{x} Silly youkai, tricks are for high-schoolers.

Necessity of playing the game aside, I wasn't about to pass up any advantage I could find. And while beating monsters in a game of reflexes was questionable at best, I'd bet my life I could outsmart them. No, seriously, I would probably have to. At least this way, I'm playing to my strengths.

So the question then became, what would be a good gimmick for my spellcards? On the one hand, I needed something that was iconic. The clearer the idea, the easier the visualization, and the stronger I can make the spellcard. But at the same time, it had to be an idea that the youkai wouldn't spot, because if they figured out the concept behind the spellcard, it would make dodging it significantly easier.

I'd just have to leverage the one thing I knew the youkai here didn't have. A high-school education.

Once I had the ideas together, refining them into something good was pretty simple. I still wasn't catching Mary with them, but I was chalking that down to her getting enough direction from me to know what I was up to. Still, the scientific method demanded I test them a bit more rigorously, and Hina was actually nice. Which meant...

"Hina, could you grab Nitori for me? I'd like to give these spellcards a real test before we start playing for keeps. I should give Mary a recharge."

---

Mary was, in fact, low on magic. Perhaps it was due to the high activity, but it did make me wonder if either I was missing something about charging the doll, or if the extra enchantments on her were draining more power.

One more thing to look at if I could find the time, I suppose.

Anyway, the pestilence goddess came out with the kappa in short order. "What's this about you making spellcards?"

"Just for practice," I called out, giving Mary a bit more energy and letting her loose. "I've done plenty of fighting already, but if I'm going to be diplomatic, I should do things within the rules."

The kappa shrugged. "If. You're about as diplomatic as Reimu."

I did not ignore the insult, I'm just going to pay it back with interest later. "Oh, I think I might surprise you. The thing is, I'd like to get a little practice in, and you did okay against Satori yesterday."

"Really? I know you're a potential customer, but you're really asking for it."

"Figuratively and literally," I confirmed. "I'm feeling a lot better after the trauma-in-a-bottle you gave me, and I think you want this fight as much as I do."

Hina clasped her hands, looking worried. "Sumireko, don't-"

I held up a hand. "Don't worry, I won't hit her too hard. I am paying for her help later."

Though the thought of giving Nitori a literal taste of her own medicine was very tempting.

Nitori gave me a cocky grin. "What makes you think you'll be the one getting hits in? I've seen first-time spellcards before. They're nothing much."

I returned the grin. "I take it you're game then?"

The kappa nodded, bringing a remote out of her pocket and pressing a button to- she has a water-based jetpack?!

Honestly, I want these toys. And I really want to see what she can build with modern technology.

I realized I'd missed whatever Nitori had said, so I just went for setting the rules. "Three spellcards each, to knockdown or surrender?" The kappa nodded, so I flew up into the air, cracking my knuckles. "Then try this one on for size."

[Quantum Sign - Bullet Uncertainty Principle]
I shot out a dozen or so large, slow bullets out. They were massive things, fuzzy white spheres, each the size of a car, wobbling across the clearing like a fog moving in. Nitori darted around the edges for a bit, firing her own bullets as she went, but that only gave her a little more time before they cornered her.

"Hey! How is that a real spellcard? There's no room!"

At this point I was the only one grinning, and I gave my doll a quick pat. "Just wait for it."

There really was nowhere else to go, and one of the giant bullets connected, only to pop, revealing a smaller black bullet in the center. Nitori was surprised enough at the initial lack of contact that she had to swerve to the side to dodge that, taking her through the path of several other fog bullets. Each of which in turn popped to reveal their own payloads.

The initial wave was only a dozen or so bubbles, so Nitori managed to salvage it with some frantic dodging. Unfortunately for her, the second wave was well underway, and I figured it was time to demonstrate the other part of this spellcard.

"Mary, if you would?"

The doll snapped off a salute, and charged towards the kappa. Nitori easily dodged my little assistant, but Mary's charge had also gone through a number of bubbles, popping them and adding her energy to the black cores they revealed.

Nitori was definitely not ready for that. Again, she was able to dodge the first barrage, but then Mary came in from the side, popping the remaining bubbles that had stuck around, and roughly tripling the number of actual projectiles heading for Nitori.

She looked around frantically, muttering, "There's got to be some trick to this."

"There is! It's all about proper observation!"

Which was true, if you knew the context I'd borrowed from quantum mechanics. The idea was that the real bullets don't show up until they're observed, by either Nitori or Mary entering through the outer sphere. However, the very act of observing the bullet changes its path, by adding some of your momentum to the bullet.

If you charge the wave and pop the bullets yourself, you can stop most of them dead and the spellcard becomes very simple. But if you don't...

"What does that even mean?!" the kappa shouted, shortly before the bullets swarmed her. And like any good swarm, it was impossible to dodge, and left a couple of welts you'd really feel in the morning.

[Kappa - Dried Shirikodama]
An orb of water circled Nitori, shooting out a bunch of tiny green balls. And the moment that happened, I recognized the stench. So this is what that paste was made out of. What exactly was a shirikodama, anyway?

Mary tapped me on the shoulder and shook her head rapidly, leaving me non-plussed. Was she warning me about the spellcard, somehow? Or did she actually know what that thing was?

Regardless, it was a question for later. Right now, I had to dodge. Which... wasn't all that bad, eye-watering suffering aside. It's clear the kappa chose the card for psychological warfare, not for its difficulty.

Still, the problem was, it was doing a really good job of neutering my spellcard. All those small green bullets the kappa was shooting were popping my fog bubbles as soon as they were forming. I could just keep dodging and continue the stalemate, but... no. Just no.

[Electromagnetic Sign - Opposites Attract]
Mary glowed bright red, before rushing off to tag Nitori and transferring that glow to her. And after doing so, both the doll and I shot waves of blue bullets. The pattern was simple, if coming from multiple locations. What wasn't simple was the way the bullets would home in on Nitori. They weren't initially aimed at her, but they would unerringly home in on her, just from the electric charge they contained. Even after she dodged, they'd slow to a stop and come at her from the other direction.

With her staying stationary, her spellcard broke in short order, and she had to flee as more electrical shots came homing in. She did figure out she wanted to bunch them up as much as possible, and she managed to misdirect a couple waves into the ground or one of the trees around.

That said, she didn't figure out how to get the shots to circle around harmlessly, and as the next wave of bullets came in, she called up her second spellcard to avoid the hit.

[Water Sign - Water Carpet]
Nitori called up lines of water bullets, dense enough for my electricity to discharge into them, but kept spaced away from the kappa so she didn't get shocked. Clever. What's worse, the shock also traveled down the lines of water she was maintaining. I was away from the worst of it by virtue of being under her, but I winced as my doll got zapped and fell to the ground.

After a moment, the lines of water broke and fell apart, the individual bullets meandering their way towards me, even while they sparked with electricity.

I canceled my spellcard before I electrocuted myself, and instead elected to fight this one out normally, shooting my tarot cards at Nitori as I dodged between the lines. Again, it really wasn't that difficult compared to what Marisa or Sakuya had been throwing at me. Even without the flight cape.

"Is that all you've got?" I called out. "This is easy after the last couple of days I've had!"

Nitori grimaced as her spellcard broke. "Fine, then! But remember, you asked for it!"

[Drown - Trauma in the Glimmering Depths]
Waves of water bullets came at me from both sides, sliding towards me in a sinusoidal pattern. (Or, you know, like an actual wave, but what's the point of learning how a sine wave looks if I can't work it into my vocabulary?) This time the bullets were dense and didn't leave much room to slip between the waves, and Nitori fired down a spreadshot of large bullets to make things worse.

I'll admit, I was actually having some difficulty on this one. The pockets formed by the crisscrossing waves were tiny, and I just didn't have the precision necessary to dodge Nitori's barrage in such a small area. With my cape, it would have been different, but as it was...

The bullet that clipped me did hurt, but it wasn't crippling. It was like taking a punch, and not the rib-breaking kind. All the same, I chalked up dodging this one as a loss, and went into my final spellcard to counter.

[Astronomy Sign - Solar System]
First, I seeded the battlefield with small fireballs. They didn't move, instead staying in place, representing stars. Then I conjured up three large rocks to act as planets, which I sent into orbit around me at varying distances. The third planet even got a smaller rock as a moon. And then I started firing lasers. Small, narrow ones, that would bend from the gravity of the planets and reflect off of the moon.

Unless you realized you could hide between the earth planet and the moon, the spellcard just looked like absolute chaos. (Even then it wasn't simple, you still had to dodge the stars while following the planet's orbit.) While the lasers bent in predictable ways, they did not bend in reactable ways, and Nitori was out of spellcards to counter with. And having to weave through the stars while dodging just made everything so much worse.

I almost felt bad about it. Almost.

{-} Savor my victory with only a moderate amount of gloating.

{x} Savor my victory with only a moderate amount of gloating.

As Nitori crashed down, I touched down, flexing my knees as I dropped to the earth and enjoying the lack of pain that came with it. On my face was the smug satisfaction the kappa had earlier.

Nitori groaned, taking Hina's hand as the goddess pulled her to her feet. "What was that?"

My smile got wider. "Talent."

Hina's smile was a bit more gentle. "That's why I didn't want you to fight her seriously."

Nitori shook her head. "Those weren't my best spellcards. She wasn't supposed to be anywhere near that good!"

"Ah, yes, the 'I wasn't actually trying' excuse." I waved her off as I walked over to Mary, picking her up and checking the doll for damage. It shouldn't actually be too bad, but considering she did take a decent bolt of lightning, I'd better check.

Even Hina raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever actually seen her fight?"

"Well, no. But Aya said she'd been popping up and getting smacked down just about everywhere!"

I rolled my eyes. "I guess Gensokyo really is a land of fantasy."

Nitori said something, but I ignored her. Let's see... oh, interesting. Alice had carved the runes on the doll's back, under the dress. The full design was... intricate. Greg and I have done a lot of enchantment work, and I've learned a lot from it, but this was a masterclass on the subject. But even without understanding their function, all those runes looked okay... hm.

Aha! More runes on the inside of the dress. And some of those were in fact damaged. So she put the more volatile stuff on a separate surface that can be replaced without damaging the doll. Clever! And they weren't visible from outside, because she'd actually managed to work two layers of fabric into the tiny dress, and the runes were only on the inner one. A couple of those were clearly burned-out safeguard runes, and I could fix that with a needle and thread in five minutes. This would be like fixing my cape, just on a smaller (and thankfully easier) scale. Hm. You know, the stuff on the dress was more similar to things I'd done before, in terms of protection, offensive, and mobility enchantments. Assuming Alice's dolls were all done in the same way, that meant any given doll model could very well have modular capabilities; mix and match the right set of enchanted clothing, and she could have a very versatile army with only a handful of actual doll models needed.

More to the point, I might be able to pull off the same thing with Mary! It'd take some time, but I could copy out these runes, and tweak them to focus more on firepower, or maybe throw in some different utility like a freezing spell. All I'd need is a few additional doll-sized dresses, and... wait. Hm. That could actually be an issue.

I looked over to where the other two were talking. "Hey Nitori, are kappa any good at making clothes?"

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's unrelated. Now answer the question."

"I'm not. Maybe one of the others? I don't know, it's been a while since I've been clothes shopping."

I looked her up and down. "I can tell."

The kappa sputtered a bit while Hina interceded. "You know, if you need a new outfit, you could borrow one of my dresses."

Oh, right, I was still wearing the shrine maiden garb from Eientei. Bloodstains and knife slits included. "That... would actually be great, thanks. But I was hoping to get some outfits for Mary."

Nitori laughed. "Wait, you're seriously playing dress-up with your doll?"

"No, it's not like that, I need an easily enchantable surface, and because the clothing is in continuous contact, it'll conduct... you know what, I'm not bothering explaining this to you."

Hina didn't laugh, at least, though she was smiling. I swear, I get no respect. "The only person I know with doll-sized outfits would be Alice. Maybe you could find some baby clothes in the village?"

"Yes, well, if I could link back up with Alice, a number of things would be simpler." I sighed. "I suppose it figures. Though I will take you up on that offer of a change of clothes for me."

---

We ended up taking another hour or so before leaving. I took the time to tune up Mary, fixing the damaged runes and giving her a full recharge, while Nitori tinkered with my phone (I'm still a little irritated that I'll need to buy another new one when I get back), and Hina made lunch. It ended up being a salad, these little spiced meat-filled dumpling things, and (to general amusement) a batch of cinnamon rolls.

Naturally, I ignored the salad in favor of the real food, and took the time for planning the attack on journey to the Moriya Shrine. Nitori was initially useless for this, as she was currently occupied by picking all of the cucumbers out of the salad bowl.

No, seriously. Every last one, studiously ignoring our host's stern look as she did so. So I promptly took the opportunity to thank Hina for her hospitality and compliment her on the meal.

"I know it's not much," she said, clasping her hands, "but I wanted to do what I could before seeing you off."

I froze mid-cinnamon-roll-grab. "Wait, you're not coming?"

She gave me a sad smile. "It wouldn't be a good idea. I am a misfortune goddess, after all. If I'm not actively suppressing it, just my presence brings bad luck. My reputation will not help your case."

"Are you sure? I mean, we're going to the gods of the mountain, they have to know-"

"They do, but I'm still a rival god. And one the Moriya shrine doesn't want to be associated with."

Oh. Politics. Well...

{-} Accept Hina's logic.
{-} Try to convince her to come anyway.

{x} Be conflicted over it.

I took a bite of the cinnamon roll as I thought. Hina did have legitimate points. It's easier to hide with fewer people, and if she has to actively suppress the misfortune she gathers, she probably isn't much of a fighter. But even still...

"I don't care about your reputation." I said, putting the (absolutely delicious) treat down. "Even aside from however I've been vilified, I've been traveling with Satori! And you're nothing like her."

Hina shrugged. "I don't really know her, I'm afraid."

"You're better off that way," Nitori chimed in. "She's the worst."

I snorted. "There's probably worse, but I can see why she's disliked."

Greg would say I'm being unfair, but quite aside from general unpleasantness, I couldn't imagine Hina kidnapping anyone.

"That's kind of you to say, but others won't see it that way."

"You mean the Moriya Shrine, right?" I waved a hand dismissively. "Sure, politics will be politics, but if the shrine's unreasonable enough to reject you out of hand, they probably wouldn't hear me out in the first place."

Hina hesitated, so I doubled down on the point. "If anything, the people open-minded enough to actually hang out with you are the ones I should try to speak with."

"That's too short a list," she said with a sigh, "And Kanako's still at the top of it."

I started to speak, but she held up a hand, interrupting me. "It's not that simple. It... people don't mind a small amount of misfortune. They'll complain about it, but they won't really believe in it. A bad roll of the dice is just a bad roll of the dice. But when you combine bad omens together, they get worse. A broken mirror and a black cat is a far worse sign than either one alone. And reputation is the same way."

Nitori nodded. "It's why no kappa will take Reimu as a business partner. We'll sell at the shrine, but that's it."

That distracted me for a moment. "Wait, isn't she a really important figure? How can her reputation be that bad?"

Hina laughed. "It's not that. Reimu is... not good with money."

Nitori sighed. "A poverty god would have an easier time making money than her. It's actually ridiculous."

I chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that's impossible."

Hina and Nitori glanced at each other, then said in unison, "You can't let common sense hold you back in Gensokyo!"

As they dissolved into laughter, I was more than a little non-plussed. It was obviously a reference of some sort, but-

"Don't worry about it," Hina said, still chuckling. "When you meet Sanae... well, she's a dear, but you'll see."

"Anyway," I tried, "getting back to the point-"

"Right," Hina said, regaining control of herself. "You shouldn't just surround yourself with outcasts, Sumireko. I know it seems like your only option, but it'll make it harder to win over anyone else, later on."

"Why not? Even aside from the point where neither of us deserve it, that's how you fight a bad status quo!"

"That I'd pay money to see," Nitori said. "Unexpected skills or not, you aren't that strong."

I thought back to the occult balls and clenched a fist. "You haven't seen everything I can do."

Hina shook her head. "Even if you could, you don't want to commit to that. Gensokyo's status quo isn't a bad thing. It's already unusual you've been pursued so much."

"Just spitballing here, but it might have had just a little tiny, infinitesimal bit to do with a kidnapping!" Nitori said brightly.

I tossed a napkin at her. "Oh, stick a cucumber in it."

As Nitori shot me a smirk back, I ignored the peanut gallery and refocused on Hina. The problem was, at least from a purely practical point of view, she was right. But this wasn't really about being practical, was it?

"Honestly... it would be good to have someone I can trust."

"Hey!"

"Oh, come off it. I literally bribed you to work with me, you'd turn for a better offer." I sighed. "And it's the same thing with Alice and Satori. I mean, I've been working with them, but I'm worried someone else will give them a better offer. Marisa, Sakuya... they've already escalated to kidnapping and attempted murder. What's a bribe compared to that?"

"And you trust me?" Hina's voice was quiet.

"You didn't take me in because you thought I'd do something for you. You didn't even know who I was."

Hina hesitated, and for a long moment, nobody spoke. "I understand, I really do. But if you trust me, then please, trust my ability. It wouldn't end well."

I was about to speak when Nitori cut in. "Sumireko, could I talk to you privately?"

Disappointment turned to irritation. "Can't this wait until later?"

"No, it can't. Now, please."

Nitori got up from the table, leaving half a cucumber behind. I glared at her receding back and took another bite of cinnamon roll instead. Hina laid a hand on my shoulder. "Please, talk to her. I know you've had a rough start, but she's better than you think."

I sighed again. As much as I wanted to prove a point here, saying no just didn't feel possible. It was like dealing with my Mom, Hina wouldn't be mad, just disappointed. Also, if I really was going to work with Nitori, there was a limit to how far I could push the kappa.

Nitori was waiting outside, and her scowl made her intentions clear. So I beat her to the punch. "Let me guess, you're feeling offended and want to argue you're actually trustworthy."

"What? No." I smirked at her and the kappa went back to scowling as she realized what she'd just said. "Well, actually yes, you're an ass, but that's not why I called you out here."

"Then what?"

"Quit trying to guilt Hina into following you around!"

"Why? So you can extort more technology out of me anyway? Because I'm not about to believe you care about my reputation."

"Of course not!" Nitori spat and drew out a crowbar. "It's about hers! She doesn't do the incident thing! And not just because she wants to avoid adding bad luck into the mix! You're so damned clever, what do you think happens when people see a bad luck goddess in the middle of an incident?"

That math wasn't hard to do, and I flinched, protesting, "It's not the middle of the incident! I just wanted-"

"It's your incident, of course it's the middle! You're the one who said she saved your life! Are you that selfish?"

I clenched a fist, summoning a fireball in my other one. "Say that again, I dare you."

"She saved your life and you're dragging her into your mess." The kappa leaned in closer, "Are you that desperate for warm bodies to throw at your attackers?"

I swore and threw the fireball. Nitori flinched and tried to interpose her crowbar, but it wasn't aimed at her and sailed past her into some bushes. Which proceeded to catch fire.

Right, BAD luck. I swore a little less emphatically and a little more frantically as I ran over. Okay, conjuring water, I could do that. It had been a while, but if I did a phase transition to find liquid, I just had to disallow oil, and-

Nitori doused me and the bush with a spray of water. Cold water, in mid-autumn. She didn't even smile as she leaned on her crowbar, staring me down. "And that's the other reason she shouldn't come. You're welcome, by the way."

I gritted my teeth as I turned back to the kappa. "Fine. You wanted to look trustworthy, right? Convince me."

The kappa rolled her eyes. "You know the important thing about running a business? Being good for your word."

"Even if you get a better offer?"

"If you've already made the agreement? Yes. Especially then."

"Yes, because I'm sure the rest of Gensokyo would rush to condemn you for breaking faith with me."

The kappa shrugged. "I know when there's no sale to be made. Just remember, Gensokyo's not this monolith you seem to think it is. Hina should be proof enough of that."

Like I was going to take her word on that. I narrowed my eyes and focused. "I'll take it under advisement."

She smirked. "You just hate me because I'm right."

The kappa made to leave with the last word, before tripping because her shoes were tied together. That got a moment of pure confusion out of her, considering she wore galoshes, which didn't have laces in the first place.

Mary flew the rest of the way towards me with a spool of red thread in her hands, and I gave my doll a well-deserved head-pat. "Believe me, kappa. If I hated you, you'd know."

Sure, it was petty... but I'm still the queen of petty one-upmanship.

{-} Prepare to leave.

{-} Prepare to leave.

There wasn't much to be said after that. Hina was gracious enough to pretend she hadn't noticed our little spat outside, and neither of me nor Nitori brought it up. Or spoke to each other at all, really. That said, given that the kappa had accidentally stumbled into a point, I didn't press Hina any further about joining me, and the remainder of the meal passed in silence. Well, except for Mary's antics, who was successfully angling for attention from Hina. I even found myself on the verge of a smile despite myself.

The remaining preparations weren't all that much, really. In terms of actual combat potential, Mary and I were as good as we were going to get, but Hina was kind enough to provide me with an extra change of clothes and a couple days of food, both of which ended up in Nitori's backpack. (How she has a backup backpack with that much tech, I'll never know. Also, I swear it's bigger on the inside.) There were also a large number of cucumbers Hina had offered Nitori, probably as compensation for putting up with me.

It wasn't until Nitori had made her goodbyes and gone outside that I finally said something.

"For the record, I've... been a terrible guest. I'm sorry for all the trouble."

The misfortune goddess shrugged. "You haven't been that bad."

"Your guests usually set your garden on fire?"

"Um..."

"That's what I thought." I sighed. "I just don't get along with Nitori. She hates my guts, which... fair enough, really, at least she has a reason, but the point is..."

My voice trailed off, not sure how to continue. "Greg would be so much better at this," I muttered.

"Oh. Is he your friend?"

Huh. I could have sworn I'd mentioned Greg's name before this. "Yeah. He's the one good at all the diplomatic stuff. He's... a little too eager to please, honestly. At least he won't get in trouble for back-talking Sakuya or something stupid."

"You're worried about him."

"Yes, well, I'm only human." I took a couple of deep breaths. "I hate this. I hate this, and I hate her."

