[x] ? ?? that monk came for a visit for some reason, smiling as always despite being a rival.."

Male Reimu's pretty composed even when dealing with Yukari.

[ ] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along.."

I am excite. And can't have the dou without the funny man to Reimu's straight. Also, lewd magicians.

[x] ? ?? that lunatic rabbit with the weird eyes came to visit."

[X] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along.."

Let's start with some established relations.

[x] ? ?? that miko from the mountain came calling, expression bright like the sun.."

Good luck, buddy. Feel free to head over to #touhouporn on irc.rizon.net if you want a proofreader or some people to discuss ideas with.

[x] ? ?? that monk came for a visit for some reason, smiling as always despite being a rival.."

Looking good.

[x] ? ?? that miko from the mountain came calling, expression bright like the sun.."

Sounds interesting.

[X] ? ?? that lunatic rabbit with the weird eyes came to visit."

[x] ? ?? that miko from the mountain came calling, expression bright like the sun."

[X] ? ?? that monk came for a visit for some reason, smiling as always despite being a rival."

Would this be Byakuren's brother?

[X] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along."

I see a disturbing lack of blond, starry magicians here. This must be rectified.

[X] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along."
I like this ReiMAN. Might as well get the ball rolling with some Marisa.

Thank you for the interest, votes, and whatnot already. As of now, I'm planning on having everyone be female but Reimu himself, although we might have votes to include others at some point if there's interest? But otherwise, assume all others are female.

[X] ? ?? that lunatic rabbit with the weird eyes came to visit."

>>31852
I sort of like the idea of just flipping a coin when you decide to use a character. Or rolling a 1 on a twenty-sided die. Just have some more fellas so that it doesn't seem like some awful harem anime.

Anyway, more than Reimu alone. Maybe Toyosatomimi no Miko? Dude was Prince Shoutoku, after all. Byakuren, too, if you change her to be Myouren instead. That way, you have multiple concurrent awful harem animes!

[x] ? ?? that miko from the mountain came calling, expression bright like the sun."

[X] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along."

[ x] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along.."

Someone even made a recommendation about this in /gensokyo/. I did not think for a second that someone would make this.

Well played, good sir.

Now I have to see this one to the end.

[ ] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along.."

Alright, then.

[x] ? ?? that miko from the mountain came calling, expression bright like the sun.."

Such a good girl

>>31854
Miko and Myouren are trying to wrest faith from Reimu by having the local female populace fall for them. Which means pop idol Miko and Byakuren.

[X] ? ?? that monk came for a visit for some reason, smiling as always despite being a rival."

>Or an old evil spirit bent on capturing his ?orbs?.
I don't think Mima's the only one, IYKWIM.

Whoa. Again, I want to say thank you, because while I don't have much of a frame of reference for activity and votes and stuff, this seems like quite a lot.

I'm going to go ahead and call it. Reimu's best friend, Marisa, is the winner here. I'll get started on the update tonight, might even get it proofread and posted tonight if things go ultra-fast.

We'll see how it goes. Despite still having only vague plans I'm excited too.

>>31865

Have to say its a lot.

What can you say, /at/ likes its porn. Plus this is something kinda different. Genderbending is suprisingly underused on this site.

If you're still worried about the genderbender idea already being taken, you shouldn't be. It's been about five years since YAF made that story, and the idea hasn't been used since then.

>>31863
That sounds like a really good idea. I guess that means Sanae should be a man too. Hidden Masquerade but with penises instead of beating the shit out of one another.

I for one do not mind Reimu being the only one genderbent here.

[ x ] ? ?? my best friend came flying in, excited about something as usual and eager to drag me along."

-

Letting out a little sigh, Reimu surveyed his kingdom; the stones of the shrine, inside and out, were clean. The buildings were clean. Everything inside them was clean. Or at least as clean as a man with a broom could make them. The wind was fair, the skies were clear, and he'd just run out of actual things to do that didn't involve going out into public. Another sigh and some stretching later, he wondered if it wasn't time to see if the offering box had magically grown any more money.

Before he had time to bemoan this peaceful day, it shattered. Screaming in at a suicidal speed, a witch on a broomstick dove straight for him. She only turned to brake in the last moment before hitting the ground. This display of piloting kicked up a mighty wind, and some dust he'd missed, so the priest reached up to shield his eyes.

Without looking, he knew who had just arrived. While most of the notable residents of Gensokyo could fly, only a few could reach that kind of speed. Blinking a few times, he saw a particularly eager-looking girl in a black and white witch outfit. The other noticeable thing was her long blonde hair, which was every bit as bright as her nearly manic grin. She waved in greeting. "Yo, Reimu!"

If things had been just a bit different, if Marisa's reaction times were just a bit slower, they both could have broken limbs... or maybe broken necks. As usual, Reimu was the only one thinking about what ifs. Marisa had too much pride in her skills to ever worry like that.. Typically she would have been more careful. "What's the rush, Marisa?"

"The rush? Oh! Yeah. Uh." She started to laugh, rubbing the back of her head a bit. Reimu crossed his arms, and was about to say something, but Marisa's blush and shining smile made him, however unwillingly, hold his tongue. "Look! We're both okay so it's fine. Anyway. I came over to get your help!"

"Has an incident occurred?" It wasn't exactly like he enjoyed the thought that trouble had broken out, but even he could get sick of normal, everyday life.

"No! Nothing like that! In fact, things have been boring for a bit now. So! I figured you," She pointed at him for extra emphasis, "Might want to help me," She placed her hand upon her chest, "Go into the magical forest," More pointing, now in the direction of said forest, "And gather some rare and incredibly interesting mushrooms!" No mushrooms to point at but she did raise her fist into the air.

Reimu wasn't interested in a lot of things Marisa did, like her research and alchemy, but who was he to refuse such a brilliant smile?
It wasn't fair at all. "Well it beats sitting around gathering dust, so sure. I'll come help." With no less energy than one of her laser beams, the black-white swung about on her broom and kicked off from the ground, soaring again without much apparent effort.

There was no reason to run over the shrine again, and what valuables he had were already locked up and hidden, so he floated after her. They covered a lot of territory quite quickly, soaring over fields of green as well as rivers and streams.

Truthfully, Reimu found flying exciting, especially when he got up some decent speeds; the wind was never biting or cold, but just had a sort of pressure and roar that felt... natural. Right. The only reason he didn't do it more often was because of local faeries, ready to blast away no matter who it was.

The two of them traveled this route all the time, but Marisa wasn't planning on leading him back home today. Instead, she started to pull down, blasting through the dense tree cover. Reimu followed close behind, letting her lead the way, and successfully staring at the trees below rather than becoming distracted by flapping puffy witch skirts. Distraction could mean a harsh landing, after all. They found a small clearing, a few meters wide at best, and she set down with enough force to flatten the grass.

"It doesn't seem like you chose this spot randomly." Reimu gently set foot back on the ground, following along as Marisa ran towards the nearest mushrooms.

"Yeah! I figured out through a few days? research that this area should be rich in unusual mushroom types! Come on, take a bag and get going! Take anything that looks weird and we'll sort it all out later." That was probably Marisa's policy towards anything she found interesting.

He tried his best, but figuring out which mushrooms to pick was exhausting. Marisa might have told him to grab as many mushrooms as he could, but the bag she gave him was way too small. And if he remembered right, Marisa once told him that mushrooms could be easily damaged - he would have to be picky.

Eventually, he let Marisa take point again, following along. For a while, she ended up picking out the interesting mushrooms while he trailed behind pretending to be busy. That was sort of his style. Honestly, he found his surroundings, and the large old trees around, of greater interest. The occasional bit of wildlife showed up, as well. Long periods of solitude had given him a wandering mind.

In particular, he thought about the person who'd brought him along for this exciting adventure in mushroom research. Marisa was brilliant, yet wayward. A lot of people considered her flat-out insane, but it always felt more like eccentricity to him. There was always a method to it that he could figure out. Perhaps that was because they'd spent a lot of time together; for many prior incidents, she'd always had his back. Anything like this she wanted to drag him to, he'd go along with it and try his meager best. Or at least he would look like he was.

She was damn good at what she did, and confident in herself, which were two of the things that Reimu had found attractive about her. They weren't the only things, of course; beneath the cute outfit, he knew she was outrageously hot. While her chest was modest, at best, that sleek, almost boyish profile up top worked well for her, with strong toned arms and a defined stomach, and when the eye arrived down to her hips, thighs, and rear?

He figured that broom riding, running around, and all sorts of activity and training had helped shape that, but there was also just a large dose of natural blessing. She was so gifted, or so she claimed, that she could take down foes by smashing them with her behind. He believed it.

They had always been close for the longest time, and then, one day, things ignited, and for much of that summer they were always together, making love and generally living a more exciting life for being together. He'd gone along on her adventures, trying to help her overcome a few of her more violent tendencies, and all the while, people never really knew that the rumors being passed around were true, and they were fucking. Yeah, fucking was probably the better word; there were emotions behind it but it was usually intense.

What turned things south wasn't that intensity going away; it was still going strong, not even as Reimu followed her through the tangled growth and brush of the forest. She was still forcefully attractive, and attractively forceful. It was more about what had happened one time after they were done, lying together in his bed. He was a bit of a cuddly type, and she didn't mind that after being so thoroughly worn out, but that time he'd said some things.

Things involving settling down, going steady, going public with the relationship, and even starting a family. The sort of things he'd been thinking about for a bit, and she'd been trying to avoid. In the end, he'd let slip that he actually bought an engagement ring, and that really was the end of it. Both of them were direct in attitude, and when she admitted that she didn't want anything to do with ?settling down?, he had to respect that. They worked better as friends.

Friends who occasionally became more, but for now, that was it, and he was a lucky guy to have that with such an exceptional girl. No point moping about it. That would just end up driving people away.

Going back over old mental territory did allow him to endure some more mushroom collection. Perhaps he should take up daydreaming more often, he thought. For a while, Marisa's enthusiasm carried both of them along, until they started homing in on the distant sound of running water, and finally got through a break in the trees to find a small brook.

"Nice place for a rest!" Marisa called out as Reimu caught up and looked around with a sigh. "Ah, clean water too. Want a drink?" She shuffled through a pocket somewhere and produced a small cup, which was quickly filled by the rapid current. He accepted with a nod. It was no tea, but it would certainly do for now. She had a few drinks as well, and soon she was back on-task. "So, what did you get? I got a bunch."

Trying not to look sheepish, Reimu turned out his bag, producing a grand total of three mushrooms. "Eh?" Marisa made her disappointment plain to hear. "That's it?"

He shrugged. "You probably got a lot of the interesting ones, remember. I didn't really know what to take. You're the mushroom fanatic." At some point in the past, she'd probably gone over unusual mushroom types with him. If so, the lecture obviously hadn't made it into memory. They all honestly looked alike to him, even when she produced her own harvest and laid it out atop her cloth sack.

Before he could ask what they actually did, they were gathered up again in the bag, and Marisa leapt to her feet. "Well! We can try downstream, that might be a good place too. No sense slowing down before we've got enough." As though expecting him to complain, which he only did in his own head, she added, "We can split the mushrooms fifty-fifty if you want. Now c'mon!"

Away they went, moving down with the current of the water for a while and then heading back into the treeline. All Reimu could do was hope some rare mushrooms showed up, or something distracted Marisa's attention, so that he could leave. It wasn't like this trip was unpleasant, but if it was going to take hours and hours he may as well have been sitting around at home for all the good it would do.

No such luck. Things dragged on for a while, until it finally looked like Marisa had discovered something, running ahead of him and stopping at the base of a particularly thick tree. "Over here!" Following along at a walk, Reimu was about to ask what she'd found, when she bent over forward and reached for the ground.

