Tensions Rising
Heaven, they say, is a place on Earth.
This is quite literally true; there are, after all, a great many places on Earth named Heaven, from odd small towns to taverns to nightclubs to actual people. So if someone were to claim that Heaven existed on Earth and, upon being challenged, were to assert that they were actually referring to one of the many places called Heaven, then no lie has been uttered, though nor have they been entirely truthful, as they know exactly which Heaven everyone else was thinking of, and it was most certainly not that quaint little town with an overly presumptuous naming scheme.
The Heaven, the one everyone thinks of first, that celestial plane far beyond the comprehension of lesser beings that is the domain of the being known as the Creator, the Almighty, the Heavenly (see? There it is again!) Father, YHWH, Adoni, Allah, Jehovah, or simply just God, is most certainly not a place on Earth, though if one were going to get technical about things, Earth is a place in Heaven, as Earth exists within the plane known simply as "The Universe," which was the Creator's, well, creation, and if you're going to create an entire aspect of existence, then you have to keep it somewhere, and if you happen to live in Heaven, then it stands to reason that you keep your new toy somewhere in your house. So as far as we know the whole of the Universe could very well be sitting upon the Creator's workbench, and He peeks in every now and then whenever He's feeling particularly bored or is putting of some tedious task that He really must get to and most certainly will, but not right at that moment.
Regardless, that Heaven is still not the Heaven being referred to now, and is, for now at least, as relevant to this story as the Hundred Acre Wood. Which is to say, not at all. Unfortunately.
There are other Heavens still, from the various layers of samsara that are said to hold all of reality, to the realm of Vasavartin and his devas, to the paradise of all great warriors known as Valhalla, to a plethora of others.
And none of these are also at all relevant to this story.
Except one.
Despite its name, the Heaven of Gensokyo is not the ultimate reward for all good souls, not the final resting place of heroes and saints. Rather, it's more of a private elite community, the most exclusive piece of real estate in Gensokyo, home to such beings as the Celestials, the Dragons, and the Kirin.
Also, there was a small religious sect that had set up shop within Heaven's borders, in hopes of bringing enlightenment to its divine inhabitants.
In this, it wasn't doing so hot.
The truth of the matter is that they simply had bad luck. Most of the religions present in Gensokyo fell into some variation of the Shinto beliefs, in which faith, prayers, and offerings were given to various deities in exchange for their blessings, and upon death mortals were judged by their deeds in life to decide exactly how they were to spend their afterlife. It was a very efficient system, one that was easy to understand, and the Gensokyians saw little reason to depart from it.
Still, exceptions did occur. There was a Christian sect within the Human Village, though they had never numbered especially high, especially since their first incarnation imploded in spectacular fashion. A few Muslims were known to exist within the southern villages, but they kept to themselves and minded their own business. And there were at least two shrines of Hindu origin, but they were mainly for the benefit of the handful of Hindus that had gotten trapped within Gensokyo and didn't garner much attention outside of that small community.
Truth be told, the only alternative faith to garner any sort of popularity was Buddhism, and that is mainly owed to both novelty and the almost aggressive altruism of its priestess, who was already a legendary figure in Gensokyian history, one who was welcomed back with open arms upon her unsealing. As such, when her Taoist competitors also were awakened, the world had little room for them, making them unable to gain much of a foothold.
The move to Heaven had been a calculated risk. The Buddhists had little presence there, so it stood to reason that its denizens might be receptive to Taoist way of life, especially with the promise of achieving perfection. Unfortunately, the notoriously arrogant locals had little use for a way of life that had humility as one of its core tenants, and most of them considered themselves to be already perfect, so overall the venture was a total bust.
Still, it was not without its advantages. A lack of patronage meant a lack of outside attention, which made it an ideal sanctuary for certain unscrupulous individuals who wished to avoid drawing notice to themselves. And that same lack of patronage had also made those who dwelt there a little more receptive should said unscrupulous individuals come by with an offer that they otherwise would not even entertain.
One of those unscrupulous individuals was the continuous failure that was a girl known only as Elly, formerly a Human named Elizabeth MacLeod, whose mortal life had been an unending train of failure and misery, whose stint as a Shinigami had also ended in miserable failure, and whose time as the companion of the great Yuuka Kazami, the only period in her life in which she had been truly happy, had also ended in miserable failure, and was once again the thing she had spent most of her unnaturally long existence being: a renegade, an outlaw, a fugitive, one being hunted by terrible beings that had reason to hate her and want her dead.
She hated it. She hated living in constant fear, she hated keeping her head low and her words careful so as to not draw undue attention to herself, she hated starting at ever sudden sound, she hated waking up several times every night covered in sweat with her heart pounding out of her chest, and she really hated spending the overwhelming majority of her time pacing back and forth with nothing to do, nobody to talk to, nobody to tell her what was going on, all the while convinced that her new "saviors" were doing something horrible to her poor, tormented master and were soon to do the same to her as well.
Which she was currently doing.
And it sucked.
Elly was in the hall that ran down the center of the wing that had been given to her and her…compatriots, for a lack of a better term, though she didn't consider them that. Yuuka had been taken from her almost immediately. "To heal," they had told her, and she hadn't been allowed to see her since. What were they even doing to her? Would she even survive such severe wounds? Nobody would tell her!
And then there was the mastermind behind it all, something she also saw very little of but wanted to see even less. Madam Mima, who supposedly was the one she had to thank for being rescued at all. Ha! As she if she would believe that someone so untrustworthy had her best interests at heart! After everything they had done to one another, all those battles, all those break-ins, and Elly was just supposed to accept that Mima and her friends were now on her side? Ludicrous!
But unfortunately, there really wasn't anything she could do about it.
Except wait.
And pace.
A lot.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she muttered as she continued on her increasingly well-worn path. "They'll sell us out, I know they will. Any day now, and Yukari Yakumo's just going to show up. She'll take us, she's take Yuuka, I'll never see her again, and then…then they'll take away my scythe, they'll make me mortal again, they'll sell me back to Jamshid, and you know he's been just waiting to get his hands on me!"
She reached the end of the hall, and as the door before her led outside to the balcony and there was no way she was going to expose herself that much, she immediately spun on her heel and headed back the other way.
"And when that happens, he'll…he'll…I don't know. He'll kill me, definitely, and probably take his time doing it. But that won't be the end, oh no! No ma'am, not the end at all! He'll have my soul to torment forever and ever, however he wants. Sending me to Hell would probably be too good for him! He'll have me set on fire to light his candles! He'll petrify me and use me as a doorstop! I've seen him do it!"
She paused in front of one door, one that was bolted and locked at all times. She glowered up at it.
"And you'll just stand aside and let it happen!" she shouted at the door, not caring at all who heard her. "You'll probably be laughing too!"
To this, there was no answer. If those on the other side had even heard her, as they no doubt had, they made no response, no doubt to torture her.
Elly was sorely tempted to bang her fists, feet, and maybe even head against the door until someone answered.
"And so it was, with an unsteady mind and a fretful heart, the fair young maiden did continue to wear a rut right through the middle of the carpet," said a low voice, all too near Elly's ear. "Haunted by her past sins and fearful that retribution might be near, she descending further and further into madness, until-"
"AH!" Elly swept out with one hand, her scythe appearing and unfolding in her grasp.
