--------------------------------------

Your eyes open. A face. Right next to yours. An eye. Bright red. Too bright. An eye in this darkness shouldn’t be so bright. You try to speak. Your voice doesn’t come out. She stares. She doesn’t move. She doesn’t say anything. She just stares. She breathes. You can hear her. It’s erratic. Your back itches. She brings her hand to your neck. Pushes your head to the side. Brings her mouth closer. She licks you, then pauses. Seconds pass.
“You’re not tasty.”
That voice. It’s too childlike. Too innocent. Disappointed. Her hand grips your neck harder.
“You were supposed to be tasty.”
You try to raise your arm. Your back itches. You can’t speak. You can’t breathe. Her hand grips your neck harder.
“Then, are you someone who won’t break?”
You try to move your arm. Her hand grips your neck harder.
“The tasty ones are supposed to break. But you taste bad, so you shouldn’t break.”
Her hand grips your neck harder. Your vision fades.
“You’re not going to break, right?”


--------------------------------------

Your eyes open to find yourself in bed. A candle on the wall is lit You’re alone. Your throat feels dry. You bring your hand up to your neck. No wound, but it feels tender. Was all that… a dream? Your back itches. You wrap your arm around to scratch it. There’s a lump on your upper back. There’s one on both sides. It itches like hell. You sit up, slowly this time. Your body is sore. Abruptly, you heave. Nothing comes out. Your throat is still dry. You get out of bed and grab the candle off the wall, lighting the rest in the room. You check the mirror. Your hair is messy. Your neck is red. These aren’t the clothes you were wearing before, either. Just a shirt and pants. Pyjamas? Then… Who changed your clothes? You heave again, coughing this time, and bite your tongue. You can taste the blood. You poke out your tongue in the mirror. It’s pretty bad, but there’s something else. Your canines seem… Different. Not quite bigger, but… You put your finger to them, and it cuts. They’re sharper? That thought is interrupted by your back itching again. What the hell are these bumps? Not only are they in a place near-impossible to scratch, it’s not helping, either. Then, there’s a knock on the door.
It opens, and Sakuya makes her way in, carrying a tea set. If she noticed you, she’s not being bothered to say anything, instead just walking over to the table and setting it up.
“Ah… Hey…” Your throat really hurts when you try to speak. Even so… “Sakuya, what’s-”
“You’re pathetic.”
“What…?”
She doesn’t answer you, just finishing what she’s doing, and leaving, leaving you to stand there wondering what the hell just happened. A few seconds later, the door opens again, with Remilia strolling in, a big smile plastered across her face, not bothering to knock. She notices you straight away.
“Oh, up already?”
“Well… Yeah.”
“I suppose you’re wondering what’s going on? I know this can be a bit disorienting. Would you care for a drink?”
“I… I guess…”
“Then beg.”
“What?”
The smile disappears in an instant. “I said beg, thrall!”
Suddenly, you find yourself falling to your knees. You hit the ground with your hands to keep yourself upright.
“Oh, be a dear and kiss my shoes while you’re down there, will you? You got them quite messy, you know.”
Your body bends over further, bringing your face towards her feet. You can see parts of her shoes stained a dark brown. Is that… Blood? You try to pull yourself back up, but your body isn’t listening to your will. Your mouth opens, and your tongue sticks out. Just a few centimetres from that delicious looking blood… Why not just taste it?

[ ] Give in
[ ] Resist

[x] Resist

well I think this is yet another test of ours.

>32997
>Mokou's liver, etc.
>Well, it's entirely possible (63%) than the author may play the same card here.

I considered it, but that would have been a copout. You guys deserve better than that.

[x] Resist

Fuck no.

[x] Resist

[x] Resist

way to go fagets

{X} Resist

ew, dried blood

[x] Resist

[X] Resist
[X] "... I worked in a restaurant, you know. I can at least recognize bad presentation."

So the process of becoming a vampire has a few bumps and hurdles, and a few people might take some time to adjust to us. Big whoop.

Still, why just submit to something like this? Just because we're a vampire now doesn't change our standing at all. If we need blood, we'll get it in a better way, thank you very much. Remilia liked it when we showed her some backbone anyway.

>>33064
Hahahaha, and by 'better' for us you mean 'worse' for him right? It felt bad to do this to someone who was liked by so many but hey, what the shit.
Also? Your writing style is really good and different. I guess that this choice will allow you to show it well, like you did on the last update.
Well, even if your story goes down in flames, (unlikely) you can still say that you did something that was never done before.

[X] Resist
[X] "... I worked in a restaurant, you know. I can at least recognize bad presentation."

[x] Resist

Now our main character become pathetic, but I still would like to see how this story unfolds.

[X] Resist
[X] "... I worked in a restaurant, you know. I can at least recognize bad presentation."

Okay, things probably aren't quite as bad as they might seem.
Sure, Remilia now holds a great amount of influence over you, Sakuya is now disgusted by you, and Flandre may or may not have moved you from the "potential food" category to the "potential toy" category.

On the plus side, now the title of the story as taken on a whole new meaning.

>>33076

Not really like that. It's just that I remember when [X] Liver got shot down that everyone was pissed off about it.

Hayate's personality isn't about to do a complete 180 here guys, so don't worry about that.
Anyway, choice is pretty obvious here. I'm working most of the Christmas weekend, so I might not get much more out for the next week, but we shouldn't get something like before again. But hey, consider who's saying this.

>>33081

Nothing has shown how Flan thinks, just that she wanted to have some fun and that's all we knew before all hell broke loose.

Though isn't that a double standard, worshipping one vampire while calling another pathetic?

But then again this is the 'price' of the boost. (It's NOT a freebie at all)

Still We might as well show backbone as to prove that her choice wasn't badly made. (I don't think she'd consider someone who'd bend like a fresh thin twig for such an honor in the first place.)

Remembered how amused Remilia was by our first show of backbone. Chances are she'd be impressed by our resistance and perhaps laugh at that line.

[X] Resist

[X] Resist

This is so fucking stupid.

[X] Resist
[X] "... I worked in a restaurant, you know. I can at least recognize bad presentation."


We're immortal.

Cirno is also immortal.

Sure the present conditions are rather unfavorable, but this is just one blink in an immortal's lifespan.

>>33083
>>Though isn't that a double standard, worshipping one vampire while calling another pathetic?

It's only a double standard if the things being compared are truly equal. Suffice to say, Remilia and Hayate are as far from being "equal" as you could get.

Remilia is Sakuya's boss. She's been a vampire probably longer than Sakuya has even been alive, and whatever she has done to gain Sakuya's devotion, it's probably been well-earned.

Hayate, on the other hand, was the only other human working in the entire mansion. Despite their differences in levels of experience, his humanity essentially made him probably the closest thing to a peer she could hope to have in that place. Someone she could relate to, and in turn, could relate to her, hence her concern for his safety.

Yet, at the first chance he got, this guy throws all that away. He throws away his humanity, and apparently much of his free will along with it, and all for the supposed benefits that were dangled in front of his face.
Now just look at him. He's gone from a servant who could still choose to tear up a devil's contract in front of the very devil who wrote it, to a thrall who now literally bends to the command of his master. In short, he has chosen to go from being a man to a slave, at least as far as she could see.

>>33088

I like to think that this isn't permanent, or that it's somehow reversible.

>>33088

Yet this could be a test of Remilia's. That and I can imagine a scene where Hayate tells Sakuya he only accepted such a thing because he did not want to be a burden to her or Cirno. (that's a major factor of his character, not wanting to be a burden on anyone, otherwise he could have just easily hung out at Reimu's or Rinnosuke's after losing his original job.)

[x] Resist

Goddamn it you guys.

>he has chosen to go from being a man to a slave, at least as far as she could see.
I think the idea of all these votes is to become a vampire-not a thrall. Y'know, with free will and all.

Well, the results of the 'resist' option will tell us what we really are. So far? No regrets.

>>33092

Yeah, and she was remarking earlier on the matter of him 'breaking', perhaps in regard to his will.

>>33093
>>Yeah, and she was remarking earlier on the matter of him 'breaking', perhaps in regard to his will.

Um, are you referring to the one who was saying:
>>“You’re not tasty.”
>>That voice. It’s too childlike. Too innocent. >>Disappointed. Her hand grips your neck harder.
>>“You were supposed to be tasty.”
>>You try to raise your arm. Your back itches. You can’t speak. You can’t breathe. Her hand grips your neck harder.
>>“Then, are you someone who won’t break?”
>>You try to move your arm. Her hand grips your neck harder.
>>“The tasty ones are supposed to break. But you taste bad, so you shouldn’t break.”
>>Her hand grips your neck harder. Your vision fades.
>>“You’re not going to break, right?”

Because, considering exactly who is saying that, it probably isn't his will she's talking about breaking, it's him.

Well you tasted Remilia. Which was a very bad move on her.
Anon is a dumbass. :>

[X] Give in

Obey your Mistress!!

>>33094
That wasn't Remilia.. that was Flandre.

>>33093
>>33094
you guys think those actually happened?

>>33104

You don't think that happened?

>>33107
No.
Or at least I hope they didn't.

[x] Resist

[x] "They've killed my men and now they've killed me. I'm holding my guts inside me with both hands; I'm almost done. Resist. This is bigger than my little life, the lives of my men, and the lives of the people I was forced to kill. Resist. Humanity demands it. Resist. "

We're about half done, here. I have tomorrow off, so expect an update sometime before Monday.

[x] Say to Remilia: "Dick move, bro. Mankind ill needs a savior such as you."

>>33119
This is actually the best reply so far.

Apologies, this is taking longer than expected. It is being worked on though, as I wrote about 3000 words of it yesterday. It's getting kind of huge.

Due to massive size of update it is still being worked on. Have this part for now, and I'll post the rest when it's done. This isn't even a third.


[X] Resist

No. You’re her employee, not her dog. You wouldn’t let her control you before. You’re sure as hell not going to let her now that you’re at least a little stronger.
But… You can’t move. You’re not moving forward, but you can’t push yourself backwards, either. Is her command really that strong? You put all your strength into your arms, but you can’t pull yourself away. In response, your tongue just sticks out further. Abnormally far. It was never this long before. So long that you can see it. And seeing it tells you something. The cut is gone. When did that happen? You cut it so badly just a few minutes ago, and yet that cut is completely gone, like it was never there. You can’t feel anything on your finger, either.
She’s insulted you enough already. She’s mocked you, toyed with you, and made light of you. You can stand being her employee. But you won’t be her dog. So there’s only one option. You’re a vampire now. At least, you think you are. So, you do what a vampire does best.

You bite.

The fleshy pink muscle drops onto the ground with a splat. Blood flows with it. More than you’d expect. Remilia gasps in shock somewhere above you, and jumps back. Your mouth is a world of pain. Tears form in your eyes, and you cough out the blood that’s gushing out. Then, something curious happens. What used to be part of your tongue on the floor turns dark. A dark grey. Then, falls apart. It becomes dust. The blood does the same. You hear a door open and close. There’s a strange feeling in your mouth. It’s like a cut clotting very quickly. It’s like you can still feel the tip of your tongue, even though it’s currently missing. The strange feeling continues. The clot becomes rubbery, and expands. It’s the most disgusting thing you’ve ever felt. Though, it’s interesting. Not many people would ever feel their own tongue growing back inside their mouth. The sensation continues for a while, before the tongue reaches the length it’s supposed to be. Then, the rubbery surface slowly changes to the rough one you’re used to. The pain is gone, but it feels strange. It’s not something you want to try again, if you can help it.
As you pull yourself off the floor, the door opens, and Sakuya rushes in, immediately helping you up.
“What the hell did you do!?” There’s concern in her voice. Actual, honest to god concern.
You swallow, in an attempt to lubricate your sore throat. “I… Bih ohf my pongue.”
…It’s not working too well, yet. You can still feel something going on inside your mouth. Sakuya helps you over to the table and sits you down, forcing open your mouth and looking at it, quickly grimacing and turning away, covering her mouth.
“Thah bahd, huh?” It’s getting better by the second, actually. Whatever horror you should probably be experiencing is overridden by how stupefied you are.
Sakuya doesn’t seem so amused. She angrily stares at you. “What were you thinking!" Why did you do that!?”
Right, Remilia probably didn’t tell her anything. “Emergenshy meashures.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Wait, never mind. Here.” Sakuya pours a deeply red liquid into one of the cups she set up before. “Drink this. It’ll help.”
You take the cup from her. Yeah, that’s blood. With this much, you don’t need to taste it. You can smell it. So… This is what you’re supposed to live off from now on, huh? Strangely, it looks appetising. Very appetising. You’re not sure whether it’s your mouth watering or just rearranging itself some more, but it seems that good to you. You bring the cup up to your mouth.
…Hold on. Where did they get this? No, you probably shouldn’t think about that. It’s bad for your health. “Well, bottoms up.” You raise the cup to Sakuya, who raises her eyebrow, before bringing it back to your mouth.

It’s delicious.
You gulp it down in a matter of seconds. “Hey, can I get a refill?” You hold out the cup to Sakuya, who has a worried look on her face as she pours another round. You finish that quickly too. With every mouthful you can feel yourself becoming invigorated. Stronger. It’s not enough. You drop the cup on the table, and grab the teapot itself against Sakuya’s objections, pouring the red liquid into your mouth, ignoring how much of it is spilling down your face. It’s empty before you know it. And it’s not enough. Blood. There must be more of it around here somewhere. But… Where? It’s something obvious. What is it? What is it?
“Calm down, Hayate!”
Of course! Her, the human, the one with the blood inside her body, so fresh, not like this preserved rubbish. All there for the taking. You grab her arm, holding it against the table. Then, pain. Somewhat to your surprise, there is a knife in your hand, pinning it to the table. You reach for it with your other hand.
“Don’t make me use the silver on you.” Sakuya glares at you, knife in hand. Silver. Silver is bad. Silver hurts you. It didn’t before, but you understand this now. Instinctively. That knife in her hand is more dangerous than the one in yours.
You understand something else.