Her skirt, normally just short enough to show some leg, rose up, and now he could see all the way up to the vast, tanned, swell of her bare ass. The only thing that really blocked his vision was a thin, damp band of white cotton that rode up the cleavage of her butt and left nothing to the imagination. He stopped for a moment in surprise; it had been a little while since the last time he'd seen her like this, and a passing breeze only made it worse. Oh, it's huge.

The one part of her that was truly out of proportion with the rest, it gave her a stable base when standing, and great cushioning when riding a broom. Or a boy, as he knew from personal experience. There was enough there to grab, squeeze, or knead, and okay that was enough of that. He was so busy pretending to not notice her ass that he didn't notice Marisa looking back at him, or the grin on her face.

"What have you found?" He asked, at least managing to keep his voice normal. Once again, there were some mushrooms. They sure were there, weren't they. Yep. A few were larger or had some additional spots on them, but nothing jumped out as super-rare or valuable to his eye.

"Oh, only a few of the rarest magical mushrooms in Genoskyo! It might not look like it, but trust me." The shaman shrugged.

"Yeah, you're the expert here. So grab them."

"Hang on, hang on! Hey, move over." He glanced down, saw that he was blocking the light that filtered through the leafy branches above, and slid over to lean against the tree. Before he could say anything else, Marisa shifted a bit? and then suddenly pinned him to the tree. With her body. More specifically, the part of her body he'd been admiring.

"Wh-"

"Oi, why bother come along on this if all you're gonna do is stare at this, hm?" For a little emphasis, the pouting magician rubbed against him, the warmth and pressure making a dangerous combination. She boldly ground her hips into his, and through their clothing he could still feel more than enough to send a shiver up his spine. When he glanced down, all he could see was her ass, still covered and hidden by that dress.

"Hey, I don't even know what to look for, alright? You came to bring me along and didn't bother wondering if I'd enjoy it." It was tough to argue with a girl doing this. He raised his hands, although that didn't help; she kept rubbing her ass against him until they could both feel him reacting. His body didn't have the self-control his mind wished for. "What are you doing?" He reached down, clamping his hands onto her wide hips to shove her away, but her answer gave him pause.

"Well I know you'll enjoy this, at least. Maybe you can even help me with my research!" With her hands still free, she gathered each of the mushrooms on the ground and added them to the bag, and then picked through it, still pinning his hardness against her softness.

While she worked, slowly looking over each mushroom in the light, she continued her ?attack? against his body, grinding right against his growing erection as though she was trying to crush it. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling. In fact, it was getting to him, and he reacted by squeezing her and provoking some giggles.

"Hey, hey." Finally she glanced over, looking him in the eye, and now she was grinning. "Gonna cum just from this? I bet I can make you do it." The suddenness of it wasn't helping him resist. This situation was something most men could only fantasize about. She pulled back for a second and then pressed back in, tracing slow circles with her ass to cause as much friction as possible.

"How is this helping with research?" Rather than fight it, or shove her away, he pulled her closer now. He was blushing, and his heart was racing. This wasn't the first time Marisa had simply broken his self-control in half. She really was going to bring him over the edge before either of them had even undressed. Was this her way of teasing?

It was working.

"Well, I've read books about these particular types of mushrooms, but never had a living subject to test them on before. So I figure you'd volunteer to do that! Especially when I tell you what they do. it's nothing dangerous, don't worry."

Reimu's doubtless snappy retort died in his throat, replaced by a groan. Her cheeks were moving up and down, changing the pressure constantly. Without really thinking about it, he mentioned something he'd noticed earlier. ?" No bloomers?"

"No! Not today. I didn't hear you complaining~? If she'd worn something like that, maybe she'd anticipated doing all of this.

He couldn't win against that. ?" Fine. You could have just asked."

"What fun is there in that? C'mon, Reimu, I know you've always loved my ass." She let up the pressure just a bit, still bent over and leaning against his body, showing no signs of discomfort. "God, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah." There was a moment of silence before he shook his head. "Okay. So what do they actually do?" He could probably guess at this point, with the way things were going. Sure enough?

"Most of them can be used when getting intimate, let's put it that way. That's why this is a great way to test them! I made double-sure that they're safe. As long as you only take one. More than one within a day and, uh. Just don't do that. So! I'll tell you what they do, and let you decide which one to eat. And I can have one too, if you ask nicely~? See, I'm a reasonable girl. Right?" Grind, grind. ?Riiight?" Oh, if she didn't let up he was going to embarrass himself even more.

The front of his robe was already just a little moist. "Right! Okay!" His normally calm voice showed a bit of the urgency he now felt.

"Great~ So, we found five different species today." As she spoke about each, she helpfully pointed to them. "One of them causes great arousal! Mental arousal, that is. Another heightens all of your physical senses, but especially touch and taste. It might blow your mind. There's one here that blocks out all pain for a while! It also dulls other senses, as a result. This one here boosts your stamina considerably! And this final one causes a temporary paralysis. it's not harmful, you just can't move, almost like you're frozen in place."

-
Choose one of the following four options, and what Reimu and Marisa ate.

[ ] ? ?So it went about like you'd expect, with Marisa taking the lead."
[ ] ? ?We both ended up getting carried away, I suppose."
[ ] ? "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
[ ] ? ?I got a little tired of the teasing, so I got her back. Literally."

Each person can have one of the mushrooms Marisa described. Any mushrooms not eaten now will be kept for later use. Any combination is acceptable, including ?nothing? for either or both.

Arousal Mushroom
Sensory Mushroom
Painkiller Mushroom
Stamina Mushroom
Paralysis Mushroom

Reimu ate:
Marisa ate:

[x] ? ?I got a little tired of the teasing, so I got her back. Literally."

Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
Marisa ate: Sensory Mushroom

I want to see Marisa coming like a firehouse and off of lesser touching (such as coming from her ass being kneaded)

[X] ? "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual.."
- [X] Reimu ate: Sensory Mushroom
- [X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Shamelessly gunning for the beginnings of a Marisa route. If that's even at all possible.

Maybe she'll let slip that if she wanted to settle down, it'd be with Reiman and no one else. Not exclusive, technically, but the thought's there. And maybe jealousy later, too.

[X] ? "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."


Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
Marisa ate: Sensory Mushroom

What >>31889 said, but being too rough when a girl's sensitive just make things hurt. You need to fuck her gently, as the good song goes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5i4vHsF00U

More seriously, romantic Marisa is going to be a hell of a treat. And I'd love to see if Reimu and Marisa can rekindle their PASSIONATE LOVE instead of being friends with benefits.

[ ] ? "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual.."
-[ ] Anal

Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
Marisa ate: Painkiller

By porn logic, it works.

Changing vote to this.

[c] "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
[c] Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
[c] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

>>31894
Oh you.

[X] "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
-[X] Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Marisa, you deviant.

[X] "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
-[X] Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

I'd usually wait to see the other girls before going for a route, but this option calls to me.

[X] "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
-[X] Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Don't you dare NTR us Yukari.

[X] "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
-[X] Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Lookin good bro. Keep it up.

[x] ? ?So it went about like you'd expect, with Marisa taking the lead."
-[X] Reimu ate: Paralysis Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Ride em, Cowgirl.

[X] "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
-[X] Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Looking good so far.

[X] ? "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
- [X] Reimu ate: Sensory Mushroom
- [X] Marisa ate: Paralysis Mushroom

[ ] ? ?So it went about like you'd expect, with Marisa taking the lead.."

-[X] Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom


Also you may wanna consider changing his name, to something different.

It's odd seing a genderswap version of Reium still being named Reimu.

Maybe something like Reiji, Rei, something.

[ ] ? ?So it went about like you'd expect, with Marisa taking the lead.."

-[X] Reimu ate: Paralysis Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Stamina Mushroom

[X] ? ?I got a little tired of the teasing, so I got her back. Literally."

Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom

Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Sometimes, a leading Reimu/Reiju is good to!

[X] ? ?So it went about like you'd expect, with Marisa taking the lead.? (Anal as a bonus.)


-[X] Reimu ate: Paralysis Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

Oh man, that's just way too many "Stamina" votes for male Reimu. Come on, that's so generic!

[x] ? ?We both ended up getting carried away, I suppose.."

Reimu ate: Paralysis

Marisa ate: Paraly- no I'm kidding, uh, Stamina.

[x] ? ?So it went about like you'd expect, with Marisa taking the lead.."

-[X] Reimu ate: Paralysis Mushroom
-[X] Marisa ate: Stamina Mushroom

This sounds like a fun scene. Looks like I want Reimu to be on the submissive side.

[x] "So it went about like you'd expect, with Marisa taking the lead."

Reimu ate: Paralysis Mushroom
Marisa ate: Stamina Mushroom (or Arousal)

Would be hella fun. Don't disappoint me /at/.

>>31912
not as generic as stamina and arousal.

>>31914
Not as fun as Stamina (Reimu) + Sensory (Marisa)

>>31915
Stamina on Reimu as a whole is kinda boring but oh well, guess I'm a part of the minority here, ha.

>>31916
by itself or with say an arousal mushroom, yeah it's just normal stuff but longer, though I do think it's the best to go with Marisa has a sensory mushroom. /at/ hasn't had much forays into super sensitive girls.

Alright, I think I'll call the votes here again. I've kind of run out of ways to say 'thank you for your interest, votes, activity, discussion', etc. So instead I'll just say the Anon who plugged #touhouporn earlier was right. Brainstorming, editing, it helped out quite a lot.

So. Even with the different votes near the end, the results were fairly overwhelming. Romantic sex with Marisa, who took the Arousal Mushroom, whereas Reimu took the Stamina Mushroom. The other three types will be kept for possible later use.

No idea on a timeframe for an update this time, I'll just do my best and try to have fun with it.

The best idea would have been to start the story with another name for male!Reimu, but at this point, I'd be more bothered changing it then letting it be. Nobody will ever accuse me of planning ahead too much.

-

[x] ? "Then for some reason, Marisa was a bit more romantic than usual."
Reimu ate: Stamina Mushroom
Marisa ate: Arousal Mushroom

-

Yukari stirred, and her eyes fluttered open. ?" Well? Go on." She waved a listless hand in Reimu's direction, and shifted her body just a bit, paying no heed to the purple fabric stretching and straining to cover her. He saw, though, and it was tough to look away, even to take a sip of his tea. If he didn't know her personality, he would have figured she was well-suited to having children.

"Go on?" He echoed past his cup before setting it down. Surprisingly, he'd still managed to sound calm up to this point, even while describing Marisa's little ?ambush?.

She rolled around, only stopping when she nearly hit the table. "Yes! Tell me more. Tell me how you conquered her body, how you made her yours, and all that. I bet she made all sorts of noises while you pounded her." The gap Youkai was brazen as usual. She got a little carried away, swept up into a fantasy of what happened.

"That's not how it- You know that's not how it happened." Reimu hoped that his tone was like a parent trying to lay down the law to their child. It was probably more like a defendant in court.

"Oh? What do I know? Like I said, I didn't see for myself. You should enlighten me. Come on. A good storyteller doesn't stop right at the best part!"

"Well perhaps I'm not a very good storyteller, then." Despite lying down, she'd finished off some of her tea already. That was a bad habit. One should be sitting up, at least, or else choking could happen. "Here, I'll get you some more tea." The task provided a few moments where he couldn't actually see her. It was a small relief.

Even then, Yukari was persistent when she wanted to be. "Reimu. You already promised to tell me a story! Remember? What kind of a shaman would break his word to a beautiful young lady?"

