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The Scarlet Devil Mansion had contingencies to contain a raging vampire, but it was never a good day when those were put to the test.
Sakuya was best utilized playing support. A role that galled her, in truth, but one that was necessary just by the nature of the conflict. She could not meaningfully intercept the full power of the frenzied youkai, but her power was uniquely suited to avoiding it. Smaller attacks could be deflected by her knives, (not that it would prevent the mansion from taking a beating, but she could at least lessen the damage), and stopping time allowed her to pull her allies out of the way of any more powerful blows.
Offense was a similar story; while enough of her knives would give even the Scarlets pause, this was not a case where overkill was an acceptable solution. If attempting to suppress an outbreak alone, she would be forced to whittle her opponent down, gradually chipping away at that near-limitless stamina until her energy was exhausted and her sanity returned.
Such measures had been necessary with Flandre twice in times past, and an entire wing of the mansion had been wrecked both times. She was thankful to have better options at present.
As her target gathered herself for another charge, Sakuya stopped time, fanning out her knives out to both sides. The wall of blades wasn’t a serious obstacle, a vampire was fully capable of charging through them… but to a creature functioning on instinct, the pain they represented was enough of a deterrent to shape its path. Her quarry charged for the one hole left in the wall, claws outstretched.
The maid let the charging youkai get within a hairsbreadth of her before stopping time once again. When it resumed, she was no longer in the attack’s vicinity, and Meiling leaped in to neatly field the charging youkai. The gatekeeper’s raw strength was less than either of their mistresses, but she made up for it with technique, dodging the swipe, grabbing the wrist, and executing a picture perfect over-the-shoulder throw to slam the vampire down to the floor, wings first.
Neither the throw nor the follow-up joint lock was more than an inconvenience to a vampire, but that had been planned for. Disruption
>>3046
That's a detail that's going to be rewritten, I think. After thinking it over, I realized that while Greg wouldn't be directly part of any of the outside world Occult ball winner vs Sumireko fights (in particular, those fights occur while flying and Greg can't fly), he would have a specific supporting role.
Namely, he's the cameraman. Because Sumi (and him, but mostly Sumi), would absolutely want footage of her fights with all these youkai.
Greg's actual abilities are likely to still be an unknown for Gensokyo's finest, but a few of them may have noticed the cameraman, and Mokou probably got to actually meet him and say hi, on account of her befriending Sumireko during their fight.
Speaking of which, Mokou's absence from the plot is something that will also need to be addressed in the rewrite. There is an explanation for it; let's just say it's Keine-related, but considering the situation, Sumi really should have tried to find the one Gensokyo resident she had a positive interaction with. Especially at the end of act one, when their plan was to head to Eientei.
So yeah, there's a few details that will change if/when I get through all this.
>>3050
Not to rain on your parade and all that, but that doesn't make sense to be doing all that. There's a pretty clear chain of cause and consequence in your story regarding those early fights as I understand it - Sumireko was considered to act alone by the locals in charge of "The Plan", namely Kasen and Ran and Mamizou. If we posit that she reveals Greg's existence as information before breaching over, then Ran's information gathering will
>aid Kasen's initial fight, making it a significantly harder challenge, given that a cheap trick could be pre-empted
>make Sumi2's circumstances much more difficult to account needing a partner, whoever Sumi2 ends up being - because if that IS Mamizou, then she would know about Greg through the planning committee, and if she wouldn't, then she was kept from the info, diverging the complicated ball of yarn of happenings further from the main story
>makes Sumi3, namely possibility of Sumi's Dream Self rampaging around much more different from Sumi + Greg sightings, which in the case that actually happens, would have no Greg in her episodes - she'd be clueless about why he'd be near her then, even, and people would have a chance to press her
>obligatory Yukari/Ran adjusted master plan mention (Strange Creations of Outside World States that Chen is so weak to water that it would dispel her Shikigami on contact in Yukari's article so we kinda roll ahead anyway there)
In total, my argument is that this rewrite would butterfly effect Greg and Sumi somewhere else entirely even if we take the same choices. If you wish to undertake it, I recommend finishing the story first and keeping your notes until then.