The blade struck a nearby pillar and embedded in the marble. A moment later the source of the voice stepped into view.
It was a girl that was, in appearance, around Elly's physical age, though that was where the similarities stopped. She wore a green and blue plaid shirt with brightly colored buttons and a light purple bowtie and a puffy orange skirt cut with various theater faces cut into the sides. Her hair was long and of a pale lavender, and her face completely blank, empty of emotion.
"Frightened by something so benign as an impassionate commentary," the girl droned on, "the fair young maiden did strike out with her blade, coming unnervingly close to decapitating one of her only remaining friends, thus potentially jeopardizing her-"
Elly wrenched her scythe free from the pillar. Though she was relieved that she had not been surprised by a surprise assassination, her nerves had not recovered, and she was not happy to see this person at all. "Will! You! Stop! Narrating me?!" she exploded at her. "And I'm not your friend!"
Hata no Kokoro was one of the few pilgrims to actually come to the Taoist Mausoleum for guidance, and quite frankly Elly wished that she had tried to deal with her problems herself. As a menreiki, Kokoro's emotional state was dictated entirely by whatever mask she happened to be wearing, of which she possessed several. And in Elly's opinion, they were all obnoxious and terrible. The only time Elly saw her without some kind of mask on was when she felt like being annoying and narrate the events going on around her to an imaginary audience, which was often.
Kokoro's hand passed over her face, and just like that she was wearing a mask, this of a sneering woman. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, her voice now thick with scorn. "I thought that the wanted fugitive running for her life might be a little grateful to the people who had taken her in, that she might show the barest amount of humility and not bite the hand that feeds her!"
"You…You're not the one that took us in, Toyosatomimi no Miko is! You're just as much a guest as we are!"
As she spoke, Elly heard the distinctive sound of squeaking wheels, as something heavy was pushed forward on a dolly across the floor.
Kokoro's hand came down again in front of her face, and now she was wearing the face of a scornful cat. "You think we're the same?" she snapped. "Ha! I'm here because I want to be here! I'm part of the family now! You're here because the second you step outside, someone will be along to take your head off!"
The squeaking got louder, and then around the corner came the dolly, on which a large wooden crate was seated.
And pushing the crate along was a nightmare.
It was a Human corpse, that of a young woman with mottled grey skin and sickly blue hair. It had on a red shirt and a lacy black skirt, with a blue hat adorned with a yellow star sitting on it nest of dead hair, and one of those paper charms that the natives liked so much stuck firmly onto its forehead.
Though it wasn't actively rotting, it was still very, obviously dead, with most of its limbs locked up by rigor-mortis. Still, it managed to push the cart along, mainly by leaning its body against the crate, splaying its legs straight out behind it, and hopping along with its feet to propel itself forward. It was honestly sort of ghastly to watch.
Elly felt the blood drain from her face.
The corpse and the cart passed right by her, and the corpse's eyes shifted around in its dry sockets to stare at her, making a horrible squishing noise as they moved.
"Uuuuuggggghhhh," it moaned.
Kokoro's hand went up, and she was wearing the mask of a large-nosed, kind-eyed grandmother. "But that's quite all right, my dear! You don't have to worry about a thing so long as you're with us! We'll take good care of you!"
She reached out with one hand, presumably to pat Elly on the shoulder. The Shinigami flinched back, hugging her scythe tightly to her chest.
"Hmmm." Kokoro now was wearing the face of a cheerful little girl. "Well, I gotta go. Seiga wants to see me, so I'll talk to you later, Miss Elly! Byyyyyeeee!"
Then she merrily skipped her way over to the locked door as the horror dutifully pushed long its dolly behind her, spun around on her toes, and daintily rapped her knuckles against the door. The door opened, and she curtsied at the person inside before she and the monster entered.
The door slammed shut, leaving the slack-jawed Elly alone.
…
Being a spectral being that was essentially a Human soul mixed with ungodly amounts of pure magic, Mima did not often trade in her ghostly tail for a pair of legs. She could, of course. For someone of her power and ability, once again becoming a biped was child's play to her. But unless the situation called downgrading her customary means of locomotion, there really was no point in exchanging floating around and instantaneous teleportation for walking, running, jumping, and sitting.
However, there were a very small handful of instances in which doing so made sense. For example: there were times, during lengthy lectures and/or speeches in which the crossing of one's legs just felt right, in order to impose an air of casual control. And one could not do that without actually possessing a pair of legs.
For another: if, for whatever reason, the murderer of your star pupil, who was the only mortal you had ever felt worthy of actually caring about, somehow ended up as a ruined, tormented, barely sentient mess and then ended up being completely enslaved to your power, how could you not employ them as furniture? It simply was an absolute must! And in order to do that properly, you needed not only a pair of legs, but also a fully functioning behind.
Though it still stubbornly clung to life, the tiny piece of Yuuka Kazami that Mima had acquired was still a helpless wreck. It was healing, albeit very slowly, and likely would never be able to become whole again. The burned husk that had been its body was now little more than scar tissue collected in Human form, covered with white religious symbols where its attempts to control divine power had been turned against her. It had not been able to regrow her eyes, tongue, nose, ears, or hair, and its head was little more than a skull covered with a layer of ruined flesh.
Still, it did what it was told; what choice did it have? And at the moment, it was on its hands and knees, providing a seat for Mima's tush as the spirit conversed with Seiga Kaku.
"You know, when you came to me asking for me to set up a meeting with Miko, I was under the impression that you were coming out of retirement for some big payday, a grand scheme that leave us all enriched with wisdom and power."
Mima was studying her magical, three-dimensional map, the same she had used to keep track of the action during the Battle of the Garden of the Sun. With that bit of real estate now wholly burned to the ground, it now displayed the whole of Gensokyo, with little glowing markers indicating the current locations of several persons of interest. "That's not entirely untrue. So what's the problem?"
"The problem is that save for a few nudges and whispers that resulted in a lot of nobodies getting caught in Yukari Yakumo and Yuuka Kazami's crossfire, you've done quite a lot of sitting around playing with your new toy and not a whole lot of scheming. On our yen, no less."
Smiling, Mima reached down with one hand to affectionately stroke the burned and bald head of her chair, her poison-green nails digging into the scar tissue and making it whimper. "Oh, my dear Seiga, you do yourself a disservice by completely missing the point."
Seiga inhaled a long draw from her thin, silver pipe, a sure sign that she was unamused. "Enlighten me," she said, letting the vapors seep up around her words.
"The power and wisdom come later. For now, my primary aim is vengeance. And my preferred method of vengeance is less of to cause unfortunate mishaps than to allow them to happen naturally and then slip in to make them worse."
"Like the battle?"
"Like the battle," Mima confirmed. "As of now, things have begun to settle into a new normal. Satori and Remilia have been…sufficiently chastised, and we all know what happened to this little scamp." Her hand suddenly clenched, digging furrows across her chair's forehead. A tiny bead of blood seeped down the center furrow, which was impressive. Mima hadn't thought that there was even enough functional anatomy in order to bleed. "And while Yukari's been dealt a slap, I have something special in mind for her."
