Yuuma, slowly, hesitantly, lifted the cup to her lips. She braced herself, resolved to just get it over with, and downed the contents in one gulp. Every inch and piece of her throat screamed in agony, but she kept forcing it down, resisting the urge to try and spit it up. When she’d finally finished, she leaned forward, gasping with exhaustion.

Next time she met Yachie, she’d make soup out of her. She sat the cup down, reaching for the small whiteboard at the top of a pile of the same.

Done.
Go away.

The eagles around her nodded, nervously flapping away. They were timid, irritably so, and had been since Yachie’s kiss of death. Yuuma’s mood in the aftermath was not helping, but their cowardice only irritated her further, creating a death-spiral that Yuuma just didn’t have the energy to try and fix.

The otters had peeled her off the concrete, stuck her in a rickety wheelbarrow from the park they’d claimed from her, and put as much ceremony as possible in what amounted to a small, impromptu parade, bringing her up to the bridge where she’d first intercepted them before having great fun watching the wheelbarrow tumble into the canals. These were largely not the otters they’d been fighting all day, but fresh, bright-eyed recruits from other fronts, and the beleaguered eagles of the canal territory did little more than watch.

She could have just let her body be destroyed, but whatever damage the swordsman had done to her, it was having a lingering effect. She could still feel it was suppressing her ability to devour anything. While her external body had healed to the point she could fight again, if she was destroyed without her ability to devour, she might take a long, long time to reform. And Gouyoku morale was already in the pits with her just incapacitated; she had no choice but to deal with the indignities and keep her carcass running until her power came back. She’d never expected that she’d ever hate the idea of eating - not eating something generally considered gross, just eating in general - but Yachie’s blight still loomed through her, and made it a torturous experience. She’d still cough up charcoal from time to time.

Angrily, she threw the whiteboard away, making a dent in the far wall. All of the damn eagles were useless - fucking useless.

…Except for the one that brought in a stack of whiteboards. He was smart. He was destined for great things.

Yuuma sighed, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling lights. She could hear the panicked voices of the eagles downstairs, and she just couldn’t be bothered to help, even though she knew whatever situation was unfolding was likely dire. This area was getting hemmed in, more and more too. The Keiga had been getting more and more aggressive, the Otters were eager for blood still, and with Yuuma incapacitated, other, smaller families had decided this was their chance to act, or that Gouyoku was no longer a good alliance to be in. She needed to heal up, and soon, or else-

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Or else someone would find her. A black silhouette filled the room, with hair as dark as midnight. Yuuma groaned, knowing full well what was about to happen.

The leader of the Keiga family strode in, oozing smugness as only one who wore a cowboy hat could. “My, my, my. It’s really true?” The woman put her ridiculous boot up on Yuuma’s bed. “The undefeatable matriarch laid low. I never expected to see the big bad Yuuma hooked up to an IV drip!”

Yuuma flicked her a rude gesture, which Keiga scoffed at. “Come on, Yuuma. No sassy comebacks?” Saki Kurokoma grinned, clapping her hand on a broken leg and drawing out a gasp from the taotie. “Come on, cat got your tongue?”

Yuuma grabbed one of the whiteboards and began to scrawl out an angry response.

Asshole.

Saki looked at the board. Then at the stack of other boards. Then at the boards on the floor. Then back at Yuuma. Then the board lodged in the far wall. She could practically hear the gears turning in Saki’s head.

It started as a low chuckle. Then, it gained depth and throatiness, starting to fill the room. Before long, the pegasus was howling with laughter, at a level that threatened to level the building.

“I-you-thehahahaha! You can’t speak?! Oh man, that is hilarious!” She guffawed. “The sheep who got roasted so badly she can’t even bleat! Man, that is great.”

Yuuuma groaned, which broke into a cough. It was bad, but of all the people who could’ve found her, Saki was probably the best worst-case scenario. She loved a good fight too much to take Yuuma out, and she was probably here for something else entirely. Which meant at the very least Toutetsu would avoid taking a battering. Or at least an intentional battering - she already knew Saki’s bedside manner would leave her in a worse state than before she entered. Here 2 hear what did this?

“Yes, yes I am.” Saki beamed, grinning mischievously. “You’ll be cooperative, won’t you, Yuuma-chan?” Yuuma shuddered, her skin crawling.

Yama sent swordsman He cut me open. Yuuma paused. The throat’s Yachie The rest was ankle-biter. Saki leaned forward, mouthing out the words as she read.

“...Ankle-biter? Is that the miko I’ve been hearing about?” Yuuma nodded, prompting a tilt of Kurokoma’s head. “Did she come from the Yama too, or someone else?”

Yachie’s secret = ankle-biter. Kurokoma stared at the whiteboard. For several seconds longer than Yuuma expected, sounding it out several times. She leaned in closer to the board, supporting her weight right on one of the Taotie’s bruises. Through the pain, Yuuma wondered if adding an equals sign was a mistake and now Kurokoma was trying to calculate it. If she was, there was only so long before the pegasus overheated.

“Yachie’s… ankle-biter?” Kurokoma half muttered the question. When her face crested the board, it was pale, and sweating. “A-are… are you telling me… the miko is Yachie’s daughter?!”

And there was the burnout. Yuuma bounced the whiteboard off of Kurokoma’s head, only succeeding in getting a ricochet straight into her chest. Coughing, she pointed at the bandages around her bitten ankle, and Kurokoma examined it. “Ohhhhhhh! You meant literally. Ohhhhh thank the prince. Gave me a shock there, you know.” Another whiteboard bounced off her skull, and was even less effective than the first.

No way Yachies kid shes way too young. The last time a male jidiao had been seen anywhere in the Animal Realm had been hundreds of years ago, and by all accounts his and Yachie’s interactions had been more like a territory dispute than anything approaching procreation. …Really, there were very, very few dragons of any sort (hopefully one less soon if Yuuma had anything to say about it) and either living in the animal realm or her position as the Kiketsu Matriarch seemed to keep the few relevant bachelors away from Yachie. The idea of her doing a human was outright ludicrous on its face. Shes just some miko brat that Yachie bewitched I think.

“...I see.” Kurokoma said, after far, far too long spent trying to figure out ‘bewitched’. “So she’s the one who did the rest to you, huh? How strong is she?”

Yuuma… shuddered. She didn’t want to think about that. What the hell had that half-form been? It was stronger than she thought Mikos should be able to get. She’d fought her fair share of powerful spirits, even a few of the famous Gensokyan Peacekeepers after their deaths, and even then, that brief burst of power… And it was pure youkai extermination, but she was pretty sure that was a youkai miko. …What in hell was Yachie playing with now?

Kurokoma raised an eyebrow at the trembling taotie. “Wow… she’s that powerful, huh?” Kurokoma mulled it over, before grinning. “You think a good kick to her skull will break Yachie’s spell on her? Cos I kinda wanna fight her myself, maybe get her in the Keiga.”

Be my guest. Yuuma leaned back, feeling exhausted. Now will you go away?

Kurokoma looked over the board, assessing Yuuma. “...You’re really in a pitiful state, huh? Alright, I’ll leave you be.” She stepped up toward the window, preparing to fly, and Yuuma leaned back. Well, if the miko and Kurokoma duked it out, maybe there’d be one less problem for her to deal with either way. Hopefully the day would be relatively easy from here.

“Oh, just one more thing.” A piercing whistle made Yuuma’s eye’s shoot open, as the pegasus suddenly leapt at her. A small crew of wolves began to file in, carrying a few battered eagles and… oh no, not that. Anything but that.

The taotie tried to struggle, but Kurokoma gripped her horn like a vice, yanking her head upright. “Come on, Yuuma, you think I was just gonna let this moment pass?” She leaned down, squishing her face up against Yuuma’s and putting two fingers up in a v-sign. “No, this was always going to happen. Gonna post this up on the billboards you can see from the Gouyoku territory.”

The horse snickered, as the camera crew began a countdown. “Now, Yuuma, I’m sure you know what we’re doing, but just in case… remember to say cheese!”

Epilogue: Yuuma complete.
Loading Epilogue: Keiki...

Bishop stabbed his fork into the piece of chicken. He picked it up, looking at it cautiously.

“...Are you sure you want me to do this, Keiki-sama?” He spoke as if he was being asked to execute his best friend.

Keiki nodded, eagerly. “Yes, Bishop. I wouldn’t have installed that new system for you for nothing.” It had been the first thing she’d done, once she had finally gotten some rest. Well. Sleeping for three days straight, completely dead to the world, was a little more than ‘some’.

Bishop turned the fork over, looking at the meat disdainfully. “It just seems… unnecessary.” He said, glumly. “Isn’t more conventional fuel more efficient?”

Keiki resisted the urge to sigh. “Please, Bishop, just give it a chance, alright?” It wasn’t that he was wrong, technically. It was much, much less efficient than his internal combustion. But, to Keiki that was half the point of humanity. Efficiencies and inefficiencies balanced against each other, being able to rush or glide through the things they didn’t enjoy so they could revel in the ones they did.

A lot of her older models were all-efficiency, all the time. Endlessly focused on the results. They’d had to be, for her early conquests, when all they’d had was one clay pit to call a base. But it made adapting most of them to a fuller, more human life all the more difficult.

Most importantly, she had to give them things to enjoy. That meant giving them the functions to be able to enjoy them. No point in getting the time to stop and smell the roses if you had no sense of smell. Bishop was acting as a prototype of a new taste and digestion upgrade.

He eventually acquiesced, with a strangely sulky air. Some part of it made the statuesque soldier look more like a fussy toddler. Keiki bit back a chuckle, and set to work on her own plate.

She didn’t exactly get much time to enjoy it.

A nervous maid’s voice spoke up on her intercom. A human spirit who’d been living on the streets, recently recruited as a rescue. “Lady Keiki? Kicchou Yachie’s here. And she’s pi- she’s really mad.”

Keiki chuckled. Very, very tentatively, there was a basic agreement to allow certain members of the Kiketsu into Keiki’s territory. In the long term, it wasn’t supposed to include Yachie… but in the short, she’d been allowed to use it.

Keiki had been looking forward to the time when she would.

“Send her in!” She stuffed a bit more food into her mouth, knowing full well that she’d be busy talking for a while. “No need to intervene, Bishop; just keep eating.” The guard sagged, but did as he was commanded.

Yachie exploded into the room like a backdraft of flame. The jidiao was furious as she made her way towards the table. “Keiki. You know why I’m here.”

Keiki played innocent, to rile her up further. “Ah, Yachie, long time no see! I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The jidiao hissed, pulling out a mask. “Don’t play dumb. Asami found this in Reimu’s room.” She threw it down to the table with a clatter.

The sculptor goddess duly inspected the mask. It was a classic kitsune mask, porcelain white with red markings, and its surface was completely unbroken. Keiki looked up at the furious Yachie, and smiled innocently.

“Do you like it? Or would you have preferred if I made it a dragon? I could make one for you too, if you like.”

“Keiki.”

“I made sure to make the ears nice and tall, so when her horns grow in, they’ll still be hidden nicely.”

“Keiki.”

“And it’ll also stay on her face until she removes it, so her face can’t get exposed for her vigil-”

The jidiao roared, slamming her hands into the table. “Haniyasushin Keiki, why the FUCK are you trying to turn my daughter into a vigilante?!” Keiki grinned, sipping at her wine.

It had been just under two weeks, now, since she’d first met Kicchou Reimu. She’d bounced back from her harrowing first day remarkably well, all things considered, and had started acting on her own, while she waited for her mother to arrange safe passage to somewhere away from the city. Sneaking into the other territories - from anywhere she liked; she was the intended benefactor of the Kiketsu safe passage agreement - and taking potshots at saving a few humans from the Gouyoku and Keiga. Even the maid who’d sent the message was one of Reimu’s rescues. The mask on the table now was a little gift Keiki had sent to help her along, and smooth her efforts over.

The sculptor goddess had been anticipating the inevitable moment when Yachie found out, and so far it did not disappoint. “She’s been practising her ambush tactics, no? I thought you’d appreciate her refining her skills.” The jidiao’s eye twitched, knowing full well that Keiki had deliberately used the term Reimu normally hated.

Yachie growled. “Refining her skills is one thing, but this is just brazen tomfoolery. If Kurokoma was there, or Toutetsu makes a sudden recovery, she could be killed.”

Keiki waved her concerns off. “Oh, I’m sure she’d just do that big crystalline thing I heard about if she had to. It worked last time, didn’t it?”

The mother jidiao didn’t shift from her position. “She doesn't even know what that ability is, or how to use it yet. If your whole meddling revolves around her using that ability, you might as well kill her yourself." She folded her arms. "It is one thing for my daughter to go out on these… escapades. But it is another thing entirely for you to be going about enabling her to do it further.” Her glare was positively venomous. “I will not abide you using my daughter for your little ploys. You are not her mother.”

An idea occurred to Keiki. She glanced over, to see Bishop starting to reach for a glass of water. Perhaps this was the perfect moment to test the digestion function under duress?

She gave a dramatic sigh, throwing her hands up in a shrug. “I suppose you have a point.there. I am not her mother, after all.”

The jidiao straightened up. “As long as you understand that, then there should be no-”

“But!” Keiki gave a malicious grin, and the jidiao stiffened. The sculptor goddess raised a single finger. “I won’t let you shut me out of her life entirely. After all… I am her father, am I not?”

Yachie glared at her, and Keiki beamed back. Out of the corner of her eye, Keiki took note of Bishop. He was sipping away at his water, an eyebrow raised but no further reaction. He naturally assumed it was a throwaway comment, or just a piece of hyperbole about her assistance.

Yachie broke first. She turned her gaze away, and her expression coloured. She muttered her retort, just barely loud enough for the people sitting at the table to hear.

“You… you have no proof of that.”

And there was the spit take.

Getting sprayed with spat water did nothing to improve Yachie’s mood. Watching Yachie get sprayed did a lot to improve Keiki’s.

She chuckled. “Well, that was what you used that little token for, wasn’t it? Not like there’s any other jidiao around. Reimu herself is the evidence.”

Yachie hesitated, realising just stating that had already been a costly mistake. She took a deep breath, and swore, quietly.

Bishop whirled his head around, stuttering. “I- you- what-”

Keiki smiled. She raised her hand, gesturing to her aura-dragon. It spat out a small, golden line, and she began to weave it into a moving scene.

“I’m not surprised you’re not aware, Bishop. After all, it was before any of the Haniwa Corps were even sculpted.” She chuckled. “At the time, the primary clay bed that I use to this day was firmly in the Kiketsu territory. Naturally, of course - the land used to be under the Sanzu river, and the otters love their swimming."

Yachie glared at her, but didn’t respond. The golden lines began to form into two figures; Keiki and Yachie.

“Many warrior-gods had tried, and failed, to bring succour to the human spirits of the Animal Realm. The humans from the age of science didn’t have enough belief in their physical strength against the myriad beasts, and they weren’t well-known across the entirety of the ancient world. And as soon as one started to gain prominence, he’d be struck down, and torn to pieces.” Keiki hummed, a sad expression on her face. “What they needed wasn’t a single warrior. They need warriors, in masses, who could be defeated without faith in their holy power being lost. And they needed enough ‘science’ behind them that the newer humans could be brought into believing them. Fortunately… ceramics, and ceramic armies, were well-known, as was the idea of artificial soldiers. Where a hundred warriors had failed… a sculptor could succeed.”

The Keiki figure took a knee. “So I sought to strike a deal. I showed Yachie some conveniences of ceramics. Offered to barter them to her, if she just let me make some resources for the humans to use.”

Yachie spoke up. “I wasn’t fooled. I knew you were up to something. So I tried to run a hard bargain against you. Stall you out.”

Keiki hummed at that. “...For a time, yes. It was proving rather frustrating, but if I could make even a few soldiers, then fate would turn. But what could possibly attract the dragon of the Kiketsu? What could she possibly want? And then… inspiration struck me.”

…In hindsight, that must have been it. That must have been the twist of history that allowed Reimu to be born where she was. Keiki could have made some deal otherwise, but the idea had been too sudden, the effect too great. The golden figure of Keiki held up her arms, producing an egg from woven golden strands and proffering it to the jidiao’s facsimile.

“I offered Yachie… a miracle. No strings attached, no knowledge on my part of what she would do with it. No conditions on what that miracle was. It could be an act of resurrection, a miracle of walking on water… and…” She grinned. “Of course, I mentioned that most famous of miracles. The miracle of the virgin birth.”

Yachie flinched. Bishop's jaw hung loose. Keiki waved her fingers, and the jidiao’s facsimile snatched for the golden egg.

“All of a sudden, the whole negotiation changed. It went from how she could try to hamstring me, to how far she could bend over backwards for that miracle. She was smart enough to wait a little past the hook, so for a while I expected she was planning to turn the whole Sanzu into wine. But… well, I never saw what she did with it, so I assumed I’d never know, or that if we ever came to blows, I’d have to kill her twice.” She sipped at her wine, chuckling. “But… when I heard that girl confess her real identity… It hit me all at once.”

Yachie sighed. “...You figured that out, did you…?”

Bishop hummed. Keiki could practically hear the gears turning in his head. …Actually, she could hear them. He’d need a tune-up later. “...So that comment about being her father… it’s like in that religion the westerners like?” Keiki nodded. “If… if word of this got out… No. Even if it was just discovered that Reimu existed, and Yachie lost control of who was investigating it…”

Keiki nodded. “The whole Kiketsu Alliance could collapse, and if the full truth came out, every single animal in the entire realm would want Yachie’s head. Reimu - nice choice of kanji, by the way, ‘spirit’ and ‘dream’ for a child wished into birth in the realm of the dead - is the living proof of Yachie’s biggest mistake. The moment when Haniyasushin Keiki got a foothold in the Animal Realm.”

The jidiao trembled. Keiki could see it in her eyes - doubt. Fear. “If you - if you harm a single scale on her back -”

Keiki chuckled, shrugging. “Why would I do that to my own dear daughter? I want nothing but the very best for Reimu. So if she says she wants to train her skills in practical combat, I of course happily help shore up her disguise a bit.”

The sculptor goddess grinned. “Oh, and I haven’t told her, of course. After all, it’s still technically just a guess. And a card I could play later, if I had to. I’d assume the whole topic is taboo in the Kiketsu?” Yachie didn’t respond. “...Well. That says it all, doesn’t it? So… if she wants to train by hunting some wolves and eagles, I’ll happily say that, as her father, we should encourage her independence.”

There was silence, for a moment. Yachie took a long breath.

“Even… even if it proved to be a fatal mistake. Even if the entire realm would turn against me for that choice, if I got the chance to make it again… I would do it. A thousand times over.” She looked down. “Reimu is my daughter. And I will protect her.”

She looked down at Keiki. “And if you ever, ever, dare to breathe a word of this to Yuuma or Kurokoma or anyone else… I will use every last breath making you suffer. I’ll bring this whole realm down. No matter what it takes.” At length, she sighed. “You want to have Reimu train? ...Fine. But do not let her fall into enemy hands. When she goes through your realm to strike, you notify my forces, and let otters observe.”

Keiki nodded. “Oh, she’s too valuable to risk for either of us. There’s normally a distant haniwa escort as well.” She gestured. “Shall I get my staff to get a seating ready for you? Why don’t you join us, Yachie?”

The tortoise dragon took a deep breath, and sighed. “...Fine. We’ll talk terms.” She sat down at a seat next to Keiki, and the sculptor grinned.

Yachie was always the most negotiable of the animal realm leaders. Even if it was on shaky ground, she was an ally, at least for now. And when Reimu came of age, and managed to succeed her mother - after all, the Kiketsu were that nepotistic - the Kiketsu were as good as hers. Keiki smiled, pouring Yachie a glass of wine.

“...Though, I must admit, one thing bothers me.” Keiki hummed, as Yachie ran a finger around the rim. “Are you… not concerned about the Shrine? About her going to her other family…?” It had been bothering Keiki. If Reimu got too attached to her past life, she’d lose her future prospect for an ally. Yachie chuckled, shaking her head.

“Personally? I’m not too worried.” She raised her glass. “After all, those youkai-hunting weapons in her… they’re hereditary, right?” The sculptor goddess nodded, and the jidiao gave a sharptooth grin.

“Then the answer’s simple. I’m not afraid of her family at the shrine keeping her.” Yachie took a sip. “If the orbs have come to her… then there’s a good chance any family she could have had is already gone.”

Keiki nodded in agreement, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. It’d cause her no end of temporary distress, but her family being caught by the shinigami would only ensure Reimu came back to the Animal Realm sooner, rather than later. “Ahhhh, of course. Let’s hope that’s the case, shall we?” She lifted her glass. “Cheers?”

Yachie clinked her glass against the sculptor’s. “Cheers, Keiki. Cheers.”

It was around lunchtime when Eiki finally lifted the rod of remorse, and freed Inaba Akyuu from her prison. The Chronicler turned rabbit had bowed before her, uttered one last apology, saluted, and scampered away.

Eiki sighed. She hadn’t meant to go that far overboard, but… Akyuu had changed. And quite a lot, at that.

She didn’t even seem fully conscious of it - how light footed she was, for starters. As Eiki watched her bound away, she was taking strides that she never could have taken in her past lives.

And things she’d said while they’d been talking, just… bits and pieces of military lingo, coming from a mouth she’d never expected to hear it from. And she used ‘earth’ as a curse word? When had that happened?

In the end, perhaps it wasn’t surprising she had Re/Awakened. With such a dissonance between her two lives, it was essentially inevitable. And that didn’t make Eiki feel any better.

Slowly, the Yama got to her feet, walking out. There were other places she had to be today, after all, and… she didn’t want to become a looming presence over the poor girl. She’d already been through enough.

Slowly, the Yama made her way over to the hospital ward. A few of the rabbits saw her, and generally decided to keep a wide berth - undoubtedly a few had overheard the lecture she’d given Akyuu. Or perhaps the one she’d given Reisen, earlier in the morning. …Or the one she’d been giving Komachi as they arrived, when she found out exactly who was responsible for triggering Akyuu’s own state.

Still, there was one person who almost certainly hadn’t. As Eiki rounded the door, the Shrine Maiden looked at her in surprise, then gave a slightly-strained smile.

“Ah. Lady Eiki. Here for Akyuu, or here for the usual?”

“Haru. I’m here for Akyuu, mostly. …Though when the young Hakurei comes in, I do hope you’ll keep my previous lectures in mind.” ‘The usual’, as Haru put it, was the simple fact of how lopsided her work around the shrine was. She focused entirely on the extermination and hunting, to the point that not many villagers these days even knew the name of the Hakurei Shrine’s God. Eiki could, oh so clearly, imagine Haru focusing so much on what someone had to do as the Shrine Maiden, that her wayward daughter would never learn how or why.

Haru gave a weak smile. “Well… hopefully Reimu remembers enough of her past life that we can get to the less important stuff sooner. Kidding, kidding!” She wasn’t, but Eiki let it slide with a scowl in the Shrine Maiden’s direction. “...Anyway, I have to focus on healing up. Though… if you’re here for Akyuu, what brings you to my little room?”

The judge sighed, sitting down on a visitor’s chair. “...I’m worried about Akyuu. About… everything that’s happened to her.” She looked away. “There’s a risk she’s turning youkai-like, down to her soul.”

The shrine maiden hummed, looking up. “...But when she reincarnates, she could do it as a human again, right?”

Eiki sighed. “...Yes, but… unlike the others… some part of her memories will stay with her, and… that may lead her down a dark path.”

Haru chuckled, and seemed to regret it. “Well, Aunn was telling me the Yin-yang Orbs landed in the Animal Realm, so… I’m worried about Reimu, too. She may be a bit of a thug by the time I get to her.” She smiled. “I guess we’ll both be worrying about our daughters for a while, won’t we?” Eiki flinched, but didn’t object. She’d been as distraught as any of the biological mothers had been when Akyuu had gone missing, and when previous generations had needed some form of parental counsel, it had normally be Eiki who had stepped into the position. It wasn’t exactly an inaccurate assessment. “...And this… apocalypse I’m hearing about. Is it… really true?”

“It is, it is! Though we’re off to a good start already.” Both of the women jumped up, looking at the intruder. A blonde girl in a white robe was standing by the open window, grinning at them.

Eiki stepped defensively in front of Haru, as the latter struggled and failed to bend herself enough to grab some talismans. “Go. What are you doing here?”

“We-ell, I came to check in on the Hakurei, of course. Y’know? Because she’s gonna be super critical to the plan?” Go sat back on the windowsill, grinning sloppily. “I mean, we need her in one piece almost as much as we need the old man.”

“Old man?” Haru tilted her head. “Who do you mean?”

The mysterious girl waved it off. “Eh, suppose it doesn’t matter at this point… we need Konpaku Youki alive. But I’m not supposed to really get in the thick of it, either. Hence the soothsayer cosplay.” She waved her robed arms around, as if to indicate them.

Eiki stepped towards Go. “Not meddle? Why not?”

“Because the running theory is that whatever the apocalypse is, it comes into place and distorts fate. After all, it’s not like you’re reading that everyone’s gonna die within a week of each other right now, are you?” Eiki hummed at that. She knew from talking to Akyuu that she wasn’t lying about what she experienced, but… like Go said, there wasn’t evidence to support it.

“So… that’s why you didn’t stop me from putting my life at risk? To see if Akyuu could distort fate?” Haru’s voice had a tone of anger to it, but Go just shrugged it off. “Or was it for that glowing thing she did?”

“The Re/Awakening specifically, yeah.” Eiki sputtered. “Oh, don’t look so surprised, Yama. After all the tipoffs, are you that surprised that I know about that secret only the Yama are supposed to know?”

The Yama folded her arms. “You know, Go, if you’re trying to get me to trust you, blurting out classified information doesn’t help. Who… are you, anyways? A resident of Gensokyo?”

Go sucked in a breath. “Complicated answer, that. More complicated than I’m supposed to say. Let’s just say I’m… rather heavily invested in Gensokyo’s continued existence. And if all goes according to plan, well… you two will both not have to worry about your ‘daughters’ being thugs or soldiers.”

Haru turned her head. “And what do you mean by that?”

Eiki looked at her. “...You promised me that earlier, as well.” The yama folded her arms. “I want to know what you mean by it.”

The blonde girl chuckled. “Well… I can’t give away too much yet. But let me put it this way.” She snapped her fingers. “What I want is for Hieda no Akyuu and Hakurei Reimu to be restored back in place. For them to cast off their current selves, and return to being what they once were.” She looked out the window. “...Assuming they can save Gensokyo, my win-con is all the Immaterial Children fully ‘material’ again. But to do that, we need the help of a lot of things.”

“And what sort of things would those be?”

“We-ell, it’s hard to say the whole list.” Go shrugged. “Sorta making this up as it goes, a bit. So it’s hard to answer definitively."

Eiki had to protest at that. “Wait, what do you mean you’re making it up?!”

“Timey-wimey soul stuff isn’t my field. Heck, I’m surprised it’s anyone’s field.” The girl shrugged. “Sorta just trying to stack all the nonsense possible to get the outcome we want, you know?”

The two older women shared a nervous glance, which Go laughed off. “Relax, relax! Call it luck or fate, but so far we’re three-for-three of the Immaterial Children and the people we need lining up. At this point, it just seems like it’s all working out for us, you know? And if Reimu Re/Awakens, and saves the old man… well, that’s the biggest one done, we’re pretty sure.”

“Three for three?” Haru pulled herself up. “Who’s the third?”

“Oh, I believe that’s-” She paused. “Well, I won’t say where they are, but it's Konpaku's kid. She’ll probably be the next one to actually show her face around here.”

Haru groaned. “You know, you’re frighteningly vague for someone who claims to see the future.”

Go just laughed. “Well, sorry about that! When we’re dealing with fate-shifting, there’s only so much fortune you can actually tell. But hey-” She winked. “Anything’s better than nothing. Now, I’ve done my part, so I’d better be off.” She started pulling herself over the windowsill.

