Over at the Hakurei Shine, resting on a mountain to the eastern border of Gensokyo, guarding the barrier that separates the outside modern world and this paradise, everything seems quiet, as not even the small group of five sparrows that fly by the main building make a sound, save for the flapping of their little wings.
Over the left side of the main shrine rests the hot spring, and although it is currently empty, there is a large keystone; a rock with seals surrounding it, said to have to power to stop earthquakes; toppled on the ground right in front of it.
The ground under the shrine starts to rumble, making the keystone roll over until it plunges in the water, then the rumbling stops.
Rather ironic that a keystone succumbs to an earthquake... I mean, one could say that if this was a natural earth shake, but it's not.
From the living quarters, Reimu's loud shouting causes the ground to rumble once again as she shouts "I told you to leave her alone, you annoyingly thick-headed celestial!"
The ground stops shaking, silence resumes, and just as everything seems to settle down, there is another, more violent rumble, then Tenshi's loud voice echoing all the way to the Bamboo Forest as she shouts "she needs me, you lazy shrine maiden! That is Makai after all!"
Inside the living quarters' living room, the scroll on the right wall has fallen over, the cabinet has a few drawers open, the small table lies upside-down on three of the cushions that surround it, and in the center of said living room, Reimu is finishing the knot on a charmed rope she has tied all around Tenshi, even going between her legs once, making Suzaku, who just stares at the mess from the safety of her perch, question the maiden's intentions.
Reimu dusts her hands after making sure the blue-haired celestial can't move, then looks down at Tenshi next to her feet on her right, then says "now stay put! Rika is MORE than capable of taking care of herself! Besides, I'm not about to let you waltz in there and start a war!"
Tenshi lies on her right, facing away from Reimu and trying to turn her eyes all the way behind her head, just to glare at the shrine maiden.
Unable to do just that, she settles for swaying left and right, until she manages to hop a few inches off the ground, turn around in mid-hop, then land with all the weight of her body on Reimu's toes, making the shrine maiden yelp out and jump away.
Grinning victoriously, Tenshi stares at Reimu as she hovers over the floor, blowing on her own socked feet, then says "I'm not starting a war, stupid! I'm going in there, yank Rika from their disgusting claws, then bringing her back here, posing heroically on your roof while the tengu take profile pictures of my awesomeness!"
Stars fill the celestial's eyes and a drooling smile covers her face as she dreams on, unaware that Reimu has sent a yin-yang orb straight at her face, shattering the celestial's daydream right before her very eyes when it impacts.
The orb falls right off Tenshi's face and rolls away to the right, revealing the tearful frown on her red face, satisfying Reimu to no ends, then the maiden says "have more faith in her! Besides, Shinki isn't about to hurt Rika. She's been visiting her often just to make sure she's alright!"
Tenshi recovers her angry scowl, then shouts "but I'm supposed to protect her!"
Reimu gasps and stares at the celestial with shock and surprise, then asks "wh... what are you talking about?"
Angry tears escape Tenshi's eyes as she says "I vowed to protect Rika, and I will, even if I have to fight you! Now untie me so I can fight you and go to her!"
Reimu stares silently at the determined celestial; she knows no amount of rope is going to stop her, and knows she's stubborn enough to just go hopping over Makai anyway.
Sighing in defeat, Reimu approaches Tenshi, kneels beside her, roughly turns her around, then starts untying the knot, saying "let's go."
Tenshi twitches and tires to turn her surprised face at Reimu, then asks "wh-what? Really?"
Right after being untied, Tenshi kneels in front of Reimu, who says "to tell you the truth, I'm a bit worried about her too, but I'm not letting YOU go alone. I'm coming with you."
Tenshi lifts her left fist and cheers, but she and Reimu turn with surprise toward the left door after they hear it slide open and ask "Rika?" at the same time.
At the center of the City of Makai, Rika stands with her back against the left five-story building she had passed before, accidentally trapping herself between the cement and a whole gathering of angry Makaians, all glaring murderously at her.
Yumeko stands in front and center, with Mai to her right, and Luize and Sara to her left, and behind them all are the rest of the demons of that world, all locking their eyes on the frightened shrine maid.
One of the demons with blonde hair tied to a ponytail, aquamarine eyes, wearing a red sleeveless jacket over a long-sleeved black shirt, a short black skirt that reaches just above her knees, and a pair of thigh-high black boots, points at Rika and shouts "she's a white blood!"
The mob gasps, then Mai jumps in front of the demon and shouts "Lemia, stand back! Keep your distance!"
The large frightening Shinki statue stops spewing that black fire, and as if allowing Rika to absorb some courage from the air, the maid shouts "w-wait, wait! I just come to bring some-"
Yumeko cuts Rika off by shouting "we know why you are here! You want to take your mother away and keep her to yourself! Well, we won't let you!"
The mob cheers after Yumeko's words, then Rika hopelessly shouts "I'm not taking her away, I swear!"
Completely ignoring her, Yumeko gets closer to Rika, points her green glowing orb on her right finger at the maid, and in a dangerously low tone of voice, she says "get the hell out of here before we decide to kill you!"
Rika's eyes meet with Yumeko's, and upon looking at the murderous glow on the Makaian maid's eyes, Rika starts to tremble.
Hoping to appease the situation, Rika raises her violently trembling left hand to show them the basket with the taste-enhanced dumplings, but when it's about chest-high, a man roars "she's attacking!", then a dangerous shower of magical bullets fly straight at the shivering maid.
No matter who the hell you are, if you get hit by a danmaku concentration like that, shot by more than just a few murderous raging demon, you are going to die.
Looking upon this glowing death, Rika thinks "oh no, they fired. I should move, I should move, but I can't! Rika, you have to move! You'll inconvenience miss Reimu!"
Recovering some feeling on her legs, Rika screams and jumps out of the way, dropping the basket on the ground as she rolls away to the right, getting closer to the exit, yet still too far for her trembling limbs to reach in time.
Yumeko raises her right hand to stop her brethren from firing a second volley, then stares straight at Rika.
The shrine maid slowly gets back up on her knees, still not believing she's alive, and when she realizes the basket is no longer in her arm, she frantically looks around her knees until she spots the destroyed basket, and the single remaining glowing meat bun lying on a dirty wet spot on the ground to her left.
She starts to whimper as she reaches for it, hoping to be able to save it, but a short sword suddenly thrusts itself sideways between it and splits it in half, revealing the contents inside and breaking the taste spell, which takes the glow away from the bun.
Yumeko glares at Rika and watches with glee at the evident suffering in the shrine maid's face.
From behind her, Luize gasps and exclaims "so she WAS putting a spell on mom!"
Yumeko turns her head to look at her sister, fire fuels the hatred she's already feeling for Rika, and without thinking straight, she rushes to the shrine maid, bends down, grabs her by the collar of her shirt, pulls her up, then slams her against the wall.
Rika is starting to lose her temper.
She tried reasoning with these fools, but they didn't listen, they destroyed the gift meant as payment for Shinki's kindness these past days, as well as a possibility of opening a friendly relationship with some Makians, that's why she made so many meant buns, but now, her hard work has been destroyed, and worst, they are accusing her falsely, and now has a maid threatening her life.
She reaches for her sword, but Yumeko has already summoned another short sword, and is pointing it straight at Rika's neck, so she has no choice but to stay still.
Glaring murderously into Rika's eyes, Yumeko slowly asks "tell me, maid... why were you charming our mother? What is she to you?"
Rika is angry, and all she wants is to show this blond maid a thing or two about respect, but she knows damn well that's going to cost her more than her life.
She takes a deep breath, and trying to sound as calm as possible, she says "those were a gift! The spell was a taste spell! I'm not charming anyone!"
High above in the sky, flying several feet away from the awful statue, Shinki holds on to the unconscious Yuki by her waist, and watches in shock and horror at the events that unfold before her very eyes.
She watches how Yumeko holds on to Rika, threatening to kill her with one of her short swords, but she's unable to react, unable to believe what she is seeing.
Back down on the ground, Yumeko fights back with her desire to kill the one she believes is taking her mother away through force; she knows the second her sword pierces through that pale neck, there is no going back.
She calls back her weapon, making it disappear in a mist, lifts Rika above her own head, and with a hate-filled roar, she throws Rika toward the opening between the two buildings, opening her path to freedom.
Sounding furious, Yumeko roars "get the hell out of here! Leave us, and NEVER come back!"
Mai approaches Yumeko, readies a snowflake that looks like a giant saw, then says "lady Shinki doesn't belong to you! You don't even the RIGHT to look at her!"
Sara stands to Yumeko's right, stances as though ready to fight, then asks "how can a disgrace like you even dare try to take our mother away? Piss off before we vaporize you!"
Those last words hit Rika the hardest for some reason.
She gets up from the ground with her mouth corners bending down hard, even when her mouth is slightly open.
The light in her eyes vanishes, and is replaced by a gloomy murky cloud that seems to blind her with unbearable sadness, the skin around her face turns yellow for a moment, before losing all its color, and her heart, it beats so slowly and hard, each beat feels as though she's pumping poison through her veins.
That face; Shinki knows that face, this fact evident upon the look of horror on her own face after she gasps loudly at the sight.
That face of deep sadness on the verge of breaking a spirit; Rika's kind spirit.
Unable to take more, Shinki dives straight toward Yumeko, Mai, Luize and Sara, shouting "Yumeko, Mai, my children, what do you think you are doing? Stop this very instant!"
Yumeko looks back at Shinki with a look of pity, then points at her and shouts "she's still under the spell, stop her!"
