Disclaimer: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona belongs to ATLUS. Touhou Project belongs to Zun. I have no ownership of the copyrights of either series in any way.
Chapter 6: First Conflict
I can't believe it. It is Sanae. I haven't seen her since… well I haven't seen her in a long time. She was almost the exact same as she was when we first met. Her hair is longer than I remember it being, but then again it has been at least a year. Looking at her in full, she wore her shrine maiden uniform which had a few alterations from the standard one that most would find in other shrines. For one thing, the primary colors were blue and white as opposed to the traditional red and white color scheme. The blue portions also seemed to be made of a material that looked like silk. The sleeves of the outfit were detached from the torso portion, and as such, left her armpits, as well as her sarashi, visible. It seems her hair wasn't the onl- I'm going to stop that train of thought there. Lastly her pleated skirt was shorter than is normal for this kind of attire. Right now she was looking at me with a face of surprise, not that I could blame her. I bet I had the same look.
During those last few days where I made my goodbyes to all my friends, she was the only one I couldn't reach. I tried to get in a few calls to the area to ask for her number or something, but in the end, I never did get a chance to contact her before fully becoming the seal. I don't even know why I had so much trouble. For some reason, every time I tired, they would always tell me that she was just not there anymore as well as asking what in the world I was talking about as if I were crazy. I wanted to see her at least once more; at least talk to her. She was my first real friend, and I was never able to tell her what was happening, or even say goodbye. It's honestly the only thing I regretted, besides that other one thing. At least now I know: this is where she was. How fitting, given her power of flight…is that all she has?
"M-Minato-k-"
"MINATO-KUN!" Whatever Sanae was about to say, it was drowned out by a certain ghost princess. Turning around, I could see Yuyuko was waving at me from afar, coaxing me to come to her for whatever reason she may have. I waved at her and turned my head back to find that Sanae and her parents had already left to their own devices amongst the crowd. Damn. I was hoping to talk to Sanae after all this time, even apologize. Wait, she doesn't know I'm the seal yet. So do I really need to? Yes. I need to at some point. I decided that, that could wait however. I began to walk without having fully turned my body around when suddenly-
"Oomph!"
"Aaah!" I crashed into someone. "Hey watch where you're goin'."
"Sorry, I wasn't looking." I really should have turned all the way around.
"Meh." The girl shrugged. "No harm, no foul." I stood up first and threw my hand out to help her up. "Thanks, ze!"…ze? Well anyways, she grabbed my hand by the wrist and pulled herself up in a boisterous manner. Now that she stood tall, staring at me, I was able to get a good look at her. If I could sum her up in a two word phrase, it would be this: cute witch.
The girl's most noticeable, and literally biggest, feature was her classic witch's hat which fit perfectly on her head. It only deviated slightly from the traditional image by having a huge white ribbon tied around it just above the really wide brim. This hat sat upon a mop of golden, waist length hair. Messy and a bit unkempt, the only part that wasn't so was the small braid on the side of her face which was tied in a ribbon at the end. The hair framed a cocky, tomboyish face that held a set of wide piercing eyes and an even wider, cockier, smile below them. The face practically screamed confidence. She wore a white shirt for the spring season with a black sleeveless top that had 4 gold buttons above said shirt. Her skirt was long and black, but she curiously wore a white apron above that; weird combination.
"I've never seen you before. What's your name?" Her smile cracked even wider now, revealing a set of white teeth.
"Minato Arisato. What's yours?" No need to be rude at a time like this.
"Ah! Right! It's Marisa, Marisa Kirisame. Just call me Marisa though since Kirisame is a bit of a mouthful." Marisa Kirisame? Where have I heard that before? Marisa then began to size me up, first by looking at my clothes, and then my face before suddenly, her eyes flicked to the side, focusing on something to my right, behind me.
"Marisa! There you are. I was wondering where you were. What are you doing over here near the exit? Don't tell me you of all people are leaving early? Oh! Is this another scheme to steal things while the owners are away? " Approaching us from the direction Marisa was looking at was a different shrine maiden that was not Sanae. Her outfit was more traditional and sported the red-white scheme as opposed to Sanae's blue and white. Weird; she also has the detached sleeves and exposed sarashi …Sanae is bigger. Her hair was done up in a ponytail which was tied using a red ribbon that had a white trim. It was quite fluffy looking.
"Hey! It's only borrowing 'till I die. Besides, as I told you, they'll be around longer than I'll be so what's the harm? But that's not important right now. What is important is that take a look at this guy, ze!" I'm going to assume that the 'ze' is an endearing character trait. Also, I think that that is still called stealing in a sense. "This here is Minato Arisato." Marisa went ahead to introduce me to…to…
"Sure, whatever." Wow, rough is what I would call that response.
"I didn't catch your name." I should get common courtesies out of the way. That and never be rude to a girl. It always ends badly otherwise; no exception.
"Reimu Hakurei, a shrine maiden of the Hakurei shrine." Reimu? Oh wait! Reimu and Marisa! Now I remember who they are.
"Reimu, you're the only shrine maiden at the Hakurei shrine." Marisa stated in deadpan. So it is them.
"Quiet, you." Reimu, at first, was looking at me with an almost, absent mindedness. From what I can see, it seems that she doesn't really care all that much that I'm here. Then again, in her eyes I probably look like just some shmuck that wandered in. But, in a split second, her focus then all of a sudden intensified. She then began to look at me much in the same way Marisa did just a moment ago. "You're from the outside, aren't you?"
"Does Yukari-san really bring in outsiders that often?", at least enough for Reimu to recognize me as one. That's the only reason I can think of for Reimu being able to single me out like that so easily.
"See! I told you this was important." Marisa spouted proudly like she just was proven right or something.