Eiki started to approach her. “Now, you wait for a second-”

“Sorry, Eiki! Gotta jet. My trick’s only got so much juice.” She pointed at the Shrine Maiden. “Hakurei? Here’s hoping you get a recovery as swift as a shooting star, da ze!”

She slipped out of the window, and disappeared.

Epilogue: Eiki Complete
Loading Epilogue: Komachi...

Komachi hopped through a hole in the wall, cursing. A bullet whizzed by her ear - a real bullet, too. She’d really pissed them off, that much was clear.

The shinigami - now, ironically, the one running from her own inevitability - took off at a sprint into the bamboo forest. It didn’t matter what she was going towards, it mattered what she was getting away from, and that was two moon rabbits with murder in their eyes. They probably wouldn’t actually kill her, but not for lack of trying - she had a sneaking feeling she’d be better off dealing with whatever punishment Eiki came up with than the vengeance of the Inaba sisters.

And it had all been going so well. That doctor, Eirin, had approached her with a request. She’d presented a little button, explained what it did, and asked Komachi to be the one to destroy it. She was worried about the button activating haphazardly if they crushed or disassembled it, so she wanted it executed. And a shinigami with a proper understanding of the parts could cut it to ribbons in seconds, completely safely. Of course, Komachi was happy to help.

They’d called out the sisters, Reisen and Akyuu. Both of them had the glassy stares that only came from getting an earful from a certain Yama, and Komachi couldn’t help but sympathize - she’d gotten quite a talking-to this morning herself (and was probably due for another, even worse one, but one disaster at a time).

First, Eirin had to apologize for something else. It concerned a different piece of tech, a small fake distress beacon (Komachi had no frame of reference for what a real one would look like, but it had apparently convinced all of them). Supposedly the cause of the whole false moon mess.

Apparently the fake did what Eirin thought it had - which was detect two people and take them back to the moon. But not on who she thought it would. The biometric signatures it was set to detect were ‘anyone from Gene-Warren IN-8’. Both rabbits looked shocked at that, so presumably that was them.

Komachi had to ask, and gotten the gist that they were… essentially a designer breed? She hadn’t fully understood the explanation. But the point was that it was set up for Akyuu and Reisen to both touch it, and for them to be brought back to the moon, right up to the doorstep of a different pair of sisters, their former masters. Eirin suggested that Akyuu’s coincidental crash-landing right next to her sister was not an accident in its placement, but rather a (partial) success - that her drop-pod had been calibrated to land near Reisen, somehow.

She apologized for the disaster the night had turned out to be, and Akyuu had apologized for her own part in it - assuming that this Lady Sagume might have told her more about her intentions if she’d just asked. The mood was a bit awkward, and Komachi had been the one to salvage it - pointing out that if they hadn’t done what they had done, the Shrine Maiden would have bled out outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion, rather than be resting in Eientei. Everyone composed themselves a bit, and got onto the second piece of business.

First, Eirin had looked Akyuu in the eye, and asked her to explain what she knew about the button so far. Akyuu had obliged: It exploited something innate to vat-born moon rabbits, it served to bring them in line, Eirin’d created it before they’d gotten a sense of her personality, and everyone was very, very adamant she’d be better off not knowing what it did. To the point just telling her had been a threat, once. Eirin gave her a look, told her about what Komachi was about to do, and asked, one last time, if Akyuu wanted to know what the button did.

Of course, she said yes. Curiosity killed the chronicler, as it were. Eirin took a deep breath, and started to think through her response. There was a long, long pause.

Akyuu had asked if Lady Eirin was alright, and the doctor had stuttered. Apparently she was struggling to get her words out. It might have been guilt, it might have been worry about breaking trust, it might have been an adamant feeling of not wanting to tell her something so dangerous. It might have been a lot of things. It might have been similar reasons, or different ones entirely, that meant when Akyuu had turned to ask Reisen about it, she’d clammed up as well.

But Komachi found there was one thing that they definitely were: Annoying. And, well… she was curious herself, of course.

At length, she’d gotten irritated, and snatched up the button. She’d chided the two of them for not explaining things, saying that if she wanted to know, it’d be better for her to just know. And if they didn’t know what to say… might as well just show her.

And then she’d pushed the button.

What came out was a distinctly unpleasant series of tones. High, and tinny, and not even something resembling catchy. But tonal, like a little graph of something erratic converted into sound.

Akyuu’s eyes had glazed over, blank. Komachi already had a line in mind when she’d done it.

>Akyuu, from now on, end random sentences with ‘pyon’. And make it sound cute.

At once, Akyuu’s eyes lit up again, and she asked what happened. The other two nervously shared a glance, and Komachi hummed, disappointed.

And then Akyuu had turned to Komachi, with big, bright eyes, and asked did the button not work, pyon? …And immediately Komachi was having to stifle giggles. Akyuu belatedly caught what she’d said, and tried again. Confused pyons came out intermittently, and Komachi’s giggles turned into outright laughter.

Eirin had sighed, and with the proverbial band-aid removed, began to explain it in full. The explanation had a lot of choice words in it, the really fun kind you normally only here in psych-dramas. Like subliminal, ooh, that was a good one.

Put simply, the button - the sound it made, really, along with a psychic resonance - put a particular moon rabbit into a hypnotic state. Then, you could tell that rabbit pretty much anything, and they’d subconsciously be compelled to do it. The version Komachi had used was relatively mild - but there were more dangerous possibilities. Ones that’d compel her to see things differently than how they actually were.

Apparently it had been used to great effect to cut off rabbit rebellions in the past. One could essentially create double-agents on the spot, as long as you knew which rabbit had which code. And most of the rabbits were completely oblivious to the secret hidden in them. Eirin had created the button version as a precaution in case Akyuu had turned violent, but… believed it was unnecessary, now.

Akyuu, for her part, was equal parts disturbed and fascinated. She could see why they’d all wanted to hide it from her - anyone who could read her mind about the former could probably pull the sound itself from her head. Maybe even put her in a hypnotic state with nothing, pyon. Eirin had nodded, while throwing a glare the giggling shinigami. The doctor said that many of the most common ways to neuter its effects - like blurring out the subconscious memory of the trigger, or distorting it - just weren’t going to be available to Akyuu.

But the next best thing was available. Though it’d take some time, her sister would be able to break the hypnotic effect, and there were ways to learn how to resist it, as well. Reisen had offered a supporting hand on Akyuu’s shoulder, and promised she’d happily teach Akyuu how to resist the effects, if she wanted to. Akyuu had nodded, and for a moment, all had been well.

And then… a terrible mistake. Partially on Eirin’s part, mostly on Komachi’s. Because both had spent a long time in work environments where closely working with one’s boss was inevitable, and there was an implicit level of understanding reached at a certain point in doing so - where there was no need for words.

But just because they both had that understanding with their own coworkers, didn’t mean those understandings were the same across them.

The doctor had gestured to the shinigami, and asked if you would, Miss Onozuka? And Komachi’s fun had been had, so she was happy to end it. She threw the little button into the air, prepared her scythe, and sliced through it. And then, she’d used her power over distance - the moment there was any space between the pieces, there was thousands of kilometers between the pieces. The fragments shot out the nearby window, and probably left orbit. Komachi was pretty proud of that.

Then she’d turned to the group, looking at her in abject horror. What? What were the stares for? …The realization seemed to not quite catch her. Akyuu had mumbled something, and Komachi leaned in to hear it, still confused.

And then Akyuu had looked at her, her face bright red, and told her that she hadn’t been fixed, pyon. Komachi blinked, and then it hit her. Oh. That ‘if you would’ had either been to hand it over or to undo the first hypnotic effect. It was in fact still in place, and what could have fixed it was probably past the ozone layer.

Hence, what Komachi was doing now - running like her life depended on it, which it very well may. She ducked and weaved through the bullets and the clumps of bamboo, and came out to a small clearing. Good, that meant she could really put in the strides, and get a bit of distan-

On her third step, the ground beneath her suddenly wasn’t. Komachi fell forward, smacking her stomach against the wall of the pitfall. She bounced backwards, gasping for air… and only barely catching her own scythe from drilling out her eye.

Quickly, the two rabbits caught up, silhouetted by the afternoon sun. Two sets of furious red eyes glared down at her, assuring her dissonantly that she’d be fine. The taller one assured her that Eirin could fix up anything she’d broken in her fall. And, coincidentally, she could fix up anything they broke, as well.

Perhaps Komachi could have gotten away with only a minor beating. A few bruises, a checkup at Eientei, and all would be well. But she wouldn’t get a chance. Because then the smaller silhouette had leaned over, radiating fury, and asked Komachi one question.

And that question was simple: if she had any last words before they beat her so hard Eiki would have to get another shinigami to drag her home, pyon?

Well. At least Komachi would get her last laugh.

Epilogue: Komachi Complete
Loading Epilogue: Kaguya...

Kaguya smiled, grabbing another piece of mochi. Once again, that especially clean and crisp taste filled her, and she couldn’t help but grin smugly. “Told you two that mochi pounded by Lunar Rabbits tastes better.”

Haru picked up a piece, looking it over curiously. “...Is that really because of the rabbits? Or is it because you got some extra-special ingredients in reserve?”

“We-ell, a little from column A and a little from column B.” The princess admitted. “We do have specially treated rice, but perhaps a better word is purified - if handled by impure hands, it just becomes high-grade rice, without that sharpness to it.”

Haru turned to the two rabbits in question, who were busy pounding a second batch of mochi. The smaller of the two was turning the rice over in her hands, while the elder was handling the mallet. The two had eased into a steady rhythm for the process at this point - most likely using a psychic link to time their movements,. “I see, I see. That’s why the new recruit’s the one actually hands-on? Because she’s the purest here?” She bit into the piece she was holding, murmuring in thought.

“That and she’s not that hearty. Pounding that much mochi would tire her out really quickly.” Kaguya smiled, taking another piece. “She’s safer that way.” She picked up the plate, offering it to the third guest. “Have some, will you? It’d be rude to them not to.”

The most immediate response was a glare. “I didn’t come here for a tea party, Kaguya.” She nonetheless took a piece, pulling back a bit of her ashen hair that nearly got caught in the treat. “I came here for answers. You said you had some new insights into the Immaterial Children Incident, didn’t you?”

Kaguya made sure to chew her piece extra slowly, as if contemplating a detailed response. Eventually, she swallowed. “Oh, yes, yes.” And then immediately picked up another piece.

The third woman’s hand was around hers before the mochi reached her mouth. She could feel it heating up, until both of their hands were ablaze. “This isn’t a game, Kaguya. A life’s already been thrown into tatters by this disaster. Don’t fuck around with me.”

Kaguya just pulled her hand away from her guest’s grip, and popped the still flaming piece in her mouth. “You know, you’re a natural at grilling, Mokou. You’d make a good team with them, I think.”

Fujiwara no Mokou growled, but did her best to straighten up. “...I’m serious, Kaguya. Please, do you know anything, or did you just call me to mess with me?”

Haru nodded. “We do indeed have new intel. Eientei found a whole new source, in fact.” The Hakurei Shrine Maiden smiled at Mokou. “One that might turn the whole case on its head.”

Mokou looked at Haru, trying to read her. She knew full well that Haru wouldn’t lie about this - though it did bother Kaguya a bit she was comparatively getting so much suspicion. “Oh yeah? And who is this brand new source of intel?”

“Akyuu.”

“Bless you.”

“No, no, no…” Haru pointed at the younger of the two rabbits pounding. “Inaba Akyuu, Reisen’s little sister. She’s the new source.”

Mokou looked over at the two rabbits. “...What does some recent moon escapee know?” Mokou turned back to her. “Wait, did she find evidence the Lunar Capital were responsible for moving the Immaterial Children?!”

“Oh, better than that.” Kaguya said. “She’s one of them.” Mokou went wide-eyed. “And on top of that, she’s the Child of Miare.”

“Verified by the Yama herself.” Haru said, nodding. “The Hieda’s daughter, who came to Gensokyo by escaping the moon.”

Mokou nodded. “That’s a breakthrough in and of itself! So, does that mean the others were turned into Lunar Rabbits too?” She turned. “If we can find them, then-”

“She wasn’t done, you know.” Kaguya said, cutting off Mokou with a needling tone. “There’s another reason she’s important. As the Hieda… she has perfect memory. Memory unaffected by alterations to history.”

Mokou’s furrowed her brow. “So… what does that mean?”

Kaguya sighed, putting up her hands. “I swear, Mokou, you’re the dullest detective in the world.”

“What it means is that she remembers history from before. From when all the Immaterial Children grew up together, as humans.” Haru smiled at Mokou. “And she even remembers why the Immaterial Children Incident happened.” She saw Akyuu look over, nervously.

Mokou was on her feet in seconds. “You mean-” She grinned. “You mean she can clear Keine’s name?!”

“We-ell…” Kaguya hummed, putting her feet dramatically. “Maybe, maybe not.”

The momentary brightness dimmed to a dull, angry flame. “What does that mean, princess? If she can remember, surely she didn’t say Keine did it, did she?”

Kaguya looked up at Mokou, grinning impishly. “That’s exactly what she said, in fact.”

Mokou glared, smoke starting to billow out. “...No. Keine would never. Not. Ever.”

The exiled princess chuckled. “Oh, but she showed us her memories herself. In fact, not only did they say that Keine did it, but that you were an accomplice as well. Well, Mokou, do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Mokou leapt to her feet. “Yeah, that all of that is a load of bullshit! I’d never do something like that!” She glared over at the two rabbits, who had stopped their pounding to move into a panicked, defensive position. “Let me at her, I want to have a little discussion with this Akyuu.”

“Now hold on a second there.” Kaguya stood up. “Akyuu is the newest resident of Eientei. I will not have you assaulting one of my pets just because you don’t like what you hear. If you want to have a go at her, you’ll have to go through me, first.”

That… brought a pause. Mokou turned to her, confused.

“Eh? Don’t the rabbits normally guard you, not the other way around?”

Nonononono she was so close- Kaguya did her best to mask her expression. “Well, she’s a very important rabbit, after all. And Haru asked me to make sure she’s safe.”

“Haru-” Ah, earth it, that was a mistake. Mokou turned her attention to the Shrine Maiden in question, who was focusing her attentions on the intricacies of the powdering on her mochi. “...Right. Haru? You’ve been one of Keine’s biggest defenders. Is all this about Keine doing it all on purpose really true?”

Now it was Haru’s turn under the microscope, and disappointingly, she faltered too. “U-um. She hasn’t lied, but… there’s missing context really. Stuff that… kinda flips the whole situation around.” She couldn’t meet Kaguya’s pleading gaze.

Mokou quickly put two and two together. “You mean… there was a reason she had to do it?” She turned to Kaguya, grumpily. “...You were just trying to pick a fight, weren’t you?”

Kaguya did her best to give a mischievous chuckle, even as she felt her opportunity slipping. “Ah, just a bit of your classic style of entertainment, that’s all.” …It was really to make sure she was burnt down before she saw the truth, so she didn’t get overexcited and do something reckless to hurt Akyuu, or go one a rampage into the human village. That was what Kaguya had been aiming to prevent, and that she was frustrated, definitely. …And she’d flay any rabbit dumb enough to suggest something like her being lonely instead.

At length, Haru looked up. “...I know you want to find Keine. But while this evidence doesn’t give us any answers on where she is, it changes the case entirely. It’s something we can give her when we do find her. A lifeline to pull her own heart back together.” The Shrine Maiden smiled. “And it was Kaguya who was insistent on you being one of the first to hear it directly.”

After a moment, the rabbit starring in the debate leaned around the door she’d half-hidden behind. “...And, um. Miss Mokou? Kaguya’s been hoping the story’s true as much as anyone. And I think she's been lommph-” Her sister had silenced her quickly from behind, when she’d seen Kaguya’s glare at the two of them.

Mokou sighed. “So that’s the truth of it, eh…” She scratched her head. Thinking.

Eventually, she let out a sigh. “...Akyuu, right? You better get back to pounding that mochi, bunny.”

Akyuu looked at her, confused. The immortal gave a slow grin, as she set her hands aflame. “Cos I’m gonna be grilling you for every detail after I’m done putting the fussy little princess to bed.”

Kaguya stood up, feeling more exposed than she’d like to be… but it had gotten there in the end. “Well then, Mokou. Shall we blow off some steam?”

The phoenix-girl grinned. “I’m only giving you one round, then it’s back to business. So you better make it one to remember, alright?”

The princess grinned back, stepping outside. “Oh, I’m sure it will be. While you’ve been chasing your tail, I’ve been coming up with very… memorable ideas. I think you’ll enjoy them.”

She smiled, reaching into her pocket… and pulled out a Spell Card. The one that would be oh-so perfect to get under Mokou’s skin.

“Divine Treasure ‘Jeweled Branch of Hourai -Dreamlike Paradise-’!”

Epilogue: Kaguya Complete
Loading Epilogue: Haru...

“A jidiao in the Animal Realm?” Haru nodded at the question, pouring another cup of tea for the speaker. The kitsune lifted the proffered cup, rubbing her chin with her other hand. “...Are you serious…?”

The shrine maiden met her gaze evenly. “I am. According to Konpaku Youki himself, in fact.” She took a sip of her own tea. “The yin-yang orbs have chosen a young Jidiao for their new master.”

Yakumo Ran stuttered. “But… even we haven’t gotten in contact with Youki yet. He hasn’t even left the Animal Realm, has he?”

“He hasn’t. But one Miss Kutaka has gotten into contact with him, and brought the news back to Eiki. And eventually, it came through to me.”

The second visitor raised an eyebrow. “...So the rumors are true, then?” Tamatsukuri Misumaru took another sip of her own cup. “Two of the Immaterial Children have been found?”

“Yep!” Aunn, sitting opposite her sculptor, smiled. “Reimu makes two! But…” The komainu looked down. “...Hearing that she’s a jidiao… would that mean…?”

The kitsune was deep in thought. “...She’s Yachie’s daughter…? That’s…” She took a long, slow breath, trying to steady her thoughts. “That has implications.”

Misumaru glanced around the room. “Forgive me, I’m not familiar with the Animal Realm’s VIPs. Can someone catch me up?”

Haru spoke up. “She’s the sneakiest of the big animal realm gang leaders. A schemer through and through, and a master manipulator in what is often otherwise a very straightforward war. Though… that does mean she’s often not ready for anyone to actually scheme against her.”

Ran smiled. “Oh, did Yukari give you some of my briefings? That’s a good way to put it. She’s often a bit flat-footed whenever someone else cunning enters the board. We’ll have to make sure to keep the amount of information that filters back to her to a minimum. I’m assuming you called me to act as liaison?”

Haru looked at the kitsune. “Partially, yes. Though officially acting on behalf of the sages, if possible.” She took a moment to think. “And of course, we’ll need some illusion magic. Strong Illusion magic, to hide her jidiao traits. Fortunately, it seems she’s caused a stir that Yachie has used to lead people to believe… something along the lines of her being a human that can invoke dragons.”

The kitsune hummed. “So it’s fine if it has to break in intense combat, as long as it can be easily reapplied. Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” The kitsune nodded. “Though… I will say that we will negotiate to have some sort of tracking device on the disguise tool. I’m not thrilled by the idea of giving Yachie’s daughter a perfect disguise.”

Aunn looked at the kitsune reproachfully. “As long as the monitoring method is well-documented in the shrine’s records, I’m sure my mistress would agree that is prudent.” The komainu’s eyes narrowed. “Of course, that’s assuming you don’t put listening devices in any of the other Hakurei tools.”

The two shikigami stared each other down, for a few moments. Misumaru coughed, looking at Haru. “Did you call me to make some new extermination gear for her?”

The shrine maiden held a hand up. “Well, I’m not sure how necessary that is? Apparently she can use the yin-yang orbs already, and she’s also had some miko equipment made for her. Though I’m sure there’s improvements you can make.” She leaned in. “In truth, there’s a whole different point I wanted to discuss. The reason why the Immaterial Children Incident occurred.”

She recounted the events, as she’d had them described to her by Akyuu. The two guests listened to her closely, only interrupting to ask a few questions.

Once she’d finished speaking, Ran went deep into thought, which Haru assumed meant she was trying to calculate something. Misumaru was doing her own analysis, though it appeared to be of Haru herself. “...That’s a heavy story to tell, Haru. One that strains credibility.”

Haru shook her head, firmly. “On the contrary - it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

Misumaru leaned in. “Is it? Are you believing it because it’s actually a logical conclusion, or because it gives the happy answers you’ve wanted?”

Aunn thumped the table. “It’s not some crackpot theory!” She glared daggers at Misumaru. “Akyuu’s actions… deviated further from predictions than I expected, but one look at her Spell Cards and it was absolutely the Child of Miare. And Lady Eiki verified it too!”

Misumaru cocked an eyebrow. “Spell Cards…? You’ve started actually distributing those rules? I thought you were keeping that secret until the Heir was found…” Her eyes widened in understanding. “Ah. You were testing this Akyuu?”

Aunn nodded. “It was a hunch. If she knew what spell cards were, but didn’t provide the sorts of spell cards I expected, it was possible she was a lunarian spy. But not only did she know what spell cards were, her spell card practically screamed she was the Child of Miare. And, of course, it was proven later that night even more clearly.”

The crafter goddess sighed. “And if I ask about how her spell card proved her, you’re just going to give the same answer you always do, won’t you Aunn?” She rubbed her forehead. “You and your mistress…”

Ran raised a finger. “On that point, we have the Yama herself to trust. I assume that Akyuu’s story has been checked by her, as well. After all, anything that can take measure of one’s deceitful choices is a lie detector by default.”

Haru smiled. “And… as much as I appreciate your concern, Lady Tamatsukuri… this is genuinely the only story that makes sense. The targets chosen, and why. The outlier in the netherworld. Why Keine was the one burdened.”

Misumaru looked down. “...Keine… If this story is true…” She sighed. “She’d still have no idea, would she?”

Haru shook her head. “We need to track her down. She’s out there somewhere, I know - maybe trying to control her powers, maybe trying to track down the Immaterial Children herself. Worse, if she tries to take matters into her own hands and fix things herself… She could undo the one good spot of this whole affair. The bright spot she’s given us.”

Ran looked over at Haru, once again looking contemplative. “...Haru. Can I ask you a question? …Why have you always been so adamant about defending Keine?”

The goddess took a glance at Ran, thinking. “...Yes, I must admit, I’ve long been curious too. Your own daughter was one of the Immaterial Children, wasn’t she? And yet, you always stood by Keine, even when it was taken as fact.” She hummed. “I held your crying shoulder when you were faced with the question… I’m just surprised I never had to hold back your fist when you were faced with the first answer.”

Haru took a deep breath. “There was absolutely no way Keine would ever do that intentionally. And even when she did make mistakes with her powers… it never happened that way.” The Shrine Maiden chuckled, pointing to the muddy tracks she’d been following. “I mean, even most youkai don’t leave hoofprints, just regular footprints. Or shoeprints, I suppose.”

“Hoof-?!” The horned girl stuttered, looking down. She was probably about Haru’s own age, if she had to guess. “N-no! I-I meant to erase them, why…?”

Haru shrugged. “Well, I’m glad they’re just fake prints, anyways.” She stepped closer, and the girl shrank back. “Come on, no need to prolong this, kid.”

The girl did her best to strike an intimidating pose. “S-stay back, Miss Ha-I mean, human! I am Keine, a powerful youkai! One more step, and I’ll smash you flat!”

Haru paused mid-step. “...And what kind of youkai are you supposed to be? A were-something obviously if you’re doing this tonight, but a were-what?” There was a long, long, awkward silence, as the girl in front of Haru wracked her brain for an answer. “...Didn’t put much thought into this, did you?” She resumed walking.

Keine did her best to get into a fighting stance. Haru had seen better from some fairies. “I-I know why you’re here. You’re here to kill me, aren’t you?!” She jammed a finger at the miko, ruining the positioning of the one arm somewhat actually ready to fight. “W-well, I’m not just some kid anymore! I’m a youkai now! I-I’m not scared of you!” She took a step back, yelping at the sound of a kicked rock in the process.

The young shrine maiden sighed. “You’re talking about me having to kill any human who becomes a youkai, right? …Keine, was it? Look, I’m just trying to do my job. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be, alright?”

“You… You…” The self-proclaimed youkai’s face was a mixture of rage and fear. “I-I’m not some job for you to fix up! H-how many times have you done this?!”

“What, this general sorta task? ‘Bout once a fortnight since I started this.” Keine’s face blanched. “Village kids always seem to run off and get themselves into some sort of trouble. Now, come on, let’s put an end to this, alright?”

Keine tripped over her own tail, and fell back. She caught herself against a tree, quivering. Haru slowly pulled out her gohei, raising it above her head, and the girl whimpered, screwing her eyes shut.

Haru slammed the gohei down, stabbing it into the ground. Keine blinked, wondering how she was still alive, giving Haru the perfect chance to close in… and hug her.

“...It’s okay, Keine. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to bring you home.”

“U-uh?” Keine looked at her, confused. “Y-you’re not going to k-k-k-”

“Kill you? Nah, like I said, I bring villagers back home all the time. Hakurei-brand executions are only for people who actually become youkai. You’re still a human.”

The girl shook her head, weakly. “N-no, I’m not… I-I’m a youkai. C-can’t you see it?”

“What, the horns and tail? Pssshhh, they’ll be gone by the morning, I’m sure.”

“B-but-”

Haru gently stroked the girl’s head. “...Keine. That law is meant to prevent people from willingly turning themselves into monsters. But you’re not some evil sorcerer sacrificing their humanity for power, or some cannibal who’s becoming as horrific as their diet.” She smiled. “You’re just a girl who’s having a very, very bad night.”

Keine began to sob, weakly at first, before devolving into full on bawling. Haru held the poor girl close, murmuring into her ear, and gently began to walk her back - to the Shrine for now. It was easier to get to from here, and would keep her safely from the public eye until the morning. Haru smiled, rubbing a tear from her eye.

“Keine… when she makes mistakes with her power, it’s because she’s trying to do one thing while in the state that does the opposite. It never goes off when she doesn’t intend it to - it only did the opposite of what she’d wanted.”

Ran hummed. “I see… So the idea of it going off in such a specific way made no sense - the most likely cause for her doing it accidentally would be her trying to do something positive for the families that got reversed. But she had no memory of even that.”

Misumaru tilted her head. “...But still… That’s surprisingly detached reasoning…” Haru resisted the urge to sigh.

“Lady Tamatsukuri… I’m not saying it was a wise choice.” Haru gave a gentle smile. “Perhaps it was simply madness only proven right in the end, but… I always believed in Keine. I had to - if I started second-guessing myself on matters like that, I’d be paralyzed by indecision.”

She looked up. “I won’t be able to chase her myself, not yet - I’ve got a long-lost daughter to welcome home, and I’ll have to do anything I can to help clean up this awful, awful mess I’ve left her. …But I’m sure, in my heart of hearts, that Keine’s still out there, trying to do whatever she can to fix ‘her mistakes’. Maybe the story will get to her, or maybe she’ll just hear they’re making their own way back.”

The Shrine Maiden chuckled. “...Or maybe someone will find her first. The Immaterial Children so far have had excellent luck at saving and bringing back important people, no matter how perilous the situation.” She smiled. “...Perhaps one of them will bring my closest friend home.”

Epilogue: Haru Complete
Loading Epilogue: Eirin...

Eirin looked out the window at the working rabbits. Now that the rubble had been cleared, pieces of electronic equipment were being installed under makeshift canopies. She was pretty sure most of the rabbits had no idea what they were doing, but as long as the two moon rabbits kept a close eye on the others, it’d be resolved soon enough.

Eiki followed her gaze, sipping at a cup of tea. “If you want, I can keep an eye on them too for a bit. ...What is that contraption, anyways?”

The Brains of the Moon turned to her. “We call it the Psydar. It’s a psychic imaging device that allows us to see where people are. Normally, we use it to keep track of potential threats but… evidently, the system has limitations.”

Haru leaned forward. “It can see where people are? …Can we use it to find the other Immaterial Children?”

