Whoo, okay, I'm here, I'm here! I'm sorry about that delay, but I was spending my summer with loved ones, and as such I decided to put off writing anything, dedicate that time to them you know? Anyway, I won't keep you here any longer(I know at least one person messaged me hoping to know when this chapter would arrive). So with that, enjoy.

John could see Medicine inching closer to him, her arms outstretched as if to give him a hug, the stench of poisons oozing off of her, he tried to struggle and while he could feel the paralyzing poison wearing off it still wasn't enough for him to get away in time.

"Now then mister, let me hug the life out of you~!" Medicine cooed

John let out a pained grunt as she drew near him, closing his eyes as she was about to lay her hands on him.

THWAM!

John opened his eyes to see Medicine sailing away across the flower field, he turned to the newcomer who had for all intents and purposes saved his ass. What he saw was the usual goofy looking purple umbrella with the comically long tongue, and the blue haired heterochromatic eyed girl he'd been basically living with for a while now holding said umbrella like one would a baseball bat.

"K-Kogasa…? What are you doing here?" John asked dumbfounded at the sudden appearance of his friend

"I'm here because I was worried...and it looks like I was just in time too, are you alright? Can you move?"

"Y-yeah…that poison is wearing off now." John grunted getting to his feet properly "Guess this is what I get for coming out here all alone."

"Yeah it is, we're partners John, and you shouldn't go running off into dangerous places like this on your own."

"Okay okay...no need to treat me like a child." John said with a wave of his hand

"You...just who do you think you are?!" came the voice of Medicine, she'd gotten back to her feet from the attack, a scowl on her face "What gives you the right to come out of nowhere and smack me in the face with that umbrella?! It really hurts you know!"

"Er...sorry? Look, I'd really rather not fight, so if you just let us go we'll be on our way and-"

"Let you go...LET YOU GO?!" Medicine shouted at the top of her lungs "No way am I letting you go Kogasa, I thought you were a friend, someone who understood what it was like to be thrown away by those callous humans, and yet here you are consorting with them!"

"You aren't wrong Medicine, I hate the people who threw me away, I don't know who they are, or if they're even alive, but the difference here is I don't hate everyone at the village because of what some other people did."

"You were thrown away…?" John asked confused

"Yes John...I used to just be a normal umbrella, but well my owners didn't want me for some reason and so they threw me away. I became a youkai after who knows how many years and here I am."

"That's pretty crappy..."

"Tell me about it."

"Huh, in that case, you're mine now." John said bluntly

"W-what do you mean yours?!" Kogasa exclaimed with a blush

"You're my umbrella now, and I'll make sure to not throw you away no matter what...so keep me dry during the rain or whatever okay?"

"Oh...um...sure John."

"Oh my how swell for you Kogasa, this is fine, you both can die together now!" Medicine roared firing off poison clouds towards the two of them, the clouds were several times bigger this time, but luckily for John the little bit of exposition they'd had was perfect for him shaking off the last of the poison. He and Kogasa jumped away from the clouds, Kogasa taking to the sky, and raining down some danmaku while John began casting Stone III once again. While Medicine had been distracted by Kogasa's danmaku, she failed to notice the rocks jutting out of the ground to and smashing into her, knocking her back some.

"Crap...forgot he could do that." Medicine mumbled as she reoriented herself "Fine then, I'll start using spell cards, but you two better watch out, I'm aim to kill! Fog Sign, Gassing Garden!" Medicine began firing off dozens upon dozens of danmaku, with John and Kogasa doing their best to dodge the onslaught, it wasn't until John narrowly avoid another cloud of poison that he realized what was going on.

"Kogasa be careful! The bullets are just a distraction, look out for the clouds!"

Kogasa didn't have any time to voice confirmation as she was doing her best to dodge everything. At the very least, she was that John was on the ground, as this gave her all the room she needed in the air to dodge properly.