“…What did I just do?”
“Come to your senses now?” Sakuya relaxes a little, but still keeps the knife ready. “You lost control.”
“I… Lost control?” More than that. You tried to turn Sakuya into your food. A meal. Your supervisor, who’s been helping you all this time, and you just tried to eat her. What the hell is wrong with you? “I’m… I’m so sorry…” Well now you feel terrible.
Sakuya shrugs in response. “Well, it’s not the first time a vampire tried to have me for dinner.”
“Then… None of that was a dream? I’m a vampire now?” Even as the reality sinks in, it doesn’t feel real.
She nods. “Sired by Remilia, no less. You were her employee before. Now you’re her servant, by blood.”
“So… That’s why I couldn’t disobey her?”
Sakuya looks shocked. “She didn’t command you to bite your tongue off, did she?”
You wave your free hand. “No, no, nothing like that. It’s- Hey, can I take this thing out now?” Your point to the knife.
“Are you going to try eat me again?”
“No, cross my heart.”
Sakuya grabs the knife, and puts her other hand over yours. Then, abruptly yanks it out. Some blood sprays from the wound, before turning to dust like it did before. Trying to ignore the pain, you pull your hand back, watching as it repairs itself. The knife went straight through. You can look through the hole for a few seconds, before the muscles and tendons begin wrapping around each other, the skin closing over top of that sight. Shortly enough, it feels normal again, and there’s not so much as a scar to show for it.
“Huh. Cool, cool.” Though with all the pain gone, your itching back is brought to your attention.
Sakuya stares at your nonchalant reaction in pure disbelief. “There is something deeply wrong with you, and I’m not sure that it wasn’t already there before today.”
“Hey, it’s not every day that I can see something like this.”
“You shouldn’t want to!”
“Well, it’s going to happen anyway! I may as well get a good look!”
Sakuya waves her hand, now strangely free of that knife. “Anyway, what happened?”
You tell her how Remilia tried to have you lick blood off her shoes, and that seemed like the only thing you could do. Sakuya doesn’t try to hide her disgust. “Really though, that’s the only thing you could think of?”
“Look, it made sense at the time, okay? You had to be there.”
“I don’t… Why would you think biting your tongue off was a good idea!?”
“Shut up! Do you have a better suggestion!?”
“You could have tried standing up!”
“I already did! I told you, it didn’t work! It’s like… I couldn’t even control my own body.”
To this, Sakuya takes on a serious look. “I suppose… That’s how much influence she has over you now.”
“Influence?”
“She’s the one that turned you. So she’s your ‘sire’. It’s something like forming a magical contract between a master and servant.”
“So what, I can’t disobey her?”
“Well, not theoretically. If she tells you to jump, you’re supposed to jump. The amount of influence depends on the balance of power between the master and servant. You’re not exactly strong, magically, but then, I’ve never heard of anyone doing something as stupidly outrageous as what you just did.”
“…Is that good or bad?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. You have a will stronger than most, at least. But that then brings up more questions.”
“Like what?”
Sakuya puts on an angry expression. “Like why you did something as stupid as accept becoming a vampire to begin with!”
“What? It’s not that bad, is it?”
“Think about what just happened.”
Okay, yeah. You might be much physically stronger now, but Remilia also has near-total control over you. And with that brat, that isn’t a good sign.
“…It doesn’t happen to be reversible, does it?”
Sakuya drops her head in her hands at this, rubbing her forehead. “No. Not to my knowledge. If you really want to try, you could ask Patchouli. If such a thing is possible, it’d be her that knows. I don’t believe you! Really, did you think this through at all?”
“Yes! I put a lot of thought into it!.. Well, kind of.”
“What was your reasoning, exactly?” She’s speaking through grit teeth.
“I just…” She’s either going to be amazed or pissed. “I wanted to be more useful.”
She’s surprised. “Useful?”
“Like, with these abilities I’ll be able to help out more. I mean, being strong will help when we need to setup for another party, right? I can do all the heavy lifting.” Sakuya doesn’t answer, so you go on. “And you said so yourself, that you couldn’t always be there to protect me. So now you don’t need to, right?”
Sakuya slams her fist on the table, making the cups clatter. “No! No, don’t use me as an excuse for something like this!” She objects, violently. “I thought that, yes, but I never imagined you’d do something this stupid! So don’t say you did that because of me!”
She’s objecting… A little too strongly, really.
“Why are you so opposed, anyway? I mean, I don’t think your objection is just based on this one incident.”
“You… How did you know that?”
Even given the situation, you’re overreacting, Sakuya. “Just… It seems that way to me.”
“I see. Well, you’re right. There’s more to this.” She takes out her pocket watch. “Okay, there’s time, but only if we leave now.”
“Time… For what?”
“There’s something I need to show you. The sun will be up soon. We need to be back before then.”
“Sun? That shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”
Sakuya rolls her eyes. “Don’t get cocky. Just because you can heal yourself doesn’t mean you’re anywhere close to Remilia’s level. If you go outside during the day, you’ll burn to death in a matter of seconds. And that’s not a death you’ll come back from.”
…You didn’t really think of that. “Eh, I was never big on sunbathing.”
“Anyway, I’ll go tell Remilia I need to take you back to the infirmary. She probably doesn’t realise herself how much of her power you’ve received. Truly, that your healing abilities are this advanced already is something I’ve never seen before. That should tell you just how powerful Remilia is.”
It doesn’t mean that much to you, really. Abruptly, Sakuya disappears from your vision. Probably gone to talk to Remilia. A few seconds later, she appears again, hand on your shoulder. That ringing is here again.
“I’ll get us out of here like this. Once we’re outside, we’ll need to move quickly.”
“Hold on, outside? Where are we going?”
“Somewhere important.”
“Wait a second.”
“What?”
“Can I get dressed first?”
“There’s no time. Just put something on your feet and let’s go.”
“Hang on.”
“What!?”
“…Can you… Scratch my back?” This itching is driving you insane.
Sakuya just scoffs and turns away. “Shut up and follow me. I’m still pissed with you, you know.”

>>33132
Going to be F5ing this thread all day now. Damn you.

>“Shut up and follow me. I’m still pissed with you, you know.”
Good lord, I think I'm in love.

>This isn't even a third.
wat

Fuck.

No I'll be checking this board every 5 minutes. And it's all your fault! Your fault! Thank you!

>>33133

I'd say don't bother refreshing for at least 5 hours or so. I'm calling it quits for tonight (having written another 2000 words), and assuming I don't sleep in (unlikely) I then need to do the last bit of the update and then a huge editing run. So yeah.

Walking through the mansion with time stopped is something of an odd experience. For once, you can see the fairy maids around the place, being unable to run away from you. Some are frozen in the process of doing their duties, others stuck in the middle of pulling pranks, buckets of water splashing into the air, the fairies frozen in recoiling positions. Sakuya takes notes of which ones are doing what. Does she really keep tabs on every one of these maids? Travelling down to the ballroom, Sakuya leads you towards the large glass doors on the far side, that go out into the garden. You haven’t been out there before.
“So really, what’s out there that’s so important?”
“You should see for yourself.” No real answer. You sigh and resign yourself to following her. Getting outside, it’s cold. You have no idea how things like wind and heat are supposed to adjust themselves to time stopping, but it’s colder out here. She could have at least let you grab a jacket or something. The garden itself is impressive, to say the least. Right here is a flower garden. The walls of the mansion are all decorated with flowers, but this is an entirely different scale. The back of the mansion is a garden you can barely see the end of. Flowers of all colours, shapes and sizes stretch on until your sight is blocked by dense trees and neatly trimmed hedges. In the middle of the largest patch of flowers there’s even a statue of a man, but you don’t recognise him.
“Who’s the statue guy?”
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s go.” …She’s doing this on purpose, you’ll bet.
The ringing in your ears stop, and it gets a whole lot colder as the wind begins to chill you. Sakuya drags you past the flowers and statue, towards the hedges. They’re tall, and stretch around the entire garden. There’s only this one entrance, that you can see.
“Is this a hedge maze or something?”
“A little like that. It’s not an ordinary one. You can’t find your way without a guide.”
“Magic?”
“More like an enchanted forest.” I don’t even know how that’s different, Sakuya.
She pulls you through the entrance, and sure enough, there’s only a small area to walk, with tall hedges on every side, and trees blocking any light from the moon, making it amazingly dark.
“Why not just fly over it?”
“If we did, we wouldn’t get to where we’re going.”
“You don’t need to hold my arm anymore, you know.”
“Ah… You’re right.” In a rare display of modesty, Sakuya cautiously lets you go. “Just stay close. If you get lost it could take weeks to find you again.”
“You make this all sound very dangerous.”
“It is. Come on.” She picks a direction and starts moving, with you following after her. You have no idea how she knows where she’s going. Every path looks the same to you, save for the odd decoration carved into the hedges. Animals and gargoyles, those sorts of things. Eventually, you break into something of a clearing. Well, more like a square. The hedges surround this area, and the only thing to show for it is a lantern on a pedestal and a few tiles on the floor, instead of the grass you’ve been walking on. Sakuya pulls some matches out of her pocket, and lights the lantern, then bends over and tries to slip her fingers into the cracks of the tiles.
“Give me a hand with this.”
“Does it lift up?”
“Yeah, but it’s stuck.”
You crouch down next to her, and find somewhere to stick your fingers. There’s not really much of a gap. You try to lift it, and feel it moving a little. Some more effort, and it lifts up, Sakuya tipping it over. There’s a hole there, with a ladder leading down into the darkness.
“This all seems awfully extravagant.”
“Just hurry up.” You’re about to climb down the ladder, before Sakuya stops you. She grabs the lantern and starts climbing down.“Ladies first.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have worn a dress!


Down the hole, you’re now in some kind of cavern. Simple rock walls, with the odd stream of water pouring through. It’s a good thing you’re not claustrophobic, or this whole experience would have been hell for you. You follow Sakuya through the passageway, which gets shorter and shorter. Soon enough, you’re crouching down.
“Wait here.”
“What for?”
“There’s a trap up ahead. No danger to me, but it’ll kill you. I’ll just turn it off and be back.” Then, she disappears, almost leaving you in complete darkness. You can see a light further ahead, which must be her. A few seconds later, she appears near you again. “Alright, let’s go.”
“What was that?”
“Well, let’s just say that past a certain point, you’d have about twenty silver holes in your chest if I didn’t turn that off. Come on, then.”
“…Arrows?”
“A pressure trap.”
“But wouldn’t something like that be bad for Remilia?”
“Remilia’s… Not supposed to be here.”
Somewhere only known to Sakuya, then? What is this place? You follow Sakuya down the passageway, which keeps getting shorter.
“How much further?”
“Just through this part. Then it opens up again.”
At this point the passageway is so short you need to crawl to get through it, but you can see some light on the far side.
“Well? Ladies first, right?”
She chuckles at your suggestion. “No, not this time.”
Damn. Well, you probably wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway. You get on your hands and knees, and press through the narrow passage. You can hear Sakuya shuffling behind you.
Click.
“Hey, what was that?” You manage to turn your head, seeing that you’ve put your hand on something metal, sunk into the ground. Then, something rumbles beneath you.
“Oh, merde.”
“Merde? Merde is bad, right? What’s-” Abruptly, the floor splits apart beneath you, and you start falling, before Sakuya grabs you by the arm. Right, she can fly. You should probably learn to do that some time. The lantern isn’t so lucky, falling down below you. Eventually, you hear it hit the bottom with a faint splash.
“Damn, you’re heavy.” Sakuya pulls you over to the part of the tunnel you were headed through, and you climb up, her following after. The tunnel’s wide enough to stand here.
“What the hell was that?”
She turns away, scratching her head. “I, ah… I forgot about that one. Sorry.”
“You forgot? Oh, never mind that, how do you even make something like this!?”
“Let’s just keep going. We’re almost there.”
She’s right. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel, illuminating the walls of the cave. Looks like moonlight. You head through, squinting a little as even this is too bright for your eyes after that. You’re not prepared for what you see.


It’s a graveyard. Hundreds of western tombstones litter the ground in front of you. The cave is right in the middle of this section of land, the walls around it rising further up. The ground around you only stretches to cover the length of the graveyard and a little further, before sharply dropping off on all sides, with water far down below. The wind here is fiercer than it was in the garden, and clouds are starting to cover the sky. You need to be careful you don’t fall. It must be some kind of outcropping. Wait, was the island ever this far risen from the water in the first place?
“This way.” Sakuya walks through the graveyard, and you follow behind her. The ground is covered in grass, and the inscriptions on the tombstones have long worn beyond legibility, so there’s nothing here that’s recent. The stones themselves are cracked and faded, some with sections broken off entirely. While most of the stones are the same, towards the end of the graveyard is a large cross, with two smaller stones next to it, in better condition than the others. Sakuya walks up to these, and stops.
“What are we doing here?”
“There are things that you need to know. About this mansion, about Remilia, about Flandre, and about that decision you made.”
“I don’t get it. What does this place have to do with that?”
“See for yourself.” She points to the stones. You crouch down and wipe the dust off of them. European letters.

“François and… Reine Écarlate.”

