Hi everybody! New chapter time! It's slightly later than I was hoping, but in exchange it's significantly (like 1000 words) longer than my previous chapters, so there's that. Hopefully that's a fair exchange. I'm still keeping to my writing schedule, so I should be able to have the next chapter out relatively soon. With all these meetups, we're steadily approaching the endgame, I think. That being said, there's still quite a ways to go, so hopefully it'll be a fun time getting there. Those of you who've reviewed, favorited, followed, and PMed me, thanks so much! I really appreciate it, it's always nice to see what people enjoyed (or didn't enjoy) about my story. But even if you haven't done any of that, thanks for reading! Watching that view number climb higher is an amazingly inspiring feeling. I hope you continue to enjoy it!
P.S. About Dai's "power" (it's alluded to in this chapter) - I don't think Dai has a given power or if she even needs one, but I decided that this one fit her name, and was convenient for this part of the story. Hopefully it doesn't jar anyone too much.
"Where's your contact?" the girl was asking. "You said they'd be here by now." She glared at the Spy. "You weren't lying to me, were you? Because that would have some very unpleasant consequences."
"I d-don't know," the Spy said, wishing he could just incapacitate the annoying girl and be on his way. He was beginning to suspect that the Heavy hadn't checked his pockets yet and was just fooling around somewhere else. By the time that oaf found his note, the Spy'd have died of old age, if the girl didn't try to kill him first. "They r-really should have been here by now. I h-hope nothing happened."
The girl approached him, eyes narrowed. "You'd better hope they show up in the next few seconds, or what happened to them is going to be overshadowed by what happens to you." Just as he was deciding to test his luck and try and Dead Ringer his way out of the situation again, he saw the girl's eyes widen as she stared over his shoulder. A small hand landed on his shoulder.
"Hey, I thought I said to come alone. Who's this?" a voice behind him said.
Internally, he breathed a sigh of relief, while externally he jumped slightly, acting surprised. "T-this is, u-um, s-someone from inside who w-was interested in helping u-us out," he said, turning around to find himself face to face with a small, blue-haired girl with crystalline wings. She had on a small suit and in front of her eyes was a pair of highly reflective sunglasses.
"Cirno?" the girl said. "Your contact is Cirno? You guys must be really desperate to use her."
The blue fairy flew forward until she was only inches away from the girl's face. "Are you some sort of idiot or somethin'?" she asked. The girl bristled in anger. "I ain't Cirno. This is just a disguise, see."
"Ha, yeah right. The only person I know who's that good at disguises is m- is that Nue person. Or Mamizou. And they're both back at the temple, far as I know," the girl said. "Besides, even if that was a disguise, which it isn't, why the hell would you disguise yourself as Cirno? She's a complete idiot."
"Oh yeah?" the fairy said, her voice tinged with anger, "well-" she began, before the Spy cut in.
"I-I'm sure Cirno's perfectly capable of being clever and calm," he said, emphasizing the last word, "when she needs to be."
The fairy glared at him for a second before relaxing and nodding her head, while the girl snorted. "Yeah, maybe she is known as an," the fairy paused, before grunting out, "'idiot.' And that's why she's the perfect disguise. After all, who'd expect her to be part of somethin' like this."
The girl frowned. "Hmm. Well I guess that's true. But," she said, pausing to look the fairy over. "Why don't you just wear the same clothes as her? As it is, you stand out a fair amount for a spy."
"Well, I can't go around looking exactly like her. After all, I'd hate to have her run into me and attack me or somethin'. As it is, if she runs into me, she'll probably just think I'm a different ice fairy, while everyone else'll think I'm just her in a different outfit. It's a pretty good disguise, I'd say."
The girl frowned, seeming unconvinced, but nodded her head. "I guess she would be pretty much the only one who would fall for something like that." The fairy clenched her fists and let out an annoyed grunt, but didn't say anything. "Well anyway, Ms. Superspy, or whoever you are," the girl said, "I'm here to join in on this plan to spy on the Buddhists, don't like them much myself."
"Uh huh," the fairy said, sarcastically, "an' I'm the weakest in Gensokyou. I don't trust you one bit. So," she said, turning to the Spy. "You tell me-why should I trust her?"
