Redo/Reimu/Arc 2/Again/Akyuu/Thread 2
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/05 (Fri) 14:29
No. 206302
▼
THE STORY SO FAR:
The world has ended, but five (well, four and a half) humans get a chance to do it over, and make things right. Only problem is, for their second go around, they're not going to be 'human'...
With Reimu's very, very long first day brought to an end at last, our attention heads to the next of the five ex-humans. The one burdened with the most important task of all; bringing memories back to all the others. Akyuu's second (...tenth?) life has been hard work with little progress. Born as a pedigree Lunar Rabbit, the capital's residents have proven skeptical and apathetic of her warnings of the dire future. With no other options, Akyuu resolves to leave the Lunar Capital behind, hoping she'll find more sympathetic ears down on earth.
Her trip down was successful, yet incredibly harrowing due to the efforts of one Kishin Sagume, and landed her right in front of Reisen Udongein Inaba, her sister in this lifetime. Unfortunately, not only did the chronicler take a heavy beating in the process, but an innocent bystander's cart was turned into splinters.. Now, Akyuu has ended up in the care of Eientei, whose doctor and princess were half of those who sent her on this journey to begin with. Her next task is to earn their trust, so she can bring the Lunarian exiles’ resources to bear…
Previous Threads:
Redo/Reimu >>205449 >>205720
Again/Akyuu >>206017
Epilogues and Shorts >>/shorts/2804
Or read the story archive on Ao3:
https://archiveofourown.org/series/4062991
[21] Full, complete honesty, no matter what she asks. Better to be seen as delusionally sincere than deceptive and sane, and maybe her crystal-clear recollection could help reinforce her knowledge.
[1] Talk about the incoming future, but hold off on details for now. She might be able to tightrope-walk the gap between sincerity and insanity.
[0] Just claim to be a deserter rabbit with eidetic memory.
-[X] Thank your saviors. Politeness works wonders.
+Firstly, allow me to say thank you.+ Akyuu relayed. +You saved my life, and I am eternally grateful.+ She took a deep breath. +...I swear that what I am about to say is the truth.+
Eirin nodded. “So there’s something important, then.”
Akyuu screwed her eyes shut, fearing that seeing their expressions would cause her to lose her nerve. +I came to earth… specifically to try to get to Gensokyo. There is an apocalypse coming in a matter of years, one that will destroy
everything here. Humans, Youkai, and everyone else.+ She took a deep breath. +The only ones who might truly survive it are Lady Eirin, Lady Kaguya Houraisan, and Fujiwara no Mokou.+ She could hear hesitancy in Reisen’s voice as she relayed the message.
Yagokoro hissed through her teeth. “...That is quite a claim. Using some names no lunar rabbit should know. …I assume you have something concrete to back it up?”
+Indirectly, yes. A few days from now, a vampire’s mansion should appear by Misty Lake. That will be followed by the Scarlet Mist Incident, where that vampire will spread a mist all over Gensokyo so she can play wherever she wants to go.+ Akyuu had to take a little peek. Reisen was looking at her worriedly, while Eirin was deep in thought.
“...So. You believe that you’re doing this to save people.” Akyuu managed a nod. “And how did you get this information?”
…Welp, here goes. +...By traveling through time.+ Reisen's eyes went wide. +...I and four others were human in our past lives. When we were hit with the effect, we were reduced to just wisps. Kamishirasawa Keine used her ability to alter history to change our fates, so that we’d be reborn as youkai. I was reborn as a lunar rabbit, and… I’m the only one who definitely remembers our past. I came to earth to find the other four, and help them regain their memories.+
Reisen whispered something to Eirin, who shook her head. “No, I checked. No signs of brain damage.” She stood up. “You’re aware of how ludicrous your claims are, I assume? Are you hoping for sincerity in audacity?”
+I don’t exactly have any better options.+ Akyuu said, sighing. +I was really hoping you’d remember the past timeline. I can show you the memories through the Lunatic Gun, but I somehow suspect that you don’t want me pointing guns at anyone. I… I swear I’m not crazy.+
Eirin rubbed her forehead. “...It might be easier for you to just accept that you are. I assume there’s no evidence that exists of this outside of your own head?” Akyuu shook her head. “...If we could get that evidence out…”
She paused, looking at Reisen. “Reisen, you can use your psychic link, right?” The rabbit nodded. “If she sends you a mental image, can you convey exactly what is shown?” Another nod. “Then… perhaps we
can see it. See your memories.”
Reisen looked doubtful. “Well… sure… but that depends on how well she can remember her past life. Akyuu… how good is your memory?”
+...How good?+ Akyuu managed a grin. +Oh, I think it’ll serve our purposes. Let me show you the power of being a Child of Miare.+
Mokou’s chuckle rumbled through the little group of motes. “Well, you’re clearly feeling much better. And I’m sure you will. But the problem is the timing. Any human that gets close just… vanishes. And while the youkai could hurt it, it’s grown in power to the point that no-one can fight it now… and doing so would be pointless, with everyone gone.”
Eirin looked over at Keine, with a small, desperate smile. “But Keine’s powers allow her to erase and create history. And with enough power… she should be able to send you back in time, and rebirth you, as something that can resist the enemy. As youkai.”
“Pause. Focus on right index.”
Akyuu halted her recollection, doing her best to do as requested. The illusion cast by Reisen blurred, slightly, with the exception of one of Mokou’s fingers, currently lit by the Marisa-wisp floating close to it. Eirin stood up, walking over to it with a small sheet of paper in hand.
“...Remarkable. Another perfect match.” Eirin murmured, waving at them. “Continue when you’re ready.”
+You know, when I realized I’d get the chance to show you both exactly what I’d seen, I thought she’d be more curious about… what they all were saying, or something like that.+ Akyuu grumbled to her newly-found sister. +Why’s she so interested in Mokou’s fingers?+
“Oh, you’re curious, Akyuu? Do you know about fingerprints in forensic science?” Reisen said, tactfully omitting Akyuu’s specific grumbling. The bandaged rabbit shook her head. “Fingerprints are unique to each individual person, human or rabbit. And Mokou’s fingers won’t ever scar or be damaged, because she’s a hourai immortal.” The rabbit nodded. “So it’s a unique identifier for who Mokou is.”
“And despite you never having been close enough to Mokou to meet her, you remember her precisely. Down to details that you yourself don’t consider important.” Eirin said, like a schoolteacher. “...You said you were the child of Miare, yes? Being able to remember even these details is exactly what I’d expect of such an ability.”
+Oh. I see.+ Akyuu felt… vaguely let down. Was this really how the authenticity of her story was going to be proven? The novelist in her mewled at the indignity. +...Do you need any more evidence?+
Eirin nodded. “Oh, I will, yes. For how detailed this is, it could still be an implanted memory. That may actually make it more likely to be implanted. We’ll need to run tests on your memory in general to see if it’s all this accurate. And even then, your body is genetically engineered. It’s possible that it was specifically coded to have eidetic memory. But still, I never would have imagined…”
Reisen blinked. “So… this is really possible?” She shook her head. “It’s… I suppose with the right youkai it’s more than possible, but…”
“Hey, come onnnnnn already.” A third voice cut in. “I want to see the rest of it!”
Akyuu twisted her head around - as did Reisen and Eirin. The midnight-haired woman sticking her head through the doorway looked at them, puffing up her cheeks in annoyance.
“...Princess… you’ve been watching?” Reisen shrunk back, glancing at her sister. Kaguya Houraisan nodded, stepping inside more fully and shutting the door behind her.
“Yeah! It’s been fascinating. And imagine if it’s true! We have a time-traveler on our hands!” Kaguya flowed forward, grinning. Somehow, even her most childish movements had a serene grace to them. “Now come on, forward, forward!”
Akyuu blinked, but let her memory continue with the new observer. From here on out, there were no more requested pauses from Eirin - she almost did at one point, but Kaguya’s glare stopped her.
When they got up to Keine eating their history, Akyuu broke the memory off. She had a bit of a headache now, and judging by Reisen’s expression, she was a bit worn out too. +...that’s what happened in the past. There was some… weird symbolic fate-choosing thing, and then I woke up in a vat, but… you all can probably figure that part out.+
Eirin thought back on it, musing. “...It is fascinating. Though… It does raise questions. But first…” She picked up the vials. “...About your trip here. That vessel you came down in… have they gone into production? And regardless of that… you’d need assistance to operate it, right?”
+That’s known as the Meteor Pod. In theory, it’s meant to allow rapid individual deployment from the moon to the surface, without the risk of losing key details from Lunar Veils. I’m technically its first real… survivor. I needed to make sure my memories were intact - worst case scenario, I'd at least be able to get my message to the Yama.+ She looked up at the trio, whose faces were writ plain. Reisen in particular looked mortified at the implications. +As for operating it… yes, I had assistance. I tried to sneak out myself, but Lady Sagume found me in the launching room when I got stuck.+ The three exchanged glances. +...I don’t know why she helped me. Hopefully it’s because she believed me… but she never gave an indication of that before.+ She scowled. +...She wished me safe travels before I left, if you’re wondering.+
“...Hmmm. Perhaps she was hedging her bets?” Eirin mused, preparing two syringes. “...Well, I’m satisfied that you’re being sincere in your own head, at least.” She jammed them both into the rabbit’s arm. “These will fix you up quickly, I assure you.”
Akyuu felt a gentle warmth spreading out from the jabbed area. She could see thin trails of light spreading through her veins, glowing beneath her skin, and where the trails passed, bruises and scrapes faded. When the glow on that arm started to fade, Eirin began to unwrap it, and Reisen stepped in to assist. Before long, Akyuu was good as new, and gently brought to her feet.
She stared at her body. “...That’s… incredible.” She flexed her fingers, feeling no pain at all. “I’m good as new.”
Eirin oozed smugness. “Naturally. I specialize in miracle cures, you know. A few broken bones is nothing.” She smiled. “You should be good to move around, Akyuu. Now, with that said, there’s many, many more things to discuss… but perhaps you should go get settled, make sure your things are in order?”
Akyuu nodded. “Are… um… did anyone…? N-no, never mind.” …No, don’t be ridiculous. Don’t ask about dango when the matter could probably be resolved just by investigating her own things. “Where should I head, then?”
Kaguya jumped up. “Let me walk you there! I wanna hear more about the other timeline.” She turned to Reisen, who’d jumped up only a second later. “I’m sure Reisen and Eirin will have to discuss some things about all this.”
Eirin, after a moment, nodded in agreement. “Yes, and we have deliveries today, too.” The elder rabbit sagged. “We don’t want to get behind on time here.”
“...Yes, Lady Eirin.” Reisen’s mope was apparent. +Sorry, Akyuu. The princess is a good person, just… a bit whimsical. If you need me, just give me a ping and I’ll come running, okay?+
Akyuu head nodded forward, then was jerked sideways. She stumbled, to keep up with the pace of the princess pulling her along. “Come on, Mini-Reisen!” She said, grinning. “You must have a
lot of stories to tell.”
“So all the UFOs turned out to be from a flying ship?” Kaguya’s eyes glittered with wonder. “Where is that ship now, do you think?”
Akyuu nodded. “The ship’s probably still underground, waiting for those geysers to bring it up.” The infamous Moriya Incident Combo had been something Kaguya had immediately latched on to, and could barely contain her excitement at each twist and turn in the story. So much so that Akyuu had barely managed to get a word in edgewise.
…If anything, that was mildly concerning. She just… wasn’t speaking to this Kaguya like she had the one in her past life. That had been more… refined, ladylike, two nobles speaking to each other. Here, Akyuu found herself instinctively drawing to stilted and professional responses. Like a soldier being hijacked by a random noble for curiosity’s sake. It wasn’t exactly an incorrect comparison, but… when had she gotten so out of practice in hobnobbing? Why was she far on the back foot when it came to leading the conversation?
She was thus struggling to ask any questions about the Gensokyo of today, to the point she partially suspected it was Kaguya’s deliberate intention to keep her unable to enquire. The princess already knew far, far more about the past Gensokyo than Akyuu did about the present one. The once-chronicler kept doing her best to field the princess’ questions, but it seemed like there’d never be a chance to get her own words in.
One thing was clear, though. Spell cards were not used in the present Gensokyo - or at least, Kaguya had never heard of them. It had been Reimu’s… persuasion that had set up the system, so perhaps it was unsurprising with her absence that they weren’t established. Still, the princess was utterly enamored with the concept, and had pressed Akyuu for every detail.
Eventually, they reached a particular crossroads, and Kaguya seemed to catch on to the slight faux pas. “Ahhh… we’re here already? Sorry, I’ve been just so excited. It’s rare to even get a chance to talk to someone even just from the Human Village, let alone from the future!” She chuckled. “All I normally get is Reisen’s reports from the deliveries.”
Akyuu at last saw her chance to make an enquiry. “Reisen’s doing deliveries? In my timeline, she didn’t do that until after a later incident.” Kaguya stopped at the crossroads, raising an eyebrow in interest. “What happened?”
“Oh, well… a certain incident, really. A bunch of loose Youkai were swarming about because of a certain florist, and they started fighting all over the place. The shrine maiden was hard-pressed just to hold her ground, and by the end, the Human Village and its inhabitants were much more battered than when they started.” Kaguya’s face saddened, slightly. “Eirin… We needed to keep our secrets safe, but she’s a doctor at heart, and we couldn’t just leave them to their own devices. So… we had Reisen start making rounds, and helping with the cleanup. Without telling them about who her supplier is, of course.”
Akyuu’s brow furrowed in concern, but before she could ask any of the obvious questions, Kaguya clapped her hands. “Now! You’ll find your room down the left side, third door on your right. All your stuff will be sitting on your bed just there, and there should be some fresh clothes to change into at the end of your bed. Just walk right in and make yourself at home, okay? Left side, third door on your right.” Kaguya winked at her, then spun, already starting to head away. Akyuu tried to strangle out a response, but by the time she managed to compose an eloquent reply, the princess was gone. Akyuu sighed, and turned to head down the hall.
It was a quiet, private area. It wasn’t quite a noble’s space, but it was comfortable and private, each with their own bathroom; the residence of servants of distinction and honored-but-not-too-honored guests. Out of curiosity, she investigated the first two doors on her right, and found them currently used as mixed quarters for a couple of rabbits apiece. This early in the morning, it seemed that everyone had either already left or was still deep in sleep. She did her best to keep quiet as she kept moving through.
The third door on her right… did not contain what she expected. Opening it, she didn’t find a sparsely-furnished room with her pack neatly on it - the room was instead rather a mess of absolutely bizarre objects. There was a whole roulette wheel, held in place from spinning by a shovel resting on top of it, and a few scattered cards wedged between the tatami. There were only three-things in some semblance of order; a small green planter-box by the windowsill filled with clovers, a writing desk of some sort, and the
insufferably pink and fluffy bed.
Akyuu walked into the room, being drawn by noticing something strange about the planter box. Getting closer, she leaned in, inspecting the contents.
…There wasn’t a single three-leafed clover in there. Four was the minimum, and there were a few five-leaves in there as well. Even one six-leafed one, somehow.
Akyuu straightened up. This was… definitely not her room, she was sure of that now. She’d ended up in the wrong place, for sure. As she turned to leave, however, her eye caught on something.
[ ] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
[ ] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 15:09
No. 206305
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This is a spirit thing for Reimu, isn’t it.
Crap.
Kosu 2024/04/05 (Fri) 15:39
No. 206306
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Either Kaguya got the room wrong or Akyuu's luck will change with her new roommate. For better or worse.
Of course, Akyuu doesn't know this but I feel this might be important for the plot.
Why this note? Treatment for Reimu? Diplomatic relations...? Why is it here?
Maybe it's bait, but I prefer to take the risk.
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
There goes my musings on the last thread about recovery time: treatment was quicker than I thought, but I should have expected such from Eirin.
I still want Mystia's knees to be safe
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:02
No. 206309
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I don't think Kaguya got the room wrong. I know there's the whole "Help me, Eirin!" meme, but she's the final boss of a game for a reason. She even winked at us after giving the directions, for crying out loud. As to why she'd send us to Tewi's room... it could be for her own amusement, (or to give Reisen a break by providing a certain someone with a new target) but it seems likely to me that there's something in here that she wanted us to see.
Now, the letter's connection with Reimu is obvious, and I'll admit I'm very curious as to how Tewi could be involved with that.
But I'd like to check the box first. I have a sneaking suspicion that that's our stuff and that Tewi made off with it.
But you know the nice thing about this? We can get the best of both worlds! Eidetic memory, people!
[X] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [X] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:06
No. 206310
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[X] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [X] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:10
No. 206311
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[x] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
I'm curious. There isn't any other reason I'm just curious about this
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:14
No. 206312
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> A few days from now, a vampire’s mansion should appear by Misty Lake.
Uhhhh…? Did Akyuu not know of the vampire incident? The Scarlet Devil mansion appeared… apparently a couple of
years before Remilia spread the scarlet mist, started throwing her weight around recruiting youkai for conquest and got stomped by the gensokyo powerhouse(s) and told to play nice. The aftermath is what got youkai to approach ‘the Hakurei maiden’ (not specified but, assumed(?) to be Reimu) that resulted in the spell card system (which would then get first used in an incident caused by the same vampire that brought it about.) Which was in PmiSS which was
written by Akyuu… hm.
https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense/Reimu_Hakurei “The Vampire Incident”
As for the vote… the
mission otter letter, or is that the Dangos that we see having been secreted away under the pillow be Tewi? Nooo!
Oh hey, yeah, we got a vote for the best of both worlds, yay for not using the Veil paying dividends beyond what we expected!
[X] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [X] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
>>206306
I wonder if the Intangible Insatiable Appetite Incident (i.e. Mystia’s izakaya’s starting story.) would go better or worse with Youki there rather than Youmu? …
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:23
No. 206313
▼
Did they stick her with Tewi to combat any lingering effects of Segume's ability?
It's rood to snoop. That being said...