"Dammit, I can't get a cast off like this." John growled, the bullets and clouds were coming too fast for him to just cast normally...he needed something big, something that would disrupt the attack and luckily, since John was fighting as a white mage right now, he had the perfect attack for such a thing. Dodging as best as he could, John made his way towards Medicine giving his staff a small twirl as he did

"Swiftcast set." He murmured, he was just under Medicine now, the perfect spot for where he needed to be. "Hey Medicine, get a taste of this! HOLY!" He exclaimed as a small white orb raised into the sky towards the doll. She looked at it confused for a moment, before an explosion of light magic engulfed her being. Medicine began falling to the ground, as Holy had the secondary effect of briefly stunning the enemy (perfect for when one was dealing with multiple enemies and wanted them to just stop moving for a few seconds) a sickening thud reverberated throughout the hillside, and it was a few moments before Medicine got back to her feet.

"H-holy magic?! You know holy magic too?!"

"Uh...yeah, that a big deal?" John asked with a shrug

"Uh...John...she's a youkai...you know a demon? Holy magic is extremely deadly to youkai." Kogasa said hovering next to him

"Oh yeah...I guess that'd make sense, I'm so used to operating without the usual elemental weaknesses I guess I just forgot."

"Just promise me you won't hit me with that spell? It looked extremely painful..."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Poison Sign, Melancholy Poison!" Medicine hollered, hoping to catch the two of guard, this time the bullets coming out in a more pointed formation, while Medicine waved her hands to the side throwing out large orbs at the two of them.

"Dammit, won't the two of you just stay still and die already?!"

The two didn't bother making any quips, instead just getting back to dodging and flying out of the way of her shots.

"Kogasa, we need to end this! Can you do any of those spell card things like her?" John yelled at her

"Of course I can, why?! She replied getting grazed by a shot

"Do it now! Anything will do, just enough for me to get in close!"

"Fine! I'm sorry about this Medicine, but this will hurt! Folding Laser Umbrella!"

Kogasa folded her umbrella, aiming at it at Medicine before firing off a singular laser that quickly separated into several different lasers, covering the skies in danmaku, Medicine growled as she dodged her attacks, before finding a brief reprieve

"P-poison sign, Poison Breath!" she huffed out, she was getting tired now, the two wearing her down without fail, especially since she'd been hit by that Holy attack. Medicine's spell card had several different colors spiraling around her, poison clouds following after them, the shots from her spell card and Kogasa's clashing with each other as the bullets connected with each other causing explosions in the air. It was comparable to a fireworks show, but as this was all going on, John had taken his position below Medicine, dodging stray danmaku shots along the way as he positioned himself just right. Thankfully the puppet girl hadn't noticed him snaking his way towards her, Kogasa's danmaku proving to be a good distraction for him. He spread his arms out mimicking the motion used to cast Holy in the game, the cast time was a bit long, but once he'd finished casting the small white orb floated up...right in front of Medicine's face. She looked at it for a moment as if time had stopped, blinking several times before uttering one phrase.

"Oh shi-"

BOOM

The second attack hit her even harder than before knocking her back some as she went spiraling downward. She hit the ground with a loud crash, leaving John and Kogasa sitting still as they waited for her to possibly rise again. Silence hung over them for several minutes before John let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay...I think she's done for…" John breathed out, he was panting now, the adrenaline from the fight slowly leaving his body. "Let's get the hell out of here, the flowers should still be okay."

"Wait John...can we take her with us?"

John's mouth hung wide open at Kogasa's words...was she insane? Take her with them? After she tried so hard to kill them, more specifically him?

"You're joking right? Kogasa, she just nearly murdered us!"

"Look, I know...I know it looks bad, but she only ended up this way because she was abandoned, she hasn't even been around humans, I've talked to her before a few times and she's never been to the village...well except for one time she tried to poison them all, but that was a really long time ago."

"I don't think the village would be willing to allow us to bring in an evil doll girl who tried to poison them all."

At this Kogasa smirked "Well, it's a good thing we have a youkai tamer on our hands!" she exclaimed clapping him on the shoulder "Look, we'll tie her up once we get home, I got some rope from one of the villagers a few days ago for showing up to tidy his home."

"I'm not so sure about this Kogasa..."

"Come on please...for me~?" She cooed, giving him the most adorable pout she could muster

John's one weakness: Cute girls who pout

"Fine...I guess so, but if she flips out, then we're dumping her back here."