Eirin looked over at it. “Not in its previous state. Having that sort of accuracy has been something I’ve wanted to try for a while, but it’s been lacking key parts of the system. We’d need two things: a psychic with a very clear mental image of the target, and to modify it from the default design to be able to go narrow-band, and single out targets at a longer distance.”

She smiled, putting her teacup down. “Fortunately, as luck would have it, we have managed to come across a moon rabbit with perfect memory, and a requirement to rebuild the psydar from the ground up. So… we’re modifying it as necessary.”

Eiki looked over at the machine, inspecting it. “...Will it hurt Akyuu?”

“It will give her a massive headache, but no permanent damage. And our suspicion is only one person may be easily called by it, so we don’t expect her to even have a need to overuse it.” Eirin gave a reassuring smile to the judge. “I promise, she’ll be fine. If anything, I’m worried about her exceeding the psychic amplitude if she gets excited. It’d both distort the message into illegibility, and leave her friend’s head ringing.”

Haru also gave the judge a pat on her shoulder. “What about the other two? Is she going forward with that book plan?”

Eirin nodded. “Yes. According to Akyuu, the Immaterial Magician and Bookkeeper are bibliophiles, so distributing some novels may be just what’s needed to get the word to them.”

Haru continued her pat into a rub. “So don’t worry too much about Akyuu, okay? She’ll make it through this.”

The judge, at length, let out a sigh. “I… just make sure to monitor her closely as possible, Lady Eirin.” She sat up, looking over at the doctor. “Is that what you called us here to discuss?”

The doctor shook her head. “...No, it’s not. I’d prefer it if this discussion doesn’t leave this room.” The other two women shared a glance, but nodded. “It concerns the Re/Awakening phenomenon.”

Eiki’s expression hardened. “If you’re asking for more details about the mechanics of it, I will not be telling you more. Not even someone immortal, who could never carry their memories over to a future life, should know how to access such a state.”

Eirin nodded. “Of course, Lady Eiki. I’m sure among the various people you know, I’m one who you feel needs to be kept especially far from the truth.” As the judge nodded, Eirin stood up. “And that… is exactly the problem.”

“For some context, Tewi Inaba. I trust you’ve both met her?” A nod from Haru, and a glower and shake of the head from Eiki. Tewi must have been avoiding her. “She was the most skeptical of Akyuu from the start, especially when she heard Akyuu’s story. The biggest reason for her doubts was a simple question: why the past selves of us immortals had chosen to reincarnate the Immaterial Children as youkai.”

Eirin started to pace around the room. “When the Re/Awakening occurred, she was satisfied. That must have been the reason we chose to do it, she said. And, for a while I was satisfied too… until I noticed the paradox in my thinking.”

Haru looked up. “After all, to know that the kids could Re/Awaken… you’d have to know what that is.” Eirin nodded, and both of them turned to Eiki. “Which raises the question… would you have told her, Eiki?”

The judge took a long, deep breath. Eirin could feel her assessing the question, looking deep inside herself, trying to consider all variables and find an answer. “...Perhaps I could have come to the conclusion that such power was necessary… but I doubt I would have thought of such an abstract solution in as short of a time as a week.”

Eirin nodded. “Inversely, with the given resources of someone who could rewrite history, and even cursory knowledge of the Re/Awakening phenomenon, I could imagine myself doing so. But… the problem is that there is no reason - no path - for me to have learned about the Re/Awakening by myself.” She leaned forward. “So… Tewi's theory is still missing a link. Something else that would give us the knowledge of Re/Awakening. Of course, that assumes our original assumption is correct, but… apparently young Reimu has experienced something similar, and lacking any knowledge of other reasons… it seems the most likely discrepancy to be addressed.”

Eiki rubbed her chin. “So, we’re looking for some path for a Hourai Immortal doctor to learn about secrets related to the inner mechanics of reincarnation, while at the same time not alerting the presiding Hakurei Shrine Maiden or the Child of Miare, at the very least.” The judge sighed. “That is… you’d need someone both good at unearthing and keeping secrets… which, to be fair, Gensokyo is not short of. But who would even consider such a plan? Who could fill such a gap?”

There was a long, slow sigh, followed by a short litany of curses. Eirin and Eiki looked over at the source, the shrine maiden now massaging her forehead. “God damn it. It’s her, isn’t it? She’d explain all of this nonsense.”

Eirin tilted her head. “I’m not sure a shrine maiden should be naming the gods in such a way, but… you have someone in mind?”

Haru let out a groan. “Un-fortunately, yes, I do. Someone who is exactly the right mix of inquisitive and intruding. Someone who wouldn’t think twice of stealing the secrets of the Yama themselves, and passing the answers on as it suits them. Someone insane enough to come up with this plan in minutes, where it took everyone else days, and yet still keep it to herself. And someone tenacious enough to survive right up to the very end, along with all of you immortals.”

Eirin got a sinking feeling, as Eiki spoke up. “I have a certain sense you may have a very plausible candidate in mind there. …And as much as it galls me to consider her learning the deepest secrets of Higan, if anyone could, it’d be her.”

The doctor let out a tired sigh. “...Yes. I think I’m on the same page as you two as well. We dealt with her on the moon as well, and… let us face the facts. If anyone else could do it better than her, she wouldn’t suffer for them to live.”

She looked up at the ceiling, commiserating with the other two in the room at the thought of the likeliest suspect. “...Yakumo Yukari. She must have known about Re/Awakening.”

Eiki lifted up her cup, slowly. After a moment’s hesitation, she downed the steaming cup whole.

“Hahhh! …Yukari. To think her tendrils could extend that deep.” The judge began to rub her temples. “That woman has caused me no small amount of headaches already… I shudder to think of her getting even more knowledge.”

Haru straightened up. “Just the thought of Yukari having access to secrets at the same level of power as Re/Awakening is giving me a headache. Or maybe it was Matara, who found out and told Yukari. They’re both equally intrusive.”

The doctor considered the thought of there being not one, but two Yukaris. The cup in her hands began to tremble. “...As much as nobody likes the idea… it does seem to have merit. Horrifying, horrifying merit.”

Eiki straightened up, looking over at them. “But with that said… perhaps it’s a security leak that can be yet plugged. When I checked our records, there was no sign they’d been disturbed since we’d last accessed them. Yukari’s intrusion may be yet to occur.”

Haru nodded. “If that woman is one thing, it’s lazy. It’s quite possible she went on one last, desperate blitz to keep the secret, at the very end of time.” The shrine maiden thought back. “...When she came to me, she was asking what Re/Awakening was. Which would suggest it was her first time hearing that term being said.”

Eirin looked between the two of them. “... And I’ve gotten some reports of her shikigami making enquiries with the rabbits here. Of course, few know anything substantial, and even fewer would be willing to risk upsetting us or Tewi. Perhaps we can work on the assumption that her knowledge has not yet been gleaned.”

Eiki stood up. “If that’s the case… perhaps I need to be off. We should do a review of our storage systems, and see if there’s any parts that don’t fully account for the hags claws. If we find something, then… At least we know the last piece of this puzzle.”

As she started to turn to leave, Haru raised a hand. “Wait. Don’t go too soon, Lady Eiki.” She took a look at the two of them. “...What if you don’t find a flaw?”

Eirin tilted her head. “...Is that not the most likely solution?”

Haru looked pensive. “It is, but… something bugs me about it. Another possibility. And my intuition’s usually pretty good at spotting these sorts of things.”

The shrine maiden put her palms together, pointing her closed hands skyward. “...What if she found out… organically? What if she came across a Re/Awakening in the proverbial field? Then, she wouldn’t know what the name was, but she would know the effect.”

The other two shared a glance. Eiki stuttered. “I… find that… highly unlikely. The weight of a reincarnator’s soul isn’t something that can be hidden. Their mere existence disturbs fate wherever they go. One who has the ability to Re/Awaken reshapes the world around them in their image, whether they like it or not.”

Eirin’s face soured. “...But the Sages would fit that description, wouldn’t they? Particularly… Yukari herself.”

There was a moment of silence. One that dragged on for far too long.

It was finally broken when Haru sat up.

“Well, maybe that’s just me overthinking another possibility. After all, it’s hard to even imagine a Yukari that’s different enough to provoke a Re/Awakening.”

The other two gave uncertain nods. Eirin spoke next. “...Quite. After all, one of the limitations that past world’s Keine cited was being unable to undo history past her own affliction, and Yukari exceeds Keine’s age by more than one order of magnitude. If Yukari were to access such a state, she’d have to do it in an entirely different way. And it could be a viable candidate who Re/Awoke some other way just hasn’t emerged yet.”

The yama let out a long sigh. “Still… sounds like I’ll have my work cut out for me.” Eiki started to leave again, this time being followed by the shrine maiden. “Let me know if any other… less horrifying scenarios occur to you, will you?”

Eirin nodded. “Of course, Lady Eiki. If we find anything out… you will be the first to know.”

As the two other ladies made their way out, Eirin stood up, turning to look out at the working rabbits.

“...Five Re/Awakeners. And perhaps Yukari at their helm.” The exile doctor muttered. She hoped they could save the world from whatever doomed it. She hoped they could save themselves from the gap youkai’s clutches.

But, most of all, and perhaps for the first time in a long, long while… Eirin truly, utterly hoped she was wrong.

Epilogue: Eirin Complete
Loading Epilogue: Remilia

Remilia Scarlet sipped at her tea, doing her best to restrain her impatience. It still showed, nonetheless, in her quivering wings.

The librarian she was waiting on side-eyed her. “Remy, I’m not going to be able to go faster just because you’re hovering over me. Don’t you have anything else to do?”

Remilia sighed, stretching. …Not really, honestly, but Patche didn’t have to be so cold about it. “Everyone’s mostly set up by now, so we’re able to start pursuing our own interests. And what I want to pursue is this gargoyle plan.”

Patchouli Knowledge rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m unlikely to get a concrete answer to this in the next five minutes, so perhaps your time is better served by doing anything else. Maybe reading some of these books yourself?”

Remilia nodded, putting down her teacup. “Well, maybe if you have an index or something I can read to help with looking, then?” Patchouli nodded, snapping her fingers, and her assistant scurried off. “After all, I’ve just about finished this cup, anyways.”

The door to the library swung open. Sakuya Izayoi stepped out, carrying a fresh teapot. “Would either of you ladies like a fresh cup, or something else?”

The mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion smiled, waving her maid over. “Impeccable timing as always, Sack-uh- Sakuya.” The librarian silently stifled a chuckle. The maid didn’t visibly react to the faux pas, just quietly bringing over the teapot, and beginning to pour it. “Your work is always appreciated.”

Patche’s familiar came back, with a few reference books. Remilia made a point of placing the teacup far away from the books, to pick one up and start reading it. Sakuya looked over the book, examining its cover.

“...You two are researching Shikigami?”

Patchouli nodded. “Mmmm. Hakurei’s Hound has given Remilia an idea.”

Remilia smiled. “It’s not all that uncommon to give children pets to teach them responsibility, is it? …But the problem is that we need a pet that will last as long as possible. At least long enough to get properly attached.” The mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion drummed her fingers along the edges of the book. “Any normal animal might run away, but a shikigami can be bound to follow certain commands. And where a normal animal might be in mortal peril, A stone body can be rebuilt and repaired with relative ease. So, if we create some familiars out of stone - our gargoyles, for example… They may make perfect companions for you-know-who.”

Sakuya smiled. “That sounds rather promising, actually. Any luck so far?”

Patchouli sighed, rubbing her head. “I wish I could say there was. The problem is finding some level of binding that will last even if the body is destroyed. That is proving… rather challenging.”

Remilia looked up, rubbing her chin. “I wonder how the Hakurei did it? I asked her, but she was… surprisingly vague about it.”

The maid shrugged. “Perhaps she was worried that you’d derive some weakness from it?” Remilia wondered about that. That… wasn’t the impression she’d gotten. The maid bowed. “Perhaps I should ask the original sculptor?”

Patchouli raised an eyebrow. “...Original sculptor?”

Remilia nodded, turning to Patchouli. “A woman named Misumaru Tamatsukuri. Makes a lot of Magatama.”

The magician’s eyes widened. “Magatama?! Oh, of course! That’s brilliant! We’re looking in entirely the wrong section then!” She stood up a bit too quick, starting to cough. Sakuya was over there in an instant, helping to settle her heart.

Remilia was next to her only a second later. “Slow down, Patche. What’s so brilliant about magatama?”

The magician took a few more coughs, and was gently pushed back into her seat. “Magatama… they have the ability to copy and store parts of souls. It’s possible one could embed a magatama into the rock of a statue, and act as a sort of physical anchor for the soul to grow from. A crystalline magatama heart. That’d at least shorten the turnover rate for creating a statuesque servant, possibly even to under a century unassisted.”

She grinned, flipping the book she already had to another page. “And that’s not all. A magatama heart would work as an excellent medium for storing a shikigami’s programming. It could be carved right into the magatama itself, even.” She tapped on an image of a magatama. “I discarded that idea earlier on, because it’d be even easier to rip off than talismans, but… if it’s embedded in its heart, that might very well be a quick path forward.”

Remilia grinned, leaning over her friend. “Oooooh, I see! So we can make a good magatama, load it up with shikigami programming, then stick it in one of our gargoyles?”

Patchouli faltered. “I’m… not so sure on that second part. Putting a magatama in after the fact would likely conflict with whatever soul is already growing in there… You’d have to create a new statue for it.”

Sakuya paused, standing up. “...What about embedding the programming on whatever soul is already in there? Would that be possible?”

“Mmmm…” Patchouli muttered under her breath, a free hand making notes. “...That’d only work if it crystallized into a fairly solid and neat form, and assuming they already have a magatama in them, it’d be… impractical. Most likely, you’d have to rip the magatama out of the statue’s chest - and even among artificial creations, there’s not many that can survive having their hearts ripped out. The even less likely alternative is pushing through the stone body to program it with pure spiritual power. To the point that you’d be much better off just making the shikigami from basically anything else, unless you were some kind of savant and that was your only option for a shikigami.”

The maid rubbed her chin. “How mysterious, then… because I got the impression that the Hound spent at least some time as a statue before coming to life. Perhaps there’s something we’re missing?”

Remilia shrugged. “We don’t need to figure out how they did it. We just need to figure out how we can do it.” She smiled. “And does that give you some plans, Patche?”

The magician adjusted her glasses. “It gives us a good avenue. I’ll keep looking into it, and let you know what I find. Now, I’ll have to be the one perusing the reference material, so… can I ask you to leave it with me?” Remilia grinned, hopping up.

“Great! I’ll stop bothering you, then.” She started to think. “Hmmm… what to do, what to do…”

“...My lady?” Remilia turned to her maid. “Were you not planning to cause some sort of… incident?”

The mood instantly soured. Remilia sighed, leaning down. “...Yeah…”

“...And what is happening with that plan? I was thinking perhaps that incident might attract certain… guests to the mansion. Like a certain purple-haired rabbit.” The maid idly pulled out a knife, starting to turn it around in her hands.

“No attacking that Akyuu, Sakuya.” Remilia scolded. “And… the Scarlet Mist is on hold for now. At… at least until the new Shrine Maiden is in place.”

Patchouli smirked. “Worried about breaking Gensokyo again, Remy?”

“It was an accident!” The vampire protested, trying her best to suppress her voice from becoming a whine. “I didn’t know she was gonna crack the world with her!”

“I’m just kidding.” The magician controlled her chuckling, so it wouldn’t break into coughing again. “But… if not in midsummer, when are you gonna do it?”

Remilia hummed, thinking back. She’d wanted to do it because it was both an appropriately fateful moment, and normally a milestone for those who dwelled in the light. She could just kick it back to next year, but… waiting for a whole year to reveal her master plan? It just didn’t feel right.

“...Mmmm. I’m still thinking.” The vampire shrugged. “I don’t want it overshadowed by another incident, you know?”

Sakuya shrugged. “Well, we can give it a couple of months, and let the Shattered Sky Incident fade from memory a bit. We should be all clear by winter, most likely.”

Remilia shook her head. “Winter’s no good. It’s so dark out, I can often go out in the day anyways. The mist is meant to help with that, after all…”

Suddenly, she stood up. The moment she’d thought of it, something in her had twitched. She knew - she just knew - that the time she was thinking of would be the perfect time for an incident.

“I’ve got it.” She smirked. “Rather than unleashing it in the depths of winter… we’ll unleash it in the thaw.”

Patchouli looked at her. “You mean… right after winter?”

Remilia looked back, beaming. “It’s perfect! The humans and youkai alike will be emerging from their wintry slumber, starting to look forward to warm glow of the spring sun. Then, and only then, will the Scarlet Mist fall upon the world, consigning them to the gloom once more!” She spread her wings out for effect, cackling.

Sakuya bowed. “If such is your wish, my Lady.”

Remilia grinned. “Yes… I can see it so clearly now. When the spring snow starts to fade… that will be the perfect, uninterrupted time… for the Scarlet Mist Incident!”

Patchouli side-eyed her. “...Are you sure? What if someone else decides to start an incident at the start of spring?”

Remilia scoffed. “Oh, come on Patchy. What are the chances of that? It’s not like there’s anyone else who’s gonna be looking for trouble at the start of spring.”

The magician shrugged. “If you say so…”

The vampire grinned, picking up her tea and starting to walk out with Sakuya. Already, there were plans aglow in her mind.

And this time… this time, she’d get her glorious moment.

After all, fate had already been overturned once. What was the chances it’d happen again?

Epilogue: Remilia Complete.
Loading Epilogue: ???

>>2905

Personally, I think it's funnier to see just how far back I can justify them delaying the Scarlet Mist Incident.

Tucked in the back of the Moriya Shrine, a girl in a white robe sat, bound. She struggled, again, to get out of the bindings, but to no avail.

Where the hell was her backup?! Shouldn’t she be here by now? Go squirmed, a dull ache through her muscles. She’d been fed by that onbashira-swinging lunatic last night, and this morning, but otherwise she’d been left essentially unattended. Which had meant a sleepless night waiting for a robot girl that apparently wasn’t coming.

She kicked her feet, trying to wiggle away again. Still no luck. She sighed, leaning back against the wall, groaning.

“...Well well well. What a sorry state to be in, hmm?” Go straightened up, looking around for the source of the voice. It wasn’t one she’d heard before. “Oh, you won’t see me. Not yet, at least.”

“...Wonderful. Who are you? Are you some new part of the Moriya Shrine?” Go stiffened up, trying to listen for where exactly the voice was coming from.

“If I told you I was someone who came from the door in your back, would that help? Or perhaps if I said I was an animal-loving hermit, could you guess from that?”

Go didn’t have a damn clue what they were talking about. “...I’m guessing those would be false leads.”

“A correct answer - and an informative one. So there is a limit on your precognition - if it can be referred to as such.” The speaker hummed. “Now, a few questions of my own; who are you? What is your purpose in coming here? And how much of Suwako’s berserk state were you responsible for?”

“...” Go wasn’t sure how to respond. “Am I going to get points for honesty, here?”

“Let me describe it to you this way. I’m aware that Lady Moriya is considering your punishment right now. She seems torn between punishing you for leading her on, and rewarding you for giving her the strongest lead she’s had on her last heiress in years. Seems to be leaning towards a curse that is only a punishment if you don’t share her tastes. But I personally think you’d rather get a shortcut out, hmm?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Her tastes can’t be that bad, can they?”

“Well… that depends.” Go could practically hear the smirk on the speaker’s lips. “Last I heard, she was talking about the wonders of frog’s tongues.”

There was a pause. A long, pregnant pause, where Go was left alone with her thoughts.

Alone, and hopelessly outmatched.

At length, the mysterious speaker sighed. “Well, if you’re not gonna tell me anything… I guess I’ll just have to seek answers elsewh-”

“Chiyuri!” She yelled out. “My name is Kitashirakawa Chiyuri. I-I’m an assistant professor in the outside world. A-and we’re here to help with the Pyres, I swear.”

“Is that so…?” The voice hummed. “So how much do you know about us?”

“U-uuhh, not much, really. We’re more focused on the Immaterial Children - the five who reincarnated - up to this point, and the people associated with them.”

“Five?”

“Y-yes five, obviously five! Is that some kind of test?” Chiyuri rolled her eyes. “Reimu, Marisa, Youmu, Akyuu, and Kosuzu!”

“...I see. So the term ‘Paradox Pair’ means nothing to you?”

“...Sounds like some cringe my boss’d cook up. Wait, you don’t mean me and Ichi, do you?”

Her mysterious conversation partner chuckled. “It’s a term that’s been going around recently. Well! You at least seem to be being honest about your own understanding, so how about we talk a little more directly?”

Chiyuri stared. A small slit in… in nothing formed in front of her, widening into a hole in the open air. Within, Chiyuri could see glowing eyes, staring at her, and shivered.

From the gap in nothing, a woman ascended. She was, at least in immediate appearance, human, with long, blonde hair, and purple eyes. She wore white clothes, and a purple tabard, along with a cap of some kind Chiyuri couldn’t name.

She could name the figure, though. And it was one of the ones she wasn’t supposed to tell things to. She blanched, as the gap youkai leaned closer. “Chiyuri, huh? Well… It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chiyuri. My name is Yakumo Yukari.”

“...It’s a pleasure.” Chiyuri managed to croak out. That… reminded her of what was at stake, though, so she did her best to steady her nerves.

“Now, I have many, many questions, but I don’t know if I have a lot of time for them. So, first, tell me: what exactly was your involvement in Suwako’s berserk rage?”

Chiyuri nodded. “Um, we’re trying to provoke Re/Awakening in the Immaterial Children. And we know it occurs under sufficient stress. So I was trying to force Youmu into a situation where stress would be natural - either sneaking out of an enemy-infested city, or dealing with a berserk goddess.”

She looked down. “...I-I don’t know what happened with the black fire. We thought that wasn’t supposed to be happening yet.” She looked up, earnestly. “Please, you have to believe me! I-I didn’t know she’d burn up like that!”

The goddess tutted. “...Quite limited indeed. Perhaps a stowaway, then…? What you did was incredibly reckless, you know. I’ve had to set Ran upon the tengu for overstepping their bounds like that.” She stretched. “However, I am willing to let you get away with it… in exchange for more information.”

The girl gulped. “A-and what sort of information would that be?”

“Firstly, are you sincere in your goal of restoring the Immaterial Children back to being humans?”

Chiyuri picked her words carefully. “...One of my goals is, by the end of this, to have the five back where they were. Back with their original families.”

“You’ve been consistent on that. Fascinatingly, this ‘Ichi’ has been similarly consistent on being on the side of leaving their Youkai identities intact? Are you affiliated with her?”

Chiyuri sighed. “We’re aligned in our primary goal, at least, and sharing some resources for that.” She grumbled, squirming. “Her leaving me out to dry overnight here means she’s getting a knuckle sandwich the next time I see her, though.”

“I see. And your ability to resist various mental effects, that’s because you’re… taking remote control of a robot who produces holograms, right?”

“I…” Chiyuri blinked. The gap youkai chuckled. “...For a youkai, you sure know your technology. Especially because the tech we’re using… isn’t exactly common knowledge Outside.” …Now that she was really looking at her, Yukari did look… familiar. But that was surely a coincidence, right? “Y-yes, she’s named Ruukoto. She’s nominally a maid robot, but her creator’s stuck so many odd functions into her over the years that she’s become completely incompetent at her original purpose.”

“...There’s no way that technology is available in the outside world, correct? Not anywhere, at least yet?” The assistant professor flinched. “So, if you’re capable of somehow traveling through time… Why do you act through the Immaterial Children? Can you not save the world yourselves?”

“Aside from the fact we’re humans… like our robot, our ability to move through time is using scientific means. And that means we’re bound by certain rules. As far as we understand it, a big one’s that anything we do has already happened. So we can’t actually change fate on our lonesome.”

“I see! I see.” Yukari chuckled a bit more. “How fascinating. Now… one more question for now, if you don’t mind?”

Ah, here it came. Chiyuri tried to think of a way to stall. “C-can you untie me first, please? I’m getting very stiff here.”

“Oh, of course, of course.” The woman snapped her fingers, and for a moment, Chiyuri felt a clamminess around her hands. Then, they were free, and Chiyuri could stand up.

Err, at least in theory. The pins and needles were killer, though. Yukari sat there, watching the girl try and fail to get up on unsteady legs. “Need a hand?”

“N-no, please no thank you.” The assistant professor tried to search for where the goddess had put her gun, but couldn’t see it. “Err, I know how this is going to sound, but…”

Yukari sighed. “Yes, yes. Your little toy, correct?” She opened up another slit in reality, and stuck her arm through it. Her hand emerged next to Chiyuri, offering the hilt of her pistol.

Chiyuri took it with what not-numb fingers she could manage, getting a sinking feeling as she inspected the weapon. There was only one reason you’d give someone you almost certainly didn’t trust their weapon back; you wanted to see if they were going to try something… reckless. Chiyuri didn’t take the bait, and instead looked up.

“Let me guess. What do we know about the remaining Immaterial Children’s locations and identities?”

Yukari nodded. “If you would. Anything that… comes to mind.” She glanced over. “Surely you can give a little hint?”

Chiyuri sucked in a breath. “Well… we don’t know anything about Marisa. Frankly, she’s as much of a mystery to us as she is to you.”

The gap youkai pulled out a fan, flicking it in front of her face. “I see. And what about the fifth one? What about Kosuzu?”

Chiyuri cursed under her breath, but the threat of getting flogged (or worse, frogged) by the Moriya Goddess would have to excuse her dalliance from the intended path. Besides, they were in a stable time loop. So this was always going to happen, right? “Kudamaki Kosuzu… wakes up this morning, I believe. If the dates I’ve been given are right. She’s a fox youkai.”

“A fox youkai named Kosuzu, hmmm…?” There was a pause. The youkai’s eyes bored into her, unblinking, as she squirmed.

Then, the fan flicked back, revealing a wide grin. “Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Now… tell me everything you can about little Suzu, would you?”

Reisen kept pacing, straining her ears for even the faintest sound. The steady tap-tap-tap of her shoes echoed through the empty halls. The only sound she heard that she didn’t make herself was the slight tinkling of glassware as her master worked on medication mixing.

At length, Eirin let out a heavy sigh, as she turned to her pupil. “Can you please make up your mind on whether you’re going to settle down or not? I am happy to commit to discussing this with you or to the task at hand, but I cannot work with your incessant frittering.”

Reisen bowed, deeply. “S-sorry, Lady Eirin. I’ll settle down, I prom-” Eirin gave her a doubtful look. “...Sorry. It’s just… I hope she doesn’t get too mad.”

“Why?” Her master raised a single eyebrow. “Because you drugged your sister?” The moon rabbit flinched. “All you did was follow my orders, yes?”

“Y-yes, but, but we normally discuss this stuff with patients first.” The rabbit squirmed. “What we did in practice was slip a pill into her drink.”

“After she’d already proven that we would be treating a chronic problem in doing so.” The doctor turned back to her equipment. “The treatment is symptomatic only, but the symptoms themselves will negatively affect her health - and quite possibly the health of multiple others - if left unchecked. There is a reason my orders were absolute on this matter, Reisen. Right now, she’ll need that pill to just function.”

The elder rabbit paced, nervously. “I-I want to come clean. To tell her I did it, and why.”

“I believe that would be wise in most cases… but to confirm my own suspicions, I am going to ask you to allow me to delay just a bit, and to decide when to confirm our action.” The doctor moved some of the used vials to a small tray.

“But… surely she knows about them from her last life, right?” Reisen moved to pick up the tray. “I just worry she’s going to be furious when she wakes up.”

“Frankly?” Eirin rolled her chair back, stretching. “I hope she does get angry. That’s far better than the alternative.” The elder rabbit was about to question, before she heard slow, cautious padding.

+Reisen?+ The elder rabbit stiffened, tuning in on the signal. +Do you… know where Eirin is?+

The elder rabbit took a deep breath. “She’s asking about you, Lady Eirin.”

“Tell her our location. And tell her that if there’s anything she wishes to discuss, it’s best to do so now, while I’m in-between tasks.” Eirin did her best to make sure she was, in fact, in-between two tasks, while her apprentice relayed the invitation. The padding… took a moment to resume, but after a curt reply, began to draw closer.

