[x] Go back to Eientei.
We need an alibi, and we need to talk to Tewi.

[x] Reimu
Reimu is onto Reisen and has her as the prime suspect. Even so, if Reisen was able to hit off Reimu...shit would go down soooo fast. Or she'll fail and have to confront the fairy overlords instead. Hehe

[x] Be the investigator.
I just want to know who this is

[x] Youmu
like there was any other choice

[x] Go to the Moriya Shrine.
alibi making time, really hope Sanae didn't go to that Party, A rabbit deserves to be a little happy.


[x] Be the investigator.
As much as I'd love to follow reisen a little more, a change in perspective would be nice. curious on the investigator as well.

[x]Marisa
Destroying Gensokyo isn't going to be productive for our three little "friends". Destabilizing one of the biggest maintainers? That sounds like an opportunity.

The wiki notes a potential friendship between Sanae and Marisa, so bonus points there.


[x]Return to the Moriya Shrine
Since I'm fairly sure we didn't walk out of Eientei wearing a black wetsuit, I'm guessing that our clothes are stashed somewhere. We should get those on, and get rid of the wetsuit, especially since we were seen in it. I'd say that we should dry off as well, but I have no idea how long it would take with that much hair.

After that, I'd suggest we head to Moriya. Reimu suspects us, and so may well decide to pay a visit to Eientei next. If we come back, wet from swimming in the lake...well, Cirno might still miss it, but I doubt Reimu will.


[x]Continue to be Reisen
-[x]Open a side thread as the Investigator

This one should need little explanation.

Thank you, !ttRabBit9s, for the update.

Remember guys, we are trying to plan out some sort of an endgame here, and killing one the big three (Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae) seems like a great way to screw that over. See >>165259 for a better explanation.

Plus Youmu still sounds like a great way to mess with our poor rabbit's head. Feel free to convince me otherwise, I'm not voting till I've gotten some decent sleep.

[x] Reunion

[x] Go back to Eientei.
[x] Be the investigator.
[x] Marisa.
>>165528
Picking targets based on keeping Reisen alive is very metagamey. You really should be picking based on who you think would make for interesting storytelling.

[x] Youmu

Destabilizing, and a great way to mess with Reisen.

[x] Go back to Eientei.

We need to get our story straight. And Tewi wants a talk with us.

[x]Continue to be Reisen

A talk I want to see. Also, I want to see how Reisen winds down after this.

[X] Youmu

the softest target

[x] Tewi
The deal that you made to protect your loved ones is forcing you to kill one of your loved ones. The perfect irony.
Besides, the whole point of these murders is to actually make her suffer.

And, obviously enough, the third murder won't be the last.

[x] Be the investigator
What has Sanae been up to?

[x] Go to Eientei
we need to talk with Tei

[x] Be the investigator
this could be crucial information, even though it might lead to metagaming to cover our tracks

[x] Youmu
pro-fairy/CHAOS anons pls

[x] Go back to Eientei.
[x] Be the investigator.
[x] Marisa

[x] Sanae

I want to be cruel.
Nothing more cruel than this.

[x]Return to the Moriya Shrine

[x]Continue to be Reisen
-[x]Open a side thread as the Investigator

[✓] Sanae

We require rabbit angst.

[✓] Go back to Eientei.

[✓] Be the investigator.

>>165525
>>165547
Not going to open any sidethreads for this.

>>165530
I haven't the slightest clue what this vote means.

>>165547

Sure there is.

[x] Tewi.

Mainly because I want to see if there's a way to make the plot jump the rails now. Hoping that this forces Reisen into a third option. The angst from realising that she killed two people for nothing is a bonus.

And if there is no third option, well, people who wanna be cruel to Reisen get their wish fulfilled.

>>165556
There's always been a way to make the plot "jump the rails".

>>165556
I like how you think more


[x] Go back to Eientei
[x] Tewi
[x] Be the investigator.

[x] Go back to Eientei.
[x] Tewi.
[x] Be the investigator.

[x] Go back to Eientei.
[x] Youmu.
[x] Be the investigator.

>>165556

What are you talking about? The plot is purey about killing people because FAIRIES.

[x] Go back to Eientei.
[x] Marisa
[x] Be the investigator.

Currently going to keep my vote for Marisa.

It's not a good idea to kill Youmu safely, guys. She's half dead already, and her soul, if not Myon, will go back straight to Yuyuko who will then fuck everything up.

[x] Go back to Eientei.
[x] Marisa
[x] Be the investigator.

Youmu..."According to PoFV, she was getting close to the point where if she died, she fall straight to hell, skipping past the part where Eiki judges her. Or something like that.

For some reason, this puts in mind a story idea where Reisen goes about trying to corrupt her so she can fall straight to hell when she dies, but she's too innocent to notice.

>>165531

if we're talking about interesting Tei would be shit up things more than marisa

damnit rabbit I've never been so emotionally invested into a vote before

this tie has me on the edge of my imaginary seat, you gonna call a vote or leave it ambiguous until the time comes again rabbit?

>>165582
What the hell is ZUN drinking? What has Youmu done to fall directly to hell? Maybe Yuyuko is shadier than canon seems to dictate and the gardener is an amoral bitch but it certainly doesn't seem that way.

>>165584
Well, ghosts are supposed to be judged by the Yama in order to move on to the next stage of their lives, but as Youmu is part ghost, she may already be past that point and celestial law necessitates that she goes on the express lane to hell in order to avoid a break in continuity.

>>165584

I think it had something to do with her going to the living world and slashing up all the spirits there.

I'm torn. Tewi's my least favorite Touhou by a wide margin, and Youmu's in my top 10. And yet, in this story, I like Tewi more than Youmu by quite a bit.
Ugh.

>>165582
This is a horrible idea. Don't bring Hell/the afterlife into this.

>>165582
Goddamnit I have a backlog of porn I'm going to write and you're not helping

>>165583
Of course I'm going to call it for ambiguity

>>165588
Well, I did my best to make her not just a dick, which is how a lot of fanon portrays Tewi.

[x] Go back to Eientei
[x] Who is the rabbit?”

“I told you, I don't know!”

“You're not helping your case here, accomplice. You know what we do to accomplices? We string them up just like the perp. Gonna get Eiki to throw the book at you just as hard. You know what? Probably harder. Who is the rabbit?”

“It's the fucking Hakurei, you nitwit!”

“But Reimu's already here. Champing at the bit to start 'solving incidents'. Incidentally, you're full of shit. WHO IS THE GODDAMN RABBIT?”

“SHE SAID SHE WAS THE HAKUREI, YOU DUMB BITCH! IF I KNEW, I'D TELL YOU! DIDN'T YOU NOTICE THE STUPID FUCKING RABBIT MASK SHE WAS WEARING? I DON'T KNOW WHO SHE WAS, BECAUSE OF THE STUPID FUCKING MASK!”

I pace around slowly in front of her, and crouch down to put my eyes on her level. The light is still swinging back and forth, creaking as it goes. “You didn't recognize her voice, her shape, her fucking EARS? She killed Sakuya, put a hole in her head, and you're still defending her. You are the stupidest fucking accomplice I've ever seen.” I flick her in the forehead. “Right here. We could get you fitted for the same hole, and nobody would ever ask any questions.” I stand up. “Obviously you're not going to tell me who the rabbit is. This tells me one thing. Obviously it's someone you care about. Well, that's a real short list.” I start pacing back and forth through the shadows.

“Was it Kaguya?”

“No!”

“How about Reisen?”

“No!”

“Mokou, then. She's a bitch.”

“No, you crazy bint!”

“Oh, Eirin. She's cold enough to do this sort of thing!”

“It's none of them!” God, we are getting fucking nowhere. Maybe she actually doesn't know anything. I start kicking her chair as I go around, rattling it slightly, and occasionally tipping it a bit.

“Sure. Look, we can play this game all night. I think there's a car battery around here somewhere. I wonder if that's enough voltage to do some lasting damage? Eh, I'm sure Eirin can fix you up. She's a doctor, right?” I start to stride towards the door. “Gonna get me a battery. I'll be back real quick.” Yeah, I should let her stew a bit, then have Patchouli come at her again.

“Wait!” she shouts.

I stop, hand on the doorknob. “Oh? Did you find your tongue, little birdie?” I walk up to her. “So sing for me.”

“I just want you to know one thing.”

I lean in close to her. “And what's that?”

“Fuck you.” Then she tries to bite at me. This isn't the first time that someone I've been questioning has tried to bite my ear off, and if I hadn't moved so quickly, she might have gotten a chunk of my ear. So I kick her chair over again, and leave her.

Reimu, Patchouli, Remilia, and Meiling are all waiting outside the door. Remi's the first to speak. “Well?”

I shrug. “She might be hiding something. It'd probably be a good idea to question Eientei.”

Reimu nods. “How likely is it that one of them are our chief suspect rabbit?”

I think for a moment. “Seven, maybe ten percent. You said Reisen was working with you on this investigation for Toyosatomimi?”

Reimu nods. “Yeah. She was also one of our chief suspects there too, but a very credible source kind of cast that theory into doubt.” She looks me right in the eye. “You think these two cases are related?”

“It's possible. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions.” I turn to Patchouli, who's holding two steaming mugs of coffee. “You should probably go talk to her, she should be much more receptive to you this time around. Make sure you pick her up off the floor gently.”

Patchouli sighs. “You kicked her over again?”

“She tried to bite my ear off!”

–

What to do now?

[ ] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.
Or
[ ] Keep Tewi. You never know when she might reach her limit.

--

[ ] Interrogate someone else.
- [ ] Iku.
- [ ] Tenshi.
- [ ] Koakuma.
- [ ] Luna.
- [ ] Write-in. (Nobody from Eientei was there except Tewi and Reisen, and Sanae was also not at the party.)
[ ] Go over the evidence collected.
[ ] Examine the room that the rabbit escaped from.
[ ] Go over the suspect list. Not enough evidence for this yet.
[ ] Write in.

Or, optionally:
[ ] Stop being Kotohime, and be Reisen again.

[x] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.
But get someone to tail her. Heh. Tail.
[x] Interrogate someone else.
- [x] Iku.
Hungover oarfish antics!

In other news OH FUCK THIS IS WORSE THAN MIMA COULD HAVE BEEN

[x] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.

Eh, rabbit ain't gonna crack. Need more evidence to bring to bear.

[x] Go over the evidence collected.

And on that note, what do we know, exactly?

[x] Give up, this is useless.

Here's to hope.

>>165612
Hahahaha, no. Not that easily.

[x] Keep Tewi. You never know when she might reach her limit.
[x] Examine the room.

If there's something the Ace Attorney games taught me, and they didn't, is that we need more clues before we can effectively press the witness.

[ ] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.
[ ] Go over the evidence collected.

Need to know what they've managed to get. Fuck, maybe Luna wasn't able to get rid of the rifle, that could give Reisen away real quick. Might want to consider cleaning Reisen's arsenal once we're her again, and hide the weapons somewhere else, so if anyone comes to eientei we can pretend someone stole all of Reisen's weapons.

[X] Keep Tewi. You never know when she might reach her limit.
[X] Interrogate someone else.
- [X] Iku.

So I take it the c4 didn't go off since they know someone put a bullet in her head. Anyways get Iku in here to corroborate the 'it was the Hakurei story'.

>>165617
Reisen has a, uh, very secure and well-hidden bunker under Eientei. That none of the residents really know (or care) about. Which will probably stay that way, unless something drastic happens, or Reisen does something exceptionally stupid. What I'm trying to say is that if you're trying to hide the weapons, there's probably no better place (if your goal is to just make them disappear completely.)

[X] Keep Tewi. You never know when she might reach her limit.
[X] Interrogate someone else.
-[X] Iku.
--[X] Because she was next to be interrogated before Tewi caused the distraction for the mysterious figure.

Since we're now taking the perspective of Kotohime the investigator, we should at least try to apprehend the suspect, even if it's against our long term goals. In that sense, we might as well keep on going down the list of guests the SDM were calling to be interrogated, which means that Iku is next on that list.

[ ] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.

If its not this, ten bucks says the C4 goes off for Tewi's lucky escape.

[x] Interrogate someone else.
- [x] Iku. DRUNKEN Iku :)
Then, if there's extra time
[x] Go over the evidence collected.

>>165630 please read
>>/gensokyo/6052

[x] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.
[x] go over evidence correctly

I'm really mad at you anon, but thems the breaks in democracy, and I'm not gonna drop a story over something so flippant

[x] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.
[x] Go over the evidence collected.

What are we at for the third target?

>>165644
I haven't been keeping count. I plan to tally up the votes for myself at the end of thread or just prior to the update revealing it.

>>165650
so its still technically open?

>>165651
See >>165515 where I say:
>Finally, third favor votes: I've taken the previous ones as “nominations”, and these will stay open until the end of the thread, or the third favor is revealed, whichever comes first.

>>165652
And you'll say so when the third favor's about to be revealed, right?

>>165671
Of course not.

>>165677
What the fuck? That's ridiculous.

>>165678
I think it's more suspenseful this way

[x] Release Tewi, after Patchy's done with her.
[x] Go over the evidence collected.

I nod to Patchy. “I don't think we're going to get too much from her. Go over her for a couple more questions, then you can let her go.”

Patchy nods back. “I'll catch up with you guys later, then. Try not to have any case-breaking revelations without me.”

–

The four of us make our way to the room in the SDM that I've appropriated for investigation headquarters. I've adjusted the décor a bit: removed the frilly froo-froo drapes, and replaced them with slatted shades that you have open just the slightest bit. The main part of the room is taken up by a large, beaten-up card table, upon which rests an ashtray filled with smoked cigarettes. Sure, it's only been there a few hours, and sure, I had to chainsmoke almost an entire pack before the ashtray looked correct, but we all make sacrifices.

I even had to move it to the side to make room for the coffeemaker. Remilia's frown was palpable. She probably took it as an affront to the sanctity of her tea.

I clear off the table a bit, rustling coffee-stained papers around, and shoving them under a mug. The atmosphere is almost perfect. All it needs is an overhead fan to spin lazily around, then I can get my Bogart on. Until the installers get in, though, well. I'll just have to deal. We'll see what cards get dealt.