"So it was the old hag…" Her serious demeanor was now replaced by one of exasperation. "Look, can you come back tomorrow? I'll lead you back outside then okay? Just go back to wherever you're staying and meet me in the afternoon, or something." She said in a dismissive and tired tone. Reimu then looked like she was about to go back to the party when suddenly-
"Oh but that will not do. I certainly cannot allow that to happen."
"Yukari!"
"Yukari-san!" It's like she popped out of nowhere. She probably did, getting the drop on both Reimu and I. Marisa just seemed to take it in stride. Reimu then quickly regained her composure, assuming her more serious persona, not that kind, and focused her attention on the border youkai.
"What's it to you if I bring him to back to the outside world? You've never stopped me before, so why now?" Reimu placed herself between me and Yukari, holding out her arms in a manner which looked like she was protecting me from the youkai. Yukari simply looked at us, amused at the situation, while Marisa was just sitting out on the whole affair, watching events unfold like a movie goer. I looked around and noticed that quite a few of the other people at this party were also beginning to shift their attention to the squabble that was bound to happen. I looked back at Yukari just in time to see her fall into one of her gaps. Right as the gap closed up, *glomp* Yukari grabbed me from behind in a big hug… and though I can't see it, I assume she's doing it while hanging upside down from a gap, thus placing her face at my lower back. How does gravity work in those things again?
"You know Mina-chan, that's not very nice, you know? You're breaking my heart. A relationship as deep, meaningful, as destined as ours and you're already breaking it off; cruel, just too cruel." Mina-chan? Are you kidding me? Anyways, completely ignoring the now very pissed off Reimu, she began speaking to me with words that may have sounded sweet… had that not been said with the tone of a sadist and from one of the biggest trolls I have ever met in my life. Seriously though, Mina-chan? Really? No, Really? No, just no.
As Reimu began to really steam, and Marisa looked like she was about to burst out into laughter, I could see that many of the party goers, in fact nearly all of them, had begun to turn their attention towards the little situation that I could not imagine getting any worse than it was now. I really don't think it could. All of the onlookers held faces and curiosity and wonderment. The only exceptions that I could see were Yuyuko, who was still eating (I have to request a rematch at some point) and Sanae and Youmu who shared an expression of… hate, or is it discontent? Well either way the expressions they had on their faces were negative ones.
"OKAY, THAT'S IT! I am not handing a human over to any of whatever plans you have." Reimu then pulled me out of Yukari's hug… and tried to swat at her with her gohei. Yukari just went back into the gap and reappeared in front of me, standing this time.
"Hoho! A fair gesture my dear Reimu, but a needless one." Yukari said in a noblewomen's voice.
"What are you going on about now?" Reimu asked after having regained her balance from missing her swing.
"As I just said: A needless gesture." She said as a hand wave.
"And I'm asking you to explain it." Reimu was getting angrier and angrier by the second, the grip on her gohei tightening in proportion.
"Hmmmm…" I didn't like the sound of that hum. "Minato Arisato-" She was projecting her voice so that everyone could hear her. If they couldn't hear her then, they could now. "- is an existence, whose survival is paramount to the continuance of all living creatures, directly or indirectly. As such, his well-being might even be more important than yours, dearie." Yukari's fox grin popped up somewhere in the middle there. More importantly however-
"What are you doing!? Isn't this, I don't know, say, counterproductive to keeping an eye on me! Announcing this for the world to behold!? Don't you think it's better for me to be a bit more obscure than this?" I yelled whispered at her. This situation was beginning to get out of hand. I looked around to see that the atmosphere was getting tenser and tenser by the moment. One girl I noticed was checking, what I think is, a hand mirror. This isn't the time for that!
"But I thought you would like everyone, all the most prestigious personalities of Gensokyo, who gather here at the Hakurei flower viewings, to know that you, Minato Arisato, are the strongest." Okay that was too weirdly phrased to be just a slip up. And also this is getting worse. I have to stop this from getting any farther. I need to tell her to stop.
"I at no point said that I wan-"
"HE'S NOT THE STRONGEST! EYE AM!" huh? I was interrupted by what sounded like a little girl… younger than most the ones here that is. I turned away from Yukari to see who the source of that shout was. When I finally turned to about where it should have come from, there, standing out from the crowd, hovered a little girl, one of the fairies I saw playing tag earlier.
She had blue hair topped with a blue bow. Equally blue eyes stared confidently at me but also emptily at the same time somehow. She held her arms crossed over her chest and wore a blue dress that was simple in design and had white trims over some parts. Behind her were six wings that flapped in timed rhythm to keep the fairy flying. All in all, fairies apparently just look like little children; normal sized children.
"Eye, Cirno the Ice Fairy of the Lake, challenge you to a Spell card duel!" She yelled. A what? Cards? "Do you accept my challenge of war!?" Wow what a ham.
"What are you doing? Actually, who are you? What do you mean duel and what did I do to you?" Seriously, I don't normally say this, but this girl… I don't get her. She's… it's like she's… stupid. She comes out of nowhere, asks for something ridiculous, and calls it a war. I… forget it.
"Oh this is quite serendipitous." She said to no one in particular before turning to the fairy and continuing with, "Minato will accept your challenge, fairy." I what?
"I never said that." I was trying to keep my voice down and calm. Man, was I trying. "First of all, I don't even know anything about these duels. Second, I don't think a duel is one of the first things I should be doing, let alone at a party. Lastly, are you trying to get me killed!?" Dammit, still blew it at the last sentence.
"Oh don't worry about a thing. It's all quite simple. Here are the rules. The use of one's full abilities is not allowed. The number of spell cards that can be used is announced beforehand as is the hit count in some cases. For hits, they have to be clean ones that would actually inflict damage and can be on any part of your body. If all your spell cards are defeated, or out lasted, you can still fight for some time afterwards, but you will most likely lose anyways. Attacks relying on physical strength are not to be repeated, unless otherwise stated. Also, there is no killing. " Hey, has anybody else ever wondered what it would be like to squeeze-dry a wet rag in space?