"Well, you see," the Spy began, before the girl's sickle prodded him in the back. "She found out I was a spy and didn't tell anyone. She could've gotten me caught and, well, I don't know what would have happened to me, but she didn't alert anyone. I think we should trust her."
"'I think we should trust her' what, kid?" the fairy said, raising an eyebrow.
"I-I think we should trust her, boss!" the Spy said, while internally debating just how he was going to get back at the Heavy for making him play second-in-command to some arrogant fool.
"That's more like it," the fairy said, grinning hugely. "Well, you got him vouching for you, but I'll need to judge your willingness myself," the fairy said. "This kid here ain't the best judge of character." The Spy decided he was going to make both the Heavy and this stupid little fairy pay for this when it was all over. He would take his time with them, oh yes he would.
"Well, what have I gotta do to prove my loyalty or whatever?" the girl said, frowning.
"Well, normally I'd have you go steal somethin' from 'em or somethin', but since you're here right now, I'll have to settle for somethin' else," the fairy said. "Tell ya what, since we're here in the village, you ever hear of that school teacher, Keine?"
"What, the demon headbutter? Yeah, I've heard of her," the girl said.
"That's the one," the fairy said, putting a hand to her forehead. "Well she's taken somethin' of mine that I need for this here opra, opero, this here job. So you're gonna have to go steal it back for me."
"You want me to steal from her?" the girl asked, looking slightly nervous. "Uh, you're sure I can't just steal from the temple?"
"Well, if you really wanna, you can, but we wouldn't be goin' with ya," the fairy said. "S'not like we can just waltz in there anyway. Well I guess he could, but he's liable to get caught again, apparently."
"Well I'm not leaving you two alone, you'd just take off without me," the girl said.
"Then looks like we've got a stale-stale, hey, what's that thing called," the fairy whispered to the Spy.
"Stalemate?" the Spy said.
"Yeah, that thing."
"Urgh. Fine, I'll go steal the thing from the schoolteacher then," the girl said. "Let's get this over with."
"Glad ta hear it," the fairy said, and started leading the way to the school. "So, the thing I got conf- uh, taken from me, was a bit of the info we'd gotten about those Buddhists. She's probably keeping it in her office. Think ya can get in there?"
"Yeah, that'll be easy enough," the girl said. "Do you know if she's currently in there?"
"Sorry, don't have any idea," the fairy said, shrugging. "It just happened a little bit ago."
The girl chewed on a fingernail. "That's gonna make this harder. Still," she said, stopping her chewing, "shouldn't be a problem."
"Good ta hear," the fairy said, as they turned a corner and saw the school building in the distance. "We'll follow you up to the door of the office and then stand guard," the fairy said. "Just a quick in-and-out, ok?"
The girl simply nodded.
"U-um, do we have to stand guard?" the Spy said, speaking up. "I-I really don't want to make Ms. Keine angry," he said. And then I could change my disguise and get away from here scott-free, he didn't add.
"Not a chance, kid," the fairy said. "You gotta start growing a back bone if ya wanna be in this business." The Spy stared at her incredulously. He was beginning to doubt that this fairy was actually working with Heavy, and was actually just some crazy person who'd gotten them caught up in her delusions.
The girl snickered. "You've got that right." The Spy stared daggers in her direction, wishing he could backstab someone with his eyes.
During this exchange, they'd made it to the doors of the school. "Ok, this is it, kids. Let's get this data back," the fairy said, gripping the door and sliding it open. Cautiously, they entered the building and began creeping forward slowly, listening for any noises that could indicate whether Keine was still in the building. As soon as they'd all fully entered the entrance hall, the door slammed shut behind them, causing all of them to jump. Turning around, they saw the Heavy standing in front of the door, arms folded. Then, hearing a clacking sound from down the hall, the Spy saw a woman with white hair and an impressive-looking hat walking down the hall. Based on the others' reactions, he assumed this was the Keine they'd been worried about. She came to a halt right in front of them.