Kogasa let out a squeal of delight, at the news, while John returned to his Scholar form "I'll carry her back, let's hurry up, if we hang around here any longer then it'll be night by the time we get back to the village."

Kogasa nodded and the two returned to the village, it was dusk by the time they got back and thankfully along the way, Medicine had been kind enough to remain unconscious, the village guards were curious, but Kogasa quickly explained that she was a newly tamed youkai that John had gotten to work for him and that she'd just fell asleep...and to ignore the tattered clothing on her body. Not seeing much reason to argue, the guards let them pass, and once they were back at the office John sat the unmoving doll down on the bed.

"She's not dead is she?" John asked poking her softly

"I don't think so...she probably just needs to sleep the pain off." Kogasa replied, swiping his hand away "I'll get to tying her up, we'll explain what we want from her once she wakes up."

"Right, I'm off to see the princess, show her that I got the flowers...well, first I have to find Reisen."

With that, John exited the office, looking around the village for the bunny girl that would lead him through the bamboo forest. Thankfully, the ramen shop owner had seen her just before closing up, claiming she was at the entrance to the forest and once John had arrived there she perked up upon seeing him.

"God am I glad you're here, I was worried I'd missed you or even worse, I'd be out here well into the night. I assume you got the flowers?"

"Yeah...among other things." John snorted "Let's get these to Eirin and be done with all this already."

Not wasting any time, John and Reisen flew through the forest...which raised the question of why they didn't do this the other few times they'd come through here, but that was a question for another day, after what felt like an eternity of seeing nothing but green (and barely that as the sun was completely down now) John and Reisen arrived at Kaguya's home, they stepped inside to the clinic area before Reisen sat him down.

"One moment, I'll go let them know you're here."

John nodded, sitting there with the bag full of flowers in his hands as he let out a sigh, today had been a rather harrowing experience for him. That wolf from when he first arrived in Gensokyo didn't seem like that much of a threat compared to Medicine. She'd been genuinely gunning to kill him and the gravity of that situation was only beginning to settle in now. This wasn't some game like XIV, no, if he'd slipped up even one time he'd have been dead and that would be the end of it. He'd have to be more careful now, sure he had the power of the jobs at his disposal, but that could only do so much for him.

"The princess and Eirin will see you now." Reisen said snapping John out of his stupor

"Thanks." he replied getting up from his seat, he was once again led through the halls that were much wider than they had any right to be, though he'd only been through them a few times he was starting to memorize where they were, heck, he'd been starting to remember the way to Kaguya's place itself actually. His thoughts were interrupted again when he was face to face with Kaguya once again.

"Ah John, so good to see you, though...you seem a bit exhausted, is everything alright?" Kaguya asked with a raised eyebrow

"No, I love being sent to places with homicidal dolls that want to genocide humanity, I'm doing great." he said a bit more forceful than he intended

"I...see, please forgive Eirin for sending you there, I assume you have the flowers?"

"Yes, take the damn thing!" He growled shoving them into her arms "That enough?"

Eirin gazed upon the flowers carefully "These are the ones...the fact that you saw that doll and managed to evade her poisons means that you really are capable...with this, I should be able to create quite a few new medicines and drugs, I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Yeah...thanks, that poison of hers sucks, I got hit by some that paralyzed me for a small bit."

"You were struck by one of her poisons and you're still okay?" Eirin asked in shock

"Yeah, there was another one she used, but I was able to cure it before it caused any real problems." John sighed

"You...cured it?"

"Yes, I know a particular spell that can heal almost any ailment, it's rare that it can't heal anything really."

"That's quite the powerful bit of magic." Eirin muttered

"Right well, with this, I'll head off, I'm tired and Kogasa is waiting for me."

"Nonsense, you can't leave now!" Kaguya exclaimed "Finally I can go do something other than killing that insufferable Mokou, tonight we celebrate! Eirin, go inform the rabbits to prepare a feast for us, Reisen, can you go gather John's compatriot?"

The two women agreed to their tasks and left the room before John could even object to the notion. Kaguya was now alone with John for the moment, a fact which made the princess smile "So tell me John, exactly what kind of work do you and Kogasa do?"

