You slowly open your eyes and you find yourself in a forest by the shore of a lake. You are stiff and sore almost everywhere. You slowly raise your aching body. Your head hurts like you've spend all night yesterday drinking. You have no idea where you are and how you got there.

What you do?

>Wander around aimlessly.
>Take a piss. Goddamn, you need to piss.

You support yourself on a nearby tree and look around. You still have no idea where you are so you decide to wander around for a while. The place is awfully quiet and bears an ominous feeling. Even so, you have an unbearable urge to take a piss.
You carefully look around one more time to make sure noone is around and you lower your underwear. You squat down in order to take a piss.
The feeling is great and you find yourself smiling in relief. You stand up and put your underwear back on. You get a feeling that you are not supposed to be there.

Now, what you're going to do?

>Inspect gender. After doing so, concentrate on last memory before blacking out.
>Also check for presence of silly hat. Just incase.

Something doesn't feel right. You try to figure out what when you remember the way you urinate just a while ago. You quickly lift your skirt and lower your underwear again. Yep, you are female alright. You put your underwear back on while wondering whether this was supposed to be strange or not.
You try hard to remember what were you doing yesterday, a week before, a month ago... Nothing. It seems you suffer of some short of amnesia. Strangely though, you don't feel bothered by the fact.
You look around not knowing what to do. You unconsciously put your hand on the top of your head to scratch it when you figure out there's something there. It's some short of a hat.
You are about to take it off when you hear a sound of branch breaking nearby.

What to do?

>It's probably a faceless male trying to rape my pure loli body. Climb a tree and hide.
>I don't care where did the sound came from. I take it easy. I lift down my skirt and masturbate furiously.

You get anxious over the fact that there might be someone coming, who probably saw you naked just now. The idea of a man ravaging your body scares you for a moment and you hasty look around in order to find a tree to climb on and hide. Unfortunately, all trees seem too high and impossible for you to climb on.
You sigh trying to relax yourself and thinking that there is nothing to be feared of. After all you have no idea where the sound came from in the first place.
On second thought, this place looks like somewhere you’ve been before, although you still have no idea where it is.
The relaxed feeling of being somewhere familiar along with the previous rush of adrenaline, thinking you might be molested by a random man, gets you excited. Even though you know that you shouldn't you find your hand slowly descending down right between your legs.
You are amazed by the fact that you are actually soaking wet down there. You lift up your skirt and hold it with your mouth while you rub your breast with your other hand. You feel your face being all red while you slowly caress your clitoris. Small moans of pleasure coming right out of your mouth as you find yourself gradually picking up the pace. You tightly close your eyes while the wet noises keep on multiplying. As the pleasure becomes unbearable you open your mouth gasping. Your other hand tries unconsciously to stop what's coming but it's futile. You feel your whole body shaking as you reach your orgasm. Your legs feel numb and you fall down on your knees still twitching from the pleasure.
You slowly open your eyes again and you stare blankly up ahead with a blur look. You lie down looking at the azure sky, panting with your mouth still open.

"My my, so it's THAT kind of a world, heh?" a voice echoes from somewhere.

You instantly jump, trying to fix your dress while you look around panicky in order to see where that voice came from. You see nothing.

What you do?

>[X] Jump into the lake.

Right now there are two strong sentiments present. Fear and embarrassment. The former because you have absolutely no idea who or what was that voice and the latter because the thought of someone watching you doing THOSE things is devastating. Maybe you should have been more careful and make sure of your surroundings first before doing something like that.
But all that are now in the past. What matters now is to get the hell out of there. Before you know it, you find yourself running towards the place you woke up. You see the lake right before you and you stop on your tracks.
You look around worrying sick as you feel the presence of THAT is still around like you haven't be moving at all. You look again at the lake and a crazy thought comes up. Maybe you can miss THAT if you just jump inside the lake. You have no idea whether you can swim or if the lake is actually safe but you still decide to do it. You close your eyes and take a big jump inside.

"Leaving so soon?" the voice echoes.

You gasp for air as soon as you surface. The cold water stops your breathing for a few seconds. You are on the verge of panic. Jumping like that in a cold lake is certainly not a good idea to begin with, but hearing that voice again is maybe even more terrifying. At least it seems you know how to swim.
Worried what to do now you notice some short of illusion right above the water near you. The air seems to... cut in two? Maybe your eyes are playing tricks to you but there is certainly "something" there. It seems that you can swim towards it as it's only a few feet away from you and reach it with your hands. On second thought that also might not be wise idea. Either way you need to decide quickly, as you can feel that your heart is about to stop due to the cold water.

What you do?

>[X] Cook eggs
>[X]Get out of the fucking lake, it's scary.
>[X] Genuflect

Eggs. Eggs are great. You can eat them boiled, fried, poached or scrambled. Right now boiling sounds good. Yeah, you should start boiling some water and make some eggs. You put some water in a pot and head over to the fridge. Eggs, eggs, eggs, where did you put them you wonder? There is nothing inside the fridge apart of a... wait what's that a deck card? Is that a... queen of hearts?
There is something wet around your feet, rapidly progressing up to your skirt. You look down only to see water coming from everywhere. The thought of drowing trapped inside the kitchen terrifies you.
The water is now near your waist. You try to move towards the door but it gets more difficult every second that passes.
The water is now over your chest. The door suddenly opens and you see a familiar face. "..." that person shouts your name. You have to get to that person. You try moving there but it's useless, the water is now near your neck.

…

You open your eyes only to find yourself still floating in the lake half freeze to death. This is dangerous, you've almost passed out just now. You look again towards the illusion and you decide it's not wise to head there. You are clearly in panic at the moment and you give your best in order to get back to the shore. Fortunately it’s not that far away.

…

You are down on your knees, supporting yourself with your hands on the ground. You are shivering both from the cold and the terror you have just experience. You might have died just now, maybe your decisions in the future should be better thought through.
You are wet all over yet for some reason your cheeks feel warm. You wipe the water from your cheeks and taste it. It's salty.

You are back to where you woke up.

Wet, cold, lost and scared you have to decide what to do next.

>[X]Wander around and try to find the source of that voice. Staying at the same place won't get you anywhere.
>[X] Take my clothes off to let them dry

You try to regain your composure and take a deep breath. You notice that the feeling of that voice is not present. Perhaps it left?
Before doing anything else you decide that you must keep yourself warm. Catching a cold in a place like this might not be the best idea. It is still daylight so you might be able to dry your clothes off to the sun. You are about to take off your dress when you remember that you are wearing something on top of your head. You take it off and take a look at it. It's a white poofy hat. While you browse it, you hear more branches cracking. You stop and focus to see where the sound is coming from. It appears that it’s from deeper within the forest.
You are in a dilemma. You can't ignore for second time those sounds but if you don't dry your clothes you'll probably catch a cold. Because the idea of wondering around buck naked in an unknown forest doesn't seem very appealing to you, you decide to take off only your dress and hat and leave them here. You proceed to the forest wearing only your underwear and shoes.

The forest is deadly quiet. The light passes easily between the trees so it's not dark, but you can't help a feeling of uneasiness. You keep on walking deeper and deeper wondering if doing this is correct. You walk for about ten or so minutes before you find yourself in a clearing. In the middle of it lies some sort of statue.
Still no trace of anyone being around or the source of the voice.

Thinking of what to do now you hear the growl of your stomach.

>Make sure the clearing is safe, go grab your clothes, and set up a camp in the clearing.
>[X] Pull out the Master Sword from the statue.

You find nothing strange in that clearing. It's just a part of the forest with no trees. You think that it might be a good place to camp if you don't find anything else. The only thing that bothers you is that statue in the middle of it.
It's a statue of some short of woman. She looks very elegant and pretty. She wears a hat that looked like the one you where wearing but it's too low so you can't see her eyes. Her face wears a cunning grin. She holds a closed umbrella with both of her hands, which she uses as some sort of cane. Her feet are about your head's height.
Right under it, there's some sort of clock but both its fingers are missing. Lower is some sort of a sculpture. It depicts a queen of hearts' deck card. Right below it, about your waist height is some sort of socket.
Before the statue is a small draw table made out of stone. On it lays a compass.
You don't sense anything dangerous. You also don't see something that you could take from here. You decide to go back in order to grab your clothes and set a camp here.

While you walk back you feel the exhaustion building up. Your stomach growls again. You are better than before but you still feel a little cold. You have been ignoring it all this time but you still have a headache since you woke up.

When you get to the shore you check your dress and hat. They are both somewhat dry. Maybe you should wear them now. You also have to think how you are going to camp to that clearing. It's not like you have anything besides your clothes...right?

Hungry, tired, a bit cold with a bad headache, you have to decide what to do next.

>uhhhh... Find some food, find something to use as a blanket, and go to sleep?
>Try firing some danmaku. If that works, shoot a bird or something. Otherwise, curl up in a ball and try to sleep.

You are hungry. You don't see anything edible around. Now that you think of it, you haven't noticed anything alive so far. The whole place is awfully quiet. Maybe you could find some berries or fruit then?
Ah, your head hurts so much. The thought of you walking around again makes you even more tired than you already are. Maybe sleep a bit first to regain some strength...
You look around. There's nothing here that you could use as a blanket. You look at your dress. Maybe that? But where should you sleep? You are still in your underwear, no way you'll just lie down on the dirt.
You find a nearby tree. You put your hat down and sit on it and then you cover yourself with your dress like a blanket, with your back on the tree. Well, some sleep will definitely be good for you; you have the feeling that you talk to yourself too much.
You close your eyes.

...

"I'm not late, right?" she asks.
You tap your finger on the table trying to look annoyed.
"You are four minutes and eleven seconds late!" you complain to her. Well you try, because the truth is that you were here earlier, as always.
"Ehe... Anyway I have something cool to show you today!" she says with enthusiasm.
"Mmm?" You try to sound indifferent as you sip your tea. The truth is you really want to see in what kind of strange things you’re going to be involved again together.
"So what do you say?" she asks you with sparkled eyes.
"Well..." you lower down your teacup while you are thinking of ways you can tease her a bit, when you see it. In the middle of your table there is one of THOSE.
"Hey miss~"
It slowly opens as you stare at it and a tiny hand comes out of it.
"...miss..."
Several eyeballs surface and look straight at you.
"...miss..."
You drop your teacup and the RED liquid falls all over your clothes.
"...MISS!"

...

"...hey miss..."
You slowly open up your eyes. In front of you it's a young woman. No, that's not right. Tails? Maybe you are still sleeping because the woman in front of you looks like she has tails. A lot of tails that is.
"Hey miss, are you alright?" the woman asks.

You...

>[ø]Introduce yourself. Ask the women (Ran, is that you?) questions like what her name is, where you currently are, and if she has some food to spare/clothing to spare. Maybe you could even get her to let you stay at Mayohiga.

"Hey miss, are you alright?"

The woman leans over and peers you. She seems a good person but you can't help feeling strong vibes from her. That person is not someone you would want to get angry.
But where are your manners? You should first introduce yourself.

"E-excuse me, I-I'm..." you freeze.

"...yes?" she frowns.

That's right. Who ARE you anyway? You were so absorbed with everything that you haven't noticed it so far. Wait, you don't have an idea how you even look!

The woman sighs.

"Another one...I guess?" she says with a compassionate smile. "It's okay, you don't have to try so hard. Some things, are just like that I guess?"

She leans over you again.

"But still... how this one got to 4c4f424259 anyway?" she murmurs.

"Excuse me... you see..." you try to get her attention. You have so many questions after all.

"Ah yes, where are my manners? I'm Ran, please to meet you" she bows.

You get up hasty in order to bow too, when you remember that you are still in your underwear.

"Ah..." you say while you feel your face turning red.

"Oh, miss, you seem like you need to take a nice bath. You must be hungry too, right?" she says in worry.

"Yes, thanks..." you look down in embarrassment.

"Poor thing. Well then, dress up, we should get going. There isn't much to do here anyway, this is a DUMMY world after all." she says.

"Wh-where are we going?" you ask confused, while trying to wear your dress. You definitely need new clothes too...

She doesn't answer. She just starts walking on the lake. Yes, that's right ON the lake. You look at her dumbfounded.

"Well what's the matter? Come on! Oh! That's right." she comes over to you and hugs you from behind.

"Wha-!" you say surprised.

"There. Now let's go~" she says right before she lifts you off the ground.

She carries you over the lake towards the illusion you saw before. That thing with the ominous feeling starts reacting somehow.

You...

>[ø] ask Ran what she means by >"Another one...I guess?"
>[x]you "FUCK YEAH" 'cause you're flying.

You're getting dizzy while watching the surface of the lake below you. Still you are pretty excited by the fact you are actually flying! You want to shout in excitement but right now a more important question comes in mind.

"E-Excuse me"

"Yes?" she answers while looking straight ahead.

"What did you mean with 'another one'"?

"Oh that?" she says indifferently. "Well... there are many people who get spirited away to these places, I guess?" she looks at you. "But still, for you to be here..."

As you get closer, the "cut" in the air begins to open. For some reason your dream comes up in your mind. The image of the spilled tea with the crimson color of blood gives you an awry feeling.

You...

>[X]clutch on Ran's breasts and brace for impact.

You clutch Ran's hands, as it's the only thing you can actually clutch in your position, in fear of what's before you. The "cut" looks more like a "gap" now. It's too late to back down either way and you are too scared to ask anything else.

You gasp at the horrific sight before you. From inside the gap dozen of hands sprout out and hundreds of eyes look at you. Some of the hands come towards you. You swiftly close your eyes as you enter that...thing.

The air inside it iMEANINGLESS VOIDBIRTHENDOFALLUROBOROSINFINITIVEENDLESS

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

AREA 4c554e41 AREA 4d414b4149 AREA 4d41594f48494741 AREA 48414b5547594f4b55524f55

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

"A new er""but a step for""the people and""OUR NATION""e air and the ea""ou can do for your c""ur freedo""bject to the superio""etarians against the viol""ocracy and to suppor""ld peac"

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

"I think I understand""You don't get it do you!?""I love you""I HATE YOU""Yes""But I...""NEVER""I trully..."

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

"WATCH OUT!"

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

REDREDREDREDREDBLOODEVERYWHEREHELPME

I

I

I DONT WANT TO DIE!

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

//END OF PROLOGUE//

...

You open your eyes. The familiar headache returns and your body is still stiff and sore. You are no longer cold though as you find yourself on a bed under a warm blanket. You look at the unfamiliar ceiling. You sit up in order to look where you are. It seems you are inside someone's home.

>[x]Panic

The last thing you remember is going inside... THAT thing. After that... Your head really hurts so you decide to stop thinking about it for now.
You try to get up but you realize that you are naked under the sheets. You quickly cover yourself.
Panic begins to take over you. You are all alone in a unfamiliar place. The forest felt empty and lonely but here; there's definitely someone here. You wrap the sheets around you and you get off the bed. The room looks like one you could find in a traditional Japanese home. Maybe you could find something to protect yourself? Or maybe you should just flee? How the hell you got here in the first place and what about your clothes?
You see on the floor nearby a indigo-dyed yukata folded. Maybe you could borrow it?

While thinking all these you can hear someone coming. Time to make a choice.

>[ø]Quickly get dressed in the yukata.
>[x] Start crying, because you've been doing a huge number of crazy things recently, and you can't for the life of you imagine why.

You unwrap the sheets that cover your naked body and rush for the yukata. You quickly unfold and proceed wearing it. Well at least you try, but for some reason you don't seem to know HOW to wear this.
You feel your headache even stronger than before. You hold your head with your right hand while you clench the yukata with your left one. Your knees surrender to your panic and you kneel down.
Your cheeks feel hot. Tears run down to your face. You are sobbing like a baby as the built-up stress is released all together. The door opens right behind you but you don't care anymore. All those things, all those questions; you can't stop your voice crying out anymore. Enough already, make it stop, you have enough of it!
You feel someone behind you. A hand touches your shoulder.

"It's okay." a gentle woman voice says. "Let it all out..."

You feel your pain, tiredness and fear making a mix and you let it all out in form of tears. You really want to hug somebody right now.

>Start turning around to hug the person, but change your mind at the last moment and run away to a corner of the room in panic.
>[x]While trying to cover yourself in Yukata.

You need to feel the warmth of someone else. You're about to turn around and hug that person when you remember that you are in an unfamiliar place with someone unknown, not to mention that you are still naked.
You swiftly get up and run away to the farthest corner of the room in panic where you cover yourself with the Yukata. You are able to see that person clearly now.
She has long silver hair with blue highlights. She is wearing a long dark blue dress with white short sleeves and a red ribbon tied to the bottom of her collar. She's also wearing a weird rectangular hat with a red ribbon on top, that looks like some kind of a building.
She seemed surprised that you run away at first, but now wears a kind smile. She gives off a motherly feeling.

"You are safe here." she says softly.

You are not sure about that. She doesn't seem dangerous and she doesn't make any moves towards you.

Trying to calm yourself you have to decide; should you find some way out of here or staying with that person would worth the risk?

>[X]Stay, for the love of God.

Panic hasn't helped you so far now that you think about it more calmly.
The woman still stands there with a soft smile. Unlike the other woman you met, she looks definitely a normal human. You decide to stay.
She seems to understand your confusion so she speaks up.

"Your clothes were awfully dirty so I just took them to wash them. You can wear that yukata for now." she says calmly.

"I-I..." you falter.

"Yes?" she smiles.

"I...don't know how to wear this..." you mumble.

She looks surprised for a bit but once again she returns back into smiling softly.

"Don't worry, I'll help you with that." she says while coming slowly towards you.

You turn around so she won't look at your front and hand over the sash. She begins to tie it up around you softly after you wrap the yukata around you.

"Do you remember anything? Your name perhaps?" she asks.

You shake your head.

"I see..." she says with a feeling of compassion. "There, you are ready now!"

You look at yourself. It looks good on you. You feel happy somehow.

"Ah, so nice~ It matches your eyes" she smiles.

"My-my eyes?"

"Eh?" she looks at you puzzled. "Don't tell me..."

Yes, you still don't know what you look like. Are you really a human anyway? You feel so lost.
The woman looks at you and sighs with a smile.

"Food's ready. I'm sure you have many questions right now but they can wait after a good meal and a hot bath, right?" she smiles.

You nod in embarrassment. Somehow this person is gentler that you can handle. You feel so much obligate to that person already.

She nods you to follow her and leaves the room. You...

>[X]You take it easy and hold her hand as she's leading the way.
>[x] Genuflect
>[x]...And formally thank her for offering such hospitality to you.

You decide to follow her. Unconsciously you hold her hand which makes your head steam in embarrassment. She turns to you and smiles like nothing happened. You can't help but to look down while you walk. Why you did that anyway? Is it because of the feeling of finally being safe? To be taken cared of by someone motherly like her?

You reach what appears to be a low dining table. On it there is rice, soup and lots of okazu, mainly fish and vegetables.

"It's not much but please enjoy." she says and bows. "I'll go and prepare the bath."

"M-Miss!" she's about to leave the room when you shout.

"..."Keine is fine" she smiles.

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR EVERYTHING" you shout while you bow deeply.

She just smiles and leaves the room.
You sit Japanese style in front of the table and you grab your chopsticks. You begin tasting the fish while holding the gohan with your left hand.

"...it's delicious". you mumble. Your cheeks are wet but wearing a smile now. You quietly continue your meal accompanied with little sobbing sounds.