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
...information is valuable.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:26
No. 206315
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YUUKA MENTIONED. we finally get our first glimpse at the long-speculated PC-98 incidents... by the way, your solution to resolve the timeline inconsistency is pretty neat! all the pc-98 incidents must've taken a lot out of the shrine maiden.
spell cards, spell cards, spell cards... i'm curious on if they'll be established this go around. obviously reimu's already getting started on that, but without her status as the hakurei shrine maiden, it's gonna be a harder fight to make them the standard.
on another note, i wonder if one of the options for the other three immaterial children would land them as being related to any of the PC-98 characters.
another note: since akyuu is the brand new second most competent underling eirin has + her curiosity on the current timeline gensokyo, it's plausible she might accompany reisen to sell medicine in the village. and the scarlet mist incident is about to start. there's a chance that akyuu might get tangled up in it...
this is the first choice where i'm genuinely torn on what to choose. fuck.
obviously this is tewi's room. and the first option hints at reimu and the kiketsu. which. given how she runs the rabbits i'm not surprised that tewi has connections to the yakuza, but moving on. assuming that akyuu's defection and reimu's Worst Day Ever (in this life at least) happen at roughly the same time, i'm guessing this might be a request for some good luck in moving the kiketsu secret safely. (which, depending on how you look at it, she did grant. i guess.)
as for the second option... wait. battered, but familiar looking... that might be akyuu's box of dango. or given the way the other option clearly hints towards a fellow immaterial child, it might hint towards one of the others as well. although since we haven't picked any options for the others to tie down, might also be unlikely to be that. could be a sneak peek of one of the options, though. another possibility is that it's related to akyuu herself, maybe a child of miare thing. tewi has lived for a very long time, after all.
... fuck it. dango time.
[X] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [X] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
might as well take advantage of that perfect memory while we're at it, though.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:35
No. 206317
▼
[X] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [X] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
--[X] On our way out, ask Reisen about the room.
---[X] Is Tewi here, if so, dango, also ask something.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:39
No. 206318
▼
>>206309
>>206312
>>206315
It could be our box of dango, which I admit would be in character for Tewi, but I actually think it might be something else. After all, the letter is obviously related to Reimu, what’s stopping that from being her
donation box.
Still I very much appreciate the best of both worlds option.
[X] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [X] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:44
No. 206319
▼
>>206318
The donation box is the size of a large chest so it wouldn't fit under a pillow. ( a lot of pictures of the Hakurei shrine you can see the donation box in front of the steps). not sure if it could end up being related to anyone else, I don't recall any boxes being notably important for any of the immaterial children.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 16:49
No. 206320
▼
>>206319
Actually went to verify this. Yeah, you’re right, and with that being the case…
[UNDO] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [UNDO] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Information on what’s going on with Reimu is more valuable than sweet treats. We can deal with that later. I want to get a clear look at this.
Also, this is the first time I’m using the undo feature. I really hope I didn’t fudge it.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 17:13
No. 206322
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Akyuu potentially learning about Reimu ia good.
Kosu 2024/04/05 (Fri) 17:18
No. 206323
▼
Yeah what you're saying makes sense: perfect memory allows Akyuu to snoop and recall that memory but last time we wanted to have our
dango cake and eat it too, there were repercussions.
I'm game to seeing where this leads us, though.
Oh and regarding the Hakurei Shrine Maiden,
I realized she might even be still around. A huge plot point in Touhou is that there ALWAYS has to be a Hakurei miko so the barrier doesn't fall. Of course we know Reimu technically is still one (or half at the very least) but in-universe, her former mother might still be resolving incidents because there's not a heir to the Hakurei shrine.
>>206309
Yeah I didn't mean to imply that she
actually got it wrong, but more that it was all deliberate. I'm ESL so sometimes what I say is very stiff ^_^U
>>206312
Even though Akyuu has perfect memory, sometimes what she writes is either embellishment, plain wrong rumors and/or second / third parties' recalling of events.
In this case though, maybe the full extent of the vampire's incident isn't yet know to Eientei (since they were basically isolated) or there's something else in play.
Let's suspend disbelief for now lol
Regarding Yuyuko, it would probably be a less severe incident since Youki was stricter than Youmu, but I didn't finish Mystia's Izakaya to say it for sure, though.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 17:22
No. 206324
▼
Also, thia is painfully obviously Tewi's room, so we should be ready for a world of hurt when we leave. Unless we wanr to start voting for a write in to just not snoop?
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 19:03
No. 206325
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Sylent-M 2024/04/05 (Fri) 19:49
No. 206327
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 19:57
No. 206328
▼
So I'd just had a stray thought.
We're still very early in the timeline, but does Akyuu know about how the Lunarians started their invasion, or did Marisa not spread that information ?
ULiL is quite a few years away, but I think Sumireko's situation could be handled better and prevent Gensokyo from becoming the moonies' hostage in the first place. It would be sad for Akyuu not to see Ringo and Seiran again and Cirno would remain the strongest fairy in Gensokyo,
'Best' case scenario, Chang'e is one more Hourai immortal to throw at whatever we're facing, and then Junko & Hecatia can go back to torturing her for eternity or something (although she probably has mind control power over all Lunar Rabbits, so that might bite in our ass given that Akyuu is one)
Speaking of which, if this mysterious threat vanished every human in Gensokyo, was Sumireko's Doppelganger affected since it bore a human's soul, or was it immune due being physically a youkai ?
Back to the chapter, let's not get too greedy and secure a line with Hell. Akyuu may not intend to go back to the Yama's service anytime soon, but letting our boss know we have not vanished into thin air some time in the future would probably be for the better than simply stumbling onto her.
And if we can reunite with Reimu, all the better
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 20:05
No. 206329
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
I mean...
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 20:57
No. 206330
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Lets get a quick link to Reimu intel. Messing with Tewi can happen later (preferably as revenge).
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/05 (Fri) 21:21
No. 206331
▼
File
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>>206309
>>206310
>>206312
>>206315
>>206318
For the record, this is an either/or pick. Akyuu's not going to have enough time to properly read the letter
and look at the box.
When I'm offering an A-B option, I'm not categorically opposed to the occasional AB pick, but it's gotta be more clever than "Do B
quickly then do A".
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 21:55
No. 206332
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
I think it is a solid choice to meet or learn more information about reimu.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 21:57
No. 206333
▼
>>206331
nuts, I thought that the perfect memory would let us get away with that, too bad...
haaaa mission first then, and work together with Reisen to show that luck rabbit how Eagle ravi gets back (assuming that is our dango box.) at those that mess with them!
>>206312 here
[UNDO] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [UNDO] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
hopefully this isn't a red herring...
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 22:04
No. 206334
▼
>>206310 here.
Damn, exploit has been fixed.
[UNDO] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [UNDO] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 22:04
No. 206335
▼
Mini-Hakkero? Oni box? Needs further investigation.
[X] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 22:20
No. 206336
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[ ] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 22:20
No. 206337
▼
>>206318
>>206320
Well at least I didn’t fudge the undo itself. I just forgot to put down my initial post number. My bad!
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 22:38
No. 206338
▼
>>206324
I feel like Kaguya wants Akyuu to snoop though. No way she did an oopsie with the room
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 22:46
No. 206339
▼
I have an idea of what’s going on here. We know Reimu was planning to head to Gensokyo when we last saw her. It’s entirely possible she saw our rather loud arrival and, in response, followed Reisen back to Eientei in order to fill at least someone in. Hence Kaguya leading us to the room with the Kiketsu note.
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 23:17
No. 206340
▼
>>206333
yeah, akyuu and reisen should have more scenes together (for reisen someone to share their problems with and akyuu about the duty to save gensokyo) and practice on their insanity and wavelengths abilty together
Anonymous 2024/04/05 (Fri) 23:18
No. 206341
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[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 00:13
No. 206343
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 00:29
No. 206344
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
-[X] Mentally prepare an excuse in case another person barges in, something alike of "I am simply following Lady Kaguya's order."
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 00:38
No. 206345
▼
>>206315 here, changing my vote.
as tempting as the (possible) dango is, i want to know what tewi's relationship with the kiketsu is. this might also lead to akyuu figuring out where reimu ended up, and i also want a reimu update.
[UNDO] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
- [X] But first, glance briefly at the letter and reply to memorize it. We can process the contents later.
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/04/06 (Sat) 00:46
No. 206346
▼
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 01:11
No. 206347
▼
>>206344 here
--[X] Make sure to close the door.
Petty Theft
Mew 2024/04/06 (Sat) 01:24
No. 206348
▼
Hey, our dango box! Tewi you punk! Well...if we want it back...we're gonna have to take a risk. Firstly...
[X] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
-[X] Mentally prepare an excuse in case another person barges in, something alike of "I am simply following Lady Kaguya's order."
Alibi + important information first. If we miss an opportunity, better to have what we need. As for our dango...I'm gonna say that Akyuu knows what her box looks like.
{X} Confront Tewi on the box.
She's a crafty one, so...
{X} Start thinking of evidence and arguments we can use to prove that it's ours, (Identifying markers, properties) and how we can refute her statements.
*Ace Attorney music starts playing.*
False Accusations
Mew 2024/04/06 (Sat) 07:57
No. 206349
▼
{UNDO} Confront Tewi on the box.
{UNDO} Start thinking of evidence and arguments we can use to prove that it's ours, (Identifying markers, properties) and how we can refute her statements.
Just realised if we're wrong and it's not our dango box that we are gonna be in some deep shit. So let's not do that.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/06 (Sat) 14:08
No. 206350
▼
Gonna lock the vote - first part of a two-part update is nearly done, but I didn't get much time to write today, and need to sleep. Pic related.
Look forward to the first part in the morning!
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 15:01
No. 206351
▼
>>206350
> Pic related.
Joyus anniversary of exiting the womb (I assume?)
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 16:04
No. 206353
▼
Sylent-M 2024/04/06 (Sat) 16:57
No. 206354
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It’s too late now, but I had the thought when I woke up this morning that I should’ve changed my vote to the box. From a meta perspective the letter is more important, but from an in universe perspective it means our first act after being given a degree of freedom is to snoop on someone’s private correspondence. The box at least is ours and taking it back is reasonable.
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 17:25
No. 206355
▼
>>206354
yeaaahhh, I was thinking something similar to that too, the familiar looking box should've grabbed Akyuu's attention, but the letter grabbed ours. I still voted for the letter, but it felt as a somewhat meta choice over the box...
Anonymous 2024/04/06 (Sat) 18:40
No. 206356
▼
>>206354
>>206355
It's probably something that could catch her attention out of morbid curiosity, but yeah that is fair. I'm gonna keep avoiding metavoting in mind for my own choices from now on.
Mew 2024/04/06 (Sat) 23:19
No. 206358
▼
Yeah, probably should think about that. Next time maybe
>>206354
Secret of the Lucky Rabbit.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/07 (Sun) 00:18
No. 206359
▼
[19] The letter on the writing desk with a green otter seal, and the half-written reply.
[4] The battered but… plausibly familiar-looking box hidden under one of the pillows.
-[X] Make sure to close the door.
The battered box was a concern. But it was a personal concern. If the otter was an indicator of what Akyuu thought it was, it was an obvious and major concern that could not wait. She quickly stepped back to shut the door, and began to read through the letters.
…It was pretty clear to see that the message was important. Akyuu was a fast reader, but it wasn’t just the words she was interested in. The original letter had been written in an elegant script, but also in a state of significant duress, judging by the slight shakiness and crinkling of the paper. Its counterpart was written in a much more casual setting - though its choice of words conveyed stress and commiseration, she could see no similar signs of wear on the latter. The letter abruptly ended when its tone slipped, becoming briefly mocking, before its writer realized the mistake and started to scribble it out. Assuming Akyuu could guess the room’s owner - and she was pretty sure she could - it seemed she could barely resist teasing her unfortunate counterpart, and the wastepaper basket’s contents likely contained other failed attempts to play the part of one willing but unable to assist.
As if summoned with the thought, Akyuu heard footsteps running towards the room. She managed to shuffle over, and go back to examining the clovers as the door slid open. She duly looked up in surprise, while having her suspicions confirmed by the glare of the rabbit who’d entered. She was a bit shorter than Akyuu herself, with a pale pink dress and a carrot necklace. Her eyes scanned the room, looking for signs of disturbance.
Inaba Tewi’s eyes locked back on to Akyuu. “You. You’re Reisen’s sister, aren’t you? What are you doing in my room?”
Akyuu stood up, bowing before her. “Ah, apologies - is this your room?” She looked back at the clover box. “I believe I got the wrong directions, but… I saw these clovers, and I couldn’t help myself. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss…?”
“Tewi. Leader of the earth rabbits in Gensokyo.” Tewi hefted her mallet threateningly. “And I don’t exactly appreciate outsider rabbits nosing about in my room.”
Akyuu put her hands up defensively. “I swear miss, this is just an accident-”
“Soooooorrrryyyyyyy!” Kaguya’s voice came flowing down the hall. “I sent her the wrong way, Tewi!”
The lucky rabbit stiffened, turning around. “P-princess?!” She turned as the princess ran to the doorway, panting for breath.
“I’m sorry, Tewi. It was an accident.” Kaguya bowed before the flustered rabbit. “Akyuu, you haven’t met her before now, but Tewi is quite fond of her privacy. I hope you’ll forgive her for my blunder, Tewi - I should have said left side, third door on the right.”
Tewi’s were full of suspicion as Akyuu quickly exited the room, bowing before the princess. “It is quite alright, Princess - I was the one who stepped inside without asking. I apologize, miss Tewi, I didn’t mean to alarm you. Your clovers are incredible, by the way.”
Tewi’s eyes darted back and forth between them, seeking a crack in either one’s armour. “...Just don’t enter again without my permission. Got it, vat-bunny?” Akyuu nodded, bowing again, and was swept up in Kaguya’s flow once more.
As they got back to the crossroads, Kaguya whispered to her. “Did you see anything interesting in there? Because it’s best you forget it if you did - let no secrets of Tewi’s past your lips.” She gave a conspiratorial smile that flew rather defiantly in the face of her own words. “It’d be a rough start to get on her bad side… She’s already given your sister no end of trouble - you should talk to her about Tewi sometime soon, I think.”
Akyuu nodded, winking back. “I didn’t see anything in there other than her clovers, I swear. And I’ll do that right away, Princess - thank you for your advice.” Kaguya’s smile got wider, and once again she was off, leaving Akyuu to her own devices.
She immediately opened up a psychic message. Seeking out her sister’s psychic signature, she sent off a message. +Reisen, are you free to talk? If I send a psychic message to you, is it private? Can anyone listen in here?+
+Nope, it’s just us, unless some people have listening devices, and the only ones who know how to operate the ones we have are from the moon.+ Reisen confirmed. +And I’m free to talk, Lady Eirin’s just packing up some of the medication. What do you need?+
+...I believe the Princess just got me to spy on Tewi. And I think she asked me to tell you so you could pass the message on.+ There was immediately a flurry of concerned questions, which Akyuu pushed through. +I’m fine, no issues from her yet. The princess framed it like an accident on her part, and I just pretended all I saw was Tewi’s clover patch. But there’s other things that I need to report.+
+...I see. Still, Tewi’s a bit… let me know if she starts something, okay? One sec.+ There was a pause. +Okay, I’ve let lady Eirin know, and I’ve cast an illusion over the room so I can tell her straight away. What’s the story?+
+Kicchou Yachie is requesting aid from Tewi - rather desperately, it seems. If you don’t know who that is, she’s the leader of the Kiketsu family, a gang from the Animal Realm. Mainly staffed by otter spirits, though she’s a jidiao herself.+ Akyuu sent her mental image of the letter to Reisen, then an image of the Kiketsu Matriarch and some of her otters, reaching out a hand to trace the wall so she wouldn’t walk into it.
+...Of course Tewi’s involved with a gang…+ Akyuu didn’t need any psychic indicators to know her sister’s deep, exhausted frustration. +...Ah, I’d seen a few of these otter seals before. So what’s the gist?+
+In short, Yachie is trying to move some secret asset through part of the territory of the Gouyoku Alliance - another gang. And she wants Tewi to harass them at the edge of their territory so she can move through more safely. But Tewi is using… well, me as an excuse not to go. Saying there’s some major security risks that need to be resolved first… but it reads to me more like she wants to find out Yachie’s secret herself.+
There was a long pause before Reisen replied. +...Does… that mean Tewi actually controls a gang in the Animal Realm herself?!+
Akyuu considered it. +...She must have some forces there. Maybe some of her rabbits are loyal even after death…+ It wasn’t a pleasant thought… but it was a very plausible one.
Reisen sighed. +When is this happening?+
+A few days from now, the day after the coming full moon. …Well, Tewi’s not exactly wrong that time’s going to be busy - the Vampire Mansion will appear the evening beforehand.+
There was a pause. +...Akyuu… the full moon night is tonight.+ Akyuu’s eyes widened, and she immediately began to protest in confusion. +...Sorry, I didn’t tell you. You’ve been unconscious for a while since your crash landing…+
The younger lunar rabbit thought it over, a small sweat bead trickling down her face. She’d assumed that she’d left in the night then woken up early the following morning, but that meant about half a week of the Chronicler’s second life had been spent thoroughly unconscious. +...Then I really cut it close on the wakeup, huh? Revise, then. Kicchou’s big extraction is tomorrow, and the vampire’s mansion tonight.+
+Ten-four. Do you think this Kiketsu thing needs our intervention?+
Akyuu paused. +...It’s not a high priority right now, I think. This just appears to be infighting within the gangs, and Tewi’s not committing to it so you’re not going to lose anything.+ …That was the logical answer. The chance that the cargo was somehow related to one of the other girls was… basically zero. Right? +...Not to mention, in my timeline, the Animal Realm didn’t become relevant to any surface-worlders for a long time yet. I think we can safely ignore it for now.+ She didn’t expect the immortals here to care about the world of the dead, anyways.
+Understood, and Lady Eirin’s agreeing with your assessment. We’ll look later for a way to naturally find out independently of your investigation. Let me know if you need anything else.+ Akyuu came up to her correct room this time, and opened it to find much of what she expected - her pack up on top, her clothes washed and folded beside it, and little else besides. There was a clock and a calendar put in place for her, and what appeared to be a small pager. There was even a map of the grounds for her perusal, which revealed a couple of interesting details. Noticeably, Reisen’s room was right across the hall.