Reisen took a moment to compose herself. She could hear her sister doing the same, on the other side of the door. After a moment, Akyuu knocked on the door. The doctor sipped at a small flask of tea. “Come in.”

The rabbit stepped in, popping a stiff salute. Reisen was mildly surprised already - it wasn’t like Akyuu was ever sloppy, but she was wearing the full lunar uniform, and sweating for it. The doctor sighed. “At ease, Akyuu. And take that jacket off.”

“U-um, sorry.” The younger rabbit awkwardly, and hastily disrobed. “I- um. Sorry for the disturbance last night.”

Eirin shrugged. “You didn’t wake the Princess this time, fortunately. She considers beauty sleep highly important, you know. Did you at least get back to sleep easily?”

The younger rabbit took a hesitant breath. “Um. Yes. Yes, I did. Aside from some-uh.” She waved her hand hastily. “I… slept well.”

The doctor sipped at her flask. “Were the dreams in the second half better than the first?”

It was an obvious provocation. Reisen flinched, and Akyuu did too. But as the seconds dragged on, the younger rabbit didn’t react the way she expected. “Um. Dreams. I- yes. I guess.”

The doctor chuckled. “Oh, so you remember some of them? Well, considering you didn’t wake up screaming from it, I suppose they’d have to be, hmm?”

Akyuu shifted. “...Um, yeah. I guess.”

…That was it? Reisen tried not to stare at Akyuu. Eirin sat up, looking over at Akyuu. “Was there something you needed to discuss? If so, now’s the time.”

The little rabbit clutched at her arm, pulling on its sleeve. “...I, um. I dreamt I was a butterfly.”

“Is that so.” Eirin hummed, quietly making a note. Reisen… began to get a sinking feeling.

It had been one night since Youmu had come to the surface, and poor Koishi had been brought to her very limit. One night since a month of Akyuu’s scribing work had been completely misplaced. One night since Moriya Suwako had attacked Akyuu in a rage for a descendant that wasn’t there. A descendant who matched the profile of Immaterial Children, but one that Akyuu’s memories from her past life told her didn’t exist.

One night since Youmu had called on the radio, and told her she was wrong. That Suwako’s daughter did exist, had existed, but had already been transformed by the loop Akyuu could remember.

Akyuu had responded in shock, then… she’d just seemed to have wilted. Even after the conversation was over, she’d just sat where she received the message. Reisen had tried to convince her to come to bed, but Eirin had gently coaxed her that she’d come to bed eventually. Which… she wasn’t wrong, when Akyuu had woken her up from her screaming Reisen had found her in her usual bedroom.

It was the fifth time Akyuu had such dreadful nightmares since crash-landing, and the worst by far. Like the previous times, Reisen had been there to steady her, then fetched a glass of water. Any drink could calm the nerves, of course, and Akyuu had accepted it gratefully.

Which meant it had been one night since Reisen had slipped her sister a Butterfly Dream Pill.

It was a product Eirin was planning to sell only a few months from now; a pill that'd replace any dreams one might have with dreams of being an innocent butterfly. It was highly unlikely Akyuu didn’t know about it, and it was the logical treatment to give her. Reisen had done it with no small amount of regret, and at the young rabbit’s request, stayed by her side until she was sure Akyuu was soundly off to sleep (which… had ultimately meant falling asleep alongside her, in the end. Would that such a precious moment hadn’t been so horribly tarnished by it’s circumstances).

Reisen had expected her to wake up at least indignant. At the thought of her sister betraying her, drugging her. But instead… she seemed to be questioning if it happened at all.

…Earth it. Akyuu getting mad would have been better than this. At the time of that conversation, Reisen had wondered if Sanae was a more common name than she thought, from how non-committal Akyuu was acting. Now, though… it was beginning to make a worrying amount of sense.

“...Uhhh… last… time, there was… I think…” The rabbit folded in on herself, a little more. Eirin turned to her, waiting expectantly.

After a few moments, she proffered the answer. “Something that could make someone have those sorts of dreams?” Akyuu nodded, hesitantly. “...A pill, perhaps?”

…A slow sigh of relief.

Reisen surged forward, pulling her sister into a hug. “I’m sorry Akyuu, I-I shouldn’t have drugged you-”

“It’s… fine, really.” Akyuu leant against her. “I… I just wanted to make sure. Because…”

“Your memory is still perfectly accurate, Akyuu.” The doctor stood up, giving her a pat on the head. “In fact, I’d say that’s the whole other half of your problems. After all, you still remember both the drop from the moon and Suwako’s initial attack, yes?”

…Reisen’s eyes narrowed. A part of her brain did fully acknowledge that, ultimately, Suwako was as much a victim as the rest of them. And she certainly could sympathize - or perhaps empathize was the more appropriate word - with her actions in response. But that didn’t mean that she could let what Suwako did go, even with the risk of dire consequences. And while her retaliation would likely be indirect and petty, for risk it would trigger Suwako’s transformation again, it would nevertheless be crystal-clear in its message.

“...Mmmm.” Akyuu nodded, slowly. “Those parts I remember, at least. But who even knows if any of the important stuff's all really there...”

Yagokoro looked down at the young girl, with a shamed look. “I'm sure your memory is as flawless as ever, Akyuu. On all matters. In fact, it's probably playing a factor in your nightmares. The Lunar Veil’s memory wipes are partially designed as a counterbalance - by fading one’s memories, they dull the edge of any true conflict the rabbits experience. But… that’s never been an option for you, has it?” She leant down. “...You need help, Akyuu. Dealing with all of that. Help that I assumed you didn’t need not because I expected you to react in the longer term much like rabbits with those options would.”

Akyuu shook her head. “I… I don’t want to inconvenience you, Lady Eirin.”

The doctor lifted the ear that always seemed to hang over the young rabbit’s eye. “Then let me help. After all, I am a doctor, and the Brains of the Moon. If there’s any case where a lunar rabbit needs help outside of what is already available to them, then my own pride insists I do so.”

She turned her head, towards a small picture of the Princess on her desk. “...And if I make a mistake, and another suffers for it, the only way for me to get my own peaceful rest is to do what I can to ease their burden. Or, at the very least, share it with them. So… please, Akyuu. Let’s at least have a talk about it, okay?”

Akyuu nodded, slowly, starting to tear up. The doctor smiled, straightening up. “Good, and with that settled... For now at least, I’m putting you on psychiatric leave. No tasks today, alright? Reisen, you’re still on, but if your sister wants you with her, we can reschedule as necessary. With one exception.”

The elder rabbit saluted. “Thank you, Lady Eirin, what’s the exception, if I may ask?”

The doctor gave a flippant wave. “The Princess found a certain odd, foreign dish overnight. And she’d like you to try to make it.” She shrugged. “If you don’t want to try it yourself, that’s fine, but we’ll give it a try, at least.

Reisen tilted her head. “Errr… I’m not sure I’m the best person to dabble in foreign cuisine, but I can give it a shot. What’s the dish?”

The doctor had a small smirk on her face. “Cuisses de Grenouille.”

The younger rabbit let out a small gasp. “...Does that mean…?” Reisen looked over at her little sister, who hesitantly offered an explanation. “...Um… it’s a dish made using… frog legs.”

…Oh.

Oh that might just be perfect.

The elder of the Lunarian Inaba gave a dramatic bow for her teacher. “Lady Eirin? I don’t know if it’d suit my palette.”

She turned her head up, giving a vicious grin. “But if you two would like to try such a dish… It would be my absolute pleasure.”

Orin lifted her glass, tilting it back and forth. She stared down at the glass, looking into its contents.

“You know, I’ve seen you wearing that troubled expression with empty cups before. Rare to see you looking so hesitant about a full one.”

The kasha looked up, giving a small grin to match her drinking buddy’s own. “Oh, like you’re one to talk. You’re always one to drown your sorrows without hesitation - when you of all people should know that won’t stop them coming back.”

Minamitsu Murasa gave a hearty guffaw at that. “Yeah, yeah, yeah… at least I’m not Ichirin. I leave the grounds to get my booze on.”

“Sure, sure.” The kasha chuckled. Before long, though, the chuckle degraded, into a sigh. “Hahhhh… sorry, in a bit of a mood today.”

Murasa sat back, nursing her own cup. “Mmm. I figured. So, how’s the situation sittin’, kitten? Everything good at home?”

“Yeah - well, aside from being quiet today.” Orin shrugged. “The Komeiji sisters are getting some sort of pass that’ll let them go to the surface more-or-less at will.”

“Wow, really? Even the famous Satoricluse? What prompted that?” The spirit sipped at her spirits, musing. “Was it related to that Youmu kid showing up Parsee?”

“You heard about that, did you?” The kasha smirked. Now that she thought about it, there had been a lot of pink mist there. Maybe some of the other monks were in the crowd. “...You could say it’s related. Though more in a roundabout way or anything.”

Murasa didn’t give a verbal response, looking to the catgirl for more elaboration on her end. At length, Rin sighed, and gave in. “Well… you know about the Immaterial Children Incident? The one where a bunch of kids got zapped away?”

“Yeah. ‘Cos of Keine, right?” Murasa hummed. “Wait- it’s not one of the Satori sisters, is it?”

Orin shook her head, as Murasa started to sip. “No, but Youmu is one of the seven.”

The sailor spat her drink, breaking into a coughing fit. “Seven?”

The kasha nodded. “Eight if you count Okuu.”

“E-eight…” Murasa seemed completely floored. “A-are you sure? I thought it was like… four or five?”

“Yeah… well, s’ a long story. You wanna hear the details?” With a nod from Murasa, Orin began working her way through the story as she understood it. The apocalypse, the rebirth, and the reborn gathering their memories. Of Youmu’s trip to the surface, the hell-raven’s battle with the Pyres, and the reveal of the Paradox Pair.

Murasa listened intently, only asking the occasional question. By the time the kasha finished, the ghost was nursing her second glass. “...Wow. That’s… a lot to take in. Kinda flips the whole case on its head, huh… But yeah, that’s still seven. At most.” She sipped on her cup, thinking. “Are the birds still gonna stay at Chireiden, or go live at this Haku-whatever place?”

Orin shrugged. “Some kind of hybrid thing, I think. We’ll see.” She sipped at her drink a bit. “But… it’s not what I wanted to ask about today.”

Murasa tilted her head. “Oh yeah? What were you here for?”

The kasha looked up. “My brother, actually. We haven’t talked since we… since the big fight. And when I asked around…” She turned to the sailor. “Is it true? Is he… already gone?”

Murasa had frozen in place. Orin’s concerned look managed to get her moving again, but she wouldn’t meet Orin’s gaze.

“Oh… I see.” The kasha felt her heart sink. Minamitsu put her glass down, trying to put her thoughts into words. “...Your brother got into a fight with the Keiga. He… didn’t make it out.”

Orin let out a shaky breath. “Two years back, right?”

“Mmm.” Murasa leant down. “I’m sorry, I thought you just didn’t want to talk about it.”

Orin’s gaze turned down. She sighed. “...Well, he’s a cat who got into a fight with a pack of wolves. Had to know the odds were against him.”

The two drank in silence for a couple of minutes. Eventually, Orin turned back to the captain. “Do you mind if I ask a few more questions, then?”

Murasa shook her head. “Course not. Anything you need to know, I’ll answer as best I can.”

Orin took a moment to compose her thoughts. “...did he ever talk about our fight?”

“...Not a lot. Well, unless he got drunk.” The sailor conceded. “He’d generally send any of the animals that couldn’t hack it in the wild over your way.”

“Mmmm. Remember a few coming from Myouren Temple. Though they said they weren’t supposed to tell who sent them.” Orin scowled. “Didn’t he give them the whole you-can’t-be-a-pet, where’s-your-dignity speech?”

“Only the big and tough ones. Not the ones who were scared or anything like that.” Murasa waved her hand. “He’d just make sure they were gonna make it there fine, and left it at that.”

“Of course. ‘Cos the whole dignity thing was only half the truth, wasn’t it?” She looked up. “...Did he ever make his move?”

Murasa shook her head, chuckling. “What, confess to the pretty tiger lady he was always gawking at? Nah, never worked up the courage, I think. It’s a hard thing to do at the best of times, anyway.”

Orin scoffed. “Really? They were around each other for… what, ten years?”

The sailor looked away. “It always would have been fraught with trouble. He was brave bordering on foolhardy for anything else, but… perhaps it was better he didn’t. Besides… we woulda had to take any kittens off to some distant place. Former hell’s no place to raise kids.”

At that, the Kasha raised an eyebrow. “Which unfortunate nursery was he going to drop off a bunch of tiger cubs at? ‘Cos most places I know that accept big cats are either worse than here, or make them into pets. I’d be surprised if there’s any place that could raise some little tigers.”

“Well, he was thinking of taking them to one of those outside-word temples. Like Chojosonshi-ji, or Goutoku-ji. At least then they’d be raised as a proper buddhist.”

“Ahhhh… so he had the preschool planned out before the confession, huh?” Orin snorted. “He always did that, you know. Always jumped to the end.”

She turned back to her drink… “Probably for the best, though. If they’d had some kids, had to send them away, and then he got himself killed… he’d have really thrown a brick through poor Shou’s psyche.”

Murasa nodded, resting her head on one of her palms. “...Well, they woulda been cute, I’m sure.”

“Hah, that I’ll give you. Satori would've been all over them.” Orin said, chuckling. Then… she deflated. “Maybe if he’d done that, I’d have… someone to apologize to, at least. For being a lazy big sister that wasn’t there for him.”

“...Orin-”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” The cat waved her off. “And I know he made his own choices. Just… you know. Wish I coulda spoken to him, one last time. At least tried to bury the hatchet a bit.”

Murasa reached out, rubbing her shoulder. “It’s… not your fault, Rin. Or at least, not just your fault. He coulda come and talked to you, too. You wouldn’t have turned him down, right?”

Orin gave a weak smile. “No. Of course not. But I didn’t go out looking for him, either. Hahhh… guess you miss every shot you don’t take, right?”

She paused, taking up her glass. “So… I’m not gonna let that happen again. I’m gonna make sure that if I get in fights with anyone, I’ll make it up as soon as I can. I’m gonna make sure the Komeiji Sisters and the bird-brain twins know I’ve got their back, no matter where they go.”

Murasa smiled. “Sounds like a plan. We’ve all only got one life to live, after all.” The two halted, the cat giving an off-kilter glance as the ghost considered what she said. And then they both burst out laughing.

Orin recovered a bit faster, lifting her glass. “Well, no use moping now. I’ll come visit sometime soon to pay my respects… but if I don’t want to have any regrets, I can’t just leave this sake unfinished, can I?”

Murasa chuckled. “That you cannot. But if you insist on finishing that whole bottle… I guess I’ll have to step up and lend a hand, won’t I? Cheers, Orin.”

The two girls grinned, clinking their glasses together. “Cheers, Murasa.” She took a hearty drink.

As she did, she sat back, closing her eyes.

Hope we meet again in the next life, Bro. Take it easy, alright? She smiled.

Don’t worry. You’ll get the girl next time.

---

Epilogue Orin Complete.
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...Loading Epilogue: Prologue...

It was the last day of her life.

[It was the first day of her life.]

She was tired. She was so very tired. Something about the nights in the gap weren’t restful. She could sleep, and wake up less sore, but not truly rested. Always tired.

[Maybe “tired” wasn’t the right word. The tiredness wasn’t something that made her muscles ache, and she couldn’t sleep it off. But the right word to use escaped her.]

It was a heavy tiredness. A weight across all her body, making her sluggish and stiff.

[...She had been tired even before [she] had been thinking. Before Reimu had come, trying to rouse her into action, begging her to come back to life.]

Reimu had tried many things. And in one of them, desperate and hopeless, she’d reached out for Aunn. Used an incredible amount of power, and begged her to be by her side.

There was nothing Aunn wanted to do more. She’d agreed, and something had formed within her. A second voice in her head, almost identical to her own.

[...But she still couldn’t move. She was too tired.]

She wanted to help. She knew Reimu needed help. She knew they all needed help.

[As much as her mind was flickering in and out of consciousness, she’d seen what had happened to Marisa. With her own eyes.]

And she could sense it - something was wrong, with the whole world around her.

[In front of her, Yakumo Yukari was collapsed on her knees, limp and gasping for breath. She looked… unsalvagable. Charred and burning. Whole parts of her were missing, and a silvery ash was pooling beneath her. Aunn wanted to help, wanted to bring her inside, but… she couldn’t. She couldn’t help at all.]

And beyond Yukari was… a wasteland. The dried, dead bones of Gensokyo. The sight should have had her screaming in horror, and yet… the exhaustion was still too much to resist. All she could do was stare.

[She felt herself slipping into sleep, one final time. She tried, desperately, to stay awake, but she just… couldn’t…]

…

………[!!!]

She jolted awake! It was like a splash of cold water had hit her right-side body. She still couldn’t move, but… she was feeling more alert than she had in days.

“Feeling a little better?” She directed her gaze down to Yukari. The youkai was smiling at her, her open palm facing Aunn’s right statue. “I’m surprised you held out as long as you did.”

[She wanted to speak, to ask her what had happened. How had she been stirred away from a final sleep? …Her gaze traced its way to the palm. Had she thrown something…?]

Yukari shook her head. “I’m sure you have many questions, but… I can’t read your mind or anything like that. So you’re just gonna have to stay awake and listen.”

The sage’s hands traced through the ash beneath her, drawing it up in a heaping pile. “I did my best to fend off the smaller beasts, long enough for the Immortals to finally take a hint. Fighting off the biggest pyre… didn’t go quite so well.” She chuckled mirthlessly, before breaking into coughing. “They really should have been quicker on the uptake, though…”

Aunn wanted to reach out to her. She wanted to ask a million questions. [Not like she actually could though.]

“Listen, Aunn. This incident, this apocalypse. We… we don’t have the resources to fight it. We have some aces in the hole, but… there’s nowhere near enough of them. We need a chance to do things over, and make some more. And to do that… We’ll have to have another chance. We have to make ourselves another chance.”

Yukari pulled the pile of ash into her hands. “But, as a result, the girls you’ve been guarding… in this changed history, it’s possible that none of them will be the same.” She pushed the ash into Aunn’s left body, producing the same shock again. “In fact, it may very well be better that way.”

She paused, looking up. “You’ve become Reimu’s shikigami, have you? I can sense the link to her soul in you. And yet… you don’t seem to have any binding talismans on you. How has she done that…?”

[A shikigami? Was that what she was?]

A shikigami? Was that what [she] was?

Yukari rubbed her hand on Aunn’s body, trying to focus. “...I can sense it. The boundary between shikigami and komainu is close… did Reimu embed it right into your heart?” Her eyes widened. “Wait, your heart… it’s a magatama, isn’t it?”

[The gap youkai broke into coughing again, a wracked, wretched sound. Aunn wanted to confirm her suspicions, to find something to soothe Yukari’s wounds. But she couldn’t move, no matter what she tried to do.]

Yukari took a ragged breath, pulling herself together. “Komano Aunn. I have a task you, and only you, can perform. I need you… to be excluded from the world. And in so doing, be excluded from its remaking.”

She looked up. “That… may not make sense to you. But all you need to understand is that… you will find yourself in a world similar, but… different. Because some - hopefully all - of the girls who are here will be elsewhere in the next world.”

She pulled herself up. “Aunn… I need you to tell everyone that. I need you to pass on the message. To Hakurei Haru. To the Hiedas. To Yuyuko. And to the other families, as well. Their girls may not be with you, but they’re still out there. You need to give them hope, and you need to make sure that Haru and Reimu meet again. Can you do that, Aunn?”

Aunn didn’t really understand. [She didn’t understand at all.] This whole world was crazy, and the way to fix it was to remove Reimu and the others from it? How would that work?

But she didn’t need to understand. She pulled all her power together. All of it, every last drop she could muster, powering it into only one place.

It was the most herculean task she’d ever performed. Not fighting the turtle-dragon, not defending against hopeless odds or vengeful spirits.

[All it was, was a word. Just one, as quiet as a whisper.]

And yet, despite being so hushed, it echoed across the grounds. It was the only sound in the world. Yukari leant back on her haunches, thinking. And then… she smiled.

“Ahhhh… few things are more faithful than a hound, are they? …Thank you, Aunn. You are the last card I can play… my truly final hope. Please, keep all of the families with missing children together, until their kids come home. Bring these families, and their children, their happy endings. Give them hope, when all hope is lost. Because, if a beast like that emerges… I’m not sure if anyone can survive her.”

She would have saluted, if she could. Being a defender against all things ill was what a Komainu did best, after all.

[Yukari wasn’t her master, but in this moment, that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that there was a way she could still help Reimu, even when things were this bad. And for that chance, she’d do anything she had to.]

Yukari lifted her hand.” While these girls will be our swords against despair, you must be our shield. Hold the line, until the girls come back.” She smirked. “And they will. They’ll come home.”

The sage of the gap balled her hand into a fist. A purple spiral began to form around her hand. “Now, I’m sorry to say this, but… there’s only one way to get your magatama soul out. You’re in no state to take any anesthetic, and I’m in no state to administer it to you. So… I guess we’re doing this raw.”

With those words, Aunn… was having doubts. Those doubts only solidified when the spiral did as well, becoming a glowing drill with a razor-sharp tip.

Yukari gave a grimace. “I’m sorry, Aunn. This may sting a bit.”

[She shoved the drill into Aunn’s chest.]

And the Komainu woke up.

Aunn screamed, shooting upright with both bodies at the same time. Her horn clipped someone’s chin, producing a pained yelp.

[Her head whipped around, to see Satori flopped back.] “Ah… sorry! Are you okay, Miss Satori?”

The elder Komeiji gave a strained noise to the affirmative, while her sister gave a wry chuckle. “Toldja not to get too close, sis. Don’t worry Aunn, she just bit her own tongue. And she really should know better by now.”

“Mmmmmph. Ahhhh.” Satori opened her mouth a few times, gingerly. “Nnn. Couldn’t rethith. Too cute. That dream, wath that…?”

Aunn took a deep breath, composing herself to respond. “The end of the previous timeline, or at least my recollection of it. After that, Yukari… did something to make sure I remembered what happened last time.”

[It appeared she had made Aunn’s twin half-hearts exempt from Keine’s ability to restore history. She had ended up on the Hakurei grounds shortly before Reimu’s not-birth, and after what was apparently much discussion, Misumaru had carved new bodies for her.]

“When I was revived, I did my best to let everyone know what I knew… which wasn’t much.” The komainu huffed. “I clearly missed no small amount, not least of which was the actual plan.”

“Really, that part was almost more convincing than telling us the actual story.” Hakurei Haru strode up, offering tea to the trio. Suwako Moriya was following behind her, holding a cup of her own. “Playing her cards so close to her chest that she nearly throws the entire game… that’s Yukari for you.”

Aunn sipped at her proffered tea, and the rest followed suit. It seemed Haru had picked a cold brew - a natural over the summer, but clearly exactly what Satori’s bitten tongue needed. Koishi drank greedily, before turning to the Shrine Maiden with eager eyes. “Lady Hakurei! Have you decided to approve our request?”

The miko took a long look at the girls, before nodding, stiffly. “As business partners of the Moriya Shrine, I decided to allow some concessions. I permit you to come to the surface with Moriya supervision; but traveling on your own, or in disguises is officially off-limits for now.”

Aunn raised an eyebrow. That seemed rather restrictive… and yet, the two Komeiji sisters were smiling? Satori turned to the komainu to explain. “The keyword there ith othithially.”

[...It took several seconds to parse what Satori said, but when it did, it all clicked into place.] “Oh, of course! Under those conditions, if anything goes wrong-”

Suwako nodded. “-the Moriya Shrine will be the ones taking fault, keeping the Hakurei’s reputation as clean as it can be. And likewise, if you do want to go out with those conditions, we’re once again shouldering the risk.”

Haru groaned, rubbing her forehead. “Look, I have a draconic daughter coming to the shrine, and even with that disguise and cover story Yukari’s developing we’re going to be fighting to avoid getting… a reputation. I’d rather stave off any unnecessary claims of being a youkai shrine.”

Satori stood up. “Can we go over the thine print? I’ll be the one who thetth the ruleth, after all.” The goddess and miko agreed, stepping away to go over the documents.

That left Aunn and Koishi, watching the other three go. Koishi set her cup down, cuddling up to one of the komainu’s bodies. Aunn gave her a small smile. “It’s good to see you’re both well, Koishi.” [She was one of the people who remembered her state last time, after all, and this was a marked improvement.] …She wasn’t going to close her eye again, right?

Koishi petted her some more, deep in thought. “...I’ve hated being a satori for so, so long. I hated the stares, and the suspicion. I always wanted to be rid of it, somehow.”

She looked out into the distance. “...But if I can use my power for good, maybe I don’t have to be. Maybe I don’t have to change myself, but prove myself. Prove that we can be good too. And with that in mind… is there anything I can do to help?”

Aunn leant into the petting, her tailing wagging. “If you can, keep an eye out - you know which one - for any details on the remaining Immaterial Children. Particularly if there really is a Marisa visiting the village.”

Aunn had tried to approach the girl multiple times, but she always seemed to slip away. [Perhaps it was mere coincidence… but it was easy to assume that a young youkai undercover in the village may have misread the intentions of the Shrine Maiden’s shikigami approaching them.]

Koishi turned to her, confused. “Wait, Aunn, the Marisa in your dreams was blonde, right? With a hair braid? But the ‘Marisa’ you’re remembering-”

“Had short, red hair, yes.” Aunn confirmed. “Which actually does suggest she could be Marisa, in fact.”

Her body that wasn’t currently being cuddled took a sip of tea before she elaborated. “The Kirisame clan and a few attached families have rather distinctive red hair, at least among humans in Gensokyo. Outsider genes, or maybe some distant youkai ones. When Marisa from the last timeline fled the village, she bleached it… or so I heard.”

Koishi took a moment to muse, running her hands through Aunn’s hair. “...I see. Considering Youmu’s ghostly-white hair, she might be a redhead again too.” She raised the cup to her lips, taking another sip. “If this really is Marisa, of course.”

“I don’t know of any other girls her age who both had that color hair and wore it short.” Aunn shrugged. Well… there was that one outsider girl with the right color, but she wore it in a very long ponytail. And as far as Aunn knew, she only came to Gensokyo when she was significantly older.

[Besides, according to her letters, Reimu had said there was a one-in-three chance that Marisa was in the village, and such an oddly specific number said that her mistress’ intuition was on to something.] …The komainu’s tail began to wag, at the thought of the heiress miko’s imminent arrival.

Koishi turned to Aunn, looking anxious. “Reimu’s gonna be the next Shrine Maiden, right? …Sh-she’s not gonna chase us off, is she?”

The komainu shook her head. “I’m not gonna say she’s above that level of hypocrisy… but at her heart, she’s a kind girl. Even if you do cause trouble, she’d give you a bonk on the head, tell you not to do it again, and that’d be that.”

“...If you say so…”

Aunn laughed at Koishi’s concerned expression. “It’ll be fine, Koishi. If you’re here to help, Reimu will be glad to have you on side.” The komainu sighed. “...though, I can’t say I’m not worried how it’ll all work out.”

Between Haru nearly dying only just before getting to see her daughter, and the tengu storming the village, Reimu was going to have to hit the ground running. Koishi sat back, giving the komainu a small smile. “Maybe you can talk through the problems with me, and we can come up with some plans to help? I can’t promise anything, of course… but it might help to talk it out, at least.”

Aunn blinked, before giving a small smile. “You’re really gonna go through with it, huh? Alright, let’s see…”

…Yeah. Koishi was better this way. And Aunn was sure Reimu’d agree, too, with how eager she was to just help people. The two got into a lively discussion, about all the problems big and small that the young shrine maiden would have to face. [Not all of the problems they had solutions for, even with Reimu’s assumed help, but if it made her job even 0.001% easier, that would be worth it.]