"Why hello there," she said, a malicious smile on her face. "And what brings you three to my school?" No one spoke up. "Anyone? Well I'm afraid I can't help you if you don't - Oh wait a minute, I do recognize you," she said to the fairy, who looked away. "Did you come back for that information you so carelessly lost?" The fairy turned back and glared at her, about to say something, but then stopped. "And you two," she said, turning to look at the girl and the Spy, who quivered to keep up his persona, "must be a part of this group of hers." The girl opened her mouth to say something, but Keine shook her head. "No excuses," she said shaking her head. "Now, I'm disappointed in you all," she said, turning around. "I am not personally aligned with the Buddhists, but sneaking around and spying on them is absolutely deplorable. Especially when your end goal is, well, that. My goodness, we can't have that at all."
"Well what're ya gonna do? Headbutt us? I can take that!" the fairy said, in a fit of bravery.
Keine's eyes narrowed, before she sighed. "Perhaps you could. But I've started outsourcing some of my punishments to that nice gentleman over there," she said, pointing towards the Heavy, who nodded. "And his head is a lot harder than mine." The Heavy cracked his knuckles. The fairy gulped.
"A-aren't we supposed to settle things with danmaku?" the girl asked.
"What the shrine maiden doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, I think she'd be happy not to have to deal with another incident," Keine said. "Now, I think I'll try and get the names of all the members of your little group. Would you like to tell me?" she asked the fairy, who remained silent. "Oh? That's a shame then. I guess I'll just have to take one of you back to the 'special' classroom. Now who to pick, who to pick," she said, tapping her finger on her chin. "You haven't said anything," she said to the Spy. "Cat got your tongue?"
"W-who, m-m-me?" he said. Keine smiled at his stutter.
"I think you'll do just fine," she said, grabbing his arm in a vice grip.
"W-what? N-no, please!" he began to say as she dragged him away.
"Keep an eye on these two, will you?" she said to the Heavy, who nodded.
Keine dragged the Spy off down the corridor before finally entering what looked like a regular classroom, and closing the door behind them.
"W-what are you going to do with me?" he asked.
"Well, that depends on how you answer this question," she said. "Who is the man who was guarding the door?"
The Spy breathed a sigh of relief, and reached up to take off his mask, as he said, "The Heavy."
Keine smiled. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance then, Mr. Spy," she said, reaching out a hand.
"Charmed," he replied, taking her outstretched hand and kissing it, as the disguise faded away, "Ms. Keine, was it?"
"Yes, though you could drop the Ms., if you wanted," the teacher said. "And shall I just refer to you as 'Spy,' then?"
"That would be most appreciated," he said, nodding. "So, what is the plan here? I do not think keeping that girl trapped here would help very much in the long run."
"Oh yes," Keine said. "Could you pretend to scream for me?"
The Spy cocked an eyebrow. "You have strange tastes, ma cherie," he said before nodding, "But who am I to deny my savior a favor?" he said, and then proceeded to let out a chorus of blood-curdling screams, interspersed with cries of "no, no please!" and "why?!," finally ending with one long, drawn-out wail of pain, followed by a light gurgle for good measure. "Satisfactory?" the Spy asked, softly, turning back to a very taken-aback Keine.
"Oh, um, yes," she said. "You are," she paused, "almost scarily good at that."
"Playing dead has its uses in my line of work, Keine," the Spy said, shrugging. "And what happens now?"
"Oh, right. We simply wait for a little bit until we hear-" she began, before being cut off by yells from outside, "-that." She held a finger to her lips, and the Spy nodded, listening.
"Quick, run around him while he's distracted!" a voice sounding like the fairy's said.
"Right!" came the girl's voice in response, after which there was the sound of a struggle. At one point, there was the sound of laughter, followed by a puzzled grunt from the Heavy, which was interrupted by the fairy saying something again.
Eventually, there was the sound of a door opening, followed by the fairy yelling "C'mon let's go!" There was the sound of feet running to the door, and then the fairy said, "Oh crap, he's got me! Quick, leave me behind! Just get out of here!"
"Ok," came the voice of the girl, though it sounded slightly different, followed by the sound of more running feet. After a little bit, there was the sound of footsteps approaching the classroom, and the door opened, revealing a slightly disheveled Heavy and the fairy.
"Coast is-what is word? Cleat? Clean?" the Heavy said.
"The word is 'clear,' my friend," the Spy said, smirking.
"Ah yes, 'coast is clear,'" The Heavy said, smiling. "Is good to see you again, Spy."