"Nitori's not-"

"Not her, she's just a nuisance. The others. Sakuya, Marisa, all the rest of them. Them and their wild-west sanctimonious vigilanteism!" I swore. "Magic was always this wonderful thing, you know? It was something amazing, something different, dangerous to be sure, but always within reason, always worth the risks."

I started pacing. "Finding this place, this world, it was going to be it. A better frontier than space, the greatest discovery since Columbus found America. What magic could do for the world... heck, or what technology could do with this world. Five minutes with Nitori should give you an idea of that. And then we found it, and it's a bloody death-trap! Greg was kidnapped, I almost died, and all we were trying to do was get him medical treatment! Meanwhile, Sakuya put a couple rabbits at knife-point and stabbed Marisa a bunch, but I don't see a hit squad out for her. No, she's all right, just screw me in particular, huh?"

Hina bit her lip, looking at me and glancing away. "I don't think... hold on, give me a minute."

After saying that, Hina started intently at me, enough to make me uncomfortable. "Hina, what-"

"Shh," she said, continuing to stare.

After a minute or two of this, suddenly her knees buckled and she fell. She caught herself on hands and knees, breathing heavily. My eyes widened, and I rushed to her side. "Hina! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, pushing up to one knee.

"You clearly aren't! You collapsed!"

"I'll be fine", she repeated, as I pulled her to her feet. "But more importantly, you will be too. It's going to be okay."

I grimaced. "You don't know that."

The misfortune goddess raised an eyebrow. "I've got a pretty good idea."

I sucked in a breath. "I thought you just sensed luck. Does... does it actually work like that?"

Hina put a hand around my shoulders. "This kind of thing is never certain, and it takes a lot out of me, but the magnitude of the misfortune around you... it's not that bad. It'll be rough, but it doesn't feel like death. Yours or his."

Oh. So that's what that was. She read the future just now, and the expenditure of power made her collapse, and she did it to... I felt myself tearing up a bit, and blinked it away. "Greg... he knew coming here was a trap, from the start. I hope to all the gods here you're right, because I dragged him into it anyway, and if he dies, then..."

Hina pulled me tight into a side-by-side hug, and I let it happen. When I spoke, my voice was unsteady. "It's been a long time since I've felt this helpless," I admitted. "But I'm just not strong enough. I... think I can figure something out from Sakuya. I can't hope to fight her and everyone else at the mansion. Which means I have to get allies, I have to do the diplomacy thing, even though I'm terrible at it. And that means I have to find a way to make nice with all these youkai, when I really just want to tell them which part of my ass they can kiss."

Hina chuckled. "It won't be that bad."

"You are literally the only person I've met who hasn't been involved in a fight in some way."

"An honest appeal and a good spellcard counts for a lot in Gensokyo. You'll do fine."

We stayed like that for a minute, until I finally straightened up. "Hina..."

False start. I swallowed, and tried again. "Hina, you've done a lot for me. I just... look, if there's anything I can ever do for you, please let me know."

She gave me a kind smile. "If you end up staying in Gensokyo, just visit from time to time. That's enough."

"I will. And I'll bring Greg when I do, I think you two would get along."

She nodded, and spun in place, before growing serious again. "One more thing. Looking at the misfortune ahead of you, I couldn't see much, but there's going to be one person in particular you shouldn't trust. I wasn't able to see who."

I opened my mouth to speak, and she cut in, "It's not Nitori."

"Is that your ability, or your personal experience?"

"Both," she said, giving me a look.

I felt a little chastened, but this was important to know. "So does that mean everyone else is trustworthy, or..."

"It's not really that simple," she said. "Just be careful, okay? If you trust her, things become a lot worse."

"Ah, so it is a her!"

Hina started laughing, and I belatedly realized just how little that narrowed it down.

---

After a final, more standard good-bye, Hina didn't see me to the door, electing to take a rest in one of the living room chairs. That was fine, we'd said everything that needed to be said. I took a moment to compose myself, and left. Away from this unexpected little island of safety, and back into this crazy, dangerous world.

Speaking of crazy and dangerous, I almost ran into Nitori, who was right outside and looking supremely uncomfortable. In no small part due to Mary ineffectually trying to pull her away, but even aside from that, extremely awkward. I gestured, and the doll stopped, flying to my side and giving the kappa a stern look. It wasn't hard to figure out why.

"You were listening in," I said.

If there was any doubt, Nitori's sheepish look quelled it. "No, I just wanted to make sure you didn't... try... anything?"

I rubbed my eyes and sighed.

{-} It's not important, and I'm tired. Just let it go.
{-} We should probably straighten this out now. Clear the air.

{x} It's not important, and I'm tired. Just let it go.

I didn't bother replying. There were sarcastic remarks to be made, (with "Whatever helps you sleep at night" being my first impulse), as well as the potential to more seriously hash things out with my perpetual eavesdropper, but I kept them all back. It was all Hina's fault. She's got the same sort of aura, for lack of a better word, as Greg does. Not with the misfortune thing (though sometimes I wonder), but the whole kindness thing. He always manages to be so damned nice about everything in a way that makes me feel guilty for snapping at people. Even when they're absolute idiots and thoroughly deserve it.

He'd better be okay. Hina's parting reassurance on that front was hopeful, but...

I sniffed, shaking my head and gritting my teeth. It did me no good to think that way. He was going to be okay, and I was going to all but tear his head off for getting his helpless ass kidnapped in the first place!

Mary gave me a sympathetic pat on the back, and I sighed, gathering my wits and taking off.

"Uh, Sumireko?" Nitori started.

"What? Was my good-bye too emotional for your tastes?"

She flinched, turning and pointing behind her. "The Moriya Shrine is that way."

Oh. "Right. Seeing as I've never been here, maybe you should lead."

Now I was feeling guilty again. Which was definitely Hina's fault. She was just too nice for her own good, and everything would have been so much easier if she didn't somehow like the kappa. Instead, it was breaking my mental categorization model. I sighed. At least I could throw myself into something productive. Three spellcards wasn't going to be enough against the stronger youkai around, and while I couldn't really practice new spellcards while flying, I could work on the ideas, at least.

Nitori did seem like she had something on her mind, but she didn't work up the courage to actually say it, and I didn't care enough to ask, so we flew on in a rough approximation of peace.

The forest was pleasant enough. The combination of thick woods and fall colors could have been gloomy, but the sun was hitting at just a high enough angle to filter in between the trees, giving us light to see by, and letting us fly underneath the tree cover. Well, okay, I'm selling it short. In all honesty, the scenery deserved to be described with extra flowery language like "mixtures of reds and oranges, reminiscent of the warmth of a campfire", or maybe "painted in shafts of golden light". Between that and the mountain in the distance, a landscape artist would probably be weeping with joy. Mary was definitely enjoying herself, flying from tree to tree, peeking around trunks, and occasionally stopping to look at some picturesque view or other. As for me? Despite Mary's antics threatening to lift my mood, I mostly wanted to sulk in peace, and having to maneuver around the various branches wasn't helping. Still, it was better than being spotted.

I'm not sure how deep we'd started within the forest, but it was maybe half an hour when we emerged by the river. From there it was a significantly faster flight upstream for a bit until Nitori suddenly stopped. She looked around for a minute, and nodded to me.

"Stay here. I've got a few tools hidden away, and I'd like to grab them before we go near anything too dangerous. It should only take like fifteen minutes, tops."

With that, she jumped into the river, powering through the water like a submarine. There was a fairly narrow hole in the opposite bank, which meant a tunnel... which also meant I could follow her, if I cared to do so.

{-} I've done underwater breathing enchantments before, and I want to see more kappa tech. I'm totally following her.
{-} It might be better to wait. Aside from not pissing off the tentative ally, I do need to work on these spellcard ideas a bit more.
{-} Or, you know, I could just hook up a scrying enchantment to Mary and send her to track the kappa. Considering how much the doll acts on her own, I'd even have plausible deniability.

{x} It might be better to wait. Aside from not pissing off the tentative ally, I do need to work on these spellcard ideas a bit more.

I watch Nitori disappear from sight, and managed to not follow her. Look, contrary to public belief, I can do self control. At least, when there's a valid reason, and tactical advantages do fall under that category. No matter how much I want to snoop on Nitori. After all, turnabout is fair play, and if it upsets her, I can tell her where to shove it, because...

Because petty acts of revenge should totally be my first priority right now.

Mary paused in her haphazard flight around, and I sighed, gesturing for her to just keep on with it.

Seriously, what was I doing?

I shook myself. "Snap out of it, Sumireko. You're better than that. Better than her too, not that there should have been any doubt."

Right, refocus. I need to stay active, for my own sake's as much as Greg's. What can I do that's productive?

Spellcard practice, obviously. Going through various scientific tricks has been working out so far, but coming up with workable ideas has been difficult. That said, the river seems like an obvious theme, maybe I can do something with viscosity? Or perhaps the water cycle? Hm.

"Come on, Mary," I said, summoning the doll over. "Let's get this figured out."

---

Five minutes later I was getting nowhere. There was a workable idea there, I was sure of it. The idea of turning a slow stream of bullets into a fast one by narrowing the stream was too good not to be useful. But despite that, I just couldn't focus. I already know my magic depends on force of will, so I guess it's not too much of a surprise that danmaku is the same way.

Mary looked over at the trees again longingly and I sighed. "Fine, fine. Go play."

The doll gave me a hug and made a beeline for the trees, while I considered my other options. I think I had a needle and thread on me, so maybe I could sew a few runes into my own clothes? I did, in fact, have them, and I'd just gotten them out when someone spoke.

"What have we here?"

I didn't recognize the voice. All the same, when you're on the run from what passes for the police (in an anarchy-tyranny dystopian sort of way), that is not a phrase you want to hear. I froze, took a deep breath to steady my nerves and turned around.

The immediately obvious point was that she was a youkai, the black wings proved that. She had shoulder-length black hair, red eyes, and one of those weird tiny box-like hats. Her color scheme dress-wise was largely white and black, with the exception of a fan she'd tucked under her arm. that looked all the world like a giant autumn leaf.

All of that was tentatively okay. Far more worrying was the predatory look she was giving me, as she turned over to a fresh page in her notebook and took her pen out from behind her ear.

"Aya Shameimaru, Bunbaru News. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Says the spider to the fly," I muttered.

"What?"

I coughed, raising my voice. "I said, 'You just did.'"

The crow tengu stopped short. "Really?", she asked, exasperated.

I was quite happy to keep the discussion on small talk. "When your job requires you to be precise, you take refuge in pedantry."

"Even to the face of a youkai?"

"If you turn around I could do it behind your back instead."

"I see," the tengu said, scribbling on her notepad. "And just what is your job?"

Damn! I glanced down at the needle and thread I was holding, and held them up as evidence. "Nothing special. I'm just a seamstress."

She nodded, walking forwards. "Ah, I see. Just starting out then?"

It's not like I could make a claim to being recognizable. "You could say that."

Another step. "Under the village seamstress?"

I looked at her warily. "What's it to you?"

Really close now. "Oh, nothing, nothing. It's just that Yuuka Kazami is a good friend of mine. I know she's getting old and grey, but I hadn't expected her to take on an apprentice."

Oh, come on. Why would this random youkai know even more random humans from the village? I gritted my teeth as I smiled, "Oh, not an apprentice as such, just helping out a little, picking up a few tips, that sort of thing."

Aya nodded. "Like clearing out the flowers in her backyard."

"Exactly."

"Alright, then." Aya licked her finger, turning to the next page of her notebook and re-readying her pen. "Not that that wasn't entertaining, but why don't you tell me why you're really here, Sumireko?"

{-} Play dumb, and if necessary, refuse to answer.
{-} Give her the truth, or at least a decent chunk of it. After all, I've got some stories about Sakuya she might be interested in...
{-} "Alright, alright, you've got me. You see, I'm actually a shrine maiden."

And if things go south:

{-} Blast her into next week.
{-} Teleport and make a run for it.
{-} Stall out for Nitori.

Alternatively:

{-} Write-in

{x} Play dumb, and if necessary, refuse to answer.
{x} Let's go find Nitori, shall we?

She knew. She absolutely knew. Considering she already knows my name, odds are Aya knew before I even said anything. I swallowed. "What makes you say that?"

"Yuuka is a notorious flower youkai. If you did anything to her flowers, you'd be dead."

Of course the seamstress thing was a bluff! I should have known. "Seriously? A flower youkai can't be that strong."

"And the fact that you can say that with a straight face proves you're not from Gensokyo."

"I could just be visiting from one of the distant corners, like Former Hell."

"Like one of the Oni?"

If I said yes, she was just going to point out how Oni were notorious for hating lies. And my lack of horns, for that matter. "Or something else."

Aya rolled her eyes. "You've been showing your face all over Gensokyo, it's a little late to hide your identity now."

What's the saying? It's never more difficult to make someone admit something when their life and liberty depends on them not admitting it? I took a step back towards the river. "And have you met this Sumireko? Or even seen a picture of her? Or were you just looking for the first human with brown hair and glasses?"

"One moment!" There was a flash, and I blinked as Aya put away her camera. I hadn't even seen her pull it out. "Yes, on all counts."

I took another step back. "Look, just what do you want?"

Aya closed in, following me. "I just want to ask you a few questions."

That still wasn't any less ominous. "Questions about the incident."

"Of course."

At this point, I was moving backwards with each statement. "Questions I'm sure Kasen and Marisa would love to hear the answers to."

"Not just them specifically. I report the news for all of Gensokyo."

I glanced back. A few more steps to the river. "That probably won't comfort Sumireko much, considering all of Gensokyo's after her."

"Again with this..." Aya muttered, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Look, you can talk now, or I can beat you in danmaku, and you can talk then."

There's the threat. I was wondering when it was going to come along. "And if I was just an ordinary human?"

"You'd learn a valuable lesson about not leaving the village."

The reminder of the nature of youkai was oddly reassuring. I closed my eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. "I suppose running is out of the question."

"I am the fastest in Gensokyo," she said, giving her wings a quick flap. "But you could try!"

Naturally. Which meant unless I wanted to fight her head-on, there was only one option left. But I'd need a little time to execute it, and that meant stalling. "Magic's difficult, you know? There's somethings that are weirdly easy, and other things that are surprisingly hard."

"Oh?"

"Transforming things, for instance. Making something look different, or act different, or feel different is simple. Soft metal, or wood you can pour into a cup? It's a great party trick, but really not that hard. And yet making one substance truly into another, like lead into gold, or water into air? Nearly impossible."

Aya gave me a quizzical look. "Fire magic is common. Surely you could evaporate the water?"

"Yes, but that's water vapor, not breathable air." I took a lot of care to research that particular idea before trying it. "But you're on the right track. With magic, you can't just bull your way through problems. Sometimes what you wanted is simply impossible. But that doesn't mean you can't get what you need."

Aya took flight, hovering a few feet in front of me. "And what is it that you want, Sumireko? What is it that you need?"

I reviewed the spells I wanted to cast and nodded, letting the energy flow into my hands. "Originally? I wanted to do some magical research. When I first found Gensokyo, it was like a giant magical treasure chest. Even from the outside, the magical density was astounding, but there was no way in. I had to scour the globe for enough energy to punch through. That... might have been the worst decision of my life."

Aya's eyes didn't leave my hands, but she was scribbling a mile a minute on that notebook of hers. "And now?"

I took a few moments to think on that one, gathering more energy as I did so. "A lot of things," I finally said. "I want peace. I want this to all have been some mistake, just a bad dream, so I can get me and my friend home. I want vindication. I want to wipe the smile off your face, to prove to all the youkai that taking me lightly was a mistake. And I want revenge. Sakuya is going to pay for Eientei."

"And that ta-trickster youkai that trapped me here... well." I paused, thrown off completely. Who was she again? She was a shapeshifter, I was certain of that, but what was she?

Aya filled in the silence. "And you think your magic can accomplish all that?"

I shook my head. I couldn't afford to worry about that right now. "What did I just say? Sometimes magic can't do what you want, only what you need. And right now? I need to survive."

I released the magic in a blinding flash. The magic itself was simple: A barrier, combined with a teleport. The barrier was spherical, centered around my body, but not a lot bigger. The teleport? Right into the middle of the river, twelve feet underwater.

I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't turn water into air. The trick is to take the air with you. The bubble of air enclosed by my barrier was enough for me to breathe for at least an hour, and had the added benefit of not getting my clothes soaking wet. Of course, it also meant I had to use flight to move around, and a lapse in concentration could be deadly, but needs must, and all that.

Above me I heard Aya exclaim. (Which had to be pretty loud to make it through four meters of water.) I didn't care. For all her claimed speed, I was willing to bet she never did any actual swimming.

Speaking of which, it was time to go find Nitori. I grabbed hold of my air bubble, and propelled myself and it down the tunnel the kappa had taken.

{-} To be continued.

((It's not exactly what was voted, but I really liked the write-in, and Sumireko's one of those characters who has trouble shutting up, so...))

{-} Kappa hideout? Kappa hideout.

The hole I'd seen Nitori disappear into really did deserve the name of tunnel. From the surface, it had looked like just a small hole in the rock, but there was a bend in it not visible from outside, and from there I could see the tell-tale marks of tools having dug into the rock. The edges were smoothed over, not jagged, so this was probably made a long time ago, but still... I found myself curious how the kappa managed to dig this passage underwater. (Some form of water manipulation, probably. Was their control fine enough to manage a water cutter?) Regardless, I shuddered to think of how long it must have taken, because the passage just kept going, twisting and turning onwards and downwards. The pressure on the bubble was getting stronger, and I was worried I'd have to add a light spell to the ones I was already maintaining, but as I approached the second bend I noticed light up ahead.

It was a night-light. I had to be at least seventy feet underwater, and it was an honest-to-goodness nightlight. With wiring and everything.

From here the path was, if not well-lit, at least visible enough. The tunnel flattened out, and then started curving back upwards, widening out dramatically as it did so. More lights showed up every twenty feet or so, and after a while I emerged back into the day. Or... wait, no, that wasn't sunlight! I squinted and shaded my eyes as I looked up at the giant light on the cavern's ceiling, large and bright enough to imitate the sun. And the cavern itself had been turned into a small village. If the village had been built by a dozen competing mad scientists trying their hand at architecture. From here, I could see a log cabin, a house carved out of the rock wall, a teepee, and what looked like some kind of metal scrapyard. Wait, was that actually a glass house? I wandered forwards in wonder, barely noticing as the rock under me turned to sand.

"Hey! Do you mind? You're disrupting the waves!"

Waves? I shook myself, glancing to the side where a kappa with a surfboard (of all things!) was glaring at me. "No. I... sorry, I'll get out of your way." I flew up out of the water entirely, looking down and getting an aerial view of the entrance. Oh. They'd turned the tunnel entrance into an actual beachhead. Where the water was, in fact, making waves that broke upon the shore. Just how did they get the sand in here, anyway?

The kappa below found a good wave, tried hanging ten and promptly wiped out, to the general amusement of the other swimmers. I took the moment to fly up higher towards the mock sun, just to satisfy my own curiosity. As I got closer I had to look away, and I dropped my air-bubble (no longer being needed, given I was out of the water in any case), instead using some weak magical darkness as makeshift sunglasses.

It really was just a big lightbulb. On a mechanical track, moving slowly across the cave's ceiling. A fake sun, an artificial beach, and a wave machine. I guess that's one way to fake an ocean. Was this just a luxury, or were the kappa originally sea-dwellers? Below me, the kappa ran back and forth across the village. Tinkering, yelling, playing... adults and children both, just living their lives. For just a moment, I felt more like a tourist than a refugee. So, where should I look for her?

{-} Nitori seemed the mechanical type, so, maybe the scrapyard?
{-} Wait, she said she was going to get some stuff. There was a warehouse-looking building back there, so that would be logical.
{-} I was willing to bet Nitori was well known. I could always ask where to find her.
{-} Screw it, I really just want to look around. I'll find Nitori eventually.
{?} Write-in? The kappa have a wide variety of experts, is there something in particular Sumireko's going to try and look for?

{X} Wait, she said she was going to get some stuff. There was a warehouse-looking building back there, so that would be logical.

I hadn't known Nitori all that long, but anyone could see that she was all business. Which meant that when she said she was going to retrieve something, it was a decent bet that's what she was actually doing. Sure, it was possible she was lying to me for who-knows-what reason and visiting her secret kappa crush or something, but I just didn't see it. (And not just because it's hard to imagine her actually getting a date.) Nitori might hate my guts, but I think she's greedy enough for modern tech to put up with it, and that means not antagonizing me, at least beyond the inevitable verbal sniping.

I took a regretful look at the little mad science-y village below me, hesitated, and flew off towards the warehouse. Then thought better of it, and at least flew through the main streets. It wasn't sight-seeing, it's just that if my first guess was wrong, I just had better chances of spotting Nitori if I took the time to look carefully on my way to the warehouse.

The main street was pretty much a marketplace, though the wares were pretty novel compared to the human version. The most normal part of it was the food on offer - cucumbers were, unsurprisingly, out in full force, though I also saw a decent amount of fish and other vegetables. There was a sushi stall on one end, and next to it were a couple of children eating roasted sweet potatoes. However, everything else on sale was some kappa device or other, most of which looked suspiciously like various modern conveniences. Some of which were clearly altered in interesting ways, like the "kappa air pump" which had probably started life as a handheld vacuum... and then there were the tennis rackets being advertised as giant fly-swatters. "Good for flies and faeries both." I can't decide if it's better or worse that someone actually bought one just as I was flying by.

I'd have spent longer looking, but I was painfully aware that I didn't have any actual money on me (or anything else to barter with), and I'd learned from experience that window shopping for too long led to nothing but envy. On to the warehouse it was.

Hm. Drawing closer to it, it's clear the thing was constructed for sturdiness. The entire thing is just a giant block of concrete and metal, with no design flourishes in sight. There are plenty of windows, but none of them actually look openable, being just thick glass sheets across entire floors. Bulletproof, if I'm any judge. (Which I have gotten pretty good at estimating. Don't ask.) And a glance downwards reveals what looks like a guard, though she doesn't seem to have actually seen me yet.