After all, serving their master… that was what a shikigami was supposed to do. [And after all this time, the thought of Reimu coming home, and working alongside her…]

Aunn couldn’t wait to start.

“So, wait,” Chen interjected, rubbing her forehead in irritation. “The ‘village Marisa’ we’ve been chasing all this time…”

“Was my past self, yes. At least judging by that description.” Yumemi put her hands together in apology. “I came to visit because I thought I might be able to find Marisa if I looked. After all, if she was blending in among the humans there, then a human the same age would be the best to find her, no?”

The hospital ward in Keiki’s estate only really had space for a couple of patients. Fortunately, a couple was the exact number that needed long-term surgical surveillance - Yumemi’s knife wound and Chen’s broken bones. This led the two to get some time to talk over the finer points, and trade some valuable notes.

The nekomata sputtered for a moment. “Th-then why did you run away from Aunn?!”

Yumemi sighed. “Because the worst days of my life have been associated with red dogs wanting to take me places. I thought she might be related to the Keiga Family, and I wasn’t about to hang around and find out.”

Chen groaned, running her hand down her face. “I… guess that makes sense, but still…”

Yumemi shrugged, helplessly. “I wish I could go back and confess before it happened, but my time travel doesn’t work that way. If it happened, it happened, and I can’t change it.”

“Is that so?”

The two turned to the new speaker in the room. Yakumo Yukari stepped inside, a crow on her shoulder, with Yakumo Ran close behind.

…She really did look familiar… Yumemi shook her head, nodding. “Yes. My time travel is bound by the limits of science. It’s not like the Immaterial Children’s style of changing history.”

“…I see.” Yukari kept her gaze levelled at Yumemi, not saying anything. Did she remember her too, perhaps? … Though the expression was anything but fond, conveying far more doubt and suspicion. …Well, maybe Yumemi would at least get the answers she’d been searching for.

There was a small pause, as both Yumemi and Chen craned their necks, trying to see around the two of them. The sage rolled her eyes, after a second. “Kosuzu is playing with Reimu right now. This conversation I would rather have without her, regardless.”

Chen straightened up. “Lady Yukari? And Goki as well! Does that mean you found the book?”

Yukari nodded, standing tall. “Yes, we did. And that’s exactly why I want to talk to you today.”

Yumemi was already bursting with curiosity. “Did it match the description Mabuchi gave?”

The two Yakumo elders shared a hesitant glance before continuing. Ran began to explain. “...When Yukari asked, Mr Motoori’s description was ‘a book made of materials not available in the Human Village, with the visage of an oni on it’s cover’. We… did find a book that fits that description, and found the Hollow Psyche Spell within. But the book itself raises questions.”

Yumemi straightened up. “If you need help finding the author, I have a bunch of tech ready. Handwriting analysis, material composition, if there’s anything I can do-”

“That… won’t be necessary,” Yukari interjected. “We know exactly who the author is.”

After a moment’s more thought, the sage opened a gap, pulling out… a strange book indeed. At least, a strange book if it was a magical grimoire.

Yumemi had an image of what a magical grimoire would look like, in her head. A heavy, bejeweled leather tome, bearing the marks of a book carefully preserved and yet slowly succumbing to time. Indeed, many of the books Kosuzu and her had been looking at when they’d visited the library fit exactly the expectations manga and anime had set up for her, and the Bluebell Grimoire could have leapt right out of her imagination. The part about an oni’s visage being emblazoned on the cover had been especially evocative, leading to the time traveler envisioning a face so expansive and large that it looked like it could bite off a careless finger - and maybe even actually would.

…She was familiar with the style of tome that Yukari had presented, too. They had a book of similar make back on the university campus. It was carefully preserved - it was a historical artifact, afterall - but it was otherwise largely treated as a novelty, and not given much mind.

…But… But why did the tome that ruined Kosuzu’s life look like an elementary school textbook?

Chen’s expression mirrored Yumemi’s own confusion and disbelief as the nekomata was handed the tome. She took a moment to flip the book around, feeling the plastic-like cover as if expecting to find a trick. The oni on the cover was perhaps the most misleading, to the point Yumemi actually felt disappointed - rather than the demonic features she had been expecting, the oni instead appeared to be a small, starry-eyed mascot, with a helpful little speech bubble proclaiming the book’s title.

And what a title it was.

“The Nippakunomicon,” Chen started, incredulity in every part of her tone. “The One-Stop Primer to Applied Spirituality and Post-Mortem Employment, by Nippaku Zanmu. First Edition.”
She paused, opening the book up. “...Signed by the author.”

Ran bowed. “We have already examined the signature. It is no forgery - that book appears to be entirely legitimate.”

Yumemi stared at the book, sputtering. “Wh- what the hell is that book?! That’s the book that Kudamaki used?! Y-you can’t seriously be telling me this is a commercial textbook?!”

Yukari nodded, grimly. “It appears to be exactly that. Let us just say this sort of egotism is… typical of the author. Nippaku Zanmu is many things, but humble is not one of them.”

Yumemi stared at the book. “And - and she’s selling the ability to make Hollow Psyches like-like this?! She just released that sort of power out into the world?”

Ran shook her head. “You’d think so, but no - it actually includes some simple countermeasures. Slight modifications to existing wards, designed to repulse the mote forms with so little disruption that even the most sensitive will struggle to notice it. We suspect it is so even those who have no interest in necromancy are compelled to purchase a copy if they have something to hide - though, knowing Zanmu, she may very well push to make the modifications standard if she can put her name to it.”

Yukari sighed. “In fact, the Hollow Psyche spell is somewhat maligned within the book itself, precisely because it can be so easily counteracted with the right information. Treated more as a novelty than as a serious recommendation.”

“It…” Chen’s face was utterly distraught. “It was that easy to protect Kosuzu?”

Yumemi turned to the elder Yakumo, narrowing her eyes. “...What’s the catch? There’s clearly some catch here, right? Ran’s a spellcasting genius, and you’re one of the tentpoles of Gensokyo. Surely you two can’t have been outf- outwitted by this if it’s almost common knowledge?”

Ran didn’t meet her gaze. “We… are flattered you think so much of our abilities. And indeed, there is a catch; the publishing date.”

Chen gasped, as Yumemi whipped her head around to the other patient. The nekomata’s face was pale, as she turned to the time-traveller.

“This book’s publishing date… It’s not possible this book was around seven years ago. It shouldn’t have even been around today- it hasn’t been printed yet.” She handed the book to the stunned time-traveller. “Yumemi… This book is from the future.”

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 my nose. She gets some crazy ideas in her head, but she knows full well what I’d do to whoever gave Tsukasa that book. Not that it matters, anyways.” Yumemi felt rot slithering through her stomach, looking guiltily at the Yakumo family. “I invented these machines, and I’m the one who wants to prove magic exists to the outside world. If they were why Kosuzu got hurt…” She jammed a finger in her chest. “It all ties back to this idiot.”

Yukari gave her a quiet nod. “I feared as much. And there’s another factor to it, too.” She paused for a moment, conflicted.

“The source of the black flame… we’ve done significant investigation into the matter, but found no leads as to how or where it was created.” Yumemi felt her heart stop. “And the Immaterial Children claim the apocalypse they came to prevent is still years away. But if this book came from the future-”

Yumemi tried to pull herself out of the bed, falling to the floor. Her hand reached out, managing to snatch at a trash can and haul herself to it. She clambered over it, bile already starting to spill from her mouth.

For a long moment, that was the only sound in the room, wretched and repulsive. She let out ragged gasp, struggling to breathe as her mind raced with hundreds of disastrous scenarios. She heard someone kneel next to her, tails sweeping into her vision. “Yumemi…”

“I-I came back to help her.” The time-traveller managed, blinking back tears. “I came back to save her… to pull her out of this nightmare, any way I could. And you’re telling me… that the bastard that started the apocalypse is using my machines?!”

She raised her hand, slamming it into the ground. Pain shot up it, and she winced. “Damn it… DAMN IT!”

She punched the ground again, feeling the sting run up her shoulder. Ran grabbed her arm, stopping her from a third strike. “Yumemi! Please… you need to stay calm!”

“It’s not like there’s any other theories!” Yumemi tried to wrench her arm out of Ran’s grip, struggling to no avail against the shikigami. “It’s because of me that they have to deal with all this! Why else would anyone even think-”

“Enough.” Yukari stepped over, turning to the time-traveller. “Yumemi. There is… one possibility.”

Yumemi looked up at her, tears streaming down her face as Yukari continued. “If this ember came from the future, then why? What purpose does trying to destroy the world when you know it will still be standing years later? …It’s possible that whoever brought this didn’t understand the mechanics of your time travel.”

The girl blinked, as Ran helped her up. “If so, our would-be assailant made a grave error. Not only were no lives lost in the Pyre’s rampage, but we gained an ember to research - years in advance of when the Pyres will become an existential threat.”

Chen’s eyes lit up in realization. “You mean, because they used Yumemi’s time travel, we know they’re coming… so we can get ready to sabotage them before it ever starts!”

Yumemi couldn’t meet the Yakumo’s faces. “That’s… an optimistic reading… And besides, even then I’d never want them to-”

“Perhaps,” Ran offered, “there is more that we don’t yet know about. What we’re saying is only a possibility, nothing more. And on the other hand, if the only time travel machines are in your and Chiyuri’s possession… that puts you at no small amount of risk.”

Yukari nodded. “From now on, we’re reducing any news about the events to an absolute need-to-know basis. We will research methods to counter the black flames using the resources we have, and we will turn this against whoever’s responsible. Agreed?”

Yumemi stared into the youkai’s eyes, narrowing them in agreement. “...Of course. And if they want to try and take my ship… I’ll make sure they regret it. I might not be able to stop them… but I’ll be able to make them hurt.”

The sage gave the barest hint of a smile. “Well, let us hope it doesn’t come to that. Though… there is one more matter to discuss.” Yukari narrowed her eyes. “This… plan of yours.”

Yumemi met the sage’s gaze as she spoke. “I have heard some details from Chiyuri. It seems that you two have some overarching plan… and yet, your goals are presented in a rather contradictory manner.”

The time traveller glanced over at Ran. “...I’d be happy to explain the plan in full, Lady Yukari - though perhaps it would be best if I discussed it with only you, first. You’re someone who may very well be essential to it.”

Yukari and Ran exchanged a glance. Kosuzu’s mother spoke up, concern tinting her voice. “Is there any reason that I cannot hear it?”

Yumemi shook her head. “No, I wanted to present it to everyone in time. But… perhaps it’s better if I give the explanation a test-run.”

The gap youkai gave her a level look. “...You believe there’s something Ran would find objectionable?”

The time traveller met her gaze. “I believe you’re in a much better position to judge that than I am.”

After a long moment, Yukari gave her shikigami a nod, and opened up a gap. “Very well.” She sat Yumemi on the hospital bed, as the gap began to swallow it. “Let us have a talk, you and I. Away from any… prying eyes.”

Epilogue: Yumemi Complete
Loading Epilogue: Keiki...

“And… that should be it!” Keiki stepped back, taking a moment to admire her work. “How does that feel?”

Mayumi gave her arm a few hesitant swings, before settling into it more fully. “Yeah… feels a lot better. Thank you for your time, Lady Keiki - I know you’re busy.”

The sculptor goddess shook her head. “It’s my pleasure, Mayumi. Frankly, it’s a nice change of pace.” Having a custom haniwa to work on proper parts for was a small relief, what with having to get so many more automated processes up and running. And in some small way, it was a milestone in itself.

She put her tools to the side, gesturing to a few pieces of training equipment. “Let’s make sure everything is calibrated correctly, before we send you off on patrol. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt because I missed a screw or something, after all.”

The haniwa saluted, walking over to a training dummy. She wound up her arm with a few circular swings, before beginning to box the dummy. Keiki pulled out her diagnostics tablet, making sure it was attuned to the young ceramic girl.

…At a glance, there seemed to be nothing unusual. She’d need to spend more time to be certain, but none of the signals she was getting signalled anything worrying. …Still, it wasn’t the integrity of the haniwa’s physical body she was most worried about.

“...How are you feeling, Mayumi?” The sculptor goddess asked. “Is everything okay?”

“All systems seem to be nominal to me.” The haniwa said, grunting with her effort. “No residual pain, either.”

“That’s not really what I mean.” There was no immediate response. Keiki wasn’t sure if Mayumi didn’t understand the implication, or was just avoiding it. Always hard to tell with the young ones. “How about on an emotional level? Are you doing okay?”

That got the young soldier to pause, looking at Keiki hesitantly. Perhaps she was shy, or perhaps… the sculptor goddess sighed.

“Truth be told… I’ve been worried about morale.” She turned to look out a nearby window. “...Well, no, even that’s not quite right. I feel like I’ve let you all down.”

Mayumi turned more fully as Keiki continued. “I really wasn’t prepared for a situation where one of the factions could bypass the haniwa resistance. Let alone that it’d be the Keiga.” The goddess sighed. “We lost a lot of good haniwa.”

The young haniwa shook her head. “We’re soldiers. It’s what we were made to do-”

“I made you as soldiers, but… how do I put this?” Keiki rubbed her head. “You were meant to be immune to the beast spirit’s attacks. It was never intended to be a war, just a one-sided extermination. I guess I tried to justify making you all soldiers by thinking there wasn’t a fight we couldn’t completely dominate. No damage we couldn’t easily fix.”

The sculptor goddess gave Mayumi a guilty look. “I… I want to apologise. To you, and to the other haniwa. I never even thought things could go so drastically wrong. And for you specifically, I’m even more worried, because of your ability.”

Turning loyalty into strength. One of many innovations that Mayumi had incorporated into her. It had been meant to be one of her greatest weapons, but there was a glaringly obvious drawback. One that Keiki hadn’t felt she even needed to entertain.

Her ability could make her stronger than the average haniwa, but only a fraction of her power was independent of its functions. Far, far too small of a fraction to defend herself on it alone, even without the Keiga’s ability to pierce defenses. If the haniwa was second-guessing her creator, then sending her out was a risk that Keiki couldn’t stomach.

At length, the haniwa shook her head. “I… I can’t speak for all the other haniwa, but… I don’t think you have to worry about that. That’s not the sort of chatter I’ve been hearing at all.”

Mayumi turned back to the punching bag, beginning to pummel it. “Generally, the way we’ve been talking… the frustration is far more at the general preparedness level. Even if it had been a bluff, the wolves amassing in those numbers should have been a sign for alarm, a pre-emptive attack to drive them off. Frankly, the comms when everything went down are… appalling to listen to.”

“It was the first true emergency in years,” Keiki offered. “Nobody was prepared for it.”

“There’s being unprepared, and there’s ignoring clear signs of danger.” There was a shift in Mayumi’s stance, from a balanced pose to a more aggressive one. “We made fools of ourselves.”

…That didn’t sound like it was about the haniwa in general. Keiki straightened up a bit, putting the tablet down. “Mayumi?”

The haniwa’s voice was low. “...Reimu spent most of her time helping me. We were cornered and beaten back, but I know she could have broken out on her own.. If you and Yukari hadn’t come when you had… she’d have died. For my sake.”

She began to punch wildly. “I-I was supposed to keep pace with her! I was supposed to protect her! I didn’t help at all! And all it took was one! BITE!”

The last punch cracked the base of the dummy, causing the whole thing to topple over. Mayumi stood over it, huffing wildly.

Keiki was right there with her, taking the young girl close. Mayumi let out an angry sob, tearing up from frustration. “I-I couldn’t, I didn’t, I-I-.”

The sculptor goddess ran her hands through the haniwa’s hair. “It’s okay, Mayumi, it’s okay…”

“It’s not! I didn’t help her at all!” Mayumi’s hands were still balled up into fists. “Wh-what’s the point of a soldier who can’t, who can’t-”

…She really was a child, wasn’t she? In a sense, they all were, but Mayumi had always been made to be more of a blank slate. To grow and learn. And the first time she’d been tested… no wonder the poor thing was so distressed.

Keiki knelt down, pulling the girl into a deeper hug. “Mayumi… you’re still young. And not just in the physical sense - I never expected you to be put in such a dangerous situation. Not while you’re not yet ready for it.”

Mayumi didn’t respond with more than a sniffle, but Keiki continued regardless. “You’re going to grow stronger, alright? You’ll be able to fight alongside her. I promise.”

The haniwa looked up. “Do you really think I can keep up with her?”

“I think you’re already catching up.” The goddess gently turned Mayumi around, to look at the target dummy. “I didn’t give you any new upgrades, after all.”

The haniwa finally seemed to register the damage she’d done, as Keiki continued. “After all, your power comes from loyalty. And, though I hadn’t seriously considered things turning out this way… that loyalty doesn’t just apply to me.”

“You mean…” Mayumi started to straighten up. “You mean, because I want to help Reimu…”

Keiki nodded. “In a way, suffering through such a tough situation has actually helped you grow. I’d hoped you would manage to form a bond with her and draw power from that as well, but because she protected you, any artificial push on my part has become a heartfelt connection. You don’t just want to protect because it’s your order; you want to protect her because you know she’d do the same.”

She let the young haniwa go, moving to pick up the dummy and start repairing it. “So… feel that frustration. Let it all out. But don’t just get angry and frustrated with yourself. Use it to get stronger, so you never feel this way again.”

The haniwa bunched her hands into fists… but when she looked up, the frustration had been replaced with determination. “...Yes, Lady Keiki! I’ll be stronger, I promise!”

The sculptor goddess grunted, as she tried to lift the training dummy. “C-could use a little of that strength here, Mayumi.” The haniwa flushed, but quickly moved in to help her creator.

It wasn’t long before they had the dummy at least in the right position, with Mayumi holding it steady while Keiki repaired the base. “...You know, there is one thing that’s been dominating the barracks talk.”

“Mmmm? Nothing bad, I hope.” Now that she was low to the ground, Keiki could see more cracks in the bases of the other dummies. More thorough repairs of the training equipment would be needed - though with everything else, it was still a bottom-tier priority.

“It was about Yachie, and the otters.” Mayumi hummed. “Everyone’s shocked they teamed up with us, but really, we wouldn’t have gotten through it without them.”

“On that, I’m in complete agreement.” Keiki ran her hand along the crack, molding the metal like wet clay. “The Kiketsu really came through for us.”

“...A lot of the corps are still processing that. They were so certain they were gonna betray us.” Mayumi was quiet for a moment. “Did you… trust them? Did you think they’d have come out in our defense?”

“What, the Kiketsu? Absolutely not.” The sculptor goddess shook her head. “I don’t trust Yachie an inch.”

Her tactical advisor tilted his head. “Even though you’re letting her walk straight through our territory?”

“Our territory? We made this city.” Keiki glared down at the map. “All of it is our territory; those beasts are just occupying it. If Reimu wasn’t a factor, Yachie would be just another yakuza to be dealt with. And once Reimu isn’t in the city, Yachie will be no more welcome than any other thug.”

Her financial advisor hummed. “It’s a shocking thought, honestly. To think the Kiketsu Matriarch would have a child… with the miracle Keiki gave her, no less.” The haniwa rubbed her head. “And that’s ignoring all of this time loop stuff…”

The tactical officer let out an uncertain noise. “Are you sure that’s not some elaborate scheme by Yachie? To frame her daughter as a powerful human miko, and try to usurp the position of Gensokyo’s protector? Or to bring the power of the Hakurei Shrine against us?”

Keiki shook her head. “Reimu’s story has been verified by the Yama. We have no reason to question it.” The sculptor goddess sat back. “The more vexing part is getting access to Reimu herself. Yachie has no intention of letting me get close to my daughter.”

The tactician looked contemplative. “Which is a true shame. She was once a human, and seems to have a rather more receptive view of the haniwa than her mother. Not to mention she clearly values your support. If she was in charge of the Kiketsu, they’d be easy to bring to heel.”

“She is the presumed successor. They’re certainly nepotistic enough.” Her other advisor scoffed. “The problem is the turtle won’t just step down. And even if she did on paper, she still wouldn’t let us get a chance at Reimu. The kid doesn’t even know she’s Keiki’s daughter, does she?”

“...It’s maddening.” The sculptor goddess growled. “My daughter’s right there, and I can’t tell her. Nobody will ever tell her.”

“Then it appears our roadblock is clear. We only need to find a way to clear it.” The tactical officer hummed. “Once Yachie’s out of the picture… then she can’t keep Reimu away from us.”

The Idola Deus turned to him. “...what exactly are you proposing?”

The financial advisor spoke up first. “I hope you’re not suggesting that we kill her. Reimu would never forgive that.”

“I’m not suggesting we take her out personally, or anything like that.” The tactical officer shrugged. “But wouldn’t it be convenient if an oomukade found the current matriarch?”

Keiki nodded, starting to walk through the thought. “If an oomukade attacked Yacchie while Reimu was in the land of the living… she’d be none the wiser of who tipped the beast off.” The sculptor goddess smirked. “And the Kiketsu would likely collapse. At that point, the only way they’d survive as a faction is either bringing Reimu back, or letting us vassalise them.”

“But, Lady Keiki…” The financial advisor looked away. “To be that treacherous…”

The tactical officer shook his head. “Let’s not forget this is Yachie we’re talking about. For now she may be focused on securing ‘her territory’, but once that’s in place she’ll start to scheme against us.”

“And if she’s kept Reimu’s existence secret for the past twelve years, she’s clearly not inclined to share.” Keiki glared. Twelve years without even knowing she had a daughter… And even now, she’d only managed a brief hug, and a few small gifts.

Her financial advisor stuttered. “R-regardless, to execute such a plan now would be too premature! After all, the Hakurei Shrine will come with its own expectations - it will undoubtedly push her to align more with humanity than the beasts. They might push her away from Yachie with no need to act on our part.”

“Indeed. Hopefully there’s no need to do anything so drastic.” The Idola Deus stood up. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be ready.”

The financial advisor slammed her fist on the table. “Ready for what, killing your daughter’s mother?!”

There was a moment of silence. The image of Reimu’s tear-stained cheeks stopped Keiki cold. The red heat that had been running through her was pierced by a dagger of ice.

“...I’m sorry.” The financial advisor pulled back. “I overstepped my bounds.”

Keiki shook her head. The image of her daughter faded. “No, don’t be. I can’t let my anger get the better of me.”

She took a deep breath. In many ways, the covert assassination plan was a dark path to take. But tactically speaking, it was the right choice. And as much as the stab of icy guilt was dulling the flames of her anger… they were far from quenched.

“Even if we don’t intend to go through with it, we should still know where any nearby oomukade are.” The tactical advisor stated. “After all, they’re just as much a threat to Reimu as they are to the matriarch.”

That tipped the scales.

“...You’re right. Whatever we decide to do about Yachie, we don’t want a dragon’s predator moving unchecked.” She took a deep breath. “So as a precaution, we should investigate that rumour about the Rainbow Dragon Cave…”

“Lady Keiki?” Keiki blinked, as the real world returned to focus around her. Mayumi was looking down at her goddess. “Are you okay? You were mumbling to yourself.”

“Just thinking back on the start of the alliance.” Keiki pulled herself away, seeing her work done, and stood up. “...I was expecting Yachie solely to be a manipulative schemer. …But I didn’t need to look that far to find one.”

It didn’t even feel like an exaggeration to say she owed Yachie her life. And the lives of who knew how many haniwa. Even the thought of her ‘precautions’ left an ashen taste in her mouth.

She turned to her haniwa. “I have to keep moving, but… I want you to remember this, Mayumi.” She put her hand on the young girl’s chest. “Your loyal heart is based on a long-held belief of mine. Strength in loyalty, in trust, in knowing someone else has your back.”

She gave a small smile - and from Mayumi’s face, she could tell it wasn’t completely hiding her true thoughts. “If you feel someone’s earnt your trust, while you’ve let them down… the only option is to rise up to meet them. That’s what we all have to do.”

The haniwa nodded, slowly. “...I understand, Lady Keiki.” She turned around. “I’ll… do some more training.”

Keiki gave the haniwa a final hug. “Make sure to spend some time with Reimu, too. After all, even with Kosuzu, you’re still her first friend in this life.”

Mayumi was special, after all. Among all the haniwa, they were all her creations… but Mayumi was her daughter. And bonding with her sister was the best thing for her growth.

…For now, though, Keiki had many things to do. She waved the young haniwa off, and walked on to her next task.

Guilt still clung to her, but all she could do was take the advice she’d given to Mayumi. To earn the trust she’d unjustly received… from Mayumi and Yachie both.

Kicchou Yachie took a slow, careful breath to steady her nerves.

There was no need to panic. While this particular discussion was of vital diplomatic importance, and of a wholly unfamiliar nature, it was still just that. A discussion. And Kicchou Yachie was nothing if not good with her words.

It was a careful tightrope to walk. The most important part, however, was betraying in no way how seriously she was taking it. That would spell disaster for ever getting a chance at this again. Fail badly enough, and she could even have to fight to keep Reimu.

She sipped at her tea, doing her best to remain calm. “So, Ran,” she started, “let me guess. This has to do with young Kosuzu, no?”

The kitsune nodded. “I suppose it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s simple to guess, at least.” Yachie could point to a dozen subtle tells about Ran’s behaviour. That there were few topics Ran would reasonably consult Yachie on, that she had brought Kosuzu with her to play with Reimu, that she’d spent no small amount of time watching Kosuzu through the window as the two of them played in the pool. But Yachie could also have walked into the room completely blind, asked Ran if she was concerned about Kosuzu, and have at least a 50% chance of being entirely correct. And in this situation, it was better to treat it as a lucky coin-flip guess, rather than the analytical certainty she’d been calculating.

Ran had started looking out the window again. “Well, I thought you might have some ideas on how to deal with a particular situation. It may resolve itself - Kosuzu’s still in the settling process after all - but I’d like to at least have a plan if it turns out to be a deeper issue.”

“I’ll make no promises, but if there’s something I can offer, I will.” Yachie gave a small smile. “What seems to be the problem?”

“It happened last night. She dropped a plate - it didn’t break, but the way she reacted… it was like a bomb was about to go off. She couldn’t even meet my eyes for far too long.” The kitsune’s face was gloomy. “I don’t know how to convince her that she’s not going to be punished for something like that.”

The jidiao hummed. This wasn’t something she was sure she could offer meaningful advice on. Reimu was a willful girl by any measure, but Yachie had the perfect ability for getting a disobedient girl to… if not actually listen and accept things, at least do what they’re told with minimal long-term effects. So the ways she controlled her own daughter’s behaviour were completely inapplicable to Ran.

That left her options for behaviour-modifying advice in much darker and murkier waters, ones that would go over even more poorly without some… context sensitivity. Still, it really wouldn’t do for her to not give some sort of solution to the first problem Ran presented to her.

“To be clear… what sort of punishment do you want her to expect for mistakes?” Ran seemed a bit surprised by the question, so the jidiao quickly added an amendment. “It’ll be easier to set her expectations to a new standard than get her to abandon her old one entirely.”

The kitsune nodded in understanding. “I see. Well… largely I’d expect if it’s at the minor level she’s worried about, I’d say I just want her to pay it off. A few extra chores to pay off the time spent, that sort of thing.”

“I see.” Yachie spent a few moments in silence, thinking.

…After a few moments, a plan did come to mind. Now just to pitch it.

“I think there is a path that might work. But it’d be best if we had young Chen’s assistance. Do you think she’d be willing to help?” A meaningless question, on the surface. But it was important to assess how guarded Ran’s response was, to determine how carefully crafted the response should be.

Ran’s response started off with a despondent sigh. “Honestly, right now she’d fold herself over backwards to help my ‘first born child’. I just wish I could make her understand it’s not like that...”

…Okay, completely unguarded, bordering on distracted. Yachie kept her face level. “Well, we’ll get there in time. For now, though, I’m sure helping Kosuzu will help her feel better.” She smirked. “You’ll just have to make an example of her.”

It was a deliberate blunder, a poor choice of words designed to provoke a reaction. Ran’s head snapped up. “An example of her?! What do you mean?”

“Ah, no, I don’t mean in that way!” Was she hitting the right level of embarrassment? “I mean that if you two go through the motions of punishment in front of her, Kosuzu will have an actual reference point for what happens.”

