>>205189
#2 - An Autographed Novel from a Mysterious Stranger

[X] was to abandon winter this year. It was time for a vacation.

Why did she need to be going out and about for winter? Wandering the mountains and forests alone, spreading snow, and being treated as a pariah for it. No, Letty was sick of it. If she were avoided like the plague for doing her job, then she would simply not do her job this year. She couldn't be blamed for having this attitude, could she? After all, who out there could enjoy doing the same unfilling task, year in and year out, and being hated for it?

...

But it wouldn't be that simple to just abandon this year's winter. It never was. Letty couldn't just not do her duty and bring about winter. For one, she technically didn't really bring winter. It was complicated, but Letty more so enhanced winter, brought a definitive winter to Gensokyo. True, if she decided to just hibernate all winter, Gensokyo would see less snow. But it would still be chilly, still winter. Should it have managed to snow as well in her absence... Letty gave a shiver at the thought. Gensokyo was a place where youkai could feel safe, to not worry about being disproven. Letty didn't know if a youkai could accidentally debunk themselves in Gensokyo, but she didn't care to risk it.

The second issue was that there would be two people who would be quite upset at Letty for neglecting her duty. The first one being the diligent-yet-lazy shrine maiden of Hakurei, Reimu Hakurei. Her job was to keep Gensokyo's balance, no matter the cost. If Reimu found out that Letty was upsetting Gensokyo's winter by taking the season off, she would likely track her down and begin whacking her with her gohei until either Letty or the gohei broke. And Reimu's gohei had yet to break despite countless hours of whacking youkai.

The second person who would've taken issue with Letty's leave of absence was Yuuka Kazumi, the youkai of the flowers. Yuuka was a strange youkai, no one really knew what she was or what to make of her. Letty had visited her a fair amount of times, more than most people in Gensokyo, and Yuuka was always amicable. However, though Yuuka enjoyed teasing others, she was not a youkai to fool around with. What Yuuka loved the second-most was nature and the turning of the seasons. This allowed her most-loved beautiful flowers to grow and wilt, and experience the full breadth of their lifecycles. Winter may have been a desolate season for flowers, but it was still needed for many of them, and some truly mad flowers sought to bloom underneath the snow. If Letty were to interfere with even a single flower's lifecycle... She didn't know how Yuuka would react, but if it made her wrathful, she would rather face death instead. It'd be far less painful.

Letty sighed as she plopped on her couch, still in her underwear. On one hand, another year of monotony. On the other, accidentally wiping her existence or earning the wrath of Gensokyo's two most powerful entities. There was no winning either way. She glanced over at a disorganized pile of Agatha Chris Q. murder novels among the mess that was her living room and gave a chuckle. If she made Reimu and Yuuka mad, she'd certainly end up like one of those murder victims.

...

. . .

Letty sat back up and grabbed one of the murder novels. Maybe this was what she wanted. She remembered, in one of these books, the twist was that the victim had faked their own murder so that she could hide away. That might've been it! That might've been what she needed! Yuuka and Reimu couldn't be mad at her or search for her, they'd think she was dead! Letty could don a disguise and spend the rest of winter mulling about in the human village, or exploring former hell, or... well, anything she wanted really! Without needing to bring the bitter embrace of snow with her, without everyone fleeing her path, without glares from the window demanding she go away! What would she do when she was bored and ready to return to her yuki-onna life? This presumed she would want to in the first place. Still, it was a bridge she would cross when she arrived to it.

The issue of accidentally disproving herself remained though. Part of her questioned if it would really cause her to disappear if she was absent yet cold arrived, but she didn't want to take the risk. Besides, a part of her pride didn't want Gensokyo to have snow from anyone else. She was still a youkai, and even if she felt sick of her duty at the moment, the idea of anyone even potentially enjoying its fruits without her made her sick. No, it wouldn't be enough that Letty didn't bring an idealized winter to Gensokyo. Gensokyo didn't deserve a winter at all.

Letty searched through her mess of a room to find a copy of the Gensokyo Chronicle. She had received it ages ago from a party she attended at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, when its owner wanted to showcase her great wealth and generosity with lavish gifts for her guests. Letty didn't imagine ever needing to use it, as the amount of youkai interested in dealing with her were quite minimal. However, to pull this scheme off, Letty needed at least one other youkai's cooperation. She would need some way to end winter in Gensokyo.

The obvious idea was to use Lily White and skip winter, going straight to spring. However, this was a completely foolish idea. For one, Lily had no control over spring. She could only announce when spring had arrived. And two, Lily was a simple fairy. She couldn't lie or scheme or handle a plan. Involving her would've been pointless. Trying to stretch autumn was also a bit questionable. Letty wasn't on the best terms with the Aki sisters. Not enemies, she probably could negotiate with them if she tried. However, they never cared much for her winter ending their autumn (and Letty was certain both sisters were jealous of Letty's more favorable assets, though she'd never be able to prove it). Even if she did employ their help, the two goddesses were quite weak and flakey, she had no idea how well they could be trusted in pulling off an incident.

This left summer, the one season Gensokyo seemed to lack a patron deity in. The closest there seemed to be was Yuuka, but she was off of the table for obvious reasons. If she wanted to bring summer instead of winter, she would need some other youkai who could heat things up.

Lastly, Letty knew she would need two other things - a way to fake her death (and leave behind proof of her death), as well as someone to pin the crime on. After all, how can there be a murder without a murderer? Someone would need to be the fall youkai.

... Did they? Letty bit at a pen she had, as she continued to page through the chronicle, looking at pages upon pages of youkai. It was one thing to fake her own death, but casting the blame on someone else might've been a step too far. It had been ages since a youkai managed to murder another youkai in Gensokyo, who knew what the punishment for such a thing was? Likely nothing pretty.

Well, this could wait. Right now, Letty needed to focus on the first part of her incident. How was she going to steal Gensokyo's winter? Who could she work with?

[] Write in.

>>205197
#3 - A Lifetime Ban from an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet

[X] Let's go to the season-stealing expert! Ask Yuyuko!

Maybe Letty was overthinking this. Gensokyo was no stranger to having its seasons manipulated. In fact, in Letty's first proper interaction with incident resolvers, that incident was caused by someone manipulating the seasons. Letty cringed a bit. She... wasn't her best during that time. Her power had waned when winter naturally ended, but winter's unnaturally prolonged state left her in a bit of a high. With her power and mood fluctuating, she ended up losing in a rather embarrassing way to the incident resolvers, barely putting up a fight. It was fun in the moment but hurt her public image in the long run. It's part of what encouraged humans to attack her if they saw her out and about in summer.

Letty opened the Gensokyo Chronicle to a page with an elaborate drawing of an elegant and slender ghostly figure. Yuyuko Saigyouji. She had manipulated the seasons in the past. She was the one Letty needed to meet with for her incident. With her goal set, Letty tidied herself up, adorned her outfit, and took flight.

To get to Yuyuko's domain, a palace in the Netherworld, one had to sneak through the Barrier of Life & Death. It was tethered to Gensokyo and had been since Yuyuko's incident ages ago. Just past the Hakurei Shrine into the sky, Letty crossed the barrier separating the living and the dead.

It was a quiet realm, deathly still. Not a sound seemed to come from anywhere. The silence was unlike anything Letty had experienced. No animals were crying, no water flowing, no breeze flying. Not even the faint background noise within her head could be heard, her thoughts too shy to make a sound for fear of being found. Found by what? She hadn't known, but this realm made her fear it.

Letty flew until she could hear the faint sound of leaves rustling. Letty zeroed in on this sound. As a reward for her efforts, Hakugyokurou revealed itself in the distance and allowed Letty to approach it. Letty came to the ground near the source of the only sound in the land of the dead, a white-haired girl trimming the leaves of trees and bushes on the property.

"Ah... Erm... Hello ma'am." The gardener, Youmu Konpaku didn't care for surprises like this. Lady Yuyuko wasn't supposed to be having guests. At least, she hadn't said so. Youmu had asked her ghostly master time and time again to please let her know whenever she was having someone over, but every time Yuyuko would shrug her off and make some comment along the lines of 'variety is the spice of life' or such. "I suppose you're here to see Lady Yuyuko?"

Letty nodded and gave a polite smile. "Yes. Forgive me for not notifying in advance, but it's a rather urgent issue. If she could see me, I would be most appreciative." Letty may have been a mistress of the cold, but even she knew decorum asked for her words to be anything but. Youmu nodded and went to fetch her master and see if she would be willing to entertain a surprise visitor.

Thankfully, she was. Letty knelt on her pillow across from her ghost host. The Gensokyo Chronicle's portrait of the undead princess was a little generous in some aspects (her frame was a bit thicker than what was drawn), but in other ways completely failed. It was difficult to put into words, but the woman before her was the epitome of grace. Every movement she made, even ones that should've been unrefined and straightforward like grabbing a rice ball to munch on, just carried so much refinement with it. For Yuyuko, it was impossible for her to act in a base manner. She was the (un)living embodiment of class, just as one would expect an (un)living princess to be. Yuyuko couldn't be compared to a fairy tale, as a fairy tale could be put down onto the written page. Yet no tome could ever hope to convey the elegance of Yuyuko Saigyouji.

Even when she was swallowing an entire rice ball without chewing.

"It's not often someone comes to this place. Particularly someone still lively and vibrant. Tell me, what has brought the first frost of the season to me?"

Letty took a deep breath. It would be best to be direct and upfront. "I need to steal the winter from Gensokyo."

Yuyuko's normally-closed eyes opened a bit, her polite smile faded gently from surprise. "Hmm. I hadn't expected that answer. But what does this have to do with me?"

Letty was surprised likewise, expecting the first question to have been why a winter spirit wanted to steal winter. Oh well, if Yuyuko didn't need explanations for motivations, it would make things simpler. "You've stolen the seasons before, it would be natural to ask you about how to steal this one as well. If you could do so yourself, it would be even more helpful."

Yuyuko took another bite. "I have not stolen seasons, and I apologize for the misconception. I had my servant gather spring. The only spring I actively sought out with my own hand was the spring that Reimu, Marisa, and Sakuya had brought to me. Still, there is an active difference between the gathering of a season and stealing it."

"Is such a difference only a matter of semantics?"

"In our world where myth holds power, semantics are indeed powerful tools." Yuyuko took a sip from her tea, which quickly emptied her cup, and continued. "The woodsman gathers berries from bushes. The burglar intrudes into a house to steal valuables. As spring grows forth like a flower, anyone is right to pluck it."

"Is that what I need to do? Simply pluck winter?"

"No, heavens no I'm afraid. It's far too late for that. When I sought to hold spring, I had my servant Youmu gather it well before spring came into bloom. Any trace of spring, a flower blooming early, a child dreaming of warm days, Youmu was in charge of stealing it. If you start early, it is more than manageable to do. At this point, however? The dawn of December? Too late, far too late. For someone to do alone."

"Worst case, could I not-"

"Absolutely not. By no count should you attempt to gather winter personally. Patricide is a sin you would never be able to wipe from your soul."

Letty frowned. "So is my dream of an incident already snuffed?"

"Now that wasn't what I had said, was it?" Yuyuko took another bite, this time delving into the fish before her. "If your will to begin an incident is strong enough, you should go forth with it. Cliche as it may seem, any dream can be achieved, an answer always remains. If you can't find an army of a person to do the task, perhaps what you need is the heart of the innocent?"

"... Fairies you mean?" It was hard to think of more innocent creatures in Gensokyo, mostly because of their lack of mental capacity as opposed to any kindly nature.

Yuyuko chuckled. "Perhaps I was too forward with that. Oh well. You might overlook them, but fairies attract the attention of many for a reason. Most are weak, but the powers that some hold can truly be called great. You just need to find a way to get them to apply that. Be warned though, their innocence means you'll need to use gentle words and a guiding nature. If you're playing chess, explain the rules to them in a clear way. Otherwise, they'll play checkers and lose right away to a proper chess player. And once they lose, so will you."

"So I should-"

"And understand this - you will lose in the end."

Letty was in shock. "But I haven't even begun my incident! You don't know my plans to judge them!"

"If you go against the maiden of red and white in her land, there is no hope of anything but defeat. However, you can perhaps win before you lose."

"What does that mean?"

Yuyuko smiled as Youmu brought forth more platters. "It's your incident, how can I determine what your victory is? Now then, you've barely touched your food, and I can tell you're most definitely not a woman of small appetite. Let's put aside this talk of meddlesomeness and adopt merriment instead! Is that not what is fashionable this season?"

Letty had to admit - the feast was undoubtably delectable. Yuyuko had pegged her appetite right, unfortunately. Youmu may have been a swordswoman, but her skill with the skillet was what was truly to be feared. A swordswoman could chop pounds off of a person, but a skilled chef could add pounds instead, and that was far scarier to a lady. As they wrapped up their feast and casual chatter, Letty prepared for her goodbyes. Yuyuko joined her on the outside porch. "So how does your incident fair now?"

"Not too well I'm afraid. Though I think I have a few ideas."

Yuyuko smiled. "Good. Follow them through. I apologize I could offer you no help beyond this advice. I'd give a prayer to the shrine, but I imagine such an act could prove counterproductive."

"The thoughts are what count." As Youmu watched the two ladies from a distance chat, she couldn't help but notice the bizarre sight. Though winter pervaded even the Netherworld, their woman's breath could be seen. One due to her undead nature, and the other due to her naturally cold physiology. It made the two appear uncanny.

"Still, I fear you've risked a great deal coming to me."

"How so? The trip was simple enough."

"To come to the Netherworld, you have to tread near the Hakurei Shrine. Not a wise decision for one wishing to cause trouble."

She wasn't seen, was she? No one made themselves known if they had, no alarms raised. "It was fine."

"In Gensokyo, little can hide in the world of shadows forever. Especially if that little is something causing big trouble. Make your actions count, for the veil of obscurity can quickly be unraveled." Yuyuko clapped her hands. "Oh dear! Lest I forget, one second!" She hurried back into her abode and brought forth a bag. A purple velvet bag to be precise, string keeping a hold of the treasures within. "Take this, as a good luck gift from me! It's been a while since Gensokyo's last incident, I'll look forward to seeing what you can accomplish! Truth be told, I knew you held the ability to do so, but your powers seemed like they would lend themselves to an incident like the raven from hell. Raw strength and nothing more. However, your plan seems to not go this route, and that captivates me."

>>205210
#4 - An Old Top Hat of a Now-deceased Snowman

[x] Fairies, fairies... There was that incident at the shrine, wasn't there? A patch of summer in the middle of your winter. It would be hard to forget the butterfly fairy and the strange fairy responsible for it. Seeking them out would probably be the best course of action. Say your goodbyes and depart.
- [x] You were fairly certain the fairy with the torch resided at the shrine, so it would be risky, but convenient to grab her first. She might also be able to help you find the butterfly.

With a polite farewell, Letty took flight and departed the land of the dead. During her flight, she considered what her plans for the future should be. Yuyuko seemed to allude to fairies... Cirno? No, Cirno wouldn't have been much help. She was dull and arrogant and would rather freeze than melt. But...

Letty thought back to a recent winter. At least, recent in her mind. The shrine maiden had decided to hold a summer festival in the middle of winter. It seemed to begin as nothing more than a cheap fire festival, but at its peak Letty could tell without being there that summer had arrived. Back then, she found it deeply offensive and tried to get reports of how it had happened. There was a fairy with the wings of a butterfly. Whispers called her a forbidden ancient god, but this was surely absurd. Letty imagined she was more akin to Wriggle than anything else. Whatever this fairy was though, she seemed to have the ability to summon forth summer enough to overpower winter.

This was not accomplished by the fairy alone though. To do this, she needed an influx of power. At least, as far as Letty understood from what she was told. How she obtained this influx of power was through the torch of that other, more garish, fairy. Wearing the colors of the intruding power from overseas, the hell fairy was dangerous and unpredictable. But the torch she carried around somehow gave power to the butterfly fairy. Presumably, others too, Letty didn't know. Her knowledge of both fairies was very limited. Having never met either, everything she could surmise came from second-hand accounts and Bunbunmaru clippings.

What she did know is that the butterfly fairy was mostly seen around the Garden of the Sun. Yuuka's domain. The hell fairy was supposed to be living in the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu's domain.

Letty gave a sigh. Was fate determined to be like this to her this winter? All the more reason to end it sooner.

As she passed through the barrier, she was taken aback by the return of a soundscape. The sound of wind blowing, snowflakes gently tumbling from the night sky above, the rustling of branches... Letty needed a bit to regroup herself after being in silence for so long.

Lowering herself to the ground and taking cover in the trees, Letty lurked through the foliage, taking heed of Yuyuko's earlier warnings about being watched. The Hakurei Shrine laid up ahead, to avoid it she would take a-

Letty stop. Avoid it? Why was she being overly cautious? She needed to come to the Hakurei Shrine eventually. The hell fairy was there. And no trouble was being caused by her yet, if caught nearby she could simply make an excuse for being in the area. She wanted to end winter sooner than later, she couldn't afford to take months and months of cautious steps.

Letty snuck through the snow-laden undergrowth, leaving no footsteps. Being a yuki-onna, she could will the snow to not bend at her feet (a task difficult for the snow, but not impossible with enough effort). As she approached the treeline, she hid behind one of the trees in the shadows. A warm glow came from the shrine, but no sounds within. No footsteps were left in the snow surrounding the shrine, but this meant little in a land where most took flight. Letty looked upward towards the snowflakes falling and whispered a request for help. The snowflakes were jittery and shy, as they often were. Their lives were short, and to spend it doing a task was a stressful ordeal for one. After a few generations, one brave snowflake decided it would offer its help. On a cold breeze, the snowflake flew towards the shrine, around and inward, recording what little it saw to memory. As it descended to the earth, the snowflake spent its dying breath confirming what Letty had hoped - a shrine maiden of red and white was not within the shrine at the moment. Someone else was though, in the lair underneath.