As for Greg being a cameraman, we can say he Light-Crafted himself to stealth every time he filmed sick footage for Sumi's compilation. And that he revealed himself to Mokou because no way Sumi would keep things from her, which is how Keine could figure out he's present (or
Under the shadow of the full moon a masked multitude gathers. They tell tales of Gensokyo, of the masks worn by both people and places. Perhaps they are stories of fact, of the lies everyone tells for the greatest and small of reasons. Perhaps they are simply idle fiction, farce and fancy to get a smile out of all present.
Or perhaps they are stories of when the masks slip. Of what lies beneath the surface. The real Gensokyo, hidden under the facade...
Contest Entries for the 2024 Halloween Contest go here! If you don't know what's going on, or you just want to see the rules, follow this link: >>/gensokyo/17580
Hello? Helloooo? You there, young lad
Can you hear me? Avast, ahoy!
What sordid tale brings to me
The wandering spirit of a lost boy?
You’ve wandered far from any place
A young man should ever have seen
Tell me lad, what brings you here?
Where on earth has your soul been?
You ask why I speak of your ghost?
Ah, yes, I see - you’re quite new here
This is the hell of pooling blood
And you’re among the dead, I fear.
You’re right to not attempt to swim
Across this rotten, cursed moat
The grudges here will drag you down -
Unless, of course, you ride my boat?
…Well, what are you waiting for? Come on, hop in.
Sit down right there and grab that oar.
We’re quite a ways from any land
We’ll have to row until we’re sore
…Oh?
I’m not quite sure I trust my eyes
But here, within the bubbling ooze
A sludge-beast crawls up onto land
A defiant piece of refuse
A being void of name and face
You are a truly tragic wreck.
How did you reach this wretched state
Crawling from the murky dreck?
Come closer, you, and let me hear
Your sordid tale in your own voice
I am able to change your fate -
If you trust me, and take that choice.
Yep, just a little closer. Here, let me scoop you up.
But first, before you tell your tale
Let me say some words of my own
It will inform you where I hail
And of the seeds that I have sown
The pool you crawl from is my feed
A delightful and wicked dish
But newer flavours is what I need
Author's Note: Couldn't get an image I liked.
The bake-danuki before her took a long drag of her pipe. The smoke fell from her mouth as she chortled, an unnaturally large and thick amount. “Oh…? And what will you do against all of us, I wonder?” From the tobacco smoke leaped a hoard of tanukis and demons.
In response, Ran dashed forward. Her left hand was on the other youkai’s right shoulder. Her right hand held its heart. “You… pathetic… wretch…” she snarled into her ear. “Did you really… think… you had a… chance… of even… intimidating me? Or do you not know my name…?” She pulled the organ out through the cavernous wound and held it high above her head. “This is what your master has earned with her defiance! No creature can hope to stand against Ran, emperor kitsune!” She squeezed the heart and let the blood drip into her mouth. It was warm, thick, and delicious.
“Well? What will it be?” Mamizou asked.
Ran Yakumo blinked. “I’m sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment; I’ve been in a very similar situation before.”
“Then I suggest you do what you did before and live another day,” the bake-danuki chuckled.
The kitsune sighed. “There are thirty-seven of you. That is just over four times the number of bake-danuki that lived in Gensokyo yesteryear. Census records show that the population of the Human Village continues to hover around one thousand in number. That’s one thousand humans that know enough about tanukis to get rid of them, and they don’t care for thieves. And that’s nothing to say about my master and the Hakurei shrine maiden. You may no longer need to forage for small amounts, but taking too much can also be cause for serious concern. I highly recommend you do something to pay the humans back for what you have… relocated. That way, at least, you might be spared from cruel retribution.”
The bake-danuki was quiet for a while. “I understand
It's been a while. If anyone even remembers, I'm the writer of A (Lion-)Dog Among Gods (>>/youkai/31590). I semi-recently talked about my wish to revive that story and my troubles in doing so (>>/gensokyo/17495), and part of that effort is going to be starting off with a small, generally related project. I have something of a direction in mind, so it hopefully won't take me forever to write something, but I'm also not going to promise daily updates or anything that wild. This whole thing will amount to a handful of short updates with no choices. I'd still appreciate it if I got some kind of commentary or discussion.