Rika watches horrorstruck as Shinki's own subjects, her children, jump all over the goddess to stop her from getting close to her.
Guilt creeps into her heart when she realizes she is the cause of this, so being the kind soul that she is, she swallows her own sadness, bows politely at Yumeko, and the moment she recovers her voice, she says "I-I'm sorry for everything."
Rika takes another look at Shinki, noticing the unconscious black witch on her hands, then Shinki looks back at Rika and desperately shouts "wait, it's not what you think! Yumeko, my children, stop this already!"
Rika can feel warmth return to her limbs after seeing the act of kindness from the goddess, forgiving the shrine maid for causing such unrest amongst the Makaians and their goddess and mother; when in reality, she is completely wrong about that fact.
Rika bows one more time, takes to steps backward, straightens up, turns around, then flies toward the city's exit.
Shinki notices a glint falling to the ground in front of Rika, and rapidly thinks "they made her cry. But why? What happened? She... she didn't attack them, she..."
That's when all the answers come rushing to her.
The strange gift, the overwhelming longing for their mother's presence, the absurd claims, it all clicks together at that very last moment.
Still being held back by various hands, and still holding on to Yuki by her waist, Shinki whispers "you fools."
Meanwhile, Rika is flying so fast, she's already halfway through the fertile forest, completely ignoring the shooting fairies, one-eyed bats and... whatever those green winged eyeballs are.
In her mind, she repeats "gottaleave-gottaleave-gottaleave" over and over, replaying the attack she just survived, the look on Shinki's own face, and her very own feelings, the terrible way she felt when she was called a disgrace.
Even thinking about it pains her greatly, but she's ignoring that pain and focuses on reaching that gate and leaving that place.
Her eyes fill with despair as she gets closer to the gate, she does her best to speed up, using her own energy to push the air behind her feet, but in doing so, she loses control of herself and is about to crash her face on the ark above the large gate itself, but a blurry figure flies up, clings on to Rika, then pulls her down safely into the gate, disappearing like blue flashes through the space-like portal.
Reaching the other side of the gate, Rika falls on her face on a grassy patch after the figure of Koakuma loses her grip on the shrine maid, but feeling the familiar Gensokyo grass on her face does wonders for the maid's heart, immediately feeling soothed and a little more relaxed.
From her right, Koakuma calls "Rika-onee-chan, speak to me!"
From her left, a familiar girly voice asks "Rika-sis, are you, like, alright?"
From the direction of the gate, which is now behind Rika's feet, the maid can hear two struggling girls, one being Reimu, and the other being Tenshi, the latter shouting "no, I'M going in there, alone, and I'M cutting their damned heads off! Dammit, I should have been there before this happened!"
Reimu shouts back "no way in HELL I'm letting you do that alone! I'm going in there too, and I'm taking some skins to make myself a nice Makai-brand Makaian COAT!"
From directly in front of Rika, Youmu calmly says "stop shouting so much, you two. You're scaring her!"
The swordswoman is surprisingly gentle as she lifts Rika's shoulders from the ground and gently turns her around, placing the maid's head on her own lap.
Rika can finally see all present, and the sight helps her heart soothe even more.
Koakuma, Reimu and Tenshi are to her right, Reimu and Tenshi closer to her feet, apparently giving up their plan to storm Makai.
To her left are two more of her little sisters, Hatate Himekaidou, and Kogasa Tatara.
Hatate wears a purple tokin over her long brown hair she makes into two pigtails tied to purple ribbons on each side, has brown eyes, and wears a white short-puffy-sleeved shirt with a black tie, a black ribbon on her left arm, a black and purple checkered short skirt, and long black socks that are cross-laced with burgundy-purple straps that link to her red geta sandals.
Kogasa has short turquoise hair, her left eye is red, her right eye is turquoise, and she wears a turquoise sleeveless vest over a long-sleeved white shirt with puffed shoulders, a light-blue skirt, a pair of white socks, wooden sandals, and always carries around an eggplant-colored umbrella that has one eye and a long large red tongue sticking out of its mouth.
In front of Rika's head is Youmu, who is using her lap as a pillow for Rika's, and one thing all faces share in common, is the looks of concern as they look down on the tired maid.
Kogasa bends down, looking about ready to cry, then says "Rika, don't scare me like that again. We were all so worried!"
All of Rika's friends and little sisters nod at the same time, then Hatate gets closer to Rika, making sure they are making eye-contact, then softly asks "can you sand up, Rika-sis?"
Rika can feel the corner of her lips lightening up, then she smiles at them, nods, then whispers "I-I think I can."
Rika manages to sit up on her own, even whit Youmu telling her "Rika, take it easy. Let me help you out.", then the maid looks around and asks "so... did I get out? A-am I home?"
Though she smiles, Reimu and Tenshi notice a lost and desperate look in Rika's eyes, and Reimu, acting quicker than Tenshi, kneels down next to Rika, places a hand over her shoulder, and while looking at the maid in the eyes, she asks "Rika, what happened? Suzaku fell and was barely able to fly, the devil, the karakasa, and even the ghost and this tengu rushed over the shrine looking for you. What happened in there?"
Rika starts sobbing, her body convulses with each sob, then she looks at Reimu with a smile on her race and tears in her eyes, then cries "my lady, I did something bad... I am terrible."
Tenshi's sword, an ethereal yellow blade, bursts into flames when Rika starts to cry, then shouts "I'm going to kill those damned-" but before she finishes her sentence, Reimu throws an amulet on her mouth to shut her up.
All the present girls glare at Tenshi, then return their sights to Rika, who starts crying uncontrollably, saying through her cracking voice "it's all my fault. I took their mother away, and I made her cry for me, and..."
Koakuma knocks Reimu right out of the way, giving Rika a quick hug while saying "no, it's not your fault! You are a good person, even if you are white blooded!"
Rika is unable to speak anymore, but just as well.
Koakuma's hug is literally squeezing all her sobs and tears right out of here, preventing her from being able to speak any more, and shortly after, Youmu, Hatate and Kogasa join in for a light group hug while Rika cries away.
Meanwhile, Reimu rips the amulet from Tenshi's mouth, and after a small complaint from the celestial, they walk over to the space-like gate, stare at it, look at each other, sharing determined glances and adding courage to each other, then the gate turns red, a disturbing whoohing sound similar to a large man's furious groan, echoes through the immediate area of the small forest, then the gate itself starts to ripple so violently, it looks like a stormy beach.
The girls back away, startled as the sudden development, then Reimu says "whatever happened in there, Shinki was not part of it..."
Tenshi looks at Reimu with disbelief and asks "and how do you know?"
Reimu sighs, then says "right now, this gate is telling us that she is beside herself with anger... and these ripples..."
Reimu pauses for a moment, closes her eyes, then says "there's probably a storm at the other side of this gate. It's suicide to go inside right now."
Tenshi frowns at Reimu and shouts "but I want retribution! They made Rika cry, and I'll make them pay with their BLOOD!"
Reimu stares calmly, yet sternly at the celestial, then turns her sight back to the gate, then says "she's taking care of that already. Whatever happened in there, miss vengeful celestial, was out of Shinki's control, and now... she's raising hell inside hell."
Moments earlier, at the City of Makai's center, Shinki tries to pull herself and Yuki free from the Makaian's grip, she still feels Rika's presence in Makai, so she can fly over, catch up, apologize, then deal with her jealous children later, but she can't break free, not without leaving Yuki behind.
While Shinki tries to break free, Yumeko, Mai, Luize and Sara push her back, while the other demons pull, then Yumeko grunts "no, mom, stop! You're just under a spell! It's a spell!"
Flapping her wings to push her mother's arm, Mai grunts "mom, take it easy! We're only trying to save you!"
Luize clings on to the goddess' legs with all her strength, and after taking a sudden breath of air, she shouts "she's not even your one of your children! WE are your children! Us, not her!"
Upon hearing those words, Shinki stops struggling.
She takes a few breaths of air, then starts looking around with sad and seemingly tired eyes.
Taking her breath back, Sara manages to say "I think she understands. Lady Shinki, please understand, we just want to save you from her."
Yumeko releases her mother's shoulders, then sighs and says "mom, let us help you. Once we break that spell, you'll be back to normal. Now forget that girl. She doesn't even belong here."
Shinki twitches at the sound of those cold words, and right after she feels Rika's presence disappear from Makai, she starts to tremble, dark cloud start gathering up on the sky, and freezing winds start blowing through the city.
Yumeko is the first to notice the very sudden and drastic change in their weather, and immediately knows something is not right with Shinki.
She hugs herself, shivers from the cold, then says "mom, please understand, that girl is dangerous for you. W-we just wanted to..."
Shinki's eyes are cold and distant, and all she does is stare straight toward the city's northern exit, and noticing this, Yumeko wisely keeps quiet.
From the crowd behind Shinki, a raspy boy's voice loudly asks "mom, what's wrong? Aren't you happy that we saved you?"
Yuki starts to moan on Shiki's arm, and unconsciously says "uuh, mom... Mai hit me on the head again. Can... I get some strawberries?"
Shinki's eyes coldly move to Yuki around her arm, and in a cold tone of voice, devoid of any kind of emotion, Shinki asks "Mai, did you knock your sister over the head again?"
All the Makaians know this tone, and all cower away with widely opened eyes, shivering limbs and wings, and some even start to sob, pleading "mom, please don't be mad at me."
Mai gulps, her left wing twitches, then she pokes her index fingers together and softly says "um... y-yeah. I, uh... that is, I mean... she-she was..."
Shinki's cold stare turns to the disgusting large statue of herself, the cold gusts start getting stronger and stronger, then, deafening thunder strikes over the city so strongly, all the buildings, including the small houses over the suburbs rattle violently.