I point at Remilia, who's sitting in one of my seats, looking uncomfortable. Good. It's always good to have her off balance. I don't trust that skirt one bit. “Remilia. Why do you believe that Sakuya was murdered?”

She scoffs. “What, the murderer running away after we discover the body wasn't enough of a tip-off? If they'd stayed, we probably would have never twigged to them as a major suspect.” Which is patently untrue. I'd have made the murderer crack. For sure. This investigation didn't quite handle the initial containment as long as I'd like. Several party guests escaped in the confusion of the rabbit's escape. Terrible security to go haring off en masse at the first sight of anything suspicious.

“Yeah, yeah. Is that it?”

She crosses her arms and harrumphs. “It is. And here I was thinking you were the Investigator?”

I ignore her jab. Her verbal fists are like wet bagels. “Reimu, how about you?”

She rolls her eyes. “It looks like an incident. Smells like an incident. Probably is an incident. That rabbit seems like a reasonably enough place to start 'investigating.'”

“So much for the soft touch. But you didn't answer.”

Reimu shrugs. “Because Sakuya's dead. She doesn't make mistakes like that.”

Well. She's top-notch. Gonna be pretty much useless except as someone to fetch and carry. Oh, and muscle, too. Lots of birdies find their voice when they find their kneecaps threatened. And Reimu's just the girl for a home run derby. “Well. That's just some great logic there. How about you, Meiling?”

She thinks for a moment. That's a good sign. Most don't bother with the thinking around here. “Not sure, I guess. The runner really swings it toward murder.”

Reimu interrupts. “So is there a point to this, or are you going to tell me it's not murder?”

I shake my head. “No. No, it's definitely a murder. And I'll tell you why.” I toss a bag on the table. Inside this bag is one brass cylinder, slightly worse for wear. “What we have here is a bullet casing. Thing. Anyway it's the part of the bullet that doesn't get shot into people.”

“What, there's something that doesn't shoot the whole bullet?” Remilia asks. “That just seems like a waste. It's like sixty-five percent less bullet, per bullet. We're dealing with an amateur here.”

I just stare at her blankly. I genuinely don't know what to say. “Glossing over. What this is, is a bullet from a gun.”

Remilia again. “I thought those things shot balls? That doesn't look like a ball.”

Reimu flicks Remilia on the forehead. “It's a modern gun, dummy.”

Remilia huffs. “I stopped paying attention to technology after people started cutting people's heads off for some revolution or some thing. They made a musical about it, and I went to go see it recently. There was entirely not as much blood as I remember.”

“Remilia, first off, that was the French Revolution. Second, I don't even know what to say, so I'm going to get down to the important part.” I take a breath. This is going to be painful, leading her to the conclusion I need her to understand. Meiling seems like she's on the edge of realizing this, but Reimu just seems bored and fidgety. She wants to go play bongos on some heads. “So, when we found Sakuya, she was in mostly chunks, right?”

Remilia makes a gesture with her hand, meaning 'get on with it.' “Yeah, and?”

“And so there wasn't really a way to do an autopsy, considering her body was exploded. And most of the evidence washed away in the flood, but for this one brass cylinder.”

“Oh!” Meiling's put two and two together. “So first, uh... the thing...”

“Yes. This was a murder, not because the equipment blew up. The explosion came after she died. Because... someone shot a bullet. Not much point in shooting at bloody chunks. And we never found the bullet part of the bullet. Just this case. Which tells me...”

“...that the bullet was in Sakuya!”

“Got it in one, Meiling.” Yes. She's the useful one out of the bunch. “The explosion was a red herring. An attempt to clean up the evidence. A clumsy one, at that. Someone didn't bother to police their brass.”

Reimu is still uninterested. “So? Does this tell you who did it?”

I shrug. Gotta play my cards close to my chest. I have a theory, but it really needs more solid evidence. “It gives us something to go on. However, I don't know too much about guns. Not really my thing. But there's someone in Gensokyo who does know about guns.”

“And that would be...” God, Remilia has got to be led around like a child.

“Reisen?” Meiling is on a roll today, though.

“Precisely.” I take this moment to pull a cigarette, stick it in my mouth, and light it. Remilia curls her lip at the 'disgusting habit.' Yeah, screw you too, vampire. I take a drag to add to the tension. “We've got to have her look at this.” I turn to Reimu. “What did you say the likelihood of her being involved is?”

She shrugs. “Not too sure. I'd have to talk to Sanae. She's Reisen's keeper at the moment, we were investigating her for Toyosatomimi's murder.”

Now that is interesting. “And what did you find out?”

“Not much. She probably wasn't responsible for it.”

“Probably? Do you have any other suspects?”

Reimu fiddles a bit with her hair-tubes. “...no.”

“Well.” There might be a connection between the two murders. This bears deeper investigation. I wish they'd called me earlier. Can't be helped, though. Anyway, now you've got to check leads, see what shakes out.

–

[ ] The Toyosatomimi connection is an intriguing theory. Maybe you should talk to someone at the Hall of Dreams.
[ ] The bullet is more temporally relevant. We need to get this to Reisen post-haste.
[ ] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[ ] Iku.
-[ ] Tenshi.
-[ ] Koakuma.
-[ ] Write-in.
[ ] Possibly there's something else to be found elsewhere. What, and where? (Write-in.)
[ ] Other write-in ideas.

Alternately:

[ ] Stop being Kotohime, and be Reisen again.

[x] Possibly there's something else to be found elsewhere --> The tunnels

Seriously, what was in the tunnels? We never really explored them enough.

Also, if there's time:
[x] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[x] Iku.
-[x] Tenshi.

[x] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[x] Iku.
-[x] Shikieiki.
Dead person. Judge of the Dead. Duh.

So the C4 did go off, but we forgot to police the brass. Rookie mistake, Reisen.

[x] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[x] Iku.
-[x] Shikieiki.

This is a good idea. Iku was last seen with the main suspect, and Eiki may be able to tell us something.

I'm pretty sure she cleaned the scene thoroughly after the shot and THEN retreated and exploded the C4.
I mean the winning vote was '[X] Police the area for any evidence, and clean the blood around Sakuya's body' with a lot of subvotes about more specific stuff added to it.

>You holster your pistol, settle your mask back on your face, and collect the spare casing.

I'm confused.

[X] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[X] Iku

>>165702

...Unless the fairies are screwing us over.

>>165703
That is a very good possibility.

I wonder if the fairies know enough about guns to have planted the right casing.

>>165702
You're right. There are two parts of cartridge, the shell casing, which is used to fire the bullet and hold the parts together, and the actual bullet itself, which serves as the projectile. As you stated, we as Reisen collected the bullet casing, while the actual bullet didn't punch right through Sakuya's body, but rather remained in it when the C4 went off and was presumably destroyed. It's possible that Rabbit meant that the bullet was part of the evidence collected by the investigators, but in all likelihood Rabbit screwed up with the evidence portion.

[X] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, especially since certain people from the heavens will miss them.
-[X] Iku.
-[X] Tenshi.
--[X] If possible, try to find Shikieiki and learn what she has to say about these murders.

[X] The bullet is relevant, so we need to get this to Reisen as soon as we can after the interrogations.

Even though we have to consider the Celestials as witnesses and potential suspects, it wouldn't be wise to continuously detain them upon the minute but devastating possibility that the Celestials in heaven would take exception to having one of their own divine messengers being held in captivity by mere mortals.

It's probably that Shikieiki knows something about this entire mess, and although she may damn Reisen if we ask who could be the murderer, we still have to act in the investigators' shoes and try to bring this incident to a quick and decisive end.

Since I presume that Rabbit will wave off the bullet screw up and continue the story in his own way, we'll have to deal with this extremely unfair development. When it comes to interrogating Reisen about where the bullet came from, we the readers have to consider what the investigators know about guns in general. Although the investigators know that the shell casing from the gun indicates that it is a 'modern' weapon, we can potentially misdirect them when they interrogate Reisen. They have no idea that it's the casing for a M1911 even with access to the SDM's magic library, and since Reisen's the only modern firearm expert in Gensokyo, we can have her tell them about how the casing is from a variant of the M1911 used by the USSOCOM (United States Special Operations Command) and its underlying special operations branches, which is completely viable since Reisen probably studied American weaponry shortly before and during the Apollo invasion in order to learn the capabilities of the Americans, and thus would be able to misdirect the investigators into believing that the murders have been conducted by a foreign entity in the form of the US military.

>>165705
Trust me, I didn't screw up with the evidence portion.

>>165708
Then I'm wagering that

A: The faeries planted the casing to bring Reisen even more into their control

B: They planted the wrong kind of casing so that when it comes up that Reisen has a gun, it turns out she doesn't have the right type.

The faeries are either covering for us or setting us up for the fall.

>>165709
maybe the part of the bullet that was inside the body wasn't destroyed by the explosion somehow?

>>165710
No, they know the difference between a shell casing and a bullet, and it's clear that they have a shell casing as evidence. However, I adamantly believe that due to the fact that it could be any type of bullet, Reisen can merely claim that it came from a certain gun used by a US military armory that she knows based on her studies from the human military back from the Space Race.

Even though they have the evidence, they still have no connection to what type of weapon fired it. As far as they know, it came from a rifle, which isn't very informative since there are dozens of rifle models out there. As Reisen is the only human firearm expert in Gensokyo, barring Yukari, we still have an opportunity to avoid Reisen being designated the culprit, but we just have to come up with a plausible excuse for it.

Just to make sure we know all of our cards when it comes to Reisen's interrogation, did Reisen actually do any studying on the US military back during the Space Race era? All human special operations forces have extensive training in identifying and utilizing foreign equipment and weapons, so I'd think that the Lunarians would've trained Reisen in human military equipment as the humans began to get close to the Moon.

>>165712
She's had extensive training, and put it to use on more than one occasion. That one dream sequence (a while back) is mostly full of stuff that happened, just with the absurdity of dreams layered on top.

>>165697
Since we're past the point (I think) when the tunnels are relevant, they were an old, abandoned secret tunnel system with several exits around the SDM and surrounding areas, for quick escapes, should "shit go down." They're confusing as hell, designed to be somewhere people get lost as hell, so they couldn't be used by anyone except the people who knew about it. Except, you know, for people whose sense of direction is well-honed enough to get through the Bamboo Forest of the Lost with no problems. There would have been a small cave-in in the entrance, blocking off the path, but it would have been easy enough to blow through with the C4.

Now that I post that, it reminds me of the catacombs under an old, abandoned mental institution near where I live.

Anyway I'm calling it for
[x] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[x] Iku.
-[x] Shikieiki.

Please wait warmly.

[x] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[x] Iku.
-[x] Shikieiki.

Eiki's waiting in a room nearby, sitting and sipping tea, chatting with Remilia. She's probably the best to use to distract her while I talk to Iku.

Unfortunately, Iku hasn't done anything outright destructive or suspicious, so she's not compelled to be here by any other means than common courtesy to the host. Of course, you could always name her a suspect and hold her here for another day or so.

I lean forward in the chair, while Iku's doing her best to become just a bit more sober with the tea Remilia's provided. “So, Iku. Do you know who the person under the rabbit mask was?”

Iku sets down the teacup and nods. “Sure do. It was the Hakurei.”

Something in my gut tells me it can't be Reimu. That might just be the fact that Reimu wasn't even at this party until we called her for an incident. She was not happy that we didn't have someone to point her at. “Reimu?” But I've got to humor the dame. She might know something.

“No, no. The one before her.”

“But she left through the barrier a long time ago. At least a decade ago.”

Iku shrugs. “Maybe she came back through? That's what she told me, anyway. If anyone can get through the barrier and back, it'd be a Hakurei.”

That's true enough, I suppose. So we'll have to chalk her up as a suspect. This just gets more annoying: now we have to actively track someone down. Maybe I can get Reimu to do that. “Okay. I'll remember that. I've got a couple more questions, if you don't mind.”

“I don't.”

“What were you doing down in the basement?”

She thinks for a moment. “Looking for the liquor stores with the Hakurei.”

“And did the two of you get separated at any time?”

“No, no, I don't think...” A lightbulb goes on in her head. “Oh! Yes. We split up when we were being chased by Sakuya.” Chased by Sakuya? Now that's interesting.

“Why were you being chased by her?”

Iku shrugs. “Aside from the fact that we were sneaking into the basement? I think the Hakurei was a party-crasher. Wasn't it Sakuya's job to apprehend party-crashers?” As a rule of thumb, Remilia doesn't care about party-crashers. That's why she doesn't invite everyone all the time: sneaking into the party can be half the fun, for some people.

“I wouldn't know that. One more question, and I think we're done here. Those ears on the Hakurei. Did they remind you of anyone?”

“Sure did. Reminded me of Reisen. Looked like cheap imitations, though- tacked on and everything.” Interesting. Was someone trying to frame Reisen for this? I've also got to talk to Sanae, see what she had to say about Reisen. The plot just keeps getting thicker, and I feel someone's getting fitted for concrete shoes soon.

I stand up, and offer my hand to Iku. She takes it, and stands, a bit unsteadily. “Thank you for your time.” I hand her a card. “In case you remember anything, let me know.”

She nods. “Thanks, Kotohime. I don't think the Hakurei did it, though. Please make sure to clear her name.”

“I'll catch the guilty party, don't you worry.”

She smiles for the first time I've seen all night, and stumbles through the door. Time for round two, with Eiki.

I quietly open the door, and Remilia and Eiki are chatting amiably about Mexican food and ways to prepare it. Remilia wraps up the conversation as she sees me come in. “Thank you, Eiki. You're always welcome here. I'll leave you two alone, Kotohime has some questions for you.”

Eiki nods primly, and Remilia excuses herself, while I make myself comfortable on the loveseat across the coffee table from where Eiki is lounging in an overstuffed chair.

“Miss Eiki. Good to see you tonight.”

“Thank you very much, Kotohime.”

“So I'm going to get right down to business, if you don't mind.”

She locks eyes with you. “Go ahead, then.”

“Do you know who killed Sakuya?”

She nods. “I do.”

“Who?”

“I can't tell you.” Goddamnit. I knew this was going to happen.

“Why not?”