Letty took a breath. She needed to get the fairy's torch, either through cooperation or stealth. How would she go about it?

[ ] Cooperation. The carrot is better than the stick, surely Letty can convince this fairy to help her somehow.
[ ] Stealth. The torch is what is needed, we can forgo the fairy. What the fairy does afterward is of no importance.
[ ] Perhaps what is needed is something more concrete and focused. A different approach, or a more elaborate plan. (Write in)

>>205215
#5 - A Vinyl Disc of a Song about a Dance Floor Wildfire

[❆] Cooperation. The carrot is better than the stick, surely Letty can convince this fairy to help her somehow.

Fairies might have been dull, but this was supposedly one of the strongest fairies in Gensokyo. Hopefully, some of that strength could translate into a bit of brainpower. A few honeyed words here and there, and the fairy should be right by her side. This was the ideal plan. Letty looked around the sides of the shrine, observing the area. She knew there was no one else nearby but her (and the fairy). The shrine, the statues, and the snow still managed to create a foreboding atmosphere. It was as if each was daring her to step forward. The minute Letty stepped into the shrine, there would be no turning back. The incident would have officially begun.

With a deep breath and a hardened determination for her vacation, Letty stepped forward.

The shrine was in orderly condition, though it proved a tad difficult to figure out the path to the lower level. The shrine's labyrinthian nature must've been the result of having been rebuilt over and over after its many destructions. Each destruction proved to be extremely devastating. For the destroyer. Down the steps, Letty descended as if she were a poet from Florence and entered into the lair of the hell fairy.

The fairy was dressed in her odd attire bouncing a small ball to the side wall. When she heard Letty's footsteps down the stairs, she turned her head. Her puzzled expression morphed into a frown as she quickly grabbed the torch mounted to the wall. "Hey!" She shouted interrogatively, pointing the torch at Letty as she stepped down the last step. "Who the blazes are you lady?"

"A friend, a friend! Relax please!" Letty gave a nervous chuckle as she held her hands up defensively, an act which did nothing to appease the fairy. "I'm not here to cause trouble not for you! I heard there was a strong fairy in the area, and I needed to see her for myself." Letty hoped her attempts at subtle manipulation could be pulled off. Figures like Yuyuko and Yukari could do this effortlessly, if Letty was to start an incident it would be a tactic she would need to master.

However, it seemed that, in this case, the fairy was a bit more aware than others of her kind. "Who do you think I am, Cirno? If you're trying to flatter me it won't work. I know I'm the strongest! I don't need any big lady telling me so!"

"B-Big!?" Letty was about to argue but reminded herself to hold back. This was a fairy, if you were arguing with one you had already lost. "... I guess you really are smarter than me to see through me that easily."

"Naturally! Even Reimu has told me I'm pretty bright!" She held a look of smugness stating that fact.

"Is that why she lets you live here?"

"Right now she lets me live because I can help keep the shrine warm for winter. Though she doesn't let me do much else fun." Fun. That was the ticket, fairies were mischievous little bastards.

"As it happens to be, I was interested in doing a little fun for myself! Since you're so smart and strong, maybe you could help me?"

The fairy was intrigued. "Oh?"

"Tell me, what do you think of winter?"

"Bleh." The fairy stuck out her tongue. "It's too cold to do anything, all my friends want to stay inside. I hate it, it's such a dumb season." Letty instinctively wanted to argue and defend winter's honor, but she had to hold back. Though she wanted a break from winter, she couldn't help but want to defend it from ingrates like this. Why did life need to be so complicated? "Why, what about it?"

"What if I told you we could do a hilarious prank by stealing winter!"

The fairy smiled at first. Then, gears turned in her head and she slowly frowned, confused. "What's funny about that?"

Letty gave a shocked expression. "You don't know? Imagine all the snowball fights, people right in the middle of their games, having it all turn to water! Everyone in their coats will suddenly get very hot since we'll turn winter into summer! And then, after that, everyone can play summer games instead together! Shaved ice, watermelon smashing, the whole nine yards!"

This made the fairy smile! "Oh man, that does sound like fun! So we're gonna heat things up!"

"That's right!" Letty smiled. This was going much easier than she thought! "And imagine Reimu's face, she'll be so shocked that you managed to pull this prank off!"

"Haha, yeah!" The fairy was getting really excited now! A good sign! "Imagine if we heat everything up for her, she'll be so peeved, she just put up her warm weather clothes in the attic! Oh man, what if we heat up this whole area?"

"You're gonna set the world alight with this prank! Now, we can only do this if you decide to come with me to work on this prank, alright?"

"You got it, lady!

"Great! Now then, Reimu might ask where you went, so let's write her a letter so she doesn't think it's strange you've left. You can write, can you... erm..."

"Clownpiece."

"Ah, thank you! You can write, right Clownpiece?"

"Of course!"

"Good! Grab a piece of paper and pen!" As this was the basement and full of supplies, this was easy for the fairy to do, as she placed her torch back against the wall. Clownpiece went to a desk facing the corner of the room and looked eager to write. "Now, pen this down word-for-word. "Dear Reimu, I will be going-"

"How do you spell Reimu?"

"R-E-I-M-U"

"One M or two Ms?"

"One, I just said it. Now, "Dear Reimu, I will be going on-"

"Do I write this after or before the first "Dear Reimu"?"

"What? What are you-" Letty looked at the letter the fairy was writing.

'deer raymoo-REIMU eye will be gog on deer REIMU' Yeah this wasn't working.

"OK, tell you what, I will write the letter first, and then you'll copy it, alright?" Clownpiece nodded enthusiastically as she slipped out of the chair, swapping with Letty.

Letty took some time to think, how would she go about this letter? Clownpiece was no wordsmith, so best to keep it simple. Just let Reimu she'll be out, maybe to play with some fairies. Cirno? No, Reimu might follow up on that. At least this basement smelled nice, like incense. It helped Letty to focus. Anyways. Best some unnamed fairies so that Reimu wouldn't be able to find out something suspicious was going on. Would a letter itself be suspicious? Maybe it was better to just leave nothing. Hmmm... It was a difficult choice to make. Letty wiped some sweat from her forehead. A letter seemed like the better bet. Would the spelling mistakes Clownpiece naturally make be better? On one hand yes, but if she went too far and made it illegible, it might turn-what was that smell? Why was the room getting so warm?

Letty turned around to be great by a wall of flame coating the entire room, and Clownpiece standing proudly before it.

Letty wasn't able to shout. She wasn't able to get angry. In fact, Letty was barely able to speak. Her words came out as barely a whimper. "W-Wh-Wh-What have you done?"

"I did exactly as you said, lady! I set the shrine alight! Now our prank can really start!"

Letty stared at the proud fairy completely dumbfounded. Fairies couldn't die. They had no capability to fear death as it was a foreign concept to them. Why the hell did she do this? A million questions swarmed her mind until she finally was able to put them aside and try and do something. Her first action was to try and use snow to put out the fire. She searched for winter to summon forth, but the flames surrounding her weakened her severely. The measly snowball she summoned did nothing. Failing being able to put the fire out before her, Letty grabbed Clownpiece's arm and fled out of the shrine.

The flames were already large by the time she made it out, nearly the whole shrine was in an inferno. Letty flew to a space near the forest's edge. High enough to get a decent vantage point of the situation, but low enough to not stick out too much. Letty's mind raced. Outside she was much more powerful thanks to the winter abundant, but the flames were too great. If she tried to use her powers to stop the flames, it would bury the shrine underneath snow. Its destruction was assured at this point.

Letty heard some grunts and whimpers. Clownpiece? No, further away. There was a girl in a strange red and white shirt with green hair throwing a small bucket of water at the fire hopelessly. Oh dear. How? How was someone else already here? Her snowflakes told her no one should've been nearby. How how how? This couldn't be right. This had not to be right.

The fairy held tightly in one arm squirmed, confused at Letty's reaction. Letty needed to think fast. What could she do here? The Hakurei Shrine was burning with no way to put out the fire. A potential witness was right there and very likely saw her at some point. The only thing she had so far was the clown and the torch she came here for.

Think fast Letty, think fast!

[ ] Ahhhhhh (Write in)

>>205220
#6 - An Evergrowing Sense of Dread

[❆] Try and summon a big gust of winter wind to blow out the fire. If that fails, just dump snow on the problem and deal with the consequences later.
- [❆] Once that problem is dealt with, ask Clownpiece if she can handle the green-haired girl.
-- [❆] After the witness situation is defused, the hunt for Eternity Larva can begin.

OK, deep breaths Letty. This situation needed to be defused. The fire did look rather big and rather dangerous, but... perhaps it still could be blown out? Maybe this could be salvaged. Letty let go of Clownpiece. "Alright fairy, don't you do or touch a thing, understand?"

"What's wr-"

"DO YOU understand?" Letty raised her voice just shy of a shout. Clownpiece gave a nod as Letty turned back to the scalding shrine. The yuki-onna took in a deep breath and stretched her arms outward, willing the Old North Wind her way. All she had to do was blow out the fire, like one big birthday candle. Cold blew the wind over the shrine. But the flames refused to falter. Letty took in another breath. Round two, it'll work this time.

Outstretched were her arms, her eyes closed, and cold blew the wind over her. It was harsher and faster now, the windchill causing all nearby to stop and shiver. As Letty opened her eyes, she prayed to whatever god could hear her to have the flames out of sight and out of mind. Unfortunately, what she was greeted by were more flames, now dotting the backwoods area of the shrine. The wind had failed to do anything but spread the fire outward. This situation had devolved from catastrophic to apocalyptic.

Letty gripped the sides of her head, trying to think of a plan. Her incident had begun now and everything was spiraling out of control. Smoke was billowing into the sky, she could see distant lights in the village turning on. "Hey miss!" A shout from that strange green-haired girl from below. "What are you doing up there? Please help with this fire, don't spread it!" This was bad, this was bad, this was bad!

"OK, Clownpiece!" Letty gripped the fairy by her shoulders.

"O-Ow, yeah!?"

"You take care of the girl down there, I'm going to try and snuff out these flames, understand?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Talk to her, calm her down!" Letty shouted as she zipped to the outermost flames by the trees. "Just pacify her somehow for right now!" Part of Letty knew she shouldn't trust the fairy, after all, she was the one who created this disaster. But Letty didn't have the luxury of being discernful right now. She needed to hurry, and couldn't attempt to take out two problems at once.

First, the flames spreading out. It was one thing for the shrine to get arsoned into ash, but it spreading out from the shrine would be horrific. At least no one was in the shrine (or was supposed to be, she didn't understand how the green-haired girl managed to elude her), but the same couldn't be said for the surrounding woods. Anyone getting burnt to a crisp would just pile on to what was already an offense to the maiden of red and white. Wind was obviously a bad idea, but maybe she could try to pile on a blanket of snow to bury the flames.

This was a bit difficult. Maybe if it was the dead of winter she could do this easily, but right now was still its infancy. And the flames nearby were already dulling the ability to summon snow. Still, these outermost fires weren't too big, so it should be possible to at least prevent its spread. Letty gave a silent plea to any snowflakes to come gather. She pled to the clouds above to deliver more children to help with her fight. She willed the snow on the ground, which had long ended its journey, to return to the trail once more. She needed all who could be drafted to join this campaign. When the snow gathered above her was sufficient, she flung it into the pine tree from hell, placating its burning rage. And she did this again. And again. And again. Come the last flame, though only a few minutes had passed she was already growing tired. The flames singed her will and heart, sapping the ice woman's strength. Needing to smother fire with snow was a painful ordeal for her, but at least it was over with for now. The outer flames had receded, restricting the fire's range to the shrine itself. Now, all she needed to do was-

Clownpiece's body flopped in front of Letty. A howling laughter came from further back. "AHAHAHAHA!" Letty turned to see the girl Clownpiece was supposed to pacify being anything but. Letty was about to brace herself for an intense battle and already began going back and forth in her mind as to how she would proceed. But this didn't seem to be needed, as the girl swiftly turned into a statue and held still. "Well, that's... Huh." Letty mumbled as she approached the statue-ified girl, tapping her with her foot like a kid poking a dead creature with a stick. What was this? It had to have been a youkai. Was its nature of being a statue why it had managed to elude her initially?

Before Letty could ponder this girl's nature, a terrible shiver ran through her body. An ominous aura fell into the entire area. There was no rational explanation for how this feeling occurred, rationale left this place long ago. Instead, instinct told Letty that she needed to get out of this area and get out now if she had any love for the realm of the living. Letty rushed over to Clownpiece, grabbed her from underneath her arms, and flew low in the trees. In her peripheral vision, before she entered the treeline, she swore that she saw a red dot, miles and miles into the distance. It was not red due to its attire, but red due to its wrath.

Letty flew as fast as she could, scratching herself on trees and sticks. She didn't care. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and the shrine as possible.

"OH MY GOD"

It was a mixture of shock and anger and could be heard all across Gensokyo.

Letty was in too deep now. She didn't know what the shrine maiden knew, but she knew that hunt was going to be on for something, and Reimu was likely to beat up anyone in her path until they coughed up information on who to beat up more. Letty's incident had begun.

[ ] An hour earlier, with the magician known for her sticky fingers...
[ ] At this time, wrapped in her cocoon...

>>205226
#7 - The Precious Thing

[❆] An hour earlier, with the magician known for her sticky fingers...

"Dames. If there was anything that caused me trouble in this world, it was the dames. And I knew this one was trouble when she walked into my business. This lady normally wore a set of duds which bared her tummy and armpits proudly to the world. Now though? She covered them up with a thicker coat as if she had something to hide. My suspicions were further set when she showed me passes to a secret onsen hidden in the mountain. An onsen just hidden? It was as likely as a mouse devouring a crocodile on the fourth of November.

"Still, like the masochist I was, I decided to accept her invitation. 'What harm', I thought. 'How could it go wrong?' I thought. Now here I was, stripping myself naked and leaving myself as vulnerable as an onigiri on a dinner table. When I joined the gathering outside, I saw the femme fatale in the onsen already, her attack dog next to her at the ready. Without any clothes to hide it, the trouble written over these girls was as bare to see as their-"

"Are you still on that dumb outside-world detective kick?"

I chuckled as I slipped into the much-warmed water, welcome respite from how chilly it was outside. "Those movies are fun, come on! Drop by the Scarlet Devil Mansion sometime, we can watch 'em together!"

"Bah." Reimu was always a grump, and a bit suspicious when it came to outside world technology. Or kappa technology. Or really any technology. "There's nothing good that'll come from those outside movies. They're probably filled with weird stuff that'll influence you."

"They aren't like brainwashers or anything, they're just fun stories, like books!"

"I don't recall any book making you talk in some funny fashion like Remilia."

"Oh really?" I raised my voice, trying to mimic the vampire herself. "Well, perhaps you're just not sophisticated enough to understand my wicked charisma. I'll give you a swift death for your ignorance, you may thank me for the mercy!" That was enough to get Reimu to really start laughing before insisting I stop. Reimu may have been a sourpuss, but impressions were a weak point for her.

"Oh, this feels so nice." I said, sliding myself further into the water until it was just my head barely above the water.

"It'd better, this is meant to be Sannyo's apology for that last incident she was in."

"Isn't it a bit weird to be apologizing so much later? Kinda out of the blue."

"I don't care." Reimu floated a bit to stretch her legs. "It's a free onsen trip."

I snuck over to Aunn. She looked like she was in a state of perfect zen, eyes closed and head resting on the edge. Ergo, it was the perfect time to tease her. My hands went to the sides of her torso as I shouted her name from behind.

As expected, Aunn jumped, splashing the water. This actually made Reimu upset, as she told me to knock it off and 'not tease her dog'.

"That's mean Ms. Marisa, please don't startle me next time!"

"Hey hey, aren't you supposed to be a guard dog! Guard dogs gotta be alert! What if someone sneaks into the shrine!"

Aunn pouted. "I'm alert! I'm watching the Hakurei Shrine right now, just like Reimu told me!"

"How does that work anyways, is it like some Hecatia thing?"

"I dunno," Reimu interjected, waving her hand as she looked up to the sky. "It's something she just started being able to do recently. I think she's been getting stronger."

"Yeah, it's true! There's two of me, but for a while I had a lot of trouble controlling the other me. But lately, I've been getting better with it! I can even control the two at the same time for a bit!"

"Isn't that weird?"

"Yeah, but it's OK!" Aunn cheerfully explained. "I usually leave my second body in its statue form, where it just keeps a lookout for anything suspicious."

"Is there anything suspicious going on now?" I asked.

Aunn's face twisted a bit. "Well, it's snowing a lot right now, and it's covering my face so it's a bit hard to see..."

"See!" I teased. "She's left the shrine completely unguarded!" I laughed as Aunn pouted further.

"No! It's not unguarded, I can still sense things! The snow hasn't been disturbed, everything is quiet! All I can feel is Clownpiece running about in the shrine, but that's normal!"

"But is it as normal as..." My hands darted again to the sides, tickling the poor girl. "THIS!"

Aunn laughed, tears in her eyes, as Reimu got angry again and demanded we quit roughhousing in the onsen. I teased that Reimu was just jealous she wasn't being tickled, an observation that just earned me a glare. "Oooh, we got a little Miss Parsee here!" I laughed.

"I should've invited Sakuya instead, I swear."

"Oh come on, you wanna be surrounded by dogs? Besides, you know her sense of humor is terrible. She lacks the wit and conversational skills yours truly has!"

"And that 'wit' and 'conversational skill' is about to get yourself smacked." Reimu claimed this, though the smile on her face betrayed her threat.