The Makaians all run around, screaming with fear and crying for their mother's forgiveness, but all their pleas fall on deaf ears.
Shinki continues staring at the statue, then a yellow bolt of lightning strikes the top of its head, making the flamethrower tip explode, and turning the statue itself into a conduit for more lightning bolts that continue to strike it, sending painful sparks all around the city, shocking all of her children with tiny bolts of pure electricity, making them all run and hide inside the many buildings.
The wind now blows with the strength of a storm, snow starts falling violently, thunder rumbles all over Makai, tornadoes form all around the city, plucking all the leaves and fruits right out of the trees outside the city, but she manages to control herself enough to keep the winds from ripping the trees out of their roots.
Amongst the chaos, Yumeko is the only Makaian left standing out in the open, and trying to reason with her mother, shouting "mom, please clam down! You don't have to do this!"
Yumeko lets out a whimpering gasp when Shinki shoots one of her most angry glares straight at the maid, a glare meant for enemies of Makai, not their children.
Tears fill the blonde maid's now empty eyes as she drops on her knees, then Mai rushes over to pick her sister up and drag her to the nearest building available, ironically, that being the very save building they used to corner Rika.
Yumeko wishes for nothing more than to go to her mother, to calm her down, but Shinki doesn't even want to look at her anymore, so the goddess turns around, accommodates Yuki on her arms so she's more comfortable, then takes off to the air, completely unaffected by the hurricane winds, the snow, or the lightning.
From the sky, Shinki can see the large lake has dried up completely, and all the creatures in there lie on the bottom, unable to move or die.
The fires of Hokkai can be seen clearly from the distance, rising hundreds of feet into the air, and the barren wasteland next to the city has become a cold deathtrap of sharp icicles on the ground, mountains, rocks, or anything that could normally be used for support or shelter.
Shinki's rage is evident, but having learned from the past, the goddess makes sure her rage doesn't destroy her world a second time, just punish her jealous children as harshly as she can.
It's one hour past mid-day in Gensokyo, and at the Hakurei Shrine's living quarters, Rika lies on the floor with her head on Reimu's lap, Tenshi kneeling to her right and holding on to her right hand, Hatate and Kogasa sitting by the small table with empty cups of tea and plates in front of them, Suzaku nesting on her left side, and Koakuma and Youmu standing by the closed sliding doors that exit to the left of the shrine.
Through tears, sobs and a cracking voice, Rika told them everything that had happened while inside Makai, blaming herself for all that happened, even with the girls constantly reminding her that she didn't do a thing wrong.
Tenshi seems calm, but the way she looks at Rika, and the way she holds the maid's hand lets Reimu know she's clearly blaming herself for not being there, so out of concern, Reimu says "it's not your fault, Tenshi."
Tenshi gasps and tenses up, then looks at Reimu and loudly says "I should have been there! Dammit, who do those demons think they are, picking on her like that? She doesn't deserve this shit, Reimu!"
Reimu growls softly, then angrily replies "well, shouting your head off won't do her any better, and neither will getting angry over it!"
Tenshi opens her mouth to argue further with the shrine maiden, particularly to blow off some steam, but Rika gently squeezes Tenshi's hand, narrowly opens her eyes, then smiles and whispers "Tenshi is so good to me. It's alright, don't feel bad for me, please. And don't be angry at them. They were just protecting their... *yawn* mother..."
Rika falls back to sleep, just as Suzaku lets out a quick squawk and raises her head to take a look.
She sees her master sleeping like an angel, but what she feels is a kind soul being tormented by a haunting nightmare.
From the shrine's door, Youmu says "please miss Reimu, take good care of her."
From Youmu's right, Koakuma beats her own chest with her left hand, and with determination in her eyes, she says "call me if Rika-onee-chan needs me! I don't care how, when, or where, you let me know if onee-chan needs my help!"
Reimu nods, then calmly says "She will be just fine. Just go before either one of your masters come get you."
Youmu gasps with surprise, while Koakuma just lowers her head wings and pouts, then they both bow to the maiden, Youmu turns around and opens the farthest-right sliding door a bit, and after both girls are out, the door closes up again just as Rika whispers in her sleep "my sisters..."
Over at Makai, the usual always-somewhat-sunny skies are full of black clouds that come with a life-threatening storm that mixes hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, rain, thunder and lightning, all packed together at once, though each area of Makai is still being affected differently.
One thing all affected areas have in common are the hurricane winds, and been tossed around against her will in said winds, a blonde-haired, green-eyed girl with cool fashion sense is spinning around several feet in the air above the city.
Parsee screams with all her might "someone help meeee~!", but even if someone wanted to help her, there is no way anybody can catch her without getting trapped by the raging winds.
Luck finally falls on the jealousy youkai, and in a brief moment the winds subside, she manages to push herself lower, but her luck runs out quickly, and the winds pick up, slamming her back against the terrifying large statue of Shinki; more precisely, she crashes her back against the pipe on the top-left wing-tip.
She manages to grab on, but her sore back is not helping improve her mood.
She glares at the exhaust pipe, snarls, stands up on the wing, ignoring the furious wings, then kicks the pipe with all her might, bending it as she shouts "who put this ugly stupid statue here! Now my beautiful back HURTS!"
Right after that epic rage-kick, the wind picks up again, and Parsee is sent flying away high into the sky.
Deafening thunder strikes hard, almost leaving the jealousy youkai deaf, then she glares up at the clouds and angrily shouts "so what if I was making them even more jealous! It's not my fault they did that!"
There is another loud roar of thunder, accompanied by a bolt of yellow lightning that flies close to the youkai, and after shrieking, Parsee glares at the sky again and shouts "hey, I'm not a bad person, I can help out if I wanted to, so just stop BLOWING me around and let me go home!"
Three deafening thunder-strikes accompanied by one massive bolt of blue lightning strike one-after-another, then Parsee shouts "oh, so you LIKE tormenting cute girls, huh! I'll show you!"
Far away from Parsee, and only a few yards away from Pandemonium's gates, Yumeko braves the storm and makes her way back to the large palace, having tied a large rock to her back in order to keep herself from blowing away with the wind, like that blonde youkai over at the distance.
As the maid makes her way home, she quickly realizes the usually light-blue crystal palace looks pitch black, almost invisible in the darkness that is currently enveloping Makai.
Her will is strong, but after seeing the state of the palace, she starts to hesitate.
She stops for a moment and considers letting herself go, but that look on Shinki's face; she wants nothing more than to forget that moment, but she can; it's forever burned in her memory, reminding her of her own foolishness.
She squints her eyes and covers her face with her forearms when the wind suddenly picks up, then pushes forth, thinking "I can't stop now. I need to talk to her, I have to know! That girl is an outsider, not even one of us, yet she loves her more than she does us!"
Something in the back of her mind seems to pick on her, then, as though arguing with herself, she angrily thinks "Alice is different! She came here as a human child, and lived with us as one of us! That Rika came out of nowhere! It's not fair!"
She finally reaches the palace's gates, unties the rope around her waist and knocks the stone off her back, which immediately takes flight after bouncing off the ground once, then Yumeko enters through the gates and closes them up as fast as she can, so the winds outside don't get the chance to pick her off like they did the rock.
Over at the Hakurei Shrine in Gensokyo, Alice, followed by Shanghai and Hourai, flies hastily toward the shrine, lands on the left side of the porch, opens the sliding door, then places her surprised eyes on Rika, who sleeps on a futon on the living room's floor, with Tenshi still sitting to her right, and Hatate to her left.
Shanghai and Hourai immediately fly over to the shrine maid, Shanghai exclaiming "Rika! Someone hurt miss Rika!", and Hourai exclaiming "I told you the ghost-girl wasn't lying!"
Alice sighs and lowers her head just slightly, and ignoring the surprised looks from the girls inside, she thinks "dammit, they went too far, even though I told her to take it easy! This is bad."
The puppeteer turns around and says "I need to go talk to mom, before-"
Alice gasps loudly, literally swallowing her whole sentence, when Reimu places a hand on her shoulder and says "don't. You'll be putting yourself in danger if you enter Makai now."
Placing her hand on her hard-beating chest, Alice takes several deep breathes before shouting "don't do that, you assassin maiden! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
Reimu's reply is a point of her finger at Rika back inside, then Alice calms down, lowers her arms, as though pushing her stress down, then says "I'm sorry. You just scared me. But what do you mean put myself in danger? Is Shinki that mad?"
Reimu turns her head to the left, looking at the bit of grass growing next to the stone path around the building, then says "she almost sealed it off again."
Alice twitches in surprise, then looks at Reimu more calmly and says "I see. I warned them not to mess with the maid... the idiots."
Reimu suddenly grips Alice's shoulder, making her wince, and in a low and angry tone of voice, Reimu asks "what do you know about this?"
Alice gasps, the grip of this human is amazing, almost comparing to the level of strength of a youkai, and when Alice finds herself on her knees, she forces herself to say "Reimu, I swear, I didn't think they would attack! Th-they just wanted Shinki to stay home!"
Reimu loosens her grip a bit, and says "why didn't you tell us about this? I wouldn't have let her go into Makai alone if I had know this! Why are you telling me NOW, after THIS happened?"
Reimu tightens her grip again, making Alice open her mouth to scream, yet only her breath comes out.
The magician puppeteer tries to reach Reimu's hand with her own left arm, but the pain the maiden is causing her seems to shock her body and paralyzes her on the spot.
The maiden loosens her grip again, allowing Alice to breathe and shout "I swear, if I had known something like this would happen... hah... I would have told you!"