It was very much not something she’d have been happy with in her past life. It was far too small and plain. But for the Eagle Ravi, it was a significant upgrade - a private room all to herself. That wasn’t something Akyuu had had in this life, ever, always with one group of rabbits or another.
She immediately took stock of her equipment. First, she went on a search for, and successfully extricated her stash box, opening it up to inspect the contents. It appeared to have survived the trip relatively well, even if its contents had taken a bit of a knocking. She took out a single piece of mochi, and stashed the box under her bed for now.
Then what had been in the other box? …Possibly something else more private, or a trap by Tewi if people went snooping. Probably for the best if she didn’t push her luck. She sat down on the bed, continuing to inspect her equipment.
Today already felt like an enormous day, and the sun hadn’t even fully left the horizon yet. The people from Eientei were Lunarian exiles. Reisen was her sister. Tewi had ties to the animal realm. Really, part of her wanted to leap up and get a pen, and start rewriting the Chronicle then and there. But… there was still far, far too many unknowns about the current situation.
She paused, as her hand clasped around something round. She pulled it out, looking it over with curiosity.
It appeared to be a distress beacon, and not one she’d packed. She could only assume Sagume had packed it in there for her, maybe to let her extract? She pinged off a quick question to Reisen about the item.
+...It’s not something you packed?+ Reisen’s link conveyed a tone of concern. +...When you get a chance, bring it to Lady Eirin. We assumed your stuff was just conveniences, like the air purifier, but that we’ll give a proper examination.+
Akyuu nodded, continuing to unpack. By the end of it, the room at least looked… settled. Clearly home to a new occupant, but an occupant nonetheless.
…With that said, Akyuu was still restless. Her schedule had suddenly been bumped up dramatically, and she’d not managed to get much of an understanding of the changed Gensokyo yet. She wanted to get out and do… something, start looking for her friends, get more information across, and find out what had changed in the new Gensokyo. But… where would she go? Could she even get into the village?
…A thought struck her. +Reisen, could I join you for your deliveries today?+ It’d be the perfect reason to go around town, and if she was enthusiastic about helping around Eientei, she’d probably earn a little bit of favour with all invovled.
There was a pause. A long, long pause. Akyuu held her breath, until Reisen responded.
+...I asked that for you and Eirin’s eyes lit up. I hope you don’t regret this.+ Another pause. +There’s a map in your room, right? Go get some actual breakfast and then meet us in the pharmaceutical section by 10 am.+
Akyuu nodded, getting up. +I’ll see you there.+ She took a look at the clock, then headed off to the mess hall.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 00:27
No. 206361
▼
oh Phew! the box was a trap! (or something, maybe it was info on the animal gangs and had in fact identified Reimu... but it wasn't our moon mochi!)
And Akyuu is so going to be kicking herself once she runs into Reimu for dismissing the animal realm! XD
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 00:31
No. 206362
▼
REHMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 00:36
No. 206363
▼
>>206361
For a couple seconds, I had thought that it was very odd for the trap to be a moon box, since only 3 people in Eientei, now 4 counting Akyuu, are actually from the moon. Then I remembered that the rest of the inhabitants there are earth rabbits under Tewi’s command, so it would be very odd if they were snitching in her room.
Sylent-M 2024/04/07 (Sun) 00:57
No. 206364
▼
>>206356
I don’t there’s anything wrong with metavoting. It’s just important to consider how it looks to the people in the story who don’t know what we know.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/07 (Sun) 01:16
No. 206365
▼
It may have been motivated by metavoting, but there was in-universe justification for it. It's more a conflict between Akyuu's personal concerns (has Tewi stolen my snacks) and her tactical concerns (what the hell is Tewi talking about with the Kiketsu).
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 01:53
No. 206366
▼
+Reisen. This is Akyuu. I'm at the sneak point. Kept you waiting, huh?+
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 02:07
No. 206367
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I'm liking Akyuu's part so far. Being in Gensokyo proper makes things move a lot less sluggishly story wise. At least to start.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 02:51
No. 206368
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By the way, has Akyuu said anything about LoLK to Kaguya and Eirin yet? That's one tidbit of the future they're guaranteed to find interesting.
For that matter, will the events of IN even happen at all in this timeline? I'm not sure there's a point to it any more.
Regardless, I do hope we find out what's in that box eventually.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 03:06
No. 206369
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Just out of curiosity, would we be on Tewi's bad side had we didn't close the door?
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 03:45
No. 206370
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> The chance that the cargo was somehow related to one of the other girls was… basically zero. Right?
oh akyuu. if only you knew.
a distress beacon that akyuu didn't pack... that's concerning. there's a chance it might be permanently stuck to "on". we might need to bring it to eirin ASAP.
Preparations and Investigations
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/07 (Sun) 06:07
No. 206371
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At 9:45 am sharp, Akyuu was ready and waiting at the entrance to the pharmaceutical section. She was led in by a rabbit to what appeared to be the dispensing section. Reisen was busily packing two bags, trying to distribute their weight in comfy ways, while Eirin was tapping away at a screen. Kaguya, for her part, was contributing her presence and little else, playing with one of the rabbits in their animal form with it sitting in her lap.
“Lady Eirin? I’m here, with the distress beacon.”
The doctor looked up at her, then glanced at the clock. “Enthusiastic, are we? Good. Alright, pass that here… and listen closely.” She looked at Akyuu, and began rattling off a series of names and prescriptions, with quick but crystal-clear enunciation. Akyuu blinked, but did her best to pay attention, as her older sister’s eyes began to glaze over.
“...And that is all of them. What was the thirty-fourth prescription I mentioned, and who was it for?”
Akyuu nodded. “Stomach medicine, for one Kuufuku Hisahito.”
“Location and delivery instructions of the seventeenth?”
“Northern ward, fifth subarea, second block, building one. Leave prescription behind the flowerpots if the patient isn’t home.”
“Instructions for taking the twenty-second prescription?”
“The headache tablets are to be taken as needed, but no more than three times a day. The supplements are to be taken with each meal.”
Eirin smiled. “Think you can remember everything? I’m not giving the supposed Child of Miare a note for their reference.”
Akyuu grinned. “Of course.” If her mental map of the city was right, the order given would roughly be a sweep across the Human Village, north-to-south, and would take them through the downtown at around about lunchtime. “And I don’t need a map, either.”
Eirin pulled up her clipboard. “Because you’ve lived there before, right? That's good, because you're not getting one.” She began to write. “Obviously, this is a test. Of your memory in this life, and the past one. And it will help pay off your debt, too.”
Akyuu raised an eyebrow. “You mean… medical fees?”
The doctor shook her head. “You may not have been in a state to really process it, but you landed on a lamprey stand owned by one Mystia Lorelei. We agreed to reimburse her, but you’re effectively liable for the damages, so we will expect you to work that debt off.”
Akyuu flinched. “Ah, Mystia… yes, thank you. I’d be happy to pay by helping out. And this way allows me to see more about this timeline’s Gensokyo, right?”
Eirin nodded. “Yes… there may be changes between the human village and the one you remember. If there is any clash between your recollection and the village as it is, just let the other two know.”
The young lunar rabbit tilted her head. “Other… two? ...Is there someone else coming?”
“Meeee!” The princess hopped up. “I’ve been wanting to visit for a while now, and Reisen might be biased to help you. So I’ll be the one holding the map, and the delivery instructions.”
Akyuu blinked, but bowed. “It would be a pleasure, Princess… but is your identity not secret?”
Eirin waved it off. “We have a disguise that will suit her needs. Besides, when the princess wants to visit, well… that’s where she’ll go.” There was a slight weariness to her voice, and Akyuu got the sense that Eirin had long, long conceded that point.
Reisen stood up, proffering the smaller of the two bags to Akyuu. “I’ll brief you on a few more details as the princess gets ready. You won’t have too much time to grill the locals as we go, but when the princess stops for lunch, that’ll be a key opportunity.” Akyuu took the bag, feeling the heft as she put it on her back. “At this rate, we’ll be leaving at 10 am! It’s nice to have another rabbit who’s enthusiastic for once.”
Eirin nodded, folding away her equipment. “We’ll meet you out the front. If all goes well, you should be back well before the sunset, and the scheduled arrival of the vampires.” She lifted the device Akyuu had brought her. “And just to be safe, I’ll check this out as well. I’ll know all there is to know about it by the end of the night.”
Akyuu saluted. “Sounds like a plan! We’ll be waiting for you.” She grinned at Reisen. “Now, what else do I need to know?”
Reisen’s briefing was generally high level - some general recommendations from on-the-job experience, a few stock phrases and some observations one only got from practical learning. Akyuu did her best to follow along, feeling a little nervous.
“Now, there’s two more things - two names to memorize.” Reisen stuck up her fingers. “The first name is Lady Inaba Teruyo. That’s the alias of the princess when she’s in disguise, got it?” Akyuu nodded.
“The second name… is Inaba Akyuu.” The younger rabbit blinked. “After all, you’re working as part of Eientei’s Inaba now. And humans use family names, after all - you’d stick out like a sore thumb if you had a different name than me.” Reisen smiled, looking rather pleased. Perhaps she’d negotiated to be the first one to tell her - Lunar Rabbits didn’t normally get a family name, but all the rabbits in the bamboo forest were ‘Inaba’. It was a sensible instruction, but it was also a clear welcome on Reisen’s part.
“...Well, any questions?” The newly-christened Inaba shook her head. “Great! The princess and Eirin will be here any minute now. Let’s get this done nice and smooth, so we can be home ready for the vampires.”
[ ] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute.
[ ] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
[ ] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
{ } She was excited to be heading to the village. It felt like a homecoming.
{ } She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
{ } She was… nervous. She hadn’t been to the village or anywhere even like it in years, and she wasn’t sure she’d fit in. It felt like she was intruding.
Homecoming
Mew 2024/04/07 (Sun) 06:35
No. 206373
▼
Back in the village! Though it may be a bit different from what Akyuu remembers, a home is a home, after all. These options probably will manipulate our stats, so...
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
It would be a bit odd to refer to Reisen as her sister with multiple entire lives behind her. Maybe this relationship would work better, as a reliable friend.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Akyuu's next iteration of the Gensokyo Chronicle is going to be a sharp change from her usual editions, that's for sure. Seeing an entirely new village, from a youkai's perspective, will have a big impact on her writings. Her curiosity, I believe, will stem from her passion. As for extras...
(X) Though there isn't any lunar dango yet, are there any earth confectionaries that catch her eye?
Sweet tooth trait. Also, Akyuu probably had to watch her diet when she got sickly, so maybe she would be more open to eating sweets with this fresh Inaba body.
Kosu 2024/04/07 (Sun) 06:46
No. 206374
▼
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
First option makes sense since she spent a lot of time with a militaristic lifestyle but it's too serious, third I'll not be opposed if people end up choosing it. Second option is a good middle-ground.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
I'm torn between first and second options here, but I feel that Akyuu's liking of mystery makes a little more sense. This is a world without Agatha Chris Q. (not that she existed by this point yet in the other reality, either) maybe she'll be back someday?
- [X] Apologize to the lamprey stand's owner if you have the chance someday.
Yes, I'm biased.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 06:57
No. 206375
▼
[x] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
[x] She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Both of these choices feel like what Akyuu would do, considering that she has lived for centuries throughout her reincarnations.
Right now, we're delivering medicine but we have a bit of time for brief sightseeing as we walk to our destinations...
-[x] Though there isn't any lunar dango yet, are there any earth confectionaries that catch her eye?
I assume that the next update will be about sightseeing, right?
Apologies for not vote counting for the previous post, but... Is there anything you would like me to add/remove when vote counting? Or is everything fine?
Sylent-M 2024/04/07 (Sun) 07:15
No. 206376
▼
[X] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
I imagine it’s been a long time since Akyuu had a sibling that could be considered a peer, and original Reisen never had one at all. They both deserve to explore that bond.
{X} She was excited to be heading to the village. It felt like a homecoming.
This is the longest she’s ever been away after having lived there for centuries. The nostalgia is real.
Himeko Katagiri 2024/04/07 (Sun) 07:24
No. 206377
▼
[x] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
I'm just dying to know what happens next.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 07:34
No. 206378
▼
The Child of Miare has already lived enough multiple lives that the "big sis" act would either feel a bit forced or that Akyuu's simply being playful at the time, and her experiences as a military soldier were from one life out of the many she had. Middle-of-the-road then.
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
I agree with
>>206374 that it feels more in-character for the novelist to be curious by nature and looking for inspiration.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
The rabbit has caused property damage
Kosu 2024/04/07 (Sun) 08:36
No. 206380
▼
"The box opened, pulling out its cargo.
It was a battered-looking rabbit, one ear hanging loose over her head with her left arm and matching foot bent at unhealthy-looking angles.
She was wearing clothes similar to Reisen’s more casual sets - in fact, she looked a lot like Reisen. A lot a lot."
I had to make it special since Mystia was included, and since I couldn't decide on which scene to draw, I just kinda did the whole thing.
This is the biggest thing I've ever made, and my first "comic".
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/07 (Sun) 10:35
No. 206381
▼
>>206380
A whole comic now? I am just blown away at this point. Almost as much as Mystia's cart.
I once again state that Kosu is a big reason for the thread's success. I'm aware of at least one person who has SPECIFICALLY said that Kosu's work is what got them on the thread.
Not to mention that Kosu also posts the art on their xwitter, so this thread actually has a third place it's getting people from in addition to THP and AO3
>>206375
Any work you do for the vote counting is a bonus, mate, always appreciated but never required.
With that said, the one thing I will suggest is that, if you're referencing other specific votes for the write-ins, to put the list of specific post numbers after the text of the vote. That just means if I have to copy the text and the number, I can do so without having to remove the post numbers from the middle.
>>206361
Box's contents may have only been finalised after the vote was long run. I was being somewhat deliberate in fishing for the 'meta vote' there.
We'll see if the box comes back.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 11:34
No. 206382
▼
>>206381
Good to know, thanks for the response.
Also happy late birthday(?).
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 13:25
No. 206383
▼
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 13:48
No. 206384
▼
[X] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 13:55
No. 206385
▼
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
I concur with the other assessments here. I'm tempted to go the big sis route, but it'd be too weird day one.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 14:51
No. 206386
▼
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Neutral spirit checks? Or am I reading too much into this?
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 15:06
No. 206387
▼
[x] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
{x} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 16:14
No. 206388
▼
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
I agree with most of the people here. This feels like the best response.
{X} She was excited to be heading to the village. It felt like a homecoming.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. I much prefer taking a generalist approach to a specialized approach. This is an opportunity to even out our spirit a bit, and I’m not going to miss it.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 16:37
No. 206391
▼
A chance to give Reisen diabetes from being an utterly sweet little sister? Sign me up!
[X] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
Funnily enough I imagine that the middle choice would be how most of the moon rabbits would be interacting with their siblings, can’t say it out loud, but being
clearly coincidentally closer than normal.
But I don’t think Akyuu has had a chance throughout her lives to have and interact with siblings (even if she had biologically had some across the incarnations.) so she might be looking to enjoy it as much as she is her healthy body and so feels a little like she would think ‘how would Kosuzu interact with a big sister’ (though the thumbs up feels like there is a bit of Marisa mixed in there too.)
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
- [X] Apologize to the lamprey stand's owner if you have the chance someday.
I too am biased
-[x] Though there isn't any lunar dango yet, are there any earth confectionaries that catch her eye?
Sweet tooth Akyuu a gogo (probably best to keep up the morning exercises XD)
>>206381
good to know about the box!
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 17:37
No. 206394
▼
[X] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
- [X] Apologize to the lamprey stand's owner if you have the
-[x] Though there isn't any lunar dango yet, are there any earth confectionaries that catch her eye?
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/04/07 (Sun) 17:38
No. 206395
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
All of the first 3 options are way too good to pass, so I decided to try and combine them.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
[X] Apologize to the lamprey stand's owner if you have the chance someday.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 18:08
No. 206396
▼
>>206395
... darn, that is really tempting to go with... whelp.
>>206391 here
[UNDO] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.”
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 18:50
No. 206397
▼
>>206396 here
for some reason I somehow didn't manage to get the whole text when going ctrl+c grrr... <.<
...Doesn't feel right to leave it so this may look silly, but...
[UNDO] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.”
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 22:12
No. 206400
▼
[X] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 22:25
No. 206401
▼
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
This just feels most accurate to Akyuu, honestly.
Anonymous 2024/04/07 (Sun) 22:27
No. 206402
▼
>>206400
I forgot to mention this but will akyuu have a middle name like Reisen with "Udongein"?
since saying only Inaba only Tewi comes to mind
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/07 (Sun) 23:52
No. 206403
▼
>>206402
Technically, the Inaba are called that because kaguya calls all of the rabbits “Inaba”. Udongein was given by Eirin specifically, so getting an equivalent will likely require fully earning Eirin’s trust.
I may have discussed a potential third name with some people, with the big question mark being what flower is normally in Akyuu’s hair.
>>206395
I’m happy to allow this as an alternative text of the third option. The real operative part is the Ma’am/Reisen/Big Sis, in my eyes.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 00:06
No. 206404
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
I think this is even cuter than if Akyuu just did option 3 straight up
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 00:16
No. 206405
▼
>>206388
Same person here.
>>206404
You know what, I’ll board this train…
[UNDO] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
I pick all three options.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 00:22
No. 206406
▼
This is cute.
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
{X} She was excited to be heading to the village. It felt like a homecoming.
- {X} She also made a mental note to apologize to Mystia the first opportunity she got.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 01:08
No. 206407
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 01:37
No. 206408
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 02:44
No. 206409
▼
[X] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/08 (Mon) 02:55
No. 206410
▼
File
171254492370.jpg
- (152.07KB,
650x487,
__kasodani_kyouko_touhou_drawn_by_tsunamayo__96e05.jpg)
Looking like it's shaping up to be a close vote between calling her 'reisen' and 'big sis'.
Because I saw a little confusion in the Ao3 comments, I'm gonna clarify the timeline laid out in
>>206359:
- Akyuu's escape takes place a few days before the full moon.
- Akyuu's arc is currently on the day which will have a full moon night.