There’s an inscription, but the words mean nothing to you. “Are these-”
“Remilia’s parents. ‘Loved by all, taken before their time by those loved by none.’”
Kind of cryptic. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Who do you suppose the rest of the graves here belong to?”
“I don’t know… Servants?”
She nods. “These are the graves of every resident of the Écarlate estate, following a certain incident.”
An incident? “What happened, Sakuya?”
“I know Meiling told you a little. About how I came here at the same time as her.”
“Just a little, yeah. That you travelled together and you used to-” –dress like a boy. You cough. “That you used to have guys all over you.”
She ignores that comment. “She never told you what we did, I take it?”
“What you did?”
“Our profession.”
“Not that I recall, no.” Just the things about dressing like a boy and being cute. Which in hindsight is kind of worrying, actually.
“We were vampire hunters.” She says such a contradictory thing so plainly.
“Hold on, that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, I mean, you’re the head maid to a vampire right now. Why would you be serving the creature you’re supposed to hunt?”
“Remilia was not our target.”
“I don’t get it.”
“To put it simply, she lied to you.”
“She’s done that a lot of times. What specifically about?”
“Her ancestry.”
“So… She isn’t related to that Draclea guy?”
“In no way. Though, more importantly, she was not a vampire from birth. In fact, a vampire cannot have children to begin with. Well, not in the normal way, at least.”
“Then… How did you end up with Remilia?”
“It wasn’t her we were after. Back then, we were vampire hunters. I’d been born into the job, and Meiling I once saved from a group of barbarians. In return, she joined up with me. It was hardly an official business. Our clients were representatives of the towns or people troubled by them. We’d search, hunt them down, eliminate them, and claim our reward. Most people in the outside world were sceptical that vampires even existed, so we had to scrape by sometimes. Anyway, we were tracking our current target when it happened. We’d been searching for him for months. He wasn’t all that powerful, but he was elusive. See, most vampires have a home. Something pointlessly extravagant, like a castle, and they stay in that.”
“Like Remilia.”
“Right. This one didn’t. He moved around, travelling the country. He probably knew we were after him. We were getting close. We knew we were in the same town he was last seen, and we were trying to find information. This is where the Écarlates come in.”
“Hold on. Isn’t Remilia’s last name Scarlet? What’s with this Écarlate business?”
“Scarlet is an alias. Écarlate means the same. It’s French.”
“Then, Remilia, Flandre, and-”
“Also myself and Patchouli. We’re all from France. On the other hand, Meiling, as you’ve probably figured out, is Chinese. Look, we’re short on time. The backstories can wait until later.”
“Okay, sure. So, the Écarlates?”
“We were searching for more information. Trying to find out where he’d gone from the town. The Écarlate estate was a few hours outside of town. They only came down to the village to stock up on supplies. We found out from a man at the inn that he’d been staying there for a short time, and had left last night, in the direction of the estate.”
“That was him?”
She nods. “We were a day behind at that point. We went after him straight away. Borrowed the fastest horses in the village. But we were…” Her voice shakes, and she turns away, covering her mouth.
“Too late?”
“When… When we got there, it was a bloodbath. Bodies everywhere. Torn apart. It wasn’t our man. He was subtle. All we found of him was a pile of dust.”
“No way. You don’t mean it was Remilia, do you?”
She shakes her head. “No. We followed the corpses, and found Remilia half-dead, crying, under the bodies of her parents. She’d been seriously wounded.”
If it wasn’t Remilia... “Then… Flandre?”
“That’s right. When we got near Remilia, Flandre just… Came out of nowhere. She attacked us. She was strong. The people in the mansion didn’t stand a chance, but we were trained. We managed to knock her out, and restrain her. But Remilia… She was dying. Our medicine couldn’t help her.” Sakuya’s tone becomes more feverish. “She was just a little girl, and she was going to die there. Killed by her own sister! I couldn’t stand that thought, but I didn’t know what to do!” Her voice begins cracking up. “We couldn’t help her, and there was only one way, but I hated the idea, but we couldn’t save her any other way, so I… I…”
“Sakuya, what did-”
She swings back around, completely hysterical. “I didn’t know what to do! I didn’t want such a young girl to die! There wasn’t any other way!”
“Hey, calm down!” You grab her by her shoulders, and she looks back at you, then away, and takes a few deep breaths.
“I… I took her to her sister.” Very quietly spoken.
“To Flandre?”
She weakly nods. “She was still unconscious. I had a vague idea of how it worked; becoming a vampire. The vampire needs to bite you, and drain your blood. Drinking it or not, it doesn’t matter. They then need to share their own blood. Pour it into the wound. It’s like an infection. I don’t know exactly how it works, but that’s the basics. So… I took Remilia to where we had Flandre chained up. They were both unconscious by now. Remilia wasn’t even breathing. I didn’t know if it’d work, but I had to try. I… I used Flandre’s body, and I…” She cuts off again, bringing her hands to cover her mouth.
“You… Turned Remilia into a vampire?”
“There wasn’t any other way! Do you understand that!" It was the only way to save her life! I wasn’t about to let her die!” There’s tears in her eyes.
Then… “What happened after that?”
She breathes deeply again. “Remilia got better. Her wounds started healing. In one way, we saved her life. In another, we destroyed it.”
“How do you mean?”
“The price for becoming a vampire, and giving up your humanity… Is eternal death.”
“Eternal death?”
“When a human dies, their soul is taken to the yama. They judge us, judge what happens to us from there. Whether we’re reborn, or damned, or become something else.”
“You’re saying a vampire doesn’t have that?”
“A vampire gives up their soul to trade for ‘eternal life’. They can live in this world forever, but once they die, once they properly die… There’s nothing else for them. They will never be resurrected, or become a ghost. They’ll never even meet the yama.”
“So… So you’re saying… I no longer have a soul?”
Completely coldly. “That’s correct. In that sense, you’re a walking corpse now.”
Then, what you accepted…
“I never knew this at the time. I only found this out after I met the yama during that incident. So… I didn’t know then how much I’d wronged her.”
“But, she turned out fine?”
“Fine?” She sounds like she takes offense to this.
“I mean, she didn’t try to attack you or anything?” She shakes her head. “Then… What happened to Flandre?”
“I honestly don’t know. She’d been turned by the vampire we were after. He probably attacked her while she was sleeping. I don’t know if he did something to her, or if she was already dangerous to begin with. Remilia never talked about how things were before. All we know is that when she became a vampire, she went berserk, and slaughtered everyone in the mansion. Even her own parents, and almost her sister. We had no choice. We locked her up.”
“Why? Shouldn’t you have-” –Killed her? You feel bad for even thinking of such a thing.
“I… Couldn’t. She was just a little girl. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. We hoped that maybe we could find a cure. Save her somehow. So we locked her up, until we could deal with her.”
“And you never could.”
“No, we couldn’t. We gave up on her. Just tried to forget about her. I know that was the wrong thing to do, but there was nothing we hadn’t tried. Then, the incident happened, and while we were busy with Reimu, she managed to escape. Our lack of attention loosed her. She was wondering what happened to the food that hadn’t been brought to her. She just broke her restraints and walked out. Once she realised she could do that, there was no way for us to restrain her anymore.”
“But… The way you describe her makes her sound like a complete monster. That’s nothing like the girl I saw.”
“She’s… Adjusted. But she’s not human. She’ll never be human. You’ve seen her wings. I’ve never seen a vampire, or any monster with wings like that. I don’t know if something went wrong during the process of her becoming a vampire; if it was somehow interrupted or… Either way, her mind is just as warped as her body.”
You can’t challenge that argument again. “Well, what happened after you locked up Flandre?”
“It was… Hard for Remilia. She shut down. I stayed there to care for her while Meiling tried to smooth things with the villagers. Remilia was my burden, my responsibility. I kept her alive, and we stayed like that for… I’m not sure how long, really. It was several years. Remilia never even moved for the first several months. She was like a zombie. But I persisted. Meiling was almost ready to give up on me when she started talking again. I changed my life’s mission, at that point. I decided that instead of hunting vampires, I would protect Remilia, and protect others from Flandre. Make sure that Remilia never became a monster. That she never drank more blood than she needs. That she never attacked humans. That she never sired her own descendant.”
“Then, with what happened earlier…?”
“Remilia’s broken the guidelines I wished for her to live by. If I can’t make her understand what she did wrong, then I’m not sure I can protect her anymore. Or even that I should.”
“Wait, that’s a bit much, isn’t it?”
“No! No it isn’t! These rules were clear! For all these years we’ve been in agreement over them! She knows exactly what she did!”
“Hold on, that’s another thing. You say ‘all these years’. Remilia says she’s over five hundred years old. Is that also a lie?”
“No… No, that’s the truth.”
“That… Doesn’t make sense. You’re saying you’ve been with her for over five hundred years? As a human?”
“Yes.” Yes, says the girl standing in front of you, who doesn’t even look five years older than you. “It’s part of Remilia’s ability. Meiling wasn’t a youkai to begin with, nor was Patchouli a magician, either.”
“You mean her ability to manipulate fate?” You don’t really know anything about it. Just that she supposedly has such an ability.
“Exactly. As a human, it is my fate to die. All humans will age, and eventually die. Remilia changed that.”
“You mean… She changed your fate such that you don’t age?”
“Patchouli believes it to be something like that. It’s not a perfect process, though. My hair used to be blo-ack, you know.” She stuttered a little there.
“Blo-ack?” Blonde-black?
“Black.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. Black.”
“Not blonde?”
“It was black.” Yeah, it was blonde.
“Okay, okay. So what, you’ve been looking after Remilia, along with Meiling, for five hundred years?”
“In short, yes. It was starting to go well. Sometimes we needed to-” There’s a crack of thunder, and it begins to rain. Sakuya stops, pulling out her pocket watch. “Merde, we’ve taken too long. We need to get back, now.”
“You still have a lot of explaining to do, you know.”
“I know that. Let’s just get going, or you’ll be spending the day in that cave.”


--------------------------------------


Not much is said on the way back. Sakuya seems to be thinking deeply about something, and you’re busy trying to process everything you were told. It’s hard to take in, really. Though, there’s one thing bugging you on the way back. Something aside from the itching, that is. As you make your way up through the hedge maze (Sakuya making you climb the ladder first, sadly) you ask her.
“Why were those traps set up to keep Remilia out?”
“You could tell?”
“Well, they’re for vampires. And you said that Remilia wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“I’m not sure how much of this Remilia knows, truthfully. She doesn’t talk about back then. It’s possible that she blocked it out. I don’t want her discovering that place and then… ending up like Flandre.”
“You think she’ll react that violently?”
“I don’t know.”
At this point, you walk out into the garden. The statue is there.
“Hey, so who’s the statue guy? You going to tell me yet?”
“That is François.”
“Wait. You’re saying you won’t let Remilia see the graves because you don’t want her to remember, but this statue in the middle of your garden isn’t supposed to jog her memory?”
“I can explain that. Let’s get inside before the sun comes out, though.” Without heeding your objections, she drags you by the arm back into the ballroom. It’s dead quiet, like usual. Aside from the dripping. It’s only then that you realise how the two of you look. Your clothes are dirty, stained, and wet.
“I need to take care of some things first. Specifically, I need to see Remilia. We’re in trouble if she knows we went out, but I might be able to cover for you if she does. Get changed, and go back to the infirmary. I’ll meet you there.”
Without listening to what you think of the plan, she disappears, though you note there’s a drop of water on the floor every now and then. Still, you don’t have a better idea, so you make your way back up to your room.

With time running normally again, the fairies are back to running away at the first sight of you. They really are timid creatures, totally unlike Cirno. No wonder they look up to her. Though that does raise the question of where she is. Has Sakuya actually been getting her to work? That or she’s slacking off somewhere. You make it back to your room, and wipe yourself down in the bathroom before getting changed, and heading back outside. Now, back to the infirmary, which was on the first floor. But before you start moving, you hear something.
Is that… humming? You look down the hallway, in the direction opposite the stairs. It’s that girl. Flandre. Standing absentmindedly in the hallway, looking at a room. She doesn’t seem to have noticed you.

[ ] Call for someone
[ ] Sneak away
[ ] Confront her (Write-ins encouraged)

[x]Confront her

We didn't obey Remilia before, why would we start now?

[x] Confront her.

[x] Confront her

Best to try and get to know her now than run away.

[x] Sneak away

>>33149
This isn't the time to be playing the Little Disobedient Vampire. We should avoid Flandre out of pure sense of safety.

>>33152
We probably shouldn't have accepted Remilia's offer either.

[x] Confront her.

Fuck it, go for broke.

[x] Sneak away

I think we should do as we're told, since I think it's a bit too soon to test our new found abilities.

[x] Sneak away

[X] Confront her

Fffffffuck that

[X] Sneak away

I can see it now.

The story ends with Hayate killing Remilia, which causes Sakuya to rapidly age and die. She says some parting words, Hayate somehow gets his soul back, or remains a vampire and ends up running the Scarlet household.

[x] Sneak away

Let's avoid turning into a pile of dust for now.

[X] Sneak away

Confronting her just for the sake of being contrary won't help us. After what we just learned from Sakuya, I think it'd be a really good idea to stay the fuck away from Flandre.

Think about it, Flandre sired Remilia, who sired us. There's a good chance Flan can command us just like Remilia.

[x] Confront her.
[x] About that beer dance I owe ya...

Huh. This... isn't too bad.

Interesting.

[X] Confront her.

I wanted to dance with her.

[x] Sneak away

>>33162
Correction:

Damn.

Hey guys voting for confronting, you're supposed to be writing what to say to her, you know.

[X] Sneak away

[X] Sneak away

[•] "Howdy, my sister-in-blood. I'm glad we're together again. Those people at the party probably won't attack us again. That was my fault and I apologize for my over-eager friends."
[•] "Have you seen my ice fairy friend around at all?"

one of our major reasons for going through with this project but we've seen no hair nor hide

[x] Confront her.

>>33149

amending:

[x]"We can have that dance now, if you wish."

{Sneak away}

>>33167

you said it, I doubt there's been a point where we got more answers than questions.

But having said that, are you folks sure it's a good idea to confront Flan being just a day old vampire? Perhaps later on after Hayate's grown in power some perhaps.

>>33170
For one I doubt Flan would know.

But Flandre is perhaps the biggest mystery in this story since we have yet to see how she really is. And I think it's too soon to go about finding out.

But we've only heard second person accounts about her.

>>33174
I believe that she knows we're there. Escaping will only make things worse.

He has to confront her and suffer GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF PAIN for a few hours. Only then he'll be sure that Flandre is someone to fear; not to love.

>He has to confront her and suffer GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF PAIN for a few hours. Only then he'll be sure that Flandre is someone to fear; not to love.

Wow, this is horrible logic.

>>33176
Logic solidly based in experience, though (ASSM, WUiG, and to a lesser extent, A Fairy's Tale...)

>>33176
Hey, if the pain never comes, then I'd be proven wrong, right? Like what happened with GH.

Like my mother said: 'If you want to fall in love with a powerful and inmortal being, make sure that she can amuse herself with something that doesn't involve torture and murder'

>>33166

In that case, tack a question about going and having that dance onto my vote. Or at least apologizing for her never getting it.