"A bad, corrupt one, like me." Topping off her cup with what fresh, hot tea was left, he brought it back in and set it down on the table for her. She was still lying sideways on his mat, her curves forming a spectacular sight to stare at. Reimu did note that she was puffing out her cheeks, however. Pouting.

?" If you really want to provoke me, Reimu, I could always tell the story to you."

With, no doubt, plenty of embellishment and fudging details and embarrassing things thrown in. The shaman's annoyance now clearly showed on his face. "How is the story of what Marisa and I did in that forest going to help you get to sleep, anyway? Wouldn't you prefer a calmer tale?"

"Oh, my. Such a confident boy, to consider his own exploits exciting like that. Confident with good reason, I imagine."

Talking in circles was one of Yukari's many special abilities, and one that particularly helped to confound Reimu when she wanted to. It was a sign between them that she didn't feel like revealing her true intentions yet. If she ever would. If she even had any. Reimu wasn't much of a fan of guessing games.

His guest noticed his expression clouding up. "Please don't take that the wrong way, Reimu. I'm just kidding around. We're friends, right? Friends tell each other things." She waved carelessly yet again. Her musical voice dripped with honey.

"Not things like these." Not with regular people, anyhow.

"But you said yourself that you're not even telling me anything I don't already know." Sitting up to get some of that tea while it was hot, she quickly flopped back down to her ?rest? with another pout. Even other erratic people Reimu knew didn't act quite like this. He sighed.

"Fine. Keep this to yourself, though..? The shaman crossed his arms. Bothering him didn't bother him, oddly enough. He had grown used to it. If this ended up causing more trouble for Marisa, though? He couldn't allow that.

"Yes, of course! So, Marisa explained what the mushrooms did while grinding on your poor aroused body when??"

"When I came up with a plan."

-

"Thought of anything yet?" Marisa's tone was weirdly conversational as her enormous, soft ass smothered his crotch, pressing him between a lot of woman and an old, sturdy tree.

His reply was intense in tone. "Yeah. Hand me the stamina mushroom." With a quiet giggle, the witch leaned down further, grabbed one particular mushroom, and offered it to him. Now she only had one cheek on him, and the pressure let up. When he reached over to take it, his hand shook. He couldn't help the tension building up; both of them knew he likely wouldn't last long.

At least, not without this thing. He looked over the mushroom in his hand a few times. Eating the wrong mushroom in this forest could be hazardous. "Come on," Marisa egged him on with more gentle rubbing, keeping up a steady pace just to keep him hard, and now, settled right in the valley of her rear end. "That thing will let you go a few rounds! There won't be any side effects, either."

If they did that. it was no wonder these mushrooms were rare, and difficult to find. Otherwise, they would have been harvested and used by now. Tilting his head up, the shaman took a bite, and found the taste to be quite bitter. Not bitter enough to stop him, of course, and in a few more bites it was gone. "How long will it take to work?"

"That's part of what I want to test!" Gentle strokes of her powerful hips turned rough again. Marisa had no shame in doing this, only confidence in herself, and tight muscle control. She took a deep breath and then pressed in, hard. Reimu writhed against her before he could stop himself.

"Hey! Hold on, you were going to eat one too, remember?" If she was thinking about that, she wouldn't be teasing him quite so heavily. Hopefully. If this wondrous mushroom didn't start working quickly, he couldn't last. He deeply felt like he was on the edge. "Did you want me to pick one out, or?"

"Nah, it's fine, I'll just grab whatever." Reimu watched her chose a mushroom at random. "This one is the species that arouses you! Mentally, that is. Like, provokes lust. It won't make you fall in love with someone you hate or anything, but it's still pretty potent!"

For a moment, Marisa was still, examining the large mushroom in her hand, turning it over and over. In fact, she had stopped trying to make him cum on the spot, although she was still leaning heavily against her best friend. At the edge of his hearing, Reimu heard the running water again, even though his mind was clouded. It helped put his mind at ease that they were unlikely to get discovered by anyone, deep as they were in the magical forest.

His voice was deepened by arousal. He coughed a few times, nervousness showing despite his experience. "Didn't you want me to ask nicely?"

"Oh, it's okay. I can tell how much you want me to do this! In fact, I can feel it right now." She glanced down towards his erection. It bulged out of the white fabric of his robe, pressing against her black dress. "So that's good enough!" Marisa was just making things up as she went along. Reimu didn't care. They had the same goal, now.

He probably had other things to say, but they vanished without a trace when Marisa twisted her upper body a bit and then held the chosen mushroom up to her mouth. Glancing over at him, she brushed a lock of bright yellow hair out of the way, and then licked a bit at the bulbous head. He knew what she was going to do, and yet his breath still caught in his chest.

Licking more, her tongue ran lovingly over the rare specimen, appraising the taste. She quickly plunged her mouth down, and began nibbling away at the mushroom. At first, Marisa looked exactly like she had on the occasions she'd gone down on him. All that Reimu could do was stare. During this display, one of her hands reached around to rub him playfully.

She could have drawn it out, but even at her most teasing, Marisa was as direct as he was. Soon, she'd finished with it, and was licking the last bits of the flavor from her fingers. ?" Well?"

"Well what?" Reimu replied, brain still jammed up. Minus the end result, he wanted her to do that to him, desperately. When he tried to express such a thought, though, it got tangled up.

Rolling her eyes, Marisa explained, "If we're going to have sex, we'll need to take our clothes off. Unless you really want to ruin those holy robes~? Oh, right. Without further prompting, he undid his robe, and Marisa followed suit, starting with her hat. She removed it and gently set it down on the nearest small log.

His outfit hadn't been designed to be easy to take off, but neither was it elaborate, as far as religious robes went. A lifetime of experience allowed him to slip free quickly. Getting a thumbs-up from Marisa about his bare chest was encouraging, but also made him blush for some reason. Her smile was appreciative, and she quickly followed suit, undoing her shirt and undershirt. Tossing them aside, she put her hands on her hips. Now they were both topless.

Marisa saw that he was, unsurprisingly, staring at her. "Oh right, it's been a while since I've let you see! Well, I've got little to support, or bind, or whatever! But what's there deserves to be free! Easier to tan too." That was true. He couldn't see any real tan-lines on her. Did she really sunbathe? Or was this just her being prepared for today?

Reimu used to think of Marisa as boyish, at least up top, but that wasn't fair. Nobody could miss her chest, however small, and the soft curve of her thin waist. Even the muscle tone and definition brought by an unusually active lifestyle, for a magician, accented her features and was pretty in its own way. She flushed visibly under his gaze. Under other circumstances she would be happy to let him stare all he wanted, but now, she couldn't wait.

Quickly closing the small gap that had opened, she pressed against him, and thanks to the height difference, her chest thus pressed against his flat stomach. The contact of bare skin was a wonderful feeling, one they had both missed, but it got even better when she craned her neck up and kissed his. At the same time, her hands reached down and undid his pants, letting them fall to gravity and glancing down.

Whether it was more due to her rare mushroom, or just how she really felt, Marisa wanted all their clothing out of the way. Achieving this took no real effort or time, especially as she kept Reimu busy all the while with rubbing and kissing against him. For an encounter fueled by lust, there was quite a bit of physical affection involved, even little things like the way he said her name into her ear.

Without needing to look at how thick he was, Marisa knew that a lot of lubrication was going to be needed. Instead of bringing some along, she'd decided in her own mischievous way to make her own.

Keeping his back to the tree, she knelt on the soft, mossy ground, going straight to work. She knew how to pleasure a man, and more specifically, how to pleasure Reimu, and she distinctly remembered that he loved this. This mushroom, she treated much more affectionately than the other one, although she didn't take her time. Instead, she pushed forward and impaled herself, or at least, that's how it felt to her throat.

Reimu's unsteady but very enthusiastic voice assured her that things were going smoothly. He reached down and put a hand on the back of her head, bucking his hips urgently, even though she was already full. She took a few deep breaths through her nose, pulled back slightly until she found a good, comfortable spot for herself, and then began humming.

His hand gripped her hair for a moment, and it took a conscious effort to let go, although if anything, Marisa seemed to enjoy it. It was a sign that he might not last too much longer? She released him from her warm, moist throat with a popping noise, and saw that, thanks to her efforts, his cock was now ready.

"Why didn't you keep going?" Reimu asked, bringing up a hand to press against his face for a moment. His eyes squeezed shut.

"Your mind drifted off already? Well that's okay, I'll remind you this way." Without sight, all he had was her voice, and then, the familiar soft pressure of her rear end against him. "Since I believe in the power of love, I didn't tease you into coming in your clothes! Right? Although you still got them messy, hm?" Precum leaked onto her as he twitched. "So let it out now! And we'll start the real test."

Her encouragement wasn't just vocal; she started to grind again. The heat and friction made short work of him, and she didn't stop as he reached out to hold tightly to her waist. Reimu opened his eyes in time to see her reach back, and he cried out as she firmly grasped his cock again. He tensed up and shook, and now his real seed spilled across her ass in spurts.

Breathing heavily, Reimu kept standing, even though it felt like his energy was completely drained. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, faintly, and through their physical contact, he felt Marisa's as well. Maybe he was just imagining it. "Gods?"

"Eeeh? There's only one thing you need to pray to right now. And it's me~? She paused for a moment and saw the look on his face. "Too much? Aw. I read that line in a book somewhere, you know! Are you okay? You look like you're going to fall over." Reimu envied her limitless energy, more than usual, in that moment.

He shook his head. "Yeah, I'm alright, I just, uh.? Oh. He could feel his cock, despite being spent against her body, growing hard again. Marisa could feel it too, because she moved her cum-slick ass slowly against him, encouraging, even provoking. In moments, he felt a new surge of energy, as though he hadn't cum at all? and the urgency came back, too. It was a sharp feeling, and he felt light-headed.

"Yes! Look, look. it's working!" The shaman didn't need to look. He could tell this wasn't normal; something was propping him up, almost. What a potent effect they had discovered. How far would it go? Would this keep happening? "That's phase one of the research, complete! Okay, now. Uh. Just for more research, I should do it again. And again, and again~"

Something deep and shameful appreciated the idea of just being teased for hours by this girl, but could he really stand for that? This was supposed to be a mutual thing. Before she could get back to grinding on him, he'd taken hold of her and flipped both of them, pressing her front firmly against the luckiest tree in the forest with his own body.

His voice was deeper due to being muffled by her soft hair. "I have a better idea." A little rubbing of his own made sure she took his meaning. "Just tell me how you want it." His inclination was to see if he was lubed enough to begin working his way into her ass, but that was definitely something he wanted to make sure she was okay with. Being too rough with that was just a way to ruin everything.

Her reply was to squirm around for a moment and then turn around, bringing them face-to-face. They just stared at each other, and he could see something in her eyes. Even when they had been together, it was rare to see her burn like this. Bracing herself, she leapt up just enough to wrap her legs around him, letting his strength support her. Reimu's hands quickly went down to grasp both her thighs, holding her up easily. "Like this, okay? And kiss me, jeeze."

Rarely in his entire life had he been so fast to answer a lady's request. Their lips met, pressing together with clumsy fervor, followed moments later by their hips, as the two of them quickly squirmed about to find the proper way for two bodies of different size and shape to come together. It wasn't their first time; they made everything fit, more or less, and slowly but steadily, he entered her.

Marisa was tight. She had always been tight, almost beyond belief; she would always probably continue to be like this inside. Burning hot, full of life, clamping down on his cock like she was desperate to never let it go? He had never forgotten this feeling.

Tears welling up in her eyes made him pause even as he could barely stop himself from coming within his soft, resistant little prison. She took note and writhed, making a few very impatient noises before she managed actual speech. "it's nothing, keep going. Please." His pace still slowed, but if she was really in pain, she would tell him. He had to believe that.