- Reimu's arc takes place the day
after the full moon night.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 03:49
No. 206412
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
{X} She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
Having close family is something I doubt the Child of Miare ever got to experience. For all she remembers, I don't think Akyuu really knows what she's getting into... but I think it'll be something special for her.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 04:01
No. 206414
▼
As
>>206375:
[UNDO] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
[x] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
It's a good write-in.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 04:16
No. 206415
▼
Counting to
>>206414 (
Cirno, why are you here? You're not supposed to be here yet.):
Main Choice #1:
[0] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute.
[⑨] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
[5] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
[⑨] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
Main Choice #2:
[3] She was excited to be heading to the village. It felt like a homecoming.
[18] She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
[0] She was… nervous. She hadn’t been to the village or anywhere even like it in years, and she wasn’t sure she’d fit in. It felt like she was intruding.
Potential Additions:
a)
[4] (
>>206373,
>>206375,
>>206391,
>>206394) Though there isn't any lunar dango yet, are there any earth confectionaries that catch her eye?
b)
[4] (
>>206374,
>>206391,
>>206394,
>>206395) Apologize to the lamprey stand's owner if you have the chance someday.
[1] (
>>206406) She also made a mental note to apologize to Mystia the first opportunity she got.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 05:03
No. 206416
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
[X] She was excited to be heading to the village. It felt like a homecoming.
Excitable little sister! EXCITABLE LITTLE SISTER!!!
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 05:23
No. 206417
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
i was torn between the options and decided to sleep on it. glad to see someone's combined all three.
[X] She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
in-character and my exact thoughts on the matter. we've heard about the village and a bit on how it's changed, it's time to see what those exact changes are.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 06:16
No. 206418
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
[X] She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
-[X] Maybe visit the Hakurei Shrine on the way.
--[X] And apologize to Mystia.
---[X] Maybe check on Suzunaan, it'd be cool to check out the books there, maybe see who's running the bookstore too.
----[X] Also bring donations for the current Hakurei Shrine Maiden!
I love tourism.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 06:32
No. 206419
▼
>>206400
[Undo]“I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 10:14
No. 206421
▼
[X] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
[X] She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
The Curse of Miare
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/08 (Mon) 11:21
No. 206422
▼
File
171257529157.jpg
- (150.22KB,
850x547,
__hieda_no_akyuu_hieda_no_amu_hieda_no_aya_hieda_n.jpg)
[0] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute.
[9] “Looking forward to working with you, Reisen.” Inaba Akyuu gave a warm smile.
[4] “I’ll be counting on you, big sis!” Inaba Akyuu gave a thumbs-up.
-[14] “Yes ma’am!” Inaba Akyuu gave a crisp salute… “And… I’m looking forward to working with you, Big Sis.” followed by a warm smile.
[4] She was excited to be heading to the village. It felt like a homecoming.
[21] She was curious about the changes to the village. It felt like a mystery, a new tome to read and discover.
[0] She was… nervous. She hadn’t been to the village or anywhere even like it in years, and she wasn’t sure she’d fit in. It felt like she was intruding.
…Inaba Akyuu.
It was an odd thought.
In her past life, she’d been Hieda no Akyuu. Before that, Hieda no Aya. Before that, Hieda no Anana. And so on and so forth, all the way back to Hieda no Are.
For a long, long time, the Child of Miare had been… synonymous with Hieda. And she had memories going back, all that way, as well. Not… full memories, not everything her past selves had experienced. Just the ones that were a part of her duty, of her Chronicle. Of course, one who already sought to cheat death would naturally seek workarounds, and there were no shortage of personal journals, passed from one Child to the next. Some of these journals had been lost during the lifetime of one Child, and painstakingly recreated by the same in any time they could spare. Others had been lost in between, and were gone completely, aside from allusions made in other journals. The Child of Miare’s memory of their past lives was either crystal-clear or utterly lost, with very little in-between.
The Child of Miare was synonymous with the Hieda family… but. But calling them a part of it was not… entirely accurate. Like a lone dot in the center of a ring, the Hiedas revolved around the Child, but the Child was not just a Hieda. Not just, and just not.
Akyuu knew this from personal experience. Her cousins - rare was the case when the Child of Miare had siblings - were wary of her, couldn’t comprehend things about her. Sometimes respected her, sometimes feared her, sometimes celebrated her, and sometimes envied her.
Never befriended her. Once a Child was old enough to talk, they became the unimpeachable head, and were expected to lead the family in many matters. Many, many matters. Their own mother and father were expected to follow them. Not guide them. Never guide them.
She remembered a journal of Hieda no Amu, born in the midst of the tumultuous Sengoku period. When enemies had threatened to batter down their walls, and the Hieda’s Archives had been set aflame, it was Amu who had mounted the defense. Who’d come up with the battle-plan that had protected the clan. That had worked the careful diplomatic handles even long before it happened so another clan would crash on their attacker’s flank, and drive them off.
Amu had been seven at the time. The chronicle covered the defense casually, easily, almost as if it had happened far away, or as a simulation. The journal had chronicled the night after the attack, where they’d had a feast to celebrate with whole roast boar. The night where she’d thrown up into a vase too big for her to carry, and had slowly, painstakingly, over hours, dragged it across the grounds to dump the contents discreetly. Just so that nobody else would see it, would see the true impact of the loss of whole lives worth of memories. Would see how really, truly close they had been to annihilation.
Amu would never have pork again.
Akyuu was glad that memory didn’t come with her reincarnation.
These were things she’d… mostly come to accept, as had each of her past selves. There was a pattern, really; the initial smug burst of confidence in the early years. The loneliness and pressure when reality came. The gentle acceptance and steady preparation. And… and the rising fear as the clock ran short. Shorter each and every time.
For a long, long time, the Child of Miare had only one resource to turn to. Themselves. Their past selves, whatever records they’d had. Endlessly updated and annotated chronicles. Documented strategies and their utility, and the effectiveness of those strategies a century and a half later. Maps and resources and reference guides just for other reference guides, and new replacements of lost work. The Child of Miare supported the Hieda, and they acted as the Child bid. But they never supported the Child in that way. The Child was Above them. The child was a core part of the Hieda, but they weren't part of the Hieda family.
Nor were they necessarily part of the lineage. The many, many eccentricities of the Child of Miare meant that few had taken husbands or wives. Some had had lovers, but… but there was no guarantee any records of them would survive, or heirs be born in the few moments shared. All too often, the Child was and would always be a child, not a parent. Prized but vestigial blooms of the family tree, never to bear fruit.
Hieda no Ayo’s wife had not managed to bear his children before her time was cut short, even shorter than her fated husband. In mourning, Ayo had produced pages upon pages on her. Whole tomes filled with love and loss. But. But when the attacks had come during Amu’s life, she had not yet read many of the personal journals of her own past selves, and had treated those tomes as acceptable losses compared to the ones with tactical and diplomatic information.
When she realized how little remained in records of Ayo’s wife, Amu had cursed her own thoughtlessness, felt a betrayal of her past self. Felt a betrayal of the few promises left recorded by Ayo. And Amu had sworn, over and over, that the same would not happen to her fiance.
If only she’d included her fiance’s name. Akyuu had poured over a hundred writings and still wasn’t sure who it was.
A Child of Miare’s one and only advisor was long, long gone by the time they were born… and any gaps that came about as a result of that, they’d just have to live with, and struggle through without. That was what it meant to be a Child of Miare. That was what it meant to be Hieda no Are, Hieda no Aichi, Hieda no Ani, no Ami, no Ayo, no Ago, Amu, Anana, Aya… and, naturally, Hieda no Akyuu.
But she wasn’t Hieda no Akyuu. Not now, at least. She’d been Akyuu the pet rabbit, Akyuu the Eagle Ravi, but she’d always planned for those positions to be temporary. And while the military lifestyle had forcefully shaped her, in some ways she’d just fallen back on her usual. Being ostracized for perceived lunacy and for timeless memory weren’t so different, in the end.
But she’d never expected to meet her sister in this life. For it to be someone she knew. And even if she’d known those things would happen, with a hundred percent certainty, she never, ever expected them to want to be her sister.
Pulling herself out of her memories of memories… she took a look at Reisen again. It was strange. She didn’t seem much older than Akyuu appeared now, but the younger rabbit knew Reisen was actually older than the lives of both Akyuus combined. She was a good head taller and had developed significantly, but Akyuu already was better compared to the rabbit than she had been when they first met, and that had been some time before now. Inaba Akyuu likely had better prospects to look forward to in that regard than her past life had ever had.
And unlike so many of those around Aya and Anana and all the rest, Reisen… seemed to want a real connection. She’d been the one to call Akyuu her little sister first - likely she’d resolved to do so while Akyuu had been recovering. And unlike so many others, she could teach Akyuu things, she was teaching Akyuu things already. Akyuu’s mind went back to the Lunatic Gun, how she’d always been trying to emulate her sister’s skill with it. She’d… never expected that she might have someone she’d be able to ask about it, that could answer in words and not in yellowed pages.
Inaba Akyuu… wanted that too. Desperately.
“...Akyuu? H.Q. to Akyuu?” She blinked. She’d been spacing out for a solid minute, and now Reisen was looking at her with genuine concern. Several different thoughts of what she should say spun through her head, but only one of them had the backing of fresh training, and in lieu of something she wanted to say, something she’d learned to jumped in front first.
Her hand chopped up in a perfect salute. “Yes Ma’am!” …No, no, no, earth it earth it earth iiiiiiiit! The elder rabbit blinked, then chuckled at how stiff she was. The younger rabbit blushed furiously, trying to salvage what she wanted to say. The saluting hand went limp, to be clutched by its counterpart.
“And…” The words were hard to say. It was something Akyuu had never expected to say, to need to say, and she struggled to force it out of herself. Reisen had paused, looking at her expectantly.
“And… I’m looking forward to working with you… Big sis.”
There, she’d said it. She gave a smile, warm if only because of the heat of her cheeks. Then she blushed, hiding behind her ear, not sure what to say.
Waiting for a response that felt like it would never come.
And then…
Mew 2024/04/08 (Mon) 11:46
No. 206423
▼
You can't just do this to us author/j
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 11:49
No. 206424
▼
>>Insert image of Tewi holding up a "The End" sign.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 12:14
No. 206425
▼
Cliff hangers go against Moonocracy author, please step into the purity chamber.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/08 (Mon) 12:35
No. 206426
▼
soup
soup 2024/04/08 (Mon) 12:38
No. 206427
▼
Welp, see you guys in the next few months. It's been a good run.
The Lunar Rabbit Sisters
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/08 (Mon) 12:42
No. 206428
▼
Eirin had been reaching out to adjust the headband for the fifth time when Kaguya swatted her hands away. “Oh, stop fussing, Eirin!” The princess pushed the headband back; possibly just to spite her, and continued walking towards the meetup point.
She sighed, stepping away and keeping pace. The princess looked… well, like she normally did on these ventures; incredibly suspicious. She wore a mask over her eyes that rendered them little more than white gaps in the black fabric, and the pair of ears on the headband were obviously stitched and artificial. But… honestly, that worked better for the Princess. Many of the Lunar Capital had long assumed Houraisan Kaguya was above base silliness, or imagined her a sinister empress willing to sink into the depths of depravity. The goal of the disguise was to distance the princess’s appearance from that impression.
Truly taking on the traits of their warrior race would not distance her from that impression. Acting the kooky lapin-ista with a distorted sense of her own ability to disguise herself would. And it was easier for her to act out, too - she could act more like her regal self, or get huffy at the ‘other’ rabbits, and that would just sell the physical disguise’s fakeness, while hiding the real disguise’s true nature.
A tiny part of Eirin, one that hadn’t been silenced in thousands upon thousands of years, made the obvious point; that a disguise worked best when it wasn’t a disguise at all. With the full… guise in place, she nodded, and opened the door to check on the delivery girls.
It took her a few moments to process, but… she had been expecting it eventually. Reisen had just about jumped her little sister, and was squeezing the younger rabbit in tight. For her part, Akyuu was… hugging back, shyly at first, then more firmly and closely. More needily.
Reisen had been clear about keeping a certain level of distance from Akyuu until she accepted her - after all, she’d had days to process what Akyuu had learned just this morning. She hadn’t quite managed to maintain that distance, but the intention was there. There was only one reason why Reisen would have suddenly made that jump to what she was doing now.
Kaguya leaned in front of Eirin, grinning slyly. “Ei-rin…” The doctor remembered herself, taking a deep breath and steadying her smile to a version more restrained. She waited for a few moments, but when Akyuu’s movements started to go from ‘enjoying the hug’ to ‘tapping out’, she cleared her throat and stepped in.
“Ready to go, you two?”
Reisen immediately realized what she was doing, and released Akyuu from the cushioning many a man would have accepted as a worthy pillow to die on. Her little sister gasped for air. Both were blushing furiously at having been caught.
Eirin did her best to keep her amusement in check. “There’ll be plenty of time for that later, you two.” She grinned, waving at the princess. “We’re ready to go here, as well.”
Akyuu took one look at Kaguya’s… state and her expression began to shift away from embarrassment. Reisen seemed to catch on, and seemed to transmit something before Akyuu made a careless comment. The younger rabbit wisely held her tongue.
But there were more ways to transmit things silently than with thought alone. Eirin smiled coyly at Kaguya. “Good thing you’re there to keep an eye on them. I suspect by the time you’re back, Akyuu will have Reisen wrapped around her little finger.”
Kaguya chuckled back. “Oh, I’ll keep an eye on them, don’t worry.” The two sisters blushed furiously, as Kaguya stepped up to meet them. “Now, let’s make the most of this, eh?”
Eirin waved. “I’ll handle things here for the day. Have a good time, Kaguya, Reisen, Akyuu. Hope to hear all the details when you get home.”
Akyuu blinked, taking the message in, before smiling and chopping off a salute. “Yes, Lady Eirin! I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about.” The salute eased slightly at the other two’s chuckling. Not wanting to dwell on her sister’s awkwardness, Reisen kicked off the run, starting to lead the way out of Eientei and to the village. Eirin waved them off, barely holding off from a full-on grin of her own.
When they were out of sight, she reached into her pocket. Out came the distress beacon. It wasn’t quite a pattern she recognised… but perhaps it was meant to go with the pod?
“Now… what secrets do you hold, I wonder?”
Turning around, she walked inside, the orb in her hand. …It would be like Sagume, to use a desperate rabbit’s desire to keep their mission intact to secret something alongside her.
Whether what had come down with Akyuu was a boon or a burr yet remained to be seen, though. Sagume was ever enigmatic. But… just in case, Eirin made a small note to herself.
To make sure that spell was ready by nightfall.
That was some good soup :p
Next update will be tomorrow and will have the next choices. Sorry, but the village is gonna be one more day away!
Sisters, For Real This Time
Mew 2024/04/08 (Mon) 12:47
No. 206430
▼
This was an adorable update. We are now sisters with Reisen. This has been a good day. Next stop, the human village! Wonder what is going to happen here...
>>cushioning many a man would have accepted as a worthy pillow to die on
hehehe. funny joke.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 12:52
No. 206431
▼
Oh fuck. Double incident. That's bad.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 12:58
No. 206432
▼
That was adorable. Nothing more needs to be said.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 13:08
No. 206433
▼
>>206431
Just reread because I gave myself whiplash with my reaction to the end of the update in contrast to how cute that was.
> Turning around, she walked inside, the orb in her hand.
Triple incident? I feel like many mistakes in our choices may have been made this past few days.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 13:17
No. 206434
▼
>>206433
>She paused, as her hand clasped around something round. She pulled it out, looking it over with curiosity.
>It appeared to be a distress beacon, and not one she’d packed.
The orb's just the distress beacon.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 13:28
No. 206435
▼
>>206434
I know what she says it is but I'm also registering "orb" and "put there by Sagume" so...
Let me be paranoid.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 13:56
No. 206436
▼
The orb is obviously a stratagem, I'm guessing reinforcements.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 14:04
No. 206437
▼
Someone tell Yuyuko to hurry up and steal spring! We can have all the incidents!
Kosu 2024/04/08 (Mon) 14:30
No. 206438
▼
I was fine with a more formal relationship but I have to admit Reisen melting for her new little sister has brought a smile to my face and made my heart grow three sizes.
"Next update will be tomorrow and will have the next choices. Sorry, but the village is gonna be one more day away!"
That's great way to recover from the insulin spike we got these couple updates.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 14:48
No. 206439
▼
I may not have voted for this outcome but I am perfectly fine with it.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 16:08
No. 206440
▼
>>206431
This technically isn’t a guarantee, as Eirin doesn’t exactly know what Sagume is planning, and has outright stated it’s a just in case measure. Still, even the possibility of a double incident is really bad.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 16:14
No. 206441
▼
Remi is going to be
so upset that her incident gets upstaged.
also the updates were So good!
>>206437
somehow get the Moriya to show up early and we get, what? 4 more incidents kicking off at the same time for 8+ total simultaneous incidents!
...Reimu Hakurei's mom would either drop on the spot or drop everyone else, and Yukari would help!
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 16:33
No. 206442
▼
>>Sadge
Sylent-M 2024/04/08 (Mon) 18:46
No. 206443
▼
>>"She was a good head taller and had developed significantly, but Akyuu already was better compared to the rabbit than she had been when they first met, and that had been some time before now. Inaba Akyuu likely had better prospects to look forward to in that regard than her past life had ever had."
This sentence is really throwing me for a loop. I think the intended reading is that Akyuu's going to have a fuller figure then Reisen, but the bit about being better than when they met is real confusing. They met either 3 days ago, or a year or two in the future. Did she have a growth spurt in the past couple hours?
On a different note, would anyone in the village find the name Akyuu suspicious/noteworthy? It matches the naming system the Child of Miare goes by, and there's no reason to think they wouldn't've kept their memories despite reincarnating elsewhere. Taking the name even if it wasn't the one they were born with isn't an unreasonable expectation. And I don't think it's a common name in Japanese.
Kosu 2024/04/08 (Mon) 19:11
No. 206444
▼
>>206443
What I understood is:
>>"the younger rabbit knew Reisen was actually older than the lives of both Akyuus combined. She was a good head taller and had developed significantly"
"Reisen is a head taller than Akyuu is now and well developed"
>>"but Akyuu already was better compared to the rabbit than she had been when they first met, and that had been some time before now."
