The intense chirping of cicadas was what brought you back to the land of the living. You came into consciousness, but your eyes remained close, and a pounding in your head begged you to return to slumber. Try as you might though, the insistence of the cicadas urged you to stay with them. Deeming a return to dreamland hopeless, you lifted your upper body off the ground and opened your eyes.

You were sitting on a hill, covered with lush grass. You could see a lake about ten minutes ahead from you, though mist seemed to shimmer above the lake, obscuring your view of what lay across it. Mountains off in the distance surrounded you as if cradling you tightly in their embrace. This area seemed lush, peaceful, and completely foreign to you. Nothing was ringing a bell, even the grass felt different. How did you even get here? You... Actually, just remembering felt difficult right now, with so many details in your head fuzzy. You could deal with that later.

You stood up, brushing some of the grass and debris off of your pants, when you noticed a flyer about eight feet from you, caught between two rocks, the wind trying to tug it away but the rock refusing to let go. You picked up the purple paper and examined it.

>"WELCOME! ;P

>"By popular demand, here is your introduction and primer to your current tubular predicament! Where are you? You're in Gensokyo now! What is Gensokyo? A radical land of magic! Monsters are real! Youkai are real! Have gnarly fun, but be careful! If you really want to return home, seek out Hakurei! Otherwise, enjoy your mondo new future!

>"P.S. Watch out for Rumia! She's waaaay uncool for newbies! x~x"

You stared at the flyer for a few moments. You weren't sure which to find more incredulous - the outrageous claims it had made casually, or how it seemed written by someone madly out of touch with society. Like an old person, desperate to appear cool with the youth, but with no idea what the youth truly are or what they do.

As you folded up the paper to put in your pocket, a loud sound interrupted the cicadas.

Kaiju Wriggle Nightbug's Determination Calculative Journey (Beta Ver)

-----

Up above the sky, two titans clashed in hopes of defeating the opposing side. One is a golden buddha mecha that has the aura of a heroism that will save the innocents from this insect kaiju that seems like it is going to devour and destroy everything that it sees. But this is no ordinary kaiju, no. In fact, this insect kaiju seems to have a sanity beyond its pure instinct unlike the other kaijus who lose themselves to their barbaric and kaiju-ish ways.

The two clashed again with their arms locking with each other, trying to show who is the strongest by pushing with all their strength. Inside the golden buddha mecha's head, we see a humanoid rabbit controlling the mech from within. "Anti-Insect Kaiju Mech Alpha to Command. It seems like I am in a stalemate. Orders, ma'am?" Awaiting a response from the higher ups, the humanoid rabbit kept the mech's arm locked with the insect kaiju to trap it.

"Attack in the twilight, shake her awake with the thunder of laser beam." As soon as the higher up gave the green light to mobilize the directed-energy weapon. "Failure will not be accepted. Call for powers of the lunarian might." The command monologues about how great the lunarians are, not really helping the battle, but okay. "Force her to surrender. Take what is ours and restore law and order." The rabbit who is manning the anti-insect kaiju mech nodded.

The face of the buddha mecha opened like some sort of alien from alien vs predator, but in this scenario, it is vastly different, I assure you. The directed-energy weapon is powering up, ready to shoot the insect kaiju into the shadow realm, Jimbo. But before it can blow her up to kingdom come, the insect kaiju, using its common sense and logic, closed the opened face, prompting it to explode the head of the buddha and along the rabbit with it. "N-Nani!!!?!?! (Translation: W-What!!!?!?!)"

Before the explosion happened, the insect kaiju said something ominous to the rabbit... somehow. "You stole my beans for my insect friends. Now it is time for the unfunny." Which

It’s hard to pinpoint the precise moment you went from “nothing” to “something”. All you can really say for sure is that once you weren’t, but now you are.

Or… something along those lines. These are pretty complicated thoughts for what’s essentially a newborn.

But are you really? A newborn, that is. Before the nothing that was before the something, you could sometimes grasp the frayed threads of another life. That life was so vastly different from what you are now that you have trouble thinking of it as “your” life, but the sense of familiarity (and sometimes yearning) the memories give you are harder to deny. You were once human, then you were nothing, and now you’re something.

But enough of that for now. Your thoughts tend to ramble when you let them, so it’s best to cut them off her or nothing will ever get done.

