Reimu sat at her kotatsu, calmly sipping tea…
"And then Mari- she actually bought- took, took three from me!"
Marisa happily leaned back, also seated at the kotatsu. "I think she's warmin' up to me, ze…!"
Reimu turned to her. "You mean bought. With Hikari's money."
"Urk…" Marisa tensed up.
...Reimu sighed. "Still. She actually thought of seeing you, so you're not bad off."
Marisa sat up. "Ahah… I'd like to think not, any-"
Bam!
A back corner of the shrine's ceiling falls in, a large chunk of debris crashing through the roof.
"Wa-what the hell!?" Marisa jumped to her feet, flinging the kotatsu, and Reimu's tea, to the side.
…
Reimu turned to it, and on closer inspection, it was a crystallized Iku Nagae, sealed in a block of ice.
She then moved to fix the kotatsu, got up, and went to brew more tea.
"...We just gonna ignore that?" Marisa blinked at the fossil.
"Until she thaws out." Reimu decides. "Then we beat her up. Then we beat Tenshi up, if we can find her."
Marisa grins. "O~kay! I'm likin' the sounds of that plan!"
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
Hikari stared off the edge of the pink cloud.
'...That's a long way down…'
...Osamu walks up behind her, and jokingly pats her on the back.
"Eep!" Hikari freezes, and backs away from the edge rapidly.
"Hahaha~!" Osamu is filled with mirth.
'Y-you…'
Hikari hugs herself, taking in the possibility of possibly having fallen.
"You jumped like ten feet!" Osamu exclaimed, grinning. "Du~de…"
'...'
Hikari exaggeratedly stomped up to him.
"...Uh… I'm sor- woah!"
Hikari pretends to lunge at him with a shoving motion and he instinctively curls up to guard himself.
"Woah, woah, shit, geez, it was a fucking joke! Don't joke about shit like… that…" Osamu trailed off, realizing the context of the situation. "...Sorry."
'There we go.'
Hiyori and Marigold looked over at them.
"Hiyori says she's got a teleport spell of her own for us." Marigold announces. "Will you two stop trying to fall off, and get over here?"
'...He started it.'
Hikari and Osamu moved closer to listen to Hiyori, even if her voice was already loud enough to project across the rather quaint cloud.
"Alright," Hiyori spoke, "We need to line up, and form a strong, stable connection with each other. Interlock arms, perhaps."
Hikari blinked. "...Are we going to just be running?"
'Off the ledge, maybe…?'
Hiyori paused. "Not… particularly. If you wanted. I was thinking… well, you'll see. It's not something that requires much room, but it is hard to explain. Expect to slide around a lot, however."
'Okay, she lost me.' Hikari tilted her head.
She moved to interlock her arm with Hiyori, who quickly got the memo and followed.
Marigold interlocked her arm with Hikari's next.
...It took Osamu a moment, but he realized to interlock his arm with Marigold's.
"Ready yourselves, everyone." Hiyori announced. "This will be… bumpy."
'Can't be worse than crashing and breaking our legs, like we usually do.'
Hiyori tried Teleport ß!
Hikari felt her sandals begin dragging against the cloudy surface below her.
'It feels like they're digging into marshmallows.'
Moving in a small circle, seemingly pulled by no obvious force, the party began accelerating, revolving in a larger circle.
'Now I want marshmallows…'
Osamu noticed Hiyori wasn't bothering to move her legs, yet they were still moving. "What the hell's goin' on, here?"
Hiyori might have responded, if she knew the answer.
Once the cycle became dizzingly fast-
KraKoo~m!
They were gone.
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
KraKoo~m!
Back in the middle of a familiar town square, the four skidded to a halt.
Hiyori stopped first, pounding her own sandaled feet into the cobblestone enough to sink into the floor slightly. Hikari piled up behind her, and promptly got smooshed into her by Marigold and Osamu.
'Uuurgh…'
It only took a moment for physics to kick in and throw the three of them back from Hiyori.
Thu-thud.
"...Oof." Marigold managed.
Everyone reluctantly raised from their rather comfy positions on the floor.
Various celestials gazed out at them, but were mostly dismissive or relaxed upon the sight of Hikari.
'My mother really got around, huh?' Hikari just thought about it now, but it was somewhat surreal just how many places her mother had been. 'Including heaven itself, apparently. Come to think of it, my mother probably went to the afterlife more times than is healthy…'
"You know, for a place like heaven," Osamu reflected, "I thought there'd be more hot chicks."
Hiyori gave him a patient stare. "...Figuratively, not literally."
Osamu shook his head. "I don't care! Both versions should have hot chicks! It's heaven!"
Hiyori sighed.
Hikari poked him with her gohei.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
'...Actually, he has a point. If this were really heaven, there'd be sweets instead of diplomats.'
A certain lime-haired friend dashed from the nearby church, swinging the doors wide open. "You're back! That… was a quick vacation!"
'We did everything." Marigold quipped. "It was exciting."
"I know, right? There's the- and the…" He trailed off. "...That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"
Marigold remained silent, casually staring back.
"Hahaha~h… you got me." Lime-friend pointed at her with his fingers, somewhat awkward about the reception.
Hiyori, sensing the rising intent of verbally flambeing the poor, fragile-ego toting man, decided to take charge of the negotiations. "Thank you very much, sir."
He gushed. "O~h, please. You can call me Cervantes!"
'Your name is lime-friend.' Hikari mentally annotates.
Hiyori continued, only after processing his input. "...Alright. Thank you… Cervantes. Would you happen to know how to get to the… the place…" Mentally cursing herself, she turned to the party, an impatient but questioning stare expressing everything essential.
...Hikari waited, but Osamu and Marigold remained eerily quiet, withholding their tongues from lashing out at the poor man.
"You su-"
Hiyori's hand shot to Osamu's face in an attempt to cover his mouth, but she ended up punching him instead.
Bam!
Thud.
"...Uuugh…" He moaned from the floor.
Lime-friend blinked. "Uh… Do you guys, like, need a moment?"
'Guess it's up to me, then…'
Hikari reluctantly spoke. "Uu-uh… A-... Youkai Mountain, how to get there…?"
'Wow. That sucked, even for me.'
She turned to glare at her party members, who responded with indifference and sheepish shrugs.
Hiyori nodded. "Indeed. Youkai Mountain."
"...Well, if you go that'a way," Lime-friend pointed in a direction indiscernible to the party, as they knew not which way was north. "you'll eventually reach the capital, which is just before the mountain."
Hiyori nods. "Thank you, Cervantes, again. I mean it."
"No problem. Just be careful around the capital. They, uh, really, really don't like non-celestials." Lime-friend warns before he heads back into the church.
…
"Not the first time I'll have to deal with discrimination." Hiyori shrugged.
"Ditto." Osamu immediately agreed.
"Mmm." Hikari, too.
'Human villagers gonna be human villagers. Also, Porky, but we apparently don't talk of him, anymore.'
"Kinda." Marigold shrugged.
Hiyori stared over them with interest, but decided to reserve investigations for later. "...Right, let's get moving."
"It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" The orange-haired, senile celestial held up another runic, silver blade.
"Can it, you mangy old coot!" Osamu yelled back at him. The man didn't even bat an eye.
The party continued to platform across various bridges of sky islands, meeting the occasional gaggle of haughty fairies who had thought fighting a team of four capable enough to reach heaven was a smart and calculated move.
The sky truly was a rather beautiful place, that is, when one wasn't paying attention to the fact the ground was so low that it had the horizon's blue hue wash over it.
'I think I'll reminisce about the sky's majestic nature when I'm not about to fall to an equally majestic death.'
There was one particular encounter that stuck in Hikari's mind…
'Because it literally just happened.'
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
"C'mon! Move!"
Hikari pulled Osamu by his arm, dashing across a thin stretch of land as lines of grey danmaku lasers trailed after them.
"Holy fucking shit!" Osamu flailed his limbs wildly, trailing after Hikari as best he could.
Osamu tried PK Freeze γ!
KaKaKa~...
A snowflake pattern of ice crystals formed around one of the fairies.
Blam!
A brutal blast of icy power ruined the fairy.
Pi~chun!
Marigold trailed closely behind, hyped up on Offense Up and eager to test the microwave capacity of fairies.
Her amber beam trailed across the daytime sky.
Pi-Pi-Pi~chun!
In a way, she was returning the barrages of lasery goodness the fairies were bestowing upon them, except in a more lethal manner. Marigold made sure to only attack the leftmost rabble of fairies, however.
This is because Hiyori was taking the scenic route.
Pi~chun!
Along the right group of fairies, Hiyori was hopping along them, either grappling off them or simply leaping from their shoulders to get ahead.
'Ouch!'
A grey danmaku laser clipped Hikari's leg, causing her to stumble. She regained her balance within moments, still continually dashing forward to escape the fresh new hell of lasers each segment of the path had in store for them. Fairies relentlessly dove from a nearby, large cloud.