“They're not dead. I'm the Judge of the Dead, Kotohime. I'm not going to break protocol just for a murder.” Ah. She's slipped up. So it was a murder, not an accident. Of course, I was sure. But confirmation like this is still valuable. And it's someone still alive, so that rules out most of the Afterlife.

“So you're just going to let them run free?”

“Justice will catch up to everyone, in time. Everybody dies.”

“Even the immortals?”

Eiki picks up a teacup and takes a sip. “It's funny that they call themselves that. I've dealt with quite a few 'immortals' in my time. Every one of them comes through at some point or another.”

“Every one?”

“Every single one. Within my jurisdiction, anyway.”

I lean back, thinking. I've got to figure out a way to make her slip up and give me some information. “Then do you know who the Rabbit is?”

“I do not.”

“But you know who the killer is. Is the killer the Rabbit?”

Eiki shakes her head. “Doesn't work like that. I don't know the specifics of the crime. I only know that it happened.”

I think I've got an idea. “Could you explain to me how the judging works? Like, what will happen to Sakuya's killer?”

“I think I can do that for you.” She sets down her teacup, and starts explaining, talking as much with her mouth as her hands. “The guilty party comes to me. It's already known to me their guilt or innocence, but it's never as simple as that. They get a chance to plead their case, to plead for extenuating circumstances. Imagine someone murders a youkai in self-defense. Or a youkai eats someone. Self-defense is still guilty of murder, but it isn't nearly as damning as cold-blooded premeditated murder. The sentence must be adjusted for this: our ability can easily distinguish guilt from innocence, but true justice cannot be blind. That's why we have judges.”

“So, you're just waiting for them to die and plead their case?”

“More or less. Though, I feel like I should say one thing before you guys jump to conclusions. I've learned a long time ago that sometimes people have their reasons, and they are at least worth listening to. I've tried to teach Reimu the importance of that, but...” She shrugs. “Well. You know. It's Reimu. And people have had good reasons to kill more than two people before.”

Ha! There it is. Fishing always works. “Two, huh?”

Eiki blushes a deep red. “I... just forget I said anything, okay?”

Nope. I'm not letting this go. “Of course, Eiki.” Either the Toyosatomimi murder is connected to this, or our killer has a skeleton in their closet. Either way, very, very useful information.

–

You strip out of your wetsuit, and hang it in your closet in your bunker. You made sure not to enter Eientei from the main entrance, lest you be seen by someone. You sit for a moment of quiet: this is the first chance you've had to relax since you... since you...

You don't want to think about it. The tears are blurring your vision. You throw Eirin's pill container onto the table where the rest of your equipment lies- the three things in it rattle about. Two pills, and one extremely bitter pill: the shell casing that's your only memento to Sakuya. You pick it and the rabbit mask up, and put them in the same safe that also contains Toyosatomimi's copy of the Zhuangzi. Just because other people can never know doesn't mean you can let yourself forget.

Though time will eventually blunt those stabbing pains. You hope.

As you exit your bunker, and head up to the main area of Eientei, there isn't much sound in the dark of the night. Eirin's assuredly sleeping. You silently pad through the halls, dimly hearing the sound of Kaguya on a late night session, doing something. Last you looked there was some guy on the screen skating around on his knees. Weird shit.

But it's quiet mostly for one reason: Tewi hasn't gotten home from the SDM yet. You wonder what could be keeping her, and you're becoming a little bit worried.

–

[ ] Wait here for Tewi to return.
– [ ] With Kaguya. You could really go for some company.
– [ ] By yourself.
[ ] Go back to the SDM as Reisen. Remilia might have done something drastic to Tewi, and you'd hate to have that on your conscience too.
[ ] Take advantage of this lull to go confront the fairies. You have a fairly good idea of where at least one of them would be this time of night.

[ ] Wait here for Tewi to return.
– [ ] With Kaguya. You could really go for some company.

The lucky bunny is key?
We can't do this on our own.

I should probably vote for that third favor thing. Can always change your vote, right?

[x]Youmu

[x] Wait here for Tewi to return.
– [x] With Kaguya. You could really go for some company.
I think we're gonna need Tewi's help to deal with the fairies. Trying to fix everything alone is what got us into this mess in the first place.

[x] Wait here for Tewi to return.
– [x] With Kaguya. You could really go for some company.
Let the games begin

>>165762
Yep. Who knows, it might even be a moot point.

[x] Wait here for Tewi to return.
– [x] With Kaguya. You could really go for some company.

Yeah. Let's see some of the people Reisen desperately wants to protect.

>>165796
What.

>>165836
Changing votes is always fine, so long as you tell me what vote you're changing.

[ ] Wait here for Tewi to return.
– [ ] By yourself.

Just started reading, and caught upto, this story today. Lovin' every minute of it. If I could still vote for the third favor,

[x] Reisen

>>165842
Re-read the first post in this thread; Reisen is not an option. Unless she's the mystery option.

>>165838
Oh, I thought you were saying something totally different.

>>165849
What, that the vote itself might be a moot point? I guess it's possible. Not very likely, though.

>>165842
I'm glad you like the story (and suffered through the absolutely terrible first thread).

Just caught up on this. Poor little rabbit.

I wonder if we can effectively seal fairies in concrete. It's not perfect, but as we can't kill them that would be almost as good a solution, so long as we make sure no one else finds out where they are.

>>165927
They'd probably get out eventually. Magic and shit. In all likelihood, only Reimu would know how to seal them permanently.
As for killing them, we just don't know how. My money's on iron. Shame iron's brittle and nobody makes bullets out of it.

>>165929
Fairies are nature spirits, right? And spirits are like ghosts. And when you've got a ghost problem... who you gonna call?

>>165955

Youmu?

Apologies for the delays, I've been trying to get this Eiki thing written. Blugh. Soon, I promise.

[x] Wait here for Tewi to return.
– [x] With Kaguya. You could really go for some company.

It's probably best if you lay low for a bit. That decided, you pad quietly into Kaguya's room. She's playing that weird rocket-knees game again.

You were relatively quiet, but she heard you. “'Sup, Reisen?” She doesn't turn to you just yet. “Goddamn Russian robots.”

“Hi, Kaguya. What are you playing?”

She pauses it and turns to you. “Nothing important. Want to play some Mariokart?”

Mariokart? “Uh, sure, but I've never played.”

Kaguya waves her hand dismissively. “Don't worry about it. You'll get the hang of it.” She hands you a steering wheel sort of thing. What am I supposed to do with this? “All you've got to do to get the basics down is use the wheel to steer, and press this button to go.”

You sit down next to her. “Simple enough, I guess.” You look at the character select screen. “Oh! Can I be the green guy?”

“What, Luigi?”

“No, no. Not him. The dinosaur guy.”

“Ohhh, Yoshi. Sure!” She chuckles to herself a bit. She picked some big spiky dude. He doesn't look particularly nice. She picks a track, something bright rainbowy colors? You're not quite sure how to describe it. “You ready, Reisen?”

You shrug. “As I'll ever be, I guess.”

“Excellent!” She then presses the button, and the two of you are on a track. You try to press the go button, but... Oh. There's a countdown. And... there we go. As it turns green, you mash the go button, and pull ahead of Kaguya, deftly dodging and weaving through the racers with a purity of purpose that would make The Stig jealous, and then promptly proceed to drive off the edge of the racetrack.

“Aaah! Are there no walls on the track?!”

Kaguya giggles. “Not here, I guess.”

You get towed back onto the track, but by now you're ridiculously far behind. You keep trying to catch up, but every time you get close to the next person ahead, you fall off the track, or get struck by lightning, or something else. “Hey Kaguya?”

She doesn't even look at you. You can see by her screen that she's fighting for position on the final stretch. “Yeah?”

“What's this do?” You press a button, and a primal, fear-inducing sound emits from the television. Its effect is lost on you. However, for any of those who've played Mariokart...

“No...”

“I think I missed. It didn't hit anyone, Kaguya.”

“No no no.....” She can hear it coming. But she can beat it. Right? She's almost to the finish. Can't afford to let one of the other characters overtake her and be barely missed by Ragnarok's earth-shattering strike. No, that blue bolt can be delayed until after she crosses the line.

Right?

She's hunched over her controller, concentration evident on her face, as that howling dervish grows ever closer, ever louder, even as she reaches for the safety of the finish line.

“No no no no no no no FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCK-”

Alas, safety was not to be her destiny. In a blue explosion, her hopes of victory were shattered, dashed upon the rocks of failure.

At least she only came in seventh. Eighth was a special position reserved solely for you.

Kaguya starts to laugh, though, after her expletive-laced outburst. “Okay, Reisen. You got me. That was pretty good.”

You look at her quizzically. “That was me? I didn't do anything, I think.”

“No, no. What you had was a blue shell. Those seek out the person in first place, almost without fail. And you took me out. Well played, even if you didn't know it.”

You scratch your head, a little embarrassed. “Uh, thanks, I guess?”

There's a knocking on the door. Tewi's probably returned.

You hurry to the front door, and are sliding the door open when the small things that felt off to you all fell together. Tewi lives here. Why would she knock? Also, Tewi's a short, brown-haired earth rabbit. Standing before you is an odd, redheaded girl that you vaguely recognize, but can't place the name.

As she flips open a small leather wallet with a badge, it all comes together.

She's- “Officer Kotohime, 3rd Gensokyo Precinct. Are you Reisen Inaba?”

You nod, and do your best to scramble for your poker face. “I am.”

“Do you have a few moments for some questions?”

Well, do you?

[ ] Yes, of course. I've got nothing to hide at all.
[ ] NosorryI'vegotathingtodotonightbye!
[ ] Write-in.

--

Eiki will come when it comes, I'm having trouble writing it and being happy with it. I'm also not too happy with this update but I've taken far too long anyway.

Also, I'd like to know what you guys think of this story's pacing so far. Too fast? Too slow? Just right? I kind of feel like the whole SDM thing dragged on a bit, but, well, SDM trap and all that.

[x] Not today, I'm about to go to bed. Unless it's something of great importance, that is.

[x] This late? Well, I suppose if it's really important...

Personally, I think the pacing's been fine. It's not the SDM trap; we just had to put more thought into this one.

[X] Yes, of course. I've got nothing to hide at all.

Pacing seems fine to me. The SDM arc was big, but it was also constantly moving forward, and didn't lose sight of any of the main themes or plotlines. Well done.

And since I've not voted on a third target this thread yet,
[X] Youmu.
Gets the emotional connection, and an interesting puzzle of how to do her in without being identified, since she'll probably just come back as a full ghost.

Also, Reisen intended to protect Tewi with the bargain, and is only barely cooperating with the fairies as it stands. Asking for Tewi's head now gives her no reason not to call off the deal. That may be what we Anons would like to see happen, but it doesn't make any sense from the fairies' point of view.

[x] Not today, I'm about to go to bed. Unless it's something of great importance, that is.

>>166056
Don't worry too much about making sense: that's mostly my job for the fairies. This is also kind of why the third favor is now down to specific options: they're ones I could 'justify'. At least to myself, to some minimum extent.

[x] This late? Well, I suppose if it's really important...

[x] Not today, I'm about to go to bed. Unless it's something of great importance, that is.
Pacing is fine. If you need inspiration for Eiki, think of her legs. Perfectly shaped, silky smooth, and they just go on forever.

[ ] Yes, of course. I've got nothing to hide at all.

Why hello officer

[x] Not today, I'm about to go to bed. Unless it's something of great importance, that is.

Seems legit

Look at you guys, trying to rely on Reisen's poker face. That's cute. Also these two votes are essentially the same, just written different.

[x] Not today, I'm about to go to bed. Unless it's something of great importance, that is.
[x] This late? Well, I suppose if it's really important...

I stick my foot in the door, to prevent Reisen closing it. “It is important. It relates to Sakuya Izayoi.” I'm watching her face intently: she might let something slip.

She still looks bored and sleepy, but I swear I saw her pupils dilate a bit. “Oh? Did something happen?”

“You could say that. May we come in?”

She raises an eyebrow. “We?”

I gesture to my deputy, who's been standing out of sight of the door. “Yes. Deputy, introduce yourself.”

She steps into the field of view of Reisen, and bows. “Deputy Investigator Nazrin, at your service.” That gets a response out of Reisen. I can see she's thinking real hard and real fast about something. Interesting. She's definitely bumped herself up in my view a few suspicious notches.

“Oh! Oh, uh, good to meet you, Deputy Investigator. And, uh, of course, you too, Investigator Kotohime.” Now she's visibly nervous. Though, to be fair, getting nervous when the cops show up is natural. But why didn't she get nervous at the beginning? Someone's playing me a sour note. “Come in, come in! I'll put on some tea.”

I remove my foot, and bow. “That'd be delightful, Reisen. Thank you.”

–

How the hell did she know to come here? You were as diligent as you could be, covering your tracks. You go over the list of things again in your head, as the three of you head into one of Eientei's smaller kitchens. You took the bullet casing. Your guns are hidden away in the bunker. Luna hasn't returned the rifle, but... Maybe she found it? Dammit, dammit, dammit! That's too obvious! But you didn't do anything with it... so it's a tenuous connection at best. You even kept the mask on the whole time, and dyeing your hair was a masterstroke. So was the mask, really. You couldn't hide your ears, so you hid in absurdity. So what did she find?

You decide to start with the small talk. Sure, you'll sound suspicious, but not being curious would be more suspicious. Right? Yeah. That's right. “So, what's happened?”

Kotohime's reply is mostly useless to you. “I was hoping you could tell me. But we'll see, like I said, I've got a few questions for you. But that can wait until tea.”

The three of you enter the kitchen, and you start to get some mugs, in silence.

–

I don't know. She's trying to hide something, obviously. But it could be anything. Though... Hopefully she'll be able to match up the shell with the gun. Then I can have Nazrin track down the specific gun to the specific shell, and with some luck, I'll be able to catch the criminal red-handed.

But hoping for it to be that easy is like gambling on craps: the game's rigged, and the house is playing with weighted dice. Still, nowhere else to start.

I pull a chair out for the kid, though she hates being called that. I told her I hated being called Red. But that never stopped her. She gives me a look, and sits down, leaning forward on the old card table. I take the seat across from her, leaving the one in the middle to Reisen, who returns, three mugs full of tea leaves and steaming hot water.