"Ah, do you hear this Aunn? The crimson slasher is threatening to strike down her one and only friend! This is straight out of that Western religious book, the brother betraying the brother! You kill me, Cain, you kill me!" We laughed more, though Aunn noticeably stayed quiet. "Hey, what's up Aunn? You're not familiar with that Bible thingy?"

"Something's wrong." Aunn looked serious.

"Wrong? Like, you're not-"

"With the shrine, something isn't..." Aunn's eyes went wide open. "Fire! Fire fire fire!"

With that, Reimu stood up to attention. "How big is it?"

"It-it's starting to spread, it's a fire! But I don't kn-"

Reimu's expression darkened fast, a stark contrast to the smiles and giggles she was giving off earlier. "Clownpiece, that little piece of shit! I swear if she's actually gone through with it I'm gonna kick her ass right back to hell!"

"W-Wait Reimu!" I went to her side to try and calm her. "Look, Clownpiece may be a fairy, but even she knows not to set fire to the shrine! At least, not on her own, something must've happened."

Reimu wasted little time in stepping out of the onsen. "I'm leaving, I've got a fire to put out and a fairy's ass to kick. Aunn, you do your best to put the fire out, understand!"

Reimu was about to fly off before I stopped her again. "Reimu!"

Her expression was harsh. "What Marisa?"

"Shouldn't you at least put some clothes on before flying out?"

Reimu looked down at her naked body and seemed to realize that clothes weren't that optional, especially in this weather. Though I imagine her temper was keeping her warm at the moment. "Look, I'll run and grab your clothes from inside real quick, and-"

"There's someone else here now! I see her, she's... She making the wind blow and it's spreading the fire!"

"What? Who the hell is it?"

"I dunno, I don't recognize them, it's some lady in blu-oh, Clownpiece! There she is!" Aunn shouted, drawing both of our attentions to the dog. "She can help, and she can explain what's going on! Clownpiece, I-, what, the torch? What abou-" Reimu's eyes widened but it was too late for her to stop what was about to happen. Aunn was smart, even I knew that. She managed to outwit the turtle from Hell once referred to as "half-rate Bowser" by Sanae (whatever that meant). However, Aunn was a little too trusting sometimes. People she was friendly with could pull a fast one on her if it was sudden and she wasn't expecting it.

A blast of danmaku fired off at Reimu as Aunn took to the skies. "Sorry, looks like it's time to protect the shrine! You can trust me Reimu!" Aunn said this, before immediately firing again at the shrine maiden, who had already taken flight and deftly dodged the first barrage.

Reimu and Aunn were already locked into battle, leaving me in the role of support. My first instinct?

[ ] Fetch Reimu her clothes (and grab mine as well, along with my broom and mini-hakkero), it's probably not the best idea to fight in the cold naked. Or just be naked outside in general. What was her locker combination again?
[ ] Reimu is a tough girl, she can fight in the nude just fine. I'm still gonna grab my clothes though and fetch my effects.
[ ] Rush inside real quick, grab my broom and mini-hakkero from the check-in desk, and join the fight ASAP, it's time to get hot-blooded!
[ ] Clearly, two of Gensokyo's best incident resolves won't be able to tame this bad girl, I'll get Sannyo from inside for extra help!
[ ] Steal the brochures from the lobby area. I won't read them more than once, and a few I already have. But I still like to grab them every time I see them.
[ ] There was actually another plan that didn't come to mind at first, but it was so clever... (Write in)

>>205234
#8 - A Recommendation to Join Animal Abusers Anonymous

[❆] Rush inside real quick, grab my broom and mini-hakkero from the check-in desk, and join the fight ASAP, it's time to get hot-blooded!

"I'll be right back!" I shouted to Reimu as I ran into the main building. I'd be useless in a fight without my tools. I rushed past my locker and briefly thought about grabbing my own clothes, but decided against it. Putting clothes on required time, and with a dog about to chew up a maiden plus the shrine being on fire, time was too precious of a resource to waste on modesty at the moment.

"NITORI" I shouted at the desk clerk focused on the project she was tinkering on, which caused her to jump. I wasn't sure why Nitori was working with Sannyo today (I should've asked when I arrived, but I was too deep in my brooding noir detective phase to do so).

"GAH! M-Marisa, don't startle me like th-WHY ARE YOU NAKED OUT HERE!" The short kappa turned red and averted her eyes.

"No time!" I had already made it to the umbrella stand and grabbed my broom neatly stowed there. "Get me my mini-hakkero, I need it!"

"What could you possibly need it for, fighting is for-"

"Fighting already broke out, now hurry!"

"N-No, this is against our policy! Now lis-"

I slammed on the desk. "Nitori! Now! No messing around!" I had already fought off the urge to grab all those vacation brochures they had out to save time, I wasn't gonna be stalled further.

Nitori's face had an uneasy expression, but after three seconds she relented. Thankfully, the shortie was pretty easy to bully in order to get her to do what you want. The kappa opened a safe behind the desk and handed me the mini-hakkero I had entrusted to her earlier. With that, I zipped outside.

Aunn already looked tuckered out but still kept up the fight. I expected that even with how much stronger Aunn had gotten recently, going up against Reimu wasn't going to be easy for her. If I had taken much longer, I probably would've missed the fight. "Glad you saved some for me!" I shouted to Reimu, flying next to her. She gave a cursory nod, gohei held firmly in her hand. Unlike me, Reimu was very much against the idea of weapon control (for herself) and always kept her gohei on her. Where she concealed it was a mystery to everyone, and no one was brave enough to ask her where she hid it.

Aunn laughed loudly as she decided to activate a spell card - 'Dream Dog "101 Stray Dogs"'. She really had to have lost it to use a spell card like that against two people. I even remember the day she showed this spell card off to Reimu and me, saying it came to her in a dream. It was kinda easy to deal with once you understood the gimmick, as one set of bullets sprawled outward easily, while another set honed in on a single target.

"You distract the homing bullets, I'll get close and deliver a good whack." Reimu shouted to me.

"You mean you distract the homing bullets, and I'll get close and deliver a good beam." Reimu glared. "I guess we'll just have to see who can get close enough first!" And with that taunt, I raced forward, weaving through the danmaku. I can only assume Reimu cursed when I left her, but I already saw her on the other side, dodging her own set of bullets. With both of us at about equal distance away, the homing bullets struggled to decide who to target. Their attention split, it proved easy to get pretty close to Aunn.

With Reimu about 20 feet from Aunn, and I the same, we both nodded at each other and prepared for our plan. Reimu dashed forward, gohei high up. I already fired off some shots. Not my signature and completely original Master Spark, I didn't want to cause too much trouble, but still some bullets that would hopefully leave a sting.

Aunn barely stood a chance, with the bullets hitting her on one side right as the gohei smacked her head. With both hits, she turned back into a statue and plummeted downward. It made quite the splash and probably caused some rough damage to the spring below. Oh well, that was a problem that could be dealt with later.

A flash followed that, as both me and Reimu turned around. Of all the pieces of trash in Gensokyo, it had to have been her that came around.

"Ayayayaya, I flew over here to investigate something else, but this might just be better than that initial lead!" She held her camera up, almost tauntingly at us. "I can see the headline for this one now. 'LIVE NUDE INCIDENT RESOLVERS!' And abusing your own guard dog (who was also naked), it's such a spicy and scandalous story! Everyone is going to adore these photos, I know I will!"

Reimu gave a smile as if she were devoid of any anger and hate at all. "Aya, I'm really busy at the moment, so I'll make you a deal. Hand me the camera and I'll only break half the bones in your body."

"Ayaya, abusing journalists like that is no way for someone in power to act! I'm the Fourth Estate here! Still, I can tell there's probably some other pressing issue you need to attend to," A wing gestured to the smoke rising in the distance. "I was considering going there when I saw the smoke, glad I didn't! If you want to head there now I won't chase you. These pictures are more than enough~ Trying to chase me would be a really bad idea though!"

I looked over at Reimu and could tell she was livid, not even the pleasant smile she gave now could hide that. Reimu was really the master of this strange tranquil rage emotion that I hadn't seen anyone else do. I decided to speak up, and give my thoughts to Reimu;

[ ] We needed to hurry to the shrine, it was burning down more with every second, and chasing Aya would just be a long and difficult chase.
[ ] I didn't care who saw me, but Reimu's sanctity as a maiden needed to be protected! Fried poultry was a popular dish around this time anyway!
[ ] Let me consider our options for a moment... (Write in)

>>205235
An hour might've been a bit too much time to write, maybe 30-45 minutes. Just imagine there was a bit more relaxing in the onsen or idle chatter we weren't privy to. It'd be rude to reveal all the secrets of girls in a hot spring, wouldn't it?

#9 - A Bucket of Fried Chicken

[ぜ] I didn't care who saw me, but Reimu's sanctity as a maiden needed to be protected! Fried poultry was a popular dish around this time anyway!

I stood up on my broom and aimed my mini-hakkero at Aya. "I'll take her from the left, you on the right?" Aya's wings drooped when she realized we were actually going to try the violent route instead. "Sorry, you know what's gotta happen now Aya." With that, she zoomed off leaving a flurry of black feathers behind, as me and Reimu took chase. I thought about splitting with Reimu, I fought Aya and Reimu handled the shrine. But Aya would've been a bitch to catch on your own. She's not called the fastest in Gensokyo for her looks after all. Two people working together could try and cut her off, make her more likely to make a mistake. And with Aya, you get one good shot and that was it for her.

I aimed carefully with my mini-hakkero while Reimu kept the pressure on Aya. "MASUTAAA" All cool attacks needed cool poses and cool battle cries to go with them. I raised my weapon high into the air, mentally determining where exactly I'd need to position myself- "SPAAAKKKUUU!" A beam unleashed, and a wave of light spread out. It calmed down, and there Reimu floated in the scorched wreckage, untouched. Aya was similarly unharmed, though it did look like one of her getas was reduced to half-height.

"Ayaya, quit that! I told you, violence won't-EEP!" Before Aya could monologue any, Reimu lunged towards her, continuing the pursuit once more. I cursed for my bad aim (I'm usually so much better at this, trust me), the miss was something that no doubt drew attention. With how flashy my master spark was, I bet even halfway across Gensokyo you could've seen a flash of it. I steadied myself on my broom and continued the chase against Aya, down Youkai Mountain.

As I did, even in the heat of pursuit, I swore I heard someone shout "OH MY GOD!" from the direction of the shrine. Was that Clownpiece or someone? Well, at least someone else was having a bad day today, misery liked company.

===

Once Letty reached the edge of the woods by the Garden of the Sun, she collapsed. She had flown as fast as she possibly could (which admittedly wasn't too much, but give her a break) while carrying a fairy. She also still had that... mystery bag Yuyuko tied around her waist. She propped the fairy's unconscious body next to a tree and rested next to her. Letty didn't know how far the shrine maiden was from her, but she was pretty sure that she lost her. She didn't feel anyone chasing her. How long would this give her? She didn't know. Maybe the shrine maiden would search all of Gensokyo until she finally found her Or maybe she would wait until morning, when the morning sun revealed her.

Letty looked up at the winter sky. The snow clouds had departed for tonight, but they would try to be back tomorrow morning. Now, the stars and moon could look upon Gensokyo's wintery landscape unobscured. Letty was already feeling a sense of regret for having done this. Why couldn't she have continued to be a good little yuki-onna and just make it snow like every other year? Why did she have to go and make herself trouble like this? If she had just done like she did every year... Well, people would still glare at her. People would still complain about winter ruining their plans. People would still give her a wide breadth whenever they crossed her path. The other youkai would complain about her reducing the number of humans they can scare since everyone remains bundled up inside. Huh, that was strange. Letty expected that reminiscing right now would show her that things were better before.

Contrast that to now, where she had angered the shrine maiden herself and did what no one else in Gensokyo, not even the most daredevil of youkai would dream to do (if they could even manage to in the first place.) And that was burning down the Hakurei Shrine. Well, some might argue Clownpiece did that, but it was Letty's intervention that had Clownpiece do that, so she felt comfortable claiming it as her accomplishment. Were the events beforehand stressful? Absolutely. But she made it through each one. Even when nothing went right, Letty managed to get out alive.

Letty had to admit something. Causing this trouble, spreading this mischief, it felt...

Liberating.

Was she going mad herself or did all incident creators feel like this? This sense of euphoria from chaos? Letty pondered the meaning of these actions as she fell asleep, Clownpiece at her side.

[ ] And now, a word from our sponsor Doremy Sweet!
[ ] I hate these ads, I just close my eyes and wait for them to pass.

>>205248
#10 - A Trademark Infringement Lawsuit due to infringing on Doremy's Trademark of "Sweet"

[x] And now, a word from our sponsor Doremy Sweet!

Tinker tinker tinker. What a happy life. Tinker tinker tinker. It's a simple life.

Wrench? Wrench grabbed. Nuts bolted. Screwdriver? Screwdriver grabbed. Screws screwed.

Nitori looked at her invention! What a nice invention! Brand new? What does it do? It does... Let's see? Does it have a button? Ah, button here! Let's press it!

Wow! Look, a cat! A cat came out of the invention! Neat! This was a good invention. Nitori decided she would carry this invention out. This was her invention. It was a nice happy invention. What to do with the invention? Show it of course! Show the invention!

Where was Nitori? She was in a room. To show the invention, Nitori needed to leave the room! Let's leave the room Nitori! OK! Is there a door? Nitori looked for a door. Door door door. Oh, there it is! That's the door! Time to open the door Nitori!

Marisa stood in the door, stark naked. Nitori, I need the goods! Nitori covered her eyes. Marisa, this isn't right! Nitori's eyes uncovered themselves. She didn't like it. Nitori, hand them over! It's mine! No, no Marisa! Please!

Marisa grabbed Nitori's invention. No, not the invention! Marisa clung her naked body to the invention. It is mine! Please! Please Marisa no!

ウェイク　ウプ

Nitori jolted up in a cold shiver. Ugh, she felt awful. Her dream was... What was it? Ah damn it, the memory was already fading. Doremy must've eaten it alrea-why could she still remember the naked Marisa? Doremy, what the hell? That you leave behind?