It's uncertain whether I'd be allowed access, but since I'd already planned on asking forgiveness anyway, I just do a quick flyby across the exterior windows, looking for one kappa in particular as I flit from floor to floor.

I spot Nitori on my second pass across the third floor window, and as soon as I do, I take a moment to concentrate and teleport in.

"So, what are you getting?"

To set the stage a little, Nitori was halfway up a ladder, wearing one backpack, holding a second to her chest, and currently leaning awkwardly off to the side as she tugged at a large crate. My teleport had come in behind her, and aside from the noise my voice had just made, the warehouse was exceptionally quiet.

Which is a long way of saying, my timing was either exceptionally poor, or absolutely perfect. Regardless, both crate and kappa came loose, and when the dust settled, I was holding a large crate with my levitation, and the floor was holding one disgruntled kappa.

"Would you believe that wasn't actually intentional?"

{-} To be continued.

((Small update, but I figured that was better than nothing.))

{x} Handle the situation.

"You... you..." Nitori sputtered.

I figured I had about five seconds before the kappa got coherent enough to be properly angry. "Hang on, let me just adjust this before more crates come crashing down."

A bit of telekinesis got the contents of the shelf actually secured on the shelf, and I turned my attention to the crate I'd caught. "And I might as well open this for you."

The kappa was getting red in the face, but her voice came out in a harsh whisper. "You can't just-"

"What do you have in here, anyway? Robot arms? Computer parts? Emergency cucumber supply?"

The side of the crate came loose with a tug, and proved all of my guesses to be wrong.

A bunch of dresses came pouring out. And not particularly practical ones either, these were nice dresses. Everything from a silk Chinese number to modern formal wear to a ballroom gown that you'd expect a princess to wear. And I do mean princess, as it came complete with a matching tiara.

"Huh. Didn't expect you to be into that sort of thing, Nitori."

"That's the wrong crate! Those aren't mine!"

I looked down to the side of the crate, where her name was clearly printed. I waited for Nitori to follow my gaze, and then just looked at her as she steadily went more and more red.

"So, why do you have all those dresses?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Is there a guy?"

"No!" Nitori said through gritted teeth. "There isn't."

Huh. Instead of embarassed anger, that last sentence had a bitter note to it. I think I believed her. Maybe there was a guy in the past, or she was still looking for one. That said, I was still certain these dresses were intended to impress a guy. The padding around the chest area was a dead giveaway. Not that that was important right now, I wasn't here to embarrass the flat-chested kappa-

"You know, the usual strategy is to add the padding to the bra."

I wasn't here to embarrass Nitori much. You know, maybe Greg was right about me needing to rein in my reflexive wit.

The kappa was now bright red, and started whisper-yelling. "You- you bottom feeding, brown-nosing ass!"

Come to think of it, why wasn't she just yelling normally at me? Even I can admit I kind of deserve it after that. Look, there was a time (before puberty did its magic) when I was insecure about my assets too, okay?

"You're not supposed to be here!"

Ah, there it was. "As in, there will be trouble if anyone finds out?"

"Yes! This is a kappa warehouse! Damn it, it's a kappa hideout in the first place - I told you to stay put!"

I shrugged. "Aya showed up, and she knew who I was. It was either this, or start up the danmaku."

"And this is the one time you choose not to fight?!"

I crossed my arms. "I don't always jump straight to fighting."

It was Nitori's turn to stare at me, and I took a second to mentally review my interactions with her. "Really! It's just been a rough couple of days, that's all."

Nitori scoffed. "I'm sorry, did you get kidnapped and interrogated yesterday?"

I glared at her. "No, I merely passed out after being stabbed twice. My best friend's the one who got kidnapped, and is probably being interrogated as we speak."

It was a tense moment, but the kappa looked away first. "This is more trouble than it's worth."

Oh, right. I might be winning the argument (well, let's be fair, there's no might about it; I was demolishing her), but a petty argument with Nitori was entirely the wrong battle to fight. I was way too used to having Greg to handle this diplomacy crap.

I sighed, leaning down to pick a dress off the floor. "So what do you need from this crate, anyway?"

"Nothing," she snapped, snatching it out of my hand. "That crate I need was behind this one."

That actually made sense. Which meant me stumbling on the contents of this one was a hilariously unlikely coincidence. "Wow. That's... really bad luck, actually."

Nitori continued packing the crate back up as she grumbled. "Par for the course with you."

I considered sniping back, but diplomacy must and all that. Besides, she wasn't wrong, even without the whole Tewi mess. "Look, I actually wasn't here to spy." Even though it would have served her right. "Getting away from Aya and finding you was supposed to be the option that caused the least trouble."

She sighed. "Look, just let me stock up and we'll discuss it later. The last thing I need right now is for the guard to come up wondering what's taking me so long."

"Well then, which crate do you need? It'll be a lot easier for me to get at it, and to put this back."

"... fine. It's that one," the kappa said, pointing.

With a few quick applications of telekinesis, the dress crate was back on the shelf, and the presumably useful crate was down by the kappa. This one was more generic storage, full of odds and ends, but the main object inside...

"Oh. A replacement backpack." I probably should have seen that coming.

"It's not as good as the one you stole," Nitori said, "but it's something."

I paused. Now probably wasn't the best time to ask, but... screw it. "Do you have a third backpack?"

"No. And even if I did, no."

"What, not even going to negotiate over it? And besides, weren't you using that water jetpack?"

She shook her head. "First off, the jetpack's a single-function device; it doesn't have any of the other gadgets my actual backpack does. Second, you can't afford it."

"Maybe not yet, but once I get back home-"

"There's a limit to how much I'm willing to gamble on that", Nitori talked over me, "There's too high a chance you'll mouth off to the wrong youkai and get your stupid ass killed."

"You underestimate me."

"Doubtful, but all of that's beside the point. All of my mechanical gadgets were either in the backpack you got blown up, or in the Nessie that your friend blew up. You're lucky I'm not charging you for that, by the way. Everything left is hydraulic, which means you can't use it."

I paused. "Hydraulic as in, powered by kappa water powers?"

"Obviously."

That's not what 'hydraulic' usually means, but I had bigger fish to fry.

"That could still be workable. I can move water through telekinesis, especially in a closed system."

Nitori wordlessly pulled a water bottle out of the crate, uncapped it, and poured it out. The water collected in midair, and with a gesture, she bent it into a three-dimensional water sculpture of a rose. Which she then plucked a petal off of and drank.

"Do that with telekinesis, and you can work kappa hydraulics."

I sighed. Game respects game, and while that trick didn't need much raw power, the level of control she'd displayed was impressive. With a month or so of practice, I was pretty sure I could pull off something similar, but I'd need all my concentration to keep the water holding that detailed of a shape. Nitori had done it casually. If the remaining kappa-tech needed that level of manipulation, it wouldn't be useful to me right now.

"If you can pull off a stunt like that, why bother with mechanical engineering in the first place?"

The corners of Nitori's lips curved upwards for the first time in the conversation. "To make things I can sell, obviously."

I'm not sure what I expected. Although, speaking of selling things...

{-} I might want to take a quick look through the kappa market, to see if I can't find {insert object here}. It could prove useful, and there had to be some way I could use magic to pay for it.
{-} Better to just leave. Nitori's irritation aside, I don't have time to waste.
{-} Or maybe it'd be better for me to take an hour or so and see if I couldn't wait Aya out. Avoiding the potential fight would be worth it, and I could see about working out a new magical trick while I wait.

{X} I might want to take a quick look through the kappa market, to see if I can't find {a map of Gensokyo}. It could prove useful, and there had to be some way I could use magic to pay for it.

Nitori's gear was ready in short order, and as I put the crate away she turned to me. "Look, can you get out of here without being seen?"

"The warehouse or the village-hideout thing as a whole? The first one's easy, but plenty of kappa have already seen me across the hideout. I literally walked through the market place."

"Just the warehouse," Nitori paused. "Wait, what do you mean getting in was easy? This building has perimeter alarms to identify and record anyone or anything that comes inside."

I had noticed a guard outside, but that was about it. "Is it that important?"

Nitori looked pensive. "This is our secure storage for the sort of projects you don't want anyone else to get their hands on. Whether that's because of confidential information, dangerous technology, or whatever."

"Perimeter alarms, as in, you cross the threshold, you're caught?"

"Exactly."

Interesting, but if that was all, I had a pretty good idea of what happened. "If it's that important, why not guard the inside as well?"

She shrugged. "Privacy. The guard rotates quite a bit, and nobody wants half a dozen random guards being able to peek at your tech. So, we just make sure nobody can get in in the first place, and that's that."

I smirked. "So, how valuable would you say knowledge of this security flaw is?"

The kappa glared at me, but I smiled wider. "Come on, you know perfectly well you'd be doing the exact same thing in your position. It's just good business sense!"

"Are you trying to provoke me?"

Not in particular, but annoying Nitori was one of those things I was just naturally successful at. "I teleported."

Nitori stared at me in disbelief. "Please tell me there was more to it than that."

I gave Nitori an apologetic-but-not-really-your-security-is-idiotic smile. It was a very eloquent expression, particularly compared to the groan and the facepalm it induced on her end. She waved me off. "Fine. Just go and wait by the market; I'll catch up with you there."

I nodded and teleported out.

---

Fifteen minutes later, Nitori and I were sitting at this little cafe by the marketplace, as Nitori had pointed it out as an excellent place to get refreshments. Once we'd been seated, the kappa had made a point of buying herself cake. And asking me how I was going to pay for anything, with my current lack of funds.

I let it be. Sure, I could have ordered something and stuck Nitori with the bill, or simply stolen a bite of her cake, but that would be needlessly petty, and I was above that sort of thing.

"Something on your mind?" Nitori asked, in-between bites.

Absolutely above that sort of thing. It didn't bother me at all.

I took a deep breath, focusing my attention on the bustling market behind her. "Two things, actually. First off, is there a decent way to get a map of Gensokyo?"

Nitori showed surprise for a moment (clearly not expecting me to take the high road), then turned thoughtful as she took a sip of water. "Local map or-"

"Gensokyo as a whole. High detail would be nice, but mostly I want to know where everything is relative to everything else."

"Do you need to know where everything is? From what you said to Hina, I'd assumed you were going to just head right to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. They're not exactly hard to find."

I rolled my eyes. "Nitori, so far I've visited the Hakurei Shrine, the Forest of Magic, the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, Eientei, the Human Village, and now Youkai Mountain. I'm currently on the way to the Moriya Shrine, I know I'll be paying the SDM a visit, and it's at least plausible that I'll end up needing to visit Former Hell for more reinforcements. Point being, I've already been dragged across half of Gensokyo; I might as well find out about the other half ahead of time."

Nitori was giving me that 'this is more trouble than it's worth' look again.

"I guess. Problem is, Gensokyo's dangerous, and-"

I wasn't letting that opening go. "You don't say."

Nitori shot me a look. "No, seriously. If you want to just travel wherever with zero consequence or forethought, you need to be on the level of Marisa. And people that strong aren't usually cartographers."

I scowled, glancing out over the marketplace again. "Come on. I can't be the only person interested in a map, and you'd sell people air if you could find the right way to market it. There has to be something."

Nitori paused. "I don't know if she's got all of Gensokyo, but Piper's probably your best bet. But again, how are you going to pay for it?"

"Let me worry about that."

Nitori gave me a doubtful look, and proceeded to take an extra large bite of her dessert. I didn't take the bait, and eventually she asked. "So what was the second thing?"

"Right. About the tengu, I think we're better off waiting down here for Aya to go away."

Nitori grimaced. "Aya is stubborn. If she even suspects you're still around, she'll stake out the entrance. I'd bet money that any kappa that leaves before you do will get their own interview on whether they've seen you and what you're up to."

"How stubborn are we talking about?"

"Days. Weeks if she can get another tengu to split guard duty with her."

I swore. "Fine. Let's go find Piper first, then we'll figure something out to deal with Aya."

"I guess that's reasonable. We can head out once I'm done with this."

I glanced down at the half-eaten slice of chocolate cake, and back up at the kappa. I'd expected Nitori to make a show out of it, and maybe to drag it out with small bites. Instead she just shrugged at me and ate it normally, looking more honestly happy than smug.

Which was somehow worse, because it implied that the cake was actually just good.

{-} To be continued.

((I'll admit, I strongly considered making a joke about the extent to which the cake was a lie, but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it.))

{-} Acquire cake map.

On our way to meet Piper, we passed back through the kappa's market. And it all started with an offhand question.

"So how is it that you have such an eclectic mix of goods here, anyway? I've seen entire shopping malls with less variety."

"Kappa are pretty much all geniuses, but we all have different specialties - didn't I mention it?"

Maybe she had and I just wasn't paying enough attention. I shrugged. "So what kind of specialties produce all this, anyway?"

Nitori looked at me skeptically, then she started smiling, and I realized I might have made a mistake.

As it turned out, despite my less-than-social interactions with Nitori, she turned out to know her fellow kappa. All of her fellow kappa. And I'd just given her an excuse to blatantly advertise every single stall in the market. At first it was false cheer, highlighting prices, sales, and expensive items with all the empathy and honesty of a used car salesman. I'm sure it was designed to annoy me over my temporary financial embarrassment, but Nitori's plan had one small problem. I'm used to window shopping. As someone who has maxed out her credit card more than once, I've already had the experience of walking through a shopping center being completely unable to buy anything. And the consequences my parents visited on me for that little fiasco were enough to kill most of my compulsive shopping tendencies. As such, I didn't let it bother me, and to prove that it didn't bother me, I cheerfully asked questions about the more interesting items.

And then something weird happened. Nitori started getting genuinely enthusiastic.

"-and over there, Taniya stocks all sorts of lights. Mostly electrical - that's where the business is, but she stocks everything from flares and fireworks to luminescent crystals and fungi. She works a lot with her sister Mira, who specializes in glasswork."

I looked over at the wooden stall that was lit up like a Christmas tree. Some of the designs might have been nice, but it was hard to tell on account of the stall being covered in flashing lights to the point of epilepsy. Honestly, it was still messing with me less than the concept of a friendly Nitori. After a moment I realized the kappa was expecting a response, so I supplied one. "I suppose that explains all the lightbulb designs."

Nitori nodded. "Some, but a lot of those are recycled from other broken gadgets. You can get just about anything to work as a decorative piece with a little artistry, so Mira saves the good glass for lenses and mirrors, where you really want an exact effect. Or the big projects, like the mechanical sun."

I glanced up to where the glowing orb was crossing the cavern ceiling. "I'd been wondering about that. There's no real patterns in the light, but I saw there was a glass covering. How'd you get a single piece of glass that large?"

"Glass fusing." Nitori folded her arms, giving me a satisfied smirk. "The surface is just a portion of a large sphere, and that means we just needed to make every piece with the same curvature. A couple dozen window-sized curved panes, water cutter to create a custom mold, lay them in the right pattern, and then it was just a matter of melting them all together."

"But you'd need a massive furnace for something that size. How'd you generate the heat?"

Nitori looked away for a second, pausing for the first time in what felt ages. "We might have outsourced that problem. Eventually we got Utsuho to do it. Getting around Satori was difficult, but it was well worth it."

Right. Utsuho was one of Satori's pets, wasn't she? That would explain Nitori's little self-satisfied smile, especially if she'd gotten one over on the deal. "What was the price? I assume it was a bargain and not a favor."

"Nothing too bad. Utsuho just asked if we could source some catnip."

Well, that was a mental image. "You know, I have no idea if this is related, but Satori did mention something about Utsuho melting a hole through her floor."

Nitori's smirk widened, and I found myself sharing her amusement, giggling a bit. Right now, I could believe the kappa wasn't actually so bad. Maybe she really just wanted a chance to talk shop.

However, even the kappa's market wasn't infinite, and it wasn't long before we were into what I was guessing was the residential area. At the very least, most of these structures looked like houses, if you squinted hard enough. The one we stopped at wasn't even a house, it was a tent. Well, in point of fact it was several tents squashed together in such a way as to connect and provide multiple "rooms", but still. A tent.

Nitori simply lifted the tent flap and gestured for me to move in. Against my better judgement I ducked inside, and Nitori closed the tent flap, before calling out, "Hey Piper, business!"

Without entering the tent herself. That rang multiple alarm bells, and I gathered magic, looking around warily. The interior of the tent wasn't quite dark, but shadowed enough to make reading annoying. Maps, notebooks, textbooks, and random scraps of paper littered the room, enough so that any fire-related magic would burn the entire thing to the ground. I didn't actually see the other kappa yet, but there was another tent flap in the back, and it was likely that-

"Nitori!" an outraged voice rang out. "You promised time off until Nessie was fixed, and I refuse to believe it's done already!"

Oh, that was her game. Feeling a little bit foolish, I let out a sigh, and let the magic drain away. Honestly, I should have seen something like this coming. Still, at least it wasn't any thing serious.

"It's been a month! A solid month of back to back to back to back shows, and I don't care how much overtime you're offering, I'm not doing any more! I've got my own projects to get back to!"

I idly picked up one of the scraps of paper and squinted at it. The front side was covered in mathematical notation, while the back contained a couple of directed graphs with little notes such as 'Maybe reduce to a bipartite graph?' and ''Try listing paths of various lengths, sorted by total distance.' I couldn't make too much out of it, but I suppose that proved Piper was serious about her project. I sighed again, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "You do realize-"

"Don't you 'realize' me! I'm close to cracking it, this time for sure! The traveling salesman problem, as applied to distance, youkai, and magical reagents! It's not perfect-perfect, but I'm sure that with a few more tweaks I'll have an algorithm that can give me a near-optimal solution in oh of en squared time!" She paused, and some of the energy left her voice. "at least half the time, anyway."

"Nitori's outside!" I yelled. "You're ranting at the wrong person!"

"What? But-" A sequence of crashing noises sounded from the connected tent, and I winced. "That's going to bruise, ah- one second!"

There were a couple more creaking noises, and I almost went to check if the kappa was okay when she finally emerged into the main tent.

{-} To be continued.

((We'll get back to the point where you guys get to make decisions again soon, I promise.))

{-} Continue acquiring map.

The kappa was short. Maybe four foot six at the most, with a mop of tangled black hair under the same blue cap they all wore. (I'm really not sure why all the kappa had the same blue hats and jackets. Maybe it's their brand.) Though I will note she was more developed than Nitori, despite being like a head shorter. She was fumbling with a pair of glasses as she entered the room; they'd been tied around her neck with a string, and it appears her recent stumble had left the string around the front of her neck and the glasses at her back. Though I suppose that was better than having to search for them in the mess of a floor. It wasn't until she got them back on properly that things clicked and I remembered where I'd seen her face.

"Wait, weren't you at the lake yesterday?" I snapped my fingers a couple times. "Right, you're the one Satori gave a cucumber to. Piper, wasn't it?"

Piper stumbled and gaped at me. "You're one of the ones that kidnapped Nitori?"

I all but slapped myself with how hard I facepalmed at that. Behold, my stunning wit and clever anticipation of blindingly obvious consequences! Surely there could be no harm in revealing that I recognized Piper from the events immediately preceding a kidnapping. Surely my intellect was so far beyond that of the youkai with mad scientist tendencies that she would fail to connect the extremely close together dots!

I'm blaming lack of sleep for this. Passing out after being stabbed isn't really enough.

I considered denying it, but I'd already stuck my foot in that particular mess. "It was more of an aggressive negotiations thing. We really needed some questions answered, and Satori wanted to scare her a little."

"Oh. So you didn't need Nitori as a sacrificial element for an occult ball ritual?"

"What? No!"

"Or to banish her soul to limbo to reinforce Gensokyo's barrier?"

"That doesn't even make sense."

"... lock her up and throw away the key?"

Nitori poked her head in through the tent flap. "You signed the damn contract, Piper! Stop complaining about the work and get over yourself!"

Piper pushed her way past me to yell at Nitori directly. "You can take that contract and wipe your ass with it! It was until you were done with Nessie, and after Satori cooked the contraption, Nessie is definitely done!"

"You know that's not how it works. You agreed to a scaling work hours arrangement-"

"EIGHTY HOUR WEEKS!"

"That you agreed to! Not my fault you didn't ask for enough money."

My initial concern had faded into bemusement and I just stood there and watched them go at it. Actually no, scratch that, this was more amusement than bemusement. Piper was really laying into Nitori, who in turn was absolutely shameless about whatever shenanigans she'd pulled off and firing back with glee. It was hard to tell whether this was actual hatred or just the most vitriolic of coworkers.

"It's not just the money, you imbecile!" Piper was ranting, "You blew up the bloody pond, plus exposing the Nessie hoax, all in front of a crowd! We can't sell anything in the human village until the heat dies down, and that'll be at least a week after a display like that!"

I kind of wished Satori was here, actually. It was the only thing I could think of that would further escalate the show.

"Sell, nothing. We both know what this is really about. I saw the way you were making eyes at that human. You just can't wait to get your hands on his cucumber, can you?"

"GET OUT!"

Nitori was gone an instant before the danmaku shot through the tent flap, laughing the whole way. Piper, meanwhile, was thoroughly red in the face, and outright shaking with rage. That reaction put paid to any idea that this was a show for my benefit. The poor girl was simultaneously furious and mortified. And then she turned back around, realized I was still there, and went even more red.

I decided to kill the awkward silence before it could start. "And here I thought having kidnapped Nitori was going to be a bad thing."

"Can you kidnap her again? Or kill her, killing her works too."

I don't think she actually meant that... though, you know, youkai. "So Nitori's just an ass in general, huh?"

She groaned. "You have no idea. In front of outsiders it's gotta be all kappa solidarity," she waved an arm in a presumably grand gesture, "and unified front, but she's a real slave driver."

"Do I not count as an outsider then?"

"That..." Piper's voice trailed off as she froze, then threw her hands in the air. "You know what, no. You're already in the hideout, you get to see behind the curtain. That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

Must not snicker. Better to seem cool, and unaffected, and not extremely amused. "Works for me," I said, offering her a hand. "I'm Sumireko."

She nodded, turned away, abruptly realized something, spun back around, knocked a set of papers off the table in doing so, and actually shook my hand. "Right! Uh, I'm Piper, if you didn't already hear."