“Oh, you mean a literal example…” Ran sat back, humming in thought. “...Interesting. That way, we can set expectations in a realistic way.”

Yachie nodded. “Granted, you will need Chen to actually be witnessed receiving the punishment by Kosuzu. If she hasn’t done anything to deserve it, though, you can always reward her in secret later.”

“Still, if it’s all in line…” The kitsune’s voice trailed off. “What if it’s still not enough? What if she keeps being skittish?”

“Then… mmm… the only option is to make her experience the truth.” Yachie gave an uncertain look - one that, even though it matched the nervousness she had proposing this, far belied its intensity. “If you need to make her realise what punishment looks like, the best way to do that is an engineered scenario. A small forced error, a mistake she can make before lunch and be forgiven for by dinner. Even better if it’s the same kind of error Chen experienced.”

Ran looked hesitant. “...I really don’t want to punish her when she’s done nothing wrong.”

“No decent mother does, of course - but if it eases her anxiety in the long run, it’ll be worth it.” The matriarch looked out the window. “Once she’s settled, you can always come clean and give her a good apology. Not to mention, you’re still in a honeymoon phase. It’s worth her experiencing early that it won’t always be cuddling and personal lessons… but that those will still return, in time.”

She paused. This was one of the riskiest steps to take, but… perhaps it’d get Ran more on board. “Putting my ‘manipulator’ hat on, here… What she’s likely suffering from most of all is a lack of trust. If I had to guess, Tsukasa taught Kosuzu to catastrophize - to believe the worst possible punishments would come from her mistakes.”

Ran sighed. “So of course she can’t take us at our word… but if our word matches our actions, she’ll be able to start trusting we mean what we say. I think I get what you mean.” The kitsune straightened up. “I’ll talk it over with Yukari. I’m sure we can come up with something.”

Yachie gave a smile, feeling a bit of relief start to flow through her. “Might be worth getting a few other opinions, too. After all, I’m just one person. Oh, and you should investigate if there’s any other stories Kosuzu has of ‘ruining’ relationships. Finding out the truth of some of those matters would go a long way.”

“Well, I will do both of those things, but I have done pretty well with your advice before.” Ran said, leaning back. “Even if that was actually a plan to get rid of me.”

The jidiao gave a hollow chuckle. “Ah, suffering from my own success… I never should have let you go. That fucking goat’s been a nightmare ever since.” She paused. “...Have you not spoken to her about Kosuzu?”

That earned a fierce scowl. “After what happened to poor Reimu, I don’t want Yuuma anywhere near Kosuzu. She’s a fundamentally irresponsible, immoral, horrible person, and all the kids are better off if they never meet her.”

“Hear hear. I will admit, I’ve been tempted to send her a picture of the kids playing.” Yachie smirked. “I think you’d hear her reaction from Gensokyo.”

Ran rolled her eyes. “Please don’t. Besides, aren’t you trying to hide Reimu’s jidiao heritage?”

“Mmmm.” The gloomy hum that Yachie let out was not exactly being played up. “That is the only option, after all.”

She looked out the window, at the young jidiao diving under the water. “...I know our scenarios are different. In many ways incomparable, in fact. But… learning what happened to you and Kosuzu has done little for my anxieties about Reimu’s departure.”

The kitsune gave her a sad smile. “Well, I can’t say I don’t understand your anxiety, at least.” She followed Yachie’s gaze out to Reimu.. “For what it’s worth… I certainly think she’s gonna miss the cushy lifestyle here. The Hakurei Shrine is rather on the spartan side.”

Yachie laughed. “Maybe that’ll have to be my evil plan. Spoil her so rotten she has to come back home from time to time.”

“Maybe, maybe.” The kitsune smirked. “...Though it will likely be easier for Lady Hakurei to stomach, if she finds out you’re aligned with Keiki.” Ran tilted her head. “How did that happen, anyway?”

“Reimu was the epicenter of it, of course. When Yuuma attacked a convoy to get us out of a bad position, she ended up fleeing to Keiki’s territory.” Yachie looked down, staring into her tea cup. “The alliance was more or less out of necessity.”

“But you’re fully committed to that alliance now?”

“Of course. I won’t deny things started out rocky, but we’re thick as thieves now.” Yachie smirked, leaning back. “So if you’re seeking to solicit me, Saki, you’re going to end up disappointed.”

The pegasus grunted, glaring at the other matriarch. “Bull and shit. You’re Yachie. You’ve always got some kinda plan in the wings.”

“Oh, I do, of course. Just none that will result in me exploiting the haniwa’s good will.” The jidiao got up, strutting away, tilting her pipe back and forth in her hands. “I’d much rather take some time establishing a foothold on the surface world.”

“So you’re just giving up on knocking away Keiki? Just gonna play a good little pet?” Yachie twitched at the jeering. The alliance, after all, wasn’t exactly even. “Come on, Yachie. With your cunning, you can set us up for a real knockout punch.”

Yachie rolled her eyes. “Even if I did, what exactly could you do with it? You’re not as invincible as Yuuma, and your grunts aren’t as capable as my otters. The Keiga only exist because they can fight the other beasts for territory. You’re useless against Keiki.”

The pegasus shook her head. “Come on, get us close enough and we can punch out the Idola Deus!” She always was impervious to getting anything through her thick skull.

“You expect me to find some way to carry your sorry asses all the way to Keiki herself? Come on, Saki, if you can’t use your head, at least listen when your hermit uses hers. If I had the will and the ability to do that much, I might as well cut you out of it entirely.” The jidiao kept her back to the pegasus, watching the winged woman grit her teeth through the reflection of the glass.

Saki flared her wings broadly. “You really wanna talk to me that way? You wanna go, Yachie? I’ll pound you flat.”

“And what would that accomplish? You’d lose your little backdoor if you tried to fight me. But please, do go ahead and try to make us betray the haniwa by force.” Honestly, it wouldn’t be a terrible outcome in the long run. It’d at least get Keiki taking her seriously. “If your troopers can’t bring their fangs to bear against the haniwa, then this discussion isn’t worth anyone’s time.”

“Nnnnngh… ‘snot our fault…” Was she pouting? …Yes, she was, like a five-year-old. Hell’s sake. This dense horse was useless.

“Oh, suck it up. A tantrum’s gonna get you nowhere.” Yachie took a moment to puff on her pipe.

And then, because no amount of obvious was too obvious when it came to the Keiga, she turned. “Why don’t you go cry on that hermit’s lap instead? Go on. Mewl to her about how useless you all are against the big, bad haniwa.”

There was a shift in the air. Yachie turned more fully - Saki was now wearing an adequate mockup of a contemplative expressive.

“Seiga…” There was a pause, before Saki let out a throaty chuckle. “Y’know, now that you mention it, maybe there is something we can do. You’d better watch yourself, Yachie. You had your chance - when we attack the Haniwa, we’ll be hunting you down with them.”

Yachie gave her a condescending smirk - for reasons entirely different to what Saki likely expected. “Oh my. You got an idea, did you? Should I mark it on the calendar for a citywide holiday?”

“Like I’d tell Keiki’s pet that.” The puppet straightened herself up, grinning malevolently. “See ya, Yachie. I won’t tell ya to watch your back - cos whether you do or you don’t, you won’t be surviving us hitting you from the front.”

The jidiao chuckled, as the pegasus turned to make her exit. Ahhhhh, with enemies like these, who needs friends? She brought her hand to her lips, taking another sip of her tea.

Ran was still looking at her. “I guess I’m mostly surprised how you got to that point. Surely Keiki didn’t trust you at all?”

“Of course she didn’t. She’d be a fool to have brought the most cunning of the Animal Realm’s matriarchs into the fold without expecting some treachery.” Yachie sat back, humming. “And because she had my secret, the entire balance was lopsided in her favour. Saki was the one to change that.”

The kitsune straightened up. “What do you mean?”

It took a moment for the jidiao to find her words. “Once she brought in that hermit, it was only a matter of time before that Seiga developed some form of countermeasure for the haniwa’s spiritual immunity.” At least, that was what Yachie assumed would happen. It made her actions a mere hastening, rather than sabotage. “I naturally raised that possibility to Keiki… in the least helpful way possible.”

She gave a mirthless smile. “I was deliberately irritating about it. I wanted to wind her up. She wouldn’t trust anything I said either way - but if she snapped and got stuck on proving me wrong, when she eventually discovered I was right, she’d end up feeling guilty over not trusting me.”

Ran looked at her flatly. “...I’m guessing you were caught off guard by how vicious Saki was when she did attack.”

“Exactly.” Yachie groaned, rubbing her forehead. “I thought whatever method they had would have some form of limit. Some growing pains. I thought I had time to prove her wrong, and still work together to cut it off before it became a massive problem. More fool me, I suppose.”

She looked out the window. “We’re still getting wolves who have that blessing on them. And naturally, Seiga won’t disclose her bag of tricks, but she does claim she has a dead man’s switch out there.” Yachie looked out. “For what it’s worth, for the Kiketsu, the plan worked flawlessly. We have Keiki’s full confidence, and the alliance is being reshaped into a more equal one even as we speak. We’ve actually got plans to make large parts of the animal realm a Kiketsu nature reserve, even. If you can’t beat them, join them, right?”

Ran kept her gaze level. “...And yet, you seem dissatisfied. Regretful, even.”

The matriarch sighed. “Never mind the fact the wolves almost killed her. I can only imagine how Reimu would react if she knew. I might talk big about the technicality of the problem being entirely avoidable by Keiki… but I don’t think she’d care for a second.” She put the teacup down. “And, for better or worse… Keiki helped my daughter through a crisis, and I helped Keiki fall into one. We’re still a long way away from squaring accounts. I’ll have to make it up to her somehow.”

…Perhaps even letting Keiki tell Reimu the truth. About how Reimu was really born.

“My, my. The Kiketsu matriarch, remorseful? Now there’s a rare sight.” The kitsune turned to look out the window, at the two girls splashing water at each other. “Having a daughter changes things, doesn’t it? There’s a lot about my past I don’t want the kids knowing about, either.”

Yachie straightened up. She’d let things slip far further than she’d intended, but her blunder had played out to the exact right audience for it. And otherwise, it seemed like this talk was a success.

If that advice proved effective, at least part of Kosuzu’s recovery could be attributed to Yachie’s own actions. If it was ultimately challenged and moved away from… well, Yachie had encouraged Ran to do exactly that, and Ran had brought up past good advice in return. Either way, it was evidence Yachie was at least worth talking to.

And of course, not violating any disclosures - as well as giving Ran some secrets of her own - would move Yachie’s position towards that of a trustworthy confidant. Which would likely mean the kitsune, already a sympathetic agent with their comparable experiences, would help her at least keep in contact with Reimu.

All in all, the diplomatic aspects of this meeting were a reasonable success, albeit still one to be monitored in the future. Yachie refilled her tea, quietly letting the tension of the meeting start to ease from her. “Perhaps we should share old stories sometime. If only to make sure we can cover each other’s tails in front of the girls.”

“Perhaps we should.” Ran took another sip of tea. “Ahhhh… having a mom talk really is relaxing, isn’t it?”

…It took all of Yachie’s effort not to audibly react to that statement. She focused every drop of her willpower into lifting her tea cup to her lips, holding it steady, and swallowing the hot liquid down to quell the fire in her throat.

“...indeed.”

Yukari hummed, stretching out over the map. “So that’s settled? We can start transferring Reimu’s luggage to Gensokyo over the next few days. She should only need to be travelling light when it’s time for her actual arrival to the shrine.”

“I suppose.” Keiki looked down at the map. “And what about the tengu? Will they be causing issues?”

“While that’s yet to be fully decided… I believe there’s some compelling negotiations to be had,” Ran said. “In fact, I’ve scheduled an interesting talk with Iizunamaru this afternoon. Depending on how it goes, we may very well be able to get the crows parroting the official line reliably.”

Yachie raised an eyebrow. “Just this afternoon? Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t coming here take you all night on the way down?”

“I’ll be borrowing a bit of Yukari’s power.” Ran said, gesturing. “With her gap-space, it’s not much longer than an hour.”

“Well, if that’s the case… I don’t think there’s much else we can do to prepare for their departure, at least around this table.” Yachie started packing up some of the documentation. “Reimu and Kosuzu’s travel plans can be safely locked in. Shall we take a few minutes break?”

The gap youkai smiled, sitting back on her gap. “Allow us to provide.” She opened a second gap in the air beside them, a small tray set of biscuits and drinks floating out at the behest of Ran’s magic. The kitsune quickly set about plating everything out for the quartet, before settling back into her position.

Keiki hesitated. “I really should get going…”

The jidiao waved her off, as she reached into a bag on the side of the table. What came out was a small, orange fox plush, and a few bells to attach to it. “A few minutes won’t kill you.”

“Ah-” Ran straightened up. “Is that to be a replacement for the plushie that she gave to Kosuzu?”

“Correct. And if you’d like another one made, that can be arranged. Though, before that… there’s a couple of things I wanted to ask you two off the books.”

The sage raised an eyebrow, lifting her cup. “By all means, Yachie. Feel free to ask anything - I just can’t promise any answers.”

Yachie chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything else. Mainly, it was just a couple of questions about young Kosuzu.”

The dragon-woman started carefully sewing the bells onto the plushie. “The morning of the attack - you had some defensive spells on her, correct? Some kind of auto-triggering gaps?”

Ah, that. It was technically correct, but that spell had never gone off - all the gaps summoned had been Kosuzu’s own. But they didn’t need to know that. Yukari smiled, giving a warm nod. “Indeed. A precautionary measure if Tsukasa tried to snatch Kosuzu again.”

The jidiao hummed, not looking up. “A precautionary measure… you decided to use on Kosuzu, and not Yumemi?”

…Oh, she was in the mood to criticize, was she? Yukari didn’t rise to the bait. “My precautions were set up the night before the fighting broke out. I was focused solely on the risk of losing Ran’s daughter again - if I’d expected anything like the events that occurred the following morning, I’d have taken Suzu well clear of the fight, and attempted to meet Ran halfway. Though not before offering to distribute similar wards for the other kids, of course. Then again, if we’d been better prepared for the attack, such actions wouldn’t have been even close to necessary.”

Keiki looked glum. “Mmmm… that attack caught us all off guard.” Yachie gave the sculptor goddess a sympathetic look, before straightening up.

“Yes… quite. Apologies if that sounded like an insult of you not being helpful to the greater picture. I’m mostly curious about the applications of your ability, if there’s any limitations and the like.” The matriarch hummed. “And if there’s anything you can do regarding Re/Awakening.”

“Ah, yes…” Yukari smiled. “I got to observe Reimu’s soul in the process of Re/Awakening, and I’ve given the data to Ran.”

The kitsune nodded. “I believe there is a theoretical process to induce such a state manually - if the person in question is an Immaterial Child. But considering that even the natural version puts the body and mind under significant strain, we’ll be staying theoretical for the foreseeable future.”

The sculptor goddess looked worried. “They’re not shortening their lifespan or anything like that, are they?”

Ran shook her head. “Nothing of the sort. Most of it has to do with the physical and mental strain of rapidly developing and regressing. For young youkai, it’s not at all unusual for the body to make such changes, or even revert them in the right circumstances - but the rapid transformation depletes their energy reserves just as fast.” The kitsune offered a reassuring smile. “It should become less of a burden as they age naturally.”

“A small mercy, then, that they seem to be aging like their human selves.” Yachie tugged at a bit more of her thread. “...They age not just physically, but mentally, too?”

“It explains why they seem to display such proficiency with inherited abilities.” The gap youkai stretched out. “It seemed once Reimu matured, in many cases the wolves and even the hermit gave up under her gaze. I believe she was tapping into your ability to impair one’s will to resist.”

Yachie had a thoughtful look at that. “Really, now? Some of the otters suspected she might have that in her inheritance too. It’s good to see that she’ll develop into a fine woman - I imagine it must be similarly reassuring for you two to see Kosuzu like that.”

Yukari smiled, taking a biscuit off the pile. “Indeed. She’s developing into a splendid young sorceress, just like her mother.”

She lifted the biscuit to her lips-

“And the gaps,” Keiki started, “those came from her father?”

It slipped from her fingers, falling straight past her teeth and getting lodged in the back. Yukari let out a hacking cough, clutching for her throat.

It took a gap into the side of her throat to pull the choking hazard out. The sage wheezed, hanging limp for a moment as she caught her breath.

Yachie sighed, putting the plushie to the side. “I was intending to approach that more delicately… but I had my suspicions too. Kosuzu’s clearly able to use some parts of your power, correct? We have several eyewitnesses who spotted her doing so.”

Ran stood up, indignant. “You’re not implying that Lady Yukari exploited the shikigami bond, are you?”

Both of the Animal Realm leaders shook their heads, with the sculptor goddess speaking first. “Oh, of course not. In fact, quite the opposite - it seemed like the ability to use gaps caught even you off guard.”

Yachie nodded along. “Considering what happened at Tsugaru, there is simply no way her kidnapping would have resulted in this cold war if you had reasonable suspicions of her inheriting those abilities.” The jidiao stretched. “Even if you still wanted to keep it secret, one of the other sages would have overruled you.”

Ran glanced over at her mistress, uncertain of what to say. Slowly, the gap youkai tried to relevel her breathing, taking a moment to think.

“...Ran always wanted a family,” she said at last. “But… I couldn’t release her from the contract.”

“Not for lack of trying, mind.” The kitsune chuckled. “But I’d accepted the fate of being single as a consequence of becoming Yukari’s shikigami. There were some things that I simply couldn’t relinquish to another. ”

Because of the Restrictions. She needed someone like Ran to act as the key to her lock. While she could just about manage without her, Ran was a core cog in the machinery of Gensokyo as a whole, and her powers as a shikigami were no small part of that.

Yachie held her hand up. “A small question. Why does being a shikigami stop you from having a family?”

“It’d be more accurate to say it stops you from having a spouse. It’s part of why I went with Haniwa, as opposed to shikigami - aside from the obvious, of course.” Keiki leant in. “The spell requires the shikigami to swear themselves to their master on such a deep level, that having a husband would undermine their ability to serve their master.”

“Or, worse, I would have to choose.” Ran sighed. “I couldn’t stomach the thought of having the father of my children being someone who’d have to be less important than Yukari - it wouldn’t be fair to him.”

“A problem which solves itself if Yukari is the father,” Yachie joked. The sage glared at her, and the jidiao duly rested her case.

“The intention was to make a clone daughter. A child for Ran to raise as her own, with no ties to me aside from facilitating the process. As a member of the larger Yakumo family, it was far more workable with the terms of the shikigami contract for her to be subservient to me while still raising her daughter.” Yukari turned to her gaps. “...The only problem was, the spell didn’t work.”

The kitsune looked out. “Yukari’s original attempts ended in failure. We could put the pieces together, but no life was coming from them. …And not long after, I found Chen, and adopted her instead.”

Keiki nodded, picking up a different biscuit. “I see… and of course, in the original timeline, that’s where it ended, right?”

“It appears so.” Yukari opened a small gap, peering through it. From above, she could see Kosuzu, bringing some biscuits for her sister still resting in the hospital bed. “In fact, Ran’s spent no small amount of effort investigating ways to make Chen her daughter more fully. A youkai’s species can drift in just about any direction, as long as the overall perception changes to match the destination. In much the same way Kosuzu nearly became a tube-fox, Chen can become a kitsune - though it’s a far less simple process, of course.”

“...eventually I found myself wondering about having another.” Ran straightened up. “We decided to take a look at the old spell again, give it a test run to see where we went wrong. …You can imagine our surprise when we succeeded on the first try.”

“...Knowing what we know now, it’s easy to figure out where we went wrong. And why Kosuzu managed to be born when nothing else worked.” The sage shrugged. “I simply don’t have the means to make someone pregnant with just my magic. It needs a soul ready to be reborn for the process.”

“...I think the world is better off if that limitation remains the case,” Yachie concluded, idly flipping a biscuit in her fingers. “Puts you one step behind the miracles of gods, at least. Does Kosuzu know?”

“She’s too smart not to suspect anything, and the fact there’s no father will clue her in eventually.” The sage sighed. “But I really never intended to act as her parent. It was Ran who wanted a daughter, not me - I only meant to facilitate her birth.”

Keiki looked away. “...I suppose you have a point there, but… well, you’re as close to a father as she’s gonna get. Don’t you think she deserves to know?”

Yukari looked between the two of them, before sighing. “We will tell her in time, but… whether or not she wants a father is up to her.”

The dragon sat back. “If you’re happy with that, Yukari. Whether they’d be better off with a father or not… it’s certainly a question I find myself asking about Reimu recently.”

She hummed, looking down at the plushie. “And for that matter… if she’s got any inheritances of her own.”

Saki was trapped. Completely and utterly stuck..

It wasn’t because of the paralysis spell, at least not any more. That had worn off a few hours ago - she could move her torso just and arms just fine.

But whatever building she’d hit had apparently collapsed around her. So much for Keiki’s great works if they couldn’t take a good whack to the side. Her legs were trapped under the rubble, meaning she was stuck here for the foreseeable future. At least she wouldn’t be hard to find, for better or worse.

She’d managed to take a piece of rebar she could rip out, and was using it to chip away and cut out a couple of leg holes. She could see the city lights filtering in through the rubble above - once she was able to stand, it’d be trivial to break out of here. Just needed that time.

…Though, now she was looking at it, the light had taken on a lavender hue. That didn’t overly surprise her - it was pretty natural that the Gouyoku would get here first, going as the eagle flies. That was perfectly fine, though - she wanted to talk to them anyways.

“Yo, Toutetsu.” Something green and purple was leaning over the hole. “I smell blood down here.”

The pegasus was rather surprised to see a giant spoon being shoved into the rubble, the woman on the other side grunting with exertion. Saki took a quick moment to make sure her hat was in place, as a hole in the debris was cleared and the light started pouring in.

Saki took a moment to tip her hat at her rescuers. “Howdy!”

Even if this got her ass kicked, the irritated groan on the other side was totally worth it. Yuuma glared down at her, scowling while her chupacabra stifled a laugh. “It’s not even worth getting the camera, is it?”

The pegasus joined the chupacabra, wincing as it agitated a bruise on her stomach. “If you do, make sure you get my good side. And this must be your new lackey from the Blood Pools, right?”

The lackey chuckled. “What can I say? The devil-may-care of the Gouyoku really speaks to me. Name’s Chiyari, Miss Kurokoma.”

“Pleasure’s all mine.” Saki shifted a bit under the rubble. How’s the territory war going?”

“Largely settled,” Yuuma started. “You lost your big offensive, and only have a few holdings left. The haniwa and otters are purging your wolves out of their districts one by one, and we’re keeping them contained on the far side.” The taotie’s teeth glinted in the darkness of the rubble. “That could always change, of course.”

“Oh yeah?” Saki leant back, smirking. “How’re you thinking of changing it?”

The Gouyoku Matriarch hopped down, landing on - ow! - landing on the rubble trapping Saki’s legs. She leant down, grinning balefully at the other matriarch. “I’ve found myself wondering if basashi’s tastier if you make it from a pegasus, rather than a regular horse. Adding the power of Keiga’s matriarch to my own would be the perfect thing to bring your dogs to heel.”

The pegasus’ face sobered. “You’d eat me, would you…?” After a few tense moments, she laughed. “Yeah, right. Get real, Yuuma. After we dealt the haniwa their first real black eye in years, no way you’re gonna turn around and stab me in a dank hole.”

“You think I wouldn’t?” The taotie’s spork hooked under Saki’s chin, lifting her head up. “One good thrust, and I’ll be having horse for dinner.”

Saki placed her hands on the spoon, pushing it down just enough to speak freely. “One good thrust, and you’ve earned yourself a month of indigestion - I know damn well that my soul’s not going down without a fight. And the wolves’ll pitch a fit if you only beat me with a cheap shot. Now, those are problems you might be able to fix… but by the time you do, Keiki will be nearly impregnated.”

Yuuma groaned, covering her face with her palm. “It’s impregnable, not - not what you said.”

The pegasus shrugged it off. “Call it whatever you like, it means the same thing. Keiki’s weakened for now, but Yachie’s aligned herself with the haniwa, and they’re already rebuilding - the Gouyoku won’t stand a chance without our spell. They’ve cut you down once already, Yuuma. They’ll do it again.”

Yuuma’s hesitation told her everything. The chupacabra’s expression even more so. “Come on, even you’re not petty enough to bite the only hand that could feed you before it's even got the baggy out. If you were gonna kill me, taotie, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”

At length, the taotie retracted her weapon, scowling. “...Fine. I don’t wanna risk catching your stupid. Talk, Saki. And you better have good answers.”

“What, no help with getting my legs out first?” Saki gestured to the rocks, receiving only a flat glare in response. “Alright, alright… the spell’s been cast by our witch. And we’ll need her back to buff us up with it again. There should still be a few wolves with its benefits, but once you get dispersed, the effects vanish. So we’re gonna need to be just a touch careful getting her out.”

“You’re suggesting a joint operation?” The taotie squatted. “Why shouldn’t I just go and grab her myself?”

“For starters, the only reason she’s working with us is because of some old favors I pulled. You think you or your chupacabra could tell if she’s casting a spell to buff up your eagles, or a spell to enslave them?”

The chupacabra raised a hand. “I’m a tenkajin.”

“Whatever. The point is that the haniwa and otters can hold her forever, because they have no reason to let her cast anything. But you do, don’t you?” Saki leant back.

“Even if I couldn’t tell what spell she was casting, we’d surely do better than you. And she’s a human, right? So what makes you trust her?”

“Like I said, an old relationship.” And the fact they did a trial run first, of course. “Knew her back from my days on the surface. So, anyway, about these rocks?”

“Hold it.” The chupacabra - tenkajin? - Yuuma’s lackey had crawled into the hole, hanging off the roof. “We can’t exactly get you out of here easily.”

The pegasus looked surprised. “Whaddaya mean?”

“I mean, just getting you out of here without it collapsing on us is gonna be a whole ordeal. Not really feeling it… and accidents do happen, y’know?” She leaned in. “Say the rest of the building falls on ya. Why wouldn’t we just take the talk to that Vandrer guy?”

“Nah, come on, it’s not that hard. This ain’t load-bearing or anything.” Saki gestured. “Just lift off the bit on top of me and I’m good to go.”

“That’s-” Yuuma pinched her forehead. “Chiyari, you’re gonna have to be more direct. Keiga are too dense to understand threats if you don’t talk slowly.”

“Oh? …Oh, I see.” Saki chuckled. “Well, that still wouldn’t work. One, my boys wouldn’t believe it’s an accident for a second. They’d call you eagles out for the overgrown poultry you are. And two, Vandrer’s an old salt. I’m not saying that there’s a young wolf who’d be ready to take him on… but if the alternative’s working with you lot, there’s plenty of pups who’d try. And we’re gonna need every wolf with the spell still on them we can grab, if we’re gonna be taking Seiga back.”

There was a long, deep moment of silence. Saki leant back, waiting.

At length, Yuuma sighed, hopping off the block and propping her fork underneath its lip. The tenkajin clambered down to help her, the two of them together managing to lift the block. Saki breathed a sigh of relief, groaning as she got to her feet.

“Ahhhh, oww. Oww. Pins and needles. Owwww.”

Chiyari looked over her boss’s shoulder. “You sure you don’t mean lances and pikes? I’m surprised you can stand on those.” She licked her lips, salivating at the pooling blood.

“Eh, I’ll sleep it off. No biggie.” Saki still gestured for the other two to leave the hole first, with the tenkajin quickly complying.

Yuuma stayed, folding her arms. “...You seem to be having fun with this, Saki. You’re certainly more cheery than I’d expect from someone who had to get their sorry ass rescued by an enemy.”

“Haven’t even got to the best part.” Saki turned, giving a grin. “When you hear who actually beat me, you’re gonna flip.”

Yuuma paused, before her face fell. “You don’t mean - that orange fox I saw-”

“Yep! That’s Ran’s kid.” The pegasus giggled. “And it was Ran herself who chucked me over here.”