From inside the shrine, Shanghai yells "mama! Hey, stop hurting mama, you mean maiden!"
Three orbs, blue, yellow and red, in that order, fly between Reimu and Alice, forcing the maiden to release the puppeteer, who immediately drops on her knees and breathes as though she was being chocked, her hair dangling by her sides while her warm tears drip down her cheeks and on to the wooden porch.
From inside the shrine, Shanghai stands in front Rika's feet, pointing her little right finger at Reimu and frowning furiously at the shrine maiden.
Hourai flies over to Alice and pats her back, asking "mama, what did that mean maiden did to you?"
Tension rises, Reimu is losing her patience, Alice wants to beat Reimu up, Shanghai and Hourai, naturally, want to protect their mother, Tenshi has already picked her sword and is ready to beat both girls up if she has to, and Kogasa and Hatate are ready to protect Rika from these brutes with their lives if they have to.
The air gets so thick with tension, it can probably be cut with a knife, then Rika begins to moan and move around under her sheets, forcing everyone's attention on her.
The shrine maid moans and mumbles in her sleep, then her closed eyes start to tear up as she mumbles "no more. No more. Don't fight. No more. I'll go."
Reimu gulps, rapidly walks over to Rika, and before Hatate or Tenshi can, SHE gets between them and holds Rika's head, calming her down and saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Calm down, it's alright. We'll stop."
After a few more seconds of moaning, Rika finally settles down and stops crying.
Alice stands inside the shrine, with the exit behind her wide open in case she needs to make a quick retreat, then says "stops accusing me of nothing and tell me everything you know!"
Hatate straightens up on her knees to Rika's left, looks suspiciously at Alice, then asks "why, so you can help your sisters plan another ambush with more information?"
Alice growls softly, then says "I would NEVER hurt that girl there!"
Tenshi, Kogasa and Hatate all look at Alice with surprise, and feeling the pressure from their stares, Alice says "Shanghai and Hourai love that girl, she fought the darkness inside of her to protect them, and... and if Shanghai says that girl is kind, then I believe her! I want to help!"
Reimu is the only one that seems to look neutrally at Alice at the moment, then suddenly bows her head and says "I'm sorry, I should have... I know, I knew all along and I still..."
Reimu raises her head, she's begging for Alice's forgiveness through her stare, then says "I lost my temper and I am sorry. I know you wouldn't hurt Rika, and if you knew..."
Alice sighs, Shanghai and Hourai fly to their mother's shoulders, Shanghai sits on the left, Hourai on the right, then Alice looks back at Reimu, then says "I will help you, but first you need to tell me what happened."
Even though Rika's sword is resting against the cabinet all the way over the front entrance, it transforms on its own and its hilt-jewel starts glowing an intense and bright blue.
The sleeping Rika cracks a smile, Reimu cracks a second smile, then, after some hesitation form the celestial, Reimu and Tenshi welcome the magician to get closer.
Suzaku, even after all that is happening around her, remains sleeping by her master's side, feeling what Rika is currently feeling, sapping her own joy and taking away the will to get up and contribute more to the conversation.
Meanwhile, over at the dark and stormy Makai, inside the darkened Pandemonium, Yumeko bursts through the door of the small study room, flying with a hurried look on her face through the small corridor, thinking "she's not in the study, she's not in the balcony, and I'm sure as hell she's not in one of the maid's rooms."
She reaches the main corridor that leads to the main hall and thinks "the main hall... she's probably not there, but seeing as I have to go through there anyway... might as well check."
Pandemonium used to be so beautiful, but now looks like a dark castle made for horrid monsters that lurk in the darkness, waiting for any potential prey to get close and devour it.
The floors look like they don't exist, being so dark it looks like an eternal abyss, and the walls seem to have vicious eyes inside of them, glaring back at all that is near.
The maid reaches the large door leading into the main hall, she lands in front of it, straightens herself up, then grabs the knob and immediately feels a cold chill burning her hand, like white-hot fire.
She swallows the pain with a loud gulp, turns the freezing knob, and is buffeted by a ridiculously cold mist that comes from inside the room.
She knows her mother is there, and she's angry; angry enough to punish her severely, even kill her, but Yumeko is not backing down now, so she builds up her courage and enters the room, closing the door behind her.
Inside, the room is so dark, even for Yumeko, she can only see a inch in front of herself, the cold is ridiculous, and could freeze her to death if she's not careful, and now, two glowing pair of blue eyes shine through the darkness, from the direction where the master's chair should be.
Yumeko opens her mouth, but her breath is stolen away by the cold tone of voice that comes from her mother's chair, asking "how dare you even show your face to me after what you did?"
Yumeko forces her own voice back and shouts "mother, I have to know, why do you care for that girl so much? It's not a spell, I understand that now, but if it's not a spell-"
Shinki's eyes start glowing a bit brighter, allowing Yumeko to gaze upon her mother, sitting frighteningly elegantly on her throne with her left hand on one armrest, and the other hand on Yuki's head.
The fire witch sits on her knees and rests her trembling head on Shinki's lap, moaning softly every time her mother brushes the side of her head with her hand.
Shinki takes this chance to show Yumeko the bit of blood on Yuki's golden hair, then angrily asks "what about Yuki? Is she an outsider too? Why did you do that to your own sister?"
Yumeko foolishly raises her voice as she angrily replies "don't change the subject! Yuki's and idiot! She could have done that to herself for all I care!"
The entirety of Makai starts to rumble as Shinki's eyes start glowing blood-red, and with a hateful growl on her voice, which echoes all around Yumeko, disorienting her, Shinki says "do NOT take me for a fool, Yumeko! Keep in mind that my patience with you is as thin as a silk thread. DO NOT test me."
Yumeko no longer knows where she is.
After Shinki's voice finishes rattling inside her head, she realizes she's on the dark floor, and can no longer find her mother's eyes, or hear the wind outside.
All there is now, is her own breath, and the sound of her rapid-beating heart.
She's dying.
That's the only possible explanation she's capable of coming up with at the moment, however, her fears are put to rest when Shinki's voice, sounding just a slight calmer, echoes around her, saying "you are confined to your room until you realize the grievance of your actions."
Two candles inside glass orbs that hang from the walls on the left and right sides of the room suddenly light up, and Yumeko can see the she is inside her room, though it looks a lot smaller than she remembers.
Behind her is her bed, and just four steps away is the door, and even her vanity is gone, replaced by a simple square mirror.
Shinki's echoing voice continues "once you have learned your lesson, and I feel like speaking to you again, you will be released."
Yumeko runs to the door and starts banging her fists on it, and while Shinki's voice echoes around her, she shouts "no! Mom, I don't understand! Mom, I'm sorry! MOOOOOOOMMM!"
Waking up late at the next Gensokyo morning, Rika springs up from her futon, startling Suzaku into a loud squawk and a quick flap of her wings, then gasps and says "oh, no, it's late!"
From the kitchen, Reimu calmly says "well, good morning. Breakfast is already served, so please help yourself."
Rika realizes she's lying on a futon on the center of the living room, and on the small table to HER left, there are plates and bowls with rice, soup, and small dumplings.
The maid blinks twice as the data she's somberly collected sinks into her brain, and while she does, Suzaku gets closer to her master, stares at her chin, rubs her head against Rika's left cheeks, then flies up to her perch.
Tears suddenly fill Rika's eyes, a cute pout claims her face, and when she looks to her right at her mistress in the kitchen, she start to hyperventilate while slowly flapping her little wings.
Reimu, who wears a pink apron over her clothe, a pink cloth over her head, and holding a ladle on her right hand, knows damned well where Rika is going, so in a calm, yet stern tone of voice, she says "Rika, you are eating your breakfast, you are going to enjoy it, you WILL be grateful, and THEN you can go about your chores!"
In a fraction of a second, the maid is already sitting in front of the table with her chopsticks on her right hand, the rice bowl on her left, and her tears completely dried up as she exclaims "eating the food prepared by my lady! What an HONOR! Thank you for this meal!", then begins to chow down.
From the kitchen, Reimu smiles at the sight and thinks "what an incorrigible maid she is, but I'm damned glad she's cheered up a bit."
After finishing her rice bowl, Rika tilts her head right to raise her left ear, and can hear three familiar voices over at the shrine's front courtyard.
Reimu notices her interest, then says "oh that's right. After you are done eating, I want you to go talk to someone. Only then can you start with you chores, if you like."
Rika stares back at her mistress, lightly nods, then resumes eating away, going for the soup next.
Promptly after finishing her meal, Rika immediately heads outside the shrine through the front entrance, and the sounds of a giggling little girl, a chuckling boy, and a scolding girl get a little louder.
Curious, Rika takes a step out, and as she turns around to close the door, Suzaku flies straight to Rika and lands on her shoulder, telepathically saying "please, allow me to come with you."
Rika looks at Suzaku through the corner of her eyes, nods with a smile, then closes the door and heads straight to the shrine's front.
Once she reaches the front, she realizes the voices have stopped, and that the shrine is empty.
Rika looks at Suzaku on her right shoulder and asks "you heard them too, right?"
Suzaku shrugs, then says "maybe they'll come back later."
Rika shrugs as a response, casually walks to the back of the shrine, thinking of starting by sweeping the back courtyard, but that's a mistake.
The moment she looks at the forest stretching behind the shrine, she remember the trail leading to the gate of Makai, the attack by the Makaians, and slowly, she starts remembering their harsh words.
Suzaku can feel her master's mood take a dive to depression at an alarming rate, and all she can do to try and calm her down is to tweet and telepathically shout "Rika-sama, don't allow it to consume you! Th-think of mom, of miss Reimu!"
