[c] Check on Sakuya

[X] Check the basement

{X} Check on Remilia

[ ] Get to work on the cooking early with Cirno

>“But you have had sex, then! Why didn’t you just say so?”

This is so gonna bite us in the ass a la "I'm having sex with Hayate!" mode... and I love it!
[X] Check the basement
if not, [x] Get to work on the cooking early with Cirno

MOAR Cirno!

{X} Check on Remilia

[X] Check on Remilia

{X} Check on Remilia
-[x] Ask if there's a way to correct your fingers post regeneration.

I'm not sure if his regrown arm is messed up or not.

>She takes on a serious face. “This seems important.”

I cracked up here, just visualizing it.

[x] Get to work on the cooking early with Cirno

Cirno love

[x] Check on Remilia
-[x] Ask if there's a way to correct your fingers post regeneration.

{Check on Remilia}
- {Ask if there's a way to correct your fingers post regeneration.}

Cirno's waiting for an update, and you don't want to disappoint her, right?

UPDATE

>>38408
Manners manners... say please
I know I am Take your sweet time anonymaster but be sure NOT TO DROP THIS

>>38516

I'm not going to fucking drop it because I haven't updated for a few days, god damn.

Alright alright sorry. Caps was unnecessary. I wanted to point it out not shout if that's what you thought. Hard to choose words that don't cause pressure and yet encourage writing but saying nothing doesn't exactly help either...

[x] Check on Remilia
-[x] Ask if there's a way to correct your fingers post regeneration.

augh this update took forever


[X] Check on Remilia


You should probably go see how Remilia’s doing. Maybe get an idea of what she wants for breakfast while you’re there.


Three minutes and fourteen seconds. That’s how long she’s been laughing. You’ve been timing since you entered the room. Fifteen seconds for you to get close enough for her to see them. Nine seconds for her to understand, and begin laughing. Twenty-six seconds before she fell to the ground, arms wrapped around her sides. After five seconds she complains of it hurting, between laughs. Add three seconds to the present, and she stops. Stops completely. No laughter. No heaving. No breathing, actually. You crouch down next to her and shake her shoulder. No response. “Remilia?” Nothing. You put your fingers to her neck and check for a pulse. No flow. Hang on, do vampires even have a pulse? You have no idea.
“Hey Cirno, can you check my pulse?”
“Your what?”
“Never mind.” In any case, Remilia isn’t moving. Wait… “No way.” Cirno looks at you, confused. You’ve heard about this. Only rumours, though. Always someone’s aunt’s husband or your cousin’s long-departed friend. Dying from laughter. Supposedly, if you laugh too much, your heart stops, or you can’t breathe, or something. But there’s no way something that ridiculous happened, right? The body in front of you says otherwise. Then, is she really…?
Suddenly the body jolts, and she begins coughing and gasping for air, hands clutching at her chest. When her breathing becomes slightly less erratic, she moans, rolling onto her back. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply. When back to normal, she looks at you, then tries to suppress another bout of laughter. “It hurts…”
“That’s what you get for such a terrible sense of humour.” No pity for this harsh mistress.

Then, abruptly, your arm is severed at the shoulder.

Blood sprays from the gash. The arm hits the ground. Cirno screams. Your back turns cold. You fall to your knees, clutching the wound. It’s a clean slice, like a knife. Remilia looks at you in contempt. What the hell was that? You didn’t even see her move. Not when beginning to attack, not during, and not after. Like Sakuya controlling time, she took your arm off faster than you could even see.
“You killed me.”
Killed her? Then, just now, she really died? She… Died from laughing. “How is that my fault!?” Already, the arm on the floor begins falling apart, and the stump on your shoulder begins expanding. You feel lightheaded this time.
“It’s your fault for having such ridiculous girly wings.” She stands up and walks back to her throne, plopping down on it. “Now what did you want?” Is she completely dismissive of how she just cut your arm off? God damn crazy woman.
“We just came to see what you wanted for breakfast, mistress.” It’s odd. You’re already pushing the pain into the back of your mind. Are you already getting used to such a thing? Hopefully it’s not going to become a common occurrence.
Remilia looks taken aback, and clears her throat. “Well, I guess something simple would be fine, since Sakuya isn’t cooking.” Hold on. Did you really just hear that? Something simple is fine? The most ostentatious person you’ve ever met, and she says that something simple will be fine. Unbelievable. Then again, she probably doesn’t have much confidence in your cooking.
“Then, there are some other things I wanted to ask you about.” Your arm is mostly back the way it was. And… Your fingers are still in the wrong places. Damn.
“Your powers, I take it?” At least she isn’t completely narrow-minded.
“Yeah. The regeneration, for one thing.”
“What about it?” She doesn’t seem too interested, though.
“Well, look at this.” You reach out your hand, but Cirno tugs on your shirt, looking scared. “Hey, it’s fine. She just wanted payback.” Cirno reluctantly lets go.
You walk up to Remilia, and show her your condition. “My fingers got switched. How am I supposed to fix that?” Remilia takes your hand, and without warning, grabs the two fingers and yanks them off. Before you can pull your hand away, she holds the fingers to the proper stumps. The flesh grows and wraps around them, and they become attached like they used to be.
“Remilia.”
“Yes?” She opens her eyes wide, trying to look innocent.
“Give me some warning before you do that!”
She turns away. “I fixed it, didn’t I? Don’t be so ungrateful, you brat.” Who’s calling me a brat, you brat! “Things like that should fix themselves with time, but you can do that if you’re impatient.”
“As if I’d rather tear my fingers off than leave them alone!” You’re not exactly pressed for time anymore, either. There’s other things, though. “So how well does this work? Like, how much can it repair?” This is something you need to know.
“You just saw. I can recover from any wound, even death. I’m completely invincible.” She smiles while saying this, then looks disappointed. “You, on the other hand…” Don’t look at me like some bug! “You wouldn’t want to lose more than you just did. The healing is slower the heavier the wound is. You have admittedly… Surpassed my expectations. But you’re still too weak. I’ll bet you can’t even go out during the day yet.” You hate it when she’s right. “If you died, you probably wouldn’t come back." Far weaker than her, huh. You thought you’d be stronger, but you just lost two arms in one day. Well, they grew back, so it’s not like you’re weaker.
“You should go get some blood now, too.”
“What for?” Sakuya said you’d only need it twice a day.
“We don’t recover it like normal humans. You need to replenish what you’ve lost. That means drinking.” So more injuries means more blood needed to keep you going.

“There’s one other thing. Patchouli said you would be able to teach me how to fly.” Remilia’s wings unfold at the suggestion.
“Oh, I doubt you could fly with those tiny things.”
She means your wings? “I thought the wings were just for show?” That’s what Patchouli said, at least.
Remilia wags her finger at you. “The wings are very important for a vampire. They’re instrumental both to our status and our flight. Can you even move yours?”
You haven’t tried yet, actually. How do you even start? Having them sticking out of your back is problem enough, but treating them as completely new limbs is on a whole other level. You try to focus on them. Feel them. Figure out how to move them. Looking over your shoulder, the best you get is some twitching. Not that easy, then.
“Exactly. Come back when you can control them properly. If there’s nothing else, get back to work.”
That was it, you think. “I’ll call you when breakfast is ready, mistress.” You bow and make your way out.


In the kitchen, things aren’t going too badly. Cirno’s taking the lead. You don’t know how, but Sakuya has taught her how to cook. You’re just making some simple things. Soup, bread, and cooked meat. It’s shameful compared to Sakuya’s work, but there’s only so much you can do without her.
“Hayateeeeeee…” Cirno sounds frustrated.
“What’s up?”
“It won’t boil! We’ve been waiting for ages now!” She’s right. You put the pots on the stove about twenty minutes ago, but the water won’t boil. And the meat still looks as rare as when you took it from the freezer, too. What’s with this? The fires are running, but it’s not heating up. Wait…
“Hey Cirno, go over there for a bit.”
“What for?” She doesn’t get it.
“Just do it.” Cirno walks away from the stove, and almost immediately the pot starts bubbling. It was Cirno. The coldness that comes from her body stopped it from cooking. “Sakuya didn’t let you do the hot food, did she?”
“Nope. I always just helped with the vegetables before.” That explains it. Looks like the hot stuff is up to you.

Some time later, the cooking is done. It’s not spectacular. It’s probably not even half as good as what your restaurant served. But it’s edible, at least. Just one thing left to do. You sent Cirno to get Remilia while you figure this out. Blood. Sakuya put the blood in Remilia’s meals. You’re going to need it too, now. But how does she do it? How much are you supposed to add? You have no idea. Sakuya said that one full pack a day would be more than enough. Looking at it, it’s hard to think you need to take this much. Even more actually, to cover those lost arms. You end up setting the table, and putting about a third into your soup, turning the already deep red a sickening crimson. You put less into Remilia’s portion. This should do, right?

Remilia is not impressed. No, her expression is more like fear. Depression. Anguish. With a long, deep sigh, she sits down at the table. She stares at the food. She picks up a knife and fork and cuts off a piece of meat. She brings it up, before putting it back down again. Without even tasting it, she gets out of her chair, and leaves, saying she’ll make her own later.
First meal: complete failure.
You and Cirno have little problem with it, on the other hand. It’s disappointing to taste after having been treated to Sakuya’s cooking, but it’s not bad enough to walk away from. Remilia is far too spoilt. Still… It’s kind of tasteless. Why? Bread tastes plain, but the toppings and meat shouldn’t. Then there’s the soup. You’d normally have it first, but you couldn’t bring yourself to. You have to. You don’t want to, but you have to. You slowly bring the soup to your mouth and taste it.
It’s rich. Sweet. This isn’t how soup tastes. This isn’t how blood tastes. When you had the blood before, it tasted good. This tastes even better. Are you coming to like the stuff? This could be bad. But then, at least you have a new favourite topping.

You clean the dishes with Cirno, but you still have meals to deliver to Sakuya and Meiling. Where to now?


Night has fallen.


[ ] Take Sakuya/Meiling their food
[ ] Have Cirno deliver the food (select other destination as well)
[ ] Magic lessons at the library
[ ] What about Flandre?
[ ] Check on Remilia
[ ] Tend to the garden
[ ] Other

{X} Take Sakuya/Meiling their food

[x] Take Sakuya/Meiling their food
-[x] Tell Sakuya that, if she doesn't want to taste something like that ever again, she should give you some cooking lessons.

[x] What about Flandre?
Darnitall... I will get to see the younger sister! Someday!

[ ] Take Sakuya/Meiling their food

Meiling comes first.

>Night has fallen.
If Meiling comes, Meiling comes last too...

[x] Take Sakuya/Meiling their food
-[x] Tell Sakuya that, if she doesn't want to taste something like that ever again, she should give you some cooking lessons.

>>38607
We can do that next; depending on her mood. We can't afford to get blown up.

Shota wings: the killer joke.

[x] Take Sakuya/Meiling their food
-[x] Tell Sakuya that, if she doesn't want to taste something like that ever again, she should give you some cooking lessons.
--[x] What about Flandre?

>>38612
If not for the sun, we'd have gone and visited her sooner.

Suddenly I am sick and feel like crap, so I'd say probably nothing for a few days.

Have a great drawing of Hayate done by Giddy in the meantime.

Not pictured: The rest of the cast pointing and laughing.

>>38624

Take it easy~

>>38624
Don't die.

>>38627
Huh?

Get well soon~

[x] Take Sakuya/Meiling their food
-[x] Tell Sakuya that, if she doesn't want to taste something like that ever again, she should give you some cooking lessons.
Snarky, I like that.

[x] Take Sakuya/Meiling as food.

I'd eat them. Over and over.

If you know what I mean.

>>38746

I'll give it a 6.5. Solid execution, but the routine was too common for high-level competition. You did stick the landing, though.

So I've got 10 days off starting on Monday; expect a string of updates then.
Let's hope I don't lose an arm or something this time.

I was just about to say 'Update'.

I'm waiting warmly.

>Let's hope I don't lose an arm or something this time.

You just had to say it.

Boo! I wanna see what's happening after!!

>>39344
>Telling Nym to update

Good luck

Better late than never, right?


[X] Take Sakuya/Meiling their food
-[X] Tell Sakuya that, if she doesn't want to taste something like that ever again, she should give you some cooking lessons.


Better take the food to them first. You prepare two trays to carry down with you, and head for the sick bay.

When you get there, the bed is empty. Sakuya’s standing by the window, and turns to you as you come in, then abruptly disappears, showing up in the bed. She’s got an expression like a kid caught in the middle of a prank.
“Should you be out of bed?”
She clicks her tongue. “It’s fine. I feel much better all of a sudden. I thought of going for a walk before you came in.” She does look better, actually. You’re not sure what it is exactly, but she does look more vibrant. Almost like she just went back a year or two. “So what did you want?”
“We brought you some food.” Trying to impress her, you unveil the contents of the tray as you set it in front of her. It doesn’t work.
“Oh… Thanks.” Nevertheless, she takes it, and starts eating, even if she doesn’t have the most pleased expression. Given that she’s the one who makes all the great meals you’ve had, it’d be even worse for her to have something like this.
“You know, if you don’t want to eat something like this again, then you need to teach me to cook.”
She laughs, almost choking on her food. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Time passes. “So, did you need anything?”
Oh, right. “Not really. We just came to bring you that.” Now that you ask, though… “Sakuya isn’t a very French name, is it?” You assume, at least. No, you’re pretty sure. Doesn’t sound at all like the same language you’d get François and Reine from.
“What’s French?” Cirno doesn’t get it. She probably doesn’t know about the outside world at all, come to think of it.
“I’ll tell you later.”
Sakuya nods. “You’re right. It isn’t my real name. Remilia gave it to me.”
Remilia renamed her? “Why would she do that?”
“She said it signified me becoming her servant. She’ll probably do the same with you at some point.”
“Like hell I would let her.” This name’s the only thing that still belongs to you, nowadays. “So what was your old name, then?”
She shifts in the bed, looking uncomfortable. “I… Don’t remember.”
“Are you kidding me?” There’s no way you could forget something that important.
“No, I really don’t. I haven’t had that name for a long time. At some point I stopped thinking of it.” A long time? How many hundreds of years? She might have a point. Could you really remember your own name after that long? “Anyway, you have another meal there.” She motions towards Cirno, who’s holding the other tray. “You should go deliver it, right?”
“Ah, yeah.” She’s trying to dodge the topic, for whatever reason. “Let’s go, Cirno.”
Cirno looks confused, more than usual. Right, she doesn’t know Sakuya’s story, so this is strange for her. Still, she follows you out of the room.