She sits down, and I swirl the tea leaves around. This has two goals: first, I want Reisen to do most of the talking. She doesn't seem like a practiced liar to me. So we get her to talk the most. Second, the tea's got to soak a bit. Nobody likes plain water. The moments pass slowly, punctuated by the tick-tock of her kitchen clock. A cat, with the paws indicating the time. It's almost four AM. She's fidgeting in her seat, but not saying anything. The kid's obviously bored with waiting, but I gave her very specific instructions.

Well. Reisen's not going to crack quite yet. So I'll start her thinking. “Do you know what happened tonight?” A softball question. If she drops this, I'll almost be sad that it was so easy.

“No. What happened?”

“Sakuya Izayoi was murdered tonight.” And I'm watching her closely again. Realization, turning into horror. Looks genuine.

“That's... that's terrible. She... she was one of my best friends.” Reisen tears up a little at this. “How- how'd she die?”

Damn. I wanted to lead her into answering that question for me, but I guess I let her have too much of a gap there. “Exploded. Not the most pleasant way to go.”

–

Exploded? Did they- hmm. They might not have as much on you as you originally thought.

–

Reisen stares at you for a moment. “Exploded?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“Flandre?”

I cross my arms and lean back. Tea's still not good yet. “Might be. She's chief suspect. Haven't seen her at all since tonight.” A bald-faced lie. The first thing we did when we found her exploded was to ask Flandre. And the bawling and tears.... and the threats against whoever did this. I would not like to be on the receiving end of that girl's wrath.

“So, how can I help, Investigator?”

“Just a few questions. What have you been doing tonight?”

She thinks for a moment. These are always hard to judge. People think hard when they're lying. And some people genuinely have to think to remember what they did an hour ago. I'll ask her this sort of question again soon, and we'll see which one the girl is. “Well, I was, uh, playing games with Kaguya, and before then... well, cleaning and organizing, I guess.”

“Games?”

She nods. “Yeah. Something about carts and racing.”

I take a sip from the tea. Nope. Still not good. “And so Kaguya is here, then?”

Reisen's eyes narrow the tiniest bit. If I didn't know any better, she didn't set up an alibi with Kaguya. That's good. “She is.”

“Good. I'd like to talk to her. But I would ask that you not talk to her until after I've talked to her. Is this alright?”

–

Shit. You got outmaneuvered there. Hopefully Kaguya wasn't paying attention to your whereabouts, and she'll say as much. That's really the best you could hope for an alibi from her. Of course, you could always object, but that might be even more suspicious. Shit, shit shit shit. She has no proof. Of that you're certain.

–

“And Eirin and Tewi? Mokou, maybe?” Nothing on the mention of Eirin. Concern, maybe, on the mention of Tewi. And a flash of anger for Mokou? That's not what I'd expected.

“I'm not Eirin or Mokou's keeper. But Eirin's prone to occasionally wandering off sometimes, or hermiting herself up in her lab for days at a time. Kaguya might know of her better. Mokou... well, she isn't in the habit of keeping me informed. And I'm not in the habit of asking. But as for Tewi, I haven't seen her since... well, mid-afternoon.” Seems consistent with what I know of Tewi's schedule.

“Do you know where Tewi might have gone?”

She shrugs. “Nope. She didn't tell me tonight.”

I take a sip from the tea. Damn loose-leaf crap always gets stuck in my teeth. “She was at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.” And pause.

“Where Sakuya was murdered?” Ladies and gentlemen, gather round, gather round! See the best Investigator in Gensokyo! Trained by the best, better than the rest, it's Kotohime!

“I never said where she was murdered, Reisen.”

She gasps, in a small way. “Oh- I, uh, just assumed, since, you know, m-maid, and everything.” It's like Christmas, really. She's got a terrible poker face. It's like taking candy away from babies. Except, in this case, the baby's got no fingers with which to hold the candy, and they're kind of just balancing it on the stumps of deformed hands- okay that metaphor's pretty crap but the main point is there. It's easy. Really easy.

So you've got your prime suspect right here, but no evidence. Hopefully she can help provide you with that. “That's a perfectly understandable assumption to make.” I take a nice, long sip of tea, and savor Reisen's sweat. Okay, phrasing, I know, shut up. “But I think that's all the questions I have.”

Reisen sighs visibly in relief. “Oh, oka-”

“But I still need your help with another thing. The evidence, kid.” Nazrin glares at you, and tosses the evidence bag onto the table. The normally metallic sound that comes with a brass casing is muffled entirely by the plastic bag. Reisen looks at it, puzzled as all hell.

–

What the fuck? That's not even the same type of shell as my gun! Something's odd here. But yes, definitely no evidence. Even if you've got the worst poker face, nothing will stick without evidence.

–

“I have two requests. I'd like for you to identify the gun that fired this, and, if possible, show me and the kid a gun that could fire this.”

Reisen swallows, and nods. “Well, I can tell you right now that's a nine-millimeter bullet.”

“Nine-millimeter? How common is that?”

“Incredibly.” Shit. I hope she's fucking with me. “The amount of guns that could fire this kind of bullet... well, it's almost the most common pistol round in existence. Probably is, in fact.” Great. Just great.

“Well, how many guns of that type do you have on hand that you could show me?”

She thinks for a moment. “Three. A Luger P08, a Beretta 92F, and a Glock 26.”

I drain my tea. Stupid leaves. “Show me and the kid.”

–

The three of you proceed to your semi-secret portion of your secret bunker. Best idea you ever had, making a semi-secret portion of your secret bunker, so that people assume there's not another layer of secrecy. And bunker. Yeah.

You open up your gun rack, the oak and glass case being one of your favorites, and you draw out the Luger 08. “So. First we've got the Luger. Old, old gun. First one was manufactured in 1902.” Then you open up your metal gun rack, for your non-display guns, the ones you semi-privately practice with. The fact that you own and use guns is an open secret in Gensokyo. To be fair, they're less lethal than quite a few of the people here in Gensokyo, so nobody really cares. Though you suppose some will care now. With that thought in mind, you pull out the Glock 26, and a Beretta 92F, setting them down next to the Luger. “The Beretta is a modern design. This particular one is also called the M9. It's the chief firearm for some of the outside world's militaries. It's reliable, accurate, and very common.” You gesture to the Glock, the smallest of the three. “This is the Glock 26. It's light, and fairly small for its caliber. It was designed with concealed carry in mind.”

You can see Kotohime thinking, while Nazrin inspects each of the guns.

–

Well fuck. I had hoped that one of these guns would be an obvious choice, but each of them has their possibilities. The Luger is old, old enough to be in Gensokyo no question. But the Beretta is common. So that one doesn't seem like it'd be hard to have in here either. The Glock is apparently neither, but it's small and easily concealed. The perfect assassin's weapon.

“Kid?”

Nazrin doesn't look away from the Luger that she's currently inspecting. “Mm?”

“We're going to have to track down all three variants.”

Nazrin sighs. “Crap. Was hoping that wasn't the case.”

I turn to Reisen. “Do you mind if we borrow these temporarily for purposes of the investigation?”

She shakes her head. “No, I don't mind, so long as they're returned.”

I bow. “Thank you. Nazrin, grab the guns, we're leaving after we talk to Kaguya.” I fish around in my sleeve for a business card, and hand it to Reisen. “Let me know if you remember something. Anything. It might be just the clue we need to bust this case wide-open.” And I think I know where this case is going. I've only got a gut feeling, but once I get the evidence...

–

You see the two of them off from Eientei, after they've talked to Kaguya in private. You'll never get any evidence, Kotohime. You're going off on a wild goose chase. But someone had to have done this. The only people you could think of are the fairies. Why would they lay a false trail? You watch them leave, and then lace up your hiking boots. Time to get some answers.

–

“Did you manage to take care of it all unseen, Cirno?”

“Yep! I'm the sneakiest!”

“Great. That should lead the investigation towards....”

[ ] Youkai Mountain
[ ] The Underground
[ ] The Myouren Temple
[ ] The Fairy Forest surrounding the Misty Lake.

>>166242
Also in other news I wish I had remembered April Fool's, I had the perfect one lined up, but I forgot to post it.

[x] The Underground
Because they haven't been stirred up at all yet.

[x] The Underground

The stir up the pot even more.

[X] Youkai Mountain

I'm trying to have the investigators go to the most logical location. In this case, it's the Kappa's main hideout-who else in Gensokyo would handle firearms? I'm aware that a few of us probably want to take this to the other locations just to stir up things, but seriously, I would like to see Kotohime's thought process that causes her to reject the Youkai Mountain over another location like Underground, the winning vote.

>>166262
This.

[X] Youkai Mountain
Makes more sense than the others, even if she doesns't think the murderer is there, could've gotten the weapon there

[x] Youkai Mountain
Either Kappas (they have the tech) or Sanae (High profile outsider)

So she dies from an explosion and Reisen shouldn't assume it was murder? What, a kitchen accident from the perfect maid that can stop fucking time? Or a lab explosion from the library which she never, ever visits? That wasn't suspicious at all.
Well her reaction was, she should've said something like 'I refuse to believe that a person as capable died in an accident' or something like that.

>>166265
She did assume it was murder/an accident with Flandre, at the very least: when Kotohime said she was 'exploded', Reisen asked if it was Flandre.

What Kotohime keyed in on was the fact that Reisen automatically assumed it was at the SDM. Sure, it's the most likely place, but it is possible that it wasn't there.

>>166262
That's why Nazrin's there.

[x] The Underground

I want to see that thought process that rationalizes going underground instead of the mountain [maybe there are kappa working underground still..?]

More importantly, I'd like to hope that the fey's Misdirection would be sending them away from people their killing Asset has been hanging around.

recap question.

Are the fey privy to our current trust in Sanae?

[ ] The Underground
A certain Raven has a powerful wave motion gun.

>>166275
>Sanae
Considering Luna flipped her shit at us over it, yes.

Updates by Wednesday. It's been a busy week, and I also spent all weekend out camping. Wednesday really is the first day I will end up getting free time to write. Please wait warmly.

>>/at/30224

ugh ugh ugh why do I do thisssssssssss

>>166473

Because you are great and awesome and don't stop please~

>>166473
Rabbit. Rabbit please. More porn.

>>166487
nooooooooooooooooooo

>>166501

yeeeeeeesssssssss

>>166473
because somewhere deep inside you, you love this, and yet try to tell yourself you don't

or something I dunno what I'm doing

you're good at it anyway

[x] The Underground

“So, where we headed, kid?”

Nazrin shrugs. “The best I've got is...” she pauses to think, and points. “That way.”

And now that I've left Eientei, I wish I had thought to see if the bullet was attuned to any of Reisen's guns. Dammit, that's a rookie mistake. But so would her showing us the murder weapon, I guess.

–

You throw on a light jacket after lacing up your fairy-kicking boots, and stow the evidence bag with the 9mm casing that Kotohime left behind in your care. Which, now that you think about it, is kind of an odd decision. Maybe she's playing at something. Maybe you're not going to play her stupid mindgames anymore. You're really, really sick of mindgames.

So tonight you're going to get some answers. Tewi might be back soon, but you don't care anymore.

Not after this bullshit.

Your mood only gets blacker and blacker as you crash loudly through the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, kicking bamboo out of the way, or just bulling through it, completely ignoring the paths.

I fucking hate contracts. I hate fairies. I hate fey. I hate bargains. I hate having to do terrible things to my friends. I hate having the threat of my family's life hanging over my head. I hate, I hate, I hate!

But there's Sanae. And my family's worth it. I just... I wish there was a way out of this.

As you're thinking to yourself, heading to the forest around the Misty Lake, to a very specific, well-hidden corner of the woods, you do your best to clear your mind. You can't let yourself be emotional when you're dealing with the fairies' crap.

You reach a small clearing, lit dimly by the half-moon. There are two fairies waiting for you there. One is Cirno. “Hi, Reisen. Glad to see you.” She's probably the nicest out of the three of them. But that's probably why she's not your 'handler'. You'd imagine you could trick Cirno fairly easily, but she's also the muscle in that group. For what that's worth, at least.

You roll your shoulders to relieve some of the tension. “Cirno. Luna not here?”

Cirno shakes her head. “Nah. She's still busy at the SDM.”

“Any word on my equipment?”

Cirno shrugs. “Not yet. I think Luna will probably let you know when she gets back.” She rolls her eyes. “I can just imagine her complaining. 'That rabbit is a rank amateur, has no idea what she's doing, is endangering the whole operation', blah, blah, blah-dee-blah.”

For all the anger you worked yourself into on your way over here, you can't help but smile a little. “Sounds like her.”

You turn your head to look at the other fairy, seated on a tree trunk, ringed by mushrooms. Yes, yes, fairy ring, very good, laying it on a little thick here, aren't you? She speaks first, since you obviously aren't going to. “Didn't expect you so soon. Not tonight.”

You cross your arms. “Yeah, but shit got changed on me. I don't appreciate that.”

She just looks at you, a little puzzled.

“Well, didn't you want me to come talk to you, Lily? Get on with it.”

[ ] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
[ ] Be confrontational. Don't let her guide the conversation.
[ ] Throw the bullet casing at Lily. The fuck is this shit?
[ ] Write-in.

–

Short, because I realized about halfway through the conversation, that you guys might want to guide how the conversation goes, instead of me dictating Reisen's temperament through writer fiat. That, and I expended entirely too much writing effort and muse juice by writing terrible porn. But the plan is to have the next update on Friday.

>>166552
Also I spent entirely too many words on this:
>>/blue/17006

[x] Throw the bullet casing at Lily. The fuck is this shit?
Lily White or Lily Black?

[x] Throw the bullet casing at Lily. The fuck is this shit?
Catch her off-guard.

[x] Throw the bullet casing at Lily. The fuck is this shit?

[x] Throw the bullet casing at Lily. The fuck is this shit?
Catch her off-guard.

>>166568
Did you just copy my vote including my one-line comment? You know this is going to force the writefag to perform a spam check, right? (Although what good would be vote spamming when the vote in unanimous is beyond me)
Picture unrelated.