A crying girl wasn't something that appealed much to him, though; a smile would be much better. He tilted his head down a bit and kissed away her tears, much to her surprise. He didn't even know what he was doing, truthfully, but he did it with conviction, and it seemed to help. Maybe. Well, Marisa somehow got even tighter from it.

She milked out more cum from him, as though he hadn't already spent much of his seed. With a certain spell in place to help out, she had absolutely no fear about taking everything he could offer. Given the circumstances, that might have turned out to be quite a lot. Another orgasm barely paused the action, and Reimu didn't let it slow him down, continuing his steady strokes and movements.

At first, Marisa thought she could last for a bit before coming, but that went out the window with a single jolt through her body. She had missed his touch every bit as much as she had, and was much less afraid to let it show even when they weren't going at it. Now, it seemed as though the mushroom she ate was starting to kick in, and before she could do more than squeal, she squeezed him tightly and came, her friend's already-recovered dick still hard within her.

It turned out to be a very good idea to let him support her because that first one nearly blanked her mind and certainly slackened her legs. He wouldn't let her drop, though; holding her up, he let her ride it out. In fact, he kissed her again, even though she couldn't do more than gasp in air and fruitlessly try to talk.

They would normally need to pause eventually, to catch breath, rest their bodies, and minds, but none of that happened today. None of it was needed. They kept going, with little more than a breather, at most. At first, Marisa tried to keep observations in her mind but soon, even that final pretense of ?research? was forgotten.

The way things unfolded kept them in that particular secluded bit of forest for quite a while. If a random creature would happen to stumble across it, they would end up turned around thanks to subtle barriers. There was no point in letting anyone else near, when this time was theirs, and they made the most out of every moment.

How long exactly they spent together, in the literal sense, was impossible to tell. Both of them had long since lost track of how many times they went; Marisa came several more times, and Reimu had many more shots left in him. What they ate fueled much of this but it was supporting feelings already there; even Marisa's lustful state came from a core of true desire.

Sometimes, Reimu was the one deciding how they did it, and other times, Marisa spoke up, with requests or begging or commands or urgent moans or anything in between. They laid on the ground, they pushed up against a tree, she straddled him. They surprised each other with just what they were capable of in that time.

Old memories flared up. It was impossible for either of them to keep their past suppressed, although they never said anything to acknowledge it; this wasn't their first time being swept away by passions. What was happening now surpassed any memory, even with the advantage of time and nostalgia. Marisa's plan had worked better than she'd predicted.

Even so, like everything else in the world, it had to end. Eventually.

The sky was flecked with amber by the time her hoarse voice in his ear paused him in the midst of gently fucking her. "I think? we've done enough testing for now, yeah?" Marisa was full, and tired, her hair was messy, and many bits of her had gone numb. Even then, her mind was willing, but she wasn't stupid enough to try and keep going like this. "I can't? believe we found something so potent."

"Oh, uh, yeah." He realized he was gripping her too tightly, having held her like that for the longest time. There had been no stopping or pausing for more than a few moments, of course. They had just gone at it with everything they had.

Reimu wasn't exactly tired per se, yet, so much as he knew it was time to stop. His body wasn't exactly cooperative on that point, but he'd already gotten so much stimulation that he felt a little over-sensitive. Even small noises got to him in that moment. He hadn't experienced such a state of heightened mentality since his last good session of prayer and special incense burning.

A quick dip helped them clean off, at least a little bit, given that this had been a messy little affair. They spent very little time in the water, given that it had a strong current and was somewhat cold. It helped them a little more alert, if nothing else. Afterwards, it was time to recover their clothes.

Getting dressed again wasn't much of a problem for him, since eventually he'd even stopped getting hard quite so uncontrollably, but he'd had to help her out. She was limp by this time, and could only breathlessly ask him to get her clothing back on her. Everything was messy and sweaty and worse, but it was better than heading home naked.

Without much discussion, they both agreed Marisa's house was in fact the best place to go; staying out at night would only lead to annoying encounters, and neither were in a shape to talk, or fight. There was only one major complication, and Reimu could hardly believe it. "Carry me~ I can't walk, much less ride my broom."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Nngh." Once again spotting a cloudy look on his face, she quickly added, "Oh, don't- look. It was worth it, okay? More than worth it. But man, Reimu. You sure didn't hold back once we got going. I'm happy about it, though. Yeah. Worth it." She repeated that a few more times as he scooped her into his arms, they gathered up all of their possessions, including the remaining mushrooms, and then he lifted off into the sky.

Even with his mind addled and fatigued, he could find his way to Marisa's house. It was a relatively short distance, and they were both grateful to get inside. It was deceptively normal-looking from the outside. Solitary out in the forest, it was painted, and even had a little mailbox out front that occasionally had mail delivered to it. Dirt roads led to it from several directions, even though Marisa tended to fly everywhere.

Any visitor who stepped inside couldn't fail to notice that it was crammed full of items, sprawled out on the floor in piles and even a few mountains. It was the definition of untidy, and at another point, Reimu would have clicked his tongue. Right now, all he could do was pick his way to the bedroom and set Marisa in her large, soft bed.

Then flop over beside her himself, drained and grateful for a chance for snuggling.

Maybe he was growing physically tired despite how energetic he had felt, earlier. The effects of what he'd eaten were doubtless starting to wear off. Having long surpassed his own limits and stamina, he couldn't even stay awake long. It was enough time to hug Marisa close, though, and she sleepily returned the embrace.

It would have been a nearly impossible task to wake either of them through the night and next morning. When Reimu finally did awake, he found her still sound asleep. Guessing that this was another effect of their little test of the mushrooms, he wasn't worried. They'd both exhausted a lot of energy, in different ways.

The house had a dimly lit feel about it, even as sunlight streamed in through circular windows scattered around, as though secretive things occurred there. Maybe it was fitting, but he just thought the place could use a bit more lighting. Especially if one was going to be doing alchemy, enchantment, or even simple reading.

Instead of just going back to sleep, he was awake enough to start doing something about the frankly sorry state of affairs in Marisa's house. Particularly, he went through enough of the clutter to safely navigate from room to room. Much of the things Marisa ?found? or ?borrowed? were books on one subject or another, and he couldn't help a bit of envy at someone who had so much knowledge that they literally tossed it about.

At least he could tell that many of the books had minor enchantments and wards on them. They were in good condition for how they were treated. Even so, getting them up and onto tables, or even just neat stacks in the edges of rooms, was a lot safer. He also gathered whatever potion bottles that could be found on the floor, some with bubbling solutions and liquids still in them, rather than risking accidentally stepping on them.

Barely pausing after he'd cleared safe spaces to walk, he decided to get working on a late lunch, shuffling through what food Marisa kept at her house for ingredients. At least, from what he remembered, he could rely on her having a big appetite. She would probably need to eat a bit after expending so much energy and sleeping for so long. He knew he was hungry, at least.

When Marisa finally rejoined him in consciousness, roused by the smell of cooking, she barely had to lay on the guilt trip to convince him to stay a while. "I can't walk still~? It was even very likely, to him, that she was telling the truth. Out of obligation, some guilt about leaving her in such a state, even by accident, and because he had nothing better to do, he thus ended up taking care of her.

He didn't mind at all when it got to the point where she should have surely recovered, and could have walked again, but chose to keep milking it instead. It was a chance to spend time together, a chance he wouldn't pass up.

Reimu's last visit of any real amount of time had been under such different circumstances, and there were certain things he was unlikely to bring up. He only had so much courage, despite the front he put up to many in Gensokyo.

As though she didn't notice anything was different now than it had ever been, Marisa happily kept up banter with him as she recovered, and even suggested he could become her housewife. After all, he was really good at a lot of the domestic things she tended to ignore. This suggestion was met with blushing and a light thwack from his gohei.

-

[ ] ? Choose what to talk about with Marisa as he helps her out and stays over. Write-in, from Reimu's perspective. Multiple topics are okay. Please keep each topic as a separate item. The top two or three will win.

[x] Remind Marisa about the effects (if Reimu remembers them) for her research
[x] Ask about any recent interesting events, if anyone knows them it'd be her.

Sure it's not flashy but I think it'd maintain a good mood

Incidentally, was it a light whack with his gohei or a light whack with his gohei?

[x]Remind Marisa about the effectsof the mushroom for her research.
[x] Ask if there are any books she thinks he might want to go through. Nothing else to do at the Shrine, so he might as well read. (It'll give him a reason to visit more often, too.)
[x]Agree to be Marisa's housewife if she buys him a ring and a pretty dress. See how far they can both take this before one of them gives up.

[x]Remind Marisa about the effects of the mushroom for her research.
[x] Ask if there are any books she thinks he might want to go through. Nothing else to do at the Shrine, so he might as well read. (It'll give him a reason to visit more often, too.)
[x]Agree to be Marisa's housewife if she buys him a ring and a pretty dress. See how far they can both take this before one of them gives up.

Sure, this works.

x]Remind Marisa about the effects of the mushroom for her research.
[x] Ask if there are any books she thinks he might want to go through. Nothing else to do at the Shrine, so he might as well read. (It'll give him a reason to visit more often, too.)
[x]Agree to be Marisa's housewife if she buys him a ring and a pretty dress. See how far they can both take this before one of them gives up.

Snark is necessary.

Huh, surprisingly not graphic and it works very well.

I approve actually. I'm keeping an eye on this, which is saying something considering I don't do that very often for /at/.

[x] Ask if there are any books she thinks he might want to go through. Nothing else to do at the Shrine, so he might as well read. (It'll give him a reason to visit more often, too.)
[x]Agree to be Marisa's housewife if she buys him a ring and a pretty dress. See how far they can both take this before one of them gives up.
[x] Ask about any recent interesting events, if anyone knows them it'd be her.

Well, that was different. Not sure if I'd want every sex scene to be that vague, though.

[x]Remind Marisa about the effectsof the mushroom for her research.
[x] Ask if there are any books she thinks he might want to go through. Nothing else to do at the Shrine, so he might as well read. (It'll give him a reason to visit more often, too.)
[x]Agree to be Marisa's housewife if she buys him a ring and a pretty dress. See how far they can both take this before one of them gives up.

[x]Remind Marisa about the effects of the mushroom for her research.
[x] Ask about any recent interesting events, if anyone knows them it'd be her.
[x]Agree to be Marisa's housewife if she buys him a ring and a pretty dress. See how far they can both take this before one of them gives up.

I, for one, really liked the way it was written, not too graphic, yet not too mild either, just how it should be; I look forward to more.

[x]Remind Marisa about the effects of the mushroom for her research.
[x] Ask about any recent interesting events, if anyone knows them it'd be her.
-[ ] Visit Youkai Mountain and check up on the competition.

Damn... That was good. Hot sex with fuzzy feel good things and excellent writing. You made it work damn well. Keep writing, this stuff is great.

I'll call the votes here. Reimu's going to remind Marisa about the mushroom research, ask her about book recommendations as well as current events we might not have been aware of, and along the way there will be banter about marriage until one of them gets too embarrassed.

I know I said two or three would win but hey, the votes were pretty close and one of these is just a banter option for flavor, too. I'll manage.

Expect the update a little sooner than the last one, hopefully.

So it's probably apparent, like a week later, that things are moving a bit slow. Life stuff ended up happening, nothing serious, but the will-to-write isn't as steady as it was. I'm still making progress on the update, though. Hope it's worth the wait and all that.

>>32214
Well if you do decide to abandon the story, at least tell us when the time comes.