Opening the doors, you see the gate from a different angle. And next to that gate, is the guard, sleeping again. You don’t think you’ve ever met a youkai who sleeps so much. Well, not that you’ve met many.
“Hey Cirno, go wake her up.” You don’t want to be the one to wake the sleeping dog.
“Okaaaaay…” She sounds suspicious, but doesn’t question it. She walks over to Meiling, then loudly yells out her name. The gate guard snaps awake, and immediately enters a fighting stance, before seeing the two of you. “We brought you some food!” Cirno holds out the tray, but Meiling takes no notice of it. Her eyes are fixed on you. She pauses, rubs her eyes, shakes her head, and then looks back at you. Then you swear you see her eyes turn to stars, and she rushes over.
“Hey, what are—” She grabs onto your wings, rubbing her hands all over them. “Oi, that hurts!” You try to shake her off, but she won’t budge.
She pushes her face against them, nuzzling up to them. “They’re so cuuuute!” Damn it, having your wings yanked like this hurts a lot more than you thought it would. You feel something crack, and a wing bends at an odd angle.
“Get off me, damn you!” You try elbowing her, but she refuses to let up. “Cirno, help me!” Cirno looks utterly dumbfounded, but eventually flies over and grabs Meiling by the neck, who abruptly stops.
“Cooooooold! Cold cold coooold!” She runs away from Cirno, rubbing her neck, then pauses again. “…You didn’t have wings before.”
“No, I didn’t.” You try reaching your wing, with no success.
“You have wings now.”
“Yes, I do.” You try moving it, but it won’t budge.
She frowns. “Why do you have wings?”
“I’m a vampire now.” By itself, it then pops back into place, still feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
She laughs. “Yeah, right.”
“No, really.” You pull out your lip so she can see your fangs.
Her face collapses; dread crossing over it. “How did that happen? Did she force you to? Does Sakuya know? Does—”
“Sakuya knows, yes. Relax. It was my decision.”
“Your decision?”

You explain what happened, and what Sakuya told you about their past.

“Well, I guess that’s why I haven’t seen you until today.”
“Yeah. I’d have come to visit, otherwise.”
She smiles, then seems to think of something, and beckons for you to come closer. “By the way, Cirno was really worried about you, you know.” She whispers to you. “They didn’t tell her why she couldn’t see you, so she got really upset about it.” Cirno gives you the usual blank but curious stare when you look at her.
“Is that so?” You grin. She acts like such a kid.
“Really, though.” Meiling sits back on the grass. “Have you thought about what this means?”
“Plenty. Sakuya’s been nagging me about it from the start.”
She sighs. “I guess there’s nothing left for me to say, then.” She looks back at you, grinning. “There is that one plus, though~”
“Don’t start yanking them again. That really hurt.”
She looks dejected. “Oh, sorry. They’re just so cute!”
“I don’t want to be cute!” She laughs. Damn it, give it a few hundred years and they’ll be sorry they ever made fun of your wings.
“How is Sakuya, by the way? I haven’t been able to see her.” She’s concerned.
“Oh, she’s fine. The doctor said it was just exhaustion.”
She nods. “I heard when she left.”
“Well, she was up and about just now, so she’ll be fine.”
“That’s a relief.” Her face shows it, too.
“You guys are pretty close, huh?”
“Of course. We’ve known each other longer than any of the other people here.” 500 years is a long time to know somebody. “But lately…” She seems sad.
“Lately?”
She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it. So, what did you guys come for?”
Oh, right. “Hey Cirno, where’d you put that food?” She’s not holding it. She looks around a bit, before finding it on the ground. “We cooked today, because Sakuya can’t. We came to bring you yours.”
Meiling is completely taken aback. “Really?”
“Yeah?”
“Really? You brought me a meal?” She sounds far too happy.
“Yeah, we did.” Cirno brings the tray over and takes off the lid, to show the food. “It’ll probably be cold now, though.” Note to self: don’t let Cirno carry the meal next time.
Meiling looks absolutely ecstatic. “Thank you!” She jumps forward and hugs you, and then does the same to Cirno, before taking the food and chowing down way too quickly.
“Your reaction is kind of extreme, you know. Do you not get fed, or something?”
“Youkai don’t need to eat, you know?” She speaks with her mouth full. “I usually just get scraps. Sakuya says I need to lose weight.” She stops eating for a second as she says this.
“You look fine to me.” She really does. Taking a look, there’s no way you could call her overweight. Her clothes aren’t really tight, but the only part of her you could call fat is… “Actually, I think she might be envious.”
“Of what?” She doesn’t get it.
“Never mind. Anyway, we should probably get back to work.”
“Oh, alright. Thanks for the food. It’s great.” She’s the first person to think so. “Come by anytime, alright?”


You head back inside with Cirno, leaving Meiling to her meal. Where to next?


[ ] Go see Meiling
[ ] Check on Sakuya
[ ] Magic lessons at the library
[ ] What about Flandre?
[ ] Flying lessons with Remilia
[ ] Tend to the garden
[ ] Other

[X] Magic lessons at the library

Magic is fun.
>>39370
Didn't Remilla say that we should learn to control the wings better before coming to see her? Not sure we qualify yet.

[x] Magic lessons at the library

No flying because Hayate can't control his wings and no Flandre because she is a psychotic loli. Give her more time to adjust for Hayate being here.

Learning magic sounds more exciting than tending to the garden so let's go with that.

I don't care when you update as long as you do. The sooner the better obviously.

I love this story.

[X] What about Flandre?

[x] What about Flandre?
-[x] If she's... not in a social mood, then magic lessons.

It's damn obvious what's going on between Sakuya and Meiling. Dense Gateguard is Dense.

>>39372
Really? Well let's just say a moment of guilt came up over me. I hope one of the things might be fly magic (how else can Flan and Sakuya fly?)

[x] What about Flandre?
-[x] If she's... not in a social mood, then magic lessons.

>>39375
This. Do not drop please. Ever.

>>39381
Yes, we love youu!

[x] What about Flandre?
-[x] If she's... not in a social mood, then magic lessons.

Thx for upadating, you saved a stick man.

[x] Magic lessons at the library

[x] What about Flandre?
-[x] If she's... not in a social mood, then magic lessons.

[ ] Magic lessons at the library.

Did Hayate get any sexual stimulus from being rubbed at his wings?

>>39403
I saw a H-doujin where Koakuma is turned on when her tail is rubbed.
But, apparently, it's more painful than exciting.
But you can imagine a ... a wingjob... and even a wingasm!

[X] Magic lessons at the library

>>39404
>a wingjob
Danbooru has a tag for that: http://danbooru.donmai.us/post?tags=Wingjob

>>39403
I think with Meiling it was more painful than enjoyable; girl doesn't know her own strength!

[x] Magic lessons at the library

[x] Magic lessons at the library
Just because the other options are out.

It's Saturday already. What happened with 'String of updates'?

>>39530
Well you see, he was only being figurative; it's not like it was a string literal.

>>39530

Laziness/tiredness/explaining magic is hard.
Update tomorrow.

>Update tomorrow.
Yes! The more we wait the better it is when we read it anyway so... yeah.

>>39588

Hooray!

>>39588
Hooray!

Damn it, this is why I don't say when things will be done. Writing is not working. I'll try to have it done by Wednesday but I can't promise anything. Sorry.

Nooooooooooooooooo...
One of the funniest story of the site is not updated!
Waaaaahh...

>>39637
Chill. He said he was going to do it. What would you rather have? Something shit tier now or something awesome when he feels like writing?

>>39638
Don't ask me question when you know what'll be the answer.
Awesome is awesome, and shit is shit.
But I'm still wondering if Anonymaster have a plot, or if the poor blood sucking butler will just fool around, playing with devil, little devil, and little devil.

>>39639

Err... what?

>>39651

Phone.

JESUS CHRIST THIS TOOK FOREVER


[X] Magic lessons at the library


“Hey, I’m going to head back to the library. Want to come?”
“Boriiiiiiiing.” You’re getting déjà vu.
“I’ll see you later, then.” You wave, leaving Cirno to her own devices.

There’s something strange that you notice on your way to the library. Well, it’s always been here, but it’s different now. The fairies. Have they gotten louder? You could always hear the ruckus they make, but now you can pick out parts of their conversations.
“Have you seen the butler?”
“He has wings!”
“You don’t think…?”
“He looks so scary…”
“I think he looks cute!”
It’s not good. As usual, they run away as soon as they spot you. Why can you hear them now? Is this another one of your body’s changes? You try to ignore it as you make your way into the library.

Once again, that line on the floor shows up, so you follow it. After making your way past a few bookcases, you see something out of place. It’s Cirno, reading a book. Then she notices you.
“Hayateeeee!” She runs towards you, arms outstretched. You stick your hand out, so she runs into your palm, then falls backwards, clutching her nose. “What was that for!?”
“I’m not having sex with you. Go away.” You walk past her.
There’s a few strange sounds behind you, and you hear a different voice. “How did you know it was me?”
Well, you just left Cirno behind. But that wasn’t even necessary. “Cirno would never be in here willingly.” It’s odd, somewhat. She can read, but you don’t think you’ve ever seen her do so without being asked to.
“Hey, will you wait for me?” You can hear her footsteps speeding up. You don’t stop. This woman’s caused you enough grief for one day.
“What do you want?” As if you don’t already know.
“I want to apologise.” You stop. “For earlier.” You turn around. Did you really just hear that? She looks serious enough; fidgeting with her hands and her head turned to the side. You wait. Nothing comes out.
“I’m kind of busy, actually, so…” You take another step.
“I know I’ve been way too pushy, okay!?” And stop. “It’s just… There hasn’t been a man here in so long, so I…” She’s actually going red. “I let my urges get the better of me. I’m sorry.” She bows.
“Well, uh…” What the hell else can you say to this? “Apology accepted, I guess.”
She sighs, relieved, and smiles. “So, are you sure you don’t want to have sex?”
Jesus Christ. You start walking away.
“Waiiiit! It was a joke! Just a joke!” She runs up next to you.
“You have a poor sense of humour.” Really.
“Anyway, what’s up? You’re back here already.”
“Patchouli offered to teach me magic.
“Woooow, really? She never does that! People keep coming here to learn from her, but she always turns them down.” She’s genuinely surprised.
“Well, I work here. I guess that’s something.”
“Oh, you did say something about that before. What do you do?”
“Well, mostly I just help out Sakuya. Cooking and cleaning; those sorts of things.” She sighs. “What?”
“You’re not manly at all.”
“I’m sorry I can’t be a brainless macho man for you to suck dry.” Figuratively and literally.
You turn around another corner and end up in that same clearing. It really does spring up on you, as there’s no way to know where it is until you’re here. Patchouli’s made a mess of all the books again. Nobody would ever know that you cleaned them up a few hours ago. Patchouli’s facing away from you, looking through the bookcases for something.

“Hey.” You don’t really want to surprise her again, after what happened last time.
She notices you, and walks over to her desk, picking up a book. “Good, you’re here. Alright, to start with, try reading this.” She abruptly pushes the heavy book into your chest. “Koakuma, you can go.”
“Fine, fine.” She doesn’t seem offended by being asked so rudely. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way, or anything.”
“Don’t get any ideas, devil woman.” You’ve had enough misunderstandings lately. She floats off, and you take a look inside the book. “…Is this even an actual language?” Looking at it, you wouldn’t think so. Page upon page of strange symbols and scribbles, with no apparent structure.
“Can you read it?” Patchouli looks hopeful.
“Not in the least.” She sighs, and takes it back. “What is it?”
“A grimoire. A spell book, to put it simply.”
“You mean, that’s some kind of incantation?” You can only imagine reading that out loud would be somewhat painful.
She nods. “The thing is, you’d be able to read it if you could use magic.”
“What, it’s some kind of magic language?”
“Not quite. It’s a lock.”
“A-”
“A form of magical protection.” She doesn’t even let you ask the questions, because she knows you don’t get it. “If you can figure out the key, then you’ll be able to read it.”
“So how do I do that?”
“Think of it as something like a magical code language, and the key is the guide. Well, this part is the problem. You need to be at around the same level of ability as the magician who made the grimoire. If you have a lesser understanding of magic, it’s totally impossible to figure out the key. I wrote this one when I was young, so I was hoping you’d at least be able to read it, but I guess not.” She seems disappointed.
“Hey, I don’t know how to use any magic whatsoever. How am I supposed to have more talent than you did?”
“You inherited Remilia’s powers. I was hoping you might have some innate understanding as well, but you don’t.” She sighs, deeply. “This is going to be like teaching a commoner.”
“Thanks for holding me in such high regard.”
She rolls her eyes. “This will take some time. You should sit down.” She sits at the desk, and you notice there’s another chair now. She must have gotten it for you. You sit down.