[X] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
-[X] If she states anything contradictory, wait for the best opportunity before tossing the bullet casing at her.
--[X] Otherwise, hold it out and show it to the fairies once at the most timely moment.

There's a time to be blunt, and a time to merely observe. It may be extremely tempting to vent our frustrations and yell at Lily by showing her the bullet casing, but we need to begin to show subtlety, rather than go around and give away all of our cards in the first few minutes of this meeting. The fairies obviously feel that Reisen is simpleminded, and just throwing the bullet casing at them will just prove it.

On a side note, why the heck couldn't Reisen simply get a voice recorder and bring it along? Surely with a bit of editing, she'll have plenty of evidence to prevent the fairies from dragging her down with them...

[X] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
-[X] If she states anything contradictory, wait for the best opportunity before tossing the bullet casing at her.
--[X] Otherwise, hold it out and show it to the fairies once at the most timely moment.

[X] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
Let's hang Lily~`

So I just read one of the older stories on the site, a short CYOA that Twitty did regarding rabbits.

>>/others/30321

And you guys accuse me of being mean to Reisen.

>>166580
Read that. You're worse.

>>166584
Seconded.

[X] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
-[X] If she states anything contradictory, wait for the best opportunity before tossing the bullet casing at her.
--[X] Otherwise, hold it out and show it to the fairies once at the most timely moment.

This depends on Reisen not screwing it up, but the other vote is to screw it up immediately, so yeah.

[X] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
-[X] If she states anything contradictory, wait for the best opportunity before tossing the bullet casing at her.
--[X] Otherwise, hold it out and show it to the fairies once at the most timely moment.

Yeah, this seems like the best bet. Let's see what she has to say.

[ ] Be confrontational. Don't let her guide the conversation.

Calling it for:

[X] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
-[X] If she states anything contradictory, wait for the best opportunity before tossing the bullet casing at her.
--[X] Otherwise, hold it out and show it to the fairies once at the most timely moment.

A day late, but I tried, really I did. Anyway. Update tonight, hopefully. My tea's currently brewing and I'm going to start after that's done.

[X] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
-[X] If she states anything contradictory, wait for the best opportunity before tossing the bullet casing at her.
--[X] Otherwise, hold it out and show it to the fairies once at the most timely moment.

Lily folds her hands together on top of her dress. “I'd have liked for Luna to be here, but... She tells me that you're not happy working with us.”

You cross your arms and glare. “That's an understatement.”

Lily gestures, hands out to the sides. “Have we not treated the bargain fairly?”

You simply grumble assent to this. Not worth using real words.

“And are you not one favor away from having repaid us? Once that is done, the bargain's finished, and the contract is concluded.”

“I'm not happy with your version of the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.”

Lily smiles, and hops off the stump, dusting off her dress. “Cirno, could you do us a favor and make sure we're not followed?”

Cirno salutes, smiling widely, and then crashes off into the brush.

“Walk with me, Reisen.”

You grumble a little more, but shove your hands into your jacket pockets, rubbing your fingers over the bullet casing wrapped in plastic.

“I would ask that you not share anything I'm going to tell you with anyone. Of course, you're not on the clock, so I can't outright make you do anything.”

You stop. “Wait, are you telling me that if I wasn't being timed for a favor, you don't have any power over me?”

Lily smiles. “Wouldn't it be unfair to have you working directly for us, for the entire time between the favors being promised and the favors called due? I know you think us monsters, unfairly so, but we do try to deal fairly. Come.” The two of you walk down an old cobblestone path flanked by old trees, with the cobbles unevened from age, and covered in moss. The only illumination is the thin strands of moonlight pouring down between the gaps in the forest canopy above you.

Lily is skipping from cobble to cobble. “Now, you might ask, why you?” She hops to another cobblestone, landing in the middle, as you walk slowly alongside. “It was really a matter of convenience. A coincidence, if you will. We needed someone to help us project power onto Gensokyo. You needed an insurance policy against the then-impending Lunarian invasion.”

Your lips twist in anger. “The policy didn't cover the people I had intended it to.”

Lily hops another cobblestone, and shrugs, without looking at you. “Not my problem. In fact, I couldn't have done anything about that, even if I wanted to. I merely provided to you a little fae magic to, ah, inspire Eirin.” Hop.

Memories of Eirin trying to make the Hourai Elixir work again leap to the forefront of your mind. “So if it was inspiration for Eirin, why couldn't she repeat it?”

Hop. “It's magic, not science. Besides, she never struck any bargains with us. I don't know if we'd even have anything to offer her.” Lily stops and turns to you. “Does she value anything beyond her own work? Does she value you?” You refuse to meet her gaze. “Like I said, not much we could offer her. Even faerie magic has its limits.”

“So why Toyosatomimi and Sakuya?” Sakuya was your friend.

Lily skips a couple feet down the path. “Toyosatomimi was one of our targets, and probably the one you'd have the least trouble with. It was both a part of our plan, and a test to see if you would hold up your end of the bargain. Happily enough for both of us, you have.” She stops, as the cobblestone path has led to an old stone well, wood rotted from disuse, and stones loose, mortar cracked. She sits on the edge of it, facing you, as you lean against a tree. “Sakuya was different. Sakuya was... well, not the ideal target. It was, however, the best we were likely to get. Toyosatomimi and Sakuya were both essentially human.”

You interject here. “Toyosatomimi wasn't really human, though. She was a reincarnation or resurrection of a saint, depending on who you ask. And immortal, to boot.” You'd done a couple of discreet inquiries to Toyosatomimi's nature- it's just not in you to forget her.

Lily kicks her legs back in forth, in a childish manner. “Well, let me point a few things out to you. She's immortal, but died already? And she's immortal, but you killed her all the same. With just your boot, no less. There are many different types of immortality- they tend to fall into two different types, though. One is simple non-senescence, the type where you just don't die from aging. You'll still die if you're killed, though. Quite a few people here in Gensokyo can manage that just fine. I would not be surprised if mundane science learned the secrets of that as well. Toyosatomimi was one of these. The Hourai Elixir, however, provides the second type of immortality: in that people under its effects do not die, even when killed. You have seen this, yes?”

You nod. “I've seen the things that Kaguya and Mokou do.”

“Right. That is an entirely different beast. But I'll not bore you with the technical details of how. It's actually rather similar to the immortality fairies possess.” She shrugs. “It's magic, anyway. I was not led to believe that's your strong suit. No offense meant, of course.”

Unlike Luna, she probably means it. You gesture for her to go on. “So, Sakuya. We'd have preferred to go for the head there, and take out Remilia. This likely would not have ended well for you. Have you ever slain a vampire before?”

“No.”

“No. Neither have I. I have heard tales of those who have attempted it. Some have succeeded. Some of those tales... Well, Remilia tells some of those tales herself. Then you have Flandre. Same problems, even less benefit. Meiling I doubt you could take on. I'm not even sure a bullet could kill her. She's very strong, that one. Patchouli you could probably have taken out, given that while she's very powerful, she has the same sort of drawback that Sakuya does: if she's not expecting it, it can kill her. Plays to your strengths. That's why Sakuya, and not any of the rest of the residents of the SDM.”

You stand there in silence for a moment, while Luna rocks one of the stones that make up the well back and forth. “That wasn't the question I wanted answered. Why Toyosatomimi and Sakuya at all?”

Luna just looks up at you and smiles. “That would be telling. I'm sure we could work out something regarding payment for this information, though.”

You shake your head emphatically. “No. No, hell no. I am not dealing with you again.”

“Oh well. You know I trade fairly.”

“In only the most technical sense of the word.”

“You wound me, Reisen. Really, you do.” She runs a hand through her blonde hair. “Was there anything else you wanted to ask?”

You want to get angry. You want to explode at her in righteous indignation. You want to just push her down the well and hope she drowns. But she can fly, and you just can't muster the anger anymore. You've cooled off too much for that.

You hold out the bullet casing to Lily. “So what's this, Lily?”

She stands up, and plucks the bag from your hand, holding it up, and examining it closely. “I don't know. A metal cylinder of some sort, I'd guess. Why?”

“Sakuya was killed with a gun. They shoot bullets. The left-over part of the bullet, the part that doesn't go into people, is what you see there. Kotohime believes that that casing is to the bullet that killed Sakuya.”

Lily hands back the bag with the bullet inside. “Oh. That's interesting. Is it?”

“Is it what?”

“Is it the casing for the bullet that killed Sakuya?”

You cock an eyebrow at Lily. “You don't know?”

Lily shrugs. “I would not say I know much about guns.”

“It is not.”

“So Kotohime is following a false lead. Is this a bad thing?”

You look at her, trying to tell if she's just playing dumb. “It might be, depending on what you have planned.”

Lily shrugs. “Ask Luna, I guess. She's the one that's taking care of the cleanup. We aren't trying to throw you under the bus, here, Reisen. She's trying to protect you.” Yeah. I believe that. Totally. “Is there anything else?”

You think. “I could have recorded all of this.”

Lily laughs. “And what? Show it to someone, confess all your guilt, get your 'fairy conspiracy' dismissed as a crackpot theory, because everyone knows that fairies can't plan this far ahead with anything? Oh, and since you'd be either incarcerated or dead, you'd be unable to fulfill the third favor, and default on the whole thing. Is that your plan?” For the first time, Lily isn't smiling, as she says these next words to you. “If it is, you may want a better one, rabbit.” She hops down from the well. “I'll be taking my leave now, if you don't mind.”

She walks off, without even waiting for an answer, leaving you alone in the pre-dawn darkness of the forest. The moon has set, leaving very little light to filter through the forest, but for the tiniest starlight.

That could have gone better. What now?

[ ] Go home and sleep. Screw all of this.
– [ ] Midnight Full Moon
– [ ] Fairy Ring
– [ ] Hurt Locker
– [ ] Saving Private Princess
– [ ] My Time amongst the Natives
– [ ] Nightmare Scenario
– [ ] Write in a dream?

[ ] Go home and wait for Tewi. You can't sleep tonight. Not after all this crap.
[ ] Go to the Moriya Shrine. Sanae will make you feel better.
[ ] Stay here. Maybe something will reveal itself to you.
[ ] Write-in.

–

Also:
[ ] Be Kotohime.
[ ] Continue to be Reisen.

[x] Go home and wait for Tewi. You can't sleep tonight. Not after all this crap.
Rabbit needs hugs badly.
[x] Be Kotohime.
Let's see if she can even get by Parsee.

[ ] Go to the Moriya Shrine. Sanae will make you feel better.
[ ] Be the bunny

Yes Sanae, we will convert you to our cause.

[x] Go home and wait for Tewi. You can't sleep tonight. Not after all this crap.

Yeah, need to explain things to Tewi.

[x] Continue to be Reisen.

And I want to see how that explanation goes.

[X] Go to the Moriya Shrine. Sanae will make you feel better.
[X] Continue to be Reisen.

Because we need more Sanae.

[X] Be Kotohime

[x] Stay here. Maybe something will reveal itself to you.
[x] Continue to be Reisen.
Something's gotta happen

[x] Go home and wait for Tewi. You can't sleep tonight. Not after all this crap.
[x] Continue to be Reisen.

Sneaking around in the middle of the night, or going to see Sanae right now is incredibly suspicious. Specially right after the detective paid a visit to the suspect; with most fairies accusing the pair of being the culprits, and Reisen being a suspect, this would make Sanae equally suspicious as Reisen. That would be bad.

Then there's the fact that Tewi probably has guessed that Reisen is the killer; she's a smart rabbit. I'd prefer to have access/influence over their inevitable talk.

[x] Go home and wait for Tewi. You can't sleep tonight. Not after all this crap.
[x] Continue to be Reisen.

Sneaking around in the middle of the night, or going to see Sanae right now is incredibly suspicious. Specially right after the detective paid a visit to the suspect; with most fairies accusing the pair of being the culprits, and Reisen being a suspect, this would make Sanae equally suspicious as Reisen. That would be bad.

Then there's the fact that Tewi probably has guessed that Reisen is the killer; she's a smart rabbit. I'd prefer to have access/influence over their inevitable talk.

[x] Go home and sleep. Screw all of this.
–[x] Nightmare Scenario
Nothing like a good night's sleep to keep our spirits high.

[X] Go to the Moriya Shrine. Sanae will make you feel better.
[X] Continue to be Reisen.

[x] Go to the Moriya Shrine. Sanae will make you feel better.
[x] Go home and wait for Tewi. You can't sleep tonight. Not after all this crap.
[x] Continue to be Reisen.

As you pad back to Eientei, you look across the Misty Lake to where the Moriya Shrine is. Dawn is approaching soon, but the shrine is dark. Nobody's awake. Maybe you'll go bother Sanae after the morning. It's impolite to get someone up in the middle of the night if you don't have to. That, and the fact that you'll probably sleep like Kaguya tonight, with how active you've been and how long you've been awake.

Man, you're tired.

You just didn't realize it until now. Adrenaline from the sneaking, adrenaline from the running, with a small lull as you played games with Kaguya, and then more adrenaline from the cops. Yeah. You're going to sleep like a brick.

You wander into Eientei. Kaguya's still awake, you can hear the sound of her video games, a odd, ghostly accompaniment to the silence of the rest of the place. Guess you should go and see what alibis she gave Kotohime.

You slide the door to her room open, and sit down heavily a padded wicker chair, sighing. Kaguya pauses her game, and turns to you. “So where'd you go, Reisen?”

You shrug wearily. “Off to stomp the people who likely tipped the cops off to suspect me.”

“Did you?”

“Nah. They were too pitiful to stomp. I just let them be. They'll never cross me again, I'm sure.”

Kaguya shakes your head. “No, I mean, did you do what the cops suspected you of?”

Not this 'discover what you know' crap. Not again. Not from Kaguya. “I don't know. What'd they suspect me of?”

Kaguya crosses her arms. “Killing Sakuya. I told them you wouldn't, you two were great friends.”

Yeah. That's true. It hurt so goddamn much. But... she'd have done the same, in my position. She told me that. So I can take some slight comfort. “You know I wouldn't. And I didn't.” Welp, that's the lie told. Hopefully I don't get caught out. “What else did she ask?”