"It's nice to see you as well," the Spy said. "And many thanks for helping rid me of that annoying girl."
"Ah, yes," the Heavy said, scratching the back of his head. "She was daughter, yes?"
The Spy was completely dumbfounded for a second, and could only respond with, "What?"
"You're Nue's dad?" the fairy said.
"Wha-no! I am not this 'Nue's' father," he said.
"But she can disguise," the Heavy said. "In same way as you."
"Still I'm no-wait, she was in disguise the whole time?" the Spy said.
"Da," the Heavy said, nodding. "When I hit her with Holiday Spirit and she start laughing, she end up looking like someone else, so I assume-"
"Well I can assure you, I am not her father," the Spy said. "My disguising ability is not genetic, anyway."
"Ah. Very well," the Heavy said, sitting down on the floor.
"Well if you're not Nue's dad, who are you?" Cirno asked.
"I am the Spy," the Spy said. "One of the Heavy's teammates."
"Oh. What happened to the other guy?" Cirno said. "The one that stuttered all the time."
"That was me in a disguise," the Spy said, putting the mask back on. "See?"
"Whoa, cool! That looks way easier than putting this stupid thing on was. Can I take it off now? It's itchy," the fairy said, scratching her back.
"Da. Is all good now," the Heavy said. "Thank you for help, Cirno"
"Ha! It was nothing for the strongest!" Cirno said, taking off the suit she was in to reveal her regular clothing. "How do people see out of these things?" she said, taking off the sunglasses and squinting into them.
"Be careful with those," Keine said, grabbing them out of Cirno's hands. "We still need them for the play the kids are going to be putting on in a few weeks."
"What play would that be?" the Spy asked, curious.
"Ah, well," Keine began, "one of my students wrote it. Someone, I wish I knew who, told them about what yakuza and the mafia are like on the outside, and they went and wrote a play about them. They spent so much time on it, I couldn't really say no," she said. "Miss Alice did make some wonderful costumes for it though, luckily for you."
"Indeed. Your assistance was much appreciated" the Spy said. "You are a wonderful actress, madame. I was truly frightened in the entranceway."
"Why thank you," Keine said, giving a small curtsy, "Working with small children and especially child-like youkai help one become very good at making false threats."
"Hey, what about my acting? Pretty good, huh?" Cirno said, piping in.
"Considering what that girl said about you, it was much better than I could have expected," the Spy said.
"Of course! You should only expect great things from the strongest!" Cirno said, while Keine looked at the Spy reproachfully.
"You know," she whispered, "concealing insults as compliments isn't a very nice to treat one of the people who rescued you."
He sighed. "I suppose you are right, Ms. Keine," the Spy said. "Thank you, truly," the Spy said to Cirno and the Heavy. "Without your assistance, I would still have been stuck with that girl, and I don't think I would have been able to listen to her much longer without snapping."
"Is good thing you got that message to me," the Heavy said. "And is good thing Cirno learned role so quickly," he said, patting her head. "And is good-" he began, before he paused, frowning, "Where is Dai? " he said, looking around.
"Oh, she's probably resting," Cirno said. "Using her ability to talk into other fairy's heads really tires her out. S'why she doesn't do it very often."
"Oh da, she mentioned," the Heavy said, nodding.
"But she really helped me with things to say," Cirno said. "You woulda been in trouble without her," she said, turning to the Spy. "So you better be grateful."
"Of course I'm grateful," he said, affronted.
"Well, good," Cirno said, nodding.
"So, Mr. Spy," Keine said, "I have two questions for you. Firstly: do you pose a threat to this village?"
"Of course not," the Spy said. "Assuming the village poses no threat to me."
Keine raised an eyebrow, looking between the Spy and the Heavy. "That's almost exactly the same response he gave."
"We share similar views on this issue, madame," the Spy said, shrugging. "If we are attacked, we will defend ourselves. It is in our team's nature. But what was your second question?"
"I suppose that makes sense," Keine said, nodding. She held up a finger "But my second question is: how did you manage to anger the Buddhists? They are notoriously difficult to anger."
"Ah," the Spy said. "Well, firstly, am I to assume that they actually are verified Buddhists then?"
Keine gave him a puzzled look. "Well, yes, they are definitely practitioners of the Buddhist faith."
