Crimso's Notes:

So I'm just saying this, It's Tuesday and I just finished my science test which went… okay. I hate multiple choice questions because I always start to notice when a letter hasn't been used in a while, then I get paranoid If I see patterns… yeaaaah. You get he point. I'm saying this because while it's Tuesday while I'm starting this, I doubt it'll be anytime soon when I upload this. I have a book report to do tomorrow… and I'm not halfway done with the book. Yeah, nice going, me. …I hope my science teacher doesn't see this. I'm in the seat that is directly in front of her desk. And I mean directly.

One: So, updates will be slowed because, well, school, as I mentioned above, and the fact that… well, I've come to the end of my "plans for BFB" notebook and now I just have the major elements left. And of course, I need space in between those elements. …(It's funny how I'm using the word elements. I just took a test on the periodic table…). So I'm TRYING TO figure this all out. Rest assured. This happened with GED, but I made it through with that, didn't I? We'll see.

~~~~X~~~~

Chapter Seventeen: Strategy

Keiichi's eyes opened as he awoke from his dreams, then pulling himself up from the comfort of his futon. He blinked a few times, looking around until he spotted the clock on the wall. The time read one PM, and Keiichi was startled for a moment, until he remembered that it was Sunday. Sighing, he lay back into his futon and enjoyed how wonderful the fluffy sheets felt. He was really lucky to wake up to such comfort every morning, unlike how some of the demons were being treated. Mion and Shion never got this comfort until recently, and he doubted any of the other demons did either.

He stretched out his limbs as he got up from the futon, having had a good amount of sleep that night. His dreams, however, were a complete contrast to how much sleep he had gotten. In his dream, he had seen an alternate universe, one that was completely different from the one he was living in now. Mion was there. She was a human, though, not a demon. She was acting constantly like how she did when she played cards, and was a complete leader sort of person. She had been so happy in that dream.

Keiichi shook his head as he poured himself a glass of cold milk. Mion was a demon, and not a human. Such an image wouldn't ever happen. He swallowed the cold liquid slowly, hardly taking in its flavor as he dwelled a little more on the matter. If she could act that way, despite being a demon, then it actually could happen. He just had to work for it.

Finishing up his glass, Keiichi decided that he would use the cards again to get Mion's emotions out. Shion would probably want a longer sleep, and she didn't get as happy as Mion did when she saw cards, so Keiichi figured he'd have to come up with some other way to get her to recognize the meaning of the word happiness. He wasn't sure what would do that, though. Now that he thought about it, he knew a lot more about Mion than Shion. Was she similar to her sister in terms of other activities? What other hobbies did she have?

He paused. Perhaps cards were becoming a little tedious. What if he were to use something else this time? Well, still a game, as that was something that Mion enjoyed, but some other kind of game. He had some board games from when he was little he didn't bother to get rid of, which he could probably teach Mion. Shion, while not being as enthusiastic about games, he figured would join in too. Perhaps his teachings would still work, even though games weren't her favorite thing ever.

He placed the empty glass on the table and walked back upstairs. He wasn't feeling all that hungry, and he was sick of instant ramen, so there was no point in getting any breakfast. He sat back down on his futon with a sigh as he observed the two sleeping twins. They seemed so peaceful. Had they ever had sleep like this when they were down in the basement? He doubted it.

He placed a single hand on his chin as he waited for the two of them to wake up. It would be rude to disturb them from such a peaceful sleep, he decided. The two of them were surely enjoying the comfort of being next to each other while underneath the warm sheets of the futon. He noticed Mion was shifting slightly in her sleep as she cuddled a little closer to her sister, enjoying the warmth. Smiling, Keiichi thought about how close the two of them must be. Really, it would be nice if he could have a sibling he was so close to.

I guess that's why I have friends. Keiichi sighed as he ran his hand through his brown hair. Satoko and Satoshi are siblings. Rena isn't, and she seems to be perfectly happy with just her friends. Takeru on the other hand…

He wasn't sure where Takeru stood with Shion and Mion. He clearly knew they were alive, but it seemed like he wasn't doing anything about it. Mion and Shion had been suffering for all their lives, and Takeru knew. Perhaps… perhaps he thought that it would break his mother… to know that her children had been turned into demons and treated terribly.