Kaguya flops backward onto her futon. “Mostly where you were tonight. I told her I didn't know. I mean, you go out and do your own thing all the time anyway.” She pauses to stretch. “I trust you, Reisen. You know that.”

You smile a little. “Thanks, Kaguya. It means a lot to me.”

At that point, the door crashes open, and a disheveled, angry, beaten-up Tewi stomps into the room. She's not wearing her pumpkin anymore. “Tewi, where did your pumpkin go?” Kaguya asks.

“I had a hell of a day, Kaguya. I sunk their battleship. And their whales.”

Kaguya just raises an eyebrow. “What?”

Tewi ignores it, and points at you. “Reisen. We need to talk.”

Yep. Knew this was going to happen. “Okay. Let's go somewhere private. Talk to you soon, Kaguya.”

Kaguya sits back up. “Yep. See you later, Reisen.”

–

You and Tewi are in your 'secret lab', the one that everyone knows about. You're sitting in an overstuffed leather chair, slumping terribly from exhaustion. Tewi is sitting on a table. “So what'd they do, Tewi?”

Tewi spits. “Interrogated me. That little red-haired bitch and her questions... 'Why were you covering for the rabbit? Who is the rabbit?' But that's not important. No, none of that is important. What I want to know, is what in the holy everloving fuck were you doing there that was so goddamn important that Meiling was ready to tear your stupid rabbit head off?” She points a finger at you, a rarely seen, and barely restrained rage in her eyes. “I want the fucking truth, Reisen. I covered for you, and I deserve to know. Was it you that killed Sakuya?”

[ ] Tell the truth.
[ ] Lie.
[ ] Lie.
[ ] Lie.
[ ] Lie.
[ ] LIE.
[ ] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?

>>166853
>Kaguya shakes your head.

An obvious typo, but that's an entertaining mental image, and I'm leaving it in.

[x]Tell the truth in the same tone that you used when you claimed you were setting up to assassinate the President of the World.

[x] Tell her that it's our fault she's dead. That we pulled the trigger. But someone else made the decision.

>>166856
>>166857
Hate to tell you guys this, but there is no write-in option this time around. I do appreciate the ideas on how to lie/tell the truth, and I will definitely take them into account. So I'm going to take >>166856 as a vote for "Lie" with the added suggestions, and >>166857 as a vote for "The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?", with the vote taken as suggestions. If this is contrary to your preferences, let me know.

Really this is mostly just so I can more easily parse the votes for this decision. So your ideas are welcomed, I'd just prefer them in comments and not in the specific vote itself.

[x]LIE

"No, It absolutely was NOT me." Stare her straight in the face (while biting our tongue). If we had glasses, we could take them off for added value.

I wish everyone would stop trying to give themselves up. That's only going to result in a BAD END, and I wanna see where the fairy plot goes.

[ ] Lie.

[X] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?

She covered for us, out of the blue and without knowing why. She trusted us, and if we want that to continue, we owe her the same.

[X] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?

Method-Explain to Tewi how Reisen had to do it because of the contract she made during the Lunarian threat, and that she was forced to kill Sakuya or lose Eirin and Kaguya. Additionally, mention that there didn't seem to be any other options, so unless Tewi can come up with another solution, Reisen will have to continue with the third favor.

We have only a little to gain by lying, and far too much to lose, and let's be honest- Reisen is a terrible liar.

Additionally, Tewi isn't the leader of the earth rabbits by chance, and based on her outburst, I doubt that Reisen can lie effectively under this level of stress.

Everything that Reisen has done so far has been for Eirin, Kaguya, and to a lesser extent, Tewi. Reisen didn't want to tell Tewi about the contract because the lunar rabbit didn't want to involve her closest friend in this debacle, but now even Tewi is involved, and trying to hide the truth will seriously damage their relationship in this critical period.

We have to face the facts. Tewi knows that Reisen was at the masquerade without an invitation. Reisen also didn't tell Tewi where the former was going, which is a dead giveaway that Reisen was going to do something illegal. Unless Tewi suddenly lost all of her common sense during Kotohime's interrogation, I really doubt that Reisen can deceive her, given her inability to lie under interrogation.

Even if Reisen doesn't admit that she killed Sakuya, Tewi will still be suspicious, which is counterproductive towards our goals. Telling her the truth is the most pragmatic decision; deceiving her will only foster distrust, and at this point, we need her cooperation. Trying to solve things on our own isn't bringing us anywhere, and although I don't know what Tewi will react to our confession, I do know that lying to her will rely solely on Tewi's gullibility and Reisen's lying capabilities, both of which are probably non-existent.

tl;dr conclusion:Lying is futile. Tewi isn't stupid. Tell her the truth.

[X] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?

>>166867

This guy sums it up. Reisen is a terrible liar. Tewi is an intelligent, clever old youkai. She knows something is going on. And Reisen's masquerade is starting to crumble. Time to get allies where she can.

[ ] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?
-[x] "What if I did?"

166856 here, clarifying.

That is a vote to tell the truth. Just doing a terrible job of it.

[X] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?

She's convincing herself otherwise, but in her heart, she already knows.

[x] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?
If Reisen wasn't so damned crappy at lying, I'd lie my ass off. But it's already obvious

>>167000
She did pretty well when it came to lying to Kaguya, though.

>>167000
Kaguya was merely inquiring about Reisen's recent actions, not interrogating our rabbit with the intensity that Kotohime and Tewi have shown with their questions. Just because Reisen calmly deflected Kaguya's queries doesn't mean jack about how she'll react to Tewi.

>>167039
Well, she can't possibly screw everything up, can she?

>>167052
Why risk it?

Exams are over for me, and I've got the rest of this week and all of next week off until classes start again for me. So updates soon.

>>167114
Also I love all of you and I've been playing entirely too much of this game, so here's something I've been working on entirely too much:

http://tindeck.com/listen/qlta

[X] The truth hurts, doesn't it, poor little rabbit?

You close your eyes and sigh. “Are you sure, Tewi?”

She crosses her arms. “I'm sure.”

“Okay. Let me start from the beginning, then. This isn't a pleasant story.” You open your eyes and sit back up in the chair. “Do you remember the retaliatory Lunarian invasion for Kaguya, Eirin and I?”

Tewi nods. “I do.”

“Okay. Just prior to that, I had made... an exceptionally poor decision. The Hourai Elixir isn't entirely Eirin's work. In fact, it's not really her work at all. I kind of did it.”

“Kind of?”

“Yeah. I struck a bargain with some fairies. Cirno, Luna, and Lily, though that's not really that important. I wished to protect three lives, and promised to exchange three lives at a later date for that. The three I had intended to protect were Eirin, Kaguya... and you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You.” You get up, and walk over to your liquor cabinet, pulling out two crystal tumblers, and filling them with a couple fingers' worth of scotch. You hand one to Tewi, sit back down, and sip yours. “Except it didn't go that way.”

“Mokou drank the dose you had intended for me.”

“She did. I tried to talk to the fairies about that, but they said that I hadn't specified the three lives.”

Tewi takes a sip and leans back in her chair. “I guess I understand why you don't like her much, then.”

“So the fairies had three favors they could call in on me, make me their assassin of sorts.”

Tewi starts swirling the scotch around in her tumbler. “And if you said no?”

“Then the magic would be removed, and the three of them would die.”

“Wait, hold on. Wouldn't it just make them not immortal?”

You nod. “It would. If they hadn't all essentially 'died' at least once already. You know Mokou and Kaguya have 'killed' each other multiple times. And Eirin sometimes tests some of the real dangerous stuff on herself. The thing that keeps them alive is the fae magic, as they've already snuffed out their own personal life force.” You shrug. “I'd imagine it doesn't feel any different.”

Tewi shudders. “That's fucked up.”

“It is. But if the contract is finished, then the fae magic becomes permanent. As it is, they can pull it at any time for breach of contract.”

“So you killed Sakuya on their orders.”

You let out a long, slow breath. “I did.”

Tewi is quiet for a while. Then: “She was your friend.”

“I know.”

“And you still killed her.”

“She'd have done the same for her family.”

Tewi looks up at you, anger flashing in her eyes. “How do you know!?”

The dull resignation in yours meets her gaze. “I asked her. Then I shot her.”

“You have two favors left, right?”

You shake your head. “No. One. I killed Toyosatomimi too.”

Tewi sets her tumbler of scotch down on the table next to her, and she hops down from the seat. “I... I think I'm done here.”

You close your eyes and sink down back into your seat. “What are you going to do?”

Tewi's voice is very quiet, and tremulous. “I think... I think I'm going to have to let Kotohime know. I really, really hoped this wasn't the case. But... you might be just as much a monster as the fairies, Reisen.”

You can feel the tears start to well up. You want to stop her, but you can't imagine hurting Tewi. Today has not been a good day. Tewi is now gone, and you're alone, in the dark basement of Eientei, crying softly.

Poor little rabbit.

–

The Kid and I have come to the foot of Youkai Mountain- she says her dowsing rods are pointing downwards, underground. A shame, I think to myself, as I look up the mountain, shading my eyes from the sun, I could have used a nice mountain hike- the fresh, crisp mountain air, the brisk, bracing breeze, but no.

No, I have to go into this stuffy, dark hole. Which is bullshit.

So we've come to a fork in the road. One of the paths crosses a bridge. Only darkness can be seen beyond it. The other path leads to a small elevator, labeled “Subterranean Geyser Research Institute.” When I asked the kid which path her dowsing rods pointed to, she just shrugged, and said she wasn't getting any reading from either of them. But them's the choices available to us, and a gumshoe's got to start somewhere.

So I decide I'm going to flip a coin and tell the kid to call it: she says heads for the bridge, tails for the elevator.

So I flip the coin. It turns up:

[ ] Heads
[ ] Tails
[ ] Edge

[X] Heads

Lovin every minute of it

[X] Edge

Because we're riding the one that separates us from complete and utter despair.

[x] Tails
Because radiation is fun for everyone!

[X] Edge

In hindsight, we could've expected this to happen. Oh well, at the very least, now somebody who believes us knows that the fairies are behind all of this.

Yeah, that didn't go very well.

[x] Heads

Because I'm imagining Kotohime interacting with Parsee.

[ ] Heads

[ ] Edge
How edgy

>people insist on telling truth
>now the detective is gonna find out
>we'll be arrested and the faeries will pull their magic

Honesty is NEVER the best policy.

>>167234

Actually, it really depends on what you value. I myself decided that since Reisen values her relationship with Tewi, it was necessary to tell the truth.

Was it pragmatic? Not really. However, the majority of the people who voted valued Tewi's 'trust' and doubted Reisen's lying capabilities. It's clear that telling the truth will lead to dramatic and probably unfavorable repercussions to the development of the story, but if Reisen tried to lie and crumbled under Tewi's cross examination, it would've been just as bad as our current situation. After all, lying to your host who's been sheltering you at her own cost isn't exactly pragmatic, especially since she could simply order her rabbit underlings to spy on you wherever you go.

Ultimately, we can see a trend of the number of factions revealing themselves as of now. Some advocate placing trust in Reisen's friends and close companions, some believe that Reisen needs to play along with the fairies to learn the truth, and some just want a decent ending by the end of this excursion.

There is no clear-cut path to the most favorable ending, and while telling Tewi the truth was an asinine decision regarding Reisen's immediate and long-term prospects, it's clear that the writer will continue on and toy with the divided factions among us.

[x] Heads

Elevator will take to the kappa lab, and then to Okuu, and finally, to Satori. I'd rather keep Kotohime stuck with Parsee/Yuugi.

>>167243
That's a good point. I for one expected that Reisen would be found guilty and killed over this. In fact, I hope for that outcome.
I just wish that she gets to finish the third favor before that.

>>167243
It also depends on what you call the "most favorable outcome."

Most of them are still possible, the ones that aren't are ones that got cut fairly early.

>>167278
I'm just hoping we get a chance to be judged properly, rather than MOB JUSTICE'd.

>>167282
I am curious to know who you would place as judge.

>>167283
I'm not him, but Shikieki would be great for the job. Considering it IS her job. Can't do better for impartiality.

Considering the circumstances I doubt Reisen would get sentenced to Hell or Makai, maybe reincarnation as a lesser life form or however that works.

>>167286
Can't be Eiki. Reisen isn't dead.

>>167288
The chances of that remaining true in the end seem... shall we say, less than 100%.

Me, I'd pick Tewi as the judge.
Oh, wait, we just did.
Huh.

>>167288
>Can't be Eiki. Reisen hasn't crossed the Sanzu
ftfy

>>167292
One might say the Sanzu is more like a lake. That one jumps in.

Ya gotta die for Komachi to row you across. That, or give her a tenner for her trouble. She's pretty cheap and easy to bribe.

While it is tied, I'm going to call it for [x]Heads because I had what is possibly the worst BEST idea in all of history.

Whoo. Last update was some heavy shit. So: lighter fare! And DAILIES!

--

Heads. The coin is heads. Wobbled on its edge entirely too much to be natural, but ended up being heads.

The kid and I are bridgeward bound, as it seems. The dirt crunches beneath my shoes, but Nazrin pads silently. Like a mouse. Heh. Ha. Heh heh heh. Oh, I crack myself up sometimes.

As I walk across the bridge, wrought purely from lacquered wood, red railings and worn black planks, a voice comes, with no discernible direction. “Halt.” Of course, I don't give a damn what a disembodied voice wants. I keep walking, and after a moment, the kid follows as well. “No, seriously, halt, or else!”

I keep walking. “Or else what?”

“Or else I'll have to use... THIS!” The bridge jumps a bit, as though someone's kicked it from below. “Bwa hahahahaha! Fear my bridge powers!”

I walk to the railing and lean over. I see a girl, blonde hair, clad in an odd blue-and-brown dress, with pointy ears and sparkling green eyes. “Oi. Did you just kick the bridge?”

She jumps in surprise and shouts up at me. “No!” She very clearly just kicked the bridge. “I used my powers!” Bridge-kicking powers.

I look at Nazrin. “Kid, who's this clown?” Nazrin shrugs, as if to say 'never met this clown before.' Stealing my goddamn words, the kid always is.

An indignant shout follows that. “Hey! I'm not a clown! I'm the Bridge Princess, Parsee Mizuhashi!”

“That's great. I'm going now.”