'The next town's right there, too…!'
Marigold got stricken here and there by the beams, but other than rips on her clothes, she seemed no worse for wear, nor any more disheartened from it.
"Yea~h!" Marigold sweeped the beam into the cloud over them, killing numerous fairies prematurely.
It may have just been the Offense Up talking, though.
It wasn't long before they reached the town's gate, Hiyori bounding inside with the rest of the party in tow.
'...Hold on.'
Hikari stopped, went back, and shut the gate.
'There.'
…
Hiyori took a deep breath. "That… was a work out."
'...Marigold would probably comment on how dangerous that was if she wasn't hyped up on violence.'
Marigold grinned up at the cloud of fairies that was quickly breaching the gate.
'Wait, what!?'
Cloud fairies were quickly breaching the gate, in a cloud formation… which is lingo for 'completely disorganized'.
Hikari looked at her party members to gauge the severity of this situation.
'Osamu's about to crap himself,' His eyes were wide, and he backpedalled slowly.
'Marigold's… still violent.' Marigold was still grinning.
"Hiyori…' She cracked her knuckles, and took a combative stance.
Hikari decided it was time to show off her trump card.
'Nothing gets more fantastical than four ragtag misfits fighting space fairies in heaven.'
Hikari tried PK Fantasy ß!
The storm of technicolor terror was upon the fairy horde.
Fizzle!
Particles tore through the fairy ranks like butter, creating a mesmerizing, seizure-inducing surge of colors through the sky.
Fizzle!
They were almost all completely gone by the time the second wave rolled by. Hikari's party members stared at the sky in awe.
Hikari shot her left arm forward.
FwOwOwOw!
A technicolor polygon was cast forth to smite exactly one unlucky fairy, who decided if this was the way to go, she might as well attempt attacking the attack itself.
Her fist met the magic.
Pi~chun!
Hikari shot her right arm forward.
FwOwOwOw!
That one, however, missed entirely.
'I don't know where that one was going…'
Hikari closed her eyes, and opened them again.
Fwaaa~sh!
The final blast of psychic energy wiped the floor with any stragglers, the loud 'Pi~chun!' that resulted making Hikari reach for her ears instinctively.
'Even when you can kill hordes of them at a time, fairies still find ways to be annoying…'
…
"...Wow." Hiyori allows herself some awe. "That… is that the power of a Hakurei?"
Hikari turns to her. "Mmm."
'Now I'm a lot more tired than I was before…'
"...I have a long way to go in the arts of the arcane." Hiyori reflected. "I was at first curious, as to why you seemed to not engage in combat as often… but now, I understand."
'Somewhat. I'm too tired to bother, though...'
Osamu grinned, elbowing Hiyori in jest. "Dude, you shoulda seen her do it the last few times! Shit's cash."
'...What kind of expression is that?' Hikari was slightly puzzled by Osamu's speech.
Hiyori completely missed the elbowing, but noticed him speak. "...I'm sure it was a feat."
Hikari took a moment to pan her gaze around the new sky island they stood on, which was perfectly rectangular and had no vegetation or dirt on display. The floor, instead of a chunky cobblestone, was a smooth marble, the buildings a dull beige.
Celestials gathered outside once again at the commotion stirred up by the party.
'We've probably disturbed the peace of about ten different towns by now.'
From the crowd, yet another mayor emerged, as had become the standard whenever the party rose a ruckus upon arrival to a town.
"Everyone, be quiet!"
The blue-haired mayor's loud voice boomed, as he emerged from the crowd. Murmurs very promptly drew to a halt.
"...State your business, Hakurei." He folded his arms, giving the party a glare.
'I noticed the fancier these towns have gotten, the meaner the mayors have gotten.'
"Travel." Hikari gave her go-to excuse.
…
The man closed his eyes, as if contemplating.
…
"If such is true, then you need simply to leave." The man opened his eyes again. "There is plenty of air for you to travel down below."
'That's new. The last one just begrudgingly let us pass.'
Hiyori stepped forward. "Sir-"
"You hold your tongue, Oni! Escorted by the Hakurei or not, this is a conversation between me and her. Do not interfere."
Hiyori shrugged.
Osamu chuckled. "Geez. Breathin' air up here's some pretty serious business, huh?"
The man frowned. "Hakurei, if you are simply here to harass the citizens of Heaven, then I advise you to turn back."
...Hikari elbowed Osamu. "Hey!"
'Hmm… What does he want to hear from us, exactly?'
"Why can we not simply pass?" Hikari questioned.
The man's eyes narrowed. "What business have you with the capital? That is all there is to see past this town, and I intend to prevent them from being disturbed, if I can help it."
'Uuh… The main idea is just passing through, but that's apparently not something that happens up here. Although…'
Hikari stared at the mayor. "I… have to warn them about something urgent."
Her party members looked at her curiously.
The man jerked his head back. "Urgent? What could possibly be urgent that we don't already know?"
'Good question.' Hikari paused again. '...This other mayor said something I feel like I should remember…'
…
"I'm waiting." The mayor sighed impatiently.
'I hope this works…'
"It's about the 'eldest daughter'." Hikari guessed.
…
"Yeah? What about her?" The man narrowed his eyes, suspicious.
'I'm getting somewhere, maybe, and I don't know where.'
"She's… missing?" Hikari almost asks as a question, instead of as an answer.
"You sound unsure." The man observed.
'Actually…!' Hikari held herself from grinning.
"Yeah, because I saw her earlier. I was wondering how she could be missing, then."
The man froze.
…
"Very well. You may pass to the capital to tell them what you told me. But…" He glares at the party again. "I will come with you."
'Oh. Great.' Hikari rolled her eyes.
The entire party had a similar reaction to express their distaste. Though the expression irked the mayor, he decided not to comment on it.
The mayor turned to the crowd of celestials.
"...What're you all looking at? There's nothing to see here!"
They all began going about business as usual, dispersing back into official looking buildings, or moving back to previous seats at tables.
The man moved for the opposite gate, and beckoned for the party to follow. "Come."
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
The path between the two perfect blocks of marble in the sky was far more tourist friendly in comparison to the rather scenic and downright fatal obstacles courses that bridges the islands together.
That is to say, this path was simply a bridge, composed of a beige stone.
Hikari and her party followed the man, albeit keeping good distance.
"What a tool." Marigold decided. "...And I would be one to know tools."
Osamu grinned. "Dude needs like, anger management. And I know anger!"
Marigold gave him a flat stare.
"...What? S'there somethin' on my face?" Osamu quickly grew uncomfortable from the stare.
"No, I was just marveling at your inability to craft a unique joke." Marigold quipped.
Osamu frowned. "Well, shit- look, how's this for ya?"
He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, mayor guy!"
'Oh, no…' Hikari turned to Osamu, ready to inflict violence.
The mayor stopped, and turned, bringing his steely gaze back to Osamu. "...What?"
"What kinda stupid incomprehensible name do you- ouch!" Hikari jabbed her gohei into Osamu's stomach, forcing him to cringe. "Ghh…"
The man gave Osamu a stern, intense glare, but Osamu was too busy being in pain to notice.
"...I am called Azizmodan. Short for Azizmortiemerzandor, the fifth, and last."
'...Okay, Osamu wasn't wrong. That's a pretty stupid name.' Hikari gave an awkward half-grin.
The mayor turned back around. "Remember it well."
'How could we? All I'm going to remember was that it was big, and had the letter Z.'
…
Hiyori turned to the party once the mayor worked up a good pace again. Specifically, she glared at Osamu. "That was rather uncalled for."
Osamu gave a grin and a shrug. "Well, how's that for original, huh?"
Marigold sighed. "All that just to prove a point…?"
...Osamu slumped. "Well, when you put it that way, you make it sound bad."
Hikari suddenly focused on how incredibly slow the mayor was actually going. 'Come o~n, this path isn't that long, even. There's no obstacles, either.'
"That's because it is bad." Marigold states.
After a few wasted moments, the mayor reached the gate to the capital. He took out a silver key from a necklace around his neck, and inserted it into the lock.
Cli-click.
'It's not even that high of a gate. If we went around the fence, we could climb it individually.'
It swung open smoothly, and without noise. Azizmodan turned to make sure the party didn't jump off the bridge on him, or something. "The capital building will be the third from the right."
The party followed him in. The capital building was indeed the third from the right. It was also the biggest building on the entire sky island.
'I don't think that needed to be pointed out.'
In addition, Azizmodan continued to the capital building himself, rendering any sort of direction useless.
The party quietly observed the surroundings of tall-ish buildings and rather bland decorations. The most notable of which were either rather generic yet still themed flower pots, or the outdoor tables, which too, were a plain beige.
'I don't think it could have killed to use something that wasn't a shade of yellow.'
Glancing around, Hikari saw there was another bridge on the opposite end of the capital island.