Rika remains standing with her hands down, her shoulders and wings start to drop, the maid takes a deep breath, then she jumps and turns around with a yelp when she feels a hand place itself on her shoulder.
She takes various nervous steps backward, breathing rapidly with fright, but stops when she realizes whose hand was that touched her.
Behind her are three people; a boy with brown bushy unkempt hair that somehow seems well-groomed, even with some strands jumping around his head, yellowish-brown eyes, wearing a purple t-shirt, a pair of black pants with three pockets on each side of the legs, one open, the rest zippered, white socks, brown boots, and a golden bracelet on his right wrist.
Sitting on his right arm while clinging on to his neck, is a little girl with large brown bat wings, long teal hair that reaches her lower back, a large white ribbon with black borders adorning the left side of her head, innocent violet eyes that have no pupils, and wearing a long plaid brown sleeved dress, which reaches down to her calves, a teal apron over the skirt of the dress, a pair of pink socks that have claws going through, but not breaking the socks, and has small claws on her fingers, and small fangs in her mouth.
To their right is a shrine maiden with long light-green hair that seems to have been recently cut to reach just above her lower back, a frog clip above a coiling snake ornament on the right side-burn, a pair of dark-green eyes, wearing a white jacket with blue borders, white detached sleeves, much like Reimu's, only with blue borders, a long blue skirt, pink socks, and green shoes.
Rika takes notice of all the blue bits on the girl's outfit are adorned with white polka dots and tiny stripes motifs.
Rika stares at the boy and exclaims "m-mister Ail," looks at the little bat youkai and exclaims "miss Budou", then looks at the shrine maiden and finishes "miss Sanae! Wh-what a p-p-pleasant surprise!"
Having managed to clam Rika enough, Ail and the maid sit on the porch at the back of the shrine, while Suzaku, Sanae and Budou walk around Rika's greenhouse, admiring all the plants she has in there, Suzaku hopping on the ground while telepathically boasting about each plan's care for her master; Rika doesn't seem to mind at the moment.
Ail and Rika quietly watch the girls and the vermillion bird, then Ail says "Reimu told me what happened. How are you feeling?"
Rika twitches upon hearing this, then lowers her head until she's looking at the dirt next to the stone-slab border, then softly says "I-I... what I mean... I don't know anymore."
Ail silently watches as the maid looks around herself, as if wanting to wrap herself up and hide from the world, then Rika continues "I didn't even know... I was taking their mother away, and that's just wrong."
Her eyes start swelling up, tears start to flood her eyes, and through her cracking voice, she continues "th-they called me names... th-they were right to do so. I did something bad. I am a very bad per-"
Ail places his right hand on Rika's left shoulder and pulls her up so that she looks at him.
His face looks scary, his lips are almost perfectly straight, his eyes seem to suggest he is angry, but she is very surprised when he speaks gently to her, saying "you are Rika Onkamikami, probably the most stubbornly kind person I know. Don't you even think for a single fraction of a second in time that you, someone so special and kind, is bad."
Rika's emotions stop right in their tracks, her tears seem to freeze, her eyes stop burning, and without knowing it, she's starting to crack a smile at Ail.
Noticing the corner of Rika's lips rising on their own, he lets go of her shoulder, places both hands beside himself, slightly leans back, then says "I've crossed paths with Yumeko already. She's a pretty sweet girl, quite kind, strong..."
Ail turns to look at Rika with a tired smile on his face as he continues "but once she's made her mind up about someone or something, she'll be the biggest, most irritating bitch you'll come across in your life."
Rika's tears completely dry up when her eyes expand after hearing Ail speak about someone like that.
Ail chuckles, then says "confused? I was, at first. See, when I first met her, I was with Maribel. We had somehow ended inside Makai territory, and after a few days, we landed on Shinki's castle... or palace, as they call it."
Rika is paying full attention to Ail, unaware that Budou is now sitting to her right.
Ail sighs, then says "somehow, to Yumeko's eyes, I was this huge pervert that would jump any girl at night and move on to the next. She was all over my case, not giving me a moment to think even once. Eventually..."
Ail's face becomes dark as he raises his left fist, and starts to tremble with rage as he continues "eventually, I lost my head, and I wanted nothing more than to kill her... and I almost did. She turned me into something I was not, and all because she thought I was something else."
Rika suddenly remembers the rage she felt before the Makaians started throwing those now-obviously ridiculous claims, how she felt toward Yumeko at that moment.
Ail relaxes and smiles, bangs his hand on the wooden floor to get Rika's attention, then looks toward the storage house and says "I remember dragging her on my back all the way back to Pandemonium, and that's when I recovered myself, and when she finally accepted who I was. Rika, what I'm getting at is, please don't hate that stubborn maid, but more importantly, don't forget who you are."
Rika can feel a heavy weight lift itself from her heart, she can breathe again, she can even feel as though her entire body is being cleansed, and now, she's smiling the way she's supposed to, making Ail smile along her.
After he notices the light in her eyes fully returns, he says "that's the Rika I know. Really, you're like a misguided little sister, you know that?"
Right after he says that, Rika wants to giggle and say something, but the jewel on her transformed sword suddenly starts glowing bright pink.
Surprised, both Rika and Ail look at each other, then Sanae, who stands next to Ail with a bit of a scowl, asks "alright, alright, what's with the pink glow?"
Rika unsheathes her sword and holds the blade down while staring at the red hilt, then giggles mischievously, and with her natural smile, she says "pink means love, miss Sanae."
Ail foolishly remains staring at Rika as though nothing has happened, even though Sanae's hair is on fire, she's gritting jagged teeth, and she has her gohei on hand, ready to strike him on the head.
Rika giggles at the sight, then says "please, relax miss Sanae, I was just teasing. Mister Ail just thinks of me like a sister. Isn't that right?"
Ail turns his eyes to Sanae, his face turns pale, his entire body begins to shiver, then he nods as fast as he can after Rika's statement, saying "Sanae, calm down. We've established this already!"
Sanae rapidly returns to her regular self and fiddles with her gohei with both hands, slightly raises her left leg, then pouts as she says "I'm sorry Ail, you know how I get when they tease me like that. I love my Ail-kun!"
From behind Rika, startling the maid, Budou raises her left fist and exclaims "Papa Ail and mama Sanny will never be apart!"
Suzaku flies on to Rika's right shoulder just as Sanae leans closer to Ail, and Ail grabs her chin and start giving each other pocking kisses.
Reimu suddenly slithers from inside the shrine like a snake, carrying a heavy mischievous smile, with her mouth corners almost reaching her ears, and her eyes glinting with excitement, and without giving anybody the chance to ask, she slithers behind Rika, places her hands on the maid's shoulders, then says "come on Rika, tell the truth already. You and Ail-kun got some sparks flying for each other, don't you? Come on Ail-kun, admit it!"
Reimu and Rika both jump away from the porch when Ail comes flying at them and falls face-first on the wooden floor, then Reimu flies away, laughing while saying "only too easy!"
Sanae flies after Reimu, spewing fire from her mouth while shooting little stars at Reimu, shouting "you take that back! Reimu, get back here this INSTANCE!"
On the porch, Ail lifts his scratched face from the wooden floor with tears dangling from under his eyes as he sniffles and says "she threw me!"
Over at Makai, even though there is a bit of light coming through the dark clouds, the destructive storm rages on, threatening to knock the buildings at the city from their very foundation.
Over the distance, Pandemonium has recovered much of its usual coloring, but it's still missing the usual shine, making it look rather dull.
Inside, Yumeko is in the kitchen with a depressed look on her face as she prepares lunch for Shinki.
The kitchen is at the end of the fourth left-turn corridor of the second main corridor, which leads to the dining hall after reaching the door next to that left turn.
Even though Shinki let Yumeko out of her room, she's still refusing to speak to the maid, and worst, the goddess is making damned sure she and Yumeko can't make eye-contact, even for a second.
Feeling heavy, Yumeko places a shiny chrome dome over the chrome tray, which has sliced meats, diced steamed vegetables, and a bowl of rather questionable-colored soup, as well as an empty white teacup.
So the right of that tray is another, smaller chrome tray with cake and cookies, and besides that, a crystal flower vase that's supposed to have flowers, but Shinki's rage is preventing any flower in or outside the palace to bloom.
Being as ready as she can be, Yumeko sighs, then drags her feet as she pushes the cart containing the trays she so carefully prepared, then slowly makes her way outside.
She exits the short corridor, and merges with the main corridor, which has many tall windows that, surprisingly enough, even though they are open, don't let a single gust of wind enter.
Yumeko looks at the dim light in the sky, ignores the screaming blonde girl spinning in the air as the winds carry her around outside, sighs, then turns left to the dining hall.
She takes on step toward the door, which is just three more steps away, and Yuki jumps in her way and stops her from entering, calmly saying "she's at the main hall."
Yumeko lowers her head a bit, gulps, then nods and turns around.
Yuki hurries closer, then asks "mind if I join you? Maybe she'll let you talk if I'm there."
Yumeko lowers her head and slows down to a crawl, and holding her desire to start crying, she softly asks "y-you forgive me that easily? Even when mom doesn't?"
Yuki suddenly smiles the same way she usually does, grinning widely while chucking annoyingly, then says "are you nuts? I'm getting my revenge on all your asses... but now is not the time."
Yumeko stops and starts sobbing, worrying Yuki, who places a gentle hand on the maid's shoulder, then Yumeko suddenly bursts to laughter, freaking the hell right out of Yuki, who stares with fright while thinking "no wonder she doesn't laugh that much. She's VERY creepy when she does!"