"Oh...well, everything and anything I guess." John said "Sometimes I'm posted up at guard duty or we help the villagers fix something, or we look after children and the like."

"I see, I see...so you never go any extremely dangerous outings, save for this instance of course."

"Well, I wouldn't say that. This is actually the second...weirder task I've been given. I had to help Marisa break into the Scarlet Devil Mansion, do you know of it?"

"Ah yes...the vampire." She said with a small hint of disdain "I had heard that you were there for a while, I assure you we'll treat you much better here for the night."

"Oh it wasn't so bad, Remilia was actually kind of nice if not a bit haughty, but I was there since I had to steal some books back from Marisa...she had tricked me."

"I'm not surprised, I've heard some rather...unkind rumors regarding her, serves her right if she had some things taken from her for once."

"Yeah...don't tell her about that okay? As far as Marisa knows, I wasn't involved in that at all."

"Of course, your secret is safe with me, think of it as a pact between us as a new ally in the Favor Trade."

"Thanks Princess, I appreciate it." John said extending his hand towards her, Kaguya gingerly shook it, the feeling of John's hand surprising her, it was a lot more rough than she was used to and she quickly pulled away.

"Oh uh...sorry, I didn't meant to grip you to hard or anything."

"No...it is fine, I am just not used to sharing skin contact with someone of the opposite sex."

"O-oh...well uh..."

Unsure of where to take the conversation after that, the two sat in silence until Kogasa arrived to join them. The umbrella happily sat down next to John, and when asked about Medicine she said that the doll was still out of it, and likely wouldn't wake up until the next day. Kaguya was surprised to learn that the two had brought Medicine back with them, but she couldn't help but smile at the reason behind it, complimenting Kogasa on her compassion for someone who had only just moments before tried to kill them. The conversation between the three continued on for a while until the smell of food begin to waft through the air. John's stomach growled loudly, he didn't realize that he'd worked up quite the appetite from all that work, but after waiting the three moved to another room a few doors down from where they'd been talking. This particular room was quite spacious, with several tables aligned together to travel all over the room making it into one giant square. The food had already been set down on them and Kaguya motioned for Kogasa and John to have a seat. They were joined by Reisen, Eirin and another younger looking girl decked out in a pink nightgown like outfit and she didn't bother wearing any shoes at all, John couldn't recall having seen her before at all.

"So this is the guy that the princess is going to be working with?" She asked eyeing John up

"That's me, who are you?" he asked

"Name's Tewi, I've heard from Reisen that you've seen my handiwork before."

"Wait you're the one making those pitfalls all over the forest floor?!"

"Heh, pretty cool work isn't it?" Tewi replied in a cool tone

"More like irritating work if I have to be honest." John replied

"Tch...disrespectful little runt." she scoffed "You're lucky I'm in a good mood or I'd teach you a lesson!"

Somehow John severely doubted that.

The group gorged themselves on the food, there being several different kinds of fish, beef and pork available to eat. John couldn't control himself and filled up his plate with as much food as he could fit on it before going to town, several times all the other women just stared as he ate away, he wasn't slowing down at all, even after downing a few cups of sake to clean out his throat. Normally he wouldn't drink, but tonight was a party, so he decided to cut loose just this once or at least until he had a good buzz going at least. Everyone else had followed the same line of thought and eat and drank as much as they could until finally they were all stuffed and drunk.

"I...I think ish time we went hoooooome, I wanna shleeeep." Kogasa slurred standing up, the umbrella girl had drank a lot of sake, so she was completely out of it.

"Uh...yeah, come on Kogasa, let's get you home." John muttered, waving goodbye to everyone else as he carried his friend away. Through some sort of miraculous luck, John had managed to get himself and Kogasa home, even in the dead of night, he was a bit tipsy, but nowhere near as bad as Kogasa was. She had been babbling about random things for the entire way, most of it being things John couldn't even make out, but once he dropped her on her bed she was off to sleep within seconds. This left John alone for a moment as he looked around the tiny office, Medicine was still knocked out it seemed and Kogasa was snoring away happily. It was a bit touch and go there for a while, but John felt today was ultimately a success...even if he nearly died during it all. He took out his phone and glanced at it for the time...to see it read 4:25 AM.

