>>674 How deep does the rabbit hole go, I wonder?
--
[X] Went to do science with Reisen.
Science. Yeah, science. How could you forget?
-
“Come with me! We'll go get shithammered!”
“Suika, now you're just making up words.”
“I don't care! I want someone to get drunk with!”
“But they should come with me. I'll teach them to ballroom dance.”
“Sakuyaaaaaaa, that's booooooooring. I'll show them the view of Gensokyo from the top of Youkai Mountain!”
“Chen, do you even know how to get there?”
“I do! Why are you being so mean~!”
“Exploring's boring, Chen. They could come hunting with me!”
“Is that so~?”
“Hey! Hey, that's my line! Don't be stealing my lines, Chen!”
The cacophony of girls fighting for your attention comes to a head. It's at this point Rumia takes advantage of the arguing, and claims you for herself. She puts a finger to your lips, and grabs your hand with hers. “Shh. Come with me, it'll be the best.”
Um. Okay. Wordlessly, you let yourself be taken away. The small blonde girl seems excited to have someone new to play with. She's probably gotten bored with the other people in Gensokyo. You mean, who doesn't want to be the first to try out new things?
Rumia's humming a tune as she leads you away from the group that ambushed you when you came in, and it's getting slightly darker. Which is odd, because it was pretty bright when you arrived. Maybe time just goes faster here? That's kind of weird. You're thinking on this while you're running with Rumia, and then suddenly, Rumia lets go of your hand as she falls face first onto the ground with an “Oof!”
The sky lightens, and there's a small... rabbit? Rabbit girl, in a pink dress, holding Rumia down where she tripped her. Rumia's struggling, but the rabbit girl seems to have it in hand. “Reisen! Take them and go! I'll catch up later!”
You look around you, and another bunny girl, this one with hypnotizing red eyes, grabs your hand and runs with you. At this point, you're not even sure what's going on. You're just running for the sake of running and maybe figuring out where this is going eventually.
After what feels like an hour of running, you're deep within a bamboo forest, and Reisen- at least that's what you think the first bunny girl called her- stops. You're doubled over, panting for breath. But Reisen doesn't even seem winded at all.
“Wha-what's going on?”
Reisen lets go of your hand, and turns to you. “Well, I guess we can take a rest here.”
“T-take a rest? We were running flat out! You're not even winded!”
She chuckles. “Ye- Yeah, I guess I'm in good shape. But you said you wanted to know what was going on?”
“Just a bit.”
Reisen walks over to a stalk of bamboo, and starts fiddling with it. “Well, as you probably know, you're in Gensokyo. It's a land of a bunch of things that's really not needing explanation at this point. The important thing is that you're new. And from outside. That means that pretty much everyone wants a piece of you.”
This makes no sense. Why would they want a piece of you? There's nothing extraordinary about you that you can think of. “Wh-why?”
“Well... Outsiders are kind of rare. And we're always glad to have new people here, until they leave.” She turns to you quickly, as if that last sentence had reminded her of something. “You... you weren't planning on leaving anytime soon, were you?”
“I- I don't know. I haven't given it any thought, honestly. I've kind of got things to do...”
Reisen gives you her best pout. Even her rabbit ears look sad. “Well- well you can stay for a little bit, right? Promise me you'll stay for a couple days?”
“Okay. I promise.”
Reisen claps her hands in glee. “Yay! I knew there was something special about you!” You've made a rabbit really happy. Congratulations. “Okay. I don't think they'll come looking for you here. Now, should we wait for Tewi?”
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] Write-in