This was something he had considered before, and he found it to be the only logical answer. Takeru was the type of person who would do so such a thing, after all. He surely didn't want to hurt anyone by telling them that Mion and Shion were in fact alive, but they were suffering.

More stirring came from the futon, and soon enough, Mion was awake, rubbing her green eyes as she looked about the still dark room. She nudged her sister, who awoke slowly. She stared at Keiichi through the darkness of the room, blinking her eyes at him. He usually wasn't there around that time of day, due to school. "Kei-chan? You don't have anywhere to be?" she spoke before letting out a huge yawn.

Shion stretched out her arms with a gigantic yawn directly after her sister. "You're usually out at this time of day," she added on as she rubbed her head.

"No, I'm free all day. I figured we'd spend a little time together. I'm sure my friends are busy tending to other matters at home right now," he told them with a grin, thinking about the things he would do with them today. It was a little too risky to go outside in the early afternoon, but playing board games had no risk.

Mion looked interested. "Did you bring meat?"

Keiichi winced as soon as he heard her question. No, he hadn't brought meat, and it had been a little while since he had done so. Really, he felt guilty about it. I'm not treating them like humans at all! I'm feeding them every few days. That's not treating someone like a human! The only problem was that the meat was so expensive, since it was good quality. He hated himself for not doing it, but he didn't have very much money now that he was trying to feed himself and the two of them. "No," he admitted to the two of them. "I'll try to get you an extra big slab tomorrow, though. Promise."

Shion nodded. "Okay."

They seemed slightly disappointed, which made Keiichi feel hurt. He was neglecting his job. I wonder how Rika manages to buy… what? Ten slabs of meat every few days? I guess she's rich though, so it doesn't matter. The Sonozaki family and the Kimiyoshi family have no excuse, though, for the same reason Rika is able to feed her demons every day.

No words were spoken for a while, until Mion decided to break the silence. "So, what are you planning to do with us today, Kei-chan?" she asked him curiously.

Keiichi allowed a grin to break out across his face as he stood up and turned to his closet. He flicked on the light switch as he began to rummage through the many objects he had contained in there. There were a few old board games, some of which he had forgotten how to play, but there was bound to be a few he still remembered. There was this particular board game that Keiichi enjoyed, one in which the players had to find a murderer using cards and clues, though he figured it may be a little funny for him to play with demons. He shook this thought out of his head. They can be human too.

He took out the board game and set it down on the ground. Mion and Shion eyed it curiously, scooting over to take a good look at the cover. "This is a murder mystery game," he explained to the two of them, opening up the box.

He took out the character pieces, the game board, and the weapon pieces and placed them down. "It's really fun." He began to shuffle the cards as he looked at the two of them. "You see, I take three cards from each category and place them in the file in the center. I deal all the other cards. If you have one of the cards, it means that the card is not the answer to the murder. You have to figure out who the person is, where he or she did it, and with what."

He suddenly paused as he looked down at the cards. "Can you guys read?" he asked them, remembering that the two of them may be unable to understand the words that were written on the cards. If that was the case, he supposed he just had to settle for cards.

"The Head ordered servants to teach us," Mion answered.

Keiichi sighed with relief. At least the head was kind enough to order someone to teach her granddaughters things like that. He began to sort the cards into three piles based on what they were, and then shuffled again. He chose a card from each pile and slipped them into the "file" in the center, and then proceeded to deal the other cards.

"You write down what you have here," he explained to them. "If you have them, then it's not the room or the weapon, and if it's a person, they're not the culprit. Every turn, you make a guess, and the person on your left shows you one of the cards in secret, which mean that the card they showed aren't one of the things used. You have to figure out which three aren't in anyone's hand, and that's the solution!"

Mion nodded as she looked at her cards. She looked a little frustrated that it was impossible for her to read her sister's cards, as well as Keiichi's, due to there being no scratch marks or any indication. Of course, she hadn't even seen the game before, so she didn't even know how she was going to come up with some kind of trick to ensure her victory.

