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Ch. 32: Options

"… I have to put an end to this…" Suika grumbled as she lay defiant but defeated.

Right against her back was a peacefully sleeping Kogasa, her face content against the warmth of Suika's booze saturated body, her futon lying empty next to Suika's.

T'ch… Suika tried to carefully pry away the delicate fingers clutched around her midsection, but immediately those delicate fingers tightened like a steel vice. The trap had sensed from the slightest of twitches its quarry's attempt to get away.

"Ah, c'mon!" Suika breathed impatiently, and tried harder to get out of the trap.

"…Nngh…" the trap responded by moving from Suika's midsection to her torso.

"…! C-C'mon…!" Suika breathed erratically, although her efforts to get out were already waning as blood was being drawn away from her muscles to the skin above her jaws.

Slide!

Suika looked up. Reimu was standing in the doorway of her room.

Suika stared. Reimu stared back.

"… H-Help-"

"Well excuse me!" Reimu turned away with a look of disgust and started walking off.

"N-No! Come back! Come back! ! !"

It was early in the morning, five o'clock to be exact. It was unusual for Suika to be up, sombre and clear headed at such a time. In fact, it was probably the first time she was up at such a time. But it would be rather unfair to say that she had woken up when she had not slept at all.

"… Sip… You absolutely sure it's alright for me to be here?" Reimu asked as she drank tea at the table from across Suika. The two were still in Suika's room, with Kogasa sleeping in the futon behind them.

"It's fine, keep me company will you?" Suika sighed and slumped her head on the table.

"Keep you company? You sure those are the words you want to use?" Reimu sipped more tea and raised an eyebrow at Suika.

"What's wrong with them?" Suika looked up wearily and expectantly at Reimu.

"Well… If your mistress wakes up-"

"Shut up."

"Haha… Okay, okay… "

"… Hmph…"

"Sip… What I meant to say was, if your wife wakes up-"

"Shut up."

"Geez, you don't have to get all grumpy in the morning…" Reimu breathed in the delicious scent of green tea, taking great care to relax and slowly steep herself in Suika's frustration. "I mean… I heard being mad affects one's libido-"

"Shut up."

"Nnnggh…" Reimu and Suika glanced over to the side. Kogasa was tossing about slightly in the bed, her face bearing an expression of discomfort and anxiety, her hands clutching tight the sheets of the futon.

"Heh… Even in her sleep she thinks about you…" Reimu observed.

A pensive Suika remained silent.

"Oh? Nothing to say to that?" Reimu calmly sipped more tea. "Aren't you going to ask me to shut up or something-"

"Shut up."

"Heh…" Reimu smiled a genuinely warm smile. Sure, it was fun to tease Suika to madness, but it was rather nice to see Suika being more than just a bag of alcohol once in awhile. "You know…" Reimu started, "I think I actually like you better when you're flustered, shows you have emotion…"

"… Sadist."

"Mmmhmm… Hey, you know that you've been looking at her this whole time though, you realize that?" Reimu gazed at the side of Suika's face as it was turned towards Kogasa.

"…! …" Suika recoiled back, grabbed her untouched cup of tea on the table and drank a little irately.

"Hmph… What are you so mad about?" Reimu asked, smiling.

"… I-I don't know…" Suika put down her cup of tea and sighed. "… I-I'm not mad, I'm just…"

"Pissed?"

"… Pissed…"

"Regardless of how you feel, she likes you," Reimu nudged her head in Kogasa's direction.

Suika crossed her arms and looked in the other direction, "Regardless of how she feels, I may not reciprocate," she said stubbornly.

"Well, it is completely and utterly up to you on what you want to do," Reimu acknowledged Suika's point.

"You're damn right it is!" Suika muttered, more to herself than to Reimu.

"And on that note, you know it is the seventh day already, right?" Reimu raised the unavoidable topic.

"… You don't really mean to strictly adhere to the deadline and kick her out, do you?" Suika asked, her voice sounding concerned, although her face was not visible to Reimu.

"… Sigh… No…" Reimu finally put down her glass of tea, now empty, and replied. "The deadline was just meant to put some sense of urgency in you, but… Still, as expected, you've not done anything about it, have you?"

"… I'm working on it, I'm working on it," Suika grumbled, but her sheepish blush gave the true answer away.

"P-Please… You don't have to help me out with that," came a quiet and selfless voice, "I'll be fine on my own."

Suika twisted around to see Kogasa awake and seated upright in her futon, her expression an apologetic one.

"I-I can't afford to inconvenience Reimu-san any longer-"

"No! No, Kogasa!" Suika immediately objected. "You can't! I-We can't just let you go off like that, r-right Reimu?"

"You're absolutely right Suika," Reimu got up and walked to Kogasa's side. "Look, it's strange for me to give such advice to the very youkai I'm specialised in taking out but…" Reimu sat back down on Kogasa's side and placed a hand on her shoulder, her expression serious. "You're a young youkai, without any established grounds. If you go out just like that without protection, it's very likely you'll get attacked by other vicious, less civil youkai."