"bnuuy Akyuu's body is better than when she was as a human"
>>"Inaba Akyuu likely had better prospects to look forward to in that regard than her past life had ever had."
"She'll probably be as well developed as her sister"
Something like that, but yeah I see how the phrasing could be sort of confusing
Kosu 2024/04/08 (Mon) 19:28
No. 206445
▼
>>206443
Oh and regarding Akyuu's name, yeah it's not common at all so it could ring a bell or two with people, but "the Child of Miare is obviously human and she's a rabbit so it must be only a coincidence" would be the common logic.
How big was the scope of the Immaterial Children? Yeah surely in her specific case it would be huge since she was from a renowned family, but how well known was the incident for the common folk? (we know the Yama and Hakugyoukurou know about the incident, but they're not exactly regular people. Also, it was described as miscarriages even if their souls ended up elsewhere). Akyuu's reincarnation time is not exact and it could have been covered up by the family for all we know.
In short: I don't think the common folk will know. Maybe the Hieda family and those related who might actually know what happened will assume it could actually be her.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 22:38
No. 206446
▼
Reisen's reaction was glorious and adorable.
Anonymous 2024/04/08 (Mon) 22:53
No. 206447
▼
>>206445
Plus she would recognize her family, and know things that only someone from the family could know, or dictate passages from earlier chronicles or the diaries she read that nobody should have access to outside of the Child of Miare.
Can't breathe
Kosu 2024/04/09 (Tue) 05:09
No. 206448
▼
"Reisen had just about jumped her little sister, and was squeezing the younger rabbit in tight. For her part, Akyuu was… hugging back, shyly at first, then more firmly and closely. More needily.
Reisen had been clear about keeping a certain level of distance from Akyuu until she accepted her. She hadn’t quite managed to maintain that distance, but the intention was there. There was only one reason why Reisen would have suddenly made that jump to what she was doing now."
Quick drawing before going to sleep. See ya tomorrow.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 06:23
No. 206449
▼
Pointedly Collecting 98 Differences
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/09 (Tue) 15:48
No. 206450
▼
File
171267771347.jpg
- (1.93MB,
1526x1145,
__hakurei_reimu_kirisame_marisa_remilia_scarlet_fl.jpg)
Reisen tapped her hand to her chin. “...So, the vampire’s arrival itself is known as the Vampire Incident?”
Akyuu nodded, “Yes. Merely by arriving, they caused massive trouble. That was when the Spell Card duels were introduced, and the Scarlet Mist Incident was when they were first tried.”
“And the Scarlet Mist Incident… it happens next full moon?”
Another nod. “Yes. Right in the heat of midsummer. Vampires tend to have a flair for the dramatic.”
Reisen hummed, folding her arms. “They do seem like trouble… And the Shrine Maiden these days is…”
Kaguya - Inaba Teruyo pulled up a sleeve to do a rather ill-fitting gesture of strength. “I’m sure we can take them if we have to. But, you know…” She turned to Akyuu. For someone who’s foretelling what could be a disaster, you’re sure excited, Akyuu."
The chronicler blushed. “Ah, I think it’s the novelist in me.” She spread her arms wide. “Imagine! A whole world ever-so-slightly different from the one you know! One where the ramifications of your presence or absence drastically reshape the future! Who wouldn’t be excited?”
Reisen chuckled. “Ah, you like writing stories? Careful, Lady Eirin gets obsessive about medical accuracy.”
“Oh, I’ll bet… I wonder what change I’ll see first? Some changes to the city layout? A new piece of city walls?”
The princess gave a knowing smile. “If what you’re saying is true, I bet you’ll notice the changes before you can even see the village.”
Akyuu turned to her, about to ask what she meant, when a “halt!” broke her train of thought. She looked up towards the path ahead, to see two Wolf Tengu, their spears interlocking over the path.
Akyuu’s breath hitched, just a bit. Her heart pounded in her chest, for a second, before she managed to ease it. They were just guards. They weren't a threat.
Reisen waved them down. “Easy, boys. It’s just the usual deliveries.”
The slightly more grizzled of the two wolves stepped forward, as Reisen offered her pack. Akyuu followed her lead, and did the same, prompting the softer-looking wolf to inspect hers.
“...Easy enough. Nice to see you again, Reisen. And you too… Lady Teruyo.” The grizzled wolf’s eyes turned to the youngest rabbit. “And this is…?”
Reisen gave a big grin. “This is Akyuu! My little sister. It’s her first time in the village in a long time, so she’s a bit excited to see how it’s changed.”
The younger wolf began to rub his chin. “Sis-ters…” His voice indicated that he was ruminating on the matter, and would likely continue to ruminate on it several times that night.
Reisen’s expression… stiffened, slightly. She leaned in, and Akyuu noticed a slight shift in the air around her and the younger wolf, like a translucent bubble. She didn’t hear what her older sister said.
But the wolf did. He silently whimpered, tucking his tail between his legs. The older wolf just chuckled, looking through the bubble at Akyuu. “Don’t worry about him. He’s just… imaginative. Like a lot of young lads.”
Akyuu nodded. “It’s fine.” She didn’t mind it. In fact, in a certain sense, she was looking forward to it. “Say, when did this… checkpointing start?”
The older wolf shrugged. “Shortly after the Lotus Rampant incident. Like a lot of the security measures. Right, there’s clearly no contraband here, so let’s just let the rabbits through, shall we?”
The two wolves stepped aside, one more hurriedly than the other, and the three continued. ‘Teruyo’ stepped forward, grinning. “Well, was I right?”
Akyuu nodded, her mind already burning with questions.
The human village was… different. Very very different, in some ways.
Youkai were all over the place. More so than Reimu would have allowed even on her most patient of days. Akyuu literally couldn’t find a spot where there wasn’t at least one in view. And they were openly dominant, pushing the humans around, and pressuring them in other ways. A wolf tengu was sat astride a heavy crate being carried by two burly men, mockingly adding to their load as she teased them. A male kappa was hovering right behind a young woman, talking about the taste of her shirikodama casually while pushing her to make a sale. Akyuu had never seen the youkai of Gensokyo this close and oppressive.
And yet… there was a restraint to it. It only really stood out because Akyuu knew how they’d react otherwise, but the youkai were… only so aggressive. Those already stressed and paranoid they left alone, and where there were potential actual risks to any humans, they bullied the others into action. Coincidentally chasing a lost child towards a village constable, or eagerly discussing eating the corpses of a few workers about to cause an accident.
There was a precarious balancing act going on here. A balance between fear and protection. The youkai wanted the humans to fear them, but they also wanted them safe enough to keep fearing them into their old age. Akyuu’s pen-hand was already itching.
The was-a-and-would-be-again-novelist did her best to focus on their task, leading Reisen and Kaguya to each place in turn. The addresses weren’t too hard to recollect, but the streets had changed a little. There was a bridge that hadn’t actually been built yet - instead, the youkai rabbits hopped the gap, and the one they were escorting floated over. A few of the buildings right on the edges had apparently been rebuilt, and the doors weren’t always where Akyuu was expecting them to be. But still, it was clear to her accompaniment that she knew her way around the city, and they were happy to be lead.
“I have to say,” Reisen said, watching the younger rabbit rattle off another heading. “It’s much easier to believe you’re a reincarnated human when you’re doing this.”
Akyuu nodded. “That’s the point, isn’t it? I’m showing off my stuff!” She grinned, waving them forward. “It’s the perfect memory of the Child of Miare!”
Kaguya hummed. “Speaking off… are you going to visit the Hieda estate?”
Akyuu stiffened, hesitant. “...No… I’m not sure I’m ready yet. I’d like to speak to the Yama first, actually.” She was fully aware that the image the Hieda had of their Children, and frankly… Akyuu wouldn’t fit it right now. She was a bit too rabbity, and a bit too soldiery, to be taken at anywhere near face value. And unlike the residents of Eientei, the Hieda wouldn’t know that she was a fresh alien rabbit, rather than just another earth rabbit playing a disguise. She needed the Yama’s backing, the support of someone who knew her down to her soul, before she could step to her old doors more easily. “...And I’m fine spending a few more days with R- a few more days at Eientei before I do that.” Her older sister’s eyes sparkled.
“I’m glad to hear that, little sis.” The elder rabbit chuckled. “So… what about your past? What’s the biggest difference?”
Akyuu blushed, but redoubled her enthusiasm. “The youkai! They’re trying to balance protecting the village with making sure they still fear youkai, right? That’s the goal?” Oooh, a novella about a guardian spirit having to act as a foul threat, she’d have to make use of that.
“Yep, not surprised at that one.” Reisen grinned. “Ever since the Lotus Rampant Incident - when a youkai named Kazami Yuuka went on a rampage… and many other individuals did too. As a result, all the big youkai groups stepped up to help keep the humans safe for everyone..”
Akyuu furrowed her brow. “It’s… strange to think about. What you’re calling the Lotus Rampant incident didn’t get anywhere near as out of control in our world. It’s not even really considered an incident - just an attack on the Hakurei Shrine.”
Kaguya hummed. “Because the Shrine Maiden that should have been being trained there is missing, right?”
Akyuu nodded. “Reimu has immense natural talent. She'd go berserk if she saw the state the village is in. I guess it’s not surprising some of the training incidents went out of control without her there.”
Kaguya tilted her head. “Training incidents?”
Akyuu blinked. “Oh, sorry, of course that term isn’t used here. The five events that happened at the shrine between when Reimu started her apprenticeship, and… let’s say inheriting the mantle fully were often considered ‘training’ incidents, because they often didn’t go far from the shrine, and had relatively low impact for what they were. So they were often viewed as… staged. Deliberately set up to train the miko for the real threats to come. And because of how the spell card rules were only set up after the Vampire Incident, it’s often not counted either.”
“Well, here they were very much full incidents, from the Twinned Invasion to the Makai Incursion. Only…”
“Only what?”
Kaguya hummed. “Next delivery, girls, don’t get too distracted yet.”
The two delivery rabbits blushed, having to duck back to the entrance after nearly passing it. The next few deliveries were all adjacent to each other, giving them little time to talk.
By the time they were done, everyone’s stomachs were grumbling. Kaguya was the one to take the initiative, in a fashion.
“Now, Akyuu, you’re the long-time resident, right? Why don’t you take us someplace interesting, or some place you’ve been missing, for lunch?”
Akyuu nodded, giving it some thought. Part of her wanted to buy at Mystia’s place as an apology, but apparently the new cart was still being built. With that said… two places did come to mind.
[ ] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
[ ] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:08
No. 206451
▼
>>[ ] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Geidontei?
Regardless...
[x] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
I'm a bit interested in this choice.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:10
No. 206452
▼
[X] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
Oh. Bye bye, status quo. It's probably for the best considering the alternative, but maybe getting rid of the original incident resolvers before others came in was more dangerous than I thought.
I wonder if there's an alternate universe out there where a human-spirited Amanojakyuu is planning to plagarize Seija.
A Saccharine Plot
Mew 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:11
No. 206453
▼
Hm, seems Akyuu has some things she remembers that can be used...but parfaits...ugh, this is hard. Not the most impactful decision though, so let's see...
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
I'd feel that Akyuu would like to test what she remembers against the changes to the world. These small things are a good start, because if anyone questions her identity with this timeline's history, the smallest changes may poke holes in her alibi. Let's give it a shot.
(X) Also, mark down that parfait place for later.
Man, now I want a parfait.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:21
No. 206454
▼
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Carrot stew...
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:25
No. 206455
▼
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:30
No. 206456
▼
[x] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
My brain just says yes everytime it sees ice cream.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:31
No. 206457
▼
[x] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:50
No. 206458
▼
choices seem to be a toss-up between geidontei and the place where mizuchi ate at while she was possessing mokou in foul detective satori. (nice reference, by the way.) don't really have much of a preference, so i'll just sleep on it and see how it's going in the morning.
pc-98 really did a number on reimu's mom, huh. there's something reisen and kaguya aren't mentioning about her, it feels like...
taking note of the pc-98 incidents: twinned invasion incident is likely hrtp, lotus rampant incident is obviously lls, and the makai incursion is mystic square. that leaves soew and podd. also, it's implied that yumemi is messing around in the animal realm and is aware of the timelines and the changes, likely due to the probability space hypervessel. what does this all mean? i don't know, there's not enough pieces to figure it all out. maybe later on in akyuu's arc we can find more answers on them, or hopefully one of the choices for one of the other immaterial children would have them be related to a pc-98 character.
also, now that i think about it, if we started reimu out as megumu's daughter, she would've had direct access to the village already and seen what the effects of her not being the hakurei shrine maiden have on the village. could've lead to some very interesting character dilemmas, not to mention the go-shintai of the hakurei shrine shooting off to a daitengu's house would be very, very interesting gossip. could've also lined up nicely with akyuu's arc, given the current timeline of events right now.
and speaking of akyuu's arc lining up well with reimu's, akyuu could very well be the one who sent the go-shintai (or at least, convinced reimu's mom to send it out) to reimu to give her memories back. timeline checks out, and akyuu's other options also keeps the lineup fairly well (sagumom might have her defect to earth on the same day, probably just safer since she would've had the authority to launch the hell- i mean meteor pod as a lunarian noble, not to mention that sagume's been shown to visit gensokyo occasionally. going with the scarlets would literally have her arrive in gensokyo on the night itself and still be on time to send it out with some really good maneuvering and a lot of luck.) with that said, we'll still need to find out where marisa, kosuzu, and youmu are.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 16:56
No. 206459
▼
[x] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
HHHHHHHHECK U WHALE
gotem
Kosu 2024/04/09 (Tue) 17:28
No. 206461
▼
[x] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
A bar is usually a better place to gather information, especially Geidontei. Both Akyuu and us want to know what is happening around. The other option might give us info too (I haven't yet read satori's manga so I don't know the relevance of it), but will mostly satisfy a sweet tooth instead.
Also whale.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 18:31
No. 206462
▼
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Time to get to work.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 20:40
No. 206463
▼
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Let's go ruin Miyoi's day
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 20:52
No. 206464
▼
so either a chance to indulge the sweet tooth... or a chance to be the one person that can go in and be the first person to have Miyoi be the one to ask "I'm sorry, have we met?" and be able to ask her "oh, don't you remember me?" and with a straight face! XD
[x] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
-[XP] comment privately to the other two that its a good thing that the others, especially Reimu, are likely to not be able to remember things until she helps them. The resulting 'Crimson Slasher Incident' from Reimu seeing the village as it currently is without... delicate forewarning would probably be one for the history books... but it'll surely be fine right? nothing to worry about whatsoever! =)
naaahhh, let's not jynx that... or should we?
thinking on things... with how the village is... do we have to worry about mizuchi? she was already ticked when spotting a handful of Youkai blending into the village, how much worse would she react if she saw this? she should still be stuck in the underground... unless that got butterflied too...
> a novella about a guardian spirit having to act as a foul threat, she’d have to make use of that.
I'd read that!
and lastly, considering how much things have been butterflied, what are the odds you think that Mima is currently (one of) the Hakurei Shrine god(s)?
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 21:51
No. 206465
▼
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Bwuh time
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 22:35
No. 206466
▼
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 22:39
No. 206467
▼
[x] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
The Geitontei regulars should get a cameo lmao best characters in LE fr
Anonymous 2024/04/09 (Tue) 23:06
No. 206468
▼
"There was a precarious balancing act going on here. A balance between fear and protection. The youkai wanted the humans to fear them, but they also wanted them safe enough to keep fearing them into their old age."
AHH, we're not even halfway done with this series, but I already want MORE!
Also, Eirin's obsession with medical accuracy reminds me of a scene in Book of the New Sun.
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
celery tiem
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/09 (Tue) 23:51
No. 206469
▼
>>206458
Ey, someone gets what the other reference is!
If I did this again, I might not offer a Tengu as one of Reimu’s options. There was very, very little planning that went into anything before I hit play - deliberately, mind - and things are actively reshuffled a bit with each choice of youkai you guys go with. But I might still have offered it, in the end; it’d just have VAST implications.
Oh, because I didn’t note it: One of those options was a spirit choice, the second one. But you chose the middle option, so it didn’t affect her either way. Which might have been for the best.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 02:22
No. 206470
▼
Counting to
>>206468:
Main Choice:
[3] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
[13] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Potential Additions:
[1] (
>>206453) Also, mark down that parfait place for later.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 02:41
No. 206471
▼
[X] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
I like the idea of this incarnation of Akyuu having developed a weakness for sweets and treats (parfait, dango, etc). Would go with the poor discipline a lot of moon rabbits seem to display in canon as both Reisens fled the moon, Ringo and Seiran became deserters post-LoLK, and the ones still on the moon aren't much better either.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 03:15
No. 206472
▼
[X] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
They say business before pleasure, but dessert is serious business.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 03:30
No. 206473
▼
Two more reasons why I’m leaning parfait:
- I think Kaguya will like the parfait more
- with status quo shifted, literally anyone could be at the parfait place right now. Geidontei I think will still have mostly regulars, but we could have like Megumu and Konngara having parfaits together and it’d be perfectly possible from what we know.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 03:34
No. 206474
▼
I wonder what Reimu's response to the Youkai infestation will be. I'm guessing either A. "Where's that Umbrella? I'm going to need a lot of ammo to go full fortune-teller on these guys," or B. "My job is to keep the balance, it seems like they're doing that themselves, saves me from having to do work."
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 03:59
No. 206475
▼
If this is how Gensokyo would turn out without Reimu, I wonder how the Animal Realm will eventually turn out in the long term with Reimu's influence...
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 04:42
No. 206476
▼
>>206474
Invasion, of course. What else?
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 05:09
No. 206477
▼
>>206474
Regarding option A, there’s also the fact that Reimu’s a youkai herself now. And a non-Gensokyo native at that. A human shrine maiden kicking them out of the village is a hassle, but an expected outcome. A foreign youkai trying to expel them, even if she’s the Hakurei Miko, would probably get a lot of pushback.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 08:33
No. 206478
▼
Honestly the whole situation with Reimu is a pretty big mess, outside of the fact that a Youkai being the Hakurei Miko is usually a big no no for the balance of power (even if the current situation already suggest that being incredibly shaky already) she's also directly connected with the Kiketsu, and anyone that knows them and how they operate would never trust her if they were to figure out that she has connections with them (something that is bound to happen if she goes to help solve incidents).