This will be a fair match! Keiichi scribbled down the cards he held in his hand. He had a slight advantage, as he was familiar with the game. He felt confident that he could beat the two of them this time. He wouldn't lose to people who hadn't played this game before!
Mion looked down at the board and the pieces, confused.

Keiichi sighed as he realized he had forgotten to explain the importance of the board itself. He picked up the two dice in his hand and showed it to the two of them. "These are dice. You roll them, and you get a number. That's the number of steps your character can move. You chose a character piece. If you're in a room, you can guess for that room. You can't make a guess about a room your character isn't in. Your character starts at the place where it indicates"

"That's a lot to take in," Shion muttered. "But I think I can do this!"

Mion looked down at the pieces, debating over which one she should take. "I want the blue girl," she decided, snatching up the piece.

Keiichi grumbled. She was closest to a room, so that meant she had less chances of not taking a guess on her first role. "I guess I'll take him," he said without thinking, snatching up the yellow character from the board.

Shion took the red piece and placed her at the staring point. She was looking from room to room, deciding on which one she should go to first.

Keiichi decided he would roll first. He sighed as he looked and realized he had only gotten a two. He moved his piece two spaces forward, annoyed that he would be behind by one guess. This put him at a slight disadvantage. Sometimes, people would be one turn away from getting the answer, and a turn before, someone would get the answer you suspected. This was sometimes because they were a turn behind.

Mion rolled, and with the advantaged of being closest to the room, she was able to enter the first room without a problem. "Uh… I guess I guess now. Hm… uh… the purple dude, the weird stick thing, and the room I'm in right now."

I think she means the lead pipe. Keiichi looked at his cards. Shion did the same. He indeed had the lead pipe, and as he was sitting to the left of her, he snuck over and showed her the card. Her eyes lit up as she saw it, and she began to scribble down what she had just seen excitedly.

Shion went next and moved her piece into the hall. She glanced at the cards she was holding, and then to the board, and then back again. "...The white piece, in the hall… I guess the rope."

Mion leaned over and showed a card to Shion, who wrote it down happily.

It was Keiichi's turn now. He rolled the dice and moved his piece into the dinning room. "Okay. I'm going to say my piece, the gun, and the dinning room."

Shion showed Keiichi her dinning room card.

Keiichi nodded and checked that off.

It was now Mion's turn again. She rolled the dice and ended up moving to the billiard room. Upon looking at her cards, Mion's face contorted into that of a person who was rather frustrated by her actions. It seemed to her that she had made a mistake. She looked at the board with a sigh, and then returned to her cards. She scratched her head and said nothing for a while, trying to figure something out. Silence filled the room for a few minutes, and Keiichi was a little curious as to why Mion was taking so long.

Suddenly, after a minute or two, a wide grin grew across her face and a spark of mischievousness was visible in her eye. "Red piece, wrench, billiard room!" she called out.

Keiichi showed Mion the card for the wrench, wondering why she was suddenly so happy. She had this smirk on her face that seemed an awful lot like the one she wore when she was playing cards…

With that, the game proceeded onwards. Many items had been checked off, and the game was coming to its conclusion. Despite the fact that he enjoyed the game, Keiichi always knew that he wasn't too good at it. He was just sure he could beat the two twins, as they weren't as skilled as him. He cursed under his breath as he looked down at his sheet, realizing that he hadn't come to a conclusion about even one of the three yet. By now, people usually realized what one of the cards in the center was. He still hadn't got a clue.

Mion still wore that smirk on her face. "Yellow piece, knife, billiard room!" she cried out. "Anyone?"

No one said a word.

She grinned as she wrote something down. Keiichi's heart almost stopped. Had Mion already gotten the answer? Well, that was fine! She couldn't guess the answer for another turn, and his was next after Shion! He could snatch this game up and steal her answer! Sometimes, people did that, and it bothered him to no end, but it was all a part of strategy, wasn't it?

Shion rolled her dice, again not reaching a room.