Don't mind if events or circumstances described clash with what's already been depicted in Lion-Dog.
>>2993
Thanks. It's always nice to feel like someone 'gets it', even if I'm not that certain of the finer points. In particular, I guess I hadn't so much included the imagery of wear and decay consciously as much as out of a personal aesthetic choice. I appreciate you highlighting it.
It had been a while since I’d been up to the roof. Being vice-president of the student council had taken away opportunities to goof off, even if I didn’t actually do that much. I still had to keep up a certain image, you know? Plus, I did help our world-weary, put-upon prez sometimes.
Because of that, though, my life was pretty jam-packed. Things that used to be important to me, like playing games at the arcade or sneaking out of class to hang out on the roof with Suika, weren’t so important anymore. When Big Sis handed me the key to the roof in exchange for my ‘coöperation’, things had been different: I’d had more time on my hands. I wondered in some ways if that was why she’d handed off something otherwise so forbidden to most of us students. Either that, or she knew I’d eventually take a tumble over the unsafe railing, leaving her minus one Arc-sized problem.
Either way, I felt nervous as I climbed the stairs leading to the roof, swallowing a lump in my throat as I fingered the key in my pocket. There was no telling what was awaiting me in the landing.
The previous night, as I was lying spaced out on my bed, pondering considering to think about going to sleep, I felt my phone chirp and vibrate. Somebody had sent me a text message, but I couldn’t imagine who it would be.
Hardly anyone wanted to talk to me that late in the night anymore, a fact that made me a little sad to remember; I sort of missed Suika and her weird drunk texts, even if she could be annoying a lot of the time. There was the occasional sudden remembrance of business and/or prodding-Arc-to-actually-do-business message from Madame President Hakurei. If it was that, then she’d keep on until I answered. And if I turned my phone off, a certain childhood friend would be ever so benevolently bashing me over the head about it in the morning.
Heaving a sigh with the weight of the world hanging on it, I flipped open my phone to see if the prez was indeed dropping a planet on me.
heyyyyy cn u come 2 the roof tmrw??? got sumtn joozzy 2 share! its aya btw lol
I blinked in disbelief. First of all
Ah, how thorough Aya is with her investigations! Leaving no stone unturned, no locked drawers in a bedroom unransacked! Certainly has a nose for juicy information.
OL-like Aya with white stockings, eh? Certainly a look that would charm fickle young men such as Arc. Of course, it wouldn't be enough to make them forget the silken smoothness of Yuuka's own pair—at least I wouldn't hope so.
Well, at any rate, I'm probably the only one who will be chuffed at this deviation from the story but I do appreciate it. A bit of jocularity is always fun to see on THP. Perhaps one day there'll be more closure for Arc and his childhood friend/strange puppeteer who has concocted a rich, if seemingly-purposefully derivative, fiction about a poor village lad for reasons unknown.
>Tenma forbid she try her hand at rendering them with the same kind of love and attention.
A question is prompted by these concluding words:
... What did she mean by this?
The question here is: who brought the thing to this era?
Yumemi stared at the book, thumbing back and forth through its pages. She tried to focus on reading the contents, seeing if there was anything else to be gained, but her eyes just kept going back to the first pages - to the publishing date.
The problem wasn’t that the date was inexplicable. The problem was what those explanations lead to.
“Why… how…” Her voice came out as no more than a whisper. “Wh-why is this… why?”
She looked up at the Yakumo’s, desperation starting to creep into her voice. “I-is… is there any chance-”
“There are three methods in which things from the ‘future’ can appear in the ‘present’, according to our current knowledge.” Yukari started. “One is the method of rewriting history the Immaterial Children used, which only allows for memories to be preserved. The only one who could have possibly made this book is Akyuu, and that would have required her to write and deliver the book from the moon at the age of three. The second is, using my powers, to separate certain objects from history while it is reset via the first method. While it is technically possible that this occurred, there is no reason I wouldn’t have sent the book to either myself or the Hakurei Shrine. Tsukasa should have had no chance to take it.”