“Hey hey hey hey hey!” Parsee vaults herself up onto the bridge, landing with a loud, intimidating SLAM. Or rather, it would have been, if she had been able to land on her feet in the manner with which she intended. But she didn't, and she landed face-first. She quickly scrambles to her feet, trying to blink away tears. “I'm the Bridge Princess! You can't pass my bridge!”

“Can't pass your bridge unless what?”

“Can't pass my bridge unless nothing! You're not allowed! You called me a clown!” She's red in the face from embarrassment, also from faceplanting. That will make your face red as well, so I've found.

I cross my arms. “What, no 'answer me these questions three'? What if we call the Billy Goats Gruff? Or, uh...” I look at the kid. “Help me out here, kid. I need a third bridge-related thing.” Nazrin rolls her eyes and shrugs again. “If you can't help me, what am I paying you for?”

“You aren't paying me at all,” Nazrin back-sasses.

“That's not important! I'm your mentor! I'm learning you!”

“Teaching,” she back-sasses again.

“Hey! I'm teaching investgatorology, not English, here.”

“We're in Gensokyo. We speak Japanese,” she says resignedly, with the strongest back-sass ever sassed.

“Shut up!”

Throughout this conversation, the bridge-kicking princess is getting redder and redder, until she bursts in. “HEY! HEY, STOP IGNORING ME!” She huffs angrily and stomps. “If you can beat me in a contest, I'll let you pass! How's that sound?”

“Kid?” Another shrug. “Eh, fine. Contest of what?”

Parsee scratches her head. “Uh... hadn't thought that through.”

I decide to start throwing out some suggestions. Little Princess Bridge-Kicker seems to need all the help she can get. “A race?”

“You'll just run off!”

“Fighting?”

She recoils. “And damage my pretty face?”

“Rap battle?”

Her eyes go wide as saucers at that. “Rap- But I'm so young, and it'd be my first time, and I'm kind of willing, I guess, so it isn't... be gentle?”

Oh man. “No. No, RAP battle. Not RAPE battle. Jesus, Princess, you gotta get out and about sometime.”

Parsee's face falls slightly. “Oh. Oh, okay. I can do a rap battle. But wouldn't you rather...” She blushes while coyly twisting her leg on the bridge planks, all the while fluttering her eyes.

“No. No, not at all.” I turn to the kid. “Kid, can you beatbox?”

Nazrin sighs the sigh of the long-suffering, and begins to beatbox.

[ ] “West Bridgeadelphia, born and raised...”
[ ] “99 problems but a bridge ain't one”
[ ] “MOVE, BRIDGE, GET OUT THE WAY”
[ ] Write-in.

...What. You weren't kidding, were you? Huh.

[x] “West Bridgeadelphia, born and raised...”

This is just too perfect.

[x] “West Bridgeadelphia, born and raised...”

[x] “99 problems but a bridge ain't one”

I... I don't even know anymore. But I must see MORE.

[X] “MOVE, BRIDGE, GET OUT THE WAY”

I almost passed orange juice through my nose.

Although now I'm tempted to see a rape battle.

>>167328

Pray to Rabbit, and he may yet bless us with an /at/ short.

[X] “West Bridgeadelphia, born and raised...”

dis gon b gud

[ ] “99 problems but a bridge ain't one”

Rabbit-YOU~
This is excellent. YES. YES. YESSSSSSSS.

Also, /at/ short with Parsee please.

Fuck it.

[x] “99 problems but a bridge ain't one”
Every option is gonna be hilarious

[x] “99 problems but a bridge ain't one”

Gimme some funky-ass tunes Nazrin.

[ ] , , [ ] y ( ) g, y [ ] g p , j p y ( ) [ ] g p , y ( ) [ ] p g y y ( ) [ ] , , p g j g y g p p y ( ) y , y y y ( ) [ ] g p , g g y ( ) [ ] p g , p y ( ) y ( ) [ ] p g y p g y ( ) [ ] p g y [ g y ] [ y g ] [ ] [ y ]

Blotter updated: 2013-04-22 Show/Hide Show All

>>167367
I have no clue what this is, but I've seen it before in other stories.

In any case, I'm calling it for "99 problems but a bridge ain't one".

[ ] “99 problems but a bridge ain't one.”

“Two verses?” I ask.

Little Miss Bridge-Kicker shrugs. “Sure.”

I take a breath to sync myself with the music, and start busting out the rhymes.

“I got 99 problems, but a bridge ain't one- if you're having bridge problems, I feel bad for you, son.
I'm The Fuzz, I'm The Law, guarantee you this battle won't be a draw.
You be trippin', literally trippin',
faceplanting on bridges because you can't stop slippin'.
You say you got this bridge locked down tight, that's ai'ght,
but you want people to halt not for what you do but what you MIGHT.
You're frontin', you got nothin', your whole gimmick is a joke,
Bridge Princess? You kick it any harder, and your foot's gonna be broke.
But it's okay, it's ai'ght, I understand if you can't hang,
you're getting dissed by the best of the best.”

Nazrin interrupts her beatboxing to say just one word: “Daaaaaaaaaaang.”

I high five the kid for keeping up the rhythm, and finishing that one out. Parsee huffs, and steps up.

“The Fuzz? The Law? Don't make me laugh.
You still ain't got the flow of my raps, not even by half.
You're not a PI, you're just a crazy bint with a thing for hair dye.
Ginger like that, your whole life's on a downhill roll,
either you're faking it, or you've got no soul.
You come into my town, my bridge, and you try to throw down?
You got jokes, you got tricks, shit, son, they ought to call you The Clown.
Hold on, I'm talking to the hospital, I'm on the phone,
gotta check on something before I send you crying home.
Yep, it's true, it's a fact, these raps checked into the ICU, you dick
They need intensive care, because they're SO SICK.”

Oh I'm going to rap that smug smirk right off her face so hard. “Nazrin? Hit me.” She then proceeds to punch me, and go back to beatboxing. “Not like that, dimwit!”

“Sick? What are you now, a doctor?
I should call Eirin and tell her you'll spot for her.
Oh, wait, that's right, you got no talent, you're down in the dark,
on a bridge that you're guarding that nobody ever crosses except on a lark.
You're alone, you're a princess with no castle,
with no friends, 'cause dealing with you is a hassle.
And bitch, my hair color is natural, red just like your face,
compared to Kisume, you're even more of a basket case.
And what's this rape fantasy shit anyway?
Are you really that hard up for a lay?
Seriously, girl, just call up the Lotus Pavilion-
I'm sure they'll show you a good time, if your broke ass could pony up a million.”

Parsee smiles as she steps up for her lyrical rejoinder.

“Basket case? Hey dumbass, Kisume lives in a bucket.
Just admit you've lost, throw in the towel, say 'fuck it',
and a million? Princess pays better than cop.
I'm loaded, I'm rich, I'm royalty, bitch,
got myself to Nirvana for the rich, following the Zen of Yen.
But you say I'm desperate for a lay?
You're pining after a man who picked someone else, and left without a word to say.
He left you alone, hell, you came in THIRD.
Before he'd fuck you, he'd much rather have fucked a bird.
Oh, what's that? It's probably the sound of you cryin'.
So you're a real ginger, that's great, if you had one, right now your soul would be dyin'.
'Cause I crushed you tonight, laid down the track, spit hot fire,
bitch you ain't crossing my bridge, but you can still look at me and admire.”

With a flourish, she bows and departs the 'stage'. I would really, really like to deck her in her punk-ass face right now, but the rap battle's over, two verses. “You know I won, Princess.”

She laughs. “You? That was some weak-ass shit. I totally won it.”

Both I and Parsee turn as one, and simultaneously say, “See? I won, didn't I?”

Nazrin scratches her head. “Well...”

[ ] Kotohime wins.
[ ] Parsee wins.

Also, the end of the thread is fast approaching. For those of you who haven't voted for the third favor, now is the time! I'll be closing votes for it when I do the end-of-thread summary. See the OP for your choices!

Well.. for a story hell-bound to end in tears, that was a jarring shift of tone.

[X] Parsee wins

>>167371
There is no goddamn way I can write this story all serious all the time. No goddamn way.

I also updated this thread, after having been the next person up for two goddamn years after I wrote the OP:

http://www.touhou-project.com/words/res/824.html

[ ] Mystery Target

[ ] Parsee wins.

Is there any other choice? No.

[x ] Kotohime wins.

Hey man, Kotohime did pretty well I think.

Also, I'm going to leave the third favor in more "capable" hands.

. . . This is just a breather episode isn't it? This third one is going to be painful at best, isn't it?

I can't tell who did better...

[]Write in(if acceptable for this vote).
-[x]It's a tie.

>>167402
Nope, no write ins today, sorry.

[x] Kotohime wins.
Not half bad, Koto

>>167404

Fair enough. Coinflip time...

[x]Parsee

[x]Parsee

Parsee totally wrecked Kotohime, yo.

[x] Parsee wins.
rape battle when

[ ] Parsee

>>167414
Same schedule as any other /at/ short.
Never.

Time for another end-of-thread summation.

>>165320
Firing the M24, and either leaving it / taking it with you would have had Kotohime start on a “second gunman” theory. Then, Reisen would have been able to spin it (if she wished) as a “hey I was there to stop this from happening, I'm trained for this, but this was just an anonymous tip so I didn't want to freak everyone out if it just turned out to be a hoax.” That would have also been similar to the story Reisen would have told if you'd lied to Tewi. More on that later.

Escaping via the forest, either direction, would have had you run into a helpful Cirno, who would have stashed you in a convenient tree to hide, and lied about where you went. Front gate would have been a Meiling encounter, that our rabbit would have had to be extremely lucky to walk away from.

>>165515
Going back to the Moriya Shrine would have led to Reisen being interrogated by Marisa about the Mansion, after Sanae helped you hide your shit. Marisa is much, much worse at interrogation than Kotohime, and would have gotten significantly less information, giving you time to craft an alibi. You saw the “go talk to the fairies” bit, so I don't need to go into detail on that.

I haven't even counted the third favor votes, so there's that. I just have some vague idea of who's winning, but I'll worry about that when I need to.

I kind of regret not using Akyu for more, given that I showed her to be a friend to Reisen earlier in the story. Welp.

>>165599
Release/Keep Tewi: Simply would have delayed Reisen's conversation with Tewi. Also, if Tewi had been kept, she'd have been angrier at the investigators, and just angrier in general. Which would have made her more determined to know the truth, but easier to lie to, if Reisen leaned on the right things.

[ ] Interrogate someone else.
- [ ] Iku.
Useless drunken rambling. Doubtful there would be anything useful in the whole thing, until she sobered up. Which would be an option to wait for or not, delaying the investigation, but gettnig better information.

- [ ] Tenshi.
Probably the best description of Reisen. If Tenshi had been interrogated properly by Kotohime, she'd give a description very fitting a certain moon rabbit. And as such, Kotohime would be even MORE suspicious of Reisen.

- [ ] Koakuma.
Not much, honestly. Too busy singing, and Remilia didn't tell her until well after the fact.

- [ ] Luna.
Luna is a consummate liar. It would have been a face-off between Luna, and Kotohime, trying to catch her in a web of lies. You'd have a short period of playing as Luna and a slightly longer interrogation sequence.

[ ] Go over the evidence collected.
We did a large amount of this, but at Eientei with Reisen, instead of at the SDM.

[ ] Examine the room that the rabbit escaped from.
A thorough examination of the room by trained eyes (a certain Kappa specialist,) would have led to discovering that the pipes of the water pump were used as a conduit for some high-voltage electric current. Also, Nitori would be Kotohime's sidekick, instead of Nazrin.

>>165696
[ ] The Toyosatomimi connection is an intriguing theory. Maybe you should talk to someone at the Hall of Dreams.
Wherein Yoshika talks to Kotohime, and describes her encounter with Reisen in the Hall of Dreams. At this point, Kotohime would be almost completely certain of Reisen's involvement with at least the Toyosatomimi murder.

[ ] The bullet is more temporally relevant. We need to get this to Reisen post-haste.
Skips the interrogation and goes straight to Eientei.

[ ] All that can wait. Interrogation, however, can't. Can't hold people here forever, and we've got to question someone while we've got them now, instead of tracking them down later.
-[ ] Iku.
She had a bit of time to sober up now.

-[ ] Tenshi.
See above.

-[ ] Koakuma.
See above.

-[ ] Write-in.
I'm glad you guys chose Eiki: she KNOWS what Reisen has done, but since Reisen isn't dead, I got to show that Eiki has a very clear jurisdiction. Eiki will play a minor role at best in this story: she is not a “hey I'm going to give up the game for everyone” sort of person, as she's bound by her own rules. Of course, Kotohime's still smart enough to get SOMETHING out of her.

>>165744
[ ] Wait here for Tewi to return.
Leads to Tewi conversation.

– [ ] With Kaguya. You could really go for some company.
– [ ] By yourself.
Not talking to Kaguya would make it easier for Kotohime to have manipulated her into giving her damning information. As it was, you guys prevented Kotohime from getting anything useful out of Kaguya.

[ ] Go back to the SDM as Reisen. Remilia might have done something drastic to Tewi, and you'd hate to have that on your conscience too.
This is dependent on the Keep/Release Tewi vote. If you'd kept Tewi, Reisen would have had the option of angrily protesting Tewi's being held, or just blatantly attempting to break her out. May have deflected suspicion away from you if you played your cards right. Having a released Tewi would have meant Reisen meeting a happy-to-see-you Tewi on the way there, because Reisen shows that she cares about Tewi, but would have also led directly to the Tewi conversation. She might have taken it better if it'd happened here, though...

[ ] Take advantage of this lull to go confront the fairies. You have a fairly good idea of where at least one of them would be this time of night.
You saw this.

>>166052
This was a kind of tension-relieving sort-of-comedy/slice of Kaguya life update. Up until the end, at least.

[ ] Yes, of course. I've got nothing to hide at all.
Pretty much the same as your write-in. Of course Kotohime's going to count a murder as important.

[ ] NosorryI'vegotathingtodotonightbye!
In which Kotohime shrugs, and decides to leave and come by tomorrow. She might have rifled through the day's mail, though, if Reisen somehow didn't pick it up first...