Tough this is probably still a less chaotic situation in the village than if we picked the Tengu for Reimu.
[X] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
Good Ol' Geidontei
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/10 (Wed) 12:44
No. 206479
▼
File
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- (264.10KB,
850x1189,
__hieda_no_akyuu_and_okunoda_miyoi_touhou_drawn_by.jpg)
[5] A restaurant known for its massive parfaits, said to be sweet enough to lighten the heart of even the most vengeful of spirits.
[14] A bar known for the owner’s famous stewed vegetables, and home to a secret Akyuu had always had unusually strong leverage over.
- [1] Also, mark down that parfait place for later.
Akyuu took a sip of her drink. At this age, she was below where even Gensokyo’s low standards would be fine with her imbibing, and it was the middle of the day anyways, so it was green tea for her.
She took a moment to scan the bar. Geidontei always had a cozy air to it. This was before the gambling had been established, so the air was yet clear of smoke, and while she could recognise some regulars, others were new to her. The usual two men that were always here were here, and there was a red mop of hair collapsed on one of the tables, snoozing off a morning cup of lager. And, of course, the whale-topped waitress, quietly cleaning the main counter.
“You know, Lady Teruyo,” she said, slyly. “I’ve heard there’s rumors of the Child of Miare reappearing.”
Kaguya chuckled, nodded. “Yes, yes, I’ve heard that as well. Of course, they don’t want to announce things too quickly, but the rumor is it’s looking quite likely.” Akyuu decided to take that as a compliment.
The young rabbit turned her head, as the waitress began to pick up some dishes. “Do you think they’ll investigate some of those rumors? You know…” She turned, whispering just loud enough for the waitress to catch them. “Like the one about their being a suima at one of these bars?”
There was a clattering of dishes. Kaguya hummed, as if putting much thought into it. “We-ell… if it was the Child of Miare, they’d be the perfect one to hunt them down, wouldn’t they?”
All of a sudden, the waitress was next to them. Pink hair and a figure Akyuu had always envied (though she expected to much more closely rival it, this time) had accompanied the whale hat in a breathless rush to their table.
“S-say,” Okunoda Miyoi stuttered. “You wouldn’t happen to know which bar is supposed to have a suima, would you?”
The girls shook her head. “Sorry, ma’am. No idea.” Akyuu shrugged. “Though I’d heard it was on the south side, or thereabouts.”
Miyoi did her best to look nonchalant. “W-well, if you hear anything, do let us know, would you?” The two ladies now in guises as common rabbits dutifully nodded, and Miyoi scurried away.
Reisen looked… awkward sitting next to them. She coughed. “...You two done? Leave the poor woman alone, would you?”
Akyuu nodded, conceding the point. “Sorry. It’s just… In my past life, she was the one youkai I had a leg up on. I guess it became a bit of a habit to tease her because of that.”
Akyuu had had no small amount of fun at the zashiki-warashi’s expense. Zashiki-warashi, by their nature, tended not to be too well-traveled, and thus it was surprisingly easy to throw on another guise and have her think she was just a servant. Akyuu had been happy to throw the poster girl of Geidontei any number of rumors about the Child of Miare visiting a bar in the area any day now, befuddling the poor girl that her cover could be blown any minute - and completely unaware of the fact it was long, long blown already, by the very girl riling her up in the first place.
Kaguya nodded at the comment, and gave a small smile. “So - you said you were a novelist, not just a chronicler?”
Akyuu nodded. “Oh, I’d be a bit rusty, but I wrote a fair few murder mysteries in my time.”
Kaguya smiled. “Perhaps you should rewrite some of those. They could be very, very useful.”
Reisen raised an eyebrow. “You mean to help pay off her debt?” The princess shook her head.
“Akyuu, these friends of yours… do any of them like reading?”
The novelist caught on immediately. “Ohhhhh, well…” She tapped on her fingers. “One was infamous for their book thievery, and another helped run a book shop where they hoarded all the Youma books.” She grinned. “And one of the other two managed to really mess up her sleep schedule reading my novels, multiple times.”
She put her hands together. “I can see what you’re thinking. Perhaps if I dust off my old pen-name, they might naturally remember just by reading my books!” The princess nodded, grinning. “Especially if I pen in some events of the world that was…” She frowned. “But… what if they don’t read it? Or what if they’re too far to read it…?”
Reisen chirped up. “I think we can arrange something. I’m curious how many of my tricks are actually IN-8 tricks - perhaps we can create a big psychic ping for them to latch on to?”
Akyuu looked over at her. “If you think we can, I’d love to! And I’m curious how many of your tricks I can learn, too.” Reisen puffed up considerably at that.
Miyoi returned, this time bearing their stews, and the three of them tucked eagerly into lunch. Akyuu was hungrier than she expected - after a few years of carrying military packs and with a rabbit youkai’s body, she’d taken the weight of the deliveries in stride, but there were quite a lot of strides in traveling all over the village. More questions could wait, her stomach could not.
With the three not talking much, Akyuu found herself listening in to the other conversations at the bar. Particularly that of the old men - they tended to be incredible at gathering gossip here. In all the time Akyuu had visited, she’d never gotten either of their names, just calling them “Mustache” and “Side-shave” in her head. It wasn’t that she couldn’t find out, it was that doing so would reveal she didn’t know it in the first place.
Side-shave was murmuring, after glancing at the rabbits. “Fixed the missus’ hip right up, it did. Marvelous thing, rabbit medicine.”
Mustache nodded. “Aye, but they’re the exception, not the rule. And regardless… all the youkai are testing their luck these days. Just saw that sparrow girl trying to bury her sorrows in cream over at that parfait place. That Hakurei heiress needs to come sooner, not later.”
Side-shave clasped his hands together, idly flicking with a loose finger at the bouncy tip of his pompadour. “What do you expect her to do? She’s been trying the inheritance ritual every day, and it’s not sticking on any of the girls. At this point they’re looking for a long-lost relative from abroad to come in and inherit, and they’re not even sure long-lost relatives exist.”
The other man sighed, leaning back and running his hands through his mullet. “Wonder what she did to piss the Hakurei God off like this. Everyone’s on a knife’s edge.”
That was the vibe Akyuu was picking up. The way Reisen had framed it, the youkai were essentially framing their actions as ‘pushing their luck’ - getting pushy on the humans as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden grew weaker, while secretly providing the support she couldn’t. If it became clear the the youkai were protecting humans in the Hakurei’s moment of weakness, and not pressuring them, the whole system would fall apart in a disastrous way, and many of the youkai feared that they’d be forced to go on a deadly rampage just to maintain their image. When preventing deadly rampages was the whole point of the arrangement.
And this powder-keg of a situation, with its fuse likely about to be lit with a Scarlet flame, was missing one key thing. A shrine maiden still hale and hearty enough to bring the youkai to task, or at least a prospective candidate for such. Hakurei Shrine Maidens… were never known to live too long. There was only so much the incoming generation could protect the next, and past a certain point, age caught up to them - not even necessarily weakening their spiritual power, but slowing their reactions and withering their throwing arms. Everyone, including the youkai, were hoping that a new Shrine Maiden would be able to bring things back to roughly how they should be.
…Oh, but one should be careful what one wished for, Akyuu mused. Especially if one was a youkai, wishing for a youkai hunter. If Akyuu knew her, Reimu'd take one look at this situation and start sending who packs of youkai running for the hills.
Side-shave shook his head. “I don’t know if it’s the Hakurei God. I think the Immaterial Children Incident just… broke her spirit. After all, after losing her husband to that accident, to lose her child as well…” He finished off his cup, pouring another one for both of them, and the two men spent a few minutes ruminating in silence.
Akyuu blinked. Still eating her stew, she sent a psychic message off - Moon Rabbits had a work-around for talking with one’s mouth full. +Reisen, the Immaterial Children Incident… is that about us?+
Reisen gave an affirmative-sounding grunt through a mouthful of pumpkin. +I was told not to mention it to you until you overheard it otherwise. Actually, to try and fish it out from you, if I could.+
The elder rabbit tapped out on her fingers. +Four false pregnancies in even less years, all on wealthy or prominent families in the village. The way you’ve described yourself and the other three humans lines up exactly with it; but we wanted to know if you knew that before you could realistically learn it.+
Akyuu rubbed her chin in thought. +...Because that’d be an obvious sign the memories were planted in this life.+ Reisen nodded.
Side-shave spoke up again, as he finished his cup. “...Guess it goes to show, huh? Even if you catch the mastermind, that won’t necessarily fix the damage they’ve done.”
Both men ruminated a little more. “Well, it’s not a complete lost cause. They’ve got that shikigami, now, and they’re helping out. Maybe when a successor does finally come, they’ll be able to keep the current one safe to train her properly.” Mustache pointed out, drawing a nod from his counterpart. “That shikigami’s working so hard, it’s the one thing that feels like it’s always on our side. Even if it is, well… you know.”
Akyuu’s spoon found nothing, and she blinked, looking down at her bowl. She’d finished while listening in, and the other two had already finished as well. The princess got up to arrange payment, and Reisen was taking a second to redistribute the pack’s weight for the second half. That left Akyuu free for a couple of minutes, and she found herself drifting over to the two old men.
Mustache lifted his glass at her in a nod. “You’re the normal delivery girl’s little sister, right? You look just like her.” Akyuu nodded. “Good to see you helping out. I hope my son grows up to be as helpful to his family as you are.”
Akyuu blushed. “E-er, right. Forgive me, but I couldn’t help overhearing some things… mind if I ask a question while my sister and Lady Teruyo get us ready?”
The men nodded. Side-shave chuckled. “So it’s just as hard to get information into the rabbit warrens as it is to get info out, huh? Shoot, lass.” Knowing she didn’t have much time, Akyuu decided to prioritize one particular topic:
[ ] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
[ ] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 12:54
No. 206480
▼
[x] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:07
No. 206481
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
It'd be nice to know if tampering with spacetime ruined anyone (that we care about)'s life, so we get a better profile of our resources.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:21
No. 206482
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
Depending on who took the blame we could try to figure out other potential changes to the timeline, especially depending on the punishment they got, knowing the Shikigami may or may not be useful info, really depends on who it is and if we knew her/him.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:32
No. 206483
▼
The shikigami's most likely from Yukari. I highly doubt it's one of her crow messengers, so it's either Ran or Chen. Unless Akyuu has plans to visit the Shrine, I don't think it's as important to know as the other option.
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
Kosu 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:34
No. 206484
▼
"Just saw that sparrow girl trying to bury her sorrows in cream over at that parfait place."
Oh, we missed a chance to apologize :(
It'll be interesting to hear who they think is the mastermind, but I'm curious about the Hakurei shikigami... Poor Hakurei miko, she's been through a lot.
I'll hold off from voting for a while to see if there are good reasons for one or the other, for now I'm leaning towards the latter. Especially since Aunn might just be a statue yet, I'm curious
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:34
No. 206485
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:39
No. 206486
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:44
No. 206487
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Consequences
Mew 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:53
No. 206488
▼
So, someone took the blame for these mysterious disappearances in this timeline, huh. Wonder if that's history working overtime to rectify Keine's edits. Either way, who the hell is it?
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
Not much else to comment on this time, another small choice. Makes me wonder when the next big thing will occur. For now, just gonna look at the writing and comment.
>>And this powder-keg of a situation, with its fuse likely about to be lit with a Scarlet flame, was missing one key thing. A shrine maiden still hale and hearty enough to bring the youkai to task.
Without the spell card system, it's really likely that the current Hakurei maiden will get put into the ground. And with that, the balance of Gensokyo will burn to the ground. Though an interesting scenario, one we'd rather avoid.
>>"I guess it became a bit of a habit to tease her because of that."
Though I have no idea where thin interaction stems from, (haven't read the manga yet) this is cute. Akyuu has a mischievous side as well, it seems.
Welp, that's it for this update. The Scarlet Mist is arriving soon, and with it, a lot of trouble. Will be awaiting the next update.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 13:58
No. 206489
▼
[x] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
Zzz...
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 14:29
No. 206490
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
Well, isn’t this interesting. With the shikigami, we can guess make a solid guess that it’s Ran who’s helping out, but the fact that this incident has a “mastermind” is very new to us. In fact… I wonder if this is connected to the whole Yumemi situation everyone’s talking about?
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 14:54
No. 206491
▼
no strong preference for either of the two options yet, but i have Thoughts and i'm going to ramble and get the ball rolling on this matter: from a certain point of view, the "mastermind" of the immaterial incident is technically keine, since she was the one who actually changed history. eirin, kaguya, and mokou might have lent her the power to be able to do so in the first place, but ultimately keine was the one who did this.
now, with an incident this severe, everyone is going to be looking for the mastermind. someone might have put the pieces together, deducted the modus operandi of the whole incident, and went after the only person who has the ability to alter history itself: keine. since eirin and kaguya don't remember the past, it's safe to assume she doesn't either. which means that while she really is the culprit, she's also innocent. of course, it's not like they would know that...
(if i'm wrong, though, i wonder who they pin the blame on instead...)
for the shikigami, there's a lot of possible options. of course, yukari has ran and chen, and it's entirely possible she might donate one of them to help out at the shrine. okina could awaken aunn earlier in the timeline to help out. kasen could either help out herself or send one of her pets instead, though i don't think it's her because she doesn't seem like the type to 1. stay back and send someone else in her stead when an incident is this severe, 2. lay low and let the rumors assume she's a shikigami instead of a hermit or a sage.
which leaves us with either yukari or okina lending a hand. of course, the possibility of reimu's mom just making a shikigami of her own is there, but in order to really find out which one it is...
[X] The Hakurei Shrine's Shikigami
(i realize now that i said at the start that i didn't have a preference, but after writing all that, my opinion changed. whoops.)
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 14:57
No. 206492
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
We're gonna learn about the Shikigami sooner or later, even if not as Akyuu. This is far more important to get info on.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 15:13
No. 206493
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
Who the shikigami of the Hakurei Shrine feels like something that could easily be learned at more or less random, even by just asking Reisen, while this is something I feel just doesn't get brought up similarly.
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/04/10 (Wed) 15:37
No. 206494
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 15:48
No. 206495
▼
>>206492
[UNDO] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
I just realized I'm voting with my curiosity and not with what I WANT to do in mind. I want to get info to help support the Hakurei Shrine Maiden if we can instead of getting info to talk to a supposed mastermind who may or may not be innocent. Priorities.
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 17:10
No. 206496
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 17:29
No. 206497
▼
>>206491 here, changing my vote.
with the way things are going, a visit to the hakurei shrine seems a bit inevitable, and we'll be able to find a suitable answer to who this mysterious shikigami is. not to mention that there's a chance we might run into this shikigami in the village (though that chance is admittedly a bit small). also,
>>206493 has a point in that information regarding the shikigami is probably more readily available than anyone willing to talk about the immaterial children incident, although i think reisen or kaguya would happily answer any of akyuu's questions regarding either choice.
if my guess is right and they got keine, it's likely she got kicked out of the village and is currently staying with mokou (if she didn't get exterminated for good or became subject to some other punishment for disrupting the balance of gensokyo this badly, that is). i think there's some inherent symbolism or something in seeing the other two members of the group who sent us back, but if i'm being honest, i just want to see how they're doing.
[UNDO] The Hakurei Shrine's Shikigami
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident's Mastermind
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 17:29
No. 206498
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 17:47
No. 206499
▼
Going to vote after work... But is that Komachi passed out on one of the tables?!?
Also we missed Mystia? Nooooo! ;_; though i did vote for going here and aside from missing mystia don't regret it because if that is Komachi we just hit the jackpot! Learned who is likely the Youki of this arc (Hakurei Reimu's mom.) Found a way to contact the Yama, ...and had some fun messing with Miyoi... Which i admit i am a little hypocritical for doing so as i wasn't too amused with Aya's and Mamizou's 'nice bar you got there, serve us some drink or there'll be problems capiche?' Act that they both pulled... But eh.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 18:51
No. 206500
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
We know who masterminded the immaterial children incident, we're literally living with them. I'm way more interested in who's picking up the slack with the Hakurei Shrine.
Also, I would love to see the Moriya Shrine's reaction to the current state of play. I feel like Kanako would quickly come up with something to take advantage of it. And now that I say that, just how badly would Mt. Reimu erupt if the Hakurei shrine actually became a Moriya branch shrine? I think we'd be able to see the resulting spellcards from orbit.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 18:55
No. 206502
▼
>>206499
> Komachi
Is she known for coming all the way up to drink like this? Seems like a long ways to go for a break. She'd need to have had business up here, too, I think.
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 19:18
No. 206503
▼
>>206499
>>206502
Could easily (And much more likely, I think) be Sekibanki. Komachi spends her slacking off time at Kasen's place in the mountains (If she's even there in this version of events) and if she can't do that, she just naps in her boat at the Sanzu River.
I feel like we'll get more pertinent information by looking into the Hakurei Shrine while there's probably...
Someone already looking into the Immaterial Children Incident .
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 21:19
No. 206504
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 21:42
No. 206505
▼
>>206503
I dunno, sekibanki (in the original timeline at least.) would have been too guarded to be caught passed out drunk, especially midday. And if she wasn't as guarded in this timeline then wouldn't akyuu have noticed her head about to fall off or something like that?
The only other notable redhead around town would be Kotohime... Which thinking about it i have a sudden crack theory about her... But regardless it doesn't sound like her either...
As for Komachi, with the child of maire missing the yama probably has had people checking in the village as follow up and to see if she has appeared. Furthermore Komachi has appeared in Lotus Eaters (and around geidontei at that.) And sekibanki hasn't. Our attention was directed at whomever it is so we probably want to follow up, especially if there's a chance it's Komachi.
As for the regular vote... On the one hand we're probably going to be heading to the Hakurei shrine especially considering the oncoming incident tonight? On the other hand we know who the actual culprit of the Immaterial Children Incident sooo?
There might be another candidate for who the Hakurei shikigami is, especially considering how yukari iirc has viewed Ran... Perhaps its ruukoto?