I glanced at the newest addition to the mess on the floor, most of which had ended up by my feet. "Do you need those?"

She waved a hand dismissively. "It was just a small project. I proved that every two-partite Turan graph has the maximum number of four-colorings for any graph with the same number of vertices and edges. It's not really important to anyone, just a fun idea."

What on earth was a Turan graph? For that matter, what was a four-coloring? Was this how others felt when I talked about magic? Whatever. I decided to take her word on it not being important and settled for a nod. "That seems like a lot of work for a small project."

"Oh, proof was just the top few pages. The rest were," she blushed and looked down, "nothing important."

That was possibly the worst thing she could have said. I squatted down to look, and picked up one of the new pages. It looked like a map of the human village, with a few specific places circled and lines connecting them. I turned the page over, and found a detailed sketch of a man. To be specific, a handsome, muscular, shirtless man. Decorated with hearts.

"Hey! That- you don't! I mean can't-" Piper squeaked and covered her face with her hands.

"I can see why you're interested. It's a, uh, pretty good drawing."

Piper squeaked and buried her face further into her hands. There might have been words in there, but they weren't intelligible.

Okay, wow. Greg was harder to tease than this, even back when I first met him. Back when he was really sensitive to... pretty much everything, really. I was starting to feel bad, and I was barely even teasing her! "Hey, look at it this way, at least you're more romantically successful than Nitori."

Fingers parted slightly to let an eye peer through. "Really?"

Nitori, meet the underside of the bus. "Oh, definitely. Nitori's got all these fancy dresses that she never gets to use. Heavily padded, too, if you get my drift. I think she's just jealous."

I couldn't quite make out what Piper mumbled, but it sounded close enough to thanks that I pressed on. "Really, if you've talked to a guy at all, you're ahead of Nitori here."

She nodded, but went even more red. "So, is he actually", I almost said human, thought better of it, and asked an equivalent question, "from the human village?"

"Yeah. That's his farm there." She shyly pointed at one of the circled locations on the map, on the outskirts of the village.

"I see," in the same tones of voice I'd used to calm a scared puppy. "And what's his name?"

"Jin. Rou Jin."

Right. Well, I wasn't going to supply both sides of the conversation forever, and I did actually want that map, so...

"Wait, you're human right?" Piper asked.

"Uh, yes?" I said. "I kinda hoped that was obvious."

"There's some youkai that can pass for human, actually. Whatever, not the point. Point is, since you're human, you must know a lot about how humans mate- I MEAN COURT, right?"

"Date. The word you're thinking of is dating."

"Great! Because Jin's great, and I've been thinking about this a lot, but... well... Ihaventactuallytalkedtohimyetlikeatall, and I need someone to run my ideas past who's not a jerk! And also human."

I stared at the kappa in disbelief. "You haven't even talked to him?"

"I haven't had time to do it properly! You only get one chance to do a first impression, and I haven't finished figuring out everything he likes yet!"

"That's... not normally a prerequisite to saying hi. How would you even figure that out without talking to him?"

"Optical camouflage, obviously." How was that the obvious solution?! "I've got a list of all the other humans he interacts with, the books he's rented, his usual shopping purchases, and..."

The list went on. And on. Good grief.

{-} Gently point out to Piper this is crazy stalker behavior, and that humans don't usually take well to that.
{-} Carefully do not point out anything that could offend the crazy stalker youkai, and prioritize getting that map.

So, this isn't canon in any sense, but I had this idea, and figured it was funny enough to post. I might end up doing more random snippets like this, we'll see.

-- Some time in the future --

It was a pleasant night in the Palace of Earth Spirits. Sumireko, Orin and Utsuho were having a "girl's night out", presumably with Koishi joining them. They were probably causing trouble, but it was trouble you'd have to worry about tomorrow. They'd made the offer for Satori to join them, but she'd elected to stay in, and you joined her for a little quality time.

Hence the movie.

You'd managed to pull the necessary hardware from earth proper, and movies had turned out to be a real hit. For people in general (with Nitori, as always, capitalizing on everything), but also for Satori in particular; it turned out being able to watch normal human interaction (or, well, highly dramatized human interaction) without knowing what they would say in advance was a novel experience for her.

Of course, that did mean you had to pick movies you hadn't seen before either, but Sumireko was happy to give you some recommendations, and they were mostly reliable. Mostly.

Still, while this movie was fine, and spending time with Satori was even better, it'd be fun to have a guys' night out at some point. You could invite... um...

Huh.

"So why is it that nearly everyone in Gensokyo is female, anyway?", you asked.

Satori stopped, puzzled for a minute. "I'm not entirely sure. The typical explanation is that male youkai were almost driven to extinction due to being more aggressive before Gensokyo's creation."

That seems rather lacking. It could explain fewer male youkai, but none?

"There are one or two around, but yes. That said, I've not run into anyone who actually knows a better explanation. Plenty of speculation, but no real answers. It seems likely the event was covered up."

"Do you really want to know?" Koishi asked.

You start, having had no idea she was there. "That's... kind of why I asked the question?"

"You'll never be able to see Gensokyo the same way again. Are you sure?"

It's weird seeing Koishi this serious, but Satori's unfazed and just rolls her eyes. "You don't actually know, do you?"

"Oh, sister. One benefit of my status is that I can get into places and hear secrets even you can't."

You're starting to have doubts at this point, but Satori crosses her arms and gives her sister an unimpressed look. "Then by all means, enlighten us."

"Long ago, before Gensokyo, youkai were much like humans. With a few exceptions, the male youkai were considered stronger and deadlier than the female, and thus ruled over their respective communities, wherever they might be found. Things may have continued in this state indefinitely, had it not been for the declining magic of the outside world."

You decide to take a seat and listen, and Satori pulls you a bit closer as she does the same.

"It was then that Yukari Yakumo first proposed the concept of Gensokyo. She was rejected harshly, as the youkai did not see the need for change. For a time, they fought the changing of the times. They gathered in every magical nexus they could find, working to terrify humans, drive off their competition, and fighting for dwindling scraps of magic and belief. Tengu, kappa, vampire, magician - they all clashed, and they all suffered for it. Eventually even the strongest of the youkai were mere shells of their former power."

"Then, Yukari Yakumo once again came forwards, presenting the idea of Gensokyo a second time. This time the suggestion was treated more seriously, with many of the weaker youkai begging for refuge. However, a key condition of Yukari's offer was that Gensokyo was to be her reality, one where she would be supreme. And some of the most powerful youkai that remained considered this an insult."

"This resisted was headed by four beings in particular. There was Sun Wukong, the great sage, heaven's equal. There was Alucard, first-born son of Dracula, and the oldest remaining vampire in the world. The last and strongest of the greek Gods (though still a mere shade of what he once was), Zeus. And finally, the fell spirit of winter, more modernly known as Jack Frost."

That seemed like an eclectic mix of modern and ancient myths, but okay.

"They wished to make their own way, to continue fighting over the remaining magic in the world, and carve out their own petty fiefdoms, to rule a dying world than serve in a new one. And thus Yukari challenged them, her alone against all four of them.

"The winter spirit gathered his might, as the air itself froze and the snow gathered. The essence of snow, and ice and hail surrounded the gap youkai, bringing the battlefield fifty degrees below freezing."

"Zeus then combined that with the fury of the storm, throwing lightning bolt after lightning bolt at his foe. Power enough to run cities, even in his weakened state, coursed through the air and into Yukari."

"Alucard, the vampire, then rushed her, first as a swarm of bats, then in human guise, and finally as an outright monster, crushing, tearing, and biting with vampiric strength."

"And finally, Sun Wukong... did something with that giant stick of his. I don't really know, I wasn't listening at that bit, but let's just pretend he didn't get to do much. It doesn't really matter anyway, the interesting part is when Yukari fought back."

You snort at the sudden loss of tension, and the reminder that it's Koishi telling this. Satori then nudges you, so you settle down and refocus.

"By absolute manipulation of boundaries, not only did the attacks fail to harm Yukari, they never touched her. The snow, ice, and sheer cold melted as the boundary of temperature shifted. Bolts of lightning fell apart as the gaps between electrons suddenly went wild. Even the last recourse of brute physical force failed, as every strike went into a gap, none going near the youkai's physical body. And thus, with the might of her opponents exhausted, Yukari struck back."

"Weaving together a spell that had never been seen before, and never again since, arcane energies clashed as gaps and boundaries once thought absolute first blurred, then shattered entirely. Yukari's counterattack burst outwards in a pulse of energy that slew the ringleaders outright, then went beyond, into every youkai that remained, down into the very core of their souls. There, the magic spread, chaining their free will, and impressing her superiority unto them. This ensured that never again would she be challenged, that no youkai would ever raise their hand against Yukari Yakumo. And with her rule secure, Yukari went on to create the Great Hakurei Barrier, and then all of Gensokyo."

There was a moment's silence, and finally you spoke. "That was an interesting story and everything, but what does it have to do with the lack of men?"

"Isn't it obvious? Yukari works through manipulating boundaries. And in this case, the boundary the youkai were forced through was one of weakness and subservience, even to the point of humiliation. In short, Yukari bitch-slapped the youkai into literal bitches."

A pair of groans and one non-verbal alliance later, Koishi is chased from the room with danmaku, laughing the whole way.

{x} Carefully do not point out anything that could offend the crazy stalker youkai, and prioritize getting that map.
- {x} Spur on the crazy fangirl. High school girls and shipping go hand in hand.

I let Piper go on for a few minutes while I considered the angle to take. She might have been theoretically underprepared... if she'd been plotting to create a robot duplicate of him that could fool his friends, family, who happened to also be mind-readers. I mean, she had a relationship graph of the guy's human social circle, and another one for his thoughts on various groups of youkai!

Amusingly, Reimu and Marisa were on the second graph, not the first.

Honestly, I was a little baffled that she still thought she needed data. It should be transparently obvious that a first date couldn't cover a tenth of the material she'd gathered. I guess it could be some obscure youkai OCD or something, but it was as if... oh!

"Wait a minute, are you nervous?"

"O-of course not!" Piper stammered.

"You're scared. The youkai is scared of the human," I said in disbelief.

"It's not that!" she said, going red again. "It's just, you know..."

"Yes?" I was going to make her say it.

"I only get one shot at this, and..." she took a deep breath "andwhatifhedoesn'tlikeme!"

That admission cost her something, and she went an even deeper red, looking down at the ground.

I stepped forwards, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You should just go for it."

"What?"

"You should just go for it!"

"I can't! What if-"

"What if nothing. Piper, more information isn't going to help you here."

She actually looked offended. "Don't be ridiculous! More information is always helpful!"

"Even past the point of diminishing returns?"

She hesitated. "I... might not have hit that point yet?"

"You're stalling. Telling yourself that you'll wait for that perfect moment, and using that as an excuse not to do anything just yet. I'm not saying it's wrong to want to know the guy you're interested in, but at some point you've actually got to talk to him!"

"How?"

"Well, what do girls usually do when they're interested in a guy?"

Piper's answer was immediate. "They wait for him to leave the village, kidnap him, and don't let him go until they're done with him."

"What?"

"If they don't eat him."

Right. Youkai. I'd forgotten where I was for a minute, that's my fault for asking. "I can see why you wanted a human's input on this."

"Yeah, I don't think he'd like it. Do you think I should try it anyway?"

"No! No." I sighed. "If you want him to like you, you're better off doing things the human way."

"That's why I'm asking! How?!"

I paused. Flirting was something I hadn't done much of (magic's just more interesting, so sue me), but I'd seen enough of it to know how the game was played. The problem is, it was a subtle, nuanced game, and there was no chance Piper was capable of doing subtle. And asking her to do some grand gesture was even worse; knowing the kappa it'd probably be a giant mech that exploded into danmaku flowers or something. That left one option.

"I'm going to tell you a secret." I gestured, and Piper leaned forwards as I started whispering conspiratorially, "Most men, the vast majority of them, would love to have a pretty girl interested in them. You're pretty enough, so all you have to do is let him know you're interested, and he'll probably jump at the chance."

Piper was hanging on my every word. "Really?"

"Guys are scared of rejection too, you know? Just pick an activity you both like, and ask if he'd do it with you."

"Any activity? Like...", I realized where this was probably going and braced myself, "holding hands?"

I stopped. "Wait, what did you think youkai were doing when they kidnapped men?"

"The humans talked about it like it was really inappropriate, so... probably kissing?"

No. I was not explaining this. Bad enough I had to explain dating, I was not explaining basic biology to a youkai. Not for all the money in the world. I gave a strangled cough. "Regardless, neither of those things is really what I meant."

I paused. How to explain this in an idiot-proof way? "You want something that will take up most of an evening. Evenings because he probably has to work through the day, but you also want an activity that will take a while so you have plenty of time to talk and get to know each other. You'll want something semi-public, with other humans around, but not really in the way."

"Could you give me some examples?"

"Going out to eat is a classic-"

"I don't know, he doesn't really eat out much."

"Or there's watching a movie."

"What's a movie?"

"Something you don't have, apparently," I grumbled. Let's see, other stuff...

We ended up sitting on a (hastily cleared) couch to brainstorm this out. It was so much worse than I'd expected. It turned out that Piper couldn't dance, they didn't really have board games, the only show in town was the kappa's Nessie gimmick, (which she flatly refused to have her date at), and there was no festival or such any time soon. I didn't even bring up the idea of a scenic walk since a youkai luring a human out of the village sounded like a kidnapping setup, which left...

"You could ask him to show you around the village?" I tried.

"But I've been around the village a lot! I might actually know it better than he does at this point."

I groaned. Who knew it was so hard to find a meaningful connection between an ordinary human farmer and a semi-mythical water monster?

And then Piper came up with an idea. "Actually, there's a Prismriver concert in a couple of days... could that work?"

Oh, thank goodness. "Yes! That's a great idea!"

"But wait, how will I ask him to go?"

"Just tell him Nitori was making you sell tickets, and you've got a couple left over, and ask if he's interested!" I rushed. I was not letting this go back to the drawing board.

"It is something she'd do." Piper muttered. "It... do you really think it'll work?"

I considered the question. On the one hand, it would take a special kind of idiot to fall in love with a youkai, especially for a powerless human. On the other hand, kappa were pretty low on the power scale, and the moment Jin was brought up, Piper turned into the embodiment of the uncertain, shy, innocent girl, who just happened to be obviously head over heels for him. And since meeting that kind of girl was a male day-dream, I figured she had a real chance. As long as the guy wasn't some ridiculous anime protagonist, at least.

"Relationships are tricky. No matter how well you prepare, things can always go wrong. But I think you've got the best chance of any youkai I've met."

Piper bit her lip, but eventually nodded. "All right, I'll ask him."

I patted her on the back. "There you go. I'll... probably be back home by then, but I'm rooting for you."

"Thanks. For that and the advice, I mean."

"Right. So, um... I heard you make maps?"

"You're interested in maps?!"

And that's how I got drawn into a second uncomfortably intense conversation.

---

Half an hour later, I staggered out with my map of Gensokyo. And it was a pretty good one at that; Piper let me have it for free, both on account of helping her out with her dating woes, and promising to drag Nitori into all sorts of interesting peril with me.

Speak of the devil, that kappa was grinning at me in a way that meant she knew EXACTLY why I had a glazed look in my eyes.

"So how'd it go?" she asked.

"I hate you. I just want you to know that."

"Good! Anyway, I think I've figured out a way to sneak you out of here."

{-} "We kappa make deliveries to the Moriya Shrine from time to time. I can just hide you in a crate."
{-} "You've got that doll for communication, right? I can leave first, and just let you know when the coast is clear."
{-} "I've got a spare kappa uniform right here. You can hide in plain sight!"

{X} "We kappa make deliveries to the Moriya Shrine from time to time. I can just hide you in a crate."

I thought about it for a few seconds. It wasn't a bad plan. In point of fact, as far as stealth went, it was hard to come up with anything better. After the whole kidnapping thing, nobody would expect Nitori to be smuggling me, and trying to break into a kappa's merchandise was just asking for a fight. Not that I expected that to stop any of the really dangerous youkai if they knew I was there, but it should ward off anyone who was merely suspicious...

That said, there was a small problem or two.

"What else would be in this crate?"

"Spare clothes, actually."

"Really?" I'd expected something far less pleasant.

Nitori smirked. "What, did you think I was going to throw you into a barrel of nails?"

"I was worried it would be more of that wretched medical paste, actually."

She scoffed. "Your reaction might have been funny, but that stuff is valuable."

"Fine, I'll bite. Why clothes?"

"It's something that I've got on hand, isn't too valuable if damaged, and will muffle the noise from you moving around inside."

I hesitated. "Wait, is this that crate with all the dresses?"

"No!" Nitori looked just a little flustered. "These are normal kappa uniforms."

Hm. There was going to be a catch, I was sure of it. I was almost as sure the catch was going to be some form of mild discomfort or other... or maybe traveling in a crate itself was the catch?

"And how are you going to actually move the crate?"

Nitori snapped her fingers, and mechanical extendable arms sprung out of her backpack. It was probably supposed to look cool, and it almost was... but they also looked a bit comical. "Take a guess."

"Really? The whole way?"

"Are you doubting my tech?"

Eh, screw it. Worst case scenario, I could always teleport out. How bad could it be?

"Fine, let's just hurry it up."

---

I'll admit, a part of me was impressed. They were, in fact, normal uniforms, that had been in storage. That was the part I hadn't properly considered, as they'd been stored with mothballs. I had taken care to get rid of those before actually getting inside the damn thing, but that hadn't done much about the smell. The crate was ventilated just enough to keep it from being completely nauseous, and only because I could press my face against the wall to breathe through the seams in the wood. On top of that, the crate itself was small, with all the luxuriously empty space of your average coffin. Which on the one hand meant the uniforms actually did serve as padding, but also that I was stuck curled up in a sitting position for the entire time. Couldn't stretch, couldn't even fully extend my legs. Or do anything but just lay there and fidget, really. It hadn't seemed like it would be that bad at first, but an hour or so in, it was starting to seriously grate on me.

The fabric of these uniforms was itchy to boot. Did the kappa just have less sensitive skin or something?

Between this and the whole Piper thing, I was going to have to come up with something creative to do to Nitori. I could probably find a way to tell the Moriya Shrine about her failed romanticism. Alternatively, I could just sabotage her uniform. Or maybe there was a way I could rig cucumbers to transform, right before she tried to eat one. I'd need to think on it for a while, figure out what the right blend of retaliation, practicality, and escalation was. Hina would be disappointed, but I think she'd accept anything short of me actually killing the kappa.

I sighed. At least I had a distraction. I'd been worried that retrieving Mary would be nearly impossible to do covertly, but the doll had come back into my range right as we were leaving the hideout. Well, even more than that, she was right by the exit, and Nitori almost tripped over her... as her magical battery had run down again. How does that keep happening? I at least managed to get the kappa to give me my doll, and thus I had a project to work on.

{-} Work on properly sharing the doll's senses. Right now it's just a general sense of her location, but with a little work, I should be able to get sight and sound.
{-} Give the doll some proper firepower. Both to make her stronger in spell-cards, and to let her ambush people with something besides a knife.
{-} I should figure out how to attach an occult ball to Mary. That will fix the power source issue for good, and it should open the door for other enchantments down the line.
{-} ... come to think of it, can I make Mary smarter?

{X} ... come to think of it, can I make Mary smarter?

In all honesty, there were probably more practical things I could be doing. More firepower, more information, more reliability with a better power source... but Mary's behavior up to this point had been fascinating. She wasn't quite independent, without my magic animating her, she'd do nothing, but she kept doing things I wasn't directing her to. Actions contextually appropriate for the situation, such as keeping me from attacking Hina, or tying together Nitori's shoes. Not that I'm against the latter as a general course of action, but it was particularly appropriate when she did it... I digress.

The point is, Mary was smarter than your average magically animated doll. Even finding the back exit to the kappa hideout and waiting there, that's not something I thought about her doing, but it's something I would have directed her to do had I considered it. And the more I dove into the magic, I became increasingly convinced that this was completely unrelated to Alice's work.

In all fairness, Alice's magic was well done. No, that's not quite fair, it's borderline brilliant. The way she'd animated the doll was clinical, a series of modular enchantments that could be swapped in and out at will. Each grouping of runes served a different purpose, making them much easier to understand, test, and modify.

There were a lot of different pieces, but no individual one was impossible to understand. There was the basic animation core, carved directly into the doll herself. That included the doll's magical signature (the thing that lets me both locate Mary and give her commands), along with the telekinesis and levitation that give her motor functions. That came bundled with a few strings of runes that identified preset movements, such as loops, spirals, and one that I'm pretty sure was a bombing run. That did answer a few questions on how Alice maneuvered all her dolls at once.

Elsewhere you had a basic reinforcement matrix to strengthen the doll, a set of runes that made it simple to tie the doll to spellcards and give it some extra resistance against danmaku, plus what looked like a scrying system? Ah, eyes. Right! That's the other key to Alice's multi-tasking, because that gives the doll a general sense of its surroundings, which ties into the pathfinding algorithm here. Interesting!

... yeah, I know I'm gushing a little, but seriously, I'm stealing some of this next time I animate myself some servants. The scrying/pathfinding trick in particular; with a little work I should be able to animate my vacuum to clean the floor for me.

But with all that said, there's one common feature to all these modules Alice made. None of them explained Mary's intelligence. Which by simple process of elimination, meant that Greg's enchantment must have caused it.

There wasn't really anything for it; if you wanted to truly understand a piece of magic, sometimes you had to let it run free and see what it did. Which, for a power source of this caliber, meant letting it sweep me away. I sighed, and pushed the smallest tendril of power possible into the doll. Not to animate it, but just searching around, feeling for the occult ball's power. Nazca lines, huh? I grimaced. At least this was one of the more subtle wonders.

{-} To be continued.

{-} What enchantment is on Mary?

Sand. I hate sand. I also hate bad movies with bad actors badly delivering lines about hating sand, but that's beside the point. Regardless, sand was the canvas on which the Nazca Lines were drawn, so I wasn't entirely surprised to see it here. But the lines drawn here were not the same ones from the actual world wonder. Straight lines stretched out into the distance, connecting at right angles, being joined by arcs... there was definitely some pattern to them, but I couldn't make it out.