Moving up to the large, court-styled building, Azizmodan once again turned to address the party. "We are about to speak in front of the royal family of our findings, Hakurei."
'Our findings?'
"It would be wise if your acquaintances would hold their tongues during the proceedings. The royal family is far harsher on insolent mortals than I am." Azizmodan warned them.
'Right.' Hikari wasn't sure how much more strict one could get.
Azizmodan faced the doors once more, and pushed them open.
A murmur quickly met the ears of the party, two stands to the left and right of the room ahead filled with rather eccentrically dressed individuals. They all quieted down on their own, noticing the five enter the room.
In the center of the room, there were multiple, very tall chairs, accompanied by very tall podiums in front of said chairs.
'How do they get down from those?'
…
'Right. They fly. Stupid question.'
The man at the podium, who was also of blue hair, slammed his gavel down, even though it was quiet already.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
"Azizmortiemerzandor. What news, do you bring us?" The man's voice echoed across the courtroom-esque establishment.
'How do you even spell that?'
Azizmodan glanced at the floor, then back up at the guy on the really tall chair. "I have brought individuals who claim to have located the Eldest Daughter's whereabouts."
Gasps were audible throughout the room.
"...I see." The regal man nods. "Very well. Let the Hakurei speak, and she shall speak alone, unless imperative."
'Figures.' Hikari cleared her throat. "Ahem…"
…
"R-right," Hikari began, "She was on some pink cloud, taking a nap."
'Smooth.'
…
A quiet murmur developed amongst the stands.
"Pink cloud?" He tilted his head. "...I've never heard of such a thing."
'Yeah, okay.'
"Tell me… did she have another individual with her?" The man inquired neutrally.
"Mmm." Hikari nodded. "Some girl in frilly clothes."
The man's eyebrows raised, and he nodded slowly. "What was she doing?"
"Sleeping." Hikari summarized.
'Hopefully not in a million tiny pieces back down on the surface. I don't think super glue brings people back to life.'
The man on the podium jerked his head back, while the murmurs grew louder.
"They… they were both sleeping." He tilted his head, not liking the sound of such a phrase. "...In what manner?"
"Peacefully." Hikari elaborated.
The murmuring continued.
"Well- hrm…" The man tapped his podium. "...Describe to me, in detail, the positions they were both sleeping in."
'What. Why…? For what-... oh. Oh. O~h. They think...'
The audience turned to the man in somewhat disbelief.
'...Hmm. I've got options, here.'
Hikari stared up at the podium attendee idly, contemplating her next move of action.
"...Your silence is not reassuring."
'I suppose I'll just make up something believable.'
"They were sleeping next to each other. Just kinda… splayed out on the cloud. Probably staring at the sky, or something."
...The man nodded. "Oh. Well. Good."
The audience murmured further. The man glanced around, and began glaring. "Order in the court!"
Clack! Clack! Clack!
"...She was always carefree, that one." He sighed. "...You've taken a burden off my mind, Hakurei."
'Carefree.'
He gave Hikari a curious glance, but shook his head. "...I know I say this all the time, but you may call me Lord Hinanawi. Just on the off chance you forgot."
'...That's the first time I've heard it.'
"You may leave, now." Lord Hinanawi saw them off. "That goes for you, too, Azizmortiemerzandor. You're the mayor of sector three, yes?"
Azizmodan nodded. "Yes, sir."
"To your duties, then."
With that, the five left the courtroom of a different sort.
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
The party parted from Azizmodan without any words exchanged.
"Finally." Osamu exhaled. "All that standin' still was givin' me a headache…"
Hiyori looked at Osamu, amused. "That's a worrying lack of discipline."
"You say that as if he has any." Marigold comments idly.
The party passed the sky bridge ahead, managing to clear it in under a minute without any stuffy escorts. Ahead was a barren sky island, with flowers, grass, and rocks.
"Jarring." Hikari notes.
A walk across it allowed the party to see the tip of a rock poking into the clouds below.
"Seems like the mountain." Marigold observed. "...That's still a drop, though."
'We'd probably break everything if we just jumped. We need at least our necks to patch ourselves back together.'
Hiyori stared down at the mountain top. "I'm pretty sure that's not a bad drop."
Osamu snorted. "Yeah, well, you're an oni. We're like, squishy. We break legs falling a few feet."
"Huh." Hiyori blinked. "In that case, I could just hold all of you again."
"I'm gettin' the deluxe seat, then." Osamu moved up to her side.
Marigold's brow rose. "As opposed to?"
"Holding onto her waist for dear life." He elaborates. "That sucked."
Hiyori holds her arms out, Marigold and Osamu moving to get lifted by her arms.
Osamu tries to look at Hikari from his awkward angle. "Alright! Have fun down there!"
...Hikari climbs up Hiyori's back, and grabs onto her horns. Then, she bounces up a bit and slides her legs onto her shoulders.
"...Well, shit." Osamu deflated.
'I probably should have asked first.'
"Does this hurt?" Hikari asks her oni companion.
"Hah." Hiyori grins. "No way. Clever thinking, I must admit."
They were ready to jump.
"Alright. Everyone good?" Hiyori checks.
"Yea~h." Osamu sounds.
"Mmm." Marigold hums.
"Yeah." Hikari nods.
Hiyori leapt from the sky island, and they plummeted towards the mountain top like a boulder.
'Woah!' Hikari felt the dreadful sensation of falling run up her spine, even though she knew she'd be fine.
As quickly as it began, it was over.
Bam!
...Hiyori was halfway embedded in the rock. Hikari felt herself press against her shoulders.
'Ouch. Even I felt that…'
The oni let the other two step out of her arms and onto the rock. Hikari climbed off, as well.
Then, she simply stepped out of the earth, using her arms to help herself break from the rock.
"...A bit rougher than I thought." Hiyori brushed herself off.
Osamu chuckled. "I'm tellin' ya, you're made outta rocks, dude."
Hikari took the moment to take in the sights of the top of Youkai Mountain. From here, she could see a vast majority of Gensokyo, even if she couldn't make out her mother's shrine from this far away.
'It's really damp up here, too. Probably because of the clouds.'
Marigold looked over the view, as well. "...That's a lot more manageable to look at, now that I don't have to worry about falling to my doom."
Hikari grinned. 'She's not wrong.'
"There's a trail this way." Hiyori proceeded forward, moving onto a noticeably smooth path that cut through the ragged rock.
'It's still pretty steep, though.'
The party precariously half-slid down the trail of dirt, until they reached a flat plateau of sorts. Upon this plateau was a shrine.
'This high up?' Hikari was vaguely surprised. '...Right. This is the Moriyas, isn't it?'
"I'm not gonna ask who the hell made a shrine up here." Osamu rose his hands neutrally. "I'm just glad for it."
Quickly, the party navigated to the front of the shrine, and opened the front door.
Inside sat a tall woman with purple hair, and a small girl with long, blonde hair. Both were seated at a kotatsu, drinking tea.
'Kanako Yasaka, and Suwako Moriya.' Hikari recalled. 'My mother told me they were… unique, but devious.'
Kanako blinked. "...Oo~h? Reimu's daughter? What an unexpected face…!"
Suwako beamed. "He~y! She's brought friends, too!"
Kanako stood from the kotatsu, walking leisurely towards the party. "So, what's the occasion? Running away from home? Sent to rough us up?"
'Uu~h…'
Hiyori was the one who spoke. "We're simply passing through."
Kanako folded her arms. "Aa~h. Why not stay for some tea, then? I'll go fetch Sanae…"
With that, Kanako stepped into one of the back rooms.
"...I was told she was less personable than that." Marigold added once she was gone.
"Hahaha…" Suwako laughs. "Yeah, she is."
"Oh." Marigold nods, slightly confused.
"Here's the secret." Suwako gestures for Hikari to lean closer, only for her whole party to clumsily attempt to get close to Suwako.
'I don't think we all needed to push each other until we nearly fell into her.'
Suwako grinned. "...She's just-"
A door slid open, and from it Kanako stepped out, a shrine maiden following behind her. Everyone snapped back into normal places whilst Kanako was still paying attention to the other girl.
'Sanae Kochiya.' Hikari recalled. 'She was nice.'
"Kanako~sama, I was showing my friend around…" She whined.
"Well, it can wait." Kanako refuted. "You have some other friends waiting for you."
Sanae scanned the unfamiliar faces, until she eventually saw Hikari.
"Hikari~!" She quickly plopped the tea down on the kotatsu, and flew over it to glomp Hikari in a hug.
"Oof." Hikari monotoned.
"How'd you even get up here!?" Sanae giddily requested. "Nevermind that, I gotta show you my things, now that you're finally here! Come on!"
Sanae broke the hug and ran out of the room, towards her room.
"Sanae- wait!" Kanako called out for her. "...Damn- I mean, darn." She sighed.
Suwako giggled. "You messed up, Kanako~! The Hakurei miko knows you swear, now! Your plan's all over!"