...

After finishing your meal, Keine showed you the way to the bathroom. You have already cleaned yourself and now you stand right before the bathtub.
You've been thinking this for a while now; you still haven't seen what you looked like. Perhaps you could now...
You lean over the bathtub. The girl on the reflexion is human allright. Her blue eyes have some red in them from all the tiredness and crying. Her short curly blond hair are in a mess.

"This is...me?" you ask yourself softly.

...

"Are you sure about this?" you ask worried.

"Yeah, it's will be tooootally awesome!" she says with enthusiasm.

You are happy to see her like this. She's always like that, getting amazed by the smallest things. Yes, this is why you are here together with her. You really like that part of her.

"Wait... not so fast!" you shout at her while she keeps on running further and further away from you.

"Come on! Hurry up!" you can hear her say but you can't see her anymore.
You are all alone in the dark. No. The darkness is coming right to you. You look down. You feel yourself slowly sinking inside the darkness. Hands climb up your legs.

"No..."

You feel your body burning hot as you sink inside it. The hands are now your on waist height. You feel the beat of your heart.

Dub dub.

The hands crawl up to your breasts and now your neck.

Dub dub.

You sink further in the darkness.

Dub dub.

The hands are covering your face.

Dub dub.

"NOOOOO!!!"

Dub dub.

...

Dub dub.

"Young miss, are you alright?"

You open your eyes. The bathroom ceiling fills your vision. You have fallen asleep in the bathroom.

"Young miss?" you hear Keine's voice from outside along with a door knock.

"I-I'm fine!" you say embarrassed.

"Really... Falling asleep inside a hot tub is dangerous you know?" she lectures you.

"I-I'm sorry..." you apologize.

"...well it doesn't matter, as long as you are fine now." she answers with a soft voice. "Your clothes are still wet so I'll leave the yukata just outside okay?"

"Y-yes, thank you!" you answer still embarrassed.

"Be careful not to fall asleep again. I'll be waiting you outside. Is green tea okay?" she asks.

"Yes thanks!"

You hear her footsteps getting softer and softer as she goes away.
You look outside of the window. You can see the moon and the stars. They feel nostalgic somehow.
You feel a lot better right now, well apart of that damn headache. Perhaps a good night's sleep would be perfect for that; it's been a long and tiring day after all. You sigh and dive your head inside the bathtub one more time.

...

Getting the yukata on was easier now, as you just had only to belt up this time. You find Keine sitting outside while watching the moon. She notices you and taps the floor next to her for you to sit. You gratefully comply.

"Well then..." she turns at you. "What would you like to know?"

>Ask her where you are, and how you got there.
>[X]Also, ask if you could have your clothes back. And if yes, check for: mobile, wallet/purse and nametags on the clothing (Hey, it's worth a shot).

"So... what would you like to know?"

You watch Keine serving you and then her some green tea. She places your cup right next to you.

"So... like... eh... Where am I?" you finally ask. There are so many things on your mind right now but you can't put them in order.
She just smiles and takes a sip of her tea while looking at the moon. She then turns to you.

"This is Gensokyo. Well... I guess that doesn't say much right?" she laughs a bit. "This place is the Human village. People who have been spirited away live here. People like you."

She takes another sip of her tea.

"Gensokyo is... let's say a place where the myths take form. Lost knowledge from the 'outside world' gathers here and with it lost people." she looks at you. "Sometimes people 'fade' from your world. Their history, their existence can't be erased though. It's simply 'hidden' in Gensokyo, they become an illusion."

She looks at the moon again.

"This world, no the existence as a whole, is a constant battle between order and chaos. The 'ideal' of the perfect world is being ripped apart by entropy while the lost pieces are gathered again by the 'ideal', forming a never-ending circle of creation and destruction. During that process though, there are new things created and with them new bonds, new meanings. Those things return to the 'ideal' when there are destroyed but not the bonds or the meanings. Gensokyo is a place where the unnecessary 'meanings' gather. Myths for example are..."

She looks again at you.

"...sorry I got carried away." she smiles troubled. "Simply put the things here are what the world doesn't need."

You look at your tea. So you got here because you were not needed anymore? What the hell does that mean anyway?
Keine smiles bitterly.

"Don't worry to much. Meanings don't apply to people. In your case, the 'bond' with your world got weak. That's how people get spirited away. If you can't remember anything does it matter really? You can start anew here and make your 'bond' with this world stronger." she says with her usual soft tone. "Come on drink it up, it will get cold."

You stop staring at your cup and take a sip of the tea. It's a bit bitter but with a nice flavor.

"I... I really don't know what to think..." you mutter.

"It's too much for you now, so just stay here till you figure it out okay?" she says softly.

You take another sip of your tea while another question pop ups in your mind.

"Miss Keine... well... about my clothes..."

"Ah yes! I found something in your dress. Sorry didn't meant to look but I didn't want to get anything wet by mistake." she says while searching next to her. "Here!"

She hangs it over. It's small and you have seen it again. You definitely have seen it again, only now you actually touch it for the first time since you woke up this morning.

In your hand there is a queen of hearts' deck card.

>Inspect the card and try to remember its purpose.

You swallow. Your throat still feels dry though. You can feel your headache getting stronger each second that passes.
You inspect the card, by turning it around, looking for something unusual. Nope, it seems perfectly normal. Wait, how a normal card is supposed to be like anyway?
It should have some sort of use. Well you hope it has, it could be a clue of who you are or how you got here. You had it on you, right?
Something tells you that you should know how to use that. As you try to think your headache gets on the way.

"What's the problem?" Keine asks.

"I... don't know what's the use of this" you say. Damn your head hurts.

"Mmm?" she looks at the card. "Isn't that something you drew?" she asks.

"I don't think so."

"I see... It was in your dress, so that means it's something from the outside world, correct? Then we might be able to find someone who can tell us..." she scratches her chin while thinking. "Oh, I think I know of a certain individual who might be able to help us. Why don't we just go tomorrow and...young miss? Are you alright?"

You drop your cup. It hurts even more than before. You hold your head with both of your hands now. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop!

"Does your head hurt? Here let me see..." you feel Keine's hand touching your forehead. "Haa... it seems you caught a cold..."

Why this thing keeps happening to you? You try to think whether you had a headache all day or it was something you've done. Maybe hurt yourself somewhere? You might really have a cold. Dammit, thinking about it makes it even worse.

"Say... Do you have nightmares?" Keine asks.

You look at her. How did she..."

"Figures. Earlier I heard your scream in the bathroom. Did you had any nightmares before that?" she looks worried. You nod.

Keine thinks for a bit and then she looks at you again.

"You know, your 'bond' with your world might not be so weak after all. Those nightmares might be memories of your past or things your subconscious try to tell you." she pauses for a while looking like she's thinking of something. She then decides to speak. "Remember about the history of the people that gets 'hidden' in Gensokyo?"

"Y-yeah...I think" well she definitely doesn't help you by making you remember those complex analysis from before.

"I can 'hide' those memories of yours." she says with a serious face.

"Eh?" you look dumbfounded.

"I can't erase them, but I can 'hide' them. Hopefully that would mean the end of your headaches. Also you could get a good night sleep..." she hesitates.

There's a but eh? There's always a but.

"...but if those are truly your memories, 'hiding' them would only postpone the problem. You'll have to eventually face them." she says in worry.

Yes that's true. If you really want to know who you are, you don't want this to happen to you. Still, there are plenty of other subjects you need to focus too and with this headache it won't be possible. What should you do?

>don't hide them. Go to bed with Keine.

"So? What do you want to do?" Keine asks.

You can feel your head's blood vessels throbbing. You really want this to stop.

"I'm okay. I'll work it out somehow." you finally say.

That's right. Even if it's going to be hard, you don't want to risk losing any possible memories you might have. You really need to work out some things but remembering who you are is far more important right now. Also there is the 'hide your memories' part Keine said. How exactly would she do that? Even though you don't doubt her good will, you can't help but fear that something might get messed up in your head.
You take a deep breath and let the air leave your lungs slowly. You're feeling better now, somehow.

"Well then, I should go and prepare something for the pain then." she sighs but with a kind smile on her face.

You watch her get up and ready to leave inside.

"E-excuse me..." you mutter.

She stops and turns to you. "Mmm?"

"Well... I... You..." you whisper bashfully.

"Yes?" she leans over you smiling.

"Well..." you can't help but look down embarrassed.

"You want me to sleep with you tonight?" she asks.

"E-excuse me..." you whisper.

"It's fine, it's fine! You don't have to feel embarrassed!" she smiles. She clearly enjoys making you feel like this. "Most of the children who get spirited away want me to keep them company during the first night you know."

The 'children' part hit you right though the stomach like an arrow, still you can't help but feel happy about the fact that there would be someone familiar around in this strange place. You feel that you could handle the nightmares now.

"Thanks..."

"No problem."

...

The only light in the room comes from a small window, up on your left side. Keine sleeps soundless on a tatami mat on your right.
You've spent the past hour twisting and turning, trying to get some sleep. You are all wet with your sweat. You toss the sheets in order to cool your body off a bit. Your neck is also dry and you need something to drink.
You carefully get up, trying not to wake Keine up, leave the room and head for the kitchen. As you enter the room you see someone else's figure there.

"E-excuse me..." you say trying to see who's there.

The figure turns to you. You can see her clearly as the moonlight fully illuminates the kitchen. It's a girl around you height, with blond hair. She wears a long purple dress and a white poofy hat...like yours?

She smiles and gets closer to you.

"A-are you an acquaintance of miss Keine?" you say while taking a step back. That person makes you shiver for some reason.

"Who's Keine?" she bluntly asks while smiling. A creepy smile.

"E-excuse me...miss Keine..." you slowly turn towards the door and... Wait, where's the door?

You turn around only to see that the kitchen is not there anymore. It’s just you and her alone.

"Who-who are you?" you ask scared.

"My...can't you even tell that?" she says with a grin.

She comes closer till the distance between you is just around ten centimeters. Her grin gets larger and larger till her mouth bends in a way you don't think it's right.

"I am YOU"

You feel your legs losing their strength. You are dreaming right? This is a dream. This MUST be a dream. You look around. You see no exit, or something else. She just stands there. This is a dream, so you can't do anything right? Yes, you only have to wait to wake up. Yeah.
Wait. What if it's NOT a dream? What if this person is someone dangerous?

You...

>[x]pass out
>No, enough of acting like a helpless child. [x] Say "I'm not afraid of you!" with as much conviction as you can muster.
>[x] - Take it easy.
>If it's me, there's no way I can lose. [X] Engage in girly fist fight
>[X]"If you're me, then there's nothing we can tell each other. [X]Steel self for next few probably SAN-LOSS moments
>[x] Run at Yukari with a blood-curdling scream.
>[x] take off her hat and put it on your own hat, thus consuming her power.
>Ask yourself questions about your memories. If she is you then you shouldn't be afraid, right? Be strong for once!

(The following is two parts. Also NSFW warning, avoid spoilers if needed.)

You step back.

"Miss Keine?"

Another step back.

"Miss Keine...?"

Your voice sounds scared and your eyes are filled with tears.
SHE just stands there with her impossible smile. Leering at you. Enjoying your fear.
You feel like a little girl who wants to hide behind her mother's skirt.

"Miss...Keine...?"

You turn around but noone's there. Yes, you are alone. Just you and HER.
You feel your legs weak, your vision blurry and your head heavy. You are about to faint.

"Miss..."

You close your eyes. It's over. SHE's won. This is your end. Trapped in a dark world forever. The only thing that's left now is for HER to make her move. You brace yourself for your

Wait.

Just wait a second.
What exactly are you doing? Isn't this just a nightmare?

You open your eyes.
That's right. It was your choice after all. You've accepted your nightmares in order to retain your memories. If you lose here they'll just continue. You have to end this.

You turn at HER and look her in the eyes.
You will end this now. One way or another the nightmares will stop.
You want to move but

"...but what if it's not a nightmare? Correct?" she mocks you.

That was the final push. It's true, you still don't know whether this is real or not, but you had enough of acting like a helpless child. It's time for you to fight on your own.

"I'm not afraid of you!" you shout with as much conviction as you can muster.

She grins. That's it. Your fear is now turning into anger. You feel the rage taking over. If SHE is really you, then there's no way you can lose.

"aaaaaaAAAAAAH" you let out a blood-curdling scream.

Your right fist instantly launches for her head. She dodges it with a skilled dancing move.
Not fast enough.
SHE wasn't fast enough.
Your left fist has almost reached her face. You'll erase one and for all that stupid grin off her face.

But nothing happens.
You just stand there and your fist just hits...air.

"My my, so THIS is the kind of world you want?" you hear her voice right behind of you.

You turn around only to see her standing there like before, in the dark background.

"Let it be then."

As soon as she finishes her phrase, the dark scenery fills with a crimson color. Red color quickly fills your entire view.

You feel nausea. That color is troublesome. You lose all your strength and you kneel down, folding in two. You close your eyes as you feel your stomach fluids making their way up to your throat.

"Is it bothersome?" she says with a dry smile.

You hate that color. You don't know why but it's annoying.

"...top" you whisper with a faint voice.

"Yes? Can't hear you, you know" she says indifferently.

"...stop it!" you say and open your eyes.

Wait, that's strange. The 'red' has stopped right before you. Something in the darkness makes a dark 'circle' around you, not letting the 'red' to reach you.
You look at HER. She seems to have noticed it too. She flips her tongue.

"Then... what about this? Isn't that what you wanted in the first place?" you hear her voice right behind your left ear.

You want to turn around to see her but she's grasped you.
The scenary before you changes once more. You are now in an old room. There are old, dusty things all around. An old green couch full of holes, some old paintings on the walls, a model airplane hanging up

from the ceiling.
The room's door opens and two girls come in. The one, has brown hair and wears a white suit with a tie and a brown dress. On top of her head there's a black hat. The other one has blond hair and wears a

purple dress with a white poofy hat on her head.
The girl with the white suit runs in the middle of the room and makes a spin around. They don't seem to feel your presence.

"Well? What do ya say? Isn't it perfect?" she says with enthusiasm.

"Well... it's okay I guess." the other girl smiles.

"Well?" SHE whispers to your ear. "Isn't THIS what you wanted?"

You feel her breath near your face. But your eyes are occupied with viewing those two girls. You know them. You definitely know them. After all, one of them it's you.

"Say... do you miss her?" SHE whispers again. You feel her hands over your body.

"Ah..." a faint sound escapes your lips. You know whom SHE's talking about. You look at her.

"Do you miss her voice? Her smile? Her face?" Her hand touches your mouth. "Her lips?"

"Ah..." You are slowly getting into the mood. No, what are you doing, stop, that's not right. Right now you must "Ah!"

Her other hand makes its way lower.

"Maybe THIS is better?" she says and turns your face towards her.

It's just you and HER again now. Only this time SHE has her face. That face you love so much.

"No... stop it... I...mmm" she puts her fingers inside your mouth, making it impossible for you to speak.

"Shhh, don't talk." she whisper to your ear.

You feel her other hand finding its way through your underwear.

"Mmm!" you try to protest but her fingers are messing up with your tongue.

She licks your left ear. Her tongue skillfully follows its outline while her other hand makes it way deeper beneath.

"Mmm, mmm!" you try to resist. Your whole body is tense.

Her tongue makes its way towards your mouth. Her other hand leaves your underwear and heads for your breasts. On its way there she pushes your yukata so it can fall on the floor, leaving your chest exposed.
Her tongue is now inside your mouth. You can feel her tasting you. Her hand which is wet with your own saliva goes down, into your underwear and rubs your crotch.

"Mmm...puhaa...haaa" you gasp for air as soon as she leaves your mouth.

She trails her tongue towards your neck. Her other hand rubs your left breast while playing with its nipple. Her hand below, proceeds further down. You can feel her fingers teasing your lower lips there.

"Not there, I mmm!" you try to protest but her mouth seals yours once again.

Your whole body stretches as you feel her finger crawling inside of you. Her finger explores your insides while her tongue is tasting your own.

"Ha...ha...ha..."

You can gasp for air for only that much, till she kisses you again. You can hear your own wet sounds as she picks up the pace. Your mouth, your breast, your insides, are all surrendered to the pleasure she's giving you.

"Ah... ah... ah!"

She is now using only that finger to make you cum. The pace is rising with each thrust. You hold your eyes tightly closed while grabbing her hand. She licks your neck up and down.

"I, I...NNN"

You bite your lower lip hard as you can feel your whole body jerking off.

She leans over to your ear.

"This is my thanks for not abandoning me." she whispers.

(part 2)

...

The sunlight falls right into your eyes while you wake up. Your yukata is half open and you are all wet from sweat. You look at the ceiling for a while before sitting up.
You look around. Keine's not there, she probably woke up earlier than you.
You feel your face turning red while you recall your dream. You slowly take a pick of your underwear. Yep... you need clean ones.

...

After having a bath and changing into your now clean and dry clothes, you join Keine for breakfast.

"How was your sleep? Had any more nightmares?" she asks while preparing the breakfast.

"N-no... I guess" you say embarrassed. Well, could you actually called that a nightmare?

"Any more headaches?" she asks as she comes over and serves the breakfast.

"No, I'm feeling pretty good actually today!"

"Well, it might have been a cold after all." she looks at you. "You've been twisting and turning around all night you know..."

"I-I guess..."

The thought of her waking up and looking at you while you were dreaming those things is making your cheeks burn from embarrassment.

She stares at your face.

"Wh-what?"

"Are you feeling alright?" she asks.

"Y-yes I'm fine! W-why?"

She puts her hand on your forehead.

"Wha-!" you shout surprised.

"Figures. It seems you still have a fever." she sighs.

That's no fever for sure.

"It's a pity but I think we won't be able to go there today it seems..." she says with a worried face.

"Where?"

"Didn't I tell you last night? I know someone who might be able to tell us more things about that card of yours. But if you are still sick then..."

"I'm okay! Really!" you protest. Well, it's true after all.

"But..."

"Don't worry! I can make it!"

She thinks for a while before giving up. Silence falls on the table. This is a good time to ask some things you had in mind.

>[x] Ask her who exactly is that "someone"
>Nah, that doesn't sound like a "thing you had in mind". [x]Ask her if there are others from your world in Gensokyo, and if such occurrences are common.
>[X]Ask her if she knows anyone who habitually wears a purple dress and a poofy hat, and goes around messing with people's minds.

"Say..."

Maybe it’s worth a try asking.

"Yes?" she looks at you.

"Are there any others from my world in Gensokyo?"

"Yes. Actually most of the people here are or they were born by people from the outside."

"So, it's common to be 'spirited away'?"

She thinks it for a while.

"...I wouldn't tell exactly common but yes, it happens a lot. Although if you consider the number of the people living in the outside world, it's rare for someone to end up here."

You look at your bowl.
So you were too 'lucky' or 'unlucky' to end up here then?

"There's something else I want to ask but..."

"Yes? Ask away."

"Is there anyone who usually wears clothes like these?" you point at your dress.

"Eh? No, I don't think so... They are pretty unique. Why you ask?"

"N-nothing."

"You remembered something?"

"N-no not really..." you look down embarrassed. There's no way you'll tell her about that dream.

"Mmm?" she stares you for a while before resuming eating.

Silence returns. You're already full. It seems she finished eating too.