Compared to your previous life, your senses are now completely different. Sight, smell, taste, and hearing are all gone entirely, actually. You felt like you should maybe be horrified by that fact, but the memories of your previous life had come in some time after you came into existence, so you had already adjusted to the state of things before realizing you had lost anything at all.

Your world begins and ends with your sense of touch. Perhaps some of the things you lump together with “touch” in your mind are something else entirely, but it just makes sense to do so. The most prominent thing you feel is the soothing coolness that encases you completely from all sides. If you were still capable of doing so, you would regularly be giving contented sighs. Even if you do nothing, the coolness leaves you feeling nourished and healthy at all times. If this was all there was to your life, well… you wouldn’t complain.

Alas, hypotheticals are hypotheticals, and this is reality. There exists something beyond your present state of stockpiling energy, and you intend to explore it with the little control you have. Several options are open to you, but your limited understanding prevents you from the risks and benefits of each choice.

Ah well, suppose you’ll just have to follow your gut on this one. You decide to:

What purpose did this bloodshed serve?

Qin Feng gripped his bow tightly.

Fists tight enough to draw blood.

Teeth clenched hard enough to shatter at any moment.

The once great and respected Heavenly Mountain Sect, gone; its legacies wiped in a single day.

Dozens of swords pierced his body, yet he did not feel the pain.

The regrets inside his heart far exceeded the pain of his body.

"Shuhang.." He discovered the discarded corpse of his comrade.

First story, little lack of knowledge about touhou. Let's see how it goes

-Muenzuka, Gensokyo-

The home to purple cherry blossoms, once a year those cherry blossoms will purify the soil of Muenzuka. Truly a sight to behold and yet the sorrowful sights make it seem like the place itself is weeping.

-Anon's POV-

This attempt is the one.
You thought to yourself as you sit infront of your laptop on a plastic chair while your hands are constantly pressing keys on your butterfly keyboard.
If someone has looked closely enough they'd have noticed that on your laptop's screen, was none other than your puny attempt at trying to beat Subterranean Animism's extra stage as Reimu Hakurei.

'Holy shit, that was close. Thank god for Reimu's absurdly small hitbox' You thought to yourself as you barely dodged Koishi's "Danmaku Paranoia".

"C'mon man, when the hell is this gonna time out?" You thought as you barely graze through each bullet Koishi launches at you.

(Background music, if you'd like:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7arsbCRNP8)

Image source: (https://www.deviantart.com/kane-neko/art/Touhou-Loved-Gensokyo-307902587)

---

Early morning rays accompanied cheerful birdsong gliding over grass covered hills and embracing soft meadowlands. In the East, the sun sluggishly began its long trek towards its apex, the plants of the meadows basked contentedly in its bright golden hue. Distantly, cattle could be spotted grazing absentmindedly in their pastures, from elsewhere a cicada was heard testing its voice. The fields and hills of Gensokyo were entranced in a harmonious serenity.

“This would make for a very good painting,” Keiko remarked to himself, though the name of the land was unknown to him.

What must’ve been a few minutes ago, on his early morning travels, he had noticed a worn dirt path out of the corner of his eye. The path branched off from the one he normally traversed, concealed snugly among the surrounding forest. He hadn’t recalled seeing the path during his previous trips, and feeling uncharacteristically adventurous, he had decided to see where this new path would take him.

He hadn’t travelled for long before all around the crowded woodland unveiled into the sprawling fields that now lay before him. It was strange, he pondered, for an entire countryside to be tucked away here without him ever noticing, after having lived near the woods for most of his adult life. Though whatever questions he had on mind were quickly dismissed, deciding that none of them were all that important.

Keiko let the strap of his duffel fall to the ground as he seated himself on the top of a particularly high hill. From here he held a lookout over a large part of the grasslands. The sight was so picturesque to him, that he half-heartedly wondered if he had stumbled into someone’s painting. He could almost see it: his back to the viewer, bag by his side, perched upon a pastel hill, the land stretching down and

Notice: There will be open spoilers for both Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 8: Village going forward. This will be the only warning you'll get.
=====================================================
Everything is dark, and everything is numb.

You can tell your eyes are open, at least, but there is nothing else observable to you. Your mind is as blank as your senses, your only emotion being a complex mixture of lingering sadness and relief... and a hint of anger?

Slowly, feeling begins to return, and your entire body feels sore.

That soreness quickly evolves into pain, and you close your eyes. Not that it matters. Everything is pitch black, wherever you are.