"Oh. That makes things perhaps a bit awkward," the Spy said, rubbing his hands together. "I had assumed that since they had removed my balaclava they were, well, counterintelligence. So I provoked them and then played dead, so they wouldn't remember my face." He held up a hand to forestall any protests. "It is rather important to me that no one know what I look like under this mask," he said. "When I was attempting to leave, that girl spotted me and thought I was a spy for the Taoists, so I played along."
"Spy, why do you always think is enemies when you wake up?" the Heavy said, shaking his head. "You tried to kill rest of team once thinking we were BLU team in disguise."
"It is a holdover," the Spy said. "From my life before RED team. I was captured once, and didn't realize it until I'd given away important intel," he said, wiping a fake tear away from his eye. "I wouldn't want that to happen ever again."
The Heavy shook his head. "You think you can outsmart Heavy? Spy would never tell strangers anything about self. You wouldn't even tell team about self." He waved a hand. "Could have just said was secret."
The Spy groaned. "Thanks for making me seem untrustworthy. Always appreciated when meeting new people."
"That was not Heavy's intention," the Heavy said. "Heavy simply wanted to warn them that you will not talk about past, so don't bother asking."
"While I appreciate that, my friend, there are better times and ways to mention such things," the Spy said. The Heavy simply shrugged. The Spy shook his head before turning back to Keine. "Anyway, where were we, ma cherie?" Keine was staring at him intently. "Um, Keine?"
"Oh, sorry," she said. "I was just wondering what you do look like under that mask."
The Spy put a hand to his collarbone, where the hem of the balaclava was. "I am afraid that is a trade secret, madam."
Keine waved a hand. "Oh don't worry, I won't invade your privacy. I'd be careful about Cirno, though," she whispered to him. He looked over to Cirno, who was glaring at him with a grin and rubbing her hands together.
"I will keep that in mind," the Spy said. "If we are done talking about me, however, I would like to know what we are planning to do next. Do you have any clue where the others are?" he said, turning to the Heavy.
"Nyet," he said, grabbing Cirno as she tried to poke a window she'd frozen. "Only way we found you was from note."
"Ah," the Spy said. "That is unfortunate. What are the most-" he began, turning towards Keine.
"Likely places for them to be?" she said, smirking. "Either here in the village or up at the Hakurei shrine."
"I see," the Spy said. "Well, we probably would have heard a bit more commotion if any more were brought here, so could I ask you to lead us to this 'Hakurei Shrine,' Madam Keine?"
"Certainly," she said, turning towards the door.
"Hey," Cirno said, as she looked out the window, "there's someone dressed kinda like you two outside."
"Oh? Where?" the Spy said as he headed towards the window.
"Right-" Cirno began, before the wall was blown inwards, showering them with shards of wood and paper.
"Hooo-weee," the Engineer said, charging through the newly broken wall towards Keine. "Let my teammates go, you no-good, rotten-" he began, before seeing the Spy and Heavy staring at him in amazement. "Sonnuvabitch," he finished, coming to a halt.
"Eep," Nitori said, decloaking from next to the newly destroyed wall.
Keine cracked her knuckles and smiled a mirthless grin. "Nitori. Always good to see you. Care to explain why you've destroyed one of the walls of my school?" she said, taking a step forward.
"I-it wasn't my idea! Well, it kinda was, but we both came up with it!" she said, running behind Dell.
"Well, I heard the Spy screamin', so I thought he was in trouble," Dell said, scratching his head. The Spy covered his face with his hand and groaned. "But I guess that wasn't exactly accurate."
"But Spy scream ten minutes ago," the Heavy said, picking splinters of wood off his shirt while Cirno looked out from behind him. "Why so late?"
"It took a while to make the preparations to destroy the wall," Dell said, pulling his hard hat off his head and holding it to his chest. "Um, look Miss," he said, turning to Keine, "I'm real sorry about the misunderstanding. We'll fix it right back up for you."
Keine stared at him for a second, then looked at Nitori, who was nodding furiously. For a second, she looked like she was going to ignore their offer and headbutt the both of them into submission, but then she took a deep breath and exhaled, her shoulders relaxing. "Please do," she said. Nitori and Dell began discussing building materials, and she swore she heard something about turrets for defense, so she added, "And just make it exactly how it used to be, ok?"