*Whack* "Ow!" I think Yukari just hit me with her fan…where did she get that?
"Are you paying attention? This is important."
"I am. Continue please." I was.
"Really? Because I can see sleep starting to take over." Oh crap, really? "Well in any case, those were the rules in a nut shell. There have been changes since its initial draft, a few rules I left out, and there are custom rules every now and then, but what I have told you is most of what you need to know."
"HEY! WHAT'S THE HOLD UP!?" Both Yukari and I turned to the fairy. Marisa and Reimu were discussing something between the two of them having lost interest in what Yukari and I were talking about. Cirno, I think that's what she said her name was, was getting a great deal impatient.
"We're just about ready. Is three spell cards, 99 second time limit, and three hits fine with you?"
"No condition can hinder me!" the little fairy boasted.
"Excellent." Yukari said to herself.
"Yeah that's sort of great and all, but I don't have spell cards to begin with, so I think I'll sit this one out." I can't exactly duel without cards, children or otherwise. "
"No problem, I'll just lend you one of mine."
"That doesn't equal three." It equals one.
"Reimu, Marisa!" Marisa and Reimu were knocked out of their conversation and locked on to Yukari. "Would you kindly lend Minato here once spell card each?" Oh crap, that equals three. The two looked back at each other for a second before Marisa just shrugged and Reimu let out a big sigh.
"Fine, but I'm only doing this because there isn't really a way out of this for him." Reimu then began to dig through her clothes to find whatever it was she was finding.
"Sure, why not. I'm interested to see what this guy's got that's got you so hot Yukari." What a way to put it Marisa.
"Great, here Minato. It's one of my favorites, so treat it nicely." She handed me a card that had a number of colorful circles on it, a lot of colorful circles. I looked on the back to find a text that said, Bounded Field 'Boundary of Life and Death. ' I guess that's its name.
"Here you go."
"Don't break it." Now Marisa and Reimu were giving me their cards. I really am going to have to do this aren't I? Oh well, might as well do it since it is non-lethal after all. After grabbing their cards, I could see that Reimu's was called Divine Spirit 'Fantasy Seal' and sported an assortment of colorful orbs. It had less than Yukari's though. Marisa's was Love sign 'Master Spark'. It looked like a giant rainbow laser beam. I have to admit, that one looked kind of cool, but… 'Love sign'?
"Is there any way I can back out of this?" I don't want to fight if I don't have to. Wasting energy and time is liable to get you reaped: usually in about ten minutes.
"Normally you can back out, but this is Cirno we're talking about and she isn't going to be leaving any time soon." Reimu said while looking at me with a disposition of resignation.
"And what is this about Cirno?"
"What she means is that the best way to deal with fairies is a good danmaku to the face. The way to get them to leave you alone is to shoot 'em black and burned. They're too stupid to understand otherwise." Marisa explained.
"That really doesn't make me feel that great." In fact that makes me feel sort of sick, the idea of unmitigated, wanton destruction upon someone who doesn't look older than Ken. "But I really don't have a choice, do I?" I really have to do this don't I?
"Bingo, ze!" Guess that's Marisa's version of really.
"*Sigh*Okay so how do I use these?" I haven't gotten that memo yet. I think that memo is pretty important if I'm going to be doing this. With no way out, only thing left is diving in.
"Just shout the name. Since you aren't the originator of the cards, just hold them up in the direction you want them to go. The card will do the rest." Reimu was the one to explain before suddenly saying, "I'll prepare to referee." She then just went over to the middle between me and Cirno, who was being pretty quiet so far. I then turned back to Yukari who seemed like she had something she wanted to say to me.
"Alright Minato, no more prattling; It's almost time to start." Her expression then changed to a more caring tone, the same as the one she had when she was offering me my freedom. "And don't worry. I told you that I wouldn't let you come to harm, and I meant every word of it. Don't hesitate, and show them who you truly are." She then gave me what was perhaps one of her few genuine smiles. Damn it. I hate when she uses that tone of voice, and face. I looked to see that Marisa was quite… flabbergasted… at hearing, and seeing Yukari's tone and expression. I'm going to assume that Yukari rarely sounds, or looks like what she just pulled off. What is with me and women named Yukari? I turned to the fairy, shedding off whatever doubts I had, since having doubts in one's tactics will get you killed. I guess it's now or never.
"HEY! I'M READY NOW!" I shouted at her. The fairy snapped out of whatever stupor she was in.
"Huh? Who are you?" Okay that is just ridiculous.
"I'm the guy who you challenged to a duel!?" I shouted back. I wish we weren't so far apart, so that I wouldn't have to yell.
"Huh? Oh right! So when can we start?" I think she genuinely forgot. Damn. I could have left just now and avoided a pointless waste of time. Still, I'm actually getting excited, and I am not going to back out now. Once I saw that Cirno was at the ready and… hovering tall, I turned to Reimu and gave her a signal to start. Nodding back, her expression stiffened.
"THREE HITS! THREE CARDS! 99 SECOND TIME LIMIT!" Isn't that a bit bare bones and boring for an announcement? "3, 2, 1, AND BEGIN!" Here goes nothing.
"Freeze Like English Beef!" Cirno was the first to move. She formed several icicles in a cluster and launched them at me in bulk, and as soon as one cluster was fired, she made another. I'll be honest here, I'm sort of disappointed. For most other normal people, they probably would have frozen… under the pressure and would have just stood in place to get hit. Months of fighting for my life however have made this seem, quaint. I moved to my sides about as fast as Cirno kept throwing the icicles. This is almost too eas-
*Pichun!* "FIRST HIT!"