Keiichi smirked. It was his turn now! He would take this one from Mion! "Okay, I'm going to make my final guess! There's no turning back now! Yellow, knife, billiard room!" It seemed to him that the girls didn't really pick up on the names of the characters, so he had resorted to using their colors instead. He grinned wildly as he snatched up the file, opening it to reveal what would surely be his victory…

"Huh? What the hell is this?" he cried out as he stared at the cards. He had only gotten one out of three right, far from being correct. And yet, no one had had those cards when Mion spoke! What in the world was going on? He glanced at his answers once again, and then back to the cards. He hadn't gotten any of them, and yet, the answer was still wrong…!

Mion laughed as she moved her piece to the center, a smirk on her face. "This demon here is going to make her guess now. Green, knife, study!"

Keiichi looked at the cards in his hand. The first one was a picture of the green player, the second the knife, and the third the image of the study…

"What the hell!" he cried out. "How did you…? But no one had anything for the one you had guessed before…!"

Another laugh filled the air. "Haha, just because you two didn't have them didn't mean that I didn't have them!" She flipped her cards over, revealing what she had been holding this whole time. Shock filled Keiichi as he realized that the cards she had been guessing constantly were ones that she already had. She had been guessing cards she already knew weren't the answer!

"What the hell, Mion? How? Why?" he demanded

The smirk on her face refused to go away. "You get it, Kei-chan? If I guess things I already have, I have a better chance of receiving information I don't have. Like with the knife. I had the yellow piece card and the billiard room. When no one said anything about the knife, I could be sure that it was the knife! I discovered the others by process of elimination, while at the same time using the same method." Her smirk twisted into a smile, one filled with the pride of victory. "And it looks like this demon here wins again! You can't beat her!"

Keiichi's face was full of shock. He felt cheated! On the other hand, Shion didn't show any sign of being upset. She simply smiled at her twin and placed her two hands together. "Oh, it looks like sis wins again! No surprise there. I tried my best, but I suppose the outcome was obvious from the moment we decided we were going to play a game. Congratulations, sis!"

How can she accept loss so easily? ! Keiichi was still frustrated. He had been playing this game for years, and never once did that idea cross his mind.

Shion looked at him. "Ah, don't worry. After years of playing with sis, you'll realize that victory is impossible! She's too good!"

Keiichi's jaw dropped. Still, how in the world can she accept that? ! You can't just accept that you'll never win! Shion, just who is this girl? ! Is she really a master of games like she claims to be? !

Upon looking at Mion's smiling face as her sister congratulated her, Keiichi remembered what the point of playing with them was, aside from having fun. "Okay, so I have a question for the two of you. You two are probably annoyed by all these questions I'm asking you about this subject, but please answer." The two of them turned to look at him, curiosity in their green eyes. "Did you feel anything when you played the game?"

Mion and Shion said nothing for a while, contemplating on what the answer to that question was, exactly.

He sighed, deciding he would help them out a little bit. "Warm? Was it warm?"

They looked at each other. "I guess somewhat?" Mion responded, feeling uncertain. "Not the same kind of warm as sis, though. It's different. And it's not all that warm. It's kind of warm. But just a little."

He wasn't sure how to explain the concept of happiness to them, and the idea of it being a warm feeling may not be the best way to describe how people felt when they got it. "Sparks?" he asked them, thinking back to how they felt when they were excited about the games.

"…Not really a spark, but it felt similar," Shion answered.

Keiichi scratched his head. If that was how they felt what happiness was, then that was the answer. There was no point in coming up with some kind of different explanation. "Well, that's what's called happiness. It's a very basic emotion, one that's felt by everyone. How do I explain it to you…?" This was the hard part. It was hard to come up with a definition for it, as most people just knew what it was by heart. How was he supposed to explain something so natural to him?

"…Ah, I don't know. Just remember how that felt like, all right?" he told them both, giving up on the idea for now. "And remember that's called happiness."

They both nodded. "All right."

He'd come up with a definition for it later. For now, what he had done was enough. The two of them had learned what it felt like, but not what it meant. But this is going to be hard. How am I supposed to explain something that's just natural to some people? I don't even know how to describe it. I just know what it is…

He bit his lip. He'd come up with something, he was sure of that.