"Are you sure?" they asked in tandem.
"Yes," she said, glaring at them, "I'm sure."
"Ok then," Dell said, while Nitori sighed and muttered something about not seeing an opportunity to make things cooler.
"Pardon me if I don't think metal walls and security turrets make the best environment for a school," Keine said to Nitori, who sighed.
Dell and Nitori began gathering materials from the floor, and, after asking Keine, were directed to a storehouse with some wood and plaster. The Heavy carried the wood beams out to where the wall had been and began cutting them according to Dell and Nitori's instructions, who then began arranging them and planting them in the ground. The Spy offered aesthetic criticism until Nitori got annoyed enough to convince Cirno (by reminding her of the damage she'd caused to Nitori's prototype) to chase him around. Keine supervised for a bit, but eventually began working on a lesson plan for her class tomorrow. Dai eventually wandered in, wondering what all the noise was about and was promptly attack-hugged by Cirno, lending the Spy a bit of relief. After introductions and explanations, Dai and Cirno helped put on the finishing touches on the places too high for everyone else to reach. Eventually, the wall was finished, looking exactly like it had before.
"Thank you, everyone. Especially those of you who didn't cause it in the first place," Keine said, looking pointedly at Nitori and Dell.
"Look, I'm sorry about that, truly. But I was only trying to protect my teammates," Dell said.
"I understand," she said nodding. "And the wall does look good as new," she said, rapping it with a fist.
"Yep, just as good as it used to be. No, better even!" Nitori said, grinning.
Keine froze. "Nitori, what did you add?" she asked.
"Huh? W-what do you mean?" Nitori said, not meeting her eyes. "I just thought it looked better since it was new."
"Nitori," Keine said, her voice dangerously low.
"Eep! Ok, ok, it's just some stuff I added!" Nitori said, pressing a certain panel of the wall, which caused images of turrets to appear and point every which way. Keine sighed and put her face in her hand. "They're just holograms!" Nitori protested. "It's not like they could actually hurt anyone."
"That's not the point," Keine said. "Besides, good luck explaining that to kids who sometimes don't even know that a play is fake."
"Urgh." Nitori said, pressing the panel again to deactivate the holograms. "I guess you're right. But it's just-" Nitori began, before Dell placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't think you're gonna convince her," he said.
Nitori sighed. "Fine, plain ol' boring wall it is then," she said, removing the panel and fiddling around with something inside it before putting the panel back on. "I deactivated the holograms," she said.
"Thank you," Keine replied. Looking at Dell, she said, "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I am Keine Kamishirasawa," she said, bowing.
"Ah, nice to meet you, Ms. Kamishirasawa," he replied, bowing in kind, "I'm Dell, the Engineer. So you were helping out my teammates then?"
"Da," the Heavy said, nodding. "She help Heavy save Spy."
"'Save' is a bit much, I think," the Spy said. "Though she did help extricate me from an unfortunate situation."
"Ah, well, much obliged to you then," Dell said, tipping his hardhat.
"We helped too," Cirno said indignantly, grabbing Dai's arm and waving it at Dell.
"Well then I'm obliged to both of you as well, little misses," Dell said, crouching down.
Cirno smiled proudly. "Yeah, it was no problem!"
"I'm sure it wasn't," Dell said, chuckling. "You both seem pretty capable."
"She's capable of being a large annoyance," the Spy muttered, making his balaclava comfortable once more.
"What was that, masky?" Cirno said, turning to face him.
"What an inventive nickname, ma petite fille sotte," he replied. "But I'm afraid you must be hearing things. I have said nothing at all."
Cirno narrowed her eyes at him, but before she could speak, Keine cut in. "So, Mr. Dell," she said. "I have a few questions for you."
"Go right ahead, Miss," Dell said.
"Firstly, how did you know your teammates were here? I find it very unlikely you just happened to be walking past when the Spy screamed," she said.
"Ah, I've got a tracker," Dell said, holding up his PDA. "Lets me find out approximately where everyone is relative to my position."
"Wait, you can see where we are at all times?" the Spy said.