>The best idea would have been to start the story with another name for male!Reimu, but at this point, I'd be more bothered changing it then letting it be. Nobody will ever accuse me of planning ahead too much.
How about Rayman?

For a moment I was worried that I'd let my story fall off the edge of the world and vanish forever, but fortunately not. In any case, I'm finally making progress on the next update, with profound apologies to the readers for the slowness. Life stuff happened.

Thanks to BSD for working with me on collab projects and generally getting me back into the writing-mode, even if it wasn't for this story specifically.

The fact that I also appear to be corrupting this whole site slowly into genderswap stuff is excellent.

At what point in the games does this story take place?

And have Reimu and Yukari here had any fun with each other? Does Yukari feel any real attraction toward Reimu or is it more teasing at most?

Oh also since you're here, will we ever get to see Yukari and Reimu here get it on with some creative uses of her gap ability, like say the one shown in the image?

I'd say it happens, uh. I don't really have a set ideas, but we can say after Ten Desires beecause then I get to include all the characters I'm actually even mildly familiar with. So let's roll with that.

As for Reimu and Yukari, I might leave that up to a vote, or figure it out later, but I don't have many plans set in stone except that certain opportunities will be presented.

>>33810
Considering the other genderswap one is kinda crappy... not so much

>>33822
Which one is the "other" one?

>>33810
Eh while it's popular on /at/, I don't think it's a site wide mania.

>>33834
It's not that popular here anyhow and really genderswap for most of the stories here is just laziness because they don't want to bother trying to build an OC for the narration so they just have the character being a male with the same name and powers.

[x] Remind Marisa about the effects (if Reimu remembers them) for her research
[x] Ask about any recent interesting events, if anyone knows them it'd be her.
[x] Ask if there are any books she thinks he might want to go through. Nothing else to do at the Shrine, so he might as well read. (It'll give him a reason to visit more often, too.)
[x] Agree to be Marisa's housewife if she buys him a ring and a pretty dress. See how far they can both take this before one of them gives up.
-

Marisa couldn't help but grin, even as she yelped and flinched from Reimu's not-so-gentle strikes. "Is that a no?" Some people were afraid of rejection, but she wasn't like them. Or anyone else he could think of, really.

Sighing, Reimu shook his head. ?" Put it this way. I doubt you'd be willing to pay to get me a ring and a pretty dress."

"Eh? So sure about that? I'm not a miser like you, Reimu."

"Hey! I resent... Come to think of it, if we get married, I could use all the money you've got sitting around." Some of it wasn't technically hers, but that was okay.

"Oh, so that's the real reason you're after me." She bent over, her expression twisting. "Well, as long as I get to see you in a white dress, I can- nnnngh! Fuck."

He reached out to touch her shoulder in concern. "Hey, try to take it easy, alright?" She nodded quickly, but her black hat slipped off in the process and fell to the messy floor. Reimu grabbed it and placed it beside her, trying not to openly fret. While she was getting better, she would still go through times like this, of discomfort or pain. It was still a regular reminder of something unpleasant. "I really went overboard."

"Nah, nah." After a few coughs, she sounded a little better, taking deep breaths. "Most of it was because I kept egging you on. Well, and you kept getting it back up like that." He missed another gorgeous grin as he stood up and went to the kitchen. "Like I told you, it was worth it, too."

"For the research?"

?" Yeah, that.."

For a while, her house was quiet again. Despite the fact that its owner was such a loud, energetic person, it often felt a little empty. Especially since it was a very decent size for one person to live in. Reimu attributed a lot of that to needing space for whatever she decided to take home.

"Hang on, I'll brew up something for us... an old family recipe."

Their taste might not have been the best, few could deny Reimu's skill at making healing brews. The trick was to treat them like tea, mixing them up the same way but adding a little extra here and there. Marisa had a large stockpile of interesting things he could add, but he refrained from experimenting for her sake. After mixing up something for the pain and clapping his hands over it a few times, he went and placed it on her table.

It wasn't a match for real medicine, or real magic for that matter, but it was enough to put a smile back on her face. Things were developing into another comfortable silence, but a yawn from Marisa broke through that. "Still tired," She complained idly, not really to him, but in his general direction.

"Then sleep." The shaman rolled his eyes. "As the expert on mushrooms, you should know the kind of side effects those things would cause. Or, at least, may as well give yourself the time to sleep it off."

Marisa mulled this over while she gave the tonic a few sips, found it was almost tolerable, and drank away regardless. "You wouldn't leave while I was asleep, though?"

"Of course not." His answer was quick, and the follow-up was quicker. "Otherwise you'd just fly over and complain about it anyhow. This way you're quiet, at least." A little pillow came sailing his way at a high speed, and he ducked just in time to avoid a mild, cute impact. "Hey!"

Midway through a raspberry, Marisa sat upright on the edge of her bed. "But it's not fair. Why don't you feel like crap?"

All he could do was shrug. "Maybe it's a delayed effect, and you'll get better just in time to lord it over me." She relished the image for a moment. "Until that time, though? Just take it easy. Probably no pressing business to get to." Most of the people living in Gensokyo had a flexible view of time, even the humans. "Maybe you can even write down all the stuff you learned from that research?"

She didn't act like a scholar, but Reimu still considered his friend a leading expert on magical things. She spent a lot of time and effort on it, unlike him, and she could speak with firsthand knowledge about things other people could only dream of. Since getting home, she'd hardly written down anything.

"Pfft. I guess it couldn't hurt. Hey, you could even help me! You were there, too. Come here and do some writing, I want to lay around." Thus, Reimu was quickly enlisted as a secretary, at least for a while. He didn't complain, however; a lot of the things she listed off in terms of the magic and its effects were of personal interest.

It was odd to hear Marisa speak with an almost detached tone about her actions, examining them the way a doctor might. Her memory of everything that happened wasn't complete; her state of consciousness had gone in and out a little bit, or at least her mental focus had. That wasn't surprising, considering how roughly they ended up going at it. He remembered it all quite vividly as she recounted, and had to go back and fix a few errors caused by his own mental wanderings.

From what he could tell, what was left of his side of the ?take? would be just as potent, and it would be a good idea to hang on to it. At least until his next trip to the village, when he could see about selling them.

"Where did the day go?" Marisa wondered aloud after finishing up, stretching out a bit as she lied on her side. "Reimu~ I'm hungry~"

"So am I. I'll go prepare something." Speed was preferable to quality in this situation, so he just threw together some ingredients and made them into a stew with a spare cauldron. The large, heavy container was likely intended for a different purpose, but that didn't bother him. He hadn't gotten any complaints about his cooking so far, either.

This meal was much more lively than lunch. Marisa being awake helped with that. Their conversation meandered, and sometimes stopped, but like much of the time they spent together, it was a comfortable silence. Neither felt compelled to fill the void with talking, just speaking up when they had something to say. He didn't exactly keep in touch with current events, but most of what Marisa had to say was ?news? he didn't have much interest in. Rare mushrooms were apparently appearing at an incredible rate lately. Very gripping stuff.

"Do any reading lately, Reimu?" Marisa asked at one point.

He shook his head. "Not really." Lacking much interest, or a large selection of books lying around that he hadn't already committed to memory, he was mostly left to his own thoughts. Maybe this was an opportunity. "Any recommendations? When I think about it, you'd probably be a great person to ask."

"Oh, no doubt! I can recommend all sorts of books!" She proudly thumped her chest, always happy for a chance to elaborate on her own tastes. "Looking for something recent? An ancient tome of magic? A great love story? Whatever it is, I can let you borrow it! Or borrow it for you if it's not around here!"

"Please don't take anything because of me, Marisa. I'm supposed to be the one keeping order here." If one defined ?order? as ?Gensokyo not being torn apart?, at least. Reimu was happy to leave the smaller things for people to resolve among themselves. "If you have anything on-hand, though, I wouldn't say no."

Marisa nodded and started to stir, only to think better of it. She shifted back into a comfortable position and let out a sigh. "I'll find something cool. To help repay you, or something. Just remember to return it after you've read it."

"Don't worry." Reimu stared at her a while. He mused over his reply to that, and instead of opting for a more direct reproach, he finally settled on, "It must be nice to be you."

"Hm? It kinda is. Why?" Her smile was still like staring up into a bright summer day. It had a lot of energy, and life, and it made him want to go into the shade. Inside the house, which had some form of magic or another covering it, things were cool even as the warmth of the day was still burning off the land.

-

For the two of them, the night passed quickly, with just a bit of sake to help them sleep more soundly. This helped Marisa quite a bit, who was still peacefully sleeping when Reimu awoke to find that he had become her pillow. While this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, he grew restless beneath his captor as her gentle snuggling and snoring prevented him from getting back to sleep.

Just as he was staring up at the first beams of light filtering through the high windows, he heard a gentle knock float in from the front door.

Shaking Marisa's shoulder produced nothing except some murmurs about bells and magical spells, and so Reimu gently escaped her. Fortunately, he was sober enough to stand up and move around the house. Without a single thought spared to his appearance, he made his way to the door and swung it open, wincing as the sunlight's full brilliance hit him in the face.

Blinking a few times, he reached up with a bare arm to shield himself and made out the sight of a woman, dressed in white and blue. "Ah! Reimu, uh." Her voice was familiar to him, even when he was in such a state.

"Alice." He smiled just a bit, and the daylight got slightly less painful to be in. Now it was merely wince-inducing. His greeting must have been a little lackluster, however, for it was followed by a few moments of silence. The only sound was that of some distant birds chirping away to herald the day's coming. What was her problem, anyhow?

Maybe it was the fact that he had shown up to answer Marisa's door, and looked like he spent the night... in fact, upon closer examination, he realized that his shirt was gone. His pants remained, at least, but his bare, chiseled chest was free to catch the breeze, and perhaps the wandering eyes of a magician as well.

His recovering eyesight soon spotted the faintest traces of a blush upon his friend's pale, soft cheeks. "Ah, sorry," he said, his voice languid. To a stranger he might have sounded insincere, but for him, it was practically screaming. He turned away, although that only gave Alice a chance to see his back and the way it literally rippled at even the slightest movement.

He needed to go back inside and get a shirt or something. "Come on," he said, and then vanished further into Marisa's house. That was all the puppeteer needed; with a tiny little smile on her little Shanghai's face, she entered the very familiar house.

The dozen dolls that flanked her followed and then overtook her rushed ahead into the house, determination etched onto their artificial faces. She normally didn't take so many for social calls, but this place was different. Each of her dolls had come prepared with cleaning supplies, including appropriately small cans of aerosol from the human village, brooms and bins, and a feather duster.

As per their usual routine, a half-drunk, half-asleep Marisa knew that her friend had come to visit first by noticing a wave of cleaning going through her house like a hurricane. Reimu simply had to admire the efficiency at which Alice and her dolls worked, far outstripping his own attempts to bring order to a chaotic home.

When he showed himself again to the puppeteer, he had found his shirt, something that Alice was outwardly grateful for. It made it easier to talk casually, at least. "Ah, I see, so you're taking care of her. You could have asked me to handle that, Reimu. I'm sure you have more important things to do."

The idea drew a short laugh from him as he glanced over and saw two of the dolls heft a teapot over a small fire. "Hardly. Besides, it was sort of my fault that this all happened." No, it was mostly Marisa's, but he would have truly felt like one of those assholes from the village if he'd just slept with her and left her to face whatever happened afterwards alone.

Even though they weren't in a relationship or anything. Just good friends. Good friends who occasionally found a quiet place to go at it and then went on with their lives for the most part.

As far as Reimu had known before this visit, Alice didn't know about some of the deeper aspects of Marisa's friendship with him. Now, it was hard to hide it. She wasn't just smart; she was, as she sometimes boasted, a real genius, and he could see her mental gears moving as she glanced around at the state of the house and whispered to her dolls.

