[X] I don't know if that's a good idea, we don't know who Nitori is with.

"Marisa... I don't know if we should..." You begin to say, a bit late you notice, as the witch begins to sneak up behind the rambling kappa. "Wait!" You whisper urgently at the black-white as you stumble toward her.

You'll never catch up to her at this rate; if that other girl is who you think it might be, then Marisa's in for some bad luck if she scares the two of them. You've got to act fast.

Just as Marisa is about to pounce on Nitori you summon your most pleasant voice and shout to the kappa, "Oh! Hello Nitori!" The entire group turns toward you, including Marisa who bears a look of surprise and disappointment across her face.

"Aww c'mon... why'd ya hafta-" Marisa begins before being blindsided by a pair of arms attached to a rather joyful kappa, holding the witch in a warm embrace.

"Marisa! It's so good to see you again!" Nitori beams, lovingly nuzzling against the witch's cheek. "I was just showing..." She trails off as she notices you standing behind the somewhat annoyed witch. "... this thing to... I uhm..." Her face flushes red once again. "W-Well... uhm... Y-You know..."

"What's got ya all flustered?" The witch asks the kappa before following her gaze to you. "Ohhhh..." She sighs somewhat exhaustedly. "That's right... you have issues talkin' to... boys... and humans and you're..." She says as she points to you. "Both."

"I-I'm getting better, Marisa!" The kappa whines as she clings more tightly to Marisa. "B-Besides... i-it's not just that..." She whimpers.

"Hey, whatdaya mean by that-" Marisa starts.

"H-Hi..." Nitori waves meekly at you, trying to change the subject. You return a weak smile and wave back at the timid girl. "Th-thanks for earlier... Y-You know... when Marisa was mad at me..." She blushes in quiet gratitude, though she shows a fondness in her face and voice as she quietly thanks you.

But before you can linger anymore on those thoughts, the girl that seemed to be producing the now oddly absent fog approaches you. "Hello, good sir." She greets you in a rather polite manner. "My name is Kagiyama Hina." The green-haired curse goddess takes a step back, crossing her legs behind her before spinning once and bowing into a curtsy.

"O-Oh! Th-This is Hina." Nitori pipes up as she snaps out of her daze. "A-And Hina, I'm sure you remember Marisa the witch, a-and this is h-her uhm... g-good friend."

"Yes I do remember having a run in with this rather rambunctious witch, who I distinctly recall ignored a warning I issued her about this mountain." Hina replies with a hint of scorn in her voice. She steps noticeable closer to Nitori and wraps an arm around one her arms.

"Well, I turned out okay and I helped solve the shrine goddess incident with Reimu, di'nt I?" The witch retorts as she grabs the now fretting kappa by the other arm.

"Uhm... Ahem." You cough, trying to get the girls' attention, however they seem to just ignore you until you cough even louder. "Ahem!" After a moment, the girls stare at you before releasing the now trembling kappa, who promptly collapses to the ground, her face flushed.

The curse doll goddess apologizes to Nitori before turning her attention to you with a sudden start. "Hrmmm..." She muses as she moves toward you with a curious gaze. "You seem to have an interesting sort of misfortune about you." She continues to stare as she circles around you.

"What is it?" Marisa asks abruptly. "Can ya fix it?"

Marisa's question is answered with a sharp gaze from the goddess before she turns back to you. "If it would be alright, I would like to try removing this misfortune. For you, though not for her, if for no other reason than my not having seen misfortune such as yours." Hina says in a strict voice.

"A-Alright." Comes your somewhat worried reply. "What do I have to-"

"Come over here and stand before me." Hina directs as she drags you toward her. "Many who come near me face much in the way of strife and misfortune, however many people do not know that I am also able to remove misfortunes."

After distancing herself, she closes her eyes and seems to focus herself on you.

"Now just stand still and relax." The goddess breathes in a much calmer voice.

"Alright." You reply.

As the words come out of your mouth a sense of calm suddenly washes over you. For brief moment you feel as though you can forget all of the grief and anxiety that you've endured over the past week: all the failed experiments, all the arguments, all the battles. Your body goes limp but you somehow remain standing, though it feels as if you're floating on air. As you allow yourself to become entranced by the feeling of Hina removing your misfortunes, your trip ends as the world abruptly comes crashing back before you, leaving your stomach with an awful wrenching feeling.

"Argh... What'd you do... Hina...?" You huff as all your stress and anxiety seems to return, bombarding you all at once. As you look toward the goddess, you find her lying on the ground, breathing heavily, and her forehead drenched in sweat.

The three of you quickly surround the curse goddess and try to attend to her. "A-Are you alright? W-What happened?" Nitori asks nervously.

"I... I'm fine..." Hina says as she slowly rights herself. "I was trying to remove his misfortune, but then I found something that I couldn't remove. It was like trying to move a mountain, but then..."

"But then...?" You ask.

"There was some sort of... It was as if the misfortune was fighting against me... and... and I think it won." Hina wheezes as Nitori helps her back to her feet.

"Whadaya mean by that?" Marisa asks, her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"I... I don't know... but there's something definitely wrong with him." The curse goddess warns.

At that Marisa turns to you with a very concerned face. She clings tightly to you and leans her face against your shoulder. You try to ease the witch's worries by patting her on the head and leaning against her as well.

"It'll be alright. Everything will turn out fine, I'm sure of it." You try your hardest to seem sincere, although you're not even sure that you believe yourself at this point. Marisa only seems to sigh at your attempt to comfort her.

After a few moments of silence you speak up. "Maybe we should get going, Marisa." You think aloud as you unwrap yourself from the witch and look up at the mountain through a clearing among the trees.

The mountain seems to have cleared up, but several tengu still seem to be circling around the mountaintop. You look back toward Marisa who rubs her eyes a bit before speaking up.

"Maybe you're right!. I mean we can't just sit 'round here feelin' sorry for ourselves, we gottta getcha fixed! A-And maybe that miracle shrine maiden can do somethin' about it!" Marisa chimes in, confidence once again beginning to fill her voice. "Even if a certain curse goddess can't get rid of yer problems maybe Sanae can do it!" You're not certain about her logic but you can't complain about her resolve.

As you look up toward the peak of Youkai Mountain, you try to consider what your next course of action should be.

[ ] Let's just go in gung-ho! No more sneaking around!
[ ] Maybe we should see if Nitori and Hina can help us get to the mountain shrine.
[ ] Don't we still have those belts? Let's try sneaking past incognito.
[ ] Something else? (Write-In)

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Hey, THP. Yup, I've started the old writing engine back up and have decided to get back to the story. I'm not entirely sure of the rate that I'll be putting out my updates, but hopefully I'll be able to eventually get back into the full swing of things. Anyways, read, vote, and enjoy!