"Man...gonna have a late day tomorrow..." he grumbled before climbing into his bed. He didn't even bother returning to his normal form, instead opting to sleep in the Scholar garb he'd been wearing since he made his way back from the hill. Soon sleep took him as easily as it took Kogasa…

The next day John awoke to some light knocking on his door. He came too, taking out his phone for a moment to check the time, it was already 1:30 PM causing him to jump to his feet. Kogasa began to stir as well and so did Medicine, who upon looking around for a few moments realized she wasn't where she normally resided.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"O-ow, please don't yell..." Kogasa groaned grabbing her head "My head is killing me..."

"Then explain to me why I'm in some shack tied up!"

"Just hang on a moment alright?" John muttered going to the door, he cracked it lightly to see who was on the other side only to see Kaguya standing in front of him.

"Is this...really where you conduct business John?" Kaguya asked

"Huh...oh...Princess...yeah this is the place...come in." John said with a yawn

"Goodness, you all just cram in here together…? This is certainly no place to live!"

"I don't even live here!" Medicine growled "And I'm still waiting for that explanation you jackass, why the hell am I here anyway?!"

"Okay okay, it's like this Medicine, Kogasaa felt bad for you and wanted to bring you in, me personally? I wanted to leave you out there since you tried to kill us but Kogasa was adamant."

"Y-yeah..." Kogasa said moving over to stand in front of the doll, it was clear she was still suffering from the hangover, but the concern in her voice was quite clear. "Look, I want you to join us, maybe if you hang around some of the humans here things won't be so bad? I mean...John is great! He's nice and he even helped me find a better way to surprise people!"

"You're just saying all of that because he said you're his personal umbrella." Medicine deadpanned

Kogasa let out a small blush, but quickly coughed "Tha-that only proves my point! John is great and I'm sure you'd enjoy being around him too! I mean, maybe some of the village children would want to play with you too!"

"Somehow I don't believe that."

"If I may interrupt?" Kaguya said calmly, taking control of the situation "Perhaps this would be good for you Ms. Medicine, you cannot be so certain of how we humans would act, and from what I've heard, John has quite the reputation around the village, so you should be met with less scrutiny."

"If I say no, I'll be stuck tied up won't I?"

"Yes." John said flatly

"Ugh...fine, I guess I can give this a try...but if you guys try anything funny…!"

"We won't...and if you really dislike it after about…a month's time, then John will let you go, right John?" Kogasa said looking up at him

"Seems fair...but you've gotta work with us too, the more hands we have helping around here, the better."

"You want me to work?!" Medicine scowled

"Yes, the princess is even willing to do it, and she's royalty." He replied jerking his thumb at the princess who gave a small bow.

"Alright fine...what kind of work do you do anyway?"

"Whatever the client asks...for the most part anyway. If it's anything that seems iffy, then you run it by me okay? Other then that, it won't be anything too crazy, maybe acting as a farm hand here or just helping out with some other tasks like that."

"Hmm...seems simple enough."

"Yup, though we should probably get Kogasa some water, let's make it a bit of a tour for you, show you around the village a bit."

"I'd like the sound of that...truth be told, I've rarely visited the village properly, I've flown over it a few times, but I've never actually...walked through it."

"Well two birds with one stone. Let's go." John said as he knelt down to undo the rope binding Medicine. With that done the four set out to get Kogasa some water to deal with her hangover and walk around the village, taking in the sights. Needless to say as the four made their way to one of the wells around the village, numerous villagers were staring at them. Part of this had to do with how Kaguya was carrying herself, though she wasn't as tall as John, she gave off an aura of elegance and regality befitting of a Princess of her caliber. Of course, another part of this had to do with the fact that all the members of Favor Trade were being seen together, or at least, the as far the villagers knew, Kogasa (who was lagging behind and holding her head still) and John were escorting these two around.

"Here Kogasa, drink this." John said lifting the bucket out of the well which was now full of water.

"Thanks..." she muttered "Downing the water, not caring that some splashed all over her clothes

"Feeling any better?"

"A little."