Yumeko places her left hand on her own forehead, manages to calm herself down to chuckling, then smiles at Yuki and says "alright sis, when all this is over, you come at me with all you got."
Yuki looks curiously at her sister for a moment longer, then smiles more naturally, raises her right thumb, then says "you won't even see it coming."
Yuki and Yumeko smile at each other for a bit longer, ignoring Parsee outside, as she spins by in the air, shouting "dammit, someone help me alreadyyyyy~!"
The Makaian girls reach the door to the main hall, where Shinki is, and stop to stare at it, as though the door itself is glaring back, being as unwelcome as it possibly can be.
Yumeko gulps, but Yuki seems as calm as ever, and noticing her sister's hesitation, she cuts in front and says "let me go in first, then you follow. We might get her to glance at you, at least."
Yumeko hesitates for a second, then nods, and Yuki bursts through the door, saying "moooom, lunch is ready!"
From inside, Yumeko can hear her sweet mother's voice when she replies "Yuki, you startled me, child!"
Yumeko gulps and thinks "this is it! A chance to have mother look at me! Here I go!"
She walks through that door as fast as she can and smiles as she says "y-your lunch is served, lady Shinki! Please help your... self?"
Yumeko's voice faints down when she notices Shinki is already looking away from her to the right and keeping her mouth shut, sitting with her legs crossed on the large chair, placing her head on her left hand as she rest her elbow on the right armrest.
Yumeko sighs, pushes the cart closer, then bows and takes a few steps back.
She can see the side of her mother's face and the side of her beautiful light-blue eyes, but that's about all she can get.
After a depressed sigh, Yumeko retreats and quickens her pace to get out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind herself.
She walks as fast as she can away from the main hall, takes the first corridor to the left, takes a quick right, walks into her room, slams the door shut, and from inside, her sobs take over the small corridor leading to her room.
At the main hall, Yuki eats Shinki's leftovers, which are literally the whole meal, and as she chomps away, Shinki stares at her daughter and gets lost in a trance.
While in her mind, she pictures Rika and her daughters getting along harmoniously, laughing amongst each other, but there's one problem.
The girls each have something behind their backs; weapons, death spells, something to harm Rika with, who remains unarmed and unaware of what's going on around her.
The entire scene becomes blood-red, the world starts to shake, and when it all stops, Rika stands alone in the dark, stained by her own blood, and carrying that dreaded sad face that continues to pain Shinki's heart so much.
A faint voice reaches the goddess as it calls "mom... Mom, wake up! Please wake up!"
When Shinki comes to, she notices Yuki is in front of her with a worried look on her teary face, asking "mom, why are you crying? what happened?"
Shinki blinks twice to recover herself, touches her cheek with her right index finger to find a tear there, then looks at Yuki and asks "Yuki, my child, what happened?"
Yuki pushes herself away from the large chair, straightens up, and in a serious tone of voice, she says "mom, this has gone long enough! Stop this storm, talk to Yumeko, to Mai, let them know what's going on! I can't take this!"
Shinki stares with surprise at Yuki, blinks twice, but before she speaks, Yuki continues "look, maybe they just need to get to know Rika, like I did! I mean, she's cool and all, but I did kind of keep my distance before really getting to know her, and those boobs are a bit intimidating, don't you think?"
Shinki suddenly starts chortling, then bursts into laughter, managing to say through breaths "her... her boobs? Afraid of... HAHA, Rika?"
Yuki blinks twice, tilting her head left as she stares curiously at her mother, then casually asks "what? Aren't you a bit intimidated by tho-?", then suddenly remembers her own mother's bust size, her face turns blue, her lips wriggle, and in a low and sad undertone, she finishes "never mind..."
Shinki giggles, the storm outside subsides, then Parsee comes flying through the window, screaming loudly before falling hard on to the crystal floor, then slides on to the carpet, and finally rolls like a ball until she's right in front of Shinki's throne, where she moans while holding the left side of her head.
Shinki stares down at Parsee as though she's looking at a disgusting pile of mold, and in a cold tone of voice, she asks "did you complete the task I appointed you with?"
Yuki smiles, points at Parsee, then excitedly says "ooh, I've seen that girl before."
Parsee looks up at Shinki while rubbing her head with her left hand, clenches her teeth, raises her right hand, flips off the goddess, then angrily says "I would have been done SOONER if you would have just stopped BLOWING me around all over the place, stupid god!"
Shinki's eyes glow light blue as she replies "you were being punished! You think I was just going to make it easy for you, after what you helped cause?"
Question marks start popping around Yuki's head, and before she asks, Shinki turns to face the fire witch, and in her usual calm tone of voice, she says "she's a youkai that controls jealousy, sweetie. She's the one that drove your brothers and sisters mad."
Shinki turns to glare furiously at the youkai and in a dangerous undertone, she asks "isn't that right?"
Parsee screeches when she feels as though a red pointing arrow flies right through her, and while holding her chest and stomach, she nervously shouts "yes, YES! Jeez, enough already!"
Shinki smirks, scoffs, then says "I have one more task for you, and then you'll be free from the curse, but before that..."
Shinki turns to Yuki, then says "Yuki, be a dear and get Yumeko. We need to get ready for tonight's dinner. Then, I want you to go to the city tell your brothers and sisters that Rika will be coming here, TONIGHT, and that I don't want any one of them to even raise a finger at her."
Yuki smiles, salutes Shinki, then says "get, sis, tell sis, go to city, tell them the busty maid is coming, and the finger will raise the alarm! GOT IT!", then rushes off straight to the right main corridor.
After she leaves, Parsee stares at the door Yuki just slammed behind herself and asks "is that girl gonna be alright?"
Shinki chuckles, snaps her fingers, then a rolled up piece of paper with a light-blue aura appears hovering in front of Parsee.
As the jealousy youkai stares at it, Shinki smiles and says "I know you know Rika Onkamikami. After all, you almost cried after you saw what you caused. Simply go and deliver this letter to her for me, but remember, if you fail me, that blue aura that's surrounding it will devour your magic, along with your body."
Parsee crosses her arms across her chest and turns her back to the rolled up paper, and asks "and if I refuse?"
Shinki smiles, and sweetly says "then I will personally devour your magic and your body and turn you into one of my lowest servants. A green slime with one eye, three tentacles, and no legs."
Parsee grabs the rolled-up letter, salutes Shinki, says "I'll deliver this RIGHT AWAY!", then flies straight out the same window she was blown through.
To her surprise, Makai is back to how it was just before the storm, as though nothing ever even happened.
The one thing different is the large, scary statue that is full of cracks, and is only spewing black fire from the left nostril.
As she looks around, she says to herself "everything is back to normal, just like that. All that crap because of a tantrum, and now all is right back to normal. I tell you, that goddess is a real-"
The image of Shinki appears in the sky, smiling sweetly at the lone, blonde youkai, then thunder rattles Parsee's head with a big boom.
Nervously, the jealousy youkai screeches, then shouts "alright, alright, I'm sorry! Stop picking on me!"
At the Hakurei Shrine, the revitalized shrine maid goes about her chores while humming songs to herself, as per-usual.
Although Ail, Budou and Sanae are still in the shrine, as well as Marisa, who came by after Reimu and Sanae blasted each other out of the sky, Tenshi Hinanai, that incredibly stubborn celestial, is nowhere in sight.
This almost saddened Rika again, but having her newly-appointed big-brother Ail there has helped her considerably.
As she walks into the storage house to pick up some rice and vegetables for a late lunch, she says to herself "she must be so busy today, she just couldn't come. Poor Tenshi. Next time I see her, I'm treating her to some green tea. That should brighten her day, I'm sure."
After she's done choosing, and picking the vegetables, and filled a large pot with rice, Rika grabs her full carrying basket and heads outside, placing the basket on the wooden porch to her right while she closes up the door.
Once done, she picks up her basket, turns around, stares at Parsee standing behind her, and when Parsee lifts her hand and opens her mouth, Rika screams, lifts her hands up in the air, and throws the basket up high.
Parsee scowls and shouts "I'm not ugly!", then looks up at the basket and the spilling contents, grabs the basket as it falls, and moves her arm accordingly, catching all the vegetables and rice.
She bows after Rika claps to her in admiration, then the youkai says "heh, oh yeah, I'm good.", then a silver washtub falls on her head, remaining there for a bit before falling off and rolling away, leaving Parsee bent down with an annoyed look on her face.
Rika leans forward, looks curiously at Parsee, raises her left hand and asks "oh dear, are you alright?"
Parsee shivers, grits her teeth, then groans through them "no problem. Didn't hurt."
Rika giggles, grabs the basket from Parsee's hands, then grabs the youkai's right hand and leads her into the shrine, saying "well, come on, let's go inside so I can get a look at that bump. You can eat lunch with us too if you like."
Parsee follows after Rika, remaining bent and still looking annoyed, then blushes slightly after Rika grabs a hold of her hand.
Inside the shrine, Ail, Budou and Sanae sit together on the same side of the small table, and although they are close tight, they all seem to not mind one bit.
Suzaku perches on the counter farthest from the stove, helping Reimu set up two trays with the food Rika has prepared in order to serve it, while Rika sits with Parsee's blushing head on her lap next to the wall that separates the living room form the rooms corridor, while she treats the youkai's bump with a cotton ball.
Marisa sits in front of Rika and Parsee with her legs crossed under her black skirt, and observes the girls with great curiosity and a grin on her face, making Parsee turn her eyes to the floor with embarrassment.
