather disjointed chapter but a chapter nonetheless.

This probably would have been done sooner, but as it happens, I'm Australian, and my house has burned down… so yeah, thats fun.

My families ok, and I still have my Computer, Switch, 3DS, and my cat. But pretty much everything else is gone.

I hope you guys are having a better new year then I am.