“Let’s start with the basics. What are the elements of each day of the week?”
“Huh? Well… There’s the sun, moon, fire, water, wood, and earth, right?”
“You forgot metal, but that’s passable. These are the basis of elemental magic, which I’m going to teach you. Well, first, let me tell you about spiritual magic.”
“You mean there’s different kinds?”
She nods. “Spiritual magic draws on… I guess you could call it the world’s energy. Taking the power all around you and transforming it into something else. This is what the shrine maiden does.”
“Reimu does?”
“Not just her. It’s a form of magic that suits their roles. Elemental magic is a bit different. It draws on specific kinds of energy.” She pauses for a few seconds. “Today is Tuesday, so we’ll be doing fire.”
“Why fire? Oh, Tuesday is fire, right?”
“That’s right. Specific elements are attuned to their respective days. Well, I won’t get into that right now. All you need to know is that fire is the best magic to perform today. This is good for you, as it’s the easiest.”
She takes a candle in a holder, and sets it in front of you. She mutters something under her breath, stretching out her open hand. You can’t hear it. Not because it’s quiet, but because of how fast she said it. Nobody can speak that quickly. After the mash of words stop, a flame appears, dancing over her palm. It’s like it’s hovering in mid-air. It then moves along her finger and lights the candle. She closes her hand and it disappears.
“Was that a spell?”
“Yes. I don’t want you to try any yet, though. For now I want you to try drawing in some magical energy.”
“Drawing it in? What does that mean?”
“There’s energy inside that flame. I want you to take that flame and absorb the energy behind it.”
“…I have no idea how to do that.”
She frowns. She probably doesn’t know how to explain it. “Try putting your hand near it, first.” You do so. You can feel the heat. “Use the heat as a guide. Try to control that heat. Try shutting it out, or sucking it in. This is entirely mental; you don’t need to say anything to do it.”
“Okay…” How do you even start with this? You focus on the heat; try to feel exactly where it’s warming you. You try to imagine not feeling the heat. It doesn’t work. You try to imagine the heat brought inside your body. It doesn’t work. After a minute or two, Patchouli groans and blows out the candle. “Hey!”
“You weren’t going to do it.” She’s right. She leans back in her chair, rubbing her head.
“So, uh… What now?”
“I’m thinking.”

She’s quiet for a long time. Several minutes, at least. Then she gets up, telling you to wait here, and walks off. You wait, and eventually she comes back flipping through the pages of another book.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to try transferring some magical energy directly into your body.”
“That’s what the book is for?”
“Well, I already had a vague idea. I just wanted to make sure that it’s safe.”
That it’s safe? “That means it could be dangerous?” You’re not liking the sound of this.
She waves her hands. “No, it should be fine. I just haven’t tried this before. Well, you already have magic flowing through your body now.”
“Wait, I do?”
“Yes. Ever since you became a vampire. Well, it’s possible you did before, but that’s unlikely, even for the humans of Gensokyo. Anyway, I doubt you can feel it actively.” She’s right. You were out cold for five days, and you’ve been more worried about losing arms and growing wings. “With this, I’ll just add some more, so you’ll be able to feel it. Now give me your hand.” She reaches out across the table.
“Alright.” You lift out your hand, and she holds onto it.
“Are you ready?”
“I guess.”
Then, after a few seconds, you begin to feel it. Somewhere between pins and needles and a very light, numb, almost euphoric feeling. It starts creeping down your hand into your body. Then it reaches your chest and head, and you feel nauseous. That kind of feeling like falling a great distance. It gets worse. You’re drowning in it. You pull away from her. Your head is pounding, but you feel dizzy as well. You clutch at your stomach and begin retching. Your vision is going blurry. Your ears ring painfully. Then suddenly, the sensation gets ripped away. The nausea leaves, the numbness leaves, the floating and sinking feelings leave. Too much leaves. You feel weak; empty. You only now realise that you’re on the floor. Patchouli is helping lift you back into the seat. As soon as you’re in it, you flop down onto the table. Then you feel it again. The magic returns, only for a split second. It flows throughout you. A more acceptable feeling. You feel it less and less as it spreads, until you don’t feel it at all. No, if you focus you can feel it. Move it around, even. You start to feel better quickly.

“What just happened?”
Patchouli’s hand is on your shoulder. She looks down at you, worriedly. “I must have given you too much energy. I’m sorry.”
You sit back in the chair. “Too much? There’s a limit?”
Satisfied that you’re alright, she moves back to her seat. “The human body is like a container. It can store magic inside of it. But if you put in too much, it’ll burst.” She pauses. “Figuratively. But it’s different between people. A normal human could store as much energy as a rock. But at the same time, you can’t completely drain someone of energy, either. What I just gave you was by my standards a miniscule amount, but I underestimated how big the gap between us is.”
“So what, you gave me a boulder?”
She smiles. “About that much. Well? You could feel it, right?”
“Yeah. I can feel it inside me now.” This will take some getting used to. She lights up the candle again.
“Go ahead. Now, feel the energy inside you, and then try to feel the energy coming from this flame.”
Okay, time to try again. You bring your hand up to the flame. You feel the energy inside you. Now you focus on the flame. It’s different. You can feel it now. It’s faint, but it’s there. Something that isn’t the air; isn’t the heat. You can feel the element burning away next to your hand. “I got it.”
“Good!” She’s pleased. “Now, I want you to try take in that energy.”
“How do I do that?”
“Like with moving energy around inside your own body, try to move this. Then try to move it inside you, and you’ll absorb it.”
“Right.” This is harder. The fire won’t respond like the energy inside you does. You try to move it, and the flame goes out. The energy you felt disappears.
“Don’t worry, you just used a little too much force. Don’t rush it.” She lights the candle again. “Actually, try pushing some energy out, first.”
Pushing it out should be easier. You focus on your hand, and feel the energy. You focus on one finger. Like squeezing out a splinter, you force it out. Suddenly the flame erupts into a fireball before disappearing. Patchouli’s recoiled in her seat.
“Uh… Good. Good! Now try doing the opposite to move it.”

You try again. And again. And again. Over and over, the candle just goes out when you try to move it.
Then, on your twentieth, or fiftieth, or maybe hundredth attempt, it moves. The flame leaves the candle. It’s not like it lifts off; it’s more like it disappears and reappears, hovering over your finger. You move your hand, and it flows with you.
“Great!” Patchouli claps for you. “Can you hold it there?”
“I think so, yeah.” It clicks. You’ve moved it into your control now. You’ve taken that energy and used your own to manipulate it.
“Now, try to bring it into yourself.”
You focus on your finger. You imagine making a hole in it. A gap where energy can move out or come in, and you imagine moving the flame through that gap into your body. The flame disappears. In return, your body suddenly feels hot. So hot that you start sweating. “Gah, how do I get it out!?”
“Don’t panic. Just focus, and do it like before.”
You focus on the energy inside you. You can feel where it is. There’s the energy you’ve had inside you all this time, and the fire sticks out like a sore thumb. You picture the hole, and push it out, but focus on keeping it in your control. It appears over your hand like before. You light the candle with it, then relax, and the flame in your hand disappears. You feel the energy dissipate into the air.
“I… Did it. I did it!” You can control magic! Finally, you can control it, like everybody else!
“Grin any wider and your head will split open.” Patchouli’s looking at you with an amused face.
“You’re such a buzzkill.” Really, don’t you get to have this sense of accomplishment?
“Well, that was the simplest form of elemental magic. Turning it into danmaku is a different process. But I think we’ll leave it at that today.” Now that you’re relaxing, you suddenly feel exhausted. Checking your watch, you’ve been in here for several hours already. Patchouli seems to realise the same, and lies back in her chair, stretching. “I’d advise against trying to practice by yourself. Not so soon. If you have an accident I won’t be able to help you.”
“Yeah, alright. That was hard, anyway.” You could use a rest.
“You’ve got the basics down. If you can remember what you learnt today, you’ll be fine. Let’s see, tomorrow is…” She pauses for a second, silently mouthing off words. “Water. We’ll do water tomorrow.” Sounds a bit safer, at least. “Oh, bring along your fairy friend when you come. She’ll be useful for that.”
“Ah… Okay.” Is it because she can control cold?


While walking back through the library, you focus on feeling the energy around. You can feel it in your body, and whenever you go past a candle, you feel the energy under the heat. It’s like you’ve suddenly had an extra sense opened up to you, and you’re seeing an extra layer to the world you didn’t know about before. Still, you don’t try to control it. You don’t want to accidentally make another fireball and burn the library down.

Well, that’s that appointment kept. Where to next?


[ ] Go see Meiling
[ ] Check on Sakuya
[ ] Magic lessons at the library
[ ] What about Flandre?
[ ] Flying lessons with Remilia
[ ] Tend to the garden
[ ] Look for Cirno
[ ] Other

[x] Look for Cirno
Delicious ice fairy...
May change vote.

[x] What about Flandre?

We've already seen the other residents of the SDM. Need to go for the complete set.

[x] Tend to the garden
Wait, is it night now?

>>39837 here changing vote

>>39841
Exactly! Changed my mind after all...
[x] What about Flandre?

[x] What about Flandre?

>>39843
Yup, and it's a good way to wind down.

{X} What about Flandre?

[x] What about Flandre?
Somehow, I have the feeling this will not end well.
Death flag risen.

[x] Tend to the garden

>>39854
>Winding down
>Flandre
Ha! Ha! Ha!

Ha!

>>39920
Reading her a bedtime story then tending the gardens sounds like a nice winddown.

Gonna say now that there'll probably be nothing until monday due to work.

Tuesday to Saturday.

[x] Tend to the garden

[x] Look for Cirno

She's my favorite.

>>40081
Indeed she is, but since we just talked to Cirno for a while and we already have an appointment with her tomorrow outside the usual stuff, Flan is my route for this vote.

"brainless macho man"

RELEASE THE BOGUS!!

This took way longer than it should have.


[X] What about Flandre?


Actually, you’re reminded of something. Flandre. You haven’t seen her since that game of chess, and you didn’t make any food for her, either. Is she going to be alright? If you remember properly, she lives in the basement. You haven’t been there before, but you remember the entrance was on the first floor. You head down there.

It’s not too hard to find. It’s the only door that’s got less room between it and the next doors. Aside from that there’s nothing to give it away. In any case, you try the handle. It doesn’t turn. Is it locked? No, it doesn’t feel right. You try a few more times before it suddenly gives way, and you hear a loud clanking noise followed by a few smaller ones. You pull your hand back, and this half of the doorknob comes with you. The door freely swings open now. You look down the passageway. Stone steps and stone walls, with no light. It’s not like the rest of the mansion.
“Hey, Flandre?” You call down the stairs. No response. How far down does this go? You grab a candle from the hallway and start making your way down.

There’s a strange smell here. Dust, and dampness. Probably some mould. You hear the occasional drip of water. This doesn’t feel right. Who could live down here? Continuing down, you can see hints of light showing an opening soon. Looking back, the light from the hallway above is rather faint. Just how far down does this go? You keep moving, and eventually the stairs open into a small square area, with torches on the walls. On the far end is a door built into the stone. It’s not like the doors in the mansion. It’s metal. Iron, maybe. A large frame with two holes in it. One at the bottom, and one at the top. The top one has bars across it. This feels like a dungeon. Cirno couldn’t possibly have been right about this place, could she? No, ridiculous. You walk over to the door and notice that it’s crooked. It’s fallen off the hinges; instead just being propped up in place.
You try to peek through the bars. The sight is something totally different.

It’s like looking at the mansion again. There’s a room. From what you can see, the walls are painted red, and carpet covers the floors. There’s candles along the walls, and you can see a bookcase on the far end. There’s a variety of colourful books on it. Children’s stories? On top of the bookcase are several stuffed toys. Standard ones, like rabbits and bears. That’s all you can see from here.
“Hello?” You try calling out again. “Flandre? Are you here?” There doesn’t seem to be any response. Maybe she’s off with Remilia or Cirno? You’re about to leave when you hear something.
“…Mister Butler?” She’s quiet.
“Yeah, it’s me.” You hear some shuffling, and abruptly the large door in front of you lifts up. You step back, and it turns around. Flandre’s holding the entire door by herself. She leans it against the doorway on its side. That kind of strength is ridiculous.
She turns to you and gasps. “Wings?”
“Oh, yeah.” She hasn’t seen them yet. “Yeah, I’m the same as you and your sister now.” She looks confused. “A vampire. Oh, it was voluntary, so don’t worry about that.”
She looks shocked for a while, then her eyes start tearing up. “I’m sorry…” She starts crying.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” This is way too sudden.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry for always breaking things, sis…” She’s talking to herself. You’re not sure what to do. You reach out to her, and she bats your hand away, glaring at you. “Go away! Just leave me alone!”
“Why? I don’t get it!” What the hell’s just come over this girl?
“I don’t want to be replaced!” She starts swinging at you.
“Replaced? What are you talking about!?” You step back to avoid her.
“It’s you! She doesn’t want me anymore!” You hit a wall, and she starts pounding at your chest. It doesn’t hurt. “Why, sis!" I’ve been trying to be a good girl! I don’t… I…” She gives up and falls to the ground, sobbing.
“Nobody’s trying to replace anybody! Why would you even think that?” No response. “She asked if I wanted to become a vampire. I said yes. That’s all there is to it, alright? I’m not trying to get between you and your sister.” This seems to calm her down.
“I’m sorry, I… I got carried away.” You help lift her up, then stand there awkwardly for a while.
Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “Really, why do you think you’re being replaced?”
She turns away. “It’s just… Sis used to come and play with me a lot. But lately…” Remilia’s been ignoring her. You get it.
“Hey, she’s a busy lady.” Sort of. “I’m sure she’ll come see you again soon.” She better.
That helps. She smiles and nods. “Thanks. You’re kind.” You’ve heard that before. “Oh, do you want to come in?”
“Yeah, sure.” Anywhere’s better than this mouldy dungeon.