Kanako suddenly gave her an intense glare. "Silence, Moriya."
Suwako just grinned in response.
...The party awkwardly stared at the visibly angry Kanako for a few moments. Then, Kanako smiled again. "So! We should drink this tea, before it gets cold."
Hikari nods. "Right…"
Marigold brings up something she remembered. "I heard something about sleep charms being offered here?"
Kanako nodded. "Oh, yes! Hikari, do you and your friends want some?"
Marigold scoffed, being the one who actually asked her the question.
"Free? Sure." Hikari nodded.
"Of course it's free! Anything for you." Kanako got up. "Give me a moment…"
She went into the backrooms again.
…
"I find her demeanor suspicious." Hiyori sounded her thoughts.
"Yea~h." Marigold agrees. "I'm getting the feeling she's just trying to kiss up to you, Hikari."
'Is she?'
Osamu appeared surprised. "She is?"
Marigold rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Did you see her reaction when-"
Kanako stepped back into the room, sliding the door shut, which prompted Marigold to stop talking.
"Alright… I could only find two." Kanako admits.
Suwako smirks. "As free samples."
"Hush." Kanako scowls down at her. "One for you,"
Hikari catches hers.
"And, uhm…" Kanako looks around the others. Marigold holds her hands open.
"You, I guess."
Kanako tosses it at Hiyori, and it bounces off her chest.
Marigold scoffs again, before moving to pick it up off the floor.
Hikari obtained Charm of Sleep!
Marigold obtained Charm of Sleep!
Slowly nodding, Hikari begins inching towards the door to the backrooms. "I think I'm just going to go see what Sanae's up to…"
Kanako pouted. "What? C'mon… Tell me some stories, please?"
…
"No." Hikari decided, now casually walking to the door, her party members following.
Kanako's brow twitched as the four progressed further into the shrine, Hiyori closing the door behind them.
…
"Good job." Suwako complimented. "Hikari really loves you."
"Shut up." Kanako props her arms under her head on the kotatsu top. "Why does she seem so… disinterested? You'd figure a young teenage girl like her would have a head full of stars."
"Maybe it's the Hakurei intuition." Suwako added.
"Pftah." Kanako lifted one of the many tea cups she had laid out, and downed the entire cup. "...Besides, what was up with that incredibly docile oni?"
Suwako shrugged, reaching for another cup of tea herself. "That, I don't have a clue on. Two peaceful oni in one day, at relatively the same time? You'd have thought the world was ending."
Kanako snorted. "Mmm. Hopefully Sanae doesn't scare that miko off. I'm not done with her, yet."
Suwako swirled her tea around. "I dunno. She seems pretty done with you."
"Shut up."
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
Sanae's room was full of confusing outside world technology, Hikari found.
"This is my computer!" Sanae beamed. "It's my pride and joy…!"
Marigold tilted her head, slowly getting closer to it. "...How does it work?"
Sanae shrugged. "Eheh… I was never into building them, really. I really dunno."
Marigold scowled at her.
Osamu stared at it, along with the plethora of other unrecognizable controllers, wires, and rectangles with buttons. "What the hell even is half of this crap…?"
Meekly, Sanae retreated back a bit. "U-uhm…" Sanae gestured to the boxes. "These are my gaming consoles…? It-it's hard to explain…"
==== GENSOKYOBOUND: HIYORI'S VIEW ====
On the far end of the room, Hiyori approached the other friend Sanae had over that day.
'...This feeling…'
Her eyes ran up and down the pink-haired girls figure, glancing at the two hair buns, the bandaged arm, and the shackle on her left arm, before finally resting on the girl's eyes, which stared straight back.
'This girl is an oni.'
The girl grinned back. "A little far from home, don'cha think?"
"I could say the same for you." Hiyori countered. "I didn't think I'd see a fellow oni this high up."
The pink-haired oni grinned. "Me either." She held out her hand, taking a glance at the other occupants of the room…
"So," Sanae hovered over Marigold's shoulder. "You use the analog stick to move around!"
"...What's an analog stick?" Marigold flipped the controller upside down, and began reading the text printed on the back.
...The oni's stare returned to Hiyori. "Kasen. Kasen Ibaraki."
As Hiyori's hand went to meet hers for a handshake, she mentally paused.
'Kasen…?' Her eyes briefly broke from Kasen's to scan her features again… 'I can't believe I didn't recognize her sooner.'
"Hiyori." Hiyori introduces herself.
'One of the four devas of the mountain, Kasen Ibaraki. One of the two who fled to the surface, for reasons unknown. That, or reasons lost in a drunken haze.'
"...You're one of the four devas." Hiyori observes.
"Mmm…" Kasen nods. "Considering you've gone this far up, and I somehow don't smell a drop of alcohol on you, I don't really mind you knowing. I know it seems dishonest, but keep it between us, yeah?"
'How contradictory of an oni. I wonder what the rest of them would be like, if they weren't drunk all the time.'
"I've taken up Buddhism." Hiyori tells her openly.
"Aa~h, that's good." Kasen nods. "It's always good to have something you aspire to do, be it religious practices, or other ambitions."
'Indeed.'
"I've been traveling around the surface." Kasen takes her turn to tell her current activities. "Offering advice to those who need it, and occasionally paying the peacekeepers my respects."
She glances over at Hikari, who had gotten her arm sleeves tangled in some wires. "Speaking of which… I have a bit of advice for you."
"Hmm?" Hiyori was curious.
...Kasen's bandaged arm moved to fiddle with the shackle on her other arm. After a little struggle, the shackle opens up, and she removes it from her arm.
She extends her arm, holding it in front of Hiyori.
"Take it." Kasen offers her. "...If my suspicions are true, you're going to need all the preparation you can get."
'...!?'
Hiyori stared at it, and took it.
"Put it on." Kasen instructed her. "Don't worry about breaking it; it won't."
...Gingerly, Hiyori clamps the shackle onto her own left arm, and seals the latch lock.
'...This power…!'
"Like it?" Kasen grinned. "...Us devas all have an item like that. If you know what's best for you, I suggest you find as many as you can."
'There's more…?' Hiyori carefully examined the ordinary looking shackle.
"The fourth deva…" Kasen sighed. "She's still down in old Hell, somewhere."
Hiyori's eyes widened. "Really…?"
"Mmm." Kasen nodded. "I think, anyway. I'm not really sure where, though. My best guess is the ruins along the edges of old Hell. Her name is Konngara. That's all I can really give you."
'Huh…' Hiyori glanced at the shackle again.
Kasen walked up to her, and patted her on the shoulder. "Good luck, and all that."
Hiyori obtained Shackle of Devas!
...Hiyori smiles, looking up at Kasen. "Thank you."
==== GENSOKYOBOUND: MARIGOLD'S VIEW ====
Marigold stared at the computer screen, mystified.
"...What's a car?" She questioned, almost breathlessly.
'So much information to take in…!'
...Sanae awkwardly stood behind her as Marigold rapidly clicked through Wikipedia pages.
"Nothing on quadcasting theories? Good, because they're boring, but at the same time… how?" Marigold carefully looked between the keyboard and the screen.
Hikari stopped fiddling with controllers nearby and approached Marigold's side. "This thing lets you search for anything, right?"
Sanae scratches the back of her head. "Uhm, almost! Some things are just too specific, and Yukari actually blocks certain pages!"
'Hmm? Something we shouldn't know?'
"Like what?" Marigold questioned.
...Sanae shrugged.
'Figures.'
…
Marigold searches for 'strongest weapon'.
…
"What's a 'Tsar-Bomba'?" Marigold wondered aloud.
Sanae's eyes widen. "Maybe you uh, shouldn't…"
Osamu looks up from a controller he was attempting to make sense of. "Hey, can you search for chicks on that thing?"
Marigold scoffed. "Such a wealth of knowledge, and your first instinct is perversion?"
"...Yes." Osamu nods.
"I-I mean, you could…" Sanae blushed. "B-but I wouldn't! Don't look up stuff like that on my computer!"
"What would you even search?" Marigold audibly wonders.
"N-no!" Sanae weaves past her and leans over the keyboard. "I won't let you!"
"I'm not, I'm not." Marigold waves in annoyance. "Get out of the way."
"A-ah…" Sanae gets off the keyboard.
Osamu shrugs, expression neutral. "Yeah, I didn't think so." He paused, and brought his hand to his chin. "I'd like one of them computer things myself, though…"
'I don't think you'd be able to use it without practice. I'd like to know how this device really works...'
Sanae looks at him. "You're gonna have to ask Yukari-san to help you with that."
'She won't, by the way, from what I've heard of her.'
Osamu tilted his head. "Who?"
'You'd rather not know, I'm sure.'
"You don't know Yukari?" Sanae's eyes widened. "...I think that's something you should be grateful for."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Osamu furrows his brows.