"That person we'll meet... who is he?"

"Oh, Mister Morichika? He has an antique store right outside of the forest. He's very talented in finding out things about certain items. Objects from the outside is his specialty."

"I see."

"Well then, if you're feeling good shall we get going?" she stands up.

>[x]Go outside and have a look around. It's a lovely day, and we want to go with Keine to see this "Morichika" guy. Look for anything that seems out of place, if you can, like crested ibises, strange creatures or BOUNDARIES OF UNKNOWN QUALITIES
>[X]Bring your clothing, too! Maybe Rinnosuke knows Yukari in this world!

After checking that you have the card with you and putting your shoes on, you leave the house. Keine follows you right after she closes the door.
It's a lovely day outside. The village has mostly traditional Japanese houses, but you can also see many shops.
You can see many people walking around, talking to each other and doing business. There is a great range of ages, from little children to old men. Most of the children look at your dress with curiosity but the rest of the villagers just greet Keine.

"Good morning, Kamishirasawa-sensei!"

"How are you, miss Kamishirasawa?"

"Great weather today, miss Kamishirasawa!"

Keine greets while smiling everyone.

"Miss Keine sure is popular." you smile at her.

She just smiles at you like always.

"Oh, miss Keine! Isn't it just a lovely day for me to be able to meet you so early in the morning?" an old bald man fawns on Keine.

"You sure are energetic today mister Takahashi." Keine smiles warmly. "How's your back today? No more hurting I hope."

While those two are chatting you look around to the village. There is a statue near you. It depicts a dragon. You notice that its eyes have a vivid white color.

"Young miss?" you hear a voice behind you.

The old man who was chatting with Keine looks at you.

"Yes?"

"What's your name young miss?" the man asks with a gentle smile.

"She doesn't have one yet..." Keine answers.

"Oh, I see... Well we can't have that! Now, let's see..."

(Apart from anything else you might want to do, you can also give the character a name now. This is the 'please input your name' thing. It has no connection with the plot whatsoever; it's just here to make things a bit easier for you. I'd personally recommend not to use a touhou name to avoid any future confusions or a name you might regret, but this is up to you. If you can't agree on something or you don't care I'll do something about it myself.)

(And this is where you can join too. Some of the answers so far are:

>[x] Maribell Han
>[x] Orange Ringo
>[X]Violet Hart
>「ｘ」 Arisa Bannings
>[x] Anoni Mousse
>Aome Maigo. Aome = Blue eyed / westerner Maigo = Lost child

Like I said in that topic, 'the name is going to be given to you by another character, so feel free to propose anything you might like. Still, if it fits somehow it might look better'.

I hope you like the story so far. I also hope I didn’t made any mistakes during copying. If you find a post that doesn’t connect with another in some way, do tell. If you have any comments I'd really want to hear them.

Girls will try their best, please support them!

Goodbye for now.)

Hey there, welcome to the boards! Hope you have a fun time.

I'll throw out a vote for... oh...

[X] Haruka Fiala

Haruka using 遥 for "far off," and 花 for "flower." A flower from far away. Fiala is a Czech surname, but hey, why not? I believe it refers to the violet flower. So we have a Violet from far away, and using two different languages to reinforce the sense of distance.

Though, I do like the sound of Aome Maigo...

Also, I feel I should mention that you really don't need to put the NSFW content into spoiler tags. Most every story here has a sex scene at some point, and we all leave those open for anyone to view.

"...how about Aome Maigo?" the old man proposes after giving it some thought.

"Aome Maigo...oh, I see!" Keine seems to like that name too. "Well, what do you think?" she turns to you.

"It's fine...isn't it?" you say with a small hesitance.

Aome Maigo. You indeed feel out of place here. Is this really the place where you'll have to spend the rest of your life?

"So? Should I proceed with the paperwork?" the old man asks Keine.

"Isn't it a bit too soon? We still don't know if she'll stay..." Keine looks at you in worry.

"Eh? She still has memories then?"

"It seems so."

"Oh, I see... Are you going to the temple then?"

"No, we have some business with mister Morichika today. We will stop by tomorrow if everything goes okay. Well then..." Keine makes a small bow.

"Ah, good luck then." the old man nods. "Aome-chan take care!"

You bow too and follow Keine.

...

You walk for about half an hour now on a dirt road. Keine walks right besides of you. On your left there is the forest.

"Is miss Keine a teacher then? A lot of children called you teacher back there."

"Yes, I teach history class for the people in the village. I'm also taking care of the school."

"As expected from miss Keine!" you smile.

A soft breeze makes the leaves rustle right above your heads. You look a bit around. Everything seems peaceful. You haven't met anyone all this time you've been walking.

"Where exactly is mister Morichika's store?"

"It's not far away, we will see it in a few minutes."

You keep on walking. You hear the rustle of the leaves again but this time it comes right next to you, near the trees on your left.
You turn to look. You can't see anything, but 'something' is certainly there. Keine keeps on walking without noticing that you stopped.

You...

>[x]Call out to Keine to stop for a second, because you see something odd [x]Check out what the distortion is, cautiously and ready to jump away
>[X] Alert Keine there's something in the bushes! Ask if there's any dangerous creatures in the forests.

"Miss Keine! Something's here..."

"Heh?"

Keine turns around and comes near you. You try to see if there's something in the woods.

"A fairy maybe...?" she suggests.

"Fairy?"

"Yes. There are many fairies that live in this forest. Perhaps there are some playing around."

"There are fairies in Gensokyo?"

"There are many creatures that live here. Creatures of myths. That's why you shouldn't go wondering alone outside of the village. Come on let's go." she turns ahead.

You take a quick peek at the trees once again before following Keine.

"But fairies aren't dangerous, right?"

"There are not only fairies in the forest, there are also youkai."

"Youkai? The Japanese ones?"

"Not only those, there are creatures from other places too." She looks at you. "Gensokyo is a resort of many creatures whose 'meaning' wasn't necessary to the outside world any longer."

You don't really understand it but it pretty much means that creatures of myth were no longer needed to scare people so they ended up here.

"Don't look se worried" Keine smiles at you. "The strong ones won't attack any humans and the weak ones are easily chased off by most of the villagers. Still children and newcomers should be careful, okay?"

You nod. Bottom line, stay near Keine or some other villager and you'll be safe.

...

"Forgive my intrusion" Keine says as soon as she enters the store.

"Ah, miss Kamishirasawa, welcome."

Inside the store there's a jumble of every kind of item, one would imagine. A bike, a mirror, many books and magazines, some old furniture, water filler, a...wait is that a television?
On the other side of the store behind a desk there is a young man sitting. He has short silver hair and wears a pair of glasses. His clothes are black and blue in color. He leaves a book he was probably reading on the desk and comes near you.

"What can I do for you today? Need more writing material?" the man asks.

"No, thank you. Today I'm here as miss Aome's escort." Keine points at you.

"Good day." you make a small bow.

"Ah, welcome." the man follows. "So, how can I help you young miss?"

"This..." You search your dress pocket and take the card out. "Can you tell me more about it?"

"A card? You want me to identify this?"

You nod.

"Mmm... Is it from the outside world?"

"It appears so." Keine suggests.

He turns the card around, flex it and look carefully at it while commenting "I see" or "So that's how it is" every now and then.

"I understand." he says decisively.

"You know about this card?" Keine asks.

"Of course! The thing about this card..."

Keine and you both hold your breaths while leaning forward to him. The man fixes his glasses with his index finger and announces his answer.

"...is a regular deck card!"

Time stops. The store has no windows and you are far away from the door but you can hear a faint gust of wind. Several seconds pass till you manage to open your mouth again.

"Heh?"

Keine sighs and looks at you with a 'that's how things are' look.

"I might say regular..." the man resumes "...but that's because I can't 'see' the purpose it carries. It's actually strange if you consider that every object carries a purpose. A usual deck card carries the purpose of 'playing' or 'gamble' but this one is blank in my eyes." He returns the card to you. "Maybe that's because its purpose haven't be decided yet, or perhaps my eyes aren't the ones who are supposed to 'see' it."

You look at the card.

"So how do I..."

"Who knows?" the man shrugs. "I can 'see' the name and the purpose of these objects but I never know how they are been used."

You look at the card again. 'Its purpose haven't be decided yet', right? You sigh and put the card back to your pocket.
In the meanwhile, it seems that Keine and the man have began talking about something. You look around. The store is bigger that you thought. There are many things of the outside world here.

Their conversation looks like it will last for a while so you decide to...

[ ]observe their conversation. You don't mean to eavesdrop, but waiting for Keine to finish is more polite than wandering around.
[ ]look at the book the man was reading. What would keep a man in a store like this interested?
[ ]look around the store. There are so many things in here.
[ ]do something else. (say)

(So I decided to do something else for now. Pre-generated choices will be now provided. The choice with the most answers is the one that is accepted. You still can propose your own choices, which will be in addition with the choice that gets more votes.)

>[X]look around the store. There are so many things in here.
>In particular look over everything briefly to see if anything sets off another memory. Like, say, a porkpie hat shape or something.

Their conversation looks like it will last for a while so you decide to look around the store. There are so many things in here.
On your right is the desk that the man was sitting just before you came, reading that book. But you'll go on the opposite direction in order to take a look at the store.

You can see many different things, which all share the same concept; nothing is sort out. The whole place is completely untidy. You can't imagine how someone would be able to find something he was looking in here. Maybe asking the store owner is the only way to find what you're looking for.
Looking around, you find several small statues which depict different gods, some old traditional music instruments, a sunshade, joss-sticks, a klaxon, some toothpicks, two books with the titles 'War and Peace' and 'The Old Man and the Sea' and several marbles.
You sigh. You can identify most of these objects but they tell you completely nothing about who you are or how you got here. You look at Keine and the store owner... Morichika was his name? They look like they are discussing something very important as they both have serious faces. Maybe you should go back to them, you can't hear anything from here. Looking around the shop won't do you any good it seems.

As you walk back you notice a hat-stand. There are several hats there. One of them is a black one, like the one that girl from your dream was wearing. Hey, if you wear this maybe something will pop up? Haha, no way. You decide to try it on anyway. Wait, you think you saw a mirror before, when you've entered the store. It's around here somewhere, right?
You see the mirror just a few steps away from you. You stand in front of it and prepare to try on the hat.

But you never do that.

The hat is now on the floor and you just stand there with your mouth open looking at the reflection on the mirror. The reflection that's supposed to be yours. Supposed to, because right now there's another girl there. She mimics all your movements, like any reflection should do, but her clothes and her face are different from yours. Her hat looks like the one you dropped just now.
Yes, right in front of you stands the other girl you saw in your dreams. The one who belongs to your original memories. The one with the white suit, tie and brown dress.

You feel nausea. This can't be happening.
on that exact moment you also hear someone right behind you, coming towards you. With the side of your eye you can still see Keine and the store owner talking away from you.

You...

[ ]step away from the mirror. It gives bad vibes. The person behind you is probably another customer.
[ ]turn around and prepare yourself for everything. That person is more important than any bizarre mirror this store has.
[ ]scream. This can't be happening again! This is a dream right?
[ ]do something else. (say)

>[X]turn around and prepare yourself for everything. That person is more important than any bizarre mirror this store has.
>BUT FIRST TOUCH THE MIRROR. It's the reflection that holds the important person, not the person from behind.
>[ø]...and turn around to greet the one approaching you. Make the greeting audible enough to grab Keine and/or Rinosuke's attention.

You swallow and touch with your right hand the mirror. The girl in the reflection does the same. You can feel the cold surface of the mirror. It appears that the mirror is normal, if you don't consider the fact that the reflection is of another person.
You can sense the person behind you only a few steps away. You turn around and prepare yourself for everything. That person is more important than any bizarre mirror this store has.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

In front of you is a little girl. She seems as surprised as you are. She has short white with shades of blue hair and wears a black and blue dress. What's more important though is that this girl appears to have a pair of small wings on her back.

"H-hello?" you greet her guardedly.
You make sure your voice is loud enough for Keine or the store owner to hear you.

"H-hello!" the girl greets you in a similar manner. It looks like she's holding a book.

Both Keine and the store owner must have noticed you because their both coming your way.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't meant to..." the girl apologies.

"N-no, same here." you follow. She doesn't seems like a bad person.

"Oh, what's this? You're here again?" the store owner asks dry the girl.

"Wh-what's with that look? Is that the way an owner would threat his customers?"

"Customers? You just borrow those books don't you?"

"This is why you never get any customers you four-eyes."

"What?"

It seems those two know each other. You can't imagine what sort of relationship those two have, but it sure isn't a good one. Keine looks at you.

"Is everything okay? You seem a bit pale." she asks.

"Y-yeah..." you try to dodge the question but you can't help your gaze being over the mirror again. The reflection is still the same as before.

"Hmm?" Keine follows your look. "Is there something wrong with the mirror?"

"N-no..." you look at Keine. Why you hesitate anyway? "W-well it's kind of strange..."

"Strange?" the man stops arguing with the girl and looks at you. "You see something?"

"I-it's just the reflection..." you mumble.

"What about it?" the man asks.

"Well...it's wrong."

Keine and the man both look at each other and then the mirror.

"What do you mean wrong?" Keine asks.

"The 'me' in that mirror... is not 'me'."

"Eeeeh?" the man scratches his chin. He places his other hand on the mirror. "I thought this was useless..."

"What do you mean useless?" Keine asks.

"This is a Meiji period's mirror, handmade. It's made from cherry tree's wood. It's fine craftsmanship really."

"That's not..." Keine starts saying, but the man interrupts her.

"...it is said that this mirror can show 'das Ich', whatever that means, of the person that looks at it. I accidentally found a book of a man talking about that thing only a few years after I got that mirror. Funny man, has written some strange things..." the man stops and thinks for a while. "...well I never saw anything strange myself, plus that guy seemed like a complete nut job to me, so I just thought that this was an ordinary mirror after all."

You are confused. Same with Keine and the girl. That man looked like he was talking to himself rather than answering Keine's question. You look again at the mirror. You can see the reflection looking back at you with the same puzzled face. It appears that you won't get any more information here, so you just give up. Whatever this is, it's the last thing that's on your mind right now.

...

Or so you thought back then. In reality you spend the whole way back, lunch and half of the afternoon thinking about it. That girl in the mirror... The girl of your dreams... You know her, but her name and who she really is, remains a mystery to you.

You sigh and drink some of the tea you're holding. It's late in the afternoon and you are sitting alone at Keine's patio on the back side of her house, at the same place where you were drinking tea last night too.

It's still daylight so you can see the surrounding area better today. It appears that Keine's house is at the outskirts of the human village because you can see the woods from here. In about fifty or so meters away from you the forest begins.
Keine's not here. She said that she had some important things to talk with the village's leader and that she will be away for an hour or so. It's been more than three hours since she left.
You sigh again and take a sip of tea. You gaze at the sky. Although it must be unknown to you, it feels nostalgic somehow.

At that moment with the corner of your eye you notice some movement at the bushes nearby the trees. Someone's there.

Before you are able to do something a girl appears. You hear the sound of your cup falling down. You feel your face distorted from the mix of feelings you are experiencing right now. You are about to cry... no... laugh? It seems you're losing your sanity. This day was eventful but right now it has finally reached its peak.

Only a few meters before you stands a girl that looks... no, that's EXACTLY like you. The girl stares at you with a blank look, not moving at all. She doesn't show any emotion. You...

[ ]take a deep breath and try to relax yourself. You are about to lose your wits here. Whatever happens retaining your self-control is the most important thing. After you're relaxed, talk to her. (propose normal questions/conversation)
[ ]get cautious. You can't let your guard down. Taking on a stance of distrust is the most important thing. (propose questions in a manner of interrogation)
[ ]get angry. You had enough! SHE or whoever is responsible can no longer toy with you! You rush to her with tight fists. (propose battle plan)
[ ]flee. This is dangerous! Keine said it right? Strange things live in the woods and you are sure she has something to do with those things. Better hurry up inside...no better leave the house completely and search for a villager that can protect you!
[ ]do something else. (say)

[ ]take a deep breath and try to relax yourself. You are about to lose your wits here. Whatever happens retaining your self-control is the most important thing. After you're relaxed, talk to her. (propose normal questions/conversation)

seems we're gensokyo base to Renko as Yukari is to Maribel.

(though it's been said that Renko's akin to Reimu as well)

[x]get cautious. You can't let your guard down. Taking on a stance of distrust is the most important thing. ("W-Who are you? And what are you doing here?")

Suddenly stoic girl becomes eccentric girl, cautious girl becomes embarrassed girl - they somehow end up friends.

>[x] Calmly, emotionlessly, mechanically stare her down.
(The two first answers got a tie, so I'll go with this suggestion, which is pretty much somewhere in between.
I'd also like to make a note here. Back in Kourindou, that girl wasn't straight behind you to have a reflection in the mirror. It seems that I didn't describe that part correctly. I apologize for the weak expression.)

You try to calm yourself down and abandon your feelings that might cause you to panic. You can't let your guard down near her but not losing your self-control is also important. With all the courage you can muster you look at her with cold eyes.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" you say coldly while observing her every move.

The girl stays still, looking at you with a blank expression. You don't feel any threat. Actually, you don't feel anything from her. She just stands there, with her gaze fixed upon upon you.

"Well? Who are you?" you insist. Her expressionless face make you feel uneasy.

She slowly turns her head a bit on the side, like a dog that doesn't understand what its master is saying. Is she mocking you?

"I'm home! Miss Aome are you still outside?" you hear Keine's voice from inside.

The girl turns her head where Keine's voice came from. She stands still for a bit and the turns around and starts running in the forest without losing her expression for even one second.

You...

[ ]go after her. You can lose her now!
[ ]stay here. You had enough for today. Those bizarre events have made you tired.
[ ]run to Keine. You are so happy she's back. You really need a warm hug from a kind person like her after all these.
[ ]do something else (say)

[X]run to Keine. You are so happy she's back. You really need a warm hug from a kind person like her after all these.

[X]go after her. You can lose her now!
Run! Call for her to stop!

[ ]run to Keine. You are so happy she's back. You really need a warm hug from a kind person like her after all these.

>[X]go after her. You can't lose her now!
>But make sure you shout out to Keine you're chasing someone into the forest. Something like "I just saw someone with my face! I'm going after her!" or the like.
>"Miss Keine, please follow me, I just saw someone who looks identical to me!"
>Run! Call for her to stop!

You go after her. You can't lose her now!

"Miss Keine! I just saw someone who looks exactly like me, I'm going after her!" you shout right before you jump off the patio.

"What? Wait what do you mean? Miss Aome!"

"Please follow me!" you answer and rush full speed towards the direction she went.

You can see her figure running several meters before you.

"Stop!" you try to halt her advance.

She doesn't stops though. Soon she's out of your visual area. It's not that she runs faster than you, but that she knows this forest better it seems.

"Ha...ha...ha..." you pant as you try to catch up with her.

You can't give up now! You make another dash trying to reach her.

You can see her figure again. This is it, you can make it! Only a few more...

...meters...

You end up in a small clearing. There is a woman standing there, dressed in a faint pink yukata.

"What's the hurry young miss?"

You...

[ ]ignore the woman. You have almost got her now!
[ ]ask the woman if she saw a girl that looks like you running.
[ ]stop on your tracks. What's that woman doing here?
[ ]do something else. (say)

(There are going to be a couple of updates in the next few hours I hope, so feel free to vote.)