Nitori sighed. 4:23 AM. Looks like she wouldn't be getting a full night's rest tonight. She slid out of bed in her pajamas. At least this inn and spring they had built under such short notice turned out well. And plush carpet on your feet felt great. Nitori opened the door out and headed to the kitchen. They had only need to run this spring for a few days, but she kinda liked it. Hopefully, Sannyo would keep it around. It would be a shame for all this work to go to waste.

~~~~

Letty's eyes flooded with light as they opened. Time to wake up. What was her dream? It already faded from memory, so Doremy must've been quite hungry. Letty's stomach rumbled. And so was she, it seemed. Clownpiece was leaning against her shoulder, looking less knocked out and more sleepy, an improvement from yesterday.

The Garden of the Sun laid before them. Browned wintering sunflower fields were ahead. Eternity was somewhere around this area, Clownpiece could probably hunt her down easily. Fairies always seemed to know where fairies were. What should Letty do?

[ ] We are in a hurry, wake up Clownpiece and get her to find Eternity!
[ ] Let's hunt down a breakfast first, can't incident-make on an empty stomach.
[ ] How about... (Write in)

Doremy brushed her teeth. Ugh, what an awful set of dreams tonight. Did she gain a few pounds from some of these? She'd need to throw up. And why was Marisa naked in so many of these these days? Why couldn't these people let her job be easy?

Short update today, but I gotta head to an event. Enjoy stupid sexy Marisa.

>>205254
#11 - Two Turtle Doves

[❆] Let's hunt down a breakfast first, can't incident-make on an empty stomach.

The grumble of Letty's stomach again answered her question. It looked like she'd be eating first, which was well good for her. Letty was a big girl (unfortunately) and she needed fuel. She carefully held Clownpiece and leaned her against the tree so she wouldn't topple over in her sleep. The yuki-onna stood, stretching her legs and cracking her back. Before she went foraging, she'd probably want to monitor Clownpiece. After all, last time he left the fairy unattended for a few seconds... Letty bent down to the snow and allowed her hands to begin their craft. They worked almost autonomously. This was a process Letty had done many times before, it was all muscle memory at this point. Soon enough, there stood a cute snowman, barely a foot tall. Letty asked if the snowman could watch over Clownpiece and alert her if she woke up, to which the snowman complained that it needed eyes to keep watch. Letty grumbled, every now and then you would get a snowman that decided to be finicky and argumentative. She picked up a few pebbles and gave the snowman eyes and a smile. The snowman used its new mouth to ask for arms, but Letty glared. "Don't push your luck." Ultimately, the snowman agreed to the task, and Letty entered the nearby woods to forage.

Many people assumed that winter was a period when things died, but even now life remained, usually hidden underneath the snow. Letty's goal this morning would be mushrooms and wild plants. She didn't expect to get any meats. Tracking boars would be a pain, and killing and getting its meat was too much work when she didn't want to spend too much time off of her main task. Letty's feet silently glided across the white blanket as she looked around, searching underneath for a decent source of nourishment. Her first find was some mugwort, a plant that would've worked great as a food source, if a bit bitter. Unfortunately, its leaves were browned and dead by now. The plant must've been too weak to handle the beginning of winter.

Plants might've been hard to find, but not mushrooms. On the sides of trees, on logs, and underneath. This was outside of the Forest of Magic, so the density of poisonous mushrooms was much lower. Carefully, Letty plucked each of the mushrooms she knew were safe. When she came to a tree adorning a spiral staircase of mushrooms, Letty circled it, grabbing each one as she levitated up. Halfway through the tree, Letty made a discovery she hadn't expected - a nest with two ptarmigan birds nestled together. How queer, Letty thought. Ptarmigans didn't nest in trees, they nested on the ground, and they were usually found in the mountains themselves. These must've been chased off of their home and took another bird's nest for their own. Vagrants lost and on their own. Unfortunately for them, Letty needed a meal. Lety gently placed her hand on the two birds. Neither flinched nor flew away. After all, birds feared humans, and Letty wasn't one. Letty was a part of nature, a youkai of the winter. To fear her would be like fearing the snow. An outright silly action. With each gentle stroke of Letty's hands, strength was sapped from each bird. The two huddled closer together for warmth, a desperate need that would never be fulfilled any further. Letty remembered that there used to be a time when yuki-onna would regularly do this to humans. Winter could be a cruel season, and this was a very likely fate for humans who left the village during a snowstorm and were ill-prepared. No human in Gensokyo had felt the chill that brought eternal slumber in ages. Yet, despite this placidity, humans still hated Letty.

Eventually, the two birds stopped shivering.

Clownpiece awoke to the smell of roasting mushrooms and birds. Rubbing her eyes, Clownpiece approached the small fire, cleansed rocks used to hold the prepared ingredients.

"Please wait just a bit longer~"

"'kay." Clownpiece said in reply. Letty smiled at the fairy. When fairies weren't being obnoxious and moronic, they had a cute charm to them, childish and simple. Clownpiece sat for a while, trying to process the events that had brought her here. Why was she not in the Hakurei Shrine? Oh right, she had burned it. Why did her head hurt? Oh right, she fought Aunn. Why was there a small snowman here? Clownpiece pushed it down. Having destroyed the snowman, she immediately felt bad and tried to make a second small snowman, one that failed to live up to the craftsmanship of the original.

"Alright, breakfast is ready! Mushrooms and fowl!" Yuki-onna were said to be reliable and ideal wives, and though Letty remained (painfully) single, she wanted to believe that her cooking was still top-notch. Clownpiece yawned and joined Letty to partake in the food. As the two munched away, conversation began to spark up.

"So, today we're going to continue working on my incident."

"I thought we were doing a prank."

"Prank, incident, the difference is minimal. But I want to set a few ground rules, OK Clownpiece?"

Clownpiece shrugged, still a bit tired and out of it. "'Kay."

"One, you'll follow my orders and not do anything on your own like last time. Why did you even think setting the shrine on fire was a good idea?" Letty tried to keep calm, but the more she thought about it the more her emotions leaked out.

"You wanted me to though! I followed your orders just like you said!"

"I said nothing like that!"

"Yes you did, you told me we'd burn the Hakurei Shrine!"

"I didn't..." Letty took a deep breath. She was arguing with a fairy, and if she was doing that she already lost. "Well, that doesn't matter. What matters is that now we have the shrine maiden on our tail. It was a very dangerous thing to do."

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." Clownpiece mused.

"From now on, please leave the good ideas to me, OK?"

"But it was-"

"OK?"

"... OK." Perhaps on another day, Clownpiece would be more willing to argue. But after recovering from a blow to the head and the cold of winter, Clownpiece was far more agreeable.

"Now, our next point. We need to steal winter, but we're not going to actually steal it, but we're going to convert it. Do you remember a while back when the Hakurei Shrine had that festival in winter?"

Clownpiece frowned, her memory foggy.

"A certain butterfly fairy came there, and together with your torch-" Letty realized she hadn't seen the torch in a while. "Where is your torch?"

"Here." Clownpiece pulled the torch out of seemingly thin air.

"OK good, put that away and set nothing on fire nearby unless you want to die. Now then, you and her created summer in winter, remember?"

"Ah, now I do! Yeah, me and Eternity did that, it was fun!"

"Good! Perfect! You're going to be doing that but on a larger scale! You're going to spread summer as far as you possibly can!"

"It takes a while to do that though. The torch goes out and doesn't come back for a while."

"That's fine! Just go slow and steady with it, alright? As long as you spread summer all over Gensokyo!"

"Alrighty, that sounds good Miss..." Clownpiece realized that she never got this person's name.

Letty picked up on this too. She debated giving Clownpiece a fake name just to help cover her tracks more. However, it was very likely Reimu already knew about her thanks to that witness from earlier. She didn't understand what it was, but odds are if it was a youkai it would've woken up by now and spoiled everything. "I'll tell you my name, but you need to promise to keep it secret, OK?"

"Secret? Why?"

"For the prank of course! I won't tell anyone you helped me, and in return, you won't tell anyone I helped you, OK?"

Clownpiece frowned. "What good is a prank if you can't take credit for it?"

"I assure you, it is vital to this prank that I'm a secret, OK? Now, do you promise?"

Clownpiece fidgeted. "OK, I promise."

Letty judged her up and down. "Alright, my name is Letty." With this name, Clownpiece jumped.

"Oh! Oh! I recognize your name! I think Reimu has talked about you before! You're the winter lady, right?"

Letty was surprised. Reimu talks about her? Unprompted? Wow, she never knew that. Was Reimu in truth a fan of winter this whole time? Had she misjudged the shrine maiden of red and white this whole time? Well, it was a season where people stayed cozied up in their homes, maybe Reimu enjoyed the excuse to be a couch potato. The idea that one of Gensokyo's most powerful humans enjoyed her winter and talked fondly about her was so tantalizing. "Really?" Letty asked. "What does she say about me?"

"Well, one time Reimu had Marisa and Sanae over for a drinking party, and Sanae had mentioned that the snowfall was really heavy one night and part of the roof collapsed. And Reimu said you must've been over dancing on their roofs because you're so fa-"

The Hakurei Shrine deserved to burn. It was a worthy act. Gensokyo does not deserve a winter, it deserves severe global warming. Only the harshest of penalties for this hellscape.

"So if you're a winter lady, why do you want it to be summer?" Clownpiece asked. Usually, people do pranks for fun, but even she could see this prank didn't seem to make sense.

Letty pondered. It didn't hurt to tell the fairy her motivation. After all, if the fairy was caught and decided to tell on her, her plans were over anyway. "I think Gensokyo needs a break from winter, as simple as that. Besides, don't you like summer?"

"I do, but aren't you supposed to like winter? You're a winter lady."

"I do like winter, but other people don't."

"Why?"

Letty frowned a bit. Why did fairies have to be so inquisitive when they barely understood things? "I suppose for many reasons. The beauty of glistening snow can be blinding. Lonely souls with no one to cuddle may complain of the cold. Lost-"

"No, I mean, why do you want to end it if you like it and other people don't? It's awfully generous."

"Generous?"

"Yeah, you're giving people what they want. Don't people who get upset at others usually take revenge differently? Like, make an even harsher and meaner winter?"

This fairy was doing a bit too much thinking for Letty's tastes. "Winter is something that's good, people need it even if they don't realize it. The fact they don't realize it makes me just want to take it from them more. You don't cast pearls before swine, after all." This was part of the reason, Letty omitted the second part of her rationale. It'd be too much to explain to a fairy.

"What's a swine?"

"Finish your meal Clownpiece." Letty said, munching on more fungi.

Once both had finished their meals, each patted their full bellies before getting ready. "So, where is Eternity, do you know?"

"I think she's... somewhere. Usually, she'll wrap herself in a cocoon and try to sleep through most of the winter. We should search around, I-There she is!" Clownpiece pointed into the Garden of the Sun. The drooping and browned sunflowers made it easy to spot the lone cabin, its Western architecture defying Gensokyo itself. And inside that cabin was no doubt the Oriental Demon herself, Yuuka Kazami. Letty could spot the chrysalis neatly attached to the side of the cabin. Considering how poorly her last heist went, Letty was dreading this one. Letty was on speaking terms with Yuuka, and she remembered that the youkai had offered her to visit her for tea if she so desired. Additionally, similar to Letty, Yuuka could converse with the flowers and have them be her eyes and ears. Now in the winter, the sunflowers that normally stood vigil were dormant. This wasn't to say they couldn't be woken up, or other flowers weren't on watch.

If Letty dared, how would she nab herself the Eternity Larva?

[ ] Step 2 of Letty's 3-part incident, what to do? (Write-in)

>>205260
#12 - Tea and Crumpets

[❆] "Alright, I'll go in and distract Yuuka for a bit over some tea while you try and wake up the Eternity Larva and recruit her to the cause. Try to avoid a commotion, because if you set anything on fire you're probably getting sent back to hell the painful way."
- [❆] Yuuka offered a visit, so might as well just knock on the door. Just call it one of the semi-frequent visits. If she asks for any more specific reasoning, just say you're in a bit of a slump over Winter's unpopularity.

Letty told Clownpiece the plan. Carefully and slowly, just to make sure she understood each and every step. Specifically, the part about not setting anything on fire. Letty couldn't stress that part enough. It was one thing to make Reimu upset (an act that would already mark your soul for death), but making Yuuka upset was another. Letty once again cursed her luck that the two people she needed to avoid the most for this incident were people she needed to get near in order to enact her incident.

"So, Clownpiece. What will you do?" Letty asked near the end.

"OK, let's see. First, you'll go to Yuuka's house. Then, I set-" Clownpiece saw Letty shake her head no. "I... when you've been inside for a few minutes, I'll come out and get Eternity to wake up and come with us. Then, I'll... burn the-" Nope, Letty was shaking her head again. "... walk into the woods' edge here with Eternity and wait."

"Good job Clownpiece. Now, repeat that several more times." Hopefully, Clownpiece would take this to heart. Letty then turned herself to the ominous cottage up ahead in the browned silent field of sunflowers. So she enters the belly of the beast.

Every step inching closer to the abode filled Letty with dread. She could feel her feet heavy like lead, despite not leaving even the slightest disturbance in the snow beneath her. Even the Hakurei Shrine last night was more inviting than this place. Letty was intimidated in the few times she had come before, but those were explicit invitations. This was Letty arriving out of her own volition. What if Yuuka turned her away? What if Yuuka was angered at being disturbed? Yuuka was such a hard-to-predict youkai, there existed 50 million stories about what Yuuka could do. She might just stare at you. She might just giggle and say something cryptic. Or she might kill you and then your whole family and make your ghost eat the remains. Letty wasn't too sure if that last one was too, but a human in the village said that it had happened to him, so it was probably true.

The doorway in front of Letty may have appeared of standard build if not outright "cozy" looking, but it nevertheless seemed to carry the aura of an imperial palace. The snow youkai took a deep breath and feebly knocked on the door. A moment passed. Then, another. Was Yuuka not here? Did she hear the knock? Or perhaps she did and was ignoring Letty? Perhaps she didn't want to be disturbed right now. Letty could knock again, but if the silence was intentional, she'd be tempting fate more than she currently was. Did Letty dare to knock on the door once again? She dared, making it slightly louder.

A stirring could be heard on the other side, which made Letty flinch. Was Yuuka reaching for a shotgun? She wouldn't doubt that Yuuka had a shotgun. It wouldn't kill a youkai, but it wouldn't be meant to, it was meant to be a sadistic way to cause pain. Letty didn't want to be blown into many tiny Letty chunks.

The door creaked open and Letty closed her eyes, bracing for a sudden blast. Instead, a few seconds passed and she saw Yuuka standing in the doorway. She was dressed in morning robes, looking rather elegant, hair only a tad disheveled. Certainly nicer than Letty ever looked in the mornings. "Letty." Yuuka acknowledged.

"H-Hello Yuu-Ms. Kazami! Good morning, it's a lovely morning, isn't it?" Letty nervously began. "Just, you know, the snow, it's good and all, right?" Any initial script she had memorized was forgotten, and Letty struggled to find any lines to say.

Yuuka pondered for a moment. Finally, she spoke. "Yes, the morning could be called nice." With the business concluded, Yuuka began to close the door.

"Wa-Waitwaitwait!" Letty stepped forward into the door, being crushed a tad bit by it. "I uh... I wanted to... umm... Tea! Yes! Remember a while ago, you mentioned tea! We could have tea sometime! Let's have it now!"

Yuuka had a perplexed expression. "Tea? It's the morning."

"Well, you know, no better way to start the day, right? Or-or we could have coffee, coffee would be nice too! If-if you don't have some though that's fine, I can always-"

"OK." Yuuka said politely and curtly. "Come in if you'd like." Yuuka opened her door wide once more, causing the poor snow lady to lose her balance and fall on the floor. Letty recovered quickly and rolled over, taking her shoes off and entering Yuuka's home.

Yuuka's cottage was a small and cozy place, a fact which puzzled Letty. Yuuka had the ability to create herself a mansion if she desired, along with plenty of servants. Why she chose to stay in a small cottage was a puzzle. Letty looked over at the table they would be having their tea at. She then looked over at the window, which conveniently (or perhaps dangerously) had the chrysalis of Eternity Larva right in the window. If Letty sat in the corner, it would mean Yuuka would likely sit opposite of her, her back to the window while Letty could keep an eye on it.

Yuuka Kazami eventually entered, with a tray holding a teapot and two tea cups. She placed one in front of Letty and the other in front of her seat. Two pourings later along with two cubes of sugar, the green-haired youkai took her seat. Letty smiled, as her hands lightly grasped the cup. To an outsider, the amount of fear Letty had towards such a seemingly friendly woman seemed outright absurd. And true, appearance-wise, though Yuuka was certainly beautiful there didn't seem to be much more to her. Even Yuuka's supposed power of reigning over flowers seemed harmless. But what made Yuuka terrifying was the sheer unfathomable strength she held. In Gensokyo, there were few who would even dare to consider being her peer. And those who would were also wise enough to not push their luck. For Letty, Yuuka was a lot like a nuclear bomb. Sure, it could be calm. It could not blow you up. It could even be friendly and make you tea. But one wrong movement and there would be an in-hospital crater stretching 3 miles wide at her location.

It took about a minute of Yuuka quietly sipping tea before Letty realized that she was being quiet. Focus Letty! You need a conversation! "So, um..."

"Winter, right?"

"Eh?"

"Winter." Yuuka put down her tea. "This is your season, so you're hard at work I assume?"

"Ah, yes. It is my time. My one usual time of the year..." Letty sighed.

"That's good."

"I suppose so."

"You suppose?" Clownpiece finally appeared in the window. The plan began! Clownpiece waved to Letty from outside.

"I-I mean you're right! It is good!"

Yuuka raised an eyebrow. "Why did you suppose?"

"It's fine, winter is good!" Clownpiece whacked the chrysalis a few times in the window, trying to wake her up.

"Why did you suppose?"

Why did Yuuka have such piercing eyes? "Well... I don't know, I guess." Letty's shoulders slumped. "I guess I'm just not... feeling it, you know?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't ask."

"Right, right, forgive me! I mean, well... It just doesn't feel too fulfilling anymore to do."

"Is winter not your purpose?"

"It's supposed to be." Letty sighed. "I guess, well after do-" Letty saw Clownpiece about to set the chrysalis on fire. Letty shook her head no sternly, something that Clownpiece. And Yuuka too. Letty quickly realized her mistake and recovered. "No, no! Forgive me, it was a-haha-a momentary seasonal affliction! Winter depression, as they call it! I'll be fine." Clownpiece, having been denied her torch, decided the next best option to try and wake Larva was with some rocks. So she, as gently as she reasonably could, tossed it on top of Larva's cocoon.