Hikari speaks up. "Nothing."
He looks at her. "...Who asked you?"
"Me." She defended.
He huffed, propping his arms to his sides. "Geesh. Didn't know she was such a big secret."
"Some doors are best left unopened." Hikari advised him.
"If you say so." He rolls his eyes.
Marigold looks around the table the computer is rested on, observing a few wired objects...
'Hmm… What could this be?' Marigold lifts up a box with a large circular indentation in it.
Sanae notices her curiosity. "That's a speaker! It puts out noise made by the computer."
'...That sounds useless.' Marigold sets it down, disinterested.
"...I-I mean, they play music, too!" Sanae corrects, realizing how bad her first description was. "I usually use headphones instead, though."
'Music? From these things?'
"I would like to know how these things could possibly play music." Marigold requested.
Sanae smiles. "Alright. Move over, so I can type…"
Marigold begins to get up-
"O-oh, no, sit back down." Sanae chuckles. "...Here."
She pushes the chair, and it rolls out of the way.
Marigold's eyes widened, and she looked under the chair.
'...A chair on wheels. Why have I only discovered this now?'
Sanae types in 'Greensleeves piano' into the search engine, and clicks the first result. Then, she fiddles with the sound device settings to set it to play out of the speakers instead of the head phones…
The music was heard throughout the room.
"...Huh." Marigold stares at the stereo.
'That sounds a lot like a real piano… but it's still a bit off. Pretty impressive, regardless.'
Osamu gaped. "Dude, this thing's a piano, too?"
'Of course, someone like him wouldn't know…'
Sanae grins. "I guess…"
Noticing the music, the other two women in the room approach the others, and stare at the computer as well.
The pink-haired woman held her hands together. "Oh, my. You should demonstrate things like this more often. I can make more sense of this than of these… 'video games' as you dubbed them."
Sanae pouted. "Awh… I really want someone to play with, for a change, though…"
Marigold rises from the chair, and moves to look around the room more carefully. Turning to Hikari, she gestures the chair to her.
Hikari shrugs, and moves to sit in it.
'Now, all this technology…'
Marigold wasn't sure what to make of all of the wires, curious objects, and various labels. Most of which seemed to have been labeled in either Japanese or English, she noted.
'What is this?'
She lifted a box, which had a small open slot on the bottom sticking out of it. The box was black and wooden, but the slot was made of some sort of shiny, grey metal.
Staring into the slot, Marigold couldn't see much other than some metal bits, and darkness…
'It's plugged in, so it uses power…' She rotates the box around a bit, but finds nothing other than some pegs to rest it on.
Setting the box down, Marigold looks over to Sanae.
"...You just clicked the 'x' button…" Sanae sighed, defeated.
"...Is that bad?" Hikari glanced at her.
Marigold speaks up to get Sanae's attention. "What does this do?"
Sanae responds instantly, like a moth drawn to light. "Oh! That's…" She takes a moment to recollect. "...Oh, yea~h. Kanako-sama gave me that a few weeks ago. She told me she had the kappa make it. It's some kinda… danmaku box, I think."
'Danmaku box?' Marigold looked puzzled. "How does it work?"
"Oh, it's easy! You can put mana into it, an~d… well, it comes back out as danmaku. There's more to it, bu~t I'm not really interested in it… I-I mean, don't get me wrong, I like playing danmaku, but… the instructions it came with were really complicated!" Sanae whines, raising her hands to her shoulders.
Marigold perks up. "Could you find me the instructions?"
Sanae freezes. "...I have no clue where they would be."
Marigold sighed.
"Sorry…" Sanae's disappointment was palpable.
'...Hmm. I could ask Kanako about it, I guess.' Marigold figured.
"Do you mind if I take it, then?" Marigold asks.
Sanae looked unsure. "U-uhm… Kanako-sama said it was really important. Something about 'revolutionizing danmaku'."
…
Marigold shakes the box, and it rattles slightly.
'Not like that, it isn't.'
...Sanae glances back over at her computer, and her jaw drops. "Whaa~!?"
Hikari had replaced the generic windows background image with a picture of Kanako wrapping an arm around Sanae's shoulders. She held a sake dish in the other hand, and displayed a blushed, uneven expression on her face. Sanae herself, however, looked like she didn't want to be there.
"Wh-where'd you find that picture!?" Sanae dashed to Hikari's side, and began working to undo the change.
"It was in a folder." Hikari provided.
"B-but…" Sanae pouted. "You shouldn't go through other people's stuff!"
Hikari blinked. "...Hey, you were the one that let us use this. You didn't tell us anything about private stuff."
Sanae deflated. "Aah… You're right. I'm sorry, Hikari…"
Out of curiosity, Marigold holds the box up by the external slot-
Snap!
The box rattled as it banged into the floor. Marigold jumped from the noise, and swiftly hid the slot piece behind her back, a rush of energy traveling through her body.
Sanae jumped. "Wh-what happened!?"
...Hiyori, who was watching the exchange, stared at Marigold intently.
Marigold noticed the stare.
'...Oh, boy. I wonder if this is why my mother didn't like oni. The next question is if I'm even in a position to lie at all, though...'
"The box…" Marigold began.
"...Yeah?" Sanae was confused.
"It shook." She stated.
Sanae had a half-grin. "O-okay…?"
Hiyori narrowed her eyes.
'Darn it. We~ll…'
"Because I dropped it." Marigold confessed. "The slot thing broke off. I'm sorry."
…
"Huh." Sanae rose a brow. "...That's pretty cheap for a kappa invention. The metal part snapped off…?"
Crouching, Sanae looked at the box closer, and saw the metal slot piece used to be attached to some inner metal indentations. "...Aa~h, it was a purely magical attachment. But, for it to break like that… it musta been rea~lly sloppy."
'She's not angry, huh...?'
Marigold looked back at Hiyori, who was smiling.
'Honesty wins this time. I guess.' Marigold pouted.
"I guess I'll just ask Kanako-sama for another one." Sanae stood back up. "It shouldn't've costed much if it was this flimsy and cheap, I don't think. I still can't believe the kappa apparently made this…"
Osamu stood from some controllers he was crouched over… "Oh, shit! H-hey!" The wires were tangled around his arms, and he stumbled backwards while trying to fight them.
Controllers clacked against the floor.
Sanae stared at him with tired disdain. "How did you even…?"
Sanae, the pink-haired woman, and Hiyori moved to help him...
...However, he fell backwards into a nearby table before anyone made it to him. "Aaaaa~h!"
==== GENSOKYOBOUND: HIKARI'S VIEW ====
"Come again soon, you hear!?"
Hikari heard Kanako call out to the party as they walked away from the shrine.
'Maybe in the future. The distant, distant future.'
"Visit again soon, Hikari-cha~n!" Sanae waved widely.
The party continued, progressing on the descending trail until the shrine was obscured behind rock.
"...That place was fuckin' weird." Osamu began his list of complaints.
"It wasn't so bad." Marigold argued. "I would like to visit again, if only to properly examine all that technology."
Hiyori eventually added in her opinion. "It was worthwhile."
As the discussion fell into silence, she examined the chain of her new shackle.
'That's new. Do oni wear shackles like bracelets? I'm not entirely surprised.'
…
"So who're those two lazy bimbos in the main room?" Osamu wondered aloud.
Hikari snorted.
"From what I know, they're goddesses." Marigold elaborated. "I mean… I was told they were kinda common knowledge. Do you really not know of the Moriya gods?"
Osamu jerked his head back. "Goddesses? Talk about givin' 'em too much credit… and I thought the Moriya's god was, like… called 'Moriya' or somethin'."
"...Suwako's last name is Moriya." Marigold adds.
"...Oh." Osamu nods. "...So who the hell's Kanako? Her half-god lover or somethin'?"
Marigold sighs. "...Actually, sure. That's totally what it is."
...He smiles. "That's hot, dude."
'Please don't humor him.'
The party continued down the mountainside, trees eventually becoming prominent in the nearby dirt alongside the path.
"...So, when we're talkin' gods, do we mean, like, literally?" Osamu asks. "Like… I don't think a god would-"
"Halt!"
The party freezes, as a figure suddenly stomps down on the dirt path ahead of them.
"You four are in tengu territory. Not only that, but you've somehow managed to get all this way without being detected." She stared flatly at the party, until her eyes ran across Hiyori. "...You even bring an oni with you? What foolishness is this?"
"...We kinda came from heaven." Hikari attempts explaining.
"A likely story." The white-haired wolf tengu narrowed her eyes. "Such a place is even less tolerant of trespassers than the borders of the tengu."
'Well, I tried.'
"We simply wish to pass through." Hiyori tried working her negotiator magic. "We mean no disrespect towards your borders."
...A shifty-eyed stare from the tengu indicated that she was unconvinced. "Bringing an oni this far up is bordering on disrespect in and of itself. Do you know what youkai would think of our border if we just let people pass through, if they asked nicely?"