After a moment, the deafening silence of the void is broken by a woman's voice.

"My, my, still holding on, after all that? You certainly never disappoint."

You open your eyes again, but the source of the voice is too far away to make out clearly. You recognize the color purple, but little else. Which is strange, since it sounded like she was right next to you.

[-] Meet Sakuya's mistress.

You knew Sakuya would be back with her mistress, she'd promised as much. You also knew someone with the ability to stop time could show up quite literally out of nowhere. It would not be inaccurate to say you were dreading whatever it was she had in store for you, and yet when she showed up with several people in tow, you were focused enough on Satori that it still caught you off guard.

Which is all a longwinded way of saying, curse Sakuya's sudden yet inevitable arrival.

The moment the door cracks open, Satori pushes away from you, making a show of getting up and dusting herself off. For lack of a better idea, you do the same as you survey the people entering. You don't see the guard from earlier, but Sakuya ushers in a purple haired woman wearing what you're pretty sure are pink pajamas, and... a much younger vampire than you were expecting. With wings that could be best described as rainbow crystal windchimes, but that's surprisingly low on the weirdness scale these days.

You can see Satori tense up at the vampire's presence, but she gives the group a flat look and a nod. "Patchouli. I'm glad to see you've fully recovered from last time."

The purpled haired woman stares coldly back, and if her pale face and the bags under her eyes count as recovered, you'd hate to see what sick (injured?) was like. "Satori. I'd say I'm pleased to see you, but you're difficult to lie to."

As your captors take seats around a table in the center of the gazebo, Satori returns fire. "Not as difficult as usual. I take it I have you to thank for that?"

It's then that you place Patchouli's name, and you grimace as you remember the context. "Please tell me this isn't another grudge match with someone who broke into your house."

Hello everyone! And welcome to a new episode of 'Chimata Says'!

Today we are in the Human Village. One of the most beautiful places in Gensokyo.

It has very beautiful canals that the fishermen can enjoy, great markets people can enjoy, tourists from many places, but unfortunately also... pickpockets

Pickpockets are a really big problem here in the Domstad. In fact, it is the largest form of theft that occurs here in the Human Village. Rivaled only by the amount of fairy murder but the latter isn’t a crime.

But what exactly is pickpocketing? What are the tricks of the pickpockets?
And most importantly, what can you do about it?

You can see it here today on 'Chimata Says'!

Pickpocketing is the unwanted removal of things from, for example, your jacket pocket or from your bag.
This often concerns your wallet, money, or your very clothes. Annoyingly, the victim often doesn't realize it's gone. So that person can go to the store, look for his wallet in his bag and can't find it. Not only did you not notice that it was taken, but someone else now has your cards and your money.

Spring, the season of new beginnings, a time of happiness and joy with countless festivals and traditions to go along with it. Ironic, because right now you are meeting your end, and you are not happy about it.
You never have any interest in Japan, the land of the rising sun, you only went there because your friends basically dragged you there on their holidays. Not going to lie, the trip did have its moment, eating across the land and seeing your friends make a fool of themselves along the way. Sure, you may not know Japanese at much as some of the others do, but being a social person isn’t one of your perk anyway.
Unfortunately, looking like a bunch of foreign idiots making every one look helpless and easy target for mugging, which it did
After a particular night which involved a lot of drinking, betting and dancing around (The alcohol is one of the few things you genuinely enjoy) with your fellow “adventurer”, you decided to wander the street a bit to clear your head and enjoy some alone time. Midway through your journey of “self-discovery”, trouble find you in the form of a group of four people surrounding you with knife, pipe and…. a gallon jug? At first you thought that they were a prank orchestrated by your friends, that thought is out of the window the moment you got bash across the head with the pipe. Normally you would’ve ran away or at least put up a good fight (This isn’t the first street fight you’ve gotten yourself into). But with the influences of alcohol and the mind council in shamble because of it, your body can’t even work properly to put up a proper block, getting beaten down and stabbed felt pretty bad, whatever was in your system at the time can’t numb the pain enough, your body lie on the cold ground, the only warmth that the body felt is on the pool of blood that is forming around you… dying a stupid death like this just….
When you finally wake up again, you never truly expected where you ended up, it isn’t on a hospital bed with equipment, personnel and friends surrounding you, rather it is on a rocky ground… god, my back hurt…
Getting up and looking around, you notice that where you are is a riverbank with souls, both human