"I don't suppose you're actually going to divulge your plans? Or are you just going to be infuriatingly vague about the details?"
"You don't get to become a sorceress of my caliber without being infuriating in every way possible," Mima said. "But I see no reason to not let you in on one essential part."
At that exact moment, there was a sharp knock at the door.
Seiga arched an eyebrow. "You were expecting this one, then?"
Mima waved a hand, and the door opened wide. "Come in."
One of the Mausoleum's inhabitants, a bright young girl by the name of Kokoro, skipped her way inside. Following her was Seiga's own toy, a Jiang Shi by the name of Yoshika Miyako, which was pushing along a large box on a cart.
The wry smugness melted off of Seiga's face, to be replaced with adoration. "Oh, look at that! Yoshi's pushing the box along all by herself!" She floated over and enveloped the walking corpse with her arms. "Who's a good, helpful girl? You are! Yes, you are!"
"Uuuurrrrrmmmm," Yoshika said, its lips struggling to form themselves into a smile.
"Hello!" Kokoro said sunnily, accordance with the childish mask she was wearing. "Your box is here, lady Mima!"
Mima smiled down at the girl and gave her an affectionate pat on the head. "Ah, thank you, my dear." She pressed a handful of bills into her hand. "Here's a little something for your trouble."
Kyoko's hand passed over her face, and she was now wearing the mask of a shrew-faced man. "Ah, money. The grease on which the world turns." She licked her thumb and flipped through the bills before nodding in satisfaction. "Pleasure doing business with you!"
She exited, with Yoshika hopping along behind her, leaving the two schemers alone with the box.
"Are you going to make me say it?" Seiga said once they were gone.
"Say what?"
Seiga sighed. "Oh, fine. What's in the box, Mima?"
"A very infamous item of dark power indeed," Mima said. She tapped a finger to the box's side, and it simply came apart in all directions, unfolding out to expose its contents.
Inside was an odd-looking contraption. Its core was a person-sized sphere of red quartz, enclosed by a shell of black obsidian, carved and cut into depictions of acts of depraved violence and sexual obscenity. The sphere hovered in the middle of a box-shaped framework of gold wire.
There was a cruel energy emitting from the device, a sense of latent menace. The red quartz and black obsidian both had faint glows of scarlet and raven, that mixed together unpleasantly around the sphere.
Seiga wrinkled her nose. "What in the name of the Three Treasures is that?"
Mima fondly caressed the gold framework. "This, my adequate associate, is a little curiosity known as the Receptacle."
"The what?"
"I don't blame you for not recognizing the name. The Receptacle has never been much more than a novelty. It had a purpose and did it well, but it was really too impractical for people in the business to make much use of it."
"And what purpose would that be?"
"Sacrifice a child, and something of your choice goes kablooie."
Seiga frowned. "That doesn't sound at all impractical. Seems pretty standard, actually."
"True, true," Mima agreed. She placed a hand against the sphere and gave it a push, making it spin like a globe. "It's not so much the ritual death of an innocent child that was the problem, it was the ritual itself, which was pointlessly convoluted and time consuming, so most practitioners preferred to use less powerful but more reliable methods in order to do their destroying. Plus, its keeper was an unpleasant ass."
"And what happened to them?"
"Well, she got on my nerves, so I stuffed her inside the thing and let it eat her. It stopped working immediately after."
"Ah."
"Funny story about that, actually. It's how I first met Marisa. Came this close to sacrificing her to it."
Seiga's brow rose at that. "Oh, really?"
Mima nodded. "She was little more than a scrawny runaway at the time. Came across her in a time when I was a bit…depleted for resources, and needed something destroyed. She seemed to fit the bill."
"So what made you change your mind?"
"Well, I discovered that he had one of the best minds for magic I had seen for a long time, and decided to discard short-term gain for long-term profits. The thing I needed to wreck ended up getting wrecked regardless a few years later, so all in all I made the right choice." She ran a hand down the golden framework. "Funny thing is, this actually isn't the original Receptacle. That now-useless hunk of rock I have stored away in one of my secret stashes. This is actually the Receptacle Mk. III. Marisa and I used to work on making a version without that nonsensical rigamarole to get it working. The second version at least functioned without its keeper, but it still needed that damn ritual. This one is more flexible, but still a bit of a problem to operate. It still requires that child sacrifice." Though her face didn't change expression, her eyes wandered over to where her toy was still kneeling and whimpering. "Unfortunately, I lost her before we could get started on Mk. IV. Ah well."
"She helped you with recreating the very thing you almost killed her for?"
Mima smiled. "And they say dark magic can't be a bonding experience. Regardless, while this one isn't as…practical as I would have hoped, it will still serve."
"Ah," Seiga said with a knowing nod. "I had wondered why you insisted on keeping that mouthy Shinigami around."
Mima beamed. "Isn't it just delicious? Yuuka took someone of importance away from me, and now I get to do the same to her." She knelt down in front of the trembling husk, and slowly raised its head with one perfectly manicured finger pressing up against its chin until they were face-to-wreck. "And there is nothing she can do about it."
The withered husk that had been Yuuka Kazami sniffled and blubbered in fear.
"So, exactly what is it that you need destroyed so badly?" Seiga said. "I mean, you clearly don't lack for destructive spells. Why not just call down another meteor strike?"
"A couple of reasons," Mima said as she turned away from her toy, which nearly collapsed with relief. "First, I'm still trying to keep a low profile right now, especially in regards to using my magic out in Gensokyo, which is why I had this delivered the old-fashioned away instead of merely teleporting it in."
"And the second?"
"It's not yet time," Mima said. "The thing I wished to have wrecked, and I will let you know what it is when the time's right, must wait until this false peace breaks and the ball gets rolling."
Seiga rolled her eyes. "You're trying our patience, you know."
"Am I? Good. I would be disappointed in myself if I weren't." Mima chuckled as she sat back down, causing the flaky skin on her toy's back to crinkle. "Patience, my friend. Things were start moving soon. In fact…" Her eyes zeroed in on one collection of markers in particular. "If I'm not mistaken, a few are just about ready to start."
…
With everything that was going on, Sakuya Izayoi had little time for nonsense.
Her mistress was more vulnerable than she ever had been. Her sister was gone, having rejected her in favor of the company of vagabonds. Her best friend was dead, shanghaied into a bogus rescue mission and murdered out of spite. And Sakuya's own ability to look after her was severely handicapped.
Which meant that everything, not only herself but also the rest of the mansion staff, had to be operating at peak efficiency. One slip from one single cog in the machine could spell disaster for their mistress, and she could not tolerate that.
Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of Sakuya's staff were fairies. And thus, they were fools.
She had them all lined up in one of the mansion's many spacious storerooms and was marching back and forth in front of them, eyeing each nervous face in turn, looking for any signs of guilt.
She said nothing though, nothing when they had all answered her summons, nothing after ordering them into a single line facing her, and nothing as she paced in front of them a full three times. Fairies were a lot of things, and strong of will was not one of them. If the culprit was here (and she had to be), then she would break.
No one broke. They cringed, they sweated, and they trembled, but no one broke.