"...They would leave it alone?" Osamu grinned.
...The tengu frowned. "No. They'd walk all over it, and if we confronted them, they'd just try to 'ask us' to continue infringing, and then we'd appear to be sending mixed signals to the wild youkai."
"Do we look like wild youkai?" Marigold argued.
Frowning, the tengu continued. "...Well, no. Of you, only one is a youkai, and a magi at that. Two of you are human, one a Hakurei, and the other an oni. While I may not see significant objection in letting a peaceful magi pass, allowing humans or oni to infringe on our borders would be extremely poor showing."
"Even a Hakurei shrine maiden?" Hikari tries to pull rank.
"Even a Hakurei shrine maiden." The wolf tengu nodded. "Who, considering her role, should definitely be aware of her boundaries."
Hikari was somewhat surprised. 'Them's fighting words.'
Hiyori took a deep breath. "We simply ask for passage towards the lower cave entrances of the mountain."
"Then go back through heaven, if such a thing were possible, then go around." The tengu shrugged. "Simple."
Hikari spoke up. "Isn't there a factory making robots? That kinda needs to be taken care of?"
"Our military has responded accordingly." She counters. "Even the kappa needn't get involved. Our last estimate was that it would be bested two days ago, but unforeseen setbacks have increased that deadline to this afternoon."
'...Which has probably already passed. I have my doubts that their 'military' actually got anywhere.'
"I would like to check it out." Hikari asserts. "Infact, I am."
The wolf tengu raised her shield and sword. "Halt! I warn you, Hakurei. Do not make me use my blade! I know you are untrained and unready for battle, and the same could be said of nearly every other companion of yours… barring that oni, of course."
'You would think that an oni made up for it.' Hikari frowns. "Well, we need to get through."
…
"Then, I suppose, there's no other way." The tengu twirls her sword, gritting her teeth at the party.
'Talk about stubborn…'
"Momiji Inubashiri. Tengu patrol officer." Momiji introduces herself. "Either you turn back now, or I strike you down."
"Oh, please." Osamu adds his own opinion, sensing negotiations were breaking down. "What're you gonna do? Bark at us to death?"
...Momiji glares.
'Nice going, idiot.' Hikari gives him an exasperated expression. 'If she was just going to arrest us before, she's going to murder us, now.'
Cautiously, the patrol tengu raises her shield, and strafes towards the party…
Hikari raises her gohei cautiously.
"Let's do this!" Osamu grins.
Osamu tried Offense Up α!
Hikari felt strength surge into her body, her muscles growing eager to be active.
"No." Hikari turned to him. "It eats too much of your energy, and it makes me too powerful for my own good."
"So?" Osamu holds his grin. "It's freakin' cool!"
Hiyori marches towards the tengu with a combative stance. As she gets close, the tengu weaves past her.
"Foolish!"
Hikari's eyes widened, and she raises her gohei.
Clo~nk!
A large blade met her enchanted gohei. Hikari was afraid it was going to break from the force with which the tengu pressed her blade into it.
Osamu tried Defense Down α!
"Gh…" The tengu's blade was retracted, and she leapt back over Hiyori, who attempted to grapple her.
"What is this…? Magic?" Momiji examines her arms. "...Useless."
Hikari takes the moment to look at her gohei… 'It's bent. Yikes…'
Her gohei was indeed bent in the middle, now looking marginally more sad than it was earlier.
Momiji tried Offense Up α!
Putting on a brave face, Momiji raised her sword and shield strongly again.
Hiyori heavily steps towards her, which Momiji takes note of.
"Too slow!"
A quick slash met Hiyori, cutting into her gi and leave a small cut across her stomach.
Momiji nods in satisfaction. "About as tough as they told me. It's a shame you have to fight by yourself."
Hiyori appeared confused by that statement- which Momiji used to land another quick slash, giving her another flesh wound that was promptly ignored. "What do you mean, alone?"
"You can't expect those children to be able to help you." Momiji scoffs.
Osamu tried PK Freeze γ!
KaKaKa~...!
Momiji suddenly ceased all movement, and a snowflake pattern of ice crystals began to form around her. She attempted to leap out of it, but they quickly snared her limbs. While she may have been able to fight her way out with a moment to spare-
Boom!
The ice exploded, chilling her, and sending her back a few steps.
"What good did you think ice would do!?" Momiji yelled out, more excited. "I'm a white wolf! Snow never bothered me!"
...Hiyori nods at that.
Hiyori tried PK Fire ß!
Fwoo~m!
A wave of fire washed over Momiji, and the nearby foliage. Flames licked up nearby trees, as well.
"Wh-what!?" Momiji stepped back, eyes wide as her fur began to burn. Then, she began spinning in place, wind whirling around herself. In moments, she was out. "You're a caster?"
Hiyori nods. "It has been a long road."
...Hikari looked a little anxious at the spreading forest fire. 'Um…'
Momiji looked around at it, as well. "...You've lit the forest! You neanderthal!"
Marigold snorted at the diction.
"Oh, boy…" Osamu stared at the fire nervously.
Osamu tried PK Hydro γ!
A whirling maelstrom of water formed over the battlefield, numerous water shurikens raining down from it and also dispensing water. In short, everything was doused.
...Hikari parted her hair from her face. 'This doesn't help on a rather chilly mountainside…!'
The spell ended within a few moments, the torrential downpour coming to a close.
"...Surprisingly competent water spell." Momiji admitted. She then shook herself vigorously, water becoming launched from her fur. "It does you no good, however."
Hikari sighed. 'I should really do more than just stand around during battle…'
Hikari tried Shield ß!
Hiyori was protected by the power shield of light!
Momiji's eyes narrowed.
She took another slash, and it was slowed incredibly by the shield, the slash failing to scratch Hiyori's gi.
Upon leaving away, a beam of light shot from the power shield.
"Huh!?"
The beam swiped across her, leaving a slice across her stomach, where she tried to cut Hiyori.
"Aagh!" She yelled out, clutching the cut. "A holy shield…?"
Hikari waved.
"...But it's not a Hakurei shield." Momiji noted. "What…?"
Marigold took this moment to shoot a flurry of bullets from her NF Burst Gun. Momiji leaped back after a few struck her by surprise.
"A danmaku game, is it?" Momiji grins. "Very well, then. Dog Sign, Rabies Bite!"
Two walls of danmaku were formed around the party, bearing red and yellow bullets formed in a jaw-esque pattern.
"Oh, shit." Osamu's eyes widened. "We're gonna need some fuckin' magic shields, stat!"
Osamu tried PSI Shield Σ!
Hikari, Osamu, Marigold, and Hiyori were all protected by the psychic energy shield!
Hiyori's power shield was overwritten.
The walls of danmaku proceeded to slam into them, forcing everyone to flinch from the numerous bullets.
"Ugh…" Hikari winced.
Momiji blinked. "...You're all supposed to dodge the bullets."
'I just want this encounter to end, now.'
Another set of danmaku walls formed.
Hikari tried PK Flash ß!
Fwaa~sh!
"A-ah!?"
The spell card was broken instantly. Momiji stumbled back, clutching her face. "Wh-... A powerful dispel?"
'Hnn…' Hikari was beginning to feel the mental strain from casting excessively without rest.
Hiyori tried PK Freeze ß!
Osamu tried PK Freeze γ!
KaKa-KaKaKa-KaKa…!
The loud cracking of ice and rapid development of ice crystals quickly suspended Momiji in place.
Kra-Boom!
The resulting icy blast froze Momiji solid.
…
"Tengu are faster than I remember." Hiyori sighed. "Or, perhaps, simply wiser."
"That's so not far." Osamu argued. "Why're they so freakin' fast? Just 'cause they're animals?"
Marigold stared at him vainly. "Have you seen a wolf run before?"
"...No." Osamu folded his arms. "How fast are they?"
"You have no place to argue." Marigold grins. "...They're fast, by the way."
"Well." Osamu scratches his head. "...What if they weren't? What then?"
'Asking the important questions, here.' Hikari is amused.
"...But they are!" Marigold giggled. "Wh-what are you on about…?"
The party continued forward, leaving the frozen tengu on the mountainside trail.
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
"Let's avoid the tengu village, if at all possible." Hiyori suggested.
They were deep enough into the mountain to once more not know where they were exactly going, but they knew 'down' was a recommended direction.
"If we knew where it was." Marigold added.
"I believe I do." Hiyori states, carefully considering where it might be. "We shouldn't run into it unless we tried. It's upon the depths of the largest foothill, so we should be alright just making a path straight down."
'Although…'
"We're not here just to go down." Hikari reminds everyone. "We need to find that factory."
"I've been walking us towards the kappa village." Hiyori tells the party. "They should hopefully be able to point us in the right direction."
'Oh, cool.' Hikari is satisfied.
