Day already turns to noon, the breeze starts to die down slowly as we go on our way up, with only the chirping of the birds to accompany us. as we got up we say how desolated the place was starting to be, in the sunflower field we saw plethora of fairies roaming the place, as we got to the base the number kept decreasing, and as we got up, the amount kept dwindling up until we reached the "half" of the mountain separated by snow. No fairy in sight.

"HOW LONG HAVE YOU SET BASE?" The Venetian asked me.

"About a week now" I responded

"IS THE LOCATION DISCREET? ANYONE WHO KNOWS LOCATION?" He continued.

"Well, That Maid back in the Mansion, only her that I'm aware of" I responded

"THE MAID… GIRL WITH SILVER HAIR, SOMETHING ABOUT HER APPEARED UNUSUAL"

"What do you mean?" I asked with intrigue.

"WHEN SHE ENTERED THE ROOM, A SIGNIFICANT TIME SKIP WAS DETECTED IN MY SYSTEM"

"Time skip? how so?" I pushed for answers that could get me to know the Venetian better

"CLASSIFIED, BUT MY SYSTEM IS EQUIPPED TO DETECT TIME ANOMALIES, THE MOMENT SHE ENTERED THE ROOM, MY SYSTEM DETECTED AN ANOMALY OF 3 SECONDS, REAL TIME SUPPOSED TO PASS: 1.7 SECONDS" He went into semi detail.

"So, you said that time was frozen? and your 'system' kept counting the time supposed to pass?"

"CORRECT, I KEEP A CONSTANT FLOW OF TIME VIA A SEPARATE INTERNAL CLOCK, ONE FOR REAL TIME AND THE LATTER FOR TIME ANOMALIES"

"I thought that was 'CLASSIFIED'" I mockingly said, trying to imitate his monotone voice.

"…" He only kept silent for a while, processing why he bypassed his protocol.

"Don't worry! from how I see it, we are starting to know each other, maybe not your protocol, but your conscience made the call" I said optimistically.

"I DON'T HAVE CONSCIOUSNESS" He responded firmly.

"Here, you said something about yourself, let me say something too." I said.

"KEEP THAT FOR YOURSELF UNTIL WE REACH BASE" Venetian said, "WE STILL HAVE TO ANALYZE THE NODE BEFORE WE EVEN BEGIN TO SEARCH METHODS TO SAVE THE ALCHEMIST"

"That's his name?" I asked

"ONLY NAME I HAVE IN MY UNCORRUPTED LOG"

Some time has passed since I arrived at this place, and the questions both Megumu and Aya were asking me were directed towards an strange direction. They asked about how he looked like, what the artifact looked like, any abilities I managed to see, etc. They were looking to capture him to "Experiment" on him and try to persuade him to join the tengu, or at least that's how I saw it with all the questions they asked.

"What do you believe his motive to come to Gensokyo is?" Aya asked

"How would I know?" I responded

"Do you think the artifact has anything to do with his motifs?" she continued

"Probably…not?" I said

"You are making this longer than it needs to be Miss Renko, I'd suggest you think of your next pair of words" Megumu grew impatient.

"This is absurd, this is not your job, and I should not be here, I must know if Mirabel even came back outside!" I exclaimed

Megumu then grabbed me by the shawl and pulled me towards her face.

"I have people to attend who are far more important than your friend, I have an entire population to take care of. Do you have any idea how difficult it is with that hag supervising every single muscle we move?! That 'thing' could be key to finally achieving self sustainability and breaking the gaze of the gap hag. Now you will tell us what you know about this 'Plyush' and you WILL tell us now!"

She held me close for a while as she showed a face that expressed impatience and annoyance, attempting to intimidate me, it worked so well I stood speechless trying to grasp for words.

"Who the fuck are you?!" A voice is heard on the outside of the room. A very familiar voice.

"What was that? Tsukasa, go out and see!" Megumu ordered the foxgirl, and she complied immediately.

Then 2 Screams are heard outside, this makes Megumu and Aya get out of the room.

"VEN, NO!" that same familiar voice exclaimed (Ven will be short for Venetian)

It was Plyush!

I rushed outside and see Plyush in front of me, and to my right I see a robot that is Choke holding both the wolf tengu and Tsukasa with each other in each arm.

"Usami?" He sounded surprised to see me, I mean, I would too if I found him at a random spot, and more so to a place like youkai mountain, in which I never was before.

"It's him! the foreigner!" Aya exclaimed as she took out her camera to photograph evidence.

Megumu then took a fight stance towards Plyush, but then suddenly, the wolf tengu managed to loosen the hold of the robot and used the hold as a pivot point to swing her body, and direct her legs towards the back of this machine with such sheer force, the robot let go of Tsukasa and her and flew towards us. I barely had the time to duck and drop to the side into the snow, and the robot knocked Aya and Megumu back into the room. In that time frame I see I am no longer surrounded so I make my run towards Plyush.

What is she doing in my base? What are these people doing in my base? WHO are these people?!

"Usami!" I exclaimed, "Everything alright?"

"I'm fine! but they are looking for you!"

The Venetian got up back to its feet, and went towards me, but a girl with wolf ears blocked his path, and a fox girl was behind her facing us.

"Tell your machine to stand down!" the fox girl said.

I already felt responsible about this mess, since the Venetian had attacked first despite my protest to stand down before.

"Venetian, Stand down, await orders… I don't know just stay STILL!" I ordered him

The Venetian said nothing and in response took a straight pose, standing very still.

"There he is!" Another voice is heard down the hill.

All of us looked up and saw three more women, walking downhill until they reached flat land. One girl had green hair and blue and white clothing, dressed in a Miko priestess outfit, but not quite the same as Reimu's. The older woman of the group had purple hair and an ornate red shirt with a big mirror like amulet in her chest, a dark red skirt, and the most standing detail of her, a Shimenawa wheel floating behind her back with ornate paper strips hanging. The last girl looked like a little girl: small, blonde, with a white shirt with big and large open sleeves, purple dress with frogs decorated in it, and a bucket like hat with two big eyes on the top side to side. What are they doing here?

"That's the wood thief I told you about Kanako" said the little girl.

…

…oh…goddamnit.

"You dare steal from a sacred site?! steal from a goddess?!" the purple haired woman said to me

"Plyush, what is she talking about?" Usami asked

"well umm…thing is I… it's not, like I wanted it, but I needed them?" I scramble my words looking for what to say.

"Maybe because of your little insolence, I should make it so that rain anymore!" The "Goddess" said.

"Kanako, don't be harsh, let's just talk to him." said the green haired girl.

"If it makes you happy, I still have the boards with me" I responded to both the green and purple haired women.

"There! can be solved peacefully without the need to not make it rain." the green haired girl said to the "goddess"

"You were about to WHAT?!" Another voice is heard, this time coming from behind us, from the same direction Venetian and I took to reach up.

Reimu and the others I saw at the mansion reach up the hill and are now behind us, even the witch is with them.

We're surrounded.