She didn't just come out and ask, though. That would be too direct, and he suspected she might not like the answer. Better to leave things like this for now, though it did cause an awkward silence as they made their way to Marisa's room. A period of silence with her was different than when it was quiet between himself and Marisa.

Marisa groaned as though she were dying and reached up towards her newly arrived friend. "Oi, Alice, why are you here so early?"

Producing a pocket watch, the master of dolls flipped it open and shook her head. "It's well past noon, don't blame me. I thought you might want to see what I've managed to dig up, too... it's related to that matter we discussed earlier."

"The one with the book?" Life quickly crept into the bedridden magician, and soon she was up and about, bouncing back from everything in a way that Reimu had always envied. "Did you actually manage to get it?"

Another tiny smile graced the calmer woman's complexion, and she reached up to brush a stray lock of blonde hair from her brilliant blue eyes. Rather than reply with words, she produced an old, dusty book from a small bag toted by one of her dolls. It had been straining visibly under the load, and looked quite relieved to be freed of its burden.

The conversation that ensued over this apparently wonderful book of ancient magical secrets went cleanly over the shaman's head, but with a good cup of tea in his hands, that didn't really matter to him. From the pieces he did pick out, it seemed to have something to do with enchanting and imbuing magical properties into items, but even the actual effect of the spells were lost on him. Amid the excitement, he was temporarily forgotten, and melted into the scenery.

He enjoyed that feeling for a time, but it couldn't last forever; eventually their conversation dipped back down to his level, and two pairs of bright eyes turned towards him. "Reimu, did you get all that?" Marisa asked.

"No," he replied without missing a beat. Neither of the magicians looked surprised.

"Well the important part is that we're planning a big project that will require a few special things," Alice summarized, leaning back with a sigh. She held herself high most of the time, but her guard dropped in such company. "And I was wondering if you'd like to give us a hand."

After finishing off his tea, Reimu closed his eyes and let out a sigh. This sounded like a relatively small thing. Hopefully. "What do you need?"

To his personal relief, she quickly confirmed that it wasn't another incident or something else large and bothersome. "We conducted some negotiations with the tengu on Youkai Mountain, and they're willing to part with a sacred and spiritual artifact we could use."

"For a price," Marisa added with a wide grin. "Ah, don't worry, we've already paid the sum, we just need somebody to go pick it up and bring it back here."

Perhaps concerned by the look on his groggy face, Alice stepped in before he could protest. "Normally I'd be happy to go get it myself, but I came over with some materials I'd like Marisa's help with. The more time we have together, the more we can work on this project. It could have broader applications than just enchantments, too." His expression softened just a bit at her eager look, too bright for this time of morning. Or afternoon. Whatever. She clasped her hands together as though offering up a prayer. "Please?"

As if he could refuse either of these women. Reaching to pour himself some more tea, he almost scorched his hand through carelessness. "Tch. Yeah, don't worry about it. I can head up the mountain again." Perhaps some groups of bored faeries would wander by and he could discharge some early-morning annoyance into them. As long as they were trying to spray him with bullets, he wouldn't even feel guilty about it.

Both magicians leaned over towards him, expressions lively and encouraged, as though he had promised to bring back piles of gold and treasure. "Thanks!" Marisa said, voice loud and proud and showing no trace of her 'weakness' from before, or even the fact that she'd just woken up.

After making sure Alice could take care of things from here, and privately envying the domestic skills of her legion of dolls, Reimu saw little more reason to delay. If he got a move on and kept a crisp, cruising speed with a good flightpath, he could make it back in time for dinner... maybe. It was a personal challenge. Whatever they were doing was probably worth it.

It wasn't like he had any big plans for today. Or any day. Days and even weeks just sort of slipped by sometimes. A chance to get back into the air was fairly exhilarating, as well.

Saying a farewell to his friends who were already engrossed in their project, he stepped out into the sunlight and took a running leap at the ground, missing handsomely and floating off into the sky. His takeoffs weren't usually so expressive or explosive as, say, Marisa's, but he was less likely to smack into a tree this way. It suited his style more to enjoy climbing above the mystical density of the Forest of Magic and surveying the countryside stretching out before him.

Ancient, gigantic trees stretches as far as the eye could see in almost every direction, occasionally broken by streams or clearings. But even now, he could see the mountain on the horizon, partially obscured by mists and low-hanging clouds. Even for a native, Gensokyo had a tendency to entrance if one looked too long at the scenery, so he kicked off of nothing and started towards his destination.

Flying didn't come as naturally to him as it did to many of the non-humans who frequented Gensokyo, or even Marisa. At least he didn't need to flap in mid-air anymore, as humorous as small children found such a sight. His will, channeled in just the right way, simply defied the pull of gravity in just the right way to send him rocketing through the sky.

The cool wind howling through his ears was almost deafening, but it made for a nice contrast from the warmth of the day, and he made sure to occasionally slow down to avoid getting ill or something. Normally he would stay closer to the ground to avoid attracting the fairies' attention, but this errand left him in a bit of a mood for a fight. Maybe he was just bored, maybe he wanted to vent a little. All he knew for sure, soaring above the land that had seemingly frozen in time, was that he wouldn't greet a sudden volley rising up to meet him with the sigh he normally reserved for annoying things.

As though called forth from the shaman's prayers, glowing blue bullets suddenly bounced up from a random bit of forest beneath him, sailing wide but catching his eye. He rotated mid-air, slowing his horizontal motion in time to see another small burst go wide in the other direction.

Sure enough, when potshots didn't do the trick, a cluster of dots broke from cover, climbing into the sky in their own formation. Their small wings were just visible, beating many times every second like a charm of prankster hummingbirds. Without any of the pre-battle banter or trashtalk he'd privately come to enjoy, they launched another attack, pulling in behind him and firing away in his general direction.

They weren't really worth coming to a stop for, but if he accelerated again, they might not be able to keep up and break off the engagement. Keeping at a cruise, he evaded fire, moving regularly on two axes of motion and not allowing them to lead their shots. Not that this group was even bothering with that... A lecture on proper shooting was in order if they stuck around long enough to get into shouting range.

With a flick of his wrist, he sent a few ofuda spiraling backwards, and they burst in the air to throw up small clouds of smoke. Muddling the otherwise clear and wonderful air, he then started to fire back in earnest, with short, controlled bursts towards where he could tell they were.

The dozens of bullets didn't really hit much, but occasionally he saw a little pop in the distance through the smoke and explosions of energy. At least his latest stretch of nearly-welcome inactivity hadn't rusted his skill completely, although things could still turn ugly for him if he ran into any meatier challenges.

Getting frustrated with his half-hearted defensive strategy, his attackers began to pull back. Reimu thought he was to be left alone, but then he spotted something remarkable out of the corner of his eye.

They were going around to either side, forming a circle with him in the middle. Glancing over to the other side, he spotted more; either there had been more in that group than he'd counted at first, or they'd gotten some friends involved in the now-exciting chase. The distance was still long, but now he was being attacked from a variety of angles, and having to start dodging again to evade the crossfire.

He was nearing the base of the mountain, however. Abruptly kicking his speed up, he began to outpace them, feeling a slight drain on his energy as he exerted more and more of himself. Seeing became more than a little difficult at this speed, as well, and it would be a very bad idea for a squishy human to lose his spatial awareness at this point. He had to keep track of exactly where he was going, and brake far enough in advance to prevent careening into the treeline, or a waterfall, or a jagged cliff.

For a moment, Reimu even considered turning back to continue the little dogfight, but that would require time and effort, and he despised wasting either of those things. Well, one more than the other. In any case, it wasn't worth the bother, so he began to fly lower and lower until he sank beneath the treeline again. Much of Gensokyo was still wilderness such as this, even outside the area designated as the 'forest', so there was enough to keep him hidden and give the faeries time to get bored and wander off.

Turning upwards to follow the curve of the landscape, he kept braking slowly until his speed was a little less Marisa-tier. He had to keep it down in these more confined spaces, surrounded by trees and natural obstacles. He was close enough now to wave to the sparse travelers passing along a road that led up to the fabled mountain, and towards its diverse inhabitants.

As for humans, he was probably the only one for quite a while; occasionally others ventured forth, but they tended to stay where things were relatively safe and relatively normal unless they had some kind of power.

Reimu now lazily followed the road. It was bound to be clear of aerial obstructions or dangers, even though it increased his chances to make contact with other potential involuntary danmaku partners. However, he managed to find some peace and relative quiet. Or at least, the white noise of the rushing winds was less intense at his cruising speed, and he'd long since tuned it out.

His progress was interrupted again, but this time, the interruption took the form of a pair of familiar figures emerging from either sides of the path in order to impede him. He slowed to a relative crawl in reaction, and they matched speeds with him, giving him plenty of time to make out their vibrant autumn color-schemes and golden hair as they billowed in the wind.

"Priest of the Hakurei Shrine!" the figure slightly closer to him proclaimed . She was now within easy communication range, crossing her arms over a simple, almost eye-bleeding red dress. "We didn't expect to see you again so soon."

Soon for them, maybe; although they hardly looked it, he was being addressed by a pair of goddesses. "Just passing through." Like last time, when they'd come to danmaku. The 'battle' had been very short, however, and he suspected they had taken that personally.

A shame, that. They might have seen it as a defeat to be remembered, but for him, it was Tuesday. "Is that so?" the other one asked, her voice slightly lower and more gentle as she adjusted her hat. It seemed in a bit of danger of flying off at this rate. How did anybody keep their hats on at regular flight speeds, anyhow? "Well, some humans have a lot of nerve, huh sister? Flying up through our lands as though they have a right to pass through, without offering so much as a-"

Cutting people off in their confident boasting or smacktalk was a little rude, but Reimu could feel the annoyance welling up again. "Look. There's no reason we can't just go our separate ways and get on with life, okay?" Unless you want another whooping, was the unspoken last part of his sentence.

This attempt to resolve things without shooting didn't go over particularly well. "I'm not sure I like your tone, human!" Shizuha, the goddess in red, exclaimed. "You haven't learned to respect your betters, eh?"

"..." It was unwise to say what he had on his mind, but Reimu had his moments, like every man. "... Do you really want to get eaten again so badly?"

That had an effect on both of them, their faces immediately reddening as they took the wrong impression of his exasperated question. "E-Eaten?!" The autumnal goddesses echoed, almost in unison, voices rising in outrage.

Shizuha was the first to recover from the shock. "I'm sure we made it clear last time that a mere human couldn't possibly dare to-"

Interrupting the flustered yelling, Reimu waved his gohei about in the air. "That's not what I- Okay, look. I'm just here for an errand, okay, I'm not here to steal the harvest or 'eat' you or anything."

"We can't trust that now! Our honor won't be satisfied unless we have a rematch!" the somewhat curvier goddess in the orange dress, Minoriko, declared. Her sister nodded, and the tension was thick in the air. It was clear that they were serious about this, and possibly just spoiling to regain their dignity after his last visit.

His next reply would decide things. There were still enough openings in the forest path that he could probably get away if he didn't mind flying a little more dangerous than usual... but running from this sort of challenge? It wasn't his usual style... even if this was a pain.

-

"Ooooh! See, now that's what I was wondering about. Couldn't you have just flown higher again and avoided all of these minor things?"

Reimu shook his head, sighing again just at the memory of it. "You know how it goes. Everybody on the mountain could see me coming then, and half of the people there would be spoiling for a fight. Humans still aren't exactly favored guests, even when they're not causing trouble."