Even though the wording is strong, I don't think those of us voting to "confront" Flandre mean to start an argument or anything. It's more like... "go see Flandre." I feel kind of sad for her, what with how the part ended.

>>33178

Going by past logic is a bad idea, sin writers do like to do new things.

But I'm more on the basis of avoiding her now since A) she seems more confused and B) at this point Hayate might still die real easily.

There will be other days where we can try to explore the Flan mystery.

But I don't think the writer would dare have a Flan romantic route at all. (Look what happened in GH just due to the possibility)

[x] Confront her
[x] Would you like that dance?

Insert moonlight reference.

>>33184

And a mix of Pissing Sakuya off more (Something I thought people wanted to avoid) and/or getting splattered in a way he can't come back from by Flan.

Still saying too much risk for the possible reward.

>>33202
This is exactly why confronting her is stupid.
Sakuya told us to go back to the infirmary, I doubt she'd like it much if we just ignored her to chat up Flandre, who could very well destroy us without even trying.

[X] Sneak away

[X] Sneak away

[x] Sneak away

[x]"We can have that dance now, if you wish."

Should probably mention that I'm working for the next few days, so the earliest an update can be expected is Saturday. The absolute earliest.

bump

>>33542

Work sucks.

Also guy who double voted, we know who you are. Don't do that again.

[x] Find Cirno

{X} Update away

bawww nobody has anything to say about the backstory

[X] Sneak away

Flandre. If what Sakuya said was true, she’s immensely powerful, and completely fucking nuts. If she hasn’t noticed you yet, you don’t want her to. As such, there’s only one option. Get the hell away from here as quietly as possible. The stairs back down are about ten metres away. While keeping your eyes on Flandre, you slowly step back. She doesn’t turn to you. Just stays there, humming that tune, looking at the door. About five metres. No reaction. If she can hear you, she’s not responding. She just keeps humming. The tune isn’t familiar to you. You just watch her, as you reach the stairs, and as you go down them you can still hear her humming. What’s the deal there? Is there something special about that room? You’ve been in there before, having cleaned it with Sakuya, but there wasn’t anything special about it then. It just looked like any other guest room. Eventually, you can’t hear her anymore.

Back in the medical room, Sakuya’s nowhere to be found. Could she still be talking to Remilia? If she is, they’ve been talking for a while now. Well, Remilia does like to make a big deal out of everything. You decide to just wait for her. You sit down on the bed, then jump up, feeling something poke into your backside. You put your hands in your pockets to fish out the inhaler your brought from Kourindou. You’d totally forgotten about that. Hang on, does that mean these clothes haven’t been washed? And who changed your clothes before, anyway? Sakuya? Probably Sakuya. Or maybe she had one of the fairy maids… No, totally impossible. They flee at the sight of you, so doing something like that would be impossible for them. So… Sakuya saw you naked. Great. Well, she hasn’t said anything about it. Probably best not to bring it up. Anyway, you’ll need to remember this thing next time you visit the library.
Speaking of Patchouli, there’re those balls in the cupboard. You wonder if there’s any more of them. You put the inhaler back in your pocket and walk over to the cupboards. Containers, dusty piles of paper… Here they are. There’s one cupboard where you can see them all glowing. They’re all over the place though, likely as the result of Sakuya haphazardly throwing the red ball back in there before. There’s a few other colours, too. You try to pull out a yellow ball, only to get a shock when you touch it. Something electric? There’s also a white ball, which is brighter than the others. You pull that one out, and it suddenly gets a lot brighter, forcing you to squint while it lights up the room. Used as a light source, probably. That or a weapon. This is way too bright. You put it back in the cupboard and try to reach for another one, when you hear a crashing noise. It came from the corridor. You head back out to take a look, but stop short of stepping outside after opening the door.

Danmaku. All over the place. You recognise the ones going in one direction. Cirno’s always look like ice, and as they fly past, you can feel the cold air. The ones coming from the other direction you don’t recognise. They’re much more varied. You can barely see through them, because of how many there are. Still, you know Cirno must be on one end, so she’s gotten into a fight with someone.
“Hey, timeout! Stop! Spell cards over!” No reaction. “Can you guys hear me? Stop fighting!” The stray danmaku hit the walls and furniture, knocking things over. You can see broken pieces of ceramic on the ground. Man, you’re never going to hear the end of this if you can’t stop them soon. But what the hell can you do? You don’t want to spend another day in bed because you tried to rush out there. Thankfully, the problem is solved, as soon enough, the bullets stop coming, from the unfamiliar side first. Once the passageway clears, you poke your head out to look at the carnage. Broken furniture all over the sides, marks on the walls and doors, and ruined paintings. On one side is Cirno smiling triumphantly, apparently the victor. On the other is… Flandre? She’s lying on the floor, barely moving.
“Heeeeeey, Hayate!” Cirno rushes over to you while you step out into the hallway, punching you in the arm. “About time you showed up! Did you see that? My stunning victory?” For whatever reason, she doesn’t seem half as concerned as she did the last time you saw her.
“…What are you talking about?”
“The fight just now! Didn’t you see it? I told her I was the strongest, but she didn’t believe me! So we decided to challenge each other!”
“You mean… You got into a fight with her?” There must be some kind of development you’ve missed, here.
“Well, it was just a friendly competition, really.” She grins too much to really believe that. “Hey Flan, you alright?” …Flan? You both head over to her. She’s still lying on the ground, but at least she’s breathing. Her arms move, and she pushes herself up into a sitting position, then starts rubbing her head, with a dopey look on her face.
“Ahaha… I guess I’m out of practice…” She looks at you, then clams up. “Mister Butler?”
…Mister Butler?
Cirno keeps boasting. “Well, you were pretty good. Someday you might even reach my level!” She never was big on modesty.
“So… You’re Flandre?” It’s hard to believe the girl you’ve been told such horror stories about is now sitting here in front of you rubbing her head.
Cirno looks between the two of you, then you swear you hear the light bulb turning on. “Oh yeah! You guys haven’t really met, have you? Flan, this is Hayate, my personal servant!”
“Hey, don’t give me such an introduction, fairy maid.”
“Come on, maids are totally above butlers in the pecking order.”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure-”
“Servant, this is Flan! She’s Remilia’s little sister!”
You’re somewhat hesitant, given what you’ve been told, but this girl looks way too innocent to make you worry. She reaches out her hand to you, and you reach out and shake it.
“Nice to meet you, Mister Butler.” She’s really polite.
“Ah, Hayate will do fine.”
Then, silence. What exactly are you supposed to say to this girl? Should you be scared of her? Nice to her? You really have no idea. And then you hear something much more terrifying.

“What happened here!?”
Oh no. That came from upstairs. It’s Sakuya, yelling loudly enough that you can hear her down here.
“Hey, Cirno.”
“Yeah?” Her formerly arrogant smirk is now replaced with something like fear.
“Where did you guys start fighting?”
“Um…” She puts her fingers to her head, struggling to remember. “On the fourth floor, I think.”
So… This level of carnage has spread from the fourth floor.
“Hey, Cirno.”
“Yeah?”
“Run for it!”
The only way you’re going to survive is to get as far away from here as possible. You and Cirno both start sprinting in opposite directions, before you abruptly trip and do a mighty faceplant.
“Hey, lemme go!” Behind you, the devil in the maid’s clothes is holding Cirno off the ground by her neck. Cirno’s thrashing her arms around, but she’s too short to even reach Sakuya. Sakuya throws her down onto the ground, and sits on her back, pinning her, before glaring to you and Flandre.
“Now, I’m going to ask this only once. Who’s responsible for this?”
You and Flandre both point to Cirno, who’s struggling to get her arm out to point back.
“I see. Then, Cirno, do stay right here, won’t you?”
Cirno stops for a few seconds, and nods.
“Good girl.” Sakuya gets off of her, and walks towards Flandre, expression completely changing. “Flandre, what are you doing here?”
Flandre casts her eyes down. “I was just… Playing with Cirno…”
“You’re not allowed out of your room, remember?” She speaks like she’s talking to a very small child.
“But, I…” Her voice cracks.
“Come on, let’s go back, okay?” Sakuya lifts up Flandre, and starts to guide her away. Flandre glances towards you, eyes misty.

[ ] Object
[ ] Say nothing

[X] Say nothing

Horrible little monster.

[X] Object

This will either turn around to bite us in the ass by making us too familiar with Flandre... or save us when we do get to see her insane side, at which point she might remember that we were nice to her at one point and, uh, not kill us.

Or at least not kill us permanently.

[X] Object

Come on, now. Poor girl.

[X] Object

[X] Object
-[X] Please Sakuya, she just wants to play with someone. Perhaps if we started something less harmful for the mansion... how about a board game? (for 3 or 4 persons)
Is this the second or the third time we select the exact same action on this story? Our MC just change his name to Phoenix Wright.
Regarding the vote: maybe if we play something quiet that doesn't destroy the mansion and keeps Flandre calm, she'll agree.


Also, Anonymaster? I've become a fan of this story now. So, update faster or... I'll do nothing

[] Say nothing

Flandre or other SDM crews? The latter I guess.

[X] Say nothing

[] Say nothing

[x]Object

[X] Object

[X] Object
-[X] Please Sakuya, she just wants to play with someone. Perhaps if we started something less harmful for the mansion... how about a board game? (for 3 or 4 persons)

We should at least try to do something fun for her, since she seems to be in a very calm mood, even after losing to Cirno.

{Objection}

[x] java.lang.Object

>>33948

You never need to specify that, every class has that as a super.

I don't know what to vote for.

I have no strong feelings one way or the other.

I'm just waiting for the point where we can get microfilament wire gloves.

Then things will jump to the epic side of the epic scale.

[x] Object
-[x] She can't leave her room, but that doesn't mean you can't play with her there.

Even if it gets nixed by Sakuya, it makes us look sympathetic to Flandre.

Besides, if Cirno wants to play with her, that's good enough for me. Hayate may not be as durable as Cirno is, but he is a vampire now (biting off one's tongue is a traditional manner of killing oneself).

>>33959
Pic related.

...

Updates?

[X] Say nothing

[x] Object
[x] Update

NOT DEAD YET

>>34216

Who keeps posting these?

>>34230

It was funny at first, but now it's just stupid.

Is this story really dead? 'twas getting awesome.

>>34503
I doubt it. It's only been about a month since the last update, and while that might be considered a long time in other CYOAs, it's normal for this one.

>>34503
>>34504

I generally try not to say anything because it gets people's hopes up and then they get pissed with me when I go for another week or two without updating, but excuses ahoy:
Been crook as a dog for the last several weeks (some things I've told the IRC lot about, others I have not) along with being busy with work.

On the bright side, I've been getting slightly better over the last few days and have finally started getting less hours, too. I'm about half-done with the update, but yeah, don't get expecting it too soon.

Still, keep in mind. I'll say it again: I'll never leave this story to die. Even if it takes forever, I'll finish it.

I know this isn't much of a choice but frankly I'm sick of looking at this update. Now I've got until Tuesday off so I'm gonna try pump out as many updates as possible in that time.



[X] Object

This is just… Too much. “Hold on, Sakuya.”
She stops, looking at you impatiently. “Yes?”
“Don’t you think this is a bit harsh?”
Her eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”
Shit. “I mean… Is this really necessary? I can see that danmaku is no good as a pastime here, but… Can’t we just play a board game or something?” Sakuya just stares at you. Then, abruptly, she’s right in front of you, hand on your shoulder, expression fierce.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Did you just forget everything I told you?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Then what? What is it like? You think just because she hasn’t torn you apart that I was wrong about her?”
“That’s not what I mean at all! It’s just…”
“Just what? What is your reasoning supposed to be?”
“I think… Shouldn’t we give her a chance?”
“You think she didn’t get one before!?” She’s yelling, now.
“Will you stop for a second and just listen!?”
“You-” She catches herself, and takes a deep breath. “Fine. Talk.”
“Look, she went berserk that first night, right? And since then, you locked her in the basement for how many years?” The hand on your shoulder tightens. “You’ve never even given her a chance to prove her state of mind! You’re just assuming she’s a monster because of what happened five hundred years ago!”
“You…” Sakuya shoves you back. “How dare you! Don’t talk like you know everything!”
“Uh… Sakuya…?”
“You don’t even know half of what’s happened since I came here! That girl is a monster, regardless of whether or not you want to reach out to her!”
“Sakuya, wait!”
“Shut it! Don’t speak like I haven’t tried to do anything! I have tried! And that girl can’t be helped! I should never have let her live in the first place!”
“Will you shut the hell up!”
She stops for a second, anger coming over her face. “What did you just-”
Then, behind her, Flandre starts to cry, and Sakuya realises what happened when she pushed you. “No way…” She denies it. Cirno rushes over to Flandre, hugging her, while Flandre just stands there crying.
“You’re mean!” Cirno yells at Sakuya.
Sakuya just stands there, not knowing what to do.

“I agree. That was rather extreme, Sakuya.” Remilia, as though out of nowhere, walks down the stairs towards you. Sakuya immediately bows to her.
“Mistress, I-”
“It’s not me you should apologise to.” Remilia walks over to Flandre, and wraps her arms around her. “Well?”
This is hard. Sakuya meant what she said, and everybody here knows it. Even so, Sakuya turns to Flandre, and bows. “Flandre, I’m-”
“I don’t care!” Flandre yells between sobs. “Just leave me alone! I hate you!” Cirno also glares at Sakuya, supporting Flandre. Remilia looks a little too happy about this.
Sakuya just stands there, bowed, with an expression of sadness on her face. You try to reach out to her, but before you can touch her, she disappears. Looking back at the others, Remilia is now comforting Flandre. “It’s alright now. Big sis is here. It’ll be fine, okay?” She caresses Flandre’s head, while Flandre rests against her chest, still sobbing. You don’t know what to do here, so you just stand back. Soon enough, Flandre has calmed down, and she turns to you, walking over.
“Um…” She snivels. “Mister Butler?”
“Ah… Yeah?” You told her to call you Hayate already, but that’s not your concern right now.
She looks down. “Thanks. You’re kind.”
“Kind?”
“You stuck up for her!” Cirno speaks up, seemingly proud of you. “See, my servant is really reliable!”
“Oh? Whose servant would that be?” Remilia doesn’t take too kindly to Cirno’s labelling you as such.
“Y-Yours, miss Remilia!”
“That’s right. Now, Flandre, how about that board game? You liked chess, right?” Flandre smiles and nods. “Okay. Hayate, you and Cirno will join us, won’t you?” Do you even have a choice? Cirno nods repeatedly in your direction.
“Yeah, sure.” Flandre beams at your acceptance.