Reimu suddenly says "Alright, the meal is served, so help yourselves!", then Ail stands up to go and pick up plates for Budou, Sanae and himself.
Marisa uncrosses her legs, springs on her feet, and with that same grin on her face, she says "finally. I'm starving, ze."
Reimu quickly reply "well, if you'd help, we could get done even faster."
Marisa walks over to Reimu and Suzaku in the kitchen and smiles as she says "I'm a guest. That would not be proper."
Parsee is now in an undeniable state of bliss, but even in that state, Shinki's threat start to haunt her, so she manages to slightly return to reality, raises her right hand, opens her mouth, then Alice, with Shanghai on her right shoulder, and Hourai flying to the left of her, storms into the shrine, walks toward Rika and Parsee, then loudly asks "so are you going? Are you really going to go there?"
Everyone's attention is now on Alice and the two tiny girls, ignoring Yuki, who flies in front of the open entrance with a blissful smile on her face, waves at everyone inside, then continues on her way back to Makai.
Rika stares straight into Alice's eyes, blinks as she recovers herself, then asks "go where?"
Parsee raises her hand with the rolled-up glowing paper, then says "sorry, I tried to give this to you sooner, but...", then blushes as she mumbles the rest of her explanation, saying "you were being so nice, and I kinda liked it."
The jealousy youkai gets off Rika's lap after the maid grabs the paper and unrolls it, then glowing light-blue letters fly right out of the piece of paper and set themselves in the air, right in front of Rika, however, only Rika and Reimu can read, as to the rest in the people there, the letters look like ancient runes.
Noticing her friends' confusion, Rika read the letter out loud.
Dear Rika,
First of all, I want to apologize for the way my children treated you, and hope you can find it in your heart to forgive them. They can be a bit overprotective of me, but in this case, it's was not entirely their fault, as outside interference escalated their usual levels of tension. Rest assured, all parties involved were punished for their actions.
I wish to put this horrible incident behind us, and courtly invite you to join me and my children for dinner. Of course, I expect you'll ask Reimu's permission, and if she does not wish for it, I will understand. Please be assured that all measure necessary will be taken by me personally, so that nothing like this will happen again. Please consider my offer, but know that I will respect yours, and you master's wishes.
Shinki
Everybody remains eerily silent while staring at Rika; her bright smile revealing the excitement over this letter.
As she stares at the floating letters, her smile widens as she thinks "lady Shinki. She wants to see me again. I... I get to see miss Shinki again."
Her smile suddenly vanishes when she looks at Reimu with longing eyes, noticing her mistress' hesitation.
The shrine maiden is completely against it, thinking "does that goddess really believes I'll let Rika go there, after all that happened? But..."
Reimu notices the look on Rika's face, and she knows her maid can read her thoughts through her own expression right now, especially after Rika frowns.
Reimu sighs in defeat, scratches the left side of her head, then forces a worried smile as she nods once and says "alright, you can go."
Rika's smiles widely again, and unable to control herself, she exclaims "really? Thank you, my lady! Thank you so much!"
Everybody gasp with surprise when the floating letters suddenly glow bright, turn into a ball, then zip straight out of the shrine and head back to Makai.
On the shrine's roof, Tenshi listens to the whole event unfold, growling softly as her eyes tremble with fury.
As she sits on her knees, she bites her thumb's nail and thinks "she's going back there. No way. I'm not leaving her alone again! I don't care what Reimu says, I'm going in there and make sure as hell that nothing happens to her again."
Moments later at Pandemonium's main hall, while Shinki sits on her throne-like chair and addresses Yumeko, who seems to be smiling bitterly, the ball of light from the letter flies right to her, stops between the goddess and the maid, glows light-blue, then vanishes.
Shinki smiles, looks at Yumeko, then says "she's coming. Make sure everything is set, and NOBODY better even think of doing anything to her."
Yumeko takes a deep breath, bows, and after turning around to the door, her face twists with anger.
As she makes her way to the dining hall, she thinks "mother is talking to me again. I should be overjoyed, but it's all about that Rika! Why? Dammit, I hope this just ends quickly so we can forget all about her!"
Late noon, at the Hakurei Shrine, Rika stands beside Alice, who has Shanghai and Hourai on her shoulders, in front of the back doors of the shrine, and looks inside as Reimu says "Alice, I'm trusting you with her care. If anything happens, I'll hold you responsible."
Alice bashfully giggles as she thinks "is Rika really a grown up?", while Shanghai Angrily says "mama Alice already promised, you mean maiden! Don't underestimate her!"
Hourai quietly crosses her arms over her chest and nods in assent with her eyes closed.
Inside the shrine, Reimu stands under the doorway, Marisa stands behind Reimu, Ali and Sanae sit together beside the small table in the living room, watching as Mima and Suzaku push their heads against one-another.
Mima breathes through her teeth, growls, then speaks through them, saying "I told you, it's my turn to hold her!"
Suzaku telepathically replies "No, Budou's not done petting me yet!"
Budou stands next to a tied up human, who says with an old and sweet voice "go on dear, you know you want to."
Reimu takes a step outside, looks at Shanghai, then says "my warning goes for you two as well."
Rika steps up, smiling warmly at her mistress, bows, then says "my lady, miss Shinki said she took care of everything! I will be fine. And with miss Alice there, I won't get lost like last time!"
Reimu gulps, Marisa covers her mouth to laugh at her friend's weakness for her maid, then Reimu sighs and says "well, y-you can't blame for worrying!"
Rika looks to the left, feeling at fault for making her mistress worry, but gains some courage, looks at Reimu in the eyes, then says "th-this time it's different! I was invited. Last time I went in there without really thinking about it much."
Alice sighs impatiently, then rubs her forehead with her right hand as she says "we're going to be late. Let's go already. And Reimu, we won't let them touch her, you have my word."
Shanghai hops on her feet on Alice's shoulder, then says "ha! You got mama Alice's guarantee! Now you have no choice but to stop worrying."
Hourai continues crossing her arms over her chest while nodding in assent with her eyes closed.
Reimu nods back with a stern look on her face, then Alice and Rika turn around, Shanghai falls back on to Alice's shoulders, then the girls take to the air and slowly make their way toward the gate to Makai.
After the girls are far away enough, Reimu's eyes glint, and she turns around to look inside the shrine, unaware of a dark blur that jumps off her roof and goes after Rika and Alice on the ground.
Marisa, and now Ail as well, stand behind Reimu and look at her, waiting for something.
The maiden breathes in, then says "I'm going after them. Marisa, Ail, Suzaku, take care of the shrine while I'm gone."
Marisa and Ail salute Reimu, and from the living room, Suzaku stands on top of Mima's dizzy head as she replies "you can count on me, my lady."
Reimu smiles, then suddenly points inside the shrine and shouts "and no parties!"
Inside the shrine, tied up with rope, is the partying old woman with light-brown hair and narrow, golden-brown eyes under oval glasses, wearing a golden kimono with white flowers designs on the bottom that spread through vines all way up her back and chest, with a large brown ribbon with a red center tied around her waist.
Her crooked brown wooden walking stick leans on the cabinet next to her, and she smiles back at Reimu, chuckles, then says "I'll be good, missy!"
She bends down to Budou, who keeps staring at her, and whispers "now be a good girl and cut these ropes with your claws."
After making sure all is set, Reimu turns around, and sounding very serious, she says "I'll be damned if they think I'm leaving Rika alone in there again."
Ail places his right hand on Reimu's shoulder, then asks "are you sure about this?"
Without hesitation, Reimu nods, then takes flight toward the back lake, heading straight to the gate to Makai.
After she leaves, Ail sighs as Marisa says "don't blame her. She may be violent sometimes, but she's really sweet, and hates it when someone threatens her friends."
Ail smiles, turns to face Marisa, and says "yeah, I know what you-", then notices the ropes holding the old lady are lying on the ground without the old lady in sight, opens his eyes wide with surprise, then exclaims "oh boy, she's already escaped!"
Budou sits on Sanae's lap, crying "she tricked me~!", while Sanae rubs her head under the little bat youkai's neck, softly saying "there, there, she's just too smart for us."
Suzaku takes flight inside the shrine, and sounding desperate, she telepathically shouts "spread out! She must NOT find the sake!"
Alice and Rika arrive at Makai by the time the sun is just about to set over at Gensokyo, yet in Makai, the same eerie light shines as though it's daytime.
Over at the City of Makai, even though it is bright outside, lights from inside some buildings can be seen from the distance.
Rika looks around with a confused look on her face, and Alice, noticing her confusion, says "there is no actual day or night in Makai, as natural light from the sun or the moon could cause harm to the demons here. Though... it's kind of odd they can visit Gensokyo for prolonged periods of time... but I digress."
Rika giggles, then looks at Hourai on Alice's shoulder as she says "some questions are best left unasked, huh?"
Hourai continues to nod with her eyes closed and her arms crossed, then opens her left eye to look at Rika, then pulls off a pair of headphones hat were hiding under her hair, and asks "what? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening."
Alice and Shanghai sigh long, while Rika stares at little Hourai with an awkward smile.
Alice is about to suggest they start moving, but they are called from the right by a girl.
Turning their heads, Alice, the tiny girls and Rika can see Luize and her blimp-like airship awaiting for their arrival, and Shinki suddenly walks out of the ship's entrance, bearing her usual smile as she waves at the girls.
Meanwhile, over at the gate in Gensokyo, Reimu waits a little longer before plunging inside the starry sky-like portal, when some rustling of leaves from behind her get her attention.
She feigns ignorance while thinking "someone's here. He's hiding to my right... just need to let him move a bit more, ...and..."