"So," she said at last, coming to a stop. "Does anyone have something that she'd like to tell me?"
A few whimpers. Two pairs of knees started knocking.
"I'm giving you this chance to come clean," Sakuya said. "Do so now, and you will only be sacked. That is all. No bodily harm, no interrogation. But if you make me do this the hard way, then you will not only be sacked without references, but also without wings. Or fingers. Or teeth. And only one functional eye. And if you draw this out past nightfall, then you will also be skinned alive on a-"
"It was me!" wailed Hassy Lyrical, a fairy maid with a head of short brown curls and bright blue eyes. She was part of the third story maintenance staff. "I was the one who snuck those sugar packets off the coffee trolley-"
"Hassy? Shut up," Sakuya said wearily. "First of all, that isn't what I'm talking about. Second? No you weren't, that was Michelle."
Michelle squeaked like the rat she was.
"Third, this has nothing to do with your usual brand of fairy nonsense. And since the culprit has deigned to not come clean, I now must have to be specific."
Sakuya turned and threw open the door to the massive pantry behind her.
Cold air rolled out from the carefully refrigerated room inside, and everyone could see that it was filled with jars: shelves upon shelves of tightly sealed glass jars, all of them filled with blood.
Sakuya's blood, to be precise.
Sakuya pointed at one shelf, which was conspicuously short four jars.
"As you are well aware," Sakuya said, with regret, "my ability to produce blood for the mistress has been severely handicapped. And in her delicate condition, she cannot afford to go short. So I will ask…no, I will tell you this now: I will find the one responsible for those jars' disappearance. You have now to come clean and admit the theft. This is your last chance to escape with no bodily harm."
She waited for the thief to confess. The thief did not.
"Taylor?" she said at last.
Taylor quickly shook her head.
"Raimi?"
"Wasn't me, I swear!"
"Jordan?"
"No!"
"Tawnee?"
"I didn't do it!"
"Aly?"
"Wasn't me, I promise on everything!"
"Hmmm." Sakuya put her hands on her hips, closed her eyes, and sighed. "Well. Whoever the thief is, remember I gave you this chance. Now, get out, all of you."
She didn't need to tell them twice, which was a nice change. The maids of the Scarlet Devil Mansion practically trampled one another in their rush to get out.
Once she was alone, Sakuya closed the pantry doors and relocked them. Her right hand trembled a bit as she did so, so she stared at it until it stopped.
All right. No one was confessing. A problem, but not an insurmountable one. It was just that the problem had chosen the worst possible time to manifest itself.
…
Once her meeting with the mansion's staff had wrapped up, Sakuya moved onto Plan B: develop a trap to catch the thief. And to do that, she went where she always went when such a problem presented itself.
Unfortunately, the quality of help she could expect from there had recently seen a complete nosedive.
The library itself hadn't changed much. It was still an impossibly large labyrinth of towering book shelves stocked with literature of every description, from works of popular fiction to scientific journals to tomes of magic to the section that saw the heaviest amount of traffic from the staff: works of an erotic nature. On the far wall, across from the large staircase that descending from the room's entrance, the massive pendulum continued to swing back and forth, filling the room with a steady percussion.
There was one thing that had changed though, one very significant alternation. Once upon a time the library had been the domain of the mistress's close friend, a withdrawn youkai magician by the name of Patchouli Knowledge. Though she had not been part of the mansion's official staff, and though the library technically did not belong to her, she had still lorded over it as if it did. It had been her private kingdom, and she had intimate knowledge of every single shelf, every single book, and every single word.
Given that Miss Knowledge had probably been the only person in the mansion aside from the Scarlet sisters that did not actually work for Sakuya Izayoi, it had made getting assistance from her a constant battle of passive aggression. Sakuya had tolerated having to deal with the testy freeloader, but as much of a headache it could be to deal with her, at the very least Patchouli Knowledge had been intelligent, which made for a nice change of pace from those who actually were part of Sakuya's staff. And the help she got from her was often worth the trouble it took in order to procure it, as irritating as it could be.
Now the situation had changed. Now the person in charge of the library was indisputably on the Scarlet Devil Mansion's payroll, and now they were very eager to help in any way they could.
With Patchouli Knowledge now very dead, it had made sense that her previous familiar would take her place. Koakuma was now bound to Hong Meiling, which meant that she wasn't going anywhere. And she had been Patchouli's personal assistant for decades. Unfortunately, that familiarity was not translating into competence.
"Um, traps, traps, traps…" Koakuma muttered as she walked from one shelf to the next, anxiously scanning the spines of the books. "I know they're around here somewhere. I swear I saw them here."
Multiple sarcastic comments leapt to the forefront of Sakuya's mind, and she squashed them all immediately. Though the fairy maids were all free game, Sakuya had been making an actual effort to treat both Meiling and Koakuma with more politeness and patience ever since they had all gone into battle together, and Koakuma was doing her best, after all.
But why was her best suddenly so…inadequate?
"Ah! Here!" Koakuma pulled down one small paperback volume. "Traps! And…" Her face fell. "Oh no. These are hunting traps. For animals. These aren't…" Shaking her head in bewilderment, she slipped it back and continued looking.
Sakuya cleared her throat. "Ah, Koakuma?" she said gently.
"I know they're here, I saw them here, didn't I?" Koakuma said, mostly to herself.
"Koakuma."
"Where are they? Why aren't they here?"
Sakuya winced. She didn't want to do this, but the time had come to address the Dragon in the room. "Koakuma!"
The little devil winced. "Uh…yes?"
"What is…" Wait. No. That was too aggressive. Now, what would the gentler way to form that question? Oh yes, that was it. "Are you all right?"
Koakuma already looked nervous, but now she was puzzled on top of it. "I'm sorry?"
"You seem…" Again Sakuya wracked her brain to find the right way to express her concern without coming off as intimidating. It was not something she was used to. "…on edge. Scattered. What is the matter?"
"I…" The little devil's hands and wings started shaking. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to disappoint. I promise I'll-"
It wasn't working. Damn, how did most people handle these situations? "Koakuma, it's…fine. You're not in trouble. But if something is wrong, then I need to know."
Koakuma looked less than convinced. If anything, she shrank away even more, as if expecting the Lunarian to strike her at any moment.
"Please tell me," Sakuya said. "I will not banish you."
Koakuma swallowed. "Promise?"
"Yes."
"I…" Then, with a suddenness that took even Sakuya by surprise, Koakuma started weeping. "I can't do this!"
Now Sakuya was the one puzzled. "I do not understand. By 'this,' do you mean tell me the problem, or-"
"I mean I can't manage the library! I know you want me to since lady Patchouli is…gone, and I was her familiar, but I can't do it! I can't take her place!"
Was that all this was? Insecurity? "Well, I know you need to fill some large shoes…well, slippers, but there isn't anyone more qualified-"
"No! It's not that."
Sakuya's brow knit together in bewilderment.