>[X]ignore the woman. You have almost got her now!
>but shouting "Pardon me!" as you sprint past. Running past without saying anything is even more rude than shouting on the run.

You ignore the woman. You have almost got her now! You can see some leaves shaking on the bushes right before you. She should have gone that way!

"Pardon me!" you shout at the woman. It's okay; Keine will meet up with her anyway. Right now you have other priorities!

You leave the clearing in haste and go further deep into the forest. You run straight forward till you no longer see anything moving. You search for tracks on the ground but there are none. You've lost her.

"Ha...ha...ha..."

You try to catch your breath. Oh well, you can just go back now and...

...where exactly are you? You look around. You see nothing familiar. Well if you just follow your own tracks then...

"That was rude young miss."

You look towards the voice's direction. The woman in the pink yukata is there.

"Don't you know that you should show some respect to your elders?" she gets closer to you.

"I-I'm sor-" you stop half way.

"Well? What's it you were saying?" that woman says but...

…you no longer pay attention to her words. Right now the bizarre sight before you draws your attention. That woman's neck keeps getting longer and longer and with it her face's characteristics alter. Her torso is the same but from her neck and up she seems more like a snake now.

"Young mithhh? Thhhhouldn't you be athhhhking now for forgivnethhhhhh?"

You freeze at her gaze. You can feel her snake-like neck curling around your own as her face is now close to yours. Her snake-like tongue pops right out off her grin.

This is a dream right? In reality you were too tired from all that happened today and you fell asleep at the patio. Keine will soon return and wake you up. Then you can eat together and laugh on today's events, about that old man who was hitting on her or the strange store owner. Maybe tomorrow you'll go together to that flower shop near her house. There were some beautiful Azaleas there.

You feel a sharp pain on your neck. Ah, there it is again. That hateful crimson color. Your vision blurs and darkens. You close your eyes and bring back that girl from your dreams on your memory. It's too bad you never remembered her name. Too late now.

You die.

//DEAD END 2//

Now it's time for:

'KEINE SENSEI'S SPECIAL CLASS ON HOW NOT TO BE A ⑨, PART II'

"Sensei! I brought another one-nya!"

"Again?" *sigh* "Okay, leave the wheelbarrow right there. You there. Yes you! You're up to no good again."

"No good-nya"

"Haven't you be told to pay attention on what others say? One beautiful and wise teacher once said that 'there are many strange creatures living in the forest' and that 'children and newcomers should be careful and don't go wondering alone outside of the village' right?"

"That was stupid-nya"

"Well, it can't be helped. Even more experienced people do mistakes sometimes. Now then-"

'HAKUTAKU MODE ON'

"-let's just forget this ever happened. Be more careful next time okay?"

"Bye-nya"

//HISTORY CHANGED//

You end up in a small clearing. There is a woman standing there, dressed in a faint pink yukata.

"What's the hurry young miss?"

You...

[ ]ask the woman if she saw a girl that looks like you running.
[ ]stop on your tracks. What's that woman doing here?
[ ]do something else. (say)

[ ]ask the woman if she saw a girl that looks like you running.

>Yeah OP, what is your policy on bad ends and the memory/knowledge that we gain from it?
(Dead ends are 'pre-generated' along with the choices in order to give you a reward/punishment feeling much like a Visual Novel. After each bad end you'll get some hints, most of them are just pointing out things that have been already said. Your character has no knowledge on what has happened but you do. It's not that her actions will be 'out of character'. Dead ends more or else happen because you have forgot or misjudge something. Feel free to explore, but if you prefer the constant flow of the story try to avoid dead ends. I can upload them after the end of each part if you like.)

>[X] ask the woman if she saw a girl that looks like you running.

"E-excuse me...ha...ha..." you try to catch your breath. "Ha-have you seen...ha...have you seen a girl running? She should looked like me..."

"No, we are alone here." she smiles.

"Ah, I see..."

You get some bad vibes from that woman. Maybe you should get going now.

"Well then, thanks for your time...."

"Leaving so soon? Who's chasing you?" she grins.

"Eh?"

You look at her. Something’s strange, you... you can't take your eyes of her gaze. That's not the only problem here. Her features slowly change. It seems that her neck keeps getting longer and longer. Her face's characteristics also alter.

"Thhhho young mithhhh? Would you just thhhhhtay here for a bit withhhh me?"

You freeze at her gaze. You can feel her snake-like neck curling around your own as her face is now close to yours. Her snake-like tongue pops right out off her grin.

This is a dream right? In reality you were too tired from all that happened today and you fell asleep at the patio. Keine will soon return and wake you up. Then you can eat together and laugh on today's events, about that old man who was hitting on her or the strange store owner. Maybe tomorrow you'll go together to that flower shop near her house. There were some beautiful Azaleas there.

You...

"FIRST PYRAMID!"

Eh? What happened? You hear a screech and you see that 'thing' writhe in pain.

"HISSSSSHHHHH"

You see that woman's face, now with a snake body hissing at Keine and crawling fast into the woods.

"Are you alright? Aome-chan?" Keine rushes to you with a worrying face.

"M-miss Keine..."

"Why did you run away? Didn't I tell you not to wonder around on your own? What would have happened if I was just a second late? This place is dangerous you shouldn't..."

"Miss Keine... I, I..." you can't hold back your tears.

Keine sighs.

"Come over here" she opens her arms.

You rush to her and hug her tight.

"Miss Keine, miss Keine. Uuuu..." you cry like a baby. You were so scared. Just one more second and everything would- no, you don't even want to think about it. You were really lucky Keine was here.

"It's okay... Let's go back for now, okay?"

"Yes."

...

"So what do you think?"

"Well, it's good I guess."

You can't help but smile. The whole trip was just an excuse so you could be with her. You never really cared about that old room. Sure there were a lot of interesting things there, but another day with just you and her, is a day well spend. You notice she is smiling too.

You look at the night sky. It's time for you to get back. You cross together the road when with the corner of your eye you notice that woman.

She looks like a beautiful elegant woman who just popped out from a western picture book. Her long frilly white dress looks like it's almost flying right above the street. She walks under an umbrella with a gentle smile on her face.

"...!"

That's strange. She turns and looks at you. She seems to be surprised. Maybe because of that thing your companion just yelled?

You lose your balance. Why's that? In your visual area you now see the night sky. Everything seems to be in slow motion. Your vision is blurred. Oh, look at the time; you're going to miss the train.

You can see that woman again. She looks sad. Why? That's rude, you should quickly greet her. Oh, it seems you can't move any longer. Oh well, let's hope she'll forgive your bad manners.

The world slowly takes a crimson color and then turns completely dark. You're lying down and you can see HER looking at you with a sad face.

...

You open your eyes. It's still night. You look around but Keine is not here.

You were sleeping again in the same room with Keine. You're about to sit up when you hear some noise from further inside the house. It looks like some people are talking quietly. There are three of four of them, it seems like Keine is with them. You can't hear clearly what they are saying from here. You...

[ ]close your eyes and pretend to be asleep. It's none of your business.
[ ]get up and go slowly towards them without making your presence felt.
[ ]get up and go there. Something important must be going on and it's not good to eavesdrop hidden.
[ ]do something else (say)

[ ]close your eyes and pretend to be asleep. Try to listen in.

>[X]get up and go there. Something important must be going on and it's not good to eavesdrop hidden.

You decide to get up and go there. Something important must be going on and it's not good to eavesdrop hidden.

You tie your yukata's belt and head to where the voices are coming from.

"...and then we found him."

"I see."

In the room in front of the entrance are four people standing. You can identify Keine and mister Takahashi. They both have serious looks on their faces. Another man is sobbing and the fourth man supports him.

"Excuse me, miss Keine..." you say uncertain.

"So then, let's..." Keine turns to you. "...Aome-chan? You're awake?"

"I'm sorry, I heard some noise and..."

"Go back to bed." Keine says with a serious tone that accepts no objections.

You...

[ ]comply. This is the first time you've seen her like this. There must be a very serious reason for her to talk to you like that.
[ ]go with it but on the first chance you hide yourself and observe them. There's something going on and you have to know what!
[ ]disobey. You demand to know what's going on. You can't handle any more secrets and mysteries!
[ ]do something else (say)

[x]comply. This is the first time you've seen her like this. There must be a very serious reason for her to talk to you like that.

If Keine's serious it means something serious is going down, it's best to do what she says.

[x]comply. This is the first time you've seen her like this. There must be a very serious reason for her to talk to you like that.

>[X]comply. This is the first time you've seen her like this. There must be a very serious reason for her to talk to you like that.

You comply. This is the first time you've seen her like this. There must be a very serious reason for her to talk to you like that. You go back to the bedroom and lay down on the futon. After a few minutes the talk stops.

An hour passes. You spend all this time twisting and turning around, unable to fall asleep. You've spent some time thinking about today's events. The walk to that antique shop, the purpose of the card, that bizarre mirror, the strange girl, that snake-woman and now this. What a day. You sigh. This place is far weirder than what you've initially thought.

You hear someone entering the house. Some time passes and then comes the sound of footsteps drawing near the bedroom. You close your eyes and pretend you sleep. You are afraid that Keine might get angry with you if you are still awake. You sense someone leaning over and then petting your head softly.

"I'm sorry..." you hear Keine's voice.

You...

[ ]pretend to wake up.
[ ]pretend you still sleeping.
[ ]do something else. (say)

[x] Swallow your fear and tell her it's all right. You trust her.

>[x] Swallow your fear and tell her it's all right. You trust her.
>[X]Open your eyes and hug her. You tell her that there's no need to apologize and you kiss her (wat).
>[x]Flicker eyes open, make sure it's actually Keine and not some kind of horned green-haired demon.
>[X]sit up making it clearly obvious that you havent slept, accept her apology, and day she doesnt have to talk about what they were doing if she doesnt want to
>[x]Pretend to wake up.
(and four votes for:)
>>[x] murmur her name in your sleep (!!!)
(Wow you guys, I hope I can fulfill your expectations with the following.)

"I'm sorry..." you hear Keine's voice.

You feel her warm hand petting you and playing with your hair. Her gentle touch makes you forget all your worries and this day's events. You can stay like this forever.

"Miss Keine..." you murmur.

The hand’s movement stops. You open your eyes and turn to her. She seems to be surprised that you are awake. Her eyes are red and wet with tears. Was she crying?

"Miss Keine?" you sit up. "What's the matter?"

"Heh? N-Nothing, hehe, everything's fine!" she tries to wipe her eyes with her hands while forcing a smile on her face.

Nothing's fine for sure. For her to be like that...

"I'm sorry for before... I didn't meant to get angry with you..."

...but you don't care. Whatever happened it's up to her to decide if she wants to talk about it or not. Right now there’s only one thing you should do.

"Wha-!"

She gets surprised with your sudden hug.

"There's no need to apologize."

How can she do that? She went out of her way so many times to help you and make you feel comfortable in this bizarre place and now she asks for forgiveness? It’s you who should be sorry for making her worry, not her!

"Wha-what's with the hug? Ehe, Aome-chan stop that! I'm fine really."

You tight your hug.

"It's all right. Everything's going to be fine."

"Aome-chan, stop this! I'll get angry you know. Please don't..." she hugs you tight too. "...please don't do that! I-I...uuu"

You can hear her crying while holding you tight. You don't loosen up your grip either.

"Uuu... I-I couldn't... I couldn't stop it... I-I've tried but..." her phrases are cut off by her sobs. "...but there was... there was no way for me to erase it...even if I... even if I did it, it would just happened again...I-I...uuu"

"Shhh, it's all right."

You don't get what's going on so you'll just try to calm her down. That's the least you should be doing.

"I'm sure miss Keine did her best. No need to feel bad."

"But I...I..."

"It's okay, noone is blaming you."

"Uuuuuu"

You leave her like this for a while till she stops crying. Her grip weakens and you do the same. She looks at you and wipes her tears.

"You are a good girl Aome." she smiles gently and lies down. "I hope tomorrow you can go back to your own world." she closes her eyes. "This place is not safe anymore."

You watch her face as she falls asleep. She looks so peaceful like that. Her defendless face looks like one of a small girl's. You can't help but smile. You lean over and give her a peck on her forehead.
She sleeps right on your futon but you don't want to wake her up. You lie beside her.

"Goodnight miss Keine. Sweet dreams." you close your eyes.

That night, there were no more nightmares.

...

After waking up and eating breakfast Keine and you left the house. The village's atmosphere was different than the one yesterday. With the exceptions of the children, most people were moody and minded their own business. Still Keine greeted everyone with a smile. After leaving the village you followed a different path than the one you took yesterday.
You are walking for a while now, still Keine hasn't said anything about last night's events. You only talked about trivia topics so far.

"Is there something on my face?" she smiles at you.

"Ah! N-No nothing..."

For some reason you feel your cheeks turning red. Maybe it was that thing from last night? Why did you do that anyway? You shake your head. That's no good, why you are so worked up.

"We are almost there."

After a few minutes you reach a staircase that leads to a Shinto temple. You climb up the stairs.

"Ah, mister Kirisame's daughter is here also!"

You look at a girl sitting near the temple. She wears a black dress over a faint pink shirt looking like a witch from a fairy tale. She has long blond hair with a braid on the left side of her face.

"Good day!" Keine makes a small bow. You follow.

The girl turns to you and raises her arm.

"Yo!"

"Is miss Reimu around?"

The girl points in a direction.

"She's been like that two days now, ze~" she says with a boring look.

You follow her look. There is a young shrine maiden sitting Japanese style in front of...

In that instant you have a flashback of that thing, that gap, you saw the first day on the lake. The same thing you have entered that day is here, only this time is much, much bigger. A giant swirling distortion is swinging right before the shrine maiden. In addition the area around it has many "cracks" and "flaws". From within several hands come out like the ones you've seen before. There are thousand of eyes within those "gaps" too.

"Ah..." you tremble in fear.

"Aome-chan? Are you all right?"

"Wha-wha..." you point at that thing.

"Mmm? That's Hakurei Reimu, shrine maiden of this temple."

The shrine maiden turns and looks at you. She then stands up and slowly comes where you stand.

"You..." she says in a nondescript voice. "Do you see something?"

You...

[ ]admit that you see those strange things. Keeping it to yourself will drive you crazy.
[ ]refuse that you see those strange things. If you admit it they'll probably think that you're crazy or something.
[ ]do something else (say)

[x]admit that you see those strange things. Keeping it to yourself will drive you crazy.

>[x]admit that you see those strange things. Keeping it to yourself will drive you crazy.

"You..." the young shrine maiden says in a nondescript voice. "Do you see something?"

You look at Keine and the witch girl. Wait, is she saying that you are the only one who actually see this? Is this also part of the...no stop it. You already know there are many strange things going on here, if you think that the problem is you, you'll end up a lunatic.

"Yes. There are some 'distortions' on the air and inside them..."

"Good, come with me." she says bluntly.

She walks near those things again. Some hands get out of the gaps and try to reach her but stop halfway. You are too scared to go close to those things so you stop some meters behind the shrine maiden.

"Well? Show me." she says with an indifferent look.

You point the biggest one you can see. It's right above her. A giant eye looks at you from inside that thing.

She turns and looks there.

"Here?"

"Yes!"

She takes out of her dress an omamori.

"SEAL!"

The omamori 'stucks' with the 'gap' and slowly gets absorbed. As it disappears the 'gap' also closes.

"Whoa..."

"Next?" she looks at you with apathy, like nothing that worth mentioning had happened.

"Ah... left side over there."

You continue like this till...

"SEAL!"

...all of the 'gaps' close. The air seems normal now apart of the giant swirling distortion. No eyes or hands anywhere.

"Others?"

"No, I don't see anything else." you smile.

She comes near you again.

"Your name?"

"Aome... Aome Maigo."

"Aome, what kind of tea you like?"

"Eh?" you look confused at her. "A-anything is fi-"

"So, Marisa go make some green tea for all." she turns to the witch girl without waiting for you to finish.

"Eeeeh? I'm not your maid ze~" the witch girl protests.

"Marisa. Tea. Now." the shrine maiden says with a tone that doesn't accepts disobey.

"Oh brother..." the witch girl slowly gets up.

What's the relationship between those two anyway? It looks like she's treating her harshly but she might also tease her. You look at the shrine maiden. Her look has the same apathy as before. Nope, she must be serious after all.

"I'll go help!" Keine says with a smile.

You watch both of them going inside the temple.

"Shall we sit over there?"

"Ah, sure!"

You both sit down.

"Buah, that was tiresome. I need some sleep." she stretches. "You really helped back there, thanks." she smiles.

"Ah! I-it was nothing, really."

"So?"

"Wh-what?" you can feel her stare.

"You are here to ask some things right? Or else Keine would have come alone."

"Ah, yes!"

You...

[ ]ask about the 'gaps'. What are those things anyway?
[ ]ask about that big swirling thing. It looks like it's something different than the 'gaps'.
[ ]ask about what she was doing with those omamori. Somehow she was able to 'close' the 'gaps'.
[ ]ask if seeing those things is normal. She didn't seemed surprised that you were able to see them after all.
[ ]ask about her. It looks like she is an important figure here.
[ ]ask about the temple. You don't see anyone around besides her and that witch.
[ ]ask about that witch. Why would someone dressed like that be at the temple?
[ ]ask about Keine. She seems to know Keine and you would like to know more things about her.
[ ]ask about the woman you met the first day, Ran was her name? She seems to know about those 'gaps' too.
[ ]ask if she has seen anyone that looks like you before. She didn't seem very surprised to see you.
[ ]ask about that store owner near the forest. Is he a man of trust?
[ ]ask about the deck card. Maybe she knows something?
[ ]ask about youkai. Maybe she knows about the one that has attacked you last night?
[ ]ask if it's possible to go back to the 'outside' world. Keine said she might be able to help.
[ ]ask about the 'outside' world. Any information might help you remember your past.
[ ]ask about Gensokyo. Any information about this place is useful.
[ ]ask something else (say)

(So here how it's going to be. You propose three questions; top three are used before a certain 'event' takes place. Those are just my suggestions; you can ask anything you like as long as it's not a collection of different questions. Most of them will be answered later, one way or another and you can figure out some by asking something else. Make sure you ask anything that seems useful right at this moment.)

[x]ask about the 'gaps'. What are those things anyway?
[x]ask about that big swirling thing. It looks like it's something different than the 'gaps'.
[x]ask about what she was doing with those omamori. Somehow she was able to 'close' the 'gaps'.
[x]ask if seeing those things is normal. She didn't seemed surprised that you were able to see them after all.
[x]ask about her. It looks like she is an important figure here.
[x]ask about the temple. You don't see anyone around besides her and that witch.
[x]ask about the woman you met the first day, Ran was her name? She seems to know about those 'gaps' too.
[x]ask if she has seen anyone that looks like you before. She didn't seem very surprised to see you.
[x]ask about the deck card. Maybe she knows something?
[x] Ask her about your mood swings and the dreams. It seems like something is making you a little crazy.

>[x]ask about that big swirling thing. It looks like it's something different than the 'gaps'. (7)
>[x]ask about the deck card. Maybe she knows something? (5)
>[x]ask about her. It looks like she is an important figure here. (4)
(It was nice seeing what you think it's important and what's not. I also like the fact that you try to keep this 'in character'. There were two original questions too:
>Ask her about your mood swings and the dreams. It seems like something is making you a little crazy.
>Keine mentioned that "This place is not safe anymore", do you happen to know what she means by that?
I think that, by the end of the first part, there will be some nice guesses on what's going on. Keep it up with your comments and speculations. Even if I don't answer them, they do matter to me.)