"Well if I bother to check I can, but there hasn't been much reason to 'till now," Dell said. Seeing the look on Spy's face, he added, "And don't go getting any funny ideas. Only I know the way to activate it, so there's no use stealing it."
"Oh, but of course," the Spy said, waving his hand. "I wouldn't dream of it."
"So you also know where the rest of your allies are then?" Keine said.
"Well, relatively, yeah," Dell said. "Already met up with the Scout," he said, turning towards the Spy and the Heavy, "he went off to go look for one of the others, but we'll be meeting him back at Nitori's place."
"Wonderful," the Spy said, rolling his eyes. "Always a pleasure to see him again."
"Well, at least he's helping out without complaining," Dell said, shrugging. "Speaking of, we should probably start trying to head for one of the others, if possible."
"You plan to leave the village then?" Keine said. "Without blowing up any more walls on the way out, I assume?"
"Yes ma'am," Dell said. "We're out of charges anyway."
"That's a relief, at least," she said. "Where are your options?"
Dell brought up the holographic map, and pointed to the cluster of three dots in the center. "This group is us. Aya's gone after this one here," he said, pointing to the one on the mountain.
Keine raised an eyebrow, while Dai snorted. "You have her 'helping' you?" Keine asked.
"She probably just wants the story, but I'm hoping she'll bring whoever it is back to the meetup place," Dell said. "'Sides, that way she'll get to interview all of us, which seems like a mighty temptin' offer to me."
"Clever," Keine said, nodding.
"Mmhm. Anyway, this one's probably the Scout," he said, pointing to a dot moving quickly towards the dot they'd located as being near the Misty Lake. "Which leaves us with just three options: this one, in the 'Bamboo Forest of the Lost,'" he said, pointing to the one that seemed to be bouncing around, "these two, which are apparently underground," he continued, pointing to the two very light dots, though they seemed to be solidifying as they talked, "and this one, near the 'Hakurei Shrine,'" he said, pointing to the one that seemed closest to them. "Personally, I think we shouldn't head for this one here," he said, pointing to the one that was jumping around. "Apparently that 'Bamboo Forest' is a hard place to navigate in." Nitori nodded.
"Well, with a name like that, I'm not surprised," the Spy said. He peered closer at the holographic projector. "I would think that finding two at the same time would be better than just finding one, yes? These two are farther away, but then we'd only have two more to worry about," he said, pointing to the two dots.
"Da, but this one is close," the Heavy said, pointing to the one at the shrine. "We could find this one quick, then go for others."
"A fair point, but this is also around this Hakurei Shrine, correct?" the Spy said, to which Nitori and Dell nodded. "And that is where we would be going to leave this place, no?" he said, turning to Keine, who also nodded. "Then we might as well save that one for last, so we don't have to return later to leave."
"Ah, Heavy understand," the Heavy said, nodding. "Very well! Two dots, here we come!"
"Seems good to me," Dell said, nodding. "The signal looks like it's getting stronger, so they must be getting closer to the surface."
"Oh, I know where they'll end up then," Nitori said. "The entrance to the underground isn't too far from my workshop."
"Well then, I wish you the best of luck," Keine said.
"You are not coming?" the Heavy said.
"Unfortunately I have to prepare for my classes tomorrow a bit more. All this excitement has made me fall quite behind," she replied.
"That is a pity," the Spy said. "Thank you for all your assistance, madam," he continued, bowing. "It was greatly appreciated."
"Da. Heavy would have been in much trouble without you," the Heavy said.
Keine smiled. "It's been a pleasure," she said. "Do come by before you leave Gensokyou, if you have the time. Though preferably through the front entrance."
Dell sighed. "That's never gonna go away, is it?"
"Teach can hold a grudge for a long time," Cirno said. "I thought she was never going to let go of the time I stole her hat."
"I still haven't," Keine said. "I'm just biding my time."
"Oh," Cirno said, subconsciously rubbing her forehead.
"Well, I'll be sure to use the front entrance next time," Dell said, tipping his hard hat. "Let's get going then," he said, turning to his teammates, who both nodded. Following Nitori's lead, they left the schoolhouse, Cirno and Dai tagging along behind them.
Smiling, Keine sat down at her desk and continued writing her lesson plan, thinking of the story she'd have to tell Mokou when the next time they met.