You follow Flandre into her room. It’s more spacious than you thought. No windows, of course, but plenty of decorations. The mansion’s red theme carries down here. There’s paintings on the walls, and flowers in vases atop shelves. The carpet also has a large flower in the middle of it. There’s a few more bookcases than the one you saw, and far more toys lying about. Stuffed animals, dolls, spinning tops, yoyos, even a small rocking horse, along with boxes of more toys. It’s a bit of a mess, really. There’s two other doors from this room, which are more like the ones in the mansion. This is probably her play area. The only place to sit is one of those tiny children’s tables, where Flandre plops down. You opt to stand.
“So, um… What did you come down here for?” Oh, right.
“Just to check up on you, really. See if you wanted some food or anything.” Not that you have any left to give her…
“Oh, well… Thank you, but I’m fine. I have food down here.” She’s so polite.
“What, Sakuya brings you a large batch of food at once?”
Her face darkens at the name. “Yes.” She goes quiet.
“Uh…” Something to talk about… “You know, we haven’t really had a chance to talk until now.”
“What about?” No opening.
“Well, you know. Things. In general.” She doesn’t make this easy. Oh, here’s something. “So, how did you and Cirno end up meeting? I’ve heard Cirno’s version, but I don’t believe a word of it.” You decide to pull out a chair and sit down across from her, even if the chair’s too small to be comfortable.
She giggles. “She snuck down here a few days ago. Said she was exploring.” That hypocrite! “She was scared when she saw me come to the door, and ran away.” Such little dignity. “But, she came back some time later. We started talking, and she decided I wasn’t so bad after all.” She has a faint smile while she says this. “We started playing together after that. Until she caught us.” And the smile is gone. Sakuya keeps coming into things.
“You know, about Sakuya-”
“Don’t try to defend her!” She raises her voice. “She hates me! She thinks I’m a monster!” She’s right, though you don’t want to admit it. “Everybody… Thinks I’m a monster.” She curls up in her seat.
You don’t know what to say. The people at the ball have proven her right. You can’t say that they don’t think that. Nobody would buy it. But what can you say?
“Thank you for defending me earlier.” She speaks into her arms. “Really, I’m grateful. Sorry, but could you please leave me alone right now?” She drops her head further, obscuring her face.
“Flandre…”

This is just too sad. She doesn’t deserve this. But, what can you do?


[ ] Comfort her (write-in)
[ ] Leave (select new destination)
- [ ] Go train with Meiling
- [ ] Check up on Sakuya
- [ ] Flying lessons with Remilia
- [ ] Magic lessons at the library
- [ ] Look for Cirno
- [ ] Tend to the garden

[x] Comfort her, whilst getting up to leave.
- Something like "We haven't known you for long, Flandre, but for what it's worth Cirno and I don't see you as a monster. I'll come see you again and I'll see if I can persuade Sakuya to let Cirno visit you."
[x] Leave (select new destination)
-[x] Tend to the garden. Practice moving your wings while you're at it.

[x] Comfort her, whilst getting up to leave.
- "We haven't known you for long, Flandre, but for what it's worth Cirno and I don't see you as a monster. I'll see if I can persuade a certain head maid to let Cirno visit you."
[x] Leave (select new destination)
-[x] Tend to the garden. Practice moving your wings while you're at it.

This will do

[x] Comfort her, whilst getting up to leave.
- Something like "We haven't known you for long, Flandre, but for what it's worth Cirno and I don't see you as a monster. I'll see if I can persuade Sakuya to let Cirno visit you."
[x] Leave (select new destination)
-[x] Tend to the garden. Practice moving your wings while you're at it.
Not going to leave without comforting her. Man, it's so rare to have a Flandre you can sympathise with.

[x] Comfort her, whilst getting up to leave.
- Something like "We haven't known you for long, Flandre, but for what it's worth Cirno and I don't see you as a monster. I'll come see you again and I'll see if I can persuade Sakuya to let Cirno visit you."
[x] Leave (select new destination)
-[x] Tend to the garden. Practice moving your wings while you're at it.

Look how you made Flan feel, Sakuya. Damn it.

Well, I guess that's a win.

How bland. Did you forget all those things you said in a previous thread?

>>40315
You are the scariest!" might have been funnier, but...

>>40341

No, no. Think back further. It's related to the comforting thing.

>>40342
...



Oh!

Well, damn. I think someone mentioned it recently, too. I'd change my vote to that, but unless you fancy leaving voting open for a while longer there's not a lot of point.

Also, damn, sage goes in the email field. Oops.

Actually, you know what? I will anyway.

Changing mah vote~

[X] Comfort her
- We still owe her that dance!

[X] Comfort her
-[x]We still owe her that dance!
Good thing I forgot to vote. I think.

>>40299 here

[X] Comfort her
- We still owe her that dance!

inb4 it's too late ;_;

[x] Comfort her
(-) We still owe her that dance!

>>40347

Uh, yeah. I already started writing this one. Sorry guys.

You'll get your chance later, anyway.

Probably.

Damn... too late. Hope we do.

>>40351
We wouldn't have forgotten if your update speed wasn't so Yuuka Slow!

I demand a second chance in the near future! We MUST get some more alone time with Flan!

>>40367
<Anonymaster> I WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED!

>>40381
Y-Yuuka?! We're sorry! You're not really as slow as Anonymaster!

Seriously though, it is pretty important. I for one felt quite stupid for forgetting it.

>>40367
I've always imagined Yuuka just likes to take her sweet time. Savory each moment to the fullest.

But maybe that's just me

>>40384
Right? Right? Why rush if there's no need.

>>40384
You know, I'd not really thought about it before, but I like that idea. Why would the most powerful youkai feel any need to rush things?

[X] Comfort her, whilst getting up to leave.
- Something like "We haven't known you for long, Flandre, but for what it's worth Cirno and I don't see you as a monster. I'll come see you again and I'll see if I can persuade Sakuya to let Cirno visit you."
[X] Leave (select new destination)
- [X] Tend to the garden. Practice moving your wings while you're at it.


…Nothing. There’s nothing you can do for her right now. You barely know her. What does your word mean to her? Absolutely nothing. You stand up to leave.
“We haven’t known you for long, Flandre.” Even so. You can’t leave without trying something. “But for what it’s worth, Cirno and I don’t see you as a monster.” She raises her head and looks at you. “I’ll come see you again soon, alright?” She meekly nods. You head for the door, stopping before going out. “I’ll see if I can persuade Sakuya to let Cirno visit you.” With that, you walk outside.
You try to pick up the large iron door and put it back in its place. It doesn’t budge at all. Even Flandre is far stronger than you. After a few more attempts, you give up. You hear a slight giggle as you head up the stairs.


Well, you’ve visited everybody you can think of. Nobody needs anything, and you have no appointments to keep. You decide to check on the garden.

It’s pleasantly cool when you get outside, and the moon is bright enough to light up the area. The garden is even bigger than you remember. From the ballroom’s large glass doors, steps lead down onto stone tiles set in the grass. Off to both sides are large multi-coloured flower gardens lining the edges of the mansion, with several topiary sculptures along the way. There’s a number of tall willow trees further along, and you can’t see past them. Off to the front is the hedge maze, but before that is a group of flowers in a circle, with the statue in the middle. There’s a few steps at the front letting you get close to it. You walk over.
This is supposed to be François. Remilia’s father. Sakuya said Remilia doesn’t remember him; that she thinks her father is that Draculon guy, even though this statue’s here. You take a good look at it. The statue’s bigger than he would be, but it’s fairly detailed. He’s got some sort of long coat on, covering most of his body. He’s got a mace in his right hand, and is posed so that it’s being held up while the other hand is on his hip. The face is hard to put an age to. It’s a gruff looking face, with a thick moustache and long hair, for a man. It’s not really what you’d expect from a nobleman. You crouch down to look at the plaque at the statue’s base.
Now it makes sense. It’s obviously been tampered with. Most of the plaque has been dug into, so a new inscription could be made. The name now reads ‘Vlad Tepes’. The rest of the messy inscription is in another language, so you can’t read it. Vlad Tepes. That was the guy’s name, right? So Remilia thinks this statue is of her idol, and not her father. That’s quite the deception. But… Does she really believe it?


You need to get some work done. You step back from the statue. Gardening. You don’t know that much about it, but you do know that plants need water. That’s something you can do, at least. You crouch down and bring your hand to the soil around the flowers, when you feel a sudden sting in your finger. A bee flies away from you. You bring up your hand to smack it in retaliation, but stop. There’s no point. That bee just sealed its fate in defending itself from you. It died to attack you, who cannot. That thought… Leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You bring your hand back down and feel the soil. It rained yesterday, but it’s dry now. The days have been hot lately, so that could be why. It wouldn’t hurt to give it some water. Problem is, where are the tools? You look around, but can’t see anything through the willow trees. It must be down the side somewhere. You head off in one direction.
On one side of you is the flowers and the building, and on the other is the topiary. There’s a lot of different shapes as you go past. Mostly animals, and a few posed humans. Some of the hedges haven’t been cut yet. You reach the willow trees blocking your view before, and take the path past them. It’s a completely different kind of garden here.

Back there, the garden was very neatly organised and presented. This is more like a wild display of all the different things the garden has to offer. There’s more types of trees, and varieties of flowers in large patches with little method to their placement. There’s still the stone tiles though, and there’s even a few small bridges where a stream runs below. This is definitely a much more varied display. The bright colours of the flowers help you see, even with the trees blocking out most of the light.
When you reach the corner of the mansion, there’s an extra room built onto the outside. This must be it. You look inside, and find more tools than you know what to do with. Still, a watering can is easy to recognise and it doesn’t take you long to find one. You take it over to a stream and fill it up, then head back to the more organised garden.


Watering is a simple enough task. Walk along the flowers, pour enough water—though not too much, and move on. It’s menial, but it’s important, and after all the work that’s gone into this you wouldn’t want the garden falling apart because Sakuya couldn’t be up to take care of it. With how simple the work is, your mind wanders. Water. You’re supposed to do water with Patchouli tomorrow. Wouldn’t hurt to get in some early practice, would it? …No, it might. She told you not to do anything by yourself. What else is there to do? A fly buzzes around you as you try to think. Oh, that’s it.
Your wings. Remilia told you to learn how to control them before going back to her. You haven’t paid them much heed. It’s like having an extra weight on your back more than an extra limb, at this point. Are they just stiff because they haven’t been out long? Well, in any case, it’s something to do. You focus on your wings. You can feel the breeze blowing over them. You focus on those sensations, and get a feel for the muscles. You try to move it, but it won’t budge. No, there’s an easier way to feel it. You reach under your arm and grab the tip of your wing, then pull it around. It’s uncomfortable, and hard to make it move. It feels like it’s stuck. You pull harder and it suddenly snaps over to the side with a burst of pain, then goes limp. Did you just break your damn wing? After a few seconds, it snaps back to how it was before. Surprisingly, you can get it to move now. Just minor twitches at first, but after a few minutes you can rotate it around just like you’d do with your arm. You can make it do something of a flap, but with just one tiny wing it doesn’t do much. You brace yourself and snap the other wing, and soon enough you’ve got them both moving mostly how you want them to. You try curling them in and stretching them out. It feels like stretching any other limb, and you can move them further each time.
That’s it. You’ve got it. You can move them properly now. Remilia should be happy with that, right? Although, you’ve got no idea how you’re going to use these shameful things to fly. And if you can’t fly with them they’re not very useful. You can feel the wings drop down as you slouch.


Abruptly, a bright flash of light comes from the sky. You turn to try see what caused it, when another flash appears from a completely different direction. Rapidly, flash after flash assaults your eyes, causing you to drop the watering can. Then as soon as it started, it’s over. There’s spots in your eyes while you look for the culprit.
“Oh, this is front page news for sure! I’ll sell hundreds of copies with these!” Above. You look up to see a woman floating several metres above you, intently focused on some object in her hand. “Our correspondent has grabbed a top story today! Now, you down there!” In the blink of an eye she drops down from where she is to the ground right next to you, with a strong gust of wind. She points that thing at you and there’s another flash, then suddenly has a notebook in her hands. “Could I get an interview?”
This woman… She seems vaguely familiar. She’s got shoulder-length black hair, red eyes, and looks about your age. Not a human though; she’s got feathered wings sticking out of her back. She’s also wearing some strangely shaped red thing on her head. Like a hexagon with a pointy top, and two ribbon-like straps coming from either side. She’s got a white blouse and a black skirt, with a sort of belt weaving into the blouse near the waist, creating some makeshift pockets. She’s got a fan tucked into it. She’s also noticeably taller than you, but looking down, the reason’s obvious. She’s wearing geta. Tall ones.
“Uh… Who are you?” You can’t think of the name.
“Aya Shameimaru of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper!” She hastily grabs your hand and shakes it. “I’m amazed you haven’t heard of me. The Bunbunmaru is famous all over Gensokyo!” She boasts.
Bunbunmaru… “That’s the fluff thing they have in cafes, right?” That’s it. She did a write-up of your restaurant once, though you never bothered reading it.
She’s almost flustered by your remark. “N-No! The Bunbunmaru is a well-researched and commendable publication that seeks to expose the truths of all Gensokyo!”
Close enough. “So, what do you want?”
“I want the truth! First, what’s your name?”
“It’s Hayate.”
She writes in her notepad. “What about your last name? No, never mind that. How did you start working here? No, the wings! You’re a vampire, right? How did that happen? Can you tell us what the mansion’s residents are like? How about Flandre Scarlet, have you met her? What’s it like being a vampire? Is Cirno really working here too? What kind of books are in the library? What kind of relationship do you have with Remilia? Is she planning to do anything? Are you being trained to replace Sakuya? No, let’s start from the beginning.” The questions are as rapid-fire as her voice.
“Hey, I really don’t think this-”
“Oh come on! All you need to do is speak the truth! That’s the aim of the Bunbunmaru; to expose the truth! There’s no harm in that, right?” She’s strangely persuasive…


[ ] Answer her questions
- [ ] What do you think of the mansion’s residents?
[ ] Refuse to answer

[x] Answer her questions

If we don't then Aya will just run something worse.

Incoming rage miko.

[x] Answer her questions

damage control time.