Ran shook her head. “And while there is a possibility it is a forgery… there is a section about the spiritual immunity afforded by haniwa. In the book, it is attributed to a discussion between Zanmu and Keiki. But Keiki has testified the discussion where such was to take place… has been scheduled for when Zanmu returns from some business in the outside world.” The kitsune looked at her, with pity in her eyes. “...I am sorry to say, it is extremely probable that the book came from our future.”
Chen tried to speak up. “B-but you two aren’t seriously accusing Yumemi of sending the book back, are you?”
Yukari stepped closer. “As far as we are aware, all time machines capable of such a trip in this day and age are ones that were developed by Yumemi herself - assuming you and Chiyuri are sharing such devices. Could Chiyuri be responsible…?”
“She wouldn’t dare do that under
Kiketsu Plushie Investigation Audio Log:
Are we doing this? Really doing this? I mean, Yachie's the boss and all, but they're a child's plushies!
...
As Asami, he-who-manages-Reimu, first of his name, put it, "Yes, shut up, and don't leave the file anywhere you-know-who might find it." Which is absolute fishbait. I don't know why she's suddenly so touchy about the plushies now. Everyone knows the girl loves those things, and she's still willing to dive into the pile when nobody's looking. Maybe the old man found out and teased her about it? Or the crafting goddess? (Sure hope the boss knows what she's doing working with that psycho.) Whatever. Beyond my paygrade.
What, you want me to call her "the miko" all the time? I know that's the cover story, but this is an internal file! Nobody's going to see it!
...
Fine, whatever. You're the boss.
Entry 1 - Genjii:
This one was the easiest one to verify. Our miko had dreamed up a turtle plushie with a beard, we check out the surface, and lo and behold, the Hak- what do you mean we're not using the name? Our miko's never supposed to see this file anyway, right?
Whatever. Anyway, the future youkai shrine has a giant youkai turtle of the same type, complete with beard.
Anyways, Genjii is absolutely our miko's favorite plushie. He's the one she insisted on taking with her when Yuuma attacked, and she loves him to bits. Like, literally to bits, the boss has had to patch him back together several times. She doesn't actually play with him as much, and when she does, he comes out on top, but he's the first one she'll cuddle if she's feeling down, and especially if she's scared. Though she tries to hide whenever she does it these days. It's a pity too, pushing her around on top of Genjii when she was tiny used to be a blast.
Interestingly, Genjii's also the only male plushie in the bunch. Which, taken at face value, means that he must have been the most important man in her past life.
...what? Look, you asked me t
A real influx of omakes recently! I've got a few things to say on each of them
Was a good exploration into the split psyches between Hakurei and Kicchou Reimu. The mix of concern and envy towards Kosuzu was quite compelling, and the introspection into the situation with Tsukasa, and with the other immaterial children really helped illustrate Reimu as the 'big sister' of the immaterial children.
Marisa does a bit of trolling, Yukari responds with a lot of trolling. I didn't fully understand any references that might have been there though, since I don't play TF2
A bit of horror! The beginning with You my being forced to act according to code, no real free will is pretty unsettling. Made only a mite less so by the fact that she's with people that genuinely care for her wellbeing.
The end part is interesting in it's own way, it seems like it would pre-empt a lot of what happens in the main fic. Especially if Zombie Youmu meets foxsuzu
Overall, a good time reading.
Besides it just being the script of Expiration Date, there's actually not a single TF2 reference here. I had decided to rewatch it just for fun and that's when I found the inspiration to write this omake. In fact, the idea to post it here was an afterthought too because I realized it would fit halfway through writing, so I decided to just slip it into the thread without telling anyone seeing as it was just a script copy.
I could see this going on as "Let's make Youmu a shikigami so she isn't rotting and she can actually think properly" "The gap youkai wants to steal my Yoshika's little sister? Not on my watch!" *writes a talisman instructing her to go somewhere so Seiga can hide her away* *searching, finding, attacking* *goal accomplished, happy end* and you could even have Yoshika as Youmu's phantom half with a more savage and direct fighting style!
Akyuu was awoken by the sound of thumping feet in the hall. She rolled over in annoyance. Her door rattled open. She lifted her head to scowl at the intruder.
The figure breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the gods…" she murmured to herself.
"Reisen?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah, s-s-sorry, I got… turned around. On my way back from the bathroom. …S-sorry."