"When…When I was lady Patchouli's familiar, I got part of her…her power, some of her skills, and some of her, well, her knowledge. I knew where things were because she knew where things were. I know how to run the library because she knew how to run the library. But now…" Koakuma shook her head. "That's all gone. Back then, I didn't even think about where things were supposed to be shelved or proper bookkeeping procedure, because that information was already in my head! But now it's not! Because she's dead! My master is dead! And I've tried to learn, tried to refamiliarize myself with the library, but it just doesn't stay in my head!"
Now Sakuya began to understand. "Because you're Meiling's familiar now," she said.
Koakuma sniffed and nodded.
Well, that did complicate things. "And now the skills you have been gifted…come from her?"
"Yes."
What would that even manifest itself as? The ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime? "What skills, exactly?"
Koakuma sighed. "Ah, martial arts, mainly. Meditation. Chi focus. And, ah, cooking."
"Meiling can cook?"
"Oh yes! I mean, she's no gourmet, but she makes a fantastic salami sandwich! And she's great with noodles and…" Koakuma caught sight of Sakuya's face and wilted. "…you don't really care, do you?"
Sakuya pursed her lips. "Koakuma, would you prefer to work guard duty with Meiling?"
Koakuma immediately looked stricken. "You're getting rid of me?"
"No. Reassigning. It's clear that your current talents are wasted here, and have been causing you undue stress."
"But-"
"It was my decision to have you bound to Meiling," Sakuya said firmly. "In doing so, I changed how your physiology works. You are not to blame for that. But even so, if you cannot fulfill Patchouli's duties, then we need to find someone who can, while finding someplace more suitable for you. This is neither a punishment nor a demotion. If anything, security is currently our most important station, and frankly I would sleep better knowing I had an extra set of eyes watching over us." Not all that better, but no need to clarify that.
Koakuma couldn't meet her eyes, but she managed a small nod. "Okay," she said. "Thank you."
Nodding, Sakuya turned away, her mind already working around this new problem. Patchouli Knowledge had been…difficult, but there was no denying that she had been uniquely suited for her role. Finding someone to replace her, especially one who could quickly make the necessary adjustments.
Fortunately, she already had someone in mind. She just hoped that they would hear her out before denying her flat out, as would likely be the case.
…
"No."
Sakuya had been anticipating that answer. Dreading it, even. Truth be told, she had been a little surprised that the blonde magician that now sat across from her had even agreed to come to the mansion to hear her offer.
But even so, having it rejected outright and thus throwing up yet another roadblock in her mission to restore some semblance of normalcy threatened to give her right a persistent twitch. "Miss Margatroid, I feel you haven't-"
Alice Margatroid folded her arms over her breast. "And I feel that you are entirely too unused to hearing that word from anyone other than your mistress. No. I have no interest in replacing Patchouli Knowledge as your librarian."
The two were seated in Sakuya's small office. The room was, like the Lunarian maid herself, elegant in design but minimal in décor. There was little in the way of aesthetics or personal mementos, nothing that did not have some sort of practical use. Still, Alice's young youkai companion was apparently finding it fascinating anyway, and was flying this way and that, staring intently cabinets of instruments and weapons Sakuya had at the ready.
Sakuya did not like having her there. With two very notable exceptions, she misliked children even at the best of times, and she especially misliked having them in her office, particularly ones that could fly. But, given the circumstances, this was not the time to raise a fuss. So long as Shanghai Margatroid didn't actually touch anything, Sakuya was going to have to content herself with just keeping an eye on her while she negotiated with the doll youkai's notoriously fickle mother.
"Most magicians who would jump at the chance to have exclusive access to a library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's quality," Sakuya said. "The collection of magical tomes and rare volumes is second to none, to say nothing of the limitless resources that would be made available-"
"I am not 'most magicians,'" Alice retorted, again cutting Sakuya off mid-sentence. "And I simply am not interested. A few months ago, when I was preoccupied with certain…projects, I might have considered. But those projects have been rendered completely obsolete, and I now have other responsibilities to focus on." Here she shot two meaningful glances, first at the little dolls that was zipping this way and that over their heads, and then to the wide-brimmed, pointy blue hat that was currently hanging on a hook by the door.
The doll-loving magician was right about one thing. Sakuya was not at all accustomed to having her proposals shot down outright by anyone other than Remilia. Nor did she often deal with people who weren't either enemies or directly on her payroll. This was very much outside of her expertise.
She tried for sympathy. "Miss Margatroid, we are…at our wit's end here," she said. "The loss of your peer, Patchouli Knowledge, has dealt us a considerable blow. She was not only a vital part of the mansion's population, but also Remilia's best friend. And combined with the loss of her sister, it has put the mistress in an extremely compromised emotional state, one that requires near-constant monitoring."
Alice frowned. "Don't you have control over space and time? Wouldn't something like that be child's play to you?"
Well, it seemed that certain details of the Battle of the Garden of the Sun were not common knowledge. "My watch was destroyed," Sakuya said. "During the battle." She omitted the part where it had been Flandre that had destroyed it. No need to explain how it had happened, or why. "And while that has not robbed me of my power, it has severely hampered my ability to control it. Stopping time now requires considerable effort, and keeping it stopped results in increasing mental strain. The same with space manipulation. The additions to the mansion have already been made permanent, so there is no danger of them failing. But any new manipulation is…stressful."
Alice's brow rose, and while Sakuya didn't know her as well as some of the others in the social circle that seemed to revolve around Hakurei Shrine, she knew her well enough to know how much surprise that expression conveyed.
Truth be told, Sakuya really didn't like the idea of revealing that much weakness to her. She had never had anything against the reclusive magician, and they had worked well with one another during various Incidents, but Alice Margatroid had always been a distant acquaintance at best. A friend of a nuisance who was a friend of the mistress, three relationships removed. And though she was supposed to be at least trustworthy, that doll child of hers was an unknown factor, and Remilia had enough enemies as it was to risk word of their current troubles leaking out.
But Sakuya was swiftly running out of options.
"Oh," Alice said. "Well, that is problematic. I assume having a new one constructed is out of the question."
"It was an invention of Patchouli's," Sakuya told her. "And she always closely guarded her notes and blueprints. We would have to sweep her private quarters from top to bottom to hope to find them, all the while avoiding any security measures she would have put in place. Even then, she was known to use coded language as a safeguard against theft." Sakuya didn't say why, but she didn't really need to.
"Oh, Marisa," Alice sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "Well, I understand. I mean, Patchouli Knowledge and I weren't exactly friends, but I always did have a great deal of professional respect for her. Her death was a great loss to the field of magical academia."
"It was," Sakuya agreed. "And it was an even greater one to this house. We no longer have an expert in magical matters, and now one is needed more than ever."
"Enter me," Alice said.
"Yes. Understand, no one is asking you to take Patchouli's place in all of her…functions, such as acting as the Mistress's close companion. You would also be well compensated for your service, as well as have complete access to the wealth of knowledge the library contains. Furthermore, I understand you have been giving Reimu Hakurei lessons in magic use, correct?" Alice nodded, so Sakuya said, "Well, as you know, I have been providing her with self-defense training as well. Having us both be in the same place would make helping her along much easier. And of course both you and your daughter would have every need and want provided for. We can even arrange for your quarters to be an exact duplicate of your house's interior. All we are asking in return is that you assume caretaking responsibilities for the library and be on hand to lend advice and assistance in magical matters."