The taotie’s expression was everything she hoped for and more. Yuuma’s brain seemed to lock up as she broke into a sputter, struggling to find the words to speak. Chiyari leaned her head in. “Who’s Ran?”

“A kitsune who used to be Yuuma’s Vandrer, basically. Always hated it here, though, so she left hundreds of years ago.” Saki turned to start climbing out of the hole. “And now, it seems she’s allied with Keiki and Yachie. Prob’ly cos her kid’s one of those Immaterial Children too, like the Drago-.”

Yuuma grabbed the pegasus by her wing, pulling it as if she wanted to tear it off as she spun Saki around. “Who’s the father?!”

“You think I got a chance to ask her about her married life?” Saki shrugged as indifferently as she could, doing her best to hide her amusement. “How am I supposed to know?”

The taotie was fuming as Saki tried to tug her wing free. “But, uh, she was pretty clear about wanting to protect her kids. So I’m thinking we need to plan this out a bit. You don’t wanna make her even madder, do you?”

That managed to get Yuuma to hesitate, and release Saki’s wing. “Thinking, huh? That’s rare for you. And what exactly are you thinking, Saki?”

“We keep any idea of cooperation under wraps for now. Maybe have some light territory skirmishes and the like.” She started to climb up, grunting with each new foothold she used. “And we prep for a surgical strike when the kids are getting shipped out. If Ran's kid is one of them, I imagine they'll want to get her out ASAP, before a certain taotie gets a chance to meet her." Saki gave a cheeky grin to a very unamused Yuuma. "They’ll put all their focus on the departure, and we take Seiga back then and there.”

Chiyari stepped back from the hole to let the matriarchs climb out. “And what happens after that? We get a copy of Seiga’s spell for ourselves?”

Saki shook her head. “Take a look around, chupa-whatever. All this sprung up in just about a decade thanks to the power of the Idola Deus. We managed a big shock-and-awe here, but even that only worked because they weren’t ready for a real fight.”

She turned, in the rough direction of Keiki’s territory. “And now the Kiketsu are joining them, so the minor gangs aren’t gonna stand a chance. Those rabbits playing yakuza’ll fall back in line once Yachie bothers to give them a stern glare, and nobody else is even worth mentioning. That only leaves two factions to oppose them - the Keiga, and the Gouyoku. That’s it.”

“We have three options, then.” Saki turned at the sound of Yuuma’s voice, to see the taotie clambering out of the hole. “We can submit to the haniwa, which neither of us would ever accept. Or we can fight them to a second extinction - which might appeal to your machismo, but ultimately wins us nothing.”

“Which only leaves one choice.” The Keiga Matriarch offered a hand. “I know damn well neither of us wants to do this. And the first chance we get, I’m sure we’ll try to turn on each other. But if we want to get through this alive, our only hope is to team up. So, Yuuma? Are you with me or not?”

The Gouyoku Matriarch stared at the proffered hand, drawing a slow breath. “Remove those billboards, and we’ll talk.” She grasped the hand firmly, and shook it.

Saki grinned.

“It’s a deal, spoilsport.”

---

This one was one I wasn't sure I'd be able to squeeze in, largely because when it comes to reaching the end goal of the little rush I'm doing, this is the only one that's not super required for that central thread. As a result, when I move this to Ao3, this will be the first epilogue, before Gift of Knowledge.

Kosuzu carefully opened the door, walking in with a trio of teacups and a matching teapot. She spoke in a whisper. “Chen? I brought the tea.”

The nekomata gave a smile, continuing to speak in a low voice. “Thanks, Kosuzu.” The kitsune set the crockery down, quietly pouring a cup. “I’m sure Yumemi will appreciate it when she wakes up, too.”

[She used her unbandaged hand to take the proffered cup, sipping at it.] What was this one called again? [Chamomile, good for sleep, headaches and anxiety. Though that first benefit was probably unnecessary for the sake of Chen’s roommate.]

The young fox’s tail wagged slowly, as she watched Chen drink. [She seemed relieved when the nekomata let out a contented sigh - perhaps she’d prepared the tea herself?] …She really was such a good kid. Ran was lucky to have a real daughter like her.

[...she shouldn’t be thinking like that.] No, she shouldn’t. Being jealous of Kosuzu wouldn’t help anyone, it’d only make things worse. [...That wasn’t… she shook her head, trying to clear it.]

She set the cup down, speaking up before Kosuzu had a chance to ask. “How are your lessons going, by the way?”

Kosuzu hesitated, but answered the question. “Ah, mom’s teaching me a few things. A distress signal spell, a homing beacon, a spell to set a target and be able to run away from it faster…” She paused, getting a mischievous look. “I might be crazy, but I think I’m noticing a pattern.”

Chen chuckled. “Yeah, there’s plenty more where that came from…I’m sure the first thing they’ll teach you to use gaps for is getting away, too.”

As if on cue, one of the gaps in question opened up at the foot of Chen’s bed. Yukari strode out, tailed by her kitsune shikigami.

The Sage gave them both a smile. “How are you, Chen? Resting well?” Behind her, Ran quietly muttered a silence spell, blocking off sound from the resting time-traveller.

Chen sat up a bit. “Lady Yukari! Yes, recovery is proceeding apace. The doctors said I should be able to make the trip with everyone else - though I’ll need to keep my arm in a cast for a while.” [Fortunately, even the arm would heal quickly, with the power of a shikigami bond.] And besides, she’d survived a lot worse, before Ran had found her.

Ran gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness… we’ve locked down the schedule of our departure, too. It won’t be long before we’ll all be heading home.”

“Though, before we do that… We’re heading off to settle some remaining surface matters today. Now, don’t worry - we’ll be back by bedtime at the latest.”

Ran took a moment to scoop up her daughter, the little fox’s tail drooping. “Don’t worry Kosuzu. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can. But it’d hardly be good if you got home and your room was all dusty, would it?”

The kit seemed surprised. “Eh? My room?”

“Don’t you remember? Of course, it was more of a nursery than a young girl’s room…” Yukari sat down on a chair next to Chen as she spoke. “And as a result of that, a lot of the furniture’s outdated. We’ll get it fixed in time, but for now Ran’s just making sure it has a warm, soft bed and a nice, big bookshelf.”

Ran nuzzled her daughter a little more, before setting her down. “Before that, though… we’d just like to discuss some stuff with Chen. I’ve got your study materials ready in the common room of the dorms - could you go and check if there’s anything missing?”

Kosuzu nodded. “Okay, mom. Chen, I’ll be back, alright?”

The nekomata waved the young kit off, turning back to Yukari and Ran. “What do you need to discuss without Kosuzu?”

“Hopefully, not too much. We just wanted to talk about the longer-term plans, going forward.” Yukari sat up. “Ones that concern you quite significantly, in fact.”

Chen stiffened. [It was unlikely to be anything bad… they’d have been more direct if it was.] But just because they didn’t see it as bad didn’t necessarily mean it was good. [But surely her worst fears were just irrational.] …hopefully.

“The first was a matter regarding Kosuzu’s anxiety.” Ran said. “We’re hoping it’s just a temporary adjustment period, but… you saw what happened two nights ago.”

[When Kosuzu had dropped the plate?] Chen felt her tail flick with irritation. The poor kid’s face had been that of prey who’d just seen their predator. Over a single plate. “I’ll never forgive that tube fox.”

The sage’s face darkened. “Yes, well… we’re also hoping to deal with Tsukasa tonight. That’s another topic we’ll be bringing up with Megumu. But don’t tell Kosuzu, of course.”

Ran seemed deep in thought for a moment, before pulling herself back to reality. “For now, what we mainly want to do is make sure Kosuzu learns to relax around us. And we were thinking you might be just the person to help get her guard down.”

“Did you come up with an idea?”

Yukari nodded. “The suggestion was to have you play out the act of being punished. Just breaking something minor and doing some extra chores.” The sage sat back. “Of course, we don’t have anything to punish you for, so… we’ll have to make it up to you somehow. Any ideas?”

[See? Nothing bad at all.] Chen quietly let out a sigh of relief, before putting on a thoughtful impression. “Hmmm… I’ll think about it. It’s tempting to cash it in for sweet treats, but surely there’s gotta be something better…”

Her master’s master smirked. “My my, you really are maturing. It wasn’t all that long ago you’d go straight for the first thing you were hungry for.”

The catgirl shrugged. “Well, I am older now. I’ve had time to think things through, after all.” And time to realise she wasn’t a stray kitten anymore. [...She should check to see if Kosuzu had any other habits she didn’t need to hold on to. Like hoarding spare food in case she went without.]

Ran ran her hand along her shikigami’s back. “Feel free to keep it in your back pocket, then. There are some other matters we need to discuss, besides.”

“Young Kosuzu… she’s a bundle of energy, and she desperately wants to help.” Yukari said. “We want to make sure that’s put to good use. We were actually hoping you could instruct her in some of your duties.”

[...oh.] Oh no.

Chen did her best to keep her face level and steady. “Which duties would those be?”

“Some of the more minor monitoring tasks. The routine maintenance checks near the Hakurei Shrine for now.” Ran reached into her sleeve, pulling out a list. “We’d like her to take on more tasks over time, but those should be a good start.”

Yukari sat beside her. “In truth, some of those learning materials Kosuzu has today concern those duties. She may need to come in and ask questions - you’d be able to answer her, right?”

“Uh, sure… of course.” [Okay, don’t panic. It wasn’t everything.] But that’d been how she started, too. She’d started with monitoring the barrier near the Hakurei Shrine, then expanded out to the forest of magic, and so on and so forth. And now Kosuzu was taking those duties. Taking her place.

She- she should have been more prepared for it, honestly. [Calm down. It might not-] Of course they’d want Ran’s flesh and blood daughter - one who’d even inherited Yukari’s power - as the third-in-command. [Let them explain. She still didn’t know what their full plans were.] …That was true. There may yet be more she could do.

It wasn’t like it was a problem, of course. [Even if that was the intended path, she’d just have to find some other way to be useful while Kosuzu was still learning.] …She found herself starting to regret not paying more attention to Lady Ran’s lessons. Lessons that Kosuzu would naturally absorb like a sponge, bookworm that she was. It wouldn’t be long before she caught up at this rate. [...]

Hopefully they’d still at least let her stay as a maid, or something like that. [She needed to calm down and listen. Wait and hear them out.] W-well, even if they didn’t have any more use for her, she’d find her feet one way or another. She’d toughed it out for years, she could do it again, e-even if they kicked her out. [Stop!] She’d just go back to the alleyways, living with teeth and claws, biting and scratching and-

[Book! Book! Look, Lady Ran just pulled out a book.] Chen blinked, refocusing, as the book was laid at her side. “Whuh?”

Ran’s face was a picture of concern. “Are you all right, Chen? Are you sure you’re up for this talk?”

[She nodded, giving Lady Ran her full attention.] “U-uh- yes. Sorry, just got a bit lost in thought.” The nekomata couldn’t hide the guilty tone in her voice. “Um… what were you saying? I trailed off around the part where you were talking about Kosuzu asking questions...”

“Worried about having spare time?” The kitsune sighed at Chen’s expression, and gestured to the book. “As I was saying, while you’re still in bed… we’d like you to start studying this. So that when we come back to the surface, you can take some of my duties instead.”

“Eh?!” Chen stared at her, slack-jawed. “Your duties?!”

“I’d like to get Ran researching some of these phenomena - Immaterial Children, Hollow Psyches, Re/Awakening and god knows what else - on a more or less full-time basis. Which means we need another shikigami to do the large-scale monitoring.” Yukari smiled. “And we’re both in agreement you’d be best suited for it.”

“And there’s another matter, as well.” Ran gestured. “That book also contains information of the Restrictions. We’d like you to be the primary manager of Kosuzu’s set, in time. Especially as she’s still learning their nature.”

[That - that was far more than she’d ever expected.] Chen stared at the book she’d been given. It was by no means small. “...But Kosuzu-”

“Kosuzu, above all else, sees you as a big sister.” Yukari opened a small gap to observe the young fox. It seemed she had gotten distracted by reading one of the books she was going to be learning from. “And having someone who can be that for her will be important. Someone who can be her confidant, someone she can look up to for help. And we think you’re perfect to be that for her.”

The nekomata pulled herself up. “You-you really think I’m ready for all this?”

“Chen…” Ran gave the stunned nekomata a small smile. “...In the course of these seven years, a lot of bad things have happened. We’ve all been hurting. But seeing you mature from an immature little girl into a splendid young woman has been one of the best silver linings to those endless dark clouds. And with your efforts to protect Kosuzu… you’re far above and beyond any normal shikigami.”

Chen sagged, feeling relief flow through her. But the relief didn’t come alone, heavily burdened with guilt and shame. For doubting Lady Yukari, and her Mistress. “I-I… thank you, Lady Ran and Lady Yukari. I promise, I won’t let you down.”

Ran leant in. “We know you won’t.” She held the young girl close, carefully avoiding the bruises and bandages. “And… if you need anything - any help with this or anything else, please… just ask. It’d be my pleasure to spend some time teaching you myself.”

The nekomata sniffled, trying to keep herself together. “I-I’ll try to remember, Lady Ran. Thank you.”

They held the hug for a long time. Chen didn’t want it to end… but eventually, she pulled back. “A-anyway. I should get to studying this, shouldn’t I?”

Ran smiled, giving the young catgirl a scritch behind the ears. “That’s the spirit.”

“Just don’t push yourself. We want you up and ready to go with the rest of us, after all.” Yukari stood up. “Now, Ran… are you ready to go?”

The kitsune stood up. “Yes, I should be. I’ll just make sure Kosuzu’s ready, and then we’ll be off to ask Megumu some questions.”

Chen saw her pose shift, ever so slightly. [But more than that, she felt the slightest leak of energy - a sharp, piercing glint of the rage beneath.]

“And for her sake,” Ran growled, “she better have some good answers.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll make sure they get the message.” Megumu took a moment to sign the paper, rolling it up. “I have to say, though, you’re being rather lenient - all the tengu you knocked out to arrange this meeting notwithstanding.”

“Because the new Hakurei will likely be in place by the end of the week, and I’m quite sure she will take matters into her own hands.” Ran stood up. “We’ve been more hands-on than we’ve wanted to be, regardless.”

“Is that so…?” Megumu paused, leaning over. “To me, it seems like your heart’s not in it.”

The kitsune hesitated only briefly - but it was enough. Megumu was glad her old reporter’s instincts were still kicking. “Your attacks were more vicious than usual, and yet this whole meeting you’ve been glum. Is something bothering you?”

Ran sighed. “It’s… a bad time of the year for me.”

“A bad time of the year…” The daitengu hummed. “The anniversary of something terrible?”

“I’m not about to give you gossip, Megumu.” The shikigami’s walls were up full-force, it seemed. Ah well.

Megumu rang a bell on the side of her desk. A few seconds later, the door to her office opened, revealing a young crow. “Yes, Lady Iizunamaru?”

She waved the scroll around. “Please pass this to the internal notification teams, dear.” Her secretary bird duly trotted up, taking the scroll with almost reverent nervousness.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ran’s reaction. The kitsune had stiffened, watching the young girl step up to the plate. Those reporter instincts kicked in again, and Megumu stood up.

The little crow looked terrified as the daitengu rose, and even more shocked when she placed her hand on the child’s head. “And while you’re on the move, feel free to grab a little treat on your way past the cafeteria. You’re doing so well, after all.”

The hatchling blushed, but as her boss dropped a few coins in her hand, one could feel the joy radiating out of her. It showed in every part of her, from the little flutter of her wings to the sparkle in her eyes. She bowed, with a massive grin on her face, and scampered off to her task and reward.

Megumu waved her off, before turning her eyes to the kitsune. Bingo. Ran was watching the young crow with such needy intensity that she had almost abandoned any pretence of being the stern messenger of the sages. Megumu hummed, turning back. “...I see.”

The fox initially tried to resettle, but it was clear to them both the damage was done. Ran growled, a hint of arcane energy around her. “Was that theater for my ‘benefit’, then?”

“She’s a hard worker. I would have given her something later.” The daitengu sat back down, trying to ease her conversation partner’s irritation. “But yes, it was to confirm my suspicions. Apologies for prying, but… old habits die hard.”

The kitsune muttered under her breath, her tails closing in around her almost defensively. Megumu looked away, seeing no recourse but to continue the conversation herself. “I can’t say I’ve experienced that form of pain myself. Never quite been lucky enough to have a child of my own. But going through something like that…”

“...she was my daughter.” Ran’s whole body seemed to sag, her bounty of tails deflating. “When she was three.”

Megumu flinched. “...Has she passed, then?”

The kitsune straightened up. “No, she was kidnapped. The thought she may yet live… it’s both the hardest weight I have to bear, and the only thing that keeps me going.”

“...I see.” The daitengu sighed. She’d always had a soft spot for children. And Ran really did seem like she’d be a great mother, if the way she treated Chen was any indication.

…Though, that reminded her. “Y’know, Tsukasa’s actually got a kit of her own. Adorable little thing.”

Ran seemed rather shocked. “Tsukasa? Really? I can’t see her even managing a date, let alone a family.”

This again? Megumu had to bite back her first comments. While Tsukasa had her problems, she’d never really had a normal life. The high-stakes court life of Tamamo-no-Mae’s daughter had put the fox under constant pressure, and more than once someone she thought was a friend had instead conspired against her for their own power and status. And then she’d been forced to hide her tails, her fur, and even her very self for fear of being hunted down - only to find the humble guise she’d put on becoming her nightmarish reality. Frankly, it was a miracle she was as stable as she was.

Sure, she was mischievous and caused trouble from time to time, but plenty of youkai had done worse than she ever managed, and yet were now casually accepted parts of Gensokyo. Megumu had made sure she at least had a fresh start after the dust settled - after all, wasn’t that what a godmother was supposed to do?

Not that she could say Ran’s assertion was entirely wrong, admittedly. The tube-fox’s scars still stung, and they had scuppered many relationships before they could even begin. So Megumu had been quite delighted when Tsukasa had brought in the little stray fox, and insisted on adopting her as her own. It was a sign that Tsukasa was finally beginning to heal, to look to the future, rather than glare at the past.

Tsukasa had asked Megumu to keep it secret - the little girl fully believed she was a flesh-and-blood Kudamaki, and the daitengu had no inclination to spoil it for her. So instead she just rolled her eyes. “Actually, Tsukasa’s perked right up now that she has her daughter. She’s no harm these days.”

“A kuda-gitsune born from Tamamo-no-Mae is the opposite of no-harm,” Ran scoffed, before a thought seemed to strike her. “Where is she today, anyways?”

“Ah, I’m not sure exactly.” Megumu hummed, before shrugging. “You know how she is, she’s a bit timid when things get antsy.”

“Riiiiight.” She heard the kitsune’s evident disdain as she started to rifle through her drawers. “Is there any other business to discuss?”

“Well, I took a few pictures with her kit when she brought her in for some small jobs. She was just the most adorable, cuddy thing you’ve ever seen...” Megumu moved a few more pieces of stationery, sighing. “Ahh, I wish she’d bring her around more often. But Tsukasa says I spoil her.”

Ran rolled her eyes. “Knowing you, she’s probably correct. And why do you think you need to show me this?”

“Well, sometimes cute and fluffy therapy helps, y’know? Even if it’s in vicarious form.” The daitengu shut the drawers on her desk, before standing up. “Damn, where did I put them?”

The kitsune stood up. “While I appreciate the thought, Megumu, it’s unnecessary. I’ll just take my leave for now.”

The daitengu sighed. “Ah well, if you say so, Ran… Just don’t give up hope, alright?” She turned to the kitsune more fully. “This is Gensokyo, after all. Lost people end up here as a matter of course.”

“Indeed…” Ran strode to the door, opening it with her magic. “I’ll just have to hope you’re right on that.”

The fox let out one last sigh. “And hope that, one day… I’ll get to see my Kosuzu again.”

Megumu’s heart stopped. Her brain locked up, the name echoing through her skull. The kitsune didn’t notice, lost in her own thoughts as she shut the door.

By the time the young secretary bird returned, still chewing on mochi, three drawers had been pulled clean out of their brackets, and Megumu was kneeling over one of them. Staring at the young fox in the picture.

“Tsukasa… no… you wouldn’t, would you…?”

The crow stepped forward. “Umm… Lady Megumu…? What’s-”

She stood up. “I need to go.”

“Huh? But the next meeting is-”

“Cancel it.” The daitengu strode out past her secretary. “And anything else I’ve got booked. I’m leaving, now.”

“But-”

The daitengu took off, with a gust of wind that knocked the young girl clean off her feet. She had to get to Tsukasa, and find out the truth of the matter. Before any of the foxes met each other, and Ran made the same conclusions she feared.

Surely the horrible idea she’d had wasn’t the truth… was it? The very thought filled Megumu with dread. But no, surely not. Little Shirohime? Doing something that insane? She must be misunderstanding things, somewhere. Maybe she’d rescued the girl from the real kidnapper, or- or Kosuzu had ended up lost and alone, or-or something!

Hopefully it was all some kind of crazy misunderstanding, but if Ran saw her old enemy acting as the mother to her daughter, she’d jump to the worst conclusions. Tsukasa would be lucky to escape that encounter even remotely intact.

And if - if this really was what Megumu dreaded it was, then Tamamo’s daughter had taken off down a suicidal path… and Megumu had failed her oldest friend.

---

Ran flipped through the photos Megumu had offered. She was staring at them with incredible intensity - if she’d even blinked, the daitengu hadn’t seen it.

Yukari, meanwhile, hovered just behind her kitsune. While the fox’s gaze was locked on the photographs, her master’s focus was entirely on Megumu herself. Trying to judge the crow’s role in all this. Trying to figure out how the daitengu missed so much.

If she had any ideas, Megumu would have to ask her. The whole scope of this disaster was still something she was struggling to grasp. It turned out what she’d suspected happened wasn’t the truth, after all - because the truth was somehow even worse. Tsukasa hadn’t just taken Ran’s daughter; it didn’t take a lot of looking around the kuda-gitsune’s home to realise that she’d taken her grudge out on the young kit as well.

Like the letters, oh gods the letters. Megumu had found them in a small box at the back of a drawer at Tsukasa’s house. And when reading them, it became clear just how bad the young fox was hurting. Tsukasa had told Megumu that the point of pulling Kosuzu away was to stop her from getting spoiled, but it had been presented to the young kit as the result of grievous mistakes she was at fault for, and thus the daitengu would attack her on sight. So Kosuzu had written not one but multiple tear-stained letters of apology, pleading for the tengu to give her a chance to make up for a mistake she’d never made. And the fact Tsukasa had kept them, rather than destroyed them as was far more logical, had only disturbed her godmother more.

This had resulted in a quiet, frantic search across Gensokyo for any sign of Tsukasa or Kosuzu. Or Ran, for that matter, who had apparently torn through the sky in dramatic fashion while Megumu had been tearing Tsukasa’s house apart. Finding no trace of any Yakumos or Kudamakis had left her completely stumped, knowing for a fact that things were almost certainly exploding without a single idea of where they were, or how to stop it.

It seemed her answers were finally here - in the form of a Ran holding back a boiling rage and an equally icy Yukari. Megumu could only thank her lucky stars that she’d been trying to show Ran the pictures before she’d left - it was likely the primary reason the kitsune hadn’t come in with danmaku blazing.

After a few agonizing minutes, the kitsune looked up. “When I spoke to you, five days ago. Were these pictures-”

“-the ones I intended to show, of course.” Megumu sagged. “But I didn’t- if I’d known, I wouldn’t have-”

“And you hired young Kosuzu to forge accounts for you?” Yukari’s voice was devoid of any telling emotions, but it wasn’t hard to guess the multiple layers to that question. “And threatened violence when she failed?”

“I would never threaten-!” The daitengu took a moment to bite back, and choose her words carefully. “The tasks I gave her were standard for the kuda-gitsune I employ who aren’t ready for field work or dangerous situations. She performed them impeccably, but even if she had screwed up I would never have let her get hurt.”

“You do seem to have a soft spot for young kids,” Yukari conceded. “One that Tsukasa exploited to full effect.”

The daitengu flinched. “...Point taken. But I never even…” She put her head in her hands. “How did she end up like that? Where did I go so wrong?”

After a moment, she snapped her head up again. “Is Kosuzu okay? What happened to Tsukasa?”

“Is Kosuzu okay…? She may be, one day,” Ran said icily. “But healing seven years of abuse will take even longer than that.”

Yukari stepped forward. “As for Tsukasa… an interesting situation has occurred. It seems that due to a minor quirk of her boundaries, she has temporarily become a kitsune again - albeit with only one tail.” The sage flicked her fan open. “What happens from here, though, depends on you.”

Megumu looked at her. “You mean… there’s a chance to save her?”

“Indeed. Having been gifted a chance to reclaim her past status, there is a path where she comes out of her punishment in a better state than she started.” Yukari’s gaze pierced through the daitengu. “Of course, for us to even consider such a laborious ‘treatment’… we’ll require your full cooperation.”

Megumu sagged. Even though she knew that they’d hold her over a barrel with this, she wasn’t in any position to object. Still…

She turned her head up. “I’ll do whatever you need me to. Just… tell me what’ll happen to her.”

Yukari hummed, as if deep in thought. The seconds dragged on for hours.

“Let me put it this way,” she said at last. “Whether you work with us or not… Tsukasa will never threaten Kosuzu again.”

“What do you want, Ran?” The tube-fox’s gaze was locked on the night sky.

“...Shirohime?” Ran’s voice was one of open shock. “It really is you, isn’t it? What happened to you?”

The disbelief stung. The pity stung worse. She turned, hissing.

“What do you think happened?! My disguise for laying low became the real deal.” The tube-fox scowled. “Nobody knows who Shirohime is. All that’s left is Kudamaki Tsukasa.”

She turned back to looking out over the balcony. “My magic power’s nearly all gone. And even if they didn’t know who I was, if I still had my white fur I’d be skinned and used as a rug. Iizunamaru’s the only reason I’m still alive.” She felt her tail droop. “The only reason I remember.”

“Remember…?” The real kitsune whispered the word. Tsukasa scoffed before continuing.

“Yeah, how’s that for a fun little fact? When you hide your past… you lose it as well. After all, why would some random dumb gutter-fox know spells created by the great Tamamo-no-Mae?”

Her claws dug into the woodwork. Tsukasa leant back, craning her neck over so she could look at the other fox upside-down. “And why would the great and powerful Shirohime write down any of those spells, while she was squirreled away? Why would she even notice that she’s losing her own mother’s precious gifts when she has to hide them in the first place? Just stupidity. Just a dumb fox being stupid, stupid, STUPID!”

She snapped forward, slamming her head into the railing. Her vision swam, and she staggered around, unbalanced. She started to lurch, seeing darkness spread out before her as she bent over the railing - before she felt a hand on the back of her collar, yanking her back.

“Shirohime?! What the hell are you doing?!” Through her blurry eyes, she could still make out that damn woman’s face. Saved by her, huh? Something about it made her burst out laughing, leaving the kitsune shocked.

“Kyahahahahaha! Oh, quit being such a worrywart, Ran!” The tube fox waved her hand, airily. “Nothing important in there, anyways! What’s the harm in knocking down the walls of an empty shed?” She was laughing so hard she was tearing up.

Ran seemed entirely lost for words as Tsukasa continued. “I-It’s been so long, I’ve lost so much… it almost feels like it isn’t even real anymore. I-if you hadn’t shown up, I-I might have had to ask Megumu if any of it was the truth.” The tears kept flowing. “D-do you know what it’s like, Ran? To lose yourself? To feel everything you were slipping away?”

“I…” The kitsune hesitated before sighing. “Not… personally, no. But I’ve seen someone decline like that before. I’m… sorry you had to go through that, Shirohime.”

“Piss off.” She sat up, trying to push away from the larger fox. “I don’t want pity, least of all from you. Just finish your business with Iizunamaru and leave me alone, damn it.”

Tsukasa staggered upright, bringing a hand to where her head stung the most. Blood, damn it. She’d just fly around Megumu’s office instead of going through it.