The door started to close, but Akyuu exclaimed, "Wait!"
"…Wh… What is it…?"
The younger rabbit stared up at her big sister for a while. She brought her legs up and hugged them close to sell her lie: "I… had a bad dream…"
"What about?"
She shook her head. "…I don't remember… …Will you… stay with me…?"
"…Of course."
As Reisen lay down next to her, Akyuu caught the reflection of moonlight in twin rivers on the bigger girl's cheeks. She could feel the tension leave her bigger sister as they held each other close and returned to the land of dreams. She, too, felt more relaxed in that moment than she ever had before.
It’s a quiet day, as I like. There are many ways to pass the time, some very exhilarating, others collected. Mine is often associated with the former.
I puff a hit of smoke from my pipe, my pride and joy. Smoking isn’t what I’m referring to, though. That’s very much the latter.
No, the pastime that I prefer and give to the people of this land of Gensokyo is that of gambling. In this room suffocated by my pipe smoke there are many Youkai of all creeds who roll dice, draw cards- and some even bring in tiles on occasion. The regulars are tengu, kappa, and various other miscreants that live on this cutely named Youkai Mountain. I’ve taken residence in my own little corner called the False Heaven Shelf for so long that people who come to play don’t even remember my species, though that’s not their fault. Over the ages everyone began to look closer and closer to humans in appearance, until one day I noticed that my own robes were filled by someone I didn’t quite recognize. Not the worst thing to happen to a mountain hag.
The changing times didn’t stop anyone from enjoying foolish risks or having luck be in their favor, no. I would say it let them enjoy their pastime more than before, treating those human compulsions like their own. The only changes now are remnants of the world we left behind appearing on occasion. Nothing so grand as lost writings or treasures. We’re the kinds of people to look for western card games or new house rules for games on hand.
A couple weeks ago, one of these house rules came into my den. It was a funny little thing at first, just an old hanafuda game called Koi-Koi. Seldom played in my view, the many Youkai decidedly considering it too juvenile for them to participate in. Quite ironic to hear coming from the diminutive kappa, with their upturned heads planted on oversized packs. I thought it no more than nostalgic novelty to see the hanafuda cards broken out, with the preference for western playing cards over the last decades.
What truly caught my eye was when they suggested different house rules. They would shorten the game length from the original twelve rounds to just three. Twelve represents one year, like how the cards of hanafuda
Finally have some time to properly give my thoughts on the story. Sorry for the surprise, but I've actually been wanting to give this piece a proper critique since it first showed up in the front page. I love gambling stories, and all I want from this critique is to simply encourage more writers about this genre. That said, let's begin with the positives...
This version definitely have a better and more concise description than the previous one; I have a good time following the game - as opposed to the original version - and, as a result, the game felt pretty intense too. The little girl from the original is removed, allowing the story to focus more into its main conflict. The story still retain its strong points from the previous version: Sannyo's laidback characterization and her love of gambling is still good. The 'atmosphere' (couldn't find the right word) of Sannyo's gambling life is also great, adding more to the story and making it feel more alive. I also love that you've made Sannyo use her smoke against Yachie, adding more layer of depth into the strategies of the game.
Frankly, I don't think I could point out any real weakness from the story without being overly nitpicking, since the previous version's main weakness (the difficult flow of the game) has been resolved. Perhaps the exposition could flow better if the story starts from Yachie's appearance? Maybe the hook could start immediately with the game they're playing so it would grab the reader's attention? These are merely suggestions. Though, it seems there is an editing mistake in the line when these wolf tengu show up:
>The sliding door slams open and in come wolf tengu. Based on their drawn patrol weapons, they’re obviously not here to gamble.
>The sliding door slams open, and in file three tengu in white. The wolf tengu, and their patrol weapons. These aren’t late gamblers.
It doesn't bother me much, but it's pretty funny to imagine them going over the door twice.
Overall, I really enjoyed it, and I'd say that this is definitely an improvement from the previo
>>3010
Damn, I was trying so much to make sure I didn't really make that mistake but I guess it was inevitable. A little bit of insight, I basically took the chunk that people gave the most critique on, the beginning, and highlighted the whole thing before writing a whole new section effectively on top of it. That was also how I did a bunch of other paragraph redrafts, and that's how it ended up with the wolf tengu coming in twice, I simply forgot to highlight the old to delete. The former quote is the new version whereas the latter is the old.