~~~~X~~~~

"And then I said to Satoko, 'your traps could probably kill a set of demons if they got close! You'll be fine in life!' Man, that girl is tough at times," laughed a male with green hair as he recalled pleasant memories.

The girl across from him smiled. "Satoko-chan is a wonderful person. I think without her, there would be something missing. You know what I mean?" she commented.

Takeru nodded his head in response to that. Satoko was really a irreplaceable part of their team. "She's the trap master of our team, the one with the most skill. We all have our different roles, I think. Satoko's the trickster, Rika's the cute child, Satoshi is the sort of shy person, and Keiichi's the one with a lot of determination. And well… I don't know about me! But for sure you're the beautiful one of the group, Rena!"

Rena's face flustered. "Hau…"

Again, Takeru was at it with the comments. Although the two of them were now in a relationship, Takeru hadn't dropped the use of his flirty lines and found it highly important that he reminded her of how beautiful he though she was every ten minutes or so. Right now, the two of them were over at the Sonozaki Manor, seated at a table. The boy had insisted that they didn't get anywhere near his room. Rena knew for a fact that it was dirty, and showing a girl a dirty room didn't seem all that right.

The two of them had been dating for a day now, and Takeru had decided that he would be a little affectionate with her. He had kissed her on the cheek a few times that day, showing off how much he loved the girl. However, Rena had different feelings. She hadn't kissed him once, and she was still debating over her decision. She would have to tell him her true feelings at some point. But when will that come?

"Rena?" spoke Takeru, realizing she had a dark expression on her face. "Is something wrong?"

Rena was startled and wiped that look right off her face. "Ah, sorry! It's really nothing. Anyways, where were we? Yeah, I think I agree with you there!" she scratched her head, pretending to ponder. "Um… I guess you're also sort of determined type? Maybe more of a leader type."

Takeru laughed. "Well, I am the heir to the Sonozaki family, so it would make sense if you viewed me as a leader type. I'm training to become the leader of Onigafuchi, after all! There's a lot I need to do in order to prepare myself!"

"Of course! Being the head of the Sonozaki involves a lot of things! You have to support the festival, you have to lead a whole bunch of yakuza, and you need to take care of all those demons! Though of course, I guess that's not much now. You don't have any." She thought back to the two twins she had met yesterday, who were the older siblings of the boy across from to her. Did he know?

Takeru nodded. "I tried to stop her… but she was convinced she wanted all those demons dead. And so, now, there are no more demons! We had two, but…" he shook his head. "They were stolen by the damn Kimiyoshi…"

"Hau, you should talk to him, Takeru…"

Rena bit her lip. She knew the truth about the demons, and she knew that she couldn't say a word about it. Not that she wanted to, anyways. The fact that Keiichi had stolen the twins was a secret she was going to keep. Besides, Keiichi would get in deep trouble. He had only been trying to help the demons, and Rena agreed that it was more of an act of helping them than stealing them. She knew demons were never treated well, and the fact that Mion and Shion were Sonozakis broke her heart.

"I'm going to," he growled as he balled his fist. "I'm going to show him the wrath of a Sonozaki!"

Rena giggled. "I can't for you to tell me about the look on hi face. I'm sure he'll be shocked that you can stand up to him!"

"Ahaha, thanks!" he laughed, releasing his balled fist. "I think I'm going to leave it to my grandmother, though. She's better with those kinds of things. Have you seen her when she's angry? She can be scary! Haha… I mean, she killed thirty-something demons! That goes to show you how angry she can get." He sighed as he recalled memories. "Man, she didn't even spare one demon! She went and killed all of 'em! Didn't even give in when they begged."

"But I guess they didn't have a choice," Rena pointed out. "They were ordered not to protect themselves, right?"

Takeru nodded. "That's about right. She wasn't one bit nice to those demons! Didn't spare a single life! Not a single one!"

Rena forced herself to laugh a little. She knew for a fact, now, that the boy in front of her was lying about the situation. She spared Mion and Shion. Takeru was clearly trying to hide that fact. However, unlike Keiichi, she didn't even need to ask why he would want to hide it. Unlike him, she knew Takeru like the back of her hand. She knew exactly why he wouldn't want his mother to see the demons, and the reason killed her on the inside.