"Who were the kappa people again?" Osamu tilted his head. "I don't hear a lot about 'em in the village…"
"They invent stuff." Marigold smiles.
"Do they make computers that let you look at chicks?" Osamu grins.
"...I'll give you a hard 'maybe'." Marigold compromises. "If they did, they'd charge you extra, though."
"Oh, right. Stuff, uh... costs money…" His grin becomes sheepish.
Within moments, they arrive near a line of curious metal houses. Slanted roofs and sleek metal are the aesthetically pleasing front some put off, while others are very blatantly rusty sheet metal atop moldy, rough wooden posts.
Past this line of houses is a lane where more wildly varied homes sit, along with multiple creeks that interrupted the path multiple times. Simple bridges were laid across the creeks with planks of wood.
'If Marigold ran a town, it would probably look like this.' Hikari considered. 'High-tech, but at the same time, disorganized and run down.'
Walking through the village, the few kappa who are outside stop and stare at them, then continue on about their business.
"We're not getting mauled on the spot..." Osamu observed. "I think we're makin' great progress!"
'I know, right? This is probably the least weird place so far.'
While passing a sheet metal awning, the party stopped to observe a green-haired kappa kneeling at some evenly laid out pieces of metal, which were all splayed out across a rug.
"...Hi." Hikari introduced herself.
The kappa ignored her.
"...I wanna ask you questions."
The kappa glanced at her, but went back to inspecting a chunk of metal she was interested in.
Hiyori had a half-grin. "They're… not incredibly sociable people."
'At least they're not trying to put us in court, or stab us.' Hikari reflected.
The sun began setting on the horizon, but the mountain's side was still illuminated.
Continuing through the town, the party was eventually greeted by a blue-haired kappa, who carried a gigantic blue backpack on herself.
"...H-hey…" The kappa meekly began, "You're… Re-Reimu's daughter, right?"
Hikari blinks. "...She's even known here?"
The kappa nods. "Ye-yeah. I'm Nitori, a friend."
'Friendly.'
…
"A~nd?" Osamu prompts her to continue.
Nitori works up the courage to continue. "A-ah, it's getting dark… Would you four like so-somewhere to stay tonight?"
Hikari shrugs.
...Marigold gives her a glance, then looks at Nitori. "Preferably, yes."
The kappa makes a subtle fist-pump. "...O-oh, right, follow me…" Nitori gestures for the party to follow.
They eventually divert from the town proper and travel down the side of one of the creeks.
"Most of us don't really live in the town, really…" Nitori responds to a possible question they could have had. "It's just there as a sort of reference point… and sometimes a testing ground."
"...I'm not sure what to think about that." Hikari admits.
Nitori giggles.
Eventually, they come up to a pool of water.
"Can any of you swim?" Nitori asks.
Hikari pauses. "...Not at all."
Osamu shrugs. "Nope."
Marigold shakes her head. "Not really."
...Hiyori also shakes her head. "I don't think I really need to…? I can hold my breath for awhile."
Nitori shakes her head, mouth agape.. "None of you do!? That's terrible!"
'Eheh…'
Then, Nitori smiled. "...It's a good thing I had an elevator installed around the back. Over here."
Leading them around the rock behind the deep, dark pool of water, there was indeed a platform-based elevator.
Nitori stepped onto it. "...Go ahead, guys, step on. It won't drop us! It hasn't done that for two straight days, now!"
Hikari's brows furrowed.
"...It's safe." Nitori assured again.
Reluctantly, the party stepped onto the elevator.
Nitori turned, and pressed a few buttons on the platform's terminal. "Oka~y… Here we-"
The platform drops abruptly.
"Go~!"
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
Bam!
The platform stops just as abruptly. The darkness of the elevator shaft was broken by a soft blue glow coming from the room outside of it.
Everyone except Nitori and Hiyori fell over, balance mutilated by the speed that they fell. Nitori was holding onto the terminal to keep hers, and Hiyori was simply unaffected.
"...It's a little rough." Nitori admitted. "I don't use it much, except for if I have to get parts around or get people who can't swim down here."
"...Just a little rough." Marigold huffs, getting back onto her legs.
"Gee~z…" Osamu clambers back up.
They followed Nitori into the dim room ahead. Soft blue lights shone from fixtures on the walls.
"How do you like the LED lighting?" Nitori grinned.
'The what lighting?'
"...It's cool, I guess." Hikari answers, despite not knowing what she was exactly agreeing to.
'It's a little too dark in here, though…'
"Guest bedrooms are i~n…" Nitori paused, looking down the hall ahead. "...The first right door I think? Yeah…"
To confirm her own suspicions, she continued to the door herself and opened it up.
"...O-oh!"
She shut the door, and pressed her back up against it.
A muffled explosion was heard on the other end of the door, and it shook lightly.
...
"...That wasn't the guest bedroom, I don't think." Marigold commented.
"Yeah, uhm… that was the timed proximity mine test lab. Sorry." Nitori grimaced. "I thought I turned 'em off… Darn it."
'Timed proximity mine test lab.' Hikari nods slowly… 'I'm not sure if I want to know what that means.'
The kappa proceeded to the door on the left, and opened it. She took a few cautious steps inside, and looked around… "This seems like it. Come on in."
The party followed her in, and noticed it was a very droll looking wooden room, a stark contrast to the metal the hallway was made of.
"I made it more natural-ish to appeal to people who aren't kappas. They don't like sleeping in rooms made of solid metal, for some strange reason." Nitori shrugged.
...Hikari noticed something peculiar. "If we're underground, why are there windows?"
Nitori paused. "...Oh, right! Those. They're not, actually. You'll just see sorta natural lightning come from them. If you actually opened the windows- not that you can- you'd just see lights. That's why they're super foggy."
"...I don't even know how this can be a thing." Osamu was awed by the technology. "Like… how much magic freakin' went into this place?"
"This room? None." Nitori smiled. "...My whole home, though? A lot."
"...Huh." Osamu nodded, bemused.
Nitori looked around the room, and clapped her hands together. "Alright, anyone got any further questions?"
'Not particularly.'
At the lack of responses, Nitori nods. "I'll be sure to evacuate you guys if any of my experiments go too wrong!"
'That's not reassuring…'
The door clicks as the kappa leaves the room.
…
"We~ll…" Osamu walks up to one of the many beds in the long, rustic style room. "Normally, I'd peek around a bit, but uh…"
"Timed proximity mine testing lab." Marigold repeated, grinning.
"Exactly. Fuck that." Osamu shook his head, plopping down on the bed.
Hiyori neared a bed herself. "I suppose all of that excessive magic use earlier has drained me of my energy…"
'I've gotten pretty tired, too…' Hikari moved towards a bed, herself.
Marigold noticed her friends retiring to bed. Having dissonant thoughts, she moved to one of the nearby tables, and put her backpack on it.
"Not going to bed?" Hikari questioned her.
Marigold nods. "Mmm. I'm not tired yet, myself, so I'm just going to fiddle around with some things."
Osamu snorts. "Don't blow us the fuck up. If I die, I'm gonna haunt your ass."
Hiyori stared at him vainly. "Where exactly did you acquire such a mouth…?"
Osamu paused, and glanced at Hikari. "...Home."
'He totally stole that from me.'
Hiyori grinned, and shook her head.
==== GENSOKYOBOUND: MARIGOLD'S VIEW ====
'Nothing seems to be broken…'
Marigold carefully inspected all her weaponry as her party members dozed off.
'Now, to find out what this thing does.'
She held up the slot piece of the 'danmaku box' she accidentally brutalized prior.
Multiple tests were put in place, scientifically accurate and quantitative tests, to be sure.
...Marigold dropped it on the floor multiple times to see what would happen, which turned out to be nothing at all.
'It doesn't react violently to tumbling. That's a good sign.'
Then, she drew her Air Gun and shot at it.
Klack!
The slot piece was sent flying, but she had noticed a flash of color emit from the part.
'I wonder…'
She sat it on the table, and positioned herself to shoot the part off of it…
Klack!
The part went flying, and the danmaku bullet she shot changed from a grey-ish color to a neon white, glowing brighter, before it struck the wall ahead and fizzled out.
"What the he~ll…" Osamu groaned from his bed.
'...Maybe I shouldn't be doing this next to everyone's beds. I think I got all the information I need anyway, though…'
...Moving over to the part piece, she held it up and eyed it.
'Where do I put it, though?'
She looked at all her weapons, and considered each one.
'My two primaries are strong enough as it is, I think. It's not good to microwave metal, so it's not going on that gun, and…'
Her eyes ran across her taser.
'...I have a great idea.' Marigold leered gleefully at the weapon.
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
She held up the taser.
'You can't really call it a taser anymore…'
After the removal of the front prongs, she replaced them with the metal slot from the 'danmaku box', and used various metal bits she found in the drawers of the room to piece together a rather unwieldy looking contraption, one which had a series of jagged prongs sticking from the sides of the front face.