"What? Where did I get hit?" I said to myself in a slight panic. I checked my body and noticed that my hand was in slight pain. Damn, so even that counts as a hit? Normally, that wouldn't be anything in Tartarus. Crap. This is bad. It's only just started, and I'm down one to nothing.
"Hah! Got you!" Cocky little thing isn't she? Then again I was the cocky one. You'd think that months of getting my ass nearly handed to me on a regular basis in a tower of death would keep me humble. I have to take this more seriously. What are my options? I looked at the three cards that I was holding; might as well. I held up one of the cards. This better work or else I'm screwed.
"Boundary of Life and Death!" I shouted out the name of Yukari's card. Once I did, the card began to glow and intensify over time. Once the glow reached a peak, in a mere second, bullets of energy began to spew forth in a circular pattern.
"Easy!" The fairy shouted in full confidence as she flew and weaved between the bullets. Damn it. They're missing.
"Woah!" I yelped in surprise when all of a sudden, another set of bullets bigger than the first layered itself on top of the preexisting set. Then another set, this time being big circular red orbs, then another layer of bullets, then another set of yellow orbs, then blue, then more, then more, then more… holy crap.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" My opponent seemed to share my sentiments. Bullets, orbs of energy, big red ones, and medium blue ones, small arrow like ones, big white ones; every which way these bullets flew out to try and hit the now desperate fairy. It was a literal curtain of death that rained non-stop on the poor girl. Unfortunately I'd say you'd have an easier time trying to dodge water molecules in the ocean.
*Pichun!* "First Hit" Reimu yelled, as the fairy was hit just in time for the card to run its course. She was pretty good for dodging it almost the whole way through. Still dazed from the hit, she floated in the air just above the ground for a few moments before shaking herself and righting her posture. Glaring at me she then opened her mouth.
"Grr! I'm not done yet!" She snarled at me. She had two more hits left. It was one for one. Still, better write it off as luck for now. I had no idea what that card was going to do, but if the two other cards are anything like that, then I might stand a good chance. "Icicle Fall ~easy~!" Okay her first card. Icicles began to form and fan out to her sides before flying towards me. All of them one by one were closing in and fast.
Dammit. This is nothing like getting hit with just a bufudyne. That was one spell. This however was something else. Like my card, there were many bullets (of ice) being fired at me, though not as many. There has to be an opening, like how she dodged my card. Where is it? I can't see it. There are too many every which way. I can't see a way out of this. Looks like this is it.
"In front of her!" Huh? Sanae? For a moment I thought I heard Sanae yell 'in front of her', but what could that… wait. There!
"Huh!?" went the surprise fairy as I ran up to her, slipping past the icicles, until I stood right in front of her. The icicles may have formed and fanned out but they were angled in a way that left a huge, glaring opening: right in front of her. The fairy began to panic as I wound up my fist to get in my second shot. However, before I could, Cirno flew away in a heartbeat high into the air, ending her card in the process. "Hey! What are you? Stupid? Who runs into it like that?" She asked me.
"Aren't you the idiot for leaving that there?" Something like that would leave you to be shadow fodder.
"EYE'M! NOT! STUPID!" she matched her tantrum with an equally furious set of ice shots, one after the other, though nowhere near as harrowing as her card. The girl truly lived up to her title as Ice Fairy. As it was, the volleys she was unleashing now, I could easily dodge, as they were wild and unfocused. I could dodge these for some time. However, there is one glaring problem. I can dodge all these bullets, but I have no way of counterattacking. Unlike before when she was hovering just a couple of feet off the ground, she was now several dozens of meters in the air. "Hah! Can't get me!"
Wish she wasn't right. I have no reliable way of ending this. I don't know what these other two cards are going to do and I can't make bullets like she can. I can't keep this up forever. Even with Orpheus' Agility being at the limit, I don't exactly have super human stamina. Even I still could get tired if enough time has passed. Come on, I need a lucky break…huh?
As my gaze followed another icicle to in front of my face, I saw at the ground beneath Cirno, a glimpse of something… something I've seen before. It was a dark hole with ribbons tied at its ends. Where have I… It was a gap! But what was it doing there? As I dodged yet another volley of icicles, a phrase that was just said to me popped in my head.
'I told you that I wouldn't let you come to harm, and I meant every word of it. Don't hesitate, and show them who you truly are.'
I looked back at Cirno who was preparing more and more icicles to launch at me. I can't keep doing this. I need a game changer, and whatever was in that gap, she wanted me to find. Fine. I'll go.
"ARRAH! That's it! ICICLE FALL~" Perfect. "Normal~!" Huh? Normal? Dammit, I don't have time to figure out what that could mean. Once she shouted the name, the exact same curtain of ice bullets began to home in on me like last time. I decided to just run for the gap that was beneath the ice fairy. As I got closer and closer, icicles hit the ground mere decimeters behind me. The sound of shattering ice and the cold that followed were closing in. Any stop for rest would result in taking a hit. Almost there, I thought as I reached my hand out to grab whatever was inside the gap. As soon as I reached it-
"Gotcha!" I looked up to see Cirno right above me and 5 orbs of energy making their way towards me.
"Crap!" My hand was still in the gap. I can't get out the way in time.
*Pichun!*"Second Hit!"
"Hah! Who's the idiot now?" Taunted the Ice fairy who was sounding very confident again. I'd wager that all she could see, and all anyone could see, was the dust kicked up by the shots that didn't hit me. All they would be able to perceive from me would be my voice.
"I'll admit, you got me. That was a pretty good surprise." I huffed out, a bit ragged from the hit.
"Yeah! It was really good!" Cirno said in a manner unbefitting a battlefield.
"I've only got one hit left and not many options to use." My mind then flashed to a scene that took place in a velvet elevator once.