"So... what's going to be?" the shrine maiden asks.

"About miss Reimu..."

"Yes?"

"...well the people in the village talked a lot about the shrine maiden and I thought..."

"'She's too young', right?" Reimu smiles.

"Well, yeah..."

It's true. After listening to the elders in the village talk with such a great respect about her, you were expecting a woman at least in her thirties, not a teenage girl.

"I get that a lot" she laughs a bit. "Still, if they really cared that much they could at least help me with that back there."

You look at where she's pointing. There's a donation box there.

"Haaa... well it can't be helped."

"Excuse me but..." you interrupt her grumble.

"Mmm?"

"...I never really been told what you're doing here. I mean except being a shrine maiden."

"Ahaha, that's right, that's right."

Her face gets a more solemn expression.

"The Hakurei lineage has given an oath to protect Gensokyo, both from 'inside' and 'outside'."

'Inside' and 'outside'? Does she mean the 'outside' world?

"I guess you can see something there right?" she points towards the swirling distortion.

"Ah, yes... I also wanted to ask-"

"That's the Great Hakurei Border. It's there to separate this world from yours. The Hakurei are sworn guardians of it. We are to guard it, mend it and reinforce it." she looks at you. "But to be able to 'see' it... well, that's something peculiar. I can only 'sense' its flow. No wonder why it took me almost two days to fix it."

"I see..."

It looks like you did something great back there. So seeing those things is something unique you possess.

"So miss Reimu guards the border..."

"No, not only the border."

"There's more?"

"I told you that the Hakurei are meant to protect this place. Gensokyo is full of youkai, beasts and well... other creatures. You know what the youkai do right?"

"Attack people?" you get a flashback of yesterday's events. You'd have almost been killed if it weren’t for miss Keine...

"Correct. But this place is a sanctuary for youkai, so hunting them down indiscriminately is wrong too. To deal with that a pact was made between the Hakurei and the youkai. Youkai were not to attack any humans in Gensokyo and the humans would not harm them either. But..." Reimu sighs.

"But?"

"Well… let's say there were some problems as some wouldn't comply that easy. Youkai 'need' to attack humans in order to give reason to their existence. So, after a certain event I was 'forced' to assert a special set of rules in order to protect both humans and youkai. The Spellcard rules."

Spellcard rules? Wait, this is a good time to ask about that card.

"Excuse me...can you take a look at this?" you give her your card.

"What's this?" Reimu looks at the deck card.

"I was hoping you were to tell me..."

"Mmm?" she inspects it for a bit. "I'm sorry, I have no idea. Where did you find this?"

"Miss Keine said it was in my dress."

"I see... You don't remember anything about who you are right?"

"Eh?" you look at her surprised.

"Yeah, I guessed so. It happens sometimes." she looks at the card again. "So you want to find possible hints on who you are from this right? Unfortunately it looks like an ordinary card to me." she gives the card back to you.

"Yeah that's what mister Morichika said too..."

"Rinnosuke? You've met that mundane man?"

"Yes, yesterday with miss Keine."

Mundane? Isn't that a bit cruel thing to say?

"Oh, so that's why you haven't come yesterday. Yes, gaining more information about one's self is more important. As expected from Keine."

You look at the card. It seems you'll never find out any meaning behind it. It's pretty much useless...

"About miss Keine-"

You are about to ask more but a sudden gust of wind stops you. Small bits of dirt force you and Reimu to close your eyes.

"The so called 'fastest in Gensokyo'..."

You open your eyes a bit. A girl dressed in a white blouse, a black short skirt and a red Tokin on top of her dark hair appears flying out of nowhere. You notice a pair of small black wings on her back.

"...accurate, explicit, ingenious reporter..."

She lands in front of where Reimu and you are sitting making an exaggerate pose.

"...Aya Shameimaru appears!"

A small breeze blows a brown leaf in front of you. You can hear some crows cackle somewhere in the background.

"Those two sure take their time with the tea." Reimu comments.

"Indeed, maybe they're having a conversation also?"

"It looks like it... oh, there they are!"

"So!" the strange girl ignores your comments. "What does Reimu of the Hakurei have to say about the recent incidents?" she leans over Reimu.

"You are too loud!"
"I'm tired!"
"Your face is too close!"

Reimu protests with three comments at once. She pushes the girl’s face back with her hand.

"Momb be mo merm Meimu!" she manages to free her face and looks at you. "And you must be miss Aome Maigo, correct?"

"Eh?"

Wait how she-"

"Leave her alone."

"The famous miss Aome!" she takes a notepad and a pen out of nowhere. "Would you be so kind and give me an exclusive interview?"

"Don't."

"There are so many things, I want to ask!"

Wh-what? An interview? You? Why? Famous? What happened? Who's that girl anyway? You...

[ ]An interview? W-well it won't hurt...
[ ]Wh-who exactly IS this girl?
[ ]N-No way! This is embarrassing!
[ ]do something else. (say)

[X] Grinning like that, having so much energy... that black hair, and those clothes... doesn't she remind you of that girl?
[X] Blush.

Heh.

>Meimu
I see what you did there. Please be going somewhere with it.

[x]N-No way! This is embarrassing!

[ ]N-No way! This is embarrassing!

>[X]N-No way! This is embarrassing!
>[ø]*Startled* "Re-- Reimu-san!" back away from the youkai, and let Reimu handle it.
>[X] Grinning like that, having so much energy... that black hair, and those clothes... doesn't she remind you of that girl? [X] Blush.

"Miss Aome!" the strange girl leans over you. "How about an exclusive interview?"

Her face is only a few centimeters away from yours. You can feel her breath.

"N-No..."

"It will only take a few minutes!" she smiles knowingly.

That smile... You can't help but notice her lips. Ah, this is...

"N-No way!"

You can feel your cheeks turning red. Why's that?

"Come on! It'll ju-OUCH!" something hits her on her head.

"She said no. Now buzz off." Reimu interrupts her.

This is your change. You quickly crawl and hide behind Keine, who has just arrived along with the witch, carrying tea and snacks.

"Wh-who is this? No, wh-what's this?" you point at that girl's wings. "A yo-youkai?"

"She's miss Shameimaru, a tengu." Keine answers calmly.

"Is she dangerous?"

"W-well...not in the way you think but..." she makes a difficult smile.

"Miss Kamishirasawa!"

"Kya!" you are surprised. That tengu is now flying over Keine and you.

"Is it true that you have been intimate with miss Aome over he-OUCH!"

"Knock it off!" Reimu interrupts her violently again.

"This is what I mean..." Keine forces a smile.

You have a bad feeling about this day...

"Ouch... you hit me at the same spot twice!"

"Hopefully it will leave a mark" Reimu answers her sarcastic and sips some of her tea.

"Now, now, at least a comment about the youkai incidents?"

"Too bothersome, some other time."

"Hmf!" the tengu flies a bit higher and looks at you.

"Wh-what?" you ask.

"Smile please!"

Before being able to do anything you see the flash of a camera.

"Hehe, thanks for that miss Aome!"

"Hey! Last warning. I'm too tired already, next it'll be just pain!" Reimu says harshly to the tengu.

"Okay, okay. Got my scoop already! Aya Shameimaru, lifts-off!" and with a gust of wind the tengu is lost from your visual area.

"So..." the witch speaks after a while. "What about those incidents?"

You look at Reimu. She calmly sips some more of her tea and then glance at Keine. Keine just stares her own cup with a sad face.

"Nothing." Reimu answers.

"Whatever. If there's something I can do though... well you know, always need to kill some time ze~"

There's some silence for a couple of minutes, until Keine breaks it.

"Miss Reimu?"

"Mmm? What is it?"

"About this girl... Can we send her home?"

You almost forgot the main reason you came here. That's right. Your original purpose was to come and ask if it was possible for you to return to the outside world.

Reimu stares at the mountain range far away.

"Those two grouchy sisters over there are probably whining on how cold this season has become." she turns to Keine. "Around this time she goes to sleep you know. That's why we usually send them off when the cherry trees blossom."

"But, right now we don't have that luxury anymore! You’ve surely heard of the recent-" Keine protests.

"Look, I really want to help but I just maintain the boarder, I have no power over it." Reimu interrupts Keine. "...we might find someone to help though."

"Who?"

"Ran."

Your ears twitch.

"Her shikigami?"

You haven't got much of what they were talking about, but that name... isn't Ran the name of the woman you met the first day?

"You think her shikigami would be able to help?" Keine asks.

"Well she maintains the boarders when the lazy one is asleep. I'd say she is pretty capable. Now if only SOMEONE would get over to Mayohiga to notify her..."

You look around puzzled. Who is she talking too?

"I know you are still there." Reimu says calmly and sips some of her tea.

"Ayayayayayaya, busted." that tengu appears again sitting on a tree.

"So, will you do it?"

"Depends, will I get the exclusive?"

"Do you think you are in position to bargain?"

"I say, I can always try."

Reimu sighs.

"Haaa, whatever."

"We have a deal then?" the tengu grins.

"Just go already!"

"Roger! Aya Shameimaru, 'this time really' lifts-off!" again with a gust of wind the tengu is lost from your visual area.

"Ah! That's right!" Reimu looks at you. "Can you lend me that card again?"

"Eh? Su-sure..." you give the card to her and she passes it to the witch.

"So what do you think?"

"What's dat? Spellcard?" the witch looks at the card.

"A certain mundane man said it's an ordinary one..."

"Rinnosuke?" the witch looks at Reimu.

"What do you think? You see anything?"

"Nope, not really."

"Guessed so..."

"So why did you give it to me?" the witch says annoyed.

"Well, I just thought that maybe a 'magician' would be able to 'see' something else." Reimu looks with meaning the witch.

"...wait you want me to get this to Patchy?"

"Not really."

"Then what? You're annoying ze~"

"I want you to take her there." Reimu looks at you.

Take you where? What's going on? Who's that Patchy?

"Heeeeh? Well I guess I can fly her there..."

"No, you're going to the seven-colored one first."

"Why the hell? We'll just make circles like that."

"Her specialty is 'craftsmanship' so she might know a thing or two also."

"I see..." the witch sips a bit of her tea.

"What are you doing?" Reimu interrupts her.

"Heh? Wait, you want me to go NOW?"

"You said it yourself, you'll be doing circles, to get there. Shouldn't you leave now?"

"But it's still morning! We have all da-"

"Isn't it better to finish with the mansion before the daylight fades?" Reimu interrupts her again.

"...oh, I see your point." the witch gets up. "All righty then; you there! Get up, let's go!" she points at you.

"Wh-what?" you are confused. Everything is happening so fast.

"Don't you want to learn more about this?" Reimu says and returns you the card. "We have time till Ran gets here..."

You look at the witch, Reimu and then Keine. You are so confused right now. You...

[ ]do what Reimu says. It's true, if there's something you can do right now is look for more information. You go with the witch.
[ ]deny the offer. Right now there are more important things you want to discuss with Reimu. The card can wait. You'll stay here.
[ ]deny the offer. It's only morning and there are so many things already going on. You need to rest. You'll go back to the village with Keine.
[ ]do something else. (say)

[x]do what Reimu says. It's true, if there's something you can do right now is look for more information. You go with the witch.

[x]do what Reimu says. It's true, if there's something you can do right now is look for more information. You go with the witch.

>[x]do what Reimu says. It's true, if there's something you can do right now is look for more information. You go with the witch.

"Don't you want to learn more about this?" Reimu says and gives you the card back.

That's right. The card is pretty much the only active hint you have. If you are really going to leave this place soon, you must at least know a few things about yourself first.

"Yes. I understand." you get up. "I'll go then with..."

"Marisa. Marisa is the name ze~" the witch says.

"...with miss Marisa then." you smile.

"I said Marisa. MA-RI-SA"

"Th-that's what I said just now, no? Miss Marisa..."

"No, cut the 'miss', it makes me sound old ze~"

"O-okay..."

What a strange fellow.

"Well then..." Keine gets up. "I should get going too. There is someone I have to meet up with, back in the village."

"Reimu, watcha you're gonna do?"

"Well..." Reimu gets up and stretches. "I, am going to sleep."

"That's new ze~"

"Hey, I haven't slept, for like, two and a half days! Give me a break, will you?"

You watch Reimu going towards the temple when she stops and turns to Keine.

"Hey, don't let it bother you too much, you've done your best. It wasn't your fault you know..."

"Yeah..." Keine smiles bitterly and looks away.

"Tell you what, after getting some rest I'll get to the bottom of this, all right?"

Keine looks at her with a soft smile.

"Thanks."

"Well, it's my job after all." she waves goodbye and turns around again.

"Hey, hop on! We ain't got all day ze~!"

While looking at those two talking you lost sight of Marisa. She's now right next to you on a broom fly-FLYING?

"Wha-wha-wha-" you stutter.

"Don't tell me...you're both going to ride that?" Reimu sighs. It looks like she gave up, once again, going inside to sleep.

"You have a problem with that? It can carry both of us ze~"

"I doubt it... With the speed you're usually going she may end up falling over before you notice anything."

"Hey, what you want me to do then? Walk? It's going to take all day just to get to-"

"Haaaaa..." Reimu sighs again. "Okay, okay, I get it. Hold on a second. Hey Gramps! Come over here!"

You turn at where both Reimu and Marisa look. After a few minutes, behind the shrine, a giant turtle appears. It's big enough to fit a person on its back. Wait don't tell me...

"Well then, the geezer here will help you with that."

...yes, it seems Reimu expects you to ride it.

"Hey, do you really wanna ride that?" Marisa whispers to you.

[ ]...w-well if Reimu says so it must be better than the broom, right? Right?
[ ]...suddenly that broom doesn't seems to be such a bad idea.
[ ]...this is stupid. Maybe you should just give up and go back with Keine.
[ ]do something else (say)

(Sorry for the late update all. The pace will go back to where it was around Monday hopefully. Will be able to do some more updates till then I hope.)

[x]...w-well if Reimu says so it must be better than the broom, right? Right?

[x]...suddenly that broom doesn't seem to be such a bad idea.

[x]...suddenly that broom doesn't seem to be such a bad idea.

[x]...w-well if Reimu says so it must be better than the broom, right? Right?

AWESOME

>[X]...suddenly that broom doesn't seem to be such a bad idea.

You look at the turtle. It's a big green turtle with a white goatee under its chin. It looks at you with wearily eyes. What does Reimu think telling you to ride it? Walking would be much faster than this. You look at the broom floating right next to you. It doesn't look that bad. Marisa is able to balance on it, why not you?

"I-I think I'll go with miss Ma-I mean with Marisa!" you refuse Reimu's offer.

"Whatever..." Reimu yawns and with a sleepy look and turns around. "Just don't drop her anywhere okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Marisa nods.

The shrine maiden goes inside the temple and this time it doesn't look like she'll come out.

"Well, come on!" Marisa pats the backside of the broom.

You look at her posture. She's sitting with the broom's stick right between her legs. This doesn't look too comfortable now, does it?

"Maybe like this...?" you decide to use sidesaddle ride style. Ah! You can really sit on the broom!

"Be careful." Keine waves at you. You wave back and watch her take her leave.

"Well then, are ya ready?"

You hug Marisa a little from behind in order to keep your balance.

"Y-yes... I'm re-"

"Young miss, could I possibly offer you a bit of advice?" you hear an old male’s voice. You turn towards the voice. The turtle is standing there.

"It would be a grave mistake not to hug the person in front of you tighter. You can easily lose your equilibrium on that broom." the turtle says. Yeah, well the turtle seems to be able to speak but you decide not to care anymore. You are too tired from all the weird stuff you've seen already, a talking turtle is nothing. You hug Marisa a bit tighter. You feel her back on your chest. She doesn't seem to care.

"Well, off we go!"

"Wha-!" you feel a sudden dash of the broom. Unconsciously you hug Marisa even tighter. "Wha-wha-wha-" What the hell is with this speed? It hasn't even been two seconds and you are already so far away from the shrine.
You close your eyes. This is scary. If you loosen your hug even for a bit, you're going to fall!

"Well whacha think? Isn't this better from the turtle ze~?" Marisa shouts. You can barely hear her with the noise from the air.

"Thi-this is too fast!"

"What?"

"THIS IS TOO FAST!"

"I know right?" Marisa says smugly. That turtle looks so good right now...

"Down there is my house!"

"Eh?" you open your eyes. You are so high! You can see the entire forest from up here. You look where Marisa is pointing. You see a small house in the midst of the forest.

"Alice lives over there!"

A few meters away there’s another house. Is that where, the other girl you're going to meet, is living?

You move your gaze towards the other side of the forest. It ends abruptly at a lake. That place looks like where you woke up two days ago. In the center of the lake is a small island and on it a red mansion-house. Strange, you don't recall anything like that being there. You should have been able to see it if you really woke up near this lake.

You look again at that girl's house. It appears that with this speed you'll be there in a couple of minutes. You might be able to ask something Marisa before getting there.

[ ]Ask about Marisa.
[ ]Ask about the other girl. Alice was the name?
[ ]Ask about that red mansion-house.
[ ]Stay quiet.
[ ]Ask something else (say).

(Story will resume normal pace now. Sorry again for the past days.)

[ ]Ask about the other girl. Alice was the name?

[x]Ask about Marisa.

Will there be time for asking questions later?

>Will there be time for asking questions later?
(Yes, but I want to make two points. First, you are getting to choose only one each time (with the exception of situations like the one with Reimu before) and second, your interlocutor might change. My advice is to decide what information you need the most the given time or if you get to do some general chat, try to expand your information pool about the world. The pre-generated answers are just my suggestions, you can always try asking things you want to know without getting out of character.)

[ ]Ask about Marisa.
I was about to vote for the Alice option but... jack of all trades, blah blah blah

>[x]Ask about Marisa.
>[X] Ask about something (other) - How does Marisa know Alice? Is she a witch like her, or a youkai? Anything you should be careful about?
>[X]Adjust grip from around waist to chest area to ensure stability (the best place to hold would be on the head as that's furthest from the pivot point of broomstick but covering her eyes is a BAD idea). Ensure to firmly grasp any handholds to make sure you don't fall. If there is nothing to grab, there is a problem. (...wow)

"E-excuse me!"

"Ya? What is it?"

"Is Marisa really a witch?"

"Eh? Witch?" Marisa grins. "Nope, I'm just a normal human ze~"

What's 'normal' about her? You want to ask her how a normal human is able to fly with a broom but you notice that you're descending near that girl's house.

"Here we are!" Marisa lands the broom right in front of the house.

You get off with a small hop, followed by Marisa. She then gets near the door.

"Oi, Alice! You in?" she knocks the door. Isn't that a bit rude?

A few minutes pass and the door slightly opens. You can see a blond shorthaired girl from inside.

"What is it?" an annoyed voice can be heard. "I'm busy you know, are you here to bo-" the girl stops talking. It appears she noticed you as the door opens a bit more.

"You are?" she asks with a puzzled look.

"Aome Maigo, please to meet you. Miss Reimu said that-"

"Oh, please don't stand out there." she fully opens the door. She's wearing a light blue dress with pink ribbons. "Please do come in." she smiles friendly.