>166242
[ ] Youkai Mountain
[ ] The Underground
[ ] The Myouren Temple
[ ] The Fairy Forest surrounding the Misty Lake.

Can't really speak on these just yet.

>>166552
[ ] Let Lily talk. Give her enough rope to hang herself with.
[ ] Be confrontational. Don't let her guide the conversation.
[ ] Throw the bullet casing at Lily. The fuck is this shit?

Despite what Reisen says in the next update, it really couldn't have gone any better than this. Letting Lily talk was a really good idea, because most people love to hear themselves talk. Being confrontational would have just put you in Lily's position, talking entirely too much for your own good. And throwing things at Lily would have simply skipped straight to the end of the conversation, so Lily wouldn't have said nearly as much. The write-in pretty much more clearly delineated what my exact plans were. Stop reading my plot notes.

>166636
I WANT TO WRITE MORE DREAM SEQUENCES.
[ ] Go home and sleep. Screw all of this.
Dream sequence, and postponing Tewi conversation until the morning.

[ ] Go home and wait for Tewi. You can't sleep tonight. Not after all this crap.
Did this one.

[ ] Go to the Moriya Shrine. Sanae will make you feel better.
Skip the Tewi conversation entirely, possibly. Also Sanae! Sanae is a good girl.

[ ] Stay here. Maybe something will reveal itself to you.
In the form of the strongest fairy who likes talking to you, because you're nice to her.

>>166853
Welp. Here I feel the need to be very clear: Telling Sanae was almost a very, very bad idea. Telling Remilia (in the single bad end) WAS a very, very bad idea. Telling Tewi, someone who isn't blinded by infatuation, but views you as a sister, and is a fairly rational being in most senses of the phrase, welp. Probably should have lied, rabbit. It would even have worked, for a time. But maybe by that time it wouldn't matter anymore.

>>167206
[ ] Heads
Little Bridge-Kicker Princess!

[ ] Tails
In which Kappas can bring a crude version of forensic science to bear. Telling you things which I can't tell you at this point.

[ ] Edge
Man, you'd have to be real lucky for the coin to land on its edge, wouldn't you? Almost as if someone was there, manipulating your luck. I wonder who that could have been? Hell, maybe you'd have even caught a real lucky break on the investigation that cracks this case wide open.

>>167305
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kRRfmriKeE

>>167370
This choice doesn't actually affect anything! I just wanted to know who you guys thought won. There's a small dialogue difference but it really ends up being the same end result.

–

So, we're fast approaching the end, and I'd like to know how you guys like this story so far. I'm also considering doing a beginning-of-thread in-character recap in the style of >>136829, to refresh everyone's memory on this story (it's been running for almost a year!), and make it accessible to new readers. I'll even put it to a formal vote. Also, last call for third favor votes, votes will close after the next update so I have a clear cutoff point.

[ ] Do a recap for the beginning of next thread.
– [ ] Which character should do it? (Write-in.)
[ ] Recaps suck, and you suck. Kill yourself and get back to writing regular updates when you come back from the dead.

Also, if you have any questions, now, as always, is the best time to ask.

Third favor votes are still open?

[X] Tewi

The fairies will absolutely consider her a liability at this point.

>>167499
[x] Do a recap for the beginning of next thread.
– [x] Eiki
Also, you shouldn't tell people that you plan on a specific character having a minor role. Cos I've got a past-favour plan that hinges pretty much entirely on Eiki. And no I'm not telling anyone what it is because then people will ruin it, possibly even deliberately.
>>167501
Why are you picking the choice the makes sense for the Fairies? Don't you want to pick any of the ones the make the story more interesting, ie Youmu/Sanae/Marisa?

>>167502
My plans are entirely fluid and subject to change. I'm looking forward to seeing your ideas.

[ ] Recaps suck. Get back to writing regular updates.

Now, now, no need to be harsh on you.

[x] Do a recap for the beginning of next thread.
– [x] Eiki

I'm fairly sure that I've voted on the favor already...no idea who I voted for, however.

[x] Do a recap for the beginning of next thread.
– [x] Eiki
[x] Kotohime
Killing the investigator? Now that's a great plan

[x] Do a recap for the beginning of next thread.
– [x] Eiki

Well, we screwed up some, and did well with others. Of course, with a ambivalent Tewi off on a quest to tell Kotohime the truth about the murders, things might get exciting now...

Third favor votes... gonna have to go with
[x] Marisa

>>167516
Except if you'd read the first post in this thread, you'd see that Kotohime isn't available.

are we nearing the endgame rabbit?

>>167611
Yep. I expect to be mostly done within a thread or two.

This update just did not want to come out. I predict the next will be both easier to write and faster to be written.

Also a special "I hate you" to Winged Ikaros, for posting the Kotohime picture I originally wanted to, and I'm too lazy to change a pixel. So now you get this Kotohime.

--

[x] Parsee wins.

Nazrin shrugs. “I think Parsee did better.”

Parsee just sticks her tongue out at me in triumph. “Nyaaaaah, nyaaah, I win!”

Great. You couldn't have lied for me, kid? “So now what? You going to make me do another challenge to see if we can pass?”

Parsee shakes her head. “Nope. But you have to take me with you!”

“No.”

“Then you don't get to pass.”

“What if I push you over the edge of the bridge?”

“Then I'll follow you. I won, so I get to pick what we do!”

“That is entirely not what we agreed on.”

She just crosses her arms and stomps her feet. “I don't care! I want to go out and do things! I'm sick of this bridge! I'm sick of not seeing the sky! I'm sick of people just passing through here and trying to ignore me like I'm not even here!” She runs up to me and grabs on to me, tears running from her eyes. “I JUST WANT SOMEONE TO BE MY FRIEND!”

She's snapped completely. Great. I push her off of me, while gesturing for the kid to move on. Nazrin goes to the far end of the bridge and waits. I turn to the currently gently crying Parsee. “We're not going outside the underground for at least a little while. And we're on police business anyway.”

“Police business? You investigating the murder of those humans?”

“Yes.”

“God, if I could have just had the kind of freedom they had...”

“Look, if you're going to tag along, just don't get in the way, alright? This can be a delicate business.”

Parsee wipes her eyes, sniffles, and smiles. “O-okay. I'll try.”

“Thanks. So what's past the bridge?”

Parsee and I walk to the end of the bridge and beyond, and Nazrin silently falls in with the two of us. “Former Hell. Well, more of Former Hell, anyway. You're in Former Hell right now.”

And I'm in Hell. That's just great. When I promised to take this investigation 'to hell and back' when Remilia was crying her eyes out, I didn't mean it quite so literally. “And?”

“Oh! And the Capital of Former Hell. It's where a lot of Oni hang out. It's also where my home is. A couple other youkai live there, like Yamame and Kisume. Though they wander some. And then there's the Palace of the Earth Spirits, on the far side of town from the bridge. Nice place, but...” She leans in to whisper to me. “The occupants are straight up wacko. Say they can 'read minds' and shit.”

Reading minds, huh? If that was true, that would make interrogations so much easier. “Can they?”

Parsee shakes her head. “Of course not. Chicanery, all of it. They're just a bunch of charlatans. One of the sisters went crazier than most. Probably from the strain of keeping such a lie going. And then there's the nuclear bird and cat with corpses... I mean, it's a silly place. We had best not go there.”

“Do you actually know where any of the Oni live?”

Parsee shakes her head again. “Nope! Lots of them get drunk and then stumble to abandoned buildings to sleep. The Capital is mostly abandoned, you see. I could tell you where the bar is, though.”

Hmm.
[ ] The Oni Bar. Because nothing says hard-boiled like shitfaced drunkenness.
[ ] Go to Parsee's place. I can case the place while I'm there.
[ ] Find Kisume. I vaguely remember her, but I can't remember from what...
[ ] Find Yamame. Doesn't she live down here somewhere?
[ ] Go to the Palace of the Earth Spirits. It is a silly place.

Also, third favor voting is closed, no, I haven't tallied the votes yet, no, I won't tell you even when I do.

[ ] The Oni Bar. Because nothing says hard-boiled like shitfaced drunkenness.

Les go.

If the price of your hatred is a picture of Kotohime in a ribbed sweater, then I'm willing to take all of your rage, brah.

[X] Find Kisume. I vaguely remember her, but I can't remember from what...

And repressed memories FTW.

>>167833
I was saving that picture for a special short, BUT NOPE, NO KOTOHIME ACTION NOW

>>167835
If you post it in /shorts/ you might be able to use that pic, providing no one else has used it there as well. You could then post a comment with a link there. Just sayin'

>>167836
/shorts/?

hahahahahahahaha

>>167837
As I said, just sayin'. Redundant comeback is redundant.

[X] Find Kisume. I vaguely remember her, but I can't remember from what...

Hm. Well now I'm just curious.

[x] The Oni Bar. Because nothing says hard-boiled like shitfaced drunkenness.
BARFIGHT GO

>>167838
Man I was making a veiled reference to a possible /at/ short that is not going to happen now.

Now you made me explain the joke. I am sad.

[x] Go to the Palace of the Earth Spirits. It is a silly place
Craziness is fun

Next vote for Oni Bar/Kisume wins. I want this tie broken, and if it isn't by about four hours from now, I'll pick one myself and write tonight anyway.

[X] Find Kisume. I vaguely remember her, but I can't remember from what...

You're welcome.

>>167925
Bitchin'. Thank you.

[X] Find Kisume. I vaguely remember her, but I can't remember from what...

Kisume. Kisume, Kisume, Kisume. Why do I remember that name? It sounds so familiar, but it's just on the tip of my tongue. Eh. I'll remember when I find her, I'm sure of that.

“Oi, Bridgekicker Princess.”

Parsee punches my arm. Seriously her fists are like wet bagels, she punches terribly. “Stop calling me that!”

“Princess, then.”

“That's better!” She's kind of oblivious to casual sarcasm, you see.

“Where could I find Kisume?”

Parsee thinks for a moment, one delicate finger upon her chin, as she looks skyward. At the rock ceiling. Seriously, we're underground. Why did she think she's going to see the sky? “Probably in some alley somewhere, peddling her wares. Why?”

I snap my fingers as it all clicks into place. Kisume's an opium peddler, helping oni get their fix when booze just isn't enough. “I remember her now! I've hauled her off a couple times. I'm sure she remembers me fondly.”

Nazrin pipes up. “I'll remember you fondly for shanghaiing me into this investigation.”

I cuff Nazrin gently upside the head. “Pipe down, kid.”

The three of us wander through the abandoned-ish streets of the Former Capital. Buildings crumble from disuse, and I remember why I stopped patrolling around here. It reminds me of the stories he would tell of his hometown of Detroit. Shitty place, that.

From one alley up ahead, mumblings are heard. I gesture to the other two to keep silent, and sneak up to the corner. Parsee and Nazrin are a couple feet behind me.

“...and that's all the stuff your money will getcha.”

“Can't I trade you for more? I gotta get my fix, man!”

A derisive snort. “You ain't got anything I want.”

“Come on! I'll be your boy toy!”

Laughter. “You DEFINITELY ain't got nothin' I want.”

The rustle of clothes. “Don't make me do nothin' I'll regret, man. Just give me more.”

This seems like a good enough time to step in. I walk into the alleyway authoritatively, behind the green-haired bucket girl and very loudly say, “And just what will you regret?”

The oni looks up at me, goes pale (which is really hard to do when your skin is colored red naturally,) utters a low “oh, shit!” and backs up.

“Oh shit is right. It's the fuzz. Now get the fuck out of here.” I gesture, and the scum scurries off into the shadows.

Kisume sighs and turns to me. “Now the fuck you do that for, Red? All that brother had was a knife.”

I point my finger right in her face. “Don't give me any lip. I saw you dealing opium. I bet you've got quite a bit squirreled away in that bucket of yours.” I point accusingly with the same finger at the bucket in her hand.

She spits lazily. “You ain't got no proof.”

I kick the bucket out of her hand, scattering poppy flowers across the broken concrete of the alleyway. “Oh. Look. Proof.” Something else is in among the poppy flowers, though, and I pick it up. I wave it in her face. “What's this, now?”

“Nothin',” she answers sullenly.

“Looks like something to me, Kisume. You want to go downtown with me again? You want me to bring you up on drug charges AGAIN?” I hand the object to Nazrin. “So what is it?”

“...nothin,” she maintains.

“That is a gun, Kisume. Were you going to shoot that oni?”

She pouts. “Only if his bitch ass was dumb enough to try'n stab me.”

“I think I'm going to keep this for evidence.” I turn to Nazrin. “That one of the ones we're looking for, Kid?” Nazrin nods.

Kisume looks up, meeting my eyes with a flash of anger in hers. “Oi! That's my gat, pig!”

“Pig? You're part of a murder investigation now, suspect. You wanna make this any worse than it has to be?”

Kisume goes back to pouting. “...naw,” she says.

“Well...”

[ ] Doesn't matter now. You're definitely coming downtown with me now, suspect.
[ ] I'm keeping this. I'll be back. You try to skip town, and I will break you.

>>167977
Also even though I forgot to add it in here, write-ins are welcome for this vote.

[x] I'm keeping this. I'll be back. You try to skip town, and I will break you.

[ ] I'm keeping this. I'll be back. You try to skip town, and I will break you.

10/10, most canon Kisume.

>>167997
This thread is so canon that Reimu will start to beat everyone of the characters until she solves the plot.

[x] I'm keeping this. I'll be back. You try to skip town, and I will break you.

>>168001
She's complained multiple times about not being able to do just that.

[x] Doesn't matter now. You're definitely coming downtown with me now, suspect.

It's the Kotohime gang!

[x] I'm keeping this. I'll be back. You try to skip town, and I will break you.
We will we will break you

Aight so recap posts take a decent bit longer than normal story posts. So expect the recap/new thread sometime this week, I want to have it done before Friday (because this weekend I will be at Acen).

Just to give you guys a taste of what your choices have done, you've narrowed it to three endings (one of which I wrote about two updates ago, based on posts I won't mention) but you're doing well. I promise!

>>168418
Also I've just started playing Hisoutensoku and it's going to suck so much time away from me, but it's research for my next story, I promise!

Thread 7:
>>168450