"A very tempting offer," Alice said. "And an understandable one. But I'm afraid I must still refuse."
Sakuya inhaled slowly through her nose. Then she said directly, "Miss Margatroid, why not?"
"Because to be quite frank, as generous as your terms are, you offer me nothing that I need. Shanghai and I live quite comfortably, and I am not hurting for money or resources. My field of interests as a magician are a bit more…specific than most, and I already have access to all available material in those fields. Furthermore, my first priority is seeing to my daughter's care and wellbeing. Becoming your librarian would distract from that." Alice unfolded her arms and stood up. "You have my sympathies, and I thank you for your offer. But the answer is no."
Well, at the very least Alice Margatroid was direct with her refusal. Despite her disappointment and irritation, Sakuya did appreciate not having her time wasted. "Very well, Miss Margatroid. Thank you regardless for your time."
Alice politely bowed her head. "I apologize for not being able to help in that regard, and should I learn of some other magician of suitable skill and intelligence, I will refer them to you." She stood up. "Shanghai!"
The little doll was staring slack-jawed into a glass cabinet full of knives, each one of a different size and intended to cut a different way. At her mother's call, she flitted over to her immediately. "Oh, yes?"
"We are leaving now."
"All right!" Shanghai then darted over to hover right in front of Sakuya's face and bowed deeply. "Thank you for inviting us into your home, Miss Izayoi!"
Well, at least Alice had taught her manners. Sakuya inclined her head in return.
Before the Margatroids had left though, Sakuya stood up and said, "Oh, ah, before you go? There is one thing I'd like to get your input on."
Alice paused in front of the door, her hand on the handle. She looked over to the maid and raised an eyebrow.
"The reason I had hope to fill that position soon is that we've been having an ongoing problem that having a magical expert on hand would be a great help with. Specifically, a thief."
At this Alice jerked around so suddenly that her daughter flew back a full meter in surprise. "A thief?" Alice said, her full attention now on Sakuya. "What kind of thief?"
"A blood thief," Sakuya said. "Someone has been sneaking into our blood stores for the Mistress's meals."
Alice was still staring intently at her. "That's it? Just blood? Not, um, books or spellcards or anything?"
Then Sakuya saw how Alice's hands were now gripping the rim of her hat, holding it to her chest, and she realized what she was thinking. "No, Alice," Sakuya said gently. "Not books, or anything of that nature." Well, as far as she knew, anyway, which was another reason to install another librarian as soon as possible. "Just blood."
"Oh." Alice's face fell with disappointment.
Sakuya sighed. It seemed that all she did as of late was try to deal with women suffering from heavy loss. Which…included herself, now that she thought of it. "Anyway, I do understand that blood is a powerful magical regent, and certain varieties are in demand on the magician black market. And since the blood was my own, I would imagine that Lunarian blood would fetch a high price. So if you could put word out among your suppliers to keep an eye out for a sudden stock of Lunarian blood, I would greatly appreciate it."
Now Alice was frowning. "Blood. That is all they've taken? Just blood?"
"As far as we know. Which would be a first, actually. The Scarlet Devil Mansion is not lacking for items of great value, so for a thief to only go after the blood is a bit odd."
Now it was Alice's turn to sigh. "Sakuya, I do understand that you have been under a great deal of stress as of late, so please do not take it as an insult to your intelligence when I point out the obvious culprit."
Sakuya raised an eyebrow.
"While I may not know every detail of what went on at the Garden of the Sun, I do understand that the reason your mistress no longer has her sister around is because she absconded with Rin Satsuki, would that be correct?"
Sakuya felt a sudden sharp twist in her guts, though the only emotion she betrayed was a slight tensing of her fingers and eyelids. "That is correct," she said, smoothly and without anger. "But what-"
And then the full truth hit her like a falling meteor.
Air escaped her in a long, labored exhalation. "That little bitch," she whispered.
Blinking in confusion, Shanghai hovered in close to her mother. "Mother, who is angry with?"
"I'll explain later, Shanghai. For now, I feel that Sakuya here has a great deal of work to do." She nodded again at the maid. "Good day."
The pair left. Sakuya barely noted their exit.
Sakuya stood there, partially leaning over her desk, hands splayed flat upon the surface, not moving a muscle. To an outside observer she might appear completely frozen.
But on the inside…
All of the stress, all of the fear, all of the worry, and all of the self-loathing that had been dogging Sakuya's every single moment and threatened constantly to cause her to crack into a full mental and emotional breakdown, all of it so tightly controlled and kept at bay, was now being shoveled into the furnace that was heating up in her core, fueling her rage.
Rin Satsuki still had Flandre. Rin Satsuki, who had beaten her, broken her, was responsible for her most stinging failure, still had Flandre. And not only that, she presumably also had that common vampire, the one that had been part of Yuuka Kazami's harem, that Kurumi.
Sakuya remembered how weak and frail Kurumi had appeared, how greedily she had sucked at the blood Sakuya had kindly offered her. She remembered having to be talked out of ending the little leech's life once she had realized that Rin was going back on their deal. She remembered how fervently Rin had defended the lives of those they had rescued from Yuuka Kazami's clutches.
Rin Satsuki, wherever she was, had two vampires to look after and feed.
And what better place to find what they needed than the home of the most notable vampire in all of Gensokyo?
Rin Satsuki had stolen the blood. Rin Satsuki had once again broken into Sakuya's home and stole her blood. Rin Satsuki was feeding Sakuya's own blood, which was now so difficult to produce, to her vampires.
That little bitch!
When she caught her, Sakuya would do as she was supposed to do. She would turn Rin Satsuki over to Yukari Yakumo, who would presumably cure her of her wretched condition and hand her over to Reimu Hakurei, as planned. Rin Satsuki would then probably go off with Reisen Udongein to live a long and happy life, somewhere in Gensokyo.
But Sakuya didn't have to turn her over right away.
And even if Rin Satsuki got her happily ever after, Sakuya was going to ensure that she remembered her time in the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
She was going to hurt her. She was going to hurt her badly. Nothing that would stick, of course, but then, given that literally nothing stuck, that left a wide range of possibilities available. Sakuya was quite the skilled torturer, and there were any number of things that she could do to-
Wait.
Blood.
Wait, wait, wait. Blood. Yes. Blood.
Sakuya slowly straightened up as yet another realization hit her. Surely it wouldn't be that easy. Surely there had to be a catch. Perhaps Patchouli had disposed of it, or Rin Satsuki had absorbed Flandre, making that route pointless.
But what if neither of those things had happened? What if it worked?
Feeling her first surge of hope in weeks, Sakuya hastened to the door.
…
"Don't stress it," Meiling said as she cracked a pair of eggs over the small bubbling pot filled with noodles, vegetables, and spices. Moments later the eggs had fully poached, and used a whisk to stir it all together and covered it with its lid. "Sakuya's just doing what's best for everyone. She's not going to get rid of you for something that's not your fault."
"How do you know?" Koakuma whispered. The little devil was sitting up against the gate, knees drawn up to her chin, arms hugging her shins as she sulked. "She's gotten rid of people for less!"