I want to go with the "mastermind" since we're likely to find out the shikigami soon anyway, while it might be good to find out who is taking blame for it and why.
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident's Mastermind
-[X] wait, who is the redhead passed out at a table?
Anonymous 2024/04/10 (Wed) 22:04
No. 206506
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Maybe is chen?
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 00:28
No. 206507
▼
i fell that we need to find more info on the Hakureis and how are they doing, since the "mastermind" of the Immaterial Missing Children is Keine i dont feel that is really necesary and besides she dosent know she is the cause of the incident.
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
i hope the Shikigami is Aunn, she is best doggo and could be of great help to Reimu former mom
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 00:38
No. 206508
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident's Mastermind
We don't know that it is Keine, and even if it is, it's probably a good idea to figure out what happened to her. Especially if we fail and need to go for round 3 or something.
The Shikigami is, by contrast, clearly a public figure. Maybe it's Ran, maybe it's Chen, maybe it's Nitori, who knows? We'll inevitably learn more about them.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 00:51
No. 206509
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident's Mastermind
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/11 (Thu) 01:02
No. 206510
▼
File
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Tallyanon, I think we're gonna need your help here... this is a super close vote so far.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 01:13
No. 206511
▼
>>206510
Not Tallyanon, but running my own count...
13 Mastermind, 11 Shikigami.
One write in.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:04
No. 206512
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:08
No. 206513
▼
just one more vote for Hakurei Shikigami and we are in a tie meaning Gooboi has to write both options
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:21
No. 206514
▼
>>206513
Fairly certain it would just mean a coin flip or a tiebreaker vote, unfortunately.
I'm on team Mastermind - it is relevant information that might help provide some context for how this timeline got this way. Who was it? How did people find out it was them? What happened to them afterwards?
Meanwhile knowing about the Shikigami's existence already tells us half of it. Unless one of the Immaterial Children was desperate enough to be turned into a Shikigami, we don't gain nearly as much.
While it's possible that it would lead down a thread of other useful information, we really only learn more about the shrine in the present. We should be trying to focus on the past to figure out what our memories are going to be useless for.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:23
No. 206515
▼
>Side-shave clasped his hands together, idly flicking with a loose finger at the bouncy tip of his pompadour.
>The other man sighed, leaning back and running his hands through his mullet.
So... we not talking about the hair?
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:30
No. 206516
▼
>>206515
It is quite a few years before when Lotus eaters takes place, their might have a lit more hair now then they will in the future.
Kosu 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:35
No. 206517
▼
I fell asleep for a while. The pillow said:
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident's Mastermind
Because it's true that we might actually learn of the shikigami from another source. Makes me want to add:
- [X] Ask Reisen about the shrine when she's got the time: Is any delivery scheduled there? has she made any delivery there before? What does she know about the inhabitants?
- [X] Maybe even ask to go there after we're done with the deliveries?
A long shot, but might as well.
I really want to know about the shikigami, but yeah no one would pass the possibility of learning who's considered the mastermind since that's literally the reason we're here, even if it really turns out to be rumours and Keine was blamed.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:50
No. 206518
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
To a while to settle on this, it would seem that the answers to both questions could be found it at a later time, simply by asking around a bit.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:51
No. 206519
▼
So, as someone on team mastermind, I’ve seen a lot of people make the argument that we already know their identity, and thus we wouldn’t gain any information. My response is yes, WE know who it is and why it happened. THEY, by which I mean close to everyone else, have anywhere ranging from barely an idea to zero clue. It is extremely likely they pinned the blame on someone else.
This is in opposition to the identity of the shikigami. If that is not Ran assisting the shrine on Yukari’s orders, I will be shocked.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 02:53
No. 206520
▼
Gosh, I wish this wasn't an RPG…!
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/11 (Thu) 03:04
No. 206521
▼
>>205619
It's interesting that both teams seem to be voting for their option because they're
absolutely confident they know the answer to the other question.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 03:09
No. 206522
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Sylent-M 2024/04/11 (Thu) 03:19
No. 206523
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident's Mastermind
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 03:34
No. 206524
▼
proposing another argument for team mastermind: my guess on it being keine is simply that: a guess. it's entirely possible that they blamed someone else.
if it really is keine, we're in a position to prove her innocence and clear up the entire incident and the whole reason about it to everyone involved. if we can get more support than just from eientei, then that's more people dedicated to stopping the future apocalypse. our ultimate goal here is to prevent that.
Mew 2024/04/11 (Thu) 04:45
No. 206525
▼
>>206521
It's gonna be so funny if neither guesses are correct and we actually need these pieces of info lol
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 05:22
No. 206526
▼
Eh, i'm more confident that we can very soon learn who the hakurei shikigami is meanwhile the culprit if caught is probably imprisoned or exiled somewhere that we are less likely to come across.
Also i wish to add to my vote of
>>206505
- [X] Ask Reisen about the shrine when she's got the time: Is any delivery scheduled there? has she made any delivery there before? What does she know about the inhabitants?
- [X] Maybe even ask to go there after we're done with the deliveries?
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/11 (Thu) 05:29
No. 206527
▼
File
171281334894.jpg
- (90.53KB,
850x1077,
__kasodani_kyouko_touhou_drawn_by_amashi_qcmrq906_.jpg)
We are currently at 15-15!
I'm gonna give you an hour and a half more of free voting time. But if it passes server time of 07:00 with the vote still being tied, the next vote will be the tiebreaker.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 06:36
No. 206528
▼
>>206510
:o
>>206527
Also, that's correct.
Additionally:
Potential Additions:
[1] (
>>206505) Wait, who is the redhead passed out at a table?
[2] (
>>206517,
>>206526) Ask Reisen about the shrine when she's got the time: Is any delivery scheduled there? has she made any delivery there before? What does she know about the inhabitants?
[2] (
>>206517,
>>206526) Maybe even ask to go there after we're done with the deliveries?
The last two write-ins are not dependent on the choice, thankfully.
We'll need to push the plot forward. :3
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 06:45
No. 206529
▼
>>206521
Also, the shikigami is clearly Kyouko as you've been using Kyouko fan art (
>>206510,
>>206521,
>>206527) to subtly provide us the answer. I'll give this guess a 99% chance of being true.
:3
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/11 (Thu) 07:06
No. 206530
▼
Nah, the Kyouko's are here for Akyuu's arc because I'd run out of Mayooms if I kept them up from Reimu's arc.
NEXT VOTE DECIDES!
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 07:43
No. 206531
▼
[X] The Immaterial Children Incident's Mastermind
Akyuu knows it was Keine who caused the disappearances of herself, Reimu, et al, but it'd be nice to confirm what the known "truth" of the matter is, as believed by the human population.
Kosu 2024/04/11 (Thu) 08:12
No. 206532
▼
"The princess looked… well, like she normally did on these ventures; incredibly suspicious. She wore a mask over her eyes that rendered them little more than white gaps in the black fabric, and the pair of ears on the headband were obviously stitched and artificial. But… honestly, that worked better for the Princess."
I guess we'll see who took the blame for the incident
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 08:45
No. 206533
▼
KGUUY??
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 10:36
No. 206534
▼
[X] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
Kosu 2024/04/11 (Thu) 11:25
No. 206535
▼
The Immaterial Children Incident
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/11 (Thu) 11:37
No. 206536
▼
File
171283546954.jpg
- (639.33KB,
620x877,
__kamishirasawa_keine_and_ex_keine_touhou_drawn_by.jpg)
[16] The Immaterial Children Incident’s Mastermind
[15] The Hakurei Shrine’s Shikigami
“This… Immaterial Children Incident.” Akyuu tilted her head. “I heard a bit about it, but… I never really heard the whole story.”
The two men shared a glance. Eventually, Side-shave sighed. “Ah, that was a bad end to it all, honestly.” He gestured for Akyuu to sit next to him, and she did so.
“Well, the Kirisame was the first family to be afflicted. Then the Hakurei. At the time, it was just thought the false pregnancies were just that, completely false. It was only when the Miare didn’t reincarnate that people realized what was happening.” Akyuu nodded, listening closely. “So the Hakurei naturally does an investigation. She pulls in this lady called Asakura - purple hair, calls herself a scientist, you’d know her if you saw her - and she detects… I guess it was a certain energy?”
His mustachioed compatriot nodded. “An energy ‘signature’, she called it. She gets a recording of it, and a few months later, detects the same thing on the Motoori family. So she’s pretty sure they’re the same case.”
Akyuu leaned forward, and Mustache continued. “A few months pass, and the scientist lady sets up some sensors. Looking for the energy signature to appear again. It occasionally appears on the night of the full moon, but she never tracks it down. Not over years. And then, the Twinned Invasion incident happens. The Shrine Maiden’s badly pressed, but she calls up her usual ally. The were-hakutaku, Kami-whatsername.”
Akyuu began to get a sinking feeling. The other guy corrected his drinking buddy. “Kamishirasawa Keine. A young schoolteacher. She had this… history changing power, the ability to change the past. Hakurei’d call on her all the time as a backup, from when they were both kids. Anyway, the two of them each take a side. Dunno which does which, but the Shrine Maiden finishes up her defense first, and comes back to the shrine… to find the scientist all excited. Saying she’s tracked down the signature.”
Side-shave sighed, looking down into his cup. “And then… and then the were-hakutaku gets back. And all the sensors go nuts.”
Akyuu gulped. “...Keine caused the Immaterial Children Incident?” It wasn’t an incorrect assumption, but… but without the truth of the matter…
Mustache grimly affirmed it. “So it goes. And the thing is, when they test it, they find the signatures match exactly. Apparently even she didn’t know. Must have been some… berserk were-hakutaku things. But… she didn’t deny the evidence. Said it had to be her. Asakura even recorded it, with some… voice-capture device.” He took a big gulp of his glass. “...Granted, the shrine maiden’s been her best friend all this time, and she didn’t want to believe the evidence. Maybe she’d been bewitched or somesuch. So they try to keep it hush-hush. The teacher takes a month sabbatical, and by all accounts just shut herself in her house.”
“But Asakura, well... she’d been getting needled by the tengu for her failure, and she knows that any cover-up will end up destroying her credibility. So she goes straight to the tengu, they throw it on their papers… and before long, the Kirisame and the Hieda have rallied up a mob and are trying to break down her door.”
Akyuu took a deep breath. “Did she-what happened from there?”
“Lots of stories. Wild, wild stories.” Side-shave murmured. “There was a fire, and the whole street went up in flames. Fortunately, the riot meant that most of the people were awake, and a lot of extra people were already there, so nobody died in the end. Now, who started the fire… that’s where the stories all start. Some people blame the Kirisame getting overzealous, others say the Hieda did it to take out a rival who lived in the area… some even say Asakura started it. And of course, a lot of people blamed a youkai for it - a phoenix specifically. Said they saw wings of flame flying away. There was already one youkai in the middle of it, so I guess it’s not too surprising.”
He sighed. “Regardless, the outcome was the same. The beast got away in the confusion, and nobody’s seen her since. There’s still a few people that protest that she was innocent, and she saved a lot of lives when she was acting as the protector… but it’s hard to defend a party who confessed that they agreed with the claim, and didn’t know any other candidates. Still… perhaps if she was still around, she’d be able to help push back some of these youkai. …But on the other hand, if it hadn’t happened, we’d have a lil’ Hakurei and we wouldn’t have needed all this mess.”
Akyuu stuttered. “But - but what if there was a reason-”
Mustache scowled. “What possible reason could there be for ripping four families apart? Besides, even she didn’t know the reason. Supposedly she couldn’t fix it either, not with the kids in question missing.” He sighed. “...Still, though. If that Asakura hadn’t blabbed, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten so bad. Or maybe there’d be more Immaterial Children. Who knows.”
Akyuu sagged. What could she say? She wasn’t even ready to confront the Hieda family yet - how could she convince two random bar patrons? She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned, to see the sad eyes of her sister.
“Akyuu? It’s time to go.” The younger rabbit mutely nodded, getting to her feet and taking the proffered backpack, as Reisen gave the two men a bow. “Thank you for taking the time to talk with my sister, gentlemen. Hope your wife’s hip stays well.”
Akyuu glumly followed her sister out, not saying a word. The men watched the trio leave, Akyuu all-but-slamming the door behind her.
The sound drew a snort from the redhead, who straightened herself up. “Hah? Wha?” She looked around, dazed.
Miyoi sighed, walking over to the woman. “You know, should you really be snoozing on the counter? Don’t you have work to get to?”
The redhead yawned. “I guess you could say I’ve got a night shift today. So I gotta get in my sleeping hours early, y’know?” The bartender scoffed a bit, as the woman fished in her pocket, pulling out a hefty coin purse. “Sorry if I took up the table too long. I’ll tip ya for the time. I miss anything interesting?”
Miyoi hummed. “Well, there was a few new visitors today. And apparently that rabbit delivery girl that’s been going around has a little sister? They came to eat here today.”
“Rabbit delivery girl, rabbit delivery girl…” The redhead rubbed her chin in thought. “You mean the deserter?”
“What?”
“Oh, uh, nothing.” She shook her head to clear it, getting a lot of her own hair in her face. “So what’s -” she spat out a red lock of hair. “What’s the sister like?”
Miyoi thought back. “She’s… unusual, that’s for sure. Maybe a bit nosy?” She frowned. “She didn’t seem very happy hearing about the Immaterial Children’s mastermind. …I’m surprised she didn’t know about it, though.”
The redhead began to fish in her pockets, looking her something to tame her table-head with. “Not too surprising, in my opinion. ‘Specially if she’s the delivery girl’s sister.”
Miyoi raised an eyebrow at that, and continued. “You think she’d be sheltered?”
“I think all the bunnies are kinda sheltered, but that one… ah, I’m rambling. She say anything else?” Having found something to tie her hair with, she pulled up one side, and began to secure it.
“Oh, she said… that the Child of Miare might be coming back soon.”
There was a lull in the conversation. The redhead turned to Miyoi, eyes wide.
“Who said that?”
“The little sister.”
“Of the desszzzlivery girl?” Miyoi nodded. The redhead leaned back, sliding a hand down her face and murmuring. “Hahhhhh… If that’s the case, my night shift might have just gotten longer.”
She groaned, standing up. And pulling the scythe up from beneath her table.
“Eiki better pay me double for this.”
A Near Miss
Mew 2024/04/11 (Thu) 12:18
No. 206537
▼
We missed Komachi. God damnit. That was an easy link to the Yama gone. No gonna comment too much till part 2 comes out, but damn. Feels bad.
So Keine fessed up to it, huh. It's her fault. But also not. Well, seems she went missing, and that many people suspect the bamboo forest's phoenix for it. Either way, we got a lot of explaining to do.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 12:21
No. 206538
▼
I WAS RIGHT! VINDICATION!
ahem. anyways. hopefully we'll be able to clear keine's name. looks like mokou got her out in time, thankfully. and with komachi showing up (congrats to
>>206499 for another correct guess), akyuu has a chance of getting in contact with eiki and setting things right.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/11 (Thu) 12:57
No. 206539
▼
File
171284027293.jpg
- (166.04KB,
850x1197,
__mystia_lorelei_kasodani_kyouko_and_haniyasushin_.jpg)
>>/shorts/2817
New Epilogue up - the last of Reimus' arc! I hope you all enjoy.
Kosu 2024/04/11 (Thu) 13:23
No. 206540
▼
First of all, poor Keine. As a teacher she must have felt horrible for (allegedly) causing the death of 4 (and a half) children, especially because she has no recollection whatsoever of doing so.
Even though we guessed correctly she was going to be blamed, it's still a sad story. Hopefully she's living out there with Mokou but without proof that she didn't actually cause the deaths (at least, not directly, in this timeline) she is probably self-isolating in fear of actually having lost control and going on a rampage. Possibly fearing/doubting herself and her control over her own were-form.
Second, I've read the last epilogues for Reimu and there's nothing I can add here that could say more than I've written there. I want to see what happens next so bad lol.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 13:30
No. 206541
▼
> Actually is Komachi
> We made her shift longer
Lol
> Keine
That's heavy, doc. Sucks that this has ruined her life. At least we know that magic signature detection is there and could come in handy?
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 13:46
No. 206542
▼
I'm curious about how the Yama will be handling the situation once she gets to verify Akyuu's memories of the previous timeline. While she's normally pretty hands-off even in cases where people get killed, it becomes a different matter entirely when their souls get obliterated preventing them from entering the cycle of reincarnation. The situation might even be serious enough that Eiki chooses to be proactive and starts investigating the matter personally with a bunch of personnel from the Ministry of Right and Wrong, turning the Gensokyo situation into even more of a powder keg of tension.
Mew 2024/04/11 (Thu) 14:04
No. 206544
▼
Man the more we read into this situation the worse it gets. The hell is gonna happen once the canon event occurs?
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 14:11
No. 206545
▼
I can't wait until it comes to us to solve the Scarlet Mist Incident to prevent all hell breaking loose.
Ambush
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/11 (Thu) 15:36
No. 206547
▼
“Woah, woah woah!”
Akyuu was yanked back. Reisen looked at her, concerned. “Akyuu, watch where you’re going, alright?” The younger rabbit blinked, looking down. She’d nearly stepped onto a bridge that wasn’t there, again.
“A-ah, sorry…” She shook her head, trying to clear it. “Just… distracted. Sorry.”
Reisen sighed. “...About Keine?” Akyuu nodded. “...Yeah. I never used to think much of the story, but… if what you say is true…”
Kaguya stepped up next to them. “Then Keine is… not innocent of the act, but… she shouldn’t be treated this way. She’s not a monster.” Akyuu nodded, firmly. “And I hope you’re right about all of this.”
They were stepping through the gates of the village now, and Kaguya reached up, to take off her mask. “When the riot happened, and Keine ran from the village, she used her powers to hide her tracks… even from Mokou. It just broke her heart…” The immortal sighed. “She’s been searching, without rest, for the answers.”
She looked up at the setting sun. “Eirin I think is more curious about you… and Reisen’s just happy to have you here. But, Akyuu…” She turned to look at the rabbit. “I want to believe you’re right. I want to believe you can save Keine. That you can bring Mokou back.”
Akyuu took a deep breath. “...First, I want to get to the Hakurei Shrine. If I can explain things to her… maybe we can start to make a difference.”