'Nothing is outside the realm of possibility for you now.' Well if that's the case… perhaps I can force it. I hardened my grip around Yukari's gift. That damn woman couldn't give this to me sooner? Oh well. [Change] It's time to get started.
The dust was beginning to settle down, visibility for both inside the cloud, and out was returning to normal. As it did, my form was slowly revealed bit by bit. Once all the dust had settled, all of them could see me… holding a 'gun' to my own head. As realization began to fall upon the audience, I could see that most of them were curious, having most likely never seen a gun before. Some seemed to blanch however at my image, of which included a bunny girl. I then caught a glimpse of one person's reaction, Sanae's. She looked surprised, unnerved and frightened; enough so to be completely stuck in place… sorry Sanae. I refocused my attention on my opponent. I could see that Cirno would be counted among the ones who don't know what a gun is.
"Eye don't know what that is, but it's not going to help!" She declared indignantly.
"Well then let's see just how much help it is then." I made my reply. I began to feel a cold sensation running through me. A dread of death began to fill me as it did many hundreds, thousands of times before. This feeling only meant one thing. Time seemed to stand still and even Cirno was quiet. In response to this, my voice slipped three syllables out
"Per…so…na…" *BANG*The gunshot echoed throughout the shrine. The force of the shot caused my head to snap away from the muzzle. On the other side of my head, a ghostly flame erupted to the sound of broken glass, which matched the flames that sprouted at me feet.
These sights however, were trivial compared to what everyone was staring at now. Behind me, the persona, Metatron, sprang forth from my soul and manifested itself in an unearthly glow. Metatron: the voice of god. His Image was that of an angel but his body was mechanical; robotic. My opponent seemed to be bedazzled by the sight. Now's my chance to strike.
"Fantasy Seal!" I held the card out to fire off a series of bright rainbow spheres that careened towards Cirno. The fairy quickly whipped herself out of her wonderment to fly in a panicked state away from the orbs. Now one more… "Agidyne!" I commanded Metatron to fire an intense explosion of flame at the now distracted Ice fairy. Even if it only grazed her, the intense heat would still cripple her. I thought that even if one of the attacks missed, I'd still hit with the other. I didn't expect what happened next.
Still holding Fantasy Seal's card in my hand, the paper card began to glow even brighter than it had when I first activated it. It was bright enough that it was blinding. Metatron at that moment fired off the Agidyne that he was preparing. Instead of just making an explosion at Cirno's location like I thought it would, the spell manifested itself around the orbs that were still flying and engulfed them in flames. Now the Giant orbs of light were big meteors of fire. They were now flying faster than before and exuded an intense heat that could be felt even here on the ground, several dozens of meters away from the orbs themselves. Ice Fairy extra crispy, coming right up.
The fairy now was terribly frightened by what I could only imagine would be a nightmare for her. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't keep pace with the approaching attack and-
*Pichun!* "Second Hit!" –yeah. The girl fell to the ground looking like a burned charcoal and was trying to right herself after having fallen on her face. The spell card duels make all of these attacks non-lethal, but that still had to hurt. As she was getting up, I looked to see that the card's lumens had fallen back to normal levels. I saw that the image of the card had changed somewhat. Before, the card had several glowing orbs of ambiguous light, but now the orbs were unmistakably made of fire, but still rainbow colored. At the top, the name now read-
"Fantasy Agidyne…" I said to myself.
"Arrah! I'm not finished yet!" I looked up to find that Cirno was back in the air, and super pissed off. "That's it! Snow sign ~ Diamond Blizzard~!" She yelled from the top of her lungs. Several icicles, the most she's generated yet, began to fall like hail in a blizzard; just as hard, just as fast.
"Sorry, but that's not going to do a thing" The icicles and bullets all fell one by one, but none were making the *pichun* sound effect. Her spell card was still going on but despite the apparent uselessness, she continued on. Before, I wasn't sure whether or not my persona's resistances were going to work here, so I tried to dodge as best I could just to be safe, but since I was able to summon Metatron, I thought it probably would work. One of the rules after all was that it had to be a clean hit that would actually do some damage. Metatron has null-ice.
Her card was still going strong however, but I'm going to use this time to think. What in the world happened just then? I first fired off the spell card and then used my persona. Next, the two seemed to fuse into one. The card then changed into a more powerful version using both the card and my persona's move. Wait… fuse… fusion raid. I don't remember being able to apply it like this, but then again, I haven't experimented with my new powers over the Universe arcana since I got here.
I looked back at Cirno, who was cutely trying her hardest to get a hit on me, but failing miserably thanks to me nullifying all of her attacks. I then turned my gaze to my last spell card. I need to hit her just one more time…. I also need to know more about what I can do. I think I have an idea. I can't use anything too powerful, but it will let me see just what might happen. Soon enough, the time limit of 99 seconds for the card was coming and just like that, all of the bullets of ice melted instantly the moment the time hit 0. Cirno was now breathing heavily from overexertion but still trying to charge up for one more attack. Now it's my turn. [Change]
"Alice!" I yelled as I fired another shot at my head. What manifested this time was a young Caucasian girl who was blonde and wore a simple purple formal dress. She is one of my deadliest personas. I soon held up my last spell card and yelled its name, "Master Spark!" after so I yelled out the attack I wanted to use, "Megido!" The card then began to glow just like the one before. This time however, I kept my eyes open to see that the card's image was morphing and the name blurring before finally the name solidified and the card changed. This is going to be good.
Alice began to form the energies that comprised the almighty spell. At the same time, the spell card absorbed said energy along with whatever else it was absorbing, which caused the already collected energy to become violent and volatile. Cirno finally managed to catch her breath, only to have it taken away again by the sight of what I was about to unleash. Almost, ready…3…2…1…FIRE!
"MEGIDO SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!"