And with that, the Ramen was done. Meiling turned off her small portable stove and poured the Ramen into a pair of bowls. She gave one to Koakuma and sat down next to her with the other.
"Swerioushly," Meiling mumbled as she slurped up the noodles. "Shakuya's cwanky mosh ov dah twime, bwut shwe still hwas a hweart!"
Koakuma didn't respond. She just moodily started slurping up Ramen as well as she continued to stare off into the distance.
"Aw, buck up!" Meiling said as she slapped her familiar (which was still an odd concept to her, one she didn't fully understand, but hey, if it meant spending more time with a friend then she wasn't going to object). "Guarding the gate's not so bad. Fresh air, plenty of space, and if you get good at predicting when Sakuya's going to drop by, you can get away with a lot! I'll teach you everything you need to know. You won't even miss that musty old place."
"Sure," Koakuma said without much enthusiasm.
"And hey, I got the day off tomorrow. What say you and I go hit the lake? The beach has got to be hopping by now." She punched Koakuma lightly in the shoulder. "Come on. Play some volleyball. Go flight-skiing. Try on some new swimsuits. See if there's any cute guys on…" Then she frowned. "Hey, wait. Are you into guys or girls? I never was clear on that."
Koakuma sighed. "Meiling, I'm a succubus. I'm into everything."
"Oh yeah? Well, that's even better! Cute guys and girls! And there's sure to be plenty-"
"KOAKUMA!" Sakuya's voice roared from all the way across the courtyard.
Seconds later the Ramen and the portable stove had both been stored safely out of sight and the two redhaired women were standing at attention at either side of the gate.
A moment after that Sakuya herself appeared. Ignoring Meiling, she went right up to the terrified devil and said, "You! Follow me. Now!"
All color drained from Koakuma's face. "Ah…of course!"
Raising a finger, Meiling stepped forward. "Um, if something happened, then it totally wasn't Koakuma's fault! She's been here with me the whole-"
"Meiling," Sakuya said without looking at her. "Please. Not now."
Meiling, who was still getting used to how nice Sakuya had been to her ever since the big battle, shot a look at Koakuma, who looked less than reassured.
Sakuya stormed back onto the mansion grounds, and with nothing else she could do, Koakuma hastened to follow.
When she was sure that they were gone, Meiling sighed and sank down to slump against the gate post. Despite her assurances, she really hoped that Koakuma wasn't in any sort of trouble. She didn't want to lose another friend.
…
Sakuya made a clean beeline for the library, Koakuma struggling to keep up from behind. As they flew, the maid called back, "Now, I know you have lost your knowledge of the library's shelving, but what of Patchouli's study? Do you have any memory of how she had that organized?"
"Uh, her study?" Koakuma said. "S-Some. I mean, I spent a lot of time in there, so…yes?"
Then there was a chance. "Did Patchouli ever throw anything away? Parts of failed experiments, discarded ingredients, that sort of thing?"
"N-Not that I can remember? She tended to just…sort of keep everything, in case it was useful later."
Thank the spirits.
The pair burst into the library, and instead of descending the steps into the maze of bookcases, they flew over them, heading toward the far end of the massive room. "Now, I need you to think!" Sakuya continued. "Do you remember those times Patchouli attempted to discern the cause of Flandre's madness? To find a cure?"
"Of course! She worked on that pretty often!"
Yes. Worked on, attempted, and continuously failed, but now wasn't the time for that. What was important was the project itself. "Now, think carefully! The samples she took from Flandre to study, do you know where she kept them?"
"The samples? Uh, maybe? But-"
Then Sakuya heard a sharp hiss as Koakuma suddenly inhaled, and she knew that the little devil had caught up to her line of thinking.
They reached the door to Patchouli's study and touched down. Unlocking it with her master key, Sakuya thrust the door open and marched inside.
The room was as dark and foreboding as ever. Even when Patchouli had been alive, the lights had often been kept dim unless she was working on something important. With no time for that, Sakuya activated the charm that immediately lit all the lamps, illuminating the cluttered room.
"Where?" she said.
Shaking, Koakuma rushed over to the workspace and its row upon row of cabinets. "Okay, where are they, where are they?" she muttered as she opened one cabinet after another. All the while, Sakuya stood and waited. She had no gods worth praying to, but she still found herself sending up a silent plea to any forces that might be listening.
"I found them!" Koakuma cried, and Sakuya almost stumbled with relief. "Here they are!"
Koakuma brought down a set of cork-stopped crystal vials and a small oak box. The vials were all filled with crimson fluid, and inside the box were a set of glass slides, each one possessing a carefully preserved red smear.
It was all blood, of course.
Flandre's blood.
Mentally willing her hands to not shake with excitement, Sakuya carefully seized one of the vials between two fingers and held it up to the light. Acquiring the samples had been a nightmare. Flandre had been afraid of needles, and violently resisted any attempt to take her blood. But it had been the Mistress's hope that it would all be worth it, that a way to save her sister might be found.
At the time, such had not been the case, and Patchouli Knowledge had failed to find the source of Flandre's madness. But it would seem that her efforts had not been in vain, and her failed experiment would save Flandre after all.
Sakuya had Flandre's blood, and there was no more powerful regent in tracking spells than blood. Sakuya might not be a magician, but what magical skills she did possess she was very skilled at. And that included tracking spells.
"Got you," she whispered.
Oh, she would find Rin Satsuki. No matter where she was hiding and how many defenses she had protecting her, Sakuya would find her, wherever that might be.
…
"Take it back!"
"No! I know you have them!"
A fight was going down, a fight between a fairy and a demon. The reason was incidental, the offense unimportant. Sara and Rengeteki had been getting on each other's nerves for some time now, huffing and snapping at one another.
How it started, no one really knew. Sara said that Rengeteki had intentionally tripped her when they had been out on a raid, while Rengeteki maintained that it had been an accident, and besides, Sara had been the one to fill her drinking cup with soap that one time, she just knew it. Regardless of the original cause, they had been complaining loudly about one another to their friends, each time adding some new offense to the list.
Sooner or later, things would have come to a boil. Sooner or later, tempers would have flared into violence. Sooner or later, the sniping would have stopped and the fighting would have begun.
And now it had.
The two were circling each other, eyes blazing and teeth bared. Their companions had formed a circle around them, some shouting words of encouragement, others begging them to stop, while still others simply watched, curious how things would turn out.
"I've had it," Rengeteki said. "I know you snuck into my room. I know you took my socks! So stop lying and give them back!"
"I don't have them!" Sara shouted back. "Why would I even want your stupid socks?"
"To piss me off, that's why!"
"I don't have to try to do that, you're pissed off all the time!"
"Because you keep getting into my stuff!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Suddenly a white sphere came flying through the air to impact the ground between them. It exploded into white light, and the pair were driven back by a sudden and extremely focused snow flurry. This was followed by the source.
Cirno landed right between the two and thrust her hands out in both directions, keeping them separated. "Okay, knock this off! Nobody's fighting when I'm around!"
Sara rolled her eyes and pointed a finger. Heat lashed out in simmering waves, causing the snow to melt right under Cirno's feet. Taken by surprise, the ice fairy nearly slipped on her own slush.