After a moment of puzzling, I facepalmed. I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. Literally, the wrong angle. I flew up to get a look at the entire diagram at once, and the shape became clear. It was a building. And not like a child's drawing of a house either, it was a building plan, the kind that belonged on architectural blueprints.

And the moment I realized that, the sand surged upwards. The lines marking walls became walls, with the sand curving overhead to create vaulted ceilings that blotted out the sky. Which should have plunged the area into darkness, but there was still a dim, yellowish light from torches and chandeliers, despite them also being made of sand. Returning to the ground, I realized I was in an enormous hallway, supported at regular intervals by pillars. The ground was taking the shape of tiles, even, shiny, and smooth (despite still being made of sand), except for where they formed into mosaics.

Those had something blurry about them though. There was unmistakably a pattern, and I was certain the mosaics were meant to portray some scene or another, but they didn't hold a shape. I'd look closely, focus on one aspect of the drawing, but then I'd glance back and the rest would be changed. There would be youkai and danmaku, but I wasn't even sure if any of them were set spellcards, and the people within the mosaic changed on each viewing. Oni, tengu, kappa, fairies, the occasional shrine maiden or magician, all just playing at danmaku. The only constants to them were the conflict, and a rose hiding somewhere in the scene.

Thank goodness I already had most of the pieces to this particular mystery. I already knew this enchantment was intended to provide an illusion of Koishi, and I also knew she and her sister had that rose motif going on. Didn't Satori say something about living in a palace? That would explain most of this. If this place was supposed to represent Koishi's home, then the blurry details could simply be things that the creator of the illusion wasn't sure about. Illusions could only fill in details from the mind of the caster, or (in the case of mental illusions) from whoever they were trying to fool.

No, that didn't quite work. The idea that this place was Koishi's home (or somewhere else important to her) fit, but it was too detailed for that. Sure, the design of the mosaics was hazy, but everything else about the surroundings seemed quite certain. Rigid. Enough so that when I reached out with my power to try to change it, the occult ball resisted me. Which meant the illusion was certain it should be this way, but Greg had never been here, and neither had I. Even if he'd engaged Satori in small talk, and for some reason she decided to talk about her home, I'm pretty sure she didn't go into detail about the style of chandelier she uses. The only conclusion left was that someone else had influenced the illusion. There was another hand at play here.

My breath caught, and I shot a glance behind me. Nothing except more empty hallways. There wasn't anyone here. Of course not, there couldn't be. Odds are the extra info came from Satori or Koishi somehow. I let the breath out, but despite the heat coming from the sand beneath me, there was a chill in the air, and I couldn't place the reason for it. I shook my head and started flying through the halls. The mosaics were interesting, but I wasn't about to learn anything else by staring at them. More to the point, if this was Koishi's home, there should be something more interesting here than just random hallways.

A few minutes of flight proved me wrong. Well, apart from the part where the hallways apparently extended indefinitely in every direction, which would have been an interesting spacial anomaly if this weren't a mental magical place to begin with- but since it was, it meant I was wrong about the nature of this place. It wasn't Koishi's home, or at least, it wasn't in its entirety. It was more accurate to say that it was modeled off of a specific part of Koishi's home. I thought back to the carvings. Was the point that this area was large enough to permit a danmaku duel? Did something happen here that was particularly important?

And then somehow, in defiance of euclidean topography, I'd returned to my starting point. Except now there was something new, just discarded on the floor. A lens? A green contact lens, made out of actual glass, not sand. Putting it on was out of the question - it was much too large to actually fit a human eye, the thing was the size of my palm. But if I held it up, I could peer through it, and things were different.

I gave the surroundings a closer look through the lens. It... well, it was all still sand, but the more I looked through the lens, the more flaws revealed themselves. Cracks in the tile, chips in the pillar. Small bits of sand that flaked off and blew away, like dust on the wind. Here there was a torch that was out, over there a couple lights on the chandelier were broken... was the hallway darker than it had been a few minutes ago? One of the mosaics caught my eye. A shrine maiden, angrily throwing out a spread of yin-yang bullets, but with no sign of a target. I blinked and the image changed, now a trio of fairies, flying away as they frantically scattered bullets behind them... I blinked again, saw a field of knives pointing downwards, and dropped the lens, as my hand went to my side.

It was just an image. Just coincidence. Sakuya wasn't here and it was theoretically impossible for her to be here in the first place. I took a few deep breaths, glaring at the lens on the floor. My mind returned to the puzzle of these mosaics, grasping at the distraction. Hadn't the general tone of the diagrams changed? It was still the humans and youkai of Gensokyo, still performing danmaku, but that sense of play from before was gone. They were sometimes furious, sometimes afraid, but always fighting. Always attacking or fleeing from that tattered rose- no, it was definitely different. Had the lens changed it, or was this simply revealing some deeper truth?

I felt something and spun around. There was absolutely something here, something lurking, waiting. I... there shouldn't be. It shouldn't be possible for there to be, even if someone changed the enchantment, they shouldn't be able to do anything now. And yet... I looked across the dark hallways, searching for any sign of someone. Still nothing. After a long moment, I picked up the lens, and held it up to look through it once more.

There was more depth to the scenes this time. It- I wasn't just getting the images from the mosaics now, but actual impressions. Anger. Jealousy. Guilt. Images of murder and cheating and betrayal and revenge, tied together with fear and hatred. The emotions varied, the specifics varied wildly, the negativity never did. It made it hard to focus on the actual details of the scene, but well- more attackers, not even always danmaku anymore. Sometimes spellcards, sometimes just weapons. The rose is all but torn to bits, when it can be found at all. I should have known it would all get worse.

On some level I realize I've been caught up in the magic's pace. I lower the lens, my hands shaking, and shut my eyes to think. Deep breaths, come on. I've been through worse, I just need to-

My phone rings. And suddenly there's a sharp pressure at my back.

"R-right beeehiiind yooouuuuu...."

My hands are still holding the damned lens.

{-} Break the lens.
{-} Run. Find a safe spot and stay there.
{-} Tear the illusion apart by my own magical strength.
{-} Something else. (Write-in)

((Choose carefully.))

{X} Turn around and try to talk to her, still holding the lens up.

My fight or flight instinct was in full effect. Every single nerve I had was screaming at me to break the lens and run, or at least to start blasting.

But it was too much to be natural. This enchantment was all about illusion, I'd known that going in. And what illusions do is sell you on an idea. A different version of reality, whatever the caster wants to seem true. And since the illusion itself had keyed my nerves into overdrive, that meant whether I fought or fled, either way, I'd still be playing along.

The thing is, this was Mary's enchantment, made by Greg and (as I was increasingly sure of), Koishi. There was no reason for the enchantment here to harm me, not really.

It didn't make ignoring those instincts any easier.

"So this is how you feel about mind-reading, Koishi," I murmured.

Everything froze, like pressing pause on a film, but the sense of tension only increased. Now that I was paying attention, I could feel the enchantment's attention on me, waiting for my answer, as it were.

Slowly, still very mindful of that knife, I turned around, and saw Koishi. Yet, it wasn't Koishi as I'd seen her in Gensokyo proper. This Koishi's eyes were less bright, her hair and skirt were both faded, closer to white than the green of the one I'd seen. In particular, I couldn't see her third eye; I could see the veins leading to it, but the eye itself was hidden inside her dress. The effect was very similar to Mary, but with a human's proportions, not those of a doll. Which raised an important question.

"Am I talking to Mary, or to Koishi?"

She stared at me, and while there was a certain intent in that gaze, there was also something missing. In fact, now that I was looking at her, she was passive, the knife being held listlessly pointed towards the floor, like a burden instead of a weapon. Just when I thought she wasn't going to respond, I heard a whisper. "Y-yes."

Was she being obtuse on purpose, or was she not sure? Regardless, it was better not to hesitate. "I believe this is yours."

Her gaze went instantly to the lens I was holding, and the knife she was holding started shaking. She took a step back.

I took a step forwards. "It is yours, you know."

The knife was pointed at the lens, still shaking. "D-don't want."

It's funny. For some reason, I hadn't considered that Koishi might not want to be fixed. And didn't that bode well for Satori's little quest? Superficially, the reason for it was obvious, but it wasn't enough. A few bad experiences didn't justify self-mutilation. I was missing something, Still, if I was to fix any of this, Koishi or Mary, I needed to understand.

"Why don't you want it?" I asked, raising the lens up, and looking through it at her.

And then the world shook.

Why - I wouldn't - Please stop - It hurts

Memories crashed into me, several at once, combining and overlapping into a blurry onslaught of pain. It was the audio-visual equivalent of trying to drink from a firehose, except the water was actually acid. I wasn't expecting it, and I nearly dropped the lens as I staggered back.

Not welcome - No chance - Alone

It wasn't the physical pain. It was there, Koishi had lost some fights, but she was a youkai and a strong one at that. It was the rejection, the isolation, the late nights spent crying to Satori, the cheerful optimism beaten down again and again until it was finally broken. She wasn't welcome, she knew that, but she couldn't accept it. Not when she could feel the fear and resentment every time she went outside. And wanting to figure out just what was wrong, Koishi did what came naturally to satori. She read their minds.

Cursed - No forgiveness

My pulse hammered in my ears as my skull felt like it wanted to shatter. All around me the illusion was fraying as sand peeled off the walls and floor, whipping through the air and blasting against my skin. And the memories continued. Secrets mixed and mashed together, lies, jealousy, cheating, grudges nursed for centuries... even her relationship with Satori suffered, as her sister tried to persuade her to give up, to stay underground and leave the youkai be. That she was tormenting herself needlessly, that they would never be welcome above ground.

No hope

Because they couldn't let it be. As long as one thought about it, the other was forced to hear and consider it. They fought over it, first with words, then with danmaku, with Satori trying to convince Koishi to stay home, to stay safe, and losing every time. Finally, after one particularly nasty fight, Koishi was convinced. There was no place for a mind-reader in Gensokyo's society.

And so she took a knife in one hand, and her third eye in the other.

"Stop!" I yelled, pulsing my magic outwards.

It was a pointless act, I realized. The knife fell regardless, because that tragedy had already happened. And then, to my shock, the memory froze the instant the knife touched the third eye, just as Koishi started to scream. It stopped, and then just faded out.

It took me a second to realize why the memory stopped there. It took slightly longer for me to void the contents of my stomach. But as sick as I felt, this did provide some measure of clarity, because I had a pretty good idea of what Koishi had done.

"Do you remember anything after that?"

Koishi hesitated, but I was still holding the lens. She didn't. Which meant this wasn't Koishi, not quite. It was a bundle of her memories, maybe even an imprint of her subconscious, focused on her hatred of her own ability. This image of Koishi was the raw data that Greg's illusions and the occult ball were taking cues from. That's what gave Mary the ability to actually do her Koishi illusion, and I was certain it was influencing her behavior in other ways. She seemed to be really good about acting according to my subconscious, for one.

Practically speaking, this had some fascinating implications. For instance, by reinforcing Koishi's decision and deepening those similarities, not only would the doll's illusion be better, there was every chance Mary would become borderline undetectable and perhaps even pick up some of Koishi's power. Alternatively, by tampering with those memories and cutting them down to just the mind-reading parts, it might be possible for Mary to develop some of Satori's power instead. And... well, I was fond of Mary, but she was only imitating sentience, and I was still in a desperate situation.

{-} I... need every advantage I can get. (Koishi variant)
{-} I... need every advantage I can get. (Satori variant)
{-} Practicality can go hang. This is a piece of Koishi, before she sealed her emotions. Satori would kill for this chance.
{-} Practicality can go hang. What's best for Mary?

{X} Practicality can go hang. This is a piece of Koishi, before she sealed her emotions. Satori would kill for this chance.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if our deal with Satori was still worth much. The more I thought about it, the more I suspected that making it back home would be easier than fixing Koishi in the first place, and that's assuming Satori herself made it out of the current mess in one piece. Not to mention, it was clear that Koishi didn't want to be fixed, and the whole mess at Alice's place proved that she'd be extremely difficult to pin down, even with substantial firepower. The practical thing to do would be to cut my losses.

And yet... I sighed. I don't particularly like Satori, and I'm not convinced she won't throw us to the wolves if someone else proves capable of fixing her sister. But if I gave up on Koishi here, the mind reader would instantly call me on it. Sure, I could face her and stick to my guns. Her disapproval doesn't really scare me, and her ability is not the invincible trump card she seems to think it is. But convincing Greg of my decision would be harder. If he saw someone suffering, he'd walk through fire to help. Especially when it was like this, like... back then.

This wasn't about Satori, not really. Seeing Koishi like this, it reminded me of when I'd first met Greg. Back when he'd been all but clinging to me, because he had nowhere else to turn. When his telepathy was misfiring, and he'd been despairing because he couldn't make it stop. This Koishi, in this moment? She had the same beaten down look, where you looked into the abyss, because it was less painful than looking anywhere else.

What was the damned point of magic if I couldn't change this?

"Koishi. I... look, people suck. Satori was right about that much, at least. It was true of my classmates and teachers back home, and it's equally true about the humans and youkai here. There just aren't many people worth knowing, not really. I was lucky to find one. You... weren't."

I started pacing, gesturing around to the various murals. "But all this? This was just stupid. You threw yourself into the metaphorical meat grinder over and over again. All you had to do was put on a disguise! Just take a group of humans you hadn't met before, put a coat over your third eye, maybe use a wig or contacts for good measure, and done! Sure, they might peg you as a youkai, but how would they know you're a mind reader if you don't tell them? And, sure, there's a lot to be said about being yourself, but you need some time to figure out who's worth trusting before you break out real secrets. If you'd just blended in for a while! That's the worst part of this, none of this was necessary!"

Koishi - the enchantment - wasn't reacting, at all, so I stepped forwards and grabbed her by the shoulders. "We can make this better. Your ability is not a curse, any more than my magic is. I... back with Greg, I figured out a spell that blocked his telepathy. It's not exactly the same thing as satori mind-reading, and it... I've got no idea whether that would even be a concern in the context of Mary, but I could figure out something similar."

Just words. Always just words.

What did I expect? Was I really expecting to cure despair bordering on suicide with a pep talk? Idiocy. Greg hadn't really hoped that he could bring his ability under control back then, not until I'd finally gotten the formula working and his rampant telepathy had been silenced. Even after that, it took months to undo the damage, to bring Greg out of his shell. And he'd been afflicted for what, a couple of weeks? Koishi's problem was years in the making, if not decades!

I stiffened, and consciously forced myself to relax, rolling my shoulders. Focus, Sumireko. I can't let myself get distracted by the difficulty here. But the problem is, Koishi does have a point. Doubtless Satori comforted her with empty words over and over again. She wouldn't have needed her ability to know they were wishful thinking at best, not after the first couple times, and the thing about false hope is that it teaches you not to hope. The obvious answer was that I had to give her something more than words to place hope in, real tangible evidence that things could get better. But this was an illusion. Even if it were possible, I could hardly run out and sway the natives of Gensokyo to Koishi's side from in here. And claims of doing so would hardly impress the memories of pain her mind-reading had brought.

So I made the only counter-argument I possibly could. You fight an idea with an idea. And you fight memories with better memories. I pressed the lens into Koishi's hands, turning it around so it pointed at me. She didn't resist, exactly, but her hands were trembling, and she shut her eyes when I lifted it up to eye level.

I tried to push out general... trustworthiness? Empathy? I wasn't really sure how to do that, but I was inside the enchantment, after all. There had to be a way to show it that I was trying to help. "Koishi, please. One chance. You're not the only mind reader who's hated their ability."

After a tense moment, she opened her eyes. And I remembered. Meeting Greg, back when he'd hit another student purely to get my attention. The nervousness of seeing a run-down boy on the edge of a breakdown take an interest in me, tempered by the excitement of finding someone else who actually knew about magic. The tension of his uncanny knowledge of what people were thinking, vaguely explained as a sixth sense. The hatred the rest of the class had for him, which almost explained his desperation to stay by my side. Doing some magical experiments to test the waters, with him instantly doing everything I'd asked of him, and several things I hadn't.

The moment where he actually broke down and told me he knew what I thought of him. That he knew what everyone thought of him, and that he couldn't live like this. When he'd begged me not to leave... even now, it was hard to think about.

I had the full force of Koishi's attention with that. Which is exactly where I wanted it, because things got better.

Dragging him off to play hooky for a couple of days, just to get him away from that classroom. Spending nights and weekends in desperate research, begging, buying, or "borrowing" anything that so much as looked occult. It had been several different breakthroughs that came together in the end. Realizing that blood, particularly magical blood was a power source. Discovering that runes worked as a magical language. Experimenting with them until I found a sequence that worked as a seal.

Greg broke down again when the telepathy seal finally worked. For a different reason, this time. I was about ready to collapse as well by that point - we'd had to seal his magic entirely to get it to stick - but it worked. It was a triumph. The first triumph of the Secret Sealing Club.

That made things better immediately, but it was obvious he was still bothered. He still felt... fragile, for lack of a better word. I kept pressing on him that the opinions of the mob were not important. That I didn't give a damn what they thought, that he shouldn't give a damn what they thought, and that their magical ignorance just proved their ignorance in general. I don't think he believed me, not really. But it seemed to encourage him, and I didn't know what else to say.

We left it at that for a while. I continued working on my magic, he helped as best as he could without his, and I pointed out that he could just leave it at that, for good. Keep his magic sealed, live a normal life, never have to worry about it again. But the point we'd connected on, the way in which he was most like me, is that magic was everything to us. He needed to seal it to not go insane, but he couldn't set it aside any more than he could stop breathing. Within a month, he'd asked to work towards managing his ability instead of keeping it sealed.

There was a lot to say about Greg's journey from that point, but I focused on the highlights. Figuring out how to restrict his telepathy without completely shutting it down. Bit by bit reconciling with the rest of the class, never quite becoming "one of them", but being able to coexist, at least. New magical research, everything from family trees and magical bloodlines to pyrokinesis. (The former was interesting in my case, but we couldn't find anything about Greg's family except what his dad remembered. The latter... was both highly successful and nearly disastrous for me.) And my friend gradually coming out of his shell, becoming willing to disagree, to tease back. And eventually, to stop hiding away from nearly everyone else.

The day we finally undid the seal on his magic completely, for good. Realizing shortly afterwards that his magic was completely under control, that the rampant telepathy had faded. Highlights of him using his magic afterwards; the tricks he'd picked up with illusions, using telepathy to coordinate magic against youkai, branching out more towards enchantment. There wasn't really an end point to it, but that was sort of the point. Life continued, and he'd reached a point with his magic that was better than leaving it sealed.

"Your mind reading is a part of you, Koishi, but it doesn't have to be a negative. We can work something out, figure out how to use it on your terms. Not Satori's, not Gensokyo's, yours."

Koishi looked down at the lens, then back at me. I wanted to say more, but there was nothing else I could say. And then she lowered the lens, and carefully set it to the side. The moment the lens touched the floor, there was a rush of power and I felt something leave me. I stumbled, light-headed, and Koishi caught me, holding me steady. She looked worried and uncertain, but she was looking at me, and that was an improvement. For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

"I don't know," she said. It was Koishi's voice, but a shade younger, a shade higher. "The world is cruel."

"They say it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness," I said, trying to gather my wits. "I always figured that if it came to that, I'd start a fire."

She tilted her head and looked at me, with something that wasn't quite a smile. "You need to go. Something's happening." She placed a hand on my forehead and pushed.

---

I woke up back in the crate. The first thing I noticed, to my extreme displeasure, was that if you vomit in the dream, you vomit in real life. At least I didn't get any of it on me or Mary. Or the Koishi fragment? No, I was going to keep calling her Mary, if only to avoid confusion. Or tipping my hand, for that matter.

The second thing I noticed was the voices outside. It was hard to hear them over the crashing noise of what I think was a waterfall, but I could still make them out.

"Nitori. What's in the box?"

"Oh, hello there, Momiji! I'm doing great, being kidnapped by Satori wasn't a bother at all!" The kappa's voice was sarcastic playing at cheerful, but I could hear the edge in it. "Thanks for asking! How has your day been?"

I froze. I wanted to at least look through the crack and see what was going on, but were tengu one of the youkai with enhanced senses? I couldn't remember. The first voice spoke again. "Nitori. What's in the box?"

"Seriously? It's merchandise. My merchandise," she said, stressing the word. "Why do you care?"

"I am sorry, but this is an internal tengu matter. The mountain's been placed on high alert."

"Momiji, please." A new voice said. "Sorry Nitori, but you're, uh, kinda busted on this one."

"Hatate?" Nitori's voice was tinged with disbelief. "It must be big if you're venturing outside."

"You're not wrong," the new voice replied. "Things are proving screwier than usual. It's not often Marisa gets seriously injured from an incident. Or that I get a chance to scoop Aya. Between the two of them, like, how could I resist?"

Just once, I'd like something to go as planned. Just once.

{-} Come out guns blazing.
{-} Teleport out, make a run for the Moriya Shrine.
{-} Write-in?

{x} Pretend to be Koishi pretending to be a cat.

I had a poker phase, once. Sure, I wasn't nearly old enough to be legally allowed to gamble, but the idea of taking people's money just by being smarter than them? It appealed. A few weeks studying the game and saving my allowance, and a suitably anonymous online site, and I was ready to begin. Given the amount I was working with, and the variance of the game, I opted for one of those micro-stakes games.

Within a week, the money was gone, and I concluded that poker was a stupid game for stupid people. It wasn't a huge amount in retrospect, but it sure felt that way at the time. That said, I learned a couple of important lessons from it. One of which being the age-old classic of "gambling bad", but the more important one?

When your bluff is being called, you have two options. You can fold and give it up as a bad bet, or you can double down. You commit to the idea you're selling as hard as you possibly can. And sometimes that just means throwing away even more money, but other times, the chance of them blinking first was worth what little you had left.

It was obvious that the tengu knew something was up. They might know it was me specifically - Hatate seemed like she thought she knew something - but even if they didn't, little miss stubborn security guard was damn sure checking this crate.