"... If you say so." Yuuka took another sip of tea. "You know, I didn't get my issue of the Bunbunmaru in today. There must be a delay."

"You read it?" Letty was a bit shocked.

"Of course not, I use it for compost."

"Oh, of course." The two sipped more tea.

"Shall I grab us cookies? I think I forgot them." Yuuka was about to stand up when Letty stopped her.

"N-No need, I'm OK! I'm on a diet now!"

Yuuka looked at her expressionless.

"I-It's true! I'm fine without cookies!" Letty's mouth watered despite her lie. "H-How about some more tea! That's always nice!"

Yuuka nodded, as she leaned forward, pouring more tea. This was going well so far, Letty just needed to keep this conversation going. So far so-

Clink!

In Clownpiece's ever-brilliant strategy of tossing pebbles, one missed its target and instead acquainted itself with Yuuka's window. It didn't break anything, but it did make a sound, which caused Yuuka's head to turn.

Everything faded to slow motion for Letty. If Yuuka saw Clownpiece, known arsonist, she'd question her. Clownpiece would very likely break under pressure. And even if she didn't, Yuuka would no doubt find Letty's appearance at the same time suspicious. A suspicious Yuuka would mean death, you couldn't convince her of anything else.

Letty's fight or flight was kicking in, she needed... She needed to do something, quick! Something to keep Yuuka from turning around! Letty needed to say something that would absolutely and positively get Yuuka to lose interest in gazing at the ghost of the clink sound! Anything!

[ ] Say something! Anything! (Write In)

>>205265
#13 - A Poor Little White Lie

[❆] Confess that you didn't come here just for a social visit. You came here because you received a threatening letter from somebody claiming to control summer, and you were hoping Yuuka might know something.

"I'M BEING HUNTED BY A USURPER!"

Yuuka turned her attention back to Letty. Mild success. Unfortunately, Letty hadn't thought much further. "A usurper? Yuuka asked, encouraging Letty to go on.

"Yes, you see... Well..." Think Letty, think! Wait, let's work on the plan! Of course, it's obvious! "A letter! I got a letter the other day! It was from someone who wants to kill me, I'm sure!"

"Kill you?"

"Yes, definitely! You see, it was a letter from someone who wants to control summer!"

"Do you have the letter with you?" Yuuka asked curtly.

Letty's heart stopped. "I, uh... I threw it out. It scared me too much! You'd be scared too if you got a threatening letter! Well, maybe not, but you get what I mean, it was scary!"

Yuuka sighed. "That's such a shame. We might've used that for clues. Well, what did the letter say? Who was it from?"

Who was it from!? Letty didn't have a name! Quick, could she think of a name on the fly? Letty's eyes dashed around, desperate for ideas. A block of lead was being used as a paperweight! Lead! What else... Tea! The tea they were drinking! Her eyes continued browsing the area. The napkins they were using were white! There we go! White! Lastly, hmm... Yuuka's 70s rock albums were hanging on the wall in a corner, by her record player! Rock, it was perfect! Lead-tea white-rock! ... Wait, no, that was a terrible idea. Bad idea, don't say it out loud.

"Uhh, it was unsigned."

"Hmm, an anonymous letter. It sounds more like a child with a crush than a murderer. Should the single hearts pinning for you be worried? Should I be jealous, is this your implication?" Yuuka said, smiling. Clownpiece, Letty noticed after having her attention diverted for a while, was now standing on top of the cocoon, jumping up and down on it. How was it so hard to wake up what should've been a mere fairy?

"It's true, please Yuuka! I mean, Ms. Kazami!" Letty's nervousness about the situation helped with her acting, at least she imagined so. "It was scary, terrifying even!"

Yuuka chuckled, her hands interlocking as she leaned forward, eyes closed. "Well then, please tell me what this letter of ominousness scared you with~"

Letty was nervous. She was trying her best, but it seemed as though Yuuka wasn't fully convinced. Maybe. It was hard to tell if Yuuka was skeptical or just playful. "You see, well... The letter said that they were a warden of summer. You know how I'm like a paragon of winter, the Aki sisters represent autumn, and Lily spring? Well, this person claimed to be the living embodiment of summer." Letty inhaled and then took a sip of tea. "And they said they wanted the end of winter! And for that to happen, I'd have to be out of the picture!"

"So, this person wanted you dead then, is that it?" Through the window, Clownpiece slipped off the cocoon and fell onto the ground. Ouch.

"Yes! So I need to... I need to figure out something?"

"A way to divert them, is that it? Or perhaps maybe protection?"

"Protection? I-I mean, sure I suppose."

"So, I think I understand." Yuuka said, finishing off her tea, before leaning forward to smile wide. The youkai of sunflowers' true species was unknown, but any seeing her grin now might theorize she was a cheshire cat. "So, in the prime of winter, Letty Whiterock fears for her life because of a threatening letter. And this has brought her before me, to beg and plead for protection from this summertime demon. Have I understood this correctly?"

Letty paused. Was this a trick question? She genuinely couldn't tell. "... It's not actually the prime of winter yet, winter starts later this month."

Yuuka didn't respond to Letty's pedantry.

"... But yes... I think you're correct."

"Then I would also be correct in understanding that you're full of shit right."

Letty's eyes went wide open.

"I-I don't understa-"

"Do you think I was born yesterday?" Yuuka's smile didn't fade at all, which made the situation feel even worse. Letty's body shivered, despite the home being quite warm. Letty waited, expecting Yuuka to continue. But Yuuka didn't. She patiently waited. "Answer the question."

Letty stammered. "I-er... No. No, I don't think you were born yesterday."

"Then why did you decide to come to me with such a false story?"

"I thou-"

"Let me finish." Letty silenced herself. "If there was anyone who truly held power over summer in Gensokyo, I would know them already. And I do. And I know such an act of threats and guile is beyond any who would claim such an act. However, I could be wrong. It could be an upstart, a little Prometheus wanting to make his mark in Gensokyo. Odd someone wanting to make themselves known in such a big way wouldn't sign the letter with their name, or make a more public spectacle, but youkai work in mysterious ways. But I know that if it was truly this, you wouldn't have come to me first. You probably wouldn't have come to me at all. Reimu Hakurei would be your first choice if you truly needed help, though I could see you trying to fight them. This is winter, after all. If this were spring, or summer, or any other reason, I could understand you being fearful. But in winter? And you didn't even save the letter of this person? I just can't believe this story. I think I already know the answer." If Letty had her eyes paying attention to the window, she would've seen that Eternity Larva was finally stirring from her cocoon. Her head poked out. Finally, Clownpiece would be able to begin talking with her. But Letty couldn't notice this. Letty's eyes were glued to Yuuka. Unable to look away, unable to do much beyond sheepishly cower at the woman smiling across the table. "You've come to me for a different reason, something much more sinister I bet. For you to finally accept my invitation for tea at such an unusual hour, and tell me such a blatant falsehood..." Yuuka's grin wasn't able to grow wider, yet it did so. It had such an unnerving feeling to it. "What devilishness has come to you? What filthy sin have you committed?"

Letty couldn't breathe. Letty couldn't do much of anything. Yuuka had seen straight through this lie. Was Yuuka angry at her? Was she playing around? Letty had Yuuka's attention, sure. But what good was attention if it would lead to her demise?

[ ] She should tell Yuuka the whole truth, hold back nothing. Maybe she'll admire your boldness?
[ ] She should tell Yuuka the partial truth, that Letty caused a disaster at the shrine. Don't mention trying to get Eternity though, or teaming up with Clownpiece.
[ ] Double down on this lie. If she doesn't believe it the first time, maybe she'll believe it the second time?
[ ] Tell an even bigger and more shocking lie. Something so bold and outrageous that no rational person would even dream of saying it in a lie! Go big or go home, right?
[ ] Challenge Yuuka to a fight, duel to the death! What could possibly go wrong?
[ ] Letty still has the gift Yuyuko gave her, maybe now it's time to pull it out and hope for the best! Could whatever it is help her?
[ ] There are too many choices, this is too confusing and too stressful! Letty.exe has stopped responding.

>>205277
#14 - A Membership Card for Weenie Hut Jr.'s

[❆] There are too many choices, this is too confusing and too stressful! Letty.exe has stopped responding.

Maybe Letty could've told Yuuka the entire truth! That was it, honesty was the best policy! Oh, but if she did that what if Yuuka didn't like it? She probably wouldn't like it at all. What if she just told her the half-truth then? Would Yuuka accept it? She might only half-hate it. But would her half-hate result in half-death? Maybe Letty could just lie even more! A bigger lie, like, well... Maybe just... What if Letty doubled down on this one, it was a good lie right? But maybe instead...

"... Are you still there?" Yuuka snapped her fingers, but Letty didn't respond. Letty couldn't process this at all. Oh, why couldn't she have been more clever, more brave-hearted?! "Letty, I'm going to-GEH" Yuuka wasn't able to finish her sentence before Letty fell face-first on the table, passed out from the stress.

Yuuka looked down at the fainted youkai making a mess of her dining table. Odd. She really hadn't expected Letty to have crumpled so quickly. This was... This was a little pathetic. Yuuka tapped her fingers on the table. What should she do with this overweight snowwoman? Finally, a light bulb went off. Yuuka growled. She'd really need to fix the electrical in this place or do away with it all. It was a very primitive setup, she suspected the kappa stiffed her. After turning the light in the room off, Yuuka then got an idea. Now she was decided, it was time to take care of this youkai in her house. Grabbing Letty with one hand and wrapping it across her upper body, Yuuka lifted the yuki-onna up and began to carry her deeper into her house.

All of this commotion had left Yuuka completely ignorant to the fact that, just outside of her cottage, her once pristine view of the cocoon by the windowsill was ruined. Because instead of there being a fairy bundled up for the winter, now it was just the empty vessel, and small footsteps in the snow that would surely be buried soon enough. Snow slowly began to fall harder outside... And for Letty, she was dreaming of being somewhere nicer, somewhere with some good food...

[ ] Now madame, for today's special course we have the classic onigiri. Some may complain that this is quite the basic dish, but I assure you, this traditional black-and-white meal holds a secret ingredient that truly gives it a bang! Accusations this secret ingredient was copied from elsewhere will not be tolerated.
[ ] After this, may I introduce you to our burger? It's hot and spicy, and few are able to handle this dish with one bite! It's got quite the, how you say, kick! What's this? You ask if this is real beef or if we're using insect meat? You ask too many questions, enjoy the meal, please!
[ ] Should you be feeling daring, my brave mistress, we also have this banana! A banana, you may ask, why is this being offered in such a fine French establishment? My dear madame, a banana is quite the unique specimen! The treat lies stuck tightly inside the peel, and the peel is very crafty! It can be used for many a prank and tricky, don't trust it miss!

What's that? You don't care for my cooking? You should be ashamed, that's quite the rude thing to say! I don't cook often here, you should be thankful I'm offering you anything!

>>205286
#15 - One of the Days of the Dog

[✩] After this, may I introduce you to our burger? It's hot and spicy, and few are able to handle this dish with one bite! It's got quite the, how you say, kick! What's this? You ask if this is real beef or if we're using insect meat? You ask too many questions, enjoy the meal, please!

I hurried off, Larva's wrist tight in my hand. Larva was still sleepy, but that was OK! She finally woke up! The prank could begin! "What is it Clownpiece, what are we doing?" She mumbled, dazed. I got Larva away from the house of some old lady and into the woods nearby. Once we made it into the woods, I tackled Larva, the both of us landing in the snow. I felt so excited, I was bursting with joy! Larva didn't seem to understand. "OW, ow! Quit that, get off me! What's going on!"

"Larva, Larva, it's good! Calm down! We're going to be having a prank!"

"A prank? It's winter. We shouldn't do pranks in winter." Larva was already shivering, her cocoon was the only thing that kept her warm I think.

"It's OK, I can fix that! Here!" I held out my torch to Larva. Larva looked at it confused, until she finally looked up at me, her eyes wide open.

"Ah, you want to make some summer here?"

"Not just here, everywhere! All of Gensokyo!"

"Wow, we're going to make summer everywhere?! That sounds cool!" Larva was finally getting it, sweet! This was going to be so cool! Well, hot!

"That's the idea!" I said triumphantly, making a cool pose! It was really cool, I think Larva made an "oooh" and "ahh" sound when I made it. "I came up with this great plan! You and me are gonna spread summer all over Gensokyo!"

Larva put her fingers to her lips. "Didn't your torch go out when we used it last time to make summer? How long will it take?"

I thought. I didn't know the exact time, but I didn't think it was too long. "It was super quick!" I told Larva. "We just make some summer, go somewhere else, and make more summer! Nice and quick! And soon we'll cover all of Gensokyo! And then, after that, us fairies can rule over Gensokyo!"

"Woah, we'll get to do that?"

"Yeah! Think Larva, you don't like winter, right?"

"Right."

"So if someone came and made it summer instead of winter, what would you do?"

"I would probably ask them to become the rule of Gensokyo, duh."

"Exactly! So if we do that..."

Larva's eyes went bright. "We fairies can rule Gensokyo! Oh, Clownpiece, you're a genius!"

My nose stuck out like a tengu's as I stood proudly. "I know, it's great huh?" I gestured over to the cottage from earlier. "I was getting this help from some winter lady... Um..." I didn't exactly remember her name, but I know she told me earlier. I think it started with an R? P? Something like that. "She was fat, and she cooked me breakfast!"

"Oh, I like breakfast. Can we get breakfast?"

"I already ate breakfast Larva."

Larva pouted. "I'm hungry now though."

"Well, when we become king and queen, you can make people make you breakfast! So just hold on till then, OK?" Larva pouted a bit more, but she seemed to understand what was at stake here.

"So what should we do now Clownpiece?"

"Well, I was gonna wait for the lady to come out of the house, but seems to be taking a lot of time." I put my finger to my chin and thought. "... Let's wait for her for a bit, but if she's dead we'll just continue on our plan, OK?"

Larva nodded. "Sounds good!"

A few minutes passed when Larva pulled my arm. "It's cold Clownpiece." Oh yeah, she was still barefoot and all that. "Can we go ahead and make this summer here while we wait?" That made sense to me, I didn't wanna wait in the cold either. I pulled out my torch, and Larva took hold of it.

With a big flash, the snow all around us faded away. Trees blossomed with green, sunflowers nearby in the field across us perked up, and I felt the sun warm on my skin. This was great! I loved it so much! Larva was looking up at the sky, her arms and wings stretched out to absorb as much of the sun as she could. I grinned and shoved her.

"Tag, you're it!"

I flew off laughing, with Larva shouting before chasing me too. We played tag for a bit until we were both tired and bored. "So what game would you like to play now?" I asked.

"Oh, aren't we gonna wait?" Larva looked confused. I heard some rustling of trees behind us, but when I looked back there I saw nothing. It must've been the animals. I then turned back to Larva.

"Right, I guess. Let's look back at the house." We both moved closer to the tree line, where we saw the cottage. That green-haired lady was standing outside, looking confused. We both suppressed a gasp and fell back into the bushes.

"... Does that mean the fat lady is dead?"

I looked at Larva, the situation had grown sour. "I don't want to make any rash assumptions Larva, but I think it's definite."

Larva gasped. "What should we do?"

I thought, before looking in the other direction. "We can only do the smart thing, and continue on with our plans. We are going to-ACK"

Strong hands grabbed my neck and waist. Someone seemed to grab Larva too, covering her mouth. "Finally, you little brat!" Some shrill voice said on the other side. "You're going to learn what hell really is like when I send you back to it!"

[ ] Flail!
[ ] Bite!
[ ] Play Dead!

>>205291
Tie, but for this occasion, I think it works best to have both.

[✩] Play Dead!
[✩] Bite!

I went limp and closed my eyes. I had played games of hide and seek and tag and all that with some fairies before. This person might've gotten the sneak on me, but I was the professional expert.

"Hey, you aight?" I could feel whoever holding me lift me higher and shake me a bit. I kept my limbs limp. "Yo Tsukasa, I think this one is broken. I might've grabbed her too hard."

"She's a fairy you idi-She's a fairy. She can't die."

I didn't recognize either voice. What I could recognize though was the feeling of being lifted closer. I waited for just the right amount of time-not too short and not too long. Then, I peeked open an eye as slightly as I could. Some grey-haired lady with sharp teeth was examining me. Her eyes met mine, and I could see a smile begin to form. She was about to say something, but I planned to interrupt her. I twisted my neck and bit down on the hand holding it as hard as I could. She yelled and dropped me to the ground. Had this been the first time I did something like that, I probably would've fallen hard on the ground. But I had done this same trick to Reimu before, I knew to be prepared to fall and run ASAP! I darted in the bushes and ducked for hidden cover.

"You idiot!" The higher-pitched voice shouted. "I told you before not to fall for some trick like that, she was the one we needed!"

"Hey, don't call me that, I've told you that before! I don't get why the boss wants me to focus on you when I got better things to do."

"Getting that hell fairy is our main priority! If we don't get her, months of MY planning will be going to hell. And if I go down, you sure as hell are going down too!"

I heard the rustling of footsteps. I was certain they hadn't seen where I hid, and thankfully the patch of summer provided lots of foliage to hide in.

"I brought you with me for help of nabbing this hell fairy, don't tell me you're too weak to handle that!"

"I'm not, shut up already!" The deeper voice was sounding more agitated, I didn't get why the shriller voice was being so rude to her. "Besides, I could feel something more than a normal fairy in my hands. Is this that strongest fairy I heard about?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

"Whatever she was, I want to see more of her, she might' put up a heck of a fight!"

"Well keep wanting, you're not going to get it until you track her down and hand her to me. And whatever happens after that, you're free to help yourself to the scraps. Maybe there'll be some stringy flesh you can play with."

"I think you're just jealous. How's the fairy in your arms? Isn't she good enough?"

"I don't care about this one, she's just a poor sucker who was at the wrong place at the wrong time." There was a pause, and I could feel a grin back here the voices were talking. "YOU HEAR THAT, FAIRY? I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS ONE! So if you do, you better come out!"

"What are you doing Tsukasa?"

"Drawing the fairy out for you, idiot. Now shut up and pay attention," the voice continued. "Listen, little fairy! We don't want to hurt you, but we don't mind hurting your friend here! So come on out and we won't have to do either!" I didn't believe the voice's claims. And I think the voice knew that too, which made the illusion of kindness seem worse. "I'm not a patient fox, so don't make me wait too long!"

I was hidden deep in some bushes, in a place that should be very difficult for them to notice.

"10. 9."

I looked down at my torch. Still out.

"8. 7."

I peeked around to check the surroundings. The Garden of the Sun was further away from me now, and in the clearing, I could kinda make out the two figures, one very tall and one kinda short.

"6. 5."