"Th-thanks." you bow and enter the house.

"Don't be grumpy so early in the morning ze~."

"It's almost noon you know!" she scolds Marisa. They seem to know each other well.

You take a look around the house. It's very tidy and clean, full of colors. Looks very girlish. You notice several dolls hanging around.

"Please have a sit." she kindly points you a chair.

"Th-thanks." you welcome her and sit.

"Would you like some tea?"

"N-no it's okay I just had some."

Meanwhile, Marisa just goes around and meddles with the dolls.

Alice sighs at Marisa and sits next to you.

"Miss Maigo is it? What can I do for you then?"

"Reimu said to bring her here." Marisa answers casually while looking at the dolls.

"Eh?" Alice looks at Marisa. "Why would she send someone who just came from the outside here?"

"Oh? You can tell she came from outside?"

Alice sighs. "Isn't it obvious? I mean look at her clothes." she points at you. "It's a very nice textile which you can't found in Gensokyo, right?"

"Excuse me." you show the card to Alice.

"Mmm? What's that? A spellcard?" she takes a look at it.

"That's what I thought too, at first ze~" Marisa comes closer.

"So? What is this?"

"Rinnosuke said it's useless."

"Eh? Then why-"

"Reimu said to show it to Patchy."

"Why would she..."

Marisa shrugs. "You know her, she would probably say 'woman intuition' or something like that ze~"

"Then why you-" she stops as it looks like she just realized something. "I see, you came here so we can meet her together. It would have been difficult to get to meet her with your reputation after all." she sighs. It looks like she's teasing Marisa.

"Then let's get going." Marisa doesn't seem to be bothered by her comments.

"What? Right now?"

"Wouldn't it be bad if night's fall?"

"Ah yeah, you're right."

The girl picks a black book from a table nearby. You get up and head for the exit, following Marisa. You get outside and observe the girl as she closes her door. You notice something flying near her shoulder. It seems to be a small doll, palm size, with blonde hair and a long dark purple dress with a white apron.

"Miss Maigo? How are you going to-" Alice looks at you.

"She's gonna fly with me ze~" Marisa hovers with her broom right next to you.

"I see. Just don't drop her anywhere, okay?" she says indifferently. It seems that noone has faith in Marisa's flying. You can understand why.

You sit like before on the broom and hug her from behind. The broom dashes almost instantly.

"Wha-" you gasp. Not again...

As you ascend you take a look at the girl from above. It looks like she's able to fly too, as she is following you.

"How does Marisa know that girl?"

"Eh? Alice?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's say she's a colleague of some sort."

"She's a witch?"

"Nope, she's a magician."

"Isn't that just the same?"

"Nope. Witches are witches. Magicians are magicians."

You don't get it. You look back at Alice. You have left her a bit behind. Right in front of you appears the lake and in just a couple of minutes you reach the small island with the red mansion-house.
You pass over a gate. You can see a red-haired woman standing near the gate in green Chinese clothing. Is she sleeping?

"E-excuse me, shouldn't we stop-" but you never get to finish your sentence as a dozen of fairies appear in front of you and Marisa. They look like they intend to stop you from going any further. One of them fires at you some sort of pink colored light ball. Marisa makes a hasty maneuver in order to avoid it.

"Ah-!" You almost fall over. You quickly try to regain your balance by hugging Marisa but you miss her waist and instead you hug her around the chest.

"Wha-!" she cries surprised.

"I-I'm sorry!" you try to grab her waist again but another maneuver makes you lose your balance and hug her around the chest area once more.

This is dangerous. You...

[ ]ask Marisa to slow down. Dodging those light balls is important but falling from this high looks far more dangerous.
[ ]just hold on tight like this till everything is over. Marisa should know what she's doing.
[ ]ask Marisa to stop. Those fairies are probably guards of this place and you had just broke into it.
[ ]do something else (say)

[ ]just hold on tight like this till everything is over. Marisa should know what she's doing.

[ ]just hold on tight like this till everything is over. Marisa should know what she's doing.

[ ]just hold on tight... HER BREASTS

(Yeah, I know... I'm sorry. Again.)

>[X]just hold on tight like this till everything is over. Marisa should know what she's doing.

You hear a ball passing right next to you. This is dangerous. The last maneuver almost made you fall over. You feel bad for Marisa but right now all you can do is hold on tight and wait till everything is over. She should know what she's doing, right?

"Kyaa!"

Another ball graze your head. You close your eyes and grasp Marisa's chest harder. You hope you're not hurting her like this but it's not like you can do anything else right now.
You can feel the broom swinging from right to left and left to right. The sound of the passing balls buzzes in your ears.

"Oh crap, this is no good!" you hear Marisa's voice.

You open your eyes. Right in front of you are dozens of pink colored balls filling your entire field of view.

"Hold on!"

"Eh?"

But you don't get to say anything as the broom turns upside down.

"Eh? Eeeeh?"

The balls come at bullet's speed towards you. The broom continues to swing upside-down now. Your hat falls off your head and you instinctive try to catch it.

"Ah."

That was stupid. With only one hand how exactly are you going to hold on upside-down on a broom that flies so fast? With the next swing you feel your other hand losing its grip. That's it, everything is over now.

"Ma-"

You don't even get to say her name. You just watch her fly away from you, as you fall off the broom. You are now midair. That's it. You are going to die now. You regret getting on that broom. Why you've expected to be able to fly on that thing? You couldn't even sit straight.
You close your eyes as you feel your falling speed increasing. Why haven't you said anything to Marisa? You should have stopped her. There's no way she could do all those crazy maneuvers with you on that broom.
You should reach the ground in a matter of seconds. Is this the end? You never got to know your name. And that girl from your dreams... That familiar face that you saw yesterday on that mirror...
Will Keine cry when...wait, how long has it been? Shouldn't you... well you know. That's strange; you don't feel the air around you anymore. Are you..."
You open your eyes.

"Are you okay, miss?"

You see in front of you two dark blue eyes on a young woman's face. Two long braids of silver hair hanging over both sides of her face.
You try to move but you realize you are still above the ground; to be more specific you are on that woman's arms.
How did she...Did she catch you? No, with that speed you should have...wait, what just happened?

"Please, excuse me." she says with a cool face and puts you down.

You look at her dumbfounded, trying to figure out something to say.

"I-I..."

"There you are."

You turn around. Alice comes down right next to you.

"I knew it. That idiot never pays attention on what's going on around her..." Alice sighs.

"Good day, miss Alice." the woman bows. You notice she is wearing a western maid outfit. There are maids here?

"Good day, Sakuya. Sorry for the trouble."

"No problem. It's our fault for having such a useless gatekeeper."

"Well, don't be too hard on her. That idiot can't be easily stopped when she has something on her mind anyway."

The maid sighs and puts on a faintly smile.

"Well, I wasn't planning on punish her today anyway. Truth is, she might look as usual, but the past few days she has been working hard."

"What do you mean?"

"There have been a lot of... disturbances since the day before yesterday."

"Youkai?"

"Lesser of course. It's not rare, we usually get two or three each month, but these two days we got five. At least she was able to keep them out of the mansion."

"Eh? Strange..." Alice thinks for a while.

"You wanted to meet miss Patchouli?"

"Ah yes! If you please."

"Of course, I'll go inform her."

You watch the maid slowly walking towards the mansion. You look around. The inner garden is way too large. From the gate till the mansion should be about five minutes of walk. You are now standing near the middle of the distance.

"There you are! Sorry for the wait." Marisa comes down next to you. "You are still alive, that's a good thing ze~"

"What's with that? Normally, one would have been more worried" Alice scolds her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry." she makes a fake apology. "Anyway, is Patchy available?"

"Yes, miss Patchouli will meet you now." the maid says.

Wait. When did she..."

"Please follow me."

Ah, forget it.

Alice, Marisa and you follow the maid to the mansion. You notice that all the curtains on the windows are drawn. You get an eerie feeling coming from inside the mansion. It's an imposing building but there's something else about it that makes you feel uneasy. You can't tell what though.
After a few minutes you get inside. The maid turns over to you.

"Well then, what would you like to drink?"

"Some black tea would be nice."

"I'm fine ze~"

"M-me too!"

"I understand. Well then, please excuse me." the maid bows and leaves.

Alice and Marisa casually walk on the opposite side of where the maid went. You follow them till you reach an enormous door.

"Th-this..." you look with awe the door. It's at least 8 meters tall.

Alice knocks the door. After a few minutes the door creaks open. A young red head girl is standing there. She has bat-like wings on the sides of her head. She makes a small bow and gives you a sign to come in. Marisa goes first, followed by Alice and then you. The girl closes the door right behind of you and follows.
She has a cold look on her face. You can't help but notice another pair of wings on her back.

"Excuse me." you whisper to Alice.

"Yes?"

"What's that girl?"

"Mmm? She's a devil, why?"

Wait what? First youkai, now devils too? What's this place anyway?

"Is there a problem?" you hear a soft voice behind of you. You turn and see the devil girl looking at you.

You...

[ ]"N-no problem!" Better get behind of Alice. Her eyes look scary, like a cat's.
[ ]"N-no problem." She doesn't look scary, but she isn't normal either. Better ignore her and move on.
[ ]"No problem." Alice said devil, but she looks like a high school girl to you. Nothing to be afraid of. Might as well talk with her.
[ ]Do something else (say).

[ ]"N-no problem." She doesn't look scary, but she isn't normal either. Better ignore her and move on.

[ ]"N-no problem." She doesn't look scary, but she isn't normal either. Better ignore her and move on.

[x]"No problem." Alice said devil, but she looks like a high school girl to you. Nothing to be afraid of. Might as well talk with her.
[x] Try to be as polite as possible, and to somehow inform her that you're new here. But also keep it short, you have an appointment.

it's rude to ignore the lady of the house, and we're not strong enough to try to get away with it.

[X]"N-no problem." She doesn't look scary, but she isn't normal either. Better ignore her and move on.

>>94984
We haven't met the lady of the house, this is Koakuma. She's a redhead and has bat wings on her head. Being polite is a good idea anyway.

>[X]"N-no problem." She doesn't look scary, but she isn't normal either. Better ignore her and move on.
>[X]"No problem." Alice said devil, but she looks like a high school girl to you. Nothing to be afraid of. Might as well talk with her.
(tie combination)
>[x] Try to be as polite as possible, and to somehow inform her that you're new here. But also keep it short, you have an appointment.

"Is there a problem?" the devil girl asks.

"N-no problem." Alice said devil, but she looks like a high school girl to you. Her black dress with white sleeves only adds up to that. Well... even if she looks like a high-school girl, she doesn't seems to be very friendly though. Better ignore her without being impolite.

"So-sorry to bother you." you make a small bow.

You notice her grinning. Is she mocking you? You turn to Alice who's already walking inside the room. You better not be left behind with her.
You go inside the room. At first you thought that the room was dark, but that's not the case; there's light. It's just that the room is so enormous that it can't be lit up properly.
As you proceed further inside, you notice tall, tree like figures, rising from the ground to several meters towards the ceiling. Those bulky figures appear to be bookcases, as they are filled with countless books of every size and shape.

"There are so many..." you say in low voice.

You walk for a couple of minutes with Alice inside this 'forest' of bookcases, till you reach a small 'clearing'. There's a table there and quite a few books on it. Marisa is already sitting there, with her legs on the table, reading a book. Behind the books you notice a pink nightcap on top of a purple haired head. Right next to it is the maid pouring tea in a cup. There are already snacks on the table. The devil girl passes by you and stands right beside to the person behind the books.

"Good day." Alice greets the person.

"Good day." a faint voice can be heard behind those books.

You can see her better now. It's a young woman with purple eyes that match her hair. She wears pajama-like clothes. Her face is pale, as if she suffers from anemia. You make a small bow in order to greet her.

"Please have a sit." she points at the chairs.

Alice and you accept her offer.

"Well, if you excuse me now." the maid bows and walks away.

"Your name miss?" the faint voice asks.

How did she get here before you anyway? Is there some sort of side-door besides the one you just entered?

"Miss?"

"Ah! Sorry!" you were too preoccupied with the maid to hear the woman speaking. "Aome Maigo, nice to meet you."

"Aome Maigo, right? I see..." she smiles. "It's the name you have been given here correct?"

You nod.

"It suits you. Patchouli Knowledge nice to meet you too."

Now that you look at her better, she's more like a girl but her composure makes her look older. Or perhaps it's the opposite?

"How can I help you miss Maigo? I guess the reason of this visit is to ask me some things correct?"

"Ah, right..." you search your pocket. "This." you pass the card to Patchouli.

"Mmm? This is...?"

"Reimu said to show this to you." Alice comments.

"Is this yours?"

"It seems I have had it on me when I found myself at this place."

"Really?" she looks at the card for a while. "Maybe tarot? No, a deck card?"

Patchouli turns and looks at the devil girl that's next to her.

"Check the fortune telling section, I'll go to the gambling one."

Both of them rise above ground and fly away towards the bookcases. Well... it seems flying is mandatory in this place...

You take a rice cracker from the snacks. You are a bit hungry. You look around. Marisa seems to have wandered off somewhere. Right now only you and Alice are here; well and that doll which hovers next to her head. She's browsing a book.

You...

[ ]ask about Alice.
[ ]ask about Patchouli.
[ ]ask about Marisa.
[ ]ask about the maid.
[ ]ask about demons.
[ ]ask about the thing she and the maid were talking outside.
[ ]ask about the doll.
[ ]stay silent and take a look at the books.
[ ]stay silent and wait for the others to return.
[ ]do something else (say).

(You might not have too much time alone, so if you want to ask more than one thing make more specific questions.)

>[x]Ask about the battle that happened outside. Was that some kind of magic? Why did they suddenly start attacking, and how does everyone know how to fly?
>[x]stay silent and take a look at the books.

You take a look at the books in front of you. There's every kind of genre here. Romance, mystery, encyclopedias, picture books... The amounts of titles right before you overwhelm you.
You peek at Alice. You wouldn't bother her if you were to ask her some things right now, right?

"Excuse me..."

"Mmm? Yes?" Alice leaves the book down and looks at you.

"Well... About before..."

"Before?"

"Outside, when I was with Marisa there seemed to be some fairies attacking us..."

"Ah that, well isn't it obvious?" Alice takes a haughty pose. "It's common knowledge that entering someone's private property like that will cause a security alarm."

"Security?"

"Those fairies were guards."

"They were shooting something at us."

"That's danmaku, it's a form of magic."

"Still, trying to kill us..."

"Eeeh? Kill you?" Alice makes a puzzled face. "Ahahaha, no, no, danmaku isn't lethal" she laughs.

"But Marisa was making such an effort to dodge those..."

"Yeah, well... It's not lethal but still it hurts when you get hit." Alice makes a pained expression.

"I see..." you bite some of your cracker. "But falling from such a height..."

"Yeah..." Alice sighs. "That was dangerous."

"It sucks being the only one who can't fly." you sigh.

"Now, now, don't be harsh to yourself. Humans normally don't fly."

"But miss Alice does."

"That's because I'm a magician."

"If I knew magic would I be able to fly too?"

"I guess so... but magic is not that easy to learn, you need to spend years and years studying it and practicing. Aren't you going back to your world soon?"

That's right, you have no time to learn something like magic. You should focus on going back and learning as much as possible about yourself.

Alice looks at you and smiles softly.

"Don't worry. I'm sure there will be people to help you until you leave. Just avoid any weirdoes, okay?"

That moment you notice Patchouli coming back, carrying a book. The devil girl shows up, carrying some books too. Patchouli sits back to where she was before and opens the book in front of her. Several minutes pass before she looks at you with the card on her hand.

"This..." she finally speaks while holding the card. "...is a queen of hearts' deck card."

You sigh. This is useless. That's exactly what mister Morichika said yesterday. You take the card in order to put it back in your pocket.

"But it's 'empty'."

You pause halfway though when you hear Patchouli's last phrase.

"Empty?"

"Allow me to explain." Patchouli takes a deep breath and puts on a teacher's face.

"You know what a soul is, correct? One can say it's a collection of information about an individual, something like a book. It defines who you are and what's your purpose. But what happens with soulless objects?" she picks up a cookie from the table. "A soulless object still has a purpose, otherwise it wouldn't exist, right? So how does, let's say this cookie, connect with the world? It carries the information of food, the smell, the taste and everything else among with the purpose of 'being eaten'. Because it has no soul it carries it in the form of spirit."

Again with this talk. Last time you had a terrible headache so maybe now you'll understand more.

"Normal people can't see them but most items carry auras. That's their spirit. Beings with soul also have spirit. In our case it's the collection of our memories, experience, dreams and sentiments. In some cases, objects who exist for too long have their spirits swift into souls, that's how a tsukumogami is born."

You look at your card.

"But you said this was 'empty'."

"Correct. There is also the rare case of objects that have no spirit. In order for them to exist they borrow it from others, usually their owners. To put it simply your memories, knowledge and feelings pour into it."

"Just like my dolls?" Alice asks.

"Yes, just like that."

"So that thing is pretty much like an empty spellcard right?" Marisa leans over you. Wait, when did she get here? "Can I have a look?"

Marisa takes the card without leaving you a chance to react.

"Eeeeh, I see... Hey, do you wanna trade this for one of mine?"

Marisa offers you one of her cards. You...

[ ]Accept.
[ ]Decline.
(feel free to add comments.)

[ ]Decline.

[x]Decline.

While flattered, this is something connected to us, so we can't let it go.

[x] Decline.

[x] Decline

"Well? Whacha say?"

You look at Marisa's card. Is this one of the spellcards they talked about? Does that mean you'll be able to cast magic with that? You feel flattered but...

"What if I need to get it back?"

"Eh? Why would you want it back? It's an empty spellcard. It has no use."

That might be true, but this is something connected to you, you can't just let it go. You had it on you since the beginning so it's probably something important.

"I'm sorry, I can't accept..."

"Eeeeh, don't be like that ze~"

"Marisa, she said no." Alice scolds her. "Really, you should know when to stop. Leave her alone."

"I just wanted to test it that's all. Well, that's okay, here ya go~" Marisa gives back your card.

"Well then. Is there anything else you might want to discuss?" Patchouli asks from the other side of the table.

[ ]ask more about the card.
[ ]ask more about how spirit and soul work.
[ ]ask about magic.
[ ]ask about demons.
[ ]ask about youkai.
[ ]ask about Patchouli.
[ ]ask about the maid.
[ ]ask about the library.
[ ]ask about the mansion.
[ ]ask about the outside world.
[ ]ask something else (say).

(Same with Reimu, only one question gets to be asked this time. You'll get another one right after this.)

(Just noticed. I made a mistake in both >>95054 >>95009. It should be 'ask about devils' no demons.)

[x]ask more about how spirit and soul work.

>[X]ask about the outside world.

You take a look at the books before you. The books on the table, those near it, some of the titles you noticed while you were coming here; you can recognize most of them. It's funny actually, you can't figure out your own name yet somehow you know what 'Hyperion' is about and who wrote 'Divine Comedy'.

"These books... are they all from the outside?"

"Indeed, they are. Unfortunately, there's no literature available in Gensokyo." Patchouli answers and then sips some of her tea.

"You should know about the outside world then..."

"So that's what's been bothering you." she puts her teacup on the table. "I should have guessed. You were given a name that means you have no memories, correct?"