But here's the thing. I didn't need them to believe there was nobody here. I just needed them to believe that Sumireko wasn't here. Which meant I needed them to give them something else to believe. Not just an explanation, but an experience, something that would take them by storm and swindle their emotions before they had any idea what was going on.

If only there was a youkai that was well-known for coming out of nowhere, causing chaos, and being too powerful to casually mess with. And if only I had a means to that summon an illusion of that youkai that behaved as I wished. Along with having just gained a certain amount of insight into her personality so I could imitate her effectively. Former hell, I could probably imitate her better than Satori at this point, if only because I can't imagine Satori acting happy.

Really, the only difficulty was binding Mary's Koishi illusion to my movements instead of the doll's, but I knew Greg's enchantments well, and I'd literally just been inside this one. I swapped the reference points, triggered the illusion, and twisted my wrist, seeing Koishi's hand and that green flowing sleeve shift accordingly. Perfect tracking, and the image covers me completely. This could actually work.

Now I just needed to start the show before Nitori could say anything incriminating. This was Koishi, so just about anything could work, and I went with the first thing that popped into my head.

"Meow."

Not even imitating the way a cat would purr, I literally just said the word meow. There was a moment of dead silence outside of the crate, so I did the only rational thing.

"Meow!" I said again. Louder this time.

That stirred some movement outside, and within moments someone tore the top of the crate off, and promptly got hit by a vomit-crusted dress at high speed.

As the tengu in question recoiled in surprised horror, I flew out of the crate, landing in front of my audience and giving them the only performance I could.

"Hiss. Spit. Meow."

I took a certain amount of joy in the absolutely dumfounded looks on their faces. Especially Nitori's.

"Koishi?! How-", she sputtered.

"No! You're ruining it!" I shook the kappa for emphasis. "Cats are sneaky! Being in a box is sneaky! Cats in boxes are doubly sneaky and thus can't be found, ever!"

"You're not even a cat!"

"Orin's a cat."

"That doesn't even," Nitori put a hand to her head. "Just, why?"

"Orin says cats are superior in every way and they get to do whatever they want! So I figured it would be fun."

"That's not how logic works!"

"Silly kappa. Gensokyo's a land of fantasy, not logic!" Stopping just short of literally saying her argument was invalid, I patted Nitori on the head and turned my back on her.

This gave me a moment to actually look at the two tengu. They were something of an odd couple, what with one being able to pass for a schoolgirl, and the other looking like some oriental-Canadian security guard. (I really have no idea why else her shield would have a red maple leaf design. Eh.) The combination of the flip phone for the one and the wolf ears on the other only added to how surreal the whole scene felt. Speaking of which, they were arguing in whispers, stealing glances at me while schoolgirl tengu was furiously tapping away at her phone. All things considered, whatever their train of thought was, I had better interrupt it as soon as possible.

Fortunately, I knew exactly how Koishi would disrupt a schoolgirl with a phone. One small auditory illusion later, and schoolgirl's phone started ringing.

She startled, looking at it in disbelief. "How?"

Guard-tengu looked at it a bit more skeptically. "Are you sure it's working correctly?"

"No, this is what a phone does, but... there shouldn't be anyone else to even call it."

"Actually, that model just takes pictures," Nitori chimed in. "To get the danmaku integration working properly, we had to cannibalize the communications tech. Not enough parts."

"It's obvious who must be behind this," guard tengu pointed out, turning her gaze and sword towards me. Except, I wasn't there any more.

While they'd been having their little technological existential crisis, I'd figured out how to further improve the Koishi act. Koishi was hard to keep track of. She was there as long as you were focusing on her, but the moment you were distracted, she was incredibly easy to lose sight of.

My veils aren't great, but "hard to see" is a much lower benchmark than "invisible", and flickering in and out of vision better fits Koishi anyway.

This got a moment of disbelief out of guard tengu, who looked around until she spotted me a good fifteen feet away off to the side. On my back with all fours up in the air, because damn it I was pulling out all the stops to sell this.

Behind what? That's obviously a cat.

Much like with the veils, this was a case of less being more. I can't make a clear telepathic connection without someone like Greg holding open the other end. If it's just a random person, all I can really do is send vague impressions, but again, that's a better match for imitating Koishi.

And while the tengu were taking a moment to decide whether they were really seeing this, I made the phone ring again.

You should answer that. It's probably important.

Guard tengu hesitated, but took the bait. "We should at least find out what's going on with your phone."

"I swear I've seen this before," schoolgirl tengu muttered, lifting the phone to her ear. "Um... hello?"

And in that moment of distraction, I strengthened the veil, teleported back to the crate, and teleported Mary into place.

"I'm right behind you!" Mary said.

The schoolgirl tengu screamed, leaping away, while guard tengu swore and started chasing my doll, swinging that sword. I couldn't let that happen, but I also didn't want to completely escalate things, so I grabbed a uniform or three (clean ones this time), teleported into the general vicinity, and flung them at the youkai.

Normally this wouldn't do much, but a certain magician's telekinesis caused the skirts to wrap around the guard tengu's face and sword arm, completely fouling her swing and giving Mary time to hide behind me. The guard ripped the uniforms away, turning in my general direction, only to meet my pointed finger. (Index, not middle.)

"No! Bad tengu! Mary's just playing!"

The guard tengu hesitated, torn between anger and practicality, but it was the other tengu that spoke up. "Momiji, it's fine! I wasn't expecting it, but I have seen that trick before. Koishi's urban legend."

That must make the schoolgirl tengu Hatate then. I flew down to her, Mary in tow, and presented the doll like my prized possession. "Yep! Miss Mary's amazing! And whenever you make a call, she gets to say hi!"

"You're sure that's Koishi's urban legend?" Momiji asked the other tengu.

"Positive. Saw her spring it on Sumireko, actually." Hatate chuckled. "It scared the living daylights out of her. If you thought I reacted, well..."

My smile might have been a little less genuine, but I kept my tone light. "You did! The other phone girl screamed too, but yours was louder."

Hatate stammered something, but Momiji interrupted, all business. "You've interacted with Sumireko?"

This was not the subject I wanted to be on, but answering seemed less suspicious than dodging it. "Yep! Three- no, four times. Miss Mary's legend needs a phone, and nobody here has one."

Hatate bit her lip, snapping her fingers repeatedly. "Wait, wait wait. Mary. Wasn't that doll-"

"That's the other reason! Alice made a mini-me! I lost a bet, and I wanted it back!" I started petting Mary. "Who's the best doll?"

Hatate didn't seem to have a response to that, so I carried on. "That and Sumi gave her phone to... oh! Hey Nitori! Take out your phone!"

The kappa recoiled. "No! Not happening."

Come on! Take out your phone!

Just as I'd hoped, Momiji decided to ignore my shenanigans. "If this is Koishi, where is Sumireko? You said she was with Nitori."

"Earlier today she was! Hina introduced the two, and they made a plan to visit the Moriya Shrine!"

I froze, turning the veil up to maximum. How on earth did she know that?

"Hatate!" Nitori exploded. "Were you spying on me?"

"You know how my thoughtography works, Nitori. Sorry, but like, Sumireko is news. Really big news."

"Yes, I know! You don't just know what's happening everywhere, you have to look first! Which means you were keeping an eye on me!"

"Yes! You'd been kidnapped once already and you were visiting a misfortune god!"

"You know full well Hina isn't dangerous!"

"If you ladies are finished," Momiji interrupted, "perhaps it was a trick? Considering how Sumireko has misled the incident resolvers for two days, perhaps it was all faked. She clearly has an unusual ability of some sort."

Hatate bit her lip, pacing. "No, that doesn't make sense. She had injuries consistent with the report from Eientei, and the phone she bribed her with looked like actual outside-world tech. Nobody from Gensokyo should have anything like that."

"Just how long were you spying?" Nitori demanded.

"Off and on, honestly," Hatate admitted. "It would have been all the time, but there's been a lot to keep track of."

"I'd have preferred we track her specifically," Momiji swore. "Where did you last see her?"

"Outside the kappa's hideout downriver. She talked to Aya for a bit, disappeared, came back, talked some more and vanished again."

Hm. I really wanted to know more about what they knew and what they planned to do, but it would be out of character for Koishi to care.

{-} Let it go. I've gotten away with the Koishi act, no need to risk anything.
{-} Ask a few casual questions. Koishi's capable of idle curiosity.
{-} Probe more deeply. Something seems weird here.

{X} Let it go. I've gotten away with the Koishi act, no need to risk anything.

It was tempting to push a little further, and some of the details Hatate had mentioned didn't seem quite right, but I'd pushed my luck enough. At this point my main concern was letting Nitori know what I was up to. Hilarious as fooling her was, it was better if she didn't think I'd suddenly vanished. I just had to let her know without tipping off these tengu.

Speaking of which, how on earth did "thoughtography" work, anyway? The name would imply... thought photographs? That would be a problem, but if she could do the Satori thing from a distance, wouldn't that make her even more notorious? No, it can't be that easy for her, because if she could just read my thoughts, my bluff would never have gotten the chance to get off the ground.

Still, it was best to be cautious. So while the tengu continued talking, I snuck away, giving Nitori the most subtle tip-off I could.

You should carry out your business at the Moriya Shrine.

You should carry out your business at the Moriya Shrine.

You should carry out your business at the Moriya Shrine.

It wasn't that subtle. Sure, I had to put a lot of focus on keeping my veil as high intensity as possible, but as soon as I had some trees in the way I was able to blast Nitori with the impressions while making for the shrine myself. Honestly, if the kappa didn't get the message, she had a mind like a brick wall - and while I'd call her a lot of things, stupid wasn't one of them.

I kept the Koishi illusion on as I flew off with Mary. The veil... well, I did what I could. A few glimpses of "Koishi" here and there were an acceptable price to pay for not exhausting myself. Not that I saw anyone at the moment, but you never know. Speaking of which, now was a perfect time to actually consult the map I'd taken pains to get!

Hm... so, given the waterfall the confrontation with the tengu happened at, I must be here... and the Moriya Shrine was right by the Youkai Mountain Lake, which was upriver from that. That said, following the river itself would just take me right past the tengu village, and I saw no reason to push my luck any further there. Thankfully, this was actually a pretty detailed map, and Youkai Mountain was the most completely mapped section of it, so I could use the smaller landmarks. Which meant if I cut through the trees here and veered left when I reached the clearing with the dead oaks, I could both shave a few miles off the trip and completely avoid any further tengu.

Unless Aya was roaming about or something, but my luck couldn't be that bad. Nope, I was certain there would be no more unfortunate incidents on the way to the shrine! None whatsoever.

Seriously though, between the illusion, the veil, and the alternate route, that was three levels of precaution against being found. There really wasn't anything else I could try. Even the weather was kind of helping out on that point - the sun had ducked behind the clouds, and the day had gone from bright and sunny to somewhat gloomy.

It fit my mood, honestly. There was a chill in the air, and once my satisfaction at my own cleverness had worn off, the reality of the task ahead set in. The part that was still ahead, I mean, not the part where I was navigating unfamiliar woods with a map while maintaining two different magical spells, trying to stay alert for any more tengu, and literally climbing a mountain. The reality of that drudgery had already set in, and I was sick of it.

Still, the hard work in the present was less of a problem than the uncertain future. Between Koishi's memories and some guidebook style entries on Piper's map, I did have a better-than-expected grasp of the Moriya Shrine's dynamics. It's just... well, they were protective of Sanae, and mercenary about pretty much everything else. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing - given my circumstances, it was far better than them being shining beacons of law and order - but it did mean negotiating with them would really be a question of what I could offer them. As well as what the rest of Gensokyo might give them for capturing or killing me. Which, I had to recognize, was something they could realistically attempt. Two gods and a shrine maiden is a considerable amount of power.

I was really getting sick of this. This would be the third... fourth time? Maybe fifth? Point is, there'd been a lot of times where I'd had to negotiate with someone to not shoot at me. And while it had admittedly worked out more often than not, there's a limit to how many promises and deals I can reasonably uphold.

It doesn't matter. I need the extra firepower. There just wasn't anything else to do but grit my teeth and forge onwards.

It was another hour before I made it within view of the shrine, mercifully without incident. Thanks to my cut through the woods, I'd ended up coming around on the shrine via the lake, rather than the front entrance. Stone pillars punctuated the ground around the lake, which was whipping around and making waves, courtesy of the wind. I glanced up towards the darkening clouds, then back down to the shrine on the far shore.

I really wanted to just get this over with, and the storm that was coming only encouraged that decision. But... Nitori hadn't shown up yet. The question was really whether it was her who would come or the tengu. I hoped it was Nitori, and having someone else on my side (to some extent) could be worth the effort... but I wasn't sure.

{-} Wait.
{-} Go in.

{x} Wait, but put a scrying enchantment on Mary and go see if you can figure out what's up.

It was better to wait. As uncomfortable as the promise of the coming storm was, waiting for Nitori was only half the reasoning - Sakuya had already proven how painful and possibly deadly it could be to go in blind. And if what Alice pulled off was any indication, I had the best little surveilance tool possible!

Mary snuggled into my side a bit at that, and I gave her a head pat. The actual best.

Regardless, the first thing to do was to scope out the front entrance. Which wasn't too much to write home about, actually. There was a wall and gate, but more ceremonial than anything that served security purposes. (Even if you ignored the part where basically everyone here could fly.) Just an arch, one of those ceremonial giant ropes that went across the top, and then stone columns (onbashira, I think?) marking the path towards the actual shrine.

I took a moment to look around - nobody here, at least - and ducked under one of the trees on the approach just as the rain started.

Would Nitori mind that, come to think of it? Probably not. Even with the various tech and fabric she had, anything a kappa made for personal use could probably survive being at the bottom of a river. Though... did she realize my phone was definitely not waterproof? Not my problem, I suppose. (Also a bit late if she hadn't, she'd already gone swimming!)

I shook my head. Not important at this time. I needed to figure out how Alice pulled off her observation at a distance. Considering that seemingly all her dolls could do it, it was probably already worked into Mary in some way, I just needed to figure out which runes activated that particular trick. Preferably without needing to dive all the way into the magic this time. I called Mary to me, and started looking over the runes.

Wait, this looked surprisingly simple. Was that really it?

It was pretty similar to telepathy, but it looks like Alice was bootstrapping off of the magical connection she had to the doll as its creator. Mine was a little different, but there was some sort of bond there, and if I just tried to touch where the doll's mind would be-

I got a sudden sense of vertigo as I saw Mary's perspective in addition to my own, things overlapping in honestly nauseating ways. That was the right track, at least, but there had to be a better way of assimilating that information. Shutting my eyes made it so it was just Mary's viewpoint, letting me see myself from the outside.

Hm. I really looked like I'd been put through the wringer. Though it didn't help that with my eyes shut and my face screwed up in concentration like that, I mostly looked constipated. I saw myself chuckle slightly at that thought and, okay, this is weird. Flying around did work normally though, and looking through Mary's eyes as she did acrobatics was honestly pretty cool. Danmaku also worked normally, though for obvious reasons I didn't try anything too flashy.

After a bit more testing, I had her fly back down and cut the connection. It would at least be usable for remote surveilance, but until I figured out a better way to manage doubled senses, I ran the risk of someone sneaking up on me while I was looking through Mary's eyes. Alice must have some other trick or method I was missing; there was no way she blinded herself every time she managed a doll. I glanced behind me just in case, noted the woman with a parasol, and returned my attention to the doll.

And then my brain hit the emergency brake as I whirled around to do a double take.

She was lounging against a literal tear in space, fanning herself with... well, one of those hand fans, and the parasol had been folded up and was now hanging off the same gap in space. She also hadn't been there a couple seconds ago.

"Tea?" she asked.

I blinked, staring at both her and the blatant violation of Euclidean space. "That would pose some interesting logistical difficulties."

"Fewer than you might think." She gestured, and a gap opened up in the ground, with an entire table and tea set rising up from it, complete with two chairs.

I paused. That was... significantly better than I could pull off with conjuration. She was even already seated, as one of the chairs had literally come up under her. And just to add to the surrealism, the rain that was falling was not getting the youkai (for surely she could be nothing else), the table, or anything on it wet. "That- look, I don't know what game you're playing, but I've got so many-"

"Young lady." she interrupted me, her voice hard. Seeing she had my attention, she snapped the fan shut and pointed it at me. "If someone in Gensokyo invites you to tea, take the invitation."

If it was that important, then... "It can't just be about tea," I realized. "It's a social ritual. What's this really represent?"

The youkai set the fan aside as she poured herself a cup. "Oh, there's much to be said about tea, particularly with milk and honey... but you're correct enough."

I hesitated, and she laid the fan down, taking a long sip. When I didn't move, she smiled. "Tea in Gensokyo is something of a post-incident tradition, to show that when all is said and done, there are no hard feelings, and no lingering grudges. At least, none that can't be solved by a quick danmaku duel." Something in her eyes flashed and she smiled unpleasantly. "So thrice I ask you and done, please sit."

That triggered something in my memory... a book, maybe? But regardless, testing her patience didn't seem wise. I sat down. (Conveniently, this also stopped the rain from falling on me. Somehow.) "The asking three times... is that important?"

She levitated the tea kettle with a gesture, and it poured me a cup. "Not at all! But it got you to sit, didn't it?"

"I don't have time for games."

"No, Sumireko, no you don't. Neither does Greg, for that matter."

My hands hit the table with enough force to rattle the china, and Yukari let out a small frown as some of the tea spilled from my cup. "Enough! Who are you? What are you playing at?"

"Well, as they say, fair is fair." Yukari took another sip with evident enjoyment. "I am Yukari Yakumo, but you might be more familiar with the name Q. Nira."

Even with everything that had gone on, I remembered THAT name. "You tried to get Alice to capture us!"

"And instead she's working with you," she said, smile fully intact. "Really, now, do you think Alice is the type to take orders from an anonymous note?"

That just raised memories of another incident. "And at Eientei, it was your shikigami who interfered-"

Yukari's teacup hit the plate with a clatter, and I shivered as a chill swept through the area. "Ran acted against orders." she said, all amiability gone. "I ordered her not to interfere or even interact with you. Rest assured, she'll feel the consequences of her actions."

Come to think of it, I never did actually see Ran directly, did I? What Yukari was saying might even be true. But still... "If you were actually trying to help us, there were far better ways of doing it."

"Oh, absolutely! Just as Alice told you, I'm one of the few ways across Gensokyo's border. In point of fact, she understated it. If I wanted, I could send you and Greg back across the border, back home...", she put emphasis on the last word, drawing it out. "with a snap of my fingers."

She snapped her fingers, a hole opened up in space, and I jumped from my seat. I could see Greg. He was holding Satori, and Satori was crying and covered in blood, and that damned maid was there, and-

The portal snapped shut and I glared at Yukari, my fists clenched. "You're right, you're not here to help me. What's your game?"

"The obvious reason would be that I'm here to manipulate you."

"If that's the case, why shouldn't I just open up festivities now? That seems to be Gensokyo's way, and you've given me plenty of incentive."

"You would lose. Badly." She waved a hand, and a pattern of bullets formed behind her, spreading about until it surrounded us in a dome. A large, intricate, and above all, absurdly dense pattern of bullets.

I gulped, remembering what else Alice had said about Yukari: that she was arguably the single most powerful youkai in Gensokyo. But then she waved her hand and the danmaku disappeared, saying, "But more to the point, just because I'm manipulating you to my advantage, doesn't mean you can't also benefit."

I took a moment to calm my breathing before looking her in the eyes. "Why would you tell me you're manipulating me?"

"Maybe it's a trick and I'm lying." She let out a soft laugh at my unimpressed glare. "Any of your friends would say as much the moment you mentioned this conversation. As would Nitori."

I bit my lip, trying not to be amused by that. Yukari continued. "At any rate, I have information you desperately need."

Against my better judgement, I sat back down. "I would say how to cross Gensokyo's border qualifies."

She took another sip of tea. "Indeed, but that's not what I'm offering. Have you not wondered why the reaction to your incident has been so harsh?"

I tamped down my anger. As irritating as it was to have her toy with me, that was actually important. "Marisa said the occult balls were damaging the barrier. I assume that counts as an existential threat, enough to get a larger response."

She gestured for me to go on. "But?"

"But that doesn't make any sense. I've run the calculations, the Occult Balls do have bleed-off, but almost none of that happens during the transfer between words. A tiny, miniscule amount, but it's a good four or five orders of magnitude below what you'd need to threaten the barrier!"

She gave me an approving nod. "Correct! It's a conclusion a knowledgeable expert could not reach. Still, it's a useful fabrication, isn't it?"

"She was lying?!" Wait. Yukari seemed entirely too smug about this. "Or was she lied to?"

"Don't be too hard on them now, they're used to believing their incident resolution is important." I clenched my fists. She... she! "But that's only half the reason."

"Let me guess. Someone's lied about me too."

"Close! I suppose you could call it a bad first impression."

"That doesn't track." I snapped. "For Kasen or Marisa, fine, I know I'm abrasive. But Sakuya? The tengu? There's a lot more youkai after me than just the ones I've met. Or has 'Q. Nira' been passing around more notes?"

"Oh, how suspicious of you." Yukari folded her hands, leaning forwards. "But no. It's not word of mouth that's causing your problems... or gossip rags posing as newspapers, for that matter. What does that leave?"

Something told me my answer to this was important, so I went ahead and took my first sip of tea, thinking furiously. Yukari seemed to delight in word games, and everything she said made me suspect that her words had been chosen extremely carefully through the whole conversation. If I took out word of mouth and newspapers, that ruled out casual communication, but not manipulation or orders. But everything I'd seen of Gensokyo's power structure implied that it was fragmented. There might be a loose alliance to get rid of me, but there were too many egos in play for anyone to just flat out give orders to all of Gensokyo's youkai. It was plausible that someone or a group of people had influence in each of those power blocks, enough so to persuade them independently to come after me, but that still came back to widespread manipulation. Or in simpler terms...

"Conspiracy. You're saying - no, implying that there's a conspiracy out to get me."

"Not to get you," she chided. "While there are individuals who are furious with you, the ones manipulating things care little for some urban student in limbo."

"Then why-" I trailed off, because it hit me. "Oh. Of course. The same thing every major player I've encountered has cared about since the moment I got here. The urban legend incident."