The shorter one was holding Larva, and seemed to be struggling with her, but still keeping a firm grip.

"4. 3."

This was getting scary. What should I do? What was going to be alright?

"2. 1..."

[ ] Go out guns-a-blazing, and charge directly at the figures!
[ ] Shout out for help, someone is bound to hear you! Hopefully, they'll help before these two figures do something!
[ ] Stay hidden, they want you out so just stay hidden!
[ ] Every fairy for herself! Goodbye Larva! Flee!
[ ] Some people work best under pressure and formulate their best plans! Plans like... (Write In)

>>205299
#17 - The Fantastic Pipe Fox

[✩] Go out guns-a-blazing, and charge directly at the figures! .
[✩] Foxes are well renowned for their fluffy tails, and she's the one holding Larva! Charge, dive under her to get behind, and give it as painful of a yank as you can manage!

I heard the '1' and decided to burst out towards the two. I didn't have a plan, but I had to do something! Charging seemed like a very good idea! Right in front of me, I saw the two figures, the tall gray-haired girl and a shorter fox girl, with Larva in her grasp trying to squirm out.

"There, nab her!" The fox shouted, which was the other girl's cue to leap and tackle me. At least, she would have, but I was too clever for that! I swerved right, missing the predator!

"She's fast!"

"She's a fairy, they're all fast! Just get her!"

"Hey, didn't you say you wouldn't hurt me!" I knew they were liars, but it was still rude of them to do. "Lairs!"

"It's a self-defense situation little-miss fairy. You attacked first, we attack back."

"You attacked us first!"

"You started it last night ruining everything when you burned down the shrine!" If looks could kill, that look the fox gave wouldn't kill me (I'm too tough) but it'd still taste bitter. "What am I doing, you fairies aren't worth the time. Momoyo, take care of her and grab her!"

The grey-haired girl chuckled. "Alright then! Clownpiece, fairy from hell, I hope you're more than ready to face off against the great Oomukade-"

"Stop showboating already!"

We both ignored her "Devourer of dragons, and undertaker of the under-mountain! Momoyo Himemushi!" With the stomp of her foot, a crack formed in the ground that proceeded to cough up a pick axe.

"Woah, that was so cool! How did you do that?" I asked, it was really neat. Even Larva had to have thought that! I didn't know for sure though, I'd ask her after this.

"It's not too difficult actually, you see I-"

"Momoyo!" The fox glared, and Momoyo glared back.

"Fine. Alright Clownpiece, let's dance!" And with that, she lunged towards me, pickaxe held high in the air. I would've loved to have engaged with her more, but lots of my really cool finishing moves used my torch. And that was out right now. The pick-axe continued to smash down in areas I had been just a second ago. "Come on, are you just going to dodge the whole time? Show me some of that lunatic strength!"

I gritted my teeth. They caught me at a bad time, it wasn't fair! Wait... Caught! That's it! I looked at the other person, that weird fox girl. She was watching Momoyo chase me, with Larva in her arms. What if I caught her?

A pick-axe narrowly missed my feet as I decided to dash forward towards the fox. She saw me and stepped out of the way. What she didn't know is that was my plan the whole time! With her side-step, that fluffy tail of hers was right in grabbing distance!

"H-Hey! Don't touch that!" Her face was red, no doubt embarrassed that I had just outwitted her!" She turned around with force, but I stretched her tail out and followed behind. She was struggling, holding Larva in front of her and me grabbing her from behind. When Momoyo came up behind us, she didn't seem to understand what to do.

"Should I-"

"GET HER! Get her and-WATCH IT!" Momoyo decided to keep using her pick-axe to try and strike. But now, thanks to my conga line, it was getting a bit more dangerous. Hopefully, Larva would be OK.

"Quit that!"
"I can get her!"
"Watch, stop!"
"Just a sec!"
"No!"
"Almost got her that time!"
"GRAB HER NORMALLY!"
"It's OK, I can do this!"
"Wait, I-OUCH STOP YANKING YOU BRAT"
"Oh, almost had it that time!"
"Could yo-"
strike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r3IHDr7M2s

I fell backwards, hand still tight around what I guess was my prize. The fox laid face-down in the grass, with Larva also tumbling forward, now free from the fox.

"Ah. Oh dear. Sorry, Tsukasa. You uh... We could just put some ice on it, should be fine, doc can probably put it back on... Erm..."

"Just... Just get the fairy." She said defeated.

Larva, noticing she no longer was held by that fox, quickly flew up in the air. I smiled and chased after her! "We did it!"

"We? You're the one that saved me, thanks a ton Clownpiece!"

"You did stuff too!" I said it to be polite, but she was right. I really did save the day. "What did I say? Us fairies are going to rule Gensokyo!"

Larva smiled. "Yes, I guess we will! The age of fairies begins this year!" She looked at the fluffy orange thing I was holding in my hands. "Hey, what's tha-"

"SHE HAS MY TAIL?! GET IT GETITGETITGETIT" With that command, Momoyo rushed to join us up in the sky, pick-axe tight in her arm.

"Looks like we're not done yet!" She said, grinning wide.

[ ] Tag team, let's show this overgrown centipede the power of fairies!
[ ] Those sunflowers over there could use some attention, let's get Momoyo to fire over there and get the green-haired lady angry!
[ ] She wants the tail, right? Throw it super hard and fly in the opposite direction, she'll have to choose!
[ ] Running is a great idea! But not getting rid of the tail, it's yours now. Finders keepers.
[ ] That earlier scream of pain actually gives me a great idea! (Write in)

>>205310
#18 - The Thing you find out about after fooling around

[✩] Those sunflowers over there could use some attention, let's get Momoyo to fire over there and get the green-haired lady angry!
[✩] Running is a great idea! But not getting rid of the tail, it's yours now. Finders keepers.

Letty was very adamant about not hurting the flowers and avoiding the green-haired lady who lived in the sunflower patch earlier. Avoid her, don't insult her, don't step on the flowers, you will go to hell if you do. I didn't understand what the big deal was about, but I did understand it was a big deal.

I grinned. "Hey Ms. Centipede, why don't you show me some of your danmaku!"

Momoyo smiled wide. "About time! Let me give you a taste of that!" She raised her pick-axe high into the air and unleashed a spell card. "Cannibalistic Insect!" Swarms of danmaku filled the sky, creating wide circular patterns with erratic movement and long tails, almost like a-oooh, now I get it.

It wasn't what I was looking for though, as I dodged and weaved through the patterns in the sky. I positioned myself to be closer to the flower field. It was exciting to dance around the danmaku, I didn't get why Reimu complained about having to do it so much! "Come on, more, more!"

Momoyo frowned. "You could fight back too you know!" And I did, but for this prank to work I needed to stay as clean as possible. Metaphorically speaking. Also, my torch was still out and it's not as fun danmakuing without it. Momoyo then unleashed her next spell card; "Cave Swarmer!" This spell card involved... many small bullets slowly falling in random directions. This was easy, it was almost like she was taunting me! I could swagger around these bullets without even trying!

"Aww, get me something more exciting! I need excitement!"

"What's up with you? Are you a masochist or-" I didn't know what that meant, but it looked like Momoyo had realized something. "Oh, I think I get your plan. You're trying to be a trickster like Tsukasa usually is, aren't you?"

"Huh?" I hadn't even done anything, what was she getting at already?

"That field of winter and spring over there, that's the sunflower field place with that Yuuka lady, ain't it?" I didn't know who Yuuka was, but getting it half-right was still shocking. "Ha! You think I was born yesterday! That I wouldn't know who Yuuka Kazami is! You were trying to get me to fire a spell card with homing shots, weren't you?"

"N-No! You're wrong! That's not it!" I worried my voice gave away my bluff though.

Momoyo gave a hearty laugh. "Sorry, that trick ain't gonna fly, hah! I may live underground, but bugs talk to bugs! And there ain't a bug in Gensokyo that isn't familiar with Yuuka Kazami! I guess I'll have to put aside my danmaku for now and focus on something with more precision." Momoyo held her pick-axe forward as she lunged towards me. I was a bit startled (no, I didn't panic, I just wasn't expecting her to fly right towards me) and flew straight to the ground.

I fell on the mix of dirt and grass before quickly brushing myself off. Momoyo was just seconds away from me. Up ahead, I could tell summer was spreading, as the field looked like a mixture of bright lively sunflowers enjoying heat, and cold brown dead ones covered in snow. Summer and winter mixed together. Letty said I couldn't harm the flowers. But hiding in a patch of them wasn't harming! I lept into the thicket of flowers to hide.

Sunflowers alive and dead surrounded me, reaching twice, even thrice my height. In other circumstances, it would have been exciting to play in. I tried to move quickly, rustling through the flowers when I heard rustling. Not my rustling, a different rustling.

"Alright now, I think our game is ending. How exactly are you hoping it'll end?"

I crawled as silently as I could, careful not to step on any flowers or plants.

"If you give up now, I guarantee whatever fate I give you won't be as bad as Yuuka could grant."

My hands crawled through dirt, snow, and grass, the seasonal mixture awkward and uncomfortable. The fox tail I was holding in my other hand was getting dirty too, dirt and sticks getting tangled in it.

"And unlike that dumb fox, I don't make promises I can't keep. Or won't keep."

The rustling of Momoyo was just behind me, though I didn't know if she was near me or not. I didn't even know where I was, I had no frame of reference for my position. Was I far ahead? The edge of this sunflower patch was up ahead, maybe I could look out to get an idea of where I was and where I could go. And if Momoyo was still in the patch, maybe I could ditch her!

I peeked out and saw up ahead of a wall, just a big wall. Dead end. I silently cursed and turned around to go back.

"Hello, poppet."

Momoyo was right there, standing tall amongst the sunflowers. I backed into the wall. "I warned you, our game is over now." She raised her pick-axe up. "Now, let's go!" Momoyo slammed the pick-axe down. I moved my head to just narrowly dodge it, the pick-axe scratching the wall instead.

"Hey!"

A window opened, and the two of us turned our heads. Up to the left was a window, followed by a door. This was more than a wall, it was a house. A small, quant house with a peeved-looking green-haired lady poking her head out

"Quit that." She focused her eyes. "Wait... You're an insect youkai?"

Momoyo (and myself) both stood up to attention. She somehow had this aura of authority and power that begged both of us to do this. "I-I-Yes Miss Kazami! My apologies for disturbing you!" The bluster Momoyo had earlier seemed to be gone, this flower lady making it evaporate.

"Wrong, centipedes aren't insects. How do you not know this?" I have a feeling Momoyo knew this (even I knew this, everyone knew this), but she didn't want to correct Yuuka. So she just kinda stammered, unsure what to say. Yuuka closed the window, before stepping out the front door a few seconds later, standing right in front of Momoyo. She ignored me, which allowed me to realize just how tall Yuuka herself was. Since they were both next to me, the perspective actually made it hard to tell who was taller. Yuuka grabbed Momoyo by the ear and yanked her toward her cottage. Momoyo said sorry continuously, but it seemed to all fall on deaf ears. "I've given Wriggle this punishment many times before. Come, I think I have the perfect punishment for you." The door closed. Somehow, I thought I just watched someone get sentenced to their doom. Was it OK to leave her like this? Should I try and save her? Even or an opponent, a fate like this might be too cruel...

Oh well, I had a prank to do.

With all that matter settled, I flew back in the air, to see Eternity Larva dancing on top of some sunflowers, the essence of summer seeming to leak from her as they slowly came to life. I waved at her, already thinking of how I could tell her the cool story of how I slayed the centipede. Well, I could tell her on our way to the next area to spread spring. With Momoyo settled and that weird fox lady's tail in my hand, there was nothing to stop us from spreading this prank now!

~*~*~

Are you still asleep? You're still hungry?! I thought that meal would've been enough to satisfy! Alright, alright, I still have the onigiri and the banana.

[ ] I don't like Western foods that much, I don't even know what a bread is! Onigiri, please!
[ ] I'm a starving youkai woman, I'm so hungry. Banana, please!

>>205318
#19 - A Record Album from the Hit Band The Who

[🦊] I'm a starving youkai woman, I'm so hungry. Banana, please!

As Clownpiece and her companion flew off into the distance, they left behind in their wake a patch of summer that had yet to fade, and certainly wouldn't for a good while. Within the woods, birds, bugs, and small mammals stirred from what should've been a long slumber. A squirrel crawled out of her tree to assess what was happening outside. Her instincts told her that the outside was cold and frigid, yet her senses told her otherwise. She could feel the sun warming her fur. How curious! Were there new nuts out there to collect? After waiting a few minutes, she decided it was safe. It was time for her to check!

She hopped out of her tree and scurried down to the earth. Patches of weed and thicket covered what was previously snow. The squirrel explored the forest floor, eager to see what treasures could be revealed to her. She found pebbles, sand, flowers, and the most curious thing. It smelled like a fox but looked less like one. She could spot the ears, but no tail. How odd. She sniffed it, trying to get closer to the creature lying on the ground, ignoring its whimpers of pain. It was such an odd creature. The squirrel was about to climb on top of this oddity when the sound of something large landing shocked her. The squirrel darted into the trees, as the shrine maiden of red and white walked towards the crumpled fox. She turned her over and grabbed her by the collar of her outfit. "Well, here you are. I thought you would've been scared off of trying that an assassination attempt, but apparently not." Holding the fox-like trash in one hand, the other pulled out her gohei. "Sometimes a rabid animal can't be trained. It just needs to be put down." With a glare, Reimu prepared to deliver her divine justice to the fox-

~freeze frame~

Woah, woah woah woah. You can't just start my story here, it makes me look like a pathetic bad guy. Well, I mean, I guess I am, but I wasn't always like this! I used to be so much more, I was at the top of Gensokyo! I was the daitengu's right-hand girl, pulling strings and taking names. I could fish up blackmail, dig up secrets, and create all sorts of machinations that enriched not just my master, but me too. Hell, I was able to create plans that really pushed and moved stuff in Gensokyo. No one knew it, I stayed in the back, but I was a mover! A real honest-to-god mover! But now look at me. My tail was cut off by my own henchwoman (who's off probably getting disemboweled by some eldritch old hag), my body is tired and weary from searching all night fruitlessly (and is about to be torn apart personally by Reimu), and worst of all, my position as the great manipulator of the tengu and Gensokyo as a whole is a faded memory. God, how did I let it get to this point? Maybe it was back when I first left Megumu.

I had worked with Megumu for ages, and we always seemed to be on the same wavelength. Then one day, I had a desire - I wanted more. Working with the tengu for ages, I realized that I could've done more. A daitengu was great to work with, but there was higher in Gensokyo. I knew Megumu would never let me go willingly though, she would dismiss any 2-week notice I submitted. So, I decided to frame myself. I orchestrated a happenstance that wouldn't be too bad, but just bad enough to put Megumu in hot water. Then, for my wonderful master, I would take the fall for her. She gave me speeches and tried to argue that I didn't need to do this, but I assured her that it was the only way to keep her reputation intact! After all, if it got out that the daitengu was doing such illicit actions in the human village with a... She'd lose all respect from the other tengu!

With the tengu behind me, I tried my luck with other people, seeing who was interested in taking me under their wing! I brought prosperity, I had references, and I was a certified vixen! Yet despite all these great qualities, I had no takers from the people I hoped for. I tried to convince Yakumo that I could be a superior fox, but even after trying multiple times, I couldn't even get an audience with her. My plans to humiliate Ran also ended poorly. Okina seemed promising, she had a weird dress code and accusations of sexual harassment for positions under her. Naturally, with such a negative reputation it should've been easy to get a job with her! Nope, I was turned down there too. Hell itself? They sent me a formal trespass notice in the mail before I even finished trying to book an appointment with Hecatia. No idea what that means for my soul. The taoist boy-girl lady? I got an audience with her and was immediately banished from the premises the moment I entered the room.

The only place I was able to get to even entertain the idea of hiring me was the Moriya Shrine. And that place deserved the title of Hell more, I refused to go there. You don't know what it's like to have your ears and tail constantly pulled and petted by a woman-child. And Suwako and Kanako were far too skeptical and wary for my tricks to be particularly effective. It took a night of having to listen to some God-forsaken outside world TV show about giant humans made of metal while this woman-child grabbed me and sang off-key the lyrics from the TV that I realized this couldn't continue. I needed to go back to Megumu, I needed her to take me back. I was a dignified youkai, I deserved better than to be some weirdo's lapcat!

I still had some favors to call in from the old days, and I worked up a plan for how I would get Megumu to take me back. First, I needed to visit Sannyo, the lusty lady of the mountain. I had planned to give her my pitch...

[ ] Right on her casino's floor, marching in like I owned the place.
[ ] In the hot springs! She semi-regularly visits Former Hell to rest in the hot springs. A relaxing time like that is perfect for a meeting between old chums!
[ ] In her bed. They say the bedroom is where people feel they're most safe. If she feels safe, she'll surely be accepting of whatever I pitch to her!

>>205324
#20 - A Compilation of Political Discussion Scenes from Space Opera Movies

[🦊] In her bed. They say the bedroom is where people feel they're most safe. If she feels safe, she'll surely be accepting of whatever I pitch to her!

Sannyo's bedroom had the gaudiness one would expect from a woman of her position. Plenty of fabrics adorned the wall and ornaments littered everywhere. It was a poor man's fantasy of a wealthy man's domain come to life. Since I snuck in pretty early, I had plenty of time to check around the area. I wasn't looking for any blackmail material, I had plenty of that on my own, but I did want to grab any tobacco I found stashed away. Sannyo's whole ability was to use tobacco to pacify the minds of others' and I didn't want any pacifying happening near me. During this sorta tobacco confiscation, I realized that I had never actually smoked this stuff myself. I grabbed one of her pipes along with a lighter and hid under the bed's blankets.

When Sannyo finally came in, I saw her slip off her robes and into her underwear, take off her hair ribbon, and walk over to pull the blankets off the bed. An action which caused her to leap in surprise when she noticed I was there, leaning on my side (posed suavely). I took a smoke from my pipe. "Hello, Madame SanNNACK-" I had a small coughing fit and realized that smoking wasn't for me. "... Hello Madame Sannyo. It's been a while hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has been a while since you've needed to fuck off." She crashly stated.

I smiled. "Ah, I can't do that yet, I'm afraid, I've got business!"

"Oh yeah?" Sannyo began casually looking through her own effects. I knew she was trying to make her actions seem inconsequential, but I already knew she was looking for one of the now-confiscated stashes of tobacco. "And what wonderful business do you have to entertain me with?"

"Something that you were going to do anyways, I'm certain. So there's no need for any funny business. I doubt you'll find any of the leaf for you to use anyways. But just on the off chance I've missed one..." I pulled out my ace-in-the-hole and stuck it up on the wall behind the bed.