"You really went to town last night...I'm surprised you aren't feeling like her Princess."

"Don't foolish John, I've drank far stronger alcohol in all my time being alive...the benefit of having met some of the oni that reside in Gensokyo..."Kaguya said, the last bit causing her to sigh

"You don't sound too happy about that." Medicine spoke, taking notice of her sigh

"Well...you would be right, oni are extremely hardy drinkers and I got into a bit of a drinking match with one of them, we ended up drinking for two days straight and I'm pretty sure I ended up dying at least several times."

"Wait you died?! How the hell are you alive then?!"

"Oh uh...yeah so the princess is immortal..." John said rubbing his head with a chuckle

Medicine's eyes were as wide as dinner plates at that revelation and it led to her shouting loudly again before the others could get her to calm down. When that was finished, they continued on walking around the village, John and Kogasa pointing out various buildings or small shops that were worth going to and checking out.

"That's the carpenter's shop, he's got some good lumber and things like that, we usually get some for helping out with lugging stuff around." John said "And over there is a tavern, great for drinks if you want anything. Working there is nothing too fancy, just waiting tables or acting as security."

"This is quite fascinating...to think that you and Kogasa were the only two helping these places all this time…"

"I have to admit I'm surprised too, I thought you were just some idiot in white robes." Medicine said with a smirk

"I'll have you know I'm far from an idiot, especially in this particular state" he said pushing up the glasses he wore while in his Scholar form. "Anyway, this is the school, and the teacher here is pretty nice...I think you'd like her."

"Oh I know her quite well." Kaguya said, "She's friends with that insufferable Mokou.

"Excuse me, but whose insufferable now?" came a voice from behind the group

They all turned around to see a person with striking red eyes, decked out in red pants with what looked to be paper charms on them. The white shirt they wore had no such charms on them and the sleeves seemed to have been burned away, leaving the person's arm bare. Their long silver hair had numerous ribbons used to tie it all up, it was quite the appearance to say the least, and the look on the person's face wasn't too kind looking at the moment.

"Oh...if it isn't the mongrel Mokou." Kaguya sneered

"Oh if it isn't the bitch of Eientei Kaguya." Mokou said in a mimicking voice

"Devolving to base insults already? Typical."

"You wanna die again you asshole?"

The air around the two of them was quickly becoming heavy, one could cut the tension with a knife, the other three members of Favor Trade, were stuck rooted to the spot as the two glared at each other, but finally it was John who spoke up

"Hey uh...look guy, I don't know what your problem with the Princess is but-"

"What do you mean guy?!" Mokou roared

"Uh...you're a guy right?"

"What…? No! I'm a girl!"

Everyone remained quiet for a moment at the exchange for a few moments, unsure of how to process all this save for Kaguya who was doing her best to not burst out laughing

"Really?" Was all John said

"Y-you asshole, of course I am! Look at me, would a guy have hair this long?"

"I mean...I guess so, but you've got a bit of a boyish face and-"

"B-boyish face?!"

"I-I'm not trying to be rude or anything er...miss but I mean, from first glance I guess you kinda look-"

THWACK

John didn't know what happened, but the next thing he knew he was on the ground looking at the sky, Mokou had given him a punch straight to the face for his troubles of trying to diffuse the escalating fight between her and Kaguya, he couldn't even hear what else she'd yelled at him before he blacked out.

John awoke, in what appeared to be...a classroom? Oh god was he having one of those nightmares where you'd show up to school without clothes on?! He quickly sat up looking at his lower body to make sure that he was clothed, which he was thankfully.

"Careful John...careful..." Came the voice of Keine holding him in place "Don't move so suddenly."

"What happened…?" John said with a moan

"That Mokou girl knocked you flat on your butt is what." Medicine said with a giggle "I can't really blame her, I'd be angry too if someone thought I was a boy."

"I can't blame John...I thought Mokou was a boy too the first time I saw her." Kogasa mumbled "I just...was smart enough to not say it out loud."

"I heard what happened from inside the school and so I decided to bring you in here to try and wake you up...I'm sorry about Mokou hitting you like that, she's not that bad, honest!"