"WAAH!" Cirno yelped as she saw a huge f-you laser of bluish white light and various other colors coming towards her. Problem is-
"HAH!" she dodged the laser... dammit. All that build up, only for it to miss. I was banking on this winning the duel. I won't be able to change back to Metatron before she gets another shot off, and I'm tired from not having done this in so long. Soon the laser faded from my card. There is no way I can win now. "Victory is mine!" she yelled, but before she could gloat any further, she turned around.
Behind Cirno, I saw a bright, massive sphere of bluish white light and rainbow colors. It was huge and was the size of… well it was simply ridiculous in size. The sphere seemed to hover for a few moments, but then suddenly began to fly towards Cirno. I looked down to see that my card was still glowing. That sphere in the sky was my card! When Cirno realized what was happening, she then zipped as fast as she could to get away. This meant that she flew downwards towards the ground with the orb falling behind her! That Idiot!
"OH CRAP!" I yelled, as I too realized what was happening. Everyone was in a state of panic and began to flee from the shrine; pure chaos. I couldn't get hurt by my own card right? Damn it. I can't move. I haven't done anything like this in so long that I exhausted myself in the excitement. At some point, I had lost sight of the poor fairy, because all I could see was an approaching doom. Dammit, Dammit, Dammit, Dammit, Dammit, Dammit, Dammit, Dammit! Slowly, but surely, the Megido Spark bomb fell onto the ground. My world was filled with bright, white light, and then with pitch black darkness.
Break
"Welcome to the Velvet Room." The phrase woke me from my unconsciousness and I could that I was inside the Velvet Room. Just as Igor had said last time, the room had changed since my last visit. The plain room that had replaced the elevator was now an open room. No, it was glass. All the walls were made of glass which was lined with velvet borders and divisions. Above was a literal blue moon which shone velvet light. It was also unusually large. To my left I could see that behind that pane of glass was an expansive plain of Japanese wilderness that seemed to stretch forever. To my right was a dark purple city, modern as could be, but looked almost, homely. Other than this, the room itself was just as furnished as before; nothing else was added.
"Do not be alarmed. You are fast asleep in the world you currently reside in… I have summoned you within your dreams. " I looked back at Igor to see that beside him, standing where Elizabeth used to stand was a man in a stewards outfit. "I have called you here to inform you that our services are ready to receive you." I am tired. "As I have said before, this room is a reflection of your destiny. As before, I will provide for you my service of fusions. My other assistant here, Theodore, will be in charge of your compendium, seeing as Elizabeth is currently preoccupied."
"I'm pleased to meet you." I nodded to Theodore in response. "As the master has said, I will be in charge of the compendium. The rules are still the same. You will need to exchange something in order to re-summon your old personas. However given your current situation, I am perfectly fine bartering trades with items along with monetary exchange. " That's good to hear. I don't think they have part time jobs with minimum wage here in Gensokyo.
"Now with that concluded. Do you have any questions?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he did.
"I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but why are you doing this if there is no contract?" It's been bothering me.
"Hmmmm, I suppose it is a sense of loyalty. Though regardless of the happenstance, you are still, in my eyes, a guest. Is that all?"
"Thank you, Igor." It means a lot to me to know that I still have an ally in him. That and I actually have a lot of fusions I haven't done yet.
"Well then, with that said, our business here is finished as well. How will you face your new destiny? What will you sacrifice and what will it be for? I look forward to your answers. Ah but I have kept you here for too long. So, until we meet again, farewell." As soon as he finished speaking, my consciousness returned back to darkness.
Break
My eyes fluttered open to find that I was lying down in a futon. The room was bright which indicated that it was still day. Slowly, I raised myself to a sitting position in order to get a better look at my surroundings. I found that the room I was in was small but cozy, though it looked unkempt and a bit shanty. There were two doors on either side of the room for some reason. After getting a feel for my surroundings, I got up and began putting on my shoes that had at some point been removed. Where was I? How did I get here? What exactly happened? Questions like these wafted themselves through my mind.
*Clack* went one of the doors as it opened. Behind it was, of all people, Sanae and Youmu…and Myon.
"Um…hey?" This was a surprise.
"Minato-kun! Um…uh…you shouldn't be up so soon." Sanae told me.
"You used up a lot of your energy in that spell card duel. You should rest more." Youmu then added as she and Sanae walked up to me.
"Thanks, but I'm okay." I really did feel fine.
"W-well you shouldn't push it! Come on!" Sanae then dragged me back to the futon as Youmu lifted the covers. Once the two had placed me back in (sans shoes), Sanae said, "There, now just stay there and rest," with Youmu nodding shortly after.
"I'll go inform the others that he is awake now."
"Yes, please do." Youmu did as she said and walked out with Myon in tow, leaving only Sanae and me in the room. Youmu also took the normalcy of the situation and left awkwardness in its place. Silence just sat between Sanae and me until she finally broke the silence.
"Congratulations on winning the duel."
"Thanks, I almost forgot about it." Right it was with a fairy… Silence then returned as I didn't know how to follow up on what I said. We sat there for another moment when she then said-
"You really are Minato-kun, aren't you?" I turned towards Sanae who, while a bit downcast, held a hopeful gaze. She probably found it just as surreal as I did to find a long lost friend in a place where things that are forgotten go to.
"The one and only, Sanae-chan…" The constant bouts of silence reminded me of how our friendship was like at the beginning. Only this was more awkward if one could believe that. I guess there's nothing to do but make conversation. "So how long had I been out?"
"About four hours. Right now I think it's about 3-ish. After the duel ended, we brought you into the Hakurei shrine to rest."
"What about Cirno?"
"The fairy?"
"Yeah, is she okay?" I did blast her to kingdom come after all.
"…she is… she just ran back home as she always does when things like this happen."
"So she's fine then?"
"Yeah, though I'm surprised that you care so much about an idiot that challenged you to a fight."