This is worrying. You’ve only played a few games of chess before, and you’d never even heard of four-way chess until now. Apparently you’re playing a variant where players are all eliminated independently. Even worse is that you’ve been paired with Cirno, who is already out of the game, having immediately charged forward with her queen and quickly losing all her subsequent pieces. You’re worried about Sakuya, and that’s not helping your play. Even so, with you practically alone against Remilia and Flandre, you’ve managed to whittle down most of their forces. Remilia is easily the stronger player, thinking all of her moves through, but she seems to favour her knights too much. Flandre on the other hand doesn’t seem to have any strategy at all, like Cirno.
“I’m surprised, Hayate. Where did you learn to play so well?” Remilia doesn’t seem too happy.
“Well, Alice liked the game, so I played with her a few times.” That girl was a monster. Even if it was three of you against her, she’d find some way to win.
Flandre, on the other hand, seems impressed at your play. Her eyes follow your every move intensely. “Mister Butler, you’re really good at this, you know!”
“Well, I guess it’s because I had a ridiculous trainer. And by the way, can you stop with the Mister Butler thing? That’s way too formal. Just call me Hayate.”
“Ah, okay! Hayate it is, then!” She cheerily accepts your proposal. From everything you’ve seen of her so far, Flandre does just seem to be a normal girl. Hell, even a bit of an idiot, given how well she and Cirno fit together.
Still, right now you’ve got a bit of a choice to make. You don’t have the pieces or strategy to take down both of them at once. You’ll need to go after one first to have any hope of winning. But who will it be?

[ ] Knock out Remilia
[ ] Knock out Flandre

[x] Knock out Remilia
He can't win. But if he could, knocking down the strongest (no, not her) player would be the most reasonable thing to do.

[] Go easy on them.

{X} Knock out Remilia

[x] Knock out Remilia

[x] Knock out Remilia

[X] Knock out Remilia

Finally back.

[x] Knock out Remilia

Hell hath frozen over.

{Punch Remilia}

>>35695

You punch Remilia in the face. She is knocked out cold. Flandre and Cirno recoil in horror at your sudden outburst. You punch them out too. You are now the lord of the mansion.
You celebrate by drinking red wine and banging Sakuya.

>>35698

TRUE END.

[X] Knock out Remilia

But yeah.

[x] Knock out Flandre.

Easy pickins'.

[X] Knock out Remilia


Remilia’s easily the stronger player. If you want to win, you need to get her out of the picture before she can do any more damage. Remilia seems to notice your new approach immediately.
“My, trying to usurp my throne already? Such a desire for power you have, for a servant.”
“Well, one would think it natural for a servant to desire the riches of their master, wouldn’t they?”
“I suppose… By the way, could you move your queen to this space, here?” She points to a square on the board, where she could take it with one of her pawns.
“Are you kidding me? Why would I-” Then, your hand moves without your bidding, and picks up your queen.
“Hey, that’s cheap!” You try to restrain yourself with your other hand, while Remilia grins a devil’s grin. It’s no use. Your queen is dropped, and taken.
“Sis, that’s cheating!” Flandre speaks up. Does she know what just happened?
“Flandre, whatever are you talking about? I just gave him a suggestion, that’s all.” Suggestion my arse!
“He’s your servant! He won’t disobey you if you talk like that!” Does she mean… Her employee, or her thrall? You can’t tell. According to Sakuya she shouldn’t know about such things, but…
“Well, Flan, that’s one of the advantages of being in a position of power.” That’s called abuse of power!
Flandre doesn’t seem to agree with her sister. With a ‘hmph’ she stands up and walks over, sitting on your side of the table. “Hayate!” She looks at you with fierce eyes.
“Uh… Yeah?”
“Let’s kick her butt!” She raises her fist, completely serious. You try not to burst out laughing as you meekly match her fist in return.
“Sure, partner.”
Remilia just looks at the two of you and laughs.

A few minutes later, and she isn’t laughing anymore. “Checkmate!” You and Flandre announce in unison, as Flandre flicks Remilia’s king off the board. Remilia’s eyebrow twitches.
“You… You two…”
“Well oh boy look at the time I better get back to work-” “And I really need to go to bed so-” You and Flandre both start moving away.
“A rematch! I demand a rematch!” Remilia slams her fist on the table, shaking the remaining pieces.
“I dunno, this place seems pretty dusty. In need of a good cleaning, I think. Don’t you agree, Flandre?”
“Ah, yeah, sure. Totally dusty.” She coughs.
“Right. Come on Cirno, let’s-” Hang on. Cirno’s nowhere to be seen. Wasn’t she here just a little while ago?
You swear you see a vein burst in Remilia’s head. “That’s an order!” And at those words, your body starts moving back to that chair.
Suddenly, you’re interrupted. The door slams open, and a panicked Meiling rushes through, stopping to breathe as she does. Your body snaps back in control, and Remilia stands up. “Meiling, what are you-”
“Sakuya’s fainted!”
“What!" Where is she!?” Remilia starts out the door before Meiling can even tell he she brought her to the infirmary. You all rush down after her.

True enough, when you get there, Sakuya is lying on the bed, unconscious. Remilia moves to her side and grabs her hand, kneeling next to the bed. For a second, barely even that, you can swear that you see something change in Sakuya’s appearance. Well, she looks the same as always, but… Was it just your imagination? Meiling is obviously worried about Sakuya, but Flandre doesn’t seem to even want to be here.
“What happened, Meiling?” Remilia asks, calmer now.
Meiling stands up straight and talks like she’s giving a report. “A while ago Sakuya came outside to check up on me. We were talking for a while, and then she just collapsed. I don’t know why. I brought her here straight away, then started looking for you.”
“So how long has she been like this?” Concerned words.
“About thirty minutes, Mistress.”
“Why did it take you that long to find me?” Cold words.
“I’m sorry, Mistress. I didn’t know where to look for you. After I checked your rooms I started from the ground floor.” You can feel how much pressure she’s under right now.
“I see. Do just go to Patchouli next time, won’t you?” Condescending words.
“I… I tried to. I couldn’t find her.” You guess Meiling’s not good with directions.
“Fine. Hayate, stay here. Flandre, come with me. We’ll go have Patchouli fetch the good doctor.” The way she says this makes it sound like she thinks of that doctor as anything but. “Meiling, get back to your post.”
“But, Mistress-!”
“That’s an order, gate guard.” The little girl has a powerful tongue. Meiling gives a worried glance at Sakuya, before bowing and heading outside.
“Hayate, look after her. And don’t do anything… Improper, while we’re gone.” She says this completely seriously.
“…Just what kind of person do you think I am?” You can’t believe she even said such a thing, in front of Flandre, no less. Thankfully, Flandre seems oblivious as to what she means.
“Simply making sure. Come, Flandre.” Flandre gives a few more confused glances, before following Remilia out of the room, leaving you with Sakuya.

You pull up a seat and sit next to her. So what, you’re just supposed to watch her? Simple enough. Not like she’s going anywhere. It’s odd, really. Seeing her like this. Sakuya is normally so collected, so in control. Strong, even. Now she’s lying on a bed, unconscious, totally defenceless. Her neck in particular looks-
You bite your tongue, hard, for even thinking of such a thing. You should have more self-control than this. Is this another cost of becoming a vampire?
“Watching young women as they sleep, now? You worm.” Somewhat awake now, Sakuya looks at you from the bed with a wry smile.
“Hey.” You ignore her quip. “You okay?”
“Sure. I faint all the time.” She answers plainly.
“What, seriously? That can’t be healthy.”
“Of course not, you fool.” She laughs a weak laugh and starts to push herself up, before falling down again.
“Hey, you shouldn’t try to get up yet.” You grab a pillow from another bed and help her rest on it.
“Bah. I hate being in these situations.” She reluctantly accepts your help.
“You mean, needing to rely on someone? Terrible, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I can’t stand it.” A few seconds of silence. “Well, where’s the others?”
“Um… Most of them are getting you a doctor. I don’t know where Cirno got to.”
Sakuya groans. “Not Eirin again. She’s useless, really. I already know she’ll tell me it’s stress.”
“She’s been here before?”
“A few times. She said the same thing every time. And also ordered me to stay in bed for two days.”
“Stress, huh? I guess we’ve been a burden after all.”
“Well, yeah.” Too blunt! “But I suppose you could be useful now.”
“How so?”
“If she confines me to this damn bed for the next two days, someone still needs to take care of the mansion.”
“You mean… Me and Cirno?”
“I don’t expect much. But you can at least keep the place from burning down in that long, can’t you?”
Does she really have that much faith in you?


[ ] “Sure, you can count on us.”
[ ] “I think we’re gonna need more help.”

Also discussion and speculation are still totally invited hint hint

[x] “Sure, you can count on us.”

Even if it's a lie, at least it'll keep her reassured. For about a minute or so. Or maybe even until she lays eyes on Cirno again.

[x] “Sure, you can count on us.”

Stress? I guess even with someone with all the time in the world still builds up stress, and from the last update; seems the residents have been rather judgemental indeed, with Remilia being perhaps a tad more nicer.

Anyways, this is why we took Remilia's offer in the first place.

[X] “Sure, you can count on us.”

>>For a second, barely even that, you can swear that you see something change in Sakuya’s appearance. Well, she looks the same as always, but… Was it just your imagination?

I somehow doubt that.
I'd almost wonder if she was possibly an act, since that sort of thing would probably be just about the only way anyone could get some time off in that mansion. Plus, with Mr. "I got turned into a vampire to be more useful" not quite listening to her, perhaps this is also an opportunity for some "Sink or Swim" style training/experience.

That, or, there really is something wrong with her.

[x] “Sure, you can count on us.”
Sakuya was kidnapped and possessed by an ancient evil. That sudden and subtle change was the last bit of fight that was left in her. Triggered, obviously enough, after seeing her beloved mistress and realizing the danger she is in.
She just wants to make everyone believe that she's weak so she can get her plan into motion: destory Flandre, subdue Remilia and take the mansion for herself. Meiling will be her wife and Hayate, the new gate guard.

...

Seriously now, I believe that 35727's 'Swim or Sink' theory is correct.

{X} “Sure, you can count on us.”

>Seriously now, I believe that 35727's 'Swim or Sink' theory is correct.

This Sakuya is the last person I'd think would fake health problems just to test us.

Particularly with the whole "we just became a newborn vampire" thing. Leaving Hayate by himself on purpose would be the peak of irresponsibility. Besides, she's implied that this isn't the first time something like this has happened.

{Punch Sakuya}

{"Sure, you can count on me."}

[+] “Sure, you can count on us.”

I suspect that Sakuya is faking - she is a very skilled actress, it seems - and will use this time to observe the changes in the Mansion and its inhabitants without her maid responsibilities getting in the way. If things aren't up to her standards, expect Hayate to be staked, quartered, and all that old-school vampire execution stuff.

>>35760
you assume Remilia would let her. She wouldn't until she got bored with him.

>>35761
And you're presuming that Remilia would know about it before Sakuya managed to pull it off.

In any case, this is just speculation.

[x] “Sure, you can count on us.”

>>35727
Little of column A, little of column B.

[X] “Sure, you can count on us.”

Completely unanimous, so yeah.
This is giving me trouble for some reason, so probably no update until tomorrow.

[X] “Sure, you can count on us.”


She probably can’t, really. But what are you going to do? You can’t rely on her to help when she can barely stand. It’s not like you could leave the mansion to get more help, and even if you could, who would you turn to? Your only option is to do your best. “Sure, you can count on us.”
“I hope so. Well, you’re more reliable than Cirno, at least.” That’s not really much of a compliment. “Well, if we’re lucky, I’ll be fine before long and that damn quack won’t confine me to this room.” Sounds like she doesn’t think too highly of this doctor.
You’ve heard of Eirin, mostly just rumours, though. She lives in Eientei, and runs a clinic there. That’s pretty much all you know is a fact, as you’ve never been there. The rumours go on to say that she’s some kind of miracle doctor, capable of curing any wounds. Other rumours say that she lures sick people there to perform gruesome experiments on them. Then there’s that one about her being from the moon.
“Still, you’ve said this has happened before?”
She sighs, and lowers herself into the bed. “This happens every year or so. Used to be we’d just wait for me to get better, then some time ago Remilia started looking for a doctor when it happened. Eirin was the only one willing to do a house call to a vampire’s mansion, so she ended up becoming the one we’d turn to. Mind you, people like us don’t often get sick, so she’s more interested in a chance to study us than anything else. …Hm.” She looks at you intently.
“What?” It feels like you’re being evaluated.
“How’s your back?”
“My back? Well, now that you mention it, it’s still itching.” You hadn’t noticed until now. Thanks, Sakuya. “What for?”
“Nothing come out, yet?”
“…Come out?” That’s a worrying statement.
“What, you don’t realise what it is?”
You think about it. Let’s see… The itching started after you became a vampire, and you’ve now got two lumps on your back, around your… “Wings?”
She nods. “I’d have thought they’d be out by now, actually. It usually doesn’t take this long.”
“This long? It’s only been a day, though.”
Sakuya looks at you questioningly, then realises. “Oh, I guess I haven’t told you yet.”
“Told me what?”
“Well, you’ve been awake for a day.”
“Yeah, and?”
“How long do you think you’ve been asleep?”
“Oh.” That’s a good question. Only thing you remember is a bunch of nightmares. “Uh… Another day?”
“Try five.”
Five days!" You’ve been sleeping for that long? That’s longer than you’ve even been working here to begin with! “Shouldn’t you have said this earlier?”
She turns away. “I guess it slipped my mind…”
Well… A lot has happened today. But that means a lot happened that you don’t know about. “That’s a lot of time to miss, you know.”
“Yes, it is. I’m expecting you to make up for it.” …Okay, different topic.
“Well, has anything particular happened since I was gone?”
“No major incidents. Nothing like that ball. Reimu came by a few times to check on you, but we had to turn her away.”
Reimu, huh? If she knows what happened to you… No, you guess she doesn’t. If she did, none of your co-workers would be alive. Sakuya abruptly starts laughing.
“You’re so scared of her, aren’t you?” She has a huge grin plastered across her face. Was it that obvious? “Relax. She came during the day, so we told her you were sleeping.” Thank god. “There was also Marisa, who broke into the library and then tried to sneak through the mansion, probably looking for you. We chucked her out before she got to your room, though.”
You’re not sure if you should be grateful that your friends were worried about you, or worried about how much trouble they’re causing. “I see. Anything else?”
“Nothing in particular. Though you’ve probably seen that Cirno and Flandre have gotten close.” She definitely seems worried about this.
“Yeah, I was gonna ask. How’d that happen?”