"B-But!" Kogasa looked at Reimu defiant, "I've been fine so far-"

"That's all luck," Reimu dismissed. "It may have been so because you were unknowingly lingering around the peaceful grounds of the Myouren temple. But what if one day you wandered straight into hostile territory, like that of vengeful spirits?"

"Or zombies," Suika brought up.

"Right, that's always a possibility," Reimu concluded her argument. "Plus, you'll need a living right? Or don't tell me you intend to eat off the land?"

"Th-Then?" Kogasa was unsure of what she should do.

Slide!

"This is where we come in-Ow!" the arrival of Yuugi and Parsee was announced by a big slap to the back of Yuugi's hollow sounding skull by Parsee.

"Stop making so much noise so early in the morning!" Parsee chastised Yuugi.

"S-Sorry… But regardless!" Yuugi stepped forth and pointed at a confused Kogasa with a huge grin, "We have come to help you out!" Beam.

Suika looked from Yuugi to Parsee and back again. "Wh-Where did you guys come from?" she asked perplexed.

"We stayed the night," Parsee explained simply. "But the living room was getting chilly and there was quite a bit of noise coming from here…" Parsee complained.

"Oh, don't be so difficult Parsee," Yuugi said, "I told you that you could go back if you wanted, but you were the one that actually voluntarily stayed. Plus, there was warmth offered to you, but you just didn't want to take it-"

"Th-The warmth you offered me was your body!" Parsee hissed to Yuugi under her breath.

"So… What's so bad about that?" Yuugi whispered back.

"This isn't your house!" Parsee squeaked, but declined to elaborate further as she and Yuugi realized that everyone else was looking in their direction with great interest.

"Ahem! Never mind about that!" Yuugi turned her attention back to Suika. "Listen Suika," Yuugi put an arm around her, "We knew all about the issue of Kogasa not having a place to go to, and we also knew that you were the lazy kind of oaf that probably had yet to come up with a solution-"

"I don't want to hear that coming from you," Suika deadpanned.

"So… We've come up with one for you," Yuugi proclaimed- Ow!

"I," Parsee, trying to override her previous shyness with violence, interjected forcefully upon Yuugi's skull, "I came up with the solution."

"R-Right… Ouch… You came up with the solution…" Yuugi nursed the back of her head. Dang… She got me in the same spot too…

"So… What's this solution?" Reimu brought the conversation back in focus.

"Hmmm… But first, how do you feel about moving in with Suika back to the underground?" Yuugi suggested to Kogasa.

"Moving in with Suika underground?" "M-Moving in back with me? !" Shy Blush. Panicky blush.

"E-Eh… Ah…" Suika hesitantly looked towards Kogasa. "W-Well… I don't mind if she moves in into my old premises, I could always just loan her the house-"

"Yuugi meant live together with you Suika…" Reimu smiled, amused. "You expect the poor girl to hold her own down there in former Hell?"

"W-Well… Um… I-It could be considered as a l-last resort if there r-really is no other-"

"Oh! Oh no!" Kogasa had caught Suika's glimpse of her and had her cheeks buried in her hands, blushing badly. "I would love to live together with Suika in Suika's old home but-"

"K-Kogasa!" Suika sounded exasperated.

"-But… I guess I don't really fancy the underground," Kogasa shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "Sorry Suika."

"N-No! It's fine!" Suika breathed a sigh of relief. "I-I mean… haha… We wouldn't want to force you to live in that dark, dank place right? Ha ha ha…"

Reimu gave Suika a look that said "Shameless".

"Told you so," Parsee said to Yuugi. "Told you she wouldn't like the place."

"Okay, so bad idea," Yuugi admitted. "Then I guess it's your plan then," she looked at Parsee.

"Wait," Reimu thought for a bit, "What about Suika's other old residences?" she purposefully suggested most helpfully.

Suika stared daggers at Reimu. Reimu shrugged, her lips forming a half smirk.

"W-Well…" Suika sighed and gave in, "I know they won't let me go back up youkai mountain," she said after some serious consideration.

"And I think the council of heaven will personally send elite guards after your life if you went back up there," Parsee pointed out.

"Oh yeah… That too… hehe…" Suika rubbed the back of her head guiltily. Well… Heaven learnt an important lesson that day, and that was not to provide an Oni free flow sake. Suika gave a triumphant look towards Reimu, who only tsked at the lost of opportunity to put Suika in a bind.

"Right… So my idea it is," Parsee continued. "Kogasa," she turned towards the karakasa, who had not exactly been following the fast paced conversation, "We underground folk don't have a lot of friends above ground, but there is someone we could try to put you up with," she offered kindly.

"If you're lucky, you might not only get lodgings, but a job as well," Yuugi added. "Plus you'll be living among friends of ours, so we'd know for sure that you're safe!"

"And… Who would that be?" Kogasa asked, curious.

Suika and Reimu glanced at each other. Above ground underground folk? Parsee and Yuugi can only be talking about one person… And that person is…!

"Well… Hehe…" Yuugi rubbed her hands with anticipation, "If there are no objections… then…" she stretched out an arm and gestured to the outside, grinning widely.

"What do you say to a trip to the hot springs! ! !"