"So many things come back to power in the end. When you strip away the particulars, nearly every incident can be thought of as a display of some youkai's power... and of the shrine maiden's skill in resolving it. And most incidents are of only passing interest to those not directly involved. But yours is unique, for it is an opportunity for power. It offers a path for others to see their ambitions realized."

Yukari's gaze was penetrating, as she turned her head to look at Mary. "You've done something interesting there, Sumireko. Of great interest to two very different youkai, with very different goals. Do you think they will agree on what is to be done with her?"

I tensed as Mary hid behind me. "That's not their decision to make."

"Do you think they will see it that way? But we stray from the point." Yukari tapped the table, looking directly at me. "Satori's quest to fix her sister, Alice's goal of a living doll - these are deep desires, fiercely held. There are other youkai fighting for similar stakes."

"And just what stakes are you fighting for?" She paused, putting a hand to her face in mock shock, and I glared at her. "Oh, come off it. You've interfered several times, between the notes, this meeting, and whatever bundle of orders you've given your shikigami. And you've already admitted you're not doing this to help me. Out with it."

"With tact like that you'd get on famously with Reimu," Yukari said dryly. "But I suppose a hint would be fair. You see, there's a very specific urban legend I'd like to see manifest."

"And let me guess," I growled, "you'll help out me and Greg if I get it for you."

Yukari laughed. "Nothing of the sort. I know exactly how an urban legend develops, and the one I want is well underway."

"Then why-"

"Haven't you wondered? Why so many of the existing urban legends are nearly meaningless, and yet the ones being sought are so important?"

I hesitated. "Because the first set was acquired before anyone realized what was going on and it was too late to change?"

"That's true as far as it goes. What else?"

"Magical bleed-off," I realized. "The source of the urban legends is the ambient magic the occult balls give off, and I tied that to combat and the spellcard system. Which means the more they're used, the more magic there is, and-"

"And the urban legends themselves get stronger. That is the meaning behind your struggle, Sumireko. The suffering of you and your friend is unrelated to anything you've actually done, or to any semblance of justice. The escalation of the incident is the real purpose you're serving."

It made sense. It made terrible, vicious, infuriating sense. "That's why you were so upset at Ran interfering. That's why you're helping, but not in any way that matters. Because you can't get the urban legend you want, not yet. You want my survival, not my success."

She smiled. "You may, of course, try to thwart me by getting yourself killed. I'm sure that would turn out well for Greg."

"If Greg dies because of your games", I spat the word, "you will regret it. You and the rest of Gensokyo, if I have to burn to do it."

She met my gaze still holding that damnnable smile. "You think he is a good man. You are wrong on a fundamental level, and I look forwards to seeing your face once you realize it."

I threw the teacup at her, and it disappeared into a gap. Snarling, I reached for the table, lifting it in my telekinesis and preparing to throw that, until Yukari snapped her fingers and it just slipped from my grip. Not like it was being pushed or too heavy, it just in some indefinable sense wasn't there to my magic.

And for that matter, neither was Yukari.

"I will not play with you at this time," her voice came from behind me and I whirled around with a fireball.

That went into a gap too. "As you've deduced, the urban legend I'm interested in is not ready yet, and until then, my involvement will remain minimal."

"Then I'll expose you! Greg and I have made allies with a few youkai already. I came here to gather more. Do you really think I'm going to keep your conspiracy secret?"

"And when did I say it was my conspiracy?"

"Just now!"

She laughed again, which did absolutely nothing for my temper. "Oh, Sumireko. I won't be held responsible for your mistakes. Don't you remember how you ended up in Gensokyo in the first place?"

Like I'd forget that! "A youkai's trap. Why, did you lay one?"

"Which youkai?"

That brought me up short. It was a simple question, but... I couldn't answer. I didn't know. Sure, I'd been through a lot the past couple of days, but that didn't matter because I'd never forget something that simple and important, and yet I had. I hadn't even realized I'd forgotten. Someone messed with my head, and I hadn't noticed. Wouldn't have noticed, if Yukari hadn't decided to taunt me about it.

"Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it," she said.

"If you could do that, then why..." No, that wasn't the important part! "How?! What else have you done?"

"What makes you so certain I did it?" She gave me yet another coy smile and paused. "Though I will warn you, it's the wrong question in any case. You need to be asking what you've been doing."

And before I could ask her what on earth she meant by that, she stepped into it and was gone. I let out a shriek of pure frustration.

What was I supposed to do with any of that?! She couldn't have sounded more suspicious if she tried! Either Yukari was behind everything, and she was literally just toying with me for her own amusement, or there's some shadowy cabal sabotaging me that has the ability to mess with my memories! Oh, and also the urban legend incident's a ticking time bomb, because everything's going to become more and more powerful, and Yukari's going to shamelessly take advantage of that, and probably this conspiracy if it exists. And let me rub in the part where your friend is captured, SHOW YOU THAT, and refuse to do anything about it! Oh, and by the way, you've been doing something important you don't know about, no I won't explain, bye!

"Is someone out here? I heard shouting." The voice came from the shrine.

Great. Because I was absolutely in perfect shape to make a first impression right now.

Shielding my eyes against the storm, I could tell the approaching figure was roughly child-sized, and I was able to make out a wide-brimmed hat adorned with eyeballs. Suwako, then. I waited for her to get closer, if only so I wouldn't have to shout over the wind.

She came into view and stopped dead, and I sighed, flying to close the gap myself. "Yeah, sorry about that. Unexpected youkai encounter, and it's been a rough day. I-"

"You!"

[Divine Tool - Moriya's Iron Ring]

Oh. That's what Yukari was hinting at. This was going to be rough.

{-} Make a run for the Moriya Shrine. Kanako's supposed to be the one in charge, maybe she'll hear me out.
{-} Try to get info out of Suwako, talk her down.
{-} One problem at a time! Win the fight first, ask questions later!
{?} Write-in?

{x} Parley! Say we're with Nitori and waiting to meet with Kanako.
{x} Damn it, Yukari!

"Wait, if you could just-"

Suwako started shooting. Cocentric rings of danmaku shot towards me, half of them aimed at me directly, and half bouncing off the ground and trees. That was a mess waiting to happen, so I took flight, launching myself over the midget's head and dropping to the ground on the other side.

"Stop shooting! I'm here to-" I leapt to the side "-to talk!"

She didn't condescend to answer, but I had to duck before another ring took my head off, and I swore. Fine then! Two could play this game.

[Weather Sign - Water Cycle]
Two clouds floated out above me, streaming down blue bullets that washed away the rings headed towards me. Those clouds then spiraled around the battlefield, vaguely in Suwako's direction. After falling to the ground, the bullets congealed into pools of danmaku, eventually rising up and forming new clouds. And if the bullets and clouds just so happened to blend in with the actual storm going on, that wasn't my problem!

Come to think of it, had she even heard me with the storm going on? It was getting intense, and I wasn't sure if being some kind of frog goddess gave her enhanced hearing. That's the problem with perspective, it keeps ruining my bursts of righteous anger.

Her spellcard seemed to force her to stay stationary, which just didn't work against mine. Since my bullets were sourced from the clouds, I was free to dodge around, and with the clouds washing away most of the spellcard's rings, it was inevitable that hers broke first.

The moment that that happened, she started dodging through mine flawlessly. She seemed to prefer staying mostly grounded, dodging through the gaps with leaps and the occasional bit of true flight when she had to go past the areas the danmaku was pooling. Unfortunate, but... well, there wasn't a real trick to this one. If you stayed just barely ahead of the clouds and didn't let them corner you, it wasn't that difficult. While she was doing that, she was shooting a stream of... I'm not sure what to call them. Basic danmaku? It looked like she was just pulling pebbles out of the ground and throwing at me, earthbender style. Her aim was pretty good, and even with the storm and my dodging, it felt like being pelted with marbles. It stung, but not much more than that.

Regardless, I waited until she dodged closer, and took the opportunity to dismiss the spellcard and fly in close.

"Enough! I'm here to talk!", I yelled.

This time she heard me, if the snarl on her face was any indication. "Like you were last time?!"

"Last time? I've never met you before!"

"Of course not." There was steel in her voice as she drew herself up, and despite her childlike stature, there was the weight of thousands of years, looking at me. "If I had been here, you would not have escaped."

[Scourge God "Mishaguchi-sama"]
The goddess raised an arm, and four white snakes sprang up from the earth, boxing me in. Each was the size of a schoolbus, as they curved to loom over me, but they stopped halfway out of the ground, their red eyes glowing in the murk, waiting. Glaring.

I... suddenly felt much less secure about my odds here. I swallowed, turning to Mary. "Get Nitori! Tell her to-"

Suwako dashed forwards, literally kicking up the earth as she ran. Those clods of earth hardened into stones, hurtling after her and towards me. I conjured an entire car for a shield, wincing as the stones smashed into it, and flying back a few paces when Suwako uppercut the thing hard enough to disrupt my telekinesis!

Fortunately, if there was one thing I knew, it was TK, so I made a fist and yanked it back down. She brandished an iron ring of some sort, paused, and swung.

The two halves of the car crashed down on either side of her.

There was a moment where I stared at her in disbelief, and realized Mary was doing the same. "Mary! Go!"

Suwako snapped her fingers, looking past me. "Get the doll."

One of the snakes sprang at Mary, and I yanked her back towards me just in time. I glared at Suwako, snapped my fingers, and Mary vanished, having been teleported a few hundred feet down the trail. Not that I was going to clue her in on that. "Look, I don't know what Yukari set up here-"

"Yukari?" Suwako's voice was soft, but no less hostile for it as she walked forwards. "And what does she have to do with this?"

I hesitated. I wasn't actually sure, and it wasn't like I had proof anyway! "I don't know what she did! But I've never been here!"

"Lies," Suwako hissed, darting forwards. I realized too late I'd let her close the distance, and had to frantically pull up a barrier. Two swings ricocheted off with tooth-rattling force, and as she whirled around and brought both rings overhead, I jumped back right before she buried an overhead swing into the ground where I'd been standing. That sent a shockwave through the earth, which erupted under my feet and sent me sailing through the air until a bush broke my fall.

I pushed myself up, rattled, and then the head of one of those snakes leered overhead, its gaping maw opening with a red glow as it tried to eat me! I screamed and conjured a traffic light, spearing the snake-demon thing through the roof of its mouth, and then chucked a fireball down the hatch for good measure.

That at least did something as the snake's head exploded, the corpse falling to the ground and crumbling to dust. I caught movement out of my peripheral vision, and teleported straight up right before the other three dogpiled the spot I'd just been.

I looked down at the crater where I'd just been, breathing heavily. That... the car could have been showing off. Any of that could have killed me. Would have, if I'd been even a moment slower. Suwako flew up to match my altitude, and I veered back, glaring at her.

"Teleportation," she spat. "That explains a few things."

I hovered backwards, trying to get some distance. "Are you trying to kill me?! That wasn't danmaku!"

"Danmaku?" Suwako scoffed, matching my speed. "You expected danmaku?!"

"That's how Gensokyo works, isn't it?!"

"I am a war goddess," she said, fury building in every word. "I ruled a kingdom, back when criminals were executed. Did you really expect me to play by spellcard rules after you stabbed Sanae?!"

{-} To be continued.

((I'll admit, it's really gratifying to have readers react this quickly to a no-choice update when I'm taking so long to actually update. I know I don't respond in thread much, but it's always great to know people are enjoying the story. Anyway, on to the update!))

{-} Survive.

Two things were immediately apparent.

The first. I was being impersonated by someone committing literal crimes in my name. Possibly - no, probably in more places than just here. And it had been done effectively enough that nothing I said was going to convince Suwako otherwise.

That was bad. Dealing with someone convinced of their own righteousness was a pain in the neck. The mercenary, the robber baron, the petty bureaucrat - they can be bribed, intimidated, or at least potentially worked around. The zealot? They are fully willing to die on their chosen hill.

Which brought me to the second thing. This "war goddess" was ready to execute me in cold blood for crimes "I" had committed. And while that was technically a more understandable reason than most of the fights I'd been dragged into, there was no reason for me to stick around in this zip code, let alone this fight!

The problem was, a long-range teleport wasn't something I could do at a moment's notice. I needed at least a little breathing room to gather power for it, and that meant I'd either need her to start monologuing, or hit her hard enough to knock her on her ass for a minute.

With the way she rushed at me, I don't think the first one was happening. Suwako flung one of the iron rings ahead of her, and I dodged to the side before it could decapitate me, before conjuring a street sign to swing at her. She met it with her second ring, shearing off the top of it with her first swing and then batting away the rest of it as I threw the pieces at her.

I scowled. "Not sturdy enough? Fine." I summoned a few chunks of asphalt behind me, chucking those at her with telekinesis. She ducked the first one, deflected the second one upwards with that ring, and caught the third with her free hand, laughing.

"Rocks? You're throwing rocks at me?!", Suwako scoffed. Then she punched her arm into the asphalt and a giant pavement fist came flying out the other side.

Despite the situation, I gaped for just an instant. How did she- oh, right, earth goddess! That was completely unfair!

Well, repurposed or not, the pavement was still something I'd conjured up, so I caught the stone fist with my telekinesis. A few more jabs from Suwako met the same fate, and a quick push on my end sent them right back at her.

She took her two rings (when did she get the second one back?), and tilting her blades sideways, spun around and swatted them with the flat end. By all rights that shouldn't have done much, but the rock fists shattered on impact and came right back at me in a wide spray of shrapnel. Sucking in a breath, I conjured a car as a shield and crouched behind it as the rocks smashed into the other side like a demented hailstorm.

I let out a shriek as a couple managed to thread the needle through the windows and right over my head, broken glass falling around me. With a pulse of telekinesis I froze the shards, being careful not to slice myself on the jagged edges - and then Suwako was there.

{Spring Sign - Moriya Clear Water}

She exhaled, and a torrent of water smashed into my face. Falling out of the sky and coughing up water, I just barely had the presence of mind to throw up a psychic barrier before I hit the ground. The barrier was flexible enough that I expected to bounce or at least slide, but the water propelled me down hard enough that I smashed into it, mud flaring out in all directions as Suwako's little waterfall kept me pinned down. And then to the sides, the remaining three Mishaguchi burrowed out of the ground, one of them right next to me. It reared back its head.

My eyes widened, but I didn't have the chance to teleport.

The fact that my barrier was both spherical and flexible saved my life. The snake's head smashed into it with enough force to push the entire barrier a few feet through the mud before sliding off. This did not stop Suwako from adjusting her aim, or the snake from rearing back for additional hits.

The snake crashed into the shield again. Twice, three times, and I groaned as I went down to one knee, my arms shaking with the force of holding the barrier intact. But I couldn't keep this up forever and the other two snakes were slithering towards me with murderous intent. At this rate they'd crack the barrier like an egg.

Snarling, I made a fist and pulled. The telephone pole I'd conjured above Suwako fell, knocking the midget into her own waterfall and disrupting her spellcard (if that's what that was). I hardened the barrier before she reached it, and she slammed into the top with a satisfying crack. She bounced off the top of the shield, but I grabbed her telekinetically before she could go anywhere. The snakes hesitated, and I knew I had my chance.

Gathering as much power as I could, I flung Suwako into one of the snakes, connecting literally head on as she smashed against the monstrosity's head. But that was just a love-tap by these standards. So I conjured up a car and pile-drived it through snake and frog goddess both! Judging by the crater in the landscape, that would leave a mark.

I actually did go to my knees after that, gasping for breath. Too much magic, too little time. One of the remaining snakes reared back, focusing on me- No! I just needed a little more!

I got a quick teleport out just before it came down, going twenty feet straight up. The other one reared back, leaping out of the ground, and a second teleport sent me another hundred or so feet into the air.

I don't care how acrobatic the giant stone snake was, it had to do business with physics at some point!

I panted, wiping my face and winced as the hand came away bloody. A more careful probe revealed a cut along my cheek, when had that happened? At least I had a minute. I took a couple of deep breaths, gathering energy. One more cast. I needed a landmark, and I didn't want to try my luck going too far, so I pictured the waterfall in my mind's eye - hopefully the tengu had left by now. And even if they hadn't, it'd be less deadly than this!

Below me, I could see Suwako flying up out of the crater, looking incensed, but she was too late. With one last push, I teleported.

Teleportation is an almost indescribably weird feeling. It's like this slippery, shivering, pins and needles sensation that's over in an instant, but takes much longer to forget. It's unpleasant, but the utility is impossible to ignore.

This one felt like a car crash, if the car was actually an egg on wheels and the wall was a stovetop. I lurched forwards, hit something that burned intensely, from the inside out, and recoiled, ending up flat on my ass as my skin literally steamed, the rain pouring down on me and evaporating on contact. I blinked owlishly, clutching my head as I looked almost incoherently at the sight in front of me.

There was a translucent, shimmering wall in front of me, stretching as far up as I could see. Looking to the side, it stretched out a long way in that direction too, curving in and out to surround the lake, as the other end curved back around the shrine. As I watched, the barrier seemingly faded, but I knew better than that. My heart in my throat, I grabbed a glob of mud and flung it forwards. Right where the barrier had been, it splatted against the now-invisible wall, hanging there for an instant before falling back to the ground. I knew what had happened even as I wished it was anything else.

It was magical feedback from my (mostly) blocked teleport. With this thing cutting my teleport short, the energy had nowhere else to go but back into me... and I was still at the damned shrine!

I crawled forwards, putting my hand to the barrier. It didn't hurt, at least, so if I could just find a way around, or through, I'd be fine! There had to be something! I opened up my mind to the magical barrier and almost recoiled from sheer disappointment.

There wasn't. Craftsmanship-wise, that barrier's design was rock solid, enough so that I'd be impressed any other time. And power-wise, from this distance I could feel the energy radiating from it. If I had a good night's sleep and half a dozen occult balls at hand, I could probably crack it. But in my current state, that was a sick joke.

I rammed a traffic light into it anyway, accomplishing absolutely nothing as the metal bent backwards and snapped.

"What's the matter? Found out you can't run?"

Suwako descended from the sky. The stupid hat had lost one of its googly eyes, the clothes looked like she'd done a backstroke through a mud puddle, and her nose was definitely broken, but as she folded her arms she looked more pissed off than hurt.

That- that had been my best punch. It hadn't done nothing, but if she could take it that easily... I swore. "There is no way anyone made this in an afternoon! This was a trap!"

She smirked, showing teeth in a vicious grin. "Actually, that's the barrier that got us to Gensokyo. Sanae spent months perfecting it. We haven't needed it since, but kept it around just in case... and I triggered it the moment you broke away." She laughed. "It's fitting that her efforts are what's finally trapped you."

As if to punctuate those words, the last two stone snakes emerged from the ground on either side of me. I took a couple steps backwards, only to bump into the barrier and be forced to stop.

Trapped. Outnumbered, outgunned, low on magic, and trapped.

{-} To be continued.

{-} Fight.

It wasn't the first time I'd stared my death in the face. The problem with trying to find youkai is that sometimes, they find you. It had happened a few times before we'd found Gensokyo, and most of them had thought Greg and I were a meal until we proved otherwise. For that matter, whatever the truth of Gensokyo's danmaku policy, I'd had some narrow misses there as well. But not like this. Never like this.

The rain was pouring. With the adrenaline rush fading and exhaustion creeping in, my assortment of bruises and cuts started making themselves known, vying for attention with the smothering sense of cold. I could feel myself trembling, and clutched at one arm with the other to try and force it to stop.

Suwako advanced on me slowly, the unstoppable march of judge, jury, and executioner.

"I don't suppose this is all part of some elaborate ruse to scare me straight." My voice sounded weak and pleading, even to my own ears.

Suwako didn't respond, continuing to walk forwards.

"Really... not even a quip? You're acting like some sort of dark lord."

"Then consider it pointless to resist."

... did she actually catch that reference? It doesn't matter. I swallowed, trying not to tremble. "Would you accept a surrender?"

Suwako didn't respond, continuing to walk forwards.

"You have to listen, it wasn't me! I've never even met Sanae, I swear! It wasn't me!"

Suwako didn't respond, continuing to walk forwards.

Deep breaths, Sumireko! Panicking won't help! I tightened my grip on my own arm, my nails drawing blood from the death grip.

So there I was. Penned in on every side by giant snakes, a frog goddess, and a magical barrier, soaked to the skin, trembling from what was either terror or the early onset of hypothermia. It was Eientei all over again. Except instead of a maid with infinite knives and magical books it was a frog-themed godchild and her demon snakes! I laughed hysterically. Of all the ways to go out! I don't know what I'd expected for my death, but this wasn't it.

I don't know how long that took. Twenty seconds? Thirty? Regardless, when I regained my senses, I realized Suwako had paused her march.

"Are those your last words?" she spat.

I fell to one knee, closing my eyes. It... I was outmatched. Trapped on my opponent's home turf, from someone who could shrug off orders of magnitude more punishment than I would live through. Above all I was tired. It would be easier to give up. To let her finish me, or to do the deed myself before she could enact whatever vengeance she wanted. And yet...

Hina had said my future didn't feel like death. It was possible she was wrong, but what if she was right? It was one thing to lay down and die when there was nothing else you can do. Sometimes you really are just beaten. And maybe I was. But it wasn't just my life on the line here. Greg was still out there, and whatever she was, whatever she might be, Mary was my responsibility.

My eyes snapped open. "Not just yet."

The snakes lunged. I teleported. I popped back into existence twenty feet behind Suwako and took flight, thinking furiously. Sakuya had gotten me in a checkmate situation. Nothing in my arsenal truly countered her, and her ability gave her unlimited time to dissect everything I (and everyone else there) had tried. Even thinking back, I don't see what I could have done differently. Suwako was a brute. Stronger, faster, and tougher than me, and probably better at danmaku to boot - but she made mistakes. I had surprised her with the telephone pole. I could outwit her.

The first problem. I really was low on magic! I'd been throwing around a lot of power, and that blocked teleport had hurt. Getting a minute to... well, it wasn't exactly rest, but standing still for a minute had helped some. Still, I needed more time before I could generate any serious power. Which was a problem, considering this was the middle of a life or death fight.

Fortunately, Gensokyo had a combat system that literally subsidized energy. So as Suwako caught up, I paused and threw a spellcard at her.