"I do remember things about my world, even small details. It's just that, I can't seem to remember vital information like who I am, how I got here; things like that."

"Eh? Then do you remember where you were living before?"

"Mmm..." you take a minute to think. You are able to recognize the language, the clothing even the behaviour of the people here. Maybe... "...Japan?"

"Japan? You sure?" Patchouli looks at you puzzled.

"I-Is it wrong?"

"No, well, it is possible. It's just that your clothing and face makes you look like you came from a western country..."

"Well that's tru-"

Dub.

Eh? What was tha-

Dub.

You hold you head. Why now?

Dub.

You feel the familiar pain from two days ago returning.

"Miss Maigo? Are you all right?" you can hear Alice voice next to you.

"I-Im fin-"

Dub.

Damn it, you thought you were over with this.

"Here have some of this." Alice offers you a cup of tea. It seems that the maid has left an extra teacup for you.

"Th-thanks."

You drink some. The perfume and taste make you feel better.

"Maybe we should stop this..." Patchouli suggests.

"No, no it's okay, I'm better now."

"You shouldn't force yourself to remember things." Alice gives you a pat on your back.

"No, really I'm okay now." you force a smile.

Patchouli sighs.

"Maybe we should talk about something else instead?"

[ ]insist on talking about the outside world.
[ ]ask more about the card.
[ ]ask more about how spirit and soul work.
[ ]ask about magic.
[ ]ask about demons.
[ ]ask about youkai.
[ ]ask about Patchouli.
[ ]ask about the maid.
[ ]ask about the library.
[ ]ask about the mansion.
[ ]ask about any magical memory restorative techniques.

[x]ask more about how spirit and soul work.

>[ｘ]ask about any magical memory restorative techniques.

Alice looks at your face.

"Better?"

You nod.

"You should just relax. Your memories will come back eventually."

"Will they?" you look at Alice. "I mean, should I just leave it as it is and expect to get them back over time?"

"Miss Maigo..."

You shift your look to Patchouli.

"Isn't there a better way to do this? Like use some sort of magic to restore my memory?"

Alice and Patcouli look at each other for a while.

"...well it's not like there isn't..." Patchouli says. "...but I'll need to do some research first..."

"Then it's possible?" you can't hide your excitement.

"I think it is but it will take some time. You are leaving soon don't you?"

"Yeah..." you lean back to your chair. That's right. Reimu said something about meeting with that tails-woman today so she might find a way to send you back. Still...

"...still, will I be able to get my memories back when I leave for the outside world as I am now?"

Patchouli and Alice look at each other again.

"...well, I don't think it will matter..."

What's that supposed to mean? You sigh. You head hurts and it's already past noon, you are hungry. This morning was more tiresome that you thought it would be. Maybe it would be better for you to go back to the village now. Somehow you feel that you'll be much better with Keine.

You look at Alice. She looks like she can understand your feelings.

"Marisa, come on, it's time to go." Alice shouts at Marisa who's a few meters away from you reading a book.

"Meh, I'll just hang out a bit more here. You leave if you want ze~"

"Really, what an unreliable person..." Alice sighs. "Come on, I'll drop you off to the village then."

[ ]Accept her offer.
[ ]Decline her offer.
[ ]Do something else (say).

>>95309

Did my vote not get counted? (It was >>95307 )

>>95314
(It was. I add up both boards’ votes.)

[x]Accept her offer.

>[x]Accept her offer.

"Come on, I'll drop you off to the village then."

"Thanks, sorry for the trouble."

"No problem, I need to pick some things up from the fabric store in the village anyway." she says and gets up. You follow her.

"Miss Maigo, it was nice meeting you. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

"No, you already helped considerably. Thank you very much for you time." you make a small bow before Patchouli.

"I hope that you'll be able to return where you belong soon, same with your memories."

You wave goodbye to both Pachouli and Marisa and head to the door with Alice. Behind you is that devil-girl again. You decide to ignore her.
After a few minutes you are outside of the library. You turn to see the enormous door closing, when you notice the devil's red eyes looking at you with disdain. It appears that this devil-girl isn't friendly at all. You are glad that you won't have to see her anymore.
The maid is already waiting you there. She leads Alice and you outside.

"That's alright Sakuya, I'll take it from here, thanks."

"Have a nice day miss Alice." she turns to you. "You too miss Maigo."

"Th-thanks." you nod. Her, mentioning your name got you by surprise.

"Well then." Alice turns to you. "Shall we?"

"How exactly are we going to do this?"

"Shanghai will fly with you of course." she says casually. Wait, does she means the doll? How is this doll going to-

"WHA-!" you yell surprised. While you were thinking Shanghai got behind you and lifted you like you where light as a feather. "Ho-how can she-?"

"She gets vital energy from me. You should know it as 'ki'. Remember what Patchouli said about spirit before? Basically the one who lifts you it's not her but me." she answers casually and takes off.

You feel your legs getting off the ground and your body getting higher in the air.

"Ah! E-excuse me but-"

"Don't worry. As long as I am near she will follow me. Just relax and enjoy the flight."

It's easier said than done though. It's pretty exciting watching yourself lift up in the air but you can't help feeling a bit scared. In a matter of seconds you are already several meters above ground, much like with Marisa before. Alice is already way ahead of you. Shanghai follows her, as she said.

After a few minutes you leave the island with the mansion behind. You can see the lake right below from you. This isn't too bad. You try to relax; you close your eyes and enjoy the air passing by your face. This isn't bad at all. Flying actually seems pretty f-

"WHA-!" a small series of shakes makes you open your eyes again. You nervously look at Shanghai on your back. She seems to struggle lifting you up.

"What!" Not now please!" you plead her. You don't know if she's conscious or not but you feel the need to do it anyway.

You search for Alice. You can still see her but she's pretty away from you. Maybe if you shout to her... wait, the shakes have stopped. You look at Shanghai again; she looks like she's doing fine now. Well, whatever that was, seems to have passed.

After a while you fly above the forest. You'll be soon at the village. You can't help but think about Keine's homemade food. You might not remember who you are, but you can tell that her cooking is great even if it's the only thing you've been eating since you ended up here.
A nice hot bath will be nice too. Maybe take a small na-

"Ah! Not again!"

There are shakes again. Shanghai seems to struggle again for some reason. This time things look worse as you are gradually losing height. You spot Alice way ahead of you. You decide to call her.

"Miss Alice!" you shout. "Miss Alice! There's something wrong with your doll!"

This is bad. She is too far to hear you. The trees' leaves are almost near your feet now. You're going to crash!

You continue losing height. Instinctively you cover your head with your hands. Tree branches hit you on your arms. Even if she can't lift you anymore, Shanghai seems to be trying her best to keep the hits you take to minimum.
After hitting some more branches and losing a bit more height, the doll loses her power and you end up on the ground.

"Ouch-ouch... That hurt." you rub your head.

You take a look at Shanghai. She looks like a lifeless doll now. Great, now what?
You look around. You are way deep in the forest, it might take a few minutes for Alice to find you; if she noticed that you are not behind her that is.

"Well then, let's see if we can find som-"

You hear the rustle of leaves. You gulp down and turn slowly towards the source of the sound.

Standing there, there's a man wearing a yukata. His face greatly resembles that of a pig. You are reminded of your last encounter with something like this, last night.

This is bad, you...

[ ]fight it!
[ ]stay where you are.
[ ]run away!
[ ]do something else (say).

[x] Take Shanghai and run away!

[X]run away!

[x] Take Shanghai and run away!

>[x] Take Shanghai and run away!

This is bad. This is bad. This is bad!

You have no time to lose! Last time Keine barely saved you and you were just a few minutes away from her home. Right now you can't hope for anyone to come! You have to run away as fast as you can. You grab Shanghai from the ground and dash towards the opposite direction from that pig-man.

The forest is thick here, you can't run full speed. There are branches and fallen leaves everywhere. Each tree is just a few meters away from the next one. You blindly run towards an unknown direction, hoping to lose your hunter.

After a while, panting, you reach a small clearing right next to a foothill. This is bad. You don't see any other way of escape, only where you came from. This is a dead end.

You turn around in order to face that thing. The pig-man comes out to the clearing, panting like you.

With no way of escaping you...

[ ]fight him. This is your only change!
[ ]stay where you are. Your luck shouldn't have run out yet!
[ ]do something else (say).

>[x]fight him. This is your only change!
>[X] Hold the doll out in front of you and say "~~~". If that fails, just defend yourself to the best of your ability I suppose.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" you yell while holding the lifeless doll in front of you. "This is a famous doll of a powerful puppet master that lives in the forest! If you go any further I'll make sure you'll find a painful end!"

The pig-man stops and grins. You can hear a soft chuckle. He takes another step towards you.

"I'm not kidding! Stop!"

He doesn't seem to care. He takes another step towards you. Well if things have come to this, you might as well fight!

"aaaaaaAAAAAAH" you let out a blood-curdling scream.

You launch your fist aiming for his head. He doesn't seem so tough. A hit right on the head will surely-

-but your hand stops half-way. Without being able to counter it, the pig-man grabs you hand tight with his own.

"Gyaaa! That...that hurts!"

You can feel the bones of your arm slowly bending.

"aaaAAAAAH!"

You writhe in pain. Well it's pretty obvious that this would happen. He might look weak but he has a man's body while you've got a girl's.
You watch his mouth opening with slobber all over his chin. Inside you can see lots of sharp teeth. He draws you closer.

"Noooo...NOOOOO!"

You feel a sharp pain on you left shoulder as he digs your flesh with his sharp teeth. You can feel your bones cracking under the pressure.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Your right hand finally snaps under the strength of his. The blood that is now gushing out of your shoulder blocks your left visual area. Still you can see someone else being there. The man looks like he notices that person too. He let's you fall on the ground and runs away.
The person comes near you but you can no longer see his face. Your vision blacks out as you lose more blood. Twitching from the pain and agony,

you die.

//DEAD END 7//

Now it's time for:

'KEINE SENSEI'S SPECIAL CLASS ON HOW NOT TO BE A ⑨, PART VII'

"You are here again? Is this the third time you are eaten? *sigh* Oh well, this time it couldn't be helped I guess."

"KICK"

"Well then, it should be obvious what you did wrong right? We said that before too; 'children and newcomers should be careful and don't go wondering alone outside of the village'. This time was special but you'll end up in this kind of situation many times in the future too."

"PUNCH"

"Right now your only 'weapons' are your mind and well... your luck. You should rely on those if noone is around to help you, okay?"

"CHOP"

"Today with us is miss Hong Meiling to help us with some basic self-defense."

"AND BLOCK"

"Miss Meiling if you please..."

"JAOOOOOOO!"

"Eh...miss Meiling..."

"YES!"

"About the lesson..."

"Oh, yes I'm sorry... Well then. *cough* When one should meet a strong enemy there's but a thing that he should do... *breaths deep* RUN THE HELL AWAY!"

"I-I see... *whispers* Well that's why you get your ass kicked by miss Izayoi all the time..."

"THAT'S IT FOR TODAY!"

"We-well... now then-"

'HAKUTAKU MODE ON'

"-let's just forget this ever happened. Be more careful next time okay?"

"You can go on to the next stage now."

"Stop with the idiotic references."

//HISTORY CHANGED//

>1 step back

[ ]stay where you are. Your luck shouldn't have run out yet!
[ ]do something else (say).

>2 step back.

[ ]fight it!
[ ]stay where you are.
[ ]run away!
[ ]do something else (say).

(specify which choice you want.)

[x]stay where you are. Your luck shouldn't have run out yet!

If we weren't hasty, perhaps that person could have saved us.

>[x]stay where you are. Your luck shouldn't have run out yet!

You take a few steps back till your back touches the foothill behind of you. You have no way of escaping and fighting with this pig-man doesn't look like a wise choice. You can only hope that Alice will find you before it's too late...

The pig-man stops and grins. You can hear a soft chuckle. He takes another step towards you.

"S-stop... please! I mean no harm..."

He doesn't seem to care. He takes another step towards you.

"Please! I just want to go back to the village!"

Another step. He lifts his hands to grab you. You cover your head with your arms and cower beneath the foothill.

"NO! GO BACK!"

You feel his hands grabbing your arms. He lifts you up. You can see his vicious grin. You watch his mouth opening with slobber all over his chin. Inside you can see lots of sharp teeth. He draws you closer.

This is it. You are going to die.

Right at that moment you hear the rustle of leaves coming from your left. You turn to look. A familiar figure is standing there.
The pig-man follows your look. His eyes open wide when he realized that the red-clothed shrine maiden is standing there.

"Miss Reimu!"

She takes a few steps towards you. The pig-man drops you and flees in terror. It looks like even those beasts have something that they fear.

You look at Reimu with your eyes full of tears. That's it you are safe now!

"Miss Reimu! Miss Re-"

You have a bad feeling about this. Even though that she looks exactly as Reimu there's something about this girl. Maybe because she is so quiet. Maybe because she stares you with a blank look...

"...wait, you are..."

...maybe because she slowly turns her head on the side, like a dog. Memories of yesterday's events pop-up on your mind.

"...the one from yesterday..."

Her face changes. You see something flowing from her eyes. Is she crying? No wait. It's not just her eyes. Her whole face distorts, as if... as if she's melting?

"Ah!"

You gasp in terror and crawl behind. The features of her face are slowly disappearing. Her clothes are disappearing too. In a matter of seconds all that's left is a naked, faceless body, much like a faceless art doll.

You can feel yourself trembling in fear. You reconsider your choices.

[ ]Fight her/it! She/It can't be stronger than the pig-man!
[ ]Stay where you are! You don't want to taunt her/it!
[ ]The path is now open. Flee!
[ ]Do something else (say).

[x]The path is now open. Flee!

>[X]The path is now open. Flee!

You take a peek on your right. The path is now open. You can run away now! The faceless creature stands still. This is your chance!

You kick the ground and dash towards the forest on your right. You run at full speed without looking back. You can feel your legs aching and your breath short but still you give your best to run as far away as possible. You glance behind. It looks like you've lo-

You hit something hard. You turn to look but something grabs you from you head and blocks your view. You feel someone picking you up. You hear a heavy breathing. An awful smell comes out of the person in front of you.

"Mmhnmmhnm!" you protest and hit the person with your hands.

A strong arm grabs your right arm and pulls it hard.

"MMMMHNN!!!"

You can fill your arm dislocating and-

"MMMM!!!"

-being ripped off. The pain is unbearable. You try to scream but you can't. You can barely breath with this person's hand on your face.
You now feel it's hand ripping your dress and it's claws gashing your stomach. Your eyes roll and there's puke mixed with blood coming out of your mouth.
You can't stand the pain anymore. All you wish is for everything to end soon. Your wish comes true a few moments latter.

You die.

//DEAD END 7//

Now it's time for:

'KEINE SENSEI'S SPECIAL CLASS ON HOW NOT TO BE A ⑨, PART VII'

"You are here again? Is this the third time you are eaten? *sigh* Oh well, this time it couldn't be helped I guess."

"KICK"

"Well then, it should be obvious what you did wrong right? We said that before too; 'children and newcomers should be careful and don't go wondering alone outside of the village'. This time was special but you'll end up in this kind of situation many times in the future too."

"PUNCH"

"Right now your only 'weapons' are your mind and well... your luck. You should rely on those if noone is around to help you, okay?"

"CHOP"

"Today with us is miss Hong Meiling to help us with some basic self-defense."

"AND BLOCK"

"Miss Meiling if you please..."

"JAOOOOOOO!"

"Eh...miss Meiling..."

"YES!"

"About the lesson..."

"Oh, yes I'm sorry... Well then. *cough* When one should meet a strong enemy there's but a thing that he should do... *breaths deep* RUN THE HELL AWAY!"

"I-I see... *whispers* Well that's why you get your ass kicked by miss Izayoi all the time..."

"THAT'S IT FOR TODAY!"

"We-well... now then-"

'HAKUTAKU MODE ON'

"-let's just forget this ever happened. Be more careful next time okay?"

"You can go on to the next stage now."

"Stop with the idiotic references."

//HISTORY CHANGED//

You can feel yourself trembling in fear. You reconsider your choices.

[ ]Fight her/it! She/It can't be stronger than the pig-man!
[ ]Stay where you are! You don't want to taunt her/it!
[ ]Do something else (say).

>[ｘ]Stay where you are! You don't want to taunt her/it!

You take a peek on your right. The path is now open. You can run away now! The faceless creature stands still. This is your chance!

...but you are frozen to your place from your fear. You look again at it. There's something changing. From its face's flesh two eyes pop out, followed by a mouth and a nose, which slowly take their place on it. Blond hair comes out from the top of its scull. Its body also changes. The flesh seems to expand and change its shape and color to represent a purple dress.
In a matter of seconds in front of you stands something that looks exactly like you.

You try to come in terms with the bizarre sight in front of you. Her, or whatever that thing is, continues to stare you with a blank look.

You get up slowly. She observes your every movement in silence like a small animal. Your fear slowly fades away. If you are to do something this is the time!

[ ]Try hitting her! Her responses seems slow, if things take a bad turn you can always run away!
[ ]Stay still and observe her for a while. She might say or do something.
[ ]Flee! You are already on your feet and the path is still clear!
[ ]Do something else (say).

[ ]Stay still and observe her for a while. She might say or do something.

>[x]Stay still and observe her for a while. She might say or do something.
>[x] Mirror sequence.

The girl stares you with the same expressionless face as ever.

You can't think of anything to do or say so you just observer her. Maybe she'll say or do something instead.

...nothing. She just stands there like a doll. You slowly raise your hand and wave at her. She looks at your hand for a while and then tilts her head on the side. This is awkward. You feel really stupid right now.

"Miss Maigo! Are you here?" you hear Alice voice from above.

"Miss Alice!" you shout happy that you're about to see a familiar face at last.

You are not the only one who hears her voice. The girl looks above too and runs away. Right at that moment Alice comes down next to you.

"Are you okay?" she asks with a worried tone. "What happened? Why you-"

She notices the lifeless doll next to you and picks it up.

"Shanghai? Why?" she looks at you. "What happened? Why she stopped?"

"I-I don't know, how am I supposed to know that?"

Is she actually more worried about that doll than you?

"Strange...oh well, at least you are safe." she sighs.

She makes some movements with her right hand and then Shanghai miraculously comes back to life. The doll makes a small bow and grabs you again from your back.

"This time I'll fly close by. You really got me worrying you know..."

Hey, it wasn't your fault. You could have died just now you know!

But you don't say anything. Instead you let Shanghai lift you in order to follow Alice who just took off again. As you get higher you turn to look where you were standing a few minutes before. That girl is standing there waving at you in the same way you did.

...

You look at the ceiling. It's late afternoon now. You have returned at Keine's home a few hours ago, only to find a note that she will be late in a meeting with some villagers. She has wrapped some food for you. It was great, like always, still you would prefer eating lunch with her.

The weather is clear and there is still light outside, but after yesterday's and today's events you don't feel like going outside for a while. You made sure that the slide doors were closed, took a bath, changed to the yukata and lied in Keine's bedroom.

Your head still hurts even though the hot bath was relaxing. Maybe some sleep would help with that.

You take a few moments thinking about today's events. The swirling distortion at Reimu's shrine, that flying tengu, Marisa's flying broom, Alice's house, the battle outside of the mansion, the big library, that devil-girl... you sigh. Enough, so many things have happened, your head will hurt more if you think all of them.