{X} Answer her questions

[x] Answer her questions
All in the name of truth.
I don't understand the other part though, are we asking her what she thinks of the residents, or are we supposed to write in something about them?

>>40611
>I don't understand the other part though, are we asking her what she thinks of the residents, or are we supposed to write in something about them?

Latter. It's asking you to say what you think of the residents.

[x] Call for help or something
-[x] but answer her questions

God... I like her less and less... god damned reporters.

[x] "No taking pictures please!"

[x] Answer her questions
-[x] Keep the answers short and to the point, let her ask the questions. If she starts to ask too invasive questions, dodge, or redirect the flow elsewhere. Don't offer any strong opinions on anybody, positive or negative, those are far too easy to reconstruct to fit whatever goal she might have.

[x] "Sorry, I already gave you an interview and you still haven't rewarded me for it"
-[x] What did you think? About my restaurant, I mean.

Aya never interviewed you...

Didn't... back when we were human... long time ago or something?

>>40640

Why would we want to bring it up anyway? If Aya doesn't realize that we were a human from the village this would go smoother.

>>40640

From the update:

>Bunbunmaru… “That’s the fluff thing they have in cafes, right?” That’s it. She did a write-up of your restaurant once, though you never bothered reading it.

Unless the interview is mentioned in a previous update that I forgot about, we were never interviewed by Aya.

>>40637
That pic can be really adequate sometimes

20 days later.

16 actually...

Raaaaaage!

Sorry. Not sure what came over me.

In between Starcraft 2 and work I've had little time. Should be done by Friday, though.

Also, I guess I should ask. Would you guys rather I pump out excuses when things are taking a while or just shut up until it's done?

>>40920
A middle ground, just to let us know that you haven't quit this story.

>>40931
But not everyday, yes. SC II is a noble excuse tho

I know this is short for how long it took. Sorry.
Also WAY TO NOT ANSWER HALF THE VOTE, GUYS


[X] Answer her questions


You sigh. She’s already got photos of you. “You’re going to write an article regardless of whether I say anything, right?” That’s her reputation, at least.
“I’m afraid so. A story like this is far too good to pass up, I’m afraid! So…” She taps her pen on her notepad.
“Hang on. What did you come here for in the first place?”
“For a story!”
Ugh. “No, I know that. What story are you supposed to be writing?”
She drops her notepad to her side. “I’d heard about Remilia having hired a butler. I can’t reveal my sources, mind you. But it was the talk of the town after the last party they had here.”
That ball, huh. “I don’t remember seeing you there.”
She shrugs. “I wasn’t. I was busy running some boring story about this closed restaurant and trying to track down the owner.” …Let’s not think too much about that. “Anyway, after the party, people were abuzz about Flandre being loose. That’s not really anything new.” She stretches while talking. “Some people were more interested in Remilia’s new employees. I heard you got kidnapped that night…” She flips through her notebook. “Hayate. Right, the names match. Anyway, I went and chased down those leads.” You can’t even get a word in. “I found out you got taken by Reimu. Pretty bold of her, right? Well, she wouldn’t even talk to me. I got in touch with Kourindou, but you weren’t there. Rinnosuke told me a little about you. You used to work for him, then went to the village for a while, right?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“And now you’re here, even after your friends tried to drag you away.”
“That’s how it is.”
“I tried to see you earlier, but they wouldn’t even let me inside. I finally caught you!” She grins, bringing her pen back to the notepad. “And even better, you’ve got wings! So, feel like helping me out here?”
She’s going to write an article without your input anyway. The best thing you can do for yourself right now is to give her all the answers so the truth doesn’t get skewed at all. You might just get Reimu to only beat you within an inch of your life when she finds out, rather than kill you. “Okay, fine. Can I work while we do this?” You pick up the watering can.
“Of course. So, let’s begin…”


You spend the next half-hour or so recounting to her how you ended up working here, while watering the rest of the garden. The restaurant (which did turn out to be the same one she was investigating), Remilia showing up, and ending up with nowhere else to go. You explain what happened at the ball regarding how you got thrown out, and how you came back. You make sure to state that your friends’ fears are exaggerated, and that you’re perfectly safe. You tell her that Remilia asked if you wanted to become a vampire, and that you accepted. She constantly prods for more details. You try to make things sound as innocent as you can.
“So, you’re saying you chose to become a vampire?” She sounds suspicious.
“That’s right. Remilia didn’t pressure me into it or anything.”
“May I ask why?”
“Why, huh?” You’ve thought about this before. “I wanted to be more useful.” You tell her the same thing you told Sakuya.
She looks surprised. “You’re… Really dedicated, huh?”
“I just want to do my part.” Is being interviewed going to your head?
She laughs. “Oooh, how noble of you.”
“Shut up.” You try to bat her away with your wing. It can’t reach.
“Hey, so, what’s it like? Being a vampire?”
“It’s not that different, really. The wings get in the way and I bite my lip sometimes.”
“That’s not very interesting, you know. I’m trying to sell papers here.” What a complainer.
“It’s really not a big deal. The main changes are that I don’t really get tired now, and I can heal my wounds. Though, I’d rather not get any in the first place. Well, adding blood to my diet is a little odd.”
“Where do you get your blood from?”
“There’s blood kept in storage here. I don’t know where they get it.”
“That’s odd.”
“What is?”
“That you don’t know about the contract.”
“What contract?” Getting answers from this woman is like getting blood from a stone.
“The contract they have with the people of Gensokyo. They’re provided with blood, and in return, they don’t attack humans. It works out for everyone, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Wait, why did you ask me if you already knew?”
“Just checking.” That’s kind of suspicious, but whatever.

“So, what about the residents? Can you tell me about them? Is it true that Cirno’s also working here?”
“I’m not too sure what you want me to say. And yeah, Cirno’s here. Don’t ask why. I don’t know what Remilia was thinking.” Of all the terrible choices of employees…
“Interesting… Well, just tell me your opinions of them.”
“Uh…” What’s she looking for? You’ll just be brief about it. “Patchouli doesn’t really leave the library. She’s been helping teach me about magic. Meiling is a nice lady. She’s got a tough job. Remilia is a gracious, wise and benevolent employer.” She might read this.
She grins at that. “Alright, what about Flandre Scarlet? Have you met her? Is she as dangerous as people say?”
Tch. “You know what? Flandre is just like any other young girl. She enjoys playing with toys, reading stories and spending time with people. Just because she needs to drink blood doesn’t make her some kind of monster. You people spreading rumours about her is half the reason she can’t leave the mansion. Your fear mongering has made her a shut-in. It pisses me off.” She doesn’t deserve that.
She looks taken aback.
“Sorry, it’s just… She has feelings too, you know.”
She writes in her notebook, not saying anything about it. “So, what about miss Izayoi? She’s your supervisor, right?”
“Sakuya is… She’s pretty strict. But she helps us out a lot too. She’s dependable.”

“Oh my, how flattering.”
You whip around to the source of the voice. Sakuya is standing a few metres away from you, dressed in her usual uniform, and holding knives between her fingers. Before you realise it, Aya is already flying into the air.
“We’ll have to leave it at that! Thanks for your time~!” She waves to you, when Sakuya appears next to her. You see a knife cut through the space she was just in. Suddenly there’s a fierce blast of wind. So fierce that you’re knocked off your feet and into the mansion’s wall. You hear your wings crack again, then fall to the ground. The wind subsides quickly. Looking up, Aya is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, there’s a thud nearby. Sakuya is lying in a flowerbed, groaning. You rush over to her.
“Damn it…” You help her up. “If I wasn’t still weak…” She stumbles a little, before standing straight and looking at you. “What were you talking to her about?”
“She wanted to interview me. About working here.”
“And you let her?” She frowns.
“Yeah.”
She glares at you. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
“Damage control.” She raises an eyebrow. “She took pictures of me before I knew she was here. By letting her interview me I could explain the situation to her. Things are going to be much better than they could have been.” You think so, at least.
She sighs. “Even so… There’s going to be trouble. I need to talk to Remilia. Stay inside. Don’t go out without my permission, understand?” She starts pulling out her pocket watch.
“Hey, Sakuya…”
“What?” She doesn’t look up.


[ ] About Flandre…
[ ] Don’t say anything

[ ] Go train with Meiling
[ ] Follow her to Remilia
[ ] Magic lessons at the library
[ ] Look for Cirno
[ ] Check on Flandre (must talk to Sakuya about her)

[x] About Flandre…
-[x] By the way, shouldn't you be resting? You still seem kinda weak.

[x] Follow her to Remilia.

[x] About Flandre…
[x] Check on Flandre (must talk to Sakuya about her)

While my target is Sakuya I feel this is the right thing to do, and it'll give us a chance to ask for that dance that Flandre was deprived of.

[x] About Flandre…
-[x] By the way, shouldn't you be resting? You still seem kinda weak.

[x] Follow her to Remilia.

>Also WAY TO NOT ANSWER HALF THE VOTE, GUYS

Derp. Thought it was optional.

[x] Don’t say anything
Sakuya seems pretty pissed. Isn't she all about the status quo in this story? Either way, best not to mention a touchy subject when she has to go do damage control with Remilia.
[x] Look for Cirno
If I remember correctly, it hasn't even been hours since we last saw Patchouli and Flandre. It's way too soon to go bother them.

>>41283
This guy speaks truth.
And telling her she looks weak sounds like a good way to annoy her and make her work harder.

[x] Shouldn't you be resting?
[x] Look for Cirno

We need to add "Tell Reimu about the vampire situation before Aya does" to do-not-forget list.
Under dancing with Flandre, obviously.

[x] About Flandre…
-[x] By the way, shouldn't you be resting? You still seem kinda weak.
[x] Follow her to Remilia.

[x] About Flandre…
-[x] By the way, shouldn't you be resting? You still seem kinda weak.
[x] Follow her to Remilia.

Aya seems strangely less anoying than in other stories... nah, probably just me being tired.

[x] About Flandre…
[x] Look for Cirno
Meh... Busy, lazy,copypasta and moving on~

bleeeeeeeh

Sorry about the wait, guys.


[X] About Flandre…
[X] Shouldn’t you be resting?
[X] Follow her to Remilia


“Wait up. I’ll come with you.”
She drops the watch down. “Do you want to die?”
“…Where did that come from?”
“Remilia’s going to kill you for this. Your only saving grace here is that you’re hard to kill now.” She says this with a blank face.
“I’m pretty sure you’re exaggerating.” Remilia isn’t that violent. Right?
“Well, if you insist.” She shrugs, putting the watch away. You walk together with her.

“By the way, shouldn’t you be resting?” It definitely hasn’t been the two days that nurse recommended.
“I feel fine. I can’t just lie around in bed all this time.” She doesn’t look fine. She’s limping every few steps, not to mention being covered in dirt. She’s rubbing it off her clothes while you walk. “I won’t get anything done by just waiting to get better.”
“Fair enough.” Abruptly, you feel one of your wings snap back into place, and realise the other one is still bent. You reach over your shoulder and jerk it back. These things are annoyingly frail. You wiggle it around. Doesn’t seem like they took any permanent damage.
“Oh? You’re moving them?” Sakuya’s eyeing your wings.
“Just a little. They’re still pretty stiff, but I figured it out, I guess.” She frowns, looking like she’s thinking. “What?”
“Nothing, it’s just… You’re adapting fast.”
“I guess.” It hasn’t been that long since you woke up.
She sighs. “No, there’s more than that. It’s like you don’t even consider this an issue.”
“It just… Doesn’t feel that different.” Haven’t you been over this enough already? Oh, you’re nearly at Remilia’s room. “Wait up.”
She stops. “Yes?”
“Just, about Flandre…”
She glares. “Yes?”
“You forbid her from going out again after what happened before, right?” She folds her arms. “I mean, that’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? It was probably Cirno’s idea in the first place, too.”
“Are you saying I should punish Cirno instead?” She smirks.
“No, just-”
She sighs. “You know what? Fine. Go play with the little monster all you like. Just don’t expect me to help you when you end up like one of her dolls.” Before you can ask what she means, she knocks on Remilia’s door, then walks through. You follow after her.


Remilia is once again sitting in that throne of hers. You’d bet that she wasn’t there until just a second ago. The wine glass she’s holding is empty. “Oh, Sakuya? Are you feeling better?”
Sakuya walks to the bottom of the steps and bows. “I feel fine, Mistress. We have a problem.” You stop a few steps behind her and bow as well.
“A problem? And Sakuya, your clothes…?”
“The tengu were here. They’ve got pictures of Hayate.” Remilia’s eyes widen. “And… He let them interview him.” She says this quietly.
“Is that so?” Remilia’s eyes dart to you. “Sakuya, notify Patchouli. Have the fairies and Meiling prepare for an attack.”
What? “An attack? You’re joking, right?” Sakuya and Remilia both glare at you.
“We’ll have a few hours to prepare. A day at most. Make sure nobody leaves the mansion. Have guards posted on every possible entrance.”
“Oh, come on. Who do you think’s going to attack you?” They glare again, like you’re the one acting ridiculous.
“First, the shrine maiden. Given your circle of friends, we might also see that thieving witch and the doll maker.” Sakuya counts them off. “After that, I expect a mob will form. That will be the real problem.”
A mob. Villagers. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I told you what I said to Aya!”
“I know that. They’re not going to listen. The only thing they’ll take from that interview is that one of them has now become a vampire. It was exactly the same back then.”
“Back then?” She means, back when Remilia first became a vampire?
“Sakuya, that’s enough. You’ve got your orders. I’ll deal with him.” Remilia stands.
“Yes, Mistress.” Sakuya bows again, then makes her way out of the room.
Once the door closes behind her, Remilia addresses you. “This is going to be trouble.”
“Aren’t you guys overreacting?” This is way too much.
“Oh, you’ll see what things are like soon enough. How your former species acts.” She speaks with disdain. “For now, I’ll need to think of how to punish your foolishness.” She smiles, baring her fangs.
“Hey, come on now. I was just watering the garden!”
“Quiet!” She yells with a volume that makes you flinch. Your wings involuntarily curl inwards. You stand with your head bowed, waiting for her to speak.
“Close your eyes.”
What? No, you don’t question her. You close your eyes. What the hell is she going to do? You’ve lost enough limbs for one day. There has to be a limit to your ability to regenerate. But not knowing what’s coming just makes things worse. You clench your fists to stop the trembling from showing.

