[X] Try to convince The Hakkero to come with us to Mayohiga. (1)

"I don't know. I mean," With my elbow, I nudge Hakkero in the stomach with a grin on my face, "why not come with us to Mayohiga? It'll be fun."

"No way!" Hakkero jumps back. "That place is crazy!"

"Huh?" Haku pokes Hakkero on her cheek. "What's crazy about Mayohiga?"

"Too many cats." Hakkero leans back and forth. "I don't get why you'd want to go! Nothing actually worth anything there."

"Well, we're going to try to find something there. Maybe we have a better sense of perception than you do." I scoff at her.

"No way! No one has better perception than

The Hakkero!

and thus, since I now know your current goal, I've wasted enough time not chasing that bird!" Hakkero puts her goggles on her eyes and tugs her fingerless gloves tighter to her hands. "And with that, I'm off!" She runs off to the west swiftly.

I turn my head down. "Are we really going to meet her again? She's just such a nuisance."

"No doubt about it!" Haku smiles. "We have to get to Mayohiga now though!" She grabs my hand and takes me north, to a place we've never been before. Gensokyo really is a strange land...


=- Mayohiga -=

I would say that this Mayohiga place feels like a ghost town, yet with all the cats around, I just keep my mouth shut. The Feudal-era style houses litter the area, but more cats than anywhere else I've seen fill every one of them. I doubt that Master would be in here, but a clue to her whereabouts would be more likely.

Nothing of very high interesting seems to be occurring here, but I do hear barking noises from the left. To the right, several cats are converging to that area and to the north in front of us is a large house, probably the top estate in the area. We have no leads as of right now, but this is the best we can go off of.

[ ] Go left. (1)
[ ] Go right. (1)
[ ] Go forward. (1)

Inventory:
Roukanken: Katana, Knapsack (Cloth Bindings/Loaves of Bread/Small Bag of Salt/Sweet Potatoes/Whetstones), Magatama Necklace, Memento
Hakurouken: Wakizashi, Her Favorite Tree (Bottle (Water)/ Bottle (Spring))

[x] Go forward. (1)

random voting.

[x] Go right. (1)

Oh hey, you’re awake.

[X] Go right. (1)

Aijuu asked us to say hi to Chen for her.

[X] Go left. (1)

Left is never the wrong choice. Also, I just get the feeling that the dogs are barking at Chen.

[X] Go forward. (1)
Pushing forwards is never wrong!

and then i died terribly

Sorry to anyone who voted forward, we are going right.

[X] Go right. (1)

"Keine's said that Chen likes to hang out with her cat friends. Let's follow them then." I grab Haku's hand and pull her along to chase the cats gathering to the right. Meanwhile, a moment's glance at Haku's face shows her grinning all the way across.

In the several hours we've been out, both of us learned so much about the world. We've learned about the hostile beasts and the friendly humans of the world, yet I predict we will learn more than we ever wanted to know.

The pursuit ends as the cats stop at a giant black cat. The two dark tails with their white tips waving across her rear straighten out as she stretches her limbs out standing up straight. She was as big as the wolf that we met at the Margatroid Mansion and after yawning and showing off her large fangs in the process, turns her head towards us and scans us throughly with her cat eyes. The gold earring on her right ear bobs slightly.

"Do you think she noticed us?" Haku laughs nervously.

"We'll have to get her attention somehow." I scoff.

[ ] Try talking to Chen anyway. (1)
[ ] Tear up a loaf of bread and toss it on the ground. (1)
[ ] Drop a sweet potato. (1)

Inventory:
Roukanken: Katana, Knapsack (Cloth Bindings/Loaves of Bread/Small Bag of Salt/Sweet Potatoes/Whetstones), Magatama Necklace, Memento
Hakurouken: Wakizashi, Her Favorite Tree (Bottle (Water)/ Bottle (Spring))

[X] Try talking to Chen anyway. (1)

Cats don't have a "sweet" sense of taste. A starchy food offering will probably be snubbed.

[x] Try talking to Chen anyway. (1)

Cats like fish, not bread or potatoes.

[X] Try talking to Chen anyway. (1)

I don't know if these two know much about cats or royalty, but dropping food on the floor isn't done for a leader of cats.

- Doubly Lazy Caricature -

[X] Try talking to Chen anyway. (1)

"Hello?" I feel stupid talking to a cat whether it be giant or not, but it was the only way to get her to notice us.

Chen did pay attention to us and proceeds to press her left paw on Haku's head and rub it softly.

"Don't pet me! I should be the one petting you!" Haku whines.

I cross my arms with a smirk across my face. "At least when we come back to Aijuu's place, we can tell her that we said hi to Chen."

Haku finally gathers the strength to lift Chen's paw off of her head and step back a few paces. "I know it's fluffy, but you scare me a bit!" Chen just purrs loudly at Haku.

I pull out the memento and show it to Chen. "Have you seen this person at all?"

Chen shakes her head left and right, then meows.

"Ugh," I sit down with a thud, "we're getting nowhere."

The cats follow Chen as she strolls back to her house. To the right of us, a shed stands with its door slid open.

"...or are we?" I put away the memento, get up and check the shed out.

Upon further investigation inside the shed, several small sacks of rice have been clawed out, but a few have been left unscathed.

I grab Haku's hand and show her my findings. She's still rubbing her hair with her fingers to get all of Chen's fur out of her hair.

"That's great! However," Haku grabs some fur out of her hair and flicks it off, "I also learned that Chen was shedding today!"

I laugh heartily. "Do you need help, Haku?"

"Yes, please." Haku sits down as I sit beside her and look through her hair. "Do you think this is a bit strange?"

"It's not going to be the strangest thing we've seen yet, I predict." I finish up with one last clean sweep of her hair. "How's it?"

"Thank you! It's feeling way better now." Haku smiles. "What do you want to do with the rice?"

I sort through the rice sacks and find one very well off. "We'll take this one and be on our way."

Haku stands up and tilts her head. "Which way are you thinking of?"

"Uhhh..." I drone on.

"We found no leads here, but we found a good supply of rice if we need to come back. There's the castle to the west and if you want to, we can check on The Hakkero in the temple east of our location to see if she caught the bird.

[ ] Head west to the castle and investigate.
[ ] Head east to the temple and see if The Hakkero caught the bird.

Inventory:
Roukanken: Katana, Knapsack (Cloth Bindings/Loaves of Bread/Small Bag of Salt/Sweet Potatoes/Sack of Rice/Whetstones), Magatama Necklace, Memento
Hakurouken: Wakizashi, Her Favorite Tree (Bottle (Water)/ Bottle (Spring))

[X] Head west to the castle and investigate.

[x] Head east to the temple and see if The Hakkero caught the bird.

[X] Head east to the temple and see if The Hakkero caught the bird.

Regarding the castle, I wonder if it's the SDM?