"Will I ever find out what's going on with me..." you whisper before falling asleep.

...

You knew this would have happened.

You stand in an empty dark place and SHE is right ahead of you, looking at you with hateful eyes. Why is SHE always so angry?

"...traitor."

"What?"

"YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME AGAIN!" SHE shouts.

"I don't understand..."

She covers her face with her hands.

"Always... always..." she looks at you. "For how long are you going to ignore me!?"

[ ]"I'm sorry, I didn't meant too..."
[ ]"Who are you? What are you doing in my dreams?"
[ ]"Shut up! I want to ignore you but you won't let me!
[ ]Say something else (propose).

(Multiply suggestions are accepted. If you can't think of anything just suggest aggressive, hesitant or inquisitive behavior. Of course only one behavior will be followed, unless you want a schizophrenic heroine.)

[ ]"Who are you? What are you doing in my dreams?"

[x]"Who are you? What are you doing in my dreams?"

[ ]"I'm sorry, I didn't meant too..."

>[x]"Who are you? What are you doing in my dreams?"
>[X]"I never wanted to forget anything! What's the point of being in this murderous place alone? Tell me what I'm supposed to know, how I can remember! I can't do this on my own!"

"Who are you? What are you doing in my dreams?"

Her eyes fill with anger. "...still asking that? I've already answered that question... no... You SHOULD know the answer already!"

"I don't know! I don't remember!" you protest.

"It's not something you can simply forget!"

"I never wanted to forget anything! Tell me what I'm supposed to know, how I can remember! I can't do this on my own!"

"Oh?" she makes a dry smile. "Now you want ME to help you? Now you ask for MY help?"

She takes a few steps back and disappears in the dark background.

"Very well then. I'll 'show' you"

The background slowly changes. You are in the middle of a street. Above you is the night sky.

"This is the same..." you whisper. You remember this! You saw something like that in a dream.

With the corner of your eye you notice again that woman. The one with the long frilly white dress crossing the street under her umbrella.

"LOOK OUT!"

You hear your friend’s voice behind of you. You turn to look but it's too late.
The sound of a car braking can be heard. You feel your body flying above the street. Pain runs through your body. Your vision fills with a crimson color.

"Gah!" you choke on the blood that exits your mouth. You are dying...

...the background disappears once more. You are on the floor. Crimson color comes from every direction towards you. SHE walks on it, coming near you.

"But, she didn't let US..."

The crimson color stops a few centimeters away from you. You are lying in the midst of a sea of red, on a small circle islet of black.

"...even so, you decide to forgot ME." SHE says with a sad face.

Somehow, you can feel her sadness. It's like you're forgetting something very important but you can't tell what.

"Please... don't forsaken me... don't forsaken US..." she disappears once more.

...

You open your eyes. It's dark. You look next to you. Keine looks like she isn't home yet. You sigh. Your headache looks like it's gone for now.

You sit up. Maybe you should check th-

"Eh?"

You notice something standing right before you. It looks like a very small creature, palm sized. It has knee-length orange hair done up in a ponytail. Two long straight horns spout from its head, decorated with ribbons.

"Nya ha ha! Good evening!" it says with a tiny voice. "Reimu send me to get you. Let's go!"

[ ]Wh-what the hell is this? It's too small but it never hurts being cautious. Try hitting it with something.
[ ]Wh-what the hell is this? It said Reimu, is it friendly? Maybe if you poke it a bit...
[ ]Wh-what the hell is this? You are probably still dreaming. Pinch yourself awake.
[ ]Do something else (say).

(Let’s end this part tonight, shall we?)

[ ]Wh-what the hell is this? It said Reimu, is it friendly? Maybe if you poke it a bit...

Heh heh..

[x] Wh-what the hell is this? It said Reimu, is it friendly? Maybe if you poke it a bit...

>[X]Wh-what the hell is this? It said Reimu, is it friendly? Maybe if you poke it a bit...
>[X]It looks adorable. Try to pet it.
>[X] Belly rub.

Wh-what the hell is this? It said Reimu, is it friendly? Maybe if you poke it a bit...

"Ehehe~"

...

...

...let's pet it.

"Nya ha ha, that tickles!"

You spend some time petting and rubbing the little creature. It's so cute! It doesn't seem to hate it either.

"Nyahaaaa that feels good~"

You can't help but smile. Maybe trying something else? You rub its belly.

"NYAHAHAHAHA, NO, STOP, NYAHAHAHA, NO!" it cries while laughing. It looks like it enjoys it.

"NYAHAHAHA! PLEASE! REIMU! MUST!"

"Eh?" you stop.

"AHAhahaha... I must... I must bring you to Reimu..." it tries to catch its breath.

"You mean the shrine maiden?"

"Yes... I was send here to take you to the shrine... They say they are ready."

"Ready? Ready for what?"

"To send you home of course!" it smiles to you.

Home? It means you can go back to your own world?

"Well? Let's go!"

"But...miss Keine... I can't leave without saying goodbye..."

"Don't worry! I'm sure she will understand!"

"Still, it's dark outside... what if something attacks?" you shiver with this thought in mind.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you! I'm strong!" it pounds its chest.

"Eh? Strong? Ehehe, sure you are..." you chuckle a bit. Talking like that only makes it cuter.

"You don't believe me? I'll show you!"

"No, no... it's okay, I believe you, I believe you!" you try your best not to laugh.

The little thing takes a few steps back and-

"HOLY -! WHAT THE-!"

-it grows about 4 meters tall in an instant.

"WHAT? HOW?"

"Nya ha ha~, I told you I'm strong!" it says with a loud voice. "So, can we leave now?"

You stand there dumbfounded with your mouth wide open. What IS this thing?

The giant, now, creature shrinks back to its previous size.

"It's better this way don't ya think?"

You just nod, unable to do or think something else.

...

Because of your surprise before, you followed it without any objections, but right now you're having doubts whether that was the right thing to do. It's almost completely dark outside; your only light is the stars and the moon. You can hear strange sounds all around you.
It's been almost half an hour since you left Keine's home. The little creature runs in front of you, smiling and humming. After a few more minutes you see the shrine's stairs.

"She's back!"
"Welcome back!"
"She's here!"
"Did you have fun?"
"Welcome home!"

Five other little creatures looking exactly like the one before you come down the stairs to greet it. Laughing and chatting together they quickly climb up the stairs. You follow them.
When you reach the top you watch them running towards a little girl that looks the same, sitting on the shrine's patio. She's holding a gourd with her right hand. She looks at you and points on her right. You look at the direction, which she's pointing. Reimu and the lady with the tails are there, right before the big swirling distortion. You go near them.

"There you are." Reimu greets you with a soft smile.

"Good evening. It's been a while." the other lady bows.

"Good evening." you bow too.

"I thought that you had second thoughts on this." Reimu says. "It's not rare that some people decide to stay."

"No good." the lady says. "If it doesn't happen tonight, we might have to wait till spring..."

"I know..." Reimu sighs. "Well, are you sure about this?" she asks you.

"What about my memories? Going back without them... isn't it bad?"

Reimu and the lady look each other.

"No... It doesn't really matter in the end." she sighs.

Is it really like that? Patchouli and Alice said the same thing.

You look at the distortion. It looks the same as this morning. There are some cracks around it now too, but there are fewer than before.

Is it really okay to go back? You haven't said goodbye to Keine yet. You learned almost nothing about who you are or about how you end up here...
On the other hand, going back was your purpose all along, right? Spring means... well it's going to be a while till you have a chance again.

You take a deep breath.

"Alright."

"Have you decided?" Reimu asks.

"Yes."

"What are you going to do then?"

[ ]Stay.
[ ]Leave.

>[X]Stay.

"I'd like to stay."

"Eh? Are you sure?" Reimu asks.

You nod. Yes, you can't leave now. You still have to know more about yourself first. And about this place. Leaving means abandon any hope of getting back your memories.
Also, you can't leave without meeting Keine once more. She has done so much for you. The least you can do is to properly say goodbye.

"You realize what that means, don't you?" Reimu sighs. "You'll have to live in the human village and find something to do till spring comes."

"I'm fine with that!" you say confident.

"Well then, I'll be going now. It looks like my job here is done." the lady says with a smile.

"Okay, thank you Ran. Oh and if you learn anything new please tell me."

"Got it!" Ran says. She opens a 'gap' with her hand and enters it. Hands come out from it and pull her inside. The 'gap' closes and she disappears.

"Oi, Suika! Can you take her back-" Reimu looks at the sleeping girl on her shrine's patio. "-really... Hey you." she looks at your direction.

"Y-yes?"

"Want to spend the rest of the night here? I'll drop you off tomorrow."

"S-sure, I don't mind!"

Reimu smiles.

"I'll go and prepare the futons then."

...

"Good morning Aome-chan."
"Good morning miss Maigo!"
"How are you today miss Aome?"

It's another sunny day today. Even though it's the middle of winter the days are nice and warm.
You walk through the village. Most of the villagers greet you the same way they greet Keine. Maybe living together with her has something to do with this.

Today you have to visit mister Morichika. Keine asked of you to bring her some writing material for the school. You love to help her around. In return she takes care of you. You are even attending her classes. You have already learned a lot about Gensokyo, youkai and how things work.

You are also not afraid of going around the forest anymore. The village's leader have been teaching you, among with other children, how to self-defence against youkai. As Keine said, only weak and stupid ones attack humans.

You leave the village. The road next to the forest is quiet as ever. You enjoy the sun's light running through your face. The soft breeze messes with your hair but you don't really care; the feeling is great.

You stop on the side of the road to smell some flowers. It's funny how Gensokyo seems to have flowers all the year. They say that the fairies are responsible for this. You lean over to smell them. What a beautiful smell. Life clearly can't get any better than this. So peaceful, so quiet...

...but isn't just too quiet?

You notice that the breeze has stopped, no, it's as if air has frozen. The beautiful smell of the flowers disappears in an instant.

The sunny weather slowly disappears without any change on the sky. It's as if the light itself is disappearing.

Thumb thumb.

You can feel it.

Thumb thumb.

Your mouth dries.

Thumb thumb.

Everything around you looks like it's slowly dying.

Thumb thumb.

No, everything it's still the same. Is more like the life they emit is weakening.

Thumb thumb.

As if it's absorbed. As if it's not enough to fill the world. As if...

Thumb thumb.

...it gets sucked into a lifeless void.

Thumb thumb.

You slowly turn around.

Thumb thumb.

From the corner of your eye you can see it.

Thumb thumb.

Slowly rising its head.

Thumb thumb.

Its body looks more like an one-piece dark armor.

Thumb thumb.

Its head is covered by a dark helmet, stacked to the armor, as if they are one.

Thumb thumb.

You see all the 'gaps' around it overflowing with darkness.

Thumb thumb.

The darkness slowly flows into its body, giving it shape.

Thumb thumb.

The tall, two and a half meters figure 'looks' at you.

Thumb thumb.

It slowly lifts its arm to its back.

Thumb thumb.

It grasps its own spine.

Thumb thumb.

And rips it apart.

Thumb thumb.

The dark spine turns itself into a sword, in its arm.

Thumb thumb.

You can't move.

Thumb thumb.

You can't breath.

Thumb thumb.

The only thing you can do is to observe the world around it being sucked by its darkness.

Thumb thumb.

It takes a step towards you.

Thumb thumb.

Another step.

Thumb thumb.

Another step.

Thumb thumb.

Inside your dress, your only connection with your past shines with a blinding light.

Thumb thumb.

But you can't see it. Death himself is looking you in the eyes.

Thumb thumb.

No... even death follows the world's laws. This thing...

Thumb thumb.

...exist out of the order of the world.

Thumb thumb.

The giant sword slowly rises above you.

Thumb thumb.

All you can do is...

Thumb thumb.

Thumb thumb.

Thumb thumb.

Thumb thumb.

Thumb thumb.

"Haaaa..."

Yes, somehow...

Thumb thumb.

...this feels right.

You get squashed like an insect under the giant sword. Your flesh, nerves, arteries, organs and bones... everything melts into one thing.

You die.

//DEAD END//

Now it's time for:

'KEINE SENSEI'S SPECIAL CLASS ON HOW NOT TO BE A ⑨, PART I'

"Greetings everyone!"

"Greetings."

"Hello and welcome to Keine Kamishirasawa's special class on 'How not to be a ⑨'. I will be your aide and guide to this adventure. It would be nice not to, but unfortunatly you're going to meet many bad and dead ends in this story. That's how things are... But don't lose hope! I will provide you with enough information to bypass them!"

"Isn't this useless?"

"Eh? Why?"

"In order to come here, doesn't that means that they are already on a bad end?"

"Eh, well..."

"Really..."

"A-anyway. This is probably your first dead end... or maybe your last in this part of the story. The first and the last 'wrong' choice in part I leads here. Why? Because both carry the same meaning. You can't forget who you are! I mean you don't have your memories, that's true but you can't abandon the rest of the things that you've got! Don't forget what your final goal is! If you decide to leave everything behind and start anew you will lost your last hopes on finding out who you truly are."

"*cough* Ehm."

"Y-yes. That's all from me. Except from my advice, different guests will appear in each bad end to share their 'wisdom' with you. Today though we have a very special guest. Miss Eiki if you please..."

"Yes. How are you? I'm Sikieiki Yamaxanadu. I will be in charge of a different type of endings. Miss Kamishirasawa's class will teach you about bad ends that are based on bad choices. I will teach you about bad ends that are based on 'lack' of choices. Don't forget, this story is about finding out clues and information in order to advance. If you idle too much though you're going to miss important clues. The medium in which the story is being told doesn't permit the luxury of going back and forth all the time, so I'll be in charge of rehabilitating you. Needless to say, if you are to meet me outside of the story's boundaries it means you aren't taking your job seriously. Don't slack around too much!"

"Miss Eiki... isn't this a bit too much?"

"What?"

"I mean... this is supposed to be for fun, right?"

"Well... I guess."

"A-anyway. Now sit back as I'm about to bring you back to life, right at the turning point that lead you here."

'HAKUTAKU MODE ON'

"It this really necessary?"

"You mean the transformation?"

"It looks stupid. Please behave more mature."

"Miss Eiki, you are awful~"

"It can't be helped. It's for you own good after all."

//HISTORY CHANGED//

>[ ]Leave.

>[X]Leave.

"I'll go."

"Are you sure?" Reimu asks.

You nod. Yes, everything comes to an end one way or another. If it was possible you would like to know more about yourself and about this place, but after all, going back to where you belong is more important. All you regret is not being able to say goodbye to Keine. After all she has done for you, the least you could do is to properly say goodbye to her. You feel your eyes getting wet. This experience was scary, but you are truly happy that you met someone like her.

"Ran. Let's begin."

"Yes."

Reimu closes her eyes and starts chanting a Buddhist spell that you have never heard of. Ran raises her hand and touches the distortion. The air's 'surface' vibes like that of the water when a small pebble hits the surface of a lake. The distortion slowly disappears and an 'gap' opens up. From inside a warm white light comes out.

"Pre-pretty..."

"Go on..." Ran says softly.

"I hope you have founded what you've been seeking." Reimu says with a gentle smile.

Is she talking about your memories? You don't know.

You feel your legs getting off the ground and your body getting higher in the air towards the light. Ah... it's so gentle...

...but...

...with the right corner of your eye you see one of the 'cracks' 'breaking'. Several hands sprout from within.

"...no...No!"

The hands wrap around you and pull you off the light towards the new formed 'gap'.

"Nooo! AaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOBSERVEANALYEXPERIMENTREPEATSCIENTIFICMETHOD

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

AREA 564f4944 AREA 445245414d53 AREA 47454e534f4b594f

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

Blood. Flesh. Brains. Sperm. Meat. Soul. Spirit. Memories. Sin.

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

"I must reproduce!" "I must feed!" "I want it all!" "I want to rest!" "I want to rage!" "I want the same!" "I want ME!"

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

"MARY!"
"RENKO!"

"DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

DARKNESSDARKNESSDARKNESSDARKNESSDARKNESSDARKNESSDARKNESSDARKNESSNOTHINGNESSPLEASESOMEONE

I

I

I WANT TO LIVE!

"I'll keep you alive then."

//END OF PART I - FALSE MIRAGE//

BOUNDARY OF DREAMS WILL CONTINUE

(commentary post follows)

(So this is it. End of part I. A month has passed since I started writing this. Well there was also the one week break... anyway.
I'd like to thank everyone for their support so far from both boards. I hope you enjoyed it so far and that you keep on with the story in the next parts too.
Once again I'd like to apologize for raping the English language that much. I hope you're enjoying the story despite the fact I'm a poor writer also.
Part II will start sometime tomorrow in new threads in both boards. Proper linking will be made. Till then feel free to use these threads for Q&A. Ask anything you want, if I think that something might spoil the story, I'll just avoid answering it.
Also, I'd like to hear your comments on the story pace so far, whether you found some parts boring or not. Your opinions on the posts' size, railroading, provided answers etc will be great too.
I think that it was about time to give a name to the story. I'm never good with naming things but I hope 'Boundary of Dreams' will draw out the essence of the overall plot better.
About Part I - False Mirage, I wanted to make it a introductive part in the story. I used many of the 'known facts' and personas while experiment with some original. The experience gained from these will help me in the next parts I hope. I don't know whether the mystery in part I and the lack of action was well received but I think that slowly fleshing out the characters and the plot was better.
I hope you didn't felt that I pushed you into specific choices too much. I tried my best and redesign plot routes depending on your choices. I tried to take in account as many answers as I could each time.
So then, till next time, take care. See you in next dream.)

(Bunbunmaru's Part II link: http://bunbunmaru.com/wakaba/general/res/11021.html
Touhou-project Part II link: http://www.touhou-project.com/th/res/95844.html)

Part I endings:

Number - Type - How to access - Ending caused by - Guest in KSSC - KSSC events

1) Dead end. Two ways (choose to delete your memories or stay in Gensokyo). The 'creature' squashes you. Shikieiki Yamaxanadu. Introduction of KSSC and explanation of Higan ends.
2) Dead end. Follow your 'clone' in the woods and ignore the Nure-onna. Nure-onna bites your neck off. Rin Kaenbyou. Certain VN ending parody.
3) Dead end. Follow Keine outside and ignore her telling you to go back to the house. Eaten by Rumia. Rumia. Is that so~"
4) Bad end. Deny that you see the 'gaps'. Get sucked by the biggest one and end up into a limbo world. Reisen Udongein Inaba. Madness end.
5) Dead end. Try waking up the guard (SDM path, also you need to be with Genji). Got your neck snap by Meiling's reflexes. Sakuya Izayoi. Useless guard.
6) Dead end. Choose to stay at SDM, or somehow end up alone with Koakuma (SDM path). Get crashed by a falling bookcase. Koakuma. Koakuma is a good girl.
7) Dead end. Fight the pig-man youkai or run away from the 'clone' (SDM path). You get brutally killed one way or another. Hong Meiling. Patchu-ppa Parappa.
8) Dead end. Choose to go outside the village (Village path). Eaten by Mystia. Mystia Lorelei. Death song.
9) Dead end. Examine what's behind the bushes (Village path). Killed by random youkai. Cirno. Argument over KSSC title.

And yes, even the most stupid ones (the fifth one I guess) contain some sort of additional information.