“Shirohime-”

“Stop calling me that. Shirohime is dead, remember? Your witch of a master killed her,” the kuda-gitsune growled, lifting off with a spell to fly up the side of the building. Ran seemed to hesitate for a moment, before continuing.

“...Tsukasa, then. …When you’re feeling better, talk to Iizunamaru about our plans. We’re creating an enclave for youkai.”

Tsukasa hesitated, if only for a moment. “So what? What will that change?”

“It… might be a way for you to start over. Maybe even become a kitsune again.” Tsukasa turned to her, eyes full of suspicion. “I can’t promise anything, of course, but… even if you can’t regain the spells you lost, you might be able to regain your fur, and your name.”

There was a long silence between the two of them. Tsukasa tried to think it through, but her head was aching. She was already not flying straight. “...in the morning,” she said at last, floating up haphazardly. “I’ll ask her in the morning.”

The fox reached her room, tumbling down until she hit grass. She groaned, sprawled out on the ground. Her head was pounding, but now that she was actually conscious, her body ached too - right down to her bones.

Where the hell even was she? The last she remembered, Kosuzu had… she shuddered, curling up a bit. What the hell even was that nightmarish magic?! And where the hell had she been hiding it?

Slowly, she picked herself up, feeling the grass beneath her hands. Grass… grass? The Animal Realm was an urban hellscape the last time she checked. She blinked, feeling sunset’s hues flow into her vision. Where was she-?

Purple. A woman dressed in purple. Tsukasa’s blood ran cold. She scrambled back, looking up in terror. Yakumo Yukari met her gaze with frigid contempt.

“Y-you-” The fox could hardly speak. “Y-you, you’re…”

“She is my mistress, Yakumo Yukari.” A voice she recognised all too well. “I believe you’ve met before.”

She spun around, her heart skipping a beat. Yakumo Ran, looming over her, somehow even larger and more dominant than she remembered. Her eyes were filled with utter rage. She scrambled back again, until she bumped into a rock.

There was no mistaking what this was. Her interrogation, or her punishment. Maybe both. She grit her teeth, trying to build up her courage. “What… what do you want?”

“To put an end to this,” Yukari stated, flicking out her fan. “An end to the long grudge between you and us, once and for all.”

“And it’s up to you how this ends. There’s even a vanishingly small chance that you walk away unscathed.” Ran’s voice suggested that the peaceful resolution was the last thing she wanted. “But what happens from here depends on you.”

Tsukasa scowled. “Yeah, right. I’m dead no matter what, aren’t I?”

“Dead? My dear, you’re lacking imagination if you think death is the worst that can happen to you.” The gap youkai gave a sinister chuckle. “Or did you think a tube fox was as far as you could fall?”

Tsukasa shuddered. Ran straightened up. “Frankly, I’m appalled you never made it back to kitsune. Did you not even try to reverse your regression?”

Some part of the tube fox’s scattered brain, with more indignance than sense, had to respond to that. “Oh that’s a laugh. Your fresh start was a load of bull from the beginning - this little enclave’s far too small for any of us.”

Ran narrowed her eyes. “It sustains all the youkai here. There should be more than enough faith available to change your fate.”

“Really? Tell me, Ran, ever heard of someone actually doing that?” Tsukasa pushed off the rock to sit up, glaring at what was once her understudy. “Maybe there’s enough to sustain this rotting carcass of a society. But it turns out getting recognised as one thing makes it impossible to become anything else!”

She threw her arms wide. “From the moment I arrived here, people called me what I was - a lowly gutter-fox. The bloody crows spread it far and wide on the whisper network - oooh, watch out for that Tsukasa, she’s a real sneaky one! - and thus my fate was sealed.” She scoffed. “Once you’re known as one thing in Gensokyo, you’re stuck that way.”

The kitsune hesitated, but it was Yukari who stepped up. “Perhaps it is difficult, but… there are many who doubt the tengu’s words. If you’d truly made an effort to change, you might yet have been able to save yourself.”

“...Big words from the woman who damned me into this state in the first place. But it’s just like you to blame the players for losing your rigged games.” Tsukasa gave a sly grin. “Did you ever try to play it yourself? What would Renko think, if she saw what you’ve become?”

She was expecting some reaction. A gritting of teeth, a narrowing of eyes.

What she got instead was a completely blank look. The sage gave no recognition of the name whatsoever, just sticking her hand into a gap. “Whatever you say, gutter-fox. We don’t really care what you think about Gensokyo as a whole. All we need is information.”

She pulled out a book, one that Tsukasa recognised immediately. Damn it, they found that? “I want to know where you got this from. Give a good answer, and maybe you’ll be leaving here with the same amount of legs as you started.”

Tsukasa shrugged it off. “What, can’t you tell it’s fake-”

“We’ve seen the Hollow Psyches, Tsukasa.” The fox flinched. “And in fact, you may be interested to know that they were instrumental to your undoing. A third party used them to tip Kosuzu off, when you were taking Yumemi.”

Tsukasa felt her heart stop.

“Which means that… for all this grand revenge scheme you thought you had, it’s very likely you were just being played.” Yukari gave a look that oozed smugness. “So you’ve got no reason to hide who gave it to you, do you?”

Tsukasa broke eye contact, growling. “...I never got a name. They just said they were a member of my mother’s court. Could describe it pretty well, too.”

“Considering this book came from the future, they very well could have just gone to the past and spied upon her.” Tsukasa couldn’t meet her captor’s gaze. “Any distinguishing features?”

“They were in a black cloak, so no. Heavy, with a big hood - maybe they were hiding animal ears or something?”

…She could tell how well her words were playing. If that slim chance of going unscathed relied on her being able to give up some good intel, it looked like that window of opportunity was shutting.

“I see.” Yukari leant back. “Did they assist you with the kidnapping?”

…Oh. Had they not figured it out yet? Tsukasa snickered, pulling herself up. “Oh, you wanna know how I did it? How the mere tube-fox got her hands on your greatest secret?”

There was just the slightest moment of hesitation before Yukari continued. “You used the hollow psyches to scout out a safe place to infiltrate. And then you used a form of teleportation from the book to bring you there.”

“Yes, yes, that’s a good start. But you don’t know how I got away, do you?” She smirked, seeing the two of them share a glance. “Of course, I had help. From three people, in fact.”

“There’s no way you had three accomplices!” Ran snapped.

“I never said that, now did I? I only had the one.” Tsukasa shrugged, leaning back on the rock behind her. “Now, you’re not wrong, of course. If they’d heard that a tube-fox named Tsukasa planned to kidnap Ran’s child, nobody sane would risk being attached to it.” She smirked. “But if they heard Shirohime was trying to rescue her daughter-”

The kitsune snarled, drawing her arm back. The arm shifted, into one of the monstrous claws that had clutched for Tsukasa on that night. A meaty claw swiped into her face, knocking the tube-fox on her side, spitting blood.

But still, she was smiling. As she straightened up, she gave her attacker a vicious grin. “I’m sure they had their doubts. But that’s when my second bit of help came in. After all, who would look at a monster like you, and ever think you were the aggrieved party?”

The kitsune’s eyes shrank to pinpricks, staring at her monstrous claw. Tsukasa chuckled, turning her head to the gap youkai. “A clear misunderstanding, of course - but one that might have been fixed, if only you were to ask around. Of course, that would require divulging a valuable secret - and even though it was already compromised, Yakumo Yukari would never do such a thing. Right?”

A gap formed by her throat, and Yukari’s hand surged through it, seizing the tube fox by the windpipe. “Who was it, Tsukasa?!” The sage snarled, as the fox struggled for breath. “Who did you trick?!”

“Now, now, you’re not dumb, Yukari.” The fox pulled at her iron grip, trying to get enough air into her lungs. “Surely you’ve had your suspicions for a long time, of people who had the capabilities, but not the drive? Does learning they thought you were the bad guys help?”

The gap youkai glared at her, her cool veneer broken. At length, though, she released her captive, dropping her on the ground.

Tsukasa coughed, spitting up a bit more blood with it. “S-so, you do have your suspicions, then? Think you can figure out the last few pieces without my help?” Tsukasa smirked. “Go on, then. Do whatever you’re gonna do to me. Not like I’m ever gonna be a kitsune again, anyways.”

There was a long, long silence. The sun had fully disappeared over the horizon, and darkness was beginning to fall. Tsukasa closed her eyes, trying to steady her nerves. This is it, then. This is where this shitty second chance ends.

Then… a slow chuckle. The tube-fox opened her eyes, to see Yukari smirking at her. “You didn’t notice, did you? What Kosuzu did to you?”

Tsukasa paused, hesitantly looking over herself. Aside from the wounds she’d gained, she didn’t notice any-

White.

Her tail was white. Her thoughts ground to a complete halt, as she stared at it. “I-I… what…?”

Yukari kept chuckling. “Your boundary between tube-fox and kitsune may have been buried, but it was still there. Turns out it wasn’t that hard to bring it to the surface.”

Tsukasa looked over herself, really examining her body. She really was white-furred again, her skin and body unblemished aside from the blood she’d spat up on it.

“...Why? Why would she…?” It didn’t make sense. There wasn’t a single world in which it made sense. That brat- Kosuzu had… helped her? Saved her? Granted, she only had one tail still, but-

“Of course, you do have a point, I’ll concede.” Yukari shrugged, striding up to the young fox. With the gap witch towering over here, Tsukasa realised why her captors seemed so impossibly huge - she was smaller, younger, than she’d been in centuries. “Were we to send you out as-is, you’d surely fall to your old tube-fox self again. Such a waste of a second chance at Kitsune-hood, isn’t it?”

Tsukasa’s blood ran cold. They- they were gonna do it again. They were gonna take it away from her, again. She scrabbled around, looking for anything she could use to get away.

Ran stepped forward. “And at the same time, a kitsune with a grudge against us is far more of a threat than a tube-fox. Especially to my daughters. So how do we deal with Tamamo-no-Mae’s child, returning to haunt us one more?”

The rock! I-it wasn’t much, but if she could hit one of them with it she might just have a chance! Tsukasa spun around reaching out for the improvised weapon-

The rock rippled as her hand touched it, almost splashing like water. She sunk in up to her wrist - but when she tried to pull back, it was like it had always been stone. Her hand went numb, and as her arm started to sink through, by all rights she should have hit the dirt on the other side - but it was like the stone was swallowing her whole.

And that was when she saw it for what it was. Not some stray rock but instead a statue, placed on the ground. A statue of a one-tailed fox, curled up on itself.

Ready and waiting for her.

Ran stepped around the fox, kneeling in front of her old enemy. “We deal with her the same way her mother was dealt with. We seal her in stone.”

“No, no no no no no no no no no nonononono!” Tsukasa tried to use her other arm to pull away, but the trapped arm only sunk in further - and now her other arm was caught, too.

“Now now, don’t despair, Tsukasa. Or should I say Shirohime?” Yukari’s grin seemed to gleam in the sunset light. “It might be scary, but it’ll help in the long run, I promise.”

Tsukasa’s head spun around to face the gap witch. “After all, if anyone looked at the way you act, they’d recognise Tsukasa, the lowly tube fox. But if they saw you long after that fox was dead and gone, perhaps they’d actually see a young kitsune?”

Tsukasa tried to get her legs up to push it away, but they sunk in as well. Ran grabbed the edge of the stone statue - with none of the trapping that Tsukasa was experiencing - and tipped it backwards, so the regressed kitsune was on her back.

“But they need time to forget the old Tsukasa. And Kosuzu needs time to grow, so you can’t threaten her.” Ran stood up. “So you need to go away, for a long, long time.”

She raised her foot, placing it on top of the rock now creeping down Tsukasa’s arms. And, if you ask me… three hundred years should do it.”

The ninetails leant forward, pressing down on the statue. It hungrily devoured Tsukasa’s limbs, hitting the ground near her hips first. With each push, a bit more of Tsukasa's body was swallowed, the stone creeping up her torso as the statue's face neared hers.

“Please, please please please please!” She squirmed, trying to get away from the inevitability. “I-I won’t harm her! I’ll leave you all alone, I swear!”

“No need to swear, Shirohime.” Yukari hummed. “We know you’ll do those things. You’ll have no choice in the matter, after all.”

“Stop! Please!” The rock was nearly on her face now. “S-someone… anyone! Auntie Megu! Mommy! Please, please, help m-”

Ran’s foot pushed the stone down to the floor.

And Tsukasa was gone.

Reimu sighed, checking the note one more time.

Kosuzu’s here. Let the Yakumo know. But let me handle her.

It was a bit brief, but it’d have to do. She knelt down, giving a quiet knock before gently pushing it under the door - and watching a small flash of otter-green light on the other side.

The young jidiao stood up, turning to look at her friend. Kosuzu had buried her face in the young miko’s pillow. “So… do you wanna talk about this, or…”

“No.” The fox’s voice was muffled, but clear enough. “Just leave me alone.”

…Well, Reimu couldn’t exactly get to sleep with the young kitsune in her bed, but this was clearly not a time to be getting fussy about the details. “Well… alright. If you need me, I’m here, okay?”

She was still trying to process what had happened. From what she understood, the plan had been to lock Tsukasa down as a nonlethal form of punishment - nonlethal, as the daughter of Tamamo-no-Mae was a powerful bargaining chip if her mother ever broke free. Once the white fox was sealed, she was then to be handed off to Megumu to be kept for her ‘sentence’, with the explicit understanding that this was also a form of forced rehabilitation - Tsukasa being freed early would almost certainly end with her right back to being a tube-fox, if the Yakumo didn’t track her down and skin her instead.

It had been a relatively well-reasoned plan, with the only real question being Megumu’s own willingness to acquiesce with Yukari’s demands. And from what she’d initially gotten down the grapevine was that she’d largely folded. But it had been a plan Kosuzu was fully on board with when the elder Yakumo had left - what had changed in the time in-between?

The young miko sat back, taking a moment to inspect her luggage. There was only a small celebration to be had tomorrow, and then they were off the day after that. Was there anything important still to be packed? Had she missed any plushies she wanted to include? …She still couldn’t find the tadpole, or the catfish-

Kosuzu had sat up. Reimu turned her head, to see the girl’s eyes red from crying. “I hate this. I hate it.”

The older girl stepped over, to sit by the young bookkeeper’s side. “What happened?”

The fox-girl sniffled. “Mom and Yukari came back. They said they’d been asking Tsukasa some questions.

Reimu instinctively braced herself. “What did that tube fox say now?”

Kosuzu’s tail pulled in close around her. “...That mom and Yukari could have saved me seven years ago. That she used mom’s scary form to convince her partner she was saving me, and she relied on Yukari keeping it secret to make sure she never got busted.”

Reimu flinched. If either one was true, that was incredibly rough on the whole family. She sighed, giving the younger girl a pat on the back. “...No wonder you’re so angry.”

The kit jumped up. “I-I’m furious! I’ve never been angrier in my life! In either life!” She was starting to tear up again. “It’s another huge mess, and I’m in the center of it, again!”

She kicked the bedside table, knocking some of the drawers half-open. Reimu blanched, the jidiao rushing over to make sure she hadn’t seen the contents. By the time she’d gently pushed the drawers shut, Kosuzu had slammed her face into the bed, screaming.

Reimu waited until the muffled yelling calmed down. “It’s okay, just… let it all out. And then maybe you can talk it out-”

The fox surged up, putting her face within inches of Reimu’s. “Are you saying I shouldn’t be angry? Angry that Lady Yukari and Mom’s choices made me suffer for seven years?”

Reimu tried to lean back. “No, I’m not - Tsukasa’s always had that skill, right? She digs into weaknesses like a pro.”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Kosuzu was almost clambering over her now. “But I can’t just blame Tsukasa, can I?!”

Reimu blinked. “Why not? I mean, they made their mistakes, but she’s still the one who tricked them into those choices, right?”

The other girl disengaged. “You don’t get it. You just don’t get it.”

The jidiao groaned. This was not a discussion to have at 10 pm. “What am I not getting?”

Kosuzu stood up, beginning to pace. “Yukari told me, you know. She warned me about exactly this back on the first day, that this might have been what happened. But-but she made it sound like Ran’s mistakes were her mistakes. I think she wanted me to blame her, not mom, if it came down to it, right?”

Reimu nodded, hesitantly, before the fox continued. “And sure, I could do that. And I could go a step further and say that it wasn’t Yukari’s fault either, it was Tsukasa’s fault. It was all her revenge scheme against the Yakumo for ruining her all those years ago.”

She spun on her heel, her hands balled into fists. “But the only reason she even got a chance to do that revenge scheme was because Grandpa wanted to find me, right? But that doesn’t solve the solution of blaming people I care about, does it?!” She grabbed her ears, pulling at them. “So the only reason any of this happened is because I was there to make it happen!”

Reimu leapt up, grabbing the young kitsune and pulling her into a hug. “Kosuzu, none of this is your fault-”

“It is! It’s all me again!” She was openly weeping now. “I-I’ve just made everything worse! Everything comes back to me! If I didn’t- I never should’ve…”

“Shhhh, shhhhhh…” Reimu kept petting the young girl, who was sobbing into her shoulder. The jidiao was racking her brain, trying to think of something to say.

The argument was blatantly illogical, on its face. But Kosuzu wasn’t following any logic in her thoughts here, just circling an old wound. How could she challenge that…?

Well, there was only one option that came to mind. As her friend started to settle down a bit, Reimu took a deep breath.

“You know, really, it’s Keine’s fault.”

The fox looked up at her, confused. It was clear the statement had come so far out of left field she wasn’t sure how to respond. The jidiao gave a small smile as she continued. “She’s the one who reincarnated you as a fox, after all.”

Kosuzu looked away. “But… I was still the one who chose…”

“Still, you wouldn’t have had a choice if Keine didn’t try to change your history, right?” Reimu ran her hands through the young foxes’ hair. “So it’s Keine’s fault. I’m sure she’d rather you blame her than yourself, right?”

Kosuzu shook her head, firmly. “No, that’s not - Keine’s suffered enough. Besides, we were supposed to Remember, weren’t we? We were gonna be the ones to fix things.” She leant on Reimu some more. “And I was the last one, and I couldn’t…”

“Sure, you were supposed to Remember. But we were there to guard you, right? So maybe the fault lies with us.” Reimu felt a bit of guilt creeping up on her, but she pushed it down as best she could. “After all, me and Youmu… if we’d done a better job of guarding you, we should’ve still been able to fix things. If we’d kept Akyuu safe, too, it wouldn’t have even been necessary. ”

The fox leant in closer, giving her a tighter hug. “Reimu… don’t blame yourself. You didn’t know what the pyres were like, after all…”

“Mmm. Yeah, I suppose.” The jidiao paused, thinking it over. “But I only didn’t know because Yukari didn’t tell me. Wait, no, that’s back to Yukari again. Gotta keep going.”

That got a small sound that almost sounded like a laugh out of the younger girl, so Reimu gave her a small headpat. “Even though Yukari keeps secrets, that Sanae and Tenshi were the ones who decided to not even tell us what the Pyres were in the first place. Maybe we blame them.”

“Then…” Kosuzu let out something like a chuckle. “Well, they only could do that because they became Immaterial Children too, right?”

“But that just means it’s Keheheine’s fault again!” Reimu’s mock indignation was difficult to hold with her growing giggles. “Ah, but wait, this time we can blame Suwako, ‘cos she was the one that grabbed Sanae and Tenshi! Yeah, it’s all the Moriya Shrine again. They’re usually the problem-causers.”

The fox was starting to laugh. “Shouldn’t we blame the mastermind for forcing Suwako to do that?”

Reimu took a moment to steady herself. “I give it like a 33% chance when we find out why the mastermind did this, the faults with the Moriya anyways.”

Kosuzu actually burst out laughing, the miko just staying by her friend’s side. “C-come on, Reimu…” She wiped a tear from the eye. “W-we can’t blame the Moriya just because. Besides, without them there wouldn’t even be a world to save.”

“Yeah, I s’pose.” She pulled the girl over, sitting her down. “But you get my point, don’t you?”

The jidiao looked out. “We can go back as far as we want, blaming whoever we want in the daisy chain of all these events. But the point is that nobody involved at any point knew how it was going to play out, right?”

The fox nestled into her. “...I guess… but that doesn’t make it better, does it?”

“No, but for all we know, the alternatives were even worse.” Reimu hummed. “Like… maybe if they’d sent out a big alert about you being missing, Tsukasa would have fled Gensokyo entirely, and you’d never have realised you weren’t her daughter. Or maybe someone worse would have found you and done even more terrible stuff. Maybe we wouldn’t have been able to find you at all.”

“You think so?”

Reimu shrugged. “It’s possible. Can’t say for certain, of course.” She gave the young girl a scritch behind the ears. “But that’s the thing about… well, everything, I suppose. We can try to be careful, and make the best choices we can in the moment, but sometimes things will just blow up in a way we can’t prepare for.”

She hummed. “And once it’s happened, we can’t change what’s happened in the past. Well, Keine can, but - I’m getting off track.” Kosuzu giggled again. “What matters is what you do to fix problems once you’ve seen them happen. And if you know Yukari like I do, getting her to confess to anything is like pulling teeth. The fact that she came right out and told you means she’s changing her strategy. Even if it risks new problems… she doesn’t want something like this to happen again.”

“We’ve just gotta play the hand we’re dealt, and hope that everything turns out okay in the end. That doesn’t mean ignoring the consequences if it doesn’t… but it does mean understanding that the best-laid plans will fall apart sometimes. Even if it’s Yukari.”

Kosuzu let out a small chuckle. “You know, Reimu, you say some surprisingly smart things sometimes.”

“Whaddaya mean ‘surprisingly smart’?” The fox giggled, breaking into coughs from the puff of Reimu’s smoke. The jidiao just sighed. “...Come on, Kosuzu. Let’s go back to your mom, alright? I’m sure she’s worried sick about you.”

The kit looked down at the floor. “...Okay. Just gimme a minute. Ugh, I’m a mess…”

“We’ll stop by the bathroom in the dorm. Get you freshened up, yeah?” Kosuzu nodded, as her friend got her to her feet. “Come on, the sooner we all talk, the better.”

As she shuffled the younger girl off, Reimu let out a small sigh of relief. Hopefully, the Yakumo would be able to reconcile tonight. It was only the day after tomorrow that they’d all start living together, and having heartbreak hanging over them was the last thing they needed.

Besides, there was a reason she’d rushed to close that one drawer. Because she was aware of what Ran and Yukari had been planning for the morning, and purchased a book for the occasion.

After all, Kosuzu was turning ten tomorrow. And what was a birthday party without presents?

---

A few minutes had passed. Kosuzu had managed to freshen up a bit, and now Reimu was walking her back down the halls to where the Yakumo family was staying.

“You know, I was thinking. She nearly got Yumemi too, didn’t she?”

Reimu blinked, before turning to Kosuzu. “Mmm? You mean Tsukasa? Yeah, you’ve told me. Seemed like a lot of close calls.”

The little fox looked away. “Ummm… It was only ‘cos of the Hollow Psyches we were able to fix that, right?”

“I suppose so, yeah.” Kosuzu had explained it to her the day after everything had went down. “And if they hadn’t, we would’ve been in big trouble.

Kosuzu looked down. “...They’re probably the only reason that Yumemi’s still with us. And Lady Yukari said they were trying to push me towards finding out the truth, too.”

“They’re trying to help too, huh?” Reimu chuckled. “I wonder if they’ve screwed up anywhere.”

“Do you have any idea where they come from?” The young fox tugged at her. “Because, I was thinking… they were like us, right?”

“You know better than me,” the jidiao said. “I haven’t actually seen them.”

Kosuzu looked down. “It makes me wonder… where did they all come from?”

Reimu paused for a moment. “Who knows? Youmu and - and Okuu, I guess - apparently handled their Pyre without any major casualties, so it can’t be there.”

“...Do you think they’re still around? The Hollow Psyches, I mean.” The kit seemed… slightly embarrassed. Reimu raised an eyebrow. “I… wanna tell them something.”

“And you don’t want to talk to an empty room?” Reimu chuckled at the other girl’s blush. “Yeah, kinda hard to tell when they’re undetectable.”

…But something about Reimu’s intuition was pinging. Slowly, she took a deep breath. “...Why not just say it?”

“Wh-you mean right now?” Kosuzu was nearly as red as her fur.

“I mean, everyone else is asleep, or at least nowhere near here. So what’s the harm in saying it?” Reimu gave a small smile. “I promise not to tell anyone, and if we find a way to tell them, I might be able to pass it on.” She paused. “Though… I’m pretty sure Yukari’s gonna figure out a way to contact them first, so you’ll probably get first dibs, but you get what I mean.”

“...Okay, umm…” Kosuzu paused, her ears folded back. She seemed to be rather shy, in the moment. “Well, I… I know we were just talking about not blaming people when things go wrong. But… when they try to help and they succeed, it’s okay to be happy, right?”

She looked up, giving a small smile. “I want to say… thank you. Thank you for looking out for me and Yumemi.”

For a moment, Reimu saw the tiniest glint. She tried to get a good look, but whatever she’d seen had disappeared before she’d locked eyes on it.

But it had disappeared, not just been a figment of her imagination - judging by Kosuzu’s glancing in the same direction, she’d seen it too. Reimu gave a small smile. “Yeah. Thanks, little motes of whatever-you-are. And here’s hoping you’ll be looking out for us in the future, too.”

The young fox giggled, as the two of them rounded a corner. It lead out into the hospital ward, where the elder Yakumo had clearly been talking to Chen.

It was the other patient, however, who spotted the young fox first. Yumemi gave them a warm smile. “Ah, here she comes. How’d things go, Reimu?”

The jidiao gave Kosuzu a small pat on the back, as the Yakumo family turned around. “Oh, y’know. Well enough.”

The little fox tottered up to her family. “Um… Mom? Lady Yukari?” Her ears drooped. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said any of that-”

Ran pulled her into a big hug. “No, Kosuzu, really… we can’t apologise enough. It’s okay to be angry, after all that’s happened.”

As the Yakumo began reconciling, Reimu saw the time-traveller beckoning her over. She stepped up, giving Yumemi a small smile. “I’m guessing you’ve heard the gist?”

“More or less.” The red-headed woman leant back. “However you did it, good work. You’re heading to bed right now? I just woke up, so I’m kinda amped.”

The jidiao had to stifle a yawn. “Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint you, but I really gotta get to sleep. Did the otters get the gift you wanted?”

“Mmmm. Got it hidden under the pillows. And a bit of other reading material, too.” Yumemi chuckled. “I guess that’s goodnight, then. See you in the morning.”

“Yeah, see you in the morning, Yumemi.” It seemed like everyone was getting her books… aside from Yukari, who was apparently creating some sort of enchanted book-bag. …Well, it was Kosuzu, and a version of her that’d never had a bookshelf of her own. It’d be fine. Taking a moment to give her friend and the rest of the Yakumo family a goodbye, Reimu finally turned around and started heading to bed.

One more thought did occur to her, though, as she ambled back to her room. The Hollow Psyches… they really had come in clutch. When everyone else had been distracted, they’d managed to find Yumemi, and alert Kosuzu.

But… how had they done that? If they were anything like what the Immaterial Children had been reduced too, they couldn’t be very fast, or very loud. They’d likely struggle to even sense anything, if they had the same problems Reimu had experienced.

…Unless they had someone guiding them. That’d make it make sense - something with a bit more power, or something else, was moving them around.

Reimu yawned again. …Maybe she was being crazy, suggesting that the invisible hand of the Hollow Psyches was being guided by a somehow even more invisible hand. That was definitely not a thought process worth chasing at… well past 10 pm.

And besides, for Reimu, there was a more important question. As she passed a window, she paused, looking other over the Animal Realm. Far away, she could see the Sanzu River, and beyond that, the barest hints of Gensokyo. Or maybe that was her tired fantasies.

There’s only one more of us five left to find - and if you’d asked me who would be last, I’d never have guessed in a million years. She sighed, unable to keep the last parts of her thoughts in her head. “Marisa… where are you?”