"Back of, Cirno!" Sara shouted. "This has nothing to do with you!"
Cirno bounded to her feet. "It does too! Nobody in my gang is gonna fight with each other!"
"It's not your gang, idiot! It's Rin's! And she's not here right now!"
Cirno's jaw dropped in shock, and for what was probably the first time in her life she was at a loss for words.
"Whoa, hey, easy there, girls," Doremy Sweet said as she rushed up to the trio. "Take it easy. Let's not-"
"No! I'm sick of this!" Rengeteki poked Sara in the chest. "You're not getting off easy this time, demon!"
"I have a name! Use it!"
"First, give me back my socks!"
"What socks?" Doremy said. "What are you talking about?"
"You know!" Rengeteki shouted. "My pink socks with the bows! They went missing from my room, and I just know that-"
"Uh…these socks?"
Rengeteki fell silent, and she, Sara, and Doremy all turned to Kogasa, who was standing behind Wriggle. The umbrella youkai flinched at the sudden attention, but stepped forward and lifted up the hem of her skirt, revealing the socks in question.
"I'm really sorry," she said. "I found them in the grab pile and just thought they were from one of Rin's raids and up for grabs. I didn't know anyone had already claimed them."
"Oh," Rengeteki said.
"See?" Sara sneered.
"I, uh…Well, how did they get there in the first place? Someone had to sneak them into the grab pile!"
Doremy sighed. "Kogasa, please give Rengeteki her socks back."
Blushing, Kogasa slipped off her raised shoes and peeled off the socks. She handed them over to the red-faced fairy. "Sorry," she said again.
Doremy slowly breathed in and out. "Okay, show's over. Sara? Rengy? You two go cool off. Disperse, disperse, disperse." She flicked her fingers out. "Go on. Shoo."
Mumbling to one another, everyone wandered off. Sara and Rengeteki glared at each other one last time, but said nothing as they went off in different directions. Finally the only ones left in the room was Doremy, the shame-faced Kogasa, Wriggle, and Cirno, who was still standing frozen in shock.
"Well, that was nasty," Wriggle remarked once everyone was gone.
"I'm really sorry," Kogasa said. "I really had no idea they were hers."
"Don't stress it," Doremy sighed. "Those two would've blown up sooner or later anyway." She glanced over to the ice fairy. "Uh…Cirno? You okay over there?"
Cirno looked over at them. "Hey. Wriggle?"
"Yeah?"
"It's…you're still part of my gang, right? Team Nineball for life?"
Wriggle exchanged a look with Doremy and sighed. "Sure, Cirno. For life."
Right about then there was a rumbling coming from the hideout entrance. Moments later Rin herself appeared holding a basket containing four large glass jars filled with blood.
"Hey, guess who just got right in and out of the Scarlet Devil Mansion without anybody noticing again?" she boasted. "I swear, it gets easier every time, you know!"
She looked around at everyone, expecting congratulation. When she saw everyone's faces she sobered.
"Oh," she said. "Crap. What I'd miss?"
…
"So, everything's fine, right?"
Doremy sighed. "Rin. It was a fight. They happen. Those two just been getting on each other's nerves. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later."
The two were meeting in the back storeroom, where most of the food that they pilfered was kept. It was a pretty big space, which included a box-shaped hollow that Cirno kept more-or-less perpetually frozen over, giving them a functional icebox, where Rin was now storing the blood she had stolen.
Unfortunately, the storeroom was never as full as she'd like it to be. She now had nearly twenty hungry mouths to feed and no outside help or any real means of producing anything of their own, so just procuring enough food for everyone was almost a fulltime job. It helped that she didn't need sleep or never got tired, but it was a growing concern, especially with those who had very specific diets, like Flandre and Kurumi.
Further adding to the problems is that going out to get food meant being away from the hideout, and one never knew what might happen while she was gone. As it turned out, having a shared traumatic experience meant a great deal of solidarity and interpersonal support at the beginning, but over time personality clashes and personal grievances started to arise. Seija was just the most obvious issue.
"Okay," Rin said dubiously. "But what if it happens again? Those two have been sniping at each other for days now. Won't be long before it blows up again, you know?"
Sighing, Doremy sprawled backward over several bags of rice. "Yeah, it's a pain. And that's not getting into Mai forgetting to cover Nien's time at guard duty like she promised, Elis breaking Mystia's good pots and never replacing them, and pretty much everything Seija does."
Rin groaned and sat down on the bags next to her. "Oh, don't remind me. It's like, hello! We all escaped a monster, and there's other monsters looking to kill us! Can't we just, you know, get along? Like, a little?"
Doremy rolled onto her side to face her. "Being Chief is turning out to be a lot more work than you thought, huh?"
That was putting it mildly. When she had first started their little community, Rin had thought that the biggest challenge would be keeping Flandre under control and making sure nobody was caught. She hadn't counted on so many problem developing from within.
The sad truth of the matter was that youkai just weren't intended to all coexist in such a large group, especially ones of several different species. She had fairies, she had demons, she had vampires, she had animal youkai, she had object youkai, she had…whatever the hell Sekibanki was, it was a real hodgepodge. Even Cirno's original gang was unusually large. Most groups of similar size and composition tended to be short-term affairs, temporary alliances that worked toward a common goal and were dissolved soon after.
"What am I supposed to do?" Rin wondered, in part to Doremy but also to herself. "I brought us all out here to keep us safe and free. I figured we were all in this together. But now I can't leave the cave without someone getting into a fight."
"I dunno, Chief. It's a real puzzle."
The two sighed in unison.
Then, after a moment of contemplation, Doremy said, "Hey, you know what? What about a trip?"
"A what?"
"You know. Get the gang out of the hole. Part of the reason why everyone's getting all catty is that we're cooped up most of the time. Not all of us are meant to stay in caves all the time."
"But I do get the gang out of the hole!" Rin protested. "I take the night squad out flying all the time, and I try to take as many of them as I can on raids, don't I?"
"Yeah, but that's only a little at a time, and not everyone. Most of us aren't natural cave-dwellers. Some fresh air would do us good."
Which was pretty much what she had told Rumia earlier. And to be fair, Rumia did seem a bit revived after that trip. "What are you thinking?"
"Well, how about the lake?"
Rin frowned. "What, like a beach trip?"
"Sure! I mean, why not?"
"I don't know," Rin said dubiously. "I mean, isn't the beach kind of crowded? And aren't we kind of wanted?"
"You're wanted," Doremy retorted. "And you can shapeshift and turn invisible. Plus you can just shroud anyone that might be recognized. And most of us aren't known to anybody." She frowned. "Which is…kind of messed up. Huh."
Rin frowned. "Yeah, but…what about Flandre and Kurumi? I can't exactly take them out into the Sun."
"Hmmm, yeah. And taking Flandre out around other people is kind of risky," Doremy said, rubbing her chin. Then she shrugged. "Still. Give it some thought. A fun trip. Let them blow off some steam."
Rin sighed. "I'll…think about it," she said.
…
Great thing about restarting this thing in April is getting to do birthday updates again!
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I was twenty-four when this first started.
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I'm thirty-four now.
…
Fuck.
Until next time, everyone!