Then, something wet touches your cheek.
You open your eyes. Remilia is floating in the air next to you. Did she just…?
“Things sure have gotten interesting since you came here.” She smiles. A proper smile, this time.
“Mistress?”
She drops back to the ground, and turns away. “You may go. Try not to get caught again. Those tengu have a poor reputation.” …You mean a reputation of publishing the truth? In any case, you’re grateful to be leaving with your body intact. You bow, and make your way out. “Oh, by the way…”
You turn around. She’s right behind you, silently floating in the air. You jump back involuntarily.
She giggles. “You seem to be getting the hang of these.” She reaches over you and pulls at one of your wings. “If you come back later I’ll be ready to teach you, alright?” She then pushes you around and out the door.


Man, these people are ridiculous. As if some mob is suddenly going to attack the place. Your interview should have put people at ease.
…Right?


[ ] Look for Cirno
[ ] Magic lessons at the library
[ ] See if you can help Sakuya
[ ] Go train with Meiling
[ ] Flying lessons with Remilia

[x] Look for Cirno
Go. Please.

[x] Look for Cirno

Yeah seeing how we won't be able to make it up to Flan, we might as well find our friend and clue her in as to what'll happen.

[x] Magic lessons at the library
You need to be able to throw SOMETHING at them before they come to burn the house.

[X] Magic lessons at the library

[x] Magic lessons at the library

Shitstorm is a-brewin'.

[x] Magic lessons at the library

{X} Magic lessons at the library

[x] Magic lessons at the library

Cirno can come later. I'm more worried about someone coming at Hayate with a, "the only way to save you now is to kill you," attitude.

Cirno keeps getting left behind... we pick EVERYTHING over her. Shows how much we really care for her. We had 6 Cirno options at the very least in just this thread. We didn't pick one. The only time we actually interacted with her was when we were forced to since we HAD to make dinner and that was not even a vote. It's been a while since a Cirno option won at all now that I think about it.

Yeah yeah sorry about my rambling. It's a dirty job and the pay(out) is low but somebody has to do it.

>>42031

I was under the impression that we had a growing faith in Cirno being capable of handling her self over the series of updates than we actually give her credit.

Besides she could have very well had chosen to look for us on her terms rather than wait.

Course I could be entirely wrong and we've weakened a relationship with Cirno rather badly;_;

[X] Look for Cirno

She might be lonely! Well, maybe not, but still!

[X] Look for Cirno
What's wrong with you guys? CIRNO!

>>42031
You make a good cause. A fine rallying cry!
[X] Look for Cirno

Comrades! Yay!

[X] Look for Cirno

[x] Look for Cirno

[x] Magic lessons at the library

Don't be idiotic, we're about to be attacked.

>>42045

And that matters because..."

If we are actually going to be attacked, there's no way we can learn anything useful in the amount of time before Aya's article circulates. Finding Cirno, however, will not only let us know what she's been up to until now, but if an attack does happen we'll be able to keep an eye on her.

>>42046
Almost exactly what I was going to say.

At this point, we might be better off conserving energy in case we need to eat damage. And it's not like we can't trust Cirno with our back, if it comes to that.

Also, if the situation's as serious as Sakuya is making out, Patches probably wont have much time for our bumbling anyway.

>>42046

Fairies can't die, and maybe Patch can teach Hayate something in time/use some magic on him so he isn't killed as easy.

[x] Magic lessons at the library

Wait for us Cirno, we'll meet again soon enough~

So, uh. Remember that time we went to see Patchy last and she said that the next time we see her we should bring Cirno?
Well, yeah. I kinda forgot to mention that in the vote. That you need to be with Cirno to go again.
So, uh. Rather than just go with the Cirno option (seeing as it was outvoted) I'm gonna call a revote.
...And I also forgot the Flandre option. aghsak;ghla;ga

So basically, right now your options are:
[ ] Look for Cirno
[ ] See if you can help Sakuya
[ ] Go see Flandre

Sorry, guys.

>>42050
So, basically, everyone won? The people voting for Patchy and the people voting for Cirno? I mean, if she is a requirement to meet patches, I can live with that. And so can everyone else (I guess)

[x] Look for Cirno

[x] Look for Cirno

[X] Look for Cirno

Off to find the Fairy!

[X] Look for Cirno

[X] Look for Cirno

Got to be prepared~!

[X] Look for Cirno

Well damn.

[x] Look for Cirno

Let's do this.
And prepare for BATTLE.

[x] Look for Cirno
Maybe its just my blind optimism striking again, but I dont think this upcoming "attack" will be as bad as everyones making it out to be. Remilia and Sakuya are clearly overreacting, right? We have plenty of time to just pal around with Cirno, and go clean the house some, right? Right.
Maybe I'm just taking it too easy.

>>42064

Taking it easy is probably the last thing to do when the Reimunator is coming.

[x] Look for Cirno
Will restrain myself. Will not comment. ಠ_ಠ

[x]Flandre
If we love her enough, we will stop her 'other side' from murdering our MC.
At least, that's what I'd like to believe.

I'm tempted to say go see Flandre, but I'm sure an EX boss can handle surprise invaders better than a Stage 2 boss. So,
[x] Look for Cirno

Plus, no time for dancing when an attack is imminent.

>Plus, no time for dancing when an attack is imminent.
Although that would be a fantastic way for Reimu & mob to find us.
Right before we got yingyanged/pitchforked anyway.

>>42075
Seeing about all things, Flan'll have to wait until this little storm blows over. That and she has the least to worry about. Not sure if we 'd get a chance anytime today even to make it up to her.

Cirno on the other hand, may get panicked about all the stuff going on.

[x] Look for Cirno

She needs a comforting voice to inform her what's going on. She's also the only friend who isn't upset at our choice in life.

>>42089
Wrong thread.

Holy shit so many votes.

Sadly, I'm working almost every day between now and next Sunday, so there probably won't be an update for at least a week.

I'll just mention for you guys, you will have a while to do a few things before anything happens (or doesn't). Around 3 or so options, I guess, depending on how things go.

>[ ] Look for Cirno
>[ ] See if you can help Sakuya
>[ ] Go see Flandre
Like this?
No I'm kidding.

Updates hiding where?

Update?
If you don't update, I will burn a "Twilight" book.

>>42520

Isn't that a good way to ensure he won't update?

>>42520

Are you implying you like Twilight?

>>42523

Escpecially if he's a pyromaniac.

Every year, nearly twenty house fires are caused by someone setting a Twilight book on fire. Please, don't become a part of this statistic.

>>42520
maybe it you replace Twlight with Scott Pilgirm, then you might be on to something.

Refer to the flowchart in /blue/ for the lack of updates.
I will not say anything about the next few weeks as otherwise I will jinx it.

Well, at least it's coming. Maybe. I'd volunteer to proofread, but that means I'd have to read the update before the final product is complete. Good luck!

>>43072

I could do with a proofreader, but only someone who points out errors and awkward worthing for me, rather than someone who rewrites the entire update into their own writing style, like some people did when I asked them to proof an update.
Update will be here in a few hours or so.

Updates should be more frequent for a while after this.


[X] Look for Cirno


You haven’t seen anything of Cirno for a while now. Where is she? You decide to go find her.

The mansion is already bustling with activity. For once, the fairy maids that used to avoid you are now rushing past you, trying to get to their destinations. Sakuya must already be ordering them around. It’s surprising to see them actually working. Sakuya must strike a great deal of fear into them. You decide to stop one and ask what’s going on. When the next group of fairies shows up and runs towards you, you grab one by the arm.
“Hey, what’s going on? What’s Sakuya telling you guys to do?”
The fairy doesn’t respond. She has a look of absolute terror on her face. She doesn’t struggle at all; instead just looking like she’s about to cry. You sigh, and let her go. “Never mind.” She immediately flies away from you, faster than before.
You’re not going to get any answers from them. You know Sakuya’s supposed to be getting them to cover the exits, but are there really that many? You’ve seen maids flying off in every direction. No, it’s more likely that they keep getting lost. You continue looking for Cirno.

And you can’t find her anywhere. Where the hell did she go? You’ve looked around every floor, checking most of the rooms, but she isn’t in them. You thought she might be outside with Meiling again, but there’s now fairy maids standing in front of the door. They started shaking when you were about to ask them if you could go through, so you decided to leave going out as a last resort. Compared to Cirno, the fairies here are really timid. Truly she’s an exemplary specimen of her kind. It must be where she gets all her arrogance from. In any case, the only places you haven’t checked now are outside and the clock tower. You decide to go back to your room to rest for a bit.
The constant flow of fairy maids has slowed down, but you find one awkwardly standing around in the hallway. She looks a little older and taller than the other fairies, though that’s not saying much. She’s got green hair that dips slightly past her shoulders, with a yellow ribbon tying it into a side ponytail. She’s still wearing the usual maid uniform like Cirno, but her wings are a little different, too. Most fairies have wings that are like a fly or dragonfly’s, and while these look similar, there’s a golden edge along the top of them. Could she be one of those greater fairies? Well, she seems calm enough, so maybe she’ll talk to you.
“Hey there.” You walk over.
She slowly turns to you, with a vacant look on her face. After a few second she seems to realise you just spoke to her, and quickly bows. “Oh, hello.” Her eyes are green, as well.
“What’s up? Are you lost?” You wonder if she even knows where she is, at this point.
“Ahaha… I am.” She scratches her cheek. “I’m supposed to go guard the back entrance, but I can’t find it…”
Wait, does she mean the ballroom’s exit to the garden? That’s… How can you even miss it? “You just… Go down the stairs and through the ballroom…”
“Oh, of course!” She claps her hands. “Thanks, mister!” She starts slowly floating down the hallway.
Man. Even for a fairy… What an airhead. You return to heading to your room.

Well, after all that, you found Cirno. Why didn’t you check here first? She’s lying sprawled out over the bed, sleeping. You should have expected her to be slacking off. Come to think of it, how long has it been since you last slept? Two days? You haven’t slept since you became a vampire. You don’t actually need sleep anymore. Although given the dreams you’ve had since you moved here, it’s not such a bad thing. Then again, do fairies even need sleep? Cirno sure seems to like it, at least. Fairies don’t need to eat, but she definitely likes doing that, too. You decide not to wake her up and start to walk back out the door.
“…Hayate?” Too late. She’s up. You go back in and shut the door.
“Yeah. Hey there, slacker.”
“I’m not slacking!” She sits up. “I was tired!”
“Same deal. Look, we might have a busy day ahead of us.” You explain to her how Remilia and Sakuya think the mansion’s going to be attacked.
“As if they stand a chance against me!”
“Well, I doubt it’ll come to that.” You shoot down her boast. “Anyway, we’ve got some places to be, so…” You motion for her to get out of bed. She doesn’t move. “Come on, lazybones.” You grab her hand. Suddenly cold shoots through it and you pull it back. “Hey, what was that for?” That felt different to usual. You can feel the magic in her cold now. You push some of your own energy down into your hand, which warms it up.
She doesn’t say anything. “This isn’t like you. What’s up?”
She turns her head away and starts fidgeting. “Um… Before we go…”
“Yeah?”
“Could we…”
“Yeah?”
She mumbles something you can’t hear.
“What?”
Her face is burning red. “Could we…”
Wait a second. She doesn’t-
She fiercely looks at you. “Could we have sex!?” She says it loudly.

WHAT.

Wait, that’s right. She thinks having sex is just sleeping in the same bed together. This isn’t really a big deal. You’ve done it before. But man, seeing that look of determination on her face… And the fact that she’s actually asking… This must be a big deal to her. You don’t know if you’ll have time for it before something happens, if it even does. What do you do?

[ ] Sleep with her
[ ] Don’t sleep with her
-[ ] Go help Sakuya
-[ ] Magic lessons with Patchouli
-[ ] Go see Flandre

[x] Sleep with her
Hayate's tired, and there is no harm in taking a quick nap before shit possibly hits the fan.

[x] Sleep with her

Everyone else is probably preparing for the attack. Even if Hayate wants to help there probably isn't much he can do.

[x] Sleep with her
Inb4... yeah you know what I mean.
Not exactly what I'm aiming for but I do want some quality Cirno time.

[x] Don’t sleep with her
-[x] Promise to sleep with her after this crisis has passed.
-[x] Magic lessons with Patchouli
More like 'Quick lesson in how to survive against a Touhou'
Still, I'm hopeful. Usually the best hints are given in the shortest amount of time. Besides, the imminent time limit may force Patchouli to take some drastic measures. You know: high risk, high reward stuff.

[X] Sleep with her

He's tired, let him rest. It's not like anything will happen anyway, seeing this is a blatant choice, which meant the result would be completely different.

>>43082
>I'll just mention for you guys, you will have a while to do a few things before anything happens (or doesn't). Around 3 or so options, I guess, depending on how things go.

You're passing up a potential H scene for... nope I can't find any good reason. Chill we probably have at least two more options of time. We rarely spend time with her anyway

>>43084

I should also mention that people should probably not listen to me when I say such things as they tend to turn out wrong due to my plans changing. Like how I originally said that becoming a vampire would only take about one day.

[x] Don’t sleep with her
-[x] Promise to sleep with her after this crisis has passed.
-[x] Magic lessons with Patchouli

I want to vote for
[x] Sleep with her
but I'm afraid that the story may lose all its interest if it's going that way.

So, I'm not voting.

>>43084
>>Chill

That, in my opinion, is a perfectly valid reason why we should NOT sleep with Cirno.