As Sakuya opens her mouth, the door from the hallway opens, and Cirno is thrown through it, followed by Remilia, who walks over and sits beside Sakuya. Cirno stands next to you, quietly.
“Patchouli’s contacted Eirin, and she’s on her way over now.” Already? That’s easily the most dedicated doctor you’ve ever heard of. “How are you feeling?” Remilia leans over and puts her hand to Sakuya’s forehead. This is… A side of her you haven’t seen before.
“I’ll live. However, given that Eirin’s likely going to confine me to bed for a while, I’m leaving Hayate in charge of my duties until I can resume them.”
Remilia’s face goes through an amazing variety of expressions. First surprise, then calm, then confused, then worried, then laughing. “I’m not joking, Mistress.” Back to worried, and then utter despair.
“But who’s going to do the cookiiiiiiiiiiiing!?” She’s almost in tears. Right… She wasn’t impressed by your attempt before. Still, though. Is she really that upset about the food?
“That will be Cirno.” Completely seriously, Sakuya says this.
“Haaaaaaah?” You and Remilia both express your surprise. Even Cirno looks shocked by this.
“There should be no problem. I’ve been training her, and with Hayate’s help, I’m sure she can make a satisfactory meal.” She looks at Cirno, who nods back.
Remilia looks between them, before giving a worried voice of consent, then turns to you. “Hayate, I don’t want you being anywhere near here when Eirin shows up. That lady asks too many questions. You can start by cleaning up the mess our maid has created.”
“Sorry, Miss Remilia.”
What. Cirno just apologised. You didn’t imagine that, did you? No, you didn’t, as Cirno follows it up by bowing to her.
“I, uh… Right.” You bow your head before leaving the room with Cirno.


“What just happened?” That was way too strange. Unnatural. You talk to Cirno while you clean.
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me! Back there! You were being polite!” To anyone else, these would sound like insulting words, but it’s honestly just surprise.
“It’s part of our job to be polite to Miss Remilia! You should take some lessons from me!” …Are you kidding? It’s like a completely different person.
“Right. Who are you and what have you done with Cirno?”
“It is me, you idiot!” Now that sounds more like her.
“Since when were you so respectful?”
“Since someone left me to do all the work for the last week!” Anger. You hadn’t thought about this. To her, this is the second time you’ve left her alone since she came here. Neither one was really your fault, but…
“I… Wasn’t exactly planning to be out cold all that time, you know.”
With a ‘hmph’, Cirno ignores you and keeps cleaning. You can see it, now. Her sloppy work from before is now that of an actual maid. She picks up the broken pieces carefully, and searches for anything left over. She straightens up any portraits on the wall that were knocked over, and lights the candles that were put out. Even more, she seems satisfied by doing her work. What amazing change in such a short time.
“So… How’d you and Flandre get so close?” You might be able to get her to talk about something else.
“Well, I ran into her while cleaning a few days ago. She’s was instantly intamdinated by my awesome power, and wanted me to teach her how to be as strong as I am, and things went from there!” Talk about a boast.
“Well, I’m sure that’s all lies. By the way, did you mean intimidated?”
“…Maybe.”

The rest of the cleaning is done in silence. Cirno isn’t all that talkative, and you don’t know how to get her to start talking again. Well, you’re in charge now. You’ve got a mansion to take care of, and no idea where to begin.

[ ] Go ask Sakuya for advice
[ ] The library
[ ] Go see Meiling
[ ] Other

[X] Go ask Sakuya for advice

Sakuya~

>>35818

Very much allowed, and encouraged, as I'm bad with giving choices.

>>35817
I kinda figure that trying to figure out a plan on our own may be the best route to impress Sakuya. And if we do well enough, we'll reduce her workload by a considerable deal.

Also consider the [ ] Ask Sakuya for advice choice pretty much the same as just checking up on her.

[X] Go ask Sakuya for advice

She is resting but the alternative is not keeping the mansion in shape. I think Sakuya would rather us bug her.

>>35824

Well now here you've basically chosen every option as what to do next. So that doesn't really work.

>>35827
I was just trying to make a plan... and with a change like this, it's better to spread the information. Oh well.

[x] Try to find a fairy maid as to have her and some others look around the mansion for particularly messy spots.
[X] Go ask Sakuya for advice.
[x] Think of some way to apologize to Cirno.

[X] Go ask Sakuya for advice
Checking up on her is good... but Eirin is on her way so...
-[x] If you hear/sense about a doctor arriving, high tail the fuck outta there.

Ah, of course the wings would be non-optional. Great, not only will that hurt like a motherfucker, it will absolutely ruin any chance of hiding our "condition" at all.

Well, whatever.

[x] Try to find a fairy maid as to have her and some others look around the mansion for particularly messy spots.
[X] Go ask Sakuya for advice.
[x] Think of some way to apologize to Cirno.

{X} Try to find a fairy maid as to have her and some others look around the mansion for particularly messy spots.
{X} Go ask Sakuya for advice.
{X} Think of some way to apologize to Cirno.

[x] Go ask Sakuya for advice

>>35836
At least he'll look good.

>>35840
>good

His won't be feathered, though. Horrible, leathery wings is all he's getting.

[x] Go ask Sakuya for advice

Anyone think Sakuya's feigning sickness in order to get Eirin to give Hayate a checkup, maybe to ease out the wings, or even reverse the transformation? If Hayate was out fives days and some of those disturbing dreams were real (like the delusional parasitosis that caused him to rip his throat out), then the issue of Hayate's 'itch' is somewhat more concerning. She's gone behind Remilia's and his back before, like letting Flandre out after she told the other humans that Hayate was in imminent danger.

That or Sakuya's abilities & health fail when other servants are capable of taking up the slack, since she'd been granted eternal youth because Remilia needed her. I may be looking to far into it, but I think we should should worry about our impact on the fates of others, and not just Hayate's own. We can already see a transformation in Cirno, though it hasn't seemed to be deleterious.

>“Well, Alice liked the game, so I played with her a few times.” That girl was a monster. Even if it was three of you against her, she’d find some way to win.

And the White Knight is talking backwards,
And the Red Queen's, "Off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said...

>>35842
I don't think such a stunt wouldn't go unnoticed to Remilia. She is basically Hayate's "Sire". If Sakuya tried something with Hayate, she'd know about it.

Gonna go ahead and say now that there'll probably be nothing until tomorrow again.

Not like anybody still mashes F5, anyway.

[ ] Go ask Sakuya for advice

[X] Go ask Sakuya for advice

>>35871

I mash like the Fist of the North Star over here. My F5 key is already dead.

>>35871
UPDATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>35888

I'M GETTING TO IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

[X] Go ask Sakuya for advice


Well, you don’t know where to start. You don’t know what you should prioritise, and you don’t know what state the place has been in while you were out, so your best bet is to just ask Sakuya if anything needs doing. Hence, you start making your way back downstairs, when something pokes you in the back.
“What?” You turn around to look at Cirno, but she’s too far away to have possibly poked you, and just stands there waiting for you to say something. “Never mind.” You head downstairs. As you get near the door to the infirmary, suddenly it opens, and a woman you haven’t seen before walks out.
She’s fairly tall; a little taller than you are. She’s wearing a strange dress, red on one side and blue on the other on her torso, and the opposite down past her waist, a long white lab coat covering her. She’s also wearing a blue hat with a red cross on it, and is carrying a briefcase. Wait, does that mean she’s the doctor? Quickly enough, she notices you, and walks over with a wave. Crap, you didn’t expect her to be here this early. No, that she was leaving… To be here and already be finished with Sakuya? No doctor is that fast. As she walks closer, you can make out more of her appearance. She has deep grey eyes, and silver hair, similar to Sakuya’s, but braided into a very long ponytail at the back. It even goes down past her waist. She looks to be in her early thirties, or thereabouts.
“So, you must be the butler.” She extends a hand. Remilia told you to stay away from her, but… Well, you’re here now. There’s no reason to be rude, so you take it.
“Yeah. Hayate. So you-” You feel another prick in your back. A lot sharper this time, though nobody seems to have done anything. The itching’s getting worse. “You must be Eirin?” You can’t scratch it. Not now.
She nods. “That’s right. You can rest easy. Your head maid will be perfectly fine.” She seems to take a lot of pride in saying this. “She’s just been stressed and overworked. She’ll be fit for work again in just a few days.” It’s just like what Sakuya said, then.
“Ah, that’s good to hear.” This itch.
“Well, you can check on her now, if you’d like. She’s awake.”
“I think I’ll do that, thanks.” Now will you go the hell away so I can scratch this!"
To your dismay, she looks concerned. “Are you alright?”
Damn it! “Yeah, I’m fine, just-- Gah-!” Another prick. No, more like a stab this time. Like someone just jammed a knife into your back.
“Hayate, your shirt!” Cirno’s worried voice comes from behind you.
The doctor looks over your shoulder and gasps, before setting her briefcase down and starting to open it. “Take off your shirt, would you?”
“What are you talking ab-” Again, even worse. It’s like something’s tearing away at your flesh. You try to reach your hands back before you collapse onto the ground. You try to push yourself back up as you see stars.
“Fairy maid, hold him down!” She shouts an order at Cirno, and from the side of your vision you can see her retrieve a pair of scissors from her briefcase. You hear Cirno’s word of agreement, and then feel cold on your arms and back. Is she… Sitting on you!"
“Get off me!” You try to shake her off.
“Stay still and let me help!” You feel more cold on your back, as your shirt is cut from your body. You can see it fall down next to you. It’s red. Are you bleeding? “This is…” She sits back and lowers her face down so you can see her. With a serious expression, she asks: “Hayate, are these wings?” No way. This is your wings coming out? Why now!" She’s going to find out, find out that you’re not human, that you’re a vampire, then she’ll tell someone, and everyone will know, and Reimu will find out and come here and- “Hayate!”
Another burst of pain, like there’s something writing under your skin. “Yes! Yes they’re wings, now just do something!” You stop resisting. You can see her take something else out of her briefcase: a scalpel. You’re about to push away before you realise what’s about to happen, so you grit your teeth and push yourself down to the ground.

It hurts like hell. You can feel it amongst the rest of the pain. A very fine, sharp feeling of your skin opening up in a line, and then an explosion of pain and you feel something moving. Cirno and Eirin both yell in surprise. Then the next cut, and the next explosion. Something on your back is wriggling around. Eirin drops the scalpel on the floor, and starts pulling bandages out of her case, along with… A vial?. Her hands are covered in blood. The pressure on your back lets up; Cirno must have gotten off of you. Still, you don’t want to get up yet. You see the vial go into a pocket on her coat, now filled with blood. Is she taking a sample?
Well, they’re out now, you guess. You look back over your should to take a look at what’s come out.
Oh, come on.
You can see a grin break out on the doctor’s face, and hear some giggling behind you.
“Fairy maid, help me carry him to a bed, could you?”
“Right.”
You’re suddenly hoisted into the air, and carried through to the infirmary. Sakuya cries out in surprise looking at you, before covering her mouth. You’re let down onto a bed, but put down on your stomach, and they help you take off what’s left of your shirt and vest. Eirin moves over to the sink to start washing her utensils.
Silence. No sounds other than that of running water.
“Not a single word. Do not say a single god damn word.” You know what they’re about to do. And saying this doesn’t help stop it. As if on cue, they all burst out laughing. Laughing like this is the best damn joke they’ve heard for months.
“They’re tiny!” Sakuya is the first to actually speak.
“Like a little girl’s!” Cirno joins in.
Eirin’s the only one not to directly mock you.
“Shut up.” They’re right. They really are kind of small. From your back, each one barely reaches out past your arm.
Eirin walks over and checks under your bandages. “Hm… I see.” She takes them off, and starts rinsing them under the tap. “Well, it seems my work is done here.” She starts packing her things back into her briefcase.
“Hang on, don’t you think you’re leaving a bit early?” You’re still lying bleeding on this bed, after all.
“Oh, not at all. Your own body is going to heal you fairly quickly without any of my interference. So, I’ll be taking my leave.” She heads for the door.
“Hold on.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“You’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you?” If word of this spreads…
She almost seems offended by your question. “Of course not! That’s doctor-patient confidentiality~!” She winks as she says this. It’s out of place, given her (apparent) age. She opens the door, before pausing again and turning back to you. “Ah, don’t worry about payment this time. The sample will do fine. Au revoir!”
And with that, she’s out the door. Hopefully she won’t notice until she’s far away from here that her sample will shortly turn into a pile of dust. Still, she’s right. Your body is already starting to feel a lot better, though it’s definitely an odd feeling having wings sticking out of your back. You look over your shoulder and try to move them. Well, you can wiggle it around a bit, but not quite how you want it to. It’ll take time to get used to, you guess.
“…Will you two stop already?” They’re both still laughing about it. “Man, you guys suck.” Your body still hurts, but you force yourself up and head out of the room, with Cirno shortly following.

You head back to your room for a change of clothes, with Cirno still giggling behind you, and occasionally poking your wings, despite your protests. You’re not too sure of how to work the wings into the clothes. They’re too bulky to leave under a shirt, and not big enough to push them down or up. In the end, you settle for cutting a hole in the shirt and vest for the wings to stick out of. Man… Looking at it in the mirror… It really does look ridiculous. This sucks.

