Back at the SDM

"Reimu, are you ok?!" said the blonde

"I'm fine… just, a little shaken up" Reimu said

"Miss Reimu! What in the name of the moon just happened?" Sakuya said

"Seriously, did you not see the big robot in front of us?" Reimu responded, annoyed as she was being aided by the blonde

"Of course I saw the robot! My mistress' safety was jeopardized! I had to attend to her immediately!" Sakuya is increasing her voice's volume, demanding why Reimu and Yukari did not do anything

"Sakuya, please cut them some slack, it is obvious they had not foreseen this event, I would've not too."

"Mistress! pardon me but there is no place for such incompetence, your life was in danger!" Sakuya said to Remilia in a concerned tone of voice

"Relax Sakuya… I saw the attack that machine did towards them, I would have collapsed too." Remilia said as she looked at Reimu and the mess she made, "Although, did you really have to do that?"

"I'm sorry Remi, but whatever that thing did to us… to me, I felt it like I was shaken up from the inside, felt a burning sensation in my gut, my ears were ringing bells and my mind was scrambled." Reimu described to Remilia

"Im surprised Yukari even got down on a knee" Remilia said

"Yes, indeed. Whoever created this machine, they were not planning it to fight humans, he is geared to fight divine beings." Yukari said.

"And that alone threatens peace…" Yukari continued.

"Reimu!" A voice is heard in the other room behind the girls.

"Marisa?" Reimu instantly recognized the voice

"Reimu, we got bad news!" Marisa said as she entered the room and then stood shocked by the broken glass and ripped curtains, with Meiling following behind.

"Sorry mistress, I told her that you were occupied and tried to st- Oh my lord! What happened here?!" Meiling exclaims.

"Marisa! what was it you were gonna say?" Reimu finally composes herself and asks Marisa.

"Right! It's about the tengus, they got Renko!"

"Usami, did they kidnap her? what are they doing?" Reimu pressures Marisa for answers.

"No umm, that foxgirl came by my house as her and maribel were chilling, they said that Megumu wanted to talk with her about "smokey" and offered to escort her to the tengu settlement, she agreed, but something smells fishy here!"

"Tengus wanna do my job now? Why do they want to speak with her of all people? WHY are the tengus even interested in the foreigner?" Reimu asked Yukari.

"I am not sure… but one thing is sure, I got to keep an eye on both of them. If Remilia wanted to use him for her old plan, I have no idea what the tengu plan to do with him, and possibly… something worse than death." Yukari said in concern.

"There is no Mistaking it, an incident is approaching."

The machine and I are walking back towards my base in the mountain, we walked for a while when I recall why we where heading there

(flashback back at the forest)

"DO YOU HAVE THE LINK NODE IN YOUR POSSESSION?" the machine said.

"Link node?" I was confused

"THE KEY, CUBE SHAPED ARTIFACT"

"Oh! Yes, I do. '' I said as I took it out of my inner pocket inside my jacket.

"MAY I INSPECT IT?" the machine said as it reached its hand towards the cube.

I retaliated by drawing the cube towards my chest.

"Not here, I don't feel safe here out in the open"

"ANY SUGGESTIONS?" The machine asked me.

"I do have a base in the mountains, it's a long way there but I will have to do it for now."

(end flashback)

The machine had told me about a "shorter route" towards the mountain, he said something about his "dual-optic cameras" and their ability to detect extreme distances, it sure is a funny way to say that you have a rangefinder in your eyes. We were now walking inside a big field of Sunflowers, guided via a trail path towards the mountain, and we are still haven't said anything, while i do appreciate silences if we had nothing to talk, I for sure was riddled with questions, why does he have a core like me, what does he know about HIM? And how do I bring HIM back? So once again, I try to break the ice.

"Say, what kind of name is Venetian?"

"CLASSIFIED"

"ok...um, what is it you do?"

"CLASSIFIED"

"JEEZ! can't you at least tell me why you have a core similar to mine?" I desperately say, expecting something different.

"NEGATIVE"

This mysterious act is getting on my nerves, this is not the time to keep info secret!

"Look, I have questions, and you appear out of nowhere, rescue me and nonchalantly figure out my objective out of nowhere? I deserve answers NOW!"

The machine stops in its tracks, I stop too, thinking I may have pushed my luck.

"YOU SAID YOU WANTED SOMEWHERE MORE PRIVATE. I AM JUST FOLLOWING PROTOCOL" the Venetian responds in a flat monotone voice.

"Yeah…"

"THEN YOU SHALL RECEIVE ANSWERS UNTIL I DEEM PROTOCOL SECURE ENOUGH"

"Fine, just so you know, we are halfway there."

I didn't realize that conversation went by so quickly as we stood relatively close to the base of the mountain, signaling the end of the giant field.

"What is this place?"

"Do not worry about it, Megumu-sama has asked me to find somewhere to take your 'testimony' and we happened to find this place" Tsukasa said.

"I don't feel safe here, and it's cold."

"Just wait, Megumu-sama should arrive any second now." Tsukasa said

I thought I would be inside somewhere more comfy, but this is raising alarms in my head, this does not look like the bunbunmaru office to me. It's very dark here, no windows, no door and the only things in the room are a table, 2 seats in front of me aside from the one I am on anda dim warm light that Tsukasa summoned in the ceiling. We are caught in a windy day so the air whooshing is making me nervous, the cold is not helping either.

The wind whooshing was the only thing that broke the silence in the room, Tsukasa refused to answer my questions beforehand. I can't even tell what time it is, the snow and clouds covered the sky, so couldn't checked on the stars in my way here. but then I hear footsteps coming.

It was the tengus, the wolf one, Aya and Megumu, all came through the "door".

"Excellent job on bringing her here Tsukasa" Megumu said.

"Thank you very much Megumu-sama" said the fox girl as she bowed to her.

"I apologize for the late arrival Miss Renko, we had to take care of something beforehand." Megumu said to me.

"If you had questions, I think you should ask HIM" I said as I still wondered why I was here.

"our sources speculate that the first spotting and appearance of the foreigner was related to you, something came about an "artifact" and you are the only one who came in contact with it" Aya explained, "we are curious about both the foreigner and the artifact and figured you could share some info"

"The more you share, the quicker we can end this," Megumu said.

"If I were you, i'd be talking now" The wolf tengu in the corner of the room added.

What have I gotten myself into…