And I really appreciate the thoughts that you've put in here, I was really happy getting through this and using the major points from the exhibition to touch up the parts that weren't quite landing right. Atmosphere and character is something that I really like to get right when I have the room to add it in, something that I don't give myself the privilege of doing as much in my main story Ecology.
I stated it before in my self critique on the original commentaries, but I originally set out on this idea as a way to practice telling a story using something that I only have a general feel for and that readers would not know on the outset. Using gambling games was a great chance to practice that scenario as even if people think I didn't do well the first time, and even if people will say I didn't do well this time, if I can sway the opinion of some people then that makes the effort worthwhile.
>>3011
Yet another case of Murphy's law taking its victim. Don't worry that much, though. I just find it hillarious more than anything.
I'm glad that my thoughts are appreciated. I personally have difficulty in forming words, so it's good to know that my critique reached you well. I also want to improve my wording as well, so giving these critiques is a nice exercise for me.
‘It’s terrible! And even with my powers, there’s nothing I can do about it!’
‘Clearly, it’s an affront to my sister’s entire existence. To both of our existences, even!’
‘I… I see,’ Sanae said, scratching the back of her head. ‘I can understand why that’s a problem for you, yeah.’
‘Couldn’t you help us?’ Minoriko asked, her eyes wide and pleading. ‘Maybe with you and the Moriya Shrine vouching for us, we could convince her to change her mind.’
Sanae looked away, her lips curling into a grimace. ‘Changing Yuuka’s mind? I… I think that’s impossible. You know how she is, don’t you?’
‘Impossible?’ Shizuha folded her arms, the anguish on her face shifting to annoyance. ‘Aren’t you the shrine maiden who performs miracles? How is anything impossible for you?’
‘Yes, but, well, you see, for a miracle to happen, there has to be at least some chance of the thing occurring naturally…’
Shizuha’s frown deepened. ‘Of course there’s some chance! Reimu has made her change her ways and behave several times! Are you sure you’re not just scared to–’
‘Be-besides!’ Sanae interrupted, ‘Lady Kanako said that I shouldn’t do work for other deities than those of the Moriya Shrine. And, I have errands to run for her, actually!’
‘I don’t think this…’ Minoriko started to say, but the shrine maiden had already hurried off down the path. Sighing, the harvest goddess turned to look at her sister. ‘Urgh, that could’ve gone better. I’d have thought the Moriya representative would show more determination.’
Shizuha nodded. ‘Right! This does not promise much good for the Moriya Shrine, if their shrine maiden cannot…’ She trailed off into silence. After a few seconds, her resolve broke, and she fell to her knees. ‘Oh, Minoriko, what are we going to do? Even the Moriya Shrine is too afraid to challenge Yuuka. How can we possibly win against her?’ She slumped into a sitting position and began to sob.
‘I’m sure it’ll be alright,’ Minoriko said softly, kneeling down beside her sister and wrapping her in a hug. ‘There are many powerf
Post your entries for the exhibition >>/gensokyo/17524 here.
In a world where there are more yokai than there are humans, death is uncommon. That isn't to say it doesn't happen; animals need to eat, outsiders are preyed upon by yokai that need human flesh, and older humans passed on from natural causes. Gensokyo is a small world, and with it, a small amount of death. This leaves Eiki ample free time to lecture people about their vices and how to improve them. When she does, they usually don't follow through, which leads to more lecturing. Outside of trying to help others, Eiki would occasionally give a day to reflect on her actions. Her ability to determine right and wrong and the crystal mirror that can reflect one's past allows her to judge herself without bias. The reason why she has been able to remain patient with people who haven't improved themselves is because she recognizes that she also does it as well.
Like everyone else, Eiki is a creature of habit. Her occupation as a yama made her well aware of this fact. She witnesses her past actions and sees all the errors she could have avoided. During these times of self-reflection, a sense of bitterness would stir her heart. She knows she can do better than this, but like anyone else, changing a habit or your way of behaving is a challenge that even gods struggle with. Whenever that feeling of inadequacy began to form, Eiki would change from her work uniform into a more casual attire and take a walk to gaze at the scenery.