…Wait. You didn’t even end up getting what you went downstairs for in the first place. Now what?


[ ] Choose destination

To help you visualise and compare, this is what Remilia's wings look like.

And this is what Hayate's look like.

[x] Sakuya's room.

We still need to ask her for advice and no point in half-assing this. But I get the feeling that Sakuya won't be amused by how Hayate ran into Eirin.

[x] Sakuya's room.
Kinda standard comedic hijinks, I know. But still, I feel for our good MC.

[x] Sakuya's room.

1. Should have seen it coming. The wings deciding to sprout when meeting Eirinby chance should have been obvious.

2. Should have seen it coming. I guess we will be getting the "oh how small and cute" treatment from Meiling or Remilia then if Sakuya settles for a short "tiny". Inevitable comparison with manhood in 3, 2, 1...

Not that I'm complaining.

[ ] Sakuya's room

Mocked for eternity.

[x] Sakuya's room.

>>35897
>I'm complaining.
I am. But it´s a small thing (heh) in the bigger picture.
Besides, this isn't my story so I don't know if I even have to right to complain...

>>35900

Of course you do. You're supposed to tell the writer when they do something stupid.

>>35901
If that's our job, let me tell you that you aren't making it easy.
This story is awesome, really. I'm just a whiny guy who identifies himself with the MC far too much for his own good. Keep it up and, for god's sake, update!

>>35901
I cannot stress the importance of this hard enough. Not just for this story, for any story. Saying nothing will keep the story going the way it is.

Keep in mind that there's a difference between "Hey, there's a problem with this," and "I don't like this, so change it," though.

>>35901
This, this so fucking much.

Also:

[x]Sakuya's room.

Here's to hoping our pathetically small wings will grow with time.

>>35912

Nice to hear that people can actually relate with the guy.
Admittedly, a lot of the whole work ethic thing has come from my own experiences in needing to leave school and adjust to the working life in the last two years, so it's nice to know that other people can relate, I guess.

In that regard though my days off are done, so probably no update today.

[X] Sakuya's room.

YOUR WINGS, THEY ARE SO TINY

HAHA

[X] Sakuya's room.

>>35920
THE ENTIRE TEAM IS VAMPIRES!

Change of plans. Don't expect an update until Wednesday.

At least Hayate won't have to worry about what his friends' reaction is going to be now. It's hard to express genuine concern when you're doubled over laughing.

[x] Sakuya's room.

>>35990

Hey, that's about a month earlier than for when I was expecting it, so this is actually good news.

>>35992

WHY DO YOU SAY THINGS YOU KNOW WILL HURT ME

>>35997

>It's friday

MAH BOI

Right, update either later today or tomorrow depending on when I get home from work.

updates?

>>36136

I'm stuck again. Another batch of 8 days off coming up starting on friday though, so hopefully another string of updates then.

tyt but not too much :)

tyt but not too much

>tyt but not too much :)

lol u tk him 2da bar|?

>>36630
I did what? I don't know it's something I like saying. Double posted by accident though

>>36633

Cut that shit out.

O.o"... cutting it out whatever it was

>>36671

>O.o

Shenanigans. You must be trying to piss us all off.

>>36630

Tell me... just how the heck am I supposed to understand what that means? I guess it says I "took him to the bar" but I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I don't usually venture into this kind of place but this story seemed rather interesting so in an attempt to inform everyone of my being here and to somewhat jokingly tell the author that his story is awesome I told him to take his time but to please not torture me for too long. Forgive me for being rude if I was but I see nothing wrong there. Please, do tell what I had done wrong though so that I do not do it again. Is it the smiley face? I didn't know how to delete that post since I forgot people apparently don't like them on boards like this (not that I would know I don't visit them very often) so I just clicked stop loading page, back and hoping it would be undone re-posted my message.

>>36692

No emoticons
Type like you're older than 15
Avoid using a trip or name unless you write

These are good rules to follow for ordinary users.

>>36695
Fair. I will try to be more careful regarding emoticons. Lately I can't seem to write a sentence without adding at least one to it. Honestly it'll be good practice since it's starting to get on my nerves as well. Alright then! I think we reached spam limit for today.

>>36695
>No emoticons

I've been wondering for a while...why do people here hate emoticons so much?
I understand that it's annoying when they are overused, but I don't really see how that can enrage people so much...
Sorry if I sound ignorant, but I'm really curious about that...

>Avoid using a trip or name unless you write

I was wondering about this too...what's so wrong about a name?

Not like I mind sticking to those rules, but I'd at least like to know why people react the way they do...

>>36789
>why do people here hate emoticons so much?

This isn't Gaia, emoticons don't fly around here. XD ^_^ o.O etc. just looks stupid.

>what's so wrong about a name?

Because you have no reason to have one. I don't care if you're Sephirothwarrior27 on some other shit-hole, but you are Anonymous here. If you really feel the need to distinguish yourself from everyone else, make good posts and have intelligent discussions often enough that people recognize you.

>ellipses

Stop doing that so much.

>I've been wondering for a while...why do people here hate emoticons so much?
Emoticons have more or less devolved into pointless redundancies, like laughing at your own jokes. If you wrote something that makes me smile, I'll smile with or without a ':)'; if you wrote something sarcastic, I'd better be able to tell without you shoving a ':P' on the end. An inability to do so signals that you are either bad at communicating your thoughts, or (more commonly) that your thoughts are so vapid that they're not worth communicating.

>I was wondering about this too...what's so wrong about a name?
Imageboard culture is, in a way, a return to one of the founding principles of the World Wide Web: emphasizing the ideas transmitted over the person doing the transmitting. On an anonymous imageboard, giving yourself a name is a sign of self-importance; the implication is that your ideas are somehow better or more notable than others' ideas, simply by virtue of the fact that they're yours. This is why writers don't vote using their tripcodes: just because somebody writes a good story doesn't mean their every write-in will be golden, and posting anonymously allows others to judge the contents of a given post themselves, without thinking about the reputation of the author behind it.

Your eight days are nearing their end, Nym; please come back and update before the thread degenerates into discussions of imageboard culture any further.

>>36792
Nice point, though in this era of insecure writers, an vote by a good writer using their trip would give a much needed confidence boost.

The downside? Anon see, anon do more due to the name than the quality of the post. And Anonymaster might busy at the moment, which he probably is.

>>36791
>just looks stupid.
>you are Anonymous here. If you really feel the need to distinguish yourself from everyone else, make good posts and have intelligent discussions often enough that people recognize you.
Fair enough, even though I think emoticons might help you insert a tone into your message that otherwise you wouldn't be able to.
Then again, it could be that I’m a little too used to seeing emoticons everywhere.

And sorry about the ellipses. My bad.

Eh. Thanks for answering this newbie, anyway.
I'm just not used to how things work around here.

>Anonymaster might busy at the moment, which he probably is.

hahahahaha

>>36797
This.

Lazy bum.

Oh god I disappear for a week and this happens

Well, what happened was some salesmen came to the house and said "we have better internet" and my mum goes "HURR DURR OKAY" and then we got disconnected while waiting for them to switch us over. Then it turns out they never even handed in our contract and so nobody even knows what the fuck is going on so it'll be another two weeks or so before I get the internet back. This is why I've disappeared and the updating plan was destroyed. I'm posting this from not-home so there probably won't be many updates if any until this shit gets resolved. Now have your update.


[X] Sakuya’s room


May as well just go back, you guess. You head outside and knock on the door next to yours. No answer. You knock again.
“…What are you doing?” Cirno questions you.
Hang on. Sakuya isn’t even in her room. Why would you go here? Is your brain failing you as well, now? You shake your head and go downstairs.

Sakuya’s looking out the window as you come in. She turns to you and starts giggling, making little effort to hide it.
“Hilarious. I needed to ask you something.”
“Ask away, koakuma.” She smirks.
Koakuma? What does this have to do with- oh. Ha ha. “Yeah, yeah, small wings, look like a kid, I get it. Can we move on already?”
“Oh, don’t be so sensitive about it. Besides, they’ll grow with time.”
“…How fast?”
“Well, Remilia’s started out like yours. She’s over 500 years old now. There’s your scale.”
Great. It’ll be at least 100 years before they even start to look presentable.
“Why do you even have wings, anyway?” Cirno finally pipes up, but you don’t get what she’s asking.
“What do you mean?”
“Humans don’t grow wings, right? So why do you have them? Oh, are you like from some secret clan of super humans that gain superpowers on their 30th birthday or something? But you’re not that old yet, so…” Her brow is furrowed in thought.
Oh, Cirno. You idiot. You haven’t even figured it out?
“…I’m a vampire now, Cirno.” You cover your ears as you say this.
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?” Sakuya winces at the noise. “When did this happen!?”
“About five days ago.”
It clicks in her head. “Oh! So that’s why you were asleep all that time!”
“Right.”
“Yaaaaaaay! Now we can be together for ages and I don’t have to worry about your human frailty!”
“Aren’t fairies even weaker than humans!?” She doesn’t respond, instead practically jumping for joy. You hadn’t thought about it a great deal, but Cirno’s actually a lot older than you are. And if you stayed human, she’d have outlived you as well. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad choice after all?
“Okay, I forgive you!” She points at you.
“For what?”
“For leaving me alone for a week! Now you can make up for it!” You don’t like the sound of that, but at least she isn’t angry anymore. Then, she suddenly recoils with fear strewn across her face. “Wait, you’re not going to eat me, are you!?”
“Vampires don’t eat people. They drink their blood.”
“You’re not going to drink my blood, are you!?”
“No. Sakuya has blood packs for me. Come to think of it, where are they? And how often should I be drinking it?”
Sakuya thinks for a second. “Well, they’re kept in the fridge in the kitchen. One a day would be more than enough.”
“An entire pack?” How much is that?
“You don’t need it all at once. Just have some throughout the day. Remilia has me put hers into her meals.”
“Wait. So that soup she had was actually blood?”
“Only a little. It mostly was just tomato soup.”
Ugh. “I think I’d rather keep it separate.” Sakuya’s a fantastic cook, but you find it hard to believe even she could manage to make blood taste good in a meal. That makes you think of another thing, though. “What happens if I don’t have blood?”
“Well, first you’d get weaker. It’d get to the point where you’re too weak to even stand, and then your body would start falling apart. I wouldn’t recommend abstaining for too long.” No way out, huh.
Well, that’s pretty much it for your questions now.

“So?”
“So what?”
“Didn’t you have something to ask me?” Oh, right.
“Yeah, just, I have no idea where to even start. With the cleaning.”
“Have you cleaned up Cirno’s mess?” She glares at Cirno, who retreats behind your back.
“Yeah, that’s done already. We were coming down to see you when we ran into Eirin before.”
“Oh, that was fast. Well…” She scratches her head. “I don’t have that much of a plan, really.”
“You don’t?”
She squirms a bit. “I just kind of walk around the mansion and do what needs doing. I don’t have any specific way of doing things.”
That’s surprising. You’d have thought Sakuya would be really organised. “Nothing outstanding?”
“Not that I know of.” No help here, then. Damn. “Well, just go find something to do. So long as you look like you’re busy Remilia won’t care what you’re doing.” This maid might be more sneaky than you thought.
“Well, I guess we better get to it, then. See you later.”
She nods. “Bye.”
You head outside with Cirno. You didn’t really get what you were looking for, but there’s some more information about your condition. What now?


[ ] Check on Sakuya
[ ] Go see Meiling
[ ] Check the library
[ ] Check the basement
[ ] Check on Remilia
[ ] Other



So this is going to be the new voting system I'll have in place for a while. Quite simply, cleaning is totally secondary. You don't need to be consciously thinking about it all the time. It'll get done in the background. What's important is the characters, so basically the choices are for each character. You also cannot go straight to wherever you just were, in this case, seeing Sakuya. After going somewhere else, the last place will become available again. Simple, right?

[x] Go see Meiling, if the weather allows
-[x] If not, the Library.

Newbie Vampires and sunlight don't mix though I'm dying to see if this will get a laugh out of Patchouli. Nice to find that Sakuya isn't so "perfect".

[x] Go see Meiling, if the weather allows
-[x] If not, the Library.
I'd assume nothing would really get in the way of seeing Meiling but voting safe.

Glad to see a update, sucks about your internet.

[x] Go see Meiling, if the weather allows
-[x] If not, the Library.


Ouch about the problem, I hope it does get resolved quickly.

[X] Just sort of hang around...with Cirno.

{X} Go see Meiling, if the weather allows
-{X} If not, the Library.

[x] Go see Meiling, if the weather allows
-[x] If not, the Library.

>>36843
I'm ok with this...
[x]Check basement
Just don't kill us for it

>>36843
Thing is we spent some time with Flan recently after we woke up; we have yet to check in on Patcouli or Meiling. I think we should visit Remilia next... yeah she's going to be doubled over laughing due to Hayate's wings.

>>36845
True. I'm changing my vote to
[x]Check on Remilia
We can go visit Flan later...I hope

[x] Check on Remilia

>>36850
You can never have to much Flan... especially considering the fact that it might just save us.
[ ]Check the basement

[X] Check on Remilia

I suppose after reading that thread in /gensokyo/ I should point out that there are only two routes in this story; human and vampire, and you're already locked into the vampire route. Picking specific characters all the time isn't going to lock you into their route or anything. It'll have an impact on the story of course, but essentially there's no point in camping. Then again you guys haven't really shown any sign of trying such so I guess there's not much need for this.

Votes are too close for me to call, and I'm still posting from not-home, so yeah.

>>36843
>>10/05/14(Fri)02:31
>Just as scheduled.

Also what?

>>36994
I think sooner or later folks will wonder about romance options. Also didn't you say that at the very beginning that Sakuya's role would change depending on what route we were on?

>>36996

I have no idea if I said that. I definitely don't remember saying such a thing. Oh, wait. I think I said something like how she'd be important regardless of the route.
Well, the plans have changed a bit since then, honestly.
Though you're right, romances are a part of things. I think it's more that instead of there being character-specific routes and hence stories (like with visual novels) that this is more about making certain characters play parts in the route we're in. Like, there's the human route and the vampire route, which we're in, and you can have the characters become important throughout them by interacting with them more.
So I guess what I said wasn't entirely correct, but that's the idea.