>Wait, that’s right. She thinks having sex is just sleeping in the same bed together.

Guy's, it's not as bad as some of you might be thinking. It'll only be that bad if anon decides to do something.

[x] Sleep with her

Why am I starting to get a bad feeling about this?

>>43094
Don't. Stop being paranoid.

[X] Sleep with her
-[x] Clear things up with her when she wakes up.

We really do need to clear up the misunderstanding.

[x] Sleep with her

Works for me~!

[x] Don’t sleep with her
-[x] Promise to sleep with her after this crisis has passed.
-[x] Magic lessons with Patchouli
It's definitely a trap.

[X] Sleep with her
-[x] Clear things up with her when she wakes up.

Even had Koakuma been listening on Hayate and Cirno's conversation, I don't think she would set a trap now when the servants in all likelihood should be scrambling to their stations, and Sakuya was told to inform Patchouli to prepare. Hayate had already searched the house for Cirno, and though she could feasibly be outside, Daiyousei's presence would seem to strike against it. From a metagame perspective, this must be Cirno, as otherwise Hayate would not have to option to train under Patchouli, since Cirno's presence would be required.

[x] Sleep with her

I can't see this biting Hayate in the ass any more than it already would, since Cirno thinks they did it already. At worst someone's monocle gets broken a little earlier than it otherwise might. Besides...

>Her face is burning red. “Could we…”

Even if she doesn't know what the word means, obviously she takes the 'really liking' part of the explanation to heart.

>>43140
I didn't really thought about it, but yeah... Maybe it's a trap.


>Damn you and your big mouth. No, this can work. “That’s exactly it! It’s when you and another person sleep in the same bed!”
>She’s thinking. Did she buy it? Oh hell, please buy it. “That doesn’t seem like much of a big deal.” Yes. Thank you, Hakurei miko.
>“Right! It’s not really a major thing, it just shows that you really like the person you do it with!”
>She thinks, then smiles brightly. “So that means you really like me!”

Yep. Definitly a trap.

>>43087
Chaning this vote to
[x] Don't sleep with her.
"NO HAYATE, IT'S A TRICK!"

Well, calling it as sleeping with her.

Ya'll done goofed now.
Nah, I'm just messing with you.
Or am I?

Actions result in consequences, so this should be interesting. Isn't it sad, Flandre?
>>43076
Acknowledged. Would highlighting segments and placing suggestions in parentheses work?

Oh, I can see where this is headed.

Sakuya: And what do you think you two are doing while everyone else is working?

Cirno: WE'RE HAVING SEX!

Hello, knife enema!

[x] Don't sleep with her.

>>43146
I doubt anything bad will happen; it's a predictable cheap stunt.

>>43146
That works, I guess. It'd probably be easier to go over it with me in the IRC, though.

>>43157
Care to explain?


Anyway, update will probably not be until around 12 hours from now.

>>43162
>IRC

Oops. Forgot about that.

>>43162
Misunderstandings like this are a dime a dozen in harem anime. More so if someone naive and innocent involved and says says something they don't quite know the meaning of. And often ends with the guy in question getting smacked at least.

In short I was talking stuff like this, >>43153

Brain is not working today. Most likely nothing until tomorrow. Sorry.


>>43176
Don't worry. I hate HILARIOUS MISUNDERSTANDINGS as much as any of you.

Proofread anon here. When are you usually on IRC, and what channel are you on?

>>43210

The #THP channel on the Rizon network. When I'm on is pretty inconsistent. Let's just go with most of the time.

>tomorrow

Hooray!

Hooray!
And thanks, proofreaderanon!
There's no good images of Cirno in a bed on Danbooru so you get NOTHING.


[X] Sleep with her


“Hey, what’s with this all of a sudden?” You don’t get it. This isn’t like her at all.
“I just…” She turns away. “You said that having sex is something people do when they really like each other, so I thought we could…”
This is a surprise... You didn’t think she felt this strongly for you. Although… “Why is it such a big deal now? We already did it before, didn’t we?” As far as she knows, anyway.
“That was mean of you!” She snaps back. “It’s like taking a poor, innocent girl’s first kiss when she doesn’t even know the meaning of it! It doesn’t count! I won’t accept it! So let’s do it again! Properly, this time!”
She’s so adamant about it. It’s strange to see her admitting her feelings like this. You’re not entirely sure what to make of it, but… “Alright, alright.” You might not technically need sleep, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice to have a rest. You don’t want to hurt Cirno’s feelings either, even if you’re not sure how to respond to her right now. Her face lights up after you accept.
“Just let me get changed first. And have a bath, for that matter.” You can’t even remember the last time you had one. You leave the fairy in the bed while you head for another room’s bath.


Now, this is odd. You turned on the tap and waited for it to fill up. That’s pretty normal. But you can’t reach over to turn it off. Well, it’s not out of reach or anything. You just resist doing so. Every time you bring your arm over to the side of the bath, your body stops and refuses to go any further. What the hell is going on? Wait, you think you’ve heard something about this. One thing vampires can’t do is cross running water. Remilia wouldn’t be able to leave the island when it’s raining over the lake. At least, not without crossing the bridge. But, that rule applying on this scale? This is ridiculous! You can’t even turn off the damn tap. Defeated, you rush back to the bedroom with a towel around your waist and call Cirno over to do it for you before the bath overflows, trying to explain the problem to her while she laughs. Are you going to need to do this every time from now on? No, you need to come up with a better solution. Well, with the tap turned off, the water poses no problem, and you enjoy your bath.


By the time you get back, Cirno seems to have fallen asleep without you. She got changed at some point, too. Out of that maid uniform and back into the blue dress you’re used to seeing her in. Has she decided to use it as a nightgown? Still, how impatient. You get into bed with her and suddenly realise that your wings make lying on your back near-impossible. They stick out too much, so if you try to lean on them they’ll probably snap again. Rolling onto your side leaves them poking into the mattress and lifting up the sheets. It seems like the only way to lie down at all is to lie on your stomach, which pushes up the sheets too far, leaving you feeling cold, especially with Cirno next to you. Trying to fold your wings in a bit helps, but not by much.
“Stop moving around!” Cirno complains about it. Did you wake her up?
“I’m afraid my wings are still stuck to my body, so it’s a bit hard to make myself comfortable.” These have really been nothing but an inconvenience.
After being silent for a while, Cirno loudly sighs.
“What’s up?” You look over to her.
She rolls over to face you, with a disappointed look. “Somehow I thought there would be more to this.”
There is more. But telling her about it would result in consequences you’re not sure if you can handle right now. “It’s the thought that counts more than anything.”
She smiles, then rolls back away from you. “Well you said yes, so I’m glad.” That’s the last thing she says.
It’s strange seeing Cirno act bashful. This raises questions for you. You’ve known Cirno for years, even if you hadn’t seen her for a while before working here. You always got along, in a sort of tiring way. But now it’s obvious that she likes you. The problem is, do you like her as well? You don’t know what to think about it. It’s too quick for you. Too sudden to come to a conclusion. With these thoughts troubling you, you fall asleep…


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

Some time later, you wake up. Cirno’s lying asleep next to you. She looks so defenceless like this. It’s so unlike her normal self. She looks so defenceless. Her hair is short enough for you to see her neck. Her neck. No, stop. You don’t want to have these thoughts. Cirno is your friend. You’ve known her for years. The last thing you want to do is drink her blood. Her neck is there. No, turn away. You can’t. Her neck. Stop, damn it! You can’t. Her neck. You can’t control your body. Her neck. You can’t stop yourself. Your mind orders yourself to stop. You can’t. Your body has taken over. Her neck. You watch on in horror, as a prisoner in your own body, while you lean over and tear into the flesh of your best friend hunk of meat.


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

Day has risen.

You wake up on the verge of screaming. Click. Your breath is ragged and your body sweating. Cirno! You look over. She’s fine. Just another fucking dream. Nightmares are all you’ve had since you came here. Why the hell does this keep happening? You can’t even think of the last time you had nightmares this bad. Is it because of moving here? If these are the kinds of dreams vampires have, you can see why many choose not to sleep.

You get out of bed and go to the bathroom. Now there’s another problem. You blink and rub your eyes. This doesn’t make sense. You’re standing in front of the mirror. You can see yourself in the mirror. But you can also see the wall behind you. Your body, somehow is transparent. What the hell is going on? Wait, you remember this. Vampires have no reflections, apparently. But hang on. You looked at yourself before. Most recently when you checked your wings. You looked fine then. Is it delayed? You’re seriously going to not be able to see yourself again? God damn it, Remilia. There are far too many negatives about this. You splash some water on your face by reaching around to the side of the sink to turn it off after filling it, to make sure this isn’t some illusion. It isn’t. You go back to the bedroom in a bad mood.

As you’re about to get into bed, somebody knocks on the door. You’re already up, so you head over to answer it. It’s Sakuya.
“Oh, so you are here. What have you been doing?”
“Taking a nap. I’ve been tired.” You check your watch. You’ve been sleeping for a good few hours. The sun will be up by now.
She frowns. “You don’t need to sleep anymore, you know.”
“Yeah. I might not, actually. Anyway, what did you need?”
“You’ve got a guest waiting for you downstairs.”
“A guest? Who?” Oh god, please don’t let it be Reimu. She’ll kill you.
“It’s-” She’s cut off, as suddenly a great crashing noise drowns her out. Looking into the hallway, you can see fairies rushing about in the direction it came from.
“What the hell was that?”
“I’ll take care of it. This shouldn’t be a problem.” She talks like she’s dealt with this before. Abruptly, she disappears. You’re about to go get changed when she suddenly shows up again. “By the way. I caught Flandre waiting around out here. Do you know what that was about?”
Flandre was waiting here? “Uh, no.” She stares at you. “No, seriously. I have no idea.”
There’s a pause. She opens her mouth to say something, but stops and just disappears again. What’s going on?

In any case, you’ve got a guest and a loud crash. Cirno still hasn’t been woken up by any of this.

[ ] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
[ ] That crash could be dangerous. Try find out what’s going on.

-[ ] Wake up Cirno and bring her with you.
-[ ] Leave her to sleep.

[X] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[X] Wake up Cirno and bring her with you.

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep.

If it's anyone we know, like Reimu, or any other of our friends, they're gonna want answers now so that's pretty urgent. Hell, it could someone we haven't met yet. Anyway, can't be bothered to investigate noises that might have nothing to do with us.

Cirno can keep sleeping, she'll be fine on her own.

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep.

Seems important.

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep

This works well.

[X] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[X] Wake up Cirno and bring her with you.

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep
Flandre? Weird.

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep

Hmm...

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep

We have a guest that hasn't come to the SDM to kill Remilia? I'm surprised.

>There's no good images of Cirno in a bed on Danbooru so you get NOTHING.
I found several
If you don't mind me then

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Wake up Cirno and bring her with you.

>>43251
He wanted one that wasn't sexualized at all, and the only acceptable ones after that are her leaping awake and the one where she's sleeping with Dai.

Time to note that there likely won't be anything until thursday due to work.
Guess we can already call the vote, too.
>Nobody votes to check on the noise
Isn't it sad, x?

[x] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[x] Leave Cirno to sleep, tucking her in.

>“I’ll take care of it. This shouldn’t be a problem.” She talks like she’s dealt with this before.
>Nobody votes to check on the noise

I vaguely remember Sakuya saying she dealt with Flandre wandering around before. Now I feel bad.

>>43254
next thursday or thursday of next month?

>>43279
How cruel, anon. Anonymaster's done well lately, and pessimism only becomes more likely when stated.

>>43281
I sure hope you're right, but I'm getting somewhat anxious. Here, in THP, we have quite a record of hia... you know.

>>43281
I'm just referencing general history, more so at moments like this.

And a reminder: We do still owe Flan a dance... when we'd get a chance at that is an unknown.

I think Flan's playing with your nights. Since you have some Scarlet blood in you, perhaps she can manipulate you.

SURPRISE EARLY UPDATE
Had like no time to edit this so there's probably mistakes in it somewhere.


[X] Sakuya has this under control. Go see who your guest is.
-[X] Leave Cirno to sleep.


Well, Sakuya doesn’t seem worried about whatever that was. You figure she can handle things. You decide to go find out who your guest is, and get changed. When getting your clothes out of the drawer, you notice that your shirts and vests now have slight holes in the backs of them, with zippers on them, allowing you to easily fit your wings through and then close them up. Did Sakuya do this for you? It’s a little awkward reaching the zips, but it’s better than tearing a large hole into your clothes. You still have no idea how Remilia fits her massive wings into that dress of hers, though.
Cirno hasn’t even been bothered by any of the noise, so you decide to just let her sleep for now. You can come pick her up later if you need her, anyway. With that, you head downstairs to the guest room, ignoring the other, quieter bangs and crashes behind you.


Now, the million dollar question is who your guest is. Remilia has the place on lockdown, so they’d need to be someone important to get let in here right now. And given how much they want to keep you secret… Could it be Reimu? No, no way. Remilia would have a bone to pick with her after she kidnapped you before. This is good, actually. It means Reimu won’t chew your head off as soon as you open the door. But that just leaves you wondering. Well, you’re not going to find out like this. You push open the door to the guest room and head in.

“Yo.”
You can’t say you were expecting this. Rinnosuke gives you a wave from his seat.
“Rinnosuke? What are you doing here?” You sit down across from him. You’ve been in here to clean a few times before. The room just has a few couches, with a short table in the middle. Looks like Sakuya brought him some tea before you got here.
Rinnosuke pulls a newspaper out of his bag and throws it onto the table. “Take a look. You’re the talk of the town. Well, not that I’d know.”