"... What the hell is that?" Sannyo asked, looking up from her box.

"A 'No Smoking' sticker. Smoking is now forbidden in this room."

"What? That's absurd, why would anyone forbid smoking inside a room, people need to smoke."

"They do this pretty often outside these days. In fact, some businesses have to do it. Anywhere that has this seal applied to it must forbid smoking. And violaters will cause the business to attract the Jisha oni that will wipe them from existence." I grinned wide to emphasize the fact. "But, if you really want to test your luck, go ahead and take a hit! If your casino can handle such an oni, I'd love to see it!" I knew Sannyo, I knew she would want to fight such an oni, just on principle. However, I also knew she wasn't willing to take such a risk with her casino on the line.

"Alright, I'll hear you out. But nothing more!"

"Oh, don't worry Madame. I'm sure you'll have no hesitations once you hear my proposal. It's trifling, really. I'd chalk this whole meeting to nothing but mere formality." I sat up in the bed and patted the space next to me, prompting her to come sit next to me.

Sannyo took her seat, hands on her knees. I doubted her joints worked as well as they did in the past. "So what does Megu-" Sannyo paused. "Wait... you don't work for Megumu anymore, don't ya?"

I maintained a grin. "Let's stay on topic here."

"So you're wanting something now? That's it? Money or something now that you no longer have a sugar-"

"I helped you avoid tengu interference for years with all your activity on this mountain."

"I already paid you for those services."

"And I could've easily turned down the money, you think I care about that? If it wasn't for me laying the groundwork, you'd be having tengu swarming your den at this very second. You have your position today strictly because of me. Don't you dare forget that." Sannyo said nothing, though I could imagine her taking a smoke from her pipe if she had it. I took her silence as permission to move on. "Now, I've been hearing many rumors and rumblings you've been looking to expand your little empire on the mountain. Into onsens now, in fact."

Sannyo tilted her head in slight surprise. "... Yeah, I've thought about that. I ran a few surveys and did the math to see if it'd be viable. I'm leaning toward no though. The profit margins are much slimmer compared to the casino, and I'm unsure if the tengu and kappa will be able to offset the upkeep on their own."

"Well, it's your lucky day then! I'm here to be your muse and tell you to build that dream onsen of yours!"

Sannyo laughed. "Ha! Sure, now that I have your permission I'll go ahead and do it!"

"I've already talked with the kappa and arranged all the necessary provisions. We've even picked out the ideal location, fantastic view I assure you!"

"Are you serious? You're planning on getting me to invest a ton of money into something likely to be a lemon? Keep dreaming."

"I'm willing to fund 1/5th of the project. The kappa will loan you the rest."

"Oh, a fifth, how generous! And a kappa loan, well now I know I'm getting a great deal here!" I would've offered more honestly. This plan had too much riding on it, I didn't want to risk Sannyo turning it down. But that was all the money I had.

"To be frank Madame, yes. You're getting an offer to do something you were planning to do anyways for a better price."

"I thought about it, and I decided not to. What's your plan here, to have unlimited hot spring access? Let one of your resident pervert journalists snap pictures of naked girls? I'm not taking on a mountain of debt just to do that." Sannyo stood up. "If that's your great business proposal, the answer is no. Now get the hell out of my bedroom."

"Ah-ah-ah!" I smiled. I thought she might be defiant even in the face of a very favorable deal for her. Thankfully, I was prepared with an old trick. "Now, I'm trying to be very reasonable here Madame."

"The reasonableness of a pipe fox is well-known to everyone in Gensokyo."

"But if you're not too keen on that, I do have more motivation for you~" I pulled out some photos I had hidden inside my shirt and tossed them on the bed. "You know, a certain birdy took these photos a while back. I managed to intercept them before they got out, but... Oh, could you imagine? These would be so scandalous!" The photos were fake, I had made them on my own. It was miraculous what a person could do with a fuzzy lens and painted miniatures. You take the photo right, and it doesn't look like a bunch of toys, but a real photo taken from a distance. I had a set of miniatures from the Megumu photos, all I had to do was repurpose one figure to look more like Sannyo.

Sannyo took a look at the photos herself, and I grinned seeing her face grow cold white. She no doubt knew how damning these photos could be if they got out. "My, I can't believe it. Holding hands with such a young boy, a human one! He barely looks legal, you know. Sitting on the bench and resting your head on his shoulder? Sharing mochi together? And that kiss, just look at your posture! Where is your charisma and confidence? You're practically a princess here!"

"Th-These are fake, they're obviously f-fake!" Sannyo stuttered, the fear obvious in her voice. Perfect, I had her exactly where I wanted her.

"Maybe, maybe~ At least, that's the truth according to you. But do you really think tengu and kappa will believe that? The mountain youkai, the village humans? I mean look at you, you're not even raping him, or acting the slightest bit intimidating! Everyone will see that public image you carry of yourself go up in smoke, pardon the pun. You'll no longer be the lusty confident and terrifying Madame of the pipe. You'll be the silly girl who melts over a young human boy. And who wants to go to the casino of someone like that?" I leaned forward to pick the photos back up. "Why, I wouldn't be surprised if some youkai even think you don't deserve to run this casino. This is some damning stuff here, don't you think? But, I think I have all the photos in my care. I can make sure no one ever sees these photos. Of course, I don't know if I can promise more photos won't make themselves known..."

"Alright! Alright. You've made your point." Sannyo glared at me before sitting back down in the bed. "I'll... I'll do it. Just make sure you keep those photos of me and Akihiko burried, alright?"

"Sure, sure, I-... Akihito?" I was confused.

"Yeah, that's his..." Sannyo looked down at the floor and mumbled. "That's his name. My... ya know."

I paused. Oh shit, was she actually doing this kind of thing? Huh, weird. I wouldn't have expected a woman of her appearance to be into that lovey-dovey wholesome garbage. Oh well, a good stroke of luck for me. "Yeah... Yeah, sure."

Sannyo took a deep breath. "Alright, you want me to invest in this onsen, that's all?"

"Almost. The kappa should be able to get it up and running in a few days once you finalize the details. After that, for your grand opening, I want you to invite Reimu to spend the night exclusively."

Sannyo raised an eyebrow. "Reimu? You're trying to start something?" She had concern in her voice, which was wise. Involving Reimu in anything was a dangerous act. If someone were to be starting an incident, they'd want to avoid her like the plague.

"No, no, there shouldn't be able funny business! Trust me! What we're doing here is just more like a promotion. Heck, tell Reimu you're sorry for that incident you were involved with a while back and this is your way to apologize. Earn yourself bonus points with her. Have her invite her friends too."

"I don't like that, you know Reimu is-"

"A poor shrine maiden that will be excited to receive your generosity. A hot spring, a room to sleep in, and a meal will keep her content. And you have my word, this isn't planned to be an attack on her, no bullets will fly! I'm asking you to do nothing but give Reimu a nice and relaxing evening." I held out my hand. "Now, do we have an accord?"

Sannyo looked at my hand, then cautiously shook it. I smiled. "Madame, I think we are both winners today. You'll back fondly on this day, trust me."

"I'd rather never look back on this day again."

"No need for pessimism." I wrapped my arms around her shoulders in a hug, as she lazily tried to swat me away. "Oh, I do have one other thing."

"What's that?"

"Can I stay the night tonight? My uh, my previous arrangement was kinda..."

"..."

It was like a nice sleepover as we both got into bed and turned off the lights. I cuddled close to Sannyo. I knew she wouldn't like it, but no one could resist cuddling such an adorable and soft fox like me. Sannyo's tall figure reminded me of Megumu, her posture in bed and how she slept. It was much better than that Moriya girl who practically choked me every night in her death-roll. If all went well, in a few nights time I'd be right next to Megumu, sleeping and eating as well as I once did...

Anyways, let's fast forward a bit. When Sannyo had the place built, she did what I asked and sent an invitation to Reimu. Marisa and that dog even went with her, it was such a perfect stroke of luck! And with Reimu away from the shrine, that meant I could take full advantage of the emptied shrine! I knew that there might be a fairy there, but fairies were easy to avoid and trick. I could slip into the shrine, find... something, and slip out. Truth be told, I didn't really plan that far ahead. But I figured there would be something of interest in the shrine. Some dirty secret. Some valuable. Anything. If it was blackmail, that'd be perfect. The goal here was very straightforward - get something of value that I could bring to Megumu that would show my value and get her to bring me back into the fold. A nice simple plan that would leave no trace and leave Reimu none the wiser.

"OH MY GOD!"

If there was anything I had expected when I skipped happily to the shrine, it wasn't for the building to be set on fire. In an instant, my world came falling down. Reimu's shrine being burnt down was a code-red scenario, this spelled danger to every youkai in a 10-mile radius. Unfortunately, I was a youkai within that radius. I didn't doubt that Reimu had some sixth sense and was zooming straight to my position. Shit! Shit shit shit! I hadn't done this, I would've never wanted to do something like this! But I was here, and I don't doubt that if Reimu got me she wouldn't be in a mood to determine if I was truly guilty or not.

"My, this is quite the predicament."

I turned around to the voice behind me. It was the woman that a while ago I couldn't even meet. The mistress of Gensokyo herself, one of the great sages.

Yukari Yakumo.

She sat on her gap as she sipped on the straw of an outside-world drink. "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

[ ] I was overcome with peevedness as I asked why she turned me down, I was still upset with that!
[ ] I put on my best charm, I still wanted that job as her main fox! Let's ignore the fire for now, it's a minor detail.
[ ] I stayed cool (terrified) as I politely requested (scream) that she get me the hell out of here now (get me the hell out of here now).

>>205330
#20 - A JR Pass Expired Yesterday

[🦊] I stayed cool (terrified) as I politely requested (scream) that she get me the hell out of here now (get me the hell out of here now).

"AHHHHH GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!" Yukari was the gap lady, she could travel fast, and now was the time to travel fast.

Yukari took a sip from her drink. "Don't you want to enjoy this atmosphere a bit longer though? It's not every day you're treated to such a big bonfire."

"WE NEED TO GO NOW PLEASE!"

"Awww, don't you want to at least say hi to Reimu? She'll probably be coming in soon."

"NOW PLEASE!"

Yukari sighed. "Alright, alright. I must say, youkai these days don't seem to care for taking it easy." A large gap filled with multiple eyes appeared next to her. "Hop in." Some people might have thought twice about jumping into some eldritch portal to god-knows-where, but it was sure to be better than sticking around for Reimu.

Inside the gap, it was certainly a... placid place. Not entirely what I expected. Giant eyes seemed to watch from the distance, as various random objects floated by, free from the constrains of gravity. Trinkets, gadgets, most of it looked like junk. Occasionally though, you would see massive objects in the distance. Trains and boats from the outside world aimlessly continue their voyage in this void. Animals I could put no name to grazed on floating patches of islands whenever they neared their orbit. Text characters reading "#16 - A True Blue Fighting Spirit" floated past, it's meaning alien to me. The area was so desolate, so surreal. Were these things objects Yukari collected, or did they merely happen to this realm?

I was riding upon an eye like it were a small donkey. Meanwhile, Yukari gracefully sat with her legs hanging off of the side of her eye. "So, drink?"

"... Sure." Refreshments were the last thing on my mind, but I also didn't want to offend Yukari. I had no idea what this lady was like, it was my first time meeting her. Yukari opened a gap that seemed to go to some restaurant's drink bar in the outside world. She looked through before yanking a bottle from the shelf. "Here we go, some alcoholic egg nog. Merry Christmas."

I looked at the drink tossed into my hand. It was heavy and covered in English letters. I never had egg nog before, I never even heard of it. Opening the bottle and taking a sip, I found it was a sweet milk drink with a dash of rum to it. Pretty decent. The two of us floated for a while, both silent and sipping our drinks. I was still shaken from being near that Hakurei Shrine fire, and suddenly being right next to one of the biggest people in Gensokyo was... It wasn't on my to-do list today, let's put it at that. It eventually became clear that Yukari was not interested in talking on her own, so I decided to break the ice. "Lady Yukari, if I may ask, what were you doing at the shrine? Were you the one who caused that fire?"

Yukari chuckled as if asking the question was the silliest thing in the world. "Heavens no. I haven't gone down the route of pyromania yet, but perhaps I should someday. No, I actually merely happened to be in the area. A friend of mine told me to keep an eye on Gensokyo, some interesting things were likely to happen this winter. I don't think either of us expected arson to be that though." Yukari sipped her drink. "I must say, it's funny. Many youkai when I appear in an area get a sense of dread and flee before they even see me. And you, why you just walked right up to me, up to the burning shrine!" She leaned forward, grinning. "You must have a complete lack of fear. Or maybe you were so preoccupied with other business that you forwent fear? What dirty secrets is a fox like you hiding?"

I was starting to get a better read on her now. She was acting playful, aloof, trying to throw me off of my guard. But I had dealt with this kind of rodeo before. If I wanted her respect, I would need to remain cool and keep my guard up. So, I shrugged. "I did visit the shrine to cause trouble, but it certainly wasn't to set it on fire. It must be a string of misfortune."

"Or someone beat you to the punch." Yukari seemed to be picking up on my demeanor and continued. "Tell me, what was your cunning plan when you made it to the Hakurei Shrine? Were you just going to browse its wears, maybe put on some of Reimu's clothes? Assuming her identity would be fun too, I know that from experience~"

"I actually was searching for blackmail." Yukari perked up, now I had her!

"Oh, were you now?"

"Yup." I sipped some more egg nog. "I may not seem like it, but I'm actually one of the craftiest foxes in Gensokyo." Yukari nodded, when you want to sell yourself to some person, you need to maintain a level of confidence that boards on arrogance. They'll respect your assertiveness and accept you at your word. "You know the recent incident with the cards? I played a big role in that. And the unowned land with those animal spirits? I was there too. I would classify myself as an expert in the field of incidents. Particularly, organizing them."

Yukari leaned in, interested no doubt. "You know, that's quite the resume you have there. Do you think you have the makings to be someone high up in Gensokyo's totem pole?

I smiled and leaned back. "I think the results speak for themselves. You know Lady Yukari, I would like to call you an inspiration for me."

Yukari pressed her fingers to her chest. "Me? I'm the one who inspired you?"

"I don't think there's anyone in Gensokyo as crafty and cunning as you, Lady Yukari. You're always ten steps above everyone. Your plans have their fate sealed before other people even lift a finger. So, in a sense, I'd like to think of myself as your unofficial protégé." I grinned at Yukari. "However, if you'd care to make that official..."

Yukari chuckled. I chuckled too, thinking that was just how she was like. But then she kept chuckling. Then she howled with laughter. "Eh? I-Is something the matter Lady Yukari?"

"Oh, many a thing! Many a thing is the matter!" She said, tears in her eyes. "But perhaps the greatest is that you truly think of yourself as my equal, my peer."

"I-Lady Yukari, I never said-"

"Still." And I did. "Let me assure you, your conceitedness is as transparent as the air that surrounds us. The idea you think you can mask it is obscene. It is this arrogance that has blinded you to reason. Tell me, of my works which is the closest to your 'blackmail'? That you hadn't even planned what you would blackmail. You knew nothing of the layout of the Hakurei Shrine, you had no idea who was there or what you would find. You only entered with vague hopes you would be lucky. To call this craftiness is laughable, it is more akin to gambling."

"Bu-But Lady Yukari, I could-"

"And what has brought you to this position? You, like the parasite you are, hope to cling to the good graces of another, unable to stand by yourself. Now, even in the attempt to return to your old master, like a scavenging dog you eagerly try to lap up to anyone who may offer you a better meal. You thought you could do better than your current position, yet your own tactics have degraded day after day. Perhaps it could've been argued that your earlier machinations showed promise. But now? Glutted on previous successes, you have grown sloppy and indulgent. Had you not been sloppy, you would've done your due research to find what my servants are like, knowledge that would've certainly dissuaded you from seeking a position under me." Yukari took another drink. "But-and please understand this-but, I might've accepted hearing you out. I might've made a shikigami out of you. But you're nothing more than a fox. A fox whose only weapon is her dulled silver tongue." A hand touched my shoulder, causing me to jump. "Tell me, how useful has that silver tongue been?"

We sat there together in silence. The drink in my hand had lost all allure.

After a while, I finally spoke up. "Is this all you wanted to say to me?"

"Oh, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, nothing more." Any bitterness she held earlier seemed to have melted away entirely. "Now then, I think our voyage is coming to an end. Rest assured, I think I know the perfect place to drop you off. Safe and far from Reimu." She opened a gap that led into a massive underground cavern. I instantly recognized the place. With no more words to say, I slipped through the gap.

The solid rock floor covered my socks in dust, and the sound of a pick-axe could be heard echoing far into the distance. The gap I had entered nearly faded away, before Yukari's upper torso popped out. "You know, the one who started the fire? It was Clownpiece, the resident fairy of the Hakurei Shrine. Have you met her before? She's hard to miss, her attire is something to be seen." She giggled playfully. "Oh, I've given you quite the amount of help, haven't I? I had best give a handicap too, make things more fair. I don't usually care to interfere with these matters, you know." Yukari's gloved arm stretched out to my tail, stroking it a few times, before yanking out some fur.

"OW! What was that for?" I rubbed my tail, to which she smiled and sunk back into her gap. What a strange youkai, berating me one second and helping me the next.

I thought back to the things she had said. I was getting rusty. The schemes I was making everyday grew less fantastical, more predictable. Had I lost touch?

[ ] Who does that hag think I am? I'll show her, I'll come up with something so grand, so schemey, so amazing, she is going to drown in it! DROWN IN IT!
[ ] This hag wants to complain about how straightforward my schemes are? The future is now old lady. If simplistic works, it works. Let the senile lady pretend that being needlessly obtuse is a substitute for getting results.

>>205339
#22 - A Youtube Video for Children Counting the Legs on a Centipede in Song

[🦊] This hag wants to complain about how straightforward my schemes are? The future is now old lady. If simplistic works, it works. Let the senile lady pretend that being needlessly obtuse is a substitute for getting results.