"Bad habit. Messiah complex I developed at some point. It can be a real pain sometimes." It got me killed too.
*Giggle* that laugh always helped to put me at ease at times. "You really are Minato-kun. You really are here. It's not a dream." Sanae now looked several times more relieved now than when I first woke up.
"I already said that."
"Yeah… so how did you get here? How long have you been in Gensokyo? Where are you staying? Is there anything you need help with? Are you doing well enough? What's been going on in the outside world?" Whoa, question overload. She then became what I called 'Hyper Sanae': rare, but there on occasion when she is particularly excited, like that time she talked about Nuclear fusion.
"I thought I was supposed to rest." I could hear a really big pang go off in Sanae's head.
"Oh! I'm sorry…" she was gloomy again. "It's just that I'm so happy to see you again… really happy. I missed you, a lot."
"I missed you too." It was a good surprise to see her again. I got to keep that promise. Probably one the only promises I made that I thought I could keep but in the end couldn't. There were other promises I made… sorry Yukari… but this one I had a lot of regrets about. Come to think of it, I can fulfill those other promises now too.
"I'm happy to hear that." You know, Sanae is a lot shyer than I remember her being… oh wait. She was now looking away from me. Even so I could feel that something was off with her. Something was bothering her.
"Are you okay?" Her face was very flushed. I began to get up to check but she then said-
"I'm fine! You don't have to get up." She then pushed me back onto the futon. Before she could get up however-
"Oh this is so adorable." Sanae and I both whipped our heads to find Yukari sitting in her gap, staring at us.
"Do you ever knock?" I need to know if you do or don't.
"Oh I heard the news of your recovery and decided to see it a little sooner than everyone else. Though, perhaps I should delay them. I don't think you would want to be interrupted here now would you?" she giggled right after. Sanae and I then looked back at each other and realized that, she was currently on top of me. She quickly snapped away from me, now redder than my armband. I guess I'll be the one to diffuse this.
"Whatever." Always works.
"Aww, do you have to be so nonchalant? I think you may have hurt Sanae's feelings."
"Whatever." Second times the charm, they always say. Though I hope I haven't.
"Hmph," she snorted in a mock hurt tone. "Well anyways, I wanted tell you how proud of you I am. You handled yourself quite nicely. In fact you surpassed all of my expectations, and more." That's quite nice of her. "Just don't let it get to your head however. That was just a fairy, the weakest of the weak when it comes to the power scale here in Gensokyo." And down plunges my self-esteem, faster than a meteor towards a neutron star.
"Thanks…oh right." I forgot something. I dug through my pockets and pulled what I was looking for out. "Here, your card, thanks for letting my use it." I began to give the card back to her before she shook her head and pushed the card back towards me.
"Keep it. Now that you're shown yourself to be apt in Spell Card Duels, you're going to be fighting many more from now on."
"Wait…what?" before I could pursue that line of thought however-
*SLAM* the same door opened again, loudly. This time, Reimu, Marisa, Yuyuko, and Youmu… and Myon, were the ones to walk in.
"Well look who's up." Reimu said in a condescending tone as she directed her stare at me. As I looked into those eyes, I could tell one thing: she was pissed. For whatever reason, I couldn't tell you.
"Now, now, go easy on him. He probably doesn't even know what's going on." Yuyuko said as she tried to cool Reimu's unmistakable cold rage. Unfettered by Yuyuko, Reimu walked towards me, each step more daunting than the last. Crap… just what did I do?
"You don't know how much I want to just hit you right now." Reimu said to me in an extremely threatening voice.
"Uh… um… what did I do?" Seriously, what did I do!?
"What did you do? Heh." Damn it. That laugh makes her sound like she is going to snap. She began to walk over to the door on the other side of the room. "What you did-" She then opened the door with all her might to make it slide open instantly "- IS THAT YOU DESTROYED MY SHRINE YOU BASTARD!"
She then stepped to the side of the doors to reveal that the once pristine (ok, not really to be honest) shrine grounds were completely torn up and a massive crater the size of… the Megido Spark Bomb… was in the middle; even the gate which stood proud and tall was but two red painted stumps. I got up from the futon to walk outside and further assess the damage. Once outside, I could see that many of the trees were burned up or uprooted if they hadn't been outright destroyed. The place was also completely devoid of all wildlife like birds or rabbits which then made me realize how creepily silent it was at the moment. Once I fully took in the damage that was outside, I turned to find that the shrine's main building itself was completely wrecked and looked only like a mess of wood and stone. Hilariously enough, the only parts that still stood were a storeroom located quite a bit off, and the room I was sleeping in. I probably would have found this funny had I not been the one who caused it.
"I thought spell card duels were supposed to be non-lethal." I asked as I continued to look at the destruction I apparently caused.
"Yeah! It is. It's just that you can still blow stuff up. Trust me. I should know, ze." Marisa was the one to answer my question. Okay, so it won't kill, but it will still cause massive amounts of property damage. As I continued to look at just how desolate the place had become, Reimu spoke again, this time a little calmer.
"Yukari, Yuyuko, and I have come to an agreement." I turned back to her to hear her more clearly. "To atone for what you've done, you're going to work here in the shrine until I see fit to release you." She seems to have gotten about half of her rage out of her system.
"Um, why is it until you see fit rather than until the shrine is fixed?" I would assume I would be doing a patch job or something.
"That's my job Minato-kun." Yukari interjected. "I'm going to fix the shrine. Don't worry, it'll be ready for you to work in by tomorrow." I don't know why, but I get the feeling she planned all this. You know what? Never mind, who cares?
"Okay… so then tomorrow right? What time?" It is my fault so I guess should just accept it… even though Yukari was the one who made me duel. Just one of these days Yukari; just you wait.
"Hm? Uh… yeah. You're pretty accepting of this. I thought I'd have to beat you up or something to make you work here." Reimu said while being honestly surprised.