"I suppose that it all turned out for the best, hm?" Rolling about a bit, Yukari let it a sigh and hugged her pillow in a way fit to make any man jealous of it. "As in, that seemingly-annoying encounter turned out okay for you?"

"Well..."

-

[ ] ? ?I rejected their challenge politely and continued on my way."
[ ] ? ?I basically laughed in their faces, and left."
[ ] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."
[ ] ? "... I accepted the challenge and lost."

[x] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

I don't think he'd lose even now though the length on the other hand might differ.

[x] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

They're stage one bosses, right? Wouldn't Reimu basically have to throw the fight to lose to them?

Pretty much.

>took a running leap at the ground, missing handsomely and floating off into the sky

Hehe.

[X] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

This is no time to take it easy, we have witches waiting!

[X] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

Hax Sign~[Burn Everything]

[x] ? "... I accepted the challenge and lost."

Oh nooo. We lost. How could this be. What will they do with us.

I learned this strategy from MGQ.

[x] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

[x] ? "... I accepted the challenge and lost.."

Nope, can't resist.

[X] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

>>33934
To be honest if it was Cirno, a loss may have been possible in my opinion as unlike most early stage bosses who generally aren't combat heavy, Cirno generally goes about trying to make herself stronger. Considering she's only been a stage 2 at most but managed to get her own game and a playable spot in a Fighter.

[X] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight
wasn't very long. I won."

[X] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

Okay, I'll call the vote, and it wasn't even close; the Aki sisters are going down.

When is the update?

The outline has been drafted completely and now I'm in the process of fleshing it out into a full, like, narrative paragraph form. After that comes editing, and then other people editing the edits...

Short answer: We're still operating on Valve Time in this thread but it's coming.

>>34178
Update Status: SOON

>>34179
Touhou 3 confirmed!

Oh wait...

So about that update. . .

[x] ? "Well, I accepted their challenge, but the fight wasn't very long. I won."

-

The entire affair was bright and flashy, as most danmaku battles tend to be. Through his annoyance, the shaman had to admit the sisters' new combination spellcards were beautiful. They had clearly practiced, and executed their attacks with confidence.

But, despite all that... it still wasn't a much of a challenge. Maybe he wasn't as rusty as he'd thought; maybe his luck had just kicked in again. The two goddesses had struggled with all their might, though and if he hadn't been busy he might have just thrown the fight and dealt with the aftermath some other way.

Still, a few orbs to the face later, both Shizuha and Minoriko were crumpled onto the soft forest ground, side-by-side. Shizuha's slender, athletic form lay defeated beside her round, curvaceous sister's. Minoriko's body was barely contained by her humble clothes, larger in every respect except for height. She sloped into an hourglass, with proud, substantial breasts and husky thighs and legs, soft everywhere. Even in her relatively flat stomach there was give; in fact she looked pillowy all over.

Her sister made quite a contrast to that, but in her own way, was every bit as beautiful. Shizuha's long, toned legs were still moving, trying to drag her up, and she might have been able to do it if she weren't so spent. Her movements had a certain grace to them, and she was built like a dancer overall. Not all thin, or lanky, but compact.

She moved against the ground a bit, her skirt flowing around thin limbs and showing off pale, unblemished skin. That was one thing they both shared; even in the dirt, they weren't actually getting very dirty, a trait he could only admire.

Their clothes were another matter, and clung visibly tighter thanks to the scuffle. He could spot little singes on the frilly edges. Even the talismans he'd planted across their bodies stuck close and contoured with their curves. For Minoriko, they turned and twisted quite a bit, and one found its way right between the valley of her breasts. It was barely visible.

Restricting their movement with those seals may have been a bit much for him, but at least they weren't cut, bruised, or scarred... maybe. Seeing the goddesses' faces marred with frowns wasn't particularly pleasant either, though, and it almost made him regret winning.

The least he could do was avoid rubbing salt in the wound. A quick swing of his gohei painlessly removed the seals from the sisters' bodies, and a quick bite of the tongue was enough to stop the instinctual trashtalk. Instinctual - ugh, he used to be better than that. Still, Reimu didn't have enough time to treat their wounds or bring them back to their house, so this would have to be enough.

But the red-white shaman was only a few inches off the earth when Shizuha managed to recover. "H - hey, Reimu, wait!"

He waited. He wasn't terribly patient, though, and the deep, slow breaths he took probably came off like annoyed sighs. Not that Reimu was attempting to be polite - he kept his back straight and his lips flattened, trying to scare away the Akis and be done with this whole thing.

He couldn't help but notice Shizuha's beaming face, however. Who smiled after getting beaten up so badly? "Well, congratulations, Reimu. You're definitely the stronger one - we'll submit completely."

Hah. Ahahaha. Reimu had had enough practice with word games to know something was up. Best to nip this in the bud. "Thank you. I accept. Goodbye." Unfortunately, he never was the fastest one around, and he couldn't even begin to turn before the pretty blonde spoke up again.

"Aren't you even a bit curious about why we wanted to... get you on your knees?" Shizuha was a poor actor - or maybe she just wasn't trying. Despite her smiles, he could hear the hopefulness in her voice, along with a tinge of desperation.

He'd probably be a terrible shaman if he didn't at least hear her out. Plus, Yukari would nag him again. "...Not particularly. I just thought that you wanted a bit of revenge. And maybe show off while you were at it - using actual leaves as danmaku was a nice touch..." Reimu hadn't meant to trail off, but the way both girls lit up at his praise was a bit... gratifying. Shizuha looked especially pleased, even if she was lying in a heap, and the way they preened, twirling their own hair - ugh, he was too easily distracted. "But I do have business on this mountain today." At that, both Shizuha and Minoriko began scrambling to get up, only giving themselves - and each other, for some suspicious reason - quick pats and checks for bruises. Once they were done and paying attention, Reimu got straight to the point. "So if you have something to say, please don't beat around the bush."

Shizuha let out a huff at that, and began brushing the wrinkles and stray twigs from her dress. She didn't even look at him when she spoke. "Sore winner!" she yelled, in a way that almost sounded... affectionate. "Right, so - getting some payback wasn't the only thing on our agenda today. It was just a bonus - you know, if we won." The younger sister looked up then, and there was no way Reimu could mistake her blush for anything else. "Anyway - we're in a sticky situation together, and you seem like the kind of guy who could work one out for us - er, work us out of one."

Reimu had to resist rolling his eyes. If they had just told him earlier... still, no helping it now. Shizuha was biting her lips, struggling to find the words, or maybe just struggling to swallow her pride. It took her a little longer before she finally looked him in the eyes. In the meantime, he had difficulty keeping his eyes off of Minoriko, who had crossed her arms under her generous chest and was leaning forward with apparent concern.

"Reimu, The tribute we've been getting, like faith..."

"... And other things..." Shizuha added, her face still burning.

"...It all hasn't been enough to sustain us, frankly. It's been like this for a while now."

He couldn't help the wincing; he had to skip meals to make ends meet, and going hungry was never good. All the same... "I'm honestly sorry to hear that, but-"

"It's seasonal? It ebbs and flows with the whims of the people?" Shizuha took the words out of his mouth with a frustrated sigh. "Trust me, we know. It's not that, Reimu. If it were that simple, we could deal with it, borrow some faith from the Moriya Shrine, but it's a bigger problem. Think of it..."

"... Think of it like a business!" Minoriko explained, bouncing softly on her heel and causing a noticeable amount of movement. Unlike her sister's trimmed, sleek form, hers was free to move about, and sunk slightly under gravity's pull. It was distracting. "Some days people visit your shop, other days they don't, and so you need to figure out whether you can survive off what you make minus expenses! Well, we were always a bit on the margins, despite the fact that we help ensure the harvest..."

"And the entire season of Autumn to boot..." Somebody had to paint those leaves. Reimu felt all the willpower to do anything leave his body just at the thought of having to do all that work. They supposedly did it every year. Shizuha certainly looked fit from how hard she worked, with visibly toned arms and legs that shifted underneath her modest red dress...

"So we had to make do without before! And Moriya would help us out too, if we needed it."

"Lady Sanae was particularly willing to give us some faith when she came by." For some reason, both goddesses blushed heavier at this, pulling together for a moment and looking away. "but... it's not enough now. We're not getting enough faith, and you know what that means." Gods simply needed faith. They needed it in the same way people needed food. If deprived, they would suffer, and eventually, leave the physical world.

"Yes, I do. How was defeating me," a pretty big presumption, "going to help you with your problem at all?" As much as he'd hate to admit it out loud, he wasn't exactly the expert on getting lots of faith or donations.

In fact, if these lovely girls just wanted a shoulder to cry on about people being stingy with the forces that sustained them, all he could say was that he knew how they felt.

"That's a good question! Well, think about it this way. We can't just survive as we had been for the past... long time. If we keep on like this we'll be gone soon, right? And Moriya isn't any help this time."

Reimu had to resist the urge to grit his teeth in annoyance. Not at them, but at Kanako and her cheerful miko. They walked around like they owned that entire great mountain and all of the creatures who called it home, but that was supposed to entail certain responsibilities. Helping out Gods who needed some more faith sounded a lot like something they should be doing, especially on their doorstep.

"So not to be repetitive about this, but how was picking a fight with me going to solve any of your problems?"

"You really can't tell?" Shizuha let out a defeated sigh, which seemed appropriate, but her sister was still lively, eyes twinkling.

Reimu crossed his arms tightly. He wanted to tell her off, but instead, he just shook his head, and tried to pretend their manner wasn't interesting. Who wouldn't at least pause when beautiful girls were basically hitting on him?

Minoriko burst out, "Sheesh! We want to move in with you for a while, Reimu! In your shrine!"

"Sis, you're being a little brash... Remember, we were the ones who lost. He's supposed to be taking the lead..."

"He asked, so I just told him straight out! Besides, how could he resist? Any boy would be excited, right?"

Reimu needed a few seconds to figure out what to say. On his list of things he didn't expect to happen today, this was right up there with Suika getting a real job. Not to mention that if they were right about the faith levels going down generally, and not just for them, they'd probably be one of the first religious figures to feel the effects of that. It meant something was happening, and in Gensokyo, that usually meant he had to go whack with a gohei.

It wasn't like his own shrine was empty or godless, although it may as well have been, so it wasn't like he couldn't incorporate something new. "I should probably say up front that being associated with me doesn't usually result in more faith and income." Refusing this flat-out was probably the smart thing to do. It was a strange 'offer' or 'request'.

Damnit.

"We know!"

"Don't agree with that so matter-of-factly, Shizuha... " Reimu rubbed the bridge of his nose and found that it didn't do anything to relieve the tension.

"But we have to take a chance and try something, and it just seemed like we could help each other out... In a lot of ways." Shizuha's voice lowered slightly, and Reimu's eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Uh, one more thing. If you'd won against me, what would you have done?"

"Eh? Probably the same thing, propose moving in, but..." Minoriko's gorgeous face grew red. "Then w-we'd be in a position of strength to take over your shrine, rather than getting conquered by you. We'd be the ones in charge, you know?"

"I wonder if he likes it like that..."

"Well, he is close with Marisa, and I bet she wears the pants..."

Their muttering was going to get them another hail of talismans, if they weren't careful. "That's not... Whatever. If you're serious about this and not just playing a prank on me, then go and start packing up. There's plenty of room in the shrine." He always had to keep some rooms open for freeloaders; the principle here was the same.

Looking like they hadn't quite expected him to go for it, even after their explanation, both sisters brightened up considerably. "Really? You wouldn't mind us just, like, living with you?"

"Not, like, in your bed or anything," Shizuha hastened to add, face getting just as red as her dress.