"Having a hard time believing that right now..." John groaned sitting up "Anyway, what's your problem with her Princess? You two looked like you were about to throw down right then and there."

At this Kaguya let out a huff "I do not wish to trouble you with that bit of my life John, besides, it's a long story and I'd need a cup of sake handy if I were to explain it all in great detail."

"Jeez that bad…?"

"Yes. That bad indeed."

"Well, okay, I won't pry any deeper...at least not now anyway. Man, remind me to never call Mokou a guy again." he muttered rubbing his head

"Actually, I've been wondering something Princess..." Keine started, staring at her for a moment "Just why are you walking around with John and Kogasa anyway...and why is she with all of you as well?" She said pointing at Medicine.

"Oh it's quite simple, Medicine and I are official members of Favor Trade!"

Silence...that was all that greeted Kaguya's declaration before one singular sound escaped Keine's lips.

"Pfffft…." she was covering her mouth, doing her best to try and hide her laughter, but after several moments she couldn't hold it in and began laughing loudly "Pfffthahahahahahaha...you aren't serious are you?"

Her question was met with silence

"Oh my god you're serious aren't you?"

"Y-yes Keine...what is so funny about this?"

"Well I don't mean to be rude...but well, you're a princess! John and Kogasa do a lot of physical labor among other things, I simply can't see you really doing anything like that."

"Oh I'm quite aware, John has given me a tour of the town and pointed out what kind of work I'll most likely be doing. So be it, I won't backpedal on this choice and if I work hard, I will earn nothing but adoration from the people of the village, a fair trade off I'd think."

"And well, I'm just here to try and…get along with the humans I guess…?" Medicine said with a shrug "Frankly, I think John is wasting his time, but I only have to hang around for a month before I can go home again."

"Di...didn't you try to poison the village about...30 years ago?" Keine asked with a raised eyebrow

"Ehehehe...maybe?"

She turned to John giving him a sideways glance "You've got quite the odd taste in partners for your business, you know that?"

"I am fully aware and I accept all the inevitable problems it will bring." John sighed

"Oh, speaking of, I believe Takamaki is looking for you. She said she had a request of you, but when she stopped by this morning, no one answered the door."

At this John and Kogasa flushed red in embarrassment "Y-yeah, we were out...uh...taking care of some things. But thanks for letting me know, we'll go see her right now."

Getting to his feet, John and the others left the school, heading towards the inn, once they stepped inside, they were greeted by a woman wearing a yellow robe who greeted them with a bow.

"Welcome to…oh you're the white knight… and the princess of Eientei!"

"Please don't call me that..." John sighed "Anyway, are you Takamaki? We heard from Keine that you were looking for us?"

"Oh yes...I have a request if that would be alright."

"Well, let's move somewhere more comfortable and get to negotiating then shall we?"

"Oh yes, of course, right this way!"

Takamaki led the four into a small room with a table sitting in the middle of it, she having sat down on one side, while John and the others sat down on the other.

"So, what's your request ma'am?" John asked

"Well...my daughter, she's become fascinated with flowers lately over the past few months, she loves them so much she's taken to planting her own little garden in the back of our inn. It's been great for business as well, giving the guests a nice something to look at while staying at the inn or using one of the bathes. There's just one problem though..."

"And what's that?" John inquired

"She's become obsessed with getting sunflowers!"

"What's the issue there?" John asked

However, it was Medicine who spoke next, getting her words out before Takamaki could say anything "You couldn't possibly mean you want us to go meet...Yuuka?"

"Yuuka…?"

The three women looked at John incredulously "You don't know Yuuka Kazami?" Kogasa said

"I'm not exactly from around here remember?"

"Anyway Takamaki..." Kaguya said getting back on topic "You want us to steal a sunflower from Yuuka Kazami...one of the most deadly youkai in Gensokyo?"

"W-well...I wouldn't say steal. I would hope you could get one, but I will not blame you if you couldn't, hell, I can't blame you for wanting to turn down this request. I merely want you to ask this...Yuuka if she'd be willing to part with one sunflower or even just a seed."

"Screw that, there's no way we're taking this request on." Medicine said bluntly

"What do we get out of it, if we do?" John said ignoring the doll

"Y-you'll do it…?!"