I'm not really sure how much I can say about such things without somehow spoiling things as well, so I'll stop here, but feel free to ask more if you want. If I know I shouldn't answer something I'll just say so.

>>37000

>>21607 exactly

>Forgot to mention this in all the post fuck-upery.
>Sakuya route isn't the only route. It's more like... Whatever route you go on, Sakuya's still going to be an important part of it, whether a lover, friend, rival or enemy.

Oh yeah I'm bored, and to be honest, I need to more interacting with anyone before I dare go setting a target. No greater shame than someone not getting a chance.

[x]Check on Remilia

While I'm still at not-home, I'm gonna call the Meiling/Library vote as winning. Also, I forgot a Cirno option. This will be included next time. Sorry.

Also for the love of god, do what >>37001 said and try to interact with everybody a bit before choosing who you want to focus on. Some characters, like Meiling, Patchy and Koa, have barely had any time in the spotlight so far. You guys might end up liking them, so don't decide on the others just yet. Well, not that I'm trying to make you focus on them or anything. You get what I mean, I guess.
No idea when the next update will show up with the internet situation as is. We'll see.

It's hard to remember how frequent you interact with other characters while an update comes with an exact one month interval. It is my mistake for not backtracking every time an update comes, but being a lazy fag I cannot be bothered to do it often. Besides, I deem visiting Meiling already won at that time, and smarter anons who knows I am doing it wrong will correct my way. Just the usual pissing off against the tide, at least to make your votes look varied.

>>36817
>“Yaaaaaaay! Now we can be together for ages and I don’t have to worry about your human frailty!”
The enthusiasm with which she says these words makes this sentence hilarious.

>>37054
I never thought Cirno would use "frailty" in a sentence.

>>37011

Man, it's not entirely my fault this time. Seems that everything is conspiring against me updating frequently.
Anyway, hooray internet


[X] Go see Meiling, if the weather allows
-[X] If not, the Library.


“How about we go pay Meiling a visit?” You’re sure you’ve earned a break by now. On the other hand, Meiling’s been waiting outside since Sakuya fainted. You should let her know that Sakuya’s okay, and she could probably use the company, too. Cirno’s face lights up at the suggestion.
“Yaaaay, break time!” Do you care about seeing Meiling or do you just want a break!"
You head for the entrance, with Cirno happily buzzing about ahead of you. You don’t have any specific work to do, but you feel like you’re forgetting something. You’re probably not going to need any more blood for a while, so it’s not that. It’s still a few hours until breakfast, so it’s not that, either. What is it? Cirno rushes for the door. No, it’s something about breakfast. The time! Breakfast in this mansion is—
“Cirno, wait!” You reach out to her. Too late. The door is pulled open. Sunlight creeps through, ignoring your clothing, landing on your outstretched arm, violating your eyes. It burns. It burns worse than any fire. Something like smoke rises from your arm and it turns black, before falling apart and landing on the ground. All this in a few seconds before Cirno shuts the door again.
“Hayate!”
You fall to your knees, clutching the black stump where your arm used to be. Your eyes have black spots in them. Parts of your vision are turning red. Blood? Is this the power of the sun?
“Are you okay!" Hayate!” Cirno becomes frantic, grabbing your sleeve.
“Just… A scratch.” It hurts like nothing else. Tears run down your cheeks and snot dribbles from your nose. This is far worse than when you took off your tongue. But you can already feel it. Your body starting to work. Fixing itself. Your vision becomes clearer. The dust on your stump falls away, leaving a bloody mess of red. Cirno retches and turns away. It’s sickening to look at. Blood drips freely from the wound as mounds of flesh extend from the stump. You can see the a bone pushing its way out as the flesh wraps around it. It’s a horrible feeling. Like the muscles in your arm are being twisted around and crushed. The world’s worst Chinese burn. You look away as it gets to your hand. You might have a stronger stomach than Cirno or Sakuya, but there’s a limit. Soon enough, the pain begins to subside. You look at your arm. It’s back to normal. Or so you can tell. You try to wiggle your fingers. Then you notice something. Your middle and ring fingers have been switched, and your little finger has no fingerprint. It’s not perfect, huh? You can still feel something going on under your skin, but at least it doesn’t hurt anymore.
Then, something cold grabs your back.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” She’s… crying. “I didn’t mean to, I just didn’t think about it! Just be okay!”
You push her off, quickly turning and grabbing her again, hugging her against you. “Hey, I’m fine.” She hugs back, crying into your vest. You stroke her hair. “Come on, I’m fine. Don’t worry.” It doesn’t help.
You stay like that for a while, until she starts to calm down.
“Well, no going outside until night, I guess.” She snivels. “Let’s check the library instead, okay?” A light nod. You step back, and she lowers her head. You reach out to her with your regrown arm, lifting her chin. Her eyes are red, and her mouth wet. It’s a sorry sight. You dig your handkerchief out of your shirt pocket, and wipe her face. “I’m fine, okay? Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“But if I opened it any more…” She looks away.
You turn her back to you. “You didn’t. I forgot as well, so don’t think it’s your fault.”
She looks at you for a while, then nods. Well, you can’t do much more, so you let her go. Now, the handkerchief. It’s… soaked. How much did she cry!" Your vest is wet as well. No, never mind that. You have to play the part. Ignore it. Just ignore it, and put it away. Right, in the shirt pocket. Just put it in there and oh god it’s soaking through your shirt you can feel it on your chest augh—no, ignore it. You force a calm face as you head for the library with Cirno moping behind.


As you push open the library doors, the sheer size of the bookshelves astounds you once again. They absolutely tower above you. How does Sakuya keep this place clean? Oh, she can fly. That probably helps. Well, maybe you can help Patchouli organise some books or something. No magic line shows up to guide you this time, though. Well, she’s not expecting you. Now you just need to remember how to get there. You start making your way through the shelves. A few minutes later, you stop. Standing down the row from you, reading a book, is Sakuya. You walk over to her.
“Hey, should you be out of bed?”
Surprised, she turns to you, then bursts out laughing. “What’s with those!?”
“Oh, shut up already.” This is really getting on your nerves.
She composes herself, and puts the book on the shelf. “I feel fine. I need to do something, though.”
Understandable. Lying in bed all day would be pretty boring. “Looking for a book to pass the time?”
She nods. “Something like that.” She walks over to Cirno, and crouches down to her level. “Hey fairy maid, could you leave us for a bit? I need to talk with him in private.” It’s back to fairy maid now?
Cirno looks between the two of you, and you nod to her. She frowns, but nods back and leaves. Hopefully she doesn’t get lost…
“So what did you—” Before you can finish your sentence, she pulls you into a hug. Those things press against your chest. “Hey, Sakuya?”
“Just let me stay like this for a while, please?” You can’t really argue with that, but what’s going on? Sakuya just stays there, holding you. You notice that… She smells good. Is that perfume, or shampoo? Both? Then, you feel something brush against your thigh. She shifted a little. Just an accident, ha ha. It happens again. Her leg rubs against your crotch. She’s doing this on purpose, and she’s starting to pant.
“Sakuya?” Now you’re worried. She doesn’t stop. You push her away. She stares at you, face flushed. “Hey, what’s with you?”
She steps forward. “I… Need a man.” This isn’t normal.
Hey, could it be… “Koakuma?”
With that, her expression changes. A slight hint of surprise, before disappointment, and she sighs. The body starts warping. Morphing. Sakuya’s maid outfit changes into those tight clothes. She changes into that little devil. She pouts. “Come on! Can’t you just go along with it!" You’re a man, aren’t you!" Don’t you have any desires!?”
“I’m not going to just suddenly sleep with a friend who’s acting strange!”
“What’s the big deal? It’s just sex! Live a little!”
“I don’t make a living out of sleeping with succubi!”
She looks hurt by this, but calms down. “Those wings. You’re not human now, are you?”
No reason to hide it. You shake your head. “No. I’m a vampire now.”
She thinks about this for a while. “Then there’s no problem! A succubus might be slightly harmful to a normal human…” She says this a bit too weakly. “But if you’re a vampire, there’s no issue! Something as strong as a vampire wouldn’t be in any danger.”
She’s really persistent. “I really don’t think—”
“What do I need to do to convince you?” Too persistent. “You’ve seen what I can do! I can change my body to any way you like. I can fulfil any of your desires! Why don’t you want to do it!?”
“Because I…” That’s a good question, actually. If what she says is true, there’s little reason not to. But… This just doesn’t feel right.


[ ] Go along with it
[ ] Refuse her

[X] Refuse her

No

Interesting take on Koa, though I'd need to think on the choice.

[x] Refuse her

Too damn pushy.

{X} Refuse her

>>37512 Here

And the offer is tempting but a few things are a bit off putting, mainly how pushy she is. She might be man hungry, but she might have ulterior motives.

And it's in Hayate's stubborn character to turn down easy sex, preferring to do things the hard way. I say hard since I don't think he'll easily get to that point with any girl.

[x] Go along with it.

I figured he should let off some sexual frustration while he can, and Tide pissing. Life is generally easier without lewd thoughts of girls.

[x] Refuse her

Huh, I was beginning to wonder why Sakuya was having such a reaction to his wings when she's already seen them earlier, then she turned into Koa and it made sense.

>>37533
Yeah certain things make more sense after her true identity is revealed.

But you know, I doubt Koa'll give up.

[x] Go along with it.

[x] Refuse her

[x] Go along with it.

Tide pissing, only path, etc.

[x] Refuse her

>>37509
[x] Refuse her
-[x] Because, vampire or not, I'm still the same person. And I don't consider having sex as 'just' having sex.

Hey, she asked for an answer. Anyway, Hay is a bit slow. 'Sakuya' was laughing in surprise for a second time, a good enough hint if you ask me.

[x] Refuse her
[x]"Damn, you are desperate."

[x] Go along with it.

Let's fill her dark soul with more darkness. White darkness. My euphemisms aren't working right.

>>37552
I think it was due to being surprised by seeing Sakuya out of bed.

[x] Go along with it.

Will make a little difference. Then again Anonymaster's the only writer at adult write-a-thon so maybe he hid some of his desire to do more.

A quick bad end isn't too bad of a trade off of having sex with Koakuma either.

>>37570

Who's to say it'll be a bad end?

[x] Refuse her

>>37573

Fucking Koakuma has always been a bad end. Are you a bad enough dude to trust a Succubus when it comes to sex? I am.

[x] Go along with it

Why anons are so adamant about not having sex in a CYOA?

[X] Go along with it.

Why not? Should be fun.

>>37577
VN cliches about not having sex too early lest it bad ends.

But in this case it'd be more in Hayate's character to refuse usually.

[x] Refuse her

>>37577
Acting OOC is frowned upon because... well, it is OOC.

>>37583

OOC is indeed bad, but in this case I'm not so sure there's a precedent.

In fact, given that he basically agreed to becoming a vampire on a whim, I'd say there's a bit of evidence that he might be on the impulsive side.

>>37588
Yeah he is on the impulsive side and I said he'd refuse it USUALLY. Today might be the exception to the rule.

I'm just going to feel bad for Koakuma when she gets shot down. Wonder what that's going to do to her self esteem.

You don't want to make her cry, do you anon?

>>37611
Not this Koakuma, she'd just redouble her efforts to seduce him. Moe and Timid she is not.

>>37611

I bet her crying face is adorable, so I'm fine with that.

>>37616

You monster. ;_;

>“Because I…” That’s a good question, actually. If what she says is true, there’s little reason not to. But… This just doesn’t feel right.

[x] Refuse her
-[x] "...Because I'm saving myself for Cirno."

Say that and flap your tiny wings a bit and, rather than feel rejection, Koakuma will forget her advances entirely and collapse in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

At the least, there's no getting around the fact that Hayate came back for Cirno, despite death threats, and forceful interventions, and terrible working conditions.

>“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” She’s… crying. “I didn’t mean to, I just didn’t think about it! Just be okay!”

D'awww

>>37645
You misspelled Sakuya there.

While I won't dismiss her importance to Hayate as a friend, I don't think she's romantic material at this point.

And I highly doubt this Koa is going to cry upon being rejected.

But I think we can expect a votespam check sometime soon. Never seen this many votes before in this story.

>>37646
>You misspelled Sakuya there.

Funny, I thought she hated Hayate's guts.

>>37650
I think she's starting to warm up, though recent events showed that she had some concern for him, mainly trying to make sure he didn't bite more than he could chew...

Sakuya is not a simple character by any stretch.

>>37650

Just because she isn't head over heels in love with you does not mean she hates you. I can't believe people still think this.

Anyway, looks like refusing wins. We've hit the autosage, so we'll finally be in a new thread next.

By the way, accepting wouldn't have been a bad end.

>>37552

I considered that, but I think it'd be too much of a leap for him to take that to instantly mean it's not actually Sakuya. Much less that it's a certain shapeshifting succubus.

>>37563
Fill her dark soul with white.
Come on, that was an easy one.

>>37570
Not really. The /at/ story was just a joke. I'm not even sure if this story will end up having sex scenes. If it does they'll probably be YAF-styled, that is, completely over the top use of euphemisms and horrible metaphors.

>>37646
>But I think we can expect a votespam check sometime soon. Never seen this many votes before in this story.

Evidently anon cares more about whether or not to have sex with a touhoe than things like say WHETHER OR NOT TO BECOME A VAMPIRE.

>>37655
It's THP tradition to assume sex before the end of the story is awful despite no real proof of that.

One'd think the Fairy Maid Fiasco might suggest differently. Isn't it sad, Sera? ;_;

>so we'll finally be in a new thread next.

At last! Please choose your OP pic carefully, writefag.

UPDATE

Please don't die on me...

Well, this isn't gonna be finished today, but it'll be done sometime tomorrow. Writefag's honour.

What's the point of saging when the thread itself has autosaged?

>>38097

Habit. Also laziness 'cause I hit back to get into here rather than finding the thread again and I'd saged the last time.