You pick it up. It’s Aya’s paper: the Bunbunmaru. Getting it done this quickly… The tengu are faster than you gave them credit for. True to her word, the front page is detailing your story.
“A new vampire at the Scarlet Devil Mansion!" Full details on page 3!” Along with a large photo of you covering most of the page. You ignore the other articles and flip to it. There’s a number of the other photos she took here, with the article. “Last week, the hot news was that of a new employee at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Remilia Scarlet, head of the household, had hired her first male employee since her move to Gensokyo. For days I tried to secure an interview, with no luck. Just this morning I managed to get a breakthrough. Not only did I find the mysterious employee… He had been changed into a vampire! Your star reporter Aya was on the scene, and sniped the following interview…”
Talk about stroking your own ego. You look through the interview. True to her word, nothing you said has been altered or manipulated. All she’s done is clean up her own questioning a little. So far, so good. After the interview, she goes asking around for what people think of it.
“Eh? Is that Hayate!" No way he would do something this stupid!” (Ms. M, Human.)
…Marisa?
“How unfortunate. I’ll look out for his soul and think of what to do with it.” (Ms. S, Yama.)
Well, there’s only one Yama around here.
“That idiot. I’m going to kill him.” (Ms. R, Human.)
That last one sends chills up your spine.

After that, Aya makes some closing comments. “As far as we can tell, Hayate’s change was entirely voluntary, and I have no reason to believe otherwise. I do, however, question Remilia’s motives.” Oh, boy. “Just shortly after hiring a new, male employee, she turns him into a vampire. Is she looking to make an obedient servant, perhaps? Maybe she’s looking for a replacement for the aging miss Izayoi?” You hope Sakuya doesn’t read this. “As miss Scarlet, miss Izayoi, and all other mansion employees were unavailable for comment, we can only guess at what is going on behind the scenes. It is my personal belief that Remilia could be intending to start her own family. Having also hired the notorious ice fairy Cirno (who was also unavailable as of this writing), it would appear that miss Scarlet desires children of her own.” …Really, Aya? Really? “However, what if her intentions are more sinister?” Oh, great. “We must not forget what happened when the Scarlet family first appeared here.”
Wait, what? What happened? You press on. “The younger humans may not have heard this story. Of course, vampires need blood. It’s their lifeline. We’ve learnt that back in the outside world, the Scarlets had an agreement with the townspeople to provide them with blood in agreement for their safety.” Yeah, you know about that. “But there was no such contract here. Shortly after the mansion appeared at the lake, there were many reports of humans being attacked and having their blood drained by some new type of youkai. After some searching, the Scarlet family were found to be at fault. No agreement could be reached at that time, and they continued to drink the blood of unfortunate humans. It was only after the former miss Hakurei and other notable youkai confronted and defeated Remilia, that the shrine maiden convinced the villagers to supply the Scarlet household with blood.” Reimu’s mother is responsible for the contract?
“However, it is important to note that while people were hurt, nobody was killed as a direct result of the Scarlet’s attacks. Could it be that the Scarlets are looking to take their blood by force again? Or are we speculating too much? In any case, it pays to be mindful.”
The article ends there. Damn it, Aya. You started so well. You throw it back down on the table.

“This will cause problems, Hayate.” Rinnosuke takes it and puts it back into his bag.
“Yeah.” Sakuya was right, after all. “But hey. What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on you, of course. It’s not every day you hear a friend of yours got turned into a vampire. Especially not through a newspaper.” He doesn’t sound too happy about it.
“I haven’t really been able to leave. We don’t get much in the way of vacation time here.”
He shrugs. “Well, I’m here now.”
“How did you get in, anyway? Remilia’s locked this place down.”
“Oh, I just asked Sakuya to let me in.”
“What, after helping kidnap me before? She just let you in?”
He grins. “I told her everything was Reimu’s idea and she forgave me.”
“You crafty bastard.” You both laugh about it.
“So, Hayate. How are you doing?” He switches back to being serious.
“Oh… You know. Working. Trying to stop Cirno from breaking things. Same old deal.”
“No, Hayate. How are you really doing?”
You sigh. This guy knows you too well by now. “There’s… Problems. I mean, yeah, I became a vampire of my own will. That’s true. You don’t need to worry about Remilia flying off the handle, really. It’s just…”
“She didn’t tell you about all the drawbacks?”
You nod. “There’s some issues with it. But, overall, it’s fine. Really. I’m doing alright here. I’ve got a roof over my head, food, and I’m actually getting some work done this time around. I know the vampire thing was probably a shock. But I’m fine.”
He sits back, examining you for a few seconds, then sighs. “Alright, I got it. So, how’s Cirno doing?” He picks up his tea.
“Same as always. Loud and clumsy, but she’s learning pretty well. Surprisingly well, actually. Sakuya’s got her cleaning and cooking and everything.”
Rinnosuke looks honestly surprised. “Never thought I’d see the day somebody got that fairy to do some honest work.”
“Yeah, Sakuya’s pretty incredible.”
He nods. There’s silence for a while.
“Oh, what about the others? How are they taking this?” You can take a guess.
“Well, as soon as I saw it I left Alice to look after the shop for me. She’s worried about you, you know.” She is a worrier, alright. “Reimu… She wasn’t happy.” He frowns, correcting his glasses. He does that when he’s irritated. “She was very unhappy, actually. She said she wanted to kill you herself.”
God help me.
“I told her to go home and calm down. Then I left for here. Oh, by the way. I saw Marisa go past me on the way here. Have you seen her?” Suddenly, there’s another loud crash from upstairs.
Is that…? And Sakuya was dealing with her… “Uh, no. I guess she didn’t make it.”
He raises an eyebrow, then looks at his watch. “Oh, I need to get back soon. I shouldn’t keep Alice waiting.” He stands up, then remembers something. “Oh, I have a present for you.” He looks through his bag, then drops some L-shaped metal object on the table. “Do you know what this is?”
“I’ve got no idea.” You reach out to examine it, but suddenly feel very strongly against touching it. “Hey, is this silver?”
“Only part of it. The inside. It’s from the outside world. They call it a gun. The purpose is to kill.”
“Kill? Hey, why would I need this?”
“Just in case, Hayate. Nothing else. Look.” He picks it up and shows you how to hold it. There’s a trigger on it, which he wraps his index finger around. “It’s got these pieces of metal in it, called bullets. You push this trigger and it shoots them out at high speed. Normally it wouldn’t be any good against youkai, as a purely material weapon, but these bullets are… Special.”
“They’re the silver?”
He nods. A gun specifically for killing vampires. “I don’t come across these often. You’ve only got two bullets, if you ever need to use it.” He puts it down on the table.
“Rinnosuke, I-”
“Just take it. I would feel much more at ease knowing you have it, even if you don’t need it.”

A vampire killing weapon. You don’t really need this thing, do you?

[ ] Take it.
[ ] Refuse it.

[ ] Go grab Cirno and see Patchouli
[ ] See if you can help Sakuya
[ ] Go check on Flandre

[X] Refuse it.
[X] Go grab Cirno and see Patchouli

[x] Take it, drop it off in your room.
[X] Go check on Flandre.

In the slight, off-chance Remi goes utterly insane on us, I'd like a bit of security. That said, visiting Flan with a gun with silver bullets would be downright stupid.

>You’ve only got two bullets, if you ever need to use it.”
I was about to refuse it but this thing.

[x] Take it.
-[x] HIDE IT F*CKING HIDE IT GOOD
[x] Go check on Flandre

we do not want misunderstandings of any sort. Just having it might bring us misfortune.

UNEXPECTED UPDATE INDEED!!


Sorry about the late picture, I only found it today.

[x] Take it.

[x] See if you can help Sakuya


Even if we can't kill Flandre with those, it'll be good for Hayate's morale to have a "wepon". Once he'll find what kind of monster is Flandre, of course.

"I'm, sorry Flandre..."

You point the gun at her and pull back the hammer.

"...but there are only 17 people."

[x]Accept.
-[x]Don't let the gun leave your vigilance for even a second. Not only could it cause... misconceptions... if found, it's also your one lifeline in case you face something you can't handle on your own power.

[x] Refuse it.
-[x]See if you can help Sakuya
Might as well get all the unpleasantness done with. Marisa came to bitch at us, lets go get it done and over with, or she might get some misunderstandings and go talk with Reimu.

[x] Take it
-[x] Go grab Cirno and see Patchouli

[x] Take it.
-[x] Thank him for the gift, but say that if you use it in defense it likely won't be on vampires. Is he OK with that?
[x] See if you can help Sakuya

You ask the question because if he answers without hesitation, then it's definitely Hayate he's concerned about, rather than seeing this as a chance to eliminate a dangerous party.

I think he really does care for his friend's safety, but I think Hayate could use a little reaffirmation in his somewhat nebulous friendships with folks outside the mansion.

About the silver, Sakuya carries silver blades around as a matter of course. We don't know if silver is even affects Remi, and she's capable of taking Hayate apart in an eyeblink, and Flandre even faster. It's not vampires he has to fear for, but rather some crazed human vigilante or youkai, and though he's likely stronger now as a vampire, he doesn't know how to fight.

Besides this gives him an excuse to take a night off and make for use, maintenance, and refilling the ammo, and use the opportunity to pay Kourin a social call.

Sakuya is a no-brainer if he accepts the gun, because that's the person who this is going to cause misconceptions with in the future if you don't clear them up now. He has the right to defend himself, and Remilia would probably consider it part of his proper duties.

>>43329

This sounds good.

[x] Take it.
-[x] Thank him for the gift, but say that if you use it in defense it likely won't be on vampires. Is he OK with that?
-[x] Put it in your room, somewhere safe.
[x] Check if Cirno's up or not.
-[x] If not, check on Flandre
-[x] If so, take her to Patchouli.

>>43326

Forgot your vote on where to go.

[X] >>43329

Yep.

[X] Take it.
[X] See if you can help Sakuya

bang bang

>>43333
ffffffffffff

...derp

>>43326
Adding
[X] See if you can help Sakuya
to that. Thanks.

[X] Refuse it.
[X] See if you can help Sakuya

I'd rather not have to explain to Sakuya why we have a gun, as it's only a matter of time before she finds it.

[X] Refuse it.
-[X] See if you can help Sakuya

hmm...

Right, calling it as accepting and helping Sakuya. Update should show up sometime before monday. Also finally time for a new thread, it looks like.

Just to let you know, it would be likely those in Gensokyo would know what a gun is. Guns were used in Japan far into the past, and not only that, but since the place was sealed sometime in the late 1800s, it would be likely that even relatively advanced firearms such as the revolver and rifle could be found there. I'd have to check the dates, but it could be possible even to find something as advanced as a hand crank chaingun.

>>43401

Yeah, this is part of what I meant by the mistakes from having no time to edit. I wanted to get the update up before I left for work so I didn't get around to looking up the history to check what the general knowledge of the time would be like. The IRC guys later informed me that the modern handgun designs were a lot older than I thought.
Still, I figure they're not exactly going to be common in gensokyo, and most people would never have actually seen one. I mean, it's not like gensokyo has much need for firearms given how useless they are against youkai.
Well, that's gonna be the excuse, anyway.

>>43398
Excellent, I'll be sure to be on IRC to proofread again.

>>43324
Where did you find this picture? Is it some doujin, or was it drawn for this thread?

>>43432

Yeah, I wasn't trying to rag on you. After posting part of me worried it might seem like I was being a dick about it. It's a common mistake people tend to have with the setting. People keep seeming to think that Gensokyo was sealed in the middle of the feudal era, when it was sealed very recently.

You can partially blame Zun for not really showing enough of the human village to get a good idea of what technology level it is at. It's kinda like how we don't know how many people in Gensokyo can actually fly when so far almost every character introduced so far has been confirmed to. Is it supposed to be something special? Damned if we know. Its made even more confusing by the fact that in most print works Reimu and Marisa seem to walk everywhere.

>>43459
It's from a doujin.
Nounai Kanojo, tome 1.
If artists begin to draw doujins for this website, I'll rewrite.

updates?

Hiding behind the border of confusion and clarity.

Updates have most certainly been delayed by work and not my having spent all last week playing AC2.
In any case, I'm having some trouble with this one. But once this is out, the next few updates should come through a lot faster, for various reasons.

Looks like we hit autosage, too. New thread = awesome!

Are you alive?

>>44068

I am, yes. As you may have guessed this update has been giving me hell.

>>44137
>I am, yes.

Hooray!

Updates this year?

>>44496

Hopefully. You may have been able to guess that I'm going through pretty much the same situation as the last time there was a two month gap, in being unable to write.
Work's been busy over this period too, which doesn't help.

I'm hoping it'll be done next week, but as always, no promises.

>>44517

Hooray!

checking the time

An update.
I've tried to finish this but it has been delayed by the ridiculous heat we're getting and that our air conditioning which was supposed to be done weeks ago will not be done until the 10th.
Having one's brain melt does not aid one's ability to write, sadly.
Sorry.

Pic related; it's my face.

Bump for update.
Stop idling IRC, and write something, you lazy mutant wanker!

Did you mean the 10th of this month?

>>44616

I did, but retarded workers are retarded and it's still not done, and we've no idea when it will be.

dead?

Figure I should fill you guys in.

As hard as it may be to believe, I haven't abandoned you guys, or this story.
Having been unable to produce a new update for a very long time now, what I'm currently doing is going back and editing everything I've done so far. I'm going to bring everything up to my current standards, and edit some things for consistency, some so it flows better with our choice of story direction (Hayate becoming a vampire), and others just out of preference.

Once all that is done, I'm hoping I'll be able to continue on with the story. At that time I'll post up a new thread with a few links to the new version of the story, (Probably a Word doc and another version on Google docs. Open to other suggestions.) and the long-awaited update.

I can't give any real timeframe for this. Hopefully it will be some time within the next few months.

But, yes. Not dead yet.

>>45174
>As hard as it may be to believe, I haven't abandoned you guys, or this story.

Hooray!

Thank god. Best news I've heard all week

>>45174
>Going back and make previous updates better
>It's not dead yet

You cannot fathom the amount of joy I am experiencing right now.

when is the update?

how many months has it been now? two?