"Dumb old hag." I grumbled as I dusted myself off. She just sounded bitter that I was doing well for myself with my schemes compared to her. Relatively speaking. You don't need fifty million twists and turns for a plan to work, there's beauty in keeping things simple and clean. The future had left people like her in the past, I'd show her!

It wasn't difficult to figure out where I was, as thankfully I had been to this place many times before in the past. After some wandering, I finally made it to the source of the melancholic mining sound - the oomukade of Gensokyo, Momoyo. "Ah, good evening Princess Momoyo~" I said teasingly. I knew she hated it when I called her that.

She stopped her slow (and likely aimless) mining and turned to me, a frown on her face. I was just as enthused to see her again, but I needed the extra labor. "Oh, it's what the cat dragged in."

"Cats aren't known to kill foxes, you know that."

"No, but they kill mangy tiny scrappy things."

"You should just admit your attempt at wordplay wasn't the best. But come now, I'd rather discuss something else! Something along the lines of business."

Momoyo shrugged. "Miss Iizunamaru has work for me? What is it?" I grinned, perfect. I didn't know if Momoyo received news about my departure from the services of the tengu yet, and it looked like the answer was no. Part of this was thanks to Momoyo living under a rock, figuratively and literally. The second part was that... How to explain it? Contrary to how it may appear, Momoyo is actually a really close friend of Megumu's, probably the one she'd trust the most next to me. However, something I learned after years of experience - Megumu is very bad at keeping in touch with people. I was usually delegated to writing letters for her while she would dictate them. So, thankfully, without me around Megumu put doing so off indefinitely.

"We've got work to do. There's a fairy out in Gensokyo with a warrant out for her arrest." I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me."

"I hold no doubt you'll be willing to serve our master and apprehend her swiftly and quickly!" Authority alone would be more than enough to get Momoyo's cooperation.

"Sounds good. What kind of fairy?"

"Don't worry, I'll be by your side during our hunt. I'll inform you the moment she comes into view!"

Momoyo cringed like the idiot she was. "That's almost a deal breaker." Together, the two of us made our way out of the caverns and into the outside world, the sun dawning just in time. Momoyo asked to step away for a bit which I agreed to. She was probably doing something crass and low-brow like taking a leak, and I didn't care to see it. Momoyo was an unsightly youkai, but at least she was good muscle, and that was all I needed for this. There was an arsonist fairy on the loose, and she was certainly being hunted by the shrine maiden. All I do is capture her first and hand her over to the tengu who can then hand her over to Reimu and maybe try and demand a political favor from her. What that would be, I have no idea, Reimu doesn't budge on many things. But that's not my problem, I just need to give the tengu the ability to do so. I do that, and Megumu should welcome me back with open arms. And hey, that dumb fairy ruined my initial plan, so I'm sure I could have some fun with her first before I turned her in to the tengu. It's only fair.

Momoyo wandered back to me, zipping up her pants. What a degenerate. "We ready?"

"Waiting on you." I stated as we both took off.

Anyways, you know the rest of the story now, we looked for anything suspicious, saw an odd patch of summer, quickly went off to investigate it, and swiftly found the fairy we were looking for. I fought Clownpiece, Momoyo acted like a fucking idiot and sliced my tail off, and then enters the crimson slasher herself, Reimu Hakurei. You know, looking back at it all, I think that there's one major lesson you could take from my life experience - stop being so trusting of people. I trusted that the Hakurei Shrine would be in an intact state, that was a lie. I trusted that the people of Gensokyo would jump at the opportunity to have someone like me in their employ, and that was a lie. I trusted Momoyo to do one fucking job and that was a lie. If you want anything done in this world, you need to manipulate, lie, gaslight, cheat, bully, and steal harder than anyone else.

Oh well, I'll remember that for my next incarnation. With the Hakurei's gohei up in the air, I closed my eyes and prepared for what I knew would come.

*Clink*

I looked up. Blocking the gohei was some sorta weird tripod thing. Reimu looked to the left. I looked to the right (so we were both looking in the same direction, we were facing each other earlier, it's kinda confusing I know). After so long, she was finally here.

[ ] !!!

Shorter update I know, I was hoping to wrap up the Tsukasa story in this update but got busy. If it's any consolation I think we'll be going over the 25th date because we still have to return to Letty after this.

>>205346
#██ - ██████ ████ ████
Letty coughed nervously, trapped in this solitary room. She really didn't know what else she could do. Never before had she found herself in this kind of affair. She had always been a good youkai, a proper youkai! On the weaker side? maybe. But she never did anything wrong, anything improper, anything truly evil. Yes, she did have her plan a while back to take a break from winter but only the shrine maiden should've been upset with her over that! Maybe a few other tougher youkai too, she supposed. But for it to get to this level? She cursed once, twice, and thrice more her own bad luck.

I didn't help she didn't fully understand how she to where she sat. She remembered... Drinking tea with Yuuka, right? Yeah, she was drinking tea with Yuuka. And then... she passed out, right? And after that... How long had it been? Letty had no frame of reference, she just remembered waking up to a very angry and very dangerous presence, far more powerful than herself. Letty agreed to whatever it had said, though she didn't really know what she had agreed to in the first place.

A door emerged from the previously-empty wall, and a lone oni gestured for Letty. Standing up (and doing her best to maintain her composure), Letty followed the oni down a lonesome hallway.

This hallway connected only to one other room, at least visibly. For maximum security, the rooms and paths of this realm could be warped and twisted. This was far from the only security this land used. As Letty entered an imperial courtroom, she could see a handful of silhouettes watching from spectator seating. However, silhouettes were all they were for her. No distinguishable features could be made out, and their shadowy figures jittered erratically, making it difficult to ascribe any height or shape to these entities. The oni lead Letty further up, before eventually stepping to the side once Letty understood where she was to stand. From the center of the room, Letty craned her neck upward, trying to get a look at the lord sitting high above her. Anyone in Gensokyo could tell where she was and who she stood before.

In front of her sat Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu. The judge who presided over the realm of Gensokyo. This was Hell.

"Ms. Letty Whiterock." Eiki Shiki looked down, with an expression that was difficult to judge. Pity? Disinterest? Annoyance? "I must say, the proceedings about to occur are rather unorthodox. You are not dead, not in any way that is relevant to my work. However, due to the severity of the crimes you have been accused of, and for the peculiar nature of this situation, I have been called upon to serve as an impartial judge. For the interest of maintaining the peace of Gensokyo, I have agreed to take up this role, even with the restrictions placed upon myself. As per the agreement you yourself have reached with the parties involved, it will be your job to argue either innocence of the crimes you are accused of, or righteous justification for why these crimes were committed. If you are unable to prove either innocence or justification for any of the crimes, you will be sentenced to the harshest punishments I am able to provide. Do you understand everything I had just said?"

Letty nodded silently, nervous.

"I need a verbal acknowledgement, Ms. Whiterock."

"Y-Yes, I understand."

Eiki continued. "As to the crimes you have been accused of, they are the following; Disrupting the natural passage of the seasons in Gensokyo. Abandoning your duty as a youkai. The attempted dismantling of the Hakurei Barrier. The attempted murder of Ms. Iizunamaru Megumu and Ms. Hakurei Reimu. Allowing an unsanctioned eldritch being to terrorize Gensokyo. And..." Eiki studied the paper she had before her. She asked a lingering spirit beside her some unheard question, and the two silently murmured. Once Eiki was satisfied, she continued.

"And the murder of Ms. Kirisame Marisa. Seven crimes in total. How do you plead?"

[ ] ??? (Write In)

>>206796
#█4 - █ █e█d █ ███o

[❆] OBJECTION!!!
[❆] Innocent!

OK Letty. This may have looked like a dangerous situation, her fate hanging on whatever trial was ahead of her. One deep breath and a careful consideration of her "O-OB-OBJECTION!" That was a bit sudden and loud, but if Letty just "I'm innocent! The shrine deserved it!" Mumbling came from the spectators in the back, this situation was looking a bit dire, but if Letty could just "This is clearly a kangaroo court!"

Eiki looked down at Letty, her face showcasing a special kind of tiredness that only those in bureaucracy who interacted with the public could express. "Ms. Whiterock, I understand that you are likely on nerves. However, I must ask that you not only contain yourself but also cease to slander my court any further. If you continue to do so, I will find you in contempt and rule in favor of the prosecution." This threat made Letty quiet down from her hysteria. "Is winter not characterized by being cool? I would hope that an embodiment of this season could better symbolize this." Letty didn't need Eiki to remind her of how stressed and panicky she had been the last... day? Few days? How long was it?

"Now, you profess your innocence?"

"... Yes, I do." Sensing Eiki was about to make another speech, Letty quickly made her request before the Yama could speak and she'd be forced to interrupt. "May I ask some questions though?"

"As this is a unique occurrence, I'll permit questions at this moment. However, were you not informed of the proceedings when you agreed to this?" Quite honestly, Letty had no bloody idea what she had agreed to earlier. Everything was quite fuzzy. Even with her blurred memories at the moment, she was pretty certain she never attempted to murder anyone or summon an eldritch being... did she even know any?

"Are you not the judge of the dead? How can you judge me while I'm still alive?"

"I can judge anyone at any moment, just as you can. Considering my unfortunate reputation in Gensokyo, you should be well aware of this. My judgments simply hold no consequence until you've been acquainted with the reaper. Though this is all irrelevant to these proceedings, as I am not judging your life, nor am I acting in an official capacity as the Yama. Instead, I have been requested to judge this case as an impartial party. Both the prosecuting party, representing Gensokyo as a whole, and you yourself have agreed to this. My judgment will be law and determine your fate."

"In that case, don't you have that mirror thing that can look into my past? Just use that! You can see I've never done any of these things! I'm innocent!"

Eiki frowned slightly. "Indeed, the cleansed crystal mirror does in fact allow me to see a person's past. However, it's typically frowned upon to use it for anything outside of its intended purpose, judging the dead. Additionally and more primarily, I have been explicitly asked not to use my mirror for this case, or anything relating to it."

"What? Why? Isn't the whole point of a court case to determine the truth? How is this fair?"

"Yes, that is the purpose, and I am very much interested in finding the truth here, whether that is to your benefit or detriment. However, this was a condition by the prosecution for me to serve as the judge. Were I not to agree to this, I personally doubt if another impartial judge would have been found by what few people in Gensokyo were willing to go to bat for you, and you would have your fate left to the offended parties. If you were lucky, you would likely end up in this courtroom being judged still, only truly dead at such a point." Letty didn't like this implication. "Please understand, Ms. Letty - this court case is the compromise. The alternative would be Pompey the Great finding a companion with your head."

Letty thought hard, as just how dire this situation was began to sink in. "... Well, is the condition just YOUR mirror? What about asking another Yama if I can borrow their mirror?"

"I know not how your opponents would feel about trying to skirt this condition like so, but even if they didn't see it as a breach of contract, I doubt you'd be able to use it. Only a Yama knows how these mirrors can be operated. Besides, other Yamas are very busy these days, and many are struggling to handle their own mirrors for proper work purposes and fit them in their budget. Hell has been dealing with many financial cuts lately... In short, I unfortunately cannot permit you to request another Yama to bring their own mirror to this trial."

"Then..." Think Letty, what else could she ask? Gah, she didn't know this stuff well, she only knew what she did about courtrooms from books, and reading fancy lawyers turn catastrophes into- wait a minute. "A lawyer! I can ask for a lawyer, right?"

Eiki stayed silent for a few seconds. "I see no reason why not. The prosecution has chosen a single individual to voice their views and criticisms of you for this trial, it is only fair that you be able to have someone voice your defense. Does the prosecution have any objections to this?" Eiki's decision was likely already determined on this matter, but she asked out of courtesy. A jittery silhouette stood near the center.

"We, the prosecution, already know that truth and justice remain firmly on our side. If this villain can find some depraved wretch willing to taint their own soul defending her, the prosecution will not prevent this. It will change nothing." Eiki nodded, ignoring the flowery prose and seeing it only as 'It's fine'.

"Very well, Ms. Whiterock. Grant me a list of names of those you believe are both able and willing to defend you. I will send Komaichi out-"

"What?" a silhouette leaning against the wall spoke out.

"-to fetch this person. If they are willing, you will have them serving as your lawyer. Please note they will not be forced to do so, so craft your list carefully." A floating specter poofed into existence in front of Letty, holding a pen and paper. Grabbing it, Letty began to think. From what it sounded, a lot of people seemed a little upset at her. How? Why? Who knew. But there also seemed to be a few people who were somehow able to keep Letty from being completely destroyed. So there had to be at least a few who were able to defend her, and willing to! Just think Letty, who to ask for?

"Oh, and be warned - anyone serving as your lawyer cannot be called upon as a witness. It would be rather improper, and lead to the kangaroo court you so fear."

===

[] You get 3 choices, with 1 being your first choice. If the overall winner is a character who is not willing to defend Letty, runner-up will get the position as her lawyer, and so on and so forth.

1.
2.
3.

[] Are there any other questions to ask Eiki about the proceedings? She likely won't be willing to answer questions about the details of the case itself, but she seems more than willing to explain the mechanics, rules, and requirements if you need clarification.

>>206808
I was sick for a while longer than expected, and when I was able to return to the story, I didn't want to do so just to do a small handful of updates after the hiatus. So, now we're in Act 2.

>>206813
#2█ - █E█t█e███C█
Letty submitted her first choice and handed it to the spirit. The first choice seemed like a pretty obvious choice, Saigyouji Yuyuko, princess of the Netherworld! A charismatic princess who was familiar with the bureaucracy of Hell? And was so friendly to her earlier when Letty tried to start her incident? Yuyuko was a perfect pick!

The spirit handed the paper to the jagged silhouette leaning against the wall. The amorphous shadow then appeared to turn to the spectator. "Ms. Yuyuko, you wanna be a lawyer?"

"Komachi! We have these anonymity shadows up for a reason!" Eiki scolded.

"Ms. Yuyuko is here already!?" the spooked yuki-onna exclaimed.

"Yes, it is me! Yahoo~" A silhouette said playfully, holding a bucket of popcorn. "This incident has been the talk of Gensokyo for some while. For the best, and then for the worst. Very disastrous these last few weeks. I never expected things to turn out like this, but you are full of surprises, aren't you?"

"I barely understand how things could have-"

"Ah, please be careful!" Yuyuko's silhouette stated. "I may be on the opposing side, but I would feel bad if you accidentally incriminated yourself."

"Opposing side? You mean-"

"Yes, when the residents of Gensokyo were determining what your fate would be, Yukari here advocated for your eradication." A comment to which the silhouette received a light smack.

"Yuyuko, you need to be more cautious! We have this anonymity magic up!"

"Can we admit these were a bad idea already? It's a pain maintaining these." The prosecutor-silhouette complained.

"Anyways, for these matters, I will support Yukari publicly. Though it might be rare for many, I find loyalty to be one of the greatest virtues. Perhaps that is natural for ghosts. Many things people will forget, and many things will fade, but loyalty always endures in the minds of men whenever it was there before."

"So you think I did... all of these crimes and whatnot?"

"Personally? No, I imagine a good amount of these you were innocent for. But Gensokyo needs its sacrificial lamb for the cost that has been incurred, and you're the one with whom others believe must pay the debt."

"B-But tha-"

"No, no need for worrying now." The silhouette would've appeared to move gracefully if such movements could be properly deciphered. "I have little doubt that the truth will ultimately reveal itself, and I have my own speculations on how it will do so. But it would spoil the game should I involve myself more than I already have, have I not done enough~"

This ghost was waxing poetic too much, and her sentences were difficult to follow. "So, what you're saying is..."

"Support you from Yukari's side I shall, but to serve as your direct advocate I fear is too much." And so fell Yuyuko's rejection, however polite she may have wished it to be.

"Honestly, Yuyuko. Can you really not avoid using names? By maintaining the anonymity-"

"We serve nothing but to hide and obscure ourselves from villainy." The prosecutor silhouette stated. "I see little purpose in maintaining these illusions, so if it pleases the court, and I'm sure it will, I will be disabling the burdensome magic hiding my own appearance." There was some murmuring from the spectator area, with the silhouette that Letty assumed was Yukari appearing the most peeved. Nevertheless, the prosecutor's silhouette decided to lift its arms and remove the part of the silhouette covering its face like a mascot, revealing...

"Me!" A fox smirked once her head had been revealed.

"Y-You!?" Letty was taken aback. It was...

...

Who was this?

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry, I feel like this was meant to be a more grand reveal, but... who are you miss?"

"What do you mean 'who am I'?! I'm Tsukasa, the humblest of assistants to the mighty daitengu, representing not only the grand and altruistic interests of the tengu but Gensokyo in its entirety!" The angered fox, still stuck in the lower half of the silhouette mascot suit marched forward closer to Letty. "And make no mistake, this trial will result in your receiving everything that you so rightfully deserve."

Letty looked at her, unsure if she was supposed to continue this line of thinking, or...

"I mean your torture and death or whatever! Your doom!"

Ah.

Well, Yuyuko wasn't willing to serve as her lawyer. But a stray thought came to her mind - what of Yukari? What harm could there be in asking her? She sounded like she was on the "remove Letty" side, but she was a fickle and strange youkai, it could be worth asking.

There was also Byakuren as an option, she was always an advocate for peace, youkai, and one of the more benevolent forces on the side of youkai. She'd certainly be a safe bet. Yuuka was also an interesting option... Positively terrifying, mind you. But who knows what that youkai thought. Maybe she'd just decide to genocide the entire courtroom and the two could get out then. Some other options came to Letty's mind, but only briefly, ideas like Clownpiece, Cirno, and a few others.

Yuyuko was out, but Letty still had some time and still had some options.

===

[] Same as before, feel free to update your nominations list if you'd like or ask more questions, though a few have been answered here.