[Labyrinth Sign - Ghosts in a Maze]
Blue walls of bullets formed all around us both, cutting me off from the murderous goddess. The resulting corridors were interspersed with small yellow dots, with four larger orbs (red, pink, cyan, and orange, of course) that covered the full width of the corridor and roamed around in various ways.

For the record, there were no larger yellow dots in the corners, so it wasn't a perfect reproduction.

As Suwako raced through the maze, searching for a way to get at me, I let out a sigh and slumped a little. The spellcard itself wasn't dangerous. Sure, there was the chance that Suwako would be careless and get cornered by the "ghosts", but that was never the point. I needed a low-energy method of stalling her, and a survival spellcard like this was the way to go. In point of fact, the ease of surviving it was actually a feature, because I could make it last longer. I couldn't really run away while maintaining it, but I was safe enough while it lasted, and that gave me time to think.

Which was good, because the second problem was those iron rings Suwako favored. I don't know if they were enchanted or counted as a divine weapon or what, but they made steel beams look like plastic straws. Combine that with her literally being an earth goddess and being able to steal control of probably any rock-like substance I might use (maybe something manmade like concrete or brick could work, but given what she pulled off with asphalt, I wasn't hopeful), blocking her was nearly impossible. That left me with either a purely magical barrier or conjuring something new for each blow, both of which were energy expenditures I simply could not afford. Also, with the strength she was putting behind those, if I ever missed a block, I'd be buried in pieces.

With that cheery thought I looked down, and realized Suwako had stopped flying all through the maze. Which was a mistake on her end, looking for a way to get at me was pointless, but she did need to keep moving to avoid the ghosts. Too late now, as two of them closed in from either side. But as I looked, a literal, not-making-this-up, giant blue frog aura formed around the goddess.

[Frog Sign - Great Leap]
Suwako rocketed through straight up, with the giant frog acting as a battering ram, clearing out the bullets that made up my walls. I had to quickly fly to the side to avoid the shockwaves that came from either side, which spread the effect and broke up my maze even more. Not that it mattered now, Suwako had cleared the top edge and was now aways above me. With a giant glowing ball of energy held up in her hands.

[Native God - Froggy Braves The Elements]
Suwako shook the energy she was holding, and it rained down in waves of two different types of blue bullets, one falling near constantly, the other coming in intermittent waves. I don't know if she was taking a cue from my earlier card or not, but the damn things blended into the storm pretty well, and it didn't help that I had to look up to see what was coming.

With my spellcard being completely pointless now, I dismissed it and prepared to dodge. I'd been worried about it at first, but the waves were only close together when Suwako first released them. The further down they traveled, the more space appeared, and down near the ground the dodging wasn't difficult at all. As such, I elected not to use a spellcard of my own to break it, instead shooting away to chip it down.

Why was Suwako giving me such an easy card? Even with having to stare into the storm, this counted as a breather for me, and she'd spent a bomb to set it up. The only thing she'd accomplished was forcing me back down towards the ground.

My eyes widened and I threw up a barrier right before one of those stone snakes burrowed out of the ground and lunged at me. Its gaping red maw halted a foot in front of my face, stalled by my telekinesis. Pushing a hand forwards, I was able to get a grip on it, and I waited, hand outstretched, for the other shoe to drop. My intuition was correct, and the last snake came out of the ground immediately afterwards, trying to pincer me. But an ambush is no good when the target knows it's coming, and I darted beneath the first snake before wrenching it down into the lunge of its twin. I followed that up with a sledgehammer of psychic power, literally smashing the snake's head between a rock and a hard place. Three down, one to go.

Wait, the spellcard from above had stopped, that couldn't be good-

{Party Start - 2 Bows, 2 Claps, 1 Bow}
There was no warning. Giant stone hands smashed together in a clap that caught my barrier in the middle and cracked it like an egg. It slowed them just barely enough that when they slammed into me it left bruises instead of broken bones. I gasped, too winded to actually scream, and then the hands closed around me, interlocking their fingers as they started to squeeze.

If only I'd had an occult ball with me! At Greg's insistence I had a few emergency functions I'd tied into them, and while they were very much emergency functions, (destabilizing one or summoning the rest would be a beacon for all of Gensokyo), that would be better than this!

I couldn't teleport out. You need enough room to actually move to teleport, or you risk leaving behind... pieces. So I telekinetically pushed with as much strength as I could, but while it pushed the palms apart enough to breathe, it didn't dislodge the hands. I was still trapped, and Suwako was stronger than me. Bit by bit they closed in, the pressure increasing as the stone coffin closed in, pinning my legs, my arms, my head, chest crushed too flat to breathe-

[Emergency - Ground Zero]
Red and yellow bullets shot around me in a firestorm, shredding through the hands like a machine gun through drywall. I fell to my knees, taking in gasps of air. My dress and skin were both torn up in multiple places, and I hurt all over, but if Suwako had been just a little faster, a little stronger, then... I would have died. I clenched my fists and glared upwards. She was hovering in place, arms folded, staring down at me, lips quirked upwards in a cruel smile.

I couldn't fight her on the ground. It should have been obvious, but seeing firsthand what the earth goddess could hit me with down here - staying grounded an instant longer would be suicide. The moment my literal and figurative bomb started fading, I launched myself upwards in flight, the last snake passing just below me as it made a dive for me.

I ignored the close call, thinking furiously. The first thing I needed was a better battlefield. Just getting off the ground wouldn't solve the issue; Suwako was keeping position above me, and I'd bet money the earth goddess had other cards decided to force me downwards. In theory that could be solved by gaining enough height, but flying into the heart of the storm had problems of its own.

Regardless, the damned barrier meant I was stuck in the vicinity of the shrine. Suwako might be less inclined to throw massive amounts of power around if I went towards the shrine itself, but I wasn't ready to bet on that, and if Kanako joined the battle I might as well slit my own throat and save them the trouble. That left the lake. Suwako had already shown a water-themed card, so it wasn't a great solution, but it would be an improvement.

Come to think of it, what was going on with this storm? It was too intense, too well timed to be purely natural, and Suwako was an earth goddess. Was this why Kanako hadn't shown up? I bit my lip. My gut was telling me that was important, but how? Even if the storm was godly, could I take advantage of that? Maybe if...

For just an instant, I had an impression of Mary, literally grabbing the attention of Nitori and a tengu. I laughed, bitterly. More trouble in store, but it was a little late for that! They probably couldn't get through the barrier anyway.

Regardless, Suwako wasn't going to just let me fly off to the lake. I needed a distraction, and a good one.

[Astronomy Sign - Solar System]
I had to make a slight adjustment to the card - balls of light for the stars instead of fireballs on account of the rain - but otherwise it was the same one I'd used against Nitori. I was worried about the rocks I was using as planets, but even if Suwako messed with them, they weren't that big, and the spellcard was still a doozy.

Flying slowly towards the lake, I shot the lasers at Suwako. She was better at dodging than Nitori had been, but she didn't figure out the blind spot between "earth" and "moon", and curving lasers were blatantly unfair. She came very close to getting clipped a couple of times, had to fall back towards the edges of the card, and that meant I was opening up some distance on her.

Should I have used the spellcard at close range instead? It might have gotten me a solid hit or two. I shook my head. She probably would have just bombed it, and I don't win in an up-close slugfest.

Regardless, now that I had a good hundred feet or so on her, I stopped the card and flew helter-skelter for the lake. Suwako yelled something drowned out by the storm, following in hot pursuit. I grit my teeth, wished I had my flight cape, and pushed. The wind and rain beating against me was unpleasant, but I managed to hold on long enough to make it over water before Suwako caught up.

"Really?" she called out, still with that fierce grin. "You think this will help? Kanako and I, we're lake gods."

I spun around in midair, facing her. "Together, maybe." I spat between breaths. "But this battleground of air and water? That's Kanako, not you."

She laughed, a cruel sound that echoed through the air. "That won't save you. Look at you, you're barely holding yourself together."

I didn't contradict her. Between the cuts, scrapes, and me gasping for breath, there wasn't a point. She grinned. "Blowing your best spellcard for a small reprieve. Idiocy."

"That wasn't my best." It was, but I didn't think I could out-danmaku her anyway.

"As if." She floated forwards, spinning her rings. "How did you survive this long?"

I was not letting her close the distance for free again, so I flew backwards. "If I'm such a fool, how exactly did I get the better of Sanae?"

Her eyes flashed. "Sanae gives people the benefit of the doubt. Taking advantage of that is neither strength nor wisdom."

Translation: Fake-me must have acted friendly and sucker-punched her. Credit where credit was due, whoever was impersonating me did a really good job of screwing me over.

I had a really biting retort ready about stranger-danger, but Suwako acted first, flying up and starting another spellcard.

[Native God - Seven Stones and Seven Trees]
A literal rainbow of vertical lasers shot down on all sides. This wasn't threatening by itself, but it left me with almost no horizontal space to maneuever, and was paired with a spiral of multicolored bullets. To even have a chance at dodging, I'd be forced downwards, almost to the lake surface.

No! Not this time.

[Electromagnetic Sign - Polarizing Field]
I shot out a grid of alternating red and blue orbs, before gearing up with a gatling gun of negatively charged bullets. Staying in the safe space between lasers, I sprayed my electric bullets up towards the "stones" she was flinging at me, deflecting them aside with superior numbers as I shot the bullets up towards the sky. The orbs I'd seeded the air with curved the bullets via electric attraction and repulsion, but while that made the bullets less predictable, there was still only the single stream of them, and Suwako flew through them easily, the electricity disappearing into the sky.

With neither of us managing to inflict damage, the cards ran out at the same time, and Suwako charged me, swinging those iron rings of hers. I conjured and swung my weapon of choice as I dodged back. As I'd expected, Suwako's weapon cut great slashes through mine, which is why I'd conjured a bedsheet. The sheet got soaked nearly instantly from the storm, and Suwako's own momentum caused her to plow through it as it wrapped around her. Suwako tried to just fling it off and let gravity take the rest, but my telekinesis could easily keep it wrapped around her.

Of course, it's not like a little wet fabric was going to meaningfully restrict a goddess. As soon as she realized what I was doing, she grabbed it from the inside and pulled to rip it open. Which is why I immediately conjured a fishing net and threw that over her as well. This was followed with more summoned layers of nets and fabric, until the pint-sized killer was completely entangled in a ball of netting and sheets.

What good was strength when you didn't have any leverage to use it?

The moment Suwako paused her struggles, I flew up to the bundle, summoning something I'd prepared before coming to Gensokyo.

{Gun Sign - 3D Printer Gun}
Most of the time, trying to shoot youkai was a waste of time. Sure, they couldn't dodge a bullet, but their reactions were faster than yours, and I was hardly a marksman. Plus, it would escalate the situation, and guns are extremely loud, and I'd at least been trying to be sneaky. But in this case, here and now? Fish in a barrel. Live by the sword, die by the handgun. Which is a long-winded way of saying I took aim at the bundle of sheets and started firing.

If you've never fired a pistol, one thing you don't do is pull the trigger non-stop. Firing a chunk of metal at supersonic speeds carries a certain kick to it, and you don't ensure your aim is centered before each shot, the recoil will send you wildly off-target. (Also, wear ear protection. My gun had a literal magic spell on it purely for muffling the noise, and it still felt like my ears were bleeding.)

I got four shots off before Suwako retaliated.

[Frog Hunting - Snake Eats the Croaking Frog]
A dense spiral of bullets came out from the bundle, tearing into the sheets as I flew back a few feet. The bullets spiraled around, curving around behind me as I waited for the rest of the spellcard.

I was not expecting the bullets to explode.

{-} To be concluded.

{-} To the bitter end.

The exploding danmaku hit me like a brick to the face, sending me reeling as I was literally knocked out of the sky. Disoriented, I fell within a few feet of the lake's surface before I could reorient and catch myself. Looking up, I realized that Suwako's spellcard had shredded the fabric I'd trapped her in, and the war goddess was rushing me with murder in her eyes.

I took a defensive pose, throwing up both hands as I projected a barrier, and Suwako yelled as she came down with those iron rings of hers. The speed of her flight combined with the force of her swing was well beyond anything I could reasonably block, which is why I teleported sideways and let her crash into the lake. Goddess or not, hitting water at damn near terminal velocity should leave a mark.

With Suwako having vanished beneath the waves, I conjured another fishing net. It was a better counter to her attacks than anything else I'd tried. Within moments she exploded back out from the lake's surface, and I tossed the net overtop of her. She yelled, hurling one of her rings into it with enough force at it didn't cut, but rather carried the net with it, sending the whole mess flying overhead. And then she was on me.

Quickly I conjured a car, and her remaining ring punched into it with enough force to go through the car roof, but her other hand made a grab for my throat. Her aim wasn't perfect, getting more of my shoulder than my throat, but that was still more than enough to be deadly.

"Let there be light!" I screamed, my entire body lighting up like a floodlight. Suwako yelped, reflexively covering her eyes as she recoiled. It wasn't without cost, her grip tightened, crushing my shoulder and maybe my windpipe in the instant her thumb dragged across my throat. Coughing and hacking, I resorted to another spellcard, something that would let me open up a little distance.

[Momentum Sign - Static Shock]

A rug of bullets unfolded out just above the water's surface, and I bolted. Suwako followed, of course, but as I ran, the bullets under me vibrated, launching little lightning bolts upwards and forcing her to dodge. Her movements also caused the bottom layer of bullets to vibrate, and the more we moved, the more sparks were sent up.

What followed was a circular chase over the lake's surface. I couldn't just double back or she'd annihilate me, but at the same time I wanted to stick to the same spot as much as possible. Staying in the same general area meant more static, more bullet density, and more of a chance to actually get a hit and re-establish my footing.

In the end I just couldn't cut the corners quickly enough. Suwako stayed on my tail the entire time, the electrical bullets missed her and went sailing skyward, so I cut the spellcard a little early and conjured a net.

Suwako wasn't expecting it, and - distracted by the remnants of the spellcard - flew right into it. This time she reacted quickly, reaching under it with a hand and chucking it off, but in the time that took her, I had another one ready. This one was cut to pieces, but I was that little bit faster, and landed a third net just as she finished. The tempo advantage was mine. So long as we were playing this game of catch and release, I'd entangle her just a bit faster than she could cut herself free, and once snared... well, enough bullets would probably do something.

There was a splash beneath my feet and the last of her stone snakes leaped out. I wasn't expecting it, and with my focus on conjuring nets, I couldn't teleport or get a barrier up in time.

It got me around the waist, pinning my arms to my sides with my legs literally down its throat! I screamed, trying to push the jaw back open, but the pressure only increased, driving the breath out of me as the snake dragged me beneath the waves.

My lungs burned as I tried not to breathe as the snake pushed me through the water. I couldn't focus or see well enough to think of a spellcard, and trying to teleport out of the snake's mouth could tear me in half.

But then again, drowning would absolutely kill me. My lungs were burning. I had thirty seconds, if that.

Maybe... maybe if I teleported the entire snake with me? I wasn't sure if I could, and I wouldn't have any strength left afterwards, but what else was there? I gathered up my power and prepared to try it.

And then the snake broke the surface again, and all else forgotten, I was gasping for air... well, as much as I could with my chest half-crushed. Even now I could barely breathe!

The snake hit the shore, bending its head over and leaving me suspended upside-down. A moment later, Suwako landed in front of me. By now she did at least look much worse for wear. I could see her bleeding from her shoulder and stomach, her clothes were wrecked, she was down to a single ring-weapon, and the stupid hat was gone entirely. But it wasn't enough. The goddess brushed herself off, rolled her neck with a series of cracks, and grabbing my chin, wrenching my neck so I'd face her directly.

I spat at her and released my last spellcard.

[Electromagnetic Sign - Opposites Attract]
With Suwako already touching me, I could transfer the initial electric charge immediately, causing her to glow red as she jumped back instinctively. My shotgun blasts of bullets came out through the snake's head, causing it to crumple and fall to the ground as Suwako took flight, but she made a fist and more rock surged up to replace it.

I wrenched my arms around as best I could to aim vaguely upwards and kept shooting. The negatively charged blue bullets chipped away at the rock surrounding me and still forced Suwako to dodge, but without a second point of attack the pattern was too simple, and Suwako literally flew rings around it as the bullets disappeared into the storm.

The card started taking a toll on me, but I kept firing. Thirty seconds. A minute. The time stretched out, each instant lasting an eternity and still passing all too quickly. More rock and mud kept piling around me, and despite the spellcard's efforts, I was hopelessly buried.

Suwako still wasn't getting hit. Every last bit of electricity flew right past her, up into the storm.

Ninety seconds. Ninety five. I didn't have much left, but I pushed, trying to get just a little more...

I lost the card and she landed.

{Moriya's Steel Armory}
Steel unfolded behind Suwako like a deadly flower. Swords, spears, bows, chains, maces... even a few shuriken for good measure. If it was pointy and made of metal, it was there, and all of it was pointed at me.

Her eyes bored into mine as she spoke. "I'll admit it. That was better than I expected from you. But it ends here."

I gave her a soft laugh, shaking my head. "You asked how I survived this long. Do you want the real answer?"

Her eyes narrowed, and I went on. "It wasn't strength. It wasn't speed, or agility, or skill at danmaku, or any of those things. Even with magic, I'm only human in the end. It was by outwitting youkai. By using a combination of preparation and quick thinking to stack the odds in my favor, utilizing every magical trick and scientific reaction there is."

The fact of the matter is, there's only so much magic the human body can channel at once. I'm used to casting strong spells and weathering the strain, but for something truly devestating, I need something else to store and channel the magic. Enchanted items can be good for that, but in the absence of those, you're left with finding a way to store magic in the environment. Such as using electrical spellcards to supercharge a god's thunderstorm.

I didn't give her warning. I didn't waste time gloating, or implying that she was doomed. The only reason I'd spoken at all was because I'd needed some time to concentrate. A few moments to reach out, to the electricity I'd sent up into the clouds, to the electricity that was in a very real way, mine...

And I struck a god with lightning.

The flash was blinding, and the shockwave knocked me and my rocky prison clear over. Suwako might have screamed, but if she did, it was drowned out by the thunder.

But I knew my strike had landed, because the rocks surrounding me came loose, and a simple telekinetic shove was enough to free me. Pushing myself back to my feet, I turned to the crater the lightning bolt had left. Down in that crater, I could see the goddess doing the same.

None of that. I hit her with lightning again. The storm's fury was mine, and I was going to use it. Marching forwards, heedless of the lightning, of whether she could hear me or not, I screamed at her.

"You could have ended it! You had several chances! You could have just let me surrender, then killed me! You could have had your snake drown me, or crush me, or even just stabbed me while it had me pinned!"

Every step, every sentence, was another bolt, another strike. "But no! It wasn't enough for me to die, you just had to see me suffer! You needed to see the fear in my eyes, the dawning recognition that there was nothing I could do! You gave me time to set up! To think! To waste three spellcards charging the sky! Because you were so sure of your overwhelming power and inevitable victory!"

I was out of breath, and the storm's lightning was fading, but I kept going, my voice now a hiss. "What kind of war god toys with an enemy? What kind of earth god fights in air and water? You had every advantage. The battlefield, greater strength and experience, allies at hand, even the element of surprise. And you threw it all away, because you just had to demonstrate your superiority!"

Bruised, battered, soaked to the bone and exhausted, I reached out to the storm one last time. Past the lower layer of clouds whose charge I'd exhausted, up to the upper level, the positive charge that had built up naturally, that I hadn't yet touched. With one last effort, I reached out to what was left of the storm, grabbing hold as much of it as I could.

Suwako stirred, down in the crater. As I gathered the charge she slowly, agonizingly pushed herself up, looking at me, raising the iron ring that was glowing bright red from the sheer heat-

I brought the last of the lightning down.

The goddess collapsed. The storm broke. And the barrier broke with it.

For a moment I stared down at her, expecting her to get back up, or declare a spellcard, or another snake, or something!

Seconds passed, my hands trembling, and still nothing happened.

Nothing was going to happen, I realized. I won. I won!

I placed a hand on my chest, took a deep breath and I giggled. In fits and starts, gasping for air between bursts of laughter, but still, I laughed, because I was alive.

Someone started clapping behind me and I froze. I swear, if that was Yukari...

I turned, and blinked, non-plussed. She looked like a black-haired girl with small horns. She was also floating upside down (with her skirt stubbornly ignoring gravity).

"I gotta say, I'm impressed! It's been too long since anyone really took it to the arrogant gods around here."

In another time, another place, I might have said something more eloquent. "What now?" I groaned.

She flipped herself back over, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, don't worry! Did you think you were the first person Gensokyo railroaded? Seija Kijin, amanojaku. Gensokyo's former number one most wanted, and as of right now, your number one fan."

End of Part 2B.

---

---

Well, that took a while. Glad to finally get this done! Sorry to remove the CYOA part for the final conflict here, but I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted the fight to play out, and I prefer not to offer choices that are ultimately meaningless. Hopefully this turned out as compelling to read as it was in my head.

Regardless, that doesn't mean there's no choice to make! Your choice for this update is twofold: Whether to have an interlude before jumping into the next arc, and which viewpoint to follow for said arc.

Incident Resolver/Rest of Gensokyo Interlude?
[-] Yes
[-] No.
[?] Write-in Interlude Concept? ((I reserve the right to veto characters, whether for spoiler reasons or because I can't come up with anything interesting. For instance, you're not getting a Yukari interlude. But if there's a viewpoint you particularly want to see, I can take a crack at it.))

Next Main Perspective?
[-] Greg.
[-] Sumireko.
[-] Alice. (We kind of left her behind at Eientei, didn't we? This would be part 2c if selected, so it would happen during the same timeframe as the just-seen SDM and Youkai Mountain adventures.)

I actually have no idea when I'll get to work on the next update. I'd originally intended to take a break after finishing this part, but getting through this whole fight scene has left me more interested in the story than I've been in months. So... strike while the iron is hot, I suppose! I will wait a few days for votes on the route choices, but aside from that, writing will continue whenever I'm able to set aside time.

Thanks again for reading, and hopefully I'll be able to do justice to the remainder of the story.