A dark silhouette jumps from behind the bushes and aims to land straight on Reimu, but the shrine maiden cartwheels to the left at the last moment and sweeps her left foot after she is on the side of the figure, making her yelp and fall flat on her back on to the ground.
Realizing it's a girl she's fighting, Reimu stands tall and asks "so you thought you could just barge in there on your own, didn't you, you annoying celestial?"
Tenshi rubs the back of her head as she sits up, then groans and says "dammit Reimu, I'm not going to stop! I'm going in there and making sure Rika is safe!"
Reimu bends her knees to look at Tenshi's eyes, then nods and says "I know. I was hoping you'd come with me."
Tenshi shakes her head and shouts "you're going to have to kill me if you want to stop- wait, what?"
Tenshi opens her eyes wide after realizing that Reimu is asking her to come with her into Makai.
After the confusion leaves her spinning mind, Tenshi smiles and asks "alright then, what are we waiting for?"
Reimu straightens up and gives Tenshi a hand back to her feet, then looks at the gate and says "yes, we've waited long enough. Let's go, for Rika!"
A trumpet starts playing dramatically after Reimu and Tenshi nod in unison, then Reimu looks up to her right and says "ok, you can cut that out already."
A girl with light-blue wavy hair with a pink pointy hat on top, that has a blue sun on its tip, blue eyes, and wearing a long-sleeved pink vest with a matching pink skirt, pops out of a bushy tree, a trumpet with ghostly wisps around it comes flying out after her, and with a sheepish smile, the girl says "whoops. Sorry about that."
Back in Makai, after the airship flies over the large lake and lands on the patch of land in front of Pandemonium, Shinki, wrapping her right arm around Rika's shoulders, smiles as she happily says "and now you know how to reach Pandemonium. Isn't that nice?"
Rika giggles and nods, then says "last time I was so lost."
As Rika and Shinki make their way toward the crystal palace, Shinki laughs and says "oh, I know. It's a bit confusing at first, but you can get the hang of it."
Behind them, Luize looks sick, annoyed, depressed, and just about ready to point a finger at Rika, but Alice walks out of the airship just in time to smack her sister's hand, and she, Shanghai and Hourai say at the same time "don't you dare."
Luize is about to complain to Alice, but she quickly realizes Shinki is giving her the stern glowing glare through the corner of her eyes, so the Makaian wisely quiets down and whispers "I'm sorry."
Meanwhile, back at the entrance to Makai, Reimu lands on her feet after jumping out like a flash of light from inside the gate portal, followed shortly by Tenshi, who gracefully falls on her face and takes an elegant bite right off the patch of grass in front of the gate.
Spitting out the grass from her mouth as elegantly and gracefully as a drooling camel, Tenshi pushes herself up, groans as she recovers her balance, then says "wh-what the hell was that? Oh gods, I think I'm about to barf."
Reimu looks sternly at the celestial, then says "get a hold of yourself, Tenshi. You're in Makai now, so keep your emotions in check. Remember, if anything goes wrong, we are the only chance Rika has of escaping."
Tenshi finally recovers her full balance, then looks at Reimu and asks "what about Alice and those tiny girls?"
Reimu smirks, then says "they would never lay a hand on Alice, I can assure you that much."
Without giving a warning, Reimu takes off to the air, then Tenshi follows after her, angrily pointing out "hey, you could at least tell me to move out, or something."
Reimu replies as-a-matter-of-factly "if I did, you'd ask me to stop bossing you around."
Tenshi twitches after the blunt and truthful reply, then decides to follow the shrine maiden in silence.
With Reimu on the lead, it doesn't take them long to reach the city, and upon laying their eyes on Shinki's statue, both their faces turn green with disgust.
The statue is cracked in several places, and yet continues bursting red fire from the left nostril, however, it's doing so at an irregular pace, and sometimes even stops before suddenly bursting again, followed by black smoke.
Reimu stares at the statue for a bit, then says "that is one ugly statue. Look at that face. And what is that fire suppose to be, a snot?"
The girls shrug and continue on their way to the palace, then Tenshi says "you know, I've seen that pose somewhere before."
Up in heaven, a woman with short violet-blue hair, red eyes, wearing a black hat with a red ribbon that looks like a pair of antennas, a pink long-sleeved pink shirt, and a long dark skirt sneezes hard, making a bolt of blue lightning strike to her left.
She sniffles, looks around the white, fluffy clouds, then says "someone is thinking about me."
Back at Pandemonium, after crossing through the first corridor, the main hall, and finally the second corridor, the four girls and two tiny girls on Alice's shoulders arrive to the dining hall.
A very large room with two, extremely long crystal tables set on top of one large red carpet with golden diamond chain designs, and borders made out of pure gold on the center of this room.
On the ceiling hang two large chandeliers, same as in the main hall, but these have about a hundred candles each, and all are lit at the moment, illuminating the entire room with some help of the grim light that enters through the windows.
Large red curtains that are supposed to be covering said windows are now rolled aside and tied with golden-colored ropes.
On the tables is a feast, with enough food to satisfy the stomachs of three oni, though thankfully, there are none in here today.
Inside the room, Yumeko, Yuki, Mai and Sara wait for their mother and her guest to arrive, along with many of their brothers and sisters, and although the ones in the room are mostly human-like, some are still a bit larger, others have different-colored skins, and some have demonic wings and tails on them.
All stop talking when Shinki and Rika enter the room, and although the Makaians smile at their mother, once they turn their faces, they all frown and scowl and start murmuring amongst themselves.
In a sweet tone of voice, Shinki says "please, everyone, take your seats."
Crystal benches phase through the red carpet and set themselves in front of the two large tables, however, at the inner-end of the tables, the end farthest from the windows, nine separate and amazingly comfortable-looking wooden chairs with gold borders and red cushions on the backrest and seat appear after Shinki claps twice.
After their brothers and sisters are sitting on the benches, Yumeko, Luize and Sara take the chairs to the left of the table, while Mai, Yuki and Alice take the ones to the right, Yumeko and Mai taking the chairs closest to the main chair.
Shinki smiles at her daughters, softly claps her hands to the right of her face, then says "oh no my sweeties, I need those two chairs available. Please be good girls and move one seat back."
Shinki says this while pointing at the two chairs closes to her own main chair at the end of the table, confusing her daughters, save for Alice, and the girls immediately move one chair back each.
Rika is about to take one of the available benches, but before she even moves, Shinki grabs her shoulders and says "oh no my dear, you are sitting next to me. You are my guest after all."
Rika's cheeks turn pink, then she immediately nods and says "thank you kindly, miss Shiki", so as not to offend Shinki after such a generous offer, even if she does feel a bit bashful about it.
Rika takes the chair next to Mai, who growls inward and quickly switches places with Yuki.
Yuki, of course, doesn't mind at all, while Alice just chuckles as she pats Mai's shoulder.
All of the Makaians, except for Yuki, stare daggers at Rika after she takes her seat, and Yumeko can't control herself and lets out a low growl.
These looks and that growl do not go unnoticed by Shinki, who clears her throat just as a low thunder strike from outside warns the Makaians to be mindful of their manners.
All of them quickly turn their faces away from Rika, but still whisper amongst themselves.
The shrine maid feels a bit uncomfortable, especially with Yumeko throwing dirty looks at her from across the table whenever she thinks her mother isn't looking.
Rika lowers her head and thinks "maybe I shouldn't have come. I'm causing discomfort for these people. Oh, but I just wanted to see Shinki again. I don't understand..."
Shinki manages to calm down, then suddenly stands up from her chair and remains in front of the table, then shortly after, everyone else stand up in front of the table, Rika following their example immediately, having extensive knowledge about protocols and etiquette.
The goddess of Makai clears her throat, then says "my children, those of you who have come here to the palace, and those of you watching us from the comfort of your homes..."
After Shinki says this, Rika looks around and noticed various tiny oval cameras flying all around the dining hall, hovering in the air on their own. Shinki continues "please allow me to present to you all a very special guest."
Shinki looks around at all present, except for Rika, then gestures with her head for all of them to bow down, then she points at the entrance to the dining hall with her hand and says "Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, the Yama of Paradise."
The door suddenly opens up on its own and the silhouette of the yama appears standing behind it, and the only clearly visible feature from her is her gold Rod of Remorse on her hands.
Peeking through the windows, Tenshi and Reimu gasp after hearing the name, then Tenshi whispers "the yama is here?"
Shinki and the Makaians bow after this small frame appears before them, but Rika remains in a bit of a shocked state, surprised at the sudden turn of events, thinking "what is going on? Why is miss Eiki here?"
From the doorway, Shikieiki's girly, but strict voice enters and conquers the entire hall as she says "Lady Shinki, thank you for inviting me over for this special dinner night."
To be continued...
Characters, Spell Cards and Scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail and Budou were created by Willie G.R.
Rika Onkamikami and Suzaku the Vermillion Bird were created by Snapshot 2010
JAN 16 2011
Original Story by
Snapshot 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.
A/N:
First off, I want to apologize to those waiting for more "Tales of the Almost Pirates" fourth update. I got too involved with this chapter for this story, and I couldn't let it go. I apologize ...orz.
Well, that aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I must admit that this is the first time I write Shinki so enraged. Heh, goes to show that even though she is sweet and nice and all that, you get on her bad side, hurt her children for example, she's going demon goddess on your sorry self. Now, I want to admit that, although I said I was going to use Snapshot's guidelines for this chapter, in truth, I only ended up using them at the end. Well, I still used the first part of the guidelines to lead the characters to where they need to be. Now I'll be using those guidelines even more for next chapter, though. Ah well, that's enough out of me. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.