Poor, poor Takeru…

"Ahaha. I suppose she's right when she says that demons will bring doom to the village," Rena said, trying not to let her emotions show again. She had almost let them out before. She couldn't allow that to happen again. "I can see something big happening with them. You know, with all the legends of Onigafuchi and all that."

"I'm surprised that Koichi managed to defeat Makoto. He was a really strong demon king, wasn't he? Especially since he managed to get by Kenji, Kaede, and Kai. Those three are an unstoppable trio, even though they haven't really fought together since back then," Takeru commented, having been reminded about how his grandmother had gone and killed the great Kenji, one of the royal guards of the Demon King Makoto. "Of course, there's still a lot of legends. You know, like the one about the twins and the hero…"

Rena stiffened. "Takeru, what happened to your older siblings?" she asked him directly, despite knowing the answer.

Takeru looked shocked. "They died," he answered, his expression frozen to one of shock, not even changing in the slightest as he spoke those words. "My grandmother killed them after they were born. Don't know what they looked like or which gender they were."
"Were they really?" Rena questioned.

Still, surprise, though Takeru actually managed to change his facial expression this time. "Yes. They're gone. Now please don't talk about this anymore. Rena, you know how much this hurts me…"

Rena indeed knew how painful the subject of the twins was to Takeru, so she decided to drop the conversation. She had just asked him to make sure that he indeed knew that the twins were alive, and judging by his reaction, he knew everything. Rena clenched her fists. She knew why he would do that, but it was still cruel to the twins. They had been tortured all their lives, and he hadn't done anything about it.

Yes. She was the only one who knew Takeru well enough to know that he was causing as much pain to the twins as they were inflicting him. Their very existence was something that hurt Takeru. It was a wound that would never be healed, a scar inflicted on his emotions.

I know why… but that's still harsh, Takeru… It hurts them, just like it hurts you… Rena thought as she clenched her fists once again.

~~~~X~~~~

Crimso's Corner V.2

More development. Fun~. No but really, I know not much has been happening, but I assure you that that's not going to stay forever. I have a rather major event planned for a chapter or two away. Probably the chapter after the next one, but maybe in the next one. No word on that, but know that things won't be all development forever.

I love Clue. I use the same strategy as Mion did in this chapter. Surprisingly, people didn't know about it until I pulled it on them. I thought everyone knew about that. I used it so much that it became way too obvious about what I was doing and the answers I was getting became obvious as well. I'm working on fixing that. Really, I spent one game in the same room trying to figure out the culprit and the weapon, seeing as that was the only room I had. Nice going, me. Nice going. I loved when they played this in the visual novel (Onikakushi-hen, so that would be the first arc). It was hilarious. They played it a different way, though, which made it very complicated. They were using their own names and places around Hinamizawa, too. What I think was the best part, though, was when Keiichi came back from being investigated by Ooishi in the middle of the game and he had been speaking about the Sonozaki family and how Mion could be the reason for the chain of myserious deaths. As he walked back down the hallway, to the club, he thought in his head "There's no way Mion's the culprit!" The moment he walks in, Rena screams "MION'S THE CULPRIT!" which, needless to say, scares the heck out of Keiichi. Really, if only they had included these parts in the anime.

But that's enough about epic board games. My life has been better. My grades have been going up. I got a 90 on my math test, and I got a 90 on the science test I had finished taking when I wrote the beginning of this chapter. I love it when you get a good grade on something you think you didn't do well. It makes me happy. There was this one time last year where I had History quiz, and I literally knew nothing. I just kind of guessed, and I ended up with a 100. I still don't know what happened there.

This is getting too long, and I know you hate reading my ramblings, so I'm just going to tell you to review! If you review, you can get a board game of any kind. If you point out a typo, you can get two board games. If you write a prediction or include what you enjoyed the most about this chapter, you can get three game boards. I like hearing these things from you, really! They make me all happy on the inside. I'll see what I can write tomorrow. So much is going on. I love weekends. I can write, Fate/Zero comes out on Saturdays, Mirai Nikki comes out on Sundays... I mean, what can be better than weekends?

~Crimso