"I told you he'd do it without complaint." You did plan this out Yukari… and yeah I probably wouldn't be able to say no even if I tried.
"Well then, no backing out. Tomorrow you work for me!" Reimu's mood had now lightened considerably. Well I need to get on her good side since… oh right the border!
Break
Reimu and Yukari soon left to some other place to talk about the rebuilding of the shrine. Marisa had decided that things had pretty much settled down and decided to just go back home, while saying something about copying. Right now though, Yuyuko, Sanae, me, and Youmu… and Myon, were now standing near the gates.
"Well that was fun but I'm really tired right now, so let's just get going." Yuyuko said with a drowsy look on her face.
"Yes, Yuyuko-sama." Was Youmu's prompt reply. Before the conversation developed any further however-
"Um, Minato-kun. Can I talk to you… alone?" Sanae spoke up. I turned to see that she had an expression likened to begging. She was turned slightly away with her face towards the ground.
"Sure." I do need to talk to her. I turned to Youmu and Yuyuko. Youmu seemed to have… an almost hostile expression on her face, but that might just be me since her face still looks roughly the same as when she is calm. "Um, I'm going to talk to Sanae-chan for a moment. Can you wait for me?"
"Sure, just don't take too long. I want to go home and eat dinner soon." Yeah I want to eat dinner too. I then turned to Youmu.
"Whatever Yuyuko-sama says, I will follow." She is very loyal to Yuyuko.
"Thanks." I turned to Sanae. "Let's go."
"Alright." Sanae followed me and we found a place next to one of the trees that managed to stay intact. Both of us decided to stand under the shade. It would have been more awkward to sit. Then again it was pretty awkward anyways since all we did was stand without any talking. Just what did she want to talk about?
"So what is that you wanted to talk about?" I should just come out and ask.
"Um… uh… well…"
"Well?"
"Sorry, I just don't know where to start." I know the perfect answer.
"How about the beginning?"
"Yeah… I guess that's as good a place as any." I guess she knew too. She smiled and then continued. "I'm really glad to see you again. You always know just what to say; sometimes too well."
"Yeah."
"Succinct as always I see, but onto what I wanted to talk to you about." Her expression darkened again. Oh boy, I think I know what it is she's talking about. "During the duel… your power, I'll ask about it later, but why did you point a gun to your head?" yeah I knew it.
"Um…"
"Do you know how scared I was to see you like that? I thought you were about to commit suicide!"
"Yeah, you see… about tha-"
"Do you know what it's like to see the one you lo-… I mean, your best friend point a gun to their head? And fire it? I thought you were going to die!" So this was what was bothering her. I could answer her question, but she probably wouldn't appreciate it. I probably shouldn't tell her that I died either... not yet anyway. I should be as blunt as possible with my answer.
"I need to do that to use my powers." It's how I've always done it.
"Can't you do it some other way? It's really disturbing to see you commit mock suicide so easily like you were doing during the duel." Wait… do I really need it? Jin, Takaya, and Chidori whom I fought in the past, didn't need an evoker. Granted they were in immense pain, but they aren't of the Universe Arcana. I looked closely at Sanae to find that not just her voice, but also her face was pleading me to do it another way.
"Okay Sanae-chan, I'll try to find another way." There has to be another way. Besides that, what if I somehow lose my evoker? I need to cover that weakness.
"Thank you." She looked more relieved now. "That's all I wanted to ask… besides the obvious, but I think you need to rest first. You always needed your sleep after all." She knows me so well.
"Yeah." Insubstantial, but what else can I say.
"Um…" She proceeded. "I'll try to help you out with your shrine work when I can."
"Don't you have your own shrine to take care of? Speaking of which, how is your shrine doing?"
"It's doing very well right now. Besides, I've come to help out at the Hakurei shrine every now and then before, so this won't be any different." Weird, but okay.
"I'll look forward to working with you then." Sanae then seemed to become flustered and turned away.
"Idiot." She said all of a sudden.
"What did I say?"
"Nothing!"
"So why are you angry?"
"I'm not." She then took in a big breath. "I'm not." More silence filled the air.
"Well if that's it then I better get going." I told her as I began to walk away.
"Yeah… Minato-kun?" I turned back to her.
"What is it?"
"I'm happy we could see each other again."
"You already said that."
"I know. It's just that… I'm so happy." She smiled big and wide. I couldn't help but smile back.
"Me too."
Author's note: Well if anyone does not know who Cirno is, then I should clear up that she is an idiot; plain and simple. One gag surrounding her involves her use of the word 'atai' which means 'I' but can also mean 'eye' if written differently. Quite the Coincidence isn't it? I hope that clears up why I used 'eye' for her instead of 'I' in case you weren't familiar with that gag.
This chapter was a bit weird for me since, fun fact: I actually finished writing this chapter down by hand before I finished chapters 4 and 5, both hand written and typed. So while I was struggling to write a convincing little romance story, made all the harder since I've never had a girlfriend before… ignore that, I already was going ahead and writing the next part of Minato's story. Also there is a queen ant currently on my screen as of this writing. That is also weird. It's gone now so, I digress.
Anyways, this is the first of many battles to come for Minato. Was I able to write a decent battle? I'm going to have to write more so any advice you could give or critiques on the subject is much appreciated. Did you find anything else lacking? Tell me that too.
One other fun fact: Did you know that in the earlier Shin Megami Tensei games that the Almighty element used to be nuclear instead? At least that's what I read once. It would explain the symbol and why the 'Smart Bomb' item in P4 causes almighty damage. Now why would I tell you this?
...well…
Kogasa: SURPRISE!
Well, you heard Kogasa folks! Thanks for reading and don't forget to tell me of any of my literary deficiencies. See you next time. Kogasa will not be there though.
Kogasa: aww.
Bye!