"Depends on what we get out of it."

"U-um well...I cannot think of much… Would some money suffice?"

"Hmmm..." John said humming to himself, the truth of the matter was that he and Kogasa didn't have a lot of money to their name. The only reason they were doing so well now, is because the villagers would trade them some food or vegetables for their hard work, part of the appeal to Favor Trade was that the villagers didn't necessarily need to pay them money."

"I don't know..." John said slowly

"W-wait, I can throw in these jewels too!" Takamaki stated hurriedly. She quickly went rummaging in one of her drawers on a nearby nightstand and pulled out several small marble like gems...or at least, to the untrained eye they were just orbs, but John knew what they really were.

"What the hell...hang on...ma'am...where did you get those?"

"These…? A strange old man paid for a day's stay with them said if I ever needed a favor from you, you'd definitely do it for those. They're quite beautiful if I say so myself and-"

"We'll do it." John stated

"WHAT?!" Everyone (including Takamkai) exclaimed loudly

"I said, we're doing it. Those aren't jewels...that's Grade 5 materia..." John said "That is some of the rarest stuff and judging by the red color of them...this is Savage Aim and Savage Might materia, which makes them extremely valuable."

"Okaaaay...so what do these actually do?" Medicine asked

"Okay...well Savage Aim increases your Critical Hit rate, it's a must if you're running a job like Machinst, which really benefits from crits when it comes to their wildfire ability and the Might increases your Determination, not as important as Crit, but it can increase the overall power of attacks and you all have no idea what I'm saying do you?"

The girls all shook their heads, the explanation going well over their heads.

"Heh...I figured, it's fine, but yeah, we'll definitely go see this Yuuka woman for these."

"I don't think you understand John." Kogasa said "Yuuka is a terrifying youkai, I hear she kills anyone who gets close to her flower field!"

"I've heard she slaughtered at least half of Gensokyo in a homicidal rampage some couple hundred years back." Medicine added

"I've heard she's the original user of the master spark...you know that attack the witch loves to use?" Kaguya said calmly "Going there won't be an easy task. we'll need to be ready for a fight."

"Then get ready everyone, we're going to take on Yuuka Kazami and get that sunflower!" John said clenching his fist with a determined face

Medicine just snorted "You're really freaking insane aren't you?"

"When you're a warrior of light, you sort of have to be, if only a little."

At this Medicine laughed "Well hell, alright then 'Warrior of Light' I'm in, besides, if things get really bad, I'll just run off."

"I'll shoot you down myself then." Kogasa said with a glare

"Alright alright, let's get ready and be off shall we?" Kaguya chimed in again, really, was she going to have to be the sensible one out of this group?

Everyone agreed, and left the inn, preparing for what could quite possibly be the most insane thing they've ever done in their lives.

Meanwhile at the Garden of the Sun

Yuuka Kazami sat down at the table of her small cottage a small pot of tea. "Another boring winter day..." she muttered to herself. These were the quiet times of the year, where not even the Primsriver Sisters would stop by to perform every now and then. She longed for something exciting to happen or for someone anyone to come visit the garden...but well...Yuuka had a 'reputation' so to speak. She'd stopped by the village a few times and had tried to make some conversation with the locals, but to put it bluntly, the people were terrified of her. She couldn't blame them, she could ravage their entire village if she wanted to, but she'd never do that! She'd have to be really mad to do that, not to mention it'd lead to some awful consequences for her in the long run.

"Perhaps I should try visiting the village again?" She mused taking a sip "It would be nice to see the flower shop again at the very least. I just hope they all don't stare again..." she took another sip, enjoying her drink and contemplating what to do still "Maybe I shouldn't, that Hakurei girl should be holding another festival in a few months during spring...things would be a lot more livelier then. Still...I wish something would happen..."

Oh if she only knew how much that wish was going to be granted...

So yep, that happened, John has now managed to snag two new party members at once! With that being the case, he's now got a LIGHT PARTY. For those not in the know, in FFXIV a light party is a group of at least 4-7 people. Now hopefully, I should get a new chapter up somewhere in October maybe, provided I don't get distracted by certain other things. So, until then my friends!