Her walk eventually led her to the village. As she enters, Eiki notices something off. The humans didn't seem different, if quieter than usual, but the atmosphere tugged on Eiki's heart. Something wicked is taking root in the heart of this village. It's what she believed, but what she sees in front of her challenges that belief. They were all good people; not a single one of them deserved to go to hell. In her heart, Eiki should be soaring seeing this, but she couldn't let it slide. She recalled some of these people; she'd lectured them before, and their disinterest was palpable. There's no way they could have turned over a new leaf so soon. Can they?
"...Perhaps I'm being pessimistic." She tells herself. &quo
“Oh, it’s the same as last time?” she asked and immediately betrayed a most childish displeasure. It’s the sort that makes cheeks puff, lips curl, and eyes widen and turn to the heavens as if to highlight her suffering so that the universe would fully witness it. The act also highlighted her deathless youth, as the roundening of her facial features combined with her eternal pallor reminds a casual observer of a bright moon on a chilly winter night. The grains of rice that git stuck to her chin and around the corners of her mouth as she munched vigorously (despite the nominal protest) added some greyish-white contrast—their effect was not too dissimilar to lunar mare.
Such thoughts did not, of course, occur to the target of the complaint. She was much too used to her mistress’ peculiarities and, besides, was too busy concentrating on passing the remaining rice balls to her to think about much. Years of service, however, had trained the retainer to be attentive to the wants of her mistress. So an automatic question, one made without really thinking about the particulars of the situation, sprung forth from her lips, “Is it not to your liking, Lady Yuyuko?”
“It’s not a matter of whether or not it’s to my liking,” Yuyuko frowned, pausing from chewing her afternoon snacks. It was then that she noticed the errant grains of glutenous rice stuck to her face. There was no modesty on display as she picked them off with her fingers and then stuck them into her mouth. She let the individual grains roll around her tongue as if they were sesame grains. She, in fact, was thinking that the rice balls could have done with a touch of toasted sesame for texture’s sake. But she didn’t vocalize that complaint, since she knew it would only distract the girl. Yuyuko had long since lost track of the amount of times she had given what she felt were clear instructions only to see the girl fumble about.
It might be worth clearing up a little misconception before proceeding. Though the world at large sees the girl—her name is Youmu, incidentally—as an earnest servant and something of a personal attendant to the capricious Yuyuko that is just something that
Eirin Yagakoro has received many compliments for her competence in the medical field. Even before the start of Eientei, the lunar capital higher-ups have always held her in high regard. I still remember those moments when, even with their advanced intellect, those Lunarians were baffled by the rate at which the doctor managed to solve her cases. It’s no surprise that the commoners of the Human Village would often have their minds blown away by her, to the point that they accuse her of witchcraft. I heard that modern medicine was the closest thing the outside world had to magic, so those villagers were not wrong, in a sense.
Our time in Gensokyo had provided us with a long list of cases, many of which were basic complications that even a Lunarian rabbit like me could solve, more often than not there were cases where the presence of the doctor was very much needed, as without her, there would be no other individual that had enough experience to solve such cases. One of which, still hot in its trail, was the case of the ninth Child of Miare.
It was an interesting case. In a time when bodily damage was often caused by magic bullets, clients with real, natural sicknesses were deemed as slightly above average in terms of their severity. A twin-tailed little girl came at me during my duty hours. Her yellow apron, along with the red and white dress, was unharmed, with little bells adorning her hair. I thought about the likelihood of a human girl surviving in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost at that time, but the questions vanished as soon as I saw the daughter of Fujiwara in the corner of my eye. She greeted in formality before leaving the girl with me.
I leaned down from the registration desk, bringing my slender bunny ears to the girl’s height. “Hello there, young child. How can I help you?”
“Hello, Miss.” She bowed down. Her tone was one of unease, though, she tried her best to hide it. “This is Eientei, right? I heard that there’s a professional doctor here, I want to meet her in person.”
“Sure thing,” I pulled out a sheet of paper from the drawer and clicked the pen in my hand. “What’s the issue?”
The girl hesitated for a second. “I’m afraid it mi