'Let's fire this baby up!'
She turned the dial on the taser midway.
It sparked to life, and electrical energy ran along the metal of the front face. It then entered the slot piece, which in turn projected arrow-esque projectiles. The projectiles were yellow, and quick, but flickered unevenly. The 'taser' shot them at irregular intervals, as well.
'I have no idea what this does, yet.' Marigold smiled. 'But I think I turned my taser into a gun.'
Marigold has acquired Electric Projector!
==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====
END OF CHAPTER 16
Protagonist: Hikari Hakurei, Disciple of Paradise
-Inventory-
Weapon: Magical Gohei - Ability to whack stuff really hard. Amplifies whacking power, too! Able to deal magical damage. Critical hits enabled.
Arms: Iconic Hakurei Arm Sleeves - Keeps arms warm. A Hakurei tradition. How they stay on is a Hakurei family secret.
Body: Combat Miko Outfit - A black leotard and hakama combination worn by the previous-previous Hakurei miko. Designed to be suitable for excessive physical activity and close combat, it slightly improves physical combat prowess. Now with less sideboob!
Misc: Royal Red Ribbon - A ribbon made with rich materials, with a floral pattern.
-Skills-
Attack: Quickly! Swing your gohei at them for massive damage!
PK Fantasy α, β - Bombards the enemy with pain in the form of flashing colors. Deals magical damage. Heavy mental strain that increases with each tier.
PK Flash α, ß - A bright flash that distributes very random status effects to enemies. Usually makes people cry. Higher tiers increase chances, and introduce possibilities of fainting or dispel.
Hypnosis α, Ω - Puts weak enemies to sleep for a short time. Works better on tired or exhausted foes. Can also be used in a far more costly form that works on multiple opponents.
Shield α, ß - Halves damage the target takes. Only works against physical attacks, and enough strikes, or powerful strikes, will dispel it. Higher tier turns it into a power-shield that protects even better and even reflects a fraction of protected damage.
Lifeup α, ß - Heals target a little. Higher tiers heal more grievous wounds, like bone fractures.
Healing α, ß - Heals basic status ailments. Higher tiers can cure more dire effects, like burning alive.
Teleport α - Allows instant transport to the general location of an area remembered by oneself or one's party members. Requires a long, fast run-up to execute, however.
Ofuda Toss - Throw a holy ofuda that does massive holy elemental damage to youkai and dark elemental foes. Effect lessens the more holy the thing you're attacking is, to the point of healing holy things. Only works if you actually have ofuda, though.
β-β-β-β
Mage: Osamu Katsumi, the Wannabe Mage
-Inventory-
Weapon: Fisticuffs!
Arms: Nothing
Body: Dated Village Magician Robes - An old robe from the days when the village respected the medium of magic. Now actually looks navy blue, instead of black!
Misc: Yukkuri Beanie - Resembles a really tacky tablecloth, made in the Yukkuri theme. Lime green and has tons of fun yukkuri decals!
-Skills-
PK Thunder α, ß - Very random thunder attack that deals limited damage. Higher tiers increase number of bolts, and sometimes power.
PK Hydro α, β, γ - Gets everyone wet. Usefulness with PK Thunder and PK Freeze depends on whether you hit yourself or not! Creates whirling water spirals at higher tiers.
PK Freeze α, β, γ - Generates ice crystals at the target's location. Medium damage and effect; may freeze some targets, especially wet ones.
Fireball - Manipulate mana to make a shoddy fireball. Low damage and effect.
Static Hands - Not a real spell. Result of a very undercharged PK Thunder that can accidentally go off.
PSI Telepathy α - Speak to friends you haven't met yet! Unstable connection and only works if they have the skill or are asleep.
PSI Shield α, Σ - Halves damage from magical and psychic attacks. Thunder spells fry it instantly, and harder blows dispel it. Second tier applies basic shield to entire party at higher mana expense.
PSI Magnet α - Costs no mana to use, and steals a very tiny amount of mana from the enemy. Enemy has to have mana in the first place for it to work, though.
Offense Up α - Get pissed! Boosts strength and confidence depending on caster's power and receiver's power.
Defense Down α - Throw the enemy off their game. Makes them slightly more vulnerable to physical attacks.
β-β-β-β
Inventor: Marigold Knowledge, the Tri-Magi Love Child
-Inventory-
Weapon: Microwave Gun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Constructed with a controlled flame crystal and metal parts, it fires a beam of sustained microwave energy that cooks biological foes alive. Fire-elemental at its core, it's also very inefficient against machines.
Arms: Nothing
Body: Custom Adventure Dress - A custom dress made by Alice. Provides slight defense against magical and psychic attacks. Now allows freer movement with a shorter skirt, and a more flexible material.
Misc: Swirly Glasses - Lets Marigold not be blind.
Backpack - Allows extended inventory. Aged relic from the Kourindou.
Unnamed Lock Opening Device - Opens locks very precariously. Made with steel, burnt cloth, packaging peanuts, thumbtacks, string, and wooden wheels. Don't even ask…
Ruler - Lets you measure the world around you!
Protractor - Lets you find the angles of anything ever. Totally overpowered.
Deck of Cards - Allows Marigold to play Strip Poker with the party. Just kidding… or am I?
Electric Projector - Electrical device used to subdue harassers. Has settings ranging from Tickle Torture to Arse Blaster. Fires electrical projectiles, of unknown power.
Air Gun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Uses air to propel moderately powered danmaku particles at high speeds. Bland, but efficient. Filled with foil chip bags to conduct the mana, and it is transmitted into a wind stone. Recently upgraded to draw mana from a simple wooden block filled with immense magic reserves, giving it virtually unlimited ammo.
NF Burst Gun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Uses a Pop Gun as the base, but amplifies its power with an array of random batteries jammed into the base with the Pop Gun. The more batteries, the better, but the typical yield is about five bullets per trigger. Spamming the trigger doesn't make it go any faster, unfortunately. Has no foreseeable ammo limit, and the batteries are only there for mana circulation, meaning their power is really inconsequential.
Holmes Brand Designer Hat - Village swag! A retro village hat that ceased production ten years ago. Sells for a pretty penny nowadays, but it's pretty useless otherwise.
Slime Generator - A bulky box that shoots a small splat of slime. Doesn't seem good for much.
Counter-PSI Device - A weird device Marigold found from a flying saucer. Works in strange ways, and seems to disrupt everyone's concentration. Marigold is immune to its effects.
Charm of Sleep - Grants immunity to sleep while equipped. Can be equipped to Arms or Misc.
-Skills-
Is halfway there! - Woah-oh! Livin' on a prayer!
Fires Guns while People are Asleep - Why would you even…?
Microwaves Fairies - The monster!
She Has a Coconut Gun - It can fire in spurts!
Sniffable - Smells like periwinkle!
β-β-β-β
Fighter: Hiyori Hashimoto, the Buddhist Oni
-Inventory-
Weapon: Fisticuffs!
Arms: Shackle of Devas - The first of the four treasures held by the Devas of the Mountain. Grants immunity to sleep-inducing magic. Grants fifty percent resistance to wind and thunder magic.
Body: Runed Gi - Enchanted to not get blown away by battle damage.
Misc: Nothing
-Skills-
PK Fire α, ß - Creates an igniting blast of flames at the target's location. Most impact comes with higher tiers.
PK Freeze α, β - Generates ice crystals at the target's location. Medium damage and effect; may freeze some targets, especially wet ones.
Shield α, ß, Σ - Halves damage the target takes. Only works against physical attacks, and enough strikes, or powerful strikes, will dispel it. Higher tier turns it into a power-shield that protects even better and even reflects a fraction of protected damage. Highest tier applies a basic shield to the entire party.
Lifeup α, ß - Heals target a little. Higher tiers heal more grievous wounds, like bone fractures.
Healing α, ß - Heals basic status ailments. Higher tiers can cure more dire effects, like burning alive.
Teleport α, ß - Allows instant transport to the general location of an area remembered by oneself or one's party members. Requires a long, fast run-up to execute, however. Higher tier is largely automatic and requires little room to execute.
Martial Arts - Skilled in hand-to-hand combat.
β-β-β-β
Author's Note:
HOLA PAISANOS
hyonk
this chapter dragged along a little for a FEW REASONS… mainly being a catastrophic series of unfortunate events resulting in me forcing to take a day off from the sheer barrage of bullshit, and then the next few days was me slowly recovering my mojo
i also decided to give it a once-over to add a little more flavor; also it'd be great if you guys provided feedback for if im screwing anything up or not, and it has to be more than "you suck" or "i love it and you are great"; neither of those responses tell me anything, friends
basically, i'm just looking for if you guys think the pace is okay, or the characterization, or if it's getting a little too boring or if the action's too common / incomprehensible or watever, yo
we're also probably over halfway there or so to the end of things! ho ho ho! livin' on a prayer, son!
as always, see you all next time!