Reisen nodded. “Sounds like a plan… Lady Teruyo, is it fine if we make a detour on the -” She twitched, standing up straight.
+Akyuu.+ The younger rabbit stiffened. +Several rabbits on either side of us, hiding. If I had to guess, they’re after you.+ She turned, scanning the bushes.
+...Ten-four.+ Akyuu looked at the bushes, leering.
All of a sudden, one of the rabbits jumped. Akyuu’s eyes widened, and she narrowly dodged the strike, the hammer making a dent in the ground.
Inaba Tewi tched at her near miss. She started to straighten up, before feeling Reisen’s finger on the back of her head. “Reisen, don’t be an idiot.”
“That’s my line.” The taller rabbit snapped. “Why the hell are you attacking Akyuu?”
The lucky rabbit chuckled. “Well, isn’t it obvious? We’re compromised, thanks to your little sister.” She hefted her hammer menacingly. “That little device of hers was a trap all along.”
Akyuu felt her heart sink. “The distress beacon?”
“It’s not a distress beacon.” Tewi growled. “It’s anything but a distress beacon. It’s everything but a distress beacon. See, it’s got a few functions in it. It captures two nearby people, it wraps them in Lunar Veils, and it sends the whole package to the moon. And it does that with biometric data of two specific people.”
Kaguya gasped. “It was meant to trap us?!”
Tewi nodded. “Yes, and this dumb little bunny brought it right to our doorstep! Eirin wasn’t able to crack the biometric codes yet, but she does know one of the valid people had already touched it when she finally cracked the thing open. Probably when she touched it herself.”
Akyuu shook her head. “Sagume must have slipped it in - I-I swear, I didn’t know-”
“‘Course you didn’t. But did you ever think that might be on purpose?” Tewi lifted her hammer menacingly. “Any number of Lunarians might’ve been in on it, but according to her story, it was Sagume who helped her, so conveniently she couldn’t ask questions. Heck, for all we know, the whole reason you’re Reisen’s vat-sister is to make us lower our guard further!”
Reisen growled. “Tewi. Don’t you do something you’ll regret.”
Kaguya’s face was ashen. “W-we need to get back. Is Eirin already-?”
“Duh, she’s on it. That’s why I’m here. I was told to bring you three back ASAP, by any means necessary.” She hefted her hammer menacingly. “And personally, I don’t like the idea of this little snitch riding right behind me. I was hoping I could bring her back with pudding for brains, but I’ll settle for paws in chains!”
+Akyuu. This doesn't feel like an Eirin thing - I think Tewi's playing VERY loose with the order.+ The chronicler blinked, doing her best to keep her focus on Tewi. +I have a Lunatic Gun with me. If you need it, I’ll toss it to you.+
Kaguya also turned to Akyuu. “...Let’s just go along with Tewi for now, okay? I’m sure we can clear things up when we get back to Eientei.”
Akyuu felt a drop of sweat trickle down her face.
[ ] Fight.
[ ] Run.
[ ] Comply.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 15:51
No. 206548
▼
[X] Comply.
I know I’m metagaming pretty hard right now, but we can’t afford to have Eirin engage the Endless Night incident. Not with the Scarlet Mist one right around the corner. And if we’re going to head back to Eientei to try and convince her anyways, we might as well comply for now to make it go smoother. We can fight our way out later if we have to.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 15:58
No. 206549
▼
[X] Comply.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:06
No. 206550
▼
-[X] Agree to return to Eirin, but refuse to be chained up. Point out that "any means necessary" should also include accepting our terms.
I don't see any reason to let Tewi arrest us, and I'm pretty sure we can take her and her rabbits if need be. At the same time, returning to Eirin makes sense, as trying to run would make us look completely guilty.
Besides, we owe Reisen something nice, and a chance to pound on Tewi qualifies.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:11
No. 206551
▼
[X] Run.
- [X] Take the gun, try to hit Tewi with a memory of something sufficiently terrible, like the experience of death, and cottontail it.
In contrast to
>>206548, I think we can't afford to get caught in this mess
because the Scarlet Mist incident is coming. Metagaming aside, we need to get validation for our claim as Child of Miare A.S.A.P to help our ultimate goal of stopping everybody from dying. We can't do that if we're being interrogated in Eintei.
We do not have the time to deal with this right now. Burn the bridges to survive the winter night, and deal with the consequences in the morning.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:18
No. 206553
▼
Sonnuva!
so wait, its been activated biometrically, but Tewi (and possibly Erin) only *think* that Erin is one of the signatures? it could possibly be that the signatures of the IN-8 pair as Akyuu is also someone that has touched it... so we probably don't want Reisen to touch it as well...
dang, what time is it currently? do we have enough time to go to eintei, figure out what's going on and then get to the shrine? wait sundown? ohhhh crap we don't have the time...
and yeah, if Erin mentioned the possibility of Akyuu being the Child of Maire then Tewi probably picked up that Akyuu wasn't being honest when she asked who Tewi was when Tewi caught Akyuu in her room...
and of course we've given a strong hint in the epilogue section that the Hakurei Miko is likely to have died tonight.
shoot, I need to think on what to vote for.
Kosu 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:19
No. 206554
▼
My goodness that Tewi face doesn't look like the face of mercy.
I would try to guess what would every option do but at this point I'm just flabbergasted with the story.
A lot happened, and right now we're between a rock and a hard place.
We kinda want to help the Hakurei and discover more about the incident, but complying would be the correct option to retain trust with Eientei (mostly Eirin, maybe Tewi but she seems to the the only one who didn't trust us from the beginning).
[X] Comply
- [X] But try to bargain with Tewi. Let us go to the Hakurei Temple to get our answers and after that we agree to surrender without a fight. Even if we have to go in chains. Or even give up our dango.
>>"Inaba, I've come to bargain" -Doctor Strange, probably.
I hope this is a valid option. High risk, high reward. I don't want to lose trust with Eientei, but we MUST get to the temple. I think Reisen has our back whatever happens. If anyone has a better solution, I might be tempted to change my vote. If it's not a valid option, please tell me and I'll change the vote.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:20
No. 206555
▼
>>206551
how about the experience of the end of gensokyo? that should be horrible enough and at the same time let her know
exactly what the stakes are we're currently operating on. of course would Akyuu be able to follow up and convince her that it is a real memory...
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:27
No. 206556
▼
[X] Agree to return to Eirin, but refuse to be chained up. Point out that "any means necessary" should also include accepting our terms.
This is a good write-in. But...
Will we ever see/meet Reimu's mother at this rate?
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:33
No. 206557
▼
>>206555
decent call, I think it could work as a good stunner. But not as a gateway to convince: we're facing a bias here. We're already suspicious, so any proof we provide is potentially forged, or we're being tricked as well, or we're just lying to further our own ends.
That's why we just need to hit her with something so that we have a chance to get away. Fighting does nobody any good, and compliance takes time
that we do not have to spare.
We can apologize later, when we aren't on a time crunch. Add it to the list after Mystia.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:35
No. 206558
▼
[X] Comply.
No need to make this worse.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:42
No. 206559
▼
oh shit. and here i thought akyuu's arc was mainly going to be comprised of gathering evidence to prove her identity and clear keine's name somewhat. oh well. action time!
first, an analysis of the situation before i make my choice: kaguya and tewi want to return to eientei. tewi would rather us be in chains, but kaguya is hoping to talk it out with eirin when we get there. reisen's gonna stick by us no matter what. whether that means fighting alongside us or covering for our retreat, i think it's clear that her loyalties have shifted quite a bit.
akyuu's definitely capable of holding her own in a fight, but against tewi (literal mafia boss), a squad of earth rabbits (in a relatively open area, numbers have an advantage) and possibly kaguya (has spent centuries fighting mokou to the death)? even with reisen's help, it doesn't seem likely.
running would paint us as guilty- why run if you've got nothing to hide? but as reisen said, this doesn't seem like anything eirin would do. and if we weren't on tewi's bad side before, we definitely are now.
but the thing is: if all it takes for the device to activate and send eirin and kaguya back to the moon is kaguya touching it, then wouldn't it make better sense to have kaguya stay away as far as possible from the device?
and we're running out of time. if we want to get any answers out of the hakurei shrine maiden before she dies, we have to move, now.
[X] Run.
- [X] Have Reisen set up illusions to cover us.
- [X] Take the gun, try to hit Kaguya with a hallucination that would keep her in line, take her with us, and book it towards the Hakurei Shrine.
will this absolutely destroy eirin's trust in us? yes. but we can worry about that later. with keine gone, this might very well be our only chance at this. the mission comes first.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:43
No. 206560
▼
[X] Run.
They don't believe us, so we need to find somebody who does. It's a shame to abandon fellow bnuuys again but if the shrine maiden is going to die in the incident we need to try and stop that.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 16:54
No. 206561
▼
actually wait, hold on, why would sagume think that Akyuu was going to be at Eintei in order to catch Erin and Kaguya with the recall sphere? as far as I understand they didn't know that Reisen ended up with them (at least untill after SSiB) so at this point they know that Reisen left, and then after talking about gensokyo a bunch that Akyuu did too, so it probably isn't the lunarians that the sphere is to catch. (also nuts, I was hoping it would be a way to call in some reinforcements if thing are going south and end up with Ringo and Seiran end up in gensokyo early.)
...also, this probably isn't part of the background that Gooboi is using at all... but Kotohime is a wacky princess that people first running into her might consider a little crazy... whose name according to
https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Kotohime name translates out to
And I Quote "
Little Rabbit Princess
...Kaguya, how long have you
really been sneaking into the human village for?
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 17:14
No. 206563
▼
>>206561
Wait a minute, you’re right. They know all three of them left, but they don’t know where to. How would Sagume know to send Akyuu there? I’m starting to think Tewi isn’t just playing loosely with orders, she might be outright lying because she knows we snitched.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 17:17
No. 206564
▼
>>206548
Same person here.
-[X] Agree to return to Eirin, but refuse to be chained up. Point out that "any means necessary" should also include accepting our terms.
If we have to fight our way out, this is a reasonable precaution to take
>>206563
And it’s also good if I’m right about this.
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/04/11 (Thu) 17:23
No. 206566
▼
[X] Run.
- [X] Take the gun, try to hit Tewi with a memory of something sufficiently terrible, like the experience of death, and cottontail it.
We have a mission to complete. We can worry about what Eirin actually thinks later.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 17:24
No. 206567
▼
>>206558
Never mind. Make it worse.
[UNDO] Comply.
Wouldn't it be a BAD idea to bring anyone else near the damn thing given it's function? Eirin having that bad of an idea about something this delicate? Tewi might not be playing loose with the order, she might be outright doing the opposite of what she is supposed to do like an idiot.
Screw complying. We can't let Kaguya or Reisen near the damn thing. Screw running. This will make us look worse AND we can't protect Kaguya from the orb this way without dragging her along potentially by force which will make us look WAY worse. Screw fighting. Could us look just as terrible as running away. None of these help the situaton.
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 17:43
No. 206568
▼
>>206564
Crap you’re right.
[UNDO] Comply.
-[UNDO] Agree to return to Eirin, but refuse to be chained up. Point out that "any means necessary" should also include accepting our terms.
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why
I know I’m editing my vote a lot, but if this is a plot of some kind, then going directly to Eientei is a bad idea with it there. And just in case…
-[X] Call Tewi out if she doesn’t stop.
I still think there’s a possibility that Tewi is lying her butt of to try and get payback for us snitching. If she doesn’t stop trying to chain us, it’s a clear signal that something is up.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 17:47
No. 206569
▼
>>206567
Word up. The device activates via biometrics, so
why bring the possible candidates back to activate it?
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 17:53
No. 206570
▼
>>206551 here:
...yeah, this is a good call, actually. maybe being rational isn't a terrible idea.
[UNDO] Run.
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 18:18
No. 206571
▼
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/04/11 (Thu) 18:29
No. 206572
▼
...It's worth a shot.
[UNDO] [X] Run.
- [X] Take the gun, try to hit Tewi with a memory of something sufficiently terrible, like the experience of death, and cottontail it.
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 18:58
No. 206573
▼
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 19:14
No. 206574
▼
funny thought I had, what if the answer to both the mastermind and the shikigami were the same? Kiene was a good friend of the Hakurei shrine maiden. she could have eaten most of her history- or rather her connection to her own history, other than that she has always been on the side of humans, and to make up for causing her friend to lose her child allowed herself to become a shikigami, and since most of her connection to her own history was eaten Mokou can't find her.
also the write in looks pretty good! though I think I will add to it a little bit just in case Tewi isn't going to accept it.
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
-- [X] if Tewi isn't going to accept the timeout, then send both possible candidates for the second biometric match (if Erin was the first one that means Kaguya, if it was Akyuu that was the first then that means Reisen.) somewhere else, like say the Hakurei shrine while Akyuu goes with Tewi back to Eintei
---[X] tell Tewi to try to keep up and get going to Eintei
Akyuu alreadyu has the context that the incidents have gone far worse this time around and the Vampire incident is very likely to be no different in that regard, so sending possible help (even if she can't go directly there) would make sense, and if she can convince Erin that this wasn't a trap by her (if it was needed in the first place.) then Akyuu will be able to gear up with her own equipment and try to dash over to help herself.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 20:21
No. 206575
▼
[X] Comply
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 20:42
No. 206576
▼
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 21:09
No. 206578
▼
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
Speech check moment
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 22:22
No. 206579
▼
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
Pls I hope it works
Standoff
Mew 2024/04/11 (Thu) 23:06
No. 206580
▼
Well, we're in some hot water now, ain't we? No doubt our identity has been confirmed, but unfortunately, it seems that's not enough. Lots of people have a good point about negotiation, I'd rather not fight the entirety of Eientei.
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
-[X] Explain that once the incident starts it's likely something will happen to the miko.
If this doesn't work, we probably will get dragged to Eientei in chains. Just pray this works.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 23:07
No. 206581
▼
Guys, remember that Akyuu entered Tewi's room without permission, possibly he is using this to confirm his suspicions that she is a liar and to get revenge for entering his room to snoop.
Anonymous 2024/04/11 (Thu) 23:56
No. 206582
▼
>>206581
On the other hand the person that sent Akyuu into Tewi's room is standing right beside her, that's the person we really need to convince here... Hopefully, and hopefully Tewi isn't going to try to override Kaguya.
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 00:42
No. 206583
▼
>>206580
>>[X] Explain that once the incident starts it's likely something will happen to the miko.
I would argue that this option is a bit too much for Akyuu to reasonably assume, but...
It depends on how the writer interprets how Reimu's mother disappears/dies in the original canon (as that really isn't specified and is up for interpretation).
Is it like "a story from when the flesh-eating youkai became small, and the miko grew big..." or etc?
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 00:47
No. 206584
▼
>>206556 here:
[UNDO] Agree to return to Eirin, but refuse to be chained up. Point out that "any means necessary" should also include accepting our terms.
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
This is an even better idea. :3
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 00:53
No. 206585
▼
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
I think fighting and running are bad options not only because it'll likely break the trust between Akyuu and the one group that believes her to some degree, but also because it'll force her big sis Reisen to choose a side.
Also, how likely is it that Komachi is already on their tail given what she heard from Miyoi?
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 01:19
No. 206586
▼
>>206583
for me reimu mom died in/or during childbirth, could explain why reimu dosent know much about her mom
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 01:33
No. 206587
▼
From the context of the posts so far, notably how the pc-98 incident were seen as training, i am leaning that it is right about now that she had passed. Which considering how much worse the incident were this time around would probably be rapidly approaching the forefront of Akyuu's mind.
Speaking of Reimu's mother, but what i don't think is Canon to Redo/Reimu, Gooboi has a couple of really fics on AO3 that have their take on young Reimu and her mother that i highly suggest!
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 02:26
No. 206588
▼
[X] Time Out
- [X] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
If trying to explain doesn't work, we're probably close enough to the village that we could run there. I really don't want a chance of going back to the moon though.
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 03:08
No. 206589
▼
[X] Comply
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 04:38
No. 206591
▼
>>206574 here
I would like to add the following to my vote:
-[X] Explain that once the incident starts it's likely something will happen to the miko.
Bunny ambush
Kosu 2024/04/12 (Fri) 04:56
No. 206592
▼
>>The taller rabbit snapped. “Why the hell are you attacking Akyuu?”
>>“Well, isn’t it obvious? We’re compromised, thanks to your little sister. That little device of hers was a trap all along.”"
I'm going to sleep, have some angry bnuuy to keep you company.
See you tomorrow, hopefully with a new update (no pressure, we've been spoiled rotten these past days).
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 04:57
No. 206593
▼
Counting to
>>206591:
Note that some addition(s) are paired with their corresponding main choice for obvious reasons.
Main Choice:
[0] Fight.
[2] Run.
[4] Comply.
[1] Agree to return to Eirin, but refuse to be chained up. Point out that "any means necessary" should also include accepting our terms. (A partial comply option, in my opinion)
[15] Time Out (Pause for a moment)
-[15] Tell Tewi and Kaguya that going back is a stupid idea and why.
Potential Additions:
For [x] Run:
[2] (
>>206551,
>>206559) Take the gun, try to hit Tewi with a memory of something sufficiently terrible, like the experience of death, and cottontail it.
[1] (
>>206559) Have Reisen set up illusions to cover us.
For [x] Time Out:
[1] (
>>206574) If Tewi isn't going to accept the timeout, then send both possible candidates for the second biometric match (If Eirin was the first one that means Kaguya, if it was Akyuu that was the first then that means Reisen) somewhere else, like say the Hakurei shrine while Akyuu goes with Tewi back to Eientei.
[1] (
>>206574) Tell Tewi to try to keep up and get going to Eientei.
[2] (
>>206580,
>>206591) Explain that once the incident starts it's likely something will happen to the Miko.
Anonymous 2024/04/12 (Fri) 05:00
No. 206594
▼
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/04/12 (Fri) 11:20
No. 206597
▼
New thread over at
>>206595!
Shout out this time is to Flustered Masquerade! A fun story about Toyasatomimi no Miko, Hijiri Byakuren, and the world's worst hangover. Thread starts at
>>/shrine/41094!