"Unless that's what you-"

Cutting off more doubtlessly charming banter, Reimu raised his hand, palm out. "If what you're telling me is true, then I don't have much of a choice. Just don't expect a miracle." They giggled at this, but nodded solemnly.

"I don't keep the doors locked usually, just... start moving your stuff in wherever." Offering a short prayer he often used in stressful times, something along the lines of 'don't make me regret this', the shaman finally got ready to move again, floating slightly higher into the air.

The Aki sisters looked relieved, as though they weren't expecting their plan to work on him. Now that he'd capitulated, their faces were lively. Shizuha in particular had been growing more tense, but all that was gone now. She was quickly making plans. "We'll be able to move our stuff in over the course of a few days, if we abandon a lot of the junk that's built up. Until then, you know where to find us!"

"Oh, one more thing!" Minoriko half-yelled up at him, and he pulled himself up short again, rotating slowly in the air as though completely weightless.

"What?" Reimu's tone went from barely-restrained irritation to un-restrained irritation.

Both girls floated up towards him, and reached out their arms. He had a chance to dodge out of the way, but instead took the hug. They pulled him into a warm sandwich and nuzzled into his broad chest. After a moment of awkward hesitation, he put his arms around them in return.

He felt, more than heard, Minoriko's muffled "Thanks!"

Without really knowing what to say to that, and with the slightest tinges of red on his cheeks, he pulled away, and finally shot off at a speed that would make Marisa jealous.

-

"Hey!" A girl's sharp, cool voice came to him on the sharp, cool wind, rolling down from higher up the steep mountain. Looking up, he saw a tengu, in the uniform of the tengu guards... and this person was certainly armed, although those weapons were more ornamental in this age of danmaku battles.

So he hoped. Her shield was carved with the symbol of a maple leaf, and the blade shone in the sunlight; it was obviously polished often. He raised his hands and gave a calm, practiced smile. Although he was slowly closing the distance, it was probably too distant for her to see. "Don't shoot, I'm not here to attack."

The winds picked up noticeably, chilly against the side of his face. "I'd be more convinced of that if you hadn't already attacked us before!" The white-haired girl before him pointed her weapon straight for him. "... So why are you here now?"

Reimu blinked a few times. "They didn't tell you to expect me?"

"Ha!" Her laugh was brief, and remarkably bark-like. "They don't tell us anything, Hakurei Shaman. So! What brings you here this time? Another incident?"

"Nothing so dramatic. I'm just here to pick up something for a friend." As he drew closer in, he naturally got a better look at this handsome girl on guard. She was tall, at least as tall as he was, and her muscles were clearly visible through her simply-designed white uniform. It didn't particularly show her off, nor hide her, it just hung off her body.

Her arms flexed into stone carvings as she held the heavy weaponry aloft with no difficulty. To fit those arms, her shoulders were also broad, and he spent a moment wondering what her back looked like. Underneath her black skirt came legs that were just as impressive, if not moreso. They were as thick as his arms, and probably more powerful.

In any case, she was a warrior, with a body built and trained. Not every part of her was hard, of course; she still had undeniable feminine qualities. Her body curved, softening out into huge thighs and a generous chest. He'd seen much larger, but that didn't take away from their appealing mixture of firmness and size. They resisted gravity, as well as her outfit's attempts to cover them, very well.

When Reimu realized where he was looking, he quickly found something else to look at, landing back on her stoic face. Something about it was familiar, but nothing came to mind.

"Oh, just regular business then. Alright, I'll escort you into town, but watch yourself!"

"Yeah, thanks." His deadpan response didn't seem to register with her, as she just nodded and turned to lead the way. On a normal day he would have been put off by her manner, and maybe even picked a fight over it, but he'd already had the pleasure of one danmaku battle today, he was already getting tired from the long flight, and more than anything in the world, he just wanted to conclude this business and go home.

Plus, she was walking instead of running, and yet kept pace with his lazy flight. Her legs were thicker than some of the thin trees around. It was enough to make him a little envious.

Before they'd made it very far hovering over the path, another, even more familiar face appeared, this time with no warning whatsoever. One moment he was flying along at a leisurely pace, and the next he was face-to-face with Aya Shameimaru, a troublesome tengu girl.

Then, after a heartbeat or two, the shockwave of cold air from her sudden arrival reached him. The burst was powerful enough to almost knock him end-over-end, requiring significant effort to withstand without tumbling. As far as he could tell, it wasn't exactly Aya's mission in life to be difficult for others to handle; it just sort of happened, like the tides or the seasons.

Unbidden, images of a smiling, intensely-sexy blonde magician came to mind.

"Hello, Reimu!" The self-proclaimed pure and honest reporter fanned herself a bit, nodding cordially to him. He could only return the greeting in kind, bowing his head. She hadn't changed much since their last meeting. Her form, like most youkai, was essentially human, with a few minor tweaks. For her, that meant expansive, black feathery wings that expanded and flapped even when she was at rest. Even her limbs put him in the mind of a bird; long, just a bit long by human standards, but impeccably toned.

Nothing on her was out of proportion with anything else, save the long legs, large wings, and, although he was careful not to stare, her chest. She wasn't topheavy, but had a mature air about herself. Like Momiji, she had a potent mixture of femininity and athleticism. Physically, at least; he couldn't say the same for her attitude.

Nonetheless, he returned her polite greeting. "Hello, Aya."

"I've been sent ahead to meet you, by some important people among the tengu who appreciate the efforts you've taken to get this artifact off our hands."

For his good friends, even he was happy to do this much. Even if he didn't show it. All he had to do was get this artifact back to Alice and Marisa so they could make use of it, and maybe even explain to him what it all meant one day. It could even turn out to be something cool, although that was an admittedly remote chance.

"I must say though, Reimu, I'm pretty curious about this thing. Do you know how exactly it's going to be used? I could probably write a huge article on this, if the news cycle is slow enough. Sometimes there's just not a lot going on, you know?"

"I'm sorry, but I probably know less than you do. Alice just asked me to come here, take the artifact, and return it, so that's what I plan to do." The payment, whatever it was, had already been arranged, so he was just waiting for Aya to hand it over.

"Oh, I see! She was just trying to get you halfway across Gensokyo while she spent all day hanging out with Marisa alone, mhm, mhm. Iiiinteresting..." Producing her notepad with record-breaking speed, Aya began to jot down a few notes, at least until she noticed the look that the Hakurei shaman was giving her. "... What?"

"Just give me the artifact. You do have it, right?"

"No, but now that you're actually here I can go back and get it really fast. Please hold on for a minute!" With that, she burst off at maximum speed again, leaving a literal echoing boom in her wake. Reimu watched, and wished he could have executed those kinds of maneuvers without flying into something.

This left Reimu and his escort together, waiting. While both were usually stoic in personality, simple silence seemed awkward. There were no birds chirping, no distant waterfalls to give them background noise. It was just the two of them.

Momiji was the first to break this silence. "So."

"Hm?" Reimu nodded his head, deciding a respectful gesture couldn't hurt. Even though he'd beaten her before in danmaku, standing face-to-face was... intimidating. It felt like he was staring at a wolf, which was admittedly appropriate. "What is it?"

"I was just amazed you'd want to take that thing off our hands. Shoulders. Whatever, we haven't found anybody interested in it in ten years." Why did she have to mention shoulders? Now his eyes were sliding down from hard face, to harder body. Rather than be offended at the obvious gawking, she just gave a little smirk...

And flexed. Not fully, or making a big show of it, just subtly tensing up using her muscle control. At rest, she was athletic, thick, and strong. With a bit of tension running through those muscles, though, it was clear that she was like a living statue.

This was certainly different than what he was accustomed to. He was trying to think up a way to compliment her without giving the wrong impression. Or the right one. Fortunately, he managed to hesitate until Aya returned with the speed of a lightning bolt.

The tengu was decelerating so rapidly, he honestly thought she was going to hit him this time. Instead she mercifully aerobraked and halted a few meters away, floating calmly on the breeze, as though she were a leaf. In the leggy black-haired tengu's arms was cradled a small statuette, made of some polished stone or grey gem.

It was hard to identify what exactly it was a statuette of, although Reimu supposed in a bad light it could pass for a likeness of the Buddha. Whatever. "Alright, hand it here." He reached out to grab it, but Aya backed off with a single beat of her black wings.

"Ah! It's not a big deal, but before you take possession of this item, I should probably warn you not to drop it. Um, if you do, it will explode. Or so I'm told!"

Even the fearless Aya wilted a little under the look Reimu was now giving her. "Fantastic." He still reached out for it, and she leaned forward, delicately placing the statuette in his arms. He pulled it close, examining it for a few moments. It looked old, although as with many things in Gensokyo, it was impossible to really tell how old. It still shone dully in the sunlight as he turned it over, and he realized that it pulsed with some kind of inner light, very subtly.

He could have sworn he heard a faint hum whenever he laid eyes on it.

"So!" The black-haired tengu beauty clapped her hands together. "I guess you'll be off, now? We'd normally love to extend our hospitality to visitors, but, um..."

"But you're concerned that some evil here might end up getting exorcised if I pay the tengu a visit?" Reimu asked in a cheerful manner that would only be convincing to somebody who didn't know him

"Ha." Aya's laugh was short and clipped, but her eyes genuinely twinkled at that. They had some history together as friends, so she knew exactly what he meant, and what his opinion was of tengu society as a whole." Something like that. The exploding artifact probably doesn't help, either."

"Yeah, thanks." Although irritated and hungry, Reimu had to appreciate that things were simple, for once.

His little diversion had cost him quite a bit of time, and now it was nearing dinnertime. This was especially irritating since Reimu hadn't actually eaten since the morning. He needed to eat soon, or it was going to start impairing his ability to fly.

On the other hand, he needed to get this thing to Alice and Marisa as quickly as possible to minimize the chances of something terrible happening.

-

[ ] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."
[ ] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."
[ ] - "I couldn't stick around with that thing in my bag, I had to bid farewell and head home at top speed. I missed lunch and even dinner... but those two were glad to see the artifact."

Current Inventory
1x Sensory Mushroom
1x Painkiller Mushroom
1x Paralysis Mushroom
1x Dangerous Artifact

[x] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."

Waited this long for Akis and not going to skip out on them.

[x] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."

Yeah we need an Aki Sandwich pronto.

[x] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

Diplomacy is always important. And it would hardly do to run out of energy before reaching home.

[x] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

Considering we're close to tengu areas, we might be able to get food from them quicker.

>>35891
[x] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

how many breads have you eaten, Aya

[x] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

The possibility of Momiji made this easy.

[X] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

[x] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."

All Akis all the time. Goddess worship go!

[x] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."

Akis please.

[x] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

[x] - "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

Let's think in the long term. If the Akis are moving in with us, we'll be able to do them whenever we want. The tengu seem harder to get, so I vote we build relationship points and/or have sex with them now.

[x] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."?

[x] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."

[z] - "After what happened with the goddesses of the harvest? They'd probably be willing to prepare something to eat at their house nearby, saving me the effort."

Works good.

[c] "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

Male!Reimu is being male!Reimu as usual.

[X] "I was getting too hungry to focus on flying. That's worse than a bomb in your bag; it can get you killed. Plus, it was a chance to break bread with the tengu."

White/red shaman needs food badly.

Alright. Thanks for the votes, everybody, I really appreciate the interest/support despite slow author dead story etc. I'll close it here. It was kind of back and forth, but...

It's time to eat (with) the tengu.

>>35918
Will we be seeing a sex scene in this update or just Reimu eating?

>>35919
Sex.

>>35920
Momiji, Aya, or Hatate? Or all three?

>>35921
You'll see.